The Blunder Of It All

Got out of work early today, so the wifey & I drove to Foxwoods for a cash giveaway (Jen won the guaranteed minimum of $25, no new car for us). Against my better judgement, I decided to play a little $1/2 NL. Bought in for $200, and watched the middle-aged doofus of a guy to my right check/call all the way with pocket fives on a T-T-9-x-x board, and win. Also saw him call a flop bet, then push his chips in front of his cards - but not across the betting line - on the turn before the guy in front of him could act. It was obviously an attempt to get the other guy to check and see the river for free, so I set my sights on this angle-shooting loser(ASL).

A couple of hands later, ASL raised to $8 pre-flop, and I looked down at A-Q (I feel Hurricane Mikey, Doyle Brunson, and Phil Ivey all cringing as they read this, lol). I popped it up to $23, hoping to get heads-up, which is exactly what happened...nice.

The flop was a beauty: A-Q-9, rainbow.

ASL checked, and after thinking for a couple seconds, I decided to check my two pair as well. This was a huge mistake, since he'd probably call a bet with a lot of worse hands, and I'm only losing to A-A/Q-Q (not likely since I have A-Q) or 9-9.

The turn brought an eight, putting a second heart on the board. ASL checked again, and NOW I decided to bet the $30 I should've bet on the flop. ASL instantly said, "All in," without touching his chips.

I thought for a minute...does he have J-T for a straight? Maybe. Does he have a flush draw? This is a possibility, since he made such a huge raise (he had more chips than me, and I started the hand with about $230). I usually read over-raises as some sort of semi-bluff/drawing hand...plus he didn't move in his chips, which I also read as a sign of weakness. He could also have A-8 for a worse two pair than me, so I decided to call.

Or he could have pocket eights for a set. And of course ASL slow rolled me, showing just an eight, then sliding the top card over to show the other one underneath.

After he hit his two-outter, I missed my four-outter on the river and had to payyy the man heees money.

My usual routine after losing is to go for a long walk around the casino and think about why I lost. Of course the first thing I thought was I should've bet the flop and been happy to take down a $50 pot. But maybe he calls anyway and I still lose my stack, making for an even more lividing exit from the poker room. But I'll never know since I didn't make the correct play in the first place.

So what's worse: playing a hand wrong and losing; or playing a hand right, getting unlucky, losing, and going on tilt? I know the answer is to play every hand correctly, but for some odd reason I don't feel as bad about this hand since it was my mistake to not bet the flop.

The rest of my day at the Mashantucket Pequot Reservation went just fine, as I had dinner with our friends Dennis & Kathy at California Pizza Kitchen. Jen was on a "hot streak" at the slots, and is notoriously never hungry when in a casino, so it was just the three of us. Food was good as usual, I had penne in a pesto cream sauce with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes...yum! We yapped for a while, trading old Vegas and bowling stories. I got to tell them my tale of woe from the poker table, and they were kind enough to listen and give me some much-needed sympathy. I was definitely in a better mood when we left CPK.

I also managed to hit a couple of four-of-a-kinds on video poker, slashing my losses in half. Jen ended up losing too, but we stayed well within our budget for the day.

I just finished my nightly online poker session, and made an unimpressive $15...but at least it wasn't another three-digit loss. The fact that I'm not too upset over the last 24 hours worth of poker badness is a good sign...I'm controlling the tilt factor, which I think is a needed trait if I wish to make consistent money playing cards.

We'll see what tomorrow has in store for me...

And Then, This Happens...

Full Tilt Poker Game #7418357007: Table Monterey - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:00:29 ET - 2008/07/28
Seat 1: YKNOW1 ($122.65)
Seat 2: DieUnglaubliche ($25.70)
Seat 3: greatstar00 ($50.20)
Seat 4: lenabru ($198)
Seat 5: AlwaysLimp ($202)
Seat 6: ChkRazed ($200)
Seat 7: gocards2142 ($1,301.15)
Seat 8: Brick_man_17 ($63.05)
Seat 9: ME ($372.15)
gocards2142 posts the small blind of $1
Brick_man_17 posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ME [Ac As]
I raise to $7
YKNOW1 folds
DieUnglaubliche folds
greatstar00 folds
lenabru folds
AlwaysLimp folds
ChkRazed folds
gocards2142 calls $6
Brick_man_17 has 15 seconds left to act
Brick_man_17 is sitting out
Brick_man_17 folds
*** FLOP *** [7c 2h 5d]
gocards2142 checks
I bet $10
gocards2142 calls $10
*** TURN *** [7c 2h 5d] [9h]
gocards2142 checks
I check
*** RIVER *** [7c 2h 5d 9h] [Ad]
gocards2142 bets $20
Brick_man_17 has returned
I raise to $70
gocards2142 has 15 seconds left to act
gocards2142 raises to $180 (oh good, he flopped a set, just like the last time he cracked my Aces!)
I raise to $355.15, and is all in
gocards2142 calls $175.15
*** SHOW DOWN ***
I show [Ac As] three of a kind, Aces
gocards2142 shows [6h 8h] a straight, Nine high
gocards2142 wins the pot ($743.30) with a straight, Nine high
I am sitting out, whining in my blog
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $746.30 | Rake $3
Board: [7c 2h 5d 9h Ad]
Seat 1: YKNOW1 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: DieUnglaubliche didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: greatstar00 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: lenabru didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: AlwaysLimp didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: ChkRazed (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: gocards2142 (small blind) showed [6h 8h] and won ($743.30) with a straight, Nine high
Seat 8: Brick_man_17 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 9: I showed [Ac As] and lost with three of a kind, Aces

Yak.

A Little Self Therapy

I was going to post about how badly I want to play a big, live tournament…but doesn’t everyone?

I was going to whine about a donkey who just stacked me when he flopped a set of fours against my pocket rockets…but again, wouldn’t be very original.

I could go on about how much of a struggle it is for me to get out of bed every morning & drag a$$ to a job that’s not very fun (and harder than I ever expected it to be)…but how many millions of other people do the same?

I’d like to blog about how I’d love to just play poker all the time, whenever I wanted, from wherever I wanted, and make boatloads of cash in the process…but it’s a common poker player’s dream, I’m sure.

So instead of a dreamblogpostwhine, I’ll focus on action:

- plan a home-game qualifier to the August Mega Stack tourney at Foxwoods, or just make the drive to The Wonder Of It All and play in one of theirs

- made back about 2/3 of what I lost to the donk…play smart & solid until I post a win for the night (or get tired)

- get at least seven hours of sleep on worknights, work hard, be productive on-the-job, hang in there…until something more fulfilling, enjoyable, and lucrative presents itself

- play more poker, play more tables when I am playing, avoid distractions while playing (TV, internet, etc.), take more shots at higher limits when running good

- PLAN A VACATION! Save enough poker winnings to afford a long weekend to AC or Vegas or somewhere, anywhere with the wifey

OK, I feel a little better now, only down $13 on the night…

Battle of the Bloggers

So my wife started blogging, and has posted more in a week than I have in months! Guilted into blogging again? Maybe, but I've meant to put some posts up...honest, cross my heart.

I'm still playing a lot of poker online, primarily on Full Tilt Poker. They've been having awful problems with their payment processor, leading to lots of unhappy players (me included) who've been waiting weeks (or months) for their withdrawals. I should play more on PokerStars, but I like the FTP software better.

That's about I'll I got for now, wanted to make sure I got a post up tonight & hopefully get back into the habit.