Category: Poker

This says it all:

The rest can be summed up in three hands:

Cracked the hammer with pocket nines early on with a nine-high flop. The runner-runner seven deuce only gave my opponent two pair to my set.

Limped with KJ spades under the gun. Flop was all rags with two spades and I put out a bet hoping to take it right there, but Iggy smooth-calls me. The turn is a K and I bet out again. This time Iggy puts in a big raise. I re-raise him all-in for a little bit more and he calls. I miss my flush and my top pair is no good against his set of threes.

Doubling Iggy up left me with less than a starting stack, but still a lot of breathing room. Still, I got impatient with folding and when the SB raised my BB twice in a row, I pushed with A7. Of course, he calls with AJ. Oops. Flop holds both a J and a 7 and I’m out in 94th out of 109.

Not content with simply being a losing tournament player, I decided to lose two buy-ins at the cash tables, too, giving back my prior three days of winnings at Full Tilt.

Poker as a procrastination tool can be so -EV.

Just as I finished the last post, my turbo freeroll started up.

It’s nice to be chip leader after your first hand.

Update 3:24 PM: Came in second out of 857. $12.50! These turbos are a total crapshoot, but that’s kinda what makes them fun (especially when they’re free).

I’ve probably mentioned that I can’t stand tournaments–multi-table tournaments, sit-n-goes, whatever. There’s something about putting in your chips while you have the best of it, suffering a brutal beat on the river, and getting knocked out after investing your buy-in and 1-4 hours of your life with nothing to show for it that just doesn’t appeal to me. In a cash game, you tag the idiot, re-buy, and wait for him to make another mistake. In a tourney you don’t have this option.

Still, there’s something to be said about being able to multiply your buy-in by a factor of 10, 20, or more. I think if I played a lot more tournaments, that luck factor would be reduced substantially. As they say, you will find the same group of men and women at the final tables time after time. More practice might also help me suck less.

But practice costs money; or does it?
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You have one day left to register for the next stage of the World Poker Blogger Tour:

Wednesday, March 30, 9pm ET
PokerStars
$20+2 buyin, NLHE tournament
Password: thehammer
Listed under the Private Tournaments tab.
Open to bloggers and readers.

So far there are only 17 registered players. Probably our weakest one-day-before showing yet! Get up off your duff and register already.

As usual, I will pass on the tourney due to academic considerations.

Poker break time! Sit down at Full Tilt Poker, open up two .50/1 $100 NL Hold’Em tables and play for about 30 hands on each.

Straight 1, Table 1:

Kd Qc on the button. Serial raiser raises it from MP right after I noted he raised Q9 in LP. I call and so does the SB. Flop comes 8h Td Jh. It’s checked to me, so I bet $8 at the $10 pot on a semi-bluff. SB min-raises to $16. Preflop raiser folds. I’m getting 4:1 to call, but probably more than the requisite 5:1 in implied odds if I get my straight. I call. The turn brings the Ac, making my straight. I’m wondering how much I should raise when the SB bets all in. I call. The river is the Js. No flush, but possible boat. He shows Jd Kh for trips, and I take down $162.50.

Straight 1, Table 2:

Td 8d in the BB. 3 limpers including the SB. Flop comes 3s 6c Qd. Checks all around. Turn is 9d. Ooh… flush and straight possibilities… and straight flush! But I can’t call a huge bet here. Checks all around. River Jd. Straight flush! SB checks, I bet $2 into the $3.80 pot and take it down when everyone folds. I show and no one says a goddamn thing. Ingrates.

Straight 2, Table 1:

5c 6s in the CO. 3 limpers ahead of me, SB completes, and BB checks. Flop comes 3h 7s 4h. Woah. SB bets $2 into the $5 pot. The BB and one of the limpers calls. Well, this just won’t do at all. I raise another $5. SB calls. Turn comes Js. I bet the pot ($23) and SB calls. SB must have something more than a flush draw. Maybe something very strong. River comes 9d, eliminating flushes and boats, and I don’t fear a higher straight (I even check to make sure the flop didn’t have any promising higher draws). I just pot it again for $69 and get called once again. I show my 7 high straight and the SB shows a flopped set. I take down the $204 pot.

Straight 2, Table 2:

Well, I’m up quite a bit… better call it a day soon. 6c 3s in the BB. 3 limpers, 1 poster, and the SB completes to make it a 6-way flop. The flop comes 4s 5s 2d. Wow. Again?! I decide to come out strong and bet the pot ($6).

First limper raises to $12. Everyone else folds.
Glyphic raises to $25
First limper raises to $38
Glyphic raises to $92.40, and is all in
First limper calls $54.40

I’m getting paid! I show my straight and he shows his set of deuces. Turn is the 2h and all of a sudden I’m broke. The river is the As and I look around the table to see the 2s safely tucked away in his hole cards. First limper takes down $187.80 and I type in the note that he’ll risk his entire stack with bottom set. Not the worst mistake in the world, but… ask the SB from Straight 2, Table 1 if his set was worth 95% of his stack.

…

All of this is too much for me. I close my tables, note the bankroll status in my spreadsheet, and decide to get back to work. After blogging it, of course.

Questions:

Doesn’t some of the play above seem to indicate that the FTP $100 NL games can be quite juicy?

Isn’t getting four straights in the course of 30min / 60hands a bit unusual?

Should we be worried that the difference between a losing session, a winning session, and an amazing session is one hand? Isn’t that why my roulette junkie self plays these games?

Shouldn’t I get back to work?