Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Nov 29, 2005

Played a bunch of on-line last night, and learned a few lessons the hard way.

#1 At a cheap thousand-plus player tourney, I was 90 minutes into the tourney and found myself at a table where one player was going all-in at least every third hand, either pre-flop or at the flop. I had watched this for 15 hands or so, waiting for something, and I catch 66 UTG. Rather than raise, I limp, hoping to trap the allinner into putting me into a coin flip.

There are four or five limpers before we get to allinner on the button, who does in fact go all-in. I put my stack on the line, expecting a coin flip or better, but instead I find pocket Aces.

Lesson: If this player lasted 90 minutes, probably not as nutty as they make themselves appear, but was making all-in plays based on position, and getting a feel for who was tight enough to fold at the table. When the allinner threw his chips against four limpers with the blinds yet to act, I might have had a clue that this player actually had something.

Result: Aces hold, for a change. I was #470, with players getting their money back starting at #460.

#2: At a 45 player tourney, I was at one of the two final tables, and I had just seen a player raise to all-in from the SB with J8os, and make a few other all-ins that nobody called. I was fairly new to that table at this point.

Same player makes a 3BB raise UTG into a table of 7, and I do a big blind defense of all-in, even though I could have simply surrendered my blind, as my holdings were pretty weak.

Player calls with AQs, and not only does he have higher cards, he's suited the same as me, so I no longer even have a flush draw.

Lesson: It's certainly safer to take a UTG raise seriously after the first few levels of an on-line tourney, no matter what sort of cards you've seen the player in question try to steal with in late position.

D'oh!

After failing to place in these two, I play a turbo sit'n'go to at least make a tiny profit for the evening. Making the final four was pretty easy, but it took me a while to get past one tight/tricky player, and two rocks. I laid down quite a few middle and bottom pairs when the rocks asserted they had better.

Friday, November 25, 2005

Turkey Day 2005

I did find time to eat Turkey and Duck with friends and family, but I also found time for some tourneys with full mental focus, which paid off well. I played three 45 player SNGs, and lost early in the first two to suck outs, and then played the third very well, so well that I was quickly the chip leader for the final table, and stayed the chip leader all the way to the finish, never seeing anybody even amass half of my stack.

Let's look at the day in detail, shall we.

First Tourney - I had been watching all hands carefully, seeing who was playing trash, who waited for cards, who made bluffs with nothing, who bet the bottom pair strongly, etc. I felt my play was totally justified in the hand below, but my opponent hit a three outer.

Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) -

Seat 1: carvenator (1020 in chips)
Seat 2: FrankNagaiJr (740 in chips)
Seat 3: dedmn1313 (1320 in chips)
Seat 4: zoseman (4450 in chips)
Seat 6: dracotat (1820 in chips)
Seat 7: cholt23 (1590 in chips)
Seat 8: basiswgt (1910 in chips)
Seat 9: bigbear5773 (650 in chips)

*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [As Qc]
dracotat: folds
cholt23: folds
basiswgt: calls 30
bigbear5773:
folds carvenator: raises 90 to 120
FNJ - I had seen this player raising on as weak as AT0s, JTs, and limping with all kinds of unplayable hands. In fact, this player had recently limped 26s from late position and hit the two pair on the flop for a very nice pot. I wanted to isolate, and double up if possible.
FrankNagaiJr: raises 620 to 740 and is all-in
dedmn1313: folds
zoseman: folds basiswgt: folds
carvenator: calls 620

FNJ - Now exposed - My AQ versus carvenator's AJ. I'm obviously the favorite in this race.

*** FLOP *** [2s 8s 3h]
*** TURN *** [2s 8s 3h] [Jc]
FNJ - D'oh!
*** RIVER *** [2s 8s 3h Jc] [Kc]FrankNagaiJr said, "gg"

*** SHOW DOWN ***carvenator: shows [Ah Jd] (a pair of Jacks)FrankNagaiJr: shows [As Qc] (high card Ace)carvenator collected 1555 from pot
carvenator said, "u2"***

Second Tourney -

Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2005/11/24
Seat1: Chowda Head (1470 in chips)
Seat 2: zelta (1650 in chips)
Seat 3: Ashtray04 (1755 in chips)
Seat 4: sixtyfourty (1340 in chips)
Seat 5: dgagli1 (1680 in chips)
Seat 6: V Van Gogh77 (1010 in chips)
Seat 7: FrankNagaiJr (780 in chips)
Seat 8: samjus44 (2245 in chips)
Seat 9: hot-chocolat (1570 in chips)

*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Ah Qd]
V Van Gogh77: raises 30 to 60

FNJ - I had seen Van Gogh play an awful lot of trashy starters, and habitually raise 1BB on any limping hand, so this initial raise meant nothing. I decided to go for an isolation raise.

FrankNagaiJr: raises 150 to 210
samjus44: folds
hot-chocolat: folds
Chowda Head: folds
zelta: folds
Ashtray04: calls 210
sixtyfourty: folds
dgagli1: folds
V Van Gogh77: calls 150

*** FLOP *** [Kc Jh 3h]

V Van Gogh77: bets 90

FNJ - At this point I've got a belly draw, two overpair draws, an opponent who may possibly have a K, J or 3, but I've already lost half my stack, and feel that this is my time to make a move or bust. If I give up this pot, I really don't have much left after this hand. Van Gogh had repeatedly bet with nothing, bottom pair, and lost a few minor hands, and sucked out a few times.

FrankNagaiJr: raises 480 to 570 and is all-in

Ashtray04: folds

FNJ - I expected Ashtray to fold anything below top pair. Wouldn't you?

V Van Gogh77: calls 480

FNJ - Exposed cards are now 7h8h for Van Gogh, and my AQos is now the 54.6% favorite. It's a coin flip.

*** TURN *** [Kc Jh 3h] [9d]
FNJ - Now I'm the 68.2% favorite
*** RIVER *** [Kc Jh 3h 9d] [8d]
FNJ - D'oh! At least I was the leader going in, as I thought I was.

*** SHOW DOWN ***V Van Gogh77: shows [7h 8h] (a pair of Eights)FrankNagaiJr: shows [Ah Qd] (high card Ace)

FNJ - Third Tourney

FNJ Hand 15- I had been playing the usual tight/conservative, 'getting-to-know-you' style I usually play for the first few stages, about even in chips with a few minor ups and downs, when I had a nice bit of luck in hand 15.

Me: SB [4d 5c], limping in with 2 others, and BB checks
*** FLOP *** [6d 3s 2s] - (120 in pot)
FrankNagaiJr: checks
JMR1: calls 600
FNJ - Mr. BJ tended to bet anything, so I assumed it wouldn't check around, and I didn't want to arouse suspicion, even in an on-line game.
Mr. BJ: bets 90
JMR1: raises 90 to 180
FNJ - Better Still!
dbrunner: folds
FrankNagaiJr: raises 600 to 780
Mr. BJ: folds , JMR1: calls 600
*** TURN *** [6d 3s 2s] [Ac]

FNJ - At this point, I can't believe that JMR has the same straight, so I put him on a flush draw or two pairs (or possibly middle pair, this is on-line, after all...). My preference is to not see the river, if possible.
FrankNagaiJr: bets 630 and is all-in
JMR1: calls 630
*** RIVER *** [6d 3s 2s Ac] [Kh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FrankNagaiJr: shows [4d 5c] (a straight, Deuce to Six)
JMR1: shows [3h 3d] (three of a kind, Threes)
FrankNagaiJr collected 3030 from pot
FNJ - And doubles up, thank you very much.

FNJ - Hand 24, where I come up against a dangerous clownfish. I had observed this player bet with nothing and get some miracles, so I felt top pair would be enough.

Seat 1: FrankNagaiJr (3160 in chips)
Seat 2: docjonesiii (4800 in chips)
Seat 5: bigmoney226 (2660 in chips)
Seat 6: btknurdo (3135 in chips)
Seat 7: regular2005 (2380 in chips)
Seat 8: yanik77 (1010 in chips)
Seat 9: spiderham (755 in chips)
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Ts Qh]
regular2005: calls 50
yanik77: calls 50
spiderham: folds
FrankNagaiJr: calls
50docjonesiii: folds
bigmoney226: folds
btknurdo: checks
*** FLOP *** [6s 9d Th]
btknurdo: bets 100
regular2005: folds
yanik77: raises 100 to 200
FrankNagaiJr: raises 200 to 400
FNJ - I wouldn're reraise with top pair, mediocre kicker unless I had seen evidence that the player in question would raise with less.
btknurdo: folds
yanik77: raises 560 to 960 and is all-in
FrankNagaiJr: calls 560

FNJ - So now, it's two pair versus top pair. I'm behind, but I really did expect this player to have less. I'm just glad my stack was healthy enough that I only lost a third of my chips.

*** TURN *** [6s 9d Th] [5h]
*** RIVER *** [6s 9d Th 5h] [2d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***yanik77: shows [6c 9s] (two pair, Nines and Sixes)FrankNagaiJr: shows [Ts Qh] (a pair of Tens)
yanik77 collected 2245 from pot

FNJ - Hand 29, in which I more than extract my revenge against Yanik for limping 69os.

1: FrankNagaiJr (2600 in chips)
Seat 2: docjonesiii (4500 in chips)
Seat 5: bigmoney226 (2385 in chips)
Seat 6: btknurdo (3310 in chips)
Seat 7: regular2005 (1955 in chips)
Seat 8: yanik77 (2495 in chips)
Seat 9: spiderham (655 in chips)
FrankNagaiJr: posts small blind
50docjonesiii: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [8h Td]
bigmoney226: folds
btknurdo: folds
regular2005: folds
yanik77: calls 100
spiderham: folds
FrankNagaiJr: calls
50docjonesiii: checks

FNJ - I could tell doc was playing tight/agressive, and if doc was betting the pot, I would not have stayed for a draw.

*** FLOP *** [Jd Qh Ah]
FrankNagaiJr: checks
docjonesiii: checks yanik77: bets 100

FNJ - At this point, I've got a double belly straight draw, and I figure if I hit, I can take all of Yaniks' chips, since Yanik is probably betting middle pair, or something like that.
FrankNagaiJr: calls 100
docjonesiii: folds

*** TURN *** [Jd Qh Ah] [3d]
FrankNagaiJr: bets

FNJ - Not the most sensible bet in a live game, but frequently I find that on-line, the cheapest way to see the river is to make the minimum bet as the first to act.

100yanik77: calls 100

*** RIVER *** [Jd Qh Ah 3d] [9d]

FNJ - Yes! My belly has come in! Now how many chips can I extract? I figure a small-ish bet will represent top pair, and if he can beat top pair, he'll come over the top.
FrankNagaiJr: bets 300
yanik77: raises 1895 to 2195 and is all-in
FrankNagaiJr: calls 1895*** SHOW DOWN ***
yanik77: shows [Qs 9s] (two pair, Queens and Nines)
FrankNagaiJr: shows [8h Td] (a straight, Eight to Queen)

And my second double-up for the tourney, and I'm in the top 5 of 40 players at this time.

FNJ - Hand 47 - After a long series of folds, and small ups and downs, we get some action with this hand.

Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) -
Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: docjonesiii (9960 in chips)
Seat 2: Briguy75 (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: Blade_180 (3010 in chips)
Seat 6: dave_jan (1925 in chips)
Seat 7: JACEY5 (6375 in chips)
Seat 8: FrankNagaiJr (4995 in chips)
Seat 9: jacknero (1735 in chips)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Jh Qh]

FrankNagaiJr: raises 150 to 300
FNJ - I'm hoping to weed out the 'any two will do's as there are a few at this table.
jacknero: folds
docjonesiii: folds
Briguy75: folds
Blade_180: calls 300
dave_jan: folds
JACEY5: folds ***

(FNJ - 525 in the pot)

FLOP *** [6s 9d Td]
FrankNagaiJr: bets 400

FNJ - A semi bluff, but Blade_180 is an 'any-two' player, so if he had nothing, I expected a fold to this bet.

Blade_180: calls 400
*** TURN *** [6s 9d Td] [Kh]
FNJ - Yay! Now if Blade is on a flush draw, I don't want to give up a cheap card.
FrankNagaiJr: bets 800
Blade_180: folds

FNJ - Now I'm at 7705 in chips, and yo-yo up and down to hand 78

Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) -
Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: docjonesiii (9710 in chips)
Seat 2: Briguy75 (2875 in chips)
Seat 3: Mr. BJ (1728 in chips)
Seat 4: hopper84 (6247 in chips)
Seat 5: Blade_180 (2270 in chips)
Seat 7: JACEY5 (5400 in chips)
Seat 8: FrankNagaiJr (8180 in chips)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Jd 9s]
docjonesiii: folds
Briguy75: folds
Mr. BJ: folds hopper84: folds
Blade_180: raises 400 to 600

FNJ - Blade had been a little too active for my tastes, and I had seen him make similar raises with very questionable holdings, win on a few suck outs, and take the blinds with no contest several times. Given my chip size, I figured I could look him up. Against a bigger stack or a tighter player, I certainly would have let J9os go.

JACEY5: folds
FrankNagaiJr: calls 400

*** FLOP *** [3d 9h 7s]

FNJ - Hey! Top pair against a guy who raises with damn near anything. Let's play 'em!
FrankNagaiJr: bets 1000
Blade_180: raises 645 to 1645 and is all-in

FNJ - Even if I'm behind now, I committed myself with the first bet.

FrankNagaiJr: calls 645

FNJ - And we see the KJos that was the 3BB raise, and Blade has six outs in two cards.

*** TURN *** [3d 9h 7s] [6c]
*** RIVER *** [3d 9h 7s 6c] [3s]

*** SHOW DOWN ***FrankNagaiJr: shows [Jd 9s] (two pair, Nines and Threes)
Blade_180: shows [Jc Kh] (a pair of Threes)
FrankNagaiJr collected 4765 from pot

FNJ - Now my chip count is 10675, and let's move ahead to hand 97, just to prove that a big raise is occasionally respected on line.

Hold'em No Limit - Level IX (300/600) -

Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: docjonesiii (7610 in chips)
Seat 2: Briguy75 (3678 in chips)
Seat 3: btknurdo (7425 in chips)
Seat 4: hopper84 (13994 in chips)
Seat 5: Darace (10318 in chips)
Seat 6: regular2005 (6200 in chips)
Seat 7: JACEY5 (4400 in chips)
Seat 8: FrankNagaiJr (13875 in chips)

FNJ posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Ks Kh]
FNJ - Don't you just love getting a big pair in the blinds at an active table???

docjonesiii: calls 600
Briguy75: folds
btknurdo: folds
hopper84: folds
Darace: calls 600
regular2005: folds
JACEY5: calls 300
FrankNagaiJr: raises 3400 to 4000

docjonesiii: folds
Darace: folds
JACEY5: folds
FrankNagaiJr collected 2800 from pot
FrankNagaiJr: doesn't show hand

FNJ - I was just as happy not seeing a flop, as these were mostly players who would wait for decent starters before getting involved.

FNJ - Hand 99, just two hands later, I catch a player stealing who I felt had been way too active and stealing way too many pots. Against a tighter player, I might have considered just calling.

Hold'em No Limit - Level IX (300/600) -
Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: docjonesiii (4510 in chips)
Seat 2: Briguy75 (3578 in chips)
Seat 3: btknurdo (7325 in chips)
Seat 4: hopper84 (16994 in chips)
Seat 5: Darace (9618 in chips)
Seat 6: regular2005 (6100 in chips)
Seat 7: JACEY5 (3700 in chips)
Seat 8: FrankNagaiJr (15675 in chips)

*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [9c 9s]
btknurdo: folds
hopper84: raises 1800 to 2400

FNJ - I had seen this player make a lot of raises of this size to steal pots, and was starting to get annoyed. I felt 99 was good enough to make a stand, since nobody else at the table seemed to want to.

Darace: folds
regular2005: folds
JACEY5: folds
FrankNagaiJr: raises 13225 to 15625 and is all-in
docjonesiii: folds
Briguy75: folds
hopper84: folds

FNJ - And as I suspected, this was a theft. Probably Ax os, or 33, or very possibly as bad as T8s....

FNJ - Now my Chip Count is 19,325, the chip leader, and I never let the chip lead go for the rest of the tourney, frequently having triple the chips of the #2 player, or better. It's good to be the big stack! I steal a lot of blinds, but not enough that many people confront me. A few times, I make a steal raise and give it up to an all-in bet. Other times I take their offer due to pot odds, but never lose too many chips at one sitting.

FNJ - Moving ahead to hand 115, here's a typical big stack play, where I assume the small stack is making a desperation play, and pot odds allow me to get involved. The other final tablists seem to be too worried about not being bubbled to get involved with non-premium cards.

Hold'em No Limit - Level X (400/800) -
Seat #8 is the button
Seat 2: Briguy75 (9812 in chips)
Seat 3: btknurdo (3225 in chips)
Seat 4: hopper84 (9316 in chips)
Seat 5: Darace (10978 in chips)
Seat 6: regular2005 (5438 in chips)
Seat 7: JACEY5 (1600 in chips)
Seat 8: FrankNagaiJr (27131 in chips)

FNJ - You can see I've been allowed to steal a few blinds, and have come out ahead in the conflicts I've been involved in.

HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [8s Js]
hopper84: folds
Darace: folds
regular2005: folds
JACEY5: raises 750 to 1550 and is all-in
FrankNagaiJr: calls 1550
Briguy75: folds
btknurdo: folds
*** FLOP *** [8d 9c 3d]***
TURN *** [8d 9c 3d] [Td]***
RIVER *** [8d 9c 3d Td] [6c]

*** SHOW DOWN ***
JACEY5: shows [Ac 4s] (high card Ace)
FrankNagaiJr: shows [8s Js] (a pair of Eights)

FNJ - Moving ahead to hand 144. Getting really lop-sided in my favor now. I've been stealing and calling small stacks to grow my stack while everybody else whittles down.

Hold'em No Limit - Level XI (600/1200) - Seat #5 is the button
Seat 2: Briguy75 (5399 in chips)
Seat 4: hopper84 (7901 in chips)
Seat 5: Darace (8885 in chips)
Seat 6: regular2005 (8471 in chips)
Seat 8: FrankNagaiJr (36844 in chips)

FNJ posts big blind 1200
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Ks Ad]
Briguy75: folds
hopper84: raises 6626 to 7826 and is all-in

FNJ - Hopper had been making a lot of all-in blind steals. I figured AKos was plenty good for whatever he had.
Darace: folds regular2005: folds
FrankNagaiJr: calls 6626

*** FLOP *** [9c 4d 3d]***
TURN *** [9c 4d 3d] [2s]
*** RIVER *** [9c 4d 3d 2s] [2c]
SHOW DOWN ***FrankNagaiJr: shows [Ks Ad] (a pair of Deuces)
hopper84: shows [Js As] (a pair of Deuces - lower kicker)
FrankNagaiJr collected 16627


I go on to win at hand #159, in steamroller fashion. Gotta love being the big stack!

Friday, November 18, 2005

Social Club on-line Tourney Nov 17, 2005

RCHeli caught some bad cards against me. These happenen consecutively:
Me: QQ UTG - Raise 3BB (or more, I forget)
fold around to BB (RC Heli) who calls
Flop - Below Queens, rainbow
I bet all the way to river and get calls each time, Queens hold

Me: AA UTG - Raise 5BB (give or take)
fold around to BB (RCHeli) who calls and goes all-in on the flop
Aces hold.

Then I whittle down my stack to all-or-nothing mode, and get it back to fighting size, and totally misplay this hand to lose all chips:

7 handed, I'm the BB ($200)
Fold to Button
Button raises to 500
SB calls
I call with AJ (pot odds were 4 to 1)
Flop Axx rainbow
Button Checks, SB makes a bet of 2/3 of my stack
I go all-in, and of course I'm against AQ and fail to suck out.

AJ is too dangerous a multi-way, since it's so easily dominated. Folding pre-flop was not a bad idea once the SB called the raise, it was not unreasonable to put one of them on Ak or Aq.

Monday, November 14, 2005

Preachers Nov 11, 2005

32 players. I went out early-ish, having the curse of catching AA too much too soon. I was briefly ahead in chips, and this hand brought me back down:

Me: AA -raise 4BB from early
One caller
Flop 99x
I bet, he calls
turn x
I bet, he calls
river x
I check, he bets, and I just can't fold.
He's got 99.

Cry me a river.

For the record, AAA didn't win. Preacher didn't win. Cutch didn't win. You probably didn't win either.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

The Jack-Five Giveth....

I took third place in a field of 45 in an on-line cheapo tourney, coming back from 'pretty much dead' twice. The big irony is that the hand that brought me down was the one I used to such great effect the other day, Jack-five. These weren't even suited. Compare this hand with the one from the other day:

I suppose I could have raised with K7 three-handed...

*********** # 161 **************
Hold'em No Limit - Level XIII (1500/3000) - 2005/11/08
srpurchase (24401 in chips)
FrankNagaiJr (21514 in chips)
poorbear (21585 in chips)

*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Kd 7c]
FrankNagaiJr: calls 3000
poorbear: calls 1500
srpurchase: checks

*** FLOP *** [5s Kc Jc]
poorbear: bets 12000
srpurchase: folds
FrankNagaiJr: raises 6364 to 18364 and is all-in
poorbear: calls 6364

FrankNagaiJr said, "ouch nh"
*** TURN *** [5s Kc Jc] [Td]
*** RIVER *** [5s Kc Jc Td] [Jh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
poorbear: shows [Js 5d] (a full house, Jacks full of Fives)
FrankNagaiJr: shows [Kd 7c] (two pair, Kings and Jacks)

One of these days I may annotate key hands in a whole tourney, to see if I learn anything from that exercise.

Monday, November 07, 2005

Unjustifiable plays can pay off, if used sparingly

There's no way to justify my play below, but it makes me giggle. I don't make a habit of loose calls like that one, but every now and again they pay off. If you do the math, I was getting 1500 to 400 (just shy of 4 to 1) odds to see the flop, and I knew that unless I hit it very well I could throw it away, and if I hit, I would collect handsomely.

Background - Final table of 9, everybody's playing tight.

I went on to take 3rd in a field of 18.

Level VI (100/200) -
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Js 5s]
P1 folds
P2: raises 400 to 600
P3: folds
P4: calls 600
P5: folds
P6: folds
FrankNagaiJr: calls 400

*** FLOP *** [Jd Kh 5c]
FrankNagaiJr: checks
P2: bets 1000
P4: raises 1000 to 2000
FrankNagaiJr: raises 575 to 2575 and is all-in
P2: folds
P4: calls 575

*** TURN *** [Jd Kh 5c] [3h]
*** RIVER *** [Jd Kh 5c 3h] [5h]

FrankNagaiJr said, "nh"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FrankNagaiJr: shows [Js 5s] (a full house, Fives full of Jacks)
P4: shows [Kc Ah] (two pair, Kings and Fives)

FrankNagaiJr collected 8050 from pot

Friday, November 04, 2005

AA v JJ redux

The victim of my AA maneuver last night challenged my thought process publicly, so I will respond here.

8 players, I am second to act. I see AA, and plan to raise to 3BB (150), my stack is currently about 1800.

UTG raises to 150 and it is my action.

I know UTG personally, and assumed he had something. I decided not to reraise for two reasons:
1) five players left to act, maybe somebody makes a move
2) If I like the flop texture, maybe I can milk UTG for a bunch of pot-sized bets.
(Yes, I'm taking a risk that he hits, but there could be a nice reward if he doesn't, but thinks his high cards or lower pocket pair is worth something.)

I call.
P3 raises to 9BB (450)

Table folds back to me. Now I know that P3 must really think he's got something, and I know that if I wait for the flop, he might smell a rat and fold if I only call.

Thus I bet to about 8/10 of my stack, and probably 9/10 of P3's stack.

This was P3's chance to fold.

Social Group On-line Tourney Nov 3, 2005

I made it to 5th out of 17th, and here's the key hands that took me up and down.

* 3rd level (25/50), 8 players, I'm 3rd to act with AA. Everybody's still got similar stack sizes.

p2 - raise 150 (3BB)
hero - call (yes, I know it's not textbook....)
p4 - raise to 450
folds all the way back to me.
hero - re-raise to 80% of my stack (1400 ish)
p4 - all in
hero - calls

p4 shows JJ
And the board doesn't really help either of us, aces hold.

* 4th level, I'm early to act out of 7 players
hero - limps (TJ)
fold around to SB and BB, who both call
flop 7h,8c,9h

SB bets 1/3 of pot
BB bets pot
Hero calls

Turn - x (no heart, no straight, no pair)
Big Betting again, this time I re-raise and get one caller

River - x again
I make a moderate sized (1/4 of this huge pot) bet and get one last call
Turns out both my opponents had flopped trips, thus the huge betting

*Final Table, Five Players remaining. I'm #2 in stack size
UTG, small stack of 5M goes all in for 1000-ish
Hero Raises to 3000 with AQos
p3 folds
p4 goes all in for 75 chips more
p5 folds
Hero calls, with a sinking feeling
UTG = 77
p4 = QQ
and suddenly I've got 3 outs :- (

I fail to catch my ace, and now I'm a moderate to small stack (3000), which I squander over the next 10 hands or so to bust out at 5th. Payout structure was top three.

For the hand that killed me, I suppose I could have just called, and still kept a decent stack if I had lost....

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Manassas Cash

Played live cash short-handed last night in Manassas, and re-discovered that the on-line donks aren't so different from the donks you might find at a live game. An uneventful evening where I had maybe four good hands in two hours, and collected on two of them, and didn't bleed too much otherwise. The hand I describe was the balancing point between going home in the red or the black.

Six Positions
Hero - BB with J,J

P1 fold
p2 call
p3 Raise to 3BB
p4 calls 3BB
p5 calls 3 BB

SB fold
Hero - Re-raise to 8BB
p2 calls, all others fold

Flop 9,5,3 rainbox
P2 bets half pot.

At this point I let it go. I've been burned too many times by higher pocket pairs, and I hadn't played with this player before that evening, and had only played maybe 10 hands with him so far, so I wasn't sure what his standards were on calling a re-raise.

Hero Folds.
P2 shows 88, and seemed to think it was a pretty good hand.

I left down 5BB for the evening, because I didn't want to go into an all-in on my pocket pair without some knowledge of the other player.

On the up-side, another player later assumed this player was full of cheese, and went all in with the nut flush. This same player turned over Quad 7s. If I had to choose, I guess I'd rather fold a marginal victory than suffer a monster beat like that.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

KK - Misplay

Early in an on-line sit'n'go. Hero in 7th position.

1 - Limp
2 - Raise to 6BB
3-6 Fold
Hero (K,K) - Raise to 12BB
Button, SB, BB fold
2 - Calls

Flop - 9,7,3 rainbow
2 - Bets 1/2 pot

I simply called all the way down, for the next 3 bets, and lost about half my chips to you-know-what. I'm not sure if I could have gotten away from this hand on a nothing board, but perhaps if I had re-raised on the flop, I might have been able to throw away this second-best pair.

In other on-line news, I've been playing too damn much and need to scale it back, and take the games I play more seriously, or else I will develop some bad habits.