Res Ipsa Poker: October 2007

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

I Will Not Be Paying You $1 For The Whining In This Post

I must be experiencing karma payback for thinking impure thoughts about someone at "work" today or something. It could also be the discovery that I actually had a couple dollars on bodog that were probably the result of doing something crazy, like betting on Michigan State and getting a late cover. I forget, it's been a while. Oh and wait, I don't bet on sports.

Anyway, I just bubbled out of the bodonkey. I built up a nice stack early and then lost half of it with AA v 88 all in preflop. Stuck around, was the shortstack with 7 BB left, shoved with JJ on the button over the top of a preflop raiser. Who calls. And I lose to 65s.

Two big hands. Two 80/20 favorites. Zero winners. Massive bottom payout (for an $11 tournament) opportunity whiffed.

Sigh.

I'm so sorry, poker gods. I'll bring a blindfold with me tomorrow so we don't have a repeat, k?

***

This was the first time I've played the bodonkey. I usually don't play on Tuesday nights, but work kept me busy too late to hit the golf course. I'll be looking to play it on a more regular basis (at least next week, who knows how long it'll go on) with the time change and resulting end of golf season, assuming that I can get some more funding onto the site.

I do think I'll be freerolling next week, thanks to T$11 kicked in by bodog. Thanks for that!

Note - this tournament has a GREAT structure. I can't emphasize this enough. Lots of play for the buyin. If bodog fixes their software (I haven't peeked at the beta yet), I'll be looking to spend more time over there.

Check out the bodonkey for yourself next week.

***

Coming up next:

Wed: Teh Mookie (may or may not play - late start)
Thu: Riverchasers (probably there)
Fri: Kat's Dollamenunaires Donkament (only probable due to lingering groin injury from last week)

A tournament for every night of the week. Except Saturday. Nobody wants to know what bloggers do on Saturday.

Play The Bodonkey!

Straight from the source:

Play Bodog’s Online Poker Blogger Tournament This Tuesday Night!

Bodog invites Poker Bloggers to play in it’s Poker Blogger Tournament with a total of $600 in bonus money.

If you are 1 of the 5 money bubblers, you’ll have your $11 buy-in refunded and if you finish in the top 5 you will win an entry for Bodog’s Sunday $100K Guaranteed tournament.

This tournament runs weekly on Tuesday evenings and requires a password for entry that Bloggers can promote within their community.

Tournament Details

Dates: October 30rd through November 6, 2007

Tournament Name: “Online Poker Blogger Tournament” at Bodog

Entry Password: bodogblogger

Buy-in + fee: $10 + $1

Starting Chips: 3000 (Double Stack)

Payout: Standard Bodog payout structure

Bonuses:

T$109 bonus paid to the top 5 finishers.

T$11 bonus paid to the 5 players that are eliminated prior to payouts.

These bonuses will be awarded within 24hrs of the tournament completion.

T$ = Tournament Credits. These can be used as a buy in to almost all scheduled tournaments at Bodog and have a ratio to cash of 1:1.

T$ can also be combined with cash to buy in to tournaments.

Day of week: Tuesdays

Start time: 8:35pm ET

If you haven’t played at the Bodog Poker Room before, please download and install the free software client at:
http://www.bodoglife.com/poker/download-poker.jsp

If you’re not yet a Bodog member, sign up for your FREE account by clicking the “Join Now” button in the Poker Room client.

If you need assistance with signing up for the tournament or with starting a Bodog Account please call or email us at:
The Bodog Poker Customer Service Number: 1-866-909-2237
The Bodog Poker Customer Service Email: [email protected]

Playing With Bodog ONLY Gets Better!
Here’s a a sneak peak at the NEW game play software!
http://www.newbodog.com/poker/download/BodogPokerGameplayBetaClient.exe

Daily Tournament Updates
http://smokkee.blogspot.com/

Bodog will continue to run this tournament and increase prizes as well as turn this into a poker league with an ongoing leader board if participation warrants it.

***

Incidentally, if anyone would be interested in swapping a few bucks ($50?) on bodog for the same on Full Tilt or Stars, please email me.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Inside the Donkey Studio

(Editorial note: I have no problem with Hoyzao nor do I think he has any with me. The following is offered as a different point of view on a hand.)

Bad play will get inside your head.

Or, if you're like me, your play will get into the head of others.

Hoyazo was not enthusiastic about the move I made to knock him out of the Riverchasers event last night. I think his position is understandable, even if I don't fully agree.

Here is his take on the hand:

Eventually, with about half my starting stack maybe 40 minutes in to the tournament, I had pocket 7s on the button and saw a standard raise from EP, followed by two or three callers of the raise, all ahead of my action. There was about 800 chips in the pot, I had maybe 1400 chips in my stack and I looked down to find pocket 7s. I was short and not in a good position to make a move where I was, so I went ahead and reraised the 200-chip bet allin to 1400 straight. I assumed I was likely ahead here and assumed I would likely take the pot down without a fight. Instead, I was insta-called by the second player to my left, who still had two players left to act behind him who had already called a preflop raise themselves with their hands. Those other two guys folded, and what does the insta-caller flip up? AQo. Ace Queen fucking o. Instcalling an allin reraise and still with two raise-callers to act behind him. The flop came down with nothing of consequence, at which point I am basically a 75% favorite in the hand. But do I have to tell you how the hand ended up? I've said it before and I'll say it again: the full tilt rng for whatever reason seems to be more likely to reward donkery, the more donkorific a particular play is. I think calling the allin reraise with AQo with two raise-callers still to act behind you has got to be among the worst moves I have ever seen made at the poker table. But hey, I called an allin reraise in the Mookie this week with the hammer preflop, and then in Riverchasers I called another allin with whatever shit hand that was -- 97s or some such garbage. Of course those are live cards that I'm calling with, as opposed to the AQo hand, but what does fear of a little something called domination really have to do with poker anyways, right?

And you know the worst part of all about this play that knocked me out of Riverchasers on Thursday night? It wasn't even made by a riverchaser. It was a regular blogger. That's the kind of shit that makes me say what I say about the level of play of the bloggers as a whole. Now the guy who made this play is not someone I know well, but he's always been a nice guy whenever I've interacted with him or seen him with others, so no rant needed. But calling an allin reraise with two raise-callers still to act behind you with AQo? Dayyyyyyummmmmm.

Here is the hand in question (converters suck):

Full Tilt Poker Game #3967461068: Riverchasers Online Poker Tour (29542848), Table 1 - 50/100 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:51:45 ET - 2007/10/25
Seat 1: on_thg (2,390)
Seat 2: NavyAMDO (2,085)
Seat 3: GottaWinSum (8,610)
Seat 4: KillinKegz (2,935)
Seat 5: 6722 (3,380)
Seat 6: jamyhawk (3,890)
Seat 7: jl555 (3,680)
Seat 8: hoyazo (1,385)
Seat 9: gorilla_rc24 (8,840)
jl555 posts the small blind of 50
hoyazo posts the big blind of 100
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to on_thg [As Qc]
gorilla_rc24 folds
on_thg raises to 300
NavyAMDO folds
GottaWinSum calls 300
KillinKegz folds
6722 folds
jamyhawk folds
jl555 folds
hoyazo raises to 1,385, and is all in
on_thg raises to 2,390, and is all in
GottaWinSum folds
on_thg shows [As Qc]
hoyazo shows [7d 7c]
Uncalled bet of 1,005 returned to on_thg
*** FLOP *** [2h Jh 6h]
*** TURN *** [2h Jh 6h] [Ad]
*** RIVER *** [2h Jh 6h Ad] [5h]
on_thg shows a pair of Aces
hoyazo shows a pair of Sevens
on_thg wins the pot (3,120) with a pair of Aces
KillinKegz: gg
hoyazo stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,120 | Rake 0
Board: [2h Jh 6h Ad 5h]
Seat 1: on_thg showed [As Qc] and won (3,120) with a pair of Aces
Seat 2: NavyAMDO didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: GottaWinSum folded before the Flop
Seat 4: KillinKegz didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: 6722 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: jamyhawk (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: jl555 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 8: hoyazo (big blind) showed [7d 7c] and lost with a pair of Sevens
Seat 9: gorilla_rc24 didn't bet (folded)

We're nearing the end of the first hour and I have gotten exactly zero traction - I'm down to 80% of the starting stack. Anything I've raised has taken the blinds. Mostly, I've folded junk.

Donkey thought #1: Hey, I've got a pretty good hand here, I might win a pot.

All of my raises thus far have been of the 3x BB variety, so this is no different. I get a call from GottaWinSum, who I've never seen until this tournament. His stack has been up and down and he's in a lot of pots, but I haven't seen any out of line play.

Hoy shoves.

Donkey thought #2: Holy overbet resteal, Batman!

Okay, I have this bet covered. If I went to war with Hoy and lost, I'd still have 1,000 chips left and I feel like I wouldn't be in much worse position than I am now. What does he have?

I don't think he shoves AA, KK or AK there. More likely a smaller pair, which would be a coin flip. Or it could be any two cards, which would make me a favorite, albeit not a dominant one.

I feel like I need chips. I'll take a flip or better.

Donkey thought #3: Who is my opponent?

I didn't give enough consideration to who my opponent was. I've played some with Hoy, but not all that much. I should know more about his game than I do. Let's just say I put him a little further right on the resteal spectrum than I should have:

These things happen when you're not really thinking.

Donkey thought #4: I need to get the other player out of the hand, therefore I shove.

I have no idea what GottaWinSum is holding there, but I'm not afraid of AA, KK or AK from him either. It's a big step from committing 200 chips to committing 2400 chips, so I think he'll fold anything worse than QQ in the face of two all-ins.

Especially if I insta-shove, representing a monster. I did raise first after all.

Incidentally, it does make a difference to me whether there was 1 player left to act vs. 2 as Hoy recalled. This donkey thinks it would be suicidal to take on two, while I felt I knew and had just enough to get the one opponent to fold.

Donkey thought #5: This is Full Tilt, where there are 14 aces in the deck.

Okay, I didn't think that, but I have before.

Post-game donkey thoughts:

That's the kind of shit that makes me say what I say about the level of play of the bloggers as a whole.

I thought the prevailing wisdom was that bloggers are weak-tight nits. I certainly am, this play notwithstanding. That's probably why I so rarely get to play big stack poker.

Finally, this was a $10+1 tournament. The level of play can't be expected to be comparable to a $100+ buyin event. Especially among those of us who spend the entire time repeating, Rain Man style, "I really should be sleeping. I really should be sleeping."

Hoy has had a lot of success, so maybe he's right. Maybe he's not. I'm not good enough to be the judge. Even if he is right, does that mean I won't do this (or something comparably stupid) again?

Hell no. I'm a donkey. And the Full Tilt RNG is exacting payback even as I type this, courtesy of Kat's Friday Night donkament.

Sometimes Payouts Are Rigged

I finally got to play a BBT2 event.

Thank goodness for the relative sane starting time of the Riverchasers tourney. Just busted in 10th and it's already 12:30. Wheeee $4.50 profit!

And I managed to 4x my buyin on a NL table, oh wait, just got AA UTG, this could get ugly. Never mind, no callers.

Plus I even got started on the template update project.

I'd call it a good night. If I didn't have to get up in a couple hours, I'd even call it a very good night.

Edit: Make it officially a very good night, just flopped a set and stacked a donk. Almost 6x.

I better quit now.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Now It's A Sticky Note

Time to use the ol' blog to remind myself to do some things.

Note to self: Get to work on updating the template. Clean up those links.

Also, while you're at it, add a snazzy title graphic. Duggle did one for you, go find it or come up with something. Preferably tinfoil hat related.

And don't forget to do some laundry, you tard.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Making Winners

She wasn't a hooker, a grifter or a scam artist. I've met all of those in Las Vegas.

She was a Vietnamese girl from Texas and bored after losing her modest gambling budget for the day playing blackjack at a table on the other side of the pit.

I knew her story was true because I'd seen her at the table. And because she didn't volunteer the information. I had to ask. She had wandered over to the Paigow game where I was parked and was sweating the action. Apparently talking with strangers at a table was more fun at 3:00 a.m. on Saturday than going to bed. I can relate. She knew how to play and gave good advice on setting hands when we weren't talking football or all things Las Vegas.

She was also lucky. I went from down to up nearly $200 while she was standing behind me. So I went and did something I've always wanted to do.

No, not that.

I asked her if she was feeling maximum luck coming on the next hand. She was, so I flipped her four redbirds and had her sit down in the vacant seat next to mine.

"You're in on this hand."

She plopped the chips down on the regular paigow bet. I advised her to change it, to bet $15 on the regular bet - the table minimum - and put the other five on the fortune bonus. She made the switch and Jenny the dealer went into action.

I drew three pair and set my hand. I turned and noticed my girl going a little crazy. The pit boss came over. She showed him, and the table - three aces and the joker. Four aces, paying 25 to 1 on the bonus bet.

Jenny had a paigow and the entire table won. My girl had over $150 in front of her.

I lost the next couple hands and went off to bed. I sort of wish I knew how she did the rest of the night, but not really, because all I wanted to do was to make someone a winner.

***

One of the many amazing things about Las Vegas is that there are a million ways to have a good time. I was a little apprehensive about this trip, as I was going with three non-gamblers, all of whom were at least 20 years older than me. Those fears were not realized, as a good time was had by all. Three rounds of golf, a show (Mystere) and some decent grub were all it took to make us all leave winners, sort of.

In the interest of protecting the innocent, I won't be able to share too many stories.

This trip featured the smallest amount of gambling I've ever done while there, as well as the most retarded poker tournament ever. I'm not joking.

The Mirage spread a private tournament in their poker room in connection with the golf event. It was a $100 buyin, which as far as I could determine was really a $55+45 or $50+50 - the estimated prize pool showed a 50% return. I played in the interest of being social and in taking advantage of the one known time I had to gamble. The juice was one instance of pure retardedness.

The other was the structure. We started with 1500 chips, 50/100 blinds and 20 minute (I think) levels. Level 2 went to 100/200 blinds with a 25 chip ante. That's right, by level 2 your M was below 3 if you hadn't gained any chips. We played maybe 8 hands during level 1 -- lotta newbs in this thing -- so it wasn't like you'd had many chances to accumulate. Un-f'ing-believable.

Naturally I shoved the first chance I got and JJ went down to KQo. My remaining scraps went in on a KJs two hands later. Worst 35 minutes of poker ever.

Other gambling was pretty much limited to several hours of paigow at the Imperial Palace. Lost big (for Paigow) on Thursday after the tournament, won much of it back on Friday. Good times. I also enjoyed a doubly comped meal -- I stuck my card in a machine to see if I had enough comp dollars for a meal - I did - and stuck in a bill. Spun once, won $25, cashed out. Love that IP.

Stayed at the Rio which was very nice. The room was much larger than anywhere else I've stayed in town, but what else can you say, it was a room.

***

Off to a home game. In some ways it's nice to be back. In others, I wasn't ready to leave. Good thing there's this little gathering in just over six weeks...

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

When Life Gives You Lemons, Drink More

I'm so very sad to be missing this:

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

and instead experiencing this:

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Twenty four hours to go.

***

I'm not going to repost the information, but if you've been living under a rock and aren't aware of the incredible assortment of prizes -- and incredible might be an understatement -- available to be won in the Battle of the Blogger Tournaments 2 series ... um, well, you better get yourself over to AlCan'tHang's blog and get educated. Play starts this Sunday. C'mon, you could go to AUSTRALIA for FREE just by beating up on some blogger donkeys. How can it get better than that?

(Of course I'm going to miss the first tournament. And I'll probably miss lots of others due to late starting times.)

***

So much more I'd like to post ... No can do at the moment, stupid work.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Big Poker Sunday

Pokery goodness today.

Thanks, Stars, for the Blogger Championship freeroll. Didn't win anything - your RNG hated me today - but it was fun. I never got above 12,000 chips (starting stacks were 10k) - dropped half my stack early when top 2 was chased down by a flush draw + gutshot. Thanks to the advanced river check, I managed to avoid disaster. Ended up somewhere in the 500s out of 1337.

Also got a stake for the 18,000 person Sunday Hundred Grand. If such a thing is possible, my cards were even worse in that one. Shoved randomly and busted somewhere in the 5000s, again short of the money.

I won't say that it was a major factor, but my decision to push in both tournaments was definitely influenced by the fact that I had to leave, pronto, to go fix dinner for the family. One of many reasons why I don't play tournaments on Sundays - knowing you have to go at a fixed time puts unwanted pressure on your decision making.

Signed back on a little while ago after being gone for 3 hours, both tourneys still going strong. After observing a little chat, I've come to the conclusion that I need to start a new site: www.railtards.com. Your home for people who not only suck at poker but who fail at chat.

Off to go see how I did in fantasy football. I had some big scores, but don't know if I had enough firepower.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Happy 18th Birthday, Michelle Wie!

There are many things going on and there is nothing going on. Even when I have a lot to do, there are days like today when nothing gets done.

***

I'm leaving for Las Vegas in less than a week. Even though this will be an unusual trip - much golf, probably little to no gambling - I'm still looking forward to it. I enjoy playing scrambles even though I'm far from the ideal player for them. You want a guy who can bomb it or who has a dynamite short game (or both). I have neither. About the best I can hope for is to contribute a few iron shots and maybe luckbox a long putt or two.

I'd like to try and play some cards while in town, but I have no idea when I'd do it. Friday night is probably the most likely time slot. I checked out the schedule (at lasvegasvegas) for the Binion's and Caesar's Palace tourney series and neither looks like an option, so I might just donk it up in a cash game. Staying at the Rio, so my options will be a bit limited.

***

Seeing Stb's post on getting a room for the December WPBT event reminded me that I also need to book one. Wouldn't you know it, an offer from the IP came in the mail yesterday. I guess I'll be staying there, unless I stay next door at Harrah's. It kinda sucks that I have to pay for the weekend nights either place, but I guess that's what happens when the rodeo is in town. It's still pretty cheap.

Plane tickets are in hand. Tourney reservation is made (thanks Falstaff for setting it up). Anticipation level for donkeration and Pai-gow rising.

***

I haven't played a single hand this week, which is weird - I've ~~spent~~wasted hours reading the 2+2 forums and generally goofing off online, so it's not like I couldn't have. I got home too late to play the Bodonkey on Tuesday, talked myself out of playing the Mookie on Wednesday (and then I stayed up relatively late anyway), crashed too early to play last night. I might be up for the dollar donkament on Full Tilt tonight, but we'll see. This weekend is the big Stars blogger event, so you know I'll be playing some then.

It's kind of funny that here I'm inspired to play more after reading about 2+2ers winning money, I'd like to build up a few dollars before cashing out money for December's WBPT event and yet I haven't played at all. I should also make a ceremonial last trip out to the track before it closes for good in a couple weeks (the poker games will find a new home, but I can't think of anyplace as convenient and amenity-filled as the track).

***

Fantasy Sports Live is proving to be pretty entertaining. I've been participating in the blogger fantasy football challenge and have second place finishes the last two weeks (after going 0 for the first 3). I'm now up $4 on the season, lol.

Looks like I'll be doubling down: Dr. Pauly has announced a series of football contests of his own - "Sundays With Dr. Pauly". Since I have the good Doc to thank for a copy of The Big Lebowski and Phil Gordon's Little Green Book - and occasional chances to view Bobby Bracelet's iPod - courtesy of his last (poker) event, yeah I'll be there.

Of course this means that I'll probably have to throw in a few more bucks to be sure I have enough on hand until I win three weeks in a row (ha ha ha), but since fantasy sports are 100% U.S. federal government (UIGEA) approved legal gambling, it'll be a piece of cake to do so.

Not a member yet? Use bonus code PAULY or SPEAKER or one of the other ones I'm forgetting - check your favorite blog - and get a deposit bonus.

Friday, October 05, 2007

Ahh Nuts

Returned home and booted up the computer. 8:59. I can make it.

Started up Full Tilt. Server clock at 8:59. I can make it.

Looked up Kat's Friday Donkament. Still registering. I can make it.

Click on the register button. I can make it.

Type in password, takes 1.8 seconds, hit enter.

TOO LATE!

Arrrgh. No donkament for me. C'mon Full Tilt, late registration one time, especially when you're not even seating players yet!

***

I forsee a little pokering this weekend. In addition to the usual grinding opportunities, I received mail offers of $10 free at Absolute plus a tourney entry and also some random entries at Sportsbook.com Poker. Both sites are decidedly rigged, but free is free.

I had some other stuff I was going to mention, but it's been lost in the fog.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

In, Duh.

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 2347843

Monday, October 01, 2007

Memories, Not Always So Good

I was thinking about the old days* over the weekend. I noticed that this here blog had quietly reached the age of three - barely surviving the terrible twos - and it made me a bit nostalgic for back when I was just getting started in online poker.

* (the old days being way back in like 2004.)

In the beginning I found myself trying to build a bankroll on $10.00. I received the ten bucks free from Royal Vegas, a site on the Prima network. I'd play a few hands of $0.05-$0.10 limit at lunch. I'd play a few more in the evening. I was able to get in enough raked hands to earn entries into their daily $1,000 freeroll, which I eventually won.

Poker was fun.

At the beginning, I played a lot of freerolls and micro-buyin tournaments.

I found myself thinking "hey, why don't I do that anymore? It would make sense, seeing how hard the UIGEA has made it to deposit". And so I donked it up nanolimit style.

***

Kat's Friday Night event, the Al Can't Hang Memorial, was a good time, even though I finished in the middle of the pack. I knew right off that it was going to be my night - the very first hand our lovely hostess cracked my AA with K4o all in preflop. King four off? Ya rly! Despite that fine start, I had my stack up to almost 10,000 chips when I promptly ran KK into AA the hand before the break.

Sigh.

It's a good thing I made enough on my first hand at a cash game to cover all donkament losses and then some for the evening. The power of King-rag offsuit can be used for good as well as for evil.

***

I also got an invitation from a rakeback site I used to have an account with to play a freeroll Sunday on Pokerstars. I signed up, there were about 600 runners - a reasonable number - and I sat down to play.

The first hand I see - I was a few minutes late and had missed an orbit - is AKs. I get it all in preflop and lost to a runner-runner flush made by 62s. Down to about 400 chips.

I folded the second hand I saw.

The third hand, I pick up 66. I end up all in preflop against the same opponent, he's holding 63o. And he knocks me out by four flushing on the river. LOL Pokerstars.

Now I remember why I don't play freerolls and microbuyin tournaments.

Have a good week.