Poker Journal

May 2006

May 29
I decided to play in the $100 No Limit tournament (the one with the 20% payout structure) on PokerStars again tonight and I finished in the money again. This time around, I actually made the final table (7th) and $1,000 profit.

I didn't get many hands during the tournament. I was dealt kings twice, but I never had aces, queens, or jacks. Basically, I worked my butt off to win every chip I had.

The hand of the evening was not a hand I won, but a hand that got my blood boiling (thankfully, I only let it boil for about three minutes). In the fourth round of the tournament with blinds of $50-100, I was dealt AK and raised to $400 in middle position. I was called by one player and he was on the button. The flop was QQQ. My opponent only had about $475 in front of him. I decided to move all-in. I thought I might get a call from him with a weaker ace. If he had a small pair, I at least had some outs and it wasn't gong to cost me a fortune. He thought about it for about five seconds. I know five seconds doesn't seem like a long time, but when you are playing online and watching the player's blinking icon, it can be. The guy decided to call and the fool had QUADS! He had the other queen and decided to "think" about it. I can understand "thinking" about it when you have more chips and are trying to pretend you are weak so you can get chips on later streets. But he didn't have any chips left. Where has the table etiquette gone? I guess I can take some satisfaction out of making the final table. The clown was nowhere to be found. He and his quads got the boot before we even made it into the money.

May 26
Still grinding away at the $10-20 Omaha and have made a slow and steady profit over the past couple of days. I had a breakthrough in my No Limit tournament game finally. On Wednesday night I finished in 13th place (out of 260) in the $109 NL tourney on PokerStars.

I was a little shocked at the payout structure. They paid 45 places, so my 13th place finish was basically chump change. I received $338 for my efforts. Probably not the best use of my time, but it made me feel good nonetheless. It has been a long time since I actually made a little money in the multi-table NL tournaments. Even though I play about 1/5 the amount of tournaments I used to, it would be nice to actually make a big score.

The tournament could have been anyone's once we made the final two tables. The blinds were $1,000-2,000 and the average chip stack was $20,000. Most of us had two moves (all-in or fold). If we managed to pick up the blinds, we would move from 14th place up to 4th. I was eliminated when I moved in with A8 (not much of a choice) and was called by the person behind me. It's always a bad sign when a person who has a little more chips than you just flat calls. I couldn't beat his pocket aces and was done.

May 19
I was playing a heads up match today and encountered the situation I discussed yesterday. It appeared that my opponent had become frustrated or bored because he was moving all-in often. Finally, I was dealt pocket queens (my kiss of death hand) and decided to move all-in. The blinds were only 15-30, but I thought I might get him to call with any decent hand thinking that I was moving all-in out of frustration. He called alright, but not with a hand I expected.

Tournament #25031961, $100+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level II (15/30)
Table '25031961 1' 2-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Siren (1320 in chips)
Seat 2: akapepboys (1680 in chips)
akapepboys: posts small blind 15
Siren: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS***
Dealt to Siren [Qs Qc]
akapepboys: raises 60 to 90
Siren: raises 1230 to 1320 and is all-in
akapepboys: calls 1230
*** FLOP *** [As 8h 3h]
*** TURN *** [As 8h 3h] [2s]
*** RIVER *** [As 8h 3h 2s] [8s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Siren: shows [Qs Qc] (two pair, Queens and Eights)
akapepboys: shows [9s Ts] (a flush, Ace high)
akapepboys collected 2640 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2640 | Rake 0
Board [As 8h 3h 2s 8s]
Seat 1: Siren (big blind) showed [Qs Qc] and lost with two pair, Queens and Eights
Seat 2: akapepboys (button) (small blind) showed [9s Ts] and won (2640) with a flush, Ace high

Later I played in the $100,000 guarantee $30 w/ rebuy tournament on Paradise Poker. I finally broke my streak of getting close and not cashing. There were over 1100 entries and they paid 110. I finished in 110!

May 17
PokerStars is having their 5 billionth hand celebration going on right now and they are awarding cash or a bunch of milestone hands. I have spent a little time trying to hit one of them, but haven't had any luck.

Anytime a milestone hand is approaching, I have jumped on several $1-2 or $2-4 limit games until the hand is hit. I have mentioned it several times, but I don't know how people can handle playing multiple games. I have played four and have nearly gone out of my mind trying to do so.

I am still playing the $10-20 Omaha Hi/Low game and have been happy there for the time being. At least my bankroll is moving in a positive direction which is more than I could say a few weeks ago. I have also spent some time playing $100 Heads Up NL matches. I have really enjoyed the competition of those. There are plenty of times that I have come from behind because I refuse to give up. I think most of the battle is in the determination you have. I had one guy who actually called a significant all-in bet out of frustration and said something to the effect of "Okay, have it." I think his hand was 7 high.

May 10
Online has been much better to me this week. I have spent half of my time playing Omaha on PokerStars and the other half playing various online tournaments.

I have worked hard to get my game back on track and it feels good to know that my mind is working properly again. Although I have made most of my money playing Omaha ring games, I have taken a few stabs at some NL tournaments and overall its gone well. I haven't placed in any of the events, but I have remained focused throughout the event and have been pleased with my play. In the Sunday big tournament, I got down to 1396 players which was a decent accomplishment considering I didn't get many hands after the first hand of the tournament (pocket aces on first hand). Today, I finished 38th in the $320 event on PokerStars, but they only paid 27. I also finished 160th out of 1384 in the $10 w/ rebuy tourney.

The rebuy tournament was pretty amusing. I started off with a bang and had a decent stack for most of the tournament. I lost a big chunk of my stack when I took AK against QQ and JJ. I flopped the king, turned the ace and the river was a jack. I took my short stack and built it back up again and then was finally eliminated when I took aces against pocket queens. For some reason, queens just kill me and tonight was no different. The funny part about it was I was angry about being knocked out until I went to my Excel spreadsheet to record my numbers. After inputting the $31 loss, I realized how silly I was for getting bent out of shape about it.

Take a look at some of my in-depth poker definitions: boxed card, cash plays, shark, overcall, lock, complete hand.

May 4
I played the $10-20 Omaha Hi/Low on Pokerstars tonight and did extremely well. There was one guy who questioned my play on one hand and I figured I would write about it. Hopefully, I can keep at least one person from doing the same stupid things he did.

First off, I never like it when players criticize another player. I know it is difficult to do at times and there are times that I can't control myself, but it is important to remember that it serves no purpose. We want players to play bad in our games and we don't want to help them play better. If the player happens to be a good player, then your chatter might give them a better idea of how you might play a hand in the future. The reason why this guy got under my skin is because he was criticizing me and he didn't even get the facts right when he was doing so.

So, I was dealt A245 single suited. The player in first position raised, there was one fold and two calls before I decided to just flat call. I think there are good reasons for raising in this spot and there are just as many for calling in this spot. I decided to just call because most of the players were playing low cards on this table and I didn't have much high value in my hand besides the suited ace and wheel draw. Two more players call behind me including the big blind so there were 6 players in the hand. The flop was K42 with one spade. I flopped bottom two, gutshot wheel draw, second low draw, and backdoor flush draw. The first two players check, the next player bets, the next calls, I raise, and it eventually got three bet with four of us seeing the turn. The turn is a three giving me the wheel and two pair. The first player bets, the next guy raises, I just flat call and it gets called around. I don't love my hand here because I am pretty sure I am only getting a quarter, but there was a lot of money in the pot and I wasn't about to go anywhere. I was also thinking that a deuce would give me more of the pot, so I rooted for a deuce. The river was exactly what I asked for. The player in first position checked, the second bet, I raised, the next called, the first player folded, and the original bettor called. My two opponents got 1/6 of the pot each and I got the rest of it.

As the next hand was being dealt, the clueless guy said, "forty with two low pair, ncall siren." My response was, "nice evaluation." As I stated earlier, I don't like criticism at the table (toward anybody, not just me), but if you are going to do it, at least get the facts straight. I didn't call forty, I raised to forty. I didn't have two low pair, I had two low pair with a gutshot and a wheel draw and a backdoor flush draw and a lot of potential for a scoop. So he accomplished nothing except looking like a fool. The best part is he gets to do it twice; once on the table and once in my journal.

If you are interested in seeing the hand history the number is #4836995869 and the second where he criticized my play is #4837010546.

May 2
$10-20 Omaha is my main home for the week. The players never stop surprising me and that usually means money in my pocket. Last night one of the players played KKKJ and he wasn't even in the blind. You gotta love em.

Stepping down in limits was the right thing to do because the medication I am on makes it hard for me to focus. I have trouble focusing when my mind is clear and now the problem is four times as bad. Even though it is the right thing to do, it's a tough pill to swallow. I just have to remind myself that good players know their limitations and right now the $30-60 game is above mine. I did manage to stay focused during both big online Omaha tournaments that I played this week, but it was a constant battle. I am hoping that I can remain focused enough to be able to play at one of the Omaha events at the WSOP.

The thought of missing the WSOP is one of the toughest things for me to deal with at the moment. I guess this shows how much poker is a part of my life and how much I love the game. I can handle being tired from time to time, I can handle feeling sick occasionally, but thinking about not playing the WSOP can bring me to tears. At the moment, it's a "wait and see" kind of thing.