Time to catch up

I just realized that it has been over a month since my last blog. Well, there hasn't been too much to write about lately. So I'll catch everyone up and then move onto this week as I finally got back around to playing cards.

During the WSOP and the Venetian Deep Stack tournament I just ran awful. Ended up getting knocked from every tournament and cash game I played when I had my money in the middle of the pot and was ahead. Was out drawn everytime. I had my bankroll destroyed and decided to take a month off. Another factor was the fact that I was to be laid off at the end of the month. The company that I had worked for the past 7 and a half years decided they didn't need me around anymore so they let me go. Lucky for me I was able to secure a part time position with my wife's company that will most likely end up full time work. Only bad part is that I'm basically having to take a 30% reduction in pay. Damn the economy. I thought that Obama said that the stimulus bill was working? What a joke.

I digress. I decide that maybe now is as good a time as any to try and really make a run at playing poker professionally. I've set up my system for tracking my winnings and losses and decided to finally keep a notebook to track my play. Something I should have done in the first place. I guess you have to screw up to learn to do things right. I've used this week to start my new venture and things have gone well so far after 3 days.

On Monday I went down to Red Rock and decide to play $1-$2 while the wife is at work. I buy in for $100 as the game has just started and just about everyone only bought in for $200. I was playing 50 BB's which gave me enough chips to do some damage. Lucky for me I am at a table of fish and figure that I can bully most of the table as much as I want. I get a pretty solid table image of only raising with strong hands and I get the table to believe that image pretty good. Everytime I get called down I actually have the nuts which helps. One hand in particular.
there are 4 limpers into the pot and I'm on the button and look down at JJ. I decide to raise it to $12. The blinds both call and so do the other 4 limpers. So we are 7 handed going to the flop with the pot at $84 already. I know that if anything above a J hits I'm dead so I can get away pretty cheap. Flop comes down 2 8 J rainbow. Got to love that with position!!! The blinds both check and one of the other limpers bets out $40. Nice. The guy behinds him decides to call. Even better!! Next guy folds and I only have about $75 left so I don't want to just call as it only leaves me 35 behind so I move all in for $75. The blinds both fold and the raiser insta calls and so does the other guy. WTF?? Both of them limped into the pot and called my raise so I can't put them on an over pair could I? I know I'm holding the nuts at the moment and like where I am. The turn is 5s which brings 4 to a flush. They both check. The river is the 10h so I know no one made a straight or flush and I've got the nuts. The original raiser turns over A J and the other guy mucks. WTF would he have called the $40 and then my all in with that he couldn't beat a Jack. I'm thinking A K or some crap like that. I turn over my JJ and rake in the $300 pot. I managed to play my stack up and down most of the day stealing a lot of pots and making alot of plays that worked well. No horrendous beats or out draws that cost my a lot of chips and I ended the day up $300.

I go down to the Venetian for day two of my venture and really have a roller coaster type of day. I bought in for $100 and was up as much as $400 and down to my last $20 at another time as well. Had Aces cracked twice and had trips busted to a runner runner straight another time. The second time I had my aces cracked I almost lost it. What a horrendous play by the other guy and then he has the nerve to say crap like I just knew I was going to hit it and thats why I called. I just didn't believe you had anything. When you get lucky in a pot, the correct thing to do is to stack your chips, look up at the poker gods and say Thank You. Shut your mouth and don't say anything to the player you just broke with your god awful play. Here is how the hand went down.

I'm BB and 3 players limp. the guy in the SB (the devil) decides to raise to $12. I look down and find AA. Now, I probably should have re-raised here, but everytime I had re-raised the table, everyone folded. I didn't want to just scoop $20 here. So I just called the $12 and we ended up 4 to the flop. The dealer flops out 6 10 Q rainbow. Now unless the SB raised with Queens I know I'm good here. The SB bets out $20. I figure he doesn't have trip Q's or 10's as he probably wouldn't have bet. I decide to re-raise him here. I put out the $20 and then add in another $70 on top. The guy is only playing with $200 behind so it would be for just about half his stack. The other two guys get out of the way. He fumbles with his chips and looks at his cards about 4 times. He makes the call. At this point I am confused. Maybe he has K's or maybe he raised with K J and is trying to hit his straight. I still don't like him for pocket Q's or 10's and I'm sure I'm ahead. The dealer peals a 10 on the turn and the SB announces he is all in for his last $120. I honestly don't know what to think right now. I'm basically getting 3 to one on my money here but if he has pocket Q's or had some moronic hand like A 10 I'm basically drawing dead. I decide that I can't fold and maybe he was just trying to represent the 10. I call. The guy doesn't turn his hand up so I wait. This has me thinking that maybe he was just on a draw. The river is another 10 so I figure I'm good here. the guy waits and I tell him that I called him so he needs to show his hand. And he slow rolled me there. He finally turns up J 10 for quads. I muck my aces face up and just shake my head and say way to call of half your stack with midle pair. Thats when he go's into his drivel about knowing he was going to hit his card and how I didn't have anything. Keep thinking that pal. Keep making plays like that and I'll get my chips back. This knocks me back down to under $100. I make some loose calls and find myself down to $20.

This is where a lot of people would just put their money in on any 2 cards and see what happens. I had no intentions of rebuying if I got knocked out and decided to play my last 20 as if I had $200. I end up getting a free look at the flop in BB holding 2c 3c. The flop comes 2 2 3. jackpot!! Now can I only get one of these clowns to bet it. It checks around to the button who throws out $10. There are 2 hearts on the board so I fgure he probably has a heart draw and will call my raise of 10. I move all in and end up with a total of 3 callers. Nice. I'll take a triple up sir!! the turn and river brick out and there was no more action and I roll over my 2 3 and everyone else folds. I rake in the 90 pot and am almost back to even. I play about another 30 minutes and cash out $120. I get back to even and make $20 to pay for my lunch. I'll take it. Didn't lose, but I didn't win either.

This brings us to yesterday. This day was filled with huge swings at my table. I buy in for $100 again and end up going on a nice run. I make a couple of straights and two pairs and run my stack up to $400 rather quickly. Then it all fell apart. I don't remember exactly how it all went down and the positions but I'm in late position and it limps around to me and I find A A. I raise it to $14 and get two callers. The flop comes 8 8 Q. BB checks and the guy next to me bets out $30. I raise him to $80. the BB folds and the guy tanks for a bit. He decides to move in for a total of $200. Did he really call my raise with something like A 8 suited? I had already put in 100 so I had to make the call. He turns over J 8. WTF? really? Did this guy just get paid off with J 8? Thank you poker gods for allowing me to have Aces cracked for the third time in two days. I push half my stack over to the mule next to me who does something that I just can't stand. He gets up, grabs a rack and then proceeds to rack his chips and leave. That just pisses me off. At least sit for an orbit and fold everything and then leave. Don't hit and run.

I'm down to $200 and then the guy who sits down in the seat next to me decides he wants to be one of the young guns he sees on TV. you know the guy in the hooded sweat shirt over his head, headphones and sunglasses. Got to love seeing these guys sitting at a 1-2 game. To top it off, his breath smells like he had ate dog shit for lunch. How can you go around smelling like that and not vomit on yourself??

The guy buys in for $200. The very next hand (3 hands after having my aces cracked) I end up with JJ in the BB. 4 limpers and I just check. I'm still upset with the aces hand and I really don't like J's. the flop comes 3 J 9 with 2 spades. I'll take that. Assmouth bets $10. I raise it to $40. I'm fine with taking it down right now. Everyone else folds and assmouth painfully calls. The turn is a Q. Assmouth checks and I bet $90. I have about $100 left after the bet. I should have moved all in at this point, but I guess I've learned my lesson. Oh yes, there is a lesson to learn here. Assmouth quikly calls. I figure he has something like Q J or A J. The Ace of spades comes on the river and he moves all in. I tank at this point. I have to call based on the amount of money I put in the pot and I just couldn't think assmouth would call $40 on the flop and another $90 on the run on a flush draw. I call and he turns up 6 4 of spades. Really assmouth? you called me down with a 6 high flush draw?? I turn over my JJ and show how lucky assmouth was and he smiles and rakes in the chips. I stand up as I don't want to say anything I'll regret. I sit back down and this is where it gets interesting. Assmouth was mouthing off about how he had pot odds and some crap like that. I didn't hear the whole thing but the guy to my left told the kid that he didn't have pot odds and that he got lucky and should shut his mouth. Thanks old timer. I have seen the guy around as he frequents the venetian with his wife. She plays 2-5 and usually does pretty well. The kid continues on saying that he was correct in calling the flop and turn bets as he was ahead percentage wise. Thats when I tell him that he was about a 3 to 1 dog on the flop then only had about a 8-1 dog on the turn. he tries to argue that he had more outs than me and thats when the older guy says, your the only one who needed outs and you only had 7 outs since the Js would give me quads and that he should take his advice and just shut up and thank the poker gods he was lucky. I don't say anything because I don't want the guy to keep talking. I can't stand his breath.

After all that I end up down to my last $30. I get lucky and hit trip 2's my next hand and double up to just over $70. Then about 14 hands later I end up with Aces again. great. I decide to just shove my whole stack in this time. I push in $55 in the BB and end up with 2 callers. How do you call a $53 raise when you only have $2 invested? I just know I'm losing. surprisingly I hold up and end up tripping up to over $160. I'm back to over even and decide this is my last orbit.

Then I'm dealt K Q on the button and UTG raises to $10. 2 limpers and I limp and so do the blinds. we go 6 to the flop and the flop is K Q K with 2 spades. Bingo! the original raiser bets at the pot and puts in $30. folds to me and I look at my cards and then just call. the blinds fold. The turn is the 9 clubs. original raiser checks and I quickly check. The river is the As. Now that card scares me. Maybe the guy raised with A K preflop and now has a monster. But I quickly replay the hand and figure there is no way he did that. if he had A K he would have bet the turn figuring I was on a flush draw. He bets out $60. I count my chips and I've only got about $120 left so I move all in. The guy insta calls and at that moment I realize that quite possibly he could have been holding J 10 of spades. I didnt' even think about that hand before I acted. Lucky for me he turns over J 8 of spades and I show the winning full house of K Q. I double up and am back over $300. I decide to stick with my plan and I rack up before the BB gets to me and I take my $200 profit and leave.

So for 3 days I played 8 hrs all 3 days and turned a $500 profit. not too bad I guess. It will pay for my traffic ticket that is due in August so I guess I'm lucky about that.

This blog is long enough. I hope to blog a lot more in the future as I plan on continuing my playing in the evenings after work and/or on the weekends. I'm going to try and stick to the cash games for a while and try and build up my bankroll. I really want to play several of the events during the next deep stack even in November.

Until next time.