He's baaaack!

Actually, I never left. Just got too bogged down with work and life to put in the quality time here. Sorry, y'all. With that out of the way, onto the last week or so...

I woke up last Friday with this compelling urge to not go to work. You know, anal glaucoma (can't see my ass going to work). Well, I cut a deal with myself that if I work a half day, I'll play in the weekly tournament ($60 entry, $20 rebuy and a $20 add-on). So I battle my way thru a half-day at work and make it to the tournament only missing 3 hands. Not bad. I happen to get seated at the hardest table in the tourney too. We had Tony, who is a real solid tourney player (knocked out Phil Helmuth at this year's $2,000 Omaha 8/b WSOP tourney), Gary, Shannon, and a few others. Oh fun! I didn't make it til the 2nd break. *sigh* I really need to stick to cash games. Oh wait, haven't I said that before? So I donated $100 to start my night. Yay!

Now that I was knocked out of the tourney, a $1/$2 PL Dealer's Choice game started and I sat down. Bought in for $150 and proceeded to make a profit of $600 that night. The details are a little sketchy at this point, but the number is right, and hey, that's the important thing.

Saturday was a long day. I had thoughts of heading to the big Saturday NLHE game ($5 and $10 blinds), but had made a promise to myself that I would not go until I had made $2000 in my playing bankroll. I had a little over $1700 (from the last 4 weekends or so) so I stayed away. I keep hearing stories that it's very beatable if you don't mind "gamboooooooling". We will see, I guess.

I ended up heading out to my regular Saturday night game at @ 6pm. For the first 3 hours they only have a 3/6 game with a 5/10 kill. I sat with a rack of white chips ($100) and in the next hour, I proceeded to lose $97 of it and never scoop a single pot. Why I keep trying to make moves against 3/6 calling stations is beyond me. And about the time I bought in for another rack, I had a little talk with myself (more like I sat there and listened to myself reprimand myself). Apparently I listened because within the next 2 hours, I had built up my stack to @ $350 ($150 profit). About this time, the 1/2 PL dealer's choice game started up. Well, I didn't want to be the reason the 3/6 game broke up (they were down to 6 with me in it), so I stayed and played for a little bit longer until it just got painful to listen to one of the older players try to dress me down for betting a hand in which I didn't have a made hand, yet, but was a 60% favorite to hit my hand and win. Never ever ever try to argue with a nit, dammit.

After a few more hands, I decided I had had enough and moved to the 1/2 PL game and had a blast. I was able to make some moves and I hit some hands and before I knew it, I was up to around $800 in my stack. Two hands stick with me that I thought I would post to remind myself that sometimes, luck does roll my way and other people can get cold-decked.

The first hand here is against Mario, the guy who crushed me the previous weekend with quads over quads. He had made another killing in the above mentioned 5/10 NLHE game earlier in the day and came to play in the 1/2 PL game here. He had about $300 in front of him, I had about $400 in front of me. He's UTG and raises max to $12. Two callers and I'm in LP and find A4s. I call. Everyone else folds ($48 pot). Flop comes a ridiculous 235r. I flopped the wheel (Ace thru five straight). Mario bets out a pot-sized bet ($50). One other player calls. I raise it another $200, figuring the pot is big enough that I don't mind taking it down right there, but if I get a caller, I think if the board doesn't pair, I can take a HUGE pot. But I really expected to win the hand right then and there. To my surprise, Mario says, "Well, I guess I'll go home early tonight" and calls! With his preflop raise and crying call, I figure he had to have a big pocket pair (PP). The other player folded and my $200 raise was enough to set him all in and so once the other player folded, we turned up our cards. I show my made straight and he flips up KK. The turn and river don't help him and I take down a good sized pot.

The other hand was about 6 hands later and I was still on a heater. I know that I did not play this "right" and that I had the wrong odds etc. but sometimes, I just know it's coming. Yes, I know this sounds like total B.S., but while my play is based in math, I like to trust my gut instincts. It is almost NEVER wrong.

I get dealt 33 in the CO. 3 players had called and I limped for the $2. Cody, on my left, on the button, raised max to $12. One caller and I called. The flop came 567r. I flopped a gutshot straight and nothing else. The EP player checked as did I. Cody bet $20 into a $39 pot. EP folded and I should have folded. I didn't. I knew what was coming. Seriously, I knew it was. I called and you know a 4 came on the turn. Sure, I had the idiot end of the straight, but I damn sure knew that Cody didn't have an 8 betting it the way he did. I checked the turn and he went all in with his last $80 and I called and needless to say, the river didn't help him and I took down the pot. While I wouldn't advise making this play, it paid off, wrong as it was. I officially became the table villain at this point. People were gunning for me, not respecting my preflop raises and such, but it only helped build my stack up to almost a grand.

It was when I eclipsed $1000 stack that I should have left. Did I? Nooooooooooo. I wanted to try to "fight thru" the fact that I had been getting cold cards for about an hour and a half. Three hours later, I was down to $700 ($500 profit for the night) and finally called, "Uncle!" and quit for the night. Funny thing was that all I could think about was how poorly I had played the last couple of hours and how irritated I was at myself for staying longer than I should have. Hopefully that is another lesson learned. I spewed back $300 in chips trying to "fight thru it". Dummy. Time will tell if I learn to not do that any more.

On Sunday, I took the day off and promised the skirt that I would work next weekend to make some extra income for the house and not just the bankroll. I enjoyed a lazy day of doing nothing of importance and tried to refuel for the upcoming week at work. Little did I know what work was going to entail...make a long story short, a $10,000 part got messed up due to a miscommunication from my boss to our crew and he tried to run me up the flag pole. That did not sit well with me and I called him on it in front of his boss. After 3 days of being pissed off at work, my supervisor made a public apology to me and hopefully that is the end of that. Though, I am switching crews to work under a guy who will go to bat for his people and who I have a better shot of getting promoted from. Funny, I am trying to get promoted, yet I plan on leaving in a few months...hey, I can still try though, right?

I played a little on Tuesday night at a home game after work. It also happened to be the night that all of that happened at work. I did it as a test to see if I could block everything out while I played cards. I got there and it was 5 handed, with me being the 5th. It was a single $2 blind, NLHE game. I was able to completely focus on the game and tune "life" out and banked a little $60 win after a couple of hours. That was a nice boost after having such a shitty day at work. That also put my current playing bankroll to just over $2300 for the month playing no higher than $1/$2 pot-limit. It's not my entire bankroll, just the one I'm playing my local games with. The rest of it goes into savings to save it up for "the move" in May.

I was asked by my soon-to-be supervisor, yesterday, if I wanted to work this weekend. Well, I had promised the skirt that I would, but I told him no, not after the week I had, no thanks. I then called the skirt and she came up with this deal...I can play all weekend, but the first $250 I make goes to the house to cover the money I would have made by working Saturday. Sounded fair to me, so I have a game tonight, the big game tomorrow afternoon, my regular 1/2 PL game Saturday night, and also a game on Sunday. Should prove for a long, but fun weekend. I'm very curious to see/play the game on Saturday. I'll try and write up each days events this weekend, at the end of each night. No more lapses, ok? ;)

Turning Point

So here I am, at 6:15pm on a Sunday, the second week into the NFL season and I really do not miss watching football. WTF, over?

Seriously, though, I don't entirely miss it. Sure, if it's on and I don't have anything else going on, I'll sit and enjoy a game, but it just doesn't have the hold on me like it used to. I guess with all that is going on in my life right now, I have realized that there really is more to life than just sitting there, watching 10 hours of football on one of my only 2 days off a week. It's kind of refreshing not "having" to sit and watch the games. This is due, in part, to me being too busy to play fantasy football this year. Well, that, as well as getting my personal life in order and getting serious about my poker playing, all of which have had a big impact on me making better use of my time. Novel, eh?

Well, about the weekends play...Friday I went up and played some $1/$2 PLHE. Once again, I felt completely in control at the table. Made some good plays and was able to cash in on my bigger hands to the tune of a $271 win for the night. Not bad for 3 hours work.

Saturday, well, was exciting. It started out by me getting a phone call from my buddy, Randy, saying that he wanted to come with and play some low limit hold'em. While I really thought he would not fare well, I did not mind bringing him along. So, around 6pm, we met up at the game and I introduced him to my "main" poker room. He was nervous, but settled in after a short bit. As they were bringing back limit hold'em, some of the older regulars came back to play. We decided to play some 3/6 w/ a 5/10 kill. I started out crushing the game, applying all that I have learned the last few months, but after about 2 hours and guys calling capped preflop with 24o and cracking me, I was down about $140. No biggie, I figured. I just hoped they kept playing those hands and they did. Poor Randy got into two big hands with me when I held KK and a flopped set and I pretty much sent him packing, down about $150. But he must have had fun as he asked if he could come back. By all means, bro, sure. I was pleasantly surprised by his play, too. He held his own, but just ran into some big hands.

After those two big hands and a few others here and there, I quit the 3/6 to go play in the 1/2 PL dealer's choice game down only $40 for the night. I was happy with the come back, but was hoping some of the weaker players would leave the 3/6 as well and test the waters in the PL game. Alas, they stayed away. :( The good news, though, was that some weak players did find their way into our game and after about 4 hours, I found myself sitting on a stack of $573 ($200 of it was my investment) for the night. About this time, the following hand came up. Whatcha think?

$1/$2 PL Omaha 8/b:

I am in LP with AJJ6 double suited. I call the $2 and limp, as do 4 others, including the blinds (Pot: $10). Flop comes QQJ. Nice. It's checked around to me where I bet pot. I get one caller (Pot $30). Turn brings an impossible J, giving me quad Jacks. I bet out $15 and Mario calls (Pot: $60). River brings an interesting K for a board of KQQJJ (there was no flush possible) and me holding quad Jacks. I bet out $15 and Mario thinks for a few seconds and raises me another $50. I stop for about 0.1845 seconds to evaluate the hand and decide to reraise pot (another $190). I hesitate for a few seconds before I make the move to reraise and he insta-reraises me again. I know he doesn't have enough left to make a full raise (he had another $92), so I insta-call and you know what happens, don't you? Yes, my quad Jacks got their arms ripped off and then soundly beaten about the head and shoulders quad Queens.






*Letting that sink in*









*Still*







I wonder what my face looked like. To be honest, it really didn't upset me at all. Sure, it sucked to drop $374 in one hand, but it wasn't like it was a bad beat. I was behind the whole way. For all of you Omaha players out there, quads over quads may be more common than what I imagine, but man, that just sucks. So here I was, bruised and battered, but only down $1 for the night. All things considered, I hadn't lost anything. I used that to keep me even keeled and when the game broke, I left with a total profit of $54. To me, that was one helluva an accomplishment. I simply refused to let that one hand, albeit one really big hand, put me on tilt and throw me off my game. The fact that I perservered and continued on my game was something that I am going to build on and keep building on. I think that was an important step I made regarding the psychological aspect of my game. A turning point, if you will. As well as I have been playing of late and the money that I have won because of it, that $54 was the highlight of my recent accomplishments.

That being said, I am upset at myself for doing something (or in this case, NOT doing something) that I have chastised myself far too often for doing. As big of a hand as that quad Jacks was, I got completely blinded by it and never once stopped, save for that 0.1845 seconds, to attempt to put my opponent on a hand. I simply thought that I was going to get paid, because I hit quads. Whether I could have/would have laid it down at any point is a cow's opinion...it's moo (Friends reference). It's the fact that I didn't stop to try and narrow down his holdings is something that, in the long run, is going to cost me too much damn money. I simply need to try and do this on EVERY SINGLE HAND and I'm not, yet.

The hand in question, I could have narrowed down to two or three holdings that he had, if only I had stopped to think. So, needless to say, I still have plenty of things to work on in the upcoming days/weeks/months. It's a never-ending process, this learning stuff. Good thing I have an insatiable appetite for knowledge, especially for all things poker (though I always said that if I ever won the lottery, I'd become a professional student, as I am the world's biggest 5 y.o. always asking 'Why?' and 'How?').

So, in the end, the weekend was another winner, but, and possibly more importantly, I also came away with some more insight into myself and more awareness of my weaknesses, which is always a good thing, imo. I feel I made one poor read and one poor play on Saturday, as well as getting blinded once. Back to the books and then back to the tables!

I would like to say thanks to someone whose opinion I respect and who emailed me recently and gave me a big compliment. It will only strengthen my thirst for knowledge for the game. Thank you.