Suited Pairs

Running Well

2007-10-08T10:41:00.000+08:00

Played the nightly 8.80R $20K on stars just for kicks and planned to keep my losses minimal, only to rebuy 4x and add-on. Started off pretty boring enough and doubled couple of times with some premiums, my hands holding up. On the break I was slightly average after the add-on.

After the break I immediately lost 25% of my stack trying to find out if my QQ were any good. And on a 4d Jd Ks 9d board, I decided it wasnt good enough. Got some chips little later with AK taking out a short stack then ran into some trouble. Doing some aggressive late position stealing, I raised it up with 3x with 7s and got repopped all in by a mid stack. I had about 2.5 to 1 on my money so I had to call only to find 9s. Flopped a 7 though and turned a boat and was cruising. A little later I raise it up UTG with QJs and get reraised a bit by a shortish stack. I figured that I needed to hit the flop to go through with the hand and getting the right price I called. I flop an open-ended straight draw and made the mistake of checking to him. I was gonna call his all-in anyway because I had the pot odds to make my straight, but at least leading out would give me 2 ways of winning, him folding or making my hand. I called his shove and found out he was pushing anyway with his AKo. As I read my friend type 999999999 in the chatbox, it falls on the river and I get more chippies.

I was running well in the tournament and I never remember getting Queens and Big Slick so many times on the button. People always seemed to raise in mid or late position and repop them and call their all-in and win. It was pretty sick. I was fluctuating between 1st and 10th position overall. Once I made the money I really took things into overdrive and aggressively took chips away from those who didnt want them. I remember bluffing several times with gutshot draws and Ace high so many times. Its pretty amazing how many people will fold when there is so much money at stake. Its also amazing how many people think you are just bluffing when you are the chip leader. I also remember at least 2x seeing a raise and reraise and me having AA in late position to quickly chip up. A player in early position min raised to 2k at the 500/1k level and one caller in late position. I had AKs on the SB and reraised it to 10k. He calls and the late position player folds, heads up to flop. Flop comes 4s Ac 4c and I lead out for 15k. He thinks for very very long before calling. He has about 12k++ left and when the turn comes out a Ten I put him all in. He instantly calls and I fear he turned a full house. He fortunately turns over Jacks and I take down a huge pot.

With about 18 left in the tournament, some really big hands came up. As I mentioned earlier, I had been doing alot of steals and the player on my left was either getting very lucky or read my constant raises preflops as steals because he kept reshoving all-in. Of course I never had a real hand to call him with so I gave up quite some amount of chips to him. I finally wake up with ATs in the hijack and as scheduled he shoves. Im a little ticked off and say enough is enough and call, having him convered by only 60k. He turned over 9s, but this was "9s-cant-beat-me-day" and I promptly flop a Ten and send him to the rail.

But it wasnt all fun and games in this tournament, it had its moments as well. One hand was supposed to tilt me but it didnt, guess I was to sleepy to feel it. Raise from UTG all-in, a short stack and late position player pushes all-in as well to isolate. Unfortunately for him I wake up with QQ and call. I was up against K8o from the short stack and 9s from the other player. Everything was fine until the 9s make runner runner straight and hurt my stack a bit. I was very much alive in the tournament and the suckout did not hurt as much thanks to my chip lead. I get back at him though. He raises on the button and I reraise with 10s on the BB. He calls and of course the flop is A X T. I check and he bets. I reraise him a bit, and he reraises back. I reraise once again and he flats. I shove on the turn and he calls with AJs. "Justice prevails" is what I type, to which another player replies, "not very often in this game" A little later I wake up AKo in middle position and raise it up 5x to 20K after an UTG limper. The button goes all-in for 140k total and I have a decision to make. I have over 300k and was not sure what to do. My buddies watching all told me to fold, but I did not want to fold just because he might have AA or KK, which was a stupid and naive reason to fold. Then I remembered a PokerXFactor video wherein the player said something which helped my decision. It boils down to basically me saying that getting the 140K would really not help me at this particular stage in the tournament as opposed to losing it would cripple my play. I like to raise it up and steal and losing that amount of chips would stop me. Besides, I can make the 20k back by just stealing on 2 hands, so that made the decision of folding much much easier.

A level later I was in SB with AQo and an aggressive player on the button raised it up, I had drifted down short because of some caught bluffs and running into some hands and decided now was the time to gamble. I had him covered but only slightly and I pushed all in. The BB instantly called all-in, having him covered by at least 200k and the button folded. It was JJ against AQ and when the Ace hit on the flop, I had taken over the chip lead. Things were getting tense approaching the FT and everyone was playing tight including myself as everyone knew that I was very liberal in my preflop raise requirement, hehe. After a big hand where a relative short stack pushed with AJo on the button only to get called by the BB on my left with the ladies. Jack on flop but that was the extent of the improvement and another player busted at 11th place. Immediately after this hand, I am in the BB and wake up with AA! I say to myself, for the love of GOD, please give me some chips on this hand and not just give me a walk. I was pleasantly surprised to see the button raise it up 4x and was happy to just get this amount from him. I thought to myself, "hmmm, how do I extract maximum value for this", when suddenly the SB pushes over the top all-in. He has me covered and I go all-in. He turns over Kings and types "FUCK". Everyone says the same. That was pretty sick. He is severely crippled having. only 3.5BB left. I take him out later with A5s and its final table time!

On the FT, I see a bunch of players with middle sized stacks, but I have a huge chip lead, having double than that of 2nd in chips. I steal a couple of times but try to not overdo it. 2 three way all-in saw me eliminate 4 players, once with QQ against A8o and JJ, the second with AKs against 6s and Qs. The latter being sweeter since I river the King. I double up people a couple of times, losing some 60-40s where I was ahead, but never be hurt. When it came down to 3 handed, a sick cooler came out. I had 56s in the BB and it was me and the SB heads up to flop. Flop comes 9 high with a 6 and he bets 3x. He has been doing this alot and I flat call. The turn is another 6 and he quickly bets 3x again. I call quickly hoping to value bet on river. He bets the same amount on the river and I decide that I can get max value if I shove, since I had the done the same earlier and got value for my two-pair against his middle pair. He check or bets small on the river, I dont remember. Now I dont know which poker god possessed me to shove but I did. He called quickly and turner over A6 for a better set. Wow, that was pretty sick cooler. I dont think I could have gotten away from the hand though. If I had bet small, I would have value bet, he would have raised, and I would have all my chips in the middle anyways. After the hand, I had about 8-9BB left and was reduced to pushing with A8o in the SB and the CL calling with JTs. He turns two pair and I bust out in third. I get consolation, strangely enough, from him typing "sorry". I appreciated that, im not sure what he was sorry for, but I thought that was really classy.

This was my biggest cash to date, a whopping $2300! The tournament started at 10PM and ended for me at 5AM. I could not sleep as I kept spontaneously laughing and giggling to myself. The win really upped my confidence and helped me feel confident about my game.

Id like to give a shoutout to all my buddies that railed me during the tournament and all the wonderful people back home who introduced me to this great game.

Good Luck to all at online felt.

Patience is key

2007-10-04T16:38:00.000+08:00

Whats been happening lately....

Well I played in the second round of the APPT Seoul qualifier and was late actually. I arrived at the end of the 2nd level and was blinded out a bit. I managed to pick up a couple of hands and all of a sudden I was 3rd in chips overall. But in true donk fashion, I got ahead of myself and managed to donk them off. Got them back, donked them again. Got them back, and guess what, donked them again. Its pretty sick if you think about it, I should be a massive chip leader but because of impatience I busted in 30-40th position. Oh well, at least I had fun.

Been having a terrible downswing in my 4.40 MTTs on stars and havent cashed in a long long time. I kept reviewing my game and trying to figure out what I was doing differently or incorrectly. It finally dawned on me that impatience was my thorn and set out to keep myself from being an action junkie by playing lots of games to keep my occupied. Low and behold, I win 2 4.40s back to back in 2 days. That was sweet, it really perked up my confidence. Also, I joined a $6500 guaranteed tournament on UB and got 9th for an ok payout of $130. MTTs there are pretty soft and I plan to play more in the future.

My live games have been profitable as of late. I have been hitting sets so much over the last couple of sessions, its crazy! I also seem to be playing well, keeping myself in check and always trying to stay out of marginal decisions by playing situations and then the cards. I pulled some pretty sick bluffs whenever I amass a chip stack and I have liked the results alot. Its almost like I employ the same big strategy for tournaments as I do in cash games and its been working for me.

Another big poker weekend awaits me, wish me luck.

Good luck to you guys in the felt!

Im a Set Machine

2007-09-10T09:07:00.002+08:00

Played another cash game with the boys on friday night with a new addition, an online cash game specialist who quietly ran over the table. He pulled a cool bluff on me in the early goings making me laydown top pair top kicker on turn when he check-raised me on a harmless looking board. Having no reads at all, it was an easy fold. He later told me that my turn bet seemed weak and he could make me laydown my hand. Nice play.

But the game was marked by an incidence in the beginning that had my wheels rolling the entire night. Our moderator, lets call him DM101, raised on the button his standard amount. I called with 69s on the BB hoping to crack what I thought was a big hand and stack him for all his chippies. Flop comes 6 5 2 with two hearts, I check to him and he bets. I quickly call and head to the turn. I hit my gin card when an offsuit 9 drops. I check to him, planning to check-raise any bet and he thinks for a while and checks as well. That was particularly odd, because he would not be checking an overpair, so he probably had AK or AQ. Or for some bizarre reason, he had already put me on top 2 pair and just checked to keep the pot small. The river card is a disaster, another 5, giving his overpair, which I again thought he had, two pair as well. I check hoping for a cheap showdown and bets more than the pot. This bet would make sense if he knew that his two pair was better than mine. I thought about it long and hard and just kept repeating to myself and everyone, "the turn check does not make sense with an overpair, only if he knew I had two pair already." So I remark how he got so lucky, flash my cards at the other players and muck. He then shows 72o. Wow! I got pwnd, I got pwnd. This player was fairly solid and would never put him on a move, so I have to commend him for it. Im still a little awestruck about it.

Anyways, a little while after that hand, I go on a little rush. Hitting my draws, making miracle sets on the turn or river. Making full houses, and thanks to my bluffer image, get paid off every single time. Im feeling good and making a nice profit for myself and this hand happens. We play crazy pineapple, a variation of holdem wherein you get 3 hole cards and throw one away on the flop. So a player raises on the button and I call 656 with two hearts. 4 of us head to the flop and its a beautifull Q 6 Q. I check, the host bets, initial raise calls and I raise. Host reraises, raiser folds, and I push all in, having the host fairly covered. He instacalls and he flips up pocket 9s (guess he had me on nothing or a naked 6) and I have him drawing to two outs. But of course, he hits a 9 on the turn and I brick on the river and am stunned. I pay him off, droop my head down and try not to go on tilt. This is rather unsuccessful as I donk off almost a quarter of my stack on marginal holdings and keep telling myself to relax.

Then I decide to play crazy again and raise UTG with the hammer aka 72 and get reraised by DM101 on the SB and of course, knowing I am beat, decide to call anyways. Flop comes all rags with 2 clubs and bets the pot and I decide to call putting him on high cards, plus I had backdoor straight and flush draws as well. I turn a 7, putting a straight on board, bets the pot again and I call. The river completes a flush and he checks to me. I then say, "All IN". Now kids, dont try this at home. This all in does not make sense because there is no way I am doing this with a straight or flush or two pair or trips. This was such a blatant bluff it wasnt even close. But a couple of things went into consideration before doing this move. I knew that DM101 was leaving soon and he had already turned a profit of $100. Risking his entire profit just on a pair would be rather ludicrous in his opinion and I think his mindset was he would rather be bluffed then lose his winnings. He asks me how much I have left and I tell him $100 and over, I see his hand motioning to muck his cards and after a grueling 5 minutes, he says that maybe my kicker was better, which I didnt understand what it meant and flashes me an Ace of clubs. I then thought to myself, "is this dude slowplaying me with the nuts?", then he shows the another Ace and mucks. I breather a sigh of relief and smack my bluff on the table. That really upped my confidence and I just wink at him and say, "right back at cha!"

The night then proceeds me hitting draws, funky two pairs and alot of rivered trips. I also talk alot of smack when I have big hands and really pushing my opponents to call with their second best hands. This one hand I limp with Q8s on button and see a flop with 2 other guys. Flop comes Q X 8 and BB bets at pot, other guy calls and I reraise to 2.5x his bet and he insta raises me 4x my raise. He looks a little flustered from all the times I have reraised him and also looks confident in his hand and I put him on a Q with a moderately strong kicker. So I start talking and then suddenly raise him 5x his reraise, much to the suprise of the entire table. I keep begging him for a call. But he unfortunately folds and I show him how close he was from going broke. Had to be nice to him though, he was my ride home. Lol

The night ends with a miraculous runner runner full house from the host to crack the new guys nut straight and once again, the hosts deal to sell his soul to Satan himself for miracle cards works for the Nth time.

The next day I crash at my buddies place and play online poker with him over there. I cash in 4 out of 5 tournaments I play in, nothing significant though. But the best part of the session was qualifying for the 2nd round of the APPT Seoul Asian freeroll outlasting 300++ hopefulls and making it to the top 10. The icing on the cake was the fact that I qualified on my very first attempt, which I thought was pretty cool. The 2nd round is on September 16th and only one player will win the entry to the tournament plus accomodations and $1800 in spending money. Wish me luck boys!

Good luck to everyone else on the online/offline felt!

Its been a while...

2007-09-06T14:09:00.000+08:00

Unbelievable. Its been almost 2 months since my last post. Well Ill try and keep this short and sweet.

Whats been happening? Well I won a $10 satellite to a $2500 gtd tourney on Poker.COM and got 2nd in that for $750, my biggest cash to date. With that I took a bunch of cash out and put it on PokerStars and FullTilt and decided to try my luck with the best sites in the market. After some disheartening performances, I reached into PokerXFactor.com and really got down to analyzing my game and plugging leaks. Before long I was winning and cashing in almost every $4.40 tournament I joined on stars. I love these tournaments, although it takes a strong will to stomach the bad beats you get from donks who have their fold button broken.

Another great development is that I have found a bunch of guys I can play live cash games with here in Singapore. Its so great to find nice people to play with, plus the stakes are small and affordable. I had a really bad slump a couple of weeks ago wherein I wasnt making any money at all and I attributed it to trying too much to outplay people who I know will not fold except for the all-in move which I have no balls to try. Then I laid back and just let the cards come and played the situation instead of forcing myself to win every pot I got myself into.

Also, I am very jealous of the huge poker boom in the Philippines right now. Especially since the APPT made its way to our shores and I really wanted to meet Joe Hachem and Daniel Negreanu. Oh well, maybe I can qualify for the Seoul Tournament and stalk, i mean, meet them there.

Congrats on Mav and Nick on the opening of the very first legal poker room in manila, the Metro. I cant wait to visit and try my hand at some of the games. Hopefully they will still recognize the wide-eyed noob who donated money to the sharks every week at ACF almost a year ago.

Thats all for now. I think Ill update my blog with some live game sessions hands that I come across and any big cashes I make from my online play.

Also, i have begun staking a couple of people who are very good at what they do and hopefully it will be an interesting oppportunity to make some extra cash while I sit on my ass and do nothing. Lol.

Good luck at felt!

Update

2007-06-01T12:13:00.000+08:00

Whats happened in the last couple of days since I posted. Ive won some small tourneys here and there, i think around $70 was the biggest cash. I won $2R satellite tournament for the Sunday 20k GTD at Poker.COM as well as a $109 satellite token to a $2500 GTD tournament.

Also, I just cashed in the last Sunday 20K for $150 bucks. It was quite unfortunate though, I was really poised for a great win, in my opinion. I was crusing along to be blinded out in the middle of the tourney when I doubled up with quad 6s. Still below average I had 6s again and raise it 3x in middle position. I get reraised 2.5x from a late position big stack and smell AK. I decide to shove and get instacalled by Queens. Yikes! Talk about a bad read. But no problem, 6 on flop and I am over 10k at 100/200 level. Then this hand came up that changed my tournament completely. I had around 20k and was 4th or 5th place, it was 3-4 to the money. I was in BB with AKo and it gets folded to button who shoves for around 7k. I forgot what level this was but figured that this was a desparation push and range was quite high, maybe even blatant steal. I call of course and button has 10-7. Of course 7 on flop and I am down to 13k and suddenly in danger of bubbling. A few aggressive reraises, steals and shoves later, I make it to the money and lose to a race. That key hand really troubled me, not because I lost, but because maybe I didnt need to make the call. If I make the call and win, I am in 2nd place and have a really good chance of making it really deep. If I fold, I am still in 4th/5th place and still can make it deep. Funny thing is, I dont think I wouldnt be asking myself this question if my hand help up. Oh well.

Yesterday was an especially weird day because I kept getting called by really bad hands that sucked out. Like this one, I had kings in early position and raise it up 5x and get called. Flop comes ten high and I bet the pot and get called again. I shove on turn and get called by mid pair with a gutshot. Straight on river and I am crippled. That was such a bad play I couldnt help but tilt. I just smiled and asked him why the play and get replied with, "gambled, sorry". Wow! Heres another. I am in BB with AK, mid position player with short stack raises 5x and I put him on broadway cards, "gambler" calls and I shove thinking gambler has to have a really good hand to call because I have him covered. Shortstack goes all in with AJo and so does "gambler" with 4s! With friggin pocket 4s! How can you honestly think that your 4s are good in that spot? A raise and a shove and you put your tournament on the line with pocket 4s. Of course, 4 on river and he triples. I guess I should be happy that fishes still roam wild and free.

My BR now hovering at $700 mark and hoping to have a great weekend with lots of big cashes.

Oh yeah, also, played a live cash game last week and won almost SGD500! Chaching! Pass the sugah!

WSOP 2007 starting today. Hoping a pro wins the main event, I cant stand it if another Jamie Gold wins the big one.

Peace out and good luck on the felt, online or otherwise.

the story so far

2007-05-21T10:00:00.000+08:00

I just realized how long its been since I updated the blog. Plan to do it more often, so i can detail my progress with my skills. I can use this as a lookback at my past mistakes and any little or big lessons I may have learned.

As I mentioned before, I grinded my small roll of $15 on Poker.COM into a respectable figure of $100++. Then thanks to poor BR management, It all dwindled down to $40. Then it was up and down from there. I took matters into my own hands and joined www.PokerXFactor.com and learn from online pros like JohnnyBax, Sheets, BeL0WaB0Ve, BRSavage and Rizen. It helped polish my game a bit and im still learning. Hope to improve more and more.

With my bankroll down, I decided one fine monday early morning to play the $50k freeroll I qualified for playing so many cash games. At one point things looked really bad, but I caught a big bluff and doubled up to average stack early in the tourney. And after that, I had the best run ever. I was hitting flops, pulling off bluffs, stealing and re-stealing at will. I kept building my stack. Then I saw I was overall CL. I was so happy, 1st paid a whopping $5400! I played and played, it got better against good players cause they wanted to get higher in the pay scale. When it was down to about 25 players, I pick up queens. UTG limps in and I push, he has Kings of course and I take a hit, but im still a force. Then I go card dead. Then I make my final stand with AQ against 3s. Three on the flop, GG me. I take home a nice $400 for my efforts, after all, I did become really late for work because of this.

With $400 roll, I played cash and higher buyin MTTs. I slowly grinded it up to $950. Wow! Thats the highest my roll has ever been. A couple of consistent wins in $5 MTTs and $50NL helped a great deal. So before my roll dwindles even more, I cash out $450 for some important personal expenses. As of today, I have grinded my roll back up to around $550.

Consistency is my problem. Sometimes I go out on a bad beat trying to stay alive in a tourney. But rarely do I have chips to do some damage in the middle stages. I have to get really nice cards and/or a really weak tight table to accumulate. Im still trying to figure out how to do this, a smart LAG approach. Id rather have lotsa chips in the beginning and bust out in the middle, then have no chips in the beginning and hope that when I push all-in to stay alive in the middle stages I dont get sucked out on or run into aces.

Till then, peace!

No Sweat-er

2007-03-08T09:00:00.000+08:00

Two or three weeks before my trip back to Philippines, I decided to exchange my thousand-plus FPPs on stars for some of their merchandise. I number of them interested me, but what really caught my attention was the nice looking black sweater with their logo. I had seen a couple of players on TV wearing them to WSOP events and thought to myself, "this is probably the closest I am ever going to get to going there". Hehe. So I exchanged them and got them just last tuesday. Delivered by DHL express and it is friggin sweet.

Thanks stars. We'll always have a sweater to remember the good ol times. Hahaha.

The $26 satellite token I won last sunday was put into use the very next day. I got pretty deep into it. Just outside the money, I make it 3xbb with an ATo in cut-off seat. BB calls and flop is 9-3-10 rainbow. BB checks and I bet 2/3 pot. BB reraises me all in. Now I understand at around this time, people are making plays, stealing, re-stealing and all that jazz. Its almost like a dance to me at this point. I bet, someone raises, do you push back? do you fold? do you call? People could be reraising me with 8s or 7s or a straight draw, or overcards or whatever junk they call their "favorite hands". I reluctantly call and bb flips over 9s for a set. Turn and river no help and I am gone. At hindsight, I should have folded. He could have been playing jacks or queens the same way. Our stacks were almost the same, both average, and he wouldnt make a play that would damage his chances of making the money with some stupid steal play. Live and learn.

I bubbled out of an $11 tourney on tuesday when I pushed for 10-11xbb on a middle position raise with A7o when I was in the SB. Raiser of course flips over Queens and board does not provide assistance. I was the bubble boy. Not a good feeling. The table did thank me though for bubbling. Lol. Also, I got first in11fingers online tourney after delivering a bad beat to barb heads-up. I, apparently, had to beat her otherwise we would have to call the tourneys the barbiemanila online oker league according to adversary. Hehe

Last night, I decided to take another shot at the guaranteed tourneys at FTP and joined a 6.60 6-handed satellite. Like the 9-handed 4.40, 1st gets a token and 2nd gets $10. I was quite fortunate to hit flops quite hard early on and busted 2 players to get a commanding lead. Now, my tendency before was to just push the table around, since the blinds were still low and didnt hurt my stack each time I saw the flop, but I noticed that I lost bigger pots this way because I usually had the 2nd best hand. So I decided to continue playing TAG and won the token 30 min later. I also played a 5.50 sng and just made the money there. I signed up for another 5.50 tourney and while waiting, played a 3.30 MTT on Poker.com. After having a dismal 1st hour, I started catching some cards and got my stack way above the average. I found myself on the final table with a healthy stack and played ABC FT poker. Steal, re-steal, re-raises with big hands preflop. Finished at 3rd for a $45 payday.

The $5.50 MTT I joined had a few of the regular micro grinders and tourney experts. As usual, was not able to catch any cards early but made up for it. An interesting hand came up in the middle stages. I had gotten some good flops and was in the top 10 in chips. A middle position person raised 3xbb and I called on the button with 78 clubs. Flop came 4-5-10 with 2 spades. Middle position bet 50% of pot and I flat called my inside draw. Turn was a rag and he checks. I check as well. River is my gin card and hit my six to make a really deceptive straight. Weird thing is that the initial raiser pushes all-in. The river put a heart flush on board. That would have been a really funky way to play it. I could not put him on a backdoor flush and call. He shows pocket 7s and I double up. He just remarks, "omg". A couple of prelfop raises and steals later, I am overall chip leader and pick off middle stacks. I get resistance once in a while but not really hurt by them. I get outdrawn by a set on the turn in one hand near the bubble but thankfully lose the minimum as player was slowplaying them hoping I would raise. When I did make the money, I was in 3rd and fairly comfortable with around 30-40xbb. An hour later I make the FT. The first few hands were not kind to me and because of bad timing, my steals get picked off by really big hands and I am down to 6 of 8 in chips. Down to 6 players a little while later and just 10xbb with one limper, I push with A7o. Limper thinks a long time, as calling would mean almost 40% of his stack. He flips over 6s and we race. Flop is Q-K-Q. Not good at all. Turn is an 8 though, giving me more outs. Any K, 8, A or 7 wins me the pot. The river is a K for a sick beat which more than doubles me up and a message of "what a $%#$@%" from the limper. A couple hands later, I get the obligatory "nh" from the limper. Hehe. I am now 3rd in chips and poised to take it down. Unfortunately, my internet connection had other plans as my Full Tilt client froze and I got flashed the connection dialog. "Not now! Not fucking now!". When I did resume, I had just lost the blinds. On the button I make the standard raise with Q10o and BB calls. Flop is 10-10-x. BB checks, I bet like I normally do, BB raises, I reraise, BB re-reraises. Now normally I would flat call. But flat calling would indicate a very strong hand at this point and I dont think he'll be putting any more money in on the turn, even if he hits the flop. So I re-re-reraise (is that even a word?) and before his timer runs out, he folds. I show him my hand out of respect for him. He was a pretty solid player and did not want him to run me over anymore. Then the connection to FTP got cut again. I was able to surf online, but not connect. As a last resort, i restarted my machine. When I did connect, I was heads-up with CL who had a 100 to 1 chip advantage. LOL. Busted out a couple hands later in 2nd for a payday of $154. Chaching. Hehe. Not bad. I probably would have gotten less If I had actually played any of the hands when we were down to 4 players.

Hopefully my good run at MTTs wont end soon. Im really looking to cash in the $500++ ranges in the next couple of days.

For everyone watching High Stakes Poker Season 3, Ivey, Antonius, and Ferguson next week. Friggin sweet to watch. Finally get to see how those minds work in cash games.

Best of luck to everyone else.

Back here

2007-03-05T09:18:00.000+08:00

Well, im back here at Singapore. I had a blast in the Philippines. Really felt like a vacation went I visited. Never had to move a muscle except to eat, sleep, and well, eat again. LOL. Had loads of fun with my family and especially with my girlfriend. You really dont realize how much a person means to you until you spend a day without seeing them. Definitely working on a plan for my gf to move here. :)

Once I moved back I started playing more on Poker.com. I had been playing a few of the 2.20 SnGs and cashed quite often. I finally ended up putting my BR up the $40 mark. Got it down a bit and tried a 2.20 MTT. After a huge suck out, I found myself back in the tourney and in the money. Played solid in the final table, raising a lot in position and catching good hole cards. Finished in 2nd for an $86 payday. Not bad.

From the winnings I got on Full Tilt, I decided to play a few of the SnGs and cashed in some of them. Seem to be running into sharks and micro grinders who always seem to know what I was upto. Hehe. Then I decided to try my luck at 5.50 MTT that happened to start in 5 minutes. What a tourney that was. The table I got into was tighter than (insert your own comparison here). I just kept raising with junk in middle and late position and making continuation bets with little or no resistance. When someone would look me up, I would flop two pair or a set. It was insane! I also ran into players trying to make plays on me when I hit the flop, with one guy literally bluffing all his chips away when I hit a boat with my 57o on the flop. He had K3. Hehe. I had the chip lead within the 2nd hour and never looked back. I just kep pushing people around and no one ever pushed back. I stayed clear of short stacks and kept picking on the middle stacks that could afford to fold. When I reached the FT, I was still in first but was in tough company. Looking up their stats on www.officialpokerrankings.com, I found myself with guys who regularly cashed in micro MTTs and were quite aggressive. I decided to just sit back and let the cards come to me, since I could afford to wait with my huge chip lead. After my Aces were cracked by K9 on the river, hehe, I lost the chip lead and got 3rd for a payday of $112. Chaching, as I told jonard. Hehe. It was a good learning experience. I got a little cocky and decided to play an $11 tourney that was about to begin. I just got ITM, getting $18. LOL. Something better than nothing, right? Hehe

I remembered this one post from gamefrog about how satellites are the key to maximum profit potential, or something to that effect, for cashing in the guaranteed MTTs at full tilt. So then I tried my hand at the 4.40/9 that gave one seat and 6.60/18 that gave 4 seats. I was unsuccesfull at both, alot. Never even cashing. I then played again late last night, and saw I was beside a guy named jonpokertour. I gave me a message to jonard on YM and he confirmed that was him I was playing with. I busted out early in that SnG, but jonard stayed him, but unfortunately just took 2nd for $10. Both he and I want a $26 satellite token to one of em big tourneys. I noticed how he played and why he was successfull at SnGs of late. It was because he wasnt forcing things to happen, at least not early on. He was just waiting for cards to come and rarely raised in the early and middle stages of the tourney. And whenever he did, the table showed him respect. I applied this, and whaddaya know, I got a token an hour later on the 6.60 SnG I was playing. When I play MTTs, people are usually so tight in the beginning that its easy to pick up the dead money and slowly build your stack. But in SnGs, people are so bad that they are willing to call any raise no matter what position with any Ace X, King X or face card combination. So its very easy to get unlucky or for your opponent to get lucky when they hit the flop, then call you down with any pair. In one SnG, in the middle stage of the tourney where I had played quite tight, I had raised all-in to 750 with ATo on 30-60 blinds in middle position with 3 limpers. One of the limpers called for almost 50% of his stack with K8o! My hand held up and I was in awe. "He must have thought I was really weak. Putting me on K7 or K6." I would rather bluff my chips off with K8 than call with them.

With things looking up for me on the online gaming front, Im quite happy. I feel that I have improved my game somewhat and am confident to cash in more MTTs in the future. Those guaranteed tourneys look really nice with first to third place usually in the thousand dollar ranges. That would be so friggin sweet!

One thing Im looking into improving is restealing. One way of building my stack either approaching the bubble or ITM is raising in middle and late position with a wide range of hands, but restealing has been a skill that has always eluded me. Maybe someone out there can give me some tips or pointers or guidelines or rules of thumb. Much appreciated, thanks.

Thats all for now. Thanks for reading.

Good luck at the felt, both online and live!

On The Way Home

2007-02-15T10:46:00.000+08:00

Wow, its been a while since i last posted. Theres been alot of stuff going on with my life here in singapore. That will have to wait though, Im due for a needed vacation. Im in the budget terminal opposite changi now posting a short blog, waiting to board my flight home to good ol' philippines. Heading back in about a week. Rest and relaxation here i come!

Been playin a lot of online poker, mostly on Mansion, Poker.Com and Full Tilt. Mansion has some really sick overlays, with their GTD 100k tourneys with just 400+ players at the most every night with $100 buyin, its real bang for your buck if you get lucky. I got in through a satellite and unfortunately wen broke early when my Kings got outdrawn by 8-T offsuit on the river. Oh well. At poker.com, they have $50 freerolls every 2 hours, so I usually play 4 every night, when I get the chance. I cashed at 8th place on my very first one and got $1.50 for my troubles. Not bad. Couple days later, I get first place and $12. Thats when I started playing the 2.20 sngs and smaller buy-in tourneys. My current BR there is at about $40. Something from nothing isnt bad. Last tuesday, 11finger sent me a message asking me to join his private tourney on FTP. Told him I had no cash on Full Tilt and asked him to spot me 11bucks to play, id just send him the money the next day. After a good start on the regular SnG, I was down to 500 at 25-50 blinds and was not looking well. Couple of well-timed pushes and calls got me ITM and eventually first place. The exact same scenario happened on the turbo SnG. Managed to stay afloat with 4 players left, albeit the shortstack. When I reached the money, I decided to play smart poker, not just push when I see a pretty face card. I had a pretty good read on the table, especially on the chip leader. A couple of select calls for all my chips put me at about even to both remaining players. In late position, I pick up aces and just call the big blind. 3rd in chips pushes all-in and I feel great. But even better, chip leader pushes as well. I insta-call and 3rd shows AQ, CL shows 9s and my aces hold up. AQ busts out and CL left with less than 600. 2 hands later I get 1st again. Very well played I thought. Sent the 11bucks I owed to 11finger right away and thanked him. He said that he should get all 30bucks! Hehe. Backer ko na si 11finger! hehe.

Played 0.05/0.10 at FTP last night and bought in for max at $10. After being down to 6bucks, I tightened up and managed to get up to 11bucks. Player to my right was very loose and liked to raise pots. One hand he raised to 0.35 as usual and I look down (if its possible to look down at a laptop monitor, lol) at QTs and decide to call. Headsup going to the flop and hit my flush immediately. He bets 2/3 of pot and I call. He checks the turn, and so do I. He bets 2/3 pot on river and I min reraise. He calls and shows 69s, also hitting his flush on flop. A little later he raises prelfop again and I call with QJo. I hit my Q on flop and just call all his bets. I get 10 bucks from the pot and he shows a busted straight draw when he bets big on river. I finally bust him when I raise preflop LP with KQo and get two callers. Flop comes with a Q and 2 suited babies. Checked to me and I bet half the pot. EP calls and maniac raises 3x my bet. I call after a few seconds, afraid that he may have hit 2 pair with his rag and decide that If I dont improve or he bets big on turn, to just throw it away. I turn another Q and he pushes all-in. At this point, if hes got a full house or limped with AQ, then so be it, but the way he's been playing, Ill take my chances. I call and he shows 78o and hit his 7 on flop. He just types "lol, nh, gg". I quit little bit later with $24 winnings. Not bad at all!

Anyways, flight is boarding now. Gotta run. Dunno if i can play when I get to manila, will try and squeeze it in though. Id rather spend time with the family and girlfriend.

Peace all! thanks for reading!

Adjusting And Autographs

2006-12-20T09:48:00.000+08:00

My first month in Singapore have been nothing but short of awesome. Going to all these exotic locations, meeting all sorts of people and eating different kinds of foods have been really great. Everyday I learn something new about this unique and diverse society and wake up every morning what kind of surprises it will bring for me.

My poker life here has been relatively quiet. As I mentioned in my previous blogs, poker is illegal here, unless played for fun with no money involved amongst friends. Played a couple of times with some of the locals and had really fun, would've been more fun if I had won money instead of losing. Hehe.

With regards to the BetFair Asian Poker Tour which concluded several weeks ago, props go out to the local Singaporean who made it to the final table and heads up with Tony G for the title. However, the poker gods were smiling on the Bad Boy, as Tony G took it down after an intense one-on-one battle which seemed like to last forever. As I mentioned also earlier, I had gone to this tour mainly to watch some of the worlds greats play, and maybe get their autographs. As I entered, I saw John Phan playing on one of the featured tables. After he folded a hand preflop, he stretched and looked around and happened to see me. He smiled and nodded his head as I said Hi, probably recognizing the over-anxious dude who asked for his autograph the previous night. As I scoured for floor for other pros, I saw Mel "Silverfox" Judah and asked for a pen from one of the floor staff and right before the tournament began, went up to him and asked for an autograph. He looked at the signature on the card, and asked me, "whos this?". "John Phan", I answered rather giddily. "Ah, my friend the razor!", he told me. I then asked Mel (first name basis na kami, walang kokontra! hehe), "Is Gus Hansen still in?" "He still is, think hes over there.", pointing towards the entrance of the tourney area. I push my luck and ask, "Whats he wearing?" Several of the players on the table tell me he's wearing white sweater with hood with a Full Tilt logo. "Just shout out 'Gus!', and if he turns around, that must be him.", Mel tells me while laughing. I head over where he pointed and see a rather large crowd forming already. And then I see him, the Great Dane looking serious and poised as ever. I stay there and watch him and maybe learn something. To my dismay, he was folding most of the hands he got, and won only a couple which he raised preflop with. He was talking with other dutch players on the table, obviously in a good mood while laughing and smiling with the table. I borrowed a pen from the floor staff again when the TD announced a break and went to Gus for an autograph, "Sure", he said. Of all the friggin luck in the world, the pen had no ink. So I borrowed another from another floor staff, guess what? Still no ink. So I borrowed another one rather quickly and he said, "This one will hopefully work", and it did. He smiled and I thanked him. Thats when the swarm of people asked for autographs from him as well. As I was about to leave, I saw Tony G talking with some of the floor staff and decided to go for the trifecta that night. As he followed another guy to the refreshment section, I tapped him on the shoulder and said rather sheepishly, "Can I get your autograph Mr Tony G, sir?" "Sure no problem. Are you from Singapore?" "No, Im from the Philippines, I just work here" "Really, Philippines? There was a tourney there, the ... the ... PAPT! Did you play in that?" "No, I didnt. Thats a little above my bankroll" "Oh I see (laughs). Did you play here?" "Not as well, didnt make it to the registration on time. Maybe next year" "Great to hear it" "Im Mike by the way", I say while I stick my hand out to introduce myself. "Hi Mike, so nice to meet you" "Good luck Tony" "Thanks" Ah, my brush with greatness! Quite a witty repertoir, if I dont say so myself. Hehe. "I think I did what I came here to do", I tell to myself as I exit the Mandarin hotel happily.

Been playing alot of PokerStars over the last couple of weeks thanks to finally having internet at my place. I placed quite deep in the $ 4.0 + 0.40 180 person SnG and busted out when my AQ fell to pocket sixes and just got double my buy-in after being chip leader for quite some time. Played in 11fingers tourney last night and placed third in the turbo one. Also played a little $0.01/0.02 ring game and managed to make a $4 profit. Will try this since not been as ok with my SnG the last couple of days. Still havent found a regular bunch of people to play live with yet. Taught couple of my buddies from the Philippines who moved here but they suck, LOL!

Thats all for now. If I do well in those $4 MTTs, will post ASAP. Btw, does anyone have a copy of Bryans WPT win? One of my poker friends from PH happened to see it and saw me hi-five the champ. If anyone has a copy, please drop me a comment.

Thanks for reading! Peace!

Starstruck

2006-11-13T09:25:00.000+08:00

After moving in yesterday to my new home in Singapore, the family I am staying with decided to take me out for dinner to welcome me to the family. I finally had the plate of fried rice I was craving for ever since I arrived here, and it was everything I had ever hoped and dreamed for. hehe. After dinner, I hopped on a bus to go watch the inaugural event of the Betfair Asian Poker Tour over at the Mandarin Hotel. I was meeting up with a guy who organized a friendly cash game in Singapore and wanted to see the kind of competition I would potentially be up against. There were alot of Europeans and Americans playing in the tourney, not a lot of locals however. There were lots of SnGs going on, ranging from $100 to $500, which paid out only to top 2 places. The main event of the evening was a $440 super satellite tourney that gave out seats to the $5000 main event beginning on tuesday. It was quite a massive turnout, almost 200 players showed up for the super satellite, and about a hundred more for the SnGs. Too bad I was not able to pre-register online and could not participate in any of the events. It was pretty tight in all the tables in the early going and eliminations were quite sparce. But in typical NLHE fashion, bad beat stories abound. I saw KK cracked by AQ when it runner-runner straight, OUCH.

But the highlight of my evening was when I was looking around and saw a familiar face on one of the tables and recognized him almost immediately, it was John Phan! I immediately borrowed a pen from the floor staff and asked for his autograph. He was really nice about it and seemed a little bit embarrased that I did. LOL. It wasnt a good night for him though as he ran into Aces twice and exited out in the middle stages of the super satellites.

Also, I just realized what I had earlier feared last night. I was watching an SnG and turned around quite suddenly and accidentally bumped and think stepped on the toe of a woman who shrieked abit as I said sorry. I just confirmed the girl I physically harmed was, in fact, Liz Lieu. Im a friggin clutz!

On the way out of the tourney area, I got a call from Silly Cow (thats his name on the forum, dont ask me why) and he told me how he was card-dead almost the entire tournament and finally had to push with Ace-rag and lost. He then introduced me to a friend of his who hit a straight flush against 2 other players and raked in a huge pot. He also mentioned that Tony G was still playing inside and I decided to watch him play a bit as well. Tony G was very quiet and sedated in playing and was holding an average stack. On his table, I saw another reason to always stay alert in NLHE tourneys: Guy in early position raises to 7000 when blinds were 200-400 with 50 antes. Everyone folds to SB who does not notice the raise and just thinks its just between him and BB. SB moves all-in, BB folds and initial raiser calls. SB is surprised and asks raiser if he can still back-out. Dealer says no deal! Tony G says to SB to relax and see if raiser would still fold. Raiser says call and turns over AK. SB embarrasingly turns over J5. Tony G says, "not bad, 60-40, you're still in". Ace on the turn and its all over. Everyone comments how unfortunate that was. Tony G also says that he shouldnt be embarrased, the raiser still had to win the hand. That was just plain stupid if you ask me.

TD later tells everyone to move out of tourney area and that was my cue to exit. Got a bus and arrived home shortly. Its been a while since I watched a live event and I felt the poker rush once again. Cant wait to play a live game soon. Once I get my TV, Cable, Internet and new laptop, should be playing online and downloading more poker vids. Cant wait to watch Gus Hansen, Mel Judah and John Phan again in action on the main event this wednesday.

Till then, Peace out!

See ya....

2006-11-09T08:43:00.000+08:00

Once again, my apologies for not updating the blog as often as I did before. Its been a really hectic past couple of weeks and alot of things have changed for me. If you dont already know, I recently got a job in Singapore and have been working here since Tuesday (November 7th) and could not be happier. People close to me know of my dreams of working in Singapore and have finally reached it. Until now, I still find myself staring into the horizon and telling myself, "I cant believe I actually work here.... in motherf*ckin Singapore! Woohoo!" Hehe. Not everyone is happy that I shifted though. My girlfriend wasnt too excited about me moving, for obvious reasons of course, but I know she will support me no matter what. I am so lucky to have found someone so understanding and caring and loving as her. Everyone, please give her a round of applause. How many girlfriends, or wives, for that matter would be this understanding? I would be hard-pressed to find anyone remotely like her. Love you hun! Mwaaaah! I'm coming back for you, promise! c",)

On to more pressing matters. As you may or may not know, the poker scene in Singapore is virtually non-existent. There are no legal cardrooms or casinos here that will cater to my obsession, and that makes me sad. hehe. Fortunately, I have seen a couple of sites and have been in contact with a couple of locals who tell me of a friendly cash game every weekend that I can maybe join sometime when I build a big enough bankroll (Apparently, they play $2/$5 NLHE with a maximum buy-in of $500!). A blessing of some sorts is the timing of my arrival here. The Asian Poker Tour is kicking off here in Singapore starting this coming Sunday, with the main event, a $5000 buy-in tourney, starting on Wednesday. A host of top-pros will be in attendance, including Gus Hansen, Phil Laak, Mel Judah, Martin de Kniff, Liz Lieu, John Phan, Tony G (I think), and a host of many others. I heard that Gavin Smith and a couple of other name pros were also supposed to join, but a major tournament in Foxwoods coincided with this event. I will be there to maybe play the smaller buy-in tourneys and steal a kiss from Papa GUS! 11Finger already asked me to give a kiss to Papa GUS from his end, anybody else want me to blow a kiss as well, just pop me a comment. Hehe

As for now, I will probably just stick with PokerStars until I find a regular live game or when the casino here finally opens. Hehe. If and when I get my credit card, I plan to shift to Full Tilt Poker as to the suggestion and high praises that GameFrog, Nutsboy and ManilaGrind have given it. I have played substantially better and more consistent. Keeping out of my mind all the bad beats and making sure I still make all the right decisions, because as Nutsboy put it, "the math will always stand-up"

I have met alot of people because of poker in the Philippines. Id like to thank all of them for keeping me company on all those late nights, sharing bad beat stories, winning decisions, donk plays and suck-outs, damn, I love me some suck-outs! Hehe. It is quite sad for me to be leaving all you guys, you have been a huge part of my life and its hard to adjust to normal, responsible adult living. I will try my best though. So thanks again to Bryan (WPT champ, booyah!), Maverick (for the chip tricks and how he hates people who limp-in with rockets, lol), ManilaGrind and Nutsboy (thanks for the online tips), GameFrog (thanks for all live tips), JPT (for the harrington on holdem books and showing me around all the poker venues), Cardinal (for being a great tourney organizer), NickG (for being the face of PH poker and letting it grow), 11Finger (for the online tourneys and pokerroom top-ups), to my live game buddies: Brian, Ryan, Mark, Randy, Patrick, Romeo and all the rest. Thanks for introducing me to poker and helping my game. But mostly, thanks for me being good friends. Hopefully, when I come to visit PH, you will all still welcome me in. *sniff* *sniff* :)

On a side note, I recently acquired the entire WSOP 2006 main event videos and will upload them to YouTube as soon as I get internet access where I live, so watch out for my poker videos section to be updated soon. I also have Phil Gordons little green book in audio format with Phil himself reading it, so I will try to upload that on YouTube as well.

Thanks again to all you guys! Peace out and let the cards fly (or some shit like that, hehe).

P.S.

Could not resist this suck-out story that started my rush to winning an online tourney recently:

I go all-in for my last couple of chips with AQ off.

One caller, pocket 7s.

Flop is K-K-7

Turn is K

River is K

I have the better quads! Hehe.

Poker TV Shows on YouTube

2006-10-12T15:55:00.000+08:00

I hate Donkey Callers!

2006-10-09T14:11:00.000+08:00

I hate donkey callers! Can you all tell me if I played this hand wrong? This was at the ACF MTT last saturday for a seat at the WPT Poker Madness this coming October 14-16. It was first level and blinds were 10/20. I was seated on a very very tight table, I haven't been playing any hands and won a small pot earlier. I was on the cut-off seat when I picked up QJ offsuit and raise it up to 5x BB. Dealer button, small blind and guy to my right calls. Flop comes out 9-J-8. Small blind checks, guy to my right bets 100. I sense weakness and raise it to 400. Dealer and SB fold. Guy to my right thinks a while and calls. Turn is a blank and he checks. I bet 400 again. He thinks again for a while and calls. WTF?!? River is a 9 and he moves all-in for 320. Im pretty sure he's got a 9, but I'm pot committed and wanted to see what he had. He turns up Ad9d! He played that trash all the way to river and got paid! Dammit! When I start playing smart poker, some idiot friggin rivers me. Who the hell calls a raise with friggin middle-pair?!? Then calls another bet with no improvement?!? Even if he was on a flush draw on the flop itself, was I giving him proper odds to call? Can you guys tell me if I did anything wrong, except for maybe calling when I knew I was beat. Thanks.

Congratulations also to Action-Jackson who won the ACF event, took down a nice payday of almost 50K, a WPT seat and nice pair of Raybans! Also, congrats to Doc Mike who won a seat as well at the SnG.

Revelations and Online Poker

2006-10-06T11:15:00.000+08:00

Another fascinating couple of weeks of poker for me. I played in the headhunter tournament at the ACF and got busted relatively early when I kept taking stab at pots that I didnt deserve to win. Have tried and fixed that flaw in my game since then.

I also analyzed some key mistakes or errors in my NLHE strategy and have made adjustments that seem to have worked out for the best. I played a couple of short-handed home game tournaments since then and have been in the ITM for most of them. I really wanted to work on playing with a short-stack, coz everyone can play with a big stack.

Another problem I notice in my game was that whenever I used to get really bad cards at the start, my starting requirements seem to diminish and I no longer care where I play a hand. I would raise with KJ off or Ace rag at early position and would get beat by position plays and flops that would not help. I learned that most tourneys start off with you no having monsters, you just have to wait for a good opportunity to play cards. In one tournament in particular, I got pocket 5s in late position and with several limpers into the pot, decided not to raise it because I thought that any flop would help the players that would call. Flop comes out J-2-J. Everyone checks. Turn is a 3 and everyone checks again to the button who bets double the BB. I call along with two other players. River brings out another Jack and everyone folds again to the button who bets 2000 this time. Everyone folds to me. I had a decision to make, I was mostly afraid of a higher pocket pair like 7s or 8s, I wasnt really thinking that he had a Jack, his bets seemed a little weak, plus he seemed nervous. After thinking longer on it, I could not even put him on a higher pocket pair than mine, so I reluctantly called and asked him if he had a Jack and turn over my 5s. He shakes his head and turns over one card, a 3. He also had a full house, I just had a better one. At that stage of the tourney, prior to the hand, I was down to half my starting stack, but after the hand I was up and then some. It just showed the virtue of patience and waiting for the right opportunity to make the right moves. If I had raised preflop, I probably wouldnt have gotten paid off as much as when I waited. Later in the same tournament, I ended up on the final table and was short-stacked. Got lucky when my A10 outdrew pocket Jacks when I hit the trips 10 on the turn. I also went all in with my pocket Kings that saw action with AJ. although I was in pretty good shape, another King on the flop sealed the deal and put me in the drivers seat. When it was finally heads up with the chip leader, a guy I played with at the ACF also, we noticed that we were just giving blinds back and forth. He decided to offer me a deal so we could call it a night (it was really late and I needed to go to office the next day). So I finished in 2nd place and got 6k for my troubles. Not bad, not bad at all.

Another venture I came into was online poker. What really disuaded me from playing was the complex and long process it took to fund a real money account from the Philippines. That soon changed when I was looking around the PokerStars software and saw that they offered funding through Western Union (WU). What you do is click on this section of the software and they instruct you to send through WU a minimum amount of $50.00, of course you also have to pay some processing fees which are really negligible. So I did the money transfer, which I have to say was no a pain at all, the WU staff was really friendly and accomodating., and then proceeded to enter the MTCN into the software. It later tells me that tehy will verify the transfer later in the day. PokerStars verifies and processes WU transfers every 1130AM and 930PM Philippine time.I checked my email later that night and was pleasantly informed that my PokerStars real money account was funded. On a funny note, they told me that I only funded $48.97 and they decided to let it slide since it was my first time depositing. So for all those people thinking of trying WU for fund transfer to PokerStars, you might want to send $51-52 just to be on the safe side of the currency conversion. Hehe.

The great thing about PokerStars is that they offer micro cash games. How micro? Well it might not seem awesome to the grinder who makes a living off poker, but to the average joe like you and me who just loves to play, the blinds are the lowest I have seen anywhere, live or online! How low? Try P0.50/1.00 ($0.01/0.02)! I am not joking, of course, its no limit, so it can go up fast, but the maximum buyin for these cash games are only $5.00! That means you can make the right decisions and learn the fundamentals of poker and get a ton of experience. Another great thing is that they offer 24 hours SnG with a buy-in as low as $1.50+0.25. I have tried these games and have been ITM 3 out of 7 times. I have really learned a lot from them, plus its really fun knowing that the next game is just a mouse click away, plus it doesnt hurt that they are affordable. My bankroll is up a couple of dollars and I couldnt be happier.

During the last couple of weeks, I have been listening a lot to a podcast hosted by Phil Gordon on ESPNRadio entitled the PokerEdge. They give weekly recaps of poker news and have a great segment called Expert Insight wherein they invite a notable pro to give advice on all thing NLHE. Notable pros on the show were Helmuth, Negreanu, Seidel, Vos, Lederer, Ferguson, and just last week, Scott Fischman, also known as the Online Ace. He details a strategy for playing winning SnG online. I have tried to integrate his advice into my game and as you can see, its pretty effective. During the early stages of a tournament, he only raises with premium hands and calls with small pocket pairs and connectors. He says that he is looking for locks, or as I understand them, sure wins and/or chances to double up. Basically if he flops a set or straight he is looking to get maximum value from them. He advices to throw trap hands away, regardless of position, he even folds AQ from middle position because he says, even if you flop an Ace, you dont know where you're at. When short-stacked or back to starting stack at the middle stage, which will be the situation most of the time when using his strategy, he looks to push in position to steal blinds because people are trying to sneak into the money. He then plays really loose aggressive at the end stages. So he basically says to play really tight, then really loose. He also says that the best online SnG players in the world will be ITM 40% of the time. Maybe you guys can give it a try and see how it can help your game.

Also, an update about the ring game at the ACF. They have officially removed the P20/40 game and only have P50/100 and P100/200 games now with the same rake system of 10% of the pot or P300 maximum. Although this may seem steep for the weekend player, apparently the miminum buyin at the P50/100 game is only P1000 or 10BB, but the maximum is not even P9000?!? Can anyone please confirm this?

Thats all for this week. If you guys have any questions or inquiries regarding the Western Union fund transfer method, Ill be happy to answer them, just drop me a comment and Ill try to answer them as fast as I can. Thanks again for listening to my rants. Till next time, see you at the felt!

What a week!

2006-09-15T10:41:00.000+08:00

Its been another hectic and crazy week at the office and, as a result, have been playing alot less live poker. Its been mostly online play money at full tilt and practicing aggressive and loose play. Been particularly successful weathering the all-in fests. Its really a good place to have fun while learning about the game.

When I did play some live games, mostly tourneys, I seem to be running into a common problem with my play. No, I dont short stack and blow it all off on hoping to win with an AK, I actually made the final table every time in top 3 chip position. I bluffed and bullied my way through average stacks on the way to final table, and do the same without success once I get there.

On one particular hand at a tourney (this is a fun story), I was chip leader at the table and was in position. UTG called the BB and I look down at 84 offsuit and sense weakness and decide to pounce. Blinds were 200-400 and I raise to 2000. SB and BB fold and UTG goes all-in, fortunately I didnt need to add anymore chips. He thought he was beat, when I showed him my cards he just smiled. Flop came out 8-x-4! I hit the two-pair immediately and could not believe my luck, and he could not believe his, that was his first playable hand in a long time and he gets screwed on the flop. Well, would you believe it when I say that the turn and river were both Kings? Well i dont care if you dont believe it, coz thats what happened. I didnt mind that he won, I resigned to the fact preflop that I was going to loose, but to hit the two-pair and loose was just salt on my wounds. Definitely a TV moment. Hehe.

I little later, on the final table, UTG says aloud that this could be his last hand and bets the minimum. Fold around to me at the button and I see AQ offsuit. I think about it and push him all-in. Of course he calls and flips over AK. Some of you might be thinking, "AK vs AQ isnt so bad. Its like 50-50". You would be wrong, its actually more like 70-30. So naturally, he spiked a King on the turn and made the new short stack. I move in later with pocket Jacks and loose to a set of 7s.

I reviewed these hands in my head and realized what I could have done differently. It was of course a stupid move to go push AQ, and to bluff the short stack with 84, but I think I could have won those hands if I played a little differently. Gamefrog, jpt, mave and mnlgrind, back me up on this one. Lets say I just call, I will be in position the entire hand anyway. For the first scenario I hit two-pair and will bet-out, short stack still has some chips left and will probably throw away the AK. For the second scenario, I would also call. UTG would not hit and probably check and I would bet out maybe just fold if he reraised me. In both changed scenarios, I save a significant amount of chips and would be ITM. Oh well, poker is about learning.

I also got into a discussion with a couple of ACF high-stakes regulars who complained about the decline in turnout for people playing ring games at the poker room. They told me that as early as 2PM, people were already in and sometimes, they had to extend until 9AM the following day because there was so many games going on. At one point, there was a shortage of dealers because of the sheer amount of players who wanted in on the action. Those days are gone and probably lost forever, one ACF regular said. He did not blame the decline of the popularity of poker, but rather the rake that the casino took. For those not familiar about the rake at the ACF, its 10% of the pot or P 300 max. Apparently it was P 200 a while back. This high rake is what discourages people from playing at casinos and look for home games with little or no rake. They hope that someday, they lower the rake or figure out some other profit making scheme. I for one would like to suggest paying a fixed fee for sitting at a ring game, lets say P 50 for an hour. If you bust out in 5 minutes, the next guy in has to pay the fee again. This way they make at least P 500 an hour for a full 10-handed table. Plus, the players can keep increasing the pot without fear of just increasing the profit of the casino. What do you guys think?

Yesterday, I got a text message from Pocket Kings organizers regarding a tourney at Elbow Room, at Metrowalk. I decided to give it a try and headed over there after work. To my dismay, I was the 3rd person registered and they expected 7 at most for the tourney. When we did start about an hour later, we were just 6 players. They gave us 5000 starting stack with 30 minute blinds which gave us ample time to strategize and play better. I just kept giving into the blinds when I finally picked up an A8 offsuit. 4 players in and the flop was 8-x-A. I felt that this was my time to make some chips so I just checked my two-pair. Turn was a blank so I bet out 500. 2 callers. River was another blank and I bet 500 again. This time, just one caller. He mucks his hand when he sees mine and I take down the pot.

I was a little over the 7K mark when I got AJ suited at the BB. SB calls and I reraise to 1200. He calls and I pair my Jack at the flop, the rest were rags. SB bets 600 and I call, sensing he has nothing and can squeeze more if I dont reraise. Turn and river were both rags, at each level I bet 600. I take down the pot again when he mucks after seeing my top-pair.

I was able to steal some blinds with some well-timed and executed bluffs. I was sure to leave myself some outs in case somebody decide to look me up. Whenever I went to showdown, my middle or bottom pair always held up against their King or Ace high. A couple of levels later, my huge chip lead was dwindled by some beats that hurt my stack. I bet 2000 on AJ forcing the SB to go all-in. He turned up his A10, which paired on the flop and I doubled him up. Another pot when another player went all-in with 78 offsuit against my K9 suited. We both hit the flop, but his 7 hit again on the turn giving him trips and blowing another dent in my stack. Was not able to pick up a decent hand for a long time and was getting really desperate. At one point, I kid you not, I got 9-10 thrice .... one after the other!

I prayed for a monster and looked down to see pocket Kings. Folded to me on the SB, with the BB who was the chip leader at the time. I had about 6000 left after I posted the SB. I knew that going all-in would guarantee me the blinds but I needed to double-up, and that would only happen if the BB was pot-committed in some way. So I limped in and luckily for me, he raised. I put him on Ace high with a low kicker. I made it seem that I was hesitant about calling and threw in the additional chips. Flop came out all blanks and I checked. BB bets out 3000 and I move all-in. I tell him that its another couple thousand for him to call, and he does. He turns up A6, which he hit his 6 on the flop. I yell out for no more Aces or 6s. I get my wish and double-up.

My confidence is really up at this point and start blind stealing again. When we were down to just 3 players, I requested for a chop, since I was the short stack, neither agreed and it was announced the there would only be first prize. I psyched myself into winning and got some pretty decent cards that paid off, including a hand that saw my A2 offsuit hit runner runner for the Ace trips. A little later, I was the chip leader when the short stack busted out. I was heads up and in good position for taking down the prize.

First hand I got was a Q10 offsuit. I called my opponents big blinds and was raised to double. I call and pair my 10 on the flop. I bet 4000 and my opponent folds. Nice start I think. The following hand was a Q10 suited and I bet out 4000 after opponent calls the blinds. He then reraises all-in and I fold immediately. While I start to place my blinds for the next hand, other guy pushes all-in. I have him covered and put him once again on an Ace with a low kicker. I look down and see AK. I hesitate for a minute and call. He's surprised, but more surprised to see that I picked up a monster when he decided to make a move. The flop was 8-9-8, and the turn which paired both our Aces sealed the deal. I won! I won! I WON! Woohoo! Woohoo! I was so happy but kept it to myself to not seem cocky. I shook all the players and organizers hands and thanked them for a great tourney. It really was, even if we were short-handed, I think we all had a good time. I got almost 3x my buy-in in cash plus a satellite pass for the saturday tourneys worth 3500, which by the way, I am selling. I won't be passing by Angeles or Pampanga anytime soon so if anyone is enterested in purchasing it, leave me a comment or send me an email with your best offer. Thanks!

Hope to play as well as I did last night in all my succeeding tourneys. Winning is always nice, but playing your very best and having fun are more important. I was able to make some really nice laydowns and put reads on peoples cards. One simple rule of holdem I used alot last night was to keep pots small for small hands and big pots for big hands. Was able to keep my losses to a minimum and maximize value on nice hands.

Anyways, will play again at Elbow room next week. You guys should try it out as well, we could use the dead money! Hahaha! Kidding guys. Thanks for reading my rants! Til next time, see you at the felt!

Not quite there yet ...

2006-09-05T11:10:00.000+08:00

My apologies for not updating my blog. Its been a hectic couple of days for me at work and lots of other extra-curricular activities as well. Been looking forward to the ACF 1.5K last saturday all week and could not wait to start. Practiced a bit online and tried to go aggressive and won 3 out of 5 SnGs online. I think this is a good place to practice since people here are especially loose, since we were using play money, and you learn to choose your hands and be selectively aggressive, plus its for free! After the initial all-in fests of all online play money tournaments, you face up with some really serious players and play real poker. Doing so well in these games gave me lots of confidence heading into the tourney.

Arrived there about 20 minutes before tournament began and 60 players were in attendance. WPT seat was again up for grabs and everyone had their game face on. My table was filled with regulars, and I decided on waiting to see how they would play and react to that instead. As in all previous tourneys at the ACF, majority of the table was tight, so I played loose aggressive. Whenever I try to steal the pot and get reraised, I would fold, but most of the time, I would buy the pot that way.

After the first break, I was pretty much break even. When the antes began, thats when I put my aggressiveness on overdrive since the pot would be 220 even before the cards were dealt and winning these would be the key to survival. After a busted draw, I found myself down to my last 600+ in chips. I looked down at my hole cards to see an A6 offsuit and push all-in. Chip leader calls me with Q9 suited and we're off to the races. Luckily I flop top-pair and double up. Chip leader comments that he just "fed the monster", or something to that effect.

A little later I look down and see pocket Jacks and bet 400 from the cut-off seat and get one caller. Flop comes down K-X-J and I hit the trips. Caller bets 200 and I reraise to 400 which he calls. Turn is a Q and he pushes me all-in, I call immediately and he shows his 9-10 for the straight. I yell out to pair the board and a King comes on the river giving me the full house! I shout woohoo, which has to be the first time I show some actual emotion at the ACF tourneys, hehe. I usually get screwed on the river, not the other way around. I double up again but am still below the average stack.

A couple of bad calls and busted draws later, im down to my last 2100 in chips when I gaze upon A3 of spades and call a preflop raise of 300. 4 players in and the flop comes out Q-4-J with two spades. Initial raiser goes all-in for 1900, everyone folds to me. At this point, Im pretty sure he hit top pair, I have the nut flush draw and decide to call. He turns over QJ for the two-pair and hope for the best. Unfortunately, the turn and river have different plans for my evening and decide to send me home early. I did pair my 3 at the river, if that counts as anything. Hehe. Chip leader tells me that, "you've had to many lives already. time to go".

I really had fun on this tourney, I felt like I was dictating my terms in playing and felt I improved my game. Plus, I didnt feel so bad losing because I saw last months ACF5K 2nd placer bust out the tourney at the 2nd level and thought to myself, "maybe all the good players are busting out!". What? I can dream, can't I? Hehe

Marco mentioned that the tourney next week at the ACF would be a shootout style wherein all the rules, buy-in and rebuy/add-on restrictions would be in place, but for each person you knock out the tournament, you would get P500 in cash, not chips, but cash. That would be really cool to play, strategies would be different, since chip leaders would be more than willing to risk doubling up short stack players for a chance at an early payout. Hope it pushes through. Will let you guys know about that if it happens.

Good luck to all your games! Peace!

Firing S-QUAD!

2006-08-27T23:15:00.000+08:00

While Im writing this, Im still a little ticked off at myself for the way I acted. I still have a problem with regards to walking away from a situation that is too good to be true, more specifically, laying down cards that I know are beat. But I thought to myself, "maybe blogging will relax my ticker." Here goes ...

I met up with my girlfriend last Friday for a late night poker session at a friends place in Ortigas. The evening started great as, my girlfriend and myself ate at Shakeys and was pleasantly surprised on how good the food and service was. Once we were done, we hopped on a cab for what I felt would be a fun and, hopefully, financially rewarding game of poker. Nothing cold have been further from the truth. The only good hand I came across was AK suited which completely missed the flop, turn and river. That was it, I kept getting trash like I was the designated garbage collector. I do recall several hands that I threw away that would have given me full house, two-pair and on four seperate occasions, trips! My 2K buy-in lasted me a good 3 hours and I called it quits after that.

On the way home, I was not happy with how the cards fell. But being the eternal optimist that I was, I just chalked it up to bad cards. Most poker players reading will argue that cards are not important, but rather, the other players. Well, with these particular individuals, you have to have the nuts, because they will call you down with a any pair or any draw, no matter how outrageous. One guy in particular, just calls bets, even without looking at his hole cards. I would say that these would be the best scenario to wait for monsters and pounce for all their chips. But like I said, I didnt get monsters, more like little ants without teeth. No offense to my poker buddies though, I think their style of play is really balsy and could make anyone nervous.

The next day, woke up relatively late and decided on playing a little cash game at the ACF to soothe my wounds. Invited my girlfriend along, but she had to buy some stuff so I offered to accompany her. After we bought the computer stuff she needed, we ate at WalterMart and took a cab from there. I was envisioning my strategy and psyched myself for playing well. I knew that, being the last Saturday of the month, the casino was hosting another 5K tourney and only the best of the best show up for that, so I knew the competetion at the cash games would be fierce. After a small nap, I awoke near the casino feeling rejuvenated and confident.

It didnt take long for a seat to open on the P 20-40 table. I saw a guy bust out with pocket Kings against 2 other guys who had AK. The flop paired the Aces and he was drawing dead quickly. I took his place and sat amongst only 4 familiar faces, one of them I recognized as the 2nd place finisher at the 1 million event last May. I decided to not let that get to me and just play my natural game. I cashed in my 2K and sat down.

The first decent hand I got was an AQ offsuit. I decided to limp in and the flop gave me X-A-X. No immediate danger with flush or straights so I let out a bet of 300. I got one caller and the turn was another non-danger card so I bet 400 again. Guy calls me again and Im a little cautious at this point that this guy could be slow-playing either AK, two-pair or trips. River is another rag so I bet 500 and tell myself to fold if he reraises me all-in. He calls rather quickly and turns up A5. I let out a little smile and feel great about winning my first pot rather easily.

The next hand I get are pocket Kings. Im still a little bruised from my last encounter with the cowboys, so I just limp-in at the cut-off seat. One guy raises to 300 and 6 people call, including me. Flop comes out A-A-2. Somamamabitch! The last thing you want to see when holding pocket Kings are Aces and the board gives me 2! Everyone checks, including me, and they look like they're slow-playing their Ace. Funnily enough, they keep checking, all the way to the river. As it turns out, I had the best hand. Everyone asked why I didnt play them more aggressively. Coz there was 2 Aces on the friggin flop! Thats why!. I took down a juicy pot there but could've been juicier if I just had the guts to pull the trigger. Oh well.

A little later I got myself another AQ offsuit and called an initial bet of 140 with about 6 players in on the dealer button. Flop misses me and everyone checks. Turn is an Queen and small blind goes all-in for 480. Everyone folds me to me and I call. He shows K8, which paired with an 8 on the flop, and the river turns up and Ace. I shake the guys hand and take another good sized pot. Woohoo!

I take down a couple of good pots later with semi-bluffs having cards like A9 or A7 or KJ or KQ. One nice pot I remember was being on the button with a 73 offsuit and limping in. Flop pairs my 3 with a couple of over cards. Someone bets 200, which felt like a steal so I call, hoping to maybe turn my pair into a monster. I get my wish when the turn is another 3 and Im extatic at this point. Guy bets 300 and I call quickly. River is rag and guy bets 300 again. I reraise to 600, he looks at me funny and folds. "Thought so!". He was a nice guy, so I turn over the 3 to show him his good fold.

A little later, fate would catch up with me. I got another pocket Kings and limp in again. Flop comes out 10-10-8. Everyone checks to me so I bet 200. 4 players call and I think Im ok since no one re-raised me. Turn is another 10, and by this point, I think the odds of anyone having the other one are slim. I bet 400 and everyone calls again. River is a Queen and everyone checks except for guy beside me. He moves all-in for like 5K++. Im thinking he has a Queen and made the full house. So I look at his stack for a while and say call. Everyone else folds. He shows me his Queen .... and his TEN! I could not believe it! I was so shocked and devastated. I did not put the pieces together. My girlfriend said that if she were in my position, she would have found it fishy that he just checked and called all the way and went all-in at the last chance he could show strength. She also mentiones to me how I forgot my plan of putting aside my buy-in once I double my stack. That way, I can always cut monitor my progress and call it quits when things arent going according to plan. Dammit! All the hardwork and effort I put into the entire night went to nothing. Should've laid them friggin cowboys down! I forgot to mention that my stack went as high up as 6000 at one point, and was at 5000 when the all-in happened. The guy did say sorry to me and said that he just got lucky. In hindsight, I would like to think he went all-in so that I could maybe fold and cut my losses. To all my faithful readers, similar to gamefrogs blog, could you post what you have done in my position, from the beginning of the hand all the way uptil the end. Thanks.

I left rather dejected and disgusted with myself. I let my ego get to me and never considered the slow-play. Guess I've been doing it all night, it bit me in the ass. Been playing alot of online poker (play money) the last couple of hours and only finished ITM once in about 12 games. Guess Im still a little bummed out. Hope to shake it off and post a happier story next time. By the way, Id like to give a shoutout to Nick who was at my table when the above-mentioned horror story happened, he took alot of chips from me on one hand. I just couldnt call the raise man, I was on an open-ended straight draw and you went all-in. I think you said, "I gotta try this", or something to that effect. Just thought I would mention it bro.

Well, hope to post some improvements on my game and progress next time. Wish me luck on the ACF 1K this coming Saturday. Peace out!

SaturDay is PokerDay

2006-08-20T14:53:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I decided on playing the WPT satellite over at the ACF. The buy-in was P 1500+300 with only rebuy or add-on. I thought that this tournament would be up my alley since people would play more sensibly because you would only have one rebuy. I arrived with my girlfriend at around 2:15 and watched all the regulars pour in. After playing for quite some time now at the ACF, I know alot of people by face and they know me the same way, but I probably know only less than 5% of them by name. No offense guys! Hehe

Game started off reasonably, the table felt really tight so the good players took advantage by being aggressive at the pots early. One girl in particular won the first 4 hands and was really up alot of chips. The first hand I got was a pair of Kings! Oh yeah, the mighty cowboys! So I bet 220 at the pot and got 3 callers. Flop came out 8-4-6 rainbow. No scare cards so I bet out 400. Guy folds and girl raises up to 800. At this point Im scared, she either has rockets or is bluffing. I cant back down from my pockets so I reluctantly call. Turn is a trash hand, girl goes all-in and I call. I turn up my Kings and she turns up, yep, you guessed it, Aces! Of course when I get a good hand, someone is going to get a better one. Havent I learned that already? By the way, thats my sarcastic voice. Of course the river does not improve any of our hands, so I bust out after just 10 minutes. To her credit, she did look apologetic and sorry to me. Oh well!

The deck would also feel sorry and deal me an AK offsuit. I decide to slowplay it to see a cheap flop and get 5 people in the pot. Flop pairs my Ace and everyone checks. I bet out 200 and get one caller. Turn is a rag and I bet 400, which other guy calls again. River is another rag and I bet 800. Guy just folds, and looks at me like I fooled him. Better that way I guess, keep him thinking.

Deck feels sorry for me once more and gives me pocket Aces. This is the 2nd time I have got these hands in all my tourneys and love to slow-play them. I am left of dealer and just check. Dealer bets 220, and I quick call him. Flop comes and immaculate J-A-10 with two hearts. I check again and guy bets 600 which I call again. Turn is a Jack, and I hit the full house. I check again and dealer goes all in. He shows his A4 offsuit and he cant believe what he's up against. He is drawing dead and I double up. One player in particular commends me on the great play. I am 2-0 with pocket Aces. Hehe

During the break, my girlfriend tears me a new one for rebuying this early in the tourney. Hehe. That was not pleasant at all. I later fuel her bloodlust once more by spilling soup on her arm, which by the way, is the quickest way to a womans heart. After she tears me another new one, I head back to the tables.

I dont get any good hands after the break but try something different. Guy to my left comments that our table limps in too much and decide to try and steal some pots. At the dealer button, one guy in middle position bets 300 I call with a medium-strength hand (cant remember). Flop does not improve my hand, which was no big surprise. What did baffle me is that the raiser just checks. I bet at him with 600 and he quickly folds. "So thats how its done!", is what I tell myself. A little later I get pocket 10s and bet 400. I only get one caller, who is first to act. Flop has one overcard, an Ace. Guy checks, and I bet 1000 quickly. I try and look at the pot rather casually like I couldnt care if he would call or not, trying to keep my table image as tight-aggressive. He folds after a long deliberation with himself and I love it! Unfortunately that was the last time in the evening I decide to love the tourney. I never get any medium-strength or strong hands to play, and never seem to get the courage to bluff at the pot. I eventually lost it all after the 2nd break, and after the 4th table transfer, to an all-in for an AQ offsuit. Wouldnt you know it, I get one caller who was AK offsuit. That was grand! Flop pairs his King and I leave. The river gives him a Flush. I later see the same guy leave the casino about 10 minutes after me. Either he won really fast or got screwed by the Poker gods.

I didnt feel so bad because I made good decisions the entire night, but did not just follow through on the results. I am going to try to focus on this more in the future. My girlfriend and I amde our way to Mall of Asia to walk around and relax and have something to eat. I got a text later from a buddy of mine inviting me to a cash game at his place in Ortigas. With permission from my commander in chief, we hopped on a cab for more poker. We arrived at 11:00 PM and there was a lot people playing, all of them I already knew. They were telling me about how they lost, I think, P 50,000 on baccarat the previous night from the ACF. Hehe. Baccarat is a funny word.

The first hand I played was an A4 offsuit and everyone limps in the pot. Flop is 2-3-10 with 2 hearts which everyone checks to. I think I have chance for a straight so I check as well. Flop is a Queen of hearts and everyone checks. I assume no one has the flush and decide to represent it, so I bet 300. One guy calls. River is another heart and guy checks again. I bet 500, not knowing that he only has 410 left. He definitely has a flush because he is really considering calling me but is reluctant 'cause his hole cards are small hearts, below 6 in value I think. Any heart I (could) have would definitely beat his. After more thatn 5 minutes of deliberation he calls, I just muck my cards and say, "you win". There was no way I was going to win the pot with my hand so I had to bet at it. I didnt mind the loss to much because I think my table image allowed me to represent effectively a strong hand.

A little later I got a J3 suited and decided to go with it. Flop comes out J-J-3. I hit the friggin full house on the flop. I know that checking will not do, so I bet 20 at the pot to just increase the size. Guy beside me raises it to 500. Everyone fold to me and I push all-in. He calls and shows his QJ. Cant blame the guy, he did hit the trips on flop. Whos gonna think someone would hit the full house? The only card that could help him is a Queen for the win or another 3 for the split. Neither show and I take down the nice pot.

I do not get any strong hands later and steal the pot several times only. Despite this, I leave with P 1950, P 50 less than my initial buyin. Hehe. On the way home, I contemplated about the days events and realize that the only thing lacking from my game is the willingness to take a loss to win big. One poker pro once said that in order to survive, you must be willing to die. I have to learn to hone my killer instincts so I can finally chalk a tourney win in my name. Finishing ITM would not be bad as well.

Well let you guys know what happens when it happens. By the way, if any of the local poker blog community want me to post their links on my blog, drop me a comment so I can add it ASAP. Thanks for reading guys! Peace and good luck to your games! As Mike Sexton would say, "May all your cards be live and your pots be monsters!. Hehe. Sexton is a funny word.

Instructional Poker Videos

2006-08-10T11:47:00.000+08:00

Think to Things About

2006-08-10T10:46:00.000+08:00

Nope, that is not a typo, I am still confused and bewildered by the events that transpired last night at the NLHE satellite tournament at the Valle Verde country club. You will understand what I am getting at pretty soon.

I started the game off with some forgettable rag hands and some pretty decent cards like J10 suited, A10 off, Q10 off. But all these were out of position, and I learned earlier in the day to not play them, so I didnt. The first decent hand I got was an AQ offsuit at small blinds position. Mr Howard Lehderer says that you should come in to the pot aggressive with a hand that should be feared with, so I entered the pot with 4x BB, about 800. 2 players called. Flop comes out 4-3-9, I look at the flop, count 2.5 seconds, and bet 800 again. Both players fold, the one closest to me murmurs, "pockets ...". "I wish brother, then I would trap you and your little friend too.". Not bad for a start I thought to myself.

Next hand I got was an A7 offsuit at big blinds with 3 players and no bets. Flop comes out 4-6-A. Small blinds checks, I bet 600, dealer button reraises to 1200, small blinds folds, and I reluctantly call (thinking he had an Ace with better kicker like 9 or 10). Turn was an 7, and Im in cloud nine. I bet 1200, and dealer button pushes me all-in. I look at the board for a while, then call. I show my two-pair, and he shows his pocket 8s. He has a gutshot straight draw but doesnt hit at the river, which was a Ace. I kept improving my hand the entire time. First it was one-pair, then two-pair and then full house. I already double my chips and am extatic.

A little later, I get pocket Queens, which if anybody has read my previous posts, will know I have no affection for. I always tend to lose more money with them than I win. I look to my right and see a raise of 1200. Mr Lehderer says to enter the pot strong with a reraise with a top hand, and so I do. I bet 2400, which everyone folds to, and guy beside me calls. Flop comes out 6-Q-8. I hit the friggin trips! Guy beside me bets 1200, and I reraise again to 2400. He calls and the turn comes 8. Now i have a full house. He bets 1200, and I raise to 2400 again. By this time he would think that I would be bluffing or something, so he goes all-in with his remaining 3000, I call quickly and he shows his AK suited. I show my hand and he lets out a rather meek rendition of a popular curse, which I cant post, I can only say what it sounded like: tuke ng tina. River comes out a King, too little too late for him and I am significantly up. Let me give you guys a rough idea of my status at this point, which, by the way, is before the 1st break: I had more than 20% of the total chips in the entire tournament. If I wasnt the overall chip leader for the 2 tables (there were only 14 players), I was definitely in serious contention.

This was when my problems started. How? Plain and simple, I got cocky. I got an AQ offsuit at dealers position and just bet, I didnt raise or anything. I thought, that I would trap heads-up with the big blinds. Big mistake! I would learn later is that you trap with made hands, not drawing hands. Flop comes out 2-9-6. I bet 600, and other guy reraises with 1600. I thought he was just trying to steal so I call. Turn is a 6, so I bet 1600 of the bat, and he calls. River is a 9 and I bet 1600 again. After a long deliberation, he finally calls. Before I tell you what happened, let me say that I thought that he had faces as well and was just trying to steal, With the two-pair on the board, the person with the highest kicker would get the pot. The worst thing that would happen, in my mind at the time, was we would split the pot because we would both have Aces. I was wrong. I showed my hand which he exclaimed, "bullshit!". He had pocket deuces and made trips on the flop, which became a full house on the turn and river. The reason he thought so long was because he considered the possibility I had a 6 or a 9 and made a higher full house than he had. That was a chunk of change that I would never recover from.

I kept trying to steal the blinds, with really big bets, but players kept calling because they had nuts. I finally lost it all when my AJ was dominated by an AQ. Flop paired his Q, and that was the end of that. I felt devasted, more so than before because I had a real opportunity to play longer and win a lot. But I didnt, instead I let my huge bankroll get into my head and it cost me dearly. As an added insult to injury, as I was leaving, the dealer motioned to the organizer that I was out and pointed at me. Organizer looked at me and asked, "you're out? you were the chip leader, werent you?" "Thanks for the reminder!"

I did not get any real bad beats and just played lousy. I am still steaming now and cant get the game out of my head. Even if I do, its gone only for a minute and comes right back again. At least I can take comfort knowing it was my fault, and not the board, that led to my downfall and consider improving my middle and late game, protecting my bankroll and most importantly, recovering quickyly from steaming. It anybody has got any comments or suggestions on helping me out I would really appreciate it.

Also, as much as people around me like to think I like to throw my money away at tournaments and high-stake cash games, if i can find a regular low-stakes tournament, like 500 or 600 buyin, I would gladly play those. The problem is I dont know of anyone who has these kinds of tournaments, so Im stuck with the regular high-stakes tournaments. Again, if anyone can help me out in this regard, I would also greatly appreciate it.

I would like to give a shout-out to mr Poker Pond again for all the help he has given me in improving my game and hope to finish ITM and do you proud. Also thanks to my girlfriend who has always been with me to support my losing streak, hehe. Also to my buddies who always want me to win so that they can ask for drinking sessions funded by yours truly, I hope to do that soon.

Will report on things that happen when they happen. By the way, check back here in a couple of minutes and i will post some links to some really helpful instructional videos on improving your holdem game. Good luck guys and God bless!

Closer ...

2006-08-07T10:07:00.000+08:00

Saturday tournaments were a thing of the past for me, having played regularly at cash games and being reasonably more succesful at them. But I decided to try again, mainly because of getting tips from Poker Pond dude via email. He gave very sound advice to me which I read a couple of hours before the tourney began. I had to admit that I was a bit low on confidence since I had played a cash game and did not fare as well as before. I was seated with more than 6 regular high stakes and very good players. I was outmatched from the get-go and left with 200 left from my bankroll, about 10% of my buy-in. But alas, today was a new day and tournaments would play out differently ......right?

I arrived at the ACF with my supportive and optimistic girlfriend an hour before the tournament began and chanced upon some familiar faces, regulars at both the cash and tourneys. I watched a cash game wherein a guy who was definitely on tilt literally gave all his money to one player in three consecutive hands. "Hope that doesnt happen to me", is what I thought.

As my girlfriend and I were sitting near the registration area, all the regular good players had registered. It was quite nerve-racking to see final table regulars, who always had loads of cash, signing up to a tournament that featured unlimited rebuys. I tried to stay focused on the strategies I learned and kept fear out of my head. When the tournament did begin, I was seated with a 2 familiar faces, one of which won the tournament last week. That was not a confidence booster at all.

First decent hand I got was a QJ offsuit. Limped in with the big blinds when the flop paired my Jack. So I checked, when another guy bet 200, everyone folded except for me. The turn showed a flush for anyone who was holding suited clubs. So I naturally checked and so did the other guy. River was a rag and I checked again, thinking he wanted a trap. He checked as well. He was holding a J2 offsuit and I took the pot. Did not play aggressively because the table was full of check-raisers and I never got a strong hand. Everytime I would limp in with a suited connectors, someone would bet over the top, so I would fold.

Right before I got the big blinds, I was asked to transfer tables for balancing and so I did. Someone at the table wished me luck and I told him the same. I realized I needed it because 3 guys at the table had more than 5000 in chips and another guy kept going all-in. This was obviously a strong table with aggressive players. I was down about 100 from 1500 and still had an opportunity to make a stab at the final table.

I got a pair of fives and bet 300 at the pot. One guy stayed and flop came out 4-6-7. I had a straight draw so I bet 300 and this guy stays again, rather reluctantly though. Turn is a rag so I bet 500 again, which the other guy calls. River is a 5 so I get my trips and push all-in, and the guy folds. I felt good about the way things turned out and was reasonably confident now.

A couple of hands later I got pocket Jacks and bet 600. Two people stay and Im a little nervous now. Flop comes out 7-Q-9. Dammit! I bet 600 again to maintain my image of confidence and the other guy pushes me all-in for all my chips. While Im contemplating this big decision, he shows his hand, thinking I have already called. I see his Q-10, and just smile. I would have folded anyway, he just gave me another reason. Guy beside me asks if I was holding AK and was worried I wouldnt hit any of them. I told him my hand and he said good fold. I hope so, that fold put me back to square one. I was now left with two moves: fold or all-in.

I got an A8 suited and pushed all-in with my 600+ in chips. Two guys called and the flop missed me completely. Both guys check. Turn is another rag so first guy bets 500, which second guy calls. River is an Ace and Im a little relieved. First guy checks, second guy bets 500, and first guy folds. I show my A8, and he shows his A8. Split pot! I was a little up now and little happy. Little later, I get a Q10 offsuit and push all-in again, and get called by 2 guys again. Flop comes out 9-K-K. Waaaah! Not good at all. I was ready to leave. First guy checks and other guy bets 500, and first guy fold again. I show my Q10, and he shows his Q10. Guy beside him exclaims that no card would un-split the pot. So we do once again. The funny thing about it was it was the second time a guy on seat 8 and myself split the money the guy on seat 7 put in the pot.

I got me a Q2 suited on the big blind and flop showed 2-4-4. Everyone checks, and I push all-in. Everyone folds and I show my 2 only which they all laugh at. I said I had to. Guy beside me says I got a 2 as well. I asked his kicker and he said a 9, I told him mine was little better and sorta wished him to have called. Hehe.

A little later, our table was collapsed and I was moved to table 3. I got an A5 suited and went all-in, where everybody folded. When asked why, I said I needed ante and blind money. Antes at this point were 50 and blinds were 200-400. Right after this, a big drama was happening on the other remaining table. One guy limped in with pocket deuces. And the flop tripped his deuces. He bet 2000, and next guy pushes all-in, so does another, and so does another. Pocked deuces dude also calls all-in. He shows his trips, another has pair Aces with a high kicker, other guy has a nut flush draw, other guy just mucks his hand. Turn is a rag and everyone gasps again. River is 2 and the table goes insane. This dude just eliminated 3 guys with quad 2s. That was an amazing hand and one that he, and the other players will not soon forget. I was transfered to this table right before I was big blind on my current table.

I got an AK offsuit which I limped in with another guy who was the big blind. Flop misses me completely and I check. Flop is a 10 and the other guy bets 400. I push all-in and he calls. He shows his A10 and I show mine. River is a 9 and I leave at 15th position out of 68. This was by far my best finish in a tournament. I could've stayed about 6 places longer and finished in the money but could not forgive myself for folding the best hand I got the entire night. Just as well I guess.

Losing was not as bad because my girlfriend was there to cheer me up and tell me to look on the bright side on my better finish. I will definitely come back next week and play more aggressively and hopefully fare better. Will let you all know what happens when it happens.

Peace out and good luck to your games!

Just for kicks

2006-08-03T13:27:00.000+08:00

I tried my hand yesterday at a little cash game action over at the ACF to test some of the new tips I learned reading online and conversing with a good player I found online. His blog is on the side if anyone is interested [Poker Pond].

I arrived relatively late, around 10:10 with my girlfriend and I promised her that I would only spend 1000 because I did not want to stay there for a long time. Luckily, a seat just opened when I arrived and I changed chips early. I was notified by a floor manager that 2000 was the minimum buy-in, so I reluctantly changed another thousand. When I sat on the table, I placed the thousand on the side to make sure I wouldnt use it.

I was going to play with goals in mind tonight, and hopefully, everytime I play. I was going to get up when:

I doubled my starting stack (which was only a thousand)
My starting stack dwindles down to a thousand
The time reaches 11:30 PM

I was going to be strict with this guidelines and wanted to make sure to follow them. Also I tried to only play the top 10 starting hands. Playing meant that I would reraise them or whatever. I would still play suited cards, especially those with faces. All these thanks to Mr. Poker Pond

A nice hand I got was a pair of Kings. Being the dealer button helped, with everyone limping in with 40. I immediately bet 300 at the pot and everyone folded. In the back of my mind I would've wanted some callers, but a small pot is better than no pot at all.

Another nice hand I got was an AK offsuit. A guy before me bet 160 and I reraised to 320. He called. Flop came out 2-4-Q. Being aggressive preflop, I had to continue the trend with another 300 bet, which the other guy called again. Turn came out 3. I just checked to see what the guy had. He also checked. River came out a 5! I hit the straight! I hit the straight! I hit the friggin straight! I bet 600, and the other guy folded. I just showed my Ace, and mucked the other card. He apparently was holding pair of Kings. I got so lucky and probably bet good that made him think I got pocket Aces or something. People were wondering why he folded because he held cowboys, and everybody else said that I showed my Ace. A guy I regularly play with looked at me and smiled, almost as if telling me. "You lucky somamamabitch!".

The whole night was me basically betting at the pot and everyone folding. I remember holding just suited cards and the flop came out 4-4-8. I bet 300 after everyone checked and won the pot. I held a KJ offsuit and bet 220. One guy stayed and the flop came out 10-6-3. Other guy checks and I bet 220 again. He folds and Im happy. This was almost my entire night, just betting at the pot confidently, and betting the pot value, no post oak bluffs to think I was just stealing the blinds. I also respected other players big bets and folded when I knew I could not improve my hand.

Once my stack reached 3000, it also happened to be 1130, I headed out feeling great. I set out with my goal of when to leave and what hands to play and did them all effectively. Thanks to all my reading and help from poker pro Mr Poker Pond! Will update you guys again the next time I play.

Peace out and good luck to your games as well!

Overheard at the tables ...

2006-08-01T10:15:00.000+08:00

Everyone at the table limps in with 40. One guy bets 400. Guy beside him goes all-in for 1600. Everyone folds, including guy who bets first, but first shows everyone his AK offsuit, while shaking his head from side to side. All-in dude shows his pocket tens.

Onlooker 1: Bakit niya fold yun?

Onlooker 2: Taas ng pusta kasi e.

Onlooker 1: Sa bagay, hinde kasi suited yung AK din niya eh.

Onlooker 2: Ok lang yun, hinde rin naman suited ung tens nung isa e.

Onlooker 1: Oo nga.... sandali.... gago ka.... naloko mo ako dun a! haha

(Yours truly was onlooker 2)

Flush you!

2006-07-31T11:16:00.000+08:00

I played several cash games this past couple of days with varying results. Ill be enumerating some of the hands in this blog since I cant seem to place any of them to a particular date. The thing I do remember however is playing against 3 celebrities: John Estrada, Mike Cortez and Antonio Aquitania. They played very differently and I think the best player of the lost is a tie between John and Antonio. I also played big pots heads up against all three of them. More on that later.

I remember getting a K7 suited and limping in with the big blind. Flop came out all hearts, which was the suit I was holding. I bet 300 at the pot and the other guy called. I was scared that he had an Ace high flush or something, but then again, I guess he would have reraised. Turn was a 9c, so I bet 300 again. This time he folded. That was a nice pot and established my image on the table as aggressive.

I also got an AK suited and bet 240. Only one guy stayed. Flop paired my Kings and I bet aggressively again, 300 I think. Other guy folded. A couple of hands later, I got another AK, this time not suited. I bet 240 again and everyone folded. I was so disheartened. A guy beside me noticed my dissappointment and asked, "you got Aces?". "No, AK. Did I bet too high?" "That was probably for the best, drawing hands like that usually dont hit at the flop and can cost you more than can profit". Maybe so I thought, but Id rather the flop show me I bet wrong than statistical anomalies like that.

I also remember getting pocket tens and just betting 140 because I was really not confident with them. About 6 players stayed and flop came out with a King and Queen. I folded to the first bet at it. I played that wrong because chances were, I had the best hand preflop and should have bet big at it, like 500 to scare everyone off. Ill try to remember that next time.

I got a K9 offsuit in the big blinds and flop gave me a two-pair. I bet 200 and everyone folded except for Mike Cortez. Turn was a number so I bet 300. He stayed again. There were no flush or straight draws so I was farely confident. River was another number so I bet 400. He stayed and I said two-pair and he just mucked his one-pair apparently. That win was dedicated to JC who requested it. Hehe.

Later I got an AQ suited. I bet 300 at the pot and only 2 guys stayed. Flop came out 5-J-10. I was devastated at how I could not hit anything with that good of a hand. I was first to act and needed to stay aggressive. I bet 400, and both guys stayed again, not a good sign. Turn was a King, and now I was on a flush draw, both the 5 and K being hearts. But then I realized, I had already hit the straight. So I bet 1000. Other guy bets 2000. So does the other guy. So I call as well. River comes out a club and I dont hit. I go all-in with my remaining 900. Other guy thinks we're all alone and calls and throws his cards face up on the table. Guy beside him shouts no, and covers the cards, motioning that there is still another player. I grimace seeing it as an AQ as well. "Sonofabitch! Split-friggin plot!". Other guy sees the AQ as well and just folds. I shake the calling guys hands and say you wont believe what I got. Everybody is happy with a split, except for the guy we took the money from, who apparenly hit the trips with his pocket tens on the flop. Too bad for him, too good for me.

One hand I got was a K7 suited and I just limped in. The flop gace me a flush draw and I bet 200. One guy goes all in with a 700 and I call along with another guy. I was rather hesitant since I won the last pot and felt that my winnings wree enough for me to call it a night, sufficed to say, I was afraid to lose it all again. Turn was no help and I looked at the other guy left and said "check to you sir". He looked at me slyly, smiled and tapped this fingers on the table. River was a heart! Woohoo! I hit the flush! I bet 1500 and the other guy folded. Guy who went all in showed his pair of Jacks and told me nice hand while shouting at the dealer saying, "sabi ko sayo ayoko ng hearts!" That was a nice pot.

I remember being severly short stacked in one game when John Estrada bet 300. I got a KJ offsuit and went all in with my remaining 420. He called and showed his AK suited. Flop was not kind to me at all as he hit the flush immediately. I stayed for the turn and river to maybe get a full house but was short one card. I waived goodbye to everyone and wished them all good luck, something I did not have on that particular session.

With Antonio, I was again shortstacked with at K2 offsuit and limped in with the big blind. Flop paired my kings and I just bet 100 with my weak kicker. Antonio looked at my stack and said, Ill bet your entire stack. I thought long and hard and agreed reluctantly. I showed my hand, and he showed his suited J9, which was not on the flop, or the river. He did hit a Jack on the turn, but that was not enough. He told me that he wanted me to think that He had a King. I said, "Well, you were successfull. " That doubled my stack, which I gave up to a very bad play to a very good player who got very lucky, hitting trips on the flop. Once again, KJ being the culprit.

The past games showed me to be patient with my hands and to try and go for the flush, which I hit more times than I didnt. I broke even with all these games and plan to play some more and fine tune my betting and observing skills. Wish me luck and will post back when I play again.

Peace!

Respect

2006-07-25T10:25:00.000+08:00

Respect is the methodology and style of play I learned the most this past week. It means to show regard and importance to another person and to his actions. If you dont show it, you wont be given any. Plain and simple. I lost a fair amount of money in the last 6 days, even though I have come out positive in 2 out of 3 ring games. Basically the jist is that I got lucky in the first, got really cocky in the 2nd, and found a good middle ground in the last. I hope to continue this style of gameplay for all my next ring games.

Last night, I arrived at the ACF to reclaim my pride and the idea in my head that I am a decent and smart poker player. It took about 30 minutes before a seat opened, when a regular player busted out going for a flush. I came in and sat down in the same place last week that cost me all my money, a place I loudly exclaimed as unlucky. Mark, a regular player, looked at me and said, "its all in the mind". I definitely hope so.

The first decent hand I got was a A-7 suited. Flop paired my aces and everyone checked including me. Turn was another ace and one guy bet 100, I called and everyone else folded. River came out a number and the guy bet 200 and so did I. He had nothing, I apparently hit a Full House. I was just so cautious that I didnt think of betting or bluffing at the pot. That was a fairly good sized pot that put my stack back to my original buyin of 2K.

Next good hand I had was a Q-8 offsuit on the big blind. Flop came out Q-4-6. So I bet 200, and one guy stayed. Turn came out another Queen so I bet 300 and the guy called again. By this time I was afraid that he had a Queen as well and that his kicker would kick my ass. River was a number and I bet 400. He looked at me folded. Now traditionally, I would show my winning hands, but since he folded, I was not obliged to do so. Another thought entered my mind while I was considering showing my hole cards: People will think that I only win by getting good hands, not by bluffing. By mucking my hands, they will at least consider the possibility that maybe I just scared the guy off with my big bet. So this is the mentality that I applied the rest of the night, as well as in future games.

Next nice hand I got was an A-K. I was already happy then, but when I bet 240 at the pot, Mark, this regular (really good) player, folded his hand and said, "respect". For those not familiar with this gesture, this meant that he respected my bet because he knew that I only bet when I was confident with the capability of my hand to win. Three guys called. Flop paired my Ace so I bet 300. Everyone folded except for this chinese guy who everyone called kimchi. He was apparently a very aggressive player and will even push all in with a straight or flush draw, so naturally I was intimidated. Turn came out a number so I bet checked. Without missing a beat, he bet 400, which I was quickly called. River came out a number as well and I bet 500. He hesitated for a minute. Mark shouts to him, "donation! donation!". Kimchi smiles and says "OK" as he throws 500 in the pot. I show my hand, and he shows his A-7. For a brief 2 seconds, I said to myself, "holy crap, did he hit two-pair?". To my delight, the dealer said, "Kicker problem, sir Mike wins.". Woohoo! Kimchi looks at me and smiles wryly. That was a nice ass pot!

But the piece the piece de resistance hand was just about to come. I got pocket Jacks and bet 240 at the pot again. I have to comment that I bet reluctantly because of a very obvious reason. Pocket pairs from jacks to deuces have very little power at the table unless they hit a set (trio), which happend very rarely, exactly 1 out of 8 times. If any guy even has a K-2, and a King comes out on the board, and I dont have a set, I lose. The weird thing was, that in the moments where the dealer was about to lay down the flop, I saw in my mind that a Jack would come out. My premonitions rarely come true, but low and behold, in between a Five of clubs and an Eight of spades was the most beautiful Jack I have ever seen. I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream, I wanted to hump the dealer. But alas, poker is a game of falsehood, so I cringed a little bit and bet 400. First guy folds, the guy in the middle, a heavy set man quickly picked up a couple of his chips and 1200. Third guy folds and the action is back at me. I look back at the flop and see that else he could have. He could have pocket 5s or 8s, which I would still beat. But he could have pocket Queens, Kings or Aces, that he hopes would be good enough to beat whatever I had. Still, without the reraise at preflop, I doubted the strength of his hand, so I called, albeit reluctantly again. Turn came out a number so I checked to see what he would do. He bet 2100. That was all my P 100 chips! I had about 200 in white chips, so I just went all-in. He called, and I just tossed my hand on the table expecting to lose or something. He looked at it and grimaced! Oh yeah! Oh yeah! "Trips are good", is what the dealer and most of the table said, he just mucked his cards and said, "you got me at the flop". I asked him what he had, he said that he was holding Jack with a high kicker. Probably A-J or something. Anyway, that doubled me up to more than 7k so I decided to leave otherwise I would risk losing all my chips again.

My girlfriend and her bestfriend picked me up about 20 minutes later and I was ecstatic. I would hope to play tight and aggressive like that again next time. I contemplated once again the days events and plays. I learned to respect peoples big bets and let them win the pot if I had any inclination that their hand had strength. This was respect in the truest sense. Of course everyione in the table wanted to make money in the long run, but you should first learn to hone your skills and get to know the people on the table. As of now, I am still enjoying both the rush of victory and agony of defeat, table chatter with other people who enjoy playing poker and meeting a really odd mix of people.

Will hit you guys back when I go for another ring game. Peace!

Quit while you're ahead

2006-07-16T12:30:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, I tried my luck at the ACF charity event. The tourney cost P 3K (P 2K buy-in + P 1K registration fee) and featured unlimited rebuys until level 6 and one add-on rebuy during the 2nd break. The rebuys and add-on both cost P 2K for 4K worth of chips. Starting stack was 6K, As I arrived at the tourney I noticed people who looked like John Estrada, Noel Trinidad and Gary Lising, then realized, they didn’t look like them, they were them!. When the tourney started I also noticed Buboy Garovillo headed to the tables. I sat down and waited for the tourney and felt moderately confident of finishing at a rank, maybe even final table.

The first hand I got, I $hit you not, was pocket Queens! I slow played them, making 5 guys come in. Flop was 10-4-7. So I just checked. Everyone else did. Turn came out 6. I checked again, then one guy bets 1100! I looked at the flop and realized that all this dude needed was an 8-9 and he would have a straight. I did not want to risk it, so I folded. I shouldn’t have slow played my hand, maybe a big bet would have scared him off and I would taken down the pot instead. Somamambitch!

The only hand that paid of for me was an 8-9 suited. Flop paired my 8, so I bet 400, one lady stayed with me. Turn and river were rags so I bet 200 on both. She showed she just had King high, so I took down the pot.

The previous hand was the highlight of my tournament. The blinds slowly but surely crept into my stack and ate into it. I was down to less than half my stack when our table was collapsed and I transferred a table. I sat in between Gary Lising and Danny Javier. I watched Gary Lising do 4 consecutive buy-ins which I found quite amusing. I found myself down to 1100, when I got an A-3. I had previously told myself that if I got an Ace, I would move all-in. True to my word, I did. 2 guys stayed in. I would win more than 4k if I had the best hand. Flop came out A-3-10. I was ecstatic! I hit the two-pair on the flop! First guy bet 2k, the second guy calls. Turn comes out 9. First guy checks, 2nd guy bets 5k. First guy folds. It’s now a showdown! I turnover my hole cards to reveal my two-pair. He turns over his pocket 9s! He's got trips! Somamabitch! River comes out 4 and I lose.

I’m out before the 2nd break and I'm devastated. I can’t believe my friggin' luck. All I had was a 1K in my wallet so I couldn’t rebuy. While I was contemplating going home, I looked over at the cash game room and asked if there was a waiting list for players to join. I was informed, "No sir, kayo po sunod kung magsign up kayo." So I decided to drown my sorrows in one last round of poker. After about 20 minutes, a seat opened up. I went to chip my cash and sat down.

My first hand was an AQ suited. I was 1st to act, so I went all in. Everyone gasped and awed. One guy commented, "Ano yan? Anong play yan? Hinde mo man lang kami bibigyan ng idea kung papaano ka maglaro?" He went on to say, "Gusto ko siyang i-call e. Pero may alas yan na malaki ang kicker. Naghihintay lang ng siraulong magca-call." A girl beside me said, "Kung gusto mo lang pala ng sixty pesos, dapat humingi ka na lang sa akin.” coz that’s the amount I would get when everyone would eventually fold: the big blind (P 40) and the small blind (P 20). I took the pot, naturally. I never had any faith in the AQ anyway. It was either this pot or none at all.

One hand I got was an 8-9 suited, 3 guys stayed in the pot. Flop came out 10-2-8. I checked, old lady checked, man bet 100. I called, so did old lady. Turn came out 7. I had a straight draw. I checked, so did old lady. Old man looks at my stack and bets 500. That was all my chips! I had to make a decision. I had 8 outs (any 6 or any J would give me straight). After a long contemplation, I looked at my watch and told myself, might as well go home. So I called, and so did the old lady. River comes out a Jack! Sweet mother of god! I got a straight! Old lady checks, so does old man. Old man shows pair of Jacks, old lady shows pair of tens, and I show, while motioning making a free-throw, my straight! Everyone gave me a rowdy "nice call pare!” Woohoo! I doubled my starting stack and was so friggin’ happy!

Next, I got a Q-9 diamonds. I just pay the big blinds and watch it unfold. Flop comes out H-D-H. One guy bets a hundred, so I stay in. Next is a D. I’m on a flush draw so I stay in, even with the 200 bet. The river shows a D! I hit the flush. I see the guy across me make a bet of 500. So I match his bet of 500. The dealer then tells me, "Sir, 1100 po and bet niya". So I say, "Sige, call ko din yun". So the player motions for me to turnover my cards. I asked him, "Flush ka din? Flush din ako, queens and nines". He then blurts out a "mother f*cker! beat by a bigger flush!" He had an 8 high diamond apparently. That too was a huge pot! I was now looking at more than tripling my starting stack. So I decided to play a little bit longer.

A couple of bad decisions later, I found myself back down to two-thousand. I got a 7-8 suited and pay the big blinds to look at the flop. It shows J-10-9. I hit the friggin’ straight on the flop! So I check. So does the other guy. Turn shows a K. Guy bets 300, so I call. River shows another Jack. Guy bets 300, so I re-raise to 600. He quickly calls and shows his pair of Kings and I show my straight. He could not believe it. He looked at board and said, "Straight? Straight? Meron siyang straight?" Woohoo! I felt friggin’ invincible!

Next I got a K-9 off suit on big blinds position. Flop shows 7-4-2. I decide to bluff by betting 600. Everyone folds except for this one lady who stays. "This is not good, is what I tell to myself". Turn comes out a rag number so I bet 500 again. She quickly calls once again. River comes out King! Woohoo! I hit my pair. So I bet 500 again and she quickly calls. She says, "You got it on the river! Nice" She hit her top pair at the flop with 7s. I told her, while raking lots chips, "that hand will make you love and hate poker at the same time." She gives me rye smile and says, "ehh, that’s alright" Obviously experienced player and behaved very professionally.

I then got a KJ off suit. I slow play it and pair my King on the flop so I bet 500. Old lady stays with me. Turn comes out rag number so I bet 500 again. Old lady still stays. River comes out Jack! I hit the two-pair. So I slow-play it. I check. Unfortunately, so does she. She turns over her pair of Kings, while I tell her that I had planned to trap her. If you're reading this "mommy", as the table affectionately calls her, nice check!

One hand I got was K-9 suited. Being in the big blinds, I checked. Flop pairs my Kings So I check. One player does the same, the other, however, goes all in with 340. I naturally call. He looks at me and asks, "Did you hit the King? I’m only on a straight draw". The other lady calls, and the both turnover 7-8! Turn and river don’t help them and I take down the pot. Both players laughed at the fact that the both had the same hands. I laughed coz I took a lot of their money. See, we're all happy.

This stage saw me at almost 5K. I should have quit. But I didn’t. Instead, I kept playing and playing. And eventually lost it all. I lost huge to a guy who got 4 queens. Then frustration led me to go all-in with my remaining 1600 with pocket 6s. Two players call. One of them had pocket Aces! The other one was just there for the ride. The board did not improve any of our hands, so the Aces won. I left coz it was getting kind of late and I was tired. I should have left when I was getting bored.

At least I got to see the final table of the charity event of the tourney played out. Winner was an old guy everyone called, Pokemon. He won the 32" LCD TV. The 2nd runner up, who also happened to have the most number of rebuys, 19 I think, won a 32" projection TV. Being the guy with the most rebuys, the charitable organization awarded him a 4 day - 3 Night stay at a resort in Boracay. Something told me that this guy played no-limit holdem professionally and was making a decent living doing so. I wonder if I'll pursue this career. Who knows?

Another thing I can be moderately happy about is seeing Aliya Parcs in person. Damn! Damn! Daaaaaaamn! She was wearing this tan colored top that showcased her ever so white and silky skin. Plus, she's got a smile that will literally dissolve your underwear while you are wearing them. She can flush my straight any time!

On the cab ride home, I contemplated on the days events and wondered if maybe the cash game was more to my suiting. The blinds would never increase, thus never forcing me to make rash decisions. I could walk out any time I wanted. Plus the buy in would just be 1K. Ill have plenty of time to decide. I’m really low on the cash side as of the moment. If there’s anything I can take away from this session, it’s that I need to learn to walk away and quit while I’m ahead. I think anyone who had a sliver of common sense would leave if they had already quintupled their starting stack. C'est la vie.

Will post again once I hit that casino floor. Peace!

All it takes is one hand

2006-07-12T10:32:00.000+08:00

Last night, I decided to try my luck at the cash game at the ACF. I was not so optimistic heading there since my last session saw me fold more times than a piece of origami. The thought of losing actual P 300 to P 500 per bet was too much for me at that time. I now felt that with sufficient training at the tourney level and playing with my friends that I was psychologically equipped to meet this challenge head on.

On the way there, I was overcome with worry though. The weather looked ominous, and maybe I would not play at all because no one would leave their homes. I was sorely mistaken. When I arrived at ACF, three tables were full. 2 for the 20-40 blinds and 1 for the 50-100 blinds. Since I had no place to play and I was really hungry, I decided to try out the Chef Donatello restaurant at the ground floor. They served pizzas and sandwiches at moderate casino prices. I ordered a solo pizza for P 120. When the cashier told me that the canned softdrinks were P 40, I respectfully declined his offer for a drink with a "hell no!". So he said, "lemme just get you something free. Would you like dalandan, four seasons or green tea?" "Why the hell would you offer me overpriced Coke, when theres stuff for free?!?!?", is what I said on the inside. "Ill have the four seasons, thanks", was my outside voice. After the meal, which was suprisingly tasty, I headed upstairs.

No tables had free slots. This one guy had about 120 in chips, and was just probably waiting for a nice hand. When he did go all-in, he won and tripled up! Somamamabitch! I was the first guy on waitlist. After almost an hour of waiting, another 50-100 table opened up, and one guy transfered from the table I was watching. I got 2500 worth of chips and sat down. My first hand was pocket 9s. I posted the 40 blind automatically, but then reraised it to 300 when it was my turn again. One guy stayed in. The flop came out 10-10-7. So I bet 300 again. Other guy folded, and I showed him my hand. "Got lucky first hand!" I was happy to be up early on.

Next hand I got was a 8-6 off. I was in the big blinds so I just checked. Flop came out 4-9-7. So i bet 300. 2 guys stayed in. Turn showed a 5. Bet 200 again. One guy folded, other stayed. Last hand card was a 6. I bet 200 again, other guy stayed and I showed him my straight. He just folded and smiled. I took the pot and smiled bigger.

One time, I had an opportunity for a gutshot straight, and should have folded when a Queen made the flop and I had 1o high and the remaining player bet 300. The turn paired up my ten and once again I called the 300 bet. River did not give me my straight and I had to call the 300 because of me being pot committed. He of course had top pair Queen. That was a lousy play all the way.

Next good hand I got was a JQ suited. Flop came out 7-J-9. So I bet 300. One guy stayed with me. Turn came out number so I checked. Fortunately, the other guy checked. River was a beauty, a J. Guy bets 100, so I reraise to 400. He says loudly, "ano hawak mo? ano hawak mo?" while counting his chips and looking at his hand. I said, "bayaran mo ung raise, tapos papakita ko." So he called, I showed, he grimaced, I took the pot. Hehe

The beginning of my end began when I held an AQ suited. I bet 300 outright, and one guy stayed with me (the same one who beat me with pocket ladies). The flop paired my Queen so I bet 300. He called. Turn came out number so I checked. He bet a 1000. I called instantly since I had plenty of outs (any Queen would give me trips and any club would give me a flush). River was another number so the other guy went all in with 440. I reluctantly called. He said, "I got one pair". He showed pocket Kings! He brokebacked my ass! That was a huuuuuge blow! Later in the evening he was talking to another guy who apparently folded pocket 2s, and got trips on the flop. He didnt call because of the big preflop bet. The guy who creamed me said that you have to live and learn in poker, take your losses, learn from them and move on. He even said that if a club came out, that I would have eaten him alive.

My play went downhill from there. I got another AQ later in the evening and went all in with just the big and small blinds posted. Everyone folded to my 660 bet. Argh!!! Around 12:15, I got a AJ off and went all in again. 5 guys called. If I would win, I would be so happy. Before the flop was dealt, one player shouted "all garbage!". He got his wish. Flop came out 6-5-7. He went all in with 540. Only one guy called. He showed his 34 suited. The other guy just folded. I left, shook the hand of the man who creamed me thrice, wished everyone good luck and left.

On the way home, I contemplated my play and was suprisingly both happy and sad. Happy at how my aggressive play improved and sad at how 2 bad decisions cost me almost my entire stack. Ill definitely play some more money games soon. Just need some more practice, discipline, self control, and oh yeah, almost forgot, more cash.

Wish me luck next time!

For a good cause?!??!?

2006-07-11T18:27:00.000+08:00

I just found out on a blog of the Poker Bar Tour, the tourney I join in every Saturday, that the usual 1.5K + 300 game will be preempted by their first charity holdem poker tournament. The entry is now 3K (2K buy-in + 1K registration fee) for a 6K starting stack. The tourney will feature unlimited rebuys before the sixth level and a one-time add-on at the end of the rebuy period. Both addon and rebuys will cost 2K for an additional 4K stack. Since its a charity event, the usual prize structure has been replaced by the following prizes:

Winner - 32" LCD TV
Second - 32" Flat TV
Third - Acer Laptop
Fourth - Nokia N90
Fifth - Sony DVD Camcorder
Sixth - Canon Poweshot S2i
Seventh - 29" Flat TV
Eighth - Apple Ipod 20GB
Ninth - Apple Ipod Nano
Tenth - Sony DVD Player

All pretty cool. I've got my eye on the small gadgets.

The kicker, however, is the opportunity the tourney presents to play with celebrities listed below who have apparently confirmed to be there. Their will be one celebrity per table, so each table will be equally star-struck, but more so than others. You'll understand better when you see the roster:

Asia Agcaoili
Jeni Hernandez
Karel Marquez
Aliya Parcs
The Jaboom Twins
Happee Sy
Cesca Liltton
Angel Rivero
Michael De Mesa
Buboy Garovillo

See what i mean? Hehe. Still contemplating on joining though. After all, it is for a good cause (wink, wink). Will have to get details on the organizers. Will keep you guys posted.

By the way, for more details on the tournament, click on the link 'Deal a helping hand' on my sidebar Links section.

So close, yet, so far ...

2006-07-10T13:30:00.000+08:00

This past Saturday, July 8th, I joined another NLHE tournament hosted by poker bar tour philippines. Entrance was once again P 1500 + P 300 registration fee. This week they offered a one-time rebuy of P 1500 to get 1300 worth of chips when you get 500 chips or lower. Or, after the 3rd level (during the break), you can avail of addon of 1500 worth of chips for P 1500.

I arrived little early and proceeded as usual to watch the cash game going on. It always makes me laugh seeing the old guys fight out rules and acceptable behavior at the poker table. I noticed across the table the P 1 million winner and felt a little intimidated at the prospect that he could have joined the tournament (I later found out he didnt, whew!).

When the tournament did start, 7 out of the 10 guys knew each other, so the chit chat was very animated and fun. That relieved my anxiety a little bit. I decided to play differently this week, by playing more hands and playing aggressively more often whether or not I had the best hand. I hoped this would work in my favor since the previous night my friends and I played a poker game and the top 2 winners of the evening played aggressively. My first good hand was a pair of kings. I went out and bet 300 outright. 2 guys came in. The flop showed all numbers, no potential straight or flush, so i bet 300 again. Both guys followed again. A 10 showed up next, so I bet 400. The first guy folded, but the 2nd guy stayed on. The river was a number, so I decided to trap my opponent by checking. Unfortunately, he checked as well. I turned my cards and he showed his pocket queens. To bad, he must have thought. I raked the huge pot in and was pretty happy.

Next good hand I got was pocket 8's. So i came out betting 300, 3 guys came in the pot with me. The flop showed Q-8-10. I was so amazed I flopped the trips. So I slow played it. Just checking. Everyone else did. Turn came out 4. So i bet 300 again, 2 players folded, but one stayed in. River showed another Q. I was scared, if this dude has a Q, im screwed. So i came out betting 500 to scare him off. He acted scared, then reraised me 1000. So i naturally called because I was pot-committed. He turned up Q-10! Full House! Somamabitch! I could not believe my luck. I showed him my pocket 8s and he commented by saying, "Slow played the trips?" Well, If i had gone all in, I would cried rivers of blood. That was a huge blow!

Later, I found myself down on the chipcount after break. I was then dealt an AK suited. So i came out betting 500. The guy across me asked how much chips I had left, and to my surprise, all the good players (I assumed), said in unison "700!". So he called. The flopped paired my Ace, so I thought I had the best hand and just checked to trap again. He fell for it and bet 700, I called and showed my AK or big slick. He gasped 'cause, If I remember correctly, he needed at 2 specific cards to beat me. I took the pot naturally and he smiled and said "nice hand". "Thanks ...", I said loudly, ".. for doubling me up", I said to myself.

Next, at dealer button position, I got a 56 suited, and called the big blind. The flop came out 3-6-2, so I bet 200. One guy folded, 2 others stayed in. the Turn showed up a 5. So i bet 400, both folded and I took the pot along with the antes! Sweeeeet!

One time, I had pocket 2s when the blinds were 20-40. I gave a hundred chip to bet a hundred, so I could scare people off and just steal the pot, but since I didnt say I bet, the dealer just assumed I bet 40, and just wanted change for the 100. 4 guys came in and they all checked, I bet 300 at the flop that did not help me. One guy stayed in. Turn didnt help so I just checked. Other guy thought I was trapping so he checked as well. River didnt help either so I checked. He looked at me long trying to decide If I was trapping. He decided to bet 500. So i thought to myself, he was not have any hand and was just trying to steal the pot. So i called, he had J4, and there was a 4 on the flop. He beat my 22s with 44s. Dammit! Should have bet big!

One hand I got AJ off, so I bet big at 500. Flop paired my Ace so I bet big again 300. The guy who killed me with the full house earlier, stayed along with me. Turn came out number, so I bet 500. He called. River came out number again, so I checked. He checked as well and asked what I had. I showed my AJ, he said "Ahh" and just folded. Apparently, you can just fold your hand to concede at a showdown on the river. The guy who I beat with AK asked what he was holding and he said, "Pocket Balls", meaning he was just playing aggressive in hopes of stealing the pot or hoping I had a smaller hand. This same guy later commented by saying that its hard to steal the pot in our table since theres an aggressive guy at the table and motioned at me. I was flattered at the thought that I was aggressive since that was the table image I was going for when I started.

It started going downhill when the antes kept going up and I kept getting off suited numbers. Literally no face cards for a really long time. I reached a point when I had only 300 in chips and antes at 100. This was when out table was collapsed and I was transferred to another table. I sat beside a guy I knew by face playing in last weeks tournament. I put my ante for the round, and held my 200 ashamedly. I was dealt pocket 99s. The dealer then said, "Sir, paki baba lang po ang chips natin para makita ng lahat". That was when I said, "All-in 200!". When everybody saw my chips, thats when they said "kaya pala tinatago". The guy beside me went all-in as well. While we were waiting for the the guy beside him to decide, he said to me, "pare, patingin ng cards mo" So I showed him my pocket 9s, and he showed pocket Qs. He then said something to the effect of "walang personalan pare, maganda lang talaga hand ko" I respected the fact that he wanted me to know that he wasnt just blindly after my 200 chips but wanted to get the most out of his hand in case anyone else called his all-in. The guy beside him then called the all-in as well, showing his hand as KQ off. 3 players only for possibly my last hand of the day. The flop showed 9-8-7. Everybody just gasped and shouted at awe. "I am still alive!", I thought to myself. The guy beside me then said, "I dont care about that, I just want to take my share off the pot" The turn came out number, so the guy beside me was still ahead, but this time he also had a flush draw. So he said "king of clubs! king of clubs!" jokingly to the other guy. Another club did come out and he got the side pot, while I got the antes and main pot. Woohoo! What a hand!

But I couldnt stay for long, I was big blind next, then small blind. I had only 800 left when I picked up A6 off. I would have gone all-in if it werent for this american guy who bet 2400 at the pot. I got scared at what he had and just folded. He was asked if he had low pairs or something, he said yah. Dammit! Next i got Q4 off. So i went all in and the guy beside me called again. He had KQ off so only a 4 would help me. Flop paired his king. Turn gave me a reason to smile because it gave me a flush draw if a spade came on the river. It didnt however. People at the table shook my hand, as well as the organizer who remarked "Sayang! next week na lang siguro". "Sana nga next week", I said back at him with a forced smile.

I called up my girlfriend to tell her the news. On the way home, I contemplated at my game and strategy and was peculiarly happy. I enjoyed myself and was able to identify key mistakes so I could do better next time. Hope I do better next week. Drinks of me with the boys if I finish at the final table.

Ill be back next week with an account of the July 15 tournament at the ACF again. Wish me luck!