2014: I Ain’t Trying to Survive, I’m Trying to Live it to The (No) Limit
05-08-2014
, 09:37 PM
05-09-2014
, 12:34 AM
05-10-2014
, 04:16 PM
May 9 - "Thank God for granting me, this moment of clarity."
This whole session I felt like I was seeing things pretty clearly and after a stint at 2/5, I was on a whole other level separating myself from 1/2 results. My goal is always to make the right decision every time it's my turn and the rest will sort itself out. I always know if I keep doing this, I'm going to make money. Today, I felt that so intrinsically that I felt complete peace even when I was stuck a few hundred early. I wouldn't say this was a weakness or an issue before, but it felt like a huge strength and we should always be growing in all aspects of the game.
Early on I recognize that I'm at a really, really good table. There's a woman two seats to my left playing like 95% VPIP, calling PFR with about 80% of her hands and making it to the river maybe 75% of the time. I get into a thin spot against her early on.
Hand No. 1
The CO limps and I'm on the button with K
J
. I raise to $12. The super fishy woman calls from the blinds. The limper folds.
Flop ($24): T9
2:diamond
She checks, and I'd usually cbet this flop, but she's calling me so wide it's not worth it, unless I'm doing it for value, and I think that's just not worth building the pot.
Turn ($24): 2
She checks. At this point I decide to fire because she's shown such weakness. I bet $15. She calls.
River ($52): J
She bets $15. I think for a bit, and I feel like her range includes a lot of hands that paired the J on the end that I beat, as well as some Tx, 9x hands. I go for thinv alue and raise to $40. She calls with 23o. Oops.
Hand No. 2
The HJ limps, the CO limps and I raise AKo on the button to $15. It folds around to the hijack who raises to $65 and has like $90 behind. The CO folds and I slide a rack forward as I'm about to seat change. He snap calls. "Hopefully not aces or kings," I say. He shows AA and I don't get there despite flopping a gutshot. Two people I talked to said I should give limp-raises more respect. I typically do, but not in LP. They disagree with me on that one and I'm thinking about changing it... I have definitely been running AK into AA/KK too much.
Forget tapping the glass, this dude shattered it.
I get a seat change, and shortly thereafter a super nit played a weird hand. There's a limp, fishy lady raises, nit calls, limper calls.
Flop ($30-$40): A
2A
Super nit bets $50. Limper raises to $150 with a couple hundred behind. Lady folds and nit thinks for like 8 seconds and quickly folds AK face up. "I know you have 22, you can't have anything else," he says. Obviously the guy could easily have AQ, AJ, etc. The rest of the table is reacting and talking about how they'd never fold it.
Fishy lady: "I don't know how you could ever fold that? What are you thinking?"
Super nit: "That's why you just bought another $300 in chips."
And he racks up and leaves. She went down to about 25% VPIP, called raises with about 20% of her hands and started folding a lot more. She was still awful, but she wasn't just absolutely giving money away. She never went back for like 5+ hours, so that super nit guy cost us a lot of equity.
It's bad enough that he's like VPIP 8% PFR 2%, but dude, DONT BEAT ON THE GLASS!
Hand No. 3
I limp 9T, an aggressive player raises to $11, the button raises to $30. I call, because we're like $550-$600 deep, and I think I have a solid read on the other guy. The aggro player calls too.
Flop ($88): 77J
I check, aggro checks, 3bettor bets $45. I call, aggro folds. I'm pretty sure he's weak, and that he's folding like QQ and KK if I check-raise the turn.
Turn ($178): 5
Nice card for me. I decide to check-raise. I check, he checks.
River ($178): 6x
This is one of those spots where you made a good read on your opponent but expected him to barrel and he didn't. Now the problem is that he'll call me with QQ+, but he probably would have bet the turn with them. I think he'll fold 88-TT, plus I block those, so he most likely has AK/AQ. I bet $120, he thinks for about five seconds and folds. He tells me how he just KNOWS I had it, and I had him, etc.
Hand No. 4
The fish lady limps, I raise to $12 with 7:heart7. A dude that's all tatted up drinking a Corona calls.
Flop ($34): T85
She checks her cards, checks them again and bets $18. I have a tell on her strength and I don't see it, and the checking cards is a weakness tell. I call. The tatted up guy calls and thinks just got complicated. He's relatively new and seems pretty bad. He just played a hand where his betting pattern would strongly indicate he jammed the flush when he made it on the river, so I sort of have a read. (It went uncalled)
Turn ($88): 9
She checks, I check, tattoo guy bets $40. She calls. I'm now open ended and getting 4-to-1. However, half my outs COULD complete someone else's flush. Of course, if that's the case, then I could be ahead of both of them. It kind of feels like they're both drawing. I call.
River ($208): K
She checks, I check, he quickly shoves for $106. She folds. I tank. He looks different from when he shoved a couple hands prior with what I believe is a flush. That betting pattern added up to a flush, and the tell matched. This one adds up to... Ummm... Hmmm... QJ, 67, and busted draws. Maybe K9, KT, but it doesn't feel like that to me.
I tank for a while and he seems uncomfortable. "Do you have QJ of hearts?" I ask. He gives no reaction, which for a weak player usually means they don't have it. Like three seconds later he purses his lip. A delayed reaction. So he wants me to think he has it because he's bluffing?
I slide a stack forward. He nods to me as if to say you're good. I turn over 77. The table oohs and ahhs, and he shows A6. They would later tell tales of my greatness to other players coming to the table, which I'm okay with, because they probably won't try to bluff me.
Hand No. 5
A bald guy with earbuds who's opening pretty wide raises to $11, the fish lady calls and I'm in the SB with AK. I've 3bet him twice in the last 30 minutes. Once light, and once with a hand - he folded both. I raise to $40. He calls. She folds.
Flop ($88): JTx6
He's $82 behind, so to me this is a pretty automatic shove. When I get called I often have about 30% equity, and I'm putting 32% of the pot in. Sometimes I'll be called by a flopped set or QQ, but sometimes I'll be called by 88 or 99 too. I jam, he snap calls, he has KJ and holds. Keep calling $40 3bets with KJ and $82 behind, bro. Fine by me.
Hand No. 6
Then a Mur Mur looking guy raises to $9, bald earbuds guy calls, an Asian guy who just sat down in a v-neck and seems gambly calls, fish lady calls and I raise to $50 on the button with QQ. UTG calls with $300 behind. Mur Mur guy calls ($29 behind), Asian kid calls ($111 behind).
Flop ($206): JT9
Well aint that beautiful. UTG checks, and he's the one I'm worried about. Mur Mur guy jams $29, bald guy folds, Asian kid jams $111. I debate what to do. I'm obviously not worried about those guys - they're going to have a lot of draws and one pair/open ended type hands. I look at the felt, but I peep at UTG with my peripheral as he checks his hole cards. OK, AK and AQ are out. He sets them down and I just get the feeling that he's done with the hand. When he puts his chip back on top of them it seems to be more as a courtesy to not give info away. Hard to describe. I shove, he snap folds KK face up. Mur Mur kid shows QJ, Asian kid yells "Straight flush draw!" and shows 68, and I show the black QQ.
Turn ($293 main, $164 side): 5
River ($293, $164): K
I drag the sidepot and chop the main pot with QJ.
That's the last hand I wrote notes on. Later in the night I ran QQ into KK for $200. I was in the SB and 3bet bald earbuds guy again, and I had been running the table over shorthanded. A pretty good kid in the BB raised to $100, and it folded around. He had $100 behind, and against anybody under 50 I think this is an auto shove. He snapped, asked if I had AA, and I said no, he showed KK and held despite my picking up a straight draw.
I ended up cashing out for $479 after being in for $600, so -$121 in 8 hours and change.
The Shot Taking Plan
I don't think I've put this in here yet. I feel like moving up every time I hit 8K and down every time I hit 6K leaves me vulnerable to a 1/2 downswing. I believe that your bankroll should always be growing. If you siphon off your wins for tournament, shot taking, expenses, etc, every time you hit the same number you open yourself up to increased risk of ruin. Thus, for every 3K it grows, I'll take a 2K shot. Thus, the next shot comes at 9K. If I happen to hit the 9,500 goal in time for the Milly Maker, I'll figure out how to handle that - I'd likely play it even though it'll hurt my chances of staying at 2/5. The upside is too big.
The Days Ahead
I'm grinding a long session today at 1/2 at Borgata, then checking out tomorrow to go spend Mother's Day at home. Monday is my golf league, but I may play a little at Delaware Park Monday night. Tuesday if I'm back to 2/5 level, I'll be at Parx. If not, I may hit up Maryland Live. It's only five minutes farther than Parx and probably has better 1/2 action. In fact, anyone who's played both want to let me know if hte 2/5 is better too? We're mainly talking weeknights.
I've got broadcasting work Wed/Thurs, then I check in to Borgata - I have a golf outing Friday at one of my favorite courses in the region, then I'll play Friday night at Borgata and a long session Saturday.
This whole session I felt like I was seeing things pretty clearly and after a stint at 2/5, I was on a whole other level separating myself from 1/2 results. My goal is always to make the right decision every time it's my turn and the rest will sort itself out. I always know if I keep doing this, I'm going to make money. Today, I felt that so intrinsically that I felt complete peace even when I was stuck a few hundred early. I wouldn't say this was a weakness or an issue before, but it felt like a huge strength and we should always be growing in all aspects of the game.
Early on I recognize that I'm at a really, really good table. There's a woman two seats to my left playing like 95% VPIP, calling PFR with about 80% of her hands and making it to the river maybe 75% of the time. I get into a thin spot against her early on.
Hand No. 1
The CO limps and I'm on the button with K
J. I raise to $12. The super fishy woman calls from the blinds. The limper folds.Flop ($24): T
92:diamondShe checks, and I'd usually cbet this flop, but she's calling me so wide it's not worth it, unless I'm doing it for value, and I think that's just not worth building the pot.
Turn ($24): 2
She checks. At this point I decide to fire because she's shown such weakness. I bet $15. She calls.
River ($52): J
She bets $15. I think for a bit, and I feel like her range includes a lot of hands that paired the J on the end that I beat, as well as some Tx, 9x hands. I go for thinv alue and raise to $40. She calls with 23o. Oops.
Hand No. 2
The HJ limps, the CO limps and I raise AKo on the button to $15. It folds around to the hijack who raises to $65 and has like $90 behind. The CO folds and I slide a rack forward as I'm about to seat change. He snap calls. "Hopefully not aces or kings," I say. He shows AA and I don't get there despite flopping a gutshot. Two people I talked to said I should give limp-raises more respect. I typically do, but not in LP. They disagree with me on that one and I'm thinking about changing it... I have definitely been running AK into AA/KK too much.
Forget tapping the glass, this dude shattered it.
I get a seat change, and shortly thereafter a super nit played a weird hand. There's a limp, fishy lady raises, nit calls, limper calls.
Flop ($30-$40): A
2ASuper nit bets $50. Limper raises to $150 with a couple hundred behind. Lady folds and nit thinks for like 8 seconds and quickly folds AK face up. "I know you have 22, you can't have anything else," he says. Obviously the guy could easily have AQ, AJ, etc. The rest of the table is reacting and talking about how they'd never fold it.
Fishy lady: "I don't know how you could ever fold that? What are you thinking?"
Super nit: "That's why you just bought another $300 in chips."
And he racks up and leaves. She went down to about 25% VPIP, called raises with about 20% of her hands and started folding a lot more. She was still awful, but she wasn't just absolutely giving money away. She never went back for like 5+ hours, so that super nit guy cost us a lot of equity.
It's bad enough that he's like VPIP 8% PFR 2%, but dude, DONT BEAT ON THE GLASS!
Hand No. 3
I limp 9
T, an aggressive player raises to $11, the button raises to $30. I call, because we're like $550-$600 deep, and I think I have a solid read on the other guy. The aggro player calls too.Flop ($88): 7
7JI check, aggro checks, 3bettor bets $45. I call, aggro folds. I'm pretty sure he's weak, and that he's folding like QQ and KK if I check-raise the turn.
Turn ($178): 5
Nice card for me. I decide to check-raise. I check, he checks.
River ($178): 6x
This is one of those spots where you made a good read on your opponent but expected him to barrel and he didn't. Now the problem is that he'll call me with QQ+, but he probably would have bet the turn with them. I think he'll fold 88-TT, plus I block those, so he most likely has AK/AQ. I bet $120, he thinks for about five seconds and folds. He tells me how he just KNOWS I had it, and I had him, etc.
Hand No. 4
The fish lady limps, I raise to $12 with 7:heart7
. A dude that's all tatted up drinking a Corona calls. Flop ($34): T
85She checks her cards, checks them again and bets $18. I have a tell on her strength and I don't see it, and the checking cards is a weakness tell. I call. The tatted up guy calls and thinks just got complicated. He's relatively new and seems pretty bad. He just played a hand where his betting pattern would strongly indicate he jammed the flush when he made it on the river, so I sort of have a read. (It went uncalled)
Turn ($88): 9
She checks, I check, tattoo guy bets $40. She calls. I'm now open ended and getting 4-to-1. However, half my outs COULD complete someone else's flush. Of course, if that's the case, then I could be ahead of both of them. It kind of feels like they're both drawing. I call.
River ($208): K
She checks, I check, he quickly shoves for $106. She folds. I tank. He looks different from when he shoved a couple hands prior with what I believe is a flush. That betting pattern added up to a flush, and the tell matched. This one adds up to... Ummm... Hmmm... Q
J, 67, and busted draws. Maybe K9, KT, but it doesn't feel like that to me.I tank for a while and he seems uncomfortable. "Do you have QJ of hearts?" I ask. He gives no reaction, which for a weak player usually means they don't have it. Like three seconds later he purses his lip. A delayed reaction. So he wants me to think he has it because he's bluffing?
I slide a stack forward. He nods to me as if to say you're good. I turn over 77. The table oohs and ahhs, and he shows A
6. They would later tell tales of my greatness to other players coming to the table, which I'm okay with, because they probably won't try to bluff me.Hand No. 5
A bald guy with earbuds who's opening pretty wide raises to $11, the fish lady calls and I'm in the SB with A
K. I've 3bet him twice in the last 30 minutes. Once light, and once with a hand - he folded both. I raise to $40. He calls. She folds.Flop ($88): J
Tx6He's $82 behind, so to me this is a pretty automatic shove. When I get called I often have about 30% equity, and I'm putting 32% of the pot in. Sometimes I'll be called by a flopped set or QQ, but sometimes I'll be called by 88 or 99 too. I jam, he snap calls, he has KJ and holds. Keep calling $40 3bets with KJ and $82 behind, bro. Fine by me.
Hand No. 6
Then a Mur Mur looking guy raises to $9, bald earbuds guy calls, an Asian guy who just sat down in a v-neck and seems gambly calls, fish lady calls and I raise to $50 on the button with Q
Q. UTG calls with $300 behind. Mur Mur guy calls ($29 behind), Asian kid calls ($111 behind).Flop ($206): J
T9Well aint that beautiful. UTG checks, and he's the one I'm worried about. Mur Mur guy jams $29, bald guy folds, Asian kid jams $111. I debate what to do. I'm obviously not worried about those guys - they're going to have a lot of draws and one pair/open ended type hands. I look at the felt, but I peep at UTG with my peripheral as he checks his hole cards. OK, A
K and AQ are out. He sets them down and I just get the feeling that he's done with the hand. When he puts his chip back on top of them it seems to be more as a courtesy to not give info away. Hard to describe. I shove, he snap folds KK face up. Mur Mur kid shows QJ, Asian kid yells "Straight flush draw!" and shows 68, and I show the black QQ.Turn ($293 main, $164 side): 5
River ($293, $164): K
I drag the sidepot and chop the main pot with QJ.
That's the last hand I wrote notes on. Later in the night I ran QQ into KK for $200. I was in the SB and 3bet bald earbuds guy again, and I had been running the table over shorthanded. A pretty good kid in the BB raised to $100, and it folded around. He had $100 behind, and against anybody under 50 I think this is an auto shove. He snapped, asked if I had AA, and I said no, he showed KK and held despite my picking up a straight draw.
I ended up cashing out for $479 after being in for $600, so -$121 in 8 hours and change.
The Shot Taking Plan
I don't think I've put this in here yet. I feel like moving up every time I hit 8K and down every time I hit 6K leaves me vulnerable to a 1/2 downswing. I believe that your bankroll should always be growing. If you siphon off your wins for tournament, shot taking, expenses, etc, every time you hit the same number you open yourself up to increased risk of ruin. Thus, for every 3K it grows, I'll take a 2K shot. Thus, the next shot comes at 9K. If I happen to hit the 9,500 goal in time for the Milly Maker, I'll figure out how to handle that - I'd likely play it even though it'll hurt my chances of staying at 2/5. The upside is too big.
The Days Ahead
I'm grinding a long session today at 1/2 at Borgata, then checking out tomorrow to go spend Mother's Day at home. Monday is my golf league, but I may play a little at Delaware Park Monday night. Tuesday if I'm back to 2/5 level, I'll be at Parx. If not, I may hit up Maryland Live. It's only five minutes farther than Parx and probably has better 1/2 action. In fact, anyone who's played both want to let me know if hte 2/5 is better too? We're mainly talking weeknights.
I've got broadcasting work Wed/Thurs, then I check in to Borgata - I have a golf outing Friday at one of my favorite courses in the region, then I'll play Friday night at Borgata and a long session Saturday.
05-10-2014
, 06:39 PM
05-10-2014
, 07:36 PM
05-10-2014
, 08:14 PM
05-11-2014
, 02:33 AM
May 10 - "Say you're looking for that real, hey, well this is real as it gets."
So right off the bat things weren't going my way. I raised and whiffed a few times, then reloaded so I was in for $400. I'm not picking up many hands, and when I do I'm whiffing, so I start looking for spots to make some moves.
Hand No. 1
There are five limpers and the SB completes and I make it $22 from the BB with complete air. One caller - an old Asian man. He seems pretty tight.
Flop ($49): K66r
I bet $30 and he calls.
Turn ($109): K
I bet $60 and he jams. I fold. I figured a lot of his range was QQ-77, and I should barrel a lot of turns but this probably wasn't one of them. He showed AK. Even if he has QQ-77 after that turn card, I'm not going to fold as much of it out and should just give up.
I topped back off and was in for $600.
Hand No. 2
There were a few limps and I limped in late position with 44. One more limp and the blinds came along.
Flop ($12): J64r
The blinds checked and an MP player bet $6 and got a call. I raised to $26. The BB tanked and called. The others folded.
Turn ($71): 9
He checked, I bet $55 and he called. I was trying to range him to extract the max value and I couldn't put him on much. J6? J9? I guess he could have like AJ/KJ and not believe me. He was a bad tourist looking guy wearing a tank top, but he wasn't just spewing away money. I was basically saying don't pair the board.
River ($181): 6x
He bets $55 with like $180 left. What the hell? J6? I debated flat calling because I don't know what a bad player leads out with here. I basically decided that I was supposed to shove and might be seeing monsters under the bed, so I shoved. He snap called. I showed. He looked... Paused... Then slow rolled me with 64o.
"I gave you a chance to fold, you know," he said.
I looked at him like WTF. "I just bet the same bet on the river, I tried to be nice, but no, you had to shove on me, it's your fault you lost," he said.
"Gave me a chance to fold, what a f---ing d---," I muttered under my breath.
"I had you on a set the whole way," he said. "I was just hoping to fill up.... But I probably wouldn't have folded anyway."
I'm thinking to myself... Sick read, dude. You must have had me on exactly 44, because you were drawing to quads vs. JJ and 66.
He kept trying to talk to me about it and I just nodded and ignored him. Then, like 20 minutes later, he said "You didn't have any outs, you know."
I said, "What??"
"With the set of 4s, when I hit you didn't have any outs... Because I had the last 4."
Forget that he filled up on the river and nobody had any outs to anything. Forget that he hit a 2 outer. Forget that he semi slow rolled me. Forget that he wouldn't shut up about it... Now he wants to bring it up 20 minutes later with some idiotic comment like that?
I visualized standing up from the table, walking over to him and punching him in the face as hard as I could. I imagined how good it would feel... Then I visualized being dragged out in cuffs and probably getting a lifetime ban and decided that probably was a -EV way to play it. I didn't enjoy the pleasure of his company much more anyway. He got up, left for a while to eat, came back, played 10 hands, and took another walk.
So after that I was in for $900. I did some generic raising, whiffing, cbetting, folding, and then got a table change to a better looking game that was just being spread.
Hand No. 3
First hand at the new table and a MP player raises to $10. He gets 3 calls and I make it $45 out of the BB with 64o. Now, I played with him for about 4 hours yesterday and saw him raise too wide pre and make a lot of laydowns, so I figured he would give me credit. I think spots where you think someone is opening light or will give your 3bet a lot of respect when they are then called behind by numerous players are great spots to 3bet light. The key is they need to fold or everyone else starts being priced in. So much for my plan, though... He called and the SB called.
Flop ($129): 943
The SB shoves for $55. I call, because WTF does he have that he's playing like that other than a draw? Then the guy from last night re-shoves for $100 more. At this point I've gotten myself into a disgusting spot. Now I'm getting 4-to-1. If he has two overs and the flush draw, I'm good. If he's got an overpair, I've got about the right price to draw. I don't think he'd call me with 33 preflop and I've got 44 pretty well blocked, so the only set I'm worried about is 9s. I call, having put myself in a spot where I'm priced in to throw good money after bad.
Turn ($494): J
River ($494): T
SB shows KQ and the other guy shows 97. Bleh. I was in pretty bad shape when the money went in, but not awful for the price I was laid. I had about 17% equity and put in about 20% of the pot, and this was the second worst scenario to being up against 99.
The real issue here is I obviously didn't need to 3bet and was just pressing trying to turn my session around at my new table by exploiting a read from the night before and figuring nobody else would call me. I'm shocked he called me with 97, but he said he was trying to get lucky on the first hand when he was talking about it with the guy with KQ.
I thought about making up a hand like TT or A9 to post this cause it's a pretty disgusting hand, but hey, I keep it real, with the good hands and the bad ones.
That knocked me down to $100 and I reloaded to $300. In for $1,055 now. At some point I had topped off with $55.
That's a sick read, bro
In a hand I'm not in the board reads AsJs3s... There's a bet and a bunch of calls. Turn Qx Player A donks out, player B min-raises, Player A calls. River brick. Player A checks, player B bets $100, player A tank calls.
The player on my left was pretty good and we had been talking some strategy under our breaths and talking about underground games in NYC and other various poker topics such as old school players on TV when it first boomed, etc. During this hand he whispers to me "I don't think he flopped it," when Player B bets the river. As soon as the action is complete, I point to Player B and say "He flopped it," and point to Player A and say, "and he turned two pair."
Player B shows Qs5s. Player A shows AQ.
"That's a sick read, bro!" my neighbor says.
"Now if only I could make some hands and start making some money," I reply.
It wouldn't be the first time I put both players in a hand on their exact hole cards. I later put my neighbor on Q9 and when he raised on a Q96 flop in a limped pot, and put a villain of his on JT... Turn 8 river 9 and then all the money went in and I was right.
So at least my reads were sharp for most of the night...
Hand No. 4
After again whiffing some flops and having to make laydowns when draws got there on my top pair, and seeing my stack dip down to about $135, the following hand came up against a big fish who was min 3-betting like 10-15% of his range. Limped pot, I raise to $12 in LP with AJo. One call, villain re-raises to $25 from the blinds. I call, other guy calls.
Flop ($69): J73x
He bets like $15, which he's doing a lot. Basically his range now is any pair, any two big cards, and suited connectors with two hearts. I shove, the other guy calls and he calls.
Turn: A
River: 3
Other guy shows a heart draw, and the fish says "HA!" and slams down AA.
I tell them to lock my seat up and hit the ATM for the $700 from my online roll that I had never withdrawn. I reload one last time for $300, so I'm in for $1,355 looking to start my big comeback.
I want to see that hand.
For the first time in my life, I invoked IWTSTH. There was a guy and his alleged girlfriend sitting next to each other and she was staked into the game by him. They both sucked, and he was telling the most insanely BS stories about being a professional high stakes backgammon player with Gus Hansen, traveling the world and such and being a winning 10/25 NL player. She was way out of his league and seemed to be using him for his money.
On a flop of K95 the action went - he checks, she bets $10, three or four calls, he raises to $55. She instantly re-raises to $105. It folds around to him and he moans and groans about how he has a real hand and if he shoves he loses cause she'll be mad and if he folds he loses. He says, "Why are you raising me? That's my money," and lectures her about how they're trying to win other people's money. He folds 99 face up and she mucks and I invoke. The dealer turns over K5. Okay, fair enough. The hand also came right after they got dinner together, so I was concerned they had discussed whipsawing strategy and then put it into play.
Hand No. 5
I fought my way up to like $350-$370 without ever making a real hand. Then I raise AJ in MP and get four calls.
Flop ($50): QT8x
One of the fish donks out for $15, I call, the girl calls.
Turn ($115): K
It checks to me and I bet $70. The girl snap calls and the others fold.
River ($255): 7
We have similar stacks, about $225 or so behind. This spot really sucks. I can't imagine she'd have snap called the A high draw, because she isn't the type to gamble a lot and she really tanks usually with a draw facing a big bet (I've played with her before). I decide to bet/fold and bet $115. She thinks for a little and shoves for $106 more.
I tank, because I don't think she had the naked A draw or turned the nuts. The one thing bugging me is it's not her money, so she could just be like screw my guy's money, let me try to bluff him since I'm freerolling. She's run some bluffs in this session. I finally call getting 5.6 to 1 and she shows the sickest hand... AJ. We were both nutted on the turn but she was freerolling to the nuts and I had the second nut draw.
I think betting the river may have been a mistake. She's never calling with worse unless she turned a small flush and spite calls now, she's always raising the A, and if I check she may only bet like $100. Deciding to bet-fold and calling off anyway is definitely not cool. After she raised is when I started thinking about it not being her own money.
After that I got up and left with my last $19. Just shy of 8 hours, -$1,336.
The Downswing
This is now a nearly $3,800 downswing with losses in 7 of 8 sessions. Now, about 2K of that is at 2/5, so that's 4 buyins there and 6 at 1/2. I obviously compounded my problems in a couple of spots tonight. I think some were okay in a vacuum but not in the context of this session.
I wanted to get back to 2/5 super fast because after being up there it's so much more fun and so much better than 1/2, so I tried to push too many edges and run people over. I was really hoping to be back up there for Memorial Day weekend, but now that looks really really unlikely.
The Outside Pressure
This section gets a little heavy with life stuff and family stuff, so feel free to skip it to the next section... But it's a big part of my journey that's causing pressure, so I'm going to get into it in here - it's part of the reason for the title of the post.
The other thing I need to figure out is how to handle my family. My parents think gambling is a big sin and anyone who gambles frequently is basically a degenerate. They don't see where poker is much different from blackjack, craps, etc. I try to make comparisons to investing in stocks or daytrading, but they don't see it at all. Thus, they basically think I'm lucky to win even though I'm a good player. They tell me they worry I'm going to lose it all and why don't I quit while I'm ahead, and that they only "allow," me to play since I have no social life in Delaware and they want me to have something to do.
Now, I'm 27 and can in theory do whatever I want, but I make so little money in broadcasting I had to move back home, so I live under their roof. I can see why, given their view on poker, they would be upset and rather me have some random part-time job when I'm not broadcasting, like waiting tables or something.
Of course, the way I see it is that I'm trying to build something with poker to give me income, options and a chance to make a lot of money doing something I love and having the ultimate freedom. We'll never see eye to eye on that.
The real problem here is that I feel pressure to win constantly because they don't understand the swings, but always ask how I do and so far I've been honest. Then I can tell the pressure is heating up and they push me more to quit. I have plenty of bankroll left to where riding this out at 1/2 and working my way back to 2/5 is no big deal risk wise. But in their mind, I'm not up 4.7K or whatever on the year, I'm down $3,800 from my high point and I should have quit at my high point.
I need to find a way to completely detach from their pressure, so that it doesn't weigh on me while I play. I can detach my decision making and mindset from bad beats, downswings, etc when I sit down at the table - but they're still in the back of my mind. If anyone has any book recommendations or articles or whatever for that, I'm certainly interested.
Two Bad Beats in One Elevator
So as I'm walking back to the hotel room, I'm passing by all the drunken revelry of MurMur, thinking to myself how I wish I was dating someone and could go out sometimes and just chill and have fun, etc. I walk into the hotel area, head to my elevator, and three hot girls in lingerie that matches walk toward me. They must be dancers in a show or bar or something. They have on like boots, light blue lingerie and I guess garter belts or something like that. Very, very hot.
I step aside and do the gentlemanly thing and let them walk onto the elevator first. I'm thinking to myself sure, it's 1,000 to 1, but hey, some guy spiked a two outer on me today, maybe I can drill a three outer here. They hit floor 14 and I'm cursing my luck that I'm on the 5th floor and it's going to be a short ride and no real chance to do much other than like two sentences a piece. That's bad beat #1.
Bad beat #2 is when a family of three walks onto our elevator and stands right in the middle between me and the girls. First of all, what the f*** are you doing strolling around with a kid at 1am in a casino? Second of all, what are you doing on MY elevator? C'mon father of the family, remember what it was like. Wave us off and take the next elevator. You're probably just going to get yourself in trouble when your wife spots you ogling them anyway, why you gotta blow up my spot?
In hindsight, I should have just hit the 15th floor and run the bluff. Then to cap it off when they got off on 14 and I didn't get off on 15 and hit 5, I could have looked at the security camera and shrugged with a big sh** eating grin.
Chasing Rooms and Ignoring Stop Losses
I usually have a 2-buyin stop loss, which I basically instituted when my bankroll was low to minimize swings, even though I guess EV-wise it's neutral. I ignored it in the 2/5 because I felt the game was so good, and did it again tonight because the game was good and I needed hours for room comps. There will always be good games, though, and if I didn't need hours I'd have just left.
This is another thing that annoys me about 1/2. I need to average 10 hours a day at Borgata to keep getting rooms. I didn't make it this trip - I needed to play 12 hours and didn't make it to 8. At 2/5 I'd only need 7.5 hours a day, so that's a big difference and it makes it harder to stay well rested and on point. Hopefully all my room offers don't dry up. I may try to book something before I check out and it goes into the system or whatever.
Now that I'm solidly at 1/2 ($4,700 bankroll and my next shot isn't until 9K, so I'm like 215 hours at 20/hr away, or 145 hours at 30/hr), this is just going to have to be something I deal with for a while because the room offers are key to my being able to grind numerous days a week in good games.
So right off the bat things weren't going my way. I raised and whiffed a few times, then reloaded so I was in for $400. I'm not picking up many hands, and when I do I'm whiffing, so I start looking for spots to make some moves.
Hand No. 1
There are five limpers and the SB completes and I make it $22 from the BB with complete air. One caller - an old Asian man. He seems pretty tight.
Flop ($49): K66r
I bet $30 and he calls.
Turn ($109): K
I bet $60 and he jams. I fold. I figured a lot of his range was QQ-77, and I should barrel a lot of turns but this probably wasn't one of them. He showed AK. Even if he has QQ-77 after that turn card, I'm not going to fold as much of it out and should just give up.
I topped back off and was in for $600.
Hand No. 2
There were a few limps and I limped in late position with 44. One more limp and the blinds came along.
Flop ($12): J64r
The blinds checked and an MP player bet $6 and got a call. I raised to $26. The BB tanked and called. The others folded.
Turn ($71): 9
He checked, I bet $55 and he called. I was trying to range him to extract the max value and I couldn't put him on much. J6? J9? I guess he could have like AJ/KJ and not believe me. He was a bad tourist looking guy wearing a tank top, but he wasn't just spewing away money. I was basically saying don't pair the board.
River ($181): 6x
He bets $55 with like $180 left. What the hell? J6? I debated flat calling because I don't know what a bad player leads out with here. I basically decided that I was supposed to shove and might be seeing monsters under the bed, so I shoved. He snap called. I showed. He looked... Paused... Then slow rolled me with 64o.
"I gave you a chance to fold, you know," he said.
I looked at him like WTF. "I just bet the same bet on the river, I tried to be nice, but no, you had to shove on me, it's your fault you lost," he said.
"Gave me a chance to fold, what a f---ing d---," I muttered under my breath.
"I had you on a set the whole way," he said. "I was just hoping to fill up.... But I probably wouldn't have folded anyway."
I'm thinking to myself... Sick read, dude. You must have had me on exactly 44, because you were drawing to quads vs. JJ and 66.
He kept trying to talk to me about it and I just nodded and ignored him. Then, like 20 minutes later, he said "You didn't have any outs, you know."
I said, "What??"
"With the set of 4s, when I hit you didn't have any outs... Because I had the last 4."
Forget that he filled up on the river and nobody had any outs to anything. Forget that he hit a 2 outer. Forget that he semi slow rolled me. Forget that he wouldn't shut up about it... Now he wants to bring it up 20 minutes later with some idiotic comment like that?
I visualized standing up from the table, walking over to him and punching him in the face as hard as I could. I imagined how good it would feel... Then I visualized being dragged out in cuffs and probably getting a lifetime ban and decided that probably was a -EV way to play it. I didn't enjoy the pleasure of his company much more anyway. He got up, left for a while to eat, came back, played 10 hands, and took another walk.
So after that I was in for $900. I did some generic raising, whiffing, cbetting, folding, and then got a table change to a better looking game that was just being spread.
Hand No. 3
First hand at the new table and a MP player raises to $10. He gets 3 calls and I make it $45 out of the BB with 64o. Now, I played with him for about 4 hours yesterday and saw him raise too wide pre and make a lot of laydowns, so I figured he would give me credit. I think spots where you think someone is opening light or will give your 3bet a lot of respect when they are then called behind by numerous players are great spots to 3bet light. The key is they need to fold or everyone else starts being priced in. So much for my plan, though... He called and the SB called.
Flop ($129): 94
3The SB shoves for $55. I call, because WTF does he have that he's playing like that other than a draw? Then the guy from last night re-shoves for $100 more. At this point I've gotten myself into a disgusting spot. Now I'm getting 4-to-1. If he has two overs and the flush draw, I'm good. If he's got an overpair, I've got about the right price to draw. I don't think he'd call me with 33 preflop and I've got 44 pretty well blocked, so the only set I'm worried about is 9s. I call, having put myself in a spot where I'm priced in to throw good money after bad.
Turn ($494): J
River ($494): T
SB shows K
Q and the other guy shows 97. Bleh. I was in pretty bad shape when the money went in, but not awful for the price I was laid. I had about 17% equity and put in about 20% of the pot, and this was the second worst scenario to being up against 99.The real issue here is I obviously didn't need to 3bet and was just pressing trying to turn my session around at my new table by exploiting a read from the night before and figuring nobody else would call me. I'm shocked he called me with 97, but he said he was trying to get lucky on the first hand when he was talking about it with the guy with KQ.
I thought about making up a hand like TT or A9 to post this cause it's a pretty disgusting hand, but hey, I keep it real, with the good hands and the bad ones.
That knocked me down to $100 and I reloaded to $300. In for $1,055 now. At some point I had topped off with $55.
That's a sick read, bro
In a hand I'm not in the board reads AsJs3s... There's a bet and a bunch of calls. Turn Qx Player A donks out, player B min-raises, Player A calls. River brick. Player A checks, player B bets $100, player A tank calls.
The player on my left was pretty good and we had been talking some strategy under our breaths and talking about underground games in NYC and other various poker topics such as old school players on TV when it first boomed, etc. During this hand he whispers to me "I don't think he flopped it," when Player B bets the river. As soon as the action is complete, I point to Player B and say "He flopped it," and point to Player A and say, "and he turned two pair."
Player B shows Qs5s. Player A shows AQ.
"That's a sick read, bro!" my neighbor says.
"Now if only I could make some hands and start making some money," I reply.
It wouldn't be the first time I put both players in a hand on their exact hole cards. I later put my neighbor on Q9 and when he raised on a Q96 flop in a limped pot, and put a villain of his on JT... Turn 8 river 9 and then all the money went in and I was right.
So at least my reads were sharp for most of the night...
Hand No. 4
After again whiffing some flops and having to make laydowns when draws got there on my top pair, and seeing my stack dip down to about $135, the following hand came up against a big fish who was min 3-betting like 10-15% of his range. Limped pot, I raise to $12 in LP with AJo. One call, villain re-raises to $25 from the blinds. I call, other guy calls.
Flop ($69): J
73xHe bets like $15, which he's doing a lot. Basically his range now is any pair, any two big cards, and suited connectors with two hearts. I shove, the other guy calls and he calls.
Turn: A
River: 3
Other guy shows a heart draw, and the fish says "HA!" and slams down AA.
I tell them to lock my seat up and hit the ATM for the $700 from my online roll that I had never withdrawn. I reload one last time for $300, so I'm in for $1,355 looking to start my big comeback.
I want to see that hand.
For the first time in my life, I invoked IWTSTH. There was a guy and his alleged girlfriend sitting next to each other and she was staked into the game by him. They both sucked, and he was telling the most insanely BS stories about being a professional high stakes backgammon player with Gus Hansen, traveling the world and such and being a winning 10/25 NL player. She was way out of his league and seemed to be using him for his money.
On a flop of K95 the action went - he checks, she bets $10, three or four calls, he raises to $55. She instantly re-raises to $105. It folds around to him and he moans and groans about how he has a real hand and if he shoves he loses cause she'll be mad and if he folds he loses. He says, "Why are you raising me? That's my money," and lectures her about how they're trying to win other people's money. He folds 99 face up and she mucks and I invoke. The dealer turns over K5. Okay, fair enough. The hand also came right after they got dinner together, so I was concerned they had discussed whipsawing strategy and then put it into play.
Hand No. 5
I fought my way up to like $350-$370 without ever making a real hand. Then I raise A
J in MP and get four calls.Flop ($50): Q
T8xOne of the fish donks out for $15, I call, the girl calls.
Turn ($115): K
It checks to me and I bet $70. The girl snap calls and the others fold.
River ($255): 7
We have similar stacks, about $225 or so behind. This spot really sucks. I can't imagine she'd have snap called the A high draw, because she isn't the type to gamble a lot and she really tanks usually with a draw facing a big bet (I've played with her before). I decide to bet/fold and bet $115. She thinks for a little and shoves for $106 more.
I tank, because I don't think she had the naked A draw or turned the nuts. The one thing bugging me is it's not her money, so she could just be like screw my guy's money, let me try to bluff him since I'm freerolling. She's run some bluffs in this session. I finally call getting 5.6 to 1 and she shows the sickest hand... A
J. We were both nutted on the turn but she was freerolling to the nuts and I had the second nut draw.I think betting the river may have been a mistake. She's never calling with worse unless she turned a small flush and spite calls now, she's always raising the A, and if I check she may only bet like $100. Deciding to bet-fold and calling off anyway is definitely not cool. After she raised is when I started thinking about it not being her own money.
After that I got up and left with my last $19. Just shy of 8 hours, -$1,336.
The Downswing
This is now a nearly $3,800 downswing with losses in 7 of 8 sessions. Now, about 2K of that is at 2/5, so that's 4 buyins there and 6 at 1/2. I obviously compounded my problems in a couple of spots tonight. I think some were okay in a vacuum but not in the context of this session.
I wanted to get back to 2/5 super fast because after being up there it's so much more fun and so much better than 1/2, so I tried to push too many edges and run people over. I was really hoping to be back up there for Memorial Day weekend, but now that looks really really unlikely.
The Outside Pressure
This section gets a little heavy with life stuff and family stuff, so feel free to skip it to the next section... But it's a big part of my journey that's causing pressure, so I'm going to get into it in here - it's part of the reason for the title of the post.
The other thing I need to figure out is how to handle my family. My parents think gambling is a big sin and anyone who gambles frequently is basically a degenerate. They don't see where poker is much different from blackjack, craps, etc. I try to make comparisons to investing in stocks or daytrading, but they don't see it at all. Thus, they basically think I'm lucky to win even though I'm a good player. They tell me they worry I'm going to lose it all and why don't I quit while I'm ahead, and that they only "allow," me to play since I have no social life in Delaware and they want me to have something to do.
Now, I'm 27 and can in theory do whatever I want, but I make so little money in broadcasting I had to move back home, so I live under their roof. I can see why, given their view on poker, they would be upset and rather me have some random part-time job when I'm not broadcasting, like waiting tables or something.
Of course, the way I see it is that I'm trying to build something with poker to give me income, options and a chance to make a lot of money doing something I love and having the ultimate freedom. We'll never see eye to eye on that.
The real problem here is that I feel pressure to win constantly because they don't understand the swings, but always ask how I do and so far I've been honest. Then I can tell the pressure is heating up and they push me more to quit. I have plenty of bankroll left to where riding this out at 1/2 and working my way back to 2/5 is no big deal risk wise. But in their mind, I'm not up 4.7K or whatever on the year, I'm down $3,800 from my high point and I should have quit at my high point.
I need to find a way to completely detach from their pressure, so that it doesn't weigh on me while I play. I can detach my decision making and mindset from bad beats, downswings, etc when I sit down at the table - but they're still in the back of my mind. If anyone has any book recommendations or articles or whatever for that, I'm certainly interested.
Two Bad Beats in One Elevator
So as I'm walking back to the hotel room, I'm passing by all the drunken revelry of MurMur, thinking to myself how I wish I was dating someone and could go out sometimes and just chill and have fun, etc. I walk into the hotel area, head to my elevator, and three hot girls in lingerie that matches walk toward me. They must be dancers in a show or bar or something. They have on like boots, light blue lingerie and I guess garter belts or something like that. Very, very hot.
I step aside and do the gentlemanly thing and let them walk onto the elevator first. I'm thinking to myself sure, it's 1,000 to 1, but hey, some guy spiked a two outer on me today, maybe I can drill a three outer here. They hit floor 14 and I'm cursing my luck that I'm on the 5th floor and it's going to be a short ride and no real chance to do much other than like two sentences a piece. That's bad beat #1.
Bad beat #2 is when a family of three walks onto our elevator and stands right in the middle between me and the girls. First of all, what the f*** are you doing strolling around with a kid at 1am in a casino? Second of all, what are you doing on MY elevator? C'mon father of the family, remember what it was like. Wave us off and take the next elevator. You're probably just going to get yourself in trouble when your wife spots you ogling them anyway, why you gotta blow up my spot?
In hindsight, I should have just hit the 15th floor and run the bluff. Then to cap it off when they got off on 14 and I didn't get off on 15 and hit 5, I could have looked at the security camera and shrugged with a big sh** eating grin.
Chasing Rooms and Ignoring Stop Losses
I usually have a 2-buyin stop loss, which I basically instituted when my bankroll was low to minimize swings, even though I guess EV-wise it's neutral. I ignored it in the 2/5 because I felt the game was so good, and did it again tonight because the game was good and I needed hours for room comps. There will always be good games, though, and if I didn't need hours I'd have just left.
This is another thing that annoys me about 1/2. I need to average 10 hours a day at Borgata to keep getting rooms. I didn't make it this trip - I needed to play 12 hours and didn't make it to 8. At 2/5 I'd only need 7.5 hours a day, so that's a big difference and it makes it harder to stay well rested and on point. Hopefully all my room offers don't dry up. I may try to book something before I check out and it goes into the system or whatever.
Now that I'm solidly at 1/2 ($4,700 bankroll and my next shot isn't until 9K, so I'm like 215 hours at 20/hr away, or 145 hours at 30/hr), this is just going to have to be something I deal with for a while because the room offers are key to my being able to grind numerous days a week in good games.
05-11-2014
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05-11-2014
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05-11-2014
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05-11-2014
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05-12-2014
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05-12-2014
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05-13-2014
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05-14-2014
, 01:27 PM
May 13 - "Sitting with the scumbags, telling jokes, dragging the occasional pot."
It's so cliche to quote Rounders, but it was the first quote about telling jokes that came to mind. More on that... Anyway, I was planning on playing tonight and decided to make the extra drive up to Parx to say whats up to Duke and ECGrinder, who I was texting with yesterday. Unfortunately Duke switched to Harrahs mid-session to try to find better games, which I think was a bumpy ride (more on that too), and ECGrinder and I had a texting mixup or something and didn't get to meet up.
Never the less, I got on a pretty good 1/2 game. Early on there was one other good player at the table, but he was opening way too wide so I knew that I could take advantage of that if I had to. There was a big fish calling him way way way too wide, a couple of nits conveniently on my left, and general live poker mediocrity rounding out the table. I figured I'd try to stack the fish, see who came in, and debate a table change.
Early on I built my stack up to about $400 without anything interesting happening. Then, the fish left and a new player came in. He was dressed kind of like your standard grinder, but looks can be deceiving, plus he had his girlfriend behind him. I'll say this, he definitely ran good in that department. His girl was pretty cute, and he looked like the average grinder, so yeah. So anyway, he's clearly recreational and looking for good conversation and I'm certainly one to oblige.
He's got a wooden turtle card protector, except he's not using it to protect his cards, and someone offers to buy it from him but he wants $500. I turned to him and his girl and said I thought you had a pocket full of those things and were going to hustle us and sell them off one at a time, but then you asked for $500. I told him if he wanted to get five hundo for it there was one play. Go to the window and buy like three racks of reds, set the turtle on top, walk through the back of the room in the high stakes area and tell your girlfriend, "It was crazy, I had aces like five times, kings three times, and I hit every draw. I'm never getting rid of this turtle!" and see if you can find someone superstitious to give you a couple hundo when they hear that.
This got his girlfriend laughing hysterically, he was laughing, and the table was all in on the conversation after that. Somehow, his girlfriend brought up Big Bang Theory quoting Star Wars with someone and they mentioned something about the last episode, so I said it was then my goal to quote Big Bang Theory and Star Wars within a poker hand. My plan was to wait for someone to check raise me and go, "It's a trap!" I told them I had a plan, but it involved me losing a pot, so that might not be any good. Instead, like six people limped my big blind, and I pulled a Sheldon, knocking the table extra hard...
[knock knock knock]
Check!
[knock knock knock]
Check!
[knock knock knock]
Check!
So that got people laughing and joking some more, and pretty soon raises were being called in four or five spots and we were rocking and rolling.
At one point his girlfriend was talking to me about my Syracuse hat and asked if I was a NY fan and I said no, Philly sports other than college. She said that's no good because she's a Yankees fan. So yeah, she's sweating her guy and talking to me... OK, cool. He tells me her Dad was a Yankee, I assume lying but who cares. Later on, he turns to the guy next to him who has like 4 black chips and goes, "Why do you have so many blacks?" Someone jokingly causes him a racist, and I chime in with...
"So, your girlfriend's Dad is a Yankee... and your Dad is Donald Sterling?"
That got some more laughs... It felt good to basically loosen the table up by getting everyone talking and joking. One dealer came in as like eight of us were laughing and asked how we were doing... I deadpanned, "Terrible. Can't you tell?" He smiled... "Seriously, dude, have you ever seen a happier poker table? We should call Guinness Book of World Records."
At one point, the dude who I was having most of the conversation with left our table because the dealer coming in always gives him bad beats, apparently. As he was leaving I pointed to his girlfriend and was like, "You can stay... We have an open seat and you're a cool girl." She laughed as they left - I don't know if he appreciated it. Oh, well.
Later on, two interesting hands came up against a new villain, an action regular fish, and I think I screwed them both up.
Hand No. 1
The straddle is on and I have KQ and raise to $15 in EP. The fish calls the button and the guy on the straddle calls. He's somewhat solid but possibly tilted.
Flop ($42): KQ7
It checks to me, I bet $35 and both call.
Turn ($147): Kx
Straddle checks, I decide to bet about half the pot so I'm giving draws 3-to-1. Meanwhile, the fish has about $375-$400 left, so this will set me up for a slight overshove on the river. I bet $75, he calls, straddle folds.
River ($297): 5x
As I'm getting ready to shove, he starts talking to me...
Him: "I'll show you a card."
Me: "What? I didn't do anything yet."
Him: "I'll show you one before you bet."
Me: "Umm, ok."
Him: "Pick."
He starts doing eeny meeny miney mo, and I tell him to just stop now whichever one he's over. He keeps going, so I think he knows which one he wants to show. He shows me a K.
I wait a bit, he's like "Wanna check?" and I announce all-in. He tanks and folds. I probably should have shoved before he showed. I was hoping he'd show like a Q or 7 or something and I could shove and rep missed hearts. I debated showing him one of mine while he was thinking, but if I show the K and he has a weak kicker (most likely given his gambit), he's snap folding. If I show the Q he probably puts me on KQ or QQ and snap folds.
Of course, once he showed it, shoving was probably right because AK, K7, K5 all pay me and KJ might... He probably calls with like 35% of his Kx range (estimating combinations off the top of my head)... That's an EV of like $110-$115. I don't think any bet of $100-$150 achieves that EV.
Hand No. 2
The other hand is disgusting. I have KT in the BB in a limped pot.
Flop ($14): QT7x
It checks to him, he bets $10, I call.
Turn ($30): 3
I check, he bets $10. I sense weakness and raise to $40. He calls. I am done with the hand.
River ($109): K
Except, now I'm not. I decide to bet/fold $65. He thinks for a bit and raises to $190. I'm thinking a bit and he says, "Good, you don't have the flush. You'd have called already." That makes me think he might have like QT, K7, etc type two pair hands.
I try to get him to show me a card, but he won't. We're going back and forth, and he says he might have the flush, he might have a good Q, he might have nothing. I'm now seriously considering calling because of that. Meanwhile, another player at the table threatens to call a clock. I'm like dude, it's been way less than a minute and it's $125, it's not a small bet. He says he doesn't care, stop socializing and talking and play poker.
I hate when people say that - it's part of the game and I'm extracting info facing a $125 bet. He would later tank every bit as long as I did over a $40 bet... But I guess that's okay because he wasn't talking.
Anyway, I talk myself into calling, and he has A5. Bleh. If I decide to bet/fold, I need to stick to the line, this is twice recently.
"I be riding through my old hood, but I'm in my new whip."
Unfortunately, riding through his old hood in his new whip didn't go so well for Duke... He texted me during the session that he got a flat tire, and he was at the Harrah's garage. I told him I'd help him out on my way home if he needed it.
When I arrived, I found a mangled, destroyed tire. I'm not sure if this picture will do it justice. I think Duke thought he was in the Daytona 500 and had the lead and blew it out in turn 1 and tried to make it to the finish line. Luckily, he didn't seem to have too much rim damage.
My plan was to coach him through changing a tire so he'd learn how to do it for next time... But, his car didn't have a tire iron. Mine seemed to fit over his lug nuts, but I couldn't turn them at all. I'm a pretty strong guy, so I assume they were overtightened by an air wrench or something. Instead, I coached him through the options facing a recent car buyer who has a flat tire, and I think he went with signing up for Triple A.
It is a nice car, though, Duke. I like the black... But make sure you get a tire iron in there for next time.
Total Results: 3.5 hours, +$75
It's so cliche to quote Rounders, but it was the first quote about telling jokes that came to mind. More on that... Anyway, I was planning on playing tonight and decided to make the extra drive up to Parx to say whats up to Duke and ECGrinder, who I was texting with yesterday. Unfortunately Duke switched to Harrahs mid-session to try to find better games, which I think was a bumpy ride (more on that too), and ECGrinder and I had a texting mixup or something and didn't get to meet up.
Never the less, I got on a pretty good 1/2 game. Early on there was one other good player at the table, but he was opening way too wide so I knew that I could take advantage of that if I had to. There was a big fish calling him way way way too wide, a couple of nits conveniently on my left, and general live poker mediocrity rounding out the table. I figured I'd try to stack the fish, see who came in, and debate a table change.
Early on I built my stack up to about $400 without anything interesting happening. Then, the fish left and a new player came in. He was dressed kind of like your standard grinder, but looks can be deceiving, plus he had his girlfriend behind him. I'll say this, he definitely ran good in that department. His girl was pretty cute, and he looked like the average grinder, so yeah. So anyway, he's clearly recreational and looking for good conversation and I'm certainly one to oblige.
He's got a wooden turtle card protector, except he's not using it to protect his cards, and someone offers to buy it from him but he wants $500. I turned to him and his girl and said I thought you had a pocket full of those things and were going to hustle us and sell them off one at a time, but then you asked for $500. I told him if he wanted to get five hundo for it there was one play. Go to the window and buy like three racks of reds, set the turtle on top, walk through the back of the room in the high stakes area and tell your girlfriend, "It was crazy, I had aces like five times, kings three times, and I hit every draw. I'm never getting rid of this turtle!" and see if you can find someone superstitious to give you a couple hundo when they hear that.
This got his girlfriend laughing hysterically, he was laughing, and the table was all in on the conversation after that. Somehow, his girlfriend brought up Big Bang Theory quoting Star Wars with someone and they mentioned something about the last episode, so I said it was then my goal to quote Big Bang Theory and Star Wars within a poker hand. My plan was to wait for someone to check raise me and go, "It's a trap!" I told them I had a plan, but it involved me losing a pot, so that might not be any good. Instead, like six people limped my big blind, and I pulled a Sheldon, knocking the table extra hard...
[knock knock knock]
Check!
[knock knock knock]
Check!
[knock knock knock]
Check!
So that got people laughing and joking some more, and pretty soon raises were being called in four or five spots and we were rocking and rolling.
At one point his girlfriend was talking to me about my Syracuse hat and asked if I was a NY fan and I said no, Philly sports other than college. She said that's no good because she's a Yankees fan. So yeah, she's sweating her guy and talking to me... OK, cool. He tells me her Dad was a Yankee, I assume lying but who cares. Later on, he turns to the guy next to him who has like 4 black chips and goes, "Why do you have so many blacks?" Someone jokingly causes him a racist, and I chime in with...
"So, your girlfriend's Dad is a Yankee... and your Dad is Donald Sterling?"
That got some more laughs... It felt good to basically loosen the table up by getting everyone talking and joking. One dealer came in as like eight of us were laughing and asked how we were doing... I deadpanned, "Terrible. Can't you tell?" He smiled... "Seriously, dude, have you ever seen a happier poker table? We should call Guinness Book of World Records."
At one point, the dude who I was having most of the conversation with left our table because the dealer coming in always gives him bad beats, apparently. As he was leaving I pointed to his girlfriend and was like, "You can stay... We have an open seat and you're a cool girl." She laughed as they left - I don't know if he appreciated it. Oh, well.
Later on, two interesting hands came up against a new villain, an action regular fish, and I think I screwed them both up.
Hand No. 1
The straddle is on and I have K
Q and raise to $15 in EP. The fish calls the button and the guy on the straddle calls. He's somewhat solid but possibly tilted.Flop ($42): K
Q7It checks to me, I bet $35 and both call.
Turn ($147): Kx
Straddle checks, I decide to bet about half the pot so I'm giving draws 3-to-1. Meanwhile, the fish has about $375-$400 left, so this will set me up for a slight overshove on the river. I bet $75, he calls, straddle folds.
River ($297): 5x
As I'm getting ready to shove, he starts talking to me...
Him: "I'll show you a card."
Me: "What? I didn't do anything yet."
Him: "I'll show you one before you bet."
Me: "Umm, ok."
Him: "Pick."
He starts doing eeny meeny miney mo, and I tell him to just stop now whichever one he's over. He keeps going, so I think he knows which one he wants to show. He shows me a K.
I wait a bit, he's like "Wanna check?" and I announce all-in. He tanks and folds. I probably should have shoved before he showed. I was hoping he'd show like a Q or 7 or something and I could shove and rep missed hearts. I debated showing him one of mine while he was thinking, but if I show the K and he has a weak kicker (most likely given his gambit), he's snap folding. If I show the Q he probably puts me on KQ or QQ and snap folds.
Of course, once he showed it, shoving was probably right because AK, K7, K5 all pay me and KJ might... He probably calls with like 35% of his Kx range (estimating combinations off the top of my head)... That's an EV of like $110-$115. I don't think any bet of $100-$150 achieves that EV.
Hand No. 2
The other hand is disgusting. I have K
T in the BB in a limped pot.Flop ($14): Q
T7xIt checks to him, he bets $10, I call.
Turn ($30): 3
I check, he bets $10. I sense weakness and raise to $40. He calls. I am done with the hand.
River ($109): K
Except, now I'm not. I decide to bet/fold $65. He thinks for a bit and raises to $190. I'm thinking a bit and he says, "Good, you don't have the flush. You'd have called already." That makes me think he might have like QT, K7, etc type two pair hands.
I try to get him to show me a card, but he won't. We're going back and forth, and he says he might have the flush, he might have a good Q, he might have nothing. I'm now seriously considering calling because of that. Meanwhile, another player at the table threatens to call a clock. I'm like dude, it's been way less than a minute and it's $125, it's not a small bet. He says he doesn't care, stop socializing and talking and play poker.
I hate when people say that - it's part of the game and I'm extracting info facing a $125 bet. He would later tank every bit as long as I did over a $40 bet... But I guess that's okay because he wasn't talking.
Anyway, I talk myself into calling, and he has A
5. Bleh. If I decide to bet/fold, I need to stick to the line, this is twice recently."I be riding through my old hood, but I'm in my new whip."
Unfortunately, riding through his old hood in his new whip didn't go so well for Duke... He texted me during the session that he got a flat tire, and he was at the Harrah's garage. I told him I'd help him out on my way home if he needed it.
When I arrived, I found a mangled, destroyed tire. I'm not sure if this picture will do it justice. I think Duke thought he was in the Daytona 500 and had the lead and blew it out in turn 1 and tried to make it to the finish line. Luckily, he didn't seem to have too much rim damage.
My plan was to coach him through changing a tire so he'd learn how to do it for next time... But, his car didn't have a tire iron. Mine seemed to fit over his lug nuts, but I couldn't turn them at all. I'm a pretty strong guy, so I assume they were overtightened by an air wrench or something. Instead, I coached him through the options facing a recent car buyer who has a flat tire, and I think he went with signing up for Triple A.
It is a nice car, though, Duke. I like the black... But make sure you get a tire iron in there for next time.
Total Results: 3.5 hours, +$75