Bodog: Insane Rush

I've been running pretty badly for three or four days on my favorite Bodog tables (.25/.50). I log in tonight a little after midnight once I get home from work. First hand I decide to play an 'implied value hand' to a 4xBB raise, I semibluff an OESD on the flop, turn the nuts, and I get the guy all in for about $32. After that? TPTK that's good, TPLK that's good, trips that are good, bottom boat flopped and called through the turn by AK, aces that hold up, TT overpair that's good, KK trips, QQ overpair that's good even though it's called down to the river. Etcetera, Etcetera.

The problem with this? People stop calling ANY bets from you after about an hour. I got up to $128 and it stopped. You know why? I told Cat. That's it, it's that simple. Got trips, guy keeps calling on what looks like a flush draw, i check the river, he bets as I hope, I call... outkicked. I closed out with $103.70 to preserve my profits.

Nice night, and now? Donnie Darko.

FTF Table: Saturday Night

Lessons in starting hand requirements can be found nightly at the FTF table. Drop by, pull up a seat, and take good notes.

FTF Table: Sunday Night

Nuff said for now, full story later.

FTF News: Parallel Universe

Have I stumbled into a strange new world? Or has Sly started to pwn lately???

I quote (well paraphrase): "I'm sticking around for 15 more hands; I just didn't want to hit and run"

PWN AWAY SLY, PWN AWAY.

Bodog: Love it, Part 2

Ok, I hate cash games. I normally either way to impatient or way too fancy. But I saw a soft $1/$2 table on Bodog and just had to try it. I was extremely patient (folded 20 hands in a row, literally), and was very solid and boring. I didn't purely bluff at all really, and rarely semi-bluffed. Then this hand came along. Check the link for the full HH, but here's the summary:

Gadgets: Verizon Wireless Broadband

This little jewell is the best gadget I've bought in years. In almost any decent sized city you can get high speed internet anywhere you can fire up your laptop. Elsewhere it's about twice dial-up speed. With unlimited access you can use it as your home connection as well as your travelling access. It's also great for avoiding Big Brother at work if you wanna check out FTF or even play some poker at lunchtime.

Price: About $200 for the card, and $79.99/month if your cell phone isn't Verizon, $59.99/month if you have a Verizon voice connection.

AA v. KK - 13.5 K GTD

Ok, I knocked someone out earlier when his Kings ran into my Aces. About 30 minutes later someone returned the favor for me.

Return to the Scene of the Crime

The last time I played this tournament I won $3062 for second place. I played a very solid, tight-aggressive game, but came up short 3 handed and heads up. There's quite an overlay in this one, and the only player I recognize is Fornelli. Hopefully I will pwn him heads up at the end. Wish me luck - I'll need it.

Start time: 7:30pm Central.

Well, sometimes you play perfectly and still can't win. Played a nice solid game, but was a little under average after the first break. No big deal, plenty of time.

I was dealt AKs in the SB with one caller in MP. I overbet hoping to get someone to push in response. The BB obliged with AQo. I caught a K on the flop, good right? Nope. Two diamonds were also on the flop, and he caught two more on the turn on river for a flush, King high. Nice.

201/374 ($57.00)

Ugly Screenshot:

Just in case you were wondering, my win percentage pre-flop is 73% or so.

It begins...

The tournament starts at 2:10 eastern. Feel free to drop by.

And not too much later... it ends. One horrible river play and I was crippled. Survived two all ins, to get back to yellow zone. Then was blinded back down to M of 5 or so and lost an all in blind steal.

Damage: ($109.00)

Mind Reading

Ok, not really mind reading, but hand reading. I knew the exact hand that Pyro has even though he thinks I'm full of it. I was so comfortable in my read of his hand that I didn't mind risking almost all of my stack to win the hand.

Pyrophoric posts the small blind of $0.10
Virge posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Virge [8c 8s]
Aine calls $0.25
liltidd calls $0.25
bus34 folds
Pyrophoric calls $0.15
Virge has 15 seconds left to act
Virge raises to $0.50
Aine calls $0.25
liltidd calls $0.25
Pyrophoric raises to $3 Hmmm... big pocket pair or AK here.
Virge calls $2.50
Aiakos sits down
Aiakos adds $5
Aine folds
liltidd calls $2.50
*** FLOP *** [Qd Js Ad]
Pyrophoric checks pretty much knew here
Virge bets $3
liltidd folds
Pyrophoric has 15 seconds left to act
Pyrophoric calls $3 definitely knew here even though the call doesn't make sense
*** TURN *** [Qd Js Ad] [Qh]
Pyrophoric checks
Virge bets $7
Pyrophoric: not the flop I wanted
Pyrophoric folds
Uncalled bet of $7 returned to Virge
Virge: i know a little trash talk among friends
Virge shows [8c 8s] (two pair, Queens and Eights)
Virge wins the pot ($14.75)
Pyrophoric: you dog
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $15.50 Rake $0.75

Anyone else not think TT is obvious (with KK also likely) in that hand?

Books: Blink

Blink has the one quality that I look for in a great book. It gives you a way to describe something about the world that you always known or suspected, but could never articulate or structure precisely.

Blink is about the "power of thinking without thinking." Like Malcom Gladwell's first book, The Tipping Point, it's more a synthesis of other works than an original in itself. However, the combination is amazing. Simply put, he places great faith in the power of rapid cognition - the first two seconds of thought. However, it's not just raw intuition, but the power of rapid cognition in the hands of an expert who has spent many hours studying a subject.

What does this have to do with Poker?

Many complex areas like war, the stock market, emergency rooms, police responses, and (my addition) poker, are too fast moving and complex to be subject to rigorous analysis in the moment. One example he gives is the war games leading up to the invasion of Iraq. The Marine colonel playing the part of Saddam decimated Allied forces in a matter of hours using the crudest of resources while the Allied forces with all of the latest technologies and gadgets were completely hamstrung by their decision matrices and structured leadership. Another example he gives is a prominent stock broker who, even after 100s of hours of analysis, makes his decisions based on a twitch in his back.

But, don't take my word on this book (easily in the top 5 of books I recommend), take Evy's word in a recent CardPlayer article.

LM: What do you do when you’re away from the tables?

EN: ... I also read. I used to read lots of novels, but lately I’ve been reading mostly nonfiction (Evy recommends Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell — a nonpoker book, but since it’s about making decisions under pressure, it will improve your game). ...

Gadgets: Razr V3c

I have now spent over a grand on cell phones and related accessories this year, and I've finally found a phone worth having. I bought it through Verizon so I get streaming video (ESPN, news, weather, etc.) wherever I want it. I miss my Nextel Direct Connect, but the Nextel phones out now just stink. My only concern is that now that these things are only $199 that everyone is going to have one.

Good stuff: small, bluetooth headset actually works well, voice dialing works, blue == cool, Virginia Tech wall paper, Charlie Daniels ringtones

Unknown: Battery life. I have my doubts that something this small can support 3 hours of talking.

Bottom Two Pair

Earlier this week at the FTF table I had bottom two pair on a flop. I thought the other player, a forumer, had TPTK. After some raising and re-raising we ended up all in. I was right, but she paired her kicker on the turn. At that point I was lectured about what utter nonsense it was to play bottom two pair. I disagreed, and I still disagree as long as you think the other player(s) just has a top pair or overpair. But it bit me again tonight.

Skortch summed up my impression of the hand.

Dealt to Virge [5d 7s]
four20_82 raises to $0.65
Virge calls $0.65
jaybird904 calls $0.55
cmaggi2 calls $0.40
*** FLOP *** [7c Jh 5h]
jaybird904 bets $7.95, and is all in
cmaggi2 calls $7.
Virge: if i'm wrong on this one, i'm giong to bed :)
Virge has 15 seconds left to act
Virge raises to $24.55, and is all in
cmaggi2 calls $16.15, and is all in
Virge shows [5d 7s] Nice.
jaybird904 shows [Js Td] Very Nice.
cmaggi2 shows [Qc Qd] Also very nice..... I'm 64% or so to win at this point
Uncalled bet of $0.45 returned to Virge
*** TURN *** [7c Jh 5h] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [7c Jh 5h 4h] [4s]
Virge shows two pair, Sevens and Fives
cmaggi2 shows two pair, Queens and Fours
cmaggi2 wins the side pot ($30.70) with two pair, Queens and Fours
jaybird904 shows two pair, Jacks and Fours
cmaggi2 wins the main pot ($25.15) with two pair, Queens and Fours
jaybird904 is sitting out
Skortch: ouch No kiddin Skortch.

FTF Table - Friday, January 6

Well, that stunk. I log on and the following people are in the room: Deemon, AmSlim, @Ray, Dekker, and Kent Hrbek. Will is 'birding. Deemon leaves and I take her seat. $3.50 later EVERYONE is gone except for 'bird Will.

I must need a shower, because I know they're not afraid of me.

Update:

So Dekker came back. And I went all in because I thought I knew what the other two had. I was right. Still lost all of my money. The FTF table is just killing me.

Weekend Poker Schedule

Saturday:

$22 Satellite SNGs on Bodog for the 100k if I don't decide to accept a stake or just buy in.
5:15 central - $30 Deep Stacks on Poker Stars (first deep stack, extremely excited)

DirteAA is playing in the 30K on FTP. I'll probably rail him.

Sunday:

1 pm central - 100K Guaranteed on Bodog. I hope sly doesn't take me out before the final table.

I have $52 in stake money left from my original $300. I hope to spend all of it this weekend.

Friday Update:

The remainder of my initial round of stake money is paying half the entry fee into the Bodog $100K. At least if I get lucky this time I'll only have to give up 1/4 of the take.

Saturday Update:

I'm stuck at work so no Deep Stacking for me. Please shoot me now.

FTF Table: National Championship

Austin is officially nuts, and Pyro is the Nuts. Nice run at Scabbed Llama tonight. I came in 15th. I was at work the whole time, but apparently I got lucky all in with my blinds four times in a row. Nice.

Damage: $25. AKs v. QQ. I put him all in preflop. He actually made the right call and won the race. Congrats.

Vince Young for Governor.

2006 Goals

A few weeks ago I posted my 2006 poker goals on FTF. This is as good as of a time as any to post them on here now that I'm all reflective after getting pwned by PMB AND the river tonight.
To be clear, I want to reach these goals by Dec 1, 2006, which is a little over one year since I began playing.

Personal Goals:

1. Develop the discipline to completely focus, and not play if I can't.
2. Refine my record keeping system significantly.
3. Master the numbers side of poker - pot odds, implied odds, odds of improving, hand rankings, game theory, etc.
4. Master the concepts in the books I have read to date before moving on. (HOH 1 & 2 and Sklansky specifically)
5. Significantly improve my short handed game.

Numerical Goals:

1. Reach a profit per hour (for at least one month) of $50 per hour by December.
2. Specifically I would like to master a SNG level that would allow a consistent PPH of $50 or more.
3. Win place or show in six MTTs of any level.
4. Place ITM (no matter how low) in a 'major' MTT. ($100k or greater)
5. Play twice for a significant amount of time in live games in Las Vegas or other casino venue.

I'll post my grades at the end of every month. For December I came in 2nd in one tournament - the $17.5K GTD on Bodog. Five to go.

FTF Table - Tuesday, Jan 3

Forumers Present:

• Dubois1212 (left early to play a tourney, came back after winning 2K)
• SlySelea
• Deemon
• Zerbert
• Cailtyss Rulien
• PostModernBoy
• AllenRay4
• Danielburke
• DixonEdwards
• DLOOO (left as soon as I got there)
• Willw9 (didn't play, but stopped by to ask some PT questions)
• Maki (briefly)
• JustinWilliams (went broke obviously)

Results:

Ok, this is why you don't play when you haven't slept for 36 hours, and the only person who has ever been able to pwn you at will shows up. I don't really care about the money. It's about the cost of a decent night out, but if I'm actually going to track my results it sucks.

Damage: 210 hands, ($124)

Two of those (for around $50 of actual loss, or $100 if I had won) were actually from serious hands where I was all in with the best hand on the flop and lost on the river). The rest was just being an idiot.

I promised Huck I wouldn't pull this crap any more. :-)

Magazines: Poker Life

I finished reading the current CardPlayer cover to cover on my JAX trip, but I still had one flight to go. Let's just say I definitely wasn't going to do legal work for the hour or so flight from Houston to Austin.

Had to search two stores before I found something: the premiere edition of Poker Life Magazine. Good stuff.

If all of the issues match the premiere it'll be a great magazine, but how often can they have full length interviews with the likes of Annie Duke, Phil Ivey, and Greg Raymer in the same issue anyway?

If you like poker and/or persons of the female gender you should at least get the first edition.

Don't have time to do a full review, but let's just say that Phil Ivey's A/V setup PWNS.

2006 Gator Bowl

I'm off to the 2006 Gator Bowl to help that young lady cheer on my Virginia Tech Hokies and hang out with about a dozen of my closest friends in (ugh) Jacksonville, FL. At least I'll be driving a convertible, hanging out at the best darn Irish pub (Lynch's), and seeing Virginia Tech play live for the third time this year.

Downside? I don't think I can play the $100K GTD tomorrow on Bodog, and there's no $17.5 so I think I'm out of poker for the day. So much lost EV. So sad. I think I'll surivive.

Edit: 35-24 Hokies! 'Bout time. I've been to 8 straight bowl games and, until this one, haven't seen a win since New Year's Eve 2002.

Bodog: Love it.

Have ADD?

Bodog is here to help.

You literally have 10 seconds to check, call, or bet.

How fast is that? I folded QQ and AKs in the 17.5 GTD because I didn't get my bet in fast enough. It's THAT fast.

Chris Ferguson would lose his freakin mind. The great thing is you really don't have time to second guess yourself and you can do a tournament in half the time.

Oh, and did I mention OVERLAYS. If you call yourself a serious poker player and aren't playing on Bodog I have some news for you: You don't understand poker. Harsh? Yes. True? Also yes.

Why such a strong statement?

Poker is about two things: 1) people and 2) math - specifically expected value. That's it. You want your money in the middle when your read of the people and the odds tells you that you have positive EV.

How does EV relate to Bodog? One word: Over-FREAKING-lay.

They apparently can't attract enough players to fill their guaranteed tournaments. The $100K last Sunday only had $50K of player money in it. So if you can actually play the game they call poker you are automatically making 100% EV in profit. This may not be technically sound, but that's how I see it.

It also helps that I have some coin in my bankroll thanks to them, but that's beside the point.

FTF Table -New Year's Eve

Ok, so it was New Year's Day, but if I tried to track it by the morning I was playing rather than the night it'd get wierd.

No Sly tonight. So sad.

Pyro was there and.... that's about it. Some player named xThe_Kidx. He was up like $50, but playing crap (but they were sooo sooooteed) cards not named The Panger. Nice.

Anyway, I bought in with $25.00 and quit with $28.75. Very nice. Some guy went all in with an A J x board. I had A T. I'm pretty sure he didn't have two pair, and he's probably playing weak aces so I should be good. Turns out I was right: A 7. Score.

Pyro shared a nice little post about the FTP RNG with me. Check it out for all the details, but here's an excerpt:

Howard Lederer: our deal is rnadom on three levels
Howard Lederer: first we used an audited rng
Howard Lederer: but we also use a deck queue
Howard Lederer: basically each deck on the site is put in a queue after it is used
Howard Lederer: then when we need a deck we pick one at random
Howard Lederer: then we run it through the rng
Howard Lederer: then after each round has been dealt
Howard Lederer: the remaining cards are shuffled during the action
Caitlin215 (Observer): wait the deck that s in play is shuffled during the action
Howard Lederer: there is no way to know what is coming because trhe cardes are not set
Howard Lederer: right cait

So take that all of you bunny chasers!!

Can somebody say Butterfly Effect?

Target Acquistion: Cash Games

So you have a few minutes to play some poker, and you'd really like to make some money for your effort. I stink at cash games so I stick to the .10/.25 rooms until I know what the heck I'm doing.

Tonight I found a room where 50% or so of the players were seeing the flop on average. Loose. Very nice. The average pot was $2.35. Let's see. 4.5 players per flop means at least $1.00 in the pot post flop. And they can only get another $1.35 in there on average? Passive. Nice as well.

Loose + Passive =

Sweet.

Room name? Apple. Appropos.

There's a big stack in the room with about $40, but after I watched a few hands I concluded he was no Huck or Fornelli to say the least. He probably saw a lot of flops and got lucky.

First hand? AKo. Nice. Shorty with $4.50 puts in $2.00 pre-flop. Very cool. What does that mean folks? She has JJ or QQ. How do I know that? Well she wouldn't have been quite as happy about TT I imagine, and if she had rockets or kings she woulda min raised or some other goofy move. I decide to put her all in so I raise $9. Everything folds to her. And she folds her pocket JJ (after consulting with her husband she adds). I say "lol" and move on. She made the wrong decision, I get $2, life moves on.

Next hand, I get 4 4. Premium. Husband consulter raises to $2 (anyone want to put her on a hand? It's tough I know). Flop comes with Q x x. I. Somebody with a short stack goes all in with JQ, husband consulting girl calls with, drum roll please, QQ (nice), and I call with my MONSTER 4 4. Ok, so the total damage to my stack is $7.50 or so. I consider it an investment. I reload so I can get Big Boy's stack now that he knows I'm an idiot.

After a few hands, including a nice longball bluff, I'm dealt A T o, I raise $.75. And the following madness ensues.

Seat 1: Target ($42.55)
Seat 7: Virge ($28.70)

DrawChaser calls $0.50
Target calls $0.50
SittinHigh calls $0.50
*** FLOP *** [As Ts 8d]
Virge has 15 seconds left to act Took me a second to think about this. I want him to reraise me cuz he'll do that because he sees me with pp4, but I also want to a) pump up the pot and drive out the flush draw. Alas, I have a goal, Target. If he's on a flush draw then God bless him. I'll get him next hand if he hits.
Virge bets $1.55 Sounds about right.

DrawChaser has 15 seconds left to act I know he's on some kinda draw. Not flush because that's always instacall, must be some wierd str8 draw. Something tells me he's not calculating his outs and odds. (note that the names have been changed to protect the innocent)

DrawChaser calls $1.55 He said later he was chasing a double gotshot. Bless his heart.

Target raises to $6 I knew it! Ok, so he has an ace, better yet. He has Aces AND eights. How do I know? I don't know. It just feels right.

Virge raises to $27.95, and is all in I almost second guessed myself with "what if he has trips?" But no, I'm trusting my reads, remember?

DrawChaser has 15 seconds left to act
DrawChaser folds After some tough soul searching he decides his double gutshot isn't worth his buy-in.

Target calls $21.95 Yeah baby.
Virge shows [Tc Ah]
Target shows [8s Ad] Dead man's hand. Knew it.

Begin Rabbit Trail.

That makes two times I've called this hand spot on. First time was in a live game preflop with some guys standard raise. Wierd right? No. It's his favorite hand and I was watching him when he peaked at his cards. What did I have? Same hand. Got a lot of money in the pot on the flop. On the turn I told him "Your Aces and Eights aren't going to to win" and he folded. Pwned.

End Rabbit trail.

*** TURN *** [As Ts 8d] [2c]
*** RIVER *** [As Ts 8d 2c] [5d] Wow. No suckout.
Virge shows two pair, Aces and Tens
Target shows two pair, Aces and Eights
Virge wins the pot ($57.55) Pwned.

20 minutes. $20.50 profit. I am now profitable for A.D. 2006. Rock on.

ATo may become my new favorite hand. Profit for the week on this hand? ~$55

Now, for the screenshot:

FTF Damage Update

The grand total for 487 hands: ($34.15). Not good.

How did this happen? Easy. Three hands:

1. Stupid call on the suckout flush. ($24.00)
2. The bad beat CT laid on me with the top boat. ($31.50)
3. The stupid all in with aces when I knew it was time to sit out for a while anyway. ($25.00)

Without the two bad plays I'd still be up $21.50 on the night despite the bad beat. Dumb. It's the reason I bleed in cash games (well besides playing around with other maniacs like Huck, but anyway).