Weekend Wrapup

Had a very nice 3-day weekend. In fact, any day not at work is a fine day, and 3 in a row are hard to argue with.



Plugged away some more at the 2/4 tables with some good success. As you can see to the right, my debt to Party Poker is decreasing with each passing week. I can almost smell victory, not quite like napalm, but close.



While I was online, I managed to give some good luck to the blogger who is a frequent visitor to this lonely blog. Way to go. Outhouse to the penthouse in under 2 minutes only to dominate the last 3 players into submission. Not sure they knew what was coming.



Some mindless dumbass online decided to mock my raise in the big blind with KK, since he had already called UTG. He says to me "That's not going to work. I have a good hand, since I called UTG. You dumbazz." Not only did he spend too much typing to call or re-raise me, I K came on the flop and he soon had to eat his own words. I kept quiet although the temptation to grill his sorry self did cross my mind. No matter, I ended up for that session quite nicely.

You Know It's Going to Be A Good Night When...

- You sit down at a 2/4 table and are dealt 8,5. Checks all around and since you've posted a big blind you get to see a flop. The flop is 5,8,8.



- You sweat your buddy at the freeroll tourney and of all coincidences is sitting not only at the same table, but right next to, Pauly.



- You see your buddy make the money in a 1500+ tourney, finishing 38th.



- You make a nice quick $103 at two 2/4 tables inside of 2 hours and close up for the evening within $500 of your long-term goal.

Random Shizzle

So I finally got back to the point where I was before I idiotically joined a 5/10 table looking to catch a wave. It only took me 3 weeks of 2/4 playing to recuperate that little debacle.



Thoughts on variation...



Most statistical geniuses will tell you that variation is reduced when the number of samples is increased. In the realm of poker, if you have a positive EV, or a positive $won/hand ratio, then you can reduce your variation (standard deviation) by simply playing more hands. How can you do this without actually spending more time playing poker? Well the answer has been found by many other poker bloggers, but it is simply playing at multiple tables. I've recently began playing at two, count 'em two, tables at once in an effort to reduce variation in bankroll. Anecdotally, this has worked well so far, where the first table I've joined I lost a little, whereas the second table saw me turn enough of a profit to have an overall winning session. I haven't had a session where I've been down at both tables at once.



Thoughts on TV coverage of poker....



I really can't wait for ESPN's WSOP coverage. If it was anything like last year's, I'll be watching it over and over again. Coverage begins June 8th I believe. I've also seen ads on TV for a new season of Celebrity Poker Showdown. To me, there's a huge difference between watching good poker on TV vs. bad poker on TV. I can re-watch any WPT episode or WSOP coverage and enjoy it as if I were watching it the first time. The Celebrity Poker is another story. I actually took it off my TiVo season pass manager because it was simply awful playing. If the celebrities are entertaining enough, I'll watch it; but generally it is one or two decent players playing against celebrities who've learned their skills by watching the Party Poker .50/1 tables.



Thoughts on spouses....



So I'm playing last night trying to get my raked hands total above 150 at Party so I could participate in the nightly Freeroll Tournament. The door to my computer room opens and my wife is there claiming something to the effect that we're overdue for some action, i.e. sexual intercourse. What to do, what to do. I guess I have to close down Party Poker and leave the tables. She's been very tolerant of my playing time there, but still, to interrupt me mid-hand only 38 hands shy of the Freeroll. Talk about a dilemma wrapped in a conundrum. Luckily for her I was up for the evening. Pun intended.

WSOP

I've been constantly reloading this page:



GutShot Poker



It's a more than decent reporting of the WSOP, with good pictures and some hand histories.



Apparently a few names have already busted out:

(Click and drag to see the names, I've set them to white font to avoid spoiling anybody who wants to wait and see it on tv)



Daniel Negreanu, Chris Moneymaker, Paul Phillips



Some celebrities appear to still be in. Laura Prepon from "That 70's Show" is still there according to the above site. She'd do wonders for poker if she made it to the final table :)



I'm not laying odds on that bet though.

Pacific vs. Party

Well after playing both sites for a bit this week, I have some observations regarding the two.



I think I like the Party interface better. At least for me, I can see the suits and ranks of the cards better on the table and in my hand.



Also, and more importantly, the cashouts on Party take roughly two days to hit my bank account. I requested a cashout from Pacific on Sunday the 15th. After a few days of seeing its status as "waiting", I did some research.



Looks like their policy is to hold cash out requests for 5 days, during which time you may reverse the request and receive the money back in your account immediately. After the 5 days, if you request a wire transfer as I did, you must then wait up to 7 business days for the transfer to take place.



That's pretty pathetic. Up to 12 days to process a cashout vs. 2 days at Party? Not that I'm cashing out all the time, but when I want my money, I want my money. Right now. Today. Yesterday even.



So if anyone has any Pacific cashout tales to tell, let me know.

Pacific Playing

Note: I edited this post to reflect that I was playing Pacific, not Paradise. Doh!



After the WBT was over, I decided to test the waters at Pacific a bit with some limited bankroll. I dove right in to the 5/10 tables and won about $140 right away. I cashed out, and then requested a cash out of my original $100 investment and another $100 profit. This left about $60 in there to mess around with should there be another WBT on Paradise.



So I figured I'd play in some tourneys there and see what they are like.



Holy Fish Tank Batman!



Granted, it's only 2 tournaments, but I'm 2 for 2 in first place finishes. My plan is to play ring games at Party and tourneys at Pacific. What the hell. With all the great cards I got in the WBT II, I'm going to run with my luck there and see where it goes.

Lame Attempt at a Write Up

I entered this tournament figuring that I'd just be happy to not come in last. I realized early on that due to the structure of the tournament (800 chips, blinds go up every 10 minutes) that it could easily happen if I play a bit too tight. Well the cards that I got really didn't let me play tight so I just went with it.



First hand of the tourney is AJ clubs. I raise pre-flop and get 2 callers. The flop comes 622. I figure that nobody in this tourney is calling raises with garbage so I bet out for about the size of the pot and everyone folds. Woohoo, I won a hand!!!



Second hand is also AJ, but off suit. Mean Gene throws out a big raise and I'm thinking that my AJ ain't so good right now so I fold it. A few hands later I'm dealt AT spades and once again Mean Gene throws a big re-raise in my face so I muck those cards.



I'm dealt AK diamonds and just smooth call the flop. The flop had two diamonds so I bet out a decent bet and everyone folded to me. Then comes AK off right afterwards. Two limpers into the pot and I say to myself "No way," and bump it up about 3x the big blind. Everyone folds and I think Mean Gene was a bit miffed he couldn't limp in with his Hammer :)



I'm dealt 77 on the button and raise it only to win the blinds. I call a bet with JT diamonds and when two diamonds hit the flop, smooth call the bet again. A ten comes on the turn and is the highest card out there. With top pair and a flush draw I bet out and get folds all around.



At this point I'm doing pretty well, but really don't want to just sit on my chips and get blinded back down to an average stack. I try a blind steal attempt with K9 diamonds on the button, but an A hits the flop and my bet out is raised. Gotta fold that puppy. Then I'm dealt KK and simply smooth call. Mean Gene raises and I reraise. Mean Gene raises again post flop and I go all in. He had QQ and doubles me up. If only I had more chips I could have busted him which would have turned out to be nice since he finished 2nd.



Not much later I'm dealt KK again on the button. I put MaudieB all in and win. I think that's the first player I eliminate. Later on I'm dealt TT UTG and raise to win the blinds. Again, I'm trying to play my stack to its advantage, so when I get A2 diamonds, I am raising. Now I'm winning some blinds with this strategy and when I get decent cards, it's tough not to feel confident.



Two hands in the next ten or so, I'm dealt QQ and just win the blinds. Holding AJo, I folded to a pre-flop raise. Turned out the raiser had 77 and I could have won, but AJ is not a Hellmuth top ten hand, so it's easy to fold that one. :)



I don't really win any major pots but am dealt some decent cards and we finally arrive at the final table. I'm either first or second in chips to Otis from Up For Poker. I have a decent feeling, but I know everyone here is a quality player so I'm not getting too cocky as Han Solo would say.



I am able to eliminate Mashashi when I get dealt KJ diamonds and see a K on the flop. Mashashi goes all in and I call, getting a J on 4th street to complete my 2-pair. My raises are right about the 3x BB level and usually are able to get weak hands out of the way, but Boy Genius and Otis are easily able to call if they want to.



After it gets down to four players, with 3 places paying, I get an ominous feeling. I call a bet with A2 off and flop two pair. Not wanting to mess with Boy Genius, I go all in and he folds.



Then it happens. I'm dealt AQ and raise it up. Otis re-raises and I go all in. He's holding QQ and there is no help in the form of an A on the board. So I'm out in fourth. Oh well, I can honestly say it was a huge amount of fun to play in this tourney and make it to the final table. I had no idea what the playing styles would be, but I definitely have to attribute my success to the cards I was getting. The hands held up, just until the last one so the poker gods were kind to me tonight.



I'd like to mention the superb short-stacked play of Mean Gene at the final table. He was severely short-stacked as we got down to four players and played an all or nothing style. It worked out great and he finished in second place overall. Truly well done and my kudos go out to him, Otis, and Boy Genius for finishing in the money.



The only issue I had was that I thought the tourney moved a bit too fast. If I didn't get the cards I got early on, I'm sure I'd have busted out earlier. I'm definitely looking forward to the next one. Special thanks go to Iggy for setting this up.