So in my last post I lamented how I could not seem to win, or get any worthwhile cards (in Triple Draw that is...). Well, today I booked a +$140 day. Not a HUGE win by any stretch (although not bad for me!), but an interesting turn of events to say the least. I played all of my draws hard and fast, but it doesn't hurt to get dealt pat hands a couple times in 2 hours either! That's right, I got 24568 dealt twice tonight. And, the kicker...it held up both times! I also was dealt a pat #3 which paid off pretty nicely as well. The funny thing about today was that twice I was all-in in two different sessions, only to turn around and leave winner both times. Lately, I have been doing a sort-of mini buy-in. The reason? Psychological. For me, and for my opponents. For one, if I have a bad session, it doesn't seem to hurt so much. I don't really know if my opponents even make note of how much I am in for, but I certainly do with them, and the more stuck they look, the more likely I may be to run a play on them.
I haven't been doing that great a job of tracking my stats this month. In fact, I have been horrible at it. But, I know I need to do a better job, so this week I have re-started my tracking. It's always easy to track winning sessions...it's the losers that really suck!
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Why do I play this game?
Seriously, I should think about switching to straight draw poker high...How can you go 60+ hands seeing 77KTA, 9TQ48, AJJ58, and the best one...AAKKK!!! ARRGGHHH! And it is really messing me up with these guys just limping in...if I only had a damn hand to raise with I would punish these retards!!
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Poker Update - The Triple Draw and Sit N Go Adventure
I have been doing a little bit of soul searching, if you will. That sounds like I am having a bad run or something, but that's not entirely accurate. Really, what has happened is I have been playing entirely too much Triple Draw.
I freakin' love the game, but it is addicting as hell and the swings are seriously monsterous. The main reason for that is the fact that it is played 6-handed. Not to mention that they do not stay 6-handed very long. Lately, the trend at the tables is to limp into the pot. This is really screwing me up. So, I have found that I am treating limpers to be 2 card draws. The problem lies in pot-odds. The more limpers, the more likely to limp or even call a raise. Some of these people treat the game like a coin-flip and a luck machine. I have seen more 2 card draws on the last round that hit for wins in the last couple days, you would just not believe it. Actually, I think some of these people are trying to disguise there hands. My buddy Chris, who I got into the game, did this as well. His reasoning was that when you raise you are losing those callers with worse hands. The thing is, when you do not raise, you are losing value. He would occasionally limp from EP w/ huge 1 card draws like 2345 and 2347. Now, I never saw this really work out for him all that well, but I didn't see it work against him either. He would limp and get a caller or someone would raise and he would cold-call, but as soon as they saw that he was drawing one, they would back down. I really thought he was losing bets. I don't think he put enough time into the game, nor did I "sweat" his games enough to get a handle on his results...he also had the unnerving actions of limping in w/ awful starting hands. Anyway, enough about TD!
I have done extremely well at the $10 SnG's so far this month. I haven't played a ton so it is not really a good indicator of anything, but it is something that is very positive and makes me happy! I think I have such great patience in these things and once I get down to 4-handed, no matter what my stack looks like, I feel I have an edge. I was doing a little bit of research for my 1 year anniversary of online poker and found this crazy little nugget. In June of '05 (my third full month of poker), I was 34/38 in SnG's ITM (In The Money). Now because I only had a bankroll of $50 to start with in April, by June it was around $100-150, and I was playing $5 SnG's exclusively. My profit in SnG's was $292.20! To me, that is pretty damn impressive!
I have done a poor job of record keeping. I don't know why, but I am having a hard time keeping up with it. I know I had a pretty "swingy" month of January, and Febuary has not started off that great. Basically my SnG's are keeping me just a bit under even. I am contemplating diversifying again, and trying out another site. What my thinking was is that, I would keep a bit on UB, and take a couple hundred to Full Tilt or Poker Stars and just focus on SnG's on one site or the other. I don't have any real reasoning on this. My other thought was to start a second account on UB and use it strictly for SnG's/Tourneys, so I could track my progress a little better. With all of my personal research (what little I have done really!), I think I am an above average SnG player, and an average, slightly loose cash game player (that is for hold'em). I think my TD stats will even out and a lot of the things that I am experiencing in that game are variance related, and educational on some level.
I freakin' love the game, but it is addicting as hell and the swings are seriously monsterous. The main reason for that is the fact that it is played 6-handed. Not to mention that they do not stay 6-handed very long. Lately, the trend at the tables is to limp into the pot. This is really screwing me up. So, I have found that I am treating limpers to be 2 card draws. The problem lies in pot-odds. The more limpers, the more likely to limp or even call a raise. Some of these people treat the game like a coin-flip and a luck machine. I have seen more 2 card draws on the last round that hit for wins in the last couple days, you would just not believe it. Actually, I think some of these people are trying to disguise there hands. My buddy Chris, who I got into the game, did this as well. His reasoning was that when you raise you are losing those callers with worse hands. The thing is, when you do not raise, you are losing value. He would occasionally limp from EP w/ huge 1 card draws like 2345 and 2347. Now, I never saw this really work out for him all that well, but I didn't see it work against him either. He would limp and get a caller or someone would raise and he would cold-call, but as soon as they saw that he was drawing one, they would back down. I really thought he was losing bets. I don't think he put enough time into the game, nor did I "sweat" his games enough to get a handle on his results...he also had the unnerving actions of limping in w/ awful starting hands. Anyway, enough about TD!
I have done extremely well at the $10 SnG's so far this month. I haven't played a ton so it is not really a good indicator of anything, but it is something that is very positive and makes me happy! I think I have such great patience in these things and once I get down to 4-handed, no matter what my stack looks like, I feel I have an edge. I was doing a little bit of research for my 1 year anniversary of online poker and found this crazy little nugget. In June of '05 (my third full month of poker), I was 34/38 in SnG's ITM (In The Money). Now because I only had a bankroll of $50 to start with in April, by June it was around $100-150, and I was playing $5 SnG's exclusively. My profit in SnG's was $292.20! To me, that is pretty damn impressive!
I have done a poor job of record keeping. I don't know why, but I am having a hard time keeping up with it. I know I had a pretty "swingy" month of January, and Febuary has not started off that great. Basically my SnG's are keeping me just a bit under even. I am contemplating diversifying again, and trying out another site. What my thinking was is that, I would keep a bit on UB, and take a couple hundred to Full Tilt or Poker Stars and just focus on SnG's on one site or the other. I don't have any real reasoning on this. My other thought was to start a second account on UB and use it strictly for SnG's/Tourneys, so I could track my progress a little better. With all of my personal research (what little I have done really!), I think I am an above average SnG player, and an average, slightly loose cash game player (that is for hold'em). I think my TD stats will even out and a lot of the things that I am experiencing in that game are variance related, and educational on some level.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Monday, February 06, 2006
Vegas Trip Report
I wish I could say great things about our Vegas trip, but I cannot. Unfortunately it was a very unprofitable trip, gambling wise. Business was excellent on the other hand, and it was a ton of fun to be there with Mo. But, since this here blog has absolutely nothing to do with work, i'll have to focus on the negative!
The trip started out pretty normal for me. When I say "normal" I mean that whenever I go on a big trip, I always have some kind of fiasco. Well, as soon as we went to check our bags in at Treasure Island, I went to give the bell man a tip. I reach into my pocket and freak out because I cannot find my bankroll. I had all of my CASH folded up in an envelope in my pocket, and I was SURE that I was pick-pocketed in the airport. So my family is frantically looking all over the floor of the lobby searching for an envelope, that if anyone saw, was most definitely gone. I looked all over my carry on bag and found nothing. Then, my father says, "well, where is your wallet?". I reach into my pocket to show him that my wallet is there, but that my money was not in it, but was in an envelope. Sure enough, the folded envelope was stuck inside the flap of my wallet. Pretty stupid of me to have that much cash on me in the first place, but...ehh...live and learn.
I did not get to play any poker until the second night (Wednesday). I just could not figure out where I wanted to play, and for what kind of stakes. I finally decided on the new room at MGM. I remembered seeing an article on it in ALL IN or BLUFF. It was a pretty nice room. I also decided on the $3/6 limit game to get myself in tune. It was actually quite a nice table. I had some good hands that I showed down, and I played pretty standard (TAA). I had probably the biggest hand at the table and the biggest pot pushed to me the whole time I was seated when I held 66 in the CO. A very aggressive guy had just come to the table and he had been raising just about every hand. Another player who I had become "friendly" with actually said beforehand, "this guy is going to play ultra-aggressive". So "aggressive guy" raises in EP and a MP player calls, I call, and both the SB and BB call. The flop brings a 6 J 4 rainbow. ADRENALINE!! SB comes out firing and everyone calls, as do I. I may have been able to pop it up, but I was comfortable slowplaying on an uncoordinated board. The turn is a T. Again the SB fires away $6 and everyone calls except here, I raise it. I get two callers and then "aggressive guy" says "I have JT should I call?"...yeah right buddy, I'm sure that's what you have...I just stare into space and he of course calls. The river pairs the T and everyone checks to me...now the T scared me just a bit because of the guys statement, but I wasn't checking my gin card, so I went ahead and bet it...unfortunately, EVERYONE FOLDED!! HUH?? I think, that if I had raised the flop I would have possibly lost bets on the turn, but may have induced a call on the river...who knows. Later on, just before I left the table, I had a loose call in MP with J9 of diamonds and flopped a inside straight flush draw. Neither the straight nor the flush got there on the river and I lost one silly bet where I thought I might be able to pick up the pot on the river. I played the hand perfectly though, raising on the flop (buying the free card), got the free turn card, but misplayed the river. Oh well! So i won $53 in two hours. I was just happy to have a win.
Unfortunately, that was the first and only winning day! Thursday, Mo and I played some blackjack and essentially broke even for the day. I did get to go over and check out "Doyle's Room" at The Bellagio and saw pro's, Barry Greenstein, Eli Elezra, Daniel Negreanu, and Phil Ivey. I was sure that there was one or two others, but I could not see who they were. Also, earlier that day, sprstoner (Shawn from +1) came over to the booth at the convention and we talked for a while. My first +1 meet! That was very cool, and he was a real nice guy, and in the same business (sort of) ta boot!
Friday I had wanted to play in some kind of tournament, and I really liked Binions structure. Plus just getting to play in that room was very cool. I did not do to well against the locals there, but I do feel I played ok, just made one or two bad moves. That tournament ended up costing me a little over $100. I then lost a little in a cash game (3/6 again) and thought, "hey, i'll just recoup it playing blackjack". DUH...that didn't work out as planned, and I was down just under $200 for the day. Mo and I went out and had a great time that night, checking out all the usual sites and getting some great pictures that I'll add later tonight. We finally sat down for some more BJ after midnight on Friday and proceeded to lose another $150 or so.
Saturday, my final day in Vegas had me itching to play some more poker. I really couldn't just play anywhere since we had our bags checked at our hotel and had to be within walking distance to get back to a taxi and head out to the airport. I set my eyes on The Mirage's $3/6 game. I had about 2-3 hours to play. This was special to me since it was the first casino I ever played live poker at. Too bad the players there again took my money. I played everything right, but an example of the horrendous play there was this hand. I have KTs OTB. I raise on the CO. The button calls, as does the SB and BB. Flop comes 9 K 4. BB bets out and I raise to see if he really has a good K. Everyone folds and he flat calls. Turn is a blank and he checks to me. I fire out $6. He calls. River is a 9 and he comes out firing. I say to the guy next to me, "I guess he hit his third 9, huh?". I call and he shows J9o. Nice Hand Sir. That hand really pissed me off, but what could I expect, as that was the way the whole table was playing.
We got on our plane and got into town just before midnight. I have been on Vegas time for the last two days and I feel like I might be coming down with a cold or some kind of illness. I think that always happens after this trip anyway. The most important thing about the Vegas trip was how much fun I had with Mo. It was awesome to be back there with her 5 years later. I am a little spoiled because I get to go every year. But, it is much more fun to have a partner in crime!
Oh yeah, the food is also a great perk with this trip. Tuesday night - Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Wednesday night - Spago (Wolfgang Puck), Thursday night - Top of the World (Stratosphere restaurant that spins - but not as good as last time I ate there), Friday night - Sushi Roko (sp?) - an AWESOME sushi restaurant in Caesars, Saturday day - FATBURGER - HELL YEAH, now that's the way to end the week!!
The trip started out pretty normal for me. When I say "normal" I mean that whenever I go on a big trip, I always have some kind of fiasco. Well, as soon as we went to check our bags in at Treasure Island, I went to give the bell man a tip. I reach into my pocket and freak out because I cannot find my bankroll. I had all of my CASH folded up in an envelope in my pocket, and I was SURE that I was pick-pocketed in the airport. So my family is frantically looking all over the floor of the lobby searching for an envelope, that if anyone saw, was most definitely gone. I looked all over my carry on bag and found nothing. Then, my father says, "well, where is your wallet?". I reach into my pocket to show him that my wallet is there, but that my money was not in it, but was in an envelope. Sure enough, the folded envelope was stuck inside the flap of my wallet. Pretty stupid of me to have that much cash on me in the first place, but...ehh...live and learn.
I did not get to play any poker until the second night (Wednesday). I just could not figure out where I wanted to play, and for what kind of stakes. I finally decided on the new room at MGM. I remembered seeing an article on it in ALL IN or BLUFF. It was a pretty nice room. I also decided on the $3/6 limit game to get myself in tune. It was actually quite a nice table. I had some good hands that I showed down, and I played pretty standard (TAA). I had probably the biggest hand at the table and the biggest pot pushed to me the whole time I was seated when I held 66 in the CO. A very aggressive guy had just come to the table and he had been raising just about every hand. Another player who I had become "friendly" with actually said beforehand, "this guy is going to play ultra-aggressive". So "aggressive guy" raises in EP and a MP player calls, I call, and both the SB and BB call. The flop brings a 6 J 4 rainbow. ADRENALINE!! SB comes out firing and everyone calls, as do I. I may have been able to pop it up, but I was comfortable slowplaying on an uncoordinated board. The turn is a T. Again the SB fires away $6 and everyone calls except here, I raise it. I get two callers and then "aggressive guy" says "I have JT should I call?"...yeah right buddy, I'm sure that's what you have...I just stare into space and he of course calls. The river pairs the T and everyone checks to me...now the T scared me just a bit because of the guys statement, but I wasn't checking my gin card, so I went ahead and bet it...unfortunately, EVERYONE FOLDED!! HUH?? I think, that if I had raised the flop I would have possibly lost bets on the turn, but may have induced a call on the river...who knows. Later on, just before I left the table, I had a loose call in MP with J9 of diamonds and flopped a inside straight flush draw. Neither the straight nor the flush got there on the river and I lost one silly bet where I thought I might be able to pick up the pot on the river. I played the hand perfectly though, raising on the flop (buying the free card), got the free turn card, but misplayed the river. Oh well! So i won $53 in two hours. I was just happy to have a win.
Unfortunately, that was the first and only winning day! Thursday, Mo and I played some blackjack and essentially broke even for the day. I did get to go over and check out "Doyle's Room" at The Bellagio and saw pro's, Barry Greenstein, Eli Elezra, Daniel Negreanu, and Phil Ivey. I was sure that there was one or two others, but I could not see who they were. Also, earlier that day, sprstoner (Shawn from +1) came over to the booth at the convention and we talked for a while. My first +1 meet! That was very cool, and he was a real nice guy, and in the same business (sort of) ta boot!
Friday I had wanted to play in some kind of tournament, and I really liked Binions structure. Plus just getting to play in that room was very cool. I did not do to well against the locals there, but I do feel I played ok, just made one or two bad moves. That tournament ended up costing me a little over $100. I then lost a little in a cash game (3/6 again) and thought, "hey, i'll just recoup it playing blackjack". DUH...that didn't work out as planned, and I was down just under $200 for the day. Mo and I went out and had a great time that night, checking out all the usual sites and getting some great pictures that I'll add later tonight. We finally sat down for some more BJ after midnight on Friday and proceeded to lose another $150 or so.
Saturday, my final day in Vegas had me itching to play some more poker. I really couldn't just play anywhere since we had our bags checked at our hotel and had to be within walking distance to get back to a taxi and head out to the airport. I set my eyes on The Mirage's $3/6 game. I had about 2-3 hours to play. This was special to me since it was the first casino I ever played live poker at. Too bad the players there again took my money. I played everything right, but an example of the horrendous play there was this hand. I have KTs OTB. I raise on the CO. The button calls, as does the SB and BB. Flop comes 9 K 4. BB bets out and I raise to see if he really has a good K. Everyone folds and he flat calls. Turn is a blank and he checks to me. I fire out $6. He calls. River is a 9 and he comes out firing. I say to the guy next to me, "I guess he hit his third 9, huh?". I call and he shows J9o. Nice Hand Sir. That hand really pissed me off, but what could I expect, as that was the way the whole table was playing.
We got on our plane and got into town just before midnight. I have been on Vegas time for the last two days and I feel like I might be coming down with a cold or some kind of illness. I think that always happens after this trip anyway. The most important thing about the Vegas trip was how much fun I had with Mo. It was awesome to be back there with her 5 years later. I am a little spoiled because I get to go every year. But, it is much more fun to have a partner in crime!
Oh yeah, the food is also a great perk with this trip. Tuesday night - Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Wednesday night - Spago (Wolfgang Puck), Thursday night - Top of the World (Stratosphere restaurant that spins - but not as good as last time I ate there), Friday night - Sushi Roko (sp?) - an AWESOME sushi restaurant in Caesars, Saturday day - FATBURGER - HELL YEAH, now that's the way to end the week!!
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