It’s gotta be a sign. The study area of this year’s comprehensive exam is the area abutting the north side of Hollywood Park.
A site visit this weekend is highly recommended by the exam’s administrators. Could any analysis of the study area be complete without some field research on the operations of the neighboring casino?
At some point last year someone (probably Iggy) dubbed me a poker blogger. Which was a little odd, considering that at least half of the posts I made were political in nature. Obviously this blog has become somewhat less political post-November. At any rate, I’m not sure how many readers I have, but it seems like there are certainly people who check in everyday, and that sort of puts a little bit of pressure on me to perform. Add that to the fact that some people have actually clicked through some of my poker site links and signed up, and now I feel even more pressure to return the favor by posting something about poker.
But what to post?
(more…)
I’m off.
Going up to the Bay Area for a Planning Conference to try to get me a job, take a break from school, and possibly redeem myself at San Pablo or plunge back into the limit games of the Oaks (I know, I know).
My buddy has a home game lined up for me tonight in the South Bay, so the thought of meeting my cousin for dinner down there crossed my mind, but it turns out he’s got a home game in the East Bay. His home game sounds a lot like the ones I used to play, complete with Anaconda, Baseball, Follow the Queen, and all those crazy games. I told him about Omaha 8 last night, and he seemed intrigued.
The format for tonight will be $20 buyin .25/.50 NL, but I’ll be doing my best to increase the buy-in or reduce the blinds. I’ll also do my best to get people out to a casino afterwards. It probably won’t happen, but no one can say I didn’t try.
I’ve been doing most of my online play at Full Tilt Poker for the last week and have had a pretty good go at it. Out of five days of play (small sample, I know!), I’ve been in the black on four of them. I’m not sure how many hands that represents, but I’ve cleared $44.54 of the bonus, which should give you some indication of how much I’ve played.
While I’ve generally done well, you do often see the same players at the table night after night, and a fair number of them seem tight-weak. This has forced me to do a bit more bluffing and slow-playing. It’s rare that a true live one enters the waters, but tonight a fish sat down at our table and suddenly one third to one half of the players sprang to life, playing weaker cards and raising to get heads-up against this guy. I had the good fortune of being in two pots against this guy that padded my account by about half a buy-in.
So here comes the hand we all wish we had played:
BB has about $30, Fishy Guy has about $25, I’ve got them both covered with $60. BB is a semi-aggressive, somewhat solid player.
I’m on the button with [9c Qc].
SB posts the small blind of $0.25
BB posts the big blind of $0.50
EP posts $0.50
UTG folds
EP checks
MP calls $0.50
MP2 folds
Fishy Guy calls $0.50
CO folds
glyphic calls $0.50
SB calls $0.25
BB checks
The flop is [7s Tc Jc]
SB checks
BB bets $3
EP folds
MP folds
Fishy Guy raises to $10
glyphic has 15 seconds left to act
Damn. I really really want to play my open-ended straight flush draw.
There’s $3.50 + $3 + $10 = $16.50 in the pot. The pot is laying me 1.65:1 and I have 15 outs against top pair/overpair/straight draw/flush draw/two pair/set/made straight.
Hmm… Hmm… If only I had Kc instead of 9c.
If I call and the BB goes all in, that’ll be another $18.80, so I’m potentially going to lose half my stack here. (I forget how much SB had, but he might have been able to do some damage, too)
But I can count on Fishy Guy to call and basically lay me almost 2:1 for my half-stack, right?
Argh.
And I’ve got position.
Oh, but with the pot this big and our relative stack sizes, position isn’t going to help.
glyphic folds
SB folds
BB raises to $28.80, and is all in
Fishy Guy folds
Uncalled bet of $18.80 returned to BB
BB doesn’t show
BB wins the pot ($21.85)
The commentary, by the way, consists of all the things I was thinking, but not necessarily in the order I was thinking them.
I’m pretty sure Fishy Guy had crap. He tended to play bad hands and bet with top pair, no pair, poor draws, etc.
BB, on the other hand, probably didn’t have the nut flush draw or a flopped straight. I’d say two pair or a set is most likely.
So. Good fold? Worth risking half the stack?
