High On Poker

Apparently, talk of the various Challenges has gotten some peoples’ poker juices flowing. Personally, out of them all, there is one that stands out to me and has piqued my interest for another round. That would be the 45-SNG Challenge. The 45-SNG Challenge involves a set amount of players playing fifteen 45-person SNGs (on Pokerstars). Players win points based on their placement in the tournaments, with the points weighted, so that 1st place gets 10 and 7th gets 1. At the end of the 15 tournaments or when the time runs out (generally four weeks), the highest scorers get the dough. Buy-in is usually $25. The benefit of the 45SNGC is that you can play whenever, and I prefer those multi-table long-form tournaments. Also, we each have a set number of entries, and while I won’t go into it here just yet, let me assure you that we have a system to work it all out. Drewspop was the commissioner of the 2nd 45-SNGC, but I’d be glad to take up the mantle again. Shortcomings include the fact that those tourneys can take some time, and we’d have to stick with PokerStars.

If its not the 45SNGC, I think the next best option is the HU Challenge. In fact, I think this is a damn close choice, since the HU Challenge is easy to coordinate. The mantle was taken up last time by commissioner Veneno for the HUC2, but I’d be glad to act as host (or co-host for HUC3). One thought has the players across the pond (led and/or organized, perhaps, by Little Acorn Man) having their own bracket, versus a US/Canada bracket. The winner of the North American and the ROW (Rest of the World) brackets would face off. I even have a cute name, HUC3: An International Affair.

Limit Challenges and SNG Challenges are very different animals. It’s based on time and the players are allowed to play as much (or as little) as they like within a given period. Both are entirely based on an honor system, so I’d be wary about running them unless the group was small and trustworthy. Of course, I’ll gladly do a Limit Challenge heads-up with anyone, if interested. I’m playing Limit primarily anyway.

Now, what is my real concern. Well, #1, DADI X has got to be first on my list of priorities. I take a lot of pride in our monthly tournaments and this is the 10th such event. With the proliferation of blogger events (without links, sorry guys, and listed by day of the week, Mondays at the Hoy, WWdn, Mookie, CC’s new tournament, WWdn Not The, donk2shark, WPBT, and the Big Game), its important that I do everything I can to make DADI X stand out. Truth be told, ten might be a damn fine time to retire the DADI events. I haven’t spoken with my cohorts about this directly, but they take a decent amount of work to get started and even more anticipation. There is always that feeling that not enough people will show up, and the need for these events (remember, they started when WPBT was on hiatus and the only weekly blogger tournament was the WWdn) has dwindled. Something to think about.

So, here is what I’ve come up with from all of this. HUC3 looks like the way to go. I’m looking for all comers. Exact rules are not set yet, but it will be like the HUC1 and HUC2 (which had slightly different rules between the two, but overall were the same). The buy-in (i.e., sidebet prize pool) is $25, plus the individual costs of the HU games. Players will be encouraged to play on Full Tilt, but we can accomodate for Stars potentially. Anyone interested should leave a comment. I will choose a nice round number based on responses. I’ll also contact Acorn to see if dem foreigners want a piece of the USA (and USA North).

Until next time, make mine DADI poker!

Before we get going, DADI X is now available at FullTilt for registration. Personally, I have to earn myself a $26 token before I register, otherwise I’d already be signed up.

Likewise, I need to work on earning a $75 token for the Big Game, returning this Sunday. I don’t know if I can actually play this one, but if not, then its only a matter of time before I return.

Poker-wise, I had a -$100 day yesterday. No harm done though, as I’m close to my year total goal of winning $1800. When I last checked, I was at $1700+, but after this loss, I’m sure its about $1600+. Still, with more than two months left, I’m feeling good, even if I am going to sink $170 on my half of the $300+40 buy-in to the December 9th WSOP Circuit event at Atlantic City. That’s right, “my half”, since I have a backer willing to go 50/50 with me. When I made the deal, $340 was a lot of money. Now, I’m thinking that I could go at it without a backer, but frankly, I bet that knowing that I’m playing for two will actually help my game. If you are interested in heading to AC that weekend, shoot me an email.

I’m also planning on going to Foxwoods on Nov. 18th weekend, although the exact time/date is uncertain. I don’t have anywhere to stay, either, so I need to look into hotels/motels. Foxwoods is pretty expensive, so I’m thinking about just finding a crappy place nearby. I don’t expect to do much drinking, but I better think long and hard before committing myself in any direction. Worse come to worse, I play all night and head back to NJ in the morning. Yep, NJ, not NY. Why? Because apparently renting a car from Newark Airport is about 1/4 of the price as renting one from NYC, even though its only a 20 minute train ride away. +EV for me! Oh, and if you’re going to be around for the trip, email me as well. First drink is on me.*

As for my actual play, I showed hints of my awfukit self last night when playing two HU SNGs. They were $5, both intended to be against Veneno, but she dragged her ass on the first one and forced me to play against a person I don’t care about for an amount of money I don’t care about. By the time I was against V, I was still in a tilt-ish state, but I don’t say this to discount her win. She earned it, even if she doesn’t like poker anymore.

Other than that, my losses came from the variance of limit poker in its various formats. I’ve seen other people have gone back to limit grinding, and it never stops amazing me (I would’ve said seizes to amaze me, but I’m unsure of which ceases to use and I’m too lazy to look it up) how people look down on limit poker. I’ve done it myself in the past, but I’d venture that if some of you spent some time at limit, it would help your NL game. That’s not to knock your NL game. It’s just to say that LHE and NLHE aren’t all that different, and the differences in LHE can actually help your NLHE game by forcing you to emphasize parts of your NLHE game that may’ve gone stale. But, hey, if you don’t like limit, don’t play it. The competition at FT so far is pretty soft, and I don’t need a bunch of blogger and reader card sharks swimming in my pond.

The more I play, the more it throws me back to days gone by when DNasty13 and I played our limit challenge. We both started with $50, and limit according to a bankroll chart (posted HERE), in order to see who could make the most in a month. I won, winning $25 in the process, our sidebet. This was the progenitor of the SNG Challenge, HU Challenge, and 45-SNG Challenge, so it did a lot for me poker-wise and blog-wise.

Part of the joy of Limit poker (O8, HE, and Stud games) is that I can play 2/4 and lately 3/6 with utter comfort. Mentally, leaving behind the change (i.e., .25/.50 NL and .50/1 NL) has been refreshing. I’m really excited to play live limit, but I know once I get to a casino, I’ll invariably be tempted by NL. I know me so well. There is a live game in the city though that is supposedly $5/10 LO8 and if anyone knows any details, please pass it along. I feel primed for that game.

I really want to play in some of the blogger tourneys this week, but wifey Kim asked me yesterday, “Are you going to be on their all night?” Wifey Kim is the patron saint of patience (and enabling!) so for her to suggest otherwise is a clear indication that I might want to change my behaviors a bit. Also, I think I’m pretty much required to go to Roose’s home game on Wednesday because (a) wifey Kim will be watching skinny models change on television with her friends, (b) my backer, Scotty, will be at the game and I want to give him an update, and (c) I’ve won in my last 4 or more trips to the game. How could I not go?

I guess that’s enough of my boring spewing for today. I’m tired and back to a busy work schedule, so good luck to you all and good luck to me too.

Until next time, make mine poker!

*Offer only applicable to the tip for complimentary drinks served on the casino floor. Not to be combined with any other offers.

Yep. It’s true. My poker play of late would easily have me labeled as such. Last night in the RiverChasers tournament, I channeled the old Jordan and used Gus Hanson like hand selection to confuse my opponents and get paid off when I hit big (like KT on the KT2 flop against AK, or T8 on the T85 flop against QQ). It isn’t luckboxing, really. It’s just playing a loose preflop game in the hopes of hitting or at least successfully bluffing post-flop. The amount of action I give induces the action I get when I flop top set with QQ and my opponent has middle pair.

But that is not the only way that I’m an asshole. I also acted like an asshole during the last WWdn, in which I placed 3rd. I never mean to be an asshole, and this situation was the perfect example. I was one of the big stacks, and a player on my immediate right, Decker, doubled through me when I made a stupid play with middle-pair to his top-pair. I knew I was dead in the water too, but I still made the stupid play.

Decker decided to be cute and offered a hardy, “Thanks” in the chat box. Now, I’m not against a lil smack talk, so I decided to shoot some back at him, mostly for the hell of it. I wasn’t too pissed, but if he was going to sling it, I’ll throw some back. “No problem. Just make sure to return it with interest.“

This is where it got interesting. It was a clever table quip I threw out, and he responded, “That’s funny.” It’s a nice compliment, and I let it sit there for a bit, but I also saw another opportunity to be a wiseass. “I wasn’t kidding.” I deadpanned. As it sat in the air, I essentially realized that I declared war on Decker. I had publicly stated my intention to get all of my chips back, so why not put it out there. “I’m taking my chips back.”

And the great part was, I did. With each folded blind, I’d add “That’s a start” or “A little more.” It wasn’t incessant, but if I were him and someone just called me out like that, I’d be semi-worried. It is mostly about saving face, on both of our ends, really. If I let him take the rest of my stack (or even a blind), I’d look like an uber chump. Once I felt that he was feeling that pressure too, I turned it on, making more moves merely because he was in the pot. And as I said, it worked. I took back every last chip.

Sorry, Decker. It was nothing personal. I wasn’t even really annoyed in the least from your statements. It was just a game within a game, similar to how a last longer bet can beget better play. When I had a stated goal, fleecing you of your stack, I had an extra reason to pay attention – pride. So, yeah, I may’ve been a bit of an asshole. But that’s poker, I guess.

Would I do it again? Hell yeah. I didn’t even really mean to do it in the first place. But sometimes, these things just fall into place. Someone beats you and you focus in on them. You make a bad play and you decide to play better. Someone says something harmless and it opens a door for you to dominate that player mentally. That’s what I did, really. I dominated him mentally, and from there dominated him in the game.

If there is one thing that really gets me excited about poker, it is this psychological aspect. You can play a great game with shit cards if you can get inside of their heads. Sometimes, while you are in there, go ahead and rearrange the furnitute. Mess with them a bit and mold them to where you want them to be. Hell, if it weren’t a part of poker, we’d all just be playing with bots.

Until next time, make mine poker!

Did you ever have one of these experiences in High School or College, when a friend tells you about a party, and you figure it’ll be a good time so you get all dressed up and ready to get some tail, but then you show up with your friend and you see a couple of people that you know, but the overwhelming majority are people that you don’t know, and they are dressed in entirely different style clothing as you, and while you are at the keg trying to fill up your plastic cup someone says, hey, and you are all, hey, because you don’t know anyone really, but you are trying to fit in to get the free beer, and they are all like, how did you hear about the party, and you are all like, my friend, but they don’t really know your friend, so you just feel like a tool crashing a party.

Yeah, well that was me last night, but at the end of the party I pulled out a gun and took the place for about $215.

Wifey Kim was passing out early last night, due to her two nights in beautiful Albany, NY at a conference for her state-wide cerebral palsy company. It was not even 10, so I reached for my comp to see what was available. I had missed the donk2shark tournament, and WWdn Not wasn’t starting for a while. slb, always handy for some useful info, shot me an IM, asking if I was going to play in Al‘s RiverChasers tournament. I knew that Al had pimped it, but I didn’t know much else. Regardless, if slb was in, I was game, and while I was at it, I grabbed GCox to enter the tournament.

When it started, I was seated at my own table with a bunch of non-bloggers. Quite frankly, it was obvious. The players in the tournament were pretty weak. It reminded me of playing in a brick and mortar casino, actually, because, in my experience, the lower limits at the casino are often weaker (in a different way) than some of the online games. I believe its that recreational player, the one who is so new to the game that playing online isn’t really on the radar yet. It’s a home game mentality, when the homegame is played by a bunch of guys more interested in the beer (and weed?) than the intricacies of poker. Sure, they are playing to win, but they don’t look beyond the two cards in front of them.

So it went. Meanwhile, I played a $8.70 turbo token race (eventually placing in 6th for $5.30 profit, but no token). RiverChasers was going well, because continuation bets had meaning again, and players were fairly loose and readable. One player, AlCantHang supporting cast member Landow, spent a lot of time with me at a table. He was in a lot of pots, and Full Tilt’s hand history option helped me get a solid read on him. When I’m in a game at FT and I’m trying to gauge a player, I find the best thing is to his the hand history button and quickly click through the hands. FT shows you the table with the exposed hands (including hands MUCKED at showdown) in the players’ seats. So, I look at Landow’ position at the table and quickly click through, stopping at any hand he exposed. JTo, A4o, KJo, all from a position other than a blind. So, clearly, Landow was seeing a lot of cheap flops with any ace and any 20 hand (think blackjack when I say 20). It actually is a very good strategy to use in a game like this, since stealing post flop was fairly easy. But since I knew his range, I made a goodly sum off of Landow here and there, raising him with air when I thought appropriate and dragging him along slowly when I hit my monsters.

By the time I got to the final table, I was in the top 3. Now, this was no small tourney. I don’t remember how many players were in, but we were over 40, I think. 7 spots paid. As we got to that bubble, I used some of the new techniques I’ve been learning in the blogosphere and went into my usual aggro chip-stealing mode. I didn’t fully commit to protecting the small stacks, ala Lucko, but I did seize the opportunity to become a super-stack. By three-way, we were back to fairly even, but I eventually slowplayed my JT, after the QJJ flop, and got another player to commit with his Ace high (maybe that Ace came on the turn). Heads up lasted all of two hands, when I pushed with 75k to his 15k in the first hand with Q9s (he folded), and then he pushed on the very next hand against my AKs.

2nd place actually went to one of the event coordinators, and apparently there was a bounty on his head, $11 to enter their next event. Come to think of it, I’m not sure that the $$ was transfered yet, but whatever the case, it was a great tournament, and a great group. After I was done, someone asked how I heard of the tournament and whether I was an RC. I said, “No, I heard of it from AlCantHang.” Their response, which I am not making up, was, “of course you aren’t from RC. you can play.” Um, thank you. And I’ll be back too.

Now, I’d post the banner, but I really did feel like I was crashing a party, so I won’t perpetuate the crashiness of it all. But I’ll be back. It’s only right, since I should defend my title. And frankly, it was some of the most fun I’ve had in a tourney in a while. Winning doesn’t hurt, either.

I have a story that I will save for later regarding my 3rd place finish in this week’s WWdn. I will, however, direct your attention to new link Fuel55, aka Creativity Breeds Madness. Thanks to Google Reader (and before that Bloglines), I’ve been expanding my reading list, and this guy is tops. I’m still not a fan of bare hand histories (a narrative would be nice every once in a while), but when its chock full of good strategy and excellent play, a bare hand history can be very helpful. He’s also one of the bloggers who were published in the FullTilt poker blog. So, give Fuel a read and you can thank me later.

Until next time, make mine poker!

Ooh, I like the sound of that!

Full Tilt Poker is running a “promotion” where they have asked people to submit blog entries. If they choose your blog entry, they’ll publish it at FT’s blog, and give you $50.

When I entered the contest with my Inverse Aggressions Heads Up Theory, I didn’t have high hopes. But it was probably one of my more unique poker theory posts of late and it didn’t cost me anything to send it, so why not?!

Well, congratulations to me. FT has chosen to publish my post. And if you want to read it, check it out HERE.

It also seems to be one of the first posts in which I adopted my now standard signoff. So, until next time, make mine Full Tilt Poker!

PS- Congrats to Iakaris for being published by FT as well.

Here’s a fun one for you Limit fans out there. We are at Full Tilt playing 2/4 limit hold’em. I am on the button with AKs. Generally, I play fairly loose at these limit games. I’m not one to go running into a fire with a water gun, but I am willing to squirt a little at the window to see if the fire is burning as bright as it looks. In other words, I play a fairly wide range of hands, especially in position, and have no problem laying pressure on my opponents. But I’m selective, and I’m always conscious of the other guys’ ability to actually have a hand. I say this all for two reasons: (1) my table image may appear loose, as though I’m playing a lot of hands and playing aggressively overall, and (2) I’m really playing a very selective careful game.

It folds to me, and with suited AK in a shorthanded limit game, there is really no reason to mess around. I raise from $2 to $4. In many of these situations, you’ll get called by any two cards, included K6s or Q9o. Players just want to believe that you are stealing, especially when you seem to be playing a lot of hands aggressively.

The small blind, ComedyOfErrors (COE) calls. From his name alone, we know that he has a sarcastic or ironic sense of humor. That leads me to believe, at least partially, that he is likely to be a bit loose. He is likely not a very straight-laced, tight type of player (or person).

The flop is a beautiful Ac 6s 5h. It checks to me, and I check as well. This is a classic situation I find myself in. On many occassions, the right move would be to bet, since your opponent may think you are bluffing (there is little credibility in shorthanded limit, or so I’ve found). But he will have to call from out of position, and it is HIGHLY likely that even if he thought I had nothing preflop, just seeing that Ace will scare him off. It is also extremely likely that he has not hit the board. An Ace would have bet out, thinking that I’d call down with an inferior hand, since I was the initial aggressor.

The turn is a 6d, and I’m worried for about .5 seconds until COE checks. He doesn’t have the 6 either. I’m confident because there is no reason NOT to bet here, if he had it. Hell, he would’ve bet on the flop with a 6, knowing that the Ace might scare me off even if I have a pocket pair about a 6. What do I do? If I bet, we have the same situation as the flop, only WORSE. The $4 bet into the $10 pot is even scarier than the $2 bet that would’ve come on the flop. So, betting really is out of the question, since I’m confident that I am ahead, but I am also confident that he is willing to fold. I’ll only have one more card coming, so I also want to set him up to think that I was either trying to steal preflop and have since missed the flop entirely, or that I am very scared of that Ace-high flop. I also want to give him a chance to catch a hand. I check.

The river is a 3h. Finally, COE takes the bait and bets. I pause for a moment, channeling my inner-Hoy, and raise. He calls. At showdown, he has K3c. I take down the pot.

So, what happened here? First, I recognized that I was ahead the whole way, and I used that to maximize the amount of chips I could get. I know his range is very wide because of the way this 2/4 limit table is playing. The flop is golden for me, but I know it likely hasn’t hit him, so I have to give him a chance to catch up. The turn is negligible, since it matches the flop. He finally hits on the river and bets out of position. It’s an easy raise for me, but I stall to continue the story I’m selling.

In Hoy terms, I was telling him that I was trying to steal the blinds with position. Maybe I had KQo, and the flop missed me so I went into a turtle shell. By the time he hits the tiny river card, he thinks he’s got me. Clearly, no one would check it down with the Ace…or would they.

Interestingly, you can make the best money when you switch up your play from the usual. Tight players can make their most money when they loosen up on a given hand and scare away their competition. Loose players can make the most money when they slowplay their made hands. Really, this statement isn’t succinct. What I really mean to say is that the Big hands, be them in a tournament or cash game, will come when you play against your type. You’ve seen in my last several You Decides that I seem to get paid best when I play slow, like the AA hand when I got my opponent to push into me. This isn’t a new concept either, so I won’t pretend that I made it up here. But I wouldn’t mind a tight player (GCox, perhaps) to offer some insight into how profitable they are when they switch to an aggressive bluff in any given hand.

The other thing is the general concept behind Limit Hold’em. It is all about each individual bet. Here was a hand where I was able to painstakingly extract an extra 2 BBs ($8). If it was played in an ABC-poker format, those 2 BBs would’ve been lost. There is always opportunities to extract more, just as there are always opportunities to save money, when the times arise. In another hand I didn’t save, I bet the whole way, even capping the flop, but the river sealed my fate. It was just another $4, but when you know you are dead, its time to fold. All the money in the pot won’t save me from wasting that $4. That is Limit Hold’em, slugging it out for every single bet you can get.

Truth be told, I’ve been playing limit games practically exclusively lately. At first, it was under the guise that limit was a safer way to grind through my bonuses. I didn’t have to worry about a single suckout or mental fart losing me $100 in a hand. But after I settled in, I really started to enjoy it. The plays are a lot less complicated (betting amounts are set, so no thought there, for instance), and the shorthanded games allow me to play fairly loosely. I also love the fact that my bets are for 2-4$ (and sometimes higher), amounts that I can easily picture in my head, as opposed to raising to $2 preflop in a NL game, which just seems to be a mass of chips only in my head. It’s the same bet, but its just easier to quantify in limit. Multi-tabling is easier, thanks to PokerTracker and AceHud, and the level of competition seems basically easy.

In other words, Limit Poker is a shitload of fun. That’s where I’ll be for the time being, earning my rake (I just took down my first $18.75 of the $187.50 bonus) and running up my roll. My roll is currently down to about $600-700 after my recent withdrawal, so I can use all the bonus and bankroll padding I can get.

Back to the grind for me. Meanwhile, go read yourself a great story by poker role model Scott McMoneybags (McDreamy has been co-opted, as we all well know, but I believe it started with Scott McM before that silly doctor show), and take a look at the 101 Ways to Improve Your Game by that Surly Poker Gnome from a couple of days ago.

Until next time, make mine (limit) poker!

(Hand 2):

We are in level 5, 75/150 blinds, and I have 5,637. I’m now the third largest stack at the table, but the players under me have about 2500 or less (except for one player with 3600). I’m in the BB with AA and rico, in EP with 2507, calls the 150. The SB, Decker with 1,135, calls. I make a standard raise to 450 (300 more), and rico calls. Decker folds.

The flop is 6h 7d Th. It’s semi-coordinated, but nothing really scares me. With the preflop call, I don’t put him on 67 and I don’t have any reason to think that he hit a set. I raise 450, happy to take it there if he missed entirely. Instead, he raises 450 more to 900. I flat call.

The turn is a 5c. I check now, because he only has 1,157 left. I expect him to make a move on this pot no matter what (it’s now over 2k). Sure enough, he obliges and pushes. I call.

The river is 5s. I take it down, as he has ATo, for TPTK.

I’m not sure what to make of this hand. At the time, I was confident I was ahead the whole way. I also had enough chips to take a loss, if needed. We see that the results were optimal (I stacked my opponent), but did I overexpose myself on that flop? Should I have pushed on the flop after the raise? Any other suggestions?

That’s it for now. I’ve had a slew of hand history analysis lately, but these things come in groupings. If Loki reads this humble blog, I would like your input on the first hand. Otherwise, comment away, you critical bastards.

Wifey Kim is back in NYC tonight and I can’t wait to see her. Two days without her saw me eating crappy food, making a mess of the apartment, staying up too late, and playing too much poker. In other words, I was in sheer bliss for about 4 hours, until I could see the depravity that my life would become without my lovely wifey Kim. She is my alpha and my omega, or for you card players, she is my 2d and my As. So her return is eagerly anticipated. Thanks for reading. Now go do something productive, damnit!

Until next time, make mine (wifey Kim and) poker!

Work has been slower than usual at the office, to the point that I actually find myself looking for work by the end of the day (and sometimes at the beginning). I’m in an interesting situation with my career. I really enjoy my firm. I have a good amount of autonomy, they don’t overwork us, and the pay is good. But I can’t help but feel like it is my job to be a good soldier, i.e., I follow the order of those higher in the hierarchy and do so without complaining. This, overall, is a good thing. But when this good soldier lacks work to do, he gets antsy. I’d rather be in deployment then resting easy.

With that in my head, at about 5:30 yesterday, I looked at the calendar and saw that today would be an interruption-free day, for better or worse. Late in the day, however, a new client was coming in, so I seized the opportunity. The head honcho was nearby and I asked, “Can I join you on the client intake tomorrow?” “Sure. Any reason?” I leveled with him, “Nothing in particular, but my workload is lighter than usual, so I wouldn’t mind picking something up.” I returned to my office, but mere moments later, Honcho popped his head into my door. “Would you mind coming in for a minute?” I joined him in his office. “So, work is light?” “Lighter than usual. I think I’m used to having a bit more.” “Litigation is like that. It’s like a rollercoaster of highs and lows. You have to enjoy the lulls.”

Just then, my Team Leader entered the office. He needed to speak to the Honcho. As I stood up, they asked me to shut the door. I was back in my office at 6 pm. I’m not used to leaving before 6:30, but I took the Honcho’s words to heart. “Enjoy the lulls.” I got my ass out of there before Honcho’s door could reopen.

That’s how things are going in the office. Its all good, fortunately, but having free time during the workday is something I’m not generally comfortable with. When I left the office, I opted to skip the Salami underground game in favor of heading home. Salami wouldn’t start for over an hour, and I wanted to relax. Wifey Kim is gone on a speech conference, so I had the place all to myself. I set up the laptop and nuked some leftovers from last night’s dinner. I busted in two MTTs and a $8.70 Token race within an hour. Later on in the night, I’d face my first bout of negative variance at the 2/4 LO8 tables (and 3/6 for about 20 minutes) before calling it quits as a loser. The apartment was a mess. I got little sleep. I ate crappy food. Thank god wifey Kim will be back on Wednesday. I’m a freakin’ slob without her.

While I’m here, let me take a moment to discuss the Big Game. I’m hesitant to try for the next one, mostly because I found it so intense. I played the Big Game like I should always play poker. I minimized distractions, insisting that wifey Kim watch one of her programs that disinterested me. I kept away from the booze and narcotics. I focused on the play, watching my PokerTracker stats and how the table was generally playing.

In short, I played poker like it was supposed to be played, and aside from my bonehead plays late in the game, borne out of necessity more than desperation, I was very proud of my play. This is what makes the Big Game different from the rest, and I would suggest, better. For all of you who wrongly complain that blogger events are full of donktastic play, this is the game for you. I have to imagine that most of the players, if not all, had the same mentality. Here was a tournament where you could win over a grand by outlasting last than 50 players. Concentration was well worth that price. The fact that the players were common to blogger games was also a boon for the Big Game, since there is even more accountability. Winning this event meant stating to the blogosphere that you could play big poker when necessary. It meant padding our bankrolls in a big way with a near free buy-in. It meant that knowing your fellow blogger was a real benefit, and knowing how to adapt to what others knew about you was too. Here was a game where all the reads mattered because everyone had the same thought in their heads: $1000.

You could argue (I won’t, but YOU could) that in the other blogger events, people are not playing for that 1st prize as much. They are playing to socialize and donk around, and play crappy cards like the hammer because its all in fun. But you can’t say the same for the Big Game, even though a lot of the socializing and fun is there too. When someone plays the hammer at the WWdn, it’s because they are having fun and showing off. When someone plays it at the Big Game, it’s because they are making a very ballsy steal and trying to tilt players.

Maybe I’m making too much of the difference, but it was how I felt. So, in closing, I guess I might be playing the next Big Game. I’ll definitely be playing them into the future as well. Don hit something big here, and I, for one, am very greatful for it.

And while I’m at it, why don’t we also all play in the next DADI event.

Until next time, make mine (Big Game) poker!

Here’s a quick little story that happened this morning. It was an odd occurrence so I spew it out for you here:

When I exited the subway by my apartment on Friday, I searched my pocket for my cell phone. If it was still before 7pm, I’d have time to buy my week’s worth of comics, but my cell phone was MIA. It took me a moment before I realized that I left it in the office attached to the charger.

Fast forward to Monday morning. I had a document that had to be served on a defendant ASAP, and when I read the address, I realized that it was less than 10 blocks from my apartment. Glad to have an excuse to go into the office a bit late, I took the papers home with me and planned to deliver them this morning.

When I arrived at the defendant’s office no one was there. Service had to be made directly and personally, so using the mail slot wouldn’t work. To be sure, I hunted down a pay phone and prepared to call my office for verification.

Pay phones aren’t like they used to be. Back in the day (read: 1993), 25 cents was enough to call locally. Nowadays, with cell phones, I was fairly unsure of how much pay phones charged on average. In Penn Station in NYC, the pay phones have a special deal: 25 cents for 30 seconds. So, I assumed that I was spending 50 cents at least.

There were two phones side-by-side, but the homeless guy seemed to have dibs on the left one. I went to the one on the right. I picked up the phone and held it a half-inch from my ear. The phone had been burned, and seemed to have some other residue on it. But, there was a dial tone, so I dropped two quarters in the machine. One came through the return slot so I re-inserted it until it stayed.

After dialing, a pleasant female voice came on the line. “Please deposit 25 cents for the next four minutes.” Okay, it must be 75 cents, or maybe I lost a quarter, but probably only one quarter. I dropped another quarter into the slot. “Please deposit 25 cents…” I hit the coin return bar, but nothing happened. I tried one more quarter. “Please deposit…” I slammed the phone down and literally hit, then shook, the piece of crap pay phone. By now, I was slightly irrate, mostly because I just wanted to make this call and get on with my day.

The homeless man must’ve finished calling his stock broker, so I moved onto the next phone. I was already down $1. I picked up the received and dialed again, this time waiting for that pretty voice before depositing my coins into the slot machine of communication. “Please deposit 25 cents for the next 4 minutes…” Wait one second, I thought. 25 cents for 4 minutes! Sweet! But that means that my $1 loss was on 4 spins, not just the 2 or less I had assumed. I reached into my pocket and found one solitary quarter. I popped it into the slot. “Please deposit 25 cents…” SONUVABITCH! I slammed the pay phone, still holding the received near (but not touching) my ear. I heard a clinking noise. My quarter came back to me. I popped it in once more, and this time it seemed to get stuck just inside the slot. One more stiff arm to the phone and I finally heard the vindication I sought: “Thank you.”

After the uneventful call (during which I sweated finishing up in 4 minutes, lest I have to try again), I hung up. Clink! The noise sounded oddly like a coin fell into the coin return slot. I reached in, like many hobos before me, hoping to profit from the antiquated device. Sitting in there patiently was my quarter. I looked at the coin return bar and pushed it down. Clink! I couldn’t believe my ears. I reached into the slot again, and there was another quarter. I closed the slot and reached for the bar. Clink clink! Again. Clink. Again. Silence. I reached into the slot and there was the rest of my bounty, two more quarters and a dime.

All in all, I got my phone call for free. The ten cents profit I consider payment for my oh so precious time. And that is why I’m quitting online poker, in favor of live payphone slots.

Until next time, make mine payphones!

I had been increasing my stakes generally, playing 2/4 and 3/6 HORSE at Stars, while I tried to finish my reload bonus there. When I was done, I was going to withdraw a large amount of the money left on Stars, in an effort to curb my online play and reclaim some money for the real world. It wasn’t going to cripple my bankroll, as I had just deposited several hundred into Full Tilt in an effort to lock in their 50% reload bonus. Unfortunately, while I tried to reach the raked hand requirement at Stars, I also saw my bankroll dwindling.

There were at least two times last week when I was playing when I shouldn’t have. It wasn’t anything particular, but I just felt like I wasn’t playing my top game. In those two (or more) instances, I generally forced myself to stop playing, whether behind or not, and tried to listen to that inner voice. I also decided that it was time for a change.

Enter 2/4 Limit Hold’em. For the NL players out there, Limit Hold’em can be an alternatively boring and frustrating game. On one hand, its boring, since you really can only bet, raise, call, or fold. There is no all-in, bluffing is often difficult if not impossible, and play can be a bit robotic. On the other hand, it can be frustrating because players will call you down with bottom pair, only to hit a set on the river against your flopped top two.

For me, it was a pleasure. Cash games have been tricky for me overall. I like to play in stakes that “matter” to me, ideally .50/1 and 1/2, but at those stakes, a single mess up (by me) or suckout (by them) can stack me. Invariably, at that point, I get upset about losing $100 or $200 on a stupid hand I should have never played in the first place. And much like Yoda would say, “Upset leads to fear; fear leads to anger; anger leads to the Tilt-side.”

With limit, I don’t have to worry about my bonehead bluff play. It’ll cost me a couple of BBs, but not the whole shebang. Also, I’m less inclined to make moves like that (although my aggression is generally at the same level). In short, I play better because I am limited.

Hence, I finished out the Stars bonus on Friday by playing 2/4 shorthanded limit Hold’em. Next stop on the bonus whore tour was Full Tilt. I started with some 2/4 shorthanded limit there as well and made some headway on Friday night. On Saturday, I spent the day with wifey Kim, and then back on LI staying with her friends (where I whooped ass at Monopoly, finally getting that capitalist monkey off my back).

Sunday was wifey Kim’s day to go bridesmaid dress shopping with the gals, so I had the day to myself, my laptop and the Unit first season (hey Speaker, its from the creator of the Shield, and while it isn’t as good, it’s still pretty damn sweet). Throughout the day, I tried to follow Barry Greenstein’s advice of short sessions, and overwhelmingly, I was successful. My game of choice was 2/4 Limit Omaha 8 or better, a game that I hadn’t played much aside from in the Stars HORSE games. I rocked the freakin’ house. Part of it was definitely hitting cards, but I also find that I have a good grasp on outs, and once I’ve played a while I can characterize my opponents. One guy in particular didn’t seem to realize that one should go for the high. It was all low for him, and not necessarily the nut low, so I punished him repeatedly. In one of my late sessions, the shorthanded tables were full except for one, where a solitary player waited for competition. I usually don’t play hi/lo games heads-up, since chopping means that the most likely winner is the rake. But I hoped to attract other players and I had time to kill. We both started with $100. Within 10 minutes, he was reloading. I had stacked him. When I eventually walked, the table had filled up, and I gave back about $11. But overall, it was a kick-ass day, to the tune of $188 profit, after two $20 MTT losses.

The Big Game was also last night. I went out 12th, having held the top spot for a good while when we were down to about 23. I played well, generally, but late in the game I made one or two ill-advised semi-bluffs, and had to lay down my hand to re-raisers who tried to put me all-in. I’m confident that they were likely just applying pressure, but I didn’t want to push my whole stack on a draw, so I had to let it go. I was shortstacked when I raised with 33, and was re-raised by GCox. I called his all-in, but his A8o rivered an Ace, and I was in desperation mode. I eventually pushed (or called) with KJ or T9 or something, but with my stack, it didn’t really matter. Pushing was the only option. I had a great time, but I’m semi-hesitant to play in the next one, to take place in 2 weeks time. It’s not that it isn’t a great tournament. It’s that I was so focused that I was mentally exhausted by the end. A day of poker probably had a little to do with it.

I guess this post was mostly rambling. Well, too bad, ’cause that’s all I got for you. Now earn your frickin’ $24+2 tokens, because DADI X: Fight the Power is only a month away, and I’m working on some interesting bonus prizes.

Until next time, make mine (limit omaha 8 or better) poker!