Wow, last night was wild to say the least. I decided to leave work early so that I wouldn't end up at the casino till really late. I left at 6:30 and arrived at 7, I got onto a table shortly after.
The table was pretty tight it seemed. Not too many people knew what they were doing, and would just fold most pots to me easily. There were however two players at the table that I spotted right away as potential threats, both were next to each other and at the opposite side of the table. (We had postion on each other half the time.) One was a young kid probably about my age, wearing a light zip up hoodie and looked pretty cunning. Probably a former online player, the other was a young foreign looking woman with her hair up in a bun. She was a little overweight and wearing an Ed Hardy long sleeve shirt which made me think "WTF". Anyways, I tangled with both of these players at times, but I had the biggest pots and most trouble with the woman, who had to be a pro.
The first one who I ran into tho was the kid. He kept limping along with other players and when I was on the button, I would raise it up to 12. Most times he and everyone else would fold. There were times he called, but check folded to me every time (About 2 or 3 times this happened). I knew tho, that at one point he was probably going to fight back.
The same limp, and then I raise preflop situation happened and I held J10 off suit. This time he calls me out of postion. Flop comes 10 9 3 rainbow. He checks, I bet 15 (Same bet I always make, and I did this to look suspicious and induce a bluff) and he check raises me to 45. I flat while staring him down. Turn brings an 8, so now I have a straight draw to go with my top pair. I was def not going anywhere now. He leads nervously this time for 57, and I flat. River is a 9, and he check folds to a 70 dollar bet by me. There are two reasons why I bet that river. 1. There is a possibility he has a better hand then me. Maybe A10, or Q10. He could be thinking the way I have played my hand that I was slow playing, and fold his better hand to my river bet. Also, it was for value, if he was convinced I was bluffing, he could have called me with his pair of 8's or smaller pocket pair. (Those hands make sense for how he played the hand, because he probably had smaller pairs/ drawing hands bc of his limp call pre. And he was trying to pull a move on me so yeah) Anyways, he folded and I won a good sized pot.
Shortly after that he lost all of his chips and the only player left for me to worry about was the pro woman at the opposite end of the table. I thought she was a pro for a few reasons. 1. The way she played was smart, deceptive, and intuitive. She was making good reads and playing appropriately for the kind of table we were at. 2. Her chip tricks. She not only could to the chip stack ruffle, but she could roll a chip along her knuckles like I can (Except she can do it even better then me) These are signs that she spent a lot of time dealing with chips. Which could very easily translate to a lot of time at a poker table. 3. The final reason was because she talked about her poker past. Apparently she has played in 3k buy in WSOP circuit events before. Ok, anyone can enter those, but add that in with everything else, it paints a good enough picture to assume she is a pro. (She also had a huge chip stack in front of her).
Because I knew how good she was, I made plays to exploit that, I would raise her limp, or I would overbet rivers against her while holding marginal hands. Things like that. And I was getting the best of her too. Until the biggest hand of the nigh happened.
1 player limped in early pos. The pro woman limped behind and so did a couple others behind her. It gets to me in the SB, and I look down to find AA. I know I need to raise this up a decent amount, but not too much bc most of these players were folding pretty easily pre. I raise to 16, and the early pos limper calls, so did the pro woman. Flop comes K77 rainbow and I lead for 30, early folds and the pro reraises me to 85 total. I think for a bit and am unsure of calling for a couple reasons. First is that I know that she called my pre raise with nearly any two cards and may have hit trip 7's bc she must have figured my bigger pre raise meant a big pair and she wanted the implied odds to be able to bust me. Also, we are both deep stacked at this point. She has me covered, and I have a little over 300. But what puzzled me is why did she reraise and to such a good amount when she had pos. on me with trips. She could smooth call and safely slowplay, esp. on that not so threatening board. So I finally decide to flat her, the turn is a blank, and i check... this time she bets 150 (I only have 245 left at this point) I think for a long long long long time, I even apologize to the table for waiting this long. An old guy next to me looks at me and asks if I have AA too lol. (Which was totally rude and uncalled for by him when I'm involved in such a big hand.) Well I then try to talk to her, and she just has her head down and not giving away any info. I know that at this point it is also all in or nothing, so I am preparing to shove my whole stack. The hands I'm putting her on that I can beat is a bluff, (I have been outplaying her and the whole table up till this point, so she could be trying to make a move) or a high K, like a K10 or maybe a KQ. (She wasn't raising too much preflop surprisingly, so these kinds of hands are in her range) I end up reraising all in to 245 total, so she only had 95 left to call. (I did this play expecting to be wrong with her calling, or right with her folding. I did not expect to have any fold equity because of how big the pot was compared to my 95 dollar reraise. She was getting a little more than 6 to 1 odds!!!)
Well once I make that raise she looks visibly upset, but has not released her hand yet. And I dont even know whether or not I should be scared of her with trips at this point or did I catch her? She thinks for long enough that even she has to apologize to the rest of the table. She is announcing that she is putting me on pocket K's and worried about being beat by a full house. I just stare her down as she is thinking and counting chips and she looks to really be in a bind. At one point she looks up at me and asks if I will show my hand if she folds. (I actually was already prepared for this question, and pro's usually ask this for info. If you say yes, you are read to have a big hand. If you say no, you are read to be bluffing.) And at this point in the hand, there is soooo much in the pot, and I am still uncertain of what she has, I didn't mind taking it down right now without her call. So I nod my head yes that I will show, and she immediatly seemed perturbed lol. She wants to call soooo bad, but just says that she cannot call, and folds. I show the AA and tip the dealer 10 bucks, and she starts to freak out a little bit saying that she had 79. Now I want to believe her, but idk. If she really did have that hand, she should have called with the 6 to 1 odds. Also, another player at the table announced that he actually had 78. (even less likely she had a 7) So I want to say that she has it, but I am still uncertain. (Actually, I'm pretty sure she did not have it. The whole hand including that big fold on the turn just doesn't make sense if you have trip 7's) I scoop the huge pot, and am sitting with a stack around 600.
I end up busting another guy and getting up to 700, and on my last hand of the table I find AA UTG. I do my normal raise and get a couple callers, one of those was the pro woman again (UGH! Not again!) Well flop comes out Q9x and the one caller checks, I check (Trying to mix up my play with AA. Last time I lead ya know, now I will check into a woman who could very easily be tilting) and the pro woman bets 22. Other player folds and I flat. Turn comes a 9, I check call her 45 dollar raise. River is a blank, I check call her 70 dollar bet. She shows J9 for trips (again against my AA) and I muck lol. That last hand sucks but given the circumstances I think check calling was a good way to play the hand. If she had a Q or a bluff, or any other kind of hand, I just want her to keep committing chips to me. And the check calls were also for pot control. (If she was tilting, I didnt want to have to face a tough decision if I reraise and she gets a little bit frisky. For example, if I reraised the turn when she hit trips, she would have fired back at me and I would have been in deep shit for a decision.)
Anyways, I get up from the table after that, I have a stack of 561, so a 361 dollar profit! I think I played very well. The big pots were questionable, but I ended up on top so they were played correctly in those given situations apparently! :)
So I am starting off my attempt at being a pro pretty well, I played for 2 hours that night and profited +361. AHHH YEAAAHHH
-Coopb20
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Playing too Advanced
To slow play or not to slow play? That is the question, and what I struggled with today. Overall it was a good session, with a lot of ups and downs, and plenty of aggressive play.
Normally, I am a very aggressive player, when I played online, my stats were 22/20/4 with a 9% 3 bet percentage. (22 = VPIP, 20 = Raise percentage, and 4 = Aggression factor) Which is on the aggressive side for a reg. (Not super duper aggressive tho) But the main thing that needs to be realized is that when playing against worse players, a better player can play looser and more aggressive. So after being at the table for about 30 minutes, I shifted gears, and became really aggressive, and it showed.
The one dilemma I had the whole session was misplaying my good hands. I would be aggressive when I should have been slower, and vice versa. When deciding on when to slow play, it comes down to a few factors, 1. the situation (Board texture, position, money in pot, stack sizes etc.) 2. Your image 3. Your read on your opponent.
What I struggled with the most, was how my opponents perceived my image. (A combination on #2 and #3)
For example, early on in the session, I got a little too aggressive with a good hand of mine against an opponent with a good hand. The opponent was this older guy, who seemed to be a talker and a donk, (He rivered a gut shot in a 5 way pot, was last to act when no action happened, and checked it. Wtf lol) There were two limpers in the pot, it gets to him on the button and he raises up to 5. (Like a min raise, which to me means he has a big pair.) The SB flats, and me in the BB calls with 3 5 offsuit for the implied odds. The two limpers call too. Flop comes 356 with two clubs, SB checks, I check (knowing the old guy was going to bet with his big pair) the limpers check, and this old guy bets 15. SB fold, I reraise to 45, both limpers fold, this old guy thinks for a bit and says out loud what he was thinking, saying I have been playing tight (I had played like 7 hands till that point and and won 4. We probably only played like 15 hands by that point so idk what he was talking about) and that I was on the BB (Good point tho for him) and he folds KK face up saying he thinks I probably have a draw. Looking back on it, the reraise was a smart move (too drawy of a flop) but it was too big. Also, how these tables play out, I was afraid to just bet out, it's very easy for these limpers to flat my raise and him flat behind them. (He's a donk so he could very easily flat behind bc he is afraid to lose a stack committing too much) I wanted a chance for anyone else to bet, or him to bet out, and I have the chance to repop it so that no draws come in. Also, I KNOW he has a big pair, a reraise here shouldn't scare him off. I also played a little too advanced with the reraise, I didn't want to bet a lot, but I know that min reraises mean big hands. (He would have not been smart enough to realize that tho, my read was off because I was thinking way too advanced for this player)
A few other hands happened at the table between me and a previous online player on my immediate right. I know he was because the rest of the table was talking about online poker and it being banned, and he seemed to know every detail about the poker sites. He also mentioned having around 300 in a pokerstars account (So probably not that great of an online player, but still more knowledgeable then other players) Anyways, he was always trying to limp in and I would raise him. He wouldn't raise often, and I would flat him whenever he did with nearly any two good drawing cards looking to bust him. Well the first time we tango, he leads for 12 pre, and I flat with 7 10 of spades, everyone else folds and I have pos. Flop comes Axx of spades. I flopped the flush, he bets out like 15 and I decide to slow play and flat call. (I know a spade can be deadly for my action and possibly my hand, but the opportunity to bust him is worth it imo because he rarely raises.) Anyways, next card is another SPADE!!!! :( He leads for 20, and I call (I should have folded), river is a blank and he bets 25, I fold. The reason why I should have folded earlier is because of what I know about him. He is a decent player and has a good idea of what is going on. So when he bets that flop and I call, I am definitely representing having a flush draw. So with that read, when the 4th spade comes on the turn, I should have hit my hand, why would he then bet? It's because he has a high spade himself, probably the K of spades too. (I put him on Ak with the K of spades) The value bet river bet of his also gave it away in my opinion, that he had a high spade.
Another hand I play with him, 1 player limps, he raises to 15, I call with 9 10 suited, another player calls behind me in pos, and the first limper calls. Flop comes J107 with 2 hearts (Very drawy flop) first limper bets 7, internet guy flats, I think of this as a sign of weakness (If he has a big pair or a set, why slow play for 7 dollars with two players left to act behind in a very drawy board. Very very bad play.) I reraise to 32, all other players fold, and internet guy hollywoods for a bit and calls. Turn is an Ace. He checks, I check. River is a blank and he leads, I fold. The ace was a horrible card for my bluff, it completes his draw if he has KQ, gives him top pair of two pair with AJ, AQ, AK, top set if he had AA. Also, I felt it was reasonable to think because of his hollywood that he had it on the flop too with a set of j's or 10's. I like my play in this hand and not his to be honest, but it still didn't play out in my favor.
Even with these bad hands, I am still doing ok, because I had been grinding down a lot of the other players. I get into a final conflict with the internet player tho, he raises to A4 of hearts preflop over top of two limpers, I flat with 9 10 suited again, and two people call behind, and so do the two limpers. Flop comes Q82 rainbow. Everyone checks. turn comes a 6 and puts the second heart on the board, everyone checks, internet guy bets 20, and I flat with my double gut shot, and the rest folds. River comes an offsuit 10, and the internet guy leads for 50. I think for a long while and make the hero call, he shows the busted draw. I made that call because his hand made no sense at all for the type of player he is. He would have lead the flop if he had a Q just for value against all of those limpers. He would have also not bet so much on the river when he was called on the turn. (It wasn't a value bet) So I won a good sized pot and the internet kid got up and walked away. He didn't come back until I left lol AHH YEAAAHHHH he scurred.
I continue to dominate the table, I get my stack up to around 400, get grinded down a little and lose a decent pot to a short stack. The hand had a few limpers, and a tight player then raise to 11, SB calls, I call in the BB with 3 5 offsuit, and the rest of the table calls. Flop comes 9 55, everyone checks to one of the limp callers who bets 20 of her 30 dollar stack. The initial raiser folds, the SB folds, I flat to induce other players to call too, but they fold and we see a turn. Turn is a Q, and I just bet the extra 10 the player had left. She called and showed 99. I lose, but it was a hand I couldn't get away from because of the stack sizes. After the hand, I grinded for a bit, but needed to leave to go see my friend at 8. I left with 287, so with about 2 hours of work, I made 87 dollars. A little disappointed because I was near 400, but still happy!!!
So a nice recovery from the last shit session. Going to bed now tho, I have work tmr ugh!
-Coopb20
Normally, I am a very aggressive player, when I played online, my stats were 22/20/4 with a 9% 3 bet percentage. (22 = VPIP, 20 = Raise percentage, and 4 = Aggression factor) Which is on the aggressive side for a reg. (Not super duper aggressive tho) But the main thing that needs to be realized is that when playing against worse players, a better player can play looser and more aggressive. So after being at the table for about 30 minutes, I shifted gears, and became really aggressive, and it showed.
The one dilemma I had the whole session was misplaying my good hands. I would be aggressive when I should have been slower, and vice versa. When deciding on when to slow play, it comes down to a few factors, 1. the situation (Board texture, position, money in pot, stack sizes etc.) 2. Your image 3. Your read on your opponent.
What I struggled with the most, was how my opponents perceived my image. (A combination on #2 and #3)
For example, early on in the session, I got a little too aggressive with a good hand of mine against an opponent with a good hand. The opponent was this older guy, who seemed to be a talker and a donk, (He rivered a gut shot in a 5 way pot, was last to act when no action happened, and checked it. Wtf lol) There were two limpers in the pot, it gets to him on the button and he raises up to 5. (Like a min raise, which to me means he has a big pair.) The SB flats, and me in the BB calls with 3 5 offsuit for the implied odds. The two limpers call too. Flop comes 356 with two clubs, SB checks, I check (knowing the old guy was going to bet with his big pair) the limpers check, and this old guy bets 15. SB fold, I reraise to 45, both limpers fold, this old guy thinks for a bit and says out loud what he was thinking, saying I have been playing tight (I had played like 7 hands till that point and and won 4. We probably only played like 15 hands by that point so idk what he was talking about) and that I was on the BB (Good point tho for him) and he folds KK face up saying he thinks I probably have a draw. Looking back on it, the reraise was a smart move (too drawy of a flop) but it was too big. Also, how these tables play out, I was afraid to just bet out, it's very easy for these limpers to flat my raise and him flat behind them. (He's a donk so he could very easily flat behind bc he is afraid to lose a stack committing too much) I wanted a chance for anyone else to bet, or him to bet out, and I have the chance to repop it so that no draws come in. Also, I KNOW he has a big pair, a reraise here shouldn't scare him off. I also played a little too advanced with the reraise, I didn't want to bet a lot, but I know that min reraises mean big hands. (He would have not been smart enough to realize that tho, my read was off because I was thinking way too advanced for this player)
A few other hands happened at the table between me and a previous online player on my immediate right. I know he was because the rest of the table was talking about online poker and it being banned, and he seemed to know every detail about the poker sites. He also mentioned having around 300 in a pokerstars account (So probably not that great of an online player, but still more knowledgeable then other players) Anyways, he was always trying to limp in and I would raise him. He wouldn't raise often, and I would flat him whenever he did with nearly any two good drawing cards looking to bust him. Well the first time we tango, he leads for 12 pre, and I flat with 7 10 of spades, everyone else folds and I have pos. Flop comes Axx of spades. I flopped the flush, he bets out like 15 and I decide to slow play and flat call. (I know a spade can be deadly for my action and possibly my hand, but the opportunity to bust him is worth it imo because he rarely raises.) Anyways, next card is another SPADE!!!! :( He leads for 20, and I call (I should have folded), river is a blank and he bets 25, I fold. The reason why I should have folded earlier is because of what I know about him. He is a decent player and has a good idea of what is going on. So when he bets that flop and I call, I am definitely representing having a flush draw. So with that read, when the 4th spade comes on the turn, I should have hit my hand, why would he then bet? It's because he has a high spade himself, probably the K of spades too. (I put him on Ak with the K of spades) The value bet river bet of his also gave it away in my opinion, that he had a high spade.
Another hand I play with him, 1 player limps, he raises to 15, I call with 9 10 suited, another player calls behind me in pos, and the first limper calls. Flop comes J107 with 2 hearts (Very drawy flop) first limper bets 7, internet guy flats, I think of this as a sign of weakness (If he has a big pair or a set, why slow play for 7 dollars with two players left to act behind in a very drawy board. Very very bad play.) I reraise to 32, all other players fold, and internet guy hollywoods for a bit and calls. Turn is an Ace. He checks, I check. River is a blank and he leads, I fold. The ace was a horrible card for my bluff, it completes his draw if he has KQ, gives him top pair of two pair with AJ, AQ, AK, top set if he had AA. Also, I felt it was reasonable to think because of his hollywood that he had it on the flop too with a set of j's or 10's. I like my play in this hand and not his to be honest, but it still didn't play out in my favor.
Even with these bad hands, I am still doing ok, because I had been grinding down a lot of the other players. I get into a final conflict with the internet player tho, he raises to A4 of hearts preflop over top of two limpers, I flat with 9 10 suited again, and two people call behind, and so do the two limpers. Flop comes Q82 rainbow. Everyone checks. turn comes a 6 and puts the second heart on the board, everyone checks, internet guy bets 20, and I flat with my double gut shot, and the rest folds. River comes an offsuit 10, and the internet guy leads for 50. I think for a long while and make the hero call, he shows the busted draw. I made that call because his hand made no sense at all for the type of player he is. He would have lead the flop if he had a Q just for value against all of those limpers. He would have also not bet so much on the river when he was called on the turn. (It wasn't a value bet) So I won a good sized pot and the internet kid got up and walked away. He didn't come back until I left lol AHH YEAAAHHHH he scurred.
I continue to dominate the table, I get my stack up to around 400, get grinded down a little and lose a decent pot to a short stack. The hand had a few limpers, and a tight player then raise to 11, SB calls, I call in the BB with 3 5 offsuit, and the rest of the table calls. Flop comes 9 55, everyone checks to one of the limp callers who bets 20 of her 30 dollar stack. The initial raiser folds, the SB folds, I flat to induce other players to call too, but they fold and we see a turn. Turn is a Q, and I just bet the extra 10 the player had left. She called and showed 99. I lose, but it was a hand I couldn't get away from because of the stack sizes. After the hand, I grinded for a bit, but needed to leave to go see my friend at 8. I left with 287, so with about 2 hours of work, I made 87 dollars. A little disappointed because I was near 400, but still happy!!!
So a nice recovery from the last shit session. Going to bed now tho, I have work tmr ugh!
-Coopb20
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
ARGGHHH!!!
Ok so now I will start posting session summary's and results. So far, I have had three sessions at philly parx. There are some good things, and some bad things, but overall at this moment I am frustrated from the session I just completed.
One of the big reasons I am deciding to play poker even tho I currently have a full time job is to just have another form of income. I am also investing the money I earn from my job as well. I just want to keep the money rolling in, and to keep investing. I just want to keep pumping up my capital! AHHH YEAHHH!!!!
Well the first session I had at parx was last friday night, it lasted for 2 hours and I ended up down 19 dollars. I would actually say that I played well, esp for a night in which I was getting my feet wet with live poker again. The one mistake I had was when the table captain, and an obviously experienced player switched seats to my left. I should have switched to another seat or found another table ASAP. Giving him position on me all session wasn't a good thing to do. He did respect my raises because of how I was playing, which helped me to outplay him that night, but I probably could have had a profit if I moved and not a -19 dollar loss.
Next session was last Sunday. I played for 3 hours and won 284. A very good session, I was getting decent cards, and I never really had a huge pot, I mostly grinded up to that number. I was table captain and felt totally in my comfort zone. No one there challenged me in the least bit.
Now to this shit show of a session I had tonight. I got back from work today and quickly got a shower and dressed to meet a girl thing of mine for dinner. We went to Supper, it's on South Street in center city Philadelphia. (I would have to say that I am definitely a food fanatic. My goal is to hit up every top 50 restaurant in philadelphia. I already have knocked out 10) Supper is a sort of experimental restaurant, similar to a new restaurant called Adsum (Which is also very good) in which they have very creative dishes. For example, at supper, one of the appetizers is berch beer wings. They are DELICIOUS! They also have for an entre, duck and waffles lol. And btw, this isn't some sort of hole in the wall, this is all high end dining.
Anyways, I came back to her place and we chilled out for a little bit, I headed back to my place at 9 and started off to the casino at 9:30. I had half a headache and was a little tired to be honest. (Not the best condition to have mental focus and patience) I get to the casino, and play horribly. I had no patience at all. And it wasn't a shitty table either, I just wasn't focused like I should have been, and I had this idea that my goal was to win 200 tonight, and if I didnt achieve it, it was a failure. (Warning: Don't make money goals for sessions in poker. Not a good idea.) Because of that I missed opportunities and made mistakes.
Mistake number 1. There was an aggressive guy two seats to my left at the table, although it was waaay too early on in this hand for me to tell. I raised for the second hand in a row at the table up to 11, and I had AK offsuit. The aggressive guy reraised me from the button to 22. Min reraises usually mean a big hand, like the nuts kind of hands, so I was weary. I felt like he was just doing this because of my second raise but was unsure. I really should have repopped it at him and gotten it all in. The chances of him having AA or KK are slimmer since I have one of each. I have decent outs agaisnt KK if he has it, I beat AQ, and I flip with all other pairs. Well I decide to flat, flop comes 9 high and I check fold it. I felt that I played this hand poorly preflop.
The biggest missed opportunity, which I don't know if I can really blame myself for is the following hand. I see two limpers, I'm in middle pos. I look down to find KK. I raise it up to 13 this time. I get two callers behind me, the BB calls, and the two limpers call. (WTF!!!!MKDCMCK) Flop come QJ7 offsuit. A decent flop, but I'm always weary with so many players in the hand. Most players check to me, I bet 30 (I know the bet sizing is weak, but this seems like a hug bet to most fish, so it will clear all of the bad hands easily). I get a call from one player behind me, and the BB check raises me to 90. WHAAAATTTT!!!!! I think for a little bit and then fold. My reasoning is that he made a very strong play there. I am not very scared about the flat caller behind me, even though he could possibly be a factor, but a check raise like that means a big hand like top two pair or a set. I never really thought through that hand enough tho. I could have had very good reasoning to reraise all in, which I will explain in a bit. What ended up happening inthe hand is that the flat caller behind me called all in, they both flip over their cards, and the flat caller had Q10, the BB had AQ. I would have won the hand!.... FAAAAACCCKKKKK!!!!!! LOL :( Here are the pro/cons for my play.
Pro: There were five other players in the hand, very likely this guy could have hit something like QJ or a set of 7's. Made a very strong play in a check raise, that doesn't normally happen unless someone had a monster. This guy also didn't seem to make any sort of move to this point (still kind of early tho) unless he had some sort of something. AKA, he was not bluffing.
Con: He is obviously a donk, so he can make donk plays at anytime, for example.... Overvaluing top pair with AQ. To a donk, that shit looks like gold. But it really isn't that good of a hand to check raise with into 2 other guys who look serious after their being so many players in the hand. But here is where my read should have come in. He would not have had QQ or JJ. He would most likely have reraised preflop with those. Probably didn't have sort of bullshit like J7 or Q7, cuz he would have most likely folded those preflop with my raise. (unless maybe they were SUUUUIITED!) The hands he could have had that beat me were 77, and QJ. I'm not drawing too bad towards QJ, but I am in big trouble against 77. In other words, his range is very narrow, and I even have a decent number of outs against his range. If he had 77, I would have also expected him to flat call and not check raise, even with the other player in the hand. I honestly just gave this guy too much credit. The proper play would have been to shove all in there and double up.
The other mistake I made tonight was getting involved in an unnecessary pot with the aggressive guy. I felt like he was bluffing me with a big reraise preflop and a same size raise on the flop. I flatted both in postion, and then he shoved the turn and I folded. I should have either folded the flop, or shoved over top of him. I had AJ, from the button and raised to 12, he reraised from the BB to 40, flop was Q98 offsuit, he lead with 40, I called, and then folded a shove all in on a 7 turn. It just felt like he was really trying to push me off the hand to be honest. I should have folded pre, or on the flop, or followed through with my convictions and shoved over him on the flop, esp since I had outs. But whatever. I played for 2 hours and lost 233.
So here are the results so far:
2 hours -19$
3 hours +284$
2 hours -233$
So for 7 hours I made 32 dollars. It's always good to have a profit, but it should be more, I am disappointed in todays session .I will just have to rebound from it, and learn not to play when feeling SHITTY!!!!
Anyways, night
-Coopb20
One of the big reasons I am deciding to play poker even tho I currently have a full time job is to just have another form of income. I am also investing the money I earn from my job as well. I just want to keep the money rolling in, and to keep investing. I just want to keep pumping up my capital! AHHH YEAHHH!!!!
Well the first session I had at parx was last friday night, it lasted for 2 hours and I ended up down 19 dollars. I would actually say that I played well, esp for a night in which I was getting my feet wet with live poker again. The one mistake I had was when the table captain, and an obviously experienced player switched seats to my left. I should have switched to another seat or found another table ASAP. Giving him position on me all session wasn't a good thing to do. He did respect my raises because of how I was playing, which helped me to outplay him that night, but I probably could have had a profit if I moved and not a -19 dollar loss.
Next session was last Sunday. I played for 3 hours and won 284. A very good session, I was getting decent cards, and I never really had a huge pot, I mostly grinded up to that number. I was table captain and felt totally in my comfort zone. No one there challenged me in the least bit.
Now to this shit show of a session I had tonight. I got back from work today and quickly got a shower and dressed to meet a girl thing of mine for dinner. We went to Supper, it's on South Street in center city Philadelphia. (I would have to say that I am definitely a food fanatic. My goal is to hit up every top 50 restaurant in philadelphia. I already have knocked out 10) Supper is a sort of experimental restaurant, similar to a new restaurant called Adsum (Which is also very good) in which they have very creative dishes. For example, at supper, one of the appetizers is berch beer wings. They are DELICIOUS! They also have for an entre, duck and waffles lol. And btw, this isn't some sort of hole in the wall, this is all high end dining.
Anyways, I came back to her place and we chilled out for a little bit, I headed back to my place at 9 and started off to the casino at 9:30. I had half a headache and was a little tired to be honest. (Not the best condition to have mental focus and patience) I get to the casino, and play horribly. I had no patience at all. And it wasn't a shitty table either, I just wasn't focused like I should have been, and I had this idea that my goal was to win 200 tonight, and if I didnt achieve it, it was a failure. (Warning: Don't make money goals for sessions in poker. Not a good idea.) Because of that I missed opportunities and made mistakes.
Mistake number 1. There was an aggressive guy two seats to my left at the table, although it was waaay too early on in this hand for me to tell. I raised for the second hand in a row at the table up to 11, and I had AK offsuit. The aggressive guy reraised me from the button to 22. Min reraises usually mean a big hand, like the nuts kind of hands, so I was weary. I felt like he was just doing this because of my second raise but was unsure. I really should have repopped it at him and gotten it all in. The chances of him having AA or KK are slimmer since I have one of each. I have decent outs agaisnt KK if he has it, I beat AQ, and I flip with all other pairs. Well I decide to flat, flop comes 9 high and I check fold it. I felt that I played this hand poorly preflop.
The biggest missed opportunity, which I don't know if I can really blame myself for is the following hand. I see two limpers, I'm in middle pos. I look down to find KK. I raise it up to 13 this time. I get two callers behind me, the BB calls, and the two limpers call. (WTF!!!!MKDCMCK) Flop come QJ7 offsuit. A decent flop, but I'm always weary with so many players in the hand. Most players check to me, I bet 30 (I know the bet sizing is weak, but this seems like a hug bet to most fish, so it will clear all of the bad hands easily). I get a call from one player behind me, and the BB check raises me to 90. WHAAAATTTT!!!!! I think for a little bit and then fold. My reasoning is that he made a very strong play there. I am not very scared about the flat caller behind me, even though he could possibly be a factor, but a check raise like that means a big hand like top two pair or a set. I never really thought through that hand enough tho. I could have had very good reasoning to reraise all in, which I will explain in a bit. What ended up happening inthe hand is that the flat caller behind me called all in, they both flip over their cards, and the flat caller had Q10, the BB had AQ. I would have won the hand!.... FAAAAACCCKKKKK!!!!!! LOL :( Here are the pro/cons for my play.
Pro: There were five other players in the hand, very likely this guy could have hit something like QJ or a set of 7's. Made a very strong play in a check raise, that doesn't normally happen unless someone had a monster. This guy also didn't seem to make any sort of move to this point (still kind of early tho) unless he had some sort of something. AKA, he was not bluffing.
Con: He is obviously a donk, so he can make donk plays at anytime, for example.... Overvaluing top pair with AQ. To a donk, that shit looks like gold. But it really isn't that good of a hand to check raise with into 2 other guys who look serious after their being so many players in the hand. But here is where my read should have come in. He would not have had QQ or JJ. He would most likely have reraised preflop with those. Probably didn't have sort of bullshit like J7 or Q7, cuz he would have most likely folded those preflop with my raise. (unless maybe they were SUUUUIITED!) The hands he could have had that beat me were 77, and QJ. I'm not drawing too bad towards QJ, but I am in big trouble against 77. In other words, his range is very narrow, and I even have a decent number of outs against his range. If he had 77, I would have also expected him to flat call and not check raise, even with the other player in the hand. I honestly just gave this guy too much credit. The proper play would have been to shove all in there and double up.
The other mistake I made tonight was getting involved in an unnecessary pot with the aggressive guy. I felt like he was bluffing me with a big reraise preflop and a same size raise on the flop. I flatted both in postion, and then he shoved the turn and I folded. I should have either folded the flop, or shoved over top of him. I had AJ, from the button and raised to 12, he reraised from the BB to 40, flop was Q98 offsuit, he lead with 40, I called, and then folded a shove all in on a 7 turn. It just felt like he was really trying to push me off the hand to be honest. I should have folded pre, or on the flop, or followed through with my convictions and shoved over him on the flop, esp since I had outs. But whatever. I played for 2 hours and lost 233.
So here are the results so far:
2 hours -19$
3 hours +284$
2 hours -233$
So for 7 hours I made 32 dollars. It's always good to have a profit, but it should be more, I am disappointed in todays session .I will just have to rebound from it, and learn not to play when feeling SHITTY!!!!
Anyways, night
-Coopb20
Monday, May 30, 2011
My poker story part 2
So I think I left off at the start of the poker boom. It had a big effect on me, and also on all of my friends. We really got serious about poker, and starting playing poker at least once a week for a few years. I started off bad, we all were, but I read a few books, played a little bit online, and kept trying to improve. We played with 5 dollar stacks (We had no money lol) but it got to the point that I would leave every game with a 20 dollar profit. Taking a stack from 4 of my friends every time we played, needless to say, they started to not want to play anymore lol. Slowly we all stopped playing poker together, but I kept at it playing online at pokerstars, and full tilt. I played mostly micro stakes, usually topping out at 25 NL. (I play no limit texas hold em btw. And 25 NL means I was playing with .25 cent blinds and 25 dollars on the table.) I would usually deposit 50 dollars and run my money up to 200, and then slowly lose it all back. (Variance ugh) I reloaded only one time before I went to college, and that's when everything actually changed for me.
I graduated from high school in 2007, and was headed to Drexel University that fall. The first thing I did when I got there was search facebook for any poker groups on campus. (My attempt to try and find some friends with the same passion as mine) I found one group that played 10 dollar tourneys, and decided to go. That is where I met one of the biggest influences on my poker game, another student and fellow pro by the name of Ray Ross. A very smart guy, I think a computer science major, he was a big online tournament player, as well as an accomplished cash game player. He showed me how to properly play online Sit and Go's, and deposited 50 dollars on full tilt for me to play. Playing against Ray was always frightening to me because he was on such a higher level at the time, but it was also such a great and cheap learning experience. Playing against him, really helped to jump start my poker career, just from seeing how advanced he was, and by seeing someone who was actually playing and winning. Up until this point, everyone I talked to viewed poker as just another form of gambling, all luck. But I was able to witness in person the skill needed to actually win, and that it's really possible. It gave me a very big motivational boost. And I was in a sense lucky, lucky to find a winning poker player. Here is a fact that most people don't realize, most people who talk big about poker, like they are really good winning players.... are most likely lying, or too dumb to realize that one time big win of theirs for a couple G's still doesn't offset their 5,000$ losses. The truth is, only 3% of people that play poker are winning players, and only 1% actually make enough for a living wage. (I fall into the 1%. But I wouldn't say I'm making 100's of thousands)
So I learned how to play SNG's from Ray and grinded my bank roll up from 50 to about 500 and took most of it out. I never really played with Ray much after that first year of school, but I did see him from time to time. I know now and days he plays 5/10 nl at the borgata, but he graduated a while ago and is probably working a legit job and doing poker part time. ANYWAYS, I decided I did not like the variance from playing SNG's too much, and also saw that the more skillful players were cash game players (Which they are) so I made the switch to playing cash games and wanted to start at the bottom of the cash game latter. That's right, I started with 20 dollars (What I left myself from the previous cashout) and started playing cash games for pennies... LITERALLY PENNIES!!!! I played 2NL, the big blind was 2 cents. Boy did that take a lot of patience, but I felt that it was very important to start from the bottom and move up for a couple reasons. 1. I gained a lot of patience. 2. I learned proper bank roll management. (This is the one thing people don't properly learn because it sucks so much. After having played for 100's of dollars and having to drop back down to play for a few dollars at a time really really really reaaaaallllllyyyyy stinks. Which is something I had to do lol) 3. I learned how to play against bad players.
Long story short though, I climbed the stakes by playing in my spare time and won thousands of dollars just from a small starting amount of 10 dollars. Never believe anyone who feeds you the bullshit that poker is all luck, or unbeatable, or that you can't beat the micro stakes.... blah blah blah. It's all bs that people will tell you because they couldn't do it themselves. They'd rather blame the game then themselves. To become a pro, you really have to understand that poker is all skill, that it isn't "gambling" but a game of skill. There are also numerous other things you need too, but I will get into that another time.
Recent actions by the U.S. Government though has banned online poker. So my now I am attempting to play my way up the cash game stakes in live games. The casino I'm playing at is Philly Parx (A pretty good new poker room, a big one too) I am going to be trying to play at least a few hours a night after work, and record how I do, and the significant hands here.
Cool, I'm tired, peace out
-Coopb20
I graduated from high school in 2007, and was headed to Drexel University that fall. The first thing I did when I got there was search facebook for any poker groups on campus. (My attempt to try and find some friends with the same passion as mine) I found one group that played 10 dollar tourneys, and decided to go. That is where I met one of the biggest influences on my poker game, another student and fellow pro by the name of Ray Ross. A very smart guy, I think a computer science major, he was a big online tournament player, as well as an accomplished cash game player. He showed me how to properly play online Sit and Go's, and deposited 50 dollars on full tilt for me to play. Playing against Ray was always frightening to me because he was on such a higher level at the time, but it was also such a great and cheap learning experience. Playing against him, really helped to jump start my poker career, just from seeing how advanced he was, and by seeing someone who was actually playing and winning. Up until this point, everyone I talked to viewed poker as just another form of gambling, all luck. But I was able to witness in person the skill needed to actually win, and that it's really possible. It gave me a very big motivational boost. And I was in a sense lucky, lucky to find a winning poker player. Here is a fact that most people don't realize, most people who talk big about poker, like they are really good winning players.... are most likely lying, or too dumb to realize that one time big win of theirs for a couple G's still doesn't offset their 5,000$ losses. The truth is, only 3% of people that play poker are winning players, and only 1% actually make enough for a living wage. (I fall into the 1%. But I wouldn't say I'm making 100's of thousands)
So I learned how to play SNG's from Ray and grinded my bank roll up from 50 to about 500 and took most of it out. I never really played with Ray much after that first year of school, but I did see him from time to time. I know now and days he plays 5/10 nl at the borgata, but he graduated a while ago and is probably working a legit job and doing poker part time. ANYWAYS, I decided I did not like the variance from playing SNG's too much, and also saw that the more skillful players were cash game players (Which they are) so I made the switch to playing cash games and wanted to start at the bottom of the cash game latter. That's right, I started with 20 dollars (What I left myself from the previous cashout) and started playing cash games for pennies... LITERALLY PENNIES!!!! I played 2NL, the big blind was 2 cents. Boy did that take a lot of patience, but I felt that it was very important to start from the bottom and move up for a couple reasons. 1. I gained a lot of patience. 2. I learned proper bank roll management. (This is the one thing people don't properly learn because it sucks so much. After having played for 100's of dollars and having to drop back down to play for a few dollars at a time really really really reaaaaallllllyyyyy stinks. Which is something I had to do lol) 3. I learned how to play against bad players.
Long story short though, I climbed the stakes by playing in my spare time and won thousands of dollars just from a small starting amount of 10 dollars. Never believe anyone who feeds you the bullshit that poker is all luck, or unbeatable, or that you can't beat the micro stakes.... blah blah blah. It's all bs that people will tell you because they couldn't do it themselves. They'd rather blame the game then themselves. To become a pro, you really have to understand that poker is all skill, that it isn't "gambling" but a game of skill. There are also numerous other things you need too, but I will get into that another time.
Recent actions by the U.S. Government though has banned online poker. So my now I am attempting to play my way up the cash game stakes in live games. The casino I'm playing at is Philly Parx (A pretty good new poker room, a big one too) I am going to be trying to play at least a few hours a night after work, and record how I do, and the significant hands here.
Cool, I'm tired, peace out
-Coopb20
Poker is all about luck!
Poker is all about luck right? FALSE. Nope, not at all, and as a matter of fact, I can confidently tell you that poker is 100% skill. Does that mean luck isn't involved in some way or another? No, but theoretically, poker is a game of all skill. Before I get into all of that though, I want to explain the reasoning behind me starting this blog.
First, some info about myself. I am currently a college student working towards my bachelors in mathematics. I'm in my 4th year, in a 5 year program, and for this summer, I have been working full time as an intern for a financial company in center city Philadelphia. Which is really nice, except that my pay is a significant downgrade from my previous job, which was a professional online poker player. :) But unfortunately I can no longer play poker online, if anyone has read the news lately, the U.S. Government sued the online poker companies and banned U.S. citizens from playing. There goes my additional income :( F@#K!
I am creating this blog to record my trials and tribulations as I attempt to become a live professional poker player at my local brick and mortar casino. I also want this blog to help keep my thoughts in order about my life in general, but mostly about poker. (AHHH YEAAHHH)
So my first post should probably explain how I got into poker in the first place...... Way back when I was still in elementary school, my family would always have some sort of a game night with my grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, etc. And I LOVED playing, and for a kid, won my fair share. I was always pretty smart, I am able to catch onto things pretty quickly if it peaked my interest, and games definitely did. Gambling is also kind of promoted in my family as well, both sets of my grandparents go to the casino monthly (almost weekly), my parents go to the casino monthly as well. So, to see a game that was fun, and could also win money at the same time, was definitely intriguing to me. To say the least, ever since I was young, poker peaked my interest.
I never got serious about it though until middle school, because around 2003 "The poker boom" occurred. For those of you who don't know your poker history at all, let me explained what happened, because I was there for all of it.
Every single summer, there is an event held in Las Vegas called the World Series of Poker. It is a serious of tournaments where all of the top poker pros in the world come to play. The biggest tournament in the series is simply called "The main event" or "The No Limit Texas Hold em World Championship". It's a really big tournament with a 10,000$ buy in and over a million dollars rewarded to the winner. This very tournament, and a very cliche story surrounding it that year, caught the attention of millions.
What ended up happening is that the spring and summer leading up to the television airing of the 2003 main event on ESPN, ESPN showed re-runs of the 2002 main event, which grabbed the attention of many, including myself. With that initial attention, ESPN aired the 2003 main event. What made this event so crucial to the poker boom was the journey of the eventual winner, Chris Moneymaker. Yes, that's right, his last name is money maker. ESPN did a great job of explaining his story throughout the tourney. He had entered the main event by playing a 40 dollar satellite. (A Satellite is basically a tournament which has a first place prize of an entry fee into another bigger tournament) He then battled his way through countless professional poker players to win the 2.5 million dollar first place prize. YUP, some guy name Moneymaker, took 40 bucks, and turned it into 2.5 million in sponduli, WONDERFUL. You couldn't have asked for a better story, big time underdog with a cool last name, taking nothing and winning millions. This story caused the world to blow up over poker, and so did I.
Well I am getting tired as it is 3am, so I will finish my poker story in the next post.
-Coopb20
First, some info about myself. I am currently a college student working towards my bachelors in mathematics. I'm in my 4th year, in a 5 year program, and for this summer, I have been working full time as an intern for a financial company in center city Philadelphia. Which is really nice, except that my pay is a significant downgrade from my previous job, which was a professional online poker player. :) But unfortunately I can no longer play poker online, if anyone has read the news lately, the U.S. Government sued the online poker companies and banned U.S. citizens from playing. There goes my additional income :( F@#K!
I am creating this blog to record my trials and tribulations as I attempt to become a live professional poker player at my local brick and mortar casino. I also want this blog to help keep my thoughts in order about my life in general, but mostly about poker. (AHHH YEAAHHH)
So my first post should probably explain how I got into poker in the first place...... Way back when I was still in elementary school, my family would always have some sort of a game night with my grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, etc. And I LOVED playing, and for a kid, won my fair share. I was always pretty smart, I am able to catch onto things pretty quickly if it peaked my interest, and games definitely did. Gambling is also kind of promoted in my family as well, both sets of my grandparents go to the casino monthly (almost weekly), my parents go to the casino monthly as well. So, to see a game that was fun, and could also win money at the same time, was definitely intriguing to me. To say the least, ever since I was young, poker peaked my interest.
I never got serious about it though until middle school, because around 2003 "The poker boom" occurred. For those of you who don't know your poker history at all, let me explained what happened, because I was there for all of it.
Every single summer, there is an event held in Las Vegas called the World Series of Poker. It is a serious of tournaments where all of the top poker pros in the world come to play. The biggest tournament in the series is simply called "The main event" or "The No Limit Texas Hold em World Championship". It's a really big tournament with a 10,000$ buy in and over a million dollars rewarded to the winner. This very tournament, and a very cliche story surrounding it that year, caught the attention of millions.
What ended up happening is that the spring and summer leading up to the television airing of the 2003 main event on ESPN, ESPN showed re-runs of the 2002 main event, which grabbed the attention of many, including myself. With that initial attention, ESPN aired the 2003 main event. What made this event so crucial to the poker boom was the journey of the eventual winner, Chris Moneymaker. Yes, that's right, his last name is money maker. ESPN did a great job of explaining his story throughout the tourney. He had entered the main event by playing a 40 dollar satellite. (A Satellite is basically a tournament which has a first place prize of an entry fee into another bigger tournament) He then battled his way through countless professional poker players to win the 2.5 million dollar first place prize. YUP, some guy name Moneymaker, took 40 bucks, and turned it into 2.5 million in sponduli, WONDERFUL. You couldn't have asked for a better story, big time underdog with a cool last name, taking nothing and winning millions. This story caused the world to blow up over poker, and so did I.
Well I am getting tired as it is 3am, so I will finish my poker story in the next post.
-Coopb20
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