I Can't Believe I Ate The Whole Thing!

So I played a little poker last night after all. At least I got out of the house first, had some remarkably tasty vegetarian dinner (so often do I find a lack of meat bland), watched a movie, and THEN played poker.

Oddly enough, I blame the fact I needed something to do while chatting. So does that mean I'm addicted to the community and not the game?

Probably not. Bunch of degenerates.

A few $10 SnGs (bubble, gigli, 2nd), a $5 SnG with Kat and 23skidoo, and then popping into a blogger 0.05/0.10 cash table for both shits AND giggles. More than doubled my $10 there, what a sweet ROI.

If I recall, Fuel, Hoy, LJ, and Waffles were there. Bayne and Mookie arrived later to the party after most of the guests had left.

As is often the case, much fun was had at the expense of the donkeys that didn't know what they were in for. Waffles chasing (and hitting) inside straights, Fuel liking his 3:1 odds just fine thank you, me cardracking like usual, Hoy getting his sets beat up, LJ honestly believing Aces were good against me after a flop that only a luckbox donkey would have the straight on. As one guy put it, "that's this table - you can't raise enough."

My favourite moment of the night, and one of the best poker-related laughs I've had in a while:

Hoy and Fuel are in a hand. Hoy with TT, Fuel with some quasi-connected cards. In the end, Hoy with a set, Fuel with a straight draw, Hoy's $6 into a $12 pot, Fuel calls and wins. Remember this was $0.05/$0.10 so that's equivalent to $600 into a $1200 pot at 5/10... right?

Fuel make a comment along the lines of "I had the odds to call."

This sets off one of the fish in this tank. He calls Fuel an idiot, says that he knows nothing about odds, etc., etc.. Fuel responds with an incredulous, "$6 to make $18?"

And then the comment of the night from fishboy...

.
..
...

"You put in half that money idiot."

!!!!!!

Yes sir, Fuel had missed the memo that redifined pot odds as "the ratio of how much money it will take for you to see another card vs the money currently in the pot, minus whatever you have already put in."

Oh how I laughed.

Maybe I was already in a good mood from the $1 90-man SnG I was donking around in where I decided to play only premium hands and crap. I somehow got to the river with J8 on a board that completely whiffed me, and pushed all-in for about 3/5 of the pot. Buddy folds and decides to start putting me on a hand. "You had the 7, right? I had 88... should've called." "A7? something like that. I've been sucked out on so much that I'm gunshy now."

How do you respond? I said, "better scared than broke I guess." I mean, everyone knows that scared poker is winning poker, right?

In a followup to an earlier post - Lindsay Lohan is innocent! She says so. "I am innocent... did not do drugs they're not mine." Obviously she was just holding the illegal narcotics for a friend. They'd be right back. Seriously. In other news - Lindsay Lohan is still an idiot.

See 55 of my fellow donkeys tonight at the BBT FREEROLL.

Only one hand matters.

I'm in around 23rd of 78 left of 1710 in the Midnight Madness. I've been kicking all kinds of ass with nearly no cards all night, as high as 6th, and never in the 30's after that. Phil Gordon is 2 to my left. I miss my old table, because it was sooo weak. The new one is all trying to impress Phil or something. So I'm picking my spots.

Blinds are 600/1200 ante of 150, full table. I'm not 1st in chips, but have enough to be scary.

UTG+1. Jh9c.

I raise to 3x the BB. If I get called, I'm pretty sure I'm good if I catch. If raised, I can get away easiliy
1 caller, who has 8k less than me.

Flop is 5dTdJc. I bet 4500 into the 7950 pot. Get called.
Turn is 7c.

I debate on checking, but then know I'll have to lay down to a bluff. I think he's got something, but I'm pretty sure my TP has him beat.

I bet 10,000 into the 15,950 pot.

Moron pushes for 15,228 total. I have to call the remaining 5228 now. I figure I'm outkicked, serves me right.

Idiot flips over TcQc. To recap:

Calls 2.3:1 against preflop with a hand that is 1.37:1 against a random hand. I guess if he's put me on ATC, this is okay (although I'd been much less obvious at this table). I don't really blame him here.

Calls 2.8:1 with middle pair, backdoor flush draw. (I'm now a 3:1 favourite) I think I lay this down if facing a bigger stack than mine.

Pushes 15k into a 26950 pot facing someone who has bet on every street, with second pair, flush draw. I obviously call (2.4:1 favourite, 8:1 pot odds). I maybe do this if I have any sort of fold equity against my opponent, which he doesn't.

River, of course, comes 5c. I'm crippled to 8k.

"nh"

"sorry man, turned myself into that one had to push it."

*SMACK*

"you didn't have to call the other two."

I get moved to another table, and go out a few hands later from the BB in 73rd for $32.49.. or about 3x the buy-in.

I owned this bitch. Grrr. Particularly crappy because I'd completely donked out of the 50-50 and the 28k was nothing exceptional. Then this comes along. I stole, I bullied, I read like the cards were face-up, and I lost on a river. I think they call that poker.

That's what I get for not betting more aggressively on the flop guess. It is my fault, right?

BTW - Phil went out 3 after me. The guy who crippled me? Out 58th. I owe everyone a dollar.

Thanks to LJ, Tragedy and Bayne for railing. It was much appreciated. Sorry I kept you up.


There was no big hand to get me here. I stole, re-stole, and bullied my way up. And I did it quickly.


This explains the 1700 entrants. Phil Gordon playing a $10 MTT online. Man did I want that bounty. I had chips on him all night. BTW - I folded a Q pre-flop :).


And how I finished. Far less impressive than the first picture.


Oh, and congrats to Mike_Maloney for taking 3rd in the 24k! Awesome job. He also took 1st in the Donkament.

Uneventful night in poker. I had a lvl 1 token I used for the 26k, I spent $4 on a $2 rebuy satellite to the 50-50, and played in the Riverchasers event.

Out within 5 minutes of each other for the 26k and 50-50, after a little over 1 1/2 hours and 2 hours respectively. Out 11th in the RC. Was down in all 3 at one point and chipped back up, which was nice. 50-50 and 26k were both shitty hands to go out on where I went with the semi-steal and found myself committed pre-flop in one and commited post-flop in another. The riverchasers was just a case of a very slow final two tables and me not upping the aggression appropriately. I don't know when I became so weak-tight again around bubbles, I have to fix that. Totally should have called that re-pop from Waffles.

This is one reason I don't like the run of starting hands I've had recently (it was cooler last night, but still AA once, QQ twice, and AK twice I think). It handicaps any other poker skills I had because I start to expect the big hands eventually and figure, "why spew chips now when I can lure in a big one later?" Time to shake that.

I did fire up a $1 1-table SnG before calling it a night in an attempt to give my inner donkey something to do. I failed miserably, as I couldn't resist folding crappy cards that I WANTED to call 2 all-ins with. Naturally, these flopped the nuts (97o = two pair and then the boat, 85o flops nut straight, etc.). I went out 7th after I finally donked properly and spewed chips like I had some sort of poker salmonella.

All-in-all though, it cost me all of $25 to play in $105 worth of tournaments. Shame I didn't cash in any of them.

All though I did like this comment from Waffles:

"I have notes on you - AA/KK/AK sometimes QQ. I remember when you were a donkey."

BBT is updated, and I'm still in 8th thanks to Hoy winning the Riverchasers last night and leapfrogging into 7th. It's like the anti-Mookie for him. Pretty good for a guy who couldn't point if his life depended on it at the start of this thing. Congrats!

So that leaves Don's Big Game on Sunday. Just like last time, I'll be at a BBQ with friends while playing. It worked out okay then, here's hoping for an even better showing this time around. Top 10 is still anybody's game, as is the top 5. Take over those token frenzies and peeps to get into this one. It should be HUGE with some serious money on the line. Password, as always, is "donkey".

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No pictures, but dinner was simple last night - vegetable rotini with chicken, honey-garlic elk sausage, bacon, zucchini, red & yellow peppers, garlic, yellow onion, and vodka sauce. The one thing of note? I pan-fried skinless chicken breast for the pasta and it tasted like KFC.

11 herbs and spices my ass.

Cast iron pan.
Little bit of vegetable oil.
Fried up some bacon first.
Left the bacon fat in the pan, added a bit of salted butter. (who wants healthy?)
Threw in the chicken.
Added fresh ground salt, fresh ground coarse pepper, chili powder, and a little bit of cayenne.

Tasty. In reality, I think all you need for KFC taste is MSG or lots of salt. :)

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Birthdays this weekend, Canada Day BBQ and Fireworks on Sunday with The Big Game, and Monday is a day off. I love long weekends.

I think I'm going to try making some white chocolate raspberry cookies for one of the birthdays. Also going to bring some elk to that one, since the host is a vegetarian and I needs me my meat. Does that make me an asshole? She said to BYOM, so I think not.

That and I'll be the go-to BBQ guy at the Sunday BBQ. Seems I'm the only one who can marinate chicken breasts properly and work the grill. It's not that hard, really. Here's hoping she doesn't run out of propane again.

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With the WSOP satellites over, I should figure out how to use my roll on Stars. Iak's got me thinking the $10k guarantee isn't a bad idea. Although once the BBT stuff is over, I think I'm going to spend a few weeks getting my cash game back up to snuff.

Repeat.

10th in the MATH for the 2nd straight week. Much like the Mookie, I was a total lucksack, but this time I went card dead during the all-in fest that was the final 18. In the end, my all-in reraise with A9o against leftylu's KJo (after he'd been raising my button repeatedly) failed to catch after a J hit on the flop. No regrets. I outlasted everyone but Iggy and Bayne ahead of me, and Newinnov went out right after me, so he only gained a little in the mighty point race

I told Hoy and others that these would get posted. There will be scrolling.



The NEXT hand after the Aces.







Right after the AK


Right after the previous 66


And Then we were on the FIRST BREAK.




This is what I get for slowplaying






That was the last big hand I saw. Stole a few blinds after, and that was it.

As for other "pretty" hands that didn't make screen shots:

1 AQ
2 AJ
6 KQ
3 KJ
1 QJ
10 Pocket Pairs (all but 1 < 77)
4 hammers (+1 suited)

Plus a ton of Ax (including a lot of AT), and suited Ax.

So I'm obviously a complete and total donk to go out in 10th with that rack of cards. Would have been much better timing to get hit in the face with the deck after the 3rd break instead of before the 1st.

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Congats to Bayne for taking down yet ANOTHER BBT event. Really, this is getting old now. I believe this now gives him the Mookie, regular Riverchasers and MATH triple crown at the moment. Making him a defending champ in all three.

*EDIT - Congrats to Chad for winning the 26k AGAIN. I think I just need to start jamming with unsuited disconnectors more often. :)

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Cashed in the fifty-fifty. I'm a tool though. After typing it all up, I'm not sure I'm a complete donkey. Maybe I've just convinced myself otherwise. This post is a mess, but it's late and I'm not going to tidy it up.

AJo, I limp in from the SB with the button limping before me. K-high flop, I bet, button raises, I fold.

Two hands later, AJh in the cutoff. No action before me, I raise to 4x the BB. SB raises to put me almost all-in (less 820 chips).

I start to think.

M was 6, but after my bet it's more like 4.4, and the SB is a fairly big stack (~46k in chips). He's either been lucky or aggressive, but I just got moved to this table and haven't seen enough to know. Why that raise? I don't think it was designed to get me to call or raise all-in, but to make a decision. I can't put him on a premium pair here with that bet after the bubble. I'm sure it's to scare me out. AK? AQ? Maybe. More likely a complete blind-protecting bluff or an overplayed medium pocket pair.

And then, with an M of 5, people dropping like flies post-bubble, pot odds of 1.76:1 I think, I call my coin flip (1.17:1 ... or 46%) and he flips over 77... so not a complete bluff. 33QKK on the board sends me home 142nd for $80 and change.

Now, I had to take the possibility of him being full of it into account here. In my mind that skews the odds more in my favour. I'm pretty sure at worst I'm in a coin flip, and maybe even facing a weaker suited ace. Premium hands just aren't a consideration as far as I'm concerned. Plus, I'm playing to win, not walk out with $80. The next few levels are small increases, and if I win here, I'm over 20k in chips and can steal, gamble and cruise for a few levels.

In the end, it was that chance to double-up that made my decision for me.

So sooooted AJ being a cruddy hand aside (although I think my 4x BB raise in the cutoff is the right move 100% of the time), am I thinking correctly here?

- I've put him on either a medium pair, a weak ace, or a stone cold bluff for my chips
- M is < 5 if I fold, but I'll be in the hijack at a full table
- We've lost 12 players since the bubble burst about 2 minutes earlier
- I'm in the cash for $80. Next levels are $86, $97, and $113. So I have to go 2 more levels to see a significant percentage jump, and that means outlasting around 42 more people. I don't care about $17 more, I want to go deep.
- This guy is either lucky or good. If he's lucky, then he could have anything - paint, a weak suited ace, hell, even a suited king is a possibility. If he's good, then he doesn't have a premium hand here and wants to scare me off or isolate with AK, especially since he knows I can fold from 2 hands earlier. So either way, I'm 95% sure I'm in a coinflip or better with that bet.
- Pot odds are 1.76:1 (I think) vs my coin-flip (at worst)
- If I double-up here, I'm solid for a while

*EDIT: One thing I didn't think of was his stack size BEFORE my initial raise. I think if I had I would have either pushed or tried to get in cheap and folded to a re-raise. This might have been my biggest mistake.

Do you go all-in or fold? Hell, is my math even right?

Full Tilt Poker Game #2762964492: The Fifty-Fifty (20654789), Table 5 - 300/600 Ante 75 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:40:43 ET - 2007/06/25
Seat 1: lawdork1980 (48,386)
Seat 2: azbigpot (21,255)
Seat 3: peterthekiller (7,172)
Seat 4: Astin (9,370)
Seat 5: RobM77 (13,915)
Seat 6: cruise122 (46,617)
Seat 7: Mkush (11,892)
Seat 8: rancher7979 (3,565)
Seat 9: winning_12 (20,437)
[everyone antes]
cruise122 posts the small blind of 300
Mkush posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Astin [Ah Jh]
[folds to me]
Astin raises to 2,400
RobM77 folds
cruise122 raises to 8,475
Mkush has 15 seconds left to act
Mkush folds
Astin has 15 seconds left to act
Astin raises to 9,295, and is all in
cruise122 calls 820
Astin shows [Ah Jh]
cruise122 shows [7d 7s]
*** FLOP *** [3d 3h Qc]
*** TURN *** [3d 3h Qc] [Kc]
*** RIVER *** [3d 3h Qc Kc] [Ks]
Astin shows two pair, Kings and Threes
cruise122 shows two pair, Kings and Sevens
cruise122 wins the pot (19,865) with two pair, Kings and Sevens