Finally, Some Redemption

The last couple of weeks have seen my both my bankroll and my confidence take a hit. I've been playing well for the most part, but I've made a few bad (read : loose) calls and suffered a disproportionate amount of coolers. Since my wife is out of town this weekend, I thought it would be a good night to play a couple of tournaments and hopefully get some of that confidence back. I played two tourneys tonight, a $10+1 and a $1+.10, both of which started at 7pm on PokerStars. In the $10 tourney I was able to double up pretty early with 77 vs. AQ on a Q-7-2 flop, but then lost a couple of races and got knocked out when a guy called my pre-flop all-in with A9 and flopped an ace to beat my 10 10.
The $1 tourney was a different story, and it was one of those rare tourneys where the suckouts were few and far between - if you got your chips in good your hand tended to actually hold up, which doesn't always seem to happen. I was able to grab some chips early, and for the first couple of hours maintained an average stack. Before I began play, I had made a promise to myself : it's a small buy-in, so bluff as infrequently as possible, and only play top hands behind raises, because people tend to play looser in these smaller events. So I found myself folding 99 behind a raise and a call, and AQ in the SB to a raise from a player that had about as many chips as I did, and managed to save those chips for better hands and better situations.
During the second hour I was able to build a pretty good stack and because of this was able to open up my game a bit and gain a lot of positional equity. One of the stategies that worked extremely well for me in this tourney was my ability make small, odd-size raises and take down a lot of pots pre-flop. I call them "change raises", where I'll raise enough to even out my stack, but it will be smaller than a standard raise. For example, if I have 5674 chips and the blinds are 100-200, I'd raise to 474 rather than the min-raise of 400 or the standard raise of 600-800. With 11084 chips and 200-400 blinds I might raise 1084. To me, they're a great way to mix up my play. I get the same fold equity as I would with a standard raise, while giving my oppponents absolutely no information about the strength of my hand and putting fewer chips at risk.
In the third hour, I really didn't get many good hands, and by the end of the hour I saw my stack slipping back to average-size. Then the key hand of the tourney came up. I change-raised from the button with a measly 10c4c and got called by both blinds, which was not exactly the result I was looking for. However, I was pleasantly surprised when the flop came 9c5c2c. It was checked to me, and I bet about half the pot with my made flush. The small blind immediately went all-in, and I called to find that he had flopped trip deuces. Thankfully my flush held, and just a few hands later I was able to double up again with TT vs. JhTh. This put me in the top 20 or so with about 80 players left. By this time the blinds were getting high, making post-flop play exceedingly rare, and I roller-coastered up and down a few times, winning with 99 vs. A 10 suited when he flopped two to his flush and missed his 15 outs, losing with 66 to AK, and beating AQ with JJ. I eventually crawled my way into the top 10, thanks to a well-thought-out monster bluff from the small blind that was followed immediately by a win with pocket Jacks on the button.
When the 4th hour began, there were about 23 players left from the 1800+ that had started and I was about 13th in chips. Unfortunately, I didn't get a hand for the first two orbits, and then fell victim to a suckout knockout when I went all-in behind a raise with AKo, got called by the raiser with As8s, and watched him turn a flush after a King-high flop. I finished 16th and won a whopping $8 and change, but more importantly, and amazingly, made NO mistakes in the whole tourney. Every time I got my money in the middle, I was at worst in a coin-flip situation, and more often than not I was a favorite. And I don't think I got caught bluffing one time ! It may not be a big win monitarily but confidence-wise it's a much-needed boost !

The Worst Week Ever

Whenever you have a good run, or in my case, for the last few months, a really good run, eventually things have a way of turning. The last week or so has been one of those weeks. Every time I have a good hand, someone has a better hand, and every time I have a great hand, I get no action. I've been getting hammered playing NL cash games, so tonight I changed it up, went back to my bread and butter, and played a couple of $10 sit n go's. And I came in 8th out of 9 players in both of 'em. In one, it was a blind battle, and I raised 3x with AJ in the small blind and got called. The flop came A-6-3, and rather than play it fast, I chose to check-call my opponent. The river came a jack, giving me top two pairs, and when my opponent went all-in I of course insta-called only to find that he had a set of 6's. In the other, I donked off a bunch of chips early when I check-raised with bottom pair on a 9-6-9 board and my opponent couldn't fold pocket tens, and then, when I finally got my first real hand of the game, AK suited in the small blind, I ran into KK from the UTG raiser and blanked out. In cash games, jeez Louise, I've lost in every conceivable way. Flop a set of 4's, guy turns an ignorant straight with 23 suited. Lose with KK to the 22 of a guy who had been donking off chips like there was no tomorrow on a 5-5-2 flop. Lose with AK on an ace-high flop to another chump who calls me down with Ace-8 off and hits his 8 on the river. So I'm gonna take a couple of days off, re-focus, and hopefully start March like a lion. My three resolutions for March:

1) Play hands fast(er). If I have a big hand I want to make people put in big bets to beat me with their draws. No more checking a big hand from the blinds - if I hit the flop I am going to bet it. I'll learn better where I stand in a hand by betting out than by check-calling. No more flat-calling with big hands in multi-way pots. Also, I need to start betting on the turn when I hit my drawing hands. I need to continue to implement the tactics I've learned from reading the new Sklansky book (No Limit Hold 'Em - Theory And Practice), especially concepts like blocking bets.

2) Getting away from hands that must be beat. Too often I've found myself calling a river bet when I have little chance of holding the winning hand, and that's the biggest mistake one can make in poker. If a player bets into you on every street or calls your bets on every street and then raises you on the river you've just gotta give him credit for a real hand, especially if you've been showing strength the whole time. If a scare card comes that doesn't help you at all and he keeps on betting you've gotta think it didn't scare HIM. I've also seen myself make some terrible river raises lately when I've had hands that were not strong enough to raise with or could only get called by someone who has a better hand.

3) Bluffing a little bit less, and picking the right situations to do it. I've been trying to expand my game by bluffing more, and for the most part it hasn't been working. One of the tactics in Sklansky's book is to occaisionally raise a bunch of limpers with a total garbage hand when you are in late position or one of the blinds, and what I've been finding is that once 4 or more people are in a pot this tactic just doesn't seem to work, because if one of the players calls, the others become more likely to call because of the attractive pot odds they are being given, and generally at least one of them will hit the flop hard enough that they won't fold to pressure, again because of the odds created by all the extra money in the pot. I need to concentrate my bluffs on those players who I know to be weak, but also capable of folding medium-strength hands.

My goal for the next few weeks is to win enough to finance my entry into one of the tourneys at the Foxwoods Poker Classic. If I eliminate these leaks from my game I will be well on my way !

Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad

Played in 3 different tourneys on PokerStars today and managed to cash in two of them, coming in the top 5% of the field both times.
The first one was the weekly VIP $20,000 freeroll, which had about 3600 entrants and a 10-minute-per-round blind structure, another pseudo-turbo as it were. The key hand for me in that tourney occurred just before the money bubble burst. With 300/600 blinds and a stack of around 15000 chips, I raised to 1800 with QQ and got min-reraised to 3000 by a player who had about 12000 chips. I called, the flop came Queen-high, I checked, he bet 4200, and I check-raised him all-in, figuring that he had to have AA or KK and couldn't fold. He called, and I cracked Aces. I played pretty solidly after that, finishing in 144th for a "free" $22.
The second tourney was $7 pot-limit HE, and I suffered an early defeat in that one. I twice reraised limpers with Ace-rag and suffered the consequences of my "tricky" play, although in the second case the guy on my left called my reraise with only pocket 4's and managed to flop trips while I was trying to represent top two pairs. Sigh.
I also played in a $10 + one rebuy + one add-on (which started at the same time as the $7 PL) and managed to win a big pot early which gave me excellent momentum for remainder of the first hour. I finished hour one with close to 8000 chips (having started with 3000 after taking the rebuy), and added on the extra 2k. Play slowed down a bit in the second hour, as the blinds were still small compared to stack sizes, and I was able to use my table chip lead to take down a lot of pots. In the third hour, I twice had monster hands back-to-back, once calling an all-in with AK and flopping Broadway and then winning with QQ, and later raising with KK twice in a row and both times having a caller fold to my flop bet. Shortly after the Kings really beefed up my stack, however, I lost about half my chips trying to steal a couple more pots pre-flop and that, combined with rapidly escalating blinds, put me back into "all-in or fold" territory, where I remained until my ouster in 30th place, which was good for almost $67. I'm really pleased with my play as of late, as I really haven't been making any significant mistakes, and feel like I am this close to sitting at another final table.

The Baddest Of Bad Beats

Played in a $10+1 NLHE tourney on Pokerstars tonight, a pseudo-turbo with 10-minute levels, and saw waaaaay too many bad beats, but two of the worst were hands I was involved in, one of which went in my favor, and one that didn't. The one I lost: blinds 15/30, UTG raises to 60, late position player makes it 150, I call from the small blind with 66, UTG calls. Flop comes 6-4-3 with two spades, UTG bets out, late position player pushes in, I push in, UTG calls. UTG has 10 10 (which I think I'd be folding here behind TWO all-ins), late position has JJ. 10 comes on turn, but fortunately I win the side pot vs. the player with JJ so I only lose a few hundred chips. Now here's the one I won :

PokerStars Tournament #42679814, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) -
Table '42679814 33' 9-max - Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: boriqua (1620 in chips)
Seat 2: Talon27 (1255 in chips)
Seat 3: scoupie doo (2100 in chips)
Seat 4: Tittytat23 (2050 in chips)
Seat 5: Todd12345 (1435 in chips)
Seat 6: jtthebrick (2295 in chips)
Seat 7: AJblocker (1600 in chips)
Seat 8: djelove1 (1885 in chips)
Seat 9: Mark5551 (4165 in chips)
Talon27: posts small blind 25
scoupie doo: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to djelove1 [Ac Kc]
Tittytat23: folds
Todd12345: calls
50jtthebrick: folds
AJblocker: folds
djelove1: raises 135 to 185 [A pot-building raise]
Mark5551: calls 185
boriqua: calls 185
Talon27: folds
scoupie doo: folds
Todd12345: calls 135
*** FLOP *** [Ts 2h As]
Todd12345: checks
djelove1: bets 400
Mark5551: folds
boriqua: raises 1035 to 1435 and is all-in
Todd12345: folds
djelove1: calls 1035 [I actually figured I must be behind but I felt pot-committed]
*** TURN *** [Ts 2h As] [Kd]
*** RIVER *** [Ts 2h As Kd] [Ah]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
djelove1: shows [Ac Kc] (a full house, Aces full of Kings)
boriqua: shows [2d 2s] (a full house, Deuces full of Aces)
djelove1 collected 3685 from pot

I was able to double up again several hands later, but then a combination of going card-dead and extremely slow players on my tables meant the blinds basically chewed me up after a while. I was able to fold my way into the money, and of course right after the bubble burst I pushed UTG with King-Jack off (my least-favorite hand, although it didn't really matter what my cards were, as I only had twice the big blind so I was pushing with anything) and got called by Ace-Jack off, busting 81st, and winning a whopping 6 bucks or so. The positive news is that's 3 tourney cashes in a row for the house, as my wife finished in the top 5% in a $20+2 earlier in the day and tripled up on her investment. We're building momentum on our way to the Foxwoods Poker Classic !

An Early Valentine's Day Present

I played in a $15+1.50 NLHE tourney on Pokerstars tonight, which I haven't done in a while, and finished well into the money, coming in 25th out of 771 players and profiting over $50. I was very happy to do that well, as I was beyond card dead in the third hour, winning a whopping three pots, two pre-flop with uncalled raises (crappy hands too - KJ suited and A9 suited) and one all-in on the short stack with A4 vs. Q3. I was also pleased that I lost exactly once in the whole tourney as a big favorite, against a small stack who pushed A4 suited on the button vs. my KK in the blinds and flopped an ace. Everything else held, and I even hit a couple of 3-outers near the end to survive as long as I did. I caught FIVE pairs of Queens in the first hour and they all won, twice flopping trips, and also got Aces twice and stacked smaller pairs both times. All in all it was pretty basic poker, but it worked !

What A Week !

I'm back in Beantown from vacation and may I say...what an action-packed week it was !

Monday - Flew to Phoenix. Met my wife's grandfather, who is 83 and just bought himself a NEW Ford Mustang - sweet ride. Spent the night at Harrah's Ak-Chin casino in Maricopa, Arizona, played too many slots, and lost a minimal amount.

Tuesday - Played in a $60 buy-in tourney at 1pm (20+10 buy-in, $10 "dealer appreciation" add-on, $20 re-buy) with a field of 40 players and WON, taking home almost $600 for my efforts. It was a typical casino tourney with low blinds for the first few levels and then rapidily escalating blinds later on. I was pretty much card-dead for the first 4 levels and then turned into a card rack, catching huge hands and winning every race I was in. The key hand in the tourney was also about the only time I got my money in way behind - I went all-in with JcTc in early position with a very short stack, got called by a player with KhJs, the flop came ten-high with three hearts, and my opponent missed his 12 outs. After that it was pretty basic pre-flop all-in poker, and the last hand was the classic all-in showdown, with my QQ making a boat vs. his AK. Also played in a $70 tourney that night with about 30 players in it and busted out in the middle of the pack after being card-dead most of the night and losing most of my chips when I went all-in with AK and lost to AQ on a rivered Q.

Wednesday - Had brunch in the casino, lost a few bucks on slots, and went to the Crowne Plaza San Marcos in Chandler, AZ to check in for the conference my wife was attending. Enjoyed a free buffet at the event, and then went to the Fort McDowell Casino, where I played slots for a couple of hours and left up $20.

Thursday - Celebrated my birthday by going to the PGA's FBR Open at the TPC Scottsdale. Got a bonus birthday present as a guy standing outside the gate with a stack of tickets gave me one, so I got in for free. Spent a few hours there watching Vijay and Freddie, got an autograph from Billy Mayfair, and headed back to the hotel for another cocktail party, which was followed by dinner at a local restaurant.

Friday - Spent the afternoon at a local "1800's western town" attraction and then went to the conference banquet where my wife received an award (and got a standing ovation) for her contributions to the company during the year past. I even played a little poker, as they had a casino night for prizes after the banquet.

Saturday - Flew back from Phoenix, got home just before midnight, and listened to a voice-mail from my real estate broker saying that we had gotten an offer on our home, which had been on the market for almost a year and had seen little action.

Sunday - Played counter-offer ping-pong all afternoon until a deal was worked out, and watched the Sub-par Bowl until it was clear that the Colts had the game in hand.

Now that's a good way to spend a birthday week !