Did Momma Say There Would Be Days Like This?

Well some days are good and some days go like this.

Hero was down to about $160.  He couldn’t hit a flop and/or draw.  Everything was looking dim for him but he remained patient.  All of a sudden he starts hitting.  He is winning small ball pots left and right.  He has won about 7 of 10 of the last pots.  His stack is a little over $300 now and he is feeling good.  He finds A-7 off in early position and decides to see a flop.  He doesn’t usually play weak aces but hey, he has been running well.  There is a raise to $11 from late position and 6 take the flop.  The running well continues with a flop of A-Q-7 rainbow.  The hero decides his image is pretty aggressive and shitty since the recent run he has been on.

He decides to lead for $60.  Hero reels in the perfect bait.  Villain is a tight player who loves to pick off bluffs and has about $600 in front of him.  Villain hasn’t lost what seems a hand all night.  Villain either raises if he has a strong hand or calls if he is looking to break off a well timed bluff.  Villain flats the $60.  The turn is a pretty 4 completing the rainbow.  Hero decides based on the player he is facing, maximum value can be achieved here by overbetting the pot.  Hero pushes.  Villain immediately tanks and flounders in the tank for about 5 minutes.  Hero then holds his cards out like he is ready to toss them in to Villain’s fold.  Villain doesn’t like this.  He decides he has had enough of Hero’s theatrics.  Villain is going to make the Hero call.  Yay Hero is thinking until a dirty Queen peels off on the River.  Hero knows before Villain even shows his cards.  Hero tables his hand in disgust and begins to get up to leave while Villain tables A-9 off for the 6 out River winner.  Puke.

Sorry for the bad beat story.  Just tough to handle tonight after a long and frustrating 6 hr session.

Bump Bump Bump…..Still a Heartbeat….

Well, I had two interesting sessions this week. Both cardiac sessions. Maybe I’ve become the cardiac kid.

Wednesday: I played for about 4 hours. I bought in for $240. For 3 hours I played very solid poker to only have a $20 profit. I asked for a seat change as both the fish at my table were racking up without me getting a real opportunity to hook them. When I get to my new table, I notice a change in the air as the standard pre-flop raise has increased from my previous tables’ $10 to a much better $17. I am happy. I begin to get cards. I am even happier. Then I start to miss flops. My opponents are calling me with 10-5 and hitting. It is going to be one of those nights.

Eventually my stack dwindles to a measly $35. I get A-J hearts in the cutoff. I shove my stack into a raiser and a caller of $11. One gentleman calls my all-in, showing Q-10. Flop comes Q-10-5. There is hope, but I am thin. Turn is a 2. River is a……. King!! After the hand I have around $70 only to find A-J soooooted again, this time in the hijack and of the club variety. There is a raise to $15 and it gets a caller. I call and check out a flop. The flop comes A-K-7 rainbow. I decide to jam my stack once again after it is checked to me. I get the same gentleman to call again, this time he does not table his hand. The turn is a 10 and the river is a Jack giving me two pair. I fully expect to see this guy flip over a Queen with the way my luck has been going. I table my hand and he mucks! New life for me.

ON THE EXACT NEXT HAND, I look down to see two black ladies. I am pleased to see UTG raise it to $21. The same gentleman who has doubled me up twice in a row calls the $21 and he looks a bit steamy. Both he and UTG have about $300. I decide my image is sketchy and decide if there was ever a time to push and get two callers, this is the time. Well, it plays out exactly that way. On the flop, Mr. Double me Up pushes on UTG, doing me a huge favor in the process. The board runs out J-10-5-6-4 with three to a heart flush. I table my hand hoping it holds and Mr. DMU mucks in disgust. WHOOOOO!!! From ashy to classy in less than 5 minutes! This kind of Shi*t never happens for me, so it was a great change. I leave soon after a $185 winner for the night.

As for Thursdays session, it was almost a mirror image but I only left a $15 winner as I was stuck two buy-ins.

I’m Back…..

FINALLY MADE IT BACK TO THE TABLES!

Anyway, I managed to gather together about $350 that I was able to set aside for poker. I decided last week that I would take about $240 of that and buy in to a cash game for the first time in over two months. Luckily, I ran well and was very disciplined due to having a lot of time off to think about my game. I also was pleased to find that the games at the Rivers are still full of fish (no pun intended). Since my first session, I played two other sessions, both of which were quite profitable.

First session: Bought in for $240, cashed out for $635. Played for about 5 hours. I played at an interesting table, and only showed down two hands. I ran very well and played quite an aggressive game, rarely making it to showdown and using my tight image to my advantage. The table was abnormally difficult, yet my rungood of cards helped me to make some moves that I probably wouldn’t have if I didn’t have the hands to back it up. The best part of playing at this table was three friends were playing with each other (not very well) and I managed to make about $300 of my profit from them. They were some pretentious dicks, talking about bottle service, etc. It was nice to quietly make a profit from them.

Second session: Bought in for $240, cashed out for $440. Played for four hours. This session was derived mostly from one hand, as the table was very very devoid of any action for most of the time. The one hand was played with a calling station and I had AQ in the small blind. I make it $16 preflop and he and another player call. Flop came A-2-5 with a diamond draw. I led for $40 and he called with the other player folding. At this point I have ~140 left and he had about $200. The turn was a beautiful Q, but it also put a heart draw up. I led for $70 and he pushed, which I obliged with a clear call. He shows heart draw and I manage to fade. I enjoy running good.

Third session: Bought in for $240, cashed out for $420. This session was a bunch of small ball poker. I am unsure if I played one hand where the pot was more than $70. It was a boring session to say the least and I cut it short after about 3 hours. A profit is a profit though, especially when trying to rebuild a roll.

Anyway, I am back for the time being, and hopefully there is more to come.

Rivers Casino Tournament Review

Well, I’ve only hit the tables once in the past few months, so I don’t have much of a perspective for a recent review of the tournaments at the Rivers.  However, our fellow reader Tim has graced us with his thoughts of a recent deep run he made at an evening tournament at the Rivers.   Here are his thoughts in their entirety, without edit by myself.   I think it is a good introspective read.  Note that Tim is primarily a cash game player, but much like myself, looking to play some more tournaments. 

It was a Thursday night. Bought into the cash game for 220. My normal amount. Was around 6:30 or so and after about 45 minutes i was up only 15 dollars having played one hand. The tournament line was getting long and i overheard there were going to be about 100 entries. I decided to take a stab. You can buy in with chips, which i did not know at the time. Anyway i get the 8 seat. Which is good because i would rather play the 1 or 10 seats than be stuck right in front of the dealer. I wait for the table to fill up which it never did. So I’m playing 6 handed the whole time with 3 guys who are over the age 60 easily. Other two guys are younger and one super aggressive post flop. I end up getting QQ and KK within 4 hands of one another.  I win the blinds and a couple calls after 4 betting pre flop. That early in this thing i really didn’t want to see a flop anyway. I think i play and win two other hands at this table. One where i added a couple thousand to modest stack of 6500. You start with 5000 after you chip in 5 dollars for the add on. I ended up making a move on this guy with a paired river card. He ended up showing me an Ace but I made the bet because the board was paired along with 3 spades. Of course i missed my open ender. I take down a nice sized pot with my only true bluff thus far.
 
We break tables. I get sat next to a guy on my left who has me covered about 10 times over. So right off the bat I’m super cautious here. As the blinds are already starting to get expensive and people are starting to drop quickly. I end up playing maybe three hands at this table. Winning all three. Two of which i took down with bets on the flop. The third i have A-10 unsuited. I raised 3 times the big blind at the highjack seat. Big blind calls and has me covered probably 4 times over. I missed the flop completely. And this kid bets out twice what the big blind was which is about 1/3 of the pot or so. I 4 bet his raise. And he mutters “I believe you”. So of course i show him A high after he mucks. It was a good read on my part. It looked like he was making a move preflop just with the call. And his continuation bet looked even worse to me.
 
Table breaks not soon after. This is where i start getting some hands good and bad. I end loosing half my stack of 40,000 to a guy who went all in with 77. I honestly thought i was only risking about 25% of my stack when i called with AQ suited. Anyway 77 holds up. Im down to all in status. So i get JJ and i just raise 3 times the big blind. Guy to my left in the big blind reraises me almost all in. So i put the rest in. JJ holds up against AK. I’m sitting better now. Then i get i to make a loose call at the cutoff with Q8 of spades. Flop comes J-10-9 with a spade. Flopped the nuts with the big blind betting it like he has AJ on the flop. He checks on the turn after i called his flop bet. Still i thought he was strong.  So i bet. He calls. Turn was a blank spade. He checks, I bet, He calls again. River is another Spade. I backed doored a flush along with my flopped straight. He checks again. And i bet probably 2/3 of what he had left and he called. I more than double up here.
 
That hand puts me in great position at this point to make the final table. We were at three tables at this point. Nothing much happens after that hand. I win a couple more preflop hands and next thing you know where down to 9.
 
This is where it gets bad. I’m probably 3rd or 5th in chips at the final table with No. 1 covering me only 3 times over. The ante itself is 500 at this point with 1500/3000 dollar blinds. I think i have about 50,000 in chips. I don’t play a hand until my big blind. In which the button moves all in for only another 2500 dollars for me to call. Everyone else folded. So there is 11,500 in this pot preflop with 3,500 of it being mine. I’m obviously getting the odds to call. I freaking have 2-5 off though. Which happens to be one of my favorite cash game hands. Ii call and guy ends up pairing his K i think. So that hand cost me 5,000 of my stack.
So i sit tight for awhile and end up raising with Q9 of diamonds at the cuttoff. Same guy smooth calls me with A-10. He ends up flopping two pair and checks it to me. I make a continuation bet of about 5000. He moves all in for another 2000. I have to call and end up loosing the hand. So at this point I’m down to about 25,000 or so in chips. Wait a while and still no one has been eliminated. There are two stacks below me at this point in time. I look down at 88. Which is not my favorite hand for sure. Whenever i flop a set of these guys i usually loose the hand. I push it all in. Guy to my left who had the 77’s earlier and took half my stack insta calls me. I though for sure he had AA the way he pushed the chips in. Honestly he called as if he had AAA already. Anyway he shows AQ offsuit. I couldn’t believe it. Exact opposite situation as before. And i couldn’t believe he put it all in with AQ off with 6 guys left to act. Guy hits a Q and i loose. I bust out 9th and miss the money which was 7th and up. First taking 2,300 or so.
 
It will be awhile before i devote 5 and 1/2 hours to a tournament. I was honestly so defeated that i couldn’t even play free poker on my phone for a couple days.
 
Tournaments are fun. You can make a nice amount of  cash with little investment. But the odds are against you. I have to say it is much easier to grind out 200 dollars at a cash game than devote many hours in a tournament just to miss the money bubble by two spots.

3 Weeks Ago…

Yeah, three weeks ago I sat the table thinking to myself, how the fuck did I get here. My roll basically dried up. Overeducated, but no job to show for it. Sobering thoughts but definitely probably what I needed at the time. Life is not necessarily what you want but what you need.

I really wish I had more poker to report, but right now there is simply very little regarding me and poker at the tables. I have been reworking my game in my mind though and doing plenty of strategy reading so when I do make my way to the felt I will be more dangerous than ever.

Also, in a little over a week the Pens will be starting up again and I will not simply have to wait till every Sunday for a little excitement. I would love for this year to be another championship year for both teams, but we are still very far out from that. If they happended to pull it off it would be historical to say the least.

In my job search though I have applied to both area casinos for various positions but I think I would actually enjoy a dealing position. Yes, I know, dealing: where all failed poker players end up. I don’t look at it that way. I would actually enjoy running the game and receive sick enjoyment from others than myself from taking bad beats every day. Also, I could do a better job than half the dealers at the Rivers even though I haven’t dealt a casino hand of poker in my life.

Additionally, I would love to work myself up to a managment position in a poker room because I’d say only 25% of the floors I meet in various poker rooms have any fucking idea what is going on. I think I that is a sentiment that many others share also. Anyway, I don’t have much else to say at the time. Just wanted to check in because according to my webstats, I’m still averaging some visitors every day regardless of my lack of content. Granted, they are visiting outdated Meadows information (at least I think it is outdated), but Welcome!

Patience, Patience, Patience

This is definitely something I need to work on in my game and I really need to read up on some type of Zen mindset at the poker table.  Does anybody have any recommendations for maintaining patience at the poker table?  The problem I deal with most is trying to force the action in hands in which players show weakness but refuse to fold their middle and bottom pairs for no apparent reason at all. 

It is not quite tilt and it is no chasing any losses.  It is just aggression that is poorly timed.  The more I play, the less fearful I become of putting the bets out to steal the pots.  However, when I get called here and there, the chunks out of my stack make me less and less fearful at the table to other players.  Additionally, I think I take into account my image at the table way more than I should.  I’d say the average player isn’t really paying attention to player image that much at the table and when I am considering making a hero call/fold, I probably factor in table image wayyyy to much.  Anyway, here’s to running better.

Cold As Ice

Definitely have been running ice cold lately and my roll is wearing thin to show for it. I think every day I consider giving up the game, but as most of us know, it is something that runs deep inside of us. I’ve taken two consecutive week breaks to re-evaluate my game. However, as I’ve read many people post, often the breaks hurt you more than they help. I think I need to just try to play more and play through it. Tough to do though when you are only playing with a few buy-ins left in your roll. Also, as I have previously mentioned, the jumps between 1/3 and 2/5 is causing me major issues because I struggle to play straight ABC in 1/3 and end up costing myself more money in that game. In 2/5, FPS (fancy play syndrome) gets me paid off quite well. Yet when I attempt to implement it into my play at 1/3, I end up getting sucked out on by some random two pair.

Additionally, some of the play that occurs in 1/3 confounds me and I try not to let it get to me, but it happens so often, I get frustrated. I mean, I want these fish making the plays they do at the table with me, I just feel like I am all to often at the wrong end of their fishy sticks. I also forget that 1/3 players just refuse to want to let hands go when they have any pair. But still, it is tough for me to play a standard game when I am getting called by A-3 offsuit for 8BB pre-flop and C-betting a pot size bet only to have that same A-3 off float the flop for no apparent reason. Once again, I know I should be able to exploit this easily, but I have made numerous comments before how I have much better results at 2/5 because the plays are much more predictable. It’s the variance of 2/5 though that is much more difficult to swallow. Hopefully things get better with the upcoming football season.

The Real Meadows Casino Poker Room Review

Well, I finally made out it out to the Meadows Casino to check out their poker room the other day.  Needless to say, I was thoroughly underwhelmed.  Granted, I may have had a beef against the management before even going there, but I vowed to check out the room with an open mind, and that is exactly what I did.  However, after spending so much time at the Rivers, the Meadows poker room feels cheap.  There are pros about the room to discuss, and that is what I intend to do.  I will do this in comparison form with the Rivers. 

Location of the Poker Room:  The poker room is downstairs away from the main casino floor.  I consider this a major negative as you have no chance of bringing in the casual table games passer-by into the room.  This is never good.  The naysayers will say that the noise is less at the Meadows poker room, and this is undoubtedly true.  However, I would play at a poker table on an airport runway if it was a juicy game. 

Action:  I only sat for an hour, but my table’s play was poorer than even the average 1/2 table, so the money is definitely able to be made at the Meadows.  However, the buy ins at 1/2 are 50 min and 200 max.  Most of the players at my table short bought, so the Rivers definitely reigns supreme as far as action is concerned. 

Aesthetics:  The rivers poker room is definitely king here.  The meadows walls look cheap and the carpeting is some orange pukey color (see photos).  The brightness is harsh on the eyes and I absolutely hated it.  

Bathrooms:  The meadows bathrooms are right outside the poker room and a lot of players disapprove of the Rivers bathroom location.  In my opinion the location of the Rivers bathroom isn’t that nice and if it is really that big of a problem, maybe you should spend a little bit more time exercising or grow a bigger bladder. 

Bar and Drink Service:  The meadows poker room has a bar immediately outside of it and this is definitely a positive over the rivers.  The Rivers drink service still sucks and with the bar right outside of the poker room at the Meadows expedites this service greatly. 

Poker Tables:  The meadows poker tables are larger than the Rivers and more comfortable to sit at definitely.  However, the chairs are not more comfortable.  Moreover, the meadows has a betting line in place on their tables.  The downside to the betting line is that it is sitting on a felt that I am not sure you can even call felt.  It feels disgusting.  The chips also are reminiscent of the Wheeling Island Poker Room and are soon to be filthy just like the Wheeling Chips.  I don’t like these memories. 

Dealers:  A lot of the dealers at the Meadows are a carry over from Wheeling and this was definitely a positive about Wheeling previously, so that is definitely an A+ for the Meadows. 

Tournaments: Right now the Meadows is currently running tournaments and in this aspect they are way ahead of the Rivers.  I have pictures of the schedule attached below.  I am primarily a cash game player, so this doesn’t affect me as much, but for others this is the reason at the moment for some to prefer the Meadows.  However, once Rivers gets more tables, they will also be running daily tournaments, so this will equal out in the end. 

I did my best to point out the positives of the room, but based on an overall feel and the undeniably better action at the Rivers (there were only two 1/2 tables running on a weekday noon at the meadows as opposed to 5-6 at the rivers), the Rivers is still the king in my book.  I know opinions will differ and some people simply don’t like driving into the city, but I am chasing money and money flows at the Rivers right now.

Chasing The Fishy

The other day I was definitely not having the idea session at the 2/5 table.  However, all that changed when a gentleman with a middle eastern accent sat down at the table and introduced himself at the table with a smile and the pleasantries you know follow the smell of the fish.   The next line he laid down solidified the stereotype I had already assigned to him.  He said, “Ah, yes, I’m a physician and I’m playing here because I am meeting some of my other physician friends here.”  Now, here’s this guy, friendly enough, but everyone at the table is just waiting to feast. 

Ironically enough, the doctor healed patients in his practice, but he put some truly brutal beats on various players at the table to begin with, especially when he cracked a guy’s two pair with his rivered flush holding 10-2 of diamonds.  The beat may not have been so bad if he had not called a pre-flop raise of $40 with the 10-2 of diamonds.  Luckily, I avoided taking any major beats from the doctor and was able to extract some solid value from him over the course of a couple hands. 

One of the regulars at the table, however, had the nerve to berate the fish for the way he was playing.  If there is one thing you learn in the course of playing poker seriously and for profit, in fact it is the cardinal rule, “DON”T TAP THE GLASS.”  For those of you wondering, this basically means, don’t do anything to scare the fish (bad player) at the table off so that they don’t enjoy themselves and eventually leave the game.  This is the number one rule because these are the lifeline of the reason professionals grind poker.  The fish are the clients and you don’t upset your clients. This is not to say that you have to kiss the ass of the fish, but when you take a river beat, act like it has happened before (because it has), and say “nice hand.”  That is unless you intentionally want to make it a difficult time on yourself and play against an all knowledgeable line-up.

The Hit and Run

Well, over the past few sessions, I have really been implementing this into my game. I used to detest those who hit and run, but the more and more I have been playing, the more I’ve said, “Can’t beat them, join ’em.” I know there are plenty who advocate this style of play because it lowers your variance and enables you to always lock away the profit, as opposed to stacking up to about $600 only to get beat by set over set for your whole stack after 4 or 5 hours of play.

This is not to say that I haven’t learned this method the hard way. Having a casino 5 minutes from me also helps a great deal. Before, I would drive an hour to play and then hit a big hand early. Inevitably, I would ask myself, “did you drive an hour just to leave after 20 minutes?” I think all of us have been in this position a couple of times.

Additionally, the same thing happens when I’m playing in Vegas or AC since I have really seen everything I wanted to there and getting drunk is just not appealing as it used to be. Therefore, I would be up at a table and end up staying just because I wouldn’t want to go back to the room and do nothing but think about poker. Granted, in Vegas, it is easy to move from casino to casino to enable the hit and run, but it is harder for me to take the initiative and do it instead of just thinking about it. Lastly, I think having a busy social life outside of poker, keeping all the bills and household in order, and completing the inevitable studying gives me the initiative to leave the casino after a hit and run when said casino is sooo close.

The other avenue I must now tackle is calling it a bad day and booking a loss when I know I am just off that day and it is better to take a couple hundred loss instead of losing another buy-in. This ultimately, is the biggest challenge for me and the biggest leak I find in my game. With time though, I think it will correct itself. As there was a time when I never thought I would be locking away short term wins with pride.

I will do my best to upload some of the pictures of the poker room I have taken with my phone.  I have just been delayed as the pictures aren’t the best quality and honestly I’m just a bit too tired to do it.  Plus, I’d rather just rant about poker than spend a couple minutes uploading some pictures.  But, I understand most would probably just rather have the pictures.

On another side note, the dealers appear to be getting better, i.e. more comfortable, and are not making as many of the same basic mistakes.  The room was packed tonight, with 21 of the available 24 tables filled at 10:30 P.M and there was a 4/8 Omaha Hi/Lo game going.  Respect to the Rivers.