No Soup For You

No Soup For You. And by soup I mean poker. And by you I mean me.

I have decided that I am not going to play any more poker until my resume has been posted online. I am in serious need of a new job. You know how last post I was complaining about getting stuck with a project my ex-coworker's client? Well it looks like that is going to be best thing that I get to work on for the next six months or so. Assuming my company is still around by then, which might be a Christmas miracle in itself.

So no poker until the resume is done. Not that I’ve had time to play anyway, but I have to eliminate all distractions. By the looks of things it’s going to be a while. I’ve been staring at drafts of my resume all day, and I’m not too happy about how it’s turning out. Then again, I’m not usually fond of any of my writing. I’m continually amazed that you people keep coming back to read this stuff.

My goal was to be finished by the end of the weekend, but I’ve resorted to an almost complete rewrite, so it will probably require some review by a few of my friends before I unleash it on the world. New target is Wednesday. I’ll be sure to keep you informed.

Post Vacation Random Thoughts

You know what sucks about getting back from vacation is that it takes me about week just to catch up on all the crap I missed while I was gone. Needless to say, I haven’t played any poker recently. So you get no poker content in this post, just a brain dump. Enjoy.

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Door County was nice. It was a whole lot of just relaxing, which I certainly enjoyed. I did get suckered into a few too many shopping excursions, but after the first time I remember to bring my Harrington on Hold'em book so I could sit and read while everyone else looked at the amazingly lame shops in whatever town we were at that day. I’m about half way done with the book, and if I ever get the time to finish it, I’ll post a review.

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We saw War of the Worlds and Batman Begins at the Door Count Drive in. I’d recommend both. I had no real interest in seeing War of the Worlds, but you only get one choice at a drive in, so what could I do? It was surprisingly good. I never saw the old one, and don’t think I’ve heard the radio version so I can’t compare it against those, but the movie really freaked me out.

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You know what I hate? Tupperware containers. We have like 800 containers and about as many lids. You know how many containers and lids actually match up? About 12. My wife made jambalaya the other night, and she made enough extra to feed us for a month. I swear she did it on purpose just so she could laugh as I struggle to find the magic container and lid combinations. The worst part is that most of our Tupperware is all the same brand (Ziplock. I guess that means it’s not really Tupperware, but I don’t know what else to call it). Anyway, we have a bajillion containers that are all the same size, give or take .000001 inches. The problem is, if they aren’t the exact same size, the lid doesn’t stay sealed, and it just pops off. Now, I could understand if I was trying to match my Glad containers with Ziplock lids, but how fucking hard can it be to have one standard size across all your products so that they are interchangeable? Am I alone on this?

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You know what else I hate. I hate my ex-coworker whose account I inherited. I also hate the fact that two months we gave an estimate for a few work requests, and one month after no one in my company is actively working in or supporting anyone in that whole industry, we get the work items approved. I was really hoping they would just go away and I would never hear from them again. I also hate the fact that he got bcc’ed on the email letting everyone know that the work was finally approved, and that within 30 seconds of receiving the email he was openly taunting me. So Tim, next time I don’t post for a while it will be your fault because I’ll be working overtime trying finish those crappy work requests that you should have to do. So quit your bitchin’ and start your own blog if you want more frequent posts.

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How many times can ESPN replay the WSOP evens? In one week, I think I’ve seen the both halves of the first WSOP Circuit event at least three times each. WTF? I like watching poker and all, but aren’t there some other sports that you could televise every once in a while?


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I joined a Volleyball League, so expect some volleyball content in the near future. A couple of the guys I work(ed) with, and I finally got off our lazy asses and joined a league after talking about it for the past five years. I think there were only two divisions, beginner and advanced, and for some reason we chose the advanced league. I put the over/under on number of wins achieved by our team that are not a result of the other team forfeiting at two.

Door County

I’m leaving for Door County tomorrow. For those of you unfamiliar with the area, Door County is the tip of the peninsula that hangs off the eastern side of Wisconsin into Lake Michigan. It’s a real touristy area, and my wife’s family goes there towards the end of every summer.

Normally I would say that Door County is a pretty nice location for a relaxing vacation. The problem I have with it that my wife’s family goes every year, and every year starting around February I have to hear about how the Door County trip is coming up, and how great Door County is, and how no can wait to get there, and blah blah blah. I don’t think a trip to Vegas, New Orleans, Hawaii, Mars, or could possibly live up to the hype that this place receives.

So I’ll be out of town this weekend. I’m not real excited about it, but like I said, at the very least it should be nice and relaxing. Plus, anything beats the hell out of working.

The worst thing about this trip however is our monthly poker game, which we haven’t had in about three months, is scheduled for this weekend. So I have to miss it.

The only time I’ve actually touched real cards in the past few months was when we had a block party a few weeks ago. A lady came around with decks of cards for a raffle. For $1 you get a card, tear it in half, and put one half in the bag. They then draw a card from the bag and whoever has the matching piece wins half the pot. The rest goes to fund next year’s party. For $2 I got Ks3c and immediately thought “fold”.

One of my friends who is going to the tourney said that he would guest blog the tournament. There’s a pretty good chance that he will either forget to write it up, or remember, but then opt not to because he’s a lazy bastard. So maybe we’ll get to read about the tournament that I’m missing, maybe not. Either way, I won’t be back until the middle of next week.

Playing as the Villain

Playing as the Villain

I had this post all written up about how as long as you make somewhat reasonable plays there always seems to be somebody ready to pay you off. I went through a few hands explaining what I was thinking at each street, and how I couldn’t believe how my opponent played. But, I think that post probably would have been boring. We’ve all played against people who have no clue what they are doing. So instead, let’s play guess what the villain was thinking. Maybe I’m missing something, but I think he played following two hands pretty poorly. What do you think?


This is the very first hand I play. I’m not real sure about what kind of table it is, so maybe ultra aggressive betting has been working. We’ll see.

Texas Hold'em $1-$2 Limit (real money), hand #xxx


Seat 1: Player1 ($55.50 in chips)
Seat 2: Player2 ($43 in chips)
Seat 4: Player3 ($82 in chips)
Seat 5: Evil Villain [8s,4s] ($65.75 in chips)
Seat 6: Player4 ($79 in chips)
Seat 7: Player5 ($68.25 in chips)
Seat 8: Player6 ($70.75 in chips)
Seat 9: Your Hero [X,X] ($100 in chips)
Seat 10: Player7 ($31.75 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
Player6 posts blind ($0.50), Your Hero posts blind ($1).

--What I’d be thinking in his spot: Fold.
--What I think the villain was thinking: OOhhh Soooooted. A raising hand! The only thing I can think is that the table has been pretty tight, and he feels that by raising he might be able to steal the blinds.

PRE-FLOP
Player7 folds, Player1 folds, Player2 folds, Player3 folds, Evil Villain bets $2, Player4 folds, Player5 folds, Player6 folds, Your Hero calls $1.

--What I’d be thinking: Either Hero has a reasonable hand, or he is just defending his blind.
--What I think the villain was thinking: der.


FLOP [board cards 8H,KS,AH ]

--What I’d be thinking: Fold. Maybe bet if he checks. I have bottom pair/no kicker. While the hero could have been defending his blind with anything, is it worth risking more chips to find out?

Your Hero bets $1, Evil Villain bets $2, Your Hero calls $1.

--What I’d be thinking. Ok, Hero probably has something, but not AK, AA or KK, unless he’s trying to slowplay them. Maybe he has a weak ace, and he’s worried about his kicker or a king and he’s worried about the ace.

TURN [board cards 8H,KS,AH,KD ]

--What I’d be thinking: I wonder how he likes that king? If he has an ace he has to worry about Kx. If he has a king he still might be worried about getting out kicked.
--What I think the Villain was thinking: Not really sure.

Your Hero bets $2, Evil Villain bets $4, Your Hero calls $2.

--What I would be thinking if I were Villain: Ok, the second king didn’t scare him enough to make him check or fold. Maybe he has a king or ace.

RIVER [board cards 8H,KS,AH,KD,KH ]

--What I would be thinking: Nothing really changes except that there is one less King that he could have had. Of course if he does have it I’m screwed. I would probably check/call here. Maybe he has queen high and is hoping that he has me out kicked. I don’t know. I certainly wouldn’t bet here.
-What I think the Villain is thinking: Full house. I win.

Your Hero checks, Evil Villain bets $2, Your Hero calls $2.

--What I would be thinking: I wouldn’t have bet. I think there’s a good chance of a check raise here, and if so then I’m in trouble. I would have checked behind and hoped he didn’t have an ace or king. If he called this far I don’t think he’s going to fold now.


---So what do you think I had? Was there anything about the Villain’s play that you agree with? Am I right to be amazed when the villain turned over 84s? Once you see what I have, do you think I played it well?

.

.

.


SHOWDOWN
Evil Villain shows [ 8S,4S ]
Your Hero shows [ QS,AD ]
Your Hero wins $19.50.

SUMMARY
Dealer: Player5
Pot: $20.50, (including rake: $1)
Evil Villain, loses $10
Player6, loses $0.50
Your Hero, bets $10, collects $19.50, net $9.50


--Now, I don’t know if I played that hand right as the hero. I set myself up for a big loss if he has AK or AA, which he was representing. I probably either should have raised on one of the streets to get a better idea where I was or check/called rather than bet/called.





--- A few hands later… Same player as the villain.


Texas Hold'em $1-$2 Limit (real money), hand #xxx

Seat 1: Player1 ($67 in chips)
Seat 2: Player2 ($34 in chips)
Seat 3: Player8 ($17 in chips)
Seat 4: Player3 ($80 in chips)
Seat 5: Evil Villain [ KC,9H ] ($55.25 in chips)
Seat 6: Player4 ($71 in chips)
Seat 7: Player5 ($68.50 in chips)
Seat 8: Player6 ($83 in chips)
Seat 9: Your Hero [X,X] ($108 in chips)
Seat 10: Player7 ($28.25 in chips)

ANTES/BLINDS
Player3 posts blind ($0.50), Evil Villain posts blind ($1).

--What I would be thinking if I were the Villain: Check. Maybe call one raise to defend the blind.
--What I think he’s thinking: Ooohhhh Paint. Raise it up!

PRE-FLOP
Player4 folds, Player5 calls $1, Player6 folds, Your Hero bets $2, Player7 folds, Player1 folds, Player2 folds, Player8 calls $2, Player3 calls $1.50, Evil Villain bets $2, Player5 calls $2, Your Hero bets $2, Player8 folds, Player3 folds, Evil Villain calls $1, Player5 calls $1.

--What I would be thinking: Ok. I might have called there, but there is no way I am raising. With that many people in the hand some has to have me beat. I can’t feel good about my hand. When it gets capped I’d be looking for the next excuse to get out.
--What I think he was thinking: Please no aces on the flop?


FLOP [board cards 6C,5H,KD ]

--Ok, I made top pair, average kicker. I would probably bet just to try to get an idea of where I was. There are still way too many people in this hand for me to be too happy about my hand.
--What I think he’s thinking: Jackpot!!

Evil Villain checks, Player5 checks, Your Hero bets $1, Evil Villain bets $2, Player5 folds, Your Hero bets $2, Evil Villain calls $1.

--What I’d be thinking: Ok, Hero has at least a K with a good kicker, or else he thinks I’m bluffing. I’m going to slow down.
--What I think he’s thinking: Maybe he has something. Or he thinks I’m bluffing thanks to my play of 84s last time.

TURN [board cards 6C,5H,KD,4D ]

--What I’d be thinking: Crap. That opens up a straight possibility and a flush draw. No free cards for you. ( I realize that based on the play so far there is little chance that he has just made a straight, but straight and flush draws always scare me.)
--What I think he was thinking: Still have top pair. I have to be ahead.

Evil Villain bets $2, Your Hero bets $4, Evil Villain bets $4, Your Hero bets $4, Evil Villain calls $2.

--What I’d be thinking: I’m in trouble. I’m representing a pair of kings at the very least, and that isn’t slowing Hero down. The only Kx hands I can beat are K8,K7,K3,K2. Chances are if he has king I’m still behind. He may also have a high pocket pair and be trying to push me off a draw, but I don’t think so.
--What I think he was thinking: Still have top pair. I have to be ahead. What are the chances he has a king? Or two pair. Or a straight?

RIVER [board cards 6C,5H,KD,4D,3S ]

--What I’d be thinking: Now the only Kx I can beat is K8. I’m not a fan of that last card.
--What I think he was thinking: Either the same as me, or time for a check raise.

Evil Villain checks, Your Hero checks.

--So, what did I have that time? What do you think of the villains play on this hand? I think this is a good example of why preflop hand selection is so important. He made top pair, but still can’t be too comfortable that he has the best hand on any street.

.

.

.


SHOWDOWN
Evil Villain shows [ KC,9H ]
Your Hero shows [ AD,AH ]
Your Hero wins $36.50.

SUMMARY
Dealer: Player8
Pot: $38, (including rake: $1.50)
Player8, loses $2
Player3, loses $2
Evil Villain, loses $15
Player5, loses $4
Your Hero, bets $15, collects $36.50, net $21.50


Yeah, I had aces. I don’t know what I could have done besides typing “I have Aces” in the chat to let him know that. I checked on the river because I was afraid he had flopped two pair or trips, or he had backed into a straight, and I didn’t want to risk throwing more chips at it.

The one thing about his play is that if I didn’t have good cards in both of these situations, he probably could have gotten me to fold. Maybe he wins enough hands without going to showdown by playing this way that he can afford to be on the wrong end of the occasional monster pot. He left the table shortly after this hand, so I didn’t get to see much else that he played.

WPBT "Charlie" Tourney and stuff

I played a little poker this weekend, a couple of multi table tournaments that I actually did surprisingly well in.

PokerChamps $3 Turbo.

First off, let me say that I love PokerChamps. Not because of the software, or the players, or gameplay or anything, I’m actually not that fond of it, but because I have managed to accumulate a small bankroll there through affiliate commissions, and they offer micro limits. This has made PokerChamps my site of choice when I’m too drunk, tired, or distracted to play for any real stakes, but still need a poker fix.

I registered for a $3 turbo, thinking that no more than ten other people would register and it would be over pretty quick. 38 players ended up playing, and after a couple hours I somehow managed to finish in 2nd place for a $24 payday. Not too bad considering that I was both drunk and tired at the time.

I really think PokerChamps wanted me to win this one. I can’t tell you how many times I folded crap preflop only to see that I would have made two pair on the flop had I stuck arround. I would have flopped two pair with Kx at least three times. Of course the only time I played it was when I had K5 in the Big Blind and a bunch of people limped in. The flop had K5x, two hearts, and I lead out, trying to scare away the flush draws. Another player went all in and I called, thinking maybe he had trips, but not caring too much because I was tired really needed to go to bed sooner rather than later. He turned over KQ, and caught a queen on the river, severely crippling me.

I played real tight from then on, but I caught a number of high pocket pairs and doubled up a few times. I was drinking a bunch by this point so the details get a bit hazy. A few hands I do remember though:

I called an all in reraise pre-flop with JJ. He had QQ, and I caught a jack on the river to knock him out.

I had A6 in the big blind and a bunch of limpers. Flop was A66 and the small blind went all in with 76. That put me in the chip lead at the final table.

I lost my chip lead when I had pocket kings, and had one caller to my preflop raise. The flop had an ace, and he went all in. I couldn’t risk calling.

At some point I battled back to the chip lead with 6 remaining. The top five paid. The guy in second place had almost as many chips as me, and was sitting immediately to my left. I had been at his table for most of the tournament, and he seemed like a pretty good player. I wish I remember the exact hand, but somehow, he ended up all-in against me with absolutely nothing, and I had a damn good hand. I remember thinking that there was no reason for him to even be in the hand, let alone going broke on it. Winning that hand gave me more chips than the rest of the table.

When we got to heads up I had two or three times as many chips as he had. Someone tell me how to play heads up, because I suck. The worst part is that I think he really sucked and yet he still beat me. It went like this. In the small blind I would raise, and he would fold. In the small blind he would fold. Repeat 4-5 times. Occasionally he would raise, and I would fold, or I would call, and I would win on the flop. Every once in a while we would play a big hand and he would always end up on top. I would chip away at him for ten hands in a row and then he would win it back in one. It was really frustrating. I think the key is that we had three or four coinflips and he won them all. Anyway, he beat me, and I came in second. I can’t complain too much.


WPBT “Charlie” Tourney.

I wasn’t sure that I would be able to play in this since I had a bunch of stuff to do this evening, but I registered anyway. I can spare $20 for a good cause. I made it to the first break in good shape, but then my wife decided that it was time to do the chores that I had been putting off all day, so I had to leave for about an hour. When I came back I found that I just recently been eliminated in 34th place, out of 144 participants. Not too bad for only playing half the tourney. Maybe my new strategy should be to sit out after the first break and hope that I can coast into the money.

I don’t recall a lot of hand from this tournament as I wasn’t really paying much attention. I was concentrating more on the blogger chat than anything else.

I started off at Chris Halverson and JoeSpeaker’s table. I did pretty well except the one time I got dealt the hammer. I made the standard pre-flop raise, fully expecting to win the pot right there, only to have someone make a significant reraise. My only options there were to go all-in or fold, and while I’m sure the going out with the hammer would have been an honorable choice I opted to fold. Everyone else’s hammers seemed to hold up. It didn’t seem fair that I had to fold mine.

Shortly before the break I got moved to Wil Wheaton’s table. Half of the table wasn’t even there, so there wasn’t a lot of action. Plus Wil has a lot of fans, so there was some interesting chat dialog that kept my attention more than the actual play. Sorry, nothing exiting to report.

The break came and I was out.


So that was my poker weekend. Woo hoo.

2005 WSOP Main Event Winner

And the winner of the 2005 WSOP Main Event is....





Joe Hachem!



Who?

Joe Hachem. I don't know. I never heard of him until this week. I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more from/about him in the near future. Check out the final table play by play at Pauly's Site.

Some Quick Comments

Some quick comments, not all necessarily poker related


Battlestar Gallactica

Today marks the beginning of the second season of Battlestar Gallactica. This means that I will not be going out on Fridays anytime in the near future. Not that I went out a lot on Fridays anyway, but this makes it official. They have some full episodes from last season that you can watch online if you haven't seen it yet. You should check it out.


FullTilt

FillTilt Poker is now offering hand histories. I wonder how long it will take the Poker Tracker guys to update their software to support it. As soon as they do, I can almost guarantee that I will start playing there more often. I really like the interface; I just need a way to track/monitor my performance.


WSOP Final

Raymer and Ivey got eliminated last night. Too bad I was hoping they would make it to the final table. I really hope Mike Matusow doesn’t win. He’s seems so whiny, arrogant, and obnoxious. It would be much more fun to see him take a string of bad beats at the final table and have him finish in 7th. Maybe he can be the new Hellmuth. Because that’s just what the world needs. We should know the winner sometime later tonight.


The Chicago Cubs.

Don’t let their current winning streak fool you. They still suck. They are just trying to win enough so that I start thinking they have a chance at making the playoffs. Once I think they might have a chance for the post season, they will lose 10 out of the next 12 games. They like to screw with me like that.


Charlie Tuttle Tourament.

WPBT “Charlie” Tournament
When? 6PM EST Sunday July 17th
Where? PokerStars
How Much? $20 - every penny goes to charity
What Do I Get When I Win? The comfort of knowing you’re doing something good for someone else
No, Really… No. Really.
All proceeds to go to wherever Charlie Tuttle’s family wants them. Come on out and play!
If you don't know the story... feel free to read: A Guy named Charlie.

You aren’t going to win any cash, but a number of bloggers will have some cool bounties on their heads and it goes to a good cause. Do a good deed and play some poker.

Nothing Exciting to Report

I apologize for the lack of updates recently but I haven’t had a lot of free time and there hasn’t been anything real interesting that was worth writing about. In fact, if some of my friends didn’t complain so much I probably wouldn’t be posting this now. So, John and Tim, this post is dedicated to you, and if it sucks because I don’t have much to say, it’s your fault.

I’m still running insanely well in $1/2 ring games. Its funny. I had been wanting to move up to that level for a while, but I was not doing well at the lower level so I couldn’t justify a move. The only reason I tried moving up is because I only had about $92 left in my PokerRoom account, and I was playing horrible in tournaments there, so I decided I would give $1/2 a shot. I fully expected to play like crap and lose half my stack before going on complete tilt and blowing the rest, thus wiping out my PokerRoom bankroll, and leaving me with one less site to worry about.

It’s less than a month later and I have now have $400 in that account. I did finally have a losing session on Sunday, but it was only a few bucks and I was still way up for the weekend. So, what’s the difference between playing $1/2 and $0.50/1, other than the fact that I probably don’t have a big enough sample size to draw any real conclusions? I don’t know. Let’s see what PokerTracker has to say.


My V$IP for $1/2 is 23.46 compared with 24.83 at $0.50/$1, so I’m playing a few less hands. I wish I had an easy way to tell which hands in particular, if any I am laying off of, but I’m not really sure. I think I’m laying off baby and medium aces more and also medium connectors, but I’m haven’t verified that. It could just be that my cards aren’t as good so I’ve played fewer hands.

I’m playing significantly less out of the small blind. 52% vs 59%. I think this was one of my biggest leaks. I would limp with just about anything out of the small blind, and more often than not I was just throwing away another bet. I’m still probably playing a little more often than I should, but I am avoiding complete garbage hands.

My “Won $ when saw the flop percent” is at 42.60 compared with 29 at the lower level. I have to admit, I don’t really know where I should reasonably expect this number to be, but an 11% difference is pretty significant. I think 40% is pretty good, but maybe not. There are generally less players in each hand at the higher level, and they don’t tend to chase as much, which means I’m not taking as many bad beats, which means I’m winning more often than at the lower level. Or my hand selection has just been better. Or both.

“Went to show down percent” and “Won $ at showdown percent” are 31% and 74% at $1/$2 vs 29% and 49% at $0.50/$1. That’s pretty significant. If I’m winning ¾ times that I’m making it to the showdown then I have to think I’m doing a pretty good job of judging my hand vs my opponents. Or I’m just hitting my hand more often than I should. Or my opponents are just dumber and they are chasing me to the river with their bottom pair/no kicker.

And the most important stat: +20BB/100 hands at $1/2 vs -1.8BB/100 hands at $0.50/$1.
You see? Winning is much more profitable than losing. That must be what I was doing wrong before.

As far as plays that I have been making, one of things that I am aware that I have been doing differently is playing suited aces more often. I don’t know if this is a +EV move in the long run, but it’s been working pretty well for me. If I can limp with a suited ace, more often than not I will, and if I flop two more cards to my flush then I’ll stick around for a bet on the turn, and maybe the river. If not I can get out cheap. It’s been paying off lately.

Another thing I’ve been able to do is limit the amount of chips I lose when I don’t win a hand. I think one of my problems before is that I would keep throwing chips at losing situations and usually end up just making matters worse. Looking back over my results for the last month I generally only have one or two hands per session where I lost more than 2 BB in the hand. I’ll have a number of hands where I lose one bet and get out on the flop but usually if I put in more than one or two bets, I have been doing it with the better hand, and winning.

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In unrelated notes, I’ve been listening to Phil Gordon’s podcasts from the WSOP. They are pretty entertaining, and make it easy to slack at work without being obvious about it. For all anyone else knows, I’m just listening to music.

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Last I saw Greg "Fossilman" Raymer was in the chip lead of the 2005 WSOP Main Event. Are you kidding me? I never would have expected that. From what I recall of last year’s world series Raymer seemed to get involved in way too many coin flip situations, and end up on the lucky side of the results. I expected that style to result in him busting out relatively early this time around, but I guess I was wrong. Maybe that’s why he’s winning millions of dollars playing poker tournaments with thousand dollar entry fees, and I’m struggling to finish in the middle of the pack of $5 online tournaments.

2005 WSOP Main Event

Just in case you didn't know, the 2005 WSOP main event is underway. It looks like there were about 5600 players entered this year, with almost 1900 or so playing today. Check out http://taopoker.blogspot.com/ for live updates.

I Hate the Cubs

Seriously. I hate them. Can they possibly suck any more. I think they are losing on purpose now just to piss me off.

Is it too early to start thinking about football season? At least the Bears can only lose at most 16 times in a season.

Sometimes I'm Not So Bright.

Sometimes I’m not so bright.

A few short hours after posting about how great I have been doing playing limit ring games on PokerRoom, I decide that it would be fun to enter a multi-table tournament at FullTilt.

Ask me how that went?

Never mind, I’ll tell you anyway. It went shitty. I finished 130/192 not even making it to the first break. I might as well have wrapped $20 bill around a bottle rocket and launched at the kids setting off fireworks in the alley. It would have had the same EV.

In the beginning the tourney went ok, I won a few small pots and generally stayed out of trouble. Then the blinds started getting up there, and I bluffed at a few pots that I missed, and had to fold when I was reraised. I eventually caught an ace in the big blind with my A6, after calling a min raise preflop. I check-raised all in. He called with big-slick. Go me. I was going to fold, but I figured, what was the point calling the preflop raise if I was just going fold when my ace hit? So I made the first mistake not seem so bad by following it up with an even worse mistake. Brilliant.

I was pretty pissed about my crappy play, so I decided to pull up some more ring games, where I finished up another 13BB. I can’t think of a reason to play anywhere/thing else until my luck starts to change there.

So, as I was saying. Barring any severe lapses in judgment, you can find me on PokerRoom playing $1/$2 limit and that’s it. At least until I post a few losing sessions. And this time, I mean it. No matter how tempting those tourneys and their huge prize pool might be.

Still playing at PokerRoom

I know that the general consensus seems to be that players at Party Poker are the worst online, but after playing at PokerRoom lately, I’m not so sure. I’ve only played a few times at the new level, so I don’t know how long this trend can keep up but I’m averaging over 26BB / 100 hands. At Party I was more or less even.

Now, it’s not really a valid comparison because I played a hundred times as many hands at Party thus giving variance a fair shot at evening out the good luck with the bad. I’m also playing at different levels, so that may also be responsible for my improved results. As I’ve said before maybe the fact that the players are better at the higher levels means that they are more selective with the hands they play and thus the bad beats are not quite as frequent.

Even still, I’m constantly having to go back to check the hand history to see what I was getting called down with, and I’m consistently amazed with how players will call you down to the river with their bottom pair, despite the fact that you bet/raised on every street. Or even worse when they call you down with any ace despite never improving. When the only think you can beat is a pure bluff, maybe you shouldn’t keep throwing chips in the pot. Especially when there is more than one player in there with you. Just a hint.

I’m still waiting for variance to kick in. I haven’t taken a real bad beat in a while, and I seem to be connecting on more than my fair share of flops. I’m either in line for a nice long run of crappy cards or my aces are going to get repeatedly cracked. Or maybe my nice run here is to make up for my horrible record in recent SNGs. I’ll take that trade.

Anyway, until the recent trend changes, I think I’m going to stick at PokerRoom for a while. Must … resist … urge … to claim July Party reload bonus.