O-Poker

OK. I decided to play the $150 Pearl Tourney on Paradise tonight after a good run in some cash games. This hand happened 20 minutes into the tourney. I had played 2 hands previous to this. (see Loopy it happens to us all.)


Game #1185821331 - Tournament Pearl - 15/30 No Limit Texas Hold'em - 2005/12/30-22:39:33.7 (CST)

Table "Pearl 13" (MTT) -- Seat 7 is the button

Seat 1: TTech94 (1,425 in chips)

Seat 2: brv dave (2,620 in chips)

Seat 3: Mr.Chavez (725 in chips)

Seat 4: talis (900 in chips)

Seat 5: E500*** (1,520 in chips)

Seat 6: thedog (1,565 in chips)

Seat 7: cmitch (1,900 in chips)

Seat 8: Grinch01 (2,385 in chips)

Seat 9: snake002 (3,075 in chips)

Seat 10: G Jr.19 (1,450 in chips)

Grinch01: Post Small Blind (15)

snake002: Post Big Blind (30)

Dealing...

Dealt to cmitch [ Kd ]Dealt to cmitch [ Ks ]

G Jr.19 : Fold

TTech94 : Fold

brv dave: Fold

Mr.Chavez: Fold

talis : Fold

E500*** : Fold

thedog : Fold

cmitch : Raise (90)

Grinch01: Fold

snake002: Call (60)

*** FLOP *** : [ 5s 3c 8h ]

snake002: Check

cmitch : Bet (140)

snake002: Raise (400)

cmitch : Raise (1,670)

snake002: Call (1,410)

*** TURN *** : [ 5s 3c 8h ] [ 2d ]

*** RIVER *** : [ 5s 3c 8h 2d ] [ Tc ]

*** SUMMARY ***

Pot: 3,815 Board: [ 5s 3c 8h 2d Tc ]

TTech94 didn't bet (folded)

brv dave didn't bet (folded)

Mr.Chavez didn't bet (folded)

talis didn't bet (folded)

E500*** didn't bet (folded)

thedog didn't bet (folded)

cmitch lost 1,900 (showed hand) [ Kd Ks ] (a pair of kings)

Grinch01 lost 15 (folded)

snake002 bet 1,900, collected 3,815, net +1,915 (showed hand) [ 8s Th ] (two pair, tens and eights)

G Jr.19 didn't bet (folded)

I have being running around the state of Florida since last week. I'm finally home now and have the week off, so I will probably be playing a good amount of poker. I have played a few MTTs in the last few days with a few ITM finishes and one 4th place finish in a $33.

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I DVRed (if that is a word - might be included in the next dictionary update) the WSOP Tourney of Champions and watched it last night. I'm sure everyone reading this has seen it already, but talk about awesome poker. I don't think you can get a much more interesting final table, from a TV veiwing point of view. Matusow was ribbing Phil Hellmuth like crazy. Hoyt was sucking out left and right. Hellmuth was, well, Hellmuth. Dannemann went off on Hellmuth - calling him a Punk long after giving him a donkey as a XMas present. How much better TV can it get? I think the only thing better would have been Phil losing to a 2 outer on the river (didn't happen). I know a lot of people don't like Matusow, but how can you not root for a dengerate gambler to win and get the $$ to get him back on his feet. GG Mike.

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I was going through some old baby pics and came across a box containing our Aruba 2003 pics. Some of them are hilarious. I am not one for getting my picture taken with anyone famous, but I was very drunk on my last night in Aruba.

We drank a lot on our last day in Aruba and wound up at Carlos and Charlies. It was, also, the same day as the final table of the WPT Ultimatebet.com Aruba event. Shortly after we arrived at C&Cs the place starting filling up. Several shots later, almost everyone in Aruba for the UB tourney was there. I started buying shots for Daniel Larrson, who finished 2nd (I had play a few cash games with him). I, also, bought shots for Erick Lindgren. He came in 1st and in my drunken stupor I told him that he was now "World Famous." I guess I was right since that was his first big win and put him on the map.

I even bought shots for Phil Hellmuth.

I will try and post some of the pics later this week. When you see that glazed look in my eyes, you will wonder how I am even standing.

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As I was posting this I had a fun hand. (since the sarcasm) Playing in a tourney, before the 1st break. Blinds 50/100. Early position limps. I raise to 400 with AA. He calls. Flop is 226. He checks I bet 400. He goes all in. (we are about even in chips) I call. He turns over 64o??? Turn 5. River 3. Gotta love those kind of hands.

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I am heading to the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa tomorrow to play a MTT $85+$15. I may play a few SNGs as well.

OK. I don't think I have any more ramblings right now.

cmitch

I have been playing very little poker lately :(

Reasons for my lack of play and blog involvement over the last few months:
Countless weekend trips
My wife's grandmother passed away a few weeks ago
Have been very busy leading up to the Holidays
My cousin got married and I was in the wedding
Flu (not the bird-flu, but the flu none the less)
Did I mention the weekend trips?

That being said, I plan on starting a Gidders-esque Sit & Go challenge during Christmas break. It all depends on the time allowed as another trip to South Carolina is looming, but I will be sure to update the blog with any activity.

How's that for a post Cmitch! Not very interesting is it :)

Loooooooopy

A few months ago I received an email from Loopy inviting me to start blogging with him on O-Poker. I wasn't really sure about it at first. I didn't think there were very many people that read poker blogs. I decided to jump in and join Loopy. I was still skeptical as can be seen in my first post.

I figured that I would post every couple of days and Loopy would also - between the two of us we would keep things fresh. Well, it is now a few months and 70 posts later. Loopy has posted exactly 11 times. The last time he posted was 11/21/05, almost exactly 1 month ago. It was never my intention to take over the blog. I hope Loopy does not feel that way. I am interested in what is going on with your poker. I think both your poker playing and your new poker business idea are interesting and am eagerly awaiting your next post.

So, LOOPY, I am calling you out.

We need a Loopy post!!!

cmitch

That is right. I found this hand history from the $50/$100 NL tables on UB. It was an $80k REAL MONEY pot involving two monster hands. I can’t even imagine what it must feel like to win or lose that hand. Straight flush takes down a full house.

Hand #10102439-9073 at Holden (No Limit Hold'em)
Powered by UltimateBet
Started at 16/Dec/05 01:22:23
Mahatma is at seat 1 with $87221.
BrightIdea is at seat 2 with $9903.50.
anyone is at seat 3 with $39814.
The Awesomest is at seat 5 with $9900.
The button is at seat 1.

BrightIdea posts the small blind of $50.
anyone posts the big blind of $100.

Pre-flop:

The Awesomest folds. Mahatma raises to $350.
BrightIdea folds. anyone calls.

Flop (board: Ts 7d 5d):
anyone checks. Mahatma bets $750. anyone raises to $1500. Mahatma calls.

Turn (board: Ts 7d 5d 6c):
anyone bets $2300. Mahatma calls.
River (board: Ts 7d 5d 6c 6d):

anyone bets $4100. Mahatma goes all-in for $83071.
anyone goes all-in for $35664.
Mahatma is returned $47407 (uncalled).

Showdown:
Mahatma shows 5s 6s.
Mahatma has 5s 6s 5d 6c 6d: full house, sixes full of fives.
anyone shows 3d 4d.
anyone has 3d 4d 7d 5d 6d: straight flush, seven high.

Hand #10102439-9073 Summary:

$2 is raked from a pot of $79678.
anyone wins $79,676 with straight flush, seven high.

All I can say is unreal.

cmitch

It has been difficult to play any live poker lately since our baby was born in October. I finally got a chance again last night to play in the Wed. night UPC tourney.

Tourney Details
$150 buy-in
18 players (actually 17 + 1 guy rebought in a seat that was a no show)
Top 3 Paid
Starting Chips - $16,000
Starting Blinds - $100/$200, escalating every 20 minutes

(If you don't like long tourney reports - this post will bore you.)

I had one of those nights were everything was clicking. I had a hectic day at work and was just looking forward to playing some poker and blowing off some steam. The last time I played there, I went in thinking way too much about everything that I needed to do to win. This time it was just about playing my game.

From the start of the night, I was in a zone. I haven't had that feeling with live poker in a while. The kind of feeling where you are certain when you have the best hand and make the perfect bets to extract the max. chips. The kind of feeling when you have a good hand that you know is beat and don't even second guess yourself for laying it down. It also helped that I caught a few hands early.

One key hand came early when I was dealt QQ on the button. A guy in late position that had been raising a lot raised the 200 BB to 600. I flat called along with SB and BB. The flop came 852 and LP guy bet 800. I raised to 1,800. SB and BB fold. LP calls. Turn is a blank. He checks and I bet 3k. He calls. River a blank. He checks and I bet 4k. He calls. I don't like to waste time and I immediately flip up my QQ knowing that it is the best hand and LP mucks. I think that if I raised preflop with the QQ then I don't make anywhere near as much on that hand. I don't know what the guy had but I would have bet anyone $100 that he had A8.

A few other key hands:

Dealt Q8o in the SB and call after three other callers. I checked "in the dark" and the flop came Q88 with two diamonds. It checked around and I was hoping someone would be chasing a flush. Turn was a 9. I bet and 1 guy called. River was a 7. I bet again and won the pot. I showed my hand to let everyone think I was only betting big with my great hands.

I was a monster stack and get dealt 99 UTG and limp. A guy in middle position, who is tilting a little after losing JJ vs AA makes a standard raise. The BB goes all in for a little more than 1/4 of my stack. The middle position raiser has about 1/3 of my stack. I push all in and MP thinks and folds 88. BB has 77 and my 99 holds up. (My thinking was BB had an ace. He had made a call against a short stack's all-in with A6o for about half of chips earlier. I didn't want middle position to catch any overcards.) There was no difference between going all in and calling.

I cruised into the final table (11 players) with 80k in chips (27% of the chips). It was nice to be down to the final table at UPC and have the blinds at 300/600 to start. After the break all the small chips were raced off and the blinds went up to 500/1,000. I played pretty tight and didn't pick up any hands for a few levels as other got knocked out. I began stealing a lot of pots when the blinds reached 2k/4k. I put a short stack all in with AJ vs his KJ and the AJ held up.

The final four was tough. The other three guys were all very good players. 4th place was the bubble and all of the other guys had a few chips and didn't need to take big gambles yet. I started selectively stealing since I had a big chip lead. Then the perfect hand came up against Dan.

Dan raises from the button and I look down at AA. I think for a few seconds and flat call. Flop is A57 and I immediately check. Dan thinks, counts his chips and then goes all in. He made a good move at the absolute wrong time. I turned my cards up and after the blank on the turn, he mucked his cards without showing.

Shortly after 3 handed play started the blinds increased to 5k/10k. I went card dead at this point but picked up a few pots because of my stack.

2nd stack busted out the low stack and I barely had a chip advantage - 160k vs. 130k. First place was $1,080 and 2nd place was $650. Instead of the normal chop, I suggested that 1st place give $100 to 2nd place to make the payouts $980 and $750 and we agreed.

Frank was very aggressive and I had to put all my chips in a couple of times with mediocre hands to stay close to par. The blinds were now 10k/20k so it wasn't going to last long. I limped with 57s and Frank checked. The flop came KK7 and I bet out because there was 40k in the pot and the only way that he was calling was with a King and possibly a 7. My luck ran out as he flipped up AK.

It felt good to play some live poker and I'm happy with 2nd place for $750.

cmitch

Pokerstars doesn’t like me right now. I just played the $33 PL and the following hand came up to knock me out.

PokerStars Game #3326836604: Tournament #16317536, Hold'em Pot Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2005/12/13 - 21:32:16 (ET)
Table '16317536 1' Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Pomade (3985 in chips)
Seat 2: sportingimag (1090 in chips)
Seat 3: TacoCabana (2585 in chips)
Seat 4: charr (1705 in chips)
Seat 5: nickeye (1650 in chips)
Seat 7: mayor2 (1985 in chips)
Seat 8: billoyar (1430 in chips)
Seat 9: diehardmick (2800 in chips)
TacoCabana: posts small blind 25
charr: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to sportingimag [Ks Kc]
nickeye: folds
mayor2: folds
billoyar: raises 100 to 150
diehardmick: folds
Pomade: folds
sportingimag: raises 100 to 250
TacoCabana: folds
charr: calls 200
billoyar: calls 100
*** FLOP *** [3h 4s 9h]
charr: bets 775
billoyar: folds
sportingimag: raises 65 to 840 and is all-in
charr: calls 65
*** TURN *** [3h 4s 9h] [8d]
*** RIVER *** [3h 4s 9h 8d] [Ah]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
charr: shows [Qc Ac] (a pair of Aces)
sportingimag: shows [Ks Kc] (a pair of Kings)
charr collected 2455 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2455 Rake 0
Board [3h 4s 9h 8d Ah]
Seat 1: Pomade folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: sportingimag (button) showed [Ks Kc] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 3: TacoCabana (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: charr (big blind) showed [Qc Ac] and won (2455) with a pair of Aces
Seat 5: nickeye folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: mayor2 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: billoyar folded on the Flop
Seat 9: diehardmick folded before Flop (didn't bet)

cmitch

$50 NL Tourney on Pokerstars

I played the $50 NL tourney on pokerstars last night. I guess you could say that I “played” the tourney. I had only been inlvolved in one hand in the 1st four minutes – limp, missed the flop and folded to a bet in mult-way pot.

Then the critical hand – I’m dealt QQ in early position. I raise and get 2 callers – late position and big blind. The flop came 583. Here is how the rest of the hand unfolded. (I should have tripled up.) What were these guys thinking?

*** FLOP *** [5c 8c 3d]
TiltHappens: bets 100
sportingimag: raises 260 to 360
Mancifex: folds
The Hat: calls 360
TiltHappens: raises 1080 to 1440 and is all-in
sportingimag: calls 1060 and is all-in
The Hat: calls 1040 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [5c 8c 3d] [7c]
*** RIVER *** [5c 8c 3d 7c] [Ah]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
TiltHappens: shows [7d 8d] (two pair, Eights and Sevens)
sportingimag: shows [Qs Qd] (a pair of Queens)
TiltHappens collected 40 from side pot
The Hat: shows [Ad 5s] (two pair, Aces and Fives)
The Hat collected 4450 from main pot

It was frustrating to get all my chips in with a chance to triple up early and lose.

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HU Step Challenge

I started the 10th session of my HU Step Challenge (click for details). I have played one match so far and I won it in exactly 1 hand – see below. I’ll update my progress on Monday.

PokerStars Game #3294248922: Tournament #16312657, Hold'em No Limit – Match
Round I, Level I (10/20) - 2005/12/10 - 12:48:04 (ET)
Table '16312657 1' One on One Seat #1 is the button

Seat 1: HelmetSky (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: sportingimag (1500 in chips)
HelmetSky: posts small blind 10
sportingimag: posts big blind 20

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to sportingimag [Ac Ad]
HelmetSky: raises 40 to 60
sportingimag: raises 40 to 100
HelmetSky: raises 1400 to 1500 and is all-in
sportingimag: calls 1400 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [Qs 3c 5d]
*** TURN *** [Qs 3c 5d] [Th]
*** RIVER *** [Qs 3c 5d Th] [Tc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***

sportingimag: shows [Ac Ad] (two pair, Aces and Tens)
HelmetSky: shows [Jc Jh] (two pair, Jacks and Tens)
sportingimag collected 3000 from pot

*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3000 Rake 0
Board [Qs 3c 5d Th Tc]
Seat 1: HelmetSky (button) (small blind) showed [Jc Jh] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Tens
Seat 2: sportingimag (big blind) showed [Ac Ad] and won (3000) with two pair, Aces and Tens


Have a good weekend.
cmitch

I'll make this quick. Poker Plans this weekend.

- Play 2 Heads Up Step Challenges - click here for details.

- Play Friday Night $55 NL tourney on Pokerstars at 10 PM

- Play 1 or 2 180 person $22 SNG tourneys on Pokerstars

- Play at least one other Multi-Table Tourney

- Play NL short handed cash games

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Work is crazy. Christmas time is crazy (or Holiday season for the p.c.). I am busy!! Hopefully, I will find some to to play some live poker soon. I may try to head to the Hard Rock in Tampa and play a tourney when I'm off between Xmas and New Year's.

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I am in the process of creating a new excel spreadsheet to track all my poker play. I will implement it on Jan. 1 to help track winnings for tax purposes next year. I will post the recap information and, hopefully, everyone will give me some constructive comments. I have broken it down by the following items for now:

NL-Cash Short Handed
NL-Cash Full Table
Limit-Cash Short Handed
Limit-Cash Full Table
SNG-Full
SNG-Short
SNG-Heads Up
SNG-2 table
SNG-Satellites
Multi-Table Tourney - haven't broken it down by type, but have it set up to sort by tourney type
Bonus Sheet

There is a lot of detail on each sheet and it all goes forward to the recap, as I finalize the spreadsheet I will post the details.

OK - That is all for now

cmitch

I just finished playing the 6th match ($105) in my 9th session and lost. So I netted $133 for that session and a whopping overall total of +$25.

I am a little burned out on the heads up matches right now and will probably play a tourney tonight.

I will start a new heads up step challenge this weekend.

cmitch

Yesterday was Day 2 of my Heads Up Step Challenge. (Click here - Heads Up Step Challenge for the details.) I got off to a very, very slow start, but things picked up at the end of the night.

Session 4-8 (-$105)
I lost five $21 heads up SNGs in a row. I played great in 3 of the games and poorly in one of the games. I forgot how painful playing heads up SNGs can be, especially against hyper-aggressive players. For some reason, a lot of the players at the $21 SNGs on pokerstars are playing the games like they are ultra-turbos.

The first game (session 4) set a bad tone for the night. The guy that I was playing against raised every pot from the start of the game to $120 preflop with the blinds at the 10/20 level. After about 8 hands of his $120 preflop bets with me folding, I was dealt JJ and re-raised him another $200. He immediately went all in and surprise, surprise he had AA. Uggh!! The one time where I can actually play back against the guy he has AA.

Some of the other matches:

I flop two pair when blinds are high and we are even. All the chips go in on the flop and other guy hits his flush on the river.

Player started going all in every hand once he was down to 800 chips. I call with 1010 and flop a set. He made a straight with his 78o. A few hands later my top pair and straight draw lost to his two pair.

Session 9 (still in progress - currently +$238)
Match 1,2 - I was having trouble playing against some of the all in maniacs at the $21 level. No one folds any draw to any bet and they were hitting their draws. I decided to switch things up a bit - probably not the smartest thing. Instead of playing Match 1 and 2 at $21 each, I played a $50 +$2.50 heads up SNG. It worked out because I won it pretty easily. I considered this win a Match 1 and 2 win.

Match 3 ($52.50) - Win
Match 4 ($52.50) - Win
Match 5 ($105) - Win

So, thanks to a jumpstart I am on to match 6 tonight. Hopefully, that move will propel me on up the heads up ladder.

Totals to date
Total winnings (still in progress) - $130
Total time played - 6.5 hours
Net/Hour - $20/hr
Record - 9-8

cmitch

I am a computard. I can't figure out an easy way to publish the spreadsheet that I am using to track my progress in the Heads up Step Challenge. I tried Tripjax's suggestions and it helped. Let me know if the spreadsheet below is messing up everyone's screen. It looks ok on my screen, but I have a strange feeling it might be messed up.

I played three sessions last night.

Session 1 (+$33)
Match 1 ($20+$1) Win - I got off to a very shaky start. I lost with JJ to 47 after a 4 on river early. I then lost with AA to 23s when guy caught his flush. I was down to 190 chips and came back to win. Patience was the key. The guy was horrible and I managed to wait and get lucky.

Match 2 ($20+$1) Win - Quick and easy match that didn't last past the 1st level. The guy was a maniac that was playing all in preflop poker at the 1st level. He went all in when I flopped top pair and he flopped bottom pair.

Match 3 ($50+$2.50) Win - I got all my chips in with top pair and open ended straight draw against an overpair. I got lucky and made two pair to win. It does happen both ways.

Match 4 ($50+$2.50) Loss - I flopped a set, all the chips went in and the guy rivered a flush.

Session 2 (-$21)
Match 1 ($20+$1) Loss - Another maniac that was going all in pratically every hand. After about 10 hands I flop two pair and he goes all in with his underpair to the board. He makes a set on the river.

Session 3 (-$15)
Match 1 ($20+$1) Win - It seems most of the players at the $21 level are maniacs. This match didn't last past the 1st level. I won it very easy by putting all my chips in with the nuts and the guy called with middle pair and drawing dead.

Match 2 ($20+$1) Win - Probably the fastest heads up match that I have ever played. It lasted exactly 3 hands. Another wild bettor went all in with top pair vs. my overpair.

Match 3 ($50+$2.50) Loss - Very, very frustrating. Somehow my connection slowed to a snails pace and it took 30 seconds for action to happen after I clicked check, fold, raise, etc. I timed out a few times when I had big hands. I eventually lost when the blinds started getting high with A10 vs AJ. Gotta check the connection tonight. I feel that I lost because of my connection.

Session 1-3 (-$3) - Net loss of $3. Record in matches was 5-3. I will try again tonight and see how it goes.

Good luck at the tables,
cmitch