Easy Money

It always sucks when you go on a run of cards and end up with nothing to show for it. Luckily for me, this was NOT one of those times. Instead, this is how I felted the same dude not once, not twice, but THREE times within ten minutes. Suffice it to say, I coded him with the special "Uber-Donk" color with some choice notes.

Full Tilt Poker Game #7028356015: Table Cobble Cove - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 4:43:37 ET - 2008/06/30
Seat 1: TNN4731 ($108.50)
Seat 2: mclarich ($162.95)
Seat 3: kukko66 ($100)
Seat 4: MYOPB ($27.40)
Seat 5: MoeRon9 ($223.45)
Seat 6: fill_fda ($90)
Seat 7: NineMonks ($18)
Seat 8: UberDonk ($68.60) (name changed to protect my nest egg)
Seat 9: fatharriet ($61.60)
MoeRon9 posts the small blind of $0.50
fill_fda posts the big blind of $1
5 seconds left to act
TNN4731 is sitting out
Time has expired
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to mclarich [Ah Kh]
NineMonks folds
UberDonk raises to $3
fatharriet calls $3
mclarich has 15 seconds left to act
mclarich raises to $17
kukko66 folds
MYOPB folds
MoeRon9 folds
fill_fda folds
UberDonk calls $14 (no prior info on him so don't know what this means)
fatharriet folds
*** FLOP *** [5h Qh Qd]
UberDonk has 15 seconds left to act
UberDonk checks
mclarich checks
*** TURN *** [5h Qh Qd] [9h]
UberDonk checks
mclarich bets $14
UberDonk raises to $51.60, and is all in (if he has a boat or better, so be it)
mclarich calls $37.60
UberDonk shows [4h 4d] (ummmmm, what?)
mclarich shows [Ah Kh]
*** RIVER *** [5h Qh Qd 9h] [Jd]
UberDonk shows two pair, Queens and Fours
mclarich shows a flush, Ace high
mclarich wins the pot ($138.70) with a flush, Ace high

Full Tilt Poker Game #7028387976: Table Cobble Cove - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 4:50:33 ET - 2008/06/30
Seat 2: mclarich ($231.05)
Seat 3: kukko66 ($100)
Seat 4: MYOPB ($33.35)
Seat 6: fill_fda ($100)
Seat 7: NineMonks ($31.20)
Seat 8: UberDonk ($34.10)
Seat 9: fatharriet ($99.50)
MYOPB posts the small blind of $0.50
fill_fda posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to mclarich [As Ad]
NineMonks has 15 seconds left to act
NineMonks folds
NineMonks stands up
UberDonk raises to $4
fatharriet folds
mclarich raises to $13
kukko66 folds
MYOPB folds
fill_fda folds
UberDonk calls $9
*** FLOP *** [9h Js 6c]
UberDonk has 15 seconds left to act
UberDonk bets $21.10, and is all in
mclarich calls $21.10
UberDonk shows [7c Ks]
mclarich shows [As Ad]
*** TURN *** [9h Js 6c] [4c]
*** RIVER *** [9h Js 6c 4c] [6h]
UberDonk shows a pair of Sixes
mclarich shows two pair, Aces and Sixes
mclarich wins the pot ($66.70) with two pair, Aces and Sixes

Full Tilt Poker Game #7028399944: Table Cobble Cove - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 4:53:14 ET - 2008/06/30
Seat 2: mclarich ($263)
Seat 3: kukko66 ($100)
Seat 4: MYOPB ($32.85)
Seat 5: La merveille ($40)
Seat 6: fill_fda ($101.70)
Seat 8: UberDonk ($38.50)
Seat 9: fatharriet ($99.20)
kukko66 posts the small blind of $0.50
MYOPB posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to mclarich [Ah Kh]
fill_fda folds
UberDonk calls $1
fatharriet folds
mclarich has 15 seconds left to act
mclarich raises to $4
kukko66 adds $0.50
kukko66 folds
MYOPB folds
UberDonk raises to $8
mclarich raises to $25.50
UberDonk calls $17.50
*** FLOP *** [9h Ks Td]
UberDonk bets $13, and is all in
mclarich calls $13
UberDonk shows [Ac Jc]
mclarich shows [Ah Kh]
*** TURN *** [9h Ks Td] [Js]
*** RIVER *** [9h Ks Td Js] [3c]
UberDonk shows a pair of Jacks
Weird Turn Pro adds $50
mclarich shows a pair of Kings
mclarich wins the pot ($75.50) with a pair of Kings
UberDonk is sitting out

Also pretty sick is that I had another AK somewhere in there but just played it cautiously from the SB & check-folded a bad flop.

Finished the night just over 3-buyins, my best session yet at $.50\$1. With that, I've officially recouped the losses I spewed at the $1\$2 level, and for the time being, I'm out of the red for NL cash.

Do You Make This Call?

It's time for another post showing how I played a hand horribly! The truth is, very rarely am I going to showdown with TP no kicker but on this hand, something didn't make sense to me and I felt that I had the best hand.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6969913152: Table Hauck - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:58:05 ET - 2008/06/25
Seat 1: bradwcryeye ($14.50)
Seat 2: becks911 ($192.45)
Seat 3: 080888000 ($100)
Seat 4: KonstantienOpel ($98.50)
Seat 5: ccsantagado ($30.40)
Seat 6: mclarich ($98.10)
Seat 7: Atari151 ($70.95)
Seat 8: mazzler ($104.40)
Seat 9: sinsincity ($64.95)
sinsincity posts the small blind of $0.50
bradwcryeye posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to mclarich [Kh Th]
becks911 folds
080888000 folds
KonstantienOpel folds
ccsantagado folds
mclarich raises to $3.50
Atari151 folds
mazzler folds
sinsincity calls $3
bradwcryeye folds

I know KT is not the strongest hand, but it had been a pretty weak table, and I felt that if I didn't win the blinds outright, I'd be in position; if the CO or button were either 3betting or folding. I get a caller in the SB. I had no information on the SB but I figured the smooth call discounted most of the top hands.

*** FLOP *** [Ks Jc 4s]
sinsincity checks
mclarich bets $5
sinsincity raises to $15
mclarich calls $10

Just calling the reraise is probably a mistake - in most cases, I'm either way behind or my K is good, but here's why I called. The PF calls makes AA, KK or AK very unlikely. I'm behind KQ but I don't really see KQ check-raising this flop. If I'm beat, it's either KJ, JJ, or 44. I could also be up against some kind of draw. I call to see how the turn plays out, but I can also understand the argument for folding here.

*** TURN *** [Ks Jc 4s] [Jh]
sinsincity bets $18
mclarich calls $18

The J on the turn is kind of a good card for me since it makes JJ less likely. I'm beginning to think I'm up against a draw. 44 is still a possibility, and KJ is as well.

*** RIVER *** [Ks Jc 4s Jh] [Tc]
sinsincity bets $28.45, and is all in
mclarich has 15 seconds left to act
mclarich calls $28.45

Basically a crying call. If I'm beat, then I'm the donk who calls down with TPNK, but I'm getting 3.5:1 odds. I've come this far, don't see how I can fold for $28 more.

*** SHOW DOWN ***
sinsincity shows [6d Ad] a pair of Jacks
mclarich shows [Kh Th] two pair, Kings and Jacks
mclarich wins the pot ($127.90) with two pair, Kings and Jacks
sinsincity is sitting out

Of course, I can also beat a complete bluff. Most of the time I know I'm beat and I'm laying this hand down on the flop. I also should mention that the villain was betting really quickly, which made me think it was more of a semi-bluff. If any straight or spade comes on the turn or river, I probably fold. If the villain has a bigger stack, I probably fold to a bigger bet.

Anyways, this definitely did not sit well with sinsincity, and made for some fun remarks afterwards:

sinsincity: oh my gosh
sinsincity: unreal read...cant imagine what you possibly put me on there...
sinsincity: K10 preflop/postflop/turn/river nuts....HAHAHAHA
sinsincity: enjoy each other's company

It even spilled over to the other table I was on:

Full Tilt Poker Game #6969969753: Table Dronberger - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:02:53 ET - 2008/06/25
Seat 1: siouxtllmn ($28.35)
Seat 2: Dryburg ($107.75)
Seat 3: briancheng ($104)
Seat 4: dfense072 ($99.50)
Seat 5: Goso ($39.90)
Seat 6: KJACK10 ($100.90)
Seat 7: xxNINO BROWNxx ($93.60)
Seat 8: 080888000 ($123.80)
Seat 9: mclarich ($100)
080888000 posts the small blind of $0.50
mclarich posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to mclarich [9d Qc]
siouxtllmn raises to $2
Dryburg folds
briancheng has 15 seconds left to act
briancheng folds
dfense072 folds
Goso folds
KJACK10 folds
xxNINO BROWNxx raises to $7.50
080888000 folds
mclarich folds
siouxtllmn calls $5.50
*** FLOP *** [Td 5s 7d]
siouxtllmn checks
xxNINO BROWNxx bets $86.10, and is all in
siouxtllmn calls $20.85, and is all in
xxNINO BROWNxx shows [Qh Ah]
siouxtllmn shows [Ts Tc]
Uncalled bet of $65.25 returned to xxNINO BROWNxx
*** TURN *** [Td 5s 7d] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [Td 5s 7d 3s] [5d]
xxNINO BROWNxx shows a pair of Fives
siouxtllmn shows a full house, Tens full of Fives
siouxtllmn wins the pot ($55.30) with a full house, Tens full of Fives
sinsincity (Observer): mclarich is uber rock...only willing to play K10 all the way until the end for his stack...

Full Tilt Poker Game #6969979037: Table Dronberger - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:03:40 ET - 2008/06/25
Seat 1: siouxtllmn ($55.30)
Seat 2: Dryburg ($107.75)
Seat 3: briancheng ($104)
Seat 4: dfense072 ($99.50)
Seat 5: Goso ($39.90)
Seat 6: KJACK10 ($100.90)
Seat 7: xxNINO BROWNxx ($65.25)
Seat 8: 080888000 ($123.30)
Seat 9: mclarich ($99)
mclarich posts the small blind of $0.50
siouxtllmn posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to mclarich [6h Jh]
Dryburg folds
briancheng folds
sinsincity (Observer): lol
dfense072 folds
Goso folds
KJACK10 folds
xxNINO BROWNxx calls $1
080888000 folds
sinsincity (Observer): donk puke is a call station
sinsincity (Observer): just a little fyi for the game
mclarich folds
siouxtllmn checks
*** FLOP *** [Ad Ks 6d]
siouxtllmn checks
xxNINO BROWNxx checks
*** TURN *** [Ad Ks 6d] [4s]
siouxtllmn checks
xxNINO BROWNxx checks
*** RIVER *** [Ad Ks 6d 4s] [7h]
siouxtllmn has 15 seconds left to act
sinsincity (Observer): bet, call down reraise/and another 2 bullets with top pair 10 kicker...lol
siouxtllmn checks
xxNINO BROWNxx bets $2.50
siouxtllmn folds
Uncalled bet of $2.50 returned to xxNINO BROWNxx
xxNINO BROWNxx mucks
xxNINO BROWNxx wins the pot ($2.40)

Full Tilt Poker Game #6969990209: Table Dronberger - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:04:37 ET - 2008/06/25
Seat 1: siouxtllmn ($54.30)
Seat 2: Dryburg ($107.75)
Seat 3: briancheng ($104)
Seat 4: dfense072 ($99.50)
Seat 5: Goso ($39.90)
Seat 6: KJACK10 ($100.90)
Seat 7: xxNINO BROWNxx ($66.65)
Seat 8: 080888000 ($123.30)
Seat 9: mclarich ($98.50)
siouxtllmn posts the small blind of $0.50
Dryburg posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to mclarich [6h Th]
mclarich: but you're not bitter that I picked off your bluff, right?
briancheng folds
dfense072 folds
Goso folds
KJACK10 folds
xxNINO BROWNxx calls $1
080888000 calls $1
mclarich folds
mclarich: or do you always follow around the person who just felted you
siouxtllmn calls $0.50
Dryburg checks
*** FLOP *** [4s 9c 3d]
siouxtllmn checks
Dryburg checks
xxNINO BROWNxx bets $4
080888000 folds
siouxtllmn folds
Dryburg folds
Uncalled bet of $4 returned to xxNINO BROWNxx
xxNINO BROWNxx mucks
xxNINO BROWNxx wins the pot ($3.80)

Despite what my recently posted hand histories may show, I'm feeling a bit better about my cash game play lately. I'm still learning how to fold overpairs to the board; I've had a couple of unnecessary feltings with JJ vs AA. Hopefully I'll get some hand histories up of hands I'm a bit more proud of.

Poker Crack

First off, a couple of congrats are in order.

Congrats to IT on winning the Mookie! I know this is late, but better than never.
Congrats to Jamyhawk for working up the token ladder to a four-figure score. Well done!
Congrats to Raising Cayne for getting laid. I think he won some money too.

Anyways, speaking of IT, he had a post up recently trashing what has become my newest addiction - the Super Turbo SNGs on FTP. Yes, they are the epitome of donkfest. They aren't so much about skill as they are about seeing who is the wisest pushmonkey at the table. And I can't get enough of them.

I've played probably somewhere around 100 of these, + or - 10, at the $15 buyin. My ROI to date is approximately 30%. It's not a big sample, but I do think that these can be very profitable. At least for me, they have been so far. They're also very convenient; as I spend many of my days in my neighborhood coffee shop, looking for jobs and doing other assorted internet gazing, it's nice to be able to fire up a game and make money by either pushing or folding.

There's a good percentage of people who play these things horribly. There's no point in trying to play postflop, yet you'll find many people limp-folding to raises preflop, or worse, limp-calling then folding post-flop. There's also a fair amount of people who are willing to push too loosely too early, calling shoves with A2 or QJ within the first level or two.

I've been successful at these games primarily by playing these things preflop only - it's either push or shove. Additionally, whereas many people will push or call with mediocre hands like small aces or two paint cards (KJ, QT, etc.), I limit these mostly to situations where I'm open-pushing & I'm shortstacked. Same thing with pairs 66 & below. Finally, I play the bubble very cautiously when I'm in bad position against bigger stacks. In a regular SNG, I may be willing to bust on the bubble if I'm playing to win, but in these games, there's almost always one or two stacks on the bubble that are down to 2-3xBB that there's greater equity in folding AJ with a bigger stack in front of you to wait out the bubble. I haven't done the math but it works for me.

But be warned. These things are really fucking addicting. In fact, this post is over. I need another hit.

Using Holdem Manager

So after Recess called me out on my donkish ways, it was obvious that if I am going to continue playing cash games, it's in my best interest to purchase some kind of HUD. I pretty much knew this already; my apprehension to doing so was twofold:

1. I never had the bankroll to legitimately play cash games until now. I wasn't about to pay for a HUD to play at the $.05\$.10 stakes.

2. Although the cost was relatively low, I had a hard time justifying it the past couple of months because I was fiscally restricted (although purchasing it while I am unemployed doesn't really make sense either, but I can justify it via severance pay).

With both of those reasons out of the way, I followed Gnome's advice and purchased Holdem Manager. And so far, it's definitely made a difference. Not only did I make up for the expense with one session, I've nearly doubled my profit at the $.50\$1 levels in just a couple of days.

Obviously, having the VP$IP stats on each player has certainly made a difference. It's helped me identify tighter players and make a couple of easy laydowns that I may have talked myself into calling otherwise. I've also used the Steal statistics to find out who some of the more notorious stealers are, and I've taken down a bunch of smaller pots preflop with some light 3-betting (in position, of course) against these folks.

What I'm still trying to figure out is the best way to use this software. Right now, I've got 6 stats on the HUD: # of hands, VP$IP, AQ, Steal, 3-bet, fold to 3-bet. I'm curious to find out what stats others use on their HUD. There's so much available, and I've only had it for a couple of days, so I haven't really played around with it very much yet.

One thing I'm still trying to figure out is how to get maximum value out of my hands. I know that I'm not going to always felt someone every time I get a huge hands, and I think that having Holdem Manager will help me improve this, but I also can't help but wonder if I missing out on bigger pots because of how I played the hand. For example:

Full Tilt Poker Game #6811565879: Table Yeager - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 17:03:27 ET - 2008/06/13
Seat 1: briancheng ($100)
Seat 2: Goso ($20)
Seat 3: Instantdeath101 ($101.35)
Seat 4: kabo9 ($102.15)
Seat 5: luckfactor ($100)
Seat 6: mclarich ($98.45)
Seat 7: horsedrawn ($76.40)
Seat 8: backroadbural ($102.50)
Seat 9: OSUBucks02 ($118.50)
kabo9 posts the small blind of $0.50
luckfactor posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to mclarich [Tc Th]
mclarich raises to $3
horsedrawn folds
backroadbural calls $3
OSUBucks02 folds
Goso folds
Instantdeath101 has 15 seconds left to act
Instantdeath101 calls $3
kabo9 folds
luckfactor calls $2

First of all, I have to add that one change I've made is increased preflop bets. For some reason, I wasn't doing pot bets, or not making big enough bets with limpers as per the suggestion from my last post. So there's one way to increase the pots that I'm winning. With that aside, not too happy to see 3 callers to my UTG raise prefloop.


*** FLOP *** [Qs 5d Td]
luckfactor checks
mclarich bets $9
backroadbural calls $9
Instantdeath101 folds
luckfactor folds

So now I'm a bit happier to see three callers preflop. OOP with a set on a draw-heavy board, I bet 3\4 pot. I'm not really familiar with the one caller but figure him for some sort of draw or maybe KQ.

*** TURN *** [Qs 5d Td] [2s]
mclarich has 15 seconds left to act
mclarich bets $23
backroadbural folds
Uncalled bet of $23 returned to mclarich
mclarich mucks
mclarich wins the pot ($29)

So I guess this is a pretty standard hand. Turn doesn't complete any draws, so I bet out about 3\4 again and he folds. Being OOP, I didn't want him to get a free card to any draws or odds to chase with one card left, and I thought that he could call again with TP. I feel like this is one hand where the pot really wasn't going to get much bigger than this, but if anyone sees anything otherwise, let me know. It's a pretty boring hand but it's the only hand I have saved on my gf's laptop so it's what you get for now. I'll try to get some more interesting ones up later.

My Two Cents

One of my goals this year was to become a more visible blogger. By that, I meant that I wanted to become a bigger part of this community. I became a blogger in the first place because I recognized this group to be, for the most part, a great group of people to know, in some cases for their poker knowledge, other cases for their humor or enjoyable writing, and in a couple of cases, both.

My visibility has always been low because A) I'm not as accomplished of a poker player as others, B) schedule or bankroll issues have prevented me from being a regular in the blogger games or C) my opportunity to contribute to blogging, either by posting or commenting, was severely reduced when my former employer blocked any Blogger.com sites.

After being a blogger for almost two years now, I was looking as this year being the year that I broke out of relative anonymity, even if that anonymity is mostly self-perceived. I'm continuing to establish friendships with a few bloggers, getting to know a couple more, and really noticing an improvement in my game as a result of being a blogger. But nevertheless, I still feel like an outsider looking in sometimes, which is both good & bad.

Anyways, what better way to improve visibility than to comment on blogger drama that doesn't involve you, right? Eh, it's 2am and I'm bored, so why not?

If you're reading this blog, you've probably already read about the drama going on between Hoy, Smokkee, and now Blinders. If you don't know, just click on the links and get caught up. This all coming after CK & Perticelli's posts about their relationships with Donkette.

Aside from a couple of comments on only a couple of those blogs, I've never really had any kind of relationship with any of these bloggers (I'm not even linked up on most of them). So I guess it's not really my place to comment on either situation. Oh well.

Hoy, Smokkee & Blinders drama: What Hoy did was childish. Whether or not he wrote the posts on the ICrushBloggers blog, the fact that it was used to put down other bloggers is just retarded. He's shown in the past that he's perfectly capable of doing it in very snide ways on his own blog. Honestly, I have no personal beef with Hoy, but to discredit Smokkee and his efforts with BoDog the way he did, I can't really think of a better word than childish. It was a dumb idea that caused more ill will than it did a good chuckle. However, I don't consider it any form of cheating or acting unethically like Blinders does. It's not like he's multi-accounting or using someone else's screenname. Even Smokkee changed his name on FT to KillinKegz for a while, and I may be wrong, but I don't think he ever "officially" announced this on his blog. I've read Blinders blog for a while, and it certainly seems like he has a distaste for all things Hoy; this was just another in a long line of anti-Hoy posts.

Donkette & CK\Perticelli drama: It sucks anytime you are betrayed by someone you trust. As Alan mentioned on his blog, I hit him up for some money last December. I did it with the full intent that I would pay it back within a month, as I had withdrawn money for Christmas but was planning to redeposit in January. It was a pretty desperate move, but Alan was kind enough to offer more than I even expected, and because I'm such a badass poker player, I doubled it within a couple days & immediately returned it to him. I don't mean to toot my own horn; I guess my point is that for every Donkette, there's (hopefully) 10 or more good, decent bloggers, and it sucks that this community has to be tarnished by one bad apple.

So that's that. Sorry if you were expecting some more inflammatory opinions. I have commenting on drama that I'm not a part of, so be glad you got what you did. In summary, this community has produced so many good things (the BBTs, the Vegas gatherings, the weekly tournaments, etc.), not to mention countless friendships. So if you're reading this, and you're someone who's sabotaged what a good thing this community has become, stop being a fucking douchenozzle.

-----------------------------------------------

My post yesterday was pretty lame. Despite a couple of disclaimers I threw in there, I guess it did come off as sounding kind of like complaining. Thanks, Cayne, for bringing back to reality. I guess the point that I was trying to relay is the feeling, kind of like a poker hangover, after a big score. I'm not trying to gloat that I have that problem or seek consolation for it. Just chalk it up to a dumb post written by a guy who stayed up to 5:30am last night\morning watching Smoking Aces. Yay unemployment!

-----------------------------------------------

More hand histories! Curious to know how some of you cash gamers would have played this. I'll give you my thoughts, you tell me yours.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6806049541: Table Cabana - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 4:18:34 ET - 2008/06/13
Seat 1: JHORNiGOLD ($113.90)
Seat 2: BulletProof604 ($221.60)
Seat 3: AK SOL JA ($73)
Seat 4: mclarich ($94)
Seat 5: U__IdontLikeU ($123)
Seat 6: RobertoLuongo01 ($23.50)
Seat 7: cessna7277 ($56), is sitting out
Seat 8: ChubbyFinger ($19)
Seat 9: BloodandSoil ($30.95)
RobertoLuongo01 posts the small blind of $0.50
ChubbyFinger posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to mclarich [Qd Qc]
BloodandSoil calls $1
JHORNiGOLD calls $1
BulletProof604 folds
AK SOL JA folds
mclarich raises to $5
U__IdontLikeU folds
RobertoLuongo01 folds
ChubbyFinger folds
BloodandSoil folds
JHORNiGOLD calls $4

Pretty straight forward raise with a bunch of limpers, nothing special so far.

*** FLOP *** [7h Tc 3d]
JHORNiGOLD checks
mclarich bets $5
JHORNiGOLD has 15 seconds left to act
JHORNiGOLD raises to $16
mclarich calls $11

I lead out on the flop thinking I'm good, only fearing a flopped set like 77 or 33 (TT is also a possibility, I've seen plenty of people limp pairs as high as JJ in EP). Because of this, I bet less than 1\2 the pot for two reasons: One, if I am behind, I want to keep the pot kind of small. Two, it makes it seem like AK and a weak c-bet. The villain, who I know nothing about, check-raises me. I don't know if this means set or just a steal, but I'm not willing to dump the hand just yet.


*** TURN *** [7h Tc 3d] [As]
JHORNiGOLD checks
mclarich bets $38
JHORNiGOLD folds
Uncalled bet of $38 returned to mclarich
mclarich mucks
mclarich wins the pot ($42.30)

When he checks the A on the turn, unless he specifically thinks I have AA and just turned trips, I read his check as weakness and take the pot.

What I'm questioning is my flop play. I felt that I was better off taking another card against a player I have no reads or history on rather than going to battle with an overpair on the flop. But at the same time, I can't get into a habit of folding overpairs every time I'm check-raised on the flop. Was playing through the turn the way you would play it or not?

I've said more than enough, I'm going to bed.

The Big Cash Effect

You figure that, by being unemployed & playing poker most of the day every day, this blog would be a lot more active. You would figure, except that I'm too lazy to put any worthwhile content up here, at least in terms of poker analysis. Maybe one day.

I played some poker tonight. Now that I'm out of school, I finally got back to playing the Mookie, which basically went like this: fold, fold, fold, push AJ into AK and win, fold, fold, fold, push AT into AK and KK and lose. Finished 16th or something, which would be decent if it was a BBT3 field, but with 46 people, that's barely top 1\3rd.

Also played the $24 PLO tournament. Went out pretty early when I limped AA27 - the Hammer Aces - UTG because I knew BB was pretty spewy. Sure enough, he pots from the BB against the limpers and I repot UTG. Flop is J94 rainbow and he calls my pot bet. Turn is a 4s and he pots. I still think my AA is good so I push. He shows Q983 for nothing but middle pair & the 4s gives him like 4th nut flush draw. River is a 3. 3s. 4th nut flush is good. Dumbass.

Last MTT of the night was the 50-50, my first time playing this. Took me a moment to discover that Surflexus was at my table. He recognized me, which took me by surprise because we've never really chatted before, but we took advantage of the blogger recognition to chat throughout the game about the donkeys around us. I worked my stack up decently, hovering above an average stack for most of the first two hours, thanks mostly to this sick hand:

Seat 1: mclarich (4,955)
Seat 2: TwoPointO (10,975)
Seat 3: shipemherenow (7,219)
Seat 4: pkrprov1 (4,908)
Seat 5: surflexus (4,740)
Seat 6: JaSkin (5,395)
Seat 7: zuleh (5,395)
Seat 8: hui (5,896)
Seat 9: rooky07 (5,600)
hui posts the small blind of 50
rooky07 posts the big blind of 100
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to mclarich [Kc Ks]
mclarich raises to 300
TwoPointO folds
shipemherenow folds
pkrprov1 has 15 seconds left to act
pkrprov1 raises to 900
surflexus folds
JaSkin folds
zuleh folds
hui folds
rooky07 folds
mclarich has 15 seconds left to act
mclarich raises to 3,100 (only one hand I'm afraid of)
pkrprov1 has 15 seconds left to act
pkrprov1 raises to 4,908, and is all in (guess he has it)
mclarich calls 1,808
pkrprov1 shows [Ad Ah] (doh)
mclarich shows [Kc Ks]
*** FLOP *** [Jd 9d 7d] (worst flop ever)
*** TURN *** [Jd 9d 7d] [2c]
*** RIVER *** [Jd 9d 7d 2c] [Kh]
pkrprov1 shows a pair of Aces
mclarich shows three of a kind, Kings
mclarich wins the pot (9,966) with three of a kind, Kings
pkrprov1 stands up

Just your standard one outer, typical.

Anyways, my demise started when I called a push from a small stack with 99, racing against KQ. The call was for half my stack but I was playing for the win and felt that I was most likely ahead. Turn is a K and, just for good measure, river is the nut flush. I couldn't recover, although I lasted long enough to cash and at least eek out a small profit.

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Anyways, none of that is really about the post title. What I've been thinking about lately is how the effect of a big cash has on how I've been playing poker lately. I'm certainly not complaining about finally getting a big score; I'm much happier with my bankroll now than I was two months ago.

But what I've noticed lately is that I'm no longer content with continuing to grind it out. The intent of my bankroll challenge was to get a big enough bankroll that I could start playing $20 SNGs and MTTs of similar buyins. But the feeling of that big MTT cash has changed that, and I'm not really interested in spending my time in SNGs for $70 a victory.

I've started playing some $.50\$1 cash games, and it's been hit or miss. I've started adjusting better to these games, and while I'm still able to spew money every now & then with TPTK when everything is telling me I'm beat, I've become more patient & been able to log a couple decent sessions recently. But unless I'm able to get up a buyin or more, I'm not content with playing for an hour or two and finishing with $10 profit (or worse, getting stacked).

I guess the point of this post is that, now that I've got this bankroll, what do I do with it? I don't really want to do another "bankroll challenge". Setting a goal is one thing, but really, I didn't hit my first goal because I grinded my way there, it was all just one fell swoop. I really don't want to try to get $5k or so through $20-$30 SNGs.

The other factor is this; it's nice to have a decent bankroll to work with, but that money is definitely better served elsewhere. I try not to think about is as money that I can apply elsewhere, since it's practically impossible to withdraw from FTP, but if there ever became a quick way to withdraw, I would have to give serious thought about taking out a significant chunk of it, even if it meant dropping back down in stakes. I'm not playing with scared money though; it's hard to play with scared money when FTP's withdrawal system makes it seem more like non-existent money. But if I were to incur a significant downswing, it would be tough to swallow.

Ugh. As I'm writing this, I lose AA to 65 blind vs blind. At least he was a short stack and only cost me $30.

Anyways, again, I'm certainly not complaining, I'm just trying to express how it's difficult to get back into the "grind-it-out" mindset. I want to be playing for significant money, but I'm also trying to balance that with continued bankroll management. As greedy as it sounds to say this, I just need another big MTT score right about now.

OK, now you can commence with your flaming.

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Congrats! If you've made it this far, I've got a bonus for you: a hand history!

One of the things I'm trying to figure out is playing sooted connectors at these stakes. For the most part, at full ring $.50\$1, the play is pretty straight forward. 3-bets usually mean AA, KK or AK it seems about 75% of the time, unless its a resteal or some lagtard. It's definitely a much tighter game than I'm used to after playing $5 SNGs for so long. In this hand, I don't know much about my opponent, which means it's probably best to play it safe, but instead I decide to float him with T9 sooted.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6779937251: Table Waterhen - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 3:24:05 ET - 2008/06/11
Seat 1: giveusakiss ($87.20)
Seat 2: concretepear ($38.80)
Seat 3: AAPokerGirl ($98.50)
Seat 4: raisinchips ($134.40)
Seat 5: mclarich ($102.60)
Seat 6: NuggetMaster420 ($200.85)
Seat 7: dbrill ($128.95)
Seat 8: Roon2020 ($80)
Seat 9: willieAA ($40)
giveusakiss posts the small blind of $0.50
concretepear posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to mclarich [9s Ts]
AAPokerGirl folds
raisinchips folds
mclarich calls $1
NuggetMaster420 folds
dbrill has 15 seconds left to act
dbrill raises to $4
Roon2020 folds
giveusakiss folds
concretepear folds
mclarich calls $3

Preflop: Of course, I'm out of position but I'm willing to see a flop.

*** FLOP *** [Tc Kh Js]
mclarich checks
dbrill has 15 seconds left to act
dbrill bets $6
mclarich has 15 seconds left to act
mclarich calls $6

Flop: Not the greatest flop for me, and I could be well behind a set as tight as these games are. AQ is a possibility too. It's a dangerous hand, but unless he flopped the nuts, it's the potential for him to be a scary board as well, perhaps. I decide to call and see what the turn brings.

*** TURN *** [Tc Kh Js] [8s]

Turn: I'll get to the action in a moment. So the turn brings the best possible card for me, giving me the flush outs + a OESD both ways (although the Q may not be an out).

mclarich checks
dbrill has 15 seconds left to act
dbrill bets $15
mclarich raises to $47
dbrill has 15 seconds left to act
dbrill raises to $118.95, and is all in
mclarich calls $45.60, and is all in
dbrill shows [Kd As]
mclarich shows [9s Ts]

So the Q isn't an out, but I still have 17 outs: any spade, T or 9 will do.

Uncalled bet of $26.35 returned to dbrill
*** RIVER *** [Tc Kh Js 8s] [Qc]
dbrill shows a straight, Ace high
mclarich shows a straight, King high
dbrill wins the pot ($203.70) with a straight, Ace high

So, was this just a bad way of trying to float someone, or should I have bet the turn harder? If I push the turn, it's a lot harder for him to call off $92 with TPTK on that board. Any thoughts or criticism is welcome.

Cash Game Thoughts

Since I was planning only to play cash games in Vegas, I figured I would get a little practice in on Full Tilt before I left. I'm admittedly a cash game donk, and I'm sure that within the week or two, several players on FTP have added notes about me confirming this.

It didn't start out bad; in fact, it was quite the opposite. On my first real attempt playing cash games, I two tabled the $1\$2 tables buying in for the max. I dropped about 1\4 buyin at one table but worked the other table up to 2.5 buyins. A couple of hours, $400 earned. I was a cash game king! My bankroll entered uncharted territory - the $4k mark

But it's been all downhill from there.

Since then, my bankroll has dropped to just under $3k, but that's after working it back up from $2600. This is partly due to being a bit too aggressive, as well as not recognizing that my opponents were playing tighter than I'm used to. I started making some very loose calls, and a couple of times played for stacks when I didn't need too. I feel like I've reigned it in and I've started showing a bit of a profit again but I've still definitely got lots to learn.

One thing I've realized is that I'm better off dropping down to the $.50\$1 levels for now. My newfound bankroll isn't quite ready to handle swings at the $1\$2 level yet. Additionally, I know I have a lot of reading to do, especially from many of you cash game bloggers that I haven't paid as much attention to. But I know that I have a couple of issues that I need to figure out before I jump back into cash games:

1. Aggression. Specifically, finding out when to reign it in and when to keep firing. I'm also trying to figure out how to defend against 3-bets when I'm open-raising in LP.

2. Speculative hands & connectors. I'm still trying to learn the proper way to play these. I've had success with playing these hands strongly at times but I'm not sure the proper way to go. I've found myself limp-calling or flat-calling\check-folding more than I'd prefer, but I also haven't found any success in inducing any folds either. Of course, both of these issues are just a bigger part of the next one:

3. Information. Since this is my first time playing cash seriously, I don't have any information on any of these players. Additionally, I'm playing without the use of something like PokerTracker, so I'm certainly up against players who already have more information about me than I do about them.

Anyways, I'll try to get some hands up for discussion as I continue. I know that my losses are about 75% poor play on my part & 35% bad beats or just dumb luck. I'm confident I can flip those percentages the other way or better. Very rarely have I felt outplayed; most of my losses have either been due to controllable spewage or unnecessary aggression.

I never thought I would become a cash game player but I think I might be on to something here. I'm not ready to give up on SNGs or MTTs anytime soon, but I'd like to continue incorporating cash games into my repertoire.