Okay so I'm really lazy. Since the Wynn Classic I've played a total of 3,500 hands online which is pathetic. On top of that, I can't bring myself to write up another epic blog post about my Day 2 of the Main Event at the Wynn, nor can I bring myself to write up the billion other things that are going on in my life right now. So this is going to be a very quick, to the point, cliff noted version of everything I want to say. Enjoy:
Day 2 of the 10k Main Event @ Wynn Classic:
10 minutes into the day I chipped up a little bit from 19k to 24k, then I double up when I raise JJ, flop K-Q-J and turn K vs guy's AQ. I basically made a 1/8th pot bet on the turn and he shoved. Ty ship it. Played a bunch of small pots and slowly chipped up, until finally it all came crashing to an end. My stack was 58k when blinds were at 600/1200. I had been kind of card dead for a while, so I just been folding a lot. I picked up 98ss in UTG+2 and look over at the blinds who were super weak/tight nits, given that I thought my raise would look real strong since I've been folding a lot I popped it up to 3200. Action was folded around to a young kid who I was told plays a lot online, I think Darren Elies was his name, who flat called on the button with a 100k+ stack. He had been fairly tight/aggressive but played a lot of pots in position, so I suspected his preflop call was probably looser than normal with the intention to take the pot away from me in position since he probably viewed me as tight/solid/trappy. Everyone else folded, and the flop came Kh-6d-4h. I went to c-bet then realized this was exactly the type of flop texture this guy would float / raise to try and get me off of my hand. Instead, I decided to check (given he has seen me be trappy with some big hands earlier, using a similar line). He hesitated a bit then checked behind. Turn came As. I lead out for 5500, he counted out his chips and made a pretty quick call. At this point I thought his range was very wide, from a bunch of float type hands calling to bluff the river, to a bunch of marginal hands one pair hands that he just wants to call down with and get to showdown. The river came 7c. I checked, and he didn't take long before firing 15,000 into the 19,000 pot. I took my time, counted out my chips, waited a good 2 minutes and thought through folding vs shoving. In my head I couldn't put him on a hand that could call if I shoved, infact my gut was screaming to shove. And I had been following my gut in every decision up to this point, and my gut had not failed me yet. "Did you know that you have more nerve endings in your gut than you do in your head? Look it up!" -Steve Colbert. Finally I came to the decision to fire it in. In a calm manner, I looked up at the dealer and said "all-in" as the dealer counted out 34,000 more for Darren to call. As soon as I shoved, Darren grunted and pushed himself away from the table. Well that's a good sign! Atleast he didn't snap call lol. After a minute he stood up and stared at the board and then back at his stack. I sat there trying to be as relaxed as possible, as my heart was racing faster and faster the longer he took to make the decision. Finally he sat down and counted out 34,000 and rechecked his stack seeing that he had about 45,000 behind if he called and was wrong. I started to get this sick feeling in my stomach... he's going to hero call me... oh no. Finally after a few minutes Darren pushed the 34k call in and flipped up K7o for an obscure rivered two pair. I mucked and insta left the table. Spent all night thinking about the hand, and I really feel like I'm still comfortable with the play itself but there are some other factors I should have considered: It didn't threaten his tournament life. He had me well covered, and I'm pretty sure this was a key reason why he called, he saw that he had room to continue to grind if he was wrong. Also, the type of player Darren was. He was willing to play pretty loose in position and to do that you need to be making some good reads / call downs from time to time. This play would have been much better vs a nit than vs a smart online player capable of thinking on multiple levels.
...Myth brought up a funny point though: "He didn't read you on a bluff, He thought he sucked out on you on the river." And if that is the case, then I feel really sick because K7o on that board given that action is exactly a bluff catcher, and if he didn't realize that then I just got 3 outed on the river lol. But I really have no reason to believe he misunderstands the game that badly. Just another good player making a good call down in a really critical spot in the tournament, so my hats off to his sick bluff catch.
That tuesday night was St. Patty's day... and since I busted from the main event earlier I went on massive drunken tilt. We went to O'Shea's and played some beer pong. Played some drunken 1-3 NL at the Wynn, and basically went wild on the strip. Standard night. Here is a video of actionDJ and I doing a boat race for $50, and Lyric laughing his ass off in the background. Derric won but cheated obv because he fucking spilled half his beer on his shirt:
Came back to SD and been chilling with my friends and getting my shit together (with taxes and investments and such). Put a good portion of my tournament winnings into CD's at the bank and the rest into a money market account. Been doing a fuck ton of shopping, and now I understand why girls like to shop. It's kind of fun buying shit for yourself. Leaving back to Vegas in 5 hours for the WPT Championships. I ment to leave Friday night but got stuck for another day in SD so now I'm leaving tonight with Rekrul. Going to grind cash games when I get there then get some sleep for the $2,000 event tomorrow. For those wondering: I plan on winning it. I run too good on peachy's money to not win. Ez game. One more time baby! GOGOGO!!!
PS: Made the biggest hustle of a prop bet ever vs Rekrul. I bet him he can't drink a sip of alcohol til the 18th of April (when ElkY gets back into Vegas) for $1,000. Ship it ez? He won't make it past tomorrow.
Okay so I'm really lazy. Since the Wynn Classic I've played a total of 3,500 hands online which is pathetic. On top of that, I can't bring myself to write up another epic blog post about my Day 2 of the Main Event at the Wynn, nor can I bring myself to write up the billion other things that are going on in my life right now. So this is going to be a very quick, to the point, cliff noted version of everything I want to say. Enjoy:
Day 2 of the 10k Main Event @ Wynn Classic:
10 minutes into the day I chipped up a little bit from 19k to 24k, then I double up when I raise JJ, flop K-Q-J and turn K vs guy's AQ. I basically made a 1/8th pot bet on the turn and he shoved. Ty ship it. Played a bunch of small pots and slowly chipped up, until finally it all came crashing to an end. My stack was 58k when blinds were at 600/1200. I had been kind of card dead for a while, so I just been folding a lot. I picked up 98ss in UTG+2 and look over at the blinds who were super weak/tight nits, given that I thought my raise would look real strong since I've been folding a lot I popped it up to 3200. Action was folded around to a young kid who I was told plays a lot online, I think Darren Elies was his name, who flat called on the button with a 100k+ stack. He had been fairly tight/aggressive but played a lot of pots in position, so I suspected his preflop call was probably looser than normal with the intention to take the pot away from me in position since he probably viewed me as tight/solid/trappy. Everyone else folded, and the flop came Kh-6d-4h. I went to c-bet then realized this was exactly the type of flop texture this guy would float / raise to try and get me off of my hand. Instead, I decided to check (given he has seen me be trappy with some big hands earlier, using a similar line). He hesitated a bit then checked behind. Turn came As. I lead out for 5500, he counted out his chips and made a pretty quick call. At this point I thought his range was very wide, from a bunch of float type hands calling to bluff the river, to a bunch of marginal hands one pair hands that he just wants to call down with and get to showdown. The river came 7c. I checked, and he didn't take long before firing 15,000 into the 19,000 pot. I took my time, counted out my chips, waited a good 2 minutes and thought through folding vs shoving. In my head I couldn't put him on a hand that could call if I shoved, infact my gut was screaming to shove. And I had been following my gut in every decision up to this point, and my gut had not failed me yet. "Did you know that you have more nerve endings in your gut than you do in your head? Look it up!" -Steve Colbert. Finally I came to the decision to fire it in. In a calm manner, I looked up at the dealer and said "all-in" as the dealer counted out 34,000 more for Darren to call. As soon as I shoved, Darren grunted and pushed himself away from the table. Well that's a good sign! Atleast he didn't snap call lol. After a minute he stood up and stared at the board and then back at his stack. I sat there trying to be as relaxed as possible, as my heart was racing faster and faster the longer he took to make the decision. Finally he sat down and counted out 34,000 and rechecked his stack seeing that he had about 45,000 behind if he called and was wrong. I started to get this sick feeling in my stomach... he's going to hero call me... oh no. Finally after a few minutes Darren pushed the 34k call in and flipped up K7o for an obscure rivered two pair. I mucked and insta left the table. Spent all night thinking about the hand, and I really feel like I'm still comfortable with the play itself but there are some other factors I should have considered: It didn't threaten his tournament life. He had me well covered, and I'm pretty sure this was a key reason why he called, he saw that he had room to continue to grind if he was wrong. Also, the type of player Darren was. He was willing to play pretty loose in position and to do that you need to be making some good reads / call downs from time to time. This play would have been much better vs a nit than vs a smart online player capable of thinking on multiple levels.
...Myth brought up a funny point though: "He didn't read you on a bluff, He thought he sucked out on you on the river." And if that is the case, then I feel really sick because K7o on that board given that action is exactly a bluff catcher, and if he didn't realize that then I just got 3 outed on the river lol. But I really have no reason to believe he misunderstands the game that badly. Just another good player making a good call down in a really critical spot in the tournament, so my hats off to his sick bluff catch.
That tuesday night was St. Patty's day... and since I busted from the main event earlier I went on massive drunken tilt. We went to O'Shea's and played some beer pong. Played some drunken 1-3 NL at the Wynn, and basically went wild on the strip. Standard night. Here is a video of actionDJ and I doing a boat race for $50, and Lyric laughing his ass off in the background. Derric won but cheated obv because he fucking spilled half his beer on his shirt:
Came back to SD and been chilling with my friends and getting my shit together (with taxes and investments and such). Put a good portion of my tournament winnings into CD's at the bank and the rest into a money market account. Been doing a fuck ton of shopping, and now I understand why girls like to shop. It's kind of fun buying shit for yourself. Leaving back to Vegas in 5 hours for the WPT Championships. I ment to leave Friday night but got stuck for another day in SD so now I'm leaving tonight with Rekrul. Going to grind cash games when I get there then get some sleep for the $2,000 event tomorrow. For those wondering: I plan on winning it. I run too good on peachy's money to not win. Ez game. One more time baby! GOGOGO!!!
PS: Made the biggest hustle of a prop bet ever vs Rekrul. I bet him he can't drink a sip of alcohol til the 18th of April (when ElkY gets back into Vegas) for $1,000. Ship it ez? He won't make it past tomorrow.
Before I start, I promise I'll post my Day 2 report from the Wynn Classic main event before I leave to Vegas this weekend. I'd like some more feedback on my bust-out hand from the event as it was very interesting. For those of you who didn't hear, I basically bluffed off a 56k stack at 600/1200 and got caught by some very obscure rivered two pair that almost folded. So today I did some clean-up, got things organized, been reading up on taxes (which is depressing, because it sounds like I'm going to get waxed pretty hard) and finally planned my upcoming trip back out to Vegas for Bellagio's WPT Championships.
I went to this event last year for a few days and it was a blast since there are so many tourists who come to watch, making for a very exciting environment, along with some extremely juicy side games. This year, the plan is to leave early in the morning on the 5th and leave on the 13th. Here is the list of events I plan on playing:
At least, that's what I told peachy. Although realistically I might have to take a break from an event or two to play the side games. They really are too juicy to pass up this time of year. Almost as sweet as WSOP time. Obv, Myth and FrinkX are going to be playing these events as well (actually more since they are leaving on the 1st) so hopefully we can deliver some more magic from San Diego.
Now you guys might be wondering why did I titled this blog 'How Good Do I Run?'... well it basically speaks for itself. I'm pretty sure no one runs better than me this month. Came up $54,500 total this month by playing less than 10,000 hands online and entering a couple donkaments. Ez life. Plus I have more POY points that mig.com, and I am going to make sure he hears about this every time I see him. Finally, about 30 minutes ago while I was booking my flights, a friend of mine showed me how to sign up for Southwest Rapid Rewards (basically rakeback for the airline I use the most). What the heck, I signed up for it. A notice to call a certain number appeared so I called the number and was answered by one of the Southwest travel agents. I tell her that I was signing up for their rapid rewards program so she figured it was my first time flying with Southwest... she figured wrong. For the next 20 mins, she is pulling up all my past flights and adding them to my new rapid rewards account while I'm put on hold... somewhat. She basically has the phone on her desk and I over hear her talking to her deskmate saying things like "Look at how many previous flights are on this account!" "Wow" "Oh my, there is another page of them" "Jesus" "I've never seen someone with this many previous flights and no previous rapid rewards account". Finally she gets back on the phone with me and is like "Sir, we were able to locate 31 previous roundtrip flights from the past 3 years, does that sound about right?" What can I say? I like to travel. "That sounds about right" I said, and then I hear her do some more typing until finally she gets back on the phone with me and says the following:
"Southwest is rewarding you with 5 free roundtrip tickets."
LOL? Ship it crucial! That pretty much covers all my trips back and forth to Vegas from now til the end of summer. As for other updates in my life, I haven't been playing much poker online at all. Been really lazy since I got back from the Wynn. I can point my finger at one huge reason why... I have a crush on a girl. It's totally like a high school style crush too. I need to grow-up, and that's about all I'm going to say on that matter.
Before I start, I promise I'll post my Day 2 report from the Wynn Classic main event before I leave to Vegas this weekend. I'd like some more feedback on my bust-out hand from the event as it was very interesting. For those of you who didn't hear, I basically bluffed off a 56k stack at 600/1200 and got caught by some very obscure rivered two pair that almost folded. So today I did some clean-up, got things organized, been reading up on taxes (which is depressing, because it sounds like I'm going to get waxed pretty hard) and finally planned my upcoming trip back out to Vegas for Bellagio's WPT Championships.
I went to this event last year for a few days and it was a blast since there are so many tourists who come to watch, making for a very exciting environment, along with some extremely juicy side games. This year, the plan is to leave early in the morning on the 5th and leave on the 13th. Here is the list of events I plan on playing:
At least, that's what I told peachy. Although realistically I might have to take a break from an event or two to play the side games. They really are too juicy to pass up this time of year. Almost as sweet as WSOP time. Obv, Myth and FrinkX are going to be playing these events as well (actually more since they are leaving on the 1st) so hopefully we can deliver some more magic from San Diego.
Now you guys might be wondering why did I titled this blog 'How Good Do I Run?'... well it basically speaks for itself. I'm pretty sure no one runs better than me this month. Came up $54,500 total this month by playing less than 10,000 hands online and entering a couple donkaments. Ez life. Plus I have more POY points that mig.com, and I am going to make sure he hears about this every time I see him. Finally, about 30 minutes ago while I was booking my flights, a friend of mine showed me how to sign up for Southwest Rapid Rewards (basically rakeback for the airline I use the most). What the heck, I signed up for it. A notice to call a certain number appeared so I called the number and was answered by one of the Southwest travel agents. I tell her that I was signing up for their rapid rewards program so she figured it was my first time flying with Southwest... she figured wrong. For the next 20 mins, she is pulling up all my past flights and adding them to my new rapid rewards account while I'm put on hold... somewhat. She basically has the phone on her desk and I over hear her talking to her deskmate saying things like "Look at how many previous flights are on this account!" "Wow" "Oh my, there is another page of them" "Jesus" "I've never seen someone with this many previous flights and no previous rapid rewards account". Finally she gets back on the phone with me and is like "Sir, we were able to locate 31 previous roundtrip flights from the past 3 years, does that sound about right?" What can I say? I like to travel. "That sounds about right" I said, and then I hear her do some more typing until finally she gets back on the phone with me and says the following:
"Southwest is rewarding you with 5 free roundtrip tickets."
LOL? Ship it crucial! That pretty much covers all my trips back and forth to Vegas from now til the end of summer. As for other updates in my life, I haven't been playing much poker online at all. Been really lazy since I got back from the Wynn. I can point my finger at one huge reason why... I have a crush on a girl. It's totally like a high school style crush too. I need to grow-up, and that's about all I'm going to say on that matter.
Beep beep beep… the alarm went off at 11:30 Sunday morning, but I snoozed it til 11:50. I kicked brystmar til he woke up, since he crashed on my floor then I walked down to the tournament room. The day before I made a last longer bet with mig.com, actionDJ, and FrinkX for $100 each. I figured they were all drawing dead since I end up lasting forever in these Wynn tournaments since I run so fucking good. At noon, it was surprising how many people weren’t there for the $10,000 main event when the cards hit the air. Of the 9 players registered at my table, only me and another guy showed up on time, so we ended up trading blinds back and forth for 2 orbits. A 3rd guy sat down 10 mins later, then eventually more and more players started to filter into the tournament floor. Eric Siedel was the first player I recognized, as he took a seat to my direct left. Mike Sexton was across the table, and then Toto Leonidas sat down 2 seats to my right. They were known but not really the kind of player I feared… then a player I actually feared sat down: Travis Pearson. For those of you who don’t know, Travis plays the highest games at the Wynn and absolutely destroys them. You can ask around for some stories from people who play regularly with him, but basically I’ve heard rumors of ace-high snap calls in huge pots as he tips the dealer before the cards are even shown. Totally nasty style.
We started with 20,000 at 25/50, I chipped up to 22,000 pretty quickly then I took two huge hits 20 minutes into the first level: I picked up KK and raised to 200 utg, and got 2 callers. The flop came 3-3-4 and I lead out for 500, and the young kid called. Turn came a 4, and I lead for 1200 and once again the young kid called. At this point it felt like some pocket pair that was 55+. The river dropped a 7 and I bet 2600, and he raised to 6000. Puke I folded, and he picked up the pot. A couple hands later, I play a nightmare pot that I totally screw up: UTG middle aged guy limps, I raise to 200 w AJo, and I get 2 callers behind me + the UTG limper calls. Flop comes Jc-Js-2c, and UTG guy checks, I go absolutely retarded and decide to check(?) wow worst play ever? The caller behind me bets 400, Mike Sexton folds, the UTG limper check-raises to 1400. YUCK! So here I am trying to be all deceptive and find myself stuck in a spot where anything I do is going to announce the strength of my hand. The UTG limper’s c/r also seemed really really strong to me which had me a little freaked about 22. I decided to flat call with the intention to fold to any big bet on the turn, and the original bettor behind me insta-folded. The turn dropped a 8d, and the UTG player insta-fires 4,000. This is where I should have gone with my game plan and made an easy laydown… nope! Time to dig myself a bigger hole and call fuck I play so bad. River drops Qh, and he puts me all-in for 11,500. PUUUUKKKKEEE!!! If I call turn I obv should be calling river right? I rag on myself for a good 5 minutes and finally fold and leave the table to cool off. I run into brystmar and tell him what just happened and he gave me a little prep talk to un-tilt me. I took a good 5 minutes off to walk around then came back to the table only to find a new player to my right… Anna Wroblewski. For those of you who don’t know, she is an insanely spewy kind of player who ended up coolering me in a $6,000 pot at 5/10 over the summer. So naturally that kind of puts me on even sicker life tilt, especially since I get chipped down all the way to 7,500 in chips and it was still the 1st level.
Time to refocus: I picked up a few pots and moved myself back up to 9,000. Then I take a huge pot vs Travis when I made a funky play with a flush draw and happened to hit it on the river. That moved me back up to 18,000 which is where I ended the 1st level at. After the break, things picked up for me. Eric Seidel was busted by Mike Sexton, so I had him off of my left side which was nice. I made a quick move vs Mike Sexton, as he had been trying to pick on me all day, so I check-raised turn after he floated flop with obv garbage. Then I picked up AK, and got into a 3 bet pot vs him and check-raised all-in after flopping my ace. He tanked and folded. Then I made a squeeze vs the guy who took the big pot from my AJo earlier in the tournament and Anna with A9s from the big blind. I flopped my ace and busted the middle aged guy when he shoved 77 as a bluff. Ended the 2nd break at 33,000! Great success!
Anna Wroblewski in the center, you guys see me in the purple sweatshirt / black hat on her left?
After Travis busted early in the 3rd level my table broke, obv was on sick tilt as he bluffed off a lot of chips when Ryan Young was moved to our table. I had to say, Mike Sexton wasn’t very good… he was playing close to 80% of the hands dealt to him and although he was aggressive he was definitely spewy. Toto Leonidas on the other hand definitely was impressive. He played a very aggressive game, and showed down a deceptively played monster when he doubled through Mike Sexton. Other than that, he was almost never at showdown and slowly chipped up without getting into many big pots. Anna Wroblewski played a very solid tournament game, and she was pretty friendly / fun to sit next to, as she kept complaining about how tournaments suck and how she wanted to bust but no one would let her etc. She made a really awesome check-raise on the river vs this one guy when she turned middle pair into a bluff, and when the guy made a donk call with a straight (which should not have been good, but obv he doesn’t know how to read the action) she said that she ment to just call which I thought was the funniest level of all time since it was clear that she knew exactly what she was doing by bluffing him, yet cardplayer decided to report it as a ‘mistake in chip denominations’. I basically played no big pots in the 3rd level and ended the level going into dinner break with 38,000.
I took a long ass nap during dinner break, and when I came down (10 minutes late) I decided I was going to pwn bitches. Within the next hour I chipped up to about 60,000 in chips. I picked up QQ and triple barreled the only fish left at our table. Then I picked up 75s, flopped 5-5-Q and killed the poor guy who thought he could bluff me with his last 15,000 in chips. Then started to do my blind steal / running over people until 10 mins before the end of the level. I picked up QQ and raised to 700 at 100/200 blinds and got 3 callers the most active player at our table reraised to 3,200 on the button, and when action got back around to me I reraised to 10,000. When it got back around to him he shoved for 7,000 more and I snap called. He had AKo… and the board comes A-K-X-X-X and I lose a 35k flip. I then pick up KT and flop Tc-4h-2h, and get it all-in vs a short stack who had 9,000 in chips with 8h7h. He turns the flush and I am knocked down to 32,000 at the end of the 4th level which was disappointing.
The 5th level, 100/200 w 25 ante was pretty uneventful as I basically chipped up to 36,000 and folded most of the level. At the end of the level I was moved to a new table with Lee Watkinson, Vanessa Rouso, and internet pro Matt Graham. The 6th and final level of the day was pretty brutal… I was totally exhausted from the long day, and was very card dead for the most part. I basically folded my way down to 28,000 then attempted a squeeze play vs Vanessa Rouso… but she had QQ and pwned me. Was stuck down at 14,000 and opened to 1200 with 8c6c from middle position vs tight blinds without realizing that Lee Watkinson had a retardedly short stack in the small blind. He shoved for 3800 total and I puked. Then called and did a mini-fist pump when he showed 44. GET THERE! I spike an 8, win the flip, and end the day at 19,075! Such a brutal day… probably would rate my play overall as a B- (sloppy), which isn’t very good for my first $10,000 event. But I was definitely happy that I made Day 2 with enough play in my stack to redeem myself at 300/600 w 50 ante.
Went back up to my room and found the girls getting ready to go to Bellagio’s new nightclub: The Bank. Since it was their last night in Vegas, I decided to man up and go out with them. Can you guys tell how tired I am?
Beep beep beep… the alarm went off at 11:30 Sunday morning, but I snoozed it til 11:50. I kicked brystmar til he woke up, since he crashed on my floor then I walked down to the tournament room. The day before I made a last longer bet with mig.com, actionDJ, and FrinkX for $100 each. I figured they were all drawing dead since I end up lasting forever in these Wynn tournaments since I run so fucking good. At noon, it was surprising how many people weren’t there for the $10,000 main event when the cards hit the air. Of the 9 players registered at my table, only me and another guy showed up on time, so we ended up trading blinds back and forth for 2 orbits. A 3rd guy sat down 10 mins later, then eventually more and more players started to filter into the tournament floor. Eric Siedel was the first player I recognized, as he took a seat to my direct left. Mike Sexton was across the table, and then Toto Leonidas sat down 2 seats to my right. They were known but not really the kind of player I feared… then a player I actually feared sat down: Travis Pearson. For those of you who don’t know, Travis plays the highest games at the Wynn and absolutely destroys them. You can ask around for some stories from people who play regularly with him, but basically I’ve heard rumors of ace-high snap calls in huge pots as he tips the dealer before the cards are even shown. Totally nasty style.
We started with 20,000 at 25/50, I chipped up to 22,000 pretty quickly then I took two huge hits 20 minutes into the first level: I picked up KK and raised to 200 utg, and got 2 callers. The flop came 3-3-4 and I lead out for 500, and the young kid called. Turn came a 4, and I lead for 1200 and once again the young kid called. At this point it felt like some pocket pair that was 55+. The river dropped a 7 and I bet 2600, and he raised to 6000. Puke I folded, and he picked up the pot. A couple hands later, I play a nightmare pot that I totally screw up: UTG middle aged guy limps, I raise to 200 w AJo, and I get 2 callers behind me + the UTG limper calls. Flop comes Jc-Js-2c, and UTG guy checks, I go absolutely retarded and decide to check(?) wow worst play ever? The caller behind me bets 400, Mike Sexton folds, the UTG limper check-raises to 1400. YUCK! So here I am trying to be all deceptive and find myself stuck in a spot where anything I do is going to announce the strength of my hand. The UTG limper’s c/r also seemed really really strong to me which had me a little freaked about 22. I decided to flat call with the intention to fold to any big bet on the turn, and the original bettor behind me insta-folded. The turn dropped a 8d, and the UTG player insta-fires 4,000. This is where I should have gone with my game plan and made an easy laydown… nope! Time to dig myself a bigger hole and call fuck I play so bad. River drops Qh, and he puts me all-in for 11,500. PUUUUKKKKEEE!!! If I call turn I obv should be calling river right? I rag on myself for a good 5 minutes and finally fold and leave the table to cool off. I run into brystmar and tell him what just happened and he gave me a little prep talk to un-tilt me. I took a good 5 minutes off to walk around then came back to the table only to find a new player to my right… Anna Wroblewski. For those of you who don’t know, she is an insanely spewy kind of player who ended up coolering me in a $6,000 pot at 5/10 over the summer. So naturally that kind of puts me on even sicker life tilt, especially since I get chipped down all the way to 7,500 in chips and it was still the 1st level.
Time to refocus: I picked up a few pots and moved myself back up to 9,000. Then I take a huge pot vs Travis when I made a funky play with a flush draw and happened to hit it on the river. That moved me back up to 18,000 which is where I ended the 1st level at. After the break, things picked up for me. Eric Seidel was busted by Mike Sexton, so I had him off of my left side which was nice. I made a quick move vs Mike Sexton, as he had been trying to pick on me all day, so I check-raised turn after he floated flop with obv garbage. Then I picked up AK, and got into a 3 bet pot vs him and check-raised all-in after flopping my ace. He tanked and folded. Then I made a squeeze vs the guy who took the big pot from my AJo earlier in the tournament and Anna with A9s from the big blind. I flopped my ace and busted the middle aged guy when he shoved 77 as a bluff. Ended the 2nd break at 33,000! Great success!
Anna Wroblewski in the center, you guys see me in the purple sweatshirt / black hat on her left?
After Travis busted early in the 3rd level my table broke, obv was on sick tilt as he bluffed off a lot of chips when Ryan Young was moved to our table. I had to say, Mike Sexton wasn’t very good… he was playing close to 80% of the hands dealt to him and although he was aggressive he was definitely spewy. Toto Leonidas on the other hand definitely was impressive. He played a very aggressive game, and showed down a deceptively played monster when he doubled through Mike Sexton. Other than that, he was almost never at showdown and slowly chipped up without getting into many big pots. Anna Wroblewski played a very solid tournament game, and she was pretty friendly / fun to sit next to, as she kept complaining about how tournaments suck and how she wanted to bust but no one would let her etc. She made a really awesome check-raise on the river vs this one guy when she turned middle pair into a bluff, and when the guy made a donk call with a straight (which should not have been good, but obv he doesn’t know how to read the action) she said that she ment to just call which I thought was the funniest level of all time since it was clear that she knew exactly what she was doing by bluffing him, yet cardplayer decided to report it as a ‘mistake in chip denominations’. I basically played no big pots in the 3rd level and ended the level going into dinner break with 38,000.
I took a long ass nap during dinner break, and when I came down (10 minutes late) I decided I was going to pwn bitches. Within the next hour I chipped up to about 60,000 in chips. I picked up QQ and triple barreled the only fish left at our table. Then I picked up 75s, flopped 5-5-Q and killed the poor guy who thought he could bluff me with his last 15,000 in chips. Then started to do my blind steal / running over people until 10 mins before the end of the level. I picked up QQ and raised to 700 at 100/200 blinds and got 3 callers the most active player at our table reraised to 3,200 on the button, and when action got back around to me I reraised to 10,000. When it got back around to him he shoved for 7,000 more and I snap called. He had AKo… and the board comes A-K-X-X-X and I lose a 35k flip. I then pick up KT and flop Tc-4h-2h, and get it all-in vs a short stack who had 9,000 in chips with 8h7h. He turns the flush and I am knocked down to 32,000 at the end of the 4th level which was disappointing.
The 5th level, 100/200 w 25 ante was pretty uneventful as I basically chipped up to 36,000 and folded most of the level. At the end of the level I was moved to a new table with Lee Watkinson, Vanessa Rouso, and internet pro Matt Graham. The 6th and final level of the day was pretty brutal… I was totally exhausted from the long day, and was very card dead for the most part. I basically folded my way down to 28,000 then attempted a squeeze play vs Vanessa Rouso… but she had QQ and pwned me. Was stuck down at 14,000 and opened to 1200 with 8c6c from middle position vs tight blinds without realizing that Lee Watkinson had a retardedly short stack in the small blind. He shoved for 3800 total and I puked. Then called and did a mini-fist pump when he showed 44. GET THERE! I spike an 8, win the flip, and end the day at 19,075! Such a brutal day… probably would rate my play overall as a B- (sloppy), which isn’t very good for my first $10,000 event. But I was definitely happy that I made Day 2 with enough play in my stack to redeem myself at 300/600 w 50 ante.
Went back up to my room and found the girls getting ready to go to Bellagio’s new nightclub: The Bank. Since it was their last night in Vegas, I decided to man up and go out with them. Can you guys tell how tired I am?
Played quite alot again today. My results for today are pretty symbolic for how my results have been looking lately.
I think my 6-max game has gotten kinda fucked but im definitely not running like jesus either. Ive been playing HU and 6-max at the same time and its not really working out for me cause I tend to focus alot on the HU tables and none on the 6-max ones.
I have decided to play only HU for now, until I feel like playing 6-max again. Im just not enjoying it near enough as much as HU so until I do I will just stay away.
Reading cosmos blog makes me miss vegas, hopefully I will be able to squeeze in a trip for the world series and ball around with all the cool lPers again.
That's right, last Saturday night was [vital]Myth's 23rd birthday, and what better way to celebrate than to go fucking ape shit wild at Tao (the night before the $10k main event, obv a smart idea imo). Some of us definitely needed this night more than others... FrinkX, for example, got 2nd in two 1k satellites to the 10k main event where only the winner got paid. The day before in the 3k, after 12 hours of playing, Myth got 20th place and FrinkX got 19th when 18 got paid. It was a fucking brutal day of bubbling. To make matters worse, my boy Tom Berg (aka brystmar from Cardrunners) took the most epic beat at the final table of the $3,000: He entered the final table as the chip leader, with a huge lead on everyone. Second place in chips was this other monkey who was playing every pot and being a total spewtard. With 8 players left, brystmar gets the spewtard who's 2nd place in chips all-in on the turn of A-9-7-3 with AQ. The spewtard held T9... and river drops a very brutal 9 ball, crippling brystmar. If Tom had won that pot, he would have had 70%+ of the chips in play with 7 players left, rofl? And with $162k on the line for first place, this was especially hard to swallow. Brystmar ended up out in 6th place for $12k... so we all wanted to cry for him just a little bit. What a brutal game.
The night was saved as Patrick (aka: BigRed0000 from LP.net) had arrived in Vegas to party with us. More asian blood is always welcomed. So off to Tao we went, we got a table for 12 and balled out of control as usual. Here are some pics from the night:
actionDJ's girlfriend on the left, Me being me, Patrick trying to smile like me, and my friend from SD
Rekrul (obv baller), Steve O'Dwyer (brytmar's roommate), and BigRed0000
Me and Blair Hinkle (mig.com's roommmate)
Now for my favorite pictures, the big group ones:
Patrick, Me, and Myth with the girls
The boys, from left to right: FrinkX, Rekrul, BigRed0000, Steve O'Dwyer, JonnyCosMo, Blake Cahail, Blair Hinkle, Tom Berg... and ofcourse, front and center laying across us all is [vital]Myth
So we get back to my room at around 5:00am, and a hotel manager comes up and says we are being too loud and to get people out so I start kicking people out of my room at around 7:00 so we can go to sleep. I fall asleep around 7:30ish... with an alarm to wake me up at 11:30am for the main event. Key to success: Get more rest than this before your big events. When my alarm went off at 11:30... it was the start to a fucking brutal day.
Question: Who likes my fashion for the night? Red shirt + black tie + boat shoes... my friend's idea. Good? Yeah?
That's right, last Saturday night was [vital]Myth's 23rd birthday, and what better way to celebrate than to go fucking ape shit wild at Tao (the night before the $10k main event, obv a smart idea imo). Some of us definitely needed this night more than others... FrinkX, for example, got 2nd in two 1k satellites to the 10k main event where only the winner got paid. The day before in the 3k, after 12 hours of playing, Myth got 20th place and FrinkX got 19th when 18 got paid. It was a fucking brutal day of bubbling. To make matters worse, my boy Tom Berg (aka brystmar from Cardrunners) took the most epic beat at the final table of the $3,000: He entered the final table as the chip leader, with a huge lead on everyone. Second place in chips was this other monkey who was playing every pot and being a total spewtard. With 8 players left, brystmar gets the spewtard who's 2nd place in chips all-in on the turn of A-9-7-3 with AQ. The spewtard held T9... and river drops a very brutal 9 ball, crippling brystmar. If Tom had won that pot, he would have had 70%+ of the chips in play with 7 players left, rofl? And with $162k on the line for first place, this was especially hard to swallow. Brystmar ended up out in 6th place for $12k... so we all wanted to cry for him just a little bit. What a brutal game.
The night was saved as Patrick (aka: BigRed0000 from LP.net) had arrived in Vegas to party with us. More asian blood is always welcomed. So off to Tao we went, we got a table for 12 and balled out of control as usual. Here are some pics from the night:
actionDJ's girlfriend on the left, Me being me, Patrick trying to smile like me, and my friend from SD
Rekrul (obv baller), Steve O'Dwyer (brytmar's roommate), and BigRed0000
Me and Blair Hinkle (mig.com's roommmate)
Now for my favorite pictures, the big group ones:
Patrick, Me, and Myth with the girls
The boys, from left to right: FrinkX, Rekrul, BigRed0000, Steve O'Dwyer, JonnyCosMo, Blake Cahail, Blair Hinkle, Tom Berg... and ofcourse, front and center laying across us all is [vital]Myth
So we get back to my room at around 5:00am, and a hotel manager comes up and says we are being too loud and to get people out so I start kicking people out of my room at around 7:00 so we can go to sleep. I fall asleep around 7:30ish... with an alarm to wake me up at 11:30am for the main event. Key to success: Get more rest than this before your big events. When my alarm went off at 11:30... it was the start to a fucking brutal day.
Question: Who likes my fashion for the night? Red shirt + black tie + boat shoes... my friend's idea. Good? Yeah?
So easter was going to be awesome. All my childhood friends(and me) whom all have moved to diffrent cities for college/university was coming back to our home town and I was looking forward to getting drunk and having fun with them all since I havent seen em in a long time. Today I called around and every single one of those fuckers have gone away to diffrent random retard places. That sucks ass, Im very dissapointed. I guess ill have to wait for the summer or something. BLEH
I consoled myself by apesmashing retards at 2/4 instead and it worked out goodie:
HU is fun sometimes.
I guess my friends being away isnt all bad, I really need to study, have like 1k pages in boring books to read for an exam next thursday. I will also have plenty of time to play das poker and thats good.
Im starting to think a little about vegas this summer, hopefully I will be going and if anyone is setting up a house or something(anything but the jockey club plz) let me know.
Right now I'm back in beautiful San Diego loving life as usual. Vegas over the weekend was such a blast, as I brought out some of my closest friends from SD to come party with me on Friday. Unfortunately they didnt arrive til past midnight. Earlier in the day I had final tabled the $2,000 NLHE event at the Wynn Classic with ElkY. Our final table was a lot tougher than the final table I had in my $1,500 event. I had two pretty key highlight hands in the $2,000 event I'd like to share: First came in the 2nd level 50/100 blinds, when I was moved to a new table with Frank Rusnik (aka Round42). I've been playing pretty tight/aggressive for the most part, almost never getting too out of line. So it gets folded to me in the cut-off and I open to 300 with QcJc, the very loose button player calls me and Frank Rusnik repops it to 1050 from the small blind. I look at this and think it's such an obvious squeeze spot for him to be doing it in, plus he's been repopping people a few times in the short period of time I was sitting at the table. So I shove for 4850 total, button folds. And Frank tanks for a good 5 minutes before folding QQ. ROFL? Sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick, how do I get away with such murder rofl. The second key hand came after I had acquired a big stack, I had 46,000 at 300/600 w 50 ante, action gets folded to the button who raises to 1600. I reraise to 5,200 from the small blind with QQ. Action gets back around to him and he raises all-in for 33,500 more. Ummm, gross? I don't think I've ever folded QQ with these button vs blind dynamics online, but I've noticed in these live tournaments that people who 4 bet usually have the nuts. The problem was, the guy was young and seemed to be an online player. What made it really a tough spot was that we were both top 5 chip stacks in the tournament at this point. I thought there was a good chance he could have AK here... but even then it wasn't a real good spot for me to commit on a flip. Then I asked myself if he would ship in JJ here? The answer was a clear no. With that in my head I folded after tanking for a good 5 minutes as I told the guy "I never fold this online... ever". The guy on the button turned to me and asked if I folded queens, and I nodded, and he insta had a sick look on his face as he mucked his hand. Later on he claimed he had KK there, although I'm not exactly sure if I want to trust the word of some of these guys in these tournaments, so I kind of just was like eh ok.
The bubble lasted forever, close to 3 hours to get from 18 players down to 10. During that time, it was a total roller coaster ride for me. I had an average stack right on the bubble, then ended up losing a flip, then reshipped AQ from the SB vs a button raise and he woke up with KK and held which crippled me. I found myself all-in with 14 left with 44 vs AJ. The flop came K-K-Q and I wanted to puke a little. Turn came an 8, and river was a paint card so I figured I was out... but wait it was a KING! Ship the survival one time! With 14 players still left in the tournament I saw the most absurd thing ever: The blinds were 1500/3000 and the shortest stack who had 20k in chips, opens to 12k from middle position. The button who just came to our table flat called this raise from the button as he had a 50k stack which was also short. Naturally his flat call there screamed strength so I look down at AQo in the small blind and insta-muck. Flop comes 2-5-Q rainbow and the short stack puts in his last 8k into the 32k+ pot. And the button insta folds his hand!?!?!?! HoLy sHiT can u chip dump more to this guy? Insane stupidity... I can't even imagine what hand flats there preflop and insta folds the flop. So anyways, with 10 players left the tables get reshuffled and ElkY gets moved to my right with a somewhat big stack. I had an above average stack until this huge hand: I open to 8500 at 1500/3000, and get a call from the chip leader to my left as well as the loose chip dumping moron in the small blind. The flop comes Ah-7c-6h, and the chip dumping moron leads for 10,000. I shove for 42,000 more. The chip leader behind me folds, and the chip dumping moron insta calls with 9h8h. YUUUUUCCCKKKK~!!!! So now we are flipping for a 100k+ pot, and naturally turn drops the Jh leaving me drawing dead and crippled. I fold 2 hands before shoving my last 14k in the middle with A8, and got called from the big blind with A3 which doubled me up to 33,500 just as the day ended.
ElkY and I @ Final table of the $2,000 NLHE event
The final table was over quick for me as I said in my last blog post. I picked up AJ when the other short stack shoved from the cut-off and obv I snap called and he had JJ. GG. So that night we started drinking at 10, my friends arrived and 12, and we got to Tryst at around 2:30am with a big group. Unfortunately half our group were not let pass the front door (yes that means mig's roommate Blair who was totally smashed while we chilled at Parasol Up). The rest of us had a pretty sweet time:
Me, ElkY, ElkY's french girl who was super hot, and FrinkX @ Tryst
French girl, Rekrul, and Me
Coming up next: [vital]Myth's 23rd birthday party @ TAO. LOL OH YEAH
Right now I'm back in beautiful San Diego loving life as usual. Vegas over the weekend was such a blast, as I brought out some of my closest friends from SD to come party with me on Friday. Unfortunately they didnt arrive til past midnight. Earlier in the day I had final tabled the $2,000 NLHE event at the Wynn Classic with ElkY. Our final table was a lot tougher than the final table I had in my $1,500 event. I had two pretty key highlight hands in the $2,000 event I'd like to share: First came in the 2nd level 50/100 blinds, when I was moved to a new table with Frank Rusnik (aka Round42). I've been playing pretty tight/aggressive for the most part, almost never getting too out of line. So it gets folded to me in the cut-off and I open to 300 with QcJc, the very loose button player calls me and Frank Rusnik repops it to 1050 from the small blind. I look at this and think it's such an obvious squeeze spot for him to be doing it in, plus he's been repopping people a few times in the short period of time I was sitting at the table. So I shove for 4850 total, button folds. And Frank tanks for a good 5 minutes before folding QQ. ROFL? Sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick, how do I get away with such murder rofl. The second key hand came after I had acquired a big stack, I had 46,000 at 300/600 w 50 ante, action gets folded to the button who raises to 1600. I reraise to 5,200 from the small blind with QQ. Action gets back around to him and he raises all-in for 33,500 more. Ummm, gross? I don't think I've ever folded QQ with these button vs blind dynamics online, but I've noticed in these live tournaments that people who 4 bet usually have the nuts. The problem was, the guy was young and seemed to be an online player. What made it really a tough spot was that we were both top 5 chip stacks in the tournament at this point. I thought there was a good chance he could have AK here... but even then it wasn't a real good spot for me to commit on a flip. Then I asked myself if he would ship in JJ here? The answer was a clear no. With that in my head I folded after tanking for a good 5 minutes as I told the guy "I never fold this online... ever". The guy on the button turned to me and asked if I folded queens, and I nodded, and he insta had a sick look on his face as he mucked his hand. Later on he claimed he had KK there, although I'm not exactly sure if I want to trust the word of some of these guys in these tournaments, so I kind of just was like eh ok.
The bubble lasted forever, close to 3 hours to get from 18 players down to 10. During that time, it was a total roller coaster ride for me. I had an average stack right on the bubble, then ended up losing a flip, then reshipped AQ from the SB vs a button raise and he woke up with KK and held which crippled me. I found myself all-in with 14 left with 44 vs AJ. The flop came K-K-Q and I wanted to puke a little. Turn came an 8, and river was a paint card so I figured I was out... but wait it was a KING! Ship the survival one time! With 14 players still left in the tournament I saw the most absurd thing ever: The blinds were 1500/3000 and the shortest stack who had 20k in chips, opens to 12k from middle position. The button who just came to our table flat called this raise from the button as he had a 50k stack which was also short. Naturally his flat call there screamed strength so I look down at AQo in the small blind and insta-muck. Flop comes 2-5-Q rainbow and the short stack puts in his last 8k into the 32k+ pot. And the button insta folds his hand!?!?!?! HoLy sHiT can u chip dump more to this guy? Insane stupidity... I can't even imagine what hand flats there preflop and insta folds the flop. So anyways, with 10 players left the tables get reshuffled and ElkY gets moved to my right with a somewhat big stack. I had an above average stack until this huge hand: I open to 8500 at 1500/3000, and get a call from the chip leader to my left as well as the loose chip dumping moron in the small blind. The flop comes Ah-7c-6h, and the chip dumping moron leads for 10,000. I shove for 42,000 more. The chip leader behind me folds, and the chip dumping moron insta calls with 9h8h. YUUUUUCCCKKKK~!!!! So now we are flipping for a 100k+ pot, and naturally turn drops the Jh leaving me drawing dead and crippled. I fold 2 hands before shoving my last 14k in the middle with A8, and got called from the big blind with A3 which doubled me up to 33,500 just as the day ended.
ElkY and I @ Final table of the $2,000 NLHE event
The final table was over quick for me as I said in my last blog post. I picked up AJ when the other short stack shoved from the cut-off and obv I snap called and he had JJ. GG. So that night we started drinking at 10, my friends arrived and 12, and we got to Tryst at around 2:30am with a big group. Unfortunately half our group were not let pass the front door (yes that means mig's roommate Blair who was totally smashed while we chilled at Parasol Up). The rest of us had a pretty sweet time:
Me, ElkY, ElkY's french girl who was super hot, and FrinkX @ Tryst
French girl, Rekrul, and Me
Coming up next: [vital]Myth's 23rd birthday party @ TAO. LOL OH YEAH
It's been crazy out here. My $2,000 final table didn't go as well as I'd had hoped. Basically what happened was that I had $33,500 to start the final table at 2k/4k w 400 ante, and folded the first 3 hands. On the fourth hand I was in the small blind with $28,000 in my stack and it gets folded to my friend Jermey (aka TheTaker on FTP, I thought he played excellent on day 1) who shoved his short stack of $34,000 in the cut-off. I look down hoping for A9+, 66+ and happen to look at AJo. NUTS! I snap shoved for what I had left, and Jermey rolls over JJ. Ug sick life The board bricks off for me and I went out in 10th for $4180. Meh...
Last night brystmar (the CR pro who is also staked by peachy) made the final table of the $3,000 with the chip lead so we all were pretty excited for him. So in celebration, me and my friends from SD got drunk at Parasol Up, and went out to Tryst for a fun night of dancing. Pics will follow, def some funny stuff. I've now seen ElkY dance. My life is complete.
Kind of nervous right now, as tomorrow is my first $10,000 event. Pretty landmark moment in a poker career I think. I feel pretty confident about my chances in it, especially after seeing the fields in these previous events. I have a $100 last longer vs mig.com so that should be fun. I told him he's drawing dead thou, as I run too good at the Wynn for him to last longer tomorrow. Ok wish me luck, going out to Tao now, hopefully won't be too hung over tomorrow.
It's been crazy out here. My $2,000 final table didn't go as well as I'd had hoped. Basically what happened was that I had $33,500 to start the final table at 2k/4k w 400 ante, and folded the first 3 hands. On the fourth hand I was in the small blind with $28,000 in my stack and it gets folded to my friend Jermey (aka TheTaker on FTP, I thought he played excellent on day 1) who shoved his short stack of $34,000 in the cut-off. I look down hoping for A9+, 66+ and happen to look at AJo. NUTS! I snap shoved for what I had left, and Jermey rolls over JJ. Ug sick life The board bricks off for me and I went out in 10th for $4180. Meh...
Last night brystmar (the CR pro who is also staked by peachy) made the final table of the $3,000 with the chip lead so we all were pretty excited for him. So in celebration, me and my friends from SD got drunk at Parasol Up, and went out to Tryst for a fun night of dancing. Pics will follow, def some funny stuff. I've now seen ElkY dance. My life is complete.
Kind of nervous right now, as tomorrow is my first $10,000 event. Pretty landmark moment in a poker career I think. I feel pretty confident about my chances in it, especially after seeing the fields in these previous events. I have a $100 last longer vs mig.com so that should be fun. I told him he's drawing dead thou, as I run too good at the Wynn for him to last longer tomorrow. Ok wish me luck, going out to Tao now, hopefully won't be too hung over tomorrow.
I skipped school today to play some HU. I played two tables with the same guy I took about 4 buyins off yesterday. It was a pretty sickening match. He is the biggest station I have played so far and definitely the weakest of the players that play full stacked, rebuys and plays long sessions.
Let me give you guys a quick rundown on how he plays.
Hes basicly a station. Hes playing 44/29/1 calling alot oop but decently agressive preflop 3-betting somewhat frequently. He never ever ever folds to 3-bets. I think he folded like 1 out of 50 this session, which obviously makes my 3-betting range for value alot wider. Im basicly 3-betting any A any good Kx and Qx. He calls with 96s, Q4s etcetc. He rarely folds when getting a piece on the flop but he isnt completely retarded.
Heres and example from quite early in the match when I still was 3-betting speculative hands and not strictly for value:
I was planning on firing most brick rivers but pairing the board, bleh now I know he calls with any A so I dont think its good.
Now, after this and a couple of other hands I had his style pinned down quite well. Its just that he completely owned me. Like, he always called the flop, ALWAYS! The times we got to showdown (which was pretty often) he had a piece. Be it mid pair or top set. And playing a station whos constantly hitting flops is really really anoying. I dont know how many of my 2-barrel bluffs got snapcalled/snapshoved. The times I made a hand I got paid handsomely:
But I just failed to make hands and he just blead me to death with calling flop and checking it down showing the best hand. I also managed to lose alot when I made the second best hand:
He was calling all flops and not giving my second barrels all that much credit so I decided I needed to 3-barrel him in good spots just because the gap between the amount of soso hands and hands he wants to stack off with is soo huge. Well, that didnt work out all that well:
I like my play in that hand. I think he peels the turn with sooo many mid pairs/Qx that will fold the river so I think its goodie.
I ended up down 3k to him before he had to leave. He said we could play later though which is really sweet, I feel I have a huge edge on the fellow and I will be happy to play alot with him.
I think the misstakes I made in this match was playing to loose and too agressive. I was pounding on him alot in position and raising over 50% of my hands. Basicly, I think I was too eager to make a hand and value town him and that made me play too fast and too many hands.
I dont think its a terrible leak to play alot of hands against a station in position just because he will play his hand kinda face up to me, but never the less, I will on average have a worse hand than him postflop and playing worse hands against a guy who never ever folds is pretty bad.
So a lesson for me and for all you guys, when playing a bad station HU, this is what you should do:
1. Tighten up your raising requierments a bit. You will not need to to rely on picking up alot of blinds to profit of a guy who will pay you off always.
2. Dont c-bet too much. This goes without saying but you should definitely not c-bet too less either. Basicly, you need to pick good spots to c-bet. Not only just dry K72r type flops but also flop where your hand should have good equity. Against a guy who will flat with his entire playable range you need to asess how your hand is doing against his range, not just a couple of likely holdings.
Lets say I raise preflop and villian calls. Flop is 4s5s10d Im holding AsQx.When I bet the flop a stations calling range is going to be huge here. He will call with all sorts of 4x, 5x, 10x obv, flushdraws 66-99 and so on.
I still dont mind betting here. Simply because my hand still has great equity. I have two overs that will almost always make me the best hand.
I also have a bd flushdraws and a K or J gives me a gutshot. Basicly, there are tons of spots where I can fire a credible second barrel as a semi bluff and I have outs to make the best hand.
Now If Im sitting on like 33 here I will never c-bet. when called I have to shut down, my hand has two outs to improve and his calling range fucks me big time.
This is probably pretty obv to most ppl but I figured id write it up anyways. The key is, always try to estimate your hands equity against a possible calling range, dont just bet thinking "well, he only hits the flop 30% of the time"
3. Value town like a madman. Again, try and estimate a calling range and compare your hands equity against that hand. Sometimes you need to be betting second pair top kicker for 3 streets of value. Dont do this mindlessly though, thiiiiink! If you want to bet close to pot for value on the river, try to estimate if you beat 50% of his calling range. If you can think of enough random hands to make his calling range consist of 50% or more of hands you beat. BET FFS! Showdown is for pussys, also theres nothing as gratifying as getting thin value from a retard.
Now obviously Im not sitting calculating exactly what his calling range consists of, it kinda is a feel thing that comes automaticly with experience. It can really help to play around a little with maths though. If you are unsure if you should value bet in a certain spot, save the handhistory for after the session. Then do some math with ranges, calculate how much garbage he needs to call with to make a v-bet profitable, play around in pokerstove etc.
4. Be prepared to let go of hands. Now this is the hardest one, atleast for me. When you know someone is weak and you have no showdown value you just instinctively(if you are a solid player that is) want to bluff. Against thinking players its good off course. Against a guy who will call even though he is weak you will be bleeding money.
Patience is everything against a guy like this. Learn how to check/fold. Its a grind, but its hella profitable. This is what I will have to work on the most, I still find it very difficult not to bluff when my opponent obv has like 3rd pair.
Now I ended up doing a write up on how to beat the easiest opponent in poker but heh, hopefully someone will find this useful.
Im doing a radio show with a couple of friends each wednesday and we usually go out and get hammered afterwards so I doubt I will be able to play this guy again tonight and that sucks. Ahwell, there will be other days and there is plenty of fish in the sea.
Oh, and for any swedes that wanna listen tonight you can do it over webradio here:
I figured traveling through Vietnam would be a good reason to pick up my blogging again. I’m here with my girlfriend Melissa and there is just so much to see here that I can hardly talk about it all. We have been taking tons of pictures so far, I’ll try to pick the nice ones to show you as good as I can how we are experiencing the trip.
A small intro might be needed here, impatient ones scroll down for the pics. I met Melissa 4-5 years ago at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam when I was still a student. That’s about the time when I picked up poker as well. I came straight from Korea after staying there for 6 months for progaming, and when I returned to Holland I started playing poker before the school season started. We were both studying international business but true to my calling as a poker bum I dropped out about one year ago, after already slacking for a full year before that. Melissa is Vietnamese and has been in Holland for studying. Now almost finished with her master she’ll soon be trying to find a job there as well.
The trip starts off at Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) where her parents live. The trip was going to be long, about 13 hours in the plane and 17 hours from door to door. We were leaving in the late-morning and having a completely messed up sleeping rhythm I figured it would be a good idea to skip a night before getting on the plane. After falling asleep during takeoff the next moment of consciousness came 8 hours later when we there were only 2 hours left before transitioning. Solid start so far.
First night in Saigon we met her parents and went out for dinner. Her mother had already come to Holland once before so that was at least a familiar face. Back home there are no good Vietnamese restaurants so this was my first experience with Vietnamese food. The dinner was fun and her parents were really nice and wanted me to try everything. I’m returning from this trip fat from overeating or skinny from eating healthy.
Melissa, me
Jetlag is usually pretty good for my rhythm (unless its Vegas where waking up too early is a sin) and the next day we woke up at 7am after a good nights rest. Today we’d be meeting Phuong who has been Melissa’s best friend since they were very young. She’d be bringing her boyfriend for dinner and her cousin who she said played poker as well. Meeting poker players through non-poker players is always a bit sketchy. Usually whenever someone says they are a poker player alarm bells immediately go off inside my head. People who think because they are beating the weekly homegame that they are actually good at poker, but in reality don’t know the difference between diamonds and spades (diamonds are better). It was a relief to hear Sai (Phuong’s cousin) 24 tables on stars and is actually not much different from the crowd here at LP. He had even heard of LP that was really fun to hear.
From left to right: me, J.J. (Phuongs boyfriend), Sai (cousin), Phuong
So by now we crossed the city these last few days a fair bit and the streets here are just something else. There are about 10 times more mopeds on the streets than cars. At first seemed like complete chaos, but after riding on the back of the moped with Melissa driving it is starting to look like these people actually have some idea of what they are doing. That doesn’t mean they intend on following any traffic rules but it is something. The way traffic works here is that if you want to cross the street or take a turn you dump your vehicle in someone else’s way and hope they stop. Everyone is anticipating this drives kinda slowly. I didn’t get to take any pictures of the traffic yet but we are returning to Saigon at the end of the trip and then I’ll be the ultimate tourist making pictures of the traffic.
it probably takes more than 5 minutes to fix your electricity, common sight in the city
On the third day we planned to visit the Vietcong tunnels in Cu Chi. This being one of the things I was looking forward to the most I was really excited to go here. Might be that there isn’t so much to just a tunnel, but to live, sleep, fight, and eat in it is mind-boggling. Cu Chi is about two hours removed from Saigon and an agency in the city arranges tours, so we took a bus with them from Saigon early in the morning. After about one hour the bus stopped for a break at a huge handcraft shop outside of the city. Usually all you see in the city is tiny stores and a lot of the stuff they sell is lower quality tourist stuff. Here you entered into the working area where you could see how everything was being made, and then went into a larger part where they were selling everything. This shop has some of the nicest decorative items and we will definitely be returning here to bring half the store back to Holland.
In Cu Chi they had a big area functioning as a museum for the tunnels. Our tour started off with showing the traps the Vietcong used. If anything qualifies as sick then this is probably it. They show some crazy inventiveness in terrifying the enemy by using simple traps. They had a bunch more but here’s a few I remembered the use of.
Spinning trap, both sides are camouflaged and spin around a middle point, first guy falls in then the trap is ready for the next victim
Rolling trap, enters your leg multiple times while you get suck in
Sticking trap, step on the wooden panel and 4 spikes enter your leg from different angles so you cannot get out
After a quick course through the traps they took us to a tunnel where you could go in yourself. The tunnel was cemented and widened for fat tourists so it’s not really the same, but it gives you a good impression of how it would feel to live in these things. At first you are excited to experience such a thing but once you start crawling after 10m your legs start to hurt. The air is thick and breathing is harder than normal. A bit further you need to go on all fours (which was always the case in the original tunnels) and things become even harder. Eventually after 60 meters you are anxious to get out and physically exhausted. After coming up I was sweating all over and felt like I just played a football match.
Posing
Reality
After spending 4 days in Saigon, meeting the family and going to the tunnels we flew to the North of Vietnam to visit Ha Long Bay. At the time of writing this blog we just returned from Ha Long Bay and arrived at our next location Nha Trang. Ha Long Bay is without a doubt the most beautiful natural scenery I’ve seen so far and that is not just in Vietnam but I really have never seen anything like this. I can’t really describe it deservingly but here’s a quote of something I read that translates my feelings nicely.
Majestic and mysterious, inspiring and imperious:words alone cannot do justice to the natural wonder that is HaLong Bay. Imagine 3000 or more incredible islands rising from the emeral waters of the Gulf of Tonking and you have a vision of breatheaking beauty. Halong Bay is pure art, a priceless collection of unfinished sculptures hewn from the hand of nature.
We took a couple hundred pictures at HLB, or at least I took some and Melissa took hundreds. My next blog will be on our three day trip through Ha Long Bay.
That’s it for today hope you enjoyed it, here’s a few random pics to end with.
at what point do they start calling these lobsters?
fighting for ice scream against 13 year olds at an all you can eat ice cream buffet
After my hu deep stacked nightmare mentioned in my last post I have only been playing 6-max, with poor results. I just really cant get shit going for me even though most opponents are pretty bad. I guess thats just the way it is sometimes, I have also played when I havent been entierly focused so that could have an impact on my result.
I also think almost only playing HU for like 2-3 weeks might have fucked with my 6-max game a bit. Im to loose and call down too light/bluff too much etc. Gonna have to change that. Im probably gonna play a 4 tabling session later on and try to find my way back to a solid game.
Anyways, today I decided it was time for my HU comeback. It went really well. I think I played really good and made a couple of solid reads. Plus most of my opponents where very weak in a low variance kind of way, loose/passive/bad. It gives you such a rush when you are winning, feeling great and just play really good. There was maybe one or two hands I was uncertain of other than that I like how I played the hands today.
Yesterday I entered the $2,000 NLHE event at the Wynn Classic with Myth and FrinkX. Rekrul for some reason felt inspired enough to play the tournament as well. So naturally I ran like absolute god with my table draw, as one entire half of the table was pretty bad loose/passive limping stations. The kid to my left seemed fairly competent though, but very tight. And you know what I do to tight regulars... More about that in a bit. Myth also drew an amazing table, but was unfortunately seated at the table that was to break 2nd. Rekrul easily ran the worst out of all of us in table draws. His table included PBDrunks, Bushman, and Mr.Smokey01. LOL GL HF Dan!
So blinds started at 25/50 and we got a 6,000 chip starting stack for this event. I took down a few small uncontested pots and built myself up to 8,000ish without anything too big. Then a weird hand came up, it got folded to me in the cut-off and I raised to 150 with 88, it gets to the big blind (was a young kid that looked like he might know how to play, esp since he repopped me, which no one does too often in these tournaments) who reraises to 450. He had his original 6,000 starting stack so I decided to call. Flop came down 4-7-Q rainbow, and he checked, so I checked behind. Turn came a K, he checked and I checked behind thinking it's pretty easy for him to play JJ, TT, AQ, AK, KK, AA in the same stupid / trappy fashion. River came an Ace, and he checked once again which made me eliminate AQ, AK, KK, AA from his range and make me think he had JJ or TT. So since my hand had no showdown value I decided to make a value bet looking bluff of 700. He quickly called and tabled AK... jesus wtf? Myth's table breaks and they move my good friend Poker Pro Ann over to my table! Blinds moved to 50/100. Next interesting hand I get into is vs the tight kid to my left, who kept getting frustrated that his limps were getting raised. Solution: Don't open limp? Tard... So I open T9o from the cut-off to 300 and he calls on the button. Flop comes 4-T-Q, and I check he bets 400 into a 750 pot. I call. Turn comes a A, I check, he checks behind. River came a 2, and I check yet again. He fires 800 into the 1500 pot. I check-raise to 2600. He slams his fist on the table and insta folds. I had to show him, and I never show my cards like ever, but this was just too funny to me, GG nit.
So they break my table and move me to yet another very soft looking table with the exception of the guy to my right who was this very nice older guy who apparently watched my ft win the other night. He seemed to know a lot about poker, and played use to be an online grinder but now only plays live poker because he recognizes that the games are x100 softer live. Smart man, smart man indeed... Two of the players at my table I played with during Day 1 of the $1500 event as well, one of which I had absolutely annihilated during the bubble since he was one of the short stacks while I was raising every hand. The table was easy, but the cards weren't kind to me... Blinds moved up to 100/200, I raised AQ and flopped Qd-6s-4s, c-bet and get a call. Turn comes 9d, I double barrel and he calls. He has spades duh... river comes 9s. I check, he fires 3/4 pot, I fold. Next, there is a limper, then the old man who was short stacked on the bubble in the $1500 makes it 700. I look at TT on the button and flat call. The big blind flat calls as well. Flop comes 4-4-8, they both check to me and I bet 1800. Big blind insta folds, and the old man calls. Turn comes a 2, he checks and I check behind. River comes a 7, he bets 2400. I hate my life... tank forever and it really felt like I only beat a bluff from this particular player. I took a count of my chips and realized if I called and lost I'd have 3200 left at 100/200 which is somewhat okay. It was just so gross that the pot was like almost 6,000. So finally I decided to make a sloppy call, and threw in the 2400. He showed 44 for quad 4's. That makes sense. So I'm at 3200. 30 minutes later I'm back at 10,000 without going to showdown. There weren't any key hands that went down, I just won a ton of small pots in good spots. Poker Pro Ann once again got shuffled to my table, along with a big stack that was sat to my direct left. Great. In the first orbit the big stack opened 3 pots, so he was most definitely a little aggro.
Blinds go up to 200/400 w 25 ante, and I get a little ballsy with the big stack to my left. It gets folded to me in the cut-off and I raise K2o to 1000 vs my weak blinds. The big stack on the button makes it 2500 to go. The blinds insta fold, and action is back around to me. I count out my stack and realize I have about 9,000 to reshove on him. Time to show this fucker that I'm the wrong person to be repopping light. All-in. He asks for a count and tanks for a little bit, but some of his mannerisms made me think that this was just some hollywood act he was doing to save face. Finally he folds. I show the duece. He gives me a pat on the back. After this hand, Poker Pro Ann gets a little short and reshoves as a squeeze over me and the big stack. I decide her range is fairly wide in that spot and call with AJo. the big stack folds and me and Ann run a 8k chip flip AJo vs her 66. She holds and that drops me back to 10k. An orbit later I pick up AA, raise to 1000 utg+1. The big stack to my left was replaced with a shorter stack who had about 6,000 total in chips. He reraises to 2700... sweet :D! Action gets folded back around to me and I look at his stack and realize he pot committed himelf so just put the chips in, he says "I hope I didn't get cold decked" as he put the rest in and turned over KK. "You got cold decked" I said as I turned over AA. Flop comes 2-7-K and I'm like UUGGG that hurts. Ann then says she folded an ace. And I'm like yuck! No worries, turn Ace, ZING I RUN GOOD!!! 1 outer for the win. River bricks and the kid gets eliminated and I get back to 16k. I lose a few pots that bring me down to 12k before my table breaks and I get moved to a new table.
Blinds were now 300/600 w 50 ante. This new table seemed to be one of the tougher tables in the tournament. The big stack definitely seemed to know what he was doing, and was running over this table. There were a few old asian guys who were fighting back, and reshipping it in on him which was nice to see. My 5th hand at the table, I was in the big blind with T3o, and the big stack raises to 1500, active looking asian guy calls, I reshove 12k all-in. Big stack insta folds and asian guy asks for a chip count before he folded. After this hand I went on a pretty hot card rush. Picked up JJ and reshoved over a short stack and busted his 77. That got me to 22k. Then picked up KK vs the big stack and turned a set, as I shoved over his turn bet and he folded. That brought me to 34k with the average around 20k with 40 players left. I picked up a few other pots and go my stack around 40,000 with 36 players left.
Then things went to hell...
Picked up AK, guy reshoves for his last 10k and I call. He has JJ and holds. Knocks me back to 30k. I then pick up 99 vs a 7k stack and call his reshove on me. He has AJ, he spikes an ace. Down to 22k. Then get reshuffled to a new table... back with Poker Pro Ann! And... who is this guy hiding in his hooded sweatshirt with over 65,000 in chips? Oh It's Mr.Smokey01... fuck my life. To make matters worse, he was running over the table and no one was doing anything to stop him. Everyone was playing dead for him... it was so sick. So I decide to take action before this gets out of hand. I repopped with T9o the first time, then a few hands later picked up AQo and repopped his raise once again. Both times he just folded. I really hoped that this might discourage him from open raising light... Nope! Fucking relentless, and it was just so sick that no one was doing anything vs him. And obv I can't just be trying to war Mr.Smokey01 out of spite, caz he's eventually gonna get fed up and decide to somehow own me. Anyways, I hovered around 20,000 as we went to dinner break with 30 players left. I get a salad and a prep talk from peachy on how to handle Smokey at my table.
Come back from dinner break with 400/800 blinds. Gets folded to the guy in the cut-off who shoves 7500 all-in. I look down at 88 in the big blind and call. He has J7o. Flop comes Q-K-J... yuck. Turn and river blank and I get knocked down to 12,000. I make a few small steals and get myself back up to around 17,000. Then with 27 players left, they reshuffled the final 3 tables. I sit down at my new seat to find Mr.Smokey01 w/ his hammer of chips to my direct left, and Bushman the left of that. ROFL... not running so good with table draws anymore. Running really really bad with table draws infact.
So first hand at our new table, I open KQo to 2k, and Smokey makes it clear that I'm not going to be able to open light and make the small steals I've been doing, as he repops to 7k. I fold. I open the next pot with AQs, planning on going with it and everyone folds. An orbit later I pick up A9s in the big blind, there is a limp utg from a weak/dumb player. Active player raises to 3,200. Old guy behind him calls. I shove 14,800 total from the big blind with my A9s as a squeeze. UTG folds, and the active player reshoves and shows AKo. Flop comes J-8-9 and I jump up and scream "HOW GOOD DO I RUN HERE!?!" Turn 7, river King. And I'm out Oops, jinx'd it. Out in 24th, 18 paid.
Going home to San Diego today for a couple days, and will be back in Vegas on Wednesday.
Contact Users: 1142 Active, 1 Logged in - Time: 22:26
So I'm at 3200. 30 minutes later I'm back at 10,000 without going to showdown. There weren't any key hands that went down, I just won a ton of small pots in good spots. Poker Pro Ann once again got shuffled to my table, along with a big stack that was sat to my direct left. Great. In the first orbit the big stack opened 3 pots, so he was most definitely a little aggro. 
,
,
,
,