"One Week" - Barenaked Ladies & Now For Something Completely different.

So we're changing things up a little bit. I decided to bore you less times a week, but now blog posts have MORE action packed reading (YMMV). You are welcome faceless Internet people!

So if I had not explained before, let me take a step back and give you some background.
This whole thing, all of the poker talk, the poker posts, the poker blogs have been leading to ONE thing.... I am playing in World Series of Poker Event #14 $1500 H.O.R.S.E.  on Wednesday June 5th.
This will be the first WSOP event I have played in exactly 10 years, to the month.
And for those who might be wondering "what is HORSE?" well it is:
Hold'em (limit)
Omaha Hi/Low
Razz
Stud
Stud Eight (Hi/Low)
This is a game I used to play A LOT online prior to Black Friday, and I played $6/$12 cash game HORSE at the Venetian my first trip to Vegas in 09. I liked it because you really have to know a mediocre level of strategy in EACH of the 5 types of poker to really be successful.

So that leads us back to Saturday May 4th. I went to Talking Stick, because I have been playing TONS of limit Hold'em but I haven't really played much Omaha Hi/Low in awhile (Razz is a fairly easy and straightforward game, plus no one offers it as a cash game, and both Studs are hard to find out here. It was abundant at Foxwoods).

I was going into this day planning on losing $100 more, so it was mainly a day to get back into the grove of reps  playing O8 again. I tried to keep notes as the beginning as you can see, but with 08 its just too much. Entire hands change based on a single card (even more so than Hold'em) so up and down is a constant issue with this game. ultimately i was down almost $100, got back up like $30 bucks, then ended up losing $151.
My major issues for this session was card selection, and folding when I know I have no good draws and I'm beat.
Disappointed, but not unexpected with my lack of O8 playing in many many years.

This was a disappointing night overall, even though I did walk away with $97 profit. It should have been $100+ more.

Notable hands:
Me: QQ
Raise pre-flop and get a ton of callers.
Flop is Qx-10x-Xx
Guy to my right bets out, I raise, 1 guy calls, the bettor calls. Turn is blank, River is blank, only guy who called me all the way was the guy to my right. I showed set of Queens, he mucked a set of 10s. (+$130)
16 minutes later...
Me: QQ
Before it gets to me, there is a raise and a re-raise, so I keep it going and re-raise again. Original raiser caps the betting
Flop: Qx-Xx-Xx
We did it again ya'll. Held through the turn and river to push us to up +$216 for the session almost 2 hours in.

Then began a looong slow sinking to only $50 up. Gradually that was replaced by a slow but steady climb back up.

Next big hand...
Raised with AJcc flopped an A, bet the whole way, river was a Jack to make 2 pair and take a decent sized pot. 11 minutes later, raise pre-flop with KK bet the whole way and it holds on showdown which gets us to the highest point up ($222) of the day around 8:30. At this point is almost 4 hours in, and I really should have walked, because I immediately got way too splashy and did a dumb thing like bet my AJ on the river when a third spade hit thinking Id scare someone who had a K in their hand but not a boat (KKx on flop) out of calling. Yeah, that didn't happen and I took a decent sized hit.
Finally left an hour later with only $97 to show for it.

The Thursday session was legit crazy. I was down $78 relatively early (mostly due to bad luck like this:
Me: AxQx
FLOP: Ax-Ax-Xx
 Guy first to act bets, I just call
Turn: Xx
Guy bets again. Pretty sure with this bet he also has an Ace, so I want to find out how good it is. I raise, he just calls. I'm fairly certain I'm ahead here.
River: 2x
There is no way I could know this a bad card for me. He checks, I bet again, he raises (but did it kinda shady when it looked like he just called but the stack he put out was bigger than my bet) so I know im only getting raised by a boat of some kind here, but I call it down anyway. He had A2 of course.
So that was the early hit.
BUT. This was a splash pot bonus night with the Dbacks game on, so I was able to scratch my way back into it.
The first good hand I had was with J9 and I flopped the nut straight. Held all the way to the river betting the whole way. That got me up to only $3 down.
The next hand I won was a splash pot. This is where they toss $50 in the pot and basically everyone limps in with any 2 cards to see who gets lucky. I had my always lucky hand 57. Flop netted me a 7, and I decide to call the flop bet because why the heck not. Turn was a 7. My A2 nemesis bet and I raised. He muttered how he knew I had a 7 but ended up calling me the whole way anyway. Made almost $100.
Later on had pocket 8s, flopped an 8. Raised the flop, bet the turn and got raised by a made straight. River paired the board so I raised after he bet and took it down for another $50ish bucks.
The next splash pot I had Q3o and ended up chopping it at the end with Q2o. good for another $60. It was on a downward spiral from there. Including a big loss when my turned 2 pair actually made some one's straight. But then good old AQ netted me another $80ish pot when I outkicked opponents A10. Left after 5 hours with a $146 profit.

And finally to last Saturday. We journeyed back to Talking Stick to play more Omaha Hi/Low. I was armed with the knowledge of my loss last week and I was determined to make much better hand selection this time.
We had some success early, then it started to tank a bit. I don't remember any specific winning hands until THE hand.




Our Hand: Jd-9d-9h-10x
Limped flop (as it usually is).
Flop: 9s-10d-Xx
Checks to me, I bet. 2 callers
Turn: Qd
I feel like Im still ok, but obviously very vulnerable to a KJ or even J8, both possible hands.
I bet, 2 callers.
Flop: Kd
Alright, so you all see what I have right? Well. I am 100% tunnel vision on my set of 9s getting flushed away. It checks to me and I check.
I announce my set of 9s, flip up my cards to ACTUALLY LOOK AT MY FREAKING cards, and say "oh I guess I have a King high straight flush". No low possibility so I scoop the pot and look like an idiot. 
The dealer when she leaves chuckling says "Now remember, always bet your straight flushes on the river".
Anyway, I was up at most $120, and when I got down to about $50 up, I wanted to leave to maintain a winning session and I did!

The overall winning week pushed out Net Winnings since Mid-April to $937. Thats almost 2/3rd of the way to the $1500 target I was aiming for with my WSOP buyin!

This week I will be playing: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday all at VQ followed by another Saturday trip to Talking Stick for Omaha.

Thanks for reading!

This Is What A Poker Grind Truly Looks Like

Wow, what a fraking night.We signed up for both 4/8 and 3/6 because I just wanted to play and the 4/8 ended up firing first.

When I first started playing at the local casino last year, 4/8 is what I mostly played, and did pretty well at, until I went on a pretty sick losing streak. This includes one night dropping 600+ which I didn't really think was possible at low limits.I took a major hit in my bankroll and it slowed me down from playing poker for a bit.
My problem, as I have come to realize, is I was trying to play 4/8 LHE like they play 4/8 LHE at Foxwoods. At Foxwoods, its a step up from the wildly donktastic 2/5 "anything goes" game, but mostly now its just regular grinders. Its why I failed to beat that game too, I didn't recognize how important hand selection is, at that game.
4/8, as well as 5/10 & 6/12 here locally is basically Foxwoods 2/4 with more money. Its VERY aggressive, and if you git the right table on the right day, every hand on every street has capped betting and you really don't know what might win. I have heard people mention over and over they either "want to win big or lose big".
So my mistake, as was really evident now, is that even though I have a tighter hand selection than most of the people here, I was still playing too many hands, and in terrible position.
This also is a good time to bring in the topic of "table selection". Normally, say at a Foxwoods, you can change tables if the table style is not where you want to be at. VQ has anywhere between 1-4 tables going at a time so its not really always an option. When your choices are "play or not play", well you tend to want to play.
Which brings me to about 2 weeks ago. While waiting forever for a 3/6 game to fire, I jumped in a 4/8 game. The style of play was mostly tight/passive but there 1-2 people who were aggressive and raising. I ended up making 200+ before giving about half back. The lady to my left even commented how she wished could be as disciplined as me. I told her "losing a bunch tends to make you reassess your game".

So yesterday was a similar scenario. I threw my name up on both lists, 4/8 gets called and the table that sits is older so it seems like it will be an easy table to run over a bit.
(Looks at poker session chart) So yeah, about that. It was fine at first, the very first hand I had AJo in late position, EP raises and I call. We end up checking to the river and he shows AK. I got involved with the same guy not too much later and he beat me again. It was a fairly quick drop to the first rebuy. Within an hour, I needed to buy back in for $100, and it didnt get much better from there.
I took a big L from the crazy player that sat down. She was down a buyin already then switched seats. Then this hand happened:

Our Hand: AQo

Pre-flop action was a straddle, and 4 raises (20 bucks to see the flop)

FLOP: Qx-4-x-4x

Bet in front of me, CL calls, I raise, call and CL calls

TURN: Jx
Still feeling ok here. Checks to me, I lead out, call call

River: 8x
Checks to me and I just check. I show my hand first for Qs and 4s with A kicker, first guy folds and I think Im in the clear when CL turns over her hand late and shows 10-9 for the rivered straight.
This is the kind of poker you see at the crazy action 4/8 tables here. Why did she call 20 bucks in EP with 10-9? Why did she call 2 bets on the Flop with NO DRAW? Turn bet I cant fault her for calling, but still none of that playstyle makes sense and thats what happens all the time.

Not too much later, I get involved in another pot with her where I made 2 pair on the turn, another made 2 pair on the river, but CL made a set with my 2nd pair card. Down a buyin and a half after not even 90 minutes of play.
I end up buying in again for another $100 not too long after that.

I finally win my first hand when AQ flops a Q and holds up through the river for a smallish pot.
The first biggish pot I won not much later played out like this:

Our Hand: 8c-8s

Flop: 8h-6h-2d

Someone bets, 2 calls, and I raise. I hadn't really shown much aggression, strength our anything over the course of my stay so I really wanted this to look like a flush draw raise. 3 callers.

Turn: Ax

Checks to me, I bet, 1 caller

River: 2x

Checks to me again, I bet, get called, show my boat for a decent size win. That is the good thing about 4/8 is is that a mediocre 20-30ish pot at 3/6 turns into a 50ish+ pot at 4/8

Won 2 more smallish pots while draining the bankroll. Then I take another nice pot with 2 pair from Big Lick (6,9). Won a hand with KJ when I flopped a J. Another when my A8cc flopped an A and held up through the River.
Got scared off by a new aggressive guy while holding 10-10 on a J-9-8-x board and he ended up winning with high card A(AQ).
Next hand with the mighty 10-4 sooted I flopped a flop of 10-10-x and added more to my stack.

The last big hand of the night, I made a mistake and I'll walk you through it, but ended up being a HUGE pot for me.

Our Hand: As-4s

Raise pre-flop which we smooth call because we are the button

FLOP: 9c-2c-8s

Bet in front of us and 2 callers, and HERE is where I make my mistake. I think I have A2ss. So I'm calling here to catch an A/2 to see if I can win with 2 pair.

Turn: Xs

Well now I have to stay right? Theres a bunch in the pot and I have a pair of 2s with a nut flush draw.
Bet, call, and I call again.

River: Xs

And naturally I hit the A high flush. I remember there was a weird straight flush possibility but i was just going to smooth call a re-raise. Checks to me, I bet, get both callers. Win with my A high flush, to complete the trek from $193 down at one point to now $63 up.

Ended up giving some back before taking off at 10:30, but just winning something felt like a major accomplishment when I wasnt getting any cards and the rivers were not going my way.

Until next time, thanks for reading!