Katrina

New Orleans is, well, fucked up. Good luck to all the people in southwest.

Runing bad in SNGs

After dominating the $55 sngs on Eurobet for awhile, i have now lost like 12 in a row. I am taking bad beats in every crucial pot. It was kinda ridiculous, but thats poker. I hope to play a few today and make my comeback.

I saw 40 Year Old Virgin saturday on a date. It was actually very funny. I still think i liked Wedding Crashers better, but both were very funny. The packed crowd laughing also made both easy to like.

Its been blazing hot and i almost melted at my friends pool yesterady haha. Anyways, i move in to UCLA again on Sept. 24th, so i need to enjoy my last classless days. Im not surehow many World Championship of Online Poker(WCOOP) events ill play, but hopefully a few.

Yehahhhhhhhh

So my night was going kinda crappy. I had my usual good stak in the 11 rebuy andtook 2-3 sick beats to bust. But i was up to 10k chips at first break in the Stars 109 NLHE. I didnt get much in the second hour and was down to about 8800 chips at second break. I chose my spots well from there on and managed to be around bubble.

I ended up placing 2nd for about $5200. First was 8200....Heads up he had me in chips like 4:1 but i offered a chop where i got 1k more. He offered 700 only so i decided to play it out. Blinds jumped big and he he limped on button for 8k, i pushed my last 50k more with A2. I thought hed fold since i was playing somewhat tight, but he called with K8 and hit the K, i cant complain.

I got lucky twice, but i also made many correct crucial decisions. One example was being 5 handed, having utg raise to 12k, and folding my 55 on the button when i had 19k. Most people go "WOOO a pair and take the flip." Not me, i know hes not folding to my minimal raise, and so i folded there. Then i pushed in the cutoff next hand with 96o. I prefer getting fold value with a random 2 over a guaranteed showdown.

I did get lucky twice. At the bubble i won 88 vs KK when i nailed an 8 on the flop. Then 6 handed at the final table, i was in A8 vs AJ and and ended up nailing an 8 on flop and river. Kinda funny i got lucky, ive been on the opposite end of those beats for such a long stretch. I made good laydown after good laydown avoiding all my marginal hands vs raises or in early position. I feel great about my play.

SNG stats thus far

I just finished a good session of like 14-16 sngs. My total for the 55$ sngs on eurobet is now 14-11-5-33. That means im up 2185 BEFORE rakeback. That gives me $35.68 per sng played, and a 63% return on investment, or ROI.

At the end of the month ill get 30% of the entry fees ive paid back, so that will incease my ROI even more. Right now i should get about $94.5 back, which would make my ROI 65.8% about. So you can see the rakeback program will give me a good boost to my hourly rate. Ive been running pretty hot, so although i feel im the best player in these sngs, i do expect these numbers to go down a bit. After all, a sample size of 63 sngs isnt very big. If they did hold up though...i play 4 tables at a time, and if each sng takes an hour(usually they take less but lets error on the side of smaller hour rate) then that would be 36.18(per sng rate with rakeback) x 4= $144.72 an hour. Not bad for $55 sngs ;)

Im not sure if i should move up to 109s. I want to get a better sample size of 55s, say 200 or more, than maybe try out 109s and compare my stats.

Three Thoughts From Me

Despite coming up short last night in the 33 rebuy, i felt great. I feel my life to this point had hardened me to the point where poker disappointments wont ever effect me compared to what some other things have. I guess my stupid analogy is, if a profesinonal pepper eater eats the hottest pepper in the world, he wont ever really have a problem with any lesser peppers. I think my emotional state is perfectly tuned for poker. Im not afraid of the sunken feeling in my stomach from busting from a tournament late. I am fearless, but my hyper-competitive nature keeps me from being wreckless.

The local highschool, Dana Hills, is now in session. I just found out how annoying this was because i went to get a couple BRC burritos from El Polo Loco and the line was suddenly HUGE. I got Carls Jr instead, which is farther from the school. But the dollar menu at el polo loco is good, i may have to time my trips better. Now that the seniors at Dana Hills are TWO year younger than me, i feel damn old. Hmm.

On my way home from Carls JR, i was listening to that Brown Eyed Girl song and realized i dont think ive ever dated a brown eyed girl. Odd, i dont have anything against brown eyes. Maybe one day it will happen!

Hi

I wrote a poem today, and had subway for lunch. I get the same sandwhich every time(footlong turkey on white, cheese, lettuce, pickle, olive, mustard/mayo, oil/vinegar, salt/pepper). I sometimes wonder if i should branch out, but whatever its good to me.

I played some sngs on eurobet today. I was kicking ass then ended not cashing in my final 4. I was doing well in all four and then started taking horrid beat after horrid beat. At least i lost in exciting fashino in some, like my KK losing to 44 all in preflop, guy hit quads. My stats for the $55 sngs on eurobet are now 10-7-5-30.

My parents were supposed to be back from NY at like 5 today, but there flight got delayed. More than a delay really..they took off but they failed to seal the door right so they had to turn around and land again. Way to go idiot who fucked his job up. The flight finalyl took off a few minutes ago so they should be home by 9 tonight. Im debating whether to make pasta for dinner or eat out once again. I either need to refind my love for cooking or marry quickly when i finsih college. Otherwise ill spend a lot of money eating out.

UPDATE: well, i ran horribly in some tournies tonight. I playe dfor 5 hours in the 33 rebuy no stars though. I played superrrrrrr well but couldnt get any cards. I ended up 17th of 400, which was sad because first was $9500. I ended up pushing my last chips in with KJ when it folded to me in late position. Big blind had AA. That guy in past two hours i sat with him had gotten AA 3 times, KK 4 times, QQ twice, JJ once, and AK 4-5 times. Unreal cards. I wasnt getting much, so i feel good about it.

Mixed Stuff

Had fun at the party last night. Chilled and played online poker today, mostly tournamentson pokerstars. I finally won a seat into the $530 Pot Limit Hold Em WCOOP event. Im glad because i think im a top PLHE player. I got 9th in like a 55 person $109PLHE tourny in the afternoon, which barely got me profit, and thn 14th or so in same tourny later with 122 people or so, which basicalyl got my money back. I took a couple beats late in both that ruined any good final table runs. Now i am going to watch Conan O Brien and get some sleep.

Eurbobet 55 sngs

Although i havent been playing much due to beach and other stuff with friends, ive been playing a few $55+5 sngs on Eurobet. So far i am 4-6-5-17(1st,2nd,3rd, our of money). I started off hot then have been cold today. I think ill cruise to around 2500 and then start playing the 109s.

Cashes and Eurobet

I cashed in a couple tournaments today, including getting 27th of 631 in the afteroon $11 + rebuys tournament on pokerstars.

I got my rakeback eurobet account going finally, including getting a neteller account because they dont use firepay. Goodbye, firepay.

UPDATE: So i was talking to Gank(Brett Jungblut, WSOP 2004 omaha hi/lo champion and online poekr guru) about my satellite woes to the WCOOP events. He said to just focus on 1 table tournies and then save up to buy in. I think i will, as i can dominate most sngs.

Poker Suck posts once again

i play a super great 109 NL tournament on pokerstars, have a big stack early and above average approacing top 36 when 27 pay. I m pretty big with about 3o left, and lsoe a monster pot that woulda put me into 2nd when my 88 died to A9 when a 9 rivered. Well ok, im stil fine with 10k chips and 400/800 blinds. Folds to small blnids, that asme guy raises it up, i push all in riight away with AsTs. He calls with A2? Then he hits a two to suck out. Good play, sir. that pot woulda put me top four in chips. So unlucky.

Deep in $55 NLHE

well, im deep in a $55 NLHE tourny on party poker. With 61 left and 60 paying, i had 2x average. I got in vs a chip leader with AK vs AQ, having no fear of bubbling, and we split the pot when board rivered two pair. It really sucked. I would have been chip leader with 61 left...oh well. I just finished off the short stack so we are in the money. My first cash in a MTT in ofrever, updates later.

UPDATE: 12th...bubbled the final tble ,story of my last coupel mnoths. Made one mistake, went with an AT vs guy i had no respect for but he had AJ...oh well live and learn. I kept running into monster when i would raise...finally with out with A9s vs Aj when i had like 3 BBs left. Oh well, night.

Ugg

Another night of sick beats in the end or middle of tournaments.

If i stop getting unlucky im going to have some sick wins soon.

MTTs

playing MTTs and MTT satellites. I keep getting late then either losing QQ vs AA or taking horrid beats. Its pissing me off.

SNGs going bad

I played like 20 SNGs or so this afternoon. Four times i busted with QQ when i ran into AA or KK on low flops. I also did the same thing with JJ twice. One QQ died on jack high flop when i got checkraised all in by A8o and he rivered A. Good play, sir. I took some horrid beats in like 8 others, and some others just never had good hands to double up with.

Reminded why MTTs suck

I was just reminded why multi table tournaments can suck. I entered a 109 on party as i played sngs. first was about 6 grand, and top 30 paid. We get down to hand for hand play around the bubble. I had played in my opinion a flawless tournament. I was shortstacked for the first half othe tournament, then finally made my run with about 80 of the 230 or so left, and was above average or average for the remainder. 35 left, im average with about 6000 and the blinds are 300/600. A guy in early position makes it 1500 to go, and he has about 6k left after that. In mid position i have QQ and decide to push in to try to win in right there, also figuring if im called i am in the lead. He thinks and then calls with AJ! Wow idiot. He flops an ace to bust me of course. At that table i had showed only two hands, AK and AA. My AK lost to a shortstacks A4o all in preflop, and my AA i showed after my small raises got folds. Oh well i guess idiot like that are how ill get a final table stack late, still disappointing to bubble though.

Morongo Part II: The Afternoon

After eating lunch, I got seated at one of the three $1-3 NL tables. There were a big stacks of 200++ seated. I bought in for the max of $100, and I was able to quickly get a read on the table. I think they all knew I was the best player, because everytime I lost a showdown they all demanded to see my cards I would try to muck, but never asked to see anyone elses. This session is highlighted by bad beats and a huge dealer screwup.

Key hand #1: My second hand i get dealt AJo and make a small raise to $10 in the cutoff. The BB calls me as well as a early postion limper. KQT rainbow, BAM flopped the nuts. Checked to me and I bet $15, BB calls. Turn a blank, I bet 20$ and he calls. River J(sucks, I thought wed split here but then he checked) I bet $30 and he calls and mucks. Im up to about $190 at this point.

Key hand#2: About a round later I pick up KK. The crazy Persian(this guy was super bad) limps, I raise to $15 in late position and hes the only caller. 246 flop, he checks I bet $20. He calls. Turn T, he checks I bet $30 he calls. River 9 he bets 50$ I just call and he flips up 35o. Wow nice hand,sir. Gave the table a nice laugh though.

Some funny persian guy moments: A late position guy min raises to 6, tight ass player makes it 26, and th Persian guy in BB goes all in. The 26 raise guy calls for $150 more with his AA. Persian guy hits two pairto take the pot. Nice hand sir.

Key hand #3: Persian guy is UTG and raises to 6$ about 6 hands after I lostto him with my KK. I make it $26 to go, leaving myself about 50$. He calls my raise. Flop comes 985, he checks. I bet $30. I make this bet for a few reasons. First, if I am beat there no way I am folding, so im thinking about getting max value while not giving draws. A $50 dollar bet might beat off some hands I can beat, so a lower $30 bet can get more action. Also, I only left myself $20 so I am pot committed and wont need to even contemplate making a laydown if reraised. Also, saving myself chips may look to this idiot like I am weak. He reraises me all in, I call before he even closes his lips and flip my aces up. He shows A9o and misses his two outer. Nice hand, sir. This guy calls $26 preflop with A9o vs a guy hes seen show two hands, the nut straight and KK.

Keyhand #4: At this point ive got about $150. Its raised to $10 in mid position, two people call so I call in the BB with 5d4d. Flop comes Kd6s3d. This gives me and opened ended draw + flush draw, or 15 outs. I check, the raiser bets $20, other two fold. I raise him all. I actually though he only had about $40 lef,t but he had his stacks split up on a left and right side. Doh, he really had 81$ left and called. He flipped up AcAh. I had 15 outs and was 56.26% favorite. Turn is the 5s, so I now have 20 outs and am a 45% underdog. River is Qs and my outs all miss, he takes down the 200+ pot.

After that I lost the rest of my stack on something I forget. I rebought for $100.

Key hand #5: At this point ive got a healthy stack of about $150. I had won a small pot with QQ and some other things I forget. I was limping a few mediocre hands knowing there were huge implied odds at this table. I also had a good read on everyone.
Anyways, I get J6o in the BB and see a free flop. 578 rainbow and this asian guy fires out $10. I saw him fire at these type of flops with top pair and even a kicker as bad as a two. So I was 90% sure he just had an 8 here. There was one caller, this lady that always liked to seea turn it seemed, so I called with my open ended straight draw and overcard. Turn was a J. I check even though I think my top pair is good, and he bets out $20. Lady folds I call. River 9, bam giving me my straight. A 5-9 straight. I check because I had seen this guy fire at the river whenever he was checked too. He goes all in for his last $60 and I call immediately and flip over my J6 right in front of me. Now everytime a shortstack goes all in they tell the bigger stack just to say call or fold, and then if the short stack wins they match up the remaining stack to get the right amount of chips. This guy flips up his two pair and sighs and says damnit two pair, bad river. Im looking at him and say ya well I had you on turn too. This whole exchange takes 4 seconds. I look back and she has taken both are hands and mixed then in the muck. The pushes him the chips from the pot and says “60” to me. Im like “WHAT?! I had a straight, I won that pot.” In horrible English she starts saying “Two pair wins, no straight out.” “What? 578J9 were out, I had a straight with my J6.” At this point I realized she saw my jack, and only thought I had one pair, thus losing to two pair. My neighbor says there was a straight possible, and the guy in a Boston hat across table says ya there was, I had a 6 and thought about how I woulda split it. She then pauses, and says “oh yes straight, but you didn’t call.” At this point im outraged, the guy whos taking the pot(old asian guy who thinks hes good but SUCKS) is sitting silent. Shouting, I say “I said call and flipped my cards up, why would I flip up a straight and fold.” “No you don’t call, post your small blind.” “no I wont post anything, we need to resolve this YOU screwed up.” “Post your small blind, or you miss it.” “what, no get the..” “Post your small blind.” At this point she tosses the missed blind thing my way and the lady across the way says to the dealer “what are you doing.” I stand up and start screaming at her in the top of the lungs telling her I refuse to let her huge screwup slide for a $200 pot. “I wont lose $200 because youre an idiot!” At this point there a crowd of about 20 people surrounding the table. This finally get the poker room manager over. This guy barely speaks English too. I get the people at my table to back me up on dealers error, and he says they’ll go to the tapes. The asian guy is a regular bc they know his name, what the hell gay. Manager comes back 5 minutes later and says the cameras show I had a straight, but because I only verbally called they cant prove I called and thus lose the pot because they cant do anything for me now. Im like “WHAT THE FUCK, you run a joke of a poker room.” I tell the asian guy hes weak for stealing the pot and he says “don’t blame me.” Guy to my right says “Why wouldn’t he?” Asian guy realizes table thinks hes an asshole so he leaves for like 15 minutes. Dealer keeps saying “I didn’t hear him say call” and lady at other side of table says “yes we’ve heard your fake story 100 times, just deal the cards and don’t talk.” What pisses me off most is the way the dealer changes her story once she realizes there Was a straight out, trying to cover her own ass. So I didn’t end up paying the final $60 bet, but missed out on the 160$ that woulda been in the $220 pot had I called. I start playing when the Big blind reaches me again.

Key hand #6: My neighbor tells me to let it go so I don’t steam. Anyways, im on the button like 30 minutes later with $152 and KK. The asian guy who got the pot from the dealers error is in the BB. I had been needling him and majorly fucking with him. One hand I had Q7 on a QT7 flop, he bet 10 and I went all in for like 150$ more. He folded and I showed my 7. I also kept telling him hes got no class. So I raise it to $12 on the button with my KK. He calls as well as the lady who yelled at dealer for me. JT9 flop rainbow. Not a great flop but with KK I doubt one of them had KQ. They both check to me and I fire out $20. They both calls and turn is the 6h. Two hearts out now. They check again and I fire $60 trying to make any draws pay. The 6 couldn’t hurt me, because if someone had a 78 they already had the straight. The asian ASSHOLE calls me, and the lady folds. Ive got $60 left at this point, and theres a pot of about $210. river is a 7. Asian ASSHOLE bets his last $40 and I go into the tank. I thought he may have AJo or QQ. QQ was an option because he had smooth called with high pairs earlier. I didn’t think he has JJ, TT, or 99 because I sensed great weakness by him, and he was taking time to think about whether to call on all the streets. I finally call and flip my KK. He flips up 77. im like WOW, wow to call your stack off with an UNDERPAIR. I stand up, grab my last 20 $1 chips, and say “you rock man.” I tell my friends lets get the hell out of here and cash out my last chips. That same asshole that took the errored pot from me also sucked out horribly on my KK with his 77.

Overall, I got the best cards of my life for a casino Trip. AA, KKx3, QQx3. I had that freak dealer error from the asian bitch that tried to cover her ass at my expense, and some bad beats. My pocket kings went 1/3, which isn’t great but oh well, I played them ok in my opinion. The people there were horrible as expected. The place was nice and and the chips were clean, but the dealers SUCKED for the most part. Oh well, at least I got to scream at the top of my lungs at a dealer for almost a minute, calling her an idiot and a huge screw up, haha. Hopefully next time goes better. Im going to try to make a complaint to Morongo and get a free room.

Morongo Part 1

We left at about 9am, and after a slight detour caused by a closed toll road, we walked into the Morongo poker room at 10:45am. The $30 buy-in tournament was already sold out because they capped it at 100 people. That was weak. So I ended up playing 1-3 NL for about 1 hour 45 minutes. Max buyin was $100. We took a lunch break and I was up $80 after the morning session. We then played like 4.5 hours and I did 1-3 NL again and pot 180 in the second session due to stupid shit, including bad beats and a huge dealer fuckup, so I lost $100 for the day.

Morning Session key hands:

Key hand 1: I had been playing tight and hadn’t really played a hand in the 20 minutes. I had already figured out most of the players though just by watching. The best player was this black guy in an OJ simpson shirt. He has crazy hair and tried to look intimidating, but he was cool when either my friend or I talked to him. Hes long fingers and table presence reminded me of ivey slightly. Anyways, two limpers to me on button. Ive got J4o and decide to try to steal pot with a raise and then show, creating a wild image. I raise to $15 and they all fold, and I then toss it face up for all to see.

Key hand 2: Two guys limp in front of me, so I limp for $3 with the 4s3s. This is super unusual for me, but the way the table was playing I had great implied odds. There was a lot of limping with big pots post flop. More limpers behind me and we have a 6-7 person pot. Flop comes KQ2, all spades. Checked to me and I fire out $15 to see what going on. Guy to my left calls, as does the super tight asian kid in seat 9. Guy to my two to my left I thought had something like AK or some paired hand at this point. Asian kid looked like he had the As after contemplating a raise and counting pot odds in his head, haha. Turn card is the 5h. Phew, no more spades. I fire out $30, leaving myself with about 50$. They both call again, so im putting the guy to my left on at least two pair now, as otherwise hed fold one pair seeing the asian kid calling. River is another blank, and I fire out my last $50. Guy to my left calls fast, asian kid folds, so I am thinking my As read was right. The caller flips up QQ for a set of queens. Haha way to not raise with QQ vs 3 limpers, idiot. I take down the pot.

I then lose some small pots and drain down a bit.

Key hand 3: The idiot who called me down with his set of queens had been playing horrible and losing 40$ buy in after $40 buy in. He had just rebought for $40 again and was on the button. It folds to me in mid position with QQ. I made it $12 to go and he called as expected. Flop comes K75. He accidentally checks then go woops its you, and so I go all in sensing weakness. He calls immediately for his last 28$ and the board brings two blanks. He flips over T9o and sayd “ah I didn’t hit a straight.” The guy then gets up and leaves to the tables disappointment.

My friends and I got some lunch at this point. They got Panda Express while I ate some pretty good pizza.

Afternoon session key hands coming soon, along with a dramatic scene which has me screaming at the top of my lungs.

Change of Plans

So im goin to switch to Sit N Gos formy main cash low, rather than cash games. I'll save cash games for casino visits, like this saturday(planned as of now, probably Morongo but maybe Viejas.) I just feel in cash games theres less edges because the cirumstances rarely change, and if they do, its only because it goes from 6 handed to 5 handed for 5 minutes. Thus, physical reads can provide even more edge needed for extra cash making. In SNGs and Multi Talbe Tournaments, theres tons of things that can give someone an edge as the tournament progresses. Its also just more fun to me, as theres always a goal to be working towards. So for now, ill be focusing on that and giving cash games a rest.

I Hate Poker

I wantto cry like a little girl. After 3.5 hours of play, i go out on the exact bubble for the $2600 satellite seat. Two people get sets, i get third. Worst feeling of my LIFE.

UPDATE: After laying down from dizziness, i decided not to let myselfget down. so i will continue focusing on cash games and a couple tournament here and there,with my tournaments mostly being WCOOP satellites. I could have played the last hand better, and in fact i think my eyes glazed over and i lost concentration on it. Although he got luckt to turn trips, i could have escaped easily and outplayed them in later hands.