Hagar
01-03-2006, 09:55 AM
AS alluded to in Rounder's post, I spent the day up at Jackson yesterday. I was hesitant to go because of the emotional turmoil from Friday night, but I 'd been going stir crazy all weekend, the wife was at work and decided to go up and take a shot.
Got there early (about 8:30) because I wanted to make sure I got on the first table following the tourney. I was second on the list and went and grabbed some chow.
ABout an hour after breakfast, they finally fired up the NL game. There were a bunch of regulars in the game, most of whom I haven't played a grat deal with, but have played some.
Let's see if I can round out the starting table:
Seat 1 was the same guy who was in seat 1 when I started (in seat 2) on Friday night, so we played 4 or 5 hours shoulder to shoulder recently. (I'm calling him Carpenter for now, because he's always dressed as if he just walked off a framing job.)
Seat 2: Bill - A freindly regular who's pretty solid and pretty tight.
Seat 3: Rat (don't know his name, but he kind of looks like a Rat. Regular splashy player that I don't have a real good read on yet.
Seat 4: Unknown, most of play looked pretty bad.
Seat 5: ??? (This seat was taken later by a kid that Rounder labeled "top gun".
Seat 6: Regular who I haven't spent much time with. Pretty solid, a little splashy, nit afraid to throw money at a draw
Seat 7: This seat was empty when we started, was filled by a young Asian kid who bounced out when the second game started becuse we were "too slow".
Seat 8: Me
Seat 9: Rounder
Seat 10: Helen (old biddy regular)
The started out mild and calm. Was a pretty good mix for my game. It took me a while to get a hand, but when I finally did, BAM, Carpenter jacked up the pot. My hand wasn't that strong so I bowed out. A couple hands later, I got involved and BAM, Carpenter was jacking the pot again. This started to feel like Deja Vu all over again. Every time I showed any interest in a pot, someone would have something strong enough to push me around. My hands just weren't that strong, so I couldn't push back. It started to feel like there was some new rule in poker that nobody was to allow me to drag apot, even if it cost them all their chips trying to stop me. So the session started off on a funky note.
A little while later, I actually started dragging a few pots. And then I drug a few more. I was actually on a little rush and not only was I getting lots of decent starters, I was hitting cards and putting beats on people. I was never in a pot where I didn't think I was ahead, but there were a couple times when I was surprised by my opponents strength, but hit a card to take the hand.
Before, I started the suckouts, I hooked up with a decent hand after Carpenter had raised. His PF raises were frequent enough to figure he didn't necessarily have Tier 1 hands, but spaced well enough that he likely had a pretty decent hand. I called from MP with KJo. Flop brought a J high, 2 heart board. I checked through and was surprised when Carpenter let it go by. The turn brought the K hearts. Good news, bad news I hit top 2, but a flush was now possible. It checked to me and I fired $30 at a $45 pot. Carpenter eyed his cards and then me. He called. I couldn't put him on a hand, but figured he at least had a big heart. River brought another J. Bingo. At this point I was only worried about 1 hand (KK), but would have lost a chunk to see it. I made a $30 value bet and he called even though he was sure I had the hearts. "No hearts, just a boat!" (He showed K?Qh as he mucked his cards.)
This was a pretty decent pot and my stack was growing. Strolled along a while dragging a pot or two along the way when I stumbled into my first big suckout of the day. I had QJ from mid pos and limped along with 5 or 6 others. (Limping was still pretty allowable at this point in the day.) Flop came Q73 rainbow. I fired $15 or $20 at the pot and got 1 or 2 callers including Bill in late pos. Turn brought another Q. I fired $30 or $40 and was very surprised when Bill was shoving his last $70 at me. I was a bit stunned. I thought a bit. AQ? Surely he would have raised preflop and for sure after the flop. KQ? No postflop raise. "If you hit a set, you got me" and I called. He flipped up AQ. I could not believe he hadn't played that hand stronger before then, but he had me dead to rights. "Nice hand, Bill." Just as I was starting to hang my head and bemoan my luck, the dealer popped a J on the river. As the J hit I spun my head around as if it had stuck in my face. I hit an awful suckout card. Sure I was happy to drag the pot, but I am so offended by suckouts that it bothers me even if I'm the one doing it most of the time. He was fine with it, but qucikly moved to the other game at the first opportunity (this table just wasn't working for him.)
So now my stack was a healthy $300 or so, one of the big ones at the table. The common limping allowed me to see lots of flops and get a little splashy, which allowed me to drag enough pots to steadily grow my stack and my stack allowed me to make a few loose calls that I may not on other days. Rat was having a hard time catching cards most of the day, but that didn't stop him from seeing a lot of flops and making a lot of pretty bad calls and trying an occasional move. On one hand I had K9 and caught a K on the flop. It checked to me and I was called only by Rat. Turn was an A and he suddenly fired at the pot. WTF? Was he sitting on an Ace, maybe Ax (with x being on the board)? I was concerned, but he was splashy enough to warrant a call. River brought a third diamond, for a backdoor flush possibility, and that slowed him down. He checked, and I agreed. My K was good, he had JJ and was trying to mess with me. Most days, that situation would have constituted a "good laydown" on the turn for me. I like big stacks! ;)
Somewhere's around 12:30 Jamie and Maylee (sp) joined our game. They played with us one night at Scooters and I had seen them at Jackson before including Friday night. Jamie has been in 2 or 3 months of "can't drag a pot" (sounds familliar) and Maylee has been running hot. The problem is, that Jamie decided to play poker to pay the rent so his losing streak was pretty dire. Maylee sat to my right. Jamie in Seat 1.
By this time, my stack was up to $600. I hadn't really run into any bad spots after the first couple orbits and things had just been going my way. This was going to change. ABout 10 or 11 hands into Maylee's appearance, she and I go into a hand pretty deep. She had already flopped a boat and was basically making a mockery of the table. So she was to be feared. I held 89 and was able to limp to a Q7T flop. Flopped the open ender and called Maylee's bet along with a few others. Turn brought a Q, which I really didn't like, but her bet was small enough justify a call and Helen came in behind me. River was a 6 which looked pretty good to me and was well disquised. Maylee fired another $20. I put her squarely on a big Q (I realized the very real possibility of a boat, but didn't get that vibe) and raised it $40 more. Enough to get her atention, but not so much I couldn't get away from if she came over the top. Helen went into her typical "I ahte to lay this hand down, it could very well be good" routine (which is about a 40% call routine) and finally folded. Maylee quickly called, but didn't raise. "I can't beat the boat." She flipped up 77 for a flopped set, turned boat. I wasn't too surprised. I took a shot and was only surprised that she didn't re-raise. (She was worried about a bigger boat.) This girl has some game. Once she learns a few of the finer points of how to play a monster, she is going make a lot of money.
That hand took nearly $100 out of my tower, which wasn't really a big deal. Losing $100 out of $600 doesn't hurt as much as losing $100 out of $150. I like having big stacks on tables where all-ins are not the constant norm. It allows me to playa little, take a few beats without feeling violated, and get back into the game. I was able to reclaim the $100 chink in the armor within the next few orbits with little trouble.
Jamie, meanwhile was continuing his bad run. He was getting a lot of the same routine I have been experiencing over the last few months. Cold cards for days, get a hand and either get no action, or the action you get would be unwanted. He had raised from EP and I had K4s in the BB. Everyone folded and I played with him a little bit. "They're suited." I said in a playfully tauning mode. "Great" he said. He was all-in for something like $20 and I was actually considering playing with him. "I would feel terrible if I took your last dollar with this hand." still trying to feel him out. He just forced a grin and shrugged his shoulders. I laughed and pitched the cards "I really didn't want to suck out on you." He threw me a "Thanks" that had a mixed tone behind it. "I can't get any action when I have a hand. When I get action I get smoked." I was really feeling his pain. He managed to drag a couple of pots and eventually had about $70 in front of him. HE shoved from late pos with QQ and got one caller. Rat. Rat's call put him all-in and he flipped up AQ. There was at least on other A mucked before the flop, so Jamie's hand was in outstanding position. Sure as shit, an A hit the turn and Jamie was back to holding on to his scraps. (He actually went on a little run at about 3:00 and both of them cashed out for $200+ profits at about 3:30 to go get some lunch, planning to return a little later.
Somewhere in the middle of all this, I hooked up with JJ in EP and decided to pump them up. Everyone folded to the button (a new kid with little clue) he sat and thought for a bit and it looked for minute like he was gonna shove his ~$60, but just called, as did his neighbor. Flop came 97x, with little danger aside from a possible straight draw, but they didn't have enough money to be worth dicking around with them. SB checked, and I just put them all-in. If button had QQ, so be it. Button called and SB actually thought about for a while (no idea what he could have had that made this tough). I flipped up my hooks and Sb flipped up a set of 7s. UGH. Nice hand. Turn spit an 8 whcih added 4 more outs for me and I called for a T and it actually hit on the river. Runner, runner straight to tkae him and his set out of the game. I felt a little bad, but not too bad in this case. "Sorry man, that was tough." He took it well and scrambled out of the poker room, probably to go tell his tale to his crew.
When Jamie and Maylee left, I was still sitting on the $600+ stack that I had when they arrived. I wasn' very active by this point, my cards had started going cold, which was too bad. We started getting a parade of weak clueless players, that would sit in, lose thier stack in a few orbits, rebuy, lose their stacks and leave only to be replaced by more of the same. The solid players who were getting hands were geting paid off handsomely and easily. Fish in a barrel is an understatement. I just sat and watched the carnage, not really able to get into the fray.
My sixth stack was going up and down and it was starting to get towards 8:00. I was tiring and needed to get home. I was hoping to get that last stack all the way up, before I left, but it just wasn't going to happen. I finally racked up my 5+ racks and hit the road at 8:00. For a $400+ profit on the day.
I was in a much better mood tharn I had been in most omy recent exits (was in a good mood all day for that matter), and tried my best to figure out why I had a good day. What did I do different? Not much. What mistakes did I avoid that have been costing me money? Aside from a few loose calls here and there for smallish pots, I really wasn't playing a different game. I just can't contribute most of my winnings to skill. The plain and simple truth is that I was just catching the cards when I needed to and had my hands hold up. Don't get me wrong. I like winning a whole lot more then losing, but I don't know why (from a skill point of view) this session was more successful than the losing sessions. Luck was the difference. I had good luck in a few key spots and avoided the bad luck most of the day. I'd like to see a little proof that skill plays a bigger part in this game.
Anyway, I had fun. Didn't have any key hands against Rounder. (I didn't know it was him - until our post exchange last night - although he seemed to think that I was me. :roll: :?: :roll: ) He started strong and then took a couple beats and left somewhere around noon with no chips to his name. He was pleasant to have at the table and were sharing reads on the other end of the table as the game was progressing. In one of our quiet conversations we were both surprised how hard it is to get used to watching the bad calls that lead to bad beats. We've seen it over and over, but it is still at least a little surprising.
Onward and upward, hoping this is the start of a nice littel run, but not counting on it. Just nice to have alittle padding on the BR again.
Got there early (about 8:30) because I wanted to make sure I got on the first table following the tourney. I was second on the list and went and grabbed some chow.
ABout an hour after breakfast, they finally fired up the NL game. There were a bunch of regulars in the game, most of whom I haven't played a grat deal with, but have played some.
Let's see if I can round out the starting table:
Seat 1 was the same guy who was in seat 1 when I started (in seat 2) on Friday night, so we played 4 or 5 hours shoulder to shoulder recently. (I'm calling him Carpenter for now, because he's always dressed as if he just walked off a framing job.)
Seat 2: Bill - A freindly regular who's pretty solid and pretty tight.
Seat 3: Rat (don't know his name, but he kind of looks like a Rat. Regular splashy player that I don't have a real good read on yet.
Seat 4: Unknown, most of play looked pretty bad.
Seat 5: ??? (This seat was taken later by a kid that Rounder labeled "top gun".
Seat 6: Regular who I haven't spent much time with. Pretty solid, a little splashy, nit afraid to throw money at a draw
Seat 7: This seat was empty when we started, was filled by a young Asian kid who bounced out when the second game started becuse we were "too slow".
Seat 8: Me
Seat 9: Rounder
Seat 10: Helen (old biddy regular)
The started out mild and calm. Was a pretty good mix for my game. It took me a while to get a hand, but when I finally did, BAM, Carpenter jacked up the pot. My hand wasn't that strong so I bowed out. A couple hands later, I got involved and BAM, Carpenter was jacking the pot again. This started to feel like Deja Vu all over again. Every time I showed any interest in a pot, someone would have something strong enough to push me around. My hands just weren't that strong, so I couldn't push back. It started to feel like there was some new rule in poker that nobody was to allow me to drag apot, even if it cost them all their chips trying to stop me. So the session started off on a funky note.
A little while later, I actually started dragging a few pots. And then I drug a few more. I was actually on a little rush and not only was I getting lots of decent starters, I was hitting cards and putting beats on people. I was never in a pot where I didn't think I was ahead, but there were a couple times when I was surprised by my opponents strength, but hit a card to take the hand.
Before, I started the suckouts, I hooked up with a decent hand after Carpenter had raised. His PF raises were frequent enough to figure he didn't necessarily have Tier 1 hands, but spaced well enough that he likely had a pretty decent hand. I called from MP with KJo. Flop brought a J high, 2 heart board. I checked through and was surprised when Carpenter let it go by. The turn brought the K hearts. Good news, bad news I hit top 2, but a flush was now possible. It checked to me and I fired $30 at a $45 pot. Carpenter eyed his cards and then me. He called. I couldn't put him on a hand, but figured he at least had a big heart. River brought another J. Bingo. At this point I was only worried about 1 hand (KK), but would have lost a chunk to see it. I made a $30 value bet and he called even though he was sure I had the hearts. "No hearts, just a boat!" (He showed K?Qh as he mucked his cards.)
This was a pretty decent pot and my stack was growing. Strolled along a while dragging a pot or two along the way when I stumbled into my first big suckout of the day. I had QJ from mid pos and limped along with 5 or 6 others. (Limping was still pretty allowable at this point in the day.) Flop came Q73 rainbow. I fired $15 or $20 at the pot and got 1 or 2 callers including Bill in late pos. Turn brought another Q. I fired $30 or $40 and was very surprised when Bill was shoving his last $70 at me. I was a bit stunned. I thought a bit. AQ? Surely he would have raised preflop and for sure after the flop. KQ? No postflop raise. "If you hit a set, you got me" and I called. He flipped up AQ. I could not believe he hadn't played that hand stronger before then, but he had me dead to rights. "Nice hand, Bill." Just as I was starting to hang my head and bemoan my luck, the dealer popped a J on the river. As the J hit I spun my head around as if it had stuck in my face. I hit an awful suckout card. Sure I was happy to drag the pot, but I am so offended by suckouts that it bothers me even if I'm the one doing it most of the time. He was fine with it, but qucikly moved to the other game at the first opportunity (this table just wasn't working for him.)
So now my stack was a healthy $300 or so, one of the big ones at the table. The common limping allowed me to see lots of flops and get a little splashy, which allowed me to drag enough pots to steadily grow my stack and my stack allowed me to make a few loose calls that I may not on other days. Rat was having a hard time catching cards most of the day, but that didn't stop him from seeing a lot of flops and making a lot of pretty bad calls and trying an occasional move. On one hand I had K9 and caught a K on the flop. It checked to me and I was called only by Rat. Turn was an A and he suddenly fired at the pot. WTF? Was he sitting on an Ace, maybe Ax (with x being on the board)? I was concerned, but he was splashy enough to warrant a call. River brought a third diamond, for a backdoor flush possibility, and that slowed him down. He checked, and I agreed. My K was good, he had JJ and was trying to mess with me. Most days, that situation would have constituted a "good laydown" on the turn for me. I like big stacks! ;)
Somewhere's around 12:30 Jamie and Maylee (sp) joined our game. They played with us one night at Scooters and I had seen them at Jackson before including Friday night. Jamie has been in 2 or 3 months of "can't drag a pot" (sounds familliar) and Maylee has been running hot. The problem is, that Jamie decided to play poker to pay the rent so his losing streak was pretty dire. Maylee sat to my right. Jamie in Seat 1.
By this time, my stack was up to $600. I hadn't really run into any bad spots after the first couple orbits and things had just been going my way. This was going to change. ABout 10 or 11 hands into Maylee's appearance, she and I go into a hand pretty deep. She had already flopped a boat and was basically making a mockery of the table. So she was to be feared. I held 89 and was able to limp to a Q7T flop. Flopped the open ender and called Maylee's bet along with a few others. Turn brought a Q, which I really didn't like, but her bet was small enough justify a call and Helen came in behind me. River was a 6 which looked pretty good to me and was well disquised. Maylee fired another $20. I put her squarely on a big Q (I realized the very real possibility of a boat, but didn't get that vibe) and raised it $40 more. Enough to get her atention, but not so much I couldn't get away from if she came over the top. Helen went into her typical "I ahte to lay this hand down, it could very well be good" routine (which is about a 40% call routine) and finally folded. Maylee quickly called, but didn't raise. "I can't beat the boat." She flipped up 77 for a flopped set, turned boat. I wasn't too surprised. I took a shot and was only surprised that she didn't re-raise. (She was worried about a bigger boat.) This girl has some game. Once she learns a few of the finer points of how to play a monster, she is going make a lot of money.
That hand took nearly $100 out of my tower, which wasn't really a big deal. Losing $100 out of $600 doesn't hurt as much as losing $100 out of $150. I like having big stacks on tables where all-ins are not the constant norm. It allows me to playa little, take a few beats without feeling violated, and get back into the game. I was able to reclaim the $100 chink in the armor within the next few orbits with little trouble.
Jamie, meanwhile was continuing his bad run. He was getting a lot of the same routine I have been experiencing over the last few months. Cold cards for days, get a hand and either get no action, or the action you get would be unwanted. He had raised from EP and I had K4s in the BB. Everyone folded and I played with him a little bit. "They're suited." I said in a playfully tauning mode. "Great" he said. He was all-in for something like $20 and I was actually considering playing with him. "I would feel terrible if I took your last dollar with this hand." still trying to feel him out. He just forced a grin and shrugged his shoulders. I laughed and pitched the cards "I really didn't want to suck out on you." He threw me a "Thanks" that had a mixed tone behind it. "I can't get any action when I have a hand. When I get action I get smoked." I was really feeling his pain. He managed to drag a couple of pots and eventually had about $70 in front of him. HE shoved from late pos with QQ and got one caller. Rat. Rat's call put him all-in and he flipped up AQ. There was at least on other A mucked before the flop, so Jamie's hand was in outstanding position. Sure as shit, an A hit the turn and Jamie was back to holding on to his scraps. (He actually went on a little run at about 3:00 and both of them cashed out for $200+ profits at about 3:30 to go get some lunch, planning to return a little later.
Somewhere in the middle of all this, I hooked up with JJ in EP and decided to pump them up. Everyone folded to the button (a new kid with little clue) he sat and thought for a bit and it looked for minute like he was gonna shove his ~$60, but just called, as did his neighbor. Flop came 97x, with little danger aside from a possible straight draw, but they didn't have enough money to be worth dicking around with them. SB checked, and I just put them all-in. If button had QQ, so be it. Button called and SB actually thought about for a while (no idea what he could have had that made this tough). I flipped up my hooks and Sb flipped up a set of 7s. UGH. Nice hand. Turn spit an 8 whcih added 4 more outs for me and I called for a T and it actually hit on the river. Runner, runner straight to tkae him and his set out of the game. I felt a little bad, but not too bad in this case. "Sorry man, that was tough." He took it well and scrambled out of the poker room, probably to go tell his tale to his crew.
When Jamie and Maylee left, I was still sitting on the $600+ stack that I had when they arrived. I wasn' very active by this point, my cards had started going cold, which was too bad. We started getting a parade of weak clueless players, that would sit in, lose thier stack in a few orbits, rebuy, lose their stacks and leave only to be replaced by more of the same. The solid players who were getting hands were geting paid off handsomely and easily. Fish in a barrel is an understatement. I just sat and watched the carnage, not really able to get into the fray.
My sixth stack was going up and down and it was starting to get towards 8:00. I was tiring and needed to get home. I was hoping to get that last stack all the way up, before I left, but it just wasn't going to happen. I finally racked up my 5+ racks and hit the road at 8:00. For a $400+ profit on the day.
I was in a much better mood tharn I had been in most omy recent exits (was in a good mood all day for that matter), and tried my best to figure out why I had a good day. What did I do different? Not much. What mistakes did I avoid that have been costing me money? Aside from a few loose calls here and there for smallish pots, I really wasn't playing a different game. I just can't contribute most of my winnings to skill. The plain and simple truth is that I was just catching the cards when I needed to and had my hands hold up. Don't get me wrong. I like winning a whole lot more then losing, but I don't know why (from a skill point of view) this session was more successful than the losing sessions. Luck was the difference. I had good luck in a few key spots and avoided the bad luck most of the day. I'd like to see a little proof that skill plays a bigger part in this game.
Anyway, I had fun. Didn't have any key hands against Rounder. (I didn't know it was him - until our post exchange last night - although he seemed to think that I was me. :roll: :?: :roll: ) He started strong and then took a couple beats and left somewhere around noon with no chips to his name. He was pleasant to have at the table and were sharing reads on the other end of the table as the game was progressing. In one of our quiet conversations we were both surprised how hard it is to get used to watching the bad calls that lead to bad beats. We've seen it over and over, but it is still at least a little surprising.
Onward and upward, hoping this is the start of a nice littel run, but not counting on it. Just nice to have alittle padding on the BR again.