Happy New Year
I brought in the new year in grand style (tongue-in-cheek)! My in-laws
were in town, so I spent most of my weekend trying to avoid them. I
accomplished this goal admirably by spending much of the weekend ice fishing. For those of you have never tried ice fishing, you might wonder what is the attraction. For those of you who have tried ice fishing, you realize that there really isn't much of a reason to do it. It's cold and boring. But, it was quiet and no one was yelling at me, so it was considerably better than hanging out at home. In the end, I caught a bunch of bluegills, a few crappie, one walleye, and one sucker. I've never caught a sucker while ice fishing, so that was an accomplishment. Sort of.
I didn't play much poker over the weekend (< 10 hands). I played a bunch yesterday, however. I spent several hours yesterday in front of the computer with my infant daughter asleep on my chest. I didn't play my best and I finished the session lucky to have finished about even. I mostly played $25 NL (buying in for the full amount) but I also played a little $50 NL and some $1/$2 limit hold'em and some $1/$2 HORSE (limit).
The session actually started out horribly when I was dealt AA in the big blind. It had been raised to 5x and called in two spots before it came around to me. Since I obviously had no read on the table, I figured that shoving all-in was the best play. I was hoping to get called but I would have been happy to just collect the pot as it was. Instead, I got called in two spots and the pot slid to one of my opponents who had called with 8d 6d but caught three diamonds to win a huge pot (the other opponent called with ATo). As you might imagine, this seemed liked a nice, soft table and it was. I think I managed to break even before I left but it was a grind.
I had two other big hands during the session that are worth talking about. The first was when I pushed all-in holding 99 on a flop of 6 4 2 and got called by a donkey with A6. Unfortunately, an ace came on the turn and I lost my stack. The other big hand happened when I pushed all-in with QQ on a flop of rags and got called by KK. This time, I sucked out when a queen came on the river.
After playing for awhile, I noticed that I was about even and I thought it might be a good time to try playing $50 NL. I think that my game is in good shape right now and I thought that raising the stakes a bit would help me re-gain my focus. I played really well for about 50 hands, but then I lost my stack with 44 and a flop of 7 4 3. The dude was pretty tight and he had raised preflop, so I put him on a pairs of tens or better (most likely KK or AA). Sadly, no, he held 77 and I lost the battle of set over set. That's not a complaint; in hindsight, I'm happy the way that I played the hand.
Nonetheless, I was pretty frustrated at having lost my stack, so I figured that I should switch over to a limit game before I went on serious tilt. I bought into a $1/$2 HORSE game, something that I've never played at Poker Stars. In fact, I've only played HORSE in the SNG form as offerred at Full Tilt. I was quite excited about the game; I figure that I should have an advantage in that I can play all five games well (or at least I think I can).
I started in the last few hands of hold'em and folded preflop. I also folded my first few hands of Omaha 8/b but they I decided to raise from UTG with Ad Kd 2h X. That's not a good play, but I was on semi-tilt from losing my stack playing $50 NL. I got called in three (or four) spots but I was ecstatic when the flop came 8h 5d 4d. I flopped the nut low and the nut flush draw. I was even more excited when the betting was capped four ways on the flop. My excitement continued to build when the 6d came on the turn, giving me the nut (non-straight) flush plus the nut low. When the betting was again capped on the turn, I figured that someone else probably had the nut low and perhaps someone even had a straight flush. Nonetheless, the powers that be at Poker Stars listened to my request (for once!) to not pair the board and I scooped the entire pot! One of the donkeys in the hand had flopped a straight and the other had flopped a set (hence the need not to pair the board).
I won the next hand too when I again held the nut flush plus a reasonable low. Finally, I won a nice pot playing Razz when my opponent thought that his 7 6 low was worth raising over the 7 5 low that I was representing. Soon after that, I quit... having won somewhere around $10 for the day. It was quite the ride!
were in town, so I spent most of my weekend trying to avoid them. I
accomplished this goal admirably by spending much of the weekend ice fishing. For those of you have never tried ice fishing, you might wonder what is the attraction. For those of you who have tried ice fishing, you realize that there really isn't much of a reason to do it. It's cold and boring. But, it was quiet and no one was yelling at me, so it was considerably better than hanging out at home. In the end, I caught a bunch of bluegills, a few crappie, one walleye, and one sucker. I've never caught a sucker while ice fishing, so that was an accomplishment. Sort of.
I didn't play much poker over the weekend (< 10 hands). I played a bunch yesterday, however. I spent several hours yesterday in front of the computer with my infant daughter asleep on my chest. I didn't play my best and I finished the session lucky to have finished about even. I mostly played $25 NL (buying in for the full amount) but I also played a little $50 NL and some $1/$2 limit hold'em and some $1/$2 HORSE (limit).
The session actually started out horribly when I was dealt AA in the big blind. It had been raised to 5x and called in two spots before it came around to me. Since I obviously had no read on the table, I figured that shoving all-in was the best play. I was hoping to get called but I would have been happy to just collect the pot as it was. Instead, I got called in two spots and the pot slid to one of my opponents who had called with 8d 6d but caught three diamonds to win a huge pot (the other opponent called with ATo). As you might imagine, this seemed liked a nice, soft table and it was. I think I managed to break even before I left but it was a grind.
I had two other big hands during the session that are worth talking about. The first was when I pushed all-in holding 99 on a flop of 6 4 2 and got called by a donkey with A6. Unfortunately, an ace came on the turn and I lost my stack. The other big hand happened when I pushed all-in with QQ on a flop of rags and got called by KK. This time, I sucked out when a queen came on the river.
After playing for awhile, I noticed that I was about even and I thought it might be a good time to try playing $50 NL. I think that my game is in good shape right now and I thought that raising the stakes a bit would help me re-gain my focus. I played really well for about 50 hands, but then I lost my stack with 44 and a flop of 7 4 3. The dude was pretty tight and he had raised preflop, so I put him on a pairs of tens or better (most likely KK or AA). Sadly, no, he held 77 and I lost the battle of set over set. That's not a complaint; in hindsight, I'm happy the way that I played the hand.
Nonetheless, I was pretty frustrated at having lost my stack, so I figured that I should switch over to a limit game before I went on serious tilt. I bought into a $1/$2 HORSE game, something that I've never played at Poker Stars. In fact, I've only played HORSE in the SNG form as offerred at Full Tilt. I was quite excited about the game; I figure that I should have an advantage in that I can play all five games well (or at least I think I can).
I started in the last few hands of hold'em and folded preflop. I also folded my first few hands of Omaha 8/b but they I decided to raise from UTG with Ad Kd 2h X. That's not a good play, but I was on semi-tilt from losing my stack playing $50 NL. I got called in three (or four) spots but I was ecstatic when the flop came 8h 5d 4d. I flopped the nut low and the nut flush draw. I was even more excited when the betting was capped four ways on the flop. My excitement continued to build when the 6d came on the turn, giving me the nut (non-straight) flush plus the nut low. When the betting was again capped on the turn, I figured that someone else probably had the nut low and perhaps someone even had a straight flush. Nonetheless, the powers that be at Poker Stars listened to my request (for once!) to not pair the board and I scooped the entire pot! One of the donkeys in the hand had flopped a straight and the other had flopped a set (hence the need not to pair the board).
I won the next hand too when I again held the nut flush plus a reasonable low. Finally, I won a nice pot playing Razz when my opponent thought that his 7 6 low was worth raising over the 7 5 low that I was representing. Soon after that, I quit... having won somewhere around $10 for the day. It was quite the ride!
posted by frazwood at 6:22 PM
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