High On Poker

If you haven’t read my Razz post, check it out. It’s just before this one.

I love it when this happens. To me, this is the flipside to You Decide #26, where I pushed all-in with AA preflop on the first hand of a tournament. Here, I was dealt QcQd in the SB midway through a single-table SNG. There were 5 or 6 players left. The blinds were 80/160. I had about 5K. The player on my left, who I will dub ChickenHead (for his FullTilt icon) had about 4.5K. The BB had about 1.5K.

All players folded to the button, ChickenHead. Chicken minimum raised. I, in turn, minimum raised back. The BB folded, as I expected. Chicken minimum raised me back. I minimum raised him back. He minimum raised me back. I minimum raised him back. He flat called. So, to recap, we reraised back and forth 6 times. The pot had about 10x the BB because of the three initial blinds (mine, CH’s and BBs). Let’s just estimate it as a 1600 pot.

The flop was As9s8x. I check. ChickenHead pushes all in for about 4K more. If I lose the hand, I’m under 1K and severely short stacked. I folded.

So, did I play this hand well? Did the min raise war save me money rather than pushing? Should I have made a significant re-raise instead. Did I give him an opportunity to bluff raise when I checked?

My initial opinion: The min raise war was useless posturing. When he finally flat called, that let me know he didn’t have me beat pre-flop. An AA or KK would’ve kept min raising. On the flop, my check could have been a slow play, so it is not absolutely an invitation for him to bet. Even if he did bluff, I had to consider him for an AK, AQ, AJ, or even A9. He may’ve also had a flush draw instead. Either way, I had to fold. Betting out on the flop would’ve left me open to a reraise I couldn’t call anyway.

Opinions?

Another winning day! Why, that must be two in three weeks! Do I sense a streak?!

Probably not.

It’s been meager pickins online for me lately. I’ve resolved myself to losing $10 to $15 a night. No, I’m not broken. I haven’t given up on winning. I just have been hardened to losing. I won’t entirely blame anything either. My game isn’t atrociious, although I could plug some holes, like loosening up when I’m losing. My luck isn’t the only thing wrong, but I did suffer a long spell of lost coin tosses.

Yesterday, however, those things never got to be a factor. I was playing well. I made several calls, including a couple that were almost perfectly correct. In one instance, I pushed pre-flop with AJ, knowing that a late position caller would call with “AT or A9″. He had A8. In another, I called an all-in preflop with AK, after calling a player as having TT. He had JJ. Whether I should’ve made the call is another story (I lost the hand). But I had a good grasp on what people were playing and how they were playing them. Granted, those two examples aren’t anything spectacular. BUT, those are just the ones I remember easily and could verify.

The night started off with some 1/2 Razz on Full Tilt. I ran my $47 up to about $70 before cutting out of there. Razz is a new favorite of mine. Most of the time, I was playing heads-up or short handed. The key, at least when short handed, is to put a lot of pressure on your competition. I’m sure there are many players who are willing to call all the way down with a J or T high. BUT, they are the exception. AND, when its heads up, its easy to exploit the boards and their timidness.

As an example, I’d like to go through a Razz hand and discuss why I might play otherwise poor hands with the opportunity to capitalize later in the hand. This applies mostly to heads-up and three or four handed games. I can’t speak for anything higher than that, because usually the tables are short handed, and besides, that was what I was playing (so successfully) yesterday.

You are dealt A8/K. Your opponent is dealt xx/9. So far, it looks like you are beat, right? So, you bring it in and he flat calls. Good, free card. If he raises, you can fold. No sense in chasing what looks like a lost cause. Or you can call and hope to get lucky. But let’s assume he simply calls. You get dealt a 9. He gets dealt a J. So, now he STILL has you beat. He can see from the board that he has you beat. But often, he’ll check. And even if he bets, you can call here. His original call indicates that he isn’t sitting on A2/5. Slow playing just doesn’t seem to happen at Razz. It may be the level that I’m playing, but I suggest that you always assume that no one is slowplaying until you have reason to suspect otherwise (like a A234 board where the player continuously checks, or when he shows a slowplay in an earlier hand). So, you “foolishly” call his raise, even though you are behind. The next card is crucial. If you hit a good card, you can smile. However, if he hits a bad card, you can officially dance.

Let’s go through a couple of scenarios. Remember, the cards so far are: (YOU) A8/K9. (HIM) xx/9J.

Scenario #1, The Fold- He is dealt any card from A to 7 and bets out. Unless you are dealt a real low, like 3 or 4, you may consider it time to fold. This is a fold situation. Now, the A through 7 is slighly less than half the cards in the deck, but no one said Razz was going to be easy. You are going to have to take some chances early on and fold when it looks like you are dead. will need to catch a couple of perfect cards for any chance of winning, while he catches two bricks. . So, give it up boys.

Scenario #2, Taking the Hint- Let’s say that he gets a card between A and 7 and doesn’t bet out? Hmm… Well, this is likely a sign that he has paired up with his hole cards. For instance, if he slows down once he is dealt xx/9J2, you can bet, because he probably has a x2/9J2. Assuming your board doesn’t pair and you are dealt anything 6 or under, including an A, go for it. That’s right. Even if you paired a hole card, i.e. A8/9JA, you can bet out. Why? Because betting just increased (in my case from 1 to 2), and he now shows a sign of weakness. If he did pair cards, he will likely fold. If he calls, no problem. Now, your 2 bet isn’t about whether you have the best hand. You are really betting on the next card, or more accurately, whether the next card will hurt him more than it hurts you.

Scenario #3, The Easy Choice- Now, this one is fun. He gets dealt a J, or 9, pairing his board, showing you that he has a pair. As long as you are not dealt an exposed pair (i.e., a 9 or J), then bet out. He will more often than not fold. I caution you, however, if you are dealt a T or higher. Some players will call you here, because they expect not to pair again AND you clearly have an inadequate hand if your opponent can get anything going and you continue to get crap cards. But, once again, when in doubt, bet. At the very least, you may win on the next card when your opponent catches another brick.

Scenario #4, Taking Advantage- This is similar to #3, but warrants its own inspection. If your opponent is dealt a Q or K here, you can bet out, unless your board paired or you are dealt a card over 8. Remember, 8 is great, 9 is crap. Your opponent will be showing xx/9JQ. You will be showing xx/K98. 8 may not look good there, but you are showing a draw to a 9-high hand. There is no way he is going to put you on a pair if you bet out. Meanwhile, he is drawing to a J high board. Most players will freeze up in his spot and consider the hand lost. Easy pickins! Now, if you are dealt a card higher than a 8, just check and hope for a good card coming up. If he bets out with his Q high, consider calling. The pot had been built up and you know he is drawing to poop, even if you are drawing to poop as well.

That is how I’d play fifth street. On sixth, I go through much of the same processes. The difference is that if I don’t have a decent draw to a 9 (or sometimes ten) low and he does have one, I’ll just check it. No use throwing good money after bad. I’ll also fold if he suddenly livens up and bets.

By the river, I know that I have to call unless I’m sitting on a low that involves a pair, or anything higher than a J high. Sometimes I’ll call with J high, because your opponent may be just as aggressive as you. At the very least, you can see what he is playing with for a cheap $2, after investing more than $5 already anyway.

Ah, that was exhausting. I didn’t even know I’d be writing about Razz today. I thought I was going to drop a NLHE You Decide. Maybe for later.

Aside from Razz, I also took 1st in a single-table SNG, bubbled in a 6-person with GCox, lost a 2-table SNG, and took 2nd in another 6-person SNG, for a net win. The 1st place was a $10 game, and the rest were $5, so I can’t complain. When I asked G if I played poorly in my bubble finish, he thought not. Good, it isn’t just me.

Have a good day everyone. I’m living New York, but feeling Atlantic City.

Because I have T-Minus 50 hours until I’ll be on my way to Atlantic City, and because I can’t freaking wait to get there, I’m going to take a minute and map out the most likely course of events for the upcoming AC trip.

Wednesday
5:00PM- Tired from a long day of work, and with three hours of work to finish before leaving, I will receive a phone call from Dave Roose telling me that he will be outside of my building in 20 minutes. Robbie Hole will call shortly after to explain that he has to work and therefore will meet us at AC on Thursday night.

5:15PM- Roose will call me from downstairs, busting my balls about not being there. I will explain that I need an hour, and he will stop somewhere for Sushi and Saki.

5:25PM- I will leave the office, feeling somewhat guilty but very relieved, and meet Roose as he downs the saki and sushi. Hole will be with him. He too will feel guilty and relieved. We are on our way to AC.

7:00PM- We still have about an hour and a half to AC, but the poker jitters already start. I will be sitting in the back seat bouncing both knees and staring at each road sign, hoping that it tells me how much longer.

8:20PM- After going 200 mph on the last stretch oh highway, we manage to arrive 10 minutes early! We check in at the Showboat for my free room. Roose asks something inappropriate to the attractive black female clerk. She ignores us. We try to tip for a room upgrade but she doesn’t take us seriously.

8:25PM- We are in the room. While the other guys settle in. I pace around wondering how we could be in AC for 15 minutes and not make any wagers. I will get everyone to join me downstairs after annoying them for the next 20 minutes. We will start with craps and roulette. Robbie Hole will go on an amazing rush. Roose will do very well. I will lose.

10:00PM- Have a greasy late-night dinner at the nearest moderately-priced diner-like restaurant. I will have a grilled cheese, the official gambling food of High On Poker.

11:00PM- Sit down for some 1/2 NLHE with a bunch of whackjobs at the table. Win a couple of hundred dollars.

3:00AM- Crawl upstairs and sleep. This may occur as late at 8AM.

Thursday

6:45AM- Wake up, ready for poker. Force myself to go to sleep when I check my watch. Repeat for the next two hours, every 10-15 minutes.

8:45AM- Slowly get up. Put on clothes in the dark while Roose and Hole sleep. Here them stir and say, “let’s play poker,” as though it were the most natural first thought of the day.

9:45AM- Go to the buffet, unshowered, unrested, and wearing most of the same clothing as Wednesday. Eat crappy food. Large quantities of crappy food. Have my morning chocolate milk.

10:30AM- Sign up for the Showboat $40+10 daily 11AM tournament. Wonder what I am going to do for 30 minutes. Realize I have to check out. Put everything into my back pack and throw it in Roose’s car in the self-park lot.

11AM- Place in the top 33% of the tourney, but out of the money.

2PM- Eat a grilled cheese sandwich, even though I’m not hungry. More accurately, I’m starving, but the nervous energy from poker makes eating seem like a nuisance. Then go play craps and 1/2 NLHE.

6PM- Squeeze in a quick, but unnecessary dinner so that I have energy for the 8PM tourney at the Resorts. Convince Roose and Hole to join me, since they were annoyed at losing the earlier tourney.

7PM- Head over to the Resorts for our second free room. Try to tip for a better room but fail when Roose asks another inappropriate question, shaming me into silence. Throw our stuff into the room and immediately head downstairs. Head downstairs and navigate by poker sonar to the mini-poker room where the $60+15 8PM tourney is held. Play the tourney. I will place ITM, but not far into the money. Roose will get sucked out on and be very angry at me for convincing him to play. Hole will play ultra-aggressive and bubble. My ITM finish is a dream, admittedly.

9PM- Play some 1/2 NLHE. Finish at around 1AM, when the three of us decide to get some late night food and play Wheel of Fortune slots. Hole will win big. Roose will lose small. I will lose and lose and lose.

7AM- On the way up to the room, call wifey Kim. Smile as she thinks that I woke up early to call her. Don’t dissuade her from her thoughts. Try to sleep. Listen to Roose’s snoring for 40 minutes until I stab myself in the ear with a q-tip. Deafened, I am able to sleep…until…

Friday

9:45AM- Wake up and check watch. Go back to sleep. Repeat until 7:30AM.

10:00AM- Put on exact same outfit as yesterday, hoping to fool players into thinking I haven’t slept in a day. No one will notice. I will smell. Play NLHE. Lose all my winnings. Roose will say that I should never play in the morning. He will say this as he is signing up to play.

12:30PM- Pull myself away from the table, and grab some food. Face reality that I must return home at some point. Play some last minute desperation craps. Complain about craps being a ridiculous $10 miniminum all week!

2:00PM- Head home. Sleep until wifey Kim gets home. Avoid online poker for three days.

Wow, that was great! I had so much fun! Now I don’t even have to do a trip report. Enjoy fellers! I can’t wait.

It’s 11:15am and I have yet to post. Part of it is because of my $100 loss at the tables this weekend. I thought I was running bad, after several rivered suckouts at 1/2 limit. I changed it up to NLHE, which is obviously the wrong move if you are running bad, but logic has no control over me! After losing it all, I sat there staring at the screen trying to discern what the hell happened. I thought to myself that I just got unlucky, over and over again. That is somewhat true, but in hindsight, I see that the lack of luck was really not as ridiculous as I first thought. Most of my big losses in NLHE were to coin tosses, preflop, or other hands where I was ahead slightly, but by no means a lock. For instance, my QQ all-in preflop, after raising and re-raising, was not that far ahead of my opponent’s AK. I should not be shocked that my JJ all-in pre-flop would lose to an A7, even though I’m the favorite. That’s poker. So maybe my play didn’t suck? Maybe it did though. Because, after all, as a self-proclaimed good player, does it make sense to put myself at the hands of fate like that? OR should I be playing in a way that doesn’t allow fate to decide. Should I not push all-in preflop with JJ facing a re-raise (assuming I know I’m ahead), if I can call and see the Ace flop and then fold? Should I lay down the QQ vs. the AK with the thought that later I can bust the guy with a dominating hand? Hell, I don’t know. But at least I’m starting to ask the right questions.

I tried C-Mitch‘s Step Heads-Up Challenge, playing 2 NL HE games for $5 and winning. I then moved up to $10 and lost. I can’t stand that damn challenge! If you don’t win 3 in a row, you get zilch for your efforts. But I guess it is like and MTT. You will get zilch most of the time, but when you hit, you can hit big.

Veneno and I are playing a mixed-game HU Challenge against each other. The first player to win 3 heads up games gets a poker-related item from the other player. I can’t wait to see what I get. After all, I took the first NLHE game and the second Razz game. I’ll be a gentleman and let her choose what’s next. All games have been taking place on Full Tilt, the new favorite site of High On Poker.

Excuse me for being lazy, but I have yet to choose a date/time for the i-PokerTable WPT Satellite Swarm. I do see, however, that they have a $9+1 freezeout satellite, which will be our game of choice, since I-PokerTable will refund our whole buy-in after the fact. If you want to do this without waiting, feel free. Just email HighOnPoker@i-pokertable.com to request your refund. As a reminder, that is an i-PokerTable email and NOT MINE. I got them to set up the promo, but I’m not working for them and I don’t get ANYTHING for any referrals.

Who woulda thunk it? If you know me, you’d know that I was never a sports nut. In fact, I barely know jack about sports in general, and I have the athletic skill of a 5 year old girl…in traction. But I do like gambling, so, using the techniques in Blink (i.e., just choosing something from a gut feeling), I put $10 on the Steelers +3.5 and $10 on the Seahawks -3.5. I won both. Bro-in-law Marc piggybacked off of my bets and took down some dough too, so this made me doubly proud. Oh, and for the record, I did it all on i-SportsBook, through i-PokerTable. The next step is to take my original $20 and put in on the Seahawks. My reason? I just have a gut feeling.

That’s it for now. I have a busy work week ahead of me in preparation for AC on Wednesday night to Friday. I can’t wait!

I feel like a drunk with the shakes, an irritable cigarette smoker with no smokes in sight, and a junkie addict puking his guts out, all rolled into one. In a figurative way. And it’s all because of Poker. Stupid, stupid poker.

Lately, it seems like I just can’t itch that poker scratch. It’s seen me do some stupid things like book from dinner with two friends in order to show up late for a live PL Omaha H/L game. It’s got me planning weeks in advance for days when I can make it to the card room. It’s got me wishing that I didn’t have a birthday party to go to tomorrow so I could get some time in with little miss MTT. It doesn’t take much, but it added to my dread over having wifey Kim’s dad and stepmom stop by on Sunday!

What’s a man to do?! I’m going to Atlantic City on Wednesday night next week until Friday afternoon and even though it is right around the corner, I just can’t wait! This is not good people. It’s really about the live game more than anything. I just want to play live. And in a poker room with strangers, preferrably (with some of the crew in tow). It’s not even home games that I’m gunning for, even though the competition is usually softer, the stakes more reasonable and the atmosphere kinder.

What the hell is going on? When I feel like this, I think 3 things in this particular order: (1) My desire to play is probably not healthy in this manner. (2) It’s probably a sign that I am unhappy elsewhere and trying to escape. (3) Maybe it’s just that I love the god damn game!

I can’t say that there is anything outright bothering me. It’s a little of the ole malaise. I’ve had a lot of thinking to do about nothing important. It’s worrying for the sake of worrying. Okie Vegas has me concerned because of money issues. And there is the fear of the unknown. Again, stupid, but nonetheless one of those things hanging over me (for no reason). Work is moving smoothly. Wifey Kim is still the best thing to ever happen to me, but I can’t help but feel a bit distracted.

Where DOES poker fall on the priority list? #1 is Wifey Kim, without a moment’s hesitation. That’s why I’ll be with my angel tonight, at dinner and drinks, instead of hanging out with the rest of the degenerates at the WPBT event on Full Tilt (it’s killing me, but it’s gotta be this way). #2 on the list HAS to be family. That’s just the way I roll. #3 is work, and understandably so. #4 is Poker. It’s that simple. Friends fit in there, no doubt. I’ll put them at #5, but I want to make something clear. Some friends are family. Roose is family. Hole is family. Platinum and JDubs are family. #5 are for those other friends.

But let’s get back to #4. How do I justify spending so much time playing poker? The answer, my friends, is that I consider it training. Yep, training! Every day, Olympic athletes go to the gym and practice. Every day, I sign online and play some poker. Sometimes its recreational, like last night when I played and lost 4 SNGs (4-person HU, 2-table NLHE, 1-table Omaha H/L and another 2-table NLHE). But even then I’m exposing myself to the game. I’m absorbing the plays and the nuances.

Online poker, though, is like masturbation. I need other people around to really enjoy my poker. That and a lot of lube, and by lube I mean money, and by money I mean sex. Wait, I think I’ve confused myself.

My point is, I just can’t get no poker satisfaction. Even when I’m not into it, I’m into it. It’s like pizza and sex (again), even when its bad, its good. It’s like sex with a pizza. Yep. Sex with a Pizza.

First, let me say how deeply disappointed I am that I will be unable to play in the HORSE tournament tonight at 10pm on Full Tilt. Weekends are for wifey Kim, and I’m looking forward to spending some time with my girl. But you can all have a great time playing NL Hold’em, Omaha H/L, Razz, Stud, and Stud H/L with ThisIsNotApril and other bloggers and readers. When you win, dedicate it to HighOnPoker!

This You Decide is a demonstration in Donkosity by yours truly. I don’t like the play I made, but I do think it may have had some redeeming qualities, regardless of the results. The set up is easy. Here we go:

I am in the BB in the first hand of a $5 18-person NLHE SNG on PokerStars. I am dealt AA. Four players limp in. The SB completes. I have AA. I push all-in. Everyone folds.

There you have it. On one hand, pushing all-in nets me 100 profit (1500 starting chips, 10/20 blinds) without fear of KJ hitting two-pair of A9 hitting a 992 flop. On the other hand, I could have thinned the herd, potentially, with a lower raise and been more profitable while minimizing (but not removing) the chance of a suckout.

Discuss. I’ll be here waiting.

This You Decide is brought to you by the letters STR and the number 8!

I’m reading a book called Blink because, well, my boss mentioned it and I thought it would be good to follow up and see what it was all about. Yeah, I’m a bit of a suck-up, but I like reading and the book is both interesting and different from my usual commuter book. The basic concept of Blink is that we call subconciously make decisions or formulate ideas in a blink of an eye. Those decisions or ideas are sometimes wrong, but are often surprisingly right, even when we don’t know why we decided or thought something.

In that vein, last night I went online to play a quick SNG while wifey Kim chatted on the phone and subjected me to American Idol. I chose my games with a sorta Blink strategy, going with what felt right. I ended up at a 6-person (turbo, I think) $12 SNG at PokerStars, and I placed in 2nd. I would’ve placed 1st, but when we got heads up it was back and forth, with me finally having to bite the bullet on a weak hand when my opponent got lucky and caught a card on the turn. Up until that point, I was ahead and knew I was ahead. But that’s how it goes. In the very next hand, my flush draw didn’t come through and I was out, from chip leader to 2nd place in no time. But my table selection was right for my mood, mind, and bankroll, and the decision was made in the blink of an eye. Up $13 or so, I wasn’t feeling like squeezing anything else in before Lost, so I shut down the comp.

A half-hour later, wifey Kim insisted on watching some of Skating with the Stars (never again. NEVER AGAIN!!) I hopped online again to play a little more. Having no time for an SNG (my recent game of choice), I decided to play what felt right in a blink. Although I hadn’t played limit in some time, and I hadn’t played limit on PokerStars ever, this was where I ended up. The results were fantastic. In no time, I was up over $20. All in all, I couldn’t have played for more than 15 minutes at 1/2. I was hitting cards AND I was playing well, maximizing profits on hands like A2 when the flop comes down A25. Of course, the preflop raiser in late position will bet on the flop, so I check to him. He bets. I hesitate and call. The other player folds. The turn doesn’t really matter, because I have this guy pegged on AT, AJ, AQ, or AK, or a mid to high pocket pair. I check the turn, and he bets. I wait a moment and re-raise. He calls. The river, well, who cares? I bet the river, he calls, and I take my money. Good timing, active listening (i.e., paying attention to my players), all of these things came together. I even got PokerAceHud to work, but I still haven’t worked out the nuances of what anything means.

A winning night, and all because of instinct to choose the right games. I’m already anticipating tonight.

This post was brought to you by the letter T and the number 6, and the hand Royal Flush.

It’s true, it’s true. This blog has been viewed 25,000 times! This is a watershed moment for the blog. Let’s take a moment to reflect….

Okay. Enough of that. But check it. On October 17, 2005, I had 10,000 hits. That took seven months or so, from March to that date. Now, in just three short months, I’ve more than doubled that figure.

I’d like to give thanks, but there are too many people. So, let me do a short version. Let me thank all of the established bloggers who helped me get started and read my blog. Thank you to all of my contemporaries who grew with me in our blogging endeavors. Thank you to all of the new additions.

In that vein, I’d like to give back. So, I present you with THIS GUY! I know what you are thinking. Who the hell is that tool? Be nice! Well, he’s a new blogger, just like some of you. I recently found his blog because he had a link to my site up. Once I read what he had to say, I was floored. This gentleman, known as the Poker Champ, is either the craziest mofo blogging around (and not in an Animal House way, more of a self-grandizing delusional way) or he’s a freakin’ genius. Some of his plays and opinions are absolutely off the wall! Now, a lot of people don’t agree with how I play certain hands. But this guy actually encourages not raising with premium hands because he doesn’t want to chase out the other players in what he calls, tourist-filled SNGs. I mean, I’m not doing a good job of explaining why I think this guy is off of the wall. But check it out. It’s like watching Phil Hellmuth Jr. (and he’ll take that as a compliment).

By the way, I don’t mean to just slam the guy. I like the outrageousness of his posts and his attitude. That goes a long way at High On Poker.

Also, I-PokerTable and I have been discussing and we’ve ironed out some kinks. If you go to their website and check out their promos, its been made a lot clearer. Unfortunately, you have to email them to get the 20% bonus (up to $100, when depositing through Neteller). In addition, I’ve ironed out details on the promo offered only through HighOnPoker. If you sign up, you can play up to $10 in WPT Satellites and get comped the entire buy-in after the fact. You can potentially play 3 $3 Satellites, but I plan on blowing my load all at once. Once you’ve played the satellite, just email my main man Nermin at highonpoker@i-pokertable.com. But, once again, that’s Nermin, not me, and I do not work for I-PokerTable.

I plan on going online tonight and choosing a weeknight for the I-PokerTable WPT Satellite Swarm, where we’ll all play in a satellite together. Keep an eye out, ladies.

As always, be good to yourself, and each other.

Last night, after a dinner with college buds JDubs and Jefe, I bolted from the restaurant and hoofed it ten blocks to an indistinct building in mid-town. While JDubs and Jefe were taking their time using the bathrooms and preparing for the winter cold, I was heading out the door like a bat out of hell, with the look of crazy in my eyes.

That indistinct building on an indistinct street in that indistinct neighborhood held something particularly important to me….a card room. And when I arrived at 7:45, fifteen minutes after the scheduled start of the nightly tournament, I was hoping that they would let me jump in late. As it turned out, the table was full and I was 2nd on the waitlist. But what made the night even more interesting was the game being played…Pot Limit Omaha 8b!

By the time I sat down, the blinds were already 50/100. I started with a 3000 stack, but the blinds were moving every 15 minutes, and the action was slow. I mean s……….l……….o………….wait is that a split pot? What about the side action? He had a low, didn’t he? Split the side pot and then split the main pot? What is the pot right now? I bet the pot? No way is that the pot! That’s too low…………………w.

But grin and bear it I did. I chipped up after folding a bunch of hands. I then lost to a river against the chipleader, putting me on a small stack (just like everyone else at the table, seemingly). In the end, I pushed when blinds were 150/300 and the chip leader called. She rivered me with a flush (to my made straight) and rivered my low! Keee-rist! 6th place out of 13th, $60 down the drain. But what a time.

Besides the slowness, it was an odd table. There were four elderly ladies who all came together. No one was feeling any of my humor, but the Golden Girls and I all got along well enough in a grandmas/impetulant grandson sort of way. One guy was the worst table captain I ever saw, harassing the old ladies on every play. It was unbearable to watch.

In general, it was one of the most annoying games I’ve ever played in because of all of the tension. I mean, people were constantly second-guessing the dealers and each other. And in most instances, they were right. At one point, the blinds were 200/400 and I was UTG. I said, “I bet the pot.” I let the dealer count it out. “600.” I thought nothing of it an put 600 in front of me. When it got to the blinds, the BB was confused. “I only have to put in 200 more?” Then I realized, I didn’t even make a minimum bet (which would’ve been to 800 total), let alone a pot sized bet. To make it even more ridiculous, the dealer asked me if I’d like to call the floor person. Floor person!?! Fine, let’s do it. But understand that he is going to look at you like an idiot. 600 my ass. In addition, the dealers in general were given bad directions. They weren’t considering “calls” when players wanted to be the pot. What I mean is, if the blinds are 100/200, and you are first to act and want to raise the pot, you can raise up to 700 total (100 SB + 200BB +200 your call = 500 RAISE, on top of your 200 call). All too often, the dealer would say, “You can raise it up to 500 total.” Most players had no idea that this was a mistake, so I kept quiet. I just wanted the action to move. After all, in any given blind level, we were barely getting in 6 hands anyway. Nuts!

Next week, they are switching to Limit Omaha 8b. I won’t be able to make it, but hopefully I will the week after. The Omaha 8b tourney was nuts and annoying, but it was also interesting. Because, NLHE is a great game, but every now and again, it’s good to change it up.

I’m heading to AC next week and I’m fucking giddy. I got a free room at the Resorts and Showboat, so I’m using them both for Wed and Thurs night. My usual partners in crime, Roose and Hole, are planning on attending. The tournaments are building up there, in number. Its the week of the Borgata Open, so maybe we’ll stop by there for some star gazing, but otherwise I plan on getting in on the $40+10 at Showboat and $50+15 at Resorts. I can’t help but feel, though, that I’d be better off at NLHE cash games, so I’ll be doing that too. The possibilities are endless.

This post is brought to you by the letter J, the number 7, and the suit club!

I had some minor problems with the computers yesterday. One would freeze. The other was having connection problems. Its kind of funny how these things tend to pile up.

I feel like crap today, and I can’t quite put my finger on it. Last night was great. Wifey Kim had off from work, so I asked her to cook me dinner. I am the chef of the house, so I didn’t know what to expect. I was even more concerned when I was on the phone with her while she was cooking and she said, “Uh oh, I think I need more orange juice!” Orange Juice? I thought. Well, maybe she’s doing breakfast for dinner. As it turned out, wifey Kim made a orange-glazed chicken dish that fantastic. I can’t lie though, I was skeptical at first.

After that, I put together a new shelf system for wifey Kim’s closet. There is something about putting together furniture that I love. However, like many times in the past, I worked faster than I read (the directions) and had more than a few troubles disassembling the peice before putting it together the “right” way.

When that was done, I squeezed in some Razz at FullTilt. I got GCox to join me, but then I left the comp to find my headset. I couldn’t find it anywhere, to my dismay. I then returned to the computer for a couple of hands. GCox can vouch for the fact that I ran roughshod over a player to my right. I held 44/4, one of the worst hands in Razz. I looked around and saw that few low cards were out. I was also ready and willing to gamble, so I completed the bet (essentially, raised) and watched all but one player fold. The next card dealt to me was a J, to my opponents low card. I decided to continuation bet. Hell, maybe his low card paired one of his hole cards. No luck though. My opponent called. The next card for me was an Ace, if memory serves correct. My opponent got a K. I bet, he folds, and I show my blatant bluff.

On the very next hand, I am dealt 37/6. I decide to push it as far as it would go. As the hand progresses, I’m dealt a an 8, Q, and K and T (37/68QK/T. My opponent, the same guy as before, is dealt (approximately), XX/46J6/X. We take turns betting or calling, with the aggressor changing with each card. With Razz, at some point, you are priced in. I mean, if you lost you lost, but what I saw was that my T8763 may have been good. I knew that before the river I had a good chance of drawing to an 8-low if an Ace, 2, 4, or 5 came down. I’d also have a decent chance if a 9 came down. Knowing that my opponent was tilting, I thought I was a 50/50 chance to win with the river dealt. I thought that he may have had two low cards in the hole, but it was just as likely that he held a crappy card in there. In the end, he called with T9/46J4/7, for a T9764 hand, and I won the pot. It was all about getting him to a point where he thought my aggression was pure posturing. Ka ching! Up $20 or so, my connection or computer gave out.

The rest of the night was really just jumping around. I sat at a NLHE table for about 20 seconds. I went back to Razz and lost $9. It was pretty aimless.

Maybe that is the malaise. I feel aimless. Everything is in its place, at the office, at home, at…well, everywhere else. Yet I feel like there is no direction. Nothing to strive for. Nothing to reach to.

I love this poker and I need to spend more time on it. I have to play at least once a week live. I really need to play twice a week live. Online play has lost its luster (for about the 6th time since I started playing online), and I need to find it again. I think the key will be MTTs, which offer the chance for a larger reward. Lately, though, it seems like I can’t get a chance to dedicated 4 hrs to a game. It’s a conundrum. I love poker, but I can’t let it take over my time too much. Damn you delicious vice! Damn you to hell!

This post was brought to you by the letter Q, the number 8, and the suit diamonds!