Online poker, back to the painful wait

I'm back to El Paso, and decided to play some online tournament poker. Playing in the WSOP made me to have the desire again. I just played 4 online tournaments last Thursday and 3 tournaments today.

Thursday I didn't even last one hour in my 4 tournaments.
Thu- Stars $150 , lost KK-QQ
Thu- Party $150 , lost AA-99
Thu- Party WSOP $215, lost JJ versus 88 and QQ (Or course I was 3rd, since the 88 was the one who covered me)
Thu Paradise $30 Rebuys, lost 22-A8 and I didn't even rebuy since I was tilting because of the other 3 tourneys.

So, Thursday was awful and again I found myself with a very hard time to play afterwards, and I just didn't play on Friday and Saturday.

Sunday, again I gave it a try, after watching the final match of the World Cup (Italy - France); I decided to play 3 tournaments, the Stars 1 Million, which is now a $200 + 1 rebuy + 1 add on, so basically you spend $615; I played also my first $650 Satellite to the WSOP in Stars and the Party 1 Million ($215), so I spent $1480

Stars WSOP $650, I raised in the button with AK, BB reraised and I went all in with no hesitation at all, he thought and called me with K2 ??; of course that was it with a 2 in the flop.

Stars 1 Million, I raised with AK, somebody reraised and I called all in, he had A9h and that was it of course, with a 993 flop. I was 588 out of 2708.

Party 1 Million, with 62 players left, I raised with 88 in EP to 100k with 15-30k blinds, MP went AI for 460k, I had 330k left and called, he had KQ ??? and I lost the race. I was 62 out of 4841 and won $1600.

So, I won $120 dollars this Sunday, next Sunday I better go work to Walmart, I think it's about the same rate.

So, I have played just these 7 tournaments online in like a month and a half; with the same results as all year (I swear I'm not making up all these hands). To be fair, I do win a big pot in the Party 1M as a 41% favorite "only"; when my KTc in the BB cracked AQ in the button. But there are just too many mines. It's almost impossible to avoid them all, the play by the guys who beat me with the K2 and the KQ are indicative about how is online poker nowadays, the level of random (donkish?) aggression is sky-high and obviously with this, the variance associated to tournaments (not to mention the big fields). I know at the end things will even out. It's just a painful wait.

MLG owns WSOP #5

Mike Goodman aka "MLG", made the final table in the WSOP #5 event, $2,500 NLH short-handed, you can find his report here. He had an interesting final table with Dutch Boyd and Joseph Hachem the WSOP 2005 Champion; he played well, but lost most of his chips in a pot versus the chip leader and eventual winner Dutch Boyd with KK vs Dutch's K9 in a 992 flop. He got 4th place for a cool $115,607. The guy is amazing, I have had the opportunity to talk poker with him several times, and I just love his poker brain. Here is a picture taken at a break during the final table; from left to right: Jared "durron" Martin; David "sirio" Cossio; Jameson "bugstud" Painter; Carl "colson" Olson and our heroe Mike "MLG" Goodman.

2 interesting hands from WSOP Event #6

Hand #1:

25-50 blinds, I have a 1800 stack, folded to me in LP with AJ, I raise to 150, CO calls the 150, both blinds fold.

Flop is KQ8 rainbow, I bet 250 and CO calls. Because of the size of my stack, at this point, most of the time I'm done with the hand.

Turn is an A, the pot is about 875 and I have 1400 left, I decided to check, he then bet 400, he had more than 3000. Pretty bad spot for me, the main problem is the size of my stack, there are not too many hands I'm beating at this point, I just don't see him betting something like KJ,KT with this turn, and a call in the flop with JJ-99 or 77-22 is not that likely; probably the only hand I'm ahead is something like AT, since because of his stack, he could call the flop with the gutshot; on the other hand, a hand like JTs make a lot of sense, preflop. flop and now in the turn with the 400 bet; 88 makes sense also, even KQ, but I prefer to raise the flop with KQ. After thinking for a while I decided my hand was no good to spend another 400 and folded. I think it was a good fold.


Hand #2:

50-100 blinds, 10 handed, EP limps, MP calls, I have As8s in LP and call the 100, button calls, SB calls, BB checks.
Pot is 600 and I have about 1700 left.

Flop is 9s2s2c; SB and BB checked, EP limper with just 1300 left open-bets 500. MP folds, 3 people still to act besides the EP, yikes, it's pretty hard to imagine him folding with just 800 left, so my fold equity is almost zero if I push, now I have the odds versus an overpair, but I don't like the fact the board is paired, specially with 3 people still to act. Again, I just couldn't call, I folded, the button pushed, and EP called. Button had A9 and EP had KsTs; so, looked like a good fold at the time; but at this time I'm not so sure and I think maybe the best play was to just push the flop.
The main problem was EP bet, if nobody bets I'm pushing the flop, if he bets 300 or less I'm pushing since I have fold equity, this is, there is a good chance of him folding with 1000 left, but he decided to bet 500, so he's basically playing the hand, I have to say that I have seen people folding for their last 800 or less in spots like this, but I'm always assuming some degree of mental sanity in my opponents (I know, I know, this is a mistake in general); if the board was something like 7s3s3d, I'm playing no matter what; if the board was something like 8d3s2s, I really, really want to go all in. But it was 9s2s2c, not bad, but not ideal, still I think the best play was probably to push the flop after the 500 bet, you need to accumulate chips in tournaments like this where the stacks are not deep, and it's just pretty hard to keep waiting for a better spot. In fact a level later I had to go all in with 55 in LP for my last 1700 or so, and I was called in the BB by Scott Fishman who had AT, I lost the race and that was it.

I think these are two pretty interesting hands; I'll appreciate any comments you have about them. What do you think of the play and the analysis behind it?

WSOP Event #6 and Rizen owns Event#3

I'll be today at table 45 seat 3. I'm feeling well after being sick some days, and I hope to play my best.
Yesterday (Friday) I had the opportunity to watch the final table of Event #3 ($1500 PLH) where the amazing Rizen was playing, after playing great his stack, he had a little bad luck at the end and finished 3rd for a cool $104,000. He's just amazing, his results this year are second to none, I also had the chance to have dinner with him, his wife and baby and Schaefer; this was with 3 people left in the tourney and him with the chip lead. Eric was so calm, it's just impressive. I remember last year, at the same stage, this is, at the dinner break, we were 4 left in the WSOP#11 (Pot Limit Holdem, also); but I was not near as calm and composed as Eric, not even close. He was totally concentrated. I'll speak more about him later. I just enjoyed a lot the dinner with such great company, Rizen and his wife are a pretty cool couple and Schaefer, well, Schaefer is just too cool, he enjoys life too much !!.

Event #2 WSOP

My WSOP experience didn't start too well, we arrived at Vegas at 2AM, and I couldn't sleep until about 5AM, I had a cough attack all night and could barely sleep; still I managed to go to the 11AM (a little late, 11:20); with my fellow 2+2ers, about 15 of them were there. The tournament started on time, but I didn't feel well, this viral infection didn't allow me to concentrate at all, so I tried to play just basic poker. We started at 25-25 level with a 1500 starting chips stack. The place was a zoo, we were playing 11 at each table and there were like 500 alternates waiting for their chance to play; I don't know how wise is that, since 1500 chips is just too few, and some of them would start beyond the second level, but hey, this is the WSOP, everybody wants to be part of it. I could barely see my cards and think straight, in fact I lose like 20 minutes of the 1st level going to the bathroom. Despite being dog sick, I couldn't help to notice that I drew a very good table, with this hand. Seat 11 (seat 11, how sick is that !!) raised to 100 in EP, seat 3 called in MP, seat 5 reraised to 300 (remember, 1500 stack) in LP, both players called. Flop came Ac8c3c, EP checked, MP checked and LP went all in, EP folded and MP called. The hands, As9h for LP, KcTc for MP; I knew I was in the right place, if only I feel a little better. Still, I was praying to have a quick double up or to be out fast and go to rest to my hotel room, I was playing basic poker, just waiting, and luckily for me the table have some players who would pay you off with as much as top pair no kicker. Well, my prayers were listened, I just played 2 hands and I was out. The first one, same donk in seat 3 (the one who called a raise and a reraise with KcTc for like 20% of his stack), called in MP, I was in LP with KK, so I raised to 125, blinds still 25-25, BB called and MP called, flop was 652 with 2 hearts, checked to me and I decided to bet 200, BB folded and MP called, I'm pretty sure he was calling me all the way with one pair, but of course he may have a flush draw or a straight draw, an Ac in the turn. He checked to me, and I thought checking there was best, 5 in the river, a card that didn't change things much, he bet just 200 into the 800 pot and I called, he showed Ad6d for 2 pairs. Nothing much I could do in that hand. I was left with about 800, now in the second level with blinds 25-50, I was in the button with AK and 725 left, EP raised to 250; 5x was his usual raise. folded to me and I didn't have any other option but to push, he called with AA and that was it. I got up so one of the alternates could take my seat. To be honest I was relieved to be out fast, if destiny hadn't a FT for me in that event, the best 2nd option given my conditions, was to be out fast. Still, I think it didn't matter I was sick at all, since I can't see myself playing both hands any different at all.
I'm already registered for Wednesday event, but lets see if I can sleep better tonight. Hopefully I'll be better by the morning.

Driving to Vegas

At this very moment, I'm in the I-10 (AZ Exit 318), driving toward Vegas !!!. Incredible I can be connected to the internet here with my verizon card. I have not played any poker at all in June, but I'm confident the WSOP will wake up my poker self. I'll be playing tomorrow Tuesday, Event #2 $1500 No Limit Holdem, in case you're in Vegas, I'll be at 11AM at the Starbucks inside the Rio Hotel and Casino, the one next to the restaurant Sao Paolo, just in case you want to say hi. Let's see how this experiment of not playing poker at all before the WSOP works. The WSOP is always super-exciting, to be honest, I'm excited to play; I have been really sick the last days, but hopefully tomorrow I'll be ok. See you over there !!!. I'll make some updates about the events here in the blog.

Still not playing, just fell out of love

Remember that relationship when you once thought she was the one and couldn't imagine yourself without her, but time passed and suddenly you just fell out of love and move on ?. That's exactly how I feel these days about poker, I'm still not playing, I think I have played like a grand total of 6 tournaments or so this month. I just don't have the motivation, the desire, the drive, these days, I just don't love poker. In the 2+2 forums (a poker forum) I prefer to post about politics or about soccer, no poker related posts at all. As today I could care less about poker, my days are watching World Cup soccer games, go to swim, talk with friends, talk with my wife, play with the kids, worry about the kids, surf the Internet, but no poker. Let's see if things change soon, since in about a week, I'll be playing in my first WSOP event. I'm already registered to play in 3 WSOP events the first week of the WSOP through Poker Stars, I really hope once in Vegas, feeling the vibe of the WSOP, love will come back. If there's something that can make me fall again in love with poker it's the WSOP. Let's hope it works its magic on me.

Somebody explain these numbers to me

I have played almost no tournament in the last 10 days, today I decided to break my "vacation" and play the usual 3, 9PM EST, the Stars $150+12, the Paradise $30 and the Party Super Monday.
In the Stars I was out early after a blinds war, I decided to limp in the SB with K6c, BB raised and I went all in, he thought for a while and make a good call with AT, I lost the 39%, no biggie, I think the play was ok. In the Paradise I made it deep as usual and in yet another blind war, I had QQ in the BB and lost to the SB A8, that was ok too, we both play the hand well and shit happens, and shit happens a lot to me. In the Party Super Monday, I think I was playing real good, the money was at 120 players, between 400 and the money I had no cards at all, but still managed to have a good stack, once in the money, I lost a fucking 90% against the big stack in my table and was out 109th; and won a whopping $157.05 for a -$5 profit.

I have had so many cashes like this, it's real insane. Look at my position in the Internet player of the year race. The IPOTY I think it's the most objective system to rank Internet tournament players, they take in account just the results of all the biggest tournaments in the net, the system is really elegant, easy to understand, accurate, and most important, it does not depend of anybodies opinion and it's not a popularity contest, just the numbers speak there, you don't need to promote yourself, you just need to play and have results. As today, I'm 23rd there. 23rd !!!!!! of all the fing Internet tournament world (even I'm pretty sure I play a lot less than most of the guys of the list), wow, usually this achievement would be notable in any field you work, but as a poker player, the incredible part it's that I'm a losing player for the year, as today I'm in the red, losing more than 10k in the year (just internet tournaments). How the hell is that possible?. The answer of course; I'm not closing, if you take a look at all my cashes, I have almost no Final Tables and I don't have any top 3 in these tourneys. One of the things it made 2005 and 2004 pretty good years for me, was my ability to close. Once I made the $, I had a pretty good % of making the FT, and once I made the final table, I had a pretty high % of top 3 finishes. What happened? Did I lose my edge? Do I suddenly suck to close? Did my game change? Probably so, but every time I study my tournaments from last year, I don't see any big differences in my play, and if there are some, I think it's for the best, this is, I think I have improved in some areas. But I don't know, probably I need to look deeper and find something in my play that has changed and made me a very poor closer these days. Probably there's something, but I think most have to do with this:


#Game No : 4504095229
***** Hand History for Game 4504095229 *****
NL Texas Hold'em Trny:24772994 Level:11 Blinds-Antes(1000/2000-75) - Tuesday, June 13, 00:53:42 ET 2006
Table Super Monday(727209) Table #10 (Real Money)
Seat 7 is the button
Total number of players : 9
Seat 7: superbetter ( $31265 )
Seat 9: sirio11 ( $64545 )
Seat 10: Slaan_PS ( $142765 )
Seat 8: rob42359 ( $28562 )
Seat 6: rplrpl ( $93672 )
Seat 5: BPWJR ( $75213 )
Seat 2: hambotwo ( $16011 )
Seat 4: Kizzzer ( $67545 )
Seat 1: Cat_637E ( $81751 )
Trny:24772994 Level:11
Blinds-Antes(1000/2000-75)
Cat_637E posts ante [75].
hambotwo posts ante [75].
Kizzzer posts ante [75].
BPWJR posts ante [75].
rplrpl posts ante [75].
superbetter posts ante [75].
rob42359 posts ante [75].
sirio11 posts ante [75].
Slaan_PS posts ante [75].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to sirio11 [ Jd Qd ]
Slaan_PS raises [6000].
Cat_637E folds.
hambotwo folds.
Kizzzer folds.
BPWJR calls [6000].
rplrpl folds.
superbetter folds.
rob42359 folds.
sirio11 calls [4000].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3c, 9s, Jc ]
sirio11 checks.
Slaan_PS bets [13000].
BPWJR folds.
sirio11 is all-In [58470]
horrilibis has joined the table.
Player horrilibis has been moved from table 12 to this table
Slaan_PS calls [45470].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8h ]
** Dealing River ** [ 7s ]
Slaan_PS shows [ Tc, Ts ] a straight, seven to jack.
sirio11 shows [ Jd, Qd ] a pair of jacks.
Slaan_PS wins 136615 chips from the main pot with a straight, seven to jack.
Player sirio11 finished in 109 place and received $157.05


I'm pretty sure I'm in the far left side of the variance, of course I have made my share of mistakes, but no greater than the ones I made in 2004,2005. I even think I'm a better player, but what do I know.

The truth is, a "top 25 player in the IPOTY race" is a losing player in 2006. Variance is just insane in tournaments. I share my numbers with you, so you have an idea how difficult could be to depend just on tournaments, even if you are a "good" Internet tournament player. This is really tough, and if you're not prepared, you will be broke, crazy or both. I'm not broke, I was prepared for this, but some days I'm in the verge of insanity, really.

Nadando

Estos dias no he jugado nada de poker, necesito cambiar de aires y mentalidad, la verdad no he estado disfrutando mucho jugar y pues si no estas dispuesto a jugar lo mejor posible, es mejor no hacerlo. En estas dias he empezado a ir a nadar a la alberca todos los dias, espero seguirlo haciendo todos los dias, al menos hasta que viaje a Vegas para la serie mundial. Mi forma fisica no es muy buena y creo que mejorar tu condicion fisica aparte de mejorar tu salud, definitivamente te ayuda a jugar mejor. Los dias en la serie mundial son tremendamente desgastantes y necesitas estar al 100% fisica y mentalmente. Nadar es muy relajante y lo estoy disfrutando mucho, el no jugar tambien me ha puesto de mejor modo y espero que todo esto me ayude a llegar en buena forma para la WSOP, yo creo me reintegrare a jugar en Internet los torneos del proximo domingo, despues de una "semana" de vacaciones.

#@&%#(*&%@(%&

That is all.