I Remember It Like It Was Interesting.....

Went for a 3 hour session during the day today. I had my head screwed on straight. I wasnt worried about being down or up but rather trying to make good decisions. Good thing because I didnt drag a pot till I was down like $350. I picked up AQ of clubs my second hand and cbet a missed flop and then got bet into on the turn. I gave up. I played a lot of hands that were interesting to me. I made a few mistakes too. I raised a $6 straddle to $17 and the small blind, big blind and straddle all called. The flop was 9,8,2. I bet out $50 after 3 checks. I get called by the small blind and the other two fold. Then on the turn a six comes and the small blind open shoves. I only had $112 left and I was extremely confused by this guys smooth call with two players still to act and the flush and straight draws being out there. I figured if he had a made hand on the flop he would want to shut out the draws and then I figured if he hit his draw on the turn he wouldnt open shove even though it wouldve been the right play but this guy seemed like the type to check the nuts. I called. He had pocket Aces. I along with everyone else were simply baffled by how he played them. Oh well. I bought more chips. In fact I had to see the chip runner like 4 times in the first hour. After an hour and a half Im in the game for $600 with only $170 left on the table. I had one hand where I limped UTG with KK and the small made it $15 and big blind called and I made it $50 to go. He called. Big blind folded. Both my Kings are red. The flop comes all spades with an Ace. The guy bets out like $100. I just fold in disgust. I got pissy and called a raise with J5 of hearts from a tight old fuck who raised in early position. I flop a 5 on a low board. He bets out smallish so I call thinking he will check his AK on the turn. Well he bets smallish again on the turn. I just call now because fuck it. I river a J. He checks to me and I make him pay $40 more for his pocket Queens. Nice read self. I just see so many old dudes bet weak when they are weak. Any way that was the first pot I won with any meat in it. I coulda won a nice pot on the button but the flush hits the river and with 3 players to act behind the small blind bets out $60 into this $150 pot. I bet top pair on the button on the flop and got 3 calls. I checked behind on the turn. The guys shows us his bluff. Wow. He Showed another bluff a short while later. And I know he was betting anytime he couldnt win. He was a young too smart to fold kid. He came from another table with about $600. A while later Im in the BB with 77. This aggro bluffer kid limps UTG and about 4 more people come in. The flop is 9,3,2. I bet out like $15. He calls. the turn is a 6. I bet out $25. He pops it to $75. I just know he is floating me to bluff. I has raised me off two pots already. I took a good look at him. I got no feeling about his comfort level. But I know he doesnt have an over pair. He could have a 9 but I dont think he would raise there. There are 2 clubs out so he could have a flush draw but I didnt think so because I think he wouldve raised the flop with any flush or open str8 draw. Im just sure he is floating. I call and when another 3 hits the river I check and insta call his $90 river bet. He had Ace,4. Ship it you play happy fuck. Then I needled him a bit about having air and he explained his thinking and I explained that I knew what he was thinking and then he said in a pissy way "congratulations" and I said really happily "thanks". Its fun to go with your read even when its the torture chamber as long as you are right. My day was getting better now. This poor guy next to me got rivered 3 times in allin pots. Poker is hell. I end up winning a nice pot on my second to last hand before I had to go get my kid from school. Another bet happy kid ran his trip queens into my Queens full of Jacks. He folded the river to a $150 bet. The pot was about $300 and there was a one card straight I was hoping he had hit. Oh well. He thought a loooong time about calling me with just a Q and two Qs on the board. I shoulda bet $100. So I come close to losing $600 in my return and only lose $6. I walked feeling like I won ya know. Back tomorrow. The day game seems pretty sweet. A good mix of old retired dudes and young student maniacs. Basically the unemployed by choice.

Old Dude Hell. (Old People Love the Desert)

Not much to report. I havent played in over a week. The last time I played I told this old man in my most serious angry voice that he was a fucking idiot. Not because of his play but his fucking drunk old mouth. His play was horrible too but he kept shitting out on people and then rubbing it in. He didnt shit out on me though. He was ahead when the money went in. In the 2/3 game he pops it from the button to $40. Ridiculous over raise. He had been doing it for the last hour. The last time he did it he ended up all in preflop with the small blind who had picked up KK. He had A8 and made a straight. And then got drunker and talked nonstop to the guy he just felted spitting all the while. The kid eventually moved to a new seat and gave up the great postion in favor of not getting spit in his eye. When he popped it to $40 on me, I woke up with KK. We were both deep stacked and I was very sure I would get it in on a non-Ace flop. I just called knowing he would cbet the flop. Well he did but only for $40. I had a small oh shit alarm go off in my head because I would think if he missed he wouldve made it $100. I dismissed my alarm and raised him and he raised me allin and I called. He flopped a set with his pocket 8s. Good for him. I rebuy and pray for another shot at him. It was way later when he decided to start talking about how he had all the money and how all we play are Aces and Kings and then bragged about how I had to rebuy with my KK or something like that and then I called him a fucking idiot in the most serious voice with a dead eyed fuck you stare. Later when he busted a girl who had QQ with his J6 after all the money went in preflop and then he sorta taunted her the kid next to him just told him he was being rude to her. Well he got all offended and then had the floor called and then the floor came and he asked for the floor manager. I found it really amusing since basically the drunk old man with all the money is gonna cry to the floor about how we called him rude after he was clearly rude to nearly everyone. The floor manager knew him by name and Im sure he has to talk him down from being upset every time he plays there. He was on the 20/40 limit list and i really thought about switching games once he got called over. I really hoped this old dude would punch me at the table when I told him what I thought about him. I would've hit a sweet lawsuit jackpot there. I ended up leaving later after this different fuckin old ass clown mucked a bad beat jackpot. I, another guy and the old dude had limped in and the big blind pushes in for $25. I call with like Jack high, the other guy calls, and the old dude mucks A,10. BB had QQ and the board comes 3 Aces and no card higher than ten. It was so fucking depressing I just left. I decided to take a poker vacation and do some book studying. I said I was going to read this Ed Miller book I have twice before i go back but I havent even got through it once and Im dying to go play. I think I will go play after I finish it and just try to read it again in the mean time. Ive got a lot of good mp3 poker stuff to listen to also that my buddy in Panama dropboxed me. I wish I knew a good coach for live low stakes here in Phoenix. I really want to improve my game and I think books and coaches are great tools. Even if it just reminds me to pay attention and not play friendly fit or fold poker.

Back from Vegas and Getting the Typical AZ Treatment

Check out my pic above of the crazy people who repell from the top of the Stratosphere.

Well after my big 4th I went out 100th out of 860 in the $350 Deepstack at the Venetian. 20 out of the money. After that I learned how to play Pai Gow and had some fun for a couple days. I was driving back to Phoenix when the 2 mile high dust storm plowed the city (so I missed it). The day after I got back I played my tournament rush in the CAZ $140 nightly and never got a single hand. I pushed A10 hard cause it looked like the nutz. Actually I raised UTG and this chick didnt see my raise and limped in so she couldnt pull back the bet so she called the raise. How lucky am I. I flopped top pair and she flopped open ended. We got me all in and she turned the flush. Wake up bitch!!!!! I played a $50 tournament the other night and the blinds went up so damn fast that I was having to play all in steals within 4 rounds. My last hand I pushed in with 9,6 and lucky me the big blind called with K9. My cash games have been typical. Slowly losing while never ever having a high pair to play. I keep waiting for the curse of CAZ to be over but it just keeps coming. The Wild Horse Pass curse isnt much better because over there I get constantly 2 and 3 outtered on the river but at least Im in hands. Ive had a couple winning sessions and my loses have been around one buyin even when I played a 16 hour session in which I was very active. In fact I was 3 for three with 10,2 and each time I played them a different way. Once I over raised preflop and took it. Another time I limped and took it. And the third time I 3 bet the UTG internet star to take it. Of course I showed every one. I snapped off the same kid when he raised preflop from the button and triple barrelled an Ace high borad with his K,10 while I had pocket nines. I went with my read but by the river I felt the heat. He bet $45 into the river and the pot was over $100. I wouldve felt like $55 wouldve been a better amount. The $45 seemed pretty valueish. But I thought his body language was uncomfortable or maybe I just wanted to think that. I love crushing the kids who think they are so fucking smart. I actually tried a lot of stuff that session I dont normally mess with and I think it worked well. If I would have had average luck card wise that night I think I wouldve had a decent win. I was in a nice zone. Im watching the 7th season of HSP and watching Phil Galfond destroy the table with his crazy bluffs only to donk it off to Jonny Chan with a terrible hero call. The internet God may be one of those too smart to flod kids.

Day 1 in Vegas Get a 4th Place in the Nightly

Drove out to Vegas last week for the WSOP. Not that I was hyped up to play any events. I just wanted to play some small tournaments and see all the WSOP hub bub. I did have a little inclination to play the last $1000 event until I ran into one of my Baton Rouge friends who is a dealer in the WSOP and he told me how bad the structure was and encouraged me to play the Deep Stacks at the Venetian. So any way I drive out there with the plan of parking in the Flamingo. Thats the plan. No other. Play a lot and take car baths. I did have a small hope that my friends Elvis and Lindsey would let me crash on their floor some. Elvis had offered some floor space back in Baton Rouge a month ago. I dont know why I didnt just Priceline a cheap room somewhere. The second to last time I came to Vegas I had no place to stay either. I was there 4 days and got 7 hours sleep in the middle of the trip after renting a bed from a friend who was there for a wedding. For some reaon I just like being alone in Vegas with nothing but a backpack. I think its funny that I look like a street person who isnt worth robbing but really Im walking around with a nice wad of cash.

I show up and immediately buy into a $125 satellite for the $1k. Super turbo SnG but I really felt shitty when I busted out just because the players some how managed to make all the wrong moves. Really the worst poker I've have ever been privy to. People with 6 big blinds limping in with KK in late position with limpers already in the pot. I never got any cards and went out like 6th.

Then I buy into the $185 6pm WSOP nightly. I have cashed in like 6 out of the last 7 nightlies Ive played but that really never makes me feel great about my chances going into the tournaments. I start with 10k in chips. The field is only 270ish. By the time we get to 125 players I have swung between 5k and 12k. Im sitting on 5k when Elvis comes over to see my stack. I pick up AA. Finally a monster. I double up. Then I get moved to another table. I catch a big pair or AK or something and win a pot with a big reraise preflop. So sitting on 15k now and I pick up KK in the small blind as Elvis comes to sweat me again. I really wanted him to stay if that was the luck he was bringing me. A couple people limp for like $800 and this really cute girl raises to like 3k. I reraise all in for like 12k more. All fold to her and she tanks. She is really taking forever and looking me all like she needs to get a read. I really want her to fold AQ so Im very much looking comfy as hell. She calls. Ok here we go. She turns over 98 of hearts. Huh? Thanks for the free chips honey. She went on monkey tilt after that and was out in a few hands. I go on a good preflop run catching big pairs and big cards in late position in unopened pots. I get my stack up to 70k. Then we break the table. I get to my new table and its has a good many wanna be stars. There are two types of players outside of ABC players these days. The old guys who are too dumb to fold and the young kids who are too smart to fold. The old guys litter my cash games and river me often but I love them. They tell you exactly what they have by their bet sizes. The young guys litter the tournaments and make move after move. I just trap them and hope their shenanigans dont get lucky on me. There was this star child (ipod, hoodie, hat, shades, scruffy little side burns and a face that doesnt do well in prison)who early in the tournament was raising constantly and calling reraises with anything and he had run his stack up huge. He liked to talk about his play and the reasons he was doing things. Where was he now? No where. As the blinds got bigger his moves worked less and eventually he torpedoed himself. Well this new table has some hyper aggro players that will always be pushing the margins way too much. Unfortunately I dont catch cards and I lose about 40% of my stack over the next few hours. Unfortunately trapping only works if you get cards so its not a very good strategy all the time. But patience usually pays off. I do make a few blind steals and get respect because I never play a hand. Eventually I make the money bubble with like 20 bb. I basically played super tight folding a ton of AJ and KQ to raises. I play sort of a Kill Phill strategy with some position steals mixed in. We got down to two table and I made some progress mostly from raising with AA and getting reraised by this supper loose aggressive chubby kid with a backwards hat and a New York accent who apparently thinks 77 is a three bet kinda hand against the tightest player at the table. After that I really dont remember what happened but I chipped up to like 270k. Then I get AJ in early position and raise to 30k. Blinds are like 5k/10k at this point. I have been folding these in early position all day. Most of these players havent seen that and chubby guy gives me a call and maybe one other. The flop comes like JJ10. I check. Mr NY bets about the pot. Other guy folds. I move in. He insta calls with pocket 8s. Really? Thanks again dude. Now Im one of the big stacks with like 8 players left. The rest of the tournament is lame. Blinds eat me up as I catch no playable hands. We get down to 4 handed and one of the two constant raisers in the SB open shoves into me in the BB. I have 88. This guy has been doing this with a super wide range. I call myself allin. I was hoping for a naked Ace or an under pair but he has K,10. Yes El Diablo as Monkey would say. That's really the bottom of his range there but unfortunately it plays well against my hand. I lose my first coin flip of the day and go out in 4th. The payout is $3300. I tip the dealers $100 and clear about $3k. Looking back Im super dissapointed about the coin flip and Im pretty upset that my cards were so dead that I didnt get a chance to use my stack. Maybe I shouldve bluffed a few more times but the big stacks were so active that I think I played it right.

So my Nightly Tournament success at these WSOP events continues. I like my strategy. I play super tight and super aggressive preflop. I play pretty aggressive in late position against the right blinds and antes. I usually dont have a big stack until after the money bubble when the chips start flying. Sometimes Im one of the people who barely make the bubble with chips and I go out pretty quick. And sometimes I move up or even make the chop. Maybe one day I will win one of these damn things.

Special thanks to Elvis for letting me come in at 8:30am an crash for a couple hours until the $350 Deep Stack at the Venetian. Oh and fyi if anyone is playing with Elvis just push in. He flopped like 5 sets in the cash game and never won a hand. Sick.

Bye Bye BR for a While

My last poker night in Baton Rouge was at the Love Shack game thats no longer at the Love Shack. Its called the Tiger Den due to the LSU decor overkill which is really cool. I was kinda bummed that a lot of the people I wanted to see were in Vegas for the WSOP. So not only didnt I get to see them but the game was small. Well I guess thats not true. They were playing PLO when I got there and the maniacs were ridiculously deep stacked. Bob was sittin with like $1500 and GP was up a few buyins (for the moment). I sit with a measley $200. I fold for like 45 minutes. I never see a hand i want to raise or call a raise with. I finally see AA and one suited four. I limp. GP makes it $15 and gets 4 calls before it gets to me. I pot it for like $80 more. I get 4 calls. FML. I get out flopped by Bob who probably made $800 on the hand. So I fold along and see some flops and eventually put $200 in my stack. Well eventually I get Aces with one suited. This time I play it different. I limp to GP and he makes it 15 and gets callers and I just call. Flop is A,4,5. I get it all in against 2,3 and a flush drawing GP. I run it twice with GP but it doesnt matter cause the one timer won the top and scooped it. So that was it. I played about 3 hands and dumped it all. I shoulda rebought but I didnt feel like it. I went and played 4/8 limit and had a little fun. Pretty uneventful. Of course while write this Im sitting in the $350 tourney at the Venetian. Woot woot. Stay tuned.

Pissin People Off and Getting Pissed Myself in Baton Rouge

I've been playing a shit ton at the Belle and the Shop. Im way up in the 2/5 game at the Belle but moderately down in the 4/8 limit game. I play limit when I dont feel like thinking too much. Maybe there's a corelation? Im down at the Shop too. Ive lost a couple hundy in the PLO and half n half. Ive busted out of all tournaments and I dropped $200 in the only strictly NLH game i played over there. That was a depressing game. I would flop the nut flush, play it shitty and never get there. My last hand I went All in with QJ against my buddy in the BB who raised it to $25 without looking at his cards. I only had like $40 total. He flips over A9 and then flops an Ace. I decided to leave since I couldn't beat a blind hand.

I had an interesting scenario come up when playing a big pot with a close friend. This is a friend who I had outside of poker but we do play small games all the time. Any Im the one who got him to start coming to the bigger game in Denham. Anyway the situation is that I raised big preflop and we both flopped big hands. I bet, he raised, I reraised, he called, then I shoved the turn. He called eventually and I felted him and he left. He texted me after upset that I didnt check it out after the flop. He claims he would have soft played me. I dont remember us ever soft playing and frankly I never soft play anyone. I see other people do it and I dont mind but then again I think I would rather people not do that. I think some people feel like its unfair to the other players who had put money in and then folded. I had actually played a pot the night before with a mutual friend who we play in the same small game with and I popped him for a big bet on the river after my air bluff turned into the nut straight on the river. He folded after thinking long. He asked me at the crawfish boil the next morning what I had and never seemed to suggest I shoulda soft played him and my buddy who I felted was there and he didnt seem to think I shouldnt have put the screws to him. Maybe he was just mad because the pot was so big and it sent him home when I busted him. I did feel bad it was him but I still dont think I shoulda played different. I didnt have the nuts and I played the hand super standard so he really could have assumed I wouldnt be bluffing him and he coulda laid his hand down. If he woulda hit his kicker on the river (which btw I agreed to run twice) I would have probably bitched at him a little for thinking I was trying bluff him big and for then sucking out on me. Oh well. I guess when we all play above our financial well being we tend to get a bit emotional when we lose.

I had an interesting had I'd like to throw out here too. Im at the 2/5 NL game at the Belle. Its the wee hours and the game is on the verge of dying. We are 5 or 6 handed. I make it $15 to go in the cutoff with AK. The button calls and then the big blind who is a crafty local reg makes it $40 total. I hollywood a little like Im trying decide if I wanna see a flop. Im really just deciding if I wanna raise. I think raising is probably the play if I had a read that this guy 3 bets a wide range in a short game. I didnt. He hadnt really been raising too much. He seem to over raise every now and then to pick up the limps. But I did know him to be a thinking player so I could just assume queens or better. So I decide to call. If I spike then I play it. I only had like 60 big blinds so if he crushes me then oh well. The flop is K,10, both are spades and random 4. He leads out for $60. I raise $100 on top leaving my self $125. He calls. This is the interesting part of the hand. He just calls. Why? The turn is a blank. He checks, I ship the rest, he calls. He has Q,J of spades. Open ended Royal flush draw. The river blanks. He asks me if I woulda called an open all in. I think yes because why would he open shove a better hand than mine? Anyway how didnt we get it in on the flop is the question. I woulda shipped it if I were him. But I think he played it better than I woulda. He knows he has to hit. He assumes I cant fold for $125 more. So why not just call. That way if he misses then maybe his smooth call will spook me and maybe I dont ship the turn and he gets a chance to save it if he can see the river for free. Im sure there are plenty of people who would figure out some hand to be scared of and would check behind on the turn. Never under estimate the bad play capability of thee other palyers. Plus Im not a reg so he could count on me to make mistakes kinda like when I didnt 4 bet him preflop with AK. :)

Ok well Im off to the Monday night tournament tonight. Im $150 down for this trip. Hope I can come up a lot tonight.

Frikin Belle of BR is a Circus of Idiots

Holy f!#%ing shit. I sit down at the shit hole Belle of Baton Rouge to the 4/8 limit game. I see one flop and fold on my second hand. On my 3rd hand im utg with 99. I raise. Its the one position I like to raise with any strong hand other than AA or KK. I gets raised and then the little old asian lady in the sb reraises. I call. Flop is 984 rainbow. I bet 4 an it gets raised twice and I cap it. The turn is a 7. Now J,10 is the nuts. Little asian lady bets out. I raise. Other player folds. She calls. The river is a 10 making any J or 6 good. She bets out. I call. She flips A,J. WTF. FML. I ask her what fucking game she is playing and she she just smiles like she isnt sure if I ordered noodles or rice. The waitress asks me if I want a drink as Im getting up and I tell her get these mother fuckers a drink. I take my remaining $36 to the cage. In all honesty she probably saved me $36 by pissing me off enough to leave. Then I get in my car to leave and this car is behind me and wont move and another car is waiting the other way for my spot and I basically have to back out as if Im going to hit her car since laying on my horn didnt do the trick. That is the worst parking garage ever built. Some fucking 4/8 player must have designed it for a meal comp. Probably the same idiot who designed the elevators. Or maybe it was the idiot driving the golf cart full of people who just dumped their social security or welfare checks who almost ran over me because she doesnt think driving to side where people arent walking is a good idea. What a collection of fucking tards. Hurry up Pinnacle and dont hire anyone from the Belle except Dana, Terry, and Jack (the poker dealers).