Playing too long
Tuesday August 26th 2008, 2:57 am
Filed under: Heads Up,HORSE,Limit,No-Limit Hold'em,Opinionated,PokerStars,Razz,S&G

…especially if you’re in the middle of the worst session in ages: priceless. I’m still too irritated to even grasp what just happened to me and I won’t even dive into telling bad beat story after bad beat story as I don’t want to pay all my readers extra dollars adding insult to injury. All in all I stop playing at least four SnGs too late…still should have won some of those, but it was not to be…these days no pair no draw and being dominated is virtual gold…so I’m off to clean out my mouth as I puked in it just now…and I can guarantee you that I won’t be back for a few days…it’s reached the point again where I just can’t take it anymore…it’s one thing that the donks get insanely lucky in consecutive matches against me, but then starting to talk trash? Not my cup of tea…especially not if I’m in the middle of bad beat city where even a 90+% advantage is enough to win a decisive hand….I’m outta here…best of luck to the rest of you…and you’ll see me when I’m back (don’t know when that’ll be…but don’t expect me back this week)…



Bad beat donkaments
Sunday August 24th 2008, 1:55 am
Filed under: MTT,No-Limit Hold'em,PokerStars,Tournaments

Sometimes, it’s really weird how things turn out in those (sort of massive) online donkaments aka guaranteed mtts. I decided to switch it up a little today and abstained from playing SnGs tonight, instead I jumped into the 10k guaranteed on Stars. With a pretty low buyin of 15 + 1.5, it’s a real minefield, but hey….it got a pretty nice payout if you’re able to dodge bullets. I was able to do just that and I handed out my share of bad beats during the first hours (read: 2). One was me cracking KK with ATo on a ten high flop…rivered a ten, I had him covered…the other one was even nastier, I repopped a EP limper with Ac9c….all fold around to him…he insta-calls…oh well…what can he have…yeah….aces….I flopped two clubs and rivered the nuts….not bad. Heading into the first break I was down to 5k with a 7.xk average, not all that pretty, so I decided to come out aggressive after the break. So I open-shoved the first hand after the break and collected the blinds and antes. A few hands later I’m thinking that a shorty is stalling as we’re approaching the bubble. He takes forever…then I realize that it’s not him stalling after all as the “connecting” screen pops up….I rise and have a look at my router…the internet led is blank. Great, just the best time to have that happen…after all the blinds are high and I want action. No such luck for the next 10-15 minutes. So sick. Once I’m finally able to reconnect (after a few router-resets), I’m down to 4.xk with the blinds at 1 and 2k….great…I’m able to double up twice and then the deciding hand comes down. Setup: I’m in the BB with KK….guess what’s happening….

Shorty in MP pushes. Hmm…I’m not folding. Shorty+1 (big stack) pushes over the top. Folded around to me. Hmmm….I’m thinking “Well, there’s a good chance he’s only got Ax…am I willing to try to dodge the fourty aces in the deck?”….I think a little more, and I’m thinking “Well, if you fold Kings here, what happens if the shorty has the Ax and the big stack has a small pair or a rag ace too? No equity here…AWWWWWWWWWIN”. So I push all-in and see them flip up 33 (shorty) and AK (big stack)…my dreams of chipping up to 71+k is crushered as the flop comes down TA6…turn gives me a short glimpse of hope: Q…I’m yelling for a J or a K….but no such luck and I’m busto in 99th out of 1593….three outs got me…then again I cracked Kings and Aces early on…so I’m still up 2:1 in good:sick beats….

Summary: Played really well, had some luck – good and bad – had the worst luck – the almost 15 minute disconnect – had only 4 premium hands the whole way AA (no action), KK twice (no action; busto) and JJ…apart from that some small pair (e.g. 88 thrice doubling up early and twice before going busto)…even won a flip or two along the way…so not all that bad…I’m outta here…enjoy the pic dump (in chronological order) and gl at the tables…

cracking kings

set over set

AQ vs AJ vs AT

Winning a flip

First break

First break

First hand after the break

Disconnected

After disconnect

After disconnect

88 vs 66

88 vs KQ

KK vs AK vs 33

Exit in 99th



Giddy up
Thursday August 21st 2008, 1:33 am
Filed under: Double Shootout,Heads Up,HORSE,Limit,No-Limit Hold'em,PokerStars,S&G

Just a quick session today as there was a lot of football going on tonight, first a friendly game played at our field (won 2-1), then a friendly game of our national team against belgium (won 2-0). I decided to get a little HORSEy tonight…and I was able to bust one, lose one. Then I jump into a DS to the sunday million and I get kicked in the junk. First this sucker rivers a flush with his KQs against my AKs…then he busts me with QQ. How did that hand go down? He raises preflop. I call with Kx. Why do I call there, because I know that if I hit the flop he will pay me off, easy as that. Flop comes down KJx. Not the joint, but hey. I check. He bets pot….I repop him all-in (he got me covered by a few chips). Instacall. What does he have? QQ. Nicely played sir, thank you for stacking off. Turn Q. Nevermind….I’m outta here…gl at the tables everyone….



Poker Crack
Wednesday August 20th 2008, 1:42 am
Filed under: Heads Up,No-Limit Hold'em,Omaha H/L,Pot Limit,S&G

If you think of an action-junkie game, what games come to mind? Yeah, anything along the lines of PLO. The real poker crack is PLO8 though. Why? Because it seems that many ppl are addicted to it, but got no clue that it’s harming them. Still they want more and they keep donating and donating in the process of getting their PLO8 fix. Fine by me…I enjoyed the donations tonight. To mix things up I threw in one of the 4 player HU matches and some normal headsup matches. I won all but one. So I’m out with a smile tonight, although there were moments where I would have loved to bitchslap my opponent for making such a stupid play and of course getting rewarded for it. Then again you come to realize that that sort of wrong enforcement learning is what keeps the donks at the tables spewing chips, feeling like the world champ on their occasional win and in the end donating to the community on a regular basis. Alrighty, enough babbling…I’m outta here…gl at the tables everyone…

Oh brother

Oh brother



Gotta love it…
Tuesday August 19th 2008, 1:24 am
Filed under: Heads Up,No-Limit Hold'em,PokerStars,S&G

…when ppl get “lucky” over and over and then think they outplayed you…it was pretty brutal today and I really didn’t like the way some ppl start acting once they sucked out on you in a big pot….obv they defend their play, after all they wouldn’t have made it if they had any sense to begin with. At least I was able to finish the session on a high note cracking aces with T2o…I feel like Doyle Brunson….ahhh….not really….I love the way he played his aces though. Check the BB preflop. I flop the joint and check. He bets half the pot. I call. Turn is a blank..I check…he bets half the pot. I call. River is a king. I push…he insta-calls probably thinking he trapped me perfectly assuming that I have AK, KQ or similar….lol…at least he cried like a baby about the “bad beat”…gotta love that sometimes too. If you raise it preflop I might still call it (depending on the raise) and still get lucky, but at least you can say that you played the hand good. The way it went down, you made the decision to slow-play and it backfired…learn to live with it…I’m outta here…down a little, but not out….gl at the tables everyone…

Gotta love it

Gotta love it

Gotta love it

Gotta love it

Gotta love it



Grinding can be fun…
Friday August 15th 2008, 3:01 am
Filed under: 7 stud H/L,Double Shootout,Heads Up,MTT,No-Limit Hold'em,PokerStars,Pot Limit,S&G

…but it can be frustrating as well. I played a longer session by current standards, over 4h without a break. Nothing much going on either way, after 1MTT, 1DS and 10 SnGs I’m down 2 bucks…lol…snap. Oh well, at least I got myself into my favourite game again, a Stud H/L MTT…80 runners…almost 2h and I’m busto in 29th. It was a pretty sick run. Within the first 30 minutes I almost doubled up and was the chipleader. I was walking on water and pushing the edges…and it payed off. After that it was cooler town for the next hour. Gotta love it when you’re opponent gotta have perfect cards in the hole and/or catch them on 6th or 7th and does just that. Oh well…I managed to hang in there but couldn’t recover…in the end the antes were eating me alive so I had to push it, didn’t work out…oh well…I’m outta here…gl at the tables everyone….

Stud MTT final result

random pic dump

random pic dump

random pic dump



A little better…
Wednesday August 13th 2008, 1:00 am
Filed under: Double Shootout,Heads Up,HORSE,Limit,No-Limit Hold'em,PokerStars,S&G

…still not great though. Today I played a variety of games. Along with my bread and butter NL Hold’em, I played some HORSE as well…and a double shootout to the sunday million. I’m happy to report that I made that final table and busted out in the money…still sucks though as I lost most of my stack to a total donk on a flip (we both were short and he thought it was a good idea to call a third of his stack preflop with 86 s000ted)…I’m also happy to report that I totally busted my opponent in a HORSE headsup match….I’m not happy to report that I didn’t win a single flip today…that’s quite a few days in a row where I can’t win one (and yes I’m counting ;))…had exactly three flips today AhKh vs 88, lost that one, 44 vs 86s, lost that one, 55 vs A7…yeah…lost that one too. Oh well, at least I can log-off on a high winning my last HU match and the horse one…gl at the tables everyone….

4th



How ugly can it get…
Tuesday August 12th 2008, 1:42 am
Filed under: Double Shootout,Heads Up,Limit,No-Limit Hold'em,Opinionated,PokerStars,S&G

….pretty ugly. After almost a week of no poker I jumped back into the aquarium today and I did my best no to tap the glass. In the end I got steamrolled by the donksquad. Maniacal game – no dice, aggressive game – no dice, passive game – no dice. Somehow all the matches lasted long enough to either see the blinds get huge or me getting it in on a coinflip. I think I don’t even need to tell you that I didn’t win a single race tonight, not one. 44 vs AJ, JJ vs Q9 (yeah…not exactly a raise, I still lost), AK vs 66, etc etc….so sick. In total I played one DS to the sunday million, lost in third at my starting table on a flip, then I lost 7 NL Hold’em headsup matches, won one and won one Razz headsup match. Pretty fucking sick. Honestly…but oh well, what am I gonna do…yeah, you’re right…log off and forget about it…and that’s what I’m going to do…Holden’s Bigger Deal is waiting as a good-night read…so I’m outta here…gl at the tables everyone….



The fish, the megafish and the suckoutfish
Tuesday August 05th 2008, 12:26 am
Filed under: Heads Up,No-Limit Hold'em,PokerStars,S&G

Well, honestly my opponents weren’t all fish, but they sure tried to hand off their money tonight. My first opponent was the suckoutfish, well, looking at his sharkscope stats he’s no fish at all but he still managed to push his money in bad 6 times. After the first three I finally came to my senses and made some screenshots. The early ones were J9 vs J8 money in on a flop of KQT…basically drawing to a chop with seven outs…9 on the turn…the other two I can’t remember exactly, but they were two dominated hands once sucking out a chop and once sucking out. Oh well…the other two matches were brilliant. The first one was against a semi-decent player who thought he had a brilliant strategy…calling down with third pair all the time and sometimes with as little as one overcard. Sure enough he hit over and over and had me down to about 800 chips. Then I welcomed him to value-city, time and time again. He didn’t really have a comeback line for the good ole “Welcome to value-city, population: you” *lol*…in the end I value-bet him to death and he was busto. In the final match I won in the first hand. He’s on the button, he min-raises to 40. Now remember we’ve got stacks of 1500….deep son. I call. Flop comes down 975…yatzee. I check. He bets pot…I raise him 2.5x pot….he reraises…I shove…he instacalls and shows? A9o…yeah…TPTK = gold. Wait, not really…turn blank…and he’s drawing dead, busto in the first hand. I like that…I’m outta here…gl at the tables everyone….

oh brother

oh brother

oh brother



…and we’re back
Monday August 04th 2008, 4:38 pm
Filed under: Opinionated

The joker says thank you :mrgreen: :

1. “Script kiddies” who think it’s neat to exploit servers…
2. Hosters that think it’s a good idea to have crappy standard reinstalls with ridonkulous settings (e.g. firewall blocking dns requests)…

Joker says thanks