Content Suitable for Poker Blogs
Wil Wheaton Update: Wil's still alive in the WPT Championship, ending his first day with 35k in chips. He's below chip average but ahead of a lot of big names going into Wednesday. If you see this message, know one thing: SEND WIL MOJO.
Now, your regularly scheduled blog post.
Wow, I've gone awhile without writing... compared to my normal rate. Bad geek. No Dew. My reasoning is one that's fairly obvious to myself, though I'm going to explain it out becase it makes for more interesting reading to some.
It's very, very hard for me to write about losing, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. There's no lack of it in this blog, because I try to be honest with readers as much as possible. If you only write about the winning sessions, and leave out the losing ones, you're lying to yourself as much as you are lying to everyone else. Pretty soon it becomes simple to glaze over the bad poker and not make serious effort to plug the obvious leak in your game.
The bad beat jackpot on Party Poker is up to 400k and as such, the fish are swimming. It's well known to poker buddies that No Limit is my game, but I'll dive into the limit waters in such a target rich environment. All the rendering i'm having to do on Pink Five's effects shots afford me the time to do so, so game on.
Two nights ago was a heartbreaker. Ryan and I took on a 2/4 table and while he came out ahead, i took a drubbing... 100 dollars worth. Ryan has become my limit guru, guiding me through an adjusted starting hand selection and when to check/call down with a questionable hand. Ryan got to witness the bad beats, including this little gem:
PokerGeek has 99 in middle position.
UTG calls.
PokerGeek raises.
LooseCrazyIdiot re-raises.
Flop: Q96 rainbow.
PokerGeek and LCI cap the betting.
Turn: 5.
PokerGeek and LCI cap the bet again.
River: 2.
PokerGeek and LCI cap the bet AGAIN.
PokerGeek shows three of a kind, nines.
Loose Crazy Idiot shows 78o(?!?) for a straight, five to nine.
Yep, it was that kind of night.
I poured over my hand history, confident i'd played good poker and this was simply a variance swing. I came back last night, and proceeded to lose ANOTHER 70 bucks. At one point, it became very emotional and extremely hard not to go on tilt (which i'm very proud to say i didn't do). After making runner-runner trips, i was check-raised only to discover i was outkicked by someone who had no business even seeing the turn in the first place.
Down to my last 38 dollars, I vowed I'd win it all back. Even if i continued to get nothing but rags, even if the guy next to me has flopped 4 full houses in the last 20 minutes. Cards were gonna come my way.
-A7 in the big blind. 1 caller on an ace high flop, he folds after a 2nd one is dealt on the turn. Boom.
-K6o in the small blind, i call and catch a king high flop. Again, a 2nd one is on the turn and i drag the pot without opposition. Boom.
-JJ in middle position flops a set, and a raising war gets going. Huge pot collected from a lower set.
-I get cute limping with 45s on the button, and turn a straight, stealing a pot from someone slowplaying AK.
-Q2o in the big blind flops top pair. More money.
-I bluff at a board full of rags with Ace high and nobody calls me. More money.
-AA clobbers JJ on a useless board. TONS of money.
-AJs has a royal flush draw on the flop, and makes a straight by the river.
By the way, all of this was in a span of 20 minutes. I went from 38 bucks to 173. Almost made back all the money i'd lost that night AND the night before.
So all that heartache and breaking stuff i went through, I just washed away in 20 minutes? I *hate* limit poker! I'd rather have just not played and still felt good about my self!
Will I be back at the tables tonight? Yeah, probably.
*grumbles* but under protest.
-PokerGeek
Now, your regularly scheduled blog post.
Wow, I've gone awhile without writing... compared to my normal rate. Bad geek. No Dew. My reasoning is one that's fairly obvious to myself, though I'm going to explain it out becase it makes for more interesting reading to some.
It's very, very hard for me to write about losing, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. There's no lack of it in this blog, because I try to be honest with readers as much as possible. If you only write about the winning sessions, and leave out the losing ones, you're lying to yourself as much as you are lying to everyone else. Pretty soon it becomes simple to glaze over the bad poker and not make serious effort to plug the obvious leak in your game.
The bad beat jackpot on Party Poker is up to 400k and as such, the fish are swimming. It's well known to poker buddies that No Limit is my game, but I'll dive into the limit waters in such a target rich environment. All the rendering i'm having to do on Pink Five's effects shots afford me the time to do so, so game on.
Two nights ago was a heartbreaker. Ryan and I took on a 2/4 table and while he came out ahead, i took a drubbing... 100 dollars worth. Ryan has become my limit guru, guiding me through an adjusted starting hand selection and when to check/call down with a questionable hand. Ryan got to witness the bad beats, including this little gem:
PokerGeek has 99 in middle position.
UTG calls.
PokerGeek raises.
LooseCrazyIdiot re-raises.
Flop: Q96 rainbow.
PokerGeek and LCI cap the betting.
Turn: 5.
PokerGeek and LCI cap the bet again.
River: 2.
PokerGeek and LCI cap the bet AGAIN.
PokerGeek shows three of a kind, nines.
Loose Crazy Idiot shows 78o(?!?) for a straight, five to nine.
Yep, it was that kind of night.
I poured over my hand history, confident i'd played good poker and this was simply a variance swing. I came back last night, and proceeded to lose ANOTHER 70 bucks. At one point, it became very emotional and extremely hard not to go on tilt (which i'm very proud to say i didn't do). After making runner-runner trips, i was check-raised only to discover i was outkicked by someone who had no business even seeing the turn in the first place.
Down to my last 38 dollars, I vowed I'd win it all back. Even if i continued to get nothing but rags, even if the guy next to me has flopped 4 full houses in the last 20 minutes. Cards were gonna come my way.
-A7 in the big blind. 1 caller on an ace high flop, he folds after a 2nd one is dealt on the turn. Boom.
-K6o in the small blind, i call and catch a king high flop. Again, a 2nd one is on the turn and i drag the pot without opposition. Boom.
-JJ in middle position flops a set, and a raising war gets going. Huge pot collected from a lower set.
-I get cute limping with 45s on the button, and turn a straight, stealing a pot from someone slowplaying AK.
-Q2o in the big blind flops top pair. More money.
-I bluff at a board full of rags with Ace high and nobody calls me. More money.
-AA clobbers JJ on a useless board. TONS of money.
-AJs has a royal flush draw on the flop, and makes a straight by the river.
By the way, all of this was in a span of 20 minutes. I went from 38 bucks to 173. Almost made back all the money i'd lost that night AND the night before.
So all that heartache and breaking stuff i went through, I just washed away in 20 minutes? I *hate* limit poker! I'd rather have just not played and still felt good about my self!
Will I be back at the tables tonight? Yeah, probably.
*grumbles* but under protest.
-PokerGeek
posted by Chris Hanel at
6:15 AM
