Ups and downs
Wow ... the further I get down my list of things to write about, the longer the list grows. I hate feeling like I'm always playing catch-up, but it seems like I haven't had any time to sit down and clear my head. But here's a brief rundown:
A WILD NIGHT: Talk about your ups and downs. Last Friday, I played in our weekly home game and it was even wilder than usual. Playing six-handed this time, three of the players were jacking up every pot. Normally, I like seeing this kind of behavior, because all I need to do is lay in wait for a good hand and get paid off. But on this night, I just wasn't getting the cards and did not drag a single pot for three hours. Even when I did get halfway decent cards, the board wouldn't cooperate. For example, I had been playing about 90 minutes when I looked down to find AKo. At that point, Big Slick looked just as good as aces, so I promptly raised the 50 cent blind to $7. The action folded all the way around to one fellow I hadn't played with before. He hesitated awhile and appeared ready to muck a couple of times, when at last he exclaimed, "Wait, we haven't seen any cards yet. I can't fold without seeing a flop." I suppose I should have been happy to hear that remark, but I had a feeling what was coming next and suddenly found myself wishing I had AA. Actually, 66 or higher would have worked. Anyway, the flop comes all rags, he checks, I move all in with my last $8 and he calls with his bottom pair of 5s, and I end up heading back to the chip case to rebuy.
Other than that one hand, I felt I played very well. I didn't win any pots, but I also didn't lose much on the ones I actually played. But, after playing three hours, still not a single winning hand.
Lucky for me I played two more hours.
Although I had kept the bleeding at a trickle (other than the AKo hand), I was starting to get pretty low at the three-hour mark, when a couple of desperation all-ins held up. Suddenly, I was sitting around $28, having bought in $40. I quietly segregated $20 of that amount from the rest of my chips, secretly vowing to either make my plays with the $8 or lose it and quit for the night. On the small blind, I'm dealt 68o and complete the blind, since it hasn't been raised. Suddenly, my bud Heath, on the big blind, moves all-in for $6.50. Everyone folds back to me, and I figure, "What the hell?" and call. Okay, I know that was a dumb move, but at the time I figured I could get lucky and be close to even, or I could be just about done for the evening. Either way was fine with me. Plus, I had the added bonus of getting to play for a decent-sized pot without having to risk any more to additional raises, and so I couldn't possibly get under my stop-loss amount. I know, I know, it's faulty logic all the way around, and it wasn't very good poker. And it turned out to be an extremely bad decision, as Heath turned over QQ. But, perhaps the poker gods were looking to repay me for the AK hand, and I made a 6-high straight on the river. Just goes to show that no stupid decision goes unrewarded.
A little while later, after I had won a couple of small pots, I counted up my chips and found that I was actually up $2. Once again, I made the decision that I would quit once I hit $40, or else make my profit on the night with the extra $2. That decision was put to the test very quickly. I was dealt KQ and limped in. The flop came K45. One player bet $1 and I figured I would call that, as it would take me back down to my $40 and I could either improve on the turn or get out and go home. But then Heath raises $5 behind me, and Heath's dad moves all-in after that for $7 more. I was truly astounded. I looked back at my KQ and started wondering what they could have. AK? AA? KK? Heck, I couldn't even rule out K4 the way game had been played to that point. But top pair with second kicker was about the best position I'd been in on the flop all night, so I tossed my decision to leave at the break-even point out the window and decided that I was either far ahead in the hand, or I would have two chances to catch up. I called. Next card puts a second diamond on the board. I check. Heath checks. Now I'm really puzzled. The river puts a third diamond on the board and I decide I have to make my move. I start counting my chips, intending to put in a raise of $10, but at some point I figure Heath knows me well enough to see that as me trying to buy the pot and since I hadn't improved, I wasn't so sure I really wanted him to call. So I pushed all my chips in the middle, $28, and Heath folded. Now all I had to worry about was Rod, who was already all-in. Rod turned over unimproved pocket 8s and I dragged my first and only monster pot of the night.
At the end of the night, I came out $30 ahead. More than that, I was just happy I had survived.
PIGGS PEAK UPDATE: My online play hasn't been nearly as ... well, I started to say good, but I can't really say Friday's win was the result of good play, so let's just stick with "profitable." After my first week playing there, I ran my free $16 to $80. Unfortunately, since this weekend on, I managed to get back down to about $17. It looks like my days of playing at Piggs Peak are nearly over unless my results change course very quickly.
However, I did decide to hop into one of the Rounders tournaments the other night. For those of you unfamiliar with the Rounders tournaments, they're Prima's answer to Party's step tournaments. It's a series of five single-table tournaments. You can buy in at any level, with Round 1 being the cheapest at $5. In order to cash, you have to place in the money of a Round 5 tournament, with first place paying $3,000.
Here's how it works. If you start at Round 1, you have to finish either first or second to advance to Round 2. In Round 2, first and second win an entry into Round 3, while third gets to play Round 2 again. In Round 3, first, second and third move on to Round 4, while fourth gets to drop back down to Round 2. In Round 4, the top four win an entry into Round 5. Fifth place might get to retry Round 4 or one of the earlier rounds, I forget. Finally, the top five in Round 5 win money.
So far, I've only played Round 1 and I won that one. I've been waiting to move on to the next round until a night when I'm feeling at my best. However, at this point, I think I would just be satisfied with the $25 entry fee.
THE END OF TOURNAMENT REPORTS? I must say I'm starting to grow quite disgusted with the people running a couple of the tournaments right now. Maybe Harrah's AC and the Tunica Horseshoe spoiled me, because all I had to do was send one request and I was flooded with regular updates from the tournaments that recently wrapped up at those locations. However, I sent a similar request to the Commerce Casino a couple of days before the start of the L.A. Poker Classic, and I have yet to receive any acknowledgement.
Sigh ... it's tough being a fledgling poker blogger, trying to get respect in this dog-eat-dog world. If anyone reading this has any connections, I would truly appreciate any help you could provide me.
GET WELL WISHES: Speaking of poker bloggers, here's wishing a speedy recovery to the blogfather, Iggy, who is recuperating from shoulder surgery. Here's hoping he gets better quickly, so he can grace us with another wonderful "Guinness-fueled uberpost."
POKER TOUR INTERNATIONAL UPDATE: I included an announcement about this tour a little while back, and ran across this announcement today:
2005, SO FAR: I just realized that the first month on my journey to becoming a professional poker player is now in the books. Boy, that goal seems somewhat laughable now. As much as I would like to think I could someday make my entire living off of poker, that just seems so hideously unrealistic at this point. Hopefully, my future results will change my outlook before I'm forced to change my tagline.
Anyway, I guess I can look favorably at Month 1, as I did end with a profit (just barely). At the end of January, my apprenticeship had yielded me $74.85. Unfortunately, the first day of February gave January's results a beating, as I lost $17.66 at the five-and-dime PLO8 tables last night.
A WILD NIGHT: Talk about your ups and downs. Last Friday, I played in our weekly home game and it was even wilder than usual. Playing six-handed this time, three of the players were jacking up every pot. Normally, I like seeing this kind of behavior, because all I need to do is lay in wait for a good hand and get paid off. But on this night, I just wasn't getting the cards and did not drag a single pot for three hours. Even when I did get halfway decent cards, the board wouldn't cooperate. For example, I had been playing about 90 minutes when I looked down to find AKo. At that point, Big Slick looked just as good as aces, so I promptly raised the 50 cent blind to $7. The action folded all the way around to one fellow I hadn't played with before. He hesitated awhile and appeared ready to muck a couple of times, when at last he exclaimed, "Wait, we haven't seen any cards yet. I can't fold without seeing a flop." I suppose I should have been happy to hear that remark, but I had a feeling what was coming next and suddenly found myself wishing I had AA. Actually, 66 or higher would have worked. Anyway, the flop comes all rags, he checks, I move all in with my last $8 and he calls with his bottom pair of 5s, and I end up heading back to the chip case to rebuy.
Other than that one hand, I felt I played very well. I didn't win any pots, but I also didn't lose much on the ones I actually played. But, after playing three hours, still not a single winning hand.
Lucky for me I played two more hours.
Although I had kept the bleeding at a trickle (other than the AKo hand), I was starting to get pretty low at the three-hour mark, when a couple of desperation all-ins held up. Suddenly, I was sitting around $28, having bought in $40. I quietly segregated $20 of that amount from the rest of my chips, secretly vowing to either make my plays with the $8 or lose it and quit for the night. On the small blind, I'm dealt 68o and complete the blind, since it hasn't been raised. Suddenly, my bud Heath, on the big blind, moves all-in for $6.50. Everyone folds back to me, and I figure, "What the hell?" and call. Okay, I know that was a dumb move, but at the time I figured I could get lucky and be close to even, or I could be just about done for the evening. Either way was fine with me. Plus, I had the added bonus of getting to play for a decent-sized pot without having to risk any more to additional raises, and so I couldn't possibly get under my stop-loss amount. I know, I know, it's faulty logic all the way around, and it wasn't very good poker. And it turned out to be an extremely bad decision, as Heath turned over QQ. But, perhaps the poker gods were looking to repay me for the AK hand, and I made a 6-high straight on the river. Just goes to show that no stupid decision goes unrewarded.
A little while later, after I had won a couple of small pots, I counted up my chips and found that I was actually up $2. Once again, I made the decision that I would quit once I hit $40, or else make my profit on the night with the extra $2. That decision was put to the test very quickly. I was dealt KQ and limped in. The flop came K45. One player bet $1 and I figured I would call that, as it would take me back down to my $40 and I could either improve on the turn or get out and go home. But then Heath raises $5 behind me, and Heath's dad moves all-in after that for $7 more. I was truly astounded. I looked back at my KQ and started wondering what they could have. AK? AA? KK? Heck, I couldn't even rule out K4 the way game had been played to that point. But top pair with second kicker was about the best position I'd been in on the flop all night, so I tossed my decision to leave at the break-even point out the window and decided that I was either far ahead in the hand, or I would have two chances to catch up. I called. Next card puts a second diamond on the board. I check. Heath checks. Now I'm really puzzled. The river puts a third diamond on the board and I decide I have to make my move. I start counting my chips, intending to put in a raise of $10, but at some point I figure Heath knows me well enough to see that as me trying to buy the pot and since I hadn't improved, I wasn't so sure I really wanted him to call. So I pushed all my chips in the middle, $28, and Heath folded. Now all I had to worry about was Rod, who was already all-in. Rod turned over unimproved pocket 8s and I dragged my first and only monster pot of the night.
At the end of the night, I came out $30 ahead. More than that, I was just happy I had survived.
PIGGS PEAK UPDATE: My online play hasn't been nearly as ... well, I started to say good, but I can't really say Friday's win was the result of good play, so let's just stick with "profitable." After my first week playing there, I ran my free $16 to $80. Unfortunately, since this weekend on, I managed to get back down to about $17. It looks like my days of playing at Piggs Peak are nearly over unless my results change course very quickly.
However, I did decide to hop into one of the Rounders tournaments the other night. For those of you unfamiliar with the Rounders tournaments, they're Prima's answer to Party's step tournaments. It's a series of five single-table tournaments. You can buy in at any level, with Round 1 being the cheapest at $5. In order to cash, you have to place in the money of a Round 5 tournament, with first place paying $3,000.
Here's how it works. If you start at Round 1, you have to finish either first or second to advance to Round 2. In Round 2, first and second win an entry into Round 3, while third gets to play Round 2 again. In Round 3, first, second and third move on to Round 4, while fourth gets to drop back down to Round 2. In Round 4, the top four win an entry into Round 5. Fifth place might get to retry Round 4 or one of the earlier rounds, I forget. Finally, the top five in Round 5 win money.
So far, I've only played Round 1 and I won that one. I've been waiting to move on to the next round until a night when I'm feeling at my best. However, at this point, I think I would just be satisfied with the $25 entry fee.
THE END OF TOURNAMENT REPORTS? I must say I'm starting to grow quite disgusted with the people running a couple of the tournaments right now. Maybe Harrah's AC and the Tunica Horseshoe spoiled me, because all I had to do was send one request and I was flooded with regular updates from the tournaments that recently wrapped up at those locations. However, I sent a similar request to the Commerce Casino a couple of days before the start of the L.A. Poker Classic, and I have yet to receive any acknowledgement.
Sigh ... it's tough being a fledgling poker blogger, trying to get respect in this dog-eat-dog world. If anyone reading this has any connections, I would truly appreciate any help you could provide me.
GET WELL WISHES: Speaking of poker bloggers, here's wishing a speedy recovery to the blogfather, Iggy, who is recuperating from shoulder surgery. Here's hoping he gets better quickly, so he can grace us with another wonderful "Guinness-fueled uberpost."
POKER TOUR INTERNATIONAL UPDATE: I included an announcement about this tour a little while back, and ran across this announcement today:
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Grand Strand Poker Tours, an affiliate of Poker Tours International located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is now hosting a weekly series of tournaments every Tuesday afternoon on board Sun Cruz Casino which sails out of Little River, SC at 11:00am. One out of every 15 participants in the satellite tournaments will win a buy-in package worth over $3,000 including a Poker Tour International tournament entry fee, accommodations for two, airfare from Fort Lauderdale, welcome banquet, and farewell dinner. Satellite tournaments will consist of 3 tables with a maximum of 30 players paying an entry fee of $220 each. Players may register in advance or receive more information by calling (843) 997-ACES (2237).
Poker Tour International (PTI) is a series of televised high stakes Texas Hold 'em tournaments for pros and amateurs to play together in South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Prize pools range from $250,000 to $500,000 plus a seat to the Semi Annual Multi Million Dollar Classic Finals. The next tournament is March 16-20 at the 5 star Circa's Hispanola Resort and Casino, Santo Domingo, Dominica Republic for $2999 from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
PTI production team includes Pro Players Lee Watkinson, rated #1 in the World by Bluff Magazine, Ted Lawson, winner of this year's Las Vegas Omaha World Poker Series, "Unabomber" Phil Laak, winner of the WPT Invitation 2004, Humberto Brenes, "godfather of Costa Rican Players" and regular at final tables, and Steve Kates, owner of the Royal Oasis Casino, Grand Bahama Island.
2005, SO FAR: I just realized that the first month on my journey to becoming a professional poker player is now in the books. Boy, that goal seems somewhat laughable now. As much as I would like to think I could someday make my entire living off of poker, that just seems so hideously unrealistic at this point. Hopefully, my future results will change my outlook before I'm forced to change my tagline.
Anyway, I guess I can look favorably at Month 1, as I did end with a profit (just barely). At the end of January, my apprenticeship had yielded me $74.85. Unfortunately, the first day of February gave January's results a beating, as I lost $17.66 at the five-and-dime PLO8 tables last night.
1 Comments:
thx for the thoughts - i'm still a few weeks away but doing much better.
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