I flopped the nuts!

Dell’s trying to get rid of these 2100FP’s, man.  There’s a bunch of coupons you can stack on top of each other to get them for $381, shipped, as long as you don’t live in a communist state that charges sales tax on Dell stuff.  (Like I do.)

I pulled $400 out of online poker to do it.  Well worth it, I think, and if it all goes to crap tomorrow, then at least I got a sweet monitor out of the deal.  I was actually tapping on the door of moving up to $2/$4 limit, but didn’t feel comfortable, so staying at $1/$2 for a while will be good for me.
For those not aware, the 2100FP is the monitor for the poker kids that hang out on 2+2 forums.  It’s a 1600×1200 display, so for as long as there are 800×600 poker clients, you’ll be able to fit four of whatever tables you like with no overlap.  (I four-tabled at 1280×1024, and actually found overlap sort of useful, since screens pop up anyway when they need attention, but your results may very.  I know many good poker players who couldn’t or wouldn’t multi-table in a million years.)

I have just pushed freebird1980, who has about half as many chips as I do, all-in, sensing weakness and hoping he’ll fold.  I wouldn’t try this with a hand much weaker than ATs, but as it is, that’s what I’m holding.  He flips up QQ, and I flop an Ace (and a ten!) to take his stack.

freebird1980: what the %#$% was that crap??? A,10??
Erok420: thats not crap
YSR420: i agree
freebird1980: it is for that kind of money
Erok420: Kten there
freebird1980: you agree it is or is not crap YSR?
dannordquist: I’m sorry I sucked out on you
DAYTRADE: would you have felt better if he had AK
YSR420: that it is not crap
dannordquist: but I’ve seen that kind of action with 55, 77, 99
Erok420: A tne suited is a good hand
YSR420: that’s poker in case u didnt know
Erok420: ten
dannordquist: KQ, KTs, whatever
dannordquist: besides, you thought about folding QQ
dannordquist: and that was the whole point
dannordquist: cmon, rebuy and I’ll probably give it back to you
freebird1980: you are smoking crack, AT is not even close to worth putting
half your stack at stake when you got 80-100 x bb for a stack
YSR420: lol
dannordquist: I do like smoking crack…

I was literally thinking "gap concept" when he raised from the button.  It was folded around to him.  He needed almost nothing to raise from there, so my reraise was a way to tell him "nice steal attempt, but I’m keeping this".  His reraise to half his stack could certainly have meant "I’m not messing around" or "I watch too much TV and that move was totally supposed to work."

I put him on a high ace, which means I’m behind, but pushing him all-in for the other half of his chips is academic.  At that point, he’s got to fold any goofy steal-attempting hands, a lot of lower pairs, and maybe even AJ or AQ (but probably not).  When he thought about it for more than ten seconds, I switched my read to small pair: coinflip which I don’t mind playing for $10.  And I was way wrong: actually down like 66-34 or something.  It worked out in the end.

3-handed, I’m massive chip-leader.

PokerStars Game #3391082495: Tournament #16808820, Hold’em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2005/12/20 - 22:19:17 (ET)
Table ‘16808820 1′ Seat #7 is the button
Seat 7: jlf88 (1570 in chips)
Seat 8: dnord520 (6765 in chips)
Seat 9: dgaughy (665 in chips)
dnord520: posts small blind 25
dgaughy: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to dnord520 [9s Ts]
jlf88: calls 50
dnord520: calls 25

Some would say this is a raising situation shorthanded (since nobody’s shown strength), but I don’t agree. 

dgaughy: checks
*** FLOP *** [6h 8h 7c]   

I am not even that concerned about the flush draw: for whatever reason, I slowplay the nut straight.

dnord520: checks
dgaughy: bets 150
jlf88: calls 150

This is why you slowplay: folks with pairs, two pairs… those who are badly beaten?  They’ll try to steal it from you.

dnord520: raises 6565 to 6715 and is all-in
dgaughy: calls 465 and is all-in

Your first mistake.

jlf88: calls 1370 and is all-in

Bringing a friend, are you?  We flip over.  jlf88’s got Th9h: my exact hand, except he’s got a straight flush draw, and a not-bad flush draw, until you see dgaughy’s Ah5h, the nut-flush draw.  Either way, I’m 60% to split the pot here… I just need no heart.

*** TURN *** [6h 8h 7c] [Qd]
*** RIVER *** [6h 8h 7c Qd] [2h]

Ah well.

*** SHOW DOWN ***
dnord520: shows [9s Ts] (a straight, Six to Ten)
jlf88: shows [9h Th] (a flush, Ten high)
dnord520 said, "whoops"
jlf88 collected 1810 from side pot
dgaughy: shows [Ah 5h] (a flush, Ace high)
dgaughy collected 1995 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3805 Main pot 1995. Side pot 1810. | Rake 0
Board [6h 8h 7c Qd 2h]
Seat 7: jlf88 (button) showed [9h Th] and won (1810) with a flush, Ten high
Seat 8: dnord520 (small blind) showed [9s Ts] and lost with a straight, Six to Ten
Seat 9: dgaughy (big blind) showed [Ah 5h] and won (1995) with a flush, Ace high

I would go on to win the tournament (despite losing that big pot), so it all ended well, but sheesh.  That’s a lot of decent hands right there.

I played with some friends over the weekend.  It might be sixth or seventh time I’ve seen some of these guys across the table, for a couple of hours of play.

But someone - a player whose observation skills I respect - told me that he knew, once I got involved in a pot, that I was going to keep firing at it.  That’s maybe the nicest thing anyone’s said about my game.

It’s true.  I love making the continuation bet, because with the people I play with, they mostly assume that I actually have a piece of it when I bet the flop (and have raised preflop).  If they call that one (and don’t raise it), it’s coming at them again.  No free cards against me.

This could have just as much to do with how tight I play, actually… I’m almost never in an important pot (again, against these guys) with a speculative hand.  I want to find out where I stand.  I want to punish draws.  I want loose players to reconsider.  Phil Hellmuth talks about firing the third bullet: I’m usually done with bluffs once I’ve tried pre-flop and post-flop, but I’m glad someone is paying attention to my aggressive play on the turn and river.

I’m getting less squeamish about Party ring games.

I finally got an actual Party account opened, and deposited to get that initial deposit bonus.  I had about a hundred hands to play to clear the bonus, and I was up about $30 already.  In that last hundred hands, though, I couldn’t catch cards at all, and the prospect of a free $35 was making me a little impatient.  I called an all-in with AJo (I was outkicked, but had flush outs that, technically, made it a correct call), and then not half and hour later tried some silly, silly move against an opponent who I’d decided was playing too loose.  So I lost $40 to scoop the $35 bonus.

And I was already down overall, since I’d been playing the Party $10+1s, which are still coinflip city.  Ah well. 

Thanks for visiting the new weblog.  I appreciate it.

I’ve been playing Hold ‘Em online for about three months now.  I guess I missed the great wave of online players in 2003 and 2004, when the game started getting wildly popular, but I really hope we’re not at the end of a fad.

I’ve been playing poker my whole life.  I grew up in a house where we played a lot of cards, including penny blackjack, poker, and other games.  My dad was taking me to the horse track when I was ten.  I guess I can blame my parents for my fascination with gambling and games.

I’ve been writing online in various forms since 1994, and blogging since 1999. 

I have lots of reasons to start this blog.

1. We write what we know, and know what we write.  On the shifting sands of high-speed internet gambling (especially with a dangerous game like No Limit Hold ‘Em), it’s tough to remember what you know.  My experiences and advice posted here should help me focus on the truths of poker and keep my course clear.
2. I’m interested in what sponsorship opportunities there are for a well-written, poker-focused weblog.
3. Gaming’s supposed to be a social activity, right?  A lot of poker bloggers seem like nice people, but you don’t seem to run into to many nice people on the tables.  Let’s start the conversation away from the tables, then. 
4. I probably play too much.  (Ask my wife.)  If I can split up my time between playing and writing/reflecting/learning, then I’ll be better off.

Thanks again for stopping by.