No flooding last night...

PokerStars.com (AP) The flood waters that have recently been rushing through the tables at PokerStars were no where to be found last night. We spoke to pdxDavid about what he witnessed just after midnight PST. "I really can't say for sure what happened. There were several times late last night where I found myself waist deep just knowing that the river would flood me out and it just didn't. It was incredible! There were at least 5 times I knew everything was on the line. I thought for sure it would all get washed away like a house of cards, but in the end I came out on top. There is no better feeling than that!

Okay enough of that. Last night I played in one Sit n Go. I must say that it was one of the best tables I have ever been at. It was a fairly tight game after the one maniac busted out. Early on he went all-in 3 or 4 times in one orbit and the last time he got called. He showed T8o! WTF!!! He was called by A6s. Wow, great hands!?! Alas the A6 took the pot and things settled down. Funny thing is if I ever tried calling against that hand I know the flop would come 888, turn would be a T and another T on the river just to put me in my place. We are down to 8.

Another guy played every hand for the first 2 orbits. He had only built up to about 1700 in chips, but he sat out the rest of the way. Not all the way. He actually played his last hand with 40 chips left. I don't know what happened, I just wish I would have been directly to his right.

This was a very long $5 SnG. We made it all the way to 300/600 blinds. It was entertaining and quite a battle all the way since I really never had more than 2800 in chips the entire way.

The best part was the other people at the table. I don't usually chat it up much but there were 3 others that were just really nice. Dan T in CA, MacTX22 and I cannot remember the other guys name had something to do with Pharlap or Chairflap, anyway, his avatar was a pic of Bobby Knight. Insane college basketball coach for Texas Tech, formerly of Indiana. Not sure how that guy ever got another coaching job, but that is another topic. Another topic along the lines, but not quite as bad as a parent that lets there kid stay at Neverland Ranch. Whatever?

As I have posted before Poker Stars has not been very kind to me on the river card lately. I know it all averages out in the end, but does the end have to always be at my table? Just kidding, I know that the bad beats happen everywhere, even on TV. I don't think I have ever gone Hellmuth on anyone, although some have deserved it. Last night was another story alltogether. There were at least 5 times late in the game that I was allin and the other guy had outs, sometimes many of them and I always came out ahead. I guess it was the law of averages balancing out. I hope I am still owed some, hehe. Otherwise I am in for another bad run.

We got down to 2 players and he had about 11,000 in chips. As is my custom when I am outchipped by this much I like to type in the chat window... "You are in trouble now!, hehe" We both laughed, and I folded the first hand to put me at around 2200. I doubled up on the next hand when he called my allin after the flop with overcards. None hit and I doubled up. I joked that I only needed 4 more and we would be done. We laughed again. Short story long I got my 4 more and took home first place. It was a great feeling to make the right moves and be rewarded for them. It seems like a good share of the time I make the right moved and promptly get punished for it. It is part of the game and I love it.

Either way it was a great table and one hell of a contest.

pdx

Hello there...

It has been quite a while since my last post. I have no excuse other than I am a loser. I don't mean to say that I am a bad person, I mean to say that my losing streak continued until I was just beating myself up. Not sure exactly what I was doing wrong. I do remember getting rivered for my entire stack a number of times, but as always I remember taking a beat much better than handing someone a bad beat. So, I won't put the entire blame on the river at River Stars. :)

I was up to about $550 before I made my first withdrawl. Since then I have slowly worked my way down to ~$75. I have been doing a bit better lately and up to $120ish. I have really liked the way I have played as of late. I may have made some laydowns that I don't think I would have made previously. For one reason or the other I have the "you will not bluff me out of a big pot" syndrome. I don't know why, maybe it is the few times I have caught someone bluffing me that makes me believe everyone is bluffing with the allin when the flush card hits on the river. I believe this is a leak that I will have to continue to work on. I am doing better and I look to that as a step in the right direction... Baby steps, right?

Not much else to report. It was my birthday on the 14th. I am 32 years old. Seems like I was turning 21 only a short time ago, guess not.

On Sunday I played the Poker Stars $1 NL tourney. 1329 players and I got 26th for a sweet $5.17 profit. Please do not email me as I have already secured a financial advisor and I am confident we are going to put this new found fortune to good use. My final hand was with T1000/2000 blinds. My stack at around T19000. I am in MP with 66 and it is folded to me. I go all in hoping to pick up the blinds, but find myself called in 2 places. Two of us are allin and they show AKo and ATo. I really didn't want any callers and with 2 I felt I was pretty much screwed. The flop comes and I am still in the lead. The turn is no help to any of us. But, alas there is always the river. The damn river!! It was a King and two of us are sent packing. I was not too upset. It was my best finish at a large multi table tourney in quite a while. Some of that due to the fact that I don't get to play any very many of them due to my work hours.

Anyways, I will try to do a better job of posting.

pdx

Man I hate when this happens...

Lately it has been time for the variance and cold streaks to catch up to me. Compounded with some bad plays and pure stupidity I am down about $80 since I last posted. Most of it in the past 3 days.

Reading posts by other bloggers lately it seems to be a trend. I cannot hit a draw to save my life. I will admit that I have made some bad calls trying to hit them lately, but even when I am playing correctly and only calling the draws with proper odds, I still cannot hit to save my stack. At least it seems that way. I still have not made the investment in Poker Tracker, so I cannot back this up with actual statistics. I am sure if I was running good I would not remember the last time I didn't hit my draw. As they say, "That is poker". I HATE "they".

On a good note. I did see my favorite band KISS in concert Tuesday. It was a helluva a show as are all KISS shows. If you have not seen them live, and you are any kind of fan. This is a must see show. Ace and Peter are not with them, but you would hardly know it if you didn't know to look for Ace's moonlike face.

Anyways, my shift is over and it is time to go home.

pdx

Weekend update... LIVE!

There is a live poker tourney in La Center, Washington, 20 miles from where I live every day at noon. I have been there one time and ended 25/35. Not good but it was my first 'live' experience. I did not win one pot. Ended up going out with pocket 9s. Guy called with pocket 7s. 7 came on the flop and I was on the road home.

I went to play Monday. You have to be there around 10AM to get in line and they start signups at 11AM. Only 30 players get in and they also take 5 alternates. Last time I was the 2nd alt. in. The buyin is $20 with no addons or rebuys.

I got there about 10:30 and the line was all the way around the inside of the room. Not good. I have been wanting to see what the limits are at the other card rooms they have there so I went to the New Frontier casino just across the street. They had immediate seating for 4/8. Too big for this little fella. The highest level I have played online is 1/2. I asked and found that the buyin was $30 for the 3/6 game. I bought in for $50. The table was loose. People calling anything down. Playing T2o from any position. I folded for what seemed like an eternity. I finally found AJs and raised pre flop. I hit a J on a Jack high rainbow flop. There were no straight or flush draws so I checked. EP bet I called. Turn is a rag. (CAUTION! Trick play ahead) Check, bet, raise, call. I figure I have my one extra bet so after another rag on the river I bet he calls and shows 3rd pair? I like this game. I pull in a nice pot.

Next hand I get 88. I limp in and hit my set on the flop. There is a flush and straight draw on the board so I bet out. I get called in two places. Turn is innocent. I bet and get one caller. River is nothing. I bet and he calls showing A high. Sweet another good size pot. I tip $3 and appologize for missing her the hand before.

Now for the good laydown of the day:

I get AKo in LP. It is raised in front of me I just call. Flop gives me nothing. EP bets pre flop raiser raises. I start to reach for some chips cause I am 'running good'. Something in my head reminds me that this preflop raiser has not raised before only called. Called with crap but called only. I fold. EP calls all the way down to the river. Preflop shows AA. Good thing I didn't hit on that flop.

Here is the hand I am kicking myself for, and the reason I folded it:

I am dealt A8c in MP. Now online I have really been dropping a lot of bets playing this kind of hand. So, I told myself that I should fold and I did. Another reason that I folded is because the guy to my left had raised every hand since he sat down pre flop and I didn't want to pay $6 to see a flop.

Looking back, these are the reasons that I should have played this hand. 1) Every player at the table limped in. 2) The flop came A high. 3) Flop came with 2 clubs. 4) the turn was the third club that would have given me the nuts. 5) The river was a fourth club making people bet with any club.

I missed out on a huge pot. I was too busy kicking myself to notice exactly how much the final tally was, but suffice to say it was BIG. There were 5 people in till the river. DOH!!!

I stacked up my chips and called it a day when my BB came around.

Overall I think I played very well. At first I was afraid I was going to be run over in this game. I am not sure if live play is different at the 3/6 level or if I just sat down at a unusual table. Either way I doubled my money in 45 minutes and went home happy. Well except for talking to myself about the A8c fold all the way.

Online didn't go as well. Won a $10 SnG. Entered another got KK early. Ended up allin after a Jack high flop. He shows AJo, hits his 3rd Jack on the river and I am out of there.

Short story long is I ended up -$4 online. Up $50 live.

One funny note is that after busting out of the SnG with KK I sat down at a .10/20 NL table. First hand is KK. I end up allin for about $10 on a Jack high flop. Sounds familiar don't it? Turn is a rag and the river is another rag. He shows AJo. WILD!

pdx

Why!?!

I had a nice little run going since we last spoke.

Teusday:

My best night ever.

I entered and won a $10 SnG. +34
Played .10/.25 NL. Did well. +38
Entered my first $20 SnG 2nd. +32

Total for the night: +$104

This was just one of those nights were everything was going my way. Although, I was never the chip leader at either of the Sit N Goes. I played solid and hit some good cards when I needed them. The best thing is, when I hit those good cards they stood up. It was a great feeling. If you have been with me since the beginning of this blog, and I am sure you haven't. You know that I only recently moved up in SnG buyin level. I had been playing the $5 buyin and have now moved up to playing the $10. After winning the $10 and posting a nice profit at the NL ring I decided to try my luck at a $20 SnG. I know it is only 1, but I found it to play exactly like the $5 and $10 tables. Sweet, same game and more money when you win, place and show. One thing that stands out is that I don't remember any hands that I am kicking myself for. I was able to laydown the hand when the flop didn't hit me and I didn't have a strong draw, or I was just folding away like a good little poker soldier. I guess maybe I was storing up the stupidity for Wednesday. Grrr!!!!

Wednesday:

The night started off great. I got home from work. Turned on the new big screen. Grabbed a beer and the left overs out of the fridge. A $10 SnG was just about to start... I am in.

The game played out like most. A couple guys are playing really tight early (me being one of them) one guy is trying to run the table. Another is getting pissed because the guy trying to run the table over is hitting his cards and building a stack. I don't care I just sit back and drink my beer. Taking it all in.

I take a small pot to get me back near the T1500 starting amount. A couple guys bust out. The runover the table guy is still trying to run the table over but he is not hitting his cards anymore. He is no longer building his stack, and soon after he busts out in 4th. Okay, I am going to admit it, I got lucky and hit a Poker Stars ultimate suckout to take out the 3rd place guy. I was SB and I went allin with K5d called by BB with KJo. I hit a 5 on the turn and he got no help on the river. At this point we were even in chips. The heads up portion lasted about 35 minutes. The chips went back and forth. I was down to T2000 at one point and came back to win it when I hit a good run of cards. I called a bluff when I paired the board and the hand held up for the win.

+ $34

If I didn't know the rest of the night was real I would swear it was written by Stephen King.

The bad thing is I was getting really great second best hands. I hit a set of 10s and someone would call my raises to flush me on the river. I am BB with KK. 6 ppl limp to me I raise to $2. 3 callers. Flop is a J high rainbow. I bet $2. 1 caller. Turn is a spade rag. There are now 2 spades on board. I bet out $4. Call. River is another spade. I know I am beat but call his allin bet. He has J4s. Nice.

It happened again later. I had a set on the flop and bet strong all the way only to get rivered by a diamond flush.

I went on a bit of tilt here and through away the rest of my $30.

Then I went to bed.

The night started out so well and then turned out so wrong. I really have to work on just shutting it down if things are not going well. I was playing like the true fish that I am. Calling when I knew I was beat just to make sure I was not getting bluffed off the best hand. It was terrible. I will do better next time.

Thanks for listening,

pdx

Cannot complain...

Hello, hope both of you are doing well today.

Today went well for me, but I think every day that my bankroll moves in the positive direction is a good day.

I played 1 hour of NL and profited 12.80 for my trouble. There was a lot of folding from me. I scooped a couple of small pots. The one standout hand was when I was dealt 99 in LP. EP raised to $1 and I was the only one that called. Flop was all low cards. PFR went allin for ~$8!?! I thought for a couple seconds and called. No high cards hit the board and my 9s held up for a nice $18 pot. I forgot to grab the hand history so I am not sure what he had. I can only guess that it was Ax?

I played in one $10 Sng and took 3rd. I doubled up late with T9c when I hit two pair on the flop. I went allin and was called. He had an inside straight draw and low pair. The chip leader was playing very aggressive. He was also taunting these two Oregon Duck fans. Everytime he was going to raise PF he would type in "quack quack". I am from Oregon as well but not a big fan of the Ducks. He ended up busting both of them. They gave him the normal name calling and then they were off. I survived to finish 3rd. Not great. Got caught trying to steal a pot. Then my ATo was called by TT. No help for me and I was out.

I was supposed to play in a live tourney today. $20 buyin, 30 players, 5 alternates. I bought a bigscreen TV that will be delivered today, so I will have to wait till next week. I have only played poker in a B&M one time. It was the same tourney and I was out 25/35. It sure was fun though.

Todays Total: + $18.50

I hate it when I do that...

Why the hell does an Ace always flop when I have KK? My first hand last night I get KK. I raise it to $2 after 4 limpers. BB calls and the flop comes Ace high. I throw out a feeler bet of $1 and he raises me to $4. Not sure if he hit a set or had the Ace, but I was pretty sure I was beat so I laid it down.

Here is something that most will find odd. I actually like getting crap hands like 74o, T3o etc... Why you ask? I am not tempted to play this garbage. Last night I got some really nice starting hands that just never improved. When I bet out to try and take it I got caught everytime. When I hung around drawing to nut flushes and open ended straights, I just lost money. It was painful. I would rather have 10 crap hands that I fold knowing that I will get solid cards soon then have a run of good starting hands that don't improve. Usually I am able to lay these mediocre hands down, but last night I was tilting after a couple of early hands that went wrong. I should really just shut it down and find something else to do. My problem is I can see that these tables are beatable. Towards the end I was dealt AKh and this new guy that had raised the two previous hands to like $3+ raised it to $3.50. I am thinking this guy is one of those that just sits down with $10 and tries to double it and run so I went allin for just under $10 thinking he would just fold and settle down a bit. Nope, he called it and I paired my King. He mucked. I requested the hand history and found that he had A2o?!?! I guess it made sense because part of his name was "crazy". Maybe he thought he would crack my Kings with his Ace. Seems to happen fairly often, so maybe he wasn't too crazy.

I also played a 10 SnG.

It went the way that most of my SnG's have gone lately. I get short-stacked early when I stay in too long betting with AQ or AJ. Then I hang out and double up somehow. Then I hang out some more and I am in the money. Next I steal a couple blinds and let the big stack take the other guy out cause when some of them hit the money they really start playing a little too loose. Now in second and feeling pretty good. I get allin with ATo and I am called down with JJ. I don't improve and I take my $17 profit and promptly lose most of it at the .10/.25 NL table. Then I slowly make it all back plus a small profit. Then I go to bed.


Totals:
Last night: +$28
Today: -$22