Well, well…I’m back from my expedition to cold deck mountain and boy, it was a fun ride (and nope, there’s no rant following ;))

Played a shorthanded turbo SnG, played patiently…ran queens into aces. Played a HU match…won it in two hands. Played another headsup match, freezing cold out there. It was probably the sickest match I’ve ever played. Boats, boats and more boats, two pair over two pair, runner runner flushes, runner runner boats, the whole shebang. My opponent finally put me out in the 133rd hand when he flops a straight and my flush (and chop) outs don’t come through.
After that match I’m sitting here and all that’s left to say about tonight’s play: gg, better luck next time.

As for the poker movie(s): I guess I’m reaching the saturation point when it comes to poker movies/tv shows. I’m still a big fan of HSP and I even watch the HU championship, poker after dark (once they finally get to some new tables again) and the occasional WPT, but all in all, it’s just not THAT exciting anymore. Tonight, I had a sneak peak at “Lucky You” and I’m not going to spoil it (so everyone that’s looking forward to watch it: you’re save), but come on…it’s all the usual stuff and the “climax” aka end game…yeah….right…this one isn’t going to make it into my “top poker movie/show” list, which would be…

1. Rounders

2. HSP

3. WPT

4. Cincinnati Kid

5. WSOP coverage

6. NBC stuff (HU, PAD)

or (Rounders/Cincinnati Kid), (HSP, WPT, WSOP, NBC)…atm…

Well, well…wouldn’t you know it…today is the blogfather‘s birthday. Head over to Al’s post for the birthday wishes and some (not work-safe pictures) 😉

With that out of the way, let’s get back to the daily poker donkport errm report. I played my usual stuff today, although at first a level higher than normal, then I dropped back to the normal (donk) level. Why? Not because I was on tilt or anything, I just didn’t feel too good about my play tonight. I started of with some 6 handed action at the higher level and the donkey ratio at my first table was basically 6:0…(6 regular players: 0 donkeys) no donkeys at all….nice! I bubbled when I ran A7 s00ted into AK s00ted…not funny three handed, but what can you do. In the next one, the donkey ratio was higher, but not all that high either…it was 5:1…and I got into some nice hands against the one donk, surprise surprise. He starts of like a madman and bluffs off two thirds of his stack in the first ten hands. In one of the next hands I look down at AsKs and when he does the squeeze from the cutoff, there’s no way I’m folding. He calls with the mighty 57 s00ted. Errm yeah…nicely played…flop 689…gin! So there goes one third of my stack. Win some lose some and I get involved in a hand with him again. He sucks out on the river (K8 s00ted vs my JJ) and I’m crippled…and he sits out. Nicely done sir. I win some small pots, but I can’t get any action and once the blinds hit 50/100 I’m left with less than 5BB…so the next time in the BB I push with Q9…get called by Kx…and the King holds up, I’m busto in fifth. Grrrr. Oh well…only two played so far, didn’t work out the way I hoped it would, but I’ll be back at it.

After that I played some headsup, again, one level above my normal (donk) level and I split the first two matches. After that I didn’t feel like playing anymore, but I decided to crush some morons at the donklevel to win some of my money back – that worked out pretty nicely…2 out of 3…so I’m quitting for tonight down, but not out.

As for the WWdN tonight: I won’t be playing. Yes, it’s only another 30 minutes until it starts, but I got an appointment at uni tomorrow and I don’t want to be all that messed up by playing until 5am or what not…so gl…and nn…

…that’s the realization of the night. I played in my usual donk level shorthanded SnGs and if the cards, and maybe even more important the patience to wait for real monsters, are with me, there’s no way I’m losing – apart from the (usual) hands where you push in with 85-95% edges and get outdrawn. I’m so comfortable at these (micro/low) levels now that it’s not a real challenge anymore – well, tbh there is a challenge, a big one, and that’s to stay sane amongst the biggest donkeys in the game 😉

So…I guess I’ll do what I promised myself, time and time again, and that is moving up at least one level. I’m really patient and careful and all, especially when it comes to bankroll concerns, but the bottom line is that I either gotta pump more money into the roll (which I don’t feel like doing atm) or take “the plunge” on a medium bankroll and see where that leads me. The upside of it is that this should not only help my game (moving out of the comfort zone, at least a little), but it should also help me to stay sane – assuming that the donkey ratio is more like 2:1 instead of 5:1…we’ll see…I’ll probably have the first results soonish, although I’ll take my time, so I won’t jump to any quick conclusions…wish me luck…

…oh I almost forgot…the results for tonight’s quick session: 1W, 1x 4th…

Tonight we played our regular home game. A total of 12 players showed up including one newbie. To make a long story short, as usual, the newbie won. I don’t know what it is, but it seems that every time a newbie shows up to play (s)he either got the goods, get’s lucky or both and takes it down – fine by me.

We started out with two six handed tables and early on I got some hands (AK, AQ, AJ) and took down some small pots. Then it was time for one of the first bigger pots. I raise it up preflop (4BB) with Ac10d. One player out of position calls. Flop comes down all rags two clubs. Check…I check…turn brings the 10c…so I got top pair, nut flush draw…he checks…I bet…he reluctantly calls. River brings the Js. He checks and I got the feeling that the jack hit him. I check behind and he takes it down with KJo. Hmmm…well…no comment…here’s your lolipop 😉

I chip up again winning some small pots and then the hand comes down. I look down at 66 and pop it preflop…I get one caller…incidently the same player that chased me down in the A10 vs KJ hand…flop comes down QJ6 two spades…gin! He bets…I call…turn brings the Ks…hmm…he checks…I take a stab at the pot and he reluctantly calls, commenting “if you’ve got it, you’ve got it”…river is blank (5c)…he checks…now I’m thinking, hmm….when the flush hit, he made that comment, which leads me to believe that he got something good here, too…so I decide to check it down. I say “trips”, he says “I knew it, you probably have the better hand”…and I’m “uh oh” he shows JJ for the higher set…damn. I lost half my stack…although I guess I lost the bare minimum there, so I can’t fault myself here. I pondered a push on the turn…then again…he would have probably called me down and I would have been busto…so…what can you do.

The blinds are starting to get big, so I have no choice but to push a few hands later. I wanted to do it blind, but I didn’t and I see JJ…push….SB calls…showing presto…flop and turn are blank and the river is….5….presto = gold and I’m busto….so much for the “main event”.

We wait for some other players to bust out to start our sidegame. This sidegame will stand out for a while as one of the craziest hands ever was played in the very first hand. Some players, including myself, limp, LP pops it…everyone folds around to the BB who calls. Flop comes down 7J7. EP leads out…LP pushes…EP insta-calls….what do they hold? LP JJ for top boat…EP 77 for dem quads bitches! Wow! Turn and river are blank and we got our first casualty. As it’s the first hand we allow the unlucky player to rebuy and he’s going to be “Mr. Rebuy” from now on…brutal way to get your nickname 😉

After stealing some pots I’m still getting low on chips so I decide to push with one of the next hands…once I look down at 44 there’s no turning back and I get called by AKo. Flop is ace high…turn brings the king…river is blank and I’m busto…

All in all I can’t fault myself for any of the plays I made…I put the money in with the best, apart from the set over set hand, and hmm…I wasn’t running good…what can you do…nothing much…so…I had fun tonight, but the cards weren’t with me…better luck next time, which will hopefully be soonish…there’s just nothing better than live cardflinging with friends 🙂

Well, well….not much poker today…although in the end it was a good three and a half hours. I started off with some shorthanded and HU action on Pokerstars. I busted out fourth in the shorthanded SnG when a donk called my all-in dominated (AQ vs A8) and rivered the three outer. I won the HU match and it was almost time for Kat‘s friday night blogger donkament.

…and a donkament it was….crazy…crazy action…a record of 170 rebuys!!!

I didn’t take notes, so most hands are a blur. I got some hands, I sucked out a few times and I got sucked out on some times. The biggest accomplishment was playing fearless poker, even when the rebuy period ended, dropping about 10 hammers and some velvet hammers in the process, raising and reraising with them like crazy from any position…all too fitting my exit involved the hammer again….although this time Waffles held it and outflopped my treys…good fun…with his insane stack of over 70k he should be able to take it down tonight…let’s see if that really happens…I’m going to catch some sleep now…5:29am…final table is underway…but I’m too tired to rail and I really need the sleep…the next live (home) game is tomorrow…errm later today…nn and gg…

Edit: Waffles did it, took down first…nice one…

After a pretty rough week of uncertainty (university stuff, still not completely sorted out), I jumped back into poker action today.

Just a little shorthanded SnG action and some headsup. Took down the first shorthanded SnG, took 6th in the second one (always fun to see some call you all the way with K2 s00ted catching a gutter ball at the end). Took down the headsup SnG after withstanding the urge to jump into the trash-talk-chat my opponent started…always fun to let the cards speak…especially if your opponent is so occupied with chatting (or monologuing) that he’s bluffing into the nuts like crazy, time and time again.

So…all in all a nice little session…hopefully a little more poker soonish…once the university stuff is sorted out…wish me luck…

Not much poker going on today…only some minor cashgame donkeritis (finished slightly up) and one shorthanded SnG (W). Poker is always fun when you win…end of story.

Some pimpin: don’t forget about Al‘s Blogger Bracelet race on Full Tilt tomorrow. Unfortunately I won’t be able to play as I’ve got some important meeting on monday morning, so playing a tourney which starts at 1am monday morning (my time zone) isn’t really an option this time…

1. Register for friday blogger donkament rebuy madness (TM), proudly presented by Kat.
2. See that there are two players registered, including yourself, five minutes before the start of the tourney.
3. See that there are three players registered, three minutes before the start of the tourney.
4. See that there are two players registered as the tourney is about to start.
5. Think about why there are only two players. Check out Kat’s blog and realize that she posted the wrong password which will keep all new players from registering.
6. Play headsup in a rebuy tourney. Hi on_thg. GG, sort of 😉
7. Be slightly annoyed after losing the first bs hand (two pair vs flush draw?!….flush on the river).
8. Be slightly pissed off after the second bs hand (AJ vs 97, all in preflop…A-10-8…turn blank…river J…97 rides the magic carpet to a straight on the river).
9. Be elated after winning the next hand for all the marbles (AJ vs A2).
10. Be totally pissed off after losing the next bs bs bs hand (K9 vs A9, flop AK9…lol…yeah right…cold deck mountain…here I come…).
11. Rebuy a final time, down 1:4 in chips…tell your opponent that this is the final rebuy…bust out by running Q5 s00ted into Kings (btw where’s my running flush here?! 😉 ).
12. Sit here, type this post.
13. Curse bad luck in headsup recently.
14. Realize that after the latest software upgrade the hand histories weren’t saved to disk anymore (hence the ?! in 7. as I can’t remember if it was two pair, overpair or top pair I had there).
15. Curse bad luck in headsup recently.
16. Think about how close you came to winning a blogger tourney…lol…
17. Curse bad luck in headsup recently.
18. Smile.
19. Logoff.

Well, well…Mr. UPS man brought my new laptop today and boy, it’s not only pretty, it’s light and it’s a real monster – performance wise. Wow. Delivered in less than 24h, installed/configured in less than an hour and I was off and rolling…now I can finally play wherever I want in the house…alright…it’s nice to play on a 22″ screen, but I’ll take some single or two table action on this one any day when I can lay my lazy behind down on the couch 😉

So…I played a little and won my first two headsup matches easily. Lost the third one. Then I switch to some PLO8 and I just couldn’t get a break. I was almost down and out…grind my way back…almost down and out…grind my way back…but every time I was back to even, or close to it, a ridiculous hand came down…just like the last one…KK23 double suited for me….AA34 double suited for my opponent…and yes, he has the same suits as me…go figure…nut flush vs second nut flush and I’m busto…wack!

After that I played some more HU and I dropped two matches…after that I really didn’t feel like playing anymore. It’s just that I’m stuck. Recently, I’ve had a few “good runs” and a lot of “bad runs”, but basically some of the bad runs were self-induced by either a) not quitting after getting (slightly) tilted or b) getting impatient against moronic players – what’s the point in playing flips against a donk who can’t win straight up? Well, the point is that if you get impatient and tell yourself that you’re “due” to win a coinflip, it isn’t the best decision you can make…

So…I guess I’ll either rest a little for the next few days or switch to some MTTs again as this SnG stuff is really wearing me down. I would really love to step up another level, but it wouldn’t be a wise decision as the roll is just not big enough for it…or would you start playing with a roll smaller than 20-25 buyins? I don’t think it’s a REAL bad idea, but then again, once you get into a little stretch where you drop three, four or five in a row, it’ll certainly have an effect on my play (“scared money isn’t smart money”), so I think I’ll have to stick to the currently level for a little longer…although it’s hard…playing against Donky McFish and Fishy McFish-Fish day in day out…

*lol* I still can’t stop laughing about this one fish. Yes, he was my downfall in a six handed PL 5-Card-Draw SnG, but hey, I’m still laughing. The setup was perfect, it’s early on in the SnG and I’m on the button. I look down at two pair, Queens and Deuces…not a monster hand, but good enough for a raise, especially as all players limped in front of me. So I pop it up to 100. SB folds…BB calls…BB+1 calls…BB+2 calls…BB+3 calls. Hmm…exciting. Let’s see how the draw goes. BB draws 3…BB+1 draws 3….BB+2 draws 3…BB+3 draws 3…I draw one…a brick. Nothing new there, but what the hell is going on here. All those guys called a +4x raise preflop OOP and now they’re drawing 3?! What the hell? Ever heard of starting hand requirements? So I’m guessing there are two guys with Aces and god knows what the others have. BB leads out. BB+1…folds…BB+2…folds….BB+3…folds…errm yeah…I raise…BB ponders long and hard, or at least it seems that way, and he raises….hmm…must have caught good my friend…I call…he shows? Fives full of fours. A friggin boat.

Quick rewind: he calls +80 preflop with a pair of fives OOP. He draws three. He draws what? Not only one of the remaining fives in the deck, but also a pair. Three perfect cards! Are you kidding me?

So after that hand I’m off to a real bad start and I lean back, curse my luck, go off a little in the chat and focus on the game again. A few hands later…I hold two pair again…my donkponent get’s involved again…draws three again…I draw one again…a brick…what does he show? Trip sixes…he called again preflop with his huge pair of sixes and drew out on me. Nice. Down but not out. A few hands later…I look down at a pair of Aces on the button…I pop it up AGAIN…my donkponent get’s involved again…I draw three, bricks, he draws three…what does he show? Aces and Kings with a queen kicker…hmm…not bad…yuck.

After those three ridiculous freezers (although the last one isn’t a real freezer, but let’s just say that hand #1 was an ultra-freezer and #2 was a freezer, so the average should be freezer), I’m down to roughly 320 in chips and the next time I start with two pair again…another opponent get’s involved…he draws three…I draw my usual brick and he shows his set…gg me.

Now, why am I laughing so hard about that fish in particular (and this SnG)? Well, tbh, I should be crying, but it doesn’t matter and it won’t change anything, so I might as well laugh it off. I mean come on, someone drawing three perfect cards, then 1 perfect card, then two perfect cards…can’t do much about that, now can you? Not really…so nothing to be mad about, especially considering the two following things:

1. I told the fish that the only way he could win anything would be if he was lucky and as soon as his luck ran out he would be busto in no time. Now remember, he got ultra-lucky against me and held over 4k in chips when I busted in 6th. Sure enough my prediction rang true as he busted in 3rd. *lol* good job there.

2. I look him up on Sharkscope and this is probably the BIGGEST fish I’ve ever seen. Honestly, tell me, how can you drop nearly 5000$ playing 5$ SnGs?! Poor sucker…

But enough about that SnG, I only played one headsup match after that disappointment and who did I play? A player from Stuttgart…well…that’s 20km from here…middle of the night, half-way across the world (pokerstars) and who do you meet at the table…a fellow german…lol…cool stuff. I won the match easily as he managed to bluff off his chips like crazy…and sharkscope says… …hence the title of this post…

In other news, I finally ordered my new laptop today. I was looking around for months now and it seemed that I just couldn’t find “the” perfect model. My requirements were:

1. max 14.1″ screen…15.4″ screens are fine, but having a 15.4″ screen means that the things is at least 16.x” wide (15.4″ + frame)…usually models sporting a 15.4″ screen are heavy (around 3+ kg)…and due to the big screen the battery runtime is usually low(er) too…

2. decent vga…integrated intel and stuff is cool, but not really…especially as I tend to hold on to laptops for quite some time (I bought my current laptop, an IBM Thinkpad, 6 years ago), so it should be at least up to par now so that’ll still be “okay” in a few years…

3. at least 1GB of ram…better 2GB…dual channel…yadda-yadda…

4. don’t care much about hdd size but 80GB would be fine and a DVD burner would be nice too…

5. shipped with Vista

6. not the most expensive one out there

7. service…at least two-year warranty with at pickup service or better…

8. screen resolution of at least 1024×768…but preferred would be some widescreen format (e.g. 1280×800)…

Given those requirements, it was a real hard task to find a compromise between some of them – 14.1″ models are usually far more expensive than 15.4″ models as 15.4″ is the biggest seller these days, so I guess the panel prices are way cheaper. Some models are still only available with Windows XP. Other models have 14″ screens, but only a 1024×768 resolution. Some models are looking good in pictures, but when you touch them in real life, they feel cheap and not really fit for everyday operation. etc etc

To make a long story short, I finally decided to go with the new Samsung R20-Aura line. There are only two models available in that line, so not much to chose from, but they are exactly what I was looking for. The difference between the models (Deva / Declan)? They’re exactly the same…except for the CPU…so chipset, ram, video card, hdd, dvd burner, software, everything is the same…

Deva – Core 2 Duo T7200 (2x2GHz, 4MB Cache)

Declan – Core Duo T2350 (2×1.86GHz, 2MB Cache)

Now, I always want to go with the newest stuff and all and a Core 2 Duo system would be nice, but I decided to go with the Core Duo model. Why? Let me explain…

Yeah, Core Duo isn’t the current line of Intel mobile processors, but it’s a kickass CPU and probably more CPU power than I’ll ever use (as this notebook will be used as a mobile computer, not as a desktop replacement) and you just can’t beat the price difference. I ordered it with 2GB of ram, 120GB HDD, DVD burner, Vista Home Premium, the whole shebang…and what’s the price difference between the two models (which are exactly the same minus the CPU)? 400 Euro (that’s roughly 545$)…you can keep your 2 between the Core and Duo for that fellows 😉

…the best thing is that I ordered it this afternoon and they called me up five minutes after I had placed my order to confirm everything. The said it would be shipped tonight and earlier on I received a mail with the UPS tracking code…wheee…it really left their shop tonight and now, in the middle of the night, I just rolled into the UPS depot for my area…so…I expect to be playing on and with it tomorrow…the excitement 🙂

Specs:

T2350 – 1.86GHz Core Duo

2GB Ram

Ati x1250 video card (max 256MB, which will leave me with 1.79GB of ram)

120GB HDD

DVD-Burner

Vista HomePremium

14.1″ Widescreen WXGA screen (1280×800)

Piano-style finish (shiny black)