A New Beginning

After long absence from online poker, returned tonight by depositing $300 into Pokerstars account. Time to take it seriously now.

To get my feet wet again, played in a $4.40 NLHE 180 player tourney. Finished 70th. Disappointed, but satisfied with play and if cards had gone my way a little, it would have produced a better result for sure.

The hand that crippled me and eventually knocked me out. We had just returned from the 5 minute break. 73 players left.

Blinds are 75/150. I have $2000 in chips which is a little below average stack. Villain has $1595. He's UTG+1 and raises $444. It folds around to me at the cutoff and I have 6c 6h. For some reason, I don't think he's that strong, so I decide to ship it. Button, SB, BB all fold, but he calls. I must in deep shit right? Nope, the guy shows Kc Jd. I can't believe this guy decides to CALL off the remaining $1100 of his stack on KJ offsuit?!?! The board is [8d Kd 8h 2s 4c] and I end up losing. Stack now down to $405. 3 hands later, I'm out.

Heads Up Challenge

At our last game, I know there was a lot of big talk(drunken bravado) about who is superior in heads up play. So....I issue this challenge:

I'll put up $100 to anyone's $75 as money on the side. We'll play 200 hands heads up NLHE at 10/20. Winner keeps the money won as well as the money on the side.

OR

We'll play a best of 7 heads up tournament. Sweep 4-0 pays double.

Anyone can accept. Stakes can be tweaked according to preferences. Challenge remains until someone accepts. Live play only, nothing online.

down to the felt

I've busted out in my 30K Challenge attempt. I was able to built it up to almost $60 playing $5 HU NLHE SnG's. But after trying to "take a shot" at $10, and taking some bad beats, and making bad decisions to chase my losses, I'm down to the felt. I'll put Pokerstars on hold for now due to tight finances(huge impending property tax payment on my house). But when April/May comes around when the bills are paid, I'll reload some real $ and fully dedicate myself to playing regularly online.

So the only thing I have to look forward to now is our regular home games(which isn't so regular as our last game was 3 weeks ago). But this past week, we did have a game going. The liquor was definitely flowing freely, and eventhough intoxicated, my game was good. I was calm, thinking very straight, observing the action, and lastly but most importantly: the alcohol made me more aggressive than usual. I can't remember the last time I shoved all-in so much, and not always with the best hands either. Throughout the night, my reads were good; I pushed when I sensed others were weak, value bet marginal hands, and made good laydowns.

There were however two mistakes I made that night. One worked in my favor, the other not so much. The first was against Dave where I picked up As Js in early position. I decide to min-raise, and get two callers. Action comes to Dave who reraises. Maybe it was the alcohol, but I reraised All-in. I didn't give Dave much credit for a hand(my mistake) cuz I put him on a pretty wide range. I knew my As Js isn't a monster, so I was hoping my tight image and the 3rd raise would push him out. He ends up calling and shows Nines. Turn brings me a Jack and I pick up the pot. Sorry Dave.

In another hand, it was me picking up the dreaded pocket nines. Last betting round and eventhough there were 2 overcards on the board, I decide to value bet my 9's on the river cuz I was fairly certain it was still the winning hand. Except I was reraised All-in by John. I muck my cards face up and he shows King high. Sick. I knew I should of trusted my initial read.

Overall Net Gain: $4

Probably no game next week cuz Rich, Jose and John are heading up to Tahoe to snowboard. I would love to go up since I only went twice this season, but I can't. Fuck, I do miss boarding tho.

Scotty Nguyen Impersonation

Home Game Sunday

On Super Bowl Sunday, a small little poker game was held. Good for me cuz I'm not a big fan of football. I watch one game a year and its the Super Bowl, and I'm one of those that watches mainly for the commercials! 

So it was a small game, and with less players, I focused more on position rather than the cards. The cards really never came, so I had to expand on my starting hand ranges. I didn't have many huge hands, but I got lucky an awful lot; flopping top two pair with T 8, and the nut straight with 2 4.

Overall, I was quite satisfied with my play. I was dealt marginal hands, but I felt I made the correct decisions the bulk of the time. I made one mistake attempting a river bluff against Dave. Eventhough I got caught, I didn't think it was that bad of a play. I almost succeeded too as he checked to me, and I bet, it wasn't an insta-call by him. He went into the tank for a bit before he ultimately called and showed his pair of Aces with mid kicker. 

Net gain for the day was $11. 

One last thing of note: Rich played in the Spade Club Red Token tournament and finished a very respectable 500th place to win $5. You didn't beat Jed's record, but I'm sure you will in time. 

Home Game Friday Night

Some observations and recap of some noteworthy hands I was involved in our last home game. The Friday night game was full table with 9-10 players, so I decided to pick my spots carefully. I only entered pot with Pockets, Ace Big, and Broadway, and occasionally suited connectors. 

I had one hand where I tangled with Serg. He's in early position and goes All-in. I'm dealt wired 8's in middle position. Up to this point, Serg is stuck $7 and down to about $2 and change. He's more likely to ship it with anything to try to recoup his losses and couple that with his loose play, and I knew I was ahead. I decide to reraise all-in to isolate and protect my hand. I drove everyone out and its just me and Serg to see the flop. Flop contains an Ace and an Eight giving me a set. Turn is another Ace completing my Full House. Serg flips over his cards and reveals trip Aces. I still haven't turn over my cards yet tho so Serg must have thought his three Aces were good. It might have seemed to Serg like I was slowrolling, but it was because he had a redraw to a higher boat and that whys I didn't show my winning hand till the end. 

I had another hand where I was dealt Pocket Jacks in the BB. John who is UTG raises to 40 cents. There are two callers and action comes back around to me. I decide to just call the additional 30 cent and see the flop. Flop comes K 8 5. Not the flop I was hoping for obviously. At showdown, John shows K4 to win the pot. Perhaps I played the hand wrong or perhaps I saved myself money with the way I played it. In retrospect, I could have reraised John's preflop 40 cent raise. It most certainly would have thinned out the field by making the two limper fold. Hard to say whether John would have laid down his hand if I had reraised. He was one of the bigger stacks, can afford to gamble, and is most certainly prone to making loose calls. 

The biggest pot of the night for me came when I was dealt the mother of all hands: Pocket Aces! Jose opens the action with a raise to 80 cents. Peter and Rich are the only two to call. I look down at Aces and decide to bump it up to $2.75(which I realize was too little after I bet it). Jose doesn't go away and neither does Peter. After Rich thinks forever, he finally releases his hand. I put Jose on either Pockets 7's, 8's, or 9's. I have no idea where Peter is at. Flop comes 8s 6s 8d. Now the pot is ~$9 and I decide to lead out for $4. Jose folds, but Peter declares All-in. Peter was running lucky all night and he had me covered by a substantial margin. But I refuse to believe he hit that eight. I had no choice but to call the $4 I have behind since I already contributed  $6.75 to the pot. I show my Aces, and he shows the spade nut flush draw. Thankfully, neither the turn or river brought a spade, and I picked up that monster pot. Afterwards, Rich reveals that he folded the Pocket 8's. He woulda had Quads. LOL!!!

All in all, not a bad night for me. Net gain of $23. 

Some final thoughts on the incident involving Peter, Mia, and Jimmy. I'm still not privy to the situation or have all the facts, but I'm sure situations like those could have been avoided. I know most of us adhere to the rules, but those new to the game don't always know the finer intricacies of the game. I'm sure if we live by these rules and introduce them to all new players, we'll avoid these future dicey situations. Here they are:

1. No coffeehousing. If you're not in the hand, don't speak about the hand. For those in the hand still, talk to your hearts content. 

2. Don't share hole cards. One player to a hand please.

3. Don't ask or offer advice. If you're in a hand, don't ask for advice. Likewise, if you're not in the hand, don't offer advice. 

4. Don't deliberately act out of turn. I think this should include both putting chips into the pot, and declaring your intentions before its your turn to act. 

Heads Up SnGs

Well, I suffered back to back losses in the Double or Nothing Tournament. I'll still play in these eventually, but I'm finding these games very boring now. 

I browsed around to see which MTTs I should play and settled on a $5, 90 player SnG, top 12 places paid. I played well and at one point I was 15th. During the middle stages, I lost hands with AK and Pocket Fives, and eventually bounced out in 38th place. 

After that tournament, my BR was down to only $6. I contemplated what to play with my last remaining dollars cuz I'd rather not have to deposit and reload. So.....I finally settled on the HU NLHE(Heads Up No Limit Hold 'Em) SnGs. 

I played against a player that was fairly tight; he would fold his little blinds often even though he had the button. So I made it a habit to raise aggressively to pick off his blinds. I'll also win the occasional pots by making the c-bets. A couple of important hands. So I was in the lead when this hand occured....

Hand 10

rnl27 (1740 in chips)

carbide77 (1260 in chips)

I'm dealt Ad 9c. I min raise to 40. He min raises me back to 80. I reraise 220. He goes All-in. 

Analysis: The old me would have called hoping he was bluffing, but I knew he had the goods. I knew I was the better player and would be able to outplay him later on. I folded. Our stacks became even after that. 

Hand 37

rnl27 (1090 in chips)

carbide77(1910 in chips)

I'm dealt Js Jh. Villain raises to 60. I call to disguise the strength of my hand. 

Flop [8s 7c 5c] 

I check. Villain bets 60. I call. 

Turn [8s 7c 5c] [3d]

I bet 120. Villain raises All-In. I call for my last 850. 

River [8s 7c 5c] [3d] [As]

Analysis: Villain shows Qc 6c for a missed flush draw and missed open-ended straight draw. I definitely dodged bullets there. I didn't know he had such a strong draw and with 18 outs. I take a 2-1 chip lead. 

Hand 51

rnl27 (2165 in chips)

carbide77 (835 in chips)

I'm dealt Kh 9c. Villain raises to 60. I call. 

Flop [Kc 7h 6d]

I bet 60. Villain calls.

Turn [Kc 7h 6d] [9s]

I bet 120. Villain calls again. 

River [Kc 7h 6d] [9s] [Ac]

I check. Villain goes All-in. Insta-call. Villain shows Jc Tc. Game over. 

So my first HU NLHE match was a success. I was feeling pretty good about myself so I decided to play another. It was I think the shortest Heads Up match I've ever played; it took one hand to decide the outcome. 

Hand 1

rnl27 (1500 in chips)

OhFaSho20's (1500 in chips)

I'll disclose our hole cards at the bottom. Try to play along and guess if you want. 

So I'm the button and I min-raise to 40. He min raises me 80. I three bet him 240. He calls. 

Flop [2d 5s 3h]

Villain bets 1140 and is All-in. I call. 

Turn [2d 5s 3h] [Js]

River [2d 5s 3h] [Js] [6d]

So what do we have? And who wins the tournament. 

A

N

S

W

E

R 

I

S 

I do with Pocket 10s. Villain shows Pockets 8s. 

So after these two wins, my BR is up to $16. I find that I really enjoy playing these HU NLHE matches. They're not as boring as the Double or Nothings. I can focus on one opponent and immediately know their playing style within a few hands. I see way more flops, so I can practice post flop play. And I can make the same amount of money in a shorter time. I think the HU NLHE games are definitely my preferred game at the moment. (Its where Dario Minieri got his start a couple years ago at Pokerstars. Lets see how far I can take it!)

My 30K Challenge

It seems everyone has heard about Daniel Negreanu's challenge to turn $10 into $100,000 playing the micro limits and working his way up to the high limits. It's a well thought out plan, and I hope Daniel succeeds. Ever since I heard about it, I've been trying to watch him play on Pokerstars and maybe learn alittle, but he's hardly on. Who knows? Maybe I'll even sit down and try to bust him. LOL!

In my own mind, I've always envisioned doing something similar, except I'm not as ambitious as Daniel. For me, I'll be trying to build a $10 bankroll into $30,000(or 3 stacks of high society). Now rather than play the cash games tho(which really isn't my strength), I'll be mostly playing tournaments - SnGs and MTTs. By avoiding the ring games, I hope to avoid the variance that comes from a bad session where multiple buy-ins and a huge chunk of the bankroll can be lost. With tournaments, I'll control my stake, and hopefully hit it big with a high finish here and there.

It'll be a long road ahead to reach my goal, but I know it is possible. About 6 months ago, I followed this formula and built my stack up to $260. But then I squandered it away by playing in the WSOP Main Event Satellites. Nothing wrong with being ambitious, but I dreamt too big envisioning WSOPs, WPTs, EPTs, APPTs, and LAPTs when it wasn't really realistic. From now on, I'm gonna first firmly establish online success and a bigger bankroll before I think about playing in the big live tournaments.