Poker Wannabe

5/1/2005 - April Recap (and: If Anyone Asks, I Saw No Movies This Weekend)

April Recap

Okay, April was good.  Real good.  All right, technically it was the best ever, surpassing January by nearly 50%.

On the last day of March, I tried the 10/20 six-max on Party for the first time.  I didn't do too well, but I recognized that it was more bad luck than bad play.  So over the next week I slowly incorporated more 10/20 into my regular schedule until it literally became my regular schedule.  I played 73.3 hours of online poker this month and over 60 of those hours were exclusively at 10/20 six-max.

I couldn't pull myself away.  Other sites were offering bonuses left and right, but night after night I was on Party pitting myself against all the crazies.  There were some bad times (my 130BB downswing, a regular monthly occurrence it seems, now represented $2600, for example) but there were a heck of a lot more good times, including my best day ever on the 29th.

I also had my worst hour ever: -$1070.  (Luckily that was followed by two consecutive +$980 hours.)  The best thing about that hour?  I didn't even realize it it until the review after my session.  In other words, while it happened it didn't even faze me at all.

Overall I played 21,000 hands of 10/20 at resounding success.  Anyways, enough stats.  The more I toot my own horn, the more I'm sure May will just kick my ass.

If Anyone Asks, I Saw No Movies This Weekend

Seriously.  I definitely did not see the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the (rather juvenile) movie rendition of the best book ever written.  I did not sit there, embarassed for the actors, the director, the audience and everyone who has had any contact with the movie.  I did not have to see the book debased in every way possible, with bad actors, horrible sets, shoddy directing, cheap special effects, and an awkwardly tacked-on love story between Arthur and Trillian, all of which conspired to sap the humor and the very soul out of a great story.

If anyone asks, I was knocked unconscious during those two hours this past Saturday afternoon.  I was definitely not watching the Hitchhiker's movie.  In fact, it doesn't even exist.  Yeah.  That's the ticket. 

4/30/2005 - Good News and Bad News

So the good news is that I just had my best day of poker of all time last night.  Playing mostly 10/20 6-max, I calmy and steadily just won, won, won and kept on winning all night.  I wish it were all skill, but it really isn't all that hard to win when you can play against guys like the SB here:

Party Poker 10/20 Hold'em (6 max, 6 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is BB with Td, Tc.
UTG calls, 3 folds, SB completes, Hero raises, UTG calls, SB calls.

Flop: (6 SB) 3d, Ts, 9c (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, UTG folds, SB calls.

Turn: (4 BB) 4s (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, SB calls.

River: (6 BB) 9h (2 players)
SB bets, Hero raises, SB calls.

Final Pot: 10 BB

Results:
SB has Jc Ks (one pair, nines).
Hero has Td Tc (full house, tens full of nines).
Outcome: Hero wins 10 BB.

And then the big blind here got a little over-zealous on the flop with his A-high:

Party Poker 10/20 Hold'em (6 max, 6 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is Button with Ks, Kh.
UTG raises, 2 folds, Hero 3-bets, 1 fold, BB calls, UTG calls.

Flop: (9.50 SB) Qs, 7h, 8d (3 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets, BB raises, UTG 3-bets, Hero caps, BB calls, UTG calls.

Turn: (10.75 BB) 8s (3 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets, BB calls, UTG calls.

River: (13.75 BB) Jc (3 players)
BB bets, UTG folds, Hero raises, BB calls.

Final Pot: 17.75 BB

Results:
BB has Ah Js (two pair, jacks and eights).
Hero has Ks Kh (two pair, kings and eights).
Outcome: Hero wins 17.75 BB.

It looked like QJ to me...who knew I gave him too much credit? 

Anyways, I could post a dozen more hands like this with simply baffling play by opponents, but you get the idea.

I'm at just under 20,000 hands now for the 10/20 6-max and cruising along at just under 2.5 BB/100, and that's including a gut-wrenching 130 BB downswing and also last weekend when I LAGged myself practically into a break-even player for over 7000 hands.  2.5/100 is my overall goal and I think I may very well be able to sustain my success.  As always, though, the long run is a very long ways away, so I'm definitely not counting my chickens until they're hatched. 

As for the bad news...

What was Roger thinking? 

In the fourth inning of last night's game, Clemens works the count on Jeromy Burnitz to 1-2 and then does something inexcusable: Clemens throws him an inside fastball.  Burnitz of course rockets the ball over Jason Lane's head for a double on what was one of the hardest hit balls I've seen in a long time. 

That shouldn't have been a surprise because that's what Burnitz does: he looks for the inside fastball, always.  Throw him something else and he an adjust enough to hopefully foul it off or (more often) ground out softly or (most often) swing and miss, but if you throw him an inside fastball, just kiss it goodbye.  All he can do is wait for a pitcher to make that mistake inside, so he can capitalize. 

So of course we can fast-forward to the seventh inning when Clemens is again facing Burnitz.  Clemens goes 0-2 and then 3-2 on Burnitz before, in what has to be the most stunningly stupid decision I've seen made by anyone not on Party Poker, he once again throws Burnitz an inside fastball.  Hello!  Hecan'thandleanyotherpitch,hejustsitsthereandwaitsforyoutodothathello!  Of course Burnitz launches a moon shot for a solo home run which proves to be the game-winner. 

So what the heck was Roger thinking?  Rocket, you have a wonderful pitch called the splitter that looks like a fastball but is a little slower and sharply breaks downward as it approaches the plate.  Throw an inside one of those.  Burnitz will just flail away at it.  And if by some miracle he lays off of it and you walk him, so what??  The bottom of the order is coming up, Todd Hollandsworth, Michael Barrett and Greg Maddux.  Burnitz is the exact last dangerous hitter you have to face.  Why give him exactly what he wants in his wheelhouse? 

Argh!

4/29/2005 - 634W, 7278Ks, 11CYs, 8726.1IP

Yes, it's Clemens vs. Maddux tonight at 7pm, Central.  I so want to go to the game, but it's hard to rationalize driving three hours each way just to watch a three hour game.  Especially one where the main attractions will both be gone by the seventh or eighth inning; with Maddux probably gone after six.

As marquee as the matchup sounds, it's still a 42-year-old pitcher who's still very good but could fall off a cliff at any time against a 39-year-old pitcher who's still somewhat good who quite possibly is currently falling off that cliff.  This definitely isn't 1997 anymore...

Anyways, lets hope the Astros can finally get the Rocket a win.  He has four incredibly pitched games, but only one win to show for it.  (And yes, I know wins are an extremely overrated stat.)  It would be great to see him get to 350 wins--or maybe even, ahem, 363--but with the Astros' anemic offense, he might have to pitch until he's 50 to get there. 

Anyways, here's an interesting tidbit I just learned recently that very well might only interest me: After their respective age-41 seasons, as calculated by BB-Ref, Clemens had 328 wins after winning 18  in his age-41 season, and Warren Spahn had 327 wins after winning, yup, 18 in his. 

Spahn was actually about 8 months younger during his age-41 season and the following year he won 23 games thanks to his Milwaukee Braves featuring the third best offense in the league--a far cry from Houston's current second-to-last ranking--so the road ahead will be tough for Roger.  But a couple solid 14- or 15-win type seasons followed by a six- or seven-win 2007 curtain call in his age-44 season (when he actually turns 45) will get him past Spahnny. 

And if he can somehow churn out three straight 15-win campaigns, he'll be in some very select company indeed...

But that's dreaming.  Here's hoping for number 330 tonight. 

4/25/2005 - Woe is Me

So this past weekend I played more hands than I've ever played before, logging over 8000.  Even I have to admit, that's a lot of hands.

Unfortunately, I had happen to me what usually happens to me when I play an overabundance of hands in a rather short period of time--I had very mediocre results.  Given the limits I now play, and my definition of mediocre results, I still managed to win well more than I make in a week at my job, but relatively speaking, it's still a rather meager showing for an 8000-hand stretch. 

As I've proven to myself over and over again, I have my best results when I play two- or three-hour sessions, with no more than two sessions in a day.  Any time I try to stretch beyond that--playing six hours in a sitting, for example, or eight or more hours in a day--my bottom-line results are nowhere near as good as any equivalent-length stretch of playing time that instead took three or four days.

I think part of the reason I played so much was simply that I really didn't have anything better to do this weekend.  It's also a nice little escape to just sit there doing something you enjoy.  Unfortunately, there's a thin line between playing strong, profitable poker and just being a LAGgy, break-even goon and I crossed it.

Just for the record, and so I have it in writing for every time I want to just sit there and play poker until 5AM three nights in row, I played nearly 7000 hands of the 10/20 six-max on party, compared to almost 11,000 hands played previously and saw my overall VPIP numbers increase from about 21% to about 23.5%, my PF raise go from just under 15% to about 16.5% and my AF go from 2.78 to 2.90 (meaning the first numbers were where I was at after 11,000 hands, and the second number is where I'm now at after about 18,000).  In other words, during this past weekend I was seeing the flop significantly more than I was used to, raising (and reraising) preflop significantly more than I was used to, and being much more aggressive during the entire hand, which is a very good recipe for overplaying oneself into mediocrity.

One of the hallmarks of a good player is being able to pick and choose the correct strategy in just about any situation, it's not just blindly betting and raising some more in every situation, and yet there I was donking myself to death.  My winrate shows this, as it dropped from 3.2/100 to 2.2/100.  I have to admit, I saw more two and three outers come in against me in heads up pots than I can remember for a long time, but I still think I left a lot, and I mean a lot of money on the tables. 

I know, I know, poor me only made "a lot" rather than "a whole heck of a lot" of money playing a stupid card game this weekend--woe is me--but, really, if I want to be a serious player playing and succeeding at big limits, I have to remain focused at all times.  I can't let up and play on comfortable, aggressive autopilot. 

In other news (also of the woe-is-me variety), I was talking with someone today about poker.  Okay, not just anybody, but someone from work.  Now, I love to talk about poker, so as soon as the subject came up, I was off and running.  He'd never played online, so I was giving him some advice on what to do, where to go, etc, and he seemed to pick up on the fact that I'm a pretty serious player.  So the inevitable question came up--"How good are you?" 

Er...well...

Seriously, how does one answer this question?  No one's going to say, "I suck," but I also can't give the opposite answer and not look like a complete arrogant asshole.  I considered a few answers but none seemed appropriate, especially in a cube-farm where there are perking ears over every wall.  I didn't really mind giving a more accurate answer to this particular person, but I really didn't want to share that much information with every single coworker.  So I kind of flaked, giving a really vague answer that probably sounded really stupid, something along the lines of "well, better than people who have never played, worse than Phil Ivey" and it luckily ended at that.

Oh well. 

Finally, in baseball news (yet again of the woe-is-me variety), I think it's pretty apparent that the Astros simply cannot score a run against any of the top dozen or so pitchers in the NL.  Perez, Mulder, Hudson, all made Houston look like a little league team.  Looking down the Astros lineup, it's really not a surprise--honestly what surprises me is that they seem to be able to score a decent number of runs against the league-average pitchers.  My guess is that will end soon enough, and we'll really get a taste for how truly awful the offense is.

4/24/2005 - 2-7 TD!!

Okay, so the reality is that my experience with deuce-seven triple draw not only doesn't merit two or even one exclamation points in the title, it doesn't even merit to be the title of a blog entry.  It's really footnote material, if that.  However, instead of having the same boring titles and entries as I've been having recently ("10/20 good!!" "Astros bad!!"), I figured I'd focus on something different.

But yes, I did finally play 2-7 TD last night.  Unfortunately, since it was 4:30AM, UB had exactly two tables going, a .5/1 game and a 1/2 game that wasn't exactly 2-7; it was actually A-5 TD which is a similar game but, well, different.

But I have to say, Chris is right--TD is like crack.  I wasn't exactly playing the 80/160, but it was still tons of fun.  I ended up winning about $15 over 30 minutes and enjoyed myself as much or maybe even moreso than the previous five-plus hours when I won 65BBs at the Party 10/20 game.  I have a $100 bonus to clear at UB and it looks like it might just get cleared doing TD.  Hopefully they'll have a 2/4 or a 3/6 game going tonight so I can actually clear it at a rate slightly faster than the $1.60/hour I managed last night.

This is quite a time for bonuses.  I won't even list them all, other than to say go scope out Bonuswhore's main page.  I always tell myself I'm going to branch out so maybe this is another chance to do it.  2/4 TD, Stud and O8, here I come!

Finally, I'd like to note that even though the Astros yet again lost 1-0 in extra innings, I did not once complain about it.  On here, at least.  You should have heard me yesterday, woo boy. 

4/19/2005 - 1-0

Recently I had a discussion with a friend about what it's like watching various teams and how different it can be.  How it started:

We were watching a recent Red Sox/Yankees game and with two outs the Yankees had a man on first with, iirc, Alex Rodriguez at the plate and the score tied.  At that moment I realized I felt something that I hadn't felt since last year--namely, a sense of expectation.  I felt that it was quite likely the Yankees would score.  With two outs and only a man on first base.

So I remarked to my friend that it's interesting watching the Yankees and feeling that they probably have about an even-money chance of scoring at least a run in such a situation.  He agreed, although he didn't find it quite as interesting as I did (did I mention he's a Red Sox fan?). 

What prompted me along these lines of thought is that when watching an Astros game, there is not a single situation in which I feel they are so much as even money to score.  Not a single one.  I said as much to my friend that one afternoon, "Probably the only situation in which the Astros might be even money to score is if they have the bases loaded with no one out.  And I'm not even sure then."

This of course brings us to last night's game where, in the 10th inning, the Astros of course had the bases loaded with no one out.   For this fan at least, there was nothing but a sense of impending doom as I waited to see how they'd manage to screw up even this situation.  They did not disappoint.  Line out to second, ground out, ground out, inning over. 

I have nothing to say other than at least Phil Garner used Brad Lidge (and in fact the entire bullpen) correctly.  Maybe he read my blog.  Much more likely is he simply lucked into it--the whole stopped clock being right twice a day thing.  And believe me, if there's anyone for whom being described as a stopped clock is apt, it's Crap Iron. 

Alright, I lied.  I have one more thing to say.

Garner Gets Tennis Tips

Er, shouldn't he be, you know, getting managing tips, instead? 

Okay, okay, that was too easy. 

4/18/2005 - Astros Blabber

In my apparent effort to turn this into a half baseball/half poker blog, I will again be complaining about, er, talking about the Astros.

Phil Garner let another tied game get away in the late innings with his best relief pitcher still in the pen, but that's nothing new.

This is what really worried me.  Halfway down in the "New Look Lineup" blurb was this quote concerning Jose Vizcaino: 

"Viz needs to play," Garner said. "He has not played a game yet, so he needs to get in to play more than anything.

No, no, no.   Just no.  No he doesn't.

He can't hit and he can no longer field (not that he was any great shakes to begin with).  He's a versatile utility man who can play mediocre ball at best at any infield position.  If you have Adam Everett available to play SS, play Adam Everett at shortstop--Everett's perhaps only slightly better than Vizcaino at hitting but he is light-years better at fielding.  Vizcaino should only see action in dire circumstances. 

If you need to rest Everett or bring in a replacement, well then bring in Eric Bruntlett.  The team sucks and there are way too many holes to fill meaning that the "kids" (ie, the 26- and 27-year old career minor leaguers) will have to be filling some shoes.  Might as well get them as much experience as possible.

Anyways, what's the over-under on the total number of runs scored in tonight's game?  Three?  Two?  At least until one of the Astros retread "relievers" comes into the eighth inning and breaks the game wide open. 

______________________

PS - I think this is quite interesting (read: funny).  Alls I can say is that I SO want a "My God can kick your god's butt" t-shirt.  I would wear that everywhere.  Seriously. 

4/17/2005 - Keep on Truckin'

Although I've played a lot of hands, this might have been the first time I capped a hand on all four betting rounds.  If not, it's been a long, long time. 

Up until this point, BB had been pretty straightforward.  Please tell me I'm not the only one who figured he had QQ. 

Party Poker 10/20 Hold'em (6 max, 6 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is CO with Ks, Kd.
2 folds, Hero raises, 1 fold, SB 3-bets, BB caps, Hero calls, SB calls.

Flop: (12 SB) Td, Qh, 4d (3 players)
SB checks, BB bets, Hero raises, SB calls, BB 3-bets, Hero caps, SB calls, BB calls.

Turn: (12 BB) Kc (3 players)
SB checks, BB bets, Hero raises, SB calls, BB 3-bets, Hero caps, SB calls, BB calls.

River: (24 BB) 5h (3 players)
SB checks, BB bets, Hero raises, SB calls, BB 3-bets, Hero caps, SB calls, BB calls.

Final Pot: 36 BB

Results:
SB has Qc Kh (two pair, kings and queens).
BB has Js Ac (straight, ace high).
Hero has Ks Kd (three of a kind, kings).
Outcome: BB wins 36 BB.

Talk about an action card on the turn.

And the button here wins the award for stupidest hand of the weekend:

Party Poker 10/20 Hold'em (6 max, 6 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is BB with 2d, 7d.
2 folds, Button calls, SB completes, Hero checks.

Flop: (3 SB) Kc, Ks, Kd (4 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, Button checks.

Turn: (1.50 BB) 7c (4 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, Button calls, SB folds.

River: (3.50 BB) Ac (3 players)
Hero checks, Button checks.

Final Pot: 3.50 BB

Results:
Hero has 2d 7d (full house, kings full of sevens).
MP doesn't show.
Button has 3c 6h (three of a kind, kings).
Outcome: Hero wins 3.50 BB.

So let's see.  Tiny pot.  Off-suit undercards.  Somone betting.  Sure, I'll call!  Maybe I'll hit a....er....????

Overall the 10/20 has been treating me very well.  I now have about 10,000 hands played, with great success.  I'm sure as soon as I have a bad day or two I'll be on here bitching and complaining, but for now let the record show that this has been a very good two weeks. 

4/15/2005 - More Baseball Venting

So let me get this straight.

Phil Garner, you feel like you can bring the best reliever on the planet, Brad Lidge, into the 9th inning of an 11-2 game, but cannot once find the right time to bring him into a game you're leading 3-1, then 3-2 in the 7th, and then tied, 3-3?  Or how about the game that was tied 0-0 until the 11th?  Was there really no opportunity there? 

That is pure idiocy.  What's more important, protecting that 9-run lead in the 9th, or preventing the other team from scoring when the tying run is on base in the 7th?  How about preventing the team from scoring the go ahead run in a tied up game at any time between the 8th and 11th inning?  You don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize that Franco and Wheeler are much better options for the first case, while Lidge is the better option for the other two cases. 

______________________

The Tax Man Cometh

Like a lot of people, I finally got around to paying my taxes in the last couple of days.  I have to say, the way the government treats the "recreational gambler" is horrible.  I'd go more into depth, but I want to forget about anything that has to do with taxes as fast as possible.  Let's just say that I can understand why a lot of people might conveniently forget to report large amounts of gambling winnings. 

All I know is that I'm filing as a professional gambler next year. 

4/14/2005 - More 10/20 Fun

Hmmm...did he REALLY think I was going to bet the river?  Especially after his suspicious pause on the river....c'mon now. 

Party Poker 10/20 Hold'em (6 max, 6 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is CO with Ts, Ah.
1 fold, MP calls, Hero raises, 2 folds, BB calls, MP calls.

Flop: (6.50 SB) Qc, Ks, Kc (3 players)
BB checks, MP checks, Hero bets, BB calls, MP calls.

Turn: (4.75 BB) Jc (3 players)
BB checks, MP checks, Hero bets, BB calls, MP folds.

River: (6.75 BB) Ac (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks.

Final Pot: 6.75 BB

Results:
BB has Js Tc (straight flush, ace high).
Hero has Ts Ah (straight, ace high).
Outcome: BB wins 6.75 BB.