New PSO Promo
I've got my eyes on
these chips for my home tourney games. I bought some samples, and they're pretty awesome chips. Ideally I'd like to have a set of some nicer chips, but these will be free by the time I get them.
I just started a new
PSO promo with Poker Rewards. I need to clear 600 raked hands to get 9,000 PSO points. Tonight is my first night playing, and I"m already around 200 raked hands. Been playing the $.50PL tables, and have had some good action on there. One guy called me to the river with his J7o, and hit a set on the river to beat my pocket Q's. I lost $20 on that hand....I wasn't too happy.
I'm +$6.63 (due to the crappy J7 suckout above) so far, and should have no problem clearing this within a few more days.
I played a little limit at Poker Rewards, but I'm hooked on the Pot Limit games. I like having the option to bluff, and I don't really feel like I get that option at limit games....at least the low limits that I play. If I've got Q10 and the flop hits the Q with a few rags, I want to be able to run off those that paired their rags looking for a set or two pair. I can't really do that at limit, or at least I haven't mastered that style yet. I learned how to play the PL games at Pokerroom
(which by the way is a great place to play. If you've not signed up there, check out their other skin - powerplayer, it's the same rooms. There's a $10 cash "chip" information in my links section. It's cash, no deposit needed to try it out) and haven't gone back to the limit games as much as I did when I first started playing this game. No limit gets a little erratic for me, though I don't mind playing there every so often.
I'm going to hit a few S&G's at Pacific before hitting the rack. Hope you've had a profitable evening at the tables.
Shout Out...
Thanks for the warm welcome into the blogging community
Trip Jax and
Low Limit Grinder .
So far I'm really enjoying getting my thoughts about poker on paper. It's nice to have a place to cheer and vent.
If you're not listed on my blog, I'm more than happy to put you on there. Just drop me a line.
Happy poker-ing.
Power -- OFF
Sit and Go this afternoon at
Pacific Poker. Check out my first 30 or so hands:
Q4o; 96o; 67o; 10-3o; 3-Qo; 23o; 46o; 73c; 92c; 73o; 92o; 10-3o; 27o; 39o; 10-6o; J3s; 68o; 47o; 25o; 85d; J6o; J5o; 89o; Q7o; Q5o; 7Qo; 7Ko; 10-2o; A4.
Ok, I didn't get an Ace until hand 29, and it wasn't until hand 39 that I got my first legit playing hand, AK.
So, I weather the "cold card storm" and make it to the final 5. I start loosening up a bit, and it's working well. I steal the blinds from the guy behind me at least 5 times. He never called my raise.
5 handed play continues for 30 minutes, no one wanted to win or lose. I got down to 100 in chips with the blinds at 50/100, and worked my way up to 3500 in chips with some nice luck. I lost most of that 3500 to the guy on my left when he went all in with QQ, and I called with my 66. Flop came AQA. Yeah, that sucks.
Another guy busted out, and now at 4 players I get chipped down to 125 in chips. 3 or 4 allins later, I'm back up to 2nd in chips.
4th guy busts, and we're all in the money -- wahoo.
Blinds are at 200/400 and I've got 2800 in chips, leader has 5000, short stack has 400. I'm thinking a 2nd place finish is guaranteed. So we play a few hands, I lose a few blinds and am still in 2nd place with 2,000 in chips. I sit back in my chair, and ZAP. My foot hits the power cord under my desk. NOOOOO.
I quickly plug it back in, restart my computer, get logged in and back into the tourney. Phew that was close.... Wait, crap, I've only got 78 left in chips!! ARGH. That sucks.
So 3 hands later, and I'm out in 3rd.
Talk about a bad beat...
Spades
For some reason, I get excited when I see a spade/spade dealt to me. I don't know why this is, but I think I overplay spades too often. Rarely do I win with them (flushes, that is), and too often I get beat by them.
Tonight, 4 players left at a S&G -- I'm 3rd in chips. My hole cards come around QJs. Sweet, I fire a raise of 3BB into the pot. Short stack calls. Flop comes AQ4 rainobw. I put the short stack allin. He flips up A6. I hit my J on turn and he hits his 6 on the river. Instead of making the money, I'm now crippled and am down to 2BB in chips. Stupid spades.
2 hands later. A9d. Allin. 4 callers. Flop AsJsAc. Sweet 3 of a kind, i'm back in the tourney. Turn 6s. River rag. Someone has KQs for the nut flush. I'm out.
Piss, I hate losing.
Overvaluing Pocket Pairs
Ok, I'm sitting at a S&G last night, 5th or 6th hand of the night. So far, nothing spectacular has come down for me (besides the Ax that seem to frequent my hole cards). I'm UTG and I see KK hit my hand. Sweet, nice way to start off the tourney. I raise it to 100 (blinds were 10-20). UTG+2 calls, and 2 other callers. Flop comes 10s 4h 3d. I bet 200, UTG+2 calls, the rest fold. Turn comes a Js. I bet 350 (leaving me with 275 in chips), UTG+2 calls. I have no idea why he is calling, unless he limped with a 44 or 56. Turn is a Qs. I go all in, he calls and flips over A3s for the rivered flush. I'm out of the tourney in 7th place.
I have a hard time with pocket pairs likee JJ, QQ, KK, or AA. I know they are great hands and I want to get the most money I can for them...but too often I don't make sure I win the pot regardless. Case in point above. Had I made a bigger bet on the flop, say 500 (3/4 of my and UTG+2 chipstack), UTG+2 likely would have folded . But when that spade hit on the turn, it was almost a given that he was going to call any and all bets I made in hopes of hitting his flush. Unfortunately, he hit his flush, and I'm sent packing.
How did I lose the hand?
First, my pre-flop raise was not enough to get rid of someone with A3 suited. Sure that's a good hand with 3 or 4 players, but not with 10 players. I didn't have time to figure out if this guy was a wild caller, so there's no way for me to know that he's going to call my pre-flop raise. I think I should've raised more to isolate the overcard players, and should there not have been any of those, I take the blinds and move on. Instead, I get greedy thinking that my KK is a dynamite hand that only loses to Aces. So instead of being up a few blinds, I'm out of the tourney.
When the flop hit, my 1/2 pot sized bet was too weak, and didn't tell my opponent that I had a strong hand. If anything it told him that I had a middle to high pair, and wasn't that confident in it. I should have thrown out a 500 bet at the flop to get rid of someone who did hit their flop/draw, and move on.
Once the turn hit, my opponent was pot committed and was going to see the river regardless. SO I lost my hand on the flop.
Overvaluing a pocket pair is easy to do because seeing 2 of the same in your hand just looks so good. But, at the end of the day a pocket pair is just that, a pair. Statistically you have a 1 in 8 chance of hitting a set on the flop-turn-river, so it's a good idea to play that hand, but don't play it to bleed folks out of money, play it to win.
A good lesson to learn.
Upcoming Posts...
I'll be posting on the following topics in the coming days/weeks...
- My opinions/thoughts on the difference between online play and live play.
- My thoughts on calculating odds and how I make my decisions
- Poker Tables
- Home Games
- Where is poker going to be 5 years from now?
Stay tuned for those, and ongoing posts about poker.
Low Limits
So I made the switch to $.50/$1 Limit from .25PL this weekend....just to see how/what the action was like.
I was up $20 in about an hour due to getting some nice hands.....but I couldn't help but realize that you're just not going to make much cash while playing limit games.
For one, you can't bluff your opponents as easily as you can in PL or NL.
Secondly, check-raising is a lot tougher. I was in EP with Top Pair and Good Kicker. Turn is a rag. It's heads up between me and the Button. I check on the turn, hoping to raise when he bets out (he raised me on the flop)....but he checks and the river brings an A. I bet, he raises, and I make the crying call knowing I'm beat b/c he hit his A.
I didn't feel bad from that play because I realized he was going to call whatever bet I make on the turn, regardless.
So I went back to .25PL this morning and promptly lost my buyin to a flush on the river. My Set didn't hold.
Oh well...
Off Topic - Finger Nose Trimmer
Finger Nose Trimmer
Free $10 from Power Player -- No Deposit Required
No deposit required, get a free $10 deposited into your account for signing up at Power Player
Step 1: Click
here.
Step 2: Setup a "Real Money Account"
Step 3: When it shows "deposit options" scroll to the bottom where is says "enter bonus code or powerplayer code.
Step 4: enter code 20125 for a free $10 deposited into your account. No other deposit needed to start playing for real money.
Enjoy!
Instant Bankroll - $75 free to try out Party Poker
I heard about this a few weeks ago, and wanted to point this out.
Instant Bankroll is operated by
Poker Source Online .
Here's the gig. If you've never played at Party Poker before, (which likely means that you've never played online before) then you can sign up through
Instant Bankroll and they will make your first deposit of $75 into your account. No strings attached. This way, you'll get $75 to play online to see if you like it, or if you're good at it. No risk.
You're not going to get a better opportunity to play online than this. If you do sign up with these guys, thorw a little love my way and tell them that "demoflauchy" referred you.
Happy Online Pokering!
Sit & Go at Pokerroom
Just finished playing a S&G at Pokerroom. There was a playing at our table named "jackass62". He fit the name. Kept telling the whole table to call me when I bet because I was bluffing. Everytime I won a hand, he said I got lucky and that I didn't deserve to win the hand.
I was playing loose and was bluffing low cards every 5-7 hands or so. It actually worked really well, because folks were calling my bets later in the tourney when I had good cards. Went all-in a couple of times, and got one suckout on the river to stay alive (my A10o vs 99 -- caught the A on the river). I ended up knocking out the jackass in 5th place.
I finished 2nd after trading lots of bets/folds in a headsup match. the final hand I was the button with AJo. Flop comes 10c-Jh-8c. I bet the pot, he calls. Turn is 5s. I check, hoping to draw a bet from him. He obliges and bets a small amount, and I chk/raise him 3x his bet. He calls. River is a 5c. Board now shows: 10c-Jh-8c-5s-5c. I bet 1,000 and he reraises me all in. I look at the board and think that he's betting on the pair of 10's. I call, and he flips up 73c for the flush.
Tough way to lose b/c he never should have called my chk/raise on the turn, but he took the gamble and won. It was a good headsup match. I'm learning in headsup that you've got to make a LOT of blind bets on the flop and turn trying to convince your opponent that you've got a good draw or a good pair. There's a lot of folding going on in headsup play.
Golf and Poker
Played golf Friday afternoon, boy was it hot. Shot an awful 52 on the front nine that included a 10 on hole #1 (duffed my first 2 shots), and a 9 on hole number 8 (after losing my ball in a tree 3 yards from the fairway - that pisses me off to no end).
But....my back nine was awesome.
Hole #10 - awful tee shot into the trees next to the driving range. 2nd shot from 215+ landed about 20 yards from the gree, pin high. 3rd shot was a duff chip shot (ball was on a downhill lie, couldn't get my club underneath the ball). 4th shot was a good chip to 3 feet from cup. 5th shot - in the hole. +1 on back nine
Hole #11 - Par 5: Huge tee-shot down the middle of the fairway. 2nd shot, huge shot to the edge of the green. 3rd shot, chipped to 2 feet from hole. 4th shot, birdie. Even Par thru 2.
Hole 12 - Par 3 - 170 uphill into the wind. Mojo trees/OB on left. Missed my 4 iron to 30 yards from green. 2nd shot, chipped to 6 feet from hole. 3rd shot, missed putt. 4th shot -- screwed around and missed my 12 inch putt....was trying not to stand in someone's line, and didn't get set. PIss. Double Bogey. +2 thru 3.
Hole 13 - Par 4. Gret drive to 155 yards from green. approach to the fringe pin high. putt to 6 inches, Par. +2 thru 4
Hole 14 - Par 3. Awesome iron shot to 30 feet from hole. Thought the ball was going to be closer. Hit a great putt that would've gone in had I hit it....alas, par. +2 thru 5
Hole 15 - Par 4. Monster Drive, 260 yards. 80 yard approach to 12 feet. Lipped out my birdie putt, par. +2 thru 6.
Hole 16 - Par 4: 425 yards. Tough hole with a 40 gulch between fairway and green. Actual green is 6 yards deep by 15 yards wide.....very hard to hit in regulation. I hit a great drive, and a decent approach, but the ball rolled to the base of the green. Hit my chip to 4 feet... thought I had a straight downhill putt, but it broke 2 inches to the left...didn't see that. Settled for bogey here. +3 thru 7.
Hole 17. Par 4: 380 yards. Great tee shot (notice a trend here?), ok approach. I should've hit more culb on the approach. Putt was online, but short. Par. +3 thru 8.
Hole 18. Par 5: 490 yards. Water in play for all three shots. Tee shot over water. Layup over water. Approach with water to the right of the green. Managed a 10 foot par putt that edged the hole. Would've shot a 39 had the putt dropped. + 4.
Ended up with a 92, which is normal for me....but I played incredible golf on the back nine to get to 92.
As for poker....well, I didn't have tons of time this weekend to play. Hit a few S&G's, but didn't finish in the money in any of them.
Played a MTT today, and finished 180th when my AQ went up against AK. He hit his K on the flop and turn to bust me out. I can't fault my play, just didn't get enough breaks on the flop.
Freeroll Scratch
I thought I signed up for a freeroll at Party Poker, but alas, my registration never made it through. Bummer, there were only 232 folks who signed up for this promo through Poker Source Onlin (see link to the right or bottom of page) with $6K in cash for the top 30 place finishers. Oh well, I'll live to see another freeroll...
Pacific Poker Promotion - $75 Cash from me
Ok, here's the gig. If you sign up with
Pacific Pokerthrough
this link and deposit $100 and play 1 raked hand, I'll paypal or neteller you $75, cash. Period. this is not a "bonus" through Pacific, this is cash from my Paypal or Neteller account.
I'll need your Pacific Username and email address to confirm with
Pacific Poker. And, I'll need your method of payment (paypal or neteller).
Sounds easy, right?
Step 1: Open a
Pacific Poker through
this link. You must be a NEW Real Money Player through Pacific Poker.
Step 2: Deposit $100
Step 3: Play 1 raked hand
Step 4: Send Email to: nashvillehogfan@yahoo.com with:
- Pacific Username and email address you signed up with
- Method of payment
Step 5: Get $75 in your Paypal/Neteller account!
Please allow me two weeks to verify your information with Pacific. Email me with questions
Pokerroom Bonus
So I finally cleared my raked hand requirement at pokerrom yesterday. Got the $40 deposited into my account last night.
I played at least 400 hands that were raked more than $.50, which likely equates to somewhere around 8-900 total hands played where the rake was greater than $.50. If that's the case, then Pokerroom made a KILLING on me. That's roughly $400 just from the tables I was playing --- and I only got 10% of that in a bonus. Argh.
I was tilting yesterday as my small $30 buyin at a .25 PL ring rose to $60, and then down to $0. I was not happy. I lost a set to a straight-oneouter on the river. Lost a number of other big hands on the river. Frustrating. Overall, my $100 deposit at pokerroom has turned into $223. I'm pleased thus far. That PLUS the 9,000
PSO Points that I'm hoping to use to buy a set of
these.
Sit and Go's
So I played in a few S&G's last night. I wanted to play really loose to see what kind of impression I could make on folks. Sure enough, they realized that I was throwing "free money" into the pots, and began to call. Of the 4 I played, I won 1, came in 3rd in one, and 5th+ in the other two. Not a great night, but I had fun.
.25/.25 PL
Just played 50+ hands on this level, some good action. I got paid nicely when my flush hit on the river twice, once netting a cool $30 and the next time netting a nifty $18. Interestingly enough, both flushes were Ace high of diamonds.
The .25/.25 PL game at pokerroom has some nice action at it. Mainly I'm playing here to clear my 400 raked hands to pick up my promotion item at
Poker Source Online. In case you've not checked these guys out, you need to. They give away TONS of stuff (poker chips, cards, tables, gift cards, etc). Good stuff.
Overheard in nearby bathroom - Off Topic
Mother to son "Wipe your own butt"
Bag full of Lucky Charms - Off Topic
Ok, this is hysterical.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1467&item=5596448774&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
This guy is selling a 1 gallon bag full of Llucky Charms Marshmellow's.
MTT Tourney at Pokerroom
So I'm fairly new to the whole internet poker world (despite my illustrious blogspot domain name). I've been playing mainly at pokerroom.com because I'm on a Mac.
This morning I entered their $1+0 MTT with $500 added to the prize pool. Seems to be a fun tourney for cheap.
I couldn't catch a flipping card all morning. Doubled up twice with A-4o when I was all-in with less than 600 in chips. I was short stacked all morning and didn't catch any flops that I saw. I think I drug 4 pots the whole morning, but never made my stack above the starting chip count of 1500.
Finished 119/582. Not bad for not catching cards, but that's only because I was playing premium hands b/c of my short stack.
I think I've played in 12-15 of these $1+0 tourneys, finishing in the money
once.
I'll keep playing, hoping for a final table at some point.
Dash Blog Test
Testing DashBlog from my OSX widget section
We'll see how this goes...
I know there are a thousand blogs out there about poker, but I thought I'd share a bit of my poker life. Who knows, maybe it'll help folks out.
La la la :-)
