Death By 1,000 Paper Cuts

Wow, I am really running like shit right now. Just a painful grind as I try to find a way to eak out a win. I played a long session from 2:00pm to 1:00am last night. I started in the 8/16 game which went to 12/24 about 7:00pm. I started out up a little just grinding out pots. Nothing really going my way and the game was full of good players. Not conducive to a big win. I played at Diamond Lil's in south Seattle where there is usually only one big game(12/24 is the biggest game you can play outside of the Indian Casinos, so this is considered a big game here). The problem with that is all the good players only have one game to choose from so if they want to play they have to sit here. 9 handed only two soft spots and one of them was running hot. You had to pick your spots, and I did not get my fair share of premium hands as has been usual lately. So I folded and folded and then played my big hands and lost. No conducive to a win. I got a little passive in a few spots where a strong bluff would have picked up the pot, and then bluffed or called what I felt were bluffs at the wrong time. Ouch. No big swings though, never up more than $200 and never down more than $200. I continue to play a good game, not great, just good. I need to be a little more selective on starting hands, and a little more aggressive in pots. It is tough for me to play marginal strong hands hard, which means I should not play them right now. When you run bad you really need to concentrate on staying aggressive. Being aggressive and keeping the lead gives you more ways to win the pot. Otherwise you just have to turn over the best had. It is easy to get passive and try to let the pots come to you. This does not work in a game of good players that will take every opportunity to pounce on weakness. The end was three quick pots that I played like shit with marginal strong hands and lost, it was a sign to get up and try another day. Net paper cut -$104. SJ

Grinding, and Pain

Played on Friday the 24th up at Parker's. They have won the battle to consolidate the poker market up north in Seattle. It sucks. I hate the place but there is no place to go up north. They only have 5 tables right now, they are talking about adding a 6th, but there was a two hour wait to get into the 12/24 game. So I put my name on the list and came back later to check on progress. I finally got in to the game at 10:00pm, and the game was good, but my cards were not. I just kept mucking hand after hand. I would have been better off just skipping the night, as I never had a good run of cards and the table was to full up weak players that you could not bluff. I tried a few times and finally just gave up trying. The two big pairs I received that night were QQ twice, lost both when A came on flop. Just tried to grind it out. I finally, just did not get cards and mucked all but two hands over the last 1 1/2 hours and went home at 3:00am. Of course I lost the two I played. A nut flush draw with top pair that did not get there and an open ended straight draw that also did not get there. That cost me the money I lost that night pretty much. Finished down -$247. Hope to run a little better on Tuesday this week. Can't run much worse. At least I had the discipline to not play weak hands when I was not getting any premium hands. Kept the loss to a manageable amount for 5 hours of play. See what happenes on Tues. SJ

Moral Victories

Moral Victory last night even though the money was not large. Started play in the $65 buy in limit tournament and it looked like another mediocre performance when no starting hands showed up and I did not have the table image or chips to bluff. We started with 45 players and were down to 18 and I ended up raising all in w/ J,9 off under the gun for only 275 of a $300 raise. This is my favorite non-playable hand. I usually like suited, but hey this was as good as it gets when you are about to be blinded out of the tournament. I was called in two spots and hit a miracle J on the turn against an AK, and Q,10. Bingo right in the center. Back in business. I then started bluffing the table as people tightened up to make the final table and went to the final table with a little below average chip stack. I made it down to 5 handed playing 500-1000 with only 4000+ in chips. I raised UTG with AK, got three bet and a cold call of the three bets from late position. I capped it as I was now pot committed if I was going to call and took the flop. A,4,5 rainbow, perfect. I bet out got raised then three bet by late position and I capped it. Turn was a Q, I only had 200 left so I put it and got called by both players. Huge pot, needed to win it. A river 9 did nothing to change the outcome. That was the case A on the flop as all three of us had an A. The guy giving all the action had A,Q ouch, the other had A,7. I had them both crushed on the flop, but alas I still lost. Crap. I had this one in the bag, and had visions of the win with that pot. Out 5th for a measly $215 payday and profit of only $150. I have not cashed in this tourn. in a while so I took it as a moral victory. Just was expecting more.

I then went up to my new spot to play after the tourn. at Parkers. As I have said before the Hideaway is now dead. They actually had a 10/20 game, so I jumped right in. Played pretty well, got a couple of decent starting hands, but did not run particularly well. I was working on starting hand selection so I did a lot of watching. Because the tourn. went so long I only go to play for about 2 1/2 hours, and booked a rather small win of $120, or 2.4 big bets and hour. Not bad, not great. Since I took a rather large loss the last time I played, as you can read below, I viewed this also as a small moral victory. O well hope to actually play this weekend a stay on the comeback trail. Total for day +$270.

On a side note, Tommy from Seattle was in third after the first day at the Borgatta, and was in 11th place after day 2. He made the money, but finished a disappointing 24th. Too bad, I am anxious to hear the details of what happened. I sure they will be gorey. Good luck, SJ

Up and Down we Go

The Hideaway is dead. The last good room managers left to go to Parker's up the street and all but killed the cardroom this week. I stopped by last night to play 10/20 after a completely useless stop at the limit tournament at diamond Lil's that was a series of big hands that missed every time. There was only one short handed 4/8 game filled with dealers. Wow, I hope the place does not die and go away, but they need some major changes to get that place back on the map. So into Parker's I go. They only had 6/12 and 8/16, so I started at 6/12 and proceed to win only one hand in 2 1/2 hours. Wow, just a run of crappy cards after crappy cards. Played ok, but lots of new faces in a new room and no table image and not reading particularly well last night to boot. That turned into a $250 loss right out of the gate. I then moved to the 8/16 game with hopes of turning it around. I proceeded to get crappy cards, but instead of continuing to throw them away I pushed a few too many marginal hands(k,j. A,10. q,10, etc) and took the usual short end of the stick when you are not running good, and throw on top the new faces, not reading well, and no table image you can guess what happened. I hung around for a few hours and then just went straight down in flames. Last hand I raised with AK and flop came k,9,7. Turn and river did not improve and I got raised on the turn and kept calling to the river against a set of 9's. That was my night. Crappy play coupled with crappy cards equals a loss of $669. Put on top of that the $65 buy-in at Diamond Lil's and total loss for the night was $734. Back down again for the month. I have not played much this month yet, but I now have to climb back out again. Up and down, not out. The new manager at Parker's said he would run a regular Tues night(my weekday poker night) 12/24 game. I hope that is true as I hope to get out this Friday and next tues to start the road back. The loss I took is pretty big for that limit. A little too much variance for my liking which means I am playing too many hands, and not getting away from losing flops right now. Need to play much better to make money this month. Talk to you this weekend. Good luck to those in AC at the Borgatta, wish I were going. SJ

Recovery

Made a recovery from Friday night's loss last night. Started at a $65 buy-in limit tourn, never picked up anything to gain any momentum and went out meekly about 60% through the field with a J,10 suited. Then went to Hideaway 10/20 game. Short handed game, my favorite. We played 4 and 5 handed most of the night until the game broke and I had to move to a full ring game after about three hours. I kept up a pressure aggressive game that was working well against a couple of inexperienced short handed players. The other guy was a good player that I just had his number that night. I picked up a quick $1,000 during the shorthanded play, and then went card dead in the ring game and treaded water. Ended up quitting after a $938 win there, add that to the $65 loss in the tourn and the day ended up $873. Not a bad recovery for the month. Now to get going in the right direction this month.

Short handed play is so much different than a ring game. The aggressor is usually the winner. There are just so many flops where both players miss that with position and aggression you can just run over some of your opponents. The swings can be a lot larger, but the better player usually ends up with the money a heck of a lot faster short handed. It forces the weak player to play post flop, and not just play their good cards. It really helps work on reading skills, and play making to maximize your pots. It is a lot of fun, and is a very necessary part of anyone's game. SJ

A Bad Night

Wow, as good as I have been running it turned on me on Friday night the 3rd. Ran like an absolute dog. Every big hand cracked, have QQ flop an A or K, JJ's same, even KK one time with an A on board and action, had to dump. The worst was Had AK flopped A,6,10. Only one caller after the flop. K on turn to make top two, bet and called. Then 6 on river. The other player just bet right out, of course I call. He shows me 6,9 off for bottom trips. Wow, that was the way it went. All of my draws missed, every one of them. Nut flush draws blanks, open ended draws, blank, blank, blank. Finally just concluded it was not my night and called it a day. Lost $758 in a 10/20 game, now that is a bad night. SJ

What a great Game!!

Poker is just on fire right now is Seattle. More and more new players to the game, new faces every week, card rooms are full, except in a few of the dives with good games like the Hideaway. Put in a 14 hour poker day. Just did not feel like working yesterday. Left the office at 10:30am and in the room playing by 11:00am. Went to Diamond lil's and played 6/12 which went to 8/16, which then went to 12/24 the highest we can play in the non-Indian casinos. Played solid game there as the players tend to be a little higher quality than the gamble up at Hideaway. Made an ok $335 in that game before I decided to play in the $65 buy-in limit tourn that started at 6:30pm. This is a crappy structure as they start you only with $1000 in chips and the blinds go up every 20 mins. It is just a crap shoot if you do not pick up any hands early. Managed to make it all the way to the final table, but without chips. With 14 players left an early position player raised with only enough for the raise plus $200. We were play 300-600 limit. I Made an isolation raise and three bet it with Pocket 10's. The BB called 3 cold with 99's. Flop A,A,9. Check to me and I bet. Call from the BB, I am done with it. Check check on the turn, he bets out on the river I muck. He turns over pocket 99's for a full house right on the flop and the all in had A,J for trips on the flop.. I went from 1st to 3rd right on the flop. Short stacked from there with only like $1000 left and busted out 10th, only paid 8 ouch. Turning point hand, had I won that I could have had some chips to play with. O Well.

Went to Hideaway where the gamble never seems to end. Betting(playing completely dark) dark, straddle(not live unfortunately), and 3 betting and capping pots with trash hands. Picked up another $267 late night and went home. It is amazing that there just seems to be an endless pit of money from these people, gotta love it. It was fun to compare the two games today. Much less volatility in the better players game, but tougher to beat. The swings in the Hideaway game can be huge. One bad run of cards with good hands and you are down a rack or two in 1 hr. Soooo much fun to play in if you can keep your head on straight when you lose to runner runner straight to someone with 3,6 offsuit to your AK when you hit K. You see good players all the time just quit the game because they cannot take the bad play. I must admit it gets to me somedays as well, when you just can't hang on to a hand that you hit on the flop and someone sucks your eyes out with shit. Book a win and go get some sleep. SJ