Suspension of Blogging

Effective immediately, I am done with poker blogging, unless it's worth a free roll for an on-line tourney. Otherwise, I find it's no longer productive in terms of improving my game, or improving your game. Consider this my new year's resolution come early.

You can find me on the 2+2 boards, playing on-line, or playing live.

To the handful of people who've been reading my blog, thanks for stopping in and sharing your opinions.

Double Hold'em Primer

At my upcoming home game, Double Hold'em will be offered. The rules are just like Hold'em, except two boards are dealt simultaneously, and the high hand of each board wins.

Here are a few scenarios and percentages to keep in mind.

Starter - Two suited cards, including the ace:
If you magically flop the flush draw on both boards, there are now 6 flush cards accounted for, and 44 unknown cards in the deck. This means that you are 32.6% to hit your flush on board 1, and 34.6% to hit on board 2, about 10% to potentially scoop with a flush on both boards.

Starter - Any low pocket pair

You are 12% to hit your set on the first board flop, just like in holdem. Your odds go up slightly on the second board flop to 13%. That's a 25% chance, or 3 to 1, that you will hit a set on one board. If you hit your set on the first board, you have a 6% chance of hitting a set on the second flop, or about a 10% of hitting it by the river. (That's a 0.8% chance of hitting a set on both flops.)

Update - Misc On-line and the Social Group

I haven't been on the road, so no Tunica updates. I've been doing okay on 'tards, placing 75th out of 490 in the PLO8 on Tuesday night, placing 10th in an 11$ 180 player NLHE sng, which tells me that my tourney decision making is getting better. In the NLHE sng, I treated it as a freeroll after hitting this 1-outer.

blinds 15/30, I've got 1470 in chips, and QQ utg. I limp, the next player bumps it to 3BB and three callers follow. I re-raise to 450, 12 bB, and one player calls. The flop is K56r and the player pushes for another 600, and I call, hoping for a small pair or an outside straight draw. Unfortunately its the worst possible scenario - KQs, which means I have precisely 1 out in the next two cards, or I'm down to 400 in chips. I river the case queen, and we're off to the races. When we're down to 15 players and everybodys got a small M, I really loosen up, and eventually lose a race w/JTo v AKo to get knocked out for 10th. One hand earlier I had lost J2s v A8s, for 1/4 of my stack.

Concerning the social group, the annual renewal fees are coming up, and even though the money involved means nothing, I'm strongly considering leaving for the following reasons.

1) The message board we moved to a year ago is junk. I just noticed that everything posted before Sept. 10th of this year has been deleted, and nobody knows why. The calendar device is cumbersome, not user-friendly at all.
2) There are fewer and fewer games being posted on the message board.
3) Posting a game on the board doesn't seem to attract new players. We did get ONE player at my last game based on posting to this board, but the rest were people I know and regularly play with. I've got an upcoming game, and expect zero new players.
4) There is a competing local game board which is free and offers up more players. Granted, I don't expect that board to fill seats any better, but at least the price is right.
5) Of 150 members, there are only a handful who like to engage in serious poker discussion, and there is generally not an attitude of improving one another's game, or improving the level of the club as a whole. It's every poker player for themselves, which should not be the purpose of a club.
6) Truth be told, it feels too much like high school, in terms of the social dynamics. Thanks but no thanks.

More PLO8 - Online SNG

Last night I made 45th out of 450 in a cheap PLO8, and then I took first of nine in a PLO8 sng. Let's see if I'm making good decisions, or if I'm a luckbox.

These are all from a cheap 9 player SNG.

Hands 1-30: I have some victories and losses, yo-yoing up to 2800 and back down to 1600 and getting back up to 2800 by the time hand 31 comes aroud.

hand 31 - blinds are 50/100 and and I'm dealt [As 7h Qc 3s] in the BB

Seat 1: langham1 (4376 in chips)
Seat 2: FrankNagaiJr (2735 in chips)
Seat 3: pawpaw67 (2507 in chips)
Seat 7: pinocchio46 (1937 in chips)
Seat 8: goodcash (1807 in chips)
Seat 9: polodelph (138 in chips)

There is a limp, a bump, one from the SB (langham1), I call, and the limper calls for 800 in the pot.

*** FLOP *** [7c 6d Qd]

I have two pair and not-ridiculous low draw.


langham1: bets 400
FrankNagaiJr: calls 400
pinocchio46: folds
goodcash: folds

This makes me think that my low is probably good if it hits.

*** TURN *** [7c 6d Qd] [Tc]
I'm very sceptical that this improved my opponents hand, unless he was betting the outside straight draw. The following reraise was dodgy, but proved correct.

langham1: bets 800
FrankNagaiJr: raises 1335 to 2135 and is all-in
langham1: calls 1335

*** RIVER *** [7c 6d Qd Tc] [4c]

langham1: shows [Td 6h Jd Ad] (HI: two pair, Tens and Sixes)
FrankNagaiJr: shows [As 7h Qc 3s] (HI: two pair, Queens and Sevens; LO: 7,6,4,3,A)

I would have to study hands 1-30 to determine why I felt that langham had very little, but I think I had a decent read to make this play. If I had been mistaken on my push-raise and he had the straight and a worse low draw, I have 14 outs to make my low, and four outs to make my boat.

Brilliant read or donk play?


Hand 35 - blinds are 75/150, and there are two virtual dead stacks out of the remaining six players. I limp [Jd 8d 4s Ac], and two of the other live stacks limp in.

*** FLOP *** [5h 3d 7s]

I have a weak low draw, as well as four outs for a wheel, and four more outs for a vulnerable straight. Pretty weak, and if the live stack had bet more, I might have gone away.

goodcash: bets 150
FrankNagaiJr: calls 150

*** TURN *** [5h 3d 7s] [9d]
I now have a backdoor flush draw, and any ten for a high straight, and I only have to call a tiny bet to stay? Sure!

goodcash: bets 150
FrankNagaiJr: calls 150

*** RIVER *** [5h 3d 7s 9d] [6h]
goodcash: bets 300
FrankNagaiJr: raises 1788 to 2088
goodcash: calls 1788
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FrankNagaiJr: shows [Jd 8d 4s Ac] (HI: a straight, Four to Eight; LO: 6,5,4,3,A)
goodcash: mucks hand

I think I played this hand just fine.

Hand 37 - I attempt a small blind pot-steal and get a call when I'm half naked with [7s Kc 4d Kd]. The flop is Q44, and he folds to my pot-sized cont-bet. Good.

Hand 38 - I'm a huge chip leader, and I limp [3c 5s 4c 6h], and the SB limps. The BB pot-raises (he raises a lot), so I push both players in. Their hands:
pinocchio46: shows [Qc Ad Jh Th]
goodcash: shows [8h 4h Kc Ac]

Two dimes has me at 30% EV pre-flop, so I was getting the odds I needed to show that I wasn't going to fold anything that I limped.

I lost both ways with this board.
*** RIVER *** [8c 9c 7s 6d] [5d]


Hand 51 - I pot-raise one limper w/[9s Ah Ad 6s] and he pushes with a solid hand [2d 4c Jh As] Two dimes puts me at 58% pre-flop, but I lose the coin flip. I'm still 3 to 1 chip leader over any other stack.

Hand 55 - In BB w/[As 6h 4d 2d] and I bump raise two limpers. I pot-bet the flop and take it down.
*** FLOP *** [Ad 7h 2s]

Hand 57 - I limp [7d 5s 2d Ac], and when pot-raised I push into the raiser, who calls with [6h Ah Ad Td]. Because my diamond draw is worthless, I'm the 38% dog here. If I had the Ace of Spades instead, my chances go up to 43%. I scoop with two pair and my A5 making the low. I'm now 5 to 1 against the two remaining stack.s

Hand 58 - the other two duke it out, and now I'm 2 to 1 stack agains the remaining player, who tends not to push preflop, but relies more on post-flop skill to win.

Hand 62 - The decisive hand, which needs some twodiming.

Seat 2: FrankNagaiJr (10173 in chips)
Seat 7: pinocchio46 (3327 in chips)

Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Kh Ah Ad 5s]
pinocchio46: calls 100
FrankNagaiJr: raises 400 to 600
pinocchio46: calls 400
*** FLOP *** [Jd 3s 2s]

I have a decent low draw, and he does NOT have the nut flush draw, even though I don't have a flush draw at all. Still, I can't believe I'm not ahead here.

FrankNagaiJr: bets 1200
pinocchio46: calls 1200
*** TURN *** [Jd 3s 2s] [Qs]

If he's got the flush, I still have to chase the second-best low. If he doesn't I may still be okay with top pair of aces, but I doubt it. Note the inside straight draw that hits.

*** RIVER *** [Jd 3s 2s Qs] [Tc]
FrankNagaiJr: shows [Kh Ah Ad 5s] (HI: a straight, Ten to Ace)
pinocchio46: shows [6c Td 3d 7c] (HI: two pair, Tens and Threes)

Pre-flop, I was only the 56% favorite. If he had NO flush draws, I was the 62% favorite, and if he had one flush draw, I was the 59% favorite. It's good to be double-suited!

On the flop, my ev is 68%, and he needs to make two pair or trips for the high, and/or counterfeit my low draw to survive.

On the turn, nothing changes, and I'm 81% EV.

Game over.

PLO8 on-line SNG

Let's take a look as to how much was luck and how much came from reasonable decisions:

Hand 1: I toss this tempting starter from MP. 8s Ac Ks 9h. Good choice.

Hand 4: My big blind hand Kh 6d Ac 7s - not ridiculously bad, and I see the flop for free 3 way. There is no action on any street, and I have the low on this board.
[Qc 4d Ts 3s] [As]

Hand 6 - My LP limp - 2c 4c Qh 3h
No action on the flop, and here's the turn, four way.
*** TURN *** [Ah As Kc] [8s]
I folded to a half-pot bet, despite having the nut low draw. I would have risked 40 to win 20, which didn't add up, and I didn't expect other callers, and didn't want o get in the middle of a raising war on the high side. Reasonable decision.


Hand 7 - A reasonable limp, 2h 3h Qs Kh, and the flop is A35. I'm counterfeited and gone.

Hand 8 - A high side limp, 9c Qd Js Kc, and the flop is 942, and I fold to a min-bet multi-way. Okay.

Hand 11 - This hand was very instructive about this opponent.
Seat 1: razzler (1605 in chips)
Seat 2: gater123 (1405 in chips)
Seat 3: beavorsky (1045 in chips)
Seat 4: kent hashr (820 in chips)
Seat 5: BigBanana4u (2360 in chips)
Seat 6: FrankNagaiJr (1440 in chips)
Seat 7: ottfig (1755 in chips)
Seat 8: galafish (1586 in chips)
Seat 9: ZYMERGY (1484 in chips)


Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [3h 6c Kh As]
BigBanana4u: calls 30
FrankNagaiJr: calls 30
kent hashr: checks
*** FLOP *** [6d 7s Ac]
FNJ I have a weak low draw and two pair here.

kent hashr: checks
BigBanana4u: checks
FrankNagaiJr: bets 60
kent hashr: raises 60 to 120
BigBanana4u: folds
FrankNagaiJr: calls 60

*** TURN *** [6d 7s Ac] [Ts]
I had a feeling based on the reraise, that he had the nut low, but not that he would have bet the outside/wrap straight draw, and that my two pair was likely still good. If I was wrong, I still have a chips left.

*** RIVER *** [6d 7s Ac Ts] [Jd]
kent hashr: bets 325 and is all-in
FrankNagaiJr: calls 325

kent hashr: shows [Td 4s Qc 2s] (HI: a pair of Tens; LO: 7,6,4,2,A)
FrankNagaiJr: shows [3h 6c Kh As] (HI: two pair, Aces and Sixes)

And lo and behold, he was going to town with the second best low, and a weak flush draw. I had also seen this player get agressive on other weak-ish hands.

Hand 12 - 4d Ac 4h 3d - 4 of us limp to see the flop
*** FLOP *** [8s Ad As]

I have trips, and second best low draw, so I test the waters.

kent hashr: checks
BigBanana4u: checks
FrankNagaiJr: bets 60
gater123: calls 60
kent hashr: calls 60
BigBanana4u: folds

*** TURN *** [8s Ad As] [8d]
I didn't like the turn, but I bet it anyhow, and one player, from the prior hand, came along, and the other two dropped.

*** RIVER *** [8s Ad As 8d] [2s]
Yay, I've got lock low, and trip aces!

kent hashr: bets 480
FrankNagaiJr: raises 803 to 1283 and is all-in

FrankNagaiJr: shows [4d Ac 4h 3d] (HI: three of a kind, Aces; LO: 8,4,3,2,A)
kent hashr: shows [2c 3h 9h 5c] (HI: two pair, Aces and Deuces; LO: 8,5,3,2,A)

And sure enough, this player's tendency to play second best hands catches up with him. I now have a chip stack that allows for a little bit of patience.

Seat 1: razzler (1605 in chips)
Seat 2: gater123 (1315 in chips)
Seat 3: beavorsky (1030 in chips)
Seat 5: BigBanana4u (2300 in chips)
Seat 6: FrankNagaiJr (2425 in chips)
Seat 7: ottfig (1755 in chips)
Seat 8: galafish (1586 in chips)
Seat 9: ZYMERGY (1484 in chips)

Hand 20 - Here's a questionable decision on my part. Bear in mind that the raiser frequently came in with a raise whenever he came in.

Seat 1: razzler (1545 in chips)
Seat 6: FrankNagaiJr (2410 in chips)
Seat 9: ZYMERGY (944 in chips)

Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [5c 9c 9h Jh]

ottfig: folds
galafish: folds
ZYMERGY: calls 50
razzler: raises 150 to 200
gater123: folds
beavorsky: folds
BigBanana4u: folds
FrankNagaiJr: calls 150

There was 325 in the pot, and I anticipated a call from Zymergy, which would mean I was getting 475 to 150 to call with this two-suited goofball hand. Even though I don't have a low draw, this seemed reasonable.

Sample percentages on two-dimes against an A2xx and and AA3x hand put me at 31%, or if both my flushes were behind, down to 23%, or 4 to 1 against, I would need a specific flop to continue, of course. Oddly, the initial limper disregarded pot odds and folded, and the flop was totally wrong for me, and I folded to big cont-bet. My call was marginally a bad decision, but the expected pot-size cont-bet did materialize, so it wasn't truly bad.

*** FLOP *** [Td 2d 7h]

Hand 29 - I fold this hand [9d Ad 7s 4c] after a limper and a pot raise. It has a flush draw, sure, but it also looks like a great second-best hand. It turns out the raiser (BigBanana4u) had to show this hand [6c Jh 3s Jc], so his raises after this will likely result in looser calls from me.

Hand 35 - I have been tight/passive, and I limp utg [5h 8s Ah Ad], and I make a probe bet into this flop [6c Qs Qd] and get no resistance. Blinds are 50/100, my chip count is 2235, and there are still 8 players of the original 9.

Hand 37 - I make an SB steal to take the BB. I liked my cards [Ad Ac 6h Ks]

Hand 38 - Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [7d 7s Ac 8c] 5 of us see the flop.

*** FLOP *** [6d 9d 5h]
ottfig: bets 100
galafish: folds
ZYMERGY: folds
BigBanana4u: raises 647 to 747 and is all-in

I have the nut straight, and want to push out ottfig if he's got a flush draw.
FrankNagaiJr: raises 1388 to 2135 and is all-in
ottfig: folds

*** RIVER *** [6d 9d 5h Ts] [Ad]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BigBanana4u: shows [9h 4c As 3d] (HI: two pair, Aces and Nines; LO: 6,5,4,3,A)
FrankNagaiJr: shows [7d 7s Ac 8c] (HI: a straight, Six to Ten; LO: 8,7,6,5,A)

And my opponenet did not have the flush draw, but was pulling for a decent low draw, and an outside straight draw that would have lost to my higher made straight. We chop.

Hand 44 - My 'steal' was correct, and I was rivered. Let's see

Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [8d Ad Jh As]
I am in BB and check after two limpers.
*** FLOP *** [9h 6s Tc]
BigBanana4u: checks
FrankNagaiJr: bets 300
beavorsky: calls 300
BigBanana4u: folds

We check it down and he rivers trips, which he chose not to bet. When I two-dimed the flop, I was the the 72.5% fave, as he has only runner-runner flush draws,, runner-runner QJ, or the two Kings to save him.

*** RIVER *** [9h 6s Tc 3c] [Kc]
FrankNagaiJr: shows [8d Ad Jh As] (HI: a pair of Aces)
beavorsky: shows [Ks 4h Kh 9s] (HI: three of a kind, Kings)

Hand 47 - Blinds are 75/100, I have 1910, and there are still 7 players left. I need to make a move soon. The hand below is a little weak, so I'd prefer not to see a flop.

Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Ah 6d 7s Kd]
galafish: calls 375
ZYMERGY: calls 300

*** FLOP *** [4d Jc 3c]
galafish: bets 316 and is all-in
ZYMERGY: folds
FrankNagaiJr: calls 316

If galafish had more chips, I probably would have folded, but I had four fives for the straight, and a hope that he was betting on high and that my weak low might be enough. I was getting 5 to 1 to call.

galafish: shows [Ts 3s 4s Td] (HI: two pair, Fours and Threes)
FrankNagaiJr: shows [Ah 6d 7s Kd] (HI: two pair, Aces and Kings; LO: 7,6,4,3,A)

Hand 48 - This hand really bothered me. We both had the nut low, and neither of us had a pair till the river.
Seat 6: FrankNagaiJr (3126 in chips)

Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Ac Qc 3d Ks]
FrankNagaiJr: raises 300 to 450

*** FLOP *** [2h 6s 4d]
beavorsky: checks
FrankNagaiJr: bets 450
beavorsky: calls 450

*** TURN *** [2h 6s 4d] [Js]
beavorsky: checks
FrankNagaiJr: bets 1875
beavorsky: calls 1635 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [2h 6s 4d Js] [9c]

beavorsky: shows [Td Ah 9h 3c] (HI: a pair of Nines; LO: 6,4,3,2,A)
FrankNagaiJr: shows [Ac Qc 3d Ks] (HI: high card Ace; LO: 6,4,3,2,A)

On the river, he was drawing to six outs to not get quartered. That's now two big hands where beavorsky has caught up to me on the river. My chip count is back to 1877 and blinds are 75/150. I do give myself some credit for not tilting at this point and pushing a wider range of hands pre-flop.

Hand 50 - An EP pot raise from a frequent raiser, and I call with two suited, possible low holdings [4s 8h 2s Kh], and if an Ace fell, or two of either of my suits, or even two pair, I would push re-raise on the flop. However, I folded on the following flop, feeling that a weak low draw and a middle pair only was simply too risky. Down to 1352 in chips.

*** FLOP *** [8d Tc 5c]

Hand 51 - I limp-open in SB w/ [7h Ac Td 3d] and bet on the flop,[Ad 4h 6c]
and the BB folds. Yay. Chip count 1502, six players.

Hand 52 - I choose NOT to button steal with this hand [Qd 6d As Jh]. Maybe I'm too skittish?

Hand 54 - I toss this hand [4c 6h Ad 7c] to a UTG bump, which turned into a raising war. I would have been knocked out, as no low came, and I missed the board. 5 players remain after one gets knocked out.

Hand 56 - I am given a free ride in the BB w/ [2h 3c Ac 8d]. Mixed blessing.

Hand 58 - I toss this hand MP after an EP limper. [Qc 6s 8h Qd]. If it were not a rainbow, I might have pushed with it. A queen flopped, but if it hadn't, I was probably in trouble with this hand.

Hand 60 - I utg pot-raise w/ [Ah Qh 2d 4s] and no callers. This will buy me another trip around the blinds, which have gone up to 100/200, and my chip count is 1802 with five players still in the hunt.

Hand 61 - A playable hand that comes out in my favor. I'm in the BB with 400 in the pot on the flop, heads up SV v BB play.

Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [4s 8d Jc Ah]
*** FLOP *** [6c As Qc]

The flop could be worse, but all I've got is top pair and a weak low draw. We both check.

*** TURN *** [6c As Qc] [Js]
Two pair and no clear straight or flush draw? I'm going to town!
BigBanana4u: bets 400
FrankNagaiJr: raises 1200 to 1600
BigBanana4u: calls 1200

*** RIVER *** [6c As Qc Js] [Ad]
FrankNagaiJr: shows [4s 8d Jc Ah] (HI: a full house, Aces full of Jacks)
BigBanana4u: shows [5d 3h 2c 6h] (HI: two pair, Aces and Sixes)

Two dimes puts us almost even pre-flop, he's got one flush draw, and some wrap straight possibilities, and I've got some high card strength. On the flop we're still almost even, with him a big favorite on the low, and me a big favorite on the high. When our money went in on the turn, I'm the 71% favorite. He needs either of the 6s to scoop, and any of 19 outs to halve the pot. All the other outs gave me the scoop.

My chip count is now 3604, 5 players still in, 100/200 blinds.

Hand 62 - I attempt an SB limp steal against the BB and give up on the turn when he bets. It's very nice having a predictable player on one's left!

Hand 64 - I finally get the better of beavorsky on the river. I small bet this flop and he called, and I made a teaser bet on the river with a weak flush, and a second-best low. He mucked, so I can't two dime it. but you can see that I flopped an inside draw and a reasonable low draw, and turned the flush draw, that I didn't bet for fear of being reraised, and I thought I had a decent scoop chance on the river.

*** RIVER *** [8h 5c Qd Kc] [7c]
FrankNagaiJr: shows [2s 3c 6s Tc] (HI: a flush, King high; LO: 8,7,5,3,2)

('Hello Grasshoppa!')


I have 4504 in chips, 4 players still in the hunt, and one with less than 2BB, 100/200.

Hand 66 - I get another free ride in the BB, this time with mediocre holdings. Yay.

Hand 67 - I pot-raise to open from the SB w/4h Ac Kc 6s and pick up the blinds.

Hand 68 - I isolate the small stack w/Ts Ah 4h Jh and he calls with 8d 9h 9s As, and we chop. Two dimes had me as the 58% fave.

Hand 71 - I call a bump and one caller from the BB w/4d Kd Qc Js and we check all three streets down collectively. The other two players have the weak high and the weak low. I think I would have folded to any bet on any street.

*** RIVER *** [Th 5d 3c 2c] [Kc]
FrankNagaiJr: shows [4d Kd Qc Js] (HI: a pair of Kings)
razzler: shows [2s 6h 7s As] (HI: a pair of Deuces; LO: 6,5,3,2,A)
beavorsky: shows [Ks 3d 9d Ad] (HI: two pair, Kings and Threes)

Hand 73 - I pot raise w/Kh Qh Ac Qc and steal the blinds. The weak stack has recovered a little, blinds are still 100/200

Seat 1: razzler (1169 in chips)
Seat 3: beavorsky (1536 in chips)
Seat 5: BigBanana4u (3381 in chips)
Seat 6: FrankNagaiJr (4954 in chips)
Seat 7: ottfig (2460 in chips)

Hand 74 - I get rivered once again by Beavorsky, who doubles up after push-reraising my initial flop bet. He was drawing to any heart, any king, any jack to win, so I was only the 62% favorite. Nobody had a low draw on that flop.

*** RIVER *** [Ad Qh Th 8c] [8h]
beavorsky: shows [3h Jc Jh Ah] (HI: a flush, Ace high)
FrankNagaiJr: shows [9h As Qs Kd] (HI: two pair, Aces and Queens)

Blinds are now 150/300
Seat 1: razzler (1069 in chips)
Seat 3: beavorsky (3172 in chips)
Seat 5: BigBanana4u (3381 in chips)
Seat 6: FrankNagaiJr (3418 in chips)
Seat 7: ottfig (2460 in chips)

Hand 75 - I limp 2c Ac 7c 8h and bet into my runner-runner low draw and outside straight draw. I'm very happy to take the pot down on the flop, with the other three limpers folding.
*** FLOP *** [Ts 3s 9c]

Seat 6: FrankNagaiJr (4318 in chips)

Hand 76 - A free ride in the BB. Yay.

Hand 77 - I SB limp into BB w/3d Ts 7h 7d, check the flop , and bet the turn into a flush draw, he folds. Yay.

*** TURN *** [9c Tc Ad] [9d]

Hand 82 - I call the tiny stacks all-in w/3h 9d 2d 6d and miss both ways. 3849 in chips, 150/300 blinds.

Hand 84 - I button limp this two-suited beauty 4c 9h Th 5d and bet the flop to pick up the pot. yay. *** FLOP *** [2s 2h Ad]

Hand 85 - I utg pot-steal w/Kc Js Ks Qh

Hand 86 - A free ride in the BB.

Hand 87 - I SB pot-raise w/7s 4c As 3d and pick up the BB. yay.

Hand 91 - I don't defend from a pot-steal w/6h 9c 7c 7s. If it had been two-suited or 6879, I would have been more likely to go for it.

Hand 92 - I defend my BB from a pot steal w/4s 3c 2h 5h and totally miss the flop. I fold to a big bet. *** FLOP *** [7s Qh Qc]

Hand 93 - I limp this [Qh Td 2d 2h] into the tiny stack and have to call his all-in with nothing. He has a boat to my two pair.

Blinds are 200/400
Seat 1: razzler (1426 in chips)
Seat 3: beavorsky (1522 in chips)
Seat 5: BigBanana4u (5631 in chips)
Seat 6: FrankNagaiJr (3661 in chips)
Seat 7: ottfig (1260 in chips)

Hand 95 - I have this in BB after one limper, and I don't raise pre-flop [9d 8d 2d Ac].

*** FLOP *** [Ts 5d Ah]
BigBanana4u: checks
FrankNagaiJr: checks
*** TURN *** [Ts 5d Ah] [Js]
BigBanana4u: checks
FrankNagaiJr: bets 800
BigBanana4u: calls 800
*** RIVER *** [Ts 5d Ah Js] [Qs]
BigBanana4u: bets 2400
FrankNagaiJr: folds
BigBanana4u collected 2400 from pot
BigBanana4u: shows [3s 9s 4d As] (HI: a flush, Ace high)


I was actually the 42% underdog when I bet the flop.

Hand 97 - I'm down to 2061 in chips and make a pot-steal w/2s Kh 3d Ah to pick up the blinds. No opposition, and I've increased my chip stack by 30%.

Hand 100 - I pot steal from SB w/Qs 2c Kd 6s, and my left folds.

Hand 101 one player eliminated, blinds are 200/400.

Seat 3: beavorsky (3608 in chips)
Seat 5: BigBanana4u (7231 in chips)
Seat 6: FrankNagaiJr (2661 in chips)

Hand 103 - I SB limp 4c 2c Kd 5s, check the flop, small bet the turn, and push on the river with two pair. Opponent folds to my river bet, which I expected, since the low draw missed, and the diamond draw missed. I didn't think a runner-runner straight draw hit was likely heads up.

*** RIVER *** [5d Ks 8d Qh] [Th]


Hand 106 - I SB limp this [9s Js Jd 2c] and bet the flop *** FLOP *** [4d 7s Qs]
, and the smaller stack reraises me all-in. I have Jacks and a flush draw, so I feel I've got a decent enough high draw to stay. I was the 45% underdog preflop (no low draw, he's got two flush draws to my one flush draw.) On the flop when we pushed it was a complete coin flip, he with the only low draw, and me a 66% favorite on the high side, since much of his wrap draw was counterfeited by my flush draw.

*** RIVER *** [4d 7s Qs 9d] [9c]
FrankNagaiJr: shows [9s Js Jd 2c] (HI: three of a kind, Nines)
beavorsky: shows [5h 5c 8h 6c] (HI: two pair, Nines and Fives)

Hand 119 - I see-sawed with my opponent for 13 hands, till we pushed pre-flop on this hand. I'm the 43% underdog pre-flop since I have no low draw. Once I flop the flush, he needs to runner-runner a low to survive. Game over.

*** RIVER *** [Jc 4c Tc As] [6s]
BigBanana4u: shows [8d Ah Ks 9h] (HI: a pair of Aces)
FrankNagaiJr: shows [Qc Qh 9d Ac] (HI: a flush, Ace high)

BD Delaware Cash 12/1/06

Thanks for a very enjoyable game last night.

Played about 7 hours NLHE at a full table last night, half of whom I had played with many times in the past. It was fun to play at a table where people mostly knew what they were doing. I think that in the whole evening I saw two all-in bets called, one due to stack size, the other due to inexperience on the part of the caller. I almost felt bad for the inexperience player, but he acknowledged that he was out of his depth, and that he was paying for poker lessons, so as long as he knows that.

I bought in and was slightly up, then I was slightly down, and then my mortal enemy went home and the table was mine for the pillaging. For the last couple of hours, I was making reads-and-steals, parrys-and-thrusts, and people rarely wanted to pay me off when I asserted that I had a hand. I did not have any true monsters all night, but based on the action I was getting, nobody else seemed to be hitting monsters either. I did make one ill-advised steal attempt on the flop when my opponent flopped a boat that was ony vulnerable to quads, but he cold called and hoped I would make another bet. When he made a small river bet, I had nothing to call him with, so that was an easy situation to get out of.

All in all a great night of cards and cameraderie.

Greektown Detroit - Never again, baby!

Hit Greektown Detroit briefly on Thanksgiving day, and had an all-around unpleasant gambling experience. Smoking at the table was okay for starters.

No-limit 100$ buy-in. I discovered after folding a hand, that there was no reloading until you were tapped. So if you buy in at 100$ and have a bad hand or two and are down to 40$, your options are to walk away, or play with the tiny stack. I was at 45$ and couldn't reload when they switched dealers and asked for 6$ seat rent, which would have brought my stack down to 39$. I walked away, thanks.

Limit 3-6. The table I was at looked very beatable, with some testoserone driven clowns raising and betting pure trash. I took one small pot, and then got involved with pocket-rockets, and we capped it pre-flop. The flop came two-suited, and somebody else bet, and I raised as last to act. The turn paired the board, and it was checked to me, and I bet into the two remaining chasers. The river brought a flush card, and I made a crying call, as did the other guy. I got to see that there were precisely 11 outs to beat me on the river, because the guy who won it stayed on a pair of 5s unimproved until the river. The other guy had the worthless nut flush of course. I don't consider this a bad beat, but evidence that this table could cough up a lot of stupidity-tax money if a body was patient enough.

My Best 180 player on-line yet - Part 3 - Final table

As of hand 185, 600/1200 75 ante
Seat 1: dbstamp (27220 in chips)
Seat 2: KING TJ (5190 in chips)
Seat 3: FrankNagaiJr (35851 in chips)
Seat 4: Eye of Ra (12330 in chips)
Seat 5: dojdoj74 (30220 in chips)
Seat 6: thesock007 (14570 in chips)
Seat 7: -XE-Klump (54493 in chips)
Seat 8: SittingBully (50739 in chips)
Seat 9: Carnite (39387 in chips)

Hand 187 - I have AJo on button, and knock out King TJ, who pushed with A8o and didn't suck out. (We both flopped a pair.)


Hand 189 - I steal w/KQs

Hand 191 - It's been a tight table, so I ep steal w/76s and the flop is AKQ. I was very happy not to seen any resistance on my cont-bet!

Hand 195 - I attempt a steal w/KQo and get an all-in reraise from a healthy stack who I hadn't played with much. I back down.

Hand 199 - I attempt a steal w/22 and get called. I give up on the flop via check-fold.

Hand 200 - another player knocked out, our chip counts as follows, with 800/1600 75 ante blinds.

Seat 1: dbstamp (22620 in chips)
Seat 3: FrankNagaiJr (35491 in chips)
Seat 5: dojdoj74 (34458 in chips)
Seat 6: thesock007 (21282 in chips)
Seat 7: -XE-Klump (66223 in chips)
Seat 8: SittingBully (53539 in chips)
Seat 9: Carnite (36387 in chips)


Hand 204 - I bump-raise a limper w/76s and the flop is 887. My pot-sized flop bet takes it down.

Hand 210 - I steal w/QJo, no resistance

Hand 211 - I limp 33 and take a stab 3 way on an AJ6 flop with no resistance from SB or BB. I would assume they smelled a trap with my limp.

Hand 214 - Another steal, Q6o, successful.

Hand 218 - EP steal w/KTo, successful.

Hand 220 - Steal w/K9o, successful.

Hand 221 - Here's an interesting hand. I don't remember my chain of thought, but his river bet really didn't smell like he had the flush and this player had generally been tight. Even though he had the opportunity to stack me, he gave it up. My play on the turn and river did make it look like I was on a draw, too.

*********** # 221 **************
PokerStars Game #7006236522: Tournament #35770611, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level XII (800/1600) - 2006/11/13 - 04:25:18 (ET)
Table '35770611 4' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 3: FrankNagaiJr (43966 in chips)
Seat 5: dojdoj74 (22558 in chips)
Seat 6: thesock007 (21557 in chips)
Seat 7: -XE-Klump (76473 in chips)
Seat 8: SittingBully (59434 in chips)
Seat 9: Carnite (46012 in chips)
FrankNagaiJr: posts the ante 75
dojdoj74: posts the ante 75
thesock007: posts the ante 75
-XE-Klump: posts the ante 75
SittingBully: posts the ante 75
Carnite: posts the ante 75
dojdoj74: posts small blind 800
thesock007: posts big blind 1600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Tc Ac]
-XE-Klump: calls 1600
SittingBully: calls 1600
Carnite: folds
FrankNagaiJr: calls 1600
dojdoj74: folds
thesock007: checks
*** FLOP *** [Th Kh 8s]
thesock007: checks
-XE-Klump: bets 1600
SittingBully: folds
FrankNagaiJr: calls 1600
thesock007: folds
*** TURN *** [Th Kh 8s] [Qs]
-XE-Klump: bets 1600
FrankNagaiJr: calls 1600
*** RIVER *** [Th Kh 8s Qs] [9h]
-XE-Klump: bets 1600
FrankNagaiJr: raises 10400 to 12000
-XE-Klump: folds
FrankNagaiJr collected 17250 from pot
FrankNagaiJr: doesn't show hand

Hand 227 - I steal w/Q8o. There seems to be a tacit agreement among the big stacks to keep the pressure on the small stacks at all times.

Hand 230 - I steal w/A5o

Hand 235 - My steal w/A3o is thwarted by an all-in reraise. I fold and am shown AQo.

Hand 237 - I defend from a steal by calling w/K9o, and I give up to the cont-bet with no pair and no draw. Blinds are 1000/2000 ante 100, so there is one player to be ganged up on at this point:

Seat 3: FrankNagaiJr (43266 in chips)
Seat 5: dojdoj74 (43158 in chips)
Seat 6: thesock007 (15007 in chips)
Seat 7: -XE-Klump (69723 in chips)
Seat 8: SittingBully (47334 in chips)
Seat 9: Carnite (51512 in chips)

Hand 239 - My 'steal' is reraised, and I happen to have AKs, and I push when reraised to see dojdo with A6o. We both flop a pair, and Dojdoj74 lost a bunch of money by pushing at the wrong time with a marginal hand.

Hand 248 - I'm still chip leader, silent since 239. I steal w/KQo

Hand 249 - My steal w/QTo is called, and the flop is ATJ. My cont-bet with third pair takes it down.

Hand 253 - I steal w/Q3. The shortest stack is 23K and blinds are still 1000/2000.

Hand 255 - My steal w/44 gets no resistance.

Hand 257 - I defend from a steal w/K2o and give up to the cont-bet.

Hand 260 - Blinds are now 1500/3000 and my steal w/AJo gets one caller, and I'm reraised on my standard cont-bet and I fold. I'm still marginally the chip leader.

Hand 262 - I toss AKo in response to a steal raise and a re-raise. I think I'm playing well enough that I don't want a coin flip at this moment.

Hand 263 - I toss KQo behind a steal raise. Once again, I'm avoiding volatility, since one player has only 15K in chips and should be going out soon.

hand 264 - The 15K player pushes A9o and loses to 33.

Seat 3: FrankNagaiJr (69074 in chips)
Seat 7: -XE-Klump (38373 in chips)
Seat 8: SittingBully (112548 in chips)
Seat 9: Carnite (50005 in chips)

Hand 265 - My QJo steal is called, and I make a halfpot bet into AAQ to take it down.

Hand 266 - The short stack pushes and is eliminated with J7 after attempting to take down a K66 board and getting called down by QTo, which caught a pair and won. Blinds are still 1500/3000

Seat 3: FrankNagaiJr (73874 in chips)
Seat 8: SittingBully (156921 in chips)
Seat 9: Carnite (39205 in chips)


The battle continues, but I'm tired of typing.

My Best 180 player on-line yet - Part 2 - Survive to final table

My table chip count at this 180 player SNG at the end of hand 45

Seat 1: penibal (3245 in chips)
Seat 2: M.v.H (3480 in chips)
Seat 3: FrankNagaiJr (6470 in chips)
Seat 4: StrawDog81 (1045 in chips)
Seat 6: dstemarie (1185 in chips)
Seat 7: limoni (1960 in chips)
Seat 8: deviative (11330 in chips)
Seat 9: jburn812 (6402 in chips)

Hand 48 - I have 49s in the BB and get to see it for free. There has been zero action four way on the river, and I buy it with a pot-sized bet.

Hand 50 - I limp A5s @100 blinds, make a big reraise on the flop, check the turn and give it up on the river.

Hand 55 - I have QTo in the BB and flop second pair, tens. I call deviatives opener bet and we both check it down. My tens are good.

Hand 56 - I have K2s in the SB, limp and flop two pair. Deviative calls my flop and turn bets, and when the flush card hits on the river I bet anyway, and he folds. Not sure what he was chasing not to call my similar sized river bet, but it was nice of him to give me some action in any case.

Seat 3: FrankNagaiJr (7945 in chips)
Seat 8: deviative (11610 in chips)

Hand 58 - Deviative limps A5o EP and calls a smaller stack all-in, and hits the straight to beat QQ.

Hand 62 - I EP limp QJo and flop top pair. My only caller is Deviative, who bump reraises me. I call his flop, turn and river bets, and he had a pair of queens with a four kicker (and a wheel draw on the turn!). My queen, jack kicker holds up.

Seat 3: FrankNagaiJr (9070 in chips)
Seat 8: deviative (11520 in chips)

Handf 66 - Deviative and I triple up a very small stack. I hit two pair and attempt to collect from Deviative, but he actually folds for a change. Drat!

Hand 74 - I attempt a steal w/KQs and flop a flush. I get paid my non-greedy bets all way to the river for a nice stack.

Seat 3: FrankNagaiJr (10650 in chips)
Seat 8: deviative (10350 in chips)

Hand 85 - I raise EP w/AQo and get one caller. My cont-bet into KJx does not get called. Deviative has meanwhile begun to caught up with the laws of probability. I'm now the table chip leader, but there are at least two threats.

Seat 1: galileedream (10180 in chips)
Seat 3: FrankNagaiJr (11400 in chips)
Seat 4: StrawDog81 (2875 in chips)
Seat 5: fishroger (10550 in chips)
Seat 6: thesock007 (1740 in chips)
Seat 7: M.v.H (1930 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 8: deviative (5280 in chips)

Hand 93 - I attempt a utg steal w/AJo and the big stack in BB calls me. I check the missed flop and give up on the turn.

Hand 105 - Otherwise - I've seen a few flops and missed and give up. I am now far from the chip leader, and deviative is waiting to die.

Seat 1: galileedream (13180 in chips)
Seat 2: bobloblaw123 (5210 in chips)
Seat 3: FrankNagaiJr (7825 in chips)
Seat 5: fishroger (13175 in chips)
Seat 6: thesock007 (12360 in chips)
Seat 7: DIRTY DOUG23 (4640 in chips)
Seat 8: deviative (2065 in chips)
Seat 9: jburn812 (7677 in chips)

I make a steal attempt w/A3o in position, and my cont-bet gets reraised, and I go away.

Seat 3: FrankNagaiJr (5400 in chips)

Hand 106 - deviative pushes preflop w/35o in response to an EP raise. He flops an outside draw but fails to beat QQ. Laws of gravity take him out.

Hand 109 - I make a push steal against one limper w/A3o, in SB with only the BB left to act. Why did I do this? Because the single limper had habitually pre-flopped with any cards he even seemed to half like, and I had concluded that he was not the type who would limp AA and hope for a raise. I could have been mistaken and been knocked out on this hand, but instead he folded. A questionable play with a decent result.

Hand 114 - I'm dealt KK and raise 3bb EP (200/400 blinds) I'm happy to see a reraiser, and I happily push. I have a scary moment when ATs flops the flush draw, but then fails to hit the ace or the heart to win. I'm back to a playable chip stack.

Seat 1: galileedream (6780 in chips)
Seat 2: bobloblaw123 (4935 in chips)
Seat 3: FrankNagaiJr (11475 in chips)
Seat 5: fishroger (11300 in chips)
Seat 6: thesock007 (17700 in chips)
Seat 7: DIRTY DOUG23 (4365 in chips)
Seat 9: jburn812 (9577 in chips)

Hand 116 - QQ in the BB and nobody attempts to steal, and nobody calls. Bummer.

Hand 120 - A mid-position steal w/KJo and no callers. Yay.

Hand 127 - an MP raise w/A5s and a cont-bet takes the pot two way. I had no pair and no draw on the flop, so I was happy.

Hand 139 - I have seen no cards or flops since 127, and am given a free ride in the BB, so I didn't need to figure out how to handle A6o against a stealer. There's been one maniace at our table pushing every third hand or so, and never getting called, so that may have been a tough/borderline decision for me.

Hand 146 - I make a steal w/A8o, my first playable hand for quite a while.

Hand 149 - I make a 'steal' w/JJ

Hand 151 - Another steal (QTo) The guy on my left has been so passive that if he ever defends, I'm gone!

Hand 152 - A player is knocked out and we are down to the final 18. Here is our table. Blinds are 400/800 ante 50.

Seat 1: galileedream (1755 in chips)
Seat 2: bobloblaw123 (16660 in chips)
Seat 3: FrankNagaiJr (15100 in chips)
Seat 4: Eye of Ra (8675 in chips)
Seat 5: thibax (5990 in chips)
Seat 6: thesock007 (22820 in chips)
Seat 7: mateo$55 (4822 in chips)
Seat 8: Paybax (16164 in chips)
Seat 9: Carnite (25387 in chips)

Hand 154 another steal w/98o and no takers. Our table seems to take turns stealing, with very few flops seem. Some players appear to refuse to steal without a real hand.

Hand 160 - I 'steal' w/QQ and get a caller. My pot-sized bet is reraised to all-in and I'm put to a tough decision on a J-high flop. I call and double up from AJo.

Hand 161 - The guy on my left raises from UTG into my blind. The whole table has been paying attention and folds.

Hand 162 - I reraise to isolate a small-stacks all-in w/AKo. I beat his TT to get more chips. I'm up with the chip leaders.

Seat 2: bobloblaw123 (4965 in chips)
Seat 3: FrankNagaiJr (34522 in chips)
Seat 4: Eye of Ra (7775 in chips)
Seat 5: thibax (5940 in chips)
Seat 6: thesock007 (19520 in chips)
Seat 8: Paybax (14464 in chips)
Seat 9: Carnite (30187 in chips)

Hand 170 - I have Q9o in the SB and call a much smaller stack's all-in to knock out A4o.

Hand 176 - I'm back to stealing w/Q3 after attempting a limp steal with KJo at hand 172 and folding on the flop. The steal works.

Hand 180 - Steal w/A2o successful. We are down to 11 players.

Hand 184 - We are down to the final table. Blinds are 600/1200 75 ante
Seat 1: dbstamp (27220 in chips)
Seat 2: KING TJ (5190 in chips)
Seat 3: FrankNagaiJr (35851 in chips)
Seat 4: Eye of Ra (12330 in chips)
Seat 5: dojdoj74 (30220 in chips)
Seat 6: thesock007 (14570 in chips)
Seat 7: -XE-Klump (54493 in chips)
Seat 8: SittingBully (50739 in chips)
Seat 9: Carnite (39387 in chips)

My Best 180 player on-line yet - Part 1 - in Deviative's Shadow

Hand 2 - I watch player 'deviative' at my table call the flop with an inside draw on Q9o , and call a push when he hits third pair. He wins.

Hand 3 - I make a meaningless late position steal and continuation bet successfully.

Hand 4 - 'deviative' raise 3bb and gets no callers.

Hand 5 - 'deviative' calls 3bb w/Q9o. He calls the flop bet with no draw, hits a queen on the turn to win.

Hand 6 'deviative' calls 3BB with A9s, misses the flop and turn and calls gradually increasing bets on flop and turn to hit his 9 on the river and take down yet another pot.

Hand 7 - I limp JJ EP and four of us see the flop cheaply, and I flop the straight draw (89T) and my pot sized bet gets no callers.

Hand 8 'deviative' gets into another raised pot with god-knows what, and he actually gives up to a river bet after all 3 check the turn.

Hand 9 - I don't have to wait long to begin taxing the luckbox. Note that I chose not to bet the river since I felt that he could have been on two pair. I only discovered later that he bets when he's got two pair or better.

Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Ad Ah]
deviative: calls 20
LionHeart46: calls 20
majboy: folds
MarineBlair: calls 10
FrankNagaiJr: raises 80 to 100
deviative: calls 80
LionHeart46: calls 80
MarineBlair: folds
*** FLOP *** [9h Qd 7s]
FrankNagaiJr: bets 220
deviative: calls 220
LionHeart46: folds
*** TURN *** [9h Qd 7s] [7h]
FrankNagaiJr: bets 400
deviative: calls 400
*** RIVER *** [9h Qd 7s 7h] [2d]
FrankNagaiJr: checks
deviative: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FrankNagaiJr: shows [Ad Ah] (two pair, Aces and Sevens)
deviative: mucks hand
FrankNagaiJr collected 1560 from pot


My Chip count before and after this hand:

Seat 3: FrankNagaiJr (1600 in chips)
Seat 3: FrankNagaiJr (2440 in chips)

Hand 10 - I perform an isolation raise w/KJo to isolate deviative, and I make a strong bet into an A99 flop. If he called, I was gone in a shot of course.

Hand 16 - Deviative calls 4bb @30 w/89o and pays off flop and turn bets to hit the inside straight. When he hits it, he makes a huge raise and collects. Bless his heart.

Hand 19 - Deviative reraises w/QQ and doubles up. Check out our table chip leader:
Seat 8: deviative (5685 in chips)

Hand 21 - I am dealt AKo and fold to a raise and a reraise by deviative. I feel that my other option, push-reraising is more volatility than I want with a player who will eventually give away his chips on second pair. Sure enough, he's got QQ again, and knocks out another player. He's pretty much the chip leader for the whole tournament right now, by virtual of some really bad calls, and a couple of big pocket pairs that have held up. (My AK would have lost, btw.)

Seat 8: deviative (9040 in chips)

Hand 23 - I call a bump in the BB w/T9o and flop top pair as one of four players (T24 rainbow). We all check, and then I make a big reraise on the turn to take it down without any resistance.

Hand 24 - Deviative knocks out a small stack w/A3o

Hand 26 - Deviative EP limps 45o and flops the nut straight, and actually performs a check raise to knock out yet another player. The check-raise surprised me, but maybe he had seen it on TV?

I am the second biggest stack at our table. Deviative is still a tourney chip leader.

Seat 8: deviative (11005 in chips)
Seat 3: FrankNagaiJr (2575 in chips)

Hand 30 - I toss KJo to an early bump and miss out on a KK5 flop that nobody connected with. Oh well.

Hand 33 - My first double up. I had seen LionHeart in enough hands such that I knew that I was ahead when he only called my reraise. Set over set and I double up.

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Jd Jh]
FrankNagaiJr: calls 50
StrawDog81: folds
TruRounder34: folds
dstemarie: folds
powmoe: folds
deviative: calls 50
LionHeart46: raises 150 to 200
JohhnyAce: folds
TC 270: folds
FrankNagaiJr: raises 400 to 600
deviative: folds
LionHeart46: calls 400
*** FLOP *** [Jc Tc Kd]
FrankNagaiJr: bets 300
LionHeart46: raises 750 to 1050
FrankNagaiJr: raises 750 to 1800
LionHeart46: raises 735 to 2535 and is all-in
FrankNagaiJr: calls 175 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [Jc Tc Kd] [Qd]
*** RIVER *** [Jc Tc Kd Qd] [Kc]
FrankNagaiJr said, "wow"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FrankNagaiJr: shows [Jd Jh] (a full house, Jacks full of Kings)
LionHeart46: shows [Th Ts] (a full house, Tens full of Kings)
FrankNagaiJr collected 5275 from pot

New chip count
Seat 3: FrankNagaiJr (5275 in chips)
Seat 8: deviative (9705 in chips)

Nobody else at our table is above 1600 in chips.

Hand 35 - I finish off lionheart46 with a pair of pocket 8s when he pushes with A7s and fails to hit his ace.

Hand 36 - I make a meaningless late position steal w/K4s and get no resistance.

Hand 44 - I make a late steal w/87s and a small stack pushes JTs, I hit two pair on the river to knock him out.

Here is as high as deviative gets before his inevitable downward spiral:
Seat 8: deviative (11330 in chips)
Seat 3: FrankNagaiJr (6470 in chips)

He will continue to make atrocious calls and his luck will run out. If this were a more of a crap shoot tourney, deviative would already be in the money, but this tourney structure actually does eventually punish players who habitually defy common sense and probability.

COCC Interlude #7

Had a really crap series of cards Friday night. First sat down for the tourney and lasted four levels till I blinded out. Prior to that I had raised w/AJo and give up on the turn, and raised w/TT and given up on the flop, and call a raise w/KTs and given up on the flop, made one blind steal, and otherwise not seen a flop in four levels. I couldn't even pick a moment to attempt steal-pushes since the other players seemed to all be on heaters and there were virtually no pots without one raise and one caller or reraise, which makes it tough to push w/J3o.

I was very frustrated from that and sat down to a cash game and got stacked in the first five hands via limping J4s and turning a second best flush to Q9s. Less than five hands later I have Ah Jh and flop top pair and a flush draw, and I make a slight reraise on the flop, but not enough to kick anybout out. The turn is a Q and I make a bet and get reraised to where I've got 2 to 1 odds to call, and I call and we both check the river, and he's got a weak two pair w/Q7o. I storm out after less than 20 minutes cash.

Apart from a horrendous night of cards, I would like to critique the blind structure of the tourney as being worse than on-line. There are a lot of older people playing, and so any given hand takes a minimum of 3 minutes, but more frequently 5 to 6 minutes. If that's an average of 4 minutes, thats 7.5 hands per level, and if you don't double up in four levels, you are way behind the blinds. In other words, that's a crap shoot blind structure in this environment, and I grow tired of crap shoots.

The cash game is not that bad, but it's always the same players, and some nights there's not nearly enough fish.

Think I'll give the COCC a rest for a while, and I think I'll do my damnedest to avoid these tourneys going forward.

Misc Round-up

On-line tourneys

I've continue playing and charing the 180 player tourneys, and have recently monied several. However, I always seem to get down to 5M and push with something marginal towards the end. The ones who seem to do well strike me as semi-maniacs, willing to call smaller all-ins preflop with suited trash, and if they make a steal attempt, they will call the all-in reraise no matter what trash they were stealing with. Since it seems to work for them, I may need to study their methods and the math a little more. Most likely the blind speed rewards the risk takers.

Live tourney with an empty stomach. Bad idea!

I wanted to play one last Tunica tourney, at the Horseshoe, and traffic is awful. I make it just in time to register, I go to the restroom and I've only missed a hand or two. For the first hour I play well and build up my chip stack with a few minor setbacks. When I'm moved to another table, I've got 150% of my original chips. I win my first hand at the new table with a luckbox flush in the BB, then I lose two hands in quick succession where I fold on the turn or river. At that point I tilt and push with A6s against an EP raiser with a bigger stack than me. He considers for a minute, says 'let's race' and turns over AQ and I don't suck out. At that point I recognize that the push was a 'hunger tilt' since it was 7:30 and I hadn't had a bite since noon. I could have skipped a few hands and hit the sandwhich bar and lasted a few more hands. D'oh!

A good run at the Gold Strike to say goodbye.

In addition to the nice run at Pot-Limit 1/2 Omaha, I also had a nice run at 1/2 NLHE, tripling my buy-in over the first hour, and giving a small portion of that back on a pre-flop raise that ran into a flopped straight. I only lost the raise and my pot-sized flop bet, and I think I played that hand well. The guy who pushed over the top into two of us saw the flush draw and way overbet as opposed to attempting to collect from the two of us, so he didn't milk me at all. The flush draw guy missed.

Don't drive money off the table!

Also at the G-Strike last night, we (I) managed to get a 1/2 pot-limit Omaha high game rolling by virtue of a 1/2 NLHE table about to bust and a casual suggestion that took wing. There were two fishy-looking type, two presumed sharks (including a bracelet holding dealer who I NEVER got in a hand with), and a few in the middle. I was very patient and bled on a few flops and pre-flops, but never got hung out to dry on the turn and river. I knew that the fish would pay me sooner or later.

Sure enough, I do find my spots and double up about three hours in, and then I find a raised pre-flop multi way hand where I flopped no pair, K-high flush draw and outside straight with a redraw if counterfeited. The inital raiser bets the pot, I re-pot and he puts me all in. I flush, and his trips don't boat, and I'm golden. Now that's gambling!

Around that same time as that hand, I see that the biggest fish has left the table, so I'm ready to go home. One or two hands later ...

A young-twenties testosterone job sits to my immediate left, sandwiched between me and the dealer. He had four seat choices at that time. On his first hand I tell him that I can see his hole cards, attempting to be friendly. (My tone may have been patronizing, I dunno.) He responds with a curt 'Then don't look.', to which I say, 'Okay, I'll only tell you once.'

To which he responds, with the voice of a high-school athlete taunting a drama clubber, 'You're in my space, why don't you move away.' And gives me a look like we're gonna be fighting in the playground at recess.

If he had said any of this in a friendly manner, it would have been fine. Maybe I didn't start off on the right foot. In any case, my inner voice said a few things:

1) The fish is gone. Why stay?
2) You just made a killing, and nobody's got even a third of your stack. Why stay?
3) You're tired and there's new faces at the table. Why stay?
4) The dude is trying to put you on tilt. Why stay?

So I took my marbles and went home.

The young guy who I had just stacked made a pained remark about all the money leaving the table, but the guy who got in my face was apparently a buddy of his. Maybe they'll figure out between them why all the money left the table in a hurry.

Tap the Glass

Last night I'm at the G-Strike, and asking for a table, and I overhear the young man stating it's his first ever casino poker experience, and he's vacillating between 1/2 NL and 3/6 limit. I grab a chair, and see him standing by and watching. Between hands, I walk over and politely. softly recommend that he start at 3/6 limit. He responds that the casino pit boss said that he'd probably be okay at 1/2. I don't repeat myself.

Moments later he's on my right, and his questions make it clear that this really is his first time, it's not an act.

He lasts precisely three hands before he busts with a pair of 2s, getting way overinvolved on a 337 flop.

Why did I warn him? Because I'd rather have repeating players, than have people play once, get really disgusted and never sit down again. For all I know, this may be the youngsters only casino poker experience for the rest of his life. That's a loss that is not compensated by the hundred bucks he left on the table.

But of course, my policy on advice 'one time only for strangers.'

PLO8 Tourney On-Line

Here's some key hands, and analysis of whether I was playing poorly or not.

Hand 3 SB
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [6s 7c 5h 3d]
A sucker hand that needs a perfect flop to collect, but I was getting 11 to 1 to limp in.
Everybody checks the flop, so we come to the turn:
*** TURN *** [Kh 6d 7d] [5s]
I small bet into it with three pair, then I think again when reraised, that I have six outs for a not-guaranteed half the pot, so no sense getting into a pissing war. I fold to the reraise and kick myself for betting this hand multi-way.

Hand 5 - I am the button with a decent hand.
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [6d 5s As 2s]
There is a raiser and 4 callers, including me. The flop comes
*** FLOP *** [7c 8h Jc]
Giving me nut low draw, and an outside str8. I'm hoping that I can make a big bet in both directions and potentially knock out any weak flush draw. Nobody's going away quietly, and we have 3 all-ins and two fold here.

mugginslv: checks
jojoma44: checks
Superdad7777: bets 200
Corn Rules: calls 200
FrankNagaiJr: raises 1020 to 1220
mugginslv: folds
jojoma44: folds
Superdad7777: calls 820 and is all-in
Corn Rules: raises 310 to 1530 and is all-in
FrankNagaiJr: calls 80 and is all-in

Corn Rules: shows [2h Kd Ad 3d]
FrankNagaiJr: shows [6d 5s As 2s]
Superdad7777: shows [8c Ah Ks Js]

Now that we can see the cards, here's some twodimes numbers.
Preflop, the AK8J is a slight favorite (35%) my hand is 33% and A23K with three in one suit is 32%.

ON the flop, the two pair hand is the 44% fave, I've got 34% expectation, most likely a chop for the low.

Here's the turn:
*** TURN *** [7c 8h Jc] [9h]
And all of a sudden I'm 65% EV, with the straight, and nobody drawing to the flush. Two pair has four outs to scoop, and of course there are plenty of outs where I have to settle for 3/4 of the pot (3456 for 10 outs) and my 2 could be counterfeited for settling for 1/2 the pot (2 outs).

The boat 9 hits on the river. Bummer, but I've still got chips.

Seat 5: FrankNagaiJr (560 in chips)

Hand 7
A no brainer with a low chip count - suited ace, A2 with a backup wheel card.
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Ac 2s 4h Tc]
I limp and it works out pretty well. This guy limped UTG with this hand:
Superdad7777 showed [4d Kd Td 3s]
Which strikes me as pretty optimistic.

*** RIVER *** [3c 6s 2d 3d] [5h]
Note that we had a split on the turn, me with lock low, and he with trips, and a diamond draw, so the 5 non-diamond was a very lucky card for me to quarter him.

Hand 10

Here's a freakshow showdown. Note that we have the exact same hand.
*** RIVER *** [7h Kd 2d Kh] [5d]
Corn Rules: shows [Qd 2h Ah Ks] (HI: a full house, Kings full of Deuces)
FrankNagaiJr: shows [Kc Qs 2s As] (HI: a full house, Kings full of Deuces)

Hand 14
I almost consider my bet here a bluff, since a boat was possible, my nut flush was kind of weak. Bear in mind I was betting into two people who willing called my flop bet. Since neither of them reraised, I figured trips on the flop was not likely. I picked up the pot with my almost-all-in turn bet.
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [5d 7c As Qs]
*** TURN *** [Js Ks 4h] [4s]

Hand 22
Only a mother could love this weak SB hand, but it grew nicely. I called the villains flop and turn bets, and neglected to bet the river, assuming it was a chop, and was surprised to find that my low was good too. Note to self - Bet the high nuts with a weak low on the river always.
*** RIVER *** [5c 6d Ts 3h] [9h]

I may continue this tourney later. I got knocked out halfway through after misplaying several hands in a row. Suffice to say I've got miles to go before I'm the PLO8 king.

COCC #6 Oct 21

Played cash only last night, and found myself at a tough table. There were enough loose calls that I couldn't easily bluff with nothing, and by the same token, I wasn't catching many cards to collect from legitimate betting hands. I sat four about four hours, and took in three decent sized pots, and two much smaller ones, but spent most of the evening tossing 29o and similar cards away, limping with T7o and getting raised and tossing those, etc. Many of the raisers seemed content to simply steal the blinds with a huge pre-flop raise, too.

One of the three hands was a limp with 3s 5c, and I flop the nut straight, but the only problem is that all three cards are spades, so I've got the straight flush draw, but no flush. One player bets into it, and I reraise for twice that amount. We both check the turn and river, and he had a flush draw, but no boat (board paired on turn) and no flush, so my straight was good for a medium pot.

Another hand after 3 hours of crappy cards I get AKs in the BB and there's been a raise with one caller. I make a definition reraise, and get two callers, and check dark. No bets, and there's an A-8-8 flop. I bet the turn and the initial raiser goes away, and the caller pushes his last chips, and he's got AQ, and does not hit on the river. Initial raiser stated he had KK, and I had no reason to doubt him.

About an hour later, I get AA and limp from utg, and of course, somebody is kind enough to raise for me, and I come over the top. He comes along, the same guy I stacked with AKs, and I flop an ace and check it. I small bet the turn, and make a bigger bet on the river, and stack him again. He was glad to see me go.

Otherwise, I made one successful semi-bluff multi-way, one semi-bluff that I got called on my flop bet, and I refused to fire a second barrel, and we both checked it down and his ace high was good, and I tossed oodles of limps that missed multi-way. A profitable evening, thanks to three hands alone, and not getting carried away with steal attempts amid loose callers.

Stud - Was I against a luckbox or not?

I played some on-line HORSE yesterday, and one player took all of my money in Stud. I'd like to know if he was a luckbox chaser, or if he was playing well.

Note - These hands are in reverse order. (Hand 1 is the last hand we played)

Hand 1
3rd Street
Dealt to mmw74 (Jh Tc)[6s]
Dealt to dabnut [9d]
Dealt to S-E-O-4-hire [9s]
Dealt to TheSnowman21 [Th]
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Kd Ks 2s]
Dealt to rawmustard [8h]
Dealt to dropkick84 [Ad]

FrankNagaiJr: brings-in low $0.25
rawmustard: folds
dropkick84: folds
mmw74: calls $0.25
dabnut: folds
S-E-O-4-hire: folds
TheSnowman21: raises $0.25 to $0.50
FrankNagaiJr: calls $0.25
mmw74: calls $0.25


Two dimes has me as the 82% favorite over MMW74 right now. The snowman liked to raise on anything, so I just cold-called for now.

*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to mmw74 [6s] [Qc]
Dealt to TheSnowman21 [Th] [Qs]
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Kd Ks 2s] [As]

FrankNagaiJr: checks
mmw74: checks
TheSnowman21: bets $0.50
FrankNagaiJr: calls $0.50
mmw74: calls $0.50

I'm still an 85% fave over MMW here. I choose not to raise while my flush develops.

*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to mmw74 [6s Qc] [7h]
Dealt to TheSnowman21 [Th Qs] [2h]
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Kd Ks 2s As] [3s]
FrankNagaiJr: checks
mmw74: checks
TheSnowman21: checks

mmw74: bets $1
TheSnowman21: folds
FrankNagaiJr: calls $1

I'm now a 95% favorite here. I suppose I could have raised, but I know he would have called. Still, I should have raised as the favorite.

RIVER
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Kd Ks 2s As 3s 5d] [Ac]
mmw74: bets $1
FrankNagaiJr: calls $1
*** SHOW DOWN ***
mmw74: shows [Jh Tc 6s Qc 7h 6h 6c] (three of a kind, Sixes)

MMW74's outs on the river were any two pair or trips, as long as I didn't hit my flush. I think he did luckbox this one.

Hand Two - - It's clear that he didn't luckbox me, but I had the misfortune to score a weaker set of trips than he, and neither of us boated.


Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [9d 8d 9h 9c Ah 3d] [2c]
Seat 1: mmw74 showed [Ts Kc As Ks Kh 2s Jh] and won ($11.10) with three of a kind, Kings

Hand 3 - I failed to catch up to his early two pair.

FrankNagaiJr: shows [Kh Kc 2s As 3h 5c Jd] (a pair of Kings)
Seat 1: mmw74 showed [Tc Qh Th Qc 7h 8c 6h] and won ($9.45) with two pair, Queens and Tens


Hand 4 - I really didn't think he could show the straight, since I had 4 of his 8 outs for the visible straight draw.

*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to mmw74 (Qh 9h )[Kh]
Dealt to Semiclear [6d]
Dealt to dabnut [Kc]
Dealt to S-E-O-4-hire [4h]
Dealt to TheSnowman21 [3h]
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Ac 6c Ad]
Dealt to rawmustard [Qd]
Dealt to dropkick84 [3d]

dropkick84: bets $0.50
mmw74: calls $0.50
Semiclear: folds
dabnut: calls $0.50
S-E-O-4-hire: folds
TheSnowman21: folds
FrankNagaiJr: calls $0.50
rawmustard: folds

Why didn't I raise? I dunno, I figure it wouldn't help me much. Advise please?
I'm currently the 67% fave over MMW right now.

4th Street
Dealt to mmw74 [Kh] [Ts]
Dealt to dabnut [Kc] [7s]
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Ac 6c Ad] [2h]
Dealt to dropkick84 [3d] [5d]

The ten has improved MMW's hand, we're now 58.5% and 41.5%.

*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to mmw74 [Kh Ts] [Qc]
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Ac 6c Ad 2h] [Jc]
Dealt to dropkick84 [3d 5d] [As]

With these cards, our percentages barely budge.

*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to mmw74 [Kh Ts Qc] [7h]
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Ac 6c Ad 2h Jc] [4s]
Dealt to dropkick84 [3d 5d As] [Qs]

We're virtually a coinflip now - 55% and 45% with one card to go. MMW has picked up the flush draw and could still hit two pair to win.


*** RIVER ***
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Ac 6c Ad 2h Jc 4s] [Jh]
dropkick84: checks
mmw74: bets $1
FrankNagaiJr: raises $1 to $2
dropkick84: folds
mmw74: calls $1
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FrankNagaiJr: shows [Ac 6c Ad 2h Jc 4s Jh] (two pair, Aces and Jacks)
mmw74: shows [Qh 9h Kh Ts Qc 7h Js] (a straight, Nine to King)
mmw74 collected $10.40 from pot

I honestly thought my two pair was good, since I didn't see the flush draw, and knew that I was blocking most of the outs for the visible straight.


Hand 5
*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to mmw74 (3h 9d) [3d]
Dealt to Semiclear [Kc]
Dealt to dabnut [8s]
Dealt to TheSnowman21 [9c]
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Ks Kh 4d]
Dealt to rawmustard [5c]
Dealt to dropkick84 [6h]


MMW and I are coin flipping here - 60% to 40%.

*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to mmw74 [3d] [5s]
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Ks Kh 4d] [7d]

My percent goes up slightly to 67%, since neither of us improved.

*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to mmw74 [3d 5s] [Qh]
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Ks Kh 4d 7d] [6c]

I shift slightly up to 70%, again nobody improves.

*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to mmw74 [3d 5s Qh] [7s]
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Ks Kh 4d 7d 6c] [9s]

I'm up to 75% here, and am the lead bettor on every street, and he keeps calling with a pair of 3s and optimism.

FrankNagaiJr: shows [Ks Kh 4d 7d 6c 9s Ah] (a pair of Kings)
mmw74: shows [3h 9d 3d 5s Qh 7s 3s] (three of a kind, Threes)
mmw74 collected $7 from pot

And he rivers to win.

That's five hands out of eight where I get decent starters, which is pretty rare, and where I get beat by the exact same player every time. I guess my opponent didn't play atrociously. He left the table immediately after taking all of my money in stud. Sensible fellow.

Tunica Round-up

Played two nights this week. Here's a roundup.

Tuesday -1/2 NLHE
Started out short handed and bled quite a bit. I clearly need to adjust my play for short-handed, as I was getting smoked with pot-sized river bets that I never wanted to call with only a pair. Needed to rebuy.

I was moved to a full table, with a short stack and at least two wild players. I limped once and got pushed out, then caught EP KK and limped again, wild player 1 raises to 15 and gets two callers, and my push to 60 isolates to heads up, and kings hold. I eventually get past even, leaving with four times my low-point stack for a tiny profit.

Wednesday - Tourney at Horseshoe
Blind structure is reasonable, and I see 90 minutes of hands before going bust, without ever getting my chip stack back to break-even. In the second hand, in BB I make a bump-raise with Ts Js and catch a pair and an outside draw, and I bet heavy and one player calls. The turn is a flush card, and I check and he pushes. I figure that even best case, he's got a pair of Queens, so I muck. Within 10 hands of that I get KK and raise 4bb and get two callers, and an ace flops. Player 1 bets and I muck, and they turn over AJo and ATo respectively. Nothing eventful happens for the next 80 minutes. I'm allowed to see a few flops in BB and I always miss multi-way, and I push on the final hand of level 3 with 7M with 4d 6d, and get called by the SB w/Ad Jd, and the board gives two pair and his ace is good. My only second-guess moment is that I could have pushed at 7M with KQo, except a slightly smaller stack had pushed UTG, and I didn't like having 5 players yet to act in this bounty tourney. In retrospect, it was probably better to have pushed at that time.

1/2 NLHE at Gold Strike
I played pretty well, but there were two big hands that cost me.

1) 9c 8c MP with a straddle to my right, therefore EP. I limp with a handful of others, and I flop a flush draw with an inside draw Kc Jd 7c. The monk underbets (10) and I make a min-reraise (20) and we get to heads up. I turn my flush (3c?), and bet 25, which is half my remaining stack, and he calls. The river is the Ac for a four-flush on board, and I bet my last 27, and he calls and turns over Qs Jc for the better flush.

2) Q5o in SB, and I limp to see the flop six ways. I hit two pair on a Q45 two-suit flop, and check as first to act. The habitual orphan bettor overbets (15), as he always does with marginal hands, and the monk calls him. I raise to 45 and am surprised that both of them call. The turn help neither the straight or the flush draw, so I push, and the luck-box calls for his last 25, and the monk folds. He hits his outside straight on the river.

In both of these hands I think I was making appropriate bet sizes to encourage incorrect calls, and the incorrect calls were both rewarded.

There were some other hands I was happier with the results. I made a really nice 72o EP representation of a high pair, and managed to catch two pair on the turn. This was against the luck-box chaser, so I overbet the turn and he went away. I also made a bet into a decent sized pot with a semi-bluff and knocked out four players, and didn't hit any of my draws against the short-stacked all-in player, but wasn't obliged to show the crowd that I bet my draw.

The luckbox chaser also slow-played a boat against me reasonably well. He called my turn bet as first to act, and checked the river, which to me indicated that he really didn't have anything, so I bet just enough to find out, and when he pushed for his last few chips I didn't even call, since I was playing 9 high. He flips over a boat. That was his best play all night, otherwise he was generally chasing against odds and catching a lot. He didn't seem to hold onto all the money he won though.

COCC #5 Oct 14, 2006

Went and played (and dealt) the 7:15 tourney and did okay. Here's a couple of interesting hands:

Early on, I've got a decent stack and make an EP raise w/KJs, and the BB pushes. I do the math, and I'm getting 1.5 to 1 to call, so I figure that's decent enough, since the BB had been having a really crappy run of cards and was probably ready to push with TT or even 88. I call and he flips AA, and the flop is ATx with two of my suit, and I turn the nut flush to knock him out.

In a hand I wasn't in, a player says flippantly, 'if I have aces, I'll call'. When there's an EP raise and he's coming back from grabbing a hot dog. Of course, it was indeed AA to beat KK. KK was pissed, of course.

Late in the final table, maybe 6 of us remaining, and I push with AQo and get two callers, and I have an inside draw on the flop (KTX), and the one player pushes, the other calls. The turn is a J and I've hit for the main pot, and the river is a 9, and the two players turn over KK and QT for a runner-runner straight, meaning that the KK got massacred by two separate hands. Freakshow.

My final hand 3 way, I push w/A9s in the BB after 2 limps, and I get one call, from A2o, and he hits his duck on the turn to knock me out.

Overall, I think I played well. I needed one suckout to money, but otherwise I probably folded too much but otherwise did okay.

I also dealt for the entire tourney (about 3.5 hours), and exposed one dealt card and had one misdeal all night long, and I did not once show a card early for the betting sequence, so that's as good as I've ever dealt. It's good practice for paying attention to the game, too.

Horseshoe Tunica - Swelled Head Syndrome

So I've had a decent run of 1/2 NLHE sessions recently, and I thought I'd dip my toe in the deeper waters. I'm embarrassed as hell to blog this, but maybe it'll stop me from doing something stupid in the future.

I sat down with the min buy-in and I'm nervous, and in the BB. I toss my 'free' cards multi-way with nothing, and have decent limpers in the SB and call, miss and go away. I muck three trash hands, and then raise 3bb in mid-late position w/J9o. The cutoff raises all-in, and I ask for a count, and I'm getting 2 to 1 odds to call since he was down to a small stack. I figure there's a reasonable chance I'm facing big slick, and I call. I'm facing AJo, dominated, and I fail to suck out. I'm at 60% of my original stack.

Three hands later I'm UTG and there's a button straddle. I see KQo and consider raising, but instead call, and everybody folds up to the straddle, who raises to 7BB (or 3.5 straddle) which is 1/3 of my existing stack. I push, and he insta-calls with Aces. I fail to suck out, and get stacked before the button makes a single trip around the table.

There's some lessons to be learned here by me, but I don't feel like elaborating on them right now.

Gold Strike Oct 10

Got there and there was a wait, but they opened a new table moments later. While I waited for my table, I observed the 1/2 table, and happened to see a player push his stack and get called by a pair of aces on the river. The pusher had a pair of fives and a busted draw.

There were a bunch of people waiting to hit the 2/5 table when that opened, and they seemed to be the most likely players to fold to a bluff.

I ran some bluffs very early coming in to warm up the table, and got away with at least three continuation bets after raising on fluff, and one bizarre hand where I made a nuisance raise with trash, and the board is really scary and we all check down to the river, and I bet the pot on the river and get no curiosity from the crowd.

During this early bluffing time, one of the 25-ers raises to 4bb EP, and I reraise to half my stack. He thinks for a minute and pushes with queens. My kings hold up.

Maybe 10 hands later I get Aces EP and raise 4bb, and the 25-er who strikes me as the toughest player calls me along with one other player. The board is T77, and I check. He bets the pot, and I continue not giving him any eye contact, but simply flat call. The turn is a king, I check and he checks. On the river, I'm confident my aces are still good, and I bet half pot and he folds.

I'm moved to the main table, and maybe three hands in I limp 65o and flop 347 two-suited with six other players. I bet the pot, get a few callers and a reraise. I make the minimum reraise, and one caller and the re-raiser stay on board. The flop is a second three, and there are now a heart and spade flush draw on board, plus the boat. The re-raiser pushes for half of my stack, so I'm getting 2 to 1 odds, and I flat call. I start mentally kicking myself when I remember there's a third player still in the hand, but he agonizes the pot odds, and then folds his draw. The re-raiser shows top pair and a flush draw, and fails to hit. (This was the same guy I saw push on a busted draw when I came in, and that made my call much easier.)

After that, I can't seem to work any magic at the main table. My trash limps all get reraised, my raise with trash finds a big reraise and a flat call, and I dump. Sure enough, Aces in the BB. After 45 minutes of tiny bleeding, I don't feel sharp, so I get out and go next door for a little stud.

I played 20 minutes of stud and broke exactly even. That's an improvement.

Extra bonus - They finished highway 69, which makes Tunica at least 10 minutes closer to Memphis!

A handful of PLO8 cash game hands for analysis

Hand 1

Here's a limper I came in with on the button
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Ac 8c Tc 5s]
There were four other players in

Let's compare with some made up hands to give us a pre-flop percentage:
Random collection 1 with some decent starting hands

5s Ac Tc 8c 8214 29748 166085 5543 1416 89204 34236 0.147
Qc Ad 5h 2h 11536 22559 176673 2144 62298 24109 34236 0.269
3s Kd Kh 4h 19742 41180 160127 69 30489 31997 54 0.215
Ks Qs Jd Th 25656 55065 145903 408 0 0 0 0.201
8s 5c 9h 6h 11577 46009 149812 5555 7390 113253 0 0.168

You can see that despite having some week middle cards, it's not a huge dog with this many cards in play. I'm 5.5 to 1 against, and getting 4 to 1 pre-flop odds, so if I collect even a little, it's a break-even play. And with the following flop, I reraised the frequent flop stealer to take it down uncontested, and my return was 7 to 1, so only a slight playoff.

*** FLOP *** [6h Td Ts]

Of course, I'll need to change the fourth hand above to justify the folds all the way around.

When I change random hand #4 to a 9 instead of a ten, my pre-flop goes up to 18% (closer to 4 to 1) and my post-flop percentage explains all of the folds.

5s Ac Tc 8c 170 260 138 8 0 110 18 0.550
Qc Ad 5h 2h 10 10 396 0 77 30 18 0.119
3s Kd Kh 4h 32 33 373 0 41 14 0 0.131
Ks Qs 9s Jd 22 25 381 0 0 0 0 0.058
8s 6s 5c 9h 37 70 328 8 0 89 0 0.142

Hand 2

Here's a hand I call a late position steal raise with:
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [6s Ah 7s 3s]
And the raiser in our heads up: 4c 8c Qd Ac

Here's the preflop numbers

Omaha Hi/Low 8-or-better: 500000 sampled boards
cards scoop HIwin HIlos HItie LOwin LOlos LOtie EV
7s 6s 3s Ah 172105 212258 287609 133 191509 55268 6412 0.482
Ac 8c 4c Qd 192090 287609 212258 133 64172 148500 6412 0.518

Apparently the suited Ace and the Queen high compensate for the worse low draw., but I've clearly got justification for calling.

Here's the flop:
*** FLOP *** [2c 3d 6c]
And I love that this counerfeits a lot of raising hands and leaves me with a better two pair than anybody who raised with A23X. I couldn't know that I was behind on the low, but we ended up chopping high/low.

Omaha Hi/Low 8-or-better: 820 enumerated boards containing 6c 2c 3d
cards scoop HIwin HIlos HItie LOwin LOlos LOtie EV
7s 6s 3s Ah 0 459 361 0 0 703 117 0.316
Ac 8c 4c Qd 322 361 459 0 703 0 117 0.684

Hand 3

Here's a bizarre call I made with position on a guy who liked to raise anytime he came in. I'm in the cutoff here.
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [8h 9s 8c 2h]

Pharrell1337: folds
WellHungJury: folds
Pharrell1337 leaves the table
adelbomb: raises $0.35 to $0.60
FrankNagaiJr: calls $0.60
ryanrunrut: calls $0.60
GitmoLovin': folds
xKillButtonx: calls $0.35

The only hand I actually was was the button, who was actually a slight underdog to me:

9s 8c 8h 2h 200684 335419 164581 0 3491 161560 612 0.539
6c 2c 4d 3h 161626 164581 335419 0 250842 0 612 0.461

Let's assume that the raiser and caller had reasonable O8 hands and see where I stand:

If they both have very good starters with two overpairs to my 8s, I'm 5.5 to 1 against

9s 8c 8h 2h 28117 88490 288502 0 0 139604 0 0.155
6c 2c 4d 3h 28018 62341 314651 0 82237 113420 2862 0.207
Ac Kc 5d Kh 83749 120464 255520 1008 13866 87552 2079 0.287
As Ts Td 2d 74933 104689 271295 1008 105863 28854 4887 0.352

If they have reasonable cards, but not overpairs to my pair, with no better heart draw, I'm only 4 to 1 against:

s 8c 8h 2h 48247 107703 269181 108 0 124968 0 0.207
6c 2c 4d 3h 32834 60587 316405 0 77504 101266 2862 0.208
Ac Kc 7d 5d 50039 87038 288257 1697 13144 127376 2079 0.199

Put a better heart draw out, and I'm back to 5.5 to 1 against:

9s 8c 8h 2h 32735 84389 292474 129 0 124968 0 0.156
6c 2c 4d 3h 38996 71958 305034 0 77504 101266 2862 0.225
Ac Kc 7d 5d 56322 98769 276033 2190 13144 127376 2079 0.221
Jd 2d Ah Th 93432 119557 255116 2319 95403 24678 4887 0.398

And here's the flop:
Qc 7h 5h

That's favorable for me. I've got a gutshot and a flush draw, and second pair, so even if I get action, it's worth a shot, especially with a smallish bet and me closing the action.

xKillButtonx: bets $0.50
adelbomb: folds
FrankNagaiJr: calls $0.50
ryanrunrut: calls $0.50

I really think the turn helped me out, as I didn't think a pair of queens would have stayed, and two pair with the queen should have raised into that flop. Of course, this makes a low draw a bad deal also.

*** TURN *** [Qc 7h 5h] [Qs]
xKillButtonx: checks
FrankNagaiJr: bets $1
ryanrunrut: calls $1
xKillButtonx: folds

Here's the actual percentages
9s 8c 8h 2h 23 35 5 0 0 13 0 0.725
6c 2c 4d 3h 5 5 35 0 17 0 0 0.275

My opponent has a weak low draw, and an outside straight draw.

*** RIVER *** [Qc 7h 5h Qs] [6h]
FrankNagaiJr: bets $3
ryanrunrut: calls $3

And my opponent calls down thinking he has a shot at the high on a paired flushy board??? Did he really think he had a shot at the low? Perhaps I needed to bet more....

COCC #4 - Oct 6

Got the blessing to play some live cards locally, and played a single table tourney with bounties. One guy (Johnny) got all of the bounties but one, and oddly enough, he won the tourney as well. I started cold, heated up to a healthy stack, then made an ill-advised blind steal w/AJo four-handed and got burned by AKo and then pushed two hands later in SB w/K9s only to find AQ looking me up and winning with no pair. Feh. I've decided I dislike this blind structure, which is 30 minutes starting at 3500 chips and 25/50 with doubling for the first five levels, since it doesn't really leave much room at all for creativity. In the second hand I successfully put my foe on a weak pair, and felt I could buy the pot, and he called me down with his weak pair, and all of a sudden I'm crippled. After one bad hand, you're in double-up or die territory.

Then I was off to the cash table, where I had a very good evening indeed.

* I made a nice read on the very first hand and pushed in against the preflop raiser, who mumbled about how I probably had him outkicked and then he folded his top pair, unidentified kicker.

* One hand later I raise preflop w/As Qs and the flop comes two spades with many straight possibilities and my lead bet gets min-raised, and called, and I've clearly got odds to see one more card, and I hit my nut flush and manage to get some decent action from one of the two bluffies in the hand.

* Another hand and Bluffy raises pre-flop and I isolate raise w/AKo, and end up with the exact same two bluffies as the AQs hand, and I flop top pair of kings on a one-suit board. Bluffy #2 semi-bluffs both the flop and turn and the fourth spade doesn't come, so I simply call down the bets and check the river to win. Easy peasy.

* Right when I was getting ready to leave, I flat called a raise late position w/ 6c 8c and I'm in the pot with the same two bluffies. I flop two pair on a ragged rainbow board A-6-8. Bluffy 1 bets 1/3 of pot, B2 raises to a pot-sized, and I come over the top to double the reraise. I'm very surprised to see B1 call, and not at all surprised to see B2 fold. The turn is a low card, and I push all-in (with paper money it's not as dramatic, but still just as much a rush) and B1 calls. He's got easily 15 outs with a pair and an outside straight draw, but he fails to river me, and I breath a sigh of relief as I grab a big hunk of cash.

I won a couple of other decent pots, I think, and had a dry spell for 45 minutes, but it was a very good night.

The one that got away? I limp QTs and the BB raises 6bb and gets 5 callers including me. I flop a flush draw with two overs on a 477 board, and one of the bluffies bets 1/3 of the pot, and I call as do two others. Turn doesn't appear to help anybody, and bluffy bets LESS on the turn, so it's an insta-call, and the two others also call. The river brings a Qs ,and there are now three spades and a pair on the board, and bluffy bets a much bigger bet, and I look at the two players on my left, and the other bluffy is already counting his money. I feel I've got the better beat with a pair of Queens, but I felt there was a reasonably good chance that there was at least trip 7s behind me, so I fold, and the next player folds, and much to my chagrin, the player counting his money asks how much he has behind, and when he doesn't like the answer, folds his busted draw. Sure enough, the guy I knew that I had beat happily exposed his K4 for 7744 with a K kicker. Glad I wasn't on a losing streak, or I might have steamed over that one.

PLO8 Tourney - Preflop percentages against whack jobs

I played a PLO8 tourney and went out 7 out of 9 after playing the first 3 levels very tight and then getting pushy pre-flop against whack jobs. Let's see to what degree I was or was not the favorite:

Hand 23 - blinds 50/100 my chipstack is 1888, and I've been tight, and the raiser here certainly hasn't. I push more than half my stack preflop with the intention of putting in the last bit regardless of the flop.


*********** # 23 **************
PokerStars Game #6512715517: Tournament #33065853, $10+$1 Omaha Hi/Lo Pot Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2006/10/04 - 00:08:25 (ET)
Table '33065853 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: FrankNagaiJr (1888 in chips)
FrankNagaiJr: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [2d 8s Ac Ah]
badbugger: raises 200 to 300
Landau1120: folds
FrankNagaiJr: raises 650 to 950
badbugger: calls 650
*** FLOP *** [9h Tc 5s]
FrankNagaiJr: bets 938 and is all-in
badbugger: calls 585 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [9h Tc 5s] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [9h Tc 5s 7s] [9c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FrankNagaiJr: shows [2d 8s Ac Ah] (HI: two pair, Aces and Nines)
badbugger: shows [Qc 5c As 9s] (HI: a full house, Nines full of Fives)

Pre-flop, I was only the 62% fave, or 1.5 to 1 fave.
On the flop, I was 34% to win, or 1.5 to 1 against.
I lost.

Hand 24 - Same situation, and now I'm at push or fold only chips
*********** # 24 **************
PokerStars Game #6512726940: Tournament #33065853, $10+$1 Omaha Hi/Lo Pot Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2006/10/04 - 00:09:22 (ET)
Table '33065853 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: FrankNagaiJr (353 in chips)
Seat 2: mrfuzzy8 (1335 in chips)
Seat 4: sjking (1050 in chips)
Seat 5: boomerou247 (3235 in chips)
Seat 6: pooru (3282 in chips)
Seat 8: badbugger (3120 in chips)
Seat 9: Landau1120 (1125 in chips)
FrankNagaiJr: posts small blind 50
mrfuzzy8: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [5c As Ah 9h]
sjking: folds
boomerou247: folds
pooru: folds
badbugger: calls 100
Landau1120: folds
FrankNagaiJr: raises 253 to 353 and is all-in
mrfuzzy8: folds
badbugger: calls 253
*** FLOP *** [4d 7c 8s]
*** TURN *** [4d 7c 8s] [Js]
*** RIVER *** [4d 7c 8s Js] [8c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FrankNagaiJr: shows [5c As Ah 9h] (HI: two pair, Aces and Eights; LO: 8,7,5,4,A)
badbugger: shows [5d 2c 6s 9d] (HI: a straight, Four to Eight; LO: 8,7,5,4,2)

Here I'm the 66% fave preflop, still about 1.6 to 1
On the flop I'm a big dog on the high, needing a six to tie, or a runner-runner to win. On the low, if my Ace isn't counterfeited, I'm golden.

Hand 27 - I'm still trying to double up to survive. We don't get to see the third players hand, so we'll fudge some numbers:

*********** # 27 **************
PokerStars Game #6512757354: Tournament #33065853, $10+$1 Omaha Hi/Lo Pot Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2006/10/04 - 00:11:54 (ET)
Table '33065853 1' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: FrankNagaiJr (403 in chips)
Seat 2: mrfuzzy8 (1135 in chips)
Seat 4: sjking (1150 in chips)
Seat 5: boomerou247 (3035 in chips)
Seat 6: pooru (3282 in chips)
Seat 8: badbugger (3470 in chips)
Seat 9: Landau1120 (1025 in chips)
boomerou247: posts small blind 50
pooru: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Js Qd 3d Ac]
badbugger: folds
Landau1120: folds
FrankNagaiJr: raises 250 to 350
mrfuzzy8: folds
sjking: folds
boomerou247: calls 300
pooru: calls 250
*** FLOP *** [5c Kc Tc]
boomerou247: checks
pooru: checks
FrankNagaiJr: bets 53 and is all-in
boomerou247: calls 53
pooru: calls 53
*** TURN *** [5c Kc Tc] [5s]
boomerou247: checks
pooru: checks
*** RIVER *** [5c Kc Tc 5s] [4c]
boomerou247: checks
pooru: bets 500
boomerou247: folds
*** SHOW DOWN ***
pooru: shows [3h 4h Jc 5d] (HI: a full house, Fives full of Fours)
FrankNagaiJr: shows [Js Qd 3d Ac] (HI: a pair of Fives)

Heads up against this hand, I'm the 60% fave, or 1.5 to 1 again.

Let's pretend player 3 had a few plausible hands and see where we fall
A278 rainbow - I'm still the fave, barely. (41%, 28%, 31%)

Middle pair and plausible low
TT67 - I'm still the fave, the other two switch percentages (41%, 31%, 28%)

AA5K suited Ace - I plummet 6% (35%, 23%, 41%)

Complete middle card trash straight draw
6789 rainbow - I tip slightly up (43%, 29.5%, 28%)

If we look at the money in the pot, was the BB justified in calling?

700 in the pot, 250 to call, or 2.7 to 1.
Generally, the BB was not much worse than 2.5 to 1 against, so not a ridiculous call with three to a wheel and one suit.

27 Player Tourney - Oct 1

OK, I'm sick of blogging, unless I think something is interesting. Here's a cheapo 27 player tourney.

Hand 3 - I see a flop w/88 calling a bump raise and miss with many players and an ace on the flop. Chip count 1460. (blinds 10/20)

Hand 12 - I haven't seen a flop since hand 3, and I've determined there are at least four totally unbluffable, chatty and cheerful morons at my table. I see a flop as BB w/3c 7s and give up multi-way on the AQ9 flop.

Hand 20 - I've yet to be in a hand, so I raise to 4BB @50 w/KTs to open UTG. I suppose I could have limped, but I wanted to see if anybody was paying attention to how 'tight' I had seemed. (my cards all sucked big time.) The BB calls and an ace flops, and he lead bets it, and I go away. Chip count 1205 (blinds 25/50)

Hand 21 - I call a bump raise in BB w/A7s and fail to connect. I give up to the bumpers continuation bet. Chip count 1105 (25/50).

Hand 24 - I open-raise 3bb in the cutoff, and the button reraises and the BB calls the raise. I toss my QTo, which would have flopped an outside draw. Chip count 930 (25/50).

Hand 27 - BB w/A5o for free, and the flop comes KJ5, and I toss three way when the first player pushes. Chip count 880 (50/100).

hand 29 - I push from the cutoff w/A8o, no callers. Chip count 1030 (50/100)

Hand 34 in the BB w/K3o I flop an outside wheel draw and invest 300 seeing turn and river, and I have nothing on the river. Chips = 630.

Hand 35 - I call in SB w/Q2s and miss the flop 3 way and fold. Chips = 530 (50/100).

Hand 38 - I push to open w/A7o, and I get called by A8o. Groan. Check out the board:
A 8 Q - 6 - Q

A miracle survival card! Chips = 605 (50/100)

Hand 41 - I push UTG w/A2o and get no callers, despite only having 4bb in my stack. Chips = 830 (75/150)

Hand 42 - In BB w/J2o and nobody raises, 3 limpers. I flop J23, and I lead bet the minimum and get reraised by the whack-job who took third place. He doubles me up to 1960 when his diamond flush does not hit.

Hand 43 - I toss 88 to a limp and a min-raise. Don't want to waste my double-up so quickly I guess. The raiser pushed on the K-high flop, so I think my instincts were right, but we'll never know.

Hand 44 - I similarly dump AQo to a limp and a raise by the same two clowns. How tight am I ????

Hand 48 - Another gift in the BB - I have Kd 9d with three limpers, and here's the betting sequence. Of course I was afraid of AT on the river.

*** FLOP *** [Qs Td Js]
JASPERR: checks
FrankNagaiJr: bets 150
NOLA71: folds
DavSnook: folds
JASPERR: calls 150
*** TURN *** [Qs Td Js] [4h]
JASPERR: checks
FrankNagaiJr: bets 450
JASPERR: calls 450
*** RIVER *** [Qs Td Js 4h] [7s]
JASPERR: checks
FrankNagaiJr: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
JASPERR: shows [Th Kc] (a pair of Tens)
FrankNagaiJr: shows [Kd 9d] (a straight, Nine to King)

Chips = 2935, and I can breathe for the first time since level 2.

Hand 52 - Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good! Coach Russ was sure piling up chips despite a lot of plays that seemed really questionable to me.

*********** # 52 **************
PokerStars Game #6494662683: Tournament #32970580, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2006/10/02 - 00:13:41 (ET)
Table '32970580 1' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: CoachRuss (10315 in chips)
Seat 5: FrankNagaiJr (2860 in chips)
Seat 6: WENDY 90 (710 in chips)
Seat 7: mitzifive (1000 in chips)
Seat 9: DavSnook (3575 in chips)
DavSnook: posts small blind 75
CoachRuss: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [3h 3s]
FrankNagaiJr: raises 450 to 600
WENDY 90: folds
mitzifive: raises 400 to 1000 and is all-in
DavSnook: folds
CoachRuss: calls 850
bigpuffdaddy is connected
FrankNagaiJr: calls 400
*** FLOP *** [7s 5h 3c]
CoachRuss: bets 900
FrankNagaiJr: calls 900
*** TURN *** [7s 5h 3c] [Ac]
CoachRuss: bets 8415 and is all-in
FrankNagaiJr: calls 960 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [7s 5h 3c Ac] [7c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
CoachRuss: shows [6s 6c] (two pair, Sevens and Sixes)
FrankNagaiJr: shows [3h 3s] (a full house, Threes full of Sevens)
FrankNagaiJr collected 3720 from side pot
mitzifive: shows [9d Ad] (two pair, Aces and Sevens)

Chips=6795

Hand 62 - I have bought a few blinds without showing down, which may be why my raise was not respected. I'm proud of myself for not steaming after this happened.


*********** # 62 **************
PokerStars Game #6494741581: Tournament #32970580, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2006/10/02 - 00:20:48 (ET)
Table '32970580 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: CoachRuss (12905 in chips)
Seat 5: FrankNagaiJr (6585 in chips)
Seat 6: WENDY 90 (720 in chips)
Seat 8: bigpuffdaddy (3880 in chips)
Seat 9: Yogi (1535 in chips)
CoachRuss: posts small blind 100
FrankNagaiJr: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Ad As]
WENDY 90: folds
bigpuffdaddy: calls 200
Yogi: folds
CoachRuss: calls 100
FrankNagaiJr: raises 600 to 800
bigpuffdaddy: calls 600
CoachRuss: folds
*** FLOP *** [7s 9c 8s]
FrankNagaiJr: bets 3200
bigpuffdaddy: calls 3080 and is all-in
FrankNagaiJr said, "nice draw"
*** TURN *** [7s 9c 8s] [Ac]
*** RIVER *** [7s 9c 8s Ac] [3s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FrankNagaiJr: shows [Ad As] (three of a kind, Aces)
bigpuffdaddy: shows [Ks Ts] (a flush, King high)
bigpuffdaddy collected 7960 from pot

Chips = 2705

Hand 63 - CoachRuss may be a whack job, but I appreciate his doubling me up whenever I seemed to need it!

*********** # 63 **************
PokerStars Game #6494752084: Tournament #32970580, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2006/10/02 - 00:21:46 (ET)
Table '32970580 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: CoachRuss (12705 in chips)
Seat 5: FrankNagaiJr (2705 in chips)
Seat 6: WENDY 90 (720 in chips)
Seat 8: bigpuffdaddy (7960 in chips)
Seat 9: Yogi (1535 in chips)
FrankNagaiJr: posts small blind 100
WENDY 90: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Qc Ts]
bigpuffdaddy: folds
Yogi: folds
CoachRuss: calls 200
FrankNagaiJr: calls 100
WENDY 90: checks
*** FLOP *** [4s 4d Tc]
FrankNagaiJr: checks
WENDY 90: checks
CoachRuss: bets 200
FrankNagaiJr: raises 400 to 600
WENDY 90: folds
CoachRuss: calls 400
*** TURN *** [4s 4d Tc] [5c]
FrankNagaiJr: bets 1905 and is all-in
CoachRuss: calls 1905
*** RIVER *** [4s 4d Tc 5c] [Js]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FrankNagaiJr: shows [Qc Ts] (two pair, Tens and Fours)
CoachRuss: shows [Qd Ad] (a pair of Fours)
FrankNagaiJr collected 5610 from pot

Chips = 5610 (blinds 100/200)

Cut to the chase!

Three handed began at hand 95 (knocking out the guy who cracked my aces.) I knocked out CoachRuss on Hand 122 when he makes a really bad decision here:

*********** # 122 **************
PokerStars Game #6495128917: Tournament #32970580, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level X (400/800) - 2006/10/02 - 00:59:36 (ET)
Table '32970580 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: CoachRuss (13768 in chips)
Seat 4: DarvXX (7422 in chips)
Seat 5: FrankNagaiJr (19310 in chips)
CoachRuss: posts the ante 50
DarvXX: posts the ante 50
FrankNagaiJr: posts the ante 50
DarvXX: posts small blind 400
FrankNagaiJr: posts big blind 800
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [7d Jc]
CoachRuss: calls 800
DarvXX: folds
FrankNagaiJr: checks
*** FLOP *** [Js 5d 3c]
FrankNagaiJr: checks
CoachRuss: bets 2400
FrankNagaiJr: raises 16060 to 18460 and is all-in
CoachRuss: calls 10518 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [Js 5d 3c] [2c]
*** RIVER *** [Js 5d 3c 2c] [Qd]
FrankNagaiJr said, "gg"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FrankNagaiJr: shows [7d Jc] (a pair of Jacks)
CoachRuss: shows [5c Ks] (a pair of Fives)
FrankNagaiJr collected 27986 from pot

After that, I won the tourney on hand 162 when my ATo beat QQ, when I was the 4 to 1 chip leader. I feel that my on-line heads up in tourneys has really gotten strong, so it's a question of making it that far.

So, just a handful of miracles necessary out of 162 hands to win....