Greektown Suckouts

Napalm's YTD: $12,898.52

Went to Greektown Casino in scenic downtown Detroit last week. Sat down at the $100 max buy in NL game. It was like playing 3-6. Everyone in every hand, no matter the raise. Needless to say, I didn’t enjoy my four consecutive river bad beats, until I went all in for $100 with QQ vs., get this, 10 7, A J, and KK. Q 6 6 on the flop made my night a break-even.

I did have a really good gyro though…

Online update:

Played in a $20 Stars NLHE multi, placed 4th and took home $1350. Runner runner flush did my JJ in.

Playing in my first ever $5 two-table pot limit Omaha tournament and placed second for a cash of $27. When I was heads up at the end, my opponent said something like, "It was obvious the best two players made it to the end” Then I said. "Yep, I agree, and since this is my first PLOH tournament, I feel I have tremendous upside potential." He then proceeded to clean my clock.

Played in my first ever Quadruple NLHE shoot out on Stars last night. $10 buy in, 6 player tables, winner of each table moves to the next round, winner of the fourth round wins a main event WSOP seat. I napalmed my first two tables with little effort. On my third table, I got AK on the button, raised 4 times the BB and got reraised by the SB. I called the reraise. Flop came A 3 3. SB checked, I bet out $400, SB called. Turn was a 9, I bet out again about $800, SB reraised all in. Did he hit his miracle set of 9s? No, of course not, that would make too much sense. SB had A9. I was stunned. Needless to say, SB got busted out in the next couple of hands. A General in the Army of Retards. I am still mad about that one.

Came in 38 out of 432 in the $150 NLHE multi on Stars and won $250. I had been playing VERY tight and doubling up with strong hands, when I get KQ one off the button. I raise 4x the BB, button folds, SB goes all in. SB was a super aggressive player who was capable of making that move with any two cards. I figure at worst I am up against A nothing, so I am a 3 to 2 dog. At best, he is making a move with a weak hand like KJ or QJ. If he has a lower pair, I would be happy. So I call. He has A 8 and it holds, of course. That is the second time this week KQ was the death of me. I don't really mind my call here; I would do it again in a heartbeat against that type of player. A win puts me in the top 5 and a good shot at the real money.

The adventure continues....

Stars Wars: Episode I

liquid's YTD: $1010.15

The weekend started out well with several short but profitable PokerRoom sessions. Then I ruined it by signing up for Poker Stars. I played for over five hours on Stars and slowly leaked two buy-ins -- absolutely card dead.

Here is something I hate: flopped underfulls in early position. In the only sizeable pot I was involved in on Stars (Seriously! After over FIVE HOURS of play!), I check-raised hard with such a hand, two foes behind me chased, and one hit. Later I flopped another underfull and let an overpair catch up on the turn. Awesome.

How To Get All The Money In With Flopped Quads

liquid's YTD: $986.70

Flopped quads and don't know how to get your foe to push all his chips in the middle? Let me show you how it is done.

$50 PL Omaha Hi (Real Money)

Seat 1: CO ( $45.5 )
Seat 2: Button ( $18.25 )
Seat 3: SB ( $73.6 )
Seat 4: BB ( $49.5 )
Seat 5: QuadMaster ( UTG, $47.25 )
Seat 6: UTG+1 ( $72.2 )
Seat 7: UTG+2 ( $49.5 )
Seat 8: MP1 ( $48.2 )
Seat 9: MP2 ( $96.4 )
Seat 10: HaplessVictim ( MP3, $36.4 )

Preflop:
SB posts small blind [$0.25].
BB posts big blind [$0.5].
QuadMaster [Td As Ts Jc] calls [$0.5].
UTG+1 folds.
UTG+2 calls [$0.5].
MP1 calls [$0.5].
MP2 calls [$0.5].
HaplessVictim calls [$0.5].
Button folds.
SB calls [$0.25].
BB checks.

Flop: [ Th, Tc, 3c ]
SB checks.
BB checks.
QuadMaster checks.
UTG+2 checks.
MP1 checks.
MP2 checks.
HaplessVictim checks.

Turn: [ Kh ]
SB checks.
BB checks.
QuadMaster bets [$0.5].
UTG+2 folds.
MP1 folds.
MP2 calls [$0.5].
HaplessVictim calls [$0.5].
SB folds.
BB folds.

River: [ 9h ]
QuadMaster bets [$0.5].
MP2 calls [$0.5].
HaplessVictim raises [$6.75].
QuadMaster raises [$12.5].
MP2 folds.
HaplessVictim is all-In [$28.65]
QuadMaster calls [$22.4].

QuadMaster shows [ Td As Ts Jc ] four of a kind, tens.
HaplessVictim shows [ Jh Qh Ac 5c ] a straight flush, king high.
HaplessVictim wins $73.3 from the main pot with a straight flush, king high.

OBS00: this kid goes runner runner str8 flush
OBS00: man you had 500,000 to 900 reverse implied odds
QuadMaster: i'm going to urinate on the table
OBS00: u shouldnt have value called your nuts

Easy as cake!

They Always Come Back

liquid's YTD: $903.70

I dumped some money back into PokerRoom this week. My Party Poker adventures have been, uh, less than lucrative, so it's time to go back to where I first became the superstar poker hundredaire I am today. Plus there's a reload bonus!

As a change of pace, I started with a few PLO single-table tournaments, which for whatever reason Party does not deign to offer. First three tourneys: 6th, 4th, 2nd. As spectacularly mediocre as my cash game results!

The 2nd-place finish included a few interesting sequences. I tripled up early by jamming with QQxx on a KKQ board while AAxx and Kxxx chased and failed to hit. Then I had a chance to take out the eventual winner when I jammed the turn with top two pair to put him all-in, and he called with a 9-out straight draw. (Yes, he hit.)

Later, on the cusp of being dangerously short-stacked with the table down to four, I managed to steal a key family pot:

Seat 2: Foe 1 ($5,470 in chips)
Seat 6: Foe 2 ($2,760 in chips)
Seat 7: Hero [Qc Ah 9h 8d] ($1,985 in chips)
Seat 10: Foe 3 ($4,785 in chips)

ANTES/BLINDS
Foe 3 posts blind ($150).

PRE-FLOP
Foe 1 calls $150, Foe 2 calls $150, Hero calls $150, Foe 3 checks.

FLOP [board cards 6c Kc 3h ]
Foe 3 checks, Foe 1 checks, Foe 2 checks, Hero checks.

TURN [board cards 6c Kc 3h Jh ]
Foe 3 bets $300, Foe 1 calls $300, Foe 2 calls $300, Hero calls $300.

RIVER [board cards 6c Kc 3h Jh Kd ]
Foe 3 checks, Foe 1 checks, Foe 2 checks, Hero bets $1,535 and is all-in, Foe 3 folds, Foe 1 folds, Foe 2 folds.

SHOWDOWN
Hero wins $3,335.

Whew.

The final turning point: I had a chance to vault into the lead with the nut straight, a flush redraw, and the chip leader betting big.... when my connection failed for a few seconds and I was auto-folded. Holy bad timing Batman.

So what might have been a runaway victory for Hero turned out to be a fight to squeak into second.

To deal or not to deal

Napalm's YTD: $11,172.25

So does it make sense to get a guaranteed extra $1000 when you get down to 4 people in a tournament?

Some say its all luck when the blinds and antes are 10% of the average stack and money in the bank makes a lot of sense. I was 3 of 4 in chips; the chip leader had about double and the rest of the three remaining players were about even.

So I took the deal. $1961.10

Then we played out the tournament for tournament leaderboard points, and of course, I won. Now granted, we played a lot looser at after the deal was struck, but I probably would have played it almost the same way, super aggressive.

Oh well, maybe one of these days I will get up the balls to turn down a deal.

info:

Stars $20 + $2 multi table, 710 players

First place would have taken $3500, 4th $900

Goodbye, Devil's Nest

liquid's YTD: $1048.51

Change is good. I flailed around on the $25 Party PLO tables for almost a month and netted a pitiful $62.46. I've finally abandoned that scene for the $50 games, which so far have been very good: $270 in 13 hours of play over the past week.

Faithful readers (should we get ever any) will note that I've finally pushed above $1000 for the year. A pittance compared to Napalm, but I'm a happy poker n00b anyway.

But on to important matters. Namely, when will Phil Hellmuth grace us with a new Hand Of The Week? His three minutes with Mimi have stretched on for a month now. I don't know how much longer I can wait.

Calling Is Hard

liquid's YTD: $930.31

Tonight I have a rarity: me, with a made hand, calling down a bettor on multiple streets. Historically this tactic has led to Bad Things for hero. Therefore, my strong tendency is to push or pass, especially when I have position. I'm consciously working to identify situations where calling is correct when not on a draw.

$50 PL Omaha Hi (Real Money)

Seat 1: Hero (CO, $116.1)
Seat 6: Agressor (UTG, $52.15)

** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [Td 8d 9c Ts]

Agressor calls [$0.5].
UTG+1 calls [$0.5].
UTG+2, MP1, MP2 fold.
Hero raises [$1.5].
Button, SB, BB fold.
Agressor raises [$3.5].
UTG+1 folds.
Hero calls [$2.5].

Pre-flop check-raise from Agressor in early position. Agressor sat down four hands ago, and I don't have a history on him. Assumption is aces.

** Dealing Flop ** [7h, 5s, 5d]
Agressor checks.
Hero checks.

** Dealing Turn ** [6s]
Agressor bets [$6].

Nut straight on a paired board. Huh. I consider raising, but realize this is likely one of those situations where I'm either way beat (with an unlikely AA77 or AA66?) or way ahead. I'm counting on the latter, and maybe foe has another bluff for the river. Seems like a good opportunity to *gulp* call. Deep breath, and here we go.

Hero calls [$6].

** Dealing River ** [6d]
Agressor bets [$20].
Hero calls [$20].
Agressor shows [Tc, Jh, Ah, Kc] a pair of sixes.
Hero shows [Td, 8d, 9c, Ts] a straight, five to nine.
Hero wins $58.25 from the main pot with a straight, five to nine.

How about that. Uncomfortable, but rewarding.

A Push Apropos

liquid's YTD: $843.31

Instead of raving/ranting about my own sublime/moronic play, I'm going to highlight a clever isolation move used by a foe this evening.

$50 PL Omaha Hi (Real Money)

Seat 2: PoorBastard (BB, $18.8)
Seat 7: CleverMonkey (MP2, $50)
Seat 9: Hero (CO, $49.25)
CleverMonkey posts big blind [$0.5].

** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [4c 2c Ac Ah]
UTG calls [$0.5].
UTG+1, UTG+2, MP1 fold.
CleverMonkey checks.
MP3 folds.
Hero raises [$1.5].
Button, SB fold.
PoorBastard calls [$1].
UTG folds.
CleverMonkey calls [$1].

** Dealing Flop ** [7s, 9c, 8c]
PoorBastard checks.
CleverMonkey checks.
Hero checks.

Maybe a weak check, but I decide not to risk my free card against these foes. And sure enough, they both wake up on the turn:

** Dealing Turn ** [5s]
PoorBastard bets [$5].
CleverMonkey raises [$20].
Hero folds.
PoorBastard is all-In.

** Dealing River ** [3c]
CleverMonkey shows [8d, 7c, Jc, 6h] a flush, jack high.
PoorBastard doesn't show [6c, Th, Ks, As] a straight, six to ten.
CleverMonkey wins $2.7 from side pot #1 with a flush, jack high.
CleverMonkey wins $37.9 from the main pot with a flush, jack high.

I love CleverMonkey's raise here, even though he's a 67-32 dog to PoorBastard's made straight. CleverMonkey has some good draws, but a call would be a terrible mistake, since then I'd call as well with my nut flush draw. So he forces me out, thereby adding a live flush draw to his gutshot straight draw and full house draw. Once I fold, CleverMonkey gets a chunk of his raise back since PoorBastard has only $12 left. And if PoorBastard were just making a move, CleverMonkey's raise would have picked up the pot right away.

Kudos to CleverMonkey for doing a better job than Hero at considering the stack sizes in play. If I were feeling feisty and wanted two chances at my flush outs, I could have bet enough on the flop to let PoorBastard push all-in or close to it. If CleverMonkey re-raises (which he may have done anyway), I'd have to fold. But if CleverMonkey passes I get my nine outs twice for one low price.

Back-to-Back Suck

Napalm's YTD: $9,737.99

Back-to-Back cashes on Stars $20 and $30 multi table tournaments. 18th and 11th

1006 suckas in the $20 and 651 chumps in the $30.

on the $20 I go all in with JJ vs AQ, A on the river.

on the $30, a key hand, I reraise all in with AK, get called by KJ, flop comes J K J, then a 10, and of course, no Q on the river.

Does anyone know where I can get a fresh order of some luck around here......

But WAIT!!!

I just got delt KJ suited with 5K left (short stack) vs. 55 and hit the K, then....

I get 33 next hand and go all in and get called by 55. 3 on the flop!!!!!

but then,

I get Q8 on the BB and get called by the SB, flop is Q 5 4, he bets, i call, turn is 9, he checks, i bet, he calls, river is a 10. I go all in he calls with J 8. Runner runner suck out baby.

11th place.

Crap.

N.

PLO + Slow-Playing = Bad Things

liquid's YTD: $893.91

Some decent gains over the weekend, partially attributable to good play by Hero. But strangely, the most satisfying wins were two suck-outs against slow-players. Each occurred on my first hand at the table with hole cards I would not have played otherwise. Maybe I need to reconsider my pre-flop tightness.

Figure 1:

$25 PL Omaha Hi (Real Money)

Seat 4: SlowPlayMaster (BB, $24.75)
Seat 10: Hero (MP3, $25)
Hero posts big blind [$0.25].

** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [Td 5s Qc 8d]
UTG folds.
UTG+1 calls [$0.25].
UTG+2 folds.
MP1 calls [$0.25].
MP2 calls [$0.25].
Hero checks.
CO folds, Button folds.
SB calls [$0.15].
BB checks.

** Dealing Flop ** [4h, 8h, Th]
SB checks.
SlowPlayMaster bets [$0.5].
UTG+1 folds, MP1 folds, MP2 folds.

No one wants to push? I'll give it a go, with my four big outs as a fallback.

Hero raises [$2].
SB folds.
SlowPlayMaster calls [$1.5].

Smooth call. Not sure if I'll push this further.

** Dealing Turn ** [8s]

Then again....

SlowPlayMaster checks.
Hero checks.

** Dealing River ** [3d]
SlowPlayMaster bets [$4]
Hero raises [$10].
SlowPlayMaster calls [$6].
Hero shows [Td, 5s, Qc, 8d] a full house, Eights full of tens.
SlowPlayMaster doesn't show [Kh, Jh, 8c, Ah] a flush, ace high.
Hero wins $24.25 from the main pot with a full house, Eights full of tens.

Oh SlowPlayMaster. Why not push me out on the flop? Why bet the river, and then call a raise? How I long to understand.

Figure 2 is more dramatic:

$25 PL Omaha Hi (Real Money)

Seat 3: Hero (CO, $25)
Seat 6: LowBetSet (SB, $25.10)
Seat 7: Desperate (BB, $8.75)
Hero posts big blind [$0.25].

** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [5d Jd 3c Ac]
UTG calls [$0.25].
UTG+1 folds.
UTG+2 calls [$0.25].
MP1 folds.
MP2 calls [$0.25].
Hero checks.
Button calls [$0.25].
LowBetSet calls [$0.15].
Desperate raises [$0.25].
UTG, UTG+2, MP2, Hero, Button, LowBetSet call [$0.25].

** Dealing Flop ** [3d, Jh, 8c]
LowBetSet bets [$0.25].
Desperate raises [$0.50].
UTG, UTG+1, MP2 fold.

Once again, no one shows strength. But I have the monster top and bottom pair!

Hero raises [$5.1].
Button folds.
LowBetSet calls [$4.85].
Desperate is all-In.
Hero calls [$3.15].

I can't worry too much about the short stack. However, I made a mistake by not re-raising here to attempt to isolate.

LowBetSet calls [$3.15].

** Dealing Turn ** [Js]
LowBetSet is all-In.
Hero is all-In.

** Dealing River ** [7d]
LowBetSet shows [8s, Tc, 8d, Ts] a full house, Eights full of jacks.
Desperate doesn't show [Kc, 4s, Jc, Kh] three of a kind, jacks.
Hero shows [5d, Jd, 3c, Ac] a full house, Jacks full of threes.
LowBetSet wins $0.1 from side pot #2 with a full house, Eights full of jacks.
Hero wins $30.9 from side pot #1 with a full house, Jacks full of threes.
Hero wins $26.85 from the main pot with a full house, Jacks full of threes.

A set of eights? Wha...? Desperate's J meant I had one out on the flop, barring my two back-door flush draws.

These non-betting folks will be the death of me.

W00t

liquid's YTD: $793.77

For a night, I decided to abandon the personal hell that has been the Party $25 tables, and instead sat at a $50 table. I won a couple decent hands, including a flopped straight that -- get this -- held up against a set that paid me off on every street. I'm trying not to get too excited.

And Two Steps Back

liquid's YTD: $777.87

On the heels of my modest recent streak, I dropped two buy-ins last night. Let's go to video!

Big hand #1:

$25 PL Omaha Hi (Real Money)

Seat 5: Foe (MP1, $35.15)
Seat 6: Hero (MP2, $24.4)

** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ Ks Kc 8s Jh ]
UTG folds.
UTG+1 raises [$1].
UTG+2 folds.
Foe calls [$1].
Hero calls [$1].
MP3, CO, Button, SB fold.
BB calls [$0.75].

** Dealing Flop ** [ 2s, Qh, Ts ]
BB checks.
UTG+1 bets [$1].
Foe calls [$1].
Hero raises [$8.15].

No regrets here. Weak bet, weak call, and I have the second-to-nut flush draw and an open-ended straight draw.

BB folds.
UTG+1 folds.
Foe calls [$7.15].

Oops. Top two pair? Surely foe would have pushed back at a $1 bet if he had a set against a draw-heavy flop. But even against an unlikely set I'm in good shape with lots of outs.

** Dealing Turn ** [ 5d ]
Foe checks.
Hero is all-In.
Foe calls [$15.25].

Big mistake. I earned the free card. Why didn't I take it? I have trouble turning it off against foes that don't show strength.

** Dealing River ** [ 5h ]
Foe shows [ Qs, Tc, 5s, Td ] a full house, Tens full of fives.
Hero doesn't show [ Ks, Kc, 8s, Jh ] two pairs, kings and fives.
Foe wins $49.55 from the main pot with a full house, Tens full of fives.

I was 48-52 on the flop against the mysterious set that didn't bet, but once again my draws don't come.

Big hand #2:

$25 PL Omaha Hi (Real Money)

Seat 2: ShortStack (SB, $4.05)
Seat 6: Hero (UTG+2, $23.45)
Seat 7: LAG (MP1, $87)

** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ As 3s 6c Kc ]
UTG, UTG+1 fold.
Hero calls [$0.25].
LAG calls [$0.25].
MP2, MP3, CO, Button fold.
Button folds.
ShortStack raises [$1.15].
BB folds.
Hero calls [$1].
LAG raises [$4.75].
ShortStack is all-In.
Hero calls [$3.75].

So-so pre-flop calls, but ShortStack could have anything, and LAG is just looking to isolate against ShortStack. I figure there's a good chance both of my flush draws are live.

** Dealing Flop ** [ Ts, Qs, 5c ]

Decent flop for hero: Nut flush draw with a bonus back-door flush draw. Here we go!

Hero bets [$13].
LAG raises [$52.6].

Eh? Ok, just $7 more into a fat pot, so....

Hero is all-In.

** Dealing Turn ** [ 8c ]

Yay! Double flush draw.

** Dealing River ** [ 2h ]

Crud.

LAG shows [ Ks, Jc, Qh, Ah ] a pair of queens.
ShortStack doesn't show [ Jh, Th, 7h, 4s ] a pair of tens.
Hero doesn't show [ As, 3s, 6c, Kc ] high card ace.
LAG wins $34.15 from side pot #2 with a pair of queens.
LAG wins $36.85 from side pot #1 with a pair of queens.
LAG wins $11.8 from the main pot with a pair of queens.

Awesome. A pair of queens and a ten-out straight draw that he has to figure is blocked by several cards held by his opponents (four, to be exact).

I hate this game.

Adapt Or Die

liquid's YTD: $827.87

The Party Poker Pot-Limit Omaha adventure continues. After a very brief profit at the outset, I ran in mud for a while before sinking like a brick. The past week has seen a slight uptick, as I've managed to scrape together six consecutive nights of short sessions and small profits. A few adjustments have helped.

For better or worse, I'm not hurling myself into pots like I was before. An example: a few nights ago I limped in UTG with AAxx. The flop came A86r, and I was prepared to pot it. However, the big blind put in a half-pot bet. During my downslide this is exactly a scenario where I would have re-raised with a pot-sized bet. But this time I considered: There were still several players to my left to act. A re-raise would likely push everyone else out. Was this still-small pot really worth it? So instead I called, my plan being to get a few overcalls and then put in a pot-sized bet or raise on any non-straight-completing turn. And even though no one cooperated with my plan -- I got no overcalls, the turn was a nine, the big blind potted it, and I folded -- I was happy with my decisions. (My only regret was failing to raise pre-flop, a weak play that likely kept the big blind in with a hand he might have otherwise folded. I still struggle with raising pre-flop in early position.)

This is not to say I've become a total rock. I'm finally getting a feel for what these Party Poker folks are doing. Tonight I played for about 40 minutes and won pots with a sustained bluff, a semi-bluff raise on the turn, a hard push with just top pair, and an aggressive bluff with a lone Qd on a 9d3sAdKdJd board. On the flip side, the one time I had a legitimate hand (nut straight), it cost me $0.97 when an identical hand insisted on feeding the rake. Go figure.