This will be a short one cause there really weren't any interesting hands or things to talk about. I woke up around 1 and got my name on the list around 230 (what happens when there are no seats avail in the game) and got called for the game at 430. I played a little online in the meantime and it was bad to me as it's been the last few very short sessions.
I started in a must move $100/200 game with mike schneider and CC. It started getting more filled after an hour or two and Frank Mariani (LA Lakers owner) joined our game so we made it $200/400. I played that for a few hours and was up 12k at point but lost like 4 straight hands to Max down to 2k winner so I took a break and went up to my room to screw around on the internet. Any time a player like max wins a bunch of pots straight like that he really gains a nice psychological edge on you and the game. I get this way too people too but Max is a step better for sure...so with him having position on me it seemed like a good time to break and after taking a good hour and a half break I came back down and just didn't feel like gamblin. So I racked up, ordered a beer and found a $40/80 game.
What a bunch of nits they were. I raised like 50% of my hands and won the blinds most of the time. It would be $40 but at the 40/80 game the house takes a dollar no matter what every hand so it was $39 hand after hand. It was really relaxing and I rushed up for a bit but lost a bit back and quit around 12:30am up like $1400.
today: 7.5 hours + $4100
running total: 23.5 hours + $7800
Probably gonna play online for a little while here then finish watching the celebrity apprentice. Tomorrow afternoon I feel like sitting at the pool with my laptop or a book may be in order. Thursday I'm going over to pokerbob and kirby's house for a little grillin and a monopoly variant. While the games have been good enough, they just aren't slave away for countless hours at games so I'm gonna work a little less hard this trip it looks like. It's probably good for me anyhow. I'm just really looking forward to golfing in san diego.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
LA day 1 wrapup
Day 1 ended much stronger than it began with that jackhammer start. I got down to the poker room and couldn't find a limit game and they were starting a new $10/20 blind no limit game so I hopped in and per the recommendation of a couple of people I bought in on the shorter side at $1500. I played for about a half hour when I got called for the $100/200 limit game when I was on the big blind with 54 of diamonds. The flop came Q76 with 2 diamonds. I led and got raised, I re-raised and he went all in and I called and he had a set and I didn't improve. So I move to limit...
The game was kinda crappy for quite a while...pretty much all pros, some of them not particularly good but they are not real fishy or anything. A couple OK guys. After not tooooo long I got moved to the main game which was pretty darn good. There was a guy in it who had been up for 3 days straight. I got to witness something new...a player falling asleep mid hand. He called the flop and then when his opponent bet the turn 10 seconds later he was sleeping and had to be poked awake. Lol. Dude. Go to bed. At around 11pm I was starting to feel a little fatigued myself so I planned on quitting when he did as he had racked up but I kept winning pots and he kept on playin. I try to play longer when I'm winning and shorter when I'm losin and while I was feeling a little tired, I was still with the program. I quit around 2am because I made a lazy play and it just seemed like enough and a good time to quit.
I ended up losing that $1500 in the no limit game but picked up a little over $11,000 in the $100/200 game so I won around $9800 on the day in about 13 hours.
running total:
16 hours
+$3700
A couple of the more 'interesting' hands:
Hand 1:
The fishy sleepy player grabs some chips to limp and then notices a few people behind him have folded so grabs another 4 and raises. I 3 bet with A8s and he calls. The flop is q54 rainbow and he check calls. The turn is the K of spades and he check calls. The river is the J of diamonds and he checks and I bet and I think this is one of those spots that if you don't play much live you will give off the wrong signals and get called here more often than somebody who is comfortable live. He almost surely as a pair by this point and while the board is helping you get a fold, betting in a believable manner is important. He ended up folding with a little 'darnit that board sucks' demeanor and I picked up the pot.
I had a good amount of history leading up to hand 2. The player in question is a long time pro. We haven't played TONS of hours together, but enough for me to know his basic operating procedure. He plays pretty straightforward and waits until the turn with his strongest hands. He's been 3 betting me a reasonable amount because he's 2 seats to my left and I've been missing the shit out of the flops so pretty much been folding until this hand where I had KQo and raised utg+1. He 3 bet 2 spots later and everyone else folded. I called. The flop came Q73 with 2 diamonds. I check raised and he 3 bet. I've seen him wait until the turn so many times with his big hands and he seems like the type who 3 bets that kind of flop with a weaker range than not so I 4 bet and he quickly 5 bet and I said oh ok see you at the showdown buddy in my head. The turn was a jack of spades and I checked and he checked. Heh. Nice 5 bet for a 'free' card. The river was an 8 of clubs and I bet and he called, i showed and he mucked.
That same player (from hand 2) kind of owned me in hand 3. I raised the button with AJs and a tight ok player called in the small blind. He 3 bet out of the bb and I capped it. The flop was AT3 with 2 diamonds. sb checked, he bet, I raised, sb folded, he 3bet, I called.
The turn and river were bricks and he bet it down and I called and he showed AQ. Against a lot of internet players that would be very standard, but this guy's range just felt a lot stronger but he definitely felt I was a little nuts so I just couldn't find a fold. Owell.
Time to watch some more season 2 of the wire...
The game was kinda crappy for quite a while...pretty much all pros, some of them not particularly good but they are not real fishy or anything. A couple OK guys. After not tooooo long I got moved to the main game which was pretty darn good. There was a guy in it who had been up for 3 days straight. I got to witness something new...a player falling asleep mid hand. He called the flop and then when his opponent bet the turn 10 seconds later he was sleeping and had to be poked awake. Lol. Dude. Go to bed. At around 11pm I was starting to feel a little fatigued myself so I planned on quitting when he did as he had racked up but I kept winning pots and he kept on playin. I try to play longer when I'm winning and shorter when I'm losin and while I was feeling a little tired, I was still with the program. I quit around 2am because I made a lazy play and it just seemed like enough and a good time to quit.
I ended up losing that $1500 in the no limit game but picked up a little over $11,000 in the $100/200 game so I won around $9800 on the day in about 13 hours.
running total:
16 hours
+$3700
A couple of the more 'interesting' hands:
Hand 1:
The fishy sleepy player grabs some chips to limp and then notices a few people behind him have folded so grabs another 4 and raises. I 3 bet with A8s and he calls. The flop is q54 rainbow and he check calls. The turn is the K of spades and he check calls. The river is the J of diamonds and he checks and I bet and I think this is one of those spots that if you don't play much live you will give off the wrong signals and get called here more often than somebody who is comfortable live. He almost surely as a pair by this point and while the board is helping you get a fold, betting in a believable manner is important. He ended up folding with a little 'darnit that board sucks' demeanor and I picked up the pot.
I had a good amount of history leading up to hand 2. The player in question is a long time pro. We haven't played TONS of hours together, but enough for me to know his basic operating procedure. He plays pretty straightforward and waits until the turn with his strongest hands. He's been 3 betting me a reasonable amount because he's 2 seats to my left and I've been missing the shit out of the flops so pretty much been folding until this hand where I had KQo and raised utg+1. He 3 bet 2 spots later and everyone else folded. I called. The flop came Q73 with 2 diamonds. I check raised and he 3 bet. I've seen him wait until the turn so many times with his big hands and he seems like the type who 3 bets that kind of flop with a weaker range than not so I 4 bet and he quickly 5 bet and I said oh ok see you at the showdown buddy in my head. The turn was a jack of spades and I checked and he checked. Heh. Nice 5 bet for a 'free' card. The river was an 8 of clubs and I bet and he called, i showed and he mucked.
That same player (from hand 2) kind of owned me in hand 3. I raised the button with AJs and a tight ok player called in the small blind. He 3 bet out of the bb and I capped it. The flop was AT3 with 2 diamonds. sb checked, he bet, I raised, sb folded, he 3bet, I called.
The turn and river were bricks and he bet it down and I called and he showed AQ. Against a lot of internet players that would be very standard, but this guy's range just felt a lot stronger but he definitely felt I was a little nuts so I just couldn't find a fold. Owell.
Time to watch some more season 2 of the wire...
Monday, April 20, 2009
LA day 1 great start
Nothing like waking up to a jackhammer in the morning. :( I was all pumped to sleep my little heart out as I haven't really been able to lately but the commerce is doing construction. I'll have to try to get to bed a little earlier tonight maybe and cross my fingers on tomorrow.
Time to shower and head down to 'work'. I'll update later.
Time to shower and head down to 'work'. I'll update later.
LA day .5 trip report
Well i guess it coulda started worse, but not a whole lot in 3 hours. The $100/200 game was full when we got here so we hopped in the $60/120 game and it was a peach. I started out ok and got called for 1/2 but the 60 game seemed infinitely better so I decided to stay there. I don't think I won a pot after that decision and ended up losing $6100 in the 3 hours I played.
The only interesting hand was one I played was one where I raised 54s on the button and just the bb called. The flop came J92 with 2 spades and he check called.
The turn was a 6 of hearts and he check called.
The river paired the 9 and he bet real quick...too quick to have a 9 and it just felt like he was almost prepaired to bet the river so I snapped out a raise and he called without much pain with ace king and dragged the pot.
Whoops. 'Good' read, get owned. :)
The rest of the hands were just standard losing pots. Enough for one night but I'm not discouraged yet. I'm gonna sleep now and up and at em in the mornin.
The only interesting hand was one I played was one where I raised 54s on the button and just the bb called. The flop came J92 with 2 spades and he check called.
The turn was a 6 of hearts and he check called.
The river paired the 9 and he bet real quick...too quick to have a 9 and it just felt like he was almost prepaired to bet the river so I snapped out a raise and he called without much pain with ace king and dragged the pot.
Whoops. 'Good' read, get owned. :)
The rest of the hands were just standard losing pots. Enough for one night but I'm not discouraged yet. I'm gonna sleep now and up and at em in the mornin.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Cali here I come
What do I always do when I'm in the middle of packing and don't feel like finishing? Write a blog obviously. Schneider and I are off to LA tonight for some pokering and when we're done with that gonna pop down to SD to visit the boys. I've been kinda itchin to go somewhere and when spring allergies rolled into full effect last week I just had to figure out where. If I had somebody to take a golf trip with I woulda just done that but I have clubs in SD too so I'll just mash out a bunch of rounds when I'm there.
Speaking of golf I made it out for the first time a couple days ago...just a little par 30 9 hole course by my house. I shot 5 over and was striking the ball well so I was very pleased. Putting has always been the worst part of my game so I decided this year to try something new that I've seen others do...line up the line on the golf ball with the line I want to take so when I am standing over it ready to hit all I have to think about is how hard to hit it as I've already got the line picked out. I'm sure I ran a little good but I 1 putted like 4 or 5 times. I also had my shortest put for eagle - somewhere around 15 feet with a nice break but it wasn't to be but I picked up a nice birdy.
The twins have been really fun to be at. I was at the big comeback game as well as finally a relaxing victory the next night. I wasn't able to go this afternoon as there was a birthday party for michelles grandma but I wasn't disappointed as I've been to plenty and day games are dumb indoors.
I plan on just playing $100/200 while out there and maybe a little $200/400 if the game is good, but I don't think I have the mental bankroll to play anything bigger as I don't wanna leave there again with the same feeling I had last time. It's just not worth it. I'm not sure if people are interested, but maybe I'll give a daily trip report or something if I'm feeling it. I'll try to remember some hands, too.
I know I have a bunch more little topics I could write about but I wanna finish packing so I can actually feel more relaxed.
Speaking of golf I made it out for the first time a couple days ago...just a little par 30 9 hole course by my house. I shot 5 over and was striking the ball well so I was very pleased. Putting has always been the worst part of my game so I decided this year to try something new that I've seen others do...line up the line on the golf ball with the line I want to take so when I am standing over it ready to hit all I have to think about is how hard to hit it as I've already got the line picked out. I'm sure I ran a little good but I 1 putted like 4 or 5 times. I also had my shortest put for eagle - somewhere around 15 feet with a nice break but it wasn't to be but I picked up a nice birdy.
The twins have been really fun to be at. I was at the big comeback game as well as finally a relaxing victory the next night. I wasn't able to go this afternoon as there was a birthday party for michelles grandma but I wasn't disappointed as I've been to plenty and day games are dumb indoors.
I plan on just playing $100/200 while out there and maybe a little $200/400 if the game is good, but I don't think I have the mental bankroll to play anything bigger as I don't wanna leave there again with the same feeling I had last time. It's just not worth it. I'm not sure if people are interested, but maybe I'll give a daily trip report or something if I'm feeling it. I'll try to remember some hands, too.
I know I have a bunch more little topics I could write about but I wanna finish packing so I can actually feel more relaxed.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
shaking my head
All I can do this afternoon is shake my head. Yesterday afternoon I only got to play an hour because i had to meet up with my tax accountant. I could not blow a pot. I won every hand for that hour and it was too bad I had to go. Today is the exact opposite. I just have to watch every pot go the other way and all I can do is shake my head, over and over. I really bet that the reason limit holdem is a good game that will last the test of time is because sessions and runs like these are very common. People can be fooled about their skill level (good or bad) for a very long time and the rushes are so fun and people get hooked on trying to get on another one.
I did get to the driving range/practice green for the first time all year. Pathetic. Like out of this world pathetic. I just hope it was a fluke. I hit my first 6 or 7 balls terribly. I don't think it helps we were hitting off dirt but still, it wasn't good. I was putting better than average and my chipping could use a little practice.
I'm not going to bash my head against the wall with poker, that doesn't sound fun. It feels kinda silly to play racquetball when it's so nice out, but I could use that workout and setting up something like badminton sounds like too much work. haha. May as well let jon's grass get a little healthier too. Hopefully the twins will pulll off another win tonight...I'm slackin at 1-2 at games I've been at this year.
RB time...
I did get to the driving range/practice green for the first time all year. Pathetic. Like out of this world pathetic. I just hope it was a fluke. I hit my first 6 or 7 balls terribly. I don't think it helps we were hitting off dirt but still, it wasn't good. I was putting better than average and my chipping could use a little practice.
I'm not going to bash my head against the wall with poker, that doesn't sound fun. It feels kinda silly to play racquetball when it's so nice out, but I could use that workout and setting up something like badminton sounds like too much work. haha. May as well let jon's grass get a little healthier too. Hopefully the twins will pulll off another win tonight...I'm slackin at 1-2 at games I've been at this year.
RB time...
Monday, April 13, 2009
taxes, game night
The thought of doing taxes makes me cringe so it's no surprise I let them go until the last minute. I got some of the prelim stuff done last week and had a meeting with my tax advisor but needed to get her more info (like how I made $.76 in interest on my like 4 shares of ecolab I had when I was a kid. I really should tidy up all my different accounts some day so I don't have to dig so much when tax day comes. I also get tons of statements and crap in the mail. Such a waste (of paper, the company who has to send them, mail system, and my time dealing with all of it.) I have all my main accounts on paperless statements but the ones i don't interact with much are still sending me paper.
I'm going to end up owing less than I remembered my financial planner planning out for me to owe so I'm pretty pleased about that.
We had some people over for an old fashioned board game night last night. Man I love game nights. We played apples to apples, taboo, and a little bit of bananagrams. It's no surprise I play so much poker and enjoy it more than most...I just love playing games!
I played the $109 SCOOP main event on stars today which had 18 thousand people. I lasted quite awhile before getting screwed out 1745th which paid $224! Ship it!!! Haha. They got my ass at the cash games a little today tho. Meh. I haven't decided if it's relax time or work some more. May as well check out the games and have them make my decision.
I'm going to end up owing less than I remembered my financial planner planning out for me to owe so I'm pretty pleased about that.
We had some people over for an old fashioned board game night last night. Man I love game nights. We played apples to apples, taboo, and a little bit of bananagrams. It's no surprise I play so much poker and enjoy it more than most...I just love playing games!
I played the $109 SCOOP main event on stars today which had 18 thousand people. I lasted quite awhile before getting screwed out 1745th which paid $224! Ship it!!! Haha. They got my ass at the cash games a little today tho. Meh. I haven't decided if it's relax time or work some more. May as well check out the games and have them make my decision.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)