Live Poker Post
Blogging is about #20 on my priority list right now, which is unfortunate because I like to look back at my archives from time to time, and I see plenty of month gaps where I have one or maybe not even any posts. I can deduce that those were busy times, but it is hard to remember exactly what I was doing five+ years ago. I started blogging back in 2003, and somewhere or another I have a nice archive, but anyways...
Live poker!!!
The poker bug bit me last week, what with the WSOP starting up and Pauly bringing us all the dirt, it just feels right to play some poker. The combination of an upper respiratory cold and horribad traffic to the south led me to skip out on my ultimate frisbee game Friday night and motorcycle north to Tulailip Casino.
I had jitters motorcycling north on I-5, some jitters due to not riding the motorcycle much over the last six months, and other jitters from not playing live poker since visiting the new Snoqualmie Casino with Dr. Chako a year or two ago. I got my ass handed to me that trip at $4/8 limit. That whooping, combined with a desire to play no limit, had me make up my mind that no limit holdem would be the game tonight. No matter that I had only played no limit live once before, and have a terrible loss rate at no limit online ring games.
I put my name down for the $1/$3 NL list and a spot opened up about 10 minutes later. I got to catch some of the Mariners game against Tampa Bay, which Justin Vargas ended up pitching a 4-hit shutout (M's are only a few games back, who would have thunk it?). I had more jitters as I sat down with $100 at a table where the buyin ranged from $50-200. I think sitting down with less than the max is pretty fishy, but having 33.3 big blinds seemed enough for me to get some poker playing in (not just shoving), and I felt more comfortable with $100 on the table than $200. I know I could lose that $100 on the first hand, and I planned to play for a few hours, so I told myself to play tight and the most I can lose is $4 an orbit (weeeeak).
On the first hand, I folded K8 of spades preflop, which would have won me a $300+ pot with multiple people betting and raising (two pair and a set, when my K8 of spades would have turned the nut flush). I loosened way up, although I knew the preflop fold wasn't terrible.
I was thoroughly outplayed all night long, and I played the role of fish to perfection. I rarely raised, and I chased a lot of draws. Some hit, which drew big sighs of dissatisfaction from the sharks at the table. One guy lost a few hands on the river to me, but he abused my blinds like no tomorrow, so he got back whatever he lost to me and some on top.
I lost my first buy-in re-raising the shark to my left who UTG raised to $11, as he had done a few times previous. I pushed with about $45 left, and he hesitated and called with AJo, he had about $500 behind. I had Q5o and he turned a J, which had me reload for another $100. The push with Q5o didn't do much to sway the group from thinking I was a fish (and I'm not arguing otherwise!).
Like I mentioned earlier, I had a few nice rivers. The nicest river came when I was down to my last $25 into my first (and only) rebuy. I had a weird hand like 97s, but saw a free flop in the Big Blind. I call a small flop bet with some two-card straight possibilities and a backdoor flush (see what I mean about chasing??). Turn brings one of the straight cards, giving me an OESD, but no more flush possibility. One dude bets out $20, other dude calls, and I have ~$30 so I push and they both call. My OESD ends up hitting and I take down the pot to jump back up to ~$125.
A few hands later I see T5dd on the button and call the Cut-off's (Hijack? one to my right) min-raise to $6. A blind and an early limper call as well. Flop brings me a flushdraw and pairs my T, and I call a $10 or $15 flop bet from the CO. Turn misses and I call another $15. River pairs my 5 for two-pair and I call a $25 bet from the CO. He shows AA and I rake a pretty substantial pot. Not sure why I didn't raise the river, but that's just me playing fishy.
It was odd to be fully aware of how fishy I was playing, but not changing anything about my play. I know when I lost my first buy-in I had a crazy image (pushing with Q5o, chasing all my draws, and also folding a lot to aggression when my draws didn't come in), and told myself to stop calling and start raising when I wanted to play, but I just kept calling and folding. I was extremely lucky to cash out with $152 of my $200, given my shitty play. Also, the $5 chicken alfredo needed more chicken.
Live poker!!!
The poker bug bit me last week, what with the WSOP starting up and Pauly bringing us all the dirt, it just feels right to play some poker. The combination of an upper respiratory cold and horribad traffic to the south led me to skip out on my ultimate frisbee game Friday night and motorcycle north to Tulailip Casino.
I had jitters motorcycling north on I-5, some jitters due to not riding the motorcycle much over the last six months, and other jitters from not playing live poker since visiting the new Snoqualmie Casino with Dr. Chako a year or two ago. I got my ass handed to me that trip at $4/8 limit. That whooping, combined with a desire to play no limit, had me make up my mind that no limit holdem would be the game tonight. No matter that I had only played no limit live once before, and have a terrible loss rate at no limit online ring games.
I put my name down for the $1/$3 NL list and a spot opened up about 10 minutes later. I got to catch some of the Mariners game against Tampa Bay, which Justin Vargas ended up pitching a 4-hit shutout (M's are only a few games back, who would have thunk it?). I had more jitters as I sat down with $100 at a table where the buyin ranged from $50-200. I think sitting down with less than the max is pretty fishy, but having 33.3 big blinds seemed enough for me to get some poker playing in (not just shoving), and I felt more comfortable with $100 on the table than $200. I know I could lose that $100 on the first hand, and I planned to play for a few hours, so I told myself to play tight and the most I can lose is $4 an orbit (weeeeak).
On the first hand, I folded K8 of spades preflop, which would have won me a $300+ pot with multiple people betting and raising (two pair and a set, when my K8 of spades would have turned the nut flush). I loosened way up, although I knew the preflop fold wasn't terrible.
I was thoroughly outplayed all night long, and I played the role of fish to perfection. I rarely raised, and I chased a lot of draws. Some hit, which drew big sighs of dissatisfaction from the sharks at the table. One guy lost a few hands on the river to me, but he abused my blinds like no tomorrow, so he got back whatever he lost to me and some on top.
I lost my first buy-in re-raising the shark to my left who UTG raised to $11, as he had done a few times previous. I pushed with about $45 left, and he hesitated and called with AJo, he had about $500 behind. I had Q5o and he turned a J, which had me reload for another $100. The push with Q5o didn't do much to sway the group from thinking I was a fish (and I'm not arguing otherwise!).
Like I mentioned earlier, I had a few nice rivers. The nicest river came when I was down to my last $25 into my first (and only) rebuy. I had a weird hand like 97s, but saw a free flop in the Big Blind. I call a small flop bet with some two-card straight possibilities and a backdoor flush (see what I mean about chasing??). Turn brings one of the straight cards, giving me an OESD, but no more flush possibility. One dude bets out $20, other dude calls, and I have ~$30 so I push and they both call. My OESD ends up hitting and I take down the pot to jump back up to ~$125.
A few hands later I see T5dd on the button and call the Cut-off's (Hijack? one to my right) min-raise to $6. A blind and an early limper call as well. Flop brings me a flushdraw and pairs my T, and I call a $10 or $15 flop bet from the CO. Turn misses and I call another $15. River pairs my 5 for two-pair and I call a $25 bet from the CO. He shows AA and I rake a pretty substantial pot. Not sure why I didn't raise the river, but that's just me playing fishy.
It was odd to be fully aware of how fishy I was playing, but not changing anything about my play. I know when I lost my first buy-in I had a crazy image (pushing with Q5o, chasing all my draws, and also folding a lot to aggression when my draws didn't come in), and told myself to stop calling and start raising when I wanted to play, but I just kept calling and folding. I was extremely lucky to cash out with $152 of my $200, given my shitty play. Also, the $5 chicken alfredo needed more chicken.
posted by MHG at
6/05/2011 09:32:00 PM
2 Comments:
Good times.
-DrC
I was there on Saturday morning for their $60 tournament. Not the best structure but you can do a whole lot worse around here. Let me know if you're interested in checking it out. They do Sunday mornings also.
Matt
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