MrAvvy

A top of the morning to all of you! Yes it's just after 5.00AM down here and I thought it would be the perfect time for me to make my return to pokernews blogging!

In my last blog I mentioned that I would take a break from playing cards to concentrate on other things. The break was very good, though I did however venture to the casino for some $2/3 Hold'em with a friend who promised to stake my buy-in if I went with him. A few hundred bucks later, I realised that I actually didn't miss it. There was something missing...

So I returned to online play as well.

Friday night I won a $22 H.O.R.S.E tournament, good for $256.

Ten minutes ago I won a 207 person $4.40 Limit Omaha Hi/Low tournament. Good for $207.

I'm playing well, perhaps better than I ever have.

But why?

I can't begin to explain to all you card-sharks out there that playing poker should not be a 24/7 thing. Nor should it be a 52-week-per-year thing. Take time away when you're not enjoying it, and come back refreshed.

Trust me.

It's worth it.

Ventured down for some more $2/3 No Limit Hold'em full ring game yesterday and it's fair to say I doubt I have ever been so frustrated at a poker table in my life. Over about four to five hours I witnessed some of the most shocking calls, raises and folds I have seen in the few years I have been playing poker. I'd like to share with you some of the moments that took my breath away yesterday, and while I do so, I want you to think about a couple things.
Yes, variance is an accepted theory when it comes to winning and losing at this game. I read a post several weeks ago about the saga surrounding Brian Townsend and his multi-accounting ways, where someone wrote that variance had caught up with him, and he didn't know how to handle it.
Yes, variance is acceptable when used as an excuse for 'running' bad. But sometimes I don't think variance is a part of it - sometimes there are just people playing at your table for no other reason than they have money and want to use it, whether it be winning more or losing what they have - as a saw yesterday.

Example 1:
Loose aggressive player straddles UTG. Fair enough, build the pot. He straddles ofr $20 and manages to get six callers. Wow. This looks like one hell of a pot. Player from the big blind pushes all in for $120. Not bad play I feel, there is enough in the pot and if he has a strong hand, it's possible at worst he is in a coinflip situation.
Fold, fold, fold, fold, call. The straddle makes the call. Dealer: "Flip your cards if you wish."
I nearly vomitted with what I saw. After all, I had layed down .
UTG:
BB:
And what happens next? Runner runner flush of course, and UTG wins.

Example 2:
I was holding on a board reading .
I bet out $15 and get called by one player.
Turn:
I bet $25, just in case he has a 5, in what could have been disguised as a value bet. Called again.
River:
I thought that would be a mostly irrelevant card.
Figuring there was enough in the pot, I check.
Astonishingly, my opponent bets out $100. I didn't even think about it, and layed down my hand. However, I cursed when my opponent flipped over .
Yes I got bluffed out, big deal. But the fact that my opponent had been calling me the whole way with ABSOLUTELY NOTHING infuriated me. I was beginning to wonder how bad this day could get...

Example 3:
'The Straddler' decided to straddle for his entire stack - $110. Sitting two to my left, I had hoped nobody would call, as I peeked down at my hole cards to find . Thankfully, nobody called and I shoved me stack in.
He was holding .
Wait for it.....

Wait for it.....

No bad beat here thankfully, my queens managed to hold up. But again, I was horrified at this play!

Example 4:
I catch a nice hand as I looked down at , raised pre-flop to $15, got a caller and the flop came out a friendly . I bet out for $25 and get called. I put him on an ace, but I have the kicker I need.
Turn:
Perfect card, I bet out for $30 hoping to keep him in the hand. At this stage I put myself in his shoes and think to myself, what does it look like I have? Obviously if I had a 3 I'd be check-raising. He calls.
River: .
No problem there. He checks, I bet out $50 and he flat calls. I flip my cards. He takes his time and keeps his cards face down, and I am about to reach in and grab the pot of chips when he flips of . What a dog, not only did he call a pre-flop raise with a terrible hand, he slow-rolled me. If there's one thing I hate more than bad play, it's bad table etiquette. I asked him his reason for playing that hand:

"I just lost $10,000 on baccarat, I need to win some back."

Right, that's fair. SO WHY THE HELL ARE YOU PLAYING ON THE LOWEST BUY-IN TABLE YOU IDIOT!?

My friend on the other side of the table had to deal with this fellow before too:

Example 5:
My friend limps in from the small blind with (ever since watching Hinkle win the bracelet with that hand I seem to look at it as much more than rags!).
Flop: .
On tilt, my friend pushes all in for $80, and the gentleman who would later take my money calls.
Turn:
I curse as I had been holding and folded pre-flop.
River:
My friend turns over his cards... and the gentleman shows his..................
Breathtaking stuff! His stack had moved from almost nothing to close to $1000.

My final hand summed up the day, but was perhaps less of a bad beat as it was bad luck.

Example 6:
On the button I hold .
Flop:
Not too bad, I've got top pair, it gets checked around to me and I bet $20 and try and take it down.
Get called by two players, including Mr Bacarat.
Turn:
So if someone was chasing a straight they have probably hit. It gets checked around, I look down at my stack which has fallen to about $65... and I check.
River:
I guess that's not the worst card to come out.
It gets checked to me again, and I bet $30. A fold, and Mr Bacarat raises it to $60. I push in my last few bucks and flip over my King. What do you know, Mr Bacarat flips and his kicker plays.

On the way home I thought about this hand and how it was played terribly by everyone involved. I'd hit top pair on the button. Bacarat at hit top pair with a very strong kicker and had checked. Surely the book would tell you to bet out, three-handed with two straight draws.
On the turn, if I shove, perhaps he folds as I represent a straight.
On the river, perhaps I should have checked given these ideas:
1. If he has a straight, I'm gone
2. If he has a strong king, I'm gone
3. If he was slow-playing a set of 10s, 9s or something... I'm gone. So really the only thing I could have beaten was a bluff or a weak pair. In which case, I could have saved myself about $80 or so.

I smiled, walked away from the table and wished everyone there good luck.
Lord knows they'll need it.

At least in the long run.

Some players at the table berated the kid who bluffed me, and then later alleged to have bluffed me again as I layed down Queens and Fours on a board of . He bet $100 on the river again after some small bets on the flop and turn. I explained to someone that I thought he had set me up with the previous bluff before, wanting me to call him this time and that he'd hit his flush. He replied that the kid was certainly not good enough to make that play. I guess I'll never know.

I certainly didn't play as well as I did last week, but I think I made some good reads on my opponents and just got unlucky a few times.

However I've decided that I'm going to take a hiatus from the game as I need to focus my mind towards study and work.

No more online or live casino games. Potentially the odd home game, but I'm calming down for a little, at least until the end of November when my exams are done.

'Poker is a lot like sex, everyone thinks they are the best, but most don't have a clue what they are doing!" - Dutch Boyd

Hi guys, writing this blog after an interesting day to say the least. Following months of purely online play, I decided I would take the chance to head to the casino and play some real live play. After reading Negreanu's 50 tips book and taking to heart particularly the chapters about reading players through their betting patterns, and reading the value of hands, I thought I would focus on applying these two ideas in my play.
Friday night I played a home game with 4 other friends. Basic stuff, 10c/20c blinds with $10 buy-ins... by the time the clock hit 4am I was up a huge 50c and figured better up than down - especially after dropping $50 before a lucky two-outer saved me.

So I headed for a $2/$3 No Limit ring game. Sat down with $200, the maximum buy-in.
The first thing I did was look around the table. Typical poker stereo-types. One middle-aged Greek man with an angry tone of voice to my left. A bubbly Polish man to my right who loved to talk. Around the table sat a 20-something year old man who didn't say much, a German fellow with a huge stack who seemed like a decent guy... an overweight female who had just bubbled a tournament in 4th place with the top 3 receiving AAPT prizes (insta-tilt), and one other guy my age who looked very nervous in his approach. Finally, one Asian student who I would later go on to share a few laughs with.

I had my reads already.

I would target the nervous kid when I could, but stay away if he raised big time.
Tried to avoid the German.
I knew if I could get the lady in a pot when I was strong I would take all her chips.
The guys to my left and right would play tight and agressive so I had to up my play with them.
I will discuss the Asian student later.

I decided I would play tight to begin with and slowly try and build a stack. I made a quick $60 or so by stealing a pot pre-flop after re-raising from the button with .

The first sick pot came when I was holding and the flop read:

In the small blind I didn't have much of a shot at winning the pot if I was raised, so I decided to take a stab with $20.
Two players to my left called.
Turn:
Now I knew I was in deep. I'll check.
Check.
Check.
Good, free card, hopefully I can hit big here.
River:

Jackpot.

I casually threw out $50 and uttered something about splitting the pot.
First player called, as did the second.
As I suspected, one had a flush, one had a straight.
Perhaps they both played it terribly, I am not sure.

The luckiest hand of the night came later on. I knew if I was going to take someone's stack it was going to be the big lady.
In the small blind I held a seemingly disgusting .
Five players had put $20 in pre-flop, including my target. What the heck, I'm getting 6-1 on my money here, I'm up at this stage about $50.. let's have a stab.

Flop comes:

OH BABY!

I'll check it to the initial raiser.

Check - check - check - check - Lady bets $30.

Flat call that, everyone folds.

I don't even know what the turn was, but she bet $50 and I pushed all-in.

Hang on, she's insta-called. I shit my pants and flip my cards. The look on her face is something like...

River is a blank.

She mucks.

She says she had aces and berates me for my play. The Asian guy gives me a high five. I told him after the hand that I played for two reasons - one, pot value, and two, because he had been playing an any-two-cards method that was pissing me off! I was hammered for a couple minutes by the fat chick but I didn't care. I'd won a pot by playing the way Negreanu would have wanted. I could call at 6-1, and if the flop hadn't hit, I get away without losing anymore than that. It made sense.

Later in the session I was reading players as well as I ever had. I knew that the nervous kid had two aces in the hole. I knew the German had flopped set after set.

I walked out up a couple hundred bucks and was proud of my performance. It wasn't about the money. It was about seeing a development in my play. I probably lost about two or three decent-sized pots over five hours. But the hands I played I would play smart, without bluffing inappropriately as I would have in the past.

There I was laying down on a board reading at the turn after I was re-raised, something I never thought I could do - why not push him all in?. I was throwing away after hitting top-pair on the flop and getting re-raised, then showing my fold and causing my opponent to flip over his and asking me how I could fold that. Negreanu told me to, sir. I was trapping, calling at the right price despite losing the odd hand, and even calling small bets just to gather information about my opponents, knowing I could get that $10 or $20 back within 10 minutes.

I'm getting there. Slowly. I want to play more. But I know I have other things to do. I want to reduce my online play now and organise more home games. Can't wait till the holidays come, only about six more weeks...

Besides lovemaking and singing in the shower, there aren’t many human activities where there is a greater difference between a person’s self-delusional ability and actual ability than in poker.
-- Steve Badget

Must admit, since watching Scotty Nguyen's now infamous run at the 2008 WSOP H.O.R.S.E final table, I've fallen into the mixed game boom. Since Pokerstars put up the new 8-Game Sit n Go tables, I've been hitting them up, and am yet to miss cashing. Five from five, and have been working on a different approach after to my game after listening to the fantastic advice I have received since my first blog a couple weeks ago.

8-Game is a combination of Limit Triple Draw Deuce to Seven Lowball, the five H.O.R.S.E games, No Limit Hold'em and Pot Limit Omaha. I think that covers most games available. Like most people who enjoy the mixed game, I think the quick changes in poker games every six minutes keep the mind ticking over, and when the 6-max 1 table game has the potential to go for up to an hour, something has to keep you interested when you see the players who have little idea how to play Triple Draw, or are unaware that the game has changed from Razz to Stud. But I guess we've all been there, done that!

Was at the shopping mall today and went into the bookstore and decided it was time to purchase a poker book. Super System II stood out like a house on fire, however I fell just short of the $65 AU required to buy the Bible of Poker. My eyes scrolled down... Lindgren, Greenstein, McEvoy, Gordon... Duke, Hellmuth, Hellmuth, Hellmuth... and then I saw Mr. Negreanu's eyes staring right at me. 'Hold'em Wisdom for All Players'... including 50 powerful tips to make you a WINNING player. At $25 it was a reasonable price and I intend to read it over the next couple nights while I sit at work on my ass at an indoor sports venue.

Though my bankroll is still low, I have been playing more and more and feeling more confident about my play, however my fall-back game, Heads Up PLO High Low has actually not been as fruitful as it has in the past. I don't think that this is such a problem though. Playing the mixed games as allowed me to see beyond my own poker horizons and I've been working on my Hold'em and Stud games, putting Omaha to bed for a while.

Hopefully the mixed game doesn't bring me mixed results, just positive ones!

"Remember, never educate a stupid poker player."

So this will be my first blog. I've constantly been visiting pokernews.com, particularly during the 2008 WSOP for updates of every event, and of course my lust to get playing online increased during this time. I'd like to share some of my finest and not-so-fine moments over the last few months.

One thing I'd like to say is that I truly believe my online skills have improved. My bluff-and-win ratio was certainly on the up and I could go hours where I was just in the zone, knowing what my opponents had and disregarding what I had.

My game of choice at the moment is Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Low, and usually I'll play heads-up Sit and Gos with perhaps a 6-max No Limit Hold'em Sit and Go in another window. As I generally don't deposit more than $30 due to being just a poor little kid, I'll start with the $6 buy-in, then move on to the $11/$13, then $23/$25 and so on.

This is where my journey to poker millions decided to take an interesting turn. While playing one day I was speaking to a friend. He too was playing online (different tournament as he simply couldn't grasp H/L) and he asked where my bankroll was at, and when I was going to withdraw. I told him once I got up to $500 I would take some out. Yeh right...

Twice I reached that magical $500 mark, and twice I lost it all. The first time was harsh. I let my ego get the best of me, played a couple of $200 heads up Sit and Gos against someone who was clearly better than me at the caper. In fact this player talked me in to keep playing with him knowing he was going to roll me every time. Ego is not a dirty word...

The second time was even more sick. I lost control. While listening to the radio one day as my Australian Rules Football team was getting crushed, I decided to mix things up and hit the $3/6 Limit Hold'em tables. I will never forget the hand...
Holding KhQd off-suit.
Flop: 4c Qc Qh

Four players all raise to the maximum, and I know that there is no way I can get out of this. I have three Queens with the second best kicker, and I also know that anyone with a better kicker will simply need to be paid off. I assumed someone else had Kings or Aces as three others simply must have strong hands. Perhaps AcXc, perhaps pocket 4s.

Turn: Kd
OK so now this is sick. I have all but the nuts, and the only thing that can beat me is KK. Surely nobody could have that... right? Once again, everybody put the maximum in, and I'm licking my chops.

River: 10c

Wow, what a card. That means possible straight and flush draws have been filled. Again, 4 people bet the maximum... Holy shit...

Player 1: Pocket 4s (4s full of Qs)
Player 2: Ac2c (Ace high flush)
Player 3: AdJs (Ace high straight)
MrAvvy: KhQd (Qs full of Ks)

So I raked a $250 pot. Not bad for a guy who kept getting 'unlucky'.

At this point all I can think about is dropping everything and playing online for the next 12 hours.

Of course... within two hours it was all gone... again.

Since then, about five weeks ago, I've been unable to get on a roll again. It makes me wonder if there is a point in all of this. Why can't I let go and try something else? Hell I have 4000 FPPs playing at very low buy-ins and I'm yet to make a withdrawal.

Advice would be appreciated. As would insults.

They called it Poker because the word 'Fuck!' was taken