Finding Center
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Success. Last night, amidst trouble at the job, multiple distractions at home, and a pinch of self-doubt, I managed to win a little bit of money. My take was a whopping $15, which is enough for two lunches, but not much else. Still, a win is 1000 times better than a loss. Last night's homegame was another big success. Yesterday morning, I expected 5 players, but by gametime, that number jumped to 8 (10 were expected, but thankfully two didn't show). The table was:
Seat 1: Me. My over-aggressive style had people (read: Roose) tell me that I was bluffing all night. A couple of huge pots against Hole were the highlights. See some details below.
Seat 2: Wanderman. This guy was firing $5 bets into 1.50 pots all night. It was really quite a sight, considering no one pegged him as a gambler. Even when he raised a $1 bet to $2 I found it confusing. I have to say though, I get an odd amount of pride when my friends play good poker. As Wander would say, he was consistently inconsistent, and that's as good a strategy as anyone.
Seat 5: Katzner: One thing is for sure about this semi-regular, and fellow lawyer; he knows what he is doing. While I think he left a loser for the night, I always am careful against a player like Katz. He knows the game, and he's a consistent player. A real shark.
Seat 4: Robbie Hole. Always a crowd pleaser, Hole's evening did not end up with a plus sign. Rather, his aggressive style fell flat on a couple of occassions, including a notable hand against me, in which Hole was on the sharp end of the suckout.
Seat 5: Timmy Bones, aka Vinny Delpino, aka Boner, aka about 6 other nicknames du jour. Bones is no joker. He's another one of the calculated players. He's also known for his river suckouts, although I don't think it happened once last night.
Seat 6: DJ Mock. Mock hasn't played with us in a while, so it was nice having him there. He's one of those players that gets silent at the table. Then, 15 hands later, he'll raise to $1.50, and everyone looks around thinking, "Who is this guy, and when did he get here?" I have a lot of respect for that style, since its hard to miss my loudmouth antics at the table.
Seat 7: Dave Ruff. Ruff is the other half of the Ruff-Bones connection. Both roommates are solid players, and Ruff had particular luck (skill) last night, and was the big winner.
Seat 8: Dave Roose. I love watching Roose play. Even though he left down a whopping $6, he still has a great fundamental game. And its a good time whispering to each other about what we think the players are holding when we are out of hands.
So, there were three memorable hands for me last night, and they were all against Robbie Hole. I guess we've played together too much, because apparently I had him read all night. This isn't the first time either. I just have a feel for his game, perhaps because it is so similar to mine.
Hand 1. I had 3c5c, in LP, so I limped in. Hole was a blind. The flop was AK3, no clubs. We both checked. The turn was a Q. I bet $3 or so. Hole called, and I was sweating. The river was a J. I knew there was a straight draw out there. Hole checked, which surprised me. I raised $8. He folded. I showed my pair of 3s, as he was complaining how I hit the straight on the river.
Hand 2. I had AK in LP, and Hole was in the blind again. My pre-flop raise of 1.50 was called by Hole and Bones. The flop was Ad2d4h. I had no diamonds. It was checked to me and I bet $2. Hole called. Bones folded. The next card was a blank. Checked to me, and I raise $4. Hole called. The river was another blank. I bet $8, and Hole called. I showed my AK, and he showed AJ.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why you must be careful with AJ. Sound familiar?
Hand 3. I was very happy about this hand particularly. I had AT suited in LP again, and I raised it to $2. Hole called, because he just can't help himself. It was Hole and I heads up again. The flop was KTx. I had middle pair with a great kicker. Hole checked. I raised $3. He called. The turn was a blank. Hole checked. I thought for a moment. If Hole had the K, he would've raised. If he hit two-pair he would've raised. If he had a set, he would've raised. Hell, if he had JJ in the pocket, he would've raised. He had to have the T as well, and he couldn't beat my kicker. I bet $5. He called. The river was another blank. Hell, come to think of it, I think it was a diamond, which would make three diamonds on the board. But Hold didn't have diamonds. I was pretty sure of that. Then Hole bet $5. Damn him. That was my move. I thought for a moment, and then I raised $10 on top. Hole thought about it. He assumed I was putting a move on him, and he called. My AT beat his QT. I was betting for value, at the right time with the right cards. Bless me.
There was another hand against Hole. This one was early in the night. I'll make this one a bit shorter. Hole had A6, and I had AJ. I bet pre-flop and he called. The flop was A46. Hole bet and I called. The turn was 7. He bet, I called. The river was another 7. He pushed all-in for another $6.50 or so. I called. The 7 on the river crushed him. His two pair turned into Aces up with a shit kicker. My J played and I took his money. It happens. I'm happy I won, but I'm not proud. I didn't expect the A6 at all. If it wasn't for runner 7s, I would've lost.
So, there you have it. My homegame in a nutshell, with a focus on Hole and my battles. Roose once again flaunted my blog in front of the other players, which inevitably results in everyone making fun of me. I'm sure a couple of them will be reading today, though, so whose laughing now? No, really. Who is laughing? It isn't me.
The SNG challenge just gained another entrant, TripJax. We are glad to have you in the challenge. Hopefully the challenge will be up and running soon. I can't wait.
Have fun people. And play some poker for me, will ya?
posted by Jordan @ 8:44 AM,
11 Comments:
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At 11:48 AM,
TripJax said...
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Sweet. Thanks.
And a win is a win dude. Guess it's just tougher to take when you are relieving friends of their dough rather than some chump online.
Bottomline though, if the money is sitting in your pocket right now, that's a win baby!
Thanks again for adding me. Looking forward to it. Just keep me posted...but I'll keep an eye out on your site (as I always do). -
At 11:58 AM,
said...
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Welcome to the show TripJax!!
This should be a very enjoyable little match between all of us. I have no problems starting earlier if need be. My schedule is pretty flexible.
I am curious on average how much time do you all spend on playing poker say a day or a week? For me I try to get a couple hours a night. Depending on if I am a ring game or a tournament. If its a tournament then usually I run more than a couple hours... etc.
Kipper -
At 2:06 PM,
said...
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There is a correction on the hand where i had A 6 against your A K . I did not call all in after the river ...in fact i did not go alll in at all i saw the second seven and i checked to you check cause i new i was beat by the higher kicker after that stupid second seven. And knew i was leading before the river.
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At 2:41 PM,
Jordan said...
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I stand corrected Hole. I'm glad you were able to remind me. As I was typing it up, I knew I was getting hands mixed up. Maybe it was the AK v. AJ that was all in. After a long night of poker and other activities, my memory is usually shaky.
As for my opponents in the SNG Challenge, I received an email today from UB with this:
"Don't forget to take advantage of our 50% Reload Bonus too! Make your deposit of $50 or more between 9am ET July 4th and 9am ET July 5th and we'll give 50% of that deposit, up to $100 in Bonus Dollars!"
So, there may be better deals (especially for players like me who haven't deposited on UB before), but 50% ain't bad. Can any of you UB regulars inform me as to how their bonuses work. We may not be able to earn them on SNGs. -
At 3:15 PM,
GaryC said...
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Jordan,
You do earn points toward your bonus through SNG's, but it will take forever to clear the bonus that way.
You earn your bonus dollars through accumulating UltimatePoints. I think you get two points for a $5 + .50 SNG.
The only way to clear the bonus quickly is to play ring games. On the other hand, there is no time limit on clearing the bonus. You can watch your bonus money go down every time you play and then click on My Account. It will tell you how many UltimatePoints you earned and your bonus money will go down while your bankroll goes up.
All in all, it's a relatively slow bonus to clear, but again, there is no time limit to do it.
By the way, Welcome TripJax!
GaryC -
At 3:33 PM,
Jordan said...
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Well, might as well use the bonus anyway. Even if it takes a long time to earn it, at least I'll be earning your $125 in the meanwhile. So now that we have six players (me, Kip, Gcox, Trip, Steeler, and DNasty), maybe we should have second place win his $25 entry fee back. Then the winner will still get $100 in profit. It would also help me feel like a nice guy for letting one of you saps take that $25 prize, compared to the $100 I'll be rolling in.
First place or bust! -
At 8:02 PM,
said...
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I like that idea of getting $25 for second. That way yyou can buy me a beer when I win!
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At 9:27 PM,
TripJax said...
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Kip,
To attempt to answer your question, I will probably be the one who plays the least of the group. I'll attempt to be the quality over quantity guy I guess. I have a wife and 2 kids (4yr old and 2 month old). That keeps me pretty busy, but I try to play about every other day and a few times on the weekend. Now having a laptop, I can sit in the living room and play while watching tv with wifey...so much better than when I was spending all the time in the extra room alone and away from the family. Though I probably played better, I felt like shit always being away too much. Now I'm rolling with the punches in the living room.
So, to make this way too long of an answer to a simple question, I probably play every other night for a couple of hours and then 2 - 4 hours on the weekend. Usually, if there is a scheduled tournament I'm in for the long haul without worries. Wifey is pretty cool with it since I've done well. We're paying for our beach trip this year from poker money. Sweet.
I think I will take advantage of that bonus coming up July 4th, but still plan to use pokersourceonline. Which one of you wants my pokersourceonline referral?
TripJax
Poker In Arrears -
At 2:15 AM,
GaryC said...
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Trip,
I want the referral, for sure. Check out my blog for the details.
To answer Kipper's question, I struggled with the same problems of wife and two kids that Trip speaks of, but the first time I threw some extra money in the bank account, the flack I was catching came to a halt. I play 4 or 5 hours a night, 4 nights a week and if I'm home, probably 5-6 hours on the weekend. This can be really good or really bad, depending on how I'm running.
Good luck to you all and Jordan, I won the fooking thing.
GaryC -
At 9:31 AM,
said...
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For your info, I beat you down that one big hand, and I will now tell you what I had, I had the ace with a flush draw with a BIG protection of that Ace, I know you had the Ace, but, oh well :-) .. and no, I didn't leave down. Remember when that one guy, don't remember his name to the left of you put down all in with pocket 10's, I call with pocket Q's .. with that I was up $10 with $40 in the hole. Not too shabby. Play on fuckers! .. How I love blogs..
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At 11:51 AM,
Jordan said...
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Hold up Roose. Do you remember more details in that AQ hand. I don't remember it at all, but I do have selective memory sometimes.
