Cash game report

I am uber proud of myself. i feel like i passed a bridge in my career.


so the game was hot, i bought in for 400, had about 400 when a few hands in a row happened

i had in the sb folded to me, i raised the big blind to 6. bb called. flop





i bet 7, get a call, turn




bingo

i check

bb checks

river




i love my hand, theres about 25 bucks in the pot, and i decide to check

he bets 12 bucks. this is what i was waiting for, the big blind is a station, who always thinks i am bluffing. so his stationness is doubled when im paying. i make it 90, he insta calls and mucks his hand.


he starts screaming at me "you suck man, your so lucky"

now i could have explained to him that the only time he put in a bet was when he was behind but i decided to keep it to myself. i beat him a few more hands, and he beat me some, then it came down to this


im bb, were 5 handed. 2 people limp, i make it 10 total with . what im looking for is tilty bb to call and others to fold. i get exactly that, dream flop




i bet 25, about the pot. dan has 240 left and i have him covered. the reason for this bet is, he can either think im bluffing, or have an ace, or have a draw, and all of that hell play strongly, i really wanna get all the money in right here. no point in letting cards come off. he makes it 70, perfect

im all in.....

he instantly calls me and shows




turn card



river blanks

now this guy, the entire time, berates me, gives me shit, calls me names...

and i show incredibly maturity, counting out my chips as if i was supposed to lose that pot. gave it to him


he states

"that was a bad beat"

and finally he says
"sorry about earlier (the hand i showed where i had a strait) , i made a set on the flop and i had a good board, thats why i was mad"


the game went on very friendly, i got down to 160 bucks, then this happened


i have , were 3 handed. button bets 8, im sb and call as well as the big blind.

flop

i check, bb checks, button makes it 18 and i call, and bb raises 69 more. sb moves in

lets play math, as it turned out i had 130 bucks, and was sure bb was playing


24+63+69+69= 225, i got 130 in my stack, and i know dan is calling, but even if he doesnt, im still getting odds on the button player (barily)

so 225+69(mine) +60(his) +60(mine) = $414 is in the pot so it cost me 130 to win 284. meaning i have to be 31% or better, which i am...

now the kicker

dans 60 he will owe the pot if he calls (which im sure he is)

now its 130 to win 344 meaning i have to be 27% or better.

so i moved in. both players also got all in which i expected. and everything blanked, so that was the night for me. im still very happy how i handled myself when things went south.

thanks for reading

Issues

Full tilt recently found out that i have an old account that i deleted a while ago. So they immediatley took down my new account and re opened my old one. this is bad for many reasons, most importantly i will not be recieving rakeback unless i get them to change their rule.

Tournament Takedown!

i might write a tournament report later. im exhausted.

a few bad beats, rereading to calm down

ive been taking a few beats lately and havent really had much to blog about so i thought id throw an old tournament report on. enjoy.


i played a live tournament tonight 70+15, 15 payed rake, pizza, and drinks. its run pretty well.

everyone stars off with 5k, tyop 5 pay out, 40 entered.


ok so i start off playing well, one guy i recoginzed from a long time ago. andyway he raised and i reraised with q10, he mucked and asked me to show so i did. he was al il disgruntled about that, but it wasnt many chips.

well never next hand i flop trips and get paid off probably because of it, now i got about 8500. a lot of boring hands, juss bluffs for small pots. and then i caught some guy bluffing me. then bluffed him back, then value bet him later, then finally took him out. i really had a field day with that player.

anyway most stuff was boring till the final table, my hands were just holding up which was really helpful. so we sit down at final table, ive got about 35k chip leader has around 50. my friend i recognized also made the final table.and one early hand. one limp, chip leader makes it 4500 to go. blinds 500/1000. my friend had about 30,000, which was pretty solid. anyway he looked at his cards, took a while to think, and said. "i think i picked up another read on you, ok im all in" to me this just stank aces. the chip leader immediatly calls and flips KQ, and as for my friend, i was right he had aces. so now ive got his tell.


eventually we get down to 4 players. im chip leader. now we got my friend , some nice guy who always wants to get in as a statistcal favorite, and a quiet guy with about 55,000 chips.


i needed information on the quiet guy, i wanted to figure out what kind of person he really was. so i teased him a bit. "why do you keep babblin on and on? cant u shut up for like 2 minutes?"


im looking for one of two things here

he laughs and has a good time with it= a nice guy, trying to have a good time, very easy to steal his blinds cuz he just likes sticking around and seeing flops.

or

he gets brash, might say something rude to me, might put a bounty on my head just for pride- this means hes going to be willing to put expected value out of the way to try and take me down a peg.


now these are both sterotypes but ive found them to be true to a great extent.

anyway, he laughed, he had a good time with it. bingo! so i start robbing his blinds, everytime he limps i jus pop ti n he mucks.

so i bluffed my other friend about 3 or 4 times, and finally i was dealt KQ, i raised he called, the flop was

882
i bet 5k, yhe moved all in for about 40k, i mucked, he showed 44. now ive got him. hes pushing based on how comfortable he is with his hand, not thinking about chip stacks. so here is the turning point


me-65k
him-45k

2k-4k blinds.

i get dealt 99 on the button
i make it 8 to go jus thinking ill get the shortstack in cuz he only had about 12. to my surprise my friend moves all in for 45k. i take a long time thinking about it, if he had AK AQ, hed consider more options, if he had AA KK QQ JJ, hed be talking me into a call like ive seen him do many times before. i get the feeling, hes comfortable, but only because he thinks im mucking cuz i was on a steal



"i call, im not sure man i was puttin you on sevens"

he flips exactly sevens. the room goes nuts. i win the hand take a monster chip lead, and win the tournament, $1,100

it was a lot of fun and really well set up




thanks for reading

Art of the the bluff

Full Tilt Poker Game #2360883807: Table Ahey (heads up) - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:08:00 ET - 2007/05/05
Seat 1: Figurine ($396)
Seat 2: XYZ123456 ($124)
Figurine posts the small blind of $2
XYZ123456 posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Figurine [2c 5h]
Figurine raises to $12
XYZ123456 calls $8
*** FLOP *** [8h Tc Ah]
XYZ123456 checks
Figurine bets $17
XYZ123456 calls $17
*** TURN *** [8h Tc Ah] [9h]
XYZ123456 bets $23
Figurine raises to $367, and is all in
XYZ123456 folds
Uncalled bet of $344 returned to Figurine
Figurine mucks
Figurine wins the pot ($103.50)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $104 | Rake $0.50
Board: [8h Tc Ah 9h]
Seat 1: Figurine (small blind) collected ($103.50), mucked
Seat 2: XYZ123456 (big blind) folded on the Turn

heres a pretty good example of a bluff imo. our story adds up. we raise before the flop to show strength. flop comes with our strength card (ace) and we lead out representing it. he calls. turn card puts a 3 flush on board. theres 60 bucks in the pot and he bets 23.


hands he can have

1 pair

strait (no hearts)

Ax

a draw


1 pair he will lay down
Ax he might even lay down.
a draw hell probably lay down as well.



the only thing to be afraid of is the strait and maybe the top pair. here is the other beauty about this bluff. we have the five of hearts. if he calls and dosent have a heart, and a heart rivers. we win with the flush. its common for people to feel like if there a 3 flush on board and they have a low card that its not a "serious" flush draw because your opponent could have a higher one. but when bluffing and failing this could save you 30% of the time.


the problem i see in unexperienced poker is "yeah i knew he had something i just wanted him to fold."

thats bad thinkin, the times you should bluff your opponents is when they have nothing, but their nothing beats your nothing. bluffing someone off a big hand without a scary board is very hard to do, you should try to bluff your opponents off medium strength to weak hands.


Full Tilt Poker Game #1857509618: Table Vita (heads up) - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 17:26:12 ET - 2007/02/23
jozexb posts the small blind of $2
JackDrinker posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to JackDrinker [Ah 5c]
jozexb raises to $12
JackDrinker raises to $36
jozexb calls $24
*** FLOP *** [9d 8s 6c]
JackDrinker bets $52
jozexb calls $52
*** TURN *** [9d 8s 6c] [2c]
JackDrinker checks
jozexb bets $132
JackDrinker raises to $312, and is all in
jozexb folds
Uncalled bet of $180 returned to JackDrinker
JackDrinker mucks
JackDrinker wins the pot ($439.50)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $440 | Rake $0.50
Board: [9d 8s 6c 2c]
Seat 1: JackDrinker (big blind) collected ($439.50), mucked
Seat 2: jozexb (small blind) folded on the Turn



in this case he bet pre and i tried to take it down unsucsesfully. then the flop coame out and i fired with a gut shot, he called and that tels me he thinks i have AK or AQ but is not sure. the turn comes a blank. if he had a set. he would of raised the flop, so we can rule that out he has 77 1010 JJ AK AQ. i check too see what he does, if he checks, i give up on the hand. butt he makes a bet about 3/4 the pot. now i know hes smart, so i raise thinking he will think that i am jus deciding my KK or AA is good right here. and thats what i think he put me on and mucked his cards. also, if he is a bad player (which we wouldnt try this on) and calls with like JJ, we have 7 outs

A few heads up hands with a tricky player

heres a quick hh on how to deal with tricky opponents. tricky opponents can be good or bad, their variance is ussally high. they make min bets and weird raises and call with nothing to steal later.


Full Tilt Poker Game #2358990901: Table Nido (heads up) - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 17:25:12 ET - 2007/05/05
Seat 1: Figurine ($225.50)
Seat 2: texas687 ($301.80)
texas687 posts the small blind of $2
Figurine posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Figurine [7h Ts]
texas687 calls $2
Figurine raises to $12
texas687 calls $8
*** FLOP *** [Qd 4h 7d]
Figurine bets $12
texas687 calls $12
*** TURN *** [Qd 4h 7d] [9c]
Figurine bets $27
texas687 raises to $54
Figurine calls $27
*** RIVER *** [Qd 4h 7d 9c] [As]
Figurine checks
texas687 bets $90
Figurine calls $90
*** SHOW DOWN ***
texas687 shows [2c Tc] (Ace Queen high)
Figurine shows [7h Ts] (a pair of Sevens)
Figurine wins the pot ($335.50) with a pair of Sevens
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $336 | Rake $0.50
Board: [Qd 4h 7d 9c As]
Seat 1: Figurine (big blind) showed [7h Ts] and won ($335.50) with a pair of Sevens
Seat 2: texas687 (small blind) showed [2c Tc] and lost with Ace Queen high



ok now on the river, im begging him to throw in a big bet here. what can he possibly have if he bets here


if he had a queen or a nine, he checks the river. if he has an ace, he doesnt bet so much because he would
1. be scared and 2. want to bet for value.

this bet just screams bluff



Full Tilt Poker Game #2359035775: Table Nido (heads up) - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 17:31:41 ET - 2007/05/05
Seat 1: Figurine ($211.70)
Seat 2: texas687 ($310.20)
texas687 posts the small blind of $2
Figurine posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Figurine [8c Kh]
texas687 calls $2
Figurine raises to $12
texas687 calls $8
*** FLOP *** [Ac 9h 8s]
Figurine bets $12
texas687 calls $12
*** TURN *** [Ac 9h 8s] [2d]
Figurine checks
texas687 bets $16
Figurine calls $16
*** RIVER *** [Ac 9h 8s 2d] [3d]
Figurine checks
texas687 bets $40
Figurine calls $40
*** SHOW DOWN ***
texas687 shows [Jd 5c] (Ace Jack high)
Figurine shows [8c Kh] (a pair of Eights)
Figurine wins the pot ($159.50) with a pair of Eights
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $160 | Rake $0.50
Board: [Ac 9h 8s 2d 3d]
Seat 1: Figurine (big blind) showed [8c Kh] and won ($159.50) with a pair of Eights
Seat 2: texas687 (small blind) showed [Jd 5c] and lost with Ace Jack high



again, what can he have. it seemed to me like he had 107 this hand, but keep in mind these players will often call with nothing to make a play later.


now what he should of done on hand #1 was


Full Tilt Poker Game #2359050878: Table Nido (heads up) - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 17:33:58 ET - 2007/05/05
Seat 1: Figurine ($286.70)
Seat 2: texas687 ($232.80)
Figurine posts the small blind of $2
texas687 posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Figurine [Jh 3d]
Figurine raises to $12
texas687 calls $8
*** FLOP *** [7d 9h 8d]
texas687 checks
Figurine checks
*** TURN *** [7d 9h 8d] [Qc]
texas687 bets $10
Figurine calls $10
*** RIVER *** [7d 9h 8d Qc] [As]
texas687 bets $16
Figurine raises to $62
texas687 folds
Uncalled bet of $46 returned to Figurine
Figurine mucks
Figurine wins the pot ($75.50)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $76 | Rake $0.50
Board: [7d 9h 8d Qc As]
Seat 1: Figurine (small blind) collected ($75.50), mucked
Seat 2: texas687 (big blind) folded on the River



its a scary board to start, a scare card comes, then another scare card comes, this is where you should be bluffing if you don't think you opponent is cappable of putting it in with just a pair of eights.



Full Tilt Poker Game #2359069089: Table Nido (heads up) - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 17:36:45 ET - 2007/05/05
Seat 1: Figurine ($293.95)
Seat 2: texas687 ($223.15)
Figurine posts the small blind of $2
texas687 posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Figurine [3h Js]
Figurine raises to $12
texas687 calls $8
*** FLOP *** [6h 3s 2h]
texas687 bets $13
Figurine raises to $26
texas687 calls $13
*** TURN *** [6h 3s 2h] [9d]
texas687 checks
Figurine checks
*** RIVER *** [6h 3s 2h 9d] [7d]
texas687 bets $60
Figurine calls $60
*** SHOW DOWN ***
texas687 shows [4h Ac] (Ace Nine high)
Figurine shows [3h Js] (a pair of Threes)
Figurine wins the pot ($195.50) with a pair of Threes
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $196 | Rake $0.50
Board: [6h 3s 2h 9d 7d]
Seat 1: Figurine (small blind) showed [3h Js] and won ($195.50) with a pair of Threes
Seat 2: texas687 (big blind) showed [4h Ac] and lost with Ace Nine high



this is what i figured, he min raises with a draw, i figure hes putting me on a 6 here and with all those scare cards coming, i wont be able to call him. unless he had 79 hearts this is almost always a bluff.






now this one was just silly


Full Tilt Poker Game #2359081655: Table Nido (heads up) - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 17:38:36 ET - 2007/05/05
Seat 1: Figurine ($346.45)
Seat 2: texas687 ($168.75)
Figurine posts the small blind of $2
texas687 posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Figurine [Ah 6c]
Figurine raises to $12
texas687 calls $8
*** FLOP *** [Qd Qh 2s]
texas687 checks
Figurine bets $16
texas687 raises to $32
Figurine calls $16
*** TURN *** [Qd Qh 2s] [2d]
texas687 bets $60
Figurine raises to $302.45, and is all in
texas687 folds
Uncalled bet of $242.45 returned to Figurine
Figurine mucks
Figurine wins the pot ($207.50)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $208 | Rake $0.50
Board: [Qd Qh 2s 2d]
Seat 1: Figurine (small blind) collected ($207.50), mucked
Seat 2: texas687 (big blind) folded on the Turn


i raise he calls, flop QQ2 i bet and he raises, again indicating he might have a draw, my a is probably good. so i call turn is a 2. now hes betting? practically the pot. what can he possibly be comfortable here with AND want me out of the hand. 60 dollars is just too much for him to have a house, which is all he can be holding.

The Full Tilt roll

I forgot to mention, i am now playing under the alias "Figurine". Here is a hand that was "played" this afternoon


Full Tilt Poker Game #2346353096: Table Goal (heads up) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:10:26 ET - 2007/05/03
Seat 1: sas25501 ($125.70)
Seat 2: Figurine ($116.30)
Figurine posts the small blind of $1
sas25501 posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Figurine [Ac Ad]
Figurine raises to $6
sas25501 raises to $125.70, and is all in
Figurine calls $110.30, and is all in
sas25501 shows [Kc Js]
Figurine shows [Ac Ad]
Uncalled bet of $9.40 returned to sas25501
*** FLOP *** [9d Jc 8c]
*** TURN *** [9d Jc 8c] [5s]
*** RIVER *** [9d Jc 8c 5s] [Kh]
sas25501 shows two pair, Kings and Jacks
Figurine shows a pair of Aces
sas25501 wins the pot ($232.10) with two pair, Kings and Jacks
sas25501: sry
Figurine is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $232.60 | Rake $0.50
Board: [9d Jc 8c 5s Kh]
Seat 1: sas25501 (big blind) showed [Kc Js] and won ($232.10) with two pair, Kings and Jacks
Seat 2: Figurine (small blind) showed [Ac Ad] and lost with a pair of Aces



that was a sick one, but heres one i think I played well.


zoah wrote a good article on why we bet our big hands.

heres a good example + the combination of knowing your opponent




Full Tilt Poker Game #2348019365: Table Aire (heads up) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:08:27 ET - 2007/05/04
Seat 1: Kramerica Ltd ($173.10)
Seat 2: Figurine ($125.70)
Figurine posts the small blind of $1
Kramerica Ltd posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Figurine [7c 4h]
Figurine raises to $6
Kramerica Ltd calls $4
*** FLOP *** [7d 2s 7s]
Kramerica Ltd checks
Figurine bets $12
Kramerica Ltd raises to $167.10, and is all in
Figurine calls $107.70, and is all in
Kramerica Ltd shows [Ah 2c]
Figurine shows [7c 4h]
Uncalled bet of $47.40 returned to Kramerica Ltd
*** TURN *** [7d 2s 7s] [4c]
*** RIVER *** [7d 2s 7s 4c] [8c]
Kramerica Ltd shows two pair, Sevens and Twos
Figurine shows a full house, Sevens full of Fours
Figurine wins the pot ($250.90) with a full house, Sevens full of Fours
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $251.40 | Rake $0.50
Board: [7d 2s 7s 4c 8c]
Seat 1: Kramerica Ltd (big blind) showed [Ah 2c] and lost with two pair, Sevens and Twos
Seat 2: Figurine (small blind) showed [7c 4h] and won ($250.90) with a full house, Sevens full of Fours


my opponent caught me makin big bets with nothing, he was always willing to get enough money in to protect his hand. the reason i bet here, is because if he has any pair, the way he plays, he either has to muck, or make a big raise, if he makes that raise, hes commited to the pot. If i just check, that allows a scare card to come off and kill my action, if i bet small it gives him the chance to just call down. (which means a scare card could come off and kill my action)

Bought into Full Tilt Poker

Bought into full tilt poker today for 600. i played a tournament where i made a bad read then everything just went downhill from there. played a couple of cash games where my reads were pretty hot. i was cold decked for a while but when that was over i got back on track and really felt like i was in control of the game. im feeling confident about this so far.