The scene is the Rainbow casino, formerly a place called Nevada Crossing.
It's not much, especially if you're any sort of well-traveled casino hopper or even if you've spent two days in Las Vegas. Everything is pretty much a scaled down version of a strip casino. One pit, a small sportsbook, and 90% of the floor space devoted to slots.
The buffet looks like the disowned stepchild of the one at the Rio, but it's actually not bad. The poker room has about 10 tables and only two were running when we arrived.
The standard game at the Rainbow is 2-5 spread-limit with a kill.
A bizarre structure with 1/2 blinds and the betting limit any amount from 2-5 on every street. This means that the standard pre-flop raise is to $7. Occasionally you'll see someone bet $2 or $3, but 95% of the action is $5 bets.
The kill comes into play whenever the pot reaches $50. The kill button is given to the winner who is then required to post a third $5 blind and the limit goes to a structured 5-10.
Amazingly enough, it's a fairly tight game.
Very few players will raise pre-flop and although it's common for 5 or 6 to see the flop, because the standard $5 bet is available immediately, it's rare for more than three to see the turn. If this game was like many I have played live the kill would be in effect most of the time. Last night I'd say 15-20% of the pots were kill pots.
Kill pots tend to dial down the aggression of the table as a whole, which is usually a good thing. Many people who are comfortable playing 2-5 don't seem to want to get involved in pots where they might be looking at putting $20 or more in the middle on the turn and river.
So the three of us arrive and John and I immediately take two seats at the same table.
Ben decides to sit it out for a while and join later. The initial table looks like this:
1s: Affable, quiet older guy. White hair, glasses, calls a lot and plays too many pots.
2s: 30-ish woman with glasses and long brown hair. Married to (or dating or having affair with) guy in 3s.3s: Another guy who saw way too many flops and called way too many bets.
4s: Hero5s: Nemesis, philosopher, know-it-all, scraggly white beard and stubbly head. Table captain when we arrived.6s: 70ish fellow, seemed like a regular.
Very quiet and tight. Not much of a threat but not a bad player.7s: Unattractive woman with tons o' cleavage.
Played every hand and lost them all, left after one orbit.8s: John. Longtime friend and fellow online player.
Much more experienced with No Limit than Limit, but can always hold his own at any game.9s: Emphysema guy. Probably mid 40s, really scratchy voice and hard to understand.
Not the worst player at the table, but not a good one either.
The first thing that I notice is that my soon to be nemesis in the 5 seat is raising most of the time he's in early position and especially when he's in the BB. Rarely would he raise in position.
After watching him showdown a few hands, I saw that he was pumping the pot from the BB with 5 people already in with such premium holdings as K5o and Q7s. The problem was, he was the only aggressive player at the table. He was snagging the orphan pots with semi-bluffs on the turn.
He would intimidate the table with the $7 bet pre-flop and just keep firing. To make matters worse, he was hitting top pair quite a bit and the calling stations were playing him off. Also, he had AA at least three times in the first hour and cashed them in because it was very difficult to put him on big cards after watching him raise with garbage.
He took a few of my chips in the early going and after raising my completed SB three times from the BB when I was tossing in an extra buck to see a flop, I decided he had to go. More on the Nemesis to follow.
First hand I play is K9, both hearts, on the button.
It's a kill pot so I call the $5 behind three other players and Nemesis raises from the SB. Three more, including myself, see a flop with two hearts. Nemesis leads out, the old regular in seat six calls and I raise to 10.
Nemesis calls and now the regular says "maybe we have a jackpot hand here" and reraises. We both call and I put him on trips. No hearts on the turn and the old regular leads out, I call and Nemesis folds.
The river pairs the board with threes, no heart. He bets again and shows me quads when I fold.
We go a couple of orbits where I don't see many good cards or I'm raised off my limps by the pain in the ass to my left.
John is hitting set after set and has built a nice little stack. I'm down $30 off my original $100 buy-in. By now, the woman in 7s has left and been replaced by a solid playing, quiet 50ish gentleman, clean cut with steel rimmed glasses.
I immediately peg him as a decent player and he doesn't do much the rest of the evening to change my opinion. The old regular with the quad threes departs and is replaced by another dude who seemed to be roughly 55 or 60 and was one of those crusty bastards who doesn't really seem to be having a good time. I wondered why he was even playing.
Little did he know what destiny had in store for him...
After almost three orbits of unplayable crap, the first dealer, Cathy, leaves the table. Immediately after the change I pickup K2s which looks too good to fold, even though I'm UTG+1. I limp, and of course, the asshole to my left raises.
He gets two callers and I sincerely believe there's a good chance I have the best hand so I call too. The flop is a stunning KK6 and I check. It checks around and the turn comes another 6.
I figure with the crap some of these people are playing, there's at least some chance someone has a 6 and it's time to try to get something out of this pot so I go ahead and bet and only my nemesis calls. The river is a 3, I bet again, he calls and shows me a pair of sevens and starts going on about how you have to play pocket pairs to the river and how they never hold up. The first nail is in the coffin.
The woman in the 2 seat finally loses all of her money about 20 minutes after her man announces to the table that this is the first time they've ever played. I don't doubt it. Both of them stay to the river with unpaired overcards several times and it's now only a matter of time before he is going to be tapped too.
Ben joins the table in her vacated 2s. Emphysema guy takes off and is replaced by a guy with dark hair, a salt and pepper beard and leather vest who I initially thought was a decent player. He turned out to be incredibly loose and played every hand to the river if he caught any piece of the flop.
A few hands later, I raise in the cutoff with AQo and get two callers, including my Nemesis. The flop is Kxx and I bet when it is checked to me. No one calls and I drag a small pot.
Again, the cards go cold for a long time. I'm slowly bleeding chips and I'm down to about $55 when I limp from MP with KTo. Nemesis, who I now believe ONLY raises when I'm in the pot, throws his $7 in and it folds around to me.
I call and the flop is T96 rainbow. Without hesitating, I bet $5. He comes over the top, making it $10 and I just call.
A Jack comes on the turn and we both check. Paris arrives on the river, I figure I'm going to see a bet after I check be he checks too and tosses his cards in the muck when I show him my Tens. He is now down at least $100 from his high-water mark about 30 minutes after I sat down.
Next time around the table, Vest drags a big pot and we have a kill. I find QJ, both diamonds, on the button and call the $5. For once, my Nemesis gets out of the way and two others call, including First Time who is about to join his girl in the audience.
The flop comes T82, two diamonds. It's checked to me and I bet. Two people fold and First Time calls.
The turn is a blank, he checks, I bet $10 and he makes a move towards his chips before sighing and folding. At this point, I've pretty much built myself a table image of a tight, aggressive player and people are starting to fold to me. I'm back up to $85 and warming up.
In the cutoff, I'm dealt Q7s after Vest limps in front of me. I raise to $7 and look at my Nemesis and say "I figured I'd just go ahead and do it before you did." He looks at me, somewhat disgusted, and says "I wasn't gonna.
" I totally miss the flop and it checks around. The turn is no help and now Nemesis fires. I can't call and he shows me 87s to go with the straight and flush draws he picked up on the turn.
He gives me that "I just played you" look. I was ahead but I don't feel bad about the fold. It would be his last moment of celebration.
Cathy, the nice dealer who gives me shitty cards, returns to the table and a nice dude with a baseball cap and brutal teeth replaces First Time in the seat to my right. I jokingly tell Cathy that the cards got much better last time after she left. She smiles and tells me that I just need to use my imagination and figure out how to play the crappy cards she deals.
The table starts to banter a bit and I joke that as long as I'm using my imagination, I'm sure as hell not going to be at a poker table. This draws a few laughs but the talking quickly dies down and we go back to the occasional short discussion after each hand but silence otherwise.
It would be ten more minutes before the hand of the night.
It's a kill pot and I'm in MP. I look down and see the hand I've been waiting for all night. Rockets?
Nope. The Hiltons? No way, they've already done John wrong twice tonight.
I'm holding the only hand that is a mortal lock: The Hammer. Checked to me with the $5 kill in front of Vest, I make it $10. Nemesis and the crusty old guy next to him both call as does Vest.
I know I've got a very rocky table image at this point and I want to see little cards. The flop is 969, which I seriously doubt has hit any of the other three players in the hand. Vest checks and I confidently fire $5.
Nemesis and Crusty both call and Vest mucks his hand. The turn is a beautiful 9 and I know these guys have to suspect I have a big pair and I've just made a boat. I toss $10 into the pot and Nemesis swears under his breath before mucking his hand.
At this point, Crusty, unwilling to even look over at me, hesitates. He looks at the board and then slowly moves to his stack, reluctantly tossing in two orange $5 chips. I know I have him.
He's got a big Ace and he's got me on Kings or Queens and he's just praying he hits the river. I'm praying he doesn't and Cathy burns and rewards me with a 3. My two $5 chips hit the center of the table and Crusty hesitates yet again.
But this time he can't will himself to reach for chips and he puts it down. I flip the hammer into the middle of the table to a few "oohs" and "aahs" and Cathy smiles at me and says "See, that's using your imagination!" Crusty looks disgusted, as if he needed another excuse to be in a bad mood, but he doesn't say anything - yet.
At this point, I'm up a few bucks and anything else that happens is going to be gravy. Dragging a monster pot with the hammer was worth the entire trip and I've got the added benefit of throwing a big wrench in everyone's image of me. Now they wont know what to think.
I get congratulatory nods from Ben and John, even though John is running pretty bad at this point after his long string of flopped sets had him well up for quite a while. Ben is faring better and is starting to catch cards.
With a flop of A99 in a kill pot, My Nemesis bets, John raises and Ben re-raises.
The turn is a blank and Nemesis fires out $10. John calls and now Ben raises to $20 and both Nemesis and John call him. Ben doesn't play much poker, but he is very good.
He's incredibly patient and generally gets his money in when he's ahead. I have him on a 9. The river is a blank, it's checked to Ben, he bets $10 and gets two calls.
They both show Aces, AQ for John, A4 for my Nemesis, now firmly on tilt and unable to put anything down. Ben flips up not one, but two 9s and drags a huge pot with his quads.
Very little happens card-wise for me over the next hour.
We find out there is a $25 No Limit tourney starting in a couple of hours and start discussing whether to play or not. The nice guy who is sitting between Ben and me is joined on the rail by an extremely irritating, middle-aged Asian woman who takes ten fucking minutes to tell him the story of a hand where she "plopped" a straight and lost on the river. She's standing right behind Ben who is just as irritated as I am by her voice and her mind-numbingly long bad beat story.
I'm glad when she sits down in the 10s and starts mixing it up with my Nemesis, dragging two pots from him right off the bat. They actually started jawing at each other at one point when she admonished him for raising her with "shit".
After my long string of crappy cards, a new dealer arrives and I ask him if he brought the deck with the picture cards in it.
He says "yes", and I joke that actually, as long as there are sevens and deuces, I'm in good shape.
Immediately, the Asian woman shoots me a look and says "You play that shit, that seven-two shit?"
"Of course I do, the biggest pot I've won tonight was with seven two off.
"
And now Crusty jumps in after being silent for an hour, "You didn't win that pot, you bought it."
I tell him as long as the chips are moving my way, the distinction isn't important to me. He lets it go but she can't: "So you win with that hand?
You win more than you lose?"
I say, somewhat sarcastically, "I win big pots and lose small ones, but I'd have to go check my database to see exactly where I stand with 72."
She says, mockingly, "Oh yeah, you have some database on your computer, go check it.
" She laughs. She has no idea..
.
Things settle down and we get back to poker. The new dealer is one of the best I have ever seen.
He is one of those rare dealers who deposits two cards right in front of you every time, seemingly moving nothing but his wrists. He gives me 43s on the button on his first deal and with 5 people in, I call. The flop is QT4 and it's checked to the nice old guy in the 1s who has been bleeding chips all evening.
He bets and I call, planning to make a move on the turn because I've seen him fold tons of hands when raised. Everyone else folds and the turn is a 6. He bets again, I raise and now he re-raises all-in.
I curse myself for not looking at his stack before making a move on him, but now I'm committed and I call. The river is a 3 and I look at him and say, "nice hand but I think I might have just sucked out on you." Sure enough, he turns over AQ, smiles and leaves the table.
I feel a little bad.
He is soon replaced by a young guy in a stocking cap who we later figure out is there for the tournament. He tells Ben and me he works for eBay and says they pay really well.
This is good because he's the worst poker player I have ever seen at a live game. He and his $50 last about 20 minutes.
I pick up ATo and raise in the cutoff.
The BB is the solid guy in the 7 seat and he is the only caller. The flop is TJT and I slowplay. He checks and the turn is a K.
Alarm bells are going off for some reason and I should have listened. He check-raises me on the turn and I call there and on the river and he shows me AQ for the straight. I'm back down in the red.
Talk is turning to dinner and the tournament and the three of us are not far from leaving the table. Ben is up a good amount having won a couple more pots after his quads and hanging on to his chips with very tight play. John is not doing quite as well.
He's flopping top pair and calling to the river only to be out-kicked, he's had Paris and Nicky cracked twice and his early run of luck just hasn't lasted. He's not playing at the top of his game, but he's also taking a few bad beats. Case in point:
I get T8s on the button and call.
The flop is KT6 with two spades (not my suit). John bets, eBay calls and I raise, trying to find out where I am. John and eBay both call and I'm suspicious John has a K with a bad kicker.
eBay probably has J5 or 42o, who knows. The turn is the 6 of spades, pairing the board and making a flush possible. It is checked to me and I continue to bet, bluffing that I just filled a hand.
John calls and eBay calls all-in. The river is a third Ten, John checks, I bet and he calls and shows me his KJ. I never saw what eBay had, he just mucked his hand and left the table.
We decide to go one more orbit and I tangle one last time with John who is in the BB. Holding K8s in late position I see a flop of K8x. I bet out and John raises.
I re-raise, trying to get him out of the pot and he calls. I bet out on the turn and river (another 8, making me a boat) and he calls both times, showing down K7.
We play a little Pai Gow and John wins a few bucks back.
I'm up $40 overall so I buy the birthday dinner since John is down and Ben paid for the gas.
After dinner, John and I hedge a little about whether or not to play in the tournament. It's a $25 entry with $20 rebuys and an absolute crapshoot of a structure.
I don't like it but John has never played a live tournament and at the last minute we decide to play. Unfortunately we waited long enough it was full and we are turned away. Too bad too because we move to another casino and lose our collective ass at an empty craps table.
The only quest left unfulfilled is to find a slot machine called Mr. Lucky that Ben and John have been telling me about. It's one of these computerized 9 line jobs where you get to play a mini-game of ordering Chinese dishes off of a menu if you get three takeout cartons in a row.
We try a couple of places and finally locate a single machine in the Red Garter. This place is a total pit but we've found the Holy Grail of slot machines and we pump $20 into it before finally getting to order off the menu. Granted, it is pretty hysterical if not totally un-PC with the stereotypical Chinese takeout guy describing the dishes as you order.
Mission accomplished, we cash out $15 of the $20 we put in the machine and I get yelled at by the janitor as I try to enter the Men's room to wash my hands. Apparently he was cleaning it, which would clearly be the first time in several years. Excuse me for not noticing.
The drive back is nice, listening to a compilation CD I put together expressly for the nighttime drive back to Salt Lake.
It was a quick turnaround, but at least I got to scratch the live poker itch and drop a massive hammer on the unsuspecting regulars. I had a great time with my friends and freerolled dinner.
It couldn't have been a better trip.posted by Mourn, 8:50 AM :: link :: 6 comments :: Friday, March 25, 2005Utah Bound
A few things before I jump on a plane tonight and head to my old stomping grounds in Mormon-land.
Had a great time on Full Tilt this morning (not playing there yet?
Bonus Code: BADBEAT). In all seriousness, it may be a gimick, but it's fun to toss chips around with the pros. I played $2/$4 Razz with Howard Lederer and Paul Phillps in the wee hours.
I lost a decent sized pot to Phillips when he rivered (I think) a draw to a 6 on me. I came back and dragged a bigger pot from him when he chased me down and rivered a deuce to make his smooth 9, losing to my rough 8 made with a rivered four (had we both bricked, I was ahead on 6th street).
After Howard and Paul departed, I took my chips to a $25 NL table.
In general, players on FT seem to be a little nicer than average. But, there's always one. Today it was a guy with the new Mike Tyson avatar - sorta figures.
I sit down and post the BB and I'm immediately dealt KK. I have no read on the table to tell whether people are aggressive enough for me to just play it fast and take someone for ride or if I need to be a little more subtle. Having posted out of turn, I'm in EP and I make a raise to $1.
It's folded to a guy with the frog avatar who calls. Tyson then pops the pot to $3. He's only got $11 and the frog has about $7 so I decide against screwing around and just shove.
They both call. Frog shows TT, Tyson shows AK. My Cowboys draw their pistolas and shoot them both down.
Frog says nice hand, Tyson begins to rant. He's upset about "losing half his bankroll to crap".
"KK is crap?
"
"No, but if I catch an Ace I beat you. But it never happens when it's my AK."
"Well, I can't argue with that.
"
"$%#* you moron."
As usual, I'm the moron. Sometimes I think I talk too much, but in this case I was really curious what he meant by "crap".
At any rate, apparently I tilted him severely. He grabbed another $10 and immediately went all in. The action folded around to Frog, who had also grabbed more ammo, and who calls him and shows AJ.
Tyson has AT and types the obligatory "WTF!?".
As if it's shocking that someone would have something better than AT. After Frog dragged the pot, Tyson grabbed what must have been his last $4.35 and immediately went all in again.
I had AK, called him, and spiked an A to beat his 99.
You can only imagine what the chat window looked like before he left.
Yes, Full Tilt has its share of good players, but there are plenty of donkeys there too.
--
Ironically, I'll be on an airplane tonight to Utah as my Utes are kicking the snot out of Kentucky here at home in Texas, just 150 miles up highway 290 in Austin. Weird. April, if you get a chance, if you'd get over to the arena and spike the Wildcats' gatoraide with something potent, I'd appreciate it.
Go Utes.
--
That's about it, I'm looking forward to my vacation, I need some serious R and R time. Hopefully a trip to Wendover for some live, low stakes poker is in the works.
If so, I'll take notes.
I'll try to get in an update or two from the road, but not sure how frequently I'll be able to do so.posted by Mourn, 9:17 AM :: link :: 1 comments :: Thursday, March 24, 2005What's The Catch?
According to Bonus Whores, Bodog Poker is offering a 20% reload bonus. This wouldn't be news except that it appears to be unlimited. I would imagine they have deposit limits, so there is probably a theoretical limit here, but I would love more information if anyone knows the following:
Is this a reload bonus only, does it work for new accounts?
Anyone have any idea how easy/difficult it is to clear a bonus at BodogHas anyone even played on this site? If so, any insights into player skill and population size and game availability?I would guess that since it is tied to a casino, there are probably some serious schools of fish in the waters.
If I moved my current Party bankroll to Bodog, this would be a $600 bonus for me. If it clears at a rate similar to Party/Crypto sites, holy god this could be a huge bonus.
I will try to find more details, but would love to hear from anyone who knows more.
posted by Mourn, 11:31 AM :: link :: 1 comments :: Tuesday, March 22, 2005Rivered Again
The following is a bad beat story.
Don't leave just yet.
Despite the name I chose for my blog, I'm not a big fan of ranting about bad beats nor do I particularly enjoy listening to those who do.
I decided long ago, like many others, that bad beats happen and you have to accept, even embrace them, because they make you stronger and often indicate that you are playing well despite the immediate result.
So what I'm about to share isn't someone hitting a two-outer against me to take down a giant pot that was rightfully mine.
There are two things I really want to do this year.
The first is get back to Vegas. Since moving to Houston from Phoenix almost six years ago I haven't been back and I miss it terribly. The perfect opportunity to visit the city I love is the upcoming live WPBT event.
Playing poker in Vegas, meeting all the bloggers and even sticking around to watch, and possibly even participate in, some WSOP action.
The second thing I've been looking forward to is my daughter's first dance recital. She's been in a ballet/tap class for several months now and her first live stage performance is upcoming.
See where this is headed yet?
It feels like I turned the nut flush. After raising my draw on the flop, my opponent made it three bets and I just called.
I knew he had a set. When the turn made my hand and I raised I knew I had to dodge a few cards on the river. Well, right now I have that same sinking feeling I get when the board pairs, I bet and my opponent plays back with the boat I know he has.
The big WPBT event and my daughter's dance recital are on the same day. Leave it to variance to screw me on the only two things I really care about doing all year.
Like getting rivered and watching the chips go in the other direction, there's nothing I can do about this.
There's no decision. I can't miss my daughter dancing on stage. There is a very long list of things I'd blow off to head to vegas, drink too much and play poker with a bunch of people I'm dying to meet.
Audrey dancing on stage is on the other, much shorter list.
So while the rest of you are tossing chips around and looking at cocktail waitresses, I'll be watching a dozen four-year-olds dancing to Disney music. At least the outfits will probably be similar.
I'm looking forward to it, because, after all, I'm embracing the bad beats. This is just one I had to share.
Save me a seat in the next one.
posted by Mourn, 9:40 PM :: link :: 3 comments :: Sunday, March 20, 2005Best. Birthday. Ever.
Wow, spending the day sick was a small price to pay for the plethora of gifts I received on my birthday yesterday.
First and foremost was a card my daughter made for me and gave me the night before my birthday (she couldn't wait). Her drawing skills are really developing but the thing that really warmed my heart was the front of the envelope.
There, in a big oval, was the word "Dad", clearly penned in four-year-old font. It would be impossible to convey what it feels like to be the first recipient of a written card from my daughter. Suffice to say, had it been the only gift of the day, it would have made it one of my top birthdays in history.
But it didn't stop there, I awoke to breakfast in bed delivered by Mrs. Mourn and the little Mournster. Hash, eggs, sourdough toast and coffee.
This after sleeping in late. I have a kick-ass family.
I got up and watched some hoops and played a little poker.
My mom came over for lunch; pasta salad and some really good chicken I grilled. It was great to have a relaxing day with all the women in my life and not have any pressure to have a big party or go anywhere. I still wasn't feeling too hot so this was the perfect way to spend the afternoon.
Dessert was a killer, homemade lemon cake - my favorite. My daughter helped me blow out the candles. We were joined by my mother and father-in-law, who gave me an awesome set of steak knives.
Later I got a Happy Birthday phone call from my Father in Carmel.
At this point it was on to more hoops and poker. My Utah Utes were expected to fall to the Sooners yesterday afternoon but they came out blazing and put Oklahoma to the test early.
Andrew Bogut didn't have his best game, but I think that served to throw the Sooners off. The rest of the team came up big and Oklahoma was never able to close the early deficit. The Sweet Sixteen for my Utes - another awesome birthday present.
I played some Razz and NL on Full Tilt for a while and even jumped into a cheap $5.50 SnG for grins. Glyphic stopped by and said hello and stayed for my eventual victory.
I played on the $2/$4 Razz table with Howard Lederer for a bit and won a monster pot ($42) with a wheel against a guy with a 65. After clearing another portion of my remaining bonus, I moved over to UB.
I couldn't get too much going so I played another SnG to relax.
I won again and was feeling pretty good and trying to decide what to play. I really am getting a little bored with no limit, and I find that when I'm bored, I try too hard to make things happen. And they usually do - bad things.
So I said screw it and jumped on a $5/$10 limit table. What ensued was the biggest hit and run I've put on a poker table to date. After waiting a few hands, I posted the BB in turn and suddenly there they were, the Weapons of Mass Destruction:
Ultimate Bet 5/10 Hold'em (9 handed) converter
Preflop: Hero is BB with As, Ac.
6 folds, Button raises, 1 fold, Hero calls.
Flop: (4.40 SB) Jc, 2d, 7c (2 players)Hero checks, Button bets, Hero calls.
Turn: (3.20 BB) Ks (2 players)Hero checks, Button bets, Hero raises, Button 3-bets, Hero caps, Button calls.
River: (11.
20 BB) 4d (2 players)Hero bets, Button raises, Hero calls.
Final Pot: 15.20 BB
Results in white below: Hero has As Ac (one pair, aces).
Button has Kh Qc (one pair, kings).Outcome: Hero wins 15.20 BB.
Happy Birthday to me. I didn't even bother with the small blind, it wasn't going to get much better than that.
Lastly, I got caught up on the most recent WPT episode on my Tivo.
If you missed it, you missed some incredible poker. Aside from Arieh's horrible bluff that sent him out in third place, the show was a clinic. In my memory, this episode had the longest coverage of the heads up final of any other WPT episode and it was warranted.
The play between Negreanu and David Williams was excellent and they both deserved to win at times. Aside from Daniel's supremely cheesy slowroll on the last hand, it was a blast to watch two great players who are two pretty good guys as well. This episode was fantastic for poker and all the bluffing by the young guns is only going to ripen the low hanging fruit online.
I guess I really do need to continue to hone my NL game.
More poker this afternoon. My cold is clearing up and it's back to reality tomorrow with a long week of work before I head to Salt Lake for a fantasy baseball draft with my good friends from back home.
Also included might be a drive to Wendover, NV for some low stakes live play and my first ever trip report. Stay tuned.posted by Mourn, 12:16 PM :: link :: 2 comments :: Friday, March 18, 2005Insert Title Here
I have no idea what to call this post, but I wanted to get a few things down in black and white this morning.
Tomorrow is my birthday. I'll be 36. For some reason, I have been incredibly ill on at least two thirds of my birthdays throughout my life.
When I was 8 it was Scarlet Fever which almost killed me on my birthday. Six years ago it was a serious bout with pneumonia. This year I don't know what the hell it is but it's really pissing me off.
--
Last night I played a little more on UB, and I have to say, I'm starting to like the no limit games there. It might be that my play is coming around and I just happen to be on Ultimate Bet, but I'm not going to argue with whatever it is. I played for a while on a $100 NL table and left after an hour up $33.
Then after passing out on my couch for a few hours because of whatever sickness this is, I jumped on an empty $25 NL table to try to score some extra bonus money. The table filled quickly and within an hour I had quadrupled my buy-in. I stuck around a little longer and left with $107.
For dessert I had an unbelievable run on a $1/$2 A-5 Triple Draw table. I sat down and played heads up with a guy who was already seated. We both had $100 to start and within 20 minutes, I had $175 and he had $10 (Note the monster rake, 7.
5% of our starting stakes). He was completely beside himself because I was filling draws like crazy. At one point he said:
"What are you?
"
I replied: "I'm Lloyd Dobler."
I don't think he got it. If he did, he wasn't amused.
I'm fairly certain some readers will get the reference, I bet Pauly will, at least.
--
If you haven't done so already, get over to Noble Poker and sign up for the Omaha 8 freeroll tournament ($50 prize pool) setup by ScurvyDog. More details are on his blog.
He's done a lot of work to get this set up, and hey, it's a freeroll. You have nothing to lose, it's not like you have anything better to do on a Friday night. I know I don't.
--
Lastly, I know I've been remiss in posting my thoughts on the HORSE tourney. Basically I sucked. I was doing pretty well until I got involved in a Hold'em hand with Mean Gene.
I had ATs, he had KQ. Another player was all-in before the flop, so the pot was offering good odds and Gene correctly stayed in and hit a gutshot on the turn. I had two pair.
I knew he had me but I felt pot committed and put all of my chips in. I should have saved 600 to make a later stand but I didn't. I still had a great time.
AlCantHang and I started on the same table. We joked that it shouldn't be tough to better our performances from the last WPBT event where we were both among the first five or six players eliminated. Al was killing our table early and still had a healthy stack when Gene emptied my pockets.
Thanks again to Iggy for setting everything up.
Much poker for me this weekend considering it's my birthday, I have no work to do, there are no visiting relatives in my house and I'm sick. Pay me a visit, I'll either be on Full Tilt, UB or PokerStars hammering away at bonus money and trying to get back to 5k.
posted by Mourn, 10:07 AM :: link :: 4 comments :: Wednesday, March 16, 2005Blood Game At Ultimate Bet
"People think mastering the skill is the hard part, but they're wrong. The trick to poker is mastering the luck. That's philosophy.
"--Jesse May, Shut Up and Deal
I've never been overly impressed with Ultimate Bet. I know it has a core of very loyal players but it's just never been my favorite site. Still, I'm a big fan of bonuses that don't expire and their recent reload bonus was too nice not to snag even if I don't burn it off anytime soon.
One thing I do like about UB are the Triple Draw games. I always seemed to do well in these and it's a nice mental exercise. After making my despoit I decided to give them another shot and see if my new and improved well rounded poker self could make a decent score.
For some reason, that didn't happen. In the past I've fared very well at the A-5 version of the game, but last night it just wasn't going well and I was quickly looking for greener pastures.
For those who have never chased a bonus on UB, they have a unique feature.
If you are willing to be the first or second person to sit at a table, you earn the bonus 50% or 25% faster respectively. Ultimate Bet bonuses are slow to clear under normal circumstances. Not Fult Tilt slow, but not Crypto fast by any stretch.
The 50% increase for being the first player to a table makes the whoring much more manageable, so off I went in search of an empty table.
I found two.
First up was a $1/$2 Limit Hold'em game with a kill.
I love these tables because many players are very intimidated by the doubled limits of a kill pot and even if they are normally fairly strong, they become weak when the big K goes black. It didn't take long before I was joined by a couple of players and it was only a little longer before the table was full. Perfect, I'm in my element, playing limit, the kill is a nice little feature and I'm earning extra bonus dollars.
Table number two (cue "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly") was a $100-max .50/$1 blind no limit table. "Hey, that's perfect", I say to myself, "because you're doing soooooo well at NL, and last time you tried the $100 version you dumped the entire buy-in.
"
I sat down immediately.
With the $1/$2 kill game chugging along on auto-pilot in the background, I'm soon joined on the NL table by some dude and his $20 stack. I immediately wonder, why do you buy-in to a $100 NL table heads-up with $20?
Why not play the $25 table? It wouldn't be long before I found out, because dude was there to gamble.
I post the $1 BB, he posts the SB and hits me with a $5 raise right off the bat.
I'm holding AQ, both hearts. What the hell kind of raise is $5? No way, I think, is that Aces or Kings or AK because what would be the point of pushing me off the pot with a monster and only winning $1?
I can call here and try to outplay him on the flop, but I'm out of position and if I miss, there's not much I can do if he plays back. So my choices are give this guy $1 for being an overbetting idiot, or reraise him.
You can probably guess what I did.
He flips A4o, two fours hit the flop and I'm at $80. With the double bonus money and the rake on a $40 pot, I'm actually only down about $19.97, so I have that going for me.
As this little showdown was happening, we were joined by a third player who now posts the big blind. I fold and jackass (wait, am I the jackass? I'm still not sure) pops the pot $5.
The new guy raises to $12 and jackass moves all in. New guy beats him into the pot and flips two black Kings which have absolutely no chance in hell against jackass' ATo. Mr.
$20-buyin was now sitting behind an $80 stack after two hands.
The good news is I was now only down about $19.93 because of double bonus whoring action.
Yay me.
At this point, I fully expected jackass to stand up and leave the table. He did not.
I played extremely tight for the next couple of orbits as the table filled up and then dropped another $15 with AA when a four-flush hit the turn and I couldn't call an all-in. By now jackass was up to about $130 and I really was starting to wonder if I was the idiot in this equasion. I was up almost $35 on the kill table, meaning I was even between the two.
Why the hell was I pulling money off of one table and throwing it to the fish on another?
It was then that I went back to Super System in my mind. I thought about Doyle's no limit philosophy of winning small pots and using the ammo to make big scores.
How he said if he could play every hand in position he wouldn't even need to look at his cards. I made a decision. I was going to stay at this table and I was going to win.
I was going to shift gears and do the following:
1. No more hands like KQo, esepcially out of position, not even for a limp.2.
Dictate the action in every hand, if I couldn't do that, I was folding, even if I had aces.3. Play just about anything in the cut-off and on the button with any chance to make a hidden monster.
4. Bust the jackass.
I rebought to $100 and immediately started building my stack.
If I opened from MP, I came in for a pot raise. If I couldn't do that, I didn't play. I tossed everything in the first three or four positions.
In late positon, I reraised when I thought I could win the blinds and limps pre-flop and I limped when there were a lot of callers and I had anything interesting. Most of these hands were easily folded on the flop when nothing hit.
For a while I was folding the blinds and then winning them back with a pot raise in the cut-off or on the button.
The table was very passive and I was one of the few making raises pre-flop. When someone else did it, I (usually correctly) assumed they had a big hand and just didn't get involved. I pushed a few people off of pots on the flop, didn't see a river card for nearly an hour, and suddenly I had $140 in front of me.
It was getting late and I was very happy with my play, my discipline and my new outlook on no limit. I was getting ready to fold up the tents. Jackass was down to about $70 and I was seriously considering writing off my vendetta as I had probably gotten my chips back through him even if I hadn't gotten them back from him.
As I am preparing to call it a night, I find the Hilton Sisters UTG+1. My first instinct is to muck them. Then I look at my stack and decide that's a ridiculous idea.
People have been folding to my pre-flop raises for over an hour. Maybe I only get $1.50 here but it's better than nothing.
I raise to $3.50 and look over the table, trying to divine the maximum potential damage I could suffer. As my eyes settle on the one seat who has me out-chipped, he fires $15 into the pot.
It is folded to me, and I start thinking. Why such a big bet? I decide, since he's in MP and is a tight player, he has a real hand - maybe even AA or KK.
I further decide that my EP raise has been correctly read as a big hand as well and he wants to isolate me.
The right play here, I think, is to fold (agree? disagree?
). So of course I call and the flop comes all babies. I kick myself for violating all my rules and playing out of position against an aggressive player who has more chips than I do.
I have no choice but to check. I just don't feel like I can lead at the pot because I'm nearly dead certain of my read (then why didn't you fold, dumbass?).
Big stack fires $40 at the pot and I fold and show (something you can only do on UB in my experience). I am complimented by a couple of players on the fold, and the big stack says "GF". Of course, he didn't show me his cards, so my first inclination is to type "fuck you, I trapped myself, easy to say GF when you don't show your cards.
" Instead I type "GB", because it was. He played it well whether he had it or not. I'm proud of the fold however, I wouldn't have made it a few days ago.
The damage is light, but I'm a little pissed because I'm at $125 and with the initial $35 loss, I'm now down when I could have left up $5 and in a much better frame of mind no limit-wise. Things are still all good on the $1/$2 kill, and I've got a small profit for the night even considering the -$10 on the NL table and the $10 or so I lost playing Triple Draw. Not to mention, I've earned about $25 of my bonus.
I decide not to get too hung up on artificial numbers. I'm up, it's time to go to bed, this is the time when mistakes are made. I don't uncheck the auto-post button on the NL table in time, however, and I post the next BB.
I fold to a raise and make the decision to go one more orbit and pick up a few more bonus points. I fold the SB on the next hand and soon, the button arrives.
The cards are dealt, and I'm looking at 43, both hearts.
It's folded to the jackass, who now makes his $5 pre-flop raise. He's exactly opposite me on the table, and I'm thinking of Teddy KGB:
"It's a fucking joke anyvay, I am paying you vith your maney, I am still up twenty grand from zee last time I stick it in you."
The cut-off, an extremely tight player with about $50, calls and I think "blow me, Teddy", and I call too.
The flop is a gorgeous T43, but there's a problem: All spades. God dammit.
Teddy Jackass bets $6 and immidiately I know he has something.
I feel like he's probing and I also think he might have a draw. I put him on AT with the A of spades as his best holding because I know he likes to make that $5 pre-flop raise with Ax. A4 and A3 are also a possibility.
Now the cut-off raises to $12. This is a curious raise in my opinion. Why?
Because she had $50 when the hand started, and this puts $17 of her money in the pot. She's left herself room to fold. If she had blasted back with a pot-raise, something like $22-$25, she's pretty much announcing to us, and to herself, that she's in it for the duration.
I'm convinced I can get her to laydown whatever she's got, the problem is, I can't quite figure out what it is. I think she would have reraised pre-flop with KK or AA, so I put her on JJ, maybe with a spade. I also consider a small flush, but I don't think she calls a big bet pre-flop with 76s or something similar.
So the question now is, do I want to gamble? If my read is correct, Teddy Jackass is going to call a raise, and, if it's big enough, the cut-off is going to fold. If he has AT with the Ace of spades, he's actually slightly ahead, anything worse and I'm the favorite.
On one hand, this is an opportunity I've been waiting for for 90 minutes, the chance to get my chips in with the best hand against my nemesis, and yes, I know this is a poker game, I shouldn't have a nemesis. I know this because that voice is loud and clear in my head: "You wouldn't even be in this pot if you didn't have auto-post checked, go to bed, this isn't the best place to be messing around with someone who could very well get lucky and beat you". Without the player in the cut-off splashing around in my pot, this is an easy choice.
But if I'm wrong about her...
.
All of this, and it's time to act.
All of this, and my read could be off to begin with.
All of this, and I don't think my read is off, not one bit. I think it's perfect.
I shove all my chips in the pot.
Teddy Jackass calls as if his finger had been hovering over the button and the cut-off goes into the tank in a big way. The seconds seem like minutes because I now know, if she calls, she has me. She's not thinking this long about whether to call with JJ.
She's not spending this much time on AT. She's got trips at least. If she calls I've got four outs twice at a maximum and maybe I'm already drawing dead.
After what seems like forever, her cards hit the table face down and Teddy shows me his AT. The Ace, of course, is a great big spade and he's got a ton of outs, 3 more 10s, 3 more Aces and 9 spades. I'm a dog in a hand in which I am currently ahead and I don't have time to feel good about my read.
I have to dodge a zillion cards.
Fortunately, the suspense ends on the turn when the beautiful four of diamonds hits. The spade on the river is now no good and $156 slides my way.
Teddy's pockets are empty and he leaves the table. I am smiling. The cut-off tells me she folded a Jack-high flush.
I'm not sure but don't have any reason not to believe her other than that she's a poker player. As the BB comes around, I get big slick suited UTG, raise to $3.50, get one caller and take it down on the Axx flop.
I sit out and close the table, collecting my bonus money and finishing the night up over $100.
At some point soon I'm going to feel comfortable adding up my bankroll again.
posted by Mourn, 1:55 PM :: link :: 4 comments :: Monday, March 14, 2005Crossroads
I'm at a bit of a crossroads with my poker game.
I haven't posted much poker content in the last week because I've been getting my ass handed to me on a regular basis and I've been confused as to why. I haven't even wanted to add up my bankroll lately. As near as I can figure, I'm down about $400 from the total to right, maybe a little more.
When I'm not even willing to add up my numbers at the end of the night, something is wrong because I'm generally anal about exactly where my bankroll is.
The biggest problem over the last week is that I'm obviously not a good no limit player, at least where cash games are concerned. The problem is, I think I know how to be a good player, but my lack of experience and ego are really killing me and I'm not forcing myself to get out of bad situations.
This has the whipsaw effect of making me too timid when I have the best of it. People are catching up and that is a recipe for tilt, something I'm nearly immune to now when playing limit.
Speaking of limit, I think I've developed a skill (habit?
vice?) that is really hurting me in no limit: playing speculative cards out of position. I have to say that when I pull up a chair at a 2/4 or 3/6 limit table these days, I'm feeling confident - maybe even cocky.
I'm generally beating these games at a very good rate and decisions and reads are coming naturally and accurately. Because of this, I've moved a little beyond straight ABC, especially when I'm winning, and I'll toss in a speculative hand in early position now and then because I know I can play it well after the flop. This is spilling over into my no limit game and I'm getting punished because I have no where near the comfort level to play after the flop with hands like a low flush draw, second pair, etc.
To add to all of this, I've got what seems to be a serious ego problem with no limit. I've been playing a lot of the $25 tables and I know I've read more, played more and generally I know more about poker than the majority of the inhabitants of these games. The result is that I take it personally when someone raises me.
I wind up deciding to try to outplay them. I tell myself I'm going to pay back the guy who just misplayed his hand and beat me and I wind up doing something stupid. To top it off, I made the incredibly naive error of believing that I was losing because I was playing bad players and moved up to the $100 tables.
Jeee-zus Cheee-rist that was a mistake.
Down about $600 total on Friday, I jumped on Interpoker and decided to grind out the 450 hands for the $90 bonus. Over that stretch I played 612 hands of $1/$2 at a BB/100 rate of 8.
32, picking up $200 with the bonus. It was easy. I was on auto-pilot.
I folded losers and destroyed people with my winners. I was outdrawn a few times but I made up for it by winning a couple of monster pots with hands like 76s and 33 when 7 people saw the flop and I hit monsters and dragged several opponents to the river to drown.
So what the hell is really going on here?
I was discussing this with Mrs. Mourn last night over a glass of wine and she said "Aren't you really good at the Sit and Gos? Aren't they no limit?
" It's a great point but there are some key differences that I explained to her. First of all, when a SnG table is full, I am drum-tight. I'm waiting for monster cards or three or four people to hit the road before I really shift gears and start playing.
Short handed, my aggression really seems to work and I can move into the money. SnGs, especially on Party, are not rocket science. The second difference is that there is no rebuying into a Sit and Go.
The added benefit of waiting until the final 5 or 6 to really start pushing is that you are up against other people who are also sniffing the money and who are often tightening their game just as you are loosening up. This doesn't happen in a cash game because you can rebuy if you're busted.
I've also had some pretty good success in NL MTTs, but historically I've played the cheap ones and my MO has been to build a stack early or get knocked out and do something else.
Mostly it's the latter but when I get a mound of chips, I can be a force. I'm sure this translates somewhat to cash games in terms of stack size, but I can't jump on a no limit table and start flinging chips around without caring whether I win or lose like I can in a $5 MTT.
I really think I need to get better at this aspect of poker, but I am incredibly discouraged right now.
Considering that even at rock bottom on Friday, I can spin up a limit table and mow people down, I know that my problem isn't in the general poker sense and I know my head is still in the right place overall.
I know there are a lot of no limit specialists out there and I would really appreciate a few thoughts on this. I've read most of the books and I understand the concepts but I must be misapplying them.
Do I just give it up and play limit and NL SnGs, maybe move up to 5/10 limit?
Do I keep putting my bankroll on the line and play no limit because I just need more experience?
If that's the case, what's the best level to acquire it, am I picking up bad habits at the $25 NL tables?
Should I be playing shorthanded NL ring games instead of full tables?
On the whole, I can't complain about my results so far this year but this is pissing me off. It's really true that the more you learn the more you realize you don't know and this is something I want to get a grip on.
Ideas?posted by Mourn, 2:50 PM :: link :: 6 comments :: Saturday, March 12, 2005Ok, I Know I'm Really Late
But here it is anyway..
..
posted by Mourn, 5:24 PM :: link :: 2 comments :: Thursday, March 10, 2005Search Me
Checking my Site Meter stats today, I find I am ranked 10th for I hate Jerry Falwell on Google.
I know I can do better.
Strangely, I'm number 1, that's right - numero uno, for the phrase Get Over Yourselves (interestingly, I'm only first if it's all capitalized). Now, this isn't anything to be proud of, but the real question is: why the hell is anyone searching for that?
Next is the curious search: Daniel Negreanu obnoxious annie duke, for which I am 12th. Not surprisingly, I'm behind several other bloggers on this search, including Iggy and grubby.
I'm 11th for "Clonie Gowan" and "age", just behind Pauly, who made the first page.
Lastly, after four solid months, I'm finally #1 for my own name on both Yahoo! and Google. I can die happy now.
posted by Mourn, 3:10 PM :: link :: 0 comments :: Wednesday, March 09, 2005Ship It Mate
With a little help from ScurvyDog and Chris Halverson I'm feeding my bonus whoring addiction on the Crypto sites. So far, the biggest issue I've had is that I keep misclicking on all the dialogue boxes. The affirmative buttons like "ok" and "accept" are on the right side instead of the left.
Having driven for a week in Scotland, I guess it shouldn't surprise me that a country that drives on the wrong side of the road also designs their software dialogue boxes backward.
So the burning question I now have is this: Are there any Australian poker sites, and if so, does the button move counter-clockwise around the table?posted by Mourn, 7:50 PM :: link :: 0 comments :: Tuesday, March 08, 2005Yeah I Did It.
..
I put an advertisement on my blog.
I'm becoming a big fan of Full Tilt Poker so I went ahead and got myself an affiliate link. If you haven't signed up over there, please consider using the link to the right. There's still time to sign up for this weekend's WPBT H.
O.R.S.
E event. If you haven't played in a H.O.
R.S.E.
tourney yet, it's a scream.
Ok that's enough of that.
Before I hit the tables tonight, one more thing:
My daughter's fourth birthday is this weekend.
Like any little kid, she's got a huge list of stuff she wants. Among the games, toys and clothes is this little gem.
Now, I'm an open-minded guy.
But are you fucking kidding me!? Bratz my ass, they should call them "Whorez".
Sorry Audrey, we got you pretty much everything on the list except for the street-walking, collagen-addicted pirate ho. You'll have to make do.posted by Mourn, 7:47 PM :: link :: 1 comments :: No Limit On 290
Highway 290 is notable for two reasons.
First, it has some of the most brutal rush hour traffic in Houston. Because of a good public transportation system I get to watch thousands of people sit for over an hour in a three lane parking lot every morning and evening as I ride a bus in the isolated car pool lane. How these people get to their jobs each day without stalking their co-workers from floor to floor with an AK-47 yelling "Yippee ki-yay motherfucker!
" I will never know.
Second, Highway 290 connects Houston to Austin. Last night was Highway 290 night on one of the no limit tables on Full Tilt.
In accordance with my goal to play more NLHE, I decided to drop in at Full Tilt since I still have some bonus money there. I pulled up a $25 NL table and immediately noticed another Texas Blogger accross the virtual felt. It didn't take long for the hammers to start dropping and the chat box to fill with blue letters.
Dealer: TexansBaby shows [2d 7c] (a pair of Sevens)Dealer: TexansBaby wins the pot ($4.40)
Dealer: Mourn shows [2h 7s] (Seven Two high)Dealer: Mourn wins the pot ($0.85)
Mourn: respectpeephole: thats 7/2 ODealer: TexansBaby shows [7c 2s] (Seven Two high)Dealer: TexansBaby wins the pot ($0.
85)Dealer: Hand #69450199peephole: told ya :)(Read April's account of the conversation after I folded AJ to her hammer)
peephole: hammer? :)Dealer: Mourn shows [2h 7c] (a pair of Queens)Dealer: Mourn wins the pot ($7.85)peephole: lol
Dealer: Mourn shows [2c 7s] (Eight Seven high)Dealer: Mourn wins the pot ($1.
75)
The only time I had the hammer and didn't drag a pot was when the action got a little heavy pre-flop with two other players all-in:
Mourn: wellDealer: Mourn has 15 seconds left to actpeephole: no hammer?Mourn: as much as I really really want to call[Mourn folds]Dealer: wilsondel shows [Ah Ad]Dealer: wheeljo shows [Kh Ac]peephole: hammerDealer: wilsondel shows a pair of AcesDealer: wheeljo shows Ace King highDealer: wilsondel wins the pot ($18.15) with a pair of AcesMourn: yeppeephole: if a 2 showedTexansBaby: now if there had been a 2 on the river.
...
Mourn: i would have been depressedTexansBaby: i won't tell everyone you folded the hammer to acesMourn: ok coolMourn: please dontTexansBaby: lose your street credMourn: big time
Early on I was catching cards like mad and getting zero action. It seemed everyone else was getting all their money in with AA pre-flop while I had it twice folded around to my rockets. I decided that the hammer alone wasn't convincing people to play with me because, of course, the hammer LOOKS like rockets in the hands of a blogger.
So I loosened up even more and started showing my cards, the good and the bad. After bluffing the guy to my right off an Axx flop holding KQ, the following occured:
peephole: (To April) no you scare meTexansBaby: lolTexansBaby: why?peephole: i didnt call your $2 when i know you had 7/2 o!
TexansBaby: he's the shark, i tell yaMourn: who is?peephole: uTexansBaby: YOUMourn: bahMourn: im just trying to show down some crap so someone will call meTexansBaby: i'm not sure AK qualifies as crap honMourn: how about 10 5?TexansBaby: that'll do it[Mourn raises to $.
75][peephole raises to $1.85][Mourn raises to $2.95][Flop Ks Js 2s][Mourn bets $6]peephole: missedDealer: Mourn shows [Td 5h] (King Jack high)Dealer: Mourn wins the pot ($5.
70)TexansBaby: LOLcha59: lolTexansBaby: very nicepeephole: brunson
Overall I had a blast even though I dropped a few bucks. The table was incredibly friendly except for the one person who accused us of collusion:
calhottie1: watch peep mourn texans. they play together.
calhottie1: pizzawilsondel: whatwilsondel: all three of themwilsondel: howpeephole: hmmcalhottie1: they play together.calhottie1: watch and you'll seeTexansBaby: lolTexansBaby: okpeephole: tex, if i do play with ya, can i get my $15 i lost before?TexansBaby: lolTexansBaby: ya, we'll get around to itpeephole: lolTexansBaby: mourn, can i get back that money i lost to you with that flush?
Soon after, we had the Phil Gordon conversation, followed quickly by the Phil Laak discussion:
CJohnson481: laak is jennifer tilly's manMourn: wait, phil laak is dating jennifer tilly?TexansBaby: so the rumor goesMourn: excuse me I need to go be sickCJohnson481: id bone herMourn: no kiddingbdis84: dittoMourn: phil laak is embarassingDrJubal (Observer): to boldly go where no man has gone beforeCJohnson481: in the bumbdis84: such classics as the seed of chuckMourn: hey she was in boundMourn: that was a good flickbdis84: lolMourn: it wasCJohnson481: id get some rope and make her bound to my bedMourn: CJ have you registered yet so the neighbors know you've moved in?TexansBaby: LMAO
A few other exceprts:
TexansBaby: wait.
..TexansBaby: when did Mourn get money?
Mourn: "ADRIAN! I've been check-raised!"
wilsondel: unrealTexansBaby: RIGGEDMourn: friggin online pokerMourn: so fixed
TexansBaby: make the puppy angry!
Mourn: I suck at no limitMourn: just letting everyone who hadn't figured that out yet knowTexansBaby: i have noticed you bet/raise limit-like
Mourn: now see, there's the hand you need to watch out forMourn: QQpeephole: yahTexansBaby: damn sistersloltreday: losing with high pk pairs is getting oldTexansBaby: i think this site is riggedTexansBaby: ;)treday: some days like todayMourn: yeah becuase you never see that liveTexansBaby: lolTexansBaby: well i mean just think about the people they hire...
.
Mourn: how come no one is freaking all in with meTexansBaby: no kiddingTexansBaby: told youTexansBaby: RIGGEDMourn: get chris ferguson over hereMourn: god dammit
On thing I can say for no limit, the chat is much better.posted by Mourn, 4:04 AM :: link :: 1 comments :: Monday, March 07, 2005Milestones, Music And Da Hammah!
I officially passed the $5,000 mark this weekend. I've almost doubled my bankroll so far this year. Yes, some of this is attributable to bonus whoring, but I also blew a decent chunk of it playing Pai Gow on Jet Set (I need to keep the Stu Ungar bio handy) so it evens out.
I've definitely been playing profitable poker for the last two months.
I've enjoyed working on my Omaha 8 and Razz games and I've decided that for the month of March it's time to work on something else: NL Hold'em. Back about 5 years ago when I first started playing online at Paradise and Poker Planet, I mostly played no limit cash games.
Of course, back then, I sucked. Occasionally I would win, but I was definitely one of the fish. Some time later I found out that people had actually written books on poker and I began the process of understanding and improving my game.
No limit ring is still a discipline with which I'm not entirely comfortable and I'm going to try to change that this month.
Part of my problem in the past has been boredom. For some reason I just don't find it quite as exciting as limit, even though that may sound backward to some people.
I'm sure at the higher stakes the adrenaline is there, but the $25 NL tables just don't do it for me. Still, I'm starting there partly because I want to be able to make mistakes and study them and party because I'm a risk-averse wuss.
My plan is to work on both my ring and tournament NL games by playing for at least an hour a night on the $25 or $50 party NL tables and as many SnGs and MTTs and I can fit in.
Hopefully I'll find a blogger table or two.
I started last night while Mrs. Mourn and I were watching the season premier of Deadwood.
To show how easily distracted I am by good HBO dramas, especially ones with the word "fuck" uttered at least 937 times per episode, I actually grabbed a pot limit table and didn't realize it until the second orbit. Early on I dropped half my stack with a set of fives to a guy with the dreaded Hiltons who spiked a third Q on the river after I got him all in on the turn. Fortunately he was pretty short stacked or I would have lost more.
I thought about heading to a no limit table but the action was pretty fishy and I wanted my money back from Captain Two-Outer so I stuck around. A few minutes later, I was rewarded with this:
Party Poker Pot-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (7 handed) converter
saw flopsaw showdown
Button ($6.
9)Hero ($18.3)BB ($10.45)UTG ($23.
1)MP1 ($40.7)MP2 ($25)CO ($67.2)
Preflop: Hero is SB with 7s, 2d.
MP2 posts a blind of $0.25.UTG calls $0.
25, 1 fold, MP2 (poster) checks, 1 fold, Button calls $0.25, Hero raises to $0.75, BB raises to $1.
25, UTG calls $1, MP2 calls $1, Button calls $1, Hero calls $0.50.
Flop: ($6.
25) 7d, 3s, 7c (5 players)Hero checks, BB bets $5.95, UTG calls $5.95, MP2 folds, Button folds, Hero raises to $17.
05 (All-In), BB calls $3.25 (All-In), UTG calls $11.10.
Turn: ($49.55) 3d (3 players, 2 all-in)
River: ($49.55) 5d (3 players, 2 all-in)
Final Pot: $49.
55
Results in white below: Hero has 7s 2d (full house, sevens full of threes).BB has Jh 5h (two pair, sevens and fives).UTG has 8h 8d (two pair, eights and sevens).
Outcome: Hero wins $49.55.
TBlebowski: The Hammer!
Too bad I messed up the screenshot, it was pretty.
By the end of Deadwood I had tripled my buy-in and I closed out and went to bed early feeling pretty good. Maybe I'll try some more pot limit, especially if there are people playing J5s like that.
--
If you haven't checked out Barry Greenstein's web page, go have a look. He is promoting his new book, due to be released in June 2005. Barry has created profiles of most of the top cash game players complete with ratings in several different categories and an anecdote for each.
Also included on most of the profiles is an embedded song related to that player. His choices of music range from interesting to downright hilarious.posted by Mourn, 5:42 AM :: link :: 2 comments :: Saturday, March 05, 2005Omahands
It appears that a lot of people in our little community are taking up Omaha 8 and I'm certain some of the more accomplished players already had a handle on the game.
Omaha 8 seems to be a game with slightly lower variance than hold'em (I'm speaking here of the limit versions of both games). I've also noticed with higher valleys come lower peaks, and that's ok. I've only been absolutely wrecked on one Omaha 8 table and I've only had two sessions where I would say I tore the table apart.
I've also learned in the last week or so of bonus chasing that I'm not quite as adept at the game as I might have led myself to believe. This isn't to say that I'm losing, but it is to say that I am basically even over the first 3,133 hands I have put in Poker Tracker Omaha. My BB/100 rate over that stretch is actually +0.
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