Last Sunday at the 2:00 Jokers tournament, there were 3 of us left - me, Big Daddy (Sean) and Sal (Sal & Rosa). Sal was the overwhelming chip leader, Big Daddy was second and I was a distant third. Big Daddy & I playfully asked Sal to chop 3 ways a couple of times. He ignored us. Big Daddy insisted that he could never win against me & was waiting for me to make a mistake. I indicated that I was waiting for them to make a mistake.
Sal ended up calling a couple of my all-ins and losing. His stack started to dwindle. Big Daddy's stayed about the same. After a while, Sal had fewer chips than me, although not by much. I raised all-in with 6-6 (bad play) and Sal insta-called with A-A. I knocked him out when 4 clubs appeared and I had the 6 of clubs and he had the wrong aces. Icky!! This was super lucky.
Then I raised with A-Q and Big Daddy called. He still had me covered at this point. The flop was A-Q-? and he moved all-in with an A-5. I naturally called and he was down to less than the big blind. I called in the dark and had J-7. I forget what he had but I hit my 7 and it held up and I went from being miserably short-stacked to winning the tournament!! I'd rather be lucky than good, although it helps to be both. Two Sunday tournaments in a row at Jokers. Maybe I'm beginning to figure these guys out!
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
Someone Else Plays Bad & Gets Lucky
Radical Roxie. I would never call her that to her face. She is a semi-regular in the Jokers tournaments & I know she is a little crazy. I know this because I raised once with 10-10 and she called me with A-6 offsuit. Naturally she spiked an A on the turn. However, I had kept the pot small & didn't lose too much. I said to her, "I guess I'll have to go all-in next time." She said, "I would have called." Oh my gosh. So I knew she was a little out there.
Tuesday night I was playing at Jokers and Radical Roxie was to my right. I was doing OK when about 5 limpers entered the pot. I had A-K and only about 15 big blinds left so I shoved all-in. Everyone folded except RR. She called with K-J suited. Excellent. Until a king hit the flop and a jack hit the turn. Playing bad & getting lucky. Now I was hurting for chips.
A few hands later the same thing happens - about 4 or 5 limpers including RR. I have 4-4 so I shove all-in. She calls me with the dreaded weakish ace (A-9 offsuit) and spikes an ace right on the flop. Bye bye Lynne.
Again, however, I want her at my table. Most of the time I will win both of those hands and she will be history. I sure wish I got lucky more often. Playing bad? I've got that down - LOL.
Tuesday night I was playing at Jokers and Radical Roxie was to my right. I was doing OK when about 5 limpers entered the pot. I had A-K and only about 15 big blinds left so I shoved all-in. Everyone folded except RR. She called with K-J suited. Excellent. Until a king hit the flop and a jack hit the turn. Playing bad & getting lucky. Now I was hurting for chips.
A few hands later the same thing happens - about 4 or 5 limpers including RR. I have 4-4 so I shove all-in. She calls me with the dreaded weakish ace (A-9 offsuit) and spikes an ace right on the flop. Bye bye Lynne.
Again, however, I want her at my table. Most of the time I will win both of those hands and she will be history. I sure wish I got lucky more often. Playing bad? I've got that down - LOL.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Queen of Quads
It's said by many that poker is very cyclical. I believe it.
Last Friday after work I went to the Island hoping to play a tournament, but ended up playing 2-10 spread limit when nobody showed up for the tournament until the last 5 minutes and then I stayed in the live game.
I'd been playing less than 30 minutes when my 3-3 flopped quads. This was nice because I hadn't had quads in a while & I also got paid off a little and my hand went up on the board for the $100 high hand to pay out at midnight.
About 1 hour later (same dealer as 3-3) I had a K-3 suited in diamonds and flopped 3-K-3 for a full house. Again I got paid off even when I hit my 4th three on the river for quad 3s again. Crazy.
Within that same 30-minutes, I had K-J with a flop of K-K-8 and another K on the river. Great googly moogly. The jack played so I beat my own high hand!!
About 60 minutes later (different dealer this time) I hit quad 6s holding J-6 suited in hearts. My K-K-K-K-J did hold up and I collected my $100 high hand and went home shortly thereafter. I wonder what the odds are of getting quads 4 times in one night? Quad quads!! LOL! Dr. Phil, does your poker calculator tell you that?
Not done yet though. The very next day I hit quad kings in the tournament. And on Sunday I called a guy's all-in with 6-6 and flopped quads.
This is fun. Hope this cycle lasts for a while! :)
Last Friday after work I went to the Island hoping to play a tournament, but ended up playing 2-10 spread limit when nobody showed up for the tournament until the last 5 minutes and then I stayed in the live game.
I'd been playing less than 30 minutes when my 3-3 flopped quads. This was nice because I hadn't had quads in a while & I also got paid off a little and my hand went up on the board for the $100 high hand to pay out at midnight.
About 1 hour later (same dealer as 3-3) I had a K-3 suited in diamonds and flopped 3-K-3 for a full house. Again I got paid off even when I hit my 4th three on the river for quad 3s again. Crazy.
Within that same 30-minutes, I had K-J with a flop of K-K-8 and another K on the river. Great googly moogly. The jack played so I beat my own high hand!!
About 60 minutes later (different dealer this time) I hit quad 6s holding J-6 suited in hearts. My K-K-K-K-J did hold up and I collected my $100 high hand and went home shortly thereafter. I wonder what the odds are of getting quads 4 times in one night? Quad quads!! LOL! Dr. Phil, does your poker calculator tell you that?
Not done yet though. The very next day I hit quad kings in the tournament. And on Sunday I called a guy's all-in with 6-6 and flopped quads.
This is fun. Hope this cycle lasts for a while! :)
Monday, August 1, 2011
Tournament of Champions
First, thanks to Dr. Phil for his brutally honest comments on my playing bad & getting lucky. I believe he was totally correct for the most part. (By the way, the hand took place in the Jokers deep stack tournament so most of us had over 10,000 chips at the start of the hand.) I hate to admit this, however, but most of the time I go by feel instead of math and perhaps that's stupid, but it usually works OK for me. Call it woman's intuition.
Having said that, I just want to toot my own horn by saying that my "feelings" allowed me to call a couple of hands during the Jokers Tournament of Champions that I probably should not have called. In the first hand I was holding A-8 (with everyone limping early in the tournament) & a flop of A-5-5. I checked and called one player all the way down who kept betting and I just didn't put him on a 5 or even an ace. I honestly can't say why I felt that way - I just did. He folded without showing his cards after I called the river.
In the second hand I had 6-6 in the big blind. I had about 6,000 chips at that point. There was one raise to 600 and another guy went all-in for 1,600. I called actually believing I had the best hand, which I believed even more when the original raiser folded. The all-in had 8-7 offsuit so he had 2 over-cards. I flopped quads. Good gravy. That was the SIXTH time I had quads since Friday, but that's another story. Needless to say, I knocked him out.
I ended up winning the tournament for a good payout (14 x buy-in). Fun, fun, fun. I guess I really would rather be lucky than good.
Having said that, I just want to toot my own horn by saying that my "feelings" allowed me to call a couple of hands during the Jokers Tournament of Champions that I probably should not have called. In the first hand I was holding A-8 (with everyone limping early in the tournament) & a flop of A-5-5. I checked and called one player all the way down who kept betting and I just didn't put him on a 5 or even an ace. I honestly can't say why I felt that way - I just did. He folded without showing his cards after I called the river.
In the second hand I had 6-6 in the big blind. I had about 6,000 chips at that point. There was one raise to 600 and another guy went all-in for 1,600. I called actually believing I had the best hand, which I believed even more when the original raiser folded. The all-in had 8-7 offsuit so he had 2 over-cards. I flopped quads. Good gravy. That was the SIXTH time I had quads since Friday, but that's another story. Needless to say, I knocked him out.
I ended up winning the tournament for a good payout (14 x buy-in). Fun, fun, fun. I guess I really would rather be lucky than good.
Friday, July 29, 2011
"You play so bad and get so lucky"
I don't usually post so often, but the last post I did reminded me of a hand I played the previous week where my opponent said to me, "You play so bad and get so lucky." Here's what happened.
Blinds were 50-100. I raised to 300 in middle position with A-10 suited (hearts). A couple of others called & the button player (Matt somebody-or-other) raised to 1200. The lady to my right called the 1200. Normally, I don't call a raise with A-10, but I felt like doing so in this case. This guy was on the button and I had no way of knowing if he was just making a move or not at that point, although I had played with him a couple of other times and he seemed to play fairly tight. One of the other people who called my raise also called the re-raise.
The flop was 10-7-3 or something like that - rainbow. So I had top pair with top kicker. We all checked to the button raiser who bet 2,500. The lady to my right called fairly quickly. At that point, I thought Matt might have an overpair, but I also felt that the lady's call made it OK for me to call also, which I did. The other caller folded and we three were the only ones left.
The turn was an ace, giving me top 2 pair. The lady checked. I decided to bet because I felt like I had a pretty good hand at that point. I threw out 5,000 and that's when Matt said, "You play so bad and get so lucky." He was visibly pissed off. To my credit, I was very cool about it and basically said nothing. He called my bet and the lady folded. (She said after the hand that she folded 8-8 and would have hit a set on the river, so it was a good thing I bet I guess.)
The river was an 8, which did put a straight possibility on the board, but I didn't think Matt had that kind of hand. I honestly thought he had an overpair and I was right. I bet 8,000 on the river and he called. Without waiting for me to show my hand, he tabled K-K. When he saw my A-10, he started talking smack about me again. He continued for about three hands afterward. I did my best to ignore him and several people (and dealers) told me later that they were pleased and surprised by the way I acted (that I hadn't gone ballistic right back at him).
Matt has done this to me before, however. About a month ago I beat him on the river with a flush after I had flopped middle pair and 4 of my suit. He said I was a terrible player that time too. I'm telling you, if this guy gives me grief again, I'm going to flat out tell him to shut his rude ass up. I heard from somebody that he is a dealer somewhere & that really amazed me with the attitude he had. You would think he'd never had his kings busted before.
So, was I wrong to play this hand this way? Was Matt just frustrated or am I really a bad player? Comments appreciated. Be brutally honest please. Thanks.
Blinds were 50-100. I raised to 300 in middle position with A-10 suited (hearts). A couple of others called & the button player (Matt somebody-or-other) raised to 1200. The lady to my right called the 1200. Normally, I don't call a raise with A-10, but I felt like doing so in this case. This guy was on the button and I had no way of knowing if he was just making a move or not at that point, although I had played with him a couple of other times and he seemed to play fairly tight. One of the other people who called my raise also called the re-raise.
The flop was 10-7-3 or something like that - rainbow. So I had top pair with top kicker. We all checked to the button raiser who bet 2,500. The lady to my right called fairly quickly. At that point, I thought Matt might have an overpair, but I also felt that the lady's call made it OK for me to call also, which I did. The other caller folded and we three were the only ones left.
The turn was an ace, giving me top 2 pair. The lady checked. I decided to bet because I felt like I had a pretty good hand at that point. I threw out 5,000 and that's when Matt said, "You play so bad and get so lucky." He was visibly pissed off. To my credit, I was very cool about it and basically said nothing. He called my bet and the lady folded. (She said after the hand that she folded 8-8 and would have hit a set on the river, so it was a good thing I bet I guess.)
The river was an 8, which did put a straight possibility on the board, but I didn't think Matt had that kind of hand. I honestly thought he had an overpair and I was right. I bet 8,000 on the river and he called. Without waiting for me to show my hand, he tabled K-K. When he saw my A-10, he started talking smack about me again. He continued for about three hands afterward. I did my best to ignore him and several people (and dealers) told me later that they were pleased and surprised by the way I acted (that I hadn't gone ballistic right back at him).
Matt has done this to me before, however. About a month ago I beat him on the river with a flush after I had flopped middle pair and 4 of my suit. He said I was a terrible player that time too. I'm telling you, if this guy gives me grief again, I'm going to flat out tell him to shut his rude ass up. I heard from somebody that he is a dealer somewhere & that really amazed me with the attitude he had. You would think he'd never had his kings busted before.
So, was I wrong to play this hand this way? Was Matt just frustrated or am I really a bad player? Comments appreciated. Be brutally honest please. Thanks.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Help!
I'm amazed at the play of this hand from a tournament last week at Jokers. I was pretty desperate and went all-in with an A-8 offsuit on the button for 1600.
Mike #1 in the small blind raised to 4600. Action folded around to Mike #2 (middle of table) who called.
Flop comes A-J-? with 2 spades. Hope springs eternal for yours truly. Mike #1 bets. I can't remember all the bet sizes, but they weren't cheap. Rut row. (I think he has a bigger kicker than me - maybe even A-J). Mike #2 calls without even thinking about it. The turn is a blank but another spade, making a flush possible. Mike #1 bets again. Mike #2 calls again.
The river is yet another spade. I have no spades. I know I am screwed, but what amazes me is what happens with the 2 Mikes. Mike #1 bets yet again. Mike #2 calls pretty quickly.
Mike #1 turns over 10-10 without any spade. Mike #2 turns over 6-6 with one spade and takes the entire huge pot.
This was mostly sidepot action & didn't concern me at all & I knew I was doomed, but here are my thoughts on this hand for what it's worth.
First, how does Mike #2 call a fairly large re-raise with a rather small pair? How in heck does Mike #1 bet out on the flop holding 10-10 with 2 overcards on the board? How does Mike #2 call the flop bet holding 6-6?
After Mike #2 calls the first bet, why does Mike #1 continue to fire into the side pot? Why does Mike #2 call again?
And, most insanely, how does Mike #1 continue to fire on the river when there are 4 spades and he doesn't have one and there are still those 2 overcards out there? And continuing the insanity, how in hell does Mike #2 think his 6-6 with the tiny spade is good and call the river?
I am flabbergasted. Am I the only one who thinks the two Mikes are crazy? Sometimes I just don't get it. And believe me, most of the time I want both of the Mikes in my pots.
Mike #1 in the small blind raised to 4600. Action folded around to Mike #2 (middle of table) who called.
Flop comes A-J-? with 2 spades. Hope springs eternal for yours truly. Mike #1 bets. I can't remember all the bet sizes, but they weren't cheap. Rut row. (I think he has a bigger kicker than me - maybe even A-J). Mike #2 calls without even thinking about it. The turn is a blank but another spade, making a flush possible. Mike #1 bets again. Mike #2 calls again.
The river is yet another spade. I have no spades. I know I am screwed, but what amazes me is what happens with the 2 Mikes. Mike #1 bets yet again. Mike #2 calls pretty quickly.
Mike #1 turns over 10-10 without any spade. Mike #2 turns over 6-6 with one spade and takes the entire huge pot.
This was mostly sidepot action & didn't concern me at all & I knew I was doomed, but here are my thoughts on this hand for what it's worth.
First, how does Mike #2 call a fairly large re-raise with a rather small pair? How in heck does Mike #1 bet out on the flop holding 10-10 with 2 overcards on the board? How does Mike #2 call the flop bet holding 6-6?
After Mike #2 calls the first bet, why does Mike #1 continue to fire into the side pot? Why does Mike #2 call again?
And, most insanely, how does Mike #1 continue to fire on the river when there are 4 spades and he doesn't have one and there are still those 2 overcards out there? And continuing the insanity, how in hell does Mike #2 think his 6-6 with the tiny spade is good and call the river?
I am flabbergasted. Am I the only one who thinks the two Mikes are crazy? Sometimes I just don't get it. And believe me, most of the time I want both of the Mikes in my pots.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Poker Weekend
Friday I got off work early & played the 3:00 at Jokers to no avail. For some reason I decided to go play live at the Crazy Moose afterward. I keep telling myself not to play live unless I win a tournament first, but I never listen to myself. I'm glad I went because I bought in for $200 and left 5 hours later with $825. Not too shabby for me.
On Saturday I took first in the Jokers 12:30 tournament for a profit of $440, so my profit for the weekend was $965 at that point (deducting tournament buy-ins and tips). I went off to Pendleton for the summer poker round-up beginning at noon on Sunday. I was planning on going anyway, but now it was basically a free roll. Always a good thing.
There were 197 players. I did well until right before the dinner break when I ran into two hands that just turned out wrong. It's so hard to win tournaments anyway . . . whether it's 40 players or 200+. But I lasted longer than 112 other people, so I was OK with that. I'm going to get a bracelet sooner or later, gosh darn it!! Anyway, it was fun to play all weekend for virtually nothing.
On Saturday I took first in the Jokers 12:30 tournament for a profit of $440, so my profit for the weekend was $965 at that point (deducting tournament buy-ins and tips). I went off to Pendleton for the summer poker round-up beginning at noon on Sunday. I was planning on going anyway, but now it was basically a free roll. Always a good thing.
There were 197 players. I did well until right before the dinner break when I ran into two hands that just turned out wrong. It's so hard to win tournaments anyway . . . whether it's 40 players or 200+. But I lasted longer than 112 other people, so I was OK with that. I'm going to get a bracelet sooner or later, gosh darn it!! Anyway, it was fun to play all weekend for virtually nothing.
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