Live and kicking

Played a fair bit of live poker recently with my usual mixed results. (SICK hand alert at the bottom)

Was up £300 at Dusk Till Dawn a few weeks ago until meeting up with LJ for dinner and then foolishly returning for a second session.

Sucked out on LJ with some donktastic chasing but then karma maybe bit me in the ass in a massive pot with AK on an AKJx board, when 108s chased his flush draw by check-raising me on the turn and calling my shove. He got there obv.

Lost rest of my stack v same player when he called my pre-flop raise with KJo and flopped two pair, I had A10s so flopped a gutty str8 flush draw on the KJ10 flop, but obv missed.

DTD has just started a PLO tourney on Wednesday's and a PLO/PLH one on Sunday night. Made the final table of the PLO for a small profit but overplayed top set in Sunday's round of each tourney and went out to a turned str8.

That tourney has a huge overlay in terms of the Omaha round though. At least two people on my table openly discussed how they had never played Omaha before, and I overheard someone on the adjacent table asking how many cards he had to use.

After busting out of the tourney I played some cash games but the 2/2 PLO game didn't last long before breaking. Flopped one monster hand with nut str8 and nut flush redraw but the guy with a set who bet the flop and turn sadly found a fold when I raised the turn.

I was definitely contemplating just calling behind on the turn but slowplaying in Omaha almost never feels right and I actually figured we might both have a str8 and I was freerolling with the flush draw.

After that table broke I rejoined a 1/2 NL game and had a real rollercoaster session.

Lost to my customary 2-outer to the worst player in the club, who called my PFR with QJs (not too hideous in itself) and then shoved for £88 when I c-bet £55 on a Jxx flop. I obv call and equally obviously he hits a J on the turn.

Did win a nice big pot with AA though, new player raising to £13 in CO and I reraised to £30 from SB. He asked how much I had behind before re-raising to about £75, I shoved for £185 total and he called with QQ.

Sickest hand of the night came at the end.

This old guy had gone on major monkey tilt, dropping several buy-ins with mad river bluffs and raising/c-betting every hand. You could tell everyone at the table was itching to play a pot and bust him, so when he made it just £6 UTG, I called with A3s on the button.

Couple of others call and the flop is perfect, 245. Tilt monkey bets £20, I make it £50 knowing he will shove a huge range, but the BB spoils it all by raising to £150. Wtf? Tilt monkey already had a big pile of chips in his hand to raise my bet but now folds.

I obv hate folding here but I've played against this guy for a while and never seen him do anything silly and in the end I fold pretty quickly. He shows 3 6. Phew/puke.

To all my new readers (yeah right)

Just to say if anyone has clicked here via LJ's blog and wants to read a trip report from me/her in Nottingham (EPO), leave a comment and I'll dig it up, including pics.

Otherwise I'm too lazy :)

Old but still funny...

Analyse

Good news at last for my loyal reader (Hi LJ!).

Finally going busto on all my online sites (barring a sliver of rakeback possibly) means a blessed end to bad beat posts (yeah right) and a commitment to effectively start from scratch when I redeposit next month.

I could redeposit right now of course, but with 16 days of Wimbledon looming, followed by a few days of athletics and The Open at Turnberry, there really isn't much point.

I've belatedly realised I've never really adhered to proper bankroll requirements, simply depositing randomly when required and refusing to grind it out at the appropriate levels.

So the plan is to finally do so when my work schedule allows, and then I'll be looking to fully pick the brains of the good players on +1 (better warn Kevin for me LJ :)) to improve my NL game in particular.

Edit: Just thought this hand was funny and summed up Stars perfectly. KK plays hit horribly, but love J2 getting there on turn, and then the gutshot on river as well :)

Poker Stars $0.25+$0.00 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t50/t100 Blinds + t10 - 8 players - View hand 153223

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter



UTG: t2735 M = 11.89

Hero (UTG+1): t1110 M = 4.83

MP1: t1940 M = 8.43

MP2: t1505 M = 6.54

CO: t6195 M = 26.93

BTN: t7838 M = 34.08

SB: t5525 M = 24.02

BB: t15780 M = 68.61



Pre Flop: (t230) Hero is UTG+1 with Q 5

2 folds, MP1 calls t100, MP2 calls t100, CO raises to t200, 2 folds, BB raises to t300, MP1 calls t200, MP2 calls t200, CO calls t100



Flop: (t1330) 9 J 5 (4 players)

BB bets t600, MP1 raises to t1630 all in, MP2 calls t1195 all in, CO folds, BB calls t1030



Turn: (t5785) 2 (3 players - 2 are all in)



River: (t5785) 6 (3 players - 2 are all in)



Final Pot: t5785

MP1 shows 2 J (two pair, Jacks and Deuces)

MP2 shows 8 7 (a straight, Five to Nine)

BB shows K K (a pair of Kings)

MP1 wins t870

MP2 wins t4915

Completely outplayed

Limp 57o UTG, call a raise, then call a shove with a gutshot. Easy game...

Full Tilt Poker $10 + $1 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t30/t60 Blinds - 7 players - View hand 150363

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter



CO: t2030 M = 22.56

BTN: t1280 M = 14.22

Hero (SB): t920 M = 10.22

BB: t4010 M = 44.56

UTG: t3890 M = 43.22

UTG+1: t2320 M = 25.78

MP: t1370 M = 15.22



Pre Flop: (t90) Hero is SB with 9 9

UTG calls t60, 4 folds, Hero raises to t240, 1 fold, UTG calls t180



Flop: (t540) 4 8 J (2 players)

Hero bets t680 all in, UTG calls t680



Turn: (t1900) 3 (2 players - 1 is all in)



River: (t1900) 6 (2 players - 1 is all in)



Final Pot: t1900

Hero shows 9 9 (a pair of Nines)

UTG shows 5 7 (a straight, Eight high)

UTG wins t1900

Easy fold when u play on Stars

Poker Stars $0.02/$0.05 Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 6 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/149158
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

MP: $9.99
CO: $10.18
BTN: $5.01
SB: $5.91
Hero (BB): $3.54
UTG: $2.85

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is BB with Kd Kc 2c 7d
1 fold, MP raises to $0.15, CO calls $0.15, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.47) 5h Kh 5s (3 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $0.15, CO calls $0.15, Hero calls $0.15

Turn: ($0.92) Ah (3 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $0.25, CO raises to $0.50, Hero folds, MP raises to $0.75, CO calls $0.25

River: ($2.42) Qd (2 players)
MP bets $2.32, CO calls $2.32

Final Pot: $7.06
MP shows 8d 9h Ad Ac (a full house, Aces full of Fives)
CO shows Qh 3h Qs 6h (a full house, Queens full of Fives)
MP wins $6.76
(Rake: $0.30)

Hmm, how can I lose this on the flop?

Poker Stars $3.00+$0.40 Pot Limit Omaha Hi Tournament - t75/t150 Blinds - 3 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/149133
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: t4190 M = 18.62
BTN: t8700 M = 38.67
Hero (SB): t610 M = 2.71

Pre Flop: (t225) Hero is SB with Qs 3d 6d Qd
1 fold, Hero raises to t450, BB calls t300

Flop: (t900) 5c 9h 5d (2 players)
Hero bets t160 all in, BB calls t160

Turn: (t1220) Td (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: (t1220) 8s (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: t1220
BB shows Qh Ks Jd 3h (a straight, Eight to Queen)
Hero shows Qs 3d 6d Qd (two pair, Queens and Fives)
BB wins t1220

No useful content....

Poker Stars $2.00+$0.20 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t100/t200 Blinds + t25 - 8 players - View hand 143642

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter



CO: t7340 M = 14.68

BTN: t10976 M = 21.95

Hero (SB): t8020 M = 16.04

BB: t4488 M = 8.98

UTG: t3495 M = 6.99

UTG+1: t2530 M = 5.06

MP1: t8830 M = 17.66

MP2: t6600 M = 13.20



Pre Flop: (t500) Hero is SB with 4 T

UTG calls t200, 5 folds, Hero calls t100, BB checks



Flop: (t800) 4 K 4 (3 players)

Hero checks, BB checks, UTG bets t600, Hero calls t600, BB folds



Turn: (t2000) 7 (2 players)

Hero checks, UTG bets t2000, Hero raises to t4000, UTG calls t670 all in



River: (t7340) 7 (2 players - 1 is all in)



Final Pot: t7340

Hero shows 4 T (a full house, Fours full of Sevens)

UTG shows 7 7 (four of a kind, Sevens)

UTG wins t7340

Typical me, typical me, typical me....

...I started something, and now I'm not too sure.

As soon as I blog about being up $300 on FT I have my worst losing session there since returning. Playing such low stakes I hadn't been losing or winning that much per session but a couple of days ago I dropped around $250 in one hit.

In a HU hand of PLO I paid off the nut flush with the second nut flush when we both flopped it - not sure how bad that was, although he did basically fire 3 barrels and I don't know how many low-limit donks would do that without the nuts??? - and on my other tables seemed to have one of those days when I missed absolutely everything; either whiffed the flop completely or flopped a huge draw then missed the turn and river.

Only pleasing thing was managing not to tilt for once ;) and I returned tonight to win a big chunk of it back.

After busting out of an MTT early in a 4-way all-in pot for the monster chip lead - my 66 v QQ v Ac4c and 8c9c on 9c6c4h flop (club on river obv) - I switched from PLO to PLO8 and caught a beauty.

I have Ax99 in a raised 3-way pot. Flop is 983. It goes check, bet and I think of raising here but call to rope along the dope in the SB with a low looking likely.

Turn is a beautiful 3 and it's again check, bet and this time I shove. SB calls with A234 and donk who has been pushing the action calls with some crap like A4xx, drawing dead.

I'm shouting at the computer for a Q but happily take a K instead and scoop a $240 pot. Let's hope there is more to come.

Finally....

An update, FWIW.

Had a great time as ever in Vegas over New Year, but that was obviously so long ago it's not worth recounting now.

On the poker front I finally cleared enough points and maintained GOLD status for long enough on Stars to order my PS3, which to their credit was promptly shipped and arrived less than 2 weeks later IIRC. Then switched my remaining money (thanks to Lilkimmer77) to Full Tilt for rakeback purposes and so far up around $300 grinding it out playing the $40 CAP PLO games.

Should be up another $10 but wasted that on two buy-ins to the Brit Blogger Game on Sunday evenings ;)

1st week I built a good stack and then lost with KK v A10o all-in pre, tonight I never got anything going at all after arriving late and it was my turn to lose with A10 (Ace fucking 10!!!! Dave) when NYRambler shoved K8 from the SB into my BB - Can't blame him for doing so as I was short, 8 on the flop of course.

In other news, bought a new (used) car on Saturday, trading in my short-lived SAAB 9-3 for an Audi A3.

Might post some pics when I get some new alloys :)