…after last night’s beautiful double shootout, I really thought about going back to the double shootouts, but it just didn’t feel right. I wasn’t really tired, but not focused enough to play 2 hours, so instead I decided to play some headsup and a turbo double shootout SnG – 8.8$ a pop, six handed, winner get’s a ticket (aka T$ 215), places 2-5 receive some cash, so not a bad proposition.

Turbo, low buyin equals major donkdom. So I sat there and waited and waited and waited for a playable hand to surface, it didn’t happen. The only positive thing was that within the first two orbits two players were already gond – downside: they dumped their chips to the other players. Finally I look down at a semi-playable hand with A7o and decide to steal…get repoped…try to re-resteal…instacalled…okay…he wasn’t restealing…I would repop it with AA, too…oh well…there goes my tourney life.

After that I played five headsup matches, won three of them and called it quits for the night, being down under a buck (due to the rake). It’s almost time for the friday night blogger rebuy madness (starts in under 5 minutes), but I won’t be playing tonight…too tired…need some sleep…gl all and may the donkforce and auto-rebuy be with you 😉

So…play in donkster land began at the HU tables, but I was really fed up after the first match. It was over in less than a dozen hands as I couldn’t shake the sbhs (second best hand syndrom)…Qx vs Qx…queen + both kickers hit the flop etc etc. So I hopped into a double shootout to the sunday million. I like it when the first table isn’t full (just like my main man, smokkee, a field of seventy or slightly under that is groovy), so the 63 players suited me just fine. My first table consisted of 6 players and I played it close to the vest. Don’t fool around, especially not in the first few orbits – get settled in and watch the first few donks make their mistakes and if you’re lucky enough to hold a monster, reap the benefits.

Soon enough we lost our first player and once we lost another one, I got some hands and busted the next two players. As headsup started we were about even in chips. A few hands later I was ahead 2:1. A few hands later he had a slight chiplead as we headed into the first break. Some small pots and a big one was all it took (I caught him bluffing) and I won the table.

After that all the others and me waited for another half an hour before the final table was finally set. With 10 players at the final table I once again told myself to play it close to the vest and so I did. Two orbits of folding and the first player is already out. So we’re down to nine handed and I look down at TT in the cutoff. Two limpers and I pop it to 4BB…EP calls…MP min-raises…uh-oh. We both call and see a flop of JT2…yatzee…EP checks…MP leads out 1/4 of the pot…I repop him…EP (who’s short) pushes over the top (just another 2xx more) and MP calls…hmm…decision time…let’s assess the situation…EP called preflop…EP check-pushed, being short…hmm…flush draw? straight draw? TP?…who knows…but he’s not the one I’m worrying about…MP…repop it preflop and lead out…hmm…the only hands I’m really worried about are JJ, KdQd, KQo, Qd9d, Q9o or AK…given the repop preflop I put him on a higher pair (hoping that it wasn’t jacks), so I pushed over the top and he reluctantly called after some deliberation.

EP shows 8c9d, idiot end OESD + backdoor flush-draw, MP shows QQ…let’s not get unlucky here…turn 6…river 8…EP is eliminated and MP crippled…down to eight handed and I’m sitting there with 4k (15k in play, blinds 10/20). Wheeeeeeeee….from the on out it was almost comical. I folded practically every hand, as did most of the others. One player tried to steamroll the table and it worked out for a while. He crippled and/or eliminated some players and was sitting pretty third in chips (3 get a ticket)…that didn’t change a thing though…we’re down to five handed and it’s one big stack (4.5k), then the steamroller (3.9k) then me (3.8k)…the steamroller raises every pot, every single pot. The big stack finally calls one of his raises and they see a flop which is queen high with two diamonds. The steamroller fires a cbet…bigstack smooth-calls on the button. Turn brings a third diamond. Steamroller bets BIG. Bigstack on the button pushes…steamroller calls…showing 2d3d…bigstack on the button shows? KdJd…cya mr. steamroll….

Mr. Bigstack just turned into Mr. Hugestack (8.2k) and we’re down to four-handed, ITM (fourth get’s 29.x$, top three get the ticket). I’m sitting in second…still pretty with 3.7k…the other two are virtually even with 1.5 and 1.6k. I’m still in LDP mode and I see a lovely trend…the player on my left folds practically every hand. About twenty minutes later he’s finally blinded down to 3BB…he pushes…Mr. Hugestack calls…shorty doubles up to 900…still only 6BB with the blinds at 75/150. The very next hand he pushes again…Mr. Hugestack calls again…shorty shows 99…hugestack AcQc…ace on the flop and shorty is busto….wheeeeeeeee….ticket time 🙂

Needless to say that I’m not going to play in the “big dance”…but doesn’t it look good?!…

…yeah, sure. But this does look even better 😉

I’m off…nn…

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…

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…