Ass in the Hole! Ass in the Hole!

Quit or shove while ahead.

PokerStars has got to be the best online poker application on the internet. No flashy graphics, just your cards, an avatar and the table--- simply, simplicity works.

Playing play money tourneys and cash-game tables, It's eating up a lot of my time these days. i am targeting a million chips in a month--- if i do that, my girl will actually allow me to spend Real Money and join minimum buy-in games (around $0.02... Not bad, eh?)

So last night and the night before that (translation: the entire weekend) i was awake until the wee hours of the morning.

A hundred hands later all i remember is this:

i was holding and acting on the button. After a couple of players flat-called the blinds (20-40) i raised to 120.

The small blind called as did the big blind... with the limpers going out. Not bad, i thought. i'm going to milk this shit.

Thinking of milk and more after the rainbow flop of i knew this was the classic chance to just check it and hope they make the bluff.

The small blind (who had 2300+ at this point) checked to the big blind (big stack: 4,000++) who immediately raised to a healthy 900.

i knew he hit something--- top or middle but i KNEW s/he had no trips or even a straight draw so i flat-called his bet even as the small blind got out of the way.

The turn was no help to either of us (i was so positive it was of no help to him)... He checked and (the moron in me as i realized later) raised to around 1200, which he easily called.

Then the river came out. At this point i knew i had him after all it did not pair the board (no trips on this one) and there was no possible straight or flush anyway... So when he went all-in it was instant call from me.

He showed:

As i mucked the rockets clicking and re-clicking the muck button because of embarassment. Got booted out of that tournament (27 players) at 25th place.

After-the-Fact Realizations:
+ Aggressive continuous betting is key. Especially with PokerStars, after all it's just play money... So with any pair on the board (especially top pair) they are going to call anyway. If i went all-in after the flop, i could have taken the loss better. But because i wasn't aggressive enough the big stack just kept on calling and calling. Maybe that all-in would have given me a different result--- and a lease on the tournament life.

NEVER Limp a Top Pair + Top Kicker

So there i was in another media freeroll. Guaranteed was 40 thousand and 20 people registered for the event. 10 places were in the money, meaning i just had to beat half the field and i was assured of at least a thousand bucks, correct? Wrong.

The good news is that i wasn't the first one busted out like in the first media freeroll i joined. The bad news is this:

Blinds: 20-40, 9 handed table.

Pre-flop a couple of players--- one from under-the-gun, the other from the middle position--- put a healthy raise-and-call into the middle. UTG player raised to around 450 and the MP player, his friend (remember this is a media event so everyone is the friend of the other except myself who is relatively new in this business...) immediately called. You know they were (close) friends because they were laughing all the while they were betting.

While everyone else folded and left the guys for their heads-up battle... The killjoy in me called and wanted to join the festivities. (Asshole at the button position.)

The flop showed what i wanted, what i needed:



At this point, both opponents were still very lax and laughing and challenging each other that if one raises the other will re-raise... Until both checked. Lost in thought on how these "friends" were making it a friendly game, i also checked.

The turn was again favorable to me. Fears of straight draws did not cross my mind as both of them checked once again. And again, i followed suit and checked.

The river looked like a trouble-free card too. One opponent, still laughing and smiling and having fun checked but the guy from the mid-position went all-in. A move that surprised me and forced me to go into tank mode...

And tank and tank...

i looked at my hand as may hands were trembling. He was virtually pushing me all-in with this bet (i covered him but not much, i did a quick count and i had over 500 left if i called and lost this hand)... confusing me even further... and further... and further.

Until i called.

As the guy showed i was left licking my wounds. And my pride. People around me were asking if i had Jacks right? And i could not even lie. i busted out around 5 hands later, failing to survive this badly-misplaced hand.

After-the-Fact Realizations:
+ As the title goes, never limp with a top pair. At least fire something!
+ i have an excuse against the point above because the table (well two of them) were just having fun with a check and check... Lesson learnt: fuck them and just play my game.
+ Somebody goes all-in at the river, it's never to bad to fold top pairs...

Kings Fucked Up by the Ladies

If this was a porn flick the title would have been heaven. Then again, we are talking about poker here, so expect hell. i was playing on a media free roll event during the APT Philippines 2010 event last August. Ah, the joys of freeroll, one of the perks of the new job. Playing for relatively higher stakes at cost of none. About 18-20 media people registered (divided into two tables, of course) and some of them still had work to do during the media tournament itself (or i'd like to think so as this will be my Excuse #1)

Blinds: 20-40, 9-handed table

After three players folded, i raised to 400 pre-flop from the middle position forcing the next five players, including the small blind to throw away their hand. The big blind immediately made the call, however. i put him at Aces and felt good about my chances.

FLOP:

First to act after the flop, the big blind checked to me as i immediately shoved. Surprised, he also went all-in as i excitedly flipped my hand over and showed the guy across the table i had serious pockets.

MY HAND:

After seeing my hand he disgustingly showed his hand.

OPPONENT:

( At this point, i was already celebrating inside my head; i could taste the chips. i was so sure i was going to be the big stack bully after this hand!)

TURN:

The turn did cooperate, i was halfway to a Jordan fist-pump and halfway to pulling all the pot my way.

And then the other lady came.

RIVER:

Like every bad beat in my poker life, the emotion was already emptied even before the queen hit the board. Yes i was excited and yes i was expecting that i will win the hand but for some strange reason i knew the queen was coming (or not)

Either way, i quickly stood up went to the other side of the table and congratulated my nemesis.

Gingerly, i walked back to our work area thinking of ways to soften the blow and explain to them how i busted out first in the media freeroll event.

After-the-fact Realizations:
+ Was the 400 raise too big or too small? My reasoning was that i wanted to eliminate all the players who had aces as they could hit it on the board; if they really wanted to get it, they had to pay for it. (Well for the Q-7 guy, even that was not enough)
+ i went all-in after the flop where my opponent hit his Q (top pair on the board) would it have gone differently if i slow-played my pocket kings? (He did not run away from the 400 and my all-in, was he calling all the way, anyway?)