I played in Wil’s tournament on Poker Stars last night after making the appropriate sacrifices. As things got under way, I thought my sacrifices might actually pay off this time.
Other than the blinds, I didn’t choose to see a flop until hand 12. I cracked American Airlines and doubled up when I flopped a set with pocket nines. A dozen hands later, I killed terrymr’s queens when I put him all-in on an open-ended straight draw with my pocket fours and hit it on the river. I was sitting pretty.
And then, the walls came tumbling down. I spewed a ton of chips when my set of kings ran into a full house. Sadly, I cannot even complain because I was dominated the whole way through the hand. I then managed to donk off a bunch of chips to Gracie when I didn’t respect her min re-raise preflop and decided to put her all in with my AK. I never improved, and her queens made off with two thirds of my stack.
Pauly and I conspired, and both decided to push with AJo at the same time. It was bad timing for both of us, as I lost to K-10 and he lost to pocket fours. Also, note that the junkgrabber decided to join us!
My tournament play is improving, especially in the early rounds. I manage to stick to my resolution to not play so many hands (I played 19%), but then I start giving away chips like there’s no tomorrow. Ah, I guess that’s what goals are for, right?
Posted by Jaxia as Poker at 12:34 AM PST
1 Comment »
The situation: It’s relatively early in a live super-satellite for the WPT Borgata Open main event (being played, naturally, in the Borgata’s poker room). Close to 100 people entered. You get 2500 in starting chips. Your table has been quite tight, blinds are 75/150 (making it the third round), rounds are 20 minutes.
The cast of characters: Only two people in this hand.
Me: Sitting UTG +1 on this hand, I’ve only played 2 hands thus far, winning one without having to show down, and folding the other when trapped by a tight EP player who pulled an all-in limp-reraise. I have about 2400 chips, which is slightly below average at this point.
UTG +3: This player has been very tight as well. I don’t know much about him beyond that, but he’s only played perhaps 3 hands up to this point. He has me covered in chips, but just barely, with perhaps 2600 in chips.
The action: UTG folds, I look down to see As Ks and raise to 450. UTG +3 looks at his cards and calls. Everyone else folds.
The flop: Qd Qh 7d
There’s 1125 in the pot, and I’m first to act. I fire a 600 chip continuation bet. UTG +3 thinks about it for perhaps 25-30 seconds, and finally calls.
The turn: 6h
The questions: What do you do now? You have 1350 in chips left, the pot is 2325 chips. Further, if you check and he bets, what do you do? If you bet here, how much? In other words, what’s your game plan going forward from this point?
UPDATE: The resolution of this hand is now in the comments. No cheating for those just reading this for the first time!
Posted by Beck as Poker at 3:22 PM PST
14 Comments »
I worked on my nut-peddling skills last night while playing poker with SK and Jac.
We played tournament style, and after I sucked out on SK to knock her out, I had Jac massively out-chipped. I looked down to see Kh-8h and pushed. She called with J-7o. The flop was all hearts, and I said, “It’s over.”
Then I saw the Jack on the board and corrected myself and said “Unless you hit runner-runner.” Guess what?
She hit runner-runner for a full house. Good times, good times.
Since I was enjoying some live poker, I missed the start of Wil’s tournament. I still had a great time watching the game and visiting with everyone. At one point, Pauly IM’d me to ask if I was playing anywhere.
“I’m just hanging out and talking to everyone. It is so much fun now that I have met people in person.”
Thanks for taking my heckling in stride 
And CJ, I sure hope you meant it!
SK and I just finished loading up the car. We are heading out tomorrow to spend the holidays with our families. While I try to always be thankful for my life, the spirit of this time of year encourages reflection. As rough have things have been this year, when I take an honest look at my life, I realize that I am lucky.
I hope your holidays are full of love and laughter. I know mine will overflow.
Posted by Jaxia as Poker at 1:21 AM PST
5 Comments »
Today I present to you a little challenge. I’m going to describe the action in a big hand I played a couple weeks ago in the $1/$2 NL game at Caesars in Atlantic City with a question at the end. Leave your answers in the comments.
The cast of characters:
UTG: A very tight, young player who seems pretty good. He has $300 in front of him.
Me: I’m 4th to act and have about $370 in front of me
Mike: The player immediately on my left, he has been reasonably tight and aggressive, but is definitely the looser, weaker player out of the 3 people involved in this hand. He has about $180 in front of him.
The action:
Preflop: UTG raises to $12 (standard raise at this table was $10-$15). It folds to Me, and I look down to see two red aces. I re-raise to $30. Mike calls. It folds back to UTG who calls.
The flop: 10c 4s 3c
UTG checks. I bet $100 into the $90 pot. Mike calls. UTG thinks about it for maybe 10-15 seconds and pushes all in. Mike accidentally gives up a big tell and moves to call before I’ve even had a chance to think.
It costs me $170 to call. There is $560 in the pot, with probably $50 more coming in from Mike.
The question:
What do you do, why, and what hands do you put UTG and Mike on?
Once people have had a few days to put up their conclusions, I’ll leave a comment saying what actually happened and what hands people had.
UPDATE: The resolution of this hand is now in the comments. No cheating for those just reading this for the first time!
Also, I was kind of surprised by the popularity of this post, so I think I’ll be doing more like it in the future. I’m headed home for Christmas this Saturday though, and won’t be around a computer much until January. So until then, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good hand!
Posted by Beck as Poker at 5:00 PM PST
21 Comments »
It’s a crazy day here, but I wanted to jot some quick notes to myself to help with my trip reports:
- You’re so soft!
- I’ve got outs.
- Mr. Otis sucks.
- Is this a high/low game?
- Nicky Nicky Nine Doors
- Jaxia Hyatt
- I know you like girls.
- Everyone gets quartered!
- Take it like a man!
- I’ve gotta touch it, at least once.
The short version? I had so much fun that my cheeks are still hurting from smiling so much. Thanks for allowing me to crash the party
Posted by Jaxia as Poker at 11:29 AM PST
14 Comments »
As seemingly the only poker blogger NOT currently in Vegas, I have to imagine the audience around here is a bit depleted.
Of course, I also have to imagine that I can do whatever I want here, and Jax won’t see it for a week or so. Of course, I have a hard time imagining anything I could do that would actually bother her…
Coincidentally, I have nothing of real poker-content to contribute; still, I feel like putting something new up just to maintain the appearance that there’s active blogging going on around here.
So instead, I’ll simply provide you with the funniest thing I’ve yet witnessed at a poker table (this is at Caesars in Atlantic City):
(The scene: a very quiet woman takes down her 3rd pot in a row with aggressive betting)
Guy #1: “That does it, I’m putting these on.” (The guy proceeds to whip out some sunglasses and put them on)
Girl #1: “Oh no, then I have to put mine on too.” (She proceeds to grab some shades out of her purse and put them on).
Guy #2: “That does it, I’m going to have to take my pants off.” (Proceeds to stand up and actually yank his pants down. Fortunately, he’s wearing boxers).
Me: “Looks to me like you’re bluffing.”
Guy #2: “Nope. I’ve got the nuts. Don’t believe me?”
Me: “I FOLD! I FOLD!!!”
Posted by Beck as Poker at 4:24 PM PST
5 Comments »
I have a few of these emails in the last few days…
Dear Jaxia,
You finished the tournament in 2nd place.
At least I’m making money and getting ready for Vegas!
Posted by Jaxia as Poker at 8:49 PM PST
3 Comments »
