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Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Out of the Woodwork

Wow, the highlimit poker players from Seattle came out of the woodwork yesterday to play at the Muck. There were two big games going yesterday, one was the biggest we have had in a long time, and both were full ring games with a list for the biggest game. We were only missing a few regulars, but the others that showed up more than made up the difference. There were guys there that I had not played with since the WSOP in Vegas. That was nice to see. Unfortunately it made for a rather tough game. A mix of good players thrown in with the gamblers, all in all it was fun and slightly profitable for me.

So the games... There were two bigger games going. One $50/$100 and one $100/$200 with a 1/2 kill to $150/$300. That is a pretty big game for Seattle. I jumped into the $50 game and proceeded to get stuck right out of the gate, of course. I only played there for about 30 minutes, played three hands, lost all three, and went over to the bigger game stuck $1,200, nice. I got it back right away and then proceeded to do nothing most of the night. Never down more than $500, never up more than $2,000. I could just not get over the hump with that one big pot to get going. I would always either walk a big hand into another, or take a stupid beat, or just stupidly beat myself. It happens.

The game did have some fun players in it however. Barry of course was there, Tweety the nightmare from my last session, she was super buried this time however and burning her chips playing terrible. Of course very few of those went to me. Then we had the guys that I have not played with since the WSOP. Rep was there, good, very wild player, see a few posts ago for the picture. He cycled about $15,000 over the course of the night. Then we had an appearance from Ian Johns. Young internet player who won a bracelet last year at the WSOP.



Nice quiet kid with a solid game. I enjoy playing with him in the game. He brought his friend Travis who is also a pretty solid player. OK, for those who have read this far a little trivia. How many bracelet holders are there from Seattle and can you name at least 4 of them?? Potential cash bonus(maybe $25) in your online account to the first person who can name all of them, and those that were in the game cannot claim the cash.

How about one hand which describes how I just could not get over the hump. The game was getting late, people were starting to gamble and press hands a bit, and I look down at Q,J diamonds in 2nd position. We are playing 8 handed right now. I open limp with the hand. This is a hand I would almost never play from upfront, and if I do I will raise with it 90% of the time when I do decide to play it that 10%. I was not happy with this move right after I put my money in the pot. I was trying to create a limp pot and see a cheap flop. Usually if you limp in an early position you create a cascade of calls behind you and get volume in the pot to hit your hand. This was not one of those games however, way too many aggressive players, it was a mistake. Ian immediately to my left raises, and then to my surprise three more players call behind him and we take the flop off 5 ways. The flop hit me hard. Q,J,7 one diamond. I bet right into the field. #1) I knew Ian would raise and drive out any stupid draws or make them pay to draw. #2) I wanted to find out if Ian had a real big hand or just AK. Ian did raise, it did drive all the others out, so I just called feeling pretty good that right now I had the best hand. The turn came the 3 of diamonds. Now I have top two, with a diamond draw. I check again, Ian bets, I raise it up to $400 and he just calls. I am now 100% I have the best. Boards pairs with the 7 of hearts on the river. I bet, Ian raises, I make the crying call, he shows me AA. I go back to even. I should not have bet the river, the better move would have been to check call, but I should have read the big hand and made the laydown. I have been having trouble finding folds on the river too much. I need to work on this part of my game. Ian was doing this well all night. I really liked that part of his game. The best move would have been to just fold the damn hand preflop like I do 90% of the time.

Results, the good news is that I won a few dimes, the bad new is that it was only about 1/2 a buyin in this game so essentially I broke even. It was fun however. Hope you are all winning and talk to you soon..SJ

Monday, January 22, 2007

Stuck to My Plan

So I did make it to the Commerce this past week on Friday after business was done. The place is starting to fill up in anticipation of the tournament this week. It could also just have been it was Friday night but I think it was a combo of both as I saw some regular Vegas players and others who are not there all the time at the tables.

I am happy to report I stuck to my plan for the Commerce this year. I played $60/$120 only with a short 30min at the $40/80 table while waiting to get into the $60 game. The games down there were great. The $60 game is full of $40 players playing a little above what they normally play. The tables were full of weak/tight, and loose/weak players. As long as you could stand the suck outs it was a spectacular game. Lots of limping from early position(and not the dangerous kind), lots of callers when that happened, and lots of hands that could get you in trouble. My plan in this game was to play super tight, as there was not any reason to gamble here. There was enough money in every pot that you did not need to win many to make money. I was even dumping some good draw hands in late position as lately I have been leaking too much money in these spots. What astounded me was that after I had been in the game with the same people for a few hours, not playing almost any hands, when I did play I still got action. People would try to raise me of the nuts, people were calling me down after I would three bet the raise, and I would show them the nuts and then one round later they would make the same mistake again. There was not much learning or observation going on from the rest of the table. Here is example A: I had been playing with this guy for over three hours and he had even commented how tight I was playing. I picked up K,10 off on the button and there were 5 limpers in the pot, I even said outloud that even I can limp in this pot. The flop came A,Q,J rainbow. I flopped the joint!! There was one early bet, a few mucks another call, and I pop it on the button. This guy who had been in the SB and directly to my left 3 bets it. The other two get out of the way and I cap it just in case he had a set and/or was just trying to narrow the field and play me heads up. 8 on the turn, 6 on the river and he check calls me all the way down with A,10. That hand is going to be good against me 0% of the time in that spot if I can call a 3 bet or cap on the flop. He had been playing long enough with me to know that, yet called anyway. Can you see how nice that game was?? He was actually one of the better players at the table. Makes for a good game. I went card dead and did not play a hand past the flop for about 3 hours and leaked back a little money, but the last hour I was there I made a ton. I ended the night up almost 4.5 dimes, happy to finally book a win in 2007(1-2) and will be back in the middle of Feb. for the tournament.

A few posts ago someone asked me what I meant by too much cheating going on in the $100/$200 game at the Commerce. What I meant by that is that there are a few teams of players down there that when there are not that many games(1 or 2) they collude. I don't think there are marked cards, but I have heard stories there too, so I would not put it past them. I just don't like that game unless it is tournament time and the tables get watered down and the teams can't play together. I really wanted to play the 3rd $100/$200 game that got started Friday night. It was 4 handed with KMS and Tommy from Seattle in the Game with two others I did not know. I knew with the way they played however that it was going to be a high variance game and I did not want to take my profit and vaporize it in two hands over there. So I stayed out and took my money back to Seattle with me.

I think I will play tomorrow at the Muck. And by the way, don't get too bummed out on the Neteller thing. Another one will pop up to take its place in a very short amount of time. There is just too much money to be made for that not to happen. The US Government chasing this stuff is a waste of taxpayer money and frankly I am sick of it. Find something better to do with my money, like give it back to me if you are going to waste it fighting a war we can't win, and arresting guys who live in other countries because you don't like who they do business with. Talk to you all soon, and I hope you are winning. SJ

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Small Update

I have only played once since the nasty session from last Tuesday. I had a buddy in town last Friday and he wanted to play a little no-limit so we went down to the Muck on Friday night. The game is $5/10 blinds with a $500 max bet, and $500 max buy-in. So not quite no-limit, but close enough. He was doing quite well, up about $2,000 then gave most of it back in about 5 hands. I on the other hand did nothing all night. Had AAA once and won a small pot, other than that played a few hands that went nowhere. I ended up stuck less than one buy-in but once again not a win. 2007 0-2 in sessions.

I chose not to go play poker on my usual Tuesday night because Cleveland and LeBron were in town. I went with my brother and the game was great, the Sonics actually won. This has been a rare occasion this year as the team really sucks. We have some pretty good seats, see pictures below...




I am traveling to LA tomorrow. Have business during the days on Thursday and Friday. Going to the Kings game on Thursday night with my buddy Joe.



I might squeeze in a session at the Commerce. We will see. Hope you are all winning and talk to you soon..SJ

Friday, January 12, 2007

Drunk Poker(Not Me)

So my 2007 gets off to a rocky start. I did go down to the Muck this last Tuesday, and when I got there they had a $50/100 ring game going. I got on the list but a few of the players asked if we wanted to start a short handed $100/$200 game. The players that were going to start the game had one person who I thought would make the game good so I said sure. We started the game only three handed with me, Chris, and Barry. That is an ok game, but I really wanted a woman named Tweety to play, should be careful what I ask for.

I got off to an even then down start. I was not catching cards and was playing a bit too passive for a three handed game. My game is not sharp after a long layoff but I was hoping to overcome that with a good mix of players. Tweety finally came over from the other game and I managed to get back to even and then up a bit. During this time however the other three started to drink. It was Chris's birthday last weekend(happy b-day) and he got the others to start drinking. I did not partake as I never like to drink when playing cards, especially at this level, but I guess it could not have hurt. The game turned into a loud and druken game with too much gamble. The one place it really hurt was that Tweety, normally a very weak tight player, changed her game drunk. You can make money bluffing her and getting her to lay down 2nd best hands that would still be good. When she got drunk she stopped folding hands, ANY hands. She played everything and the game turned into a no fold-em Hold-em game. Usually not bad if you play good cards and they hold up. I went on a run where I was getting good cards 4 handed and I would whiff with AK and she would catch with 8,4 off and call all the way down with 5th pair. I just could not make a hand. It was even more painful as the table was loud and getting goofy drunk. She was so drunk that she called down Chris on a board of 9,9,8,6,3 with J high and unfortunately for Chris who bet the whole way it was good. Who the hell calls with J high?? How could it possibly be good? At least bluff raise the river to try and win the pot. She just called?? That is a play she would never make playing her normal sober game. PAINFUL. I dumped 1 and 1/2 buy ins and decided to quit. I had enough pain and could not take the drunk game anymore. The other two were stuck as well. Tweety was the only winner. UP big I suspect. I hope the others got some of their money back. I did not stick around to try.

That was a shitty way to start the year. Already in a hole after one session. Hope you are all winning and talk to you soon. SJ

Monday, January 08, 2007

Hello 2007

Hello people. I hope you had a great end to 2006. I spent mine in 83 degree weather and golfing in Hawaii rather than playing poker. I have not played a live hand in over 4 weeks, but I have played a bit online, nothing to write home(or blog) about.

Most blogs I have looked at lately talk about what goals they have in poker for the coming year. I only have one. I will play in the WSOP main event this year. I don't even care if they don't get as many players as last year. I have to find a way to clear my work calendar enough to make that happen. I will probably play even less poker this year than 2006 and that was less than 2005, but that is they way it goes as family and work are the priorities, and poker is taking more of a back seat than ever. I still hope to play somewhat regularly at the Muck, but that was a lot less regular the last half of the year than the first half. Let's just play it by ear.

On the poker front I finished 3023rd out of 3966 in the Player of the Year standings for cardplayer 2006. I would like to improve on that standing this year, but that would actually mean playing more than 4 tournaments that qualify for points, which is what I did in 2006. I do hope to do that this year however.

I also am looking to update some of the blogs that I read. If anyone has any suggestions of blogs to read/link up hit me with suggestions. I like to read blogs of players that play mostly live, or if they do play online, they play high enough to have some content worth reading or are just entertaining in their own ways. Not that mine has any content worth reading, but I don't want to read any more garbage than mine, the others need to be worth my time to read. I also am taking down two that have been linked up for a while. I am dropping Flecia and Cardspeak. Neither is updating anymore so I am giving up on them. I am adding www.rileypokerlife.blogspot.com as he has linked me up and is entertaining to read as he mixes in sports as well as poker content. Good luck to him as it looks like he is contemplating quitting his job to play poker. Tough choice, one I could/will never make. I am also adding Iggy's second blog at pokerwoks, always a good read.

Congrats to local player Ralph "REP" Porter for placing 30th in the Pokerstars event. His cash should pay for his travel expenses, maybe.



Hope we all have a great beginning to a new year and we all win this year. I might actually get to play tomorrow. Will post later in the week if I do. I also heard their was an Aaron Katz sighting at the Commerce this last weekend in the NL cash tables. Good to see him back at the tables. I predict good things from him this year finally. He is super due. SJ