Sunday, August 28, 2005

Dwarf Tossing

Finally, I met the blogfather.

He's a bit shorter than I had envisioned--if added a drink holder to his head he'd be a very convenient companion.

Somehow I dragged Iggy off Party Poker (bonus code:Iggy) to make the hour drive from Cinci to the Belterra boat, one of the nicer card rooms I've seen.

In addition, Amarillo Slim was in the house, promoting his new book and playing in the tournament as its main attraction. I walked up to his table to watch the man in action and immediately saw him push all in pre-flop with a short stack. His AQ was called by a big stacked A9 and all looked good until the turn and river brought running 9s. He just tipped his cap and got up. Later in the evening (figured that was not great timing) I got him to sign my Red Sox cap.

I had gotten there fairly early at around 6:00, and Iggy had warned me that the room would be packed with a tournament and that they were not particular good at setting up the no limit game I wanted to play. Fortunately, he was only half right as the tournament had already winnowed down to 30+ from 80+ in two hours (psycho blind structure), and they quickly set up a second and--I am told this is very unusual--third 2-5 400 NL. Iggy did not arrive until 10:00 and I got some significant card time in before his arrival.

Anyway, my table selection turned out to be pretty awful. My NL table was quite and featured absolutely no alcohol on the table. Each is usually a bad sign. There were only two obvious fish (I started to wonder if I was the third) and some pretty tight play from the get go.

For shits and giggles however, there was on my right was a real impressive character who impressed me with his tales of his 20k month profit, his normal play at the 10-25NL at the Bellagio (don't know if that's actually spread but I'll take his word for it), and, upon hearing that I was in from New York, how he had played several times in Queens as--I kid you not--the "only white guy" at a mob game hosted by John Gotti. I asked him how he found himself at such a lowly 2-5 game. He assured me that I was sitting at "the biggest game in Ohio." I somehow avoided the temptation to point out that we were in Indiana. You can't make this shit up.

First two orbits saw me roller coaster as my AK continuation bet ran into a set of 10s which cost me about 125 but I regained in when my hilton sisters got all in preflop against a short stack slick.

Then began a series of confrontations with one of the fish, who, after looking at my Red Sox cap and asking me if I were a Red Sox fan couldn't resist recapping the Yankees comeback against the Royals. I'll call him Corn-fed. I didn't realize Corn-fed was a fish until my real hand with him. 6th position I opened for 15 with T9 spades. In the button, he raised me to 40. The table folded around and I called. Flop was 872 with two hearts. I led out 75 and, after some thought, he called me but looked visibly unhappy. I put him on an middle overpair. Turn came a king and I decided to push him off his hand, putting him all in for about 185. I'll warrant my play might have been questionable, but a) my read more than dead on and b) at this point, I didn't realize how bad a player he was. He hemmed for a while and called me with 83 of hearts. Turns out I actually had 14 outs but none of them hit so I doubled the donkey up.

There was some quick redemption when an orbit later again in 6th position with a 10 raise UTG (the minimum starting raise for the table) and 3 callers I called with Q8 spades. It folded around to Corn-fed who called with the button. Flop was 853 with two clubs. UTG opened with 20 and against we had 3 callers. I wasn't sure where this hand was going but figured I had the odds for a call with top pair, decent kicker. Corn-fed called as well. The turn came an 8 and the board checked around to me. If that was not the card I wanted, I don't know what was. I made it 100 to chase out the flush draws. Corn-fed then came over the top for 100 more.

After the board folded around to me I had a think. Corn-fed had just shown the ability to play 83 so I seriously considered the possibility. Nevertheless, I only had 220 more behind and didn't really see how I could fold. I also didn't see how I could call, so I pushed over the top and Corn-fed, after further fruitful reflection, called the 120 more. The river was a blank and Corn-fed's aces did not catch up to my trips. That's right, he limped preflop against 4 callers and smooth called the same 4 on the flop. Only with a paired board did it occur to him to bet his cards.

I continued to tread water at the table, at one point dropping to 100, buying in for 300 more and getting up to 700. When Iggy showed, I was stuck about 200, by the time he joined me, it was closer to 400. It took him about an hour and a half to get a seat, and he was at another (better) table when a seat opened on my right. He had already built up above 500 when I asked if he would like to join me. Notwithstanding the rules that required him to transfer only 400 (putting the balance in his pocket), Iggy graciously agreed to join me although even at that point it was clear that he was making a significant table downgrade.

Iggy changed my luck a bit I guess, as while he was there I flopped the nuts or a monster about 4 times. The first 3 times I tried to play them slow and no one paid me off more that 50. Finally, I figured that my table read any slow play by me as strength so when I got my next chance (it was a good run) with a flopped ace-high flush , I played them like I was either bluffing or protecting against a draw. One player called a 40 flop bet, a 75 turn bet and a 150 river bet, declaring before the river bet "I just don't see what you could have." After about 3 minutes of thinking and a call, I was happy to fill him in.

Iggy made a great lay down against me. Pre-flop, in the cutoff, Iggy opened for 25. With the button, I looked down to see bullets. After getting sliced up by the Bracelet, I am through with screwing around with Bloggers. I made it 75 to go and the table folded around to the dwarf housewife, who called.

The flop was a queen high board with two hearts. Iggy checked and, though seriously worried about the hilton sisters, I made it 100 to go. Iggy's inner monologue became outer as he reviewed the possibilities. When he said "the only thing I'm worried about is the overpair", I was dying for raise. I knew he had Mrs. Slick. How could he lay it down? He did, and he showed me he did.

I was basically back to even (at one point up 1 dollar) when our table really thinned out, leaving us with a bunch of giant stacks and no one to carve up. Iggy suggested we join his friend George at the 3-6 limit game and I was happy for the opportunity to blow off some steam with some low limit. I got up stuck 55, which was a pretty nice rebound from where I was at.

And it got better.

At 3-6, with my first hand in the cutoff, I faced 5 limpers with 67 suited. Monster! Raise. Flop was 2 4 8. Check-check-check-bet-me--RAISE. Fold-fold-fold-call.

Turn was a ten. Check-Bet.

River was a 5. Check-Bet, flip over the gutshot river suckout. Scoop, watch my new neighbor pack up and leave.

As I moved over to the empty seat on Iggy's left, the man declares a straddle. "Restraddle!"

And we were off. The table was tilting quickly. I sucked out on Iggy a few times, and got paid off by others when I actually had the goods. Highlight came when Iggy did not straddle UTG, but bet naturally. I had KK and 3 bet Iggy. He capped.

Flop was a decidedly unlovely AQJ. Iggy bet out, and with a sigh, I called.

Turn was a rag and I called one more bet.

River was a seven and Iggy strangely checked. Suspicious, I flipped over my cowboys. Easy bonus points if you can guess what losing hand Iggy had.

At the end of the night, I was down $5. Best $5 dollars I've spent in a long time. Had a blast, met an icon.

Here now in south east Ohio, last stop until returning to the city tomorrow.
See the flop...

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Busted by the Bracelet

Monday night:

Windsor card room in beautiful downtown Windsor, Ontario, across the river from Detroit, Michigan, home of the Pistons, Red Wings and the birth place of yours truly.

Carpeted in the latest styles of the seventies.

Offers the best alcoholic beverages money can buy.

Spreads a wide array of no limit games: 1-2 100 max, 200 min no max, 1-2 100 max or 200 min no max--those numbers are Canadian so divide by 1.20.

But damn if that card room ain't full of sharks.

Particularly when you hitch a ride over the border with one.

That's right, I came with my own trouble. Bobby picked me up from my Aunt's place (pronounced "Ant" in Michigan) in the burbs and we sped through downtown Detroit on the freeway at comparatively safe speeds of 85 mph (an effective anti-carjacking measure).

The customs agent took our papers and waved us through with the obligatory "ay" at the end of every sentence. The casino parking lot, apparently an annex to the border post, was coasting distance.

First up was finding the poker room. Reasonably decent, plasma screens, sports book quotes on a ticker, and about 15 tables, 10 of which were spread at 5:30 when we arrived. Next was back out by the slots, where we were tipped off by a helpful employee that we'd get a better exchange rate from the "cart girls". Our cart girl was a pretty ugly, middle-aged middle-eastern man, but he came through with 1.20 rather than 1.19. Woohoo!

Back in the room, we played 5-10 limit briefly while waiting for seats at the 100 max. We played one orbit as I tried to remember how to play limit poker. Not sure if I did, but I did take down one pot with 87 suited when I bet a turn that had given me draws both up and down to a straight and to a flush, got one customer, missed on the river but stole with pot with a last bet. I suppose that was a small mistake on my part and a big mistake by my opponent (unless he couldn't beat an 8).

Quickly Bobby and I were up and seated 10 and 9 respectively at a baby no limit table.

Memorable hands:

Pre flop, large Canuck in early position whom I would not challenge to drinking or pork rind eating contest (call him Moose) bets 10, about the standard table bet. Moose had about 230 behind. Two callers before me and I look down to snowmen (88 for father of SoxLover, who has started reading this site--check out this reference too). I've got about 165 and the price is definitely right. Bobby on my left and the blinds fold.

Flop is 8 5 2 rainbow.

Moose bets out 30 into and the table folds to me. I pause and call.

Turn is a 10. Moose thinks and decides a charge is order. 60 more.

I'm loving it. Since I've only got 65 more, he's pretty much pot committed unless he's on a total bluff. If he has TT, oh well. I pushed.

Moose then apparently violates local rules against table talk--you actually aren't allowed to discuss cards while hands are in progress--the silence rule. FTrain and others will doubt I was able to comply but Bobby will vouch for me. Here comes the interrogation:

"You got AJ?"

Silence.

"You got trips?" [Sic]

Silence.

"You got kings?"

Finally: "That's a pretty wide range of hands."

"You're super-tight." Yes, that's right, I was described by someone who actually had played with me for an hour as "super-tight".

[insert longer Moose-to-Moose dialog]

"Well, I'm pot-committed, I call."

Moose had AQ. That's right, he called me down on the turn with nothing but overs. Sweet.

Things then began to go south for me.

First, with cowboys, I put a tight player on my right all in for 82 Canadian. I was happy when he flipped over Hilton Sisters and even happier when the player on his right offered him the always welcome information that he had mucked a queen. Less happy when the case lady flopped. Oh well.

The really expensive hand happened when I played like a moron against Bobby. On the button, folded around to me with a red QT off, I made it 10, and got called by Bobby and no one else. Yep, heads up with the Bracelet. Since Bobby was out of position and playing tighter than a [insert vulgar reference involving a nun], I did not like my hand very much. Flop however looked good with a queen high though there were two clubs.

I offerred to check it down to my gracious host. Looking to feast on the loudmouthed east-coaster, he wasn't having it and bet out 20. That's about when I should have folded, but he wanted to play the hand so I felt I should, and I thought I was best at that point. I made it 60 to let him know I was serious. I wish he had re-raised me at that point, but instead he just called, and he didn't seem happy.

I was no longer absolutely confident I was ahead, but he just did not seem to like his hand. I put his initial bet down to a semi-bluff and his call due to close to correct odds. The turn came a blank and he checked. I felt I had to push him off his draw. With only 160 or so left and the pot already at 142, I pushed. Bobby thought for a long time, declaring "I know this is a mistake" at the same time he pushed in his stack, which just covered mine.

He had KQ clubs. Good God! The man had flopped top pair, second highest kicker and a draw to the second nuts. I would have re-raised all in on the flop, which is probably why they call Bobby Bracelet Bobby Bracelet and they call me many other names. No miracle ten and I busted out.

Fortunately, as were playing with Canadian dollars, I re-bought and won a bit back with another set of eights. Still, at the end of the night I was still stuck just under one buy-in after cashing out and paying the conversion cost.

I did collect on the overlay though as the big winner bought me a prime rib dinner, including two fingers of SoCo on a dial-a-shot with FTrain (who had to make do with the Vodka he keeps in his night stand). I fear I am starting to actually like the taste of that stuff.

Anyway, I had a blast and don't mind that much getting feasted on by Bobby, who was really kind to take me out late notwithstanding a 7:30 drug-pushing call (no worries Dad, on behalf of a pharmaceutical company—oh that might make you more worried!).

Thanks Bobby!
See the flop...

Monday, August 22, 2005

Trip Update

Turning Stone is unlike any card room I've played in. Couldn't quite put my finger on it at first but I figured it out. A) Only casinon I know of (I heard there may be another in Minnesota) that you need only be 18 to enter and B) no alcholol. That's right, I played poker with a bunch of alcholol starved teenagers.

The 3 sessions went very poorly, reasonably well, and mediocre.

Very poorly (2-5 300 max NL):
1st big hand. Me QQ, short stack all in over the top (80 more on top of 60), AA. Enough said.

2nd big hand. Me KK small blind. New, older player first hand sat down in big blind. raised to 15 early, 4 callers (this was very, very common and did not mean and strong hand was out there), with 320 behind, I make it 100. Big blind makes it 200. Folds around. Pretty much pot committed (maybe I could have called and folded an ace on the flop? Doubt it) I went all in. AA. Enough said.

Reasonably well (5-5 500 max NL):
No very memorable hands, won back almost everything from first session but slid backward, decided I enjoy 5-5 more than 2-5, moves work better, people respond to bets.

Mediocre (1-2 100 max NL, with Mrs. Soxlover):
Several hours, crazy rake, up 27, really a poker pause. One memorable hand. Maniac had been on fire with cards and has about 250 behind, Mrs. SoxLover in small blind, maniac in big blind, me in cutoff with 160 behind me. Two limpers to me, I see KK and make it 10 (I know maniac likes to reraise any bet I make). Mrs. SoxLover calls me (uh oh), maniac calls behind. Flop is K33. Mrs. Soxlover checks. Maniac bets 40 and, with a drawn out questioning look, I called. Thank god Mrs. SoxLover folded (I don't know what the marital penalty is for slowplaying a monster against the wife but didn't want to find out). Turn comes a queen.

Maniac, who has one long priapic stack, does the old up and down stroke before pushing it in.

CALL!

Maniac is disappointed indeed as his jack three flops trips are no good and no miracle quads on the river. Poker justice! If I had had aces I'd still be steaming.

Rest of the session went less well though I booked a small win.

On the road yesterday, Cleveland and now Detroit. I'll be meeting with Bobby Bracelet in a few hours before we invade Canada or at least the card rooms in Windsor.
See the flop...

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Road Trip and Late Props to the Korean ATM

Mrs. Soxlover and I will be hitting the road this Friday, on a Midwestern road trip to visit friend's and family from New York to Chicago will of course hit a few card rooms. I am also scheduled to meet with two blogger's along the way, somewhat sick bastard Bobby Bracelet and the infamous Iggy (PartyPoker bonus code Iggy). I've already met Bobby but I especially look forward to towering over the dwarf housewife.

I have been running pretty cold as of late, and thus am pretty glad to get out of town.

Overdue shout out to the Korean ATM , who's money-spewing days seem at least temporarily over. He's on a hit streak, including last Friday night taking down the 30 person rebuy tournament at the new club I've relocated to following Aquarium's change in ownership. There were several notable hands that I witnessed while sweating him (I was knocked out with cracked aces 10 minutes after the rebuy period).

First hand I saw only the end at the other side of the table (I was jumping back in forth from a cash game until the ATM got near the bubble), the ATM laid down in face of a moderate reraise and the player showed me his cards--quad 8s.

Second hand, following several unlucky attempts with the second biggest stack to pickoff the short stack with calls ahead (the giant stack at the time was not doing his job, folding hand after hand as the blinds increased), the ATM became the short stack exactly on the bubble. He made a Harrington endorsed low-M push UTG with 55. This time the big stack decided he had to do his duty and called him--fortunately, the man had A5o and the ATM doubled through.

Last big hand involved several reraises between the ATM and the (somewhat reduced) big stack with a very frightening three heart, jack high board and the ATM's foe very much representing the flush. On the river, the big stack made a large bet in the dark. A three on the board paired. Suspicious of this bet (why would you do this if you actually had a flush?), the ATM showed more courage than I think I would have and called him with QJ and took down a huge pot. Shortly thereafter, the 4th player was eliminated and the ATM, with half the chips on the board versus two equal stacks, chopped 800-600-600 (the prize structure was 1000-600-400-100). I, having suffered further losses at the cash game, invited myself to the ATM's midnight victory dinner on him--Korean food of course!

Nutshell review of new club: nice place, less nice than Aquarium, nice owner, not quite as nice as Bill, plenty of players, at least past 7, 1-2 NL 500, 5-5 NL 1000, 10-20L with kill; claim they will spread 4-8L two nights a week, but cost for that is 4/per 1/2hour, a little steep for 4-8 IMNVHO. Sorry--please do not ask for the location unless I know you.

FYI--New ownership at Aquarium blast e-mailed they are reopening next week with a free roll for a plasma TV (well, 25 door charge so the free roll claim is dubious, but there will be food served). I'm not ready to head back there myself as I'm still in mourning.
See the flop...

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Mrs. SoxLover Takes a Hammer Blow

How's this for initiation:


I was sweating her and managed to grab the screen shot. Once the cards were revealed, I could not help myself from cheering for the Hammer.

At least the pot was really small. And she must have gained karma as she went on to take 1st in the $5 one table S&G she was playing. At least someone around here is having a winning weekend.
See the flop...

Snapshot of my Weekend

I'm bleeding. Here is a hand that about sums it up, from a 35+3 satellite:

PokerStars Game #2336217931: Tournament #10966484, Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2005/08/14 - 11:49:57 (ET)
Table '10966484 20' Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: BEBSS (700 in chips)
Seat 2: Pulpit420 (1410 in chips)
Seat 3: redmatt (1760 in chips)
Seat 4: giggleNgrin (1220 in chips)
Seat 5: Fish Hooked (1210 in chips)
Seat 6: SoxLover (1680 in chips)
Seat 7: brett66 (4445 in chips)
Seat 8: rjwn (800 in chips)
Seat 9: Kydabu85 (1925 in chips)
Pulpit420: posts small blind 15
redmatt: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SoxLover [Qs Ks]
giggleNgrin: calls 30
Fish Hooked: calls 30
SoxLover: raises 120 to 150
brett66: folds
rjwn: folds
Kydabu85: folds
BEBSS: folds
Pulpit420: folds
redmatt: folds
giggleNgrin: calls 120
Fish Hooked: calls 120
*** FLOP *** [3s As 8s]
giggleNgrin: bets 30
Fish Hooked: calls 30
SoxLover: calls 30
*** TURN *** [3s As 8s] [Td]
giggleNgrin: bets 1040 and is all-in
Fish Hooked: calls 1030 and is all-in
SoxLover: calls 1040
*** RIVER *** [3s As 8s Td] [Ad]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
giggleNgrin: shows [Ac Tc] (a full house, Aces full of Tens)
SoxLover: shows [Qs Ks] (a flush, Ace high)
giggleNgrin collected 20 from side pot
Fish Hooked: shows [Ah Th] (a full house, Aces full of Tens)
giggleNgrin collected 1838 from main pot
Fish Hooked collected 1837 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3695 Main pot 3675. Side pot 20. | Rake 0
Board [3s As 8s Td Ad]
Seat 1: BEBSS (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Pulpit420 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: redmatt (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: giggleNgrin showed [Ac Tc] and won (1858) with a full house, Aces full of Tens
Seat 5: Fish Hooked showed [Ah Th] and won (1837) with a full house, Aces full of Tens
Seat 6: SoxLover showed [Qs Ks] and lost with a flush, Ace high
Seat 7: brett66 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: rjwn folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Kydabu85 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
See the flop...

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Ending of the Age of Aquarium

Well, it may go on but it won't be the same.

Yesterday, while playing a rare Wednesday night session, I got some news bad enough to have me get up in the middle of a push. At that moment, I just did not feel like playing.

Bill has sold the club. Moreover, I understand that the new management has made no commitment to keep the existing staff.

When I heard the news, I knew that Bill was upstairs, but he had company and I didn't want to trouble him. I planned to call him today to get the details and headed back to Jersey to mope at home with the missus.

Classy to the end, Bill had not expected me to hear the news from someone else and had intended to take me aside from the table and speak to me in person. Upon discovering my departure, he called me up.

The offer, which appears to have arisen quickly, was too good to turn down. Bill's plan for the club was grand and its execution impeccable. Unfortunately, his timing was awful.

The club opened a week before Playstation and NYPC were shut down. F-Train and I were in there the night before those sad events, and I can tell you, the place was primed to take off. Over a hundred new memberships in the first week, clearly the classiest club in New York, backed by a serious, well-resourced player and staffed with some of the best dealers I’ve seen.

With the raids, Bill was forced to shut down for two weeks. The city’s player base, though still strong, has been depleted and the ability to market even a gem like Aquarium is limited under the circumstances. The place just hasn’t been filling up fast enough.

He was starting to have some success with higher stakes tourneys, but I think it wasn’t clear if that was sustainable. I think long-term viability for a place with that kind of overhead requires filling at least some tables with a steady feed of low-limit games. Furthermore, aside from the business risks, the risks Bill was facing weren’t the same he thought was when he opened in May. Add up the points together with the offer and it’s clear that a laydown was a plus EV move.

It just sucks.

Bill asked me to express his apology to readers of this blog that things went down this way. I really don’t think he has any need to apologize. In fact, thank you Bill for giving it the shot you did.
See the flop...

Monday, August 08, 2005

Some Thoughts On Tilt

I read BadBlood's latest post on tilt and personality change and was posting a comment to it so long that it became its own post. So if you want the following to make more sense, read that first before reading this.

This is a topic I have been putting a lot of thought into myself.

It is clearly the biggest leak that I have identified in my own game (particularly in my B&M game), and I am also seeking to change my own reactions to negative stimuli at the poker table. At the very least, I am focusing on recognizing when it occurs and taking steps to address it.

A radical step that may be bluntly effective is of course getting up. But while this may be the optimal choice when your only alternative is to go on tilt and throw bad money after good--and I have done this--I think it is only a stop gap approach and literally leaves money on the table, particularly in two situations:

1. You are tilting because some idiot made a terrible decision and still got lucky on your sad self and the sight of your stacks sliding on over is enraging. In this case, in an ideal world you would not tilt because you want to continue to sit at the table with an idiot.

2. You are tilting because you yourself made the idiot move and are berating yourself for it. Ideal here may sometimes to stick around with an understanding of the mistake you made, particularly if you think it gave off some temporary table image that can be capitalized upon while the blunder is still in the other players' memories.

So I relate completely with the goal of "changing personality" as a better solution. I am also attempting my own version of the "setting limits". Not for me is the arbitrary stop loss (I have that anyway as I like to come the club with a two buy-in roll--the one and only time I went through both, I was not in a mood to go to the ATM).

My limit is temporal, a "poker time out" if you will. For one dealer push after an offending event, I am consciously limiting myself to very premium hands. This assures that I will not be playing many hands until I cooled and that when I do my decisions will be relatively easier. Obviously, this is still not ideal as good players may recognize the pattern and I am potentially throwing away some value in those unplayed above-marginal, below-premium hands, but my hope is that it can be superior to getting up.

I hope over time to gradually reduce this time frame and possible start to expand the range of hands I play after a bad experience. Ideally, the rational response process that I hope will become reflexive will itself reduce the tilt itself to nothing but a very bad feeling between two otherwise unlinked hands in that life long session we are all playing.
See the flop...

Sunday, August 07, 2005

Wow that was fast

Won a seat at the 200+15 on Stars today in a 35+3 satellite. 3404 players. I busted out number 3389. Here's how it happened:

Blinds 10-20. Folds around to cut-off with 2710 behind, who makes it 70.

I'm in small blind, 1800 behind, with A♥5♥ and call. Big blind releases.

Flop is K♣ 7♥ 4♥.

I'm going to get clever here. Check.

Cut-off makes 150 to go.

I think I have 9 or 12 outs and significant fold equity.

I raise over the top 310 more to 460.

Cut-off thinks for a few seconds and then pushes, effectively a 1270 raise since he has me covered.

I know I am behind since I just had my check-raise popped, but am being offered pot odds of 1270 to 1870, or just under 2:3. The range of hands I see as likely to be facing here are:

1) aces, with, just about those odds,
2) slick, lightly worse but pretty close,
3) against KK, 77 or 44, I only have about 3:8,
4) against KQ, I'm still behind but in better shape with 4:5,
5) Against top two I'm 7:13,
6) Against any other two pair I'm a bit better than 2:3.

After review, I think I had basically had a toss up as whether the call was warranted with a slight bias toward a correct call, particularly if you give any possibility at all to him playing any other cards. Factor in the fact that this is 6 minutes in to the tournament and I will either have a huge stack or a free evening, I think I am happy with my call, if not the result. He had aces and I did not find a heart.

Comments welcome.
See the flop...

Saturday, August 06, 2005

Cap it

Nothing spectacular, but after the last two nights live at Aquarium, I was hoping to nip a trend in the bud and I did.

F-Train thinks I’m full of it with the following theory (well he thinks I’m full of it on most things, but in this case he specifically highlighted it), but you be the judge:

Here is the record from the beginning of last month:

Aquarium, 1-2NL, 01Jul05, significant loss, no cap
Aquarium, 1-2NL, 09Jul05, big win, Red Sox cap
Aquarium, 1-2NL, 14Jul05, significant loss, No cap
Aquarium, 1-2NL, 15Jul05, big win, Superbowl XXXVI Pats cap
Aquarium, 1-2NL, 22Jul05, big win, Superbowl XXXVI Pats cap
Aquarium, 1-2NL, 23Jul05, decent win, Superbowl XXXVI Pats cap
Aquarium, 1-2NL, 28Jul05, rectal burn, no cap
Aquarium, 1-2NL, 29Jul05, moderate loss, no cap
Aquarium, 1-2NL, 05Aug05, moderate win, Red Sox late 70’s era cap

That’s right, 100% correlation between wearing a cap and a winning session. The statistical sample size is too small to detect a difference among caps and degrees of wins, but initial trend is leaning toward the Pats cap.

Three hypotheses:

1. Cap is hiding some tell. I am bald as a billiard cue so it’s possible. This was the Korean ATM's first thought as well.

2. Cap, particularly with the winning sports franchises I support, makes me intimidating. May work especially well against Yankee and Eagle fans.

3. Pure chance.

Anyway, no very interesting hands from last night to break down in detail but I will mention two to feed the inner autodidact.

I played one hand in a way that in retrospect I should not have but ended up with a positive result. I called with the right odds on the turn with 12 outs to a small flush or a gutter. Problem was I disregarded a potential overcaller, who I subsequently learnt was holding two higher spades than the ones in my hand. Fortunately, he folded anyway making my call correct (I am not sure if his fold was correct). As it was, my straight draw filled up so I would have been good over both hands in any event, but the result does not justify the play.

On the flip side, I raised a straddle with kings 2nd UTG to 30, was popped all-in by a short stack on the button with 7s with 102 more and had the fun time of watching a seven spike on the flop. Good news was it was only 132. I felt the tilt demons rise though, and I made a concerted effort to hold them in check, or at least to use the old super-ego to beat down the id and tighten up for a half-hour or so until I cooled off. I’ll score that a victory.
See the flop...

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Thanks Pauly!

After your link, my daily new visitors went from 8 to 36.
See the flop...