Hands that make me vomit - PART 1

I have been WAY behind the ball in posting lately...recently got a temp work gig that has left little time to PWN at the tables.However, when I have had the opportunity to play, I feel very fresh - I think I have really been sticking to my A game and not letting tilt/lengthy sessions cut into my earn. At the same time...I am definitely still making mistakes and the hand below highlights a hand that I absolutely BUTCHERED postfrop - thus I have decided to create a new series - "Hands that make me vomit."





I'm not sure what ya'll think of how I played this hand, but looking back on it, personally I do not think I could have butchered more. PF and the flop decisions are pretty much a no brainer...so I am not even going to go evaluate my play PF and on the flop. However, my turn and river play are pretty shitty IMO.

So what mistakes did I make here?
a) The turn check is attrocious. The villain in this spot is a pretty weak tight (something like 14/5) and when he calls on the flop he has one of the following - a set, a Kx, or a FD. I need to somehow get value from a FD's, and Kx type hands on the turn...I opted to check call for a combination of reasons - pot control/we were deeper than normal/oop.
b) I opted to check call here...granted it is not the WORST call by any means, but I don't really think the villain is value betting worse often enough to warrant a call. I don't think he is going to show up here with KQ often enough.

Honestly I do not know the best line for the turn, leading or CR'ing...the problem with the latter is that the stacks are a bit too large for a CRAI and if I make it say 400 - and get called...it will be VERY hard to lay my hand down on the river regardless of the card that comes.

In retrospect, my optimal line would have been to lead the turn and check fold a spade on the river. I could have saved the river bet that I called on the river and used it to get some more money while I was ahead on the turn. One bad decision on the turn lead to a bad river decision. That is the beauty of this game...while there are only FOUR possible actions if a hand gets to the river - it continually presents me with a challenge. Its a puzzle, mystery, clusterfuck, whatever you want to call it - I can't get enough of it.

On Gambring

Recently I read a couple of poker books - The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King by Michael Craig, and The Biggest Game in Town by A. Alvarez. They're both exciting, well-written, and fun to read. The first describes the ultra-high stakes games that went on for a few years recently between Las Vegas pros and Texas billionaire Andy Beal. The second captures the world of Las Vegas poker pros circa 1980. There are a couple of characters that have roles in both books, such as Doyle Brunson and Chip Reese. 

One of the characteristics of most of these players that the authors strove to capture is that they are degenerate gamblers. They will gamble large amounts of money on almost anything. For these guys, they are the lucky few gambling addicts who managed to find a game they can win at: poker. But since they are gamblers at heart, they frequently play stakes they can't afford on their bankroll, and/or leak money by playing games in the pit such as blackjack or craps. As a result, they are all frequently broke.

Many of them, and sometimes the authors give this sense too, believe that such instincts are necessary to be a good poker player. They seem to turn up their noses at players who grind out lower-stakes games. Well, personally, I'm not too much of a gambler. I don't really enjoy playing craps at the casino. I don't really enjoy seeing the cards flipped over when I'm all-in on a coinflip for a bunch of money. I don't have a desire to play stakes that are out of the reach of my bankroll, even if I'm stuck on the day. Does this limit me as a player?

So far, I don't think so. I'm defiitely not scared money in the games I do play in. That's part of why I like to play games I'm very well rolled for: I don't want the stakes to affect my play. But I'm not sure yet what my eventual goals are in poker. Do I want to challenge myself to be the best player I can be, and play Phil Ivey heads up for $100k in a couple of years after making enough money to afford it? Or do I just want to build up to the 5/10 or 10/20 games and settle in as a regular there, eating up the buy-ins that the random donks donate to the game? 

I think a vast majority of people, with enough dedication and patience, could become winners at $1/2 poker games. But it takes a special kind of person to play with $10k or more on the table and succeed, no matter how rich they are. Not only does it require talent and knowledge of the game, but you have to be comfortable with the idea of losing a massive amount of money on what you know to be the right play. I don't know yet if that's something I'd really enjoy or thrive in or not.

I don't think it's a good idea, either for my game or my overall emotional health, to try and push myself to move up to higher stakes before I feel ready to go there. If that makes me a nit, so be it. I'd really rather not go through the boom and bust cycle that huge gamblers such as Doyle or Jack Strauss or others have undergone.

Both books talk about successful, big name players who are more prudent. Craig's book describes Doyle's son Todd Brunson as this type. Rather than always playing the biggest (i.e., highest stakes) game he can find, he'll just play the best (i.e., most profitable) game. To be clear, this means he'll play a $400/800 game with some bad players rather than a $2,000/4,000 game full of sharks. So it's not like he's playing for peanuts. But exercises some caution, invests a lot of his poker winnings in non-gambling endeavors, and generally behaves like a sane human being. He's also one of the most successful cash game players ever.

Anyway, I have now logged nearly 50,000 quite successful hands at $1/2 full ring, and feel like I'm ready to bump it up to $2/4 sometime soon, maybe within the next month or so. Hopefully I will win a monsterpotten off Brackchips and post about it for weeks.

-BRUECHIPS

Brack is Beautiful (Part 9)

I usually don't open suited connectors in early position, but I do it occasionally just so I'm not so totally predictable when I'm in early position, and also take advantage of a nitty table. If they're going to give me credit for a big pocket pair every time I raise UTG and set mine, great - I will win many pots from them when they don't hit a set. Also they might try to slowplay something since they think my range is so tight, and pay off when I have an unexpected hand, as here:

Seat 6: HERO (UTG+2) ($203)
Seat 7: MP ($398.15)
Dealt to HERO [7s 6s]
HERO raises to $8
MP calls $8

*** FLOP *** [4d 5c 8h] (Uhh...can you say NUTS???)
HERO bets $15 (Slowplaying here would be terrible)
MP raises to $41 (At this point, I thought he had a set. I almost thought about just calling and shoving a turn card that doesn't pair the board. But I knew he wouldn't be folding, and maybe if a 6 or 7 comes on the turn he won't call. Also I might have ended up folding the best hand. It's close though, I think either play is good.)
HERO raises to $195, and is all in
MP calls $154
HERO shows [7s 6s]
MP shows [Ks Kd] (I guess he was hoping I was going nuts with QQ or 66/77?)
*** TURN *** [4d 5c 8h] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [4d 5c 8h 3s] [Kc] (Good thing I didn't have a set!!)

-BRUECHIPS

Speak of the Devil (Sets Don't Always Win)

Today for like the 11th time in the last two days, I made a monster pre-flop raise, somebody called with a pocket pair, and hit a set to bust my AA. I can't claim I played the river very well on this one. At the time I thought I could get value out of KQ or maybe a very weirdly-played AK. When the guy limp-calls, and there's two tens on board, 88 is really the only hand he could have that beats me. Maybe JTs. I checked the turn with the intention of calling a shove in case he was just trying to float me on the flop, putting me on a pure steal vs. a lot of limpers:

Seat 1: HERO (SB) ($217.10)
Seat 3: UTG ($200)
Seat 4: UTG+1 ($200)
Seat 6: MP1 ($162.70)
Seat 7: MP2 ($200)
Seat 8: CO ($262.20)
MP2 posts $2
UTG posts $2 (donk alert!)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [Ad Ac]
UTG checks
UTG+1 calls $2
MP1 calls $2
MP2 checks
CO calls $2
HERO raises to $25 (Raise an amount that would seem to make set-mining an obviously unprofitable play)
BB folds
UTG folds
UTG+1 calls $23 (Either he doesn't realize that he doesn't have set-mining odds, thinks some of the other donks behind him will come along, or doesn't think I have a hand)
MP1 folds
MP2 folds
CO folds

*** FLOP *** [8h Tc Kd] 
HERO bets $44 (Standard)
UTG+1 calls $44 (Not loving it, but hoping he is trying to float and then bluff me off AQ or QQ on the turn)

*** TURN *** [8h Tc Kd] [Th] 
HERO checks (Let him try to execute his plan to bluff the turn)
UTG+1 checks (I'm hoping this means he has KQ/JJ/QJ)

*** RIVER *** [8h Tc Kd Th] [Qd] 
HERO bets $131 (Try to get value from above hands)
UTG+1 calls $131, and is all in

*** SHOW DOWN ***
HERO shows [Ad Ac] two pair, Aces and Tens
UTG+1 shows [8c 8s] a full house, Eights full of Tens

Doh!!! Oh well...this guy paid $25 for a chance to see the flop and hit his hand...I don't feel that bad paying him off when it's the only set he could have had, and I gave him terrible odds to draw pre-flop. I dunno, do you guys check-fold this river? Comments welcome.

Anyway, here's the hand that justifies the title of this post, and it was pretty effing sweet:

Seat 3: BB ($245) (weak-tight set-miner)
Seat 4: UTG ($62) (donk)
Seat 9: HERO (CO) ($452.10)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [Ah As]
UTG calls $2
HERO raises to $10
BB calls $8
UTG calls $8

*** FLOP *** [6h Kd 8c]
BB checks
UTG checks
HERO bets $24 (I want to bet an amount so that BB will fold his un-connected pocket pairs. I will happily call the UTG donk's shove if he decides he wants to take KJ to the felt)
BB calls $24 (Smells like 88 or 66. Only POSSIBLE hand he could have that I beat is AK.)
UTG folds (This is fortunate. If UTG decides to shove, I'm in a tough spot. It would only be like $26 more to me, but it opens the action back up for UTG, and I'm behind his range.)

*** TURN *** [6h Kd 8c] [5s]
BB checks
HERO checks (No reason to bet here. If he has AK, he won't be calling three streets anyway.)

*** RIVER *** [6h Kd 8c 5s] [Ad] (BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!!)
BB checks
HERO bets $75 (I want to make a very large value bet here. I think actually an OBFV would have been the correct play, since I had to count on him doing something really dumb to get the rest of his stack:)
BB raises to $211, and is all in (Dude, are you kidding? You think I'm going to call this with AK? I probably wouldn't even bet the river with AK, since again, I'm only hoping for a split. Just shows you, these weak tight set-miners really have no idea how to play poker. They're just counting on their nittiness and the inability of payoff wizards (admittedly, like me sometimes) to fold. But they will never be able to succeed at higher levels. Maybe 5/10 is as high as they can ever go, and that only in the juiciest games.)
HERO calls $136
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BB shows [6c 6s] three of a kind, Sixes
HERO shows [Ah As] three of a kind, Aces

Suck on it!!! Ahh...nit money tastes sooooo good....

-BRUECHIPS

THIN! (Part 4)

Loose-passive players ("calling stations") are by far the most profitable type of player to play against. I think some players tighten up too much, especially post-flop, against these players and miss a lot of value bets, which is a big mistake. You do want to avoid hands that could be dominated and such, but when you make a good pair, just keep betting until your loose-passive opponent raises to inform you that you are beat. Here's an example of a hand vs. a station where I got max value out of my thin edge:

Seat 2: MP1 ($130.20)
Seat 5: CO($152.20)
Seat 8: HERO (BB) ($233.55)
CO posts $2

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [Jh Ad]
MP1 calls $2
CO checks
HERO checks (Some aggressive players raise here to punish the limper and the poster. While I don't think that's a terrible play, I think it's probably not the best one. MP1 is probably not folding if I make it $12. Once he calls, the poster will feel priced in too. At that point I've created a pretty big pot where I'm out of position, with a pretty marginal hand, and if they get a piece of the flop, they aren't going anywhere. Also some of the hands they might fold - like A6 or J9 - I want to keep in their range so that I can win a big pot if we both hit a pair.)

*** FLOP *** [Js 7h 4d]

HERO checks
MP1 bets $6
CO folds
HERO raises to $20 (Check-raising here is unusual for me, but I did it for a couple of reasons: 1) MP1 has a tendency to bet pot when checked to in a limped pot, so I was pretty sure it wouldn't be checked around, 2) MP1 is willing to go broke with top pair weak kicker on boards like this, so I want to get the pot bigger. In a limped pot, you have to get in a raise at some point to get all the money in - bet, bet, bet won't get it done, and he won't raise me. 3) By letting MP1 bet, I can see what the CO will do. If he raises, I would probably fold. He posted and checked his option, meaning he could have any two cards. So while MP1 can't really have J7 or J4 or 74 - he's loose, but not a complete tard - the CO could. Also if the CO just calls, I will still be confident I have the best hand, and can trap his money in the pot when I raise.)
MP1 calls $14 (Loving this call. Putting him on KJ-JT every time.)

*** TURN *** [Js 7h 4d] [Kh]
HERO bets $34 (The turn card is not my favorite, obviously. Partly because if he had KJ, now he's ahead, partly because it might scare him off calling down with QJ or JT. But again, vs. the stations: keep betting until they tell you you're beat. If he raises here, I probably fold.)
MP1 calls $34 (Just calls = AJ is gold.)

*** RIVER *** [Js 7h 4d Kh] [8c]
HERO bets $75 (Straight draw gets there, but there was pretty much no river card that I wasn't going to set him all-in on. Checking down here and giving a weaker jack a free showdown would be a big mistake. And if you think you can't get value out of a worse jack here, you are wrong:)
MP1 calls $74.20, and is all in

*** SHOW DOWN ***
HERO shows [Jh Ad] a pair of Jacks
MP1 mucked [Qd Jd] - a pair of Jacks

-BRUECHIPS

Don't Call 3-bets to Set Mine

So yesterday, as happens many days, somebody called my 3-bet and cracked my AA with 99 when he flopped a set. This isn't a bad beat post. But I do think that calling those 3-bets to set mine is a mistake.

Let's assume that I have AA EVERY time, and I'm going to put all my money in every time. This is as favorable a situation for set-mining as one could possibly imagine. Suppose the original raiser opens for 3.5bbs, I raise to 12.5 bbs, and effective stacks are 100 bbs. Often in this spot, faced with the decision to call 9 bbs, players think, "OK, I'm 1 in 8.5 to hit my set, and then I'll stack him, so I've got implied odds to call."

Even putting aside for the moment the fact that all the money won't go in every time you flop a set (we have assumed that away for the moment), the other problem is this: sets aren't invincible! It IS possible to lose with a set. The 3-bettor might set-over-set you on the flop, or two-out you on the turn or river. The chances of that are better than you might think. Given that you have flopped a set, the chances that your opponent hits a higher set on one of the other four cards is 1 - (45/47)*(44/46)*(43/45)*(42/44) = 16.5% (If you don't see why this is the correct calculation, comment and I shall exprain). Of course this isn't totally correct because you DO see the cards on the flop when the money goes in, and you'll know that you haven't been set-over-setted yet when you flop top set, but it gives you a good idea. And I'm not even considering here the other ways that sets can lose, for instance to a straight, flush, the board showing trips and AA having a higher full house, etc.. Even if you have 88 on a 8c3s2d board, AcAd has 10% equity. Chance the 2d to a 2c and it's almost 14%. So it's very rare you will be more than a 90% favorite on the flop, even with top set.

So how much should you be willing to pay for the 1:8.5 chance to win 100 - 16.5 = 83.5% of the time? Ignoring the blinds/assuming they go to rake, the set is worth .835*100 - .165*100 = 67 bbs. Divided by 8.5 makes 7.9. The other 7.5 out of 8.5 times, you're check-folding and losing the 12.5 bbs you put in preflop. Putting that together, 67/8.5 - 12.5*(7.5/8.5) = -3.1 bbs.

That is SLIGHTLY better than folding your original pre-flop open of 3.5 bbs. But remember, we haven't included any flush/straight possibilities for your opponent, AND we have assumed that he has AA and stacks off every time. In reality, if you hit middle set on a 987 all club flop, either you're not getting all the money in, or your opponent has a club draw as well. Also, he's not going to have AA every time. He could have KK or QQ and an A flops. He could have AK and miss. He could have been 3-betting you with suited connectors that missed or now have huge equity against your hand. Even against the tightest preflop players who will stack off with overpairs almost every time, I think it's pretty clear that calling the 3-bet to set mine is a bad idea.

That doesn't mean it's never a good idea to call a 3-bet with a pocket pair. But you should do it when either you're deeper than 100 bbs, the 3-bet is small, or you're in position and you think you can win on a lot of flops where you don't hit a set.

-BRUECHIPS

Toning Down the C-bets

Recently I've been experimenting a little bit with checking a few more flops behind. There are a couple of reasons to do this: 1) I have a decent hand or draw but I think there's a good chance I'll get check-raised and have to fold, and 2) I think checking the flop allows me to get more value later in the hand.

In both cases, of course, the danger is that you let your opponent hit some gross two-outter he would have folded on the flop, but here are a couple of hands where checking behind worked perfectly:

1) In order to draw:

Seat 3: BB ($190.55)
Seat 7: HERO (MP) ($213)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [Ad Kc]
HERO raises to $8
BB calls $6

*** FLOP *** [3h Jc Td]
BB checks
HERO checks (The standard play here with overs and the gutterball would definitely be to bet some where between 3/4 and full pot. But I decided to check because against this fairly tight but not too creative player, there aren't that many better hands I fold out (ATs maybe, 44-99 probably, but they would check-fold most turns too), he could check-raise some of the hands I'm ahead of like KQs or 98, and I lose out on a chance to catch a Q and stack him if he has flopped a set.)

*** TURN *** [3h Jc Td] [Kh]
BB bets $12
HERO calls $12 (Here, too, I think it's a good time to just call. If he has a massive draw, and there are many of them out there, it will be hard to push him off it, and he could easily shove over the top and I'll have to fold. It's also just creating a big pot with a hand that's not that great. He could also have turned the nuts.)

*** RIVER *** [3h Jc Td Kh] [6c]
BB checks
HERO bets $30 (When he checks, I am about 95% positive I have the best hand. The only better hand he would even think about checking is JT. I'm betting to get value out of KQ mostly, or maybe QJ or AJ.)
BB calls $30

*** SHOW DOWN ***
HERO shows [Ad Kc] a pair of Kings
BB mucked [Ah Jd] - a pair of Jacks

I think his call on the river is pretty bad. The only hand he can beat is a complete bluff, I guess with missed hearts. But he has the Ah, making it less likely I hold two hearts. If I had bet the flop, I'm pretty sure he would check-raise and I would be forced to fold.

2) In order to get more value later:

Seat 3: BB ($277)
Seat 7: HERO (MP) ($305.85)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [Ac Kd]
HERO raises to $8
BB calls $6

*** FLOP *** [7h Kc 5h]
BB checks
HERO checks (The villain in this hand had even tigher stats than the the villain in hand #1. I think I had him at like 10/5 or something, which is just ridiculous. A lot of players like that are just terrible post-flop. They rely on their tightness, and therefore much stronger cards than their opponents, to win them money on average. When this guy calls me in the big blind, I'm putting him on a pocket pair that's set-mining. In that case, either he hit this board or he didn't. If he did, he'll raise my bet and I'll have to fold, especially this deep. If he didn't, he'll just check-fold the flop.  He's pretty much never got KQ. If he does, it's suited, so there's a 1/4 chance it's KhQh, which he'd check-raise with too. But if I check here and bet a blank turn, he might get suspicious and look me up...I thought with pocket pairs above the 7. The only danger is the hearts on board, but with stats that tight, he's not calling with too many suited connectors. AhQh is the only heart draw I think he'd have. I'll just take my chances and see what develops.)

*** TURN *** [7h Kc 5h] [5d]
BB checks
HERO bets $12 (Beautiful turn card. Makes it less likely that he has a set, and wouldn't seem to help me at all. How could I have a 5 in my hand if I raised pre-flop? Wouldn't I have bet the flop if I had a Q? I must just have A-high, right?)
BB calls $12

*** RIVER *** [7h Kc 5h 5d] [5c]
BB checks
HERO bets $24 (Even more beautiful river card. His check-call on the turn and check on the river means I have the best hand almost every time. The only hand I think he could have that I lose to is AA. I bet to get value out of 88-JJ).
BB calls $24

*** SHOW DOWN ***
HERO shows [Ac Kd] a full house, Fives full of Kings
BB mucked [4s 4h] - a full house, Fives full of Fours

Again, I think his call is really bad. I guess he could reason that I wouldn't value bet QQ-88,66, or a 7 for value, for fear that he has AK and has just been playing pot control, and maybe I would check the flop then fire turn and river with AQ or AJ but...I don't think he is actually reasoning that way, I think he just got confused by my flop check and then his curiousity got the better of him on the river.

It's easy to take this checking-behind-on-the-flop waaaaay too far. Doing so might get you a case of what's known as FPS (Fancy Play Syndrome). Most of the time you want to be just keeping up the aggression and forcing your opponent to come up with a hand. But I do think it's a good way to mix up your play sometimes, especially against certain opponents.

-BRUECHIPS

Art of the Min Raise - Part 10

Aporogies for not posting the rast coupre of days. It has been a rough run at the tables for me recently, and I have been grinding really hard just to kind of stay even. Tonight was a nice sesh, so hopefully that's the start of a nice upswong :)

With all of the preflop min 3-betting ("the donk method of playing AA and KK"), you might think that's the only time donks use the min raise. You would be wrong. Here's one donk that put in the smallest raise possible with his set on this very draw-heavy board and then gave me all his chips when I hit on the turn:

Seat 7: MP1 ($285.25)
Seat 9 (CO): HERO ($201.75)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [Ts Qd]
MP1 calls $2
HERO raises to $10 (This is definitely a little loose, but the limper is a donk, and when donks limp, I raise. Often. Even with Q-high unsuited.)
MP1 calls $8

*** FLOP *** [7s 9h Jc]
MP1 checks
HERO bets $18 (This is defintely not a great board to c-bet. Almost all his hands have either a pair or a straight draw or both. But I have a strong draw as well, and I don't think he'll raise a hand like JT, so the bet builds a pot so that if I hit my draw, I can stack him. I'll also fold out 22-66 as well as maybe some A4s type of hands.)
MP1 raises to $36 (Donk alert!! His min raise on this board usually means a pretty strong hand, one that he will stack off with. I guess he wants to raise just a little bit so that I'll call down with some hand like AA that's drawing almost dead? I don't know. But I am more than happy to pay just $18 more to draw to the nuts. I would love it if he had T8 or a set.)
HERO calls $18

*** TURN *** [7s 9h Jc] [8s] (Bingo!!!)
MP1 checks (He's worried, the board looks scary now.)
HERO bets $70 (Bet enough so that he won't be able to resist putting in the rest on the river)
MP1 calls $70 (He's not worried enough to fold)

*** RIVER *** [7s 9h Jc 8s] [2s]
MP1 checks
HERO bets $85.75, and is all in
MP1 calls $85.75 (He can't resist)

*** SHOW DOWN ***
HERO shows [Ts Qd] a straight, Queen high
MP1 mucked [9s 9c] - three of a kind, Nines

The post-flop min-raise has all the same elements of its donkish cousin, the pre-flop min re-raise. First you put in as little money as possible with a very strong hand (in this case, the third nuts), and then give all your money to your opponent when it is obvious you have the worst hand. Now if I could just make nut straights more often....

-BRUECHIPS

Art of the Min Raise - Part 9

Ok so as you can tell right now…this hand should technically fall under the Art of the Min Raise series. The 3b made by the villain was not a min raise…but it was in fact a VERY small raise…the standard here with full stax should be to 120ish. Nevertheless, let me get into this hand further.

Is my UTG preflop raise possibly a bit too aggro? Possibly, but I felt very in control at this particular table and opted to play this hand for an open raise. Open limping is pretty much exclusively for gheys and donkaments so if I’m going to play this hand, I’m raising…and if I get 3b, I wirr muck or proceed with caution.

So after opening to 35, superdonk makes it 94. I opted to make somewhat of a roose call here…but I definitely had my reasons.
a) this player had not 3b me so I figured his range to be polarized to a big pair
b) he had me covered for 100bbs
c) he was a donk

Ok when I flop pretty the best possible hand for my holdings (2 overs and a FD), he comes out and bets ¼ pot. Uhhhh, ok. Are you serious? I decided to CR here with no intention of fording...and virrain smooth carrs.

Turn compretes my frush and I decided to just ship the rest in for a pottish sized bet…no use in waiting for a scare card or allowing my hand to get beat. I end up getting INSTACARRED by a hand that is drawing STONE dead for 100bb’s on a grossly draw heavy board. Every POSSIBLE draw gets there on the turn. Diamonds, A5, 56…the works.

Hands like these (and the villains that play them) are what makes onrine poker so fawking juicy. Thank you poker gods!

Thanks For Not Stacking Me, Bro! (Part 3)

Well, just after my post a few days ago about keeping your ego in check, guess what? NOT a good day yesterday. Some of it was just some gross spots, but I also played a little impatiently. I realized later that a lot of it was due to two factors: 1) the AC in my apartment is broken, and 2) I couldn't find my wallet earlier in the morning. These two things had frustrated me and put me in a bad state of mind to play poker. It's a constant battle to keep accurately assessing my state of mind until you can focus and keep things like that from affecting my play.

To make matters worse, something unexpected happened on Friday. I was coming back to my apartment, and all of the sudden just had an urge to have a smoothie. I don't know exactly why. It's probably been a year since my last smoothie. But I followed my instincts and went to Jamba Juice for some kind of mango whatnot. I was walking back home, listening to music on my iPhone, and "Flake" by Jack Johnson came on. So there I was, walking down the street in sunny SoCal, listening to Jack Johnson and drinking a smoothie. Don't get me wrong, all of those things can be acceptable, on their own, in certain circumstances. But taken together, at that moment I had to consider the possibility that I am a giant douchebag. At least I didn't have my hair dyed with blonde highlights. Yech. Luckily, the next song was a nice Nas song, so I felt better. But I'm going to have to be on the lookout for similar situations in the future. You gotta keep yourself in check.

But, on the bright side, here's a hand from the weekend where I didn't lose nearly as much money as I should have because of the terrible play by the villain in the hand:

Seat 6: SB (HERO) ($274.80)
Seat 7: BB ($134.60)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [Ac Ad]
folds around to me...
HERO raises to $6
BB calls $4

*** FLOP *** [6h 6c Kc]
HERO bets $10
BB calls $10 (Pretty good flop, and a call. At this point, opponent's range is KQ-K9, 77-99, crubs, and maybe a 6, so I'm pretty happy about this call. If he had raised, I'd absolutely by putting it all in.)

*** TURN *** [6h 6c Kc] [Ks]
HERO checks
BB checks (Bad turn card, as now the Kx hands are ahead. I don't think the flush draw or middle pair hands would be calling a bet, so I'm just going to go for a cheap showdown.)

*** RIVER *** [6h 6c Kc Ks] [2s]
HERO checks
BB bets $10
HERO calls $10 (2s changes nothing, I just go for the check-crying call to turn my hand into a bluff-catcher from the missed flush draws. Occasionally people try to "value bet" 88 here to get a call from A-high I guess. He could even have ATo or something really dumb like that.)

*** SHOW DOWN ***
BB shows [6d As] a full house, Sixes full of Kings (Way to get full value when you outflop AA with A6o, buddy!!)

-BRUECHIPS


Smoothie/Jack Johnson/Frake...sure rooks rike someone is coming out of the croset...suprised you made the announcement pubricry. ROR.

-BRACKCHIPS