Poker Blog

What a sicko

2006-05-29T00:28:00.000-05:00

Full Tilt Poker Game #671774451: Table Laguna Mist - $50/$100 - Pot Limit Omaha - 0:13:43 ET - 2006/05/29
Phil Ivey calls $200
*** FLOP *** [4h Kc 5d]
Phil Ivey checks
Spirit Rock bets $600
Phil Ivey calls $600
*** TURN *** [4h Kc 5d] [7h]
Phil Ivey bets $1,400
Spirit Rock calls $1,400
*** RIVER *** [4h Kc 5d 7h] [2s]
Phil Ivey bets $4,400
Spirit Rock calls $4,348, and is all in
Uncalled bet of $52 returned to Phil Ivey
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Phil Ivey shows [7c 6d 9s 6c] (a pair of Sevens)
Spirit Rock shows [Kh As Jh 2c] (two pair, Kings and Twos)
Spirit Rock wins the pot ($13,295.50) with two pair, Kings and Twos

*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $13,296 | Rake $0.50
Board: [4h Kc 5d 7h 2s]
Seat 5: Phil Ivey (big blind) showed [7c 6d 9s 6c] and lost with a pair of Sevens
Seat 6: Spirit Rock (small blind) showed [Kh As Jh 2c] and won ($13,295.50) with two pair, Kings and Twos

What a sick bastard. Does Phil really bluff with absolute air one in three times here?

A twisted game & recent tournament results

2006-02-03T10:06:00.000-05:00

Pot Limit Omaha is a twisted game at times. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise! This was a hand from two nites ago. I have no idea what bottom set is doing in this pot, but it's a pretty brutal hand either way.

Poker Room skin
Pot Limit Omaha Ring game
Blinds: $0.50/$0.50
9 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $51.80
UTG+1: $33.70
MP1: $43.95
MP2: $23.85
MP3: $88.75
CO: $38
Hero: $68
SB: $36.35
BB: $50

Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is Button with a bunch of instamucked rags
MP2 calls $0.5, MP3 calls $0.5, CO calls $0.5, Hero folds, SB calls $0.5, BB checks, UTG (poster) checks, UTG+1, folds, MP1 (poster) checks.

Flop: 7c Tc Ks ($3.5, 7 players)
MP1 bets $3.5, MP2 folds, MP3 calls $3.5, CO raises to $17.5, 3 folds, MP1 raises all-in $39.95, MP3 raises all-in $84.75, CO 20 $20.
Uncalled bets: $44.8 returned to MP3.

Turn: Ah ($120.9, 0 player + 3 all-in - Main pot: $116, Sidepot 1: $4.9)

River: Kh ($120.9, 0 player + 3 all-in - Main pot: $116, Sidepot 1: $4.9)

Results:
Final pot: $120.9
Hand i: 7h 3s 6s 7s
Hand 2: Qc 10h Jc 10s
Hand 3: Kc Kd 8c 2d

Middle set would actually be ahead on this flop if his flush draw was live.

I finally got around to playing the US Daily last nite. I was hoping there would be slightly more room for play since the blind levels are a bit longer than smaller buy-in tournaments. I never really got to splash around as a big pot early put me in a tough spot. I eventually busted out in 47th out of 224 entrants. I'm disappointed with how it went. Not because I was expecting to win, but I was hoping to get a hold of some chips, get into some pots, and see what's what.

After being knocked out of the US Daily I entered a $10+$1 with 362 participants. I LAG'ed it up early to much success. Within the first hour I had my stack up in the top 20 and just about everything working right at my table. Then my table broke and I was moved to a table with a lot of chips. After being moved to the new table I went from 17th place to out in less than ten minutes. I raised UTG with queens and got one late position caller. The flop came Jack, Nine, Baby with two diamonds. I moved in for about $200 more than the pot and was called by the LP player. He had only 200-300 more than I did so I've got no idea why he's making that call with Qc Tc and zero implied odds. The 8h lands on the turn and I'm drawing only to a chop on the river which bricked off. 89th out of 362.

2006 ROI: 58.6%

Continued success?

2006-01-31T17:28:00.000-05:00

I played two $6+$1 single table satellites to the $50+$4 US/Euro/Aussie Daily this afternoon. I did not play very well in the first one and made one mistake that cost me a good portion of my stack. I ended up being eliminated in 5th place. My play in the second qualifier was much better. I was fortunate enough to be sat to the left of some poor players who paid me off handsomely twice when I flopped a set. The heads up match was not incredibly eventful. The player I was up against seemed to be solid, but appeared to be lost when it came to HU play. On the final hand I held K6o in the big blind. The flop came 9K6, I check-raised enough to put him all in, and he called with JJ. The turn and river bricked off and that was that.

Poker Room skin
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t200/t400
2 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
SB: t2120
Hero: t12880

Pre-flop: (2 players) Hero is BB with Ks 6d
SB calls t200, Hero checks.

Flop: 9s Kc 6s (t800, 2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets t400, Hero raises to t1800, SB calls all-in t1320.
Uncalled bets: t480 returned to Hero.

Turn: 7d (t3440, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t3440)

River: 7h (t3440, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t3440)

Results:
Final pot: t3440
Hero has Ks 6d
SB has Jd Jc

The US Daily is at 8 p.m. Eastern every weekday with a guaranteed prize pool of $10,000. The Euro Daily is at 3 p.m. Eastern, I think. I'm not sure if I will play tonight or wait until tomorrow. It depends on how tired I am. I'm being realistic about my chances, but here's hoping I can play well, catch some breaks, and go deep once again.

Early success in the new year

2006-01-31T00:33:00.000-05:00

One of the poker goals I set for myself for 2006 was to play more MTTs and make a final table. It wasn't until yesterday that I finally got around to entering some tournaments and, as luck would have it, I performed very well right off the bat. In the last 24 hours I have entered four MTTs resulting in three cashes and two final tables.

Obviously I can't expect my results to continue on at this pace, but it is a terrific feeling to have set a goal and achieved it.

Time to set some a new goal...

Zen and the Art of Poker

2005-11-15T01:56:00.000-05:00

"Poker expertise (at least emotionally) could be said to exist at the point where caring and not caring intersect."

Zen and the Art of Poker: Timeless Secrets to Transform Your Game

I'm in the middle of reading this book. If you ever steam while at the table I would recommend reading it. If you do not have problems with allowing emotion to negatively affect your game there is much in the book that may prove interesting on a philosophical level.

PLO, quads, and the Tournament of Champions

2005-11-11T00:38:00.000-05:00

Nothing like making quad eights and having two opponents pay you off. After getting my ass handed to me last nite playing Pot Limit Omaha it felt good to have a profitable session where I also played well.

I was glad to see Mike Matusow win the WSOP Tournament of Champions. The final three players were Matusow, Phil Hellmuth, and Hoyt Corkins. This should make for some great television even if Hellmuth should never have been there in the first place.

MacPoker Pro Update

2005-11-08T20:11:00.000-05:00

Version 1.23 of MacPoker Pro has been released by Open End Software. If you play online poker on a Mac with any degree of seriousness I highly recommend this software.