Smart Move and PLO

Heard I missed the dream game last night. All the maniacs at the table. I was so looking forward to playing too. I didnt. I made a very wise decision. See I got in a spat with my girl and I also had to read my son the riot act. It seems like Mondays are tough to make it through without some disturbing event to put me on life tilt. I cant even count how many times Ive made it to the Monday game totally upset about something and really loving the fact that poker takes my mind of whatever it is. The problem is that I play too many hands on those nights. I cant just sit n fold and stew in my life tilt. So typically I go broke and think about how I had a feeling I should sit it out. So Im sure I wouldve dumped $500 last night and Im glad I skipped it.

I did play tonight. I show up to the game and they are playing pot liimit omaha. I typically dont play omaha and wouldve declined come had I known. Of course I dont just leave. I buy in short for $100. I get lucky and quickly get up $170. I would basically fluctuate between being up $50 to $200 all night. We did play half n half and strangely I did way better at omaha. I flopped top set against a made straight and got all in and rivered quads. I flopped a straight flush once and got paid by a river boat. I flopped a boat in a raised pot. I was in the small blind so I was out of position. I smooth called the flop and bet out on the turn when the flush hit. The original raiser would make a crying fold. I dont really know how I could play it better. I cant check cause the flush will have him check behind and if he was betting the flush draw then he will be raising. I hope that he can at least call hoping Im just representing. I had just got caught bluffing the hand before. I tried to look just like I did the hand before but to no avail. Oh well. When it was all said n done I won $200. I didnt play terrible but I did make a few rookie calls and was no where near aggressive enough. I enjoyed the game. Most of the play is post flop and I think thats pretty fun and sick. Im sure it was the all time tiddily winks game of omaha donkeys ever but how are we supposed to learn anyway.

Choppy Chop Chop at Nawlins Nightly

Sofa King chops. Especially if I was wanting to chop earlier when I was in a worse position. I played the nightly Saturday in the New Orleans Bayou Classic. When got to 15 from 120 the average stack was 10 big blinds and we could chop for 5th place moolah. I was all for it. But there were a few hold outs who had 30 Big Blinds. Ive never been at such an evenly spread chip distribution with 15 to go. I had about 40k and blinds were 2k/4k with a 400 ante. So we played on. I have AK in BB and the kid who was raising and stealing a lot raised it to 10k which compared to my blind is a small raise. I decide to just call and hope to hit and check raise him. I do hit and Ace and he does bet and I check raise and he moves in. I gladly call expecting to see AQ but he only had A2. So now I got like 85k. And thats around the time we draw for the final table, sit and get a good look at stacks and blinds and decide for an even chop. A coupla short stacks but not worth nit picking. So sweet thats my 5th nightly in a row to make the money going back to last Bayou classic and including the IP last month. I sure wish I could cash in an actual circuit event soon.

Got Bob'd

Bout to go play poker. Last Monday night was the fucking worst shit. I got Bob'd like 5 times. First Bob knocks me out the tournament. Then he felts me twice and Justin once with 8 high all three times. This was all in the first 45 minutes of the cash game. He just kept calling raises with 8 high and flopping trips or 2 pair. He made Quad 7's the first damn tikme against my AA. I had just lost a pot with two pair of 9s n 8s to the straight (dude had 7,5) so i decide to call a small raise with 7,5. If you cant beat em, join em right? Well I flop bottom 2 pair. Im pretty tilted after running into like 3 coolers so I reraise Bob all-in. Well Bob had top 2. I left. I have never lost $550 in a 1/2 game that fast in my life.

I played for 20 min at Harrahs Sat night. I was there with a group goin out for a buddies bday. We were all just hanging out at the bar in the poker room so i sat at this open seat about 8 feet from my friends. I put $100 on the table and told my girl I was gonna play for 20 minutes. I flopped open ended in my first coupla hands. I bet the flop and the turn and still had 2 riders. Luckily I made the nutz on the river and got my all-in called by a guy who was riding with second pair and my straight card gave hime two pair. No respect. I guess i wouldnt have given much respect to the dude who only sat down cause he was at the bar 10 feet away with his friends. My last hand was a doozy. I was small blind with pockets 10s. I know its my last hand so Im not gonna get crazy. I was happy that my double up covered my slot losses so far. Well a few limp and the button raises. Im probably ahead most times but i decided to just set mine. The flop is all 5s. It checks all the way. I probably wouldve folded to a big bet but once he checked and then a 6 hits Im betting. I get my chips to put em out but the dealer skipped me and had the table check around. She claimed that since she called for the action that my bet wouldnt play. I argued and my friend who sat argued too but she didnt see it. She seemed to be claiming that I had hid my cards and was only betting cause I saw the check around. I had her call the floor. She sure seemed like she wanted me to be wrong which I dont get cause I tipped her a red chip on my only pot. Then the next dealer came up and he took her side. Then the floor came up and she whispered to him and then took her side. Then I explained to him exactly what happened and he quickly took my side. Funny thing is the button ends up calling anyway. Now Im a little scared he has a big pair but Im not folding. I shoulda checked the river to him so he could bet if he didnt have it cause if he calls my bet which put his last $50 in then I probably beat. Oh well. He folds and I rack up. I never even had to pay a time rake. I made $190 and was happy to have paid for the outting. Ive never had to call the floor that I can recall but frokm what Ive seen the dealers are usually right. Im glad to be 1 for 1.

Les Miles is a Grass Eatin Lunatic who has Fantastically Shut Me Up Again!

I sat down today to watch the LSU/Bama game by myself at my house. I was hopeful but fully prepared to see a struggling LSU offense lose. I knew our defense would keep it from being a blow out but knew that if we couldnt move the ball we had no chance. I put a steak on the grill and watched the first half which followed the pattern I had feared. I did see a spark in Jefferson before the end of the half and I told my buddy that I thought Les just wanted to let Jefferson fire some passes and was not thinking score since he wasnt calling timeouts as LSU was moving the ball at the end of the half. So we go into the locker room down 7 to 3. Not only was LSU down but Kansas and Penn State had both made huge comebacks to wreck my weekly College Pickem board. I had actually picked LSU but it was a fan pick. My brain told me the smart money was on Bama. And then came the second half. First let me say the MVP of this game was Drake Nevis. What a beast of a game and the sack that caused the fumble was so huge. Also let me give the runner up MVP to the FG kicker Jasper. But perhaps one of the top 5 moments in Tiger (aka Jacob Hester) Stadium was the play on 4th and 1. LSU was behind by one with like 8 minutes to go and Jasper could have kicked a 43 yd fg to put us up by 2. How you dont kick the FG there is beyond me. How you can muster up enough confidence in your offense to go for it there is also beyond me. Sure Jefferson had finally broke his no TD passes streak since the first game of the season but really? And how this team is 7-1 without their starting QB throwing a touchdown pass in 7 games is insane. Anyway, crazy ass grass eatin Les Miles (yeah he bends down and picks some grass and eats it when the pressure gets high) goes for the first down and calls for a short yardage package hand off to the running back with a flip reverse to the WR which goes for 40 yards and almost a TD. This was such an amazing call in the greatest regular season game in Jacob Hester Stadium since the Florida game in 2007 when we went for it on 4th down like 5 times and got it every time. After Ridley punches in the TD we go for 2 and Jefferson fires a bullet in to convert. Then Nevis causes the fumble and we get a clutch FG out of Jasper to go up by 10 with like 5 minutes to go. Then Bama drives and scores a TD which is why Les went for it on 4th because this Bama team is not just good but great.The ESPN guy said Bama was exposed as a one dimensional team after the game but I didnt see that at all. I saw a great running game and a shit ton of caught passes by Julio Jones. Now LSU has to get a first down or 2 to put the game away. First play is the controversial option play which nets us negative 3 yards and ohshit our QB gets injured and Lee has to come in. Lee had looked fairly bad today in his few series and everyone in the nation knew the second down ad 13 yd play call would be a straight up run. It was and now we see 3 and 13. Now for the next OMG how did he call that play play. Les lets Lee throw for the first down! Again how do you not punt and put the faith in your defense which is obviously the best in the nation? Well, Lee steps up and completes a pass that would go for 40 yards and the WR would run for like 10 seconds after the catch which may have also been the difference in the game cause giving Bama the ball with 18 seconds left instead of 28 when they only need a FG to send it to OT was huge. So there it is, LSU wins! So many plays and so many heros in this game. Nevis, Jefferson, Lee, Jasper, Ridley, the whole receiving core. Sure I've been bitching about the play calling, personnel decisions and clock management as usual. Hell Ive been bitching about Les since the Tennessee loss in his first season. But dammit if that dude isnt a great recruiter and it games like this that make players want to come to LSU and be a part of the Mad Hatter magic. Hell I will live with the head scratcher calls if we can always put the most talent on the field which always gives us edge in any game. Congratulations Les and the Tigers and the whole Tiger fan nation! Damn I wish I could rub it in to those Bama fans I played poker with last weekend at the IP.

Good Trip to the IP in Biloxi

I drove straight to the IP after work Friday.  Seemed kinda dumb to hauling ass to a little short stack turbo tournament. Last time i drove to Biloxi for the $350 i think i got AJ once and that was really exciting. I really figured I would bust out and play cash all night. I didnt have a place to stay but I figured I would get offers to crash if I needed it. I did. Thanks yall even though I stuck to my original plan of playing until sunrise and driving back. I had a good time in the tournament. Started at a very interesting table with two girls who the house had bought seats for. A nice touch putting dead money hot chicks in the game. I started out ok. Won a lot of little pots with bets. Then I raise with KQ and a limper calls out of position. He had a sweet mullet so I shoulda known what was going to happen. I whiffed and cbet and he pushed all in and I was getting the right odds to chase my pair assuming he didnt have a set. He didnt but I missed and was chopped down to half of the 3000 starting chips (thats with the extra 1000 for the $5 dealer toke). More to come shortly...

Meta Game (metaphysical that is)

Ok no excuses. Whatever. Im in the midst of a bad run. Ive made it worse by playing bad at times too. Inevitable I guess. I play for 4 hours and will be down a buyin and will be lookin to play another buyin to break even. The last time I played I did ok for losing a buyin. Just never had the ATMs at the table give me a big pot. In fact my favorite ATM who I beat in 80% of the pots took a bigger one off me to make up for all the small ones. People like that should never be allowed to have AA. I had AK on a king high ragged flop. FML. Im really starting to believe that my attitude makes my luck. You ever notice how the people who bitch about runnin bad tend to run bad? I think Im that way. Ive experimented with some mystical type stuff like reality creation or karmic manifestations but its so much work. Ive had good results though. Tipping every dealer before they deal has had good results. I bet most people just see it as a leak. I dont have enuff data. Theres this energy level thing done by this Abraham Hicks lady who believes in the Law of Attraction and when I do it I get big pairs a lot. But the reality is that im naturally negative and pesimistic and its too hard to play long sessions and not be your natural self. I think we saw Mike Matusow experimenting with this stuff last time he got in the top 30 of the WSOP. I think he would agree with positive results. Not very logical but whatever. I hope I get to play poker some this weekend. I wish the Belle had a 1/2 game. I think I will play the Sunday morning tournament. Hope to see you there.

Return to the Felt and the Computer

I just walked in to the Love Shack game and got blasted by my only reader. Apparently me talkin about a coupla hands ever now and then and whining about being card dead isnt gonna cut it. I have played a few times in the last few weeks and I played a $350 in Biloxi a few weeks ago but Im not gonna rehash any of it. Mostly I have been outta town visiting my son in Phoenix and having life shit pop up on poker night. I will say that last Friday I hosted a .25/.50 game at my house with just friends and the buyins were around $40 and we managed to get about $700 on the table. Unfortunately I had $400 in the game. I was on full tilt lookin to play big pots. I was down about $240 when I made a hero call with a pocket pair against AK playin it strong cept for a weak turn bet. His river bet was pot sized and I stuck it in. Maybe I fold if Im not stuck and pissed. After that I started big bluffing and then after that started getting my hands paid off. I ended up winning $40.

So I just kamakazied my way outta the $40 tourny. I was down to 4 big blinds and 2 people go all-in so I ask Chris if there were cash seats open to which he says a few so I call with 9,3 suited. If I win Im in it and if I lose Im in a good cash game. I lose and there were no open seats. Fuck me.

So now Im sitting here waiting. I guess I will just whine a little. So Biloxi sucked. Everytime I get pumped for a biggish tournament I get my feelings hurt by the poker gods. I pretty much blinded out of that fucker. I have never been so fucking card dead. I had pocket 10s once and 66 once. I never had any good Ace or King. Endless procession of J4off. I would be up so much this year if I never left Baton Rouge. Everytime I go to Nawlins or Biloxi it costs me half my roll. I never win at poker and if my girl is with me I dump to the slots too.

Congrats to my friend Linsey (who is always winning regular and womens tournaments) for chopping that tourney I played and also to Dave and Frank the night before. Oh and Devin too. 

Sooooo I finally got in the cash game. Actually I got on the must move table where the action usually isnt as good. More often than not the big gamblin cash players dont last too long in the tourney. I bought in for $155 and bulled a coupla pots and pretty much stayed between $180 and $150 for the next 4 hours. I moved to the main game pretty quick. Then foldfest. I got a good laugh around 11:30 when I flopped the nut flush after open limping on the button against the two blinds and checked the flop and turn and then pushed all-in for $160 on the river into a $6 pot. The funny thing was that one of them guys had two pair and really thought about calling. I played a coupla pots where I raised and missed and cbet and won the pot. I somehow got up to $250ish. Then I catch AK suited. Mr. 60% PFR made it $10 and I just wanted to isolate him so I 3bet to $30. I get 4 callers including Mr. Big Bet Bluff, Mr. 60% PFR and Bob who announced he was calling just to piss someone off. So theres $150 in the pot. The flop was A,6,2 two spades. I bet like $130 leaving myself $100 behind. Now what fuckin drugs must one be taking to think I can fold to a raise here. Answer: Mr. Big Bet Bluff. He thinks I have QQ. If I do Im still callin. Well he raises and Bob moves all his chips in. I know Bob is flushing. I have not clue with raiser has but Im callin. Well Im up against JJ and the flush draw. My hand holds up. Hiyoooo. Now Im sitting on $800. The reward for my patience and good spot picking.  I didnt sit on my chips and wons some more hands isolating against spewtard. I had AA twice and won a small pot and split a big one. I flopped top set and got all in vs a flush draw and ran it twice. Of coarse I won the first one. No regrets. I prefer the two run. I do think it hurts a little being known as a guy who runs it twice. It invites draws to play really aggressive against you. They maximize fold equity and split a lotta pots where they are behind. Maybe if I ever get a 50 buyin bankroll I will become a one timer. I guess I wont say what I won but it wasnt too much more than after my big triple up hand. I dont feel like a big winner since I dumped my last two poker sessions. I doubt Im even  in my last 3 sessions. However it didnt suck to book a nice win to get my roll back to health.

BTW Mr. 60% PFR you keep being flabbergasted after playing these pots so strong and getting your all in called by 2nd pair. Of coarse under normal circumstances they should fold but for God sake please consider your table image as a factor. Try having a pair every other time at least.

I want to say congrats to Will the Poker Monkey on his big hit in Biloxi. I read his blog and you should too. Probably you do because he links to me and well its way more likely you wandered in here through his site or maybe the Gulf Coast Poker site where he is featured and I have a little link too. I hope I get to play poker with him one day. Ive really had a good time playing against some big gulf coast names this year when they've come slummin in the $1/$2 games. I feel like I dont care who is sitting or what my seat is. I wanna play higher and better and have been holding my own in all the games Ive palyed lately.