Vltava

Managed to persuade my girlfriend to put off today's trip to the Griffith Observatory off for a few hours, and I got in a couple sessions of 24-tabling $6+.50 while she plays Karaoke Revolution in the next room. First set was good, +$44; second was a smash, +$136. Up to $767 now. Think I will switch to $15+1 somewhere in the $800-$1k range. This is a difficult decision on this occasion because I am very emotional, plus I want to move up very smoothly without having to drop down much if at all. A big issue with jumping up to more than 2x my current buy-in and a significantly tougher group of regs is my emotional reaction to misfortune. The smaller the percentage of my bankroll a swing is, the better I can handle it.

Playing notes:

QJ is an interesting hand. Normally it's about my minimum raising hand with low blinds in the hi-jack. And normally, almost any hand within my normal raising range with low blinds, if I would be offered 2:1 on a shove (now generally speaking about high blinds with no antes), I simply shove in the first place. But I think QJ is a bit too weak for this in the hijack. So if I have 1700-2100 and the blinds are 100/200 with no ante, I just open fold QJ in this position. None of: raise/folding, raise/calling, or open shoving seem likely to be good lines.

In a comparable situation, say I have 2500 and it's 100/200+25, still in the hijack, it's a more complex decision, since it's hard to have three or four out of four of the remaining players to act to have me covered, meaning the 2500 number doesn't usually have much relevance for effective stacks. Shoving, raise/folding, and raise/calling can each be viable depending primarily on the stack sizes, and to a lesser extent the player types.

I am noticing some regs are occasionally flatting with AA preflop in early rounds against other regs (me) to try to extract a stack-off after the flop. I think my larger early position raise sizes (4-6x) in the first round help justify this play. I wonder if reducing my raises to 3x with these villains at the table would help discourage their play by making it seem too risky.

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Took a day off from the grinding to meet up with my friend Dan and play some satellites together at the Bicycle Casino. He ran into some bad traffic on the 5 freeway, but managed to show up just in time to buy the last seat in the first sat. I was still scanning the crowd for him during the first hand, then realized that he was sitting three to my left, in seat 6. Working his ninja skills.

$33.50+6.50 buy-in, 1500 chips, ten-handed, 15 minute blinds, starting at 25/25, one winner. Insert bad beat story here which left me microstacked, and I was eliminated shortly thereafter. Conveniently, Dan also got knocked out on that hand after some questionable (IMO) preflop play by him, so we were able to play the next sat together. $53+7 buy-in, otherwise the same. I picked up 99 in the BB in the first level. UTG+2 open limped, two more players limped behind him, the SB raised to 75, I called, three more players called, and we took a flop five-handed. 433 and the SB checked, so clearly it was unlikely he had TT+. I bet 250 into the 375 pot, and UTG+2, who happened to be an incredibly annoying wannabe who bragged that he plays $10/$20 Razz on PS and occasionally cashes in $100+ buy-in tourneys there, shoved for ~1800 after very brief thought. It was folded around to me. I strongly doubted he would make this play with 44 or A3, so I basically had the nuts, since his preflop play with TT+ was also very unlikely, and I called. He had 54cc. There was a club on the flop, and a ridiculous Ac came on the turn, giving him any deuce, four, or club as outs, but the river was an offsuit six, and mercifully he stfu'd and departed.

It turned out the player on my right was making small preflop raises with almost any hand, but I had no reason to get involved in a big pot in these levels. Fortunately I picked up QQ at 50/100 and reraised him the rest of his chips (875) after he popped it to 250 UTG. He had a hand this time, AK, but the board bricked out. After that I pretty much just coasted, occasionally winning the pot raising preflop, and shoving after raising preflop with JT and flopping top pair; no call. When we got down to three-handed, I made an error I would have been less likely to make online, because there I don't have to keep eyeballing the stacks to figure out what they are. Dan had the button with 5k, I had 7k in the SB, and the BB had 3k. Blinds at 200/400 (no antes - never any antes in these), Dan folded, and I raised to 1200 with 87o. I think this is a clear mistake. With the ranges I had seen from the BB in BvB play (e.g. I had shoved with A2 earlier in this level and he snapped for 2k more with T9hh), I would have to call his shove, in which case it would be better to shove in the first place, but that would be an open shove for 7.5 effective BB with eight high with no antes when I myself still had 17.5, so just calling preflop seems best. At the time, I thought he had more chips, about 4k, but even then, with his reshipping range versus a PFR, just calling is best. I can take a flop if he makes a small raise, or just fold to a shove. Anyway, he shipped with Q9; I realized I had to call, and binked an 8 on the river. Dan offered a chop, 1/3 to him and 2/3 to me, and of course I accepted, as I'd been planning to.

I took a break for lunch and Dan took the last available seat in the next sat. In the middle stages, his overpair of tens failed to defeat a small flush draw, and he was out. He had to drive home at that point to beat the brutal traffic on the 5, but I hung around to play one more, since I had $300 in tournament chips and no one was buying them at 4 PM when the tourney for the night, a mega satellite, was not until 6 PM. Eskimo Clark walked up as Dan and I were saying our good-byes, and I asked Eskimo if he wanted to buy the chips, but he said "not yet". After he walked on, Dan told me who he was; I didn't know. Noob.

The last sat for me was an $80 (2000 starting chips), which I fortunately just barely had $ for - I had $200 budgeted for buy-ins; the tournament chips were not accepted towards satellite entries. Early on, I picked up a small suited gapper, 86ss, and limped behind a pile of other limpers. I picked up an OESD on the A75 (two diamonds) flop, called a small bet, and paired my eight on the turn, but let it go to a 350 bet from the guy on my right. After he won that pot with an uncalled bet on the river, he proceeded to go on a heater and eliminate everyone. I didn't play a hand again until shoving time, and I won more of those than I lost, so I made it HU with him. 3500 chips to his 16.5k. He offered me a $640-80 chop. Fuck him, lulz. I doubled up with A9 v his 44, spiking an ace on the turn. Then after he raised preflop, I shoved with A9cc, and he folded. Mostly limped and folded after that for a little while, winning and losing some small pots. I didn't want to play reraised pots with this guy; my hubris said I could just outplay him instead.

At 300/600, limped on the button with 75o. I had about 6k at this point. He minraised and I called. Flop 753 two spades, I had the 5s. He bet 1200 and I called. The turn was lousy, a 6. Hard to get any value there. Check check. River was the worst card in the deck, a four. Check check and I chopped with his KT.

A few hands later I got A3o on the button. I thought he would shove a wide range if I raised, so I figured I could get the best equity from limp-shoving, since he'd fold a lot of hands I'd be flipping with, whereas I'd have to see a showdown if I raise-called. He minraised and I shoved, but this time he had KK and gg. I don't mind losing the $80 at all. It would have been glorious to win the whole $720 there after being outchipped 5:1 HU and rejecting a deal.

+$170 after tips. Back to the grind.

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Cashed in the $50 10k yearly VPP Stellar Rewards thingy. Roll is at $547 now. 1424 VPP so far for August, which technically puts me way behind pace for Supernova, but I'm still well ahead of pace for making Platinum, and I know my point accumulation will accelerate as I move up, since I'll be able to earn more than I cash out. Leaving my FPP bonuses uncashed for now. Using the potential Supernova bonuses as a motivator. Haven't yet decided when to move up to $15+1. In the past I've generally moved up when I have $400, which is very aggressive, since if I lose I can always drop down and get it back in a couple days. I'm thinking about being super-disciplined and waiting until I reach $1k, which should be within a week. Also reduced my tables from 27 to 24. I can just barely do in the 27-30 range, but it's incredibly harrowing. 24 lets me relax enough that I can keep it going all day without feeling like I've been jumped in a back alley after every set.

Refined (tightened) shoving ranges, particularly in the hijack seat and when there are no antes. Experimented with some different bubble ideas. Overall I'm feeling very good and I think I've recently made a significant jump of improvement in my ability.

General notes: Bubble theory favors shoves as big stack when the stacks are progressively larger behind you (e.g. 8k, 1k, 2k, 2.5k). Theory favors raging aggression with four equal stacks (3-3.5k apiece). Theory frowns on aggression with a large stack and against three near-equal small but not micro stacks, or if they are progressively *smaller* behind you.

Edit: girlfriend is staying at her parents tonight, woohoo! So maybe I'll get in 24 or 48 or more, but first I need to unwind with a few episodes of Weeds.

P.S. Prop 8 meets the equal protection clause; Prop 8 loses. Go go civil rights! Bigots can suck it!

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I recently dropped out of school for multiple reasons, some of them personal, one of them being to focus on poker. I'd like to see if I can make Supernova by the end of this year, although I have only earned 9k VPP so far this year. $240 currently in my account. Clearly I can earn 750 VPP in a day, but not necessarily every day. I have a live-in girlfriend who works full time, but wants a lot of attention on the weekends and in the evenings. I only need to make minimal cash-outs, so I think whether I can achieve the goal depends primarily on whether I will be successful enough over the next four months to move up in stakes and stay there. Back to those SNG's...

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In chess tournaments, all players, from tykes who have barely ceased to wear diapers, to seniors who have taken it up again, learn the protocol of quietly stopping the clock and seeking out a director. In bridge tournaments, where the median age is about sixty, an aggrieved player feebly calls out "director" at a volume slightly above the standard hushed table chatter, and helplessly waits for someone to show up. In Magic, the teenage pro screams "JUDGE!" and imperiously waits for his demand to be met. Poker players, generally aged twenty-one and up, tend to have the good fortune of having floor personnel nearby, and can call out for a director or floorman in a reasonable voice and it doesn't take long for disputes to be resolved.

Harbor no illusions, however, about poker players being sensible or having good manners; as a group, the way they play their cards and the decorum with which they address their tablemates should quickly quash any such notion. They produce significantly more cash flow for the hosts of their events than other gamers do, which inclines the staff to be more sensitive to their needs. In this regard, poker sits at an odd threshold between other kinds of gaming and other kinds of gambling. Poker brings casinos negligible profit compared to traditional casino games, but by comparison chess, bridge, and Magic tournaments as capitalistic ventures are a joke for tournament organizers, who tend to be motivated more by the love of the game and the service to their gaming community.

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One particular idiot yesterday chastised me for smoothcalling a raise with pocket aces in a live single-table SNG at Hawaiian Gardens. "NEVER slowplay aces", he declared. He babbled some faulty analysis of the hand, then left the table, as he no longer had any chips. Then he wandered back to berate me some more, and I explained that I was not actually interested in receiving a poker lesson from him. He went on to say "Well, every pro agrees with me," a spectacular claim. Irritated, I told him that couldn't be true, since I did not. He said I must not be a pro because he had never heard of me, but at this point he was satisfied with his trolling, and departed for good. Aside from being an abject douchebag, he also betrayed an inherent lack of understanding of what the word "professional" means.

I play poker for a living. I am not famous. I am not rich. I simply show a net profit when I play poker and it is adequate to cover my living expenses. If I ask what your profession is, whether you answer law clerk, dental hygienist, options trader, or fry cook, would it not be most peculiar if I stated you must be lying about what you do for a living, since I had never heard of you?

I suspect that NO poker pro would categorically say that you must NEVER slowplay pocket aces, although naturally pros at all levels hold varying degrees of opinions on the frequency with which such a play should be employed. If someone is making a living at poker and holds such a belief, I'd really like to have access to the games he or she is playing in.

One of my favorite movies is the awkwardly titled "White Men Can't Jump". Awkward not because the title isn't catchy, but because it's not really about basketball, and it's not about some white/black culture clash. It's about the life of a marginally successful hustler, a guy who is perpetually a fish out of water in the environment in which he's chosen to immerse himself to make a living, and the impact the lack of security and his questionable decision-making skills have on his personal relationships. Like Billy Hoyle, my life is strange, free, exhilarating, heartbreaking and frustrating.

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Went to Hawaiian Gardens with just under $300 in my pocket last night, disappointed that I didn't get my check yet (for 2k) from PokerStars. Played some 100 NL and decided to sign up for the Thursday night shoot-out ($120 buy-in). Incredibly soft game, but really really small stacks and fast blinds. Three tables, three players at each table advance, pay-out at final is $1060-600-500-400-275. I know, weird, right? I tripled up with TT aipf (versus AQ and K8d, wtflol) in the cash game waiting for the shoot-out to start, and then I won the shoot-out, so it was a good night. I had too much adrenaline at that point to sit down in a cash game and focus enough to play well, and at the same time, I was pretty tired, so I just went grocery shopping and went home. Tired enough that I mostly just bought stuff that would be light and easy to carry in. Except the mandatory 12 pack of Coke. We all have our addictions.

Weird stuff from the shoot-out: Standard AQ fold on the first table bubble to the other big stack's shove, with two small stacks ready to bust. I didn't care if he had Q2, I didn't want to play. He happened to have QQ, or said he did, which I believed. Really cautious player.

In the middle stages, my first table initially seemed ridiculously tough, but then they showed they were clueless about calling and shoving ranges when the blinds got really high (they just folded way too much), so it turned out to be not as much of a cakewalk as these first tables usually are, but still not very tough after all.

Same player, later on, at the final table and on the money bubble, claimed he folded HIS AQ to my M=4 AA shove. I did not think this was a good fold. I had just shoved the previous hand with J8h, although I did not show that hand. I just think that calling/reshoving is so +EV in ICM, although you have to realize that I'm capable of shoving with a really wide range. Okay, I admit that a strong player who knows me would recognize that I am going to turn up with a stronger range that you might expect, since now my M=4 instead of 3, and because I expect my opponents to be more trigger happy since I just shoved with no showdown on the previous hand, but AQ *still* must be ahead of my range, which is maybe 33+, A8+, KT+, QT+, JT, T9s, 98s, 87s.

In this tourney, pretty much the only jump in pay is for first (ignoring a weird slightly larger jump from 5-4 than for 4-3-2), and it's very large, so the tourney's ICM, I think, has strong similarities to WTA ICM, which must make it a clear call for the AQo. He just got superlucky I had aces.

Eventually got HU with a 5:2 chip lead against this same guy and I steamrolled him, T5o > A3 aipf on the final hand, flop KQJ and I binked a five on the river.

Fun fact: no limit cash games with a max buy-in are the brainchild of a man named Dave Simon and they started at Hawaiian Gardens, with one table, before spreading all over the country like wildfire. Also, HG is the only casino I know of that offers cash (not satellite) SNG's, which was also his doing.

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