LATB
Yesterday I played on Live at the Bike in a 5-10 nl uncapped game. In reality, the game was more like a 5-10-20 b/c Lil Harry straddled every hand that he could (you can straddle from any position except for the blinds). I finished +$1051 over 3.5 total hours of play, 2 hours of which were aired on the show.
Unfortunately, almost all of my profit came from hands that occurred immediately prior to when the cameras started rolling, and I didn't have any interesting or especially profitable spots arise on air. The most notable hand pre-airing was referenced by Tuch at the beginning of the show--here's the HH:
Playing 7 handed pretty shortly after we had moved from a 5-10 rxr nl/plo to the LATB 5-10 nl table, Lil Harry straddles his button for $20. I raise in the SB to $85 with QhQx. Big Harry flats the CO, Lil Harry flats BTN. Flop AhQx3h. I bet $230, Big Harry flats, Lil Harry folds. Turn Kx. I bet $510, Big Harry flats. River Kx. I shove $1105. Big Harry tanks for a good two minutes (he didn't snap fold as was relayed on the show), turns over a 3, claims he has A3 and thinks he's no good, and then finally mucks. Later, I learned he showed his hand to JCW and in fact had a set of threes, and then heard the same info relayed on the broadcast. Pretty impressive fold by Big Harry. He asked me at least half a dozen times to tell him what I had, and I promised I'd let him know before I took off for the night, which I did.
Admittedly, I wasn't in seat 3 by accident, taking advantage of an opportunity to get position on the two Harrys, but had I known you could straddle from any position and Lil Harry straddles every hand, I probably would have sat elsewhere. Lil Harry's straddle effectively made me utg most hands at the table. Between that factor and not being too familiar with the players at the table apart from some limited history over the last week with JCW and Danconia (and a past LATB experience with Doc, 1-24 show last year), I decided a tight/conservative approach was optimal.
I'm generally pleased with how I played, especially given that I felt pretty crappy/sleep deprived heading into the session and, also because, as detailed above, I've had some runbad turbulence over the last few days that's been frustrating and affected my confidence a bit. Nevertheless, I can't help but be a little disappointed not having done much on the show after having a lot of friends tune in; I also felt like I crushed my first time on the show and was hoping to experience the same this time around, although with the game as big and crazy as it was this time around it would have been very difficult for me to replicate that.
Some additional notes:
-It was very flattering to start watching the show last night after I got home and hear Tuch speaking favorably about me and my game based on our experience playing with each other last week. I wish I'd been able to speak to him more last night; I had to leave right after the show to take the dog out. He had a lot of interesting things to say the other night about his commentating experience, and poker in general, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to have met him.
-The two Harrys were a lot of fun to play with and I enjoyed talking to both of them quite a bit. I talked to Big Harry for a few minutes right after the show and he was pleased to learn he has a lot of fans out there.
-There was a hand where I played 68hh on the button that the graphics/commentators got wrong. In reality, Lil Harry straddled for $20 in the CO, I flatted the button, some other players flatted, and then Lil Harry raised to $95 total, not $185 (or maybe $165?) as presented by the show. My flat was criticized by Melanie but I think had they got the action right she'd find that it was standard. I'm never folding my hand in that spot when I can reasonably expect to go to a flop 4 ways on the button in a deep-stacked game where Lil Harry is the preflop aggressor.
-JCW approached me afterwards and let me know he's been reading and enjoying the thread, which made me feel great. (hi JCW!
) Very nice guy with a great, friendly table presence and I'll probably play PLO with him tomorrow at the Bike.
-I cringed multiple times watching myself on the show; the main angle they showed me at I looked pretty disheveled and I lacked good posture. Wish I had put a little more effort into maintaining a better appearance.
-According to the commentators, someone attacked me in the chatbox for tweeting that I would welcome friends relaying info to me from the show about previous hands while playing. Fortunately, the commentators defended me (and, yes, phones now can be used at the table). I don't understand how anyone could have a problem with taking advantage of information that, as the commentators say, is freely available after a 15 min delay. If it's considered fair game for televised tournaments, it's absolutely fair game for televised cash games.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ATsai
How much longer will you be in LA? If you are still around for a while, PM me if you would like to meet up for sushi in nearby Orange County.
Good to hear from you; just sent you a PM. I'm in town until next Tuesday morning.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheStuntman
You look a lot younger than I expected.
Ha, thanks. It's funny, I still get ID'd every now and then at my local casino even though they see me nearly every day and I'm 31. My appearance seems to have a weird effect on people where 21-40 year olds tend to assume I'm +/- two years age of them. Have had 21 year olds guess I'm their age and have had people in their late thirties guess that I'm 38. I chalk it up to my ability to relate well to a wide variety of people, which I think translates into them thinking I'm more similar to them in a number of respects than I might actually be.