my99rx

Someone else's turn...(poor bloke!)

2009-07-27T04:08:37Z

It does happen to other , woe is them

Recently I've been sucked out a few times and come back here to biatch and moan so this post I'd thought I'd post one of someone else's misfortunes to try and even it up.

AI preflop- looking good for him on the turn with trip fours on the board = FH and just needs to avoid A, K or J and the unlikliest of 4's which hit and split it between the other two of us.

Freakish!

Rivered again!

2009-07-09T02:59:01Z

Hit top pair on the flop in this hand just before cash ... again. So played 3x blind bets and strong bet on turn when I hit two pair. He went all in .. massive overbet - questioned him thinking he was sucking out with 5,6, trips - but wouldnt you suck it out? But then I thought no so maybe he hit top pair jacks or going for flush draw which he would have won so I called his overbet ai. River gave him a 9 for his GUTSHOT on the river to straight it up. Tournie over, sucks to be out twice like this just before the money two days in a row especially when playing so well and calling people on their underdog hands. Oh well, that's poker.

This is a bad beat ...

2009-07-08T14:25:37Z

http://www.pokernews.com/wsop/2009/event-57/day2a/ page23.htm

SICK, SICK , SICK, SICK!

2009-07-07T17:01:58Z

How can I explain it best - in the $30k at ps in about 27th / 300 odd left with 215 players paid. Was playing fantastic poker - then this happened:

Both AI preflop, he was pot committed so I obliged and of course after the flop things seem good right? No, nothing this random could ever be so cruel (overstatement I know) but a picture tells a thousand words....

THE ONLY OUT!!!!! = Woe is me!

I of course tilted afterwards even though I was trying to keep a cool head I just couldnt - ran into his aq again 3 hands later when we both held qq after the flop. I shoved ..he won.
I know this happens but gee its the first to happen to me with such a big hand pre-flop, flop and the turn!

I'll be talking about that for days but I'll get over it.
Disappointed I didnt get in the money was going so well and won a lot of hands.

Oh well. Everyone has a bb just like everyone has a sob story, time for bed...zzz.

cheers,
rx

Now Billy, Billy dont u ring ma number..makes final table with chip lead!

2009-05-02T21:52:52Z

Staked my first player in chip me up the other day.
$30 for Billy 'the croc' Arygyros at the AANZPT main event in Sydney.
He's made the money and with the chip lead into today's final day of play.

The reason I did was because under the croc paraphanalia their is a great player with a tonne of experience.

CROCKY, CROCKY, CROCKY!

Almost qualified for WSOP ..ill keep trying

2009-05-02T21:45:39Z

Entered the 40PP Qualifier on stars the other day and qualified in fourth (About 4000 entrants)top 8 win 4000PP and are entered into WSOP main event qualifier where the Top three get a $14k package.

Played the package tournie well but I went on a slight tilt when my Aces were cracked ai preflop by 7's. It just Wasn't to be I came 109th/649 players.
Oh well I'll keep trying.

almost but not quite...placed again

2009-03-17T08:49:03Z

Just did it today when I cashed in the $40k, I had 64s and the flop produced 664, It was deep into the tournie so I slow played it by checking, calling the strong raise (about 5xBB which was $3k/$6k) on the turn and then doubling the raise on the river which was a 7.
Guess what the opponent had?
77. My FH on the flop got rivered.
The opponent was flabbergasted as was I.
I went down to $8k in chips and recovered to $90k plus by selectively ai and got lucky on one where three were ai AA, QQ, and I held 1010, 10 showed on the flop as I was about to shutdown my laptop.
Then to top it all off just as I was preparing for a top 100 finish, I got QQ so I decided to play it strong for a change instead of ai. I thought I'd raise half my chip stack on the flop if nothing higher than a q showed up as I raised to about $16k preflop. As 3,7,8 rainbow came out I bet $45k. The opponent reraised so I shoved. He showed 33....lol!
Then I finished very quickly after that and couldnt recover.

I'd say depending on the stage of the tournie and the way the opponent has been playing, I'd shove on an aggressive player and try to be aggressive against all others.

It's certainly a hard one and one we all face.

Flush vs Straight Draw

2009-03-03T03:11:54Z

Question, which I'm sure has been answered before.

Without exploring the odds in too much mathematical detail:

Why is a Flush rated more highly than a Straight?

My Reasoning:
There are 13 cards of each suit.

If I have an inside out straight draw
with: 4c, 5d
Flop: 6s, 7d, Kc

I have 8 cards to hit the straight (obv 3's and 8's)
(Note: If it's a gutshot straight draw I only have 4 possible outs)

If I have a flush draw
with: 9c, Jc
Flop: 6c, 2c, Kh

I have (13-4) 9 cards to hit the flush and am not confined to a numeric card (easier than a gutshot) so it is probable that the odds be lower than hitting a straight.

Even if you consider in both scenarios that 25% of the outs have been dealt to others it is still bemusing.

Problem with Reasoning:
Now obviously I have assumed we are on the flop but if it were pre-flop and I held the same (4c, 5d) I'd have 24 cards (A,2,3,6,7,8 x four).
And of course pre-flop with two suited cards I only have 11 outs. But wouldn't the probability of those three cards falling in the required order be smaller? I guess it depends when it falls and if you've gambled that far - I know the mathematic pundits will be on to me with this point.

Also, consider if you're on the turn and you have 4 in a straight draw, you only have eight options (if start holding a 2 or holding up to a king) whereas 4 suiteds heading into the flush results in again 9 outs.

On a personal note I hit more flushes than I do straights and feel more accomplished when i do hit a straight and feel hard-done-by (KITN) when beaten by a flush (usually on the river!).

Am I way off with my reasoning? Feel free to refer me to websites, other posts, etc.

Let me know.
Cheers,
rx.

New Best win to date!

2009-03-02T23:57:34Z

Jumped on PS yesterday while I'm recovering from the flu. Thought I'd enter the regular Sunday tournies...sucked out on every account! Oh well so I was considering entering the $50k guarantee for $5 bucks...so i thought why not?

Anyway long story short, it was a good gamble because I kicked arse and had a bit of luck on a few flops late in the piece. I came 5th and collected just under $4500 AUD (2975 USD)and was very happy with myself...there goes the ccard bill and a bit of savings.

I should have scored more but I was sucked out a bit in the second last hand that reduced me to just under 1 million chips (blinds at $250k/$750k) with a K4 offsuit VS Q3 offsuit (the lowest chip stack). Blinds were huge so I called his AI which was becoming frequent. It turned out to be a great call...initially. The flop was clear but the turn was a queen and I did not improve on the river.

So you could consider it unlucky that I missed another grand or so but at the end of the day I had some luck to get there before and on the final table with 1010 vs AA and hit a ten on the flop. The exact same play occured earlier in the day as I halved a table leaders' stack who was bemused so I said like the saying goes..."what goes around comes around".
Ironically, the same player hit a straight on the flop against my KK when we were AI pre-flop. So I said 'told ya - what goes around ...etc' to which he lol'd and said 'to true' (a nice Canadian player by the way).

I think I saw him about 5 hours later in the top twenty.

So yay for me - wish it was more - but considering there were 4000 competitors involved and the poker know-how I faced - I'm very happy.

Cheers,
my99rx.

PS - Photos are being uploaded and I just entered today's $50k guarantee - wish me luck

My efforts to make the cut.

2008-12-03T14:33:57Z

I recently attended Crown for the first in a series of Satellites to the Main event being held down here in Jan....I didn't do great but here's what happened;

Straight after work I made a bee-line to the Casino in shirt and tie which is 2 mins away. I thought I'd rock down early to prepare mentally for what was my first live tourney since almost final tabling earlier in the year at the Melb Champs. It's hard after work I've got to admit, very restless and a bit sweaty in the outfit. I hate ties sooo much.

Anyway, paid my way, downed a beer (Pepperjack to be precise, they normally make a great cheap red wine but have used the grapes for fermenting in beer - a nice drop, Snowy Mountain Crackenback is way better though) sat down and was thinking of my 4 rules of play:

1) Play em as you hold em (maths)
2) Play to position (fear equity)
3) Limp occasionally with nothing to mix it up (randomness)
4) Be confident and know that hands will appear so be ready to play them

Several local big names were there like Andrew Demetriou who I see has already won qualification through to the millions. Geez he's good. He really knows the game well and doesn't mind having a big gamble against overs. Let me tell you he wins more than he loses; a sign of a good player. I beat him early once on a $100 SNG (which I won) and I think he still shakes his head when he sees me...which makes me giggle everytime (I got lucky on a low straight!)

The qualifier started with 130+ entrants and the raises for a $3000 starting chip stack was eyebrow raising to say the least, up at about $400 on the turn. No hands were appearing for the first hour so i raised a few out of position at around 2.5 the BB but got called and even raised but to no avail.

Finally A-K offsuit appeared and I almost licked my lips, so I raised 3x out of position and there were three callers. Flop came 4J9 rainbow. Checked, then there were two consecutive raises so I felt I missed the boat and folded. Turns out they both held top pair with low kickers and the turn was a 7 and the River, what do you know = A. I was internally cursing of course but I knew these early birds would be out of action soon as I'd identified one of them to be ultra conservative and one as a calling station.
After that I still got Nothing, nada, squat for the next half an hour but I stuck with rule number 1 as it takes precedence.

I made the first break having played conservatively but having a look every now and then which is what I had planned. I was hopeful that things would turn around for me and they did.
Time passed and the blinds were getting up to $250 and my stack was in short supply as were others. People were dropping like flies as Blinds would have blinded them out of play so All-Ins were common. My time was coming and I had just paid the blinds as they went by.

The next hand was a 10-J of hearts (suited connectors) so I thought I would go all in and pick up the blinds. However, three others were thinking the same way to. Time was running out until the next increase so I figured that the others must have had AK, AQ, AJ, KQ, KJ, etc.
There were a number of pre-flop raises and reraises until the four of us were all in. There was a total of $4900 in the pot.

As I expected everyone revealed high cards and there were JJs as well.
Flop came 4h8hqs, I had the nut flush draw and one other had a heart, I was in business praying to the poker gods to give me a break and it came on the turn in the form of a sweet 9h, YAY THE FLUSH! River didnt help the otherS and I had kicked two others out. I was now chip leader on the table and I was ready to start playing some poker.

There were now under 60 people left and I felt confident after that hand.

Two hands later, rather controversially, the first card dealt was a Q of clubs that flopped over and was revealed to everyone. I was in a great position, table chip stack leader and just before the blinds so what did I get? AQ of hearts of course.

There were a number of pre-flop raises between me and the other chip stack leader and I was all in knowing full well a queen had already been revealed. He had As10s and I was quite happy. But to my dismay a ten showed up on the flop, the turn wasnt helpful but the river was an Ace. I was a little gutted inside but I tapped the table and wished everyone GL. A bloke from the UK shook my hand and said nice game BL which I replied GG to him in turn with.

Conclusion:
Overall I was happy with my performance, I stuck by my game plan and although it didnt pay off then, it has in the past and will in the future.
If anything I need to find a better dealer, no just kidding they were great.

Will post here again as next weeks qualifiers begin on Monday.

Cheers,
rx.