The new CR site finally launched, and it looks like I'll be moving this blog over there in the coming weeks (where it probably belonged in the first place). If and when this happens, I'll post here with a link to the new blog so you guys can continue to read about my boring life. I had been beta testing the site for a week or two to help test things out before launch, and I'm excited to see the way in which all of these new tools & features will improve CardRunners as a community. Cool stuff!
Anyway, I'm really pumped about leaving for Aruba tomorrow. I'm staying with Derric and a few of his buddies in a house down there from Friday until Tuesday, and I can already tell that it's gonna be very hard for me to leave the island -- especially since I'm leaving early (the tourney lasts until next Saturday!). Chicago has cooled down a lot recently, and it's getting to be about that time of year where you can't walk outside without a jacket anymore. The ~2 months I've been living up here have been beautiful and sunny for the most part, and I'm really going to miss being able to hit up the beach for a pick-up game of volleyball on the weekends. San Antonio was awesome for stuff like that almost year-round. At least I'll get one final weekend in paradise before it gets freezing in the windy city...
On a personal note, I'm still pretty bored with work. I really hope things will change, but it's been a full month since I finished my five weeks of training, and I've been applying to projects like a madman in an effort to get staffed. Unfortunately, the subgroup I was assigned to within the company does things much differently than every other subgroup: we don't get to directly apply for roles ourselves, we are under relatively strict supervision every day, and we all basically just sit around staring at our desks pumping out any remedial busywork handed down to us by our supervisors. In short, everything that's hilarious about Office Space applies to my work life right now. This is lightyears from what I expected from a career in consulting...I'm a very intelligent + motivated person, and my talents are being utterly wasted on a daily basis.
Like I said above, any project we wish to submit an application to must be approved by our HR rep. She then removes the roles that either she or the subgroup's policies deem "inappropriate" for a person from our subgroup to fill (which typically shortens my list of roles significantly), adds other roles that are "appropriate," and then applies us to the remaining roles on her own instead of letting us do it ourselves. This is apparently the standard policy for all employees in the subgroup to which I was assigned. The problems with this are as follows: this creates an unnecessarily excessive workload for our HR reps, who are already very very busy; I have no way of verifying that my internal resume was actually submitted to all of the roles I wanted; I end up being proposed for roles I don't want; and, most importantly, I don't get to choose my own career path.
This final point was actually the most important concept they drilled into our heads during our final two weeks of training: your career path in this company is entirely in your hands, and you are strongly encouraged to choose projects which will help you develop the skills you wish to acquire to further your career goals. Nearly everyone else from my start group has been encouraged to exercise their freedom of choice -- the only people deprived of this ability are myself and the four others from my start group who were also assigned to this specific internal group. It's extremely disheartening to see all of your other friends taking control of their own careers while we're stuck in the office all day waiting for staffing opportunities on projects we (typically) didn't choose ourselves.
Many of the projects I applied for sound really awesome and would certainly allow me to utilize all the skills I have developed in school and from other experiences, but unfortunately I've found that most of these are not deemed "appropriate", and I get stuck applying for boring roles as a tester for newly implemented IT systems. The words remedial and monotonous can only begin to describe how boring a testing role would be, so hopefully things will work out soon so I can stop ranting about dumb stuff in this blog that noone wants to read about anyway.
Poker-wise, I've been playing a lot of PLO lately. I got burned out after a long day of NLHE about a week ago and decided to give PLO another shot. 2/4 PLO seemed like a good place to start since I've historically done well (and spotted tons of poor players) when dabbling in the .5/1 & 1/2 PLO games for fun. It's rare for me to find many tough players at the games when I sit, but the amount of variance inherent in the game makes it extremely frustrating to play against these bad players when they keep winning. I probably have some leaks in my game still, but I think my game is reasonably solid -- even now I'm certain that my current level of skill is sufficient to show a significant longterm profit at 2/4 PLO (if I could find the time to put in enough hands). I plan on playing 2/4 & 3/6 until I feel very comfortable with the game and have played enough hands to prove to myself that I'm a solid winner at PLO. Besides, it's a nice change of pace for me, and it's always fun to learn a new game.
PLO does have some nasty swings though, and I started off with a 9 buyin downswing my second full session. I'll post some hands later, but I got coolered a few times and this one opponent kept outdrawing me every time I either flopped or turned a strong hand. It was just sick how hot this guy was running -- especially against me! My past couple of sessions have helped me crawl out of this hole, and as it stands right now I'm only down $700 on the month at PLO. Hopefully I can get this out of the red before the month ends, but it's not a big deal if I can't.
NLHE has been a crazy rollercoaster ride since my last blog entry where I took 10 buyins off that guy @ HU in under an hour. For the most part, I've been playing very well but running terribly, but I honestly expected something like this to happen after making >$20k in the first 10 days of September. 5/10NL has been good to me overall, but I'm struggling with a few players at 10/20. I've studied a bunch of hands and had lots of discussions about hands with friends, and I'm feeling confident that I can make the transition to 10/20 full time (with good game selection, of course) in the near future. I still play 3/6NL too when the bigger games aren't good, and I'm pleasantly surprised at how bad the play still is. If all goes well, this month will top August as my biggest month ever. My goal for September was $25k; I barely scraped past this mark as of last night, so as long as I don't post a big losing session before Sunday I should be good. I'm hoping to have a $30k month before the year ends, but I'd honestly be just as happy proving to myself that I can make a consistent ~$20k/month at poker.
Aruba here I come!
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Monday, September 10, 2007
Another Exciting Sunday
I went deep in the Sunday Million again today. After getting a lucky double-up early on with AK vs QQ, I went on a nice tear through the soft field to accumulate a really nice stack. I stayed consistently in the top 10 or 20 on the leaderboard from about the first hour until the 4th hour; here's the sick hand that knocked me down quite a bit: AQ owns me (that's me getting it in as a 70/30 favorite for a MASSIVE chiplead). Shortly after that, I lost another 200k coinflip and was basically shortstacked the rest of the time until I busted. My bust out hand was pretty standard, and I would have been in great shape for the late stages of the tourney had I won the coinflip. I finished 280th or so for a small profit of ~$550, but it definitely sucks getting so deep two weeks in a row and missing out on the really big $$ :(
The ring games were unusually soft this afternoon too. I was 5-tabling 5/10NL during the early stages of the Million and the games were just awesome. There were at least 2 very loose-passive donkeys at each of my five tables who were playing >=40vpip (!), but unfortunately I was running pretty bad and they were killing me. I never really lost any big pots, just lots of small- to medium-sized pots. Some hands:
I honestly wanted to fold this on the turn
Value tooooowwwwwnnnnnnn
Don't try to bluff me you donkey
I run so bad :(
It's always nice when you have aces and someone 4-bets you
HU: Bluff or value shove? (this was against some other guy who sat with me while I was playing the spewtard I describe below)
I finished down about $3k in my first session, but I came back after the tourney and flipped my results to +$3k on the day. So I watched some CR videos, browsed the internet for awhile, then decided to play some HU before bed. I saw this guy at 3/6NL HU sitting with about $6k (10 buyins), which is an extraordinary amount of money to be sitting with at a heads-up table -- the most you can sit down with is $600, so he was probably a pretty good player. I've been working on my HU game a lot recently, so I decided to sit and see just how good he was. Turns out he was actually terrible at poker, and in less than an hour he lost everything he was sitting with to me. This guy was really bad. Here are some highlights from our little HU session:
Soooooo he doesn't like to fold -- this was very early in the match, and I didn't realize how light his calling range was. Made a quick adjustment after this hand :)
He calls down very light -- this would turn out to be the theme of our match
I'm a bluffer -- first time I'd 3-bet all match and I was pretty sure he didn't have much. Good luck calling me with like 66 here...
Such a sick beat...did I mention he doesn't like to fold? It was after this hand that I realized just how bad he was and that there was no way in hell I could leave the table until I had all of his chips.
I mentioned he calls down light, right?
My first preflop 4-bet -- he was 3-betting pretty light, so I tried a 4-bet and was met with insta-calls preflop and on the flop. I put him on a small to mid pair and actually should have shoved the river here, but this guy never, ever folds.
Nuts on the river -- I was planning to bluff the river regardless, but hitting the nuts helps. I guess this guy folds on the river, but he definitely doesn't fold preflop or on the flop. Ever.
He really doesn't like folding -- if he's calling with A4o on this flop, you know his calling range might as well be any two.
Remember: he never folds! I was really hoping (and expecting) for him to call the river, but I guess he realized that T6 probably wasn't good by the river :(
Tried for a river check/raise (but failed)
Here's our first really big pot -- our stacks were starting to get pretty deep, so this was a pretty tough call for me since I hadn't seen him do anything like this yet. I called because 1) I didn't think he'd take this line with a boat; 2) I felt like he'd make this play with an A9-type hand; 3) I was pretty sure he had me on an overpair, so the actual strength of my hand was greatly underrepresented; and 4) I knew that if I was wrong I could easily rebuy and build my stack back up.
After that hand, he started going kinda crazy -- he started 3-betting like a maniac, but he also (correctly) adjusted his 3-bet sizes for our now super-deep stacks, which surprised me since basically everything else he was doing was wrong. On with the hand histories!
Pretty sure I missed out on a ton of G-bucks here (if you don't know what G-Bucks are, you really need to read this article). I def shoulda bet the turn again, and I really wanted to raise the river for value, but I was being cautious playing so deepstacked because I obviously couldn't call if he re-raised allin.
He started going nuts, and I knew that a happy ending to this story was eminent.
Some loose calls from me, but my implied odds were enormous, and I honestly felt like Ks and Qs were outs too. Also, checking the river here was a huge mistake.
...and so it ends (with a 1200bb pot!) -- I just called on the flop because he doesn't like to fold and would probably call down with something retarded like ace high. My gin card hit on the turn, and I kept betting knowing he would call super light. I also knew that when I bet the river that there was a chance he would shove over my bet, so I made the bet fully intending to call a shove allin. I actually instantly called his $2300 raise on the river because I was 100% certain I had the best hand. I won't lie though: I was pretty nervous to play a 1300bb pot!
I wrote all of this having just finished off a $10k session, which puts me at +$22k for the month already...huzzah! I had a great night, and I'm wondering once again why I have a day job that pays 25% of the amount of money I made tonight per month. I'm really enjoying Chicago and most of the guys I'm hanging out with here are smart, solid people, but work just isn't doing it for me at all. Everyone always says to follow your passions in life, and mine are poker, music, and extreme sports. IMO, there's nothing wrong with leaving the company and still living in Wrigleyville to pursue other opportunities -- especially considering how favorable these opportunities are right now. Bleh, I'm starting to ramble now...this is a lot to think about, and I need sleep so I can be at my desk in 4 hours.
The ring games were unusually soft this afternoon too. I was 5-tabling 5/10NL during the early stages of the Million and the games were just awesome. There were at least 2 very loose-passive donkeys at each of my five tables who were playing >=40vpip (!), but unfortunately I was running pretty bad and they were killing me. I never really lost any big pots, just lots of small- to medium-sized pots. Some hands:
I honestly wanted to fold this on the turn
Value tooooowwwwwnnnnnnn
Don't try to bluff me you donkey
I run so bad :(
It's always nice when you have aces and someone 4-bets you
HU: Bluff or value shove? (this was against some other guy who sat with me while I was playing the spewtard I describe below)
I finished down about $3k in my first session, but I came back after the tourney and flipped my results to +$3k on the day. So I watched some CR videos, browsed the internet for awhile, then decided to play some HU before bed. I saw this guy at 3/6NL HU sitting with about $6k (10 buyins), which is an extraordinary amount of money to be sitting with at a heads-up table -- the most you can sit down with is $600, so he was probably a pretty good player. I've been working on my HU game a lot recently, so I decided to sit and see just how good he was. Turns out he was actually terrible at poker, and in less than an hour he lost everything he was sitting with to me. This guy was really bad. Here are some highlights from our little HU session:
Soooooo he doesn't like to fold -- this was very early in the match, and I didn't realize how light his calling range was. Made a quick adjustment after this hand :)
He calls down very light -- this would turn out to be the theme of our match
I'm a bluffer -- first time I'd 3-bet all match and I was pretty sure he didn't have much. Good luck calling me with like 66 here...
Such a sick beat...did I mention he doesn't like to fold? It was after this hand that I realized just how bad he was and that there was no way in hell I could leave the table until I had all of his chips.
I mentioned he calls down light, right?
My first preflop 4-bet -- he was 3-betting pretty light, so I tried a 4-bet and was met with insta-calls preflop and on the flop. I put him on a small to mid pair and actually should have shoved the river here, but this guy never, ever folds.
Nuts on the river -- I was planning to bluff the river regardless, but hitting the nuts helps. I guess this guy folds on the river, but he definitely doesn't fold preflop or on the flop. Ever.
He really doesn't like folding -- if he's calling with A4o on this flop, you know his calling range might as well be any two.
Remember: he never folds! I was really hoping (and expecting) for him to call the river, but I guess he realized that T6 probably wasn't good by the river :(
Tried for a river check/raise (but failed)
Here's our first really big pot -- our stacks were starting to get pretty deep, so this was a pretty tough call for me since I hadn't seen him do anything like this yet. I called because 1) I didn't think he'd take this line with a boat; 2) I felt like he'd make this play with an A9-type hand; 3) I was pretty sure he had me on an overpair, so the actual strength of my hand was greatly underrepresented; and 4) I knew that if I was wrong I could easily rebuy and build my stack back up.
After that hand, he started going kinda crazy -- he started 3-betting like a maniac, but he also (correctly) adjusted his 3-bet sizes for our now super-deep stacks, which surprised me since basically everything else he was doing was wrong. On with the hand histories!
Pretty sure I missed out on a ton of G-bucks here (if you don't know what G-Bucks are, you really need to read this article). I def shoulda bet the turn again, and I really wanted to raise the river for value, but I was being cautious playing so deepstacked because I obviously couldn't call if he re-raised allin.
He started going nuts, and I knew that a happy ending to this story was eminent.
Some loose calls from me, but my implied odds were enormous, and I honestly felt like Ks and Qs were outs too. Also, checking the river here was a huge mistake.
...and so it ends (with a 1200bb pot!) -- I just called on the flop because he doesn't like to fold and would probably call down with something retarded like ace high. My gin card hit on the turn, and I kept betting knowing he would call super light. I also knew that when I bet the river that there was a chance he would shove over my bet, so I made the bet fully intending to call a shove allin. I actually instantly called his $2300 raise on the river because I was 100% certain I had the best hand. I won't lie though: I was pretty nervous to play a 1300bb pot!
I wrote all of this having just finished off a $10k session, which puts me at +$22k for the month already...huzzah! I had a great night, and I'm wondering once again why I have a day job that pays 25% of the amount of money I made tonight per month. I'm really enjoying Chicago and most of the guys I'm hanging out with here are smart, solid people, but work just isn't doing it for me at all. Everyone always says to follow your passions in life, and mine are poker, music, and extreme sports. IMO, there's nothing wrong with leaving the company and still living in Wrigleyville to pursue other opportunities -- especially considering how favorable these opportunities are right now. Bleh, I'm starting to ramble now...this is a lot to think about, and I need sleep so I can be at my desk in 4 hours.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Sunday Million Blues
I got 17th in this week's Sunday Million on PS for just over $5500 tonight, and I'm on total monkey-tilt. I'm so utterly disappointed that I couldn't have a better showing...I was playing really great poker and was running decently well too (which is a lethal combination) until I couldn't get my hand to hold up AIPF 3-way with ~43% equity for a top-4 stack and only 17 players left (from a field of >6500). Sigh...
On the upside, Andrew and a bunch of other people were sweating me, and he took me out for drinks / shots after I busted out. Met some cool guys and had a ton of drinks in like an hour and a half. All in all it was a fun night, and although I'm sure you non-poker readers won't understand why I'm pissed for having a >$5k day, I can assure you that I'm still really upset at my core. First was a whopping $173,000 (!), and had I won that hand, I feel that I would have had a very, very good shot at taking home a 6-figure payday. My shorthanded game is superb, and I had some really smart people sweating me that I could turn to for advice in tough spots. SIGHHHHHH............time for sleep
On the upside, Andrew and a bunch of other people were sweating me, and he took me out for drinks / shots after I busted out. Met some cool guys and had a ton of drinks in like an hour and a half. All in all it was a fun night, and although I'm sure you non-poker readers won't understand why I'm pissed for having a >$5k day, I can assure you that I'm still really upset at my core. First was a whopping $173,000 (!), and had I won that hand, I feel that I would have had a very, very good shot at taking home a 6-figure payday. My shorthanded game is superb, and I had some really smart people sweating me that I could turn to for advice in tough spots. SIGHHHHHH............time for sleep
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Best. Month. Ever.
It's September 1st, and I just posted my best month ever at poker. I've said it before: I feel that I'm playing the best poker of my life right now, and I'm glad the results I achieved in August reflect this (nearly 21k!). I did run decently well this month, but most of the time I felt that I was unquestionably the best player at my tables. Too bad I couldn't put in more hands this month...I only played ~13k hands, which is slightly below the number of hands/month I averaged in college.
My videos for CardRunners have also gotten much better IMO; the latest video I made (1/2NL heads-up) is probably my best one yet. All in all, I'm very confident in (and happy with) my poker life right now, and I'm constantly trying to find time in my schedule to put in sessions. I'm starting to regret my decision to start a real career downtown because poker motivates me a LOT more than my consulting work so far, and I'm also making substantially more money at poker in my spare time! I'm still putting forth my best effort at work, but my real passion lies elsewhere...
Anyway, it's time to celebrate in Wrigleyville. Ryan, David and I are gonna go hit the bars on Clark; Andrew is gonna be out tonight with some of his buddies too, so we might all meet up and take on the bar scene together. Here's to August!
My videos for CardRunners have also gotten much better IMO; the latest video I made (1/2NL heads-up) is probably my best one yet. All in all, I'm very confident in (and happy with) my poker life right now, and I'm constantly trying to find time in my schedule to put in sessions. I'm starting to regret my decision to start a real career downtown because poker motivates me a LOT more than my consulting work so far, and I'm also making substantially more money at poker in my spare time! I'm still putting forth my best effort at work, but my real passion lies elsewhere...
Anyway, it's time to celebrate in Wrigleyville. Ryan, David and I are gonna go hit the bars on Clark; Andrew is gonna be out tonight with some of his buddies too, so we might all meet up and take on the bar scene together. Here's to August!
Friday, August 17, 2007
Done w/SDF training & a poker update
It's been way too long since my last entry, and a lot of stuff has happened. My start group at work is pretty large (~40 people), and I've met some really great people here so far. We completed our third week of training today, which concludes our Chicago SDF new consultant training. Two weeks of training remain before each of us gets staffed on our first project; the final training sessions are held in St Charles, and every employee I've talked to so far has raved about how much fun their experiences were at St Charles. I'm catching a ride down there with David, and I'm really looking forward to it.
Life in Chicago is great too. Nate, Meyvis, and their Yale friend Robert came to visit a few weeks ago and I had a great time with them bar hopping, playing guitar hero, and going to my first Cubs game at Wrigley. I also went home to see my Great Uncle Nelson from Peru last weekend. Richard, Laura, and Jennifer came to town as well, and we all managed to get in some really good skiing & wakeboarding time at the lake, which was nice. I know you guys are reading this, so come visit me in Chicago sometime.
Poker has been going pretty well lately too. I've been playing lots of very short sessions this month, most of which are under an hour, and I'm on track to have a really great month (my goal is 20k). I'm playing the best poker of my life right now, so hopefully i can keep it up and post my best month ever.
My last video for CardRunners was posted on Monday, and I was pretty nervous about the feedback it would receive from the membership. The goal of the video was to show how to play deepstacked against the "tough" regulars at 100NL. Unfortunately, things didnt go as planned, and I ended up losing over $300 (>3 buyins!) during the video, making it my biggest loss ever in a video by far. Most of the hands I lost were due to running bad or just getting into some really bad spots (obviously nothing I have control over), but I felt that I gave some really good commentary throughout and played pretty well for the most part.
Still, I was worried that I'd get hammered in the feedback for not putting up better results, but luckily my assumption couldn't have been more wrong. This video garnered some of the best feedback I've ever gotten, probably because every serious poker player has had many many bad sessions like the one I had in my video. I went out of my way to describe how one should handle these situations when they (inevitably) happen: you have to stop playing *immediately* and take a break at least 15min long before playing again. And when you do return, you MUST find completely new tables to sit at, preferably with all different people at them.
After introducing this concept in detail, I proceeded to take my own advice and paused the video for 15min to take a break of my own. I closed all of my tables and found new ones to play at for the remainder of the video. I think this really drove my point home and was probably the reason my video got such great reviews.
Life in Chicago is great too. Nate, Meyvis, and their Yale friend Robert came to visit a few weeks ago and I had a great time with them bar hopping, playing guitar hero, and going to my first Cubs game at Wrigley. I also went home to see my Great Uncle Nelson from Peru last weekend. Richard, Laura, and Jennifer came to town as well, and we all managed to get in some really good skiing & wakeboarding time at the lake, which was nice. I know you guys are reading this, so come visit me in Chicago sometime.
Poker has been going pretty well lately too. I've been playing lots of very short sessions this month, most of which are under an hour, and I'm on track to have a really great month (my goal is 20k). I'm playing the best poker of my life right now, so hopefully i can keep it up and post my best month ever.
My last video for CardRunners was posted on Monday, and I was pretty nervous about the feedback it would receive from the membership. The goal of the video was to show how to play deepstacked against the "tough" regulars at 100NL. Unfortunately, things didnt go as planned, and I ended up losing over $300 (>3 buyins!) during the video, making it my biggest loss ever in a video by far. Most of the hands I lost were due to running bad or just getting into some really bad spots (obviously nothing I have control over), but I felt that I gave some really good commentary throughout and played pretty well for the most part.
Still, I was worried that I'd get hammered in the feedback for not putting up better results, but luckily my assumption couldn't have been more wrong. This video garnered some of the best feedback I've ever gotten, probably because every serious poker player has had many many bad sessions like the one I had in my video. I went out of my way to describe how one should handle these situations when they (inevitably) happen: you have to stop playing *immediately* and take a break at least 15min long before playing again. And when you do return, you MUST find completely new tables to sit at, preferably with all different people at them.
After introducing this concept in detail, I proceeded to take my own advice and paused the video for 15min to take a break of my own. I closed all of my tables and found new ones to play at for the remainder of the video. I think this really drove my point home and was probably the reason my video got such great reviews.
I really wish I had more time for poker; like I said above I feel that I'm playing the best I have ever played, and I'm still very committed to improving my game. It also sucks that I had to stop giving private lessons since I really enjoy teaching the game and it was a great, consistent way to earn a good amount of money. Unfortunately I don't forsee myself having enough free time for this anytime soon. :(
That's it for now...hopefully I'll start posting more than twice per month again.
Monday, July 30, 2007
The Real World Begins...
It's official: I have become another faceless working stiff in the American workforce. As I write this blog post from a cafe near the office in downtown Chicago, my mind keeps wandering back to Vegas. I had a great time this summer, and I'm really sad that it ended so quickly.
Anyway, I finally moved up to Chicago last week and I'm loving it so far. Brandon and I drove a 26' moving truck up from Austin on Wednesday, stopping only in Little Rock to say a quick hello to James and Kelsey. Our place in Wrigleyville is in a great neighborhood with lots of young people; most of the people I've met have been very open and friendly. The summer weather up here is beautiful, and I think I'm gonna really like living in Chicago.
I met Andrew at their new CardRunners office on Division St yesterday afternoon to see the place and record a video (which I subsequently forgot to upload last night). The office is HUGE and even has its own full-sized kitchen -- it's more than big enough for CR's needs and will likely double as a nice staging area for pre-partying.
Nate, Meyvis, and another friend of theirs from Yale are coming up this weekend for a quiz bowl competition, but Nate said they ran into some problems registering at the last minute and might just forget about it and enjoy themselves up here instead.
Sent from my iPhone
Anyway, I finally moved up to Chicago last week and I'm loving it so far. Brandon and I drove a 26' moving truck up from Austin on Wednesday, stopping only in Little Rock to say a quick hello to James and Kelsey. Our place in Wrigleyville is in a great neighborhood with lots of young people; most of the people I've met have been very open and friendly. The summer weather up here is beautiful, and I think I'm gonna really like living in Chicago.
I met Andrew at their new CardRunners office on Division St yesterday afternoon to see the place and record a video (which I subsequently forgot to upload last night). The office is HUGE and even has its own full-sized kitchen -- it's more than big enough for CR's needs and will likely double as a nice staging area for pre-partying.
Nate, Meyvis, and another friend of theirs from Yale are coming up this weekend for a quiz bowl competition, but Nate said they ran into some problems registering at the last minute and might just forget about it and enjoy themselves up here instead.
Sent from my iPhone
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Main Event Trip Report, part 1
Sorry I haven't updated this blog in awhile -- things have been crazy
in Vegas (as usual). I played the WSOP Main Event on Monday, and here's what
happened:
The table I was started at was a lot more aggressive than I expected it to be;
people were 3-betting regularly, and it was extremely rare to see a
flop in an unraised pot. Everyone started with 20k chips with blinds of 50/100, which was great. I lost a few big pots early on, made most of
it back when I flopped the nuts one hand, then dropped back down to ~11k on a
failed bluff. This went on for the first 4-5hrs or so, then I
thankfully got moved to a new table after the dinner break.
My new table was soft as hell. All my raises got respect, and I was
able to accumulate a bunch of chips quickly. Within 2 hours my stack
was healthy again at around 20k; then the table broke and I got moved
again.
My third table was the best of them all. I arrived with just under
20k chips, and within two orbits I broke 30k without a single
showdown! One big hand I played early in my stay at the table went
thusly:
I open 99 from the hijack seat for 2k and get called by the SB (an seemingly
eccentric guy who has ~35k).
Flop: T65r. Checks to me, I bet 2800, and he thinks for a sec before
minraising. Bleh, not a good spot, but I've seen him do some stupid,
weird shit already so I thought for a bit before calling.
Turn: A. Great card for me to bluff. He checks, and I actually
decided to check behind because that's how I would usually play an ace
here. In retrospect, betting the turn was probably a better line against most opponents.
River: 3. He checks, I bet 5k, and he insta-folds.
At the time, I had no idea how insane this guy
was, but this became increasingly more apparent as the session
progressed. He was mentally unstable to the point where I was actually concerned
for his mental health. For example, he had a ~5"x5" piece of
construction paper in his pocket that he would bring out and set on
the table every time he won a pot. On it was handwritten something to
the tone of, "All online poker sites are rigged! They cheat and scam
you out of your money and cannot he trusted. They are all dirty liars;
don't believe their propaganda!" Our friend was certainly a few cards
short of a full deck, and the antics he performed later on confirmed my
suspicions.
Although the lunatic was certainly an entertaining character (and I'll
share some hilarious stories in a future post), lemme get to the
important hands I played in the tournament. I had worked my stack up to
around 40k by stealing the blinds and antes a bunch of times, which
was made possible by the other players at my table playing strictly
"by the book" poker.
For instance, I'd raise Q8o from MP with two of these basic-level
players in the blinds; one time, the BB laughed when it was folded to
him as he flipped up A9s and exclaimed, "Man, the book says to fold
here...I don't like my kicker very much." He folded, and I laughed to
myself about how easy it was to accumulate chips at this table. This was just too easy for a tournament with a $10k buyin!
Towards the end of the 300/600-100 (blind-ante) level I noticed that the
player to the left of the lunatic was visibly frustrated that he
hadn't won a pot in awhile, and he recently failed at an attempt to
steal the blinds which angered him even more. He had about 35k to
start the following hand:
The guy I just described opened for 2400 third to act, and it folded
around to me on the button. I looked down to see JJ and decided to
just smooth call in position. Both blinds folded their hands behind me.
Flop: T54r. Pretty good flop for me; he leads for 6k, which was very
unusually large for both him and for the standard table c-bet size. I
really felt like he had overcards and wanted me to fold, so I raised
to 16k. He instantly shoved the rest of his chips in the pot, which made me go into the tank for awhile to think. He had about the same number of chips as me to start the hand, so this decision
was essentially for my tournament life. After a bit over a minute of
thought, I didn't feel that he had an overpair or a set and decided to call his
~15k allin raise. He proudly turned over ATo, convinced he had the
beat hand, and looked very sullen when he saw my jacks.
The turn was a blank, but the river was another ten to basically seal my
fate in this tourney. I was obviously furious to see that river card,
and I jumped to my feet and smacked my hands together a few times in an attempt to release the massive rage inside my soul. An ESPN camera crew
happened to be right behind me when this all unfolded, so I'm sure
they got a great reaction shot of me when the ten hit on the river.
Ugh, I hate tournaments SO MUCH.
So the dealer counted out the chips, and I was left with 725 chips to
play with. After paying the 100 ante, I was allin next hand for
slightly over one BB. My A3 held up against the blinds' two
hands to more than triple me up! I more than doubled again in my BB
the subsequent orbit when a bad player with an already smallish stack
raised my blind with junk and lost to my A7s. After more stealing, I
worked my way back up to a nice 18k stack! I'M ALIVE!
Just over an hour into the 400/800-100 level, I finally decided to
stand up to the player on my right who was consostently overbetting
the pot preflop (he'd open for like 3.2k at the 300/600 level or 4000
at 400/800). He made it 4k to go from MP one round, and I 3-bet him
to 13k with KQh. He asked for a count of my remaining chips, then
thought for about 30 seconds before folding. Nice pot for me -- my
stack was now around 28k which was terrific considering my chip
position after losing that JJ hand about an hour beforehand.
The very next hand, the same guy opened for 5k from MP. I looked down
and saw two queens in my hand, so I moved all-in for about 28k. He
again asked for a chip count, then thought for ~20 seconds before
calling with aces. What a slowrolling asshole; stalling like that
before calling with the best possible hand breaks the most fundamental
rule of poker ettiquite and is strongly looked down upon by all poker
players.
My play here was correct -- he shows up here with hands like 99, TT,
JJ, or AJ almost 100% of the time -- and I was utterly shocked to
see AA played this way. I was excited, however, when the flop
came QTT! Ship it baby! The turn was a blank, and I was so excited
that I didn't notice the ace on the river to end my run in the
2007 Main Event. Oh well, gg me; I had a great time playing anyway.
There are some more really awesome/hilarious stories from the Main Event that I'll share with everyone in the coming days, but for now it's time for sleeeeep.
in Vegas (as usual). I played the WSOP Main Event on Monday, and here's what
happened:
The table I was started at was a lot more aggressive than I expected it to be;
people were 3-betting regularly, and it was extremely rare to see a
flop in an unraised pot. Everyone started with 20k chips with blinds of 50/100, which was great. I lost a few big pots early on, made most of
it back when I flopped the nuts one hand, then dropped back down to ~11k on a
failed bluff. This went on for the first 4-5hrs or so, then I
thankfully got moved to a new table after the dinner break.
My new table was soft as hell. All my raises got respect, and I was
able to accumulate a bunch of chips quickly. Within 2 hours my stack
was healthy again at around 20k; then the table broke and I got moved
again.
My third table was the best of them all. I arrived with just under
20k chips, and within two orbits I broke 30k without a single
showdown! One big hand I played early in my stay at the table went
thusly:
I open 99 from the hijack seat for 2k and get called by the SB (an seemingly
eccentric guy who has ~35k).
Flop: T65r. Checks to me, I bet 2800, and he thinks for a sec before
minraising. Bleh, not a good spot, but I've seen him do some stupid,
weird shit already so I thought for a bit before calling.
Turn: A. Great card for me to bluff. He checks, and I actually
decided to check behind because that's how I would usually play an ace
here. In retrospect, betting the turn was probably a better line against most opponents.
River: 3. He checks, I bet 5k, and he insta-folds.
At the time, I had no idea how insane this guy
was, but this became increasingly more apparent as the session
progressed. He was mentally unstable to the point where I was actually concerned
for his mental health. For example, he had a ~5"x5" piece of
construction paper in his pocket that he would bring out and set on
the table every time he won a pot. On it was handwritten something to
the tone of, "All online poker sites are rigged! They cheat and scam
you out of your money and cannot he trusted. They are all dirty liars;
don't believe their propaganda!" Our friend was certainly a few cards
short of a full deck, and the antics he performed later on confirmed my
suspicions.
Although the lunatic was certainly an entertaining character (and I'll
share some hilarious stories in a future post), lemme get to the
important hands I played in the tournament. I had worked my stack up to
around 40k by stealing the blinds and antes a bunch of times, which
was made possible by the other players at my table playing strictly
"by the book" poker.
For instance, I'd raise Q8o from MP with two of these basic-level
players in the blinds; one time, the BB laughed when it was folded to
him as he flipped up A9s and exclaimed, "Man, the book says to fold
here...I don't like my kicker very much." He folded, and I laughed to
myself about how easy it was to accumulate chips at this table. This was just too easy for a tournament with a $10k buyin!
Towards the end of the 300/600-100 (blind-ante) level I noticed that the
player to the left of the lunatic was visibly frustrated that he
hadn't won a pot in awhile, and he recently failed at an attempt to
steal the blinds which angered him even more. He had about 35k to
start the following hand:
The guy I just described opened for 2400 third to act, and it folded
around to me on the button. I looked down to see JJ and decided to
just smooth call in position. Both blinds folded their hands behind me.
Flop: T54r. Pretty good flop for me; he leads for 6k, which was very
unusually large for both him and for the standard table c-bet size. I
really felt like he had overcards and wanted me to fold, so I raised
to 16k. He instantly shoved the rest of his chips in the pot, which made me go into the tank for awhile to think. He had about the same number of chips as me to start the hand, so this decision
was essentially for my tournament life. After a bit over a minute of
thought, I didn't feel that he had an overpair or a set and decided to call his
~15k allin raise. He proudly turned over ATo, convinced he had the
beat hand, and looked very sullen when he saw my jacks.
The turn was a blank, but the river was another ten to basically seal my
fate in this tourney. I was obviously furious to see that river card,
and I jumped to my feet and smacked my hands together a few times in an attempt to release the massive rage inside my soul. An ESPN camera crew
happened to be right behind me when this all unfolded, so I'm sure
they got a great reaction shot of me when the ten hit on the river.
Ugh, I hate tournaments SO MUCH.
So the dealer counted out the chips, and I was left with 725 chips to
play with. After paying the 100 ante, I was allin next hand for
slightly over one BB. My A3 held up against the blinds' two
hands to more than triple me up! I more than doubled again in my BB
the subsequent orbit when a bad player with an already smallish stack
raised my blind with junk and lost to my A7s. After more stealing, I
worked my way back up to a nice 18k stack! I'M ALIVE!
Just over an hour into the 400/800-100 level, I finally decided to
stand up to the player on my right who was consostently overbetting
the pot preflop (he'd open for like 3.2k at the 300/600 level or 4000
at 400/800). He made it 4k to go from MP one round, and I 3-bet him
to 13k with KQh. He asked for a count of my remaining chips, then
thought for about 30 seconds before folding. Nice pot for me -- my
stack was now around 28k which was terrific considering my chip
position after losing that JJ hand about an hour beforehand.
The very next hand, the same guy opened for 5k from MP. I looked down
and saw two queens in my hand, so I moved all-in for about 28k. He
again asked for a chip count, then thought for ~20 seconds before
calling with aces. What a slowrolling asshole; stalling like that
before calling with the best possible hand breaks the most fundamental
rule of poker ettiquite and is strongly looked down upon by all poker
players.
My play here was correct -- he shows up here with hands like 99, TT,
JJ, or AJ almost 100% of the time -- and I was utterly shocked to
see AA played this way. I was excited, however, when the flop
came QTT! Ship it baby! The turn was a blank, and I was so excited
that I didn't notice the ace on the river to end my run in the
2007 Main Event. Oh well, gg me; I had a great time playing anyway.
There are some more really awesome/hilarious stories from the Main Event that I'll share with everyone in the coming days, but for now it's time for sleeeeep.
Monday, July 9, 2007
Ready for the Main Event
I'm so pumped about playing the ME. Aside from partying with Nath and crew to celebrate his big win last night, I've been mentally preparing myself for the (hopefully) long road ahead of me in this tournament.
I've been looking to sell pieces of my action in the ME recently as well, and I think I'm gonna close the doors with 40% of my action now sold. I'm still thrilled to play for 60% of myself, and it feels good to know that other people see me as a profitable investment. I certainly think I'm a good investment, and hopefully I can prove us all right with a nice showing in the coming week(s). All I can hope for is to play well and keep myself focused, and I'm ready to do both.
Bill (Zimba) from CardRunners will update the CR WSOP blog with chip counts for me and other CR members/pros throughout the day, so checking there is the best way to keep track of me. Wish me luck!
I've been looking to sell pieces of my action in the ME recently as well, and I think I'm gonna close the doors with 40% of my action now sold. I'm still thrilled to play for 60% of myself, and it feels good to know that other people see me as a profitable investment. I certainly think I'm a good investment, and hopefully I can prove us all right with a nice showing in the coming week(s). All I can hope for is to play well and keep myself focused, and I'm ready to do both.
Bill (Zimba) from CardRunners will update the CR WSOP blog with chip counts for me and other CR members/pros throughout the day, so checking there is the best way to keep track of me. Wish me luck!
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Our house is sick at poker
Nath just won the PokerStars nightly $150 for $24k. Most of the guys at his final table were pretty bad players too, and the guy he was heads-up with at the end was super weak until they got HU. I'd swear it was a different person playing once HU started.
Off to the strip to celebrate -- I'm probably gonna crash at Kush and Aaron's place since we're all gonna meet over there tomorrow anyway to play the Million together. It's party time in Vegas baby!
Off to the strip to celebrate -- I'm probably gonna crash at Kush and Aaron's place since we're all gonna meet over there tomorrow anyway to play the Million together. It's party time in Vegas baby!
Saturday, July 7, 2007
$10k is a LOT of money
It really is. We poker players train ourselves to disassociate the chips we play with with their actual monetary value, but I'm sorry: $10k is a LOT of money that can be used to buy a ton of awesome stuff. It was hard laying down all those benjamins to the cashier at the Rio, but I know that my entry is +EV. But even so, I realized that this was the 2nd most expensive purchase I've ever made (second only to my car), and I'm totally fine with that. I'm registered to play on Day 1-D, which is Monday.
I finally met Brian Townsend yesterday afternoon at our CardRunners booth at the gaming expo inside the Rio. We'd been trying to get together for dinner or drinks for a few weeks without success, so it was nice to finally get to talk to him about a lot of the ideas I have for CR.
We met later that night for dinner at a sushi place inside the Wynn along with a friend of his from college named Amy, and Brian introduced me to a bunch of interesting sushi/Japanese delicacies. I'm not usually a big seafood guy (I only have cravings for sushi about once per year), but I'm always open to trying new things, and most of what Brian ordered for us was pretty good. I still prefer a good steak to any type of seafood, but it was a great experience. We also had some really great discussions about the future of CR and this type of business model in general. Brian is an extremely intelligent person; there's no doubt in my mind that he would be wildly successful in any line of work outside the poker world.
After dinner, we headed over to the CR/Bluff Magazine party at the Sapphire Lounge. The whole CR crew was there, as were a bunch of my other friends (Kush, Aaron, Lyric). Stinger got a great picture of Zimba getting a lapdance, and we all partied there for the rest of the night. I ducked out a little early with an upset stomach to go register for the Main Event (the line during the day was apparently >3hrs long), then headed home for some much-needed sleep.
I hit up the Bellagio poker room at around 4pm today and jumped into a $5/10 game. The first hand I played came a little more than orbit into my session: ~3 limps, button raises to $60, I look down to see JJ in the BB and bump it up to $210, folds to the button who instantly 4-bets to $480. Nobody 4-bets with less than KK live, so that was an easy laydown. I flipped up my jacks as I folded.
The very next hand, a few people limp to the CO who raises to $50. I pick up JJ again and make it $180 to go on the button, and the CO is the only caller. Flop: AK4r, he leads for $200 and I fold. Well played sir.
I get dealt JJ again the very next hand. WTF, who is shuffling? This time, a guy who appears to be a bad player raises from MP. I 3-bet to $200 for the third fucking time in a row, and this time the button looks down at his cards and announces he is all in for about $1k, which makes this yet another easy fold. It's sick how good I run.
I played 5/10 for another hour or so before deciding to jump into one of the $10/20 games running close by. After 3-4hrs of being completely card dead, I finally get my ~$2500 in with 9h8c vs KdTs on a 7h8hTh board. Somehow I brick out on the turn & river, so this villain took about $2400 of my stack. What can I say...when you're hot, you're hot!
The table was pretty soft, and I felt like I had a big edge on almost everyone at the table, so I reloaded for my final ~$2500. I had no idea how much amazing action there was gonna be at this table -- here are some examples:
Seat 3 was a pretty bad player who raised/played waaaaay too many hands and paid off far too often (and lightly)
Seat 4 played even worse, but he was generally very passive
Seat 5 was a player that obviously was regarded by pretty much everyone else at the table as a good, solid player, but IMO he wasn't anything special
Seat 6 = me. My table image for all of these hands was very solid/TAG. I had only shown down good hands that I bet strongly for value. This is a great table image to have since it is so easily abused. :)
Seat 7 was a solid player
Seat 8 could be solid at times, but he was much too loose in his hand selection both pre- and post-flop
Hand #1:
Button is in Seat 5
Seat 3 (stack = ~$10k) opens for $120 (pretty standard for him), Seat 4 (stack = ~$4k) calls, Seat 5 (stack = ~$3500) calls, and I pick up AA in the SB and raise to about $500 (my stack was ~$3500), Seat 7 was sitting out, Seat 8 (stack = ~$7k) cold calls from the BB, and everyone else calls too. So 5 players to the flop for ~$500 each.
Flop: Qs8hQc. This is not a great flop for AA playing multi-way -- especially from OOP -- and I decided to take an alternate line on this hand. Seat 8 loooooves to bet/bluff when he has position on the preflop aggressor, and I figured that I could get some really great value from him if I checked and let him do the betting for me. Plus, this way I have great relative position on the flop bettor and I find out if someone else has a Queen cheaply. So I check, and unfortunately he checks behind me after thinking for a sec; Seats 3&4 both check, and Seat 5 bet $360. This was such a strange/tiny bet and I had no idea what it meant. So I called, and Seat 8
quickly raised to $800. Seat 3 folds, and to everyone's surprise Seat 4 cold calls the $800, as does Seat 5. The pot is huge now, and even though it's pretty obvious that AA is no good here, the pot was too large and the bet was too small for me to fold. Hell, I think I even had odds to draw to my two Aces here, so I called.
Turn: 6d. Total brick; sigh...I'm ready to check/fold. I check, Seat 8 checks, Seat 4 checks, and I couldn't believe what was happening when Seat 5 checked behind too.
River: Kc. I didn't know what to think about the turn action, but I still don't think my hand is good here and I probably can't get anyone to lay down a Queen, so I have to check again. Seat 8 checks, as does Seat 4, and Seat 5 checks as well. AA is good; WTF?! All that was going through my mind during this time was "Wow....just.....wow." Seriously, how does nobody (esp Seat 4!) have a Queen or 88 there. Seriously.
Hand #2:
Button was in Seat 5 again
Stack sizes are about the same, except mine was about $8k now. Seat 8 straddles to $40, Seat 3 opens for $160, Seat 5 calls, I make it $560 to go with JJ from the SB, Seat 8 cold calls again (what is up with this guy?), and the other two call as well.
Flop: 8d5c4h. Sigh, this is such a crappy spot to be in (especially OOP!); I decided to bet/fold to a raise. I put in ~$1200, Seat 8 insta-calls, Seat 3 folds, and Seat 4 thinks for over a minute before finally folding his hand. He told me later he folded A8o (nice fold buddy)...it's utterly ridiculous how bad people are at poker.
Turn: Ah. It's pretty obvious that I don't have the best hand, but this is a great scare card for me to bluff at with my tight/nitty table image, so I decided to take one final stab at the pot and bet $2500. Seat 8 sighs loudly before folding QQ face-up. Hooray!
I ended the session a few orbits later after Seat 4 went busto and Seat 3 left to get food. From there, I headed over to Kush and Aaron's place at the Towers by the strip and we discussed a bunch of hands from my session, including the ones above. Among other things, we all agreed that 1) my 3-bets in both hands were way too small and offered more implied odds to the others in the hand than I wished to give them, 2) my table was insanely soft and gave massive action, and 3) I shouldn't have left the game until Seat 3 went busto too. Oh well.
Kush finally paid up the $400 he owed me on UB, so I challenged him to a HU match at PLO on Full Tilt. Neither of us is particularly skilled at PLO, but he agreed and we played two tables of 1/2 PLO HU for a little under an hour. I started off really badly (was down almost 4 buyins really quick), but I battled back like the machine I am to finish as a big winner. Check out the sickest hand of the match. I got my money in pretty bad there, but there's no way I'm ever not stacking off on this flop for ~100bb. Red deuce for the win!
That's it for now -- I'm very pumped about playing the Sunday Tourney with Kush/Aaron/etc on Sunday and then the Main Event on Monday. The next few days should be a blast!
I finally met Brian Townsend yesterday afternoon at our CardRunners booth at the gaming expo inside the Rio. We'd been trying to get together for dinner or drinks for a few weeks without success, so it was nice to finally get to talk to him about a lot of the ideas I have for CR.
We met later that night for dinner at a sushi place inside the Wynn along with a friend of his from college named Amy, and Brian introduced me to a bunch of interesting sushi/Japanese delicacies. I'm not usually a big seafood guy (I only have cravings for sushi about once per year), but I'm always open to trying new things, and most of what Brian ordered for us was pretty good. I still prefer a good steak to any type of seafood, but it was a great experience. We also had some really great discussions about the future of CR and this type of business model in general. Brian is an extremely intelligent person; there's no doubt in my mind that he would be wildly successful in any line of work outside the poker world.
After dinner, we headed over to the CR/Bluff Magazine party at the Sapphire Lounge. The whole CR crew was there, as were a bunch of my other friends (Kush, Aaron, Lyric). Stinger got a great picture of Zimba getting a lapdance, and we all partied there for the rest of the night. I ducked out a little early with an upset stomach to go register for the Main Event (the line during the day was apparently >3hrs long), then headed home for some much-needed sleep.
I hit up the Bellagio poker room at around 4pm today and jumped into a $5/10 game. The first hand I played came a little more than orbit into my session: ~3 limps, button raises to $60, I look down to see JJ in the BB and bump it up to $210, folds to the button who instantly 4-bets to $480. Nobody 4-bets with less than KK live, so that was an easy laydown. I flipped up my jacks as I folded.
The very next hand, a few people limp to the CO who raises to $50. I pick up JJ again and make it $180 to go on the button, and the CO is the only caller. Flop: AK4r, he leads for $200 and I fold. Well played sir.
I get dealt JJ again the very next hand. WTF, who is shuffling? This time, a guy who appears to be a bad player raises from MP. I 3-bet to $200 for the third fucking time in a row, and this time the button looks down at his cards and announces he is all in for about $1k, which makes this yet another easy fold. It's sick how good I run.
I played 5/10 for another hour or so before deciding to jump into one of the $10/20 games running close by. After 3-4hrs of being completely card dead, I finally get my ~$2500 in with 9h8c vs KdTs on a 7h8hTh board. Somehow I brick out on the turn & river, so this villain took about $2400 of my stack. What can I say...when you're hot, you're hot!
The table was pretty soft, and I felt like I had a big edge on almost everyone at the table, so I reloaded for my final ~$2500. I had no idea how much amazing action there was gonna be at this table -- here are some examples:
Seat 3 was a pretty bad player who raised/played waaaaay too many hands and paid off far too often (and lightly)
Seat 4 played even worse, but he was generally very passive
Seat 5 was a player that obviously was regarded by pretty much everyone else at the table as a good, solid player, but IMO he wasn't anything special
Seat 6 = me. My table image for all of these hands was very solid/TAG. I had only shown down good hands that I bet strongly for value. This is a great table image to have since it is so easily abused. :)
Seat 7 was a solid player
Seat 8 could be solid at times, but he was much too loose in his hand selection both pre- and post-flop
Hand #1:
Button is in Seat 5
Seat 3 (stack = ~$10k) opens for $120 (pretty standard for him), Seat 4 (stack = ~$4k) calls, Seat 5 (stack = ~$3500) calls, and I pick up AA in the SB and raise to about $500 (my stack was ~$3500), Seat 7 was sitting out, Seat 8 (stack = ~$7k) cold calls from the BB, and everyone else calls too. So 5 players to the flop for ~$500 each.
Flop: Qs8hQc. This is not a great flop for AA playing multi-way -- especially from OOP -- and I decided to take an alternate line on this hand. Seat 8 loooooves to bet/bluff when he has position on the preflop aggressor, and I figured that I could get some really great value from him if I checked and let him do the betting for me. Plus, this way I have great relative position on the flop bettor and I find out if someone else has a Queen cheaply. So I check, and unfortunately he checks behind me after thinking for a sec; Seats 3&4 both check, and Seat 5 bet $360. This was such a strange/tiny bet and I had no idea what it meant. So I called, and Seat 8
quickly raised to $800. Seat 3 folds, and to everyone's surprise Seat 4 cold calls the $800, as does Seat 5. The pot is huge now, and even though it's pretty obvious that AA is no good here, the pot was too large and the bet was too small for me to fold. Hell, I think I even had odds to draw to my two Aces here, so I called.
Turn: 6d. Total brick; sigh...I'm ready to check/fold. I check, Seat 8 checks, Seat 4 checks, and I couldn't believe what was happening when Seat 5 checked behind too.
River: Kc. I didn't know what to think about the turn action, but I still don't think my hand is good here and I probably can't get anyone to lay down a Queen, so I have to check again. Seat 8 checks, as does Seat 4, and Seat 5 checks as well. AA is good; WTF?! All that was going through my mind during this time was "Wow....just.....wow." Seriously, how does nobody (esp Seat 4!) have a Queen or 88 there. Seriously.
Hand #2:
Button was in Seat 5 again
Stack sizes are about the same, except mine was about $8k now. Seat 8 straddles to $40, Seat 3 opens for $160, Seat 5 calls, I make it $560 to go with JJ from the SB, Seat 8 cold calls again (what is up with this guy?), and the other two call as well.
Flop: 8d5c4h. Sigh, this is such a crappy spot to be in (especially OOP!); I decided to bet/fold to a raise. I put in ~$1200, Seat 8 insta-calls, Seat 3 folds, and Seat 4 thinks for over a minute before finally folding his hand. He told me later he folded A8o (nice fold buddy)...it's utterly ridiculous how bad people are at poker.
Turn: Ah. It's pretty obvious that I don't have the best hand, but this is a great scare card for me to bluff at with my tight/nitty table image, so I decided to take one final stab at the pot and bet $2500. Seat 8 sighs loudly before folding QQ face-up. Hooray!
I ended the session a few orbits later after Seat 4 went busto and Seat 3 left to get food. From there, I headed over to Kush and Aaron's place at the Towers by the strip and we discussed a bunch of hands from my session, including the ones above. Among other things, we all agreed that 1) my 3-bets in both hands were way too small and offered more implied odds to the others in the hand than I wished to give them, 2) my table was insanely soft and gave massive action, and 3) I shouldn't have left the game until Seat 3 went busto too. Oh well.
Kush finally paid up the $400 he owed me on UB, so I challenged him to a HU match at PLO on Full Tilt. Neither of us is particularly skilled at PLO, but he agreed and we played two tables of 1/2 PLO HU for a little under an hour. I started off really badly (was down almost 4 buyins really quick), but I battled back like the machine I am to finish as a big winner. Check out the sickest hand of the match. I got my money in pretty bad there, but there's no way I'm ever not stacking off on this flop for ~100bb. Red deuce for the win!
That's it for now -- I'm very pumped about playing the Sunday Tourney with Kush/Aaron/etc on Sunday and then the Main Event on Monday. The next few days should be a blast!
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