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
Sunday, June 30, 2013
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
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