By the time I had taken care of dinner and watched a few shows, there were no good PLO tournaments running, and I didn't feel like waiting an hour to start one that I knew wouldn't get me to bed before 1am. So I sat down at two 10¢/25¢ PLO tables and set a one and a half hour limit for myself. I had a big day at work today and didn't want to overdo it, knowing that I needed to be on the ball.
It was a good night, bought in for $15 on each table and managed to profit $68. It was magically delicious. There were no real notable hands, but I think that people are drastically overvaluing their hands at this level. Lots of PF raising with AAxx unsuited. It's so obvious that I found myself calling with nearly any four cards that connected in some way, just to see if I could outflop them. I even once called with 777K just to see a flop. Unraised preflop from the SB with four limpers made it easier to call as well. Flop comes 335 rainbow, I check, BB bets 1/2 the pot, which seemed weak, so I call. Turn is the case 7. Woot. Needless to say, the bettor was not happy when I stacked her (she had 328K). Yes, playing 777K is pretty stupid, and I'd never do it in a tournament, but for shits and giggles in a cash game, why not?
Anyway, there was a lot of swearing and anger. I never really go there, but for those of you who play at higher stakes, is there more or less of the berating?
Ever had a game where you can do no wrong? Ever had a game where you can do no right?
Thursday was the last game of the quarter for the weekly CT game. Yes, I handily qualified for the QTOC, but I wanted to at minimum cash again. Things were looking a little grim late into the final table, but managed to make a few hands work for me. First one is a desperation push:
So I figure that the big stack is playing big stack poker and making a raise with a weak ace. I decide to put him to the test and push, hoping to get lucky. He takes a long time, likely 25 seconds of his time bank before ultimately calling. He must have thought that my range was SUPER wide to make this call. I was pretty amazed that he did, but, having a stack size like his, I can't fault him. Nice that it worked out for me.
Exactly one hand later:
It's like a dream come true! He makes exactly the same move, so this time I'm giving him more credit for maybe a pocket pair, but not higher than Jacks. I happily re-pop it again, and he pushes. Okay, so we're not thinking Aces, so I happily call. What an odd move. We just played a hand, that played exactly the same, and he's not giving me any credit for a hand. Now, if he pushes and loses, he's crippled. Bizarro world push I guess. Oh well, the good news is, is that the villian didn't cash. Muahahahahahaaa!
Work has been busy as stink lately. Good projects with good people make it all worthwhile though. Something new to me, is the concept of the editor going to set to pre-viz some of the effects and to show a proof of concept for some of the edits. I'm going to recommend that I always go from now on. Especially on multi-day travel jobs! I'm really thrilled lately with how well things are going at work. Ever since I became a partner, my outlook has changed, and there's a sense of rejuvenation. Good times. Now, if only I could learn to take all my vacation time...
By the way, who remembers "Waaasssuuup!", the Budweiser spot? Check out this fantastic spoof with all the original cast members. Classic.
So I'm playing at jdunford's monthly "Donkament". Yes, he actually calls it that. I'm feeling good, as I just got out of the gym and was playing some good poker. It's pretty donkish, so as long as you play decent cards and have some sort of read, you can usually cripple people easily. There's a lot of strange betting patterns, but the people are pretty easy to read. Except a few of the regulars, I'd say I could do well.
Anyway, I'm telling the story of Queens vs. Queens that happened over the weekend, and mid-story, I look down at Queens. I raise an early raiser, get a caller, then it folds around to him, who pushes. I look at him and say "If you show me Jacks I'm going to be upset!" to which he replies, "Do you have nines?" Odd. Anyway, I call and the person who called on my left folds AK of spades face up. Yay! I feel like I'm way ahead as the numbers of probability are running through my head. He flips Queens. Hilarious. But not really.
I end up cashing (3rd) and profit a whopping $10. Which I proceed to lose very quickly in the cash game. My two pair gets cracked by a bigger two pair on the turn. My flopped top pair gets crushed by a runner runner flush. My set of tens gets busted on the turn by fricking 98o. I end up down over $100. Terrible luck. I don't know why I bother with cash games, I absolutely suck at them.
By the way, don't forget - if you're 90 years old and haven't bought a TV since you were in your 70's, it's time to make the upgrade!
I really like it when people take soundbites and edit the best bits into new bits.
Did you hear that Obama is using the Xbox 360 to advertise? Many of the EA games provide dynamic billboards in their games, and Barack is using them to reach the younger, cooler? potential voters. Hope it's working.
Played a $4.40 Turbo PLO tournament last night and took it down. I'd love to say that it was all skill, but I'd be lying. In a turbo, there are so many situations where you get your money in with less than the nuts and hope that you can dodge a few bullets. What I DO like about this style of game, is the speed in which it's over. I don't have to stay up for hours on end. This was perfect, less than two hours for 291 players.
The biggest thing I noticed about last night, was my level of focus. No music, no TV, no lights, nothing. I felt completely and utterly absorbed by the game.
The new Macbooks and Macbook Pro's came out yesterday and I'm thrilled with the new design. The Macbook is essentially just a smaller Pro model, and would probably run Final Cut Pro quite handily, making it an easy decision for my next toy. Plus, get a little VMware fusion running on that puppy and I can finally start to try some of these other poker sites. I'm interested in Bodog and maybe even trying out this new SpadeClub. I've been doing a little research on the latter, anybody got any inside info?
Was out west over the weekend visiting the wife's family. My father-in-law took me to one of his favourite hangouts, the Cash Casino. Yikes. What. A. Dump.
Eight tables, two cash games of 1/2 going and a $180 holiday tournament. Nice slow blind structure and capable players. Also some of the worst luck I could imagine. Late into level four and I'm sitting on the average chipstack. I look down at A10o in late position (one off the button) I 4x it to 800. Button folds, SB folds BB calls. Flop comes Q, 10, 8 with two hearts. BB bets 1000. I call. Turn is a J of hearts. BB pushes. I fold. Likely should have folded on the flop.
Next hand I look at pocket Queens. I 4x it again. Guy to my left calls, BB calls. Flop comes 7, 8, 7. BB pushes all in. I have him covered and want to isolate, so I push. I'm thinking to myself, he's got an overpair, no credit for a seven. Worried about guy on my left, and even more worried when he starts to chuckle and turns over pocket eights for a boat. He says "Hurr, I've got the Nuts!" lol. m'kay. And bb turns over pocket Queens! Drawing dead, I leave in fricking 30th place. There went $180. Actually, There went $360, because my father-in-law didn't bring enough cash with him, as he thought it was a $40 rebuy tournament. Sigh.
New Macbooks and Macbook Pro's today. Might have to buy myself a present!
Made it to 97th of 3780 in yesterday's $30k Guaranteed. Only good for $50-something. One interesting thing did come out of the whole thing though. I actually used one of the tools Pokerstars provides in a way that I think it was actually meant to be used.
The Hand Replay feature allows you to go through past hands at the table and replay them slightly faster than real-time. It starts with the outcome, and with one click, you're reliving the hand.
I raised from early position with A10o, hoping to really just steal the blinds and antes. I get a push all-in from mp from a player I remembered that had made some bizarre moves before. I madly clicked through the Replayer and looked for any hands where his hole cards were exposed. Saw that his range was pretty wide and made the call.
Looking at the numbers, I'm getting the right price to call, so mathematically it made sense, but sometimes it's good to have a little more info. I don't use Pokertracker or any sort of HUD, so this replayer is actually quite valueable to me.
CT game tonight. I'm still in the top ten, but need to perform well tonight in order to solidify my entrance to the QTOC.
