Best. Play. Ever.

Napalm's YTD:$5,989.64

Check this trapizzle beeatches.

PokerStars Game #xxxxxxxxxx: Hold'em No Limit ($0.50/$1.00) -

Seat 1: UTG ($77.50 in chips)
Seat 3: UTG+1 ($39 in chips)
Seat 4: MP ($39.35 in chips)
Seat 5: MP2 ($59.05 in chips)
Seat 6: CO ($104.25 in chips)
Seat 7: Button ($35.30 in chips)
Seat 8: Foe ($130.10 in chips)
Seat 9: Hero ($105.50 in chips)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Ad As]
UTG: folds
UTG+1: folds
MP: folds
MP2: calls $1
CO: folds
Button: folds
Foe: raises $3 to $4
Hero: calls $3
MP2: calls $3

*** FLOP *** [5c Th Kc]
Foe: bets $8
Hero: raises $8 to $16
MP2: folds
Foe: raises $8 to $24
Hero: calls $8

Please understand the genius of this move by Napalm The Wicked Bitch Slapper. I put Foe on some kind of K at this point. A call of his reraise in this spot, as opposed to an all-in reraise, told Foe I was on some type of flush draw. This would increase the likelyhood of him making a BIG bet on the turn if the flush dosen't come to shut me out.

*** TURN *** [5c Th Kc] [3s]
Foe: bets $102.10 and is all-in
Hero: calls $77.50 and is all-in

*** RIVER *** [5c Th Kc 3s] [6d]

*** SHOW DOWN ***
Foe: shows [Ah Kh] (a pair of Kings)
Hero: shows [Ad As] (a pair of Aces)
Hero collected $212 from pot

I wish I had $1000 in front of me.

Worst. Luck. Ever.

Napalm's YTD: $5,778.84

This is getting hard to handle. If anyone out there ever has bad luck so consistantly like me, I would love to hear about it.

NLHE $.50 $1 on Stars
*********************

Hand #1 - I have A7 spades on the button, so I limp in for $1.

Flop comes Ah 9s 6s

UTG bets $5 and I call. I want to play it safe, even though I really like my hand.

Turn Ah 9s 6s Ac

UTG bets another $5, I raise to $15, he calls. Uh oh, he might have my ace out kicked, but that is OK, I have killer draw that if it hits, will wipe Foe out. He will never be able to fold his AAAJ.

River Ah 9s 6s Ac 4s

Nut flush thank you very much. UTG bets $10, I raise $30 hoping he reraises but he just calls.

Drum roll please...

Of course, UTG had pocket 9s. My hand got better after every card. Kind of like quick sand. And the funny thing is? The winner called me a "retard" and told me "that's what you get for playing A7, you should have put me on pp 9s and folded." no lie. Lost about $75 on the hand.

*********************

Hand #2

I have 77 in the hole and the flop comes 9c 7s Kc, I bet the pot, Foe calls. Turn is a 4c. I am a little worried about the flush now, but i bet the pot again, Foe calls. River is a 10.

Can you guess what Foe had? I bet you can.

J 8 of course. Lost about $60 on that hand. "Inside Straight Draw Strikes Again, News at 11" That hand was like a fricking crime scene. Get out the yellow tape.


I feel like I dropped the soap in Shawshank tonight, but the worst thing about it? This has been happening for 4 straight days. Until.........



Hand #3 - #227

Kicked some major retard brain dead ass, won back all my money plus $100. I went on a crazy tear and raised 5 pots in a row.

ALL FEAR THE LIQUID NAPALM SATAN CLOWN DEATH for it has been unleashed this fortnight upon you ignorant poker fools.

Achebe Was Right

liquid's YTD: $596.70

The rush is over: I dropped $150 -- three buy-ins -- over the weekend. Now I am filled with doubt and self-loathing. Among the low-lights was my first all-in loss in roughly three weeks. Regrettably, I was drawing deader than dead when I pushed my chips in. Now I'm faced with the unenviable chore of reading through 500 hands to review my play.

So on to the hand du jour! Here is a beauty that occurred just as I was mounting a comeback.

Omaha Hi $0.50-$1 PL (real money), hand #767,xxx,xxx
Table Remich, 27 Mar 2005 12:05 AM

Seat 1: foe ($55.50 in chips)
Seat 2: MP2 ($225 in chips)
Seat 3: CO ($133.50 in chips)
Seat 5: SB ($22.75 in chips)
Seat 7: BB ($27.25 in chips)
Seat 8: button ($14.75 in chips)
Seat 9: UTG ($16.75 in chips)
Seat 10: hero [10C,JS,9S,10D] ($80.50 in chips)

ANTES/BLINDS
SB posts blind ($0.25), BB posts blind ($0.50).

PRE-FLOP
button folds, UTG calls $0.50, hero bets $2, foe calls $2, MP2 folds, CO folds, SB folds, BB folds, UTG calls $1.50.

Standard pre-flop raise. No regrets there.

FLOP [board cards AS,7S,3S ]
UTG checks, hero bets $6.75, foe bets $27, UTG folds, hero calls $20.25.

I took most of my allotted time to make this keen decision. In that time I managed to convince myself that foe put me on aces and so was pushing with any flush at all. I see now that at this level of a game, and against a foe I had not observed making such a move, this was a poor rationalization.

TURN [board cards AS,7S,3S,10S ]

A glimmer of hope as I get my set. Buh-bye, chips.

hero bets $27, foe calls $26.50 and is all-in.

RIVER [board cards AS,7S,3S,10S,QH ]

SHOWDOWN
hero shows [ 10C,JS,9S,10D ]
foe shows [ KC,KS,7D,2S ]
hero wins $0.50, foe wins $110.75.

Did I really expect anything else?

King of the Bad Beat

Napalm's YTD: $5727.64

No more bad beat stories from any of you, OK? I am the KING of the Bad Beat for ever and for always.

$3 multi table tournemnt. 1900 players. Final table.

PokerStars Game #xxxxxxxxx Tournament #xxxxxxx, Hold'em No Limit -

Level XVIII (10000/20000)

Table 'xxxxxxxxx xxx' Seat #6 is the button

Seat 1: Hero (88465 in chips)
Seat 2: Foe (245960 in chips)
Seat 4: MP2 (105162 in chips)
Seat 5: CO (907048 in chips)
Seat 6: Dealer (335754 in chips)
Seat 7: SB (492542 in chips)
Seat 8: BB (483691 in chips)
Seat 9: UTG1 (191378 in chips)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Jh Jd]
UTG: folds
Hero: raises 67465 to 87465 and is all-in
Foe: raises 92535 to 180000
MP2: folds
CO: folds
Dealer: folds
SB: folds
BB: folds

*** FLOP *** [3c Ks Jc]
*** TURN *** [3c Ks Jc] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [3c Ks Jc 9c] [Tc]

*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero: shows [Jh Jd] (three of a kind, Jacks)
Foe: shows [Qh Kh] (a straight, Nine to King)

Foe collected 212930 from pot

So there you have it, runner runner straight to beat my trips at a final table with $1200K at stake.

SO STFU you beeatches, you have nothing to complain about.

Napalm

I hit the bad beat jackpot!

wow, I hit the bad beat jackpot tonight.

Playing NLHE

I had A Q suited

Flop came A K A

turn was an 8

River was a Q

All in of course

Dude turned over an AK

If I was a Caesar's Indiana, I would have hit the bad beat jackopt, but since i wasn't, i lost my "you know what".

Still Sorting This Out

liquid's YTD: $740.70

A hand from last night has been bugging me, and it took me most of today to figure out why. I'm new at this. It takes me a while.

Omaha Hi $0.50-$1 PL (real money), hand #760,xxx,xxx
Table Bakersfield, 24 Mar 2005 10:30 PM

Seat 1: UTG+1 ($11.50 in chips)
Seat 2: hero [10C,JD,QC,QD] ($49.50 in chips)
Seat 3: MP2 ($9.25 in chips)
Seat 4: CO ($67.75 in chips)
Seat 5: foe ($152.25 in chips)
Seat 6: SB ($63.75 in chips)
Seat 8: BB ($45 in chips)
Seat 10: UTG ($68.25 in chips)

ANTES/BLINDS
SB posts blind ($0.25), BB posts blind ($0.50).

PRE-FLOP
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls $0.50, hero bets $2.25, MP2 folds, CO folds, foe calls $2.25, SB folds, BB folds, UTG+1 calls $1.75.

Foe is a non-maniacal LAG whose apparent modus operandi in raised pots is to play them to steal them, having shown down two truly terrible starting hands in such situations.

FLOP [board cards 2H,2D,6D ]
UTG+1 checks

I don't mind this flop, but I figure this is a good opportunity to push back at foe, so:

hero checks

And sure enough:

foe bets $7, UTG+1 folds, hero bets $21, foe calls $14.

At first I thought it was foe's call that bugged me. If he actually had a 2, or even a strong flush draw, I'd expect this foe to re-raise. I have trouble putting him on any kind of draw that would merit a call against the high pair he must put me on, especially since he should know what's coming from me on the turn. (And indeed he folded when I went all-in on a 9d turn, but that's beside the point.) Maybe he was just surprised by my reraise and made a mistake. Regardless, most hands are either way ahead of or way behind my overpair, so he should have a clear raise-or-fold decision.

Given this conclusion, maybe it's my play that is the problem here. Did I make a damned if he does, damned if he doesn't play? I was ready to call a re-reraise, so I wasn't betting for information. If I'm prepared to commit all my chips anyway, why not smooth call and let foe keep betting into me? I'd already determined that if he's behind now, he's not likely to catch up. But instead I bullied my way into a no-win situation -- either I lose all my chips, or I chase off a dominated foe before he's done betting out. (The fact that he mistakenly called my re-raise doesn't make my play better, as I genuinely did not expect a call.)

I may be overanalyzing here. Maybe he had kings and was ahead. Maybe he had a decent straight draw and could have caught up. And even if I did not maximize my profits for this one hand, I did (I think) accomplish what I un-analytically set out to do: make a deep-stacked aggressive foe hesitant to steal against me later in the session. Can a play be bad for a hand but good for a session?

Admission Is The First Step

liquid's YTD: $723.45

I casually mentioned to my wife that I might pick up a cheap, perhaps even used, PC so that I could play somewhere other than PokerRoom.com. This may have been a mistake. We've used Macs since 1987, and I'm known to ponder (loudly) why anyone would use a PC, especially when these days a Windows box is PWNZ0RED! ten minutes after it connects to the Internet. So now she thinks I'm riddled with poker disease.

I'm Feeling Better

liquid's YTD: $623.20

I thought I had a lock on a losing night, but I managed to eke out a meager $9 profit, so my streak is intact. I did knock my hourly rate back almost a dollar though.

I caught a long run of lousy starting hands, and the playable hands I got rarely hit a flop. My bluffs and semi-bluffs were rebuffed enough to rough me up (nice alliteration, eh?) and I ended up reloading three times. But it's strange: it was almost a relief to lose a bit, as if I was paying off some karma. Yet another hole in my game.

After the third reload, I finally earned a modest win, and a few hands later I won a pot that pushed me into the black for the night. For a change, I'm actually proud of my play.

Omaha Hi $0.50-$1 PL (real money), hand #754,xxx,xxx
Table Serka, 22 Mar 2005 10:55 PM

Seat 1: SB ($8.50 in chips)
Seat 3: BB ($91.50 in chips)
Seat 4: UTG ($11.25 in chips)
Seat 6: foe ($31 in chips)
Seat 7: MP1 ($86.75 in chips)
Seat 8: hero [6H,7S,3H,5C] ($58.50 in chips)
Seat 9: MP2 ($43.25 in chips)
Seat 10: button ($31.75 in chips)

ANTES/BLINDS
SB posts blind ($0.25), BB posts blind ($0.50).

PRE-FLOP
UTG calls $0.50, foe calls $0.50, MP1 folds

Pre-flop raises in PokerRoom.com $0.50/$1 PLO games almost always indicate aces, so I'm determined to start raising with a wider variety of hands, especially if I can win position.

hero bets $2, MP2 folds, button calls $2, SB folds, BB calls $1.50, UTG calls $1.50, foe calls $1.50.

FLOP [board cards KH,3S,4H ]

I like this flop a lot: nine outs to a nut straight, and nine outs to a low flush as a backup. Better yet, the straight is well-disguised with my pre-flop raise. I think this merits a pot-sized bet.

BB checks, UTG checks, foe checks, hero bets $10, button folds, BB folds, UTG folds, foe bets $29 and is all-in

The check raise screams set, although he could be pushing a flush draw if he has me pinned on aces. If he has only a set or only a flush draw, I'm getting great value. The clincher: he's short stacked.

hero calls $19.

TURN [board cards KH,3S,4H,8H ]

RIVER [board cards KH,3S,4H,8H,9H ]

SHOWDOWN
foe shows [ 4S,6S,4C,6C ]
hero shows [ 6H,7S,3H,5C ]
hero wins $65.25.

SUMMARY
Pot: $68.25, (including rake: $3)
SB, loses $0.25
BB, loses $2
UTG, loses $2
foe, loses $31
MP1, loses $0
hero, bets $31, collects $65.25, net $34.25
MP2, loses $0
button, loses $2

I did the analysis just now, and my odds against his set come out to a coin flip.

pokenum -o 6h 7s 3h 5c - 4s 6s 4c 6c -- kh 3s 4h
Omaha Hi: 820 enumerated boards containing 3s Kh 4h
cards win %win lose %lose tie %tie EV
7s 5c 6h 3h 402 49.02 414 50.49 4 0.49 0.493
6s 4s 6c 4c 414 50.49 402 49.02 4 0.49 0.507

He would have been in slightly better shape with a flush draw and, say, a pair as backup:

pokenum -o 6h 7s 3h 5c - ah kc jh tc -- kh 3s 4h
Omaha Hi: 820 enumerated boards containing 3s Kh 4h
cards win %win lose %lose tie %tie EV
7s 5c 6h 3h 336 40.98 484 59.02 0 0.00 0.410
Kc Tc Ah Jh 484 59.02 336 40.98 0 0.00 0.590

Win Rate

liquid's YTD: $613.95

I recently added start and end times to my database so that I could track my hourly win rate. Big Dave D pegs a "realistic" rate at between 10-20 big blinds an hour. Since initiating my start/end time records two weeks ago, I've logged a statistically insignificant 25 hours of playing time, with a win rate of $19.53/hr. At the puny-stakes tables I play ($0.50-$1 PL Omaha), this equals almost 40 big blinds an hour. I anticipate a hefty correction soon.

Photos Do Not Lie

liquid's YTD: $613.95

Paul Phillips's gallery of poker players confirms that everything you thought about these people is true. To wit:

Gus Hansen is the mack daddy.

Daniel Negreanu is the Lord Of The Dance.

Phil Ivey has that look 24/7.

Ow! My eyes.

Regret

liquid's YTD: $541.45

Note: This post has zero analytic content. It is about regret.

I typically don't get hung up about passing a hand and then seeing a flop that would have hit me big. Or folding when the odds don't merit a call and then seeing one of my outs come. My indifference is one of my few strengths.

However, this one got under my skin a little bit:

Omaha Hi $0.50-$1 PL (real money), hand #743,xxx,xxx
Table Sioux City, 18 Mar 2005 09:58 PM

Seat 1: CO ($68.25 in chips)
Seat 4: hero [3D,8C,3C,8S] ($106.25 in chips)
Seat 5: SB ($24.25 in chips)
Seat 8: BB ($25.25 in chips)
Seat 9: UTG ($75.50 in chips)
Seat 10: UTG+1 ($31 in chips)

ANTES/BLINDS
SB posts blind ($0.25), BB posts blind ($0.50).

PRE-FLOP
UTG bets $1.75, UTG+1 calls $1.75, CO calls $1.75, hero calls $1.75, SB calls $1.50, BB calls $1.25.

FLOP [board cards 4H,6C,4D ]

I'd like this flop better if both my pairs were overs, but oh well.

SB checks, BB bets $0.50, UTG calls $0.50, UTG+1 folds, CO calls $0.50

So one of these guys obviously hit the flop, perhaps even in a big way, but if he wants to charge only $0.50 for another card, I'll take him up.

hero calls $0.50, SB bets $1, BB bets $1, UTG calls $1, CO calls $1

Oh great. So now we have a low-scale bidding war. This may not end well. Best case scenario is I call the extra dollar and then get my 8 on the turn. And even then someone might have pocket 4s. (Be careful what you wish for, and all that.) Worst case scenario, one of these guys wises up and starts jamming the pot before I even get to see another card. So....

hero folds

And it's done. I'm happy with my decision. All is well.

SB bets $1, BB calls $0.50, UTG calls $0.50, CO calls $0.50.

TURN [board cards 4H,6C,4D,8H ]

Ah crap.

To make a long story less long, SB had pocket 6's and won a $51.50 pot. And now that I'm reviewing the hand, I see that the pot wasn't going to get much bigger: SB started with only $24.25, and his main foe held just a straight with no chance of improvement (???). So there wasn't as much to be won as I thought.

Huh. This writing stuff is very therapeutic.

Little Things Mean So Much

liquid's YTD: $412.45

Started out the night with a bonehead call when my bodacious semi-bluffing 8-outer ran into an obvious set of aces. This hand laid bare an apparent weakness of mine: I cannot resist getting short stacks all-in.

Thereafter, I sobered up and steadily won occasional moderate pots. Nothing spectacular, just deliberate, relatively conservative play as I experimented with various sub-pot-sized bets. What do you know, they work! I'm sure I left money on the table, as I got involved in only two pots bigger than $20, but I'm not greedy. (Yet another hole in my game.)

As for those two larger pots:

First, I drew TAA6 single-suited and got a $20.50 short stack with A3QQ all-in pre-flop. (There I go again!) I won when the board blanked for both of us. Foe said afterwards that he inadvertently re-raised my pre-flop raise when he pushed the wrong button. Been there, pushed that.

Then at the end of my hour-and-a-half stint, I succumbed to "just-one-more-hand" syndrome:

Omaha Hi $0.50-$1 PL (real money), hand #740,xxx,xxx
Table Bacolod, 17 Mar 2005 10:16 PM

Seat 1: MP3 ($50 in chips)
Seat 2: CO ($50.75 in chips)
Seat 3: button ($52.50 in chips)
Seat 4: foe 1 ($40.75 in chips)
Seat 5: BB ($50 in chips)
Seat 6: UTG ($51 in chips)
Seat 7: UTG+1 ($22.50 in chips)
Seat 8: foe 2 ($58 in chips)
Seat 9: MP1 ($30 in chips)
Seat 10: hero [JH,6D,QD,JS] ($87.50 in chips)

ANTES/BLINDS
foe 1 posts blind ($0.25), BB posts blind ($0.50).

PRE-FLOP
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, foe 2 calls $0.50, MP1 calls $0.50, hero calls $0.50, MP3 folds, CO calls $0.50, button folds, foe 1 calls $0.25, BB checks.

FLOP [board cards 9H,KC,10D ]
foe 1 checks, BB checks, foe 2 checks, MP1 checks, hero bets $2, CO folds, foe 1 calls $2, BB folds, foe calls $2, MP1 folds.

TURN [board cards 9H,KC,10D,6C ]
foe 1 checks, foe 2 checks, hero bets $4, foe 1 calls $4, foe 2 calls $4.

RIVER [board cards 9H,KC,10D,6C,5S ]
foe 1 checks, foe 2 checks, hero bets $2, foe 1 folds, foe 2 bets $11.50, hero calls $9.50.

SHOWDOWN
foe 2 shows [ 5C,KD,8H,KH ]
hero shows [ JH,6D,QD,JS ]
hero wins $42.

SUMMARY
Pot: $44, (including rake: $2)
MP3, loses $0
CO, loses $0.50
button, loses $0
foe 1, loses $6.50
BB, loses $0.50
UTG, loses $0
UTG+1, loses $0
foe 2, loses $18
MP1, loses $0.50
hero, bets $18, collects $42, net $24

Again, the under-bet pays dividends. Yay me.

Queue the Rocky Theme Song

Napalm's YTD: $5,226.23

Just like the champ, I'm back from Bloody Monday with a vengance. $235 yesterday and $160 today.

I suckered many a sucker into my traps, always in position, always better than one pair. Bluffed a little to set up my big hands. Stole some BBs and SBs, the whole nine, Rope a Dope, just like the champ.

I played by the Ten Commendments and they worked like a charm. The two times I strayed from the path, I got beat. Chased a nut flush draw out of position and called with top pair top kicker. I am now a true believer.

Amen.

Ugly But Profitable

liquid's YTD: $368.45

Not a pretty night.

Weakly played a set of kings on the flop, letting pocket aces catch up on the turn. Miraculously I only lost $10.

Later I played a wonderful nut straight with the nut flush draw as poorly as could possibly be played. To cap it off I called down an obvious full house when the board paired on the river. Somehow I only lost $5 on that one, thanks to my painfully weak play earlier in the hand.

Poor, weak decisions do not equal restraint.

A fortuitous suck-out helped salvage a winning night. I had 96JJ and position and raised pre-flop. On a QJ6 flop, foe (who started the hand with $21.50 to my $58.50) potted. I re-raised to put the rest of his chips in. He had 8QQ6. My outs were a back-door straight and flush, and I got the straight: TK. Despite the suck-out, I don't mind my play here, considering the size of foe's stack.

But again, not a pretty night. I now have an undeserved run of seven profitable nights.

Napalm's 10 commandments of NL HE Ring

Napalm's YTD: $5,063

These were born out of my classic losing session last night. I followed them to a "T" today, and gained back $200.

1 - Thou shalt not call a raise out of position unless holding AA, KK, or AK.

2 - Thou shalt not go broke in an unraised pot.

3 - Thou shalt not play Ax offsuit, or thou shalt surely go broke.

4 - Thou shalt fold everything under the gun, except AA, KK, QQ, JJ or AK, and in that case, raise big.

5 - Thou shalt not play more than 20% of hands delt.

6 - Thou shalt only draw to the NUT flush and the NUT straight IF the pot odds are correct.

7 - Thou shalt only bluff when in position and only when thou knowest thy opponent knows how to fold.

8 - Thou shalt fold pocket pairs lower than 88 into a raise, and if you call, ditch if no trips manifest themselves.

9 - Thou shalt not go on TILT after an inferior player outdraws you.

10 - Raise AA, KK, QQ, and AK suited at a level that is painful for your opponents to call pre flop whenever you get them.

11 - Thou shalt lose all of thine chips to Napalm so that thy days may be long upon the earth.


PS - Lasted to 400 out of 1100 in a $5 multi table tournament today and BLUFFED every pot I won. I never got a legit hand until the end. I had K6 and my opponent had K5. K on the flop, I put him all in, he called and hit a 5 on the river. Overall it was exciting to get that far in the tournament without a real hand.

Phillips v. Hellmuth

liquid's YTD: $360.20

Most entertaining part of the poker scene? Pros taking shots at each other.

Ivey (to himself): Death would be a mercy.

Monday Bloody Monday

napalm's YTD: $4,859.98

It is tough to handle the swings of NL.

Just lost $400 in 4 hands, all to crap hands like Q 5, Q 7, and 8 10. That is the most I have ever lost on any game/sport at one time. Monday Bloody Monday. It looks like i swallowed some of my own Liquid Napalm Satan Clown Death.

Gotta get my wits together and get it back. I did learn some things that I will share on the LNSCD later.

Out.

I Don't Know The Meaning Of Restraint

liquid's YTD: $288.20

Two misplays turned what might have been a rewarding two-hour session into a disappointing $3/hr profit venture. I overplayed both (a) a bare top set on the flop with pocket queens after a pre-flop raise, and (b) a semi-bluff with a four-out draw. Guess which one got called?

The latter was particularly misguided. Foe bets $2 into a QsJd3s flop. Foe is a demonstrated loose cannon, and I re-raise to $6 with top two pair and position. Foe calls. I decide to represent a flush I don't have when foe checks to Ks on the turn: $8. Foe calls. I surrender on a blank river: check check. Foe has... 5hAs3c3h.

So in review, I could have sent the same message with a call on the flop, a please-call-me bet on the turn, and a moderate bet on the river. The river bet might have won the pot for me, and the loss would have been less if the ploy failed.

Must... learn... discipline...

$10 Stars game bad beat - with some spice

napalm's YTD: $5,100.00

Don't you just love it when a opponent outdraws you on a longshot with the wrong pot odds, then talks smack about how "I am out and you are in, so you suck"?. Or the classic "I called that all in and put my tournament on the life on the line because i just 'felt' my two outter hitting"?

Well, here is a good one for you. The beat was bad, yes, but the player had to talk trash after beating me.

Table 'XXXXXXXXX XX' Seat #3 is the button

Seat 1: nise0523 (2855 in chips)
Seat 2: wtfwtfwtf (6830 in chips)
Seat 3: SYF21 (1942 in chips)
Seat 4: one25gibbler (3733 in chips)
Seat 5: checkeater (13255 in chips)
Seat 6: tombo4681 (2665 in chips)
Seat 7: Entrapenaur (7355 in chips)
Seat 8: Hero (2480 in chips)
Seat 9: apatong (7215 in chips)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Ac Kh]
tombo4681: calls 200
Entrapenaur: folds
Hero: raises 600 to 800
apatong: folds
nise0523: folds
wtfwtfwtf: calls 800
SYF21: calls 800
one25gibbler: folds
checkeater: folds
tombo4681: folds

*** FLOP *** [As Qh Kc]
Hero: bets 1655 and is all-in
wtfwtfwtf: calls 1655
SYF21: calls 1117 and is all-in

*** TURN *** [As Qh Kc] [9h]

*** RIVER *** [As Qh Kc 9h] [Qs]

*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero: shows [Ac Kh] (two pair, Aces and Kings)
wtfwtfwtf: shows [Qc Jd] (three of a kind, Queens)
wtfwtfwtf collected 1076 from side pot
SYF21: shows [Ad Td] (two pair, Aces and Queens)
wtfwtfwtf collected 6476 from main pot

*** SUMMARY ***

Seat 2: wtfwtfwtf showed [Qc Jd] and won (7552) with three of a kind,
Queens

Seat 3: SYF21 (button) showed [Ad Td] and lost with two pair, Aces and
Queens

Seat 8: Hero showed [Ac Kh] and lost with two pair, Aces and Kings

7 outter. wtfwtfwtf had a lot of chips, even though his pot odds were way off, bad players get so excited when they see face cards, so I can understand why he called.

GG to me, right, oh well. No. Instead I get the "See Ya, sucka" and a lot of "you sucks, go play .25 .50 limit next time"

All that fun for $10 bucks.

Hit And Run

liquid's YTD: $275.70

I played for a whopping twenty minutes this evening. Quickly lost a couple moderate pots, then doubled up when my 14-out straight draw with top pair hit after getting all-in after the flop. Turned out I was up against a wholly inferior straight draw, although foe also had a flush draw, so my advantage was slim. Unfortunately I had not reloaded prior to the win.

I cashed out soon thereafter. Just didn't have my heart into the game this evening.

First Omaha Hi Low Tournament Cash

napalm's YTD: $5,175.94

Well, it's now 3:00 AM Sat morning, and I just made the final two tables in a limit Omaha Hi Low tournament on Stars, 12 out of 317 players. It didn't really pay too much, it was only a $10 game but the learnin' was priceless.

Not bad for my second time playing the darn game. I do really enjoy it. The "low" takes the game to a different level and opens up some cool strategic possibilities.

I think i will keep at it.

But, of course, I lose on a runner runner straight river beat to take down my trip threes.

The saga continues.

Screw The Rake

Liquid's YTD: $255.70

You thought I was kidding with that PokerRoom.com crack in my last post. Evidence from this evening follows. What looks to be an obvious split pot turns out to be a win for hero. I suppose I have to forget the rake and raise a unit on the river here. Besides, I held two of the tens, so I shouldn't have been so quick to assume a split pot. Did I mention I'm not that bright?

This was one of two missteps tonight that cost me $15 in all. This figure assumes our foe below would have called an $11 re-raise. Maybe he would have sobered up and passed. Anyway, it's a wonder I was up $22 when I cashed out.

Omaha Hi $0.50-$1 PL (real money), hand #723,xxx,xxx
Table Namur, 11 Mar 2005 11:11 PM

Seat 1: MP3 ($11.75 in chips)
Seat 2: CO ($33 in chips)
Seat 3: button ($56.50 in chips)
Seat 4: foe ($74.50 in chips)
Seat 5: BB ($21.75 in chips)
Seat 6: hero [10H,9H,KS,10C] ($66.50 in chips)
Seat 7: UTG+1 ($83.25 in chips)
Seat 8: UTG+2 ($45.75 in chips)
Seat 9: MP1 ($16.25 in chips)
Seat 10: MP2 ($39.75 in chips)

ANTES/BLINDS
foe posts blind ($0.25), BB posts blind ($0.50).

PRE-FLOP
hero calls $0.50, UTG+1 calls $0.50, UTG+2 calls $0.50, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, MP3 calls $0.50, CO folds, button folds, foe calls $0.25, BB checks.

FLOP [board cards 8D,6C,7H ]
foe bets $3, BB folds, hero calls $3, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 folds, MP3 folds.

TURN [board cards 8D,6C,7H,AH ]
foe bets $3, hero calls $3.

RIVER [board cards 8D,6C,7H,AH,2S ]
foe bets $11, hero calls $11.

SHOWDOWN
foe shows [ 5S,4D,3C,6H ]
hero shows [ 10H,9H,KS,10C ]
hero wins $35.25.

SUMMARY
Pot: $37, (including rake: $1.75)
foe, loses $17.50
hero, bets $17.50, collects $35.25, net $17.75

Everyone's A (Potential) Loser

Liquid's YTD: $223.45

Quoth Napalm:

I am recently trying to learn PLO from Liquid, but under his wise advisement, lost a $120 pot last night with the third best full house. WTG Liquid.

Hey, I told you to lay that boat down. Didn't I? Well, I was kind of thinking in the back of my head that you really should consider it, maybe.

Interesting thing about that hand: all three of you could have had the third-best hand. After the turn the board was K77A. You had K7xx; beatable by A7, KK, and AA. (So cheer up, you could have had the fourth best hand!) Foe #1 had A7xx; beatable by KK and AA. Foe #2 had KKxx; beatable by AA and 77. Foe #2 realized his situation: even with the biggest stack, the actual winning hand, and position, he didn't re-raise a dime. Foe #1, though, couldn't wait to push all his chips in. Good thing he was the smallest stack.

Regardless, Stewart Reuben throws up the stop sign on page 92 of Pot-Limit & No-Limit Poker:

You have 9-7. The flop is 9-7-7, and you bet and get two callers. Forget it. One has 9-9.

He's probably not playing the $0.50/$1 tables at PokerRoom.com though, where one guy's calling with queens and the other has a gutshot straight draw.

Welcome to Napalm's blog of poker pain

Napalm's YTD: $5,055.25

I play poker 16 hours a day, seven days a week, have a real full time job, a wife and two dogs. How do I fit it all in? I summon the ultimate power of Napalm (and GraySkull, of course) , say the magic words, Mecca Lecca Hi, Mecca Hinie Ho, and poof, there you have it. Poker Time for all.

There is one very bad side effect of playing so much, the bad beats come hard and fast and sometimes make my head spin. You will hear a lot more about those in the coming weeks.

I mainly play in tournaments, live and online. PokerStars is my friend, Pokeroom has not been lately. I am recently trying to learn PLO from Liquid, but under his wise advisement, lost a $120 pot last night with the third best full house. WTG Liquid.

Lately, I have been cashing in about 60% of the tournaments I play. In my last 7 tournaments, I have been to the final table 3 times with a 3rd, 3rd, and 5th place finish. So, I am not real happy , because I NEED to win.

While I was writing this blog, I was playing in a $5 multi table NL HE event on Stars. I was about 60th out of 800. I am in the SB with AK. One small raiser in front of me, I smooth call the raise, looking for a trap later if a A or K hits. the flop comes K Q 4. I check. Dude bets $1200. I reraise $3600. He reraises all in. Now, I am kind of worried about K Q, but I am pot committed at this point, so I call. Even against K Q I have three outs.

Of course, he had AA and the fat lady sang.

Greetings From Liquid

Liquid's YTD: $223.45

Yes, I play only on the Internet (mostly). Yes, I play only an hour or two each night (and some nights NOT AT ALL). Yes, I play only low-stakes limit and pot-limit cash games. Yes, I am teh lame. But on the plus side I'm still playing off the initial $100 deposit I made when I started this disease last October, and I am up a kingly $400. Overall this translates to roughly $0.20 per hour. I could give some sweatshop workers in Singapore a run for their money.

I lost a chunk of my initial deposit dabbling in NL HE single-tables tourneys, and lost another chunk dabbling in NL HE ring games. Then I stumbled on a way to grind out some actual winnings: $0.25-$0.50 Limit Omaha. Last month I moved to $0.50-$1 PLO. Next month I will be wearing gold-plated diapers.

Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here

Friendly salutations from Liquid Napalm Satan Clown Death, the latest + greatest self-aggrandizing clique of would-be poker players who stumble around acting like they know what they are doing. (Props where props are due for the name.) Of course we do not have beaucoup winnings to back up our braggadocio, but when has that stopped anyone.