Running So Bad

I really am not sure where to begin. I guess the best place to start is by describing how bad the play is here in California. Perhaps I am just used to playing some of the toughest players around (from mid/high limits online and/or our Winnipeg game which includes Trav, Wolters, Todd, Myles, etc...), but it really does amaze me that at the center of the poker universe only a fraction of the players really know how to play. I will go over the two tournaments I played followed by a summary of the cash games.



Tournaments:



I only played two tournaments because I felt my ROI is far superior by playing deep stack cash over tournaments especially on Friday and Saturday when many casual players are present and many of the regulars are drinking.



Todd and I made a deal that we would chop chop in all tournaments we played together. The first tournament last Thursday was a $320 nl Holdem tabling 1370 players and paying 99 spots. I lasted until about 300 players left, which was reasonable considering I had only one pair over nines (which turned out to be jacks in the blind when the cutoff had aces...sweet). I lost a couple medium sized pots but never really had any chips or good situations. I managed to stay afloat with well timed blindsteals and bluffs. Then I get ak with a smallish stack size so I raise from early position and get called from the button who has lots of chips. The flop is A97 rainbow. I have about 1/4 my chips in with the raise so I figured that checking was the right play for a couple reasons. First, my chip count is relatively small so risking to blow the pot by giving a free card vs inducing a bluff by checking seemed to be worth it. Second, if he had AJ, AQ or better anyway the chips would be going in (as opposed to a situation where I had lots of chips and would need a bet and a raise to get my chips into the pot). Anway, he does bet, but only small which made me nervous but whatever I had to go with the hand givin my chip count....result, he had 99 and I lose. On a side note, Todd finished 87th and cashed for a bowl of soup.



The second tournament I played was today's Stud High. This tournament was a $500 buyin that attracted only 137 players paying top 16 with first at about 20k. During the tournament I must have played with 40 of the players, and in my opinion, there was maybe 2 or 3 that knew the game well. And, without trying to sound conceided, I felt like I had a better read on the hands than anyone (I feel overall Stud is probably my best game). I got off to a great start, but by about midway I started taking some sick beats which included losing to a drawless tripped up 9s on 6th when I had aces up on 4th, a starting pair of jacks turned into jacks up plus four flush on 6th against a pair of 9s hitting a set on 6th, did not draw out (this pot was critical as I would have been chip leader had I won). Then the final blow took place with about 25 left. I had gone card dead and was one of the lower stacks when I picked up wired jacks with a Q showing. Nobody is showing higher than a 10 when the guy to my left raises with an 8 showing. I reraise and for some reason he reraises back. I felt the guy was a bit of a donkey and givin the blinds were getting big I decided to make this my stand so I reraised again with the intentions of getting it all in unless he paired the 8. Anyway, he calls, I bet fourth he calls, I bet fifth, he calls, I bet sixth and he puts me in for another half bet. Neither one of us seemed to have a threatening board. As it turns out he rivered a flush on me. The sick thing was is he started with 883 two spades. Anybody with half a brain should really just lay down when reraised showing a Q. Instead, I get donked out instead of moving into a healthy chip stack. Good times, thanks again LA for another wonderfully played hand.



I will likely play the shootout tournament on Wednesday, but that will be about it until I get back from Whistler. Oh ya, I forgot too mention, I fly up to Whistler on Friday until Sunday. I would almost rather stay and play, but it is my annual ski trip with 10 close friends from University.



Cash Games:



In my previous post I talked about the cap buyin at the 5-10nl and below. Well it sucks because you can't play deep stack poker unless you hit some hands to build your stack. Even if you do, you still have all the other short stackers picking a hand they like and jamming 1/4 in preflop and the rest on the flop. This obviously takes away a good part of the skill to poker. In any case, I watched a little of the 10-20nl and it looked juicy so I hopped in. Overall, I played all day Friday and Saturday losing about 7k (luckily I made that online Saturday night after I quit so I'm about even on the trip). In the process, I ran into about 3 coolers, flopped only two sets (one of which I was oversetted), I made 2 out of roughly 25 flush draws, and 2 out of roughly 35 straights (one where I made a straight when an opponent made a flush), and finally during all of the hands played I was only dealt AA once, KK once, QQ 4 times, and JJ 4 times. I only won one of the QQ and lost with each and every other big pair including running into QQ into KK once and JJ into KK once (both times getting away from the hand on the flop with no overs). If that is not sick enough I will explain some of the big pots I lost.



Hand #1:



On Friday about an hour into the game I had $2400 (my initial buy is always 2k). I raise in mid position with 75 of spades to $70. I have been relatively active but had yet to play any big pots and the table was tight passive except the big blind who was a tough young internet player. Anyway, I get two callers including the big blind. The flop comes 753 two hearts. He checks I bet $190, the passive calling station does what he does best and calls. The big blind reraises to $700. With $2400 total I think the only move here is to pump all in representing a big pair. This kid could be raising with a flush draw, two pair (which would be ideal as I have top two), touch and straight draw, or even the nuts. But givin that I saw him slow play a nut hand once before and knowing that the calling station is likely on flush or has mid pair like 99/1010 I figured I must shove. After shoving, the calling station reluctantly folds and I'm snap called by the big blind who tables 333. Lovely, thanks for letting me flop two pair for once LA.



Hand #2



It's late into Friday night and I have build my chips up to 7k (in for $5300 at this time). The game is getting a little wild and I'm in the big blind. First to act straddled and about 3 called before the button raised it up to $320. I look down and find ak off. The opponent who made the raise is overly agressive and could have alot of hands including bs, AK, JJ, etc... but not likely AA or KK otherwise I feel he would raise less to $220 because I had seen a more milking bet from him before when holding AA. I hesitate for a moment contemplating to reraise and try to take down $550. I instead choose to flat call for several reasons. First, one of the crusty old guys who buys in deep called immediately after the straddle and it is totally within his range to limp into the straddle with AA or KK looking for the back raise so I don't want to committ 1K only to laydown before the flop. Second, the button is hyperaggressive so I don't think I could fold to an allin preflop and I hate racing for that kind of cash (especially when running so bad). Third, I felt I had a good read on him, which could allow me to bluff him or trap him if I hit a good flop. And fourth, I hate AK out of position on big pots. So after calling and everyone else folding, the flop came down K93 two clubs. I of course check as I feel I made gin with that flop. He leads out with an $700 bet. I was suprised by how big his bet was, almost pot size which wasn't typical of him so I sensed either he had nothing or was maybe on flush draw showing me he is commiting himself to the hand. Anyway, with another 2.2k behind him after the bet I pushed him in. He sighs and quickly tells me its time to gamble, then shows 94 of clubs. Yuck! That was about as a bad as I could have imaged it would be. We were basically in a coin flip. In typical LA fashion, the river brought in a club.



Hand #3:



On Saturday I got thumped. Leading up this hand I was about even, but one hand could make or break me because there was a crazy asain guy at our table who was not very good, had lots of money, and who was putting incredible pressure on everyone every hand. At the time of this hand I am about 6.5k deep (at least 4 players had more chips in play than me). I am in the small blind with a10. One guy limped everyone else folded to the asian guy in the cutoff who made a small raise to $350 (he was raising at least 50% of the hands and each raise was obscene ranging from $300 to $500). I decide to call in hopes of catching him. To my suprise the big blind called as did the limper. On the flop AJ10 two diamonds. We all check and the asian guy bets $350 (typically he had been making small continuation bets whether he had anything or not). I decide I have to see where I am in this hand and get out all touch straight draws so I reraise to $900 (and givin that there is already $1400 preflop, the raise must be at least this big to eliminate the weaker hands). The other two opponents in the hand immediately fold and the asian looks confused on what to do so he does what he does best and calls. The turn is an offsuit 5. I lead out $1700. The asian guy thinks for awhile asks me if I'm on a draw blah blah blah. After much deliberation he calls. At this point I assume he has a hand but I'm thinking maybe flush draw or AK, AQ (or maybe even a dry ace given what he has shown down in the past to big bet calls). River is an offsuit 8 and I choose to move all in. The asian guy is flustered and he begins talking to himself then to me. What you got straight? set? So at this point I'm feeling relieved and I'm hoping for a call because I think he definately has AK or AQ. After 5 minutes he says call and shows AJ. I couldn't believe it. First, he had payed off fast with much less several times earlier. Second, if he had AJ and was going to call $1700 on the turn, I would have expected he was going to make a stand with the hand by reraising me all in on the turn (in which I may have folded I'm not sure). In the end given the way he was calling through thin, giving ridiculas action, and givin the significant action preflop and the draw heavy flop, I don't know how I could not lose my chips in this situation. Thanks LA for yet another cooler. It seems like the only time I ever flop two pair is when I'm beat.



Hand #4:



This was by far my worst play of the trip. Early Friday I had just tilted a rich California business man about 5 minutes previously when I raised him allin on a turn on a A85K rainbow board after he raise preflop, bet the flop, and the turn. He folded and I showed him the 9 of clubs. I knew he had nothing as he was steamrolling in typical fashion. The turn bet was $300 (60% pot) and I pushed him for his last $500 so its not as if I was running a huge play (had a9 of clubs anyway). After the hand he immediately called over the floor manager and asked for chips on a marker, 30k to be exact. He was ready for war. So, a hand comes up where there was a straddle and a call and I am in mid position with 99. Similar to the AK hand described above there is a case for calling or raising. I decided to raise this time makin it $180 to go. A short stack in the small blind reraises to $480 total. The rich guy snap calls everyone else folds to me. I had 3.7k to start the hand. I figured there was about a 50% chance the short stacker had a bigger pair than me, but giving the rich guy is steaming, I had position on him, and that I could double through him with the right flop so I decided to put in another $300. The flop came 235 two spades and the rich guy checks. I figured he missed the flop and at the time I wanted him out so I bet $1000 (in hindsight this was a bonehead bet and if nothing else I could have served my purpose for about $800). After putting the money in the rich guy quickly says he's all in. I thought for about 5 minutes. At first I thought I should fold and that he probably flopped a small set or slow played aces, after all he could only be check raising against an allin with a made hand. Then, thinking a little more I felt he could easily be doing this with a flush draw(AQ/AJ spades?) or 44 because for one he is a donk, and secondly I pissed him off with the 9 of clubs and he would like nothing more than to push me off a pot. In the end I folded (against my better judgement as my gut told me it was a flush draw, but it was the beginning of the trip I didn't want to play a big pot with a marginal hand). As it turns out he had qj of spades and bricked out. To add insult to injury the short stacker had 88. On the hand I lose $1480 instead of winning $4100 profit. In retrospect, I played the hand poorly on two counts. One, with position I should check behind one time for a couple reasons. One, to see what what comes on turn, two, to see what the guy does, and three for pot control purposes. Essentially, my rookie overbetting of the flop put me in a difficult situation. Then of course not following through against the steaming donk when I only have 2.2k left after putting in roughly 1.5k with 99 on a 235 board. I was very dissapointed with myself after that hand.



Hand #5:



I was not involved in this hand but I think its worth mentioning to give a flavour of the game. Preflop several people called and that same rich guy made it $90 on the button. A rather tight player that seemed to be playing well made it $350 to go in the big blind. Everyone folded to the rich guy who called as did the small blind. Each player is playing 20k plus. The flop came down AQ10 rainbow. The preflop aggressor made it $900. The rich guy called the other guy folded. The turn brought another Q. He fired again this time for $1900. The rich guy contemplated then called. The river brought an offsuit 7 and the tight player bet 5k. The rich guy thought for awhile then folded saying he had 1010 (LOL such bs, at best he folded AK the way I see it because anything better and he would have likely raised the turn or at least called the river). Anyway, the guy turns over JJ. I thought this play was bad even though he scored a big pot. The rich guy was already on massive tilt and had been calling thin. He obviously is not intimidated by the money so if he likes his hand he will likely call. Perhaps the tight player put him for a dry ace and figured he could represent AA or QQ with a big river bet, knowing that the rich guy would fold. Who knows, seems a little too risky for me though.



I could continue explaining my poor flops, turns, and rivers or I could continue to explain my horrible situational luck, but it serves little purpose and I certainly don't want to sound like a crybaby (may be too late for that). However, just to say, I have been unable to counter my coolers and such with any big hands for big pots (except one hand where I rivered a 2nd nut flush against another guys 3rd nut flush). Most of my money won has come from solid value betting through hands hitting top pair good kicker against opponents with lower kicker / second pair or by bluffing through small/medium sized pots knowing my opponents could not call (I generally don't run big pot bluffs just not enough gamble in me). I really hope that things turn around because I can honestly say that if I could start running average to good I could make 5k / day (at least on weekend nights) and if I could get on a heater that number could increase to 10-15k. The games are just that good.



One final personal observation:



I have a tendency to become passive when I can't hit or after I've taken some beats and I'm stuck. I say to myself "how am I going to lose this one?". When I lose the killer instinct and shift to this defensive playing style it usually leads to losing more money. So far on this trip I have been good at getting up when I fall into this pattern and for that I am happy.



I will try to update this blog a little more frequently over the next couple of weeks and hopefully I will have some good stories to tell. In the meantime, I hope you all have been are enjoying the frostbiting weather of Winnipeg :)



Cheers,