dumbdumbdumb
Headed out last night with the goal of winning my buy-in to the midnight MTT hosted at the Hard Rock each Wed and Thurs night. I sat down at a 1/2 table and did exactly that. I ran my buy-in up to about 2.5x and cashed out just in time to join the tourney.
In the first hand I played, I raised to 2.5x the BB with the 93 of clubs just to see what the table was like. I got two callers and the flop came 383! I checked, as did the other two. The turn was a rag and I checked again. The next player bet and the last guy folded. I pretended to think for a while and then raised all-in. He called and, when I showed my set of threes, he turned over A3. Gulp.
I was left with 125 chips and proceeded to play all-in and win the next three pots, running my stack up to about 1,800. Of course, a short while later, in the BB, I got a real hand and lost to a suckout… but it was fun.
So, why “dumbdumbdumb”? Because I then headed back downstairs and lost my original buy-in at another 1/2 table instead of going home a winner. I still finished up for the night – even after the tournament buy-in – but nowhere near as big a winner as I could have been.
Consolation: as I was leaving, Andy Dick walked in and I got to say hello. Nice guy… but very short.
Roller coaster
I made an appearance at the Hard Rock last night.
It was raining and busy, so I had to wait for a table, but I finally got a seat at a 1/2 NL table and, in an hour or so, ran my $100 buy-in up to just over $300. Things were going well but then a number of players left and they broke our table down and sent the survivors around to other tables.
That’s when I should have left. 
When I got to my new table, I put all but my original $100 onto the felt and continued to play. I was doing well, making some hands and stealing pots when I didn’t… but then a new, very aggressive player sat down. He was the kind of player who regularly raised $25 pre-flop into a pot of $8 or so and the tenor of play at the table loosened up quickly. Of course, he was remarkably lucky, too: he raised once with 85o and caught running fives to make a full house. Another hand saw his 910s beat my QQ when he made a backdoor flush.
Before I knew it, he had most of the chips and I was all-in with a short stack and KQs. I (of course) made two pair only to lose to his ridonkeylous straight draw and I got up to go home, thankful that I had put that $100 into my pocket where it was safe.
I left with what I came in with… that’s something, right?
Profiting and investing
I wrote in my last post about how I’ve begun to play the mini-turbo SNGs with some success. Over the last two weeks or so I have continued to enjoy some pretty significant success, winning most of the turbos I enter. So, last night was an interesting contrast.
I usually play at the Hard Rock but, last night, I got out of the house nice and early (more on that later) and went to the Gulf Stream, a horse track and casino not far from my house. I went there because they’ve got a nice, clean room that’s always less crowded than the Hard Rock but still gives nice action; I don’t usually go there because they close at 1 am and I often play later than that.
Anyway, as soon as I arrived, I sat down at a $60 10-man SNG which I did not win. Not by a long shot. When that ended, I headed over to a 1/2 NL table where I won only three pots… for a total profit of over $650. (Read that again… I’ll wait.) I played only three pots past the flop and won all three; I made a K-high flush and two full houses, getting called down on all three, two with all-in bets. It was crazy.
I had signed up for another SNG once I tripled-up and, when they called my name I got up, cashed out and sat down for the tournament… which I lost. So, in a single night I lost two tournaments… and had the best single poker night of my career.
Now, why was I out of the house so early? Because I had to get to the bookstore before it closed. I’ve only ever bought one book on poker out of my bankroll before, Thursday Night Poker but David O. Steiner, (which contains the best explanation of pot- and implied-odds I’ve ever seen) but it was time for another. A week or so ago, while I was playing small-ball during a tournament, one of the dealers came over to me after his shift and said, “I can see you’re playing small-ball. You have to read Negreanu’s book on it.” So, I bought it.
The book, Power Hold’em Strategy
Tournament Successes
The Hard Rock, my regular room, hosts an interesting kind of tournament: a six-man turbo-tournament with 15-minute blinds. They have a running sign-up list and, as soon as the last tournament ends and there are six people waiting, they start the next one.
I have played in three of them recently and enjoyed some pretty significant success: I took second in the first one and first place in the second two.
In the first one, I played conservatively, biding my time until I had solid hands. This wasn’t very successful, since there was a maniac at our table who kept making huge bets and stealing pots. I eventually wound up in the (very) short stack and, thanks mostly to luck, won an all-in pot to knock out the guy ahead of me in second. That meant I would definitely cash. We played two more hands before the leader said he was tired and we chopped the payout evenly.
The second time I played one, I just kept making hands. It is important that I remember that night since there seem to be so many nights when I can’t catch a single hand… I need to remember that night, when Ikept catching second-pairs and flushes on the river. I couldn’t lose. I busted each of the other five players by myself and won the whole thing in about 35 minutes.
I returned last night and played another. This time, I decided to use Daniel Negreanu’s Small Ball Strategy, which involves making the same 2.5x pre-flop raise every hand, no matter what your cards are. It seems crazy, but this technique allowed me to take control of the table early. I scooped the blinds on about 50% of the hands (at least) and, in many of the others, I hit something on the flop and made a continuation bet to take the pot.
I got out to an early lead and never really looked back. I didn’t even really slow down until we were heads-up and the I had the other guy out-chipped 3-1. We circled each other for a while but I eventually limped from the button/SB and, when he raised all-in, I called with A2c. He had KJo and neither of us paired so I took it. I had eliminated all of my opponents for the second tournament in a row.
It’s nice to win.
Stung
I headed out to the Hard Rock tonight where I lost my first buy-in at a table-full of lousy players. I managed to play down to their level and I deserved to lose. But, I knew I could win it back, so I bought-in again and the cards froze up.
So, when I heard the announcement for one seat left in a 6-seat turbo sit-n-go, I went to take it. The tourney buy-in cleaned me out but it was OK since I – literally – ran the table. I took out all five of the other players and the tournament prize put me very close to even for the night.
I took the prize back to the cash tables and sat down with it… and in the first hand found pocket 5s. Someone raised to $5 and someone re=raised to $20. I called.
There were four of us in the pot and the flop came 259 rainbow. First position checked, second position (the original raiser) bet all-in and the third player (the re-raise) re-raised all-in.
I was holding middle set and couldn’t credit either of them with 99 so I called all my chips. When we showed our hands, the other two were QQ and AA and the river card came an Ace to give him top set. I lost my entire buy-in on the first hand.
Ugh.
