Commerce Sessions: 10/11/08 and 10/14/08

Posted: under Poker.

10/11/08:

The new layout to this page totally killed the sexy table format I had before. Anyways. I was playing 2/3 NL. Now California cardrooms (”casinos”) have this weird system where at each game, there are fixed buy-ins. For example, the 1/2 NL, you have to buy in for $40, and for 2/3 NL, you have to buy in for $100.

I sat down, and went through six garbage hands. Then I picked up 5c5d at the cutoff spot. There were 4 limpers, so I raised to 25. UTG called and two other limpers called. So the pot is about 100. Flop was 2c 4h 6s. Pretty dead. The SB leads out, putting in 25. The limpers fold; I’m sitting there thinking “what the fuck can he have?” I don’t think he’d have two pair; no way he’d call a preflop raise with that shit. Maybe he has an overpair? Then again, UTG limped under the gun, so I didn’t think he had anything of the sort. So what do I do? I shove for about 70 more. He calls! And flips over… A6. Wow. Seriously? Anyways, turn is Kd, and then, I spike 3d on the river for the straight.

I let a few more orbits of garbage hands go. And then I pick up AsTs under the gun. I thought about throwing it away, but instead, I raise to 12. Dealer calls and SB calls. Pot’s about 35. Flop is Tc 8d 7s. SB checks. I bet 20, slightly over half-pot. Dealer shoves for 30 more, and the SB shoves for 70 total. I have about 350 left, and I’m curious. Well, I guess I knew I was beat, and I don’t know what I was thinking, but I called. Dealer had J9 for the nut straight, and SB had pocket eights. Haha. So fucked. Turn was Ac and the river was 7d, giving the SB the winning hand, eights full of sevens.

After a few bluffs and calling the bluffs, my stack was at about 500. It was my last orbit and last hand, and I pick up Ac2c UTG. I raise to 10. Dealer called, and everyone else folded. Flop was 5s 7d 2c. I bet 15 and he called. Turn was 5d. I bet 30 and he called. I give up my hand; river is 3h and I check. He bets 120, and I fold. I’m just curious as to what he had. High pair? Sevens? Deuces? What was he calling me down with?

+340

———-

10/14/08:

Nothing to say really. I spent the first ~60 hands throwing away shit. I got K4 twelve times and Q2 seven times. It was truly amazing. First playable hand I get is AsTd UTG. I raise to 12. The guy after me (asshole #1) re-raises me to 24, and the SB (asshole #2) re-raises to 75. Like… what the fuck, guys. I throw the hand away, and the two assholes duke it out. Queens (asshole #2) against Eights (asshole #1), and asshole #1 spikes an eight on the turn for a set. Jackasses.

After two more orbits of garbage, I get TsTc UTG. I raise to 10. Asshole #1 re-raises to 30, and the SB (asshole #3) re-raises to 70. I have ~40 left, and I’m sick of getting shit and these two assholes, so I throw in the rest of my chips. So we’re all all-in. Asshole #1 has nines, and asshole #3 has kings. Bricks all around, and I lose. =[

-100

Probably one of the worst (not monetary but disappointing) sessions.

Comments (1) Oct 15 2008

May 18, 2008 - AC poker session

Posted: under Poker.

Well, I guess it’s true. I’m a poker degen now. Whatever. It lets me pay my bills, buy baseball tickets, and other niceties. So I’m not complaining. Before I get into the big poker hands, I’d like to mention a few words about the Borgata buffet. It was thirty dollars to get dinner, and it was worth every penny. The food was soooo good. Started off with a bucket of shrimp cocktail. =D Maybe, I should just get a room and live there for the summer. Maybe… Anyway, I sat down at a 1/2 table with 200 when I got to the Borgata. Here are some of the big hands:

Hand 1: I was under the gun.
My hand: As Ks I raised to 15. The girl next to me, a cute Chinese girl that looked like Hsu Qi called, and everyone folded.
Flop: Ah Qh 3h
(pot: $33)		 Um… Shit. Why are there so many hearts? Hoping to bet her out of getting a draw, I bet 45. She calls.
Turn: 9s
(pot: $123)		 I know I shouldn’t, but I checked, and she checked.
River: Kc
(pot: $123)		 I was perfectly happy to see this card. I bet 60 (half pot). She called and flipped over pocket kings.
Hand 2: I was BB. “Hsu” raised to 8. #6 and button called. SB folded.
My hand: Jd Td I like this hand. I call.
Flop: 2s 5h 9c
(pot: $33)		 Exactly the flop I wanted to see. Everyone looks disappointed. Checks to me, I bet 10. “Hsu” calls and the two players after fold.
Turn: Ts
(pot: $53)		 Nice. I have top pair. “Hsu” checks, I bet 18. She hesitates for a sec, but calls. I guess she has two spades and/or a stright draw.
River: Js
(pot: $89)		 Yessssshit. Fuck. Um… What do I do? She looks at me with her pretty eyes and bets 30. *sigh* The hands that beat me are 22, 55, 99, TT, JJ, 78, QK, and two spades. The pot odds I’m getting is 4-to-1. So I call. She shows A9s. She’s raping me; I guess normally that’s a good thing, but not at a poker table.
Hand 3: I was on the button. Everyone called before me (7 callers).
My hand: Ad 5s Eh. Whatevs. I raise to 20. Hsu folds, BB folds. #3-5 call, #6 and #7 fold, and #8 and #9 call. A pretty big pot.
Flop: 6d 9h 2c
(pot: $127)		 Completely missed the flop. *sigh* But to my surprise, everyone checked to #9 who bet 5. I raised to 20, everyone folded except #6.
Turn: 8s
(pot: $172)		 I picked up a gut shot. #6 bets 15, I call.
River: 7d
(pot: $202)		 I hit my straight; it’s bittersweet. What if there’s a ten out there. Sure enough, the guy bets 30. So I start thinking about the hands that beat me. There’s the ten high straight, but that’s very unlikely, given the betting patterns. He’d have to pocket tens. Maybe he has AT, KT, QT, JT? But then what were those bets and calls? *sigh* Now I was thinking that he has pocket pairs; it’s more likely that he had an overpair than having a set. In either case, I have him beat. So I raised to 75. The guy folds, flipping over pocket queens, and mutters “you got so lucky.” I told him that I had aces and pulled in my winnings.

After that hand, I got up with ~650. I took 250 off the rack, ensuring a 50 dollar profit, and sat down at a 2/5 table with 400 dollars.

Hand 4: I’m under the gun,, and I look down at my hole cards I’m dealt.
My hand: 7c 7s I raise to 20. Everyone folds to SB, who raises to 40. Big blind folds. I call because I’ll have position on him. Bad reasoning? Maybe, but whatever.
Flop: 7d As 7h
(pot: $85)		 BWAHAHAHA. This is awesome. SB bets 50. I raise to 150, and SB calls without hesitation. =_= I guess he has AA and thinks that I have a seven. Well, I guess he’s right.
Turn: 4c
(pot: $385)		 SB bets 100. I shove all in for 125 more. He calls. He shows pocket rockets, and I show my awesome hand. He is fucking pissed.
River: 6h
(pot: $635)		 SB is pretty pissed, so he gets up, looking for a different table. I’m pretty happy.
Hand 5: I was the cutoff man. #4 calls, and everyone else folds to me.
My hand: As Kh I raise to 30. Button and SB fold, BB calls, and #4 calls.
Flop: Ts Tc Qd
(pot: $92)		 Checks to me, I bet 50. BB folds and #4 calls.
Turn: 2c
(pot: $192)		 Killer card. xD #4 checks; at this point, I decided that he has a high queen and not a ten. I bet 100, half pot. He calls. Oh shit.
River: 2h
(pot: $392)		 #4 checks. Shit, what do I do? Then I realize that I’ve been representing a ten, so I bet 350. He sighs, then folds and shows KQ, and says “I guess my queen’s no good.” Haha. I show my cards, and he’s fuming.

Two hands later…

Hand 6: I was sitting in the #7 spot. Everyone folds to me.
My hand: Ad Ah I raise to 25. Everyone folds to SB, who calls. BB gives me an evil glare, which is at the same level with that of Yusra, and raises to 50. I laugh at the striking similarities of the evil eyes, and then raise to 100 total. SB folds, and BB raises all in. It’s 227 more to me; I guess I have to call. He flips over Kh Ts… I love players on tilt.
Flop: 3s 4s 7s
(pot: $679)		 What the fuck. No spades better come…
Turn: Td
(pot: $679)		 *sigh* Now I have to hope for no ten or king as well.
River: 2h
(pot: $679)		 Phew. My aces hold up.
Hand 7: I was sitting under the gun.
My hand: Kc Kh I raise to 30. Everyone folds to cutoff man, who raises to 75. Everyone folds. I call. Maybe he has pocket aces… Hopefully not.
Flop: Kd Ts 5h
(pot: $157)		 Great flop. I bet 125. Cutoff ponders for a second, then pushes all in. It’s 152 more to me. I call. He shows pocket aces.
Turn: Td
(pot: $511)		 I have a boat. =D
River: Ah
(pot: $511)		 Fuck. D= After that, I got up.

+1100

Comments (4) May 20 2008

May 16, 2008 - Knights poker session

Posted: under Poker.

By some events of misfortune and fortune, I ended up at the Knights of Columbus poker game in Old Bridge. I haven’t been to this place in almost a year, but it has changed a bit; I guess they’ve used the rakes from the poker games to buy flat screen TVs, and now the place doesn’t look like a shithole as much as it used to. The cash games usually have eight people at a table; the stakes are usually 1/2 and you can buy in for between 60 and 100. Anyway, here are some hands that I remember:

Hand 1: I was in late position, next to button. Action went: Fold, raise to 8, fold, fold.
My hand: 4c 4h I called, crossing my fingers that the button will fold. Surely he did, then SB folded, and BB called.
Flop: 5s 8d Th
(pot: $25)		 BB checked, #4 bet 8 again. I thought that the flop missed him, so I called. Bad call? Probably, but what the hell. BB folded.
Turn: 5c
(pot: $41)		 #4 checked. I bet 15, he called, which surprised me a little.
River: 2d
(pot: $71)		 #4 bet $20. Now, pretty much any hand, if it hit the flop, beats me. Any pocket pairs other than threes beat me too. I’ve been #4 bluffing before, so I couldn’t rule this possibility out either. I was getting 4.5-to-1 odds, so I called. Sure enough, he turns over 7d 3s, and I took down the pot.
Hand 2: I was on the button. Action went: Call, fold, fold, call, call.
My hand: 2h 3c I raised to 10. SB folded, BB called, everyone else folded.
Flop: 4h 5h 6h
(pot: $27)		 BB bet 20. I raised to 50, he pondered for a bit, and then called. I thought he had something like Ah 5x or something.
Turn: 2c
(pot: $127)		 BB checked. I bet 90 (3/4 pot), he called.
River: 2d
(pot: $307)		 Seeing as how I flopped a straight and then… picked up trips. I tapped BB for 21 more, he called. He showed AA with the ace of hearts.
Hand 3: I was SB. Action went: fold, fold, fold, fold, fold. Dealer raised to 8.
My hand: 6c 7c I called, and so did BB.
Flop: 4c 5c 8c
(pot: $24)		 KA-CHING. I checked, BB bet 15, button snap called. I called as well.
Turn: Ad
(pot: $69)		 Checks all around.
River: Kh
(pot: $69)		 I checked. BB bet 30. Button shoves for 75 total, I call, and then BB folds.
Button shows AKc, and he seemed a bit angry after seeing my cards, but oh well.
Hand 4: I was under the gun.
My hand: Ad As I raised to 15; everyone folded except #7 and BB.
Flop:Qd 9c 3h
(pot: $46)		 BB bets 23. I raised to 46, #7 folds. BB shoves for 121 total (75 more to me). So I guess he has a set or two pairs. Or pocket kings. The odds I’m getting is a little less than 3-to-1. I still can’t decide if I should have called or folded, but I was curious as to what BB had. So I called, and he flipped over pocket queens.
Turn: 7s
(pot: $288)		  
River: 7d
(pot: $288)		 =[
Hand 5: I was sitting on the button. Action went: call, fold, fold, fold, fold.
My hand: 4d 7d I raised to 7. The SB raised to 15, BB folded, #3 called. I said something along the lines of “I’m going to get lucky,” and called, muttering “it’s going to be all diamonds!”
Flop: Ad 2d 3d
(pot: $47)		 SB can’t believe what fell. He just folds his hand in disgust. #3 bets 15; a feeler bet, I guess. I raised to 40, he called.
Turn: Kh
(pot: $127)		 SB is excited. He shoves for 52. Easy call. He flips over As Ks. I show my flush.
River: 8c
(pot: $231)		 I let out a sigh of relief that an ace or a king didn’t fall and rake in the chips.
Hand 6: I was BB. Action went: call, fold, fold, fold, raise to 8, fold. SB calls.
My hand: 7s 3h Perfect BB hand… -_-a I call. #3 folds.
Flop: 7d 6h 3c
(pot: $26)		 Great flop! SB checks. I bet 26. #7 raises all-in to 137 total. SB folds. What a bastard. Either he’s trying to buy the pot, has a set, an over pair, top two pairs, or a straight. I feel that the last two are unlikely because he raised PF. So the only hand that has me beat would be a set. And even this, I felt was improbable. So I called. He has 4s 5s. *sigh*
Turn: Ad
(pot: $300)		  
River: As
(pot: $300)		 Not only did I get counterfeited, but I couldn’t draw one of the four cards that I needed in the deck. D= Was this a bad call? *shrug*

+700

Feel free to criticize; I welcome it.

Comments (8) May 18 2008