Playing 600-1200 with 200 antes Seat 3 raises to 2500. We raise to 8000 from the button with JJ and he pushes all in of another 21000. We call and he shows AA. Oiy! The board does not save us and he takes it down. We now have about 80,000 in chips. Everyone at the tables is now in the 60-80k zone. Game on.
We chip back up to 120k slowly and are now playing 4-handed. Two big hands.
We are on the button with QQ and raise to 4200. The SB calls and we see the flop 47J. Excellent. He bets 6000 and we raise to 14,000. He calls and the turn comes 9. He checks and we bet 15000. He calls. The river comes K. Not what we were looking for but he checks. We just check and he shows JK to take it down.
Seat 3 raises to 4800 and we call from the button with 7Td. Flop comes 689h. Fantastic that we have a straight, but the three hearts are a problem. If he does not have a heart, we will probably not get any more money from him. If he does have a heart, he has about a 35% chance of beating us. He bets 5500. We raise to 24,000. It is a massive raise, but we want to put him in a position to be pot committed if he calls. He pushes all in and we call. He shows Ace King, with the ace of hearts. The turn is the queen of diamonds. The river is the five of hearts. He makes his flush and takes us down. He had about 5000 more in chips than we did, so our day is over.
Bad beat. Arghhhh! Angrily heading toward the payout window. We officially took 33rd.
On the good side, it frees us up for hi-lo Omaha tomorrow. That game is far too complicated to blog about so you wont hear from me for a couple days. Until then,
Your Donkey
Saturday, May 31, 2014
NLH Shootout Part IV
The action was simply moving too fast to take notes or even make too many mental notes. I can only relay two hands, the first and last hand played before the break.
In the first hand, it looked exactly like a hand played in my last blog. Seat five, the guy who raises with lots of random things, min raised. Two people called after him and when it came to us in the small blind we raised significantly. They all folded. Seat 5 asked me to show the bluff, accusing me of stealing the pots. He actually said there is no way that we could have that many good hands and around. I thought about showing the off suit four seven, but decided just to muck it.
From a 30,000 foot level, we turned into a poker bully stomping with all four hooves on everyone hand after hand. We built our stack to become the chip leader playing five handed. We had about 140,000 chips.
Playing 500–1000 with antes of 100, seat three raised to 3100. We called from seat four with 23 of diamonds. The reasoning for this is the same as it was on my last blog. The button, the guy who had the three four in the last blog to beat our full house with a bigger full house, calls, and the three of us see the flop. The flop comes 456 with the four and six of diamonds. We have flopped a straight, hey got shot straight flush and a flush draw. Phenomenal flop. Seat three checks, we check, the button checks and we see the turn come. It is a seven of hearts. Horrible card for us, because now anyone with an eight beats us. Slow playing did not work well for us here. Seat three checks and we bet 6000. The button pushes all in for 27,600. We call and he shows pocket fours. He has 9 outs. The river comes seven of diamonds giving him a full house. He takes it down.
We have only lost two big hands. We lost them both to the same player, who was all in both times, and faced us with a suited deuce three that flopped or turned a monster. It is somewhat frustrating, but we still have about 110,000 chips, leaving 250,000 for the remaining four players to share.
We are still in good position, but there are a lot of cards left to play, and as the last hand exemplifies, Lucky still a huge, huge factor.
Stomping with all four hooves,
Donkey
In the first hand, it looked exactly like a hand played in my last blog. Seat five, the guy who raises with lots of random things, min raised. Two people called after him and when it came to us in the small blind we raised significantly. They all folded. Seat 5 asked me to show the bluff, accusing me of stealing the pots. He actually said there is no way that we could have that many good hands and around. I thought about showing the off suit four seven, but decided just to muck it.
From a 30,000 foot level, we turned into a poker bully stomping with all four hooves on everyone hand after hand. We built our stack to become the chip leader playing five handed. We had about 140,000 chips.
Playing 500–1000 with antes of 100, seat three raised to 3100. We called from seat four with 23 of diamonds. The reasoning for this is the same as it was on my last blog. The button, the guy who had the three four in the last blog to beat our full house with a bigger full house, calls, and the three of us see the flop. The flop comes 456 with the four and six of diamonds. We have flopped a straight, hey got shot straight flush and a flush draw. Phenomenal flop. Seat three checks, we check, the button checks and we see the turn come. It is a seven of hearts. Horrible card for us, because now anyone with an eight beats us. Slow playing did not work well for us here. Seat three checks and we bet 6000. The button pushes all in for 27,600. We call and he shows pocket fours. He has 9 outs. The river comes seven of diamonds giving him a full house. He takes it down.
We have only lost two big hands. We lost them both to the same player, who was all in both times, and faced us with a suited deuce three that flopped or turned a monster. It is somewhat frustrating, but we still have about 110,000 chips, leaving 250,000 for the remaining four players to share.
We are still in good position, but there are a lot of cards left to play, and as the last hand exemplifies, Lucky still a huge, huge factor.
Stomping with all four hooves,
Donkey
NLH Shootout Part III
All of the fish are gone. There is but one donkey left in the room.
Play ball.
Ten guys crammed around a table playing 200 400 with 50 antes so there's 1100 in the pot before cards are dealt. The first big hand we play is from seat 8. Everyone folds to us and we raise to 850 with TJc and get called by the BB. Flop comes 3QA rainbow (no clubs). Good flop for us because we pre-flop bet so they should believe us if we bet now indicating we hit the A. They check and we bet 1400. They call. Hmmmm, a king would be nice. Turn comes another 3. Could they be playing with a 3? They check and we fire again 2800. They raise to 6500 and we fold. Likely hands for them either AK, AQ or 3x. Okay, it's early.
Seat 7 limps for 400 and everyone folds to the SB who smells weakness and raises to 1200. Pretty likely the SB is stealing so we raise to 3400 with A3. If we get a caller, A3 is likely not great, but if the SB was stealing and just calls to see the flop ad pray, A3 is likely good. At least to start. In any case they both fold.
Seat 5 raises to 900 and we re-raise from the SB with TT to 3600. The flop comes JKA. Wow, probably the worst possible flop. We check and he bets 4000. We fold. Hmmmm. Down to just under 30,000 in chips.
Everyone folds to is in seat 9. We raise to 950 and the BB calls. The BB has played a lot of hands down. He's not one to bluff against. Flop comes 69k with one heart. He checks and we check, again not wanting to bluff. Turn comes A. Giddey up. He bets 1175. Possible he has an A and if he does he has us beat. Let's see how strong he is. We min raise to 2350. This says to him that donkey has a hand and is not worried about a re-raise. He calls, which means if he has an A, it's not a strong A (still stronger than mine). River comes another A which means he is much less likely to have one, but from his perspective so are we. He bets 3100, likely with a K but maybe an A. We min raise again to 6200 hoping he will call with a K. He folds.
I can't describe exactly how it happens, but we win several hands back to back. We bluff a large one and we make two pair on a large, each of which bring 10 to 15,000 chips to us.
Now playing nine handed 300-600 with 75 antes.
Seat five raises to 1200 and we call from the button with 23s. Not a great hand but if it hits it can be huge and hidden and we are in position. The blinds both call and the flop comes a fantastic 234 rainbow (no spade). The SB bets 3000 and the BB calls. Seat 5 folds and we raise with our 2 pair to 10500. The SB pushes all in for another 23000. The BB folds and it comes to us. There is about 53000 in the pot and we have to put 23000 in to fight for it. He could have a set, 2 pair, a straight, an overpair (or an overpair like 55 giving him a straight draw), a 4A or 45. There are so many possibilities because the preflop action allowed almost anything in. We call and he shows 34 for a bigger 2-pair. We need a 2!!! Turn comes 3 giving both of us full houses and ending any chance we have. I have a great photo of this board and our cards if anyone wants it.
Down to 32k. Okay.
Seat 7 raises to 1800 and we are in seat 9 with TT, our best starting hand of the day. We raise to 4800 and he calls. Flop comes 48J. Hmmmm, as long as he doesn't have a J or a set this is great for us. He checks and we bet 4500. He calls. If he had a strong jack, he should have raised. Turn comes 5d putting 2 diamonds on the board. He checks and we bet 10,000. He goes into the tank and then folds claiming to have had 9Td and to have been calculating the odds. If that were true, he had 15 outs, or about a 33% chance on the river. As he only had to put 10000 in to try to win about 30,000 plus whatever he could get us to put in on the river bet if he did make his hand, either he was lying or really bad at math. As we had the Td in our hand, I'm going with lying.
Everyone folds to us and we raise to 1600 on the button with A9. The blinds both call and the flop comes AA8. Giddey-up. They check and we check hoping they hit something on the turn, bluff, etc. turn comes another 8. They check and we bet 2400. The SB calls. The river comes Jh. As long as he doesn't have AJ or 88, we have a winner. He checks and we bet 9000. He goes into the tank and then calls hoping we are bluffing. We are not and we take it down with Aces full of 8s. He had an 8.
Seat 5 raises to 1200. He has done this quite a bit when no one before him bets. On showdowns, his hands have ranged as low as a king eight not suited. Two players call him. Clearly, they have seen the same weakness that I have, and their calls mean that they do not have very strong hands either. We have A9 in the SB again and raise to 5800. They all fold.
We close the round with just over 50,000. Hopefully more good news in 2 hours.
Play ball.
Ten guys crammed around a table playing 200 400 with 50 antes so there's 1100 in the pot before cards are dealt. The first big hand we play is from seat 8. Everyone folds to us and we raise to 850 with TJc and get called by the BB. Flop comes 3QA rainbow (no clubs). Good flop for us because we pre-flop bet so they should believe us if we bet now indicating we hit the A. They check and we bet 1400. They call. Hmmmm, a king would be nice. Turn comes another 3. Could they be playing with a 3? They check and we fire again 2800. They raise to 6500 and we fold. Likely hands for them either AK, AQ or 3x. Okay, it's early.
Seat 7 limps for 400 and everyone folds to the SB who smells weakness and raises to 1200. Pretty likely the SB is stealing so we raise to 3400 with A3. If we get a caller, A3 is likely not great, but if the SB was stealing and just calls to see the flop ad pray, A3 is likely good. At least to start. In any case they both fold.
Seat 5 raises to 900 and we re-raise from the SB with TT to 3600. The flop comes JKA. Wow, probably the worst possible flop. We check and he bets 4000. We fold. Hmmmm. Down to just under 30,000 in chips.
Everyone folds to is in seat 9. We raise to 950 and the BB calls. The BB has played a lot of hands down. He's not one to bluff against. Flop comes 69k with one heart. He checks and we check, again not wanting to bluff. Turn comes A. Giddey up. He bets 1175. Possible he has an A and if he does he has us beat. Let's see how strong he is. We min raise to 2350. This says to him that donkey has a hand and is not worried about a re-raise. He calls, which means if he has an A, it's not a strong A (still stronger than mine). River comes another A which means he is much less likely to have one, but from his perspective so are we. He bets 3100, likely with a K but maybe an A. We min raise again to 6200 hoping he will call with a K. He folds.
I can't describe exactly how it happens, but we win several hands back to back. We bluff a large one and we make two pair on a large, each of which bring 10 to 15,000 chips to us.
Now playing nine handed 300-600 with 75 antes.
Seat five raises to 1200 and we call from the button with 23s. Not a great hand but if it hits it can be huge and hidden and we are in position. The blinds both call and the flop comes a fantastic 234 rainbow (no spade). The SB bets 3000 and the BB calls. Seat 5 folds and we raise with our 2 pair to 10500. The SB pushes all in for another 23000. The BB folds and it comes to us. There is about 53000 in the pot and we have to put 23000 in to fight for it. He could have a set, 2 pair, a straight, an overpair (or an overpair like 55 giving him a straight draw), a 4A or 45. There are so many possibilities because the preflop action allowed almost anything in. We call and he shows 34 for a bigger 2-pair. We need a 2!!! Turn comes 3 giving both of us full houses and ending any chance we have. I have a great photo of this board and our cards if anyone wants it.
Down to 32k. Okay.
Seat 7 raises to 1800 and we are in seat 9 with TT, our best starting hand of the day. We raise to 4800 and he calls. Flop comes 48J. Hmmmm, as long as he doesn't have a J or a set this is great for us. He checks and we bet 4500. He calls. If he had a strong jack, he should have raised. Turn comes 5d putting 2 diamonds on the board. He checks and we bet 10,000. He goes into the tank and then folds claiming to have had 9Td and to have been calculating the odds. If that were true, he had 15 outs, or about a 33% chance on the river. As he only had to put 10000 in to try to win about 30,000 plus whatever he could get us to put in on the river bet if he did make his hand, either he was lying or really bad at math. As we had the Td in our hand, I'm going with lying.
Everyone folds to us and we raise to 1600 on the button with A9. The blinds both call and the flop comes AA8. Giddey-up. They check and we check hoping they hit something on the turn, bluff, etc. turn comes another 8. They check and we bet 2400. The SB calls. The river comes Jh. As long as he doesn't have AJ or 88, we have a winner. He checks and we bet 9000. He goes into the tank and then calls hoping we are bluffing. We are not and we take it down with Aces full of 8s. He had an 8.
Seat 5 raises to 1200. He has done this quite a bit when no one before him bets. On showdowns, his hands have ranged as low as a king eight not suited. Two players call him. Clearly, they have seen the same weakness that I have, and their calls mean that they do not have very strong hands either. We have A9 in the SB again and raise to 5800. They all fold.
We close the round with just over 50,000. Hopefully more good news in 2 hours.
Friday, May 30, 2014
NLH Shhotout Part II
The game was really moving far too fast to remember hands. I can only give a couple here.
Playing 50–100, seat five raised to 225. In the small blind with Jack King, we raise to 600. The big blind pushes all in for 1200 and seat five also pushes all in 1650. We call and show our Jack King. The big blind also has a Jack King. That is not good. Seat five shows Queen King. That is terrible. The flop comes 9TQ, giving the two underdogs a straight. It is a miracle flop. We will be thrilled to split the pot this time. The turn comes 9, pairing the board. The river comes another 9, putting three nines on the board and giving the hand back to the Queen King, which now has a full house. The good news is that one of the players was knocked out, but now the surviving player has a larger stack to confront us. Don't you rears up and flips him a hoof.
Playing three handed, the other two players push all in pre-flop with pocket eights against pocket jacks. The flop is a 48Q, giving a huge advantage to the pocket eights. The turn is another queen and the river a third queen, putting three queens on the table and giving the pocket jacks a bigger full house than the pocket eights has.
I remember the above two hands, because they are two of the stranger hands I've seen in a long, long time. We are now playing heads up.
The order of play in heads-up is a little strange. The button is considered the small blind and acts first pre-flop. However, post flop the button returns to being the last to act.
The blinds are ridiculously small and in light of the fact that he has about 16,000 in chips and we have about 20,000, playing 50-100, this will take a long, long time.
We spend the requisite long, long time hacking back-and-forth at each other taking 100 or 200 chips at a time. I recall only one hand where we made a bet of more than 1000. We had bet something like 200 and he raised to something like 550. He was correct to call our bluff, but we were confident that he had nothing, so he was simply re-bluffing. Not to be outdone, we re-re-bluffed for 1550. He folded.
He is on the button and raises pre-flop to 275. We have KK - giddey up. We re-raise to 600 and he calls. Flop comes 46K with 2 clubs. Giddey-up again!!!! We check and he checks. The turn comes 9d putting 2 diamonds and 2 clubs on the board. Possible big hands include open ended straight draws with a flush draw (eg 57d would give someone 6 straight draws and 9 flush draws, but it's unlikely to have in light of the pre-flop betting) or two pair with a flush draw (eg 69c would give 2 pair and 9 cards for a flush, but again this is an unlikely hand to hold). There really isn't much we realistically fear - we just have to get his chips in the pot. We bet 800 into the 1200 pot and he RAISES to 2500. We go into the tank. We ask the dealer to clean the pot up (ie move our 800 bet into the pot along with 800 of his 2500 so we can see the pot on one hand and his 1700 raise clearly on the other.). He has about 12,500 chips in addition to what he has put in. We have to deny that but not get too greedy. We raise to 6000. He thinks for a few minutes. We are geared up in sunglasses and head phones but making the nervous look every now and then to see if he's moved, and we hear him say, because the headphones are really for show and quietly playing Uncle Cracker, "all in". Glorious word! Long ears perk up and we turn over the kings. Appropriately listening to "i want to be a cowboy". He shows AK. He is drawing dead. I believe the river was a Jh, but it wasn't relevant.
We are "in the money". Giddey-up! We play tomorrow at 1pm.
Your Money Donkey
Playing 50–100, seat five raised to 225. In the small blind with Jack King, we raise to 600. The big blind pushes all in for 1200 and seat five also pushes all in 1650. We call and show our Jack King. The big blind also has a Jack King. That is not good. Seat five shows Queen King. That is terrible. The flop comes 9TQ, giving the two underdogs a straight. It is a miracle flop. We will be thrilled to split the pot this time. The turn comes 9, pairing the board. The river comes another 9, putting three nines on the board and giving the hand back to the Queen King, which now has a full house. The good news is that one of the players was knocked out, but now the surviving player has a larger stack to confront us. Don't you rears up and flips him a hoof.
Playing three handed, the other two players push all in pre-flop with pocket eights against pocket jacks. The flop is a 48Q, giving a huge advantage to the pocket eights. The turn is another queen and the river a third queen, putting three queens on the table and giving the pocket jacks a bigger full house than the pocket eights has.
I remember the above two hands, because they are two of the stranger hands I've seen in a long, long time. We are now playing heads up.
The order of play in heads-up is a little strange. The button is considered the small blind and acts first pre-flop. However, post flop the button returns to being the last to act.
The blinds are ridiculously small and in light of the fact that he has about 16,000 in chips and we have about 20,000, playing 50-100, this will take a long, long time.
We spend the requisite long, long time hacking back-and-forth at each other taking 100 or 200 chips at a time. I recall only one hand where we made a bet of more than 1000. We had bet something like 200 and he raised to something like 550. He was correct to call our bluff, but we were confident that he had nothing, so he was simply re-bluffing. Not to be outdone, we re-re-bluffed for 1550. He folded.
He is on the button and raises pre-flop to 275. We have KK - giddey up. We re-raise to 600 and he calls. Flop comes 46K with 2 clubs. Giddey-up again!!!! We check and he checks. The turn comes 9d putting 2 diamonds and 2 clubs on the board. Possible big hands include open ended straight draws with a flush draw (eg 57d would give someone 6 straight draws and 9 flush draws, but it's unlikely to have in light of the pre-flop betting) or two pair with a flush draw (eg 69c would give 2 pair and 9 cards for a flush, but again this is an unlikely hand to hold). There really isn't much we realistically fear - we just have to get his chips in the pot. We bet 800 into the 1200 pot and he RAISES to 2500. We go into the tank. We ask the dealer to clean the pot up (ie move our 800 bet into the pot along with 800 of his 2500 so we can see the pot on one hand and his 1700 raise clearly on the other.). He has about 12,500 chips in addition to what he has put in. We have to deny that but not get too greedy. We raise to 6000. He thinks for a few minutes. We are geared up in sunglasses and head phones but making the nervous look every now and then to see if he's moved, and we hear him say, because the headphones are really for show and quietly playing Uncle Cracker, "all in". Glorious word! Long ears perk up and we turn over the kings. Appropriately listening to "i want to be a cowboy". He shows AK. He is drawing dead. I believe the river was a Jh, but it wasn't relevant.
We are "in the money". Giddey-up! We play tomorrow at 1pm.
Your Money Donkey
NLH Shootout
Dear Herd:
Today we are playing an interesting no limit hold em tournament. Our table of 10 plays until there's only one of us left. That player will advance to tomorrow. We start with 4500 and chips, playing 25-50. This will be a fast-moving tournament, and I will not be able to give much of a play-by-play.
On a sidenote, this would normally be really good for me, because I will get to learn a lot about my fellow players. We will not be broken up. On a bad note, Phil Ivey just sat down on my right side, shook my hand, and said, "last time we played together was last year's horse tournament." I don't recall that experience going very well for the donkey.
They have now paused the tournament 10 minutes in in order to deal with some registration problems. I will take this moment to describe the first four hands of the tournament. There is no one sitting immediately to our right or our left, also be seven seat at the table has no one sitting there.
First hand, we start in Seat 3, under the gun. We have the 79 of diamonds. We raise to 100. We get one caller from C-5. Moving forward I will refer to seats as C, because that is how my dictation works.
Flop comes two King King with two diamonds. We continuation bet 150 and he folds. We are the table leader.
Second hand seat five raises to 100 and we call from the big blind with 24 hearts. The flop Comes Ace Jack seven. All of them are hearts. Giddyup, we have flopped a flush. We bet 125 and he calls. We are afraid of another heart, because ours are so low that if another heart comes and he has one he will beat us. The turn comes Six of diamonds. We bet 325 and he calls. The river comes nine of clubs, perfect. We bet 1025, hoping he will see it as an attempt to buy the pot. He calls and folds when he sees our hearts.
Hand three we are in the small blind with KQ. Seat five, and please keep in mind that C-5 moves one seat to the right every hand, raises to 100 and we call. The flop comes five Queen King with two hearts. Amazing, we have flopped top two pair. It is our lucky day. We check and he bets 125. We call. The turn comes Jack of clubs. If he has a straight, which is possible, this is very bad for us. From his late seat, he could have bet pre-flop with a 9T or a TA and continue that after the flop to see if we would fold. We check and he bets 350. We call. The river comes six of hearts. Although this puts a possible flush on the board, it is actually good for us. Now, it looks like we might have a flush, because we have been calling down since the flop. Also, we have showed our willingness to call pre-flop bets with a 24 of hearts already. So, if he does have a straight, and we bet into him, he's very unlikely to raise. We bet 850 and he calls. We show our cards and he folds. We've now won the first three hands of the tournament.
Hand 4 - Seat 3 bets 100 under the gun and everyone folds to us on the button with 47. We fold. Our fist non-win.
Under the gun we raise to 75 with 57c. 2 callers after us and then the small blind raises to 400. Hmmmmm, good pot odds, especially if the two behind us call. We call and the call. The Flop comes 335 rainbow. We have a small pair. More importantly, it didn't hit the SB who is firing 800 more into the pot. We call and the other 2 players fold. Turn comes 8. SB pushes all in for 1900. Hmmm. He either has 2 big cards or a pair bigger than 8. That's a lot of pairs but it's a big pot and the odds favor that he has two big cards. We call. He shows AK and river comes J. We take it down with fives and threes.
Seat 4 raises to 75 and seat 6 re-raises to 225. We are in the BB with KK and raise to 825. Flop 69Q rainbow. Perfect. He has 3800ish. Hmmmm. 1500 bet gets us all in on the turn but gives him an unnecessary look for an ace on that turn. We push. He goes into the tank for a minute and folds. There are only 45000 chips on the table. Would love to have picked up more but happy to grab 1000 here.
In my upcoming treatise I will call this hand the "Check-raising Phil Ivy like you've already got it Hand". Playing 25-50 6-handed. Seat 4 raises to 125. Phil calls from the button and we call with 68 from the SB. BB calls and 4 of us see the 79J rainbow flop. We have an open ended straight draw, which is good 4 players but we are in bad position and cant call a big raise (which would know players out and hurt our odds anyway). We check, as does the BB and seat 4. Phil bets 325. That's going to knock the other players out so our good odds are gone. Let's see if he's trying to purchase. We raise to 825 and he folds.
Seat 4 raises to 125 and phil calls. We call from the BB with K8d and the three of us see the KTT flop with one diamond. We bet 300 and they both call. Turn comes Ah. We check and they both check. River comes 8d. We bet 1050 and seat 4 calls and shows A9. Ouch. Bad turn card. Bad.
Everyone folds to Phil who raises to 125 from the button. The small blind calls and it comes to us. We have AA. Giddey-up. We raise to 375. As we have been playing the role of poker bully for a while, this is not surprise anyone. Phil calls and the small blindfolds. The flop comes 45Q with 2 spades. We bet 400 and he calls. Turn comes 6d. He cant be playing 78 or 23, can he? Maybe, but we bet 750 and he calls. River comes 5c. He probably doesn't have a 5 and that gives us 2 pair which probably isn't necessary. He has about 2900 in chips. We bet 1600. I know that Phil values every chip and will not see tis as leaving him with unnecessary chips if he loses. He calls and mucks his hand when he sees our aces.
Phil gets knocked out a few hands later and heads off to the Razz tournament.
We end round 2 with 5 players at our table and 18250 in chips. The officials are removing from play the two players that never bought in, so the total number of chips on the table is about 36,500. Although we have half of them, this is very far from over.
The game will now be moving very fast. Hopefully i will have more good news in 2 hours.
Today we are playing an interesting no limit hold em tournament. Our table of 10 plays until there's only one of us left. That player will advance to tomorrow. We start with 4500 and chips, playing 25-50. This will be a fast-moving tournament, and I will not be able to give much of a play-by-play.
On a sidenote, this would normally be really good for me, because I will get to learn a lot about my fellow players. We will not be broken up. On a bad note, Phil Ivey just sat down on my right side, shook my hand, and said, "last time we played together was last year's horse tournament." I don't recall that experience going very well for the donkey.
They have now paused the tournament 10 minutes in in order to deal with some registration problems. I will take this moment to describe the first four hands of the tournament. There is no one sitting immediately to our right or our left, also be seven seat at the table has no one sitting there.
First hand, we start in Seat 3, under the gun. We have the 79 of diamonds. We raise to 100. We get one caller from C-5. Moving forward I will refer to seats as C, because that is how my dictation works.
Flop comes two King King with two diamonds. We continuation bet 150 and he folds. We are the table leader.
Second hand seat five raises to 100 and we call from the big blind with 24 hearts. The flop Comes Ace Jack seven. All of them are hearts. Giddyup, we have flopped a flush. We bet 125 and he calls. We are afraid of another heart, because ours are so low that if another heart comes and he has one he will beat us. The turn comes Six of diamonds. We bet 325 and he calls. The river comes nine of clubs, perfect. We bet 1025, hoping he will see it as an attempt to buy the pot. He calls and folds when he sees our hearts.
Hand three we are in the small blind with KQ. Seat five, and please keep in mind that C-5 moves one seat to the right every hand, raises to 100 and we call. The flop comes five Queen King with two hearts. Amazing, we have flopped top two pair. It is our lucky day. We check and he bets 125. We call. The turn comes Jack of clubs. If he has a straight, which is possible, this is very bad for us. From his late seat, he could have bet pre-flop with a 9T or a TA and continue that after the flop to see if we would fold. We check and he bets 350. We call. The river comes six of hearts. Although this puts a possible flush on the board, it is actually good for us. Now, it looks like we might have a flush, because we have been calling down since the flop. Also, we have showed our willingness to call pre-flop bets with a 24 of hearts already. So, if he does have a straight, and we bet into him, he's very unlikely to raise. We bet 850 and he calls. We show our cards and he folds. We've now won the first three hands of the tournament.
Hand 4 - Seat 3 bets 100 under the gun and everyone folds to us on the button with 47. We fold. Our fist non-win.
Under the gun we raise to 75 with 57c. 2 callers after us and then the small blind raises to 400. Hmmmmm, good pot odds, especially if the two behind us call. We call and the call. The Flop comes 335 rainbow. We have a small pair. More importantly, it didn't hit the SB who is firing 800 more into the pot. We call and the other 2 players fold. Turn comes 8. SB pushes all in for 1900. Hmmm. He either has 2 big cards or a pair bigger than 8. That's a lot of pairs but it's a big pot and the odds favor that he has two big cards. We call. He shows AK and river comes J. We take it down with fives and threes.
Seat 4 raises to 75 and seat 6 re-raises to 225. We are in the BB with KK and raise to 825. Flop 69Q rainbow. Perfect. He has 3800ish. Hmmmm. 1500 bet gets us all in on the turn but gives him an unnecessary look for an ace on that turn. We push. He goes into the tank for a minute and folds. There are only 45000 chips on the table. Would love to have picked up more but happy to grab 1000 here.
In my upcoming treatise I will call this hand the "Check-raising Phil Ivy like you've already got it Hand". Playing 25-50 6-handed. Seat 4 raises to 125. Phil calls from the button and we call with 68 from the SB. BB calls and 4 of us see the 79J rainbow flop. We have an open ended straight draw, which is good 4 players but we are in bad position and cant call a big raise (which would know players out and hurt our odds anyway). We check, as does the BB and seat 4. Phil bets 325. That's going to knock the other players out so our good odds are gone. Let's see if he's trying to purchase. We raise to 825 and he folds.
Seat 4 raises to 125 and phil calls. We call from the BB with K8d and the three of us see the KTT flop with one diamond. We bet 300 and they both call. Turn comes Ah. We check and they both check. River comes 8d. We bet 1050 and seat 4 calls and shows A9. Ouch. Bad turn card. Bad.
Everyone folds to Phil who raises to 125 from the button. The small blind calls and it comes to us. We have AA. Giddey-up. We raise to 375. As we have been playing the role of poker bully for a while, this is not surprise anyone. Phil calls and the small blindfolds. The flop comes 45Q with 2 spades. We bet 400 and he calls. Turn comes 6d. He cant be playing 78 or 23, can he? Maybe, but we bet 750 and he calls. River comes 5c. He probably doesn't have a 5 and that gives us 2 pair which probably isn't necessary. He has about 2900 in chips. We bet 1600. I know that Phil values every chip and will not see tis as leaving him with unnecessary chips if he loses. He calls and mucks his hand when he sees our aces.
Phil gets knocked out a few hands later and heads off to the Razz tournament.
We end round 2 with 5 players at our table and 18250 in chips. The officials are removing from play the two players that never bought in, so the total number of chips on the table is about 36,500. Although we have half of them, this is very far from over.
The game will now be moving very fast. Hopefully i will have more good news in 2 hours.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
PLO
This should have gone out hours ago - sorry.
Two more rounds in. Only a couple big hands to report.
In seat 4 playing 50-100 we raise to 250 with 9JQQ (JQd) and get 4 callers. Pot is 1300 when flop comes rainbow 29Q. Beautiful. We bet 800 and get 2 folds before a pot bet raise of 2900. We have top set, which is huge. Although the bet is scary, the player only has 1100 behind, so this could be as much a bluff as anything or a semi-bluff (like he has a straight draw and an overpair). The final player between us folds and we raise another 1100 to put him all in. That makes the total bet 4800. He shows TJKK. He has a massive straight draw with an overpair. He needs an 8TJ or K for a straight. There are 11 of those, giving him about a 41% chance. The turn comes 8. He hits it right away. Our only hope is to pair the board on the river to make a full house, but an ace comes and he takes the pot. Ouch. We lost over 5000, more than half our stack!
Seat 3 raises to 350. Seat 4 and seat 5 call. In seat 6 with 6788 double suited we re-raise to 1000. This is a great hand to play with a lot of players and a big preflop pot. Unfortunately only seat 3 stayed in and he pushed all in with a total of 2400 in chips. We call and he shows AAT7. Not good. The short of it is his AA holds up and we are now short stacked.
Everyone folds to the sb who raises to 400. We call from the BB with 567K (K7s). Flop comes 25J rainbow. He bets 550. We only have about 2000 but we call to see if we can get a second pair on the turn. Turn comes K. - giddey up. Any 2 pair is good heads up, but having the top pair makes is giggly. He bets 700 and we push all in. He calls with 2TQQ. I don't recall the river but it didn't give him a set or a straight so we double up.
The game is moving fast. Half the field is already out. We play a few pre flop hands and fold and find ourselves back at 3000 chips.
Playing 75-150 Seats 3 and 4 limp so we limp with 679J (79J all diamonds). 3 other players limp and six of is see the flop 48T with 4Td. Great flop for us. Seats 3 and 4 check and we bet 600. The player to our left raises to 1800 and everyone folds. There's a fold option and a push option, we are pot committed if we call. We call and he shows 67TT. He has a set. We need a flush (8 outs) or a straight (11 more outs - any 679J or Q not double counting the diamonds). As long as he doesn't hit a boat, we are a favorite with 19 outs. I don't remember the turn or river, only the disappointment as I stood up to leave.
Tomorrow Donkey. Tomorrow.
Two more rounds in. Only a couple big hands to report.
In seat 4 playing 50-100 we raise to 250 with 9JQQ (JQd) and get 4 callers. Pot is 1300 when flop comes rainbow 29Q. Beautiful. We bet 800 and get 2 folds before a pot bet raise of 2900. We have top set, which is huge. Although the bet is scary, the player only has 1100 behind, so this could be as much a bluff as anything or a semi-bluff (like he has a straight draw and an overpair). The final player between us folds and we raise another 1100 to put him all in. That makes the total bet 4800. He shows TJKK. He has a massive straight draw with an overpair. He needs an 8TJ or K for a straight. There are 11 of those, giving him about a 41% chance. The turn comes 8. He hits it right away. Our only hope is to pair the board on the river to make a full house, but an ace comes and he takes the pot. Ouch. We lost over 5000, more than half our stack!
Seat 3 raises to 350. Seat 4 and seat 5 call. In seat 6 with 6788 double suited we re-raise to 1000. This is a great hand to play with a lot of players and a big preflop pot. Unfortunately only seat 3 stayed in and he pushed all in with a total of 2400 in chips. We call and he shows AAT7. Not good. The short of it is his AA holds up and we are now short stacked.
Everyone folds to the sb who raises to 400. We call from the BB with 567K (K7s). Flop comes 25J rainbow. He bets 550. We only have about 2000 but we call to see if we can get a second pair on the turn. Turn comes K. - giddey up. Any 2 pair is good heads up, but having the top pair makes is giggly. He bets 700 and we push all in. He calls with 2TQQ. I don't recall the river but it didn't give him a set or a straight so we double up.
The game is moving fast. Half the field is already out. We play a few pre flop hands and fold and find ourselves back at 3000 chips.
Playing 75-150 Seats 3 and 4 limp so we limp with 679J (79J all diamonds). 3 other players limp and six of is see the flop 48T with 4Td. Great flop for us. Seats 3 and 4 check and we bet 600. The player to our left raises to 1800 and everyone folds. There's a fold option and a push option, we are pot committed if we call. We call and he shows 67TT. He has a set. We need a flush (8 outs) or a straight (11 more outs - any 679J or Q not double counting the diamonds). As long as he doesn't hit a boat, we are a favorite with 19 outs. I don't remember the turn or river, only the disappointment as I stood up to leave.
Tomorrow Donkey. Tomorrow.
PLO
We are playing a rather strange game called pot limit Omaha. It is my favorite game, but too difficult to explain in the hand by hand basis. If you want the rules, go to Wikipedia.
I will just give you a brief update. We started with 3000 chips. In the first two hours we slowly crept up to about 5000. Unlike yesterday's tournament, today's field is weak. Yesterday, there were a few people in the room paying their own admission. Today every table has only a couple of professionals. At this early time in the tournament, that differences enough to allow us an advantage and to do a little domination.
The only Big hand that we played was from the big blind. Playing 25 50, six people Limped in. So when it got to us, there was 350 in the pot. We raised to 300 and 3 of the people folded. We had eight Jack Jack King, with a suited Jack King. This is not a great hand, but with everyone limping, it is probably at least on par. The value of the raise is that now we are playing against equal hands with other people's dead money in the pot.
The flop was about as beautiful as possible. 55 Jack with 2 diamonds. We flopped a full house. We bet 400 and the woman to our left, who was wearing a 2012 wsop bracelet pushes all in!!! Everyone else folds. Crazy. The only hand she beats us with is pocket fives, but that would give her quads and she would not push all in with quads. Instead, she would try to milk more money from us, and everyone else at the table. The push makes no sense in terms of anything dangerous to us. We happily call. She turns over a five and three diamonds. She's playing the flush draw and the set of fives. Our only concern is that she gets the case five on the turn or the river. The turn comes an Ace and the river a nine of diamonds. Of course her flush is irrelevant. We take her money, and she takes her bracelet home.
We end round 2 with 7775 in chips.
War Donkey
I will just give you a brief update. We started with 3000 chips. In the first two hours we slowly crept up to about 5000. Unlike yesterday's tournament, today's field is weak. Yesterday, there were a few people in the room paying their own admission. Today every table has only a couple of professionals. At this early time in the tournament, that differences enough to allow us an advantage and to do a little domination.
The only Big hand that we played was from the big blind. Playing 25 50, six people Limped in. So when it got to us, there was 350 in the pot. We raised to 300 and 3 of the people folded. We had eight Jack Jack King, with a suited Jack King. This is not a great hand, but with everyone limping, it is probably at least on par. The value of the raise is that now we are playing against equal hands with other people's dead money in the pot.
The flop was about as beautiful as possible. 55 Jack with 2 diamonds. We flopped a full house. We bet 400 and the woman to our left, who was wearing a 2012 wsop bracelet pushes all in!!! Everyone else folds. Crazy. The only hand she beats us with is pocket fives, but that would give her quads and she would not push all in with quads. Instead, she would try to milk more money from us, and everyone else at the table. The push makes no sense in terms of anything dangerous to us. We happily call. She turns over a five and three diamonds. She's playing the flush draw and the set of fives. Our only concern is that she gets the case five on the turn or the river. The turn comes an Ace and the river a nine of diamonds. Of course her flush is irrelevant. We take her money, and she takes her bracelet home.
We end round 2 with 7775 in chips.
War Donkey
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Fwd: Aaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhh
On my way home, very frustrated with myself. I should have known that he had a monster. What else could he have? He could not have a pocket pair less than a queen with what was on the board. Unless of course he had the sixes. He could have had a King Ace, but that's unlikely as i had 2 of the aces. Or King Jack, but my play was way too aggressive for those chances.
More importantly, I had already recognized it as a conservative table. I never should have hoped for action behind me. I should have raised before the flop and knocked out the random hands like 66.
It is, of course, always easier to play a hand after you have seen the cards. However, this was just poor play pre-flop.
F'n Donkey
More importantly, I had already recognized it as a conservative table. I never should have hoped for action behind me. I should have raised before the flop and knocked out the random hands like 66.
It is, of course, always easier to play a hand after you have seen the cards. However, this was just poor play pre-flop.
F'n Donkey
NLH Mix Match rounds 7-8
We are now six hours into the games. Talk to you feeling strong, despite the young herd at home that can disrupt donkey's resting hours. We are playing 500 1,000 with 100 antes. We have the headphones on and the sunglasses rolling as soon as we see our cards.
Our table is broken in their sense worth or table. This is a much tighter table.
In our fourth hand, we are on the button. Seat seven raises to 2500 and we have pocket aces. We raise two 5100. The blinds both fold and seat seven calls. The flop is a 68K rainbow. Beautiful. He could make a set with that, but it is unlikely that he has two pair. He checks and we bet 4000. He calls and the turn comes a two of hearts, completing the rainbow. I could not build a more beautiful board. We bet 12,000 and he calls. The river comes another eight. Although this gives us a great two pair, I have some fear that he has been calling with an 8. He checks. We should probably bet but if he has an 8 he will raise and take all of our money. We check and he turns over King Jack. We take it down with our races.
A few hands later Seat 3 raises to 2500 and we flat call with pocket aces again from Seat 4. We are hoping for action behind us, but all we see are 2 calls, so four of us see the flop, which is a six Queen King with 2 spades. Seat 3 checks. It's unlikely that the callers behind us have QQ or KK but they could have 66 or QK. Those are unlikely and it's best to take this down now so we bet 7500. The button raises to 17000. He could have a broad range of hands but there are only a couple that scare us. We raise to 47000 and he pushes all in. We call. He has 66. The turn is a K. The river another Q. We are headed home.
Problem was falling in love with the aces after letting people get in to the flop cheap. Very frustrated with myself.
El Donkey Sad.
More tomorrow!
Our table is broken in their sense worth or table. This is a much tighter table.
In our fourth hand, we are on the button. Seat seven raises to 2500 and we have pocket aces. We raise two 5100. The blinds both fold and seat seven calls. The flop is a 68K rainbow. Beautiful. He could make a set with that, but it is unlikely that he has two pair. He checks and we bet 4000. He calls and the turn comes a two of hearts, completing the rainbow. I could not build a more beautiful board. We bet 12,000 and he calls. The river comes another eight. Although this gives us a great two pair, I have some fear that he has been calling with an 8. He checks. We should probably bet but if he has an 8 he will raise and take all of our money. We check and he turns over King Jack. We take it down with our races.
A few hands later Seat 3 raises to 2500 and we flat call with pocket aces again from Seat 4. We are hoping for action behind us, but all we see are 2 calls, so four of us see the flop, which is a six Queen King with 2 spades. Seat 3 checks. It's unlikely that the callers behind us have QQ or KK but they could have 66 or QK. Those are unlikely and it's best to take this down now so we bet 7500. The button raises to 17000. He could have a broad range of hands but there are only a couple that scare us. We raise to 47000 and he pushes all in. We call. He has 66. The turn is a K. The river another Q. We are headed home.
Problem was falling in love with the aces after letting people get in to the flop cheap. Very frustrated with myself.
El Donkey Sad.
More tomorrow!
NLH Mix Mat rounds 5-6
Playing 300 600 with 75 antes.
16 minutes into round 5 we put chips into the pot voluntarily for the first time. Seat 4 raises to 1500 and gets called by seats five and the button. We are in the big blind with an ace and a seven and 600 already in front of us. We call for 900 more. The flop comes ace eight seven with two diamonds. It is definitely possible that someone has a straight or flush draw, but we have a monster two pair right now. We check and the original bettor puts in 5000 and gets called by the button. Now it is up to us. Do we slow play? If we do, we will get more action on the turn, but we risk a flush card, the straight card, or a high card, any of which could be a problem for our hand. If someone is playing an ace, a high card could give them two pair beating hours. Right now we are confident we are in the lead. We are also, unfortunately, out of position. We raise to 15,000 and they fold. Again, I would like to get more, but will take the 15,000.
We are back up to a respectable stack - about 65,000.
We wait another 20 minutes to play again, again from the big blind. This time we call a raise to 3300 with an ace three of spades. The flop comes A39 with 2 hearts. We check and the bet comes in for 5000. I don't recall exactly what happened, but we raised and they folded. We may have overplayed that hand, but I don't like being out of position.
The. There was a series if hands i cant recall entirely. Here's my best recollection.
We played the next hand from the small blind with Ace nine of diamonds. The flop had ace and two trash cards. We checked and called the bet of 4300. The turn came Jack. We checked and the bet came 15,000. Our nine is just not strong enough. We fold. The result of these two hands is that we are at about 70,000.
In a late seat we call 1200 with J9. Three of us see the flop come jj7. Fantastic. BB checks and mid seat bets 3300. We call. The BB raises to 10000. This does not make a lot of sense. If he has a jack, he would not want to chase us out. He may take this action with a pair of sevens in his hand, creating a weak full house. There's no straight or flush draw. The mid seat folds, so he does not have a jack! We call and the turn comes 8. Pretty much a rag but now a T gives us a straight. He bets 15200. Huge bet. At this point we are pretty much pot committed when we call the bet. River comes a rag 6 and he checks. He wont call with anything we beat. Our 9 is incredibly weak because a 67 or 8 beat it. We check. He shows 44 and we take the pot down. Huge.
Seat 5 raises to 1300, seat 6 calls and we flat call with AK in seat 7. Seat 8 raises to 5100, not a strange raise size given the amount in the pot, but seat 5 re-raises to 15200. Hmmmm, we have a premium hand and if we beat one of them we probably beat both, so we put the additional 10000 in. Seat 8 pushes all in for 49000 and gets called by seat 5. We lay our premium hand down showing it to the table, and they turn over QQ and AA. Good lay down. The AA takes it and we get our second "good lay down" conciliatory statement from the table.
Now playing 400 800 with a 100 ante. Seat 7 raises to 1600 and gets called by seat 8. We call from the big blind with A8c and see a 368 with 2 diamonds flop. We bet 3500 and seat 7 calls. The turn is a 2h. Excellent. We bet 11000 and he calls. River comes 7d. Hmmmm. Don't like the diamond. We check and he checks. We show top pair with top kicker and he shows KK to take the pot down. Really didn't see that coming.
We are back at 66000.
We see a couple flops but no turns and get chipped away to about 61000.
Seat 6 raises to 2100 and we call from the button with 8Jd. Flop comes 6TK rainbow. He checks and we prod with 3400. He folds and we happily pick it up.
We close the round with 63000. Well, that is certainly an improvement from where we started round five. Hopefully we will continue on this track and have more to report in a couple of hours.
All the best,
El Burro
16 minutes into round 5 we put chips into the pot voluntarily for the first time. Seat 4 raises to 1500 and gets called by seats five and the button. We are in the big blind with an ace and a seven and 600 already in front of us. We call for 900 more. The flop comes ace eight seven with two diamonds. It is definitely possible that someone has a straight or flush draw, but we have a monster two pair right now. We check and the original bettor puts in 5000 and gets called by the button. Now it is up to us. Do we slow play? If we do, we will get more action on the turn, but we risk a flush card, the straight card, or a high card, any of which could be a problem for our hand. If someone is playing an ace, a high card could give them two pair beating hours. Right now we are confident we are in the lead. We are also, unfortunately, out of position. We raise to 15,000 and they fold. Again, I would like to get more, but will take the 15,000.
We are back up to a respectable stack - about 65,000.
We wait another 20 minutes to play again, again from the big blind. This time we call a raise to 3300 with an ace three of spades. The flop comes A39 with 2 hearts. We check and the bet comes in for 5000. I don't recall exactly what happened, but we raised and they folded. We may have overplayed that hand, but I don't like being out of position.
The. There was a series if hands i cant recall entirely. Here's my best recollection.
We played the next hand from the small blind with Ace nine of diamonds. The flop had ace and two trash cards. We checked and called the bet of 4300. The turn came Jack. We checked and the bet came 15,000. Our nine is just not strong enough. We fold. The result of these two hands is that we are at about 70,000.
In a late seat we call 1200 with J9. Three of us see the flop come jj7. Fantastic. BB checks and mid seat bets 3300. We call. The BB raises to 10000. This does not make a lot of sense. If he has a jack, he would not want to chase us out. He may take this action with a pair of sevens in his hand, creating a weak full house. There's no straight or flush draw. The mid seat folds, so he does not have a jack! We call and the turn comes 8. Pretty much a rag but now a T gives us a straight. He bets 15200. Huge bet. At this point we are pretty much pot committed when we call the bet. River comes a rag 6 and he checks. He wont call with anything we beat. Our 9 is incredibly weak because a 67 or 8 beat it. We check. He shows 44 and we take the pot down. Huge.
Seat 5 raises to 1300, seat 6 calls and we flat call with AK in seat 7. Seat 8 raises to 5100, not a strange raise size given the amount in the pot, but seat 5 re-raises to 15200. Hmmmm, we have a premium hand and if we beat one of them we probably beat both, so we put the additional 10000 in. Seat 8 pushes all in for 49000 and gets called by seat 5. We lay our premium hand down showing it to the table, and they turn over QQ and AA. Good lay down. The AA takes it and we get our second "good lay down" conciliatory statement from the table.
Now playing 400 800 with a 100 ante. Seat 7 raises to 1600 and gets called by seat 8. We call from the big blind with A8c and see a 368 with 2 diamonds flop. We bet 3500 and seat 7 calls. The turn is a 2h. Excellent. We bet 11000 and he calls. River comes 7d. Hmmmm. Don't like the diamond. We check and he checks. We show top pair with top kicker and he shows KK to take the pot down. Really didn't see that coming.
We are back at 66000.
We see a couple flops but no turns and get chipped away to about 61000.
Seat 6 raises to 2100 and we call from the button with 8Jd. Flop comes 6TK rainbow. He checks and we prod with 3400. He folds and we happily pick it up.
We close the round with 63000. Well, that is certainly an improvement from where we started round five. Hopefully we will continue on this track and have more to report in a couple of hours.
All the best,
El Burro
Fwd: NLH mlMix Match rounds 3-4
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message:
From: Eric Kurtzman <eric@skywell.com>
Date: May 27, 2014 at 8:29:17 PM PDT
Subject: NLH mlMix Match rounds 3-4
Date: May 27, 2014 at 8:29:17 PM PDT
Subject: NLH mlMix Match rounds 3-4
Playing 200 400 with 50 antes.
Played way too many hands last 2 rounds so decide to slow down.
We win one and lose one and the. Get moved from our table to a new table. Doesn't really matter. There's nothing but pros in the room and they all know each other and they know I'm the outsider. Beware the hooves.
Everyone folds to us in seat seven with an ace seven of hearts. We raise 1300 and get called by the small blind. The flop comes 23k. No hearts. He checks can we check. The turn comes king and he bets 500; we raise to 2200. He calls. The river comes the nine of hearts. He checks and we bet 4000. He folds. He may have had a worse nothing than we did.
We have AJ h in seat 3 and raise to 1100 and get 3 callers. Flop comes 38T w 2 hearts. Sweet. We bet 2200. Bb raises to 8000. Unless he has a set, we are in the lead. Even if he has a 10, any ace, Jack or heart, of which there are a total of 15, is a winner for us. We are assuming based on the previous play that he does not have pocket jacks queens kings or aces. We raise to 16,000 and he calls. Although we are in the lead, we do not have a made hand, this is still a good turn of events. Plus we are in position. Turn Comes Kc. Now a q is good too. He checks. If he doesn't have a K, we now have 18 winning cards in the deck. Push could win but he could be trapping w a set. Plus we only have the river left to his a winning card. We check and river comes 6d. Terrible. He bets and we fold. Big loss.
We slowly lose down to 35,000 in chips. A very aggressive player on the button raises to 1300 and we call from the small blind with pocket sevens. The big blind raises to 5200 and the button calls. It's 3900 to is. This only makes sense if we believe that we will make about 30,000 if we flop a 7. There's already over 10,000 in there, so we call. The flop comes six, seven, Jack. Fantastic that we got a seven. However, they are all diamonds. If another D comes on the turn or the river, we are dead. Also, none of the diamonds will pair the board, so they will not give us a full house. Perhaps even more unfortunately, we are in the small blind and must play before they do. So, we cannot wait to see what they do. If we check, and they check, they will get a free look to see if they get another time. With a pot of over 15,000, any real bet from us is the equivalent of an all in. So we bet 25,000. They both fold. I would love to have made more money on that pot but I am happy to pick up the 10,000.
We play a few more hands, but nothing big and we end the rounds with 47,000 chips. Not great, but we are still alive with almost 2/3 of what we started with.
On a sidenote, my current table has two people with bracelets and one who was the player of the year a few years back even though he did not want to bracelet. Not sure how that works.
More in a couple hours. And by more, I'm suggesting more chips.
El Donkey
Played way too many hands last 2 rounds so decide to slow down.
We win one and lose one and the. Get moved from our table to a new table. Doesn't really matter. There's nothing but pros in the room and they all know each other and they know I'm the outsider. Beware the hooves.
Everyone folds to us in seat seven with an ace seven of hearts. We raise 1300 and get called by the small blind. The flop comes 23k. No hearts. He checks can we check. The turn comes king and he bets 500; we raise to 2200. He calls. The river comes the nine of hearts. He checks and we bet 4000. He folds. He may have had a worse nothing than we did.
We have AJ h in seat 3 and raise to 1100 and get 3 callers. Flop comes 38T w 2 hearts. Sweet. We bet 2200. Bb raises to 8000. Unless he has a set, we are in the lead. Even if he has a 10, any ace, Jack or heart, of which there are a total of 15, is a winner for us. We are assuming based on the previous play that he does not have pocket jacks queens kings or aces. We raise to 16,000 and he calls. Although we are in the lead, we do not have a made hand, this is still a good turn of events. Plus we are in position. Turn Comes Kc. Now a q is good too. He checks. If he doesn't have a K, we now have 18 winning cards in the deck. Push could win but he could be trapping w a set. Plus we only have the river left to his a winning card. We check and river comes 6d. Terrible. He bets and we fold. Big loss.
We slowly lose down to 35,000 in chips. A very aggressive player on the button raises to 1300 and we call from the small blind with pocket sevens. The big blind raises to 5200 and the button calls. It's 3900 to is. This only makes sense if we believe that we will make about 30,000 if we flop a 7. There's already over 10,000 in there, so we call. The flop comes six, seven, Jack. Fantastic that we got a seven. However, they are all diamonds. If another D comes on the turn or the river, we are dead. Also, none of the diamonds will pair the board, so they will not give us a full house. Perhaps even more unfortunately, we are in the small blind and must play before they do. So, we cannot wait to see what they do. If we check, and they check, they will get a free look to see if they get another time. With a pot of over 15,000, any real bet from us is the equivalent of an all in. So we bet 25,000. They both fold. I would love to have made more money on that pot but I am happy to pick up the 10,000.
We play a few more hands, but nothing big and we end the rounds with 47,000 chips. Not great, but we are still alive with almost 2/3 of what we started with.
On a sidenote, my current table has two people with bracelets and one who was the player of the year a few years back even though he did not want to bracelet. Not sure how that works.
More in a couple hours. And by more, I'm suggesting more chips.
El Donkey
NLH Mix Match
And so entereth the Donkey.
Walking through the strangely well lit dark halls of the Rio, heart palpitating, hooves beating in an awkward cadence, let the games begin.
We start this season with an odd no limit hold 'em tournament. It is a mix match, meaning that we playing nine handed in day one, then six handed in the two, four handed into three and heads up in the final day.
We start with 75,000 in chips playing 150 300.
We are in S4 with 78c and raise to 800 with 3 callers. 26k flops with w one spade. We. Have nothing so we check. Two players behind us check and the last bettor bets 1200 to steal the pot. Now our nothing looks better so we Check raise to 2400. He calls. 5s turns and we bet 4200 hoping he will fold. We now have an open ended straight draw but the odds of hitting that on the river are less than 20%. He calls. 9s rivers giving us a straight. There's a flush on the board now but highly unlikely he has it. We bet 9200. He calls and our a straight wins the first big pot.
We are in the Bb w 6j. 4 bets 800 and the button calls. We call. Flop 68k w 2s. We check and s4 bets 1700. We call to see the turn. It's a 9 - no good. We Check. He bets 4200. Fold.
In S6 a5c we raise to 800 and bb calls. 89j flops and we bet 800 and he calls. J turns and we bet 1600 and he calls. T rivers. He has not accepted our bluff w ace high and now he bets 5000 and we fold. 89tj on field. Unlikely our ace has any chance.
S3 bets 800 and we call from the Sb w TQ and flop 7qq. Everyone checks and turn 6. We Bet 1150 on our set and both call - excellent. River 4 and we bet 4000. S3 calls w JQ - his j kicker beats our T and he takes it Down.
Seat 4 raises. We Call 800 in s6 w8jd. 7 calls and button raises to 3600. 4 calls. Pot odds are huge. We call and so does 7. Flop comes 46q. All hearts. Check around to 7 who bets 5800 and all fold.
We Raise to 800 w TJd in 4. 5 calls and 6 raises to 3400. He smells weakness. We raise to 8400 and everyone folds. Nice.
S3 min raise to 6 and 8 players inc us in bb call. We have 46 but for 300 lets see the flop. Flop 78j. All check to 6 who bets 3700. May be a purchase. All fold to us and we raise to 7500 to find out. He calls. Turn miracle 5 for a straight and bet 8000. He pushes all in. Strange. Huge over bet. He must be afraid i have a set which means he has a straight or he's making a huge bluff to win 30k. 69 or 9t beat us. In light of the cheap entry he could have either. We fold. He says he had the nuts. Believable, but huge loss. All we got was a complement for a good fold.
3 bets 800 and we call from 5 w aa. 7 calls and rainbow flops 27k. 3 checks and we bet 1200. 7 raises to 4300. He Wouldn't pound a set that way and cant have 2 pair with that board. No straight or flush draw. We are in the lead but turn could hit him. We raise to 9300 and he folds.
In s5 we have KK. S3 bets 800 4 raises to 2200. We want to know if he has aa and we want to push out the straggling aces (eg AJ). We raise to 4400 and s4 calls. Flop 2ta. Terrible. He checks. We check. He could be slow playing an A. Turn comes k. Godfrey-up. He checks and we bet 5000. He calls and river comes j. A q gives him a straight. He checks and we check to avoid a re-raise that would force us to fold. He shows TJ for 2 pair and we take it with the set of Ks.
We close the round with 71,500 and chips. Not bad considering huge destruction we took on a big hand. We start up again in 15 minutes.
Hopefully will be two hours before you hear from me again. Until then, Your Donkey.
Walking through the strangely well lit dark halls of the Rio, heart palpitating, hooves beating in an awkward cadence, let the games begin.
We start this season with an odd no limit hold 'em tournament. It is a mix match, meaning that we playing nine handed in day one, then six handed in the two, four handed into three and heads up in the final day.
We start with 75,000 in chips playing 150 300.
We are in S4 with 78c and raise to 800 with 3 callers. 26k flops with w one spade. We. Have nothing so we check. Two players behind us check and the last bettor bets 1200 to steal the pot. Now our nothing looks better so we Check raise to 2400. He calls. 5s turns and we bet 4200 hoping he will fold. We now have an open ended straight draw but the odds of hitting that on the river are less than 20%. He calls. 9s rivers giving us a straight. There's a flush on the board now but highly unlikely he has it. We bet 9200. He calls and our a straight wins the first big pot.
We are in the Bb w 6j. 4 bets 800 and the button calls. We call. Flop 68k w 2s. We check and s4 bets 1700. We call to see the turn. It's a 9 - no good. We Check. He bets 4200. Fold.
In S6 a5c we raise to 800 and bb calls. 89j flops and we bet 800 and he calls. J turns and we bet 1600 and he calls. T rivers. He has not accepted our bluff w ace high and now he bets 5000 and we fold. 89tj on field. Unlikely our ace has any chance.
S3 bets 800 and we call from the Sb w TQ and flop 7qq. Everyone checks and turn 6. We Bet 1150 on our set and both call - excellent. River 4 and we bet 4000. S3 calls w JQ - his j kicker beats our T and he takes it Down.
Seat 4 raises. We Call 800 in s6 w8jd. 7 calls and button raises to 3600. 4 calls. Pot odds are huge. We call and so does 7. Flop comes 46q. All hearts. Check around to 7 who bets 5800 and all fold.
We Raise to 800 w TJd in 4. 5 calls and 6 raises to 3400. He smells weakness. We raise to 8400 and everyone folds. Nice.
S3 min raise to 6 and 8 players inc us in bb call. We have 46 but for 300 lets see the flop. Flop 78j. All check to 6 who bets 3700. May be a purchase. All fold to us and we raise to 7500 to find out. He calls. Turn miracle 5 for a straight and bet 8000. He pushes all in. Strange. Huge over bet. He must be afraid i have a set which means he has a straight or he's making a huge bluff to win 30k. 69 or 9t beat us. In light of the cheap entry he could have either. We fold. He says he had the nuts. Believable, but huge loss. All we got was a complement for a good fold.
3 bets 800 and we call from 5 w aa. 7 calls and rainbow flops 27k. 3 checks and we bet 1200. 7 raises to 4300. He Wouldn't pound a set that way and cant have 2 pair with that board. No straight or flush draw. We are in the lead but turn could hit him. We raise to 9300 and he folds.
In s5 we have KK. S3 bets 800 4 raises to 2200. We want to know if he has aa and we want to push out the straggling aces (eg AJ). We raise to 4400 and s4 calls. Flop 2ta. Terrible. He checks. We check. He could be slow playing an A. Turn comes k. Godfrey-up. He checks and we bet 5000. He calls and river comes j. A q gives him a straight. He checks and we check to avoid a re-raise that would force us to fold. He shows TJ for 2 pair and we take it with the set of Ks.
We close the round with 71,500 and chips. Not bad considering huge destruction we took on a big hand. We start up again in 15 minutes.
Hopefully will be two hours before you hear from me again. Until then, Your Donkey.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
WSOP '14 Is Upon Us
Dear Herd,
The long-awaited season is upon us and it's time to wake up the blog site. If you're getting this, you're all set. If you're not getting this, then you should find some way to learn that you should have gotten this and then go to enterthedonkey.blogspot.com to make sure you don't miss the next update.
Donkey is in the zen space of preparation. It would take too long to list all 130 songs on the iTunes play list this year, but here's a list of the artists for those interested:
- Adam Lambert
- Adele
- Asia
- Audiogroove
- Az Yet
- Bell Biv DeVoe
- Billy Joel
- Black Eyed Peas
- Blue October
- Britney Spears
- Bruno Mars
- Buck Cherry
- Carly Rae Jespen
- Cassie
- Christina Aguilera
- Craig David
- Daughtry
- David Bowie
- David Guetta
- Diddy
- Donna Summer
- Eminem
- Flo Rida
- Florida Georgia Line
- Frankie Valle
- Glen Madieiros
- Gotye
- Guns N' Roses
- Gym Class héros
- Hinder
- Hugh Grant
- India.Arie
- Iyaz
- Jason Derulo
- Jason Weaver
- Jay Sean
- Joe
- John Legend
- Justin Timberlake
- Kanye West
- Katy Perry
- Ke$ha
- Kenny Rodgers
- Kevin Rudolf
- Kid Rock
- Kris Allen
- Lady Gaga
- Lodestar
- Maroon 5
- Matchbox 20
- Matt Nathanson
- Michael Jackson
- Miley Cirus
- My Chemical Romance
- 'N-Sync
- Ne-yo
- Neil Diamond
- One Republic
- Pink
- Passenger
- Puddle of Mud
- The Pussycat Dolls
- Rehab
- Rihanna
- Robin Thicke
- Ruffus Wainwright
- Runner Runner
- Samuel E. Wright
- Scouting For Girls
- The Script
- Sebastian Bach
- Shaggy
- Shontelle
- Spose
- Staind
- T-/Pain
- Three Days Grace
- Timbaland
- Toby Keith
- Train
- Ugly Kid Joe
- Uncle Kracker
- Usher
- Van Halen
- 3 Doors Down
- 50 Cent
- 702
It's a pretty broad stretch from Disney songs and Hugh Grant all the way to Guns N' Roses and 50 Cent. Should keep us awake. We will launch in either May 27 or May 28. Until then,
All the best,
Your Donkey
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