Wednesday, January 30, 2008

The Dookie, however, treated me better this week, as did a shootout

I finished second in the Dookie, which was a turbo stud high game this week.

Really had a fun time, was unlucky not to win (doubled up my opponent headsup when he hit a longshot hand against me); as when the final hand played out I was determined to take to the felt as I started with A24, all clubs, on the button against my opponent who was showing an ace (I was showing the 4). 4th street gave me the 5c so I had a wheel draw and four flush. I made aces up but my opponent was showing had picked up two consecutive eights on board, so I knew I was likely behind. Sure enough I miss all my straight and flush outs and go home to a better two pair hand, as he did indeed have split aces.

Fun times were had by all.

[Edit] I also managed to "win" one of the crazy 50 FTP shootouts where all the bloggers have a prop bet going where you shove every hand and pay $11 each to the blogger who is the last man standing. That was me, and so far 6 of you have promptly paid up. Yay.

I suppose a few more will trickle in over the next day or so if people remember to pay up c/o my FTP ID, PirateLawyer.

Out early in the Mookie

Out before the first break. Some truly awful poker was on display.

My bustout hand was classic. I open-raised to 4x the blinds with AT in middle position; both blinds called. I flopped TPTK on a T87 rainbow board and I put my opponent to the test for nearly all of his stack after he led out from the SB with a large fishy bet (the BB folded). He called my allin with ... K9 for an open-ended straight draw, and promptly hit his six on the turn.

Outstanding gamble for him to take so early (he was a 40% underdog). Button mashing at its finest.

[Edit] Unsurprisingly this fine poker player spewed away all of his 10K in chips in 5 minutes or less like they were going out of style and didn't reach the final table. Colour me surprised.

Monday, January 28, 2008

No luck in MATH, but ...

Fuel55 took it down. I flamed out relatively early and then took some headache medicine because I was definitely feeling some pain after helping some friends move yesterday. I regrouped and railed Fuel for a while and then jumped in when I heard about a blogger cash game starting.

And boy was it a wild one! We all sat at a deepstack cash game table with .40/.80 blinds and I endured a lot of re-raising light and sick bluffs by lucko but eventually I got whole through a combination of making big hands/winning races and accumulated a nice stack for a good cash session up 2 buy-ins by the end of the night.

I even got AA a couple of times and took down some nice pots without them being cracked.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Streak continues?

We'll see if I can burst this irksome bubble at the donkey club tonight with this spewmonkey.

Should be fun, come what may.

PLTC set

I get to take my Bar exams in October after a month of classes in September. Nice to get that confirmed and set in stone so I can plan around it.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Another stab at the Mookie

I will attempt to live blog the Mookie tonight. Will the bubble streak burst tonight (in a good way)?

Advance warning: I'll be coming home to play after drinking a fair amount of beer in a rare mid-week outing to a local pub with my dad and my brother-in-law. Should be fun times!

If I don't make it back in time to play, I'll show up to drunkenly rail the usual suspects.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Omaha Hi-Lo Insanity

Yet more bubbling out of the money ... this is getting awfully tiring, especially when some horrific play cost me a huge amount of chips at the final table through no fault of my own. I gave waaaaay too much credit to some of these players actually having the goods.



I think I earned all of 1.5 bounties -- yes, even the $2 KO bounties got split in this horrific event put on by Chad's supposed "skill" series.

I also hate running into an unimproved AA and missing a ton of outs when I finally got a hand at the final table that I wasn't premptively raised off of:

For what I meant by that previous statement, check out this doozy of a play (whom I'm sure is a nice guy, but holy crap was this an awful play or what!?) by dino_burger:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [5h 5c Ad Jd]
lifesagrind folds
Mondogarage raises to 3,000
dino_burger raises to 4,500
Rake Feeder folds
jimdniacc folds
pvanharibo folds
PirateLawyer folds - I reluctantly fold; I just can't invest so much of my stack preflop by calling three bets cold. I mjust be up against a big hand, right?
Mondogarage calls 1,500
*** FLOP *** [4s Js 9d]
Mondogarage bets 1,500
dino_burger raises to 3,000
Mondogarage calls 216, and is all in
dino_burger shows [Ac 7h 4c 3h] -- how do you isolate with this shit?!
Mondogarage shows [Td As Ts 2c]
Uncalled bet of 1,284 returned to dino_burger
*** TURN *** [4s Js 9d] [5d] -- fawking presto is gold
*** RIVER *** [4s Js 9d 5d] [Qh]
dino_burger shows a pair of Fours, for high
Mondogarage shows a pair of Tens, for high
PirateLawyer: fawk
Mondogarage wins the pot (14,682) with a pair of Tens
No low hand qualified
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 14,682 | Rake 0
Board: [4s Js 9d 5d Qh]
Seat 1: pvanharibo (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: PirateLawyer (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: lifesagrind didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Mondogarage showed [Td As Ts 2c] and won (14,682) with HI: a pair of Tens
Seat 5: dino_burger showed [Ac 7h 4c 3h] and lost with HI: a pair of Fours
Seat 7: Rake Feeder didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: jimdniacc (button) didn't bet (folded)

I take down that pot, I cruise to a high finish in the money. Ah well. This bubble streak has to end soon, right? Right!?

Monday, January 21, 2008

The Third Raise

Tonight I got a painful reminder of the lesson that the third raise preflop often means you're up against an opponent with aces.

Unfortunately, I lost the majority of my chips ($130 of my $160 stack) on the second-to-last hand of the evening at a wild .50/1 NL home game (the stacks got pretty deep so it played much more like a juicy 1/2 game) with pocket kings.

Here's how the action went:

I'm first to act, I raise to $5 with black kings.
A player in the cutoff makes a big raise to $30.
The second villain shoves from the small blind for $130 total.

I agonize for a minute or so and call another $125, announcing to the table "I'm not good enough yet to fold these here" -- despite knowing I was very likely beat.

Sure enough, the other player folds queens, the SB flips over aces, and I don't hit one of my two outs to improve.

This was definitely a bad call on my part. I have to learn to 1) trust my instincts more in the heat of the moment; 2) fold when I only have $5 invested to a huge raise where I'm crushed by a large (at least 50% of the time I'm up against AA) portion of my opponent's range (a few times I'm in good shape vs. AK; other times I might be up a lower PP or some suited connectors); 3) muster the discipline to throw away the second-best starting hand in poker when the stacks are so deep preflop.

Losing the $5 I had in the pot would have been trivial and I would have walked away basically even for the session, which would have been disappointing given some of the bad beats I'd taken (with about 45 minutes to go I was at a highwater mark of $250; +$90 overall). This particular hand, though, was not one of them. I beat myself with a costly lapse in judgement. Hopefully next time I am in this situation I'll make the correct decision and save myself a lot of money.

That's no-limit hold'em for you. It can be a cruel game sometimes.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

More Bubbling

This hurts ... my first attempt at the $75 token frenzy madness for Sunday's Big Game ended painfully like so:


I flopped second pair with an inside straight draw (QJ on an ATx flop) when I was comfortably in the money vs. the chipleader at my table and a shorty. He min-bet the flop and I c/r allin for another 6K in an attempt to bust the shorty and the bubble.

Instead the chipleader found a call with TPNK (A6) and I couldn't hit my half of the deck.

Pretty disappointing lapse of discipline, considering I was making big laydowns left and right during the bubble period, even going so far as to fold AQ under the gun preflop. ;)

I should have check-folded or led out myself and just checked it down once I got a call. I would have preserved enough of my stack to earn a token that way.

At least I won my freakin' buyin back. Sigh.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Bubble Boy Jr.

Just missed a final table at the Mookie tonight when I got involved in a situation I didn't need to be in against the runaway chipleader with 11 players left in the Mookie.

[Edit]

Overall I wasn't very happy with my play. I identified several situations where I spewed chips or made heroic calls (one of which where I correctly deduced I was ahead, but it was still a 60/40 spot where I risked a lot of chips with third pair vs. two overs and an inside straight draw that got there; another where I didn't exert enough pressure to get a mediocre one-pair hand to fold with a multi-street bluff which I should never have attempted in the first place). If I had avoided those situations, and patiently bided my time, I would have cracked the top six at the final table for sure. I was the beneficiary of a lot of chips in two setup hands where all the money went in preflop where I had KK vs. QQ and QQ vs. 99 and my hand help up both times. I needed to show some additional focus and discipline going into the third hour of the tournament to leverage my stack into a real run at first place for my second Mookie win.

I had open-raised in late position with pocket fours short-handed and decided to re-raise all-in on a J33 flop, which was a damnfool move. I should have dumped it right there with 14K in chips behind and retained a very strong chance to reach the money at the very least. Sure enough the villain -- whom I'd tangled with before, sniffing out his horrible bluff only to see him catch a miracle card and double him up to begin his path of destruction -- had the infamous J5s for top pair no kicker and had outflopped me. I picked up a flush draw on the turn but didn't improve and went home in 10th place.

Now comes an onslaught of hand histories! I didn't take hardly any screen captures this time.

Level one, I quickly lost a third of my stack in some pots with Astin and others when my AQ didn't improve and 55 got outflopped.

I ground my way back to even with a c-bet with AKs and a QJs that flopped an OESD and turned top pair. I put the pressure on with QQ on an AK84 board and got a bad ace to fold out of position. (really! why couldn't I accomplish that on Sunday when it really mattered, alas!)

In level 3, I started to really take it to Astin and used my image to pull off a bluff in position:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [9d Ts]
ChapelncHill folds
Astin calls 60
IlkkaK folds
PirateLawyer calls 60
twoblackaces folds
Wraith13 calls 60
BuddyDank folds
MiamiDon folds
AlCantHang checks
*** FLOP *** [Kh 7s 3h]
AlCantHang checks
Astin checks
PirateLawyer has 15 seconds left to act
PirateLawyer bets 160 -- might as well represent hitting this ragged board
Wraith13 folds
AlCantHang folds
Astin calls 160
*** TURN *** [Kh 7s 3h] [6c]
Astin bets 360
PirateLawyer calls 360 -- I'm not ready to give up just yet
*** RIVER *** [Kh 7s 3h 6c] [3d]
Astin checks
PirateLawyer bets 860 - time to represent top pair in position, consistent with my flop bet
Astin has 15 seconds left to act
Astin folds
Uncalled bet of 860 returned to PirateLawyer
PirateLawyer mucks
PirateLawyer wins the pot (1,310)

Then it's Miami Don's turn to fold to a genuine top pair hand:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [Qd Td]
PirateLawyer raises to 220
Wraith13 calls 220
MiamiDon calls 180
*** FLOP *** [6s Qc 3s]
MiamiDon checks
PirateLawyer has 15 seconds left to act
PirateLawyer bets 440
Wraith13 folds
MiamiDon calls 440
*** TURN *** [6s Qc 3s] [2c]
MiamiDon checks
PirateLawyer has 15 seconds left to act
PirateLawyer bets 850
MiamiDon folds
Uncalled bet of 850 returned to PirateLawyer
PirateLawyer mucks
PirateLawyer wins the pot (1,620)

And now I'm up to 4500 in chips.

Then I take another big pot down against Astin. Flopping a full house is fun!

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [Th Tc]
Astin calls 80
PirateLawyer raises to 250 -- time to build a pot
Wraith13 calls 250
Astin calls 170
*** FLOP *** [Qd Qc Qh] - nice flop!
Astin bets 560
PirateLawyer calls 560 - Astin could well be betting an ace or a lower PP
Wraith13 folds
*** TURN *** [Qd Qc Qh] [5h]
Astin checks - he slows down now
PirateLawyer bets 800 - time to build the pot
Astin has 15 seconds left to act
Astin calls 800
*** RIVER *** [Qd Qc Qh 5h] [6h]
Astin checks
PirateLawyer bets 2,780, and is all in [classic OBFV]
Astin has 15 seconds left to act
Astin folds
Uncalled bet of 2,780 returned to PirateLawyer
PirateLawyer mucks
PirateLawyer wins the pot (3,590)

Up to 6370.

I see-saw up and down at the 6K mark for a good while. I flop two sets of ducks and bet them like a man both times on the flop but (surprisingly) can't get any action.

I run a multi-street bluff with a low pocket pair of fours against a calling station who can't fold third pair and stumble back down to 4300:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [4s 4c]
TanOrpheus raises to 360
PirateLawyer calls 240
*** FLOP *** [9c 6c Qh]
PirateLawyer checks
TanOrpheus bets 600
PirateLawyer raises to 1,500 - time to put out a tester c/r
TanOrpheus calls 900
*** TURN *** [9c 6c Qh] [2h]
PirateLawyer has 15 seconds left to act
PirateLawyer checks - I blink, which is a mistake
TanOrpheus checks
*** RIVER *** [9c 6c Qh 2h] [3s]
PirateLawyer has 15 seconds left to act
PirateLawyer bets 400 - I make a suck bet praying for a fold
TanOrpheus calls 400
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PirateLawyer shows [4s 4c] a pair of Fours
TanOrpheus shows [7c 6s] a pair of Sixes - wow he called down light and open-raised with 76o
TanOrpheus wins the pot (4,580) with a pair of Sixes

I lose the minimum with AKs unimproved against the chipleader's TT.

Then I chip up nicely with a well-played flush which got there at the same time as my victim made a straight:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [7c 6c]
IlkkaK folds
PirateLawyer calls 160
Wraith13 folds
BuddyDank folds
MiamiDon folds
AlCantHang folds
ChapelncHill calls 80
TanOrpheus checks
*** FLOP *** [9c Kd Tc]
ChapelncHill checks
TanOrpheus checks
PirateLawyer checks - happy to take the free card in position with a flush draw + inside straight draw
*** TURN *** [9c Kd Tc] [Qc] - jackpot!
ChapelncHill bets 480
TanOrpheus folds
PirateLawyer has 15 seconds left to act
PirateLawyer calls 480 - time to slowplay
*** RIVER *** [9c Kd Tc Qc] [5d]
ChapelncHill bets 1,440
PirateLawyer raises to 3,074, and is all in - boom!
ChapelncHill calls 1,005, and is all in - fish is caught
Uncalled bet of 629 returned to PirateLawyer
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PirateLawyer shows [7c 6c] a flush, Queen high
ChapelncHill shows [As Jh] a straight, Ace high -- expensive second best hand
PirateLawyer wins the pot (6,330) with a flush, Queen high

Back up to 7K, and I get moved to a new table.

Sadly, I double up Hoy almost immediately:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [9d 9c]
PirateLawyer raises to 400 -- UTG raise
hoyazo calls 400
*** FLOP *** [4c 5s Td]
PirateLawyer bets 860 -- only one overcard so time to lead out strongly
hoyazo raises to 2,937, and is all in
PirateLawyer calls 2,077 -- this was a crying call really but Hoy could well play 67 like this too
hoyazo shows [Th Jh] -- classic Hoy overplaying top pair
PirateLawyer shows [9d 9c]
*** TURN *** [4c 5s Td] [8h]
*** RIVER *** [4c 5s Td 8h] [7s]
hoyazo shows a pair of Tens
PirateLawyer shows a pair of Nines
hoyazo wins the pot (6,914) with a pair of Tens

Back down to 3600.

I chip up to 5K and then get AA:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [Ah Ad]
Loretta8 raises to 600
PirateLawyer calls 600
*** FLOP *** [2h Tc Ks]
Loretta8 checks
PirateLawyer checks
*** TURN *** [2h Tc Ks] [Qd]
Loretta8 checks
PirateLawyer bets 1,200
Loretta8 has 15 seconds left to act
Loretta8 folds
Uncalled bet of 1,200 returned to PirateLawyer
PirateLawyer mucks
PirateLawyer wins the pot (1,500)

I'll take what I can get; now I'm up to 6K again.

I steal 3 small pots without showdown and chip up to 7K. We reach 120/240 level and the antes (25) kick in.

I win a pot with AQ preflop.

I limp in with A3s in EP and flop trip 3s and take down a 4-way limped pot on the flop and get up to 7.5K.

I re-steal from Hoy with 83s (snowman taterlegs!) and chip up to 8.6K.

I double up a short stack when I'm priced in to call his preflop shove with A3 vs my T9s; down to 6K.

I sniff out a bluff but get punched in the gut by FTP. To my mind, this was the hand of the tournament for me, and it well worth a lot of post-facto analysis:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [6c 6s]
PirateLawyer raises to 600
Jestocost calls 450 - SB defends and we're headsup to the flop
*** FLOP *** [3c Qc As]
Jestocost has 15 seconds left to act
Jestocost bets 3,065, and is all in
PirateLawyer has 15 seconds left to act
PirateLawyer has requested TIME
PirateLawyer calls 3,065 -- I think this through and decide that he just doesn't have a hand that has me beat based on his preflop flat call. An OBFV just isn't in his repertoire. This smells of a bad bluff. If I'm right, I should call. If I'm wrong, I still have 3K behind so I'm not crippled if I lose.
Jestocost shows [Js Ts] -- sure enough he's semi-bluffing with a gutterball and two overs. I am a 60% favourite
PirateLawyer shows [6c 6s]
*** TURN *** [3c Qc As] [Jd] -- FAWK YOU FTP!!!
*** RIVER *** [3c Qc As Jd] [Kc]
Jestocost shows a straight, Ace high
PirateLawyer shows a pair of Sixes
Jestocost wins the pot (7,855) with a straight, Ace high

Thoughts? Comments? I'd like to hear them.

The next level of blinds and antes arrives and I have a great spot to gamble for a triple-up back to 6K:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [Jh Qh]
Jestocost raises to 1,200
columbo calls 1,200
PirateLawyer raises to 1,954, and is all in -- easy place to gamble given that the antes are now 50 with 200/400 blinds so there's a lot of dead money to be won
Jestocost calls 754
columbo calls 754
*** FLOP *** [5h 2h 3s]
Jestocost checks
columbo checks
*** TURN *** [5h 2h 3s] [5c]
Jestocost checks
columbo checks
*** RIVER *** [5h 2h 3s 5c] [Kh]
Jestocost checks
columbo checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PirateLawyer shows [Jh Qh] a flush, King high
Jestocost mucks [Ad Jd]
columbo mucks [Ac Qs]
PirateLawyer wins the pot (6,512) with a flush, King high

I'm alive! Back up to 6.5K.


I take down the blinds with a raise from the button with QJs.

I take down a 3-way limped pot by betting out with second pair. Up to 8K.

I then take down a monster pot with a setup vs. GCox:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [Kh Kd]
GCox25 raises to 1,850
PirateLawyer raises to 7,862, and is all in -- no time to fool around here
GCox25 calls 5,670, and is all in
PirateLawyer shows [Kh Kd]
GCox25 shows [Qs Qc]
Uncalled bet of 342 returned to PirateLawyer
*** FLOP *** [Th 7d Tc] - safe flop
*** TURN *** [Th 7d Tc] [Ks] - locks up the hand
*** RIVER *** [Th 7d Tc Ks] [5c]
PirateLawyer shows a full house, Kings full of Tens
GCox25 shows two pair, Queens and Tens
PirateLawyer wins the pot (16,090) with a full house, Kings full of Tens

I vault up to 16K and now have twice an average stack and am 3rd overall in chips.

I get QQ and raise it up and take down the blinds. I show them to present a tight image so I can try to steal later.

I get moved to a new table for only one hand, because that's how long it takes for me to felt a victim:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [Qh Qc]
PirateLawyer raises to 1,900 - UTG raise from me with a monster
cracknaces raises to 8,339, and is all in
PirateLawyer calls 6,439 - easy call
cracknaces shows [9h 9s]
PirateLawyer shows [Qh Qc]
*** FLOP *** [2h Jc Td]
*** TURN *** [2h Jc Td] [4s]
*** RIVER *** [2h Jc Td 4s] [Kc]
cracknaces shows a pair of Nines
PirateLawyer shows a pair of Queens
PirateLawyer wins the pot (17,728) with a pair of Queens
cracknaces stands up

Up to 24K.

I then play a funny hand where I miss all my outs ...

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [9c Tc]
PirateLawyer calls 600
Evy35 calls 600
TanOrpheus calls 300
wwonka69 checks
*** FLOP *** [8d 7d 5s]
TanOrpheus bets 3,450, and is all in
PirateLawyer calls 3,450 -- I can afford to try to take out this spewmonkey
Evy35 raises to 4,379, and is all in -- unexpected but another spewmonkey move
PirateLawyer calls 929
Evy35 shows [Jc 9d] -- overcalls with a double gutter (!!!)
TanOrpheus shows [Jd 6h] -- shoves with a open-ended straight draw
PirateLawyer shows [9c Tc] -- I'm drawing to the nuts but my overcards aren't live
*** TURN *** [8d 7d 5s] [2c]
*** RIVER *** [8d 7d 5s 2c] [Ah]
Evy35 shows Ace Jack high
PirateLawyer shows Ace Ten high
Evy35 wins the side pot (1,858) with Ace Jack high
TanOrpheus shows Ace Jack high
Evy35 wins the main pot (13,425) with Ace Jack high

Brick-brick and the jack-nine high wins it. So gross!

Down to 17K.

I win a pot preflop and try an overbet for value when I flop an open-ended straight flush draw.
Back up to 20K.

We get down to the final 20 so the tables are re-organized.

I fold to a re-steal and am sitting at 15K.

I pull off a nice squeeze from the BB with T5o vs. 3 limpers and chip up back to 18K.

11 players are left so we're on the final table bubble.

Sadly this fiasco of a hand promptly occurs, where I lost my focus and let my earlier encounter with Jestocoat cloud my thinking:

Seat 2: Jestocost (42,953)
Seat 4: NumbBono (24,472)
Seat 5: columbo (9,615)
Seat 6: PirateLawyer (17,592)
Seat 7: Qwackers (8,595)
Seat 8: TheCloserX5 (11,994)
Jestocost antes 125
NumbBono antes 125
columbo antes 125
PirateLawyer antes 125
Qwackers antes 125
TheCloserX5 antes 125
TheCloserX5 posts the small blind of 500
Jestocost posts the big blind of 1,000
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [4d 4c]
PirateLawyer raises to 3,500 -- straightforward shorthanded raise from the cutoff
Jestocost calls 2,500
*** FLOP *** [Jc 3h 3c] -- classic XXY flop where I have second pair
Jestocost bets 7,000
PirateLawyer raises to 13,967, and is all in -- I should have dumped here obviously
Jestocost calls 6,967
PirateLawyer shows [4d 4c]
Jestocost shows [Jh 5h] -- have to love the preflop call, bah!
*** TURN *** [Jc 3h 3c] [2c]
*** RIVER *** [Jc 3h 3c 2c] [9d]
PirateLawyer shows two pair, Fours and Threes
Jestocost shows two pair, Jacks and Threes
Jestocost wins the pot (36,184) with two pair, Jacks and Threes

I go home in tenth place. Oh well.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Close but no cigar

I placed fifth (two off the money) in this event today.

It was a bitter pill to swallow as I was the early chipleader, having fully doubled up to 100K in chips after one player was eliminated -- I had taken most of his chips with my black aces holding up against Grant's KK. I had raised in early position to 2100 and got five (!) callers. The flop came down T43, two spades (I was holding the As). I bet out 3100 and Grant raised me to 8K. I called. I checked a 9s turn and called a 10K bet. I rivered the nut flush when the Qs and checked in hopes he'd fire a third bullet after he raised my flop bet and bet the turn, but no dice. He had KK no spades, so although I think he would have called a sucker bet of about 5K or so, I was really hoping he had a set or the Ks to get the rest of his stack. All in all I think I got overly cute and should have bet out to get the crying call. Either way, though, I catapulted to the chiplead and nearly doubled up, raking in the 40K pot.

I also flopped a Broadway straight with KQs vs top two pair on an AJT rainbow board, but I didn't really get paid off because the river spiked a queen, killing most of my action. I was smooth calling pot-sized bets in position and sadly got just about the worst card possible on the river (barring an ace or jack which gives my opponent a full house). In retrospect I definitely should have raised on the flop or on the turn, as I get at least some additional money in the pot before the unfortunate river card prevented the pot from growing to epic proportions in my favour.

In a huge turning point, I got someone else's entire stack in preflop with my AA vs. their 66. Of course, I managed to lose the pot!

Eman raised UTG to 2K (blinds were 300/600 as I recall) and I popped it up to 6K. Bill made an intervening call for 6K (with what he later said was AJ). Alex then made a very loose aggressive re-raise to 20K (just over half of his stack) with pocket sixes. It was a defensible move to try, and he was priced in for the rest of his stack to put the rest of his money in way behind as I immediately 4-bet allin. Sadly he flopped a six as we took the flop headsup and he took down an 85K-ish pot, which brought me back to roughly 60K in chips. Frankly I don't see any way I could have avoided this huge pot given how the action went. Once Alex re-raises, I absolutely have to jam as I am never folding once the pot gets that big, so I might as well get all the money in with the best hand and let the hand play itself out.

I know I would have cashed if we were down to seven players with the advantage of a massive chiplead of 150K (fully tripled up). I could have begun to really, really leverage my massive stack and kept up my tight-aggressive image whilst opening up my range to catch some unexpected monster flops.

I scuffled from then on, seesawing back to 75K or so but ultimately I spewed off nearly half my chips when I fired 3 pot-sized shells with QQ (I raised UTG +1 and the big blind defended) on an A45 rainbow flop that went blank-blank. Surprisingly, I couldn't budge George in the BB off ace-six; he said he had enough chips behind such that he was determined to call down. I found that surprising, and in the long term quite a pleasant prospect, as I crush ace-rag with the range of hands that I would play that way overall for an EP raise and 3 pot-sized bets: better aces, sets, and two pair hands.

I also doubled up Alex one more time after his chipstack had shrunk back down to 15K or so with my JJ vs. his QQ all-in preflop.

This dipped me down to about 35K and ultimately I went out when I check-raised top pair (KT) on KJ8 board, two clubs to 21K after Bill made a flop bet of 7K. Bill called -- he was chipleader at the time -- and although the turn blanked, he called my 14K shove with QcTc. This meant I had to fade about fourteen flush & straight outs, and sadly he hit an ace on the river to give him a straight.

This was a fun time despite some frustrating beats and I really liked the structure and how deep we were playing. I also liked how little respect my preflop raises were getting. I just have to hope I can hold up more often!

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Tired of the Mookie

This pretty much sums it up by itself -- I was re-raised all-in by a donkey (whom I had covered easily) preflop on the first hand after the first break of the Mookie (I was about 12th overall in chips after tumbling out of the top 3 in the last five minutes before the break to some donk-tastic desperation shoves where I had to find a couple of folds with likely the best made hand). I insta-call with AA and this happens:


To make matters worse, here is how the action went: I raised in EP to 440; the blinds were 60/120. The fish jammed all-in for 2110; in other words; he's making this move with an M of nearly 18. 18!!! Words fail me in describing how bad this play was. (Yes, I know this does get a portion of my open-raising range to fold, but by no means am I raising light in this situation so my range is much narrower than some might suppose.)

I folded for a while afterwards and then got short after running into aces myself, although I managed to lose the minimum.

Then I ran KJ into AJ on a J-high flop and IGHN in a disappointing 35th.

The one redeeming feature was felting Waffles relatively early on in a sick set (my eights) over set (his sixes) situation where neither of us had the heart flush which was possible on the turn (although I did have a redraw to an 8-high flush which was live). And that got some fun dialogue going on the BDR show.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Pot Limit Omaha tourney report

This is a bitter report to write, no question about it. I ran very well in this event put on by Chad in his blogger skill series, but despite collecting a plethora of knockout bounties I bubbled out of the prize money at the final table despite being chipleader with a 36K stack with 9 players remaining.

I knew this tournament was going to go well nearly from the start. On about the fifth hand of the tournament, I was able to build my starting 3K chipstack to just over 4K by catching a loose aggro-donk with a bad one pair hand with a full house like so:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [Qs Tc Qc 3s]
IslandBum1 calls 30
8TY6ER calls 30
PirateLawyer raises to 90
IslandBum1 calls 60
8TY6ER calls 60
*** FLOP *** [3c 4h Ts]
PirateLawyer bets 150
IslandBum1 folds
8TY6ER calls 150
*** TURN *** [3c 4h Ts] [8d]
PirateLawyer bets 250
8TY6ER calls 250
*** RIVER *** [3c 4h Ts 8d] [Td]
PirateLawyer checks
8TY6ER bets 550
PirateLawyer calls 550
*** SHOW DOWN ***
8TY6ER shows [2d 4d Ad 7c] two pair, Tens and Fours
PirateLawyer shows [Qs Tc Qc 3s] a full house, Tens full of Threes
PirateLawyer wins the pot (2,200) with a full house, Tens full of Threes

I missed a value bet on the end here but fortunately for me there's no way he actually would have called, I daresay.

A few hands later I won another big pot:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [2c Ah Ad 2h]
8TY6ER calls 30
MiamiDon calls 30
Drizztdj calls 30
PirateLawyer raises to 120
IslandBum1 calls 120
pvanharibo calls 90
8TY6ER calls 90
MiamiDon calls 90
Drizztdj calls 90
*** FLOP *** [8d 2s Th]
PirateLawyer bets 367
IslandBum1 calls 367
*** TURN *** [8d 2s Th] [4c]
PirateLawyer bets 1,100
IslandBum1 calls 1,100
*** RIVER *** [8d 2s Th 4c] [6h]
PirateLawyer bets 1,400
IslandBum1 folds
Uncalled bet of 1,400 returned to PirateLawyer
PirateLawyer mucks
PirateLawyer wins the pot (3,669)

This put me at a full 6K -- fully doubled up in level one.

I hover right around 6K for a while and then bust out a bluffing maniac:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [4d 3d 8d 8s]
8TY6ER raises to 175
MiamiDon calls 175
PirateLawyer calls 125 -- pretty easy call with a PP and low connectors
*** FLOP *** [8c 7s 7c]
PirateLawyer checks -- boom! flopped nut FH, time to trap
8TY6ER bets 550
PirateLawyer calls 550 -- don't want to scare the fish
*** TURN *** [8c 7s 7c] [8h]
PirateLawyer checks -- DQB! time to let the guy make another mistake
8TY6ER bets 825
PirateLawyer has 15 seconds left to act
PirateLawyer raises to 1,800 -- will he possibly call here?!
8TY6ER calls 815, and is all in
PirateLawyer shows [4d 3d 8d 8s]
8TY6ER shows [Qs Ts 2s 6c] -- words fail me
Uncalled bet of 160 returned to PirateLawyer
*** RIVER *** [8c 7s 7c 8h] [3c]
PirateLawyer shows four of a kind, Eights
8TY6ER shows a pair of Eights
PirateLawyer wins the pot (4,930) with four of a kind, Eights
PirateLawyer: DQB
8TY6ER is sitting out

Which gets me to nearly 8.5 K and earns me my first knockout bounty. (yay, $2!)

About four hands later, it's time for bounty #2 as I flop a huge monster + redraw with all the money going in on the flop:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [Th 9h Ac Tc]
corron10 calls 50
PirateLawyer raises to 150
Sandtiger calls 100
corron10 calls 100
*** FLOP *** [Jh Td 8h] --jackpot! middle set, OESD, and straight flush draw (!!!)
Sandtiger checks
corron10 checks
PirateLawyer bets 237
Sandtiger raises to 700
corron10 calls 700
PirateLawyer raises to 1,987
Sandtiger folds
corron10 raises to 2,948, and is all in
PirateLawyer calls 961
corron10 shows [Jc Js 4h 6h] -- top set, baby flush draw
PirateLawyer shows [Th 9h Ac Tc]
*** TURN *** [Jh Td 8h] [3d]
*** RIVER *** [Jh Td 8h 3d] [Qd] -- river love!
corron10 shows three of a kind, Jacks
PirateLawyer shows a straight, Queen high
PirateLawyer wins the pot (7,071) with a straight, Queen high

I am now way up there with 12K.

I get a table change and soon chip up some more when I turn a full house vs. an overpair:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [Qh Qc As 3d]
PirateLawyer raises to 120
xkm1245 calls 120
Astin calls 120
*** FLOP *** [Td 9s 9d]
PirateLawyer checks
xkm1245 checks
Astin checks
*** TURN *** [Td 9s 9d] [Qd]
PirateLawyer checks
xkm1245 bets 225
Astin calls 225
PirateLawyer calls 225
*** RIVER *** [Td 9s 9d Qd] [7c]
PirateLawyer bets 800
xkm1245 calls 800
Astin folds
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PirateLawyer shows [Qh Qc As 3d] a full house, Queens full of Nines
xkm1245 shows [6h Jc Kh Kd] a straight, King high
PirateLawyer wins the pot (2,725) with a full house, Queens full of Nines

Bounty #3 comes when I bust the overplayed AA:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [7h 4c 6h 5h]
PirateLawyer calls 80
lightning36 raises to 360
Drizztdj calls 320
PirateLawyer calls 280 -- easy call getting 3:1 on my money with this speculative hand
*** FLOP *** [5d 4h Jd]
Drizztdj checks
PirateLawyer checks -- jackpot! two pair + OESD
lightning36 bets 1,160
PirateLawyer raises to 2,320 -- here's the check raise to trap the overpair
lightning36 calls 858, and is all in
PirateLawyer shows [7h 4c 6h 5h]
lightning36 shows [Ad Jh 9h As]
Uncalled bet of 302 returned to PirateLawyer
*** TURN *** [5d 4h Jd] [8c] -- that locks up the hand
*** RIVER *** [5d 4h Jd 8c] [3h]
PirateLawyer shows a straight, Eight high
lightning36 shows a pair of Aces
PirateLawyer wins the pot (5,196) with a straight, Eight high
lightning36 stands up

And I'm up to 16K just like that, and my chiplead increases.

A few hands later I pull a reverse Hoy on Astin, who is scuffling along as a short stack:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [Qh 5h Qd Kd]
Astin raises to 180
Drizztdj calls 180
PirateLawyer calls 180
Easycure calls 100
*** FLOP *** [2h 9h Tc]
Easycure checks
Astin bets 380
Drizztdj folds
PirateLawyer calls 380
Easycure folds
*** TURN *** [2h 9h Tc] [5d]
Astin bets 480
PirateLawyer raises to 960
Astin calls 480
*** RIVER *** [2h 9h Tc 5d] [8d]
Astin checks
PirateLawyer has 15 seconds left to act
PirateLawyer bets 1,052
Astin folds
Uncalled bet of 1,052 returned to PirateLawyer
PirateLawyer mucks
PirateLawyer wins the pot (3,440)

And I chip up to 17.5K, rolling along smoothly.


I then lose my first significant pot in an ugly, ugly way to Easycure. All the money went in on the flop:


Which drops me down to 13K, tied for the overall chiplead.

I hover at 13K for quite a while, until I collect my next bounty vs. an overplayed QQ:

Which gets me back up to 17K again.

I tread water for a few hands and then collect yet another bounty, achieving my first suckout of the tournament:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [Ah Tc Ks Th]
twoblackaces raises to 700
PirateLawyer calls 500 -- I have to call with this holding vs. a shorty
*** FLOP *** [9d Kd 6h]
PirateLawyer checks
twoblackaces bets 1,500
PirateLawyer raises to 3,000 -- time to put him to the test
twoblackaces calls 682, and is all in
PirateLawyer shows [Ah Tc Ks Th]
twoblackaces shows [As 3s 8h Ac] -- well he does indeed have AA
Uncalled bet of 818 returned to PirateLawyer
*** TURN *** [9d Kd 6h] [Td] -- miracle trips for the suckout! even I had flat called the flop instead of check-raising I get the rest of his stack here
*** RIVER *** [9d Kd 6h Td] [8c]
PirateLawyer shows three of a kind, Tens
twoblackaces shows a pair of Aces
PirateLawyer wins the pot (5,864) with three of a kind, Tens
twoblackaces stands up

And I escape, up to 18K in chips.

I dodge a couple of nasty situations by folding to re-raises behind me to protect my stack.

Then I collect yet another bounty by getting there against an overplayed overpair with a worse flush draw than mine:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [Qd Td Tc 3s]
PirateLawyer calls 200
WarCrimes raises to 900
PirateLawyer calls 700 - I have plenty of reason to call here and see a flop with TT and a good suit + two Broadway cards
*** FLOP *** [Ad 3c 6d]
PirateLawyer checks
WarCrimes bets 2,100
PirateLawyer calls 2,100 -- exactly the sort of flop I had to see to continue
*** TURN *** [Ad 3c 6d] [8d]
PirateLawyer checks -- it's time to let him put the rest of his money in drawing dead
WarCrimes bets 2,371, and is all in -- on cue
PirateLawyer calls 2,371 -- no-brainer call
WarCrimes shows [Jd Ks As 4d] -- J-high flush no good!
PirateLawyer shows [Qd Td Tc 3s]
*** RIVER *** [Ad 3c 6d 8d] [6c]
WarCrimes shows a flush, Ace high
PirateLawyer shows a flush, Ace high
PirateLawyer wins the pot (11,042) with a flush, Ace high
WarCrimes stands up

I reach the 23K mark in chips. Yay!

I win a decent pot with a two pair hand vs. columbo when his straight draw didn't get there.

Stacks are starting to get short compared to the blinds so I am forced to fold some decent hands preflop to pressure.

Easycure in particular started to 3-bet me from the blinds so I made a note of that for later use.

And then I exploited it in this situation for a couple of more scalps for my bounty collection:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [Qs Th Jd 9h] -- I am determined to see a flop with this holding
columbo calls 400
Zeem calls 400
PirateLawyer raises to 1,000
bayne_s calls 400, and is all in
Easycure raises to 4,400
PirateLawyer: shove monkey
PirateLawyer calls 3,400 -- I'm prepared to speculate on the button against this opponent
*** FLOP *** [7d 9d Ts]
Easycure bets 1,186, and is all in
PirateLawyer calls 1,186 -- instacall!
Easycure shows [Ac 2c Ad 8s] -- perfect!
PirateLawyer shows [Qs Th Jd 9h]
bayne_s shows [6d Tc 7s Js]
*** TURN *** [7d 9d Ts] [2h]
*** RIVER *** [7d 9d Ts 2h] [9s]
Easycure shows two pair, Aces and Nines
PirateLawyer shows a full house, Nines full of Tens
PirateLawyer wins the side pot (9,972) with a full house, Nines full of Tens
bayne_s shows two pair, Tens and Nines
PirateLawyer wins the main pot (2,600) with a full house, Nines full of Tens
bayne_s stands up
Easycure stands up

And there I go, up to 32K. Whee!

And now it's final table time.

Which sadly and brutally doesn't last nearly as long as I would have hoped.

First, I lose a pot to a flopped set of tens against my AA, the first time I'd overplayed an AAxx hand all tournament, but this is crunch time and I got unlucky:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [Ac Jh As 3c]
pvanharibo calls 500
PirateLawyer raises to 1,500 -- have to raise from the BB here
pvanharibo calls 1,000
*** FLOP *** [7s Th Ks]
PirateLawyer checks -- time to trap
pvanharibo bets 3,250
PirateLawyer raises to 13,000
pvanharibo calls 4,078, and is all in
PirateLawyer shows [Ac Jh As 3c]
pvanharibo shows [Ts Td Ad 2c] -- damn!
Uncalled bet of 5,672 returned to PirateLawyer
*** TURN *** [7s Th Ks] [3d]
*** RIVER *** [7s Th Ks 3d] [2s]
PirateLawyer shows a pair of Aces
pvanharibo shows three of a kind, Tens
pvanharibo wins the pot (17,906) with three of a kind, Tens

So I take a big hit but am still comfortably stacked with 22K and am in second place overall.

On the very next hand, though I get completely setup with a cooler:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [Jh Js 4d Ks]
Evy35 calls 500
PirateLawyer raises to 1,250 -- time to jack it up
swimmom95 calls 750
Evy35 calls 750
*** FLOP *** [Jd Ad As]
PirateLawyer checks -- I flopped a monster and have decided to slowplay
swimmom95 checks
Evy35 checks
*** TURN *** [Jd Ad As] [7c]
PirateLawyer bets 2,000
swimmom95 raises to 4,000 -- nice! but perplexing
PirateLawyer calls 2,000 -- call with intention of getting it all-in on the river
*** RIVER *** [Jd Ad As 7c] [Ts]
PirateLawyer checks
swimmom95 bets 5,875
PirateLawyer raises to 16,318, and is all in -- trap sprung
swimmom95 calls 7,526, and is all in
Uncalled bet of 2,917 returned to PirateLawyer

*** SHOW DOWN ***
PirateLawyer shows [Jh Js 4d Ks] a full house, Jacks full of Aces
swimmom95 shows [Jc Kh Ac 4s] a full house, Aces full of Jacks
swimmom95 wins the pot (38,552) with a full house, Aces full of Jacks

NOOOOOO!!!

I don't see how I can avoid losing my stack there. Such a sick beat.

And I soon go home in 9th place, short of the prize money, although the bounties (8 of them) more than paid for my entry.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Some notable escapades at a local casino

I had a profitable session playing some donktastic 1/2 NL in Richmond on Saturday evening. I was only there for 3 hours or so since I was pretty tired, having been up at 6AM for an aborted ski trip up to Whistler (the roads were extremely bad so my father and I decided to postpone our ski weekend, sadly).

With nothing to do in the early morning and unable to get bacl to sleep, I proceeded to lose about $300 on FTP thanks to their sick RNG and some lucky breaks for some players who overplayed their draws or one pair hands.

Happily, the players tonight at my live session at the RR more than made up for it.

This was an extremely loose table. Often you would get 5 or 6 players to a flop for $10 each preflop.

Things didn't start well for me as about 20 minutes in I get red aces in LP. An Englishman raises UTG to $6 and gets two callers. I jack it up to $25. The UTG calls and we're headsup. Flop is KT8 rainbow. He check-raises me and I jam. He calls with QJs and hits a 9 on the turn. Rebuy!

About ten minutes later the Englishman cracks another AA (held by a friendly guy to my immediate right whom I had pegged as the only other competent player at the table, so I was happy to be on his immediate left) with AQs by turning the nut flush. The Brit is now permanently pegged as a suited connector donk who plays all of his paint cards or suited aces OOP for big pots. Sadly I could never manage to get my revenge against him at any point. He even took down a couple of other modest pots off of me where he would outflop my AJ with KT and other such shenanigans.

I began the trek to recovery by calling a raise to $10 by the good player to my right with T9c. 4 players to a flop and the flop is a lovely T93 with two spades. I get all the money in against a donkey with KT and he doesn't improve. Back up to $350 or so.

Recovery hand #2: new player straddles my BB to $4. I have 99. 7(!) players see a flop for $10 each. Flop is a beautiful K92, two hearts. I bet my set like a man, leading out for $35. Get 3 callers. Turn is a 7. I bet again, get two callers. River is the Jh, completing the flush. I puke, bet again. One player calls all-in short, and the last player to act raises me $100 and he has me covered. I have about $200 behind. I contemplate re-raising all-in, but figure that he will only call with hands that have me beat (set of jacks, or the flush) so I just call. He shows KJ for rivered top two pair; other victim shows bottom set of twos. I rake in a massive pot and am stacked comfortably at $700 or so.

Hand #3: I raise with KK on the button to $11 and get two callers. (Pot is roughly $40) Flop is a lovely AK5. We all check. Turn is the 7s, putting a second spade on board. I bet $25 and get one caller. River is another 7, giving me the stone cold nuts (no way he has AA or 77). I bet $75 and the donkey calls with KJo (!) for second pair, mediocre kicker.

Hand #4: I call a raise to $10 getting 6:1 on my money with T9s. Flop comes A97 all diamonds (I have hearts). It is checked around. Turn is 9s giving me trips. I bet $31 into a $70 pot. I get one caller. River blanks and I bet $41 and take it down without a showdown. I figure victim was drawing with the 4-flush.

Sadly I missed out on one more nice pot when I folded J6o getting 4:1 on my money in the BB when I had $2 invested and was faced with putting in another $10. I would have flopped top pair, turned trips and rivered quads vs. two competing heart flushes ... drat! In the long run this is a good fold, I believe.

All in all, a good day. I had forgotten just how juicy and soft the live games can be locally if you can survive the swings and sick beats when a donkey makes a ridiculously heroic preflop call and hits a miracle flop against you. I laid down some top pair hands to pressure and won the big pots with the goods. Winning big pots, losing medium to small pots = winning poker.

I booked a net profit of $100 or so all in all between my online and live play today. Fun times!