Recent Tournament Activity

sorry for just delays in updating this poker blog. until jananne and the girls got home on tuesday (08.01) we only had one internet connection so it was sometimes tough to find the time to post. there is also the laziness issue. steven and i have started playing online quite a bit. the action down here has been weak lately. many times we have found no game at all or a game that becomes short-handed and breaks up quickly. we have generally been playing 5-10 limit hold'em and doing pretty well except for me the last couple of days. i need to improve my play post-flop and lay down some more hands. i have also written a couple of entries for my music blog, communal groove.

last thursday night (07.26) steven and i played in a one table satellite at the white house. they are having a $1000 buy in tournament in august. each player bought in for $100 plus $10 (for the house). i won and received an entry into the august tournament. we each started with T1500 in chips and the blinds started at 25 – 50. each blind level lasted 15 minutes and the blinds moved up T25 at a time until we reached 100 – 200. they then moved up T50 at a time. a T25 was added at 150 - 300. starting at 300 - 600 the blinds moved up T100 at a time.

basically i hung around until we got five-handed and then good things started happening. early on i lost a chunk of chips with a small pocket pair and a couple of levels later i got back to around the T1500 starting total. with the blinds at 100 – 200 and the blinds about to move up after one or two more hands i moved all-in with 10 8 off-suit for about T1400. i figured that after i paid the next two blinds i was going to completely lose my ability to make people lay down hands pre-flop. a significant portion of your equity from moving all-in with a short stack is the possibility that everyone else will fold. one player called and he turned over AK off-suit which was fine with me. i am only about a 3:2 dog in that situation. as long as he didn't turn over a pocket pair of eights and above or a hand that had me dominated i was going to be happy. i spiked a 10 on the river to stay alive.

the player who called me down was soon out. we played four-handed for quite some time. there were a fair number of all-ins at the table by everyone except the chip leader who somehow had been leaking chips since he became the monster stack when we were about six- or seven-handed. steven commented on him being a one man wrecking crew. i personally must have moved all-in at least once per orbit around the table. most times i picked up just blinds (and antes) but once or twice someone had limped in front of me. i was surprised that i was never called since the 10 8 was the only all-in i had to turn over.

i somehow managed to accumulate some chips when the key hand for me in the tournament came up. i had about T4800 when i picked up KQ off-suit on the button. the blinds were 200 – 400 with a T25 ante. utg folded and i raised to T1200 which was my first raise in many blind levels that was not an all-in bet. rick, an excellent player and the former chip leader moved all-in for T2100 more. that made the pot total T5000. T100 (antes) + T400 (bb) + T1200 (my bet) + T3300 (rick's bet) = T5000. i needed to put in an additional T2100 for a chance at T5000. for those of you keeping score at home i was getting almost exactly 2.5:1 on my money. it didn't take me long to realize that i had to call. i was no worse than a 1.5:1 dog against any poket pair of jacks or less. i would be a 2.5:1 dog against pocket queens. i would be getting slightly the worst of it against AK or AQ as a 3:1 dog. the hands that would have me standing up ready to leave would be AA against which i would be a 7:1 dog or KK against which i would be more than a 9:1 dog. if i won the hand i would have T8600 chips giving me more than half the chips in play. i believed that the range of hands he would move all-in with was easily wide enough to warrant a call. he flipped over AJ off-suit and i was quite happy. I was only a 3:2 dog and i was getting 2.5:1 on my money. i hit my queen to become the chip leader.

jj, a good friend of steven's crippled the third player a short while later and we were headsup for the $1000 entry after the next hand. before we played a hand i suggested a deal that the loser get 10% of the winner's action in the tournament. he agreed immediately. we started at 300 – 600 with T50 antes. i raised the first hand from the button to T1500 with 97 off-suit and jj folded. i don't think we saw a flop for the first ten hands or so. i'm not sure i raised another hand from the button because that 97 was the best hand i saw for a while. each of us folded from the button a number of times. jj was definitely interested in trying to roll over me. he moved all-in quite a few hands as he also had when we were three-handed. he happily turned over total shit almost every time with a grin. my only misstep was when i raised with 9 5 of-suit from the button and jj moved all-in almost immediately. I folded knowing that i could find a better opportunity. he now had about a 2:1 chip lead on me.

i played cautiously but aggressively. i won back some of my chips when jj raised to T1600 from the button and i moved all-in with A7 off-suit. he folded. i fought back to about T7000 in chips when the following hand came up with the blinds now at 400 – 800. jj moved all-in from the button and i called almost instantly with A9 off-suit. jj turned over rags and his hand didn't improve. i knew that i would move all-in without looking at my cards on the next hand. i flipped up J 6 and jj turned over K 9. neither hand improved and now it was time to look at my cards. we only played 3 or 4 more hands. he moved all-in from the button for about T2300 and i reluctantly called with 22. jj turned over rags and his hand did not improve.

we played in the freeroll tournament at the horseshoe on saturday. we had played only enough hours to start with T2000 chips. anyone who played the max would receive T5000 chips. one could buy-in for $500 + $20 for T5000 chips. if a player had T5000 chips s/he could add-on another T5000 for $250. for us to start with T10,000 we would could pay $300 for T3000 and then add-on for the additional $250. we decided since only 27 or 28 players were playing and they were paying nine places we would take out chances with no extra chips. obviously, the best case situation for us was to play a big hand headsup in which one of us would win all of the chips. you can't artificially create a situation like this or we would be accussed of colluding. we didn't have to when the perfect situation unfolded on the first hand. one player limped in front of me with the blinds at 10 - 20. i made it T50 to go with JJ. steven called from the big blind and the limper folded. the flop was 10 x x and steven moved all-in. i called and steven flipped up K 10. he doubled me up on the very first hand.

i won a couple of small pots before we broke to two tables. the key hand for me came up with the blinds at 200 - 400. i open-raised to T1200 from the button with A 10 off-suit. david tomko, one of dewey tomko's sons called from the big blind making the pot total T2550. the flop was Ac Kh 9h. david checked and i bet T1300. he then check-raised me all-in. david is a very solid player and the only hand he might make this play with that i would be in decent shape against would be the nut flush draw with a weak kicker. i also think that is the least likely possibility. my best guess is that he flopped a set of nines. he also might have a better ace -- AQ, AJ, A9, or the worst possibility of all AK. he had the biggest stack at the table at the time so i think he would have re-raised pre-flop with AK. after a minute or so i folded and left myself with about T3000 in chips.

a couple of hands later we were on break. the blinds started at 250 - 500 after the break. i was all-in on the very first hand. leo, another solid player raised immediately in front of me. i looked down to find AJos. the blinds were abot to hit me in two more hands and i knew that i needed to accumulate some chips soon. it didn't take me long to move all-in. i hoped i was up against a pocket pair of tens or below and not a better ace. leo called immediately and flipped up AK. i hit my jack, but he also hit his king and that was that. had i not lost almost half my stack in that hand with david that would have been an easy pre-flop fold. no regrets. i thought i played well.

we played the $100 buy-in tournament at the radisson the previous thursday. steven went out early. he couldn't get anything going. at least he didn't suffer another bad beat. i made the final table for the fourth time in a row. we didn't play the previous thursday, but i had made the final table the previous three weeks. i just sort of hung around. i made a little bit of money early but then i totally stalled. as usual we started with T1500 in chips. when we were down to about fourteen players i was down to T1250. i moved all-in two hands in a row first with a marginal hand and then with AQ. i hoped i would get called the second time by someone thinking i was jsut being super loose. the blinds were at 100 - 200 so that got me up to T1850.

in a short while we were at the final table. i had about T1800 so i would have to make some moves. top seven was being paid that night. i picked up blinds and antes with an early all-in move so that bought me some time. a phenomenal hand came up with table down to nine. a player in early position moves all-in. the big stack moves all-in in late position. the second biggest stack stack immediately to his left then moves all-in. "holy shit! this is great.", i thought. alfredo, second in chips, made a terrible play. the first player all-in had A 10. the big stack had KK and alfredo had AJ. i'm not sure what he was thinking. the board bricked and the rest of us were in the money.

i picked up some hands and made a few moves. the next thing i know we are down to four. i then went card dead for a while and started to get worried. the blinds were up to 500 - 1000 with a 50 ante. the player utg raised to T2000. i picked up 44 in the bb and evaluated my situation. i only had about T3400. if i folded i would have less chips than the player on the button and the other two players were huge stacks. i decided to play, but i blundered. i intended to move all-in, but i said "i call. i mean i'm all-in." of course, the dealer immediately informed me that i could only call which was fine. i decided to move all-in no matter what hit the board. the flop was Q high and uncoordinated which was perfect. the other player thought for a while and then reluctantly called. he flipped up Ac9c and he hit runner-runner clubs for him his flush. in a sense, my blunder almost won the hand for me because i don't think i had enough chips to push his off his hand pre-flop.

In Search of My Inner Phil Hellmuth

i have not lived up to my promise of keeping up with daily reports. partly that is a result of generic laziness. i am also adjusting to many late nights and sleeping in. at least two or three nights a week bedtime is between 4am and 6am. i can't recall when i was last on that kind of sleep schedule. in addition, the last couple of weeks have also not been very kind to us. instead of trying to keep up on a daily basis i will post instead when i have specific hands of particular interest or thoughts about the game that i would like to hash out a bit.

today, i would like to discuss making big pre-flop laydowns. twice, recently i was incapable of laying down a big pocket pair to what i perceived to be pocket aces. a week ago, sunday, we were playing at the horsehoe casino. there was one tourist at the table who was a total fish and i could not lay down KK to his obvious AA. i lost about $250 on the hand and a total of $500 for the session which was my worst day ever.

let's take a look at the psychological groundwork involved. i was already down somewhere in the neighborhood of $250. i was not involved in any major pots prior to this one. i was losing many small- and medium-sized pots. 40% of cards seem to fall in this range - 62o, J3o, Q2o, and K8o. my highest pocket pair prior to the kings was a pair of eights. i limped in early position with my kings because i was confident the fish would raise. he raised the vast majority of hands and played almost every single hand. like clockwork, he raised to $10 when the action moved around to him in middle position. when the action got back to me i made it $40 to go. he then re-raised to $140. that was when i started suppressing all of the alarm bells that were going off. the hand was perfect until his $100 re-raise. i didn't even make the smart bad play which is to just call the re-raise and move all-in on the flop when an A doesn't hit in case he is over-valuing AK in this spot. i would have still lost all my money since the flop was 10 high, but if an A hits i can lay it down. i moved all-in and he called instantly. before the cards are even flipped steven declares "kings and aces".

my ego just wouldn't allow me to heed my instincts. in the midst of this bad session i couldn't accept that my perfectly excuted use of my first big hand had gone from gold to shit in a matter of seconds. "how could this happen against the fish?" "how could i lay this beautiful hand down against the guy who has been giving away plenty of money at the table for the last few days?" the real question that i need to ask if i want to reach my potential is, "how can i not lay this hand down?" my post-session analysis of my play started with the thought, "i am good enough to lay the kings down in this situation" followed almost immediately by, "obviously, i'm not."

steven came over with another regular from the game, monty. the first thing he said was, "if u lay down those kings there u are a better poker player than i am" followed a little later by, "remember that's the hardest lay down in poker". those statements were partially to cheer me up and partially for monty's benefit. when alone he said, "u have to be able to lay those down there". the big lesson is to focus more attention on the psychology of the game. why is this person playing poker today? what are his/her tendencies? how can i exploit them to win more money? one of the biggest things for me is to accept the inevitable downswings. until now they have only existed in theory.

the reason i titled this entry, "in search of my inner phil hellmuth (official site" is hellmuth has an unbelievable ability to put people on hands and make big big laydowns. he has supreme confidence in his reads and then let's that dictate his play. in this situation, i would not allow myself to pay complete attention to what in restrospect was obvious – even the fish can pick up AA. had i simply accepted my $40 loss then i would have avoided losing an additional $200. i can't let what has already happened in any given session dictate the decisions i have to make. although i did not act immediately after the $100 re-raise i certainly didn't allow myself the proper time to think through where i was at in the hand. focus, focus, focus. it is the small things that one does over and over that separate the weak from the average, the average from the great, and the great from the phenomenal.

tuesday we played in the rebuy tournament at the radisson. after the break i had T1085 and the blinds started at 15 - 30. i lost a chunk in one of the very first hands. i picked up Qd 8d in the bb. two people limped in and so did the sb. i checked my option. the flop was was 998. the sb checked and i bet out T125. the two limpers folded and the sb moved all-in. i made the easy laydown and the sb flipped up A9. i was drawing dead to running queens or running 8s. i'm not sure if the sb would have gotten any more money out of me or not, but that was definitely a weak play on his part.

several hands later with about T900 in chips i pick up QQ in middle position. one player limped in front of me and i raised it to T150. leo (spelled liu), a solid player, re-raised to T400. i considered folding the queens, but decided to call and see what the flop brought. it was J high and i moved all-in and was called immediately as leo turned over AA. part of the reason i did not fold pre-flop was the nature of tournament play. i need to double up to have a reasonable chance to make some money. i figure that there is a good chance that leo has AK and if the flop doesn't have a K or an A i will move all-in. again, i didn't listen to my instincts. i sensed he had aces, but instead played the hand as if i my read was generic - "he has a big hand, but i can't be sure how big". once i commit almost half my chips pre-flop it was hard to get away from.

in reflecting upon this hand, i realized that i had more information available to me than i actually consciously processed. i have seen leo play a fair amount and i have seen him raise plenty of times, but i don't believe i have ever seen him re-raise anyone. had i thought about this i probably could have eliminated AK from his possible range of hands or at least minimized the possibility that this is what he was holding. if i do this then i need to make this laydown. there is a slight chance he would re-raise with JJ, but unlikely. the only hands that make sense are KK and AA. if i have more chips i can call the raise and see if i flop a set because i am almost guaranteed to get all his chips.

in the future, when faced with situations like these i will ask myself "what would phil do?" (WWPD).

Bursting The Bubble

on wednesday steven played in the rebuy tournament at the fiesta casino. he did not do well in the tournament. he said he couldn't get anything going. every time he raised he was re-raised. i think we all know how that goes. he did exceptionally well in the $3 - $5 no-limit cash game. he won $650 in the cash game to clear $350 for the night.

thursday we played in the $100 tournament at the radisson. once again, steven was out early after flopping a big hand. holding pocket eights after significant action in front of him ended up all-in on a board of AA8. he talked another player holding a weak ace (A 3) into a call. the turn of course was a 3. last week it was an 8-outer on the river and this week a 4-outer on the turn. if steven's flopped nuts and full houses could hold up he'd be golden.

at my table i picked up some nice hands early. i busted the first player of the tournament when i flopped a set of sevens. i had limped from the bb with several other limpers in the hand. the board was scary (7 5 3) so i made a pot size bet and had two callers. a Q came on the turn and i bet out T350 and was mini-raised (T700) by the first flop caller. i asked him how many more chips he had then pushed all-in and was called immediately. he turned over the hand i expected (AQ) and was drawing dead. i had T3600 by the middle of the first level of blinds. after that nothing much happened for me for a while. i wasn't particularly active again until the middle of the third blind level. i had about T3500 at the break which was at the end of the fourth blind level (15 - 30).

we were at the final table by the middle of the sixth blind level (50 -100). that was the quickest we made the final table since i have been playing at this tournament. i had about T4000 when we started the final table and was it pretty good shape. only six players were being paid out tonight. i think we started the tournament with 27. i was the only player who accumulated chips on a regular basis. for the most part i was just picking up blinds and antes (once they started). the only hand i had to give up was when i raised with pocket sevens from early position and was called by both blinds. the flop was all over seven high and the small blind bet out big. easy fold. the two players to my immediate left were short-stacked for most of the time so i was able to punish them.

when the final table started there was one super big stack who was active early and then settled down and his chip stack began to dwindle. i was up to T6000 when we were down to eight players and it looked like i was super close to the chip leader. then the payoff hand came up for the table. two players all-in and the chip leader called with AQ. the other players held KK and Q 10. an A hit the flop and we were in the money, but now the chip leader was well out in front again.

after we were down to five the chip leader knocked out two players on the same hand again. we were three-handed and i was well behind with T6000 with a approximately T36,000 in play. the blinds were at 150 - 300 with 50 antes when we started. my chips had dwindled to about T3700 when a key hand came up at 200 - 400 blinds. i limped from the button with KK. neither blind made the raise that i hoped for. the flop couldn't have been better -- K88. checks all around on the flop. on the turn the big blind and chip leader bet T700. i called and the small blind folded. he bet T1000 on the river. after some thought i moved all-in. since i only had about T600 more than the minimum raise no play would make sense other than a call or all-in. the big blind folded.

another nice hand came up for me a few hands later. i raised to 1200 from the button with As6s. the big blind called. the flop was 24x with two spades. the big blind bet out and i called. an offsuit 5 hit on the turn and the action was check check. a 3 of spades hit on the river. the big blind bet out T1500. i probably over played my hand and moved all-in. i thought the mini-raise would be fishier. he flipped out an ace of clubs when he folded so that 3 had given him a wheel. i guess i should have just raised to T3000. he probably would have been forced to call.

my exit from the tournament was a mistake on my part. we were up to 500 - 1000 blinds with 100 antes when this hand came up. i had T11,900 and raised to T3000 with KcJc. after some thought the big blind called. the flop was AXX. the big blind check and after just a moment's thought i moved all-in. he called immediately with Ah3h. shit! had i been more focused i would have realized his most likely holding was some kind of weak or middle suited ace. if had held a pair he would have pushed all-in. he was not likely calling a raise with suited connectors. he also probably would have pushed all-in with a big ace. it turns out our stacks were exactly the same size and i was history. had i only mini-raised pre-flop maybe i wouldn't have felt the need to push in on the flop. i also think there is a reasonable chance that he would have folded had i pushed all-in pre-flop. my take was $240 and a few more lessons learned.

More Catching Up

steven played a rebuy tournament at the radisson on sunday night. i really didn't feel like playing so i just chilled at home. the initial buy-in was $50 plus two re-buys for an additional $100. no luck. it sounds like he just couldn't get anything going.

on monday we headed down to the horseshoe about 7:30. it looked like it was going to be a good night, but it turned very ugly. i won a decent pot or two early and steven won a monster on one of the first hands we played. he raised pre-flop to $17 from the small blind with two callers. the flop was A 2 5 with two hearts. steven moved in right away. he got two callers. the first caller had two pair (A 2)and was shocked when steven turned over AA. i knew what he had before he flipped his card because it was the only strong hand he would play that fast. given how often people will play their draws down here with or without the pot odds to do it one learns to protect their big hands. the other caller never showed his hand, but i assume he had a flush draw. steven basically tripled up tight out of the gate. we should have just left after about half an hour up $400 - $500.

if we were only that smart. over the course of the night i did not have any notable hands - winners or losers. i ended our session down about $145. steven lost some huge hands and finished down $500. first big loser was when he had AK, flopped a K and rivered a K. the other player in the hand was a weak player. he didn't really understand the game very well. i read him for weakness the whole way. steven bet the flop, the turn, and moved all-in on the river. the dude had flopped a set of tens so that river filled him up. he thought he had lost the hand - he thought it was trips Ks vs. trip tens. he flipped over his cards saying he just had to see. i'm not sure exactly how big the pot was, but this guy had over two racks of chips in front of him after this hand -- over $1000.

next big hand for little bro was when he flopped top two pair. he was in the hand with two other players. he checked the flop. the pre-flop raiser who held AK, had flopped tptk, bet out. javier who flopped the nut flush draw called. steven moved all-in. the pre-flop raiser called and so did javier. the flush hit. the old guy who raised pre-flop actually thought he was ahead of steven even after the cards were flipped up and couldn't believe he moved all-in with an A and a mediocre kicker. javier easily had the pot odds to make that call, but is the type who would have called even if the first bet was all-in and the old guy in the middle folded.

throughtout the session there were plenty of fish at the table, but somehow the money was not ending up in front of us. we ended up playing until about 5:45 in the morning to bust out this one last player, edwin, who was drunk and giving his money away. he hit the atm a number of times. over the last couple of hours he just wouldn't give it up. i'm sure we didn't lose money, but with the rake we probably didn't do much more than break even during the last stretch of the session. this other guy justin, in town from san diego (official site), was able to pull in a ton of his money. the huge hand was when edwin called justin's K high flush with his 3 high flush. justin made the most noteworthy play i have seen since i have been down here. steven, justin and edwin see the flop. all i remember about the flop was that the board was paired and had two hearts. justin bets out and steven calls. edwin moved all-in for not much more. justin then raised edwin's all-in. steven read justin's play exactly the way justin wanted him too. he believed justin had flopped trips and was attempting to shut out the flush draw. since he wasn't getting the right price for his nut flush draw he folded. edwin turned up trips and justin turned up the J high flush draw. not only was it a great play, but the flush hit.

there was a fourth of july party at the jazz casino at the white house in the hills of escazu. i played in my first $3 - $5 no-limit game since arriving here. i was unsure about playing but steven encouraged me to play. we both bought in for $300. at first my stack dwindled down to about $225 or so and then i hit a hand to bring me up over $300 again. steven was up $200 almost right away. things were starting to get a bit of hand. several of the players wanted to play $5 - $10 and really hand no regard whatsoever for the money they were putting into pots. many pots were straddled or double-straddled. one pot even had three straddle's making it $40 to go. each straddle is like a new blind so it needs to be double the previous blind. utg is the first player to the left of the last straddle. the last straddle has the last option to bet pre-flop just as if s/he was the big blind.

in my key hand at the table i raised it to $15 from early position with QdQs and had three or four callers. the flop was all below ten with two clubs. i bet out $50 and tommy, who is a solid player called. i never played with him before, but that was my immediate read which was later confirmed by steven. the K of clubs hit and tommy bet out $100. i immediately sensed that this was a play. it took me about 30 seconds to convince myself to move all-in. tommy had over $1000 in front of him and my all-in wasn't wnough to make him lay down his hand. he held JJ with one club. a club hit the river and i was busted. i may have lost the hand, but it gave me confidence in my reading ability. steven was very impressed with call, but believed i shoud have made a bigger bet on the flop. maybe so, but the hand would still have played out the same way unless tommy lays down an overpair to my flop bet. unlikely.

i bought in for another $300. it was shortly after rebuying that things really got out of control. in addition to all of the straddling, one player was often betting $35, $40, or $50 on his hand in the dark. steven suggested that i move over to the $1 - $2 game that had started while we were playing. i took his advice. things worked out very well for me. i picked up some big pairs early and won some nice size pots. i busted one guy when i decided to limp in from the button with 10 10 with about three limpers plus the blinds in front of me. i had already started rebuilding my stack so instead of potentially taking down the pot immediately with a nice size raise i figured i would see if i could flop a set and win a larger pot. bingo, i flopped a set. a player in middle position made about a pot-sized bet and the player immediately to my right called. i called. the turn was a 3. the original better was short-stacked and moved all-in for about $35. of course, i'm saying a mini-prayer that the other player calls, but to no avail. the all-in player was bummed to see my set of tens because he had turned a set of threes. i ended the night up $25 which was fine by me after dropping $300 in the first hour or so. steven ended the night up $560 so all in all it was a good night.

Catching Up

sorry, this will be a brief and relatively uninformative post. i have to do a better job of keeping up before the shape and nuiances of sessions begin to slip away. i do not have the recall that joe sorge seems to have for recalling the details of hands and sessions. we put in about eight hours in at the horsehoe on friday to accumulate hours. the horsehoe runs a regular tournament and a player can either buy-in for $500 to receive T5000 in chips or earn freeroll chips based on hours played. minimum hours to qualify is 30 which translates into T1000. maximum hours are 90 for the full T5000. additionally, if a player opens the game for the day s/he receives double hours. any play after midnight also counts as double hours. we finished with over 65 hours a piece to earn T2800 in chips. I can't say that i recall many specifics of the day. i won about $150 and steven lost $60. so we didn't post a loss, but it was a long day to clear $90.

saturday was a short day for us. the early blind levels last only 15 minutes which is all fine and good for our home game when the winner is going to clear $60 tops, but in a tournament with about 20 players in which top prize is close to $3000 that just isn't cutting it. steven went out first. the blinds were already beginning to rise and he had only T1400 when he flopped second pair with a king kicker and moved all-in. the problem was that one of the chip leaders flopped top pair with a king kicker leaving two outs for steven that never showed up.

my exit involved my first truly donkey play since i have been down here and as usual it was not the hand that knocked me out, but the last hand i played before that. much worse, it was a bad lay down. this hand took place several hands before steven's exit. wayne, a solid player, opened for a raise from early position. i called with Qd Jd from middle position. the flop comes Kd 9d X. he bets T300 which was slightly less than the pot. I decide to attempt to push him off his hand. i figure if he does not have AA, KK, 99, XX, or AK and this is a garden variety continuation bet i can pick up the hand right now. i raise to T1000. he moves all-in. obviously, not a continuation bet. in retrospect, i should have smooth-called and seen what happened on the turn or pushed all-in right away and put the pressure on wayne. when faced with my decision, i was more concerned about possibly being the first one out thn i was about the pot odds of the situation. i decided to conserve my last T1400.

i will never make this mistake again. the pot is laying more than 2.5 to 1 on my money and i have as many as 12 outs -- 9 diamonds (including the ten of diamonds) for the flush plus 3 additional tens for the straight -- which is very close to even money. if he is holding the Ad i lose one out or if he has a set then the diamond which pairs with the X card is not an out. 11 outs still puts me close to 45% so this should have been a no-brainer. In the immortal words of amir vahedi, "in order to live you must be willing to die"and in this situation i wasn't. A couple of orbits later my pocket fours lost to pocket tens. steven said something to the effect of, "if i had known that was your hand i would have taken you outside and kicked the shit out of you". the adjustment of playing for real money was had an impact on my play. this was the most glaring example. sitting at the table in my house or playing a sit 'n go on party poker i make this call in a heartbeat. i don't believe i need to learn this lesson again.

after our early exit we went to the grand opening of motor psychos in santa ana. the place looked great. there were burgers and hot dogs cooked outside on a grill with excellent baked beans. the three owners are all gringo bikers. richard, the man in charge of the food, has already been involved in many successful restaurant ventures down here. there is a glassed encase section in which Tak will build customed-made bikes for at least $20,000 a piece. there is also a little boutique section with t-shirts and numerous other motorcycle-related accessories. trust me, one does not need to be a biker to enjoy this place. there are about 15 to 20 tables up front and a bar in the center section with a handful of bar tables. oiut back there is an open courtyard with a covered section to the side with a pool table. We did not try any of the food from the kitchen, but steven assures me that richard always turns out great fare.

Bubbled Again

before discussing my exit on the bubble for the second week in a row at the radisson's $100 entry thursday night tournament let me tell u about steven's quick and exciting exit. on about the tenth hand or so, someone made a substantial raise from early position with two callers before
steven found 2d 3d in the sb. he decided to call and hit the dream flop - A 4 5 rainbow. he made a small opening bet and the original raiser made it T350 to go. one of the callers moved all-in and steven said he couldn't get his chips in fast enough. the original raiser also called. the original raiser had AK. the first all-in player had a set of fours. the player with the set of fours filled up on the river when a second five hit the board. obviously, the player who moved all-in with the set of fours made the correct play. the overcall by the original raiser is a bit ridiculous. if a player cannot lay down tptk in this situation when could they ever.

i was able to acquire a fair amount of chips near the the beginning of the third blind level (10 – 20). an early position player limped and a gringo two to his left raised it to T80. a player in late position called. i woke up with KK in the sb so i re-raised to T240. the original raiser moved all-in and the other player folded. without hesitation, i pushed my chips while saying, “i don't see how i can make the monster laydown here.” my hand held up so i was in good shape. That put me just below T3000. when we broke to two tables i had about T3200. i was able to raise my chip total for a while – mostly i made many uncalled pre-flop raises to pick up the blinds. i think i only played two hands post-flop and won both without much resistance. i then went card dead for an extended period.

after having my stack up to about T5400, i entered the final table with about T3600. there were at least three stacks that were smaller than mine when we started and a couple about the same as mine. i picked up blinds and antes once during the first orbit and then was not presented with a good situation to get my chips involved for almost two full orbits. in the mean time, one player had already exited so we were down to nine and the tournament paid the top eight this week. this week i made the exact opposite mistake from last week – i was too aggressive. i was in the bb with a limper plus the sb. i had Js 8s and the flop was 9 10 X. i moved all-in and was called by the original limper and the big stack at the table. he held J 10 which eliminated the J as a potential out and i could not hit my straight. I should have just check – folded and waited for one or two others to go out. the week before, i needed to acquire chips and this past week i needed to survive and make the money. the other factor i was oblivious to was that the original limper was the chip leader and unlikey to lay his hand down if he had a piece of that flop.

steven got involved in a pretty heavy cash game. almost every pot had a straddle and/or a mississippi straddle so this was more like a 4 – 8 no-limit hold'em game. several of the looser locals were in the game as well as this kid, heinrich, who is a loose aggressive player, but very good. simply from a psychological standpoint i am not ready to sit down in a game like that. for me, one of the most fascinating and challenging aspects of becoming a better poker player is that i have to learn to shed many of my natural tendencies. i tend to be reserved and cautious and that is not generally rewarded as a poker player. i need to develop a much healthier (at least for a poker player) disregard for money. money is the way we keep score and in order to win big one must be willing to gamble and place money at risk.

unlike most poker players i am not a gambling junky. i do not play blackjack or craps or bet biug on sports. i do not get the enormous rush that others do from gambling. for me, i am turned on by the intellectual and psychological aspects of the game. I am learning and i will continue to develop. this is only the beginning. i understand the basics very well, even if i have not completely mastered them. that will come with experience. when i think of the differences between steven as players i tend to forget that he has been playing this game for about 8 ½ years and i have been playing it for about 2 ½. when it comes to discussing poker and poker strategy things have never become heated between us. we can criticize each other openly and neither of us ever take it badly.

The Steven Train Jumps The Tracks

the gravy trains seems to be temporarily over. we played at the tuesday night tournament at the radisson again this week. same structure as last week -- $30 buy-in with a $20 rebuy or add-on. i had about T500 at the break and about T1100 aftering adding-on. my table was pretty crazy with many hands seeing raises, re-raises, and re-re-raises before the flop. many bluffs were flipped over. although it was my intention to be more active than last week i wasn't picking up any hands to do so. i was able to win a handful of pots that always kept around or above the original T400 starting stack.

once again, the key hand for me was when another player flopped trips in the same hand as me. it was a limped pot and i held A6o in the sb. about five players saw the flop with blinds at 30 - 60. i had about T900. the flop is AA10 with two spades. i check. the bb bets about 150 with two callers. i move all-in. he calls and flips up A4o and here comes the split pot. if i had won this whole pot i would have over T2200 in chips. it was not meant to be.

the reason this was such a key hand was because i could not get away from the hand that busted me. i have about T950 with a limper in front of me and the blinds still at 30 - 60, but about to move up. i find two black kings and raise to 250. i get three callers so there is now more than T1000 in the pot. if i end up folding here i will have less than 10 bb's left at the next blind level and simply looking for a hand with which to move all-in. the flop is super scary -- 7/8/9 with two diamonds. one player checks in front of me and i move all-in. the player behind me moves all-in and everyone else folds. he flips up pocket 7s for a set. i was actually more concerned that someone flopped two pair, or a straight, or someone would call with a straight or flush draw or both. if i started the hand with over T2000 i can check there and play more cautiously. the same player would still likely move all-in to protect against the straight and flush and i could easily fold. oh well.

steven accumulated chips early, but could not get the job done this week. he lost several hands with he bigger ace. one hand he held AK and called another player's AJ pre-flop all-in. the flop was QQ10. a K hit on the turn to complete her straight. i guess things cannot always go your way. i played in a $0.50 - $1 no-limit sidegame with a $40 max buy-in for about 45 minutes while steven continued in the tournament. i won $45 so i covered most of my buy-in.

we played for about two and a half hours at the horseshoe on wednesday and it is here that the train actually jumped the tracks. i lost $93 for the session which for me was up and down, but i felt i was playing well and could have easily posted a win had we played for a while longer. steven lost several key big hands - one when he made an incorrect read of someone's all-in move on the flop, two hands when someone hit the winner on the river, and one when someone out drew him on the turn. those hands accounted for almost all of his $400 loss. let's just say that he was less than pleased. we were meeting caroline and william, friends of steven's for dinner back in escazu so that dictated when our session was over.

we had a decent, but unspectacular italian meal. we then went to hang out at this new place, motor psychos, in santa ana. a very cool place which has its grand opening this saturday. we will check it out after playing in a tournament at the horseshoe. we have free entry into the tournament. depending on how many hours logged at the regular games one receives between T1000 and T5000. we should end up somewhere in the middle. other players pay a $500 buy-in for T5000. the last winner won over $3000.

for those of u who don't know the world series of poker (offical site) started this week. for incredible coverage please check out dr. pauly's tao of poker. i discovered this blog near then end of 2005's wsop. he is a an excellent writer firmly in the tradition of hunter s. thompson (official site). check his own description of his blog:

so if you want chip counts, hand histories, or winners photos of the 2006 wsop then the tao of poker will be a major disappointment for you. but if you want to read about my encounters at the hooker bar, or the pros I pissed next to, or the strippers that grubby and I paid $200 to eat a can of dog food, or how many boiled cheeseburgers made of kangaroo intestines that otis ate in a 48 hour period... then this is the place to get those stories.

i'll share it all with you here. for free. you don't have to pay me a dime. and if you don't like my coverage, that's fine too. don't read me. i don't waste my time reading shitty blogs or piss poor wsop coverage that has already been cropping up like an unwanted case of the rickets.

trust me, it is an excellent read. i have checked it out on a fairly regular basis since last year. we will be playing the $100 tournament at the radisson tonight. time to put tomorrow behind us.

Riding The Steven Train

since i arrived we are up $2328. i am riding the steven train right now. he had another monster day yesterday at the horsehoe. he won over $600. early on he was down about $300. it was weird because i was sitting there watching steven teetering on the brink of major tilt. he then won a key hand to move within spitting distance of even. he flopped top pair with a J high flush draw. he bet out. this guy robert, from phoenix, who likes to make big moves on pots, (and who is not nearly as good as he thinks he is -- imagine joe sorge with no reading skills at all) raises and steven moves all-in. robert claims to be on the flush draw (we never see his cards because u don't need to flip them up here when u are all-in -- apparently that is true of cash no-limit games everywhere as i have recently learned) and steven says robert must have the higher flush draw. the flush hit and steven won. it is quite possible that robert had top pair with a worse kicker or maybe 2nd pair. maybe he had the baby flush.

my day started great and it was all down hill from there. the first hand we play i am in the bb. roberto from vegas who i mentioned in the last post limps in and there is a raise to $10 after him. when it gets back to him he makes it $40 to go and gets one caller - russ who runs the game. to anyone who understands poker he has a narrow range of hands -- AA and KK. the flop is Q high and roberto makes a huge bet which russ calls. a 10 comes on the turn and roberto moves all-in. russ calls with Q 10. roberto had AA. talking about the hand later russ said something to the effect of he flopped top pair and wasn't going anywhere. i think steven and i both silently said to ourselves, "ïdiot".

on the very next hand, there are already six or seven people in the pot (all limping) when i find AA. i make it $20 to go and get four callers which definitely concerns me. the flop is Q 6 2 rainbow. perfect. i bought in for $100 so i have $78 left and there is already over $100 in the pot. i move all-in. russ calls (again) and the button moves in for $10 more which concerns me. we never see russ' hand but the button had Q 5 (are u fucking kidding me?) i tripled up. that was about the last good thing that happened for me and ended up losing $100.

i am going to have to play more loose aggressive in order to win money consistently at this table. i am certain that over the long run i would win money the way i am playing, but not as much as possible. i warned steven that i might suffer through a period of losing a nice chunk of cash as i learn how to play differently. steven told me not to worry - i haven't seen him have a bad run yet. this game would be absolutely perfect for joe sorge. he would probably have more swings than steven, but he might be able to win even more money. people are capable of paying u off on big hands quite regularly.