Btbam's Blog

$4.40 Hand Analysis

2009-01-15T23:29:00.000-08:00

Warning - A little long, but isn't too long to read since it is all hand history.

I am back at playing $4.40s and other MTTs after grinding $25NL cash for pretty much 2-3 weeks. It was okay, I really started getting annoyed with barely making any money. I couldn't really get anything going, even though I was in a good rhythm to 8-10 table it but ended up after those 3 weeks up around 6-8 buy ins or so - so back to $4.40s it is which was really boosting my roll in the first place and I missed the excitement of tournys.

This blog is gonna be about my most recent win tonight. I just feel like going through all the hands since I never have before and just to show how well I ran near the end of the tournament. I ran bad all day, I played 25 of them all consecutively and at one point had 17 going at once but didn't get anything going at all. Anyways, feedback is welcome and appreciated, enjoy!

I won’t go through every single hand that I was involved in, I will just go through the ones that were relevant to keep this as short as possible.

Hand #2
We can argue here that I can put in a raise preflop, but I think it's more 50-50 or preference I guess. In 4.40s, especially at the first blind level, you will get so many callers that I just choose not to play this hand out of position against 19 other players. Again sometimes I raise, I just chose not to here.

PokerStars Game #23935308283: Tournament #134247458, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2009/01/15 17:16:14 ET
Table '134247458 12' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: bio12 (2510 in chips)
Seat 2: majstro28 (1490 in chips)
Seat 3: Firaldo87 (1480 in chips)
Seat 4: SENGAG (560 in chips)
Seat 5: fbtmof05 (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: SupCuzz1 (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: biggjayy123 (1460 in chips)
Seat 8: SNOKESTAR (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: oneace1 (1500 in chips)
Firaldo87: posts small blind 10
SENGAG: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fbtmof05 [Ac Qd]
fbtmof05: folds

Hand #19
I decided to open to 4x here from UTG+1, again like the previous hand, I sometimes fold here. I usually 4-5x at the 10/20 and 15/30 level until 25/50 and up where it is a standard 3x until the antes kick in and I 2.5x. I get action, and make a standard C-bet. A lot of the time I will bet again on the turn here adding more draws but I wanted to see what he was up to and decided I was gonna check raise. I think I got max, but it looks like shoving was too much even though I would normally make it 500 or something, but that basically commits me so I just shoved.

PokerStars Game #23935976514: Tournament #134247458, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2009/01/15 17:38:31 ET
Table '134247458 12' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: bio12 (5245 in chips)
Seat 2: majstro28 (845 in chips)
Seat 3: Firaldo87 (3795 in chips)
Seat 4: Cacowboy45 (1600 in chips)
Seat 5: fbtmof05 (1365 in chips)
Seat 6: SupCuzz1 (1620 in chips)
Seat 8: SNOKESTAR (1305 in chips)
Seat 9: Fipse22 (2425 in chips)
majstro28: posts small blind 15
Firaldo87: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fbtmof05 [Ah Qd]
Cacowboy45: folds
fbtmof05: raises 90 to 120
SupCuzz1: folds
SNOKESTAR: folds
Fipse22: folds
bio12: calls 120
majstro28: folds
Firaldo87: folds
*** FLOP *** [3h 9d Qc]
fbtmof05: bets 180
bio12: calls 180
*** TURN *** [3h 9d Qc] [5d]
fbtmof05: checks
bio12: bets 180
fbtmof05: raises 885 to 1065 and is all-in
bio12: folds

Hand #69
Hadn’t played a hand in 50 hands. I was actually sitting out for I think hand 43 to hand 60. Must have happened while 16 tabling which sucks. Anyways, standard shove no explanation here.

PokerStars Game #23937506277: Tournament #134247458, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/01/15 18:30:03 ET
Table '134247458 11' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: Jnecco01 (1455 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 2: slyfox25 (1083 in chips)
Seat 3: Sir Striker (2605 in chips)
Seat 4: Fumanchu70 (3950 in chips)
Seat 5: theozone (4667 in chips)
Seat 6: chriswgsx (5375 in chips)
Seat 7: Sensei Shu (2678 in chips)
Seat 8: trademarke (4570 in chips)
Seat 9: fbtmof05 (1145 in chips)
chriswgsx: posts small blind 75
Sensei Shu: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fbtmof05 [Ah Ad]
trademarke: folds
fbtmof05: raises 995 to 1145 and is all-in
Jnecco01: folds
slyfox25: folds
Sir Striker: folds
Fumanchu70: folds
theozone: folds
chriswgsx: folds
Sensei Shu: calls 995
*** FLOP *** [8s 3d 6d]
*** TURN *** [8s 3d 6d] *** RIVER *** [8s 3d 6d Td] [4h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Sensei Shu: shows [7d Ac] (high card Ace)
fbtmof05: shows [Ah Ad] (a pair of Aces)

Hand #77
Might take some heat for this one. At this point I know nothing about anybody because of all the tables I am playing. Standard raise with this stack (not sure why 2.5 – misclick perhaps) great flop for me. Not sure why I didn’t play this more standard. We are both deep for the blinds and he is betting almost pot. I wanted to flat to see what he does on the turn, see if he slows down. Obviously he didn’t and I made a very bad call, I even knew before I saw his hand that I should fold. I think what made me call was seeing a lot of bad players at the 4.40 level always leading with bad hands and always check raising with strong ones – that is my only excuse for this hand, I admit, terrible call.

PokerStars Game #23937776165: Tournament #134247458, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2009/01/15 18:38:38 ET
Table '134247458 11' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: Jnecco01 (1230 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 2: slyfox25 (458 in chips)
Seat 4: Fumanchu70 (3750 in chips)
Seat 5: theozone (4467 in chips)
Seat 6: chriswgsx (5650 in chips)
Seat 7: Sensei Shu (1708 in chips)
Seat 8: trademarke (4945 in chips)
Seat 9: fbtmof05 (5320 in chips)
chriswgsx: posts small blind 100
Sensei Shu: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fbtmof05 [7d 7c]
trademarke: folds
fbtmof05: raises 300 to 500
Jnecco01: folds
slyfox25: folds
Fumanchu70: folds
theozone: folds
chriswgsx: calls 400
Sensei Shu: folds
*** FLOP *** [4c 2h 3s]
Sensei Shu said, "got aces again?"
chriswgsx: bets 800
fbtmof05: calls 800
*** TURN *** [4c 2h 3s] [8c]
chriswgsx: bets 4350 and is all-in
fbtmof05: calls 4020 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (330) returned to chriswgsx
*** RIVER *** [4c 2h 3s 8c] [7s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
chriswgsx: shows [Tc Td] (a pair of Tens)
fbtmof05: shows [7d 7c] (three of a kind, Sevens)

Hand #98
23 BB stack raising UTG – seemed to be a fairly tight player, a whiner. I was noticing more things as I was busting from tournys. I like flat calling here against him with his stack and how tight he seems to be, see a cheap flop and can easily throw it away if it’s a bad flop and still have a very nice stack. I get a decent flop, the 9 doesn’t scare me, and he leads out just above half the pot on a draw heavy flop. I thought he would bet a little more with an over pair so I stuck it in and obviously was wrong again. Picked up a ton of outs on the turn and blanked. Again, bad read, but felt he had AK which a lot of the time he could have. Took a big hit, back to nit mode.

PokerStars Game #23938370091: Tournament #134247458, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (125/250) - 2009/01/15 18:57:21 ET
Table '134247458 11' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Jnecco01 (105 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 2: slyfox25 (2797 in chips)
Seat 3: Trotsche84 (440 in chips)
Seat 4: lancien06 (2580 in chips)
Seat 5: theozone (5634 in chips)
Seat 7: XanderK (15962 in chips)
Seat 8: trademarke (7720 in chips)
Seat 9: fbtmof05 (10015 in chips)
Jnecco01: posts the ante 25
slyfox25: posts the ante 25
Trotsche84: posts the ante 25
lancien06: posts the ante 25
theozone: posts the ante 25
XanderK: posts the ante 25
trademarke: posts the ante 25
fbtmof05: posts the ante 25
Trotsche84: posts small blind 125
lancien06: posts big blind 250
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fbtmof05 [8c 8s]
theozone: raises 500 to 750
XanderK: folds
trademarke: folds
fbtmof05: calls 750
Jnecco01: folds
slyfox25: folds
Trotsche84: folds
lancien06: folds
*** FLOP *** [2c 9h 6c]
theozone: bets 1250
fbtmof05: raises 5250 to 6500
theozone: calls 3609 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (1641) returned to fbtmof05
*** TURN *** [2c 9h 6c] [7c]
*** RIVER *** [2c 9h 6c 7c] [6h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
theozone: shows [Kd Ks] (two pair, Kings and Sixes)
fbtmof05: shows [8c 8s] (two pair, Eights and Sixes)

Hand #108
The blinds are starting to eat at me and the BB in this hand was a really tight player so I just decided to shove it in and wow another ambush. So much for this being a good hand history review showing how well I play. I wanted to steal and come to think of it, if he’s that tight, he’ll fold to a 3x 90% of the time and shove the other 10%, so why not just risk losing 900 10% of the time rather than risking my whole stack, so bad judgment there. Should just 3x fold every time against a tight player. I get lucky again and get a sick stack.

PokerStars Game #23938659818: Tournament #134247458, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (150/300) - 2009/01/15 19:06:22 ET
Table '134247458 2' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 2: fbtmof05 (5256 in chips)
Seat 3: tosho1 (5935 in chips)
Seat 4: Ricman88 (10090 in chips)
Seat 5: Danihugo (5007 in chips)
Seat 6: SPATIANER (15825 in chips)
Seat 7: sharksight (7505 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 8: WillPod (4485 in chips)
Seat 9: kuhln (8545 in chips)
fbtmof05: posts the ante 25
tosho1: posts the ante 25
Ricman88: posts the ante 25
Danihugo: posts the ante 25
SPATIANER: posts the ante 25
sharksight: posts the ante 25
WillPod: posts the ante 25
kuhln: posts the ante 25
fbtmof05: posts small blind 150
tosho1: posts big blind 300
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fbtmof05 [8h 6s]
Ricman88: folds
Danihugo: folds
SPATIANER: folds
sharksight: folds
WillPod: folds
kuhln: folds
fbtmof05: raises 4931 to 5231 and is all-in
tosho1: calls 4931
*** FLOP *** [9h 4s 7h]
*** TURN *** [9h 4s 7h] [6d]
*** RIVER *** [9h 4s 7h 6d] [8c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
fbtmof05: shows [8h 6s] (two pair, Eights and Sixes)
tosho1: shows [Kh Ks] (a pair of Kings)

Hand #155
Haven’t played a hand in a while, called a raise pre and missed, and the rest was blinding down to 20 bb. Knew nothing about this player until he called, sick call I guess. More from him later.

PokerStars Game #23939933513: Tournament #134247458, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level X (300/600) - 2009/01/15 19:47:35 ET
Table '134247458 2' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: ralmerk (7806 in chips)
Seat 2: fbtmof05 (6220 in chips)
Seat 3: WAG51 (42523 in chips)
Seat 4: Ricman88 (19641 in chips)
Seat 5: Frölunda 666 (15166 in chips)
Seat 6: rednuts (13880 in chips)
Seat 8: WillPod (7579 in chips)
Seat 9: kuhln (8196 in chips)
ralmerk: posts the ante 50
fbtmof05: posts the ante 50
WAG51: posts the ante 50
Ricman88: posts the ante 50
Frölunda 666: posts the ante 50
rednuts: posts the ante 50
WillPod: posts the ante 50
kuhln: posts the ante 50
Ricman88: posts small blind 300
Frölunda 666: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fbtmof05 [As Js]
rednuts: folds
WillPod: folds
kuhln: folds
ralmerk: folds
fbtmof05: raises 5570 to 6170 and is all-in
WAG51: folds
Ricman88: folds
Frölunda 666: calls 5570
*** FLOP *** [8d 4h Ks]
*** TURN *** [8d 4h Ks] [5c]
*** RIVER *** [8d 4h Ks 5c] [3d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Frölunda 666: shows [Qs Td] (high card King)
fbtmof05: shows [As Js] (high card Ace)

Hand #169
Short handed and we are on the FT bubble. I have 11k at 400/800 and just shove it in here knowing I pick up the blinds so much or could get a really loose call from my friend Frolunda and give me a nice stack for the FT.

PokerStars Game #23940316310: Tournament #134247458, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level XI (400/800) - 2009/01/15 20:00:20 ET
Table '134247458 2' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 2: fbtmof05 (11015 in chips)
Seat 3: WAG51 (43748 in chips)
Seat 4: Ricman88 (12916 in chips)
Seat 5: Frölunda 666 (29311 in chips)
Seat 6: rednuts (8205 in chips)
Seat 8: WillPod (5004 in chips)
fbtmof05: posts the ante 75
WAG51: posts the ante 75
Ricman88: posts the ante 75
Frölunda 666: posts the ante 75
rednuts: posts the ante 75
WillPod: posts the ante 75
Frölunda 666: posts small blind 400
rednuts: posts big blind 800
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fbtmof05 [9s Qs]
WillPod: folds
fbtmof05: raises 10140 to 10940 and is all-in
WAG51: folds
Ricman88: folds
Frölunda 666: calls 10540
rednuts: folds
*** FLOP *** [9h Ad 4s]
*** TURN *** [9h Ad 4s] [Jc]
*** RIVER *** [9h Ad 4s Jc] [Ah]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Frölunda 666: shows [9d 6h] (two pair, Aces and Nines)
fbtmof05: shows [9s Qs] (two pair, Aces and Nines - Queen kicker)

Hand #174
Standard raise pre on the bubble, but it is tough having frolunda behind me in this position. I am just looking to steal the blinds or get 2 callers and flop middle set. I lead out this flop 3 handed simply because a K is in these players range for sure and because of how loose and terrible Frolunda is. Frolunda can easily raise here with anything. Also, draw heavy flop with 2 other players in the hand. On the turn, I decide to shove. I have about the same amount as the pot, WAG has a big stack and could call off here with a draw and with a K. I think usually a K raises the flop, but who knows in these 4.40s. I could have bet like 8k, but again, I am committing myself so I just shoved and hoped he would call.

PokerStars Game #23940416177: Tournament #134247458, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level XI (400/800) - 2009/01/15 20:03:31 ET
Table '134247458 2' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 2: fbtmof05 (22030 in chips)
Seat 3: WAG51 (49023 in chips)
Seat 4: Ricman88 (10541 in chips)
Seat 5: Frölunda 666 (22375 in chips)
Seat 6: rednuts (6230 in chips)
fbtmof05: posts the ante 75
WAG51: posts the ante 75
Ricman88: posts the ante 75
Frölunda 666: posts the ante 75
rednuts: posts the ante 75
Frölunda 666: posts small blind 400
rednuts: posts big blind 800
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fbtmof05 [5h 5c]
fbtmof05: raises 1200 to 2000
WAG51: calls 2000
Ricman88: folds
Frölunda 666: calls 1600
rednuts: folds
*** FLOP *** [Ks 5s 7c]
Frölunda 666: checks
fbtmof05: bets 4550
WAG51: calls 4550
Frölunda 666: folds
*** TURN *** [Ks 5s 7c] [6d]
fbtmof05: bets 15405 and is all-in
WAG51: calls 15405
*** RIVER *** [Ks 5s 7c 6d] [3s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
fbtmof05: shows [5h 5c] (three of a kind, Fives)
WAG51: shows [Jd Kh] (a pair of Kings)

The FT started 3 or 4 hands later. I started the FT 2nd in chips to a huge stack (83k). I was just going to play tight and pick my spots in position and get a feel for how these guys are playing, I didn’t have reads on any of them except Frolunda. However he busted 4 hands in. I just played a very standard TAG while 8 handed. Actually I played tight the whole FT – extremely tight 3 handed.

Hand #197

At this level of play, squeezing is tough to do. However I looked up the buttons stats and see that he was a winning player with a small chunk of profit from micro stakes and realize he can raise here with a huge range. So I squeezed and it worked out

PokerStars Game #23941002061: Tournament #134247458, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level XII (500/1000) - 2009/01/15 20:22:18 ET
Table '134247458 2' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: 33racing (39588 in chips)
Seat 2: fbtmof05 (47785 in chips)
Seat 4: Ricman88 (13532 in chips)
Seat 6: rednuts (4590 in chips)
Seat 7: XanderK (116781 in chips)
Seat 8: chrhtn (47724 in chips)
33racing: posts the ante 100
fbtmof05: posts the ante 100
Ricman88: posts the ante 100
rednuts: posts the ante 100
XanderK: posts the ante 100
chrhtn: posts the ante 100
33racing: posts small blind 500
fbtmof05: posts big blind 1000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fbtmof05 [8h 4c]
Ricman88: folds
rednuts: folds
XanderK: folds
chrhtn: raises 2000 to 3000
33racing: calls 2500
fbtmof05: raises 9000 to 12000
chrhtn: folds
33racing: folds

Hand #212

I could have 3 bet pre, but I had squeezed him with the 84 and had literally just re popped less than an orbit ago with KK, so I think he might have 4 bet me light here, so I just wanted to see a flop and we were fairly deep stacked. I decide to peel off on the turn to see if he does have the ace, however his range again is fairly wide and I decide to lead and hope to induce a raise.

PokerStars Game #23941441509: Tournament #134247458, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level XIII (600/1200) - 2009/01/15 20:36:18 ET
Table '134247458 2' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: 33racing (23863 in chips)
Seat 2: fbtmof05 (52335 in chips)
Seat 4: Ricman88 (24484 in chips)
Seat 7: XanderK (136569 in chips)
Seat 8: chrhtn (32749 in chips)
33racing: posts the ante 125
fbtmof05: posts the ante 125
Ricman88: posts the ante 125
XanderK: posts the ante 125
chrhtn: posts the ante 125
33racing: posts small blind 600
fbtmof05: posts big blind 1200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fbtmof05 [5d 5s]
Ricman88: folds
XanderK: folds
chrhtn: raises 2400 to 3600
33racing: folds
fbtmof05: calls 2400
*** FLOP *** [4h 2h Ad]
fbtmof05: checks
chrhtn: bets 4800
fbtmof05: calls 4800
*** TURN *** [4h 2h Ad] [3c]
fbtmof05: bets 8500
chrhtn: folds

We got down to 3 handed and it was a 140k stack vs. 55k and 66k so I was just playing pretty tight. The two other guys were getting involved in a lot of pots and there was quite a bit of 3 betting pre so I was just sitting back and picking up spots where I thought they were weak. XanderK was raising almost every hand so I found it tough to 3 bet him a lot since I felt he could 4 bet me light a lot too. So knowing I am much better than these players I’d rather play small ball and just chip up slowly especially this deep stacked.

Hand #256

Standard 3 bet pre, I hadn’t done it much, I think only once before so I figured I get away with it a lot of the time here. Kind of a scary flop since he could easily have 68, 97, 55, 77+, draws etc. I have to C bet this as much as I don’t want to since I am going to be betting a big chunk of my stack. I only bet about half the pot just cause these players aren’t smart enough to pick up on the betting patterns that I am weak here a lot. Also, if he’s going to call or raise anyways, what’s the point of risking more chips since 15k is a good amount of chips anyways. 15k is the same as 20 or 22k here.

PokerStars Game #23942054501: Tournament #134247458, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level XIV (800/1600) - 2009/01/15 20:57:00 ET
Table '134247458 2' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 2: fbtmof05 (54285 in chips)
Seat 4: Ricman88 (47633 in chips)
Seat 7: XanderK (168082 in chips)
fbtmof05: posts the ante 150
Ricman88: posts the ante 150
XanderK: posts the ante 150
XanderK: posts small blind 800
fbtmof05: posts big blind 1600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fbtmof05 [5h Qh]
Ricman88: folds
XanderK: raises 3200 to 4800
fbtmof05: raises 9600 to 14400
XanderK: calls 9600
*** FLOP *** [7s 5d 9d]
XanderK: checks
fbtmof05: bets 15500
XanderK: folds

Hand #268

See a cheap flop with a good hand, don’t want to get crazy preflop with my stack and a crazy lag tard. Easy check on the flop, I could have taken a small stab at it and probably taken it down. 6k in the pot and he bets 4k on the turn. I have a gutshot, a flush draw and an over. To me I have plenty of outs and he could also be taking a stab at this pot too. At this point I didn’t put him on much, 34 suited, K5 suited, something like that. On the river he bets out 8k. I think he bets a 7 on the flop, but to me he seemed to have something like KJ, QJ, KT from his limp pre. He had usually raised his button but had been 3 bet a few times, so maybe he was afraid of being 3 bet while holding a paint hand. I also don’t think he bets a 5 or a hand like 33, or a 4x on the river there, and he definitely doesn’t have a 2 (from the preflop limp). I was just sure I had the best hand and did.

PokerStars Game #23942210752: Tournament #134247458, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level XV (1000/2000) - 2009/01/15 21:02:33 ET
Table '134247458 2' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 2: fbtmof05 (43735 in chips)
Seat 4: Ricman88 (31483 in chips)
Seat 7: XanderK (194782 in chips)
fbtmof05: posts the ante 200
Ricman88: posts the ante 200
XanderK: posts the ante 200
XanderK: posts small blind 1000
fbtmof05: posts big blind 2000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fbtmof05 [4c Ac]
Ricman88: calls 2000
XanderK: calls 1000
fbtmof05: checks
*** FLOP *** [7c 2d 5s]
XanderK: checks
fbtmof05: checks
Ricman88: checks
*** TURN *** [7c 2d 5s] [2c]
XanderK: checks
fbtmof05: checks
Ricman88: bets 4000
XanderK: folds
fbtmof05: calls 4000
*** RIVER *** [7c 2d 5s 2c] [4s]
fbtmof05: checks
Ricman88: bets 8000
fbtmof05: calls 8000
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Ricman88: shows [Tc 9c] (a pair of Deuces)
fbtmof05: shows [4c Ac] (two pair, Fours and Deuces)

Hand #274

Here I could 3 bet pre, we are deep stacked and he’s raising a ton of hands. I didn’t want to 3 bet and have him fold so much of his range especially being out of position, so I just saw a flop and went from there. Great flop for me. Again, I think his range is so big here that he’s folding so many hands if I raise so I don’t want to scare him away. Same with the turn, the 9 scares me a little bit, but I still think I’m ahead here 100% of the time. The river pairs the board, and he checks, I am still a bit scared of the 9, he could have a 2, but being so positive I’m ahead here he’s never calling here unless I’m beat.

PokerStars Game #23942280044: Tournament #134247458, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level XV (1000/2000) - 2009/01/15 21:05:03 ET
Table '134247458 2' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 2: fbtmof05 (61735 in chips)
Seat 4: Ricman88 (17483 in chips)
Seat 7: XanderK (190782 in chips)
fbtmof05: posts the ante 200
Ricman88: posts the ante 200
XanderK: posts the ante 200
XanderK: posts small blind 1000
fbtmof05: posts big blind 2000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fbtmof05 [8s 8h]
Ricman88: folds
XanderK: raises 4000 to 6000
fbtmof05: calls 4000
*** FLOP *** [2s 2d 7c]
XanderK: bets 8000
fbtmof05: calls 8000
*** TURN *** [2s 2d 7c] [9c]
XanderK: bets 16000
fbtmof05: calls 16000
*** RIVER *** [2s 2d 7c 9c] [7d]
XanderK: checks
fbtmof05: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
XanderK: shows [8c Kd] (two pair, Sevens and Deuces)
fbtmof05: shows [8s 8h] (two pair, Eights and Sevens)

We got heads up after the next hand, and XanderK stacked Ricman88 and got a much larger stack. We went heads up him 180k and me having 90k. I had a lot of work to do since our stacks were so deep at 1k/2k. I never chop so that didn’t cross my mind, I just knew I was a better player than him and was just going to play small ball and chip away or hope to get lucky and get into a huge pot way ahead.

Hand #278

Scary turn card but I am willing to get all in and have to bet this turn I think every time. I am probably ahead a lot here too, but oh well. Standard bet I think

PokerStars Game #23942350617: Tournament #134247458, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level XV (1000/2000) - 2009/01/15 21:07:36 ET
Table '134247458 2' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 2: fbtmof05 (76535 in chips)
Seat 7: XanderK (193465 in chips)
fbtmof05: posts the ante 200
XanderK: posts the ante 200
fbtmof05: posts small blind 1000
XanderK: posts big blind 2000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fbtmof05 [Kd Ks]
fbtmof05: raises 2000 to 4000
XanderK: calls 2000
*** FLOP *** [6h Jc 4h]
XanderK: bets 6000
fbtmof05: raises 12000 to 18000
XanderK: calls 12000
*** TURN *** [6h Jc 4h] [Kh]
XanderK: checks
fbtmof05: bets 30000
XanderK: folds

Hand #279

Very next hand, I run so well…

PokerStars Game #23942384310: Tournament #134247458, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level XV (1000/2000) - 2009/01/15 21:08:48 ET
Table '134247458 2' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 2: fbtmof05 (98735 in chips)
Seat 7: XanderK (171265 in chips)
fbtmof05: posts the ante 200
XanderK: posts the ante 200
XanderK: posts small blind 1000
fbtmof05: posts big blind 2000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fbtmof05 [Ac Ad]
XanderK: calls 1000
fbtmof05: raises 6000 to 8000
XanderK: folds

Hand #280

Wow I run really well… Standard raise pre by me. I had been re popping his flop bets a lot so I figured this was a perfect spot to do it since he can never put me on a ten here ever. This is his chance to get back at me hoping I am bluffing since he is probably getting sick of his bets being raised.

PokerStars Game #23942392084: Tournament #134247458, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level XV (1000/2000) - 2009/01/15 21:09:05 ET
Table '134247458 2' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 2: fbtmof05 (100935 in chips)
Seat 7: XanderK (169065 in chips)
fbtmof05: posts the ante 200
XanderK: posts the ante 200
fbtmof05: posts small blind 1000
XanderK: posts big blind 2000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fbtmof05 [Tc Ks]
fbtmof05: raises 2000 to 4000
XanderK: calls 2000
*** FLOP *** [5d Td Ts]
XanderK: bets 6000
fbtmof05: raises 12000 to 18000
XanderK: raises 146865 to 164865 and is all-in
fbtmof05: calls 78735 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (68130) returned to XanderK
*** TURN *** [5d Td Ts] [5h]
*** RIVER *** [5d Td Ts 5h] [Qh]
fishbones11 [observer] said, "nh wp"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
XanderK: shows [6s Qc] (two pair, Queens and Tens)
fbtmof05: shows [Tc Ks] (a full house, Tens full of Fives)

Hand #298
To be honest, he had been leading out at me so much and he was weak every single time, I just thought I had the best hand the whole way. I thought he had air or a 5.

PokerStars Game #23942583635: Tournament #134247458, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level XV (1000/2000) - 2009/01/15 21:15:57 ET
Table '134247458 2' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 2: fbtmof05 (194870 in chips)
Seat 7: XanderK (75130 in chips)
fbtmof05: posts the ante 200
XanderK: posts the ante 200
fbtmof05: posts small blind 1000
XanderK: posts big blind 2000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fbtmof05 [7h 8d]
fbtmof05: raises 2000 to 4000
XanderK: calls 2000
*** FLOP *** [9h 7d 5c]
XanderK: bets 6000
fbtmof05: calls 6000
*** TURN *** [9h 7d 5c] [3d]
XanderK: bets 10000
fbtmof05: calls 10000
*** RIVER *** [9h 7d 5c 3d] [3s]
XanderK: bets 14000
fbtmof05: calls 14000
*** SHOW DOWN ***
XanderK: shows [7c Th] (two pair, Sevens and Threes)

Hand #302

Hand plays itself I think. WP by him.

PokerStars Game #23942646053: Tournament #134247458, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level XVI (1500/3000) - 2009/01/15 21:18:13 ET
Table '134247458 2' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 2: fbtmof05 (167870 in chips)
Seat 7: XanderK (102130 in chips)
fbtmof05: posts the ante 300
XanderK: posts the ante 300
fbtmof05: posts small blind 1500
XanderK: posts big blind 3000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fbtmof05 [5s 7d]
fbtmof05: raises 3000 to 6000
XanderK: calls 3000
*** FLOP *** [5c 5h 2d]
XanderK: checks
fbtmof05: checks
*** TURN *** [5c 5h 2d] [8s]
XanderK: checks
fbtmof05: bets 7500
XanderK: calls 7500
*** RIVER *** [5c 5h 2d 8s] [Ah]
XanderK: bets 9000
fbtmof05: raises 18000 to 27000
XanderK: raises 61330 to 88330 and is all-in
fbtmof05: calls 61330
*** SHOW DOWN ***
XanderK: shows [Kd 5d] (three of a kind, Fives)
fbtmof05: shows [5s 7d] (three of a kind, Fives - lower kicker)

Back to a huge chip disadvantage, 200k to 60k

Hand #315

Just decided to shove with this stack it seems huge, but I think if I 3bet to 27k it’s committing me anyways so he’s either shoving over the 27k or folding, and if I shove he’s either calling or folding, so same difference. Huge fade, back in it!

PokerStars Game #23942795196: Tournament #134247458, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level XVI (1500/3000) - 2009/01/15 21:23:30 ET
Table '134247458 2' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 2: fbtmof05 (81940 in chips)
Seat 7: XanderK (188060 in chips)
fbtmof05: posts the ante 300
XanderK: posts the ante 300
XanderK: posts small blind 1500
fbtmof05: posts big blind 3000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fbtmof05 [Qd Ah]
XanderK: raises 6000 to 9000
fbtmof05: raises 72640 to 81640 and is all-in
XanderK: calls 72640
*** FLOP *** [Ac 3s 5s]
*** TURN *** [Ac 3s 5s] [5d]
*** RIVER *** [Ac 3s 5s 5d] [7c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
fbtmof05: shows [Qd Ah] (two pair, Aces and Fives)
XanderK: shows [As Js] (two pair, Aces and Fives - lower kicker)

Hand #318

Standard raise pre, again another lead from him which was always weak, so I raised again hoping for another 3 bet shove against my huge drawing hand. I was happy with the flat and the turn, put him on a J or a T or a baby flush draw since he probably shoves on me on the flop with any K or any Q or any huge combo draw. We get it in here on the turn, and I think it’s a really bad shove by him since I’m almost never folding, so not sure what he was thinking. Even if he did slow play KQ for some reason, I still have 13 outs so, almost 30% to win with one card to come. And that was the last hand, thanks for reading!

PokerStars Game #23942834538: Tournament #134247458, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level XVI (1500/3000) - 2009/01/15 21:24:55 ET
Table '134247458 2' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 2: fbtmof05 (151880 in chips)
Seat 7: XanderK (118120 in chips)
fbtmof05: posts the ante 300
XanderK: posts the ante 300
fbtmof05: posts small blind 1500
XanderK: posts big blind 3000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fbtmof05 [5h Th]
fbtmof05: raises 3000 to 6000
XanderK: calls 3000
*** FLOP *** [Kh Tc Qh]
XanderK: bets 6000
fbtmof05: raises 12000 to 18000
XanderK: calls 12000
*** TURN *** [Kh Tc Qh] [5d]
XanderK: checks
fbtmof05: bets 28500
XanderK: raises 65320 to 93820 and is all-in
fbtmof05: calls 65320
*** RIVER *** [Kh Tc Qh 5d] [Qd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
XanderK: shows [3c Jh] (a pair of Queens)
fbtmof05: shows [5h Th] (two pair, Queens and Tens)

$4.40s, Turningstone, $25NL

2008-12-15T20:49:00.000-08:00

This is gonna be quick. As previously stated in a few posts ago, I had finally turned things around and built my roll back up and made some profit from the $4.40s. Well, I finally have won a few since then and have just been dominating. I haven't been playing them as much as I was in the fall, but I'll be back at it soon - I have just been playing other MTT's and lots of cash games. I have probably made around $1200 in $4.40s since my MTT experience.

Turningstone was sick, I finally was able to go. I played the Friday deepstacks and got nothing going, it sucked. Sick structure though, like unreal, I loved it. 16,500 starting stack and blinds start at 25/50 with 40 minute levels. Saturday's tourny was the same except a $350 buy in. I managed to get to the final two tables before busting 20th for a measily $424 - felt like the biggest waste of time in my life. We started at 11:00am and I busted at 2:00am - 13 hours of horseshit. Although I must say it felt incredibly good to get that far for not hitting many hands. Honestly, I hit 2 sets, BOTH at the 50/100 level. The first hand: MP limper, CO (fairly lag in position) makes it 300, I call on the button with 44, the SB makes it 1100, folds to me I call. Flop Q 4 7 rainbow, we get it in and I hold against AA. Boom, up to roughly 30k after that, then flopped a set with 22 after raising pre and got no action on the flop. After that, I just got nothing going, I made a sick shove on a K 7 4 flop with QT after calling a 3 bet preflop in position and shoved his flop bet. Most of my chips were accumulated preflop. At the 600/1200 level I chipped up from 32k to 75k no showdown.

As for cash games, I'm 8 tabling $0.10/$0.25 on stars to give it a try. I usually do it after busting from tournys or when I don't feel like playing MTTs. So far, I have played for 6 days and I'm up around 9 buy ins, it's pretty cool. Played around 7,000 hands. That's all for now...

Lac Leamy Update

2008-10-27T22:46:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since going to Lac Leamy. I came "out of retirement" last Monday and went back. I haven't gone because it's such a long drive and there isn't much action... well I was wrong. Other than the really annoying drive, the action is still awesome. I went last Monday, yesterday (Sunday) and tonight (Monday).

Last Monday I cashed out ~$200 profit. Made my money on one hand basically. Called a preflop raise of $8 with AK in the SB. The original raiser was the button and a terrible player. Stacks off extremely light, so cold called pre in hopes of hitting a K or A and hoping he had any piece and would bust. 4 handed, flop was K Q 7, checks around to the button who bets $30 into $32, which was his standard betting line if he had a piece. I shoved for just over $200 and he called with K8.

On Sunday I cashed out ~$120 profit. I was there for just over 4 hours and had never folded so many hands preflop in my life, I don't even know how I got over a $300 stack. I won like 2 $50 pots and won big pot with Ad Jd. I limped UTG with Ad Jd, 3 more limpers, flop is 10d 8d 5x, I lead out $8 into $12 insane crazy asian player who is a regular and will play any hand makes it $30 with like $100 behind. I re shove knowing he's calling but putting him on a weak 10 or even a weak pair. Assuming I have 9 outs to the flush and 6 over cards, I was happy with my play. He ended up having A T and I hit a flush - that was the end for that night, folded forever after that hand.

Tonight was by far my best session at the casino since I have gone. I was running really hot, it was awesome. Having Le Canadien sit at the 1/2 table for fun made it that much better. It was a really fun table.

I had a few big hands which I will talk about.

I limp with AJ in MP after 1 limper, 1 limper after me, button makes it $5, all the limpers call. The button raiser was a younger player who stacks off really light - I mean extremely light. He called off his whole stack ($50) on a limped pot pre, with A2 on a 2 8 Q flop. Doubled up by hitting an A, so it was obviously a stack that was ready to be dumped all over the place - The flop came Jh Th 5x, I led out for $15 into $20, he called. The turn was a Jh Th 5x Ax, I bet $30 this time, he thought for a few seconds and really looked like he was gonna raise which I wanted, but he flat called. The river brought J T 5 A A and I bet $50 into $90 and he shoved for $50 or something and he had KQ.

I'm in the BB with AcXx, I'm pretty sure the action was checked around til the river and I bet $25 into $50 (totally forget how the pot got this big). The board was Kc Qc Tc 8c 5x and I bet $25, the player re shoves for $17 more I call, he has Kx2c, wp.

This hand I get involved with Le Canadien. I raise preflop UTG+1 with QcTc to $10, it folds to him on the button and he calls, the blinds fold. This limit is really low for him, and he was playing like a lagtard all night, so if you hit well, you are like 90% getting action. The flop was Ac 6c 7x, I bet $12 into $23, he makes it $30, I call with my flush draw. Turn was a Ac 6c 7x 9x. I check and he bet $75 into $83. I thought for sure the pot was bigger for him to bet $75 cause I don't think I call $75 into $83, the odds are awful, however, he had over $400 to start the hand and so did I so the implied odds were in my favour, unless he puts me on a flush draw. Anyways, I thought for a few seconds and then called assuming I have 12 outs. If I had the naked flush draw, I would probably fold. I put him on AQ, AJ, AT, A6, A7, A9 - and he will hopefully pay me on the river. The river was a disguisable 8 for my gutterball and I just shoved instantly hoping he puts me on a busted flush draw and he called with 66. I had now over $700.

I called a $10 raise from Le Canadien with 55 after one other caller in front of me, one more caller behind me. Flop was J T 5, Le Canadien bets $25, I make it $80, he calls. Turn was a 3 and he checked, at this point, I put him on AJ, KJ, KQ since he probably re-shoves the flop with AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, JT. After writing this out, I realized I made a really dumb shove on the turn. With $190 or so in the pot, I could have bet $125 or something for a value bet, but I think that makes my hand look to strong. I think shoving here really makes my hand look like a bluff and it doesn't look like a set. Usually a set wants to value bet here. Against any other player at the table, I go to value town big time, but since it was against Le Canadien, he calls off light here. He thought for a few minutes and said he folded KK - 2 minutes later he said he had QJ, so who knows what he had. I just wish I value bet him instead, oh well.

I had put him on some major tilt after the Q T hand and I took that into consideration on the previous hand where I flopped a set. This hand was similar but I obviously took it way too far against him. I limped UTG with 33, he had around $340 again - he was a roller coaster up and down all night, as is a crazy LAG player - and he made it $25 on the button. $25 was his standard raise once he started tilting. I called with awesome implied odds and with a stack of like $800 and hoping to flop a set and get paid. Flop was A 8 3, I checked, he bet $50 into $53, I shoved and he thought forever and folded. I really thought he was calling here, he said he had AK, I believe him, therefore my move was retardedly dumb. I could have cold called here and gotten so much more out of him. But raising here gets more money in the pot and more value for me so I should have made it $125 or something like that.

Ugh, after writing all that, it seems I made 2 really stupid moves against him, and it's pissing me off cause I played really stupid. Hopefully next time I think before I just instantly shove in with a monster. It just sucks cause he's the only player I would do that against since he was just calling his stack off every single time with top pair weak kicker or draws etc. Fuck I'm dumb... whatever $1,000 at the casino in a week, I'll take it. I'm playing well, running well and always do well at the casino, so hopefully the steak continues. Thanks for reading...

In Niagara Falls Ontario...

2008-10-20T23:14:00.000-07:00

...Marine Land is the place to go. Whoever came up with that jingle must have made a fortune since it will be embedded in my brain forever after not hearing it for like 10 years.

Anyways, so I made the trip to Niagara falls to watch Marc at the WPT final table taping. I went down with Adam, Marco, and Frank on Thursday morning to catch the FT at 4. We checked into the hotel at like 3 and Marc met us there and we headed over to Fallsview to catch the action. Oh and by the way, $199 a night for a family suite with a view of the falls - 2 queen beds, a king and jacuzzi - sounds like a sick deal. Except... $11 for internet PER laptop, cheap cost there.

The atmosphere was amazing there. So much going on when we got there, we insta hit up the bar. No drinks were allowed in the showroom, so we downed as many as we could before the final table started to get us riled up - which obv worked. We were screaming so hard for that Q to come it was unreal, hopefully you'll hear it on tv. Marc got 5th as we all know, that was disappointing, but a huge congratulations to you, Marc, for such a sick finish yet again. Your win will seriously come any time now.

We all went out for drinks and dinner after and hung out at the Keg, it was nice. Then Adam, Marco, Frank and I went to the LCBO and got a 40 of absolut, 26er of Grey Goose, 12 tall cans of Heineken and a partridge in a pear tree. We had a great night in the Hotel room, Adam was crushing the $77 6-max MTT at midnight and got really fucked with 12 left like the dumbest hand ever but I can't remember it exactly... I think it was a 3 outer AK vs A9 all in on the flop or 7 4 2. A9 played that hand really well. Adam and I got to bed at 4am, Marco and Frank decided to go for breakfast with kevvybrown then and no clue when they got back. Got some extra time to sleep so we didn't have to check out at 11:30 we were able to check out at 12:30 so we did that and headed home.

I have some pictures on my blackberry but can't find my USB cable to upload them on here, hopefully next time I'll have it around.

Overdue Update

2008-10-05T17:07:00.000-07:00

I haven't made a post since April which is way too long. I haven't made any posts mainly because I didn't play at all this summer because of work. The long dreadful days at the golf course 6am-3pm or later Monday to Friday and 6am-10am on weekends everyday until August 31st. My girlfriend was also home from Maine for the summer so I was working everyday and spending all my evenings with her, so I didn't have any time to play poker which was fine. She went back to school in the first week of August but work was still hectic, so I just figured I would wait until the busy season is over until I start playing again because I don't want to play for like a half hour then go to bed.

School has started again and I am finishing up my BEng Degree this fall at Carleton which is awesome, I can't wait. Work has slowed down, I am working 3 days a week now to make some extra money to pay for rent. I finally moved out and live in Stonebridge with 2 guys I work with. It feels so good to be out on my own rather than living at home and doing so many chores all the time, freedom is nice.

I also took up golf this summer which is sweet. I took advantage of working at a golf course having free rounds so whynot play. I have always played but only once or twice a year, so I am obviously terrible. I work at Cedarhill so it's a nice course to learn on since it's short and not hard. At the beginning of the year I was shooting in the low 100's and I am the sort of guy to get angry when I shoot a bad shot and I shouldn't be mad because I never play the game. But it started to get frustrating when I was playing 4-5 times a week, however I did improve playing that much and that felt awesome. I ended up buying new clubs since I was getting a crazy deal from the Asst. pro in the Pro Shop and he offered me a brand new set of Callaway X-20 Tour irons for $800 which I thought was a pretty sick deal, so I bought those. I don't play with a driver, 3 or 5 wood, strictly irons because I can't hit a driver worth my life and I haven't learnt yet, so I was always using my 3-iron off the tee which is fine since I hit it well, but I lose so much distance at longer courses like the Marshes or Stonebridge. Long story short, I am consistently shooting mid 80s now and hopefully I will be hitting a driver next spring. My best round of the year was an 81 at Stonebridge from the blues which is approx. 6400 yards, so pretty sweet.

On to poker. I wanted to try playing MTTs to see how that would fair. I have always been a great cash game player so I figured trying out MTT's as something new would be cool. I have played a few before and have won some $4.40s so I couldn't be that bad of a beginner. Anyways, I took $300 and played strictly $4.40s and the occasional $11 MTT and I found myself down to $45. I was just on a really bad run of cards and couldn't catch a single break whenever it got deep. My confidence was so low I didn't want to play anymore. I would talk to Adam about it and he would just tell me to keep playing and that I wasn't doing anything wrong, just in standard MTT variance which I was not accustom too. I'll tell you right now, I am totally used to it and it's great. I've been running much better lately. I made 4 or 5 final tables and took 9th, 5th, 3rd, 3rd, 2nd. The second place finish was annoying, but it was nice to build the roll back up. I had 170k to 110k and got it all in PREFLOP with AQ against 9 2... I made it 6k, he made it 21k, I shoved and he called with 9 2. Board ran out 9 5 4 A 2. Happy to say that I have made some profit since starting the MTT experience. So far it's been a fun switch to try something new than the awesome fun grind of cash games.

To top it off, my live game doesn't seem to be rusty either. I ended up chopping heads up in a $80 deepstack tourny at a local game for $520. I will be posting about that tourny in my next blog, which will be soon.

Another Good Session

2008-03-30T10:11:00.000-07:00

After my session on Monday, I went back on Thursday and played from around 8-close. It was the last day the casino would be closing, which is cool to have 24/7 poker during the week. This session was a bit of a grind, but it didn't feel I was there for 8 hours. I did make one huge mistake where I lost so much value on the last hand of the night. I'll recap some hands, I think there were only 3 or 4.

I was down $60 to start (including this hand), and then started winning some pots.

UTG made it $11 (solid player, was getting PAID every single time he had the nuts, people just kept bluffing him, it was so stupid.) Folds to MP who shoves for $34 total, he was really tight and just blinded down, he bought in for $50 I think. I get QQ on the button and flat call. I wanted UTG in the hand, but in case he had AA or KK, he would re pop here 100%, so I figure if he doesn't, he has AK, AQ, JJ or lower. Flop is A J J, UTG and I check it down and he has 1010, the shover has KJ and takes the pot down, he left immediately, which seems to be a growing trend at the casino every time I go. So many hit and runs.

New player at the table MP, $100 behind maybe a bit less, makes it $8, folds to me, I call with 7h8h in the cut off, EP limper calls. $27 in the pot, flop us 5x 6h 10h, EP checks, raiser bets $15, i make it $40, EP folds, guy shoves for like $60 more, I call, he has JJ. I hit a 9 on the turn to take it down.

Two decent players limp EP, their range is big since they are limping, tight player makes it $7 with $100 behind, I call in the SB with Ah 3h knowing the limpers are calling and if I hit a big flop I can hopefully stack the tight player and anyone else. The tight players range here is AA - JJ, and AK, AQ. Flop is 3 3 K. Checks to the tight player who bets $15, I make it $35 folds back to him and he shoves, I hope he doesn't have KK, if he does whatever I'm paying him anyways. I call quickly and he has AA and misses his one outer.

This is the hand I played so stupidly and bad and I hate myself for it. I missed so much value I think, but maybe not. Please help me...

We are 4 handed, and this is the last hand of the night. First position opens for $7, he had been raising every second hand since a full table so his range is extremely wide here. To make things interesting, I had just had AA and KK back to back hands, and right as he raises to $7 he says be careful, I have the rockets. I said "do you seriously have aces right now?" and he said yes, and I called with 8d 9d. SB and BB call as well. The flop was 7 10 3 rainbow. Mr. I have aces bets $15 into $28. I call getting 3:1 which is fairly good odds to draw too and we both have deep stacks. I have $500 or so, he has around $700. SB and BB fold and there is $53 in the pot (after rake). Turn is a J. He bets $20, this is where I got stupid and funny just to have fun on the last hand of the night. I min raised which is a play I never used ever in poker and hate it when anyone else does it, I just think it's the stupidest play for NLHE. I make it $40 and he calls, and I asked him one more time if he has AA, and he kept saying he did. So this is where I think it was okay for what I did on the river. The river was a Q making AK the nuts and my hand the 3rd nuts. He leads out for $50 into $133. I asked him again, do you really have AA? and he said yes one more time, so I made it $125 and he called with AA getting insane odds. I think I lost alot of value on the turn by just min raising. I should have made it around $60 so I could get more on the river, but in turn, he knows I know he has AA and could easily have him beat with Q 10, J 10, a set, etc. So maybe he would figure that out and wouldn't call a big bet on the river. Oh well, I am still kicking myself for making that dumb play cause I hate min raising so much aksudhaskjdhaskdhakdsa asljdhaksdha123yu2ihqwadjkasd.

I profited $430 for the night.

Feels Nice To Run Well

2008-03-25T16:46:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while, mainly because I stopped going to the casino regularly because I am graduating in a month and needed to focus on finishing up important assignments, labs, etc.

Since the last time at the casino, I had been running bad and I had a bad month for February. January was awesome, was up almost 3k, and I was down just over $400 for February, and I went a few times in March here and there and broke even each time.

I went to the casino last night (Monday) refreshed and ready to go, I was excited to get back to playing it had been so long. I will recap as many hands as I can that were important to my session. This could get long, so bare with me if you are interested.

Bought in for the max. as usual and was sitting at an awesome table. There was one extremely terrible player who limped every hand and hit every single river it was unreal how well he was running. He did start to realize how well he did run, and would sit out every 5 or 6 hands and walk around for 5-10 minutes at a time. He would then come back and play really tight which sucked, he had $1600 in front of him, $300 was mine, $350 was my friends. We were dying to take all of it from him. Anyways, other than him, it was your typical casino players, a couple short buy in players, and then best of all, the writer (Derrick) of The Tom Green Show, Tom Green's sidekick - Glen, and another man who was on/part of the show named Phil were sitting at my table.

I had a good time at my table and having those guys there made it that much better, they were drinking, having fun, they were loud, and it just made for a good atmosphere and hopefully easy money. Anyways, onto the hands I played.

My first big hand was with the insane terrible player. He raised preflop to $10, SB called and I called with 55. The flop was 7 6 3 which I was feeling good about. I checked to raise him and just take the pot down here, or slow down with resistance. He checked, which was odd, so I knew for sure he blanked. Turn was a J, I checked again hoping to induce a bet, which he did do. He bet $12 into $30, which I felt was weak, the SB folded and I called hoping to check call a river bet and look like a hero. Anyways, the river was a Q which sucked, but I was hoping to pick up a betting pattern off him to figure out if I had the best hand. He bet $50 into $57, and started taking a sip of his water, and playing with his chips and all this crap, I thought forever and really thought he was trying to buy this pot since I had looked weak the whole way. I had seen him do this a few times tonight and show complete air, so I made the crying call and he flipped up Q 8. Bad read, I suck, I was angry. Well played by him.

I am down to my last $130 total at this point after some other hands. So now, I'm just waiting to get in a hand with this complete donk get my money back. I had $400 on my card and was sitting with $130 which I hate, because I like having a full stack. This usually does not happen to me, hence the $400, but I guess it wasn't enough for tonight. I lost like $70 on the hand with the donk when I called with 55, and lost some more against him after he rivered a higher flush with Jc 2c vs. my 7c 8c on a 10c 6c 3x 7x Kc board.

Anyways, so I'm sitting with $130, I make it $11 with Ah Kh UTG+1, Glen calls, donk calls. Flop is 10h 8h 4x. I lead for $20, Glen shoves for his last bit of change I think $60 total, donk reshoves and says "for protection" so I know he has a stupid hand like Q10 K10, but should realize I am probably not folding since I lead into that flop for 2/3 the pot OOP, but he isn't smart enough to know that which is good. I call. Glen has K 10, donk has A 10. I stand up and say one time, please just one time put a heart out there, blank turn, heart on the river, woo. Felt amazing to win that pot and get up to $320 and be stuck $80 at that point. The night was not over. It was around 1am and I had grinded back up to $377 and my table broke.

I change tables, buy in for $200, we are 6 handed most of the time. I played pretty aggro. for the first bit until I doubled up. I make it $8 with As 7s preflop. Guy who JUST got stacked for $200 just sat down and reloaded and called. Flop was Ks Qs 5x, he checks, I bet $12, he makes it $25, I call. Turn was a Js, he checked, I bet $40 into $60, my thinking was, he's a station and I lose value on the river if I check here. He shoves and I call, he has KQ, I hold. Up to $380 at my new table.

This hand, I think I made my second mistake of the night. A regular at the casino, good player, made it $7, I have AK off and I cold called. From my read on him, his range is fairly wide preflop, and hopefully I can get paid off with a huge flop if he does have a hand. Also, I like to mix it up and I hadn't re-raised any hands tonight, so it gives away the strength of my hand. There is one other caller, flop is A A 6. It checks to me, I bet $12, making it look like a steal. He min raised me because he knows I hate min raises (I was telling him earlier how I think it's a dumb play for 100% of the situations at the casino or any cash game and like 99% of situations online) anyways, he says "min raises put you on tilt right?" so he makes it $25, and I know he isn't bluffing or trying to tilt me. He talks alot to his opponents to sucker them in, thing is, I'm suckering him in. I figure if I raise here, it gives away my and and he might throw away a weaker A, he knows I am not bluffing if I 3 bet. Anyways, I flat call hoping he puts me on 77 or 88. The turn was a Q, he bets $25, I smooth call again, this is where I play the hand bad, but I have a reason for flatting here. I know he has an ace, and I doubt he is raising with A10 or lower OOP preflop. So I am worried about AQ of course. River was a 10, he bets $35 leaving himself $41. I cold called and he had A J, so my read was right, but he didn't have a boat, and even if he did, I still should have shoved his last $41 on the river, oh well. He told me nice hand and didn't suspect AK there at all.

I'm hovering around $450 at this point, I made another $50 off a guy who 3 bet shoved pre with 9h 7h and I had KK. Made another $50 with AJ on a A K 10 8 4 board. I can't remember any other big pots that I played, but I got my stack up to $640 I think maybe $670, but this blog is long enough. So I did end up getting out of the red and made a profit of $450 last night. Great night. Will be going again soon.

Someone Send Me A Heater

2008-02-27T22:26:00.000-08:00

I have never seen anything like this. No it's not crazy bad beats, but WOW.

I played for 3.5 hours. Played like 4 hands.

Hand #1:

EP makes it $7, 2 callers, I call on the button with 3 5 off, blinds complete, $42 in the pot.

Flop is 2x 6x 8c
Checks around.
Turn is 2x 6x 8c 3c
EP raiser bets $12, gets one caller. At this point, I for sure think EP is weak, and the caller is on a draw or an underpair, so I bump it up to $40, they both call.
River is 2x 6x 8c 3c 9x
They check to me, I now believe they are weak and can't call a bet here and I am not giving up on this pot. I fire out $100 leaving myself $50, and the pot was $160 before my bet, and they both folded.

Gave me some confidence for the rest of my day which obviously went well.

hand $2:

I make it $1o EP with AA. Button (weird) calls, BB (loose) calls.
Flop is 6h 7x 10h.
BB checks, I bet $25, button folds, BB makes it $50. To me, this seems like a flush draw, I have just seen it way too many times where people min raise with a flush draw. Obviously if I put him on that, why didn't I raise? No clue. I flat called. Turn was a Qx, he bets $50, I call... Again why am I not trying to take control of this pot, I played this hand so fuckin bad wow. River was a 4x and he checks. I had about $180 or so and the pot was just over $200, I was so close to betting like $75 and thought about it for a minute. I checked and he had 77, I saved money, weee.

So that is set vs. me #1.

Hand #3:

I make it $10 with AK, button calls, one more caller.

Flop is K J 5 rainbow. I bet $17, button shoves for $120. I have no read on him he just sat down. I called and he doesn't have KQ like I hoped, he has 55 which is what I should have guess since that's what happened to me all day...... set vs. me #2, so standard.

Hand #4:

This is a good one. Probably the best play I've ever seen.

EP makes it $12 (I put him on AA-QQ), weird guy calls, I call with 99.

Flop J 9 3 rainbow. EP bets $25, weird guy shoves $350... SO SICK shove bombing into my 2nd nuts when I have $225 behind weeeeeee... I call, and ship the $600 pot to him... he has JJ... I just said "what a surprise"... and that was set #3 against me for the day.

WOW I got cold decked, haven't run like that at the casino before but it was bound to happen, I can't avoid all of those sick beats every time can I? I ended up with a losing session of $250. Oh well, at least I am not pissed about it, just can't win everyday. Way she goes bubs.

Feb. 25 Session

2008-02-25T19:53:00.000-08:00

Decent session today, but was supposed to be longer. I went to sit out to eat my meal and I accidentally hit quit, so I just said fuck it and ate and left.

Only one familiar face at the table (Dukee) who did quite well today.

I think I played a total of 4 hands. EP made it $6, LP caller, I made it $32 with AA in the SB, yes, big raise, but I don't want to go against anything that I usually do at the casino just to get some calls. It was also my first hand of the day, so I didn't expect any callers anyways.

The other hands were: weak UTG limps for $2, I make it $12 with JJ, folds back to him, he calls, flop is 9 7 3, he check folds to my C bet. I complete the SB with Qc6c, 5 handed. Flop is Qx 6x 3c, I lead out, no action.

Big hand of the day: UTG+1 limps ($53 - and weak/awful), I limp on the button (really weird play by me, and I still can't figure out why I did it) with Jd 10d. SB makes it $12 (has me covered - really tight), limper calls, I call.

$38 in the pot -- Flop is 8d 9d 9x.

SB leads for $40, limper shoves for $41, I shove for $220 or so and I tell the SB to call me with his AA. I told them I have the worst hand, and I never lie about my hands. SB eventually folded saying he had a big pocket pair, maybe QQ. I wasn't looking at the hands, I just wanted to look at the % to see how much of a favourite I'm going to be against this guy. I see I am 36% to win and was confused. He had Q 9 off LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL. Very well played with $53. I river a flush and take it down.

Nothing special today, was a quick session, but gonna keep blogging them.

My bad beat blog?

2008-02-21T09:14:00.000-08:00

So, I'm extremely sick right now. I never get sick, and this is probably the sickest I've ever been in my life, it really sucks so much. I'm getting the chills, my body is constantly aching, my head feels like it is so close to exploding, it isn't good, I just can hope to fall asleep and not wake up for a long time. But here I am, awake since I have slept for like 20 hours in the last 24.

I'm in Maine right now visiting my girlfriend for my Winter Break. Things couldn't be any better. I left Tuesday evening around 8pm, hit very bad weather around Sherbrooke for about 3-4 hours. I was the only car on the road, it was midnight, the snow was a few inches deep on the road, the snowflakes were massive and I could barely see the road and I was hopelessly looking for somewhere to pull over and wait, but obviously didn't. I just wanted to get to the border and see what it was like from there. I finally made it to the border, the snow wasn't as bad since there were trees on both sides of the roads blocking it. BUT, I did manage to hit a deer, so fucking standard, like god really does not want me going to Maine. So basically, I'm driving about 40-50 km/h, I'm at the top of a hill, I can see maybe 20 feet in front of me, and I see 2 deer in the MIDDLE of the road and that's where I am driving since it's my safest bet to be with no cars on the road and the fact I can't see the lines. I say to myself, don't slam on the brakes (icy roads), just slow down as much as possible and hope they get out of the way. They started to move, but it was too late, I missed the smallest one, but the bigger one (still small for an adult deer) got hit. I hit it on the left side of my bumper, it flew up the hood and over the windshield and fell off over my door. I was so scared and in shock. I stopped, to see if there was damage and if I killed the deer. By the time I pulled over and got out both of the deer were gone, so that was good, and there was no damage, WTF?!?!?!?!??!?! So lucky.

The weather continued to be awful and I finally got to her house at 5am. I got out of the car and instantly got the shakes, that's when I knew something was wrong, got into bed and was still shaking even after an hour. Fell asleep and woke up feeling like shit.

So, after all of that, I guess I have some good news. I played a quick 2 hour session on Monday night. Very weak table, very easy to beat and take down pot after pot with C bets. I was down around $170 at my lowest point after reloading like $20-$30 at a time. Just missed flops and would get called EVERY SINGLE TIME I made a C bet with air. I just wasn't hitting flops. Of course I make it $12 with KK, get 2 callers and an A hits the flop, I fold of course and he showed just an ace and I told him he didn't have to show. I didn't lose any big pots, I just lost a million small ones in like an hour.

I managed to win 3 decent pots to help succumb my $170 losses.

I made it $10 with AK, get 2 callers. Flop is K Q 3r, I check, guy to my left bets $10, I make it $35, he calls instantly. From my read on the guy, he could very well have JJ, or Q 8 here, he is a terrible player and would have raised me with better than one pair here. Turn was a 5, I bet $50, he calls, river was a Q, I shoved. I said to my self, I can't show weakness here and think forever on this river, so I just shoved, if he had a Q, so be it. It was a $120 shove into $150 or so. He thought forEVER and folded and showed K 9. How does he fold that. He said "do you have the queen?" I didn't say a word. But seriously, he puts me on the Q the way I played that hand? LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

EP made it $8 (makes it 8 with decent hands, makes it 6 with anything else). I call on the button with AsQs. Flop is A 6 A. He checks. He would do this with AK, Aq, 66 etc. If he bet out at this pot right away, he would be bluffing that's just how he plays. So I fire $12, he calls. Turn was a 7, he checked again. Again, he would still do this with a better hand than me. I bet $35, and I'm betting to make it seem like I don't have an A. If I check, I think it's too suspicious, on my part, but now that I think about it, maybe it could have made it seem like I don't have an A if I checked, making it seem like I bluffed the turn. Anyways, he calls the $35, and it turns out to be good that I bet the turn. He checks the 5 river after thinking for a minute. This really threw me off, and it shouldn't have. I checked behind, stupidly, and he had KK. I should have known that the long wait means he wants a check on the river. The player he is, I could seriously see him checking every street with a boat or AK since I had been betting so hard all night with air. I was just worried about a check shove on the river - I definately think hard on that one.

UTG makes it $11 (had been doing this all night), one caller right after him, I call in the CO with AQ. Flop is K J 4. UTG bets $10 into $36, UTG+1 calls, I call hoping for a 10, maybe even an A and I'm getting 5:1. Turn is a Q, UTG bets $25, UTG+1 calls. $110 in the pot, $25 for me to call, and 4 outs for the nuts, 2 for trips (which can win the hand), 3 for an A which might win the pot with 2 pair. I call with almost 5:1. River is a 9, they both check. Either one of these players for sure bets with a decent hand here, they are obv scared of the straight, and my bets lately have only shown monsters. I bet $60, they both fold and UTG says he had a K. I said good fold and left. I got to the "cage" and cashed out. I always put $600 on my card, and always cash it out after every session. She says "$620" I do a double take and said "say that again please", and she said it again. I was so happy for making $20, I thought I was still in the hole for the night, haha. I had a good laugh with myself.

Anyways, that's the update for now. Hopefully I'll be feeling better soon.

Feb. 13 Session

2008-02-13T21:27:00.000-08:00

So had another session today, it went alright. Played from 12:00pm til 2:30pm. Right when I got in, there was a new table opening, so I took my seat. For some reason, I can't remember the hands that I should be mentioning, I'll try my best to get them in here.

Hand #1 - 1 limper, I limp after him MP with Ad Jd, folds around to BB who checks. Flop is J 6 4. Early limper bets $5 into $7, I make it $20, he goes all in for $25 more, I call and he has K 6. He rivers a K. Very next hand, I limp with Ks Js, folds around to BB again who checks, same EP limper as last hand limped again this one. Flop is K J 4. He leads for $5 again, I make it $25, he shoves, for like $60 more, I call and he has Q 10. I held.

Hand #2 - Folds to me in LP, I make it $8 with A J, SB calls. Flop is Jx 10s 7s, SB bets $5, I make it $21, he calls. Turn is a 3d, he checks, I bet $35, putting him on spade draw. River is a 5d, he checks again, now I know I have the best hand and he missed his draw, I check behind, and I take it down. He claimed to have QJ, so I guess I could have gone to value town, but I really didn't see the point in betting. The pot was already big enough, and I put him on a draw so he isn't calling a river bet.

Hand #3 - I have 77 in the BB with 4 limpers, I check. Flop is 7x 4d 3d, SB leads out $3, I call, a limper calls. $19 in the pot. Turn is a 5x, SB bets $5, I call, so does limper. $34 in the pot, river is a 3, SB checks, I bet $35, limper folds, SB calls.

Hand #4 - QQ in the SB, 5 limpers, I make it $41, just trying to have some fun at the table, didn't really care if I picked up the blinds. A few hands earlier someone made it $50, then $25 in back to back hands, so I guess the $41 was just to poke fun, and I was sure I had the best hand. What do you know... a limper cold calls my bet. I was like WTF is that. Flop is A 10 4, I lead out for $50, I say to him "you look confused", he mucked a few seconds later.

Hand #5 - Same guy who cold called my $41, shoves pre for $4, folds to me, obviously I get AA. Huge pot.

That's pretty much it, I wish I stayed longer, my table was so so so so so so so so so so so so SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BAD, my fault for leaving, but I had to. Going back Thursday, will report back later........

Feb. 11 Session

2008-02-11T17:51:00.000-08:00

I booked a 4 hour session today. Played on 2 tables, since my first one got boring and I couldn't catch a hand worth playing to beat these guys, so I moved. No, I'm not superstitious about the fact that I wasn't getting any cards, so I moved.

I got there around 11am, and my table had 5 players on it. Three hands in I get AA in MP. Normally on a full ring I would raise to $12 or $15 depending on the limpers, but it was only six handed without a limper so I made it my standard $8. What do you know, I get 4 callers. $34 in the pot, flop is K Q 7 rainbow, checks to me, I bet $30, folds to SB who shoves for $17 more, I call, he has 10 J, I hold.

Didn't have much going, I had great reads on all of them, no limpers, I make it $10 with Kd2d, obviously I get 4 callers. Flop is As 5s 6s. It checks around. Turn is a Jx, checks to me, I bet $30, guy to my left INSTA calls, everyone else folds. River is a 9x. I bet $35 into $100 or so. He thinks for a while, then folds and shows Ax2x. I show my 2.

This hand really confused me, but whatever, I made the right plays, wrong result, it happens. One limper, I make it $15 with AQ (hadn't played a hand in about an hour), SB calls with $20 behind (obv smart move), limper calls. Flop is 8 6 3, SB insta shoves, limper thinks then folds, I insta call because I can't fold getting good pot odds. SB flips over 10s9s, and the turn was a 9 and he held. I left the table a few hands later with a profit of $4 - yipee!

It's around 2:00pm, and I get to my new table and I had played with some of them, and one of my friends gave me the update on how the others are playing. I played 2 hands then bounced. EP makes it $8, folds to me in the SB and I call with AhJh, BB calls. Flop is Ad Jd 7x, I check, BB checks, EP bets $12, I make it $35, BB folds, EP calls. Turn is a 2x, I bet $100, he has $89 left, he makes the crying call with QQ and I hold.

LAG MP makes it $10, folds to me in the SB and I make it $36 with AKo, he calls. Flop is 8 7 3, I bet $50, he shoves for $50 more, I of course am not a fan of my hand anymore, but I can't fold, there is too much in the pot, and in my best case, the way I know this player, I could be racing against an OESD. I call $50 more into $220, and he has AQ, I hold.

Profit of $252.50 on the session, good start to the week.

Back to Cash Games

2008-02-11T17:47:00.000-08:00

I had a good Christmas break and didn't play much poker. Since my last post, I have no longer been driving across the border to Awkwesasne because of the poker room at Lac Leamy finally opening.

I must say, at first, I was not inclined to going to play. I wasn’t motivated at all with the idea of electronic tables, but alas, after a few drinks on a Sunday night with Adam, I go. I was amazed at this place. The atmosphere is awesome, I enjoyed the electronic tables, and the players are awful.

I have played around 45 hours so far, and have made a steady profit of around $2200. I won’t recap all of my sessions, since it would be way too long, and I can’t remember many hands, but I will see if I can remember a few good ones.

I am sitting with $240, folds to me in LP, I make it $12 with QQ, loose button calls, and weird SB calls. Flop is 3 3 3 , SB checks, I bet $30, folds to SB and he calls. Turn is a 5, he checks again, I bet $70, and he calls. At this point, I figure he has a small overpair, any bigger pair and I’m sure he would raise me. River is a 7 and he checks again, I shove for my last $120 or so and he thinks for a minute and says “Well, I think you got me, I call”. He shows A 8 off. Thank you.

I have $300, loose guy makes it $10 in LP, guy I have no read on calls, I call in the SB with JJ. Flop is 2 2 5, I lead for $30, raiser folds, guy raise to $75, leaving himself $40 behind or so. I shove and he calls with K 2. I spike a J on the riv-bomb and rake in the pot. Standard cold call with K 2 pre right?

I have $215, and limp UTG with KK at a crazy table. MP makes it $25, and there is a caller, LOOOOOOOOL, I pop it up to $75 and they both fold. I hadn’t played a hand in like 2 hours. At the same table, I hadn’t played a hand in another 2 hours and limp again UTG with 10c9c hoping to see a cheap flop, 4 others limp, loose donk in the BB makes it 12, I call, so does everyone else. Flop is 5c 7x 3c, BB bets $25, I make it $75, folds back to him and he folds and shows Q 7 saying you I’m the tightest player in the world.

I have $400, tight MP makes it $8, tight solid player makes it $25, and I’m in the SB dreaming that I get AA. What do you know, I have AA, usually at the casino, the 3^rd raise means AA, which sucks cause I really want to raise, but will most likely take the pot down right there, or hopefully he can’t fold his KK. I don’t want to flat and let the original raiser in and get sucked out on, rather isolate and get heads up. So I make it $80 and he snap calls. He has $220 behind on the flop. Flop is 9 6 3, I bet $100 into $170, he says “that’s a big bet”. I tell him “I have 2 hands, well actually only 1. Aces.” He says, “Okay, I’m all in”. No way in hell he re popped to $25 and snap calls $80 with 99 66 or 33. I call and he has QQ, I expected KK or even AA. Anyways, $600 pot, weeeeeeeee.

I limp with my favourite hand 8c5c, 4 more limps, button makes it $12, BB calls, I call knowing everyone else is calling. Flop is 6x 7c 9c. I check, someone shoves for $25, button calls, I shove for $178 total. Button says, you got like a set of 7’s or something, I call. $25 donk has 10 6, no 8 please. Button has AcKc, no club please. I hold, $400 pot.

All in all, I love this place, I go there everday during the day, make some money, and go home. I love it. I will try to update from each session from now on, hopefully I can keep up. I’ll be back…

1-2 Live Cash Update

2007-12-23T12:14:00.000-08:00

Haven't played live since my last update, just a little bit of online PLO. So far at PLO, I am up I think 8 buy ins now. So I am steadily building my PLO bankroll. As for live, I went last night to Awkwesasne to play some 1-2.

I love playing there, the action is good and the players are awful. I will go through my session, feedback is welcome.

Bought in for the max - $100. I was at the table with 2 of my friends and there were 3 older people and that's it. I didn't really feel like playing yet because my opponents (non friends) had less than $50 each, but a couple other players sat down and I was fine with that. I was playing tight early on, just wanted to get a feel for how my opponents were playing and from my perspective this is the image I had on my opponents.

Seat 1 - Me.
Seat 2 - Player my age, solid, knows what he is doing.
Seat 3 - Middle aged male, limps alot of pots, but raises preflop with the goods, doesn't bluff.
Seat 4 - My friend
Seat 5 - My friend
Seat 6 - Older female, calling station.
Seat 7 - Weak tight middle aged male.
Seat 8 - Older female, weak tight.
Seat 9 - Middle aged male, LAG, knows what he is doing.
Seat 10 - Husband to Seat 6, calling station.

Hand 1:

My stack - $100

Seat 6 limps, seat 10 completes his SB, I check my BB with AJo. Flop is A K 6, I fire out $7, they both call. At this point, I feel I have the best hand, they would raise me here with a better hand from my read on them, they are stations so I want to get max. Pot = $27, Turn is 3x, I bet $15, Seat 6 folds, but her husband calls. I put him on a weak ace, but if he had 2 pair, again, I'm pretty sure he would raise me, so I still think I am ahead. Pot = $57, River is a 4, I bet $10 and he calls with K 7. Sure I went to value town, and I bet very small, but I don't think he was calling anymore, maybe $15, but oh well, I got max I think. This hand was a few hands in, and I never dipped below my starting stack, this was the beginning of my amazing session.

Hand 2:

My stack - $120~

Seat 6, 7, 8, 10 limp. I have 6h3h, normally in my position (the CO) I would put in a raise, but with this many limpers, knowing they will all call me preflop when I raise to $15, so I decide to limp and see a cheap flop. Button calls, SB (seat 3) makes it $12 total, seat 7 calls, I call with odds and if I flop a monster I get paid for sure, button calls. I put SB on KK or AA for sure he definately has a monster. Pot = $52. Flop is 2x 4s 5s. SB bets out $40, seat 7 folds. Basically, by putting the SB on KK or AA, I raise here no matter what and he will call, if I flat call, it might look suspicious, also if a spade hits the turn, he will slow down. So I play with my chips, and I go all in. It was $132 total, so $92 for him to call. The button goes all in for his last $38, so there is $4 in the side pot. It looks like the SB is having a tough time making this decision and my friend asked me what I have, and I said I have an overpair, 10s I am probably ahead here. The SB calls me with QQ. I think if I didn't say I had 10 10, he was going to fold. So there is now $166 in the main pot, and $188 in the side pot, I am all in, the SB has me covered.

Flop: 2x 4s 5s

My hand: 3h6h, button: A 3, SB: QxQs

Turn: 7s (The PokerStars turn)

River: 8x

Ship it. My stack was now $354 and growing strong.

Hand 3:

My stack - $320~

Two limpers, I make it $12 in the CO with 3d4d, SB calls, and so do both limpers. The flop was Qd 10x 5d. SB (seat 3) leads out $25, seat 7 limper calls (I put him on open ended), other limper (seat 10) calls, I figure he has a weak pair, he's such a station. I could raises here to represent AA or KK, but I think SB might have a strong hand and I would rather see my diamond for cheap. I put SB on AQ at this point. I guess if I put him on that, I could raise to represent my hand, but I think he still calls me and I would rather hit a cheap turn. So I call. Pot = $150. Turn is a 4c. Now I have more outs, any 3, 4 or diamond. SB leads out again for $80 this time. Seat 7 says well, I must go home now and shoves his last like $45 or something in the pot, I called the $80 assuming I have 14 outs. Pot = $310~, River is a 3. I have 2 pair now, this hand just got interesting. SB checks. Now, he was either bluffing with AdKd, and missed his draw, is trying to get me to bet into him, or has AQ/KQ and is scared of me. I decide to check, there is $310 in the pot, I didn't hit my flush, the pots big enough and the SB shows Q 10 for top 2, I saw his hand and nearly puked, I thought I won the hand for sure when he checked, and the all in showed KJ. I said, thank you so much for checking, because I don't think I was going anywhere, maybe if he shoved, I could get away from it, but he said, I wanted you to bet. Hand done, and my stack is just over $200 now.

Hand 4:

My stack - $210~

Some newer players at the table, I won't go into crazy detail, I'll just explain the hand and what kind of player they are throughout the hand. Loose, terrible player limps UTG. Seat 9 (LAG - good player) limps as well, I make it $12 with 1010, folds back to the limpers who both call. Flop is 10d 9d 8s, UTG leads for $12, other guy calls. UTG has about $70 behind, seat 9 has about $75 behind. Either I make it $50, which is what I would do if the stacks were deeper, but it would only leave both of them with like $25 behind, so I just shoved my stack in. UTG folded and seat 9 called instantly, I was praying he didn't have 7 6 or Q J because he definately could have in this spot, I also didn't want to see a flush draw, but whatever. I showed my 10s and he said good hand and showed 10s9s. Again the turn gives him a flush draw, river blanks out, and I take it down. Pot = $211~

Hand 5:

My stack - $315~

UTG limps, another limper, I make it $12 with QQ in the CO. Button calls, both limpers call. Flop was 10 9 8. Checked to me, I bet $20, button folded, UTG shoved for $56 total, folds back to me. This guy is weak tight, he could have a set and even the straight here, which I was obviously worried about, but I had to call $36 into a pot of $88. I was getting almost 2.5 : 1 and I could hit a J to win. He shows K 10 and I take the pot down.

That was my last decent pot of the night. A drunk donk came and was going all in blind and I was hoping to catch a hand but didn't. I ended the night and left around 1:00am, after playing since 9:00pm. I cashed out $495 total for $395 profit. Another good night at the live games. It would have been so sick if I caught that diamond when I had 34, would have been like another $300 richer :P.

Oh well, got some money to keep building my roll to get to the $2/$5 game, and I also got enough money to pay off the speeding ticket I got 3 days ago. That was not nice. 136 kph in a 100 kph zone on the 416, I have never had a ticket and he didn't give me a break at all, I figured he would bring it down to maybe 125 kph, but nope. $271 ticket later, I was furious.

Happy holidays.

A Little PLO

2007-12-14T22:12:00.000-08:00

It's exam time, I have my last exam tomorrow (Saturday Dec 15th) and I am done school until January! I am looking forward to a great Christmas Holidays, I have just had so much school work to do and it will for sure be an awesome break. My girlfriend is coming home from Maine, and I haven't seen her since August, so it will be good to see her again.

As far as poker goes, since my last post, I had been playing quite a bit of live poker. I wanted to get as much in before I started to study for my exams. Since then, I have been playing online. I won a $4.40 180, and also I have gotten into PLO. Recently I had been talking to Galen about PLO. He is insanely good at it and it really perked my interest to start playing. He was basically pointing out the basics about it, and from what he told me, PLO is definately a much different game than I had anticipated. I have played it before, but I would want to play almost every hand. After watching and talking with Galen, it's crazy how disciplined you need to be to play this game.

I definately cannot afford to take my bankroll and play middle stakes PLO, so I decided to start out at 0.01/0.02 and they allow you to buy in for $5 max at that limit - which is awesome. So far after playing maybe 5 hours, I am up approximately 5 or 6 buy ins, and that 5 hours is spread over a few days, so I think I am doing quite well for now especially as a beginner, but I am really eager to continue playing - it is a very fun game.

As far as my Christmas holidays go, I will be hopefully playing as much live poker as I can and of course PLO online, and maybe some tourneys here and there. I will be hanging out with my girlfriend as much as possibly since she is leaving for Costa Rica on the 31st for 10 days - major bad beat considering I only see her 3 times a year - but I am happy for her to be going on a well deserved vacation.

I would like to wish everybody a safe and happy holidays, I will be back soon.

Crusing Right Along

2007-12-05T15:11:00.000-08:00

Last night (Tuesday), I went to "the sauce" (Awkwesasne Mohawk Bingo Palace) last night since I have no where else to play live and I absolutely love live poker and I crush this game. Not necessarily crush, but I am steadily building up a bankroll at the $1/$2 - $100 max tables; which of course is amazing.

I am starting to get to know the regulars now and they are all really nice and respect who I am and what I do. They all understand I am a winning player and it's kind of cool to realize people respecting that. I know I don't make a distinguishing amount of money playing poker, but it just makes me feel good and it gives me confidence, not that I already have it playing against these guys.

Last night was probably one of the coolest sessions I've played in a while. I didn't make alot of cash, but it was the juiciest game I've seen in a while. For about 2 hours there were consistent raises to $12 preflop with 5 or 6 callers everytime. Everyone is fairly tight also so everybody was getting some cards preflop last night, but obviously there are some loose cannons who are major donks. I think after last night, I have the most hands to talk about than any other session and this wasn't my longest session by far.

I always apologize in my blogs because they are long, and again I am sorry because this will be extremely long, but I really hope you guys understand and any advice is accepted. I have been playing cash games for a couple of years now and it is my best game, I am not a tournament player.

I will talk about all the hands and what I was thinking for the most part, I think I made a couple of mistakes but I think I have the write thinking for each one.

I always play tight early on, get a feel for how everyone is playing and then go from there and try and establish my image.

Hand 1:

A tight player (player A) opened for $8, he had KK twice in a row and made a hero call with A high, but a small pot. When he raises between $6 and $10 it isn't a powerful hand, a pot building one, so KsQs, AhJh, etc. A weak tight player (B) calls, a loose player (C) makes it $25, it folds to be in the SB, and I have 1010. Now, I have a strong feeling the re raise to 25 is QQ KK AA and possibly AK. And it sucks because you can only buy in for $100 or I would insta call the re-raise. I have around $90 and decide to flat call. I flat called for 2 reasons. One - I'm obviously set mining with a feeling I'm behind. Two - if I shove hoping we're racing, player A or B won't be calling and therefore I want there $25 in the pot also if I hit my set. I thought this was a mistake just cold calling just because the stacks aren't deep enough, but going through the hand I think it was the right play. Players A and B called and there is over $100 in the pot. I have $65 now. The flop is A J 8 rainbow. Player A checks, B moves in, C folds KK face up, and I fold my 10s, A folds as well. I'm glad I didn't shove pre.

Hand 2:

EP limper, fairly solid, but very weak tight. Another weak tight limper, I make it $12 on the button with 22. Leaving myself $53 or so behind. Both call. Flop is A 3 5r. Checks to me, I obviously C-bet, $15, first limper says "I put you all in", other folds, and I said "Well - I want to reload so sure." Clearly this is a mistake on my part, I only had $50 left, I 99% of 6 outs which I could hit, if not, I seriously just wanted to reload again. He has AK. And I do in fact have 6 outs. Turn was a K and the river was a 4 and I spiked my gutterball, whoops! He was furious and wouldn't stop talking shit to me. I said "You aren't made at me are you?" And he just gave me the most dejected look I've ever seen and kept mumbling under his breath. I said again, "Hey man - you want me to make that call, don't be mad at me. Right play, wrong result." Now my image is sort of setting in.

I was up to about $120 now. And I limped LP with Ac5c after two limpers and the BB checked. The BB is the guy I just donked with 22. The flop was 5 5 8. BB bet out $12 into $16 or so. I made it $30. We had a pretty interesting talk, and he was saying he didn't think I would raise that much if I had the 5 and I told him I have the 5 and to go go all in, it was much more than $40 total anyways. I finally called the clock to make it seem like I don't want him to call, or maybe I have A 8 or something and he finally shoved and I showed my A 5 and he mucked 1010 after the board ran out J 3. He left, extremely angry. I was up to just over $200 now.

Hand 3:

You will probably think this is a dumb hand, but after I explain it, I hope you will understand. Couple of limpers, and CO makes it $27 preflop. Which is a massive raise, but I've never seen him show down a hand and he has been raising frequently and he always raises to at least $20. I cold call $27 in the BB with 6s7s. Now I know I will take some heat for making this call, he has me covered and if I hit the right flop I can double up. It's heads up and I clearly hit the most amazing flop I could ask for. It was A A 5. I checked. He bet out $30, which to me was weak, and for sure doesn't have an A - he would have checked. I thought for a minute and called. The turn was a 4, and I checked again, and he checked. Perfect, he was C-betting and can't call me on the river unless he's slowplaying. He has to have trouble calling with KK QQ JJ if I bet the river. The river was a 6, I paired up, and fired out $45, not a huge bet, the pot was $120 before the river. I think it's the perfect bet, and I played this hand the same way I would if I had an A. He folded instantly. I showed my hand to let people know I am not afraid to play large pots with hands like that and to set up my image which I think should be setting in by now.

Hand 4:

There were 2 limpers, and I made it $12 in the CO with AK. The SB (loose player) calls, and so did the limpers. The flop was 4 6 K rainbow. SB led out for $15, the limpers folded and I put him on a weak 6 or 4 and he's trying to find out if I actually have a hand or not and I make it $50 to make it seem like I'm still C-betting. He says "whoa - do you have pocket kings?" Right away I know he's trying to scare me like he hit a set, but I know he didn't because he wouldn't have flat called my $50 on the flop to try and slowplay since he is putting me on a big hand or nothing. Anyways, he checks the 8 on the turn and I checked as well, to disguise my hand and now he's gotta think I was totally C-betting the flop. The river was an A - decent card, improves my hand in case he did hit 2 pair, but definately a bad card if he has a set cause I will pay him off. He bets $75 into $150. I thought about it for a minute or two and I just couldn't put him on a hand, and I called. He had 5 7 for the nuts. I mucked. I was pretty upset about this hand, and told him he made a great call preflop and on the flop. He then went on to say I'm a donk for doing the same thing with pocket 2's. I didn't say anything after he said that, and I tried so hard not to shove blind for the next like 7 hands on crazy tilt, but I'm surprised I kept my composure, which I definately need to play live poker especially when I'm only an hour into the session. I'm interested on what you guys think about this hand, obviously I should have folded, but I just couldn't put him on the straight or a set, and if I put him on 2 pair I clearly win. I was back down to $115.

I dwindled down to about $85 or so and the table was getting smaller. It was down to 6 handed which I absolutely love. The donks were also gone, so now I could take advantage of the tight guys and win some pots.

I was being very aggressive and raising alot preflop no matter what cards I had in position and taking some pots down.

Hand 5:

UTG limper, doens't scare me. I make it $12 with 63 off in the CO, SB and UTG call. The flop was Kd Qd 8x. They checked to me, I bet $15, they both called. Turn was a 5x, and they both checked again. They either think I'm betting again and want me to, or they have the flush draw and I will found out when the river comes. I checked and the river was a 2x. They both checked again and I bet $35, they both mucked and one guy said to the other, well I missed my flush, did you miss yours and he just mucked his cards.

Hand 6:

I call $7 with Ah3h in the SB, BB calls as well. Flop is Jh 8h 3x. I check, BB checks, original raiser bets $10, I call, BB calls. Turn Qh, I led out for $15 and said this is for my flush, it worked last night, can it work again? They both called. The rivbomb was a blank and I bet $25, BB called leaving himself $3, and the raiser folded, I showed and the BB has 9 10 for the straight. I went on to raise the next hand with Ks8s on the button and the guy went all in for $3 and I got 2 more callers, the flop was K K 7, they checked and I bet $5 into the side pot, they folded and I won the pot.

Hand 7:

Five handed now, I'm at around $120 after losing some chips. Two limpers, I make it $12 with AA in the SB, they both call, I bet $30 on the 10 4 2 flop, which I could have bet less, but they still probably fold.

Hand 8:

Called a standard raise preflop with KJ, 3 handed, $24 in the pot, flop was J J 6, it checked around, the turn was a Q, it checked around, I bet $30 on the river which was a 9, one folded, other said I have to pay you, and I took it down.

Hand 9:

I forgot to explain this one, the table was still full and there were like 6 limpers and I checked the BB with Q 2. Flop was Qx 2d 2x. Checked around, turn was a Kd, it checked around to the CO who bet out $12, I called. River was a Jd. I bet out $35, and he said, you hit those diamonds eh, I said "No, I have a Q". He said "Yeah - the Q of diamonds?" . I showed my Qh, and he called me with A 2, he looked at me like he won the pot, he didn't notice my boat. Haha, it was funny, and if I didn't show him that card, he doesn't call me.

Hand 10:

Back to 5 handed, another standard raise to $7, this guy opened alot of pots. I made it $18 with AA in the BB, and I got 2 callers. Flop was J J 7, I bet out $15, got one caller. 4 on the turn, and I bet out $20, he called again, I bet $15 on the river, major value town, and if he raises I can get away from it if he does have a J, he said he couldn't fold for $15 and I took it down.

Hand 11:

Opened for $10 on the button with AQ, the BB shoved for his last $32 total, I called, he had AK. He took it down.

Hand 12:

Same thing, I made it $10 on the button with Qh10h, the BB shoved again, for like $35, he lost some chips, and he had KK. Why does he always have a monster when I raise the button with mediocre hands. Flop was 10 3 7, turn 3, river 10. Bad suckout, I felt bad, cause I liked the guys I was playing with. But I can't feel bad for taking someones money playing poker.

That was the session, It was 4:30am and decided to leave, it would have been 3 handed because the 2 guys busted so. I profited $160 last night, felt really good, had some good reads and was able to pick the guys apart short handed. Thanks for any advice. GL to me in tournies tonight (wednesday).

Running Bad.....................askdjhgasjhdfgskla

2007-12-04T00:47:00.000-08:00

So,

Ever since my little MTT victory, I've been running like the gayestly bad of all bad. I know it happens to everyone, and we all talk about it, and that is why I have a blog. I always run into AA when I have AK AQ, and I always run into a higher kicker when I have AJ, KQ etc, and it's really annoying, I don't have hand histories to post, because I am too lazy to save them, but I saved one from tonight cause I'm just bummed out.

PokerStars Game #13640745565: Tournament #68767910, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2007/12/04 - 03:32:31 (ET)
Table '68767910 2' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: gigagambler (4642 in chips)
Seat 2: jonmac3 (1295 in chips)
Seat 3: fbtmof05 (2715 in chips)
Seat 4: SilentNut (6745 in chips)
Seat 5: dipschmit (2995 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 6: dbleagle (2180 in chips)
Seat 7: josé delgado (1532 in chips)
Seat 8: bishybish3 (4305 in chips)
Seat 9: illeatu19 (3050 in chips)
bishybish3: posts small blind 75
illeatu19: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fbtmof05 [7d 7h]
gigagambler: calls 150
jonmac3: folds
fbtmof05: raises 375 to 525
SilentNut: folds
dipschmit: folds
dbleagle: folds
josé delgado: folds
bishybish3: folds
illeatu19: folds
gigagambler: calls 375
*** FLOP *** [3d Ts 9d]
gigagambler: checks
fbtmof05: bets 800
gigagambler: raises 800 to 1600
fbtmof05: raises 590 to 2190 and is all-in
gigagambler: calls 590
*** TURN *** [3d Ts 9d] [Qd]
*** RIVER *** [3d Ts 9d Qd] [Ad]
fbtmof05 said, "lol"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
gigagambler: shows [Kd 5d] (a flush, Ace high)
fbtmof05: shows [7d 7h] (a flush, Ace high - lower cards)
fbtmof05 said, "why are you so bad"
gigagambler collected 5655 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5655 | Rake 0
Board [3d Ts 9d Qd Ad]
Seat 1: gigagambler showed [Kd 5d] and won (5655) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 2: jonmac3 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: fbtmof05 showed [7d 7h] and lost with a flush, Ace high
Seat 4: SilentNut folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: dipschmit folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: dbleagle folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: josé delgado (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: bishybish3 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: illeatu19 (big blind) folded before Flop

I think that's a sick read on my part, I learnt this move from fishbones11. He did this move tonight in the Full Tilt $1,000+$60 tonight at the final 2 tables. He 2.5x preflop with 55, loose big stack called in the SB and led out on a Qx 6s 8s flop, and Adam shoved and big stacked called with odds and had JsKs, and Adam's 55 was the best hand, but it's still a race at this point, but still a sick play, and his 55 lost when a K hit the turn and river.

I'm just upset with my result obv, cause I made the right play. I keep making the right plays, but losing, that must be a good thing right?

Live poker - meh, I've been once since my last post, I made $34 in 3 hours, yipdee fuckin eeee. Gas money, which is cool, just had no cards so I got up and left with my profit. I'm going tomorrow night, I will crush every single one of those players and write a blog about it. It's 4am, I'm tired sorry for this blog, I needed to vent. Did I make the right play with 77 tonight?

Ugh...............asldhasidgadoasgdasdasjkasdasdhasjhdasdfaskhfbdfas,bfnmas I'm broke online and can't play online anymore, so no more running bad........

MTT's

2007-11-28T21:09:00.000-08:00

I haven't been playing much online at all, just the odd MTT like every couple of weeks, I've played maybe 3 or 4 in November, I haven't been in the mood at all and I don't have an online bankroll anymore.

Last night I went to Adam's house to hang out for the night and play some NHL 08 and have some drinks. Adam said he was taking the night off poker so we had a long fun night ahead of us. We played maybe 10 games of NHL 08 and I went 2-8, I'm so good. He really runs good at everything, except when I took him twice in 2 heads up matches, which he probably wasn't trying in anyways haha. Anyways, it was like 3:30am, we were watching some Lost and I wasn't tired at all and decided I wanted to play some online tournaments. I had like $8 in my stars account and didn't care if I won or lost it all, I just wanted to play something. There was a $3.30 at 4:00am that perked my interest. There were only 78 entrants by 3:30am and I figured I could dominate all of them.

4:00am rolled around, and the tournament started, 698 entrants, perfect, I won't be up long at all. I actually wanted to see how well I could do, so I tried my best. It always helps when you get AA 3 hands in and make it 5x on the button at 10/20 and someone shoves in the SB for 1500 (starting stack) and you call and double up instantly. That always helps, but of course, I went card dead. First break passed, I still hadn't played a hand. Blinds were now 75/150, i had about 2800.

I would get the HH, but to be honest, I honestly go no hands whatsoever, I just started stealing the blinds like crazy once the antes kicked in, won some big pots here and there with no showdowns. I was hitting some flops and stuff, but it didn't last the whole way. Once the money bubble kicked in, I was able to just add to my stack big time and steal the blinds.

I made it to the FT, it was now 8:00am, and I'm starting to get tired, but didn't let it get to me at the FT. I was 6/9 with roughly 100k in chips and the big stack had 240k. So it was anyones game, but the blinds were really starting to kick in. It was a back and forth game when it was 5 handed and the losing hand that would shove would manage to win and double up and no one would die which sucked cause I was card dead and trying to pick my spots to shove and steal the blinds. It was working fine, since everyone was so tight which sucked cause basically it's up to me to break the silence cause I'm the aggressor at the table. So I was trying to take control, but I had no chips to do it. I finally shoved with As3s from the BB after a big stack SB raise and he called with AJ. The board was 2s 5x 8x 8s, so I had a ton of outs to win or chop, and I bricked out and took 5th place for $107 or so. I was upset with the finish at the time because they were all terrible players and so tight, I just had to push and prey, had I doubled up, I would have been in decent shape to TID and I would have been 2/5, but whatever. I'm happy with the result now looking back on it. Hopefully I can continue playing some MTT's.

2 Buy-Ins in 5 Minutes

2007-11-24T10:24:00.000-08:00

You want to know how I did, well here it is. Enjoy it, but it is fairly long, sorry for that. I guess it's hard to keep these small when talking about a huge session.

So obviously I went back to play again, I can't get away from this place cause the players are just unbelievably bad. I was walking through the poker room and saw the seat where I was gonna go. As I'm walking to my seat, I see a guy with about $800 in front of him (buy in is $100) and he open raised a hand to $25. He got a caller, and he bet every street hard and the caller eventually called down with A high and the maniac flipped over Q 4 off for a pair of 4s. So right away I knew I was in for a treat. This guy was insane, opening ever pot to 20 or 25 and betting no matter what, and the sad part is I can only buy in for $100.

So, basically, I'm going to explain how to lose two buy ins within 5 minutes. I limped with AJ UTG, crazy man made it $25, folded back to me and I shoved, he didn't even think, and called with J 6 off. So sick, he flopped a 6 and he held, this really got me going. Very next hand in my BB, someone made it $12, crazy guy called, one other caller, and I shoved with AhKh. Everyone called. Original raiser had AA, maniac had 5s4s, and the other guy had Q 10 off. Board came out J 9 6 6 8 and Q 10 took the pot down. The crazy guy left which sucked, cause I wanted to double up so many times through him, but it didn't suck because now I could play my game.

There were some awesome hands, and so many stories to tell but it would just take forever to explain, so I guess telling you about the good hands will be fine. At this point, I'm din for $200, and I bought back in for another $100, before this hand, I had gone down to around $70 and I limped UTG with KQ off. Usually I raise or fold with this, but my table is weak and I can pick up small pots without even hitting a hand. EP raised to $12, this guy plays every hand, but usually always limps, so raising for him is a sign of strength. There were 3 callers, and I call for odds, I really don't like my hand, but I don't have many chips so if I see something I like I'm shoving anyways. Flop was Q 7 4 r, I shoved my last $58 or so in, original raiser instantly went all in, other guys folded, and I said "Okay Allan - show me your aces", he said "It ain't aces", I said "Oh okay, just kings then", I showed my KQ, and he showed Q 10 off! WTF was that. I've never seen him raise with that junk, he's usually limping with it, oh well, I held and doubled through.

I sat around $130-$140 for the longest time. I got there around 9:30 and it was 12:30 by now and I hadn't played a hand in forever. My table was 6 handed now, so I was hoping to get out of my card slump and take over. This was a cute hand, I was getting "bored" but also knew if I flopped a monster, I'm getting doubled. UTG limped, UTG+1 made it $10, he raises almost every hand and bluffs almost every pot, he's awful, it's awesome. I called with 8 5 off in the SB knowing the BB and UTG are flatting so I have some odds. The flop was Q 8 5, oops. I bet $30, folded back to the raiser and he shoved for $50 more, I called and he showed 10's. Well played 10's. I held and I was up to around $180ish.

I finally started picking up some pots and making conversation at the table just to feel more comfortable and I hate listening to my ipod while playing. An EP player limped, I made it $12 with QQ on the button, folded back to the limper and he called. He seemed a bit nervous, and I could tell he had a good hand. The flop was Qx 5s 7s. He fired out $20. Once he did this, I gave him credit for a set, or AQ, which in my case is sick cause I'm gonna get all his chips. I made it $50, small raise, but a raise to make a made hand shove if he knows what he's doing, which he doesn't I later found out (he was at my table for maybe 10 minutes). He called $30 more. $130 or so in the pot right now. Turn was a 3x, he checked and I shoved. I really thought for sure he was calling, he just seemed so strong, he thought for a bit, and he folded. He said he had a flush draw with the Q, which I doubt, but if he did have that, then I'm happy the way I played my hand.

Up to about $250 now and looking decent. It's about 2:00am and I am almost ready to leave until I get this sick hand. There were two limpers, I made it $12 with 7h6h, same hand I doubled with last session :). I got one caller and one of the limpers made it $35. I put him on AA or KK and he had about $51 more behind, I know it's a bad call for implied odds, but I really wanted to play this hand, and I knew I could get some more chips from the other player in the hand who has roughly $200 or so. Anyways, I call and so does the other guy. So $105 in the pot. Flop was 10 6 2. The re-raiser bet $25, I called $25 getting insane odds and so did the other guy. Turn was the best turn in the world, another 6. The re-raiser went all in for his last $26 in chips, I called and so did the other guy, so now there is $280 in the main pot. Now there is a dry side pot which sucks, but oh well. River was a blank and I bet $30 into the dry, and the other guy instantly called. I showed my hand and the table went bananas. It sucks cause I think I could have bet $75 on the river and the guy still calls, but it was a dry side pot and I wanted to go to value town. The guy to my left said "Hooollllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyy fuckkkkkkkkkkk, you raised to $12 with 7 6!!!!!!!!" I said, "It seems to be working doesn't it?" and he just shrugged his shoulders.

My stack was now up to $500 and change and I was looking good, I limped pre EP with 8s9s, guy who plays alot of hands raised to $10, 2 callers and I called. Flop was AsQs6x, it checked to the raiser and he bet $5 into $40, one caller, and I called. As the dealer was turning the card, I said please be a spade, and it was a 5s and I said, "Yes, spade, I got my flush". I bet out $20 right away to just go along with my "flush". Original raiser thought for a bit and he went all in for $65 total. I called and he asked if I really had the flush, I said I did and he was drawing dead when he showed me A J. He gave me a pat on the shoulder and told me nice hand and went on about his night.

The action was insane early on, but I didn't like it cause I couldn't play poker. But after the maniac left, I seemed to be fine as my results prove it. I made a profit of $244 after being in for $200 right away starting my session. Patience is really a big factor for live poker, I can't believe how much it is, but it paid off. I'll probably be going back sometime soon, but you wanted to know how it went, so I hope you liked it.

Live Cash Game = Success

2007-11-22T09:26:00.000-08:00

Sorry, long post. (2 sessions in one)

So after my few live sessions, I went back to Awkwesasne with Adam (fishbones11) and Lacasse. I was going to play 1/2 NL and Adam and Lacasse came to play the 5/10 NL. Of course, we called before we left and they said they were spreading 1/2 up to 5/10. We got to the border and the Customs officer was asking all the usual questions and it seemed like we were going to get let off easy (I have been searched before), and I guess he didn't like the idea of us having almost $10,000 total, we said we had around $8,000 and I guess they didn't believe us. Anyways, he told me to park my car and go inside. So now, I'm just like whatever, I've done this before we won't be hear long, Adam thinks we are going to be like 6 hours and Lacasse is just doing what he always does, making the most hilarious jokes with the Customs officers.

They handed us these small sheets to fill out and the officer inside was pretty cool about everything, he was joking around as well, giving us grades on how well we filled out our sheets and stuff. Anyways they went out and searched my car, and then made us empty out our pockets and made sure we had under $10,000 or we have to declare it which is just a pain in the ass because it's just more sheets to fill out.

Finally, we get to the casino and we're all ready to play. Obviously there is no 5/10 game playing, but there is a waiting list which Adam and Lacasse both sign up for, and then they sat at a 2/5 game while I waited to sit at a 1/2 table.

From my previous sessions, I had done extremely well, but tonight would be different. It was insane how many draws I missed, I mean, ask Adam, I don't know how many open ended/flush draws I could miss in one night, it was sickening. Of course I got it all in on the flop with those draws for $200, $300, and $400 pots and missed completely, so after losing a few buy ins, I just started to play like a maniac while I waited for Adam and Lacasse to finish up. I was shoving blind for a while. I would straddle to $4, and everyone would limp and I would shove knowing no one's calling and if someone does, I am probably not that big of a dog to lose. I was called once by 66, and I showed A 10, and won that race, I think that was the only pot I won all night. My last hand of the night went like this. I am in the BB, of course I didn't look at my cards. There were maybe 4 limpers, and I just shoved blind again. UTG+1 called right away (around $100) and everyone else folded. I said I didn't look and it's the last hand of the night for me so I will show my cards after the board comes out, he said he would do the same. The board came A 8 7 6 2 complete rainbow. He said "I have nothin man, just Jack high." I looked at his cards and he called my blind shove with J 9 off. Haha, good call. So basically I have a good chance of winning this hand until I look at 3 4o. WP. So after that session,

Profit: -$400.

Basically, I can't win every night right? This wasn't a major set back at all, considering I'm still up like $350 or so. And, I played fine up until I missed all my draws then I just went psycho, but I was having fun and didn't care if I lost. I know I am a profitable cash game player and all I can do is just wait until I go next time, they are just so awful, it's awesome.
____________________________________________________________________

I went again this past Tuesday night (November 20) with a different friend, who thankfully drove. I have driven so much it's crazy, so it was nice to get a drive from someone. We didn't get searched at the border, which was a bonus, and we got to the casino and were playing by 10:30pm. So a long, good session was in front of me. I was at a pretty sweet table, I knew how everyone played and there were a few donks who made terrible plays but were catching cards. I sat tight for a while, bought in for the max, $100, and won a couple of small pots maybe $20 each. I was hovering around $125 for a while until this hand.

I'll start out by explaining what my table is like.

Seat 1: Me
Seat 2: Middle aged male, plays every hand, raises with AA, KK, QQ.
Seat 3: Ottawa player (I didn't recognize), late 20's, tight. Will raise hands like AJ and KQ etc.
Seat 4: Late 20's, early 30's female, tightest player in the world.
Seat 5: Older male, 60ish, solid, plays suited connectors, not a bad player. (old man #1)
Seat 6: Complete donk, overbets with hands, plays every hand, will pay you off.
Seat 7: Young guy, my age, tight.
Seat 8: Older male, 60ish, loose, but weak. (old man #2)
Seat 9: Young guy, my age, plays like me.
Seat 10: Weak tight younger player, like really weak tight, like really bad. He was asking me if he made the right play every time he made a bet or something, he would say like "was that the right move or, should I have bet more or what."

Anyways, so I finally got a hand, 1010 in the SB, UTG limps, UTG+1 makes it $12, Hijack calls, I call and UTG calls. At this point, UTG has any 2 cards and the hijack has any 2 cards, and the raiser has a solid hand like AK, JJ, or something like that. The flop was Ac 10c 2, exactly what I wanted. I checked assuming the original raiser is going to C-bet but has AK hopefully, UTG checked, UTG+1 checked (now I know he doesn't have an ace, how am I going to make max now). Hijack bets $25, phew, finally, and I didn't think he was trying to buy it, from some tells, I could tell he hit that flop. He had around $60 behind so he wasn't fold if I raised, but now that I think about it, I think I played this hand poorly. My initial plan was to check raise this pot assuming someone hit it or has a flush draw so they can pay for it. I did check raise, and the Hijack only has $60 behind so I could raise to $60, but that only leaves me like $20 behind for the turn, so thats pointless, so I just shoved $104 or something like that. UTg and UTG+1 fold, hijack calls, but looks like he really doesn't want to. He calls and I showed my set, and he had Qc9c, so if I can dodge a club, nice. The turn was a 2 and I hit my boat and took the pot down, I was now around $205.

The bad beat pot was up to $55,000 and the way the hands were going on my table, it seemed like we should have won like 5 bad beat pots. There were 3 quads and 3 straight flushes, unreal, I've never seen anything like it. And each time someone had quads there was a straight flush possibility and every time someone had a straight flush, there was a paired board, so it was close. Would have been nice to get some extra cash.

I dwindled back down to $100 after calling raises pre with some pocket pair and suited connectors and missing, and I raised with AK, AQ, and QQ and lost some small pots, so everything was fine, just waiting for another pay off. The double up earlier with 1010 was an hour into the session so there was still plenty of poker to play.

By now, Seat 6 had left which sucks cause he had like $500 in front and I wanted all of it, but I guess he was smart enough to realize he was hitting everything and left while he was up, so that was too bad. This was a sickening hand, and I can't believe what fell. There was a straddle, and I was the button, 2 limped for $4, I made it $16 to go with 7h6h, I knew the limpers and SB would call so I decided to juice up this pot if I hit it big. And I knew it, the SB and limpers did call my raise so there is $66 in the pot and the flop was 8c 9h 2h, finally, an awesome flop for me, but could be a disaster cause the limpers could have a set or a higher flush draw, but I raised for a reason so I can't fold now since I got the flop I wanted. UTG+1 (old man #1)limper fired out $25, so right away he isn't looking for the check raise, I know he has a monster, Cut off (old man #2) called after much debate and I instantly shoved, SB folded and UTG+1 called right away and I had him covered by like $5. The cut off thought forever and finally folded, face up, 8h 5h, basically a bad hand for me to see, takes away 2 of my outs. UTG+1 had 8d9d for top 2 pair, and I had seven hearts, three 5's, and three 10's in the deck to hit, so 13 outs, 25% of the deck. I hit a black 5 on the turn and he missed his boat on the river and I raked in the pot and he just shook his head in dejection and seemed pretty pissed at me. He mumbled something along the lines of "7 6 eh, god that's awful". I said, "well, if I'm raising with junk like that, come and get all my chips."

That hand brought me up to ~$250 and I had a sweet image to play with. Three other players left, 2 were tight, so it was like they weren't even there anyways, and the guy to my left was stacked. Now the table was 6 handed, and I love 6 handed poker, so I was excited to just run over the table. I wasn't getting any real good hands to play in position with, so I had to fold alot, but I was still able to pick up small pots here and there. It was so easy to out play these guys.

It was about an hour until I played a big hand, (old man #2) limped for $2, I made it $12 in the CO with QQ, folded back to him and he shoved for $55 total, and I called, he had AhQh, he missed and I stacked him again and he reloaded.

A few hands later, I raised to $10 UTG+1 with KcJc, and the Ottawa player to my left shoved for $46 total. It folded back to me and I put him on a low paid and believe it or not, my read was bang on, he had 66. I spiked a J on the flop and held. I was now up to $300 and change and looking good, he reloaded as well. The other 1/2 table broke and filled the spots up on my table and now we had a full table again, but this time the big stack sat right to my left, and he knew what he was doing, he purposely said, who has the biggest stack and sat beside me, he had $1000 in front, which sucked, cause he was playing like a maniac and I couldn't control the table now, but all I have to do is sit and wait. He made a pretty sick call for a big pot.

It folded to the maniac and he made it $12, the BB (another Ottawa player) called. The flop was Q 5 3, Ottawa player bet, maniac bet $25. Ottawa player called (lets call him OT2). Turn was a Q and OT2 fired out $50, and right away I put him on nothing, just his demeanor said he had nothing, just a read. Maniac called $50, so there is now $175 in the pot, and river was a 3 putting 2 pair on board ( Q 5 3 Q 3). OT2 bet $80 and the maniac called after much deliberation, he took like 5 minutes to call and OT2 showed A 10 for ace high and maniac showed 7 5 for Q's and 5's. Pretty good call and he got up and freaked out and was like that's such a sick call, blah blah. He basically did what Kenny Tran did this year at the WSOP ME when Kenny called the river with a flush on board.

After that nothing much happened, the table got short, and I got 4 pocket pairs in a row. 88 lost to A 6, QQ lost to K 10 on a K 10 10 A board, it was checked around on the flop, and I folded a turn bet showing my QQ face up and he showed his K 10. Then I got 33, missed, then 55 and hit a set and won a small pot. Went to the cage at 5:15, profiting $250 for the night and headed home in the wonderful snow storm and morning traffic in Ottawa. Didn't get home until 8, should have been home at 6:45 or so. Oh well, it was a good night. I'll be going again soon, wish me luck...

Hail to the Natives

2007-11-15T20:09:00.000-08:00

Since my last post, I haven't played much, a bit of online here and there but nothing worth talking about, at least I am still above even. YES!

I recently made 2 trips to Awkesasne to play at the Bingo Palace for some 1/2 NL, which is my favourite game to play; live or online. I prefer live though because I am a much better live player than online, so it really is too bad that I can't play live unless I go across the border because of the local busts. Anyways, I had already written a post about my trip but I left my computer open and didn't save the post and my mom turned off my computer and it took me like an hour to write up, so sorry if it isn't the best post in the world, but I just hate repeating everything, so this will be shorter hopefully.

I'll start off with my first impressions of the place. I have never played live poker at a casino before and from seeing Casino Lac Leamy and getting some advice from some friends, this place was not the place to go if you are looking for an amazing atmosphere, or comforting nice place that is smoke free and very well maintained. It was an old bingo hall, full of smoke and the drinks you order are in white plastic cups, how amazing. But whatever, I wasn't there for the scenery, I was there to win.

I will go through the memorable hands from the nights I went and any other tid bits I think you all would like to know.

Friday Session:

I bought in for $100, it was a $100 max table, I was down to about $60 from limping and missing flops with some small pairs and some suited connectors, wasn't getting the hands in the positions I wanted them to take control of the game. I was dealt AA and raised it up to $15 EP. One caller to my left who was limping every pot and calling the raise if it was raised up, and he had a huge stack. Flop was K 8 6 rainbow, I just shoved right away making it look like a missed AQ or under pair and was ready to buy back in again, but he folded.
Was dealt 33, limped EP, 2 more limpers and SB raised it up to $12, I called as did the other 2 limpers. Flop was J 3 7, it checked around for some odd reason. Turn was a Q, I bet 20, button (solid), made it $45, I called. River was an 8 and put the runner runner flush on board and I checked, he bet $60 and I shoved for $75 total and he insta-folded LOL!

I limped EP with Jc10c, and 2 locals from Ottawa that I recognized also sat down since the other table broke up. There was one more limper behind me and the BB (Ottawa friend) made it $12. I called and so did the guy behind. The flop was Ac 7c 2x, and it checked around. I felt like betting out but from how I had been playing all night I was worried about a check raise and it was more or less risking all my chips which I do not want to do after I have built up a decent stack. Anyways I decided to see a free card, also seeing this free card could disguise my flush a little bit because I had been betting out my draws all night. Turn was 6c, I hit my flush and now it was time to get paid off. BB bet out $25, I flat called and the guy behind folded. River was a blank and BB checked, I bet out $50 making it look like a steal, and he called and mucked his AQ and said he thought I was bluffing.

Flopped a set with JJ for a $15 raise pre 3 handed, didn't get paid off. A J 6 flop. I was OOP and led out the flop, oh well. Someone said they folded A 9 but I don't believe them.

Biggest hand of the night was against this loose older German male who I had been waiting all night for to take a chunk off him. I limped EP, yet again, with 66 and the German made it $18 to go in the SB and the BB called. I right away put him on a big hand and was hoping for my 6 to get paid. The Flop was Q Q 5, and it checked to me, this made me think hard about betting or not. The German is either checking because he has QQ, AQ, AK. The way he was playing he would bet out with AA, KK and even maybe JJ. But I was worried about the BB so I checked. The turn was a sickening 6 and I was just waiting for them to get it in. SB bet out $18, which was 1/3 of the pot, which was small for the game we had been playing and I put him on a AK, then the BB called, so now I knew for sure one of them had the Q and it was probably the BB, so I decided to raise to make it look like I'm stealing the pot since if one of them has a Q they are gonna think that. I made it $50 to go, and the SB instantly went all-in with his beautiful accent, I actually loved it. "OOLLLLLL INNNN". Anyways, BB mucked and I called. SB tabled AQ for trips and I showed my boat. I dodged the 7 outs and stacked up my chips. Roughly a $400 pot.

That was it for that night, I profited ~$350 which I was extremely happy about.

Monday Session:

Looking for some more action, I decided to take a stab at the game again, but was hoping for some action since it was a Monday night, wow I'm such an addict. Going out at 12am to play poker on a school night, oh my gosh, my parents would not approve.

I doubled up right away on a sick hand. I basically wanted to establish a crazy image and buy playing this hand, it seemed to work well for the night.

UTG (kid my age - loose and smashed) made it $7, I called on the button with 8c5c, and the SB (tight, older man with dentures) made it $15, UTG called, and I called. I right away put the SB on a monster, AA or KK and was hoping to hit the perfect flop. The flop was Jc 7c 2x, SB bet $20, UTG called, and I shoved for $65 more, and they both called. I spiked my club on the turn and the river blanked and they checked it down. I showed my flush and the table just went bananas. "8 5, how do you play that hand - wow 8 5.... holy shit" So from that I basically said to myself, yes, now come and get me.

Roughly 5 hands later, I made it $10 on the button with 6 4 off with just the blinds left to act. SB (loose, kid my age) called, and led out the J 4 7 rainbow flop for $12. I called to see what he would do on the turn, I didn't believe him for the J. I put him on a 7 or an open ended draw. The turn was a 6, decent card and he led out again this time for $40, and I shoved, and he called for his remaining $45 or so, and I held against his J 10 off.

No big pots for a while, just raising alot and showing my stupid hands taking down pot after pot uncontested, until I got KK. I raised it up to $15 with KK MP and another tight older man called as did an early limper. The flop was J 6 7 rainbow. Checked to me and I fired out $40, the older man made it $90 to go, and the limper folded. I put him on QQ/AJ and shoved my chips in the middle and he called me right away and luckily he had the only hand that insta calls me for over $200. QQ. The only other 2 hands he snaps me with is AA or JJ. I held up and raked in over a $400 pot. He said "good hand" and went on about his night. My last hand worth telling is a great hand where I made a very sick read and everything just went perfectly except for the pot being awarded to the degenerate who desperately wanted to make some money.

This guy had doubled up a couple times over the last hour and started to play tight since he had some money, roughly $250. He limped EP and I made it $12 with 65, folded back to him and he called. The flop was K 8 4. He checked and I bet $12, he min raised me to $24, and right away I put him on either the biggest hand in the world or nothing. I called to see what he would do on the turn, because if he checks I know he has nothing and I can take the pot away, if he bets, I fold my gut shot and move on. Turn was a J and he checked, so now I know I can steal the pot from him so I decided to check to try and conceal a big hand and get paid on the river, but I don't have a big hand lol. River was a 9 and he checked again, so now I know 100% he has nothing and I can take this pot down. I bet $40, it was about 1/3 of the pot and made it look like a sick value bet. He thought for maybe 5 minutes. He would play with his cards and hold them like he was going to fold and then put them back on the table and cap them. He eventually called me and I said I had 6 high. He said "6 high????!?!??!?!" and I showed it and he showed my 77. GROSSSSSSSS. Very nice call from him though, I guess that's what happens when you raise almost every hand and show bluffs all the time, but in the end playing my style proved to be profitable. The table broke and I told him about the nice call he made and went to the cage and took me $320ish profit.

All in all a very worthy trip, not for the venue, but for the players, they are horrendous, that's why I'm going again this Friday night. Wish me luck.......

Back At It

2007-09-30T08:58:00.000-07:00

It's been too long since my last post. I kept real busy for the last 5 months with work and being with my family. My girlfriend was home from school for the summer, so being able to see her for 3 months was awesome since she's away for most of the year.

So basically I planned on playing poker all summer and grinding out the $0.5/$1 cash games on Eurolinx, but that kind of canned out since I had no time at all to play. I just took the money I had in my BR and saved it for school this fall and kept like $500 on stars to fuck around with when I had some time. Work was just insane this summer. I worked 7 days a week with every third weekend off up until July when I had no days off at all until finally I was able to take 3 days off for Labour Day Weekend and drive up to Maine to see my girlfriend. I basically worked like 45 hours weeks and sometimes 50+ hour weeks depending on what needed to get done at the golf course, but it didn't bother me cause the job I had was awesome.

Anyways, work is basically done now, I work like 25 hours a week, and school is going, and so is poker. I finally got back into poker, and it's kind of sad. I didn't miss it that much during the summer, but once I started playing again it all came back to me except the wins. I am still playing $4.40s and getting monster stacks, but I just keep finishing 10th-18th every fucking time. And last night I went through probably 3348073489237 bad beats in like 2 hours and that was just the most insane bull shit I've ever seen, I still managed to make the money in 1 of them, but fuck it's just pissing me off cause I can't win anything. But in one of my posts earlier about 4.40s, I kept finishing 10th-18th so hopefully this is just the beginning of something amazing. Anyways I have a bunch of tourney's starting right now (deepstacks, 4.40s, and some cash games) so I will up date again later soon this week.

It's Been A While

2007-04-22T09:38:00.000-07:00

Today I told myself, when I get out of bed, I'm going to finally update my blog, because I have the time. It's been over a month now since my last update, and there are great things going on. Since my last post, I have been extremely busy with school finishing up assignments and studying for my final exams that finished Friday the 20th! I still have managed to play a bit on PokerStars and Eurolinx, and have done quite well. On Eurolinx, I have almost reached my goal for the summer and my goal was to be able to multi table $0.5/$1 with at least $4,000. I am almost up to $2000, and well on my way to being able to play the limit I want to. Even if I don't get the $4,000 I want, I think I will still open up 1 or 2 tables at $0.5/$1.

On Stars, I have been running really well. In the last 8 days, I have managed to final table five $4.40's. I won 2 of them, 4th in 2 others and a 9th place finish. This is a huge accomplishment for me because it took me 2 months to finally win one and now I am consistently winning them. Also, a few weeks ago I played my first live tournament in over a year and I managed to take 2nd place for $260 from a $40 buy in. Aside from the $4.40's, I am also playing $0.10/$0.25 cash games to see what they are like on Stars, and so far I have broken even. I'll be up $100 one night, then lost all my profit the next but I am still playing my best, but I made some stupid bluffs, but also missed some huge draws for 3-way all ins for $75 pots. Just last night I had 5d8d, and made it $1 preflop from MP, SB and BB called and the flop was Ad 6x Jd, there was a ton of action on the flop and then I turned an open-ended straight draw and I missed everything, and they only had top pair, weak kicker. So goes to show there are some pretty weak players that I am playing against, I am just missing my monster draws.

I have also started work recently at a golf course in barrhaven and the hours I have to work are pretty crazy, so that will be keeping me busy for a while. I will be working 6am - at least 3pm, usually it is longer. Yesterday I worked 8am til 7pm. So it's been a ton of work to do, but I guess they want to be able to have the course open sooner than later. I hope I still have the energy to play poker after long days outside. It will suck if I don't because I won't be able to play any poker at all this summer. Turns out I will be working weekends too. Anyways just needed to get an update out there, I know it looks funny right after my good friend fishbones11 did his, but this has been waiting a while and today I told myself I would do it. I told myself I would make updates everyday, but that was back when I was excited to have a blog, but maybe I can still keep it up with the updates now, we'll see.

Super Busy - Doing Well

2007-03-07T18:17:00.000-08:00

Hey, I've been pretty busy with school lately, and my girlfriend is back from Maine for her spring break so I have been hanging out with her for the past week. I haven't played too too much, but I will post some results from my most recent games. I have played 3 sessions I guess, one long one, and two short ones. The first one was Thursday March 1. Adam (fishbones11) was down in Turning Stone and he called me to see if I wanted to finish off his $22 NL hold em Heads Up Shoot Out Match tourny. I said, well, I never play heads up, but I guess I can do it, are you sure you want me to? And he said I can get someone else to do it if you don't want to, but I said I would do it. He said he would give me 33% of what he would win. So when he handed everything over to me, he had already played 6 heads up matches. This tournament started with 156 players and we were down to the last 8 players. Which means I would have to play 3 matches if I made it to the final match. Top 8 was guaranteed $109 or something, which is fine, if I lose, so be it, I make a bit of money and Adam said he didn't care how I did and he was busy and had to do some other things. So I started playing, and I was feeling good and got a good read on my opponent and finished him off. After this first match, I had gained alot of confidence and felt I could do very well and possibly win the whole tournament. So now I am in the final four and we are guaranteed $246 or something, which is sweet. Long story short, I made it to the final match, and I won! This was such a confidence booster which I was happy about the most, and first place was awarded $842, so it was a nice payday for me and Adam.

That night, I drove into Ottawa to wait for my girlfriend to get home, she wasn't going to be in until 4:00am, so I had alot of time to play some poker. I joined six $4.40 180 man sit & gos, but they did not go very well, I had huge stacks in all of them and in my final one, I busted with about 50 left for a pot for the chip lead. It was about a 20K pot or so. The blinds were 100/200 with a 25 ante, UTG+1 made it 1000, which is a huge raise, and I flat called behind him with QQ. The flop was K K Q, WOO! I check raised him from 1200 to 3600, and when he shoved, I knew he had AK, and he did. The river brought an A. So I busted in all of the 180's and called it a night.

Ever since then, I have been playing 1-table sit & gos ($5.50) and been doing very well at them. I have played 3 mini sessions since my girlfriend has been home and have managed to do quite well. I will combine all three sessions into one thing

1-table sit & go: Busted | -$5.50
Heads up: Busted | -$5.25
1-table sit & go: 1/9 | +$17.00
1-table sit & go: 1/9 | +$17.00
1-table sit & go: 2/9 | +$8.00
1-table sit & go: 1/9 | +17.00
1-table sit & go: 3/9 | +4.50
1-table sit & go: Busted | -$5.50
1-table sit & go: Busted | -$5.50
1-table sit & go: Busted | -$5.50
1-table sit & go: 1/9 | +$17.00
1-table sit & go: 2/9 | +$8.00
_______________________________

TOTAL PROFIT: + $61.25

I haven't played much, but I think I will be sticking to these from now on since I seem to do so well at them.

Matt

Having Some Fun

2007-02-28T16:19:00.000-08:00

Over the last few days, I haven't played very much, however I did manage to play some $0.05/$0.10 ring games yesterday afternoon. I played two tables for about half an hour and ended up cashing out 1.5 buy ins, which is good, but obviously not alot of money, but gotta start grinding somewhere. Here is one of my hands that was pretty funny:

So I ended that quick session on a good note.

Yesterday was also my good friend Adam's 21st birthday, so Adam, Krissy, Yves and I all went out for dinner with him and then out to the Golf O Max to play some indoor golf which was really fun. It was my first time and I don't golf very often and let's just say highest score wins? I ended up shooting +51, so 134 or something and they all shot under +25, good for them. We went back to Adam's place and I played one STT. $5.50 buy in, 9 players. I played solid poker for the most part since these are so easy to win, but getting quads three times also helps. I only got action on one of my quads, but still a nice way to get some chips. We finally got to heads up and I had a 3:1 chip lead. I had slightly over 10,000 and he had slighty over 3,000. He limp shoved with Jh10h from the button to my AQ and he spiked a J and doubled up, so we were basically even in chips and it stayed that way for so long. I finally took it down and the heads up alone took just over 40 minutes which is ridiculous, anyways I had some fun and it felt good to win.

So a big Happy Birthday to Adam and good luck to you and Krissy in Turning Stone for the next week!

Finally

2007-02-25T20:26:00.000-08:00

I finally got my first $4.40 180 man sit & go win! It felt really good to win it, but it didn't feel as good as I thought it would have, but either way, feels really good to finally get that win under my belt. Basically I was able to double up within the first few hands, and then I just sat tight for a while and built a stack up to about 5,000 with the blinds at 50/100. I was five seconds away from leaving to go out to pick up my dad from the hospital but when I was just about to hand over the tournament to someone, I picked up AK. I took someone out, next hand I got JJ, then AA, then KK, then AK again! I went on this HUGE rush and brought my stack up to over 21,000! I asked my mom if I could stay on and she could go get my dad, so she said yeah and I just finished off the tournament myself. It was down to the final 2 tables and I found myself in some trouble. I was dealt 88 back to back and my stack dwindled down to just under 5,000 with blinds at 300/600. I would make the standard raise to 1800 and got called, flop was 9 high, I put the caller all in for 4,000, and he called with KK. And then I made it 1,800 again on a A K J flop and contiuation bet but was check raised and forced to fold. This sucked, but I didn't get angry with myself, there was nothing I could do about those hands and I just had to live with the fact that I had 5,000 and would hopefully double up.

I was dealt JJ and shoved preflop and was called by AQ, I doubled up to 11,000 which felt good, there were only 15 or 16 left and then the best hand in the world happened. I had it saved on my computer, but I'm on a friends laptop and I don't have the hand history, but this was it. I had KK UTG, I made it 1,800, someone made it 4,000, the button shoved for 14,000, and the SB went all in for over 50,000! I was thinking, pleaseeeeeeee be good, and PLEASE FOR GOD'S SAKES HOLD! ONE TIME! I called, and was up against the BEST 3 hands I could ask for. AK, AQ and AQ! That is soooo sick, and I obviously help up, but was really cheering for that one A to fall. This brought me up to 45,000. Ten hands later, i called 2,400 with 66, the flop was Q 6 2, big stack lead out 2,000, I flat called. Turn was a Q, beauty, he bet out 3,000, I made it 9,000 and he called. River was a 5, he checked and I shoved my last 27,000 in and he called with AK! WOO! I was up to over 90,000 and went into the FT with 96,000 chips. Had a big stack the whole way and took it down with 44 vs 66 on a 4 2 7 5 9 board. My first win, and earlier that day I had made a FT and took 5th, so it was a great day and I am glad I never left to go pick up my dad.

Ever since that, I have only played about 7 sit & gos and only made 1 FT, but I haven't played much since my win, just been getting alot of homework done and finishing up some assignments for school. I'll be back tomorrow.

A Win, A Small One, But Still A Win

2007-02-23T10:08:00.000-08:00

I had a terrible day yesterday in my $4.40 session, nothing was going my way at all. At the beginning of my session, I had 5,000 within the first 15 hands, and then I found my self all in on a 10 high flop with KK vs AA for 10,000 and the chip lead and I didn't catch up. After that hand, everything went downhill, I was tilting, I was on the phone trying to play 5 tables, just not a good way to play and focus on poker. Even when I got off the phone and was down to 2-3 tables and was able to concentrate fully, I still ended up losing everything. I didn't win a single race yesterday, my AQ's would lose to KJ's, my KK was cracked by 44, just nothing going my way at all, so I quit for the night. All in all, a bad night, but whatever, they're bound to happen. DON'T TALK ON THE PHONE WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND WHEN YOU ARE TRYING TO PLAY POKER!

Anyways the point of this post was to explain about my first win ever on PokerStars. It wasn't a 180 man sit & go, but it was a 9 man sit & go, which I am still happy about and I can finally get some confidence in a win. It was a crazy table for me, I was up and down the whole time, I'll look for some hands and show how low I was and was able to make the comeback and win it.

PokerStars Game #8582886122: Tournament #43713872, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2007/02/23 - 12:07:57 (ET)
Table '43713872 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 2: math*n*eliza (1485 in chips)
Seat 3: billig (1075 in chips)
Seat 4: OESD (1620 in chips)
Seat 5: sixnine0312 (3515 in chips)
Seat 6: btb&m (1880 in chips)
Seat 7: deeman32986 (1135 in chips)
Seat 8: Spoons04 (965 in chips)
Seat 9: LeJeune30 (1825 in chips)
deeman32986: posts small blind 50
Spoons04: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to btb&m [6s Th]
LeJeune30: folds
math*n*eliza: folds
billig: folds
OESD: folds
sixnine0312: folds
btb&m: raises 200 to 300
deeman32986: calls 250
Spoons04: folds
*** FLOP *** [6d Kh Td]
deeman32986: bets 400
btb&m: raises 500 to 900
deeman32986: calls 435 and is all-in
btb&m said, "good lord"
*** TURN *** [6d Kh Td] [Ah]
*** RIVER *** [6d Kh Td Ah] [9s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
deeman32986: shows [Qs Js] (a straight, Ten to Ace)
btb&m: shows [6s Th] (two pair, Tens and Sixes)
btb&m said, "everytime"
deeman32986 collected 2370 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2370 | Rake 0
Board [6d Kh Td Ah 9s]
Seat 2: math*n*eliza folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: billig folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: OESD folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: sixnine0312 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: btb&m (button) showed [6s Th] and lost with two pair, Tens and Sixes
Seat 7: deeman32986 (small blind) showed [Qs Js] and won (2370) with a straight, Ten to Ace
Seat 8: Spoons04 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: LeJeune30 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

This hand brought me down to 745 chips and 8/8, not looking so good.

Seat 2: math*n*eliza (1485 in chips)
Seat 3: billig (1075 in chips)
Seat 4: OESD (1620 in chips)
Seat 5: sixnine0312 (3515 in chips)
Seat 6: btb&m (745 in chips)
Seat 7: deeman32986 (2370 in chips)
Seat 8: Spoons04 (865 in chips)
Seat 9: LeJeune30 (1825 in chips)

PokerStars Game #8582938791: Tournament #43713872, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2007/02/23 - 12:12:17 (ET)
Table '43713872 1' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 2: math*n*eliza (2035 in chips)
Seat 3: billig (925 in chips)
Seat 4: OESD (1470 in chips)
Seat 5: sixnine0312 (3115 in chips)
Seat 6: btb&m (745 in chips)
Seat 7: deeman32986 (2170 in chips)
Seat 8: Spoons04 (1015 in chips)
Seat 9: LeJeune30 (2025 in chips)
sixnine0312: posts small blind 50
btb&m: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to btb&m [6s 7h]
deeman32986: folds
Spoons04: raises 200 to 300
LeJeune30: folds
math*n*eliza: folds
billig: folds
OESD: folds
sixnine0312: folds
btb&m: raises 445 to 745 and is all-in
Spoons04: calls 445
*** FLOP *** [8d 6h Ad]
*** TURN *** [8d 6h Ad] [2d]
deeman32986 said, "gg"
*** RIVER *** [8d 6h Ad 2d] [7c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
btb&m: shows [6s 7h] (two pair, Sevens and Sixes)
Spoons04: shows [Ah Ts] (a pair of Aces)
deeman32986 said, "haha"
btb&m collected 1540 from pot
btb&m said, "hehe"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1540 | Rake 0
Board [8d 6h Ad 2d 7c]
Seat 2: math*n*eliza folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: billig folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: OESD (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: sixnine0312 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: btb&m (big blind) showed [6s 7h] and won (1540) with two pair, Sevens and Sixes
Seat 7: deeman32986 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Spoons04 showed [Ah Ts] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 9: LeJeune30 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

I was able to suck out and double up, whew. After that, I was able to pull of some nice bluffs and build up my stack to 3200 and be the CL and then later on lost a big race for a nice pot.

PokerStars Game #8583162008: Tournament #43713872, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2007/02/23 - 12:30:21 (ET)
Table '43713872 1' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 2: math*n*eliza (3075 in chips)
Seat 3: billig (1450 in chips)
Seat 4: OESD (2070 in chips)
Seat 5: sixnine0312 (1640 in chips)
Seat 6: btb&m (3590 in chips)
Seat 9: LeJeune30 (1675 in chips)
sixnine0312: posts small blind 100
btb&m: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to btb&m [3c 3s]
LeJeune30: folds
math*n*eliza: folds
billig: raises 1250 to 1450 and is all-in
OESD: folds
sixnine0312: folds
btb&m: calls 1250
*** FLOP *** [Ts 4h 6s]
*** TURN *** [Ts 4h 6s] [6h]
btb&m said, "HOLLLLLLDDDDDDDDDDD"
*** RIVER *** [Ts 4h 6s 6h] [Qd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
btb&m: shows [3c 3s] (two pair, Sixes and Threes)
billig: shows [Ad Qs] (two pair, Queens and Sixes)
btb&m said, "UUUUUUGH"
billig collected 3000 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3000 | Rake 0
Board [Ts 4h 6s 6h Qd]
Seat 2: math*n*eliza folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: billig showed [Ad Qs] and won (3000) with two pair, Queens and Sixes
Seat 4: OESD (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: sixnine0312 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: btb&m (big blind) showed [3c 3s] and lost with two pair, Sixes and Threes
Seat 9: LeJeune30 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

I was pretty upset about that, but it's a race so I can't really complain. I again was down in chips, sort of, but brought it back up to 5800 after a while.

Seat 3: billig (1862 in chips)
Seat 4: OESD (1410 in chips)
Seat 5: sixnine0312 (2795 in chips)
Seat 6: btb&m (5895 in chips)
Seat 9: LeJeune30 (1538 in chips)

My table was so tight, the blinds were huge and there were only 5 people left, this sit & go took forever to finish. I ended up being 3/3 for a few hands, but doubled up and then took someone out to go heads up with an even chip lead and took it down 3 hands into HU. Anyways, I am glad with the win and happy with myself for being able to come back like that to win the tournament. I'll be back.

What Do You Know

2007-02-21T17:57:00.000-08:00

Same bullshit as usual. I keep placing 10th-18th in these $4.40 sit & go's. I busted in 15th with 44 vs A 9 for a 20k pot, which would have put me above average. I busted 14th in the other with Q9 vs 44 for a smaller pot, but to stay alive. It seems like I just can't win a fucking race. I know you only notice the races that you lose, but it's just so frustrating to keep finishing just in the money, I want to win these tourney's. I keep saying every time I keep making the right plays but I just end up not winning them. I don't know what to do differently. Played 6 tonight, finished in the money in 2, not good, but not bad. My sharkscope for my new account should look pretty good if I keep this up. I'd post some nice hands from the tournaments but I am too lazy and angry right now, see you tomorrow.

When Will I Win?

2007-02-20T22:50:00.000-08:00

UGGGHHH, I joined 4 $4.40 sit & go's today after playing ring games earlier in the afternoon. I lost one buy in and quit after about 2 hours of play, just got really annoying and I really wasn't in the mood for playing cash games after this retarded hand. I had $10, the buy in, and this guy had $14. It folds to me on the button and I made it 4x ($0.40) on the button with J 8o and the BB called $0.30 more. The flop came Q 10 9r, perfect, but still need to be careful with a flop that that in case he has the J. He lead out for $0.40 and right there I put him on AQ since he had been playing a solid game, he could have had KQ too which is still okay, only a gutshot. I made it $2.40, I know it's a big raise, but I still know he's calling anyways with AQ or KQ just because the stakes are so low and the players are so bad. He flat calls, and the turn was a 4. He checked, and I bet $4, he flat calls, and the river was a J. This was such a bad card for me to see and it just made me sick, and he shoved all in, and I only had $3 and my pot odds were 4:1 and I knew right away he had KQ and I couldn't fold just cause of the pot odds. Anyways, I called and what do you know he had KQ, just an unlucky hand for me. Anyways, so that went down this afternoon.

I had practice tonight from 5:00pm - 7:00pm and I went to Adam's house for the evening to play some poker and some NFL Madden on PS3. We still haven't played PS3 yet and it's 2:00am. I got to Adam's around 8:00pm and ate my Quiznos, joined 4 $4.40 sit & gos and hoped for the best. The whole time I was on the phone with Dan, a good friend of Adam and I and we were helping him play in his $20 sit & go (180 man) and I was on all 4 of my tables while talking with 4 people on msn. It isn't that hard to do, but wow do you ever lose focus on all your tables and just not pay attention anymore, especially in the tournies you are shortstacked in. So, I busted in 2 of my sit & gos that I was short in, but I managed to builed some good stacks in my other 2. I was at 9,000 in chips and 15,000 in chips in them and in both I was sitting around 9/45 and 6/40. I ended up busting in the tourny I had 9,000 chips with KQ. Here's what happened:

The blinds were 200/400 with a 50 ante. It folded to me on the button and I made it the standard 3xBB raise to 1200 with KQo. The BB flat called and the flop was 8c 5c 2x. He lead out for all his chips about 11,000, and I instantly put him on the flush draw and was willing to race, even if he had the A. I called and I made the best call ever, he had 7c3c, but it sucks cause he has 15 outs. The turn was a 3x, and the river was a Kc :(. Oh well, I am happy I made the right call, it just sucks I busted, but I was in the money so I guess that's a plus.

In the other tourny where I had a nice stack, I ended up being just below average until the FT, which is OK and I knew I could win some pots and take this thing down. I was able to build up my stack and be even with 1st and 2nd in chips and have a nice stack with 7 people left. I was in the BB with Jh7h, and the button made it the standard raise to 2400. I called and the flop was 8d 7d 4d, and I figured I was good and he had overcards. I check raised all in and he called with Ad3d. Good game me, game over on the turn since no J or 7 came. But what really gave me a nice stack early on was this hand:

Well since it won't copy and paste on here, here is the link: http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/148811

Anyways, it's just frustrating that I keep making a FT but never win one of these, I am due damnit.

Funday Monday

2007-02-19T08:59:00.000-08:00

I joined 3 $4.40 sit & go's this morning, while also playing 4 ring games on Eurolinx. I hadn't been on Eurolinx in so long and wanted to make some cash on these tables playing my micro stakes at $0.05/$0.10. I will still be playing the $4.40's, I just wanted to play some ring games. I will post a few hands from the only $4.40 I will really bother posting about. I busted in all 3 of the sit & go's within a half hour which sucks. First tournament I shoved right away first hand with Ad10d and was called by QQ. The second tournament I made it 200 on the button with AsQs with only the blinds left. The BB called and the flop was J 10 Q. He checked, I bet 300 and he put me all in, at this point I probably was beat, but still had a draw, and even if he had 2 pair, I still had outs. He had AK, well played on his part I suppose. Here are the hands from my "better" sit & go.

HAND #1

PokerStars Game #8518106590: Tournament #43394574, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2007/02/19 - 11:21:37 (ET)
Table '43394574 10' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: SnaFu AAA (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: BigDaddyThor (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: cipexp (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: mozita (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: GABBSEY (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: rizzo6211 (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: fulvia (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: Galax99 (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: fbtmof05 (1500 in chips)
BigDaddyThor: posts small blind 10
cipexp: posts big blind 20

Holecards
Dealt to fbtmof05
mozita has timed out
mozita: folds
mozita is sitting out
GABBSEY: folds
rizzo6211: folds
fulvia: calls 20
Galax99: calls 20
fbtmof05: raises 180 to 200
SnaFu AAA: folds
BigDaddyThor: folds
mozita has returned
cipexp: folds
fulvia: calls 180
Galax99: calls 180

Flop (Pot : $630)

fulvia: checks
Galax99: checks
fbtmof05: bets 520
fulvia: folds
Galax99: calls 520

Turn (Pot : $1670)

Galax99: checks
fbtmof05: bets 780 and is all-in
Galax99: calls 780 and is all-in

River (Pot : $3230)

Showdown
Galax99: shows (a pair of Deuces)
fbtmof05: shows (a pair of Aces)
fbtmof05 collected 3230 from pot

Summary
Total pot 3230 | Rake 0
Board
Seat 1: SnaFu AAA (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: BigDaddyThor (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: cipexp (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: mozita folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: GABBSEY folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: rizzo6211 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: fulvia folded on the Flop
Seat 8: Galax99 showed and lost with a pair of Deuces
Seat 9: fbtmof05 showed and won (3230) with a pair of Aces

Just my typical play with AQ or AK preflop at these blinds. Doubled up on the first hand of the tournament, good sign of trying to build a stack early.

Ugh, so it turns out, I just copy and pasted the same hand 6 times. I guess I messed up when I tried to copy and paste. Basically, I went back down to 1500 on the second hand of the tourny with AQ again haha. I got it all in on a flop of 8 9 Ar with AQ vs AK, he limped and flat called my raise preflop. I doubled up again with 4c5c. The blinds were 15/30, CO made it 120 total, I called. The flop was 4 3 6r, I checked, CO bet out 200, I made it 600, he shoved (he had me covered), and I called feeling I was beat, but I am ahead if he has an overpair, which he did. He had KK, and the turn was a nice brick Q, and the river was a nice 2. I had 13 outs though, so it would have sucked to miss. I busted with AQ vs AK, all in on the flop of 6c 5c Ax, he had AcKc, gg me.

I am currently still playing my cash games and up almost 1 buy in on 3 of my tables, and up half a buy in on the other, so I am looking good. After another hour or two, I am gonna stop playing for the day, I had a 3 hour sleep and am going to take a nap before my volleyball game tonight.

Haha, just as I type this, I went from $18 to $29 on one of my tables in 2 hands against the same player. I limp called $0.60 preflop with 55, 3 handed. The flop was 5d 6h As. SB checked, I checked, UTG raiser bet out $0.95, SB called, I called. Turn was a Qd, SB checked, I checked, the raiser bet out $2.50, SB folded, I smooth called, hoping he has AK or AQ. River was a 7, it went check check and he mucked. Two hands later I checked my BB with A7o, the flop was 10 7 5, I checked, he bet $0.20, I called, turn 7, I checked, he bet $0.60, I made it $2.40, he pushed all in for like $0.20 more to me. He had 10 8. I'll be back later.

Reading Week

2007-02-18T09:37:00.000-08:00

I just got back from Toronto where I had a volleyball tournament all weekend. Back to poker, I have the whole week off and I plan on playing as much poker as I can during this week. It sucks, I have the week off for school, but I still have to drive in to Ottawa for volleyball practices, so lame. Anyways, I'll be updating almost everyday so stay tuned.

Ugggghhhhh

2007-02-15T11:01:00.000-08:00

Played 4 $4.40 sit & go's so far today. Managed to build a nice stack within the first 2 blind levels. On each table, I was up to at least 4,000 to 5,500 chips. I played solid and lost each tournament. QQ vs AK, didn't bother to save the hand history, didn't really care because I had some nice stacks on my other tables. I got blinded down to about 3,500 when the average stack was 5,600 in another tourny. The blinds were 100/200 with a 25 ante, i made it 600 with Ac6c in late position, the SB called. Flop was J 10c 7c, he checked, I bet 1,000, into 1,500, he put me all in, and I called with my remaining 1,400 and he had 9d10d, well played I guess on his part. I missed, gg. And I just donked off my last 2,000 chips in my last $4.40 of the session with 6c4c vs QQ, haha. Anyways, what really sucked was this hand in my 4th $4.40.

PokerStars Game #8454235540: Tournament #43078858, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2007/02/15 - 13:57:24 (ET)
Table '43078858 14' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: thugg111 (5600 in chips)
Seat 2: fbtmof05 (5505 in chips)
Seat 3: 52525 (4145 in chips)
Seat 4: sashapad (3115 in chips)
Seat 5: snakerfly (5095 in chips)
Seat 6: CrazyJack02 (1555 in chips)
Seat 7: SCHLUCHTI007 (6595 in chips)
Seat 8: Longbons (3450 in chips)
Seat 9: edw_fje (1388 in chips)
fbtmof05: posts small blind 50
52525: posts big blind 100

Holecards
Dealt to fbtmof05
sashapad: folds
snakerfly: calls 100
CrazyJack02: folds
SCHLUCHTI007: calls 100
Longbons: raises 300 to 400
edw_fje: folds
thugg111: folds
fbtmof05: calls 350
52525: folds
snakerfly: calls 300
SCHLUCHTI007: calls 300

Flop (Pot : $1700)

fbtmof05: bets 5105 and is all-in
snakerfly: calls 4695 and is all-in
SCHLUCHTI007: folds
Longbons: folds
fbtmof05 said, "fckkkk"

Turn (Pot : $11910)

River (Pot : $11910)

Showdown
fbtmof05: shows (three of a kind, Queens)
snakerfly: shows (a straight, Nine to King)
fbtmof05 said, "jesus christ"
snakerfly collected 11090 from pot
fbtmof05 said, "well played"

Summary
Total pot 11090 | Rake 0
Board
Seat 1: thugg111 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: fbtmof05 (small blind) showed and lost with three of a kind, Queens
Seat 3: 52525 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: sashapad folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: snakerfly showed and won (11090) with a straight, Nine to King
Seat 6: CrazyJack02 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: SCHLUCHTI007 folded on the Flop
Seat 8: Longbons folded on the Flop
Seat 9: edw_fje folded before Flop (didn't bet)

I don't think I overbet the pot too much on the flop here, but he had a good read and decided to call his 5,000 with his draw, and the turn gave him less outs, well played by him.

Anyways, I'll be starting another session later. Since I still live at home with my parents, they are making me clean up my room... and help cut up veggies for dinner. Be back later.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

2007-02-14T18:17:00.000-08:00

Good god, could we get enough snow? I got up today and shoveled the driveway around 10:00am, only about 8cm-10cm of snow. My dad got home from work around 5:30pm, obviously there was a foot of snow covering my driveway again. Good news, we have a snowblower. Bad news, something is wrong with the carborator. It's funny, every winter we end up bringing it to the mechanics to get fixed up and spend at least $200 on it each winter and only use it twice a year. What a waste of money, so why not sell the piece of crap and just shovel the driveway yourself. The exercise isn't bad anyways, so why the hell not. Funny thing is, my driveway is probably 60 meters long by 10 meters wide. That's a long fucking driveway. Do the math, that's 600 cubic feet of snow to shovel. Assuming you shovel 1 meter of snow at a time, at approximately 11 kilograms of snow per meter, thats an astonishing 6,600 kilograms of snow, or better yet, 14,520 pounds of snow! It doesn't seem like that much, but holy shit, that's alot of snow. I hope I made the right calculations, I'm in Engineering so it should be right. Right? Anyways, so the good news is that I got it done, came in for a nice spaghetti dinner with my family. And best of all, my Mom bought me a pair of boxers with hearts all over them for Valentine's Day, how nice of her. I got her nothing, but isn't that my Dad's job? He got her nothing either, haha, now what is he gonna do? That's all for now, but stay tuned for a funny post about how strict my parents are and how frustrating it is for me.

Valentine's Day - Heartbreaker

2007-02-14T12:31:00.000-08:00

I played a few $4.40 sit & gos today and i did well for the most part in all of them, I think I joined 5 or 6, and I made it to the FT in one of them. I have saved many hands from this tournament that gave me a ton of chips early on for a huge stack of 16,000 chips when the average was just 3,000. I will explain the points of the tournament for each hand I post.

HAND #1:

PokerStars Game #8437654545: Tournament #42997083, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2007/02/14 - 12:30:45 (ET)
Table '42997083 12' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: BrettyBrew24 (1875 in chips)
Seat 2: fbtmof05 (4755 in chips)
Seat 3: mikenmona (900 in chips)
Seat 4: ZEUS73 (3630 in chips)
Seat 5: nailed27 (5065 in chips)
Seat 6: doggg3333 (5865 in chips)
Seat 7: famuzela (2520 in chips)
Seat 8: fishoman (1320 in chips)
Seat 9: yannouch (2860 in chips)
mikenmona: posts small blind 50
ZEUS73: posts big blind 100

Holecards
Dealt to fbtmof05
nailed27: folds
doggg3333: folds
famuzela: folds
fishoman: folds
yannouch: folds
BrettyBrew24: folds
fbtmof05: raises 200 to 300
mikenmona: folds
ZEUS73: calls 200

Flop (Pot : $650)

ZEUS73: checks
fbtmof05: bets 400
ZEUS73: calls 400

Turn (Pot : $1450)

ZEUS73: checks
fbtmof05: checks

River (Pot : $1450)

ZEUS73: bets 1000
fbtmof05: raises 3055 to 4055 and is all-in
ZEUS73: calls 1930 and is all-in

Showdown
fbtmof05: shows (a flush, Ace high)
ZEUS73: shows (a straight, Seven to Jack)
fbtmof05 collected 7310 from pot

Summary
Total pot 7310 | Rake 0
Board
Seat 1: BrettyBrew24 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: fbtmof05 (button) showed and won (7310) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 3: mikenmona (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: ZEUS73 (big blind) showed and lost with a straight, Seven to Jack
Seat 5: nailed27 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: doggg3333 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: famuzela folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: fishoman folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: yannouch folded before Flop (didn't bet)

This hand was purely a steal on the button which lead to a massive pot and the most cinch card on the river ever. This gave me a nice stack to build with early on in the tournament.

HAND #2:

PokerStars Game #8437758071: Tournament #42997083, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2007/02/14 - 12:39:42 (ET)
Table '42997083 12' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: svetich (2065 in chips)
Seat 2: fbtmof05 (7835 in chips)
Seat 3: bigjuan (2070 in chips)
Seat 4: HarrySK (2820 in chips)
Seat 5: nailed27 (5015 in chips)
Seat 6: doggg3333 (8590 in chips)
Seat 7: famuzela (1870 in chips)
Seat 8: fishoman (1170 in chips)
Seat 9: yannouch (4210 in chips)
famuzela: posts small blind 50
fishoman: posts big blind 100

Holecards
Dealt to fbtmof05
yannouch: folds
svetich: calls 100
fbtmof05: raises 300 to 400
bigjuan: folds
HarrySK: folds
nailed27: folds
nailed27 is sitting out
doggg3333: folds
famuzela: calls 350
fishoman: folds
svetich: folds

Flop (Pot : $1000)

famuzela: bets 500
fbtmof05: calls 500

Turn (Pot : $2000)

nailed27 has returned
famuzela: bets 970 and is all-in
fbtmof05: calls 970

River (Pot : $3940)

Showdown
famuzela: shows (high card King)
fbtmof05: shows (three of a kind, Jacks)
fbtmof05 said, "gg"
fbtmof05 collected 3940 from pot

Summary
Total pot 3940 | Rake 0
Board
Seat 1: svetich folded before Flop
Seat 2: fbtmof05 showed and won (3940) with three of a kind, Jacks
Seat 3: bigjuan folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: HarrySK folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: nailed27 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: doggg3333 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: famuzela (small blind) showed and lost with high card King
Seat 8: fishoman (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: yannouch folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Uhm, basically well played on his part. Just an average hand to give me more chips, I don't know what image I gave this guy, but wow, he really had a good read.

HAND #3:

PokerStars Game #8437924238: Tournament #42997083, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2007/02/14 - 12:53:24 (ET)
Table '42997083 12' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 2: fbtmof05 (11820 in chips)
Seat 3: bigjuan (1670 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 4: HarrySK (2620 in chips)
Seat 5: nailed27 (5840 in chips)
Seat 6: doggg3333 (8265 in chips)
Seat 7: microcosm (5270 in chips)
Seat 8: fishoman (1070 in chips)
Seat 9: yannouch (4660 in chips)
microcosm: posts small blind 75
fishoman: posts big blind 150

Holecards
Dealt to fbtmof05
microcosm said, "ace of spades..."
yannouch: raises 150 to 300
fbtmof05: calls 300
bigjuan: folds
HarrySK: folds
nailed27: folds
doggg3333: folds
microcosm: folds
fishoman: folds

Flop (Pot : $825)

nailed27 said, "had it already"
yannouch: bets 450
nailed27 said, "gl"
fbtmof05: calls 450

Turn (Pot : $1725)

yannouch: bets 900
fbtmof05: calls 900

River (Pot : $3525)

yannouch: bets 3010 and is all-in
fbtmof05: calls 3010

Showdown
yannouch: shows (two pair, Nines and Deuces)
fbtmof05: shows (four of a kind, Nines)
fbtmof05 collected 9545 from pot

Summary
Total pot 9545 | Rake 0
Board
Seat 2: fbtmof05 showed and won (9545) with four of a kind, Nines
Seat 3: bigjuan folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: HarrySK folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: nailed27 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: doggg3333 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: microcosm (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: fishoman (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: yannouch showed and lost with two pair, Nines and Deuces

I hadn't shown one bluff/steal this whole tournament, what's with these guys giving me their chips? Again, I played this hand pretty standard and got a great result. Adding to my chip lead.

HAND #4:

PokerStars Game #8438501605: Tournament #42997083, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2007/02/14 - 13:39:54 (ET)
Table '42997083 18' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: voilier2000 (7445 in chips)
Seat 2: sheffieldfox (2300 in chips)
Seat 4: fbtmof05 (15230 in chips)
Seat 5: 2 of 2 Cats (16114 in chips)
Seat 6: vscs (363 in chips)
Seat 7: don67111 (4078 in chips)
Seat 8: dukefish (10280 in chips)
Seat 9: remuss35 (6088 in chips)
voilier2000: posts the ante 25
sheffieldfox: posts the ante 25
fbtmof05: posts the ante 25
2 of 2 Cats: posts the ante 25
vscs: posts the ante 25
don67111: posts the ante 25
dukefish: posts the ante 25
remuss35: posts the ante 25
2 of 2 Cats: posts small blind 200
vscs: posts big blind 338 and is all-in

Holecards
Dealt to fbtmof05
don67111: folds
dukefish: folds
remuss35: folds
voilier2000: calls 400
sheffieldfox: folds
fbtmof05: calls 400
2 of 2 Cats: calls 200

Flop (Pot : $1352)

2 of 2 Cats: checks
voilier2000: bets 800
fbtmof05: calls 800
2 of 2 Cats: folds

Turn (Pot : $2952)

voilier2000: bets 1600
fbtmof05: calls 1600

River (Pot : $6152)

voilier2000: bets 2000
fbtmof05: calls 2000

Showdown
voilier2000: shows (three of a kind, Queens)
fbtmof05: shows (three of a kind, Queens - lower kicker)
voilier2000 collected 8986 from side pot
vscs: mucks hand
voilier2000 collected 1552 from main pot
fbtmof05 said, "nice bet on the flop donkey"

Summary
Total pot 10538 Main pot 1552. Side pot 8986. | Rake 0
Board
Seat 1: voilier2000 showed and won (10538) with three of a kind, Queens
Seat 2: sheffieldfox folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: fbtmof05 (button) showed and lost with three of a kind, Queens
Seat 5: 2 of 2 Cats (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: vscs (big blind) mucked
Seat 7: don67111 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: dukefish folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: remuss35 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

This hand really sucked and took alot of chips away from me. I don't think I did anything wrong on this hand, but any advice is awesome. The way I see it is that I planned on raising from the button to isolate the all in BB, but there was a limper, and I called for odds, and to try and get rid of this player and hopefully take down a big pot. Voilier2000 ended up making a small bet on the flop, and I am open ended and called to hit. That turn card really suckered me in, but I really thought I was good, and if I wasn't, I am open ended with a 2 pair/trips draw. In the end, it's obvious, just a cooler. This hand really got to me though, but I recovered and maintained my cool to continue on, I had a good feeling about this tournament and wanted to win.

HAND# 5:

PokerStars Game #8438802874: Tournament #42997083, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level IX (300/600) - 2007/02/14 - 14:02:19 (ET)
Table '42997083 18' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: voilier2000 (2798 in chips)
Seat 2: sheffieldfox (6051 in chips)
Seat 4: fbtmof05 (18630 in chips)
Seat 5: 2 of 2 Cats (16064 in chips)
Seat 6: HAD13 (4945 in chips)
Seat 7: don67111 (17365 in chips)
Seat 8: dukefish (7055 in chips)
Seat 9: rowps (12745 in chips)
voilier2000: posts the ante 50
sheffieldfox: posts the ante 50
fbtmof05: posts the ante 50
2 of 2 Cats: posts the ante 50
HAD13: posts the ante 50
don67111: posts the ante 50
dukefish: posts the ante 50
rowps: posts the ante 50
voilier2000: posts small blind 300
sheffieldfox: posts big blind 600

Holecards
Dealt to fbtmof05
fbtmof05: raises 1200 to 1800
2 of 2 Cats: folds
HAD13: folds
don67111: folds
dukefish: folds
rowps: calls 1800
voilier2000: folds
sheffieldfox: folds

Flop (Pot : $4500)

fbtmof05: bets 3000
rowps: raises 7895 to 10895 and is all-in
fbtmof05: calls 7895
fbtmof05 said, "lol"

Turn (Pot : $26290)

River (Pot : $26290)

Showdown
fbtmof05: shows (a flush, Ace high)
rowps: shows (a flush, King high)
fbtmof05 collected 26690 from pot

Summary
Total pot 26690 | Rake 0
Board
Seat 1: voilier2000 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: sheffieldfox (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: fbtmof05 showed and won (26690) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 5: 2 of 2 Cats folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: HAD13 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: don67111 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: dukefish folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: rowps (button) showed and lost with a flush, King high

This hand was the breaking point in the tournament which helped me gain a ton of chips to be able to reach the FT. I had raised preflop to "steal" but got called. The only reason I called his push on the flop was because I couldn't put him on a better Ace or a set. I figured he was pushing his flush draw, not in a million years would I put him on a better A. He is on the button, I would expect him to make a re raise with a strong hand here. Anyways, I finally sucked out on a hand and was able to make it deep.

HAND #6:

PokerStars Game #8439959078: Tournament #42997083, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level XIV (1500/3000) - 2007/02/14 - 15:21:30 (ET)
Table '42997083 18' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 3: microcosm (70390 in chips)
Seat 4: fbtmof05 (48237 in chips)
Seat 6: graylion60 (118600 in chips)
Seat 7: don67111 (32773 in chips)
microcosm: posts the ante 150
fbtmof05: posts the ante 150
graylion60: posts the ante 150
don67111: posts the ante 150
graylion60: posts small blind 1500
don67111: posts big blind 3000

Holecards
Dealt to fbtmof05
microcosm: folds
fbtmof05: raises 6000 to 9000
graylion60: folds
don67111: raises 23623 to 32623 and is all-in
fbtmof05: calls 23623

Flop (Pot : $66746)

Turn (Pot : $66746)

River (Pot : $66746)

Showdown
don67111: shows (a pair of Queens)
fbtmof05: shows (a pair of Nines)
don67111 collected 67346 from pot

Summary
Total pot 67346 | Rake 0
Board
Seat 3: microcosm folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: fbtmof05 (button) showed and lost with a pair of Nines
Seat 6: graylion60 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: don67111 (big blind) showed and won (67346) with a pair of Queens

Typical race situation, he's pushing and I'm not folding. But honest to god, I cannot seem to win a race. I'll try and look for more hands, but it just seems like I never win a race. Anyways, after the flop, I was looking in good shape, but it turns out he was meant to win. I ended up placing 4th, shoved in the BB with Q7 to a limped SB who called with K10. GG me.

$4.40 180 Man Sit & Go's

2007-02-14T08:20:00.000-08:00

Success or failure?

I have begun to play the $4.40 180 man sit & go's on PokerStars recently because I wanted to get a good look at tourny play, although this isn't really a good look since the players are so bad, it's unbelievable. But I guess I wanted to get an analysis of myself, and learn how to play tournaments compared to cash games. I play a fairly loose aggressive cash game, but have realized that I can't play so many hands in a tournament or else, if I lose, I cannot reload. However, I have been able to manage them, and have found that I have been doing quite well playing a tight aggressive style, but I just can't seem to win a goddamn tournament. My sharkscope says that I have played around 100 games, but that includes all the games this account has ever played. When I first started to play these seriously I have played probably 50 or so. I have played a few $20 180 man sit & gos and those have been unsuccessful, but I don't have the bankroll to consistently play them. I enjoy playing the $20 ones because you can actually outplay someone, whereas in the $4.40s, they will still call you down with K high. Here is a good example of a hand where I felt good, and was able to outplay this guy knowing he would fold if an A or K came up.

PokerStars Game #8428572411: Tournament #42953618, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2007/02/13 - 20:39:06 (ET)
Table '42953618 20' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: Snomankw (1100 in chips)
Seat 2: chinder28 (1490 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 3: ZBTHorton1 (1470 in chips)
Seat 4: MzBehavin (1580 in chips)
Seat 5: cogito (1900 in chips)
Seat 6: dundi05 (1400 in chips)
Seat 7: Lind0 (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: fbtmof05 (1560 in chips)
Seat 9: AWill2Win (1500 in chips)
dundi05: posts small blind 10
Lind0: posts big blind 20

Holecards
Dealt to fbtmof05
fbtmof05: raises 80 to 100
AWill2Win: folds
Snomankw: folds
chinder28: folds
ZBTHorton1: folds
MzBehavin: folds
cogito: calls 100
dundi05: folds
Lind0: folds

Flop (Pot : $230)

fbtmof05: bets 120
cogito: raises 120 to 240
fbtmof05: calls 120

Turn (Pot : $710)

fbtmof05: checks
chinder28 has returned
cogito: bets 240
fbtmof05: raises 360 to 600
cogito: folds
fbtmof05 collected 1190 from pot
fbtmof05: doesn't show hand

Summary
Total pot 1190 | Rake 0
Board
Seat 1: Snomankw folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: chinder28 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: ZBTHorton1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: MzBehavin folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: cogito (button) folded on the Turn
Seat 6: dundi05 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: Lind0 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: fbtmof05 collected (1190)
Seat 9: AWill2Win folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Anyways, the point of this post was to explain my $4.40 adventure. Although I have not yet won one yet, I still manage to make it deep, but fail when it gets into the money. I have placed 11th-18th so many times it's unreal and it's getting really frustrating. I have made the final table twice, and gotten 4th place and 7th place. I have been getting sucked out on alot and fluked so much, but I just need to put that behind me and move on to the next tournament. Although I find it frustrating to just creep into the money in between 11th and 18th, I still think that it is a good thing that I am doing well and making it that far in these, I just need to get that extra amount of chips to be able to make the FT comfortably.

How It All Began

2007-02-13T08:21:00.000-08:00

Finally! I have finally taken some time to start out my poker blog. I have spoken with so many of you who do have blogs and have heard the same thing, "I think it really helps my game - where I can find leaks and weaknesses to improve upon" (something along those lines) And you all suggested that it would be beneficial if I started one, so I am going to tell you how my poker "career" started. This could be a long post, but I feel if I get it out, I can eventually start writing a post everyday or two with my most recent poker events.

I was at my best friends house at the time, and he put on the movie Rounders, and this was the first time I had ever seen it, and I obviously loved it. This got me wanting to play, but I didn't know much about the game, and my friend and I always made bets on stupid stuff like - "I bet you $5 that he won't make this free throw", just random things like that. But one day we both decided to play heads up at a bunch of games of poker. He "promised" me that he wasn't that good and he would help teach me the games, but we were going to play for money. I was really excited to do this because I thought I would be able to beat him easily. So we agreed to play with $125, which was absolutely ridiculous for me, I had no idea we were going to be playing for this much but, we did anyways. So he taught me bunch of games with wild cards, like - Follow the Queen, Baseball, Up Baseball and then Chicago and NL Hold Em. Anyways, so I got out my pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters so we could use them as chips, but as exact denominations for the $125. Pennies were worth $1, nickels worth $5, etc. In the end, I ended up bluffing him at the wrong pot where he had the nut straight and I had nothing. He slow rolled me, I flipped out, I threw my glass across the room, yes it was full, and just got so angry because $125 was alot of money to me and CLEARLY this was major bankroll mangament problems. Haha, oh how fun it was. I seem to be writing alot, so I will try and make the story as short as I can so I can write about new things. Anyways so after losing that $125 with my friend Liam, I wanted to try and win some money back against my friend John. John and I had played alot of pool and I asked him if he wanted to play for money, he agreed and we decided to play for $10 a game, plus, $5 each ball left on the table. So, let's say I was stripes (yes, 15-ball pool), and I had 4 stripes left on the table and John and cleaned me up and won, I would be down $10 for the game, and 4 x $5 for each ball left on the table, so in this case $20, and down $3o for the game. Turns out, John owns a pool table and I ended up down $90. So I said, let's play some poker, so we played and the way we played, which was so stupid, since we knew nothing about blinds, was $5 minimum preflop each, and you either fold or check. So basically we were playing 5-5NL, and I ended up taking him for a HUGE amount. He got stuck and wanted to keep playing to try and win it back, he ended up down $180, including the $90 that I owed him for the pool. So he owed me some cash, which I was happy about. We would play in class at school, everywhere. It was fun, anyways he ended up paying me like $20 a day, and I would just give that to Liam to pay off my debts for our heads up game. Finally one day, John paid me straight up $140, so I gave Liam the rest that I owed him, and took the rest for myself and enjoyed the money. After all this, I finally started getting into little tournaments with my friends...

So basically, like 95% of the poker population, I began playing games for fun with my friends in grade 11 and 12 for $5. There would be maybe 6 or 7 of us and we were using those horrible thin plastic red, white, and blue chips that were probably purchased at the Giant Tiger or Dollar Store. Anyways, so we would play, I forget how we structured our little tournaments but it was pretty sad. Basically 1st place would take all the money, and 2nd place would get double their buy in back, and 3rd would get his money back. Haha, wow, these should only have been winner takes all, which we would do from time to time, but some of my friends were desperate to actually win their money back or win something, I was one of them. Anyways, so we played alot of these and I actually ended up making a few bucks off of these, maybe $60 or so, which was of course alot of money to me at the time for winning these things.

I was accepted to Carleton University into a Bachelor of Engineering 4 year program, and I also started playing on the Carleton Ravens Men's Volleyball Team, where I met Jamie. Jamie also liked to play poker and he invited me to his friends place one Friday night to play some poker, and at this time I had felt like my game had improved and I was ready to move into cash games. Boy, was I wrong. We would buy in for $20, and the blinds were $0.25/$0.50, which I now know is the standard blinds for a $50 buy in cash game. What the fuck were these guys thinking. Obviously, I knew nothing about the blinds, nor did I care, I just wanted to play and try and win the money. I ended up losing $40 on the night, and was just like this is stupid, and I felt that I had played my best and just ended up getting involved in the wrong pots and the wrong time. I played a few more times, every Friday night, and lost $20 two more Friday nights in a row, and then made a big score the last time I went. I ended up cleaning off the table and had $220 in front of me, and I was so excited I brought my friends out for dinner with the money and we had a good night.

It was around February 2005 and my friend Jamie found out about this promotion on PartyPoker which he took advantage of. You could email them saying - "I found out about the $50 giveaway, I am interested in this." This was awesome, I could learn to play online poker, and to my surprise, there was no, "you need to sign up and deposit $25 and play 23986343422 hands until you get the free $50" which is what they do now I think. Anyways, so I emailed them and I got my $50 into my Real Money account and I was ready to play. I turned it into $450 playing $0.10/$0.20 and withdrew all of it. I then found out about a tournament in Ottawa. $50 buy in plus $10 for a rake. My friend Jamie found out about this on www.pokerpoker.ca and told me to call a number to register into the tournament. I called the man, got a seat and was ready to play in my first big tournament ever.

Long story short, sorry, I know this is a long post, I busted in the tourny, I played super tight, and met my good friend Frank. Joined the $1/$2 cash game with $20, hahahaha this was so funny, at the time I was like whoa, tonnes of money, but now, a $20 buy in to a live $1/$2 game is absoultely ridiculous, $20 is like half the minimum raise preflop haha. Anyways, I was able to turn this $20 into $160 one night. I'll tell you about the big hand. It was 3 handed, I have KK on the button. I limped, don't ask why, this is so funny now that I remember this. The SB completes, and the BB raises to $22. I call, and the SB calls. I had about $50 left in front of me, so I told myself I was pushing this flop no matter what. I got the worst flop in the world. A 9 J. I was so upset that it came A high, but I had to go with what I said. So i shoved my last $50 into the pot and at this point if he had the A, good for him, it was like 3am, I had to be at school the next day for 9am, and I still had to drive 45 minutes to get home so I wanted to leave. The SB took a while to fold, he said "I can't believe I'm folding this", and kept his cards to show after. The BB called, and showed QQ. I was like thank god. I took down the pot, I was excited, and the SB showed A 8. So I cashed out and drove home. I was so happy and actually thought I could do well at this. I was told they play every night except for Saturdays. So I just kept going to the cash games instead of the tournaments after I kept busting out of the tournaments. This turned out to be my summer job for that summer. I was able to pay for my tuition for school the next year and I finally took down 2 tournaments in a row there. I had met alot of really nice people and I was feeling really good about my game.

September rolled around and it was time for me to focus on school, until February 2006, when I started to go back and play again, I was in need for some money and decided to take my last $1000 of my bankroll and play some $1/$2. I was able to make some money and eventually had enough to be able to afford to play the $2/$5 game again (I was playing this game the whole summer). Anyways, this is where I met my good friends Adam and Krissy who I got along with fine, and apparently made some pretty stupid calls against Adam that I can't totally remember, but it sounds funny. So I played for a few weeks, maybe 2 months or so until Exams came up. School finished and I wanted to keep playing, so I did. I would play almost every night from 11pm until 6am, drive home, and work from 7am til 4pm at my landscaping job in Kemptville. This was so brutal, but I was loving it, I was making money and I still loved my landscaping job. I would have quit, but my parents don't know that I play poker and if I quit, they would be wondering why I quit and had "no" job. I didn't really consider poker a job, but I was making enough money to pay for school and to have some spending money so I was happy.

The end of summer was nearing and I was introduced to online poker again. So I deposited $500 onto Eurolinx to try and clear this 100% bonus, which I did not do. I was playing $0.25/$0.50 but it was too low of a limit to gain enough FPP for the bonus. At first I was struggling with playing online, I lost my initial $500 and decided to deposit another $500, this turned out to be a bad idea as well, I was down to $340 in my account, and it was time for me to go away for the weekend, I had plans to go to Wonderland with my girlfriend, so I guess this would be perfect for me to get away from poker for a few days and come back. I came back and played for a few weeks more and ended up even for those few weeks so I decided to play $1/$2 online with my $340. I said, this is my last money, if I lose it, I lose it and I won't be playing online for a while, if I win, then I will continue playing and keep trying to figure out how to play against these morons online. I sat down with $200 and I played for 2 hours, I turned the $200 into $560 and quit for the night. The next day I sat down again at 1/2 and turned $200 into $640. So I was running really well and decided that I should keep playing at 1/2. I was moving out at the time, so I was busy with moving my things, and I bought a new computer for my new home. So I moved out, and kept playing. By the end of September, I had turned my $340 into over $4,000! I was like whoa, this is alot of money, I can't believe I did it. I was so happy with myself I just kept eating up the players and taking all their money.

I had been talking to Marc Karam alot online about my play and he was supporting me the whole time I was playing at 1/2, and I would ask for his advice on certain hands and stuff, and it was really helpful. One day, we met back up with Adam and Krissy. Marc and I decided to go their place for a night to play an online session. Turns out, this was the worst night ever for me. I had gone on the worst run and I had lost about $1600 of my $4000 and decided that it was time to move down limits and play at $0.50/$1. I had still been running bad there too, but still managed to keep up my bankroll and not lose everything. But I was still running horrible and had to move down limits again. I was getting frustrated and it sucked to have to play at such low limits, but I had to do it if I wanted to continue playing online.

So all in all, I am still here today. I still play micro limits on cash games on Prima through Eurolinx, and I have finally started to get into tournaments on PokerStars. I will make another post later about my PokerStars run. Sorry for such a long post, but I figured I should have gotten it all out so you can understand how I started to play poker.