So in my last post I had just finished writing about the heart-breaking cold deck I suffered against Mr. Korea. I actually posted that hand in the strategy forum on FCP to get a little bit more insight and criticism on how I played it. Check out the thread here.
Opinions ranged from it being an insta-shove on the river to being able to find a fold on the flop (completely disagree with this).
The problem in the hand arises from the fact that I know Korea is a straight forward player, so for him to check-call the flop for $15 is a bit out of line with only a gut-shot. I don't think my call on the river was in any way terrible as Korea ends up showing a set a lot more than 9-10, in my opinion.
But anyway, on to the rest of the session. I was still up $150 after that hand but tilt got the best of me and I slowly started bleeding chips again. I make stupid plays like calling a player's all in after I bet a flop of K-10-x with Q-J. Villain surprisingly turns over A-10 saying something about how he KNEW I had Q-J and decided to go with his read. Of course I brick the turn and river and lose a big pot.
Then a short while later I have Q-Q UTG and make it $10 to go. I get 1 caller, a shortstack on the button with like $50 left behind. Flop comes down something like Q-J-7 rainbow giving me the absolute nuts with top set. I decide to make a small $10 bet into the pot and he insta-ships his stack all-in. I immediately call turning over my hand and he says "Aw shit, I thought you were making a play at me. I'm pretty sure I'm drawing dead."
As he says this, he still hasn't turned over his cards, and is holding them over the muck about to fold them. Mind you, if his cards are to touch the muck his hand is dead and I win regardless of the turn and river. But the dealer deals the turn and river in lighting-fast speed. A King and then a 10. The button immediately double checks his cards and says "Oh shit, I think I have a straight" and sure enough he flips over a retarded A-3off. Nice hand sir.
He runner-runner'd me but as bad a beat as it was, it did not hurt as much as it should have because he was so short stacked, so I only lost like $60 on the hand.
I had however, dwindled my stack to around $250 after having almost $500 in front of me a couple of hours earlier. I rely my frustration to Z via text:
10:31 PM: I am heartbroken Dr. Z. Im up a measly $47 bucks. This hurts...
He in turn does not offer much consolation with his response:
Zhagui: Lol,oh the swings, how I miss those.Weren't u up like a cool 100 a couple hours ago.
F*ck you Dr. Z.
Haha, anyway so I'm feeling like shit and ready to leave but Z has agreed to pick me up after he gets off work at midnight. So I have about an hour and a half to make something happen, and make something happen I did. In all honesty though, I have no idea how I was able to make a comeback in the last hour of play because I didn't really play any big pots. I did win a nice one when I limped with J-3, flopped two pair and got paid off by what was probably A-J, but other than that I guess I just built my stack with small pots here and there. Finally, when the table was about to break I had a nice $434 stack in front of me.
Final numbers for the session:
Buy in: $200
Cash out: $434
Profit: $234
Hours Played: 8.25
Hourly Rate: $28.36/hr
Sustainable? I think not! LOL.
So that was Tuesdays session after which I was completely exhausted both physically and mentally. It's definitely one of the longer sessions I've ever put in and I tip my hat to the guys who do this day in and day out grinding it out everyday at the poker table. The phrase Poker is a Hard Way to Make an Easy Living never rang so true to my ears.
On Wednesday I woke up around 10am to say goodbye to my mom who left for Houston for a couple of days. Seems my grandpa is pretty ill, but hopefully all goes well with him. Anyway, I went out to eat, came home and bummed around then left for a home game I got invited to out on the west side. Now, the way I came upon this specific game was a little bit shady, and I didn't know a single person who was going to be there, so I was a little skeptical about the whole thing.
I sent my guy Z the following text:
7:11 PM: Ok dude im about to go to this home game i found on craigslist. In case this is a set up, the address is xxxx xxxxx, aight, lol.
His response:
7:13 PM: Lol alright bro don't get raped tell me how it goes later.
Somehow I don't think he was referring to getting raped at the poker table. After all, we all know about the dangers of craigslist....but I digress.
So I got to the game which wasn't actually a home game at all. It was being held in this commercial office space that apparently one of the guys organizing the thing owns. It's a pretty nice set up with about 4 poker tables and a fridge full of all you can drink beer, wine and soda. We would also ended up ordering a couple of pizzas later in the night.
A couple of snapshots I took before people started arriving:
But anyway, I'm one of the first people there and we chill around till we have enough people to get a game going. We start off six handed 1/2NL , and I buy in for $200. Everyone else at the table buys in for around $50-$80 except for the guy on my left, a hilarious dude named Gabriel who also buys in for $200. As the only threat to my stack I've made up my mind not to get involved in any big pots with Gabriel unless I have a monster hand, and instead try to focus on bullying the shorter stacks.
All that goes out the window when I'm holding K-Q on a J-10-2 board. The pot is still pretty small at this point since there was no pre-flop raising. We check check the turn which is a blank and then I hit the nut straight on the river with an Ace and no possible flushes out there. I bet $10 into the still small pot, and it's music to my ears when Gabriel announces raise and goes $25 on top of my $10. I cut out my chips, announce re-raise and make it $75 all day, double checking my cards one more time just to make sure I do indeed have the absolute nuts. Gabriel announces all in and at this point I'm a little upset at the realization that we're going to end up chopping the $400 pot because we both have KQ. I insta-call and Gabriel does indeed turn over K-Q as well. Yikes, why couldn't he have a set there, just one time! Haha.
So the game is pretty dull for the next hour or so with not a lot of action, yet somehow I'm managing to lose a bunch of small pots by playing way to loose, doing random shit like calling with Q-8 out of position and check-folding most flops. Then a bit of drama ensues when a guy named Rick makes it $7 to go from middle position and another dude named Albert re-pops to $27. Rick tanks and calls the $20 while Albert announces that he is all in for his last $50 blind before the flop, despite the fact it it's an out of turn bet. The flop comes 4-4-2 and since Albert's all in bet was binding despite it being out of turn, Rick insta-calls the $50 and flips over.....4-2 offsuite, lol!
The turn and river don't seem to help what Albert says was pocket Aces and he doesn't take the beat well as he storms off to get a drink. When he comes back he rebuys for another $50 and over the next 30 minutes we have to listen to Albert's bitching about what a bad call Rick made pre-flop with the 4-2. Not only that but he continues to berate Rick's plays until I guess Rick has had enough and tells the dealer to cash him out. Keep in mind Rick is the big winner thus far, up about $200, including a nice pot he won off me when I paid him of with a weak Ace on an uncoordinated board and he woke up with a two pair.
So as Rick is cashing out Albert starts talking. " I'd sure like to leave a winner too Rick. You know if you leave right now, every single person at this table is going to be pissed off at you. Don't you have any idea what ethics are?" Rick in turn responds "That has nothing to do with it Al. You just can't handle a bad beat and I'm tired of your bitching bro. I didn't even want to come tonight but Gabe asked me to." As he walks out Gabe informs me that Al and Rick are actually pretty good friends.
Alas, the game continues 5 handed for a few more minutes until the pizza arrives and we take a short break. When play resumes I add another $100 to my stack because I've lost about $150 of my original buy in. So I'm now in for $300 when a bunch of other dudes arrive so we finally have a full game going. My bad run continues though as I just can't seem to get anything going despite having some ultra-fish in the game including this guy named Richard who has been sipping on wine the whole night and is falling asleep at the table.
My impatience gets the best of me and when I look down at A-Koff in early position I raise it up to $12. A player in late position 3bets to around $30 and I push my remaining stack. The other guy, who seems to be somewhat of a decent player calls nonchalantly although he does not turn over his cards. The board runs out all small cards and I figure his over pair is good. It is indeed as he flips over pocket Jacks and drags in a monster pot leaving me with around $30 left.
It's around 1 am at this point and I figure I'll lose the $30 and head home, having gotten my ass kicked. I dwindle the $30 down to about $7 or $8 bucks and go all in blind UTG with several callers. The board runs out something like Q-10-6-3-2 and when I finally look at my cards I see that my 10-5 is the best hand. Then I manage to crack a dude's Aces with 6-2 in another blind all in and before I know it I'm back to $100.
I announce to the table that this will be my last round, and limp with K-7 of spades on the button. 4 of us see a flop of K-Q-6. Player in early position bets $15 and gets 2 callers including myself. The turn is a 7, giving me two pair, and the previous raiser now goes all in for around $50. Folds to me and I make the call hoping I haven't run into a set. Nope, the other guy flips over Q-6 and when he doesn't improve on the river I drag in yet another big pot putting me down only around $75 for the night.
I play the last few hands of the round losing around $25 in some straddled pots but finally call it a night being down $102, which actually feels like a win after having been stuck close to $300 and grinding my last $7 all the way up to $225.
I ended up getting home around 3 am again exhausted from what was a longish 6 hour session.
No comments:
Post a Comment