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
Monday, September 22, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
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
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
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
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
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
Monday, September 15, 2008
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
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
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
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
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
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
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
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