semester begins
vltava, Sep 12 2010
Hit the 40k VPP mark for the year and I'm halfway to 50k. I'm very happy about my progress considering I have not been trying very hard for the past couple weeks. I was slightly up at the $60 and $38 STT's following my BOP win, when my new laptop died in the middle of a session, and as a result of not being able to get back online, suddenly I was down, and my $55+5 ROI on SharkScope jumped into the negative. I guess I could have switched to my other computer, but I was putting all my eggs into the basket of trying to get the new laptop back up and running, and I failed. Waiting on a cashout to get that compy fixed so I can return to the SNG grind. (One of my Asperger traits is that disruption of my routine and expectations throws me off, enough so that I don't want to grind/practice, and the nonfunctioning status of stuff which I normally depend on qualifies as such.)
In the meantime I've been splashing around in various games. Took a couple shots at WCOOP events. Got close to the money in the 8-game $100k. I also joined bluefirepoker and I'm studying hard to improve my game. Listening to Galfond, Senti, and Kirkre think through their hands out loud as been a huge help to me in actually having a thought process for estimating my opponent's range. I tend to play based on a set of memorized patterns and general principles, which is acceptable for STT's, but leaves me totally adrift and doing strange things in other games. Also when I play cash games now, I am playing fewer tables (2 for stud and mixed games, 4 for hold 'em), and I'm focusing on 6-max, so I can give every hand the thought process it deserves if necessary. I had a marathon overnight session playing 6-max 1/2 NL where I got antsy from constantly table selecting, and I ended up just joining a ton of them. Really bad idea for the approach I want to take to the game now: I want to play very very well all the time and improve. I did win several buy-ins, but I ran insanely well, winning all my 14-15 out hands, and not getting sucked out on when I had a big hand. I think if I had run at expectation, I would have been down a shitpile.
I finally got the info for my bank which I needed to cash out via wire transfer, and cashed out down to 6k and change. While part of the reason is that I'll put the money to good use IRL, also, I'd like my roll not to be so large in comparison to the stakes I play that the money doesn't feel meaningful.
Now when I am grinding, I will be mass multitabling $38 and $60 STT's, and I will also work on my cash game, sometimes 2-tabling .50/$1 8-game and sometimes 4-tabling .50/$1 6-max NLHE. I know that's super nitty, but I don't feel a lot of pressure to make a lot of money right now, so I am going to do my best to study and improve my game. I know I can probably beat 1/2 when I am focused, but again I don't feel pressure to go for the glory, nor do I want to be aggro with my bankroll any more. I will just focus on making fundamentally sound decisions at .50/1 for now. I'll also be playing $40 tourneys at the Bike.
Meanwhile, the fall semester just began at my local junior college, and I am taking two classes: accompanying and applied piano (the latter basically means private lessons). In case any of you know anything about classical music, I am accompanying a friend, an excellent violist, in Hindemith's viola sonata, and my solo repertoire is not yet established. I think I will be preparing the Schumann concerto for a competition next semester, and probably focus on romantic and modern repertoire, so something like Prokofiev's sonata no. 7 in B-flat. As I'm no longer planning on pursuing attending university in the short term, I no longer need to prepare a bunch of stuff that doesn't interest me in order to fit into the box that universities want to put you in. (I.e., everyone has to play a Bach fugue, a Beethoven sonata, and one piece from one of the two later periods.)
If any other developing midstakes player on LP is in the LA area and serious about your game, I would be interested in possibly meeting up on a semi-regular basis and talking about poker and the poker life, especially if you can play at the Bike from time to time, although a pure online player would be cool too. Send me a PM if so.
Oh, I want to play the rebuy at Hollywood Park on Fridays, but I never get going in time. I have trouble getting places on time in general. If anyone reading this is busto or playing micro stakes, I would ship you like $10 on Stars every Friday morning to call me and berate me for running late, and to get my lazy ass down to Inglewood and get my share of the free money that is floating around that ghetto poker room. Or you could take 1% of my winnings in the tourney. Whichever you'd prefer ($10 is a strong favorite to be the better deal).
epic Sunday (very long post)
vltava, Aug 30 2010
I dumped about $500 a few nights ago playing PLO 100 all night - badly. Also I had to cash out about 1k for bills and expenses, and paid off a $100 debt to a friend with a transfer, leaving me with about $1700, but I started grinding it back up with the $16 and $27 SNG's and was back up to $2200 Saturday night. As Battle of the Planets rolled over at midnight, I checked the leaderboards and I had just barely squeaked into earning a ticket for a last-Sunday-of-the-month BOP triple shoot-out (tenth place, high orbit Neptune - $20-$49.99). While I hadn't received the ticket yet, cashing in BOP reminded me that I had an old unused ticket, so I signed up.
Since there's a potential for a huge payday by just winning two STT's in a row, I decided to play no other tourneys in order to maximize my chances in the shoot-out.
Although I had some Internet connection problems during the first table, thus decimating my timebank, I did catch good cards. I think a lot of the luck of BOP is your table draw. $1 players rub shoulders with $1000 players in this tourney, and as far as I can tell, the distribution is random. My first table had six players, another nontrivial piece of luck, as some tables had seven. One of my five tablemates was winning middle stakes reg and 2+2'er juandadi. With three players left, I stealraised his BB on my button, the unknown in the SB made a resteal, juan shoved with AQ, and I folded, but the SB turned up with AA and juan was out. I jockeyed back and forth with the remaining player for a while, until this hand gave me a > 2:1 edge. I had been three-betting him a lot, so I figured he was highly likely to be simply getting fed up with me, making it a pretty straightforward fivebet shove.
Submitted by : vltava
PokerStars Game #48848367540: Tournament #297422451, Freeroll Holdem No Limit - Match Round I, Level IV (50/100) - 2010/08/29 12:34:09 PT [2010/08/29 15:34:09 ET]
Table 297422451 37 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 3: modragons (4684 in chips)
Seat 9: Hero (4316 in chips)
modragons: posts small blind 50
Hero: posts big blind 100
Holecards
Dealt to Hero  
modragons: raises 100 to 200
Hero: raises 500 to 700
modragons: raises 950 to 1650
Hero said, "gl"
Hero: raises 2666 to 4316 and is all-in
modragons: folds
Uncalled bet (2666) returned to Hero
Hero collected 3300 from pot
Hero: doesnt show hand
Summary
Total pot 3300 | Rake 0
Seat 3: modragons (button) (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: Hero (big blind) collected (3300)
Two hands later I made a semibluff CRAI which ran into his overpair, but I'm a lucksack obv.
Submitted by : vltava
PokerStars Game #48848420754: Tournament #297422451, Freeroll Holdem No Limit - Match Round I, Level V (75/150) - 2010/08/29 12:35:05 PT [2010/08/29 15:35:05 ET]
Table 297422451 37 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 3: modragons (2884 in chips)
Seat 9: Hero (6116 in chips)
modragons: posts small blind 75
Hero: posts big blind 150
Holecards(Odds)
Dealt to Hero  
modragons: raises 150 to 300
Hero: calls 150
Flop(Odds) (Pot : $600.00)
  
Hero: checks
modragons: bets 325
Hero: raises 5491 to 5816 and is all-in
modragons: calls 2259 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (3232) returned to Hero
Turn(Odds) (Pot : $5,768.00)
River (Pot : $5,768.00)
Showdown
Hero: shows (three of a kind, Tens)
modragons: shows   (two pair, Kings and Tens)
Hero collected 5768 from pot
modragons finished the tournament in 202nd place
Summary
Total pot 5768 | Rake 0
Board
Seat 3: modragons (button) (small blind) showed and lost with two pair, Kings and Tens
Seat 9: Hero (big blind) showed and won (5768) with three of a kind, Tens
$195 locked up. I got a pretty good table draw again. I had noticed SamENole was in the tourney and had also advanced. He's an old time high stakes SNGer from the heyday of PartyPoker, and I was glad not to see him seated with me in the second round. I didn't know anyone at my table, including the Dutch PokerStars pro Pappe_Ruk. Unfamiliar to me. He managed to stack off with A9 on an AQ6 flop with 50BB eff. stacks facing a CR.
With him gone and six players left, this hand came up,
Submitted by : vltava
PokerStars Game #48852340085: Tournament #297422451, Freeroll Holdem No Limit - Match Round II, Level II (15/30) - 2010/08/29 13:48:06 PT [2010/08/29 16:48:06 ET]
Table 297422451 5 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Hero (1860 in chips)
Seat 2: Den Kruchkov (2404 in chips)
Seat 3: Whittamaker (1686 in chips)
Seat 6: Dom2312 (2800 in chips)
Seat 7: 72off27 (3535 in chips)
Seat 9: Nutzflop101 (1215 in chips)
Den Kruchkov: posts small blind 15
Whittamaker: posts big blind 30
Holecards
Dealt to Hero 
Dom2312: folds
72off27: raises 90 to 120
Nutzflop101: folds
Hero said, "the case jack, too"
Hero: calls 120
Den Kruchkov: folds
Whittamaker: calls 90
Flop (Pot : $375.00)
  
Whittamaker: checks
72off27: checks
Hero: bets 180
Whittamaker: calls 180
72off27: folds
Turn (Pot : $735.00)
Whittamaker: checks
Hero: bets 600
Whittamaker: calls 600
River (Pot : $1,935.00)
Whittamaker: checks
Hero: bets 960 and is all-in
Whittamaker: folds
Uncalled bet (960) returned to Hero
Hero collected 1935 from pot
Hero: doesnt show hand
Summary
Total pot 1935 | Rake 0
Board
Seat 1: Hero (button) collected (1935)
Seat 2: Den Kruchkov (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: Whittamaker (big blind) folded on the River
Seat 6: Dom2312 folded before Flop (didnt bet)
Seat 7: 72off27 folded on the Flop
Seat 9: Nutzflop101 folded before Flop (didnt bet)
which was a nice set up for the very next hand, shoving 2PTK on the river for value against the same player:
Submitted by : vltava
PokerStars Game #48852389366: Tournament #297422451, Freeroll Holdem No Limit - Match Round II, Level II (15/30) - 2010/08/29 13:49:03 PT [2010/08/29 16:49:03 ET]
Table 297422451 5 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Hero (2895 in chips)
Seat 2: Den Kruchkov (2389 in chips)
Seat 3: Whittamaker (786 in chips)
Seat 6: Dom2312 (2800 in chips)
Seat 7: 72off27 (3415 in chips)
Seat 9: Nutzflop101 (1215 in chips)
Whittamaker: posts small blind 15
Dom2312: posts big blind 30
Holecards(Odds)
Dealt to Hero  
72off27: folds
Nutzflop101: folds
Hero: raises 60 to 90
Den Kruchkov: folds
Whittamaker: calls 75
Dom2312: folds
Flop(Odds) (Pot : $210.00)
 
Whittamaker: checks
Hero: checks
Turn(Odds) (Pot : $210.00)
Whittamaker: checks
Hero: bets 150
Whittamaker: calls 150
River (Pot : $510.00)
Whittamaker: checks
Hero: bets 2655 and is all-in
Whittamaker: calls 546 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (2109) returned to Hero
Showdown
Hero: shows (a pair of Queens)
Whittamaker: shows   (a pair of Queens - lower kicker)
Hero collected 1602 from pot
Whittamaker finished the tournament in 70th place and received $195.00.
Summary
Total pot 1602 | Rake 0
Board
Seat 1: Hero showed and won (1602) with a pair of Queens
Seat 2: Den Kruchkov (button) folded before Flop (didnt bet)
Seat 3: Whittamaker (small blind) showed and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 6: Dom2312 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: 72off27 folded before Flop (didnt bet)
Seat 9: Nutzflop101 folded before Flop (didnt bet)
The table was tight and passive and seemed to be playing scared money. With stacks at 3k, 3k, 3k, 3k, 1k with five left, I ran mine up to 7k versus 3k, 3k, with three left while seeing very few showdowns. I didn't play perfectly and missed a play or two I think, but things were still working. The hand that set up the HU was a king high flush draw beating an ace high flush draw after they got it in on the flop. Carol, watching, said "that's sick!" I'm so proud.
My opponent asked to swap 20%. He was really passive, so I just said "that's too much". Maybe he could have successfully negotiated some lesser deal, but I was glad he left it at that. Carol was sweating me and I was giving her my thought processes aloud when this hand came up.
Submitted by : vltava
PokerStars Game #48854817152: Tournament #297422451, Freeroll Holdem No Limit - Match Round II, Level V (75/150) - 2010/08/29 14:37:48 PT [2010/08/29 17:37:48 ET]
Table 297422451 5 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Hero (6746 in chips)
Seat 6: Dom2312 (6754 in chips)
Hero: posts small blind 75
Dom2312: posts big blind 150
Holecards(Odds)
Dealt to Hero
Hero: calls 75
Dom2312: checks
Flop(Odds) (Pot : $300.00)
  
Dom2312: bets 150
Hero: calls 150
Turn(Odds) (Pot : $600.00)
Dom2312: bets 400
Hero: calls 400
River (Pot : $1,400.00)
Dom2312: bets 1250
Hero: calls 1250
Showdown
Dom2312: shows  (high card King)
Hero: shows (a pair of Fours)
Hero collected 3900 from pot
Summary
Total pot 3900 | Rake 0
Board
Seat 1: Hero (button) (small blind) showed and won (3900) with a pair of Fours
Seat 6: Dom2312 (big blind) showed and lost with high card King
Pwn. Opponent just said "I see now why you didn't swap." Grin.
This next one hurt, but it may have saved me; because there was a showdown, I got to see his line when flopping a big hand. Since he cbet and checked the turn, I thought he had totally whiffed and I had the best hand, but I wanted to take it down with a bet in case he had hit a nine or a jack, and I thought it was a good spot because my hand looked exactly like an ace or a seven. ...Surprise!
Submitted by : vltava
PokerStars Game #48854974839: Tournament #297422451, Freeroll Holdem No Limit - Match Round II, Level VI (100/200) - 2010/08/29 14:40:55 PT [2010/08/29 17:40:55 ET]
Table 297422451 5 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Hero (8996 in chips)
Seat 6: Dom2312 (4504 in chips)
Dom2312: posts small blind 100
Hero: posts big blind 200
Holecards(Odds)
Dealt to Hero  
Dom2312: raises 400 to 600
Hero: calls 400
Flop(Odds) (Pot : $1,200.00)
Hero: checks
Dom2312: bets 800
Hero: calls 800
Turn(Odds) (Pot : $2,800.00)
Hero: checks
Dom2312: checks
River (Pot : $2,800.00)
Hero: bets 5200
Dom2312 said, "if uve got it, best of luk in the final"
Dom2312: calls 3104 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (2096) returned to Hero
Hero said, "bah"
Showdown
Hero: shows (a pair of Sevens)
Dom2312: shows (three of a kind, Sevens)
Dom2312 collected 9008 from pot
Summary
Total pot 9008 | Rake 0
Board
Seat 1: Hero (big blind) showed and lost with a pair of Sevens
Seat 6: Dom2312 (button) (small blind) showed and won (9008) with three of a kind, Sevens
So, on the next hand posted below, when I bet my top pair for value on the river, and he shoved, I thought about it a little and noted he had played his flopped trips in the same way, so I laid down the ace. When I inquired he said he had KK, which fits. The turn check probably cost him a few thousand bucks; I was check-raising.
Submitted by : vltava
PokerStars Game #48855232365: Tournament #297422451, Freeroll Holdem No Limit - Match Round II, Level VI (100/200) - 2010/08/29 14:46:05 PT [2010/08/29 17:46:05 ET]
Table 297422451 5 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Hero (5692 in chips)
Seat 6: Dom2312 (7808 in chips)
Dom2312: posts small blind 100
Hero: posts big blind 200
Holecards
Dealt to Hero 
Dom2312: raises 400 to 600
Hero: calls 400
Flop (Pot : $1,200.00)
 
Hero: checks
Dom2312: bets 600
Hero: calls 600
Turn (Pot : $2,400.00)
Hero: checks
Dom2312: checks
River (Pot : $2,400.00)
Hero: bets 1300
Dom2312: raises 5308 to 6608 and is all-in
Hero: folds
Uncalled bet (5308) returned to Dom2312
Dom2312 collected 5000 from pot
Dom2312: doesnt show hand
Summary
Total pot 5000 | Rake 0
Board
Seat 1: Hero (big blind) folded on the River
Seat 6: Dom2312 (button) (small blind) collected (5000)
Clearly my lucksacking skills needed to be brought to bear, so I mustered up all I could for this double up.
Submitted by : vltava
PokerStars Game #48855355285: Tournament #297422451, Freeroll Holdem No Limit - Match Round II, Level VI (100/200) - 2010/08/29 14:48:33 PT [2010/08/29 17:48:33 ET]
Table 297422451 5 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Hero (4192 in chips)
Seat 6: Dom2312 (9308 in chips)
Dom2312: posts small blind 100
Hero: posts big blind 200
Holecards(Odds)
Dealt to Hero 
Dom2312: raises 400 to 600
Hero: calls 400
Flop(Odds) (Pot : $1,200.00)
 
Hero: checks
Dom2312: bets 800
Hero: raises 2792 to 3592 and is all-in
Dom2312: calls 2792
Turn(Odds) (Pot : $8,384.00)
River (Pot : $8,384.00)
Showdown
Hero: shows (a flush, Ace high)
Dom2312: shows (two pair, Sevens and Fives)
Hero collected 8384 from pot
Summary
Total pot 8384 | Rake 0
Board
Seat 1: Hero (big blind) showed and won (8384) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 6: Dom2312 (button) (small blind) showed and lost with two pair, Sevens and Fives
He immediately started raising 4x for the first time instead of 3x, and overbet shoving over my standard raises, so I thought he was fairly tilted, which induced me to call when he shoved over my turn lead here, since he seemed to have started to spew. Besides, fuck, I got top two pair. Turns out it was a pretty solid spot to semibluff, with an ace, NFD, and OESD, but I boated up and moved on to the FT.
Submitted by : vltava
PokerStars Game #48855551800: Tournament #297422451, Freeroll Holdem No Limit - Match Round II, Level VII (125/250) - 2010/08/29 14:52:31 PT [2010/08/29 17:52:31 ET]
Table 297422451 5 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Hero (7384 in chips)
Seat 6: Dom2312 (6116 in chips)
Hero: posts the ante 25
Dom2312: posts the ante 25
Dom2312: posts small blind 125
Hero: posts big blind 250
Holecards(Odds)
Dealt to Hero
Dom2312: calls 125
Hero: checks
Flop(Odds) (Pot : $550.00)
Hero: bets 450
Dom2312: calls 450
Turn(Odds) (Pot : $1,450.00)
Hero: bets 1250
Dom2312: raises 4141 to 5391 and is all-in
Hero: calls 4141
River (Pot : $12,232.00)
Showdown
Hero: shows (a full house, Sevens full of Nines)
Dom2312: shows  (a pair of Sevens)
Hero collected 12232 from pot
Dom2312 finished the tournament in 15th place and received $195.00.
Summary
Total pot 12232 | Rake 0
Board
Seat 1: Hero (big blind) showed and won (12232) with a full house, Sevens full of Nines
Seat 6: Dom2312 (button) (small blind) showed and lost with a pair of Sevens
I had two players I didn't know on my right, but they both had their supernova status showing. Two seats to my left was midstakes winning STT reg ucantcscottyg, and across the table was apestyles, who had beaten SamENole in their HU. See what I mean about luck of table draw?
One annoying character at the FT was begging for a chop, but it wasn't happening. That was useful info for shoving over him in some later hands, since he clearly wanted to avoid expensive confrontations.
After a bluff that did not work out, my chip stack was in dire shape.
Seat 1: apestyles (1225 in chips)
Seat 2: I..nobody..l (1565 in chips)
Seat 3: kafelnikovz (2570 in chips)
Seat 4: unctarheels3 (1470 in chips)
Seat 5: vltava (854 in chips)
Seat 6: wcsquad3 (1090 in chips)
Seat 7: cantcscottyg (1460 in chips)
Seat 8: anguila (1405 in chips)
Seat 9: drOppzPT (1861 in chips)
But I mostly waited, stole the blinds a few times, did a resteal, and at 50/100, started pushbotting, and managed to gradually restore several hundred to my stack, until at 75/150 my AK tangled with QQ and spiked the ace on the flop, putting me in healthy shape once more with six left. Meanwhile ape could not miss with AK, taking out JJ and TT, plus he got AA against a C-O raiser with AKhh.
Seat 1: apestyles (5140 in chips)
Seat 2: I..nobody..l (601 in chips)
Seat 4: unctarheels3 (1822 in chips)
Seat 5: vltava (2683 in chips)
Seat 8: anguila (2384 in chips)
Seat 9: drOppzPT (870 in chips)
We got to four players remaining. I had the second lowest chip stack, but I was not desperate, and there were no antes, so I was playing the waiting game. The prize structure for the top four was $12k, $7.5k, $4.5k, $3350. So I felt it was a lot like a single table money bubble, with a huge incentive for making the top three.
Seat 1: apestyles (6513 in chips)
Seat 5: vltava (2233 in chips)
Seat 8: anguila (3151 in chips)
Seat 9: drOppzPT (1603 in chips)
Then drOppzPT doubled up and the situation changed. Now I was looking for a spot to make a move, and then ape pushed on me from the SB. I felt compelled to call because 1) with 9 BB and no antes, I was not yet on life support, so he would probably think that I did not see my situation as desperate, meaning he could shove on me with a wide enough range that KTs should be ahead of it, 2) I was the shortest stack and short enough that I thought it was was better to gamble it up sooner than later.
Submitted by : vltava
PokerStars Game #48859615523: Tournament #297422451, Freeroll Holdem No Limit - Match Round III, Level VI (100/200) - 2010/08/29 16:22:17 PT [2010/08/29 19:22:17 ET]
Table 297422451 1 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: apestyles (5010 in chips)
Seat 5: Hero (1833 in chips)
Seat 8: anguila (3751 in chips)
Seat 9: drOppzPT (2906 in chips)
apestyles: posts small blind 100
Hero: posts big blind 200
Holecards(Odds)
Dealt to Hero
anguila: folds
drOppzPT: folds
apestyles: raises 4810 to 5010 and is all-in
Hero: calls 1633 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (3177) returned to apestyles
Flop(Odds) (Pot : $3,666.00)
Turn(Odds) (Pot : $3,666.00)
River (Pot : $3,666.00)
Showdown
apestyles: shows (high card King)
Hero: shows (a flush, King high)
Hero collected 3666 from pot
apestyles said, "nh"
Summary
Total pot 3666 | Rake 0
Board
Seat 1: apestyles (small blind) showed and lost with high card King
Seat 5: Hero (big blind) showed and won (3666) with a flush, King high
Seat 8: anguila folded before Flop (didnt bet)
Seat 9: drOppzPT (button) folded before Flop (didnt bet)
anguila eliminated ape in a coinflip, and after a few orbits three-handed I picked up KJ in the SB. I raised and he shoved for about the fourth time in this situation, and I thought this was the right time to make a stand. Part of the incentive was I tend to see this kind of situation as flipping for 1st or 3rd, versus probably finishing second. (Stacks after posting blinds: villain 6.5k, hero 4.5k, other dude 2k.) I think that's a good gamble when the jump in prizes is much bigger from 1st to 2nd than from 2nd to 3rd; it's a flip with a big overlay. Obviously it's not quite that simple because garnering a monster stack doesn't guarantee first, but add that I can also have the best hand, and I'm getting odds from the pot, and I think it makes sense to call often in this kind of situation. Oh, P.S.: BINK!
Submitted by : vltava
PokerStars Game #48859986294: Tournament #297422451, Freeroll Holdem No Limit - Match Round III, Level VII (125/250) - 2010/08/29 16:30:46 PT [2010/08/29 19:30:46 ET]
Table 297422451 1 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 5: Hero (4697 in chips)
Seat 8: anguila (6763 in chips)
Seat 9: drOppzPT (2040 in chips)
Hero: posts the ante 25
anguila: posts the ante 25
drOppzPT: posts the ante 25
Hero: posts small blind 125
anguila: posts big blind 250
Holecards(Odds)
Dealt to Hero 
drOppzPT: folds
Hero: raises 650 to 900
anguila: raises 5838 to 6738 and is all-in
Hero: calls 3772 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (2066) returned to anguila
Flop(Odds) (Pot : $9,419.00)
Turn(Odds) (Pot : $9,419.00)
River (Pot : $9,419.00)
Showdown
Hero: shows (two pair, Kings and Nines)
anguila: shows (two pair, Nines and Fives)
Hero collected 9419 from pot
Summary
Total pot 9419 | Rake 0
Board
Seat 5: Hero (small blind) showed and won (9419) with two pair, Kings and Nines
Seat 8: anguila (big blind) showed and lost with two pair, Nines and Fives
Seat 9: drOppzPT (button) folded before Flop (didnt bet)
anguila picked off drOppzPT and we went to HU with a 9:4 chip advantage for me. I offered to chop up the difference between 1st and 2nd based on that ratio and he declined. shrug. I don't normally make those offers, but I also normally play $16 and $27 STT's, and this FT was like a $3k STT. I demolished him fairly uneventfully in the brief HU, with the net result of the tourney multiplying my online BR by seven.
After Carol and I had a victory sushi dinner and watched an episode of the new season of HSP together, I pondered a bit what to do with the new roll. I actually sort of have a legitimate roll now, instead of just trying to scrape something together. I'm not going to start jumping into MTT's or $400 NL or $100 SNG's. I've played some $1/$2 NL in the past, so that's probably where I'll go when I play FR, and maybe $.50/$1 to work on my 6-max skills. (in before 'nit!') Maybe $300 NL at the Bike, and $10/$20 limit. I'm not sure if I'll be able to hit the rebuys on a regular basis now that school starts and I'll be tutoring there, but I think I can reasonably play anything from the 3R to the 22R now when I can fit it in. As for my bread and butter, since I am a winner over a good sample at the $25+2 and $35+3 levels, but unproven at $55+5, the plan is to mix together $35+3 and $55+5 for a while. Also, I have over five hundred buy-ins for $25+2 and that does seem more than a little silly.
I started off the new plan tonight with a session of nine $35+3 STT and six $55+5 and bagged a $620 profit. Obviously I will not run anywhere near that hot over time, but it was reassuring. The best thing for me was that I could see players making dumb plays and tilting off in chat at the $60 level. It helps me realize it's still the same game, and there are still awful players. And bubble and ITM play showed me that there are still regs who overvalue the significance of ICM and are exploitable. So I think the future is bright.
There's still that Supernova issue. Just for that record, I collected 19.5k VPP in August, leaving me 71.8k to go. Way ahead of pace! Classes start tomorrow, but if I manage not to have some kind of bizarre meltdown, the VPP earning should zip right along at the new level.
BOP FT now
vltava, Aug 29 2010
12k to first, will be starting after the remaining two HU matches if there's no chop. Tourney ID 297422451.
BR breaking 3k
vltava, Aug 25 2010
Went to Griffith Observatory on Sunday. Previous trips never panned out, as we would get there in the afternoon and the parking situation is ridiculous. We showed up bright and early before the doors opened at 10 AM and managed to get a space in the actual parking lot. From that altitude we were able to gain a beautiful, sweeping panoramic view of LA and smog in its natural habitat. No seriously, it was nice to see some scenery for a change. Some very cool exhibits inside. The pendulum was a bit of a snoozer, but I really liked the interactive displays. A number of cameras and gadgets were not in working order but it didn't detract from the overall experience. We caught two movies in the planetarium; there's a projection overhead and you get to lie back in a reclining chair and listen to the narration. Pro tip: sit at the back, best view, easiest on the neck. The narrator's voice was very strange. Imagine Dory the forgetful fish attempting whale speech, now just say Ellen Degeneres was born in India and has a thick accent.
I found an awesome sweatshirt in the giftshop: an image of Pluto on the front, with a sort of epitaph: "1930-2006: Revolve in Peace", and it was immediately added to the wardrobe.
I tried my hand at $2/$4 8-game over the weekend and broke about even. I am weakest in 2-7 and Razz, I think. I gather these games are more about accurate technique than anything else; I think I need to read up a bit on them. My impression is that 8-game is mainly populated by stud and HORSE players - people who often have no real concept of how to play pot limit and no limit, and they often nit it up for 36 hands and then just spew off their stacks in the last two games of the rotation. I think I would have been down instead of even if there were not so many players in the games who are truly terrible at PLO and NLHE.
Monday and Tuesday I began an experiment of playing my sets as half $25+2, half $15+1. 9 of each during the 3r, and 12 of each the rest of the time. I broke 100k chips in the 3R on Tuesday with 1400 players still left in it, but I managed to spew hard and bust in 800th. I can only blame myself. I caught cards well, and just lost it getting outplayed by another deep stack, when I had no reason to be getting fancy and bluffing, since there tend to be so many spots in the tournament where you can just get all the money in the middle in good shape.
Despite that, I managed to profit about $200 on Monday and $700 on Tuesday, bringing the BR to $3192, after transferring $80 to Carol to get her started at micro stakes limit. (If you see "icanhazdnuts" on Stars, be gentle.) She doesn't seem to handle making mistakes very well, but my style of communication is probably not helping (I have Asperger's). If I can bite my tongue and save comments for after the session, I think she will do better.
It now looks as if I might make Supernova very easily, but that is easy to say when I have not yet had much of a downswing since setting this goal. To complicate matters, I am strongly leaning towards taking two music classes and tutoring students, to be doing something to develop myself as a person, to have some human interaction, and to be some kind of benefit to society. If I am not too ambitious in the number and difficulty of pieces I work on, I think I could have time to put in the volume to make SN, especially at the $25+2/$35+3 level. 14.4K VPP so far this month.
supernova watch: 20k VPP mark
vltava, Aug 21 2010
I got in three more sessions yesterday afternoon which brought my Stars BR to $2100. Hunger began to gnaw, and to reward myself for my progress I went out to Afloat Sushi, awesome restaurant in "old town" Pasadena, where I live. It's a sushi bar with boats floating around the bar, and the boats hold premade selections which you can just pick off. Pro tip: Don't go at 5 PM on Friday unless you want to have to ask for everything you want, since it is not busy yet and there are not a lot of options on the boats. I did ask for a sake (salmon) sashimi and it was ridiculously good.
After dinner I had 141 points left to go to the 20k VPP mark for the year and the free $50, so I hit the $100 PLO tables. Maybe I need to just stick to the basics and nutpeddle. I made ~$100, but would have been up another couple buy-ins if I had adhered to my mantra. I cashed in the $50 reward, and Carol arrived home around 9. She had important business to attend to - defeating the final boss in Final Fantasy 13 - so I played a couple $2/$4 8-game tables sitting next to her on the couch. Surprisingly (to me - I don't play the game), she encountered much less difficulty with Orphan than she had in several previous battles. I scooped a few nice pots and profited another $100, bringing me to +$700 on the day and increasing my BR by > 40% to $2350.
Afterwards she played some .02/.04 limit online, which is funny to me because she could probably beat .50/$1, but she is too nervous to play that "high" yet. I just watch and comment afterwards, so she's not being coached by me during hands, it's her own play. She flopped a full house in a multiway pot on one of the final hands, but she bet the flop and everyone folded. No big pots yet.
i r teh smartz
vltava, Aug 20 2010
So as I was shifting in bed this morning, trying to get the most comfortable arrangement of pillow and laptop (stfu pervs, I was just reading something), I managed to jam the corner of my laptop into my eye with considerable force. I was fine for a while but now my left eyelid keeps fluttering and my vision on that side is fuzzy. I'm sure I'll be fine, I just feel like it's my body's way of reminding me that "Hey Michael, you're stupid!"
Lying in bed around midnight last night, I realized I hadn't been outside of my apartment building in over four days, so just to feel quasi human I went out for a drive. I did nothing more elaborate than visit the ATM and get some drive-thru Carl's Jr., but it was probably good for my sanity.
Before my eye started acting up I did manage to get in a couple sessions of $15+1 today. My first was 24 tables and minus $40. My second was 18 tables (I usually keep it at 18 while playing the 3+R) and plus $300, making the BR now at $1904. Very encouraging, as I've mostly coasted at even for about a week. I don't really ever have downswings at SNG's, but sometimes I do have protracted periods of breaking even, and it feels really good when those periods end. Now I just need to get in a few more solid sessions to make this feel legitimate. Hoping to make another ~$1k before I cash out a little for the month; about half will go to bills and the other half will be for small stakes tourney buy-ins at the Bike, and possibly joining a training site or two (recommendations are welcome and encouraged). Then, in September, I intend to start focusing on $25+2.
On playing: I have seen some very bad advice on SNG's in poker books, by Moshman and Harrington off the top of my head. I think I have seen the Moshman idea parroted elsewhere: It's a complete misapplication of the idea of effective stacks. It goes that if you're shoving against a smaller stack, your shoving range should be what it is if you had the same size stack as your opponent does.
This is appallingly stupid. But I see regs who are obviously employing it with regularity. It is a huge leak, so it's somewhat encouraging to see many of the best players at this level employing it.
Why is it a leak? If your M=7, then you do not have an M=3 level of desperation. How desperate you are to avoid passively blinding out is a huge factor in determing shortstack shoving ranges. This should make it crystal clear that Moshman's advice is atrocious: If you are not desperate, but you are shoving with Q2, you might as well be setting your chips on fire. But wait, it gets worse. Your shortstacked opponent actually IS quite desperate, and will often call you with quite a wider range than you expect him to. You should not assume that he is playing optimally according to your standards (and it is probable, if you buy into a lot of the ideas in the poker literature about SNG's, such as ICM, that your ideas about optimal play are incorrect, but that's a topic for another time).
One idea you often see written about is correct: confrontations are frequently mutually destructive. Both players in a showdown sometimes have -EV, and the beneficiaries are the players not in the hand. I had to think about this to address my sitting and fuming about how this error by some regs often hurts me when I am the player in the BB being shoved on, which made me realize that I am the beneficiary somewhat when I am the short stack making the call, but to a greater extent, while less visibly so, when they make an incorrect shove against someone else who calls.
Platinum for August and an all-nighter
vltava, Aug 17 2010
So, ~1000 points away from Platinum yesterday morning, I hit the $15+1 SNG's hard, getting in eight sets of twenty-four between 10 AM and 9 PM, posting a loss of $61. I had about 45 points to go as I finished my last session and Carol walked in the door, and I wanted to catch the first episode of the new season of Weeds at 10:00, so I set down the laptop in front of the TV, fired up a dozen or so PLO tables, and hit Platinum as the show was starting. Woot! After the show we watched a little WSOP, but my would-be short little PLO session had some unintended consequences, and while Carol turned in for the night, my session blossomed into a compulsion to continue playing until I couldn't keep my eyes open. I ended up packing it in at 5 AM, up one buy-in, which was nice, since I had been down most of the night, reaching a low point of minus six buy-ins. Some good learning experiences. I mostly played better than I had in my previous session, although apparently I needed an object lesson that there's no good reason for flip for stacks with junk aces when you're three buy-ins deep - who knew?
In addition to my various other adventures, I'm hitting the 11:15 AM 3R every weekday on Stars. First is always over 10k; go go Rail Heaven someday soon!
Enright puzzles
vltava, Aug 16 2010
Played a bunch of PLO 50 on Stars yesterday, profiting about four buy-ins. I don't think I played all that great; the games are very soft and you can get the money just by nutpeddling. I would have been up more than twice as much if I had just folded the second nuts more often.
Reached the 15k VPP threshold and cashed in the $50 "stellar reward". BR at $1590 after transferring $100 to a friend on Stars to cover borrowings to enter more satellites at the Bike.
Thursday at the Bike, won one STT sat for $530 (with the second and third place finishers whining about deals along the way) but I think I played six others without success. My play probably came off the rails a bit. I am not gathering enough information about players I play with repeatedly. I also loosened up a bit in the early stages, speculating a bit more, in light of the fact that it's winner-take-all. In retrospect I think this was an error. The games are so soft, that spending chips on speculation just makes your double-up smaller when someone gets it in against you in really bad shape, and also forces you to make a stand earlier.
Interesting hand: first deal of an $80 sat, I am UTG+1 ten-handed. 2k chips, 25/25. The UTG player has not taken his seat yet. I have As3h and muck. The dealer has not collected the UTG player's cards yet, so I check them and he has AdAh. I say nothing and push them all towards the muck. Two players limp behind me, Barbara Enright raises to 75 in the cut-off, the blinds call, and the two limpers call. So with 375 in the pot, the flop is K66 with two diamonds and it gets checked around. The turn is the five of diamonds. The SB bets 200, it's folded to Enright who pops it to 800, the SB mulls a bit and mucks the K5o face up.
I wonder what she had. KK has only one combination and her preflop raise was dreadfully small, but it seems plausible. She did not have a king with the Ad, because the UTG player had the red aces. She could have had a hand like JTdd or 76 suited, which makes more sense, but I still think the stack sizes are wrong for a preflop pot-builder raise with a suited connector, since the pot would have been large enough for an all-in bet on the river to be close to the size of the pot if she just limped and flopped a big hand or a big draw and got there by the river, assuming there would be a pot size bet on each street. She couldn't have had KQdd, since the Kd was on the board, so it's a mystery. I would discount a bluff or a semi-bluff, since the SB's play looks exactly like he has a six until he starts thinking and folds.
Gold for August
vltava, Aug 09 2010
Getting a bit more disciplined; I had the first two sets of twenty-four $15+1 turbo STT's in by noon. I tend to have trouble motivating myself to get going. I used making Gold Star as my motivation, needed to earn 707 VPP to get there today. Two more sets after lunch; in all four of these I lost a bit, and was down ~$180 with 96 games played. In the fifth set, I rebounded and made ~$220, and one last set of twenty-four netted me $50 more, bringing my Stars BR to $1319 as I reached Gold for August. Some of the losing sessions were loaded with regs, but I think I also took more than my share of bad beats in those, so I think I don't yet have an indicator that I need to table select. One or two really bad players at the table more than makes up for three or four grinders. Also, I think quite a few of the grinders at this level have some serious leaks.
Playing notes: I am thinking I need to tighten my shoving ranges with M=4 in certain (non-bubble) situations. Also, occasionally fold on the bubble where a shove with ATC is normally indicated, particularly in the SB versus a reg. Sometimes doing this with the bottom of my range. I think that, for some of them, if they see me fold at times there, then they do not call as wide when I do push.
I think I've improved my bubble play as second stack, in particular being more alert to situations where there is little upside to open shoving.
Bubble situations where one stack is very large and the hero has the second largest stack can be odd and require delicate handling. Play is primarily determined by how loose the chip leader is. There are times when I bubble these, and think, if only I had been looser/tighter/more aggressive/more passive/trappier/more straightforward, I could have cashed, but I try to just evaluate objectively and only adjust my strategy if I can detect a real recurring pattern.
Gotta make a long drive to run an essential errand. Haven't learned "Teleport: Anaheim" yet. Fuck the 5 freeway. Fuck it with something sharp. I think I'll take a detour and avoid it.
week recap
vltava, Aug 09 2010
Broke into $15+1 STT's last night. Stars BR up to $1220 now, so while I got skunked in three STT satellites with buy-ins totalling $200 at the Bike today, making my live play for the week slightly ($30) in the red, online I'm up $980. 2300 VPP so far for the month, but that should accelerate now that I'm into the $16's. I have an eye for $25+2 and $35+3 at some point, but just having a really hot streak which bloats my bankroll will not, I think, feel like adequate justification for me to move up. For some reason I want to play at least a thousand or so games at this level to make it feel legitimate.
In other news, I bought my girlfriend, Carol, "Getting Started in Hold'Em" by Ed Miller and she's enjoying it and studying it diligently. I've been giving her a pretty solid grounding in the rules, evaluating hand strength, and calculating outs; so far, what she's reading is reinforcing some of the things we've worked on so far. She has a pretty good mind so I would place a solid bet on her being a winning poker player within a few months.
As I was writing this, she came in the door, brought me the book and pointed out an error. /boggle This bodes well...
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