Monday, August 17, 2009
Weekly Davespeak Mention
I got a mention in the Dave Matthews Band fansite Weekly Davespeak's email today - how cool is that ? you can hear the interview here .
Monday, April 13, 2009
Honk If You Love Live Donks
OK first the I-didn't-cash news. Played in the Pokerstars VIP freeroll and also the$16.50 SCOOP #3 on 4/4 at 1430 and failed to cash in either. I was card dead in the VIP and out within the first hour losing a flip. In the SCOOP I played really well but missed a few big draws and lost a flip at the end to bubble. I also played in a $20 NLHE tourney yesterday on Stars and got bumped in the 2nd hour when my QQ < AK all-in preflop as the flop obviously came A-K-2.
On Saturday I got the chance to play some live $1/$2 NL (60 min / 300 max buy-in) at Foxwoods. I've played a lot of 1/2, 2/4, 4/8 limit live but had played live NL only once before, a few months back at Mohegan, where I lost less than a buy-in. I was fortunate enough to sit down at a new table with a bunch of guys eager to spew chips in my direction. I brought $120 to seat five.
On the very first hand I looked down at two beautiful red ladies and made it $8 from middle position after it had folded to me. The button and both blinds called and we saw a Jc-7c-7x flop. I c-bet $10 and was called in all 3 spots. The turn was a total blank, I bet $10 again for value, all 3 called. The river was the 10s, I chose to check this time and it checked around and my queens were good for about an $80 profit. The only reason I checked the river was because I did not want to get check-raised and have to call - it was the first pot at a new table so it was more than possible that someone had a 7 in their hand. As it turned out that I did avoid a check raise - one of the blinds had Jack-Ten and was poised to reraise me thinking that he'd just beaten AJ KJ and QJ. And overpairs - the dealer had to explain to him that Queens and 7's are better than Jacks and Tens.
I continued to run hot. In one hand I raised to $10 with AKss preflop and was able to get someone to call me for $15 on all 3 streets after a King hi flop. One pair = nuts against that guy. I made a double-barrel bluff with Queen-hi on a low card board with 3 clubs and got opp't to fold on the river. Sadly, when I got Aces and raised, everyone folded behind me. I won a nice side pot when I fished with AcJh, catching Jd on the turn after a QcJc2x flop and getting called for $30. Of course the river King gave the main pot to the all-in guy who held KJss. Nevertheless, after about 40 minutes of play I had turned my $120 stack into over $350.
I played about another half-hour and one more hand of consequence took place. A woman who had just sat down 3 seats to my right raised it up to $15, after having made the same raise on the previous hand with AK off (she won that pot). I looked down at red QQ and flat-called. The guy two to my left (who had been paying me off and rebuying every 20 minutes) also called. The flop came Jx-6s-4s, she bet $15, I raised to $30 both for value and for info, the 3rd player called all-in, and she called. The turn came the 8s, she checked, and I once again made it $30 and was called. At this point I suddenly figured I wasn't getting the best of it, unless she somehow had exactly AJ or 10-10, and when the 6c came pairing the board on the river I checked behind and saw that indeed she had the AKss. Curiously enough the other player in the hand ALSO had a flush, meaning she hit one of only 7 spades (and meaning he called $15 with no better than QJss). I really don't know if it was a mistake to bet the turn when the flush hit - I guess I was trying to build a side pot in case the 3rd player had me beat, not considering that the woman could also have me crunched. After that big loss I decided to quit while I was ahead and left the table with $260. Book $140 profit. And then lose most of it at the craps table...ohhhh forget about that part...
On Saturday I got the chance to play some live $1/$2 NL (60 min / 300 max buy-in) at Foxwoods. I've played a lot of 1/2, 2/4, 4/8 limit live but had played live NL only once before, a few months back at Mohegan, where I lost less than a buy-in. I was fortunate enough to sit down at a new table with a bunch of guys eager to spew chips in my direction. I brought $120 to seat five.
On the very first hand I looked down at two beautiful red ladies and made it $8 from middle position after it had folded to me. The button and both blinds called and we saw a Jc-7c-7x flop. I c-bet $10 and was called in all 3 spots. The turn was a total blank, I bet $10 again for value, all 3 called. The river was the 10s, I chose to check this time and it checked around and my queens were good for about an $80 profit. The only reason I checked the river was because I did not want to get check-raised and have to call - it was the first pot at a new table so it was more than possible that someone had a 7 in their hand. As it turned out that I did avoid a check raise - one of the blinds had Jack-Ten and was poised to reraise me thinking that he'd just beaten AJ KJ and QJ. And overpairs - the dealer had to explain to him that Queens and 7's are better than Jacks and Tens.
I continued to run hot. In one hand I raised to $10 with AKss preflop and was able to get someone to call me for $15 on all 3 streets after a King hi flop. One pair = nuts against that guy. I made a double-barrel bluff with Queen-hi on a low card board with 3 clubs and got opp't to fold on the river. Sadly, when I got Aces and raised, everyone folded behind me. I won a nice side pot when I fished with AcJh, catching Jd on the turn after a QcJc2x flop and getting called for $30. Of course the river King gave the main pot to the all-in guy who held KJss. Nevertheless, after about 40 minutes of play I had turned my $120 stack into over $350.
I played about another half-hour and one more hand of consequence took place. A woman who had just sat down 3 seats to my right raised it up to $15, after having made the same raise on the previous hand with AK off (she won that pot). I looked down at red QQ and flat-called. The guy two to my left (who had been paying me off and rebuying every 20 minutes) also called. The flop came Jx-6s-4s, she bet $15, I raised to $30 both for value and for info, the 3rd player called all-in, and she called. The turn came the 8s, she checked, and I once again made it $30 and was called. At this point I suddenly figured I wasn't getting the best of it, unless she somehow had exactly AJ or 10-10, and when the 6c came pairing the board on the river I checked behind and saw that indeed she had the AKss. Curiously enough the other player in the hand ALSO had a flush, meaning she hit one of only 7 spades (and meaning he called $15 with no better than QJss). I really don't know if it was a mistake to bet the turn when the flush hit - I guess I was trying to build a side pot in case the 3rd player had me beat, not considering that the woman could also have me crunched. After that big loss I decided to quit while I was ahead and left the table with $260. Book $140 profit. And then lose most of it at the craps table...ohhhh forget about that part...
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Pulled Off a Decent Cash in SCOOP Event #1
I played the first SCOOP event on Pokerstars today and managed to cash in the top 10% of the field. It was the NLHE 6-max $5 rebuy and had a whopping 27000+ entrants. Initially there were only 4 players at my table and two were sitting out so I immediately began raising every pot and scooping up the dead money. Stupidly, I had failed to rebuy right out of the box, and so after about the first half-hour I ended up donking off a bunch of chips (with top pair no kicker vs. top pair good kicker) just so I could rebuy and get up to 5000 chips. Shortly after that I chipped up nicely when a player on the button tilt-shoved 50BB's with Ace-4 off and I snap-called with QQ in the blinds and it held. I made it to the end of the first level with 12000 chips after the add-on, which was slightly above average. Since I only had to rebuy once, I used $15.50 of the W$22 I had, leaving me with W$6.50 and making this tourney a freeroll as I had invested only $6.20 in the satellite to get the W$22.
The only big mistake I made on the day came halfway through the 2nd level. An opponent who played a lot of pots limped and I saw a free flop from the BB with 9-2 off and about 14000 chips. The flop came Ace-9-5, he min-bet, and I called (an image call - he could easily have no hand and it was a cheap call). A 9 turned, I checked again, and he checked. When the river came with a 5 I made a solid value-bet of about 400, hoping to get called by his probable ace-rag or even mid-pair but instead he raised it up to 1400. I thought that he was capable of making that raise with a big Ace or even a 5, and since he had called light a few times before I made it 3100 to go, only to have him fire back and make it 5100. I cried and called and hoped for a chop but oppt had slow-played Ace-9 and I lost over a third of my chips. I guess I could just call his first raise but I HAD A BOAT for cryin out loud...By the end of the level I had rebuilt my stack to 14500 thanks to the LAG on my right who finally played back at me when I had QQ. He was raising about half the hands preflop and I had reraised him a few times with big hands only to see him fold. This time he had raised to 300, I had reraised to 800 with about 8k behind, and he re-reraised me another 1200 or so, which was the first time he had 3-bet me. I decided to just call, see a flop, and basically hope it didn't have and Ace or King in it before I comitted the rest of my chips. The flop came 8s-8x-3s, he bet about 2200, I insta-shoved my remaining 6k or so, and he folded. I won a couple of small pots after that and got up to about 14500 by the end of the level.
The next 2 levels were like a kiddie roller coaster. At one point I had lost most of my chips on a failed bluff but then doubled up on the very next hand with AA. I then went on a heater, getting KK QQ and JJ in the course of about 5 hands. I doubled up off the LAG with KK in the small blind after he had reraised a 1200 raise and a call to 4200 with Ace-6 and called my 14k shove. Shortly after that LAG got knocked out and my table broke.
By the time we got close to the money bubble(a giant 5400 spots paid) I slowed down to ensure that I cashed. I played it pretty close to the vest as there were players who had me seriously out-chipped and I still had 20+ BB's so I could be patient. Just before the bubble I made a HUGE fold which turned out to be a GREAT fold. I had KsKd UTG, raised pre-flop, and got flat-called by the big stack. He had shown up at the table with over 100k chips, had chipped down to 90k or so by this time, and seemed to be playing super-tight despite his chip stack. The flop came Jh-Ts-6s, I bet out 3k with about 24k more behind, and he immediately made it 9k to go. I looked over at my wife and said "now what?" She said "call and see a turn card", and I agreed, so I did, the 7h. I checked and he shoved. At an earlier or later point in the tourney I probably go with my hand, but here, so close to the bubble, I thought instead. He saw me raise, bet the flop, and call a raise on the flop, but yet he still shoved the turn, so he's not scurred by whatever I'm holding. The only hands I really beat here that could make that play are QQ or AsJs, and he's not been out-of-line with any of his plays so even those hands seemed unlikely. After using about a minute of my time bank, I folded and typed "kings" in the chat box. He SHOWED AA. Nobody at the table could believe I'd folded Kings. But it's true.
I was able to survive thru to the end of level 5 on a very short stack. First hand back from the break, I'm UTG with about 10k chips at 800/1600 and have two red 9's. ONE more person needed to be eliminated for me to move up to the next money level, so I time-banked until that happened and shoved. A player behind me reshoved AQo, and the board came 7-A-7-10-x. I ended up in 2380th place, good for $39.15. I was extremely pleased with the way I played, and am very satisifed to have done well in a 6-max event as short-handed games are not my strength. Next up - the Saturday VIP freeroll and $11 Omaha at 1430. C U at the tables !
The only big mistake I made on the day came halfway through the 2nd level. An opponent who played a lot of pots limped and I saw a free flop from the BB with 9-2 off and about 14000 chips. The flop came Ace-9-5, he min-bet, and I called (an image call - he could easily have no hand and it was a cheap call). A 9 turned, I checked again, and he checked. When the river came with a 5 I made a solid value-bet of about 400, hoping to get called by his probable ace-rag or even mid-pair but instead he raised it up to 1400. I thought that he was capable of making that raise with a big Ace or even a 5, and since he had called light a few times before I made it 3100 to go, only to have him fire back and make it 5100. I cried and called and hoped for a chop but oppt had slow-played Ace-9 and I lost over a third of my chips. I guess I could just call his first raise but I HAD A BOAT for cryin out loud...By the end of the level I had rebuilt my stack to 14500 thanks to the LAG on my right who finally played back at me when I had QQ. He was raising about half the hands preflop and I had reraised him a few times with big hands only to see him fold. This time he had raised to 300, I had reraised to 800 with about 8k behind, and he re-reraised me another 1200 or so, which was the first time he had 3-bet me. I decided to just call, see a flop, and basically hope it didn't have and Ace or King in it before I comitted the rest of my chips. The flop came 8s-8x-3s, he bet about 2200, I insta-shoved my remaining 6k or so, and he folded. I won a couple of small pots after that and got up to about 14500 by the end of the level.
The next 2 levels were like a kiddie roller coaster. At one point I had lost most of my chips on a failed bluff but then doubled up on the very next hand with AA. I then went on a heater, getting KK QQ and JJ in the course of about 5 hands. I doubled up off the LAG with KK in the small blind after he had reraised a 1200 raise and a call to 4200 with Ace-6 and called my 14k shove. Shortly after that LAG got knocked out and my table broke.
By the time we got close to the money bubble(a giant 5400 spots paid) I slowed down to ensure that I cashed. I played it pretty close to the vest as there were players who had me seriously out-chipped and I still had 20+ BB's so I could be patient. Just before the bubble I made a HUGE fold which turned out to be a GREAT fold. I had KsKd UTG, raised pre-flop, and got flat-called by the big stack. He had shown up at the table with over 100k chips, had chipped down to 90k or so by this time, and seemed to be playing super-tight despite his chip stack. The flop came Jh-Ts-6s, I bet out 3k with about 24k more behind, and he immediately made it 9k to go. I looked over at my wife and said "now what?" She said "call and see a turn card", and I agreed, so I did, the 7h. I checked and he shoved. At an earlier or later point in the tourney I probably go with my hand, but here, so close to the bubble, I thought instead. He saw me raise, bet the flop, and call a raise on the flop, but yet he still shoved the turn, so he's not scurred by whatever I'm holding. The only hands I really beat here that could make that play are QQ or AsJs, and he's not been out-of-line with any of his plays so even those hands seemed unlikely. After using about a minute of my time bank, I folded and typed "kings" in the chat box. He SHOWED AA. Nobody at the table could believe I'd folded Kings. But it's true.
I was able to survive thru to the end of level 5 on a very short stack. First hand back from the break, I'm UTG with about 10k chips at 800/1600 and have two red 9's. ONE more person needed to be eliminated for me to move up to the next money level, so I time-banked until that happened and shoved. A player behind me reshoved AQo, and the board came 7-A-7-10-x. I ended up in 2380th place, good for $39.15. I was extremely pleased with the way I played, and am very satisifed to have done well in a 6-max event as short-handed games are not my strength. Next up - the Saturday VIP freeroll and $11 Omaha at 1430. C U at the tables !
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Playing in SCOOP $5 Rebuy Thursday
Thursday is my day off AND I won W$22 in a satellite so I am playing in the $5 Rebuy SCOOP event tomorrow on Pokerstars. It starts at 1430 Eastern time and I may do some Twitter updates in the first few hours, assuming I last that long. I will rebuy at the start and will do one double-rebuy if I lose all my chips. That'll cover most of the W$ and I can pay for the add-on. I invested $6.20 in the sat so the max I'll be in for is $9.70. That works. And yes I do plan on playing in the VIP and Omaha tourneys on Saturday.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
2 For 2 On Saturday
I played in the VIP NLHE freeroll and the $11 2K Guaranteed PL Omaha on Saturday on Pokerstars at 1430 and managed to squeeze out a cash in both of 'em. At one point early in the freeroll I managed to win 5 pots in a row without having to show my hand once (I did show the 4th of 5 because it was the second hand in a row I had reraised a limper preflop and I wanted to show off my red Aces) and that run doubled my starting stack. I then treaded water until I got KK and managed to triple up vs Ace-2 suited and 66. As the bubble got close I didn't have enough chips to maneuver with so I just folded my way into the money (except when I shoved AK once and AA once), ending up about 1050th/6900+ for a min cash of $6.
The PL Omaha tourney had close to 300 runners and paid 45 spots. Although I rarely play Omaha, I did manage to Final Table the same type of tourney a while back so I felt pretty confident going into this one. Early on, my tablemates wanted to see a lot of flops, and then not bet them, so I was able to steal some pots in position and also get paid a lil bit when I hit a few big hands. I also ran really g00t, getting it in with KK76 vs AAK3 and making 7's and 6's vs his AA, and sticking it in with KK-10-x vs 10-7-x-x on a 10-7-6 flop and turning a King. The roller coaster hand of the day occurred about an hour in. Several players limped for 50, I potted it to 650 with A-Ah-10-6h, and got one caller. The flop came 9-8-7 with two hearts, he bet 2K, and I obviously shoved my 4000+ with the nut flush draw and the 2nd nut straight. He insta-called and showed me 8-8-7-6 and after a blank turn we CHOPPED when a non-heart Ten came on the river. Could have been worse...
Once we got close to the money there were two kinds of stacks left in the tourney - monsters and survivors - and I unfortunately was in the latter category after suffering a bad beat with about 60 players left. Since the blinds were still low I basically shut it down and waited for either a monster hand or for a bunch of limpers to give me a chance to see a flop. With about 50 left I somehow managed to find AA45 in the small blind, chose to just complete after a bunch of limpers, and potted for 3200 on an Ace-3-7 flop only to see eveyone fold behind me. At the time that was exactly what I wanted (gimme the pot now, I have the nuts but I don't want to get sucked out on and not cash), but in retrospect, since my hand and redraws were SO strong and there were 4 or 5 other players in the pot I should have given one of them the chance to stab at it and in the process enrich me further. That being said, if an opponent had had a set, two pairs, or something like Ace-4-5-6 they probably would have called off anyways so maybe I didn't lose much in the way of equity. In addition, although the tourney paid 45 spots, the pay bump for getting to 36th and then 27th was only about $1.40 (it was like 17.20/18.60/20) so it was more in my interest to just survive the bubble. After that hand I had enough chips to easily make the money so I continued my folding ways, finally shoving about 2.5BB's in early position with Ad4d3d4x and losing to AKJ6 on the obv A-J-6 flop. I did manange to make the first pay jump as I finished 35th.
This weekend I will probably play both of these tourneys again. CU at the tables !!
The PL Omaha tourney had close to 300 runners and paid 45 spots. Although I rarely play Omaha, I did manage to Final Table the same type of tourney a while back so I felt pretty confident going into this one. Early on, my tablemates wanted to see a lot of flops, and then not bet them, so I was able to steal some pots in position and also get paid a lil bit when I hit a few big hands. I also ran really g00t, getting it in with KK76 vs AAK3 and making 7's and 6's vs his AA, and sticking it in with KK-10-x vs 10-7-x-x on a 10-7-6 flop and turning a King. The roller coaster hand of the day occurred about an hour in. Several players limped for 50, I potted it to 650 with A-Ah-10-6h, and got one caller. The flop came 9-8-7 with two hearts, he bet 2K, and I obviously shoved my 4000+ with the nut flush draw and the 2nd nut straight. He insta-called and showed me 8-8-7-6 and after a blank turn we CHOPPED when a non-heart Ten came on the river. Could have been worse...
Once we got close to the money there were two kinds of stacks left in the tourney - monsters and survivors - and I unfortunately was in the latter category after suffering a bad beat with about 60 players left. Since the blinds were still low I basically shut it down and waited for either a monster hand or for a bunch of limpers to give me a chance to see a flop. With about 50 left I somehow managed to find AA45 in the small blind, chose to just complete after a bunch of limpers, and potted for 3200 on an Ace-3-7 flop only to see eveyone fold behind me. At the time that was exactly what I wanted (gimme the pot now, I have the nuts but I don't want to get sucked out on and not cash), but in retrospect, since my hand and redraws were SO strong and there were 4 or 5 other players in the pot I should have given one of them the chance to stab at it and in the process enrich me further. That being said, if an opponent had had a set, two pairs, or something like Ace-4-5-6 they probably would have called off anyways so maybe I didn't lose much in the way of equity. In addition, although the tourney paid 45 spots, the pay bump for getting to 36th and then 27th was only about $1.40 (it was like 17.20/18.60/20) so it was more in my interest to just survive the bubble. After that hand I had enough chips to easily make the money so I continued my folding ways, finally shoving about 2.5BB's in early position with Ad4d3d4x and losing to AKJ6 on the obv A-J-6 flop. I did manange to make the first pay jump as I finished 35th.
This weekend I will probably play both of these tourneys again. CU at the tables !!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Made it to Silvah Stah
Just made my 1200th FPP for the month so I am now a Silver Star on Pokerstars. Been playing 90% Hi-Lo Stud to get there and am down about a c-note, mostly thanks to one session where I could not hit a single hand and lost about 80-90 bucks. Half of that loss however was the $50 deposit bonus I earned a couple of weeks ago. I will definitely be playing in the VIP weekly on Saturday at 1430 eastern, and if I get up early enough I might try to qualify for the monthly.
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