The Poker Aquarium

Alright. So I have a no-deposit 1x $25 PartyCasino bonus available and give it a try. Playing $1 ante/$1 pair plus in Three Card Poker I play a little and breakeven. Then I realize I needed to click something to activate the bonus so those bets don't count and I have to start over. Oh well, maybe I'll hit something big I'm thinking and then 5c6c7c straight flush. If only I was betting more then a dollar... Including the bonus I make a nice $71 in about 3 minutes!

Sorry everyone, but you are all drawing dead to the poker prowess that is Juliane. She was basically the only one to pick winners in the round of 16 and round of 8 and that left everyone else WAY behind. She is standing here doing the "I can't believe I WON I WON I WON" happy dance. I didn't total up everyone's score but most people have about 25 points. Juliane has 43. So everyone send $2 to jul_dea on pokerstars.

And just to rub it in, she didn't know who 90% of the players were. She adds though that had she known that Ferguson was the Jesus guy, she would have picked him to go even further.

I love poker. Poker nice.


--Tad

Hes not in the money pool because he was preoccupied before, but these are his pics just so we can make fun of him.

After the first round, the results are:

Tad- 16 !!!!
Juliane, CornellDad and BMW 17 (you all suck)

Marshall - 20 BOO!


Nobody's pick to win made it out of the first round alive.

My folks combined for these pics. They are in.

These are Juliane's picks with no help from me at all. Shes in the pool.

Good luck

Site was being dumb and won't let me upload pics, so I tossed it on my website.
(edited out so it didn't push the page)

Good luck everyone.

So this snuck up on me... thought I still had a week. 64 Man National Heads up Tourney starts today/tomorrow. Anyone who has ever entered a march madness pool knows how this works. Fill out the bracket (either type it in text or download image and use MS paint like me) and post your bracket picks. Points are awarded 1 pt for correct first round picks, 2 for 2nd, 4 for 3rd, 6 for 4th 8 for 5th and 14 points if you pick the winner.

This starts soon so don't dally. We are using the honor system, so if you don't find this until after the tourney starts, but havn't looked up results you can still post. We are all friends here.

Entry fee is $2, winner take all (unless we someone get a ton of people which I don't think will happen since I'm arranging this so late. If a ton somehow enter it will be like 75/25). Tell everyone, hopefully BMW, Hoax, Bidzior and everyone else that I havn't been able to get ahold of that might be interested sees this in time. Tell your friends :-p

And please enter this so I don't feel really dumb for posting and not getting any response.


Tad

Havn't been running well. THought I'd keep track of how I'm losing to see if I can detect any real big patterns. Comments welcome.

$50 Match-Loss when A5 loses to KJ for almost all the chips in play (I had him covered)

$50 Match Win

$50 Match win

$50 Match - Won
Sucked out on last hand when I flopped top pair with K9 vs J8 on KJ8 board. Opponent was a move in specialist, and so when he moved in I thought it was an easy call. I hit a K though, and it was over. I had him outchipped like 2250-750.

$50 Match - lost
First hand AA he raises I reraise, he foldsNext hand KK I raise he reraises, I raise to 700 and he pushes with AQ, QQ7 flop.
Left with me 80 chips which I built upto 400 before getting allin with 55 vs Q8 and he made 2 pair.

$50 Match- lost
Got allin AT vs AK and lost a big pot... yeah gameover.

$50 Match lost
AQ vs 33 Q on flop, bet he calls. 3 on turn and we get allin.

$50 Match-Won
T8s vs 45 ... priceless
First hand I runner runnered a flush against the flopped nut straight http://www.pokerhand.org/?241038

4 man $50 match
1st round- win
big hand was 53 vs 23 on A45 flop. He checked flop, turn was a 5 he bet min, I raised a tiny bit he called. River was a 3 giving me a boat I bet a lot and he called.
Last hand I raised to 60 preflop with 9T, he called. 952 flop with 2 clubs and he moved in first to act. He had Q3o total bluff and my hand held up.
2nd Round- Lost
Was a half hour battle. Had him down early and got allin with pair and flush draw but his top pair held.
Took a hit with top two vs trips, down to like 1000, battled back to take the lead when the blinds were high and I flopped top pair with Q9 vs KK and that left me with a few chips and I went out a couple hands later.

$50 HU match... sigh lost
J8 vs K9 all the money went in on turn J925K

$50 HU Match... Win
Nothing real exciting. Ground him down. He liked to raise strongly preflop then passively from then on. He was convinced I was bluffing a lot towards the end so was able to get some good value bets. Last had was A9 vs 55 and I hit a 9. He only had 450 to start.

$50 HU Match- Loss
Got allin with Queen high flush draw vs AK high flush drawFlush got there

$50 HU Match vs same guy- Loss
http://www.pokerhand.org/?241133

76% on Flop

86% on Turn

Lose. Doubled up and then got allin with AT vs A5 to complete the whatever-fecta.
I think I'll play some sudoku now.

$150 down plus rake. Blech.

Dear bjybjy,
You finished the tournament in 19th place.
A $0.62 award has been credited to your Real Money account.


You earned 49.08 tournament leader points in this tournament.For information about our tournament leader board, see our web site at http://www.pokerstars.com/tlb_tournament_rankings.html



Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

-$500 on the day at the moment. Been a beat your head against the wall kinda day.

Lost a match against a huge dick who was talking shit before and after the last hand. He raised A9, I called with 89 flop was 78T we get allin and he hits running aces to win.

Played a huge fish at a $100 match. Got him down to 300. He limped and I put him allin with ATs and he insta called with 57o. Yeah 57! 75476 board. Two hands later I doubled him with 88 vs his KK (he raises and I put him allin and he took forever to call with KK.. slow rolling dickhead). Then like 4 hands after that he raised the minimum which he did about every hand, and I called with K9. Board came A92AA and of course he had the case ace and I doubled him again. A few hands later he busted me when I was short and he raised AA, I flopped a pair and moved in. He again did the real cute slowroll with AA.

He was really bad though and I was pretty confident I could beat him so when he sat at a $200 HU table it was a pretty easy choice to sit with him. Ugh! Like 5 minutes in, he raises T4o and the board came something like TJ2TT and I had a Jack, doubled him again. I still had chips and doubled when he called my allin with K3. Then the last hand I raise A9, he calls with Q9. Flop is 78T. I bet out quite a bit of my stack and he calls. Turn is a Jack and we get allin and I"m drawing dead to a chop. No dice.

In like 15 minutes I got quads over my boat twice and nut straight vs my 2nd nut straight. Killer.

I took a break after that and came back. Won my first match. 2nd one was a marathon. I got short and moved in literally like 30 times wihout getting called. Finally the blinds were at 50/100 and I had 1300 chips. Guy limped I moved in with A8, he calls with A3 and flop is A3x. Done.

Just now I played my next/last match of the night. I got allin on turn as an 88% favorite and got outdrawn. Not my best day.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?202644

Poker sucks, lol

Been playing some poker again after about a week off. My grandfather has been in bad shape since a bad car crash on Christmas eve, and actually passed away early this morning. Both the loss and timing were bad for my family, but at least grandpa wasn't in pain, and he won't have to fight his cancer anymore.

I've only played maybe an hour or so all week till today when I thought it'd be good to take my mind off things. I played 4 $100 matches today, and I've won all 4. My 4th match was my 60th since I moved up to $100 matches.

My results through the first 30 matches was in the black, but not by a whole lot at 17 wins 13 losses. Don't get me wrong I'll take it, but I'm looking for a higher winning %. I felt that quite a few of the wins were due to bad beats, but some could have easily been avoided.

The last 30 matches have been better though, and I'm 23-7 over that stretch. I feel I'm coming up with a pretty optimum strategy for these heads up matches. Keep the pots small when you are raising strong hands, and raise a little more often than you think you should. Control the pot size, stay aggressive (including calling down when you think you are ahead even if not strong) and you'll win a lot.

$T buying has been going great. Still have over $5000 in T$ and they increase my overall profits by about $8-9 per match, win or lose.

Starting January first as you all probably know stars is starting their VIP program and I'm gonna try and bust my ass and get gold status. I'll have to play 160 matches in January to qualify, or about 5 a day. Should be a fun challange, and at this rate I'd expect about $7000 profit for the month, so wish me luck. At this rate it will only take me about 40 years for the porsche, so hopefully they are still cool when I'm 65. hehe

Good flops in the new year, all!


Cheers,
Tad

I was checking out a list of blacklisted poker and casino sites and came across some disturbing news.

"Pokertropolis is blacklisted because they use poker bots (computerized players run by the house) at their tables. Their management denies this, but anyone who plays there will realize that they are not playing against human opponents. "

Can you believe a poker site is using bots? The site is pretty solid, don't see them making that up. Now while that is one thing... what Joyland Casino did is horrible. I'm just going "Oh My God" throughout.

One poster says, "The problem is that Joyland Casino has changed my transaction history and he has deleted my withdrawal request of 4529 and substituted it for another of only 500 euros (my original deposit), this is the amount that I have received into my neteller account, only 500 of my 4529 withdrawal requested.I have been talking with the casino's support but they have not tell me anything."

Other people have the same complaint. "I have had the same problem with Joyland with my initial deposit made on 8/4. They adjusted my withdraw request of about $1500 down to $500, my deposit amount."

We're talking thousands of dollars stolen from individual accounts. "The total estimated owed to players ranges from $100,000 to half a million."

"I signed up to their casino on the 4th of August and deposited $500 and did receive an $808 signup bonus. I played some video poker (allowed by their terms) and had a very good run, then played blackjack (also allowed) and had some more very good luck. I made some cashouts that night just over ten thousand USD. I also played well over their required wagering for the bonus, and it was removed from my account on cashout.much to my suprise they simply refunded my $500 deposit, and locked out my account. I have not been able to login to the casino since 8/5, and have received minimal support."

Oh my god. 9500 stolen. They won't let you cash out your winnings. They only give you back your deposit. On top of that there are reports that they have altered transaction histories to make it appear as if you didn't actually win anything.

"I did contact the casino CS. They said there was a bug in their system, and so they were voiding all wins for that day. Deposits were being returned instead. Somehow I don't think deposits were returned for people who busted out though."

"Today I received an offer from Joyland to give me $500 to settle the account. Considering I'm missing out on over $10,000, this figure doesn't look nearly as appealing."

What a horrible situation. I can't imagine being one of these players. If anyone wants to check out these devestating accounts, here are a couple links.

http://bonuswhores.com/blacklisted-sites.php
http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/online-casino-poker-complaints/9195-joyland-casino-problem-withdrawal-request.html

I found this hilarious site while browsing fullcontactpoker forums tonight. Parodies include http://www.parttimepoker.com/poker-humor/articles/depositbonus-baby.html

"At least with frequent player points you can choose your merch, but with this you get whatever his wife happened to pop out last. Plus it's like 15 times the bonus in raked hands to clear, which is excessive."

Yes, what is the world coming to when you have to play 15x to earn a baby. I won't do this one for more than 10x.

http://www.parttimepoker.com/poker-humor/articles/tj-ripshead.htm

I especially love the punchline. Then Maksteniks uttered what would ultimately be his final words: "Sorry T.J. - but I love your book. It taught me everything I know."

Another highlight: http://www.parttimepoker.com/poker-humor/articles/aces-terrible.htm

"DID U SEE HIM CALAL [sic] WIHT [sic] THAT CRAP?! I **** HATE ACES. AA IS A ***** TERBIBLE [sic] HAND"

Apparently frustrated by the site's automatic obscenity filter which prevented other players from seeing his curses in chat, MRTITLTY proceeded to experiment with spelling and spacing variations for the following four minutes, including "PHUCKING ACES", "F_UK ACES", "AA FKUKING BLAWS." ...Love it.

As most of you know I've been buying up T$ left and right over the past couple weeks on pokerstars. Whenever I havn't been in the mood to play, I stalk the FPP and $3 tourney satellites into the $215 and offer to buy the seat for $200 or $205 cash.

So far to date I've saved $431.50 while buying $7,415.50 in T$ from folks. The money I save is basically a little bit more than the rake (which is about $353) and I'm amazed at how fast it is adding up. I'm going to continue stockpiling T$ when I'm bored because I absolutely burn through them. I used almost $1500 worth today. I look at this whole thing as free money. I would probably be playing just as much if I didn't have the T$, and since I started buying them I've saved more than a month's rent for free. I'm so stoked.

If any of you guys plan on entering some tourneys let me know and I'll sell you some T$ to cover the entry fee. I can't say you'll save a ton, but I'll sell them to you for less than face value.

Cheers,
Tad

Wow, this guy needs a valium.

http://theredpill98.blogspot.com/

Dear bidzior,

You finished the tournament in 1st place.You qualified to play in Tournament #14407693 and are automatically registered for it.

PokerStars Tournament #14704527, No Limit Hold'em Super Satellite Buy-In: $3.00
Target Tournament #14407693 Buy-In: $215.00 17 tickets to the target tournament

Another $215 victory! This one was much more intense than the last satellite. I really wish someone could've observed the ending because it was very entertaining. Thursday it was basically 3 big hands. QQ v the AKs. AK v AJ. AKv99vA10. That's really all I needed. I was pretty safe throughout the tourney. If it was a regular tournament I had a great shot at a final table and possibly maybe even score a victory. I was almost disappointed when it ended sitting there with a 100k+ stack.

Sunday's tournament was much different. It started out fairly similar. I had 16k at the first break. Near the end of the 2nd break I was over 40k in the top 5. But that is where the similarities ended. I made a couple mistakes in the first two hours that cost me a couple big pots and was never able to break away from the bubble. It was a hard-fought grind throughout the tourney. I was faced with many difficult decisions. Not easy at all. My steals were not working at all. Until the very end.

Let's go through some key hands. Third hand of the tourney I have AQ and raise a couple limpers to 120 a bunch of callers and we see a 885 flop. I fire 220 and get two calls. Not looking good. Blank on the turn and we check. Ace on the river. A small 140 bet is in front of me and I call it. He has A8. Next hand same two limp in front of my AK0 and I push. Get a call from J5c! He flops a flush draw but misses. 5k.

At the 15/30 level I have 4600 and call a raise to 160 from the BB with 78o. 4 see the flop of 9h10hJd. I check and preflop raiser makes it 480 and I push. He calls with Kh8s and misses and I double up to 8800. Very next hand I have AKo in the SB and raise a couple limpers to 270 and they both call. Flop is KJ2, 2 spades. I bet 780 and they both call. Turn is a 5 of spades and I go all in with my TPTK along with the Ace of spades. They both think forever and fold. 10.9k. Later on in the first hour my KK beats AQ to take me to 13.8k and I take the rebuy a few hands later to put me at 16.1k.

Marshall sees my first steal attempt fail as I have 78s in the BB. A MP limps and the SB limps so I think a 5x raise to 1k might do it. I am mistaken when the SB pulls his 66 and I have to fold. I get it back when I call a 3x raise with 67h. When I flop a flush draw I raise a minbet of 400 and a caller to 1600 and they both fold. Next hand I have TT raise to 600 and flop trips with a 1097 board and decide to slowplay with a check. Turn is a brick I bet 800 now he calls and the river is an Ace. I hope he has one and bet 2600 and he folds. Up to 18k. Later on I double up to 30k when his 33 is no match for AA. It was versus the same opponent I had failed to steal from earlier with the 78s in the BB. This time two limp into my BB at 200/400 blinds and I make the same raise of 5x to 2000. Exactly the same as before versus the same opponent when I folded to his rereaise. This time he calls. QQ5 rainbow, he bets 2000 and I call thinking there's not too many cards to fear if he is behind so I don't have to worry about giving away free cards. If he has a Q I am sunk. He all-ins the turn for 8400 and I river an Ace for good measure. Next hand I flop a set of 6s and an aggressive OP can't get away from top pair 10 kicker and I am now at 38k near the leaders.

Going through the history I see a quote from Tad I did not notice before, "75!" as I river a 2p with the magic hand to win a 2800 pot. At this point I level off in the mid 40s for a long time as I can't find a hand. Finally, I get AK and get all in vs JJ but this is not too be and I am back down to 36k.

I get lucky here. In the SB I raise to 6k at 600/1200 vs a BB with 11k. He thinks forever and folds but not before calling me a bully even though I was hardly raising. However, he was right this time as I only had 56o. Next hand on the botton I find JsTc and raise to 4800 vs the SB and a sitting out BB. I raised a little less this time to make it seem like a real hand that wouldn't mind action. The SB thinks forever again and decides to go all in with Q5h! What a play! But the first four cards are clubs andI am up to 49k.

I am starting to think I have a chance at a repeat at this point. I am in the hunt but again get cold carded and blinded off and I'm down to 40k in trouble. 17th place is around the low 50s here, there are about 40 left. For the skae of cruelty 18th pays $2.

I have AKo in the SB and the button makes it 3x to 9k. I decide to pull it hoping for the game deciding flip. If I win this flip I am in... If I lose I am at least not right on the bubble. He folds, I'm at 53k. Right on 17th place now. AJ steals the blinds and I am at 59k. I have A3 in the BB, folded to the SB. He limps I check the option. K92 diamonds. I have the 3d. He minbets 1500 I call. He checks the Js turn, I bet 6k and he folds. 65.8k, I think I'm in now. Right around 12th. Next hand I decline a steal attempt from the SB and can't pass up another on the button with Q6d making it 3x to 9k. BB goes all in for 14k more and I fold. This was a close decision and I think I should've called because who is going to respect me now? A rotation later I try a 3x raise from EP with QJc for 12k and fold to another allin for 35k more. Suddenly I am in serious trouble. I'm appx 22nd out of 24 now. The blinds go around and I am at 28k. I went from 65k and nearly off the bubble all the way down to 28k and not looking like I am going to make it. Maybe 21st out of 24 here. But you can never give up.

Crunch time. 2/4k blinds. I am not going to bubble. I refuse. I make a raise to 12k from the CO with A8o and they fold. 35k. From 3rd position I raise it 5x to 20k with A4o and they lay down. Whew. 42k. 2nd position. KJo. Repeat. 50k.The blinds go by and I am down to 43k. With 21 left Its folded to me on the CO and I look down at Q6o. I think long and hard and decide I am going to go for it. I make it 20k again and they fold and I'm back at 50k. suddenly in good shape again. 13th out of 21. 4 steals in the matter of minutes and I go from 28k to 50k. 21st to 13th.

I try to limp in now only to see a few small stacks at my table double up. 18th out of 21. Finally a big stack drops out at 21st. Another drops. Another. And we are down to 19. Smallest stack gets all in with AKs v AA. Flop is QJx. OE. Turn gives him a flush draw. River is a brick and we're at 18. I am in 15th with 40k. 16th=35k, 17=30k, 18=25k. It is not over yet. I have been in many situations like this where the small stack continuously doubles up and finally I have to make a move. Who will win the $2 for being bubble boy... The small stack gets all in with K2. Bigger stack turns over A6. AK2 board. River... 6! And its over. If he wins that hand I'd be in 16th out of 18 with gigantic blinds, anyone's ballgame. I was fortunate to end without a flurry of small stack double ups this time.

This tourney was much different. I was up against what seemed like tougher opponents which like to play back at you. I was faced with many difficult decisions and had to pull off 4 steals at the end to make it. It really could've gone the other way. After winning this one I was extremely pumped. It was much more fun than the last one. Later.

I shouldn't have to swim with Sherman Sharks anymore thanks to the following email.

PokerStars Tournament #14407977, No Limit Hold'em Super Satellite Buy-In: $3.00
Target Tournament #14113646 Buy-In: $215.00
21 tickets to the target tournament.

Dear bidzior, You finished the tournament in 1st place.You qualified to play in Tournament #14113646 and are automatically registered for it.

Congratulations!Thank you for participating.

Satellite tournaments are tough, tense and suspenseful, but when you win one they are well worth your while. I was lucky at times. I don't remember being sucked out once. Definitely not after we were all in. Really one huge hand early on got the momentum going.

http://www.pokerhand.org/index.php?page=view&hand=160281

QQ v AK v AK v AK! That has never happened to me before. That is unreal. What a feeling to know that a coinflip has turned into a 71.8% favorite with dead money coming from the AKs. It was really smooth sailing from there. Later on I called a decent raise along with 5 others with KQ0s. Q22 flop and I checkraise all in. Only a small stack calls with 55 and I am up to 12.5K. I take the add-on at the break and I am at 15.9K. Around 15th. Top 21 cash, 22nd receives almost $100.

After the break I get my first big break. 75/150 blinds. I have A9c and make it 450 from EP, folded to the BB who makes it 600 more. We are the table leaders, I have 16.9k he has me covered with 21k. Flop comes A43. Preflop raiser bets 600, I think about raising to see where I am at but call instead. Turn is the J and I am faced with a 1050 bet. About 1/2 the pot so I call hoping for a 9. It hits and I make my 2p but am disappointed when he checks. I bet about 1/2 the pot 2050 and he calls with AK. Rather lucky there. I am up to 22k.

I am up against the same OP 3 hands later at 100/200 blinds. There is a limp and then a push all-in by the previous opponent. I look down at AKo and instantly call. Flop comes 3 spades I have the Ace and there is no help for my OP. I am now the chip leader with 40k. That was a huge hand for me and that's really it for me for the next hour or so.

I am constantly trying to stay aggressive, making steals when I can. But the steals aren't working well and the cards are getting cold. The chip leaders are steadily moving ahead and I am getting blinded away. At 33k luck combined with poor OP play helps get me back in it. I have QdJd in EP and make it 3x to 2400 and the BB calls. 853 clubs on the flop. I make a continuation bet of 1600, he thinks long and calls. 9h on the turn he checks to me and I fire 2400, now he instantly calls and I know I am in trouble. River=Jh I bet 5600 he instantly calls with As8s and I am back up to 49k. "zing" "lucki as"

I keep trying to stay active as the blinds are high. Another lucky hand occurs when I am in the BB with Q6 and a MP tries to get tricky with AK and limps. Flop comes 6 high and i make a decent value bet on the flop and a small bet on the river and take down a 10k pot when he calls with the AK unimproved. If he plays it right I am not going to win that one.

Now comes my first big hand against my rival for this tourney, a loose player who is catching. I have Kh9h he limps and i limp behind him trying to see some flops and keep that stack growing. 5c9d10d Rival bets 1200 I min raise to 2400. First mistake, should've raised to about 4k. 5s on the turn and he minibets and I make another mistake and just call. I guess now I am trying to see the showdown cheaply. Jc on the river and he makes another minbet I call and he has J8. He starts with an OE that hit TP on the river. I am down to 41 K and get AcKc next hand. Rival limps and I raise to 4800 hoping it looks like tilt. No help on the flop but I fire out 3600 he calls. We check the turn and a K falls on the river. I bet 6k and he calls with A3 no improvement! 57k.
Another blind stealing attempt goes wrong. At the CO i make it 3xBB and the SB calls. I bet 2xBB on the flop he calls then pushes the turn and I have to fold. Down to 42k. Its getting late. I am below the average now.

Down to 37k after bumping heads with the rival again. Now there are 40 left and I know I need to win at least one more flip to make it. I remember thinking I'd rather make the flip sooner then later because I'd hate to be bubble boy. The opportunity arrises a couple hands later. Once again I have AKo at 1/2k blinds. 2 limps and then the short stack goes all-in for 12k. I am very happy with that and then even happier when the semi-maniac rival doubles it to 22k. This looks like an obvious isolation play and I know he is loose enough and his stack is large enough at 90k to make this move with AQ-A9, JJ-77. I push it all in from the SB and he calls with 99. The classic coin flip. I walk away and return to see the chips sliding to my stack. K on the flop. The short stack had A10 and I nearly triple up to 94k.

I am in right? It is close. I should be able to make it now but instead blunder. A9 in the BB for 3k. Folded to the SB(rival) who limps. KK9 flop, he checks and i bet 3k he check raises to 6k and I call. Mistake. Blank on turn and he bets 3k I call again. Ace on the river. I call a 15k bet. Poor play and I am down to 66k. In trouble once again. Maybe 15k ahead of the bubble. Two hands later I get it back with QQ. Rival limps and I make it 5x to 15k, he calls. AcJc6h flop, we check. Tc, we check again. Qs on the river giving me trips. There is now a 4 straight on the board and a 3flush. Luckily he bets the min and I decide to call. He has 55 and I am OK again. 88k. Almost there.

Playing tight now I have 33 in the SB and the rival limps on the button for 4k. I call and the BB is sitting out with a tiny stack. Q42 flop He minbets 3k I call. Ace on the turn, same thing. 5 on the river and i check. He bets 12k and I call with the straight. Only 63 beats me so why not raise? I figured this call puts me in the tourney so why risk it... after all he could have anything. Now over 100k and the rival would soon be on his way to being Bubble Boy.

No all-in suckouts. Some luck. And a victory. I'll take the tournament dollars and maybe move up to some higher SNGs. It has been fun. Later.

Brian

Yesterday I played a series of $50 heads up sit n gos. Things were really clicking and before I knew it I had won 3 in a row.. then 4 then 6 and then was upto 8-0 on the day. I almost quit but decided to try and make it 10-0 for the day.

The 9th match was crazy. I was against a really bad player. He wouldn't fold and loved to min raise with whatever he had. I normally do well against these guys, but just couldn't get a hand to hold up. One hand I had something like AT and raised preflop and he min reraised, I called. A9x flop. He bet out small, I raised it up, and he min reraised. I called. Blank on turn and he bet and I called. 8 on river. He bet and I called. He turned over 98o. Twice he called huge check raises by me with just overcards or gutshot draws and kept hitting. I eventually got allin with KJ vs his T3o (he reraised me preflop and called my allin preflop blinds were 50/100) and he hit a T and it was over. Oh well. I played one more and kept out playing the guy but couldn't win. I had him allin with AK vs KQ. He flushed. KT vs K6. He spiked a 6. He was very passive preflop though and once the blinds got big I really started to steal. Again blinds got to 50/100 and I finally got him to call allin with K3 when I had A9, and it held. Game 0ver.

9-1 on the day for a $375 profit. No complaints, though I wish I could have made it 10-0.

I paid pokerstars exactly $25 in rake on the day. They should love me.

Tad

Things have been clicking lately in the heads up matches. 2 days ago I won 7 $50 HU matches in a row. Today I entered two 4 man HU sngs and won both, then I entered the $20 buyin 256 man HU tourney and won my first four matches there. I'm not sure if I won my last match last night, so that means before getting knocked out of the tourney in 11th place I had won 8 or 9 in a row. Crazy!

I'm finally getting good at adapting to tight players. In the last 4 man sng I played today the first match lasted 55 minutes! Which is insane for me. But I stayed patient and wore him down. Then I got heads up with a manaic who wanted to put all of his chips in the pot blind, lol. It took me like 5 hands to beat him.

Good times. I also posted a win of about $7 playing 1/2 limit ;-p so all told I made about $360 today. I'm very happy with that.

Cheers!
Tad

I don't think I won a coinflip all day. I played like 5 $50 HU sngs and got eliminated from pretty much all of them by either a badbeat or a stupid opponent play. AK lost to KQ, A5 to KJ, AK to J4 after he called off 75% of his chips on a flush draw on ace high board etc etc.

Decided I had one more 4 man $50 HU sng left in me. Won the first match without much fuss, don't even remember much about it. 2nd match was a battle. He would never really raise that much preflop, but if he thought you were bluffing he'd reraise. I look advantage of this by playing AQ for a raise, getting reraised and just called. Board was blanks and I check raised turn hard and bet river and took down a big pot. Blinds were going up though, and he whitted back to even, then he was up a bit when I got 77. He limped, I raised he reraised and I pushed allin. He called with KQ and I WON a fucking coinflip!!!!

He was down to like 500 and I couldn't beat him losing 3 hands allin that were basically coinflips. He got back upto almost even when I got 99. I raised he reraised and I jammed. He had TT and called. I was crippled.

I had 400 chips left and blinds were 100/200. I got 37o in SB and folded leaving me with 300 chips. I got like K8s in BB next hand and he put me allin with 54 and I won. 600 chips. Next hand I had 55. I pushed allin and he had AK and I won a coin flip. 1200 chips now. I see a free flop in BB with 74 T97 flop he bets I fold. 1000 left. 98s I push allin and win the BB back to 1200. 99 next hand, he puts me allin. I call he has 88 and I hold up. 2400. I see freeflop with T5s in BB, checked to turn when I bet bottom pair and pick up blinds. 2600 chips. Q9 I limp he checks. Board comes QTxTT and he bets turn and river and I raise river and he folds. Big pot and it puts me in lead at 3400. Last hand I limp with 68 he raises to 3x BB, I call. K95 flop. I had a gutshot and call a 400 bet. I nail my gutshot on the turn. He checks I bet 400 which was meant to look weak and sure enough he check raises me allin. I have the nuts so I call and he has A9 for middle pair and is drawing dead. THE END

Was so sweeet to pull that off. Like finding $200 on the sidewalk.

Tonight I can sleep a happy man.
Tad

Story of my run in with this really old mean bastard. Maybe you had to be there, but he was sooo funny to watch implode.

Playing $100 NL tonight at Seneca Allegheny casino. Sat down and there was this
pissed off looking 75 or so year old man playing. He was the meanest crotchety
person I have ever seen playing in a casino. (Granted I havn't played that long,
but this guy was crazy).

One hand is 3 way pot. Me, guy1 and oldfart. Board is Qxxx on turn, and
oldfart is first to act and checks. He then turns his hand over, QT. The dealer
hesitates for a second and mucks his hand and action progresses. Me and guy1
look at each other, shrug and check it down. he wins with jack high. Oldfart
doesn't say anything until the kid gets the $3 pot pushed to him... then he went
apeshit. Dealer explains once he showed his cards (he tossed them face up into
the muck) that they were dead. The guy is yelling, swearing and carrying on...
so the floor comes and the guy spazzes saying he doesn't want the pot, not to
call the floor, etc etc but the floor is already there and tries calmly to explain to him why his handwas dead.

In the middle of him explaining the old fart ripped the deck outof the dealer's hand and attempted to reenact the hand. At this point the floorreally started yelling at him, telling him to drop the cards and never touchthem again. The guy like gets up and walks a few feet away swearing under hisbreath at the floor. The kid that won the pot was like... its only $3 and he didhave the best hand, I'll just give it to him, no big deal. The floor told dealerto push pot to winner and he could do what he wanted

The kid told the guy, no big deal you had best hand take it. Old fart was like Hell No, they don't wantto award the pot to the winner, who am I to say otherwise, etc etc. Kid slid the3 $1 chips to the guy anyways. The old fart took the 3 chips, spun around in hischair and THREW THEM. FLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORR!

Floor came for the second time in one minute, yelled at him again, told him ifhe ever did anything like that ever again he was gone for good. Told him to gopick up the chips or else. Guy finally went and picked them up.

Awile later a guy bets $25 and the old fart tosses in a $5 chip and says call.Dealer is like no, its 25 to go, and old fart says well then, I'm not going toplay and tries to take the $5 back. Dealer says that he couldn't. He could put$20 more in or fold. He grabs the chip and slams it onto his stack and gives thedealer just a horrible look. She says put it back or she calls floor and hepicked it up and flung it at her so hard it bounced into her rack, but somehowstayed on the table. He then called her a name and said that he would reallllytip her biiiig next time then he was like "you wanna know HOW big?" and hepulled out a $100 bill and threw it down and was like THATS how big I'm gonnatip you (this was all stated about as assholeish as possible).

The guy was sitting across from the dealer I should add, and was being a dickabout mucking his cards. He wouldn't just fold them, he would fire them at thedealer. He nearly put them off the table multiple times, and was basically usingher as a backstop. I was in the 10 seat and nearly had his cards go into my lap.Anytime the dealer corrected him, told him it was his turn to act or to post ablind the table had to wait for 10 seconds while he stared down the dealer giving him/her a look that would melt steel.

His final adventure came when he called a river bet. The guy showed Q2 for toppair, and the old fart had 77. He mucked his hand by flipping the 77 face up,stacked the cards on top of each other, slid them into the middle of the tableand picked up all of the board cards. Then he whipped all 7 cards back at thedealer. Somehow she kept her composure and didn't call floor. He'd have beengone so fast. He got up and left shortly thereafter.

He did all this stuff to like 5 dealers while I was there, and I don't thinkthey knew what a total ass he had been all night long, as floor would havebeen constantly called if they knew. But I gotta commend all the staff in thepoker room for putting up with the guy and settling all the disputes in a quickand decisive manner. I don't think I could have kept my cool as well as them.

Hope this was entertaining, it was hilarious to watch in person. Please post any similar stories you may have! Old mean bitter guys are funny.

Tad

I gotta add this to the blog to play...

-----------LONG, BUT I THINK WORTH THE READ------

Went to local casino all day today to play some poker. Had a blast, though I lost like $20 on the day. First hand of day, I'm at $100 NL raise AJ, get a caller. Flop is JTx and I bust a lady who couldn't fold QT. Few hands later I have K8 hold against KT on a K83 flop and I won another big pot. About 10 minutes later I was down on the day, lol.

Long story short I couldn't get a hand to hold at $100 NL and ended there stuck about $90.
One hand I saw before I left a guy to my right, a regular who is pretty good, bets out on river on JTTQA board, and a guy at other end of table raises him big. Guy to my right flashes me TT before going allin and getting called by the guy with Kx.

Went to dinner with my dad. Nice buffet.

Come back just in time for my 100 nl table to break so I go sit next to my dad and play some 2/4 limit. That was crazy. Everyone sucked and my hands held up and I was up $70 right off the bat. Then aces got cracked. Set got cracked. Flopped straight got cracked. Top pair got rivered, and more. My dad gave up after getting smacked around but I stayed. Pretty soon we were playing 6 handed... my bread and butter. Then we were down to 5.. then 4. SWEET. I was down like $160 overall at this point, but I wasn't gonna give up hope. And then it happened!!

HE SAT DOWN!!! Who is HE you ask? I don't know his name, but he would have been one of the biggest fish on party poker and I got to play with him 4 handed for the better part of two hours. Ellix Powers would have exploded with this guy. Why? Because he called me down with EIGHT HIGH. yes he called me down one hand and flopped over 83o on river. That was amazing.




Then he did it two more times. THREE TIMES he called me down with 8 high. TWICE I called him down with Jack high and both times it was good. One hand there was a stradle and I'm on button and I three bet with J8, fish caps as does other guy. 442 flop fish bets, old fart calls , I raise and fish and old fart call. 7 on turn Fish bets, old fart folds, I raise, fish calls. King on river so 4427K board and fish bets. I say.. ."I don't see how I can fold here" and call. He flips over 93s (he had no draw) and I take down a big pot with Jack high. JACK HIGH!

The fish bet every single time you checked to him and he was two to my left so he made it really easy to check raise the field. I did this regularly.

I get JJ and raise. Fish 3 bets I cap. Old fart somes along for ride. J82 flop. I check fish bets, old fart calls, I check raise and just fish calls. Blank on turn, I bet and the fish raises. He calls my reraise and check calls the river with KJ. That was by far the best hand he'd had to that point.

One hand I raised KQ preflop flop is KJx and he bets, I raise, call. T on turn. He bets into me, I raise, he calls. T on river. He bets, I call. he turns over 9T. sigh

I ended up playing 'no foldem' holdem for two hours four handed and I basically busted the table. At end of session I was sitting with about $250 and I'd say the nearest guy had about $25.

He probably called 20 or more river bets with no pair as he dropped a lot of money. The funny thing was the two old farts I was with would A.) Call him down to river and fold. and B.) Try to bluff him with nothing. They'd bet and he'd call with 23 for a pair of rivered 2s and they'd muck . It was great. I was so close to histerical laughter about a dozen times.

It was funny to listen to the dealers. I'd bet on river and he'd call. I'd say "Top pair, jacks' and turn my hand over. He'd turn over Q3o for Q high and they'd be like. "Top pair and..... .... " then silence as they'd push me the pot.

Basically the last hand he played he raises, I limp/call with K5s. Flop was like 9 high garbage, one spade. I call him down to runner runner a flush and check raise him on river and somehow he just calls on river with pocket aces. Almost felt bad for the guy.

But it was so fucking funny man.

Ahhh, well I hope this was halfway interesting. If any of you had been there you'd have been rolling around on the ground. Maybe you had to be there, but it was great.

Well its 4 am and I"m tired!

Later,
Tad

I noticed Absolute is offering freerolls every half hour. A $50 prize pool is kinda weak, $10 for 1st, but it is better than nothing. 2k max entrants... The top 5 go into the "$1000 AP Challenge" on Sundays. If you're bored or don't have a roll it is something to do. Um, I don't know if there are better freerolls out there... Anyone?

Yes, I had a wild ride at a recent $12+1 6-handed "Sit and Go" Tournament. Early on I crack Aces with 10Q.

http://www.pokerhand.org/index.php?page=view&hand=94239

Then it is Cowboys that take a fall.

http://www.pokerhand.org/index.php?page=view&hand=94238

Finally, a miracle card ( 1 outer) on the river cracks QQ.

http://www.pokerhand.org/index.php?page=view&hand=94240

That beat leads to a fast victory, as it is over at the 25/50 level. Just my second one outer in two sit and go's... As I hit the Straight Flush with a one outer in an earlier sng with this hand.

http://www.pokerhand.org/index.php?page=view&hand=94237

It has been exciting, to say the least.

Wow, I was playing the $100NL tonight, following a fish I found while observing Tad awhile back. Here is my biggest score to date.

Seat 1: 1* ( $174.94 )
Seat 2: 2* ( $117.45 )
Seat 3: 3*( $100 )
Seat 4: FISH ( $160.60 )
Seat 5: 5* ( $129.95 )
Seat 6: bidzior ( $100 )
5* posts small blind [$0.50].
bidzior posts big blind [$1].
** Dealing down cards **Dealt to bidzior [ Td Tc ]
1* folds.
2* raises [$4].
3* folds.
FISH raises [$10].
5* folds.

A tough decision between reraising and calling. I was worried that since player 2 was willing to raise in front of the fish that he may hold something better than my 10s. This fish was a maniac who loves reraising preflop. I was afraid that if I reraise I may get reraised big by either player, in which it may just be a flip. I would rather try and see a flop cheaply and outplay them on the postflop. I felt my 10s were too good a hand to consider folding.

bidzior calls [$9].
2* folds.

A great result. The preflop raiser folds. I would call in this spot with any above average hand.

** Dealing Flop ** [ 3c, 5s, Kc ]

I like this flop. Only one over. I am 85% sure I am still in the lead and am fairly sure he will bet anyways. I go for the check-raise. Too scary of a flop to just check-call with the draws out there. Yes, he could be playing A4 or even 46.

bidzior checks.
Fish bets [$20].
bidzior raises [$50].
FISH calls [$30].

I probably should've reraised to 40 because both my next move lacks punch and there is the danger he folds to this bigger bet.

** Dealing Turn ** [ Qh ]
bidzior is all-In.
FISH calls [$40].

The fish is right to call for this final $40. If i had only ch-raised to $40 instead of $50 on the flop I would have $50 left over and may be able to win the pot right now. The pot would've been a little over $100 and would've been great to take down right there. Instead it is a $40 bet into a $125 pot, giving him good pot odds to call. He hesitates and calls.

** Dealing River ** [ Ac ]

I am fairly sure I am in the lead until this Ace completes the flush draw and an Ax holding. Now I figure it is 50/50. Against anyone else there would be no doubt I would be beat.

bidzior shows [ Td, Tc ] a pair of tens.
FISH shows [ 9s, 9h ] a pair of nines.
bidzior wins $202.50 from the main pot with a pair of tens.

What a feeling to see this guy turn over 9s. As it turns out I am glad he had the good odds to call on the river. I was down $40 until this hand and just kept refreshing to $100 when I would lose some chips. You have to have the maximum when playing with these donkeys. Anyways, it is big for me... I write a post about it. And its nothing to Tad. He gets a hand like this every few rotations... Someday...