Still HORSE'ing around

I decided to blow off the MATH last night. No particular reason. Just didn't feel like it.

Instead I watched some TV. I've been trying to catch the end of the $50k HORSE tournament if ESP-freakin'-N will ever broadcast the final table. I've recorded about 92 instances of every episode leading up to the final 8, but haven't seen the ending. As there was little else on the DVR that caught my interest -- and SciFi preempted my usual Monday fare of back-to-back-to-back-to-back episodes of "Enterprise" -- I was watching the 93rd broadcast of the final two tables of $50k HORSE.

All this, of course, is leading up to me getting the urge to play HORSE. I found a $10 SnG HORSE tournament on Stars with six people already signed up, so I joined in.

I tried to play ultra-tight during the first round of hold'em. I took stabs at a couple pots but it never amounted to anything. O8 wasn't much better. I tried playing a few hands, but mostly watched as the other 7 players would each toss chips into the pot pre-flop and then shoot craps on the flop. For a while I thought I was watching the play money tables. I did scoop one quite nice pot that got me back to even.

Then came Razz. I've written about this a number of times before, but it still surprises me to see it unfold in front of my own eyes. I am far, far from an expert in Razz. I know how the game's played and I've spent a good fifteen, maybe twenty, minutes reading up on strategy. You want three low cards to start. There, I've given you the benefit of my half-vast knowledge of Razz. The reality of Razz at this level, however, is that I have the rough equivalent of Phil Ivey type skills at this game.

In other words, the vast majority of players in the cheap HORSE tournaments ($10 SnG) are bad at Razz. Really bad. So bad it makes horrible look good. So bad there's no word that adequately describes it.

Hand after hand I'm watching in utter amazement at the sheer stupidity of my opponents in this game. I do the bring-in with a K showing. It folds to the player at my right who's showing a 3. He folds. I've already got my finger hovering over the fold button awaiting his raise. And he folds. I don't care if I've rolled up a set of 3's, in his position that's an automatic insta-raise. All I see is 3 v K. I'm raising that every single time. I'd raise it twice if they'd let me.

I don't know, maybe some of these guys didn't even know the rules. That's the only explanation that fits some of the stupidity I witnessed.

Admittedly, I got a nice string of decent cards. Not great, but decent enough, especially considering the competition. But when they're also throwing chips my way when I'm showing a K, I mean, how can you lose in a situation like that? I went from mediocre stack to chip leader in the Razz round.

Sadly, my usual luck/skill with stud and stud-eight struck again, and I just barely made it out of those rounds alive. Last time I played HORSE I swore my stud strategy in the future would be to play as slow as humanly possible so as to minimize the damage that was bound to be inflicted in these rounds. I forgot to implement this strategy until I'd already given away most of my chips. I tried my best to survive to Razz again, but the blinds got too high and I couldn't make it. I bubbled in 4th to a horrible suckout from the chip leader.

The Bodog Blogger Tournament is tonight. Great overlay, so join in if you can.

Riverchasers

With my semi-hiatus from poker this month I also took a break from the blogs. There were still a few I tried to keep up with. I always enjoy Al's tales of booze and bacon. (The cuties don't hurt either.) I still think he needs to try the bacon flavored coffee at Boca Java. Julius Goat's player profiles are also not to be missed.

With my return to tournament play I've started reading some of the other blogs again. I stopped by Hoyazo's and skimmed through some of his recent posts. He's been advocating very tight play in the early stages of the larger blogger tournaments. His justification is success with this strategy in a number of tournaments and general lack of success when not using this strategy. I think what he recommends is a sound strategy, particularly against the highly unpredictable play of some of the more donkey-ish players, but the justification is classic poker fallacy -- drawing conclusions based on a very small number of observations.

All that aside, I decided to try playing a bit tighter tonight in the Riverchasers. Not that I play like a maniac normally, but in the tournaments with loads of dead money I've been playing a lot more speculative hands early in the hopes of hitting something big and picking up a huge pot. Tonight, with double stacks and the slower levels, we had mostly the same players at the table for a very long time. And something unusual happened. After obviously playing very tight for quite a while, when I made a move on a pot I got respect. Or at least it seemed that way. Admittedly, I'm doing just what I accused Hoy of above -- drawing larger conclusions based on a very limited sample size.

I do know that I took down a very big pot in level 5 on a stone cold bluff. It was a good situational bluff -- I'd actually been on a nut flush and straight draw that missed -- taking advantage of the board and the way the betting had gone. Man, there is nothing sweeter than stealing a big pot on nothing but air.

For a while I was actually near the top of the leaderboard. Well, much closer to the top than the bottom. I think I broke into the top ten once. Then came the river suckout that launched me on a downward slide. Plus, with the blinds and antes increasing, I was forced to play more marginal hands, few of which amounted to anything.

My only big mistake was on the final hand. I suspected I was way behind, but most of my chips were already in the pot so I figured there was little left to lose. If I'd folded when the other guy pushed, I'd have been left with enough for maybe one more round and absolutely no folding equity at all. So I called and then hit the rail, finishing in 40th. Not a stellar performance, but sometimes the cards just fall that way.

I believe this weekend will be spent in pursuits other than poker. My next tournament will probably be the MATH next week. Have a good weekend.

The Mookie

Played The Mookie last night for the first time in quite a while. Fantastic turnout -- over 100. Sadly, for me, it was not a good evening.

The tone was set early when I saw a free flop from the BB with T6o. Flop was 677. It checked around. Turn brings a 2. The coast looks clear, so I bet out 3/4 the pot. One caller. River brings a J. I don't really want to invest any more in this, so I check. Other player bets the pot. My first inclination was to fold, but my first inclination in these situations is almost always to fold. I thought a while and reasoned that this looked like he was trying to scare me away, so I called. (I'd also add that we started with double stacks and the blinds were still low, so if I lost it wasn't a disaster.) He turns over pocket 7's. Sandbagged by flopped quads.

I drifted for quite a while after that. Never losing much, but never winning much either. Then came the crippler. I get pocket 9's on the button. Blinds 50/100. Two limps ahead of me. I make it 500 to go. BB, who's down to M=10, pushes all-in. I'm getting better than 2:1 to make the call. If he's got an overpair I'm screwed, otherwise I'm way to the good. I call. He turns over AKs. Good call on my part since I'm actually favored here, getting better than 2:1 from the pot, and not in danger of busting if I lose. Of course the flop brings an A and I get no help.

My final hand I'm in the BB with QJo. It folds around to the SB who completes. If my stack had been bigger -- I was down to M=7 -- I might have raised, but decided to just check. Flop is AQ5, two clubs. SB checks. I figure he doesn't have an A or he would have raised pre-flop so I make a pot-sized bet. He check-raises me all-in. I'm thinking he's on a draw so I call. I'm right; he's got two clubs. Again, I get my money in with the best of it and getting bonus odds from the pot to boot. Again, I get outdrawn.

I know it's no biggie to lose two coin flips in a row. It just kind of sucks when they're the only two big hands you play all night.

I forget what position I went out in. It was way, way down in the pack.

Tonight is the Riverchasers event at Full Tilt. See you there.

Back some more

Maybe my hiatus is over. I played the Bodog Blogger tournament hosted by Smokkee last night. I got kind of slapped down fairly early and then didn't do much for quite a while. Bad cards, bad situations.

At some point, I think after the first break, I managed to get into some good cards at the right time and my stack took a nice jump. Then I was getting halfway decent cards for a little bit and legitimately raised a few pots in a row. It folded around every time. So I kept raising. And it kept folding around.

I've done this a few times in the past but always feel like I'm being horribly transparent. It seems inevitable that somebody will catch on and fight back, costing me a sizable raise, so I always back off after a while. But I pushed it farther and more often than ever last night. And got away with it.

Eventually, via balls and proper timing (i.e. luck), I built a very nice stack and was able to openly bully the table with near impunity. It's been rare that I've been able to do this, but I think I like it.

My game felt good last night, at least until we hit the final table. I had a bit of trouble shifting from five players back to nine. And there was another big stack at the table so I couldn't blindly raise with the knowledge that nobody could put a serious hurt on me. I never really hit my stride again. I ended up bubbling, finishing in 6th.

Kudos to Bodog for sticking with this blogger effort. Given the low turnout in September I assumed they'd terminate the offering when their initial commitment expired. Instead of backing off, they lit the afterburners. They're now adding over T$500 to the kitty, giving each of the top five finishers T$109 in addition to the normal prize pool. Rumor had it finishers 6 through 9 got T$11, making it a freeroll, but that wasn't mentioned in the payout schedule.

Bodog's commitment to this appears to be paying off. We had 22 players last night. A bit short of the 82 the MATH drew on Monday, but considering the last time I played this it was basically a one-table SnG, 22 is a big improvement. If you haven't been playing in this one, you should consider it. A $500+ overlay spread over the fairly small field is quite good, even if it is just T$. They've got a few pretty rich tournaments that will give you opportunity to turn those T$ into some big US$.

Up tonight is the next BBTwo event, The Mookie. Full Tilt, 10pm EDT. Password is "vegas1".

I'm back, sort of

I've been on kind of a hiatus from poker. No real reason. I guess I just got tired of it. The PokerStars Blogger tournament was about the only poker I've played this month.

Last night, however, I decided to join in the fun with BBTwo. Sadly, the Tier One SnG I played to win my ticket was more eventful for me. I got a rush of very decent cards early in the MATH, but didn't win a whole lot with them. Languished for a long time, got lucky on an all-in, got unlucky on another all-in. Ended up in 50th of 80-some. Just as well. I'm not sure I could have stayed awake long enough to final table, let alone win.

As I said, the Tier One SnG was far more exciting. Early on I did battle with some fool who absolutely fell in love with the 8's up he flopped. Sadly for him, I had a six to go with the pair that came on the flop. I ended up with quads, and he still wouldn't believe his 8's weren't good. I toyed with doing a small value bet, but figured the best way to get him to call was to look as desperate as possible. Pushing all-in on the river did the trick.

In another hand I was once again called a donkey, this time by someone not even in the hand. It folds to me in the SB. I've got A4o, a semi-legitimate hand in this situation. I raise. The BB figures I'm stealing and tries to re-steal. I call. Cards and chips fly. I end up catching an ace on the river. Turns out he had Q7.

Maybe three hands later Mr. I-like-calling-people-donkeys gets into a hand with this same guy. The hand plays out in a similar fashion. The one guy again has Q7 and the donkey-caller turns over A5. I guess the donkiness of the play is dependent on who is involved. Anyway, I found it rather amusing. I did resist the temptation to make comment.

Next up in the BBTwo is The Mookie on Wednesday. Hope to see you there.

Pokerstars Blogger Freeroll

I played the blogger freeroll yesterday. My tablemates and I had the misfortune of being seated with an aggressive maniac. Fourth hand of the tournament there was a small raise, a call, and the maniac pushes all-in. Of course, nobody wants to risk their whole tournament this early, so everybody folds. He raised every single hand for about the next 40 hands. And won most of them uncontested.

One guy finally caught a hand he thought he could play sheriff with. Turns out the maniac flopped a set and turned a boat. Minus one player and now we had to deal with an aggressive maniac with more than twice as many chips as anyone else at the table. It wasn't pretty.

I ended up folding a number of hands I would have liked to have played, but wasn't willing to play at what I knew the cost would be. For the most part I wasn't getting cards anyway. The only hand worth mentioning was when I got pocket aces and flopped my set. I played it cool, waiting for Mr. Maniac to go crazy, but he was very restrained and even folded when the other guy in the hand put in a small bet. I did get the other guy to contribute to my cause, though not as much as I'd have liked.

After almost two hours of folding everything in sight, my M was under 10 and I decided to make my stand with pocket 9's. Unfortunately, the other big stack who I thought was just trying to push me around actually had aces. I went home somewhere in the low 800's. Not a good showing at all.

In retrospect, and particularly if Stars had posted the payout schedule early in the tournament, I probably should have picked a couple hands with any kind of promise and pushed back against the maniac. The prizes didn't start until fairly late and the bottom ones were the kind of thing that you wouldn't turn your nose up at but you probably wouldn't wait in a long line to get one either. I don't mean to be critical of the prizes -- it was very generous of Stars to do this -- I'm just trying to be realistic about the relative values of the prizes.

Anyway, thanks to Pokerstars for hosting this. If you do it again, please don't start me at a table with a maniac.

Poker Stars Rules

First Full Tilt kicked back all the rake in the BBT. Very cool of them. Then Bodog decided to get in on the action and tossed in an overlay on each of their blogger tournaments. Thank you Calvin. Now, Poker Stars has thrown down the gauntlet.

On October 14th they are hosting a $40,000 freeroll for poker bloggers. No, I did not put too many zeros in there. $40,000. I don't want to knock the other sites because they've been very generous, but, damn, $40k. That's some serious green for a freeroll that hasn't had a million feeder tournaments. Makes me glad I've moved most of my action back to Stars, even if I am still in ankle-deep waters.

It's too late to start a blog to get in, but if you've had one for a while and have been making regular updates, click the flashy thing on the right and get yourself registered for this.

Nothing new here

It's been a while since I last posted so I thought I'd write up something. But I have little poker-related to report.

I played the WPBT SnG last week, but that was it for the whole week. My performance was not exactly great. For a while I was getting cards at just the right time. Somebody would push all-in just as I was dealt a sweet pocket pair that held up. I knocked out the first three players and doubled against the big stack. Alas, my luck did not hold out quite long enough. And, I must admit, my heart really wasn't in it. My thought when I busted out was -- good, now I can go do something I really want to do. Probably a good thing I haven't been playing much.

I'm still on my quest to turn $5 into $5,000. Well, maybe "quest" is over-stating it. Mildly interested pursuit might be more accurate these days. I'm sure my interest will pick up again in a week or two. Maybe once I discover how badly most of the new TV shows suck.