What a weekend

First off, the weather this weekend was fantastic. Sunny and in the 80's. Hit up Nautica Friday night, along with about 8 other CPMG'ers. Sat down and immediately got every hand crushed. I had 2-pr about 6 times and got them all beat. I played a couple of them badly, and the others there was no way to get the others to fold. So I finally get pocket 2's and raise it to $12 preflop and got a few callers, 1 of which was Brad Laidman. I flop a set of 2's on a board of K-10-2 with 2 clubs. There was a bet, a raise, then Laidman calls. I push over the top, get one caller, and Laidman calls as well. I was up against top 2 and Brad's nut flush draw, and I held up. That took me from down $300+ to up about $200. I built it to about a $350 profit, then got top 2 (AQ) cracked YET AGAIN, and dropped most of my profit. Somehow, in about an hour, I managed to build it back up to a $325 profit, and I got the hell outta there.

A couple of Nautica notes:
* The dealers are really hot or miss. The 2 dealers we had didn't know what day it was. These guys were awful. Several misdeals, a few times they turned a card before the betting was done, etc. The dealer asked the one volunteer to go fetch me some chips, and he just got that deer in the headlights look, and got totally confused. He did manage to make it back to the table with my stack and a half of low society.
* The charity hosts apparently supply the food that's for sale. This weekend, there wasn't much there, but there was a large roaster full of some really good rigatoni and meatballs. I had 2 orders.
* Parking is $6 on the weekends as opposed to $3 during the week.
* The seat fee really isn't that bad when you factor in tips, travel time, gas, etc.

So a few of us went over to Harbor Inn after the gambling. JC even showed up. Hadn't seen him in quite some time. Always a pleasure. TK was ogling the bartender's ample bosom. OK, I looked at them too. They were real, and they were spectacular.

So, Saturday at Dave's. First off, me and the wife went for a bike ride after running some errands. We had to go get her a new rim for her bike. The original had mysteriously become horribly warped, like it had been hit by a car, but we couldn't think of any explanation. Hmmm...

So, the tourney. I lost almost half my stack to Hip with 2 pr vs. his flopped set. I had top/top to start off and couldn't let it go even after Hip raised me. Rivered my 2nd pair and I bet into him. Luckily, he just called. Ouch.

So I manage to get a lot of it back and was sitting on around 7000 when I get pocket J's. Jack T-way is under the gun and leads out with a bet of 700 (blinds are at 100-200), Dave O (the chubby Harry Potter) calls, and I go all-in for like 6300 more. Jack is obviously INCAPABLE of folding pocket 10's, and flops a set of course. You have to figure, with a huge overbet like I made, I have to have a big pair or AK/AQ, right? At best, he's a coin flip, and it's WAY too early for coin flips. So he had a monster stack after that but still didn't even make the final table, then played cash for about a half hour until that was gone as well. Always a pleasure to see Jack walk through the door.

On to the cash game! I bought in for my first hundo and gave most of it to Ryan Sadd, another one who is incapable of folding after hitting the board. He cracked my AK with his K5 suited (called $12 preflop of course) after hitting his 2nd pair on the river. I have stopped bluffing Ryan. I will never bluff him again. He also MUST bet every street, regardless of his hand, if he raised preflop. TK made mention sometime during the evening that it's amazing he ever has chips.

Anyway...I started hitting hands and hitting them pretty hard. I was something like 6 for 8 on flush draws, and I played each a little differently to mix it up a bit. Lead out, check/call, check/raise, etc. Got max value for all of them. Once I was ahead about $400, I locked up my chips and got really conservative, but still kept hitting hands. It's great to have the image of a maniac that plays everything. When the cards hit, they pay handsomely.

Grayday was there and tilting, and he raised someone's $6 bet to $26, and I called out of spite with my J-10, and flopped a J. I knew he had just a big A, either AK or AQ, and raised him on the flop, then put him all-in on the river. He called me for his last $100+ with AK high and missed. That tilted him even worse, so he threw a party for Hip Hop, and gave Hip his entire stack. Twice. Holiday Inn Jim was there with his buddy,and they both gave away a bunch of money at the other table.

I managed to cash $1008 on 2 buy-ins of a hundo each. That puts me up almost $3200 in 2 weeks. Woo hoo.

Show us your tots

Went out for the 2nd annual Tater Tot contest at Bar Louie last night. Small crowd compared to last year. We missed the contest.

I'm heading down to Nautica after work today, probably around 5pm. Gonna hit and run most likely.

Wed night at Dave's

Had a good time and left with a nice win. I ate too many Little Debbie swiss rolls.

Uncle Bob showed up to spice up an already out of hand cash game. There were 2 tables, and luckily mine was a bit more conservative. Grayday brought a guy that sat at our table that just handed me money all night. Gotta love that. Danny C and Tony showed up. I stacked Danny at least once. I had AK and he had K7. He couldn't lay it down. Board was something like K559J.

Although I was up about $350 at one point, I left up almost $200. I gave some back in the last round when Grayday's guest hit his kicker with K5 vs my big slick. I had AK about 6 times last night. I also missed an open-ended straight and flush draw that would have paid nicely. Oh well, profit!

My wife is visiting a friend tomorrow night so I may hit up Nautica for a few hours. Who's in?

Saturday Night

So, just to set the record straight, I was just bustin Hip's balls with that last post. He knows I love him, I just can't beat him in a hand. He made a good call as usual. I do bluff Hip a lot and he catches me a lot. NH.

Basic rundown from Sat night:

Started off bad, got down to $80 or so, built it back up to almost $500 after shifting gears, then got AA and KK cracked by KK and AK respectively in the last 20 min of the night, and lost the last of my stack with 6-7 of hearts on a board of 45x (or 58x) with 2 hearts. I had the open-ender/flush draw.

Can't even complain about bad calls or anything with any of the hands. Danny C got lucky against my AA and KK, hitting a 2 and 3-outer, but I couldn't expect him to lay down preflop, even though I did re-raise him. On the 6-7, we were both gambling against Colin's AA when he re-raised big preflop. I am pretty sure my hand was a favorite after the flop, but Danny had the bigger flush draw with K8, and we both hit the flush.

So Danny had 2 buy-ins of $60 invested and cashed $850. That'll keep him coming back at least, and you can't hit 2-outers every time. He's not a donkey but he plays the cash game like a tourney. One thing he should really be aware of though is the slow-roll. Eventually someone is gonna blow up at him.

Hip Hop is a dick

NH sir.

So Hip calls me with BOTTOM pair after I laid out what should have appeared to be a nice value bet. Well done. It was a prefect setup for later when the board was something like AA66x, and I had 99 in my hand. Hip was nice enough to pay me off with QUEEN HIGH. :)

Hip is now on my list of unbluffables, along with folks like Fireman Frank, Jamie, Ryan Sadd, drunken TK, Jack T-way, and Tony the Zombie guy. I don't think Tony could tell you what day it is, let alone lay down bottom pair to a pot-sized bet.

Motor City again

Forgot to mention, those were about the only hands I played in the 3.5 hrs I was there on Thurs night. I thought about rat-holing my profit and buying back in at the $1-2, but it was almost midnight and I was beat from the session the night before. Besides, I think that was my single-largest 1-session win, so it was time to go. I carried 4 racks to the cage.

Other items to note:

* They have free sandwiches, cookies, soda, and candy for the players, which is nice
* It's a very nice casino overall
* If you really want to play poker, they have a $300 min/no max $5-10 game. Just don't flop a set of J's, get your your $4k in with a 96% favorite, and lose to the 2-outer. I still have nightmares about that.

Detroit though is a burning powder keg. Unemployment is at 13% and all the radio talk was about the automakers going out of business. I made a wrong turn leaving the casino and just a few blocks from downtown there were burned out buildings and homeless people EVERYWHERE. They were basically just lying around all over the place.

Detroit rock city

Wow, what a trip. Here's a quick rundown...

Tues night, MGM:

Played tight/aggressive, patient, very solid poker all night. Built my $200 buy-in up to $550 over a few hours at $1-2. There was a drunk guy there throwing a party with his stack but I couldn't catch a hand against him. So I'm at around $550 and was going to be leaving soon. I come across KQ of clubs on the button and make it $15 preflop after a few players limped, and I got 2 callers. Flop is AKx, and it's checked to me. I make it around $40 and get min-raised by a guy who was pretty solid. He was in his mid 50's and had that Paul Newman/Color of Money look. I call. Turn is another K, and he sighs and checks, so I bet a hundo. He calls. River is a Q, boating me up. Sweet!!! He checks and I toss out another hundo, expecting a fold, but he pushes. He has me covered, and I insta-call, flipping over my boat. What's he have???? AA of course. PNWD. NH sir. I hit the road for the night, my spirit gone. He played it perfectly. No way I put him on AA...just a single A.

Wed night Motor City:

The computer system was down so the floor was scrambling to keep organized and doing an awful job, but they were still in better shape than Greektown. Got a $1-2 ($50-200 as they call it) seat after about 30 min. The place was hopping for middle of the week. BBJ was at $19k. A's full of J's cracked by quads.

Played the same solid game from the night before but was on a roller coaster after a couple hours. There was an old drunk guy that would build his stack to $600 and give it away, then he'd re-buy for $100, build it up, and give it away. He called every bet everyone made, and paid off everyone's hands. Except for ME. I put a bet out and he'd fold quicker than shit. I never once tried to bluff him either, knowing I just had to show any kind of a hand to get paid. Nope...I got a few bucks from him but not the hundreds everyone else was. I wish I could get that kind fo respect at my home games.

So I ended up adding on a hundo and went from being up around $375 to down $150, and played through the night. I just couldn't get up. Dozens of people came and went. I was in that seat for nearly 14 hours when I decided I'd better head back to the hotel to get a little rest and shower up. I left up around $300, leaving me up $100 for the trip so far. I'll take it I guess. Got back to the room, laid down for 45 min, showered, and went to class. I felt like TK in Vegas. Class was pretty tough to get through. VB scripting...loads of coding fun! I drank a ton of coffee to get through the day.

Thurs at Motor City:

Decided to head back to MC, since there were more tables going and plenty of action. The 1-2 list was pretty full, so I sat down at a $2-5 game until my seat opened up. Glad I did. 2nd hand, I raise to $50 preflop with QQ, got 2 callers, flop was K high, I bet $75, and everyone folds. I really tightened up for this table, as I only sat down with $300 and didn't have a ton of cash on me.

A half hour later, I get 33 in the BB and a few people limp in. I decide to make it $35. 2 callers. Flop is 10-8-3 with a couple of clubs. About time. I hadn't hit a set in a long time, and really felt due. I lead out with $50, and the guy 2 seats to my left adds a hundo on top. everyone else folds, and I go all-in. He calls fairly quickly with his slow-played AA, and my set holds up. He barely had me covered, so I double up. He re-buys.

Another hour or so later, I'm around the same amount and call $5 from the SB with A5 of hearts. Flop brings AJ2. I bet $30 or $35, whatever was in the pot, hoping to take it right there. I get 5 callers!! I am basically done with the hand and ready to surrender but the turn is a 5, so I lead out again, this time with a hundo. Girl to my left raises another $150. Everyone else folds, and I call. There was no preflop raise, so I am putting her on a single A, maybe A9, or even A2 for a smaller 2 pair. She would have raised with AJ/AQ/AK or a pocket pair.

River is a 3 or a 4. I check, hoping to keep the pot where it is. She goes all-in. She has me covered buy a few hundred. I just cant put her on a better hand, but think she may have caught the wheel on the river, but I call anyway. She lowers her head and says "I missed". Ship it. That doubled me to over $1700. She re-buys.

I'm up against the guy whose AA I cracked earlier and I have a baby A suited, I think it was A3, and called a small raise from near the button. I flopped a wheel, and the AA slow-player bets out, I raise big, he calls, and I push on the turn. He folds, showing 99 for an over pair. I show him I wasn't screwing around.

A few hands after that< i raise with AQ suited, and the girl who missed calls. I flop top 2, she bets, I raise, and she calls. Turn is a brick, she bets small again, and I push. She calls off the last of her $500 or so and mucks when I show my monster hand.

I played until the button got to me, folding everything, and cashed $2335 for a sweet little profit. Screw Greektown, Motor City is my new favorite.

Quick update

Heading to MI for a few days of training and poker tonight...wish me luck.

Saw G Love and Special Sauce again on Thursday night. Great show, but the acoustics at the HOB just suck ass. What an awful venue.

Last 2 cash games have been losses. Didn't play well on Wed and got sucked out all night on Saturday. Flopped nuts a couple times only to get beat down the stretch. Adam was there and I made a couple great calls against him, but he later sucked out. No way he was folding his 2 pair. Oh well, I'll get it back in Detroit, or the next time Adam plays. He bluffs more than just about anyone at the table.

For some reason, I thought the bounty tourney was last weekend but was 2 weeks off. Duuuuhh...

Lot of money on the table. I banked and everything worked out. No $500 shortages on my watch.

Happy belated Easter to everyone. My ham turned out great. Garlic and cheddar mashed potatoes were out of this world. Check out the pot rack I installed at the new place. It's really coming along and looks great. Email invites to a housewarming and also a dealer's choice game will be coming out within a couple weeks.

Thanks for the free dishwasher

Ugh..I've got another cold. This is like 3 in a month and a half. Hopefully it will go away as fast as the others. Good thing I dont smoke any more, colds were awful when I smoked. I'll have to make some crock pot chicken soup tonight. Easier than actually cooking it. :)

So, on to the poker. I played an awful tourney this weekend. Got into too many jackpots too early, then ran into Eskimo's set of K's after I turned 2 pr with an A4 sooooted. Aside from Julie, it was a table full of donkeys for the most part. Too many donkeys is a bad thing. They overplay hands, bluff too much, overbet the pot...you know how it goes. Hard to tell where you're at. I got frustrated and impatient, which is not a good combination. Bounty tourney next week...that should be fun. I took out a ton of people in the last one, which I think I won.

So, on to the cash game. Quaded up on the very first hand with J2 (from the BB) and took about half of Bill D's stack. Bill was in rare form Saturday. He had a shitload of great one-liners and I can't remember any of them, but he was pretty damned funny. He later went into lockdown mode and barely played any hands.

I had just won a couple of small pots and decided to play the rush and called $3 with J6, and then $8 more when it was raised. Pot was down to me, Jamie, and Lawyer Jen. Jamie was another main reason I played the hand. I totally had his number all night. So the flop is 336, rainbow. Jen pushes her last $24 or so, Jamie, calls, and I just flat-call. Turn is a brick for me, and we both check the dry side pot. River is a 6! I bet $40, but Jamie folds. Jen flips over AA, and I pull in a nice pot. I got ridiculed pretty good for the J6, but a win is a win. Jen sure wasn't happy.

We were playing the 7-2 game, and I won another decent pot with a pr of 2's with my 7-2. There were like 2-3 others in the hand with me.

After all the donkified play, I actually got focused and started making decent decisions. I tossed 2 pr against Colin, who had a straight. I called Jamie on a few bluffs, and pissed him off. He tried to bluff on the river after I checked my pair (2nd pair on the board), and he just had to fire. He did this all night, playing every hand. I got him for close to $200, but he still managed to cash with a nice stack. He really got into Monsignor's kitchen, finally sending him home after cracking Monsignor's QQ with A3. It was $16 preflop. Even I can lay that down. Not Jamie. He called cold.

So at 4:15 am, after we finished playing showdown during the cashouts, I cashed in $785 on a single buy-in of $100. Not bad for a $1-1 game. It's gonna pay for a portable dishwasher for the new apartment.

Woo hoo!

Nautica is so great. The play is just awful. Doubled my buy-in, and could have been WAY up if I'd caught a couple of hands at my last table in the last hour.

So anyway, this is what I do at work...