“It’s your turn”

I’ve been told it’s my turn to blog. Too funny :)

I actually have been thinking about blogging; I just thought that I really didn’t have too much interesting to say. Felicia accuses me of writing too many hand histories. I kind of like ‘em. Like my hitting quads the last couple sessions. It’s always fun to have the mortal nuts. It’s just such a no brainer :-P

I’m in the SB w/ 22. Folded to late position that _min_ raises. Like that’s going to get anyone out! 23x on flop. Hit my set :-D Um, check. 2xbb bet from late-position-guy (LPG). I’m wondering if he just has AK or was just trying to steal the blinds, so he doesn’t really have anything. So, I just call. Case deuce on the turn, a beautiful thing. Check. 2xbb bet again. Thought about raising, but, really, don’t have much to be afraid of. If he hit a set, he’d be betting more. So, flat call again. Another beautiful thing, Ace on the river that completes a possible flush. I lead into him, just praying he was looking for an A. LPG goes all-in! Um, gee, ooh, ahh, ok, call. :-D Yes, he had AA, the river filled him. Little did he know he was drawing dead.

In Draw, I raise from the SB w/ 333xx and get called in THREE spots. Boy, no respect. Haha. Too many people in the hand, so I forget about hiding the trips and draw 2. I get a 5 and the case 3! One person drew 1, so I’m hoping he got there, so I bet. Heck, someone limping w/ AA might have gotten there and, seeing me draw 2, would think they outdrew if they got a 3rd A. Sure enough, I get raised. Unfortunately, by the BB who drew 1. He hit his draw. I thought this would drive out the rest of the field, but, interestingly, someone flat called the 2 cold! Higher trips? I pop it again :) Drawing guy just calls, the middleman decides he’s beat and folds. Yes, the drawer hit his straight.

In NLHE, it seems my biggest hands are always from hitting sets. Especially, set over set. I raised in early position w/ TT and got one caller. Flop comes 9c8cX. I bet the pot, due to the possible straight/flush draws, and again get flat called. Didn’t like that. Over pair? Hit set? JcTc? Doesn’t matter any more to me as a Ten hits the turn. I truly do not put anyone on QcJc, so I push. Caller had 99, for the _flopped_ top set, which I beat on the turn. Oops.

But then, these type of scenarios have paid me back for times that I was out run. AA beaten by AJs…AJs??? What are these monkeys thinking? And KK beaten by QQ; Q on the river. Worse part was paying off the river, and being raised by the 3rd person in the pot that got the flush with the Q. I wasn’t sure if the lady was a dunce enough to possible raise w/ AQ, thinking that she might be able to get me off my hand. But with the raise and reraises preflop, all the money in the pot from the flop and turn betting, I felt I needed to call. Then came the reraise, and I pretty much knew I was sunk (there was a pair on the flop). But, I still overcalled, yet again, with all the bets in the pot, as I was getting almost 20-1 on my call. Looking back, I _should_ have folded to the raise. The lady really was clueless, which means she does NOT just have AQ. For her to have raised, she has something strong. I should have known the clueless don’t think about overcalls, what-have-you. I should have known she could beat two pair.

Misplayed TT from the SB. Thought I’d be sneaky and just see the flop. Flop brought rags with possible straight, straight draw and flush draw. Got called all-in by short stack and middleman. Middleman got the straight, short stack got the flush. Third again. Raise, monkey, raise! The short stack might have called me anyway, but I would possibly have lost less (as the middle man had me covered and probably would have folded his rags to a pre-flop raise).

All in all, I’m up, and I like that. As you can tell, yet again, there were stumbling blocks in the road. But there always are. It’s part of the game. I get close to my goal for the month, and I slide back down. Get back up. Slide down. Fortunately, it’s been more like 5 steps forward, 3 back. Then another 5 forward and another 3 back. So, I’m still moving forward, inch by inch. Still recording positive numbers. I may not be playing 8 tables of 15/30, but I’m moving forward.

Every so often, I’m still playing the raked hands freerolls and placing. Got 3rd in the last one for $52 :-D Can’t complain about free money.

Hope y’all are having fun out there. I know I am ;-)
May the flop be with you, and all that.

OK, tag, you're it! Touch black, no touch backs!

Posted by Glenn

Don't Push

OK, I'm being pushed to write... pushed? I'm supposed to be a wuss; I'm not an "aggressive" writer! LOL

I've been doing better so far. Haven't had so many beats as to keep me negative (in life as well as wallet ;) Although I did get a top set of JJ beaten by 42s.. and yes, runner-runner spades, only one on the flop. Huh? Where do these people come from? But, why do I care, as long as they keep playing :D

I did get my share of hands. 88 that flopped a set: BB bets, gets a caller, I raise; call, call. Then on the turn he bets into me again! Raise! Call, call. Was JT8 on flop, so, no Q or 7 on river and I felt safe betting; no callers. So much for being a wuss, eh?

As stated, I'm doing better. I almost doubled my stake at Paradise since my last posting, so draw is running well ('cept for today...TTT ran up against a pat straight at the 2/4 table, capped pre...doh!)

Also doing OK on Party. Haven't been playing as much as before, and haven't been able to do the freerolls. Felicia has been wanting to play the live tournaments at the Palms, so I've been playing the cash games. Their tourneys are always during the raked hand freerolls, so I haven't been concentrating on the playing there. I got AA busted by AJs once (someone raised w/ TT, I reraised, and AJs cold called 20xbb... TT reraised, I went all-in, and AJ called another 30xbb! Of course, he got there, flushed my AA; but I got my stack doubled thru twice in diff sessions with other premium hands..as I've said before, it evens out in the end :).

With everyone else seeming to have the tournament fever, I'm glad to have some people agree with me on the tournament comments re Tommy Angelo. I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels "stuck" in tournaments. I really hadn't thought about it too much before. I had the feeling that I really didn't want to be there, but didn't know exactly what it was. Now I know :-Þ

I find it interesting though that I had been doing so well on the raked hands freerolls. I would think that the people playing over 50 hands would be people that play a lot. How is it that I'm playing a tournament against frequent players and doing so well? I would think the players that play often (and I see some of the same faces at the freerolls often too) would be better. Maybe that's what I need: higher caliber opponents. They keep me focused as they're not just yahoos. However, being freerolls I don't have to sweat the money, so I'm more comfortable. I guess once my bankroll swells to mammoth proportions (I should be so lucky), I'll be more comfortable playing tournaments.

For now, it's just grind, grind. I'm happy. I like playing poker. I play some D&D, play some poker, have some coffee, grind, grind. We go out to the tournament at the Palms, she plays the tourney, I stick to ring: grind, grind. And, I'm happy. I like it. Suits me fine.

Felicia says I'm a sucker. Hmm. X-Þ
Maybe I am. I admit I don't watch the pots enough. I don't always verify when they're splitting the pots (say someone's all-in) and make sure the side pots are right. Make sure the rakes right. I figure we're paying the dealer, they should know what they're doing. But yes, they make mistakes. Sometimes I forget to ask for rake reduction if it's shorthanded. The other day I passed my HE seat up to keep the stud game going. Why? I actually like stud. I want to see more people play. If it's known that stud is seldom played there, then I won't have a game to play if the HE game is full. So, it's partly selfish reasons as well.

There now, I'm a wuss AND a sucker! So see? No need to push.

Posted by Glenn

You Wuss

“You wuss. Hand 2, cut your hand off for betting the turn. Wusses don't bet with draws. They check. That's why they are wussy and that's why you lose to them. Think aggro-wuss and when you've got a huge draw and chips are moving and your realistic chance at that moment of taking the hand down without a showdown is zip, then betting is just macho leftover that totally disrupts your wuss factor which is what I think you need to get better at in games where opponents will actually give you more money as they try to punish you for being a wuss.”
~Tommy Angelo

The above was in response to a forum post on how a particular player should have played his hand in an overly loose-aggressive game.

This, after reading Hank’s thoughts on aggression with AK preflop, makes me want to say “hmmm”. Of course, everything in context; as is the standard answer in poker: “it depends”. LOL!

Felicia got me turned onto Tommy Angelo, and I’ll have to agree, he’s a very good writer. Not to mention funny. Funny is good. In Iggy-speak:
funny > non-funny.

Mr. Angelo basically nailed it on the head as to why I dislike tournaments:

“Tournaments and Me

I make a living at poker by choosing when to enter a game and when to leave it. These options give me the freedom to choose my state of mind, and to choose my opponents…. But when I enter a tournament, I surrender control…It’s like I am paying for a chance to win the right to play in the worst game in the room.”

Man! Talk about nailing it! I can’t get up; I can’t leave; I can’t hit and run. I’m stuck. Not to mention the whole “surrender control” thing. I’m a Dom, I can’t help it, and I don’t like not being in control. In tournaments you seat where they tell you, move when they tell you, etc, etc, ad infinitum. When they make terrible decisions, instead of being able to find a different table, or just leave, I have to stick it out; I already paid for the seat.

If you haven’t checked out his site, you should give it a read: www.tommyangelo.com

That statement “betting is just macho leftover that totally disrupts your wuss factor” really cracked me up. “Wuss factor”, LOL.

I feel like a big wuss sometimes myself. I could have taken his advice this morning. Flop a set, turn fills in a straight, but do I check? No. Pump the pot! Pump the pot! Make the wusses pay; get that extra river bet! Yes, he had the straight and waited to the river to raise. Doh! Mr. Straight was probably being the wuss himself, as the turn that gave him his straight put 2 diamonds in addition to the 2 spades on the board. He waited to the river to ensure he still had the nuts then. And there goes dominate Glenn, firing at the pot…fire, fire, fire! Why always be afraid of the nuts? Fire! Doh, doh, doh!

[Hmmm, spell check doesn’t know by “doh”…Bill Gates never watched the Simpson’s?? Come on Bill! I mean, it’s juvenile, but it’s good mindless fun. Live a little! :-D]

Speaking of “wuss factor”s, reminds me of whining…whine-factor? I’ve been doing good in some freerolls. (Yes, I just said I don’t like tournament; these are free after putting in so many raked hands :) Last night though, I’m seeing that I’m probably going to sneak into the money. 15 left, top 10 get paid, 5 shorter stacks than me. Down, down, down… I stay in 10th place almost the entire time. Down to 11. Short stack is all-in in the BB. I’m in the BB with QQ. Figuring that if we both bust, I’ll still get 11th due to having more chips. Flop: “no ace, no king” goes the Glennie-monster chant. Fire! Turn, “no ace, no king”…Ace. Check, bet, call, all-in. I’m watching the other table, as I see that the all-in short-stack show AA and take down the main pot, I see my competition’s cards show J9s…then I see the river, 3rd third spade, and the pot got to him. Doh!

As Felicia said, “you can’t complain too much, it was a freeroll, and you’ve cashed in half of them!” Which I have and she’s right, as always. I love my wife. She’s my rock. I can wuss out on a lot of things, but she keeps me strong. Just let me say “thank you, Felicia”.

I reported earlier this month that this one has been rocky, and it has. Up and down, up and down. But I’m still plugging. At one point I was almost $100 down in Draw, the one game I hardly ever lose at. I got that down to just -$29 by the end of the month. Which means since that point, I won between 60 and 70. So, cool, things are getting better. Which evened out the time that I lost my stack twice on one table; thought I had the nuts, and the other guy turns over straight flush! But then, I’ve had my share of suck-outs too. All-in with JJ preflop (what was I thinking?) and get called by AA, of course. Beautiful J on the flop, and I double through. I even typed “sorry” in the chat. He left after the next hand.

Should I have not said that? Is it considered rude? Don’t know. I’ve been there, and I was trying to commiserate. What can I say; I try to be nice. But what was he doing calling all-in before the flop…doesn’t he know that AA gets broken too? It’s better to be the one going all-in, not calling! Wuss. Hehe.

It’s a joke, son. Don’t you get it? Don’t you turn away when I’m talking to you! Foghorn-leghorn anyone? Anyone? Buhler… Buhler… is this mic on?

Why drink beer when there's caffeine?

Posted by Glenn