Turns out the timing wasn't right for me to play in Diamond Lil's $100 no-limit tournament this morning, so Michelle and I drove down to the Muck last night for something to eat and some $4-8 action.
The jackpot's back up over $175k, so the place was jammed and the board was huge. By the time we got into a game it was late, like 10:30, but the table was juicy. I played tight and aggressive and slowly built my stack to about a rack up, then ran into some bad luck on three big kill pots. The upshot was a hundred-dollar loss for the night.
My friend Sammy's playing the Lil's tourney today, so I'll try to get a report.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Friday, January 27, 2006
Diamond Lil's tourney
Who's the best poker player in Seattle?
Who knows. You could debate some names, I suppose, but there's no objective way -- say, by counting chips -- to find out.
What Seattle needs is a good local tournament of champions -- a high-payoff, multi-event, big-draw lineup that eventually might draw affiliation to the WPT, or at least attract some known professionals. In the end you could declare a king of Puget Sound or Washington State.
What we have now is a hodge-podge of weekly tournaments in the local clubs. They're fun to play, they attract a regular crowd of talented and less-so players, the payoffs can be decent. But there's no headliner.
Diamond Lil's occasionally has a small program of tourneys with slightly bigger buy-ins than their regular weekly events. This weekend's Triple Crown Tournament is an example. After an Omaha tournament last night, they're hosting a $100 buy-in no-limit Hold 'Em event tomorrow morning at 10, and a $200 buy-in, $10,000 guaranteed no-limit tournament on Sunday.
Those are usually bad times for me. But this weekend might be an exception, at least for the Saturday event. If I make it, I'll report the results here tomorrow.
Who knows. You could debate some names, I suppose, but there's no objective way -- say, by counting chips -- to find out.
What Seattle needs is a good local tournament of champions -- a high-payoff, multi-event, big-draw lineup that eventually might draw affiliation to the WPT, or at least attract some known professionals. In the end you could declare a king of Puget Sound or Washington State.
What we have now is a hodge-podge of weekly tournaments in the local clubs. They're fun to play, they attract a regular crowd of talented and less-so players, the payoffs can be decent. But there's no headliner.
Diamond Lil's occasionally has a small program of tourneys with slightly bigger buy-ins than their regular weekly events. This weekend's Triple Crown Tournament is an example. After an Omaha tournament last night, they're hosting a $100 buy-in no-limit Hold 'Em event tomorrow morning at 10, and a $200 buy-in, $10,000 guaranteed no-limit tournament on Sunday.
Those are usually bad times for me. But this weekend might be an exception, at least for the Saturday event. If I make it, I'll report the results here tomorrow.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Not a rouser
No big pots or horrible beats to report from tonight's forgettable session at the Muck. Just a normal, moderately loose, not overly aggressive $4-8 table.
I nursed my rack all night without strong cards -- down $40, up $40, like that -- until missing a couple of flops or draws late in the evening and finding myself with only about 40 chips left. That's when a drunk guy who'd been pushing a lot of hands found himself with the kill button in early position and made it $16 to go. The solid player on my right cold-called and I decided to do the same with my pocket 9s. Depending on the texture of the flop, I decided, I could make a move or get out without further investment.
Happily, it came down J-9-8, giving me a set, but the jack and 8 were spades and the straight possibility was unfortunate. The raiser bet out, middle player called and I raised. They both called. On the turn, a king of spades, I got my last few chips in and the original better raised to drive out the sandwiched guy. When the river brought a fourth spade the original better turned over his queen of spades to go with a red ace, beating my 9 of spades.
Ha la la. I called it a night, down a rack (really only $93 after subtracting the seven chips I paid for dinner). In my dreams tonight that fourth spade will pair the board and everything will be right with the world.
I nursed my rack all night without strong cards -- down $40, up $40, like that -- until missing a couple of flops or draws late in the evening and finding myself with only about 40 chips left. That's when a drunk guy who'd been pushing a lot of hands found himself with the kill button in early position and made it $16 to go. The solid player on my right cold-called and I decided to do the same with my pocket 9s. Depending on the texture of the flop, I decided, I could make a move or get out without further investment.
Happily, it came down J-9-8, giving me a set, but the jack and 8 were spades and the straight possibility was unfortunate. The raiser bet out, middle player called and I raised. They both called. On the turn, a king of spades, I got my last few chips in and the original better raised to drive out the sandwiched guy. When the river brought a fourth spade the original better turned over his queen of spades to go with a red ace, beating my 9 of spades.
Ha la la. I called it a night, down a rack (really only $93 after subtracting the seven chips I paid for dinner). In my dreams tonight that fourth spade will pair the board and everything will be right with the world.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Two-way win
I drove out to the Muck after work tonight and scored immediately: A check of the Sunday drawing board showed I didn't win on that $900 straight-flush ticket. Phew. That's when missing is almost like winning. I would have been pissed if watching a stupid football game had cost me nearly two racks of red.
Then I sat down in a $4-8 game and won for real. Nothing tricky, just some nice cards to establish a good table rep, allowing me to steal a few pots, and then one timely sweet hand. I three-bet before the flop with AA and got five-way action, including a guy to my left who called the three bets cold. The flop came 4-3-3 and I was able to raise again ... and didn't lose anybody. Another bet got called all around when a 6 came on the turn. It was obvious I was facing some other pocket pairs -- I really didn't put anybody on a 3 or a straight -- so when a queen came on the river it seemed prudent to check it down.
Lucky me: The other pairs were JJ and KK. Luckier still: The one player we lost with all the pre-flop action had pocket 6s.
Up $272 for the night. My best session in quite a while.
Then I sat down in a $4-8 game and won for real. Nothing tricky, just some nice cards to establish a good table rep, allowing me to steal a few pots, and then one timely sweet hand. I three-bet before the flop with AA and got five-way action, including a guy to my left who called the three bets cold. The flop came 4-3-3 and I was able to raise again ... and didn't lose anybody. Another bet got called all around when a 6 came on the turn. It was obvious I was facing some other pocket pairs -- I really didn't put anybody on a 3 or a straight -- so when a queen came on the river it seemed prudent to check it down.
Lucky me: The other pairs were JJ and KK. Luckier still: The one player we lost with all the pre-flop action had pocket 6s.
Up $272 for the night. My best session in quite a while.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Go Seahawks!
Couldn't pull myself away from the Seahawks game to drive down to Auburn for the straight flush drawing.
At worst, I cost myself $900 by not showing up at the Muck by 7. But odds are I didn't hit and who knows, I may have saved myself a rack or two by staying home.
Anyway, hell of a football game: Hawks 34, Panthers 14. Bring on the Steelers in Super Bowl XL.
At worst, I cost myself $900 by not showing up at the Muck by 7. But odds are I didn't hit and who knows, I may have saved myself a rack or two by staying home.
Anyway, hell of a football game: Hawks 34, Panthers 14. Bring on the Steelers in Super Bowl XL.
Difficult pot-odds calculation
What are the odds of the same straight flush hitting twice?
When I was at the Muck on Monday I played 8-7 of clubs in late position with three callers in front of me and, at this $4-8 table, the blinds unlikely to raise. The flop came down Kh-10c-6c ... not a bad start. After check-check there was a bet in front of me; I just smooth called, hoping to keep everyone in. The turn was the lovely 9 of clubs, giving me the straight flush and, I could only hope, making a big flush for someone else.
Like clockwork, the BB bet out -- a lone king, it was revealed later -- so I raised, and the solid player behind me called. The river was a blank, but my bet got called again by the king-high flush to my left.
Straigh-flush ticket on Table 1! At the Muck, when you make a straight flush your name goes in the hat for a weekly drawing that grows by $100 every time the winner isn't there to claim it. This week's drawing is $900. So far so good.
The dilemma comes from the timing. Tonight's drawing is at 7 p.m., which is right about the time the Seahawks-Panthers NFC championship game will be ending. Do I leave home before the end of the game to catch the drawing? Blow it off? Which of these?
With an estimated 35-40 straight-flush tickets in the barrell I'm not exactly a favorite, but I know from experience the horrible feeling of skipping the drawing only to show up later and see that my name had been pulled.
If you don't go to the drawing, your only play is to root against yourself winning.
It's opening kickoff right now and I still haven't decided.
When I was at the Muck on Monday I played 8-7 of clubs in late position with three callers in front of me and, at this $4-8 table, the blinds unlikely to raise. The flop came down Kh-10c-6c ... not a bad start. After check-check there was a bet in front of me; I just smooth called, hoping to keep everyone in. The turn was the lovely 9 of clubs, giving me the straight flush and, I could only hope, making a big flush for someone else.
Like clockwork, the BB bet out -- a lone king, it was revealed later -- so I raised, and the solid player behind me called. The river was a blank, but my bet got called again by the king-high flush to my left.
Straigh-flush ticket on Table 1! At the Muck, when you make a straight flush your name goes in the hat for a weekly drawing that grows by $100 every time the winner isn't there to claim it. This week's drawing is $900. So far so good.
The dilemma comes from the timing. Tonight's drawing is at 7 p.m., which is right about the time the Seahawks-Panthers NFC championship game will be ending. Do I leave home before the end of the game to catch the drawing? Blow it off? Which of these?
With an estimated 35-40 straight-flush tickets in the barrell I'm not exactly a favorite, but I know from experience the horrible feeling of skipping the drawing only to show up later and see that my name had been pulled.
If you don't go to the drawing, your only play is to root against yourself winning.
It's opening kickoff right now and I still haven't decided.
Deal me back in
Ok, time for a reboot.
I launched this little effort in September as an experiment -- I wanted to check out Blogger and felt the Seattle poker scene could use some reporting. But I got busy at work, distracted at home, beat by a run of bad cards at the tables and, well, you know how it goes. You don't post for a few days, then it's a week, a month and the thing falls apart.
So I'm restarting today. Look for more links, more news and reviews, some hand discussions and, if I can gin up the nerve, an accounting of my lame performance since my last post in September.
Who knows, maybe publishing my embarrassing results will make me play better.
I launched this little effort in September as an experiment -- I wanted to check out Blogger and felt the Seattle poker scene could use some reporting. But I got busy at work, distracted at home, beat by a run of bad cards at the tables and, well, you know how it goes. You don't post for a few days, then it's a week, a month and the thing falls apart.
So I'm restarting today. Look for more links, more news and reviews, some hand discussions and, if I can gin up the nerve, an accounting of my lame performance since my last post in September.
Who knows, maybe publishing my embarrassing results will make me play better.
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