WSPL Goes to Vegas Episode 4/1

So I've been a pretty lazy blogger.  I haven't posted since the end of last season.  Quick recap I ended up buying Jason M's seat at the WSOP.  I lasted about 8-9 hours before busting out.  I didn't really have a whole lot work out for me. I was mostly treading water the entire time.

So back to this year.  A couple players have dropped out.  Noah because he's lame, and because his wife will be having twins midway through the season. Also Jason S dropped out as he moved to San Diego and will also be out of the country for four weeks during the season.

Returning is Rich who won season two and did not play last year.

The opening week did not go well for me.

Midway through the second round I got AhQh in early position. I raised and Archie to my left reraised.  The flop was Qd8h2d. I checked and Archie be half the pot.  I called.  Archie likes to be big when there is a flush draw on the board.  I put him on trying to chase a flush away.  The turn is 7h giving me top pair and and a flush draw.  I check and Archie bets half pot again.  Calling would leave us with 5BB left.  I went in the tank and eventually called.  I put him on AA, KK and scared of a flush.  If I didn't have the flush draw I would have folded. Raising would have been pointless, he would have called no matter what and worst case I could go with the whole chip and a chair theory  The river was 3c and we checked down.  I was right he had KK.  While that play crippled my chances in this game I'm not super upset about the play.  At least I'm pretty confident in my reads on Archie now.

I planned on doing a whole lot of folding from then on, but a few hands later I got 99 under the gun.  I went all in for my 5BB  (which was going to be 2BB after the next two hands when the blinds went up).

I got three callers who checked down to the river.  Archie ended up being the only one to connect with the board when his AT turned into a pair of tens.  Out in last place.  Not the ideal way to start.  Definitely need to tighten up next time.  Oh well.


Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas Episode 3/12

So... this week was fairly anti-climactic.  For me anyway

The league winners have already been decided.  The three Jasons were no-shows.  Archie didn't show up until he was down to 300 chips.  Then he started playing and won a few all-ins to vault into second place.  Problematic because we decided that late comers earn zero points, but never said what happens if they actually win money.

I went out if fifth.  I was up and down and my all-in preflop KK ran into Shane's TT with a T on the flop.  Shane had somehow managed to get 50% of the tables chips.  I don't know.  I may be a little drunk.

OK fine, I typed most of this out as soon as I was eliminated.  Archie went on to win despite showing up almost an hour late.  So maybe it was a little more exciting than I originally thought.  I'm not rewriting this.  Se previous paragraph where I mentioned I may be drunk.

Archie gets $150 for the win, but zero points.

The results for this week are:

1. Archie
2. Shane
3. Greg
4. Noah
5. Aaron
6. Me
7. Mark
8. Jason M (No-Show)
9. Jason K (No-Show)
10. Jason S (No-Show)

And the final standings are:

1. Mark (92/86)
2. Jason M (85/85)
3. Shane (83/81)
4. Greg (73/73)
5. Aaron (74/70)
6. Noah (63/61)
7. Me (62/60)
8. Archie (52/52)
9. Jason S (48/48)
10. Jason K (19/19)

Jason M sold his seat to me for $100.   I get 40% of the winnings.  He gets 15%.  I would have easily paid more or given up a higher percent, but he didn't have any desire to actually play in the WSOP so this is probably a win for both of us.

Hopefully we'll be back next year, but I'm not confident.  Jason K was a no show for the last third.  As was Jason S.  S at least had an excuse as he was changing jobs and moving cross country.  Also Noah and Mark indicated they are probably out. We may be able to find some people to fill their places, or maybe we just call it a good run and leave it at that.

I'll be in Vegas the last weekend in June.  Hopefully I can improve upon last year's performance and actually cash this time.



This may be the

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas Episode 03/11

This week was odd. Jasons S and K were no-shows again.

I did really well in the beginning. I doubled up early with QQ. Jason M called a flop bet, then I check raised him on the turn when I picked up a set. I went all-in on the river and he called with bottom pair. I have no idea what he was thinking.

The next hand I had 72o and bloffed Greg off of a big pot with a large bet on the river when it gave flush possibilities.

I got QQ additional times in the tourney, but each one fared worse than the hand before.

Before I get to that, I'll just say that I was tired and not really focusing on the game, so I made a bunch of plays that I probably wouldn't have normally made. Some worked, some didn't. I was never really in danger of going out until I did.

My second QQ came when I was in the big blind. Archie raised from the small blind and I reraised, causing him to fold. (side note, our group has gotten terribly passive. So much preflop limping and family pots.

My third QQ came four handed. I raised, and Shane reraised out of the big blind. The flop is all under cards, two clubs and he bets my remaining chips. I make a crying call, putting him on KK or AA. He turns over AK, both clubs. That was actually a good bet on his part. Something I didn't think him capable of. Puts a ton of pressure on me to fold plus he has a ton of outs. Which of course he hits.

Not a terrible result except that it was one of my better results this season.

Here are the results from this week, and the overall standings.

1. Shane
2. Greg
3. Mark
4. Me
5. Aaron
6. Archie
7. Noah
8. Jason M
9. Jason K (DNP)
10. Jason S (DNP)

Overall

1. Jason M (85/84)
2. Mark (88/81)
3. Shane (68/66)
4. Aaron (68/64)
5. Greg (62/62)
6. Me (57/55)
7. Noah (55/53)
8. Archie(52/50)
9. Jason S (48/48)
10. Jason K (19/19)

So unless my math is wrong Jason M and Mark have clinched the top two spots.  Technically Shane could tie mark, but Jason M said he doesn't think he can make it next week, and the other two Jason's I don't expect to show at all, so there is an almost guaranteed three points for Mark.   

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas Episode 03/10

This is one of those weeks when I feel like PokerStars was just messing with me.  I got absolutely brutally awful cards all night.  And had I played them I think I would have flopped two pair, or at least made two pair by the turn 87% of the time.

Jasons K and S were no shows again.  I think K has given up, and S is in the process of moving across country.   I hovered around the starting stack size most of the game.  for some reason I was able to see the flop on my BB for free almost every orbit.  So I was able to hang around.  Ultimately when we were four handed I tried to bluff Mark off a pot and he made a great call with bottom pair.  That left me pretty short stacked and then I tried to get cute by reraising all-in with bottom pair, hoping Noah was just trying to steal my blind.  He had top pair and knocked me out.  It was probably an ill-advised move at that point, but I was banking on him bluffing and I was wrong.

In the grand scheme of things is probably doesn't matter as Mark and Jason M were still in it, and they don't need to beat me at this point. They just need to stick around for a while to accumulate enough points to prevent me from catching them.  I'll have to do the math later, but I think I'm mathematically eliminated at this point,

This weeks results are:

1. Noah
2. Jason M
3. Mark
4. Me
5. Archie
6. Greg
7. Aaron
8. Shane
9. Jason K (DNP)
10. Jason S (DNP)

The overall standings are:

1. Jason M (83/82)
2. Mark (80 /73)
3. Aaron (63/59)
4. Shane (53/51)
5. Greg (51/51)
6. Noah (52/50)
7. Me (51/49)
8. Jason S (48/48)
9. Archie (48/46)
10. Jason K(19/19)

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas episode 03/08 and 03/09

I didn't post an update from last week, so I'm bundling it with the results from today.  I was pretty frustrated with the results last week.  I won a big hand early and was second in chips for most of the tourney before ultimately going out in a pathetic fifth place.  My cards were terrible and I couldn't seem to catch a break but enough bitching.  I do want to review the big hand I won early on. It was vs. Greg.

Its been a week so I may be a little fuzzy on the details, but here is how it went down.  Five handed, Greg is on the button, I'm in the small blind with Q6o.  He limps and I call.  Flop is A6A, and I make a small bet. BB folds and Greg calls.  Turn as a three.  I bet again, and he raises.  I call.  River is a four.  He makes a large bet.  Its early in the tournament and if I call, the loser of the hand is going to have a hard time not going out first or second.

It seems to me like he is trying to push me out. If he has an ace then he would be trying to get me to call with a smaller bet.  If he has an pocket pair, then I still think the ace scares him and he tries to keep the pot smaller.    I call and he turns over K7s.  He's shocked that I called him with what I.  I realize I'm not providing a perfect recount of the hand, but am I missing something. Was he representing something that I just didn't see, or was he overselling his hand like I thought?  I guess I was right so that is all that matters, but I was bothered that he thought he represented a hand that I should have folded to.  Someone else at the table concurred that they thought he was slow rolling a big hand.

Anyway.  I coasted for  a while after that, then just ran into a bunch of coin flips that I kept losing.

Here are the results from last week:  Jason M continues his dominance this season and Mark pulled into second place with his win.  Also note that despite losing that big hand Greg managed to come back and outlast me.

1. Mark
2. Jason M
3. Jason S
4. Noah 
5. Greg
6. Me
7. Archie
8. Aaron
9. Shane
10. Jason K

And for week 9....


Haaaaaaalelueah hallelujah, hallelujah.

I finally won one.  Holy crap I was starting to think it wouldn't happen.  Noah also got his first cash with a second place finish, so congrats to him.

Jasons K and S were no shows, although Jason K was nice enough to register and then get blinded out.  I wish I could set the registration period to 30 min before the tourney starts so that wouldn't happen.  Jason K would have finished in fifth if he had actually shown up and just folded every hand.

My table started out four handed and I was very aggressive, nearly doubling up by the time the tables merged after the first blind limit.  I settled into a conservative rhythm after than and started bleeding chips as has been the norm.  

The hand that put me up for good was one that I had no business playing I had T2h and entered a family pot.  Flop was king high with one heart.  Jason M made a small bet.  He's been catching ridiculous cards on the river all league long, and especially today.  Nothing against me so far today, but he's had some sick suckouts against Noah.  

The turn is another heart and Jason makes a slightly larger bet.  I think to myself "what the hell"  if you can't beat 'em, join em right?  The river is the king of hearts and Jason makes a big bet.  I push all in over the top and he calls.  He had a king, and I forget the kicker, but it doesn't matter because he finally gets rivered and I double up.

From that point on I'm never in danger.  When we get down to three players I get the sense that both Mark and Noah are waiting for the other to go out, and as a result both hemorrhage chips in my direction.  Mark fall first and then the heads up match with Noah is over in a few hands as he only has 5x BB left.



Here are the results for week 9

1. Me
2. Noah
3. Mark
4. Jason M
5. Greg
6. Shane
7. Aaron
8. Archie
9. Jason S (No Show)
10. Jason K (No Show)

And the overall standings (Total/Total dropping worst 2)

1. Jason M (72/71)
2. Mark (72/65)
3. Aaron (60/56)
4. Shane (51/49)
5. Jason S (48/46)
6. Greg (47/47)
7. Me (45/43)
8. Archie(43/41)
9. Noah (37/35)
10. Jason K (19/19)

In other news, even though it doesn't look like I'm going to be finishing anywhere near the top two, Jason M looks like he's going to win and has said that he doesn't really want to play in the WSOP event.  So I think I can convince him to let me play for him.  Mark is the other guy pushing to play for Jason, and he is now in position to win a seat outright so I might not have to worry about him.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas Episode 03/07

Ug.  That's about all I can say about tonight.  I was hoping to ride last week's performance into something better this week, but it was not to be.  It was one of those nights when pretty much nothing went right.

I'm going to make my cat take most of the blame for this.  He's an asshole.  When he's hungry or for whatever reason decides that he needs attention he becomes the most obnoxious furball in the history of pets.  He walks on your keyboard, knocks anything and everything he can find off your desk, tries to head butt you, and then starts biting.  He's a complete douchbag.  And I'm a cat guy.  I love cats.

Anyway, he's going through his routine as I'm trying to play.  I would put him out of the room but then he would start scratching at the door, or try to bust into my two year old daughter's room, who just went to bed. So there are a few borderline hands that I opt not to play because I'm know I'm distracted.  I tell myself I'm make smart conservative decisions.  Its just one of those days where every hand you fold would have hit the flop huge, and every hand you play misses completely.  I'm slightly tilty from that but I'm aware of it and I think I have it under control.

Three big hands are what untimately kill me.

1.  I have 64o in one of the blinds.  I've had terrible hands all night though so this is actually one of my better starting hands.  And the flop is four handed 537 with two spades.  I bet a smallish amount. I don't want to scare people away.  I know I should because the flush is there, but I don't.  Two fold one stays.  The turn is a flush.  I check he min bets and I call.  River is nothing.  Check Check he has a weak flush and I'm in trouble. I guess I should have tried to push him out on the flop, but if I can't get a big pot off of flopping a 7 high straight then I'm not going to far anyway.

2.  I have pocket sevens and call Mark's raise.  He flop is 833.  He bets I raise, he calls.  The pot is about the size of my stack, which he bets when an ace comes up on the turn.  I think about it for a long time, and eventually fold.  I figure he has an ace, or an overpair.  Anything other than an ace on the flop and I probably call, but I can't put him on anything that I can beat.   I fold and now I have to wait for a premium hand or I'm done.

3.  Does ATs count as a premium hand?  Three orbits later and its by far the best I've seen.    There are a couple limpers and I push all-in.   I get called by JT.  Of coarse he catches a Jack on the river and I'm busted in 9th place.  Yes that was a shitty bad beat story. I don't care.  This is probably the most frustrated I've ever been at poker.

ug.


Here is this week's results, and the overall standings.

1. Shane
2. Aaron
3. Mark
4. Archie
5. Jason M
6. Jason S
7. Jason K
8. Noah
9. Me
10. Greg

And the overall standings

1. Jason M (55)
2. Aaron (55)
3. Mark (49)
4. Shane (46)
5. Jason S (40)
6. Archie (38)
7. Greg (37)
8. Me (26)
9. Noah (20)
10. Jason K (19)

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas Episode 03/06

Things actually went well this game. For the most part. Although I think the key hand was quite a bit of luck.

Very early on Jason S is the short stack at the table and goes all in. Jason K calls. Jason S has 55 against K's kings. S spikes a five on the flop and halves K's stack. K I'm guessing this puts K on tilt pretty bad. The very next hand I have 88. A couple players limp and I raise. K goes all-in. I call, and he shows 29o. I knock him out and get a decent sized stack in the process.

For most of the rest of the tourney I play tight, and bide my time, picking up some small pots here and there as people knock each other out. I'm never the big stack, but I'm never short stacked either.

Until we get down to three handed. Jason M (seriously, no more jason's allowed in the league) has had more than the rest of the table combined for quite a while. Greg has been bouncing up and down, and I'm holding steady, but getting close to desperation time.

The fatal hand comes after Greg has taken a bunch of chips off Jason. Jason raises, and I look down at A7s. I figure three handed, I'm probably ok. Plus I think a bet of about a third of Jason's stack will scare him off most hands anyway. Maybe I was right about that, but it didn't matter because he didn't have most hands. He had AK. In hindsight, he doesn't raise much so that raise was probably and indication of a pocket pair or high ace. If I had just called his raise, I could have gotten out after missing the flop. I would have been in trouble but I would have lived to fight another day. Instead I'm out in third place. I just barely missed out on some much needed points, and cash. Hopefully this is a trend and I can ride create some momentum to finish off the season strong. Half way through its not looking too good.

The surprise of the year has to be Jason M though. I would have put his odds at making the top two at 100:1. He's cashed in three of the last four tourneys though to take a six point lead overall. I'm not convinced that there isn't a good amount of luck in those finishes, based on some of the hands I saw him play tonight, but you can't argue with results.

Here are this weeks results:

1. Jason M
2. Greg
3. Me
4. Jason S
5. Mark
6. Noah
7. Aaron
8. Archie
9. Shane
10. Jason K

And the overall standings

1. Jason M (50)
2. Aaron (44)
3. Mark (41)
4. Greg (37)
5. Jason S (36)
6. Archie (32)
7. Shane (31)
8. Me (25)
9. Noah (18)
10. Jason S (16)

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas Episode 03/05

So I've decided I'm no longer any good at poker. In fact I'm pretty terrible. I have no reads on anyone. Every time I try to take a stab at a pot I get raised, every time I'm tentative I find that I was ahead, and get sucked out on. The only thing that ever seems to go right on me is playing 72o. I got it in the BB this time around. The small blind was the only other player in the pot and he limped in. The flop was rags, he bet and I raised forcing him to fold. Other than that. Bad night for me.

I'm incredibly frustrated with my play lately. I think a lot of it has to do with rust, but I don't know how to fix that. Online play isn't an option any more, except for this league, and I don't have time to go to the casino. At this point I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be playing in the WSOP this year unless I can convince a lot of people to stake me. It would take a miracle for me to place in the top two of the league, and I've had a few very large and unexpected house expenses that have made my wallet a bit weepy. I don't think I can justify the full buy in this year.

We'll see.  It looks like there is going to be a large group of people going to Vegas this year so I'm at least going to do that.   Maybe things will turn around by then.

 Here are the standings for this week, and overall.

1. Greg
2. Jason M
3. Jason S
4. Mark
5. Aaron
6. Noah
7. Shane
8. Jason K
9. Me
10. Archie

Over all.

1. Aaron (41)
2. Mark (36)
3. Jason M (35)
4. Archie (30)
5. Shane (30)
6. Jason S (30)
7. Greg (26)
8. Me (17)
9. Jason K (16)
10. Noah (14)

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas Episode 3/04

So, yeah...

 That stuff I mentioned last post about not playing scared trying to eeek out each point. Nevermind. Still playing like crap.

 Things started out well enough, but after the third blind level I don't think I won a hand. I just couldn't pull the trigger on anything, and I wasn't hitting my flops.

 Weak bad play = early exit for me.

 Here are this week's results and the overall standings

Week 4

1. Aaron
2. Shane
3. Archie
4. Mark
5. Jason K
6. Noah
7. Me
8. Jason S
9. Jason M
10. Greg (DNP - out of town)

Overall

1. Aaron (36)
2. Mark (30)
3. Archie (30)
4. Shane (27)
5. Jason M (24)
6. Jason S (22)
7. Me (16)
8. Jason K (14)
9. Greg (11)
10. Noah (10)

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes To Vegas Episodes, 3/2 and 3/3 Plus live Poker

I've been slacking on my WSPL-GtV updates. I'm not sure how interesting summaries of small tournies actual are, especially when I'm not to happy with my performance.  So lets talk about my play overall.

In season one I was pretty successful playing a fairly conservative game.  I knew that I could run up a bunch of middle of the road performances, plus a win here and there to advance to the WSOP.  And it worked for me.

In the second season I decided to play more aggressively.  I tried to get involved in more hands and to push my advantage in  the early stages.  I did OK, but often found myself in trouble, losing critical points in the standings with early exists.  I ultimately finished in third place.  The top two consisted of a fairly loose aggressive player and a very measured conservative player.

This year my goal was to play simple, smart, conservative poker, a revival of my season one strategy. My goal was to not put chips at risk unless absolutely necessary.  It the first two matches that led to a boring game where I couldn't get enough chips to stick around very long.  It also lead me to fold a fair number of hands that I think I could/should have won because I was playing scared.

The same thing happened in the live game.   A friend started hosting what is turning out to be a pretty large monthly game.   I'm not a huge fan of the blind structure, and he makes one person be permanent dealer, which I don't like, but other than that, its a good tournament.   I played pretty solid for the first hour, chipping up slowly.  I lost couple pots when I couldn't chase some less than stellar players off of their garbage hands, but I was still in good shape at the break.

Then the blind schedule got aggressive, and it was getting close to all in or fold mode.  I got my aces cracked by the aggressive guy at the table when he flopped two pair.  And while that was annoying it wasn't what angered me about the game.  Looking back at the first hour, while I did have more chips than I started with, I left many opportunities to have even more chips by being overly conservative pre-flop, and not being willing to take a chance with anything other than super premium hands.  Had I played better early on I wouldn't have been in a situation where I had to get all-in and I could have escaped that hand with at least a chip or two.

Back to the only other thing worth noting is that Aaron has gotten super tilty, despite winning the first game.   Its one of the small joys of playing with him, seeing how angry he gets after losing.  Twice when he was in the BB I was dealt 27o.  I raised pre-flop hoping everyone would fold so I could show my hand and tilt him more.  Both times though I was called before it got to him, then hit either trips or two pair on the flop and went on to win big hands.  Good times.

Here are the results from the last two weeks and the overall standings.  We took a break for the Superbowl, but we will be back on this Sunday and every Sunday for the next nine weeks.

Week 2:

1. Archie
2. Shane
3. Jason K
4. Jason S
5. Me
6. Aaron
7. Noah
8. Mark
9. Greg
10. Jason M

Week 3:

1. Jason M
2. Mark
3. Jason S
4. Me
5. Greg
6. Archie
7. Noah
8. Aaron
9. Shane
10. Jason K

Overall Standings (points)

1. Mark (24)
2. Jason M (23)
3. Archie (22)
4. Aaron (21)
5. Jason S(20)
6. Shane (16)
7. Me (13)
8. Greg (11)
9. Jason K (9)
10. Noah (6)

Its going to be a close one this year.  The top 5 are separated by only 4 points, and any of the bottom 5 can get right back in it with a win.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas episode 3/1

The new year brings with it the new season of the WSPL.    This year Rich, our second place finisher from season two opted out since he wouldn't be able to make many of the games.  Our season one winner Greg is back, and we added a new player Jason S.

We now have ten players.  The problem with this is PokerStars has nine player tables, so we play five handed until the first casualty.  Which ended up taking while.

Nothing super exciting happened for me this round.  I was pretty card dead, and wasn't hitting many flops.  I'm also trying to play conservatively this year, to amass as many points as possible, even in games when I don't win.

The one reasonably exciting hand I had I was short stacked and went all in pre flop with ATo.  Jason S, one of the chip leaders called with KQo.  He proceeded to flop a king and hit a queen on the turn.  But the river gave me a jack to complete my straight.

Shortly thereafter though I ran my AK into pocket Aces which left me with $T25 in chips.  I was dealt a pair of threes, but got called by a pair of fives, and I don't even remember.  I do remember spiking a three on the river only to find out that the mystery hand had picked up a straight.

So I went out in a pathetic 8th place.

Mark, last years winner was down to $T100 before all of my exciting hands happened, yet managed to keep doubling up to the point where he was the chip leader by the time there were four left.  He managed to ride that to a second place finish.

Week one standings are as follows

1. Aaron
2. Mark
3. Jason M
4. Jason S
5. Greg
6. Shane
7. Archie
8. Me
9. Jason K
10. Noah

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas Episode 2/12

Week 12 was fairly anti-climactic.   Mark and Rich were almost guaranteed to go to Vegas.  Aaron had a chance to knock Rich out if he won and Rich finished in 6th place or worse. I could knock either Rich or Mark out if I won and they came in 6th or worst.  Or something similar to that. I don't remember the exact scenarios.   It didn't matter though. Aaron went out first.   He tried to play too aggressively into Rich and it did not work out well for him.

I ended up going out second.  I was doing ok, but then I got distracted discussing a Roulette betting scheme in which I contend that if you pick four numbers and keep doubling your bet until you win, after 16 rounds your EV turns positive.  Rich disputes this, and while attempting to explain my math over the interwebs, I failed to notice that I was playing shitty poker.    To make matters worse Mark goes out fourth, which was his worst showing of the year, and would have left me room to sneak into the WSOP.

Rich came in third which was enough to put him in the overall lead, despite only winning one tourney.

Here are the finals:

Week 12

1. Shane
2. Jason
3. Rich
4. Archie
5. Noah
6. Mark
7. Cookie
8. Me
9. Aaron

And the league totals:

1. Rich ( 94 total /91 Dropping the worst two)
2. Mark (98/90)
3. Me (82/78)
4. Aaron (78/76)
5. Archie (70/68)
6. Jason (70/67)
7. Noah (66/66)
8. Shane(56/55)
9. Cookie (40/38)

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas episode 2/11

We're playing twice this week since the last game was scheduled to be the day after Noah's wedding. Of course since we made a special game for him, Noah managed to not show up.

Things did not go very well for me this game. Early on I had JJ in the big blind. Everyone folded to Archie in the small blind who limped. If everyone limps to me in the big blind I generally like to just check it to disguise my hand. In this case I should have raised. I hate playing jacks. You never feel safe because someone is almost guaranteed to have overcards. This time the flop was ace high, Archie checked and bet. Same on the turn. The river was a third spade. Archie bets about 2/3 pot. It wasn't a very big pot, but still. It was great bet because I felt like I had to call even though I was sure I was behind. Sure enough he had rivered the flush with q2. Its my own fault. A raise pre-flop and I probably win that pot without the drama.

The next few hands were also multiway limps where I felt like I had to call. And I kept getting good pieces of the flop, but not good enough to stand up to the raises that I was getting. Before you know it I'm short stacked. and in trouble of going out real early.

I managed to stay alive long enough to finish in fifth, one spot ahead of Rich, but unfortunately Mark made it to XXXX place so my chances are pretty slim.

My final hand I had 88 in the big blind. Aaron min raised under the gun and I pushed all in. He had Aces and despite his claims that he never wins his aces held up. The frustrating thing about that is that I had 88 in the big blind earlier on when I had even less chips. Mark and Archie were both in a raised pot and while I contemplated pushing, I chickened out. Mark was also short stacked and I was hoping Archie would bust him. The flop was 89T and Mark ended up winning a big pot with a pair of tens. Not that I think I would have tripled up, but I would have at least won a decent amount of chips and prevented Mark from doing so. Second night in a row I let one of my top rivals stay alive.

Here are the standings after tonight

1. Aaron
2. Mark
3. Shane
4. Archie
5. Me
6. Rich
7. Jason
8. Cookie
9. Noah (DNP)

And the totals:

1. Mark 94/85
2. Rich 86/83
3. Me 80/76
4. Aaron 77/72
5. Archie 64/62
6. Noah 61/61
7. Jason 59/56
8. Shane 41/40
9. Cookie 37/35

So If Mark and Rich both choke tomorrow and Aaron or I win we have a chance, otherwise it looks like those two are going.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas Episode 2/9

And things get a  little more interesting...

I had just about resigned myself to the fact that Mark and Rich were going to be the top two finishers in the league.  They are in the lead now, and both too solid to have enough bad performances to let anyone else in. Or so I thought.

Rich is on vacation this week, out of the country.  He was planning on still playing but apparently wasn't able to make it, or most likely found something better to do.  This is why we get to drop two games.

For me this week things started out pretty poorly.  With one exception.  In my third or fourth hand I found myself with good old 27o.  Two players called my pre-flop raise, but they both folded to my continuation bet.  That was the only hand I won for the first three or four orbits.  I was playing tighter than usual in an attempt to keep myself out of trouble, and the few hands I did play I missed completely.

Just as I was starting to get frustrated I find myself with the small stack and AKs under the gun.  I make a standard 3xBB raise and get two callers, Noah and Cookie.   Noah has been on a tear lately. If he makes it to the ante levels (which we are in) he wins.

The flop is jack high with two of my suit.  Cookie bets, and Noah raises.  I push all in.  I'm guessing neither has anything, and that Noah is trying to steal the pot.  Even if they do have something I have a ton of outs.  Jason goes all in behind me and Noah calls, which initially doesn't make me too happy.  Cookie has QJ and Noah AJ.  I still have a bunch of outs, but I'm in trouble. The turn is a ten, which gives me some more outs, and I river a King.  Cookie is eliminated, Noah is still OK. I don't remember what he started with, but he may have come out ahead in the hand.

A few hands later Noah gets all in with Shane.  Noah again has AJ on a Jack high board, but Shane sucks out on the river.  Noah is finally eliminated when he again goes all in with the best hand and Aaron catches runner runner to make trips and beat him.  I think that is the most angry I've heard Noah after a game.

I was the chip leader after my triple up above and I never looked back.  I didn't jump into super aggressive bully mode because that has gotten me into trouble before, but I was able to push my way around when I needed to.  I was also able to sit back and watch the others knock each other out.  

With Rich not playing and Noah out early this was my big chance to gain ground.  Mark ends up going out in third so there is a little amount to be made there too.

Aaron and I get heads up before we are even an hour into the tourney, which I think is a first for this league.  I had about 7500 to his 4500.  We played to a stalemate for about half an hour.  Then I whittled him down to just under 2000.  He went all in with 22 and I called with AJo.  His two's held up and he got a new burst of confidence.  Suddenly he wasn't folding to my post flop raises, he was reraising me.   He ended up taking the lead and getting me all in, but this time my hand held up which seemed to put the game back to where we started.  I gradually ground him down to take my third win of the season.

So here are this weeks results.

1. Me
2. Aaron
3. Mark
4. Shane
5. Noah
6. Cookie
7. Jason
8. Archie
9. Rich (DNP)

And the overall standings

1. Mark 78 Points (68 Dropping the worst two)
2. Rich 67 (64)
3. Me 67 (63)
4. Noah 59 (58)
5. Aaron 58 (53)
6. Archie 52 (50)
7. Jason 45 (42)
8. Cookie 34 (31)
9. Shane 30 (29)

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas episode 2/08

Mark and Rich are pulling further and further away from the pack, and I have to admit I'm getting pretty frustrated. I've been playing real poorly lately and I think I'm starting to get into my own head.

Things started off OK. Noah who is currently one spot above me in standings went out first and both Mark and Rich were fairly short stacked. I was getting terrible cards again, and not feeling any sort of confidence at all, but I figured as long as I played tight and smart I could at least make up some points. The only hands I played were out of the blinds, and I didn't play many of them past the flop.

Before I knew it I too was short stacked, and Rich kept rivering cards to stay alive. Somehow Archie accumulated more chips than the rest of the table, which worked out OK for me because he called just about anything, including my pre-flop all-in with TT.

That doubled me up and put me comfortably in second. I could have just played tight and waited for some spots to chip up, but no, I had to get aggressive and it didn't turn out well. I feel like whenever I try to push people out of a pot they hit something and raise me, and whenever I let it get to the river, they catch something to suck out on me.

I was back down to middle of the pack when I got AQs Mark was short stacked and limped. I popped it to 4x BB and he called that too. Our table normal preflop raise is probably 2.5-3. The flop is 5T8 and he pushes all in. Its about half my stack to call him. I put him on a missed hand, hoping that I too missed, and I call. He had KTs and it held up for him.

A few hands later I pushed with KT preflop and Mark called with AJ. Again his hand holds up and I'm out in third with a wasted opportunity to make up some ground. Only three games left. I need to win at least one and finish in the top 4 in all to even have a chance.

Here are the results for week 8

1. Archie
2. Aaron
3. Rich
4. Mark
5. Shane
6. Cookie
7. Me
8. Jason
9. Noah

And the current standings.  At this point I think Mark and Rich can start making travel arrangements.  

1. Mark (70 overall/60 dropping worst two)
2. Rich (67/58)
3. Noah(54/53)
4. Me (52/48)
5. Archie(50/48)
6. Aaron (47/42)
7. Jason (42/39)
8. Cookie (30/27)
9. Shane(24/23)

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes To Vegas Episode 2/7

Week 7 was interesting. For the first hour or so, the short stack couldn't lose an all in.

 It took over 35 minutes before our first casualty.  Aaron and Shane went out around the same time, then it was another 45 minutes before we lost another player.

At one point Jason lost an all-in, leaving him with 7 chips.  The antes at the time were 10.  He won the next four or five hands in a row, and went up to over 1500; A few orbits later and he was at over 4000.

I went out in sixth place. I was short stacked for a while then by the rules of the night doubled up a few times to get be consistently 2nd in chips.  I lost a reasonably big pot chasing a flush draw, then lost everything when I though I  hit a big blind special.  I had J6 and the flop was 55J.  Unfortunately for me Mark had Q5 and over an hour into the tourney and I only got 4 points to show for it.  Archie and Rich dropped out shortly after I did. Leaving Mark, Jason and Noah.  At this point it looks like Mark is taking one of the spots, so I'm rooting for him , or Jason to win. Jason is near the bottom with little to no chance of competing.   Noah on the other hand  could get back in the chase with a strong finish.

Noah and Jason teamed up to take Mark down, and then Noah ground out the win.  Earlier on Noah made a comment that he had won every time he made it to the antes stage of the tourney.  Unfortunately that is still the case.

Here are the standings for today, and overall

1. Noah
2. Jason
3. Mark
4. Rich
5. Archie
6. Me
7. Cookie
8. Shane
9. Aaron

And the overall standings

1. Mark (64/54 dropping worst 2)
2. Rich (59/50)
3. Noah (53/52)
4. Me (49/45)
5. Jason (40/35)
6. Aaron (36/31)
7. Archie(35/33)
8. Cookie (26/23)
9. Shane (19/18)

Noah moved back into contention for a spot, I'm barely still in it.   Jason has quietly had a nice run,with two thirds and a second place finish in the last three.  I would say Shane, Cookie, Archie and Aaron are out of it, unless they manage to win at least three of the remaining games.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes To Vegas Episode 2/6

Much to say this week.  Not that I have much to say most weeks, but I was watching the Illini/Miami game while this tournament was going on, and I'm a bit disappointed that Illinois didn't pull it out so I'm going to make this short and sweet.

I will point out however that while Rich monied again, he is 0-4 heads up.  Also, I need to play better.

This weeks results:

1. Mark 
2. Rich
3. Jason
4. Archie
5. Me
6. Aaron
7. Cookie
8. Shane
9. Noah

And the overall standings

1. Mark (56)
2. Rich (53)
3. Me (45)
4. Noah (38)
5. Aaron (35)
6. Archie (30)
7. Jason (29)
8. Cookie(23)
9. Shane(17)

Looks like Mark and Rich are starting to pull away from the field.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas Episode 2/5

To say week 5 went poorly for me would be an understatement.  My computer crashed just before the tourney kickoff so I started out alone at the second table.  Shane, then Jason that Archie got added one by one, and each of them took a bunch of my chips.  I played a bunch of pots and missed hitting every time.  I tried pushing people out of hands but no one would fold.  Nothing went right.  And then when I decided to switch to super tight only ultra premium hand mode I would see the flop hit the hands I folded nine times out of ten.

The only thing that went right for me is that Cookie managed to bust out before me.  He was simultaneously playing poker, sim city, and doing a major system update for a client.

I made my final push with JTs and ran into Rich's KK to make it a quick night.  The worst part is that Mark, who was in second place at the start of the day lost a huge hand just before I went out.  And I told myself that I could wait him out.  At least for an orbit or two.

Bad Impatient Poker today.  Angry.

Time to fill out some NCAA brackets.



Here are the standings for this week.

1. Noah
2. Rich
3. Jason
4. Archie
5. Aaron
6. Mark
7. Shane
8. Me
9. Cookie

And the totals

1. Rich(42)
2. Mark (41)
3. Me (40)
4. Noah(37)
5. Aaron(31)
6. Archie (24)
7. Jason (21)
8. Cookie (20)
9. Shane(15)

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas Episode 2/4 - The curse of Daylight Savings Time.

So week four was weird.  I don't know if it was the daylight savings time switch that threw everyone off, but something wasn't right.

First off, only five of us made it by the tourney start. Archie and Shane didn't make it all.  Cookie was a few minutes late and Mark just barely made it before the first blind and late registration period was up.  By the time he did make it, Rich and I were already in bad shape.

I've mentioned before that Noah has severely under performed my expectations.  Well if it was because he was card dead these last few weeks (seasons?) he made up for it tonight.  I think that he was hitting at least a straight on every hand he played.  If he had less than A6 as a starting hand the entire time I'd be amazed.

Speaking of A6 the hand that crippled me early on was against him.  I had QQ and made my standard raise. Noah called. The board was 6AA and I figured he probably didn't have another A, so I played it kind of hard, but he didn't fold.  The turn was another 6 and the river inconsequential.  We checked down on the river and he turns over an ace.  I don't know why he didn't make some sort of bet on the river. I'm pretty sure I wasn't going to fold.

That left me in bad shape, but I was able to hang around while other players knocked each other out.  Mostly I mean Noah knocked people out.  He had pocket aces at least two more times, and managed quads on anther hand.

Down to five players, Aaron is short stacked and raises, Noah calls.  I have AQs and the second most chips at the table so I push. Both call. Aaron has JJ and Noah AA.  I think I hit a queen but it doesn't matter.  I end up in fourth place.

On the plus side, Mark goes out next when his AA fall to Cookie's KXo.  Cookie caught a king on the flop, and the turn, and then again on the river just for good measure, so I'm still a point up on Mark.

This weeks's results are:

1. Noah
2. Cookie
3. Mark
4. Me
5. Aaron
6. Jason
7. Rich
8. Archie (DNP)
9. Shane (DNP)

And the standings:

1. Me (38)
2. Mark (37)
3. Rich (31)
4. Aaron (26)
5. Noah (22)
6. Cookie (19)
7. Archie (18)
8. Jason (13)
9. Shane (12)

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas Episode 2/3

Game three is in the books, and I have now one two of them and sit atop the leaderboard.   It looks like it is going to be a three way battle for the top two spots, although it is still pretty early.

I played a fairly vanilla game tonight.  I was about third in chips for almost the entire way, except for a few minor hiccups here and there.  Once we got down to three players, I jumped out to a lead and never looked back. Its the other two players that I want to talk about.

First is Mark. Mark is the new guy in the group and I hadn't played more than a few hands with him before the league started.  After three games, I think I have a good read on him.   He's a pretty solid player especially when the table is full and there are few fish for him.  He plays fairly loose and pretty aggressive.  It seemed like he was in just about every pot, and no one ever seemed to pick up a hand against him.  He had a big chip lead early on and maintained it for much of the tourney.  His downfall is that no one ever seems to play back at him, at least early on.  Once we get deeper into the tourney the passive players have been eliminated, or forced into all-in or fold mode, so the pots that he normally steals he ends up having to fold, or lose.

For the most part I avoided hands with Mark. I'm getting used to his style but plays a wide range of hands that I don't want to have to try to figure out, especially when he is the big stack.  Much better to bide my time and wait for him to either get into trouble or knock other players out for me.

Once we get down to four or five players, I  don't have much trouble with Mark. He tends to over value his hands if he hits anything, but I can also get him to fold a fair amount of the time.   He's definitely a force to be reckoned with, and may be filling the role of Smack this year, but I'm not nearly as intimidated.

Next is Rich.  I think Rich may be the best player in the group.  At least until we get to two or three handed. Once there he turns into this weak overly passive player which I just don't understand.  I'm even more confused because I think he plays or played a lot of heads up online, so I think he should be really good at it.

When I play heads up, I will raise with just about and two cards, unless I think my opponent thinks I'm doing that and is likely to push back.  Against Rich I get him to fold 3/4 of the time.  On the other side, he flat out folds about half the time.

He survives for a while because I end up taking five or six minimum sized pots from him, then he reraises me big and wins a big enough pot to cover the ones he lost.  I think if he would play a few more pots he would steal them from me and better disguise his big hands when he get him.

This marks the third time in two seasons that we've met heads up, and I've won all three.  The first time I may have sucked out on him pretty bad, but who's counting?

Other notable performances for this week.

Noah was a no-show.

Aaron got short stacked early and battled to stay alive, placing in fifth.

Archie busted out first (but he still gets two points thanks to Noah).  I still think Archie should be contending for a top spot, but he just doesn't seem to do well online.

here are the standings:

Week 3

1. Me
2. Rich
3. Mark
4. Shane
5. Aaron
6. Jason
7. Cookie
8. Archie
9. Noah (DNP)

Totals:

1. Me (32 Points)
2. Mark (29)
3. Rich (28)
4. Aaron (21)
5. Archie (18)
6. Shane (12)
7. Jason (9)
8. Cookie (8)
9. Noah (7)

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com