Not so Super Tuesday

Had one of those classic nights last night where I had a lot of things go right, then I made some dumb plays at the wrong time and ultimately won nothing.

Played the following tournaments :
Full Tilt's $200+16 qualifier. Got some chips early in the first hour, had it up to 6 or 7k. Went card dead, survived until we were down to 16 or so and got it in with AA vs AT to get up to 20k and in the top 5. This meant I had chips to play with so I decided to re-steal with 85 from the SB against a button raise, he types in "ok, here goes nothing" which is not what you want to hear when you are re-stealing and his A7o held up. I make it to the final table close to last in chips, they were paying 1 $12k seat but second and third had decent cash. My bustout hand goes like this , UTG+1 limps for 1000, next seat limps for 1000, I am in the SB with Kd3d and contemplate jamming for 10k but decide to take a flop and the BB checks his option. The flop is Jxx two diamonds and I jam for 9k into the 5k pot. BB folds and the first limper calls with QJo and my overcard and flush draw misses.

UB's $200+15 qualifier. I draw a tough table with sheets and jsup, and let sheets bait me into a bad call, so I'm down to 700 near the end of the first hour. I crank it up to 6k, lose a big pot down to 2500, crank it up to 7k when I get it in with JJ vs Jsup KK and lose. I'm left with 65 chips and the blinds had to be 150/300 or something. I go from 65 to 12000 in about 20 minutes - and I can't even remember the hands but it was pretty ridiculous. So with about 40 left I'm in the middle of the field and they are paying 3 wsop seats + cash. I somehow burn off about 6k of my stack and then lose with AK vs KK and TT.

Double shootout for atlantis on Stars. Win the first table for the 5th time in about 14 tries and then never get anything going on the second table for the 5th time. Get AQ vs a shorty QQ and lose about 800, then build it back up to about 1200 and find AQ vs AK to send me to the rail. (Again, no money because I was not in the top 4)

Dise $200 for Bay 101. This went about as well as a Dise tourney has gone in the last month or two. I won small pots early and had it to 2500, then blind/donk down to 1500 or so and jam overtop of a limper with A7o who inexplicably has TT, must have been at the 75-150 level. At that point there were about 50 or 60 left and they were paying three seats.

Stars $150+12. Things went ok until I re-raise an EP player with AK, get a cold caller behind, flop a K and go broke against pocket KK. Nice cold deck there (although I'm not entirely happy with the way I played that hand).

Party $150+12. Immediately lose about 450 of that not-so-generous 1000 starting stack, fight/claw my way up to 1800... open a pot with JT for 300, get re-raised, fold, and then blind down a bit to 1250 when I jam with AQ and get called by 66 and lose.

Played for a long time in a couple of those tourneys and really felt like I might win a seat to something but ultimately came up pretty short. Off to the Bellagio on Friday to play the $5k on Saturday. Not sure if I will play if I don't satellite in - we'll see, but looking forward to it.

Back Home

Sorry for the lengthy lack of update.

I'm back home again, been to Amsterdam for a week and then Portland, OR for about 5 days over Thanksgiving.

I played some 20/40 while I was away and did pretty well, getting more and more comfortable in that game. Also played some tournaments and did absolutely nothing...but still its been a good month. Brutal day today however, busted out of everything except the Stars $500 and we're not in the money yet.

Have a trip planned to the Bellagio this weekend. Planning to play the $5,000 tournament on Saturday. I'm coming home Sunday night and then off to Vegas again the following weekend for the $15,000 buyin WPT event.

Some other excitement... I may be turning pro full time as soon as early January - I'm really looking forward to it.

Congrats to my friends the Ottos who won the Friday tourney on Party for $44k.

Update

Grrr, one of those annoying nights last night. Entered the 9pm $150 on Stars, Party, a double shootout for Atlantis and the $200 WSOP/WPT qualifier on Full Tilt. Was in a great spot on Stars in the $150 and on Full Tilt and blew it (even though I did cash on Stars).

On Stars I ran into one of the funniest hands ever. I raised with 44 from LP and a shorty moved in, I called getting over 2:1 on the call and he flips up 43. lol.

*********** # 17 **************
PokerStars Game #3010277598: Tournament #14705213, Hold'em No Limit - Level X (400/800) - 2005/11/08 - 23:42:45 (ET)
Table '14705213 14' Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: EdCarver (15020 in chips)
Seat 2: dynasty003 (7880 in chips)
Seat 3: phoneman111 (10100 in chips)
Seat 4: cmac8t2 (29322 in chips)
Seat 5: booyahka (39701 in chips)
Seat 7: Nordberg (12396 in chips)
Seat 8: 4ofaKindBud (7180 in chips)
Seat 9: girlontop (11485 in chips)
EdCarver: posts the ante 50
dynasty003: posts the ante 50
phoneman111: posts the ante 50
cmac8t2: posts the ante 50
booyahka: posts the ante 50
Nordberg: posts the ante 50
4ofaKindBud: posts the ante 50
girlontop: posts the ante 50
girlontop: posts small blind 400
EdCarver: posts big blind 800
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Nordberg [4s 4h]
dynasty003: folds
phoneman111: folds
cmac8t2: folds
booyahka: folds
Nordberg: raises 1400 to 2200
4ofaKindBud: raises 4930 to 7130 and is all-in
girlontop: folds
EdCarver: folds
Nordberg: calls 4930
*** FLOP *** [Kh 9s Jh]
*** TURN *** [Kh 9s Jh] [2c]
*** RIVER *** [Kh 9s Jh 2c] [Ac]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Nordberg: shows [4s 4h] (a pair of Fours)
4ofaKindBud: shows [3s 4d] (high card Ace)
Nordberg collected 15860 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 15860 | Rake 0
Board [Kh 9s Jh 2c Ac]
Seat 1: EdCarver (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: dynasty003 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: phoneman111 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: cmac8t2 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: booyahka folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Nordberg showed [4s 4h] and won (15860) with a pair of Fours
Seat 8: 4ofaKindBud (button) showed [3s 4d] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 9: girlontop (small blind) folded before Flop

I also played some 20/40 and booked a small profit for the day, which was nice.

For the past week I've been datamining the 20/40 and 30/60 games on Party pretty much around the clock, 10 tables each. I wrote a script using AutoHotKey (thanks Matt M for that suggestion) that opens the tables every so often, collects all of the data and then i use Pokertracker to import it. Its nice having a lot of data against the players I play against - and I think its really helping me. I still maybe only have 40,000 hands of full ring limit play (about half 15/30 and half 20/40) and the results aren't good - I need to get way better at this before I turn pro because I do not want to deal with tournament variance all the time without some cash game backup.

Oh, and the other night I tried to get into Party hand #3billion. I missed by 90 - I was playing 10 tables and could hardly keep up. (Many of them were shorthanded). Somehow I won a few hundred while I was screwing around. And did anyone else notice that Stars and Party crossed #3 billion in the same night? How odd!?!?

I will not be playing all that much in the next few weeks. I am headed to Europe for a week starting Friday, am back for a few days and then away again at Thanksgiving for four days. And in early December I am headed to the Bellagio -

Good Sunday

Had a good day - took 1st on Full Tilt for $15,000+. A couple other solid finishes (that didn't pay very well..) 15th on Bodog and 11th on Paradise in the $30R. Bodog went great - I was never all in until my last hand - and I got short because my QQ couldn't beat A7, but all in all I played well and ran very very well.

Indiana WSOP Circuit Report...

Here is my Indiana report.

Got down to Caesar's late Friday night and checked in. My plan was to play the $1000+60 mega satellite (to the $10k main event) at 1pm on Saturday and then a one table satellite later if I didn't get in.

The mega satellite started out really well. We got 3,000 in chips and the blinds were 25/25 and only went up every fourty minutes... a nice structure for sure. The first big pot I played was when I had JJ and raise a few limpers out of the SB, only the button called. The flop was 963 and I bet and he called. I really thought at this point 78 was a likely hand, well a 7 came on the turn and I pushed and he called, and I busted him when he missed on the river. That gave me some momentum... I was quickly up to around 12,500 after a few levels. My rush subsided a bit and I misplayed a few hands and was quickly down to only about 2400 with the blinds 200/400. From there I doubled up once, and then again in the blinds with KK vs AQ, and got it back up to 12,000+ a little while later when my AK beat QQ.

We were down to 3 tables now with 14 spots paying seats and I quickly went card dead. Eventually I stuck it in with QT against AK and lost. I finished 24th, only ten spots away. The bad part was it lasted 7 hours or so and I was exhausted. I vegged out in the room for awhile, debating whether I should commit another $1,000 to a one table satellite... I finally decided to. Turned out to be a good decision.

On the very first hand of the one table, I flopped top set and got it all in with a guy who had top pair/flush draw on the turn and I doubled up. (I had 8,000 and the blinds were only 25/50). It was clear there were about 7 donkeys and myself and the young guy to my right. I started adding up what I had heard from him so far, lives in Oklahoma, he was hanging out with Gavin Griffin, I put 2 and 2 together and figured he was ImSoLucky0 from online play and introduced myself. A nice guy and we had a fun time playing the satellite. He got me good when he raised to 300 utg and I made it 900 with KK. He called, and doubled through me when he flopped a set of queens. Things were looking really desperate as I was down to 2400 with the blinds 200/400, there were maybe 4 or 5 players left. Then I caught a rush. I doubled up with 8T when I flopped the nut straight out of the blinds, then later saw a flop with J9 and got it all in with KT on a 89T flop and spiked a J on the river. I finally had some ammo four handed when this hand came up. Imsolucky (Jordan) limped UTG, I limped on the button with AhTh and the blinds came. The flop was AK5 and it was checked to me, I bet 1500 (pot was probably 2400 at this point), Jordan check raised me to 4500. I thought for awhile and got the feeling he wasn't happy with his hand so I jammed, having him covered by a bit. He said "I guess I call" and showed A6 and I busted him to move into second place with three remaining. Third place was extremely short.

I busted third place and we started heads up - me with a small lead of maybe 24000 to 16000. My opponent was extremely passive, once checking his option in the BB with JJ and once with 99. Most hands went like this, I would raise from the button and he would call. He or I would bet into the flop and take the pot down. He was never going to bluff me for sure. On the final hand, I limped with T7 and he checked the BB. The flop was K72 and he check called. I was ready to shutdown but a 7 came on the turn and he check called again, and check called all in on the river with 99 and I had the seat! After picking up my voucher and a few hundred dollars cash, and then being badgered to tip (I hate that), I went back to the room... as it was 2am and I had to play again in 10 hours.

I get to my starting table expecting to see no one I knew, and I was a bit wrong. There were 128 players and probably 12 well known players and I had four of them at my table. Kathy Liebert in seat 2, Scott Fischman in the 5, Erik Seidel in the 6, me in the 8 and Liz Lieu in the 9. We started with 10,000 and the blinds were 25/50.

In level 1, I won a nice pot from the old crazy guy in seat 3. I opened for 150 in EP with T9o, he re-raised to 450 from the button and i called. The flop was J82 two hearts and I check called 500. On the turn, an A came and it went check/check. The 7h came on the river and I bet 1500 and he called and MHIG. One pot I played with Liz. I open from the button for 200 with J9. I meant it to be 150 but the dealer didn't hear me call it out so it stayed 200. Liz called from the SB and the flop came K78. It went check/check and the beautiful T came on the turn. She checked, I bet 300, she made it 1000, I made it 2800 and she folded. I wish i would have just smooth called here but I remember there being a flush draw out there.

In level 2, I played a huge pot with Scott. He had limped a lot in level 1 and played postflop well. He opened for 300 UTG and had me covered by 500 (I had 13k) and I decided to take a flop in position with Ah5h. Everyone else folded and the flop came Ac5c4s. Scott bet 500, and I made it 1500. He thought a sec and made it 4000. I took a lot of time at this point. I wanted to sell AQ, AJ as much as possible but also protect against the club draw and try to figure out if he plays AA this fast. I decided re-raising here would get him to fold, so I just called. The turn was a 6c, not a great card because it completes the flush. But I can't imagine him re-raising the flop with just a club draw. He instantly pushes. I didn't tank too long before calling and he had AK no club. He's got 6 outs on the river and misses and I am up to 26000 and he has 500. Meanwhile, the Seat 1 busts old crazy guy in seat 3 in this bizarro hand. Limped pot, the flop comes 589 all spades. There is maybe 450 in the pot and old guy bets 1200. Seat 1 min raises to 2400. Old guy in seat 3 calls. The turn is an 8 and they eventually get it all in, seat 1 with 89 and seat 3 with 55. I can't imagine a worse play then min raising an overbet on the flop with top two on a one suit board. Seat 1 is a donk, but a donk with chips.

Seat 3 gets replaced by a loose player who is clearly there to just enjoy himself. On one of the first hands, Scott pushes for 500 utg, Liz pushes for maybe 2300 (blinds 50/100 mind you) and seat 3 insta calls with 88. He wins the pot against air from Scott and 66 from Liz and knocks both of them out.

Hands that I recall from levels 3 and 4 : I open in EP with JJ and seat 4 calls out of the BB. Flop is 862 and he leads for pot size and I call. Turn is a 6 and he bets 1500 and I call. River is a blank, check/check, he shows 55, MHIG. Seat 4 raises one limper to 600, seat 5 cold calls, I make it 2400 with KK, seat 4 instantly pushes for 8k total with 55 and MHIG. I get a cheap look in a 5 way pot with 55 in the SB. Flop is AK4 two diamonds, checked around. Turn is an offsuit 5, I lead for 800, BB folds, limper folds, seat 4 makes it 3000 leaving himself 5000 more, I jam on him, he calls with A9 no diamond. He's drawing dead and I have 45k at the dinner break. (Meanwhile Chris Ferguson takes his seat).

Chris has 12k, Kathy about 7k and Erik about 8k when we come back from the dinner break. Erik opens for 850 (blinds 150/300) and I smooth call with KK, and Kathy calls from the BB. The flop is K76 and Erik bets 1600, I call, and Kathy mucks. The turn is a 5 and Erik checks and I jam. He thinks forever before calling with AA. What a nice read it was by him to not put his chips in there quickly. I said that as he got up and Ferguson agreed his chips would have been in there instantly. A few hands later I raise with AK and Kathy jams and I call, she has 99, spikes the 9d on the river (after I had flopped an ace), she says "YESSSSS", but I show her the nut flush and she walks away pretty dejected. I am up to 63k at this point. Erik is replaced by Adam Friedman, the red headed kid that was shown crying on ESPN last week. He thinks he is the nuts, and he isn't, and that annoys me at the poker table. People who constantly complain about what other cards are played by the other people at the table and how they play them are so annoying. Anyway, he bluffs Seat 1 on the night's final hand and does a lap around the table telling everyone how great he is, nh sir. I end day 1 with 56625, good for fourth out of 53 remaining.

I drew Vinnie Vinh with his 66k three seats to my right. The day didn't go well for me. I picked up AA against a guy that was eager to put his chips in preflop but he mucked JJ. Later, he pushed for about 20 big blinds from EP and I called with 88. It was a marginal call, except he had pushed UTG with 10 bb's with TJ. I was very annoyed when he flipped over KK and I shipped 11k his way. I got it back up to 37k when I won a showdown with AQ vs KQ and we were down to 27 and that was the end of day 2.

Day 3 I drew Vinnie again and took a nice little pot off of him early with TT. The blinds were 500/1000/100 now... my stack fluctuated down to 30, up to 40, but I never picked up a hand at the right time. The whole day I pretty much either won preflop or got called and then lost postflop. It was a bit brutal. Finally the blinds were 800/1600 and I had only about 19000. I open pushed with 22, re-raised Vinnie with 33 and suddenly was back up to 29k. Still, I'm the short stack, they only pay 9 spots and we were down to 13. I pick up KK only a hand or two later and open for 5k. MP, who had played tight began to reach for chips and I knew he was raising. I also knew any raise would commit both of us. I was so excited I almost leapt out of my chair. He made it 24k and I pushed in for 4 or 5k more, he looked disgusted and flipped up 33. I was now looking at 80% equity and a pot of 60k to get back into the thick of things. The flop was 754 which gave him 6 outs. They delayed the cards as they were announcing the hand to the crowd and the 3c came on the turn to put me in horrible shape. The 2 came on the river and I was gone. All in once in level 2 against Fischman and now again with 13 people left, both with huge equity.

Looking forward to the $15k bellagio tourney in december for sure.