Should Have Stayed on Break

I decided spur of the moment last night to go out and play with a friend who was in town so I went down to the Muck late night last night. I jumped into the $50/100 game at about 9:30pm and it was all down here from there. I should have just stayed on break. But of course I like to play so I did, and who is to say it would not have happened next week the same way. You run how you run. I of course ran like shit. No cards to play, muck for many rounds in a row. Take off a few flops out of the blind when odds are there with draw hands, and then wiff, wiff, wiff. Get AK, and raise and wiff, muck. All night long. Saw AA's once the whole night and got the blinds.

Only hand of interest all night, that of course I lost, was when I picked up pocket 33's in middle position. There was one limper and then a raise and the two blinds were people I had a good feeling would call if I called as well so we were going to get a nice pot to try to flop a set. I of course flopped a set when the flop came 3,10,Q. There was a bet and I just called the flop as my set was well hidden, and there were all kinds of possible draws, I wanted to see the turn to see what happened. All 5 players called. The turn paired the Q, now I have a full house and there is still the straight draws and now a flush draw to keep people in. There was a bet, a call, I raised, and the two dumped behind me, but two called. The river was a nasty Q, putting three Q's on the board and fucking my full house. Of course the two callers had 10's to chop up the pot. NICE.

I ended up playing short handed for a while when the night got long but the run stayed the same. Just more hands to play and more flops to miss. I finally gave up a little early for me down -$2922.

I am heading to Vegas this weekend on Sat. to play in the Sun and possibly Monday tournaments and the Bellagio. Both NL tourn. $1,500 on Sun, and $2,000 on Saturday. Wish me luck. I will also try to jump into the $80/160 or $30/60 games while I am there. Have not been to Vegas since the WSOP so I am really looking forward to it unless I run like I did yesterday. Talk to you soon, hope you are all winning. SJ

A Hostile Night at the Muck

I went down to the Muck last night for my usual Tuesday run and it was a rather hostile night at the tables. Lots of ego and anger among the tables. Must have been the full moon. It started out a great night for me. I got down there after work and jumped right into an open $50/100 seat. I played my usual game and before I knew it I was up a little over $2000. Then the tournament was about to start and almost everyone at the table decided to play. I don't know why, as you have a much better chance of making money in the $50 game than at this tournament, but go they went, and bust went the game. There was no available seat in the $20 game so I joined the crowd in this crappy tournament and went out uneventfully about half way through.

There were both a $20/40 and a $30/60 going at this point so I waited a bit to get into the $20 and took my seat. I lasted about 30 minutes at that table and had lost no money and then moved to the $30 game. This is where the night got hostile. I took my seat in this absolutely fired up game. This game had a dude named Smiley in it. He is one of the funniest guys to play poker with, but he is crazy. He will raise with garbage and chase to the river with the smallest draw and just eat up your chip stack along the way. This of course gets everyone in the mood to gamble, there is lots of money changing hands, and people going on tilt. People are barking at the dealer for the beats, the pots are just huge, so making sure all the betting is correct is a challenge, and on top of that we had two guys getting drunk, and one Asian dude who was just running over the table for like $5,000 who seemed a bit surely as well. This was going to be a crazy game. I take my seat and am asked if I want an overs button to play $50/100 overs. I decline. Here is why. I think it encourages bad play. You get to see cheap flops and then get better implied odds to play draw hands. I also don't like keeping track of who has them and who does not. That said I passed. Then this guy in seat one says "I saw you in the $50 game what's up with not playing overs". I said I am happy to play $50/100 hell lets go play $200/400 if that is what you want, but I am not taking an overs button. Well he is drunk and for some reason this just sets off a nerve in this guy. He takes great offense at my comment, and feels like I was challenging him to play a big limit that he could not play. Well I guess this guy owns some computer company and says that he has got more money than I do and its not about the money and that I am a punk. I just sit there quietly. I have no interest in getting into it with this guy. Well that pisses him off even more because I will not engage with him. He starts to just fume, starts swearing left and right, berates another guy at the table who just asked him to stop swearing. The floor gets called by the dealer and this guy is so pissed he leaves. Continuing to swear at me on his way out. Wow that was weird. Then the dealer deals a hand and takes the Asian guys cards that were not protected in front of him in turn as he goes around the table. This Asian guy then goes off and calls the dealer a mother fucker. Wow, nasty table going here. He does not get kicked out. OK now we are really emotionally charges at the table. The next hand goes nuts. There is a raise in early position from the Asian guy, I cold call him with Q,10 spades as he could have anything at this point. I create a cascade of calls behind me, Smiley in the BB three bets into a field of 7 who have all called. This is just a pot building raise and means nothing, the Asian guy caps it, and the rest of the table calls. I call here with my hand as it is a great draw hand, and the pot is already going to be $840 before the flop. Flop comes A,10,7 two spades. Smiley bets out, Asian guys raises, I call, I don't even remember how many other callers we got but I think at least two or three. The turn was a beautiful spade. I don't even remember the card. Smiley checks the Asian guy bets and now I raise. The funniest thing happened then, everyone folded and we did not even see the river. What?? NO ONE has two pair, the K of spades, a set, wow push me the $1300 pot I will take it. Unfortunately, that was about the best I could muster in this game and did not win much from there. I took what was going to be common in this type of game beats with AK, flop a K and get beat by 9,3 off by making two pair on the river. It happens. I ended up making $4 in the game. Woo Hoo. Total for the night +$2225 in the $50 game, -$210 in tourn buyin, and $4 in the $20/40 $30/60 games. Net +$2019. OK a win I will take it.

On a side note I did meet DR. Chako who comments in this blog from time to time. Good guy, great to meet some people there who actually read this crap I write. Also check out the picture of Vince Neil and his wife at his charity poker tourn in Vegas last week. That would have been fun to play as some of you know I am a metal head from the 80's and 90's. His wife would have been really distracting to play with at the table, how do you focus on the cards with those staring you in the face.




Hope you are winning, talk to you soon, SJ

Back to the Slog Fest

I fired it up again last night down at the Muck. Tuesday has turned into a great day as they are now getting the $50/100 game on a regular basis on Tuesday. Unfortunately for me when I got down there after work it was full game and no seats. I sat around for a bit and decided to play $10/20 to warm up. Nothing exciting there and was down $40 bucks in about an hour.

I still could not get a seat so I decided to go play in the NL tournament they run down there. It still sucks, which is why I don't play it anymore. You either #1) don't start with enough chips for the blinds or #2) the blinds go up way to fast for the amount they do start you with and they skip some limits to get the tournament over fast. So I decided to try a new approach. You don't get time to work your chips so I figured I would play a little more aggressively and open up some starting hands to hit some flops. So what happens on my first hand, I am in late position with 8,9 hearts. I raise, and get called by both blinds. The flop comes down 8 high with two spades. It gets checked to me and I make a pot size bet of $300, the SB blind comes over the top for all his chips of $1,500. That smelled really fishy like a spade draw so I called looking to doubble up. He shows me A,8 and I lose my buyin on the first hand. OK rebuy. You only get one rebuy so now I had to play a little more cautiously. I play another hand soon after that in early position for a raise with A,Q and I get four callers including the blinds. Flop comes Q,6,6 blinds checks I bet the pot which was like $600 everyone folds and the BB comes over the top of me again. OK now this sucks, I put him on a 6 and just lay it down right there. What other hand could he have to make that move with such speed and confidence. He shows me 6,7 off and takes the pot. Now I am short stacked, as I pay a round of blinds, and I have like $800 left. I get dealt A,Ko in early position and just move in as the blinds are now $50/100 and a raise to $300 pretty much has me pot committed anyway. I get called in two spots late. A,Qo, and K,Js, prefect I have them both dominated. Nope, K on flop then runner runner to make the K,J a straight. Out fast. Off to $50/100.

This is where the slog begins. I am back to running pretty poorly. If you were reading a few months back I was not getting any cards to play and could not hang on to hands. Well last night was a repeat of that fun. Two outers and three outers galore, and then long stretches of not getting hands to play and mucking everything is site for hours at a time between playable hands. I was focused on playing really disciplined poker and I did. The last session I played I got really loose and gambled it up a bit to try and win. Bad idea. This time I just did not play anything, but then when I did play I just could not get over the hump on a run. I did have fun, and I was happy with the play, but the result was still a loss. Net for night -$40 in $10/20, -$210 buyin to tournament, -$190 in $50/100. Basically a break even session loss of -$440. The sad thing was it was a great game. One player all night just playing super aggressive and lose, and having huge swings in chips, like a swing of $8,000. I did not get any of them. That happens.

On a side note, NYC was great. I ate my way through the city at some great spots and no I did not play any cards. I did want to go see the club where A Rod got busted but my brother did not know where it was. Also to the comment on being too concerned with being stuck and maybe playing too high two things. #1) If you don't keep track of your results you have no clue how you are doing or playing. Those that don't keep score are most likely loosing players. You are also damn right I care about being stuck. I am there for fun, but I am also there to win. I want every chip on the friggen table. I hate to lose, if you like to lose please come sit at my table, I can help you with that. Being stuck sucks, you should never like it, and I surely don't. #2) As for playing too high one should never play with money that you need. If you need the money on the table don't play, simple as that. Pressure to win changes your game and usually not to the good, it goes to weak tight, don't go there. Last, I am lucky to have a great job that pays well. It is why I don't play much, but it also allows me to play whatever level I feel like. So while I appreciate the concern, the $50/100 game can't hurt me. But as I said I hate to lose so it pains me to lose $1 in the game, but it ain't going to make a ounce of difference in my life. Hope you are all winning and running better than I. Good luck...SJ