Sunday was interesting. Ryan dealt me red jacks as my first hand. I raised a little, had a good flop and won a small pot.
On the very next hand I got red jacks again. Hmmm. I was in the one seat and looked at Ryan and said, "Did you change the deck?" He saw what I had, gave a small laugh and we continued. I raised a little, had a good flop and won a small pot.
On the very next hand I got black jacks. Hmmm. I nudged Ryan and said, "I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone." He was as surprised as I was. I raised a little, got a terrible flop and folded, not losing much.
Last but definitely not least, on the very next hand I got 2 aces. Hmmm. I showed Ryan and he just rolled his eyes. I raised a little, had a good flop and won a small pot. This is something I always enjoy when I have aces.
I have been playing for 9 years and have never seen back-to-back-to-back jacks followed by aces. I've had back-to-back aces many times. I once had aces 5 times in the first hour of a tournament. I guess there's no end to the weird things that can happen at a poker table.
It continued last night. Dealer "B" gave me pocket queens and I flopped quads to pick up $150. Less than 20 minutes later he gave me 99 and I flopped quads again for another $150. Again, I've had quads twice in one session before but never that fast. I'm playing again tonight because they are giving away cash every 30 minutes and I have about 150 entries. Wish me luck!
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Monday, September 9, 2013
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner
Thanks to Dr. Phil for the name of today's post.
I won the 10am Sunday tournament at the Moose for $850. I didn't have to split it with anybody. The last four players were Jimmer, his wife Kathy, Ken (don't know him well) and me. Jimmer never pays back the money bubble and he rarely chops. Kathy is basically the same way. I took Jimmer out and he got 4th place. I had JJ and he had 55. We both flopped a set and each of us naturally thought we were trapping the other. Obviously, I won that battle. I honestly don't remember if Kathy or I took out Ken, but we were head's up after only 1 or 2 more hands. I had 4 times the chips Kathy had. She didn't even ask about chopping. I like playing head's up and never get enough practice at it, so I didn't mention it either. I probably would have if we had played a long time, but we only played about 6 hands.
This tournament was quite different from most of my other tournaments. I usually suffer a tremendous rollercoaster of ups and downs. Sunday was almost perfect, with only one or two very small downsides during the entire thing. I made some good plays and laid down some good hands, i.e., I laid down AK suited and my opponent showed KK. Another time I raised with AJ suited when we were 4-handed and laid down to a large re-raise and was shown JJ. I might have won either time, but I think I dodged bullets there.
My favorite hand was the one that made me chip leader. We were 5 or 6 handed at the final table when I was dealt 55. The flop was A-2-5 giving me a set. Unbeknownst to me, Kathy had 3-4 in the big blind and had flopped a wheel. Again, we were each thinking about trapping. She checked, I made an average bet, she went all-in and I called. I was going to be out with no money, but Roland paired the board with an ace on the river and saved my bacon. Phew.
It was really nice to win all by myself and to actually not be a bundle of nerves from the rollercoaster ride. I hope my one true follower will make the next final table too.
I won the 10am Sunday tournament at the Moose for $850. I didn't have to split it with anybody. The last four players were Jimmer, his wife Kathy, Ken (don't know him well) and me. Jimmer never pays back the money bubble and he rarely chops. Kathy is basically the same way. I took Jimmer out and he got 4th place. I had JJ and he had 55. We both flopped a set and each of us naturally thought we were trapping the other. Obviously, I won that battle. I honestly don't remember if Kathy or I took out Ken, but we were head's up after only 1 or 2 more hands. I had 4 times the chips Kathy had. She didn't even ask about chopping. I like playing head's up and never get enough practice at it, so I didn't mention it either. I probably would have if we had played a long time, but we only played about 6 hands.
This tournament was quite different from most of my other tournaments. I usually suffer a tremendous rollercoaster of ups and downs. Sunday was almost perfect, with only one or two very small downsides during the entire thing. I made some good plays and laid down some good hands, i.e., I laid down AK suited and my opponent showed KK. Another time I raised with AJ suited when we were 4-handed and laid down to a large re-raise and was shown JJ. I might have won either time, but I think I dodged bullets there.
My favorite hand was the one that made me chip leader. We were 5 or 6 handed at the final table when I was dealt 55. The flop was A-2-5 giving me a set. Unbeknownst to me, Kathy had 3-4 in the big blind and had flopped a wheel. Again, we were each thinking about trapping. She checked, I made an average bet, she went all-in and I called. I was going to be out with no money, but Roland paired the board with an ace on the river and saved my bacon. Phew.
It was really nice to win all by myself and to actually not be a bundle of nerves from the rollercoaster ride. I hope my one true follower will make the next final table too.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
The Perfect Storm
Another movie title. I have no imagination.
Last night I went to play the cash game at the Moose just because I was bored. We started the 2nd game with 6 players at about 7pm but it quickly filled up and there was actually a third game going by 9pm. Pretty good for a Wednesday night. I bought in for $220 and was up and down, up and down. Even though I was first on the list for the main game I never got there until after 10pm. I had already decided to leave no later than 11:30 because I still work.
No one had been leaving the main game because it was action city. The people at the table were (by seat number) (1) Jen and (2) Andrew (I had played with this husband and wife before but hadn't seen them in probably 2 years; (3) An "Suck Out" Nguyen; (4) Thuy (5) Jeff from Joker's (larger guy about 40 with glasses); (6) Gloomy Ken who never smiles & hardly ever talks; (7) Skyler; (8) 7Dewey; and (9) Collin (another guy I hadn't seen in a long time). I went to the table with just over $200.
Collin was driving the action. Most of the time he made it $22 to go in any position if he wanted to play. Most of the time he only looked at the first card in his hand until the river. He was also drinking and had a lucky horseshoe up his butt (at least until I got there and removed it). The action was fast & furious. I honestly don't know how it happened, but I got extremely lucky on many more than one occasion and just kicked ass. I also got AAA66 for a high hand right before 11:30 so I decided to stay until midnight just to pick up that $100, not that I really cared. I was at the table for 2 hours, left at midnight like a good girl and my $200 was now $976 (including high hand money). Two hours. This is absolutely the best I have ever done in such a short period of time.
I was also smart enough or tired enough to leave. If I stayed I'm sure I would have given at least half of it back. I even won 4 out of 6 times with AJ which is a hand I hate, but I had to play it yesterday. It was just fun. Now if I could only do this more than once in a blue moon, I'd be a happy girl!!
Last night I went to play the cash game at the Moose just because I was bored. We started the 2nd game with 6 players at about 7pm but it quickly filled up and there was actually a third game going by 9pm. Pretty good for a Wednesday night. I bought in for $220 and was up and down, up and down. Even though I was first on the list for the main game I never got there until after 10pm. I had already decided to leave no later than 11:30 because I still work.
No one had been leaving the main game because it was action city. The people at the table were (by seat number) (1) Jen and (2) Andrew (I had played with this husband and wife before but hadn't seen them in probably 2 years; (3) An "Suck Out" Nguyen; (4) Thuy (5) Jeff from Joker's (larger guy about 40 with glasses); (6) Gloomy Ken who never smiles & hardly ever talks; (7) Skyler; (8) 7Dewey; and (9) Collin (another guy I hadn't seen in a long time). I went to the table with just over $200.
Collin was driving the action. Most of the time he made it $22 to go in any position if he wanted to play. Most of the time he only looked at the first card in his hand until the river. He was also drinking and had a lucky horseshoe up his butt (at least until I got there and removed it). The action was fast & furious. I honestly don't know how it happened, but I got extremely lucky on many more than one occasion and just kicked ass. I also got AAA66 for a high hand right before 11:30 so I decided to stay until midnight just to pick up that $100, not that I really cared. I was at the table for 2 hours, left at midnight like a good girl and my $200 was now $976 (including high hand money). Two hours. This is absolutely the best I have ever done in such a short period of time.
I was also smart enough or tired enough to leave. If I stayed I'm sure I would have given at least half of it back. I even won 4 out of 6 times with AJ which is a hand I hate, but I had to play it yesterday. It was just fun. Now if I could only do this more than once in a blue moon, I'd be a happy girl!!
Monday, August 12, 2013
Sometimes a Great Notion
I've decided to try to play the cash game only if I have $120 or more in winnings from a tournament. As it turns out, the Sunday 10:00 a.m. tournament at the Moose provided $150 to play with and it turned out to be pretty good idea.
In the tournament itself, my usual roller coaster ride ended when my JJ lost to QJ after my all-in at the final table. I only had 5 big blinds (which was still 20,000 chips) so it was a no-brainer for me. The lucky SOB holding QJ caught a queen on the turn. I went home for awhile and puttered around and went back to play live at about 3pm.
At about 4:00 dealer Melissa gave me quad 2s for $150. She was the dealer of the night as far as quads went. She dealt quad 2s, three different quad 6s and quad 8s, all in 4 hours. Only one of them paid $499, but oh well. Free money is still free money. One of the quad 6s and the quad 8s were back-to-back. (On a side note, this is the 2nd time she has dealt me quad 2s within one month.)
By 6:30 I had moved to the main game. One of the other players got aces full of jacks for the first high hand of the night. He claimed it would never hold up until 8:00. At about 7:00 I had JJ and the board ended up with 3 aces on it, so I tied for the high hand. It did indeed hold up and I got another $50.
And finally, for the good timing award, at about 9:50 I was allowed to limp in on the button with A3 off-suit and hit quad 3s with an ace kicker for the 10:00 high hand. I ended up with a total of $300 free money. No complaints here! I went home at about 11:00 and still had most of it! I am patting myself on the back for not giving it all back.
In the tournament itself, my usual roller coaster ride ended when my JJ lost to QJ after my all-in at the final table. I only had 5 big blinds (which was still 20,000 chips) so it was a no-brainer for me. The lucky SOB holding QJ caught a queen on the turn. I went home for awhile and puttered around and went back to play live at about 3pm.
At about 4:00 dealer Melissa gave me quad 2s for $150. She was the dealer of the night as far as quads went. She dealt quad 2s, three different quad 6s and quad 8s, all in 4 hours. Only one of them paid $499, but oh well. Free money is still free money. One of the quad 6s and the quad 8s were back-to-back. (On a side note, this is the 2nd time she has dealt me quad 2s within one month.)
By 6:30 I had moved to the main game. One of the other players got aces full of jacks for the first high hand of the night. He claimed it would never hold up until 8:00. At about 7:00 I had JJ and the board ended up with 3 aces on it, so I tied for the high hand. It did indeed hold up and I got another $50.
And finally, for the good timing award, at about 9:50 I was allowed to limp in on the button with A3 off-suit and hit quad 3s with an ace kicker for the 10:00 high hand. I ended up with a total of $300 free money. No complaints here! I went home at about 11:00 and still had most of it! I am patting myself on the back for not giving it all back.
Monday, July 22, 2013
Breaking Tables - The Bane of My Existence
I played in Pendleton on Friday the 19th. There were 339 players. I zipped along quite nicely until after the dinner break. I knew my table well. We only had a total of 3 players knocked out & replaced by other players and I felt I had a good handle on them as well. I was just above the chip average and there were only 81 players left. 36 players would get money.
Then . . . my table breaks. This means we are down on 72 players. Unfortunately, total misery and card deadness ensues. I have absolutely no playable hands at the new table. The best thing I see is A-3 and I can't play it because someone raises before me. I am not having fun any more. The only good thing going on is there are fewer and fewer players. It seems that someone gets knocked out every other minute.
After less than 30 minutes this table breaks also - down to 63 players. Again, I am totally lost. I'm not there long enough to get to know anybody because I simply run out of chips. When my first table broke I had about 35 big blinds and by the time I got to the last table I had less than half of that because the antes were eating all my chips and I seriously had no playable hands. None. When I saw KJ it looked like AA to me and I shoved all in with only about 12 big blinds remaining. Naturally the guy to my immediate left actually did have AA and I was gone in about 60th place.
One of these days I will get a seat that's at the final table and I will never have to move. Wouldn't that be heaven?
Then . . . my table breaks. This means we are down on 72 players. Unfortunately, total misery and card deadness ensues. I have absolutely no playable hands at the new table. The best thing I see is A-3 and I can't play it because someone raises before me. I am not having fun any more. The only good thing going on is there are fewer and fewer players. It seems that someone gets knocked out every other minute.
After less than 30 minutes this table breaks also - down to 63 players. Again, I am totally lost. I'm not there long enough to get to know anybody because I simply run out of chips. When my first table broke I had about 35 big blinds and by the time I got to the last table I had less than half of that because the antes were eating all my chips and I seriously had no playable hands. None. When I saw KJ it looked like AA to me and I shoved all in with only about 12 big blinds remaining. Naturally the guy to my immediate left actually did have AA and I was gone in about 60th place.
One of these days I will get a seat that's at the final table and I will never have to move. Wouldn't that be heaven?
Monday, July 8, 2013
Cowboys Shot Down by the 44
Analysis needed! I played the 10am tournament at the Crazy Moose yesterday. The blinds had just gone up to 25-50 so we had only been playing just over 20 minutes when this hand came up.
There were about 6 limpers. I was on the button and looked down at 2 red kings. I correctly decide that I need to narrow the field so I raise 8 times the big blind to 400. That got rid of 4 limpers, leaving Hispanic Tony (who calls me every time) and some new guy I've never played with.
The flop is 2-4-8 and is checked to me. What does the Queen of Stupid do? Why of course she goes all-in. I wanted to win the pot right there damn it. Hispanic Tony folds immediately and New Guy calls instantly, thus allowing me to know that he has flopped a set and I am screwed.
Yes, indeed. He has pocket 4s. Naturally, I talk to myself all the way home as I am the 1st or 2nd person knocked out of the tournament. (I saw Joe leaving at about the same time.) Why didn't I just check? Because I didn't want to see any aces on the turn, that's why. Could I have gotten away from a large bet by New Guy on the turn or river? I don't know. Personally, I would have folded 44 pre-flop to a raise of 8 times the big blind, but hey that's just me.
What do you think oh faithful reader? Your thoughts are appreciated.
There were about 6 limpers. I was on the button and looked down at 2 red kings. I correctly decide that I need to narrow the field so I raise 8 times the big blind to 400. That got rid of 4 limpers, leaving Hispanic Tony (who calls me every time) and some new guy I've never played with.
The flop is 2-4-8 and is checked to me. What does the Queen of Stupid do? Why of course she goes all-in. I wanted to win the pot right there damn it. Hispanic Tony folds immediately and New Guy calls instantly, thus allowing me to know that he has flopped a set and I am screwed.
Yes, indeed. He has pocket 4s. Naturally, I talk to myself all the way home as I am the 1st or 2nd person knocked out of the tournament. (I saw Joe leaving at about the same time.) Why didn't I just check? Because I didn't want to see any aces on the turn, that's why. Could I have gotten away from a large bet by New Guy on the turn or river? I don't know. Personally, I would have folded 44 pre-flop to a raise of 8 times the big blind, but hey that's just me.
What do you think oh faithful reader? Your thoughts are appreciated.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Thanks to My Sponsor
I decided to finally post something. Don't get used to it. This may or may not happen about once a month.
I wanted to thank Dr. Phil for all the fun and failure in Pendleton last Saturday. I had many scary and fun hands to play. When I went out of the tournament there were 105 players remaining, so I outlasted 374 people. Not too shabby, but still 60 shy of the money. Poop.
Nonetheless, I thank him for the opportunity and for (1) sitting for five minutes while some bozo decided whether or not to call my all-in after the 10-9-3 flop (I had kings) and having my blood pressure go through the roof; and (2) for making a great call on a guy I knew was shoving to steal blinds and antes (I had A-J and he had Q-10) and having him hit his lousy 10 to cripple me; and (3) for making a terrific comeback after the aforesaid crippling and making it another hour; and (4) for flopping quad 9s against a guy with AA who just couldn't wait to put me all in; and (5) for making it to and past the dinner break; and (6) for playing until 7pm when I got so terribly short-stacked that I finally had to just shoot the works with 8-9 suited and got knocked out. I would have been in the big blind the next hand and out of chips the hand after that, so there you go.
I think 8-9 suited is one of my sponsor's favorite hands, so I feel good about that. Maybe someday I will actually make the money in one of these bigger tournaments. My biggest cash in Pendleton was against 155 women so 479 players is a little intimidating. Anyway, thanks again to my loyal sponsor. I really do appreciate your misplaced faith in me.
I wanted to thank Dr. Phil for all the fun and failure in Pendleton last Saturday. I had many scary and fun hands to play. When I went out of the tournament there were 105 players remaining, so I outlasted 374 people. Not too shabby, but still 60 shy of the money. Poop.
Nonetheless, I thank him for the opportunity and for (1) sitting for five minutes while some bozo decided whether or not to call my all-in after the 10-9-3 flop (I had kings) and having my blood pressure go through the roof; and (2) for making a great call on a guy I knew was shoving to steal blinds and antes (I had A-J and he had Q-10) and having him hit his lousy 10 to cripple me; and (3) for making a terrific comeback after the aforesaid crippling and making it another hour; and (4) for flopping quad 9s against a guy with AA who just couldn't wait to put me all in; and (5) for making it to and past the dinner break; and (6) for playing until 7pm when I got so terribly short-stacked that I finally had to just shoot the works with 8-9 suited and got knocked out. I would have been in the big blind the next hand and out of chips the hand after that, so there you go.
I think 8-9 suited is one of my sponsor's favorite hands, so I feel good about that. Maybe someday I will actually make the money in one of these bigger tournaments. My biggest cash in Pendleton was against 155 women so 479 players is a little intimidating. Anyway, thanks again to my loyal sponsor. I really do appreciate your misplaced faith in me.
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