High On Poker

As the self-proclaimed Devil’s Advocate of Poker Bloggers, I can’t help but sometimes question some of the ideas of my fellow bloggers. One of the most prolific, intelligent and thoughtful bloggers around, Hoyazo, started a series of posts last week about playing top pair, middle kicker in an all suited flop out of position. His opinions are always enlightening, even if I don’t agree with a particular point. Basically, as poker players, we should all be students of humanity at large. Even if Hoy and I would play the same hand in different ways, its worth it to me to learn how he or anyone else would analyze the hand. This isn’t even just for later use against Hoy. Rather, its a way to open my mind up to the various ways people analyze poker.

But this is all a preamble to say that, now a week or so from first posting, I still can’t get that hand out of my head. Simply put, Hoy decided to bet out once the flop came, and by the river eventually got his sole competitor (others folded earlier in the hand, post-flop) to fold. While the results were nice, I have personally seen this very situation occur a few times in live games, online and hand histories over the last week, and I just cannot agree with Hoy’s decision to bet post-flop. Rather than just talk loosely, though, let’s walk through the hand, so that I can explain why I think Hoy’s play in this particular hand was flawed, even if it was profitable.

Let’s set the scene: We are in a large field tournament on FT, with a $26 buyin. We are still in the early rounds, with blinds of 15/30 and a 1500 starting stack. We get K9h in the BB. UTG, UTG+1 and UTG+2 all limp. The SB limps, and we check.

So far, so good. I don’t see a need to raise out of position, but an argument can be made that, with a pot of 150, a raise might be able to take down the pot, since all of the other players merely limped. Still, its early in the tournament, and if we hit a major hand, like a flush, straight, or two pair, we want a lot of players in the hand so someone will pay us off.

After we check preflop, the flop comes down KT6, all spades. Frankly, right here, I give up on the hand, unless I can see the rest of the cards for free. I say this because K9 of hearts on a King-high board with all spades, in a tournament, is a great hand to go broke on. You can easily face a made flush, KT two pair, a superior King like KJ, KQ, or less likely AK, or a flush draw that won’t let go of their hand.

Generally, when you bet, you want to have a reason. That’s logical enough. In this situation, betting can only be justified in a few ways: (a) force everyone out and win the pot immediately, (b) force most players to fold, thereby creating a HU situation that can be more manageable, (c) keep players in and build the pot, or (d) to get information to determine if you are ahead. Those are the possible reasons, but if you go through them, you’ll notice that you cannot succeed in any of these goals without risking a lot for very little.

If your goal is (a) force everyone out and win the pot, you are going to have a hard time at it. First off, no flopped flushes will fold, so you run the risk of betting into a superior hand that you cannot beat without going runner runner full-house. You may be able to succeed in knocking out superior Kings, like KJ, if they fear the flush. You will probably have problems pushing out anyone with an Ace or Queen or even Jack of spades without betting a significant amount, more than pot, since there are a bunch of donkeys that like to draw to a flush in the early-goings of large field touraments. So, basically, you need to raise a high amount to push out all hands that you beat easily, all hands that have a better King, and hopefully any flush draws. But you will be called by dominating hands, and you’ll likely be called by hands that can easily draw out on you. My point is, why do all this for a mere 150 pot, of which you only contributed 30.

If your goal is (b) force most players to fold, thereby creating a HU situation that can be more manageable, I commend you. This is the only time I think it is acceptable to bet out. However, I still don’t think its advisable. The other guy is likely going to just call you if he has a strong flush because he wants to encourage you to keep betting into him on the turn. If he has a weaker hand like KJ (which still has you beat) and he thinks you are on a flush draw, he might call too, waiting to see what happens on the turn. If he has a flush draw with a monster card like Ace of spades, he’s going to call only so he can see the turn for cheap. So, you might be HU, but you have no idea what your opponent has and you’ll be acting out of position the rest of the time. If the next card is a spade and you check, the other guy can bet out no matter what he has. If it isn’t a spade and you check…well, same thing. The only time you’ll get info is if your opponent has two-pair, a baby flush, or a set, in which case he might raise to push out drawing hands. But at that point, you are behind, so all you learn is that your flop bet was a bad move.

If you want to (c) keep players in and build the pot, or want to (d) get information to determine if you are ahead, a small bet will work. But you fall into the same problem as (b). You’ll never know what you are facing and you’ll be out of position, unless your opponent re-raises, in which case you have to fold and you’ve lost that extra bet.

For these reasons, I’d check on the flop and be ready to fold. Without position, its hard to tell where your top pair is, and you run the risk of creating a situation where you are betting into a superior hand the entire way.

I have to admit that I like Hoy’s move here, even if it wouldn’t be my move. He opts to check-call. After checking, UTG+2 bet 90 into the 150 pot, and Hoy and UTG+1 were the only caller. This isn’t a bad play, since its still cheap (90), and we might be able to make a play depending on the next card. However, we are still out of position, and we don’t know if UTG+2 is betting for value or semi-bluffing or bluffing altogether, or if UTG+1 is drawing or is slowplaying.

The turn is an offsuit 7, and Hoy opts to bet 390, just under the 420 pot. His reasoning is logical. The non-suited card followed by a bet by Hoy will scare out the players drawing to a flush. The pot-sized bet also gives them terrible odds if they are foolish enough to call. But this still isn’t the optimal play to me, mostly because it ignores the possibility that someone has already flopped the flush, a set, has a strong King like KQ or AK, or has two-pair (KT). In those instances, Hoy is likely to face a flat call (from the flush) or an uncallable raise from the set or two-pair. He might be able to push out any superior Kings, but that’s the only hands he is behind who will fold right here.

As it were UTG+1 folded and UTG+2 called. Even though Hoy has a caller, he’s essentially flying blind. If the river has a spade, should he check/fold? Probably. So, that’s a bad scenario, that’ll happen more than 20% of the time. Essentially, Hoy loses to any spade, regardless of his opponents’ cards. His total losses, assuming he folds to a river bet if a spade hits, will be over 500, which is more than a 1/3 of his stack…on a hand like K9h…out of position. That’s just too much to lose on a marginal hand and a marginal flop.

But what if the river is not a spade. That’s what happened. The river was an offsuit 3. He basically puts his opponent all-in for 460, and his opponent folds. Congrats to Hoy, who may have had more info than I had when retelling it here, but that river bet was dangerous.

The size of the bet isn’t going to vary much, since our opponent’s stack is less than 50% of the pot. Instead, we need to consider what our opponent will do given the range of hands he may have. The range, as I’ve mentioned, has not narrowed a bit. He could have a flush (89s), or he could have nothing, drawing to a flush (As2c). If he has the flush, he is calling, and we are just handing him our money the entire hand as we bet our top pair into his flush. If he is behind, he is going to fold, in which case…why bet?

Instead, I’d check here. If you sincerely believe that he is behind, you’ll want him to bet out, in which case you’ll get the rest of his stack. If you think you are behind, check-folding is not the worst idea in the world. After all, I don’t think you should’ve been playing this hand in the first place.

If this teaches you anything, it should teach you the importance of position. If you were in position the whole way, the analysis changes because you could see how your opponents reacted. Instead, we are acting first, and are left in the dark.

This, by the way, is not a knock on Hoy or his game. I admire Hoy’s abilities and success at poker. This is only a commentary on a particular situation, with reference to Hoy’s posts, which were so damn informative that I’m thinking about them a week later.

Until next time, make mine poker!

Work has really upped the stress lately. Yesterday, I went with the Big Bossman to New Jersey to check out the scene of an accident involving a hydraulic compactor and a blinded man. Before we headed to NJ, we met with a client to discuss a possible case involving a machine press and an amputated finger. This required me to come to the office extra early. During our drive to NJ, we also fielded calls from a woman assaulted in a building vestibule and another case involving a kitchen appliance and serious burns. I came in early today to meet the burn victim. All the while, I’m balancing my other cases and trying to get numerous documents out to Court. I’ve already set a Saturday date with the office, and until then, I’ll be working my poor fingers off trying to get everything else done.

But onto the poker.

I returned to the Wall Street Game last night with the hopes of catapulting myself back to first place in the leaderboard rankings. If I could take first, I’d win 1/2 of the season’s accumulated prize pool, approximately $600 taken in $2 increments from each player during the season’s single table tournaments.

Upon arrival, Alceste informed me that I’d need to take 1st place in both tournaments in order to win 1st place overall. He was kind enough to offer me his seat in the second game if I won the first one, since I was late in my RSVP and got locked out of the 9:15 tournament.

By the time the 7pm tournament got underway, there were only 8 players present. Those 8 players included everyone’s favorite female initials, LJ and CK, along with a couple of other random players. One guy looked familiar. I later placed him as someone I’d seen at Nice Look Poker Club a few times.

The first game went amazingly well. I didn’t get any monster hands, but read the table like a champ. I made calldowns with an AKQ on the board with 99 when my opponent bet preflop and checked until a pot-sized river bet. He actually had 55. I made another calldown with 44 when my opponent made a bluffing play at another scary board. Like my HUC5 Round 2, I decided that this game really mattered, so I was using everything at my disposal. By the time we got to 5-handed, and then 3-handed, ITM, I was a commanding chip leader. I took out CK in 3rd, and then found myself HU with the host, Jamie. I probably had him outchipped 10-to-1. He immediately offered a chop if I gave him an extra $10 over 2nd place. “DONE!” I replied. I didn’t even think about the math. I wanted 1st place points, and I was cool with whatever Jamie worked out, mathematically. After all, he puts so much effort into these games, and I benefit so much from his hard work, both financially from poker and socially, since his games are always a great time with new people and its conveniently close to home.

After the first game, we waited for some additional players to join us for tourney two. In the meanwhile, we ate the two pizzas we ordered from a nearby place. I also went outside with CK for a cigarette, mostly to keep her company and get a breath of fresh air.

When we returned upstairs, pretty much everyone was there. I, being the addict I am, started to stack chips to encourage the game to start. In no time, we were all getting seated. Steve, a decent player, was actually in great place to win the leaderboard. If he placed 4th or higher, he had the season locked down, regardless of if I won 1st or not. Before the cards were dealt, I announced the bounty. $10 for whoever knocked out Steve…before 4th place…if I’m still in the tournament. People bitched about how I kept adding qualifiers, but I had a goal in mind, damnit!

Once the game started, I could feel the difference. I was still card dead, but I had no opportunities to make moves because of the aggressive table. More accurately, about 1/3 of the table was uber aggressive, 1/3 was fairly aggressive, and 1/3 were super tight. Steve was in the super tight group, and by the time we were down to 7 players (from 11), I had less than 10x the BB. I decided that I had to go for broke, since Steve was clearly not going out anytime soon unless he had KK preflop against AA. I pushed all-in about 4 times in a row. I took down the pots, added to my stack and hoped for more good fortune and timing. Eventually, I got all-in AK vs. Darko’s KQ. He hit his Queen and I lost most of my stack (I had him covered). In a few more hands, I lost the rest of my stack in a very unexciting moment.

As soon as I lost, I stood up and said, “This game is stupid.” I then followed up with, “And you know what, I saved $10, SUCKAS! No bounty for you.” On my way out, I wished Decent Steve good luck. Among the Wall Street crowd, he’s one of the friendliest guys, and I was glad to hear this morning that he won the 2nd tournament and the entire season. Congrats to him.

Not much else going on over here. I’ll continue to bust my hump and hopefully find some time for some serious in depth analysis. Keep an eye out for an article by PokerPeaker at Pokerworks regarding poker blogs. I answered some questions for him in an interview style format, so I’m interested in seeing the final product.

Until next time, make mine poker!

I played some online poker last night. No, I swear, its true.

Lately, my game of choice has been Heads Up matches. Any heads up matches. I generally sign on to one of four sites, look for open rooms with one player sitting already, from $5 to $20 buyins, in any NL or PL game, consisting primarily of (in order) Hold’em, Omaha, and Omaha 8 or Better.

For a quick game of poker, I don’t think there is a better option than Heads Up SNGs. By the time you are done, you are either a winner or loser, with no in-between. If you have difficulty knowing when to get up from a cash game (either based on the table situation or your real life obligations), a HU SNG will give you a definite finish time. But, best of all, its just very competitive. It’s like the Street Fighter 2 of online poker. Get in, mash some buttons, shoot a yoga flame, and its all over.

It helps that I’m a part of the Heads Up Challenge 5.

Last night, I finally had an opporutnity to play my Round 2 matches against LifesAGrind. In Round 1, I took out my favorite HU competitor, Veneno, but I was nervous for this next step. In first four HUCs, I had a terrible run. I always thought of it as an effect of being the host, akin to the host curse that would always happen when I threw a homegame. Even though Fuel55 is running the show this time (and doing a great job, I might add), I still consider the HUC my baby, so the fear of the curse returning was on my mind. The other heightening factor was the $30 buyin, 3x the previous tournament buy-ins.

Once LAG and I were ready, we tried to jump into the same $10 Full Tilt HU SNG. Alas, he was too fast or I was too slow, and he ended up HU against some random player. Amazingly, he was willing to two-table HU matches, so we tried to jump into a second game. This time, I was too fast, and ended up playing against some random player.

I sucked, plain and simple. I’m sure it had everything to do with concentration and my anxiousness to get it all over with. At first, those things seemed to work to my advantage as I pulled into the lead. But a foolish all-in push or call and suddenly, I was the shorter stack. Meanwhile, I was popping in and out of LAG’s match with his random stranger, trying to gage LAG’s style of play. In the end, LAG had to sit out of his match (where he eventually busted), and I busted the old fashioned way, making an ill timed raise with middle pair.

We both took 15 minutes off from the computer and returned for our HU match. This time, our coordination was much improved and we got into a HU match together on our first try. Once the window opened, I opened Sirius Radio on my Internet browser and turned on Area 33, a trance station. When it comes to poker, trance music is my ideal soundtrack. There are no lyrics to distract me, and I can get into the rhythm of the game relatively easily. It also helps me block out the other distractions, which in this case was wifey Kim hovering in and out of the room as she cleaned her closet. In fact, halfway through the match she asked, “Can you help me take these things to the garbage shoot?” I was in the zone, and my curt reply was simply, “No.” She got the hint and left me be. I got the hint and apologized later.

Interestingly, there was a very obvious difference between the match against an utter stranger and the match against LAG. With the LAG game, I just felt more in touch with the match. This should be of no surprise, since I was trying to rush through the stranger’s match, and desperately wanted to focus and win the LAG match. But nonetheless, the difference was there. The matches were day and night, and after a lot of back and forth, I was finally able to win my first match against LAG when my JJ held up against his 55 preflop.

Match 2 went well for me also. I tried to keep the aggression up, followed by periods of tightness when necessary to change the pace or set up LAG’s aggression. I can say that overall he played a smart game, and for a lot of both of the matches, he led the action. That’s not to say that he led out in betting all the time, but rather that he was controlling the pacing of the game. Still, in match 2, I was able to take the lead and end it when my 99 held up against LAG’s 55 once again. 55 is no goot.

After we were done, I celebrated by playing a HU game against some random player. I got my ass handed to me. I played someone else. Same thing. Quite frankly, I had blown my concentration load on the LAG matches, and now I was shooting blanks.

Whether or not I like to admit it, this game called poker requires a lot of concentration. It’s definitely my weak point. Optimal poker cannot be played when the TV is on, the phone is ringing, and a web browser is open. Like most things, the importance of concentration is only heightened when you play heads up.

Tonight, I plan on making my way back to the Wall Street Game, where I hope to inch my way closer to the top of the leaderboard. This will probably be the last game this season, so its now or never. I think I need to win it to have a chance of the top spot. I said it rather than them because, while there are 2 games tonight, due to computer difficulties, I’m only registered in one. Oh well. Perhaps I’ll get lucky and return home in time for the WPBT game on FT.

This weekend is looking busy. Saturday night, I’m heading to Queens to spend some time with college bud, Jefe, and Sunday, thanks to my bro Keith and his new wife, wifey Kim and I are going to a live taping of…WHEEL. . . OF. . . FORTUNE! It’s going to be SW_ _T!

Until next time, make mine poker!

Another day, another dollar.

I made my second trip this week to the Wall Street Game. On Wednesday, I crashed the two $25 tournaments in a desperate attempt to stay in contention for the seasonal prize pool, but lost $50 and my 1st place status for my troubles. My goal next week is to watch my email like a hawk and RSVP for the final tournaments of the season as soon as possible. Once I get to the game, though, I have to try to find that special place I’ve found in my past forays where winning is just a matter of playing my game, rather than the evil place I found this week, where my desire to remain at the top of the leaderboard and my desire to play my usual aggressive game got all tangled up into a ball of bad poker.

I should admit that after that Wednesday run, I woke up Thursday with a poker hangover. I felt mostly fine the night of the loss, but the next morning found me miserable. I don’t like to use the word depressed because I know from experience with family and friends what depression can really mean. Still, in this instance, there was a definite malaise and a hint of depression in my mood early Thursday morning.

To rectify this, I emailed host Jamie and told him that I was dropping myself to Maybe status for last night’s HOSE cash game. I felt like a louse, since I know how hard it is to throw these things when players cancel willy-nilly, but a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. I also felt internal pressure to spend some time with wifey Kim. She hadn’t pressured me or even complained; rather, I just really love my gal, and I missed her enough that poker two days in a row seemed excessive.

By Thursday night, the poker hangover was gone, replaced by a workplace headache. I’ve been working my ass off lately, including a stint at the office last Saturday and another stint likely for this upcoming Sunday. As it were, I ended up at work later than usual Thursday waiting for my boss to return from a deposition. When he got back, he sprung on me the news that I was covering the conference this morning in a case that I had recently almost f’ed up. On one hand, this morning was a chance of redemption; on the other, it was a test that I could not afford to fail. Once again, this was mostly self-exerted pressure, rather than pressure from the Bossman, but that’s how I roll.

By the time I got back from work, wifey Kim had already eaten dinner. I am sick of all of the delivery places in my neighborhood (FYI, in NYC, delivery is often cheaper than cooking, and the options are near limitless…I have well over 20 menus at home, and that’s just the tip of the culinary iceberg). I opted to cook myself some quick grub, and then gladly joined wifey Kim for our favorite reality TV show, the premiere of this season’s Survivor, which takes place in China.

I’ve been especially excited for this year of Survivor, mostly because of Jean-Robert Bellande, the asshole NYC native who placed 3rd in a televised WSOP Circuit event in May 2005. Many people have focused on how J-R is a real asshole, or at least played the asshole in that televised WSOP event. Still, I can’t help but root for the guy. After all, he is a representative of poker players everywhere, getting mainstream exposure in a game that may actually fit his poker-player skill set and assholeness to a T. In other words, He may be an asshole, but he’s OUR asshole.

Literally, whenever J-R would appear on the screen, I’d cheer and throw my fists in the air, Stone Cold style. But my favorite part of the episode took place as J-R took a walk with a smallish male flight attendant. They had barely gotten to camp when J-R, in private, said to the flight attendant something akin to, “I’m onto you. I know you are a shifty, smart guy, and I’m cool with that. I just wanted to let you know that I know.”

That, in and of itself is interesting, since I’ve watched all umpteen seasons of Survivor and have never seen this type of conduct/strategy/conversation, especially so early on. But the best part was the reaction of the flight attendant, who, in his confessional-type interview explained, “Jean-Robert read me dead on.” (paraphrased, if not exact).

GO J-R, GO! Attaboy! Use those observation and reading skills to your advantage. After all, aside from law enforcement and used car salesmen, can you think of any other professions/hobbies where a player must cultivate the ability to read people and discern lies from truth?

Keep making us proud, Jean-Robert!

As the episode was ending, I looked over to wifey Kim, who was sprawled out on the couch. Her eyes were shut. I carefully woke her from her sleepiness. Wifey Kim is a hard worker and wakes up hours earlier than me to go to her Staten Island job. It was clear that she wanted to sleep, so I let her go back to slumberland. At that point, I remembered the Wall Street Game, and decided that, if wifey Kim was sleeping, I was gamblin’. I grabbed my gear and made my way to the game, a short 5-minute walk from my apartment.

When I walked in, the players were in the middle of the Omaha 8 or better portion of the evening. I bought in for $100 for the 2/4 game. I won a hand relatively early when Tony, a new player who was learning O8 on the fly, flopped top set. I turned a straight and low, and we bet into each other back and forth. Finally, we both slowed down and I scooped the pot.

I then continued to play loose, and eventually, poorly. I was just playing too many hands, which seems to be my problem at the WS Game moreso than other games. I think it is the friendly feeling of the place. I’m there to socialize and gamble and have fun, not fold for three orbits. At my lowest, I was down to about $50, but late in the session, I had a monster run in LHE and eventually fought my way back to a $20 profit, but not before this hand:

I have AKc, UTG, and raise to $4. Only CK in MP calls. The flop is A44. I bet out $2 and, if memory serves, she called. On the turn, I think I bet out again and she raised. I opted to call. On the river, I check-called. (I’m sure I probably got the action wrong, so check the comments, where CK will be ridiculing me). At showdown, I show my AK. She shows 44, for flopped quads. Beeches.

I decided to leave around 11:30. I was happy for the $20 profit, which mitigated my $50 loss from the night before. I returned home, where wifey Kim was still sleeping. I attempted to watch some television but only got through half of Kid Nation before I decided to give in to sleep.

Tonight, wifey Kim and I will probably tackle more of Heroes season 1 on DVD, in anticipation for Monday’s Season 2 premeire. I don’t see any poker on the near horizon, except for a Wall Street tournament or two next week.

Until next time, make mine poker!

Silly me. I could’ve made my 1001st post an actual hand history analysis, but I totally forgot that I saved a few hands on Blogger for a post. Oh well. After review, only one of them is worth mentioning, so I’ll start with that and then we’ll move on to the Wall Street Game recap.

This first hand is a little bit of stubbornness, and a whole lot of read. It even touches on some bet-sizing issues that I love oh so much.

So I’m playing the Monkey Tourney, nee the WWDN, and we are at the cheapo 10/20 level. I still have 1410. Astin (1530) raises to 60 and I decide to call in MP/LP with T8s. T8s is not a great hand, but it was early in the tournament with small blinds and its a good hand to get paid with if it hits. I also have position on Astin, who I have found to be very aggressive. It folds around.

The flop is Q75, rainbow, with one spade. I have nothing. Astin bet 80 and I raised 160 on top, hoping to scare off his BS continuation bet. He called.

The turn was a 2s, giving me a flush draw, Astin bet 360, and now, I changed my strategy and just call. The flop bet is to slow him down and hopefully get him to fold when he misses the flop. This call is because I’ve now picked up an unexpected flush draw, and if I hit, I’ll likely get paid, since he’ll never expect runner-runner flush. The pot was 630 before his bet, and 990 after, so I’m getting almost 3:1 on my money with great implied odds.

Until, of course, the river, which is an offsuit Ace. Fungool! Astin checked. At this point, my remaining stack is 750 or so, and he has about 100 more than me. Once Astin checked, I considered my possibilities. If I check, I lose unless he was playing awful cards. So, I have to bet if I think I can somehow get him to fold. The next question is how much should I bet to get him to fold. I could go all-in…but I don’t like that play. It would look too much like a desperation push, and would, in my opinion, induce a call from a slew of hands, given the action. Also, if he calls, that’s it for me. I opt to bet 460, leaving me with 290 in my stack. To me, this was the perfect bet. It (i) escalates the last bet, Astin’s 360 bet on the turn, (ii) looks like a value bet because it isn’t big compared to the pot, (iii) looks suspicious and confusing, since most people put out an all-in bet here, and (iv) leaves me with enough chips in case he calls or raises.

290 is not a lot of chips, but in 10/20 limits, its workable. That’s the key, here. Who would keep 290 behind unless they were trying to milk as much out of this hand as possible? The answer is me. I’m always looking for the best possible outcome given all of the other guy’s possible moves.
What did Astin do? Fold. And then I showed. Rock on.

****

You may recall from yesterday that I found myself at the top fo the leaderboard for the Wall Street season. First place gets 50% of the seasonal prize pool, now over $500, but to qualify, you must play 1/3 of the tournaments. I had played 1/3 exactly, but since there was a game last night, that would put me below the 1/3 requirments, so I showed up anyway, hoping that someone no-showed.

As it turned out, we had two no-shows, so I got in the game along with one other alternate. By the time I sat down, the first 15-minute level had already passed.

I had a tough go in the first game. I was dealt JJ and raised the blinds from 100 to 350. I got a call from Slavin in one of the blinds. He plays any two cards, so its hard to place him on a hand. The flop was AK9, and he bet out. I folded. I asked him during the next hand about whether he had a King or Ace and he said no. I asked him again later and he couldn’t remember, but didn’t think he had a King or Ace. I think I believe his earlier response, but maybe I’m just fooling myself. Whatever the case, I was playing for a high position, so I didn’t want to bust out on JJ with an AK9 flop with two spades.

I lost some more chips when I limped with AJo UTG. There were five players to the A77 flop with two hearts. It checked to me and I bet out 400 into the 500 pot. Only Wendy called, acting from the SB out of position. The turn was a 2. She checked. I took a long while before checking. Something felt fishy. I couldn’t put my finger on what exactly, but I just had a feeling, which you should all translate into, Jordan picked up on things at a subconscious level, rather than, Jordan has “hunches”… how convenient! The river was a Jack of hearts, completing a flush draw. Wendy bet 500, which was small enough to call, in case she had an Ace with a better kicker, now nullified by the rivered Jack. She actually had 75o. The mistake in this hand was my failure to raise preflop. At least I was able to slow down when I needed to.

At the 75/150 level, I had less than 1500 chips. In fact, I had about 950, so I was looking for an opportunity to push all-in. Two players tentatively limped in MP and I saw 84o in the SB. I decided to push because I had enough to scare off most stacks and I didn’t put the limpers on big hands. Unfortunately, the BB had JJ and called. And so, I busted about 8th/11 players. My error here was not looking to the BB to get a read. Instead, I focused on the limpers and ignored the BB completely, to my own detriment. For what its worth, the limpers DID fold, confirming that, aside from the BB’s monster hand (and my failure to read his monster hand), the play wasn’t horrible. I wouldn’t even mind a call from AK. I just didn’t want a high pocket pair.

I played some Scrabble with CK while I waited for tournament numero dos. She claimed she wasn’t experienced, so we agreed to none of the silly 2-letter words like AA, HM, and XU (check your Scrabble dictionaries, people). Then she placed a huge word to start off…so I showed her no mercy. Playing Scrabble with someone less versed in the game can be a bit difficult. After all, I was playing defensive (avoided openning up 3 Word Score boxes) while looking for ways to form double words (stick STOP on the end of DOG for DOGS and STOP, for an easy example), while CK was playing a more straight-forward game. I think I won by 80 points or so, but not before I saw here final letters, AGINAV, which I’ll let you rearrange to find the hidden message.

The second game wasn’t much better to me, but it was mostly my fault. I felt like playing more hands, and flopped a flush draw that I paid too much to never hit. I was down to 900 from 2500 or thereabouts, when we reached the 75/150 level again. I actually missed wifey Kim a lot. It’s interesting how you can live with someone and still feel like you spend no time with them. Whatever the case, I decided to go do or die and pushed all-in UTG with QJc. I got caller with A7o. I turned the Q and won the hand. On the very next hand, I had AK and pushed again. This time, I got a call from KJ. We both flopped the King, but the turn was his three-outter J, and I busted. I left and returned home, a bit disappointed with my loss, but accepting my bad luck in the first game (JJ with an AK9 flop; AJ v 75 with a A77 flop) and second game (AK v KJ). Still, I am able to identify my errors (failing to read the BB when I pushed in the first game; playing too loose early in the second game, causing me to get short and desperate). But worst of all, my rankings dropped and I’m no longer the top spot. In fact, I’m barely holding on to the freeroll spot. Oh well.

I’m scheduled to return to Wall Street tonight for the HOSE game, but I switched my status to Maybe. I woke up this morning with a poker hangover, oddly feeling worse about last night than I did, well, last night. The game has 9 RSVPs for games that require 8-players max, so by switching to Maybe, I hope I alleviate that situation. Now its back to the grind. I just can’t wait for AC in October.

Until next time, make mine poker!

WOW! This marks my 1001st post, folks, including a few posts that never made it to air. So, to celebrate, I’ll offer you another random string of words that border on being semi-intelligible. My only apology is the fact that I peaked creatively at post 83. Only the best for my readers!

Let’s start off with some fun ole analysis of why online poker just gets my goat.

Fuck online poker! Not in a mean way. No. I mean Fuck It in an indifferent way. Yes, this is coming from the guy who won a large tournament a few months ago, and a guy who spends way too much time playing online, as it were. But damn it, its just such a time suck.

I’ve read the recent exploits of Woffles and his foray back into bankroll building. I understand the struggle, not to mention the pull to want to just go for broke. In fact, that’s been my strategy since my big win and withdrawal. I left some money online (less than $400), and then proceeded to (a) play above that roll and (b) spread it around three sites, now 4 thanks to my new rakeback deal at Absolute. In the end, I was left with depleted bankrolls all around, but I didn’t care. After all, as I have lamented here many times before, online poker is just not the bee’s knees to me. Its a diversion at best, a bad habit at worst, but not nearly the great pass time live poker is. That is not to put down online poker aficionados. I believe wholeheartedly that there are people out there who would be better suited for online poker than live poker, as well as people who can do both. But for me, the lack of human interaction in online poker has left me with the feeling that it is little more than a videogame. For that reason, I’ve withdrew most of my roll for live action, and then continued playing at my “higher” stakes, which are really $100 NLHE or 4/8 mixed games, for the most part.

This is all a response to yesterday. I played and lost $40 in .25/.50 NL on Absolute (bad cards, bad play, good times), and lost the Monkey Tourney ($11) after picking up am $10 last longer bet from Astin. When it was all done, I just felt bored. It really just felt like one of the pointless videogames that used to waste my time. Eh, it’s probably just a phase (a VERY temporary phase, since I expect to play the Mookie tonight), but it still sticks in my craw.

What’s the cure for online poker blues? More cowbell! And live poker. Mostly, live poker.

Speaking of live poker, guess what I’m doing tomorrow? Live poker, beeches, at none other than my favorite biweekly homegame, the Wall Street Poker Club. I would be there tonight for their two tournaments, but sadly, I was too slow with the RSVP. Fortunately, I was quick enough to jump onto the Thursday HOSE cashgame. I don’t blame Jamie for limiting it to HOSE. No one wants to play Razz against Jordan the Razzmaster Razzski.

And whlie we are on the subject of Wall Street Poker, I recently took a look at the leaderboard for the current 3-month season. For those not in the know, a little background: Jamie, the host, collects $2 from every tournament buy-in and places it in a seasonal prize pool. Each season lasts 3 months. At the end of the season, the player with the best record wins half the prize pool. The next six or so players are invited to a winner-takes-all tournament for the rest of the prizepool. I have had some good runs at Wall Street, generally moneying in at least one out of the two nightly tournaments. Still, I had some bad nights too, mostly during cash games.

Whatever the case, imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon this season’s stats and saw me at the top of the list. BOOYA! I’m not quite sure when the season ends, but I’m almost positive that it is done by the end of the month. If that’s the case, I need to worry about Stephen, Scott and Brian, but amazingly…none of those players are in tonight’s tournament. PRAISE THE LORD! I’m still trying to figure out if I’m better off playing future games or avoiding them. In the end, I think I’ll have to play them, since I have the bare minimum of tournaments played to qualify and I think the amount to qualify will go up if there are more games. SHIT! Come to think of it, after tonight, I may no longer qualify. Say it with me now…LEMON!

Speaking of lemons, guess where I’ll be in a few weeks? Sipping lemonade in AC! Okay, admittedly that seque sucked.

The plan is to head down October 12th weekend with Davey Roose to get some ole skool wifeless poker action. A few months later, I’ll be in Vegas for the WPBT event (more likely than not) and then back in AC for A Very Jewish X-Mas. Wish me luck all around.

That’s it for today. Let’s hope that the season is over already for Wall Street. If not, I’ll stop by there tonight with the hopes of a no-show. I shall remain VICTORIOUS!

Until next time, make mine poker!

I haven’t been to a WPBT event yet. In fact, in the past, I avoided them like the plague. It wasn’t so much that I didn’t want to meet my fellow poker bloggers, as much as I didn’t see how going to a WPBT event could fit into my life. I don’t particularly want to bring wifey Kim out to Vegas to meet my fellow degenerates because she doesn’t play poker and I’d be more focused on her than on the action and the mingling. I didn’t have the money or time to go either, since in the past two years (i.e., since I started the blog) every year saw me with few vacation days and fewer dollars. But if there was one last thing stopping me, it was uncertainty. I wasn’t sure about what the scene would be like, who these bloggers would be, and whether this would be a great time or a personal disaster.

Those concerns have since been vanquished. Meeting bloggers in Philly for the Bash 2006 at the Boathouse and Oklahoma for Okie-Vegas 2007, along with the many, many NYC bloggers I see on a nearly weekly basis, has led me to the obvious conclusion that I can have a great time with this varied lot in just about any location. WPBT Guantanamo Bay?! I’ll bring the blindfolds, you bring the canines!

This is all just to say that it looks more and more likely (but not quite definite) that I will attend the WPBT Winter Classic this year, December 6-9. Of course, nothing is set in stone. I need to see if I can get a free flight from Mama Rutsky, and work out some roommate situations. But still, I’m giddy at the prospect.

If you are going this year and need a roommate, lemme know via email (highonpokr AT yahoo). No chicks, but otherwise, I’m fairly open. I don’t snore, I don’t smoke cigarettes, and I don’t mind either.

Until next time, make mine poker!

A recent news story reported that a man died due to excessive online poker. Specifically, the man played for three days straight at an internet cafe in China before succumbing to sweet sweet death.

Folks, at first I thought this story was a big goof. Then I thought about the implications on the UIGEA and the anti-online poker movement. But after both of those thoughts, I suddenly realized that this story hits a lot closer to home than you or I might first expect. I’d like you to read the following excerpts from a poker blogger that is widely read and adored by his fans and fellow bloggers:

“…the past couple weeks, I’ve fallen asleep through over a dozen tournaments.” Sept. 1, 2007

“I gave it a shot, played almost a dozen, and lost them all, losing three in heads-up and one on the bubble despite falling asleep at the first level.” Aug. 22, 2007

“Played cash games and an SnG, fell asleep, and awoke to find I placed 4th… again.” July 22, 2007

“Last night, I fell asleep again while playing three SnGs.” June 2, 2007

“…the SnGs that I fell asleep on (came in 4th on the bubble)…” May 1, 2007

The list goes on, people, but clearly what we have here in our very blogging midst is the next would-be victim of Online Gaming Induced Death by Exhaustion, or OGIDE as I have conveniently named it for the scientific community.

With that in mind, I ask that you join in my prayers and pray that Grubby, the author of those exhausted quotes, can find the road to recovery. Let he find the solace of a pillow. Let he separate himself from the evil box that we call the computer. And most of all, may he slip through the fingers of fickle death and the horrors of OGIDE. And we all say, Amen.

Until next time, make mine poker!

As I wrote earlier, wifey Kim has been suffering from a violent cough for the past two weeks. Her coughing comes in bits and spurts, but when it comes, its horrific. She’ll start coughing, a dry, loud cough, and continue coughing for a good 5-6 coughs, often followed by broken up coughing and at times, another coughing binge. For the first week, it was quite scary. When she’d cough, I’d follow the usual drill: turn in her direction, ask if she is okay, ask if I could get her anything, and then look on in fear and helplessness as she continued to cough. After the first week, however, I learned to tune out the coughing. If she was in bed coughing and I was in the other room, I would stay put instead of running and checking on her. If we were talking and she started coughing, I waited patiently for her to catch her breath. The key was that I stopped worried about it and her because I knew that there was nothing I could do.

With this background, on Sunday afternoon, wifey Kim and I went to a local bar to have some lunch and watch the Giants. While we were eating, wifey Kim began to cough. and cough. and cough. By this time, I had already become desensitized to her plight. Still, I can’t imagine what the neighboring table thought. After all, while wifey Kim was hocking up a lung, the nearby seaters looked over in fear and asked, “Honey? Are you okay? Can you breathe?” I suppose they were probably prepping form the Heimlich. Wifey Kim nodded that she was fine while she continued to cough uncontrollably. But me, I just kept my head and eyes down and continued to chomp on my food, confident in the knowledge that wifey Kim was fine, but oblivious to the fact that I looked like the least caring asshole in the place. Freakin’ strangers had to check if my wife was checking while I was too busy to look up from my cheesesteak.

I’m not a bad person, no matter what those nosey fuckers think!

Until next time, make mine poker!

If you are reading this on Google Reader, Bloglines, or some other RSS feed reader, then you’ve probably already seen the notes I took late last night. After realizing that I had a hot day at the tables, I decided to try to remember all of the games. The result was this crude list (which I accidentally posted and then un-posted last night):

Won two two-table $26 Token SNGs
Won two 6-man turbo SNGs outright
Won a HU Token SNG
Won 2 out of 3 other HU SNGs
Placed 2nd in a 6-max Turbo PLO SNG
Placed 3rd for $66 in a single-table Turbo $75 Token SNG

I think there may’ve been two other 6-man tourney wins (actually one win, one 2nd place) in there somewhere, but I couldn’t find an easy way to check my games played for the day on some of the sites.

Running HOT, I tell ya, but it isn’t because of the cards. Yesterday, I quite simply fell in the zone. “Fell” is the optimal word, because it sorta just fell in my lap after an early morning HU session against Veneno. But let’s back up a bit.

I did close to nothing this weekend. Wifey Kim was suffering from a horrific cough all week (in fact, the last two weeks), so we stayed in on Friday and Saturday night, since she was in no condition to mingle with the unwashed masses. Friday night was poker-light. Instead, I spent most of my time watching Heroes with Wifey Kim, and then I eventually played two 4-player HU matches. I won the first one ($11), but lost the second ($22). Three out of four wins, and I netted only $10 or so for my trouble, but it was still a profit. After I lost, I shut down the comp, with the intention of returning later, but that later never came. Instead, I zoned out to TV and the Wii, leaving poker to cool off for the night.

The next day, wifey Kim and I met her friends for brunch literally four doors from Salami Club. Salami has gone down the crapper, in my opinion. The cash games used to be insane for the limits spread, at the time, 1/2 and then 2/5, but after a bunch of the other clubs got raided and closed, Salami moved its limits up to 5/5 and 5/10, to accomodate the rush of new action junkies and the already-insane play. Go figure, the 5/5 and 5/10 games play more like 10/20 and higher, so for a low-roller like me, Salami is an official no-fly zone, save for the cheapo $60 daily tournaments.

After brunch, we returned home where wifey Kim returned to her whooping cough. I futzed around on the computer, but didn’t get to any poker until later in the evening. I decided to spread it around, and quickly lost SNGs at FT and Poker.com. I also simultaneously played a Stud MTT on PokerStars, where I bubbled 4th out of 25 or so players. When I bubbled, I had two pair, Qs and 8s, and the other shortstack called my all-in with only 9s. He rivered a King to make two pair, and I lose on the bubble. After losing, I was sorta in a state of acceptance. Part of me felt like I should be upset, but it was quieted by the other part of me that was impressed I made it to the bubble in my worst game AND got all-in with the best of it. So I still lost? Big whoop.

So, I wasn’t expecting much on Sunday morning when I fired up the ole comp. In fact, my intention was merely to check emails, but I quickly got an IM from Veneno and knew that I had to strike while the iron was hot.

In case you don’t know, the Heads Up Challenge 5 is currently underway. This year, I gave the mantle to Fuel55, who did a great job rounding out a solid field of 16 competitors, and upped the HUC ante by increasing the buy-in to $30/player. One of the hardest things about running the HUC are holdouts. The HUC has a very user-friendly structure. You get matched up via brackets and then you find the time to play your opponent. The hard part is getting the one or two stragglers to get in line. Go figure, the holdouts this year were none other than the founder (me) and former Commissioner (Veneno). It wasn’t for lack of trying, but rather lack of timing.

So, when Veneno popped up Sunday morning, I decided that I had to get our games in. Earlier that morning, I was with wifey Kim at the hospital (her cough continued to worsen, but the doctor said it was viral), and her meds were being filled out at the nearby pharmacy. V and I called a 15 minute start time, and I headed to CVS to do my husbandly (and nursemaid) duties.

Upon my return, I pulled up a seat to the high breakfast bar, one of those places that are rarely used in our apartment. My goal was to shut everything else out. Even though V and I were only going to play cheap tournaments ($2), I knew that there was much more on the line. In past HUCs, I barely made it past the first round. Call it bad luck, call it bad play, call it whatever you want, but I had to make a showing this time around.

Fortunately, V and I have probably played dozens of HU games together. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that she is my favorite opponent because we know each other so well. So imagine my delight when I won the first match in one hand.

I had KQo, and opted to limp or maybe call her preflop bet. The flop was Q66, and I checked. She bet. I raised. We got into a raising war and at showdown, she showed a Queen with an inferior kicker. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

In the next game, we went back and forth for a bit, but ultimately, my good luck was too much for V. She shook it off and wished me a congratulations and good luck, and I decided to take some time to check on wifey Kim.

A little later that day, I fired up the comp for the other tournaments. In fact, I would start a couple of SNGs seemingly every couple of hours. It was just one of those days. And while I’ve listed all of my wins above, I failed to mention that, aside from one HU SNG, I didn’t lose anything. I was just on fire. And as I said, it wasn’t the cards. I barely remember getting AA once yesterday, QQ once also, but that’s about it. I won because I was in the zone, making all the right moves at the right times, including making my stupid moves (or should I say unsuccessful moves) when I had a commanding chip lead to avoid busting out.

As a result of my hard work, my FT roll is over $150, up from $20 or so early yesterday. My Poker.com roll is up over $50, from its $18 low. My Stars roll got a little boost too.

From those numbers, you can see that I was on Online Poker Life Support. Since the $3k win, I opted to withdraw my funds and return online poker back to its videogame status. I’ll play above my online bankroll because playing $1 tournaments just doesn’t do it for me. Instead, I’d rather take 1/3 of my roll into an SNG and try to win the damn thing, or grind out some .50/1 NL profit with my entire Poker.com roll. In the end, none of the money is real until I have it in my hands (like the $3k), and I don’t want to put too much emphasis or energy into online poker.

This week, I’ve got an appearance at the Wall Street Game scheduled for Thursday, and I need to find time to play LifesAGrind in Round 2 of the HUC5. I’d like to be at the Mookie or the Hoy too, so keep your eyes out.

Until next time, make mine poker.