O-Poker

I watched one of this week's episodes of Poker After Dark last night - I think it was the Tues night/Wed morning episode. Doyle and TJ were reminiscing about some of the Old School poker players. They started talking about one guy in particular (don’t remember his name) that TJ said played extremely tight when he was sober and too loose when he was drunk. He went on to say that the guy was one of the toughest players that he had ever faced when he only had a couple of drinks in him.

(I stole this image from Craig - hopefully, it is ok. If not, let me know and I'll take it down.)

Alcohol lowers your inhibitions, but it can also cloud your judgement. When it comes to poker, there is a very fine line between the two. There are a few players that immediately come to mind.

I have had a long stressful week at work, so I decided to take it easy and have a couple of drinks last night. I knew that it wouldn’t be a good idea to fire up four 6 max cash tables. My mind wasn’t into it. I messed around with a few games here and there while waiting for the final HU match with meclarich. He beat me pretty handily. On the final hand, we got all in on a Queen high flop – my Q2 was no match for his KQ and a very solid player moves on to the next round. GG Me.

I played in the FTP $50/$50k last night and decided to take a get chips early or bust out quickly attitude. I know this isn’t the best mind frame for a mtt, but I was itching for action and testing out playing a lot more hyper aggressively than normal. I wanted to try to build a big stack quickly to be able to muscle later pots with a big stack when I sensed weakness. I’m sure the drinks were starting to kick in, but it was probably good for the gambling style that I was trying to play.

The following hand came up early and I felt like it was a perfect spot to gamble: (Opinions?)

Full Tilt Poker Game #3554475240: The Fifty-Fifty (26070880), Table 109 - 10/20 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:36:23 ET - 2007/09/13
Seat 1: johnpilot (2,300)
Seat 2: portlewis2 (1,890)
Seat 3: TAYCAR (1,560)
Seat 4: cobrakai111 (2,960)
Seat 5: mmt5269 (1,410)
Seat 6: cmitch (1,980)
Seat 7: Freightwhore (2,000)
Seat 8: greggb1 (1,900)
Seat 9: Anna508 (2,000)
cmitch posts the small blind of 10
Freightwhore posts the big blind of 20
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to cmitch [7c 9s]
greggb1 folds
Anna508 folds
johnpilot folds
portlewis2 has 15 seconds left to act
portlewis2 raises to 120
TAYCAR has 15 seconds left to act
TAYCAR folds
cobrakai111 folds
mmt5269 folds
cmitch calls 110 (Horrible call, but I wanted to gamble. I know, I know - really -EV call, but if I hit I am most likely doubling up) - Don't need opinions on this call.

Freightwhore calls 100
*** FLOP *** [6d 7h 8c]
cmitch bets 20 (The little bet sometimes stop people dead in their tracks. They usually either flat call or make a huge overbet.)

Freightwhore calls 20 :)

portlewis2 raises to 500 (He is letting me know right now that he has an overpair and doesn't want to let me draw.)

cmitch raises to 1,860, and is all in (I figure that I'm almost a coin flip, 45-47% range against an overpair, plus the added advantage of a very loose image if I win the pot.)

Freightwhore folds
portlewis2 calls 1,270, and is all in
cmitch shows [7c 9s]
portlewis2 shows [Kh Kc]
Uncalled bet of 90 returned to cmitch (I had him covered too.)
*** TURN *** [6d 7h 8c] [2c]
*** RIVER *** [6d 7h 8c 2c] [Ad]
cmitch shows a pair of Sevens
portlewis2 shows a pair of Kings
portlewis2 wins the pot (3,920) with a pair of Kings
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,920 | Rake 0
Board: [6d 7h 8c 2c Ad]
Seat 1: johnpilot didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: portlewis2 showed [Kh Kc] and won (3,920) with a pair of Kings
Seat 3: TAYCAR didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: cobrakai111 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: mmt5269 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: cmitch (small blind) showed [7c 9s] and lost with a pair of Sevens
Seat 7: Freightwhore (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 8: greggb1 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: Anna508 didn't bet (folded)

No luck. GG me on the next hand.

The funny thing about it was that two players commented on how horrible getting all in on that flop was and how far behind I was. I want more of these guys at my tables. I knew that I was behind but came to go big or go home. I put him on an overpair, so I had 13 outs twice (Four 5s, Four 10s, Three 9s, and Two 7s).

So, was it the alcohol that made me shove? Maybe. I think it had more to do with my mindest than anything else. I came to gamble early and an ideal spot presented itself.

In the comments on my last post, Lightning36 said, "I'd be interested in hearing your strategy for chipping up early on in a big (field) MTT."

I think that you have to either get hit by the deck, gamble early, or play really aggresively against a table full of weak players to build a really not just big, but huge stack early in a large field $50 buy-in or less tourney online tourney. Once you get that stack, you can tighten up until the antes kick in and put a lot of pressure on other players at your table.

I think that this hand is a good example of taking what may look like an unnecessary gamble to try to double up early. It is definitely not how I would always play the hand.

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FTP $1 Million Guarantee

I did make a mistake last night. I thought that I registered for a $26 180 player sng, but accidentally registered for a $26 satellite to the $530 FTP $1 Million Guarantee tourney on Sunday. OOPS. I had opened the lobby to the $26 sat earlier and decided against playing it because I probably won't be able to play the FTP $1 Mil on Sunday. I opened the lobby to the 180 player sng and another table that I was playing popped up for my action. I folded then went back to what I thought was the 180 player sng lobby to register.

A few minutes later a tourney table popped up. I thought to myself, "Wow, I didn't think that the 180 sng would fill up that fast." After looking at the table description, I realized what I did. I had registered for the sat - OOPS.

I don't think that I will be able to play Sunday, so I looked at the payouts. 1st place was a $530 seat and 2nd-4th also got paid. I decided to play hyper aggressive early and wound up building a huge stack after getting all-in with AKs vs. 77 and hitting a King.. As it got closer to the final table, I wasn't sure if I should try to bust out 2nd or win the sat.

When we got down to four players, I had 36k chips and the other three all had less than 10k in chips. I decided that I was going to try to win - no going for the 2nd place money. I would figure out a way to play the tourney.

I took it down about 15 minutes later.

Now what? I probably won't be able to play until about 6:30 or 7:00 pm and the tourney starts at 6:00 pm. If you wind up sitting at my table in the first hour, you are welcome for the free chips.

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Some Full Ring Cash Fun - DQB!!!!

I saw Alan (RecessRampage) at a full ring 2/4 table that had some open seats and decided to sit while playing the sat.

I hit quads against his hand (air or underpair is my guess). Too bad he couldn't have a real hand to pay me off.

Full Tilt Poker Game #3555232872: Table Castle Cove - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:43:18 ET - 2007/09/13
Seat 1: rlatjsdo ($394)
Seat 2: TOAFK ($303.40)
Seat 3: cmitch ($513.90)
Seat 4: Hurley222 ($209.90)
Seat 5: SilentSupra ($478)
Seat 6: Sudbury Slim ($105.30)
Seat 7: KILLEDPhill ($210.20)
Seat 8: eaglestorm76 ($97.60)
Seat 9: RecessRampage ($443.90)
cmitch posts the small blind of $2
Hurley222 posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to cmitch [Th Tc]
SilentSupra folds
Sudbury Slim folds
KILLEDPhill folds
eaglestorm76 folds
RecessRampage raises to $14
TOAFK adds $96.60
rlatjsdo folds
TOAFK folds
cmitch calls $12
cmitch: :)
RecessRampage: no shame in folding cmitch
Hurley222 has 15 seconds left to act
Hurley222 calls $10
*** FLOP *** [6h Kc 9d]
cmitch checks
Hurley222 has 15 seconds left to act
Hurley222 checks
Sudbury Slim is feeling happy
RecessRampage bets $32
TOAFK: i love how short stacked ignorant kunts like you bet 12 so you can "trick" people into calling
cmitch calls $32
Hurley222 folds
*** TURN *** [6h Kc 9d] [Ts]
cmitch checks
TOAFK: im gonna bust you regardless of what you bet you dumb fck
TOAFK: im not folding to $80
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage checks
*** RIVER *** [6h Kc 9d Ts] [Td]
cmitch bets $60
RecessRampage folds
Uncalled bet of $60 returned to cmitch
TOAFK: wake up you dumb kunt
cmitch shows [Th Tc] four of a kind, Tens
cmitch wins the pot ($103)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $106 | Rake $3
Board: [6h Kc 9d Ts Td]
Seat 1: rlatjsdo didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: TOAFK (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: cmitch (small blind) collected ($103)
Seat 4: Hurley222 (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 5: SilentSupra didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: Sudbury Slim didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: KILLEDPhill didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: eaglestorm76 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: RecessRampage folded on the River


It's almost the weekend, go grab a beer and play some poker!!!

GO GATORS!!!!!!!