Single Malt Poker

2004-04-09T08:54:00.000-07:00

Tailgunner!

Check out the new celebrity blogger: Ditty

Check out the new poker blogger: Tailgunner's Poker Paradise

Finally won a live tournament on Wednesdays at Phils. Unfortunately I can't really remember too many hands to give you the rundown. Here are a couple:

6, 7 handed, Nintzel (loose) raises, Phil (solid) reraises I wake up with Queens. I figure nintzel on something not so great but worried about Phil. I hope he has AK not KK or AA but figured nintzel would call my all in meaning I'd be getting good money for my coinflip with Phil. Anyways Nintzel and Phil call, Nintzel with JJ and Phil with AK. At this point I am happy with my decision. I am happy with the outcome when my ladies hold up. I think this knocked them both out of the tourney, but anyways it gave me alot of chips.

I didn't really play too aggresively with my large stack: a) it's not my style b) some of these guys I knew I would get callers on preflop raises alot. figured I'd pick my spots instead.

Finally got down to heads up with Barry (pretty wild) after a tough 3 way battle with Erin and Barry. Mistake: Had Ax(4, 3, 2?) and raised preflop which was called. Flop came A 8 x. Bet of 1000 which was 1/4 of my chips or so. For some reason I had a feeling he had a higher ace so I folded. Big mistake cause he said he had K 8 or something similar. I just had a feeling here and I was totally off. Later had KQ when flop is Q x x. All in by him which obviously I call in a second. Again he had second pair. I would have called with any Q here cause he acted the same as the last time. Lesson is don't give your opponent information. This gave me the chip lead and eventually I won.

2004-04-05T09:41:00.000-07:00

Hey hey

I'm back with a little post. You should check out ditty's blog, which he actually updates regularly. Oddly enough alot of blogs haven't been updated in the past week so maybe my lack of updates wasn't so bad after all. Been playing live games and that lately. Stepped on the internet on saturday, 3rd in $10 SNG, 2nd in $20 SNG and up $25 in NL cash. Not too bad.

I haven't had good results in our tournaments and cash games lately. I have figured out a couple things I am doing wrong and won't make the same mistakes again. I have been more happy with some of my shorthanded play. Another tournament on wednesday, where I'm hoping to make a good showing.

2004-03-11T07:15:00.000-08:00

Hey,

I'm too busy to post anything these days or play much poker.

2004-03-04T09:08:00.000-08:00

Blog Me Sweet
According to pokercharts I am up 94 dollars in the last 4 days and I have spent 10% of my waking life playing poker this week.

Played in live tournaments the last two nights. Tuesday night I played at Phil's I played like garbage in the relatively inexperienced field of 7 and got knocked out 5th.

Wednesday night was the Tieds Invitational tournament for the top 8 people in the Sayville Poker Tour. Tough competition. I played like garbage (until it got down to the end and I picked up some cards). Ended up first (it was winner take all Erin and I split it - I had more chips). That's luck for ya I guess. I need to work on a couple things I'm doing wrong.

I'm not going to be playing for a couple days now at least. I dunno if I'll play online again for a while. Maybe a bit on saturday or sunday when I'm working from home :-(

2004-03-02T13:13:00.000-08:00

Playing Online
I played online for the first time in a while last night. Had a decent 1/2 session. Tough suckout on river in NL 25 but that's poker.

Recently, I've had alot more fun in live games than online. I'm playing another one over Phil's tonight. I started using Poker Charts to track my results. It's a good way to track your live game stats. I am currently +64 (after that big sunday tournament only).

I guess most obviously it's the social aspect that makes me enjoy live games better. Also I feel like I'm better able to concentrate and have a bit of fun. Alot of times playing online feels like a chore where my only goal is to be up money. Maybe there's an attitude shift necessary. Or I shouldn't play online so much. Prolly some goal would help me enjoy online play more. We'll see where that goes.

2004-03-01T07:14:00.000-08:00

New post

Played in two big live tournaments last week. Wednesday's I got 4th out of 12 to get my money back. In Sunday's big tournament I finished 3rd out of 29 to take home a decent profit. So that ends the Sayville Poker Tour season, it was alot of fun overall. It's alot to host a game every week with all those people so I wouldn't do it like that again.

I finished 4th in the final rankings based on my performance in the last tournament and the other big tournaments. I regret losing my way in the middle of the season and posting some bad results. The good news is I feel like my game is turning around when it comes to live No Limit tournaments. I'm hoping to continue this momentum this week.

2004-02-22T18:46:00.000-08:00

Ouch - PokerGrub Tourney

Played in Poker Grub tourney tonight. Finished a disappointing 26 (out of 32). Could never get anything started. Played poorly at the beginning when I lost more chips than I should have on marginal hands. Biggest hand that I lost I had AK vs AQ suited. Flush came on river. It was my fault cause I wasn't betting. I had a feeling after flop I should have raised big but I'm an idiot and did not do it. Don't really know why but I never found a groove. Final hand: AJ vs TT all in before flop. Flop comes with an A. Turn is a 10. Goodbye.

2004-02-22T08:19:00.000-08:00

Tournament stats:
Tournaments entered: 9, Net profit: $51. Avg Place: 3.78

Played two SnG's yesterday. Finished out of the money in both. I was very tired and rundown yesterday so I figured I'd quit there because I wasn't at my best.

First one lots of people got knocked out in the first two rounds. I lost one hand early - had AK, raised 200 preflop. guy called with J 6 - then he had 150 or so left. Flop came Q 6 x. Didn't see any point to betting cause I knew the guy would call no matter what he had and otherwise he would prolly just check around giving me free cards. On flop and turn he made a couple min bets which I called (with another guy) trying to catch a king or ace where I knew I'd be good. Lost showdown to his pair of 6's. Got knocked out with J 8 in BB. flop came J 8 10. Went all in with 2 pair. Someone had the Q 9 for straight. I couldn't get away from the hand since I was the shortstack and couldn't wait for much better than 2 pair, even with the straight out there.

Second tourney blinds 100/200. UTG raises min to 200. I had AK suited in BB. Had 800 left. Figured I'd push it in there since his bet was only min and I had him on an A and a card lower than mine. The table had been real tight and folded to every raise I made. He thought for a long time, called and turned over 10's. It's going to be race. Ya I lost.

Today is the big day. Unfortunately, something is wrong with Party and it doesn't have any single table tourneys running. I wanted to finish up my SnG practice.

My plan for the next week:
Monday, Tuesday: no poker. Wednesday: Usual live tourney. Then I will start playing 1/2 and plan on moving up to 3/6 for a test run at that.

2004-02-21T05:43:00.002-08:00

Live Mixed Cash Game

Played a mixed cash game last night with a bunch of friends - 8 to be exact. It was limit where we rotate choosing the game (casino games only), then everyone deals one round of that game.

Pretty crazy game with a diverse group of players. Overall very loose aggressive wild zany. I love these kinda games as it gives me a chance to play something different than hold em. I wish Party had tables like this, where the game rotated between hold 'em, omaha/8, stud, razz, etc. Prolly a pipe dream cause how many people would sit a table like this. Well I know I would, often. Or how about some online multievent tournaments?

Nothing really exciting happened to me. Didn't play alot of hands but I was down in the beginning and came back nicely which made me happy. I included some pictures below.

Two hammer wins on consecutive hand. First one both Gregg and Tom stay in a hand raised preflop. Flop comes 7 3 2. Tom and Gregg go back and forth. Turn and river were blanks I believe (for this hand by blanks I could mean ace then a king). Gregg flips over 3 2 for two pair and Tom turns over the HAMMER for a bigger two pair. Awesome. Next hand, Tom and Gregg tangle again. Bet, raise, etc throughout the hand. Board is eventually 6 6 x 7 7. Tom turns over 6 x for full house. Gregg turns over 7 2 for the bigger HAMMER house. The hammer claims two hands in a row between the same two players. The hammer giveth, the hammer taketh away.

Today I need to play some more SnG's in order to practice for blogger tourney tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to this one. Interested to see how people play. Not too confident cause I know No limit tourneys are not my game and there will be a bunch of people better than me there. But you never know. I just hope I dont embarrass myself and make it onto all the blogs by some horrible play.


Doling out the chips	Shuffle up and deal	Tom, Erin and Phil.	Me looking err stylish.	Me looking err stylish again. Pass the Alize, I will only take one sip!

2004-02-19T16:41:00.000-08:00

HAMMER!

I am continuing my tournament preparation. I'm really looking forward to getting back to limit games. These tournaments start to wear on me after a while.

Tournament stats:
Tournaments entered: 7, Net profit: $73. Avg Place: 3.8

I was home "sick" from work today. So I played in 5 $10 SnGs today. Started off poorly with a 7th then a badly played 3rd then a 4th. Finished off the day with a 3rd and a 2nd. I was playing nice and tight overall by the end of the day - once I started concentrating more. Both of the 3rd places were because once I got in the money I immediately started playing too aggressively. The opponents weren't that good so I should have been more solid. I basically went all in on the first hand. That's something to work on for sure so I can bank a couple wins.

I also played some $25 NL hold em while I was playing tournaments. Made a decent showing at it. Had a couple of classic hammer hands right in a row with some good commentary. Sadly enough for the first half an hour, I only won two hands, both with the hammer. Here ya go:

***** Hand History for Game 403440081 *****
Quminati: i've got caught bluffing enough that you would figure someone would call me
0/0 TexasHTGameTable (NL) - Thu Feb 19 18:32:47 EST 2004
Table Card Room Table 2631 (Real Money) -- Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: lumps3 ( $22.25)
Seat 2: cinnamonbear ( $20.75)
Seat 3: il122 ( $29.95)
Seat 4: herschco ( $37.80)
Seat 5: Deceptikon ( $35.85)
Seat 6: bbenson5 ( $37.95)
Seat 7: Crow8 ( $18.85)
Seat 8: ssomega ( $7.50)
Seat 9: Quminati ( $43.85)
Seat 10: DoctorBee ( $15.75)
Deceptikon posts small blind (0.25)
bbenson5 posts big blind (0.50)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to lumps3 [ 7h, 2d ]
Crow8 folds.
ssomega folds.
Quminati calls (0.50)
DoctorBee folds.
lumps3 calls (0.50)
il122 folds.
herschco folds.
Deceptikon calls (0.25)
bbenson5 checks.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 5s, 6c, 8s ]
Deceptikon checks.
bbenson5 checks.
Quminati: hey whtchit before i give you a forth lump
Quminati checks.
lumps3 checks.
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 3h ]
Deceptikon checks.
bbenson5 checks.
Quminati checks.
lumps3 bets (2)
Deceptikon folds.
bbenson5 folds.
Quminati folds.
Quminati: =D
** Summary **
Main Pot: $3.90 | Rake: $0.10
Board: [ 5s 6c 8s 3h ]
lumps3 balance $23.65, bet $2.50, collected $3.90, net +$1.40 [ 7h 2d ] [ high card eight -- 8s,7h,6c,5s,3h ]
cinnamonbear balance $20.75, sits out
il122 balance $29.95, didn't bet (folded)
herschco balance $37.80, didn't bet (folded)
Deceptikon balance $35.35, lost $0.50 (folded)
bbenson5 balance $37.45, lost $0.50 (folded)
Crow8 balance $18.85, didn't bet (folded)
ssomega balance $7.50, didn't bet (folded)
Quminati balance $43.35, lost $0.50 (folded)
DoctorBee balance $15.75, didn't bet (folded)
lumps3: dropped the hammer!
Quminati: WTF

***** Hand History for Game 403463304 *****
0/0 TexasHTGameTable (NL) - Thu Feb 19 18:44:20 EST 2004
Table Card Room Table 2631 (Real Money) -- Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: lumps3 ( $22.90)
Seat 2: cinnamonbear ( $20)
Seat 3: Yoghurt ( $24.50)
Seat 4: herschco ( $54.40)
Seat 5: Deceptikon ( $35.35)
Seat 6: bbenson5 ( $35.45)
Seat 7: Crow8 ( $15.75)
Seat 8: ssomega ( $18.75)
Seat 9: Quminati ( $52.35)
Seat 10: DoctorBee ( $9.75)
Yoghurt posts small blind (0.25)
herschco posts big blind (0.50)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to lumps3 [ 2s, 7c ]
Deceptikon folds.
bbenson5 folds.
Crow8 folds.
Quminati calls (0.50)
lumps3 raises (2) to 2
cinnamonbear folds.
Yoghurt folds.
herschco folds.
Quminati folds.
** Summary **
Main Pot: $3.25 | Rake: $0
lumps3 balance $24.15, bet $2, collected $3.25, net +$1.25 [ 2s 7c ] [ high card seven -- 7c,2s ]
cinnamonbear balance $20, didn't bet (folded)
Yoghurt balance $24.25, lost $0.25 (folded)
herschco balance $53.90, lost $0.50 (folded)
Deceptikon balance $35.35, didn't bet (folded)
bbenson5 balance $35.45, didn't bet (folded)
Crow8 balance $15.75, didn't bet (folded)
ssomega balance $18.75, sits out
Quminati balance $51.85, lost $0.50 (folded)
Quminati: lol
lumps3: shoulda called me I wanted to see flop
Yoghurt: if u got the balls u deserve it, ;-)
Quminati: i had 8,3 off suite
lumps3: ya 8 3 o ain't playable
herschco: the hammer haaaaaaaaaa

the hammer comments continued throughout the game. good stuff!

Quminati: fuuckin pocket deuces
Quminati: they never win
lumps3: ya you need one of those deuces to turn into a 7

Quminati: damn chicks with cowboys
Quminati: you seen her with the cowboysd, i thiknk she loves the hammer

2004-02-17T18:40:00.001-08:00

I played one $10 SnG on Party tonight. I was on quite a bad streak, losing 4 in a row. Now it's prolly been a month or so since I played any tournaments online because I no longer found them profitable or fun. Too many tough losses for too little profit and even less experience.

I fire up the Party and hop on a table. Start off playing real tight. This has been a problem in my current losing streak. I was mixing up my play and making what I consider to be strong plays, at least for me. Big all in bluffs when the other player is weak, etc. Problem is I would get called by hands that shouldn't have been in the pot but turned out to be winners. And I felt like more of an idiot cause to be busted with 2 8 offsuit, the fish must have thought I was a bigger fish.

I was playing this way attempting to practice for the relatively tough competition at the Blog tourney and in our SPT tournaments. Sadly enough I had to change this up. Make a long story short, in this tourney I was down to 160 with 5 players left. I caught some decent hands, got lucky and crawled back into it. I was mostly being a MIS (move-in specialist) and the table was tight so I stole alot of blinds.

When it got down to three players, I was still real short with about 1000 to the other players 3000 each. I again caught some good cards and kept going all in and managed to make it to heads up. It started out with him having about 6000 to my 2000 so I was just feeling lucky to be here. I actually paid attention the whole tourney so I felt like I had a beat on how he played, he wasn't that great, so I figured maybe I had a chance. Here is the pivotal hand:

***** Hand History for Game 399523239 *****
500/1000 TourneyTexasHTGameTable (NL) (TOURNAMENT 2338274) - TUE FEB 17 19:58:39 EST 2004
Table Card Room Table 4929 (Real Money) -- Seat 7 is the button
Total number of players : 2
Seat 4: COBRA_VENOM (4760)
Seat 7: lumps3 (3240)
lumps3 posts small blind (250)
COBRA_VENOM posts big blind (500)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to lumps3 [ 4s, 2s ]
lumps3 raises (1150) to 1400
COBRA_VENOM calls (900)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Qh, Td, 4c ]
COBRA_VENOM bets (500)
lumps3 raises (1840) to 1840
lumps3 is all-In.
COBRA_VENOM calls (1340)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 7s ]
** Dealing River ** : [ Ah ]
Creating Main Pot with $6480 with lumps3
** Summary **
Main Pot: 6480 |
Board: [ Qh Td 4c 7s Ah ]
COBRA_VENOM balance 1520, lost 3240 [ 9d Jd ] [ high card ace -- Ah,Qh,Jd,Td,9d ]
lumps3 balance 6480, bet 3240, collected 6480, net +3240 [ 4s 2s ] [ a pair of fours -- Ah,Qh,Td,4s,4c ]

I had attempted at least twice to steal from small blind by making an exact bet of 1400. So I did it again here. I must admit, I don't know why I kept doing this. Typically he called and we saw the flop. After he bet the 500, I had a really good feeling my pair of 4's with the worst kicker possible was good so I went all in. Thankfully I was correct and I won the tourney soon after. I consider it a recklessly good read with the two big cards on the flop but that ace on the river was real scary.