The Weekly Journals of DavidRoss

 

Week 22

Wow. I’m really pushing the variance envelope here. After a poor week brought on by bad results at Paradise, Sunday went the exact same way. Playing 2 tables of 5/10 at Paradise I lost another $626, making the weekend loss almost $1,100. I’m going crazy. Fortunately, at the same time on 2 3/6 tables I won an incredible $706 in 6 hours of play, putting me up almost $1300 for the weekend at Party. Then after a break even Monday afternoon at Party, Monday night started out looking like a disaster, I had to rebuy at both sites in the first half hour, and at paradise I was down another $300, putting me down $1400 for 3 nights and over $1600 for the previous week. Then the dark clouds parted and the sun shone through. Just as I had decided to cash out the rest of my account and switch to Empire my hands started holding up, and I started hitting my draws and I went on an $800 rush that left me up $546 at paradise. I even made a comeback at Party to finish down only $140 there for a win of $400. So for the 2 days I’m up $480. And the sun is shining again.

Clearly the variance of the 5/10 game is making me uncomfortable. And there are not many weak players in the paradise games. I love the paradise software and support, and I’m nostalgic because it’s where I learned the game, but this is a business for me now and clearly the smart thing for me to do is stop playing there. I can play 4 games using another site and Empire seems to make sense. I can still play 5/10 if I want at party and Empire. Can anyone comment on the games there? Are the Empire games the same quality wise as the Party games?

I’ve had 7 people offer to have me sign up under their affiliate programs at Empire. Obviously I can only choose 1 and I hope the rest of you understand that I can only use 1 of you.

I received an e-mail from Party investigations regarding my bonehead move from last week that I posted about in the internet forum. Posting it was even stupider I guess because they tell me that several people brought it to Party’s attention. If you missed it I was playing with the same 2 players on 2 tables. On table 1 a woman who’s play was suspect was running over the table hitting everything. The 3 of us were chatting about it on table 2 saying things like omg she did it again. Then I flopped a set of 6’s against her on table 1. The board however was all hearts. I told the guys on table 2 that I might get her this time, I’ve got a set. When I went back to table 1 I realized to my horror that 1 of the 2 players was still in the hand, and I’d just told him my hand. To make it worse he had flopped a flush, and the turn paired the board filling me up. He check folded to my turn bet and the woman stayed to the river losing to my full house. Clearly there was no intent to cheat, but I gave information to one player that not everyone had and it’s inexcusable. Thankfully Party chose to reprimand me only. I hope I’ve learned my lesson.

Hopefully we are always learning in this game and I want to focus on my blind play in the short term. Usually if I flop top pair I don’t worry very much about my kicker. I play premium cards so I usually have the best kicker. If I lose the occasional KJ to KQ so be it. But from the blinds I quite often find myself with top pair and a lousy kicker. I tend to play it as if it’s a normal hand and bet out, but then go into check/call if I’m raised, and usually lose to a better hand. I think I need to be willing to fold to those flop raises more often, especially if there are no draws on the board. Or even check/raise those top pair hands depending on where the bet comes from.

I got wiped out by one horrible 5/10 player on Sunday night. I’m sure this one guy was responsible for $400 of my 600 dollar loss. He was 2 seats to my left and kept either drawing out on me, or dominating me with AA vs KK and the like. This was one of the hands.

Bad player limps UTG and aggressive guy raises. 1 cold caller, and the SB calls. I have AQo in the BB and just call. Flop is Ad Qd 4c. I am running just horrible at this point and I bet right out. Nothing fancy. BP calls and so does AG. Turn is 8h. I bet and both call again. River is 8s. I bet, BP raises and AG calls. BP makes all kinds of weird plays, so AG will call this with KK or AK. I call too. BP had 86o. This is paradise 5/10. Sigh. He did this to me only it seemed for hours. I hope I see him again, but I don’t think his bankroll will last.

10 minutes later I have QQ in MP. UTG raises and I 3 bet. BP calls 3 cold with KTo (it’s more fun if you know what he has). 3 of us see the flop of A 5 4 rainbow. UTG checks, I bet and BP raises. UTG folds and I sigh and call. I can raise for value, but he wont fold so I thinkit’s better to just call down these guys. I don’t think a free card can hurt me at this point. Turn is a T. I check he bets and I call. River is another T. Check – Bet – call – another sigh.

Tuesday night was the kiss of death for Paradise. Another terrible start with no recovery and a $360 loss. I won $400 at Party to give me a small win for the day, but immediately after quitting for the day I withdrew enough from my paradise account to start up an Empire account.

Everyone who plays poker has a competitive instinct. In some people this competitive instinct can be their downfall by pushing them to keep competing long after logic should have told them they were beat. We applaud the athlete who keeps getting up to try again, but in poker it can be a destructive trait. I am convinced I can beat the paradise 5/10 game. I beat it for months, and even in the 4 weeks I started playing it again I was up $1,000 despite the horrible last 10 days. But it’s time to be realistic. 1) it’s not the same game. The old fish have gone broke, and the new fish are going to Party. It’s the same faces night after night and most of them are good, and a few of them are very very good. 2) I can beat the party 3/6 for more money despite the smaller stakes, or at least have less chance of losing. Paradise has better support, and their cashouts are almost immediate. I cashed out from both Paradise and Party on Saturday night at around 3:00 AM (Sunday morning actually). Paradise had the money in my Neteller account at 7:00 AM Sunday. After I contacted my “Executive Hostess” at Party on Tuesday, they made my depost in 15 minutes late Tuesday night. Party has never made a transfer for me without my having to call them. They say they have an internal review to do for all cashouts that takes 24-48 hours. I will miss Paradise, but until they get some fresh blood in there I’m gone.

So Wednesday morning I opened my Empire account under a disguised name, which I will keep secret for now. I have decided to play 4 3/6 games both afternoon and evening for now. Maybe everyone else knew this but I did not, Party and Empire actually share the tables. I thought they were two different sites using the same software, but it’s just 1 big site as I found out when I tried to sit at the same table with davidross. The software is sophisticated enough to recognize that we are the same person and wouldn’t let me. So it’s the same games I love so much, only in blue. I played for 3 ½ hours in the afternoon, breaking even on my Empire tables and winning $100 on the Party tables. It was interesting to play completely anonymously, but I didn’t play any of the 2+2’ers anyway. The evening got off to a disastrous start. I rebought on 3 of 4 tables within 30 minutes of starting, and rebought again on one of the tables an hour later. But I got real hot on the remaining tables and won $550 an the empire tables, plus my $100 sign up bonus kicked in after 500 hands. I lost $230 on the Party tables but had a very comfortable $520 day putting me up $1,050 for the week despite being down $450 at paradise.

I had an interesting exchange under my alias on the following hand. I limped behind a couple of other guys with As 2s in LP. Another limper behind me then the BB raised. 5 of us saw the flop for 2 bets each. Flop was 8 6 2, no spades. BB checked and EP bet, got a call and I decided to call too. I’m getting 12 to 1 at least on the call and have 5 outs probably. I don’t think that’s overly loose. The guy on my left raises, BB folds and we all call. Turn is an A. I bet into the raiser who raises me again and fearing A8 I just call. I check call the river and beat his 86. He and another player start moaning about my calling his raise when I was a 20-1 underdog etc etc. He claimed his raise should have told me he had 2 pair or a set, and when I asked how I was supposed to know what he had, he told me it was just math. I’m not kidding. It was kind of fun.

I complained yesterday to Party support about a possible all-in abuse. It was a very small pot, where I flopped top pair from the blind with something like T2 on a T 5 3 board, and everyone folded to the button who timed out. River brought a K which made his hand good and he won a $15 pot. He was out for the next hand and right back in after that. I asked if he was having connection problems and he said yes, sorry. I sent it off to support and got an e-mail back this morning saying they reviewed all of his all-ins and suspect a pattern of abuse. They have warned him and restricted his reset ability. Of course I’m not getting any money back.

Betting into a scary board. I’m not sure what the lesson is here. I limp under the gun with 88, and the limping frenzy begins. 7 of us see the flop. Flop is 9 9 5 rainbow. Not the worst flop for me. After the blinds check I bet. Everyone folds to the button who just calls. In these games that scares me as usually everyone slow plays. Only 2 of us see the turn. Turn is a 3, completing rainbow. I bet again and he raises. I hate folding heads up, but it sure seems I’m beat here. Knee-jerk reaction though is to click call and my 8 comes on the river. I check raise him and he had K9. It’s easy to say he should have raised the flop and the slow play cost him, but when he raises me on the turn I’m getting 7 ½ to 1 on my call, not nearly enough to spike my 8 so I think his waiting for the turn is the correct play. And I’m not sure I would fold to the flop raise anyway, suspecting a play. So probably just an example of a suck-out.

A tough fold. My first Empire hand history. I open raise in EP with Ad Qc. Button cold calls and SB completes. BB folds. Flop is the lovely Ac As 6h. No slow play for me I bet out. Button raises and SB cold calls. Hmm. Even my simple math tells me there aren’t enough aces to go around, and there are no draws on the board. Maybe a pocket pair that doesn’t believe the A is out there. I 3 bet, button caps and SB calls again. If we were heads up I’d believe the button had an A and take my chances, but what could the SB have? It’s certainly starting to look like Ax in the blind, and 66 on the button. But I’m still not certain. Turn is a 2. I bet into him one more time, he raises and SB calls 2 more cold. I call again. River is a J. We check to the button who bets, and now the SB raises. Ding. Finally I fold and the button doesn’t believe it so he raises again and the SB caps it. He of course had AJ. Button did indeed have 66. I would have been prouder of my hand reading if I could have laid down to the turn raise, but I did save a couple of bets. And if I laid down on the turn and the Q had rivered…..

I have always been a huge sports fan. Hockey was my first love and I grew up in Montreal during the Canadiens hey day. I was 8 when the Expos joined the National league and my dad had season tickets for many years. I used to know all the players in all the leagues. Something happened over the last few years, it’s probably called life, and I no longer follow professional sports as closely. I still watch games now and then, but I don’t know half the players on any teams anymore. Maybe it’s players strikes or over inflated salaries or free agency. More likely I’ve just become more interested in my kids sports, because love watching amateur sports. I watch the local high school football team, and I took my kids to watch the city soccer teams this summer. The Olympics are the ultimate to me, especially the track and field, and the world cup of soccer is another favorite. Something about people competing for the sake of competing I guess. So my favorite team in the world right now is the Canadian women’s soccer team. I fell in love with them last summer when the under 19 world cup was held in Canada and the team went on an amazing tear only losing in the finals to a powerhouse American team on penalty kicks. Most of that team now plays for our national team and a lot of people thought that 2007 would be the year for this young team. One girl, Christine Sinclair is already the 6th ranked player in the world at age 19 and is clearly the future for our program along with a 16 year old from the town next to me. I have been so looking forward to the Women’s World cup which started last Saturday. We lost to Germany in the first game which was expected, but can still advance to the quarter finals with wins over Argentina and Japan. What was disappointing was how easily the Germans controlled the game, but I was hoping it was just jitters. We played Argentina last night and won 3-0, but again played terribly. We now have to beat Japan on Saturday to advance, a tie puts them through because they beat Argentina 6-0. I postponed my poker for 2 hours last night to watch the game, that’s how important it was.

Just when I thought I had turned a corner I got smacked down again. Thursday and Friday were the worst 2 days I’ve ever had, losing the proverbial 200 BB’s that we’re supposed to keep for such emergencies. I dropped over 700 on Thursday, all on my empire tables, and another 360 on Friday. I’m so frustrated it’s ridiculous. The only thing that helps is I went back and re-read my posts form my last 2 weeks of hell in June, and it made me realize that there isn’t much I can do about it except keep playing well. Saturday was a struggle for most of the evening until I finally went on a rush around 1:00 AM and managed to win $500. I finished the week up $464 for the 2nd straight disappointing week. But if I compare it to the 2 bad weeks in June when I lost $2,300 in 2 weeks this is miles better than that. My party tables had a good week, but Paradise and Empire killed me. The empire is just chance, since it’s the same tables as Party, but I’ll be curious to see if my results are affected at all by people not knowing me as davidross.

My Canadian girls played great last night in beating Japan, so we move on to the quarter finals against the winner of the Russia China match today.

What can you do. This is a perfect example of what happens to you when you’re running bad. I open raise in MP with AQo and only the BB plays. Flop is A T 5, 2 hearts. I bet and get check-raised by the BB. I 3 bet and he caps. Uh oh here we go again. Turn is the 9s. He bets and I just call. River is the Qh giving me my 2 pair, but putting what I suspect is his flush on board, so I just call his bet. He shows J8o for the straight. He 4 bet the flop with nothing, then went runner runner heads up. Sigh.

I lost to rivered sets 5 times on Thursday/Friday. Those are 2 outers. Then this hand came along. This is pretty wild.

I have AA in the SB and UTG raises. It is 3 bet from the button and I cap it. BB calls as do the other 2. Flop comes Ah Kh Tc. That’s probably hit someone. I bet, get called in 2 places and the button raises. I 3 bet, get called twice and the button caps it. We all call. Turn is the 3h. I bet into the flush board, one call and one fold and the button raises again. I finally slow down and just call. River is the ugly 9h putting 4 hearts on board. UTG now bets out and button raises. I swear, look for the dog who is way ahead of me and left the room, and finally come to my senses and fold saving 2 bb’s. UTG calls. Button wins it with a set of Kings. OMFG!!! I laid down the winner for $12 on a $153 pot. I’m an idiot. UTG had Qd 7d for A high and called the river bet, and I folded my set of A’s. When will I learn?

From the what is going on here department. I limped utg with 8c7c. Table was loose/passive enough I thought I could get away with it. 7 of us see the flop for 1 bet each. Flop is the lovely Ac Qc 9c. BB bets out and I raise. No pussy footing around with 2 cards to come. 3 folds and a 3 bet in LP. BB calls and I cap it. Both call. Turn is an offsuit 7. I bet, LP calls and now the BB raises. Uh oh. I decide to raise once more, I still can’t believe 2 of us flopped the flush. LP calls 2 more and BB caps it. We both call. River is 3h. BB bets. I just call and LP raises!! BB 3 bets and I make another crying call remembering my AA hand and the LP just calls. All 3 of us flopped the flush. BB had KJ, and LP had 54. Sigh!

This happened countless times this week and I still don’t know if I can fold it. I open raise AQ in LP. Button 3 bets. He has 3 bet with any A and any Pair I have discovered. BB calls 2 and we see the flop 3 handed. Flop is AT3 two diamonds. I bet, button raises and we both call again. Turn is a J. We check to the button who bets and we both call. River is another 3, no flush and again the button bets and we both call. He has AK and takes it down. So can you fold AQ when you are 3 bet pre-flop, and raised when the A flops? I think you have to pay the guy off here.

Well, I hope I have seen the worst of this run. The texture of the games seems different to me, but I wrote the same thing when I was losing last time. There seems to be more raising pre-flop making some of my pet hands a bad play. But essentially I think I just need a few river cards not to fall against me to turn these break even weeks into winners. I’m just not winning big pots right now, and I think most of my winnigs come from 1 or 2 big pots per day.

Week 23

Every time I think I’m out of my slump I get kicked in the teeth again. I came within $48 of losing my entire Empire buy in on Sunday night. My original play had been to build up the bankroll and play 3 Empire games and 1 Party game to maximize the rake-rebate. The $900 I lost at Empire on Thursday and Friday left me without enough of a buy in for 3 games so I’m playing 2 of each. Sunday night I got wiped out on one table and rebought on the other and was down to my last $48. I cannot transfer funds between Party and Empire so I had to do a withdrawal from Party to Neteller to make another deposit, and that will take some time. I was losing at Party as well and it looked like a horrible start to the week, but I made a bit of a comeback at Empire to finish down only $200 and with enough for 2 buy in’s at Empire still. Then on Monday I caught fire. A $200 afternoon and a $540 evening gave me a $740 day and put me up $540 for the week. It was my first day over $500 in 3 weeks, and it felt very good. I even lost two flopped full houses that would have made the win even bigger. On one I had TT on a flop of AAT and got run down by JJ when a J turned. And I had A5 on a flop of AA5 and got beat by AJ when a J rivered. And I have to be fair since I’ve been critical of Party’s cashout delays, my 1,000 was in my Neteller account in less than a day. I transferred it to Empire although after last night I probably won’t need it.

It seems like a lot of the truly horrible players are gone from Party, but all of the table “experts” are still there. Every night I have some guy telling everybody what they did right and wrong. How come they never seem to go bust?

Baseball playoffs start today. It’ll give me something to watch during my afternoon sessions. I haven’t watched one game yet this year, but I’ll keep a close eye on Pedro Martinez, one of the many former Expos we let go for next to nothing in order to save money. I’ll have to root for the Cubs too, wouldn’t that be a great World Series. Someone’s jinx would be broken.

I’m not going to tell anyone what my alias is on Empire for 3 weeks. I won’t confirm or deny any guesses during that time. I need to be more careful though, I made a familiar comment to a 2+2’er thinking I was on as davidross. He must have wondered who the hell I was. I’m pretty sure some of the guys that play 3/6 regularly will figure out who I am just by the number of times we play against each other.

This game seems so simple when your hands hold up. I missed a couple of river bets last night though due to my fear that I had been rivered. A hang over from last week no doubt. On Monday when I ran so bad at Empire I had won 5% of 600 hands. Last night I won 8% of 800 and had a huge win. But some of my big losses last week had me winning 10%. The numbers don’t tell the whole story I guess. I actually won some big pots yesterday.

You know the tide has turned when….

I limped behind 3 others in the CO with KJo. Button called too and the BB raised. We all called. Flop is Ac Jc 8s. BB bets out, and there are 2 calls before me. I’m getting 15-1 and decided to take one off without really thinking it through. This is another example of the problem you face playing multiple tables. I’m used to reading the board quickly, deciding that 15-1 is fine for middle pair to take one off so I call. If I think about it, there is a very good chance my K is not an out if the BB raiser has AK, a very real possibility, and I’m drawing nearly dead if he has AA. Probably a very bad call. Turn was the Jd. BB bet, 1 caller and I raised. BB raises me back, and we’re heads up. I just call starting to realize that I might be up against AA or at the least AJ (unlikely given the BB raise). River brings the case J. He bets, I raise and he just calls. He never uttered a word either.

Not 5 minutes later I have QQ in EP and raise an UTG limper. I get 3 bet on my left and 3 people call the 3 bet. I cap it and 5 of us see the flop. Flop is 7c 5s 2d. UTG bets, I raise and I’m 3 bet again on my left. This is a very bad sign. I know lot’s of players who will 3 bet AK pre-flop, but not on the flop. I think I am behind. One guy folds, but 2 others call the 3 bet as do I. Turn is the 6d. Now utg bets out. I just call, but the guy on my left raises again. LP calls cold again and utg caps it. Uh oh this is not good. I still call, and I can’t really explain why at this point. UTG might be making a play, but I know I’m beat on my left. I think this is a bad decision. 4 of us see the river. River is the Qs. UTg bets 1 chip all-in and I bump it up to 6, hoping to win the side pot at least. I get called by both guys. Guy on my left did have AA, so I cracked another AA hand. Unbelievable the guy who cold called the whole way had 77 for a flopped set. He never raised once. UTG who really chose the wrong time to try this, had 4c 2c, and was semi-bluffing in a horrible spot. $188 pot.

A good river bet.

I open raised 9s 9c in LP and both blinds called. Flop is Ah Ac Jc. I bet and 1 guy called. Turn is the 5c and I bet again. I know an A wouldn’t fold but a J might. No probably not. River is the Kc. Again I bet. He calls and had 66 with the 6c. Last week I probably would have checked the turn and river losing 2 bets.

When you’re in the middle of a slump you keep telling yourself that sometime soon all these river beats are going to stop and your big hands will all hold up. On Tuesday that happened. A $300 afternoon followed by a $650 evening and I had my biggest day since June, winning $950. Of course the bad side of winning big is you have to listen to all the whining about your hands holding up and theirs losing, but I guess I can live with that. Just to keep me off balance though on Wednesday I struggled again losing $300, but coming back nicely from a $600 deficit at one point. I’d love to know what my winning rate is between 1:00 AM and 3:00 AM. I’m sure I make more money then than at any other time. So I’m up $1,200 for the week.

Zoo tournament tonight and it’s no limit, which I love, but have no chance at against some of these sharks. I just need to stay away from MS Sunshine who has been my nemesis in these tourneys. Women’s soccer against China is tonight too so I will get a late start at Poker tonight.

Winter is coming. Oct 2nd and I had to turn on the heat today for the first time. Ice on the windshield this morning. Maybe I should go work for one of the online sites in the Caribbean.

JTrout is the first person to identify me under my Empire alias. I have no idea how he figured it out but he kept making subtle hints while we were seated together yesterday, and finally made a comment that only I would understand. I didn’t think it would take too long, but I didn’t expect it that quickly.

River bluff raise. I get bluffed at on the river a lot. I’m sure it happens 3 or 4 times a night where someone suddenly comes to life on the river with a raise, and I swear and call only to find out they have nothing. I just don’t fold on the river like that and I’m always surprised at the move. But maybe I need to re-think it. Yesterday I played the following hand. I have 77 in the BB and call an EP raiser, a poster who called and the SB. The flop is Q 8 2, two spades and it gets checked around. Turn is an offsuit J and I bet. Only the pre-flop raiser calls. River is a 3, no flush, and I check. One of my other screens pops up and I go to click on this window to make it active again and I click right where the raise button has appeared. The pre-flop raiser had bet, and I accidentally raised him. He types AJ in the window and folds. More than likely he had AK and I was good anyway, but it got me wondering if I shouldn’t try a river bluff more often.

A hand I’m very proud of. I have to set this one up. Another table expert has been spouting off. He claims to be a 15/30 online player who is only playing 3/6 to show his friend how to play, but we’re all so terrible he can’t teach him anything. Then he proceeds to top up his stack to $1,700 in chips to impress us. I resist the urge to bring 5 or 6 thousand to the table, or to ask how he plays 15/30 with such a small stack, but the whole table has turned on this guy. Expert open raises in EP and gets two cold calls. I’m in the SB with Ah Jh and I call too. BB plays and 5 of us see the flop. Flop is Qh Td 9s. I check, BB checks and the Expert checks too. MP bets out and LP folds. I decide to raise. I think the expert either has AK or a monster like QQ. If he has AK I want to put pressure on him to fold, and make my A good if it should fall. I f he calls or raises I will know he has a big hand, but I’m still drawing to the nuts with my open ender. I actually thought of all this before raising. 3 months ago those thoughts wouldn’t have entered my mind, I would play my draw as cheaply as possible. BB folds and so does the expert. MP calls. Turn is Qd, and I bet out carrying through on my semi-bluff. He calls. Damn. River is the Ts and I check. He checks behind me and my A is good. He had 87 for the other end of the straight draw. I’m almost positive my raise saved me half the pot.

I guess I haven’t turned the corner yet. Miserable days on Thursday and Friday saw me drop another $530 between the two days. Same old same old. For the first time in 6 months I’m not looking forward to playing. I seem to sit down and start losing right away. Most of my loss on Friday was on my single Party table. I checked my stats around 2:00 AM and I had played 300 hands, won 4%, 34% of my showdowns, seen 24% of the flops and won 17% of the flops I saw. On all me tables combined I flopped 11 sets, and lost 9 of them. I guess I’ve said it before, but I don’t remember ever being this frustrated. Every time I bet I cringe waiting for the raise. Thank god I had those two huge days or I’d be in big trouble. I’m still seeing a lot of bad play, so I don’t think the bad players are gone, but I do think there are more good players in these games. There is a lot more pre-flop raising going on and I’m getting caught with some of my favorite limping hands, having my implied odds killed. I need to make some adjustments. I also am getting pushed off hands. I folded 3 more winning hands yesterday, that would have been $150 in pots, two of them on the river. On one I was just completely outplayed by a guy who won a $80 pot with A8o unimproved in the BB. I had AK and folded to his river bet. He 3 bet pre-flop and 3 bet my flop raise. He then bet the turn and river in a 4 handed pot and amazingly he was called on the river by a K high.

I also misread a board for the first time that I can remember. I had the Kd on a board that had 4 diamonds including the A. I raised a river bet and he 3-bet me, I checked…saw that there was no straight flush and capped it. Unfortunately the A was a heart, not a diamond, and although I did have a flush, his A was better than my K. Doh!!

Made a good read on one of the few on-line tells we get. I raised pre-flop with JJ and got 3 bet by a straight forward player. 5 of us saw the flop which were under cards to my J’s. I bet and one of the guys took a long time to act. After he called the 3-bettor’s action raised immediately indicating he had clicked the raise check-box ahead of time. That was enough for me and I folded. He did have AA.

There is no doubt that the more people seeing the river, the stronger your hand has to be to win. The chances of 6 people seeing the river and one pair winning are pretty slim. SO on a night where I lost with 9 sets, this hand was remarkable.

UTG open raises and gets cold called. I call too with Qc Tc, and the calling frenzy is off. 7 of us see the flop. Flop is Th 8d 4d. 3 checks to me including the pre-flop raiser and I bet my top pair. All 6 call me. Turn is 5s. Again checked to me and I bet and I get 5 callers. I’m going crazy now. All night I can’t seem to dhake people when I’m ahead, and unless I improve it’s pretty unlikely my 1 pair is going to be good. River is 3s. Again I bet, and all 5 fold. $103 pot. Unbelievable.

This hand sent me to bed. MP raises and a cold call. I’m on the button with TT and I call too. Flop comes Ad Td 9c. Another set. Bet and a call to me, and I get cute and just call. I’m almost positive there will be a bet to me on the turn and I will be able to raise the expensive street. Turn is Ac. Again a bet and a call and I raise. MP folds, but LP raises me. I’m sure he doesn’t have AA, he would have 3 bet pre-flop, so A9 would seem to be the only hand I need to fear (AT is unlikely) so I cap it. He calls. River is Jd. He checks and I bet. He raises, and I just new the J killed me. I just called and sure enough AJ. Every big pot I’ve played for 3 weeks seems to end up like this. I get all the money in while I’m ahead, but KABOOM on the river. Sigh. Tomorrow’s another day.

I crashed out of the Zoo tourney early. Some pretty bad play on my part led to my downfall. I started with MS Sunshine on my left and the empty seat on my right was soon filled by Lorinda, giving me truly horrible position. Lorinda is a truly gifted tournament player who has been dominating the Zoo tourneys. She is also a great supporter of all the 2+2 regulars. She will stay up all night to watch a tournament if one of our own is participating. She is very outspoken and doesn’t suffer fools gladly though as I discovered a long time ago. I’m sure she doesn’t remember this but In early 2002, when I had been playing for only a couple of months, Paradise had a promotion on for someone to win a seat in the WSOP main event. In order to qualify you had to play a crazy number of single table tournaments and do well. I was only vaguely aware a promotion was on and vertainly wasn’t trying to qualify. But I did play a $10 tournament and Lorinda was in the same tournament. In the 1st two rounds she went all in 4 times. I understand now the strategy was to double up early and have a great chance of winning, or get knocked out and start again. 4th place was the worst thing that could happen to you if you wanted to qualify for the WSOP seat. Of course to me it just looked like a maniac was risking their whole stack for $25 in blinds. 3 times she won the blinds and the 4th time she was called and her AK lost to a pocket pair. I typed in the chat box “That was just a matter of time” or words to that effect and she went off her nut on me. Calling me names I didn’t think genteel English women even knew. She was steamed enough at me that she stayed to watch the rest of the tournament and give me another barrel when I busted out (4th or 2nd I can’t remember which). Shortly after that I noticed her name on posts at 2+2 and over time I have completely changed my opinion of her. I admire her in every way now.

Back to the tourney, it was very tight at first. I won a few hands without showdowns with AK and KK, no callers, and I lost a few limps when I folded to big raises behind me. I had some tough decisions in my BB with AT and A9 against a button raise, hands I would play in a ring game, I folded here. My first mistake was a free play in the BB where I had Ks 8s heads up against an EP limp. Flop came 874 rainbow and I checked. I think the pot had $75 in it. He bet $90 and I raised him 90. He raised me 90 more and I called. I have to fold to his re-raise. I showed strength and he came right back at me. DO I really want to go to war with a pair of 8’s? This same problem plagues me in ring games too. I seem to feel everyone is making plays at me when it doesn’t make any sense for them to do so. A J turned and I checked. He bet 200 and I called again. A T rivered making a straight possible, lucky for me he checked and showed a set of 4’s. About 500 came out of my stack instead of the 200 I probably should have lost. Very soon after that I limped with Qh Jh, completely forgetting what trouble hands they are in No Limit. I’m sure a great player can play them properly, but for someone like me who is better off just pushing all-in, it’s a tough hand. Sure enough Sunshine made a big raise behind me and I called it (Mistake number 2). Flop came T high with 2 hearts. Sunshine pushed all-in. I had him covered by 70, and I had odds to draw for the flush so I called. He had 88 soI had more outs than I thought, actually a favorite to win I believe with 14 outs twice (He had 8h), but none of my outs hit and I was down to the felt. Then my comeback began. In my BB for 50 Lorinda raised me from the SB with T7. I had 86 and a rivered 8 doubled me up to 140. I went all in with AK and was called by 99. QJT on board gave me a straight and I doubled up again to 280. A few hands later I went all-in again with 88 and they held up for me and I had 560. A few orbits went by where I was able to win the blinds and stay even. I ran a blind steal with AJ and got called by a small pair. An A flopped and I had chips again. I immediately resolved to play a little more conservatively and of course I got KK on the very next hand. One raiser in front of me and I raised him. He pushed all-in and I called. He had AQs and I looked pretty good until an A flopped and just like that I was out. That’s no-limit.

Saturdays are going to kill me. After being up until 3:30 AM Friday night, I had to get up at 7:00 to drive my eldest to her job at the barn. My youngest had a soccer practice at 9:00, and my younger son had soccer at 3:00. My older boy had hockey at 4:00 so I dropped son #2 off, drove # 1 to his game and then went back to pick up #2 and then go back to watch the game. Finally my youngest was invited to a friends to watch a movie Sat. Night so she had to be driven again. I feel like a bus driver. This is my reality for the winter. Anyone thinking about having 4 kids keep that in mind.

Saturday night poker started out like the last 3 weeks. Winning small pots and losing all the big ones. I was ahead on 1 table but well behind on the other 3. Finally I got some cards and go t a little ahead, then lost 3 huge pots in 5 minutes to be down again. My frustration was ready to spill over. Then I started winning again. I made the same hands, but now they held up. I am happy to report I manaded a $325 win to put me just over $1,000 for the week. That’s the 3rd week in a row I’ve finished below my target and I need to get back on track.

Soccer semi-finals tonight. Canada upset China and plays Sweden tonight. The 2 best teams USA and Germany play in the other semi. I can’t wait.

I am concerned about the long term viability of making a living at this. I don’t know if a) I’m just running bad, b) I was just running good before and this is normal, or c) the games are getting tougher. I think it’s a combination of A and C. There don’t seem to be as many bad players cold calling and chasing lately, and there is certainly more pre-flop raising going on. But I seem to be getting unlucky as well. All my big hands seem to be when I’m first in, allowing everyone to fold. I guess we’ll have to wait and see

Week 24

What a great weekend for sports watching. Exciting finishes to the baseball 1st round and both the Cubs and Red Sox advance. The 2 NFL games I saw, the Bills won in overtime and the unbelievable comeback by Indianapolis last night against Tampa. And the disappointment of the Women’s world cup where my Canadian girls led with only 11 minutes left before giving up 2 late goals to lose 2-1. They’ll play the US for 3rd place. And this week the participatory sports start in our family. Hockey for my oldest boy, and indoor soccer for my younger 2 kids. And Curling season begins for me tonight.

Because I watched the women’s soccer on Sunday night I got a late start at Poker. I played for around 3 hours and had a break even night, with a big win on my lone Party table, but losses at Empire. I’m surprised how often I’m losing big at a table lately, but I think it indicates that it’s not bad play that’s killing me. You don’t lose 200 or 300 dollars at one 3/6 table because of a few bad starting hands. You’re losing some big pots and that’s what seems to keep happening to me. Monday afternoon started out slowly and I was down $200 very quickly, but then I ran real hot and posted a $350 win. Unfortunately I slumped again in the evening and lost $100 of it back. So up $250 for the 2 days.

Curling will cut into my playing time on Tuesday nights. I’ll have to see if I will try to make up the missed hours somewhere else. I do think it’s important for me to keep some semblance of my real life though and keep participating in these activities. For those of you not familiar with curling, it’s played on ice, but not on skates, and 40 lb stones are thrown from one end of the ice to the other, trying to get them closest to a target. Two teams of 4 players each take turns throwing and one team scores in each “end”. We play 8 ends (competitive competitions play 10 ends) and it takes 2 hours to play. We then retire to the lounge for a beverage or three and generally have a good time. It’s not a physically demanding sport, but I will be sore in the legs (hopefully not the knee) tomorrow. I play with 3 guys who have been friends since we were teenagers and it’s something I look forward to. Once upon a time we were pretty good, playing at a provincial level, but that was a long time ago. We are however one of the best teams in our club, winning 3 club championships in a row, but losing in the semi-finals last year.

I keep reviewing my results looking for some indication as to why I’m struggling so much lately. When I started this experiment in April I was winning usually 5 or 6 days each week. That was back in April/May when Paradise had promotions running for the WSOP and the games were very soft. In June I started losing more and not coincidentally the games were tougher as the promotions ended. So I switched to Party where I won for 21 days straight in very soft games. Then I introduced Paradise back into the mix and started struggling again, but almost exclusively at Paradise. I was still winning 5 or 6 days of the week at Party. So I dropped Paradise for Empire, but I have continued to struggle. I’m still winning but at a much reduced rate. In the 14 days since I started playing 4 tables full time I have 7 wins and 7 losses at Party, and 6 wins and 8 losses at Empire. Fortunately the wins are usually bigger than the losses but I’m not sure I can ignore the implications. Is the 4th table killing me, or is this a normal fluctuation that I should have expected? I can’t ignore the possibility for much longer.

I’m glad curling started again. When I went out Tuesday night I realized that since soccer ended in August I really haven’t been doing anything except play poker. It was good to get out into civilization again. We won our game and I played pretty well. My legs are a little sore but not too bad.

I had a good day on Tuesday winning $420 in the afternoon, but losing a little Tuesday night to end the day up $385. I had a horrible run on my single Party table in the evening, losing $350 on the one table. I won only 3% of my 350 hands played. It was unbelievable. Good hand after good hand cracked. Fortunately I ran well enough on the other tables to almost break even for the session. Wednesday was more of the same, all day. I won nicely on the Empire tables but lost big at Party. Playing 1 party table I have rebought 8 times in 3 sessions. I ended Wednesday down $40 because of the $460 loss at Party. It was a very disappointing finish to the evening as I had been up over $750 on the Empire tables at one point before running really bad in the last 2 hours. I’m up $580 for the week.

The mood is not too good in the davidross household right now. My wife has been working a lot of nights and is sleep deprived. She is stressed about her performance review that will be given at the end of this work term next week. And for the first time since I started this experiment I had trouble sleeping last night. I’m very worried about the lack of results lately. I still have some hope for a rebound, but I’m really not all that confident right now. I can’t keep blaming bad cards, although with simply break even results on my single Party table the last 2 days I’d be having a very good week. My $40/hr times have certainly gone, and even $25/hr looks good right now. It is probably time to make some phone calls about full time employment again. I won’t be able to last too long making $600 / week.

I got my first rake rebate payment. I have 7 days played in September and I received $178. That will mean close to $800 / month if I keep playing at the same rate. I also signed myself up as an affiliate at both Party and Empire. A few people had asked if I was an affiliate so I decided to go ahead in case anyone else asks in the future. If you haven’t tried Party or Empire yet, I’ll be pleased to enroll you and give you back 75% of your rake rebates.

I downloaded the demo of poker tracker and loaded the 1000 hands it lets you load without buying it. I just can’t decide if I will really use the results when I play or not. I’m an information junkie so you would think I would. Does anyone know whether you can auto download from 2 sites at the same time? I liked that feature, I will never remember to ask for hand histories every 100 hands, and I set it up to down load from Empire, but I missed the Party hands.

The perils of multiple tables. I don’t believe I’ve ever done this before. I arrange my tables so all 4 are on the screen at once. On the 2 tables on the left of my screen I was dealt K9s and KK at the same time. I was folding a hand on the right side of the screen and came back to raise my KK. Whoops, I raised the K9s, and got called in 3 places. Check fold on the flop and $6 wasted.

KK was my hand last night, and it seemed I needed to make a set to win. One hand I had KK against 2 players, and they both had AA. I made a lot of sets last night though and most of them held up, which makes it even more difficult to accept a losing night.

In this hand I had K5s in the BB. There was an EP raise and 2 cold calls so I called too. Flop was Kc 6c 3d. I checked to see what was out there and the raiser bet out. He was raised by MP and a fold on the button. I should fold here but I decided to see the turn with the diamond on board plus the chance of hitting my kicker. I think I’m doing too much chasing lately trying to hit big hands. This is a pretty lame play. Turn was the Th, and I check folded to the MP bet. After the river 9d, the MP won with K2!!!! I would have chopped, but still think I played it poorly.

Capped on every street…until I was winning. I have KK again, utg this time and I raise. I get 3 bet in EP and capped by the BB. I call and so does EP. Flop is Ks Qs Td. Sure looks good to me, and I’ll probably get lots of action, but I sure don’t want to see a 9 or A. BB bets, and I raise. EP 3 bets again, and BB caps it. We both call. Okay, I have some concern about AJ, but there’s a very good chance QQ or TT are out there, plus AK or even just a spade draw with a J. Turn is the 3d. Same action. BB bets, I raise, EP 3 bets and BB caps. Someone is out of line here. AJ must be out there as the possibility of KK has to have entered their minds, but what does the other guy have? River is the beautiful Qc. Although QQ is one of the hands I thought was out there, I bet following the BB check. I get called by both. Phew. AJ was in EP and Ts 9s in the BB. Can’t say I like the way he played that.

Maybe all I have to do is complain. After worrying so much on Wednesday night, I finally had a few days of good results. Thursday I managed to win $380, most of it in the afternoon, and Friday was another $320 win. Last night I posted another $270 win despite losing over $100 on each of 2 tables, I had big wins on the other 2. In fact I have now had 6 straight winning days on the Empire account which should be the best indicator of my results since it’s ¾ of my play. I’ve ended the week ahead $1,550. Amazingly it’s the first time in 13 weeks I have made between 1,000 and 2,000 dollars. Every other week has been over $2,000, or under $1,000.

I have tightened up considerably lately in reaction to the games being tougher. I’m using my 5/10 strategy now in the 3/6 games. The adjustments include;

1) Not playing ATo or KQo from the 1st 2 positions.
2) Limping with AJo in EP.
3) Dropping pairs 66 and under and suited connectors below T9 unless I have 2 limpers ahead of me.

Every once in a while I find myself in a game more like the old 3/6 games and then I will revert to the looser style of play. It feels so good to actually win for a few days in a row. My concentration has been better and so has my patience. Of course it’s easier when all your good hands aren’t getting cracked.

The Canadian girls were beat by a very strong US team for 3rd place yesterday, but they achieved beyond all expectations. Watch out for them in 2007 and at the Olympics next year. My daughter’s indoor team lost their first game and they don’t look very strong. This will be a new experience for her as she has lost less than 10 times in 3 years of soccer combined.

Canadian Thanksgiving is this weekend, we are having good friends over for turkey tonight. That usually involves some alcohol being consumed..ok a lot of alcohol. I am seriously considering taking a day off from poker. We’ll see how it goes. Maybe I’ll just watch basebrawl. I’ll never forget Pedro throwing Zimmer to the ground.

I don’t usually do this. I open raised in LMP with AJo. I get cold called by a suspected bad player in LP and everyone else folded. Flop comes T 7 4 with 2 diamonds. I bet and he calls. Turn is an offsuit 7. I bet and he calls again. River is a Kd putting the possible flush on the board. Normally I won’t bet this river against a bad player for 2 reasons.

1) he won’t fold anything better than me
2) He won’t remember my bluff later and pay me off on a good hand.

But I bet this river anyway. He called and I assumed I was beat. I was shocked to see the chips sliding my way. He had A8o. I liked him in my game.

Playing a semi-bluff very aggressively.

I am in the SB with T9o. 3 people limp and I call too. BB gets the free play. First a little history. BB is one of about 5 players I have flagged who seem to try and push me around. I admittedly play a little weak tight and can be quick to laydown a hand against normal players who show a lot of strength. Pretty good hands too. So these players quite often raise me no matter what. They 3 bet my raises, and raise my bets post-flop. They are also quick to fold if I fire back. I think I use this to my advantage. In this hand the flop came 8 7 7 giving me the open ended draw plus 2 overcards. I bet out and the BB raised me. For anyone who watches me, I also bet out with trips from the blinds almost all the time. We get one cold caller and I 3 bet. I will 3 bet this one against 2 players all the time, and against this particular player I would do it no matter what with my hand, but against a normal player, heads up I would just call and draw here. BB folds, as I thought he might, but LP calls. Turn was a Q. I bet and he called again. The board was rainbow so he’s not on a flush draw. River is a 3h. I bet again and he folded. Phew. Pretty nice pot.

Here’s what I mean by Weak tight. I open raised in MP with ATo and everyone behind me calls. Yikes. 5 of us see the scary flop of Ks Qh Ts. I have no spades. The blinds check to me and I check too. There is no way this flop missed everyone. It gets checked behind me too. Turn is 6c. Again it gets checked around. River is the 8s. Checked again to the button who bets. The BB calls him and I fold. I would have called the button but with 2 of them in I’m sure someone has a Q or weak K. Oops. Button had 44 and BB had T9. $40 went the wrong way.

Let’s hope for another strong week.