Wednesday, February 22, 2006
At Party:
I've been playing at Party lately, and the games are very very good.
I highly recommend playing at Party.
I've been playing at Party lately, and the games are very very good.
I highly recommend playing at Party.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
The games, they are good:
Aren't the games supposed to be a little tougher during the daytime? It's about noon, EST and this hand just happened. Villian is a caller, but not a bettor. Thus, I played it correctly.
Aren't the games supposed to be a little tougher during the daytime? It's about noon, EST and this hand just happened. Villian is a caller, but not a bettor. Thus, I played it correctly.
Party Poker (6 max, 6 handed) [url=http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi]converter[/url]
[b]Preflop:[/b] Hero is UTG with J:heart:, J:spade:.
[color:#666666]I raise, MP coldcalls, CO coldcalls, BB calls. [i]2 folds[/i][/color].
[b]Flop:[/b] T:heart:, 9:spade:, Q:club: [color:#0000FF](4 players)[/color]
BB checks, I bet, MP calls, CO folds, BB calls.
[b]Turn:[/b] K:heart: [color:#0000FF](3 players)[/color]
BB checks. I bet, MP calls, BB calls.
[b]River:[/b] 8:heart: [color:#0000FF](3 players)[/color]
BB checks, I bet, MP calls, BB folds.
[b]Final Pot:[/b]
Results in white below: [color:#FFFFFF]
Hero has Jh Js (straight, king high).
MP has Td 4d (one pair, tens).
Outcome: [/color]
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
I just have to post this no limit hand:
I'm still playing (growl!), but here's a funny hand I just played on low stakes NL. Names blanked out to protect the stupid.
L folded for $12 in what would have been a $91 pot. I laughed for a long time after this hand. If you don't understand why this is just a ridiculous fold then you have no business ever playing poker. Even if that were my last $12 on earth I would have called that.
People: the size of the pot is ALWAYS the most important factor when making poker decisions. ALWAYS. It's more important than anything else. L obviously forgot this. You should not.
I'm still playing (growl!), but here's a funny hand I just played on low stakes NL. Names blanked out to protect the stupid.
Seat 1: G ($39.70 in chips)
Seat 3: L ($217.50 in chips)
Seat 6: R ($214.50 in chips)
Seat 8: C ($38.50 in chips)
Seat 9: O ($197.20 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
R posts blind ($1), c posts blind ($2).
PRE-FLOP
O bets $5, G calls $5, L bets $8, R folds, c folds, O calls $3, G calls $3.
FLOP [board cards 2H,6H,2S ]
O checks, G checks, L bets $20, O folds, G bets $31.70 and is all-in, l folds.
SHOWDOWN
G shows [ 3H,AH ]
G wins $75.70.
SUMMARY
Dealer: L
Pot: $78.70, (including rake: $3)
G, bets $39.70, collects $75.70, net $36
L folded for $12 in what would have been a $91 pot. I laughed for a long time after this hand. If you don't understand why this is just a ridiculous fold then you have no business ever playing poker. Even if that were my last $12 on earth I would have called that.
People: the size of the pot is ALWAYS the most important factor when making poker decisions. ALWAYS. It's more important than anything else. L obviously forgot this. You should not.
Grinding:
Poker was fun tonight/this morning. The session started out on a downnote, but still I found it enjoyable, and results caught up to fun.
4 hours work brought about $450. Sigh...3.5 hours work brought about +$550, but maybe I stayed on a litte long. No big mistakes, maybe just some bets I shouldn't have made, although most of that 100 was just variance. And yeah...this was all in addition to what I made tonight.
But now I'm playing again. Why? I'm tired, I should go for a run outside or head outside or something?
Sometimes, poker has an allure, even for a kid like me who doesn't even like poker all that much anymore. Odd. Whatever though, I'm getting up soon.
Also, if you haven't been following the Daniel Negreanu vs. Dreamclown tussle, then you should. Basically, Dreamclown is a group of online pros who have done super well, and have a multimillion dollar bankrool. They're playing Negreanu in what comes down to a dickwaving grudge match. Basically, it's like the WWF of poker, without being stupid like the WWF.
I've been pimping pokerroom.com lately, but the games have been very good to me here lately and if you download the pokerroom.com software, then you can watch these games. Negreanu is KidPoker and Dreamclown is...duh DREAMCLOWN.
Poker was fun tonight/this morning. The session started out on a downnote, but still I found it enjoyable, and results caught up to fun.
4 hours work brought about $450. Sigh...3.5 hours work brought about +$550, but maybe I stayed on a litte long. No big mistakes, maybe just some bets I shouldn't have made, although most of that 100 was just variance. And yeah...this was all in addition to what I made tonight.
But now I'm playing again. Why? I'm tired, I should go for a run outside or head outside or something?
Sometimes, poker has an allure, even for a kid like me who doesn't even like poker all that much anymore. Odd. Whatever though, I'm getting up soon.
Also, if you haven't been following the Daniel Negreanu vs. Dreamclown tussle, then you should. Basically, Dreamclown is a group of online pros who have done super well, and have a multimillion dollar bankrool. They're playing Negreanu in what comes down to a dickwaving grudge match. Basically, it's like the WWF of poker, without being stupid like the WWF.
I've been pimping pokerroom.com lately, but the games have been very good to me here lately and if you download the pokerroom.com software, then you can watch these games. Negreanu is KidPoker and Dreamclown is...duh DREAMCLOWN.
Played again:
I dicked around some this afternoon at the NL pokerroom tables. They were soft, easy tables. But I couldn't pick anything up. I was a little annoyed. There's nothing worse than playing really bad players and continually getting donkeyed up. I mean, in poker, especially no limit, you can set traps and wait for them to come.
But sometimes, they'll escape. Poker is just a game of percentages, and there's almost always an out.
Here's an example: I had AA, and had raised to 2.5X the big blind. I was one off the button, and the big blind was the donkey who I was aiming for. As expected because of my small raise, he raised it to 11X the big blind. Now this guy simply couldn't hold himself back from making huge overbets (Prahlad Friedman/Spirit Rock style, only without the rest of the talent!) when the pot got sizeable at all. So now the pot is 44. Anyway, pot is at 80 and there are 4 clubs on the board. He has the same 100x BB stack that I did. He moves all in. I have no clubs. I have to fold.
I don't have the hand history on me. I probably could've played it better. But in that situation, I'll have his stack 80% of the time. But then, I ended up losing 25-30% of mine. It happens.
Then I played a hand where my connection crapped out on me when I had the absolute nuts on the river in a reasonable size pot with an aggressive opponent. Oh well...I only lost the chance to double up. GRR.
I was so pissed I had to quit. I couldn't play anymore.
But sometimes things happen, and I went and hit a sick run of cards (except that KK went down a few times) playing the shorthanded PokerRoom games.
I cashed a grand in a couple hours work, and figured I'd stop playing for the day. I played pretty darn well, and had good cards. Good combination.
I dicked around some this afternoon at the NL pokerroom tables. They were soft, easy tables. But I couldn't pick anything up. I was a little annoyed. There's nothing worse than playing really bad players and continually getting donkeyed up. I mean, in poker, especially no limit, you can set traps and wait for them to come.
But sometimes, they'll escape. Poker is just a game of percentages, and there's almost always an out.
Here's an example: I had AA, and had raised to 2.5X the big blind. I was one off the button, and the big blind was the donkey who I was aiming for. As expected because of my small raise, he raised it to 11X the big blind. Now this guy simply couldn't hold himself back from making huge overbets (Prahlad Friedman/Spirit Rock style, only without the rest of the talent!) when the pot got sizeable at all. So now the pot is 44. Anyway, pot is at 80 and there are 4 clubs on the board. He has the same 100x BB stack that I did. He moves all in. I have no clubs. I have to fold.
I don't have the hand history on me. I probably could've played it better. But in that situation, I'll have his stack 80% of the time. But then, I ended up losing 25-30% of mine. It happens.
Then I played a hand where my connection crapped out on me when I had the absolute nuts on the river in a reasonable size pot with an aggressive opponent. Oh well...I only lost the chance to double up. GRR.
I was so pissed I had to quit. I couldn't play anymore.
But sometimes things happen, and I went and hit a sick run of cards (except that KK went down a few times) playing the shorthanded PokerRoom games.
I cashed a grand in a couple hours work, and figured I'd stop playing for the day. I played pretty darn well, and had good cards. Good combination.
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Time off: I haven't played in a couple days.
I'll get back to it soon, just haven't felt like playing in a couple days.
I'll get back to it soon, just haven't felt like playing in a couple days.
Monday, December 26, 2005
Raped:
Wow. Today was painful. I was up +150, and ended up down -600. So, a total downswing of 750.
I don't know what happened. Nothing went right. Every big pot someone sucked out on me. I got people all-in as a huge favorite, and the allin sucker sucked out.
Another positive point: All of the big pots I lost were when I was the aggressor. It's not like I called off all my chips. And I wasn't overaggressive either, I don't think.
I didn't play great. I wouldn't really say I went on tilt, but I just didn't play well. Also, some misclicks led to big errors.
But that's life. I'm new to the NL games. I definitely was running bad in a massive way, no question about that. I flopped nothing. I honestly probably lost money on AA, KK, and QQ. I had AK only a few times. I couldn't flop a set for my life, and when I did, there was always possible flushes that came up.
Perhaps to some degree, some of the players got used to my style. Even idiots adjust a little bit, and I've been all over those games for the past few days, so everyone that was a repeat had played against me before.
Mostly though, I think I was just running bad. I'll get back in there and be patient tomorrow. And hopefully I won't get clowned like I did today.
Wow. Today was painful. I was up +150, and ended up down -600. So, a total downswing of 750.
I don't know what happened. Nothing went right. Every big pot someone sucked out on me. I got people all-in as a huge favorite, and the allin sucker sucked out.
Another positive point: All of the big pots I lost were when I was the aggressor. It's not like I called off all my chips. And I wasn't overaggressive either, I don't think.
I didn't play great. I wouldn't really say I went on tilt, but I just didn't play well. Also, some misclicks led to big errors.
But that's life. I'm new to the NL games. I definitely was running bad in a massive way, no question about that. I flopped nothing. I honestly probably lost money on AA, KK, and QQ. I had AK only a few times. I couldn't flop a set for my life, and when I did, there was always possible flushes that came up.
Perhaps to some degree, some of the players got used to my style. Even idiots adjust a little bit, and I've been all over those games for the past few days, so everyone that was a repeat had played against me before.
Mostly though, I think I was just running bad. I'll get back in there and be patient tomorrow. And hopefully I won't get clowned like I did today.
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Another day, another dollar:
As I said, I don't play NL much.
I had an interesting hand that I emailed a friend of mine whose opinion I respect very much. He hated my play, and told me how wrong it was.
It's funny. He was right. I was pretty sure he would say that the play was terribly horrible, but I still wanted to hear it. Perhaps it is because I don't want to get into bad habits in my learning NL cash games, so if I make a normally suboptimal play, I like to make sure I know it is bad.
Even so, I'm not sure he was right in that instance. The play was normally suboptimal, but in that specific instance I still like my play.
Last night was great. I was sitting in a 1/2 and a 2/4 at PokerRoom. At the end of the night, I was up 216 in the 1/2 and 318 in the 2/4. Two of the guys in the 1/2 kept calling me a fish.
That's funny, everytime I got my money in, I was a favorite. That ain't fishy, boys. That's good poker.
One was actually a good player who had a decent idea of what he was doing. But he plays a much different game than I do. He didn't like the way I slowplayed a big hand on the flop with a few opponents. It was another normally suboptimal play, but I had very good control over my opponents. I knew that while sometimes I would get drawn out on and have to discard my big hand, many times I'd be able to get more out of them. So all in all, it was a good play, and it makes me harder to read.
Heh. In the time I wrote this post, I was up 47 at a 1/2 table. I ran good, but now it's time for Christmas dinner.
As I said, I don't play NL much.
I had an interesting hand that I emailed a friend of mine whose opinion I respect very much. He hated my play, and told me how wrong it was.
It's funny. He was right. I was pretty sure he would say that the play was terribly horrible, but I still wanted to hear it. Perhaps it is because I don't want to get into bad habits in my learning NL cash games, so if I make a normally suboptimal play, I like to make sure I know it is bad.
Even so, I'm not sure he was right in that instance. The play was normally suboptimal, but in that specific instance I still like my play.
Last night was great. I was sitting in a 1/2 and a 2/4 at PokerRoom. At the end of the night, I was up 216 in the 1/2 and 318 in the 2/4. Two of the guys in the 1/2 kept calling me a fish.
That's funny, everytime I got my money in, I was a favorite. That ain't fishy, boys. That's good poker.
One was actually a good player who had a decent idea of what he was doing. But he plays a much different game than I do. He didn't like the way I slowplayed a big hand on the flop with a few opponents. It was another normally suboptimal play, but I had very good control over my opponents. I knew that while sometimes I would get drawn out on and have to discard my big hand, many times I'd be able to get more out of them. So all in all, it was a good play, and it makes me harder to read.
Heh. In the time I wrote this post, I was up 47 at a 1/2 table. I ran good, but now it's time for Christmas dinner.
Saturday, December 24, 2005
What I'm up to lately:
I haven't played poker in months. I've made enough playing poker that I don't particularly need to play that often. However, lately I've been playing a bit more.
I've been playing at PokerRoom:
The NL games are soft. I've always been a limit player, even though I know that generally the poker boom has brought most of the worst players into NL tourneys and NL cash games (the two are very different strategy-wise, but most people don't realize that). I've been meaning to play more NL tourneys, as I've read and absorbed Harrington on Hold'em, volumes 1 and 2 (written by Dan Harrington, one of the absolute top NL players...most of the people you see on TV are broke, by the way). One problem with NL tourneys is that they are very high variance...even an excellent player will occasionally experience long, long streaks without winning.
NL cash games are very low variance. They are excellent ways to make money, and particularly to make consistent money. So I've been playing carefully and doing very, very well. The games at Pokerroom are soft, even softer than I've played at on some other sites. Highly recommended. If I keep doing this well, I'll have to start playing poker again.
I haven't played poker in months. I've made enough playing poker that I don't particularly need to play that often. However, lately I've been playing a bit more.
I've been playing at PokerRoom:
The NL games are soft. I've always been a limit player, even though I know that generally the poker boom has brought most of the worst players into NL tourneys and NL cash games (the two are very different strategy-wise, but most people don't realize that). I've been meaning to play more NL tourneys, as I've read and absorbed Harrington on Hold'em, volumes 1 and 2 (written by Dan Harrington, one of the absolute top NL players...most of the people you see on TV are broke, by the way). One problem with NL tourneys is that they are very high variance...even an excellent player will occasionally experience long, long streaks without winning.
NL cash games are very low variance. They are excellent ways to make money, and particularly to make consistent money. So I've been playing carefully and doing very, very well. The games at Pokerroom are soft, even softer than I've played at on some other sites. Highly recommended. If I keep doing this well, I'll have to start playing poker again.
