Random Thoughts

65% is what Chip Reese considers to be a good session win rate. In the back of my head I knew this but it was interesting to hear someone as successful in cash games as Chip Reese say it. Chip was doing a two part interview on The Circuit podcast and said this plus a lot of other interesting tidbits. It was really interesting to hear how he moved up in the game.

I haven’t been playing hardly any poker. I’ve been busy with work, homework and WoW. Still enjoying WoW and not really feeling the urge to play a lot of poker yet. When I do decide to play again steadily I think it will be quite a bit of limit. I have an urge to beat that game that I can’t explain and I just enjoy the decision processes. Suckouts are temporary, +ev is forever. Ok that was stupid.

Haven’t been playing a lot of video games outside of WoW lately. I played advanced wars DS and it was good. I got to the point where I started having to do troop placement and got bored. Just give me a scenario and let me go. I don’t want to deal with that kind of detail. Played Gradius on PSP and it was awesome. I got tired of it at the point where I couldn’t get through levels on reflex alone. I’m not really that interested in memorizing game levels.

I have NCAA coming in the mail on psp and 360 so I’ll see which one if either I play. I have high hopes for the psp version. Well I think that satisfies my monthly quota, not that anyone reads this. I think I’m going to try and find some good programming books soon to try hone a few new skills.

I haven’t played any poker for awhile. I’m still quite interested but I’ve been busy with school, work and World of Warcraft. I’m sure that I’ll be playing again in the not so distant future. But I’m just taking a break right now. I keep having bad thoughts of blowing my bankroll on a new laptop or something silly like that. But everytime I think about starting with $200 again or something it stops me.

I’ve been playing World of Warcraft on the Uther server for the last month or so. I bought WoW at launch and played for a few months until my poker addiction took over and I stopped playing because I was happier playing poker at that point. I’ve worked through a lot of the poker addiction and I still find it interesting to think about but for some reason haven’t been playing much. I’m sure it will change soon.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about different things at work. I have almost completed my degree and I’m trying to think about things I can do to improve my skills and help at work also. I work for a good company and I’d like to make a difference there. To do that will require a lot of work for me and I just need to get started on it. In the past I’ve written (maybe not on here) about how I just want to excel at something. I’ve had that feeling in past jobs and I want to recapture it. It is also looking to be about that time to stop futzing around and buy a house or something. So we’ll see how that goes.

I figured it was time to change up the blog since I wasn’t posting much and I hope this will help in some way. I can’t believe the comment spam I’ve been getting. I just checked and I had 1021 comments to moderate. I’m fairly certain they were all crap because I’m also fairly certain that noone reads this. It works out just don’t post a link and your comments will get right throught. But I’m basicly talking to myself right?

I don’t usually tell bad beat stories. But this one got me to withdraw from riverstars. After seeing numerous inside straights with one card to come the last few times I’ve played I’ve now experience my hardest beat to date. I’m not mad. I’m just not going to play there anymore. Granted this play could be seen as every reason to play there because if they play this bad they must be easy to beat. I just don’t see that as true and I’ll be working over the summer to try and come up with some kind of perl script to check out how many times the favorite hand wins in showdowns.

2nd level of a turbo sng. Blinds are 15/30.

I’m dealt 6s6h in the big blind. UTG raises to 90, utg+1 calls, mp calls, button calls, sb calls I call. pot is 540.

Flop comes 2d6dKd

SB checks, I check, utg checks, UTG +1 bets 210, mp, button and sb fold. I figure even if the guy has the flush I have outs so I push. UTG folds and utg+1 thinks and calls.

Now I’m expecting to see any hand with the Ad or maybe something like QdTd for a made flush. Although he did think about calling for quite some time so who knows.

What does he call with? JsKh. Thats right top pair medium kicker no flush draw. I have this guy dead.

Turn : Jc
River : Jh

I’m out and I withdraw my money from stars. Maybe its because I’ve played so much more on there but damn does it feel like that shit happens too often. This is the part where I’m whining about losing. But honestly how does anyone call there with KJ no diamond. Yeah sounds good for 1200 chips. Why not. WTF!!!

Anyhow on to other sites. I haven’t been playing much in the last little bit and its mainly because of school and my perception of BS like this. It doesn’t help that I’ve found a new fun with World of Warcraft so I’ve been playing more of that.

PokerStars Game #5239479710: Tournament #26381281, $25+$2 Hold’em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2006/06/13 - 02:23:04 (ET)
Table ‘26381281 1′ 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: poundurace (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: Golden4Ever (1980 in chips)
Seat 3: Myssion (1340 in chips)
Seat 4: bedmen (1040 in chips)
Seat 5: volly4 (1100 in chips)
Seat 6: mr.hondo (1940 in chips)
Seat 7: DariusGSR (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: ballnhand (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: BDOO (1600 in chips)
mr.hondo: posts small blind 15
DariusGSR: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DariusGSR [6s 6h]
ballnhand: raises 60 to 90
BDOO: calls 90
poundurace: folds
Golden4Ever: calls 90
Myssion: folds
bedmen: folds
volly4: calls 90
mr.hondo: calls 75
DariusGSR: calls 60
*** FLOP *** [2d 6d Kd]
mr.hondo: checks
DariusGSR: checks
ballnhand: checks
BDOO: bets 210
Golden4Ever: folds
volly4: folds
mr.hondo: folds
DariusGSR: raises 1200 to 1410 and is all-in
ballnhand: folds
BDOO: calls 1200
*** TURN *** [2d 6d Kd] [Jc]
*** RIVER *** [2d 6d Kd Jc] [Jh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DariusGSR: shows [6s 6h] (a full house, Sixes full of Jacks)
BDOO: shows [Js Kh] (a full house, Jacks full of Kings)
BDOO collected 3360 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3360 | Rake 0
Board [2d 6d Kd Jc Jh]
Seat 1: poundurace folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 2: Golden4Ever folded on the Flop
Seat 3: Myssion folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 4: bedmen folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 5: volly4 (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: mr.hondo (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 7: DariusGSR (big blind) showed [6s 6h] and lost with a full house, Sixes full of Jacks
Seat 8: ballnhand folded on the Flop
Seat 9: BDOO showed [Js Kh] and won (3360) with a full house, Jacks full of Kings

I think at this point in my playing I really need to start listening to myself. I do things for a reason. I bet a certain amount, I check in certain places, I check raise in others. But what good is it unless you pay heed to your information. This game is all about information and if you ignore it you will be like the rest of the donkeys out there giving away your chips. Sure you might have had the best hand at one point or another but you know you don’t have it now so don’t put those chips in. I’ve had this happen multiple times now and I know that I’m making a mistake but I donkey it up and put my chips in. Here is a prime example from this morning.

SNG on stars

2nd or 3rd hand and I have KK in middle position. The guy to my right limps in from 20 chips. I raise to 80, pretty standard for me. The button calls, the big blind calls and the limper calls. The flop comes 9TQ with 2 spades. It checks to me and I bet 250 into the 330 pot. The button calls and the other 2 folds. Now what kind of hand do I put him on. Its possible he slow played AA but unlikely. I think its most likely that he has Ax of spades and has the flush draw. Its possible that he also has a hand like QJ,JT or something like that which people like to call with.

The turn is an offsuit 8 and I check. Why do I check? Because I’m done with the hand. If he has a J he has me if he has 88,99,TT,QQ he has me. If he has any combination of the 4 cards on the table for 2 pair I’m drawing slim. If he has a spade draw he still has 9 outs to take me down. He bets 500. The pot holds 830 beore his bet and its 500 to call for 1330 now. I’m getting 2.5 to 1 and my best hope on the river is a non spade J. I know I should fold. I’d like to say I did fold. But I didn’t. No I got fancy and check raised all in. To which he happily called with QTo.

The river was a blank and I was left with 40 chips kicking myself for not doing what I knew I should do. I can’t remember what crap ass poker show it was that I saw a few months back but on it Antonio Esfandiari said something that is so true. He said that the one thing that improved his game the most was laying the hand down when he knew he was beat. This is something I’m trying to get better at. I’ve done it a few times in the last few weeks but I need to do it more. Those miracle calls don’t work often enough to make it worthwhile when you don’t think you have the best of it. Now if you think you do have the best of it, by all means call. But avoid those times when you make the crying calls because damnit he couldn’t have called my raise with some shit hand.

The best line in a poker movie was never more true than last night. I was playing some NL cash game on Full Tilt and ran into the following hand. I don’t think I could have played it much worse than I did.

$.50/$1 blinds

AhKh in small blind

I get this pretty hand I immediately I think its going to go to waste, when everyone folds to me in the small blind. Its getting late and I need to get to bed. I debate back and forth between limping and raising. I finally decide to raise because if I get beat by some junk hand on the flop I want to know that I did what I could to prevent it. I raise to $3 and he thinks for a few seconds and calls.

The flop comes Jh4h6c and I bet out $4 into the $6 pot. I’m expecting him to just fold but I’m surprised when he raises to $14. I’m faced with a call for $10 and I decie with the 2 overs and the flush draw that I’ll do it, so I call.

The turn is 9d and I check, he bets out $23 into the $34 pot and I’m still thinking I could make a big pot on the river. I call.

The river comes a 4d and I have a pair of 4’s with AK kicker, obviously not the best hand. I check and he bets enough to put me all in. I only have $13 left and there is $93 in the pot. I decide to just call it to see what he beat me with. To my shock he shows 8c7d and the pot moves my way.

I’m confused for a few seconds but then I’m just flat out amazed that I won. I played the hand horribly and should have probably either reraised or folded on the flop against his raise. I think pushing there isn’t horrible since I have a lot of outs possible. The worst hand I’m putting my opponent on there is AJ or possibly the 44 or 66. Although I pretty much don’t buy the 44 after the 4 on the river. Bottom line all I could beat was a bluff and I called anyhow. I was tired and it was dumb but it worked out.

Yay for donkey poker!!!

With me being the Donkey of course.

Oh well off to bed for this donkey. Hopefully I’ll play better next time but the result won’t change.

Another week gone and this was a good one. I got a new job and will be starting that in may. This is awesome since I haven’t had a “real” job since 2001. I’ve been going to school and I’m almost done with that. I’ve been interning at a company for almost the last year and I was able to get a full time position there. It will push my graduation back by a term but its well worth it to have real paychecks again.

The poker gods haven’t been crapping on me as much this week. I’ve had some crappy races today but nothing to horrid. I’ve been playing some turbo sng’s and so far I like them. I find the pace pretty easy to keep up with, and since my short stack game has improved significantly it helps since you’re almost always in a short stack. Just lost my third race today with JJ vs AK. At least this one was on the flop and not rivered like the other 2. I guess I could have called and folded the K high flop. I like my push since I was in the blind and didn’t want to play the hand out of position. JJ appears to be my new nemesis. Its 0 for 4 today. JJ vs AK x 3 and JJ vs 67s when the inside straight got there on the turn.

I haven’t had much time to play 360 since I’ve been using most of my free time on poker. I’m very excited about the new job. Now I just have to get through the next 7 weeks of hell that is 13 credits + 40+ hours a week. I’ll keep trying to post but if I don’t for the next few weeks you’ll know why. But noone reads this anyhow since i didn’t get a single comment on my post asking for comments.

I don’t remember Easter ever being a big deal with my family. My wife assures me that we used to have dinners and such but I can’t remember it. Oh well.

Yesterday was spent doing homework, driving around looking at houses and then playing in a multi-table sit n go. I was able to make it to the final table and take a respectable 4th in the tournament. It amounted to my largest cash ever. I honestly believe I was a coinflip away from winning it. Last hand I pushed all in from the CO with AsTs and got called by 77 for half his stack. Could have easily gon either way. But if I had won the hand. I would have been in 2nd in chips and I felt good about my chances versus the rest of the table.

I blew some money Friday and Saturday night playing NL cash games. Nothing all that eventful. Half of the money I lost was dumb half of it I couldn’t help. Oh well there will be more .

Spent Friday night and a good portion of Saturday night playing Fight Night Round 3 on 360. Great game but damnit if Scott doesn’t have my number. I was able to beat him when I was 2 weight classes above him with Ali vs De La Hoya. But when I tried just one class above with Sugar Ray Robinson vs De La Hoya he knocked me out in the 8th. Granted it was a good fight but one of these days I want to win.

Before we played Fight Night on Saturday we had a little home tournament. In the first level the following hand came up. I was just messing around preflop but I liked how I played it the rest of the way.

10/20 blinds 7s2s in BB. Jeff raises to 60 in the CO and it folds to me. I call thinking it would be fun. I did anounce I was going to put a bad beat on him. The flop came Js2cJd and I checked. He bet 75 and I called. I think if he had bet more around pot I probably fold. But with the bet of 75 I felt it was just as likely that he had AK and I was ahead so I called. The turn was the 6s and now I had a flush draw to go with my pair. I checked and he checked behind me. turn was a beautiful spade and I bet out 75, he thought a few moments and called. I showed my flush and he mucked, the table broke into laughter. A few hands later he fessed up that he had AA. I think his best move would have been to bet more on the flop and then protect on the turn. I’m capable of giving up a draw when the price gets too high. The way he played it I think he lost the least amount that he could.

with blinds at 25/50 Scott raised to 150. I was in the BB so I called the 100 with my Ad3d. The flop came J73 rainbow and I checked. He bet 200 and I thought he might be on a continuation bet so I called. The turn was a blank spade that put 2 spades on the board. I checked and he checked behind. I was feeling better about my read. The river was the As and now I was left with a quandry. Do I bet into him or just check and call in case he has the flush. Thinking about it now I think the only hand he raises preflop with and then c-bets and still has a flush draw is AJ+ of spades which is obviously not the case since the As just came out. I checked anyhow and he bet 300. I quickly called and he showed AK and I took it down with my 2 pair.

The next hand I’m in the sb with AJ. Scott limps and Ed raises to 200 on the button. I call and Scott folds. The flop comes AQ3 and I check. Ed bet 250 and I thought I might have him since he could raise with a lot of hands on the button. But I wasn’t positive he didn’t have AK so I called. The turn was a K and I’m left thinking great if he did have AK I’m smoked now. But with a K and Q out there the odds that he might have AJ or less was getting better. I checked and he checked behind. The turn came another Q which I didn’t like. I checked and he bet 450. I thought for a minute, said screw it and called. he sheepishly showed his KJ and mucked. Scott decided that was a good time to go take a smoke break since he anounced he was tilting because of folding JT. Now I think he did the correct thing and I really doubt he was going to stick around to the turn to hit his straight. Even then the river would have scared him a little. But he came back and seemed more relaxed.

I had the chip lead about half way through then I doubled up Ed twice. Once with KK vs 99 when he rivered a 9 and then 99 vs KJ when he flopped a K. I wasn’t out yet so I made a few good pushes with some big cards and suited connectors. When we got down to four it went pretty fast. I got AA utg when I was short stacked and instead of pushing like I had the previous 3 times I just min raised. Min raising is the new limp afterall. It folded around to Ed and he called. The flop came J high and he checked. I checked hoping to get him to bite or at least bet into me. Turn was a Q that added a flush draw and decided it was time to protect my hand a little. He checked and I bet 400. he thought for a long time about putting me all in but finally folded. Needless to say I was dissapointed.

Jeremy got in a big hand against Ed and ended up pushing with AT on a KQxx board vs Ed’s KQ. Jeremy missed the J and he was crippled. He was on the button next hand and had to push with anything. He put his last 500 in the pot. The blinds were 100/200 and I was in the big blind so I was getting almost 3 to 1 on the call. I looked down to see 6s3s and figured they were probably live so I called. I rivered a flush and Jeremy was out. Now it was down to 3.

One orbit later I’m in the small blind with 33. Ed folds and I push all in for 3k into Joyce who had about 2000 left. I expected her to fold but she called all in with KJ. She flopped a K but I sucked out with a rivered 3 and took her out and got a healthy amount of chips. So now I was heads up with Ed.

First hand Ed is on the button and limps in with the blinds at 150/300. I look down at AsTc and raise to 1200, he thinks for a few minutes and folds. Next hand I limp in on the button with 42 and he raises to 1200 so I fold. The next hand I get K2o and Raise to 1200. Normally I would raise to 900 but I think I had the number locked in my head. He calls and the flop comes K high. I decide that I’m going broke on this hand most likely. Ed bets 1400 into me and I push the rest of my chips in the middle. It was about 1800 and Ed goes into the tank. He finally calls and shows 44. He doesn’t improve and I take a commanding lead. next hand he limps on the button and I look down at K6. I put him all in since he has a little less than 2k. He calls and shows K8. I flop a 6 and its over. I still think he should have pushed on the button with that hand. I probably fold K6. But I’m OK with the result.

I’m really not sure what I have to add to this place lately. I had some tough times in sng’s but I didnt’ want to come on here and rant about the bad beats. Thats not what I wanted this blog to be about.

I’m sure most of the few people that actually did read this blog at one point are long gone thanks to my once a month posts. I’m going to try and do better about that. I need to just get on here and write. Its all about the random crap.

I picked up Oblivion a few weeks ago for the 360. Awesome game, not sure I need to say more than that. A combination of school, work and poker has kept me from playing too much of it though.

I’m still in that stage with poker that I’m not sure what I’m playing for? I have been doing pretty well lately and thats great. But why am I playing? Am I playing to just play because I enjoy the game? Am I trying to make money from it? Do I want to play in bigger games? These are the questions going through my head. I don’t really care about the money side of it right now since obviously its not that much. I like the challenge of it.

I wish I could find some good live games to play in. Even going to casinos has only been alright lately. I’ve tried twice to go to the casino thats about 30 minutes away, both times its been a 2+ hour wait. Last time we just turned around and spent the time driving to the bigger casino. When we got there it took all of about 10 minutes to get into a game. Too bad I was card dead .

I’d love to have a local card room that was only 10-20 minutes away and wasn’t a 2 hour wait whenever you wanted to play.

Ok, so enough ranting. I’ll do better on the posting, but please comment so I know this at least gets read.

So looks like the Dolphins traded their second round draft pick this year to the Vikings for Dante Culpepper. While on one hand I’ve never really cared for him and his turnovers worry me a bit. He is by far the best QB we’ve had since Marino retired. I think Chambers will have a breakout year since he will finally have someone that can get him the long ball when he has the secondary smoked by 5+ yards.

So overall I’m cautiously optimistic. Now they just need to patch the defense up a bit.

So I finally played Gun on the Xbox 360 this last weekend. It’s not a long game but its a good game. They did a great job of mixing side quests with the main quest. The game has a very open feel to it as far as what order you do things. The side quests are pretty good and aren’t just a bunch of messenger missions. There are of course a few of these but for the most part they’re varied enough to not get annoying.

The combat is well done and the quickdraw feature which basicly equates to Matrix bullet time is awesome. I could go around fighting groups of people with that all day.

They have a poker side game which is a small texas hold’em tournament. It’s 5 people and you each get 100 chips. Blinds are 5/10 and never go up. The first 3 you have the option to cheat which allows you to take one card out of your hand and keep it on the side. Then you can swap it back into your hand later on. I was dissapointed to see that you couldn’t cheat on the later ones as it just reduced it to a straight up hold’em game and was pretty boring. It would be cool to see a side cash game that you could cheat in but everytime you cheated there was a chance of getting caught. I think that would be a cool addition. Who knows maybe downloadable content.

Overall the game is great. Its definately a rental based on its length but it would be a great bargain bin pickup. I’d give it a 8 out of 10. Its only real problem is length, but then again thats kind of a strength also.