Early strikes make for a quick day

So I started my session at 6:30am today, sat down at a table and noticed a few regulars, and a few not so regulars.  I bought in for my usual 100, and looked down at AQ offsuit for my first starting hand, not a bad way to go I suppose and raised it to 15, immediately got 2 callers.  Flop comes AQ2, and I check, the other person checks as well and a very aggressive player bets out 25, not wanting to lose the other person in that hand, I smooth call his 25, and the other player calls as well.  Turn is a 6 and again I check, as does the other player.  The aggressive player however bets another 25, at this point, there's about 100 in the pot and I just want to take it down to I reraise to 50 putting myself all in.  The other player calls after thinking a bit and the agressive player folds.  The river is a 5 and I turn over two pair to take the pot, the other player had A2, pretty unlucky for him, but let this be a lesson to some of you.  That's what you get for playing Ace-Rag on a raised pot.

I have a table image at the casino as a very tight player that doesnt bluff and I love that image because that's how I bluffed out a huge pot today as well.  I had 72 diamonds on the button, not the greatest of hands, but the flop came Q K 5 with 2 diamonds.  It was checked around to me, so I checked as well, and the turn was a K of spades.  the bet was 15, with 2 callers and myself I decided to stuck around for the diamond draw because I knew that if I had hit I would get paid and failing that I called to set up a bluff since this seemed like the perfect time to do it.  The river was a blank.  And again it was checked to me, so I threw out a small value bet of 50 dollars.  It was folded to one more person before I won the pot and he looked at me and said.  You have a King?  I said yes I do <total lie> he looks at me and goes, yeah.. i've played with you before you never lie (hahaha), and folded his Queen. 

Why did I win that pot?  simple, because out of all the months I've been going there and playing with these people, they know how I play, they view me as a tight player who will not bluff and who usually has the goods.  So if I pick my moments properly, I can sneak in a bluff or two and win big pots and get people to lay down hands that normally beat mine.  This is one of the aspects of poker that I can not teach, it's just innate to know when to bluff and when not to.  But this is why table image is very important. 

That was pretty much it for memorable hands, I wasn't there that long, a little over 3 hours as I left at 9:40am, and with 400 dollars profit I might add.

How to lose at Poker and still make money

I started my session pretty early today at 4:30am, and I must have been sleeping still as I completely forgot to take notes of memorable hands and the such but I was pretty card dead and missed a lot of my monster draws, so I was down 100 dollars pretty quickly.

I rebought for another 100 and ground my way up to 350 and not before long a fateful hand happened.  I had KcKs in early position and make it 16 dollars to go.  Some guy who has been a complete luck sack and a horrible player in general, reraises me to 35 dollars.  I know he doesn't have Aces so I just smooth call him and the flop comes Th 3s 6d.  He bets out 40 and I call. Turn is a 8s, he bets out 50 and I immediately reraise him all in and he immediately calls.  River is a Qs.  Guess what he has?  yeap, pocket Queens, and so now I'm down 200 dollars for the day.

After taking a beat like that I decide to go home and just relax and refresh and refocus for tomorrow, basically my three R's for poker.  As I'm leaving the casino, I start thinking, you know, I want to at least break even, so let's try some table games!  Put 50 bucks into the slot machine and cashed out 80 bucks after I hit a very small progressive jackpot.  okay, up 30 bucks, so down 170... that's not too too bad.  Then I decide to play some Texas Shoot out, and after a while i'm down 100 bucks from that so, down 270.  I rebuy for another 100 at the table games, and just play smart and slow and grind up to 300 dollars.  Now on my last hand of the day this happens. 

For those of you that don't play Texas Shoot Out or know what it is, it's a table game where players are given 4 cards and you choose the 2 cards you want and the dealer does the same, then 5 cards come out and whoever has the best poker hand wins.  The bonus is that there are 6 decks so 5 of a kinds are possible and pay out very well if you play the bonus. 

So back to my last hand, I have Qh Jh 2s 6h.  So obviously I choose Qh Jh and I had 5 dollars on the bonus and 90 dollars as my bet since I just wanted to lose my money and leave.  The dealer shows 8s 8c so I basically needed a Q or a J to double my money.  I'm just praying for either that or hearts.  First card is an Ah, and i'm like sweet, that's 1 heart, next card is the Th i'm like awesome, that's 2.  The next two cards are the Ks Ks (which is possible since again, 6 decks are being used).  So here I am praying for any heart, eventho I have a straight already since a flush pays 3 ro 1 on the bonus while a straight only pays 1 to 1.  The last card is a Kh.  I don't notice it immediately, but all of a sudden it hits me like a ton of bricks.  I yell out. ROYAL FLUSH and hit the table hard, <a royal flush in texas shoot out pays 200 to 1 on the bonus>  I have 5 dollars on the bonus.  So yes.. I got 1000 dollars out of that hand and everyone on the table who plays the bonus got an extra 250 dollars as an envy bonus. 

Not too bad from being down 270 to up 730 dollars for the day. 

All in a day's work haha, now I go to sleep and tomorrow I will remember to document my hands at the grind and hopefully have a few more stories to tell!

Happy Friday!

Back to the Grind

Well the main reason for me not playing poker anymore was because someone very close to me had made me promise them not to gamble anymore due to philisophical idealogies, however after showing this person my dedication to the game and my skill level they have since taken back the promise which is why I am pleased to announce my Muhammed Ali like return to the ring (bonus points if you got the reference).


With that being said, I will once again document my wins and losses for everyone to see as well as some key hands, my throught processes behind these hands and a new segment called 'How would you play it' for Sarah and Greg as they are getting into the game and want to learn and get better at reading situations and players.

I do not recommend anyone playing below 20 buy-ins for effective bank-roll management, but for the purposes of this blog I am only documenting my profit/loss statement.  As my game of choice is 1/2 No Limit Texas Hold Em, with the max buy-in at the table for $300, the ideal bank-roll for this game would be $6000.  Basically this helps with swings and variances.

I went to the casino today to again, re-grind a new bankroll and just to play for the sake of playing really, and bought in for $100 to get back into the game.  Didn't really see many familiar faces, but with the bad-beat jackpot at 130 grand, I decided to play tight and just chase the bad-beat so to speak.  Woke up with a few hands here and there and stole some pots and eventually turned my 100 dollars into 150, which leads us to our first hand worth mentioning.

I was on the button with 4h Td, and 6 limpers pre-flop.  I had no business in this pot but I wanted to mix things up a bit and see how many people were donkeys at my table.  Flop comes 4d Qs 7h.  It gets checked to me, so I bet 12 dollars, and everyone folds except for a guy in mid position, I watched him play prior to this hand and identified him as an internet donkey (someone who overvalues their hands). He calls my 12 dollars and the turn is a 7s.  He checks, and I fire 40 dollars thinking I could just steal the pot, he waits a good 3 minutes then calls, Immediately I put him pocket Jacks.  Don't ask me how I put him on that hand, but I did.  River is a 2c and he checks again and I push All-in for my remaining 90 hoping to take it away from him.  He haws and hums and he asks me if I have a Queen.  I respond "Your Jacks are no good here, just fold" he thinks again for 3 minutes and goes, I know you have a Q ueen, but I have to call.  And calls and sure enough shows Pocket Jacks and therefore he wins the pot.  I just laughed to myself and said, sweet, my read was right and I'll get those chips back soon enough.  So after this hand I'm down 100 dollars for the day.  Now, he puts me on a Queen, which is superior to his hand and still calls me for over 150 dollars, which tells me I can set this guy up big time later on.

I rebuy for another 100 and immediately see Ah Kc, and raise to 15 from UTG.  I get 6 callers, I'm assuming because they figured I was on tilt after losing that hand with the Jacks.  Flop comes Ac 8s 4h.  I immediately push all in with my remaining 85 dollars, since well, there was already 90 dollars in the pot and I was perfectly happy with it.  I get 2 callers, everyone else folds.  Turn is a Kh, and river is a 5h.  I turn over 2 pair, and the other two people show AQ and AJ.  which works out very well for me as now i'm sitting with 300 chips in front of me.

After a few more hands and a few more hours, I am UTG (Under the gun) again, as it was straddled and I see Ah Ac, I was like oh.. hello Aces, nice to meet you!  Some guy raises to 7, I immediately reraise to 22, and I get 2 callers, the guy who had the JJ from the previous mentioned hand and the original raiser.  Flop comes 6h 6d 8s.  Not exactly the best flop for AA, but I fire out 50 dollars and both of them call me.  Turn is a Td and everyone checks to the river.  The river is the As, which fills me up and I know I have the best hand now since 66 was definately not there.  The donkey fires out 35 dollars (into a 200 dollar pot) and the other guy immediately calls.  I hollywood for a bit and decide that this is where I get my money back from the donkey and reraise to 200.  The donkey calls, as does the the other guy.  Donkey has... 8s9h.  no joke.. he called with third pair.. on a paired board.  The original raiser shows a T8 for two pair, and of course I show a full house and make 700 dollars on the pot.  I left shortly after that, so I cashed out 700 dollars, but I was in for 200 dollars so my net profit for the day is 500 dollars.  Not too bad for 5 hours of poker

How would you play this hand?

I had JsTh on the button and called a 12 dollar pre-flop raise.  flop comes 8s 9c 4h.  The original raiser, who is pretty agressive bet 60 dollars.  I only have 140 dollars in front of me and it's folded to me.  I took quite some time to think about this one, and I actually put him on AK.  My thought proces was that I have 2 over cards, and an open-ended straight draw, which means any 7 any Queen, any Ten, any Jack improves my hand with 2 streets to go.  that's, 14 outs which is roughly 56% of the time I will hit my hand.  I am getting better than 2 to 1 on my money, but the only problem is, there are 2 people to act behind me.  I mucked the hand, and as soon as I did I regretted it.  Would you play it any differently?  I was in a shove/fold situation, I knew I couldn't call the 60, so I had to either fold or push all in.  Against an agressive player, would you push?  Let me know your reasons why or why not.  Keep in mind that this was before I lost the 140 dollars to the donkey with JJ so my mind was fresh and I wasn't tilting.  I just didn't want to gamble I guess.  but who knows.

Anyways, Im back and tomorrow I will post more hands and give you an update with my play from tomorrow.

Happy Thursday and it's back to gaming for me!