http://weaktight.com/2487766

http://weaktight.com/2487768

It’s always nice to flop the stone nuts on a high, scooping board and end up with none of the pot. Anyways, I’ll try to keep the whining to a minimum. O8 is a very high variance game and I certainly still have some betting and non-betting leaks as I made more than a few mistakes and did a very poor job of minimizing my losses.

My daily totals for the week were something like +$13k, -$46k, -$10k, -$7k, -$5k followed by a couple of breakeven days. So ya I lost something like $60k over the course of a few days and thought for sure I was goin busto. It was by far the most stressed I think I’ve ever been in my poker career.

Since then I’ve taken a couple of days off and realized I’m still doing pretty damn well for myself. I’m still a 100 thousandaire and lead a pretty comfortable good life for myself which is more than most of my 24 year old peers can say. Sadly, my online roll is down to $20k due to having to withdraw a bunch to stock some ATMs for an upcoming event, and I pretty much refuse to redeposit so my current plan is to just grind 2/4 plo and 30/60 limit games and lower til I get back up to $50k online to start playing bigger again. So ya there it is for my poker update.

Lifewise I suppose the most interesting things are that I discovered the recipe for japanese white sauce and have made some of it and been putting it on pretty much everything I eat over the past couple of days. Man it’s tasty! You have to make sure you let it sit in the fridge overnight like the directions say as it tasted way too much like mayo right after mixing. I’ve also been looking into taking some beginner motorcycle lessons probably sometime in September as that’s the next available course I don’t have a conflict with. It’s $125 for 8 hours of ride time and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve never been riding before but it’s always something I’ve wanted to learn how to do. If I really do end up enjoying I might have to go bike shopping!

I know I been slacking with the vids lately, so I’ll give ya two this time.

First a funny short one.

Then a long, angry one that gives my feelings toward poker this month.

After that I got it in with jacks vs the same guy from above who also had jacks and ended up chopping. Opened AK from EP once to be flatted by the bb, we ended up checking it down and he won on the 9857Q board with A7o. I folded 77 vs an EP opener who showed AJs and ended up overflushing someone on a 347QT board. Waited awhile and then shipped A9o utg+2 with 25k or so at 2000/4000/500 only to be reshipped on by another shortstack who held A8o. I held and was up to 50k or so thinking there’s a pretty good shot at me making the money at this point. The shortstack from above ended up shoving his last 21k into my big blind with 8Ts, and with me getting 2:1 I had to call with J9o. Flop was Q55, turn 6, river…8. Not much I could do.

After that I was pretty crippled again and folded for awhile until my last two hands. It was folded around to the button who had been playing pretty snug up til now and he shoved his 50k in on my sb with me starting the hand with 25k. I held As4s and tanked for a bit before finally letting it go. He tabled Qd9d, so I would have been ahead, but thought I could find a better spot. Very next hand folded to me on the button with 23k still at 2000/4000/500 and I shoved it in with 87o only to be reshipped on by the sb with AK. Flop was 952 rainbow giving me hope but turn and river bricked out and I busted after 28 grueling hours of play in this tournament.

I maybe could have waited a little longer for a slightly better hand since I had already paid the blinds, but whatever I’m sure my shove is +EV enough. I learned a lot this year and I’ll definitely be back again next year. I really regret my AQ hand from yesterday, as it basically cost me $30k if not more, but all I can do is learn from my mistake and not make it again in the future. That’s it for my series, shoutout to my roommate ceegee who’s still cruising in the main with like 400k. GL sir!

Utg who has about 120k opened to 4k, I am utg+2 with AQo and elect to 3 bet to 11k. Folds back to him and he calls. Flop is Ah5d7d, he checks and I cbet (mistake #1) 14k into the 23k pot. He makes it 34k to go and I call. Turn is the As and he bets 40k. At decide to shove to get value from diamonds and straight draws (mistake #2) he snaps with pocket 5s no miracle ace, queen or 7 on the river for me. Ship the 240k pot his way. I really shouldn’t have cbet as it’s a way ahead way behind spot, but once I do I have to call the flop raise. After the turn is an ace and he still bets I think I can get away as it really looks like I have an ace, and he shouldn’t expect me to be folding 3 aces ever in that spot. Definitely the hand of the tournament for me and by far the one I regret the most. It’s really hard to play for 24 hours and not make mistakes, but that’s what this tournament is all about. I still have chips and a chance going forward though. Wish me luck today. Hopefully I’ll make some money.

As far as the other prelim events go I ended up playing three more which I didn’t update or blog about, the $3k HORSE, the $1.5k shootout and another $1.5k 10max. The HORSE I couldn’t get anything going in and was down to 3k in chips when I caught a couple nice stud8 hands and was up to 11k or so at my peak, but then I lost a huge limit hold’em pot that was 4 bets preflop with my AK vs my opponents AJ and he ended up getting all in on the turn on an ace high board but rivered a flush on me. After that I was knocked out by none other than Chad Brown who opened the cutoff with A468 nut clubs in omaha 8 or better, sb flatted and I flatted the bb with AAJT with jack high clubs. Flop was KT8 one club, sb checks, I bet, Chad called, turn was 2c, I bet again, river was 3c and I bet 1000 of my last 1200 with my jack high flush only to be raised by his nut nut hand and I was out.

The shootout was really soul crushing as maybe the 3rd hand in I oversetted someone and thought it was going to be my day to run good. After that I took some brutal beats though, KK with spade draw vs AQ all in on turn on a Q high board early, I did suckout and river a straight vs someone’s top pair nut flushdraw for a medium sized pot, but the brutal pot I played was when it was 3 handed. I had 25k on the button, sb had 9k, bb had 11k. I open to 1000 at 200/400 with AK, sb flats, bb squeezes to 2600 I shove and he tanks forever before finally calling off his remaining stack with A2o. Flop is a deuce gg me. I win that and I’m headsup with a 4 to 1 chiplead. After that I doubled, then doubled the shortstack, it lasted a long time. I believe we were the last table to be playing 3 handed in the whole room. 70% of the tables were finished and we were still 3 handed. Bustout hand came when I reshipped QJo from sb vs buttons TT. Flop Q99 turn T and I’m out.

The last $1.5k ten handed I played I just got coolered a bunch and was out after 2.5 hours. Got QQ vs KK in the first level and lost 2000 of my 4500 chips. Bled down to 1500, doubled up with AK vs AQ. Then opened AQ, bb flatted me. Flop was A77 it goes check check, I bet the 3 turn and get checkraised and it doesn’t seem like he’s bluffing but he can def be value betting worse so I call then call the river and get shown AK. Bustout hand was me shoving my last 900 or whatever with ATs and getting called by AJo in the blinds.

June results overall were good for me as I won a bunch playing online and ended up netting about $20k or so despite going 1/12 in the prelim events and donating $15k to them in the process. Living and talking with my roommates has improved my skill in the limit games immensely the past month. Here’s a funny o8 hand I played today where I got totally owned by my opponent who successfully checkraises both the turn and river on me. I pretty much hate the way I played every street but oh well. I was going to post a cool k high call down I made in a super turbo today, but HEM can’t find it so you’re stuck looking at the bad and ugly with no good. Wish me luck in the main event tomorrow!

As far as hand recaps go, its 6max limit hold’em so I played a lot of pots. Just before the bubble was starting I went on a huge heater and was up over 100k in chips, but then I got moved to a new table, the money bubble burst, I couldn’t flop a pair and made some bad river call downs with ace high etc. My last two hands were utg, who was just moved to my table so I have no read on, limps and I have KT of spades in the cutoff, I raise to isolate and he calls. Flop is QQ7 one spade, he checkraises my cbet and perhaps I should have just folded then but I thought there’s a good chance he has air or a dry 7 or 88 or something and if he does have a queen I still have backdoor spades. I peel, the turn is the 9 of spades, he bets I call, river is a brick and I fold my King high and am left with 1.5 big bets left. I think I played it fine, just woulda been nice to bink that spade on the river in this one. Bustout hand I was in the big blind with 12k in chips and blinds are 2k/4k. Button opens, sb flats I have J7 of spades and overcall. Flop is Q63 rainbow, sb checks I put my last small bet in, button raises, sb reflats and I’m feeling like I’m in a bad spot. Turn is and ace and a lot of action goes down and I’m pretty sure I’m drawing dead and out. My read is confirmed when the btn tables A6 and sb A3 both for two pair. Though my flop all in wasn’t bad as I still had two overs at that point.

Next tourny I played was the stud8 $1500. I ended up making day 2 but busted out 20 mins into it. I made a lot of dumb mistakes in this tournament which I’m pretty unhappy about. I missed 3 hands of the tournament, one after the dinner break of day 1 and two at the beginning of day 2. Both of the hands in day 2 I was dealt low cards as well. This is just dumb and I hope this never happens again. I was kind of on tilt before I even played a hand cause of it. I also made some really bad folds on day1 because I didn’t notice someone’s stacksize and thought there would still be 5 more streets of betting when really it was just one or two more bets to call their all in. I can blame fatigue or inexperience but all I can really do is do my best to avoid these mistakes in the future. Next year I’ll be 25 and it will be worth renting a car so I won’t have to deal with the taxi nonsense and being late. Now I always try to keep an eye on someone’s stack even in the limit tournaments as it’s very important.

Yesterday I played the $1500 HORSE. My table draw was okay, chipsayhoya (my stud8 coach) was seated two to my right which wasn’t exactly great, though what I lose in EV I think I make up for in having a friend at the table to chat with for the duration. People didn’t play especially bad, just mediocre I guess making a bunch of small mistakes like playing too loose on 3rd or from early position in O8. I couldn’t really get much going and was all in against chipsahoya with 66 vs his KTo in limit hold’em around level 4. I ended up doubling, and lasting a bit after the dinner break.

My final hand was an O8 hand I played a bit too aggressive in my opinion. Utg limps who has been pretty loose in the O8 hands so far, utg+1 immediately raises, I figure there’s a good chance he has AAxx, I’m on the button with AK26 double suited. I decide to 3 bet, as I have the button, may get the pot headsup and I’m an equity favorite over anything except AAxx. In reality, the pot will always be at least 3way, I risk putting 4 bets in and meh it’s a tournament in O8. My edge is extremely small preflop and I’m much better flatting. Anyways, folds to utg who flats, utg+1 4 bets and we both call. Flop is Q28 two diamonds one heart so my A2 low is counterfeited and I’m left with bottom pair, backdoor hearts and an A6 low draw. Basically a lot of mediocre stuff. Utg checks, Utg+1 bets, I raise in the hopes of again getting the pot headsup and potentially taking a free card on the turn. Plan completely backfires again as utg flats, utg+1 3 bets, and I’m stuck calling again. Turn is an offsuit King giving me top and bottom pair. Utg checks, utg+1 bets, at this point I know two of his cards (AA) and it’s extremely unlikely he can beat me for high with his other two so I raise for value, utg wakes up and 3 bets me and at this point I’m pretty sure I’m drawing dead to some deuces or maybe a 3 or 4 for a low. The pot is too big too fold though, utg+1 flats and I flat. River is a 7, utg checks, I put the last of my chips in and am scooped by utg’s KQxx and utg+1 AA3x. In hindsight I could have just flatted preflop and then maybe even just open folded the flop, but meh that’s what happened and I can’t change it now. Next event I play will be this Saturday in the $3k HORSE.

The stud hi event I ended up playing for 7 something hours before busting. I lost one critical hand when I was at my peak chipstack of 11k and opened (3s9s)Ks and ended up getting four way action for a huge pot at 400/800. Going into the river I was headsup vs this loose, bad old guy who was holding (9hTs)6d9dTcKh vs my (3s9s)KsJsJd5h so my flushdraw with a pair of jacks vs his made 9s and Ts. Propokertools is spazzing at the moment and won’t let me pull up my equity but it was pretty good. I ended up rivering a Jack for trip Jacks and lead out and he flat called when he rivered another ten for tens full of nines. It’s sort of funny how whether you cash or make day 2 or whatever of some of these events really just come down to one crucial river card. That one didn’t do it for me. After that I just kind of bled away until I got my last 4 or 5k of chips in with an Ace high spade four flush on 4th street vs what ended up being trip Aces (AA)3A. The last card they deal down even if you are all in for some odd reason and he flipped his which didn’t pair his board so my spades were still live. He had just lost a couple of medium sized pots to bad beats and I asked him “Are you sweating this?” he said, “Yeah, I’m sweating it pretty hard.” I quickly flipped it up but alas it was a 5h and I was out.

Utg minraises to 100 at 25/50 and I look down at KTo in the big blind with a little less than 2500 in chips. I wish utg would have just made a normal 3x raise or 2.5x raise and I can easily fold here but vs a minraise I think I have to defend. Flop is T86 rainbow. I check, he checks. Turn is a 9 putting a flushdraw out there and a made straight with any 7. I lead for 150, he raises to 500. At this point I should have folded, but I talked myself into calling and making a decision on the river since I thought he could have AJ or KJ a lot. The river is an offsuit Jack so the board reads JT986 and I no longer beat AJ so I decide to turn my pair of tens into a bluff and open jam the river into him. He tanks for maybe two minutes and then calls me with J7s. This is the first tournament I’m not really happy with how I played this summer but oh wells. All I can do is learn from it.

Event #16 was the $1500 6max event which I was pretty excited about and expected to do well in. I played a few small pots in the first hour chipping up a bit, then in the second level I called a shortstack all in for 1000 in chips or so with Kings vs his deuces and held and was up to 5500 in chips. The guy on my immediate right was pretty loose passive and he would prove to be the end of me. He was opening probably 50% of the hands when folded to him and I let him get away with it for awhile before picking up J9s on the button after he opened the cutoff for 400 at 75/150. I decide to 3 bet to 1100 and unfortunately the sb instaships his shortstack for 1650, the cutoff immediately folds only reinforcing my belief that it was a good and profitable 3 bet by me I just got unlucky to run into a big hand behind me. I call the extra 550 pretty quickly with the sick pot odds I’m getting and he shows AKo. I can’t manage to win the 40/60 and I’m down to 3k in chips.

I fold for a bit just looking for reship opportunities with my 20bb stack until utg opens and I look down at AQo. I ship over his raise and he calls with AQo and we chop. Unexciting. A few hands later Annie Duke gets moved to my table but she appears to be my bad luck charm as the first hand she’s dealt in is my bustout hand. Loose passive guy opens for 400 from the highjack and I reship 2900 from the CO with 66. He thinks for maybe 20 seconds before calling with KQo. His call seems pretty bad to me considering I’m shoving literally no worse hands except MAYYYYBE KJs, but anyways flop hits with a queen, turn and river brick out and I’m done. He may have thought my 3 bet range was really light after seeing the J9s hand, but once I’m down to 20bb there’s little chance I’m not putting my stack in with what I believe to be the best hand. A bit ironic that I busted out with the same hand(66) in the same event as last year http://www.andr3w321.com/?p=441

So it’s been a bit rough of a start to the series so far 0-5, but I’ve been happy with my play in all the tournaments with the exception of the $1k which I don’t plan on playing any more of. Tomorrow is the $1500 stud event which will be my first non NLH event which should be super soft. Hopefully I can do some damage. My roommate ceegee who got staked in the $10k stud8 event busted 14th oh so close to the final table. Was looking forward to railing him but the poker gods decided it wasn’t meant to be.

Online cash has been going ok. This weekend I went on a sick heater and played in some really soft games and won $20k, but today I sat in some tougher games and ran pretty bad to lose most of it back. I think I’m almost even on the month right now, which I guess I’m happy about. Thank god for cash games, if I were tourny pro I don’t think I could take it. I played like 12 of them on Sunday, bubbled a couple and didn’t manage any cashes. It’s all good though, even Daniel Negreanu is struggling as I think he’s 0-10 or something right now.

Confused Wake-up Prank
That was just a hide-in-the-closet-with-a-banana-in-your-mouth-holding-a-TV drill. Always good to be prepared in case the real thing happens

I didn’t play too many interesting hands so I’ll just give you three. Blinds are 50/100, I make it 250 to go from middle position with black kings. Older guy who’s been the most chatty at the table and is mostly just passing time as he’s waiting for his day 2 of the $10k stud to start up again flats me on the button, big blind who is some old guy who has probably never played an event in his life fumbles with his chips for a bit and minraises to 500. Probably the most donk play I’ve seen so far this summer. I can’t let the button set mine vs me so I just make it 1550 to go and they both fold.

Blinds at 75/150 folds around to me in the cutoff and I open to 400 with 8s9s. The big blind is the chatty guy from above who flats. Flop is Jh7d5s so I have a double gutter and a backdoor flushdraw. Effective stacks are 3100, he checks and I bet 500. He calls. I think there is some merit to checking back here to make sure I see a river for one bet, but that’s probably results oriented thinking. Turn is the As so I have an open ended straight flushdraw and he donk overbet shoves his remaining 2600 into the 1875 pot. I don’t have odds to make my hand and I pretty unhappily fold.

A couple hands later the big stack at the table opens utg to 400, MP calls, CO calls and I look down at KQo in the big blind. My stack is 4200 and the pot is already 1425. I think KQo plays pretty terribly 4 way so I hate calling here. I talked this hand over with some of my roommates and I believe just folding and waiting for a better spot is best but I decided to squeeze to 1600. Utg who I may have folded to if he shoved folded and MP who has me covered insta shoves, CO folds. Back to me with 2600 remaining and 5675 in the pot, the only hand I was really worried about was AQ so I put the rest in and he shows 77. Flop is AJ3 giving me some hope but turn and river are blanks and I’m out. Playing the $1k donkfest today, wish me luck.

Anyways on to some hands. I should have busted in level one but managed to make my first suck out of the series. Blinds were 25/50 and you start with 4500 in chips. French canadian lady opens utg, everyone folds and I have two red queens in the big blind. I decide to just flat. It looks super strong if I 3 bet and I’m not really sure what to do if she 4 bets. Lol 10 handed play. Flop is J64 rainbow, I check, she cbets 300, I contemplate just calling, but decide to make it 1000 to go. She pretty insta makes it 3000. I think her play is pretty terrible with anything but some sick bluff cause if she just calls I commit myself on the turn but I figure I’m behind her whole value range as I REALLY doubt she does this with AJ and it’s only like 3 hands into the tournament at this point and there’s certainly better spots so I just muck.

Next round utg opens and I look down at two red queens again utg+3. Same spot as above and I think I should have 3 bet this one just to get it headsup and try to make some soul read if he does 4 bet. I end up just calling and 3 more people call behind me so pot is 750. Flop is J93 with two diamonds and the sb leads out pot. Two people fold and it’s on me with a little over 3k to my stack. I doubt he does this with a set so I thought he had J9 or a big draw, neither of which I have great equity against, but I’m not really in any mood to fold another overpair with shallow stacks so I make it 1650, lady folds behind me and sb ships I call and he shows J9. Turn is a King, river a queen and I double up.

Nothing interesting happens for awhile, I called an utg raise with TT at the 50/100 level. Called a cbet on KdQh3d, turn Q, check check, river is 4d and he leads out 2/3 pot and I tanked for awhile and mucked. I called an open with 77 from the blinds and managed to turn a boat on QQ573 board and got two streets of value vs KK. I raise called a shortstack shove for 2k with AJs vs his AQ and didn’t manage to suckout.

I then folded for what seemed like an eternity and dwindled down to 2300 chips at 300/600 before doubling up by winning a flip with my KJs vs 77. My crippling hand then came at 400/800 when my stack was 6500 and the button shortstack committed himself with JTo, I shove with ATo and he turns a Jack. I’m left with 1BB after this and shove the button with K9s, bb obviously calls and shows K4o, but 4 on the flop and I’m out.

I have a funny Ivey story for the day. I was railing the $10k stud event for a short while during my dinner break and Ivey is just chilling getting a massage and watching the lakers game on one of the flat screens while playing. This guy walks up next to Ivey’s table and takes a picture with flash. There is no flash photography allowed in the poker room and Ivey mutters something about it to the guy. The guy just says, “Hey, I just think your awesome. If you saw someone awesome you’d take a picture too wouldn’t you? Actually my wife just loves you.” Ivey replies, “Oh yeah? Where’s she at?” with a big grin on his face. Camera guy says, “Back home. With my baby. Although I guess you’d be on the list of people it’d be okay, ya know?” Ivey just smiles and puts his headphones back in. LOL, Ivey is so baller some guy just told him it’d be fine if he slept with his wife.

Anyways, I roll into the Rio around 11am to check out what’s changed this year. They opened up the pavilion room to play poker in and it’s much bigger and roomier than the amazon room which I’m happy about. I saw a couple poker buddies princessdonk, puddlepirate who were playing the event as well which was cool. I also saw a slew of the poker celebs like Barry Greenstein and Greg Raymer but I’m kind of over being in awe of any poker players (with a few exceptions like Ivey) so it’s not really a big deal anymore.

I take my seat in the 2 seat and say hi to the people sitting next to me. Everyone is very quiet for much of the play today. After about 5 mins of waiting to get started Taylor Caby sits down in the 8 seat. Weee, my table draw was not very good and people were playing pretty tight and weren’t even talkative to make it entertaining. Pretty bad table overall. Blinds started at 25/50 with 4500 chips and the first eventful hand I am in the sb. Btn opens to 150, I look down at AdJd and make it 450 to go. I flat here sometimes, but I think early on it’s not a bad idea to 3 bet someone from the blinds to discourage them from stealing light on you in the future. Anyways, he calls, flop is A52 rainbow, I cbet 600 and take it down.

A couple rounds later in 50/100 it folds to me in the cutoff and I open 5h7h for 250 and am called by the btn. Flop is gin for me, AhKh5c. I decide to go for a check/raise as the preflop raiser. Villain does not oblige and checks it back. Turn is another 5 giving me trips, I bet 400, he calls, river is a blank, I bet 900 he snap calls and flashes an ace which is no good.

I play a few other very small pots in the first hour but nothing eventful. In level 2 the most interesting hand was utg+1 opens to 250 at 50/100 and I flat with AhQh utg+3. Everyone else folds. Flop is Ac4c4s, he cbets 400 into the 650 pot and I flat call. Turn is the 3h and he checks. In a cash game I just about always bet here since I’m beat by so few combos of hands, but I’m proud of my check behind here as it’s a nightmare when I do get check/raised and while it’s not happening very often this is a good example of exercising good pot control in a tournament and how your play should vary when playing tournaments as opposed to cash. The river is a 6s so any 2 makes a straight, but once he checks to me I’m 90% sure that I both have the best hand and that he doesn’t have an ace so it’s just a matter of figuring out the max he will call with a pair of Jacks or something. I decide 600 into the 1450 pot is the right amount and he does too apparently after tanking for 2 minutes and reluctantly calling.

After quick break I’m moved to a new table with around 7500 in chips and feeling pretty good. Blinds are 75/150 still with no ante and I play tight and fold for awhile until the following hand. I’m in the BB and it folds around to the sb who is some old irish guy who loves to look at his cards preflop, move around some chips like he’s going to make a preflop raise carefully counting out 3 big blinds and then deciding better of it and mucking. He does this a lot and it gets annoying. Anyways in this hand he has ~3200 in chips and he makes it 450 to go. I look down at AQo and am pretty ecstatic to ship on him. He snap calls and I’m pretty demoralized to see him flip AKo. I don’t suck out and I’m down to less than my starting stack of 4500.

I open a few hands, completely miss the flop and check/fold. Finally, I pick up two red Jacks on the button and open them with about 3600 at 75/150 and the big blind ships A6o on me. I snap call, hold up and double up to about 7k again. I slowly bleed away again back to 5k when my bust out hand arrived at the very end of level 4 of 100/200 no ante.

I open the cutoff with Ad6d and this loose Russian guy defends his big blind. Flop is gin for me, AhKh6s, he check ships over my cbet of 575, I call obviously and he flips Jh6h. I pokerstoved it and I’m 65% here. Turn is a blank, river is a Qh and I’m out. Not much I can do, pretty happy with the way I played today. Wish me luck in the pot limit event tomorrow.

If anyone is here in Vegas and would like to meet up just leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail.