5. Batface Myspace page
4. This blog
3. Heads up Challenge
2. Softball
1. Thum
Friday, March 30, 2007
Top 5 Batface ideas that sounded great, but turned out not so much
5. Batface Myspace page
4. This blog
3. Heads up Challenge
2. Softball
1. Thum
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Saturday, March 10, 2007
She had a clipboard...
Ok. Top 5 uncomfrontable moments in Batface hisory...(as told by me)
5. Yelling at the Chinese waitress "HONG KONG SUE"
4. HONG KONG SUE slapping Clonie on the ass
3. Gonz taking a swing at Tiny B
2. Scott letting eveyone know how expensive his rug was
1. Tim
Go Batfaces!!!
(feel free to add your own)
5. Yelling at the Chinese waitress "HONG KONG SUE"
4. HONG KONG SUE slapping Clonie on the ass
3. Gonz taking a swing at Tiny B
2. Scott letting eveyone know how expensive his rug was
1. Tim
Go Batfaces!!!
(feel free to add your own)
Friday, March 09, 2007
Friday, March 02, 2007
Pantheonic
At poker last night, the 2005 DSOP at Shane's was discussed. Here is Shane's e-mail about the events that followed the tourney.
OK, so as best as I can recall...
Todd calls me around 8:30 or so to confirm that the ever-sweet, clean and dainty Amber will be joining us at Bob's for a late dinner. I get to Bob's just before 10pm and Amber is standing outside smoking and talking on the cell phone, which would be her recurring theme for the night.
Inside, I see Todd with a drink in hand, which was surprising because I knew he was more than liquored out. We go to our table and I spend the next hour or so desperately trying to follow a machine-gun-like stream of consciousness dialogue. Seriously, we were never on-topic for more than about 45 seconds. Anyway, here's the gist.
· Turns out Amber is the girl Traci mentioned a few weeks ago who got a DWI. Presumably, that’s why she was guzzling Michelob Ultra…or something.
· Amber broke up with her boyfriend in January. He had no job, but lived in a 7500 square foot home in Lakewood. Instead of going out, Amber says she spent most of her free time helping him decorate. She was disappointed in him because he was 35 and couldn’t get out of his party phase. Her philosophy, “Men have to have a job. If they don’t keep themselves busy, bad things happen.” My weak response, “I have a job.”
· Traci hasn’t had a real boyfriend in about two years. During this relationship, the apparent height of their enjoyment occurred on Sundays during football season. They would sleep late and he would grill steaks and whatnot during the games. Then they all got high. Traci found the experience to be “relaxing.”
· Although I can’t remember how the topic came up, at one point Traci started talking about some of her friends. Apparently, someone was trying to get someone else to fuck them with a dildo, but the other person was just into regular fucking, so the dildo became an issue. Todd, if this one resonates better with you, please advise.
· Traci and Amber attended Canyon Creek Christian Academy, but both were expelled when they were caught drinking underage at a party. Traci’s mother was a teacher there, so she was re-admitted, but Amber got hosed. Apparently, the new principal was an over-controlling hypocrite and he was out to get Traci after she engaged in a supposed threesome. Traci claimed it was just “hearsay”.
· After we finished dinner, we decided to go to Dragonfly. Well, Traci and Amber decided on Dragonfly. I was still contemplating the hearsay incident. Anyway, when the valet brought me my rental car (in the case a truck), tiny little Amber literally grabbed the oh shit handle and in a combination vault/high bar move, athletically swung herself into the truck. I had to hide my boner.
· On the way to Dragonfly, Amber kept trying to call her friend Misty who was at the Mavs game. She had left her charger at Misty’s house the week before and hadn’t been able to get it. When Misty didn’t answer the first call, she called her 8 more times. This would be another recurring trend for the evening.
· However, at some point Amber brought out this story. I have no idea how we got on this topic. She mentioned that a friend of her’s had been in Korea and was hooking up with a Korean girl. The girl kept saying “be in me, be in me” but the guy thought she was saying “pee in me, pee in me”. So the guy takes a leak inside her potty spot. Amber summed up the story by saying, “That Korean girl was pretty mad.”
· We get to Dragonfly and the place is packed. Traci and Amber both know about 50 percent of the people in the bar. Traci knows the bartender, so we get a round of drinks and shots. Todd frowns when the drinks get there and I advise him to fight through it.
· At the bar, some guy is there from Houston (presumably just went to the game). Although Traci claims she said nothing to him, he told her to “shut her big hole.” Todd didn’t see the altercation, but after hearing about it, he wanted to go find the guy and punch him. Apparently energized by the recent round of shots, Todd was now fightin’ mad. Great.
· As we made our way outside to the pool, Amber said that some guy tried to hit on her. His line to her was “Hello, what do you do?” This has significance later.
· When we get to the pool, Amber sees her friend Misty, the one she had been trying to reach. Misty was extremely drunk and pissed off. I then committed a tactical error when Amber introduced us.
o Amber: Misty, this is Shane.
o Misty: Hello.
o Shane: Ahhhhh, Misty. You’re the one with Amber’s phone charger. She’s been cursing your name for the last hour.
o Misty didn’t say another thing to me for the rest of the night.
· So, here we are sitting by the pool and it is amazing that even though it is obvious that the two girls are there with us, probably half a dozen guys walk up to them and hit on them right in front of us. It made for some entertaining theater.
· The “what do you do” guy shows up and sits down next to Amber and starts putting the moves on her again. She calmly deals with him, and I intentionally offer no help for about 10 minutes. Finally, I interrupted their discussion and said, “Hello, my name is Shane. What do you do?” Amber laughed and I now moved in to deal with this ass-clown. Not only was he drunk, he was incredibly stoned and had just broken up with his girlfriend. That didn’t prevent him from showing naked pictures of her he had stored in his camera phone. Turns out he was a dentist and he offered me “free crowns, fillings, anything. Just help me with this girl.” Amber heard this and immediately glared at him. I responded, “Dude, she’s my girlfriend. We’ve been dating for three years.” Quickly changing gears, he responds with, “Wow, she’s awesome. You have to set me up with one of her friends.” It took about 20 minutes to get rid of him, even Todd got involved. Meanwhile, Amber gets tied up with another miscreant. I walked over to ask her if he wanted another drink and she quickly grabs me and introduces me to the guy she’s been talking to. “Hey, Chris, this is Shane. He’s my husband. We’re celebrating our third wedding anniversary.” The look on his face was clearly of the “you’ve got to be fucking kidding me” variety.
· With it getting late, I was ready to get the hell out of there as was everyone else. Even Traci announced she was “so over Dragonfly.” Amber was again trying to find Misty. As we’re just getting the car from valet, Amber’s phone rings and it’s Misty telling her to stay. Amber gave me an awkward look. I told her I was done and she should stay with her friends. I got the “you’re so sweet reply” and left. When I got home, I drank a quart of bleach.
My reply to Shane about the rest of the evening....
Shane - Very well done.
Traci and I leave Dragonfly and head back to the Monk, where her cars is (she and Amber met there and took a cab to Bobs). As we're on the way, she frantically remembers she is supposed to bring a cheesecake to Mother's Day lunch tomorrow and calls a Fireside manager and arranges for us to pick one up. We walk into Fireside and they have the cake waiting. It's $50, and Traci starts looking through her purse as if she doesn't have the money.
Apparently remembering that I saw her take home $300 earlier in the day, she pulls out a wad of cash and pays for the cake. As we leave Fireside, she starts to fall, but I catch her and I don't drop the cake in the process...I've always had good hands. She is very drunk. All night she's been talking about having to go to church with her mom at 8AM and how she wasn't staying up past midnight. It's 1:40 when we enter the Monk. We immediately go sit at the bar and of the 86 people in the bar at this time, about 73 hug and/or kiss Traci. We order drinks and put them on the tab Amber and Traci started earlier in the night but didn't pay when they came to Bobs. Traci, the waitress that looks like Kristin and the tall waitress that loves Adam start doing shots. I decline. Last call at 2, lights on at 2:15, bar empties except for employees by 2:30. I end up paying the $55 bar tab of which I had one drink. We head to the parking lot, we're both unsure she can make it home despite living less than a mile away, so we hang out in the parking lot for 20-30 minutes, we kiss goodnight and I head home. As I instructed, she calls me when she gets home and that is the evening. I realize I'm quickly moving into the non boyfriend, nice guy friend-role that I've had with others in the past. Next time we go out, I'm making sure she doesn't have a car, so I can hold her against her will.
OK, so as best as I can recall...
Todd calls me around 8:30 or so to confirm that the ever-sweet, clean and dainty Amber will be joining us at Bob's for a late dinner. I get to Bob's just before 10pm and Amber is standing outside smoking and talking on the cell phone, which would be her recurring theme for the night.
Inside, I see Todd with a drink in hand, which was surprising because I knew he was more than liquored out. We go to our table and I spend the next hour or so desperately trying to follow a machine-gun-like stream of consciousness dialogue. Seriously, we were never on-topic for more than about 45 seconds. Anyway, here's the gist.
· Turns out Amber is the girl Traci mentioned a few weeks ago who got a DWI. Presumably, that’s why she was guzzling Michelob Ultra…or something.
· Amber broke up with her boyfriend in January. He had no job, but lived in a 7500 square foot home in Lakewood. Instead of going out, Amber says she spent most of her free time helping him decorate. She was disappointed in him because he was 35 and couldn’t get out of his party phase. Her philosophy, “Men have to have a job. If they don’t keep themselves busy, bad things happen.” My weak response, “I have a job.”
· Traci hasn’t had a real boyfriend in about two years. During this relationship, the apparent height of their enjoyment occurred on Sundays during football season. They would sleep late and he would grill steaks and whatnot during the games. Then they all got high. Traci found the experience to be “relaxing.”
· Although I can’t remember how the topic came up, at one point Traci started talking about some of her friends. Apparently, someone was trying to get someone else to fuck them with a dildo, but the other person was just into regular fucking, so the dildo became an issue. Todd, if this one resonates better with you, please advise.
· Traci and Amber attended Canyon Creek Christian Academy, but both were expelled when they were caught drinking underage at a party. Traci’s mother was a teacher there, so she was re-admitted, but Amber got hosed. Apparently, the new principal was an over-controlling hypocrite and he was out to get Traci after she engaged in a supposed threesome. Traci claimed it was just “hearsay”.
· After we finished dinner, we decided to go to Dragonfly. Well, Traci and Amber decided on Dragonfly. I was still contemplating the hearsay incident. Anyway, when the valet brought me my rental car (in the case a truck), tiny little Amber literally grabbed the oh shit handle and in a combination vault/high bar move, athletically swung herself into the truck. I had to hide my boner.
· On the way to Dragonfly, Amber kept trying to call her friend Misty who was at the Mavs game. She had left her charger at Misty’s house the week before and hadn’t been able to get it. When Misty didn’t answer the first call, she called her 8 more times. This would be another recurring trend for the evening.
· However, at some point Amber brought out this story. I have no idea how we got on this topic. She mentioned that a friend of her’s had been in Korea and was hooking up with a Korean girl. The girl kept saying “be in me, be in me” but the guy thought she was saying “pee in me, pee in me”. So the guy takes a leak inside her potty spot. Amber summed up the story by saying, “That Korean girl was pretty mad.”
· We get to Dragonfly and the place is packed. Traci and Amber both know about 50 percent of the people in the bar. Traci knows the bartender, so we get a round of drinks and shots. Todd frowns when the drinks get there and I advise him to fight through it.
· At the bar, some guy is there from Houston (presumably just went to the game). Although Traci claims she said nothing to him, he told her to “shut her big hole.” Todd didn’t see the altercation, but after hearing about it, he wanted to go find the guy and punch him. Apparently energized by the recent round of shots, Todd was now fightin’ mad. Great.
· As we made our way outside to the pool, Amber said that some guy tried to hit on her. His line to her was “Hello, what do you do?” This has significance later.
· When we get to the pool, Amber sees her friend Misty, the one she had been trying to reach. Misty was extremely drunk and pissed off. I then committed a tactical error when Amber introduced us.
o Amber: Misty, this is Shane.
o Misty: Hello.
o Shane: Ahhhhh, Misty. You’re the one with Amber’s phone charger. She’s been cursing your name for the last hour.
o Misty didn’t say another thing to me for the rest of the night.
· So, here we are sitting by the pool and it is amazing that even though it is obvious that the two girls are there with us, probably half a dozen guys walk up to them and hit on them right in front of us. It made for some entertaining theater.
· The “what do you do” guy shows up and sits down next to Amber and starts putting the moves on her again. She calmly deals with him, and I intentionally offer no help for about 10 minutes. Finally, I interrupted their discussion and said, “Hello, my name is Shane. What do you do?” Amber laughed and I now moved in to deal with this ass-clown. Not only was he drunk, he was incredibly stoned and had just broken up with his girlfriend. That didn’t prevent him from showing naked pictures of her he had stored in his camera phone. Turns out he was a dentist and he offered me “free crowns, fillings, anything. Just help me with this girl.” Amber heard this and immediately glared at him. I responded, “Dude, she’s my girlfriend. We’ve been dating for three years.” Quickly changing gears, he responds with, “Wow, she’s awesome. You have to set me up with one of her friends.” It took about 20 minutes to get rid of him, even Todd got involved. Meanwhile, Amber gets tied up with another miscreant. I walked over to ask her if he wanted another drink and she quickly grabs me and introduces me to the guy she’s been talking to. “Hey, Chris, this is Shane. He’s my husband. We’re celebrating our third wedding anniversary.” The look on his face was clearly of the “you’ve got to be fucking kidding me” variety.
· With it getting late, I was ready to get the hell out of there as was everyone else. Even Traci announced she was “so over Dragonfly.” Amber was again trying to find Misty. As we’re just getting the car from valet, Amber’s phone rings and it’s Misty telling her to stay. Amber gave me an awkward look. I told her I was done and she should stay with her friends. I got the “you’re so sweet reply” and left. When I got home, I drank a quart of bleach.
My reply to Shane about the rest of the evening....
Shane - Very well done.
Traci and I leave Dragonfly and head back to the Monk, where her cars is (she and Amber met there and took a cab to Bobs). As we're on the way, she frantically remembers she is supposed to bring a cheesecake to Mother's Day lunch tomorrow and calls a Fireside manager and arranges for us to pick one up. We walk into Fireside and they have the cake waiting. It's $50, and Traci starts looking through her purse as if she doesn't have the money.
Apparently remembering that I saw her take home $300 earlier in the day, she pulls out a wad of cash and pays for the cake. As we leave Fireside, she starts to fall, but I catch her and I don't drop the cake in the process...I've always had good hands. She is very drunk. All night she's been talking about having to go to church with her mom at 8AM and how she wasn't staying up past midnight. It's 1:40 when we enter the Monk. We immediately go sit at the bar and of the 86 people in the bar at this time, about 73 hug and/or kiss Traci. We order drinks and put them on the tab Amber and Traci started earlier in the night but didn't pay when they came to Bobs. Traci, the waitress that looks like Kristin and the tall waitress that loves Adam start doing shots. I decline. Last call at 2, lights on at 2:15, bar empties except for employees by 2:30. I end up paying the $55 bar tab of which I had one drink. We head to the parking lot, we're both unsure she can make it home despite living less than a mile away, so we hang out in the parking lot for 20-30 minutes, we kiss goodnight and I head home. As I instructed, she calls me when she gets home and that is the evening. I realize I'm quickly moving into the non boyfriend, nice guy friend-role that I've had with others in the past. Next time we go out, I'm making sure she doesn't have a car, so I can hold her against her will.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Sunday, February 25, 2007
HULB Final
Son of Sue - 2
Grifter - 1
Much quicker rubber match. I came out more aggressive and it payed off in the end. On the 16th hand, I raised with 99 on the button. Call. Flop comes A93, 2 hearts. I bet half the pot. Quick call. Turn is a 5. I bet the pot, he goes all in and I call. He turns over A5 and the river doesnt help. Man down.
Grifter - 1
Much quicker rubber match. I came out more aggressive and it payed off in the end. On the 16th hand, I raised with 99 on the button. Call. Flop comes A93, 2 hearts. I bet half the pot. Quick call. Turn is a 5. I bet the pot, he goes all in and I call. He turns over A5 and the river doesnt help. Man down.
HULB 4
Son of Sue - 1
Grifter - 1
I was crippled when i slow played KK into a boat. Lost when A2 lost to K4 on the river.
Grifter - 1
I was crippled when i slow played KK into a boat. Lost when A2 lost to K4 on the river.
HULB 3
Son of Sue - 1
Grifter - 0
He was short stacked, got it all in fron the SB with J8. Called with Q4. Boated on the river.
Grifter - 0
He was short stacked, got it all in fron the SB with J8. Called with Q4. Boated on the river.
HULB 2
got it back to even. BLinds are getting up there. 40 80, 1500 starting chips. Playing the player, not the cards. This will be over soon.
Heads-up live blogging
The Grifter and I are are currently playing our first round game. I'm in New York, hes in Dallas. We are on Full Tilt as well as iChat. So we can see and hear each other. Middle of the first game and we cant play any more passive. Hes at an almost 2-1 chip advantage. largest pot so far was only about 300.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Tunica Hand 2: Results
Thanks for the comments. At the time, I pretty much hated the way I played the hand up to this point, but in hindsight, I think I might have ended up playing the hand okay for the wrong reasons. I don't think you can fold jacks pre-flop there, especially in a relatively fast tournament (40 min. levels). It's either call or raise, and I think most people prefer raise. I prefer to call and see what develops. If you raise there, I think you are committed to the hand. Plus, if you call, you might just get the bluff money from AK on the flop and get them to lay down without seeing all 5 cards. Finally, it gives you an opportunity to get more info from the raiser on the flop.
When the two players called behind me, it changed the dynamic of the hand. Now when seat 3 leads out with a 3/4 pot bet, it's looking (to me) even more likely that he has an overpair to my jacks. Tough spot to try and run AK through 3 people. I folded. The button folded. Seat 1 immediately goes all-in. Seat 3 sighs, and rather quickly makes a reluctant call with what I'm sure is aces or kings. I'm patting myself on the back at this point. Of course, he has AKo. Seat 1 has pocket nines. Turn is a jack for an unneeded nut-kick.
On the very next hand I get pocket jacks again and raise to $600. Seat 3 goes all in for around $1500 total, and I call. He has A8o (the old Randy) and spikes an ace on the river. Shortly thereafter, I'm gone.
When the two players called behind me, it changed the dynamic of the hand. Now when seat 3 leads out with a 3/4 pot bet, it's looking (to me) even more likely that he has an overpair to my jacks. Tough spot to try and run AK through 3 people. I folded. The button folded. Seat 1 immediately goes all-in. Seat 3 sighs, and rather quickly makes a reluctant call with what I'm sure is aces or kings. I'm patting myself on the back at this point. Of course, he has AKo. Seat 1 has pocket nines. Turn is a jack for an unneeded nut-kick.
On the very next hand I get pocket jacks again and raise to $600. Seat 3 goes all in for around $1500 total, and I call. He has A8o (the old Randy) and spikes an ace on the river. Shortly thereafter, I'm gone.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Tunica Hand 2
In my earlier post, I eluded to an awful hand I played during event no. 12. Well, here it is:
We are in level three. Blinds are 50-100, and I’ve worked my starting stack from 2000TC up to 4200. I was down to 1600, but then I managed to get it all in on the flop against Wendell Barnes with an overpair to the board. He called with two overcards and a flush draw, but I managed to get lucky in the hand and hang on.
Seat 3 seemed to be a good, solid player who’d finished second in Event #9. Seat 1 was a wild man, anxious to get his chips in with any marginal hand. They both had around 8,000 in chips, leaders at the table. I was in seat 5. In the hand in question, Seat 3 is UTG, and Seat 1 is in the SB.
Seat 3 raises to $500. He had raised UTG one other time and showed down AQ to win the hand, but for some reason, I felt that was a rare, loose opening for him in that position. I felt he was very strong. I look down at pocket jacks. I call. Button calls. Seat 1 calls in the small blind. Big blind folds. 5 players to the flop, 2200 in the pot.
Flop is 762r. UTG leads out for 1500. I feel like he is very strong at this point. What’s your move? Results to come.
We are in level three. Blinds are 50-100, and I’ve worked my starting stack from 2000TC up to 4200. I was down to 1600, but then I managed to get it all in on the flop against Wendell Barnes with an overpair to the board. He called with two overcards and a flush draw, but I managed to get lucky in the hand and hang on.
Seat 3 seemed to be a good, solid player who’d finished second in Event #9. Seat 1 was a wild man, anxious to get his chips in with any marginal hand. They both had around 8,000 in chips, leaders at the table. I was in seat 5. In the hand in question, Seat 3 is UTG, and Seat 1 is in the SB.
Seat 3 raises to $500. He had raised UTG one other time and showed down AQ to win the hand, but for some reason, I felt that was a rare, loose opening for him in that position. I felt he was very strong. I look down at pocket jacks. I call. Button calls. Seat 1 calls in the small blind. Big blind folds. 5 players to the flop, 2200 in the pot.
Flop is 762r. UTG leads out for 1500. I feel like he is very strong at this point. What’s your move? Results to come.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Batfaces Represent, NBA All-Star Weekend Style
First, let's hope this is my last post EVER with my current POS PC. With my sweet new computer en route, I could be good for as many as three or four extra posts this year.
Now, while while the rest of us sit at home during the February doldrums and either have hate-sex with our wives or insult our friends, fellow Batface Scott Fawcett has ventured to Las Vegas to:
(1). hang out with his fiancee and her parents
(3). take in the NBA All-Star Weekend and hang out with the typical NBA All-Star fan
As of this writing, Scott has made the final three tables of the $1000 twice-daily buy-in event at the Bellagio. Among the remaining players are this guy, this guy and, of course, this guy. Best of luck Scott.
Tomorrow, Scott plans to take in the All-Star spectacle with his new found friends.
In other news, there may be a shocking, cataclysmic heads-up match forming between two Batfaces. While early money might be on this heads-up specialist, the smart cash will likely support this douchebag.
P.S. Some portions of this post might be inaccurate.
P.P.P.S. My girlfriend just broke up with me.
P.P.P.P.S. (gun clicking...)
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Hello, is this thing on??
Not a lot of posting here lately, so how about some decent online poker talk? For anyone lucky enough to still have money in an online account, have you found that the play has been much tighter than the normal online chip dump? Now seeing that I'm a limit poker specialist, I normally play either 5-10 or 8 -16 and the play has been VERY tight since firepay shutdown. I'm under the assumption that since people can't fund their account easily, people are much more "safe" with their money since they can't just deposit more after going broke chasing a 2 outer to the river. I have been more profitable the last 4 weeks online than I ever have. Is this just a limit phenomenon, or is it happening in the no-limit games as well?
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Sorry Sang
Has anybody spoken to Sang today? Want to make sure he is ok. After reading this, his life might change.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Monday, February 05, 2007
Tunica Hand 1: Results
Thanks for the comments, well, at least from Gonz. I think his comment probably represents the conventional wisdom. As it turns out, I had pocket nines, felt like I was both ahead and had positive equity in the hand and wanted to stay as aggressive as possible. This is not a hand I would normally play in this spot with this stack, but I definitely would have felt I was ahead as I folded. So I decided to err on the side of aggression and move in this time. By the way, both blinds folded. If either woke up with a monster, I'm an idiot.
I rarely get really specific about what I think everyone has (or the range of what everyone has) in the moment, but rather prefer to trust what I feel recognizing that my feel takes into consideration a lot of factors that I will come to consciously as I reconstruct a hand. (By the way, that is not a reflection of my reading ability at all, but more a reflection of my inability to think very clearly in the heat of the moment.) In this instance, my initial thoughts were the original all-in was not that strong, the call from the cocky kid was not that strong, and the call all-in for less in seat 9 was almost irrelevant. Therefore, I felt like I had everyone beat, and I will gamble against the cocky kid for a chance to go really deep with a big stack and some fold equity (I actually thought it was about 50-50 he would call).
The cocky kid immediately said, “I know what that long look means” (meaning my ten second stare at my cards) and folded AQ face-up. All-in UTG had pocket sevens, and seat nine had A8o. When I turned over my nines, the cocky kid exclaimed, “wow, what a terrible play!” It was kind of awesome. A queen came on the flop, but I dodged an A, seven or two eights and added 15,000 to my stack. Cocky kid then said, “you’re getting a call from me the rest of the way, I can promise you that.”
In looking back, I think the key aspect of my decision to move in with the nines was the likelihood that cocky kid and probably one other of the players was holding an ace, thus cutting down their chances to win. I think cocky kid realized this, too, but probably assumed he was dominated by me anyways (with AA, KK or AK). It would have been interesting to see if he would have folded AK.
By the numbers, it ended up I was risking roughly 5,600 to win 15,000. Pre-flop, our winning chances were as follows:
99 58 %
77 17 %
A8 25 %
That was a little surprising to me as I would have guessed I was somewhere in the high 40s. Now, assuming AQ calls there, I would be risking 19,000 to win 28,000. Here are the winning chances:
99 45 %
77 17 %
A8 6.4 %
AQ 28.5 %
So, either way, it turns out my decision was pretty well support by the math, of course assuming I was right about the strength of my opponents hands.
I rarely get really specific about what I think everyone has (or the range of what everyone has) in the moment, but rather prefer to trust what I feel recognizing that my feel takes into consideration a lot of factors that I will come to consciously as I reconstruct a hand. (By the way, that is not a reflection of my reading ability at all, but more a reflection of my inability to think very clearly in the heat of the moment.) In this instance, my initial thoughts were the original all-in was not that strong, the call from the cocky kid was not that strong, and the call all-in for less in seat 9 was almost irrelevant. Therefore, I felt like I had everyone beat, and I will gamble against the cocky kid for a chance to go really deep with a big stack and some fold equity (I actually thought it was about 50-50 he would call).
The cocky kid immediately said, “I know what that long look means” (meaning my ten second stare at my cards) and folded AQ face-up. All-in UTG had pocket sevens, and seat nine had A8o. When I turned over my nines, the cocky kid exclaimed, “wow, what a terrible play!” It was kind of awesome. A queen came on the flop, but I dodged an A, seven or two eights and added 15,000 to my stack. Cocky kid then said, “you’re getting a call from me the rest of the way, I can promise you that.”
In looking back, I think the key aspect of my decision to move in with the nines was the likelihood that cocky kid and probably one other of the players was holding an ace, thus cutting down their chances to win. I think cocky kid realized this, too, but probably assumed he was dominated by me anyways (with AA, KK or AK). It would have been interesting to see if he would have folded AK.
By the numbers, it ended up I was risking roughly 5,600 to win 15,000. Pre-flop, our winning chances were as follows:
99 58 %
77 17 %
A8 25 %
That was a little surprising to me as I would have guessed I was somewhere in the high 40s. Now, assuming AQ calls there, I would be risking 19,000 to win 28,000. Here are the winning chances:
99 45 %
77 17 %
A8 6.4 %
AQ 28.5 %
So, either way, it turns out my decision was pretty well support by the math, of course assuming I was right about the strength of my opponents hands.
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Tunica Postscript--What did I play and how did I play it? Part 1
Somewhat ironically, the only tournament from the World Poker Open that does not appear on pokerpages.com is the $500 Second Chances Tournament on Sunday, January 14th. So you'll just have to take my word for it that a total of 3 batfaces entered the 185-person field, and two made the final table: Celeste and yours truly (Celeste, after nursing a short stack and getting ridiculously lucky time after time, finished 5th for $4600. I finished 6th, cashing $3900). Scott was eliminated somewhere around 60th place. In any event, I think there were a couple of interesting hands that might be worthy of some comments. I am ultimately pretty happy with the way I played each of them, but I realize that they may not have been played optimally.
The tournament was my third and final event during our Tunica trip, and to that point I'd played pretty lackluster, weak tournament poker. Two things occurred that changed the way I would be play in the final tournament: (1) watching Zach cash in our first event, and seeing how, like at the WSOP, he played fearlessly. Yes, perhaps misguided and overaggressive a times, but he was simply not going to go quietly, and as you looked around his table, you began to recognize the other players seeing that in him and adjusting their play to avoid confrontations with him; and (2) my horrific mistake in the $1,000 NL event (won by Devil Fish). This will be the subject of a later post if I'm man enough to own it.
So coming into our final event, I was dead-set on not being afraid to push chips around and not be pushed around. Fortunately, I managed to get some pretty good hands and chip up early with very few showdowns. Then I played a hand that seemed to confirm my newfound willingness to play faster. I found 8-9 suited in the cut-off and raised. A good player who had a few less chips than me was the only caller in the big blind after a short think. The flop was 876r. He checked to me and I bet half the pot. He called. The turn was a 2, completing the rainbow. He checked again, and I bet half the pot again, now having committed close to 40% of my stack to the pot. He immediately check-raised all in, I quickly called and he tabled AQ. The river blanked and I basically doubled up.
Thereafter, I cruised to the final three tables as probably one of the top five chipleaders. Right about this time, I was moved to a new table.
Hand #1:
I am in seat 4. Seat 6 is the clear chipleader in the tournament with about 50,000. I have around 19,000, third at the table. Seat 8 is an extremely cocky, tattooed and blinged out kid of maybe 24. He has around 24,000 and clearly assumes he will cruise to the final table. Seat 7 has around 5,600, and seat 9 (I think a friend of Scott's) has around 2,000. Blinds are 300-600 with a 50 ante, so each round is costing us 1,350. While I'm well above par and not in blind danger, the blinds are about to go up, and I know that the volatility of the tournament will mean I just can't sit around. I had played maybe 2-3 hands at the new table, and it was my button.
UTG (Seat 7) moves all in for 5600, obviously with some kind of hand, but also realizing he's got to take a stab at the blinds and antes while he's still a threat. Seat 8, our cocky friend, thinks, makes a couple of comments about what he thinks seat 7 might have and calls. His call screams of something like AK, AQ or a middle pocket pair in 99-77 range. I think he would have raised to isolate with any real premium hand as he's looking at adding over 7K to stack. Seat 9 pushes in his last 2,000 getting the proper odds (almost 4-1) to do that with almost anything, and it's folded to me. I look at my cards for a good ten seconds and then move all-in. What's my range? What do you think seat 8 had?
Results to come.
The tournament was my third and final event during our Tunica trip, and to that point I'd played pretty lackluster, weak tournament poker. Two things occurred that changed the way I would be play in the final tournament: (1) watching Zach cash in our first event, and seeing how, like at the WSOP, he played fearlessly. Yes, perhaps misguided and overaggressive a times, but he was simply not going to go quietly, and as you looked around his table, you began to recognize the other players seeing that in him and adjusting their play to avoid confrontations with him; and (2) my horrific mistake in the $1,000 NL event (won by Devil Fish). This will be the subject of a later post if I'm man enough to own it.
So coming into our final event, I was dead-set on not being afraid to push chips around and not be pushed around. Fortunately, I managed to get some pretty good hands and chip up early with very few showdowns. Then I played a hand that seemed to confirm my newfound willingness to play faster. I found 8-9 suited in the cut-off and raised. A good player who had a few less chips than me was the only caller in the big blind after a short think. The flop was 876r. He checked to me and I bet half the pot. He called. The turn was a 2, completing the rainbow. He checked again, and I bet half the pot again, now having committed close to 40% of my stack to the pot. He immediately check-raised all in, I quickly called and he tabled AQ. The river blanked and I basically doubled up.
Thereafter, I cruised to the final three tables as probably one of the top five chipleaders. Right about this time, I was moved to a new table.
Hand #1:
I am in seat 4. Seat 6 is the clear chipleader in the tournament with about 50,000. I have around 19,000, third at the table. Seat 8 is an extremely cocky, tattooed and blinged out kid of maybe 24. He has around 24,000 and clearly assumes he will cruise to the final table. Seat 7 has around 5,600, and seat 9 (I think a friend of Scott's) has around 2,000. Blinds are 300-600 with a 50 ante, so each round is costing us 1,350. While I'm well above par and not in blind danger, the blinds are about to go up, and I know that the volatility of the tournament will mean I just can't sit around. I had played maybe 2-3 hands at the new table, and it was my button.
UTG (Seat 7) moves all in for 5600, obviously with some kind of hand, but also realizing he's got to take a stab at the blinds and antes while he's still a threat. Seat 8, our cocky friend, thinks, makes a couple of comments about what he thinks seat 7 might have and calls. His call screams of something like AK, AQ or a middle pocket pair in 99-77 range. I think he would have raised to isolate with any real premium hand as he's looking at adding over 7K to stack. Seat 9 pushes in his last 2,000 getting the proper odds (almost 4-1) to do that with almost anything, and it's folded to me. I look at my cards for a good ten seconds and then move all-in. What's my range? What do you think seat 8 had?
Results to come.
Monday, January 29, 2007
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