Hella Hold'em

Is it just me, or is Full Tilt disconnecting a lot lately?

Playing in an online league game at the moment. Feeling a bit more aggressive than usual, kind of like I want to tear a few peoples' heads off. Hmm. Not sure if this is good or bad for my game.

A couple of us 'round here are trying to get a little midweek home game going. Nothing crazy - just a casual game to scratch the itch, so to speak. I'm hoping that'll work out. I miss live cards.

In other news, since going organic, I've started attempting to cook... and with that, I've added another food blog to the universe (as if we needed more of those). You should check it out, because as I add recipes and tales of my adventures, there will most definitely be something there you can make fun of me over. I promise.

Epic Organic - http://www.epicorganic.net

I've had pocket 8's three times tonight. There's so much snow on the ground outside that I have no desire to deal with snowmen indoors.

Break time! We're playing shorthanded so not much time to type. Wish me luck :) Laters!

The availability of regular poker home games in my world has dwindled. Ryan still holds an annual game, and that is awesome, but the more frequent games have dried up. The only regular poker action I'm getting lately is by an online game, a couple times a month, with a group that has their own home game tournament bracket. I found this game through a friend-of-a-friend type thing, and while I'd love to join the tournament, I'd have to travel 800 miles each way to play. Not likely, so I'll have to settle for the bi-monthly online games.

I've been enjoying this last week off of work with a little bit of poker, and Full Tilt has been decently kind to me of late. I just sat in a little turbo SnG while killing time before I have to go get ready to head to a home game. Took 2nd (and got the honor of knocking out the aggro-donk of the table). That felt good :)

Yeah, fine, so I couldn't come up with a clever title. The name of the game is just begging for one, though. How about: Trojan Wars: I Sucked

The strangest thing about that game was that I did not go to showdown with a losing hand - not one single time - except of course for the hand that knocked me out. Not one bad showdown! If you asked me if that was possible, I'd probably have laughed and deemed it an impossibility. I saw a decent number of flops, and either connected with them and won, or missed and folded.

With that in mind, I can't think of anything I'd change about the way I played. Scott had early criticisms for me with regards to not getting enough value from a good hand (I had something like 10-2 in the big blind and flopped trip deuces). I check-called all the way down with a kid at the other end of the table betting 3/4 of the pot at me the whole way. He was betting enough that I figured, I was happy to win it, while simultaneously cutting my losses if he had my 10 outkicked or worse, flopped a bigger set. It was early in the game, and I had no clue how this kid played, so I had no choice but to play the cards. I wouldn't do it any differently today - unless maybe I had unlimited rebuys in my bankroll, which was not the case last week.

I went out bubble + 1 - made the final table of 10, and 5 places paid. I went out 7th out of 30. There's no dramatic story to tell of a stack-crippling hand or anything like that. The blind structure of this game increased EXTREMELY quickly (much more quickly than I prefer), and by the time we were down to 10 players, literally 3/4 of the final table sat down with fewer than 8 big blinds. At that point, it's a crap shoot, and the game disintegrates into a luck fest.

I'd love to see a game with a more conservative blind structure hosted by Ryan. Playing at his house is like walking into someplace off of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. The house is gorgeous (which, yes, is totally unrelated to poker - but I will never complain when surrounded by marble and fine woods and to-die-for floor plans!), and the food and open bar are always fantastic (though I tend to stick to diet cokes). The best thing, though, is the comfort level of the chairs at the "final table" table. Nothing - and I mean nothing - makes for a more miserable poker experience than an uncomfortable chair. I am a girl that really appreciates a comfortable chair.

Thanks to Ryan for hosting another great game (now titled, The Trojan Wars). Sorry I couldn't stick around for the cash game. Funds are kinda tight around here. It looked like one wild night, though!

I hear Scott's next Diamond game will be in March, and I have yet to host my "housewarming poker game." (Let's just pretend I haven't been living here for a year and a half already). Pencil in a weekend after Tax Day. I'll host a spring poker game.

Poker!!!

I've got a date tonight with the glorious game that so birthed this wonderful blog.

Ryan, a frequent attendee of Scott's Diamond games, is hosting the second instance of his own game, from now on affectionately referred to as the Trojan Wars. You see, Ryan hosted this game last year, but I had made such a donkeriffic move in that tournament that I never got around to naming the game. In a combination of verbal and written discourse that I could never do justice to by explanation alone, Ryan mistakenly referred to his game as the Diamond game, much to the dismay of Scott (who has been running the Diamond games for years).

Suffice it to say, when I received the Trojan condom in the mail along with the official papers declaring Ryan's game as the Trojan Wars, I just about lost it in hysterical laughter.

So, I'm heading off to the Trojan Wars tonight. Randy will be joining me, and I expect to see a few familiar faces from the Diamond games. I haven't seen the guys in a while, so I'm looking forward to that (aside from looking forward to actually playing poker).

I think this is a rebuy NLHE tourney, though I only have enough scratch to walk in with one buy-in. The proverbial "money is tight around here" complaint hasn't changed a single iota. I'm flying in on a wing and a prayer for a little luck, and the wisdom not to do anything completely stupid.

I don't have a game plan, really, in terms of playing. I've had a tendency in the past to play entirely too weak-tight after a long stretch without poker, so I suppose my initial emphasis should be on shaking off the rust and avoiding my timid tendencies.

There are rumored to be 25+ people attending this game, so the prize pool should be ripe. If anybody's got any luck to spare, I'm humbly but gladly accepting donations!

Played in my friend Scott's heads-up NLHE tournament this afternoon (after an absolutely fantastic DMB show last night at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin). I was (and am) pretty beat and brain dead after quite a bit of drinking and dancing last night. Add to that sleep deprivation (got about 4 hours of sleep before having to pack up and drive back to Chicago for a fantasy football draft), and you've got a pretty dead version of me.

Of course, as my luck would have it, I got matched up with Scott for the first round of the heads-up tourney. I think we started with 14 players, 2 of which sat out the first round on byes. $100 buy in and top two places paid.

I shouldn't feel as disappointed as I do about the fact that Scott knocked me out in the first round. We played well over an hour, and I honestly can't think of any hands that I would have played differently (except the one where I checked down a straight to the river because I was remembering my hole cards incorrectly). I felt that it was a really good match, though I didn't expect anything other than a good match vs. Scott. Neither one of us are push-monkeys, and we've matched up well in the past.

I had a slight lead at the break, mainly due to a hand that really taxed me, decision-making-wise. I think I could play that same hand a hundred different ways, depending on the day and the situation. Heck, I think if the wind was blowing in a different direction I might have played it differently.

I had KQ of (red, I think). I believe I was on the button (forgive me - I have killed a LOT of brain cells due to DMB and partying during the month of August). I called preflop and Scott raised. I called. The flop came K-x-x, all spades. Heads-up, the range of hands I put Scott on was pretty wide - anywhere from any pair to a middle suited Ace - and he's also capable of pulling off the random bluff or semi-bluff to keep things interesting.

So I hit top pair, nice kicker (unless Scott had AK). I couldn't really limit him to AK, though. He bet into me. Of course, I didn't like the 3 spades onboard, particularly since I didn't have one myself, but heads-up, I also didn't want to run from monsters under the bed. I had a lot of hands beat that Scott could have raised with. I debated and debated, and finally called his bet. (He was betting big enough to make it a tough call, though I can't remember blinds or amounts right now).

The turn was a blank, and he bet out again. Aside from the thought process that I went through on the flop, if I believed that was the right move then, the turn didn't change the scenario. I was very close to folding. It ultimately game down to a coinflip in my head - as in, I couldn't come to a strong argument to defend calling OR folding, and after all that thinking, I went with whatever came out of my mouth - which was "call." The river brought a 4th spade. I was done with the hand, but Scott checked to me and I showed my king. It held up.

In retrospect, I can only imagine that he had QQ. Of course, betting into that scary board, he had to figure that if I wasn't holding a spade, I'd bail. Like I said earlier - if it were 2 degrees cooler in the room, or the wind was blowing a different direction, maybe I would have. It was a big pot to win, and while I wouldn't change how I played it, I can't say I'd play it the same way again, either. It was just one of those borderline types of hands where you go with your gut.

After the break, Scott caught up (blinds were getting big). He had probably 70% of the chips when I finally went out. I raised preflop with 77 - 3x BB, which was close to half of my stack. Scott called. Flop came 10-8-6 (I think). Scott pushed all in (I was on the button). I called. He had A8 of clubs and I didn't improve.

The only thing I might have done differently was to fold to his all in bet (duh) - but, I mean - he did turn the action around on me, and calling all in is a lot different than betting or raising all in. However, Id have been left with maybe 5 big blinds if I folded, and that's just unplayable anyway. It was not a bad flop for 77, and I was pretty much committed to it at that point.

Randy made it to the 2nd round, but went out early in a brutal boat over boat (a rivered 2-outer, no less). He had 10-4 and flopped trip 4's, then turned the boat. His opponent had pocket 9's and rivered the 9. I don't think Randy could have done anything differently, though. The highest card onboard was a 10, and that looks pretty good for 99. After the hand, the guy said that on the turn, he put Randy on a 4 - so, he put his opponent on a hand that crushed his, and still called Randy's raise on the river. That guy wasn't going anywhere. I just feel bad that I dealt it.

Ahh well. That's poker!

Oh - and, good news... it looks like you guys will be seeing me in Vegas this December for the WPBT Winter Classic, thanks to my roomie :)

Thanks to my friend Jim (and his wife Kim) and a group of generous poker players, the kittens and puppies at the Animal Welfare League (Chicago's largest humane society) are about $150 richer.

Last night, Jim hosted a $20 rebuy NLHE tournament, in which a portion of the proceeds was to be donated to the AWL. 12 players came out to play for the puppies and kittens, including Randy and I.

We started out 6-handed at two tables. I bought in for $40 (the $20 buy in and an insta-rebuy). I later took the $20 add-on as well. I knew Randy and Kim at my table, but the two other guys and girl were new to me. The guys were from a game Jim had recently played in, and the girl was the girlfriend of a friend of Jim's. (Look at me, forgetting everybody's names already! I didn't bring my notebook, as you can see). The girl was a bit new to poker, which was fine as we helped her along with the betting options and whatnot. The two guys seemed to know how to play.

I was getting good starting hands early on. On one hand, I tangled with the new guy across the table from me. I had QQ and raised it 4x the big blind preflop. He called my raise, and led out betting into me on a flop full of rags. I raised him back, and he called. On the turn (another blank - uncoordinated board of low cards), he bet into me again - way too small for a pot of that size. Now I was fearing that I'd run into a sneaky set or some bullshit two pair. I called. The river was another blank, and I can't remember if he bet or if we went check-check. Either way, I turned up my QQ. He had JJ. Yowza! Nice pot for me, but it tipped me off to the scent that this kid wasn't too keen on choosing bet sizes. At that point, I thought maybe he wasn't as experienced as I'd initially thought.

I had QQ a couple more times - getting cracked off once by the girl at the end of the table, who called my bets down all the way only to flip up her hand at the end saying, "I've got nothing!" Turns out, though, she had A8o and spiked the Ace on the river. Ship it... away.

Kim made a very nice laydown against me (grumble grumble grumble!) when I flat called her preflop raise with KK and flopped a set of Kings on an A-K-x board. Again, my recollection is sketchy, but I think she bet out and I raised her. She laid down top pair with AQ. Eeeep! Good lay down, girl. (grumble grumble grumble!)

Randy picked me off once, raising my bet on the come with a flush draw. I called him a dirty word. (Gotta remember my PG rating here, heh). I don't really think Randy is a (insert dirty word here). It's just fun to do some verbal jousting. We've known each other long enough to get away with it.

My big question mark hand was one against Ed. I lost a good half of my stack on it at a rather crucial time in the tournament. We'd made it to the final table with only a few spots left to the money (top 3 places paid). Ed had just run into a messy hand, and the table was crying tilt on him. I raised preflop in position with a ragged Ace. Ed called. I flopped top pair top kicker on a low-card board and bet about half the pot. Ed raised half my remaining stack worth. Ed had been in the small blind. Was he tilting? Or did he catch with some dumbass two pair or set? Or was he holding a small overpair to the board - 10-10 maybe? Anything was possible, considering 1) Ed is generally a blind defender, 2) Ed was in the SB, 3) Ed called a preflop raise (probably 4xBB - that was my norm last night), 4) Ed very well could have been tilting from the previous hand (it has been known to happen).

The old mantra, "don't go broke with top pair" echoed through my head as I considered my options. Calling wasn't really an option. It was push or fold, considering that a call would overly commit me to the pot, and a fold would leave me with about 10BB - not the best situation but not dead yet.

I folded, a bit disgusted with the whole hand.

Ed seemed shocked that I laid down top pair - I'm not sure if because he was surprised at it as a good laydown, or if because he was surprised at it as it was a tight laydown since he was just testing out his Ace high. He said that he absolutely was not tilting, but whether or not that means he actually had a hand - well, I guess I'll never know.

I'm thinking he had 10's or Jacks. Something like that.

With that vanished half my stack, which put me pretty much in push-or-fold mode.

I ran into a hand vs. Jim and the new guy I'd clashed with earlier. With A9 I flopped top pair 9's. Jim bet out and the other guy called his bet. I was inclined to raise, but even a minimum raise would commit half of my remaining stack, so I pushed all in. Jim pretty much insta-called with his nut flush draw, and the other guy called as well. (I don't remember what he had, but in a whole lot of cases it turned out to be... nothing). My top pair held up.

Randy and I discussed that hand on the way home. Jim cited his implied odds as his reason for calling my all-in raise. Since the other guy initially called Jim's bet, it was likely that he'd also call my all-in, so in terms of the odds of winning the hand vs the money odds the pot was laying, it was statistically the correct call with 2 cards to come. However, at this point we were out of the rebuy period, and losing that pot would severely cripple Jim's stack.

I concluded that implied odds lose their importance when the losing end of the proposition puts your tournament life at stake. Implied odds can definitely swing your decisions in a cash game or during a rebuy period in a tournament, when you have the option to buy back in if luck doesn't swing your way. But when your tournament life is on the line, and you are not yet in the money, I think that choosing to play a speculative hand based on the implied odds of winning is not the best move. In a cash game or during a rebuy period, I'd make the same move Jim did all day long, but in a tournament where losing the gamble basically costs your tournament life, I think I'd lay it down.

Then again, you can always live by the philosophy of, "I'm playing to win - not just to make the money" - in which case, my laydown there is too conservative.

But that's me :)

I ended up busting out in 3rd place - just making the money. Ed and Randy played one hand heads up, which I dealt - AJ vs AK. (Yes, I rule - here's to quick heads-up finishes!) Ed's AJ didn't improve and Randy took down 1st place.

Congrats to both Randy and Ed for a great game, and huge thanks to Jim and Kim for hosting the game for a charity that is near and dear to my heart!