Busy summer

I have had a crazy busy summer and it is really interfering with my ability to play poker. I played hooky one day when my meetings and court canceled and I decided to hit Rivers for the day. They have a pretty good 1/3 game there. I was cruising along nicely when I got involved in a crazy hand. I had j10 h. Flop comes 789 with 2 hearts. Nice flop. One guy bets 25, crazy guy raises to 55. I am next to act and I have 450 in front of me. I think for a while there are a few people behind me to act and they do not look interested in the hand at all. I decide to raise to 100. Lets get some money in the pot. The original better goes all in for about 120 total. The crazy guy calls. Turn is 4. Crazy guy bets 75. I figure he likes his hand enough to call my raise so I ship my remaining money into the pot. He calls. River 7. Short stack had j10 also, crazy guy had 74. He went runner runner boat for a monster pot. When people asked him what he thought I had when I raised the turn, his response was two smaller pair than him. HE HAD BOTTOM TWO PAIR.

I did manage to make it to Meadows for their big poker weekend tournament. The tournament is a $335 buy in with a decent structure. I was cruising along nicely chipping up when I went completely card dead. I could not even get a spot to shove. Whenever it folded to me I had a hand like 82, 10 4. It was crazy. I finally get 99 utg and shove for about 9 big blinds. I get called by AK and Aq. Of course the door card is an Ace. Why do they always hit when they are sharing outs. Oh well. That's poker. I suffered a few horrendous beats that weekend and I am really proud of the way that I handled the losses. I did not go on tilt as I normally do.

I also went to Hollywood Casino for the Indiana State poker championship. I played in the $345 deep stack. I did a sort of running log after
each blind level. In the early rounds I played smart tight aggressive poker. I refused to call with weak hands out of position. Won a few decent pots with Ak and Aq. I am really upset about a few hands that I played. After losing a decent pot with Ak vs Aq when he hit a queen
on the river, I went completely card dead. I had over 65,000 in chips so I was not desperate at all as the blinds were 600/1200 with a 150 ante. I did not stay as patient as I should have been. I saw aj s utg and decided to raise. I hate that hand. Of course the crazy guy in the
big blind called. Flop was j46 with 2 spades. I way overplayed top pair. He bet out 3,500. I put him on the flush draw so I raised to 9,500. He shipped it. I did not take the time to count his stack before I insta-called with just one pair. He had 7-5 spades for the open ended straight
flush draw. Of course he hit the flush on the river. When will I learn to slow down and think. He had about 39,000 total and my stack was down to 22,500. I am so pissed that I played such a big pot with one pair. I should never have been in the pot in the first place and I lost
a good portion of my stack. I stayed positive and tried to refocus but I could hear that little voice in my head that I blew it and I needed to get my chips back. Soon after we went to 800/1600 with 200 ante I got nervous. It folded to be on the hijack and I shipped it with my
favorite hand Aj s. I was insta-called by the player next to me and he had QQ. No luck for me and I am out. I don't hate the shove with Aj but it is such a bad hand for me that I should know better.

I also played the $555 tourney. It only had 171 runners. There were really no weak spots in this tourney. (other than me). I played really well
in this tournament. I got unlucky in two spots that cost me a bunch of chips. The first hand was a cooler blind v blind. I had jj in small blind vs kk in bb. Luckily he did not have a huge stack. Then I called a small raise from the big blind (against the most aggressive guy at the
table) with 74 c. Flop was 746. I checked, he bet about half the pot. I raised and he shipped it with 78. He hit a 5 on the turn for the straight. The only thing I would have done differently was I think I should have went all in after he bet and put maximum pressure on him. I don't
know if it plays out any differently but I wish I would have shipped it. I finally got short stacked and shoved from the button with pocket 10s. I got called by kq s. Flop qq9. Good game. I went out 28th. I was upset because they redrew for seats at 27 and I was hoping to get away
from the maniac 2 to my left.

Not sure if I will go back to Hollywood. I liked the tournaments, but they shut down their cash games. I got squashed in the pits. It was a very expensive weekend. Luckily, the next weekend I was saved. I will write about that later.

Not playing much poker

This thing called my career is really getting in the way of me playing poker. I have been extremely busy at work and I have just not had enough time to play. I have been averaging about one time per week, sometimes I get to play twice.

A few weeks ago I made it down to Nautica again. Wow that place is awesome. I was there for about 2 hours maybe 2 1/2 hours and I won over $600. There was an interesting hand against the guy next to me. I raised preflop with 10 10. He called with kq spades. Flop was 10 j K with 2 spades. We both flopped hard. I bet all three streets and he just called all three streets. Luckily for me he did not get there. That was a decent pot. Only decent sized pot I lost all night was when my AA got cracked by 55. It was a strange hand. Ang raised preflop with AK (I think) I was sitting right next to her so I re raised to 27. Horrible guy at the end of the table four bet to 75 with 55. It folded back to me. I decided to smooth call hoping to disguise my hand. Flop was 456. I thought this was a good flop for a 4 bet pot until I noticed his tell. He plays with his sunglasses and gets a smirk on his face when he really likes his hand. I just checked and called the whole way. I really think I lost the minimum with that hand. He later called 175 preflop with A7, so I am really glad I did not ship my stack with the AA, because I think he would have called with 55 there.

I also played the no cap buyin game at Diablo's house. It was a really great game. Grayday bought in for 1,800. It was a 1/1 game. That was quite humorous. I bought in for $400. I lost a bunch to Matt G who kept three betting me when I was just strong enough to call but not strong enough to raise. I have a plan for him next time we play. I also lost a bunch to hiphop when he flopped a straight with an open ended straight flush draw and I turned top set. I was so worried about the flush draw that I did not see that 56 was a straight. I kept thinking that the only straight out there was 97 and I did not put him on that based upon the action on the flop. Of course as soon as he raised me on the turn I knew I was behind. I did not have enough chips to fold a set there so I called. My brain did not even focus enough to quickly offer to run it twice. The river card was down before I could even say anything. I was upset at myself because I should have played it differently and hiphop never sees the flop. Oh well. I am constantly learning.

I ended up into the game for $1,000 and I was down to $98. I moved to the back table to try and change my luck. Thank God I did. I went to that table with $121. I won quite a few hands and when we combined back to one table I had over $500. Late in the night I busted Crazy Mike and Mike T when they were both fairly short and I had AA vs. Ak and not sure what Crazy Mike had. I ended up only losing $55 for the night. I call that a win.

We had the team tournament at Dave's house and my team was "Bitches". Of course I chose that name. The team was Linda, Ang and myself. I really thought that we had a great combo for our team. Ang and Linda generally make it deep in tournaments and depending on how focused I am, I am a threat in any CPMG tournament that I play in. I was cruising along in the tournament until Caveman decided to play 89 o out of position to a raise. I love him. He flopped a double gutter and got there on the turn. I had AA. I could have folded, but I am an idiot and I dropped anchor. I got very short stacked at that point. When we combined to two tables Ang and I were still in but very short stacked. We both made the final table. Ang chipped up nicely but lost a bunch of chips against Hacker. He shoved preflop and we consulted about calling. She had A10. We figured his shoving range at that point was any ace so we decided she should call. He had JJ and she did not hit the A. That took a bunch of her chips and she went out 6th.

I somehow survived and when we got to three-handed was outchipped severely. They both had over 200k and I had about 50 or 60k max. Eskimo and Nick were on the same team and that dynamic made it a little harder for me. When we got a little closer to even in chips Nick offered a three way chop and it would have made sense financially to do so, but I really hate to chop, especially three handed. When we knocked Nick out Eskimo still had a pretty substantial chip lead, but the blinds were very large. I managed to get the chip lead and I had him all in with AQ vs K8. An eight right on the flop. GRRRRR. I hate that. It would have been a great comeback if I could have made it. A few hands later we get it all in preflop again and I have 77 vs. his jj. No luck for me. I had about 10,000 chips left after that and it was over the next hand. I ended up 2nd overall in the tournament and our team finished 2nd also. It was a very long night. We did not end until about 5:15 am.

Really want to have a game at my office again soon, but I have so many trials coming up that I just don't think I can do it soon. Have to miss Terry K's first cash game at his new place this weekend. Julie is having a tourney for Ang's bday. Can't miss that for my fellow "bitch". Should be a crazy night. Hope I have a DD.

It has been a wierd year so far

Remember my goals for 2011? Not doing so good at trying to achieve them. I have not had a cash game in my office for quite a while. I have had a lot of personal garbage going on in the office and the last place I want to be at night is there. Hopefully that will change soon.

In March I went to Meadows for their deep stack tourney. I went by myself and I really enjoyed just doing my own thing. I only went up Saturday morning and stayed one night. I could not focus in the big tournament. I was really card dead and that did not help, but I really had a hard time paying attention. I have been on a major tournament downswing in live poker. I am going to work hard on the focus aspect of the game. I think one big problem that I am having is that I am drinking and having a good time at the table and that kills all of my attention. Not sure that I want to stop drinking and having a good time so I really am going to have to find a good balance.

I have been playing on line poker a lot lately. I decided to start playing on Bodog. I have been doing pretty well in the tournaments there. I am cashing in about 20% of the tournaments that I play in. It is a very very small sample size but I am pleased with how it is going so far. I don't think that I will be able to play in the wsop this year. We are going to San Francisco in June and I just can't imagine how I will be able to do both. I am trying to figure out a way to go. Had a fun hand at Meadows. As most of you know, I love 2 4. It is my favorite hand. I was at a pretty crazy 1/2 table. UTG raised to 12. There were five callers before me. I am on the button with 24 spades. I raised to 60. We saw the flop 9 handed for $60. It was the sickest thing that I have seen at a 1/2 table. $540 in the pot preflop. Flop was 48j with 2 spades. I had $250 left. Everyone checked to me and I went all. The original raiser from UTG was the only caller and he only had $125. He had AK Spades. I was very nervous. I faded all of his outs and won with a pair of 4 with a 2 kicker. I love this game. The guy went a little crazy when he saw my hand, but he actually handled it very well. He told me that he wrongly assumed that I was nitty girl and put me on a big pair. He said that if I was a guy that he would have shoved preflop assuming that I was just squeezing. He politely said nice hand rebought for $300 and proceeded to take it out on the rest of the table by winning 7 of the next 9 hands to have $975 after one orbit. He was on fire and he played his hands and the "tilt" image perfectly. I was VERY impressed with his game.

Hoping to play some cash games soon.

I have not had the chance to play too much poker lately as I have been extremely busy and I was sick for a week. Of course that did not stop me from going to Meadows for the weekend.

I decided to skip the 8pm bounty tourney as it was my goal to get a good night sleep as I was recovering from the flu. That didn't happen. I sat down at the 1/2 game. I was playing really well and I was up about 100. Then the wheels fell off. The same guy hit 4 straights against me. Three were runner runner. It was sick. The fourth time he called 16 preflop with 34 off and called 30 on the flop with a gutter ball to the sucker straight. He hit it on the river. He stacked me two times within 2 orbits. I did double up off of him a few orbits later when he called my all in of $145 with k9 on a board of k78. I had k7. I was into the game for $700. I lost a decent pot when I flopped a set of 999 and lost to a straight flush. Glad the board did not pair as I would have gone broke.

I was really upset with my self getting so deep into a 1/2 game. I got up to $650 and was about to leave when I got involved in a hand that took me down to about $510. I decided at that point I lost about 200 not bad. Time to go to bed. It was after 5:00 am. There goes my good night sleep.

The main event started at 1:30. Linda and I got there about 1 and bought in. Julie bought in about 15 minutes later and gets the seat directly to my left. GRRR. I like sitting with Julie but I sure wish I had position. The tourney started off ok. Julie and I both played pretty smart and chipped up a little. Neither of us won or lost any big pots. I did win a decent pot when I called a raise from the guy to my right with my favorite hand and hit a straight. I cracked his QQ. It was a scary board so the pot was pretty small. We had one guy who decided to go all in with 12K in chips when the blinds were like 100/200. He got lucky and built up a huge stack. He eventually busted Julie with K10. What an idiot. He got a bunch of my chips as well. I raised with Ak and flopped an A. He called preflop with A6 off and turned two pair. I did not go broke on the hand but I did lose a bunch of chips. After that hand I could not get anything going. I was very short for the rest of the tourney. I was able to double up right after the dinner break but I could not get any traction. I had to shove from the big blind with A10. The other guy had AJ. That sucked. I think I went out about 39th.

I am a little upset about the last hand and I wanted to say something to the dealer but I kept my mouth shut. The guy raised and I shoved for a very small amount more. The guy was not paying much attention and the dealer said to him.. 17 more to call. He looked like he was about to say fold and the dealer clarified...only 1,700 more. I was really upset about this. The guy has to call as he raised to 10,000. But if he is not paying attention it is not the dealers job to clarify for him. Right? I was not happy about this at all. I did not say anything because the guy is one of the guys who plays that is handicapped and has to have someone help him read his cards and put chips into the pot. I would have felt horrible saying anything that could be construed against him. But the dealer needs to shut the fuck up. He had the best hand and he deserved to win, but it was pretty bad of the dealer to clarify for him.

To the cash game. I wanted to sit with Angela and Tom and play 2/4 limit, but I couldn't drink and that game is not fun sober. I sat at a 1/2 game and had a really good time. A couple of the people were playing the 7-2 game for $20 each. I'm in. I love that game. I won a few hands and was up about 75 dollars when I got coolered. I have 77. Flop 78q. Two spades. I bet $45. Big stack raises to $100. Having played with him before I know that he will do this with a queen, a flush draw or 7-2. I ship in my stack. He calls fairly quickly with 88. Grr. Set over Set. Rebuy.
I played in this game for another hour or so and got up to $500. One of the girls that was with me wanted a ride back to the h0tel so I cashed out. Small profit. I will take it. Played a little bit of 2/4 with the girls and flopped the K high flush. Same guy from last night flopped a straight flush. Wow. Thank god it was limit. I would have lost a bunch in a no limit game.

Wasn't sure what I was going to do on Sunday. I wanted to play some more but the group I was driving with wanted to go home. We decided that they would go shopping and I would play for a couple hours. I got to the casino and I put my name on the 1/2 list. I was about 7th on the list. I am sitting near the desk and I hear that they are going to open a 2/5 game. Ok. Put me on this list. I decided that I would sit down with $300 and I would not rebuy. I am playing really tight and am down about $25. I am talking the guy next to me and he wins a decent pot. He tells me that it is my turn this hand. There is a straddle for $10. I look down at 2-5 diamonds. Ok. Let's see a flop. There has not been a lot of raising so let's see if I can see a cheap flop. Of course the guy two from me raises to $35. There are 4 callers. Ok. I call. Flop is 5k2. Pretty good flop. (K of diamonds) I hate bottom two pair though. Let's play small and see what happens. I check. Preflop raiser bets 55 one caller. I call as well. Turn is a 4 of diamonds. Now I have two pair and a crappy flush draw. I check. Preflop raiser checks other guy bets $150. I only have $174 so I go all in. He calls of course. River is blank and I announce 2 pair. He mucks. $680 pot. Gotta love it.

I don't play anything for a while until another straddle hand. I have 77. I just call the straddle. Guy who was shoving chips around a lot raising and re raising was the one who straddled. He raised to $55. I call as do two others. Flop is 782. The straddler insta ships $397. I insta call. He looked sick that I called. The guy next to me thinks for a minute and folds. He had an eight. Guy says I have an open ended straight draw. I don't say a thing until the turn is a beautiful 8. I flip over my boat and say ship it! Guy next to me would have hit trip 8s with an A kicker. I would have gotten his stack if it was played differently. I decide I will play one more half hour. I lose about $175 with AQ. I should have folded to his river bet. I was trying to make the hero call. Dumb ass. Down to $975. Grrr. Very next hand I have 56 s on the button. Another straddle. I call for $10. No raises this time. I think that there were 7 to the flop. Flop is 34j. Staddler bets out $45. 2 callers before me. I call. Turn is blank. It is checked to me. I thought about firing a bet but decide that is a bad play. I check. River is a Seven. I have the nuts. Straddler bets out $55 it folds to me and I raise $100 more. He tanks and folds. He said he had two pair. I don't really believe him. I finish out the half hour and when the dealer asks for my money for time, I grab three racks and get ready to leave. I played 2.5 hours and I won over $900. Not a bad afternoon. Really glad that I ignored my rule for this year and put my name on the 2-5 list. Degenerate behavior generally wins out in my world. Glad it did not bite me in the ass like it normally does.

A good start to 2011

My goal of playing more cash games this year is off to a good start. I have played in 4 "home" cash games so far. Unfortunately I have played poorly. I can't blame bad luck or bad cards. (Well I have not had pocket AA yet in a cash game this year) I have made two of the worst calls EVER.



In the first cash game that I played I lost a nominal amount and that can be attributed to no cards and playing for nine hours with very few good hands. I am ok with how this game went.
0-1


In the next game I way overplayed top pair and gave a gift to Terry. Grayday was drinking and playing kind of crazy. Grayday bet 45 on an 8 high flop. Andy and I called. Terry inexplicably raised $200 more. I could not figure out why he was doing that. There were not any draws on the again? I stupidly called his raise and of course he had bottom set. So stupid. Just because I would not have raised there, doesn't mean other people wouldn't. It is a horrible call with my hand. (I had top pair top kicker and backdoor flush draw). Other than that hand I played really well. I re raised quite a bit and was aggressive and smart. Exclude that hand and I have a winning session. 0-2

Next game I played really well until one stupid hand. I got into a pot with Meat in a hand that I should have folded preflop. I flop middle pair with backdoor straight and flush draws. Meat check raises my 30 bet to 130. He has 93 behind. I can fold and still be ok. Nope. I put him all in. He is such a nit. Why would I do that. Very stupid play. So again, play good all night, misplay one hand and another losing session. 0-3.

The last cash game that I played was a time after a big tournament win and I didn't even really want to play, but I had really good focus, so I figured why not. I played well actually and I won. I also did not play very long. 1-3.

So I am getting the opportunity to play cash games regularly, now I just need to play better.

The tournaments have gone well. I have played in three. I have cashed in 2 of the 3. The big one was the CPMG winter classic. A two-day $200 buy in tournament. There were 30 players. I developed a strategy before the tournament and I stuck with it throughout day one. On one of the breaks I decided I had to change my strategy a little bit and it worked. Going into day 2 I was second in chips and had a great table draw. I developed a plan for day 2 and I executed the plan. Overall, it was the best poker that I have ever played and I won the tournament. More later.

Goals for 2011

I have been reading a lot of poker blogs and I see that everyone lists their goals for the year and it got me thinking. What are my poker goals? Do I have any? I have not really had any so I thought that it is about time that I create some goals. I have been playing this game a fairly long time and I have won and lost a lot of money over the years. Thankfully I have actually won more than I lost.

So my goals for 2011.

1. Cash in a "big" mtt. I am defining big as a tournament with at least 125 people and a buy in of more than $250. I have cashed in tournaments that qualify for each criteria but not for both. I should have cashed in the tournament at Meadows in December as I had a huge chip stack and was playing really well. Oh well. I think that I learned something from the experience.

2. Play at least 30 live cash games, excluding casino trips. There are a lot of home games and local "charity" games that I can play. Last year I only played in 20 such games and I did really well. (Excluding one trip to Gemini club where I played 2/5 and got killed with top boat vs. Straight flush. I should have left after that hand, but of course I bought in for another $500 and got squashed.) I need to play in more of these games as these are games where I can generally win.

3. Do not play 2/5. (except at the MGM or Palms in Vegas) I know that this is really not a goal but it is a reminder that I should not be playing in that game. My bankroll is not large enough to handle the swings. At most of the 2-5 games that I play in, the players hate money and just do not care. I have to exclude MGM and Palms because I seem to always win at those two places and I win big. For some stupid reason in my two vegas trips in 2010 I did not play in either place. Guess that is why I lost at the casino cash games last year.

4. Do not deposit more than $300 for on line poker. Lets face it. I suck at on line poker. I have had a few nice scores in mtts, but in general I am not very good. The other part that is hard for me is that it is not "money" that I can see and touch so I do not seem to mind blowing all the money in my account because it is not "real". I know that I will periodically deposit $50 here and there if there is a Sunday afternoon that I am home and a tourney that I really want to play so I do not want to cut it out completely.

5. Play Colin heads up. I am not really sure why I have this a goal for this year but it popped in my head so there you have it. I think that Colin is one of the best players that I know and I think it will be interesting playing him heads up.

6. Play another wsop event. I have played at least one event in each of the last three years and I had a great time. Each year I have sat with at least one person that is a "name" in the poker world. On two occasions I was right next to the person so I had the opportunity to talk with them. It was fun. Of course now I am like a stalker and pay attention to everything that they do.

7. Make up for the losses that I had in 2010. I know that we are supposed to look at poker as one long game and not be so concerned about short term variance, but I had a REALLY bad year in 2010. Most of my losses came in cash games at casinos. I have studied my notes from each losing session and have determined that most of the "big" losses have come after I take a horrendous beat and then play bad. Can you say TILT????

8. Stop going on TILT. It is really easy to say but oh so hard to do. I really think that if I get the opportunity to play more often that it will be easier to stay off tilt. My thinking now is that when I lose a big chuck of money because of a bad beat, I need to make up the losses now as I do not know when I will be able to play again.

To help achieve many of these goals this year I am going to have cash games in my office. I bought a table and chips and I am excited about it. The bad part is that the players that I will be playing against are pretty good, but I generally hold my own against them. I think that this will help me achieve all of my goals. We shall see.

Vegas

****I thought that this was posted a while ago. Oops.*****

Vegas was a blast. I had a really good time but I could not win. I was at a bunch of tables with the WORST players ever and I lost everytime. It was crazy. One guy had two of the biggest tells I have ever seen and I could not capitalize on either of them. Everytime I got in a hand with him I knew exactly where I was with him, but someone else (who also knew where they were with him) interfered. It really sucked. I was at a point where I was seriously considering giving up playing poker, but as I thought about the hands, I do not think that I would have played the hands differently. I think I just had a lot of bad luck. There was some bad play, but not enough to make me give up. I am getting there though.