Small Plays

Played three times since the last post. Went to the Muck last Monday the 21st and played in the $30/60 game during the day. Did not play all that well, but managed to get up a little at the start and then played really loose and gave back all that I made plus -$555. I quit because I knew I was not playing well and did not want to loose anymore. Sometimes you just need to recognize that you are not on your A game and call it a day, so I did.

I then went up to Parkers on Friday night the 25th. The place was just jammed packed and the list was a mile long. I should have left as it was taking too long to get into a game, but I decided to hang out because I really did not want to go home either. I finally got in after almost a two hour wait, but then my heart was just not into playing anymore. I played too passive, and got bored with the limit quick so I just quit after two hours of play and down -$113.

The last play since my last post was last night the 19th at Parkers once again in the $8/16 game. This was a wild ride. I went in with the right attitude, and played aggressive poker. I just kept running into hands, and bad beats. I did not win a hand the first two hours I played and got into the game for $700 before I started to make a comeback. I moved tables as the night got longer and they collapsed a table to fill it up. I kept playing my game, and low and behold my hands actually started to hold up, and the rest of the table started to play real passive. I was able to check in the BB with some really bad hands that turned into monsters. 6,4 off flopped two pair and filled on the turn, and the river brought a fourth flush card and I got to raise and got re-raised on the river, I just called because my full house was not all that big and I won. 9,3, off flopped two pair and held, and last 10,4 off filled up with a full house on the river for another big pot. I got all the way back and quit a $38 winner. Not a huge win, but morally satisfying nonetheless to get out net winner. Net Net from the 3 session a net loss of -$630 which offset my win of $615 from the last post. Not much to talk about there. Still good for the year for not playing much.

On a side note my friend Aaron made it past day one of the WPT final in Reno in 31 place. I just talked to him and there are 49 players left to play down to 27 in the money today. Not many chips but still in it. Keep on plugging. SJ

Just Playing

Went up to Parkers on Friday night to just play. The biggest game was 8/16 so I just sat in that game to get some practice. I wanted to check to see if my run on Tuesday was a fluke in this long run of shitty cards or if I had turned the corner. Well I hope I have turned the corner. I was getting pretty normal cards and making the most with them. I continued to play well. Making the right moves at the right time to take down the pots. I do not know what I did, but I am playing really well right now. I had great feel at the table which is strange because I have not been playing much to build up the feel. I just felt good, and had great reads on the other players at the table. I finsihed the night up $615 in about 4 hours of play. Hope it continues. I may go play today. SJ

Finally

I remember what it feels like to play good poker and run ok. I have not played much lately as you can tell from my somewhat infrequent posts so I went down to the Muck last night without any expectations. I just wanted to play again. I sat in the $30/60 game for about two hours before the tourn. Started and played what I felt was a pretty good game. I was actually getting some cards to play, which has been a rarity the last few month(like 6. I forgot what it was like to play with an average run of cards. I built up a table image, people could not put me on hands, and I even made a few draws, and cracked some big hands with pot odds calls. What a great feeling. I cashed out in two hours with a profit of $1,292, and a big freeroll into the tournament.

The tournament was a $110 buy-in with a $100 rebuy. It looked ugly early as I raised in early position with AQd, and got a cold call behind me. The flop came down 6 high and I bet out at the pot. He called me. The turn brought a 9 or 10, and I bet out again. This time he raised me a little amount and I called. The river brought nothing significant, I checked he bet and I called. He turned over Pocket KK, and I lost with my A high. I know, weak play, doomed to exit early. I rebought to get my stack size up to pay again and then started to play great. Getting some hands, making some good bluffs, and catching some cards when I needed to. Before I knew it I was down to the final two tables out, of 5 to start, and the blinds and antes were coming fast. I needed to make a hand as I had only about 4000 in chips and we were playing like 100/200 with 50 antes. As fate would have it the chip leader makes a standard raise from early position. The button sensing some weakness, as I did, we all in, I look down in the small blind to see AK off. Killer. This is as good as it will get. I called all in the chip leader folded and I took of the flop with AK vs. A4 off. I held up and tripled up my chips. I stayed in control until the final table, where I kept playing well. My big hand was 57 spades on the button. The chip leader once again, who was pushing the table around, raised from one off the button. I felt he did not have much of a hand and he did not raise a ton, maybe double the blinds. I called and took the flop heads up, thinking either one I could hit my hand, or two I had position and could take the flop. The flop came down Q,4,6 one spade. Cool an open ended draw with a backdoor flush draw. Then to my surprise he checked. I thought about betting to win right there, but I felt why not take the free card and see if I can hit the turn cheaply as I can not call a raise here if I bet. The turn brought a beautiful 3. GIN. He then bet into me about 4,500, I only had about 12,000 so I thought about it a while trying to induce a call and then moved in. He did not call but I won a nice pot nonetheless. That gave me the juice to make it to the final three, and I played great three handed. I got pocket QQ vs 99 for a huge pot, then busted the other player with KJh, vs. A3 when a K,3,6 flop came down and I checked and he moved in on me. I called as this bet looked very fishy, and I help up to win. It took me two hands to bust the other player and I won the tourn. as well.

Finally a good day. Puts me well into the black for the year as I won a little over $4000 between the cash game and the tourn win. Talk to you soon. SJ

Hollywood Home Game

I played a private game last night with a bunch of rich executives in Seattle. It was a great game, not very experienced players and lots of money. We were playing pot limit with a 2/5 blind structure. You could make some money, not a ton but there was like $5000-$7000 in the room. I was doing just fine making a little money without any big pots, but I made one fatal mistake. I called up Aaron, who is one of the best no-limit and pot-limit cash game players in the world. He plays 50/100 100/200 blind games all the time in LA and just crushes those games. He decided to come over and goof around with us in the game. This limit was a joke to him so he was just gambling and playing his usually good game. He started every pot with a raise to get the limit up, so here I sit with Pocket AA's on the button. He made it 17 to and we got a cold call in the middle. I made it 55 to go and he just called. The flop came Q,7,2 rainbow, and he bet out $100, and I came over the top for $300, and he put the rest of what I had in which was only about $100 left. He turned over Q,2 for two pair and I did not improve. Great, he busted me. That was about 15 minutes before the end of the night so I did not get time to get my money back so he took all the money I made and then some in the game. Total loss for the night for me -$300. He made $1300 in about an hour and 1/2. I should have left him out of the game. O well it was fun. SJ