Getting Housed

Alright, I was feeling good, in a real good mood to play some poker, so I decided to play a little 5/10 fixed... a few hours later, I'm stuck $200. I really don't know what to say. I mean, was this outside my limits? Yeah it was. Was it a conscious decision? definitely. Did I play well? I think I did. The turn and river were really tough on me. I had wired kings one hand, which I lost a significant amount of money on when my opponent reraised on the turn with only a flush draw. My pair was over the board and I put him on a bluff so I reraised, he called and then hit on the river. I knew what he was on but had to pay him off, I was getting roughly 12 to 1. In another hand I had a pair of 99 on a board of Q9Q, I knew my opponent was on AK, so I got after him. He still stayed until the river and hit his A. Luckily I've over doubled my money on Absolute Poker, so as soon I as I get my 400 raked hands, I will moving that money back over to Full Tilt, but my BR is in the gutter right now compared to what it once was and I think after I qualify for Ironman tomorrow, I think a break is in order. I'm still on my game but pretty burned out, and it's starting to not be fun anymore. When it's not fun, there's no point to play, so I'ma take some time off.

- Huck

Limit Questions

This was a post on fulltiltforum.com that I liked because I thought it gave some good examples of tough situations you can run into in limit where a player has the potential to gain or lose a good deal of bets. Special thanks to Steeler247 of fulltiltforum.com. My responses are in Red

"comments please. i'm trying to get back in limit poker. i decided to play a 6 seater and the play is soooo bad that its laughable. I can't believe they will play any ace all the way down to the river. every time....
HAND #1 - SHOULD I HAVE PLAYED THIS HAND FROM THE BB?
Full Tilt Poker Game #395820030: Table Beretta (6 max) - $2/$4 - Limit Hold'em - 21:09:35 steeler247 posts the small blind of $1
Okla-Bandit posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to steeler247 [Kd 9h]
NemoRailBird folds
effin doit raises to $4
Heaterly folds
steeler247 calls $3
Okla-Bandit calls $2
*** FLOP *** [2d 4c 9s]
steeler247 bets $2
Okla-Bandit calls $2
effin doit calls $2
*** TURN *** [2d 4c 9s] [8h]
steeler247 checks
Okla-Bandit bets $4
effin doit calls $4
steeler247 raises to $8
Okla-Bandit folds
effin doit calls $4
*** RIVER *** [2d 4c 9s 8h] [Qc]
steeler247 bets $4
effin doit raises to $8
steeler247 calls $4
*** SHOW DOWN ***
effin doit shows [Th Jc] (a straight, Queen high)
steeler247 mucks
effin doit wins the pot ($52) with a straight, Queen high

You should not have play that hand from the BB In my opinion. If they initial raiser preflop was on the button, yeah I prolly would have played it. The other thing is I don't like the checkraise on the turn. The purpose of the check raise it to maximize your profit on hands where you have a stranglehold and are almost a lock to win the hand. This was not the case with this hand, a lot of other hands could've been out there that could've had you beat.

HAND #2 - IS THERE EVER A TIME WHERE I CHECK THIS HAND TO RERAISE OR IS THIS PLAYED OPTIMALLY
Full Tilt Poker Game #395822308: Table Beretta (6 max) - $2/$4 - Limit Hold'em - 21:10:53 ET - 2006/01/21
NemoRailBird posts the small blind of $
1effin doit posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to steeler247 [Ts Td]
Heaterly folds
steeler247 raises to $4
Okla-Bandit calls $4
NemoRailBird folds
effin doit folds
*** FLOP *** [2s 7s 4d]
steeler247 bets $2
Okla-Bandit calls $2
*** TURN *** [2s 7s 4d] [9d]
steeler247 bets $4
Okla-Bandit calls $4
*** RIVER *** [2s 7s 4d 9d] [5d]
steeler247 bets $4
Okla-Bandit calls $4
*** SHOW DOWN ***
steeler247 shows [Ts Td] (a pair of Tens)
Okla-Bandit mucks
steeler247 wins the pot ($30) with a pair of Tens

This is a tough one. Really the only way I see you squezzing another bet out of this hand is by checking the flop, your opponent leading out at the turn because of this, flat calling and then check raising on the river, but the chances of that happening are slim. Plus with a lower overpair like that you really want to apply constant pressure to hopefully get players who have overcards to you from sticking around to hit.

HAND #3 - WHEN PLAYING SHORTHANDED, SHOULD I RAISE THIS HAND PREFLOP? AND WHEN SHOULD I HAVE LET THIS HAND GO?
Full Tilt Poker Game #395823708: Table Beretta (6 max) - $2/$4 - Limit Hold'em - 21:11:42 ET - 2006/01/21
effin doit posts the small blind of $1
Heaterly posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to steeler247 [Kd Qc]
steeler247 calls $2
Okla-Bandit folds
NemoRailBird calls $2
effin doit calls $1
Heaterly checks
*** FLOP *** [6c Kh 6d]
effin doit checks
Heaterly checks
steeler247 bets $2
NemoRailBird folds
effin doit raises to $4
Heaterly folds
steeler247 calls $2
*** TURN *** [6c Kh 6d] [Td]
effin doit bets $4
steeler247 calls $4
*** RIVER *** [6c Kh 6d Td] [9s]
effin doit bets $4
steeler247 calls $4
*** SHOW DOWN ***effin doit shows [6h 2h] (three of a kind, Sixes)
steeler247 muckseffin doit wins the pot ($31) with three of a kind, Sixes

Also tough, usually I raise with KQs but limp with KQos. However, if I'm coming in in early position, especially shorthanded, I usually like to raise, so I probably would have come in for a raise. The only problem with this is that the villain is the sb so he very well may call anyway. In so far as letting this hand go, so long as you never have to pay two big bets one betting round, you probably should take this hand to showdown.

HAND #4 - DO YOU FOLD ANY ACE PREFLOP SHORTHANDED? ACE HIGH WON THIS POT AND I FOLDED PREFLOP.
Full Tilt Poker Game #395828796: Table Beretta (6 max) - $2/$4 - Limit Hold'em - 21:14:41 ET - 2006/01/21
NemoRailBird posts the small blind of $1
Sinker posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to steeler247 [As 3c]
effin doit calls $2
Heaterly folds
steeler247 folds
Okla-Bandit folds
NemoRailBird folds
Sinker has 15 seconds left to act
Sinker checks
*** FLOP *** [Ks 2c 3d]
Sinker checks
effin doit bets $
2Sinker calls $2
*** TURN *** [Ks 2c 3d] [8s]
Sinker checks
effin doit bets $4
Sinker calls $4
*** RIVER *** [Ks 2c 3d 8s] [4c]Sinker checks
effin doit bets $4
Sinker calls $4
*** SHOW DOWN ***
effin doit shows [Tc 7c] (King Ten high)
Sinker shows [Ad Qh] (Ace King high)Sinker wins the pot ($24) with Ace King high

Good fold, the chance of you having the only A even shorthanded is rare. Plus the problem with playing that hand is that the only real rationalization to playing it is if you think you have the only A, so if you do hit and you're wrong, it's gonna cost you a lot of money. Now, if that hand was suited and I could play it for only one bet preflop, I would, but I'm trying to make AT LEAST two pair, more going for a flush. Shorthanded I really vary my play but at a full table, usually the lowest offsuit ace I will play in EP is AT, and only for one bet, MP to LP A9 once again for one bet, LP-Button A-8 for one bet.

HAND #5 - SAVING BETS. I FOLDED THE WINNER AT THE RIVER BECAUSE I FELT I WAS BEAT WITH THE 2 OVERS. DO I HAVE TO MAKE THIS CALL? THE WHOLE TIME I'M THINKING I NEED TO SAVE A BET.
Full Tilt Poker Game #395836783: Table Beretta (6 max) - $2/$4 - Limit Hold'em - 21:19:31 ET - 2006/01/21
NemoRailBird posts the small blind of $1
Sinker posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to steeler247 [Js Jd]
effin doit raises to $4
Heaterly raises to $6
steeler247 raises to $8
DarkAngelKiller folds
NemoRailBird folds
Sinker folds
effin doit calls $4
Heaterly calls $2
*** FLOP *** [6c 8s Kd]effin doit checks
Heaterly bets $2
steeler247 calls $2
effin doit calls $2
*** TURN *** [6c 8s Kd] [8d]
effin doit checks
Heaterly checks
steeler247 checks
*** RIVER *** [6c 8s Kd 8d] [Qc]effin doit checks
Heaterly bets $4
steeler247 folds
effin doit calls $4
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Heaterly shows [As Ts] (a pair of Eights)
effin doit shows [Jc Ac] (a pair of Eights)
effin doit ties for the pot ($19.50) with a pair of Eights
Heaterly ties for the pot ($19.50) with a pair of Eights

This is one of the reasons everyone who plays limit needs to read Small Stakes Hold 'Em: Winning Big with Expert Play. You should almost never fold on the river because you think the river may have beaten you without an EXTREMELY strong read, unless maybe it double pairs the board or something. Let's look at it in terms of money. If you would've called here and lost, it cost you $4, because you didn't call here it cost you $40. Sure you might pay more people off, but if one time you fold to save the $4, especially in limit, if you fold wrongly it will easy cost you 10 times that. Now if the pot was only say 15 bucks I'd say yeah, fold, but not when you're getting 10 to 1 on your money.

HAND #6... THIS SUCKED
Full Tilt Poker Game #395849022: Table Beretta (6 max) - $2/$4 - Limit Hold'em - 21:26:56 ET - 2006/01/21
effin doit posts the small blind of $1
Heaterly posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to steeler247 [As 5s]
steeler247 raises to $4
DarkAngelKiller calls $4
NemoRailBird folds
effin doit folds
Heaterly calls $2
*** FLOP *** [6s 8h 7d]
Heaterly checks
steeler247 checks
DarkAngelKiller bets $2
Heaterly calls $2
steeler247 calls $2
*** TURN *** [6s 8h 7d] [4d]
Heaterly checks
steeler247 bets $4
DarkAngelKiller calls $4
Heaterly calls $4
*** RIVER *** [6s 8h 7d 4d] [9c]
Heaterly bets $4
steeler247 calls $4
DarkAngelKiller folds
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Heaterly shows [Ad Tc] (a straight, Ten high)
steeler247 mucks
Heaterly wins the pot ($38) with a straight, Ten high
steeler247: "lol"
steeler247: "nice catch. what the heck did you think i had?"
Heaterly: "i knew you had the str8 but i had outs."

You could've prolly gone for a check-raise on the turn here, which may have worked, but judging by the chat at the bottom, basically the guy is a donk and deserves to burn in hell.

- Huck

Absolute Bullshit

"Hi, I’m Dani with Absolute Poker, I’m here to invite to you play with me at one of the biggest and best poker destinations in the world..."

and the worst support I have ever seen. As you guys know, I moved some money over to Absolute Poker to take advantage of the Nevada Jack's chip set promotion. In order to get the chip set I have to play 400 raked hands. Now the question becomes, how do I figure out how many raked hands I've played? Let's find out...


From: Huck <***@gmail.com>
Mailed-By: gmail.com
To: support@absolutepoker.com
Date: Jan 20, 2006 9:48 PM
Subject: Hands played
Reply Reply to all Forward Print Add sender to Contacts list Delete this message Show original Message text garbled?

Hi, I did a promotion with PokerSourceOnline.com which consists of me playing 400 raked hands and getting a free gift. I was hoping you could tell me if you guys have the ability to look up how many raked hands I have played, and if so, what that number is.
Thanks,
ColdE

and here comes the response:


From: support@absolutepoker.com
Mailed-By: absolutepoker.com
To: <***@gmail.com>
Date: Jan 21, 2006 1:24 AM
Subject: RE:Hands played [#1839376]
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Dear John,
Thank you for your email.
Let me inform you that you have a total of 4 raked hands, remember that for Multi table tourneys, please note that the tournament fee is now collected as a 9% of the total of the prize pool and that Pending points will be based on the fee collected rounded up to the closest whole number. For example a $10 tourney will generate $0.90 in fees, and will earn 1 point.
tournament buy in $10 - 1 pending point
tournament buy in $20 - 2 pending point
tournament buy in $30 - 3 pending point
tournament buy in $50 - 4 pending point
For the single tournaments, 1 point will be awarded for each $1of tournament buy in fee. (Awarded upon tournament start.)
For tournament buy-ins, examples would include;
$2 + $0.25: No points will be given because $0.20 is the fee and is less than $1
$10 + $1: 1 point will be given because the fee is $1
$20 + $2: 2 points will be given because the fee is $2.
1 point will be awarded for each raked game (minimum rake of $0.50) you play (for the ring games).
Thanks for playing at Absolute Poker! If there is anything else we can help you with, please let us know. We're here for you!
Sincerely,
Alfonzo
Team Absolute ~ Customer Support"Continuing to be the Best and Most Trusted"Support@AbsolutePoker.com

You're here for me huh Alfonzo? Well then let's try this again...


From: Huck <***@gmail.com>
Mailed-By: gmail.com
To: "support@absolutepoker.com"
Date: Jan 21, 2006 3:02 AM
Subject: Re: Hands played [#1839376]
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I'm a little confused, I played 1/2 and .50/1 fixed for somewhere between 2 and 3 hours if I'm not mistaken, if you can explain to me how that translates into only 4 raked hands, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks,
ColdE


From: support@absolutepoker.com
Mailed-By: absolutepoker.com
To: <***@gmail.com>
Date: Jan 21, 2006 5:07 AM
Subject: RE:Re: Hands played [#1839376]
Reply Reply to all Forward Print Add sender to Contacts list Delete this message Report phishing Show original Message text garbled?

Dear John,
Thank you for your email.
In order for you to verify that, you will need to go thru all the games you played. To retrieve the tournament numbers and hand number you have to go to the main lobby, my account, then hand history, after go to open my hand history files, then click on the top left corner where it says open and you will be able to se all the folders with the respective nick names of the players that have played in that computer and in each folder you will be able to retrieve the hand history and tournament numbers that you need.
Thanks for playing at Absolute Poker! If there is anything else we can help you with, please let us know. We're here for you!
Sincerely,
Alfonzo
Team Absolute ~ Customer Support"Continuing to be the Best and Most Trusted"Support@AbsolutePoker.com

So you want me to count this shit myself, what, pray tell, do they pay YOU for then Al?

Here's where is begins to turn into great comedy...


From: Huck <***@gmail.com>
Mailed-By: gmail.com
To: "support@absolutepoker.com"
Date: Jan 21, 2006 3:42 PM
Subject: Re: Re: Hands played [#1839376]
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Alright let me ask a better question then. What consititutes a "raked hand" according to your site?
ColdE

Now this question the actually answered, if I chose to sift through 5 paragraphs of bullshit... FORM LETTER ALERT!


From: support@absolutepoker.com
Mailed-By: absolutepoker.com
To: <***@gmail.com>
Date: Jan 21, 2006 4:35 PM
Subject: Re: Hands played [#1839376]
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Dear John,
Thank you for contacting us.As compensation for offering fair and honest games, Absolute Poker receives a commission, or rake. This rake is a 5% of the pot in each hand, never exceeding $3. It is our policy not to charge a rake if there is no flop ("no flop no drop"). Any hand that has generated a rake is considered a raked hand.
You will generate points (Current Points) from any hand where there is a rake of at least $0.50. In order to collect at least $0.50 on a hand the pot should be at least $10.00, considering that the rake is a 5% of that pot. Each hand where this requirement is met will be awarded with 1 Current Point. The Pending Account balance will be released to your available balance in increments of $10.00 for every 100 points.
You will also accumulate points for playing tournaments. For every $1 that you pay in Buy In FEES you will generate one point (The entry fee takes the place of the rake).
In Multi Table Tourneys, the fee is a 9% of the buy in.
Example: If a Multi Table Tournament has a buyin of $10, the buyin fee will be $0.90. In this particular case we round up to $1.
Tournament fees will round up after $0.50, meaning that if you play a tourney where you pay $1.80 in fee, you will get 2 points, if you pay $1.51, you will get 2 points, if you pay $1.45 you will get 1 point and if you pay less than $0.50 in buyin fee no points will be awarded.
On Single tournaments the Buy In FEE is shown separately from the Buy in.
Example: $10.00 + $1.00. In this case you will receive 1 point, since the Buy In FEE is $1.00.
Please note that for both Multi and Single table tournaments the points will be credited when tournament starts, not upon registration.
I hope I was able to fully explain to you how the system works. If there is anything else that I can help you with, please feel free to let me know at any time. It will be a pleasure to assist you!
Thanks for playing at Absolute Poker! If there is anything else we can help you with, please let us know. We're here for you!
Sincerely,
Paulo
Team Absolute ~ Customer Support"Continuing to be the Best and Most Trusted"Support@AbsolutePoker.com


From: Huck <***@gmail.com>
Mailed-By: gmail.com
To: "support@absolutepoker.com"
Date: Jan 21, 2006 5:12 PM
Subject: Re: Hands played [#1839376]
Reply Reply to all Forward Print Add sender to Contacts list Delete this message Report phishing Show original Message text garbled?

So am I correct to assume that when I go to the cashier window, the number next to "current points" underneath my "pending account" is the amount of raked hands I've played?


From: support@absolutepoker.com
Mailed-By: absolutepoker.com
To: <***@gmail.com>
Date: Jan 21, 2006 6:15 PM
Subject: RE:Re: Hands played [#1839376]
Reply Reply to all Forward Print Add sender to Contacts list Delete this message Report phishing Show original Message text garbled?

Dear John,
Thank you for contacting us.
We are always glad to help. Regarding your question, the answer would be a no, because you will also accumulate points for playing tournaments. For every $1 that you pay in Buy In FEES you will generate one point.
Thanks for playing at Absolute Poker! If there is anything else we can help you with, please let us know. We're here for you!
Sincerely,
Paulo
Team Absolute ~ Customer Support"Continuing to be the Best and Most Trusted"Support@AbsolutePoker.com

Ok, wow, it was at this point I began to tire of this quickly. I decided I'm going to remove my money from this site as soon as I get to the 400 hands for the chips, now the question is whether or not I'm even going to complete the promotion. I was about 2 more e-mails away from just saying fuck it and pulling my money off immediately.


From: Huck <***@gmail.com>
Mailed-By: gmail.com
To: "support@absolutepoker.com"
Date: Jan 21, 2006 6:53 PM
Subject: Re: Re: Hands played [#1839376]
Reply Reply to all Forward Print Add sender to Contacts list Delete this message Report phishing Show original Message text garbled?

Ok, I don't play tournaments, I play ring games, all I want to know is how I can tell how many raked hands I have played, I don't want an explanation of your rake structure. I've emailed you guys back and forth quite a bit on this topic and have not gotten a straight answer. I am beginning to become very frustrated, please just answer my question if you wish to retain me as a customer.

Sincerely,
ColdE


From: support@absolutepoker.com
Mailed-By: absolutepoker.com
To: <***@gmail.com>
Date: Jan 21, 2006 7:07 PM
Subject: RE: Hands played [#1839376]
Reply Reply to all Forward Print Add sender to Contacts list Delete this message Report phishing Show original Message text garbled?

Dear John,
Thank you for contacting us.
We are sorry for the inconvenience. The only way for you to get how many raked hands you've played is to ask us. And you've played 98 hands.

That's great... that's phenomenal... thank you so much... Since you did such a great job answeing my question maybe you could answer one more for me...

WHY THE FUCK COULDN'T YOU GUYS JUST TELL ME THAT THE FIRST TIME?

As soon as I get my 400 raked hands and have been confirmed by Pokersourceonline, I'm off this site, and I'm guessing one of the reasons they jerked me around so hard is because a lot of people have said that exact same thing.

- Huck

In Recovery

DAMN YOU CASH OUT CURSE! Whether this is real or a myth, I'm not even going to address, because I'm a stable, rational human being. BUT, I did cash out the $100 I originally deposited to start my roll the other day and decided to play with just the white meat. I was beginning to get a little uncomfortable with the amount of money that I had on Full Tilt, so I decided to try this to see if it helped. It did, I think the subconscious fact that none of the money I have on the site now was from my personal bank account put me at a little more ease. However, after cashing out I went on a horrid run. As I said to one of my friends from Full Tilt, "If I had a nickel for every set I got cracked today, I'd have 40 cents... plus it seemed like the site sent out a memo to people to slow play aces just to fuck with me." This was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. I hit about a $180 downswing in 24 hours on 1/18, but luckily I have recovered most of the money.
I've been playing a lot lately trying to make it into the Ironman Challenge free roll and as of this writing have secured 100 FT points for 5 consecutive days, meaning that I only need to earn 100 points for 5 more to qualify. This should not be exceedingly difficult, as with multitabling 1/2 LHE, I can usually play effectively and still hit 100 points in about 2 hours. It is much easier if I play 2/4, but I'll probably wait for the right type of games to be available before I venture back into that limit.
One of the reasons for this is I decided to move some money around. Even though I have 2 chip sets, I've had my eye on the Nevada Jack's set being offered by Pokersourceonline.com for quite a while. Since I've almost completely recovered from that post cash-out disaster yesterday and today, I decided to take advantage of the promotion and move $100 over to Absolute Poker. I've heard some decent things about this site, plus a lot of people I know who's game I don't hold in the highest regard seem to love the site, so I'm hoping there's more of their ilk once I get on the site. That's pretty much all for now, prolly an upcoming entry in the next few days depending on how things go.

- Huck

1/17PM - 1/18 AM Recap

Played 1/2 LHE over two sessions, most of the time multi-tabling between 2-4 tables. I've pretty much decided that 3 tables is probably the most I can play at once and still play at a level close enough to optimal for me to find it acceptable. I managed to win a pretty nice pot with a TPTK with AJ, which suprised me since we were six handed to the flop with a raise preflop. Other than that the only real event was catching quads... twice... in an hour... and getting paid, I couldn't believe it...

The first time I was lucky enough to be in against a runner runner nut flush.

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ColdE [Qc Qs]
Ace0325 is feeling angry
BartKoozler folds
what333 calls $1
Ace0325 calls $1
DalHo raises to $2
Jro34 calls $1
PoKeR JiHaD sits down
ColdE raises to $3
PoKeR JiHaD adds $14
57Tbird folds
Marek13 folds
what333 folds
Ace0325 folds
DalHo calls $1
Jro34 calls $1
*** FLOP ***
[Qd 8c 7h]
DalHo checks
Jro34 checks
ColdE bets $1
DalHo calls $1
Ace0325 stands up
Jro34 folds
*** TURN ***
[Qd 8c 7h] [Qh]
jesse2004 sits down
DalHo checks
ColdE bets $2
DalHo calls $2
jesse2004 adds $20
*** RIVER ***
[Qd 8c 7h Qh] [5h]
DalHo checks
ColdE bets $2
DalHo raises to $4
ColdE raises to $6
DalHo raises to $8
ColdE calls $2
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DalHo shows [Kh Ah] (a flush, Ace high)
ColdE shows [Qc Qs] (four of a kind, Queens)
ColdE wins the pot ($33.50) with four of a kind, Queens

The second time I was up against a guy who felt like extremely over playing hooks. When I flopped top 2, I was still a little worried because of the preflop raises, but then it just kept getting better and better on every street, on the same table no less.
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ColdE [Qd Kd]
DalHo calls $1
Jro34 calls $1
ColdE raises to $2
57Tbird folds
PoKeR JiHaD folds
Marek13 raises to $3
57Tbird adds $10
BassIsBumpin folds
what333 folds
jesse2004 calls $2
DalHo has 15 seconds left to act
DalHo calls $2
Jro34 calls $2
ColdE calls $1
*** FLOP ***
[Qc Ks Ts]
jesse2004 checks
DalHo checks
Jro34 checks
ColdE bets $1
Marek13 raises to $2
jesse2004 calls $2
DalHo folds
Jro34 folds
ColdE calls $1
*** TURN ***
[Qc Ks Ts] [Kc]
jesse2004 checks
ColdE checks
Marek13 bets $2
jesse2004 folds
ColdE raises to $4
Marek13 calls $2
*** RIVER ***
[Qc Ks Ts Kc] [Kh]
ColdE bets $2
Marek13 calls $2
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ColdE shows [Qd Kd] (four of a kind, Kings)
Marek13 mucks
ColdE wins the pot ($32.50) with four of a kind, Kings
Seat 4: Marek13 mucked [Jc Jd] - a full house, Kings full of Jacks

To be quite honest it's almost getting to the point where I'm really no longer comfortable posting my bankroll. In a couple posts, I will start giving session plus/minus figures but until then I'm just gonna let you guys know if I finished up or down.

Session: +

- Huck

Big Mistakes, Fuckin Carnage, I'm a moron

PARENTAL ADVISORY: THIS POST CONTAINS EXPLICIT LANGUAGE, MATURE THEMES, AND EXTREME DOUCHEBAGGERY

Ok, so you know how I said I would never play outside my roll again... I lied

I got bored, I just got paid on Friday a pretty nice check, it had my Xmas commission on it, so I had a little meltdown tonight. It all started with me playing four 1/2 tables at a time, my nice little nest egg of $265 got whittled down to about $165, so I said something I commonly say, "fuck it."

I decided to sit down at $5/$10 Limit Hold 'Em with $100, just to give it a fuckin shot. At one point I was down to $37.50, but battled back and got up with somewhere in the neighborhood of $235, narrowly escaping certain death, shame, (okay so I have no shame), and blog humiliation.
But wait... there's more

In the true "fuck it"spirit, I decided while sitting at $5/10 that it would be a good idea to take the $60 some odd dollars I had left and play a bigger buy-in sng. I was thinkin maybe a $30+3 but as some of you may know, if I'm planning to go down in a ball of flame, I want people to see it from space.

So $50+5 here we come.

Then a funny thing happened, I fuckin won the damn thing. The table was extremely tight before, during, and after the bubble, so I decided to be aggressive as hell, stealing, continuation betting with like 6 high, shit like that. Finally it got down to heads up and my strategy paid off for me.

Full Tilt Poker Game #387716320: $50 + $5 Sit & Go (2512368)
Table 1 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 3:55:18 ET - 2006/01/17
Seat 1: justaromeo (4,690)
Seat 3: ColdE (8,810)
justaromeo posts the small blind of 100
ColdE posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ColdE [7d 7c]
justaromeo raises to 400
ColdE raises to 1,200
justaromeo raises to 2,000
ColdE calls 800
*** FLOP ***
[7s 2s Qd]
ColdE tries futily to contain his overwhelming joy
ColdE checks
justaromeo bets 600
ColdE becomes fully erect
ColdE calls 600
*** TURN ***
[7s 2s Qd] [6c]
ColdE checks
justaromeo bets 2,090 and is all in
ColdE calls 2,090
justaromeo shows [Kd Ks]
ColdE shows [7d 7c]
justaromeo: wow
*** RIVER ***
[7s 2s Qd 6c] [Tc]
justaromeo shows a pair of Kings
ColdE shows three of a kind, Sevens
justaromeo: gg
ColdE wins the pot (9,380) with three of a kind,
Sevensjustaromeo stands up
ColdE stands up and tries to hide his raging hard-on with a two day old newspaper

All in all, I'm a moron. There's no way I should've played in either of these situations with my roll being the size it was. Fortunately for me I got a little lucky and took advantage of it. I am promising myself right now that I will never do this again however, as I realize how fortunate I was to walk away not only unscathed, but up. Hopefully for my sake this time I can keep this promise.

BR: $482.84

- Huck

I've been lazy...

Really lazy, been grinding at 1/2 for the past week or so and am happy to say the FT roll is looking healthy again at $265, but unforunately, I also have for you all a...
CASINO TRIP REPORT
...also known as my personal recount of the apocalypse. This is by far the worst live session I've ever had, not because I thought I played any worse than usual, but because it seemed as though the deck was out to get me. I realize a lot of players say things like this in minor situations, I've not seen a run of cards like this live in the 4 years I've been playing, it wasn't that they were necessarily bad starting hands, but the way the cards fell was basically the anti-thesis for my usually successful style of play. I saw approximately 12 pocket pairs in two and a half hours and hit two sets, the problem was one of my sets got cracked when another player's AKs flushed on the river. The pot was capped on the flop and turn, but I saved myself a few bets on the river. There was really nothing I think I could've done better, the AK flopped his draw and was over the board, and I have to cap with my set until the flush comes, I refuse to do otherwise. I also lost another hand when another player and I both flopped a flush, I probably could've saved myself a big bet on the turn by check-calling, but I refuse to play afraid, if I have a flush, I'll open at the pot there everytime, for all I know he could've raised me on the flop with a set or top two pair. All told, I had at least 15 flush or OESDs that didn't hit, but I was pretty much priced in on most of em til the river. Overall, I think this is what hurt me the most because in addition to losing a couple of big pots, I was basically sitting there bleeding most of the time.
Ironically, I think I prolly played better in than I had been in the previous three or four sessions, as I was folding draws on the turn when I was no longer priced in a lot more often and not chasing naked backdoor draws on the flop, something I had recognized was costing me bets. While it wasn't cool to take the monetary loss, I really am not too down about this session. I've been doing rather well pretty consistently at the casino in the past six months, so it was bound to catch up to me sooner or later, it just sucks that it happened in one watershed session.

BR: $262.44 + 1 token.

- Huck

Hindenburg

Ok, wow, I know I haven't posted in a while, let me fill you guys in on a couple of things that happened:

- Misread a hand in O8 and lost a $80 pot because of it
- Tried playing more O8 later and used too wide of a hand selection
- Tried going to limit hold 'em, it didn't work

Basically, I'm fuckin up, I don't know how else to put it. I'ma stick to some low limit games for a while and see if I can correct this because, well, DAMN.

BR: $131

- Huck

I'm a moron

Full Tilt Poker Game #372210592: Table Airport - $3/$6 - Limit Omaha Hi/Lo - 3:44:00 ET - 2006/01/07
Seat 1: steelerjay ($193.50)
Seat 2: Burnzeye ($214)
Seat 3: Archimedean ($49)
Seat 4: ColdE ($40)
Seat 5: ziplock122949 ($57)
Seat 6: FEIGN ($79.50)
Seat 7: 0428-nemo ($36.50)
Seat 8: tallcooldj32 ($136.50)
Seat 9: livinthedrm ($85)
ziplock122949 posts the small blind of $1.50
FEIGN posts the big blind of $3
ColdE: was unaware this was the kiddie table
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ColdE [As Ts Td 2d]
0428-nemo folds
tallcooldj32 calls $3
livinthedrm folds
steelerjay calls $3
Burnzeye folds
Archimedean calls $3
ColdE calls $3
ziplock122949 calls $1.50
FEIGN checks
*** FLOP *** [Th 7s Qs]
ziplock122949 checks
FEIGN bets $3
tallcooldj32 folds
steelerjay calls $3
Archimedean calls $3
ColdE calls $3
ziplock122949 folds
*** TURN *** [Th 7s Qs] [2h]
FEIGN checks
steelerjay bets $6
Archimedean calls $6
ColdE calls $6
FEIGN calls $6
*** RIVER *** [Th 7s Qs 2h] [Jc]
FEIGN checks
steelerjay checks
Archimedean bets $6
ColdE raises to $12
FEIGN folds
steelerjay folds
Archimedean raises to $18
ColdE raises to $24
Archimedean calls $6
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ColdE shows [As Ts Td 2d] (three of a kind, Tens)
Archimedean shows [Kc 9h 6h Ac] (a straight, Ace high)
Archimedean wins the pot ($99) with a straight, Ace high
No low hand qualified
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $102 Rake $3
Board: [Th 7s Qs 2h Jc]
Seat 1: steelerjay folded on the River
Seat 2: Burnzeye didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Archimedean showed [Kc 9h 6h Ac] and won ($99) with HI: a straight, Ace high
Seat 4: ColdE (button) showed [As Ts Td 2d] and lost with HI: three of a kind, Tens
Seat 5: ziplock122949 (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: FEIGN (big blind) folded on the River
Seat 7: 0428-nemo didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: tallcooldj32 folded on the Flop
Seat 9: livinthedrm didn't bet (folded)

Totally misread my hand and thought I had a boat, horrible bush league mistake, I deserved to be punished.

BR: $237, but we ain't scurred yet.

- Huck

Thanks

I just wanted to thank everyone for posting comments, I appreciate not only knowing that you guys are reading, but also the insight you guys are giving me.

www.chucknorrisfacts.net

- Huck

Four Letter Words, AJ

Four Letter Words

Alright, as any of you who know me personally are aware, I'm quite well versed in 4 letter words. I use them quite frequently and, I would like to think, with style. I'm not talking about 4 letter words in that sense though. Up until recently, I always used to think that grinding had a negative connotation. I thought that in order to be a good player, you needed to challenge yourself and try and extend beyond your limits. While the former is definitely true, I no longer believe the latter. While it is always important for me to challenge myself while playing poker, I've come to the conclusion that this no longer means playing in limits just above what my bankroll can safely allow for the sake of testing myself against various things, be it the stakes or the players.

The word "grinder" is no longer a four letter word to me, and I think this has greatly to do with my recent success in the past two weeks. Now granted, this could just be a nice run of cards that I'm catching that has allowed me to increase my bankroll, but that's not what I'm talking about. Even though I have been winning consistently lately, that fact is immaterial to me. What is relevant to me is what I am doing with the money I am winning, or rather, what I am not doing with the money. I am not cashing out and I am not jumping up in limits. Granted I have begun to play more 2/4, but this is a result of the buy-in for this game becoming a smaller percentage of my growing roll. I'm not doing it because I'm chasing money, trying to hit a big score, or trying to prove that I have the skill to play at a higher limit, all psychological lapses that were common for me in the past.

I've noticed something in the past few days, and I haven't determined whether this is a good thing or a bad thing yet, but I'm going to share it with you now. Once again, those of you who know me know that I tend to have a very level head at the table. I'm not very prone to going on tilt and I really don't allow bad beats to affect me all that much. I've always prided myself in my ability to have a healthy removal from the game emotionally while I was playing, not allowing events in the game that I have no control over affect the way I make my decisions at the table. While this has been the case for the past couple of years now, it seems different for me in these past few days than it has been. I find myself even more removed from the game emotionally. The problem is, this also means I'm not getting the excitement out of the game lately that I usually do. Instead it of excitement, I'm feeling more of a sense of accomplishment at the end of a winning session, not so much in the profits earned, but in building my BR steadily now, I feel like I'm working towards something. I don't know if this change is temporary or permanent, good or bad, but it is definitely different from anything I have experienced before in my poker, well I guess, "career" and I use the term very loosely. I dunno though, I guess any experience can't be completely bad, as long as whatever comes of it I learn something.

Scabbed Llama

In honor of the final Scabbed Llama I decided to take some time and play in the tournament tonight, I finished 5th. Since the buy-in of the tournament was relatively small, and I knew there were still going to be a decent amount of solid players in it, I decided to try out some new things. I had an eye-opening experience a couple of weeks ago. I signed on to Full Tilt, and decided to watch Huckleberry Seed play for a little while. Since the first time I saw Seed play, I was very intrigued by his style. He's a maniac, but he's a maniac with a purpose. Granted I'm only 23 years old, but Huck Seed is my idea of old school, he plays the man, he plays the pain threshold, every once in a while he plays the cards.

So I was sitting watchin Seed play in a multi-table tournament. He was aggressive and relentless, but strangely controlled. If he was in late position in an unopened pot, he would raise, if he met resistance he would fold. But he was relentless, if he got played back at he would still raise preflop all the same if he had position, like a clock. He didn't care that everyone knew exactly what he was doing, he just kept doing it, and because of the antes he was picking up and the play back he was getting when he had big hands, it was working. This was amazing for me to watch and, when I coupled this with a few things I read in Matt Matros' book The Making of a Poker Player, I decided I wanted to experiment with a more aggressive style, especially late in the the tournament. I wasn't going to play to money in this tournament late, I was going to play to win. Now of course since this was an experiment, I didn't expect it to work and while I took 5th there were a couple of plays I think I probably should've re-evalutated.

One hand was where I was on the button in an unopened pot preflop with AJ and was reraised all in by the SB who was I believe second to me in chips with about half of what I had. In hindsight, I probably should've folded this hand to the reraise, I was a huge chip leader and could've afforded the fold, plus there was really no reason for me to tangle with another big stack there. I took Matros' principle of "always be accumulating chips" too far and it cost me. I didn't need to risk half my stack to continue accumlating at that point. I ran into AQ and busted out shortly after when I moved in with ATs and was called by A8os out of the sb. Flop came 88K and I was meat. Aw well, I think the experiment was at least a partial success and I'm definitely going to try using a similar strategy in the future, with some tweaks and changes of course.

Currently playing a little $2/4 LO8 before it's time to go to bed.

BR: $340

- Huck

Drunken Self-Indulgent Blog Post

This AIM convo says it all:

Me: quick question
Virge: k
Me: how am I killing
Me: and I mean KILLING
Me: o8 drunk uot of my fuckin mind
Me: I sat with $20
Virge: because 1) you're good
Virge: and 2) you're not overthinking
Me: are you seeing this
Me: if it was a fight they woulda stopped it already
Virge: no
Virge: what do you have now?
Me: 81.50
Me: lmao

BR: 305.89

PWNED

- Huck

Completely Bored...

Yeah, so I'm completely bored with Hold 'Em, it's official. In light of these recent developments, I've recently switched to playing limit omaha split ring games instead. I always have considered Omaha one of my best games. The thing is I used to hate fixed O/8 with a passion, probably from a lack of understanding of the game. Recently, possibly from playing more and more limit hold 'em in the past six months, I came to understand the game a lot better. At one time this game made my head hurt, but now I'm finidng it easier to figure out what redraws I have and what type of hands I should be playing to scoop pots. Anyway, long story short, I'm greatly enjoying the change of pace, as is my BR currently...

BR: $211

- Huck