For the past 3 weeks, Wonka and I have been making the trek down to Foxwoods on Wednesday night and playing until the sun comes up. I have been either running bad, playing bad, or I just plain suck at poker for a couple months now. Variance is a bitch. Finally this week I was able to book a nice win.
I have taken up buying in short early in my session, then topping off to full after a while if I like the table. I do it as somewhat of a stop-loss measure as well as a way of getting used to everyone at the table. Early on I call the standard $10 opening raise that is seen 7 ways with 67c. A pair and a flush draw, turn 2 pair, and get rivered by a larger 2 pair. Down half of a half a buyin, but I like the table so I reload to full.
Wonka manages to get stacked with the ass end of a straight flush and moves over to my table. I tell him that there is nothing he can do about that, he had the nut flush and the guy caught a one-outer that gave them both straight flushes. You cant get away from a straight flush. He catches a set vs my over pair and turns quads against me. Thats ok, he payed my quads off last week when the board was boated.
Later in the session a full fledged maniac sits down and proceeds to double up just about everyone at the table. He buys $500 in chips and puts $200 in the drink holder so he can top off as needed. This guy doesn't see any hole cards that he doesn't like, and fires double barrels on every street regardless of position or if he connected with the board. I turn a King high flush and he calls my all in drawing with a Queen. Double up number one. A few hands later I flop the nut flush and he moves all in when I check to him. Double up number two. Then in a 3 way pot I flop Broadway + Flush draw and gutshot Royal draw for double up number three. He played nearly every hand, always for a big pot if he could manage to get his chips in the middle. By the end of the night the guy had about $4000 of his money spread around a 1/2 table. I think we had the well re-filled 3 times because of him.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
Foxwoods with Wonka
Yesterday afternoon as I was settling into my evening session on Bodog, Wonka called saying he had that Foxwoods feeling. My rubber arm was easily twisted and 20 minutes later we were on the road. There is open seating at about 15 1/2 NL tables when we arrive so I walk around observing tables seeing who was there and pick a table with a 1400 stack. I decide that I am going to play a short stack game and buy in for $150. Within 25 minutes I get felted twice. Both with KK, once to a flopped set, and once to someone who flat called a 3 bet of $40 with T8o and flopped top two. Ouch.
I move over to Wonkas table and take a seat in the 10 seat promptly banging my knee on the drop box, he is in the 6 seat. We begin a ten hour all night odyssey grinding it out and patiently waiting for the right spots. My stack fluctuates, but I average 300 on the table while being stuck 400.
Late night I 3-bet with the hammer twice and take down nice pots with c-bets on the flop and show both times. In a limped pot with Q6h from the BB, the flop is 566 and I lead out for $10 hoping my hammer credit earns me some action. Two callers see the turn which brings a very nice Queen to fill me up. I check and one player bets out for $25 while the other player folds. I bump it to $75 and get called. The river is a blank, and the other plays says "I thought we were friends, you can check." I tell him we are friends but not that good of friends and I don't think I can check. He calls my value bet of $100 showing 67d and I am finally unstuck for the first time of the night. The sun is up and we decide to leave at the next dealer change over.
I move over to Wonkas table and take a seat in the 10 seat promptly banging my knee on the drop box, he is in the 6 seat. We begin a ten hour all night odyssey grinding it out and patiently waiting for the right spots. My stack fluctuates, but I average 300 on the table while being stuck 400.
Late night I 3-bet with the hammer twice and take down nice pots with c-bets on the flop and show both times. In a limped pot with Q6h from the BB, the flop is 566 and I lead out for $10 hoping my hammer credit earns me some action. Two callers see the turn which brings a very nice Queen to fill me up. I check and one player bets out for $25 while the other player folds. I bump it to $75 and get called. The river is a blank, and the other plays says "I thought we were friends, you can check." I tell him we are friends but not that good of friends and I don't think I can check. He calls my value bet of $100 showing 67d and I am finally unstuck for the first time of the night. The sun is up and we decide to leave at the next dealer change over.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Bodog TOC
Well, I finished the Bodog Blogger Tournament finals in the same position that I finished most of the tournament the past few weeks. Out in 5th place. My dreams of winning a 1 in 18 shot at a WSOP package were crushed, and I settled for the T$109.
Early on I was hit with the deck, at one point I had QQ, AK, AK, TT, AJ all in a row. My card rackery probably gave me an over aggressive image to the point where a couple players began to look me up. KK vs Ace-rag and I double up Drizz when his low card hits runner runner straight. That was the first gross suck out of the evening. I recover when my AK beats AQ and I am back in good shape heading to the final table.
At the final table short stack Drizz limps from EP with AA, and I check my blind with 78s. 782 rainbow is the flop, which I check and he bets out half the pot. I check raise and he jams, of course the board pairs deuces and again I double him up. Dirty hand number two. Scottmc is short and jams from the the small blind with K5o. I call with 77 and he catches runner runner straight. Ugly suckout #3. I cant blame him, he was short to the point where he was pushing ATC.
I would like to say a big thank you to Bodog, Nadia and $mokkee for hosting the event. Please host another one soon. Congratulations to GoldenHammer who took it down.
Early on I was hit with the deck, at one point I had QQ, AK, AK, TT, AJ all in a row. My card rackery probably gave me an over aggressive image to the point where a couple players began to look me up. KK vs Ace-rag and I double up Drizz when his low card hits runner runner straight. That was the first gross suck out of the evening. I recover when my AK beats AQ and I am back in good shape heading to the final table.
At the final table short stack Drizz limps from EP with AA, and I check my blind with 78s. 782 rainbow is the flop, which I check and he bets out half the pot. I check raise and he jams, of course the board pairs deuces and again I double him up. Dirty hand number two. Scottmc is short and jams from the the small blind with K5o. I call with 77 and he catches runner runner straight. Ugly suckout #3. I cant blame him, he was short to the point where he was pushing ATC.
I would like to say a big thank you to Bodog, Nadia and $mokkee for hosting the event. Please host another one soon. Congratulations to GoldenHammer who took it down.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Snippet from Foxwoods
This is 1/2 donkery at it's finest. A new player sits down on my right, plays a couple hands and whispers to me that he caught the crazy Asian guy across the tables tell. I humor him and ask what it is and he says that he makes an open C with his thumb and index finger when he is bluffing and it is a closed circle when he has a hand. Hmmm, someone must have just watched Rounders. I tell him thanks for the information and continue with my game. The man is friendly, but he has this extremely annoying habit of singing along with his Ipod. If he were not such a frequent re-loader I would have changed seats due to his annoying sing along habit. Maybe Karaoke-Poker exists in some casinos, but I don't plan on playing there.
About two hours into the session, he limps from MP and calls the standard 10 dollar raise. The flop is A-2-3 with 2 diamonds. Check around to the initial raiser who bets 15, crazy Asian makes it 30 to go, and the singer/tell-spotter raises to 80 leaving about 160 behind. Original raiser flat calls the 80 and the crazy Asian goes all in for about 300 total. Singer/tell-spotter guy tanks really hard, and appears to be counting outs or odds or maybe he is just babbling. He shows me his cards, 45o - he has flopped the wheel. He tanks to the point where other players want to call time, I think he must be acting since he flopped the nuts, but then he proceeds to muck his hand. Original raiser calls the 300 and shows AKo (of course), and crazy Asian has A5o - neither man has a diamond. AKo wins, the flopped wheel would have held up and I asked him why on earth did he he fold his hand? He replied that it was his last 160 and he was afraid of the flush draw. WTF? Why play 45o and not get your chips in the middle when you flop a straight?
About two hours into the session, he limps from MP and calls the standard 10 dollar raise. The flop is A-2-3 with 2 diamonds. Check around to the initial raiser who bets 15, crazy Asian makes it 30 to go, and the singer/tell-spotter raises to 80 leaving about 160 behind. Original raiser flat calls the 80 and the crazy Asian goes all in for about 300 total. Singer/tell-spotter guy tanks really hard, and appears to be counting outs or odds or maybe he is just babbling. He shows me his cards, 45o - he has flopped the wheel. He tanks to the point where other players want to call time, I think he must be acting since he flopped the nuts, but then he proceeds to muck his hand. Original raiser calls the 300 and shows AKo (of course), and crazy Asian has A5o - neither man has a diamond. AKo wins, the flopped wheel would have held up and I asked him why on earth did he he fold his hand? He replied that it was his last 160 and he was afraid of the flush draw. WTF? Why play 45o and not get your chips in the middle when you flop a straight?
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Vegas Trip Report
This is long over due ...
Tuesday Day 1 - I have an early morning flight out of Hartford, and need to be at my friends house 0500. That means being up at 3am getting ready and an hour drive. I elect not to sleep and play cash games on Bodog all night long. I can generally sleep on airplanes, but United managed to put my fat ass next to someone that makes me look skinny. No sleep for me. ScottyDawg and I land about noon Vegas time, and are expecting the limo driver to be waiting at the bottom of the escalator with our names on a sign. All the other limo drivers are there holding signs, but ours decides not to show up. We call the limo company and are put into what seems like an endless hold loop and finally 45 minutes later get a human that apologizes and sets us up with the next available car. The entire point of arranging for a car in advance is to avoid the 45 minute queue at the cab stand. Oh well, at least we did not have to take a van.
After checking we head to the strip to get a late lunch and then play some cards. Dawg picks the Flamingo and after a short wait we both get seated at different tables. I played here a bit last year, and it is definitely a touristy room. There were three 1/2 NL tables going and some 2/4 Limit. After a few hours I run my Aces into Queens all in pre flop (he pushed over my 4 bet) and the villain catches a Queen to stack me. Dawg is more fortunate and in less than 2 hours catches a couple sets vs over pairs and is up about 5 hundo. I am down about 2 hundo.
Dawg want to see how far his winnings will take him at the Rhino and we somehow stay for 4 hours. Needless to say his +500 poker win does not put a dent in his Rhino loss. I finally convince Dawg to leave and ship him back to the hotel while I go play at Harrahs until 8 am. After an early stacking AA vs TTT I manage to grind it out back and even make back what I lost at the Flamingo earlier.
Wednesday Day 2 - I sleep until mid afternoon when housekeeping bangs on my door. I had been working on 48 with no sleep, and need a few more hours before the next session. Based on CK's recommendation, we head over to the Venetian (Thanks for the emails CK!!!) I really am impressed by the Venetian poker room. Even though it is only 1/3 the size of Foxwoods, it really puts their room to shame. Nice comfortable adjustable chairs, extra wide drink holders. We both get seated at different tables and I begin what would eventually become a 15 hours losing session. My first table was friendly, there were a couple of good players but it was mostly tourists. I bought in short for 200 and was up to 450 a few hours later when the table broke. Dawg had enough and headed back to the hotel. He did actually have to work the next day. The new table was the beginning of my demise. My 4 bet pre flop with KK loses to a runner runner 4 flush vs a drunk tourist's A3o with the 3 catching the flush. I suppose that I got the match up that I wanted. A drunk playing A3o happened to get lucky.
The 450 that I had brought over from the broken game is now down to about 120, so I add 2 hundos and begin to grind it back - nobody complained about me being slightly over the max. I stayed even at this table and eventually in the wee hours of the morning it broke, and I moved to my 3rd table of the night. I had KK cracked 3 more times at the new table, again with top set to a flush, and twice to Ace-rag. Oh well. Jennifer Harmon walked through the room somewhere around 11am - yes I was still there. My final hand was a flopped nut flush vs bottom set that went runner runner boat. Again nothing I could do there. He thought I was drawing at the flush when I jammed over his re-raise. The final count was me being down 3 buyins, which really sucked. About 1pm I drag myself back to the hotel and take a nap until dinner time.
Thursday Day 3 - I am exhausted and pissed off about my Venetian session. Dawg wants to go out early so I am only working on about 4 hours sleep when we head out. He does not want to go back to the Venetian, saying the players were too good and would prefer a more touristy location. So I take him back to Harrahs and see some of the same players as the other night. There was only a single 1/2 game going but we are first and second on the list. There is a list of interest for 1/2 HORSE, and eventually a bunch of locals all sit. I was tempted to sit for a while, but two seats opened up and we both sat down across from each other, the table was nearly all tourists. One of the players is a regular from Foxwoods in town visiting friends. He doesnt stay too long and leaves after getting stacked. A very nice Asian girl was sitting to my right - a local. She introduced her self as Bee - as in buzz, to which I replied my name is Rob - as in steal. She was a good player and we both stayed out of each others way. I catch quad 2s from the BB and stack a guy who jammed 77. I end up cashing out +500 or so, but that did not cover my loss from the night before.
Anyway, that is my belated trip report.
Tuesday Day 1 - I have an early morning flight out of Hartford, and need to be at my friends house 0500. That means being up at 3am getting ready and an hour drive. I elect not to sleep and play cash games on Bodog all night long. I can generally sleep on airplanes, but United managed to put my fat ass next to someone that makes me look skinny. No sleep for me. ScottyDawg and I land about noon Vegas time, and are expecting the limo driver to be waiting at the bottom of the escalator with our names on a sign. All the other limo drivers are there holding signs, but ours decides not to show up. We call the limo company and are put into what seems like an endless hold loop and finally 45 minutes later get a human that apologizes and sets us up with the next available car. The entire point of arranging for a car in advance is to avoid the 45 minute queue at the cab stand. Oh well, at least we did not have to take a van.
After checking we head to the strip to get a late lunch and then play some cards. Dawg picks the Flamingo and after a short wait we both get seated at different tables. I played here a bit last year, and it is definitely a touristy room. There were three 1/2 NL tables going and some 2/4 Limit. After a few hours I run my Aces into Queens all in pre flop (he pushed over my 4 bet) and the villain catches a Queen to stack me. Dawg is more fortunate and in less than 2 hours catches a couple sets vs over pairs and is up about 5 hundo. I am down about 2 hundo.
Dawg want to see how far his winnings will take him at the Rhino and we somehow stay for 4 hours. Needless to say his +500 poker win does not put a dent in his Rhino loss. I finally convince Dawg to leave and ship him back to the hotel while I go play at Harrahs until 8 am. After an early stacking AA vs TTT I manage to grind it out back and even make back what I lost at the Flamingo earlier.
Wednesday Day 2 - I sleep until mid afternoon when housekeeping bangs on my door. I had been working on 48 with no sleep, and need a few more hours before the next session. Based on CK's recommendation, we head over to the Venetian (Thanks for the emails CK!!!) I really am impressed by the Venetian poker room. Even though it is only 1/3 the size of Foxwoods, it really puts their room to shame. Nice comfortable adjustable chairs, extra wide drink holders. We both get seated at different tables and I begin what would eventually become a 15 hours losing session. My first table was friendly, there were a couple of good players but it was mostly tourists. I bought in short for 200 and was up to 450 a few hours later when the table broke. Dawg had enough and headed back to the hotel. He did actually have to work the next day. The new table was the beginning of my demise. My 4 bet pre flop with KK loses to a runner runner 4 flush vs a drunk tourist's A3o with the 3 catching the flush. I suppose that I got the match up that I wanted. A drunk playing A3o happened to get lucky.
The 450 that I had brought over from the broken game is now down to about 120, so I add 2 hundos and begin to grind it back - nobody complained about me being slightly over the max. I stayed even at this table and eventually in the wee hours of the morning it broke, and I moved to my 3rd table of the night. I had KK cracked 3 more times at the new table, again with top set to a flush, and twice to Ace-rag. Oh well. Jennifer Harmon walked through the room somewhere around 11am - yes I was still there. My final hand was a flopped nut flush vs bottom set that went runner runner boat. Again nothing I could do there. He thought I was drawing at the flush when I jammed over his re-raise. The final count was me being down 3 buyins, which really sucked. About 1pm I drag myself back to the hotel and take a nap until dinner time.
Thursday Day 3 - I am exhausted and pissed off about my Venetian session. Dawg wants to go out early so I am only working on about 4 hours sleep when we head out. He does not want to go back to the Venetian, saying the players were too good and would prefer a more touristy location. So I take him back to Harrahs and see some of the same players as the other night. There was only a single 1/2 game going but we are first and second on the list. There is a list of interest for 1/2 HORSE, and eventually a bunch of locals all sit. I was tempted to sit for a while, but two seats opened up and we both sat down across from each other, the table was nearly all tourists. One of the players is a regular from Foxwoods in town visiting friends. He doesnt stay too long and leaves after getting stacked. A very nice Asian girl was sitting to my right - a local. She introduced her self as Bee - as in buzz, to which I replied my name is Rob - as in steal. She was a good player and we both stayed out of each others way. I catch quad 2s from the BB and stack a guy who jammed 77. I end up cashing out +500 or so, but that did not cover my loss from the night before.
Anyway, that is my belated trip report.
I love Bodog
I would feel remiss if I did not give Bodog a little pimpage. I have migrated a good portion of my cash game play over to Bodog, and have been quite happy with the results. As a low limit donkey (200NL) there is plenty of action to keep me going.
The Bodog Online Blogger Tournament is winding down, and it looks like I managed to eek out a seat to the finals in 10th place over all. That means I will have a 1 in 18 shot at the WSOP package. Well maybe. There are some very tough players in the finals. Although I am primarily a cash game player, I really liked the structure used at the Bodog Online Blogger Tournament. Nice small blinds early lets you be patient and not have to rush for chips or be short stacked at the first break. I could play my cash game style early and not burn through my stack. Although I never actually won one of the weekly events, I managed to play consistent for the past few months, making the final table week after week - much better than my performance in the BBT3 events. I certainly hope that Bodog offers another one of these events.
The Bodog Online Blogger Tournament is winding down, and it looks like I managed to eek out a seat to the finals in 10th place over all. That means I will have a 1 in 18 shot at the WSOP package. Well maybe. There are some very tough players in the finals. Although I am primarily a cash game player, I really liked the structure used at the Bodog Online Blogger Tournament. Nice small blinds early lets you be patient and not have to rush for chips or be short stacked at the first break. I could play my cash game style early and not burn through my stack. Although I never actually won one of the weekly events, I managed to play consistent for the past few months, making the final table week after week - much better than my performance in the BBT3 events. I certainly hope that Bodog offers another one of these events.
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