Poker Pub Poker Blog: monthly home game

2006/12/11

Didn't you say...? What the...?

2006/11/13

No, not just a monster...

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I'd say I have created a monster, but really... implying it's just one monster would do it no justice. First off, congrats to "the shirt" for winning his third tourney. He is now officially in the lead for the most wins. previously, he and I were the only two time champions.

Now, back to ~~this monster~~ these monsters of mine. Anyone who knows me knows I am a poker blogger. And of course, if one stereotypes said poker bloggers, they'd understand that "us people" come with the natural tendency to "correctly" drop the hammer. But now, it's grown into a monster. At the monthly game yesterday, I do believe I've seen the hammer "correctly played" in every manner possible - and by everyone, blogger and non-blogger alike.

Hand number one:

Middle position raises, caller in the back. Flop comes Ace five five. Middle position fires off a bet, that is called cleanly. Turn comes an irrelivant four. Second barrel fired, and is called. River is insignificant and a THIRD barrel is fired. Late position thinks hard and folds pocket kings face up, only to find out he's had the hammer dropped on him.

While said hand is being reported to me, at my table, and from the small blind, there's a call. "That one really agressive kid" had limped from the early position. I check in the big blind. The flop comes Ace, eight, eight. SB checks, I check. "That agressive kid" fires off a pot size bet. The small blind comes WAY WAY over top, inflicting a CheckRayz upon thee. I get the hell out of the way. The agressive one folds pocket sixes. And yep, you guessed it... "The Actor" drops the hammer. He dropped a perfectly exicuted slowplay of the hammer, actually.

I'd say it ended there, but I'd be lying. One of the newer players even got into the mix. She showed down to the river with the hammer because she just assumed that it was manditory to play and show that hand, considering how often she saw such ridiculous things.

It's safe to assume all of my friends are going to come down with carpel tunnel syndrome from excessively swinging and dropping the hammer. I do, however, anxiously await the day where it takes down a tournament within our group.

Mike

Related Posts

multi-tablin hammer droppin fool

beating the dead horse

Calling the victory

2006/11/12

[+/-]

in case Mitch didn't know...

2006/10/23

[+/-]

SuperDonk wins!

2006/09/06

[+/-]

Good luck charms and beating dead horses

Filed under: Thoughts on Poker

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I'm known... on occasion to beat the dead horse until it's once again fashionable to do so... This applies to jokes, pranks, charactures, parodies, etc... "Going Overboard" is something that I'd historically be guilty of...

One small example would be back in the day, we'd have the neighborhood wrestling leagues... And of course, with any good wrestling league, there had to be... ~~tables~~, ~~ladders,~~ ~~chairs,~~ ~~2 zillion pound stairs~~, contracts drawn up, right? Of course there had to be! And as would be the case with any contract, there had to be fine print buried in the contract... So, I would draw these contracts, and put a little * somewhere in the contract. And if you turn to the back of the contract notebook, you'd find some ridiculous stipulation tied into an already ridiculous stipulation that the ~~idiot~~ person was unaware of...

Where was I... Ah, yes... I was discussing going overboard, beating the dead horse til it was fashionable once again to do so... Good luck charms!

At the "monthly game," there's a "character" I refer to as "the shirt." Now, "the shirt" is the only other two time champion of the monthly game, other than myself... We call him the shirt because he has this "poker shirt"... it's a bit of a hawaiian design, and it has cards, starting hands, poker phrases, etc... We called it his lucky shirt. The reason I refer to him as "the shirt" on here, is because many of my online readers wouldn't remember a character if I used his regular name, especially if you weren't to meet him via CheckRayz or something. So, to make it more memorable, I refer to him as "the shirt."

In tournaments, Mitch and I battle back and forth quite a bit for some strange reason. When the shirt first hit the scene, we'd reference this shirt. Mitch would raise on my BB, action would get to me, and I'd check my cards, then check the shirt... If I could find my starting hand, it was on... And we'd make a big "to do" about our starting hands, relative to Mark's shirt. We were pretty much disrespecting the lucky shirt.

This shirt inspired Mitch to take on a cheesy good luck charm. He brings this plastic dollar sign necklace that he got out of a gumball machine or something... He makes a production about his "Plus EV necklace"... and then goes on to win his first monthly game. He didn't stop there, as he cashed in five or six misc. events following... Then it happened...

I had to enter this whole good luck charm thing... I got myself one of them there rubber poker bracelets... you know, the ones that usually say breast cancer, or support our troops... yea, those. I got one that said "poker." That was my "plus EV bracelet." It was marketed though as a trump card. Mitch was obviously trying to counteract the powers of the shirt with the necklace, so my bracelet was counteracting the powers of the necklace and the powers of the shirt... And with the introduction of the bracelet, I went on to win my second championship, and cashed in two other events.

Somehow, when Mitch and i were letting SuperDonk hang out with us, we started discussing that we believed Ninjas to be +EV. I'm not really sure how Ninjas or +EV actually related to the Penn State game, but we're kinda random around here...

Anyway, we decided Ninjas in fact were plus EV and that anything ninja-like would be hard to counteract if introduced as an appropriate good luck charm. So, of course, the next day, Mitch brings to the weekly game, two little ninjas that he's intending to use as card protectors. I suggested he make on his pre-ante phase guardian, and then retire him and have the other be his post-ante/endgame ninja. Perhaps even have one protect his cards from the drop ceiling, as ninjas are stealthy like that, right?

Well, as tradition has it, Mitch and his Ninjas go on to win the weekly event.
This is going to be tough to beat, as these ninjas are very powerful... In fact, short of getting a shuriken as a card protector, there's very little I can do to trump the powers of the ninja. (for the record, Mitch tells me that if I show up with a shuriken card protector, that would be "very rude.")...

I might try one of my son's teenage mutant ninja turtle action figures, but I'm not sure these things will work. I'm going to have to think on this one really hard and come up with something...
Mike

2006/08/26

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Monthly Poker Game...

2006/06/28

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calling the home run ball... (or "talking smack")

2006/06/26

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2 am ugly… errr…. The monthly poker game recap

The “Monthly Game” for June is in the history books. I drew the “table of champions.” More specifically, everyone who ever won this monthly game drew the same table, thus the table of champions. Last month’s champion Mitch was seated here, fully equipped with his money (dollar sign) necklace, which was his good luck charm, specifically purchased to counteract the luck of “The shirt.” Yes, “The Shirt” was there, seated at our table. He brought his nephew, who we’ll refer to as “The Telephone,” as he was often spotted talking on the phone during the breaks (yea right). And of course, yours truly was at the table, sporting his lucky poker.com bracelet, to counteract the luck of the necklace, which was counteracting the luck of the shirt. Additionally, we had “The actor,” “Son of Fred (Sanford),” Roger, SuperDonk, “OMG, you killed Kenny,” and “T” at our table.

I think I caught the card flu, as the first hour and a half, I saw two hands, exactly two hands that did not contain 2’s. Surprisingly, I did not catch the hammer once during said timeframe, and only saw pocket twos once. The times I didn’t have twos, I had Ace Jack, and pocket sixes. But seriously, 2-3o, 2-6o, 2-5o, 2-Js, 2-8s, 2-10o… you get the point… The actor took a “not nice feeling beat” during my period of “carddeaddom.” He had his aces cracked by Roger’s two pair from the flop (QJ). Roger pushed out a 500-chip bet, which the actor called. Roger thought it put him all-in, so he flipped over his cards. However, the actor had about 95 chips or so left, but betting was pretty much dead; the actor does not improve, and is left with 95. He folds next hand, and then moves all-in. Taking down three callers, he shows his pocket aces (second time in three hands) and quadruples up.

I continued my run of horrible cards, and then it happened. Blinds at 25/50, stack around 370 or so and in the cutoff, with “OMG, you killed Kenny” having min raised UTG, I peak down and see my cards. I knew exactly what to do, so I push it all-in. Button and blinds fold her up. Kenny thinks for a while, looks up and says, “I know you have a great hand, I respect your bet, I fold.” Little does he know, my hand indeed was the most powerful hand in poker, and I felt it important to show. I proudly turn over… the hammer! 2-7 “not suited” sitting there in its glory mid table as I am raking in chips. Pulling off this move is the equivalent of Hogan “hulking up” during a match. I just knew that despite my low chip count and lack of starting hands, I was winning this tournament.

Players begin eliminating themselves, blinds are 25-50 ante of five, we‘re now five seated. Other table has six, so next one out makes the final table. Mitch, being first or second to act and short stacked, pushes all-in preflop with ace nine. Peeking down I see pocket tens, so I reraise to all-in (I have 55 chips more than Mitch). SuperDonk, sitting in the blind, had roughly thirty-five more than Mitch did. He too calls with ace five. The flop accommodates Mitch with a nine, but misses us every other way. My tens hold up, I mow down last month’s champion and SuperDonk with one “plus EV” move.

Final table forms with me, “The telephone,” “The Realtor” (a girl who is new to the monthly game, but rest assured, a total monster on the table - great player who makes some phenomenal reads). Roger is also present on the final table, as is Fred Sanford’s baby boy, the host, “OMG, u killed Kenny,” and “The shirt.”

I kinda minded my business for the most part on the final table, pretty much either stealing preflop or terminating the hand on the flop. I entered the final table with an M of roughly nine, and had the average stack. My goal for this final table was to maintain average stack until the bubble. I accomplished exactly that.

Down to five players and on the bubble, the telephone, the host and I are in a UTG-SB-BB classic battle. The pot was not raised preflop. The flop comes down two, King, Queen (K and Q both of spades). Check from the host, check from yours truly, and the telephone min bets. Host calls, as do I for some unknown reason (I am not going to even publish what hand I had here). On the turn, a ten of spades falls. At the same time, the blind clock buzzes. I laugh, look at the host and say to him “I know what that means” as I prepare to muck my cards. The host loves to make moves at the buzzer when blinds are this high. I feel bad now, as I surely jinxed him. He moves at the pot, the tele does what he does best and calls. Out of harm’s way, another spade hits the board. The host bets a lil bit, the telephone says “I’ll put you all in.” The host quickly calls, displaying the Jack of spades (he had jack ten, not suited). The telephone shows his ace of spades, conveniently matched up with his seven of hearts from under the gun. The host bubbles as a result of this phone call gone bad.

I felt dirty having made it into the money. Card dead for nearly two hours, calling the buzzer… Oh, forgot to add, I made an all-in push on the final table. I was asked how much was there. I do not ever answer that question. I took the liberty of pointing out my chips are neatly stacked in logical piles, feel free to count. I said it with quite the dick tone. I was joking of course, but I am not sure it came off that way. My whole not smoking gig sometimes makes me feel as if I come off differently than intended (read: cranky, sounding like a prick).

Play continues bubble behind us; “The Telephone” is in the chip lead. Sitting to his left is “the Realtor.” I sit between the telephone (left) and Roger (right). The Transylvanian Terror is seated right behind me, as he and I had been sweating one another from afar early on in the tournament. It sounded as if he was nearly as card dead as I was during the early portion of the tournament. Roughly 50-60% of the chips were sitting with the telephone, while I had almost 20%. The remaining 20% sat with Roger and the Realtor. I still maintained I was winning the tournament. Even told peeps I would call them back after I won. I was slightly more timid on this final table than normal. I raised my “Calling standards” when the pot was opened. To me, if roger limped, or the realtor limped, (even if they raised) hands such as ace nine lost their value at this particular table. Roger would move first, doubling through the Realtor, knocking her out of the match. I cannot remember the exact hand, though she was the only player who remained that I was not 100% confident I could outplay.

Action down to three peeps, I am now last in chips. I could tell the telephone was getting frustrated, as he was often being run over when he was trying to just see a flop. I push all in with the Fillmaff (King Jack “not suited”). He calls from his UTG limp with Jack three, also not suited. 3 hits the flop, king on the turn, river blank. I double through him, but still in third place. Roger made his move a few hands prior and was a convincing second.

Chip counts now roughly 25% to me 40% to Roger 35% to the telephone. I make a couple of steal moves, boost my stack, and Roger eliminates the Telephone, when his pocket pair holds up vs. the telephone’s ace-X.

Roger and I are heads up and he has a 3:1 lead. We color up. As we do, I try to “do Roger a favor” (Read: I am being a dick yet again). I tell Roger that being behind 3:1, and in an obvious position of power, I am willing to split the money with him 50/50 and “let” him assume the spot of champion. He tells me to “get lost” (read: go “F” yourself Mike). He does kindly counter though with taking a bit more and still getting the picture. I act insulted and pull a Happy Gilmore and say, “No, I think I’ll beat you now.” We start heads up play. I am dealt pocket sixes, and I raise 1.25 the blinds, as I am rather confident that he will call that no matter what. Additionally, it is such a small raise that I am also rather confident that with one over card, he will push all-in, two over cards he will simply re-raise me. He push all-in. King five suited vs. 6-6. I double through him.

Again, I offer a deal. This time, 50-50 with the photo shoot now going to me. He is tilting, because he “was beat with f’ing sixes.” Given the tilt, he does not split. I push out a steal raise with 7-9 not suited. He moves all in. I have him covered pretty well at this point. If I lose, we are back to three-one. If I fold, we are 50-50. I can recover from 3:1. Additionally, I had folded two hands earlier to a re-raise, though when I did, I only raised 1.25 the blinds. He could have been “making a move.” I call. He has Ace ten “not suited,” I flip over seven-nine “not suited.” Flop comes 8-8-6. Turn delivers a blank, though there are now three cards to the flush, of which my nine is suited to. So now, going into the river, any card to complete my straight on either side works, as does any seven, any nine, and now additionally, any diamond. River is a five, however, and I complete my straight and take down the second “monthly game” in three months.

Final scorecard reads “Necklace trumps shirt, bracelet trumps shirt, bracelet trumps necklace, hammer trumps all.” As always, thanks to the host and hostess for putting on the event. The time and effort that goes into the monthly game are always appreciated here at the Poker Pub.

Mike

2006/06/25

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"monthly game" today...

The "Monthly Game" is today... As usual, I'm pumped for the game. Mitch will be defending his title (most likely as aggressively as the "Blind Defender" "protects" his blinds). It should be noted that "the shirt" is the only two time champion.

I think I left my card protector at the weekly game last week, which brings me to this unofficial game of "one upsmanship" we have going on.

"The shirt" has his lucky poker shirt (a hawaiian style shirt with different poker hands and sayings on it). Mitch has countered the luck of the shirt with his "money necklace." I'll be bringing my "poker" braclet to counteract both the shirt and the necklace. I considered bringing a "SuperDonk" stuffed animal, but the stuffed animal is a horse, not a donkey, so that won't work too well.

Sidenote... Good thing I am paying attention to the things I should be paying attention to, as I almost called a rather large raise with a poor hand, thinking I was calling. Though that would solve my problem of not getting action at this particular table (30/9/-18.27/22/40 table stats, in case anyone is keeping score). I'd have left the table long ago, however the seat to my right is a constant tilt magnet (last three peeps have sat to my right, had pocket aces, and got bigtime sucked out on by someone at the table, which led to a constant whining and complaining --- almost as if it was the same guy every time).

Second sidenote, the "River Belle Incident" is being worked on. For those who didn't know, we had a private poker tourney scheduled for Friday night. River Belle modified their poker software and the private mtt folder disappeared, as did our tournament. I tried to get the tourney to reappear, but it didn't happen. Thus, the tourney got deleted. Unfortunately, anyone who entered found that the money they paid to enter disappeared right along with the tourney and the folder.

I've been in constant contact with support, and will be most likely releasing the support details here on the Poker Pub. I will say that River Belle have assured me that on Monday, all players who were affected by this will be reimbursed.

While I am extremely confident that we'll all be taken care of, I am not comfortable setting up a "rainout day" tournament until it is confirmed that we've all been taken care of. So, hang in there, more news to come...

Mike

2006/02/27

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Reflections on the "Monthly" tourney...

Well, our "monthly" poker tourney is in the record books. On one hand, I am proud to say that while I did make the finals table, I did not finish "on the bubble." However, I did finish one off the bubble, and not to the money side either... LOL. The quality of play improved significantly in this tourney, compared to tourneys in the past. Here's a recap of significant hands either at my table and/or directly involving me.

SB-BB - level 2 (blinds 2-4)

I'm in the small blind, stack of about 450 (we start with 410 in chips), Big blind has about 300 chips and has got involved in several hands early on. I'd previously been involved in 1 or two hands, and am known as a tight aggressive monster. My raises are generally well respected, unless against "that guy" or in obvious steal positions.

The cards are folded around to me. I peak down into the hole and see bullets staring at me. Now, the SB-BB is a scenerio where I've been known to make a steal play early on. So, I make an odd raise after fumbling with my chips, making it ten (2.5x'as BB). He senses steal and raises another twenty. I suspiciously make it $100. He calls cleanly. We go to the flop, which comes J-9 (clubs) - 6 (hearts). At this point, I'm worried about a flush draw and a set, though not necessarily "too" worried about it. I like the idea of him thinking I'm going for a steal here, going into this flop. If he has a set, I'm redraw, if he's on a flush draw, he's got several outs. So, having him covered and a high M, even if I lose this hand, I put the decision on him and push allin. I'd be content with a steal here. He ponders and makes a quick decision to call. He turns over queen-ten of clubs.

Oh no... I think I'd rather be up against... well, just about anything else. 6 outs to the straight, 8 to the flush (one of my aces was clubbed), of which two are a straight flush. 14 outs and two cards to go with me presently in the lead. Turn and river are thankfully irrelivant. GG, he's out. I dodged a bullet there, though it would have not been crippling.

Button goes around, and to me (blinds are now 5-10), I receive QQ. I make a 6x raise, with hopes of getting heads up with someone. I get my wish, as the hostess of the evening (SB), a generally tight player comes over top of me, making it 120. BB folds, as does the lone limper. I ponder this for a moment, putting her immediately on a PP of some sort, or Ak (suited or not), POSSIBLY AQs or AJs, though less likely. I need to narrow my range of hands a bit further, so I reraise to 360. I know this move, if successful would cripple her, so she really has no choice but to fold or go allin. If she folds, she held 22-88 or AQs, AJs (10 possible hands she'd make an initial move into me, and folding to my subsequent move). I give it about a 40% probability of getting the fold in my head. If she moves allin, she holds 99-AA (likely not QQ). She'd also possibly do this with AK, so I have to consider that as well, and would be about equally likely to fold it as she'd be to push allin. So of the hands that she'd come over top, two have me as the dog the queens - least likely of the scenerios tie, barring a disasterous four to the flush which I wont even think of, and I'm favored with 3 hands (JJ-1010-99). So, I'm quite comfortable here with her coming over the top (knowing I'd be slightly favored in the majority of the hands she'd move this way in), yet more comfortable with my 40% chance of her folding to me. If I drop this hand, I'm back to about 500 chips, which is an M of 33 for now, 16 when the blinds go up, so I can certainly spin the wheel here.

She ponders the decision and pushes allin. I call with little hesitations. Her cowboys hold up and she takes down the pot (she goes on to take second place, by the way).

Game is rather uneventful, besides the fact of her mowing down another person named Mike (while I was the dealer) who also held QQ. She chips up and is leading the table when we go into the "monsterous" blind level. We jump from 10-20 to 25-50 with a $5 ante. At this point, even the big stack is beginning to stress over the blinds, as this is a huge jump to absorb (note: this jump has been my only area of criticism of the tourney... ever). The tourneys here are run extremely professional, well organized, and nothing but love from all ends. This jump though gets me every time... LOL.

With an M of four, I'm having to gather chips with a quickness. First hand in, I'm on the button, dealt garbage and fold (six peeps at the table now, 12 remain in the tourney). Second hand, I have ace small suited. UTG min raise (100). I push allin, hoping to get a fold, and knowing this player can indeed lay down a small pair or ace big to my raise. He ponders and does. Next hand, UTG raises allin, I fold, as does everyone else. Blinds pass me, uneventful. Cutoff, I'm dealt J10s. M's back to 4-5, so I once again utilize the first in viggorish and push Allin. Oops, forgot to check the BB's stack. His M is under one and has to call. It folds to him, he calls, turning over J7. I dominate and hold up. Blinds hit me, which are now 50-100, ten ante, I'm back into the critical level. Pocket tens, in the hole and a limper UTG. I call, my tens hold up to his 6's. Cutoff gives me A10s. Allin I go. He defends his blinds, turning over KQ of the same suit. Flop and turn miss, river comes a Q. Back to square one. I go out with KJ vs. QJ, as the flop hits him hard. Nice hand, GG. Your hero eliminated sixth.

All in all, I played a solid game with no complaints on any beats I took. Reading and studying continually with my Harrington on Holdem Vol 2 book helps a great deal. Especially short stacked play.

More tommorrow, specifically in regards to the upcoming block of poker tourneys with CheckRayz.

Poker Tournament Strategy

2006/02/26

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Monthly Live Game today...

Its that time of the month again... No, not "THAT" time of the month. I mean, today is the monthly live game with my friends. I always look forward to these tourneys and often skip out on other important stuff (or delay) so that I'm able to play in this game.

Last month, I was sent to the rail quite early by "that guy" (read: donkey, SuperDonk, tool boy, fish of all fish, moron, idiot, insert colorful name of choice here) who made a garbage call to a sizable raise I made holding Ace Three offsuit to my pocket queens. Hopefully, he'll not be within my site today, as I had seriously considered assulting the fool for simply being "that guy." And yes, he's the person who causes the room to cringe as he "announces" his entrance.

I've received several pieces of advice regarding how to play him from members of the Shark Forum, to which I am most appreciative. I remain confident that I will not get burned by this moronic player who only knows "call and raise" and knows not when its appropriate to set down a hand (see my post last month detailing how idiotic this hand was - first post in the archive).

Speaking of tourney play, yer hero took down the CheckRayz poker freeroll at poker.com yesterday, nailing down a $50+5 coupon to today's 5.15pm $10K guaranteed tourney. This would be the second CheckRayz tourney I've won. I increased my lead on the CheckRayz Leaderboard with this victory.

Consequently, I've placed a bounty on myself in the next CheckRayz tourney, which happens to be on Wednesday 1 March 9pm EST at River Belle Poker Room. $5+.50 to join, $20 launch bonus on my donk ass. and $100 to be added to the prize pool. Not a bad deal, if you ask me.

Additionally, there is plenty of opportunity to knock me off the top of the leaderboard, with several money added and freeroll poker tourneys in the upcoming days. Speaking of the CheckRayz Leaderboard, the first leg of the campaign ends March 31st. I'll be expanding later in the week (probably Friday at the mailbag) as to what exactly we're going to do with this leaderboard of ours (not that I know anything *wink, wink... my guess is a special free, money-added event).

More to add tommorrow, regarding my thoughts from the monthly tourney.

Mike

Poker Tournaments

2006/01/31

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"Monthly Game" thoughts...

As mentioned before, Sunday was the "monthly poker game" on the home front for the Beer Man. My table draw was neither favorable nor really unfavorable at first thought. I had a solid player to my right "That guy" was to my left, the hyper-aggressive "chip slinger" was across from me, and a few others, one of which was a relatively new poker player. Things could have been better regarding the seating arrangement at my table, (Read: "That guy" on my right), but I wasn't disappointed with my seat.

Early on, "That guy" and the "chip slinger" engaged in quite the pissing contest, both of them up and down on their stacks. Usually, the slinger and I go back and forth, making for compelling spectating. The slinger's stack ended up shortened up by tool boy (that guy). For the fourth hand in a row, Chip Slinger, raises up on my blind. I look at the hole cards and see the dreaded KJ (suited). Those of you who have followed me knows this hand haunts me quite a bit. I reraise, doubling his bet, knowing he can only either call or push all-in. He reraises to all in, flipping over pocket nines to my KJ. Flop delivers the Jack, river comes another Jack. Chip slinger is on the rail.

About ten hands later, I get pocket nines and raise up 4x blinds. I get a short stacked call. Flop presents Jack 8 blank. She checks, I bet out, she moves allin. I call, with pot odds of about 4:1. She flips over the evil KJo and hits a K on the turn, giving her two pair to my pocket pair. Well played by her. She moved out of short stack status, and took a small chunk from my stack.

Few hands later, I have QQ in the SB. By this time, a player has been moved to replace "Chip Slinger." He missed the game two months ago (the last time we played together), so it was reasonable to assume that I needed time to reclassify him. I believed him to be a tight player and not very aggressive, but could not recall for certain. He limps under the gun. Playing with Sharky in a sit n go or two, I know this move "could" be a danger sign (read AA, AK, strong starting hand). I bank that in my knowledge base, but also keep myself open to the possibility that he might not raise preflop very often and thus has a standard starting hand.

Table folds to me, and I raise up 6 times the blinds, hoping to get heads up with him and knock "that guy" out. Tool boy incorrectly calls cleanly, as does UTG correctly. I think back before the flop and recall several discussions with "That guy" about the hands I play or raise with based on situations and recalled exactly the conversation I had with him regarding exactly this situation. I told him a limp utg could signal strength and my hand selection in order for me to play outside of the BB (which includes the SB) would have to be superior, citing the hands I would be comfortable reraising with would be AA, AK, KK, QQ for certain, and with "position" I'd reraise with JJ-99, and maybe AQs, AJs, 88-66.

Flop comes A-J-2. I check, once again recalling the conversation where I had suggested a trap when first to act is the correct play in this situation (I'm trying to represent a monster to "That guy" given all of our poker discussions). He 2x's min bets. UTG calls cleanly. I need to make a move here. I think that UTG is second pair at best, but most likely, he is holding something in the 10-10 to 2-2 range. If he has an ace, its unlikely he calls cleanly there. While I don't know his playing style, he surely knows mine. He would fold here to my raise if its strong enough. I push out about 75% of my stack, which gives "That guy" odds of about 3:2 to call, once again hoping our conversations on both this situation and pot odds rings a bell in his head. He comes over the top of me, putting me allin. UTG folds, later revealing he had 7-7. I make the call on the all-in. I flip over my QQ, and "that guy" flips over of all things A-3 offsuit. Turn and river are irrelivant, I'm sent to the rail and tilting something fierce.

In this situation, to make this play (per the conversations he and I had recently on poker - which as I've said before, I am trying to coach "that guy" into becoming more of a poker player and less of a tool (read: donk). The hands that I'd have made this play in the SB with (horrible position post flop, not really stacked to bluff) are either dominating preflop (AA, AK), or just behind (KK, QQ). So, if we go solely on our talk, 50% of the universe, if I am true to my word, which I generally am, have him dominated, 50% do not. Laying 3:2 odds to him, in my biased opinion, he cannot make this call, yet he does. Even if my standards are "relaxed" any Axo combo, yes even A2s, beats him, so add in 10 Axs hands. Even add any Axo hands. In the interest of fairness, let's add all pocket pairs as well to the universe of hands. JJ and 22 are ahead of him, with 8 remaining pp's behind him. So, by my count after the fact, about 24 hands I "might" play are ahead, 10 hands behind. Do you make this call correctly preflop and/or post flop knowing this, risking about half your stack when given 3:2 odds AFTER I raise 6x blinds? Needless to say, I was/am pissed.

An hour or so later, he's eliminated from the tourney, finishing out of "the money," and I give the man hug to the playa that ousted his donk ass. He ended up winning the tourney handily. Second game, I finished well off the bubble as well. Once again, donk boy played incorrectly and was rewarded early, however, my prayer to the Poker Gods were answered, as he finished on the bubble. I hate to see donks rewarded when I've been burned. Especially "That guy." Correction, let me further qualify that. Donks need to be rewarded from time to time, this keeps my bankroll flowing. They need a bone from time to time to keep them coming back for more. This is a guy who claims to have the desire to better learn the game. He is constantly picking my brain about "correct play" and how to handle different situations. He acts like he wants to get better and evolve, yet his actions shows he could care less about anything other than wasting my time. He's still my friend and all, but as for poker strategy, the information desk is closed to him. He's capable of learning, he just chooses no to. Nuff said there...

Sharky has a great post in his blog today regarding live play. Check it out. Additionally, hit up the tourney calendar for CheckRayz. Shark also has some upcoming tourneys. Specifically, check out his blackjack tourneys this weekend. I've yet to play blackjack online, but I am rather certain I will be hitting the tables with him and the army this weekend. Also, stay tuned for commentary on the Steelers-Hawks matchup, and how CheckRayz - Shark Poker Tour are invloved.

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2006/12/11

Didn't you say...? What the...?

2006/11/13

No, not just a monster...

2006/11/12

in case Mitch didn't know...

2006/10/23

SuperDonk wins!

2006/09/06

Good luck charms and beating dead horses

2006/08/26

Monthly Poker Game...

2006/06/28

calling the home run ball... (or "talking smack")

2006/06/26

2 am ugly… errr…. The monthly poker game recap

2006/06/25

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