Sunday, July 21, 2013
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
NLH
Too much action to give any real depth on the hands. All numbers are in thousands and, candidly, estimates.
Early in we raise to 34 with KT in seat 8 and get calls from the button and the blinds. Flop comes 59K. Great. We bet 76 and the BB calls. The turn is a rag. We bet 150 and he folds. We are just over a million in chips.
Everyone folds to the SB who raises to 36. We have Q8 in BB. Exact average hand we call to see the flop. He will push all in post flop no matter what as he has a short stack of about 100. We will only call if we hit. Flop comes TQK with two clubs and he pushes. We call and he shows TJ. The turn comes Ac he makes a Royal Flush!
Seat 5 raises to 34 and we re-raise from the BB to 84 with TT. He calls and the flop comes two rags and a K. We out 75 and three calls. What does he have that he wpuld bet and then call a raise on the clock and call here. There is a good chance that he has a big king and is playing with his position on me. The turn comes nine and we check. Keep that's 70 and we call. The river is another rag and he pushes all in for approximately 200. It is just too early to lose two all in hands in a row. We fold and he shows AJ. That hand is going to haunt me for a long time. We should have called.
We are now down to about 400,000 chips. The same guy raises to 38 and we push all in from the big blind with, appropriately, AJ. He calls and shows 66. I don't remember the first four cards, but the river is an ace and we double up. Chips are flying huge stacks everywhere, and we are happily back to 800,000.
An early seat raises to 34 and we call from the small blind with A6h. The flop comes 589 with two hearts. We have a gut shot straight draw and a nut flush draw. We check and he bets 60. We call and the turn comes 3h. Giddey up. We check hoping he will bet but he checks. The river is a rag Family at 1:10. He thinks for a minute and then calls showing KK in frustration as he mucks to our flush.
In seat seven, the royal flush guy raises to 34. We call from the button with KQc and see the flop come two rags and a K with 2 hearts. Great! He bets 75 and we just call. The turn Is another rag and he pushes all in for approximately 200. Now we are scared, but we hit our hand and are only afraid of AA or AK. He could very well have two hearts and he trying to scare us. He could also have a weak king and be afraid to let us draw another heart. We think about it for a minute and then call. He turns over AA. Terrible. The river doesn't help us and he takes it down.
I'm not sure that we could ever play that hand differently than we did, but I will always remember that we folded when we should have called and called when we should have folded, and that is a bad recipe for poker. We are down to 500 chips.
We are now at the final two tables. If we survive for a couple hours we will make the final table where the real money is and where the bracelet lives
An early seat raises to 38 and we raise to 88 with AK. The big blind pushes all for about 400. The early seat folds and we call, hoping to see AQ. He shows JJ. It's a race. Unfortunately the race goes poorly for us and he takes all but about 35 of our chips.
We can't wait for the big blind, so we push as soon as we have an ace in our hand. We wind up behind with an A2 against TT. No ace comes and that is where our story ends.
While taking 18th place is certainly something I will look back on happily, right now it is nothing but a stinking burn.
Thanks for coming.
Depressed Donkey
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Early in we raise to 34 with KT in seat 8 and get calls from the button and the blinds. Flop comes 59K. Great. We bet 76 and the BB calls. The turn is a rag. We bet 150 and he folds. We are just over a million in chips.
Everyone folds to the SB who raises to 36. We have Q8 in BB. Exact average hand we call to see the flop. He will push all in post flop no matter what as he has a short stack of about 100. We will only call if we hit. Flop comes TQK with two clubs and he pushes. We call and he shows TJ. The turn comes Ac he makes a Royal Flush!
Seat 5 raises to 34 and we re-raise from the BB to 84 with TT. He calls and the flop comes two rags and a K. We out 75 and three calls. What does he have that he wpuld bet and then call a raise on the clock and call here. There is a good chance that he has a big king and is playing with his position on me. The turn comes nine and we check. Keep that's 70 and we call. The river is another rag and he pushes all in for approximately 200. It is just too early to lose two all in hands in a row. We fold and he shows AJ. That hand is going to haunt me for a long time. We should have called.
We are now down to about 400,000 chips. The same guy raises to 38 and we push all in from the big blind with, appropriately, AJ. He calls and shows 66. I don't remember the first four cards, but the river is an ace and we double up. Chips are flying huge stacks everywhere, and we are happily back to 800,000.
An early seat raises to 34 and we call from the small blind with A6h. The flop comes 589 with two hearts. We have a gut shot straight draw and a nut flush draw. We check and he bets 60. We call and the turn comes 3h. Giddey up. We check hoping he will bet but he checks. The river is a rag Family at 1:10. He thinks for a minute and then calls showing KK in frustration as he mucks to our flush.
In seat seven, the royal flush guy raises to 34. We call from the button with KQc and see the flop come two rags and a K with 2 hearts. Great! He bets 75 and we just call. The turn Is another rag and he pushes all in for approximately 200. Now we are scared, but we hit our hand and are only afraid of AA or AK. He could very well have two hearts and he trying to scare us. He could also have a weak king and be afraid to let us draw another heart. We think about it for a minute and then call. He turns over AA. Terrible. The river doesn't help us and he takes it down.
I'm not sure that we could ever play that hand differently than we did, but I will always remember that we folded when we should have called and called when we should have folded, and that is a bad recipe for poker. We are down to 500 chips.
We are now at the final two tables. If we survive for a couple hours we will make the final table where the real money is and where the bracelet lives
An early seat raises to 38 and we raise to 88 with AK. The big blind pushes all for about 400. The early seat folds and we call, hoping to see AQ. He shows JJ. It's a race. Unfortunately the race goes poorly for us and he takes all but about 35 of our chips.
We can't wait for the big blind, so we push as soon as we have an ace in our hand. We wind up behind with an A2 against TT. No ace comes and that is where our story ends.
While taking 18th place is certainly something I will look back on happily, right now it is nothing but a stinking burn.
Thanks for coming.
Depressed Donkey
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NLH Philosophy of the Donkey
So I have been thinking lately that poker is more than cards and chips, it's about making the world a better place. It's about righting the wrongs that we can correct, even if one at a time. Well, Donkey got four wrists and no bracelets. That ain't right!
Crusading Donkey
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Crusading Donkey
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NLH
I am simply too tired to reiterate what has happened in the last two hours. My mind is numb from lack of sleep and far too much concentration. This is much like the bar exam, except somehow more important. Here are my two favorite hands however.
Everyone folds to us and we raise to 3200 from the button with 77. The big blind calls and the flop comes 779. That's right, we flopped quads! Now that we know we will win the hand, we just have to extract as much money as possible. He checks and we check. The turn is a rag. He bets 20,000 and we simply call. The river is a jack. He bets 45,000 and we raise another 70,000. Unfortunately, he folds. We gave him all of the opportunity we could to make the best hand that he could make.
I don't remember the betting increments. We raise from seat 4 with 33 And the button reraises. There is enough money in the pot to justify us calling, but only if we believe we can also extract money from him if we hit a three on the flop. We call. The flop comes 39T With two spades. We make a modest that into him and he pushes all in for about 120000. Is pre-flop action could mean he has pocket tens or nines, but otherwise we feel very safe. We call and he shows AT. He rivers and Ace, but that is not enough. Our set of threes takes it down.
We close the level with 832,000 in chips. There are about 26 players left. We begin again tomorrow at 1 PM. Hopefully I will not take any reports to you until after 3 PM.
Jewelry Hunting Donkey
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Everyone folds to us and we raise to 3200 from the button with 77. The big blind calls and the flop comes 779. That's right, we flopped quads! Now that we know we will win the hand, we just have to extract as much money as possible. He checks and we check. The turn is a rag. He bets 20,000 and we simply call. The river is a jack. He bets 45,000 and we raise another 70,000. Unfortunately, he folds. We gave him all of the opportunity we could to make the best hand that he could make.
I don't remember the betting increments. We raise from seat 4 with 33 And the button reraises. There is enough money in the pot to justify us calling, but only if we believe we can also extract money from him if we hit a three on the flop. We call. The flop comes 39T With two spades. We make a modest that into him and he pushes all in for about 120000. Is pre-flop action could mean he has pocket tens or nines, but otherwise we feel very safe. We call and he shows AT. He rivers and Ace, but that is not enough. Our set of threes takes it down.
We close the level with 832,000 in chips. There are about 26 players left. We begin again tomorrow at 1 PM. Hopefully I will not take any reports to you until after 3 PM.
Jewelry Hunting Donkey
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Tuesday, July 2, 2013
NLH
First hand back we are playing 2500-5000 with 500 antes and raise to 14000 from seat 4 with AQd. Seat 5 pushes all in and everyone folds to us. It's 100,000 to call. Thats huge but we are a favorite against anything but AA QQ KK or AK. We call and he shows AK. His hand holds up and our stack is crushed back to the land of the average.
We Struggle for about 20 minutes and come to a very similar situation. In C4 we lead out for 10,000 with JJ. Everyone folds to the small blind who pushes all in for about 100,000. We are only afraid of three hands, the pairs of queens, kings and aces. There are, of course, races, such as against an ace queen, but we are not afraid of those. This is the same situation we just fixed. We call again and see him turn over a deuce. Our first thought is that his push with a suited ace deuce was crazy and we are about a 70% favorite. However, then we see his second deuce? He pushed all in with a pair of to Dueces? We are a massive favorite and our jacks hold up.
We play seven or eight hands over the course of the remaining 70 minutes winning or losing between 30,000 and 80,000 in chips each time. I only remember one clearly.
Seat four bets 12,000 playing 3000-6000 with 1000 antes. We simply call from seat eight with AK. We believe that if we hit our cards, he will pay us. Also, we are hopeful to induce one of the blinds to push all in. The blinds call and the four of us see the flop come 3TJ. Not but we were looking for. Everyone Checks to us and we check to see another card. The turn comes 4. Seat four bets 18000, we call, and the small blind calls. The river comes an ace. Excellent! The two players check to us and we bet 55,000. They both call and seat 4 takes it down with AT.
We finish the level with 355,000 in chips and 43 opponents.
Donkey Alive
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We Struggle for about 20 minutes and come to a very similar situation. In C4 we lead out for 10,000 with JJ. Everyone folds to the small blind who pushes all in for about 100,000. We are only afraid of three hands, the pairs of queens, kings and aces. There are, of course, races, such as against an ace queen, but we are not afraid of those. This is the same situation we just fixed. We call again and see him turn over a deuce. Our first thought is that his push with a suited ace deuce was crazy and we are about a 70% favorite. However, then we see his second deuce? He pushed all in with a pair of to Dueces? We are a massive favorite and our jacks hold up.
We play seven or eight hands over the course of the remaining 70 minutes winning or losing between 30,000 and 80,000 in chips each time. I only remember one clearly.
Seat four bets 12,000 playing 3000-6000 with 1000 antes. We simply call from seat eight with AK. We believe that if we hit our cards, he will pay us. Also, we are hopeful to induce one of the blinds to push all in. The blinds call and the four of us see the flop come 3TJ. Not but we were looking for. Everyone Checks to us and we check to see another card. The turn comes 4. Seat four bets 18000, we call, and the small blind calls. The river comes an ace. Excellent! The two players check to us and we bet 55,000. They both call and seat 4 takes it down with AT.
We finish the level with 355,000 in chips and 43 opponents.
Donkey Alive
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NLH
Seat 4 raises to 8500 and we flat call from seat 5 with AA. Giddey-up! We are hoping seat 8 who is short stacked will push all in. He doesn't and we see the flop heads up 49T with 2 hearts. He pushes all in for about 40000. Unless he has a set or 2 pair we are in the lead. And we have the Ah for the back door flush draw. If he has the 78h its an even match, but these are unlikely hands. We call and he shows JJ. The turn is a 9c and the river a Qd. Our aces hold up and we take it down.
We see a few bad flops that cost us 6000 or so each and sit patiently. There are exactly 100 players remaining.
We limp in from seat 4 with 67h. We have enough chips that people will think twice before raising. The button and BB call and we see the flop 9TA with 2 hearts. We have a gut shot straight draw and a flush draw. We bet 600 and they both call. The turn is the 3h giving us the flush an the BB bets 14000 into us? We would like to raise to stop him from getting another heart but we want the button to call. We call and the button folds. The river comes 2h. Terrible. He bets 32000. Does he have a heart bigger than the 7? What was he calling with post flop? if he had a pair, then one of his cards should be ruled out. We call hoping he doesn't have a heart and he shows K5h to take it down. Good thing the river was a heart or we would have lost a lot more.
Seat 5 raises to 650 and we re-raise from the BB to 1650 with AJ. He pishes all in for another 70,000. If he has anything other than a pocket pair greater than T or an A with a K or Q, the odds are right for us to call. Not sure, we fold and take another draining lump to out stack.
We are back to where we started the round at 192,000. Okay - head in the game.
Everyone folds to the SB who pushes all in for 37500. We call from the BB with AT. The SB shows A5. We are a huge favorite but he flops a 5 and it hold up.
We are now down to 140,000 - an average stack.
Our table breaks. Good. Time to mix it up.
We sit down at our new table and are disappointed to find that the one short stack is sitting directly to our left. That makes it very difficult to play any hand we are not willing to go all in on, because he will have a propensity to push all his chips in right after we move.
We try to play several hands, but in each case someone pushes all in before the flop and we fold. Each of these attempts cost us 8000 in chips. We get down to under 90,000 chips, which is quite depressing as we were at almost 300,000 only an hour ago.
I don't recall the hand well enough to relay, but while we still have enough chips to bluff, we make the move successfully and bring our chip stack back to about 115,000.
Seat 4 raises to 8000 and the button calls. We have AQ in the SB. This is the time to make our move but we just call hoping the short stack now in the BB will push. He folds!
With 33000 in the pot we see the 79Q flpp with 2 diamonds. Excellent! We lead out with 13000 and seat 4 calls. The button folds and we watch the 2h turn. Meaningless rag. We lead out with 26000 and he goes all in! We call and he shows TQ. Anything but a T on the river and we will take down about 235,000 in chips. Don't recall the river but we took down the pot.
Seat 6 raises to 8500 and we call from the button with AT. The BB calls and the flop comes 27A rainbow. Perfect. They both check and we bet 13000. The BB raises to 32000 and seat 6 folds. What could he have? He coul have called pre flop with a suited A7 or A2 but that would be quite lucky. Also, if he had a big ace, one with a face card, he would have raised pre flop from his out of position blind seat. He could also have made a set, but check raising wouldn't be a likely betting strategy then. Nope - unless he's really lucky, we are good. We raise to 57000. He calls and we see the turn. It's a 9. As long as it didn't pair the board or give us a T, it was largely irrelevant. He checks and we bet 75,000. He tanks for a moment and folds.
We have come roaring back. We finish round 15 with 335,000 in chips and 74 opponents. Dinner time.
Up And Down Donkey, And Up
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We see a few bad flops that cost us 6000 or so each and sit patiently. There are exactly 100 players remaining.
We limp in from seat 4 with 67h. We have enough chips that people will think twice before raising. The button and BB call and we see the flop 9TA with 2 hearts. We have a gut shot straight draw and a flush draw. We bet 600 and they both call. The turn is the 3h giving us the flush an the BB bets 14000 into us? We would like to raise to stop him from getting another heart but we want the button to call. We call and the button folds. The river comes 2h. Terrible. He bets 32000. Does he have a heart bigger than the 7? What was he calling with post flop? if he had a pair, then one of his cards should be ruled out. We call hoping he doesn't have a heart and he shows K5h to take it down. Good thing the river was a heart or we would have lost a lot more.
Seat 5 raises to 650 and we re-raise from the BB to 1650 with AJ. He pishes all in for another 70,000. If he has anything other than a pocket pair greater than T or an A with a K or Q, the odds are right for us to call. Not sure, we fold and take another draining lump to out stack.
We are back to where we started the round at 192,000. Okay - head in the game.
Everyone folds to the SB who pushes all in for 37500. We call from the BB with AT. The SB shows A5. We are a huge favorite but he flops a 5 and it hold up.
We are now down to 140,000 - an average stack.
Our table breaks. Good. Time to mix it up.
We sit down at our new table and are disappointed to find that the one short stack is sitting directly to our left. That makes it very difficult to play any hand we are not willing to go all in on, because he will have a propensity to push all his chips in right after we move.
We try to play several hands, but in each case someone pushes all in before the flop and we fold. Each of these attempts cost us 8000 in chips. We get down to under 90,000 chips, which is quite depressing as we were at almost 300,000 only an hour ago.
I don't recall the hand well enough to relay, but while we still have enough chips to bluff, we make the move successfully and bring our chip stack back to about 115,000.
Seat 4 raises to 8000 and the button calls. We have AQ in the SB. This is the time to make our move but we just call hoping the short stack now in the BB will push. He folds!
With 33000 in the pot we see the 79Q flpp with 2 diamonds. Excellent! We lead out with 13000 and seat 4 calls. The button folds and we watch the 2h turn. Meaningless rag. We lead out with 26000 and he goes all in! We call and he shows TQ. Anything but a T on the river and we will take down about 235,000 in chips. Don't recall the river but we took down the pot.
Seat 6 raises to 8500 and we call from the button with AT. The BB calls and the flop comes 27A rainbow. Perfect. They both check and we bet 13000. The BB raises to 32000 and seat 6 folds. What could he have? He coul have called pre flop with a suited A7 or A2 but that would be quite lucky. Also, if he had a big ace, one with a face card, he would have raised pre flop from his out of position blind seat. He could also have made a set, but check raising wouldn't be a likely betting strategy then. Nope - unless he's really lucky, we are good. We raise to 57000. He calls and we see the turn. It's a 9. As long as it didn't pair the board or give us a T, it was largely irrelevant. He checks and we bet 75,000. He tanks for a moment and folds.
We have come roaring back. We finish round 15 with 335,000 in chips and 74 opponents. Dinner time.
Up And Down Donkey, And Up
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NLH
It is with great regret that I tell you that somewhere in the last round I accidentally deleted the notes I had taken. I will not be able to give you a play-by-play, but it was some of the most fun I've had at a poker table in a long time. I launched psychological warfare on the chip leader and beat him in four straight pots.
I hope that you can view the attached video clip of the French player next to me saying, "He is so your bitch now."
Unfortunately we put him on tilt and he is now gone so we can no longer feast upon him.
We close round 15 with 193,000 in chips playing against 112 players with an average stack of 115,221.
Donkey-rockin-the-house
I hope that you can view the attached video clip of the French player next to me saying, "He is so your bitch now."
Unfortunately we put him on tilt and he is now gone so we can no longer feast upon him.
We close round 15 with 193,000 in chips playing against 112 players with an average stack of 115,221.
Donkey-rockin-the-house
NLH
We enter round 12 playing 600-1200 with 200 antes and duck and weave for 45 minutes keeping our stack stable.
We raise to 2500 from seat 4 with 89c and seat 6 rudely raises to 6200. Everyone else folds. The pot is over 12000 and it's 3700 to call and maintain our table image. It's important that people dont think we were just trying to steal the blinds! We call.
Flop comes 28Q. We have a mid pair and the Q is a club. We check and he bets 6500. Unless he has a Q o a big pocket pair we are in the lead, but if he does have u brat he will have three chances to make us pay to see it. We call one time!
The turn comes Ac. Excellent! A second club and if he does have a pocket pair he now has to be worried that we hit the A or Q. We check and he checks.
River comes Jc. Amazing! We runner runner a flush! We want him to call our bet so we bet out 10500 and he pushes all in!!! The only hand that can beat us is a club flush with either the T or K because the AQJ are already on the board. Would he be betting the way he has with K7c or T7? No. The only hand he can possibly have that beats us and that he could have played this way is the KTc. Of course that gives him a royal flush, the best possible hand in the entire world of poker, TJQKAc.
Betting against the royal flush, we call an he shows TKh. He rivered a straight. We were actually in the lead the entire post flop hand and we double up to over 120000.
13 minutes into round 13, playing 800 1600 with 200 antes, the floor falls to 198 players and we are IN THE MONEY!!!
We then play a series of losing hands getting chipped down 5-7000 each time. Not so much fun that.
Seat 4 limps and it comes to us on the button with 33. Great hand to see a flop on if we can do so cheaply. We limp and the blinds limp behind us. The flop comes 89T with 2 spades and everyone checks to us. Unlikely the blinds hit this an didn't bet. Seat 4 has limped before with 2 big cards, which likely wouldn't hit this. We bet 3500. The blinds fold but seat 4 flat calls. That means he is still fishing or he is slow playing a set. The turn comes Td putting 2 diamonds on the board. He checks and we bet 7000. If he has over cards, he should fold. He does.
We raise from seat 4 to 3200 with JQ and get calls from seat 7 and the BB. The flop comes 45J with 2 spades. SB checks and we bet 5000 seat 4 calls and the BB check raises to 14000. We are probably ahead but he could have a set or a flush draw. We call. The turn comes 9s. Not good. He bets 20000 into us. There's a good chance we are in the lead but if he has a flush we could pay 60000 finding out. Also we have the Qs so a river spade gives us a flush, but he is the BB and could have the Ks or As. What to do what to do???? At times of such confusion i feel it's best to run and hide. We fold.
We move tables, win a couple small pots from the blind positions and finish round 13 with 109400 in chips and 165 opponents.
Giddey-Up Donkey!
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We raise to 2500 from seat 4 with 89c and seat 6 rudely raises to 6200. Everyone else folds. The pot is over 12000 and it's 3700 to call and maintain our table image. It's important that people dont think we were just trying to steal the blinds! We call.
Flop comes 28Q. We have a mid pair and the Q is a club. We check and he bets 6500. Unless he has a Q o a big pocket pair we are in the lead, but if he does have u brat he will have three chances to make us pay to see it. We call one time!
The turn comes Ac. Excellent! A second club and if he does have a pocket pair he now has to be worried that we hit the A or Q. We check and he checks.
River comes Jc. Amazing! We runner runner a flush! We want him to call our bet so we bet out 10500 and he pushes all in!!! The only hand that can beat us is a club flush with either the T or K because the AQJ are already on the board. Would he be betting the way he has with K7c or T7? No. The only hand he can possibly have that beats us and that he could have played this way is the KTc. Of course that gives him a royal flush, the best possible hand in the entire world of poker, TJQKAc.
Betting against the royal flush, we call an he shows TKh. He rivered a straight. We were actually in the lead the entire post flop hand and we double up to over 120000.
13 minutes into round 13, playing 800 1600 with 200 antes, the floor falls to 198 players and we are IN THE MONEY!!!
We then play a series of losing hands getting chipped down 5-7000 each time. Not so much fun that.
Seat 4 limps and it comes to us on the button with 33. Great hand to see a flop on if we can do so cheaply. We limp and the blinds limp behind us. The flop comes 89T with 2 spades and everyone checks to us. Unlikely the blinds hit this an didn't bet. Seat 4 has limped before with 2 big cards, which likely wouldn't hit this. We bet 3500. The blinds fold but seat 4 flat calls. That means he is still fishing or he is slow playing a set. The turn comes Td putting 2 diamonds on the board. He checks and we bet 7000. If he has over cards, he should fold. He does.
We raise from seat 4 to 3200 with JQ and get calls from seat 7 and the BB. The flop comes 45J with 2 spades. SB checks and we bet 5000 seat 4 calls and the BB check raises to 14000. We are probably ahead but he could have a set or a flush draw. We call. The turn comes 9s. Not good. He bets 20000 into us. There's a good chance we are in the lead but if he has a flush we could pay 60000 finding out. Also we have the Qs so a river spade gives us a flush, but he is the BB and could have the Ks or As. What to do what to do???? At times of such confusion i feel it's best to run and hide. We fold.
We move tables, win a couple small pots from the blind positions and finish round 13 with 109400 in chips and 165 opponents.
Giddey-Up Donkey!
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NLH
Playing 400-800 with 100 antes seat 4 raises to 1600 and seat 9 calls. We have KK in the SB and raise to 3200. seat 4 calls and seat 9 goes into the tank before raising to 6700. We raise to 13700. Seat 4 folds and seat 9 calls. The flop comes 4JK with 2 diamonds. I try to look disappointed that we hit a set of kings but the viagra-like effect they are having is moving the table some. We bet 3500 and he pushes all in!!! We snap call and he shows AA. Our set holds up and we pick up about 20000 on the hand.
So i guess thats how it feels to bad beat aces with kings. I don't really feel bad, particularly as most of the money went in after we were ahead.
In seat 4 we raise to 2300 with KK again! Seat 6, the biggest stack by far, raises to 7300 and everyone folds to us. We raise to 14800 and he literally asks if we have KK again. He calls and the flop comes 89T. A little afraid he has a set we check but he checks. Terrible turn comes the Ah (putting 2 hearts on the board). Oddly we pick this moment to bet and put in 11000. He tanks for a bit and then calls. The worst possible river card comes, the Jh. There's now a heart flush on the board, but worse is the 89TJ. So any Q or 7 is a straight. If he has any 2 cards 7 or higher (excluding kings) he has us beat. We check. He checks and shows QQ and takes it down with a straight. He had 6 outs when he called the 11000 bet! Oh well, i guess thats how it feela to have your kings bad beat by queens!
Im Sure we played several more hands, but it is two in the morning and I cannot recall them. We finished the day with 60200 in chips. A pretty good way to finish. We start up again tomorrow at 1 o'clock. I hope the first report goes out after 3 PM. Sleep well herd.
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
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So i guess thats how it feels to bad beat aces with kings. I don't really feel bad, particularly as most of the money went in after we were ahead.
In seat 4 we raise to 2300 with KK again! Seat 6, the biggest stack by far, raises to 7300 and everyone folds to us. We raise to 14800 and he literally asks if we have KK again. He calls and the flop comes 89T. A little afraid he has a set we check but he checks. Terrible turn comes the Ah (putting 2 hearts on the board). Oddly we pick this moment to bet and put in 11000. He tanks for a bit and then calls. The worst possible river card comes, the Jh. There's now a heart flush on the board, but worse is the 89TJ. So any Q or 7 is a straight. If he has any 2 cards 7 or higher (excluding kings) he has us beat. We check. He checks and shows QQ and takes it down with a straight. He had 6 outs when he called the 11000 bet! Oh well, i guess thats how it feela to have your kings bad beat by queens!
Im Sure we played several more hands, but it is two in the morning and I cannot recall them. We finished the day with 60200 in chips. A pretty good way to finish. We start up again tomorrow at 1 o'clock. I hope the first report goes out after 3 PM. Sleep well herd.
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
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NLH
We literally folded every hand in round nine except one.
Everyone folded to the small blind who limped in. We are in the big blind with Q7. The average hand heads up is Q7 So we are presumably below average. However, if he had a king or an ace, he should have raised. So we are likely in the lead with our hand, but we simply check and see the flop.
The flop comes 7QK. We flopped two pair! He bets 950 into us and we just call, slow playing. Again, he shouldnt have a K so we are looking very solid. The turn comes A. Gain he shouldnt have an A but a TJ for a straight is remotely possible. He checks and we bet 1500. He calls and the river comes J. He checks. We are probably good, but we would hate to that and have him raise. If he has a 10 he will kill us with a straight. If he raises us, we will likely have to throw our hand away in fear of the 10. We simply check and he shows an A4. Strange that he had an ace, but we are happy to take it down.
We close round 9 approximately 35000. Heading in for two more hours now so hopefully no updates for at least two hours.
All the best,
Folding Donkey
Sent from my dPhone
Everyone folded to the small blind who limped in. We are in the big blind with Q7. The average hand heads up is Q7 So we are presumably below average. However, if he had a king or an ace, he should have raised. So we are likely in the lead with our hand, but we simply check and see the flop.
The flop comes 7QK. We flopped two pair! He bets 950 into us and we just call, slow playing. Again, he shouldnt have a K so we are looking very solid. The turn comes A. Gain he shouldnt have an A but a TJ for a straight is remotely possible. He checks and we bet 1500. He calls and the river comes J. He checks. We are probably good, but we would hate to that and have him raise. If he has a 10 he will kill us with a straight. If he raises us, we will likely have to throw our hand away in fear of the 10. We simply check and he shows an A4. Strange that he had an ace, but we are happy to take it down.
We close round 9 approximately 35000. Heading in for two more hours now so hopefully no updates for at least two hours.
All the best,
Folding Donkey
Sent from my dPhone
Monday, July 1, 2013
NLH
Playing 200-400 with 50 antes and several short stacks at the table we raise to 800 on the button with J9h. The BB short stack calls and the flop comes 8JQ. He checks and we bet 800. He calls and the turn comes 2. He checks and we bet 1400. He calls and the river comes 5. He checks and we bet 3800 to put him all in. He tanks for several minutes and then calls and takes the pot with a JT. Ouch.
We move tables to silver 24 and went into a pattern of terrible cards or, worse, playable cards missing terrible flops. We get cut and cut to 27000.
Playing 250-500 with 50 antes we limp from seat 6 with 44 and see the flop with the BB. Flop comes A35 and he checks. We consider a small bet but dont want to give him a chance to check raise us out before we see if we can turn a 2 or 4. So we check and the turn comes a 4! We have a set. As long as he doesn't have a 2 we should be good. He checks and we bet a 1000 with a nonchalant toss of a yellow chip; he calls. The river comes 8 and he checks. In the same style we toss two yellow chips in and he calls. We show our set and he mucks.
Next hand seat 5 raises to 1050 and we flat call from seat 7 with AK. We see the flop heads up 7JK with 2 spades. He bets 1200 and we flat call. We could raise but lets not scare him. The turn comes 6d putting a second diamond on the board. He checks and we bet 2600 which should push out flush draws. He folds. I suspect there was no more money coming from him. We are back to 32000 in chips.
In a mid seat we raise with QK to 1050 and get called by the SB. Flop comes 23T. He checks and we nonchalantly throw out a yellow chip. This is the same guy we hit the set of 4s against. Turn comes A. Not good for us but we nonchalantly toss two yellow chips out. They have the desired effect and he folds.
We move up and down some, raising something we think is a bluff only to get re-raised all in (we fold), but close round 8 with 35200 in chips. Not bad considering how far we dipped. Average stack is 26790 with 468 players remaining. 1736 started.
After this break, we will play for one hour and then have another short break while they get rid of the green chips worth 25. Hopefully no commentary for over an hour!
All the best,
Up and Down Donkey
Sent from my dPhone
We move tables to silver 24 and went into a pattern of terrible cards or, worse, playable cards missing terrible flops. We get cut and cut to 27000.
Playing 250-500 with 50 antes we limp from seat 6 with 44 and see the flop with the BB. Flop comes A35 and he checks. We consider a small bet but dont want to give him a chance to check raise us out before we see if we can turn a 2 or 4. So we check and the turn comes a 4! We have a set. As long as he doesn't have a 2 we should be good. He checks and we bet a 1000 with a nonchalant toss of a yellow chip; he calls. The river comes 8 and he checks. In the same style we toss two yellow chips in and he calls. We show our set and he mucks.
Next hand seat 5 raises to 1050 and we flat call from seat 7 with AK. We see the flop heads up 7JK with 2 spades. He bets 1200 and we flat call. We could raise but lets not scare him. The turn comes 6d putting a second diamond on the board. He checks and we bet 2600 which should push out flush draws. He folds. I suspect there was no more money coming from him. We are back to 32000 in chips.
In a mid seat we raise with QK to 1050 and get called by the SB. Flop comes 23T. He checks and we nonchalantly throw out a yellow chip. This is the same guy we hit the set of 4s against. Turn comes A. Not good for us but we nonchalantly toss two yellow chips out. They have the desired effect and he folds.
We move up and down some, raising something we think is a bluff only to get re-raised all in (we fold), but close round 8 with 35200 in chips. Not bad considering how far we dipped. Average stack is 26790 with 468 players remaining. 1736 started.
After this break, we will play for one hour and then have another short break while they get rid of the green chips worth 25. Hopefully no commentary for over an hour!
All the best,
Up and Down Donkey
Sent from my dPhone
NLH
We start with 7500 in chips and quickly lose half our stack before bouncing some. We won a lot of small pots today by making the pre-flop bet and then Betting when an A or K flopped. There are quite a few interesting hands that are more specifically remembered.
In seat 3 we have 55 and raise to 125. Six players including the blinds call and see the flop with a now big pot. The flop comes JJQ. Everyone checks. Turn comes 3. Blinds check and we check assuming someone was slow playing a Q or J but everyone checks. We likely have the best hand as long ad the river doesnt help anyone. River is a 4. Perfect. Even If someone hit that, our pair of fives should be a winner. The blinds check to us and we bet 400. A late seat player raises 1000 more and everyone else has folded. He could be on a steal, he could have a four, or he could have a pair larger than ours. With all of the checking going on before this, it looks like a seal. So we called and he shows 44. It is sad when our read of the hand was so perfect up until the last moment when you can't really put someone on hitting their dream card.
Early seat raises to 175 and we raise from the button to 600 with AKs. The BB and original raiser call and the flop comes 358h. Uuugghhh. BB bets out 900 and we fold.
Early seat bets 150 and gets 2 callers. We call from the SB with 67c and see the flop A45 with 1 club. We bet 300 just to bild the pot as we are about a 32% ti hit our straight. The early seat makes it 900 and everyone folds to us. We call. If we hit our straight it will be well hidden and we will get paid. Turn comes Ac giving us a flush draw which would also pay us well as it takes runner runner and would be well hidden. We check and he bets 1600. We call looking for one of our 15 outs on the river. We have a 30% chance so as long as we believe we will get 5000 if we hit, it's the right move. The pot has most of that already. The river is a 7. We now have a pair that might be good but we check an he bets 2800. Hmmmm. We fold.
Early seat short stack with 2200 chips raises to 275. Big stack after him raises to 700. We are in the SB with KQc. If we call, small stack could push all in and big stack could push over him. This is not the hand we wAnt to put all our chips on, but 3-way it could make sense. Probably not but we call anyway and are happy to see short stack call.
Flop comes 236 with 2 clubs. We are in this hand to the end now but want to keep everyone in. If we check and small stack pushes all in for. 1500, big stack may fold out of fear that we will re-raise, so we bet 1500. Small stack calls going all in and now big stack can safely call and see the turn with us, which he does.
Turn comes Td. Useless to us. We check and big stack checks. So he probably ha something like AK as he would have bet a pocket pair. He could of course have AJc, which would suck.
River comes perfect. It's the Ac giving u the nut flush with our K and most likely making big stack's hand as he likely has a big A. We push all in for about 3500 and he calls. We show the nuts and everyone mucks. Giddey-up!!!
We raise to 375 from seat 4 with JJ and get a late seat call and both blinds calling. The flop comes 35T, excellent. The blinds check an we bet 800. The late seat and SB fold but the BB calls. The turn comes another T and the BB checks. We bet 1600 and he calls. Hmmmm, either he has overcards or he is slow playing a T. River comes 9 and he checks. If he has a T we will lose anything we bet. If he has overcards and we bet he will most likely fold. So betting does us no good unless he is calling this whole time with a 3 or 5. We check and he shows 9T for a full house. Ouch!
Everyone folds to us in the SB playing 100-200 and we raise to 400 with a 35 just to see if he will fold or to set up a post flop bluff when an A or K hits. He calls and the flop comes 334. Wow! We bet 200 and he calls. Turn comes Q and we bet 600 hoping he will think we are bluffing. He calls and river comes 2. We splash 2100 onto the table in a somewhat absurdly large bet. He tanks for a bit an then calls an mucks his hand when he sees the 3 hanging off our hoof.
Seat 5 raises to 475, the button calls and we raise to 1575 from the SB with QQ. Seat 5 calls and the button folds. Perfect flop of 37Q rainbow comes. We bet 1025 and he raises to 2350!!! Giddey-up! We could raise but let's not scare him. We call and watch a harmless 6 turn no way he has 45. We continue the slow play with a check and he pushes all in for 4300. We call with the top current hand and he shows KK. He has two outs on the river and i don't recall what it was, but it wasn't a K. We take a big pot down.
There were a lot of big hands not mentioned here. We hit well and finish round 4 with 38000 in chips.
Playing 100-200 with 25 blinds,
Seat 7 raises to 500 and we call from seat 8 with 44. The BB also calls and the flop comes 88T. They both ccheck. There's a good chance they both have missed the flop so we bet 1100. The BB pushes all in for 6000. Not good. Seat 7 calls. If they both have overcards we should call but this doesnt feel good. Even if they have a 69QK between them we are less than 50%. We fold. They show 55 and 88!!! He flopped quads! Wow, sucks to lose 1500 on the hand but we can take that beating.
Seat 4 raises to 475 and seat 6 calls. We call from the BB with JQ. Flop comes 34J with 2 clubs. We bet 850 and seat 4 raises to 2500. Seat 6 folds. Hmmmm. Unlikely he has a bigger jack. He could have QQ or two clubs. Or he could think I'm bluffing but thats unlikely as he made the bet with seat 6 alive behind him. He only has another 2500 in chips so he would have slow layed a set or KK or AA most likely. We raise him all in and he calls with A9c. He needs a club or an A so we are about a 55% favorite. The turn comes J giving us a set. On the river he needs a club now, and not the Qc as that would give us a boat. The river comes Qd giving us an unnecessary full house to take it down.
In seat 4 we min raise to 400 with 46d and get calls from the blinds. Flpp comes 234 with one diamond. They both check. We bet 700 and they both fold. Too bad. Great flop for us.
We move to a new table - 72 red - and lose a few hands getting accustomed. We win a couple smaller hands but now we are in stride and ready to play!
Unfortunately the player 2 seats behind us just got crushed down to 2000 in chips so we cant play anythin we wouldnt call him all in on as that his only move.
In seat 4 we have 44 and limp. True to expectations seat 6 gets a hand and pushes all in for 1800. Everyone folds to us. It's 1500 to us and there's about 2800 in the pot. Unless he has an over pair we should call. We call and he shows AQ. We are actually the favorite with our 44, at least until he flops an A. Thats a bad beat but not too bad and a smallish pot.
We head to dinner with 38000 in chips. Not too shabby. Hopefully no commentary to you for 3.5 hours!
All the best,
Donkey Running Good
Sent from my dPhone
In seat 3 we have 55 and raise to 125. Six players including the blinds call and see the flop with a now big pot. The flop comes JJQ. Everyone checks. Turn comes 3. Blinds check and we check assuming someone was slow playing a Q or J but everyone checks. We likely have the best hand as long ad the river doesnt help anyone. River is a 4. Perfect. Even If someone hit that, our pair of fives should be a winner. The blinds check to us and we bet 400. A late seat player raises 1000 more and everyone else has folded. He could be on a steal, he could have a four, or he could have a pair larger than ours. With all of the checking going on before this, it looks like a seal. So we called and he shows 44. It is sad when our read of the hand was so perfect up until the last moment when you can't really put someone on hitting their dream card.
Early seat raises to 175 and we raise from the button to 600 with AKs. The BB and original raiser call and the flop comes 358h. Uuugghhh. BB bets out 900 and we fold.
Early seat bets 150 and gets 2 callers. We call from the SB with 67c and see the flop A45 with 1 club. We bet 300 just to bild the pot as we are about a 32% ti hit our straight. The early seat makes it 900 and everyone folds to us. We call. If we hit our straight it will be well hidden and we will get paid. Turn comes Ac giving us a flush draw which would also pay us well as it takes runner runner and would be well hidden. We check and he bets 1600. We call looking for one of our 15 outs on the river. We have a 30% chance so as long as we believe we will get 5000 if we hit, it's the right move. The pot has most of that already. The river is a 7. We now have a pair that might be good but we check an he bets 2800. Hmmmm. We fold.
Early seat short stack with 2200 chips raises to 275. Big stack after him raises to 700. We are in the SB with KQc. If we call, small stack could push all in and big stack could push over him. This is not the hand we wAnt to put all our chips on, but 3-way it could make sense. Probably not but we call anyway and are happy to see short stack call.
Flop comes 236 with 2 clubs. We are in this hand to the end now but want to keep everyone in. If we check and small stack pushes all in for. 1500, big stack may fold out of fear that we will re-raise, so we bet 1500. Small stack calls going all in and now big stack can safely call and see the turn with us, which he does.
Turn comes Td. Useless to us. We check and big stack checks. So he probably ha something like AK as he would have bet a pocket pair. He could of course have AJc, which would suck.
River comes perfect. It's the Ac giving u the nut flush with our K and most likely making big stack's hand as he likely has a big A. We push all in for about 3500 and he calls. We show the nuts and everyone mucks. Giddey-up!!!
We raise to 375 from seat 4 with JJ and get a late seat call and both blinds calling. The flop comes 35T, excellent. The blinds check an we bet 800. The late seat and SB fold but the BB calls. The turn comes another T and the BB checks. We bet 1600 and he calls. Hmmmm, either he has overcards or he is slow playing a T. River comes 9 and he checks. If he has a T we will lose anything we bet. If he has overcards and we bet he will most likely fold. So betting does us no good unless he is calling this whole time with a 3 or 5. We check and he shows 9T for a full house. Ouch!
Everyone folds to us in the SB playing 100-200 and we raise to 400 with a 35 just to see if he will fold or to set up a post flop bluff when an A or K hits. He calls and the flop comes 334. Wow! We bet 200 and he calls. Turn comes Q and we bet 600 hoping he will think we are bluffing. He calls and river comes 2. We splash 2100 onto the table in a somewhat absurdly large bet. He tanks for a bit an then calls an mucks his hand when he sees the 3 hanging off our hoof.
Seat 5 raises to 475, the button calls and we raise to 1575 from the SB with QQ. Seat 5 calls and the button folds. Perfect flop of 37Q rainbow comes. We bet 1025 and he raises to 2350!!! Giddey-up! We could raise but let's not scare him. We call and watch a harmless 6 turn no way he has 45. We continue the slow play with a check and he pushes all in for 4300. We call with the top current hand and he shows KK. He has two outs on the river and i don't recall what it was, but it wasn't a K. We take a big pot down.
There were a lot of big hands not mentioned here. We hit well and finish round 4 with 38000 in chips.
Playing 100-200 with 25 blinds,
Seat 7 raises to 500 and we call from seat 8 with 44. The BB also calls and the flop comes 88T. They both ccheck. There's a good chance they both have missed the flop so we bet 1100. The BB pushes all in for 6000. Not good. Seat 7 calls. If they both have overcards we should call but this doesnt feel good. Even if they have a 69QK between them we are less than 50%. We fold. They show 55 and 88!!! He flopped quads! Wow, sucks to lose 1500 on the hand but we can take that beating.
Seat 4 raises to 475 and seat 6 calls. We call from the BB with JQ. Flop comes 34J with 2 clubs. We bet 850 and seat 4 raises to 2500. Seat 6 folds. Hmmmm. Unlikely he has a bigger jack. He could have QQ or two clubs. Or he could think I'm bluffing but thats unlikely as he made the bet with seat 6 alive behind him. He only has another 2500 in chips so he would have slow layed a set or KK or AA most likely. We raise him all in and he calls with A9c. He needs a club or an A so we are about a 55% favorite. The turn comes J giving us a set. On the river he needs a club now, and not the Qc as that would give us a boat. The river comes Qd giving us an unnecessary full house to take it down.
In seat 4 we min raise to 400 with 46d and get calls from the blinds. Flpp comes 234 with one diamond. They both check. We bet 700 and they both fold. Too bad. Great flop for us.
We move to a new table - 72 red - and lose a few hands getting accustomed. We win a couple smaller hands but now we are in stride and ready to play!
Unfortunately the player 2 seats behind us just got crushed down to 2000 in chips so we cant play anythin we wouldnt call him all in on as that his only move.
In seat 4 we have 44 and limp. True to expectations seat 6 gets a hand and pushes all in for 1800. Everyone folds to us. It's 1500 to us and there's about 2800 in the pot. Unless he has an over pair we should call. We call and he shows AQ. We are actually the favorite with our 44, at least until he flops an A. Thats a bad beat but not too bad and a smallish pot.
We head to dinner with 38000 in chips. Not too shabby. Hopefully no commentary to you for 3.5 hours!
All the best,
Donkey Running Good
Sent from my dPhone
Sunday, June 30, 2013
NLH
We are in seat 4 with JKs Playing 300 600 with antes of 75. We raised to 1600 and get called by the button. The small blind Pushes all in With just about as many chips as we have.
He has a broad range of possible hands. The button is not a threat. If the button had a big hand, the button would have raised. The small blind could be hoping that we will just fold. If he is not, his range of hands include small pairs, large pears, suited aces, etc. The pot has about 14000 in it and we need to put our 8000 in it to call. The odds are great for us unless he has JJ or better. Of course there is a decent chance of that.
We call and the button folds. The small blind shows QQ. We need a King, or a bunch of spades. The flop has a jack, but the turn and river provide no further aid and we are out.
Donkey heading back to the stables. There were 2800 players And 400 alive when we left. Not bad, but not money either.
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
Sent from my iPhone
He has a broad range of possible hands. The button is not a threat. If the button had a big hand, the button would have raised. The small blind could be hoping that we will just fold. If he is not, his range of hands include small pairs, large pears, suited aces, etc. The pot has about 14000 in it and we need to put our 8000 in it to call. The odds are great for us unless he has JJ or better. Of course there is a decent chance of that.
We call and the button folds. The small blind shows QQ. We need a King, or a bunch of spades. The flop has a jack, but the turn and river provide no further aid and we are out.
Donkey heading back to the stables. There were 2800 players And 400 alive when we left. Not bad, but not money either.
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
Sent from my iPhone
NLH
Contrary to the typical pattern, in rounds seven and eight we inched downward and jumped upward. Two hands of interesting note.
Early seat big stack raises to 700 and gets called by the button. We are in the small blind with AJh. We raise to 1800 and early seat raises to 3800. Button folds. We consider pushing or folding but decide to call and see the flop. Flop comes 56J with 2 clibs and we quickly push all in with about 5000 in chips. He goes into the tank for a couple of minutes. We call the time clock, so that the dealer will call the floor manager and ask to put him on a time restriction. He takes About another minute to fold his hand. Once he went into the tank, we can be pretty sure that we had him beat. However, it's always nice to take the pot down without having to watch the turn and river.
Everyone folds to the small blind who raises to 1050. We are in the big blind with a 95. Terrible hand, but for 650 we call. The flop comes 66T. He checks and we check and the turn comes five. He checks and we bet 1600. He calls. The river comes Q and he bets 2200.
So here is the problem. In order for him to raise the flop, he should have a better than average hand. An average hand is a Q8 off suit. There is a very good chance that he has a queen with something like a jack or a king. Do we want to spend 2200 to make sure that he does not have a queen or a 10 or a pocket pair larger than five? At this point, it is better to fold and see another hand, so we do. I showed him the five we are folding and he shows AK. We would have one at least called. But, that of course, is monday morning quarterbacking.
We close round eight with 11,000 chips and 490 players. We are 200 players away from the money. There will be a short break after round 9 so hopefully no commentary for an hour.
Up-n-down Donkey
Sent from my dPhone
Early seat big stack raises to 700 and gets called by the button. We are in the small blind with AJh. We raise to 1800 and early seat raises to 3800. Button folds. We consider pushing or folding but decide to call and see the flop. Flop comes 56J with 2 clibs and we quickly push all in with about 5000 in chips. He goes into the tank for a couple of minutes. We call the time clock, so that the dealer will call the floor manager and ask to put him on a time restriction. He takes About another minute to fold his hand. Once he went into the tank, we can be pretty sure that we had him beat. However, it's always nice to take the pot down without having to watch the turn and river.
Everyone folds to the small blind who raises to 1050. We are in the big blind with a 95. Terrible hand, but for 650 we call. The flop comes 66T. He checks and we check and the turn comes five. He checks and we bet 1600. He calls. The river comes Q and he bets 2200.
So here is the problem. In order for him to raise the flop, he should have a better than average hand. An average hand is a Q8 off suit. There is a very good chance that he has a queen with something like a jack or a king. Do we want to spend 2200 to make sure that he does not have a queen or a 10 or a pocket pair larger than five? At this point, it is better to fold and see another hand, so we do. I showed him the five we are folding and he shows AK. We would have one at least called. But, that of course, is monday morning quarterbacking.
We close round eight with 11,000 chips and 490 players. We are 200 players away from the money. There will be a short break after round 9 so hopefully no commentary for an hour.
Up-n-down Donkey
Sent from my dPhone
NLH
Only four hands of note in rounds five and six.
Chair four raises to 400 playing 100 200 and we call from the button with the 34 of clubs. The flop comes 39J with 2 clubs. Key trends and we 800. He calls and the turn comes a 10. Checks and we bet 1800. He pushes all in for 5200. It's 3400 to us to call and the the pot odds simply mandate the call. We call and he shows QK. He turned a gunshot straight. We need a club. The river is a rag and he takes it down.
We are down to 2500 and chips and despite the fact that we have no claws, we begin to hoof our way back up.
Seat 3 limps and everyone else folds to us and we raise to 550 from the button with 99. The blinds fold and seat 3 calls and the flop comes 4JA. Seat 3 checks. He likely has something like suited connectors. We bet 900 and he folds. Good result.
Seat 4 is a short stack and pushes all in for 2500. Everyone folds to us and we call from the button with AK. He shows JJ. The flop comes 236, the turn a T and the river a magic A giving us the pot.
Seat 4 raises to 550 and gets called by Seat 5. We are in the small blind with JJ. The players in the pot have the biggest stacks. We are not going to scare them. If we raise, they could reraise and put us all in. Oddly we have only had three pocket pairs all day today and we are perhaps inappropriately in love with our JJ. We raise to 1750 and they both fold. Good result!
We close round six and head to dinner with about 10500 chips. Hopefully the next update is more than 3 hours away!
Donkey-alive
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
Sent from my iPhone
Chair four raises to 400 playing 100 200 and we call from the button with the 34 of clubs. The flop comes 39J with 2 clubs. Key trends and we 800. He calls and the turn comes a 10. Checks and we bet 1800. He pushes all in for 5200. It's 3400 to us to call and the the pot odds simply mandate the call. We call and he shows QK. He turned a gunshot straight. We need a club. The river is a rag and he takes it down.
We are down to 2500 and chips and despite the fact that we have no claws, we begin to hoof our way back up.
Seat 3 limps and everyone else folds to us and we raise to 550 from the button with 99. The blinds fold and seat 3 calls and the flop comes 4JA. Seat 3 checks. He likely has something like suited connectors. We bet 900 and he folds. Good result.
Seat 4 is a short stack and pushes all in for 2500. Everyone folds to us and we call from the button with AK. He shows JJ. The flop comes 236, the turn a T and the river a magic A giving us the pot.
Seat 4 raises to 550 and gets called by Seat 5. We are in the small blind with JJ. The players in the pot have the biggest stacks. We are not going to scare them. If we raise, they could reraise and put us all in. Oddly we have only had three pocket pairs all day today and we are perhaps inappropriately in love with our JJ. We raise to 1750 and they both fold. Good result!
We close round six and head to dinner with about 10500 chips. Hopefully the next update is more than 3 hours away!
Donkey-alive
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
Sent from my iPhone
NLH
We get moved to a new table at the beginning of round three playing 50-100. We then play extremely tight for the entire round. A few interesting hands.
Everyone checks to us in seat nine and we raise to 250 with KT. The blinds call and the flop comes 36K. They check and we bet 250. The small blind folds and the big blind raises to 950. Do we fold raise or call?
Not sure what he has, because he is in the blind. It could be a bluff or a semi bluff. Most likely, he paired something on the board. If he did, it is unlikely that it is the king. If it is the king, it is unlikely that he has our 10 beat. If he has a straight draw for a second-place pair, we don't want to let him see the turn for free. He only has another 3000 in chips, so we push all in. He folds. Great result.
Chair five raises to 250 and gets called by the button. We call from the big blind with 57d. Flop comes TJQ rainbow. We check, they check and the free turn comes 5s. We bet 200 and chair 5 tanks for a minute and calls. The button folds. The river comes 4s. Unless he has spades, that doesnt help him. He has 1300 in chips so we bet 525. The magic number to scare people is 40% of their stack. Unfortunately, it did not work and he raised all in. We fold. Not good.
There is a short-stacked hyper aggressive player on the button who raises to 200 on the button. The small blind folds and we have a 28 in the big blind. This min raise from hyper boy looks like a steal so we try to resteal by raising to 675. He folds. Giddey-up!
We play some great small-game poke through round 4, betting from position into small pots after raggedy flops that couldnt have helped our opponents and watching them fold. Small pots, but pots nonetheless.
Seat 5 raises to 400 and we re-raise with AQ from the button to 1200. Everyone folds to seat 5 who calls. Flop comes 456s, which is an amazing flop if one has spades or low cards, which we do not. Seat 5 bets 1200 and we fold.
Everyone folds to us in seat 9 with 89h and we raise to 350. The button calls, the blinds fold and the flop comes 68T. Great flop. We have a pair and a gut ahot straight draw. We bet 450 and he raises to 2000. Hmmmm, huge raise, like screaming straight or set. In any case, we dont have the cards to call that so we fold. He shows TT. He had top set, so we needed a 7 to hit the board to win, making us about a 15% dog. Good fold but chips are going in the wrong direction!
Everyone folds to us chair nine. We limp with KT. The button limps, the small blind limps and the big blind, a short stack with 2000 and chips, pushes all in. He Could have almost anything. He is facing three limpers and most likely hoping that everyone will simply fold and give him the small pot. The king ten is likely a good hand, so we call. Everyone else folds and the big blind shows King Jack. Terrible. He has us dominated. His Jack holds up and we lose the pot.
We close round 4 with about 7500 in chips, down from a high of about 11500! Still a good stack.
Focused Donkey
Sent from my dPhone
Everyone checks to us in seat nine and we raise to 250 with KT. The blinds call and the flop comes 36K. They check and we bet 250. The small blind folds and the big blind raises to 950. Do we fold raise or call?
Not sure what he has, because he is in the blind. It could be a bluff or a semi bluff. Most likely, he paired something on the board. If he did, it is unlikely that it is the king. If it is the king, it is unlikely that he has our 10 beat. If he has a straight draw for a second-place pair, we don't want to let him see the turn for free. He only has another 3000 in chips, so we push all in. He folds. Great result.
Chair five raises to 250 and gets called by the button. We call from the big blind with 57d. Flop comes TJQ rainbow. We check, they check and the free turn comes 5s. We bet 200 and chair 5 tanks for a minute and calls. The button folds. The river comes 4s. Unless he has spades, that doesnt help him. He has 1300 in chips so we bet 525. The magic number to scare people is 40% of their stack. Unfortunately, it did not work and he raised all in. We fold. Not good.
There is a short-stacked hyper aggressive player on the button who raises to 200 on the button. The small blind folds and we have a 28 in the big blind. This min raise from hyper boy looks like a steal so we try to resteal by raising to 675. He folds. Giddey-up!
We play some great small-game poke through round 4, betting from position into small pots after raggedy flops that couldnt have helped our opponents and watching them fold. Small pots, but pots nonetheless.
Seat 5 raises to 400 and we re-raise with AQ from the button to 1200. Everyone folds to seat 5 who calls. Flop comes 456s, which is an amazing flop if one has spades or low cards, which we do not. Seat 5 bets 1200 and we fold.
Everyone folds to us in seat 9 with 89h and we raise to 350. The button calls, the blinds fold and the flop comes 68T. Great flop. We have a pair and a gut ahot straight draw. We bet 450 and he raises to 2000. Hmmmm, huge raise, like screaming straight or set. In any case, we dont have the cards to call that so we fold. He shows TT. He had top set, so we needed a 7 to hit the board to win, making us about a 15% dog. Good fold but chips are going in the wrong direction!
Everyone folds to us chair nine. We limp with KT. The button limps, the small blind limps and the big blind, a short stack with 2000 and chips, pushes all in. He Could have almost anything. He is facing three limpers and most likely hoping that everyone will simply fold and give him the small pot. The king ten is likely a good hand, so we call. Everyone else folds and the big blind shows King Jack. Terrible. He has us dominated. His Jack holds up and we lose the pot.
We close round 4 with about 7500 in chips, down from a high of about 11500! Still a good stack.
Focused Donkey
Sent from my dPhone
NLH
After a long haitus, the dinkey trots to the table with 3000 in chips for no lomit holdem.
Second hand of the day is AQs in seat 7. We raise to 75 (playing 25 25) and get a call from the button and a raise to 225 from the big blind.
Do we call or do we raise? We have a premium hand, but we could face an ace king, or under pairs from either player. Either way, it would be nice to see the flop before getting too committed. More than that, in a three way hand, if we beat one of them, we should beat both. So we don't want to scare anyone out of the hand. So we call him the button calls.
Flop comes 9s Ts Qc. Wow! Top pair and nut flush draw. To make matters better, the big blind bets 350 into us. To keep the button in the game, we call instead of raising, but the button folds. That's okay, hopefully our slow play will lead the big blind to bet into us after the turn. The turn comes king of spades. Could this get any better? We now have the nut flush. The big blind bets 600 into us just to prove it can get better, and we raise to 1200. If he has a set, we want him to commit now, before he has a chance to get a full house. He pushes all in, much to our delight. We call and he shows JK. Poor guy flopped a straight and got killed on the turn.
Mental note - Donkey is not alway on the losing end of colossal hands
We play a series of small hands losing all of them except one where four diamonds flop and turn, three players check to us and we peek under our cards to confirm we have a diamond. Seeing 2 black cards we throw a solitary 100 chip into the 300 pot and everyone folds to our imaginary diamond.
Playing 25 50, seat six limps and we limp from the button with 5T of clubs. The small blind, oddly, folds, and the big blind checks, so three of us see the flop. The flop comes 458 with two clubs, what a great flop for us. The big blind bets 200 and seat six folds. We raise to 400 and he calls. The call means he likely doesn't have a set or a straight or a big 8. The turn comes Td giving us 2 pair and he checks. We want to make him pay to see the river bit not scare him away. We bet 425 and he calls. The river comes A. His post flop call makes it unlikely he has A8 but he could have A4 or A5. He checks and we bet 950. He goes into the tank and calls. He mucks when we show 2 pair.
We play a few medium size hand and lose, including our first pocket pair 66 losing to a 22.
We close round 2 with 9450 in chips. We have not yet had AK or any pocket pairs except the losing 6s, but the flops have been great for us. Great lucky rounds against a relatively weak field.
Hopefully the next update is 2 hours away!
Dancing Donkey
Sent from my dPhone
Second hand of the day is AQs in seat 7. We raise to 75 (playing 25 25) and get a call from the button and a raise to 225 from the big blind.
Do we call or do we raise? We have a premium hand, but we could face an ace king, or under pairs from either player. Either way, it would be nice to see the flop before getting too committed. More than that, in a three way hand, if we beat one of them, we should beat both. So we don't want to scare anyone out of the hand. So we call him the button calls.
Flop comes 9s Ts Qc. Wow! Top pair and nut flush draw. To make matters better, the big blind bets 350 into us. To keep the button in the game, we call instead of raising, but the button folds. That's okay, hopefully our slow play will lead the big blind to bet into us after the turn. The turn comes king of spades. Could this get any better? We now have the nut flush. The big blind bets 600 into us just to prove it can get better, and we raise to 1200. If he has a set, we want him to commit now, before he has a chance to get a full house. He pushes all in, much to our delight. We call and he shows JK. Poor guy flopped a straight and got killed on the turn.
Mental note - Donkey is not alway on the losing end of colossal hands
We play a series of small hands losing all of them except one where four diamonds flop and turn, three players check to us and we peek under our cards to confirm we have a diamond. Seeing 2 black cards we throw a solitary 100 chip into the 300 pot and everyone folds to our imaginary diamond.
Playing 25 50, seat six limps and we limp from the button with 5T of clubs. The small blind, oddly, folds, and the big blind checks, so three of us see the flop. The flop comes 458 with two clubs, what a great flop for us. The big blind bets 200 and seat six folds. We raise to 400 and he calls. The call means he likely doesn't have a set or a straight or a big 8. The turn comes Td giving us 2 pair and he checks. We want to make him pay to see the river bit not scare him away. We bet 425 and he calls. The river comes A. His post flop call makes it unlikely he has A8 but he could have A4 or A5. He checks and we bet 950. He goes into the tank and calls. He mucks when we show 2 pair.
We play a few medium size hand and lose, including our first pocket pair 66 losing to a 22.
We close round 2 with 9450 in chips. We have not yet had AK or any pocket pairs except the losing 6s, but the flops have been great for us. Great lucky rounds against a relatively weak field.
Hopefully the next update is 2 hours away!
Dancing Donkey
Sent from my dPhone
Monday, June 10, 2013
Quick update
After three more hours of play, and with only about 50 players left, We pushed all in post flop with top pair against someone who had made a straight on the flop. That did not work out well for us and we went home to cry.
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
Sent from my iPhone
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
Sent from my iPhone
BBD - Not Bel Biv Devoe, but Bad Beatin Donkey
Dear Herd,
I have been relatively silent lately because I have played in a HORSE tournament that is difficult to relay and then I played in a Pot Limit Hold'em tournament and thought I would try to focus more on the play and less on the blog. So, here are some thoughts on the PLH (PLH plays just like No Limit Hold'em except one can only bet the amount that is in the pot. These amounts grow very quickly and ultimately there's little difference between PLH and NLH, but there are some times, such as a short stack unable to simply push all in, where it becomes relevant).
Yesterday we played for 8 hours. The first four were painfully boring as we never had a hand to play and slowly drained our 15,000 starting chip stack to about 6,000. The last four hours were very active and involved a ridiculous number of bad beats, both for and against us. Having earlier in the day discussed with someone the sadness that we as a poker society only remember the bad beats against us, I have here decided to completely ignore those, as painful as they are, and only tell you the good stories, where we unfairly beat down on players who should have laughed at us as we walked, tail between our legs, to the chariot home.
Our story starts with the 6,000 in chips. Playing 200 400, a small stack raised to 1400, leaving him with only 500 more in chips. He was in an early seat and could have been pushing with almost anything as he would soon be blinded down to almost nothing. We call from the button with KJh. We could raise him and get his other 500 in, but he will put that in after the flop no matter what, so let's see what the flop is first. The flop comes 56K. Great for us! He predictably tosses in his 500 and we call. He turns over AK! Terrible. We are a 12% dog, but the "river delivers"; we river a J to put 2,000 chips in our stack and send him home.
Playing 250 500, an early bettor raises to 1200 and we raise to 3600 with 88. The button raises to a figure beyond our 8,000 stack and the early bettor folds. We call, pushing our remaining 4400 in chips in hoping for a race (e.g. against AK we are a 55% favorite). Unfortunately, he turns over AA. He has the red aces and we have the black 8s, which makes us a 20% dog. The flop comes 3 high spades and the turn comes 7s (important that it's smaller than our 8 because 5 spades above our 8, although difficult to do, would be a split pot). We take it down with a flush and double up! On a side note, this same player about 30 minutes later cracked someone else's aces with TJ and we laughed about it on the way to our cars - our table was a crazy series of bad beats.
Skipping the bad beat story that brought us back down to 5,000 in chips, let's assume that's where we are, at 5,000. From the button playing 300 600 we raise to 1500 hoping to steal the blinds with A2s. The big blind raises to 4000 and we push all in. He shows 55 (heart and club). We are a 33% dog. The flop comes 27Q with two spades! Great flop for us. Now we need one of the remaining 2s, an Ace or a spade. We are now a 52% favorite. The turn comes A, giving us 2 pair! His only hope now is the 5d (because the 5s gives us a flush). The river comes Js, giving us the flush. We went from pair to two-pair to flush to double up.
With 14,000 in chips we limp in for 600 under the gun with 33 and get four other players (including the blinds). Five of us see the flop come 389 with 89 both clubs. The blinds check. We bet 1500 and seat 5 raises to 5500. Everyone folds to us and we push all in. He calls and shows 67c. He has a straight flush draw. he needs a 5 or a T for a straight, or a club for a flush (5 or T of clubs gives him a straight flush). We are in the lead officially, but would love to see the board pair for a boat. The turn comes 4d and the river comes 9d. We take it down and double up. On a side note, the next hand he pushed all in with his remaining 2000 in chips, which we took off of him with KK.
We ended day 1 with 30,800 in chips (average stack is just over 36,000. There are 81 players returning for day 2 (195 started) at 2pm today. I will, again, not be blogging, but hope to give you some good news at some point in the day.
Y'all's
Bad Beatin Donkey
I have been relatively silent lately because I have played in a HORSE tournament that is difficult to relay and then I played in a Pot Limit Hold'em tournament and thought I would try to focus more on the play and less on the blog. So, here are some thoughts on the PLH (PLH plays just like No Limit Hold'em except one can only bet the amount that is in the pot. These amounts grow very quickly and ultimately there's little difference between PLH and NLH, but there are some times, such as a short stack unable to simply push all in, where it becomes relevant).
Yesterday we played for 8 hours. The first four were painfully boring as we never had a hand to play and slowly drained our 15,000 starting chip stack to about 6,000. The last four hours were very active and involved a ridiculous number of bad beats, both for and against us. Having earlier in the day discussed with someone the sadness that we as a poker society only remember the bad beats against us, I have here decided to completely ignore those, as painful as they are, and only tell you the good stories, where we unfairly beat down on players who should have laughed at us as we walked, tail between our legs, to the chariot home.
Our story starts with the 6,000 in chips. Playing 200 400, a small stack raised to 1400, leaving him with only 500 more in chips. He was in an early seat and could have been pushing with almost anything as he would soon be blinded down to almost nothing. We call from the button with KJh. We could raise him and get his other 500 in, but he will put that in after the flop no matter what, so let's see what the flop is first. The flop comes 56K. Great for us! He predictably tosses in his 500 and we call. He turns over AK! Terrible. We are a 12% dog, but the "river delivers"; we river a J to put 2,000 chips in our stack and send him home.
Playing 250 500, an early bettor raises to 1200 and we raise to 3600 with 88. The button raises to a figure beyond our 8,000 stack and the early bettor folds. We call, pushing our remaining 4400 in chips in hoping for a race (e.g. against AK we are a 55% favorite). Unfortunately, he turns over AA. He has the red aces and we have the black 8s, which makes us a 20% dog. The flop comes 3 high spades and the turn comes 7s (important that it's smaller than our 8 because 5 spades above our 8, although difficult to do, would be a split pot). We take it down with a flush and double up! On a side note, this same player about 30 minutes later cracked someone else's aces with TJ and we laughed about it on the way to our cars - our table was a crazy series of bad beats.
Skipping the bad beat story that brought us back down to 5,000 in chips, let's assume that's where we are, at 5,000. From the button playing 300 600 we raise to 1500 hoping to steal the blinds with A2s. The big blind raises to 4000 and we push all in. He shows 55 (heart and club). We are a 33% dog. The flop comes 27Q with two spades! Great flop for us. Now we need one of the remaining 2s, an Ace or a spade. We are now a 52% favorite. The turn comes A, giving us 2 pair! His only hope now is the 5d (because the 5s gives us a flush). The river comes Js, giving us the flush. We went from pair to two-pair to flush to double up.
With 14,000 in chips we limp in for 600 under the gun with 33 and get four other players (including the blinds). Five of us see the flop come 389 with 89 both clubs. The blinds check. We bet 1500 and seat 5 raises to 5500. Everyone folds to us and we push all in. He calls and shows 67c. He has a straight flush draw. he needs a 5 or a T for a straight, or a club for a flush (5 or T of clubs gives him a straight flush). We are in the lead officially, but would love to see the board pair for a boat. The turn comes 4d and the river comes 9d. We take it down and double up. On a side note, the next hand he pushed all in with his remaining 2000 in chips, which we took off of him with KK.
We ended day 1 with 30,800 in chips (average stack is just over 36,000. There are 81 players returning for day 2 (195 started) at 2pm today. I will, again, not be blogging, but hope to give you some good news at some point in the day.
Y'all's
Bad Beatin Donkey
Friday, May 31, 2013
Event 5
Slowly crept to 14000 and then slid all the way to zero on four bloody knees.
All the best,
Minimalist Donkey
Sent from my iPhone
All the best,
Minimalist Donkey
Sent from my iPhone
Event 5
First, a moment of reflection. Looking back on the last two years when I have literally tried to play every event that I could, even if that meant taking a hyper aggressive approach from the very first hand, it has been drawn to my attention that this approach has not yielded good results. That may not surprise anyone, and I believe I made similar statements at the end of each of the last two years. I am resigned, however, not to do so this year.
On to the tournament. It is too difficult to give hand by hand recounts of these games. So, you may want to simply delete all the emails that come regarding this event. We have just concluded round two, and we have moved up in chip stack from the 7500 starting point to just over 11,000. As this is a limit game, chip movements will be slow for the first four or five hours. So the increase of 50% puts us in a very good position, but it is so early that that is almost irrelevant. However, around round six the betting increments will be very large and if we do not have a sizable stack we will only have one hand worth of chips. We need to build now and be prepared for that.
No specific hands to report. I am hunting for that Zen space.
All the best,
Zen Donkey
Sent from my iPhone
On to the tournament. It is too difficult to give hand by hand recounts of these games. So, you may want to simply delete all the emails that come regarding this event. We have just concluded round two, and we have moved up in chip stack from the 7500 starting point to just over 11,000. As this is a limit game, chip movements will be slow for the first four or five hours. So the increase of 50% puts us in a very good position, but it is so early that that is almost irrelevant. However, around round six the betting increments will be very large and if we do not have a sizable stack we will only have one hand worth of chips. We need to build now and be prepared for that.
No specific hands to report. I am hunting for that Zen space.
All the best,
Zen Donkey
Sent from my iPhone
Event 5 - Omaha/seven-card stud high-low eight-or-better
First, let me correct something I recall writing about yesterday's tournament. In the big hand I keep telling myself I should have won, where I played JJ all in pre-flop against TT and A2h only to see 2 deuces hit the board, I wrote that I had 17,000 in chips when I should have had 24,000 because the guy with the A2h got lucky and beat me out of 12,000 in chips (plus I didn't get to take his 12,000). I realized, only adding salt to the wound, that the real number is 36,000 because the A2h also took 12,000 of the TT's chips, which I would have taken had I won the pot, as of course I should have. Now, putting the past in the rear view mirror and then tearing that off of the car ceiling and throwing it out the window, on to today . . .
Today's tournament starts at 5pm and it's a mix of two games - Omaha/seven-card stud high-low eight-or-better.
As a reminder to those who don't play these varietals, Omaha is played just like Texas Hold'em except each player has four cards instead of two and must use two from his/her hand and three from the board to make the best hand possible AND the worst hand possible, called the "low" hand (players may use different cards for each hand). There is also a "qualification" requirement for the low hand; in order to even have a low hand, you must have five cards (no pairs) eight or lower (aces count low here). So, for example, if the Omaha board is 267TQ, then the person with the A3 has the best low hand playing the A3 along with the 267 from the board. However, if the board is a little different, 227TQ, then no one can even have a low hand; there is no way to use three cards from the board in constructing a hand of five cards 8 or lower! In that case, the high hand wins the entire pot.
Seven Card stud is a much more familiar game. Players get two face down and one face up card and bet. They then get three more face up cards, one at a time, with betting after each card. They then get a final face down card, resulting in four face up and three face down cards. From these seven cards, players construct their best hand and again a low hand, but again they must qualify to have a low hand. There is unfortunately no way for me to really write about these hands with any clarity because there are as many as two dozen cards showing face up on the table by the end of the hand.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Event 2 Rounds 11-12
Hyper-aggressive donkey in the house playing 500-1000 with antes of 100. Button raises to 3000 and SB folds. We are in BB with 34h. Not a food hand but we have been playing with thi guy for 2 hours and know he is stealing. We push all in for about 12500. He goes into the tank and calls with K4c. We were right that he was stealing and the call is surprising. Plus he has us dominated. We need a 3! Flop comes 267 with two hearts. Now we need a 5 for a straight or a heart for a flush. Turn comes 3!!! River comes another 7 and we double up making a dinkey push and getting out donkeyed by a guy calling with K4! This one went for us though. We are back to our small stack of 25000. Small but so much more comfy. Now we need to go back to that find (and this time win) a race strategy.
The overdonkey was furious, muttering to himself and anyone who would listen. The next hand dealt to him he hurled face up on the table - it was the 34d. He got a. Warning; the reat of us got comedy. He busted out a few hands later.
We lead out from button with JQ for 2200 and SB calls. Flop comes 5JK with 2 hearts. He checks and we bet 3300. He raises to 8000. He is either bluffing or has a K (possibly a semi bliff w 2 hearts). We can't risk all our chips to find out so we fold. That hurt.
In seat 6 we lead with 2200 with QK and sb calls. Flop comes 256 and he checks. We would like to see the free card and our table image is too loose to bluff well. We check an the tilurn comes T. He bets 3300 and we can either fold or push but we are likely behind. If he has a pair or paired the board or even a naked ace he has us beat. We fold.
Seat 3 leads out for 2300 and seat 6 calls. We are in the bb with 9Ts. We put 1300 in to call and the flop comes 88A. We check and fold at the earliest opportunity.
Our stack is widdling away quickly. We are back down to 15100.
Seat 7 leads with 2100 and we consider pushing from the button with TJd but instead call after some time in the tank. The blinds fol and the flop comes 249 rainbow. That didn't hit him. He bets 1500 and we push representing a small pair or something that would have had us thinking pre flop. He folds and we are back at 20800.
In seat 5 we leAd with 2200 with QQ. BB calls and flop comes AT7. Terrible. He checks and we bet 2200. He calls. Turn comes 4. He checks and we check. River comes 9 and he bets 5400. Does he have an A? Not sure but we are getting about 15000 if he doesn't and losing 5400 if he does so we call. He shows AJ and now we are short stacked again!
In seat 3 we push with A2d abd everyone folds. Great.
Next hand theres an earlier leader putting in 2200 and we push from the bb with 99. He folds. Great.
Next hand we are now playing 600-1200 with 200 antes and a mid field leader bets 2500. We push all in from the sb with 77 and he folds. Great!
If only it were always this easy. We are over 21,000 again.
Seat 4 pushes all in for 12000 and seat 5 calls. We are in seat 7 with JJ. As we have before we feel like this is "our hand". We push all in for 21000 and seat 5 calls. Seat 4 has A2h and seat 5 has TT. We are a good favorite. Flop comes 882. Good for us. Ow just no AT or duece and we are tripled almost. Turn comes K and river comes 2, giving the A2 a set of deuces to win. We pay him 12000 and collect 8400 from the TT, so it was bad but could have been worse. So frustrating to lose on the river. We should have 41000 right now instead of 17000!!!
Seat 4 we lead with 22 to 2800 and everyone folds. As there is 3400 in every starting pot this is a great result.
Seat 4 leads out with a min raise to 2400 and gets called by seat 7. We call in seat 8 with 9Jd. Its a good hand to play multi player in button position. Blinds fold and flop comes 468 with one diamond. Seat 4 bets 4400 and we fold.
Seat 5 bets 2800 and we push all in from seat 7 with TT. He counts our chips several times and then folds. Thats a good pick up of 6000 in chips! We are back at 20000 in chips.
Seat 4 leads out with 2400 and gets called by seat 6 we are in the bb with 69c and put 1200 more into the 8200 pot to see the flop. The flop comes 789 giving us top pair and an open ended straight draw. We want to push but seat 4 typically continuation bets so we check. True to form seat 4 bets 4400. Seat 6 folds and we push all in. After counting our bet and some tank time he calls and shows A9h. Not good. We need a 5,6 or T, of which there are only 9, making us a 35% dog. The turb is an 8 and the river a K. With just under 100 players left we are heading to the coral.
Thanks for coming. Tomorrow is another day. We start at 5 pm with omaha and stud.
All the best,
Raging Donkey
Sent from my iPhone
The overdonkey was furious, muttering to himself and anyone who would listen. The next hand dealt to him he hurled face up on the table - it was the 34d. He got a. Warning; the reat of us got comedy. He busted out a few hands later.
We lead out from button with JQ for 2200 and SB calls. Flop comes 5JK with 2 hearts. He checks and we bet 3300. He raises to 8000. He is either bluffing or has a K (possibly a semi bliff w 2 hearts). We can't risk all our chips to find out so we fold. That hurt.
In seat 6 we lead with 2200 with QK and sb calls. Flop comes 256 and he checks. We would like to see the free card and our table image is too loose to bluff well. We check an the tilurn comes T. He bets 3300 and we can either fold or push but we are likely behind. If he has a pair or paired the board or even a naked ace he has us beat. We fold.
Seat 3 leads out for 2300 and seat 6 calls. We are in the bb with 9Ts. We put 1300 in to call and the flop comes 88A. We check and fold at the earliest opportunity.
Our stack is widdling away quickly. We are back down to 15100.
Seat 7 leads with 2100 and we consider pushing from the button with TJd but instead call after some time in the tank. The blinds fol and the flop comes 249 rainbow. That didn't hit him. He bets 1500 and we push representing a small pair or something that would have had us thinking pre flop. He folds and we are back at 20800.
In seat 5 we leAd with 2200 with QQ. BB calls and flop comes AT7. Terrible. He checks and we bet 2200. He calls. Turn comes 4. He checks and we check. River comes 9 and he bets 5400. Does he have an A? Not sure but we are getting about 15000 if he doesn't and losing 5400 if he does so we call. He shows AJ and now we are short stacked again!
In seat 3 we push with A2d abd everyone folds. Great.
Next hand theres an earlier leader putting in 2200 and we push from the bb with 99. He folds. Great.
Next hand we are now playing 600-1200 with 200 antes and a mid field leader bets 2500. We push all in from the sb with 77 and he folds. Great!
If only it were always this easy. We are over 21,000 again.
Seat 4 pushes all in for 12000 and seat 5 calls. We are in seat 7 with JJ. As we have before we feel like this is "our hand". We push all in for 21000 and seat 5 calls. Seat 4 has A2h and seat 5 has TT. We are a good favorite. Flop comes 882. Good for us. Ow just no AT or duece and we are tripled almost. Turn comes K and river comes 2, giving the A2 a set of deuces to win. We pay him 12000 and collect 8400 from the TT, so it was bad but could have been worse. So frustrating to lose on the river. We should have 41000 right now instead of 17000!!!
Seat 4 we lead with 22 to 2800 and everyone folds. As there is 3400 in every starting pot this is a great result.
Seat 4 leads out with a min raise to 2400 and gets called by seat 7. We call in seat 8 with 9Jd. Its a good hand to play multi player in button position. Blinds fold and flop comes 468 with one diamond. Seat 4 bets 4400 and we fold.
Seat 5 bets 2800 and we push all in from seat 7 with TT. He counts our chips several times and then folds. Thats a good pick up of 6000 in chips! We are back at 20000 in chips.
Seat 4 leads out with 2400 and gets called by seat 6 we are in the bb with 69c and put 1200 more into the 8200 pot to see the flop. The flop comes 789 giving us top pair and an open ended straight draw. We want to push but seat 4 typically continuation bets so we check. True to form seat 4 bets 4400. Seat 6 folds and we push all in. After counting our bet and some tank time he calls and shows A9h. Not good. We need a 5,6 or T, of which there are only 9, making us a 35% dog. The turb is an 8 and the river a K. With just under 100 players left we are heading to the coral.
Thanks for coming. Tomorrow is another day. We start at 5 pm with omaha and stud.
All the best,
Raging Donkey
Sent from my iPhone
Event 2 Rounds 9-10
With our smallish stack we have to be aggressive and fin the right time to race to double up. In we go!
seat 7 bets 1200 and we call in bb w 27d to do a version of the stop and gp. We will bet almost any flop as a sign that we hit something hoping he will fold as ge likely will not hit something - just standard odds. Flop comes 67t and we bet 1900; he folds.
We are in seat 7 w q9s and try to steal for 1600 but the sb calls and bb raises to 5800. That didn't go as planned. Fold. They play down and each have AQ.
Seat 3 bets 1400 and seat 4 raises to 3000. Would love to push but the re-raise could eflect a big and so we fold a8d in bb. Not a hard fold.
We are on the button with 9T and raise to 1600. Bb calls and flop comes A27 w 2 spades he checks and we bet 1900 representing an ace. He goes into the tank staring at us like he is filling some weird donkey spank bank. He stares so long it gets chilly and all efforts to control our breathing fail. What is he doibg in there? Finally he folds and looks away.
From Seat 6 we bet 1500 on KJs. Seat 7 calls and 8 (the donkephile) raises to 7000. Do we push and hope they fold or that we win? Our 18000 in chips is a lot to lose but not enough to push donkephile out as he will only have to call 11500 to fight for a pot with over 30000 in it at that point. We fold. Damn that hurt.
Seat 3 leads w 1500 and donkephile calls. We call from bb w 67c. Flop 256 we bet 3000 and 3 calls. Turn is A. We check and he bets 2600. Oddly small. We call. River comes 2 and we push all in hoping he is too weak to call. He tanks for a few minutes and folds. That was scary.
Seat 3 bets 1500 and we call from button w TT. Flop comes JQK for open ended straight draw and we bet 2000. He calls. Turn is 2. We both check. River pairs the J. No straight but hopefully he hit nothing or will fear the J. We Bet 2000 but he calls with AQ. He likely would have folded to a larger bet but we just didn't want to risk that much.
We are back around 23000 but playing 400 800 with antes of 100. So every time we fold around the table we lose 2000.
Seat 6 opens for 1800 and seat 7 raises to 4000. We are in the bb with AK. We are out of position so we hav to raise but its really all or nothing so we push. This is the race hand we were looking for, hopefully with 2 people paying us if we hit an A or K. Seat 7 calls w kK to take 18525 from us. Puch. We are about dead.
Same guy bets 1800 and we push all in from the sb with AJ with 4200. He has AT and out J holds up. Back to about 10000.
At this point all we can do is push and pray.
Same guy bets 1800 and we push from sb with A8. Bb and bettor fold. Yay!
With J5h we push from button. Blinds fold. Up to 12500.
We watch 8 hands pass.
Seat 7 raises to 2000 and we push from the button w ATs and everyone folds. Back to 14000.
We close round 10 with 144 players remaining (started with 481). Feeling good about that but not so good about our 13800 in chips!
Hopefully push and pray will work for the next 2 hours and you won't hear from me until then.
All the best,
Donkey
Sent from my iPhone
seat 7 bets 1200 and we call in bb w 27d to do a version of the stop and gp. We will bet almost any flop as a sign that we hit something hoping he will fold as ge likely will not hit something - just standard odds. Flop comes 67t and we bet 1900; he folds.
We are in seat 7 w q9s and try to steal for 1600 but the sb calls and bb raises to 5800. That didn't go as planned. Fold. They play down and each have AQ.
Seat 3 bets 1400 and seat 4 raises to 3000. Would love to push but the re-raise could eflect a big and so we fold a8d in bb. Not a hard fold.
We are on the button with 9T and raise to 1600. Bb calls and flop comes A27 w 2 spades he checks and we bet 1900 representing an ace. He goes into the tank staring at us like he is filling some weird donkey spank bank. He stares so long it gets chilly and all efforts to control our breathing fail. What is he doibg in there? Finally he folds and looks away.
From Seat 6 we bet 1500 on KJs. Seat 7 calls and 8 (the donkephile) raises to 7000. Do we push and hope they fold or that we win? Our 18000 in chips is a lot to lose but not enough to push donkephile out as he will only have to call 11500 to fight for a pot with over 30000 in it at that point. We fold. Damn that hurt.
Seat 3 leads w 1500 and donkephile calls. We call from bb w 67c. Flop 256 we bet 3000 and 3 calls. Turn is A. We check and he bets 2600. Oddly small. We call. River comes 2 and we push all in hoping he is too weak to call. He tanks for a few minutes and folds. That was scary.
Seat 3 bets 1500 and we call from button w TT. Flop comes JQK for open ended straight draw and we bet 2000. He calls. Turn is 2. We both check. River pairs the J. No straight but hopefully he hit nothing or will fear the J. We Bet 2000 but he calls with AQ. He likely would have folded to a larger bet but we just didn't want to risk that much.
We are back around 23000 but playing 400 800 with antes of 100. So every time we fold around the table we lose 2000.
Seat 6 opens for 1800 and seat 7 raises to 4000. We are in the bb with AK. We are out of position so we hav to raise but its really all or nothing so we push. This is the race hand we were looking for, hopefully with 2 people paying us if we hit an A or K. Seat 7 calls w kK to take 18525 from us. Puch. We are about dead.
Same guy bets 1800 and we push all in from the sb with AJ with 4200. He has AT and out J holds up. Back to about 10000.
At this point all we can do is push and pray.
Same guy bets 1800 and we push from sb with A8. Bb and bettor fold. Yay!
With J5h we push from button. Blinds fold. Up to 12500.
We watch 8 hands pass.
Seat 7 raises to 2000 and we push from the button w ATs and everyone folds. Back to 14000.
We close round 10 with 144 players remaining (started with 481). Feeling good about that but not so good about our 13800 in chips!
Hopefully push and pray will work for the next 2 hours and you won't hear from me until then.
All the best,
Donkey
Sent from my iPhone
Event 2 Round 7-8
I will start by saying the great cards we had early in have now been evened out with bad ones. We folded over and over, which is particularly painful playing 250 500 with 50 antes, but the betting is now so severe that each hand is crucial. We only played a few.
Seat 5 raised to 900 and we called with AK in seat 6 hoping to get more action. Seats 7,8 and the bb cAll and see the 257 flop. Total garbage and everyone checks. The turn is an A. Giddey-up! bb bets 1800, seat 5 calls, we call, and 7 and 8 fold. River comes 9. Bb checks and seat 5 bets 4200. We call. Bb folds and seat 5 shows A2 for 2 pair. Well, thats what we get for slow playing pre flop. There is always great danger in letting people see some cards to try to create greater action when you start with the best hand; this is a textbook example.
Most bizarre hand of the night. Seat 3 raises to 800 (still playing 200 400 at this point) and gets calls from 67 and us. We have Q3 and shouldn't be in there but we are in the sb and have already paid 200 of the 800 with a big pot brewing. Bb also calls and five of us see the 388 flop. We have a pair of threes, but we are a scary player as we sit in the blind. Hoping no one has an 8 we bet 1600 into the 4000+ pot. Bb calls and everyone else folds. Turn comes J. At this point we should not bet, but we do - 4200, and he calls again! Not good. The river comes 9 and we check, confident they will bet and we will fold. They don't, they check and show 79. I don't get it. They called post flop when they shouldnt have, called a huge post turn bet when they shouldn't have and then made a pair on the river to beat our pair (and checked). They had nothing until the river. In light of their hand, our post flop terrible bet was actually the right move, but their terrible play negated out lucky mistake. We lost a rather large pot in what will confuse me for many many years.
Seat 6 raises to 1100 and we call from the button with 9Th. The bb raises to 2500. All call. The flop comes 245 w 1 heart. S6 bets 3000 and we fold. The remaining two players push all in and we watch 2 more hearts turn and river. We would have tripled our stack! They had flopped a straight (A3) and a set of deuces. The straight held up and the deuces went home.
We close round 8 and head to the coral with 20775 in chips, more than we started with but half of what we had four hours ago. With over half the field knocked out, the average stack is about 34000, so we will have to get very lucky to survive tomorrow, which starts at 2 pm. So hopefully you wont hear from me until 4 pm.
Query How can a donkey possibly survive if he makes glorious mistakes that turn out to be beautiful moves only to have a bigger donkey kick him in the head with even worse moves?
Thanks for cheering
Donkey
Sent from my coral
Seat 5 raised to 900 and we called with AK in seat 6 hoping to get more action. Seats 7,8 and the bb cAll and see the 257 flop. Total garbage and everyone checks. The turn is an A. Giddey-up! bb bets 1800, seat 5 calls, we call, and 7 and 8 fold. River comes 9. Bb checks and seat 5 bets 4200. We call. Bb folds and seat 5 shows A2 for 2 pair. Well, thats what we get for slow playing pre flop. There is always great danger in letting people see some cards to try to create greater action when you start with the best hand; this is a textbook example.
Most bizarre hand of the night. Seat 3 raises to 800 (still playing 200 400 at this point) and gets calls from 67 and us. We have Q3 and shouldn't be in there but we are in the sb and have already paid 200 of the 800 with a big pot brewing. Bb also calls and five of us see the 388 flop. We have a pair of threes, but we are a scary player as we sit in the blind. Hoping no one has an 8 we bet 1600 into the 4000+ pot. Bb calls and everyone else folds. Turn comes J. At this point we should not bet, but we do - 4200, and he calls again! Not good. The river comes 9 and we check, confident they will bet and we will fold. They don't, they check and show 79. I don't get it. They called post flop when they shouldnt have, called a huge post turn bet when they shouldn't have and then made a pair on the river to beat our pair (and checked). They had nothing until the river. In light of their hand, our post flop terrible bet was actually the right move, but their terrible play negated out lucky mistake. We lost a rather large pot in what will confuse me for many many years.
Seat 6 raises to 1100 and we call from the button with 9Th. The bb raises to 2500. All call. The flop comes 245 w 1 heart. S6 bets 3000 and we fold. The remaining two players push all in and we watch 2 more hearts turn and river. We would have tripled our stack! They had flopped a straight (A3) and a set of deuces. The straight held up and the deuces went home.
We close round 8 and head to the coral with 20775 in chips, more than we started with but half of what we had four hours ago. With over half the field knocked out, the average stack is about 34000, so we will have to get very lucky to survive tomorrow, which starts at 2 pm. So hopefully you wont hear from me until 4 pm.
Query How can a donkey possibly survive if he makes glorious mistakes that turn out to be beautiful moves only to have a bigger donkey kick him in the head with even worse moves?
Thanks for cheering
Donkey
Sent from my coral
Evebt 2 Rounds 5-6
Rounds five and six saw our worst cards so far. We did not play many hands and I only have four to report.
Seat 4 bet 450 and seat 6 raised to 1100 playing 100 200 with 25 antes -we called from seat 7 with 99 and seat 4 folded. We played heads up. The flop came 668 and he cheked. We bet 1300 and he called. The turn cam another 6 and he checked. Unless he has the case 6 or a pocket pair 8 or higher we are solid. We bet 2600 and he folded.
Seat 7 bets 600 and we smooth call from the ab with AQc. We play heads up and the flop comes K68 with 2 clubs. He checks and we bet 750 happy for a call or a fold. He calls and the turn comes 8c giving us the nut flush but. He could make a full house. He checks and we bet 1500. He calls and the ricer cones 5c. As we already have the flush this is not going to help us get value from him. He checks and we bet 4000 putting him all in. He calls and mucks when tlwe show the ace-high flush.
We raise from seat 4 to 700 with Aj. Seat 7 raises to 1750 and we call. Flop comes QQT and we check. He checks and turn comes 4. We both check and river comes another 4. We bet 1500 with 2 pair and an ace. He calls with TJ to take the pot down. AJ shouldnt lose to TJ but who is bitter?
Seat 5 bets 750 and we loose call from seat 6 with A4 clubs. Seat 7 raises to 2000 and we wind up watching the flop heads up come 2jq. We both check and the turn comes Kc giving us a gut shot straight draw and a flush draw. We both check. His pre flop raise and subsequent checks likely mean he has a pair under the jack and he is afraid we have paired the jqk on the board. River comes 9 of hearts. Only way to win is to bluff so we bet 4300. He calls and shows TT. He made a straight. I dont understand why he didnt raise but we would have folded.
We end round 6 with 33k in chips and some bad mojo building mixed with a little exhaustion. Time to pick the muzzle up!
All the best,
Donkey
Sent from my iPhone
Seat 4 bet 450 and seat 6 raised to 1100 playing 100 200 with 25 antes -we called from seat 7 with 99 and seat 4 folded. We played heads up. The flop came 668 and he cheked. We bet 1300 and he called. The turn cam another 6 and he checked. Unless he has the case 6 or a pocket pair 8 or higher we are solid. We bet 2600 and he folded.
Seat 7 bets 600 and we smooth call from the ab with AQc. We play heads up and the flop comes K68 with 2 clubs. He checks and we bet 750 happy for a call or a fold. He calls and the turn comes 8c giving us the nut flush but. He could make a full house. He checks and we bet 1500. He calls and the ricer cones 5c. As we already have the flush this is not going to help us get value from him. He checks and we bet 4000 putting him all in. He calls and mucks when tlwe show the ace-high flush.
We raise from seat 4 to 700 with Aj. Seat 7 raises to 1750 and we call. Flop comes QQT and we check. He checks and turn comes 4. We both check and river comes another 4. We bet 1500 with 2 pair and an ace. He calls with TJ to take the pot down. AJ shouldnt lose to TJ but who is bitter?
Seat 5 bets 750 and we loose call from seat 6 with A4 clubs. Seat 7 raises to 2000 and we wind up watching the flop heads up come 2jq. We both check and the turn comes Kc giving us a gut shot straight draw and a flush draw. We both check. His pre flop raise and subsequent checks likely mean he has a pair under the jack and he is afraid we have paired the jqk on the board. River comes 9 of hearts. Only way to win is to bluff so we bet 4300. He calls and shows TT. He made a straight. I dont understand why he didnt raise but we would have folded.
We end round 6 with 33k in chips and some bad mojo building mixed with a little exhaustion. Time to pick the muzzle up!
All the best,
Donkey
Sent from my iPhone
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Event 2 Rounds 3-4
There has been 45 minutes of great activity, with little movement in our stack. Just small moves up and down. We have just stolen the blinds twice and have been dealt TJin Seat 4 We raise to 425 playing 75 150. The button calls and the flop comes 68K all clubs. We have the Jack of clubs in And bet 550 with our somewhat weak club flush draw and our paur if kings. He raises to 1350. We go into the tank and then call. We are afraid of another club if he has a high club, and also afraid that he has a K and a kicker that beats our jack. The turn pairs the board with another six. We check he bets 2155. The numbers are simply too big to play our hand, which likely is a winner, but we are not sure. Worse yet, he may bet as much as 5000 on the river, and that will be a very difficult time to call or fold. So we fold now.
Chair 3 raises to 375 and we call from the bb w AT. The flop comes TT3.with two clubs. Slow play and check. He bets 575 and we call. A 9 turns and we check again. He bets 1700 and we raise to 4700. He calls and the river comes queen of spades. There's a straight on the board, but there is no way he has kj. Also the flush is no longer a problem. We are only afraid of TQ or pocket queens. With the pot at about 10,000, we Push all in. As soon as he delays, we know we have the winner. Unfortunately, after going into the tank for a while, he folds. Our first big pot.
Chair four raises to 525 playing 100 200 in round four. Two players call Before we call from the button with 45 of spades. The flop comes King King 7 and everyone checks to us. We check and see the turn for free. It is a 4 of diamonds. Everyone checks to us again and we bet 1100 hoping that they will fold or that our Pair of fours may be a winner. We see one call and then another raise to 3200. We fold and the two remaining players push All in. They had King Queen and KA. The KA took the hand down.
S7 raises To 600 and we raise from the button to 1400 with KK. Flop comes 4KA with 2 hearts. He checks and we bet 1100 with out set. He didnt re-raise pre-flop so we are not afraid he has AA. He calls and the turn cones J. He checks. No way he has tq so we bet 2200 and he calls. River comes 5. Total rag. He checks and we bet 4000, which is just over half what he has left hoping he will push. He calls an shows 44. We flopped set over set to crush him.
I don't recall the play by play but we played TQs heads up and the board wound up 479t9 for a winner.
We also played JQ and bet at every stage of a board that looked like KK69A. It was a lot of bluffing go bad as we were called down by an A6.
In the SB we saw a minimum bet to 400 with 2 callers. We raised to 1600 with AJ and they all folded.
Last hand of the round we played TJ and flopped 4QK. I dont recall betting amounts but we were in position and we bet and one person called the turn was an 8 and we bet again an he called. The river came A giving us the nut straight AND he bet about 3000 into us. We went into the tank and raised 9000 and he folded so fast he was clearly bluffing.
A good couple rounds and lots of fun. I probably won't write much moving forward as it is getting a little intense and i need to ficus more but we ended round 4 with 43650 in chips. Giddey-up!
One random comment - one of the players at my table was on the final table of the main event last year.
Hopefully sone good news in a couple hours.
Your Donkey
Sent from my iPhone
Chair 3 raises to 375 and we call from the bb w AT. The flop comes TT3.with two clubs. Slow play and check. He bets 575 and we call. A 9 turns and we check again. He bets 1700 and we raise to 4700. He calls and the river comes queen of spades. There's a straight on the board, but there is no way he has kj. Also the flush is no longer a problem. We are only afraid of TQ or pocket queens. With the pot at about 10,000, we Push all in. As soon as he delays, we know we have the winner. Unfortunately, after going into the tank for a while, he folds. Our first big pot.
Chair four raises to 525 playing 100 200 in round four. Two players call Before we call from the button with 45 of spades. The flop comes King King 7 and everyone checks to us. We check and see the turn for free. It is a 4 of diamonds. Everyone checks to us again and we bet 1100 hoping that they will fold or that our Pair of fours may be a winner. We see one call and then another raise to 3200. We fold and the two remaining players push All in. They had King Queen and KA. The KA took the hand down.
S7 raises To 600 and we raise from the button to 1400 with KK. Flop comes 4KA with 2 hearts. He checks and we bet 1100 with out set. He didnt re-raise pre-flop so we are not afraid he has AA. He calls and the turn cones J. He checks. No way he has tq so we bet 2200 and he calls. River comes 5. Total rag. He checks and we bet 4000, which is just over half what he has left hoping he will push. He calls an shows 44. We flopped set over set to crush him.
I don't recall the play by play but we played TQs heads up and the board wound up 479t9 for a winner.
We also played JQ and bet at every stage of a board that looked like KK69A. It was a lot of bluffing go bad as we were called down by an A6.
In the SB we saw a minimum bet to 400 with 2 callers. We raised to 1600 with AJ and they all folded.
Last hand of the round we played TJ and flopped 4QK. I dont recall betting amounts but we were in position and we bet and one person called the turn was an 8 and we bet again an he called. The river came A giving us the nut straight AND he bet about 3000 into us. We went into the tank and raised 9000 and he folded so fast he was clearly bluffing.
A good couple rounds and lots of fun. I probably won't write much moving forward as it is getting a little intense and i need to ficus more but we ended round 4 with 43650 in chips. Giddey-up!
One random comment - one of the players at my table was on the final table of the main event last year.
Hopefully sone good news in a couple hours.
Your Donkey
Sent from my iPhone
Rounds 1-2
We are on table 173 in the eighth seat.
In seat three we open for 225 playing 50-75 with qq. Seat four and the big blind call us and the flop comes two eight Jack rainbow. Excellent for us. Unfortunately, we are out of position and cannot let them see a free card. A king or an ace Can kill our hand. We bet 600 and they both fold. We have won the first hand we played!
We fold our blinds and half our winnings are gone!
Everyone folds to us On the button and we raise to 225 with K8 hoping to steal the blinds. Unfortunately the small one calls. The flop comes 4Q with two space. That is a scary board. He checks and we bet 275. If he has an ace he will call us and that will tell us we should be folding soon. If he does not, he will fold. He apparently did not have an ace and agreed with our thought process. He folded and we picked up another small pot.
Everyone folds to the sb who Limps. We are in the big blind with KTc. Strong hand heads-up and in the position. We raise to 325. He calls. Flop comes 44J and he checks. We bet 325 and he folds.
We are in Seat 3 with King 10 of clubs again and raise to 250. Three players call. The flop comes 589 with two clubs and we bet 450 hoping for action. We are not a favorite against most hands, but with three other players putting money in the pot this is a great chance to build a pot. If we beat one of them, we will likely beat all of them, with our flush. Seat 4 raises to 1500 and everyone folds to us. We call and a ten turns giving us a pair, the top hair on the board. We check and he bets 2000. With some fear that he has a set we call hoping for the flush. The river comes and it is another 10 giving us a set. Of course if he already had a set, now he has a full house. We check and he checks and turns over pocket kings. Our set of 10 wins. This is officially a bad beat, but we did have 11 outs between the tens and the clubs. More importantly, now, we have his chips
Seat 4 raises to 250 and we call from the button with a pair of Kings. Everyone else folds. The flop comes 479, an excellent flop. He bets 275 and we raise to 675. He calls. The turn comes a queen and he bets 750 into us. We can only hope that he has a queen, but if he does, the earlier call does not take much sense unless he either has two Queens or AQ. We simply call and the river card comes a four. He bets 1500 and we call, which is somewhat cowardly, but if we raise and he re-raises, we may have to fold. He shows Ace Queen and we take the pot.
We have been winning small pots, and not taking aggressive positions when we have a big hand. That may be a mistake, but luckily we have won every hand played.
Although these results are good, they're small wins and no one has yet to see any of our cards. Likely they think we are bluffing, and they would be correct except for the queens. This means we need to tighten up some.
Seat seven raises to 250 and we call from the small blind with ace five of diamonds. The flop comes to 89k rainbow and we fold as soon as we see chips fly. We have our first loss.
The button bets 250 and we call from the small blind with a A8 of clubs. The flop comes piece A98, excellent. We check and he bets 400. We slow play and simply call. Turn comes 5. We check and he checks. The river comes up 4 and we bet 1400, an amount about the size of the pot reflecting a desperate bluff. Hoping that he will think that I may be a bluffer, which is at this point my image at the table, we wait and hope he calls. He calls and mucks his hand when he sees our two pair.
There were a slew of hands that I was not able to recall the specifics, none of which went to a final showdown. The vast majority of these involve me calling and then leading out or otherwise intimidating and bullying our opponent into folding. I feel very good about being a bully. Two hours in and we close round one and two with 26550, Up over 40% from where we were two hours
Hopefully I will not communicate again for two hours. Until Then,
Your donkey
Sent from my iPhone
In seat three we open for 225 playing 50-75 with qq. Seat four and the big blind call us and the flop comes two eight Jack rainbow. Excellent for us. Unfortunately, we are out of position and cannot let them see a free card. A king or an ace Can kill our hand. We bet 600 and they both fold. We have won the first hand we played!
We fold our blinds and half our winnings are gone!
Everyone folds to us On the button and we raise to 225 with K8 hoping to steal the blinds. Unfortunately the small one calls. The flop comes 4Q with two space. That is a scary board. He checks and we bet 275. If he has an ace he will call us and that will tell us we should be folding soon. If he does not, he will fold. He apparently did not have an ace and agreed with our thought process. He folded and we picked up another small pot.
Everyone folds to the sb who Limps. We are in the big blind with KTc. Strong hand heads-up and in the position. We raise to 325. He calls. Flop comes 44J and he checks. We bet 325 and he folds.
We are in Seat 3 with King 10 of clubs again and raise to 250. Three players call. The flop comes 589 with two clubs and we bet 450 hoping for action. We are not a favorite against most hands, but with three other players putting money in the pot this is a great chance to build a pot. If we beat one of them, we will likely beat all of them, with our flush. Seat 4 raises to 1500 and everyone folds to us. We call and a ten turns giving us a pair, the top hair on the board. We check and he bets 2000. With some fear that he has a set we call hoping for the flush. The river comes and it is another 10 giving us a set. Of course if he already had a set, now he has a full house. We check and he checks and turns over pocket kings. Our set of 10 wins. This is officially a bad beat, but we did have 11 outs between the tens and the clubs. More importantly, now, we have his chips
Seat 4 raises to 250 and we call from the button with a pair of Kings. Everyone else folds. The flop comes 479, an excellent flop. He bets 275 and we raise to 675. He calls. The turn comes a queen and he bets 750 into us. We can only hope that he has a queen, but if he does, the earlier call does not take much sense unless he either has two Queens or AQ. We simply call and the river card comes a four. He bets 1500 and we call, which is somewhat cowardly, but if we raise and he re-raises, we may have to fold. He shows Ace Queen and we take the pot.
We have been winning small pots, and not taking aggressive positions when we have a big hand. That may be a mistake, but luckily we have won every hand played.
Although these results are good, they're small wins and no one has yet to see any of our cards. Likely they think we are bluffing, and they would be correct except for the queens. This means we need to tighten up some.
Seat seven raises to 250 and we call from the small blind with ace five of diamonds. The flop comes to 89k rainbow and we fold as soon as we see chips fly. We have our first loss.
The button bets 250 and we call from the small blind with a A8 of clubs. The flop comes piece A98, excellent. We check and he bets 400. We slow play and simply call. Turn comes 5. We check and he checks. The river comes up 4 and we bet 1400, an amount about the size of the pot reflecting a desperate bluff. Hoping that he will think that I may be a bluffer, which is at this point my image at the table, we wait and hope he calls. He calls and mucks his hand when he sees our two pair.
There were a slew of hands that I was not able to recall the specifics, none of which went to a final showdown. The vast majority of these involve me calling and then leading out or otherwise intimidating and bullying our opponent into folding. I feel very good about being a bully. Two hours in and we close round one and two with 26550, Up over 40% from where we were two hours
Hopefully I will not communicate again for two hours. Until Then,
Your donkey
Sent from my iPhone
Event 2 - NLH 8-handed
Dear herd,
It is with unmitigated excitement that we gallop into the 2013 World Series of Poker. Take a moment to inhale deeply, not only for relaxation, but as the last breath of fresh air we will have for many hours. We are diving into what can only be described as a cesspool of human vice and degeneracy. It is amazing to me that no one seems to have a sponsorship from any of the hand sanitizing companies.
Today's game is the old familiar game of no limit hold them. The only difference between today's game and the general game is that we will be playing eight- handed. This means that slightly weaker hands will play than in the 10-handed version.
More importantly, it is early in the tournament season, this is a mid-week game, this is a $5000 entry, and it is a 5 PM start. Each of these four elements will narrow the playing field resulting in a much higher level of play. The vast majority of the field will be professional poker players, so we will fit right in.
An interesting sidenote is that from my experience the professional poker players are far less likely to employ the masseuses in the room. There will be many masseuses walking around the room providing massages for two dollars a minute. However, again only in my limited experience, the professional poker players tend to be very expense focused. They do not have investors paying for their massages, so they do not make use of such services. I like to make use of the massage service for several reasons. First, it lets everyone know that I am not a professional. This means that they can take advantage of me, but also means that they cannot predict what I will do as much as I might be able to predict what they will do. Second, while getting a massage, the player is sitting in seat that is backward. Accordingly, the player's chest is leaning against what would normally be the back of the chair. The results of this is that the speed and depth of the player's breath is largely hidden from everyone else. On the same note, the massage creates body movement provided by an independent third-party and screws with all of the body tells that might otherwise be available. Third, and really the only point that matters, I really like to get a massage.
Today we start with 15,000 in chips playing 25 50 with no ante. Let the cards fly, and hopefully you will not hear from me for two hours.
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
Sent from my iPhone
It is with unmitigated excitement that we gallop into the 2013 World Series of Poker. Take a moment to inhale deeply, not only for relaxation, but as the last breath of fresh air we will have for many hours. We are diving into what can only be described as a cesspool of human vice and degeneracy. It is amazing to me that no one seems to have a sponsorship from any of the hand sanitizing companies.
Today's game is the old familiar game of no limit hold them. The only difference between today's game and the general game is that we will be playing eight- handed. This means that slightly weaker hands will play than in the 10-handed version.
More importantly, it is early in the tournament season, this is a mid-week game, this is a $5000 entry, and it is a 5 PM start. Each of these four elements will narrow the playing field resulting in a much higher level of play. The vast majority of the field will be professional poker players, so we will fit right in.
An interesting sidenote is that from my experience the professional poker players are far less likely to employ the masseuses in the room. There will be many masseuses walking around the room providing massages for two dollars a minute. However, again only in my limited experience, the professional poker players tend to be very expense focused. They do not have investors paying for their massages, so they do not make use of such services. I like to make use of the massage service for several reasons. First, it lets everyone know that I am not a professional. This means that they can take advantage of me, but also means that they cannot predict what I will do as much as I might be able to predict what they will do. Second, while getting a massage, the player is sitting in seat that is backward. Accordingly, the player's chest is leaning against what would normally be the back of the chair. The results of this is that the speed and depth of the player's breath is largely hidden from everyone else. On the same note, the massage creates body movement provided by an independent third-party and screws with all of the body tells that might otherwise be available. Third, and really the only point that matters, I really like to get a massage.
Today we start with 15,000 in chips playing 25 50 with no ante. Let the cards fly, and hopefully you will not hear from me for two hours.
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
Sent from my iPhone
Test
As we saddle up for this evening, we're testing the blog as well as the stirrups. Please confirm that you received this by responding to eric@kurtzmans.org .
Bray Soon,
Donkey
Bray Soon,
Donkey
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