Back in the swing of things

Hey there, sorry haven't updated in a while.

I played 2 SNGs last night simulatenously on Stars and it went good....almost very good if not for a late collapse.

The first SNG I picked up KK the first hand and busted a nut-flush drawer when I shoved and got called on the turn to bust him. Then a few hands later I picked up 22 and call a raise and flop trips.
I got it all-in against KK and held. I picked up AA once too I think.
I was up to 4500 very early but bubbled the thing when I tried to bully around the shorties and doubled them a few times. My demise was when I raised AT and got called.
Flop was 477 and I just hoped he had none of it (we were even stacks) so I shoved first and he called with A7. GG.

The second SNG I doubled with KK as well early AIPF vs JJ I think, don't remember.
I ended up second and the heads-up portion was a bore. We were exchanging leads and suckouts because the blinds were so huge so it was a shove fest which went on for a long time.
I finally tried to steal with J4 and he called with a King which held.

Meh, only +1BI for the night when it could have been muuucchh better.
Since I'm on a two weeks vacation I might try to play some tourneys at night we'll see, but if I play SNGs, I will play at least 2-3 to keep busy.

ronee

An all-timer

Meh, too bad I busted on the first hand of heads-up (about even stacks) with AT vs J4 (complete donkey). I flopped a T but he got a Jack too.
But that hand below was definitely the pot of the tournament

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3239626

ronee

On the uptick

PLO is really heart-stopping. Yesterday I lost a $30 pot three-handed with about the same hand which missed. This time I got hit by the deck and get the win. I am not sure what my odds are in this hand but I still like this draw very much.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3239100

Pretty standard here against the short stack. I just realized now I was also holding two of his outs, woot!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3239090

This hand capped a +$22 session which felt really great.
I was really sweating the flush draw but turns out he was drawing only to two outs.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3239078

Other than that I have been playing a few super-turbos on FT the past few days, don't ask me why, I know it's stupid.
Anyways, it's stress free and if I can get lucky maybe I'll score something who knows? :)
Last one I played, I was on the bubble with AT when the CL shoved my BB with QdJd and he flops the flush, good game!

ronee

I should stick to the games I am good at

Running like complete horse shit in PLO. I don't think I have hit better than two pairs during my session today! Which means death especially when you play a game like Omaha.

However, this little NLHE hand kind of made up for it.
The guy was a complete donk on my left, calling two all-ins with QTo and actually winning.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3234333

ronee

PartyPoker spikes my interest once again

My first ever poker room was Poker Room, but that doesn't really count since I only played maybe two play money games and that was about it.

After that I finally settled on PartyPoker (that was 3 years ago) and decided to deposit real money for the first time (ah, the days where VISA would just work!).
I deposited $50, ran it up to maybe $100 grinding micro-stakes SNGs, went on my first downswing and monkey-tilt down to $30. Then stupidly tried cash gaming at $0.25/$0.50 and ran that up to $130 in just a few days. From there, went through another downswing before going busto. Never redeposited again.

I had had enough of the Party software and gave Full Tilt and PokerStars their shot and never looked back. They had so many features that Party could not even touch (auto-centered view please? Customizable skins anyone?).
And tomorrow, everything could change. PartyPoker is set to unveil its new 'ground-breaking' software, and from the looks of it, it seems 'ok' but still a lot better than the crumsy old software.
Of course I will give it a try, but the new look is not the reason why I am thinking of depositing again.

How many times have you been on a US poker forum and heard someone say "I miss Party"?
Well I've seen it many times, and all those US players miss the action and the fish they used to get from Party. Of course those were the old days right around the boom, when most players didn't have a clue about poker in general, so who is to say that Party's crowd didn't get better now just like every other room?

That was my thinking until I read on a blog earlier stating that the country leading in terms of cashes at the WCOOP is the US, and it's not even close. Are Americans really better than Europeans when it comes to poker? And it so happens that Americans are only allowed to play on both sites that I play on, Tilt and Stars.
I might be dreaming here, maybe that statistic is skewed given that the WCOOP is geared towards a certain time zone but I doubt it would stop Europeans from playing in it.

Anyways, if the new Party software convinces me, maybe I will give it a shot again and see where the competition stands. Launch date is tomorrow.

ronee

Live cashing streak is over, but not before one last hurrah

I was invited to another live game saturday night (second live game in a row) and this time had 7 players with a $1 buy-in only.
That made for a relaxed atmosphere and crazy calls really, I just had to adapt.
My friend/host also handed out packs of Carta Mundi cards that his business sells and it was a nice gesture, appreciated it very much.

We had enough time to play two games and I finished 1st and 5th respectively.
Don't remember much of the hands really, I was just fooling around, limping everywhere and trying to get paid off when I did hit:

GAME 1

- I was severely short stacked and limped with A2 suited in a three-handed pot.
I flop a deuce and we all call a bet to the turn which brings another deuce. I call a shover and almost triple up.

- I push from the button with ATo to try to commit the BB who was short. To my surprise the SB calls as well with KJ while the BB had garbage. BB flops a King but I runner-runner the nut flush. Justice!

- Heads-up my opponent is auto-all-in with less than a BB and I only have 46o to his overcards.
He flops a pair but I river a gutshot 8-high straight to win the first game. Not the best way to win but I'll take it anyways.

GAME 2

- First hand I call a raiser with 99 and we see a flop of 9xA. He bets, I raise, he reraises, I reraise, he calls. Turn is another A which would seal my win or break me really. He pushes, I call and he only has KK, I double up the first hand of the game.

- I lose half my stack later when I shove with QQ and get a call by KJ. He flops a King and I am left the shorter stack again.

- Have A7 and we have a four-handed hand. Flop was A7Q.
Don't remember what happened, but I folded on the turn because of a shover and I remember the shover busting with the other two guys both having AQ whew!

- I don't remember my last hand, but I just know it was a bad beat lol. Oh well, who cares?

From then on we tried to play Stud and Omaha just for a change and they all agreed.
They also all agreed that Stud is very hard to play while Omaha generates waaayyy too much action lol. We had so many crazy hands in Omaha we just couldn't stop laughing.
Finally, it was getting late and we all decided to go all-in (in Omaha, yes!) just to decide the winner.
I think I had the second best hand with T9KJ, while the best hand had AKT8 or something.
I turned two pairs and won that last hand, whatever PLO :P

ronee

Still doing good in live games, but I hate 2nd place

I had another live game last night, with 8 players, a $5 buy-in and prizes as followed $20, $15, $5 for the first 3.
I am somewhat happy and disappointed because I finished 2nd in both games we played, but I also know I could/should/would have finished first if I played better and avoided bad beats here and there.
But I still came out the winner, as I was the only person to cash in both games and got the most profit, with a net +$20 in winnings (which also makes the two winners the only other players in the black).
Don't remember much of the action to be honest with you but I am just going to give you a bunch of hands.

FIRST GAME

- Two-handed flop of TTT and one player shoves his short stack and gets called. He showed 99 but caller had a crushing KT, good game.

- Heads-up he has a 2-1 lead on me and I push with (huge blinds) AJ and to my surprise he snaps with 89 and pairs on the flop to bust me.

SECOND GAME

- QJ and three of us see a flop of KJx and it's all checked. The turn is a rag and the short stack shoves and the other folds. I put him on a Jack as well and think for about 1 min. since it was about half my stack (trying to surive at this point). I call and he showed J4, with the river missing him.

- KK in the SB with 4 limpers, I raise 5xBB and they all fold.

- On the bubble I raise A9o UTG and the SB shoves. Now since I know him, he could have anything from A5 to AA in that spot. I call for half my stack and he shows AK, ichk! I double him up and I am short stacked.

- KK again and I shove my minuscule stack and get 2 callers. They checked all the way down to the river which is another K. I triple up with the nuts.

- Not long after I get KK again in the SB and it's folded to me. I decide to trap and simply call, hoping for a raise in position. To my surprise he checks.
Flop is KQT and I check, he bets, I call trying to represent a draw. Turn is the case King and I have a nuclear hold on the hand and check...since I represented a draw, the King would not have helped me.
Of course he bets and I shove for very little more. He agonizes because he now knows I do have something and calls anyway because he could afford it and was committed. I show quads and he had A5.

- Heads-up I doubled him up when I had AJ vs KQ and he paired on the flop.

- After a few more hands I tried to steal with K3 by shoving and he snaps with A3 and I miss.

Well there it is. Like I said, a few bad beats killed me but what can you do. I really need to work on my heads-up game right now and try to avoid spots where I gamble too much.

Meh, still a good night overall. Even though the structure was very very fast, it was more of a push/fold contest, but it's a skill that will come in handy from time to time.

ronee

James Obst

You probably remember my post about Andy McLEOD, real name James Obst, an Australian player who was tearing up online before being banned for being underaged.
He turned 21 in August and promptly took 4th place in the Sunday Million, and won an FTOPs event in Razz.

Just recently he won a freezeout (winner-take-all) $5k SNG for $80k.
Then that sicko scored a WCOOP win in PLO for almost $100k.

Now I just saw that he is the big chip leader in the limit Stud8 WCOOP event.

Truly an amazing, amazing player, all of his 21 years of age.
I can't image what it's like to dominate fields of hundreds of players, and doing it at all the games.
Taking down two WCOOPs would be unprecedented I think.

But for now he can just enjoy the fact that he took down both an FTOPs and WCOOP event during the same year.

ronee

A short cash session, maybe not...

I was planning on playing a short NLHE cash session and it turned into a real grind.
I quickly lost one buy-in when I turned trips and the CL rivered a flush and stacked me off.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3195273

I was down early in my second buy-in and more than doubled up with this hand.
I just could not hit a flop, so I tried to steal/raise from the CO with rags and hope. To my surprise I get all three players left to act to call me (CL's call doesn't surprise me, he's a huge suckout/calling donk).
The poker gods reward me with the flop that I wanted.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3195226

This bitch on my right was shortstacking the whole time and shoved me twice/thrice when I limped UTG or in my big blind (had 22 and JT). I looked at 55 and was sort of hoping she would shove so I could just shut her up and she did. I knew that I'd be in a coin flip at best but I did not care and we both sucked out, which made this play even sweeter.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3195220

I was on my way up until I got this hand....cruel. He called me a "clown" at the end...wtf?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3195360

I was such on a monkey tilt after that I broke my promise and sat at a $0.25/$0.50 PLO table with a $25 stack.

I think Dannie31 knows even less about PLO than I do, which is frightening really.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3195478

Nice river, too bad he didn't bite. I was really really hoping the had the straight :(
Dannie31 again, I will be looking for your screen name in the future buddy, believe me.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3195450

I left after only 19 hands with a $45 stack, so that covered my NLHE losses! weeeeeeee!
Being pretty much dead even for the day makes me very very very happy.

ronee

EDIT: This was the last hand before I left the table (which I folded) and I caught this gem from Dannie31. OMG man, quit poker now!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3195491

Running good in live games with another first

I was invited to another live game on saturday night, my friend's parents were out of town again for a few weeks and so that meant....POKER baby!!!
I would like to thank my girlfriend for letting me go by the way :D

We had 6 players with a $5 buy-in, and most of them still unexperienced and tweaking their games. By that I mean a LOT of light calling, limping, and hero calls.
We increased the starting stack to 1000 instead of the usual 700 and the game ran better because of it. Although the blind structure is still crappy, since they insist on doubling the blinds everytime there is a bustout so we spent a LOT of time on the first level of 10/20 and ended up at 500/1000 heads-up with only 6k chips in play, you see where I am going with this?

To the fun part, the hands!

- LOTS of limpers because it's cheap and I limp with 46o during the first orbit.
The flop is a magical 235 with one spade. I bet and get one caller. The turn is a freaking 4 of spades and I puke because I might end up chopping the pot. I bet and another player fucking shoves LOL. I think for a few seconds and call, he tabled Js6s for the same straight and the flush draw. Luckily he misses the river and we chop...and he got lucky on the turn too by the way, but I still don't understand why he shoved instead of value-betting.

- I limp with As9s on the button and find a few other limpers. The flop brings two spades and it's checked down to the river which brings another spade and a paired board. I can't believe my luck and bet 100...but the player on my left insta-raises me to 300, ugh!
Obviously I am not laying this down, but my dilemma here is, should I reraise, knowing that he could possibly have a full? I know him pretty well and when he acts like that, he means business! Well I just called and he showed a K-high flush, whew.

- I raise 99 and find a few callers. Flop is low and a continuation bet of 100 is enough to clear it out.

- One player is very short and he shoves on the button with barely more than 2xBB. SB calls and I look at Td3d in the hole, which I am not too happy about. But since the blinds are 100/200 at that point, that's a potential big pot so I take a shot anyways and call. The flop is a GREAT TJ3 and SB bets. I instaraise and he folds after some deliberation. The shorter stack's hand is 99 and I hold to bust him out. I felt sorry because there is just no other way he could have played the hand, except maybe shoving earlier but you can't ask for more when it's folded to you on the button with a pocket pair.

- We are 3-handed with blinds at a huge 200/400. Lots of folding preflop and walks until someone actually has a hand to raise-shove. A short stack shoves for 900 and SB folds, and I am left to look at an horrendous 53o and 400 chips already in. I call for 500 more which leaves me with 2000+ I believe, and everyone looks stunned at my decision. Shover had a marginal hand like K8o and I explain that even though it looks bad, I am not worse than a 3-to-2 dog, but hey, what do I know? I miss and he doubles up anyway, oh well.

- On the small blind folded to me, I look at KK and fake a steal attempt by instashoving the BB (same guy I doubled up) and he snap calls with AQ. Thankfully I flop another K to cripple him.

- Not long after, that same guy is involved with the third player and he unfortunately tried to bluff/shove a rag board with QT but he gets called by KK and the turn is another K....so brutal for him!!! Running into KK twice.

- Heads-up they decided again to bump the blinds at 500/1000 and I have less than 2xBB (well yeah! Only 6k chips in play c'mon!!!). I shove blind two times in a row!!! And win both!!!
One of them was a gem, 84o vs 74o LOL. I won that hand with 8-high.

- The heads-up match lasted longer than we though, because we either shoved/folded and really, we kept exchanging leads all the time. Blinds were at 500/1000 with 6k total in chips, and we had maybe 15 hands heads-up, which is incredible in my opinion.
Finally I get shoved on my BB and I look down at AA!!!!!!
I slam my hand onto the table and he can't believe his eyes! He admitted a steal attempt and showed T8o...The flop brought another Ace and that was that.

I got $20 for my efforts and the runner up got $10.
Overall a good night, good atmosphere and I am happy about my play really.
In my last 4 live games, I have had finishes of 1st/9, 2nd/6, 1st/6, 1st/6.

ronee

It happens to the best of us

I was looking at highstakesdb.com and realized that you could click on a player's name and get a little info on his yearly winnings and the biggest hand they played so far.

It's somewhat comforting (or not!) that even the best players suffer downswings.
So I realized that most of the Cardrunners team has been having a losing year so far, that includes: Taylor Caby, Brian Townsend, Brian Hastings, Cole South, Eric Liu.
To that we can add players like Ziigmund, Mike Matusow.

All of this is startling to me, because I was always under the impression that players such as Hastings, South and Liu were huge winners on the year, especially when you read stories on some of the blogs.

Some of the biggest winners (we're talking a few millions) this year are Tom Dwan, David Benyamine, Phil Ivey and Phil Galfond.

ronee

Running bad in PLO, so going back to NLHE

I have been running awful in PLO. Losing a few buy-ins is expected and is not a big deal, but the stakes I play at make a dent in my bankroll. So I'm going to step away from this swingy game for a while, play Hold'em as much as I can and rebuild.

Running bad @#$^@$%&. Hopefully I was able to come back strong afterwards.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3173073

Running good!!!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3173070

Put him on the Ace and got paid off as much as I could obviously. He said that was a very very nice call afterwards, thought I am not sure he really meant it.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3173340

This hand happened not long after to seal up my NLHE cash session.
I went from $25 to maybe $15 at my lowest and back up to $34 with the hand above.
I was actually thinking of sitting out but got rewarded handsomely with this hand against the same opponent (poor guy). Anyways, a very good +$45 to offset my huge PLO losses.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3173369

ronee

A few hands of SNGs, NLHE and PLO cash.

The good read, wrong result.
I had to go with it because the blinds just went up to 150/300 and had I folded I would have had only 4 BBs left so, here's to Chris Ferguson. Too bad he caught me on the river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3162905

Loosening up early.
I swear, honest, before the flop I told myself that it's been a long time since I flopped a monster and how cool it would be to have a AQJ flop.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3164401

Sick, sick hand I tell ya.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3164486

Not what I was hoping for but it works. I kind of knew I was beat and somewhat expected him to show AK but I had a bunch of outs to save my ass.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3167700

OH MY F***ING GOD. And I highly doubt that shoving the flop/turn would have made any difference.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3167882

Instant off-tilt from this hand. I jumped into this game just to recoup my losses from a previous NLHE cash game session where I had AK and called every bet on a TTT88 board and he showed 99. I think I played this PLO hand perfect, but don't pay attention to the stupid river bet, I misclicked lol. What's funnier it's that, that was the first hand I was dealt!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3168214

ronee

NLHE cash tryout and back to SNGs (FTW)

Won a buy-in with this hand right there.
I went from the worst feeling in the world to being on top of it. I was putting him on TT+ or AK that completely missed, but he had the guts I guess.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3145919


I also went back to SNGs with a lot of success so far. I played 5 18-mans and had finishes of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, 11th and 18th (ok, ok, we both flopped sets on the first hand...)

This hand closed an amazing run. I went from 250 left four-handed to maybe 7k three-handed, incredible. This included pocket fives holding up against two other players.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3149245

Guess what??? I then WON that SNG outright! I still can't believe I came back with less than a big blind in four-handed play. This was the second hand in the heads-up match, weird call on his part. But considering I raised half my stack on the button on the first hand, he probably thought I was bullying.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3149278

ronee

PS: bankroll going in the right direction since I started playing SNGs again....coincidence? I think nooootttt!

I suck at cash games and should go back to tourneys methinks XD

That hand could have been disaster for me, thank god he raised the flop.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3143037

Bad turn card and I got pwned pretty bad.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3143056


Now to some SNG hands. I got BINK there. I stole/shoved him from my SB a few times and he obviously called light and I found gold.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3145084

The hand of the tournament....but what a call from the chip leader, such an easy laydown for him imo.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3145092

sigh, as standard a bustout as it gets heads-up, what can I say?
Heads-up went back and forth and unfortunately I could not secure my first SNG win in a loooong time.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3145133

On a side note I finally won my first 70 FPP SNG qualifier for the Sunday Hundred Grand (played maybe 8-10 of these in the past) which I am obviously not gonna play because I don't have time. So I unregistered and got the T$11 woot. I am now debating if I should just put them all in a single SNG to try and cash :D

ronee

Escaped PLO session up a little

I entered a $0.25/$0.50 table on Stars and quickly lost most of my buy-in with this hand.
To be fair I completely misplayed my hand and i realize that now.
I don't know what I was afraid of but I didn't bet or didn't bet aggressive enough to get him off his draw.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3141115

I reloaded not long after and was able to double my stack against this donk.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3141100

I escaped not so long after with a slight profit which suits me perfectly fine.

That puts me pretty much even for the day since I played a bunch of SNGs and well and didn't cash, especially the 180s where I ran atrociously. In short NLHE has been completely card dead for me and PLO a little better.

ronee

Building my online roll again

If you read forums on the internet a lot of micro stakes players ask what tourneys they should play to build their rolls, most of them oscillate between $50 and $300 to start with. The most common answer I found is that the $2 Turbo 180 and $4 180 on Stars are very soft and very donkish, thus the best place to start.

So I gave the $2 Turbo 180 a shot this morning even though I hate Turbos because of the shovefest nature of it all. But hopefully you can get lucky, catch some cards and survive long enough to cash, because the final table is where poker is actually played.

To the hands:

You can't teach that! QUACK QUACK!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3135581

I am a huge luckbox on the bubble...But to be fair it was maybe a little worse than a coin flip preflop so, standard.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3135687

There was one instance where i had 77 on the BB with a MP raiser who raised 3xBB to 3k. Too bad I only had like 8k at that time, i would have loved to call, or even push but felt like I could wait some more since we were very very close to the bubble. Unfortunately I didn't get any more hands after that and exited in 13th for a minimal cash....grrrr final table is where the cash starts to go up.

Anyways, it was fun and I will most likely play those again, if I can get lucky maybe I can make a little who knows?

ronee

An offer I could not refuse

I could not quite keep my promise of not playing for the rest of the week.
A friend messaged me and told me about a game at his friend's house for a $5 BI so I immediately said yes! I am so freaking weak.

Anyways it was only the 6 of us and I have never met any of the other guys, so no knowledge of their play whatsoever.
I was happy to learn that all of them (save for my friend) were all pretty new to the game so that gave us an edge from the get go.
The flow of the game was pretty much the same as all the other live games I've played so far. A lot of light limping, calling and pretty much no raising at all, to the point where it felt I was just playing Limit Hold'em. I probably only saw less than 10 raises preflop (except from preflop shoves).

The buy-in was $5 and the prizes were $15, $10, and $5 for the first 3.
We had the not-so-clever idea of doubling the blinds for each 15mins levels, and I knew from the start it would not be a good idea.
Basically we started at 1k/2k with about 400k stacks each (yes the chip numering ranged from 500 to 25k).
We went at it for more than an hour and ended with 128k/256k blinds LOL.
And I am telling you this because I went heads-up with one guy and won. To the hands:

- We have a paired board of A8xxx and the two players in the hand show AA and 88 on the river for two full houses and AA doubles up, sick.

- SS shoves me T4 blind and I wake up with KK to bust him.

- I have T4 in the SB and BB only has 2.5BB left so I push and he calls with Kx and flops a King. He would up doubling up a few times again to challenge me heads-up.

- I have 85 and flop is 448 and I shove, he folds.

- He doesn't have much left and I shove A7 and he calls with 66. Flop comes an amazing 6x7.
I am ready to give him my chips (would have made us even stacks) but the cards come running clubs to put four clubs on board and I show Ac obviously LOL. Victory!

We then played another game and nothing came up really. I won a few big pots to grab the chip lead early and blinded out the rest of the way to go out in 5th.
I shoved Kc5c and got called by AhKh and bricked. Well it was already 6pm by that time and I was UTG at 30k/60k with just 270k left. I swear if it was not that late (had to pick up my girlfriend for dinner) I would have waited for a better spot to push. But I did it anyway and got punished, but good thing AK was my friend and he grabbed the lead with my chips so hopefully he won. ;)

I was also pretty happy with the read I put on my friend in this one play. He raised preflop and got heads-up with some other guy on a J-high board. They both pushed and his opponent showed a weak Jack for top pair. I told my friend "show me your pocket Queens"....and he did lol. Too bad reads aren't worth chips :D.

I am up $5 for the night and I am happy with my play.
Overall I nice group of guys and a very relaxed atmosphere, I am very happy I made the trip there.

ronee

EDIT: Got an update from my friend and it turns out he won the last game pretty handily, congrats to him!