tp's table talk

I discovered pokerforum.ca last night through an ad in Canadian Poker Player and was happy to find a nice Canada-focused poker forum. Still not firm info on some of the local tourneys I was hearing rumours about, but more than I’ve been able to find elsewhere.

I also discovered Dave Scharf’s (editor of Canadian Poker Player) WSOP journal posts. A great read for anyone interested in a first hand account of the big game. He got a few of the facts wrong (he said Chris Ferguson busted out on Day 1) but with all the trouble the media is having getting a clear picture, it has to be even more overwhelming for someone in the middle of it. After I posted this the first time, I realized I should include a little teaser to whet a reader’s appetite. Here’s a sample from his day 3 report on a hand he played with Annie Duke:

Two hands later it is my big-blind. Annie raises on the button. I call in the big blind with Q-8s. The flop is A-J-8 and the A-J are spades. I have bottom pair and a flush draw. I have A LOT of outs. I check. Annie bets $4K. I check-raise to $16,000. She thinks for a while and re-raises me ANOTHER $37K. I believe she is capable of making that bet with a lot of hands… She could, I think, be bluffing. She could have an ace. I re-re-re-raise all-in. The combination of “annie might be bluffing” plus “I have at least 9 outs and probably 14 outs” was enough for me to put the pressure back on her. Annie thinks for a long while. She has about $25K in front of her. So, she is facing a call of $25K into a pot of about $110K. I think she had an ace. She counted down her stack and was, I think, trying to figure out if she had enough chips left to carry on or if she needed to call and hope I was bluffing. Eventually, she folded.

I tossed my hand face up in the middle of the table and said, “Make sure you tell Gus about that hand too.”

I feel bad about it today. It is not my style to talk trash but I just sort of snapped. Maybe I am feeling more of the pressure than I realize.

Of course the Gus he mentions here is Gus Hansen, whom Annie had been bragging to earlier. A good read if you still can’t get enough WSOP, and with the final table starting in not too long, I imagine everyone is pretty excited. I know I am, and I’m nowhere near Las Vegas.

- May 20 (arrival) - May 21 - Day 1 (early) - Day 1 (recap) - Day 2 (Dave’s first day) - Day 3 - Day 4

I managed to make my second ultimate game tonight (third game for the team) and I was to make another decent showing for myself. I had heard rumours that our competition was going to be pretty stiff, but I figured we would hold on own, even if we lost. Boy was I wrong. They ran us in circles and we didn’t manage a single point for the entire first half. We managed a few points in the second half but if anything we looked worse overall. I just couldn’t seem to manufacture anything with the disc and was a little slow on the defensive side of the disc. Just not the game I was hoping for. And after the rough night at volleyball yesterday, I’m feeling battered and exhausted. With that in mind, I’m going to tie this post off and read a little of the latest Canadian Poker Player before sleep. It’s funny, the cover of the new issue isn’t even posted on the website. I guess Dave Sharf (the editor) is too busy at the WSOP.

Pokerstars is apparently hosting a simulcast of the WSOP final table today. Sounds like they are plugging in the hands to a special tournament table so that members can review the action. Only problem is, I don’t have an account at Pokerstars yet. And I feel bad signing up to a site without any kind of bonus. It seems…unnatural. So, this is my call out to any bloggers who read my site who know of any kind of sign up bonus (aside from the pokersourceonline.com free book deal). Please let me know if there is anything else. Thanks!

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve been sitting at the Pokerstars “simulcast” table for the past 45 minutes waiting to see the results of the first hand from the 2004 WSOP No-Limit Hold’em World Championship event. By rights I probably shouldn’t be this exciting about seeing a simulated hand of cards representing a game being played a few thousand kilometers away. But, there is 16 million dollars to divvy up among the final 9, and they just announced that there are 11,000+ people watching at Pokerstars right now, a pretty large number of viewers for a “simulated” table. I guess I’m far from alone.

And the first hand, it’s folded to Hughes who raises to 200K. Arieh calls from the big blind (antes are 50K). The flop comes Jd5h4h and they both check. The turn is 7d and Arieh’s 375K bet wins him the pot. Just wanted to be able to post the first hand.

UPDATE: Wow, two out in the first hour. Crazy stuff. I hope everyone doesn’t busy out before I get home after running a few errands tonight.

Wednesday means volleyball and unfortunately I missed out on an online tournament I was invited to play in so that I could knock the ball around. At least the exercise was good for me. Unfortunately, my team once again managed to drop a game we should have won to finish 1-1 on the night. That puts us at 2-2 for the season and although we’re playing a division higher than we registered for, we probably should be undefeated right now, or at worst 3-1.

We finally took advantage of the $50 gift certificate we got for winning our division last week, so we at least got to enjoy some mostly free beer and pub grub.

But what I really had a taste for was some poker. After reading all the WSOP coverage today, I really had the urge to hit the tables. And I’d read about a Party Poker reload bonus, so I was anxious to get back to familiar ground to start working off some more bonus. Alas, this was not to be, as my deposit was not greeted with a new bonus to unlock and I read that the bonus offer was account specific. And the money was locked in for at least eight hours, so I couldn’t pull it back out and move over to try out Multi Poker.

So I actually returned to one of the outstanding bonuses I’ve yet to work off and logged into Pacific Poker. I’d lost a few extra dollars at the .5/1.00 tables there after the blogger tournament, but with the bonus conditions being that I needed to wager 20 times the bonus amount, it was going to play a lot of .5/1.00 hands to secure it. So, I decided I would test the waters of 2/4. My bankroll is at a safe 300BB, and Maudie told me that the 2/4 tables were reasonably soft, so I figured it was time to take the plunge.

Probably not the best idea as it was nearly 11pm and I was hoping to get to bed by 12. But, I was anxious to see what it was like. The first thing I noticed was that it was slow. After playing 3-4 Party family tables, 1 Pacific table is a painful ordeal. But I figured I was playing a new limit, so it was good that I had to pay attention.

I didn’t hit any hands for the first three or four orbits and quickly realized that a higher limit meant it was possible to lose chips more quickly. On the fourth orbit I try a middle position raise with K5 to see how much respect I’d get. None it seems, as I get called in four places. Flop comes 323 and I bet at it and I’m raised by the player on my immediate left. I re-raise thinking there’s no way that flop hit him and he calls. By this point we’ve lost all the others in the hand and the turn comes a 4. I bet and get raised again. Now I think maybe medium pocket pair, but I’ve got the odds to call with my overpair. The river is a blank and I figure I had to give him credit for at least ace high, so I fold to his bet. The guy stunk of fish, but I didn’t I don’t like calling a bet with king high.

A few hands later I get AQ in late position, catch a Q on the flop and pump the pot each chance I get, even after the K hits on the turn. I’m heads-up on the river and my pair of queens takes a nice 6BB pot (wow, that has a bit more meaning when not playing .5/1.00)

I get another small win the following orbit on the button and decide that I was going to pocket my $2 win to call my first 2/4 a winning won and get some sleep. But of course I need to play out my orbit first.

Two hands later I have AJ and raise from late position with two limper ahead of me. The above mentioned fish calls, as does the small blind and the limpers. Flop comes 9J9 and with three checks in front of me, I decide it’s time to bet. I get a call from the fish, small blind folds and both limpers call. Another 9 on the turn and I’m thinking that the hand is mine. Unfortunately I end up chopping the pot with the second limper who had JT.

Now my profit of $8.50 can be measured in BBs and I’m feeling even better about my night. And I’ve bet enough to work off at least a tenth of my bonus. But two hands later I look up to see KK and I raise again as third in the pot. I only end up with one caller, which is fine by me. The flop comes 79T, two hearts, and I confidently bet out at it. I’m called. Turn is a scary A, but I figure he’s got to put me on a good hand, so I bet again. Another call and I’m less happy. Another T hits on the river and I bet again. I don’t know if he figured me for the paired ten on the flop, or just didn’t hit his flush draw, but he folded and I managed to increase my winnings to half a dollar under 6BB. Next hand I see QJ and after the initial urge, I fold them like a good little early position player. The flop comes Q3J to taunt me, but my orbits out and I cash out with a tidy little run of $23.50 in 40 minutes. I benefitted from good cards, but it was nice to know that I wasn’t in over my head at the 2/4 tables.

Of course, my plan to be in bed by 12 didn’t work so well when I decided to write up this post, but that’s something else entirely.

Well, I knew it was bound to happen. If you don’t count the 20+2 buy-in to the WBT3, I had been on a winning streak going back over a month. Not one losing session in …let me go count…13 sessions. Well, I guess that explains it, unlucky 13 and my run at the PL25 tables finally hits a roadblock. And what a roadblock. I manage to get pocket kings all-in before the flop heads-up…and he rivers a 4 to make his set. In the big blind with 52 that sees a rainbow flop of T52, seems like a time to get my money in. Oh, but he likes his J5, so why not stay in to hit his 3-outer on the turn. I lost most of my money ($80 on the night) in the first hour or so of play and I was never able to dig my way back out of that hole. Now, I’m not too upset because I know these same fools are the ones who double me up on other nights, but combined with a very cold deck it made for a long evening.

And I hate to admit it, but I started playing scared. Aggression has served me extremely well at the pot-limit tables, but I began to fear betting and getting hit with a big raise, or heaven forbid another check raise. Even worse than that, I could see the people at the tables start to sense it. I was suddenly getting hit with large raises on marginal hands I was forced to lay down. At least I had the sense to leave the tables where I saw that happening. I guess it’s just another chapter in my ongoing poker education.

I also wanted to give pokerprof over at LasVegasVegas Texas Hold’em and Poker Blog a shout-out for the great work he is doing reporting on the WSOP. Conditions haven’t been great for the media trying to cover the event, but he has persevered. I particularly like the searchable player database he has put together, updated through Day 5. Want to find out how your favourite player is doing without scanning hundreds of names? Head on over to find out.

This weekend is a long weekend in Canada (Monday is Victoria’s Day) and I managed to book Friday off, so I was able to get a much needed break from work. I decided to visit some friends (a couple with an 18-month old) in Cambridge (Ontario) to get away from the city and decompress. It was a great visit as usual and it was amazing to see the difference in their child’s vocabulary after only a couple of days. By Sunday she had started saying thank you when you gave her something, a behaviour she had not exhibited the previous two days. Of course, that earned her two very proud parents, particularly as her grandmother and a house full of guests showed up Sunday for a BBQ and little Maya got to show off her new talent.

Of course, it seems like poker is creeping into more aspects of my life. Maya’s father has caught the poker blog after watching the WPT on TV and listening to my poker exploits (and reading of them here on my blog). So I spent a fair chunk of my weekend talking to him about poker, giving him some pointers on where to begin. We even sat down at the play money tables for a while so that I could explain some of the finer points of the game. Of course, most of the finer points of the game are lost at the play money tables, so I’ve also sent him some poker literature to read to prepare for his jump to the micro-limit games. I also managed to few hundred hands towards my Empire bonus as I showed him what the PL25 tables were like. He was very excited to see tables where there weren’t eight people seeing capped betting to the river. I am interested to see how mentoring someone about poker will help my own game.

Since I got home late Sunday, I had much of the day Monday open to do whatever I wanted. Unfortunately, there was some apartment cleaning required, so I didn’t get a chance for poker until later in the day, and that was only because the documents I sent home to work on ended up being corrupt. But, I managed to finish the hands required for Empire, with an extra $50 in profit for good measure. Then I started in on my bonus from Aztec Poker. The .5-1 limit HE tables at Aztec are just about as bad as play money tables. Four-five people would see capped betting pre-flop and many would call to the river with nothing. Of course, this means I managed to bleed off slightly more than my bonus amount in the 250 raked hands that I played. In my defence, I was cold-decked, not only in terms of bad starting hands, but unfortunate river beats. But if all goes well, I should end up with a case of decent chips for $8, which is a positive result in my books.

Wednesday night means beach volleyball again. After our good showing last week in the ranking games, we actually ended up placed in the Competitive division instead of Advanced like we signed up for. This was probably a good thing because we’ll end up playing fewer games against teams we completely dominate. There will be some rough nights, as we will be playing against the best 6s teams signed up for the spring season, but I’d rather play a challenging game and lose than not even having to work on the court.

Last night we were again without one of our regular female players and we couldn’t line up a replacement like last week. Fortunately, both teams we played against (we play 2 50-minute games in a night) allowed the game to count even though we only played with five. We weren’t looking particularly strong in our first game, but managed to win 2-1 against an inferior team. Unfortunately, the second team we played was pretty good and our performance just got worse and worse as the night went on. We lost 3-0 in a rather embarassing showing. Hopefully it was just us trying to get our beach legs back after playing court volleyball all winter.

Haven’t had any time to spend on the poker tables, but my money has finally gotten from my Intertops account to Neteller, so I put it back into Empire for their 15% reload bonus (code SUMMER15). So, I have another $100 just waiting for me to play 500 hands. Gotta love free money.

There’s something about a Monday night at the poker tables that is good for my bankroll. It could be because that is the only night I’ve really had to spend in the past couple of weeks, but the fish were definitely out in full force last night.

After my embarassing performance in the WBT3 on Sunday, I was looking for a bit of redemption in the cash games. Anyone who has been reading my blog knows that I’ve been running very well on the Party/Empire/Intertops PL25 tables. With a win rate greater than 10BB/100 hands and a $150 deposit bonus waiting to be unlocked at Intertops, I had no reason to stray. Not many details to speak of. I played 3-4 tables and went down quickly before I calmed and started a slow and steady climb. I was being very aggressive, not really a concious decision, but I was very successful pushing people out of pots. And some of the questionable big bets I made were called down by little fishies anxious to give their money. The best example was on a board of AT55x my $10 bet was called by someone who couldn’t beat my pocket jacks. Why I was betting $10 with JJ in that situation is another discussion entirely, but it paid me off quite well.

I ended the night up $143, and managed to get through the remaining 500 hands I needed to unlock my $150 in bonus. Conveniently this matches the amount I lost to the bastards at Choice Poker, so it helps to balance my bankroll now that I am forced to give up on that money. I would be in excellent shape right now if it weren’t for that lost, but I’m happy that my recent run has at least prevented me from taking a step back.

Anyone who has visited this site without checking out The Cards Speak first has got the poker reading priorities all wrong. Hdouble has written up another excellent article, this time discussing the first year in a poker player’s career. If you haven’t read it yet, I’d strongly suggest you go now. I think my play right now is around the six month mark in his timeline, even if it’s only been four since I’ve started playing.

Two weeks have gone by since my last home hold’em tourney so this Friday it was time for the next one. It’s just a basic $20 pot-limit hold’em tournament, with T1000 in starting chips. On top of winning the cash (divvied 50/25/15/10 with 10+ people) points are awarded for the top five finishers (10-8-6-4-2 for simplicity sake). These points accumulate over the course of a “season” (defined as 10 tournaments) with some prize being awarded to the points leader. There’s a lot of excitement about winning EPT points (as they are called) even though everyone’s been told that I’m not going to be able to get a very good prize for our first season.

And that’s the set-up. I don’t know how much of this I’ve explained previously (and I’m too lazy to scroll back and check), but I thought I’d provide a refresher for my hordes of three readers.

Friday night was the 8th event in the first “season”. It was also our biggest turnout with 19 bodies. Now, early on, one of the players won two tourneys back-to-back, which had, along with a couple other money finishes, put him well ahead in the points standings. Even after finishing in the money five out of seven times, included a first place finish in the last tournament, I was still 10 points behind, tied for second in points.

But I managed to change that Friday night, beating the field and finishing first for a nice chunk of change. Unfortunately I’ve been too busy to make this post before now, so the details are a bit hazy. There were a few key hands that my night hinged on that I can relate.

Just before the tables merged, I went in for a decent raise with AQ and got two callers. The flop came AQx, 2 diamonds. I can’t remember the exact sequence of betting, but eventually I pushed the other two all-in. One showed AJ, one showed two diamonds. So, I just had to hope for no diamonds. The turn came a safe blank, but the river was another diamond and the crowd that collected around the table started hollering. But I had been paying attention and yelped a bit louder and reached to protect my pot when I saw it was the Qd. This put me in good chip position as the tables were merged to the final eight.

Second important hand was a crazy affair when I held KQ. The flop came Qxx and I liked it and bet accordingly. Nothing of much note on the turn and river and then the guy I was heads-up against pushed all-in. I had him covered, but the whole sequence had halfed my stack. He flipped Q4 and left the table to eat dinner. This was a nice influx of chips that put me well ahead at the table.

But all was not good fortune. I lost a nearly T10000 pot when A2 rivered the pair of twos against my bigger ace. He had called a T1000 bet on every street, with just A2. Now, I may have been broadcasting a tell that I was trying to bully, which I was with only A6, but I also read that the flop missed him. That gutsy call knocked me well back at the table. In fact, I was just about ready to give up on making it to first.

But I kept up with my aggressive play. Raising and reraising to steal pots, and hands held up when I needed them to. I had some good reads on my opponents and managed to take advantage of their styles. In fact, I felt really good about my play when I realized I had clawed my way back into a small chip lead. I carried that through to the final two, though it was still a small edge. I stole a few pots and then found 55. At this point I was getting a bit tired and was willing to gamble so when my opponent raised my limp, I re-raised him back and he put all his chips on the line pre-flop. It turned out to be 97 vs. 55. I guess he was even less patient than I was and my fives held up for the victory.

So, I’m now 6 for 8 in the bi-weekly hold’em tournaments, the money leader and tied for the points lead, and I’m feeling pretty satisfied with myself. Of course, since I organize the tournaments, it doesn’t necessarily look great, but I’m not going through all this effort and not even getting the opportunity to play. It’s not as if I am making any profit beyond what I win at the tables.

Then again, I managed to make a complete fool of myself at the blogger tournament tonight. I was out in 27th (of 30) 15 minutes into the tournament. I got into an ill-advised confrontation with Mean Gene early while I was sorting out the betting interface. I ventured a good chunk of my chips but was forced to back away when the flop didn’t hit and he put the pressure on me. Ten minutes later I went all-in with my short stack when I found AQ. Blinds were going up to 25/50 in less than five minutes and with only 300 in chips, I figured I wasn’t going to get many more chances. Unfortunately, I ran into Gene again and was out of the tournament.

I have to say, I’m not a big fan of Pacific Poker. Some people at my table were saying that the games were really soft - and I can’t disagree from my short time at the .5/1 table - but I don’t know that they are more +EV than my PL games at Party/Empire/Intertops. Still, I suppose there is a bonus to unlock, even if the method of doing so is a bit extreme. Maybe Pacific is where I should start my 2/4 dabbling.

But that’s enough about poker, it’s time to call it an early night.

I’m taking a page from Tao of Poker and recounting my own experience with Choice Poker (not going to bother linking it, as no one should be giving them money at this point). A few months ago I signed up at Choice as part of my usual bonus hunting and managed to nearly double my $150 deposit with the sign-up bonus and a 3rd place finish in their $1000 new player freeroll. They were looking a little shaky even then, so as soon as the requisite 10 days passed to release my bonus, I tried to pull my money out into Neteller. For the first free weeks I got the run around about them having some financial difficulties with a partner and they should be able to pay me within a few weeks. For the past 3 weeks or so, they haven’t even bothered returning any of the regular messages I send them asking for an update. At this point, I don’t know what other steps I might be able to take to get my money back. So if anyone has any suggestions or managed to get some money out of them in the past month, please leave a comment or shoot me an email with advice.

Fifteen minutes until this week’s poker blogger tournament, organized by the poker blogfather himself. When I logged into Pacific Poker, where the tournament is being held, I was surprised and disappointed to find that my name wasn’t on the list of participants. I’d had some problems with my deposit there, so I thought maybe my registration for the tournament didn’t go through. But it turns out that the pre-registration only gets you on the invite list, you still have to sign up prior to the event. Hopefully we don’t have too many of the usual stragglers who find they can’t get into the game.

Well, I’ve been busy, busy, busy. Haven’t had the time to keep up with blogs let alone post to my own. Spring sports season started this week and I had my first beach volleyball game Wednesday and first ultimate game on Thursday.

The first night of beach volleyball is usually a ranking night, as they split up each division even further to match skill levels. From the looks of things this year, it looks like they had both competitive and advanced (our division) teams playing each other. The way it works is we play 5 20-minute games against different teams, and then our record is used to determine which sub-division we should play in. We actually did fairly well until the final game, where we gave up a 23-24 loss when the whistle went early and the current point was stopped because of a stray ball in the court. We should have beat that team handily to keep our perfect record, but instead we finished 4-1. Hopefully that will still be enough to seed us in the highest division, as I’d rather play my ass off and lose than have an easy game where we don’t really have to try. But the one thing I couldn’t complain about was the weather. It believe it actually got above 30°C with the humidex, and it didn’t cool off too much until the last game.

Last night I was playing my first game of ultimate with a new team. I had heard good things about them and the league, so I was a little nervous going in. And it was a return to 7-aside, as opposed to 5-man, which I had been playing for the last few years. I prefer 7-man, but the larger fields make for a bit more running, and my endurance isn’t the greatest.

Fortunately, all my fears were unfounded, at least for the first game. I was able to play the position I usually do (handling the disc) and was able to keep up with the running without keeling over. That being said, our opposition wasn’t that strong, so there wasn’t as much running as there likely will be in future games. And I managed to avoid making too many mistakes. I did drop a couple discs (which I very, very rarely do) so I was a bit angry with myself, and there were a few throws that fell short, but overall, I couldn’t complain too much. And think I demonstrated some good down-field vision and a good arm, so hopefully I’ll continue to play deep on defense, though I wouldn’t mind moving to the front on occasion to make some runs, with the other strong throwers we have on the team. We handily trounced the other team 15-3, but afterwards I learned of a startling team tradition. Because there are points awarded for the team with the most spirit, a post-game cheer for the other team is not uncommon. My new team goes a step beyond, writing a song that we sing to the other team after the game. This week it was a rip on I Think We’re Alone Now, with ultimate themed lyrics. I managed to survive the game just fine, but I almost died of embarassment “singing” that song.

I’m back with another time delayed post, this time from Monday. Had another great night at the pot-limit tables. I finally got around to opening an Intertops account to take advantage of another Party skin. Due to some Neteller balance management, I only loaded with $300, which translated to only $60 worth of bonus to work off. I will be depositing the full $600 this week to earn the 25% birthday bonus they are offering now. And the best part is, I get to swim with all the same fish from Party and Empire

My play on Monday was slow and steady, raising pre-flop with good hands, and playing them hard post flop to pick up small pots when I failed to hit.

Big hand of the night was a limp with 99. The flop comes perfect, 229. It’s all I can do not to get up and dance a little jig. But I still need to work some money out of it. Fortunately, everyone to the left of me folded pre-flop, so I’m last to act. Small and big blinds check, UTG throws in .50. Not what I might have hoped for, but I call his bet, as do both blinds. The turn comes A and the table checks around to me. I throw in another .50 to have a bit more of a pot to work with on the river. I get two calls and a fold. River comes K and I’m hoping that someone likes the board. I’m happy when the big blind bets $2, which gets UTG to fold. I raise the pot, hoping that he has a hand to back up his bet. He comes back over the top, raising the pot, making it $40 to go. I spend half a second worrying about AA or KK, but it doesn’t take me very long to put him in for his last 1.10. All he had to show was 2J for the flopped trips, which I suppose he had been slowplaying until the river. Works for me, the $108 may be the biggest pot I’ve pulled in my brief poker career.

At the end of it all, I had unlocked my $60 bonus plus earned an extra hundred from all the little fishies. Pokertracker says that my BB/100 hands is around +10, which ain’t too bad.

I had been getting back in swing of regular posts last week until work came back and kicked me in the ass. I did have a few half written posts that I didn’t have the time or energy to get completed last week, so they are coming now.

On Thursday night, last week, I had a few friends opening some small photography shows for Contact, the Toronto Photography Festival. Both were in different venues, but only a few blocks apart and both within a twenty minute walk of my apartment. So, the plan was to grab some dinner with a friend and then hit both locations for some schmoozing with artist and friends.

Started the evening at a nice dinner at a little italian place in the area, Vesuvio’s Pizzeria & Spaghetti House, that my co-worker recommended. I had the linguini with clams & mussels and they were the best mussels I’ve had in quite a long time. In fact, the whole meal was pretty darn good. Not gourmet fare by any stretch, but a good, reasonably priced meal with great service. If it weren’t for the rain that prevented us from walking over from my apartment, it would have been great start to the evening.

Next stop was my co-workers art show. She had some great black and white photos. I particularly liked a couple of the stone architecture shots. But probably best were the glass studies that looked black and white, but actually proved to have a hint of color on closer examination. It was a great effect. But almost as good as the shots themselves was the amazing job Jen did printing and framing the pieces. She explained the process to me, but I can’t remember enough to describe it here. Suffice to say, it looked great. I was sorely tempted by a couple of the pictures, but right now my apartment has a particular decor, which might generally be described as “pop art” or more accurately as a few posters and some odds & ends, so I think I may wait until my eventual move before I start buying any art.

After that, we walked down the street to see the show put on by another friend, who happens to be the partner of another co-worker. Mary Ann actually reads my blog occasionally, when she can wade through all the poker talk. On top of some excellent pictures, she also had a few pet portraits that she has done, which you can probably see samples of if you visit her blog. Again I was tempted by a few of the pieces, but my earlier decision held up.

Another matter was altogether all the great furniture they had there. She was showing in a very large furniture store and they had some great stuff. Just down the road from me for the past couple years and I didn’t even know it was there. Probably for the best. And probably for the best if I can avoid visiting again, but I don’t think that’s terribly likely.

And as an example of the continued popularity of poker - yeah, you thought I was going to make a whole post without mentioning it - Mary Ann introduced me to one of the other guys showing at her venue, who had a great series of shots of B&W shots of Manhattan taken a few years ago. He actually has become a huge fan of the WPT, now that it’s being broadcast in Canada, and has been playing as much poker as he can manage. Mary Ann and Kirk had also mentioned the home poker game that I host to him and he seemed interested in finding a game. My blog was also brought up in conversation, but mostly with reference to the impenetrable poker lingo (sorry!). I told him he should come out some time, so I may see him again one of these weeks.

All in all, it was a great night. I’ve never really been to an art opening before, let alone one where I knew the artists. It proved to be a lot of fun to pretend to be cultured for a little while. Well, almost cultured.

After the art shows, I managed to get a little bit of poker in. The PL25 tables have been treating me well for the past while so I was wondering how long I could hold out without before I hit a losing session. Not long after I start up I see the flop for a dollar with 44 and the flop comes 3Q4, rainbow. The 6 seat is the first to act and puts in $2, is called, and I call. I figure one of them for AK or KQ, and other for a weak Q, or maybe just 2 face. Feeling safe enough to wait for the turn, which comes A. Possible that someone hit two pair here, and a $4 bet from the 6s makes me feel confident in that read. I put him all-in and he calls. River comes the dreaded A and he flips AQ for the boat. And we’re less than 10 minutes into the session and it’s time to rebuy.

I have to confess that this beat put me a bit on tilt. The next hour had it’s share of bad beats, but it was my own stubbornness that was my biggest leak, and I dropped nearly 100 bucks all told. Not a promising start at all.

Once I did some quick math and realized that I was closing in on that -100 mark, I mentally slapped myself and started focusing again. I had pot odds on a draw that hit and that started my comeback. Two hours later, I’ve made back my losses and then some. Ended up $32 at playing 3-4 tables. And it would have been 40+ if not for a bad bet into a rivered flush. I have to remember just because I price the flush draw out, it doesn’t mean they are going to fold.

That brings me to a interesting strategy question that I’ve been mulling over for the past couple of days. Now, pot odds are easier to manipulate in a PL-NL game, because you can control the amount of your bet. So, often with a hand like top pair you want to price any flush and straight draws out of the hands. Now, as I understand it, just by denying them pot odds for a call you are making it a -EV move for them to call. So, that should make it a +EV move for me, assuming we are heads up and I am indeed ahead. But there are implied odds to consider as well. If they hit the flush, it’s harder for me to put them on making the -EV call on the flop or turn, so they have the potential for hitting me with the big bet. Now, because of that, I’ve been trying to determine a good strategy for bet sizes when I feel ahead on a hand, but want to price the flush or straight out of it. I’ve tended to make the size of the bet 150-200% the amount that would give them correct pot odds, but I’m beginning to wonder if perhaps I shouldn’t be protecting the hand more, particularly when I can get burned when the flush hits. I suppose it depends on my read of the player. I’m curious if anyone else has any rules of thumb for this.

I’m talking myself in circles a bit and it’s far too late to be sending my head through loops like this, particularly after working the weekend. (ugh…12:30, I’m not supposed to still be awake) I had a hand on the other side of the argument tonight, so I will probably post about it more tomorrow, when I finally get caught up on all the half-written posts.

The win on Thursday puts me past another milestone. Eight hundred dollars in the bankroll matches the 200BB mark I wanted to play the 2/4 limit games. But I don’t think I’m going to be leaving these pot-limit games until I hit a bad session and start looking for a change of pace. That’s the good news. The bad news is that I pretty much have to give up getting my money out of Choice Poker. That means the $150 I deposited, $30 in bonus, and $113 for the freeroll win. That means nearly 300 dollars comes out of my theoretical bankroll, and I’ve got a wait a bit longer for the 2/4 tables. I kept holding out hope that maybe I’d get some of it out, but it looks like I have to give up the ghost. It doesn’t look so bad right now, but as soon as I hit another losing session, it’s not going to seem so easily made up for.

What is it that causes us to make a call when we know that we are beat? We are virtually certain we are behind in the hand and our outs of so few, they might as well not be there at all. And even still, there’s some little voice in the back of our head that somehow gets us to throw our chips into the pot. Or maybe it’s just me.

Last night at the tail end of a pretty profitable PL25 session, playing out my last orbit on my last table before cashing out, I found QQ. I raised a couple dollars pre-flop and then was re-raised another 5. Immediately I became suspicious of AA, maybe KK. I knew I should get out, but somehow my mouse pointer found it’s way to the call button and clicked. I said to myself, well, I can make a lot of money if a Q flops. Of course, it doesn’t, only 3 undercards. I bet a couple dollars again just to make sure he doesn’t have just AK, and he re-raises all-in. Now, here is where things get fuzzy. Somehow I manage to think for a split-second “Maybe he’s bluffing” and suddenly the rest of my chips are in the middle of the table. Two cards later they are pushed to the gentlemen with pocket kings. At every point of that hand, I knew what the correct decision was, but I still managed to avoid making it and threw all my chips away. So much for discipline.

I still managed a respectable take for the night, but it was such a waste that I spent 15 minutes agonizing about it as I tried to get to bed.

For those of you interested in the month-long string of WSOP tournaments this year, you should be reading the great tournament write-ups by Andy Glazer and Max Shapiro at Final Table Poker (free registation required) and the great daily anecdotes at Alan Bostick’s blog, As I Please. You’ve probably already seen these two sites mentioned elsewhere, but if you haven’t visited and you have any interest in poker, I strongly recommend you head on over for some good reads.

What a hockey game! Almost worth staying up until two in the morning to finish watching.

Unfortunately, my poker play was not quite as exciting, unless you are a fan of big swings. From the +50 I reached almost instantly I was up to +85 and all the way down to -25 before finishing up 17. There were a few bad calls and some bad beats. I lost with AA vs. AA vs. KK when a K came on the turn, though that was only the most memorable hand, not the worst beat. Not a horrible night in and of itself, but I should have just walked away from the tables with my 50 bucks and done something else the rest of the night.

This news story gave me a much needed laugh in an otherwise frustrating day. Hopefully it may do the same for you.

Party Barge Flips Over Near State’s Only Nude Beach