A New Year and Live Poker

Okay, so a few things. One, I didn't make get my $325 year-end Ironman bonus because I didn't qualify for Ironman at all in December...I was downswonging and didn't feel like playing. Too bad I didn't fucking know that I had to qualify for Ironman in December in order to achieve my bonus...!

So, I show up at the game 30 mins early (So I guess it took me an hour to get there...I started driving at 6:30, so there was lots of traffic). My friend Alex's game is like HALF the distance from my house it was before in its new location, and it's pretty sweet. Security guards/cameras, full bar, legit food...though I requested a Corona with lime and was not given it L They were so fully-staffed- it was sick!

So, onto the game. I bought in for $500, it was a 1/3 (with a semi-occasional $6 straddle), and avg stack on table was $300-$400 to start. I ended up stacking someone the FIRST hand when I open 57cc to $15 (standard raise at this game), get one coldcaller from a woman in MP. Flop is AQ3, all clubs. I cbet $20 into the $33, she raises to $40, I 3bet to $70, she calls. I'm a little worried, because she looked like a nit, but I stuck her in for her last $130 or so on the blank turn, she rolls over AQ, river bricks, I scoop the $400 pot...sweet start!

I stacked someone the very next hand but I forgot exactly how- stack already at $900!

One hand theres a limp from this straightforward Indian dude, raise to like $20, two calls, I call with 77 from the bb, and Indian limper calls from UTG. Flop is like K42r. Check around...turn is an 8, bringing two clubs on the board. I think my hand is good, so I donk out for ~$40 into the $65. UTG thinks a bit and calls, and everyone folds. River is an offsuit 7. I check, he bets $75, and since I figured that this looked like a two pair/Kx valuebet, since he'd have to bet bigger with the straight, I c/r him to $200. He tanks and is like "did I like you get there?" and calls, tabling 88. He jumps out of his seat and goes "Yes!" He later apologized to me, but I didn't care.

Later on, this old Asian dude, whos really agro from LP, raised to $20 after a limper, and got one caller from the CO. Button folds, and I make it $100 in the sb with A9dd (because he LOVED to call reraises...my hand played well postflop vs his very loose calling range- stacks were ~$600 because I had dwindled down some from $1000 after some gay beats like 77 to 88 etc). Flop AK3, one diamond. I check, he checks. Turn is a 9, making two clubs on board. I think a bit and bet $100 into the ~$240 pot, he thinks a bit and calls. River is an offsuit 4, and I think about 5 seconds before shipping. I contemplated whether to go for the c/rai, thinking if he was more likely to have JT/club draw or something that missed the river or a hand that could call a shove...and I leaned towards him not having a draw. He TANNNKS for like 4 mins and finally calls, mucking his hand but showing an ace (no way he had a better ace because he's a fish).

So, I have ~$1100 or so, and there's a $6 straddle in play. I open UTG+1 with AA (I think with the Ah) to $24, MP cc, and I get another two callers (YES action at this game...!). Flop is K82, two hearts. First two players check, I bet $60 into the ~$85, MP (fairly straight-forward Indian who's decent with $600 from the 77 to 88 hand) minraises me...folds around and I think a bit and call. I'm worried about a set, but I'm obv not folding. Turn comes an offsuit 7. I check, he bets $175; based on his bet-sizing and timing, I knew he didn't have a set, so I c/rai on him for $225 more- he thinks a bit and calls, river is an offsuit J, and he mucks what he said was Kx, saying he put me on an FD. GG him

One interesting hand that happened before all this was I had ~$700, that Indian guy limped UTG for ~$800 (this was after that 77 to 88 hand, so he was feeling cocky), and Button limped (decent Arab dude that didn't get out of line much at all and was very straightforward). I look down at JJ in the BB and bump it to $20 more, and they both call (wtf?). Flop is 99T, two diamonds. I cbet $40 and get raised to $90 by the Indian guy (wtf?)...and Arab guy instaships all in for $300. I tank and fold the JJ (and I had the Jd), and Indian guy goes "well I can't call now...I had 77" and folds, and the Arab guy eventually says he had Tx with a draw...wtf? This isn't PLO...the way I saw it was that I had to be right SUCH a large percentage of the time, because it's possible (though unlikely) that the Indian guy has 9x, and the Arab guy ships over a raise AND a reraise. Even though I have a loose image, and he's probably never giving the Indian guy credit for 9x, I still put him on 9x or a gooood draw. I figured my equity in the pot wasn't good enough to call another $300 for the Arab dude's all-in...plus the Indian guy could reshove and make my life HELL. Yes, I had a blocker to the straight and a decent diamond for backdoor equity, but it was such a weird spot...I was thinking about c/c or c/r the flop, but I decided a lead would get more value from my hand than trying to induce these fairly tight players to bluff or something.

I ended up walking away from the game 6 hours later exactly, winning exactly $1600...pretty sick for a 1/3 game! I will hopefully play more live soon- and apparently it will be bumped up to a 2/5 game soon.

I'm a little frustrated because my debit card was frozen because it wouldn't work at a gas station, so I went to another right away, and another etc, and apparently gas is something FREQUENTLY purchased with stolen credit/debit cards, but I fortunately worked out everything on the phone today. Due to the debit card being stolen, I was not able to renew my CR membership! So this blog is probably coming a little late... (Writing it on Friday, January 3rd)

So, I will yet you all know what I'll do with the online money, but I'll keep playing live games when I can (though the rule is poker never takes precedent over social life). Tonight, I had nothing really beast to do (besides a shitty party I coulda gone to), so I thought it'd be a legit night to relieve my itch for live action. I have a lot more confidence in my game- I think I don't give online players enough credit, but I play amazing live (imo haha...the game isn't particularly hard).

So what r the goals for '09? Well, '08 was a pretty successful year, though very unsteady. The tilt problems that had disappeared had slowly came back...or not tilt, but not playing my A game and not managing losses correctly. I improved a lot as a player in '08, but unfortunately the personal management skills still were lacking.

In '09 I hope to play more live, regrind my online roll eventually and just grind NL$200 6max and maybe NL$400 6max, as well as NL$100 and NL$200 HU. I will use better game selection (though I've game selected for a while decently), and I will work on paying attention to my PT.

I watched a groundbreaking thing from DogIsHead from DeucesCracked, talking about balancing your ranges. I think I've become too robotic, so I'm going to try to vary my play some. I thought before it was better to have your ranges polarized, but now apparently it's best to balance them. What I will do is try to polarize my ranges in certain spots but keep them balanced a majority of the time. I will also work on not giving off any internet timing tells.

I'm sorry I don't have a ridiculously-groundbreaking year-end post! '08 was more about fun and life changes while transition from being a senior in high school to a college freshman, striving to be an active member of my fraternity. '09 will be about separating poker from life, and seeing the overall big picture. As far as live goes, I played ENTIRELY PERFECT tonight (except for one hand...I'll show that below this paragraph). I drank one red-bull, had no candy, and had some bomb-ass beef with broccoli from my friend Alex's (host of the game) Chinese restaurant. I had a great rhythm tonight, and I think I raised the perfect frequency to get me good action but not get reraised a ton or shit. I didn't have any brainfarts or try any elaborate bluffs.

The hand in question that I misplayed:

Hijack limps (fishy player that's deep), old asian guy that played vs my A9dd that hand raises to $20 (this is before the a9dd hand though), Button calls, SB calls, and I pop it to $100 with ATo from the BB. I figured out he was aggo by now and opening a lot of hands. Hijack limper folds, Asian guy thinks a bit and calls, others fold. Flop is Q56r. I bet $85, he calls. This is my first squeeze, so I figured a flop bet should get a LOT of respect. Turn is a 9, bringing a flush draw...I check, and he checks. I figure he can certainly have made two pair with the 9, or adding more outs to his 57,58, 6, 68, or even a random float would make him not fold the turn. The river is an offsuit six, I check, and he fires $150. I tank, show my hand face-up, say "well, you would have bet the turn with a Qx or better, so you either have a 6 or nothing." He wouldn't vbet the river with any random hand with showdown value, like 9x, and he's capable of floating the flop randomly and checking behind the turn for a free card, so I called, and he tables 62ss (nh sir). Everyone berated me, especially that Indian guy, but I busted him on that hand where I had AA J

So, tonight was a successful night and a confidence booster, and I'm very pleased to start out '09 like this! '09 will not be a groundbreaking poker year, at least I don't predict, as I'll be working on getting my grades up and fraternity stuff; however, I plan to really select when I play online, play within my online roll, and REALLY hone in on every play I make and why I make it, not go off for a big number in a session, and analyze my play after a session with PT (or sending ppl hh). I hope to get back to NL$200, or at least play online occasionally if my friend loans me money and I'll cover my losses (if I decided not to try to grind up my $500). If I can truly consider poker a legitimate job, and separate it from all other aspects of life, expect big things from me. Who knows...maybe I'll even try to move up to as high as 5/10nl (unlikely because I most likely won't be able to handle huge $ swings without it taking over my life), or possibly even winning a seat to a live tourney :)


Above was my old blog post I made on the 3rd...I had to renew my CR subscription, and I was too lazy to get around to it, so that's y the post is coming late.

I played another live game session, where I was in a juicy game and up about $1k in like 2 hrs. Here are the two hands that screwed me over:

Like 4 limpers, so I iso-raise to $30 with AJo (this 1/3 game plays big, but there was most likely a straddle to $6 on, though I'm not 100% sure). Everyone folds, and like the 2nd limper (UTG+2) says reraise to $100 (psycho overaggro middle-aged asian guy). I think a little bit and shove for $350 effectively or so. He goes "I know you have Ace King I call" and rolls over 33. Flop is 664, turn K, river 2. Woot woot, I brick vs a fish. I say to the guy next to me "I'm gonna bust him."

My friend Alex, who got me into the game, stands right behind me 10 mins later. With him standing behind me, I get AA. After a straddle to $6, I open Button to $24 ($1.2k stack). That dumb fat bastard that won with the 33 before reraises to $75 out of the BB ($1.1k stack). I actually put him on a really strong hand, and though about getting it in preflop, but realized he'd prob just spew it off/bluff it to me postflop. Flop is 662, two hearts; he fires $100...I think a bit and call. Turn is an offsuit Q; at no point in the hand did I put him on QQ. Id say his most likely holdings to me were TT, JJ, AQ, and AK. He bets $100, I raise to $250, he calls. River is an offsuit K, and he open ships for ~$600. I call pretty quickly and he THROWS down KK emphatically and yells "I KNEW IT BABY!" I wanted to end his family's life while he watched right there...everyone is like "sooo sickk" lol. That piece of shit kept saying how he knew that I had AA and that he was folding if the river wasn't a K, which is total bs, cuz he's a massive calling station (I didn't know this until the AJ to 33 hand, when I noticed he played like a goon).

I ended up losing $100 in that game, so I'm still up $1500 at that live game, and I may even go back tonight if there's nothing doing with my friends.

I plan on just getting money on the finger from friends and playing NL$100 or NL$200 6max 4tabling whenever I'm feeling my best, and I know I'll eventually win in the long run. I'm still running badly, and eventually managed to bust my roll. This monitor from FTP was prob part of the doomswitch.

I'm going to definitely gear my game to more live than online, just until I can get a roll of like $2k+ online to play NL$100 or higher. I don't feel like depositing, and I don't feel like playing lower, since I just can't care enough and it's a waste of time. I could be playing live instead of online at NL$25/NL$50, and I feel that I'm giving up too much equity by not playing higher. I'm srsly like the biggest deposit-nit ever.

Winter break's been a lot of fun though,and I hope to get in a few more live sessions, a few more nights of drinking,etc, and I'll be happy. I'm actually looking forward to school starting up because I'm looking forward to seeing all my brothers/pledge brothers, as well as raising my shit grades.

Overall, 2008 was a decent success, and I got a ton better as a player, but 2007 was more successful. In 2008, I tried my hardest to fix the problems I had before, and I did a pretty good job for a decent bit of the time, but a decent bit of the time doesn't cut it; I need to play responsibly 100% of the time.