Posted By: hdouble
" Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small; Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all."
--Friedrich, Freiherr von Logau

Let's ramble, shall we? I don't have anything specific to write about, but I'm amped up on diet coke and 10 hours of sleep, so maybe I'll get lucky and type something interesting. Spirits are high after I broke out of a rough two weeks on the table. The slump hit a low point last Sunday night, but after I caught up on some sleep the $3-6 games were good to me-- 800 hands since Tuesday, showing a nice $370 profit for a win rate of 7.7 bb/100. Now that's more like it. I think Party's reload bonus is bringing more fish to the $3-6 tables, and I've been hitting my draws and having my big pairs hold up, resulting in a nice week of short sessions.

A buddy suggested we play some Omaha High-Low at our home game this Thursday, so I thought I'd hop on the .50-1 tables for a minute to get a feel for the game. 10 hands later, I was up $35 buck after scooping 3 or 4 huge pots. With four cards to draw with rather than two, Omaha seems like a great game to play if you have the discipline to stick to playing solid starting hands-- the fish will draw to hands that are big longshots, and you have a huge advantage with your solid starters. I guess my Omaha win rate will remain ridiculous for a while-- it was fun, but I think I'll stick to Hold 'em until I get bored.

I just beat the deadline for the Party reload bonus, since it takes Neteller a week to get the money from your bank account. I'll take the free benjamin, but considering that I've paid Party/Empire $4,142 in rake, I feel its somewhat deserved. Too bad you can't buy stock in offshore gambling enterprises...

My buddy Monk is still learning, and battling it out on the $1-2 tables. He's been diligently sending my hands to review, and I've put a lot of time in analyzing his play. He's learning quickly, and there will always be a few hands that impress me. Unfortunately they will often be followed by plays that leave me baffled, so the analysis is usually a rollercoaster ride between pride, disappointment, and bafflement. The preface to his last set of hands was too good not to share, so here it is:

" i've been struggling and a real close look at my game is needed. there are things i am doing that i KNOW are not good. still trying to sneak in with subpar hands (QJo, 3s) and getting raised. but that is being cut down. the place i am having the most trouble now seems to be post flop. getting caught be two pair when i have the top pair top kicker has lured me into loosening up, which leads to more troubles. so i cut that from the diet. the tough part is what to do when you are probably beat, but the guy is a KNOWN idiot. laydowny no helpy, calling costs more than ugg boots. ugg. here is some of the evidence:"

For those of you that haven't memorized Izmet (shame on you!), the "laydowny" reference refers to the famous Fekali poem about The Furcoat Dilemma. I think Monk is ready to turn the corner, and in a few more weeks he'll be off and running...

I usually stick to poker here, since news and politics is usually only good as a depressant, but this news item scared the hell out of me. It's nice that the American media shields us from news like this, and we have to rely on the Scottish media for news on important world events. Good think we have The Fat Guy scouring the internet to bring us the real news.

Poker Blog Patrol

I definitely can't keep up anymore. Some great new blogs that I have been meaning to link to for a while now, but haven't gotten the chance.

I had the pleasure to sit with Phil from StudioGlyphic today, who has been posting about a variety of topics for a while now, and has recently started blogging a lot more poker. Phil told me that experience has been his main teacher so far, so it will be interesting to see what happens when he gets into the poker literature.

Burt Fu brings a little Taj Mahal - Joyzy swing to his poker blog. I'm not sure which I like better, his sign off (FU, signing off) or his description of abusing a couple of "mumblers" at his Taj table:

"The guy next to me says, "He's got nothing." But most fold, except one of the Mumblers. We'll call him Mumbler #2. He's mumbling to Mumbler #1. Ok, the river, Q, BINGO! I bet, and I'm glaring at Mumbler #2. His hand was actually kind of shaking (I guess.) He was trying to get chips into the pot to raise, and was dropping them...meanwhile string betting all along, and the dealer stops him and says he can't bet like that. He can't turn his cards over quick enough...he has a J...BUT I flip JQ, oops. Mumbler #2 turns to Mumbler #1 and immediately starts another Mumbler conference."

The Poker Prof is bringing us daily reports of all of the WSOP tourneys, and offering some wisdom of his own as well. Check out his Philosophy of Luck and Poker:

" First, the lucky charm player, the person who bring his miniature velvet portrait of Elvis to the table and rubs its nose before each hand. There is a way to sometimes influence the psychology of this player, have your own 'luck charm' and have something bad happen to it during the course of game. The lucky charm player will interpret this event to mean you are now unlucky and hopefully, this will influence their decision making processes and they will play loose pushing more statistically improbable hands against you. This will then increase your statistical chances of winning against them. I do indeed love my lucky charms! But only for breakfast."

I have to agree-- Trix are for kids!

Also be sure to check out Mas' excellent 3 part trip report, and Felicia's 3 part writeup of the $1500 WSOP stud event. Thanks to Boy Genius for giving me a clue about the Kentucky Derby-- the race was a lot more enjoyable after reading his sneak preview.

He had what now?

I'll leave you with my favorite hand of the week (thanks to Chris for the pretty new suits):

Party Poker 3/6 Hold'em (8 handed)

Preflop: Hdouble is MP2 with Kd, Kc. CO posts a blind of $4.
UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, MP1 raises, Hdouble 3-bets, CO (poster) calls, Button folds, SB folds, BB calls, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, MP1 caps, Hdouble calls, CO calls, BB calls, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls.

Flop: (24.66 SB) 2c, 2h, Tc (6 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, UTG+1 bets, MP1 raises, Hdouble 3-bets, CO calls, BB calls, UTG folds, UTG+1 calls, MP1 caps, Hdouble calls, CO calls, BB calls, UTG+1 calls.

Turn: (22.33 BB) Jh (5 players)
BB checks, UTG+1 checks, MP1 bets, Hdouble raises, CO 3-bets, BB calls, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls, Hdouble calls.

River: (37.33 BB) 5s (5 players)
BB checks, UTG+1 checks, MP1 checks, Hdouble checks, CO bets, BB calls, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls, Hdouble calls.

Final Pot: 42.33 BB
Main Pot: 42.33 BB, between Hdouble, CO, BB, UTG+1 and MP1.

BB shows 2d 6d (three of a kind, twos).
UTG+1 shows Ad Ts (two pair, tens and twos).
MP1 shows Ah Ac (two pair, aces and twos).
Hdouble shows Kd Kc (two pair, kings and twos).
CO shows 2s 3c (three of a kind, twos).
Outcome: CO wins 21.16 BB. BB wins 21.16 BB.

Posted by hdouble at May 1, 2004 10:19 PM | TrackBack

Maximize your profits: learn how to use the most powerful tool in online poker.