And This Is Why I'm Still Working

So after picking up a $1,000 winning night, the next few nights weren't as kind. On top of a long couple of days of dead cards, I got schwapped with difficult hands and bad beats. On a few different occasions I got in situations where I got in kicker trouble on tripped boards, one where I lost the minimum amount on the flop, and one where I lost the maximum amount on the flop........The next session after my most recent winning session I lost a bunch of money where I opened with 1010 in MP and got 2 callers. The board came up QQ10 and I ended up getting a guy's $300 stack in with him holding QJ. The turn was a J and I lost.

I stayed quiet for the rest of that night and just couldn't pick up a hand. I finally decided to make a stand with the K9d in late position and got one caller out of the SB. The board came up KQJ, to which he checked. I bet into the pot, and he called. I hadn't played a hand for two hours up to this point and the guy was still calling me down. For some reason, I just didn't think he was big. The turn was a blank and he check called a bet again. The river was a meaningless 6 and he checked again. At this point I still didn't think he was strong, and coupled with the fact that I had pretty much no stack left, I stuck the rest in and he called. He turned up K6 for a rivered two pair and my previous victory was $400 shorter in one night. Thanks for that.

Chalking it up to bad luck and dry cards I decided to hit the Mash again the next night and took a seat with an out of control player I loved to see. I'd seen him before, and I'd taken some chips off of him before, and I had a great time doing it. Imagine how I felt sitting at the table with him again........until the first five minutes. On about my fifth hand I look down at 44 and limp. It folded around to Crazy in the SB and he bumped it to $15. The BB called and I called as well. The board came up a BEAUTIFUL A-4-7. I was hoping to get some action with a weak A, or hopefully a two pair from Crazy, and sure enough Crazy bet out $15. The BB called and I raised it up to $40. Crazy shrugged and called and the BB folded. The turn was a 9 and he pushed all-in for the rest of my starting stack and I called, showing my 44. The table was glad I got him, because apparently he had been pushing the table around with mutilple all-in shoves. I was happy, until I saw a 10 on the river. "Oh I got a straight." That's right children, he had the ole' 68 and my first buy was gone.

For the rest of the night things didn't go well and I suffered through more dead cards. I just hate having ONE good night countered by a bunch of shitty nights. I know I'm playing well and constantly improving, I can feel that. But it really gets a guy down when he's tired of working nine to five, yet he can't get rolling at the tables because of bad luck or whatever you want to call it. I'm playing well, I know it.

Hopefully things will turn around soon, very soon, as this weekend is Chumash's $520 tournament. $100,000 for first is sounding pretty appetizing at this point. Darsky's coming down on Thursday and will be spending the weekend up here, so that'll be a fun time as usual. Hopefully we'll be at the tables Thursday and Friday night makin some cash, and on Saturday hopefully I'll make a decent showing and bring home a big wad. I love playing live tournies! I probably won't update till after the tourney, so wish me luck.

Until next time

More Tales From the Felt

This past Friday night called for another Mash trip. We showed up at around 5PM to get an early start on the Friday night crowd, in hopes that the stacks would be built early in order to take advantage of Chumash's $200 max buy-in structure. It took about 10 minutes for me to get a seat with two full tables in play. I took the 1seat in the BB and got off to a crazy start right away. On the first hand in the BB I flopped top pair and it went for a betcall, betcall, betraise on the river and I was forced to dump it on a nonscary board facing a $100 call with a weak kicker. The next hand in the SB I flopped TP again and this time heard back from an AA on the turn. On the button I flatcalled a $20 raise with AQ and flopped a Q and doubled up on the turn when I got headsup with the raiser. By the fourth hand I was back to just under my starting stack of $200 and was ready to play some cards.

The dealer was crackin up at my three-hand entry to the table, and I couldn't help but laugh at what had just happened in a matter of minutes. After that, though, I was ready to play some cards. The table was pretty passive, and I took advantage of that to it's full effect. I was able to take a couple small pots early with some loose raises and continuation bets, and it looked like it was going to be a decent night. At this table it looked like I would be picking up some medium sized pots all night, whether I had the goods or not, and that's pretty much how it went. I took a lot of medium pots, but no monster pots, though I did lose a pretty big pot.

About an hour and a half in I had moved over to the 2seat and was sitting on about $500 when we lost a player in the 5s and picked up another. I had seen this guy around the card room a few times, and from what I knew of him he was a pretty weak player, and I really felt like I would be the one to take his stack. I got my chance to tangle with him when I picked up QQ from mid position facing one limper. I had just come off from raising four hands in the last round, taking down the pot preflop every time. I knew I would probably get played back this time and here's how it went. There was one weak-passive limper in EP and after her it folded to me. I made it $20 to go and it folds folds to the button in the 5s (new guy). He jammed for $185 all-in, forcing the EP limper to fold, and it was back to me for $165 more.

Now because my read on him being a weak player meant one of three things here. He either had a mid-pocket pair or he had AA. I quickly doubted that he had AK because of what I had seen with him earlier, and that left two very viable, and one very difficult choice. At the game at the Mash people push all-in with KK or AA for a massive overbet all the time, which is such a weak play, but coming from weak players so it makes sense. I called for time and took a quick mental recap of what I knew of the player. After not thinking that he would jam AA or KK like that, I put him on a mid-size pair and made the call.

Someone asked me if I had Queens and I gave an affirmative nod. "You got Jacks?" asked the same person to the guy in 5, and his answer was an affirmative nod as well. "You got Jacks?" I asked, and his answer was "Yeah I got Jacks." The flop came out 9-7-3. "Oh I just setted," he said. Huh??? He flips over 99 and I mucked my QQ as I counted out his $185. "Sorry."

Meh, oh well. Another $400 pot gone to bad luck. I still was $100+ up and could still control the table. By this time Joe had sat at my table in the 7s and watched the hand go down. He shot me a "Jesus Christ" look and I shrugged my shoulders and went back to playin ball. I came up against the guy one more time when I opened the pot for $15 with JJ and had him push again, this time for about $115. I made the call again and he said he had 99 again. A Queen and King on the flop made me weary since he'd been dishonest about his hand the first time, but it bricked the turn and river and he mucked. With about $570, I moved over the 8s when it opened up so that Joe and I could stay out of each other's way better, and we basically controlled the table until we left at about midnight (I know, I know, but I had to work in the morning).

We finished up with me a $560 winner.

I was a little saddened by my victory, partially because I had lost about $180 throughout the night on bad calls, which I had control over, and also because my QQ fell again as a 4-1 favorite preflop for a $380 pot, which I had no control over. Put those together and I could have been....SHOULD have been up another $560. I know that I couldn't do anything about the QQ vs 99, and I know I'll win that enough times to make me happy then. But I know I could've saved at least another $180 if I trusted my reads and wasn't an idiot. I know I wouldn't have made those calls three months ago, so now it's just a matter of being in that state again.

Overall it was a victory, but it also made me more aware of my play, which means next time I will definitely be shooting for a bigger win.

Oh, and I took that picture with my new Samsung a930, which is a wicked phone. It's got a 1.3 megapixel camera, plus mp3 capabilities, video capabilities, and it also supports a transflash card for extra memory and transfering. It rocks.

Until next time.

Another Breath of Life

Friday rolled around, and facing a short work day thanks to Santa Barbara style, I was facing a tough decision as to what to do with my two-and-a-half day weekend ahead of me. I could sit around and stare at a computer screen, I could head down to the beach (why would I do that on a clear, sunny day), or I could..........by god......I could.........yes! YES!!

"Hey Joe"

"...huh......wheh.......what?......"

"Dude it's like 12:30, get up."

"..........no........."

"Come on man, let's go grab some lunch and head up for a long session at Chumash, it's been like two months!"

"...........ok.......let me take a shower real quick........."

Thank god for poker buddies :) We hit up Baja Fresh on the way to the 154 (which is oh so good if you haven't had it in a while), and we took that all so familiar drive to the indian safe haven. It took us what seemed like less time than usual, and I was in a great mood to play. Being that it had been so long since I had last played I really felt good, geared up, and refreshed.

When we showed up the usual 2/5NL games were in full swing. There were two 100/200 buy-ins and a 300/500 buy-in going. If I had been in a spot I was in a few months ago I would've jumped right into the 300/500. But thanks to the fact that I previously withdrew the BR I had left from play altogether, I thought it best to sit in a 100/200 and mop up. I got a seat after a quick wait, and was offered a very lovely table. There was a friendly in the seat to my right (Garrett) who I've become pretty decent friends with, and I didn't want to tangle with him just out of pure friendship, but we usually stay out of each other's ways anyways and there was plenty of other fishies to take down.

I started off pretty decently, quickly building my $200 buy-in to around $450 when a super-donk took the 9s. I quickly turned to my buddy on my right and told him how donk-a-licious this guy was, and about 3 hands later they got heads up on a K-Q-5 flop, and Garrett took the guy for about $170 of his $200 starting stack. Garrett had K-9 lol. He had been betting the whole way and SD had been calling him down with Q-8, and had decided to leave himself with $30......just in case, I suppose. This was perfect.

A little bit later I found aces after Garrett had opened up for $20. I popped it up to $60 behind him, and Garrett flat-called. He asked if I wanted to check it down, I said sure. He said he had queens and I politely told him I had aces, and he was surprised cuz he thought he was doing ME a favor. The flop came up 10 high and he said I could bet it if I wanted, so I throw out a nickel and he mucked into a $120 pot. nh me. Haha I wouldn've run it, but I really didn't want to see a queen on the turn, and he told me he'd rather not see a queen anyways since I'd let him live by telling him I had it. This kind of sucked, and is a prime example of why nice people shouldn't make friends at the poker table. At that point he was sitting on about $400, and I could have easily broken him if I'd let it play out. There's always tons of action, and usually overplays in these games, which makes it so very, very fun to play in, and surely if we hadn't have been that friendly with each other I could've easily added his $400 to my stack.

But I took up the pot and gladly stacked it, knowing that at least I got $60 from the aces. After about half hour I was still sitting on around $650 when looked at QQ from the BB. There was a raise to $15 from an EP TAG, and three callers behind him. I made it $115 to go, and it folded around to the super-donk in the 9seat who only had $145. He had $30 left (again), and I put him in in the dark. The board came up A-x-x, and he said "Well might as well" as he threw in his $30 and turned over A6. Great call preflop by the SD, nh me.

That got me pretty pissed, but never the mind I was going to take all of his money by the end of the night. Fifteen minutes later after it folded around to me I bumped it up to $20 with AsJs, and got two callers out of the blinds, the BB being the SD, sitting with about $90 now, after wasting the pot from FIFTEEN MINUTES EARLIER. The board came up 4-J-7, and it checked to me. I tossed out $25 and the SB folded. The SD was being jittery and staring at his chips and pushed the rest of his chips in a single tower into the middle. It was $45 more to me, and I took one glance over at the 9seat and saw him messing with his cards as I quickly threw out the cards. He hastily threw over his 67, and I turned up my AJ. Turn 6, river blank. A $200+ pot wasted to the SD. No big deal, still had around $450 and was controlling the table and my reads. This SD was startin to get on my nerves though.

Turn the clock forward a half hour, and after rebuilding my stack to around $600 just playing stack-building poker, I get HU with none other than SD himself. This time he's wasted his whole $200 from sucking out on me and now has rebought for another $100. I raised it up with AQ after one limper, and ended up getting one caller: an out of position SUPERDONK. He just wouldn't leave me alone. This time the board comes up with a Q-7-10. He checks again, I bet out $30, and he pushes in again, this time for another $50 or so. Ummm.....ok I call. SD turns over 89offsuit. GG me, cuz here comes the...yup, 6 on the turn and I'm done for that hand. ONCE AGAIN, I'm down back down to $500.

I eventually built back up to $800, and was still cruisin when I hit a wall. I opened the pot in the CO-1 with JJ and got called by the button and the SB. On a Q-rag-rag rainbow flop the SB checked and I fired out $25. The button flat-called and we lost the SB. The turn was a blank, but put 2 hearts on the board. I bet out $55 and got called by the button once again. I didn't think he had a Q when he flat called, but a King on the river made me hesitant. I reluctantly checked and he checked behind showing the K10h. *sigh* That was a sweet $100 wasted.

After that I lost some more of my stack by cont. betting KK and QQ on dangerous boards and getting raised off of them on the flop, and I was feeling pretty dejected at my recent turnaround of bad luck in the past 2 hours. After raising it up with AK and getting HU with the SD, we saw a flop of K-6-3, and after getting all of his money in (he had about $180 thanks to another full rebuy), he showed me his patented 76, and then he showed me a river 7...again. That put me under $200 for the first time since I had sat down. My last hand had me HU against a pretty tight player with my AQ vs his AJ. My money went in on the turn of a 9-high board, he makes the call with AJ. River J, gg me.

I could've easily rebought and stuck it out another 6 hours, but I was so disheveled by the last two hours at that point that I decided to call it quits. I talked with a few of the floor people and dealers who were on break as I waited for Joe to finish up. I ended up playing well, I made two big moves to stay alive when I had to, and couldn't make my big hands hold up. I should've easily been a $1,000 winner on the night, but I ended up getting smoked multiple times and now I have to wait again to take another shot.

I'm trying to be very wary of my playing right now, because I really don't have the cash to play right now because of personal reasons, but every time I take a 3seat or 7s and think about how I can dominate the Chumash game it gets my brain going.

Discipline sucks, but it should only be a little bit longer until I'm back in the game full swing. Until then, it hurts, it hurts I tell you!

Until next time.

PS - He did it!!