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.