crazy eights

Not bots

2010-11-13T11:51:00.000+10:00

This is interesting. Some guy thinks he's found bots on Stars.

But there's a more interesting story here, I think. Check out the analysis pages of some of the players involved:
http://www.pokertableratings.com/stars-player-analysis/manyee/0.1-0.25-NL-9-Hold%27em
http://www.pokertableratings.com/stars-player-analysis/tanny100/0.1-0.25-NL-9-Hold%27em
http://www.pokertableratings.com/stars-player-analysis/wen_jun589/0.1-0.25-NL-9-Hold%27em

They are all megatight, all off the scale for passivity, and all take everything they play to showdown. These are not bots. They are Chinamen in a sweatroom with a list of hands. When they get one of the hands on their list, they call and then check/call them down. They don't need to know any poker. They just need to click buttons really really fast. They could play in shifts and their playing pattern wouldn't change. They'd certainly look like bots and they couldn't chat, because they likely don't speak a word of English.

They get paid buttons and the guy who's running the shop gets all the rakeback. They could conceivably be a group of friends, but the funding they'd need is beyond most Chinese.

Also, they're going to have to be banking on making Supernova and playing higher, because it's easy to see that they're losing money.

You suck

2010-11-10T14:11:00.000+10:00

Livestrong44 [observer]: you suck
FR Vessant: yes
FR Vessant: I'm just a fish
Dealer: FR Vessant, it's your turn. You have 14 seconds to act
Livestrong44 [observer]: obviously
Dealer: Game #52457667285: FR Vessant wins pot (500)
FR Vessant: just mashing buttons more or less at random

http://www.holdemmanager.net
NL Holdem $200(BB) Poker Stars Game#52457647051

w00d45 ($3,850)
elvis41863 ($2,005)
el_anuncio ($1,681)
Il_Nistra ($2,624)
FR Vessant ($2,385)
Livestrong44 ($955)

w00d45 posts (SB) $100
elvis41863 posts (BB) $200

Dealt to FR Vessant 7d Qh
fold, fold,
FR Vessant raises to $450
Livestrong44 raises to $955 (AI)
fold, fold,
FR Vessant calls $505
FLOP ($2,210) Jc 8c 7h
TURN ($2,210) Jc 8c 7h Qd
RIVER ($2,210) Jc 8c 7h Qd Kh
FR Vessant shows 7d Qh
(Pre 31%, Flop 75.8%, Turn 90.9%)

Livestrong44 shows Ah Kd
(Pre 69%, Flop 24.2%, Turn 9.1%)

FR Vessant wins $2,210

Can't win them all

2010-11-03T16:14:00.000+10:00

Here's my day in a nutshell. Fish is raising pretty much everything.

PokerStars Game #52092913379: Tournament #327617603, $10+$1 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2010/11/03 15:02:14 AEST [2010/11/03 0:02:14 ET]
Table '327617603 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 2: PokeHer2308 (2204 in chips)
Seat 3: ligertrainer (5135 in chips)
Seat 6: TigerInn89 (3360 in chips)
Seat 7: FR Vessant (1983 in chips)
Seat 9: Handler666 (818 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 75
Handler666: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ks Qd]
PokeHer2308: raises 150 to 300
ligertrainer: folds
TigerInn89: folds
FR Vessant: raises 1683 to 1983 and is all-in
Handler666: folds
PokeHer2308: calls 1683
*** FLOP *** [Qs Kc 9s]
*** TURN *** [Qs Kc 9s] [9h]
*** RIVER *** [Qs Kc 9s 9h] [Th]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FR Vessant: shows [Ks Qd] (two pair, Kings and Queens)
PokeHer2308: shows [Qc 9c] (a full house, Nines full of Queens)
PokeHer2308 collected 4116 from pot
FR Vessant finished the tournament in 5th place
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4116 | Rake 0
Board [Qs Kc 9s 9h Th]
Seat 2: PokeHer2308 showed [Qc 9c] and won (4116) with a full house, Nines full of Queens
Seat 3: ligertrainer folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: TigerInn89 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: FR Vessant (small blind) showed [Ks Qd] and lost with two pair, Kings and Queens
Seat 9: Handler666 (big blind) folded before Flop

Calling a threebet

2010-11-02T08:37:00.001+10:00

So yesterday, I raise A7s from the button and the big blind shoves a decent stack. I snapcalled and beat his QJ. He berated me for some time afterwards, to my great amusement. Surely he was right though? Raisecalling A7s must be bad, right?

The thing is, a lot of regs think that they can get a wide raiser to fold most of their range by shoving over and they do it extremely wide themselves. I've seen all sorts: some do it with any two. So I had noted that this guy was a nit, and he had done the same move twice before. After the first time, I'm already thinking about calling the next.

These guys play fairly predictably. If they had a big hand, they'd threebet to something at least callable, so you shouldn't be crushed. They may have something like AT/A9s and that's bad for my hand, but very often I'm going to be facing something I'm ahead of. The added benefit is that I will play this guy a lot and stealing his blinds will be a lot easier. Disciplining regs into playing straightforwardly is particularly important in regular speeds, where there is a lot of blindstealing at middle blinds.

It's a different matter if he's in the small blind. That tends to make restealers more honest.

BvB spot

2010-10-13T22:50:00.000+10:00

So in STTF, someone asks about a spot at t100. We are in the SB with 98s and stacks are quite deep. I think it's five- or sixhanded. Should we raise or limp and then stab? Villain is playing 29/20 and has folded his BB 80%.

In my view, this is a snapraise. Although fold to BB is an unreliable stat (players fold their BB to raises from earlier positions much more willingly than to SB raises -- you could use fold to SB steal but it takes a long time to converge and we play nitty enough not to have given him many opportunities), if it's high, or the player seems tight or skilled enough, we can make a judgement about a player's willingness to fold.

If we raise to 250, we are risking 200 to win 350. If villain folds 57% of the time, we make an instant profit, and can simply checkfold the flop and make chips. You'd want some overlay for ICM tax and some allowance for simply being wrong, so I tend to think if villain calls or raises tighter than 30%, I'll raise ATC in this spot. 30% is 55+,A2s+,K5s+,Q7s+,J8s+,T8s+,98s,A7o+,A5o,K9o+,Q9o+,J9o+,T9o, and this guy is not going to call that. You'd need to put in more pairs and aces, and lose a lot of the other shit. I think 22+,A2s+,K9s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T9s,98s,A2o+,K9o+,QTo+,JTo is as wide as he will go (that's exactly 30% as it happens). So yeah, there's not too much margin for error. Make him as nitty as I am, say, and you have an easy raise with ATC. I certainly don't call many raises at t100 with JTo or K9o even if I think villain is wide. And he has no reason to think we're wide. We won't have played many hands at all by this stage.

One guy wanted to fold in this spot. That's horribly nitty and I certainly wouldn't. Okay, you might have your doubts about 93s, but 98s is a decent semibluffing hand.

If you limp and then stab for another 100 chips, you are putting in 150 to win 350, so you're laying a slightly more favourable bet. But you do have to let him have a shot at the flop first and he may well raise you off your limp with hands he would not have reraised a raise or even called one with. A 29/20 guy is likely to read a limp from a nit as a weak hand and pop you up with his KT/Q9s type hands.

Should you cbet when you miss? Say the flop is K73r. Well, I certainly bet that but you can check and fold and no real harm is done. If villain has called with 30% though, he doesn't have a great deal he can continue with. He is reraising a lot of the hands that have a piece preflop, and most of his range has missed that flop.

In this hand, we were considering what to do against a guy playing 29/20, where we might feel raising is risky. So yeah, maybe you want to make sure your hand has something so that you can make value on some flops when you are called. Against a looser guy, limpstabbing might be better. Against a tighter one, your cards don't matter so much and 98s even has the advantage over stronger hands that it is not dominated by much of his calling range, where, for example, QT can be.

Games are tighter now and players don't obligingly fold everything short of AA when we get to push/fold, particularly regs, who overgeneralise the need to call looser BvB and now will call much too wide when you're less than 10BB (not that those same regs have realised they also have to push a bit tighter). So we need to find good spots to pick up chips before push/fold and not to waste opportunities because we want to "preserve chips". You have to at least limp/stab in this spot.

On the redline

2010-10-06T11:40:00.001+10:00

Most serious STT players obsess over their redline. This is a measure of how "lucky" they've been with allins. If you win an allin, you gain over your expectation; if you lose it, you lose what you expected. In case that's not clear, imagine you shove 63, and are called by KT. You now expect to win 33% of the time. If you do win, you won 66% more of the pot than you expected, and when you lose, you lose 33% more than you expected. The gap between what you expected and what you got is important to STT players, because they can tell themselves they were unlucky if expectation is a lot higher than results.

I will note straight away that for most typical nitty 2p2 types, particularly those who do not shove enough, expectation will very much be higher than results. That's partly because you so often get it in with the best hand, and obviously, when you lose in that case, what you lose is further below expectation than winning would be above. It's also, as I discuss below, perversely because you tend to do the opposite later in the game and get it in worse when the equity involved is higher.

But there are other components to luck. I was thinking about this the other day. I lost 9ish buyins and I had about the unluckiest day I could remember. But when I checked my expected results, I should have lost even more! I had actually run good in allin EV. How was that even possible?

Well, here are a few things that most players don't even think about.

Take that 63 hand. If you make KT fold, and you often do, you gain his equity in the hand for free. You don't consider yourself lucky, but think. If I had KK, shoved and he showed AA, I'm not going to be unlucky when he wins (he's a 4/1 favourite), but I sure am unlucky that he had the only hand ahead of me preflop! I don't have the maths to hand how often I can expect that, but it's not often. If it happens to more than a time or two in a set, you are running bad. But your allin EV doesn't consider that. The same goes for the times you threebet the LAGtard who is raising half his hands and this time he has a monster. He may have raised 20 times in a tournament, and the one time you went for it, he had you beat. He may well have not had a better hand every other time.

But I am focusing on how lucky you are to get away with shoves. HEM will credit you with a gain because you took the blinds and your equity increased, but it doesn't credit you for folding out better. But villain will often make a Sklansky mistake (should have called if he could see what you had).

We all know it's unlucky to shove AA, get called by JJ and then watch in horror when a J flops, or to get it in on the flop and watch JJ turn his miracle card. But when you raise AA, flop rags, get it in and are shown a set, you are not considered unlucky by HEM. Your expectation then is very low and you usually get nothing. But he flopped a set! 7/8 times that won't happen but this time it did. Effectively you were as unlucky as with the JJ hand where you got it in pre. But if he flops it for a raise, you weren't very unlucky at all according to your redline.

The same obviously goes for the times you raise AK, get called by A8, flop comes A83r and you get stacked. Again, you are not accounted unlucky preflop where you would be if you shoved.

Nor does it account for longer-term patterns that we would also consider "lucky". You're supposed to flop a set one in eight times, roughly. But you can call 20 raises with small pairs and hit nothing. Or you can hit your set and no one else has a piece, so you have had your "luck" in hitting, but you gain nothing from it. Of course, you can also hit and then get sucked out on. This should all even out in the long run, but the long run is not a day, a week or even a month. If I have a day where I play a hundred games and hit 30 sets in the early levels, getting paid off with every one, do I think I'm lucky? Well, it doesn't show in my redline, does it? (I don't know how often I get dealt pairs or hit flops, but that strikes me as hella lucky!)

Also, your redline is skewed by high-equity spots. If I shove the first hand of an 11 with JJ, and get called by AK and lose, I lose 5ish bucks; but if I shove that 63 on the bubble with 4K chips and get called by KT and lose, I lose more dollars (I'm not sure how many, but say I have $23 equity, I would lose 33% of that, which is about 7.50 or so). I am "unluckier" to get caught when shoving with a worse hand than I was to get caught with the better hand. Sure, I gain a ton when I win, but losing is worse than winning (you lose more equity when you lose than you win when you win because of the structure of STTs: note that I'm not saying that you lose more when you lose with 63 than you win! I am saying that the downside when you shove is always bigger than the upside unless you're heads up, so that proportionately winning twice when a 66% favourite does not make up for losing once). So we tend to lose out both ways! We get it in better when equity is low, and if we run bad, our losses take many similar spots to recoup; and we tend to have the worst hand at high equity, so we lose more in dollars even if we run as expected.

A concept in two parts

2010-07-13T19:19:00.000+10:00

Here's a fairly typical hand in an 11/27 that illustrates a couple of concepts that you grasp with experience (or one concept with two parts, I guess).

http://www.holdemmanager.net
NL Holdem $30(BB) Poker Stars Game#46704987178

nETP_XPYMOB ($1,420)
Shpuon ($1,460)
glavgrin ($1,460)
wheel_me62 ($2,440)
ae0066 ($1,200)
FR Vessant ($1,610)
ZJ=myhomeboy ($1,460)
JKoenig99 ($1,025)
rickdahick ($1,425)

nETP_XPYMOB posts (SB) $15
Shpuon posts (BB) $30

Dealt to FR Vessant As Ks

I have AKs. A strong but not made hand.

fold,
wheel_me62 calls $30
ae0066 calls $30

Two fishes have limped and many players are tempted just to limp behind. The fish don't fold they say. Then you miss the flop and you've wasted your raise.

FR Vessant raises to $150
fold,
JKoenig99 calls $150
fold, fold, fold,
wheel_me62 calls $120
ae0066 calls $120

And yes, not only do the limpers call, but another fish does too.

FLOP ($645) 5d 7c 3c

And I whiff the flop and will check/fold.

wheel_me62 checks
ae0066 checks
FR Vessant checks
JKoenig99 bets $330

This bet will very likely take it down. It doesn't really matter what bettor has although he can actually have a pretty wide range.

wheel_me62 folds
ae0066 folds
FR Vessant folds
JKoenig99 wins $645

So that sucked, right?

Well, here's the thing. Look at the pot size on the flop. It's pretty decent and that means that the times I hit, I'm going to find it very easy to get it in. Had I limped, the pot would have been much smaller and I'd possibly need all three streets, giving villain three opportunities to decide his shitty hand was not worth pursuing. Now I can commit villains on the flop and get them in on the turn, and often all the money will just go in on the flop.

And here's the second concept. Often the money will go in whether I hit or not. The other guys will now often be inclined to stack off, where if it had been a limped pot, they could keep it smaller. This is probably more of a benefit in 9mans but it's still useful.

Tilting again

2010-03-03T14:06:00.003+10:00

Luck takes many forms in poker. A lot of people focus on allin EV and think they are unlucky if they run behind par in that, and they are somewhat, but you can be unlucky in lots of other ways. Here's a hand where I got my money in really bad, but I can count myself very very unlucky imo.

I hadn't been at this particular table long, maybe 20 hands.

http://www.holdemmanager.net
NL Holdem $1,000(BB) Full Tilt Game#18921016590

Tally Hooo ($55,426)
Albert Chuns ($63,214)
Dingle Tard ($43,760)
JMAVIS25 ($28,606)
mdfgreat1 ($10,027)
capro22 ($48,277)
basatagirl ($46,448)
pouppyshark ($36,077)

Tally Hooo posts (SB) $500
Albert Chuns posts (BB) $1,000
basatagirl antes $125
pouppyshark antes $125
Tally Hooo antes $125
Albert Chuns antes $125
Dingle Tard antes $125
JMAVIS25 antes $125
mdfgreat1 antes $125
capro22 antes $125

Dealt to basatagirl Qc Qs
fold,
JMAVIS25 calls $1,000
fold,
capro22 calls $1,000
basatagirl raises to $6,500

So I raise two limpers pot. I'm happy to play a big pot with this hand, obv.

pouppyshark calls $6,500

He's newly come to the table, so I haven't seen a single hand from him, but obv. I'm not happy to be called by a player with position.

Tally Hooo raises to $55,301 (AI)

This guy has 3bet on two of the four opportunities he has had, has raised several times and in chat, half the table is calling him a donkey. So I figure he is very often going for the squeeze here and it's impossible for me to lay down queens.

Except that they are queens, so obviously I am not going to win the hand. I don't know why I don't just fold them preflop. I've lost seven of the past 10 times when I've got them all in preflop, 13 of the past 20.

Still, this guy is a LAG, so he'll have all sorts in his range. This time, surely, we've run into JJ and we make it huge, right?

fold, fold, fold,
basatagirl calls $39,823 (AI)

Tally Hooo shows Ac As

Wrong.

Sighing all the way to the river

2010-03-02T11:25:00.003+10:00

This is why I gave up playing on Tilt. I mean, wtf. The hand before, I raised QQ pot and flopped an A. Obviously villain's play is awful but as usual, he hits his hand. This happens to me routinely on Tilt. It really doesn't matter what cards I have or what cards they have. When the money goes in, I lose, simple as that.

I don't believe in doomswitches, and when you play low volume, losses feel a lot worse than if you play a lot, but I run so much worse on Tilt than I ever have on Stars. I'm at least 30BI below EV. And yes, I know I wasn't miles ahead on the flop. It's just the overall sickness. This is a deep tourney, 5K stacks, 12-minute blinds. You should play it fairly conservatively because you get plenty of spots to win chips. I have only 4K, so the implied odds aren't there for A9s -- if they ever are! I clearly have a very strong hand, so he has to get lucky. I know, you want the fish to call your raises when you're strong. I do. But I don't want the cunts to beat me every fucking time.

http://www.holdemmanager.net
NL Holdem $100(BB) Full Tilt Game#18888465027

LON64 ($8,861)
lurker31 ($6,110)
grumbles323 ($3,657)
1980pablo ($10,335)
alex0985 ($11,192)
Thunderstruck_5 ($19,490)
marrora ($13,195)
xander77 ($8,125)
basatagirl ($3,915)

LON64 posts (SB) $50
lurker31 posts (BB) $100

Dealt to basatagirl Kd Kh
grumbles323 calls $100
1980pablo calls $100
fold,
Thunderstruck_5 calls $100
fold, fold,
basatagirl raises to $650
fold, fold, fold, fold,
Thunderstruck_5 calls $550
FLOP ($1,650) Ts Tc 7s
Thunderstruck_5 checks
basatagirl bets $1,000
Thunderstruck_5 raises to $4,650
basatagirl calls $2,265 (AI)
TURN ($8,180) Ts Tc 7s Js
RIVER ($8,180) Ts Tc 7s Js Ad
Thunderstruck_5 shows As 9s
(Pre 33%, Flop 41.7%, Turn 90.9%)

basatagirl shows Kd Kh
(Pre 67%, Flop 58.3%, Turn 9.1%)

Thunderstruck_5 wins $8,180

Fuck Tilt

2010-02-28T21:56:00.002+10:00

No really. Fuck Full Tilt. I quit playing there because I ran 40BI below EV in about 200 tourneys and it was getting ridiculous. I'd shove AA, get called by 54s and routinely they'd flop the straight.

So tonight I put some money on Tilt and nine times got 10BB+ in. Six times I was ahead, three behind. Of the six, three 70/30s and three 60/40s, of the three behind, two 60/40s and a coinflip I had the worst of. I didn't win a single one.

Now I know you can lose nine allins straight. And I'm not at all superstitious. But wtf. It's 3/10,000 that I should have that run. I doubled twice in ordinary play, so I did get in more than 10BB and win, but we're talking just preflop shoves.

I don't play high stakes, so this is only like 130 bucks or whatever. But it does feel like I just can't win on Tilt. The play is lol bad, so it's not that I'm not good enough. I mean, if people limpcall with QJ for their 10BB stack, you're not out of your depth. But if they hit the J vs your AQ every time, it doesn't really matter how good you are. SNGs are all about push/fold, and so ultimately are MTTs. You run super card dead for 30-40 hands, then shove when you get something decent, and if you never win one, you go busto.

You called with what?

2010-02-15T11:35:00.002+10:00

This pretty much says it all. This is a 40-man $11 game.

http://www.holdemmanager.net
NL Holdem $300(BB) Poker Stars Game#39767157607

Funkytus ($6,178)
FR Vessant ($2,555)
RoLLeR7788 ($3,287)
dhdn1980 ($5,665)
neil_rick ($8,525)
llenti13 ($10,270)
WM80 ($9,043)
canaans ($4,040)
Anarchy-X ($10,437)

neil_rick antes $25
llenti13 antes $25
WM80 antes $25
canaans antes $25
Anarchy-X antes $25
Funkytus antes $25
FR Vessant antes $25
RoLLeR7788 antes $25
dhdn1980 antes $25
Funkytus posts (SB) $150
FR Vessant posts (BB) $300

Dealt to FR Vessant 5s 6h
fold, fold, fold, fold, fold,
fold, fold,
Funkytus raises to $600

Has openraised every time the opportunity has presented. He clearly doesn't have a good hand because his raise sizes have mostly matched his hand strength. I can't shove though because I saw him call off 5K of a 7K stack with J9o when someone openshoved at t200.

FR Vessant calls $300
FLOP ($1,425) 3c Td Tc
Funkytus bets $300

Has nothing, obv.

FR Vessant raises to $1,930 (AI)

Good spot for it.

Funkytus calls $1,630

Check his hand.

TURN ($5,285) 3c Td Tc 5c
RIVER ($5,285) 3c Td Tc 5c 9d
Funkytus shows Qh 5h

What. The. Fuck. Not only does this complete fucking clown call off the rest of my stack with Q5s, no pair, no draw, he has me fucking dominated. I was running well earlier this month, but the last week has been a bloodbath for my bankroll. Sigh.

Fishfood

2010-01-13T18:55:00.003+10:00

This was a bit frustrating.

PokerStars Game #38087149596: Tournament #262010133, $30+$3 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2010/01/13 3:51:26 ET
Table '262010133 10' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: 555DAN (6135 in chips)
Seat 2: FR Vessant (3485 in chips)
Seat 3: unclepaullly (4922 in chips)
Seat 4: cobratatus4 (4195 in chips)
Seat 5: NjLiOnS (17988 in chips)
Seat 6: pAtcAsh83 (2890 in chips)
Seat 7: rsend73 (6475 in chips)
Seat 8: 23121969 (9005 in chips)
Seat 9: kouvidg (7302 in chips)
rsend73: posts small blind 50
23121969: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [8d 8c]
kouvidg: calls 100
555DAN: folds
FR Vessant: calls 100

This is a loose limp, but the table has been very passive and I figure often to see a flop for free. I consider raising the limper to try to get heads up, but I'm liable to get called in more than one spot.

unclepaullly: folds
cobratatus4: raises 350 to 450

That's annoying.

NjLiOnS: folds
pAtcAsh83: folds
rsend73: folds
23121969: calls 350

This guy's a terrible fish. He is playing 69/8 and I've seen him call a raise with K5s. I played one hand against him. I had AK and raised his limp. He called. The flop was 987r, he checked, i checked behind. Turn was a K, I bet and he called. River a T, he bet and I paid off the gutshot that he had hit. My call is a bit marginal because he probably does have at least two pair too often, but whatever.

kouvidg: calls 350
FR Vessant: calls 350

I call with the two fish in because if I flop the set I should have a decent chance to make some chips.

*** FLOP *** [4h Ts Ks]

That's a terrible flop obviously.

23121969: checks
kouvidg: checks
FR Vessant: checks
cobratatus4: checks

So raiser most likely has AQ, possibly a middle pair. The other two can have wide ranges, but you'd expect them to donk Kx.

*** TURN *** [4h Ts Ks] [Kd]
23121969: checks
kouvidg: bets 300

This is a very weak bet for a king and the board has enough draws that he is probably just taking a cheap shot.

FR Vessant: raises 2735 to 3035 and is all-in

So I shove what I expect to be best hand often, with plenty of fold equity if villain happens to have Tx.

cobratatus4: folds
23121969: calls 3035

Unfuckingbelievably, this guy actually had a K. You wouldn't credit it. This is a guy who has bet everything he's hit hard and got paid. This one time he decides to slowplay. Of course it's contrary. This is an awful board to slowplay on, so ofc the fish chooses to do it.

kouvidg: folds
*** RIVER *** [4h Ts Ks Kd] [Td]
FR Vessant said, "ugh"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
23121969: shows [Kh Qs] (a full house, Kings full of Tens)
FR Vessant: shows [8d 8c] (two pair, Kings and Tens)

Oh well. No regrets. My MTT record is very poor, but I do think I play okay. Usually, the fish has 77 in this spot and rivers another 7. It makes a pleasant change actually to be behind! Pity I didn't bink the 8 to punish him.

LOL donkaments

2010-01-10T19:51:00.002+10:00

I have registered to play in the WBCOOP PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! You too can Play Poker Online at PokerStars.com and take part in the WBCOOP which is open to all Bloggers by registering on WBCOOP to play.

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AKs on a wettish board

2010-01-09T11:36:00.003+10:00

Here's my bustout hand from the 33 deepstack I played the other night. I played pretty well in this tourney, and notably only had one bit of luck (got it in with AA vs a set of jacks and rivered another ace!).

Villain in this hand had been at my table earlier, and was playing a sort of semitag game. He seemed to have a clue.

So that I can discuss his play as well as mine, I'll tell you straight up that he has 65s.

Poker Stars $30+$3 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t500/t1000 Blinds + t100 - 7 players - http://www.thehandconverter.com/hands/464293
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (UTG+1): t30171 M = 13.71
MP: t8713 M = 3.96
CO: t108150 M = 49.16
BTN: t105323 M = 47.87
SB: t159768 M = 72.62
BB: t115550 M = 52.52
UTG: t127325 M = 57.88

Pre Flop: (t2200) Hero is UTG+1 with As Ks
1 fold, Hero raises to t3000, 3 folds, SB calls t2500, 1 fold

Not sure why I raised 3x because 2.5x is standard, but it could just have been laziness/tiredness.

When he calls, what do I think he has? I guess I'm putting him on broadways and pairs. I didn't know he was bad enough to call with SCs.

Why is that bad imo? I only have 27BB behind, so the implied odds aren't there. If you do flop a huge hand and stack me, you are only getting 12/1, and you won't do that very often. Playing draws OOP is difficult. We're a bit deep to CR allin, so if he hits a decent draw, he's going to often be flatting the flop and then hoping I have missed so he gets odds to draw. When I haven't missed or I barrel, he's usually taking two bad bets to try to hit it.

I suppose that if he hits a pair he can checkcall and then if I check my whiffed hands behind on the turn, he can hope for a cheap showdown. But if a high card comes on the river, at least on dry boards he's going to be unsure if I bet whether he is just valuetowning himself if he calls.

Say you have an 863r flop, he checks, you bet, he calls. His hand is pretty face up. He has to have a pair, probably lower than 88. The turn is, say, a J or a 2, he checks I check behind. Now the river is a Q. He checks again. If I bet here, can he call with his pair of 6s? I mean, people do, but you have to put your opponent on AK/AT/A9/KT if you do. Do I bluff with them more often than I actually have AQ/KQ, a cute QJ/JT/Q9s? Most people do not, in my experience, bluff here, so no, I think you have to fold your 65s.

Also, on flops that really aren't good for me, I can check behind and see a free turn. So he also doesn't necessarily get value for his pair on a lot of flops.

Flop: (t7700) Kd Tc 6d (2 players)

So I hit the flop. This is a terrible flop for handreading, but obv. a good one for a shorty who wants to make value from his AKs.

SB checks, Hero bets t4000, SB calls t4000

I bet fairly small in the hope of inducing action from Kx and to keep the draws in so I can bet again on the turn. I actually bet far too small and should have made it more like 6000 so that I'm not overbetting the turn so much.

On safe turns, I am always going to be shoving. His range for calling the flop is imo weak Kx/Tx/maybe 6x/flush draws/any broadways. He's not going to fold AQ/AJ/QJ for instance. Probably won't fold Q9/J9 even. And he may well call with any pairs that he had preflop.

So basically he is going to be calling with pretty much his entire preflop range. I didn't expect hands as weak as 65s to be in there, so I wouldn't expect to see 87s either. 98s is barely possible, T9s obviously is Tx and will mostly call.

So my bet is a mistake. Given that he's not folding anything, I should bet more! I want to get value from my hand. Yes, I can already be beat some of the time. If he has 66/TT/KT or the unlikely KK, I'm fucked. But he has a vast range of hands I crush. This guy was fairly aggro so I was sort of hoping that he might give more action with KQ/KJ and even other broadway draws. QJ has 14 outs against AT/99 for instance, and he can have combo draws that I'm ahead of but not a ton, so he might raise that and only really be badly behind the top of my range. Still, betting so small was a mistake.

Not because I would have folded out 6x. If he's calling 4K with it, he'll call 6K with it. He has to think I whiffed the flop or not be thinking at all. I think his call is bad because this is as bad a flop to hit a pair on as you could wish for. On many turns, I am likely to shove AQ/AJ/QJs when checked to. I have a lot of outs against Tx and worse and can hope to fold out a lot of hands that beat me, including 65s! If I check behind on the turn, you still face a lot of bad cards on the river and cannot really call another bet.

Turn: (t15700) 6h (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets t23071 all in, SB calls t23071

Why shove the turn? Didn't I just say that I would shove AQ? Well, on many turns I probably would, but not so much on this one. The paired board just makes it more likely for Tx/99-88 to call.

The reason I shove is pretty simple. Say he has QJo. If I bet 9K here and he calls, the pot is 33K and I have 14K behind. The river comes Ac. He puts me in. Can I fold? Getting better than 3/1 with 14BB I don't think so. Make it a 9 and it's even harder. Can I fold when a diamond comes? Very tough because it's such an obvious card to bluff on. I'm not likely to have a diamond draw after all. So I think I get stacked when his draws come in.

Whenever you are guaranteed to get stacked on the downside, you might as well ensure you get doubled on the upside. So I shove to force draws to double me when they miss. If they fold, I'm cool with that. I take down a nice pot and on that board, tbh, there aren't a ton of hands you're getting three streets with with TPTK.

The thing is, he had a superwide range on the flop and the 6 doesn't change much for most of it. He has a big stack and here I'm overbetting the pot, which doesn't look like it wants a call. He's not ever folding a K. Now, he probably doesn't have KQ/KJ but he can have K9, maybe a suited K8. He may call with some Tx. If they're not calling here, it's hard to imagine they will give me value on most rivers. But the key for me is to make draws pay me when they miss. I surrender the value from hands that might call a bet here but won't call a shove, but in this spot, I am more concerned about getting fully compensated for the times I'm stacked than I am about making a bit of value. I'm short and I won't be any closer to winning for being 9K better off the times he misses.

I don't know that I'm necessarily right but that's how I felt about it. If I was a little bit deeper, I think I would have simply checked the turn behind and called bets in a smaller pot on most rivers. I don't like doing that because this is a super bad board to give a free card on but it does prevent me getting stacked against 6x, which would be more of a concern if I was deeper. If I was deeper still, I'd be making a bet to give draws bad odds because I can then get away from checkshoves. When shorter, I can't, because most $33 villains with KQ/KJ and even JJ are dumb enough to think oooh, I has two pair, shove it over, not realising that I am just never calling with anything they actually beat, and I will have to call off my stack to punish them.

I'm not sure my analysis was all that good, but that's how I'm thinking about it. I was tired and stoned when I played the hand, but I felt like I was playing well. The flop bet is definitely too small, and my thinking was the wrong way round there, but I like the turn shove. I'd have liked it a lot more if he'd had K9!

2009-09-25T12:38:00.001+10:00

How is poker going?

About like this:

PokerStars Game #33250242541: Tournament #198265724, $10+$1 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2009/09/24 22:34:48 ET
Table '198265724 1' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: arstug (1480 in chips)
Seat 2: VoxTurtle (1510 in chips)
Seat 3: FR Vessant (1410 in chips)
Seat 4: bouchaco (1670 in chips)
Seat 5: badboyjayuk (1580 in chips)
Seat 6: rawdog7575 (1410 in chips)
Seat 7: WiredSet (1520 in chips)
Seat 8: KrazyCraig84 (1480 in chips)
Seat 9: MAGNUM8454 (1440 in chips)
KrazyCraig84: posts small blind 10
MAGNUM8454: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Kc Kd]
arstug: folds
VoxTurtle: folds
FR Vessant: raises 60 to 80
bouchaco: folds
badboyjayuk: calls 80
rawdog7575: folds
WiredSet: calls 80
KrazyCraig84: folds
MAGNUM8454: folds
*** FLOP *** [8c 7c 6d]
FR Vessant: bets 200
badboyjayuk: calls 200
WiredSet: calls 200
*** TURN *** [8c 7c 6d] [7s]
FR Vessant: bets 1130 and is all-in
badboyjayuk: folds
WiredSet: calls 1130
*** RIVER *** [8c 7c 6d 7s] [9c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FR Vessant: shows [Kc Kd] (two pair, Kings and Sevens)
WiredSet: shows [7h 2h] (three of a kind, Sevens)
WiredSet collected 3130 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3130 | Rake 0
Board [8c 7c 6d 7s 9c]
Seat 1: arstug folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: VoxTurtle folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: FR Vessant showed [Kc Kd] and lost with two pair, Kings and Sevens
Seat 4: bouchaco folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: badboyjayuk folded on the Turn
Seat 6: rawdog7575 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: WiredSet (button) showed [7h 2h] and won (3130) with three of a kind, Sevens
Seat 8: KrazyCraig84 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: MAGNUM8454 (big blind) folded before Flop

My email to Pokerstars support, subject "Doomswitch"

2009-08-04T13:03:00.000+10:00

Hi

Could you turn it off now? I appreciate your sense of humour but this is just sick:

PokerStars Game #31222081385: Tournament #183600842, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (150/300) - 2009/08/03 23:00:31 ET
Table '183600842 34' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 2: FR Vessant (6290 in chips)
Seat 3: RVRchsngDONK (21317 in chips)
Seat 4: gallory8 (7260 in chips)
Seat 5: Perrin57 (16222 in chips)
Seat 6: Chuckzeduck (9645 in chips)
Seat 7: Rick007 (6825 in chips)
Seat 8: stormswa (8665 in chips)
Seat 9: yurntrbl (1950 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts the ante 25
RVRchsngDONK: posts the ante 25
gallory8: posts the ante 25
Perrin57: posts the ante 25
Chuckzeduck: posts the ante 25
Rick007: posts the ante 25
stormswa: posts the ante 25
yurntrbl: posts the ante 25
yurntrbl: posts small blind 150
FR Vessant: posts big blind 300
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [4h 4c]
RVRchsngDONK: folds
gallory8: folds
Perrin57: folds
Chuckzeduck: folds
Rick007: folds
stormswa: folds
yurntrbl: raises 1625 to 1925 and is all-in
FR Vessant: calls 1625
*** FLOP *** [Tc Td Ts]
*** TURN *** [Tc Td Ts] [Th]
*** RIVER *** [Tc Td Ts Th] [2h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
yurntrbl: shows [3s As] (four of a kind, Tens)
FR Vessant: shows [4h 4c] (four of a kind, Tens - lower kicker)
yurntrbl collected 4050 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4050 | Rake 0
Board [Tc Td Ts Th 2h]
Seat 2: FR Vessant (big blind) showed [4h 4c] and lost with four of a kind, Tens
Seat 3: RVRchsngDONK folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: gallory8 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Perrin57 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Chuckzeduck folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Rick007 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: stormswa (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: yurntrbl (small blind) showed [3s As] and won (4050) with four of a kind, Tens

Thanks

Doomed to stay at the 11s

2009-08-03T10:44:00.003+10:00

Why do I always run so badly when I move up? I just don't understand it. I fired up a 22 this morning. Just one, because I'm working. Mostly I folded, then I picked up TT at t50, raised to 3x and got two callers. The flop was 442, so I led out. One of the fishes raised and because I was committed, I got it in. He has JJ. Next up, I have 88. There's a limper, a shortstacked fish raises and I call. I didn't notice the fish was short, or I would have likely shoved over. The flop comes 9xx, the limper checks, and the fish bets out small. I know he has nothing and shove over. The other fish snapcalls with A9. How come they always have it? Every fucking time! The guy limps A9 from early position, calls a raise and flops top fucking pair. So I have a few chips left and get up to 400. I pick up KK in the small blind. Sadly they all fold to me, and I raise but the fishy big blind decides this is the one time he will not defend his blind. FML.

This pretty much sums it up though. Here's my bustout hand:

PokerStars Game #31179674313: Tournament #184216436, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2009/08/02 20:50:43 ET
Table '184216436 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: FR Vessant (415 in chips)
Seat 2: decorounder (2210 in chips)
Seat 3: meeks16 (3415 in chips)
Seat 4: geomed (2060 in chips)
Seat 5: O'Brien_6 (3380 in chips)
Seat 6: zapedy (1340 in chips)
Seat 9: jeffery b3 (680 in chips)
jeffery b3: posts small blind 25
FR Vessant: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [8c 5d]
decorounder: folds
meeks16: folds
geomed: folds
O'Brien_6: folds
zapedy: folds
jeffery b3: calls 25

He's very short obv. so I doubt I have much fold equity.

FR Vessant: checks
*** FLOP *** [5c 6c 3h]

That should be an okay flop.

jeffery b3: bets 200

I expected him to bet his whole range here, so I am not folding. I probably have the best hand.

FR Vessant: raises 165 to 365 and is all-in
jeffery b3: calls 165

And I do. He has 32. I mean, fucksake, how can I not beat these clowns? If you want to play that shit, shove it man.

But yeah, you probably spotted that he has a draw to the straight, so that's fucking it for me.

*** TURN *** [5c 6c 3h] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [5c 6c 3h 6s] [2s]

And there it is. Like clockwork.

I mean, no fucking kidding, I am doomed never to move up past the 11s. I simply cannot win at a higher level. I can't get to the long run, and I suspect that even if I did, they'd still be hitting every single draw, every single flop, everything against me.

Fuck fucking poker

2009-08-01T21:13:00.003+10:00

STTs suck. Early in this one, I had QQ cracked by a guy who shoved when I 3bet a UTG raiser. He had AKs and probably should have folded. So I had basically no chips and clawed my way back. I got to the bubble with 2Kish chips, and lost some when I raised with JJ and a huge fish called and openshoved an A high flop. He probably didn't even have the ace, but you can't risk it. Then I got blinded down a bit, so a few hands later.

PokerStars Game #31116131795: Tournament #183786853, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2009/08/01 7:11:44 ET
Table '183786853 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: kinkykay-de (3881 in chips)
Seat 2: FR Vessant (1225 in chips)
Seat 4: Bluesmansav (6548 in chips)
Seat 5: SezzGecko (1846 in chips)
kinkykay-de: posts the ante 25
FR Vessant: posts the ante 25
Bluesmansav: posts the ante 25
SezzGecko: posts the ante 25
FR Vessant: posts small blind 100
Bluesmansav: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Kh 9s]
SezzGecko: folds
kinkykay-de: calls 200

This is our fish, who loves to limp, to call raises, and to make dim stabby bluffs at the flop.
FR Vessant: raises 1000 to 1200 and is all-in

I have been playing tight, so I figure I have a ton of FE.

Bluesmansav: folds
kinkykay-de: calls 1000

Wrong.

The fish has called me with K7s. I mean, wtf. You can't think you're ahead with that. I think the one thing I never get over in STTs, even though I am pretty cool with the truth that it's all about luck now, is these tards who just gamble. Yeah, I know it's all gambling, but intentionally putting your money in behind is awful.

*** FLOP *** [8c 6s 9h]

When I saw the flop, I knew I would be busted. Yes, I have top pair. But what does that matter? He has a draw and it's going to come in.

*** TURN *** [8c 6s 9h] [Jh]
*** RIVER *** [8c 6s 9h Jh] [5d]

See? If I played 200 games a day, I'd be over it, because I'd see it all the time. So yeah, maybe play more than 50 this month, Zenners?

bleh

2009-08-01T19:07:00.002+10:00

How am I ever going to move up in stakes if I run so badly?

PokerStars Game #31114065461: Tournament #181767859, $30+$3 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2009/08/01 5:05:49 ET
Table '181767859 35' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: LatzFatz (2980 in chips)
Seat 2: mandymoo77 (2990 in chips)
Seat 3: BIGTONE53 (6140 in chips)
Seat 4: FR Vessant (2960 in chips)
Seat 5: arameer (2860 in chips)
Seat 6: Munstah (1640 in chips)
Seat 7: I_win_Hands (3000 in chips)
Seat 8: Daf12 (3000 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 9: aannaa1 (2980 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 10
arameer: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [7c 8c]
Munstah: folds
I_win_Hands: folds
Daf12: folds
aannaa1: folds
LatzFatz: folds
mandymoo77: calls 20
BIGTONE53: folds
FR Vessant: calls 10

Easy complete.

arameer: raises 80 to 100

Seems bad so I'm going to call and hope to outflop him.

mandymoo77: folds
FR Vessant: calls 80
*** FLOP *** [Jc Tc 5h]

Should be a good flop for my hand.

FR Vessant: checks
arameer: bets 220
FR Vessant: raises 400 to 620

I hope to fold him out here.

arameer: raises 400 to 1020
FR Vessant: raises 1840 to 2860 and is all-in

With 13 outs against top pair, I am going to gamble here.

arameer: calls 1740 and is all-in

He has Ac9c. Fuck my luck.

Get this though:

Uncalled bet (100) returned to FR Vessant
*** TURN *** [Jc Tc 5h] [4c]

It's enough to make you cry.

On coaching

2009-07-20T10:02:00.003+10:00

Some guy on 2p2 asked me for coaching. He was angling for free help by buttering me up, but I don't have time, so I said I'd do it for money (not much money -- 30/hr if you want to learn how to crush) and he asked what would be the best way to gain from coaching and how you should do it. So I said this:

There are three indispensable skills if you want to win using a 2p2-type strategy: 1/ Hand selection 2/ Not ****ing up postflop and 3/ most importantly, late game.

In 1, you have to know which hands to play in which spots, which hands you'll threebet, which hands you'll shove over limpers, which hands you'll resteal with against which players. Some of this you can figure out for yourself, some you can be taught, some you just get a feel for as you play.

In 2, there are different approaches, but the most important thing is not to make the bigger mistakes your opponents make: not to stack off light with top pair, not to go broke in unraised pots with hands that are easily beaten, not to chase draws; and more positively, to bet strong hands hard, to apply aggression correctly and to understand bet sizing and have some idea of what your opponents are trying to do. An appreciation of range-based thinking and play is essential, because this is the foundation of good poker.

In 3, you need to know when to push and when to fold. This involves understanding ICM above all, and working through spots in a program like SNG Wizard, which is an essential purchase for anyone who wants to improve at STTs. I don't have a lot of time to study ICM, which is one reason I don't play turbos too much (regular speeds are more forgiving of patchy late-game knowledge), but there are good and bad ways to use it imo.

If you get anyone to help you with your game, you need them first of all to understand what you know. To do that, they need either to sweat you or to go through a HH in a replayer. They can do this without your presence, but tbh talking to a player about why they played their hands a particular way lets you know whether they get it or not. You know what I mean? Someone might do something differently from the way I would, and I'll ask them why. If you understand the game, your answer will make sense to me, if you don't, the flaw in your understanding becomes apparent. Most people have glaring leaks because they just dont' understand areas of the game, or spots that they are in. This is true of everyone bar the very best: I'm a moderate player and I definitely don't know it all.

I'll be honest with you. Coaching has a value in STTs, but it's limited, because a lot of the knowledge you need is gained through experience and work that you have to do for yourself. So it's valuable to have someone talk through some games with you, and explain broadly where you're going wrong/what you're doing right, but they can't teach you push/fold -- you have to study that for yourself. Having said that, if you are very much a learner, either being sweated or going through a HH in a replayer will work -- using Skype and Teamviewer or similar. I think the second is best because there's no time pressure and you can explain your thought process.

Omahahahahhahahahdfhdhfdhfhdhdhfhdhshshshhs

2009-07-18T18:03:00.005+10:00

I thought this was quite interesting. I am playing a $2 PL Omaha 8 tourney (I know, shoot me) because I'm an addict but can't concentrate enough to play anything worthwhile, when this hand came up.

Full Tilt Poker Game #13462676090: $2 + 0.25 Tournament (99453018), Table 10 - 30/60 - Pot Limit Omaha H/L - 3:54:16 ET - 2009/07/18
Seat 1: superiorbath (5,325)
Seat 2: Darkdeck (1,316)
Seat 3: SexulHrsmntPnda (4,494)
Seat 4: SusieOh (938)
Seat 5: ASD-OCD (4,811)
Seat 6: basatagirl (4,863)
Seat 7: KYKenny (1,339)
Seat 8: RAGS2RICHESXXX (1,587)
Seat 9: daveteezeeme (2,068)
superiorbath posts the small blind of 30
Darkdeck posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [3c 4d Ks Ac]
SexulHrsmntPnda folds
SusieOh folds
ASD-OCD calls 60
basatagirl calls 60

It's reasonable to limp this in this game, where there is very little aggression.

KYKenny calls 60
RAGS2RICHESXXX folds
daveteezeeme calls 60
superiorbath calls 30
Darkdeck checks
*** FLOP *** [8c 8d 2c]
superiorbath checks
Darkdeck bets 120

Doesn't have to have much for that.

ASD-OCD calls 120

This is terrible with his actual hand.

basatagirl calls 120

I call with nut low draw and nut flush draw. If no one has or hits a boat, I could scoop.

KYKenny folds
daveteezeeme calls 120
superiorbath folds
*** TURN *** [8c 8d 2c] [6c]

So I have my flush and the nut low. There aren't too many hands I'm going to hate being against here.

Darkdeck checks
ASD-OCD bets 420
basatagirl raises to 2,100

Pot raise. I don't mind if he comes with me now.

daveteezeeme folds
Darkdeck folds
ASD-OCD raises to 4,631, and is all in
basatagirl calls 2,531

Easy call. He can have me beat for high, but can only chop low, and it has to be unlikely he has it.

ASD-OCD shows [3s 8s Jd 2h]

Fucking awful. He should never limp this pre. It's a dog. 32xx is a trouble hand in OH and he has nothing else going on really.

On the flop, he has high sewn up obviously, but slowplaying it is horrible. Why let
me hit my low for free? I am supposing he thinks he will get more from a flush if it hits, but there's a decent wedge in the pot, and if someone hits a low, he gives up half of what's already there. He has nothing to lose by pumping the pot.
*** RIVER *** [8c 8d 2c 6c] [2d]
ASD-OCD shows a full house, Eights full of Twos, for high
basatagirl shows a flush, Ace high, for high and 8,6,3,2,A, for low
ASD-OCD wins the high pot (5,051) with a full house, Eights full of Twos
basatagirl wins the low pot (5,051) with 8,6,3,2,A

So that sucks a bit, not least that he hit a full with such a bad hand. This sucks more:

Full Tilt Poker Game #13462754587: $2 + 0.25 Tournament (99453018), Table 10 - 40/80 - Pot Limit Omaha H/L - 4:03:54 ET - 2009/07/18
Seat 1: superiorbath (4,905)
Seat 2: Darkdeck (1,916)
Seat 4: SusieOh (658)
Seat 5: ASD-OCD (4,911)
Seat 6: basatagirl (5,103)
Seat 7: KYKenny (1,279)
Seat 8: RAGS2RICHESXXX (1,587)
Seat 9: daveteezeeme (1,888)
ASD-OCD posts the small blind of 40
basatagirl posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Tc Ah Ks 2s]
KYKenny folds
RAGS2RICHESXXX folds
daveteezeeme folds
superiorbath folds
Darkdeck calls 80

He should try to steal with the hand he has if he's going to play it, but I wouldn't play it.

SusieOh folds
ASD-OCD has been disconnected
ASD-OCD folds
ASD-OCD has reconnected
basatagirl checks

I have no fold equity for a raise, even though my hand is okay. I prefer not to bloat the pot without any hope of just TingID.

*** FLOP *** [3h As 7c]

Not the best flop because there's a low out there and the ace is really bad for me.

basatagirl checks
Darkdeck bets 200
basatagirl calls 200

I call because I have TPTK on an unconnected board, and he doesn't have to have a low
because these boys will often play high-only hands. I should probably fold, but I hate to give up too easily against these really bad players.

*** TURN *** [3h As 7c] [Kh]

That's a great turn for me, because I now have the best high.

basatagirl checks
Darkdeck bets 400
basatagirl raises to 1,800

I am hoping to make him fold hands that have bad lows and no highs and draws to beat me, like 64xx maybe.
Darkdeck calls 1,236, and is all in
basatagirl shows [Tc Ah Ks 2s]
Darkdeck shows [2c 4s 2h 5c]

Obviously he is not folding a nut low. I am in good shape for high though because he'd need a 4 or a 2 to beat me, and obv. he has one of the 4s and only one 2 is still in the deck.

Uncalled bet of 164 returned to basatagirl
*** RIVER *** [3h As 7c Kh] [4c]

Oh shit.

****

My bustout hand was quite disappointing.

Full Tilt Poker Game #13463062792: $2 + 0.25 Tournament (99453018), Table 10 - 80/160 - Pot Limit Omaha H/L - 4:36:27 ET - 2009/07/18
Seat 1: superiorbath (7,032)
Seat 2: Darkdeck (3,397)
Seat 3: pokerbill72 (24,917)
Seat 4: back2therail (4,035)
Seat 5: ASD-OCD (7,154)
Seat 6: basatagirl (4,165)
Seat 7: KYKenny (1,139), is sitting out
Seat 8: Boxcar85 (2,783)
ASD-OCD posts the small blind of 80
basatagirl posts the big blind of 160
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Ad 3s Qh Qd]
KYKenny folds
Boxcar85 folds
superiorbath folds
Darkdeck folds
pokerbill72 folds
back2therail has 15 seconds left to act
back2therail raises to 320

I hate minraises in Omaha. You don't have much, if any, steal equity, so all you're doing is bloat the pot.

ASD-OCD calls 240

Will call with nearly anything, he's that bad.

basatagirl calls 160
*** FLOP *** [Jc 6d 2c]
ASD-OCD has 15 seconds left to act
ASD-OCD bets 960

That's a big bet, so he probably has something. However, I'd think he's more likely to have something like 54xx or Acxcxx than a set of jacks, so I'm probably ahead for high and have hopes for low. Folding here would be far too weak in my view, and given the amount I have to call, I should play for stacks.

basatagirl raises to 3,840

So I do.

back2therail folds
ASD-OCD calls 2,880

I would have rather kept the pot smaller with his hand, and looked to make money when I actually had a hand, but I'm not him.

I now very much don't want to see a club on the turn, particularly not a high one.

*** TURN *** [Jc 6d 2c] [Qc]

FUCK. I mean, on the one hand I have a set, but on the other, the flush made, and he's likely to have it.

KYKenny has been disconnected
ASD-OCD bets 160

Yeah, cunt, you should have done that on the flop, given that I only had 5 left behind.

basatagirl calls 5, and is all in
ASD-OCD shows [2h 3d Ac 7c]

He has the worst possible hand for me. He should have 3bet preflop imo, because it's always better to take it down preflop than to try to let me have a shot at outflopping him on a high-only board getting 5/1.

Sadly, he not only has the flush, but he halves my low too, so I badly need the board to pair.

basatagirl shows [Ad 3s Qh Qd]
Uncalled bet of 155 returned to ASD-OCD
*** RIVER *** [Jc 6d 2c Qc] [9c]

Which of course it doesn't.

Oh well. Just because this fish played nearly every fucking hand and hit perfect against me are not reasons to cry. But his being Australian is. All -- and I mean all -- Australian players are entirely retarded, and should never win a cent at poker imo.

WTF hand of the week so far

2009-07-08T16:19:00.003+10:00

It's not the decision to limp that boggles the mind and not the decision to call a raise after that. It's how this guy has the ability to find the on button on his computer:

PokerStars Game #30220353332: Tournament #177710269, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2009/07/08 2:18:18 ET
Table '177710269 1' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: FR Vessant (1560 in chips)
Seat 2: stunt chick (1725 in chips)
Seat 3: LindaLouStar (980 in chips)
Seat 4: Spay Nuter (1390 in chips)
Seat 5: rockxxx (1580 in chips)
Seat 6: barrazor (2120 in chips)
Seat 7: bonez_311 (1785 in chips)
Seat 8: Ultima24 (1080 in chips)
Seat 9: jtran86 (1280 in chips)
LindaLouStar: posts small blind 15
Spay Nuter: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Qc Ac]
rockxxx: folds
barrazor: folds
bonez_311: folds
Ultima24: calls 30
jtran86: folds
FR Vessant: raises 90 to 120

I make a fairly standard raise. I never like picking up AK/AQ, suited or otherwise, in the first couple of levels and I don't much like raising limpers because they never fold unless you hit.

stunt chick: folds
LindaLouStar: folds
Spay Nuter: calls 90
Ultima24: calls 90
*** FLOP *** [Jd 8h 9d]
Spay Nuter: checks
Ultima24: checks
FR Vessant: checks

Not betting that flop because there's just so much for a fish to like there.

*** TURN *** [Jd 8h 9d] [Ks]
Spay Nuter: checks
Ultima24: checks
FR Vessant: checks

Could bet there, but then I'm just hating so many rivers.

*** RIVER *** [Jd 8h 9d Ks] [Kd]
Spay Nuter: checks
Ultima24: checks
FR Vessant: checks

I guess I'll just show my hand down and hope they have...

well, I dunno. there's pretty much nothing I can be beating except crappy aces. So I have to check.

*** SHOW DOWN ***
Spay Nuter: shows [3c Ad] (a pair of Kings)

Crappy ace, sure enough. Why do these clowns call with them? I am quite likely to have a bigger ace and if I don't, and an ace comes, you're unlikely to get paid. So you can only win a small pot or lose a big one.

Ultima24: shows [6h 9s] (two pair, Kings and Nines)

What. The. Fuck. I can't even imagine a rationale for playing that. Maybe he folded the previous hand and was bored. Maybe he feels it will be disguised if he hits. Erm, yes.

Anyway, this is more usual. I suppose the fish was unlucky that he couldn't make any money when he got lucky, but I think against those parts of my range that he could make money from, his line sucks some.

PokerStars Game #30220404105: Tournament #177708932, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2009/07/08 2:21:47 ET
Table '177708932 1' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: over-vert (1200 in chips)
Seat 3: titralac (4715 in chips)
Seat 4: the bl12ade (1230 in chips)
Seat 5: huggyville (1020 in chips)
Seat 6: pc318318 (1310 in chips)
Seat 8: rafmd (2460 in chips)
Seat 9: FR Vessant (1565 in chips)
huggyville: posts small blind 15
pc318318: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Kd Ah]
rafmd: calls 30

I'll tell you now, he has 22. So that's reasonable to limp. You might consider it more prudent to fold because you're likely to be raised and that will make it expensive, but actually this table is quite passive in the few hands we've played, so it's not such a bad gamble.

FR Vessant: raises 90 to 120
over-vert: folds
titralac: folds
the bl12ade: folds
huggyville: folds
pc318318: folds
rafmd: calls 90

But now he should fold. It's too much money to call to try to hit a set and my range is not narrow enough to guarantee stacking me unless you get the right flop.

*** FLOP *** [2d 3s 5s]

Which this one isn't.

rafmd: checks
FR Vessant: checks

I check behind obv. because even though it's unlikely he hit the flop, he's unlikely to fold to a cbet here. He can convince himself to continue with overcards and obv. folding a pair would be out of the question for him.

In his shoes, I'd probably bet. If I have an overpair, I'm going to raise, and he can then often get it in. If I don't, I'm not all that likely to cbet this flop and you are hoping that I hit something that I like on the next two streets.

*** TURN *** [2d 3s 5s] [Tc]
rafmd: checks

The fish's urge to trap overcomes any idea of actually making value with his monster. I suppose once I checked the flop back, it's okay not to force the action, because my most likely hand is AK/AQ and I'm not calling a bet with that.

FR Vessant: checks

*** RIVER *** [2d 3s 5s Tc] [Qd]
rafmd: bets 150

Finally, he takes a stab. It's safe, of course. I'm pretty unlikely to have a pair of Qs and AQ is strongly in my range.

FR Vessant said, "sigh"
FR Vessant said, "I have a bad feeling you actually have a Q"

LOL. I was kind of tempted to call because my hand is often good but meh.

FR Vessant: folds
Uncalled bet (150) returned to rafmd
rafmd collected 285 from pot
rafmd: shows [2s 2h] (three of a kind, Deuces)

How we laughed.

Later, I gave him a lesson in why limpcalling is bad:

PokerStars Game #30220786852: Tournament #177708932, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/07/08 2:49:13 ET
Table '177708932 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 3: titralac (3837 in chips)
Seat 5: huggyville (3495 in chips)
Seat 8: rafmd (4493 in chips)
Seat 9: FR Vessant (1675 in chips)
titralac: posts small blind 75
huggyville: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [As Ah]
rafmd: calls 150
rafmd said, "ty"
FR Vessant: raises 300 to 450

I know, it's ridicutarded, but it sucks a ton if you push and he folds, which he just might have.

titralac: folds
huggyville: folds
rafmd: calls 300
*** FLOP *** [5d Td 7s]
rafmd: bets 600

Well, let's hope he doesn't have 77 or some retarded shit like 75s.

FR Vessant: raises 625 to 1225 and is all-in

Drop the boom.

rafmd: calls 625

He has KdTh.

*** TURN *** [5d Td 7s] [2d]

So that turn is a bit stressful.

*** RIVER *** [5d Td 7s 2d] [3c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
rafmd: shows [Kd Th] (a pair of Tens)
FR Vessant: shows [As Ah] (a pair of Aces)
FR Vessant collected 3575 from pot

I know, how come I'm losing money in this company. Beats me too.

Bet or check?

2009-07-08T14:38:00.002+10:00

I have no one to talk poker with so I'm stuck with posting hands here. Maybe someone will happen along and comment.

PokerStars Game #30218574186: Tournament #177697288, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2009/07/08 0:35:44 ET
Table '177697288 1' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 2: jivehoney2 (875 in chips)
Seat 3: catsonny (1630 in chips)
Seat 4: Gugrand (1835 in chips)
Seat 5: FR Vessant (1660 in chips)
Seat 6: svargas (1120 in chips)
Seat 7: luckyluke711 (1465 in chips)
Seat 8: Kevgj454 (2400 in chips)
Seat 9: Rollar (2515 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 15
svargas: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Kh Ad]
luckyluke711: folds
Kevgj454: folds
Rollar: folds
jivehoney2: folds
catsonny: folds
Gugrand: raises 60 to 90

This guy has been pretty tight, but he has the button, so I'm not necessarily putting him on a really tight range.

FR Vessant: raises 120 to 210

So I threebet. I actually don't normally threebet out of position. I'd typically flatcall. However, it seems to me that I can define my hand pretty well here by threebetting. If he's very strong, he is likely to shove over, and if he isn't, he will likely fold, and I won't have to play postflop guessing games with it.

svargas: calls 180

So that's not goodThis guy has been semiloose, but not extremely so. I'm not sure what range to put him on because these guys so often surprise you. I guess he can have a lot of pairs and some broadways in his range.

I mean, I've threebet so he shouldn't be superwide.

Gugrand: folds
*** FLOP *** [7h 8d 3s]

Here's the difficult thing. This flop sucks for me. It's not all that likely to have hit him but he may have begun with a better hand.

I can bet, and if he calls or raises, I think I'm done with it. It's a fairly dry flop, so I can't imagine he's trying to push me off a hand if he shoves. I think he should fold overcards, but I can't be sure. They don't often bluffraise, but you have to give him a small chance of it.

If he has a pair, he's never folding on this flop.

I can check, but I think that turns my hand face up and I have to fold when he bets. It won't even be "if". They never check behind. I mean, checking with AA would make sense because these clowns put you on AK every time and try to push you off it.

So is betting profitable?

FR Vessant: bets 270

Well, I try it.

svargas: raises 640 to 910 and is all-in

But I dunno. I think I should have checkfolded. Now I'm stuck in a shitty position and I hate that I bet.

0000

This is why my month is shitty though:

PokerStars Game #30218901413: Tournament #177697279, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2009/07/08 0:52:18 ET
Table '177697279 1' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 2: marsmac (2218 in chips)
Seat 3: Backwoodsman (1735 in chips)
Seat 4: Mixien (1622 in chips)
Seat 5: JZarse (1455 in chips)
Seat 6: FatStack911 (4175 in chips)
Seat 7: JC Cub (1020 in chips)
Seat 8: FR Vessant (1275 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 50
marsmac: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [9c Ah]
Backwoodsman: folds
Mixien has timed out
Mixien: folds
Mixien is sitting out
JZarse: folds
Mixien has returned
FatStack911: calls 100

Playing 37/11.

JC Cub: calls 100

Playing something like 40/10.

FR Vessant: raises 1175 to 1275 and is all-in

So I should have tons of fold equity here. And even if one calls, I should be ahead, because he ought to be raising better aces and most pairs.

marsmac: folds
FatStack911: raises 2900 to 4175 and is all-in

OMG.

JC Cub: folds
Uncalled bet (2900) returned to FatStack911

He has AQs. If you want to know how you can even conceivably lose money to these droolers, this is how. Who traps with AQs for fuck's sake? It would actually make less money in the long run than taking the blinds.

Again, these fish think that this sort of thing is super clever when they catch you with A9. They consider it a huge injustice when you have 53 in the BB and catch two pair or you suck out and hit your 9. But what they don't realise is that an aggressive player like me makes this shove all the time, and I profit from it. I factor in the dumb traps when I consider doing it.

Not that their traps always work:

PokerStars Game #30219060445: Tournament #177697288, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/07/08 1:00:41 ET
Table '177697288 1' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 3: catsonny (1580 in chips)
Seat 5: FR Vessant (3785 in chips)
Seat 8: Kevgj454 (4865 in chips)
Seat 9: Rollar (3270 in chips)
Kevgj454: posts small blind 75
Rollar: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ah Qh]
catsonny: raises 150 to 300

Why minraise in his spot? I guess he could have something but I'm not folding my hand in this spot. The problem is that these guys also steal with minraises and like to minraise small pairs. This guy has minraised more than once, although I haven't seen him do it utg.

I think my hand is too strong to fold against a shorty even if I am suspicious, so I don't fold.

FR Vessant: raises 600 to 900

I raise to discourage the others from entering the pot.

Kevgj454: folds
Rollar: folds
catsonny: raises 600 to 1500

He actually leaves himself with 80 behind, which is cute. I'm not folding obviously.
FR Vessant: calls 600
*** FLOP *** [9s Qc 3d]

Well, if he has AA, this is going to hurt.

catsonny: bets 80 and is all-in
FR Vessant: calls 80

He has JJ.

Couple hands later, just to show that I am not married to AQ or anything:

PokerStars Game #30219076960: Tournament #177697288, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/07/08 1:01:34 ET
Table '177697288 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 5: FR Vessant (5440 in chips)
Seat 8: Kevgj454 (5015 in chips)
Seat 9: Rollar (3045 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 75
Kevgj454: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Qs Ah]
Rollar: folds
FR Vessant: raises 300 to 450

Standard raise.

Kevgj454: raises 4565 to 5015 and is all-in

Thing is, this guy has been loose but not particularly aggressive. I think he has to have a strong hand, given my read so

FR Vessant: folds

Uncalled bet (4565) returned to Kevgj454
Kevgj454 collected 900 from pot
Kevgj454: shows [Jc Js] (a pair of Jacks)

Well, I suppose I had some overlay but I'm pretty content to have folded there.

However later on:

PokerStars Game #30219183005: Tournament #177697288, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/07/08 1:07:32 ET
Table '177697288 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 5: FR Vessant (5665 in chips)
Seat 8: Kevgj454 (5690 in chips)
Seat 9: Rollar (2145 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 75
Kevgj454: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [9h 9c]
Rollar: folds
FR Vessant: raises 300 to 450
Kevgj454: calls 300

Can have a very wide range.

*** FLOP *** [6c 2h Js]
FR Vessant: bets 600

I am obviously going to cbet even with the overcard.

Kevgj454: raises 4640 to 5240 and is all-in

But now I have to fold.

Having folded earlier, is he encouraged and is now bluffing? I dunno. I do think I can have the best hand but on a flop this dry, it's hard to put him on the bluff because he'd have to have absolutely nothing. So

FR Vessant: folds

0000

Not that it did me too much harm:

PokerStars Game #30219235910: Tournament #177697288, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2009/07/08 1:10:33 ET
Table '177697288 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 5: FR Vessant (3790 in chips)
Seat 8: Kevgj454 (8315 in chips)
Seat 9: Rollar (1395 in chips)
Rollar: posts small blind 100
FR Vessant: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Kh Ad]
Kevgj454: raises 400 to 600
Rollar: raises 795 to 1395 and is all-in

Woah! Hold on!

FR Vessant: raises 2395 to 3790 and is all-in

I'm getting it in because even though Rollar probably has a strong range, I'm going to have to be beaten by both to come third even if Kevgj454 calls (because I outchip Rollar). I'd obviously have a really nice stack if either I win outright or I beat just Kev.

Kevgj454: calls 3190

He has KK. The other guy has a pair of 6s.

Yuk. Still, at least I'm a big favourite to come second. And there's always spiking the ace, right?

*** FLOP *** [5c 9d Qc]
*** TURN *** [5c 9d Qc] [Jh]

Hold on! Now I have a ten or an ace to win. Come on!

*** RIVER *** [5c 9d Qc Jh] [Th]

woot.

Kev decided to do more trapping later, and really, this is why you don't do this sort of thing:

PokerStars Game #30219251392: Tournament #177697288, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2009/07/08 1:11:22 ET
Table '177697288 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 5: FR Vessant (9575 in chips)
Seat 8: Kevgj454 (3925 in chips)
Kevgj454: posts small blind 100
FR Vessant: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [4d 2d]
Kevgj454: calls 100
FR Vessant: checks
*** FLOP *** [4s 3s 7h]
FR Vessant: checks

I don't bet, even with the flush draw there, because a/ I'm never putting a HU opponent on an FD, and b/ he can and will call with a 5, 6 or overcards.

Kevgj454: checks
*** TURN *** [4s 3s 7h] [4h]

Nice. I'm pretty sure I have the best hand now.

FR Vessant: bets 400
Kevgj454: raises 800 to 1200

Not too scared by that. If he has a better 4 or the flopped straight, that's poker. More likely he thinks I'm bluffing and he can rebluff me.

FR Vessant: raises 8175 to 9375 and is all-in

So let's get it on, bro.

Kevgj454: calls 2525 and is all-in

He has JJ, which he played about as badly as is possible. The idea of poker, put simply, is to make bets when you're a favourite at the odds, and pass them when you're not. Doing it the other way round is not going to make you money. But from time to time, it just might make me some.

Zero again

2009-07-08T12:15:00.003+10:00

As always, when I move up, I run terribly. This is doubly painful because first you start thinking that you simply weren't as good as you thought you were, and second you lose twice as much money. Once you start to run bad, you start to play bad too.

In the first of today's 22s, I panicked on a bad bubble and made a big -EV call:

PokerStars Game #30214005607: Tournament #177652941, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2009/07/07 21:32:03 ET
Table '177652941 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 5: bryan lieb (1778 in chips)

This idiot has basically funnelled tons of chips to jonny2jabs, who is a good player, shoving every SB and button, so I lose 600 chips an orbit, but is folding his BB to shoves from tallyyayo, so I am in a terrible position stackwise.

Seat 6: jonny2jabs (7037 in chips)
Seat 7: FR Vessant (2444 in chips)
Seat 8: tallyyayo (2241 in chips)
bryan lieb: posts the ante 25
jonny2jabs: posts the ante 25
FR Vessant: posts the ante 25
tallyyayo: posts the ante 25
FR Vessant: posts small blind 200
tallyyayo: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [6d 6h]
bryan lieb: folds
jonny2jabs: raises 6612 to 7012 and is all-in

I should fold, of course, but I figure to be in a very weak position, trying to fold into third, if I do, and a decent one, able to play a bigger stack and a good shot at second at least, if I don't.

FR Vessant: calls 2219 and is all-in

So I don't, and this time the ATC shover has 77. GG me.

So the villain in this hand has been erratic and bad:

PokerStars Game #30212844089: Tournament #177653493, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2009/07/07 20:51:41 ET
Table '177653493 1' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: jonny2jabs (980 in chips)
Seat 2: dumbmum (2840 in chips)
Seat 3: TJ PackMan (733 in chips)
Seat 4: Ducky G 6000 (1835 in chips)
Seat 5: TomC69 (3075 in chips)
Seat 6: pieroni85 (1375 in chips)
Seat 8: FR Vessant (1697 in chips)
Seat 9: orbitahole (965 in chips)
TJ PackMan: posts small blind 50
Ducky G 6000: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ac Jh]
TomC69: folds
pieroni85: folds
FR Vessant: raises 150 to 250
orbitahole: calls 250

It's really hard to put him on the hand he has, because this call is soooo bad.

jonny2jabs: folds
dumbmum: folds
TJ PackMan: folds
Ducky G 6000: folds
*** FLOP *** [3s Th 4c]
FR Vessant: checks

That's a decent flop but I don't think I can make him fold.

orbitahole: checks
*** TURN *** [3s Th 4c] [2h]
FR Vessant: checks
orbitahole: bets 300

I'm sure he's just taking a stab. Maybe he has a flush draw. In any case, I don't think I can fold here. Effectively, it's the same as getting it in pre, which I would have done.

FR Vessant: raises 1147 to 1447 and is all-in
orbitahole: calls 415 and is all-in

He has TT.

So a few hands later, I shove 92 on the button, expecting a lot of fold equity, and the same fish snapcalls with KQ.

Next up, I lose yet another big pot with QQ:

PokerStars Game #30214906375: Tournament #177669905, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2009/07/07 22:04:10 ET
Table '177669905 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 2: tonyandgolf (3970 in chips)
Seat 3: smallbass79 (1458 in chips)
Seat 4: Uncut Haus (1095 in chips)
Seat 6: Hymie_Weiss (1664 in chips)
Seat 7: FR Vessant (1625 in chips)
Seat 8: evilgenius76 (2580 in chips)
Seat 9: pokherfinger (1108 in chips)
tonyandgolf: posts small blind 25
smallbass79: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Qd Qh]
Uncut Haus: folds
Hymie_Weiss: folds
FR Vessant: raises 100 to 150
evilgenius76: folds
pokherfinger: folds
tonyandgolf: calls 125

Has been fairly tight but doesn't look good.

smallbass79: folds
*** FLOP *** [5c 7s Th]
tonyandgolf: checks
FR Vessant: bets 200

Nice flop for my hand so obv. I bet.

tonyandgolf: raises 500 to 700

Well, he might have a set, but you don't make money by folding overpairs against fish.

FR Vessant: raises 775 to 1475 and is all-in
tonyandgolf: calls 775

You also don't make it by running QQ into AA. GG me.

I defy anyone to fold this one:

PokerStars Game #30215110571: Tournament #177670505, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2009/07/07 22:11:31 ET
Table '177670505 1' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: FR Vessant (2868 in chips)
Seat 2: AKATheShark (2475 in chips)
Seat 5: DaPorKer42 (3205 in chips)
Seat 6: Dr. Baker75 (1979 in chips)
Seat 8: Uncut Haus (898 in chips)
Seat 9: Jacxxs (2075 in chips)
DaPorKer42: posts small blind 50
Dr. Baker75: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Qc Ad]
Uncut Haus: folds
Jacxxs: calls 100

Pretty bad to limp here. He's played sort of semiloose, so I definitely figure to be ahead.

FR Vessant: raises 300 to 400
AKATheShark: folds
DaPorKer42: calls 350

Has played 16/3 or something like that. His call is beyond bad with the hand he actually had. Weirdly, if he'd played it anything like properly, I would have been able to fold pre and get away from it.

Dr. Baker75: folds
Jacxxs: calls 300
*** FLOP *** [8h 6c Ah]
DaPorKer42: bets 2805 and is all-in

WTF.

I know when you see his hand you think I should fold. Isn't it obvious he has me beat? Well no, it's not. It's really hard to see how any hand that beats me plays like this.

I just happened to have the only hand he beat that would call. That's how it is for me at the moment. I'm losing a ton of money to players who are so bad they don't know that their bets are super bad.

Jacxxs: folds
FR Vessant: calls 2468 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (337) returned to DaPorKer42
*** TURN *** [8h 6c Ah] [9h]
*** RIVER *** [8h 6c Ah 9h] [9s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DaPorKer42: shows [Kc As] (two pair, Aces and Nines)

Just fucking awful. He should have AJ or a flush draw, maybe with a 6. When you're running good, that's all they have (although note that the flush draw got there anyway).

It doesn't do my fragile confidence any good. This happens literally every time I move up. I know that running bad is part of poker, but when it happens coincidentally with moving up, you start to fear that you cannot win at a higher level than the goddamn 11s. I had been getting excited about my prospects. Now they are at zero again.

blwhah

2009-07-07T21:58:00.002+10:00

I'm hating poker lately. I had an up and down month last month, but I didn't play much, so meh. I am playing really well, as well as I ever have, but I'm running like shit. Sometimes I play a $2 satty for my MTT fix and when I win the ticket, I play whatever 11 is available. So I played a 27-man and won that. With the 100 bucks I played a 33 and the Nightly 70K. In both I took fierce beats from guys who limpcalled with suited cards preflop. So that was that. Never mind, only risked 2 bucks.

So I moved up to the 22s and that worked well. Or not, as you can imagine. Whenever I move up a level I immediately run like shit, just so that my head gets fucked with. I'm 100% certain I'm playing well, but running bad makes you question that so much. When a tight player completed at t150, should I really have shoved 13BB or whatever with T6? Well, I'm pretty sure I should, because how can I possibly know that a player who is winning more than a buck a game is bad enough to snapcall with KJ? And obviously I can't help all my big pairs getting cracked. I'm not talking just about shoving QQ on a K7x flop and the loose big blind having K7; I mean having AA, getting it in with JT on a AJ8 flop and the turn, river are 9,7. I am not fucking kidding, although I wish I was.

So tonight I said fuck it, because my laptop is broken and I wanted to stay upstairs, and played some bullshit games on FTP. I can proudly report that my record in 3.80 superturbos is now 1/0/0/1 and only a bad beat prevented me from cashing in both. However, I remain cursed in the 6.5/90s, where I have never cashed and probably never will. I shove 55 with a decent stack and a fish calls off 10BB with A3s, which is terrible.

Why is that terrible? He has an ace, right? Well, I am shoving more than 10BB effective, so my range is going to be fairly tight, and I haven't shown much sign of insanity yet, so you can definitely figure that you aren't beating much. Maybe KQs if you think I'm superfrisky, but you're not much ahead of that. My range otherwise is pairs, which nearly all crush you, and big aces, which also crush you. So you are hoping it's a pair and that you can suck out. Which the fish did. So I'm left shoving 9BB with KJs and the SB, who has, I dunno, 20BB, snaps with A6. This is also terrible. In case you truly suck at poker, let me tell you two facts: one, raggy aces are shit hands and two, raggy aces play much worse than you think against any sane shoving range. I just have so much Ax in my range and most of it smashes you. The pairs crush you mostly and even hands like the one I had fare okay (in theory) against your dogshit. But hey, you cover me, right, so gambooooooool? Well no. Your chips are worth much more to me than mine are to you. You just do not win poker tourneys by making loose calls, even if you think you miiiiiiiight sometimes be ahead.

This is one of the problems of tourneys. We don't mind too much the guys who limpcall with suited cards and eventually flush on us. They are chasing such longshots that we gain much more than we lose. But the guy who calls with A6 can hurt us much more. Not only does he rob us of some of the value of shoving weaker hands, but even if we have a stronger hand, he still sucks out much more often than he does when he calls pre with a suited hand. The guy who calls off his stack with A3s is an equity burner -- but although you got your money in good, he is burning your equity too by calling. The A6 guy, well, bleh. If there was any justice, I would have binked a J and lol'd him to oblivion. But there is no justice in poker.

I think I prefer lowstakes

2009-07-06T12:47:00.003+10:00

OMG. There's just nothing to say about this. But why can't they miss?

PokerStars Game #30141761978: Tournament #175253468, $50+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/07/05 22:45:06 ET
Table '175253468 49' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: howdipartner (3990 in chips)
Seat 2: BaQinBlaQ (2957 in chips)
Seat 3: FR Vessant (3980 in chips)
Seat 4: Mariocalls (2725 in chips)
Seat 5: mikeylions (5835 in chips)
Seat 6: mik9182 (9970 in chips)
Seat 7: nutsindaface (2130 in chips)
Seat 8: NdAAMiracle (3345 in chips)
Seat 9: NYSquad (4840 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 75
Mariocalls: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ac Ah]
mikeylions: folds
mik9182: folds
nutsindaface: folds
NdAAMiracle: raises 150 to 300
NYSquad: folds
howdipartner: folds
BaQinBlaQ: folds
FR Vessant: raises 450 to 750
Mariocalls: folds
NdAAMiracle: calls 450
*** FLOP *** [8c Td 6d]
FR Vessant: bets 1050
NdAAMiracle: calls 1050
*** TURN *** [8c Td 6d] [9h]
FR Vessant: bets 2180 and is all-in
NdAAMiracle: calls 1545 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (635) returned to FR Vessant
*** RIVER *** [8c Td 6d 9h] [9d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FR Vessant: shows [Ac Ah] (two pair, Aces and Nines)
NdAAMiracle: shows [Jd Kd] (a flush, King high)
NdAAMiracle collected 6840 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 6840 | Rake 0
Board [8c Td 6d 9h 9d]
Seat 1: howdipartner folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: BaQinBlaQ (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: FR Vessant (small blind) showed [Ac Ah] and lost with two pair, Aces and Nines
Seat 4: Mariocalls (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: mikeylions folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: mik9182 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: nutsindaface folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: NdAAMiracle showed [Jd Kd] and won (6840) with a flush, King high
Seat 9: NYSquad folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Another day, another wtf

2009-07-05T20:33:00.004+10:00

Don't let anyone tell you that players actually get better as you go up buyins:

PokerStars Game #30113095585: Tournament #175252758, $30+$3 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2009/07/05 6:27:03 ET
Table '175252758 44' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Snooze7am (6775 in chips)
Seat 2: Muso01 (6350 in chips)
Seat 3: jesse6520 (2211 in chips)
Seat 4: Metzy 100 (11151 in chips)
Seat 5: aironevolant (3290 in chips)
Seat 6: HyperR_NL (9758 in chips)
Seat 7: FR Vessant (10930 in chips)
Seat 8: Brick7047 (1180 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 9: kaktus1965 (6550 in chips)
jesse6520: posts small blind 100
Metzy 100: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ac Qh]
aironevolant: calls 200

Horrible fish.

HyperR_NL: folds
FR Vessant: raises 600 to 800

So I make an isoraise.

Brick7047: folds
kaktus1965: folds
Brick7047 is disconnected
Snooze7am: folds
Muso01: folds
jesse6520: folds
Metzy 100: calls 600

Another unbelievable fish.

aironevolant: raises 2490 to 3290 and is all-in

I just don't believe he's limpreraising a big hand. I'm thinking it's probably a small pair, and I have the overlay to take it on.

FR Vessant: raises 7640 to 10930 and is all-in
Metzy 100: folds
Uncalled bet (7640) returned to FR Vessant

He has 22. Fuck that.

*** FLOP *** [Kh Kc 5h]

Give me a 5, Q or A.

Three hands later.

PokerStars Game #30113152574: Tournament #175252758, $30+$3 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2009/07/05 6:30:31 ET
Table '175252758 44' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Snooze7am (6775 in chips)
Seat 2: Muso01 (5150 in chips)
Seat 3: jesse6520 (4522 in chips)
Seat 4: Metzy 100 (10251 in chips)
Seat 5: aironevolant (4819 in chips)
Seat 6: HyperR_NL (11508 in chips)
Seat 7: FR Vessant (7440 in chips)
Seat 8: Brick7047 (1180 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 9: kaktus1965 (6550 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 100
Brick7047: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [6s 6h]
kaktus1965: folds
Snooze7am: folds
Muso01: folds
jesse6520: folds
Metzy 100: folds
aironevolant: calls 200
HyperR_NL: calls 200
FR Vessant: raises 800 to 1000

Hoping to get Hyper to fold and isolate the other guy.

Brick7047: folds
aironevolant: calls 800

You simply will not believe what he limpcalled with.

HyperR_NL: folds
*** FLOP *** [Ad 2d 4s]
FR Vessant: bets 6440 and is all-in

Not afraid of the ace. The fish would have raised if he had one.

aironevolant: calls 3819 and is all-in

He snapcalls with Td4d.

I don't ask how come a fish can call with Td4d in the first place, or how he can call a raise with it. I ask why he must fucking hit the flop. Could he not just have missed?

Uncalled bet (2621) returned to FR Vessant
*** TURN *** [Ad 2d 4s] [7d]

OMG.

Oh well. Still alive, right?

PokerStars Game #30113244440: Tournament #175252758, $30+$3 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2009/07/05 6:36:02 ET
Table '175252758 44' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Snooze7am (6975 in chips)
Seat 2: Muso01 (4450 in chips)
Seat 3: Ozknackers (6930 in chips)
Seat 4: Metzy 100 (9851 in chips)
Seat 5: aironevolant (16060 in chips)
Seat 6: HyperR_NL (10808 in chips)
Seat 7: FR Vessant (2921 in chips)
Seat 8: Brick7047 (880 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 9: kaktus1965 (6250 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 100
Brick7047: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ad Jh]
kaktus1965: folds
Snooze7am: folds
Muso01: folds
Ozknackers: folds
Metzy 100: raises 200 to 400
aironevolant: calls 400
HyperR_NL: folds
FR Vessant: raises 2521 to 2921 and is all-in
Brick7047: folds
Metzy 100: calls 2521
aironevolant: folds
*** FLOP *** [Kd Th Kh]
*** TURN *** [Kd Th Kh] [9h]
*** RIVER *** [Kd Th Kh 9h] [4c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FR Vessant: shows [Ad Jh] (a pair of Kings)
Metzy 100: shows [Ts 9s] (two pair, Kings and Tens)

Wrong.

Unreal. That's some of the worst poker you'll ever see and in each case I was on the receiving end of it. Yet again. It sucks though. I don't normally play $33 buyins, I'm so risk averse. And I was absolutely cruising, playing well, with an above-average stack when bang! Sigh.

Goodbye to all that

2009-07-02T17:23:00.003+10:00

I seriously believe I will not make an 8,000th post on 2p2. I have used it as a timewaster more than a learning tool, and of course, I like to help others if I can, but I doubt I'm actually good enough to be of that much benefit to anyone.

So I'm going to post a hot chick here and that will do me for 2p2. No one will care; least of all me.

Moving up blues, reprise

2009-07-02T16:11:00.002+10:00

So Dr Zen, I hear you moved up to the 22s permanently. How has that been going?

Well, I got a third:

PokerStars Game #30004948785: Tournament #176205984, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2009/07/02 0:25:12 ET
Table '176205984 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 4: Vegaas (2220 in chips)
Seat 6: zewowwee (9254 in chips)
Seat 9: FR Vessant (2026 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 100
Vegaas: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ah 2d]
zewowwee: calls 200

Has limped, I am not kidding, every single hand ITM since he took a big pot from the other fish.

FR Vessant: raises 1826 to 2026 and is all-in
Vegaas: folds
zewowwee: calls 1826

He has KJ.

*** FLOP *** [3s Qc Js]

Nice.

Next I just about bust when my AQ hits on a 557Q board against slowplayed 77, but I fight back until:
PokerStars Game #30004665227: Tournament #176206581, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/07/02 0:11:03 ET
Table '176206581 1' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: Memahair (2985 in chips)
Seat 3: orange13 (1340 in chips)
Seat 4: FR Vessant (850 in chips)
Seat 5: Russ186 (3870 in chips)
Seat 9: CoachDamey (4455 in chips)
CoachDamey: posts small blind 75
Memahair: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Td Ac]
orange13: folds
FR Vessant: raises 700 to 850 and is all-in
Russ186: calls 850
CoachDamey: folds
Memahair: folds
*** FLOP *** [5d Qs 3s]
*** TURN *** [5d Qs 3s] [Qc]
*** RIVER *** [5d Qs 3s Qc] [Th]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FR Vessant: shows [Td Ac] (two pair, Queens and Tens)
Russ186: shows [Ad Ah] (two pair, Aces and Queens)

FML.

PokerStars Game #30005684747: Tournament #176215326, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2009/07/02 1:04:09 ET
Table '176215326 1' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 2: Ricardo Qu. (4050 in chips)
Seat 3: FR Vessant (1355 in chips)
Seat 4: jbashir111 (1810 in chips)
Seat 6: boonwatt (3685 in chips)
Seat 7: geminiJules (2600 in chips)
Ricardo Qu.: posts small blind 50
FR Vessant: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [6d Tc]
jbashir111: folds
boonwatt: folds
geminiJules: folds
Ricardo Qu.: calls 50

This guy's a winning player, but he will complete pretty wide.

FR Vessant: raises 1255 to 1355 and is all-in

Pretty standard.

Ricardo Qu.: calls 1255

With KJ. That's pretty indefensible. He is basically gambling because he has no reason to think my range isn't strong here. I find it truly astonishing that a guy can be a winning player at the 22s when he's willing to play so badly.

The standard, and correct, play is to just raise and steal the blinds. "Trapping" with KJ is retarded. You miss most flops and give away your chips.

*** FLOP *** [Jc 2h 3d]

Nice.

PokerStars Game #30005829843: Tournament #176215949, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/07/02 1:12:31 ET
Table '176215949 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: daveyjhiyo (4370 in chips)
Seat 4: FR Vessant (1495 in chips)
Seat 6: landonryan9 (1840 in chips)
Seat 8: BadBeat_Brat (1040 in chips)
Seat 9: geminiJules (4755 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 75
landonryan9: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Tc Kc]
BadBeat_Brat: folds
geminiJules: folds
daveyjhiyo: folds
FR Vessant: raises 1345 to 1495 and is all-in

Standard shove for 10BB. I've barely played a hand all tourney of course.

landonryan9: calls 1345

He has AT.

*** FLOP *** [Th 8c 8s]

Lovely to hit my pair.

PokerStars Game #30006560500: Tournament #176220013, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2009/07/02 1:56:43 ET
Table '176220013 1' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: FR Vessant (1512 in chips)
Seat 2: dippo (2447 in chips)
Seat 3: expertkotlas (3800 in chips)
Seat 4: sniperjtubbs (3986 in chips)
Seat 7: JamesDoyle (1755 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 50
dippo: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Qc Qd]
expertkotlas: folds
sniperjtubbs: folds
JamesDoyle: folds
FR Vessant: raises 200 to 300
dippo: calls 200

Fish, so he has a pretty wide range.

*** FLOP *** [6h 7d Kd]
FR Vessant: bets 1212 and is all-in

Hope to get called by 6x, 7x, straight draws, flush draws, pairs. My hand looks a lot like AQ/AJ that has missed, so these hands do call a lot. I could play it slower and not get stacked when he has...

dippo: calls 1212

K7. But he would have called with J7, so what can you do?

*** TURN *** [6h 7d Kd] [4d]

Can I resuck to the flush?

*** RIVER *** [6h 7d Kd 4d] [6s]

Are you fucking kidding?

Can these fish miss just once vs my big hands?

PokerStars Game #30006734585: Tournament #176220025, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/07/02 2:07:49 ET
Table '176220025 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: FR Vessant (1445 in chips)
Seat 2: frofessor (2215 in chips)
Seat 4: RJ_3 (2635 in chips)
Seat 6: bobby198325 (2095 in chips)
Seat 8: bunest (2105 in chips)
Seat 9: greywôlf (3005 in chips)
greywôlf: posts small blind 75
FR Vessant: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [As 3s]
frofessor: folds
RJ_3: calls 150

Has limpfolded already and is playing a very wide range.

bobby198325: folds
bunest: folds
greywôlf: folds
FR Vessant: raises 1295 to 1445 and is all-in

I shove because he should fold most of what he has, and I'm going to be ahead if he doesn't.

RJ_3: calls 1295

He snapcalls with JT.

I mean, wtf. He claims he "knew it was a coinflip". Which is bullshit, because I can easily have hands that are much better than a coinflip against him, and even the hand I have is 57-43.

And even if he had a coinflip, he should fold ofc.

*** FLOP *** [3d Qc 8c]
*** TURN *** [3d Qc 8c] [7d]
*** RIVER *** [3d Qc 8c 7d] [Ts]

FUCK. THIS. SHIT.

And here are that guy's figures on Sharkscope: 1,217 $1 $5 13% $1,033.

How? How the fuck are these guys winning? And does that say something about me? If this guy can luckbox his way to a grand in 1K games, maybe I'm just luckier than I am good?

Is the A3s shove good? It seems good to me. I'd shoved over once before, but he probably didn't remember, and anyway, I was right that I was ahead of him. I shouldn't mind so much being called by JT. Well, I wouldn't, but every aggressive play I have been making seems to be leading to busting.

Oh well. This is going to happen, I suppose. I have to bear with it. I'm pretty sure that the occasional wild play makes me money, so I shouldn't stop doing it. I'd like to see them get punished when they make awful calls though, but what ever changed there?

Diagf fishy

2009-07-01T18:35:00.002+10:00

I hate these fish. Some days you just want to kill them.

PokerStars Game #29973031681: Tournament #175986535, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/07/01 4:20:52 ET
Table '175986535 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: opferlamm11 (2160 in chips)
Seat 2: FR Vessant (1660 in chips)
Seat 3: waveydude (1360 in chips)
Seat 4: fobosca (1685 in chips)
Seat 7: Makaveli1977 (2160 in chips)
Seat 8: bizzleburt77 (3000 in chips)
Seat 9: daveymck (1475 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 75
waveydude: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ad Qh]
fobosca: folds
Makaveli1977: folds
bizzleburt77: folds
daveymck: raises 300 to 450
opferlamm11: folds
FR Vessant: raises 1210 to 1660 and is all-in

I have not threebet all tourney.

waveydude: folds
daveymck: calls 1025 and is all-in

This guy won some money at the 5s, but not by playing well, obv. He has KT.

Uncalled bet (185) returned to FR Vessant
*** FLOP *** [8c Ts 8d]
*** TURN *** [8c Ts 8d] [Kc]
*** RIVER *** [8c Ts 8d Kc] [3d]

Fuck this.

Anyway, I get into the money with the same idiot and another even worse fish. I have threebet once in this tourney, and I have folded several raises to threebets (the fish keeps picking the bluffs and missing the value hands).

PokerStars Game #29973159413: Tournament #175986573, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2009/07/01 4:30:46 ET
Table '175986573 1' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: daveymck (3940 in chips)
Seat 2: FR Vessant (6640 in chips)
Seat 3: genevajc (2920 in chips)
daveymck: posts small blind 100
FR Vessant: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Kd As]
genevajc: raises 400 to 600
daveymck: folds
FR Vessant: raises 6040 to 6640 and is all-in
genevajc: calls 2320 and is all-in

He has A4s. That's a supereasy fold, Mr Fish.

But we're sweet, right? On our way to glory?

Uncalled bet (3720) returned to FR Vessant
*** FLOP *** [Ad 3s Ac]
*** TURN *** [Ad 3s Ac] [4c]

Nope.

*** RIVER *** [Ad 3s Ac 4c] [2s]

Later, he shoves for 14BB and I call with A8. It's not the first time he has done a ridic overshove, but this time he has TT, and it's gg me.

It's sucking that I cannot turn my cashes into wins. I suppose I should be content that I'm winning, but I obviously have some problems in the money. I'm not sure what else I can do though. I got my money in yet again as a 70/30 favourite and the fish sucked out.

These games didn't help:

PokerStars Game #29972344066: Tournament #175986098, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2009/07/01 3:28:42 ET
Table '175986098 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: magnum1288 (290 in chips)
Seat 2: NC17ezp (2010 in chips)
Seat 3: Vigilante4 (1530 in chips)
Seat 4: IBda12beatU (2520 in chips)
Seat 5: zach915m (1410 in chips)
Seat 6: FR Vessant (1440 in chips)
Seat 7: Jonah SJ (1550 in chips)
Seat 8: daveymck (1430 in chips)
Seat 9: dckcdc (1320 in chips)
dckcdc: posts small blind 10
magnum1288: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Td Ts]
NC17ezp: calls 20
Vigilante4: calls 20
IBda12beatU: raises 60 to 80
zach915m: folds
FR Vessant: calls 80
Jonah SJ: folds
daveymck: folds
dckcdc: folds
magnum1288: folds
NC17ezp: calls 60
Vigilante4: calls 60
*** FLOP *** [3c 4d 3s]
NC17ezp: checks
Vigilante4: checks
IBda12beatU: bets 160

I didn't notice that this was preflop raiser, which was stupid of me.

FR Vessant: raises 1200 to 1360 and is all-in

And I definitely shouldn't have shoved.

NC17ezp: folds
Vigilante4: folds
IBda12beatU: calls 1200
*** TURN *** [3c 4d 3s] [3d]
*** RIVER *** [3c 4d 3s 3d] [6d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
IBda12beatU: shows [Kc Kh] (a full house, Threes full of Kings)

Whoops.

Oh well, missing the odd one is the price you have to pay for not paying attention, but there's no excuse for this next one, except the previous hand:

PokerStars Game #29972293262: Tournament #175985791, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2009/07/01 3:24:51 ET
Table '175985791 1' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: jbashir111 (1610 in chips)
Seat 2: WHITE1340 (1480 in chips)
Seat 3: NickelBeaver (1415 in chips)
Seat 4: FR Vessant (1150 in chips)
Seat 5: dougbonk (1470 in chips)
Seat 6: brayden126 (1915 in chips)
Seat 7: zach915m (1460 in chips)
Seat 8: el_vacan (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: Southwyck (1500 in chips)
brayden126: posts small blind 10
zach915m: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Kc Ks]
el_vacan: folds
Southwyck: folds
jbashir111: folds
WHITE1340: folds
NickelBeaver: folds
FR Vessant: raises 60 to 80
dougbonk: folds
brayden126: calls 70
zach915m: calls 60
*** FLOP *** [7h 8s Ah]

Always a fucking ace!

brayden126: bets 60
zach915m: calls 60
FR Vessant: calls 60

Dunno why I called. I suppose they could both have flush draws. In my dreams.

*** TURN *** [7h 8s Ah] [6h]
brayden126: bets 60
zach915m: raises 160 to 220
FR Vessant: folds

Obviously, even the biggest fish (me) is going to fold there, so I do.

brayden126: calls 160
*** RIVER *** [7h 8s Ah 6h] [Qh]
brayden126: checks
zach915m: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
brayden126: shows [As 2d] (a pair of Aces)
zach915m: shows [7c 7d] (three of a kind, Sevens)

It's really nice when both callers suck out on you. The second guy shouldn't even have been in the pot. Yeah, I know he has set odds etc etc, but see, he hit his set and did I stack off? No, I didn't, and I wouldn't even if I had had AK, because I scoped him before the game and I can see that he wins too much to stack off with worse on that flop.

So the next hand:

PokerStars Game #29972302892: Tournament #175985791, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2009/07/01 3:25:35 ET
Table '175985791 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: jbashir111 (1610 in chips)
Seat 2: WHITE1340 (1480 in chips)
Seat 3: NickelBeaver (1415 in chips)
Seat 4: FR Vessant (1010 in chips)
Seat 5: dougbonk (1470 in chips)
Seat 6: brayden126 (1555 in chips)
Seat 7: zach915m (1960 in chips)
Seat 8: el_vacan (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: Southwyck (1500 in chips)
zach915m: posts small blind 10
el_vacan: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Kd As]
Southwyck: folds
jbashir111: folds
WHITE1340: folds
FR Vessant said, "sigh"
NickelBeaver: folds
FR Vessant: raises 60 to 80
dougbonk: calls 80
brayden126: calls 80
FR Vessant said, "always an ace when you raise with KK"

Yeah true.

zach915m: raises 245 to 325

OMG. It's going to be really hard to fold here. He should be very strong here.

el_vacan: raises 1175 to 1500 and is all-in

No idea about this guy, but I am going to make what I think is a terrible call. I'm likely to be allin three ways with AK and probably two strong hands against me.

FR Vessant: calls 930 and is all-in
dougbonk: folds
brayden126: folds
zach915m: folds

WTF. It's hard to imagine what he can 3bet me with that he now folds. My stats had looked a bit dodgy, I suppose, because I'd been dealt about six pairs early. However, it's not like I had raised often. But I think some players just play their strat without caring what others are doing. His probably says "3bet AQ+, 99+" or something like that, and it's just a pity that there was the other guy in the hand.

Uncalled bet (490) returned to el_vacan

Who has QQ unfortunately.
*** FLOP *** [4h 4d Jd]
*** TURN *** [4h 4d Jd] [7h]
*** RIVER *** [4h 4d Jd 7h] [Jc]

Still, I'm not complaining too much. Elsewhere, I rode my luck in a 22:

PokerStars Game #29972790320: Tournament #175983606, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/07/01 4:02:48 ET
Table '175983606 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: camo100 (585 in chips)
Seat 2: tleathem (2730 in chips)
Seat 3: FR Vessant (2080 in chips)
Seat 8: dekka4409 (6420 in chips)
Seat 9: brav3hearted (1685 in chips)
tleathem: posts small blind 75
FR Vessant: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [As 2c]
dekka4409: folds
brav3hearted: folds
camo100: folds
tleathem: calls 75

A very limpy fish, so stealing his limp is going to be +EV.

FR Vessant: raises 1930 to 2080 and is all-in
tleathem: calls 1930

He has AQ. See, these guys think they're trapping you, but I take that into account when I shove over.

*** FLOP *** [2d 7d 9c]

BOOM!

*** TURN *** [2d 7d 9c] [7c]
*** RIVER *** [2d 7d 9c 7c] [8c]

And later:

PokerStars Game #29973000600: Tournament #175983606, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2009/07/01 4:18:30 ET
Table '175983606 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 3: FR Vessant (2290 in chips)
Seat 8: dekka4409 (8000 in chips)
Seat 9: brav3hearted (3210 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 100
dekka4409: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ac Jc]
brav3hearted: calls 200

Has limped a ton.

brav3hearted said, "o yea"
FR Vessant: raises 2090 to 2290 and is all-in

My hand is easily good enough against his range but he will likely fold most of it.

dekka4409: folds
brav3hearted: calls 2090
brav3hearted said, "have to call hope im not dominated"

Has 99

*** FLOP *** [9h 8s Qh]

Oh shit.

dekka4409 said, "JJ"

Definitely lying.

brav3hearted said, "yes"

Is it?

*** TURN *** [9h 8s Qh] [2s]
*** RIVER *** [9h 8s Qh 2s] [Tc]

OMG! LOL.

So he was pretty bitter about that and made his exit shortly after. So dekka starts playing ultra weirdly, as fishes do when they feel outmatched (or sometimes just because that's how they play heads up, I dunno). She is raising just way too often, and threebetting a ton too, so:

PokerStars Game #29973110260: Tournament #175983606, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2009/07/01 4:26:59 ET
Table '175983606 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 3: FR Vessant (5775 in chips)
Seat 8: dekka4409 (7725 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts the ante 25
dekka4409: posts the ante 25
dekka4409: posts small blind 100
FR Vessant: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Tc Kh]
dekka4409: raises 400 to 600
FR Vessant: raises 5150 to 5750 and is all-in
dekka4409: folds

Keep her honest. And I'm thinking when I do it, that she will likely call with a bad hand if I do it again, because she can bust me. So two hands later:

PokerStars Game #29973123456: Tournament #175983606, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2009/07/01 4:28:01 ET
Table '175983606 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 3: FR Vessant (6275 in chips)
Seat 8: dekka4409 (7225 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts the ante 25
dekka4409: posts the ante 25
dekka4409: posts small blind 100
FR Vessant: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ah Kh]
dekka4409: raises 600 to 800
FR Vessant: raises 5450 to 6250 and is all-in
dekka4409: calls 5450

76s. A fine call. Normally, they proceed to hit a 7 or a 6, or both.

*** FLOP *** [8h 3d Qs]
FR Vessant said, "nh"

Naughty!

*** TURN *** [8h 3d Qs] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [8h 3d Qs 3c] [9s]

But not this time, and I went on to win. Veeeerrrrry satisfying.

No, really, fuck my luck

2009-06-30T13:32:00.003+10:00

Wow. I have never run that bad ever. -50%, but +29% adjusted.

I lost 180 Sklansky bucks in two and a half hours.

Oh well, the upside is that you simply cannot run that bad forever. The downside is that that probably means I'll run that bad for a couple of weeks and then kill myself.

FML

2009-06-30T13:05:00.003+10:00

OMG. I didn't think it could get worse. But it did.

QQ < AK, obv. JJ < AK. I shoved A3s over a guy who was raising half his hands; this time he had JJ. I tilted and shoved AJs on a Q66x turn with two of my suit when the horrible fish had bet the flop; he had Q2 and his hand held up. I got blinded down and ran AJ on the button into KK in the BB. Snapcalled a 5BB shove at t200 blinds with 88, he had JJ and just to make it nice he flopped a set. I get it all in heads up with ATs vs A4, flop a pair and he rivers a straight. Got it in with 66 vs AT, flopped a set and he rivered the straight. Got it in with AT vs KQ, flopped an ace, turned a ten, rivered a J. Ran KQ into AK, hit my Q, he rivered a straight. Had 99 and TT cracked by single overcards. Three times, I'm not kidding, a shorty minraised my big blind when I had AJ, each time the other guy had KK. IN ONE SET.

To cap it off, in two hands at t600 on the bubble, I ran JT into AQ and KJ into AJ to bubble a 6K stack.

That's a set of 12. Nice. I was running great until today, playing really well and getting the reward. The reward's the only thing that changed.

Month ends well.

2009-06-30T11:24:00.003+10:00

This is the worst set of ten ever. First I got it all in with a straight against two pair on the turn and he hit his boat.

I had QQ and JJ cracked by AK.

99 beaten by A4s. Then another 99 beaten by A6. A8 beaten by A5s. 88 beaten by KTs, which a retard raisecalled for just about his whole stack (and all of mine).

Well, that's fucked my good month.

And this capped it:

PokerStars Game #29928769601: Tournament #175668943, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2009/06/29 21:42:06 ET
Table '175668943 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 2: plaon (2470 in chips)
Seat 6: FR Vessant (3535 in chips)
Seat 7: balla,the769 (7495 in chips)
plaon: posts the ante 25
FR Vessant: posts the ante 25
balla,the769: posts the ante 25
balla,the769: posts small blind 200
plaon: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Tc Kd]
FR Vessant: raises 3110 to 3510 and is all-in
balla,the769: folds
plaon: calls 2045 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (1065) returned to FR Vessant
*** FLOP *** [8h Td Kh]

Yaaaaaaay!

*** TURN *** [8h Td Kh] [8s]

OMG, the board paired.
Please don't let him river his threeouter.

*** RIVER *** [8h Td Kh 8s] [As]

FUCK MY LIFE.

Only a 9/1 favourite on flop though! Why complain?

wham bam thank you ma'am

2009-06-26T13:24:00.003+10:00

If you want to know the most infuriating thing in an STT, it is not the allin suckout, which you come to expect. It is this:

PokerStars Game #29788410103: Tournament #174709378, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2009/06/25 23:22:43 ET
Table '174709378 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Sucho11 (1460 in chips)
Seat 3: harry580 (3040 in chips)
Seat 4: push2shock (1440 in chips)
Seat 5: BigSlick1972 (1680 in chips)
Seat 6: swinger92 (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: FR Vessant (1380 in chips)
Seat 8: olly_e (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: SCRAAPNBY (1500 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 10
olly_e: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [4c 3c]
SCRAAPNBY: folds
Sucho11: folds
harry580: folds
push2shock: folds
BigSlick1972: folds
swinger92: folds
FR Vessant: calls 10

I actually misclicked but it's okay. I don't mind playing that.

olly_e: checks
*** FLOP *** [Qh 8s 3d]
FR Vessant: checks
olly_e: checks

I could bet my bottom pair, but olly_e is fairly passive so I'm content to check it down.

*** TURN *** [Qh 8s 3d] [4h]
FR Vessant: bets 40
olly_e: calls 40

Well now I have two pair, so I won't be checking anything. I bet pot but I'm not supposing he'll call. When he does, I figure he must have a 4 or maybe an 8.

*** RIVER *** [Qh 8s 3d 4h] [Jd]
FR Vessant: bets 60

So I bet for value.

olly_e: raises 120 to 180

WTF. Could he have JT? Jhxh? A queen that he's slowplayed? I think these are all likely so I can't fold.

FR Vessant: calls 120
*** SHOW DOWN ***
olly_e: shows [8h Js] (two pair, Jacks and Eights)

That's nice.

Anyway, I won it all back when we got it in with QQ and KK.

***

In the same tourney, this hand came up. This is a bit more interesting. I'm not sure that I didn't play this badly on every street! But it seemed right at the time.

Earlier on, we had had a hand where I had A8s in the BB and called a minraise. The flop had come 8 high but I checked it to him. (It was earlier in the tourney, so I wasn't aware that he was playing 79/46.) He checked it back and the turn paired 5s. I bet and he called. The river was a 9 and I checked it to him. He overbet the pot pretty big, so I folded. That was a poorly played hand in retrospect. I like to check and call the flop, but bet/folding the river is better than checkfolding. Although he is loose and aggressive, not many people will bluff when there's a pair on the board and you're in the big blind, and few villains in the $11s will bluff with hands that have showdown value, so I'd figure to be against a better hand often if he raised.

Anyway:

PokerStars Game #29788677115: Tournament #174709378, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2009/06/25 23:34:46 ET
Table '174709378 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Sucho11 (1385 in chips)
Seat 3: harry580 (3660 in chips)
Seat 4: push2shock (1595 in chips)
Seat 6: swinger92 (2445 in chips)
Seat 7: FR Vessant (2235 in chips)
Seat 8: olly_e (590 in chips)
Seat 9: SCRAAPNBY (1590 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 15
olly_e: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Td Tc]
SCRAAPNBY: folds
Sucho11: folds
harry580: raises 30 to 60
push2shock: folds
swinger92: folds
FR Vessant: calls 45

I could and probably should threebet. Because I'm not watching the game closely, I hadn't realised who had raised.

I generally flat midpairs OOP though, and you could definitely argue against threebetting here because it allows the tard to shove over and make you fold.

olly_e: folds
*** FLOP *** [7d 4h 6d]
FR Vessant: bets 120

I lead out because I am not going to risk him taking the free card.

harry580: calls 120

He doesn't have to have much here. His range is still very wide, although it's quite likely only strong hands and air, because he'd play more moderate hands faster (play everything faster bar monsters).

*** TURN *** [7d 4h 6d] [Jh]
FR Vessant: checks

I check to induce a bluff. I'm not keen on giving a free card here, but I'm pretty sure he will bet.

harry580: checks

Whoops.

*** RIVER *** [7d 4h 6d Jh] [9d]

Well, that's not a great river to say the least. Several draws got there. But I am quite doubtful he had a flush draw. If he did

FR Vessant: checks
harry580: bets 330

Well, I induced the bluff so I have to call, right?
FR Vessant: calls 330
*** SHOW DOWN ***
harry580: shows [9s Kh] (a pair of Nines)

Nice.

Later in this game I stacked off with KQs on a K high flop against a nitty sort of guy who had also paired his kicker. That left me with 300 chips. But here's the thing. I didn't give in. I kept shoving, taking risks, mad risks. And they paid. I won it. It's easy to hate poker. It's a rubbish game. You do the right thing and get burnt. But sometimes it's just brilliant.

I fucking hate you fish

2009-06-08T15:48:00.002+10:00

If one hand encapsulates why I fucking hate poker, here it is:

PokerStars Game #29121169513: Tournament #170120836, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2009/06/08 1:47:10 ET
Table '170120836 1' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: kegstandcox (2200 in chips)
Seat 3: FR Vessant (1330 in chips)
Seat 5: AFaces (8030 in chips)

Has knocked out five players by simply calling with whatever shit he had and beating them.

Seat 9: FOCALSAN (1940 in chips)
FOCALSAN: posts small blind 50
kegstandcox: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Td Ac]

Horrible. I have 13BB so I don't want to raise (fish will call very wide) and my hand's too strong to fold.

FR Vessant: raises 1230 to 1330 and is all-in
AFaces: calls 1330
He has KT.

I mean, wtf. It just goes without saying that I can't possibly be shoving anything he actually beats.

Anyway, another hand where I'm miles in front, so that's nice.

FOCALSAN: folds
kegstandcox: folds
*** FLOP *** [7c 7s 5d]
*** TURN *** [7c 7s 5d] [Kh]

Buyin by buyin, poker just crushes your soul.

Punked

2009-05-30T00:19:00.002+10:00

I am quietly simmering with rage. It takes more than 3 hours to get to this point in a 4/180.

PokerStars Game #28750560513: Tournament #167531169, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level XIII (600/1200) - 2009/05/29 10:18:05 ET
Table '167531169 15' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: Gummihahn (45626 in chips)
Seat 2: Chuguev11 (138893 in chips)
Seat 3: bigboyyy22 (33030 in chips)
Seat 4: FR Vessant (31473 in chips)

Has been playing really fucking well and is going to win a 180 for the first time.

Seat 8: Breckam111 (20978 in chips)
Gummihahn: posts the ante 125
Chuguev11: posts the ante 125
bigboyyy22: posts the ante 125
FR Vessant: posts the ante 125
Breckam111: posts the ante 125
Gummihahn: posts small blind 600
Chuguev11: posts big blind 1200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Qs Ks]
bigboyyy22: folds
FR Vessant: raises 2400 to 3600

Standard raise. The big blind will call though. He's a terrible fish.

Breckam111: folds
Gummihahn: folds
Chuguev11: calls 2400

See?

*** FLOP *** [Jc Kh 4d]

So I have top pair. Nice.

Chuguev11: checks
FR Vessant: bets 3600
Chuguev11: calls 3600

He probably has nothing much. Maybe a worse king.

*** TURN *** [Jc Kh 4d] [3c]
Chuguev11: checks
FR Vessant: bets 24148 and is all-in

Easy shove. I have the best hand like always.

Chuguev11: calls 24148

He has A4o. I mean, let's not even go there. It's not even bad. To call here, he has to either believe it really is a good bet to try to suck out to his ace, or that I don't have a J or K. As if!

So he has five outs.

*** RIVER *** [Jc Kh 4d 3c] [4c]

O. M. F. G.

*** SHOW DOWN ***
Chuguev11: shows [As 4h] (three of a kind, Fours)

NH sir.

FR Vessant: shows [Qs Ks] (two pair, Kings and Fours)

Well, how can you expect that trash to be good at the final table of a tourney, huh?

shwong

2009-05-18T11:39:00.002+10:00

Dr Zen, your upswing is now finished. We thank you for your custom:

PokerStars Game #28320329441: Tournament #164576059, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2009/05/17 21:36:17 ET
Table '164576059 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: hankaram35 (815 in chips)
Seat 2: Knockout305 (1880 in chips)
Seat 3: grannyc1912 (1255 in chips)
Seat 4: FR Vessant (1575 in chips)
Seat 5: FANUEVO (1485 in chips)
Seat 6: boomerou247 (1655 in chips)
Seat 7: Sucho11 (1795 in chips)
Seat 9: keith11309 (3040 in chips)
Knockout305: posts small blind 50
grannyc1912: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ad Ah]
FR Vessant: raises 145 to 245
FANUEVO: calls 245

Horrible fish.

boomerou247: folds
Sucho11: folds
keith11309: folds
hankaram35: folds
Knockout305: folds
grannyc1912: folds
*** FLOP *** [Qd Ac Ks]

Not bad. Only behind to JT.

FR Vessant: bets 400
FANUEVO: raises 840 to 1240 and is all-in
FR Vessant: calls 840
FANUEVO: shows [Jd Td]

Oh.

Two AA hands

2009-05-17T12:49:00.003+10:00

Here are two hands that illustrate what STTs, and poker, is all about.

PokerStars Game #28281049444: Tournament #164301479, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2009/05/16 21:16:33 ET
Table '164301479 1' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: smallss (1460 in chips)
Seat 2: FR Vessant (1540 in chips)
Seat 3: G-Man965 (1440 in chips)
Seat 4: 333PW (1180 in chips)
Seat 5: Shangai2 (1460 in chips)
Seat 6: Evil17 (1470 in chips)
Seat 7: carolann79 (1650 in chips)
Seat 8: ashley lance (2200 in chips)
Seat 9: doctorbling (1100 in chips)
G-Man965: posts small blind 10
333PW: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ac Ad]
Shangai2: calls 20
Evil17: folds
carolann79: calls 20
ashley lance: folds
doctorbling: calls 20
smallss: folds
FR Vessant: raises 80 to 100

A bit less than standard, but I want a caller.

G-Man965: folds
333PW: calls 80
Shangai2: calls 80
carolann79: calls 80
doctorbling: calls 80

Maybe not four though.

*** FLOP *** [5s 2h Jd]

Pretty safe flop.

333PW: checks
Shangai2: bets 260

Despite what people think, the donks do lead top pair into you and I'd say that his most likely hand is Jx. The donks routinely slowplay sets, so I'm not expecting to be beat.

carolann79: calls 260
doctorbling: folds
FR Vessant: raises 1180 to 1440 and is all-in

Easy shove.

333PW: folds
Shangai2: calls 1100 and is all-in

He has JT. What does he imagine he's ahead of here? I don't know that he even thinks that deeply. He just goes "I has top pair, call the shove."

carolann79: folds

Not sure what you can call 360 chips off with and then just fold, but I'm not her.

Uncalled bet (80) returned to FR Vessant
*** TURN *** [5s 2h Jd] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [5s 2h Jd 9c] [3s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Shangai2: shows [Ts Jh] (a pair of Jacks)
FR Vessant: shows [Ac Ad] (a pair of Aces)
FR Vessant collected 3490 from pot

So my hand holds up and I TID.

It's a bit annoying that after this good start, I had a super weird ITM, where a winning player and a fish contrived to trade chips to each other hand after hand, as I watched mostly without getting involved. Sadly, the fish snapped off a 10BB shove at t400 with 33 and my AK didn't improve.

So the next AA hand:

PokerStars Game #28283516323: Tournament #164315536, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2009/05/16 22:47:21 ET
Table '164315536 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: gretzky7 (1570 in chips)
Seat 3: Maus99 (1175 in chips)
Seat 4: Ac/Dc (1565 in chips)
Seat 5: FR Vessant (1170 in chips)
Seat 6: Black2008 (1125 in chips)
Seat 7: olly_e (2230 in chips)
Seat 8: mayor72 (3410 in chips)
Seat 9: CincyNick (1255 in chips)
Maus99: posts small blind 25
Ac/Dc: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [As Ah]
FR Vessant: raises 100 to 150

Standard raise. I don't limp/reraise aces but I have folded out the table a couple of times recently, so maybe I should consider it.

Black2008: folds
olly_e: folds
mayor72: folds
CincyNick: folds
gretzky7: calls 150

Complete fish. Could have anything.

Maus99: folds
Ac/Dc: folds
*** FLOP *** [4s Kc Td]

This is a good flop because the fish can easily have hit it. He can have KT of course, but he has too much in his range to worry about that.

FR Vessant: bets 200
gretzky7: calls 200

So he has Kx/Tx/QJ, maybe Q9 and you couldn't count out A4 and pocket pairs.

*** TURN *** [4s Kc Td] [8d]
FR Vessant: bets 820 and is all-in

I just shove because the pot's a bit less than my stack.

gretzky7: calls 820

He has KJ. Again it's hard to imagine what he could think he's ahead of. He has to put me on the bluff because I just can't have a worse hand than KJ here. He doesn't know me, and probably hasn't noticed that I'm playing tight, but I was under the gun, so it's a stretch to imagine that I could have K9 there.

But the fish do not fold top pair ever. And again I have to dodge six outs.

*** RIVER *** [4s Kc Td 8d] [Kd]

And that's poker. Everything I had control over, I did right, and I still lost. Everything he had control over, he did wrong (terrible call preflop, should raise flop if he's going to continue and he's beating nothing at all on the turn so he has to fold) and won.

If you are playing soundly, and know you are, you can be relaxed about things like this. You know that you have a downswing when they hit their six outs a few times in a row, which they will, and an upswing when they don't.

May I invite you gentlemen to call?

2009-05-14T13:48:00.002+10:00

The $3 90-man knockouts are a bundle of fun. Here's the first hand of today's iteration:

Full Tilt Poker Game #12207338630: $3 + $0.30 KO Sit & Go (91255595), Table 10 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:44:35 ET - 2009/05/13
Seat 1: basatagirl (3,000)
Seat 2: MACtech123 (3,000)
Seat 3: str82myhouse00 (3,000)
Seat 4: Dupree11 (3,000)
Seat 5: stgo_tuner (3,000)
Seat 6: DaGambler_007 (3,000)
Seat 7: Tovar76 (3,000)
Seat 8: Hibsgreen (3,000)
Seat 9: boodwa (3,000)
basatagirl posts the small blind of 15
MACtech123 posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Ac As]

Me likey!

str82myhouse00 folds
Dupree11 calls 30
stgo_tuner folds
DaGambler_007 calls 30
Tovar76 folds
Hibsgreen calls 30
boodwa calls 30
basatagirl raises to 150

Question now is, will anyone fold?

MACtech123 calls 120
Dupree11 calls 120
DaGambler_007 folds

Not living up to his name.

Hibsgreen calls 120
boodwa calls 120

Four callers!

*** FLOP *** [5c Qc 4s]

Now. The standard play is to make a potsized bet or thereabouts and a/ make secondbest hands pay and b/ charge draws.

Fuck that. Someone must have a queen and if I shove, they'll never fold.

basatagirl bets 2,850, and is all in

Boom!

MACtech123 has 15 seconds left to act
MACtech123 calls 2,850, and is all in

Nice one.

Dupree11 folds
Hibsgreen folds
boodwa calls 2,850, and is all in

Ooooooo.

basatagirl shows [Ac As]
MACtech123 shows [5s 3s]

Nice call sir. You beat bottom pair and have a backdoor draw. Fine poker.

boodwa shows [Qh 8c]

Put me on AK.

*** TURN *** [5c Qc 4s] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [5c Qc 4s 6s] [Th]
basatagirl shows a pair of Aces
MACtech123 shows a pair of Fives
boodwa shows a pair of Queens
basatagirl wins the pot (9,330) with a pair of Aces

9K after one hand is how all my tourneys should start.

Okay, have the feckin bounty

2009-05-13T13:30:00.002+10:00

Here's why a 3/90 knockout is so hard to win. Why am I playing them? I am just doing some nobrain poker because I enjoy it and there's no stress about results.

Full Tilt Poker Game #12188129467: $3 + $0.30 KO Sit & Go (91122751), Table 10 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:28:43 ET - 2009/05/12
Seat 1: Unpossible109 (7,270)
Seat 2: M-I-B--R-O-X (9,168)
Seat 3: basatagirl (5,395)
Seat 4: ELDUDEARENO28 (7,490)
Seat 5: Sal T Huevos (5,790)
Seat 6: 1snl333 (3,345), is sitting out
Seat 7: Smoke_Quack (2,175)
Seat 8: alejandruso (31,415)
Seat 9: DuallyDave (9,540)
1snl333 posts the small blind of 100
Smoke_Quack posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Kd Qc]
alejandruso folds
DuallyDave folds
Unpossible109 folds
M-I-B--R-O-X calls 200

A total fish who is playing tons of hands and limping often.
basatagirl raises to 800

I raise to isolate him. The players behind are not so loose and I've shown a couple of strong hands so I doubt I will get calls behind often.

ELDUDEARENO28 folds
Sal T Huevos folds
1snl333 folds
Smoke_Quack folds
M-I-B--R-O-X calls 600

The fish obv. calls.

*** FLOP *** [Jh 7c Qd]

Top pair. It's value time.

M-I-B--R-O-X bets 200

He could have anything. If I'm really lucky, QT. But a vast range of hands is possible. Qx Jx draws, who the fuck knows?

Or cares. I hit the flop I wanted and now I'm going to make him pay for limp/calling his weak range.

basatagirl raises to 2,200

I'm hoping to get shoved on by QT and obv. hoping he doesn't have QJ.

Or J7s, which he is bad enough to have limpcalled.

If he calls, I shove any turn, obv.

M-I-B--R-O-X calls 2,000

There is obv. no hand it would be correct to call with here.

*** TURN *** [Jh 7c Qd] [6d]
M-I-B--R-O-X checks
basatagirl bets 2,395, and is all in

Shove for value.

M-I-B--R-O-X calls 2,395
basatagirl shows [Kd Qc]
M-I-B--R-O-X shows [Tc Ad]

Erm, what?

Well, I'm a huge fav--
*** RIVER *** [Jh 7c Qd 6d] [As]

Oh.

If you're a beginner and you want to learn how to play poker, not like that guy is the answer. Limp/calling AT is atrocious. Leading the flop is okay, but you have to make your lead bigger because I will obv. not fold anything for 200 chips. You have to fold to the raise on the flop. You could shove over if you had fold equity, but you don't. I'm committed to the pot. You might as well shove if you're continuing though, because you are also committed to it. On the turn, well, what can you do? You made your big mistake on the flop. Now you might as well take this terrible bet and hope to get lucky.

***

It's not all bad, of course. They often just miss:

Full Tilt Poker Game #12188195874: $6 + $0.50 KO Sit & Go (91122235), Table 1 - 120/240 Ante 25 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:32:27 ET - 2009/05/12
Seat 2: Subman II (3,980)
Seat 3: budman61 (1,600)
Seat 4: basatagirl (11,705)
Seat 5: tgoodwater2002 (6,200)
Seat 6: Thorrrrr (8,540)
Seat 7: francozeff (15,010)
Seat 8: fish6582 (5,330)
Seat 9: rtrorkt (11,573)
Subman II antes 25
budman61 antes 25
basatagirl antes 25
tgoodwater2002 antes 25
Thorrrrr antes 25
francozeff antes 25
fish6582 antes 25
rtrorkt antes 25
budman61 posts the small blind of 120
basatagirl posts the big blind of 240
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Ac 2c]
tgoodwater2002 folds
Thorrrrr folds
francozeff folds
fish6582 folds
rtrorkt folds
Subman II folds
budman61 calls 120

Had only recently moved to table so not sure what he'd been playing like. My guess is bad though, just because 99% of players in this tourney will be awful.

basatagirl checks

I wasn't paying attention because I should shove over. He's only rarely trapping.

*** FLOP *** [As 2d 5h]

Hello. I has two pair.

budman61 bets 1,335, and is all in
basatagirl calls 1,335

Yeah, okay.
Say I had K5. Would I have folded?

Well no. His bet says, please fold. If he wanted me to call or shove over, he'd bet smaller. If he had an ace, he'd look to checkraise. Sometimes this metric doesn't work but you won't lose much money if you assume that they're not shoving an ace in this spot. The shove wants a fold here and no, I would not fold K5.

budman61 shows [3s Qs]

And I'd be right not to. Maybe I'd even call worse. Dunno. Never folding a pair though.

***

Here's a spot I missed, but I'm not too cut up about it.

Full Tilt Poker Game #12188399897: $6 + $0.50 KO Sit & Go (91122235), Table 1 - 200/400 Ante 50 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:43:52 ET - 2009/05/12
Seat 1: seba03 (19,490)
Seat 2: Subman II (2,015)
Seat 4: basatagirl (13,295)
Seat 5: tgoodwater2002 (4,415)
Seat 6: Thorrrrr (8,735)
Seat 7: francozeff (19,580)
Seat 8: fish6582 (4,510)
Seat 9: rtrorkt (11,558)
seba03 antes 50
Subman II antes 50
basatagirl antes 50
tgoodwater2002 antes 50
Thorrrrr antes 50
francozeff antes 50
fish6582 antes 50
rtrorkt antes 50
fish6582 posts the small blind of 200
rtrorkt posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [8d 8h]
seba03 raises to 1,600

I only have ten hands on this guy, and he's raised twice. He hasn't limped.

So 88 is probably ahead of his range, but he has a big stack. I could make a thinnish call to setmine.

Subman II raises to 1,965, and is all in

I'm thinking about it, but this guy complicates matters. Now I'm thinking I want to shove over and isolate him. But will the first guy fold?

Maybe not, and I'm not necessarily happy against his range. He's under the gun, and even though these fish don't necessarily respect position, he raised 4x and may be trying to get value. Dunno.

Thing is, I have a decent stack and I will get clearer, better spots. This might be thin +EV but it didn't appeal at the time.

basatagirl folds
tgoodwater2002 folds
Thorrrrr folds
francozeff folds
fish6582 has 15 seconds left to act
fish6582 folds
rtrorkt calls 1,565

Awful player who could have anything.

seba03 calls 365
*** FLOP *** [9h Qh 6c]
rtrorkt bets 2,000

With his hand, this bet is terrible. You think he has to have at least a Q here.

seba03 folds
rtrorkt shows [7c 7h]

WTF. I mean, I understand that he is stopngoing to get it HU with the allin guy but I don't like it much.

Subman II shows [Ah Kh]

He's probably quite happy to be allin as a favourite. Me, I wish I had shoved pre and been called by fishtard. If I had called though, I would have had a really tough spot on the flop and I'd now be on monkey tilt if I'd folded.

Uncalled bet of 2,000 returned to rtrorkt
*** TURN *** [9h Qh 6c] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [9h Qh 6c 9c] [4c]

Would have been nice to be allin with fishtard, but tbh, these tourneys present so many clearcut spots that taking a marginal +EV spot isn't necessary. I doubled up in this game on a 7xx flop where I had 99 and had raised pre and some guy got it in with me with 88. That was the top of his range too. He'd happily have done it with a 7 or overcards.

lol

2009-05-10T22:57:00.004+10:00

So I had a couple of bowls but I fancied a bit of teh pokahs anyway, and I'm playing a couple of 90-player KOs. This hand is LOL 2 the max:

Full Tilt Poker Game #12134944657: $6 + $0.50 KO Sit & Go (90777535), Table 5 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em - 8:55:01 ET - 2009/05/10
Seat 1: Eldar44 (2,985)
Seat 3: ivan vuk (3,000)
Seat 4: jsd12 (3,000)
Seat 5: Chrisdorf (3,000)
Seat 6: Okay Alright (2,835)
Seat 7: smarchan11 (2,835)
Seat 8: basatagirl (3,000)
Seat 9: I_wash_and_dry (6,345)
ivan vuk posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Kd Ks]
jsd12 folds
Chrisdorf calls 30
Okay Alright calls 30
smarchan11 calls 30
basatagirl has 15 seconds left to act
basatagirl raises to 180

Standard obv.

I_wash_and_dry folds
Eldar44 folds
ivan vuk folds
Chrisdorf folds
Okay Alright calls 150
smarchan11 calls 150

Two gamblers ready for action.

*** FLOP *** [2c 8d 2d]

A good flop for me.

Okay Alright checks
smarchan11 checks
basatagirl bets 390
Okay Alright calls 390

I'm just guessing this is not a good call.

smarchan11 raises to 2,655, and is all in

He probably has a pair bigger than 88. If he has 88 or AA, that's poker.

basatagirl raises to 2,820, and is all in

We're not folding.

Okay Alright has 15 seconds left to act
Okay Alright folds
basatagirl shows [Kd Ks]
smarchan11 shows [Kh Kc]

LOL.

But wait. We have the same hand but I'm a slight favourite. Did you see that? I have a backdoor draw in diamonds, which will come in something like one in 20 times.

Uncalled bet of 165 returned to basatagirl
*** TURN *** [2c 8d 2d] [Ad]

Diamond.

*** RIVER *** [2c 8d 2d Ad] [Jd]

Diamond. So sick.

But you know what I smelled? Justice. Sweet justice. The tard played his hand horribly and for once, he did not get away with it. Of course, all the money's going in on this hand, no matter how he plays it, but still.

****

Wait though, there's more:

Full Tilt Poker Game #12135125039: $3 + $0.30 KO Sit & Go (90777904), Table 2 - 40/80 - No Limit Hold'em - 9:14:57 ET - 2009/05/10
Seat 1: Weini86 (6,520)
Seat 2: otown51 (5,985)
Seat 3: kohle74 (4,225)
Seat 4: Paid4-Anbieter (4,315)
Seat 5: Traveling-Dave (6,550)
Seat 6: pokergal2469 (9,105)
Seat 7: basatagirl (2,600)
Seat 8: basch68 (3,047)
Seat 9: DerStein80 (3,760)
kohle74 posts the small blind of 40
Paid4-Anbieter posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Qs Qd]

The beeyatches. So it's likely the end of my tourney about now.

Traveling-Dave calls 80
pokergal2469 folds
basatagirl raises to 320

Standard raise.

basch68 folds
DerStein80 folds
Weini86 folds
otown51 folds
kohle74 raises to 1,120

That looks unpleasant.

Paid4-Anbieter calls 1,040

Wat

Well, there are two explanations for that call. Either this guy has AA and doesn't want to scare me off. Or he's a retard.

This is a 3.30 so I'm going to look on the bright side and say, retard.

Traveling-Dave folds
basatagirl raises to 2,600, and is all in

So I'm smashing it in.

Look, if I had to put them on hands, I'm saying the first guy has AK and the second guy something absolutely ridiculous like KJs or 66 and he is playing for implied stupid, erm, sorry, I mean "odds".

kohle74 calls 1,480
Paid4-Anbieter calls 1,480

We're a merry crew, are we not?

*** FLOP *** [Kd 5h 2c]

Oh dear.

kohle74 checks
Paid4-Anbieter bets 1,715, and is all in

Seems bad for me.

kohle74 folds
Paid4-Anbieter shows [4h 4s]

What. The. Fuck.

I mean yeah, okay, the first guy doesn't have anything, so if I have an unpaired hand, this works. But how are you even in the hand with that?

basatagirl shows [Qs Qd]
Uncalled bet of 1,715 returned to Paid4-Anbieter
*** TURN *** [Kd 5h 2c] [Ac]
*** RIVER *** [Kd 5h 2c Ac] [Ks]

Not that I care. Just do call off your stack with 44 and I'll love you long time.

Hot

2009-05-08T16:10:00.003+10:00

I am running crazy hot at the moment. I thought the best of it was sucking out with AJ vs AA, but check this out:

PokerStars Game #27949769998: Tournament #161926897, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2009/05/08 2:09:09 ET
Table '161926897 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: i have nuts (1725 in chips)
Seat 2: RaidX (2360 in chips)
Seat 5: jjgfrance (4295 in chips)
Seat 6: FR Vessant (1460 in chips)
Seat 7: 8GT8 (1095 in chips)
Seat 9: kaptec (2565 in chips)
8GT8: posts small blind 50
kaptec: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ks Kc]

I have basically played two hands all tourney so this is welcome.

i have nuts: calls 100
RaidX: folds
jjgfrance: calls 100

Nice! I like having limpers when I have a monster.

FR Vessant: raises 400 to 500

I could shove but I am aiming at making value with this hand.

8GT8: folds
kaptec: folds
i have nuts: folds
jjgfrance: calls 400

Hmmm. When you see his hand, you'll be thinking that this is a seriously bad call. He should just push or fold.

*** FLOP *** [5c 5d Jc]

Nice. When I shove it's going to look a lot like I have nowt.

jjgfrance: checks
FR Vessant: bets 960 and is all-in

boom

jjgfrance: calls 960

WTF. He has JJ.

FR Vessant said, "chit"

You are not wrong.

*** TURN *** [5c 5d Jc] [Ah]
*** RIVER *** [5c 5d Jc Ah] [Kh]

WHAM! Don't fuck with him though. Just don't fuck with him because he burns, he's that hot.

bing bang bong

2009-05-07T21:41:00.003+10:00

Okay, so I call a shove with AQs, the other guy has A4 and the board double pairs, which sucks when you have 1K chips, then this:

PokerStars Game #27917306776: Tournament #161697126, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/05/07 7:40:17 ET
Table '161697126 1' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: greatwhite88 (1200 in chips)
Seat 2: Ottoe (870 in chips)
Seat 3: elmar69 (1168 in chips)
Seat 5: FR Vessant (1237 in chips)
Seat 6: keyser70 (2030 in chips)
Seat 7: Pokeroli1984 (3075 in chips)
Seat 9: des6044 (3920 in chips)
elmar69: posts small blind 75
FR Vessant: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Qs Qc]
keyser70: calls 150

This is very suspicious. This guy is playing 33/18, so certainly he could be limping a low pair or some other shit, but I'd expect him to raise his whole range.

But whatever. I have the beeyatches and cannot fold.

Pokeroli1984: folds
des6044: folds
greatwhite88: folds
Ottoe: folds
elmar69: folds
FR Vessant said, "I ****ing hope you don't have AA"

You're laughing now, bro.

FR Vessant: raises 1087 to 1237 and is all-in
keyser70: calls 1087

He has AA, of course.

*** FLOP *** [5h 4c 6c]
FR Vessant said, "LOL"
FR Vessant said, "****ing queens"
*** TURN *** [5h 4c 6c] [7s]
FR Vessant said, "I hate them"
*** RIVER *** [5h 4c 6c 7s] [8d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FR Vessant: shows [Qs Qc] (a straight, Four to Eight)
keyser70: shows [Ah Ac] (a straight, Four to Eight)
FR Vessant collected 1275 from pot
keyser70 collected 1274 from pot
FR Vessant said, "LOLOLOLOLOL"

All's well etc.

Then:

PokerStars Game #27917360939: Tournament #161697126, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/05/07 7:43:20 ET
Table '161697126 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: greatwhite88 (1050 in chips)
Seat 2: Ottoe (1965 in chips)
Seat 3: elmar69 (223 in chips)
Seat 5: FR Vessant (1425 in chips)
Seat 6: keyser70 (1842 in chips)
Seat 7: Pokeroli1984 (3075 in chips)
Seat 9: des6044 (3920 in chips)
greatwhite88: posts small blind 75
Ottoe: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ah Jh]

Nice.

elmar69: raises 73 to 223 and is all-in

Sweet. Shortstack overlay!

FR Vessant: raises 1202 to 1425 and is all-in
keyser70: folds
Pokeroli1984: folds
des6044: folds
greatwhite88: folds
Ottoe: folds
Uncalled bet (1202) returned to FR Vessant

He has KK!! Can you credit it?

*** FLOP *** [7s 2c 6s]
*** TURN *** [7s 2c 6s] [8h]
*** RIVER *** [7s 2c 6s 8h] [Tc]

So three great hands, and I net 0 chips from them. I know, I should be grateful at the huge suckout with QQ, but fml eh?

Update: Just so's I'm not always whining, I should note that I actually ended up second, thanks to villains so bad I felt I should write them thankyou notes.

Running well? Better tilt then!

2009-05-07T21:16:00.003+10:00

I'm playing pretty well atm but that doesn't mean I won't tilt!

NL Holdem $30(BB) Poker Stars Game#27916760117

Chri$tus ($1,420)
de hoevens ($1,075)
FR Vessant ($1,380)
Pokeroli1984 ($2,300)
widgel ($2,395)
CloveNistiC ($1,175)
greatwhite88 ($1,315)
da ItchY 84 ($1,425)
ammiehind ($1,015)

Chri$tus posts (SB) $15
de hoevens posts (BB) $30

Dealt to FR Vessant Ks As
FR Vessant raises to $90
fold, fold, fold, fold, fold,
ammiehind calls $90

Fish has been in a lot of hands, calling several raises.

fold, fold,

FLOP ($225) Kd 8d Ad

That's sort of good and bad for me. I never assume they have a flush, so I'm not scared.

Here's the thing though. I would normally pot this, to at least make the single diamond pay to try to get lucky, but I was just reading something that said something about betting less and getting more value, so I don't do the right thing, which is to bet big, and if he folds he folds, but I bet small enough to entice calls from the kind of shit I expect him to have.

FR Vessant bets $120
ammiehind calls $120

So that doesn't mean anything. He can have absolutely anything.

TURN ($465) Kd 8d Ad 5d

Shit.

check, check,

Now I tilt a bit. I read his check as "I called the flop with an ace or king" and not "I called the flop with a diamond".

RIVER ($465) Kd 8d Ad 5d 3h

So of course the right thing to do is to check the river, and call a small bet. If he bets huge, I will fold. But I don't. And the reason is that I've been ducking a lot of rivers, not taking clear value spots, because I've been a bit gunshy all in all.

Well, okay, but this is not a good value spot.

FR Vessant bets $210
ammiehind raises to $805 (AI)

I have completely convinced myself that he has to have A5 or A3, something like that.

FR Vessant calls $595

So I call. Terrible. I cost myself a fair few chips because obv. he has a diamond (the J; he called my raise with JJ).

Oh well. I probably couldn't have played the hand much worse. I got preflop right, and the turn, but the other two streets I took the cleaver to!

There's no real lesson to be learnt. This post is just for me, if I happen to look back (which is not all that likely), to remind me that when your great hand gets cracked, you just have to suck it up, not try to convince yourself that you are still somehow good.

Actually, the end hurt more:

PokerStars Game #27917050479: Tournament #161695866, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2009/05/07 7:26:09 ET
Table '161695866 1' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: FR Vessant (365 in chips)
Seat 2: Pokeroli1984 (1540 in chips)
Seat 3: widgel (890 in chips)
Seat 4: CloveNistiC (1360 in chips)
Seat 5: greatwhite88 (1915 in chips)
Seat 6: da ItchY 84 (1825 in chips)
Seat 7: ammiehind (1910 in chips)
Seat 8: Chri$tus (1955 in chips)
Seat 9: de hoevens (1740 in chips)
da ItchY 84: posts small blind 50
ammiehind: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ac 9s]
Chri$tus: folds
de hoevens: calls 100

Playing 42/3.

FR Vessant: raises 265 to 365 and is all-in

Good spot to get it in imo.

Pokeroli1984: folds
widgel: folds
CloveNistiC: folds
greatwhite88: folds
da ItchY 84: folds
ammiehind: folds
de hoevens: calls 265

Has AJs.

I hate that! Not just that I ran into the top end of his range, which sucks, but that these fish will call off 400 chips but it never occurs to them to raise the fucking thing in the first place. I know. I shouldn't be angry that my opponents suck. They're doing me a huge favour by not bothering to learn even the rudiments.

Genius in action

2009-05-07T16:54:00.000+10:00

This is hilarious. Hellmuth explains that limping in UTG with KQs and 10 blinds is an advanced play. Us beginners should not try it, because we don't have the skillz. Apparently, we want to sucker our opponents into making a weak raise, which we will then call because we will read our opponent as weak.

The best is this:

Option number two is to make a standard raise of three times the big blind. This option is not a good one, but it does give you the chance to fold your hand when you're reraised, thus giving you a chance to save your last 4,600. But realistically, how often are you going to fold your K Q for 4,600 more when the pot already has roughly 8,500 in it? I would not recommend making this fold to an amateur player or an intermediate player.

But an advanced player will fold getting 2 to 1? GTFO you clown. That this guy has made a living from poker makes me want to stab him, me or both of us in the eye.

On tilt at Tilt

2009-05-06T21:24:00.003+10:00

I hate Full Tilt. I totally have the doomswitch there.

So I build a stack with nice play:

Full Tilt Poker Game #12058870169: $10 + $1 Sit & Go (90271822), Table 1 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em - 7:01:36 ET - 2009/05/06
Seat 2: cptwingrave (2,310)
Seat 3: williw1971 (1,230)
Seat 4: Ruftenkind (1,240)
Seat 5: Antwany (1,920)
Seat 7: Facial Freddy (3,235)
Seat 8: basatagirl (2,140)
Seat 9: JTAced (1,425)
williw1971 posts the small blind of 30
Ruftenkind posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Ad As]
Antwany has 15 seconds left to act
Antwany folds
Facial Freddy raises to 180

A bad player who has been raising quite a lot. I think he will get out of the way of a threebet though, so I'm going to make it enticing.

basatagirl raises to 360
JTAced folds
cptwingrave folds
williw1971 folds
Ruftenkind folds
Facial Freddy calls 180

Nice.

*** FLOP *** [3s Ac 8h]

Gin.

Facial Freddy checks
basatagirl checks

"I am scared of that ace."

*** TURN *** [3s Ac 8h] [Jd]
Facial Freddy bets 410

He is repping the jack? I am thinking maybe he has TT, something like that, but KJ is not impossible.

basatagirl calls 410

I have the nuts, so no need to scare him off.

*** RIVER *** [3s Ac 8h Jd] [Js]

Please let him have a jack.

Facial Freddy checks
basatagirl has 15 seconds left to act
basatagirl bets 780

Hmmm. I bet a suspiciously small amount. I'd like to double, but I figure if I shove, he's going to fold some of his range. I'm not sure what he can actually have that he can call with. I'm trying to get a call on suspicion.

Facial Freddy has 15 seconds left to act
Facial Freddy has requested TIME
Facial Freddy calls 780

He has AQ. Meh. Well, he may still have folded that to a shove.

Anyway, he is on two tables, and on the other one he's shoving like a lunatic. On this one, he's raising a bit too much: 17%.

Full Tilt Poker Game #12059021871: $10 + $1 Sit & Go (90271822), Table 1 - 80/160 - No Limit Hold'em - 7:22:02 ET - 2009/05/06
Seat 2: cptwingrave (3,780)
Seat 3: williw1971 (770)
Seat 5: Antwany (1,070)
Seat 7: Facial Freddy (1,415)
Seat 8: basatagirl (2,750)

My stack has dwindled because I've had a couple of decent hands in the small blind, raised and the fish in the big blind has called both times and outflopped me.

Seat 9: JTAced (3,715)

Which is part of the reason he has this big stack.

williw1971 posts the small blind of 80
Antwany posts the big blind of 160
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Js Jc]
Facial Freddy has 15 seconds left to act
Facial Freddy raises to 400

So his range is pretty wide imo.

basatagirl raises to 2,750, and is all in

Probably should just 3bet but let's face it, I'm not going to fold if one of the bigger stacks comes over the top.

JTAced folds
cptwingrave folds
williw1971 folds
Antwany folds
Facial Freddy calls 1,015, and is all in
basatagirl shows [Js Jc]
Facial Freddy shows [Ac Ah]

Fuck that. Yet again JJ runs into a bigger pair. Should I have been suspicious because he raised, rather than shoving? Well maybe but what am I going to do, even if I am suspicious?

Uncalled bet of 1,335 returned to basatagirl
*** FLOP *** [Qc Kc 4h]
*** TURN *** [Qc Kc 4h] [2h]
*** RIVER *** [Qc Kc 4h 2h] [6c]
basatagirl shows a pair of Jacks
Facial Freddy shows a pair of Aces
Facial Freddy wins the pot (3,070) with a pair of Aces

So that sucked. I dunno. What else could I do? These fucking idiots raise their whole range, so it's not like if he shoves, he has AT, but if he raises, beware. It's just really unlucky that yet again, JJ has been dogshit.

Two hands later:

Full Tilt Poker Game #12059033985: $10 + $1 Sit & Go (90271822), Table 1 - 80/160 - No Limit Hold'em - 7:23:41 ET - 2009/05/06
Seat 2: cptwingrave (3,780)
Seat 3: williw1971 (690)
Seat 5: Antwany (1,070)
Seat 7: Facial Freddy (2,830)
Seat 8: basatagirl (1,175)
Seat 9: JTAced (3,955)
basatagirl posts the small blind of 80
JTAced posts the big blind of 160
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [5s 4d]
cptwingrave folds
williw1971 folds
Antwany has 15 seconds left to act
Antwany folds
Facial Freddy has 15 seconds left to act
Facial Freddy has timed out
Facial Freddy folds
Facial Freddy is sitting out
basatagirl raises to 1,175, and is all in

Standard ATC shove. Even though the guy's a fish, I expect him to call tight.

JTAced calls 1,015
basatagirl shows [5s 4d]
JTAced shows [8d 8s]

That's ridiculous though. Fucking doomswitch, I tell you.

I don't play much on Tilt. I don't like the interface or something. Well, truth is, it always sucks. I play a few games, tear it up, and then have like 12 games out of the money. I'm actually losing money at the $10s at Tilt, which are even softer than Stars, but I have only played about 30 (usually play 12s and only played $10s because Stars had two winning players each signed up to like 10 games and no one regging at all). I have rakeback and all that, but I just have nagging doubts about Tilt. Dunno why. Just something shady about the site. And I like Stars.

mawhwhwhwhwhwha

2009-05-06T13:07:00.002+10:00

It can be really hard to win sometimes. Here both my opponents are, to be charitable, idiots. rareform1 has specialised in doubling up other players by calling shoves with draws and bottom pair.

PokerStars Game #27870175414: Tournament #161356919, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/05/05 22:51:25 ET
Table '161356919 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 3: Sexytim (5335 in chips)
Seat 8: rareform1 (4822 in chips)
Seat 9: FR Vessant (3343 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 75
Sexytim: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [9c 9s]
rareform1: raises 300 to 450

Has been raising a ton.

FR Vessant: raises 750 to 1200

Hope to get it in at some point.

Sexytim: folds
rareform1: calls 750
*** FLOP *** [4d 3d 2c]

Nice.

FR Vessant: bets 2143 and is all-in
rareform1: calls 2143

He has QJ. Obviously his call of my reraise pre was awful and so is this one.

*** TURN *** [4d 3d 2c] [6s]

OMG. Please don't let a 5 come on the river.

*** RIVER *** [4d 3d 2c 6s] [5c]

Shit.

Literally the next hand:

PokerStars Game #27870190456: Tournament #161356919, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/05/05 22:51:58 ET
Table '161356919 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 3: Sexytim (5185 in chips)
Seat 8: rareform1 (4897 in chips)
Seat 9: FR Vessant (3418 in chips)
Sexytim: posts small blind 75
rareform1: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [As Kc]
FR Vessant: raises 300 to 450

Standard raise.

Sexytim: folds
rareform1: raises 4447 to 4897 and is all-in

He probably has a hand, but there's no way I'm folding.

FR Vessant: calls 2968 and is all-in

He has 66.
Uncalled bet (1479) returned to rareform1
*** FLOP *** [Qs 6h 4h]
*** TURN *** [Qs 6h 4h] [2s]
FR Vessant said, "sigh"
*** RIVER *** [Qs 6h 4h 2s] [6s]

Yes, quite.

Anyway, next tourney.

PokerStars Game #27870561326: Tournament #161356976, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2009/05/05 23:06:13 ET
Table '161356976 1' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 4: FR Vessant (3228 in chips)
Seat 5: Popeye3407 (10272 in chips)

Has been terrible all game but the poker gods have showered their love on him at every opportunity.

Popeye3407: posts small blind 100
FR Vessant: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Kc Ac]
Popeye3407: raises 400 to 600
FR Vessant: raises 2628 to 3228 and is all-in

No point fucking around.

Popeye3407: calls 2628

He has QJ. (Note that it's QJ again!) Obviously his call is atrocious. He cannot think he's ahead: I've been playing pretty tight all game.

*** FLOP *** [9s Jd As]

Nice. Bit worried about his hitting a pair though, because he can now suck out to two pair.

*** TURN *** [9s Jd As] [Kh]

OMG. I'm not liking the possibility of the straight though...

*** RIVER *** [9s Jd As Kh] [Tc]

You have to keep telling yourself you want to be called by worse hands and that this does make you money, but the evidence sometimes seems scarce. Last night I was playing a $10 MTT. It hadn't been going all that well, but I was still in there. I picked up AQ in the cut off. Three players limped. This is at t250 and I had 4K. So I shoved to try to pick up a nice chunk to add to my stack.

The SB tanks. I'm sweating. Is he agonising over calling with a pair of tens or something? Well, he calls, and it's K7s. What. The. Fuck. One of the limpers also calls. He has decided that AJ is going to be ahead of a shove and a call.

In a just world, I win the pot obviously, but in this one, there's a K on the flop and a 7 on the river.

Ten of the best?

2009-05-02T18:20:00.002+10:00

Man, that set of 10 sucked.
1. I shoved JJ for 13BB, was snapcalled by A5 and the inevitable happened.
2. I shoved over a guy who had been raising 20% of his hands with AJ and this time he had KK.
3. Some retard limpcalled for 1.5K with T6s and beat my AK, and then in the same game, having fought back, 44 < KJs obv.
4. Some guy who had started raising every hand at two tables raised, I shoved over with AK, and lucky me, he had KK. No ace obv.
5. I donked off a good second spot and ended up third when I rivered a straight and the other guy rivered a boat -- probably could have folded, but this guy was betting everything.
6. Called a shorty's desperation shove with 77, his A6 hit an A on the flop obv. Yes, you're right, this is yet another 70/30.
7. I outplayed a fishy tard heads up, called him down with top pair when he yet again bluffed off his chips, and watched in horror as he rivered a straight. Then he sucked out on me when he eventually called a shove.
8. I doubled up and then blinded down to 1.7K and when I finally picked up something I could shove, A9, the tight small blind woke up with KK. Obv. I don't crack big pairs, so no A for me.
9. With TT on a 744 flop, I shoved over a guy's donkbet, and another guy called. With 77.
10. I repopped a fish's raise with KK, and he called. Flop was all rags. I set him in. He was delighted to show me AA. (This is the hand I posted just now.) Luckily, I had 2.6K left and won the tourney.

Oh well. I played fucking well today and overall I was a big winner (I say big, but we're only playing $10ers with a couple of $20s thrown in because I'm moving up the scaredycat's way). It would have been nice to have won one of those 70/30s though. Never mind. The main thing is to play well. I played horribly in April and I'm still a bit gunshy, but I felt good about it today and being slightly timid is not as bad in a regular speed as it is in a turbo AFAIK. I'm feeling it's best for me to keep playing regular speeds. I don't have time to study ICM (or poker) to feel confident playing 16s and I hate playing on Tilt because every time I win a few bucks, I immediately have a terrible downswong. I have ups and downs in the regulars but I'm certain I beat the $10s and pretty sure I beat the $20s, which play about the same -- maybe a few less complete fools, but mostly bad players all the same. I have a bit of calling sickness though, and need to put that straight. It's one thing to call down with a marginal hand when the board is not too threatening, or even to snap off a bluff when the flush card comes (usually because villain just doesn't bet enough to convince -- if you're the kind of guy who would pot it or shove when you flush, betting small just screams that you don't have it), quite another to call when the other guy has gone small-small-big. If you always interpreted that line as bluffing-bluffing-got lucky, you probably wouldn't go far wrong.

wtf to the power of wtf

2009-05-02T17:43:00.002+10:00

I mean, wtf though. Three or four hands after some complete fucking clown busted me by calling off 13 blinds with A5 to crack my JJ:

PokerStars Game #27725350557: Tournament #160347613, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2009/05/02 3:41:28 ET
Table '160347613 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: Paodie2k9 (1875 in chips)
Seat 2: theereelmcoy (1205 in chips)
Seat 3: SevinJS (3055 in chips)
Seat 4: BOZZ rk (1865 in chips)
Seat 6: Ripler65 (1820 in chips)
Seat 8: tau837 (1515 in chips)
Seat 9: FR Vessant (2165 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 50
Paodie2k9: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ah Ks]
theereelmcoy: folds
SevinJS: folds
BOZZ rk: folds
Ripler65: folds
tau837: calls 100
FR Vessant: raises 2065 to 2165 and is all-in

EZ shove. No point in raising less than all.

Paodie2k9: folds
tau837: calls 1415 and is all-in

He has T6s.
Uncalled bet (650) returned to FR Vessant
*** FLOP *** [5s 3h 5d]
*** TURN *** [5s 3h 5d] [Td]

nh sir.

Could be worse:

PokerStars Game #27725460714: Tournament #160347635, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/05/02 3:49:02 ET
Table '160347635 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: kenkenuck (1520 in chips)
Seat 3: FR Vessant (4510 in chips)
Seat 6: CoolSaV (3120 in chips)
Seat 7: elric 31 (2460 in chips)
Seat 9: Hoggsnake (1890 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 75
CoolSaV: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Kc Kh]
elric 31: folds
Hoggsnake: raises 300 to 450
kenkenuck: folds
FR Vessant: raises 600 to 1050
CoolSaV: folds
Hoggsnake: calls 600
*** FLOP *** [6s Jd 4c]
FR Vessant: bets 840
Hoggsnake: calls 840 and is all-in
FR Vessant said, "wow"
*** TURN *** [6s Jd 4c] [As]
FR Vessant said, "what a cooler"
*** RIVER *** [6s Jd 4c As] [Ts]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FR Vessant: shows [Kc Kh] (a pair of Kings)
Hoggsnake: shows [Ac Ad] (three of a kind, Aces)
Hoggsnake collected 3930 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3930 | Rake 0
Board [6s Jd 4c As Ts]
Seat 1: kenkenuck (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: FR Vessant (small blind) showed [Kc Kh] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 6: CoolSaV (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: elric 31 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Hoggsnake showed [Ac Ad] and won (3930) with three of a kind, Aces

I should just openfold KK as well.

He has WHAT?

2009-05-01T15:26:00.004+10:00

This is as bad as it gets.

PokerStars Game #27686249844: Tournament #160081371, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2009/05/01 1:23:58 ET
Table '160081371 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: FR Vessant (1658 in chips)
Seat 2: 1stRyo (2040 in chips)
Seat 4: hogfan005 (1140 in chips)
Seat 6: ryan1111 (2302 in chips)
Seat 8: LSA2199 (6360 in chips)
LSA2199: posts small blind 50
FR Vessant: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [5d 4h]
1stRyo: folds
hogfan005: calls 100
ryan1111: folds
LSA2199: calls 50
FR Vessant: checks
*** FLOP *** [3h 7c 6h]

I flop the straight so I'm obviously delighted.

LSA2199: checks
FR Vessant: bets 200

Bet out to build pot.

hogfan005: calls 200
LSA2199: calls 200
*** TURN *** [3h 7c 6h] [As]
LSA2199: checks
FR Vessant: bets 700
hogfan005: folds
LSA2199: calls 700

Bet near pot this time.

*** RIVER *** [3h 7c 6h As] [4d]

Not great if he had a 5.

LSA2199: checks
FR Vessant: bets 658 and is all-in
LSA2199: calls 658
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FR Vessant: shows [5d 4h] (a straight, Three to Seven)
LSA2199: shows [5s 8c] (a straight, Four to Eight)

OMG.

Makes the other bad beats seem somehow standard.

***

Well, almost:

PokerStars Game #27686457964: Tournament #160079417, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2009/05/01 1:35:07 ET
Table '160079417 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: FR Vessant (2010 in chips)
Seat 4: Onenonlymush (5565 in chips)
Seat 6: dickkemp (2665 in chips)
Seat 9: Drock1360 (3260 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 100
Onenonlymush: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ad 9d]
dickkemp: folds
Drock1360: folds
FR Vessant: raises 1810 to 2010 and is all-in
Onenonlymush: calls 1810

He has A2, hooray!

*** FLOP *** [2c 2s 5h]

Oh.

PokerStars Game #27686409731: Tournament #160081495, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/05/01 1:32:27 ET
Table '160081495 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Chico117 (2900 in chips)
Seat 7: FR Vessant (2005 in chips)
Seat 8: postpokerman (3000 in chips)
Seat 9: 1stRyo (5595 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 75
postpokerman: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Kh Jd]
1stRyo: folds
Chico117: folds
FR Vessant: raises 1855 to 2005 and is all-in
postpokerman: calls 1855

He has AA.

Same guy:

PokerStars Game #27686636362: Tournament #160081527, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2009/05/01 1:45:13 ET
Table '160081527 1' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 2: postpokerman (3565 in chips)
Seat 3: jYoungin30 (4180 in chips)
Seat 5: FR Vessant (2780 in chips)
Seat 6: Mage Vivi (2975 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 100
Mage Vivi: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Kd Kc]
postpokerman: raises 400 to 600
jYoungin30: folds
FR Vessant: raises 2180 to 2780 and is all-in

Yay!

Mage Vivi: folds
postpokerman: calls 2180

He has QsTd.

*** FLOP *** [Ks 2s Ad]

I have a set!

*** TURN *** [Ks 2s Ad] [4s]
*** RIVER *** [Ks 2s Ad 4s] [6s]

There's his flush!

Blind versus blind mojo not working:

PokerStars Game #27686615887: Tournament #160081567, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/05/01 1:44:02 ET
Table '160081567 1' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: hh1313 (3015 in chips)
Seat 4: ErkkiMetsola (6403 in chips)
Seat 5: FR Vessant (2290 in chips)
Seat 6: bigbb111 (1792 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 75
bigbb111: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [8s Kh]
hh1313: folds
ErkkiMetsola: folds
FR Vessant: raises 2140 to 2290 and is all-in
bigbb111: calls 1642 and is all-in

He has AT.
Uncalled bet (498) returned to FR Vessant
*** FLOP *** [5c 2d 7s]
*** TURN *** [5c 2d 7s] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [5c 2d 7s 3s] [4s]

I miss everything obviously and he even gets a straight for good measure.

*** SHOW DOWN ***
FR Vessant: shows [8s Kh] (high card King)
bigbb111: shows [Td Ac] (a straight, Ace to Five)
bigbb111 collected 3584 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3584 | Rake 0
Board [5c 2d 7s 3s 4s]
Seat 1: hh1313 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: ErkkiMetsola (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: FR Vessant (small blind) showed [8s Kh] and lost with high card King
Seat 6: bigbb111 (big blind) showed [Td Ac] and won (3584) with a straight, Ace to Five

PokerStars Game #27686631451: Tournament #160081567, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2009/05/01 1:44:55 ET
Table '160081567 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: hh1313 (2815 in chips)
Seat 4: ErkkiMetsola (6403 in chips)
Seat 5: FR Vessant (498 in chips)
Seat 6: bigbb111 (3784 in chips)
hh1313: posts small blind 100
ErkkiMetsola: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [9s 9d]
FR Vessant: raises 298 to 498 and is all-in
bigbb111: calls 498
hh1313: folds
ErkkiMetsola: folds

He has AT again.
*** FLOP *** [2s Qh Qc]
*** TURN *** [2s Qh Qc] [Kh]
*** RIVER *** [2s Qh Qc Kh] [Ts]

So that's nice.

PokerStars Game #27686631921: Tournament #160080802, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2009/05/01 1:44:57 ET
Table '160080802 1' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 7: outlawdog81 (5730 in chips)
Seat 8: FR Vessant (7770 in chips)
outlawdog81: posts the ante 25
FR Vessant: posts the ante 25
outlawdog81: posts small blind 100
FR Vessant: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ad Tc]
outlawdog81: raises 200 to 400

Has been minraising a lot.

FR Vessant: raises 600 to 1000

So I 3bet.

outlawdog81: raises 600 to 1600

The min4bet is repping a big hand, but I don't believe him.

FR Vessant: raises 6145 to 7745 and is all-in
outlawdog81: calls 4105 and is all-in

He has QJ and obviously should have folded at either opportunity.

Uncalled bet (2040) returned to FR Vessant
*** FLOP *** [Kh Ah Td]

FUCK. MY. LUCK.

Obviously I don't hit my outs.

Hard hands

2009-05-01T12:06:00.003+10:00

Here's a tough spot. I'm never sure what to do here.

PokerStars Game #27681257571: Tournament #160049003, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2009/04/30 21:54:37 ET
Table '160049003 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 2: Paodie2k9 (2245 in chips)
Seat 3: Chefurchill (3335 in chips)
Seat 4: hooks200 (2055 in chips)
Seat 5: LukeSimpson (1335 in chips)
Seat 6: AAPokerTech (1660 in chips)
Seat 7: MAFFIP (1525 in chips)
Seat 8: FR Vessant (1345 in chips)
MAFFIP: posts small blind 25
FR Vessant: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Kc Ah]
Paodie2k9: folds
Chefurchill: folds
hooks200: raises 200 to 250

This guy has been semiloose but has only raised 4%. This is an odd raise. It's way too big.

So what range do we put him on? The 4% is only over 29 hands, but it implies he is not raising very wide. The odd raise size implies the bottom end of his range (doesn't want a call): this is common for a fish.

Thing is though, I can't be sure he has AQ/AJ in his range. I assume that if he does, he will call with both, which is great for me. But I think he might be tight enough to fold at least AJ. Say he's raising 99+/AQ, I'm not in great shape, and if he doesn't have AQo in there, I'm crushed.

I don't want to flatcall. It's a big chunk of my stack and I'll miss most flops. In position, it might be better. OOP, it's going to be grim too often.

LukeSimpson: folds
AAPokerTech: folds
MAFFIP: folds
FR Vessant: raises 1095 to 1345 and is all-in

So I shove. I dunno though. Looking back at it, I think I can find a fold against this player.

hooks200: calls 1095

I'm not going to say what he had or what happened. None of that changes my analysis.

***

Compare it with this hand:

PokerStars Game #27681860811: Tournament #160049336, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/04/30 22:15:49 ET
Table '160049336 1' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: STYLING-ACES (2230 in chips)
Seat 2: chiptacor (3435 in chips)
Seat 4: Vsemenov (6245 in chips)
Seat 8: FR Vessant (1590 in chips)
Vsemenov: posts small blind 75
FR Vessant: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ah Jh]
STYLING-ACES: folds
chiptacor: raises 300 to 450

This guy has been quite active. My stats have just switched to fourhanded, so I don't know what he played earlier but I seem to recall he was loose. Not raising too much. So I think he has a wider range than the other guy, but still fairly tight because this kind of fish limps a lot of middling hands rather than pop them up.

I also have a worse hand. However, this is a good shove. I have 10BB and I'm playing against guys I can expect to call loose. Styling-Aces is a dreadful fish who I know will call shoves way too wide. I'm fourth. I need to find spots to put my stack in. I'd prefer to be openshoving this, but I figure that I should have the best hand a lot of the time, and I'm not too shabby vs most pairs. I do not think folding is an option here, even though I doubt I have any fold equity. That's a good thing though, because AT/A9 at least, and KQ/KJ are going to be in his range here.

Vsemenov has timed out while disconnected
Vsemenov: folds
FR Vessant: raises 1140 to 1590 and is all-in
chiptacor: calls 1140

Again, it doesn't matter what he had. Both players had hands that were within the ranges I expected for them, but that doesn't tell me anything much.

Ten

2009-04-30T15:49:00.003+10:00

I'm not kidding when I say I can't win:

PokerStars Game #27650393244: Tournament #159834614, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2009/04/30 1:48:00 ET
Table '159834614 1' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 3: FR Vessant (1000 in chips)
Seat 4: AcsUpMySleve (3070 in chips)
Seat 6: Chipxmonk (1690 in chips)
Seat 7: BoardStr8 (3350 in chips)
Seat 8: uglytiger09 (4390 in chips)
AcsUpMySleve: posts small blind 50
Chipxmonk: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Jc Jd]
BoardStr8: folds
uglytiger09: raises 100 to 200

He hasn't raised much but I am obviously not folding JJ with 10BB.
FR Vessant: raises 800 to 1000 and is all-in
AcsUpMySleve: folds
Chipxmonk: folds
uglytiger09: calls 800

He has 99.

*** FLOP *** [Kd 9h 5s]

So that's nice.

Keep reminding yourself: it's a 9/1 shot, it's a 9/1 shot. It is not even money. Really!

PokerStars Game #27650620520: Tournament #159835348, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/04/30 2:01:53 ET
Table '159835348 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: FR Vessant (6210 in chips)
Seat 6: tiburonbig (7290 in chips)
tiburonbig: posts small blind 75
FR Vessant: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ts Tc]
tiburonbig: raises 300 to 450
FR Vessant: calls 300

Staying cagey because we're very deep. I would nearly always repop this, but this guy has given a lot of action throughout the tourney with hands that don't merit it, so I figure on the right flop, I can hope to stack him.

Like I say, I'm not playing well at the moment, because repopping him seems in retrospect much better. I don't mind if he 4-bet shoves. His range will be wide enough that I have as many hands that I crush as crush me, and I have the better of a race, if it comes to that. I think at the time I was wary of his flatting it, and having a tough spot if overcards came. See, this is what happens when you lose a few key hands: you start to become gunshy, thinking of the worst, afraid to take spots that favour you strongly.

*** FLOP *** [9h 7d 8s]

That's a pretty good flop though, so my plan worked out.

FR Vessant: bets 600

I'm not sure why I donked it. Possibly because it looks a bit scary to him, and he's liable to check behind. Dunno, maybe I figured I would protect my overpair against hands like KJ/AQ. Actually, with KJ, he's very likely to call that bet, which would be okay.

tiburonbig: raises 6240 to 6840 and is all-in

I wanted action and got it. I expect to be behind some of the time, but he can easily have a single pair: A7-A9, K7-K9, 66, or less likely, something like J9 or T9.

I do forget though that bad players will make huge overshoves with the nuts because they think that if you bet out you will never be able to fold.

I dunno. I suppose I could have folded, but if I had played the hand more correctly, I would have CRAI anyway, so the end result was the same. I suppose I had resolved to get it in, whatever, so I was mentally set to call.

I know this is bad, but as I say, I'm playing badly. My game is really fucked at the moment, and trying to play through it has not helped.

FR Vessant: calls 5160 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (1080) returned to tiburonbig

He has 77. Another two-outer. Still, I have some outs, so we're okay, right?

*** TURN *** [9h 7d 8s] [8c]

Nope.

*** RIVER *** [9h 7d 8s 8c] [Js]

And I hit my straight, just to rub it in.

I don't like his shove, btw. My range is not strong for betting out on that flop and I'm folding nearly everything to a shove. The only things I'm calling with are sets, made straights, the hand I actually had and probably other overpairs, although I don't usually play them slow before the flop against a guy like this.

I suppose you could consider that he is protecting his set against straight draws, but it's better to make value from them. It's true that a raise is going to look like it potcommits him, so no one's going to be fooled, but most opponents will pay a raise with T9 (and might even shove over).

PokerStars Game #27650770008: Tournament #159835246, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2009/04/30 2:10:10 ET
Table '159835246 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: FR Vessant (2220 in chips)
Seat 6: Xenon9545 (4340 in chips)
Seat 9: bazul23 (6940 in chips)
bazul23: posts small blind 100
FR Vessant: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Jd Kd]
Xenon9545: folds
bazul23: raises 400 to 600

Is probably raising wide, so I am going to take him on.

FR Vessant: raises 1620 to 2220 and is all-in
bazul23: calls 1620

Yup. Picked my spot well. He has KT.

*** FLOP *** [3s 4s 3h]

No four, no four.

*** TURN *** [3s 4s 3h] [4d]

Fuck.

*** RIVER *** [3s 4s 3h 4d] [6s]

He went on to bust me, of course. His king high hit the flop; my ace high didn't.

PokerStars Game #27650676979: Tournament #159835510, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/04/30 2:05:03 ET
Table '159835510 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: Blade428 (2675 in chips)
Seat 2: FR Vessant (1705 in chips)
Seat 4: Gold Treat (2625 in chips)
Seat 5: Noodleuno (1490 in chips)
Seat 7: skogan900 (2700 in chips)
Seat 9: trevdog76 (2305 in chips)
Blade428: posts small blind 75
FR Vessant: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Th Tc]
Gold Treat: folds
Noodleuno: raises 150 to 300
skogan900: folds
trevdog76: folds
Blade428: folds
FR Vessant: raises 1405 to 1705 and is all-in
Noodleuno: calls 1190 and is all-in

He has A3s. WTF.

He minraise/called A3s for his whole stack.

Well, okay, we know they're not good, and we are delighted to get our money in as a huge favourite, right?

Uncalled bet (215) returned to FR Vessant
*** FLOP *** [Qd 2h 6s]

Hold.

*** TURN *** [Qd 2h 6s] [9s]

Hold.

*** RIVER *** [Qd 2h 6s 9s] [Ac]

"Daddy, why are you banging your head against that wall?

So I've been card dead and the bigstack keeps shoveblocking me:

PokerStars Game #27650738357: Tournament #159835358, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2009/04/30 2:08:25 ET
Table '159835358 1' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 2: Cujokhan (3445 in chips)
Seat 3: vigel (5600 in chips)
Seat 4: elsamisam (1490 in chips)
Seat 5: MondoJ11 (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: FR Vessant (1465 in chips)
elsamisam: posts small blind 100
MondoJ11: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [7c 7h]
FR Vessant: raises 1265 to 1465 and is all-in

No hesitation whacking that in.

Cujokhan: folds
vigel: calls 1465

He has AQ. Can I win a race? Are you silly?

elsamisam: folds
MondoJ11: folds
*** FLOP *** [8h 3d Jd]

Hold.

*** TURN *** [8h 3d Jd] [Jh]

Hold.

*** RIVER *** [8h 3d Jd Jh] [Ah]

"Daddy, why are you crying?"

This guy sucks at poker. We've been laughing hard at his 4x raises at t200.

Just a note about why it's bad to raise too big heads up. There are two reasons. First, your tight opponent will never call with a worse hand. So you get no value when you have AT and he has A9 because he will simply fold it. Yeah, you pick up the blinds, but when you're 20BB deep, the shorter stack is looking to pick a spot, and will gladly surrender a couple of blinds. Second, when he does reshove, you are out 4BBs if you fold, and often way behind if you call, which is what this clown did. Raising big and often means that your tighter opponent gives up blinds more readily, true, but it means he wins more from you when he reshoves and he can reshove a lot lighter against you than if you had raised less, because he knows you don't have to have a great hand. Well, he got a pretty good run, because I couldn't pick up anything that had any showdown value, but I caught it all back up when he called a reshove with K8 or something. That's the thing though. Raising every button is a fine idea. Against someone like me, you're going to make chips by doing it because I won't defend my blind particularly light. But when I do reshove, you have to fold the bottom of your range. Yes, I might have T9s, but you are mostly crushed.

Anyway, he doubled me up and now we're at t400.

PokerStars Game #27651063476: Tournament #159835430, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2009/04/30 2:27:03 ET
Table '159835430 1' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: Deathfart42 (5760 in chips)
Seat 7: FR Vessant (7740 in chips)
Deathfart42: posts the ante 25
FR Vessant: posts the ante 25
FR Vessant: posts small blind 200
Deathfart42: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Kc Qd]

I don't have my Nash chart to hand but I'm shoving this all day long with 14BBs effective.

FR Vessant: raises 7315 to 7715 and is all-in
Deathfart42: calls 5335 and is all-in

He has 44. This guy really sucks, so I wasn't surprised he called that wide, but most players would probably have folded it against someone who had played as tight as me.

Uncalled bet (1980) returned to FR Vessant
*** FLOP *** [Kd 9c 3c]

I'm winning!

*** TURN *** [Kd 9c 3c] [4s]

Oh no.

I went on to win though. He shoved the next hand and I called with J high. Beat his T high. After that, I got reasonable hands and beat him easily enough because he was willing to call with just about anything when I shoved. So I left off the bottom end and that worked.

Meanwhile, back at the races...

PokerStars Game #27650711915: Tournament #159835440, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/04/30 2:06:59 ET
Table '159835440 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: knightsfan17 (2415 in chips)
Seat 2: magnolium (1135 in chips)
Seat 3: welshdog (2720 in chips)
Seat 5: ozz100 (905 in chips)
Seat 6: Michelley03 (3255 in chips)
Seat 7: FR Vessant (1520 in chips)
Seat 8: MondoJ11 (1550 in chips)
knightsfan17: posts small blind 75
magnolium: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Qc Ah]
welshdog: folds
ozz100: folds
Michelley03: raises 175 to 325
FR Vessant: raises 1195 to 1520 and is all-in

She hasn't raised particularly much, but folding AQ with 10BB is not a habit I'm going to get into any time soon.

MondoJ11: folds
knightsfan17: folds
magnolium: folds
Michelley03: calls 1195

She has JJ. Well, it could be better but at least it's not AA. I am for once the overcards. The other races that I've been losing today have coincidentally had me as the pair.

So I should win this one, right?

*** FLOP *** [6s 7c 3c]
*** TURN *** [6s 7c 3c] [7h]
*** RIVER *** [6s 7c 3c 7h] [Ks]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Michelley03: shows [Js Jd] (two pair, Jacks and Sevens)
FR Vessant: shows [Qc Ah] (a pair of Sevens)

Oh dear.

That's one set of ten. Astonishingly, I actually made money from it. Not as much as I would have done if I could ever have a hand hold up when ahead or win a race, obv. (I'm exaggerating. I did win one race, AK over 66 or something, but it was for a third of my stack, so I wasn't all in).

wtf wtf wtf

2009-04-30T14:59:00.003+10:00

So I fire up two more. A 20 and a 10.

In the 20, I have little play and get blinded down. Then this:

PokerStars Game #27649309675: Tournament #159826469, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/04/30 0:50:57 ET
Table '159826469 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: rvileo (2670 in chips)
Seat 2: raknrun1 (2776 in chips)
Seat 4: FR Vessant (970 in chips)
Seat 5: nzonin (1191 in chips)
Seat 6: razor1232 (2380 in chips)
Seat 7: hollycrap-01 (1125 in chips)
Seat 8: Ninja Tiger (2388 in chips)
raknrun1: posts small blind 75
FR Vessant: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ks Kc]
nzonin: folds
razor1232: folds
hollycrap-01: raises 450 to 600

This is a very very bad fish. She hasn't raised much, but obviously I'm delighted at the opportunity to get all my chips in with KK.

Ninja Tiger: folds
rvileo: calls 600

Not so happy about the caller. Prefer to be HU.

raknrun1: folds
FR Vessant: raises 370 to 970 and is all-in
hollycrap-01: calls 370
rvileo: calls 370
*** FLOP *** [2d 9s 4c]

Looking good.

hollycrap-01: checks
rvileo: checks
*** TURN *** [2d 9s 4c] [Td]
hollycrap-01: checks
rvileo: checks
*** RIVER *** [2d 9s 4c Td] [9d]
hollycrap-01: bets 155 and is all-in

Oh dear. Does she have a 9?

rvileo: folds

LOLOLOLOL. He just folded getting 20 to 1! Okay, she's probably not bluffing, but wtf?

Uncalled bet (155) returned to hollycrap-01
*** SHOW DOWN ***
hollycrap-01: shows [Tc Ts] (a full house, Tens full of Nines)

Oh. Another two-outer. That's nice. This happens EVERY FUCKING TOURNAMENT. Every time I am all in with KK, QQ or JJ before the flop, I get busted. EVERY FUCKING TIME.

FR Vessant: shows [Ks Kc] (two pair, Kings and Nines)

So in the 10, we have the following lineup:

PokerStars Game #27649439304: Tournament #159826784, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/04/30 0:57:25 ET
Table '159826784 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: railbird99 (1925 in chips)

Fish.

Seat 3: vikefan1180 (6115 in chips)

Tard who was down to like 700 chips and luckboxed his way to 6K. It helped that bigdog7878 is a complete fool.

Seat 5: bigdog7878 (3940 in chips)

A complete fool.

Seat 9: FR Vessant (1520 in chips)
vikefan1180: posts small blind 75
bigdog7878: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [5h Ah]
FR Vessant: raises 1370 to 1520 and is all-in

A bit wide because bigdog is such a fool, but he hasn't called all that many shoves, even when he was deep. When he's raised, he's called a shove afterwards, but not many openshoves. vikefan has made plenty of comments that suggest his calling standards are very tight, so I'm not worried about him. railbird will be calling tight too. So I think it looks okay.

railbird99: folds
vikefan1180: folds
bigdog7878: calls 1370

He has QhJh. To be honest, if I'd known he had it and would call with it, I would have shoved for sure, so I'm not too upset. I have my money in good and surely I can have this one hold up?

*** FLOP *** [Jc 3h 5d]

Oh.

wtf wtf

2009-04-30T12:52:00.003+10:00

No really.

PokerStars Game #27646430696: Tournament #159812116, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2009/04/29 22:50:38 ET
Table '159812116 1' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: Godbey62 (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: @dv@nt@ge (1490 in chips)
Seat 3: thegnaw (2500 in chips)
Seat 4: 2cavaliers (1480 in chips)
Seat 5: FR Vessant (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: ronlat (1480 in chips)
Seat 7: DEBDAL (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: sickening (550 in chips)

Lost most of his stack on the second hand. Has played both hands so far. Badly.

Seat 9: potlogic (1500 in chips)
2cavaliers: posts small blind 10
FR Vessant: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Kd Js]
ronlat: calls 20
DEBDAL: folds
sickening: calls 20
potlogic: folds
Godbey62: folds
sickening said, "only way u wouldve played it"
@dv@nt@ge: folds
thegnaw: folds
sickening said, "nh"
2cavaliers: calls 10
FR Vessant: checks
*** FLOP *** [Kh 2s 5s]

So I hit top pair, but I'm not loving it.

2cavaliers: checks
FR Vessant: bets 40

I bet to make the flush draws pay, but I could happily have checked this. I don't like getting involved in these small pots with moderate hands, because these fish have wide ranges and no idea how to value their hands, so you can get massive pots that you think you are faring well in but find out that some bizarre shit has caught it harder than you.

ronlat: folds
sickening: calls 40

Could have anything. Most likely a flush draw or some sort of king. Would expect most kings to raise the flop though, particularly stronger ones than I have.

2cavaliers: folds
*** TURN *** [Kh 2s 5s] [5d]

Should be fairly safe.

FR Vessant: bets 80

I'm not all that keen on betting again but I am likely to face a bet from at least the Ks in his range if I don't and I can make the flush draw pay, so I'm not really worse off for doing it. I realise that I am bloating the pot a bit though, particularly since I can easily get valuebet by KQ on a blank river. However, KQ is reasonably unlikely because only the really passive guys just call with it on a board with a flush draw.

sickening: raises 410 to 490 and is all-in

OMG. Really hard to interpret that. Can't put too many 5s in his range and most donkeys would raise the flop with a king.

So he could have KQ but you'd have to think it's unlikely. I think his most likely hand is a flush draw with a pair, something like KsTs, which he now likes because he has two pair. I think he has far too many hands I beat in his range to fold.

FR Vessant: calls 410

So I call.

He has A5.

What. The. Fuck.

*** RIVER *** [Kh 2s 5s 5d] [Ts]
FR Vessant said, "omg"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FR Vessant: shows [Kd Js] (two pair, Kings and Fives)
sickening: shows [Ad 5c] (three of a kind, Fives)

Okay, these fucktards will play raggy aces, even when they've blown 2/3 of their stack, and they will call when they pair their kicker, always. But does he have to hit trips? I mean, really?

This is happening to me game after game. Not just the occasional horrible beat. Every game. Almost every hand. Nothing holds up. I have a 15-out draw, I miss it. He has two outs, no problem. I have a set, they turn a flush. I have a flush, they turn the nut flush. I have the nut flush, they river a boat. I shove jacks, they have aces. I shove aces, they hit a straight. I have the same hand, they hit a flush.

It's killing me. In these regular speed games, I play tables that run 27/6 or 31/9 and lose money. Just folding everything except monsters would in theory make you money at these tables. In theory. In practice, there is no monster big enough.

***

Wow.

As I write this, I actually hit a draw! Savour it, Zenny. It's your one piece of luck for today:

PokerStars Game #27646715507: Tournament #159812116, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2009/04/29 23:01:41 ET
Table '159812116 1' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: Godbey62 (1470 in chips)
Seat 2: @dv@nt@ge (2010 in chips)
Seat 3: thegnaw (2675 in chips)
Seat 4: 2cavaliers (3080 in chips)
Seat 5: FR Vessant (875 in chips)
Seat 6: ronlat (940 in chips)
Seat 7: DEBDAL (1225 in chips)
Seat 9: potlogic (1225 in chips)
2cavaliers: posts small blind 15
FR Vessant: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [5d 2d]
ronlat: calls 30

He has AJ. He should raise if he wants to play it and actually, I would just fold in his spot. This table is way too loose to want to play AJ OOP.

DEBDAL: folds
potlogic: folds
Godbey62: folds
@dv@nt@ge: folds
thegnaw: folds
2cavaliers: folds
FR Vessant: checks
*** FLOP *** [4s Ad Jd]
FR Vessant: checks

I have a strong draw and could lead out here, but he will have quite a few aces in his range, and I'd rather not get shoved on because I will be put in a very tough spot.

ronlat: bets 910 and is all-in

Which happens anyway.

So I have 12 outs against top pair. I'm a dog but it's quite close. I'm not getting the correct odds but I need to double up if I can to be competitive. My big worry is that he has shoved because he has a flush draw, in which case I'm hosed. But actually, the huge overshove is nearly always the nuts, so I expect to see AJ or A4. Obviously I hope not to have run into JJ, because that kills one of my outs.

If I had a full stack, I would have folded. But I didn't, so I called.

FR Vessant: calls 845 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (65) returned to ronlat
*** TURN *** [4s Ad Jd] [6c]
*** RIVER *** [4s Ad Jd 6c] [3h]

BOOM!

See, the one fucking time I don't play it right, I win out. Probably a tip in there or something.

wtf

2009-04-30T12:20:00.002+10:00

Now Stars is taking the piss.

I have not been dealt a playable hand all game. I mean literally that my stats are 0/0.

So...

PokerStars Game #27645550313: Tournament #159802633, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2009/04/29 22:19:03 ET
Table '159802633 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: Drquicksanti (3168 in chips)
Seat 3: Carolingq (6334 in chips)
Seat 5: RussellN0 (1830 in chips)
Seat 7: Rounders333 (1268 in chips)
Seat 8: FR Vessant (900 in chips)
Drquicksanti: posts small blind 50
Carolingq: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ac Qh]
RussellN0: folds
Rounders333: raises 300 to 400
FR Vessant: raises 500 to 900 and is all-in

Have to get it in with this hand obviously.

Drquicksanti: folds
Carolingq: folds
Rounders333: calls 500

He has AhQd.

Sigh. Oh well, split pot right?

*** FLOP *** [2d 4d 2h]
*** TURN *** [2d 4d 2h] [Ad]

OMG.

Surely it's not possible that I will have this happen to me? Surely there won't be a diamond on the river.

*** RIVER *** [2d 4d 2h Ad] [Jd]

wat

bluh

2009-04-30T11:08:00.003+10:00

So I'm having a losing month and that sucks. Here's why:

PokerStars Game #27643370473: Tournament #159788147, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2009/04/29 21:04:56 ET
Table '159788147 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Bennitez (1425 in chips)
Seat 2: commiedoctor (700 in chips)
Seat 3: idofatties (1040 in chips)
Seat 4: BeSmart13 (1225 in chips)
Seat 5: XBluffDaddyX (2240 in chips)
Seat 6: Trainerboy30 (1250 in chips)
Seat 7: vice999 (1970 in chips)
Seat 8: FR Vessant (2040 in chips)
Seat 9: daulton05 (1610 in chips)
commiedoctor: posts small blind 50
idofatties: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ad Qd]
BeSmart13: folds
XBluffDaddyX: folds
Trainerboy30: folds
vice999: folds
FR Vessant: raises 150 to 250

Standard raise.

daulton05: folds
Bennitez: calls 250

Fish calls.

commiedoctor: folds
idofatties: folds
*** FLOP *** [Tc 6d Jd]

That's a decent flop for me. I have a big combo draw and overcards.

FR Vessant: bets 400

So I lead out strong.

Bennitez: raises 775 to 1175 and is all-in

He probably has a jack. It goes without saying that there are no hands with jacks in them he should have here, except maybe JJ. I have a ton of outs, so I'm obviously not folding.

FR Vessant: calls 775

He has QsJs. So he called with a dominated hand and got lucky, but never mind, I have 15 outs and I'm a decent favourite to win the hand.

I don't think you can play this hand differently. It mostly plays itself. It's grossly unlucky that the fish's bad call was rewarded with a jack rather than a queen, but that's how it goes.

*** TURN *** [Tc 6d Jd] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [Tc 6d Jd 3s] [8c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***

So I miss everything. Oh well, a few hands later, I call a shove with 99 and triple up when I flop a boat, so that's good. Not so good when I shove over a shortstack shove with 88, he has ATs and as happens monotonously, the ace comes on the flop. And turn, just in case I didn't get the message. I'm pretty sure my shove was good, although it would have been on the border probably, but obviously I'm going to be flipping always. I am beginning to think I can probably give up some of the thinner spots in the $10s because they're not as pressurised as the turbos. Not in this instance though. The guy's stats indicated a wide push, and you just can't fold 88 when the guy can be pushing raggy aces and small pairs that you crush. It's just one of those things to run into the upper end of his range.

Mind you, that has happened all month. Which would be okay, but if he had had A3, he still hit the ace, and that's been happening too. The problem is that you can't let yourself become gunshy as a consequence. My edge, thin as it seems to be, consists mostly of being more aggro than my opponents in the right spots (they are either not aggro enough or aggro in the wrong places).

On another table, I pick up QQ and raise. The button calls. He's another fish, so you can't take much out of his range. The flop comes A high.

It's time to start openfolding QQ.

So I cbet, even though my gut tells me to check and fold. He calls. I think he bet small on the turn and I called because I can see him just peeling with a pair, but yeah, he had A5s.

But I'm not kidding. How often can QQ get cracked?

blah

2009-04-24T13:08:00.003+10:00

You know, I am never going to make it in poker. You know why? I am genuinely unlucky. I can't think of any other explanation.

In this tourney, I had a 4.5K stack that I acquired by getting it in with two players on a big blind special. I had 55 on a 654 board, they had 64 and 88. So that was lucky, right? Yes, and I should win a lot of games that I have 4.5K stacks in.

But a few hands later, some retard with 40/25 stacks raises big and I shove over with JJ in the cutoff.

I run into AA. So I've played maybe 20 games yesterday and today, and I've run JJ into a bigger hand in, no kidding, half those games at least.

So no worries though, I still have a decent stack:

PokerStars Game #27426736014: Tournament #158263361, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2009/04/23 23:06:06 ET
Table '158263361 1' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: FR Vessant (2515 in chips)
Seat 2: Almighty 1ne (615 in chips)
Seat 4: walrus1855 (6010 in chips)
Seat 5: sixpack1111 (2265 in chips)
Seat 6: shocker33 (860 in chips)
Seat 8: jrags72 (1235 in chips)
shocker33: posts small blind 75
jrags72: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ah Ks]
FR Vessant: raises 300 to 450

Bear in mind that I have played maybe 3 out of 40 hands. Not that I'm trying to be that tight. I have just been card dead (for a month actually, except for a run of cards in the previous tourney). I'm under the gun, so my range is going to be very tight here.

Almighty 1ne: raises 165 to 615 and is all-in

This guy turns out to have A7s, so his play is forgivable.

walrus1855: folds
sixpack1111: raises 1650 to 2265 and is all-in

He has AJs. He is shoving over second in chips, who can bust him and is tight, so probably beats him. He is third in chips with a bunch of shorties behind and there's a shorty already in, so I won't be folding much, if any, of my range, with the overlay.

This is awful and if you're learning STTs, don't do this. I know AJs is pretty, but you have to fold in this spot.

shocker33: folds
jrags72: folds
FR Vessant: calls 1815

Easy call obviously with AK. With the overlay, I would not have folded anything I'm raising here.

*** FLOP *** [9h 2c 8c]

OMG. Two of his suit.

*** TURN *** [9h 2c 8c] [2h]

Safe so far.

*** RIVER *** [9h 2c 8c 2h] [Jh]

That's just sick though.

AK beaten by AJ again.

***

So I make mistakes. One of the JJ hands, the other guy, who was UTG, limped and I raised fairly decently. He flatted. The alarm bells went off but the flop came all rags. He bet out. The problem is that these fools can easily be leading out with TT/99 or top pair, or even overcards, thinking you have AK and will fold. But I think I knew that he had to have a monster and I still shoved. It's really fucking hard to fold in that spot. But, you know, I think I'm going to start folding when my gut tells me he has to have AA/KK there, or at least, just flat and then see whether he shoves the turn. I used to avoid going broke with JJ on raggy flops, precisely because players on Ongame like to trap rather than limp/shove.

But I'm still good enough to beat the very bad players in Stars $11s handsomely and I should be good enough to beat $22s (haven't played many so don't know how I run) and $16s (actually breakeven in the few games I've played this year, but overall, really bad, but again, no volume).

I know the answers. Play more, work on my ICM, forget bad beats. Yeah, I know. Easy when you can 16 or 20 table for a working day, really hard when you can only play a few games each day. And what sucks the most is that I keep winning the shitty small hands, when I have 1K and shove 63 in the small blind and I'm live, and losing the huge ones, like the one here, which involve stacks that I've already put effort into acquiring.

No, I have not swallowed any fucking horseshoes, thanks for asking

2009-04-23T21:14:00.003+10:00

"Why are you shouting at the computer, Daddy?"

PokerStars Game #27398819524: Tournament #158064344, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2009/04/23 7:10:26 ET
Table '158064344 1' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 2: olybosu (3855 in chips)
Seat 5: moiraine (3910 in chips)
Seat 6: Roysden (3430 in chips)
Seat 7: FR Vessant (2305 in chips)
Roysden: posts small blind 50
FR Vessant: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Tc Ah]
olybosu: calls 100

Complete fish, could have anything.

moiraine: folds
Roysden: folds
FR Vessant: checks

It's not worth raising because he will simply call. I'm going to be ahead of his range, but this guy won't fold to a cbet, so I'm going to have to hit to win.

*** FLOP *** [9s Ad 2h]

Nice.

FR Vessant: checks
olybosu: bets 100
FR Vessant: raises 200 to 300

Raise is a bit small, but I don't mind a call because I'm likely to be miles and miles ahead of him.

olybosu: calls 200
*** TURN *** [9s Ad 2h] [Jd]
FR Vessant: bets 500

A healthy bet.

olybosu: calls 500

To be honest, he could have anything here: two diamonds, a weak ace, a jack, any of the available draws, any pair, fuck all.

*** RIVER *** [9s Ad 2h Jd] [7s]
FR Vessant: checks
olybosu: bets 2955 and is all-in

This is very tough. I was pretty sure I was ahead on the flop and turn. He can easily be trying to fold out a bad ace or think his JT or A3 is good because I didn't raise an ace preflop. He could be on a total bluff or he might have made all sorts of hands. I dunno.

FR Vessant: calls 1405 and is all-in

Ultimately, it's hard to fold top pair against this guy. He has just way too many hands I beat in his hand to love folding, although I am thinking I'm probably behind.

Uncalled bet (1550) returned to olybosu
*** SHOW DOWN ***
olybosu: shows [7d 9d] (two pair, Nines and Sevens)

WTF. You know, I'm sick of it. This happens all the time. How can he call preflop? How can he call the raise on the flop? There's no draw on the flop so what can I have that middle pair beats? I am repping an ace, obv. and when I bet nicely on the turn, what else can he think I have? He has five outs to beat me if I didn't pair my kicker already, in which case he has two.

Well, obviously five outs is more than enough against me right now.

Check out what happens when you have eight:

PokerStars Game #27391862954: Tournament #158014164, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2009/04/22 23:52:34 ET
Table '158014164 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 2: Freeman88 (1855 in chips)
Seat 3: kiratan (6040 in chips)
Seat 4: buckeye71420 (2250 in chips)
Seat 6: JChas (1575 in chips)
Seat 8: FR Vessant (1780 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 50
Freeman88: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Jc Jh]
kiratan: calls 100

I'll tell you now, this guy has JTo. So he has a big stack and thinks, hmmm, BROADWAYS.

buckeye71420: folds
JChas: folds
FR Vessant: raises 300 to 400
Freeman88: folds
kiratan: calls 300

WTF though.

*** FLOP *** [9d Qd 4s]
FR Vessant: bets 1380 and is all-in

I shove because his range is really wide and I'd like to get calls from all of it except Qx/99/44/94.

kiratan: calls 1380

He snapcalls. It's not the worst call because even if he's not getting the odds, it's not as bad as some.

*** TURN *** [9d Qd 4s] [Kd]

Obviously his straight comes in.

This is pretty standard, but after a while, you start wishing for them just to fold once in a while. Yes, they are paying you Sklansky money by the barrowload, but you know what, my local shop plain refuses to take Sklansky money, the bastids.

Omahahahahhahahhahahaha fools

2009-04-03T10:40:00.003+10:00

Having said that, the fishes' complete inability to, erm, think can help us too:

PokerStars Game #26659436043: Tournament #200904021, $10+$1 Omaha Hi/Lo Pot Limit - Level XV (600/1200) - 2009/04/02 20:38:27 ET
Table '200904021 462' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: hippie adoni (53069 in chips)
Seat 2: dugomo (25975 in chips)
Seat 3: mickeydsboy (25430 in chips)
Seat 4: Mustang302 (42078 in chips)
Seat 5: FR Vessant (68954 in chips)
Seat 6: Neal_0825 (6328 in chips)
Seat 7: doomino (19074 in chips)
Seat 8: Canuck (16512 in chips)
Seat 9: Draughts (36464 in chips)
hippie adoni: posts small blind 600
dugomo: posts big blind 1200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [2s As 5h Ac]
mickeydsboy: calls 1200
Mustang302: folds
FR Vessant: raises 4200 to 5400

I have a huge hand so I raise pot.

Neal_0825: folds
doomino: folds
Canuck: folds
Draughts: folds
hippie adoni: folds
dugomo: calls 4200

Let me tell you that this guy has 77J3, with the 73 suited in spades.

WTF. How did this fool ever get this far in this tourney? I mean, really.

mickeydsboy: folds
*** FLOP *** [Ad 9s 2c]

I flop the nuts and there's no flush draw there. Only the low end is a problem.

dugomo: checks
FR Vessant: bets 12600

Still, I'm betting pot, and if he wants to call with a crappy low draw, that's okay by me.

dugomo: calls 12600
*** TURN *** [Ad 9s 2c] [8s]

Now there's a flush draw out there, but I have it. If he had a draw to the low, he's made it hough, which is a pity. I can still draw out on many lows though, so all's not lost.
dugomo: checks
FR Vessant: bets 37800

I put him in of course.

dugomo: calls 7975 and is all-in

And I'm just astonished to see he's drawing to a very bad low.

Uncalled bet (29825) returned to FR Vessant
*** RIVER *** [Ad 9s 2c 8s] [3c]

Which he misses.

Omahahahhahahahhahahahhahahahahha

2009-04-03T10:19:00.002+10:00

I am still hating Omaha. Playing in the SCOOP lowstakes PL Omaha hi/lo, this hand comes up:

PokerStars Game #26658698671: Tournament #200904021, $10+$1 Omaha Hi/Lo Pot Limit - Level XIV (500/1000) - 2009/04/02 20:14:28 ET
Table '200904021 745' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 2: Hey Dill (29111 in chips)
Seat 3: FR Vessant (61305 in chips)
Seat 4: sirtoff (8044 in chips)
Seat 5: s1m_ka (40057 in chips)
Seat 6: MOKER01 (8656 in chips)
Seat 7: knight53008 (70323 in chips)
Seat 8: JanuZ85 (34186 in chips)
Seat 9: Krassita (30876 in chips)
s1m_ka: posts small blind 500
MOKER01: posts big blind 1000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ah 3d 3h 2s]
2mark is connected
knight53008: folds
JanuZ85: folds
Krassita: folds
Hey Dill: raises 2000 to 3000

This guy's a horrible fish, who has called raises with really bad hands and got lucky a few times.

FR Vessant: raises 7500 to 10500

I have a very strong hand and I'm obv. willing to go all the way with it.

sirtoff: folds
s1m_ka: folds
MOKER01: folds
Hey Dill: calls 7500

I'm not sure about his call. I don't really know Omaha very well. He has Ac3cQdQs. I think he should fold to the reraise because I'm repping a very strong hand, which likely has him beat both ways. As it happens, I don't have the high, but QQ is really difficult to play in Omaha.

*** FLOP *** [Ad 5s 4h]

I flop the nuts.

Hey Dill: checks
FR Vessant: bets 22500

Now he should fold. I am repping a hand that crushes his, and in fact I have it. I don't mind if he calls of course. I have the nuts both ways and there's no flush draw out there.

Hey Dill: calls 18611 and is all-in

His call is terrible though. What can I have that he beats? I could have A2xx with xs lower than a Q, but that's it, and even if I do, I probably have the nut low anyway.

Still, these fish don't think it through obv. He sees he has top pair and a draw to the low and bang, he's there for that. Even if

Uncalled bet (3889) returned to FR Vessant
*** TURN *** [Ad 5s 4h] [Qc]

Nothing changes and there's no flush, so he has two outs to split with me.

*** RIVER *** [Ad 5s 4h Qc] [2c]

And that's one of them. Sigh. Oh well. Poker is not chess, we have to remind ourselves. The rewards don't necessarily go to the most skilful.

About luck

2009-04-01T23:19:00.003+10:00

Luck in poker is not unitary. When players are running badly in STTs, they tend to look at all-ins. Juk's analyser, a commonly used programme, compares your received value with your EV. I don't know why, but for most regular players, it shows unluckiness. Or perhaps that's just a reporting bias. People who are running hot but still losing don't tell forums about it.

I think that what makes downswings feel unbearable is that we find some forms of luck acceptable and others unacceptable.

STTs have a flow to them. Sometimes it's all upstream. You pick up no cards, and finally you're at push/fold, shove in your stack and are snapped off by a dominating hand or a higher pair. But the thing is, this tourney has been very unlucky for us but we accept it. We know it is the price of our tight-early strategy. We don't mind that a game, a turbo at least, can be fold fold fold fold fold push you're gone. So long as when we push AJ, we are called by AK and don't help, and not by AT and a T comes, we don't feel hard done by.

But we have been. We play 10 percent of our hands, or thereabouts. So we should be picking up a playable hand once every 10 hands. But we often go 30, 40 hands without a spot we can play in. Sometimes we don't even see a hand; sometimes we have to fold AQ to a raise early, or have AJs UTG and prudently fold, or have a small pair in early position and don't want to risk it. Whatever the reason, par is that we should pick something up and be able to accumulate some chips, but sometimes, often, that doesn't happen.

On top of that, if you pick up all your big hands early, and only trash late, the STT's flow is all wrong: you're active early and quiet late. Our game relies on being able to find good spots late in the game. We want ideally to be able to make people fold and give us chips. If we never have the hand in the spot, we cannot even pursue our strategy.

Luck can be subtler. You call a raise with 44, hoping to stack the raiser when you hit your set. The flop comes A43, you get the money in with AK and double up; the flop comes Q43 and you're lucky if he even cbets. Making set value depends on luck: that your villain will hit a hand, or have a hand, he too is willing to stack off with. If that doesn't happen, you do not make your value, and all those limps do not pay off. You are luckier if the raiser is a tighty, because his range will have more big pairs, less lucky if he or she is a fishy who is chancing a raise with AK and won't put a cent in if it misses.

But we accept this. And I think the reason is that it is unlucky but it is the computer's fault. The random number generator picks the cards and if you get lucky, well, it's an outcome of maths.

But if someone calls your AK shove with with A3 and hits their 3, the universe is knocked off its axis. Now a human has messed with you. You were just pursuing your strategy, riding the flow, and some tard broke into the stream and made you unlucky.

How could he make that call? is our cry, even though we want him to make that call. But that 'want' is an ideal. We should want A3 to call us when we shove AK, and we do want it the seven out of 10 times it holds up. But the other three...

And the worst of it, the most painful luck, is this. We'll lose a 70/30 seven out of 10 times. We accept that rationally but try using reason when you lose six in a row. There's nothing hugely statistically improbable about that, but if it's six buyins in a set, it's a cause for misery. Tilt off a couple more (because, believe me, if we didn't tilt, we would soon become poker legends -- tilt is not just steaming when something doesn't go to plan; it's also being too lazy to study, refusing to consider advice, trying to "loosen up" because LAG is sexier, ignoring ICM because you just know he won't call) and boom, you are kicking the dog once more.

But why would any of it hurt us? We understand the maths; we are smart enough to know that the bad is more salient than the good, that we will catch up a few and win a buyin here and there, that the same luck affects all our rivals. We get all that, but still, a downswing is not something we accept as a normal part of our game, something that just represents the flow of the bigger set of games. We are all close to the margin, so we know, or should know, that our ups will have downs. We would know it even if it wasn't something we could figure out, because all our peers talk about them. Yet we struggle with downswings.

It is all justice. The impersonal choosings of the RNG affect everyone equally. Skill cannot protect you against them. But you can choose your spots and when you've chosen carefully and well, when you've displayed the real skill of an STT -- which the fish don't know, believing as they do that the game is about outplaying your opponents in a battle of wits, rather than cold maths and who knows it -- you feel you have earned your reward.

Which is not to look on in horror as the ace comes on the flop, is it?

69 games of shame

2009-03-30T16:39:00.003+10:00

So here's what happened to me today until I got sick of looking through my games:

I won.
HU TT < QJ
I had another second
AK < JJ
99 < AA
KT < QQ BvB
KK < AQ
AJ < A8, AT < 99 (yeah, same game; lost half my stack to one tard, the rest to another)
shoved 98 on a QJ7 flop BvB, hoping I had some FE. No such luck. Other guy had Q7
AK < AT BvB
A7 < 55
T3s < AQ BvB
I won
A7 < AQ
AK < 77
KT < QQ BvB (yes, twice)
TT < AA
KQ < KJ
TT < KK
TT < JJ
TT < QQ (I probably could live without ever seeing TT again after those three games in a row)
AK < AT, shoving over a limper. She called off 12BB and hit a T on the flop
AA < KK (I'm not making this up)
KK < A8 retard called a raise pre, then shoved over my bet on the flop when it came 8 high. He turned an A obv. This was for 2K chips. I had bet 1K into a 1.2K pot and he shoved for the other 1K. Like I didn't have a pair of 8s beat! WTF. To make it worse, this was the bubble.
I won
AJs < A9. He actually flopped two 9s.
AK < TT, QQ < A5
I tilted off a buyin by calling down when I should have folded, then got QQ cracked just for fun
QQ got rivered after a guy called big bets on the flop and turn
K8 < A3, had to call one shortstacked
QQ < A8s (considering openfolding QQ now)
AJ < A9 (why not call off your stack when you are against me? And yeah, that's twice A9 sucked out on me)
Came second AK < QJ

Okay, so a fair few of those I got my money in behind. But that happens and you can reasonably expect to win a few of them. Reasonably is the key word. And AK is not far behind TT, obv. But I didn't win a race all day. So it's just really fucking unlucky to keep running pairs into bigger pairs. I thought I might have a decent day when first game I ran AJ into AQ and sucked out. But no. That was basically it for me. I'm sparing you all the pairs that just got outflopped. The only time I had QQ hold up, I flopped a set. I also flopped a set of Ks but no A to go with them, so couldn't bust anyone with it.

The last straw for me was stacking off with QQ against Mr12inch. This fuckwit minraised 77, called a big reraise, then led out 80 into a 600 pot. So the flop is 765 with two spades, and he can have quite a range of hands. But what he has is me beaten.

No, wait, there was worse. Get this. Some guy calls a big raise, and the flop comes JJT. I have QQ. I bet, he calls. The turn is another J. Well, I am not behind much, am I? It's hardly feasible that he should have the case jack, because wtf was he doing calling with it pre? Sigh: obviously QJ is a fine calling hand. Another guy stacked me on an AJJ flop with it.

So that's today. Let's hope it goes better tomorrow, eh?

The long term is coming too slowly

2009-03-22T14:36:00.003+10:00

You know, wtf, maybe I actually am the unluckiest poker player on earth? I mean, someone has to be. I dunno. Here are three consecutive hands I played. I'm not shitting you. It was fold fold fold till these hands.

PokerStars Game #26223426882: Tournament #149813846, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2009/03/22 0:31:23 ET
Table '149813846 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: FR Vessant (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: utgfather (1410 in chips)
Seat 3: saintsfan20 (1760 in chips)
Seat 4: marios198212 (1200 in chips)
Seat 5: Surffog (1510 in chips)
Seat 6: mf115 (1450 in chips)
Seat 7: 572drht (1660 in chips)
Seat 8: Dodo222 (1420 in chips)
Seat 9: luvbizr (1590 in chips)
luvbizr: posts small blind 10
FR Vessant: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [5h 5d]
utgfather: folds
saintsfan20: folds
marios198212: calls 20
Surffog: calls 20
mf115: calls 20
572drht: folds
Dodo222: folds
luvbizr: calls 10
FR Vessant: checks
*** FLOP *** [Jh 5s Ad]

So, nice flop. Not only do I have a set but there's an ace out there. Very sweet.

luvbizr: checks
FR Vessant: bets 60

I bet to build the pot. It's not a huge bet but there aren't too many draws.

marios198212: folds
Surffog: calls 60

I'll tell you now that this fish had QJ. So okay he has middle pair and I want these retards to call with it, but maybe it might cross his mind I might have an ace?

mf115: folds
luvbizr: folds
*** TURN *** [Jh 5s Ad] [Jd]
FR Vessant: bets 140
Surffog: calls 140

His play here sucks big style. Why not raise?

*** RIVER *** [Jh 5s Ad Jd] [Qc]

And of course the cunt hits his four-outer.
FR Vessant: bets 320
Surffog: raises 970 to 1290 and is all-in

There's no way I can fold here. Of course I'm aware that he has QJ a lot here, and my heart sank when he shoved, but he can have other Js, AQ and a straight came in, so I can't fold.

FR Vessant: calls 960 and is all-in
So anyway, next hand.

PokerStars Game #26223527147: Tournament #149813980, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2009/03/22 0:36:08 ET
Table '149813980 1' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: mf115 (1370 in chips)
Seat 2: Krux100 (3050 in chips)
Seat 3: Totton (1860 in chips)
Seat 5: poopratmcgee (1190 in chips)
Seat 6: Jebus rulez (1520 in chips)
Seat 7: Jonesy1267 (1530 in chips)
Seat 8: Dodo222 (1510 in chips)
Seat 9: FR Vessant (1470 in chips)
poopratmcgee: posts small blind 10
Jebus rulez: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Tc Td]
Jonesy1267: folds
Dodo222: folds
FR Vessant: raises 40 to 60

Standard raise.

mf115: folds
Krux100: folds
Totton: folds
poopratmcgee: calls 50
Jebus rulez: folds
*** FLOP *** [7d Th Qd]

Nice!

poopratmcgee: checks
FR Vessant: bets 100

I build the pot, of course.

poopratmcgee: calls 100

I'll tell you right now he has 99. To call here, you have to be either a/ putting me on AK, which is dumb, because that's the only unpaired hand in a reasonable raising range that missed, b/ putting me on a smaller pair, which is at least more reasonable, but still, much less of nearly everyone's raising range, or c/ entirely unconcerned by my hand.

All three cases would only be considered viable by a complete drooler.

*** TURN *** [7d Th Qd] [Js]
poopratmcgee: checks
FR Vessant: bets 340
poopratmcgee: calls 340

So now I've bet the pot, and the guy thinks that his gutshot is worth calling with! So he wasn't case (a) because AK made a straight. He can't really be case (b) because you wouldn't expect 88 or 66 to bet into this (or pretty much any other) board. So he's probably (c). Not folding because he has a draw. He doesn't care (probably doesn't know) that it's a longshot.
*** RIVER *** [7d Th Qd Js] [8c]
poopratmcgee: checks

WHAT THE FUCK??!!

I am always checking behind on this river, unless I have AK. There is just no way I ever have a hand that will bet that doesn't beat his idiot straight.

FR Vessant: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
poopratmcgee: shows [9h 9d] (a straight, Eight to Queen)
FR Vessant: mucks hand
poopratmcgee collected 1020 from pot

So at least I lost the minimum.

In the next hand, the betting is a bit weird because my hand slipped on the slider and I misclicked a huge raise. Still, it just made what happened even more ridiculous.

PokerStars Game #26223584076: Tournament #149813641, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2009/03/22 0:38:50 ET
Table '149813641 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: ManPower47 (1360 in chips)
Seat 2: Castoro56 (1360 in chips)
Seat 3: Guillermo333 (890 in chips)
Seat 4: osx22 (2415 in chips)
Seat 5: Gadgetguy0 (1425 in chips)
Seat 6: millsteve (1415 in chips)
Seat 7: FR Vessant (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: zoolgreek (1275 in chips)
Seat 9: AKB_777 (1860 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 15
zoolgreek: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ah Kc]
AKB_777: folds
ManPower47: calls 30
Castoro56: folds
Guillermo333: folds
osx22: folds
Gadgetguy0: folds
millsteve: calls 30
FR Vessant: raises 180 to 210

Whoops. Was aiming for about 150. Never mind though.

zoolgreek: folds
ManPower47: calls 180
millsteve: calls 180

wat

It's amazing that two guys can have hands that they consider a/ good enough to call a big raise, but b/ not big enough to just shove in here. The second guy in particular might as well put up a sign saying "I suck".

*** FLOP *** [Kh 9c Ts]

Well, I hit top pair but I can't love this flop, because it hits a lot of the hands retards limp and call with hard, like KT/K9/QJ/TT/99. But it also hits KQ/KJ, which villains like to overplay, and hands that have draws that these clowns think they can bluff with, like AQ/AJ, and bits and pieces like JJ that are hard to fold on this flop.

FR Vessant: bets 360

So actually, my bet is a bit small because it's pretty drawy, but I guess I leave myself room to fold on really bad turns.

ManPower47: folds
millsteve: raises 845 to 1205 and is all-in

Like I say, these tards can have a lot of hands that are behind me here, but I did think straight away that I would be beat. I do think there's too much in his range that I'm still ahead of to fold this, but it's closer than most people think.

Anyway, obv. he had KT, and you're left once more thinking, can't these clowns just get what they deserve when they call big raises with hands that are very likely dominated? But against me, they seem to buck the odds just that bit too often.

FR Vessant: calls 845
FR Vessant said, "omg"

sssshhh. But you can understand, right? How can he be in the hand with KT? How can he limpcall such a big bet with it? It's really uberlucky to hit the flop like he did. I guess these people don't appreciate that but fuck, doesn't experience teach them anything? Well, one guesses that the many times this complete fuckwit misses when he does this, and they will be many, are made up for by this one lucky hit. Hey, he doubled, so it must have been a good play, right?

But it's not just that. If it was, well, you could live with it, somewhat, and I'd not be on a huge losing streak. It's the stuff like, I raise with TT, a retarded lag 3bets, and he's 3betting maybe 20%, but when I shove, he shows me AA; I shove BvB with 11BB, not too badly set in the tourney, with A4, and get snapcalled -- for 11BB! -- with A7. Well, okay, I expected that (and it was still a shove), but it sucked that the board ran out without splitting. And it's stuff like shoving A5 with 1K chips at t150, the BB snaps you with QJ and hits his Q. You shove over a BvB raise from a guy who plays far too many hands with AK, and he shows KK.

This is just in eight games! This is not a long session. No tilt, no dodgy plays. Just shit.

So I'm quitting blogging poker, because I'm pretty close to quitting playing it. I'm just not temperamentally suited to it. I am far better at poker than the people I'm playing but I can't win. That happens in poker, and you know that in the long term, your edge will tell, but the long term just doesn't come quickly enough when you are suffering a few games at a time.

Time to whine

2009-03-18T13:50:00.003+10:00

So I played a few games today after a decent break. All multitable SNGs, to try something different. And ran like shit. I had QQ cracked by AA, JJ by A5 and every BvB shove that got called, I was dominated. This took the cake though.

Poker Stars $10+$1 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t100/t200 Blinds - 5 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter
CO: t2130 M = 7.10
BTN: t1740 M = 5.80
SB: t5210 M = 17.37
Hero (BB): t3250 M = 10.83
UTG: t6750 M = 22.50

Pre Flop: (t300) Hero is BB with A A

woot

1 fold, CO raises to t600, 2 folds, Hero calls t400

Villain is a laggy idiot who will at least cbet on the flop but may not call a reraise, so I flat and plan to get it in on the flop.

Flop: (t1300) 9 T A (2 players)

That's obviously a supergood flop for me.

Hero checks, CO bets t800, Hero raises to t1600, CO calls t730 all in

So we get it in and he has As6s. The only way he can beat me is the runner runner flush. That's about a 20/1 shot. I was probably right about his hand too. He would likely not have called a repop pre. So I have skilfully got all my chips in so far ahead he can barely see me in the distance. Now for my reward...

Turn: (t4360) K (2 players - 1 is all in)

Runner.

River: (t4360) 5 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Runner.

I mean, wtf. All poker players think they're unlucky, but really. This happens to me all the time, and I don't really play that much, so it's not the usual ups and downs of a grinder. I mean, you get AA cracked now and then. That's poker. But twice in five games, the only two times you picked it up?

Cue boots to tell me that if I was in harmony with the cosmic order it would have come diamonds.

So anyway, I wasn't knocked out right there, and had a few chips left. I doubled when a fishtard limped in the small blind and I shoved over. She snapped me off with AQ and my 95 made two pair. Later, I shoved over another limp and she folded. The third time, I had K5s, which is a decent hand. And she snapped me again. With A5. I mean, ffs. The fish doesn't have the sense to shove it, fair enough, but do I have to be dominated? Well, I guess I do; otherwise, my poker career wouldn't be the long, soul-destroying humbling that it is.

Analyse this

2009-02-01T17:43:00.003+10:00

So a lot of players like to use Jukofyork's all-in luck analyser (it's in that thread somewhere), but I don't think much of it, because the luck it analyses is only a small part of how you run.

I find it fun to consider that if you pick up KK on the button, shove and get called by AA, you are more unlucky than he is if you suck out on him. Obv. running hot and cold can be greatly affected by your allins, but running below expectation for big hands is huge. This is not just a question of whether you get enough big hands, but also whether you run them into bigger hands, whether you get them walked in the big blind, whether they get paid off, cracked or whatever.

I suppose it's a comfort to confirm that they keep sucking out on you, but I think that a big danger is that you can think your play is solid, and it's only that that's making you lose or run worse than you hope to, when the truth is that you're not playing well at all.

About "equal skill" in ICM and push/fold analysis

2009-02-01T11:18:00.003+10:00

In Stoxpoker's forum, Collin Moshman noted the contradiction between using ICM, which assumes equal skill, to analyse shoves, and assigning different ranges (implying unequal skill) to callers. This is what I have to say about it. I think it's gold, and if pursued, could lead to a new way to analyse the endgame in STTs:

I think the "contradiction" is simply born out of the lazy usage of "ICM" when we mean "shove analysis". You aren't asking the ICM to measure skill differences by changing ranges. You are asking it to measure the value of the outcomes of changing ranges. There's a difference.

It is interesting though that our shove analysis is flawed in exactly the way you suggest. We don't assume our villains are equally skilled (would be pushing Nash if we did and were ourselves perfect), but we allow the assumption of equal skill in evaluating outcomes. You can (and probably should) recast this idea as the suggestion that chips will be randomly traded among stacks, which is true in the long run with equal skill.

Two things strike me when you think about that. One, we need to find a way to evaluate our stack that more closely models our outcomes. It should be noted though that when a 2p2 analysed outcomes empirically, he found they closely approximated ICM for medium stacks, overvalued short ones considerably and undervalued large ones a little. AFAIK, he mostly analysed regulars though, and I'm not convinced that turbos would show the same correspondence, and super turbos even less so.

There is definitely a good case for an analysis of outcomes that distinguishes between "skilled" and "less skilled" players. It wouldn't be difficult to do, but gathering enough HHs is hard. I think the 2p2 project had something like 50K HHs. You'd need more for solid results though. You'd also be able to resolve for once and for all the issue whether it's better to gamble to double up early.

Two, most of us look over our games and evaluate our shoves by measuring whether they were +EV assuming equal skill (or more accurately, by assuming that all competitors will push/fold correctly, or less strictly make mistakes that have the same value as ours, for the remainder of the game, making an assumption of random trading of chips correct), and only consider other factors when our shoves were -EV, and this analysis will tend to make us push thin edges. However, not only is this analysis bad, because the other factors are often much more important, but even in itself, it can't be right to make certainties out of really thin decisions. At higher stakes, this analysis will obv. more often be accurate, but at the low stakes most of us play, it's wrong.

(As a side note, we should be clear too that it's wrong even if we are against players who we consider to be as good as us, simply because ICM assumes that everyone will make perfect push/fold decisions (or that everyone's mistakes will have the same value), not that they all have the same skill, and for most of us, even if our push/fold game is good, we are not perfect! Each of us will make errors in different spots (with different values), so even if our relative skill is the same, we won't play exactly the same.)

Most of us don't have much idea what really makes a shove good or bad, so we don't know how wrong, and I don't know of any analysis, or discussion that has convincingly settled this. When I look at players who have very good results, the sippin_crisses of this world, I tend to feel that their situational analysis is stronger than most, not that they are taking more +EV spots as measured by ICM. sippin is a good example of a player who has a broader approach, because he's always looking to improve his whole game, not just to perfect his understanding of ICM.

I think that in the final analysis, ICM analysis is probably useful for avoiding gross errors, where differences in "skill" (understood as differences in the value of mistakes) are almost certainly outweighed by the gross badness of the decision, and that a general rule of thumb like "shove every time you can so long as you are not making a gross error" works as well as any stricter ICM-based measure. If you understand "equal skill" as meaning "making mistakes of the same value", then it's clear how this leads to making money in the long run.

January results and February goal

2009-01-31T09:32:00.003+10:00

So another month passes, and it's the same story: nothing like enough volume, but pretty successful for what I did.

I played 132 $10ers at 13.4%, which is a bit below expectation imo, but I didn't run very well at the end of the month. I'm also still not winning my fair share, so I need to look at my ITM play. I think I'm a bit tight with four and five players, so that I am always way too shortstacked ITM. I also mixed in ten $20ers at 22.7%. That's obviously a bit on the hot side, but they don't seem much tougher than the $10ers, and I'll be moving up permanently soon. I played 40 $16s at 3.4%. I really need a good run a the 16s. A couple of hundred games of runhot and I'll break 0 and start to feel good about them. I confess to using Juk's luck analyser, which shows that I'm running pretty badly, and I feel the cards have not broken for me at all: I haven't had my expectation of big cards, and what Juk doesn't show is the bad luck of having AQ on the button and running it into BB's AK, or getting outpaired preflop.

I also played 19 $10.40 double or nothings, which I don't count as STTs. I cashed in 12. I played 16 of them in one set, and it wasn't too hard. That's probably not sustainable, unfortunately. If it was, I'd be a professsional double or nothing player.

I did put in some work with Wiz. Maybe a bit short of what I wanted, but it was helpful. My goal for next month is to do three hours of poker activity a day, mostly study. I won't set a volume goal because that will come. I plan to study a lot now and then shift the balance when I feel I have acquired the skills I need. And I mean real study. Fucking about on the web won't count.

Thinking about Gigabet

2009-01-17T17:01:00.003+10:00

Thinking it through, I think Gigabet's theory is correct, and experience leads any thinking player to similar ideas.

What does it mean, practically? Among other things, if you have a 1.3K stack at t150, BB has 1800 and the median is about 1.2K, you can and should pass some +EV spots, but if his stack is 800, you can and should take some -EV spots.

This is probably obvious to anyone who gets it, and anyone who doesn't will think it's totally wrong. But I think that, at least in games where players are reasonably unwilling to gamble it up, it's very true.

Some hands

2009-01-03T17:14:00.002+10:00

Just for my own enjoyment, I kept a few hands from the past few days. I'm going to post them so that when I look back in a few years, I'll remember how easily pleased I was.

I think villain in this hand had been quite aggro, although we hadn't played many hands. My decision to flat with AK is a bit questionable but I prefer just to call if a/ I'm against someone who seems to have a tight raising range, b/ it's still very early so it will be hard to get it all in, and c/ I am out of position. Note that his bet is quite big. Vs a standard raise, I can pop it up to 180 and the pot is still small enough to get away from easily.

Poker Stars $10+$1 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t10/t20 Blinds - 9 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: t1500

Hero (SB): t1500

BB: t1500

UTG: t1500

UTG+1: t1500

UTG+2: t1500

MP1: t1500

MP2: t1500

CO: t1500

Pre Flop: (t30) Hero is SB with A K

2 folds, UTG+2 calls t20, 1 fold, MP2 raises to t120, 2 folds, Hero calls t110

So I flat here with AK for the reasons I gave. I don't know whether this is a good or a bad play, but the downside of repopping should be apparent. Say I make it 350 to go. The pot will be 700ish and I'll miss the flop 2/3 times. I then have to cbet and if he calls or raises, I'm down a lot of chips and the pot's looking too big to fold, yet I won't be getting a good price when I'm behind.

Of course, the 1/3 time I hit, I wish I had threebet, because now I can win a bigger pot, and the times he has AQ and we flop it A high, it will be easy to get it in.

So I prefer to keep the risk down to the minimum, although I accept that I will gain less reward by doing that.

1 fold, UTG+2 calls t100

There is no hand, none whatsoever, that can justify this play. You basically shouldn't ever limp/call for 6BB at this level. If UTG+2 had a big hand, AA or KK, he should now reraise. Sure, we are liable to believe he has a big hand and we might then fold, but that's okay. He gets to take down the pot risk free. And it's perfectly possible we'll have hands we're prouder of, or are stupid, and will get it in with him.

But probably this guy has some shit like KJ or AT that he should have folded in the first place.

Flop: (t380) 6 9 5 (3 players)

That's the definition of a nothing flop. There are a couple of draws out there, but it mostly missed even a LAG's raising range.

Hero checks, UTG+2 checks, MP2 bets t120

That's a rather odd bet. It's less than 1/3 of the pot. It tells me he doesn't have anything. Why?

MP2 made a decent raise preflop and got called in two places. The likeliest calling hands for that raise are pocket pairs and broadway hands. Not everyone in a $10 will fold KQ on this flop for 1/2 of the pot, and almost no one will fold a hand like 77.

See what I'm saying? If you don't expect folds for 1/2 the pot, why are you betting 1/3 the pot with your JJ or A9 or whatever hand you're repping here? He's not betting much, so if he has a value hand, I'd expect him to bet more. This looks to me like what I'd call a "please fold" bet. He has the button, and when it's checked to him, bets like he's supposed to.

Also, and I think this was an important factor for me, he raised to 6x pre. That's not really a raise you want or expect to be called. Many bad players bet like this. If he raises to 3x, which is a bit small, his range is slightly weighted to stronger hands. Raising too much weights it to weaker ones. You know the idea, because at some point in your poker career, you will have done the same. You pick up JJ UTG and raise it 5x, because you don't really want callers because we all hate hooks, right? It's a bad idea but it's very common.

Usually, I play this weakly and fold, but taking my read and the 4/1 odds, I decide to peel.

Hero calls t120, UTG+2 folds

Turn: (t620) 9 (2 players)

This card doesn't change anything. I am still in the same place as I was on the flop.

Hero checks, MP2 bets t200

Again, 1/3 of the pot. I don't think he has a 9 for a couple of reasons. First, I think he bets a 9 harder on the flop, because it's pretty vulnerable but he'd want to get it in with a hand like mine, should I think I can push him off it. Second, there aren't many 9s in his raising range: if we give him A9/K9/T9s and 99, he can't have it very often -- I cut the combos of A9 and K9, 99 would require all four 9s to be in play, and T9s is only likely to be in his raising range if he plays a lot of cash and has forgotten that we're only 75BB deep or doesn't understand cash concepts very well. Hands like Q9/J9 aren't impossible but you can't give them much weight in an unknown's range.

I also don't think he has an overpair. If he did, why would he bet so small against a willing caller? It is possible he's "milking" AA here, as some players do, but more aggro types will tend to push better hands hard, because they are at least aware that they must use their image to get value from big hands. It's usually the passive types who minbet their sets and flopped flushes at you.

It's important to note that I'm getting 4/1 here again. I'm about 6.7/1 to hit a pair, which may or may not be good. So I'm not calling with the odds here. I'm calling because I think he is FOS often and I am taking the odds for the times he isn't. I'd say that I misread him no more than half the time, probably less.

Hero calls t200

River: (t1020) 4 (2 players)

That's a slightly scary river, but probably more for him than for me, because many players will call all the way with the flush draw. I'm not sure how I would have reacted to a bet. If he'd bet like 300, hmmm, that would have been really tough.

Hero checks, MP2 checks

But he didn't bet. Whatever he believed I had, he decided I wouldn't fold it.

Final Pot: t1020

Hero shows A K (a pair of Nines)

MP2 mucks K J

And I was right that he didn't have much. His raise preflop is obviously a mistake. KJ is a trash hand in the early levels of an STT, and I think you should always fold it in his position (and just about any other -- I don't play KJ even from the button at t20). The blinds aren't worth stealing, even with a limp sweetening the pot. I don't mind that he cbets the flop, but he should have bet more. If he had, I would have folded. Double-barrelling is not a bad idea most of the time, although probably not on that board, and definitely not so little. Say I have 77. Why would I fold on the turn for a bet not much bigger than the one you put in on the flop? My hand hasn't become any worse on the turn.

***

This is from later in the same game. I think I saved it because it illustrates a couple of points for me and because I wasn't sure about the river. I think my play is right for the reasons I give, but I'm not at all certain.

Poker Stars $10+$1 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t25/t50 Blinds - 6 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: t5520

Hero (BB): t2165

UTG: t2440

MP: t1665

CO: t1000

BTN: t710

Pre Flop: (t75) Hero is BB with 7 7

Nice hand to have in the BB.

UTG calls t50

This guy is terrible. I can't remember his stats exactly but he's running something like 30/10. He will bluff in all the wrong places, slowplays when he's strong, calls far too light. I've actually played him a couple of times, and he's been LOL bad each time.

3 folds, SB calls t25

But compared with this guy, he's a genius. If I tell you that in this spot, his range would be ATC, you get the idea. He's the kind of guy they invented the word "fish" for: constantly limping, calling down with any piece and sometimes no piece at all, no idea of his hand strength and no concept of relativity with others'.

Hero checks

In many types of game, you could raise here. My hand is likely to be best. Against their ranges, it's in great shape. However, I'm relatively unlikely to make them both fold, and will have to cbet OOP, which is not going to be fun on a lot of boards. So I'd rather take a passive line and see what happens.

Flop: (t150) 8 8 6 (3 players)

Well, I'm very likely ahead on this board. However, UTG can easily have 98/87 or even T8/86, and SB can have anything. But I'm going to take some convincing to fold here. On a board with a paired top pair, a pair one notch below TP is pretty much the nuts imo.

SB checks, Hero checks, UTG bets t100

Well, that's not going to convince me.

SB folds, Hero calls t100

So I can be behind here, but let's face it, he can have a very wide range of hands and I beat most of it. He has the button and it was checked to him, so he could conceivably -- more than conceivably, very likely -- bet his entire range. he legitimate things he can have include 97, a 6, a pocket pair (although not likely a bigger one than mine because I can't see him limping 99+ too often and excluding flopped quads from a guy's range is not too risky in poker).

Turn: (t350) K (2 players)

That's not a great card for me because it hits some of his range. He has a few kings in there. AK/KQ he probably raises, but KJ/KT/K9 are all possible. I'm not horribly afraid, and in an MTT would not fold to a bet very often, but I am probably going to have to fold here if he puts in a big bet. If he bets 200 or so, I will likely call though.

Hero checks, UTG checks

Well, I'm pretty much sure to be ahead here. He's not liable to be good enough at thinking about poker to induce a bluff here.

Which would not be a terrible idea, and here's why. If he's been at all observant, he'll have noticed that I'm quite tight. I've rarely continued after the flop, particularly when in the blinds. So my range is quite narrow here: I probably have some sort of pair, possibly a draw and maybe a few overcards (but not many -- actually none, because I would routinely have folded them on that flop).

So if he has a king, and bets the turn, I'm folding most of that. I am not all that likely to call with a small pair unless he bets on the small side. But when he checks, I'm thinking that my pair is certainly ahead, and I am quite likely to bet for value on the river. Worst case, I check and call a bet there, so he makes some value from his king. I'm also likely to fold draws to a bet here, and might bluff with them on the river.

So checking a king behind could be a decent play here. I think that recognising this spot has been good for me, because I should try this approachin spots like this where I have cbet with AK, been called, then hit the K, where I usually bet for value, but could maybe more profitably check and then get the value on the river. The draws are reasonably unlikely on this board, so checking top pair behind is not overly risky, and you definitely don't get as many calls as you'd like if you just fire it into them.

River: (t350) A (2 players)

Suddenly, my plan to vbet the river has gone out of the window. It's not that I'm scared of the ace, but that he will be.

At the river, he has, I think, mostly three types of hands:
1. Aces that just got lucky
2. Draws that missed
3. Pairs worse than mine

If I bet, (1) is calling or raising, (2) just folds, and (3), fearing that I have an ace, will largely fold.

If I check, (1) is betting of course, but it's possible that (2) and (3) might bluff.

But I'm not sure. Whether to vbet here depends on how many pairs you think he has and how often you think he calls.

Hero checks, UTG checks

Final Pot: t350

Hero shows 7 7 (two pair, Eights and Sevens)

UTG mucks 5 6

Does he call with that if I bet the river, say, 150? I'm not sure. I don't think so because he has to ask himself what I can have on the river that I called the flop with. If I was a looser player, it's vaguely possible I could have QJ/QT and now I'm bluffing; or I could have 44 or something.

This guy might call though. He was very bad, and he has a pair. So I don't know.

***

This hand I had no idea and still don't. Villain is one of those players who is aggro in about the right measure but plays way too many hands (about 20/15, 19/13 or something like that). We've played a few times so I think he knows I'm tight.

Poker Stars $10+$1 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t25/t50 Blinds - 7 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: t1755

Hero (BB): t1565

UTG: t1675

UTG+1: t2840

MP: t1355

CO: t1330

BTN: t2980

Pre Flop: (t75) Hero is BB with T A

5 folds, SB raises to t150

I think he has a wideish range here, but I couldn't be specific. I don't recall seeing this move before. I'd expect him to raise with most broadways, most pairs, most aces though.

So I'm ahead of his range and I think he thinks I am tight and he expects me to fold mostly.

I'm not at all sure what my best play is here. I hate to fold because my hand very much figures to be best, but calling doesn't make much appeal, although I will have position, because I will be folding the best hand a lot when he cbets, and I can be sure he will. If the blinds were higher, I'd shove over without worrying too much about it, but we're a bit too deep for that. In this spot, I think he will fold everything I beat to a shove, and call with everything I'm losing to. Well, there's a lot more of the former than the latter, so maybe shoving was better than what I chose to do, and maybe not.

OTOH, I'm repping a hand at least as strong as I have by repopping him. Now he should still fold everything I beat and should only call/shove the hands that beat me. He's not a complete idiot. I can't imagine he would think A9 is good here when I repop him.

Hero raises to t400

So I repop him...

SB raises to t1755 all in

Yuk.

1 fold

I really don't think I'm ahead of his 4bet range at all. I suspect I ran into a very strong hand. I don't know how it plays out if he just calls and I whiff the flop. Say it goes check-check on the flop, does he bet his whole range on the turn? Meh.

I'll have to think more about it. I'm sure that if I can think my way through this sort of hand, I will be a stronger player, but I'm not at all sure what to think about it.

Stop at eight

2009-01-03T14:28:00.002+10:00

So maybe mass-multitabling the 10ers isn't working for me? I played a set of four while doing the dishwashing for 63%, then 26 in a set of 17 and five replacements, and lost a hundred bucks. Since then I've eighttabled three sets and played a couple while working for 40%.

It seems pretty incredible that I should coincidentally run hot when I play fewer tables and cold when I play more, but I think that's what happened. Still, I think I'll stick to eight-tabling for now, and add extras more slowly.

You called with what though? redux

2009-01-03T11:42:00.002+10:00

How bad are the players in a Saturday night 4/180?

This bad. No further comment is needed:

Poker Stars $4.00+$0.40 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t15/t30 Blinds - 9 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: t215

BB: t6485

UTG: t4135

UTG+1: t1155

Hero (UTG+2): t1140

MP1: t4095

MP2: t9270

CO: t1175

BTN: t2615

Pre Flop: (t45) Hero is UTG+2 with A Q

UTG calls t30, 1 fold, Hero raises to t120, 4 folds, SB raises to t215 all in, 1 fold, UTG calls t185, Hero raises to t1140 all in, UTG calls t925

Flop: (t2525) T 6 J (3 players - 2 are all in)

Turn: (t2525) 3 (3 players - 2 are all in)

River: (t2525) 2 (3 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: t2525

SB shows J 6 (two pair, Jacks and Sixes)

UTG shows 7 T (a pair of Tens)

Hero shows A Q (high card Ace)

UTG wins t1850

SB wins t675

December results

2008-12-31T19:34:00.002+10:00

No matter how often I remind myself that playing low volume means you don't get to be excited by good results or upset by bad ones, I still get excited by good results and upset by bad ones. It was a mixed month, as far as that goes. I did okay at the $10 regulars, but I'm not sure whether I am successfully multitabling them (I had positive ROI 20-tabling but not so much that I was happy with it: but I only did maybe five sessions, which is far too few to draw conclusions).

So I played 220 11s at 13.1%, 12 12s at -100% (yes, that means I lost every buyin!), 8 16s at 5.5% (all the fun of STTs in two sets of four: ran hot for four, out of the money in the other four), 9 22s at -36% (I mixed a few in but ran like shit--I think I am able to beat them but I don't feel ready to move up to them permanently). I think I was happier with the notion of playing a decent sample at each level before moving up. I played 1K $5s, and I think I should play at least 1K $10s too (I'm somewhere around 800), and maybe the full 1K at the 6.5s

So all in all I played 249 at 3.7%. If I hadn't played at all on Tilt, I would have had a fine month--I have now lost 31 of my last 33 buyins there. I don't think I'm playing particularly well, and although I ran quite well in the first half of the month, I felt like I wasn't getting the run of it in the second half. It's hard to know though. Maybe playing too many tables of the $10s is enough to destroy my ROI? It doesn't feel like that was it, so I think I'll keep doing it, and reevaluate at the end of January maybe.

Let's gamboooooooool

2008-12-30T14:32:00.002+10:00

Having said that, what about this?

Poker Stars $10+$1 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t100/t200 Blinds - 3 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: t5435

BB: t1755

Hero (BTN): t6310

Pre Flop: (t300) Hero is BTN with T T

Hero raises to t500

Standard raise.

SB raises to t1600

I'm unhappy about that obviously, but I pause and do not turbofold. I consider shoving but this is why I did what I did:

First, his hand selection has been off, but he's got it in when he's been very strong. I'd expect hands that were actually better than mine to get it in straight away. With AA/KK, this kind of player tends to flat to trap you or raise small, not to lose you. So I don't think he has a big pair here.

Second, I'm flipping with the range I expect him to have. He probably flats smaller pairs, so I think he has AJ-AK a lot.

So I could shove, but there's a lot at stake. It seems like a good idea in this spot to flatcall, and then play undercard flops and those without aces fast for the most part.

1 fold, Hero calls t1100

So I call.

Flop: (t3400) 2 T K (2 players)

Which looks like a genius play when I hit my set. But tbh, I'd be content with a K92 flop here, and would play it the same the way the action goes.

SB bets t1000, Hero raises to t4710 all in, SB calls t2835 all in

Easy shove for me. Unbelievably, this clown has AJs. I suppose he could argue that he has a thin call vs top pair, with 8 outs, but if I have top pair, I have to be taking some of his outs.

So it's just the usual terrible, unthinking stuff.

Turn: (t11070) Q (2 players - 2 are all in)

And yet again, I go down to a 5/1 shot.

waaaat and goals

2008-12-30T13:37:00.002+10:00

Here's my month in one hand. I've built a decent stack, played really well and now this:

Poker Stars $10+$1 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t75/t150 Blinds - 4 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: t5047

CO: t1410

BTN: t3788

Hero (SB): t3255

Pre Flop: (t225) Hero is SB with A A

1 fold, BTN calls t150

This guy has been very fishy all tourney, playing about 30% of his hands, rarely raising.

He should not limp anything here, but obviously if these fools never did anything wrong, we'd have no hope of making money.

Not that we have much hope anyway, it seems.

Hero raises to t600

A standard raise. I expect him to call, but with AA, I don't really want a fold.

1 fold, BTN calls t450

I'll tell you right now that his hand is 55. He is not getting even close to the odds he needs to call here, and should fold. Not calling raises with pairs is one of the "skills" you need to acquire to win this sort of poker.

Flop: (t1350) 2 3 7 (2 players)

Hero bets t750, BTN calls t750

I suppose he might think I have AK here and his pair is good but he should still fold. Even if your pair is good here, it's likely you'll be overtaken. Looking back, you might consider that it would have been better to bet more, so that I didn't look like I was cbetting. But I don't want to fold out 55! He's worse than 20/1 to improve on the turn, and I am quite happy at this point because I can shove the turn and hopefully get paid. If he then calls, he will be 20/1 to hit the river.

Turn: (t2850) 5 (2 players)

But that's the story of my month.

This shit happens. Poker involves up and downs. This, I suppose, is why the mental game is so important. I tend to think I'm decent when I'm winning and terrible when I'm losing. My overall results are okay: a lot of people would be very content with them. But they don't inspire confidence.

So my overall goal for 2009 is going to have to be to chill out, to make the amount of work I do and games I play match the desire I have to succeed. And I will have to trust that I am able to achieve that success. I should be. I'm not an idiot, and the pond is full of people who are.

Part of that has to be to be happier about what I do well, so I'm going to post more about that. I mean, I did well in this hand. It's how it should be played. I'm confident of that. I could have bet more on the flop to make a flush draw pay but I didn't offer a good price to anything he could realistically hold. So meh. But bad beats are not really instructive, except in case you need reminding that poker is a cruel game.

So my goal is to write about the good things about poker. There are some!

FuckTilt.

2008-12-28T21:28:00.003+10:00

I fucking hate Full Tilt. They totally have the doomswitch on me. I fucking hate Omaha too.

Check this out:

Full Tilt Poker Game #9726699027: $5 + $0.50 Tournament (73953868), Table 6 - 15/30 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 6:24:43 ET - 2008/12/28
Seat 1: mishmear1 (2,385)
Seat 2: Highlaender (4,050)
Seat 3: JacqueTheRipper (2,910)
Seat 4: basatagirl (2,910)
Seat 5: todds18p (1,140)
Seat 6: Buttonraiser (2,670)
Seat 7: dileris69 (3,795)
Seat 8: rufuslynx (3,000)
Seat 9: Laurie960 (2,940)
Laurie960 posts the small blind of 15
mishmear1 posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [2s Ah Ad Qs]
Highlaender folds
JacqueTheRipper folds
basatagirl raises to 90

I have a strongish hand, although it's easy to overplay AAxx in Omaha.

todds18p has 15 seconds left to act
todds18p calls 90
Buttonraiser has 15 seconds left to act
Buttonraiser folds
dileris69 folds
Laurie960 calls 75
mishmear1 folds
*** FLOP *** [8h Js As]

That's a great flop for me. I have a set of aces, and the second nut flush draw.

Laurie960 checks
basatagirl bets 150

I don't make a huge bet. I don't really want folds here. There are straight draws out there, but they are paying too much on this board.

todds18p calls 150
Laurie960 calls 150
*** TURN *** [8h Js As] [Tc]
Laurie960 bets 750

So I figure this fish has hit a straight of some sort. But they can also have two pair, or a set of jacks. I have a ton of outs: 1 ace for quads, 3 Ts, 3 Js, 3 8s, 7 spades. Possibly just calling is better, but I'm pretty unlikely to fold the river, so meh.

basatagirl raises to 2,670, and is all in

So I shove and hope for the best.

todds18p folds
Laurie960 calls 1,920
basatagirl shows [2s Ah Ad Qs]
Laurie960 shows [Ks 7h Jc Qh]

WTF. This retard called preflop with a trash hand and called on the flop with a gutshot. So horrible. But of course he hit it.

*** RIVER *** [8h Js As Tc] [6d]

I miss everything, of course.

January goal

2008-12-24T14:57:00.003+10:00

I am having the mother of torrid times on Tilt. I have cashed twice out of my last 32 games. So that sucks.

Meanwhile, I'm not sure about multitabling the 10ers. I'm winning but not much. I think I've just been running bad, but I can't be sure. I expect lower ROI at the

So I'm going to set goals for January and see how I go. 500 games at the 10 regulars, 20-24 tabling, 30 hours of SNG Wizard. Any more than that will be a bonus. I won't look at my results until the month is over. That should settle whether I can mass-multitable the 10ers. If I'm finding it easy enough, I'll step it up to 30 for February, and see what that brings.

I don't set monetary goals because I can't control that. I can set volume goals and just do my best. I'd like to run at 12% but who wouldn't?

bleh

2008-12-21T11:52:00.003+10:00

Whenever I get excited about poker, I get bitten by a downswing. It's uncanny. If I have a good couple of days, I don't just have a moderate couple to follow. I get absolutely crushed. So I was enjoying multitabling the 10s, and then I lose 20 BIs. Today, in a set of 17, I lost 80 bucks, seven BIs.

I was going to post the bad beats but what's the point? I shove over limpaholics with AJ and run into big pairs; I shove BvB and get caught by monsters; I have KK cracked when I call a shove on a T63 flop and he has A6 -- obv. he scores his ace; I have QQ cracked when I raise pre, get called by T9 and the flop comes TTx; every time I shove a pair, and I'm not kidding, every single time, I run into a bigger one.

It just sucks. I don't think I'm playing badly. I know STTs have downswings and I know that more volume is the answer. But when you don't play much, it's really hard to bear the variance, and it really makes you question whether you have any clue at all.

Well, can't give up. Best do another set and hope to have better things to say in 90 minutes.

***

Well, it didn't get much better. I won $40 back without ever winning a race, and somehow, every time I got it in with a pair, running into a bigger pair.

I don't think I'm playing badly, and I certainly don't think the games were tough. I don't think it hurts much to multitable. I probably am going to lose a few points of ROI, but I think the decisionmaking is straightforward enough in most games that it won't hurt all that much. I played 24 tables without too much stress, bar one time where I sat out on six tables or so and my program kept stealing focus to sit me in.

But what's hurting the ROI is having my big hands cracked. The style I play depends on making value with AA-QQ, but if every time you get it in with AA, some guy hits his set, and every time you get in with KK, you run into AA or an A hits on the flop, that's going to hurt. It doesn't help to keep having AK < AJ/QJ/QT/T9 and losing races or being really badly outflopped (it's a real killer to have AK vs 66 on a K63 flop because you're never getting away from it, and I think it's worse when you're threehanded vs a total fish and have AQ on a A64 flop when he has A4).

The problem for me now is, I can't see a way forward. I think I should keep on multitabling the 10 regulars, until I've played at least 1K of them, and then have a look at it. I'm actually running well at them this month (lower than my overall ROI in them but better than the lowest I'd hope for), which is more than can be said for other games (0 for 12 in Tilt 12s, and losing a bit at 20s (can't get a pair to hold up in them either)). But it's not progressive for me. I'm a bit scared to move up to the 20s, although I think I should beat them, because almost every time I move up, I get crushed at the new level. You can keep telling yourself it's just variance, but it does seem I'm not good enough to play higher than I do now.

Mind you, looking at my record this month, it does stand out that when I'm in the money, I'm running 8.5%/17.5%/17.5%. I'm not sure why that is but I haven't had any more luck in the money than I have out of it. This really does eat into your ROI, because 43% ITM is okay, but only winning 8.5% of the time is terrible. It's not even par!

So I suppose I can put some down to running bad, and look at my play threehanded to try to see whether I'm pissing away money there. Also, pushing pairs into bigger pairs is something I need to look at. It might be that I'm pushing too wide, or it might just be one of those things. I also need more work on ICM because I don't think I am doing much right at push/fold at all.

An easier pair of hooks

2008-12-16T13:22:00.004+10:00

A similar but much easier spot. Again I have JJ.

Poker Stars $20+$2 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t25/t50 Blinds - 9 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: t1945

UTG+1: t1130

UTG+2: t3275

MP1: t1125

MP2: t2200

CO: t755

BTN: t745

Hero (SB): t1315

BB: t1010

Pre Flop: (t75) Hero is SB with J J

UTG raises to t200

This is quite a big bet, but often players will 4x the weaker end of their range UTG. So I don't necessarily expect to see a big hand here.

5 folds, BTN raises to t745 all in

This guy is superbad. He doesn't have to have a decent hand here. He lost a fair few chips raising 75 pre and then betting it when he hit bottom pair on the flop. So I'm obviously wanting to play with him. I doubt UTG will call unless he actually does have a monster, but as usual, he has more unpaired than paired hands in his range, and he might well share outs with the other guy.

Hero raises to t1315 all in, 2 folds

He has KQ, which is probably at the top end of his range. I really wouldn't have been
at all surprised to see this idiot show K2.

Flop: (t1740) Q T 7 (2 players - 2 are all in)

Well, that's unfortunate, but I'm happy with the play. You can't help the suckouts but you can help whether you get your money in good.

Turn: (t1740) T (2 players - 2 are all in)

River: (t1740) 6 (2 players - 2 are all in)

***

Later in the tourney I make a mistake though that costs me my equity.

Poker Stars $20+$2 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t50/t100 Blinds - 8 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: t1595

UTG: t4080

UTG+1: t1450

MP1: t2700

MP2: t680

CO: t1590

Hero (BTN): t720

SB: t685

Pre Flop: (t150) Hero is BTN with Q A

I'd obviously like to get it in with a hand this strong.

UTG raises to t450

This guy is playing 55/0 over whatever it is, 35 hands. He has a big stack but I should fold. These guys really don't raise with anything AQ is ahead of.

But I tilted and refused to fold my strong hand. It's a bad leak in my game, which luckily I do not have the opportunity to indulge too often. But one of the reasons I win at STTs is that I am not married to big hands, and can get away when I'm clearly beaten. Except on the odd occasion that the tilt takes over and makes me say fuck it.

4 folds, Hero raises to t720 all in, 2 folds, UTG calls t270

He has KK of course, and IGH.

Dunno, dunno, OH YEAH!

2008-12-16T12:11:00.002+10:00

Here's a moderately interesting spot.

Poker Stars $10+$1 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t50/t100 Blinds - 8 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG+1: t1345

MP1: t1635

MP2: t3540

Hero (CO): t1320

BTN: t2040

SB: t820

BB: t1770

UTG: t1030

Pre Flop: (t150) Hero is CO with J J

1 fold, UTG+1 raises to t200,

This guy has played very tight and is in EP. But the minraise is ultra fishy. So I'm not really sure what to do. I'm not sure that I'm ahead here, given how tight he is, but obv. even a tight raiser has more unpaired cards in his range than paired. I figure I will call and if the flop doesn't seem to have hit him, get it in there.

2 folds, Hero calls t200

So I flatcall. I would only rarely do this. This kind of spot really is push/fold, but I just felt I would rather not give up the value of my hand by folding, but I'd be happier to get it in on a raggy board than preflop. This doesn't mean I'd fold on all boards with overcards. I'd definitely need to evaluate it on the flop.

1 fold, SB raises to t820 all in

But this changes things! I don't necessarily put the small blind on a particularly tight range, but now I will have my decision made for me by the first raiser. If he shoves, I pretty much have to fold imo, but if he folds, I call, and if he calls, I will then shove, figuring my hand is best and getting great overlay in a multiway pot.

1 fold, UTG+1 calls t620, Hero raises to t1320 all in

I think he has to be shoving with any hand that beats JJ, so I'm best here. I'm often going to end up losing the hand, but if I lose to SB, I can still stack UTG+1 and have 1K, and when I win, I win big.

UTG+1 calls t500

And they show 88 and KQs. I don't like UTG+1's raise with KQs. I mean, I don't like a minraise at any time, but KQs is a relatively weak hand, so you don't want to get shoved over, and you don't want to invite others to see the flop, even if your hand will start favourite against most. STTs are not about seeing flops at the high blinds, but about making people fold. So if you're playing it, and I don't think you should, you're shoving it.

Flop: (t3560) 5 A 4 (3 players - 2 are all in)

Turn: (t3560) 4 (3 players - 2 are all in)

River: (t3560) 6 (3 players - 2 are all in)

So all good for me. Not sure about my first call, but the second time around, I had no doubts about what to do.

Beating the micros

2008-12-15T16:57:00.002+10:00

I'm going to post this here because I think it's pretty sound and maybe someone who's struggling will stumble on it.
It's my answer to the question, what is the best way to approach micro stakes cash games online? I know, I don't play cash, but still, I know how I'd do it if I did.

***

If you have top pair with a good kicker, generally bet and keep betting until you have their money or they have yours. Sometimes you will have to fold when it's painfully obv. you are beat, but this means "when the fishy guy who has not taken the betting lead for three hours checkraises you on the turn" not "when the aggrotard shoves over your lead on a flop showing a flush draw". Be willing to slow down against players who fold weak hands though. You'll know who they are. Be very unwilling to fold TPTK though, because at the micros, you'll come across tons of guys who will bet TP of any kind on all three streets. It's okay to check to them if you fear you are beaten, but don't fold if you can help it.
If you have an overpair or stronger, bet and keep betting until you have their money or they have yours. Don't get into the habit of making "great laydowns" of strong hands.
Remember that in limped pots, you will come across more bizarre hands than in raised pots. Try to ensure that most, if not all, pots you enter outside the blinds are raised. You want them to pay to try to make flushes with 83s.
If you have no pair, mostly fold, don't chase unless it's extremely cheap and mostly only when you close the betting or are decently sure that the fishy guy behind you will just call along.
Do not often slowplay. They love to call so you need to fall in love with betting.
Do not bluff players who love to call. Do bluff players who are looking for excuses to fold.

Basically, their wide range is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they will hit ridiculous strong hands that you cannot read them for because they can have so many other hands, but on the other, they will hit lots of weak hands that you also cannot read them for because you just won't believe they found them strong enough to call with. There are many more ways to have a bad hand than a good one, so on the whole, betting hands that are better than most will make money. And when we say bet, we mean bet hard. If they are calling big bets with middle pair, bet big when you have top pair. If they are calling pot with draws, bet the pot at them. Bet more if they insist on chasing for more.

This is how you win at gambling: wager as much as the other guy is willing to wager when you are a favourite, and wager as little as you can when you are not. (This doesn't mean stick your stack in every time you are ahead, because the other guy won't often wager that much with you.)

A round dozen.

2008-12-13T16:00:00.004+10:00

Make that 12 buyins.

I cannot fucking believe this.

I get in ahead, I lose. I push a decent hand, I run into not one but two bigger ones. A9 < A4, AJ < KT, blah blah. The last game, on the bubble, I call a desperation shove from shorty. He has 65. I have Q4.

Jeezus fuck. That's 150 bucks in about half an hour. I really need Tilt to switch off the doomswitch. I've now lost 19/20 in the 12s. My ROI has crashed through the floor.

This makes you think you're just not good enough. And maybe I'm not, hey?

Multimurder

2008-12-13T14:14:00.002+10:00

So I've been practising 16-tabling the 10ers. It's not too difficult. I think it's gone well, but it's early days. The first time, I cashed 13 out of 16 times and made 89% ROI. The second, I broke even, but I ran like shit. I ran KK into AA three times, AK into AA another, rarely caught a break, and in the money got my money in to win the tourney a couple of times and the other guy caught the big suckout. Twice I outflopped a pair with overcards, only for the other guy to hit a straight on the river, had a set cracked by a guy who called two huge bets with a bare flush draw, and AA cracked by some suited shit that hit a runner flush after calling allin with nothing much on the flop. So the usual, but that could easily have been $50 better, which is 24%. The key thing is that I don't feel I played badly, so I won't stress over the money.

I don't find the decisionmaking too rushed, and I started three fresh tourneys as I was still playing, to see what it's like to play continuously (I would have opened more but I haven't set up the software I plan to use properly yet). I have hotkeys set up for betting and stuff, but I didn't use them. It's easiest to stack tables and just hover near the fold button. It would be harder to do this with turbos, but I'm working on getting the setup right first, before I worry about getting up to speed. I'm not playing turbos just now anyway, because I need to work on ICM. I have very poor knowledge of it, and it's holding me back, because to beat the 16s/24s, I need to be at least competent. It's just laziness has prevented me from putting in the hours, and of course fear.

Fear of what? Fear that I will not, cannot learn. Which is not rational, because when I do time with SNG Wizard, I find I often have "lightbulb" moments (you know, when that little bulb above your head lights up because you get something you didn't before.

***

Sadly, the turbos are going just the same. I'm supposed to be taking a month off, but I couldn't resist playing a few, so I fired four up.

After this hand the fish says "I'm not a fish. I called your hand.

What? You put me exactly on AQs?

Well, maybe you should have folded then?

Full Tilt Poker Game #9465551550: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (72269547), Table 1 - 40/80 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:05:27 ET - 2008/12/13
Seat 2: MCavalc (955)
Seat 3: moneyOVERhos (2,210), is sitting out
Seat 4: basatagirl (1,320)
Seat 6: swat77 (3,545)
Seat 8: PRFECT8 (2,815)
Seat 9: Dunkster01 (2,655)
swat77 posts the small blind of 40
PRFECT8 posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Qh Ah]
Dunkster01 folds
MCavalc raises to 160
moneyOVERhos folds
basatagirl raises to 1,320, and is all in
swat77 folds
PRFECT8 folds
MCavalc has 15 seconds left to act
MCavalc has requested TIME
MCavalc calls 795, and is all in
basatagirl shows [Qh Ah]
MCavalc shows [2c 2s]
Uncalled bet of 365 returned to basatagirl
*** FLOP *** [Ts 8c 4s]
*** TURN *** [Ts 8c 4s] [2h]

Maybe not. So the next hand I do the hail Mary shove.

Full Tilt Poker Game #9465570450: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (72269547), Table 1 - 40/80 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:06:45 ET - 2008/12/13
Seat 2: MCavalc (2,030)
Seat 3: moneyOVERhos (2,210), is sitting out
Seat 4: basatagirl (365)
Seat 6: swat77 (3,505)
Seat 8: PRFECT8 (2,655)
Seat 9: Dunkster01 (2,735)
Dunkster01 posts the small blind of 40
MCavalc posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Ad 2c]
moneyOVERhos folds
basatagirl raises to 365, and is all in
swat77 folds
PRFECT8 has 15 seconds left to act
PRFECT8 calls 365
Dunkster01 folds
MCavalc folds
basatagirl shows [Ad 2c]
PRFECT8 shows [4s 4h]
*** FLOP *** [Th 3h 7h]
*** TURN *** [Th 3h 7h] [As]

Looking good.

*** RIVER *** [Th 3h 7h As] [4c]

OMFG.

And at table 2, I raise to 250 with 1.5K with AKs and of course a fish flats. The flop comes Q high and that looks reasonable to cbet, although I prefer to check mostly. Fish shoves over. OMG. So I fold that and bust out shortly after, shoving over something fishy with KQ. I'm called with 55 and of course I hit nothing. At table 3, I shove TT with 11BB and a tighty snapcalls me. He has AQs. Naturally, the ace comes on the river. I chip back up a bit, but what really sucks is that some cunt limps my blind at t200. I shove 750 with Q7 and I find that this clown limped KQ. Terrible. Why let me see a free flop with that, you fuckwit? On table 4, I shove Q2 with 6BB on the button into two very tight blinds, and one of them wakes up with AT. I then chip up and run AQ into JJ and AK! WTF? I mean, I really fucking need Full Tilt to turn off my doomswitch tbh, because this is getting monotonous. Four games, four buyins down. It's not much but it's 11 out of the last 12 now, and obviously the 24s are fucking terrible for me.

Anyway, have fired up eight more and I hope to run a bit better. I am definitely good enough to beat the 12s, and probably should be beating the 24s too. But luck plays a huge part in this game, and if you have none, you cannot hope to beat any sort of turbo.

Eight games of hell

2008-12-08T16:43:00.004+10:00

Some days you need reserves of insouciance when you play poker. You get AK in on a K high flop, the other guy has K7 and rivers a 7. You get K3 in on a K3Q9 board, and the other guy has KQ. You shove over a limp at t100 with 650 chips with A7 and the limper's QJs catches. You shove AQ and some guy who has played 80% of his hands picks up AK. You shove A9 over the guy with the huge stack who's playing every hand, raising wide, and you run into QQ. Some retard shoves over your open with AQ with A7 and he flops a 7. You misclick/call with AQ, hit a Q high flop, bet pot, guy calls and pairs his kicker on the turn, busting you. Blind vs blind, you run A8s into AJ, hit your 8 and watch him river the J. In the end, you are left asking how many sick, horrible ways to lose there actually are. Well, obviously, the answer is going to be more than you could ever imagine.

Finally, some retard limped UTG and I shoved over with AQ. He has K8s and snapcalls. The loser is out, pretty much, because he covers me by 100 chips. His play is unbearably retarded. He did it because I told him to fuck off because he typed "is that your only move?" when I shoved over a limper. The flop is AK9, so not too bad. Turn and river are both 8s. I'd really like Stars to turn off the doomswitch because I just can't play much better than I am right now, but that was an eight-table session that cost me 50 bucks, more than four buyins.

You called with what though?

2008-12-05T15:29:00.002+10:00

Why are the $10 games so beatable, Dr Zen?

Well, let me show you.

PokerStars Game #22632892190: Tournament #124960302, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2008/12/04 23:23:39 ET
Table '124960302 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: lsprice (265 in chips)
Seat 2: Ethos_Kid (1145 in chips)
Seat 3: undoface (1130 in chips)
Seat 4: supabaked (3845 in chips)
Seat 6: FR Vessant (1510 in chips)
Seat 8: El_Viejito (2515 in chips)
Seat 9: Tiagostuve (3090 in chips)
lsprice: posts small blind 25
Ethos_Kid: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Kh Qh]
undoface: folds
supabaked: folds
FR Vessant: raises 100 to 150

Standard open raise. Some players will fold this but that's a bit too tight. No one has been insanely loose so far and tiagostuve and El Viejito have been reasonably tight. I've played with tiaogstuve before, actually, and I don't recall him doing much insane ever, so I'm pretty safe here. This would be the bottom end for me though, and I might not raise it on a table that was a bit wilder.

El_Viejito: folds
Tiagostuve: folds
lsprice: folds
Ethos_Kid: calls 100
*** FLOP *** [4c 5h 4h]

Not the best flop, but if I'm behind a pair, I'm still in decent shape.

Ethos_Kid: checks
FR Vessant: bets 250

So I cbet fairly confidently.

Ethos_Kid: raises 745 to 995 and is all-in

Okay. He has to have a pair, surely? That's his most likely hand preflop. It's a bad call preflop (actually, there aren't many hands that would be good to call with preflop). So if he has been fucking with me with AA/KK, I have eight or nine outs to suck out, and if he has any other pair, I have 15 outs, so I'm a decent favourite. So I'm obviously not folding.

FR Vessant: calls 745

He has 74s.

WTF? Okay, once in a blue moon, you're going to stack a player like me by calling with your suited shit, but there are at least two bad things that can happen to you.

The first bad thing is that you just miss the flop. Then I bet, you fold.
The next bad thing is that you hit the flop. You flop a flush draw and two out of three times you get stacked. That's assuming that I don't have two of the same suit, in which case you get stacked every time. Worse can happen even. You might hit a pair of 7s. On a board like T73, that looks good to go. But say I have a big pair, which I will a decent amount of the time (I don't raise much at t50, and my range for the raise from the hijack is still pretty tight) or even, as I do here, a hand with enough equity vs your pair to make me favourite.

So yeah, sometimes you are going to get very lucky. But you're paying 100 of your 1100 chips to do it. And even when you are, as here, very lucky, you're still getting stacked sometimes.

Well, not this time. He rivered a fourth 4, which shows that the guy who controls the doomswitch has a nice sense of humour.

So these things happen, but Ethos_Kid will be a donator in his time at the $10s, and you can't get that pissed off that people will do rubbish things like that. If they didn't, it would be that much harder to win.

A cautionary tale

2008-12-04T12:45:00.002+10:00

I don't often get tricky, preferring the straightforward value game that works well at the low stakes, but here I took a line that mostly would have been better, if I wasn't doomswitched permanently at Stars.

PokerStars Game #22601595008: Tournament #124735199, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2008/12/03 21:36:27 ET
Table '124735199 1' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: Doctor Roy (1130 in chips)
Seat 2: Tinman161 (1460 in chips)
Seat 3: Royal4000 (1450 in chips)
Seat 4: Lowery44 (1840 in chips)
Seat 5: dprickards (2080 in chips)
Seat 6: Merrillk25 (1460 in chips)
Seat 7: FR Vessant (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: Cheeks420 (1080 in chips)
Seat 9: mjs200x (1500 in chips)
dprickards: posts small blind 10
Merrillk25: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Ac Ks]
FR Vessant: raises 40 to 60

Straightforward raise.

Cheeks420: folds
mjs200x: folds
Doctor Roy: raises 140 to 200

Oh dear. I look the guy up though to see why he lost chips, and he looks pretty bad, but I'm not sure. Often, I'd just shove here, but I'm willing to see a flop and if it looks good, get it in.

Tinman161: folds
Royal4000: folds
Lowery44: folds
dprickards: folds
Merrillk25: folds
FR Vessant: calls 140
*** FLOP *** [9d 5h Ad]

That's a good flop. I think it's best to check here, because worse aces will all bet, but other hands might too.

FR Vessant: checks
Doctor Roy: checks

Boo.

*** TURN *** [9d 5h Ad] [9h]
FR Vessant: bets 200

So I bet, but that's a bit cute, and in retrospect I should have bet more. Still, I'm wanting to be called by the hand he actually has.

Doctor Roy: calls 200
*** RIVER *** [9d 5h Ad 9h] [Jh]
FR Vessant: bets 200

Arguably, this is bad, because he won't call with his mid pairs, but I'm hoping he will find it irresistible with AQ. Not sure about my reasoning there, and probably check/call is better.

Doctor Roy: raises 530 to 730 and is all-in
FR Vessant: calls 530

I obviously won't fold in this spot.

*** SHOW DOWN ***
Doctor Roy: shows [Jc Jd] (a full house, Jacks full of Nines)

Jeezus. Well, he called with two outs on the turn, but you can't really blame him. These players are quite straightforward, and not betting the flop sort of says I don't have an ace (that's the point of it, of course), so it's possible his jacks are ahead.

***

Think I'm exaggerating about the doomswitch?

Think again:

PokerStars Game #22601984343: Tournament #124735652, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2008/12/03 21:52:00 ET
Table '124735652 1' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: Omaha_RK (1805 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 2: thawdgharp (1640 in chips)
Seat 3: 9idiotwind (1690 in chips)
Seat 4: Rancklor (1330 in chips)
Seat 5: mcdramfan (625 in chips)
Seat 6: FR Vessant (1490 in chips)
Seat 7: Ryanbankn (660 in chips)
Seat 8: charitypro (2435 in chips)
Seat 9: TruePhoenix4 (1825 in chips)
mcdramfan: posts small blind 15
FR Vessant: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Kd Jd]
Ryanbankn: raises 30 to 60
charitypro: folds
TruePhoenix4: folds
Omaha_RK: folds
thawdgharp: folds
9idiotwind: folds
Rancklor: folds
mcdramfan: calls 45
FR Vessant: calls 30

I call because I would limp this on the button and this guy is super bad.

*** FLOP *** [Jc 8d 6d]

Nice.

mcdramfan: checks
FR Vessant: bets 90

I bet, hoping to get action. I will obviously get it in with my pair, overcard and flush draw.

Ryanbankn: raises 510 to 600 and is all-in

Nice.

He has KQ. His play is just awful, on both streets. First, he should not even play KQ, let alone minraise it. Second, he should fold on the flop. He only has six outs vs top pair, and he's never going to make the average $10 player fold top pair with a push.

So he's dead to a queen.

mcdramfan: folds
FR Vessant: calls 510
*** TURN *** [Jc 8d 6d] [Ac]

Add two tens (not Td) to his outs and he's still a longshot...

*** RIVER *** [Jc 8d 6d Ac] [Ts]

Oh.

November results

2008-12-01T09:08:00.003+10:00

So I didn't play much in November for one reason or another. I did 19 10ers at 46%. It would have been more, but I bubbled 17, 18 and 19, running into AA twice.

That's one of the more frustrating things in STTs actually. Some guy limps 30ish percent of his range, and you have no reason to believe he has any awareness of the need to be aggressive as blinds rise, so he limps and you shove over him. This time he has aces.

I'm not planning to play much in December either. Doing lots of study instead, to try finally to get some sort of clue in ICM. What's that they say about the road to hell...?

Welcome back, Mr Zen

2008-11-26T14:58:00.002+10:00

Here's my first STT after a break. I've played a few bits of HORSE and the like with absolutely no luck, but check this:

PokerStars Game #22371442955: Tournament #123011490, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2008/11/25 23:56:09 ET
Table '123011490 1' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: shrume72 (650 in chips)
Seat 2: CoreyKTK (2290 in chips)
Seat 3: FR Vessant (1440 in chips)
Seat 4: zitov1 (1480 in chips)
Seat 5: gelk245 (630 in chips)
Seat 6: jimvski (3300 in chips)
Seat 7: bishopdog1 (1010 in chips)
Seat 8: W0lfgang72 (1230 in chips)
Seat 9: KayP17 (1470 in chips)
FR Vessant: posts small blind 10
zitov1: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [2h 2s]
gelk245: folds
jimvski: folds
bishopdog1: folds
W0lfgang72 is disconnected
W0lfgang72 is connected
W0lfgang72: folds
KayP17: folds
shrume72: folds
CoreyKTK: calls 20
FR Vessant: calls 10

Could fold with this, but might as well see whether I can hit a set.

zitov1: checks
*** FLOP *** [2d Qd Ac]

There's my set. Drawy board though so I pot it.

FR Vessant: bets 60
zitov1: folds
CoreyKTK: calls 60
*** TURN *** [2d Qd Ac] [Kc]

Hmmm. Well, I'd have to be fairly unlikely to be beat on that board. JT is not likely to have called a bet on the flop.

FR Vessant: bets 120
CoreyKTK: raises 120 to 240

Hmmm. Well, his range probably has a lot of aces, and KQ is definitely in there. Adxd also might have waited till the turn.

FR Vessant: raises 320 to 560

Better not scare him off. I'm clearly going to stack off here.

CoreyKTK: raises 320 to 880
FR Vessant: raises 480 to 1360 and is all-in

No, let's do it for all our money.

CoreyKTK: calls 480
*** RIVER *** [2d Qd Ac Kc] [8s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FR Vessant: shows [2h 2s] (three of a kind, Deuces)
CoreyKTK: shows [Jd Td] (a straight, Ten to Ace)

Sigh.

WTF to the max

2008-10-26T14:56:00.003+10:00

Has my luck improved? Has it fuck!

Check this out. This is one of the funniest hands I've ever played:

PokerStars Game #21500138892: Tournament #116481725, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2008/10/26 0:54:10 ET
Table '116481725 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 2: Bridget1968 (3435 in chips)
Seat 3: DD2280 (1080 in chips)
Seat 4: FR Vessant (3400 in chips)
Seat 5: Pro97 (1680 in chips)
Seat 6: PROJECT.KO (735 in chips)
Seat 7: achiever (3170 in chips)
achiever: posts small blind 15
Bridget1968: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FR Vessant [Qc Ac]
DD2280: folds
FR Vessant: raises 60 to 90

Standard raise with this strong hand.

Pro97: folds
PROJECT.KO: calls 90

Absolutely terrible player. Called my valuebet with KT on an AA885 board with 54. No prizes in this game for three pair, bro.

achiever: folds
Bridget1968: calls 60

Even worse player. Has been involved in nearly every hand, making on the whole terrible decisions.

*** FLOP *** [4c Ah 5c]
Bridget1968: checks
FR Vessant: bets 210
PROJECT.KO: calls 210
Bridget1968: calls 210

WTF. Well, Bridget is seriously bad, and can have any ace here, and just about any draw. The other guy must have an ace imo. But if he does, he has to shove!

Either one could have a flush draw, and that would be good for me because obviously I'm drawing to the nuts.

*** TURN *** [4c Ah 5c] [7h]
Bridget1968: checks
FR Vessant: bets 480

I think I have to bet here. I'd prefer to be up against one player, but shorty isn't likely to win here.

PROJECT.KO: calls 435 and is all-in

Calling with his ace, I figure.

Bridget1968: raises 2655 to 3135 and is all-in

WTF? Well, she can have A7, I suppose, but she's played badly enough to put AJ/AT in her range. If she has me beat, I have odds to draw out. I'm not delighted to call, but I don't think I can fold here.

FR Vessant: calls 2620 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (35) returned to Bridget1968

*** RIVER *** [4c Ah 5c 7h] [As]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Bridget1968: shows [3s 6c] (a straight, Three to Seven)

What. The. Fuck. The poker gods are just teasing me now.

FR Vessant: shows [Qc Ac] (three of a kind, Aces)
Bridget1968 collected 5330 from side pot
PROJECT.KO: shows [7d Ad] (a full house, Aces full of Sevens)

So both these fucking clowns drew out on me on the turn!

I know, this is how we make money. Except I'm not. I'm losing it. Because this is happening to me every fucking tourney I play. I have cashed one in the last nine. Yesterday, I desperation shoved J8 into JJ, pushed AK into AA, and stacked off with AT on a T high board, get this, against TT. And those are just the hands I didn't get fucked over by the god of luck, but was only booted in the nuts by the god of cold decks.

October results

2008-10-20T12:46:00.002+10:00

A little bit early but my poker month is now over, so why not?

And what a frustrating month!

I played:
10 regular 10ers at 6.4%
122 12 turbos at 22.2%
5 regular 20ers at 30.9%
53 24 turbos at -19.1%
2 36 turbos at -17.5%

So overall I played 214 games at 5.2%.

Am I really not good enough for the 24s? Well, I think I am, but I ran truly poorly and that caused me to tilt and play badly some of the time too. 50ish games is not many, enough that a few unlucky breaks can make all the difference. So I will now have a month off, more or less, do some study and hopefully beat them decently in December.

No, Zen, no.

2008-10-15T20:29:00.003+10:00

The worst of running badly is that eventually you start playing badly.

This is really bad.

Full Tilt Poker Game #8495892704: $22 + $2 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64661264), Table 1 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 6:27:00 ET - 2008/10/15
Seat 2: dio555 x (6,290)
Seat 4: themer24881 (1,430)
Seat 6: therealjride (1,920)
Seat 9: basatagirl (3,860)
themer24881 posts the small blind of 100
therealjride posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Jh Jc]
basatagirl raises to 700

I raise a bit more than normal because I want to discourage the bigstack from calling.

dio555 x raises to 2,000

Okay, so now I just fold. I can't play a pot with him, and he's tight enough to have me beat or racing here.

themer24881 folds
therealjride folds
basatagirl raises to 3,860, and is all in

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I knew as soon as I did it that it was a terrible mistake. I would never usually continue with this hand. I should just fold.

dio555 x calls 1,860
basatagirl shows [Jh Jc]
dio555 x shows [Kc Kh]

Fuckwit. I just wanted to win so badly that I fucked up. I'm just so gutted about today. I was nearly back to par but I have lost a couple of hundred today. it's not much money but it really hurts.

Why you should not limp KK

2008-10-15T16:12:00.003+10:00

Here's why limping big pairs can be a super bad idea:

Full Tilt Poker Game #8494142078: $22 + $2 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64645824), Table 1 - 50/100 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:10:42 ET - 2008/10/15
Seat 1: donkey1313 (4,675)
Seat 3: iskah (2,330)
Seat 4: bobspamboy (3,340)
Seat 7: fishcop596 (475)
Seat 8: Vortex2099 (1,250)
Seat 9: basatagirl (1,430)
Vortex2099 posts the small blind of 50
basatagirl posts the big blind of 100
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [3s 8c]
donkey1313 calls 100
iskah folds
bobspamboy folds
fishcop596 folds
Vortex2099 folds
basatagirl checks
*** FLOP *** [Th 3c 8h]
basatagirl bets 200

Bet near pot.

donkey1313 raises to 850

Oh man. Well, I'm hoping to see AT and not TT obv. Maybe a flush draw.

basatagirl raises to 1,330, and is all in

I'm obv. not folding on this board.

donkey1313 calls 480
basatagirl shows [3s 8c]
donkey1313 shows [Ks Kh]

wat

*** TURN *** [Th 3c 8h] [As]
*** RIVER *** [Th 3c 8h As] [8s]
basatagirl shows a full house, Eights full of Threes

Niiiiiice.

All in

2008-10-15T12:42:00.005+10:00

Given that some of the games I've played, I've just been cold-decked, it makes sense that I have been about even when I've got it in, or slightly better. If you've been running a bit cold cardswise, you're going to be getting it in behind more than you'd like. This is part of luck, just as much as allin luck.

But check out my allin luck.

It should make me feel better to know that I probably don't suck as much as my stats suggest. I'd post my graph for the 12s, but I mislaid it. Anyway, it's actually +luck by a little bit. So it can happen!

I'll explain the graph in case you don't know what they mean, and show you why it should make me feel a bit better.

I am -$297 in luck. That means I have won $297 less than I could expect when the money went in. Basically, if $100 is at stake, and I get it in as a 70/30 favourite, I expect to win $70.

I have lost $180 at the 24s. So I'm 117 dollars behind where I should be. Over 38 games, that's 13% ROI.

I should be running at 13% if I got my expectation when all in.

sigh

2008-10-15T12:12:00.005+10:00

You know, I'm sure I'll look back and laugh, but laughing is really hard at the moment. I lost the first four buyins this morning in really horrible ways. I lost on the first hand I played for the morning. A guy called off his stack with a flush draw and hit. I ran completely card dead in two tourneys and basically got eliminated on the first hand I played. Then I lost with 99 vs KJ and ran 88 into QQ. I came third in the next, when my 55 got sucked out on by A3 and the next hand I shoved A7 into AT. You couldn't fucking make this up.

This is what happened in my sixth tourney of the day. I mean, fucksake. How many can I lose like this?

Full Tilt Poker Game #8490887546: $22 + $2 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64617910), Table 1 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:10:24 ET - 2008/10/14
Seat 2: israelmoe (1,620)
Seat 3: francis20011 (1,285)
Seat 4: GRENLIK (1,000)
Seat 5: basatagirl (1,600)
Seat 6: Everyman (1,735)
Seat 7: mrpotto (3,085)
Seat 8: brewing (1,340)
Seat 9: WhiskeyBreath60 (1,835)
GRENLIK posts the small blind of 30
basatagirl posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Kh Ks]
Everyman folds
mrpotto folds
brewing raises to 180
WhiskeyBreath60 has 15 seconds left to act
WhiskeyBreath60 folds
israelmoe calls 180
francis20011 folds
GRENLIK raises to 1,000, and is all in
basatagirl raises to 1,600, and is all in
brewing folds
israelmoe folds
basatagirl shows [Kh Ks]
GRENLIK shows [6h 6c]
Uncalled bet of 600 returned to basatagirl
*** FLOP *** [6d 7c 3s]
*** TURN *** [6d 7c 3s] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [6d 7c 3s 7s] [2d]
basatagirl shows two pair, Kings and Sevens
GRENLIK shows a full house, Sixes full of Sevens
GRENLIK wins the pot (2,360) with a full house, Sixes full of Sevens
basatagirl: sigh
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,360 | Rake 0
Board: [6d 7c 3s 7s 2d]
Seat 2: israelmoe folded before the Flop
Seat 3: francis20011 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: GRENLIK (small blind) showed [6h 6c] and won (2,360) with a full house, Sixes full of Sevens
Seat 5: basatagirl (big blind) showed [Kh Ks] and lost with two pair, Kings and Sevens
Seat 6: Everyman didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: mrpotto didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: brewing folded before the Flop
Seat 9: WhiskeyBreath60 didn't bet (folded)

***

Then this. This is just unbearable.

Full Tilt Poker Game #8491012725: $22 + $2 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64616066), Table 1 - 200/400 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:18:41 ET - 2008/10/14
Seat 1: Senor Boston (1,540)
Seat 3: basatagirl (1,045)
Seat 4: CheckForValue (3,060)
Seat 6: GodzDice (3,345)
Seat 7: craigchin (4,510)
craigchin posts the small blind of 200
Senor Boston posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Kc 9c]
basatagirl raises to 1,045, and is all in
CheckForValue folds
GodzDice folds
craigchin folds
Senor Boston folds
Uncalled bet of 645 returned to basatagirl
basatagirl mucks
basatagirl wins the pot (1,000)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1,000 | Rake 0
Seat 1: Senor Boston (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: basatagirl collected (1,000), mucked
Seat 4: CheckForValue didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: GodzDice (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: craigchin (small blind) folded before the Flop

But hey, I came back a bit, so I had hope.

Full Tilt Poker Game #8491065113: $22 + $2 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64616066), Table 1 - 250/500 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:22:08 ET - 2008/10/14
Seat 1: Senor Boston (2,530)
Seat 3: basatagirl (2,010)
Seat 4: CheckForValue (2,460)
Seat 6: GodzDice (3,345)
Seat 7: craigchin (3,155)
Senor Boston posts the small blind of 250
basatagirl posts the big blind of 500
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [9d 6c]
CheckForValue folds
GodzDice folds
craigchin has 15 seconds left to act
craigchin folds
Senor Boston calls 250
basatagirl checks

It's weird that he limps, but I don't think I have fold equity.

*** FLOP *** [9s Ts 4c]
Senor Boston bets 2,030, and is all in

I have to call. He would not shove with a hand that beat mine.

basatagirl calls 1,510, and is all in
Senor Boston shows [Qs 7s]

I'm right, and I'm a favourite to win.

basatagirl shows [9d 6c]
Uncalled bet of 520 returned to Senor Boston
*** TURN *** [9s Ts 4c] [5d]
*** RIVER *** [9s Ts 4c 5d] [5s]

I am -20% at the 24s. I just don't know what I could be doing that I'm not doing. I've played 38 games and lost 180 dollars. First thing this morning, I was a win away from getting my head above water. I've lost 120 dollars to suckout after suckout after suckout.

I know this ends. I know that I will run good again. KK can't be beaten by 66 every time. But man, I need that good to start now, because I can't stand this at the moment. It's just souldestroying.

And the worst thing is, this is only happening to me at the 24s. I was running bad at the 12s earlier, but that evened out, and now I'm going well in them. But in 24 after 24, I'm getting soulcrushed.

Up. And down obv.

2008-10-13T17:20:00.004+10:00

I am now losing at the 24s. It really sucks when every time you get your money in with Ax, and villain calls with Ax with a smaller x, and he hits his kicker.

I'd really liked to have started well in them. It's good to begin with a heater, because you can then play confidently, without worrying about future losses. But so far, it's a grim story of suckout after suckout.

Yeah, I know, it's good to get it in ahead, but believe me, it's better to stay ahead.

It doesn't help that no one on Tilt has heard of table selection, so it's tough to find tables that aren't packed with sharks.

omfgwtfwtfwtf

2008-10-13T16:32:00.003+10:00

Why am I yelling at my screen?

This is my second 36.

Full Tilt Poker Game #8467684514: $33 + $3 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64431792), Table 1 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:30:20 ET - 2008/10/13
Seat 2: rivercity79 (3,390)
Seat 8: basatagirl (8,015)

Note my huge stack.

Seat 9: Bozy_Man1986 (2,095)
Bozy_Man1986 posts the small blind of 100
rivercity79 posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [9c Ks]
basatagirl raises to 500
Bozy_Man1986 folds
rivercity79 calls 300

This guy is a huge fish and can have absolutely anything.

*** FLOP *** [4d Qs Kd]
rivercity79 bets 2,890, and is all in

Easy call.

basatagirl calls 2,890
rivercity79 shows [Jc Ts]

See? Absolutely shit.

basatagirl shows [9c Ks]
*** TURN *** [4d Qs Kd] [3h]
*** RIVER *** [4d Qs Kd 3h] [Ad]

Aaaargh.

But anyway, I still have a decent stack.
Full Tilt Poker Game #8467693281: $33 + $3 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64431792), Table 1 - 120/240 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:31:28 ET - 2008/10/13
Seat 2: rivercity79 (7,240)
Seat 8: basatagirl (4,625)
Seat 9: Bozy_Man1986 (1,635)

Note how short this guy is. I don't want to get involved in a big pot.

rivercity79 posts the small blind of 120
basatagirl posts the big blind of 240
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [2s Th]
Bozy_Man1986 folds
rivercity79 calls 120
basatagirl checks
*** FLOP *** [2c Js Ts]

Well, I'm going to have to play a big pot now.

rivercity79 checks
basatagirl bets 600
rivercity79 raises to 1,200
basatagirl raises to 4,385, and is all in

No problems getting it in here. He can have absolutely anything. To be behind here would be a huge cooler. I expect to see Jx and to have to fade his outs for his kicker.

rivercity79 calls 3,185
basatagirl shows [2s Th]
rivercity79 shows [Kd Kh]

His play is of course awful.

He has five outs: three Js and the remaining kings. He'll have eight on the river if he doesn't suck out on the turn.

I'm a huge favourite obviously. 71/29 to be precise.

*** TURN *** [2c Js Ts] [Jc]

WTF. I mean, fucksake, I would have folded if he had raised pre, but I can't fold on the flop.

I had fucking 8K chips! I am 13 to 1 for that shit to happen to me. You know, I'd rather it had happened at the 14th time of asking, rather than the first.

wtf 7

2008-10-10T14:24:00.002+10:00

Well okay, one more:

Full Tilt Poker Game #8424074005: $11 + $1 Sit & Go (Turbo) (64102088), Table 1 - 80/160 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:21:33 ET - 2008/10/10
Seat 1: basatagirl (900)
Seat 3: wissp (705)
Seat 6: 4-Stack (1,305)
Seat 7: Wahish (2,400)
Seat 8: blumjk (4,130)
Seat 9: BARNWOOD1 (4,060)
wissp posts the big blind of 160
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Kd 9h]
4-Stack folds
Wahish folds
blumjk folds
BARNWOOD1 folds
basatagirl raises to 900, and is all in
wissp calls 545, and is all in
basatagirl shows [Kd 9h]
wissp shows [Kh 5h]

WTF?

But hey! I have him dominated. He only has three outs, right?

Uncalled bet of 195 returned to basatagirl
*** FLOP *** [6d Qs 4c]
basatagirl: gamble it up

That's right. Fucking retard. If he ever wonders why he's not making money, there it is. Just fold and push ATC when you get the chance. STTs are not about trying to suck out on people; they're about trying to make people fold.

Now he's 7 to 1 to win.

*** TURN *** [6d Qs 4c] [7s]

OMG. You know what's coming though. Another runner runner straight.

*** RIVER *** [6d Qs 4c 7s] [8c]

Yep. So I bust next hand. Another buyin gone to three outs.

Then at my other table a winning player calls my 87 shove for 10BB, I cover him. He has JTs. I have not shown down bad cards at any point.

He cannot justify his call. He is just gambling. Even if he thinks I'm shoving wide, that's an easy fold. I have to be shoving more than 70% for JTs to be a call, and I don't shove that wide against anyone I think is decent because I know they'll call a bit wider than the fish. He doesn't know me and doesn't know that I'll shove wide at all. Most players don't. It's also a fold for me if I know he's calling that wide, but this is a winning player. I expect him to be folding J high.

Actually, I should have known he was retarded. He joined a table that already had three strong winning players and another couple of breakeven ones. That's dumb for a player who is only playing a handful of tables.