Friday, February 13, 2009

Runner. Runner. Done. (Errr.)

Pretty standard preflop with short stacks. After that, there was nothing standard about it.

Stacks:
UTG with 13115
MP with 3550
BTN with 3320
SB with 2065
BB with 4950

Blinds: 150-300
Site: Full Tilt Poker
Dealt to BTN:J♦ A♦
Preflop:
1 players fold.
MP raises to 3,550, and is all in
Hero calls [3,320] [ all-in ]
SB calls [1,915] [ all-in ]
MP shows: 7♦ 7♠
Hero shows: J♦ A♦
SB shows: Q♠ Q♣
1 players fold.
Uncalled bet of 230 returned to MP
Total folds this street: 2
Potsize: 9235
Flop: 10♦ 8♦ 2♦
Potsize: 9235


So I flop the nuts and am about a 95 percent favorite. And then:

Turn: 7♣
Potsize: 9235
River: 7♥
MP shows four of a kind, Sevens
Hero shows a flush, Ace high
MP wins the side pot (2,510) with four of a kind, Sevens
SB shows two pair, Queens and Sevens
MP wins the main pot (6,495) with four of a kind, Sevens

Poker Hand Converter By Cardschat.com Poker Forum

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Surrounded by donkeys

Played an 45-person, $11 tournament last night and found myself surrounded by some of the worst poker players in history.

One guy had played 25 tournaments and cashed once. Another guy had played enough to "win" $20,000 yet has never, ever had a winning month online. (Clearly, he has spent much, much more than $20,000 in entry fees.) Then there was the guy who thought A-6 suited was plenty good enough to reraise all-in early in the tournament (then mocked me for folding a hand later in the night) and the guy who called him with a worse hand. There was another guy who late in the tournament reraised post-flop and then called an all-in push with 8-4 suited. There was no eight, no four and only one of his suit when he called. I guess he was counting on runner-runner for a crappy flush.

For a while, I was mad at myself for not being able to take these guys — and the other suspect players — to the cleaners. Really, at one point while playing nine-handed there was really only one player, directly to my left, who I thought knew how to play.

In the end, I did end up cleaning up. First place in that one helped cover for an 0-for-3 effort Monday night and earlier Tuesday. The climb continues.

Current bankroll: $1,290.

OPR ranking: 98.41. (All-time high.)

Monday, February 9, 2009

Well, not so good. But ...

Ended up 487th and 128th in the Daily Double. Cashed in the second one and almost broke even. Oh, well. The big thing about the Daily Double is if you can break even for a while, sooner or later a big score will come that could make a major difference in the bankroll.

Played an $11, 45-player SNG and a $22, 18-player SNG simultaneously to try to bounce back. Finished ninth in the 18-player after someone sucked out on me, but managed to come back from a short, short stack to win the 18-player, my first cash in a tournament above $11.

This is why a good bankroll is important. Before that cash, I was down almost $70 for the weekend. But since I'm playing within my bankroll, it didn't faze me. And the 18-player SNG paid $144 for first, so now I'm back at an all-time high.

Current bankroll: $1,182.

OPR ranking: No sense in checking until tomorrow after all those games tonight.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

So far, so good

Playing the Full Tilt "Daily Double" for the second time in my life. Two simultaneous $12 tournaments with 1,200-plus people in each one.

At the break after one hour, I was 18th in one and 22nd in the other, with about 700 remaining in each one. We'll see how it turns out.

A rough night

Sometimes you play horribly and still win. And sometimes you play well and you don't.

Played three tournaments Saturday night, including my first $26 tournament. Totaled $48 in and nothing out.

But here are the hands I went out on:

Tournament one: Ks8c vs. QsJd. I was short stacked but I still got my chips in as a 57-43 favorite. Villain ended up pairing his Q and his J. This would have been a forgettable way to end a tournament if not for the other two tournaments.

Tournament two: AdKc vs. KdQs. This wasn't the final hand, but it crippled me. If I win, I'm in the middle of the pack with three tables left (of five). Villain flopped a gutshot straight draw and turned a Q to win the hand. A bit of a loose raise early for him, I thought. A crazy call of my push, I believe.

Tournament three: AcQs vs. QhTs. Second straight tournament I went out after having someone dominated. Villain pushed from the small blind and I called from the big. He turned a T to knock me out. If I win the hand, I have an average stack nine-handed.

Some nights you want to kick yourself for playing poorly. Other nights, you simply shut the computer off and go to bed. No use losing sleep over taking bad beats as long as you played well.

Current bankroll: $1,080.

OPR ranking: 98.14.