WCOOP Update

I played two more WCOOP events last week. The first, Sunday's $215 No Limit Hold'em event, just wasn't in the cards for me. I did well for a few hours but then got it all in with K10 on a K 10 3 board. He showed pocket 3s and I didn't catch any miracles. No regrets, the pot was too big to fold with our stack sizes. That's just one of those situations where I'm always going to want to get it in with a hand that strong, and if I'm beat there's nothing I can do about it.

The second event was different story. On Monday I played the 4-Max No Limit Hold'em tournament. I've played shorthanded before, but 4-max is nuts. It was a really intense challenge for me and it was a lot of fun, but I busted from that one due to my own mistakes. The format required me to play a lot of hands and the result was that I had more chances to make mistakes. I had all the 'run good' I needed, coming back from the brink of elimination several times, but I didn't do a good job of holding on to chips. I wound up busting close to the money with kings.


I really want to take down a big score in this series. I've played four so far and made the money in one, but nothing like what I'm looking for. I think I have what it takes against these fields, I just need a few things to go right and to play a solid game. I won a seat for tomorrow's $215 NL Hold'em event. Let's see if I can make it this one.

2010 WCOOP Recap

I just played my 2nd WCOOP event today. Great tournaments, the structures offer a lot room for play. So far I've made the money in my first event but busted from today's. I ran bad but am still happy with the way things went. I'll be back, with these fields I'm sure I can cash again.

In the first even I started off strong but had a rough 2nd and 3rd hour. Thanks to the structure I was able to hang on until my luck changed and work back up to a big stack. When we got to the bubble I was sure I would coast into the money but one hand changed all of that. I got it all-in with jacks vs kings. It was a bad play on my part, the signs were there but I though he was bluffing. I was still alive but my stack was crippled. With the money close I decided to hang on and see if I could make it. I did, barely, and then went on a hot streak to build back up to an average stack. I lasted for several more hours but was never able to build back up the momentum I needed. I finally went out in 285th.

In today's event things went pretty rough for me. I built a good stack early but wasn't able to hold onto it. Three main hands took me out of the event. I had two pair lose twice. The first lost when bottom pair caught runner runner quads, and the second lost when my opponent caught a higher two pair on the turn. The final hand to take me out was pocket sixes. I called a raise from the button and hit my set. My opponent led out and I raised. He called and I shoved the last of my chips when an 8 hit the turn. He called again to show me pocket eights.

All three hands dropped to three outs or less, and each time I was up against the same opponent. It can feel personal when it happens like that, but it's not. No matter who you're up against it's the same deal. You do your best to get your money in good and hope someone calls with a worse hand. Those are the situations you look for. After that it's out of your control. But you have to keep a cool head whatever happens. I tilted this time, tilted bad. And that's OK, after all, I busted and no more damage could be done. But under different circumstances I'd need to find a way to control that.

I Love Fish

Not the kind you find at the poker table (OK, those too), but the swimming variety.  Keeping a saltwater aquarium has been a hobby of my wife and mine for the past year now. This month has been a fun one for us because of our new tank. We set up a 135 gallon tank and got it cycled to stock fish these last few weeks.

Getting set up

The first inhabitants

After a lot of planning we decided on a lunar wrasse, niger trigger, and volitan lionfish to get us started. They are aggressive fish but they do a good job of holding their own together. They've proven to be an interesting group. The lion makes for an awesome centerpiece and the wrasse and trigger have great personalities. The wrasse patrols the tank constantly while the trigger keeps himself busy rearranging sand and rocks. I only wish he would stop knocking over the stacks I build. It's not a simple matter to reach in and stack them back up when you have fish with poisonous spines on it's back.

Probably the last time our wrasse sat still

The Trigger claiming his territory

Our lion stalking the damsels

On the poker front August has been a disappointing month. In the past I've ran good, I've ran bad, and I guess now I've ran in place. Every step I've had in the right direction has been matched by another bringing me back where I started. Consistency is my problem, and for now I'm toning things down a bit until I get my discipline under control.

Bad Month

July has been a bad one for me, but it's not just a downswing. I am not just losing because variance is against me. I have been making some bad decisions, and they have cost me.  It's not really fun to post like this but it's the truth, and the first thing I need to do to fix things is to admit and accept this truth. There is no better way I can think of to face this than to put it out there like this.

It sucks that I'm going to have to take a step down now. That's a far drop beginning of the month when I was looking at the idea of moving up. I even took a few shots at the bigger games, salivating at the idea of making them my new home. I'm going to work my way back now and that's just how it is. Survival is half the battle in this game and protecting the bankroll is key.

I am capable of playing better than I have. Now seems like a good time to prove it. I have set some goals for this August. It's time for me to patch up some leaks, focus on consistency, and get myself back on track.

Long time coming

It's been a while since I've made a post, too long really. It's not like there hasn't been anything to write about. There's been a lot of poker, trips to Vegas and Atlantic City. I even won two bad beat jackpots. Oh, and I quit my day job.

That's right, I finally did it.Well, at least I tried to. You see, they made me an offer I couldn't refuse. I turned in my resignation and they countered by asking me to stay on part time as a consultant. So for the past few months I've been able to work from home and on the road while traveling around playing poker. It's been great. The situation has worked out as the perfect bridge from collecting a regular paycheck to the up and down swings of poker.

And since the time I quit I've already found myself riding both. I started out on a tear, walking away from almost every session with large profits. Add in the two jackpots I won and this whole 'poker for a living' thing was beginning to feel easy. That, of course, was just the right mentality to get myself started off in the wrong direction.

 I think it was from there that I let myself get too laid back. I scaled back my playing time and took a few vacations. There was even a trip to Vegas with minimal playing time, barely covering my travel costs at the tables. Meanwhile my poker elsewhere wasn't doing well. I had a series of losing sessions and found out how much of a dent I could put into a bankroll in only a month.

It's OK though. Nothing that can't be repaired. I just need to take these lessons in stride and move forward with better time and bankroll management.

WSOP Rincon

Poker has been on my brain non stop since the WSOP arrived in San Diego. With all of the action going on just an hour down the road it's hard not to think about it. 

I started off the series on Thursday with a great cash game session. I sat down at a 2/3 table loaded with big stacks and by the end of the night I was the biggest leaving with almost 6 times my buy in. I ran well, played aggressive, and got paid off. There's not much more you can ask for than that.
A few key hands

1. I ran a semi-bluff on a player with an overcard and a flush draw. I put him on an overpair but believed he was good enough to fold when I shoved on a paired board. He almost did but instead gave me my first double me up when I hit one of my outs.
2. I turned a straight in a multi-way pot. A player bet into the field, several players called, and I reraised the pot. The first player called all in with a weaker straight and I raked in a massive pot.
3. A field of limpers called a straddle and then, to my amazement, also called a short stacks tilted shove. Reading them as weak I reraised with AQ suited to isolate and race for the dead money. I got an all in from a player I put on a hand like jacks and the rest folded. I'm not sure if the queen on the flop was good enough to beat him but the flush on the river sure was.

The next day I played in a $350 buy-in event. I began the tournament well building a big stack early but caught a rough beat. I called a raise in position holding a pocket pair and flopped a set. I was able to get 2 players all in for a massive pot that could have made the tournament for me, but it wasn't meant to be. The turn and river put a 4 card straight on the board leaving the pot to be split between my opponents. I was able to build my stack up after that but didn't hold on to it. I finished the day with a small losing session on the cash tables.

On Monday I came back for another run at a tournament but had similar experience. I chipped up again but didn't hold on to them and was sent to the rail again. I think I actually went out too early making a move with AQ when I didn't need to. I raised and got a chain of callers followed by an all in from one of the blinds. I reraised to isolate only to find a big pair hiding in the pack. I missed my ace and that was it. I decided to hop back on the cash games and see if I couldn't stir up some action like I had the other night.  I didn't quite sextuple up but I was able to make back most of my tournament buy-in.

All of the action has left me twitching at my desk. I'm sure I'll be back in time to play some more before the event is over.

$700 Lessons

That's how much it cost for what I learned the other day.  After dusting off my stack 3 times I had to get up from the table. It's OK to lose money so long as you're playing well. That's part of poker; it happens all the time. But I had made a few serious mistakes that accounted for a lot of what I lost.

The most grave error I made was the most basic possible. I had a hand where I made all the right reads and then turned around and made all the wrong decisions. I hit the board with a pair and a draw against a player I put on an overpair. He shoved on the turn not giving me odds, I knew I was supposed to fold, but I called anyway. There's just no excuse for that. A fold there was almost automatic but I let my emotions make the decision for me. I missed and he won with the hand I knew he had. There is no way I can expect to be a profitable poker player if I keep making calls like that.

But that wasn't the only way I misplayed that hand. I had put myself in that position because I took actions on the flop without having a plan for the later streets. Going back through my hand history I realized it was a mistake I made in several other hands too. I wasn't thinking my lines all the way through.  I made raises building big pots and played right into spots where I made my own decisions difficult. I was handing my opponents the rope with which to hang me.

We're going up to Harrah's Rincon this weekend for the World Series of Poker ciruit events and cash games. I've caught my mistakes, now it's time to prove I've learned from them. Let's see if I can use what I've learned to earn that money back.