Random Randomness

I have a tendency to over-obsess about certain hands. I'll think about particular hands for days, weeks, maybe longer. There's even a chance that I'm still tilting from when someone cracked my KK with 42d over a year ago. Who calls a preflop raise with 42d? But then I remember that I cracked AA with 97o on Wednesday and I let it go.

But one hand from The Mookie is still bugging me. I'm still pretty sure I made the right laydown but it'll sometimes eat at me if I'm not sure. I talked about the hand in my last entry - my AJo against Cracknaces. The hand played out as such:

me: preflop raise to 350 in EP with AJo
Cna: called on button

Flop: Ax7h5h
me: bet about half pot
Cna: call

Turn: 6h
me: check
Cna: check

River: 5x
me: check
Cna: 1600
me: fold

Did I make the right play by folding? I've thought about this for some time now and I'm pretty sure I did. Furthermore, I'd venture to say he had pocket 7s. Here's why:

AK: wouldn't he have reraised on the flop?
AQ - AT: would he really have bet out 1600 on the river with AQ (yeah, I know I was playing it weak after the flop, but still)?
A7 or A6: discounted; I doubt he would call my preflop raise with A7 or A6, despite position.
66: discounted after the call on the flop
Flush: still a possibility, but it seems like an awful large bet for that board 55: a possibility, but given the odds of quads, doubtful
Bluff: A possibilty. Was he floating? If so, wouldn't it make sense to bet the turn when the 6h hits?
89: discounted, doesn't seem like the kind of player to call an EP raise and then a bet on the flop with just a gutshot.

That leaves me with 77. Fair call preflop. Flops a set, just calls to set up a turn check raise. Possible scare card hits so the turn is check. The river fills him up so he puts in a healthy bet. It looks like a steal attempt, but really it's a bet designed to be called by someone who made a flush or can't get rid of top pair on a board like that. I don't know if I'm right, but that all makes sense, right? I'd feel a lot better about my play if I could do all that analysis a lot faster, like when the hand is happening. ___________________________________________________________________________________

Finally, I got some more comments up in this bitch. Goes to show what some pimpage on Mookie's page will do.

I got this idea to start a blog after reading various others, but I never really had the intention of forcing myself into part of the pokerblog community. There's a lot of bloggers out there that seem like cool cats, but it's a pretty close knit group, and like any close knit group, it's always hard to crack that circle. I've got no interest in cracking circles or trying to fit in or anything like that, but I will admit (as gay as it may sound) that it was pretty cool to see other bloggers, including those I read pretty regularly, stopping by my page to leave a comment. ___________________________________________________________________________________

Talking with my girlfriend last night, I mentioned how it seems like I have no problem spitting out blog entries on my other blog, but when it comes to this blog about poker, my writing style become boring and bland. I'm not sure why that is, but I've got a couple of ideas:

1. I basically have no audience, and therefore, no one to really impress
2. While I understand how to play poker (although I sometimes forget when I'm actually playing, or so it seems), I have a hard time trying to articulate myself when it comes time to write about poker.
3. I am intimidated by some other poker bloggers and either their gift for prose or their rate of success. Ok, maybe "intimidated" isn't the right word, but there's been many times where I'm in the middle of a post and I think "who even cares about what I have to say about winning a single table SnG?"
4. I still haven't gotten in the practice of saving my hand histories yet, so I basically have to rely on my memory of the game, which even at it's best is often incomplete. So my blogs are generic and stale because I can't remember enough details of the game to make it sound remotely interesting. __________________________________________________________________________________

Now that Neteller is out of the picture, a good portion of bloggers are freaking out about what this means. I'm sure it means that a lot less people will be playing, but I don't think it's the end. Call me a donk, but I really don't see what the big deal is about using an eCheck service like I did Wednesday night on Full Tilt. Of course, there's the possibility of these companies going under as well. I guess I'd be more concerned if I had more than a 2-digit bankroll.

I don't really know what's going to happen, but at this point, I sort of feel lucky that I'm more emotionally invested than anything else. I've got less than $50 at risk right now, but what's really at risk is an opportunity to improve my skills and to play poker more often than I can live. I'm very serious about putting myself in a position to compete in the WSOP, and not being able to play online will be a serious blow to accomplishing my goal.