Not A Win But . . .

Not a win but a nice cash at Nordica in a $200 added game kindly provided by Skinski owner of 5th Street Forum and author of House of Poker Blues blog. There were two of these but I missed the first one. This week I remembered and played a solid patient game to take 2nd.

Wonders Will Never Cease!

Having nothing better to do I was looking for a game to play but nothing really appealed until I logged onto Vegas poker 24/7. I saw a Razz sng but it didn`t look like it was going to fill up and I didn`t really want to wait. I was about to log off when I noticed a 7 stud hi/lo sng that needed one more player. Now I like Razz and regular 7 stud but I`ve always struggled a bit with the hi/lo version but as they say practice makes perfect and as it was only a .50+.10 I decided to give it a go. I started off ok then started to fall behind until I managed to scoop a huge pot when I hit a diamond on 7th street to give me a flush to go with my low hand. I never really looked back after that, with a decent chip lead I bullied the short stacks around once the bets became crippling to their stacks and by the time I was HU I had over 9k of the 12k chips on the table. My opponent almost staged a recovery but aggression won out and I took down my first 7 stud hi/lo sng. The winnings were only $2 but the pleasure comes from winning a game I consider myself pretty poor at.

Wingows Ring Session II

Ventured onto the 6 seater rings again, this time I sat at a.10/.20c game. I sat down with $20 and left 45 minutes later with $22. A small gain but always better a small profit than a loss I guess. The game was definitely different to the slightly higher stakes I played last time with a couple of very loose and aggressive players joining at various times. Did I feel more comfortable? Well yes, at least initially, although I`m not sure wether that was down to the stakes or because I was in the mood to play. All-in-all I think I`ll play higher again next time, I found the players at that level easier to read. I may try a 9 seated game next time, I`m not convinced short-handed is ideal for me, I still tend to limp with hands I know more experienced players would raise with. The thing is I`ve spent over a year playing highly disciplined tight-aggressive poker and breaking those habits is pretty difficult.

Rounders Radio Freeroll

This Monday night tourney only pays 1st place but it`s for a $60 coupon to the Sunday $20k GTD. I managed a respectable (but unprofitable) 5th place from 124 entrants. I probably wouldn`t even have bothered posting this except for a couple of hands that happened during the game.

Hand No1-For simplicity I`ll call SB seat 1

I`m in the cut-off seat with AA

Blinds 25/50
3)UTG Raises to 150
4)Fold
5)Fold
6)Calls 150
7)Calls 150
8)Calls 150
9)I raise to 500 (Hello I have a VERY strong hand)
10)Fold
1)SB calls (he only has around 100 chips left)
2)BB Folds

3) calls 350
6) calls 350
7) calls 350
8) calls 350

Ok no-one believes me

Flop 8d-3c-6h

Action is checked to me. I push all-in for 1330 chips
Everyone folds except for seat 7 who calls with his remaining 1325 chips
He turns over 10-10

Turn Qd
River 7s

DM wins 5305 chips (look no suck-out, this is not a bad beat story :D)

In certain respects I can understand the player who called my all-in, he did after-all have an overpair and I suppose it was possible that I was making a move with AK.

What mystifies me more are the other 3 players who called my significant re-raise in the first place. It wasn`t like I`d been playing loads of hands and although I`d certainly raised before at no time had I come over the top with a re-raise. Certainly no-one had AA,KK,QQ,JJ,88,33 or 66 (all these hands would surely have called- either that or someone made a great laydown) So I can only presume that 1 or 2 had an ace with whatever kicker, maybe the other/s had a small pp or KQ, KJ something in that range. Certainly it seems unlikely anyone had a hand I would consider worthy of calling a re-raise with.

It must be said I was a little worried to get so many callers, obviously not because I was worried over the strength of my hand, rather more about the possibility of being out-flopped. Once I saw the flop I knew that unless someone had flopped a set I was ahead which is why I elected to push and either take the pot there and then or at least narrow the field to 1 or 2 opponents.

Hand No2

This was at the final table with 8 or 9 players remaining. I was short-stacked with only around 7 or 8 BBs

UTG min raises
UTG+1 re-raises all-in (he has me covered but not by much)
I`m next to act and I have 10-10

Normally this is an insta-push hand given my stack size but with the action before me I go into the tank and virtually run the clock down before deciding to fold.

Everyone else folds round to UTG who calls, he has AA vs the UTG+1`s 33. No help from the board and the aces hold up and there is one less player at the table.

I commented to the table that I`d folded 10-10 and one player asked why?

It`s a reasonable enough question, my answer was a min-raise followed by an all-in was too much action for me to push against. I then jokingly replied that my Mousey sense was tingling.

Joking aside there was a certain amount of logic in my decision. Firstly people at final tables are usually pretty decent players. They`ve survived the minefield of maniacs and obviously haven`t made too many mistakes during the game.

Secondly play changes a little at final tables, more than ever players are looking to get paid off for their good cards and early position minimum raises are often the sign of huge strength. If someone sees it as weakness and re-raises they can either come over the top and either take a large pot uncontested or end up HU as an 80% favourite.

Thirdly the player who did go all-in had done so before a hand or two earlier and had turned over AQ. If I called I was likely to either be racing or either a massive favourite or dog against him. Normally I`d probably take that chance but there was the initial raiser to take into account.

If I had called there would have been 400+800+1600+6223+6100 = 15,123 in the pot, the initial bettor would have been calling 4623 chips to win that. That`s odds of 3.27 to 1. Given he raised from UTG we would have to put him on a decent hand, either a big pp or AK, AQ, AJ. With the size of the pot vs the amount he had to call and given that he knew he would see the turn and river for free he almost had to call whatever hand he had,we know of course he had AA.

Now I`m not saying that I worked all this out before making the decision to fold, much of this is post hand analysis. What I`m trying to get across is that although some decisions seem obvious it`s always worth thinking before you make your final decision and listening to those gut instincts. I`ve no doubt my mind had done some of this analysis even though I didn`t consciously realise it at the time.

I Won My Own Tourney!

I set up a small buy-in for the regulars at the poker.com forum. This was its second week and I managed to win it. I was in the top 3 for most of the game then re-raised a call and a minimum raise with 10-10. I pushed all-in only to find that the minimum raise had KK. Fortunately I had him covered but it left me quite short-stacked and I had no choice but to push all-in several times just to take the blinds and rebuild my stack. I was called by a shorter stack at one point but my A-8 beat his JJ (We were 5 handed at the time) and I arrived at the final table with a decent enough stack to be competitive.

We got down to 3 just in time for the break and unfortunately one of the players experienced disconnection problems. I sympathise, it happened to me last Sunday and I blinded out of 2 tourneys because of it. He at least managed to get back on with some chips remaining but was soon eliminated. HU I felt in control even though our stacks were pretty even and after an interesting battle I crippled my opponent when we both limped into a pot and I flopped a flush. I checked, she raised, minimum I think, and I pushed all-in. I was expecting a fold but she called and revealed 2 pair. No help on the turn and river and she was automatically all-in next hand which I won.



This other 2nd place was earlier in the week. I nearly didn`t play because my bankroll was running low on the site. Final hand I was all-in with A-10 vs QJ and ahead on every street except the river where she completed a straight. If I`d won that hand we would have had even stacks and who knows. Nonetheless a nice boost to the old bankroll.

In Tribute . . . A Murry Moment

Playing the Poker Dream skins freeroll tonight when this little gem occurred.

I have a stack of approx 3,600.

I`m dealt QQ UTG+1, blinds are 150/300 and I raise to 1,200.

Button is the only caller.(stack approx 5,000)

Flop K-7-8

Not a great flop for me but I fire out 1,200.

Button calls.

Turn 9

I check and button checks behind me

River 10

We both check.

He has 66, and makes a straight.

Firstly why would you call with 66 against an early position raise of that size?

Secondly why would you call with three overcards on board with your only hopes a set, which could already be insufficient or a backdoor straight draw? The only thing he could beat was a stone cold bluff or a lower pp. Mystifying play that I can`t get my head round at all.

Ring Game!!!

Yep, you`re not misreading the title, I actually played in a ring game earlier. What`s more it was NLHE shorthanded, and .25/.50. Ok I realise that`s not exactly huge stakes but it`s the biggest I`ve played online. The thing is I have money at the old wingows site that I can`t withdraw at the moment so I thought what the hell I`ll try and build a few points with it and see if I can eventually withdraw it.

I really wanted to play at a full table but for some reason there aren`t any .25/.50 9-seaters and I didn`t want to sit at a .50/$1 and be shortstacked. So I sat down with $50 which gave me enough muscle not to be an easy target for being pushed around. I ended up only playing for about 30 minutes but left up $20 which I consider a pretty decent rate for my time. I left in part because I wasn`t really in the mood and partly because I was up close to 50% or my buy-in. I think that`s why I`ll never be a great ring game player. Once I`m up a reasonable amount I don`t want to lose it.

I`m not a huge fan of rings but I`m going to continue playing short sessions with that money and slowly build up the length of time I stay and hopefully end up with a decent amount to withdraw once I`ve built up enough points to do so. Maybe in doing so I`ll get comfortable with playing NLHE as a ring game. I will say that the play was less manic at that level (compared to the real micro-limits) and if I can build up my roll a little more I`ll step up to .50/$1. I know I`ll feel more comfortable at a full table but I can see even from that short session that short-handed is probably more profitable. I think I`ll be doing some serious reading on short-handed play over the next few days.

Crazy Night At Cake

My intention for tonight was to play the Rounders HORSE freeroll but things didn`t quite work out as planned. I was registered for it but for some reason the table wouldn`t load. It was probably because I already had two games going at Cake poker. Now Cake is one of those sites I`ve just never got along with, in all the K9 games we played there I managed to reach a final table just once. I always seemed to go in with the best hand only for some miracle card to pop up and send me to the rail. Well I hand $3.50 in my account and decided I`d take it to a ring to try and work it up to $5.50 so I could enter the money added buy-in, and I thought I might as well play the freeroll whilst I was there. My very first hand at the ring I had KK and doubled up to $7 in that hand. I fled the table and registered for the buy-in.

Now the forum that had organised these games had described them as crazy payouts because the payout structure was all messed around with in the freeroll, 3rd place payed more than 1st etc. Well in the buy-in my usual luck struck, UTG+1 I min raised with AA (I was pretty short-stacked and wanted at least 1 caller or ideally a re-raise so that I`d end up HU), one caller and the flop comes king high. I check and the caller fires out a bet which I come straight over the top of. He instacalls and turns over AK. Two cards to come and I`m in the region of 85% to win the hand. Of course the turn is a king and I`m off to the rail cursing my luck.

The freeroll had started much better with me tripling up early on with KK but after that hands were few and far between but I didn`t really mind because there was a prize for bubbling that was better than actually cashing. That actually made for an interesting game, trying to finish in a particular place is actually rather difficult but I actually managed to do it finishing in 31st place.

The unfortunate thing is that I found out the better prize for bubbling was actually in the buy-in, not in the freeroll. That`ll teach me to read posts more carefully LMAO. At any other time I`d be furious with myself but as I have no real intention of playing at Cake again I`d rather someone win those few cents than me. Besides which I enjoyed the challenge of aiming for the bubble.

The Sweet Smell Of Success

I`ve won my fair share of MTTs now and although I still get a kick out of winning it`s not the same rush that I had with my early wins. However sometimes a win has a special quality that has me pumping the air and shouting "YES!" and I`ve had one of those today.

I was asked if I`d mind sparing in the poker.com forum league again and as I had nothing better to do I said yes. It was a short-handed 6 table MTT and I started off ok but had a few setbacks and by the last 2 tables I was very short-stacked. I then hit a lucky hand that set me up to reach the final table. However I was still pretty short-stacked by the time I got there and I found myself down to just 900 chips with the blinds at 300/600 and 5 players left. The blinds were approaching when I looked down at 9s-10s and I decided it was time to go for it, UTG had folded and I pushed, the other 3 players all called and proceeded to check down the hand. Things were looking rather bleak on the flop but I hit runner runner spades to give me a flush and 3,600 chips. I was back in the running and it wasn`t long before we were down to four players, me and three players representing the same team as each other. I was still short-stacked and facing a strong line up. Well I picked my moments and to cut a long story short I took the chip lead and eventually won the entire thing.

More Rounders Success

For the second night running I made the final table in the Rounders Radio freeroll. This time it was NLHE and I finished 3rd after playing a rocklike game throughout.

There are times I love some of the inept players who frequent these events and this key-hand illustrates why. Dealt 77 in the BB there were two limpers and the SB completed. I simply checked. The flop came 10-7-2, SB checked as did I, the third player to act made a minimum bet and was called by the button. The SB immediately pushed all-in and I couldn`t hit call fast enough. I was absolutely convinced he didn`t have 10-10 and after the other two players had folded I was proven right as he turned over 10-4. No help for him and I doubled through from 5.5k to around 12k. That hand set me up for the rest of the tourney, from then on I was able to just play solid ABC poker and although I had to get lucky once hitting a 2 outer to beat an overpair my progress to the final table was pretty smooth.

You Can`t Beat Luck

I have just finished a marathon HORSE freeroll over at Vegas poker hosted by Rounders Radio. From a field of 178 I took 2nd place and I`m quite frankly depressed about it. I played badly at the start and I was down to 119 chips by the fifth level, the stud hi/lo. I then came back, with a little luck and clawed my way to the final table where I played great poker just to survive. I watched the bigger stacks fall by the wayside until I was HU. I even managed to get close to even at one point but I just couldn`t hit the right cards at the right time. It`s frustrating because my opponent was not a good player or maybe he was a genius so far above me in poker skills that I just couldn`t conceive what he was doing. However when a guy calls off 8-10% of his stack with 7-2 suited I tend to have doubts regarding his ability. He actually won with it too which is why this post is titled as it is. That wasn`t the hand he beat me with but all night I watched him hit, time after time after time. I probably should have had a little more patience and waited for the games I`m stronger in to come round but the antes and bring ins were getting heavy and I needed to pick up a pot every now and again just to stay in the running. I will say that he played quite well HU but with the cards he was getting it really wasn`t that difficult.

Storming Weekend

I`m going to review this as a long weekend starting from Thursday when I took 3rd in the 7 card stud freezeout at Merge, no screenshot unfortunately. Friday I improved on my placing and took the entire thing down. I played solid throughout and ended up with a 2 to 1 deficit when it was HU. Things got worse and I was down to around 2,000 chips with my opponent on around 22,000. Well they say a cornered rat is dangerous and so is this mouse.



I love this tourney, it`s a regular little cash cow for me. I`ve monied in it probably 40% of the time I`ve played it. I also like it for the players, there`s rarely any of the bad graces that seem to be in most NLHE tourneys these days. The players are there because they like the game and there`s rarely any serious donk play there. Although I did get called that in todays game. Rightfully so as it happens. I wasn`t paying as much attention as I should have been, and noticed that I had been dealt K-x-K, everyone had either folded or limped and I raised only to notice as I clicked that the last player to act had an ace showing. He immediately re-raises, everyone else folds and I`m looking at a raise that will destroy my already small stack if I call and miss. I thought about it for a brief while and decided that it was unlikely he had rolled up aces and pushed all-in. He insta calls and the cards roll over to reveal he does indeed have A-x-A. Fortunately for me I hit a second pair and he doesn`t. This prompts the donkey smiley popping up on screen. My first comment is "whatever" followed by my explanation that I was aware of what he had and had decided to gamble. Surprisingly he apologised for the donkey comment and we finished the game in good spirits. See what I mean about the difference at these tables? Actually he had the last laugh anyway, I was shortstacked and pushed from late position with a pair of nines, he called and flipped up rolled up sevens and although I had a brief hope of stealing another win with a flush draw that was crushed when he hit his fourth 7.

Anyway back to the weekend, Saturday I hardly played but did manage a solid 13th in the Poker Dream Skins Freeroll. This is played purely for pride, a contest between the various skins that are hosted there. K9 Poker Room has won the last 2 months and we set off towards making it a hatrick with a solid performance from our members again in this game. 5 players in the top 20 (scoring positions) and 2 of those made the final table.

Sunday was where I had the really outstanding performance. I played the $2 limit badugi tourney for the first time.


A very enjoyable if tough game.

Then I was asked to spare for one of the poker.com league teams and took down 5th place and a small cash for the team I represented.

I finished that just in time for the QCAP buy-in and it looked like I was on for another win only to see it snatched away on the river when my opponent filled up her house to beat my straight. I can`t really blame her for calling on the turn with 2 pair although my check-raise did offer some clue that I had hit something pretty hard. Perhaps I could have gotten away from it but I thought she most likely had a set.



Finally I won some money for my Full Tilt account by calling in to Rounders Radio, I`ve no idea how much I missed the early part of the show. During the show the subject of all in or fold tourneys came up and I mentioned that we sometimes played them at poker.com by gentlemen`s agreement. We ended up having two with Ace Jones, myself and some other regulars participating. I won both and picked up not only the prize money but a Rounders Radio T-shirt too. No screenshots from those, not really worth it.

And finally today I played the badugi tourney again and guess what . . .



I`m consistent at least lol.

Catching Up

It`s been a while since I wrote anything probably because I had a mini-break and if I don`t play much I don`t write much . . . well it is a poker blog.

Nothing significant to say right now but I`ll post a few recent results here then do a weekend report next because I had a stormer :-D

Not entirely sure when I picked up this addition to my rapidly expanding trophy cabinet but I`ve got to say I`m loving this tourney



Then there was another win in my friends forum game. We play a small buy-in every week with a freeroll for the regulars every now and again. Fun poker with nice people, just the kind of games I like.