When You Start To Dream Bad
I took a nap today after donating some of my time to a local worthy cause. It was a good deep nap that I needed. I slept for two hours which for me is all I need to pull an all nighter.
I've had my share of poker dreams in the past and I think it didn't help that before my nap I watched the recording of the last WPT episode where Tommy Vedes luckboxed his way to the win. I lost respect for his game watching him play during the last two episodes ... imo he's a tournament donk all the way. But what does my opinion matter ... well ... it will when I'm in the booth one day.
Anyways, I took a nap and dreamed I was playing poker. It was SO vivid! Here's the hand.
Me: 4
8
Villain: 4
8
We each went to the flop after I made some big raise on the button. By the way this hand was played live in my dream, not online.
FLOP:
Board: 4
8
A
I make a cbet, the villain raised and I shoved all-in. He made the call and we saw that we were going to chop. That is, until the rest of the cards were dealt ...
Turn: 4 8 A 3
River: 4 8 A 3 K
Yes, in my DREAM I got the money in and took a runner-runner bad beat. Clearly, my sub-conscious is focused on how bad the run as been the last few weeks and it came to light in my dream. I do not plan to play for the next few days and after this blog post, put poker completely out of my mind.... at least, I hope I do because I definitely don't want to take another massive beat in my sleep!
read moreHow to Take and Give a Bad Beat
I played a pretty wild session earlier today and ... well if you've ever read the blog, you know the rest. Anyways, lets go to our first example...
Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter
samar19 (BB): $37.65
el_fennec (UTG): $50.00
EesYksiPotti (UTG+1): $50.75
ACESFULLMIC (UTG+2): $18.75
joyjoh (MP1): $63.20
POKERR_FAACE (MP2): $117.60
NBLACKMORE (CO): $53.75
Hero (BTN): $50.00
PokerAce1990 (SB): $53.00
Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BTN with 6 6
2 folds, ACESFULLMIC raises to $1.50, 3 folds, Hero calls $1.50, PokerAce1990 calls $1.25, samar19 raises to $3.25, ACESFULLMIC calls $1.75, Hero calls $1.75, PokerAce1990 calls $1.75
Flop: ($13.00) K 6 3 (4 players)
PokerAce1990 checks, samar19 bets $3, ACESFULLMIC folds, Hero raises to $9, PokerAce1990 calls $9, samar19 calls $6
Turn: ($40.00) K (3 players)
PokerAce1990 checks, samar19 checks, Hero bets $22, PokerAce1990 raises to $40.75 all in, samar19 folds, Hero calls $15.75 all in
*** I am a 85-15% Favorite getting the money All in for a 200+ BB pot ***
River: ($115.50) A (2 players - 2 are all in)
Final Pot: $115.50
Hero shows 6 6 (a full house, Sixes full of Kings)
PokerAce1990 shows K A (a full house, Kings full of Aces)
PokerAce1990 wins $112.50
So this guy didn't have to do this but he wrote in the chat:
"Holy crap man, so sorry"
then I replied back:
"ty, it happens."
Seems fair man, I took a really shitty beat in a huge pot and was a whopping 150bb under EV in one single hand. I thought it was real nice for what looked like a reg to write that. I'm not depressed or pissed, it happens all the time ... at least to me. I'd be curious to see if stuff like that happens to you all on a regular basis.
Anyways ... here's another bad beat / cooler during the same 45 minute session ...
Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter
PIZINHO (MP2): $13.45
zenia2009 (CO): $53.90
ScottyDogg88 (BTN): $14.65
toppertoni (SB): $33.75
Hackerr77 (BB): $50.45
Naty66 (UTG): $50.00
82Sue (UTG+1): $57.95
Hero (MP1): $58.80
Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is MP1 with 8 8
2 folds, Hero raises to $1.75, 1 fold, zenia2009 calls $1.75, 1 fold, toppertoni calls $1.50, Hackerr77 calls $1.25
Flop: ($7.00) K K 8 (4 players)
toppertoni bets $2, Hackerr77 folds, Hero raises to $6, zenia2009 folds, toppertoni calls $4
*** Tried to get the money in here obviously, and turned out to be a 77-23% favorite at this point ***
Turn: ($19.00) J (2 players)
toppertoni bets $5.75, Hero raises to $25, toppertoni raises to $26 all in, Hero calls $1
*** Sick cooler ***
River: ($71.00) 6 (2 players - 1 is all in)
Final Pot: $71.00
toppertoni shows K J (a full house, Kings full of Jacks)
Hero shows 8 8 (a full house, Eights full of Kings)
toppertoni wins $68.00
And so this moron who plays 38/12/4 over 500+ hands in my DB then writes:
"88 lol donk"
Wow. So I wrote nothing back rather than get into it. But it certainly didn't tilt me, but it did make me think of making this post. There's a good way and a bad way to give and take a beat. The moral of the story? Don't be a douche.
read moreA Very Sad and Frustrating Start to 2010 at the Tables
It's been 2 months of 0BB/100 poker with the year starting off bad (-4BB/100 bad) and although I am studying and getting coaching, I'm just not happy with the game. The funny thing I have learned is that your EV graph is hardly a good way of seeing if you are running good or not. Right now I am a tad above expected EV but the goofiest weirdest things keep happening. I got some encouragement when I sent hands from a recent session and both Taylor and Brian (two 200nl+ players I am friends with) told me on all the hands I sent they would both have played it exactly the same. That made me feel a TON better, because the worst thing that happens to me is feeling like coaching and studying is wasting everyone's time and my game isn't getting better. Maybe without the coaching and stuff things would be a lot worst than just being down a few buy-ins now to start January.
Here's some hands ... feel free to comment. If you plan on writing a "you just got to put in the hands and play through it" comment, please don't, I've heard it and I totally understand. If you have some sort of magic phrase or want to send me a leprechaun's dick for good luck, then I'll accept that.
-----------------------
Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players
Hero (BB): $106.40
UTG: $259.45
CO: $106.10
BTN: $100.00
SB: $19.80
Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with Q K
2 folds, BTN (22/18/3) raises to $3, 1 fold, Hero calls $2
Flop: ($6.50) Q T Q (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $4, Hero calls $4
Turn: ($14.50) 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $11, Hero raises to $33, BTN calls $22
River: ($80.50) A (2 players)
Hero bets $66.40 all in, BTN requests TIME, BTN calls $60 all in
Final Pot: $200.50
Hero shows Q K (three of a kind, Queens)
BTN shows J 8 (a straight, Queen high)
BTN wins $197.50
-----------------------
Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
SB: $120.50
BB: $100.00
UTG: $85.25 (24/10, folds to 3bets 0% over 120 hands)
Hero (MP): $148.30
CO: $20.00
BTN: $26.75
Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is MP with A K
UTG raises to $5, Hero raises to $15, 4 folds, UTG calls $10
Flop: ($31.50) 5 6 3 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $30, UTG raises to $70.25 all in, Hero calls $40.25
Turn: ($172.00) 7 (2 players - 1 is all in)
River: ($172.00) 7 (2 players - 1 is all in)
Final Pot: $172.00
UTG shows Q A (a flush, Ace high)
Hero shows A K (a flush, King high)
UTG wins $169.00
-----------------------
Goofing around at 25nl FR to "have some fun" ...
Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players
CO: $24.65
BTN: $29.55
SB: $12.85
BB: $26.00
UTG: $25.90
UTG+1: $25.25
UTG+2: $13.05
Hero (MP1): $27.00
MP2: $22.60
Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is MP1 with K J
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.25, 1 fold, Hero raises to $1.10, 2 folds, BTN calls $1.10, 2 folds, UTG+1 calls $0.85
Flop: ($3.65) 3 J J (3 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $2, BTN calls $2, UTG+1 folds
Turn: ($7.65) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $4.50, BTN raises to $9, Hero calls $4.50
River: ($25.65) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $14.90 all in, BTN calls $14.90
Final Pot: $55.45
BTN shows 3 3 (a full house, Threes full of Jacks)
Hero shows K J (three of a kind, Jacks)
BTN wins $52.75
(Rake: $2.70)
-----------------------
Full Tilt Poker $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
BTN: $100.00
SB: $275.95
BB: $184.00
UTG: $100.00 (16/13, folds to cbet 50%, folds to turn cbet 0% over 270 hands)
MP: $108.80
Hero (CO): $102.90
Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with A A
UTG raises to $3.50, 1 fold, Hero raises to $11, 3 folds, UTG calls $7.50
Flop: ($23.50) 9 9 J (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $14, UTG calls $14
Turn: ($51.50) 9 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $25, UTG raises to $50, Hero raises to $75, UTG calls $25 all in
River: ($201.50) 3 (2 players - 1 is all in)
Final Pot: $201.50
UTG shows 9 T (four of a kind, Nines)
Hero shows A A (a full house, Nines full of Aces)
UTG wins $198.50
read moreBrutal Session
Well, it was inevitable that a return to the tables would mean a return to my usual state of wondering why I bother playing. I played about 600 hands today and dropped a decent amount of coin unfortunately. Here's the lowlights:
Flop a Boat, Lose a Stack!
What more can you really say? I mean, nothing I could do here.
Aces in a 3bet Pot = Garbage
I guess the flop shove was stupid. He's calling my PF read of AK there or really any Kx hand, or even QQ or JJ thinking my shove might be blind bluff aggression. Didn't really work out for me did it?
Kings ain't better with no 6max love
Put in a session at 50nl 6max ... that didn't go well. This guy hits a 2 outer on the river. Hip hip hooray.
read moreFirst Session in 2 Weeks…
Well, I don't know if you could really classify this as a session, but for the first time in two weeks I actually logged in and played poker for 45 minutes. Unfortunately, I have a real bad taste in my mouth after playing thanks to some 3rd party software glitches and accidentally taking the tram to coolerville. I played some micro-stakes tables fortunately (50nl) so the damage wasn't horrible, but it was a "whole experience" kind of thing that just left me wondering why I enjoy playing at all.
The first issue I had was with TableNinjaFT and how it slows down the tables and games. I have a custom table mod installed from TiltBuster, so it's not super random and it should be supported. What happens is that when TableNinjaFT does its auto-calculation for bets on each street it somehow refreshes the calculation two or three times and everything else stops. It makes EVERYTHING drag and the entire experience just feels slow, lame, boring and frustrating.
The second issue I had was with Lady Luck, who decided to welcome me back at the table by taking a big fat schat on my face. There was some standard stuff I really don't mind like shoving AKo against a shorstacker with 99 who won the flip. That's cool. It was the QQ vs JJ all in at the 5-4-2 rainbow flop for 110 big blinds that saw him hit the river 2-outer that sucked. Shortly after I stacked QQ preflop against an unknown and whoops he showed up with KK. Might have made a bad shove there, but still, it's my right to vent about how sucky that all was 
So, yes, I'm left wondering "Gee, uh, I used to do that for FUN!?" and question just what the hell I am doing with my time when it comes to playing poker. Considering I have better things to focus on like making a steady income that actually is in proportion to my professional experience and education, it's really hard to justify to myself that playing poker is a worthwhile thing outside of occasional recreational activity.
Of course, if I had WON 2-3 buy-ins thanks to smart play and heaters, I'd probably be singing a different tune!
read moreOh No Not Another Craptober At The Tables!
Warning: This is, yet again, another "I run bad" post. The hands you are about to see are not for those with heart conditions or those subjected to motion sickness.
Let's just say it. Bad start to the month but it's just the first few days so I'm not writing off poker and the month just yet. Anyways I've run into some crazy non-standard coolers (well 1 standard) that you should enjoy.
This first hand ... this guy has a fold to cbet on the flop and turn of 0%, so he never folds:
Holy hell right? He posts out of turn, calls my big raise with KJo and hits quads against my boat. Crazy.
This player is a 19/8/inf ... I guess this is standard? Ha.
So it's been not even 1,200 hands and I've had two boats lose to quads. Kinda crazy eh? Not sure how to deal with that lol.
This next hand was against someone I had no reads on at all and given his stack at the table I read as a huge fish.
That's the one standard cooler. Gotta love starting out a month that way! Weee.
This one is simply beyond the valley of comprehension. The guy is a 43/14/inf who donk bets 100% (4/4).
I sat at a few non-deep tables, I try to sit at them if the game looks juicy and there's no shortstackers in my blinds. Doesn't matter, they always find their way to the table and always manage to run like this:
Just wow. Icing on the cake eh?
Enough of that!
I hate when I post coolers. It means I'm losing, running bad and somewhat tilted. Fortunately I am not uber-upset and slamming fists into things. I'm just a little disheartened. I plan to go do some chores, clean up a bit and see if I feel up for another session. It'd be nice to run okay and have a good time. Hard to do when you play two sessions and the above happens!
Anyways, hope all the readers have a much better start than I am having, just remember it's not where we start but how we end up that counts!!
read moreAbout Me
My name is Sean Gibson and I am a poker journalist and part time poker player. I work full time at PokerNewsDaily.com where I host a daily news show called "The Daily Deal" and also handle the bulk of the live player interviews. In terms of poker you will find me playing $1/$3 No Limit Hold'em in Vegas or in Los Angeles (or San Diego) and online playing small stakes games.
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