The World Series of Poker

Here's my bustout from the $650 WSOP main event satellite I just crashed out of. I hate coolers.

PokerStars Game #27484963440: Tournament #156615758, $615+$35 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (50/100) - 2009/04/25 16:09:14 ETTable '156615758 6' 9-max
Seat #1 is the buttonSeat 1: liIhoIdem954 (5988 in chips)
Seat 2: painhead (1665 in chips)
Seat 3: mendieta19 (1585 in chips)
Seat 4: oaktree50 (10082 in chips)
Seat 5: ryanghall (8340 in chips)
Seat 6: Rockytherock (2515 in chips)
Seat 8: waz111 (2488 in chips)
Seat 9: jotaele1 (1842 in chips)
liIhoIdem954: posts the ante 10
painhead: posts the ante 10
mendieta19: posts the ante 10
oaktree50: posts the ante 10
ryanghall: posts the ante 10
Rockytherock: posts the ante 10
waz111: posts the ante 10
jotaele1: posts the ante 10
painhead: posts small blind 50
mendieta19: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Rockytherock [Qs Qc]
oaktree50: folds
ryanghall: raises 200 to 300
Rockytherock: calls 300
waz111: folds jotaele1: folds
liIhoIdem954: folds
painhead: raises 1355 to 1655 and is all-in
mendieta19: folds
ryanghall: raises 6675 to 8330 and is all-in
Rockytherock: calls 2205 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (5825) returned to ryanghall
*** FLOP *** [Js Jh Qh]
*** TURN *** [Js Jh Qh] [Ad]
*** RIVER *** [Js Jh Qh Ad] [Td]***
SHOW DOWN ***
ryanghall: shows [As Ac] (a full house, Aces full of Jacks)
Rockytherock: shows [Qs Qc] (a full house, Queens full of Jacks)
ryanghall collected 1700 from side
potpainhead: shows [8c 8s] (two pair, Jacks and Eights)
ryanghall collected 5145 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***Total pot 6845 Main pot 5145. Side pot 1700. Rake 0
Board [Js Jh Qh Ad Td]Seat 1:
liIhoIdem954 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)Seat 2: painhead (small blind) showed [8c 8s] and lost with two pair, Jacks and EightsSeat 3: mendieta19 (big blind) folded before FlopSeat 4: oaktree50 folded before Flop (didn't bet)Seat 5: ryanghall showed [As Ac] and won (6845) with a full house, Aces full of JacksSeat 6: Rockytherock showed [Qs Qc] and lost with a full house, Queens full of JacksSeat 8: waz111 folded before Flop (didn't bet)Seat 9: jotaele1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Playing some tired poker

Last Saturday I decided to play some poker starting from about 6pm. I was very tired from band practice but often use poker as a way to wind down before going to bed after a long day.

I started playing a few tournaments, including the $215 8-game which happens every Saturday on stars and I really enjoy. However, fatigue quickly set in across the board, and I was playing about $800 worth of tournaments. I started busting out, and didn't really try to fight in any of my games, my bustout in the 8-game was particularly stupid.

The next morning I found myself with that nice dent in my account and I was shaking my head at my idiocy.

I'm playing a bit today, if I'm not too tired.

James

SCOOP 11, Mixed hold'em

Buy In - $320

Finished - 74th of 1125

Money - $725.62

I really enjoyed this tournament which culminated in, what my opinion, was an unavoidable coinflip in the NL 500/1000 round. We had history, with me doubling him up when I called his 15BB shove with KQ when he showed AQ. I knew this was a coinflip probably 97% of the time and felt I needed to gamble because the limit rounds were brutal. The hand is shown below, along with a few other important hands in the tournament.

As good as bust -

PokerStars Game #26844594685: Tournament #200904112, $300+$20 Hold'em Mixed (Hold'em No Limit) - Level XXXIV (500/1000) - 2009/04/08 1:44:10 WET [2009/04/07 20:44:10 ET]
Table '200904112 34' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: CobaltBlueX (57496 in chips)
Seat 2: tzompu (90195 in chips)
Seat 3: slammedfire (46651 in chips)
Seat 4: crackhAAd (33493 in chips)
Seat 5: kidpoker406 (130942 in chips)
Seat 6: Rockytherock (47434 in chips)
slammedfire: posts the ante 125
crackhAAd: posts the ante 125
kidpoker406: posts the ante 125
Rockytherock: posts the ante 125
CobaltBlueX: posts the ante 125
tzompu: posts the ante 125
slammedfire: posts small blind 500
crackhAAd: posts big blind 1000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Rockytherock [Th Td]
kidpoker406: folds
Rockytherock: raises 2000 to 3000
CobaltBlueX: folds
tzompu: folds
kidpoker406 said, "nhl"
slammedfire: raises 43526 to 46526 and is all-in
crackhAAd: folds
Rockytherock: calls 43526
*** FLOP *** [5s Kh 7c]
*** TURN *** [5s Kh 7c] [5h]
*** RIVER *** [5s Kh 7c 5h] [6s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
slammedfire: shows [Ah Ks] (two pair, Kings and Fives)
Rockytherock: shows [Th Td] (two pair, Tens and Fives)
Rockytherock said, "gg gl"
slammedfire collected 94802 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 94802 | Rake 0
Board [5s Kh 7c 5h 6s]
Seat 1: CobaltBlueX folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: tzompu (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: slammedfire (small blind) showed [Ah Ks] and won (94802) with two pair, Kings and Fives
Seat 4: crackhAAd (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: kidpoker406 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Rockytherock showed [Th Td] and lost with two pair, Tens and Fives

Very badly played hand early on -

PokerStars Game #26837992524: Tournament #200904112, $300+$20 Hold'em Mixed (Hold'em Limit) - Level XVII (300/600) - 2009/04/07 22:27:48 WET [2009/04/07 17:27:48 ET]
Table '200904112 34' 6-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: RuFio25 (2658 in chips)
Seat 2: scarface_79 (4402 in chips)
Seat 3: Joe_Banks (6716 in chips)
Seat 4: jcamby33 (20938 in chips)
Seat 5: skat tilt (22867 in chips)
Seat 6: Rockytherock (16485 in chips)
skat tilt: posts small blind 150
Rockytherock: posts big blind 300
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Rockytherock [Jc Jh]
RuFio25 has timed out
RuFio25: folds
RuFio25 is sitting out
scarface_79: folds
RuFio25 has returned
Joe_Banks: raises 300 to 600
jcamby33: calls 600
skat tilt: folds
Rockytherock: raises 300 to 900
Joe_Banks: calls 300
jcamby33: calls 300
*** FLOP *** [6c 9h 9d]
Rockytherock: bets 300
Joe_Banks: calls 300
jcamby33: raises 300 to 600
Rockytherock: calls 300
Joe_Banks: calls 300
*** TURN *** [6c 9h 9d] [2s]
Rockytherock: checks
Joe_Banks: checks
jcamby33: bets 600
Rockytherock: calls 600
Joe_Banks: folds
*** RIVER *** [6c 9h 9d 2s] [8d]
Rockytherock: checks
jcamby33: bets 600
Rockytherock: calls 600
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jcamby33: shows [9c As] (three of a kind, Nines)
Rockytherock: mucks hand
jcamby33 collected 7050 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 7050 | Rake 0
Board [6c 9h 9d 2s 8d]
Seat 1: RuFio25 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: scarface_79 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Joe_Banks folded on the Turn
Seat 4: jcamby33 (button) showed [9c As] and won (7050) with three of a kind, Nines
Seat 5: skat tilt (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: Rockytherock (big blind) mucked [Jc Jh]

Was torn between value betting/checking the river here

PokerStars Game #26841390999: Tournament #200904112, $300+$20 Hold'em Mixed (Hold'em Limit) - Level XXV (800/1600) - 2009/04/08 0:03:07 WET [2009/04/07 19:03:07 ET]
Table '200904112 34' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: SixZeros (26475 in chips)
Seat 2: scarface_79 (9098 in chips)
Seat 3: NEKOTYAN (17550 in chips)
Seat 4: jcamby33 (28450 in chips)
Seat 5: skat tilt (34601 in chips)
Seat 6: Rockytherock (28223 in chips)
scarface_79: posts small blind 400
NEKOTYAN: posts big blind 800
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Rockytherock [Kc Kd]
jcamby33: folds
skat tilt: raises 800 to 1600
Rockytherock: raises 800 to 2400
SixZeros: folds
scarface_79: folds
NEKOTYAN: folds
skat tilt: calls 800
*** FLOP *** [Jc 8c Th]
skat tilt: checks
Rockytherock: bets 800
skat tilt: calls 800
*** TURN *** [Jc 8c Th] [Qd]
skat tilt: checks
Rockytherock: checks
*** RIVER *** [Jc 8c Th Qd] [Js]
skat tilt: checks
Rockytherock: bets 1600
skat tilt: calls 1600
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Rockytherock: shows [Kc Kd] (two pair, Kings and Jacks)
skat tilt: shows [9s 8d] (a straight, Eight to Queen)
skat tilt collected 10800 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 10800 | Rake 0
Board [Jc 8c Th Qd Js]
Seat 1: SixZeros (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: scarface_79 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: NEKOTYAN (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: jcamby33 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: skat tilt showed [9s 8d] and won (10800) with a straight, Eight to Queen
Seat 6: Rockytherock showed [Kc Kd] and lost with two pair, Kings and Jacks

Brag

Have to start off on a positive!

I ran into Thx4UrM0ney in a $27 18 man SnG on pokerstars. For those of you who don't know, he's the guy who won SCOOP 4 medium for $103k last week. He said he was staked and pocketed $53k for himself... not bad for a freeroll!

He told me that all players who final table a SCOOP event get a limited edition jacket, and I'm in that group with my 7th place in SCOOP 2 medium!

Of course, a jacket doesn't really compare to the prize money, but that's the beauty of the gambler's fallacy.

For more information on SCOOP - www.pokerstars.com/scoop

EDIT

Check out the pokerstars blog on my final table -
http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/scoop/2009/scoop-victory-is-twice-as-nice-for-sdoub-038153.html

Journey of a grinder

Welcome to my blog that's been a long time coming. I have played internet poker for the past 4 years and am at a reasonable standard, but have many flaws in my game that need ironing out. This blog will hopefully help me to achieve this, and give you an insight into someone who fancies themselves as a reasonably good multi-table tournament player. Strategy of poker can be discussed until the cows come home, but in brief I would categorize myself as much more of a 'feel' player than one who calculates the odds. I do know some basic percentages, but in my opinion 'math' types in their purest form do not exist, even in live poker, because the amount of mental arithmetic necessary to be done in under a minute is ridiculous.

So welcome! Appreciate, comment away and if you have any questions for me don't hesitate, I'll be posting hands and such from various tournaments as they arise, with my thoughts behind my line.

James