Poker League - Week 7

It was a pretty mundane week at Poker League. I was able to get a pretty good read of all the players and how they were playing, but I was just never able to get into the right situation to make some good chips. I did, however, stay in until 11th place. So, I will not complain. No prize money this week, but there's always the cash game to make it back...right?

In the cash game after, I was a lot more aggressive and a lot more loose. And, consequently, I was in some big pots. Some of those, I won and some I lost. All-in-all, I lost $10 in the cash game.

I'm going to try to make it a habit to explain at least one hand each time I blog...this, I hope, will make it a little more interesting to read as well as more interesting to reflect on. Please don't think I'm just complaining and telling bad beat stories...although it's usually those stories that are the most interesting to hear. But, seriously, I don't blame anyone for the way I play and the way the cards fall...I understand poker and the odds that go with it. A 1% hand is going to win 1 out of every 100 times...and as much as I play, I'm sure I'll see a lot of them hit.

One example of my loose and aggressive play (this time it cost me) during the cash game was when I played 7-2 offsuit on the button. First, I decided to call the $.50 big blind because so far, all the players were still in and I thought there was a chance to win a big pot. Then, the lady in the big blind raised it $2.00. And, although she played a lot of hands, she hardly ever raised pre-flop, so I knew she had a big hand. And, if she didn't hit her hand after the flop, she wouldn't keep betting. Well, 4 other players also decided to call her $2.00 raise (keep in mind, most of us only bought in for $5 or $10). I figured I had the same chances as I did before the flop...if I hit the flop good, I could win a BIG pot and if I didn't, I could fold relatively cheap. So, I called.

The flop came 7-4-2 rainbow. I knew that the big blind had a big pair, because she bet $2.50. There were still 3 callers by the time it got to me, so I decided to re-raise and go all-in for another $3.50 on top of that. The big blind call almost immediately and everyone else finally folded. Well, she turned over K-K and I sheepishly turned over 7-2. I started to apologize, until a 4 hit on the turn and a Q on the river. Obviously her 2 pair beat my 3 pair and I watched her rake a $30+ pot. But, truly, it's okay, that's what I get for playing stupid cards. "REBUY!!"

With a $20 loss on the night, I reflect and realize that this is the first time I've lost money on a poker league night. That's not a bad thing when you realize the league is 70% over. I'll re-focus and try to make it so that this is the only league night that I lose money. Well, I'll try.

Poker Fund (-$20)

Poker with the wife

This weekend was actually full of poker and none of it affected my poker fund.

On Saturday, my father-in-law invited us to a charity Mardi Gras-themed casino night at a local church. The kicker is that they had daycare available, so it was a no-brainer for us. My wife had been wanting to play for awhile and I hardly ever say no.

So, we both played in a $50 buy-in (with $10 add-on) tournament which ended up with 40 people in it. It was generally full of a bunch of older guys who were just playing for fun with a mix of a few guys who looked like they were taking it too seriously. We had lots of fun playing, my wife got out somewhere in the middle, she was playing good (if not a little tight) and get busted when her pocket kings lost to a set of queens on a Q-5-2 rainbow board. She played it well, but it's just hard to see that coming.

I was playing pretty steady all tournament and ended up on the right side of the bubble in 4th place and won $75. There were some fun hands, but I'm particularly fond of the one where I had Q-6 in the big blind. It was checked to me pre-flop, so I checked. The flop came Q-Q-6 and everyone checked. Then the turn came another 6, again, I had to check because why would I push everyone out with the nuts. As it turns out, I got paid off a little when someone bet into me with an Ace and called me raise because he thought I was trying to buy it.

After getting out of the tournament, I sat down at the blackjack table with $20 and cashed out a little later with $35. It's not a lot, but I was happy to get that much. The dealer was there for fun and having a good time. He was a lot nicer than he had to be (with 21-21 pushes and hinting to players whether they should take cards). All-in-all, it was a good night with the family. Since the daughter was gotten out of daycare when the wife got out. So, both of them were wondering around and watching me play until the end of the tournament.

Then on Monday, I had the day off work and we (the wife and I) decided to go to FireKeepers casino for the day and hang out. Although, I wasn't planning on it, I decided to play some hold'em when the minimum bets on Let-It-Ride were set at $10 instead of $5. And, slots just can't keep me entertained for too many hours.

So, after I lost $50 in slots (bouncing $5 or $10 here or there), I ended up having a lot of luck with one and turned my next $10 into $110. And, Kylie had turned her first $20 into $60.

Needless to say, we were both happy and shocked to actually win some money in slots. I thought it was time to try my hand in hold'em. And, there was an open seat, so I didn't have to wait around.

At the beginning, I played a little to aggressive and loose. I played too many hands and spent $60 trying to buy someone off top pair...it didn't work. He later told me that since I was new to the table, he wasn't going to let me get away with a bluff, but he thought he was beat. I wish I had known that before. :)

But after losing my first $100, I re-bought $90 and played a lot smarter. Luckily, most of the people at the table were easy to read. And the atmosphere was friendly enough, that everyone was talking and giving away the hands they had. I was able to make my $100 back before I'd even been sitting an hour. And, since my wife was out entertaining herself with slots, I decided I'd call it a day and be happy not to have lost anything. When I cashed out, I had exactly $190. Maybe I didn't need to play my last hand for $12 preflop...K-2 is something I should fold from under-the-gun and I could have been up for the day.

While I was playing cards, the slots went back to cold for the wife. Oh well, all-in-all, we won $1 from the casino. Had a good time and relaxed a lot.

Poker Fund (+0)

Poker League - Week 6

Well, poker last night went well for me. Although, looking back on it, there wasn't very many exciting hands. I ended up in 2nd place out of the 24 people playing. And, my friend Ken ended up in first, so it was a good night all around. I know what you're thinking, Ken must be better than me....no, no, no...by the time we got heads-up, he easily had 6+ times the chips that I did. So, it was just a matter of finding the guts to push in. After me folding twice and him folding once, we finally pushed all in and he got one of his pair. No worries at all.

Of course, being in the tournament until the last hand, means that there was no time for cash games. But, I'll take a tournament cash over cash games any day.

Even though there weren't any exciting hands that I can think of, there is an interesting idea I need to mention. In our league, we had someone who couldn't make it, but they paid their entry. So, they put a stack of chips in a spot and blinded him out until his chips were gone. There is a lot of controversy about whether or not that should be allowed.

Since each tournament we earn points toward the final night, it was an advantage to the player to pay the $10 and get some point. This worked out very well for him, since his stack did better than 14 other people. Yep, by folding every hand, the stack ended up in 10th place.

So, the question is...should this be allowed in league play?

I have a few opinions on the matter...of course. But I haven't come to a conclusion yet.

The easy argument for it is that he paid his money and can play his hands anyway he wants...it would be the same as being there and folding every hand.

The easy argument against it is that he's not there and therefore shouldn't be getting points for the league.

Another thing about allowing it is that it actually discourages a player from finding a sub when he/she can't make it. So, if multiple people can't make it, they are just going to pay to get their points. And, there will me many stacks with empty chairs "playing" in the tournament...when, of course, slows down play and the amount of chips flying around a table. In addition, if 2 or 3 of those end up at the same table (by random draw), then that table won't have as many players seeing the flops and betting into the pots.

Well, I just thought I'd mention my few observations on the matter, let me know what you think about it. Should a league allow people to pay to blind out?

Poker Fund (+60)

Soaring Eagle Tournament (4/26/08) -- Part 2

This is a recap of a poker tournament I played in at Soaring Eagle Casino on 4/26/08 (Part 2 of 2). This was a Playboy Poker tournament with Chris Moneymaker also playing.

I will eventually post how I decided to play in the tournament later. So, this is part 2 of 2...part 1 to come later.

I ended up in 145 out of 179 people. But, the good news is that Chris Moneymaker (the pro) got out before me. The bits of bad news are that he had a $2500 bounty for the person to knock him out, and that wasn't me and the playboy bunny, guest player, was still playing when I got out.

Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

I'll give you a little recap of how the day went, it was a fun and relaxing event. I did have to come south from my Opening Day of Trout season fishing weekend, but I'll live...the weather was bad and the river was too dirty anyway. No one fished.

So, I drive down from Gaylord and get to the casino about 11:00. I head off to the poker room to make sure that I get signed in. I tell them that I won tickets from a radio station and they yell to the people behind the desk "Yeah, here's another radio winner". They sounded like they've had a few of them that morning. After doing the little bit of paperwork and paying for the additional add on (20% more chips for $10), I get my entry card and receipt. Well, since I was hoping not to lose too much money, I thought it best to stay in the poker room for the next hour, instead of wandering the casino floor. For some reason, that always gets me in trouble.

So, I'm standing around (not sitting, since I was hoping to be sitting for the next many hours) and noticed there was a bigger than normal crowd of guys hovering around a table nearby. Well, it turned out that they were having a special guest playboy bunny there to sign autographs and chat with the players. So, I spent the next 1/2 hour standing pretending not to take glances at her (brown hair, short, petite, cute face, red shirt, tight jeans....not that I was looking) . She wasn't in full skimpy-mode clothes, but a tight shirt and tight pants were no accident, I'm sure.

The crowd around her subsided, eventually, and she was left at the table with an old man. I was listening to her talk to this guy and was just laughing the whole time. She was pretending to be this stereotypical, innocent, ditsy, young girl who's never played poker before. Well, I didn't memorize the conversation, but I remember a few things she said which made me laugh. "I'm not really good at this" "Last time I played, I was in for 5 hours, that's good right?" "I'm not even sure what hands beat which" "They put 5 cards on the table, right?" So, needless to say, I knew she had played a lot.

Well, finally the room gets filled enough that I decided to join people in taking my seat. Of course, we're all sitting there talking about where Chris is going to sit and how much the bounty was. We may have also wished that Stephanie (the bunny) would be at our table too. Then finally, Chris comes into the poker room and everyone gets quieter. We all watch him mingle and sign autographs for a few minutes. At this point it's already 12:00 and we're not close to starting. So, people eventually start sitting down, Chris gets his seat (across the room from me) and the bunny gets hers (the next table over, but some fat guy is in my way). And eventually, they get close to starting the tournament.

Of course, I choose that time to wander over, interupt one of his conversations and ask for his autograph. He's more than happy to oblige, signs my poker recipt and continues on his business.

I decided to take the most time talking about before the tournament, because after the tournament was a little less exciting...and, as it turns out, less time. My story (simplified) is that I got a great starting hand, which cost me a lot to see the flop. Didn't hit anything and had to fold eventually. After that, I had little money and not good cards. I lasted about 45 minutes total. Oh well.

But, like I said, Chris got out before me, I think he was only in for 20-25 minutes. His story is a little more fun, but I'll give you the short version. This will make a lot more sense to people who play hold'em. He flopped the nuts straight and put someone all-in, who went runner runner for a boat. Then, he was short stacked. Soon after he had big slick of hearts, went all in when the flop came 2-2-10 with two hearts. Well, the one guy who called him had the Doyle Brunson hand (10-2) and Chris was drawing dead. End of story.

After he got out, lots of people moaned a bit, at the loss of a chance for $2500, but then we got back to playing cards.

Soaring Eagle Tournament (4/26/08)

This is a recap of a poker tournament I played in at Soaring Eagle Casino on 4/26/08 (Part 1 of 2).

Well, here's a little story about a poker tournament. It's a tournament that I didn't plan on playing in, but I'm glad I did.

I don't usually call up radio stations when they're giving things away. And when I do, I always get a busy signal. But, I couldn't help myself...they were doing poker trivia.

A little background: I listen to Rich Micheals and Deb Hart almost every morning at work. They're on 94.9 FM here in Lansing. Most Thursdays, they play some trivia game for listeners to win something. Usually it's tickets to a comedy club, or dinner at a restaurant. But this week, they were doing poker trivia for entry into a poker tournament. The tournament was up in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan at Soaring Eagle Casino. And, there was going to be a poker pro there. The pro was going to be Chris Moneymaker, the winner of the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event, and the one who is primarily credited for the huge poker boom since. Because he won his entry into the Main Event from a $40 online tournament.

Anyway, I thought that they might ask some poker hand odds or something like that. I figured I've played enough cards to be able to answer some questions.

Well, they were looking for callers 9,10 and 11. When I called, I actually got through and they said "Caller 6" and I hung up. I was more in shock about actually getting through. But I figured at that point, there was reason to call back because they would have already gotten the callers they needed. So, I reserved myself to just listening to the trivia question.

About 5 minutes later (after the commercials), they got around to asking the trivia question. So, they asked the first contestant a the question "Who is the professional poker player who's nickname is 'Jesus'?". I thought Oh My Gosh, how easy. If you watch as much poker as I do, you would know that the answer is Chris Ferguson. I know that for a couple reasons, mainly because I'm a poker addict, but the other is that he's one of my favorites. Because he, like me, has his degree in Computer Science. Of course, he's got a Ph.D. and I have a mere Bachelors...but it's fun to compare myself to professionals and think "See...I really can do that".

Sorry, I'm digressing. The first contestant couldn't think of the answer, so the second contestant got a chance. And she only knew the last name. But apparently that was enough, Rich said that was good enough and gave her the prize. Needless to say, I was a little bummed because I knew the answer and was only a few callers away from being getting a chance.

But, obviously that couldn't be the end of the story or else I couldn't have won. After the first question was answered, Rich mentioned having a 2nd entry to give away. And there was still the 3rd contestant on the phone. He asked the 3rd person the next question "Who did Chris Moneymaker (the pro who was going to be at the tournament) beat in 2003 to win the World Series of Poker Main Event?".

Again, let me remind you, I watch a lot of poker. I knew the answer, it was Sam Farha, I've seen the replay a bunch of times. Anyway, I listened to the third contestant laugh and say he had no clue. Then Rich Michaels asked "Does anyone else have a guess?". Well, I didn't think about being part of the competition, but I thought I'd call up and tell them the answer. So, I picked up my cell phone and hit redial. I don't know what I expected, but I dont' think I expected to actually get through.

The next thing I know Rich picks up the phone and asks "What's your guess?". I could tell that I was live on the radio. So, I answered him and he said "You're a winner, what's your name?".

That's was it, he put me on hold and continued on until the commercial. I just sat their listening and in shock. Holy Cow, I just won an entry into a $280 poker tournament. Holy Cow, I need to clear up my schedule on Saturday (today was Thursday, there wasn't much time). Holy Cow, I'm going to play in a big poker tournament...how cool!!

The amazing thing about it is that I was planning on being away from the family that weekend anyway. That weekend was opening fishing weekend up north in Gaylord, so my wife didn't expect me home. And, I could sneak away for a few hours from fishing to drive down to the casino.

So, as I'm sitting on the phone, I'm re-planning my weekend around this opportunity. I'm glad it all worked out. I did make it work so I was able to play. Check out Part 2 of this blog to see how I did.

Buddies

After sitting around all last weekend and being around poker at Buddies In Holt (my non-profit hosts millionaire parties on a few select weekend). Buddies In Holt has a regular poker room (run by Maverick Gaming) with a different charity every weekend.

So, the next weekend I was fiending to sit down on the player side of the cards and play.

I got to Buddies a 1/2 hour before the 7:00 nightly tournament. So, I decided to sit at the only table they had going ($40 max, $1-$2 NL Hold'em). I was just there to have fun and waste time, so I wasn't playing too many hands. I was joking around with all the people at the table, including one of the guys who would be dealing the tournament in a 1/2 hour. For the last 2-3 hands before the tournament, he was proclaiming that he's push all his chips in if he hit any of the flop, and each time I bet the $20 or so which he had in front of him. He folded each time after the flop until his last hand. Of course, on that hand, I had AA and he had 2-4, when the flop came J-10-2, he checked to me, I pushed and he called. the river came a 4, he won the pot and left to deal the tournament.

Truly, I wasn't too disappointed, I usually don't get upset with how the cards come out (I am aware that being a 95% favorite will lose 1 out of 20 times). That and we both knew he was going all in eventually, he wasn't trying to claim that his play was good or smart. Anyway, I wasn't telling that just to complain, I just thought it was a good hand to talk about.

Afterwards, I kept my $36 in cash game chips and bought into the $20 buy-in tournament. I lost my $8000 in chips before the first break. This tournament had 1 rebuy optional before the first break. So, I re-bought. And before the first break, I lost that too. In general, I was playing too many hands and folding too many times. I'm sure I could have bought a few pots, but I shouldn't have even been in to see that many flops.

Well, back to cash games for me. Besides, I had $36 in chips that I needed to get rid of. Long story short, I left the cash table when the poker room closed (2am) with $317 (minus $15 in dealer tips). I had a very good/fun night.

There was some fun stories, but in general, playing with drunk people is always a good idea.

Given to Family ($26)

Poker Fund (+$196)

Firekeepers Casino

Since, the wife and the kid, were off at a party somewhere. I decided that a Sunday afternoon was a great time to check out the newest casino, Firekeepers, in Michigan, which just happens to now be the closest to my house (45 min).

And, since I didn't have the poker room's number in my phone, I couldn't call ahead my seat. And, since I had to wait 45 minutes for a seat at the $1-$2 NL Hold'em table...I decided to sit down to waste some time at the Let It Ride game with $100. I love Let It Ride, though I hardly ever make money, it's even worse when they have a "3-card poker" option. Well, I don't think I won 1 hand, so 9 hands later, I was back to walking the floors of the new casino.

By the time I actually got to sit at the poker table, I was almost ready to leave. So, I played tight and just hung out for awhile. I think I won a few pots but nothing huge. In the hour I stayed there, I lost $20 of the $80 I started with.

Poker Fund (-$120)

Poker League Recap (1/7/2010 - 2/4/2010)

So, a few year's back (before the kid came along), I had run a few poker leagues. They were just for fun $10-$15 buy-in, 6 tournaments every other week. And since then, a friend of mine from the league started up his own, with his own group of friends. Although, he invited me, I wasn't able to commit that much time to it. However, this year is different, the kid is older, the wife's less busy and I can get out of the house at least 1 night a week to play cards. Long story short, I'm now in a poker league on Thursday nights. It's just a $10 buy-in per week and for the 1st 9 weeks, you earn your chip count for the last tournament (which includes $2 from each week's buy-in plus it's own buy-in).

I'll post some more details about the future league nights, but for now, I should just recap the first 5 weeks. FYI: Some of the weeks, I play in the cash game after I bust out.

Week #1

-- Tourney: $10 buy-in, $10 prize, 4th place

Week #2

-- Tourney: $10 buy-in, $5 prize, 4th place

-- Cash Game: $5 buy-in, $11 Cash-out

Week #3

-- Tourney: $10 buy-in, 6th place

-- Cash Game: $10 buy-in, $21 Cash-out

Week #4

-- Tourney: I had a sub this day

Week #5

-- Tourney: $10 buy-in, 20th place

-- Cash Game: $20 buy-in, $32 Cash-out

Poker Fund (+$4)

Poker Journal Begins.

I think it is time that I start using a blog more often. So, I'm going to begin using it like a poker journal. As I play more poker, this will allow me to recap, review and analyze my playing as well as help keep track of my poker fund. I will try to summarize each entry with a total in and total out of my poker fund. Hopefully, this will help keep me accountable and help me realize where I'm making money and where I'm losing money.

It is also my plan to catch up to how my poker fund got to where it is now. Since I went broke sometime over the summer, I didn't get back to playing until a $200 Christmas gift (2009). So, I'll recap all the poker since then.

I'll also probably throw in some other poker related storied that I had on my other (hardly used) blog.

Feel free to comment on any and all aspects of these blogs. I do mean this to be an informative interaction, even if it comes across (as I normally do) as a dictatorial statement.

Poker Fund (+$200)