I seized an opportunity for a quick trek down to Seattle this weekend to see some old friends. Not so coincidentally this was also the weekend that several Seattle-area poker bloggers had chosen to hold a home game, so I crashed the party.
Saturday did not have an auspicious beginning. I endured a ridiculous 90-minute wait at the Peace Arch border crossing. This delay pushed back my Seattle arrival to 1pm, and caused me to miss the first of my planned rendez-vous. I can't blame my friend Wolfgang, he was being a responsible parent to his young daughter and nap-time is inviolate for any sane father having to pull solitary child-care duties.
So, I shifted gears and parked down near Pioneer Square to take a walk, eventually ending up at a favourite bookstore -- Eliott Bay Book Co. and happily browsed the shelves and after making some purchases, I ducked downstairs to the cafe and snarfed down some good soup as I waited for the arrival of Zeem. He was a bit late and I found out that a humourless traffic cop had ticketed my car during its 12-minute window of vulnerability. Of course, I discovered the bad news AFTER I had purchased another two hours' worth of parking.
Undeterred and unwilling to have my good mood spoilt, I rode shotgun as Zeem took me over to a nearby bar, Shorty's, where I embarassed myself with an abysmal performance in its pinball arcade. The games were in generally good working order but I felt a bit curtailed by the lack of adequate lighting in the room.
Then, we proceeded along to the evening festivities, a blogger home game with a few luminaries of the Seattle poker landscape. I was the proud Gigli of the 8-player NLHE tourney where the host slaughtered me in an early pot where I flopped a 9-high club flush and raised Doc's opening bet (he had a mere two pair). Chris, the gracious host who had made sure I had copious amounts of Guinness in my system at all times, came over the top. Zeem folded what he later showed was the queen-high flush, and I announced that I wasn't good enough to fold my 1-out redraw to a straight flush and promptly got busted by a king-high flush. Yes, three of us had flopped a made club flush. It's always crubs, as CK would say. Always!
However, this proved to be a blessing in disguise because it left me with my hands free to devour food and drink without constraint. It's rare that I go bananas over tapas, but The Wife makes a mean guacomole which I could not get enough of. I doubt Astin could match it. I am willing to judge that competition and adjudicate any and all prop bets on this. I washed it down with yet more Guinness and a couple of glasses of a fine shiraz I'd had before and was happy to sample again. The Doc knows how to live well!
I was allowed to choose the format of the second tournament. It went on a little long, but I redeemed myself by winning the HOOSE event we put on (double Omaha in place of Razz). I think I won something like 22 of the 24 Stud08 hands that were dealt? It was pretty sick.
We capped the late night with a dealer's choice cash game and most of the bloggers enjoyed my pick of Crazy Pineapple for an orbit of play -- and I proved how to go broke with AAx. Later I also demonstrated my poor judgment in not folding the flopped nut straight in a hand of Omaha, and got stacked when a gutterball draw got there on the turn. But I ground back up close to even by the time the game broke.
The party ended about 2:30AM as some of the bloggers made grandiose claims of needing to do healthy exercise activities early on Sunday. I think this was merely an excuse to avoid giving me any action on my Wii Golf challenge even though I promised to play wrong-handed.
I then took advantage of Chris' offer of a spare bed, snatched a few hours' sleep, and drove home late Sunday morning after seeing a few other old Seattle-based friends for a quick chat and a late-morning cup of coffee.
It was a fun whirlwind of a trip.
NB. Rough count of gibes at token Canuck: 19
Rough count of phone calls made by Doc & Wife to other Canadian poker bloggers to mock my Gigli performance: 2
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Stud8 exercise, part four
This hand demonstrates -- and this is not about the profitable result for your hero -- how and why you should push edges and generate a lot of dead money in low-level Stud8 games. In this situation, I had only been playing at this table for four hands until I picked up a premium hand, (2d3d)Ah. The bring-in, with a 2c showing, completed immediately. A 7c called. As did another player with the 2s as their upcard. With the ace showing and last to act, I took the conservative route and just called, since a lot of low cards were clearly out already and I was going to need a good card on 4th street to feel comfortable about continuing. Also, representing split aces would not get anyone to fold. Finally, if I caught good on 4th I was going to be able to generate an awful lot of dead money and a nice overlay to make my hand.
4th street was fairly strong:
*** 4TH STREET ***
Dealt to Villain 1 [7c] [2h]
Dealt to Villain 2 [2s] [6c]
Dealt to PirateLawyer [2d 3d Ah] [5d]
Dealt to Bring-In [2c] [3c]
I took the unorthodox route of check-calling. I have four clear outs to the wheel, 3 baby diamonds towards a flush, and the best low draw, but a lot of low cards are out there so it's not quite time to raise. I want to lurk until 5th street where I can make big bets.
*** 5TH STREET ***
Dealt to Villain 1 [7c 2h] [4s]
Dealt to Villain 2 [2s 6c] [Kc]
Dealt to PirateLawyer [2d 3d Ah 5d] [8d]
Dealt to Bring-In [2c 3c] [Td]
PirateLawyer checks
Bring-In checks
Villain 1 bets $4
Villain 2 calls $4
PirateLawyer raises to $8
Bring-In calls $8
Villain 1 raises to $12
Villain 2 folds
PirateLawyer raises to $16
Bring-In calls $8
Villain 1 calls $4
And here the trap springs. Once I make an 8-low with a flush draw, and redraws to the wheel, boom! Nothing is stopping me from jamming the pot and my opponents co-operate by contributing lots of dead money. I'm not unhappy about two of my opponents capping it here with me as we go to 6th street.
*** 6TH STREET ***
Dealt to Villain 1 [7c 2h 4s] [9d]
Dealt to PirateLawyer [2d 3d Ah 5d 8d] [Kd]
Dealt to Bring-In [2c 3c Td] [9s]
PirateLawyer bets $4
Bring-In folds -- I'm happy to get headsup vs. one opponent, this dramatically increases my chances to scoop a monster pot
Villain 1 raises to $8
PirateLawyer raises to $12 -- automatic raise, if I'm not ahead for both halves of this pot I'm freerolling to improve to a better low.
Villain 1 calls $4
*** 7TH STREET ***
Dealt to PirateLawyer [2d 3d Ah 5d 8d Kd] [5h]
PirateLawyer bets $4
Villain 1 calls $4
And the result? A fun scoop against Villain 1's unimproved rolled sevens, with a lot of dead money going along from with a low that never got there to boot. Note how many bets Mr. Bring-In contributed once he caught bad on 5th; I was able to get him in a truly horrible sandwich position with the co-operation of Villain 1. That is precious dead money you want to seek out and trap!
It is situations like these that you should seek to find and aggressively push your equity edge against the field.
Monday, February 2, 2009
I'm not in Hawaii
Which is sad, because that would be a fun birthday trip (my birthday is in ten days).
But my parents are, so I get to housesit for them and take care of the family cat, who is 21 years old and finally showing her age.
I think I've resolved to treat myself to a tropical vacation next February, when I'm clearly a part of the mid-30s crowd.
But my parents are, so I get to housesit for them and take care of the family cat, who is 21 years old and finally showing her age.
I think I've resolved to treat myself to a tropical vacation next February, when I'm clearly a part of the mid-30s crowd.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
And now for a third
And by that, I mean a third Mookie win, which should make Schaubs happy.
I'll put up a more thorough report on Friday afternoon, when I will have the spare time to look over the hand histories for anything interesting. An early highlight, which propelled me to the early chiplead with over 11K in chips, was where I proved to fellow Team Schaubs member LJ that presto was not gold (unless played by professionals):
As played, the hand was pretty nasty. LJ was the big stack at the table, but I had a sizeable stack of my own within 1200 of hers. Still, she defended her blind to my 3BB raise in the CO. Then, we get your standard set-over-set scenario on the flop. She check-raised my half-pot c-bet to 800 chips, and I smooth called with the intention of raising any turn with the possible exception of a king or eight (which would complete a straight; I thought her range was pretty polarized to PPs or just maybe, maybe QTs). On the turn she paused and bet out 1550; I paused and raised to 3200 with only about 1600 behind, signalling my willingness to stack off. She obliged by shipping it in with bottom set and I insta-called praying she didn't have JJ. I can't fault LJ for not folding a set in a bloggament ... but realistically my range has her crushed here. Fortunately, my image helps me get paid off in spots like this -- that and no-one willingly folds a set in a bloggament!
That allowed me to sail along, playing conservatively and protecting my big stack and selectively choosing spots to chip up with minimal risk. I suffered a setback here and there vs. short-stacks that sucked out on me but overall I maintained a top-5 stack as we made it to the final table.
NumbBono and I got involved in some pretty sick pots along the way and I was pretty worried as the final table began: he had been co-chipleader for a long period of time but in a sick run on the final table bubble he doubled up to 40K, which was double my stack (!). I patiently navigated the final table minefield, though, and when we got down to three-handed with the two of us and Smokkee I'd chipped up nicely and seized the chip lead. The three of us traded chips for a good while and I lost two big pots to come back to the pack. Ultimately NB busted out in third, but not before we traded sick beats: he cracked my pocket jacks when I slowplayed myself into oblivion and lost the maximum when he flopped 2pr. But I managed a key double through him when I needed it when I squeezed and he made a nice call with ace-high (which was good) and I flopped a pair.
I got pretty lucky vs. smokkee in our headsup battle. I donked him to take a commanding chip lead, then he won about four consecutive 60/40s, and then I finally won one to close it out. I nut-peddled a few times but he escaped; I let him re-steal light a few times and then caught him but he escaped some more; and then I finally got it in with the worst of it again and won.
I'll put up a more thorough report on Friday afternoon, when I will have the spare time to look over the hand histories for anything interesting. An early highlight, which propelled me to the early chiplead with over 11K in chips, was where I proved to fellow Team Schaubs member LJ that presto was not gold (unless played by professionals):
As played, the hand was pretty nasty. LJ was the big stack at the table, but I had a sizeable stack of my own within 1200 of hers. Still, she defended her blind to my 3BB raise in the CO. Then, we get your standard set-over-set scenario on the flop. She check-raised my half-pot c-bet to 800 chips, and I smooth called with the intention of raising any turn with the possible exception of a king or eight (which would complete a straight; I thought her range was pretty polarized to PPs or just maybe, maybe QTs). On the turn she paused and bet out 1550; I paused and raised to 3200 with only about 1600 behind, signalling my willingness to stack off. She obliged by shipping it in with bottom set and I insta-called praying she didn't have JJ. I can't fault LJ for not folding a set in a bloggament ... but realistically my range has her crushed here. Fortunately, my image helps me get paid off in spots like this -- that and no-one willingly folds a set in a bloggament!
That allowed me to sail along, playing conservatively and protecting my big stack and selectively choosing spots to chip up with minimal risk. I suffered a setback here and there vs. short-stacks that sucked out on me but overall I maintained a top-5 stack as we made it to the final table.
NumbBono and I got involved in some pretty sick pots along the way and I was pretty worried as the final table began: he had been co-chipleader for a long period of time but in a sick run on the final table bubble he doubled up to 40K, which was double my stack (!). I patiently navigated the final table minefield, though, and when we got down to three-handed with the two of us and Smokkee I'd chipped up nicely and seized the chip lead. The three of us traded chips for a good while and I lost two big pots to come back to the pack. Ultimately NB busted out in third, but not before we traded sick beats: he cracked my pocket jacks when I slowplayed myself into oblivion and lost the maximum when he flopped 2pr. But I managed a key double through him when I needed it when I squeezed and he made a nice call with ace-high (which was good) and I flopped a pair.
I got pretty lucky vs. smokkee in our headsup battle. I donked him to take a commanding chip lead, then he won about four consecutive 60/40s, and then I finally won one to close it out. I nut-peddled a few times but he escaped; I let him re-steal light a few times and then caught him but he escaped some more; and then I finally got it in with the worst of it again and won.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
And then there were four
And by four, I mean quads.
I bubbled the Skillz tourney with a bad run at the final table, but early on in the first level of the tourney I had quite the run: two hands where I got paid off with four-of-a-kind (significantly more on #1, but I still got some bets in on #2). I love bloggaments!
[Edit] Then I caught another one in cash and got fully paid by a donkey.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
A beat, a brag, and a whine
Poker content first.
The beat: I find a juicy 6-max LHE game. I open with Q9s in the cutoff and get re-raised by the button. The flop is a nice Q99. Four bets go in. The turn is a blank. Four bets go in. The river is an ace. Two bets go in, and my opponent has ... AA, of course!
The brag: I busted nemesis NumbBono in the Mookie last night, making him cry like the Gigli he truly is. I opened with 8c5c in early position for 2.5 bbs, and called his MP re-raise to 6 bbs. Flop is a dreamy AcQc8c, the money goes in, and I fade some outs as I take out NB's set of queens. I had to laugh at conclusion of his berating me in chat when he said "I guess you like 85s more than I do".
The whine: I played a painful hand of Omaha hi/lo this morning. Nothing can go right for me, it seems, as I endure yet another downswing in cash game poker. I had 6d6h3d2s in the big blind of a juicy full-ring game and get to see a flop in an unraised pot vs. several opponents. The flop is a dreamy KcKd6c. The small blind leads out, I raise, the button calls two cold, the small blind three-bets, and I capped, since I figured both of my opponents had trip kings, and I had a decent backdoor low draw as insurance. The turn was the 8c, and we get two bets in as I put in another raise. The river was a five of diamonds and another bet goes in. I figure to at least get half of this juicy pot, right? I have the third-nut low and a flopped boat ... surely I can't be getting scooped?
No sir! I lost the high pot to kings full of fives (KQQ5) and the low to A3K3. So much for punishing those bare trips on the flop and turn ... sheesh.
I may have to take another week off and shift focus to my PLO experiment. Limit poker is killing me at present.
Non-poker content:
Life away from the felt is treating me well, mostly. I have been gettting some skiing in, and have been making progress in improving my fitness and my diet. A good
friend just moved away for a new job, though, so I won't see much of him except for holiday visits, I would imagine.
The beat: I find a juicy 6-max LHE game. I open with Q9s in the cutoff and get re-raised by the button. The flop is a nice Q99. Four bets go in. The turn is a blank. Four bets go in. The river is an ace. Two bets go in, and my opponent has ... AA, of course!
The brag: I busted nemesis NumbBono in the Mookie last night, making him cry like the Gigli he truly is. I opened with 8c5c in early position for 2.5 bbs, and called his MP re-raise to 6 bbs. Flop is a dreamy AcQc8c, the money goes in, and I fade some outs as I take out NB's set of queens. I had to laugh at conclusion of his berating me in chat when he said "I guess you like 85s more than I do".
The whine: I played a painful hand of Omaha hi/lo this morning. Nothing can go right for me, it seems, as I endure yet another downswing in cash game poker. I had 6d6h3d2s in the big blind of a juicy full-ring game and get to see a flop in an unraised pot vs. several opponents. The flop is a dreamy KcKd6c. The small blind leads out, I raise, the button calls two cold, the small blind three-bets, and I capped, since I figured both of my opponents had trip kings, and I had a decent backdoor low draw as insurance. The turn was the 8c, and we get two bets in as I put in another raise. The river was a five of diamonds and another bet goes in. I figure to at least get half of this juicy pot, right? I have the third-nut low and a flopped boat ... surely I can't be getting scooped?
No sir! I lost the high pot to kings full of fives (KQQ5) and the low to A3K3. So much for punishing those bare trips on the flop and turn ... sheesh.
I may have to take another week off and shift focus to my PLO experiment. Limit poker is killing me at present.
Non-poker content:
Life away from the felt is treating me well, mostly. I have been gettting some skiing in, and have been making progress in improving my fitness and my diet. A good
friend just moved away for a new job, though, so I won't see much of him except for holiday visits, I would imagine.
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