I need to learn to keep my mouth shut!

Well, I got busted in last night's $1/$2 no limit ring game. I dropped over $400 in a 4 hour session! Not good. I knew I should've kept my damn mouth shut. I said, in two or three blogs ago, something to the effect of, "I can't remember when the last time I lost in a ring game..." ...my cockiness has finally gotten the best of me! Last night was a good wake up call for me because up until my flogging last night, I was overfilled with confidence about my ring game skills. I hate to say it, but I needed something like what happened last night to keep me in check. I actually had to leave the game because I ran out of money to play with. Not only that, but a few of the guys weren't betting against me when they had the nuts because they "felt bad" that I "was losing so much". I absolutely hate it when people give me an advantage that I don't want. After borrowing some money from a friend and losing it all, I finally decided to call it quits...

Oh well...what doesn't kill me only makes me stronger ... I'm going to be back with a vengence next week. I HATE LOSING!!

boogster

I felt kinda like Maria Sharapova last night, except I need to keep my mouth shut.

Lose, win, lose...

Well...I held a 22 player $50 buy-in no limit tourney on Easter Sunday. I don't want to bore everyone with yet another story about how I got bluffed and how I lost "in the middle of the pack", so I'm not going to elaborate on the events that took place. Let's just say that my tournament game is pretty weak right now and if I want to make a run at the $1500 buy-in WSOP tourney in July, then I need to step up my game ASAP or else I'll just be dead money.

The good news is that I was able to win back my buy-in in the no limit ring game that I played in after the tournament ended. I won exactly $136 in the $.50/$1.00 no limit game. Unfortunately, I woke up this morning and found out that my car was parked in a no parking zone, so that's $100 down the drain. In the past 24 hours, I lost $14. That amounts to -$.59/hour. Sucks! Definitely not a very good win ratio ;).

Anybody read this?

Play poker via cell phone

On April 11th, you can start playing poker via your java enabled cell phone. How friggin cool is that? I've been wanting to do this for a the longest time and finally, a poker room as built the technology to handle this. I just hope I'm not in a tunnel when I have pocket Aces.

Till next time. Peach OUT.

I hate bullies....

I played in my regular Wednesday night $1/$2 no limit game last night. I ended up walking away with a nice $255 win. It's actually been a good while since I've walked away from a live action ring game as a loser. I guess playing ridiculous amounts of hours online have actually paid off. Anyhow, I'm not here to boast about my amazing poker skills (albeit, they are pretty friggin' amazing...READ: fish)instead I'm here to share with you guys the lessons that I encounter on my journey to become a great player.

In last night's session, I learned that I hate bullies. According to Poker Tracker, I'm considered a semi-loose agressive player, which is pretty much what I want to be considered. I don't want to be considered loose and I don't want to be considered tight, so semi-loose agressive is perfect for me.

Anyways, in last night's game, there was this one player that pretty much always tried to make a play when I was in the hand because he knew that he could take me off of a hand if he bet enough. Well, after 3 or 4 successful tries last night, I got a little bitter at him making plays in just about every pot that I was in. By making a play, I mean, he would bet the river if I checked on the turn, regardless of what he held and like clockwork, I would fold just about every time. Well, I had enough of it. So knowing that he would pretty much make that play every time we were heads up, I used it to my advantage. The first hand that I busted him on, I flopped a set of 8s and I bet $15 on the flop, checked the turn, then raised him big on the river when he bet out. Of course, he called me and I had made all of my money back from all of the prior steals that he had. On the second hand, I flopped a set again and I followed the exact same pattern. He called again and BOOM, I picked up two enormous pots. On the third and final hand that I cracked him on, he was in the small blind and as he reached for his chips to call the early riaser, he glanced over at me and decided to raise instead, hoping to knock me out, so that he could go headsup against the early raiser who was a tight/passive player. Well, I was in the big blind and decided to call his bluff....I had K-3 offsuit. The flop came and like clockwork, he bet out the standard $15. I called and the early limper folded. On the turn, a blank came and he paused for a long while and then checked. I put out a feeler bet of $25. I wanted to take the pot right there, but he called. The river brought another blank and he checked once again. This time I knew that I had to bet somewhat big, because I didn't think that my hand would hold up...so, I thought for a second and bet out $50. He folded and told me that he had 5-7 offsuit, with a small pair on the board. I showed him K-3 and told him not to mess with me anymore.

The point is, don't ever lose your temper against a bully, but don't ever let him push you around either. A good poker player doesn't bluff very often, but can definitely bluff when the opportunity arises. It's kinda like playing in any sport...when you first start playing with new players, they don't automatically give you respect, but when you prove to them that you're a good player, only then will they give you the respect that you think you deserve.

That's all for now. I'm playing in micro-limit tourney/ring game tonight ($5 buy-in)...so, this will be a true test of my patience and skills.

Boogster OUT!

$50 no limit 17 player tourney...

Played in a 17 man tourney this past saturday. The host had the phatest (with a P-H) setup ever. He had an touchscreen LCD on the wall that displayed the blinds and the time. Not only that, but he had a losers lounge which consisted of 6 La-Z-Boy recliners and a 99" TV projector. He custom built his own movie theater in his basement. It was pretty sick. I can't imagine the loot that he spent on that entire setup. If you want to check out his tournament, you can join his Yahoo group at:

The Capstone Poker Club

It's located in Manasas, VA. I figured I'd have to give him some props for setting up such a nice tournament.

Now, let's get to the action. I was playing pretty well for most of the tournament until we got down to 7 players. The hand is listed as the "Hand of the Week" on my website, but I'll do a little summary here. I was down to 3700 chips and raised it to 800 from middle position with 9T. The button called and everyone else folded. The flop came 6-7-9, two spades and I bet out 1200 into a 2200 pot. The button thought for a second and put me all in. What do you think he had? Obviously, it's hard to make a decision based on a couple of sentences, but I put him on an in-between pair (tens or jacks). Well, I ended up folding (very reluctantly) and he showed K-Q offsuit for the biggest bluff of the tournament. It made me sick to my stomach when he flipped them over. My biggest reason for folding was the fact that I still had 1700 chips left...just enough to make a run, so I could at least be in-the-money, which was 1st through 4th place. After building my stack back up to 3800, I had A-Q offsuit in early position and raised all-in. Unfortunately, the big blind, who was also the chip leader called with pocket aces. Oops. That ended my tournament in a disappointing 5th place. No money, no bragging rights, nothing.

The 5 hour tournament left a bitter taste in my mouth, especially considering that I got bluffed big time. Next time time I play, I'm going to have no mercy.

I'm setting up a $50 buy-in tourney for Easter Sunday, so I'll have more to write about then. We're hoping to have a 40 player turnout, so it should be good. Until then, Peace out.

boogster

btw...I took home $141 in our regular Monday night $.25/$.50 no limit game. A much better win rate than last week!

comment: what happens when you play blind without your opponents knowing and at the same time, your opponent plays blind without you knowing? How can you read a blind person?

poor grammar..

I just reread my Friday post. It had so many grammatical mistakes and spelling errors in there. I guess I should proofread my blogs from now on. Ehh...I'll do my best, but I'd rather be spending that time playing poker :)

Anybody ever read Daniel Negraneau's blog? It's pretty cool reading about the life of a professional poker player. Seems like he spends less time playing poker than he does making appearances. In his latest entry, he said that he played some $10/$20 no limit hold'em without ever seeing his cards (and without his opponents knowing). I always thought that that was a dumb idea because you obviously have a huge disadvantage, but I guess if you have the skills to read players, then you really don't need to see your cards. Unfortunately, I don't think I have those skills yet, but then again, I've never tried it. If a professional poker player like Negraneau does it, then it must beneficial to your game. I'm going to give it a shot some time. Maybe in my Monday night $.25/$.50 game.

I was just thinking...other bloggers always have pictures in their blogs. The only pictures that I normally have are pictures of the card suits. Well, here's a first:

The Bombshell Girls, professional poker players, pose as they arrive at the Gen Arts fashion show in Los Angeles March 14, 2005. The avant-garde fashion show helps to launch innovative Los Angeles-Pacific Rim fashion designers. REUTERS/Fred Prouser

It'd be a lot more enjoyable if girls like this played poker. The Bombshell Girls, remember that name.

Wednesday $1/$2 no limit...

Played in a $1/$2 no limit ring game on Wednesday. There were 10 of us. I ended up cashing out with a nice $191 win. Here was my biggest pot of the night:
I held AJ in early position and made it $8 to go. There are two callers behind me. The small blind reraises to $18 total. I call, as well as the two late position callers. There are four of us total. The flop comes T82. The small blind bets out $35 into a $72 pot. With my flush draw and two overcards, I ponder for a minute and then just flat call. One of the late position player folds and the other starts babbling about what cards we could be holding. He finally decides to just call. The turn brings a 5 completing my flush. Now, I was thinking about how much money I could extract from these guys. Like I expected, the small blind hesitate for a few seconds, then checked. I didn't want to go all-in because that would be giving away my hand. And since the board wasn't paired, I wasn't really worried about having a set draw out on me. I thought for about a minute, then put in $25...half of my stack. I wanted to make them think that I was drawing to the backdoor flush draw for cheap. The late position player thinks for a minute and then calls. The small blind then goes all in for another $37 or so. I ponder for a second and go all-in myself. I had less chips than the small blind, so the late position was only looking at a $37 call. He ended up folding his top two pair. The river brought a blank and I take the pot with the nuts. The small blind had a pair of kings with a diamond, but he was drawing dead to me at the end. That pot was worth over $300. It was definitely a nice little rush to win that hand.

Boogster OUT.

$.25/$.50 no limit ring game...

I won exactly $36 last night playing in a $.25/$.50 no limit ring game. Played from 7:30pm till 3:30am. Exactly 8 hours. That put my win rate at $4.50/hour. Lovely huh?!? It was all in good fun though. Obviously, playing in a $.25/$.50 game, you can't really expect to win that much. I'm still trying to hone my no limit game and what better way to do it than to play against randomly skilled players?

One thing I realized in last night's session was that I played one too many hands. I kept telling myself that it was "only $.50" to see the flop. In a higher no limit game, I'd probably get eaten alive if that did that. So, note to self, "play less hands".

Here are a couple of the things that I need to remember:
1) Only bluff those who are capable of being bluffed (i.e. don't bluff a calling station).
2) Don't slow play against a calling station because if you bet big, he's going to call you anyways!
3) It's always better to be safe than sorry, unless you have the nuts.
4) Don't play too many hands!

Till next time.

boogster

why do i even bother...

When a player gets low on chips, I'm not even gonna bother anymore:

Getting Hand History Information...
----------------------------------------------------------------

Hand #4795962-9723 at Berlin ($3/$6 Hold'em)
Powered by UltimateBet
Started at 13/Mar/05 04:13:36

artflows is at seat 0 with $16.
boogster is at seat 1 with $87.50.
Miracle Max is at seat 2 with $303.25.
1amadd9 is at seat 3 with $77.50.
tom1bigfish is at seat 4 with $143.50.
Julie5 is at seat 5 with $453.50.
The button is at seat 0.

boogster posts the small blind of $1.
Miracle Max posts the big blind of $3.

artflows: -- --
boogster: As 3c
Miracle Max: -- --
1amadd9: -- --
tom1bigfish: -- --
Julie5: -- --

Pre-flop:

1amadd9 folds. tom1bigfish calls. Julie5 folds.
artflows calls. boogster calls. Miracle Max checks.


Flop (board: 4d 4h 3s):

boogster checks. Miracle Max checks. tom1bigfish
checks. artflows bets $3. boogster raises to $6.
Miracle Max folds. tom1bigfish folds. artflows
calls.

Turn (board: 4d 4h 3s Qh):

boogster bets $6. artflows calls.

River (board: 4d 4h 3s Qh 2s):

boogster bets $6. artflows goes all-in for $1.
boogster is returned $5 (uncalled).



Showdown:

boogster shows As 3c.
boogster has As 3c 4d 4h 3s: two pair, fours and threes.
artflows shows 6h 5h.
artflows has 6h 5h 4d 3s 2s: straight, six high.


Hand #4795962-9723 Summary:

$1.50 is raked from a pot of $38.
artflows wins $36.50 with straight, six high.
----------------------------------------------------------------

took a beating on the $10/$20 tables at UB...

Needless to say, I took a little beating at the $10/$20 tables at UltimateBet. It seems like every time I rebuild my stack up to a certain amount, something happens and I drop all the way back down, then I rebuild it again and the whole process starts over. I think the secret is to withdraw every time you get up to a certain amount. I'm pretty certain that my play is the same every time I play, especially on the limit tables.

So, I played in a live action $1/$2 no limit game on wednesday night. There were 10 of us. It seems like the game of choice is no limit these days. Even though I'm much better in limit hold'em, I can't keep fighting the trend. I've decided to learn the correct strategy in no limit and make myself get better at the game. I hate getting my ass handed to me every time I play. I hate losing at poker in general.

Anyways, I ended up winning little bit after being down nearly $250. Towards the end, I flopped two pair Queens and Tens. The preflop raiser bet out and I raised him another $45. He reraised me all in for another $72. I called and he flopped over a pair of nines. NOT what I expected, but it was definitely a pleasant surprise because I was a huge favorite. The last two cards were blanks and I was good to go. In no limit, all it really takes is one or two big pots and you're back in the game.

Here are some things that I learned about no limit hold'em:
1) Don't slow play your monsters when there's a draw out there. It could cost you more than it's worth.
2) Most of your money will be made on holding pocket pairs and flopping trips or big suited flushes. Pocket Aces and Kings will make you money, but not as much as flopping trips.
3) Remember to include all of the chips in front of your opponent when calculating implied pot odds. If you know that you can get all of your opponents chips if you hit your hand, then it may be worth it to risk more, even if you're not getting the correct pot odds at that moment.
4) Don't overplay pocket pairs (i.e. Queens and below). Normally in limit, you would raise with pocket pairs above Eights to isolate the field. In no limit, I think it's better to just call with these mediocre pocket pairs.
5) If someone puts you all-in, always expect the unexpected. The player probably has trips or a flush or a straight. It's better to lay em down, unless you have a good read on your opponent.
6) Remember that every bet is a test. What I mean by that is, when you have a hand, make sure you put a big enough bet in so that if your opponent calls or raises, you'll know exactly what he's holding. This is important because if you don't make a big enough bet, then you may lose more money in the end.

That's all I can think of right now. I'm still learning the game myself.

boogster

Two hands that are typical when someone goes all in...

This happens way too often:

Hand #4747127-5752 at Brussels ($10/$20 Hold'em)
Powered by UltimateBet
Started at 08/Mar/05 21:32:11

divotman is at seat 0 with $113.
curiti is at seat 1 with $48.
boogster is at seat 2 with $305.50.
Jpro103 is at seat 3 with $552.
craigkoslica is at seat 4 with $1137.50.
allrich is at seat 5 with $982.
The button is at seat 4.

allrich posts the small blind of $5.
divotman posts the big blind of $10.

divotman: -- --
curiti: -- --
boogster: Kc Kh
Jpro103: -- --
craigkoslica: -- --
allrich: -- --

Pre-flop:

curiti calls. boogster raises to $20. Jpro103
calls. craigkoslica folds. allrich folds.
divotman calls. curiti calls.

Flop (board: Kd Th 8s):

divotman checks. curiti bets $10. boogster raises
to $20. Jpro103 folds. divotman folds. curiti
goes all-in for $28. boogster calls.

Turn (board: Kd Th 8s 2h):

(no action in this round)


River (board: Kd Th 8s 2h 7s):

(no action in this round)




Showdown:

curiti shows 9h Jc.
curiti has 9h Jc Th 8s 7s: straight, jack high.
boogster mucks cards.
(boogster has Kc Kh.)


Hand #4747127-5752 Summary:

$3 is raked from a pot of $141.
curiti wins $138 with straight, jack high.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Hand #4747127-5769 at Brussels ($10/$20 Hold'em)
Powered by UltimateBet
Started at 08/Mar/05 21:41:49

divotman is at seat 0 with $29.
curiti is at seat 1 with $315.
boogster is at seat 2 with $138.
craigkoslica is at seat 4 with $1338.50.
allrich is at seat 5 with $854.
The button is at seat 0.

curiti posts the small blind of $5.
boogster posts the big blind of $10.

divotman: -- --
curiti: -- --
boogster: As Kh
craigkoslica: -- --
allrich: -- --

Pre-flop:

craigkoslica calls. allrich folds. divotman raises
to $20. curiti folds. boogster re-raises to $30.
craigkoslica folds. divotman goes all-in for $29.
boogster is returned $1 (uncalled).

Flop (board: 8c 6h 4h):

(no action in this round)


Turn (board: 8c 6h 4h 5d):

(no action in this round)


River (board: 8c 6h 4h 5d 6s):

(no action in this round)




Showdown:

boogster shows As Kh.
boogster has As Kh 8c 6h 6s: a pair of sixes.
divotman shows Ah 8h.
divotman has Ah 8h 8c 6h 6s: two pair, eights and sixes.


Hand #4747127-5769 Summary:

$2 is raked from a pot of $73.
divotman wins $71 with two pair, eights and sixes.
----------------------------------------------------------------

When a player is down to their last nickels, the cards always seem to help them win on the river. This happens way too often for it to be considered a coincidence.

boogster

Trop's $150 + $20, Bally's $100 + $20, and my terrible no limit game...

I took Friday off and went up to Atlantic City to play in some bigger tourneys. We left at around 10am and got there around 2ish. Just in time to register for the 4:15pm $150 + $20 buy-in at the Tropicana, which was where we were staying. I didn't really know what to expect as far as the competition because I've never played in a tourney larger than 45 players. This one had a little over 100 registered players. First place would get around $6k. That's what I was gunning for.

I started off the tourney a little too aggressive and I played one too many hands. The first hand that I played, I had AK in early position. The blinds were at 50/100. I made it 300 to go. I got two callers; there were three of us total. 893 came on the flop. I checked and the guy in middle position bet out 300. The late position player folded and I made it 900 to go; a check raise. He called. Not exactly what I wanted. The turn brought a T. I decided that it was way too early in the tournament to make a bluff, so I checked. He checked. The river brought a Queen, I checked and he checked. He turned over A8 for a pair of eights and a flush draw. I lost 1200 chips of my 5000 stack on a stupid play. I shouldn't have played so aggressively so early on in the tournament! It was still in the first round!

The only hand major hand that I won was when I had Pockets Aces. I was short stacked at 2800 and in late position. The blinds were at 200/400 with a 100 ante. one person limped in and I made it 1400 to go. The big blind called and the early limper folded. I went all-in on the flop and took the pot. But that was pretty much it. From that point on, it was all downhill. I didn't really get any hands, I didn't really try to make a play. The blinds and antes pretty much ate me up. The last two hands of my tournament, I had A2 in the big blind and there were four callers, two of them all-in. I was getting great odds on my money, which was only about a total of 1200, but I knew that I was a huge underdog, so I folded and decided to wait for the next hand. The next hand, everyone folded to me in the small blind and I was pretty much forced to go all-in. I had 45 offsuit and the big blind had A3 offsuit. He ended up catching another 3 and that was that. I came in the mid 40s out of a total of a hundred and some odd players. Oh well.

The second tournament at Bally's, I busted out pretty early as well. There were two big hands that killed me. The first, I had pocket Tens in middle position and made it 300 to go. I got two callers, with one in position over me. The flop came 2-2-5. The early position player bet out 500, I raised him to 1000. Both players just called. The turn brought a Jack. The early position player bet out 1000 quick. After thinking for a second, I reluctantly called him; the late position player folded. The river brought an 8 and the bettor went all-in. I went into the tank and started wondering what he could have. I put him on a middle pair the whole way and i think the last 8 may have gave him the boat. I knew I wasn't going to call him, but at the same time, I wanted to call him down soooo badly. I ended up folding and that left me with about 1800 chips out of 5000. Not good. After another 15-20 hands, I had pocket queens in late position and raised it to about 5-6 times the big blind. The small blind put me all in and I called. heads up. He had pocket Jacks, so I was a nice 4 to 1 favorite. Unfornately, the bastard hit one of his two outs on the river and that was the end of my tournament! I played poorly. Next time, I'm winning it. The good news is that my buddy ended up winning the whole thing. $3.2k. Not bad money for 5 hours of work.

Well, I'm just about burned out from Poker now. I dropped about $600 in the no limit tables while in AC as well. Fortunately, the only saving grace was that I won all of my money lost on the $6/$12 and blackjack tables. I need to get better at my no limit game. I HATE losing.

oh yeah...here's my hand of the week. This happened to me while on the $1/$2 no limit table. I had AQ in late position and made it $12 to go. Everyone folded to the player to my immediate right. He called. The flop came AA7. I bet out $20 and the player called. The turn brought a 5. Once again, I bet out $20 and he raised me another $100! WTF?!?!? A few hands earlier, I saw the guy bet out big when he held A9, with a board of A-J-5-5-7. The other guy called with his AQ and took the pot. The fact that I saw him play this hand made me think that he could've been holding Ax. So, I called and raised him all-in for $150. He immediately called and turned over 77. F*CK! I don't think I'll be making this play ever again. how can you fold trip Aces with a queen kicker? Well, trust me, it'll be an easy decision the next time I'm put to this test. If I would've actually thought about this before putting myself all-in, I probably would've folded. What hand could he have held in order to make such a huge raise like this? The only possibility was a set or A7, A5. Unfornately, the stubborness in me made me call him down. Stubborness is one trait that you shouldn't have when playing no limit. Oh well...live and learn.

After this shilacking, I'm on a new mission to become the best at no limit. I'm going to start by reading Sklanskly's Tournament Poker for Advanced players.

till next time.

Boogster