A Sit-and-Go Just for the Purpose of an Update

I haven't updated this blog in a month.

Let me rank the reasons why:

1. Guitar Hero (I, II, and III)
2. Other work on the site Arabianmonkey.com
3. Work
4. Stuff around the apartment
5. School

Yet I digress- it's not like I just chose not to update. I have seriously played less that 12 hours of poker in 2008. Crazy, isn't it? I theorize that I will eventually get sick of Guitar Hero and my playing ability will plateau, leading me back to the poker table.

But since that hasn't happened yet, I purposely sat my ass down with my hand generator and this blog window specifically to write about a Sit-and-Go. So here it is, nothing fancy, just some simply hand analysis of a meat-and-potatoes $5+.50 NL Hold'em 9-player Sit-and-Go. I had to use the old hand generator because I forgot my password to the new-fangled one.


I folded through the first level. I took a flop with 66, whiffed and let it go. The table seemed pretty standard- nothing crazy happening. Then I picked up AsQs in my BB. UTG limped, so did the cutoff. SB makes it 200 to go, 5x the BB. UTG then shoves. What the fuck? Cutoff folds, SB thinks a while and calls. Easy fold for me, right? UTG must be looking for that classic limp and trap play with AA or KK. SB must have at least AK, right? It's been a while since I've played, so I guess I'm impatient. I call. SB has QQ, UTG has 88. Board bricks. I'm out. Did I say I was only going to play one tournamet? Hahahaha... LET'S TRY AGAIN!

ROUND 2

Things started out much the same, playing Texas Fold'em. I took a small pot in my SB with J9. Then in the second level a confrontation arose that nearly made this blog unworthy of posting. Check out the action...

I figured we might be racing. Shit, it was almost 2:30am- sleep isn't such a bad consolation prize.

Two hands later I woke up in the BB with AQ. The short-stacked button minraised, the SB called and I jammed it. It folded to the button, who promptly called, and I was racing again. Here's how it turned out.

With almost 4,500 chips under my belt, I was pretty set. We very quickly became 5-handed and things tightened up. I called a raise on the button with QsTs, hoping to hit a good flop against a pretty TAG player. It came down with the As and the Ks. I had a royal flush draw and a gut shot. He continuation bet, and I called, with the intention of jamming the turn no matter what fell and how he acted. The turn was an 8, giving me an extra 4 outs. He timidly checked, and I decided to push and take it down.

A little while later, this hand came up. I nearly folded the turn; I swear to God my poker senses kicked in and almost saved me some money. He made it so affordable that I had to pay him off though. The short stack played the hand perfectly.

I made it back later though. I wasn't too scared of AK here, so when I pushed I felt pretty safe. He seemed to pretend to think about a call before letting it go.

Ugh. This always seems to happen. I wish he had just folded.

You might say I had a pretty good read on the guy on my right. Check out the river action on this baby.

The blinds got higher and my opponents' stacks got smaller. Out of necessity I called the all in of the 4th place finsher, and the next hand I took out the 3rd place guy for the same reason- he was just too short stacked for me not to call.

After some back and forth heads-up action. I noticed my opponent was getting frustrated. I raised three straight hands and then picked up AA. He raised from the button, trying to steal his thunder back. I, of course, declared that this was my table and re-raised. He cold called and I checked him the flop to see if he would hang himself. Not yet. I even gave him a free river card when he opted out of suicide again. But I jammed the un-important river card and he called VERY quickly with King-high. What a bitch. Check out the hand- there's nothing better than ending a tourney with AA.

-The Gerk-

The Gerk Wins Full Tilt $5.50 Deep Stack 90-Person SNG

So, here's a long awaited update...

We played three tournaments at my apartment Monday night. I took the first two, and in last one I dropped two buy-ins from erratic play induced by slight drunkenness. Oh well, it had been a while since I had tasted the sweet nectar that is Blue Moon. The highlight of the evening occurred in the first tournament when Max called my all-in with a four card straight, 6 to 9. This would normally be really embarrassing, but it was doubly so because moments before it happened he was talking about when he first played the game years ago, and how he used to call his brothers with four card straights and flushes. WOW. It was one of the most entertaining moments our game has ever had.

I haven't been playing much internet poker lately. I partook in a 1200 person Knock-Out tournament (where each player has a bounty on his head) a few days ago, when I busted in the 400's and only took out two players, both on the same hand.

This morning I woke up early to do some science labs, and entered a 90 person deep-stack tournament to bide the time. The damn thing lasted almost four hours, but it was well worth it. I won the tournament and it's $112.50 first prize.

Here's the last hand: http://www.pokerhand.org/?1698047

I don't have any other hands to post, but there were other highlights. I doubled up to over 6000 very early, and played Texas Fold 'em while keeping a tight image through the first hour and a half. I was playing patiently, and it worked out. I got sucked out on in a big pot only once, in a 7k pot where we got it all in on a Q-9-7 flop. I had QJ and he had JT. The turn was an 8 and I was hammered down to about 3k. I rebuilt my stack, and got it up to around 12k before I two-outered a short stack. I raised from the cutoff with QK, he minraised on the button with KK. I just called, and the flop was Q-high. He only had about 1000 left, so we got it in and the turn fell a queen.

We played ten handed for almost an hour, and at one point I was down to only 3200 with the blinds at 200/400. I pushed with AJ, was called by K-x, and it held. The very next hand I pushed my 7.5k with 44, and it held against AT. I was back in business.

At the final table I played pretty well, but I made one crucial mistake that ended up working out in my favor. With around 45k, I raised to 3200 UTG with 88 (we were 7-handed). Everyone folded to the BB, who called. The flop was 6-4-4. He bet out 9000, and I just called instead of pushing, despite thinking he was kind of LAGgy, and had a wide range. The turn was a Q, and he bet the pot. I moved in over the top, and he called... with AQ. I had given him a turn he didn't need to see. It was a huge mistake that would have left me with only hundreds of chips, but the fates aligned and the turn fell an 8. I was catapulted into the chiplead with 93,000 chips.

I laid low for a while, and eventually ended up busting 5 of 7 players to get myself heads-up. I had a 2:1 lead, but he played a stellar LAG style two-handed. He had me on the ropes, but I made the nut straight with 79 and took half of his stack. We exchanged blows until the final hand, which I posted earlier.

112.50 is cool with me, I'm pumped about another tournament win. I should seriously stop playing ring games, I am a much better MTT player.

-Peace out, and good luck at the tables!-

A Full Tilt Tournament

I played in a 90 person Sit-and-Go today on Full Tilt. I started by doubling up with 99 in the third level. Then I lost a huge pot when I got it all-in with 7h9h on a board of Th-Jh-Ts-6h. He had Ace-Ten and checked the flop. Of course he rivered an ace.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1491653
I moved to a new table, this was the second hand. The first hand I jammed the 7-J-7 flop with 44 and took it down.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1491662
Three hands after the KKKK hand, this happens. I was ready to give it up on the turn, which I was surprised he checked. I guess I can fold the river to a minraise, but it is possible he would be betting that flop with the lower straight draw. Idk, I'm not folding here.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1491694
I was sure I had the MP caller, but I was just praying the blind didn't have it.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1491724
Eeeeewwwwwww... I feel bad for him, but I'm not folding Blind v. Blind for 2BBs. Sorry.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1491759
The good ol' limp-re-raise. One of the best moves in my poker game. My style makes this look like a steal... but in reality, I'm stealing your chips.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1491778
He's not supposed to be button limping with JJ on such a short stack lol. But either way, better to be lucky than good.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1491802
Haha luck's way of letting me know I can't always win. Ride that 5% baby! I guess I was lucky it was a short stack.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1491921
This was the hand that burst the bubble. He ridiculed me for calling his tiny stack in my BB with A8. Moron.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1491948
My last hand. I should've raised preflop, but seeing how he played the hand postflop, he would've just called me and I would've busted anyway. At such high blinds, it's almost impossible to know that he's getting sneaky with AQ.

15th place is okay, but I wanted to win it. Damn.

-The Gerk-

Tilt Talk, A Huge Hand

My PLO excursion over the last week has been filled with ups and downs. Some days I felt like I was playing pretty well, given my relative skill level, and I would squeeze out a buy-in or two profit. Other days, I would be tilting pretty hard, without ever taking a beat to encourage such bad play, and I would drop 2, 3, maybe 4 buy-ins before I finally signed off in shame.

Let's talk about tilt for a minute. "Tilt" is a word generally used to describe the frustration of a player due to any number of causes, and the resulting effect on the way he plays. Most times, a particularly bad beat will send a player into tilt mode, causing him to try to recoup his losses as quickly as possible, by playing more hands and pushing all-in with very modest holdings. Sometimes, when a player is tilting badly, he just wants to bust and get away from the table. It is important for a successful player to understand who at his table is steaming so that he can adjust his play against that player. When a bad beat doesn't tilt a player, any number of things might alter the way he plays- fatigue, boredom, hunger, frustration, table talk, or the need to be somewhere else are just some of the factors that can cause tilt.

Back to my talk about PLO. In Hold'em, I find that I only tilt when I'm frustrated or take a big bad beat that would've greatly changed my chances of winning a tournament/ making money in a cash game. However, in Pot Limit Omaha, I sometimes find myself tilting IMMEDIATELY upon sitting down at a table. I'm playing too loose, making too many crying/hero calls, and just all around not playing the game the way I need to play it in order to win. I'm unsure what causes this- maybe it is the huge emphasis on draws as opposed to legit hands like in Hold'em. When I sit down, I feel like the best way to make money is to get my stack in with the nut flush draw and suck out- but clearly that is not the best way to profit in Omaha. It feels like I'm tilting in one way or another 75% of the time at a PLO table. But that other 25%, I don't think I'm a bad player, just inexperienced.

I had worked my roll on UltimateBet up to 105.00, from the 75.00 I started with. I have played almost exclusively .10/.25PLO, but I have also sat down at a .25/.50 NL Hold'em table and a .01/.02PLO table (While I was waiting for a .10/.25 to open up). I lost a couple buy-ins Wednesday, a couple buy-ins Thursday, a couple buy-ins Friday, made a little on Saturday, and lost 2.5 buy-ins Sunday before making a push. I was down to like 20.00 in my account besides the 10.00 I took to the PLO table. I had about an hour to screw around, and before long I had doubled up. Then, just like that, I turned a set and completed my full-house to bust a guy and was up to 35.00 at my table. Common sense told to me to just leave the table- I had to be at my parents at 7:00 for my dad's birthday and I hadn't even gotten him a card yet. It was 6:15 and I needed to shower, but I felt like I was running well so I didn't leave the table. Then a monster hand came up, an incredible only-in-Omaha hand... that I will break down in it's entirety during my next blog posting. :)

(A CLIFFHANGER ENDING?!?!? WTF?!?!?)

-The Gerk-

Live Games Are My Specialty

I have had no success whatsoever on the internet lately. Every time I've had a chance to make a splash in an MTT or even a 9-person Sit and Go, something terrible always happens and I bust outside of the money. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I've run QQ into KK, KK into AA, or AK into KK. I feel like even my monster hands are about to be outdrawn or counterfeited. It has been a very long time since I've felt this insecure at the poker table. I am playing scared- and scared poker is losing poker.

My Pokerstars bankroll is very, very low. Dangerously low. Like, I could very soon have no Pokerstars bankroll low. My bad run the last few weeks has absolutely destroyed me- I've switched gears, games, and playing styles and yet nothing can get me out of this internet funk. I'm not sure what I'm doing differently that is resulting in me losing money, but I need to get out of it and save myself before I lose it all.

Meanwhile, I am incredibly happy with my live game. Although I busted fast in the big K of C tournament last week, I know that I played well, and it has carried over into the weekly games I play with the guys. On Saturday we had a crew over at my apartment, playing Hold'em tournaments and NBA LIVE '07 on the Playstation 2. That night I won two out of three. On Monday, we played our usual game, and I won two out of three tournaments that night too. In fact, the only tourney I didn't win was the first one, where I was essentially coolered into busting. The blinds were 1.00/2.00, and everyone limped into me in the BB. I found AcQs, and pushed for 18.00 more. The SB folded and Derek called instantly, turning over the hand he said he had, AhAd. The flop came all spades, giving me outs, but Derek faded the turn and river to bust me. Five handed, I'm not sure what else I'm supposed to do with AQ there.

Today I worked on the website a bit and then hit the .10/.25NL tables where, once again, I could get no momentum. I'd really like to have to go back and edit this blog entry to mention an incredible victory at the tables, but I'm fairly sure that won't be necessary.

-The Gerk-