Another middle-aged white guy Another dream
01-22-2016
, 12:29 AM
03-23-2016
, 05:02 PM
This is what run-great looks like
Snow day here in Boulder, thought I’d avail myself of the opportunity to catch up a bit on the blog. I played this past Saturday and had my biggest winning session ever, $4200 (70 big bets). This was a session in which I won nearly every pot I entered, or else got away cheap. After a little ride on my bike trainer (a bit cold for a run), I got to the Ameristar early, around 2 PM. They just started the 4th table of 30/60, a must-move to the now 3 main games and I get seated right away.
Second orbit, Hero has J
2 in BB. UTG limps, UTG+1 raises, 4 callers before it gets to me, not sure I should ever fold getting 13:1, I call ($720). Flop is 3
22
, and SB bets out. He’s fairly bad, could have a 3 or a draw or overpair. I call, no need to force out overcards, all call then button raises. And SB 3-bets! Button likely has a draw, SB an overpair, seems like a good time to cap it ($1290). UTG and button both call as does SB. Turn is an offsuit 9, I bet and get called in all places ($1530). River is an offsuit 7 and only SB calls, MHIG-told me he had 8s, put me on a draw??
I was up lots quickly, $1200 in 30 minutes, $1800 in about an hour and a quarter. Then this happens:
Late 20s guy wearing mirrored sunglasses (need I say anything more-last orbit he was staring me down while he was in the SB, flop comes and he’s still staring at me, I point out that it’s his action
later I ask him if he found my tell) limps UTG, folds to me in SB and I call 32, BB checks. Flop is K22, ck/ck/b; c/r/c. Now seems like a good time to 3-bet. BB is usually a 5-100 player and is scared money but a decent player, he folds, sunglasses stares at me and calls. He calls turn and river as well, claims AA, well-played.
A few hands later its my kill, decent gal opens, I decide to just call with AQ, and we’re heads up to a flop of Jxx, all diamonds. I ask if she wants to do a diamond check even though I know what I have, she laughs and bets, I call, and I call a blank turn. River is 9, she bets one more time and I just call, she has A9 no diamond, didn’t think she had that in her. Another hand with her I open KQ from early position on her BB, she crz a 543r flop and bets a K on the turn, which I just call. She ck/calls my river bet, too. No defense against getting there!
Later on, I’m at one of the main games, perhaps the worst calling station in this game posts his missed blind behind the button, I open 76 from button-3, station calls. We’re heads up to a J95 flop, I cbet and he calls, turn is 8, blank river and he pays off both big streets. Later, one limper, I raise AQ from cutoff, he 3-bets from button, 3 of us see a T77 flop, I ck/call, heads up to a turn that’s another T, he checks this time. River is a 2 and I bet, hoping beyond hope he’ll fold an A, but he calls and I roll over my hand…and he mucks! K high?
Finally, it’s late and I’m planning to rack up at my BB. Folded to me in the cutoff, I open QQ, SB (decent TAG) 3!, BB calls and I cap ($360). Flop is AKxQ, bet/call/raise; 3b/call/call ($630). Turn is a blank, bet/call/raise/call/call ($990). River is a blank, ck/ck/bet/call/fold, presumably he had AK. I ended up playing another orbit since I was still stacking my chips 
The only notable hand I lost at showdown all night was at the first table, I open black AA from middle position, get called by the 5-100 guy and sunglasses, the three of us see a flop of QT6, I bet and get called in both places, turn is a blank, same action. River is another blank, I contemplate ck/calling but decide to bet and get paid by KQ, but 5-100 guy raises, sunglasses folds. I’m getting 11:1 and I want to fold but can’t at that price, KJ.
Pretty crazy night, still got home in time to get 7 hours of sleep before running through the snow/slush/mud on the trails on Sunday, soccer game cancelled due to snow on the pitch. The pinched nerve in my back is not yet 100% but it doesn’t feel worse when I run so I’m back this season.
Been a somewhat odd year so far at 30/60-I only have 9 winning sessions of 16 since January 1st but 2 of those were huge so my per session win rate remains virtually unchanged.
Gonna go shovel the foot of wet concrete on my sidewalk now, perhaps more later.
Snow day here in Boulder, thought I’d avail myself of the opportunity to catch up a bit on the blog. I played this past Saturday and had my biggest winning session ever, $4200 (70 big bets). This was a session in which I won nearly every pot I entered, or else got away cheap. After a little ride on my bike trainer (a bit cold for a run), I got to the Ameristar early, around 2 PM. They just started the 4th table of 30/60, a must-move to the now 3 main games and I get seated right away.
Second orbit, Hero has J
2 in BB. UTG limps, UTG+1 raises, 4 callers before it gets to me, not sure I should ever fold getting 13:1, I call ($720). Flop is 322, and SB bets out. He’s fairly bad, could have a 3 or a draw or overpair. I call, no need to force out overcards, all call then button raises. And SB 3-bets! Button likely has a draw, SB an overpair, seems like a good time to cap it ($1290). UTG and button both call as does SB. Turn is an offsuit 9, I bet and get called in all places ($1530). River is an offsuit 7 and only SB calls, MHIG-told me he had 8s, put me on a draw??I was up lots quickly, $1200 in 30 minutes, $1800 in about an hour and a quarter. Then this happens:
Late 20s guy wearing mirrored sunglasses (need I say anything more-last orbit he was staring me down while he was in the SB, flop comes and he’s still staring at me, I point out that it’s his action
later I ask him if he found my tell) limps UTG, folds to me in SB and I call 32, BB checks. Flop is K22, ck/ck/b; c/r/c. Now seems like a good time to 3-bet. BB is usually a 5-100 player and is scared money but a decent player, he folds, sunglasses stares at me and calls. He calls turn and river as well, claims AA, well-played.A few hands later its my kill, decent gal opens, I decide to just call with A
Q, and we’re heads up to a flop of Jxx, all diamonds. I ask if she wants to do a diamond check even though I know what I have, she laughs and bets, I call, and I call a blank turn. River is 9, she bets one more time and I just call, she has A9 no diamond, didn’t think she had that in her. Another hand with her I open KQ from early position on her BB, she crz a 543r flop and bets a K on the turn, which I just call. She ck/calls my river bet, too. No defense against getting there!Later on, I’m at one of the main games, perhaps the worst calling station in this game posts his missed blind behind the button, I open 7
6 from button-3, station calls. We’re heads up to a J95 flop, I cbet and he calls, turn is 8, blank river and he pays off both big streets. Later, one limper, I raise AQ from cutoff, he 3-bets from button, 3 of us see a T77 flop, I ck/call, heads up to a turn that’s another T, he checks this time. River is a 2 and I bet, hoping beyond hope he’ll fold an A, but he calls and I roll over my hand…and he mucks! K high? Finally, it’s late and I’m planning to rack up at my BB. Folded to me in the cutoff, I open QQ, SB (decent TAG) 3!, BB calls and I cap ($360). Flop is A
KxQ, bet/call/raise; 3b/call/call ($630). Turn is a blank, bet/call/raise/call/call ($990). River is a blank, ck/ck/bet/call/fold, presumably he had AK. I ended up playing another orbit since I was still stacking my chips The only notable hand I lost at showdown all night was at the first table, I open black AA from middle position, get called by the 5-100 guy and sunglasses, the three of us see a flop of Q
T6, I bet and get called in both places, turn is a blank, same action. River is another blank, I contemplate ck/calling but decide to bet and get paid by KQ, but 5-100 guy raises, sunglasses folds. I’m getting 11:1 and I want to fold but can’t at that price, KJ.Pretty crazy night, still got home in time to get 7 hours of sleep before running through the snow/slush/mud on the trails on Sunday, soccer game cancelled due to snow on the pitch. The pinched nerve in my back is not yet 100% but it doesn’t feel worse when I run so I’m back this season.
Been a somewhat odd year so far at 30/60-I only have 9 winning sessions of 16 since January 1st but 2 of those were huge so my per session win rate remains virtually unchanged.
Gonna go shovel the foot of wet concrete on my sidewalk now, perhaps more later.
05-31-2016
, 01:10 AM
Yes, but not until June 10. I'll be there through the 16th. I have a work trip at the beginning of that week, but I planned to avoid the Colossus cluster**** this year in any event. I will play the Millionaire Maker again, hoping for my 3rd consecutive cash. But aside from that I have no agenda this year. Two years ago was my first WSOP when I played mid-stakes limit, and a deepish run in the MM and lots of other 2+2ers made for a great trip. Last year I was on a bit of a mission to play bigger stakes as I was crushing my local game, and I played as big as 100/200 LHE and 75/150 O8. This year might just be 50/100 stud/8 at WSOP or perhaps just a bunch of Rio Deep Stacks, just so I can play something that I can't get at home.
I don't plan on doing a TR this year but perhaps I'll try to throw in some chip/food/greyhound porn in this thread. A bunch of the home game guys will be there so there should be some good eating opportunities. Will you be there BruhKGB? You can identify me at the tables this year easily as I will be wearing this hat:
The guy who runs Pokergodz is a childhood friend of mine, we both stumbled into poker during the boom and connected a bit again through Facebook.
Indeed I do go down that road:
In fact, I drink more bourbon that Scotch now. I've never had the Van Winkle, the price is just stupid. The Bulleit was my favorite for a long time, then somebody gave me a bottle of the Woodford Reserve and I haven't looked back. I'm a big fan of the Templeton rye as well, not so much the Bulleit rye.
I don't plan on doing a TR this year but perhaps I'll try to throw in some chip/food/greyhound porn in this thread. A bunch of the home game guys will be there so there should be some good eating opportunities. Will you be there BruhKGB? You can identify me at the tables this year easily as I will be wearing this hat:
The guy who runs Pokergodz is a childhood friend of mine, we both stumbled into poker during the boom and connected a bit again through Facebook.
In fact, I drink more bourbon that Scotch now. I've never had the Van Winkle, the price is just stupid. The Bulleit was my favorite for a long time, then somebody gave me a bottle of the Woodford Reserve and I haven't looked back. I'm a big fan of the Templeton rye as well, not so much the Bulleit rye.
06-03-2016
, 11:14 PM
As for WSOP, I think the 20/40 O8 games are always beatable. I have this vague recollection that this was a time game last year, but I mostly played 75/150 last year. 40/80 ran about twice last year while I was there, after running very consistently 2 years ago. I think that's the sweet spot in term of absolute win rate-time was reasonable (even if half the dealers didn't know how to split a pot) and the play wasn't too tough. At the 75 game there's a lot of pros (of mixed skill, there are definitely a couple who are terrible). Judging by the 22 person list for 75/150 on Friday night, it appears WSOP once again do not have enough tables available in the high limit section
06-14-2016
, 03:13 AM
09-02-2016
, 02:25 PM
02-20-2017
, 04:22 PM
Damn, I can never manage to complete a post here now, I have one from a few weeks ago almost completed, now another long weekend of poker has passed and I’m gonna try again.
It’s Monday of President’s Day weekend, and I really wish I didn’t have time to write this post-I’d rather be playing the final table of the HPT at Ameristar. The HPT is in town, which is always a great thing from my perspective. The main reason is that a bunch of tournament and NLHE donks show up, many of them have heard about the 30/60 game and want to play because 2/5-100 spread limit is weird, most of them suck at LHE. The secondary reason is that the main event ($1650 buy in) here always has a huge prize pool, > $1M and between $200K-250K up top. I try to play when I can, and this time I decided to take a 4 day weekend and play on Friday. I went up on Thursday night to play a satellite, got there an hour after it started and was 50th on the alternate list, decided to go play 30/60 instead. I was up close to my tourney buy in, then couldn’t complete a draw while all of my opponents made theirs, I gave it back plus another $1500. Left too early in the morning.
I still managed to get in a run on Friday morning before heading up to Golden Gates to play the tournament. I had a good starting table, only knew one person there from the 30/60 game, he’s very good. But half the table was atrocious, I couldn’t believe some of the hands that were turned over. I stayed up most of the time, and knocked out 2 players with this hand: guy on my right limps (this is a guy who twice open-limped the button!) and I raise TT. Donkey caller calls from BB, we see a flop of 876 two-tone, BB chks, limper shoves for ~ twice pot, I call, BB now reshoves a bit more which I call. BB has Q9o, limper has A9o, I fade everything and now have chips. No other notable hands, but I did get moved directly to the left of Dan O’Brien for the last 30 minutes of the night. He had a big stack and is now at the FT. I racked up about 125K, just under chip average (30K starting stack, about 20% make it through to day 2).
Day 2 is quick write up: There were 160 people starting day 2, 81 get paid. Despite being very close to median in the chip counts, I was second in chips at my starting table. I knocked out a short stack early, he shoved from the button with 63s, I called from SB with A8o. 3 in the door, followed by A and 8, 8 on the turn finished him off. Half an hour into the level (2000/4000/500) I have about what I started with when this happens: chip leader at our table opens to 8000 UTG, I look down at AKs in middle position and make it 25K, he shoves. I didn’t think too hard about calling, figuring I’m flipping. If I fold I have M~9, might be able to ride that out for a cash. If I win the flip I’m in great shape, big chip leader at my table and have a chance to pick off the short stacks and maybe make a deep run. He has QQ, I don’t improve and head over to the Ameristar. No real regrets over this decision, I want to go deep in this tournament where the real money is, while a min cash is better than not cashing, I can make min cash money in a good night at 30/60 (and I’ve had a bunch of those lately, more on that later).
That’s the tournament write up, now to this weekend’s cash games. We’ve had a high pressure system here keeping the weather unseasonably warm for the last week or so, up in the 60s. Saturday morning I went for a run in shorts and short sleeves, don’t get to do that in February in Colorado very often. I wanted to get to Astar at a reasonable time because the lists were crazy on Friday (~20 on both 30/60 and 50/100, all tables filled by 7 PM) while I was in the tournaments, didn’t want to get shut out. I arrived at 430, there was a fairly long list for 30/60 (3 tables running) but open seating for 50/100. The 50 game didn’t look great, they were playing 5 handed with 2 very strong players, 2 so-so players and one guy I’d never seen before, I sat directly to his left. My first hand I’m in the BB with 55, button-2 opens, strong player #1 calls (?!), I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do that before, not quite sure what to make of it. Fortunately my decision is pretty easy, the flop comes A55, I chk, opener chks, next bets and I call, opener folds. Turn T, chk/chk?! I bet the river 9, he calls and shows me AQ. He must 3b that 95% in a 6 handed game, and how does he chk back the turn??
Next hand I have A6 in the SB, button opens, I 3b, BB and button both call. Flop is K
J9, k/k/b, I call, BB raises, button folds, I call? Seems okay to peel one here getting 13:1, villain is one of the so-so players, I don’t have much experience with him so not a very strong read. Turn is J, I ck/call with nut flush draw. River is an interesting card: K. Now I have nut flush on double paired board against a guy who craised a K-high flop. I think I’m gonna chk-fold here, but he surprises me and chks back, shows me QT for the flopped straight. Clearly running good now…
Very next hand the other strong player opens button-2, I 3b black kings from the button, blinds fold, he calls. Flop is 993, he craises, I don’t think he has a 9 but decide to delay raising until the turn because he might fold if I 3b here. Turn is K, I just call, probably should raise in case he has a flush draw. River is a blank and he chk/calls and mucks. Quite a start to a 50 game! One other interesting hand: blind vs blind, I’m the BB against the unknown, he raises and I just call A5s. Flop is A high, he bets, I raise he calls. Turn is a blank, he k/c. River is another overcard to my kicker, so I decide to just check back, he shows K2o (no pair)?! One of us doesn’t know how to play heads-up, and it’s entirely possible it’s me…
Played for a little more than an hour, game got even shorter and wasn’t that good anymore, so I took my 30/60 seat when it came up, +$2K. The 30 game was short-handed and included Dan O’Brien again. There were a bunch of people moved, and all of a sudden we were down to 3 people. We decided to wait for more people (there were a bunch of call-ins) so I got to chat with Dan a bit, seems like a nice guy. Soon the floor told us he couldn’t have a dead table, he was gonna open another 2/5 game if we didn’t play and let them rake $1/hand. Only lasted a few minutes before people started showing up, but seems like a terrible idea. There were no empty tables at that time, they’re really just gonna run 2 30s and 1 50 on a Saturday night?! I’d guess a 30 table rakes ~$160/hr (32x$5) versus ~$110/hr (22x5, this seems optimistic since not all hands at 2/5 rake $5), seems like they can wait half an hour.
Only interesting hand at 30/60 was this: I open KK UTG, guy directly on my left calls. He was at my starting tourney table and seemed okay, he folded AQ after I 3b him, said I’d played pretty tight so far. Button 3b, blinds call and I cap, 2 calls, 5 to the flop. Flop is T57, I bet, only BB folds. Turn is 6, guy on my left and button both call. River 2, guy to my left calls, shows 52 
. I took a little break after that hand… Came back and called a raise with 52s in my BB 3-way to the flop, AK5r flop, I k/c, turn 5 I cr, he calls, river Q, same action, he shows me AK. The 52s giveth and taketh away…
I rack up +1200 additional profit at 11 PM so I can get a good night’s sleep before day 2 of the HPT. BruhKGB, you asked for chip porn, this is all profit:
After busting the HPT on Sunday I headed across the street to Astar to play some cash. There were no seats at 30/60 (second table had just opened) but 2/5-100 O8 had a couple of seats so I took one. You may recall that once upon a time this was my main game, at least for a few months. And the game was awesome, forgotten how terrible people play this game, they way overvalue big pairs and sets. Here was my big hand: I open A25Q to 20, 2 calls behind me and BB calls as well, 80 in the pot. Flop is Q43, huge for me. I’m happy to try to take this down right here, I bet 60, first caller folds, next guy makes it 160, BB folds. Only my second orbit so I have no history with this guy but he has another 1K behind, I decide to just call and see a turn. Turn is 8, interesting because I have naked A. I chk, he bets 100, and I decide to take the safe route and simply call. River is A, gives me the wheel. Now I’m not worried about getting quartered, and I bet out, he calls and mucks. Can’t imagine what he flopped that didn’t include a redraw, maybe a set and a low? He turned out to be pretty terrible, if I had played with him longer I would’ve played this hand way more aggressively. After an hour my 30/60 seat opened, and I racked up +$400.
I sit down at 30/60 and only recognize half the table, the rest are wearing hoodies and baseball caps, I know it’s gonna be good. I post behind the button, it folds to me and I raise T4o, because if it folds to you when you post you’re supposed to raise 100% of the time. New guy on my left just calls, SMH. Blinds fold, we see a flop of Q63 2-tone, and it goes k/k. Turn is a 5, I bet my straight draw, he calls. River 2, he calls, and gives me this incredulous look when I roll my hand over. This is why the HPT is so great, he has no clue about where he is in a hand, because it’s limit. Needless to say he busted out 20 minutes later, didn’t seem too happy about it, probably told his pals about the donkey who raised T4o and sucked out on him, if only he could get me at NL
All kinds of run good during this session, bunch of my big hands held up:
1-I 3b 99 from the button, flop top set on 2-tone board and bet, BB calls initial raiser folds, I turn quads and chk, he bet/folds river.
2-I 3b KK from the button, crazy LAG calls BB, opener calls. Flop T87, I bet, LAG craises, opener calls, I don’t care much for the board texture and just call. Turn is 3, b/c/c. River is K, b/c, now I’m way ahead of 2 pair and raise, LAG tank-folds, opener knows he’s beat but only a little more than 1 bet left in front of him so he calls, MHIG.
3-This is my favorite simply because of the villain, he’s superLAG, terrible player but thinks he’s a boss. When he’s on tilt he can showdown with ATC. Always asks the dealer to wash the deck when he loses a hand, which is frequently. Seems like a nice guy though, pretty friendly at the table. SuperLAG opens middle position, I 3b QTs from the button, BB calls, LAG calls. Flop is 689 2-tone, I have backdoor flush draw, BB chks, LAG bets, I call. Turn 7, they both k/c. River 5, same action. Later on LAG moves directly across from me at the table, and he and the BB start talking about that hand and criticizing my preflop raise, as though I can’t hear them.
In the other nearly completed post that I hope to complete later I mention that part of the reason I want to resume posting these is because it forces me to analyze my play more carefully-I’m trying to avoid mistakes that are costing me money at the table. I think I played this session very well, the one notable exception is this hand. Kill pot, killer is in the cutoff, folds to me in the BB and I raise AQs, he calls. Flop 875 none of my suit, I k/c. Turn is an Ace, I bet and he raises. He’s a regular, I think he’s pretty strong and he’s telling me he can beat an Ace. But I call anyway? River is a blank, I k/c, he shows me 96o for a flopped straight. I didn’t improve to 2 pair or trips on the river, I think I should’ve folded, he does not have a whole lotta bluffs there.
Nonetheless, I had an awesome session, made a lot of hands and got paid in all of them. This includes my O8 winnings, in for $1500:
Finally, the elusive orange $1000 chips are here! For as long as I’ve been playing, purple $500 were the biggest available at the cage, but one guy who has been playing for a long time had a bunch of orange chips that he would occasionally show off. Now, apparently 30/60 players have taken so many purples out of circulation they’re giving out orange chips if you ask now:
That’s all for now, gonna try to get out in the nice weather. I hope to get back to making these posts on a somewhat more regular basis!
It’s Monday of President’s Day weekend, and I really wish I didn’t have time to write this post-I’d rather be playing the final table of the HPT at Ameristar. The HPT is in town, which is always a great thing from my perspective. The main reason is that a bunch of tournament and NLHE donks show up, many of them have heard about the 30/60 game and want to play because 2/5-100 spread limit is weird, most of them suck at LHE. The secondary reason is that the main event ($1650 buy in) here always has a huge prize pool, > $1M and between $200K-250K up top. I try to play when I can, and this time I decided to take a 4 day weekend and play on Friday. I went up on Thursday night to play a satellite, got there an hour after it started and was 50th on the alternate list, decided to go play 30/60 instead. I was up close to my tourney buy in, then couldn’t complete a draw while all of my opponents made theirs, I gave it back plus another $1500. Left too early in the morning.
I still managed to get in a run on Friday morning before heading up to Golden Gates to play the tournament. I had a good starting table, only knew one person there from the 30/60 game, he’s very good. But half the table was atrocious, I couldn’t believe some of the hands that were turned over. I stayed up most of the time, and knocked out 2 players with this hand: guy on my right limps (this is a guy who twice open-limped the button!) and I raise TT. Donkey caller calls from BB, we see a flop of 876 two-tone, BB chks, limper shoves for ~ twice pot, I call, BB now reshoves a bit more which I call. BB has Q9o, limper has A9o, I fade everything and now have chips. No other notable hands, but I did get moved directly to the left of Dan O’Brien for the last 30 minutes of the night. He had a big stack and is now at the FT. I racked up about 125K, just under chip average (30K starting stack, about 20% make it through to day 2).
Day 2 is quick write up: There were 160 people starting day 2, 81 get paid. Despite being very close to median in the chip counts, I was second in chips at my starting table. I knocked out a short stack early, he shoved from the button with 63s, I called from SB with A8o. 3 in the door, followed by A and 8, 8 on the turn finished him off. Half an hour into the level (2000/4000/500) I have about what I started with when this happens: chip leader at our table opens to 8000 UTG, I look down at AKs in middle position and make it 25K, he shoves. I didn’t think too hard about calling, figuring I’m flipping. If I fold I have M~9, might be able to ride that out for a cash. If I win the flip I’m in great shape, big chip leader at my table and have a chance to pick off the short stacks and maybe make a deep run. He has QQ, I don’t improve and head over to the Ameristar. No real regrets over this decision, I want to go deep in this tournament where the real money is, while a min cash is better than not cashing, I can make min cash money in a good night at 30/60 (and I’ve had a bunch of those lately, more on that later).
That’s the tournament write up, now to this weekend’s cash games. We’ve had a high pressure system here keeping the weather unseasonably warm for the last week or so, up in the 60s. Saturday morning I went for a run in shorts and short sleeves, don’t get to do that in February in Colorado very often. I wanted to get to Astar at a reasonable time because the lists were crazy on Friday (~20 on both 30/60 and 50/100, all tables filled by 7 PM) while I was in the tournaments, didn’t want to get shut out. I arrived at 430, there was a fairly long list for 30/60 (3 tables running) but open seating for 50/100. The 50 game didn’t look great, they were playing 5 handed with 2 very strong players, 2 so-so players and one guy I’d never seen before, I sat directly to his left. My first hand I’m in the BB with 55, button-2 opens, strong player #1 calls (?!), I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do that before, not quite sure what to make of it. Fortunately my decision is pretty easy, the flop comes A55, I chk, opener chks, next bets and I call, opener folds. Turn T, chk/chk?! I bet the river 9, he calls and shows me AQ. He must 3b that 95% in a 6 handed game, and how does he chk back the turn??
Next hand I have A
6 in the SB, button opens, I 3b, BB and button both call. Flop is KJ9, k/k/b, I call, BB raises, button folds, I call? Seems okay to peel one here getting 13:1, villain is one of the so-so players, I don’t have much experience with him so not a very strong read. Turn is J, I ck/call with nut flush draw. River is an interesting card: K. Now I have nut flush on double paired board against a guy who craised a K-high flop. I think I’m gonna chk-fold here, but he surprises me and chks back, shows me QT for the flopped straight. Clearly running good now…Very next hand the other strong player opens button-2, I 3b black kings from the button, blinds fold, he calls. Flop is 9
93, he craises, I don’t think he has a 9 but decide to delay raising until the turn because he might fold if I 3b here. Turn is K, I just call, probably should raise in case he has a flush draw. River is a blank and he chk/calls and mucks. Quite a start to a 50 game! One other interesting hand: blind vs blind, I’m the BB against the unknown, he raises and I just call A5s. Flop is A high, he bets, I raise he calls. Turn is a blank, he k/c. River is another overcard to my kicker, so I decide to just check back, he shows K2o (no pair)?! One of us doesn’t know how to play heads-up, and it’s entirely possible it’s me…Played for a little more than an hour, game got even shorter and wasn’t that good anymore, so I took my 30/60 seat when it came up, +$2K. The 30 game was short-handed and included Dan O’Brien again. There were a bunch of people moved, and all of a sudden we were down to 3 people. We decided to wait for more people (there were a bunch of call-ins) so I got to chat with Dan a bit, seems like a nice guy. Soon the floor told us he couldn’t have a dead table, he was gonna open another 2/5 game if we didn’t play and let them rake $1/hand. Only lasted a few minutes before people started showing up, but seems like a terrible idea. There were no empty tables at that time, they’re really just gonna run 2 30s and 1 50 on a Saturday night?! I’d guess a 30 table rakes ~$160/hr (32x$5) versus ~$110/hr (22x5, this seems optimistic since not all hands at 2/5 rake $5), seems like they can wait half an hour.
Only interesting hand at 30/60 was this: I open K
K UTG, guy directly on my left calls. He was at my starting tourney table and seemed okay, he folded AQ after I 3b him, said I’d played pretty tight so far. Button 3b, blinds call and I cap, 2 calls, 5 to the flop. Flop is T57, I bet, only BB folds. Turn is 6, guy on my left and button both call. River 2, guy to my left calls, shows 52 . I took a little break after that hand… Came back and called a raise with 52s in my BB 3-way to the flop, AK5r flop, I k/c, turn 5 I cr, he calls, river Q, same action, he shows me AK. The 52s giveth and taketh away…I rack up +1200 additional profit at 11 PM so I can get a good night’s sleep before day 2 of the HPT. BruhKGB, you asked for chip porn, this is all profit:
After busting the HPT on Sunday I headed across the street to Astar to play some cash. There were no seats at 30/60 (second table had just opened) but 2/5-100 O8 had a couple of seats so I took one. You may recall that once upon a time this was my main game, at least for a few months. And the game was awesome, forgotten how terrible people play this game, they way overvalue big pairs and sets. Here was my big hand: I open A
25Q to 20, 2 calls behind me and BB calls as well, 80 in the pot. Flop is Q43, huge for me. I’m happy to try to take this down right here, I bet 60, first caller folds, next guy makes it 160, BB folds. Only my second orbit so I have no history with this guy but he has another 1K behind, I decide to just call and see a turn. Turn is 8, interesting because I have naked A. I chk, he bets 100, and I decide to take the safe route and simply call. River is A, gives me the wheel. Now I’m not worried about getting quartered, and I bet out, he calls and mucks. Can’t imagine what he flopped that didn’t include a redraw, maybe a set and a low? He turned out to be pretty terrible, if I had played with him longer I would’ve played this hand way more aggressively. After an hour my 30/60 seat opened, and I racked up +$400.I sit down at 30/60 and only recognize half the table, the rest are wearing hoodies and baseball caps, I know it’s gonna be good. I post behind the button, it folds to me and I raise T4o, because if it folds to you when you post you’re supposed to raise 100% of the time. New guy on my left just calls, SMH. Blinds fold, we see a flop of Q63 2-tone, and it goes k/k. Turn is a 5, I bet my straight draw, he calls. River 2, he calls, and gives me this incredulous look when I roll my hand over. This is why the HPT is so great, he has no clue about where he is in a hand, because it’s limit. Needless to say he busted out 20 minutes later, didn’t seem too happy about it, probably told his pals about the donkey who raised T4o and sucked out on him, if only he could get me at NL
All kinds of run good during this session, bunch of my big hands held up:
1-I 3b 99 from the button, flop top set on 2-tone board and bet, BB calls initial raiser folds, I turn quads and chk, he bet/folds river.
2-I 3b K
K from the button, crazy LAG calls BB, opener calls. Flop T87, I bet, LAG craises, opener calls, I don’t care much for the board texture and just call. Turn is 3, b/c/c. River is K, b/c, now I’m way ahead of 2 pair and raise, LAG tank-folds, opener knows he’s beat but only a little more than 1 bet left in front of him so he calls, MHIG.3-This is my favorite simply because of the villain, he’s superLAG, terrible player but thinks he’s a boss. When he’s on tilt he can showdown with ATC. Always asks the dealer to wash the deck when he loses a hand, which is frequently. Seems like a nice guy though, pretty friendly at the table. SuperLAG opens middle position, I 3b QTs from the button, BB calls, LAG calls. Flop is 689 2-tone, I have backdoor flush draw, BB chks, LAG bets, I call. Turn 7, they both k/c. River 5, same action. Later on LAG moves directly across from me at the table, and he and the BB start talking about that hand and criticizing my preflop raise, as though I can’t hear them.
In the other nearly completed post that I hope to complete later I mention that part of the reason I want to resume posting these is because it forces me to analyze my play more carefully-I’m trying to avoid mistakes that are costing me money at the table. I think I played this session very well, the one notable exception is this hand. Kill pot, killer is in the cutoff, folds to me in the BB and I raise AQs, he calls. Flop 875 none of my suit, I k/c. Turn is an Ace, I bet and he raises. He’s a regular, I think he’s pretty strong and he’s telling me he can beat an Ace. But I call anyway? River is a blank, I k/c, he shows me 96o for a flopped straight. I didn’t improve to 2 pair or trips on the river, I think I should’ve folded, he does not have a whole lotta bluffs there.
Nonetheless, I had an awesome session, made a lot of hands and got paid in all of them. This includes my O8 winnings, in for $1500:
Finally, the elusive orange $1000 chips are here! For as long as I’ve been playing, purple $500 were the biggest available at the cage, but one guy who has been playing for a long time had a bunch of orange chips that he would occasionally show off. Now, apparently 30/60 players have taken so many purples out of circulation they’re giving out orange chips if you ask now:
That’s all for now, gonna try to get out in the nice weather. I hope to get back to making these posts on a somewhat more regular basis!
02-20-2017
, 06:03 PM
Nice post. Glad to hear things are going well. If the 50 and 30 games are this good, no idea why you'd bother with a donkament.
It is like one of my online buddies who sits the 75/150 (to whatever they kick it up to) S/8 game at the Rio. It seems like his hourly is insane in that game. Wandering over to play some 1500 or 3K donkament seems like a total waste of time/money.
It is like one of my online buddies who sits the 75/150 (to whatever they kick it up to) S/8 game at the Rio. It seems like his hourly is insane in that game. Wandering over to play some 1500 or 3K donkament seems like a total waste of time/money.
02-20-2017
, 07:30 PM
Quote:
Nice post. Glad to hear things are going well. If the 50 and 30 games are this good, no idea why you'd bother with a donkament.
It is like one of my online buddies who sits the 75/150 (to whatever they kick it up to) S/8 game at the Rio. It seems like his hourly is insane in that game. Wandering over to play some 1500 or 3K donkament seems like a total waste of time/money.
It is like one of my online buddies who sits the 75/150 (to whatever they kick it up to) S/8 game at the Rio. It seems like his hourly is insane in that game. Wandering over to play some 1500 or 3K donkament seems like a total waste of time/money.
Also: which mod moved my thread from House of Blogs to PGC? It's been in HoB for 3.5 yrs, if you think it shouldn't be here couldn't you at least ask me if I want it moved (no, I don't, this is where people know to find it now)? Or do you think it will get more exposure in PGC? I have no goals or challenges in poker, except to win ALL the $$$
02-23-2017
, 11:30 AM
02-24-2017
, 01:05 AM
(This update is really from early February and predates the most recent one but I couldn’t manage to complete it until today)
Hey Everybody,
I’m gonna try to get this blog back on track! I probably said that last year too…
One reason I want to get this going again is because it forces me to analyze my play in more detail. I do text various interesting hands to one of my poker friends who only plays during the week, and lately he’s been berating me for some poor decisions. So this is really just an attempt to force myself to play better-I don’t really need to play better to beat this game but I think the softness of this game makes me play poorly when I’m in tougher games (and don’t even get me started about paying off value bets in NL).
Just to catch everyone up: 2016 was another crazy year in many regards. I got back to the weight room after the pinched nerve in my back healed up, that went great until the end of October when I tweaked that again, getting back in shape now. But between needing more sleep and starting a big new project at work, I pretty much abandoned the Denver mixed game, it was just too much during the week. I also finished up my remodeled house in August, well worth the 15 months I lived in my rental. But it did take a lot of time to decide on everything from flooring and appliances to light fixtures and landscaping. I had a custom poker table built for the basement man cave, found Tony in the home games subforum, he is highly recommended (plus the US dollar remains fairly strong against the Canadian dollar so the pricing works out nicely if you’re in the US):
More pics here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...2&postcount=16
I recently hosted my first game for a bunch of the 30 players who mostly live in Boulder, it’d be a tough lineup at the Ameristar but this was just for fun. A lot of the guys want to learn mixed games, so we played 2/4 limit, 1/1 PLO(8), and 1/1 NL (including single draw, which nobody had played for money before). Lots of fun, I’ll do it again soon.
2016 was another good year for me at Ameristar. 50/100 ran frequently in the fall, and I played 14 sessions and won 12 of them, just crushed that game. The lineup is very similar to a typical 30/60 lineup, with a few huge degenerates mixed in to add extra variance. Fortunately I was on the right side of the variance most of the time, and my win rate (in BBs/hr) was more than double my rate for 30/60. Of course this is mostly due to the small sample size, ~100 hours, nonetheless it’s good to run good when you’re playing twice your normal stakes. BruhKGB, here’s a little chip porn for you from a 50 game, I’m in this for $4K (usually buy in $3K, must’ve been stuck and rebought), most money I’ve ever had on the table:
And lately I’ve been on an extended heater: since September 10th, I have won 20 of 23 sessions at 30/60, including my last 7. Those 7 winning sessions came after 2 yuge losses around the New Year, including my biggest loss ever (~80 BBs!)-this particular session I could not win a pot to save my life. I took this beat: kill pot, new guy who is showing down some bizarre hands opens UTG, killer folds, I 3b AA from middle position and we’re heads up to a flop of J67r, he k/c. Turn is a K, same action. River is another K, now he bets out, and I call, he shows me K5o. No defense against getting there I guess. A few other bad hands like that where I lose when my opponent is dominated and I’m buried.
But enough whining about that session: last weekend I played all 3 days (first time in ages for that) and Friday night this weekend. Each session was a ~ 50 BB winner, never had a winning stretch like that before!
Last Sunday was a short session because I met my friend for dinner at the steakhouse, but this hand happened: kill pot, terrible old Russian woman (we’ll call her Natasia) is killing UTG+1. UTG limps, MP raises, hijack 3b, passive cutoff cold calls 3, SB folds, and I look down to find KK in the big blind! I 4b (cap), of course all call. Six of us see a Q44r flop, I ck, UTG cks, Natasia bets (!) MP raises, hijack folds cutoff calls, all others call 2. Five of us see a 6 on the turn, ckd to MP who again bets and is called by cutoff, I raise, and everyone calls! Five of us see the river, a harmless 9, first 2 fold to my bet and last 2 call, they both show me AQ, and I’m stacking 6 barrels of green for half an orbit Biggest single pot I’ve ever had had 30/60, 30 BBs total.
Here’s another monster from last Friday: it’s early in the morning, and the lineup at my table is perfect for gambling so I suggest doing a round of straddles, ‘cause nothing makes people play worse than a straddle. UTG is some terrible Indian guy who keeps rebuying for $300, and he gets the straddle out, wacky LAG raises, this guy drives tons of action and is the main reason 50/100 runs. Three people call including SB and I call 77 in the BB. 6 of us see a J73r flop, chkd to wacky LAG who bets, 2 calls in front of me, and I c/r, UTG calls and all call. Five of us see a 6 on the turn, I bet, UTG call, LAG now raises, SB calls. Here I take a minute to think through this hand: no way this guy has 54 for the straight, the only possible hand I’m behind here is JJ, but most likely scenario is an overpair, so I 3b to 180. UTG is now all in for 150. LAG has the deer-in-the-headlights look and takes a minute or two to have a card funeral and mucks, SB calls. River is another 6, now SB bets into me and calls my raise, flashes me A6s when he mucks (why do they give me free info??). LAG later tells me he folded AJ, seems possible as I’ve seen this guy make a lot of good folds, but that’s awful nitty given the size of the pot…
Here's another example of the straddle making people crazy, this hand is from a few weeks ago. Straddle is on, UTG+1 (solid player, suitably aggressive) raises, one call in front of me, I 3b red 44 (!!) in hijack? A bit of a tricky read, I’m not really too sure what to do here but the straddle makes people crazy, and I prefer to take an aggressive line here. Cutoff is a terrible Asian calling station, and he’s tilted now because he’s stuck, cold calls 4, button (2/5 player, underrolled for this game and plays accordingly) also calls 4, blinds and straddle fold, others call, 11.5 BBs. Flop is 864, I bet, cutoff raises, button 3b, other 2 players fold, I cap (should look like an overpair), 17.5 BBs. Cutoff has either 8 or 6 here, plays them the same way. Button might have the same or combo draw. Turn is the perfect 8, and I check, cutoff bets, button calls, I c/r, cutoff 3b, he obviously has the 8, button tank/folds (he’s actually a decent player) and I 4b. Cutoff thinks and talks out loud, wondering if I have 66, before calling, 26.5 BBs. River is a Q, he calls and shows me J8s.
Finally, this one is from a couple of weeks ago, main villain in this hand is terrible but thinks he’s the nuts (same guy from the QTs hand in my previous post), asks for a wash whenever he loses a pot, complains out loud about losing to a bunch of bingo players but he plays ~60-70% of his hands: I open JTs from MP, villain cold calls button, and BB (crazy tilted older Asian woman, very nice-she gave me a red envelope on Chinese New Years!- but horrible player and loves to gamble) 3b, I call, villain calls. Flop is KJT, she bets, I just call because villain is very spewey and I don’t want him going away, he calls as well. Maybe I should be raising here? This board is superwet… But no matter, the turn is another J, she bets again, I call again to give people a chance to improve, but villain now raises (!) and BB calls. He has a wide range here, Q9 is possible as is Jx, but it doesn’t matter much since he’s never folding either, and I 3b now, they both call. River is a blank, villain calls, BB folds, he shows me the case J before mucking.
Okay, that’s all I got, want to get this posted finally. Hopefully I’ll have a new update for you next Monday, dinner plans for Friday but I expect to grind on Saturday night, possibly Sunday if there’s still snow on the ground and soccer practice gets cancelled.
Hey Everybody,
I’m gonna try to get this blog back on track! I probably said that last year too…
One reason I want to get this going again is because it forces me to analyze my play in more detail. I do text various interesting hands to one of my poker friends who only plays during the week, and lately he’s been berating me for some poor decisions. So this is really just an attempt to force myself to play better-I don’t really need to play better to beat this game but I think the softness of this game makes me play poorly when I’m in tougher games (and don’t even get me started about paying off value bets in NL).
Just to catch everyone up: 2016 was another crazy year in many regards. I got back to the weight room after the pinched nerve in my back healed up, that went great until the end of October when I tweaked that again, getting back in shape now. But between needing more sleep and starting a big new project at work, I pretty much abandoned the Denver mixed game, it was just too much during the week. I also finished up my remodeled house in August, well worth the 15 months I lived in my rental. But it did take a lot of time to decide on everything from flooring and appliances to light fixtures and landscaping. I had a custom poker table built for the basement man cave, found Tony in the home games subforum, he is highly recommended (plus the US dollar remains fairly strong against the Canadian dollar so the pricing works out nicely if you’re in the US):
More pics here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...2&postcount=16
I recently hosted my first game for a bunch of the 30 players who mostly live in Boulder, it’d be a tough lineup at the Ameristar but this was just for fun. A lot of the guys want to learn mixed games, so we played 2/4 limit, 1/1 PLO(8), and 1/1 NL (including single draw, which nobody had played for money before). Lots of fun, I’ll do it again soon.
2016 was another good year for me at Ameristar. 50/100 ran frequently in the fall, and I played 14 sessions and won 12 of them, just crushed that game. The lineup is very similar to a typical 30/60 lineup, with a few huge degenerates mixed in to add extra variance. Fortunately I was on the right side of the variance most of the time, and my win rate (in BBs/hr) was more than double my rate for 30/60. Of course this is mostly due to the small sample size, ~100 hours, nonetheless it’s good to run good when you’re playing twice your normal stakes. BruhKGB, here’s a little chip porn for you from a 50 game, I’m in this for $4K (usually buy in $3K, must’ve been stuck and rebought), most money I’ve ever had on the table:
And lately I’ve been on an extended heater: since September 10th, I have won 20 of 23 sessions at 30/60, including my last 7. Those 7 winning sessions came after 2 yuge losses around the New Year, including my biggest loss ever (~80 BBs!)-this particular session I could not win a pot to save my life. I took this beat: kill pot, new guy who is showing down some bizarre hands opens UTG, killer folds, I 3b AA from middle position and we’re heads up to a flop of J67r, he k/c. Turn is a K, same action. River is another K, now he bets out, and I call, he shows me K5o. No defense against getting there I guess. A few other bad hands like that where I lose when my opponent is dominated and I’m buried.
But enough whining about that session: last weekend I played all 3 days (first time in ages for that) and Friday night this weekend. Each session was a ~ 50 BB winner, never had a winning stretch like that before!
Last Sunday was a short session because I met my friend for dinner at the steakhouse, but this hand happened: kill pot, terrible old Russian woman (we’ll call her Natasia) is killing UTG+1. UTG limps, MP raises, hijack 3b, passive cutoff cold calls 3, SB folds, and I look down to find KK in the big blind! I 4b (cap), of course all call. Six of us see a Q44r flop, I ck, UTG cks, Natasia bets (!) MP raises, hijack folds cutoff calls, all others call 2. Five of us see a 6 on the turn, ckd to MP who again bets and is called by cutoff, I raise, and everyone calls! Five of us see the river, a harmless 9, first 2 fold to my bet and last 2 call, they both show me AQ, and I’m stacking 6 barrels of green for half an orbit
Biggest single pot I’ve ever had had 30/60, 30 BBs total.Here’s another monster from last Friday: it’s early in the morning, and the lineup at my table is perfect for gambling so I suggest doing a round of straddles, ‘cause nothing makes people play worse than a straddle. UTG is some terrible Indian guy who keeps rebuying for $300, and he gets the straddle out, wacky LAG raises, this guy drives tons of action and is the main reason 50/100 runs. Three people call including SB and I call 77 in the BB. 6 of us see a J73r flop, chkd to wacky LAG who bets, 2 calls in front of me, and I c/r, UTG calls and all call. Five of us see a 6 on the turn, I bet, UTG call, LAG now raises, SB calls. Here I take a minute to think through this hand: no way this guy has 54 for the straight, the only possible hand I’m behind here is JJ, but most likely scenario is an overpair, so I 3b to 180. UTG is now all in for 150. LAG has the deer-in-the-headlights look and takes a minute or two to have a card funeral and mucks, SB calls. River is another 6, now SB bets into me and calls my raise, flashes me A6s when he mucks (why do they give me free info??). LAG later tells me he folded AJ, seems possible as I’ve seen this guy make a lot of good folds, but that’s awful nitty given the size of the pot…
Here's another example of the straddle making people crazy, this hand is from a few weeks ago. Straddle is on, UTG+1 (solid player, suitably aggressive) raises, one call in front of me, I 3b red 44 (!!) in hijack? A bit of a tricky read, I’m not really too sure what to do here but the straddle makes people crazy, and I prefer to take an aggressive line here. Cutoff is a terrible Asian calling station, and he’s tilted now because he’s stuck, cold calls 4, button (2/5 player, underrolled for this game and plays accordingly) also calls 4, blinds and straddle fold, others call, 11.5 BBs. Flop is 8
64, I bet, cutoff raises, button 3b, other 2 players fold, I cap (should look like an overpair), 17.5 BBs. Cutoff has either 8 or 6 here, plays them the same way. Button might have the same or combo draw. Turn is the perfect 8, and I check, cutoff bets, button calls, I c/r, cutoff 3b, he obviously has the 8, button tank/folds (he’s actually a decent player) and I 4b. Cutoff thinks and talks out loud, wondering if I have 66, before calling, 26.5 BBs. River is a Q, he calls and shows me J8s. Finally, this one is from a couple of weeks ago, main villain in this hand is terrible but thinks he’s the nuts (same guy from the QTs hand in my previous post), asks for a wash whenever he loses a pot, complains out loud about losing to a bunch of bingo players but he plays ~60-70% of his hands: I open JTs from MP, villain cold calls button, and BB (crazy tilted older Asian woman, very nice-she gave me a red envelope on Chinese New Years!- but horrible player and loves to gamble) 3b, I call, villain calls. Flop is K
JT, she bets, I just call because villain is very spewey and I don’t want him going away, he calls as well. Maybe I should be raising here? This board is superwet… But no matter, the turn is another J, she bets again, I call again to give people a chance to improve, but villain now raises (!) and BB calls. He has a wide range here, Q9 is possible as is Jx, but it doesn’t matter much since he’s never folding either, and I 3b now, they both call. River is a blank, villain calls, BB folds, he shows me the case J before mucking.Okay, that’s all I got, want to get this posted finally. Hopefully I’ll have a new update for you next Monday, dinner plans for Friday but I expect to grind on Saturday night, possibly Sunday if there’s still snow on the ground and soccer practice gets cancelled.