sap_pete

192 player NLHE, not a hand in forever. A+ for patience. Out in 60th. /shrug

36 player limit Razz, out in 15th after a string of shit cards. First time Razz tourney, so meh.

256 player NLHE, short stack for a long time. Doubled up a couple of times, then all-in with ATs vs A6o, and a 6 hits. Down to 800 chips with 200/400 blinds, 50 ante, against 20-30k stacks.
Double up one more time, then I'm all-in with KQo vs 88, and the board runs out.
God, I hate playing short stack.

Ran pretty good for a while. Got sucked in a hand that got me busted at WSOP:

Limp from button with JhTh. Raised by SB one more bet, UTG+2 calls.
Flop comes Kh8c6h.
SB checks, UTG+2 makes minimum bet (means she had a made hand, she played like that all day).
Call, call. Turn comes 9d, adding a straight draw to my flush draw.
SB bets, UTG+2 calls, and I get 6:1 to call. I call, and 2h completes my flush.
Checked to me, and a bet for value, but get no customers.

Played pretty tight to final table, and had a run of no card higher than 7. Lots of small suited connectors, but I held my line and waited. Key hands:

BB with 86o, I have 4 BB left. One caller, flop comes Q38, and I go all in. UTG calls with Kd9d for a flush draw, and my hand holds up.

In the cutoff after two orbits of no hands at all. UTG is one of the few stacks shorter than me, and he raises to 3BB. I go all-in with AK off, and he calls with QQ. Queens hold up, and I'm down to 4 BB again.

One orbit later I look down at 88, and go all in from the cutoff. BB calls my 3 extra BB and show KQ off. Board runs J96-9-Q, killing me on the river, in 7th place (money paid to 5th).

Enjoyable game with a good crowd. Average age at my table maybe 45ish, compared to the 60+ crowd I see there usually.

Played a couple of online tourneys.

227 player NLHE, went in 69th. Not much too it.

154 player NLHE, went out 14th (paid up to 18th).
Was among the chip leaders at 10k chips, waited for decent hands and went down to one of the short stacks around 5k. Built back up to 22k chips a little above average, and the whole table had pretty even stacks.
Tried to built a bigger stack for the final table and ended up going all-in with As8s vs KK, and the board ran out. Guess I could have tried to wait it out and improve another couple of spots, but I'm trying to play more aggressive.
Pretty happy I got in the money, though.

Oh, just noticed that I didn't post about my WSOP debacle. I thought I did...

Anyways, Event 48 (2000 NLHE). Sat tight and picked up a few small pots here and there without getting any real hands. After two hours of this, the whole table limps to me in CO, and I look down on 9h6h. I figure I'd like to see a flop, and limp.

flop comes 4h5hKs, and BB bets 1/2 pot. One caller, and I call as well, as well as the button.
turn comes 7c, giving me an open ended straight draw to my flush draw.

BB bets 1/2 pot, UTG folds, and I call. Button folds.

River comes a blank, BB bets out, and I fold. Shit ! Pissed away most of my chips on a draw, even though I had decent odds. And I said I wouldn't chase like that !

Got moved to a new table, and never found traction. 1500ish chips with 150/300 blinds, I go all-in with AJo and have one caller in the BB. He shows 77, and the board runs out blanks.

Oh well, it was still fun. Guess I'll go back to some more lower buy-in practice.

Played a bunch more online tourneys after taking a week after the WSOP disappointment.
Played solid in most tourneys, but on the lower levels are just so many donkeys that call with all kinds of shit and suck out in the end.

Nice example:
Raise 4 BB preflop with 99 from middle position.
Donkey calls.
Flop 642 rainbow.
3rd player mini bets into me, I raise the pot, donkey goes all in.
I call, and he shows A4o.
Hits his 5 outer on the river with another 4.

I'm crippled, and go all in pre-flop with KQ a few hands later. Same donkey calls me with 96 and puts two more 9s on the board. Sickening.

Sickest beat (not to me) was a guy flopping quads, and a guy got him with runner runner Royal Flush. Unreal.

An a happier note, I won a 109 player NLHE yesterday. Small beans, but still not bad.

Played 3 NLHE on Full Tilt

900ish players, out around 400 
Nice suckout by me on one hand here:
Short stacked, trying to steal the blinds from the button with A5s. Called by BB with AKo.
Board runs AK3 - 4 - 2 to give me the straight. The guy took it in stride, I gotta work on that. hehe

800ish players, out around 300

103 players, out in 6th. Medium stacked, bluffed at the pot with nut flush draw and overcard and got crippled.
Next hand all in 76c, called by KJo and busted. 

Finally I reached a LIVE person on the WSOP hotline, and he confirmed that my wire transfer / registration was received. I'll go down to the Rio this weekend to finalize, for event #48 starting next Friday.

Some online stuff tonight:
NLHE, went out halfway through in one, forgot how I got kicked out (tired).

NLHE, 86 handed, went out 8th (in the money) with A8c as short stack against K9s.
Flop came KKQ with two clubs, but the board ran out on me.

Wanted to play a mixed game, and thought I picked a HOSE NL, but it was actually limit <aargh>.
Went out 3rd of 38, not bad.

Time to sleep now (3 am).

Time to revive my LJ, now that I play a bit more poker again.
I've registered for a WSOP event ($2000 NLH), and have started playing a bit more online and live.

Played two $50 3-table tourneys in Sunset Station, got knocked out around 15th both times with terrible suckouts. Good news is that when I got all my chips in, the villains were usually drawing to 2-6 outs. Bad news are that they hit it every damn time:
BB w/ Q9c
Button has me outchipped 4:1, limps, and I check
Flop QJ2, I check, he bets out, I go all-in and he calls, showing AJ. 5 outs, and he gets a third Jack on the river. GFG.

- KQ. Flop comes K75, all-in against Q7. Spikes his 2-outer on the river.
- JT on a J82 flop. Put it all in and see AQ. Turn A, river Q. WTF ?
I had one decent hand hold up, which was KK vs. JJ vs. T9s.

Played a lot online, too. Mostly NLH sit'n'gos, but a couple MTTs as well.
- 2 18-handed sng's, won both
- 21 normal sng's, 3 x first, 6 times second, 1 third place. Not bad, given that I was experimenting with aggression.
- 143 player Omaha HL, out in 5th. Flopped AAx to my A, and villian made broadway on the river.
- 127 player NLH, out in 4th. All-in preflop with AA vs. KK, and he spiked his K. /shrug

Damn you (you know who you are) for turning me on to World of Warcraft. Drain on waste of my free time !

Our little poker tourneys (NL HoldEm, $30 - $50 buy-in / rebuy / add-on) happen with greater frequency now, unfortunately mostly without me. Last weekend I found the time to play, though. A field of 20 players, first 3 spots pay.

Half the players sucked (worse than me), but some were pretty tricky aggressive players. I had a slight chip lead when I went all-in with pocket 10s on a uncoordinated 8 high flop, and got called by the short stack who fleeced me for half my chips with his set of eights.

Bumbling along for a while, in danger of being eaten up by the blinds, I went all-in (6 times BB) off the BB with A8 off against one limper, and he called me with KT off. A ten flops, and no more help for me = out in fifth place.

All in all, not bad, but I really need to stop playing loose when everybody else does, too.

Resorted to playing SnGs the last few days.

Tonight, got all in a few times with a dominating hand, I guess that's all you can ask for (short of winning).

4 SnGs today (3 NL HoldEm, 1 Omaha H/L), two 4th places, one 3rd place, one 2nd place.

All-in with A7s vs. A2o, 2 on the river. Crippled, very next hand JJ all-in vs. 99, 9 flops. Fuck, how are you supposed to win like that ?

Omaha heads up, last hand AK998, all in with KKxx and am up against AAxx. Fucking beautiful.

Slightly better than even in the end, could have been worse I guess.

Freeroll time again, out in 34th of 1600 players. How am I supposed to make it to TV land like that ? Guess I'll have walk up to Hellmuth and slap him or something.

Unless I start making final tables at least 50% of the time pretty soon, I'll never play poker again, ever. Maybe sometimes. OK, won't change anything, really. Damn.

I will in earnest start preparations for my 2006 WSOP entry. This means I'll hide a tiny amount of my allowance every week from my wife. Maybe it will be enough to enter a satellite to a satellite to a satellite. If not, I'll tell Harrah's that I'm a famous russian poker champion, and they'll free roll me into the Tournament of Champions. Then I'll sit next to Hellmuth, who didn't do much lately to deserve this honor, either.

Got bored and played another freeroll on party. 1200 player NL HoldEm, qualifier to a 500K tourney. Started falling back at 100/200, and built my stack from 1/3 average to 3 times average. Little movement for a while, and I found myself on a new table with some big stacks (like 3 times mine).

Called a small stacks all-in, and one of the big stacks overcalled. I went all-in with QQ, and he called with AJo. Ace flops, bye bye. It's amazing how the single worst card flops for me every time. Well, almost every time.

Could have made it a lot by avoiding the big stack, but only top 7 pay, and I was getting pretty tired. Good practice, though, were up against some tough players along the way. Out in 91st of 1200.

Work totally steamrolls me these days. No time for updates (or for poker, for that matter) lately.

I played a couple of freeroll tournaments on party, and blew up on a 1900 player tourney in spot 34 or so because I got tired of the slowplay (cutoff is 30th).

I keep cleaning up on Omaha hi/lo tourneys, maybe that's my real calling ? In the money better than 50%.

Played two hold'em tourneys last night.
1600 player freeroll, was getting low on chips (20BB) with 200 players left. Raise 5BB in EP with AA, MP makes it 10BB, I go all-in, he calls and shows 99. 9 flops, thank you and good bye.

Second tourney was 400 players, down to around 150, me severely chips challenged after a couple of unlucky beats. Folded to me in CO with JJ, I go all-in with 10BB, big stack in SB calls me with AQ and flops A.
A few hands before I limped in BB with T8s, flop comes K88. I check, MP bets out, I raise, he goes all-in. I call, and he shows K8. Days like that.

Overall, I'm reasonably happy with my tourney play lately. When going all-in, I either dominate, or at least am in a coin flip situation with a good starting hand when the blinds threaten to eat me up.

Been busy / lazy.

Live play ok, online play so-so. Picl up a few racks at Palms low limit games, because the waiting was ridiculous on the hogher limit tables.

Just busted out of a online freeroll, 50th place out of 2200. Not bad I guess. Started falling behind in chips and went all-in for 12BB in LP with A8s. Got called by QQ, Q came on the flop, and it was all over. Money paid to 25th, but it was just peanuts, anyways. Best placement in a bigger tourney in a while, so there.

So my daughter woke me up early, and I thought I get some poker time in. So now, an hour later, I'm down 75BB, and get bad beats like never before. Don't tell me this fucking site is not rigged, because I have never seen anything like it anywhere else.

Stats are fine, VPIP 20, PFR 7 or so, just the cards are unreal. Flop a set - no good. Flop top two, no good. Within 5 minutes on two different tables, guys hit 2 outers on the river, calling down with bottom pair to my top two. I could go on and on.

I'll stick around for a bit, but this is just fucking outrageous. My last deposit was more than a year ago, but there won't be another to Partypoker, that's for sure.

At least, this time we were only 30 minutes late, still bad enough when it's 2 am and you have to work the next day.
The movie was the same as last week.
I sprung 7 bucks for a sandwich that was on pat with what every other airline gives you for free.

I hope my next project location gives me better flight options than Charlotte.

Apparently, I'm not the only one wondering about Party's action flops (I mean not the only sane person). Talked to two guys yesterday that play at multiple other sites, too (Star, Ultimate, Full Tilt), and they confirmed that it's not that extreme on other sites.

Won a pot limit SnG last night (one out of 3, blah), and also played in a 560 player speed limit HoldEm. I didn't catch cards, and two idiots at my table thought they should delay the action as much as possible in every hand right from the start. The blinds kept going up in 3 minute intervals, so there was no way to build a decent stack with those idiots at the table. By the time our table broke up, my stack was way below average, I got stuck with posting both SB and BB even though I had just had the blinds, and was out at about 240.

My first SnG bust of the night was classic Partypoker:
Limp in BB with 87o, flop comes Q87 (two diamonds). I throw in a pot sized bet, UTG doubles it, and one caller in LP. I push, UTG calls, and shows 88. ni han.

Back to Vegas tonight, can't wait to see how US Air fucks up this one again.

Just looked at some random stats from this month, and saw that I would have had 4 of a kind 4 times - except I didn't play any of the hands:

Ts4s in MP, folded pre-flop. Board comes 8c Jd 4h - 4d - 4c

Qc8s on the button, folded pre-flop. Board 8d 8c 9h - 8h- As

3h3d in SB, raised and I fold pre-flop. Board comes 4h 3s 3c - Ts - Jh

4th hand was 74o folded pre-flop with a board of J3333 to my 74, which went to a A kicker.

Ain't that a bitch ?

Yeah, big deal, I know, but it doesn't happen all that often lately, so there.
Omaha h/l - shouldn't even play hold'em anymore.

Had one sweet hand:
Ac2cAsKs
flop 5c6c8c
raised 7 ways, and both high and low held up for almost 2000 chips, not bad for 30/60 limit at the time.

Played a 3-table NL HoldEm, and didn't catch a card for the entire time. Went out around 12th place. Blah.

Ring games were ok, nothing spectacular.
Nice hand, .5/1 nonetheless:
Party Poker 0.5/1 Hold'em (8 handed) converter



Preflop: Hero is UTG with Kd, Kh.

Hero raises, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls, 1 fold, CO calls, Button calls, SB calls, BB calls.



Flop: (14 SB) 4d, Td, Kc (7 players)

SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets, UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls, CO calls, Button calls, SB calls, BB folds.



Turn: (9.50 BB) 9d (5 players)

SB checks, Hero bets, MP1 calls, CO calls, Button raises, SB folds, Hero calls, MP1 calls, CO calls.



River: (17.50 BB) Th (4 players)

Hero bets, MP1 calls, CO calls, Button raises, Hero 3-bets, MP1 calls, CO calls, Button caps, Hero calls, MP1 calls, CO calls.



Final Pot: 33.50 BB



Results in white below:

Hero has Kd Kh (full house, kings full of tens).

MP1 has 7d 5d (flush, ten high).

CO has Tc Ad (three of a kind, tens).

Button has Qd Jd (flush, queen high).

Outcome: Hero wins 33.50 BB.

Enough with all the bitching about Poker. How about some bitching about airlines ?

In my line of business, I fly a lot. I mean A LOT ! Unfortunately, not always does the client pay for the tickets, so pricing (read: gouging) has been a thorn in my eye for a while.

After flying America West for most of last year (which earned me their double platinum diamond encrusted "you da man" frequent flyer card), I was in the fortunate situation of receiving complimentary first class upgrades on pretty much every flight.

Enter Us Airways.
My latest destination is not serviced by America West. US Airways has a virtual stranglehold on this airport, and offers the only direct flights from Las Vegas. Fortunately, my client paid for the tickets, but $1021 for a 4 hour domestic flight is a little outrageous. Not only did they then put me in the last row seat (which doesn't recline) on the red eye flight, they also charge 7 bucks for a sandwich, and 5 bucks for headphones with proprietary plugs. WTF ? No wonder these assholes are going bankrupt.
Don't get me started on their upgrade policies, either, with 500-mile upgrade vouchers. Let's see, the flight is 1800 miles, so that's 3600 round trip, so I'll need to buy / trade / steal 8 upgrade vouchers. BS !

I hope America West takes over US Air and tossed out their BS policies.

Last Friday, I arrived at the airport early (6:30 pm) for my 9 pm flight. They already knew that the flight would be 2 hours late because of the flight coming in late from Orlando. You knew the flight would be late by 2 hours before the plane was even scheduled to leave Orlando ?
So, in 5 hours, or however long you knew, you couldn't find another plane in your own major fucking hub ? Oh, right, it's cheaper to piss off your passengers than try to accommodate them. How about at least giving them a free drink and a fucking sandwich on the flight after having them sit in the airport for 4 hours for no good reason ?

All I know is that I will not fly US Air ever again unless I have absolutely no choice.
[/rant]