Still in Gambling Limbo

Still in action purgatory. No recreation. I have played a coupla random SnGs and even an hour of 3/6 limit at Harrahs but nothing interesting to speak of. My mind is mush from life stress anyway. I do remeber one hand where I had AQ in the big blind and flop comes Ace, 7, 4 and I check called $3 with about 5 people still in the hand and then a 3 hits and I check fold. Then they start the raising and reraising and it becomes the biggest pot of the night with a 3 way show down. The river had come a Queen which woulda gave me two pair which was ver obviously no good. Anyway the hands that went the distance were a set of 4s, 65 for the nuts and ....drum roll.....AQ. I didnt tell the guy that I spent $6 total on that hand while he dumped another $50 in the pot but it woulda been fun to. Obviously i didnt win if my best hand to speak of was a fold after $6 invested. I wish I had a few hundred to get in a No Limit game with just because I know I would be able to shut the world out for a little while. I wonder if that sounds healthy or sick. Dont most people use hobbies to do that? I guess people do drugs for the same reason though. Maybe its just the destructive vs. not destructive. If I were to play when I couldnt afford it just to zone out then I guess thats unhealthy. Of coarse I could do it knowing that it was dumb but that wouldnt mean I didnt have a choice. I guess thats the biggest problem. People who cant make a choice to quit until they are under the jail and really have no choice. I have won 2 outta 4 weeks in my office college football pickem pool. Im still not in the overall lead though cause my bad weeks are too bad. My fantasy leagues are above average but I think its gonna go south soon. I dont have anyone who is killing it this year and I havent played the strong teams yet. Oh well thats the update. I know it sucks but I dont want to just shut my blog down. I do plan on playing poker regularly again soon.

Russian Poker Bride

Lemme see I went to the Belle on last last Friday night and played 4/8 limit. Thats right. I decided to let $100 bucks ride on the donkey olympics. I wont be able to do that very often for now until I get my finances back to manageable. The best part about it was the hot Russian girl in the half shirt with her nice chesticles on display. She was very flirty and winning so she was having a good time. Her boyfriend was there to start with but when he left she decided to take a cab later. Being the cynical bastard I decided she was a mail order bride and really didnt give a shit about her dopey ass boyfriend. I was losing but I told Terry that I had sat and lost at tables full of people I downright despised so why would ever think of getting up just because I was losing at limit holdem. The Russian girl flirted some tourist into sitting next to her and playing even though he didnt know how to play. Well up to that point she was running like Ivan Drago before Rocky came to Russia but guess who had some beginners luck and was hitting on her to her annoyance. She got what she deserved. I went broke and headed home. I dont know when I will be able to play cash again. I dont even think I can justify playing in the $40 tournament tonight. I probably will play but I still cant justify it. I played last week but I was not really focused. I played loose passive and eventually my stack shrank to the all-in point and I moved in for 8 big blinds with AK and got called by QJ. I knew I couldnt fade two live cards.

Life Tilt and Staking People Who Cant Read the Board

So its been a long time. Who cares. I have been on life tilt. The Sofa King is single for the first time in 17 years. I know you probably think its because Im a degenerate poker player and thats ok if you think that. I will not be explaining it here. Why no poker tales? I havent been playing because the finances are in the red because I just lost an income and bills wont even go down $100. I have been playing a little online but Im sure you dont want to hear about every single little $10 SnG I play. I have been winning though. Im not playing a lot though. I did enter a 45 person $10 tournament last week. It paid 6. I busted out 7th. Typical. My last hand I pushed with 55 and got called by J f'ing 10. I was the chip leader with 16 players left and then I went dead. I flopped a flush draw that I put some money in with that never got there. I stole some blinds but it didnt make up for the times when I raised the blinds and got defended.

Anyway I returned to the Monday night game last night but only to play the tournament. It was only 9 players because of the holiday and players being in Biloxi for the big WPT dealio. I seriously dont have the funds to play cash or $200 dollar tournaments. I burned through my remaining $400 of poker money in the last 2 weeks. Even putting $40 up for poker was a dumb move but screw it. In the first coupla levels I got KK in the big blind 3 times and won everytime. I raised the first two times because there were multiple limpers. I got called by 2 players the first time and got all in against a flush draw on the flop and doubled up. I took the pot preflop the second time. I smooth called once when it was going to be heads up. It was almost a min raise. The flop comes Jack high and I check. I expected him to bet. He checked. The turn is another Jack. I bet now and get raised. I dont think he has a Jack but I think he may have a set and thats why no flop bet. I also think that I havent shown any real strength and he is probably putting me on representing the Jack. I decide to call. The river pairs a 7 and I check. He bets but its a total value bet. Its confusing. Im scared of AA but why wouldnt he bet the flop? If he had bottom set then he may have just gotten counterfetted. If he back doored a flush would he bet a double paired board? The only thing I was thinking was he decided to play AA tricky and doesnt put me on the J or the 7. Maybe he puts me on 99s. I would. I call and he was bluffing. If he had bet more I probably would have mucked. Thats why the old value bet bluff sometimes sucks I guess. Anyway the rest of the hands were mostly preflop raise and take it down. I did flop top top and got all in against an open ended str8 flush draw and held up.

Oh I did play some 3/6 at Harrahs this weekend. I was in New Orleans for a party and I told a friend of mine I would stake her up to $60 for PaiGau. But the table was full so she wanted to play poker. So I played first to show her what to do. I thought she knew what hands were what etc.. Well when she was ready I took my moster $10 profit and "sold" her $60 in chips and took a seat behind her. Talk about a wild ride. She folded mostly but then she went to the river with Queen high once and called the river with no pair. ???? Uh oh. Then she hit a gutshot straight on the river and folded to one bet. When the hand was over I in my best Richard Pryor pitched voice "What the fuck you folded a straight woman?!!!?!?!?!?" I dont really remember how but we made it through 3 dealers with $60 bucks just folding a lot. It got down to 4 players because it was like 6 am by now. How could you leave that table ever??? She decided to play 10,9 suited and I was happy. I wanted her to hurry up and go broke. We talked about cashing out and playing PaiGau at $30 but she apparently caught the poker bug. At one point she says how cool she feels and I look around at the 3 fat old dudes she is playing poker with and start laughing my ass off. Any way she flops top two and smooth calls the flop. Lets just say that she probably woulda folded at some point during this hand even after she caught the second nut boat on the river but something made her realize she could fold this hand. I cant say what. Just something. She didnt even raise the river. So sad. She coulda won a huge pot against another full house. I convinced her to cash out and play something she knew how to play. She made $6 bucks. I let her keep it. I even gave her the $10 in chips I had forgot to cash out since she had paid $50 total for parking because she thought the valet was free to players. She didnt play anything else. Phew.

No Foldem Holdem

Im thinking about playing low limit for a while. My life and finances are fuct and I do have fun playing no foldem holdem. Plus my mental focus doesnt have to be particularly great. I cant make that big a mistake. I will just enjoy a $100 buyin at the $4/8 table until its gone or Im done. The last time I played $4/8 I won a lot but I know I was on a rush. I think I have a good advantage over the people who call everything and chase gutshots when the flush and the full house are already there. Maybe I can save 4 bets an hour that the majority of the table doesnt (just by folding non-suited 3 gappers). I may need to be more agressive on the turn and river for value. I often give up on betting and start check calling when the board gets a little scary. Obviously I cant bet a set on the river when the flush made it and there are still 4 people in the hand but there have been a lot of times in heads up or against just 2 people that I check the river and they are sitting with top pair only and never folding for the last bet.