Tuesday In Limerick

Decided I didn't feel like going to work on Tuesday, so I went to the daytime riverchasers game at the power plant. Maybe I should've just gone to work...

I was in fold mode for the better part of the first half hour until I found AKo UTG. I limp. So do 4 others and we see a flop of KK4. Checks all around. Damn. Turn is an ace. B.U.T.Full. SB checks and the BB fires out a pot sized bet. Smooth call by me. Smooth call by 1 other. Hmmm. I'm sure that BB has a baby to mid ace, and am hoping that the other player has a K. River pairs the 4 and now I'm really hoping for KQs or KJs. BB fires a second bullet at the pot but I raise, praying for a call (or reraise) behind me. Unfortunately, the other player folds immediately (another baby ace?) and the BB considers for a decent amount of time before folding. A nice pot is a nice pot says I.

Anyway, a short time later, I pick up J6o in the BB and check my option with a few limpers in front. Flop top and bottom pair and decide to bet right out. Pot. Three callers. Turn bricks and I bet pot again. One player calls all in (two other folds), and flips a gutshot draw with one over. I guess 91% isn't good enough for yours truly, as his straight fills and he drags my a nice pot. That hand should have given me enough chips to play a more aggressive game but, alas, I am now approaching binary decision time as the blinds continue to grow.

I find A♦T♦ and shove directly into AKo. Even though I flop two baby diamonds, 12 outs twice is way too slim for me to expect to hit and IGH with about 20 players left.

Saturday is the 2007 Q4 RPT TOC. Top 40 there qualify for the final tournament that gives away the Main Event seat. GL me.

Hitting your gutshot on the river to cripple me, you better believe that's a paddlin.

She Has the Right Attitude

My older daughter is 6. I'm not raising her to strive for mediocrity. If she wants to play soccer, they WILL keep score. Losing is the greatest motivation for improvement. Alas, yesterday it came back to bite me...

2 table SNG, I am heads up but at a 2:1 chip deficit.

β₀: I see you're losing.
Me: There are only 2 players left. 16 are already out.
β₀: Ok, you're in second place. But you're still losing.

Grin.

Infidelity

Forgive me riggstad, I have been unfaithful. How could I have been so weak? Sometimes my insatiable yang just needs some of that delectable poker yin. And I'm not talking about that cyber stuff. That's always good for some temporary relief, but nothing compares to the real live, sweaty, smokey, genuine article. I'm not completely at fault, though. If Riverchasers was just around more, closer to home, I wouldn't have had to look to another. But I did. Would it make you feel better if I told you that I took it down? That it was purely physical? Probably not. Can I definitively say that I won't wander again? Again, probably not. As I've said, I'm weak. But, I'll always come home. There's too much history to throw it all away like that.

Anyway, the point is that I needed a live game last night and there just happened to be a league game run by a different company not 5 minutes from home starting after the kids went to bed. There were a couple of things I actually really liked about the game. Having the SB shuffle a second deck of cards was awesome. Instead of maybe 1 or 1-1/2 orbits per level, we were getting in 3. And the structure...20 minute blind levels, but by the time we were heads up over 3 1/2 hours later, the BB was barely over the starting stack. You just needed to get past the first 4 levels where the blinds doubled each time. After that, they really slowed down and there was a lot of room for actual play.

Thankfully, I was able to double up during the first few hands. UTG came in for a 3x BB raise. I'm in MP, find QQ, and reraise to 8x BB. Button calls, as does the original raiser. Flop comes queen high rainbow, and the original raiser checks. I bet half the pot and button min raises. UTG folds and I shove which he calls with AQ. TPTK NO GOOD! That's good for some breathing room. I finish up the next few levels having stolen a few sets of blinds and folded a few flops to heavy action, but was still comfortable when the table broke.

Now, accompanying me to my new table was UTG boy from my first hand. Over the course of the hour, it was completely evident to me that he tries to play like Phil Ivey. Very loose and aggressive and will continue on the flop, but will slow down if someone applies pressure back. Of course, in any bar free roll, complacency will get you short stacked in a hurry, so I was actively (but patiently) looking for a spot. It was a key point in the tournament for me. I'm in the BB and action folds around to Phil in the cutoff. He raises, but it just felt like a steal. Then the SB smooth called the raise. This didn't necessarily mean much as she was extremely loose pre-flop, but pretty weak tight afterward. She liked to see flops, but didn't withstand a whole lot of pressure. I thought it was a perfect time for an all in squeeze, with A9s, as the pot was large enough to make it worth my while to make a play at it. They both called. Uh oh. The final board was AKQT2, and my A9 held up? You've got to be kidding. Triple up and on my way.

I gave some of it back overplaying a weak ace, but managed to steal enough to stay mostly level. Had to lay down AQ to a big stack reraise where he showed jacks. Then I picked up TT on the button and open raised for almost half my stack. Same guy goes all in again, but this time I'm on the right side of the race and, having committed to the hand anyway, call and win. I guess I had earned a tight image, as every one of my steals was working. However, there were a couple of players who still tried to occasionally limp into the pot. These were consistently picked off by Phil, with a hefty raise. So, when I picked up KK UTG, I decided to see if I could make a limp profitable. Unfortunately, UTG+1 (former big stack who had doubled me) smooth called, as did Ivey. Fawk. 4 to the flop with pocket kings. Flop is AK8 rainbow. w00t! I check to the aggros, and am rewarded by a pot sized bet by UTG+1. If Phil calls, I might reraise right there, but he folds. I feign thought, and then make the call. When a J turns, I try an OBFV (all-in) and the former chip leader calls me with AT and he is drawing dead to a queen which doesn't come. We have a new chip leader.

Let the bullying commence. Steal, steal, steal, and steal some more. Eventually, someone was going to make a stand and, of course, it was Phil. I open raised with AJ and he called from the BB. Flop was K-rag-rag rainbow and not connected. I was almost positive that he was going to lead at the pot no matter what came on the flop. But his heart just wasn't in it. His probe stank of weakness so I raised 3x his bet and he slammed his cards into the muck. In another hand, I just smooth called him all the way down with TP, and he flipped 4th pair. It was a good thing that he was stealing from everyone else, as his stack just kept getting replentished before finding its way to the final destination.

The coup d'etat happened when I called Phil's raise from the SB with 44. I checked to his inevitable flop bet, having hit my set, and was rewarded with him shoving with TP2K. Buh bye. I pwned Phil Ivey. Well, as close as I'll ever get. Anyway, that got me heads up with a 12:1 chip lead and, even though I doubled the guy up when I was a 65% fav, the battle didn't last more than 6 or 7 more hands. I found 66 and he found A9o. Managed to win the race and it was over.

Sometimes cheating just feels so good.

Flyers 6, Senators 1

Best seats I've ever had for a Flyers game, suite level between the blue lines. Fully catered, open bar, NFC championship on the flat screens, awesome win for the orange and black. A good night to be alive.

Just Call Me J.D. McDuffie

Last night, Poker After Dark rd 2 where the top 9 gain a seat into the final tournament. 2270 runners and I was consistently in the top 200. But I could not win a race to save my life. No less than 5 times did I have a pair against 2 overcards and lost all 5 right on the flop. There is no way you can win one of these without winning your fair share of races, and at least I was in a position to be able to lose a few and not be crippled. But come on, every single one? The fifth and final lost race put me out in 288th. Serves me right to play my middle pairs aggressively.

So Conflicted

I am a life long Philadelphia Eagles fan. It's been 30 years since I attended my first game at the Vet, a win vs. the Jets at a time when the Eagles weren't beating anyone. I can't put into words how I feel about the fact that we were the only NFC East team excluded from the playoffs. And what's worse? A prime time game between the Giants and Cowboys to determine who goes to the conference championship. What am I to do? Watch the game in objective disdain of both teams? I think not. Hope T.O. hits a seam and blows out both knees on a crossing pattern? Tempting, but that's so 10 years ago. I finally decided to back the team from up the turnpike, but only because they have the better chance of being humiliated on the frozen tundra next week. It is for that reason only that I even cared. Well, that and I don't think I could ever root for the cowboys under any circumstances. GO PACK GO!

On the AFC side of the equation, did the Patriots really need the help? Did the Colts and Bolts really need to beat the holy hell out of each other? Do the Patriots really need to get to play perhaps the worst team in the AFC playoffs? Who now have a dinged up Rivers and L.T.? I mean, come on. So it really looks like we're headed full steam toward a rematch of Super Bowl XXXI, the Desmond Howard show. Can you believe Favre was already almost 20,000 yards into his career even then, 11 years ago? Anyone remember Drew Bledsoe? Well, the Pack won by 2 TD's then, and I think that result will probably be reversed this year. Randy Moss with a ring. Damn, I was hoping Gary Anderson's choke would have been the closest Moss would get, but here we are.

From a poker perspective, I played a live Riverchasers freeroll Saturday night, mainly to be able to watch the Pats/Jags. Wow was I card dead. Only PP the entire night was 99, AK once, and AQ once. It's really hard to overcome an active table where 2/3 of all hands are going to showdown at the river when you just can't get a hand to show down. Made it to the final 2 tables but couldn't get A9o to hold up against the 2 chip leaders' garbage (oesd after the turn that didn't fill) and IGH 13th.

Sunday, for the hell of it, I fired up one of Full Tilt's poker after dark qualifier freerolls. I've played these pushfests probably 15 or 20 times (180, 360 or 640 players), have final tabled 3 or 4 times, and busted in the final 2 tables 2 or 3 times more. Finally, I got over the hump. Key hand was mostly a frustration play on my part, but it worked out. I have 77 UTG and limp, since only about 1/2 the pots were getting raised at this point. There might have been a limper or two, or not, but the button raises about 10x BB which, to me, screamed steal. SB shorty calls for less and the BB chip leader calls. I shove for 4x the original raise and get called by AJo (raiser) and A7o (BB). SB has 55 and I avoid the 3 jacks and 2 aces to just about triple up.

At this point, there is still a lot of play left as most of the M's are still healthy. I catch some folks overplaying marginal holdings or flat out buffing a few times and steadily grow my stack until I take over the chip lead with about 7 remaining. Now that I have some chips, I can afford to loosen up a bit now and call with some medium strength draws or call a weakish flop bet to take the pot away on the turn. The last 2 key hands were 3 handed. In the first, I actually managed to pick up KK in the BB. Previous chip leader (very loose) completes from the SB after the button folds. I massively overbet the pot with a 12x preflop raise and he calls. Flop is Q high and he pushes in and I call. He shows the mighty top pair nothing kicker and I have a 9:1 chip lead heads up. Only the second or third hand in, I pick up KTs on the button and raise 4x BB. Player calls for 1/3 of his stack and we see a flop of 965 with two of my suit. He insta-shoves and I figure I have more than enough outs to justify a call, and do so. His 87o flopped a straight, but I pick up a 3rd and then a 4th club on the turn and river (only needed 1). Round 2 is tonight around 10:00 PM EST where the top 9 get a seat in the After Dark finals.

Thursday Afternoon At The Power Plant

Sometimes, you just need to look for some of the less traditional benefits associated with your job. Like when you work predominantly in MIS and both the analytics server and the database crash and will take the remainder of the day to be restored. It's even better when there's an afternoon Riverchasers game in Limerick on that day's schedule. Score!

First two levels, I paid my blinds and folded. It was just that bad. Then at level 3 (3/6), I call the half bet out of the SB with AQo after a few other limpers and the BB checked his option. I checked dark (as usual in the blinds), and saw A52 rainbow. Unfortunately, it checked around, but the turn was another A. Someone would probably now lead out, so I check raised a bet and a call. That lost the bettor, but the caller stuck around. I bet 1/2 the pot on a river K and, after about 2 minutes, my opponent mucked. He said he wasn't sure if I had an A, but he was probably beat.

I gave some of that back chasing down an OESD in a massive multiway pot that would have been a huge help. In fact, one of the players still in (who couldn't keep her mouth shut after the hand about what she had) said that she was open ended and an eight would have given her a straight. Fawk, she was drawing to the idiot end and I would've stacked her. From there, I kept looking for the spot that just wouldn't come. Then I have 145 left and am in the BB at 15/30. A few limpers, including some large stacks who will call raises with ATC, and I find AKo. All right, let me see if I can hit the flop before I shove. Flop comes AQx with two hearts. All in I am. UTG calls with KQ, no hearts (?) and other players fold. AK holds up and I double plus.

Table breaks. New table same cards. Blinds up. 25/50, then 50/100. I'm in the BB with half my stack posted, it folds to the SB who puts me all in. T6o. I call. He has K9o, so I'm live. 10 on the flop and I double. Very next hand, it folds to my SB and I find AKo again. No waiting this time, heads up. I push pre-flop and get called by KT. RPT donkeys. Suddenly, I have a medium sized stack (largest at my 5 man table) and the other table loses two so we go to the final table of 8.

First hand, I'm SB with A♣2♣. One limper then an all in for exactly the BB. I complete and BB checks. We check it down, and the turned A chops the pot between me and the limper (A5). Finally, we get down to 5 handed and the blinds are 200/400. This means that there are only about 20-22 BB total in play. RPT final tables are purely a lottery. It takes some skill to get there but, after that, it's completely up for grabs. I start that level UTG with 22. Yuck. Don't like it, but 800 all in. Called by KJ for most of his stack and 43 from the chip leader with huge odds. Board ends up ATT37. IGH 5th. Tournament ends about 4 or 5 hands later.

I know there is a first place at Limerick, I just keep falling just short. Oh well. The year is still starting well in live play (even if it is free) with 2 final tables in 2 starts, including one heads up chop. Personally, I think that consistently navigating a freeroll field is, in some ways, more difficult than playing a game with a buy in. Up to a certain level of player of course.

Brutal beat of the game:

Pre-Flop: Player 1 raises, Player 2 reraises, Player 2 calls.
Flop: AQJ rainbow. Player 1 bets, Player 2 calls.
Turn: J. Player 1 bets, Player 2 raises, Player 1 reraises all-in, Player 2 calls.
Player 1: AJ, Player 2: QQ
River: A