So my week has kinda sucked.
1 - Went to wedding on Sunday. Good time, drank a decent amount. Came home, got a phone call from my sister. Genius parked her car in a tow away zone and guess what....they towed it away and she had no cash on her to pay. Had to do the half hour drive to a very active place during the summer, lots of cops, still with a bit of a buzz to get her car out.

2 - Developed this tremendous itch all over my face the past week. Started out feeling like a fat lip, got progressively worse. Yesterday it got really bad and my face turned all red and the skin got so dry it started cracking. OUCH! Can't figure out what the hell it is. I have outdoor alergies, but this is completely the opposite. Went to the doctor finally today and he has no idea either. Use Cortizone cream and come back next week if it's not better.

3 - Found out tonight that my uncle has cancer. They think they found it in time. Strangely they say that they think it's been there a long long time but never grew. He's scheduled to be operated on the 17th.

Poker.....eh....haven't played much past week and a half. Wanted to tonight, but Full Tilt is down. June was good though. 2nd best month in terms of profit, best month in terms of consistancy.

Amazingly, both my Verizon connection and Full Tilt were working tonight so I got in only my 2nd decent sized session in almost 2 weeks. I was up almost a stack and a half for a good portion of the session, but somehow turned it into a $3.75 win. I'm very proud of the fact that I didn't go on tilt once and continued to fold in all the right places no matter what miracle card hit.

Since I've been playing live a little bit more recently, here's one of the biggest differences for me so far: Even though the maniacs and the calling stations will suck out on you sometimes when playing live, I will almost always end up beating them eventually. Inevitably, they always seem to leave the table broke. This just never seems to happen to me online.

Tonight, for instance, I was doing very well until I started mixing it up with the maniac, the calling station, and the maniac, all seated 3 in a row on the same table with me having position on them. I just could not beat them at all.

The Maniac: 53/9 walked away +14.95 over 79 hands. I went up against him 8 times. I won 1x, collecting a limp when he folded to a raise, he won 7x.
Key hands against:
- I open raise [Qd] 2 off the button to $2. He re-raises to $5 in BB, I call. I miss flop, he open-pushes.
- BB [6h] on [Td][Ts]. He hangs around to beat me with [5d]. Thankfully he only weak bet the river on his backdoor flush when I checked hoping to induce what I thought was a bluff cause I actually had him on the original flush draw.


The Calling Station: 40/2 walked away +$80.15 over 108 hands. I went up against him 6x. I won 1x, collecting $1.50, he won 5x, collecting $19
Key hands against:
- This is an early hand against him. This is how he plays Aces, which inevitably I had to walk into when you're playing that many hands.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1238130
- This is how he plays quads. Inevitably I walk into them too.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1238133 (That's right, he checked the river)
- With [Ts], I flop the nuts with a Royal Flush redraw [As][Qs]. He checks down Aces and quads so I should probably get the fuck out of the way when he bets pot?
- http://www.pokerhand.org/?1238137


The Maniac: 42/14 walked away +67 over 45 hands. I went up against him 4x and he won all 4 for 18.80.
Key hands against:
- I walk into his JJ with AK. He's a shortie so I limp/re-raise him all in for $15 preflop. I miss.
- I also walk into his set of Aces later with A9s, but fold flop.


So against maniac, calling station and maniac I was a combined 2 wins (+$2) and 16 losses (-$50.30).

Lesson that I just can't get through my thick skull: If they are playing over 40% of their hands, it's a monster every time.

Going back to the miserable week I was having from last post:
1 - The allergic reaction/itch is not getting any better. I don't know how long Cortaid takes to work, but it's been 3 days and just about no improvement.
2 - Slammed my thumb in between the handles of the hedge clippers today. Hurts like a pitch, but good news is it's not my mouse hand.

Just because it's still bothering me.....

Nothing spectacular here. Just a few small hands against maniacs and stations from last night. It may look like a continuation from the last session I posted about, but it's not. I just have so much trouble with people that do everything but fold. Last night, another player 70%+ VP$IP, took the table for 3 stacks and several others 40%+ left winners.

Hand 1: [8h] BB with $52
UTG (unknown $15) limps
MP2 (71/5/33 $150+) limps
SB calls (52/4/14 $24) calls

[8s][4d] Pot $2
Checked to MP2 who bets $1.50, I'm the only caller

Pot $5
I check, MP2 bets $2.50, I call

Pot $10
Check, check

Like I said, simple....anyone have a problem with this line?
One further note on MP2: He was not normally aggressive at all, but was getting slapped with the deck. Two particular hands I saw had him call an all-in with 99 on a K-hi flop. He hit a set on the turn. Another, he called an AI with A6o...well I'll post that one later because I was involved.

Hand 2: [Kh] in BB with $50
MP1 (our station from last hand now with $165) limps
MP2 (41/14/30 $38 - very aggressive post-flop as well) raises to $2.25
I re-raise to $7.50
MP1 station calls
MP2 LAG calls

[Jc][3d] Pot $22.75
Am I done with this hand right here? Try to take a stab or check/fold with these two behind me?

Hand 3: [Tc] OTB with $50
UTG+1 (same station again still with $165) limps
UTG+2 (same LAG now with $90) limps
I think about raising and most of the time I would, but since we have another LAG in BB and these 2 aren't folding, I'm probably building a big pot where there aren't going to be too many safe flops in a 3 or 4-way hand so I just limp.
Too weak???
SB calls
BB (28/8/31 $21) raises to $3
UTG+1 station calls $3
UTG+2 LAG calls $3
I think about pushing for a second, but just call as well.

[4d][2s] Pot $12.50
BB pushes for $18.70, UTG+1 station insta-calls, UTG+2 LAG folds, I......I......I...????
Easy fold? Tough fold?












Results:

Hand 1: He had JJ
Hand 2: I checked, MP1 station checked, MP2 LAG bet $5.50, I folded, MP1 station called. Turn . MP1 station checks, MP2 LAG bet $6.50 into $33 pot. MP1 station folded. MP2 LAG shows [Ks]
Hand 3: I fold, BB has 99, UTG+1 station has [6d], catches his Ace on the turn. Am I being too results oriented by letting this fold still bother me a little?

More insanity. 3rd straight session that I can't figure out maniacs and stations that are getting slapped by the deck.

Hand 1: [5s] MP2 w/ $65.85
UTG limps
I limp
CO (41/18/30 w/ $53) min-raises to $1
Button, SB, UTG, myself all call

[2s][5h] Pot $5.50
SB, UTG check, I bet $3, CO calls, Button folds, SB folds, UTG folds

Pot $11.50
I bet $6, CO min-raises to $12, I call $6

Pot $35.50
I check, CO bets $10, what now?

Further notes on CO: He was in a lot of pots and very aggressive preflop, but turned into a calling station post-flop even playing his strong hands weakly. Here is an example of a set he flopped previous that was weakly played.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1243162


Hand 2: [Js] in BB w/ $60
UTG (villain from last hand - has about $165 now) limps
UTG+1 limps
UTG+2 (complete retard who's been raising every hand) raises to $2.50 but only has $8.50 left
SB calls
I call only because I know UTG will call and I'm pretty sure the PFRer has trash and top pair will beat him
UTG calls
UTG+1 folds

[5c][3c] Pot $10.50
SB checks, I bet $5, UTG min-raises to $10, UTG+2 folds, SB folds, I call

Pot $30.50
I check, UTG bets $10 again, what now?


Hand 3: [Qd] in the SB w/ $47
UTG folds
UTG+1 (49/19/35) min-raises (only has $4.70 left)
UTG+2 (17/4/11) re-raises to $3.75 (he has a full stack)
Folded to me. What now?






Results:
Hand 1: I probably would have happily played for all of my chips on the flop, but by the river I was pretty skeptical. I didn't like the A and K on the board and I also remember how weakly he played his last set. I was planning on just check/calling the river, but at the last second decided I was playing it too weak and paranoid so I min-raises to $20. He just called with a set of 6's.
Just 2 hands later he set over setted the big stack at the table and ended up walking away +2.5 stacks. Also had the nerve to complain that he had just flopped trip 7's with K7o on another table and lost to a 2 outter vs pocket 3's in an MTT.

Hand 2: I've now seen him play 2 strong hands with small bets and raises. He may be playing every hand, but he's getting slapped with the deck. I agonized and folded. He showed AQ.

Hand 3: Obviously I'm not worried about the min-raise moron. He'd been playing short stacked doing stuff like that every other hand. His raising requirements were that he had a picture card (K6o) or was suited (85s).
UTG+2 though was pretty solid. Which is why I knew that he figured the idiot was weak too and might try to isolate here with just about any Ace or decent pocket pair.
Just for sickness value, here's how it worked out. Shocker I actually catch the moron with a hand this time huh?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1243197 - I deserved that



This week so far has been a practice on not going on tilt. I think I've done a great job of staying patient and not doing anything stupid and I've been rewarded by being just around even after 3 frustrating days. I could have easily tilted off a stack somewhere, losing to maniacs and stations constantly, but it hasn't happened.


Miscellaneous stats:
- I'm in a set flopping funk. I've only flopped 2 sets in my last 58 played pairs and only made a combined $12 off of them.
- I've gone close to 1K hands since 7/2 without Aces. I've only seen them 2x this month and both times within a couple of orbits of each other. Lost with them both times.
1) All-in preflop vs short stack with 66. 6 on the turn.
2) Against another short stacker who called off 1/3 of his stack preflop with KTs. He flopped trip Tens.

I SUCK at Short-hand Capped NL Poker - Otherwise Known as Call & Catch Poker

This is that game where you can only bet 30BB or $15 w/ .25/.50 blinds before you're considered all in. I just get crushed in this game.

Reason #1: KK-JJ always < Ax

Reason #2: Call & Catch
[Qh] in SB
CO (63/0/20) limps
BUT (74/0/36) limps
I raise to $2.50 or 1/6th betting limit
BB, CO, BUT call
[Jh][Qc] Pot $10
Fuck it - I'm all-in for $12.50
BB folds, CO folds, BUT calls with [8c]
Jack effin 8 offsuit for a 1/6 the betting limit. But that's ok cause I have 5 outs on the turn and 8 on the river. I'm a little better than 3-1 dog.

Make that 5 outs on the turn, 2 outs on the river.

Mr. Call & Catch stacked 2 more players with junk hands and then left the table. He also caught a 3 outter on a 6789 board to split with me. I had T8, he had Q9.

Call & Catch much > TAG

Reason #3: I finally tilted when we were 3 handed.
BUT (20/11/25) raises to $1.75
I'm SB [5d] and re-raise to $5.75
BUT pushes for $15, I should fold, but I tilt off a total of $9.25 vs his 88.

Now considering that we were 3 handed and I was getting 3-1 at this point, was this really that bad? Actually, according to P-Stove if I put him on a range of AA-66, AQo+, AQs+ which is actually fairly tight, I'm less than a 2-1 dog (35%) so I can't even tilt correctly.

Still playing against Call & Catch tables. I don't know where all these players came from, but the last 2 sessions weren't any different than any of the previous ones posted above so no need to repost. I dropped about another stack the past 2 sessions vs more players that are going for their entire stack with bottom pair or less.

Here's something really good though. I wasn't involved in either hand, but this is just too precious not to post.

Hand #1: This is really freaky because the player in LP just sat down at the table with $100. I have no idea how he did that and I'm going to sent an e-mail to FT support to find out because I sure as hell can't get more than $50 and he wasn't at the table previously either. Anyway, we're 7 handed &

UTG+1 (maniac preflop, but passive post 43/22/19) raises to $1.50
MP (who just somehow managed to sit with $100) calls
I call in OTB with [2h]
Both blinds call

[3s][Qd] Pot $7.50
SB, BB check, orginal PFRer checks, MP bets $7.50, I fold, SB calls, BB folds, UTG+1 folds

Pot $22.50 - This is where it gets really fucked up
SB checks, MP bets $10, SB min-raises to $20, MP calls (you'll see why)

Pot $62.50
SB bets $17.75 (all-in), MP calls
SB [3d]
MP [Jh]

Dude, seriously, when your not catching any cards, HTF do you beat that? He called off 100 BB with AJ-hi !

Hand #2: This guy had been PFRing a lot so I 3-bet him once with AQ and once with AK and missed both times. He called down both times. Once with middle PP, other time he bet river and I folded. He's built a decent stack by not folding.

The fish raises to $1.75 UTG+1, solid player UTG+2 re-raises to $6 and fish calls.

[[7h][9c] Pot $12.75
Fish checks, UTG+2 bets $7, Fish calls

Pot $26.75
Check check

Pot same
Check Check

Both players tun over AK. Conversation that followed is great:

UTG+2: Well played buddy
Fish: By who buddy?
UTG+2: How could you make that call?
Fish: That's what I put you on
Fish: What did you put me on?

Uhhhh.....crack???

I put you on AK. AHAHAHAHAHA
They always put you on AK. What tipped you off? His preflop re-raise or the bet on the flop? Because there's no way he plays JJ-AA like that, right? Can only be AK.

These are the people that hit 2 out sets on me on ther river (happened yesterday when I actually did have AQ and flopped a pair) because they put you on AK.

I'm actually thinking of performing an experiment tomorrow. I may move down to $25 NL and just raise or call every hand preflop like a maniac. I will play normal post-flop with the exception of either min-betting draws or pot betting pairs when checked to. I just gotta see if this Call & Catch stuff works as well for me as everyone else.

Random Stats:
now at 1252 hands since the last time I've seen Aces on 7/2.
only won 1 pot over $20 so far this month, over 1500 hands
5 for 85 in sets this month and only +$20 combined on the 5 I've flopped

The Aceless streak is now at 1,611 hands.

I also dropped down today and tried out the Call & Catch method at the $25NL level.
Short version: I was still a little card dead and only was able to maintain a 40% VP$IP and 14% PFR. I played normal, or semi-normal, post flop throwing out a lot of min-bets with nothing or a draw and pot betting top pair or better.
Results after 138 hands: +10 BB/100

At the very least it was fun though. My 2 biggest pots were a river flush that I drew to on a paired board and beat trips and then K6 flopped 2 pair and took out KT. I'd been pounding on the guy all session and he finally decided to test me. Maybe this method works?

See:
forum/viewtopic.php?p=249243#249243

I think I need that vomit emoticon again Red.

The Call & Catch method turned violently aggressive while drunk last night. It actually started great, but when they started playing even worse than I did, I got crushed.

Here are all the significant hands. Remember, I was pretty drunk so I don't really need critiquing because I know I was playing retarded, but it's scary that I was actually right in most cases. For your amusement.......

Table 1: My image 41/7/13 - probably LAG, maybe not maniac
1 - Stacked a shortie retard with QQ vs his middle pair. He was playing even worse than I was 48/14/47
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1254948

Table 2: 24/7/18 - pretty card dead here. not even enough to limp in with most hands
1 - Did manage to stack Aces with 76o just a couple of hands in. Yay drunken idiot poker.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1254953
2 - So like I was actually playing tight at this table here and I knew SB was an idiot (40/16). This idiot calls off a double stack with AJo? Right move, wrong result.

Table 3: 40/6/33 - I probably looked like a station here
1 - Hit trips over trips. Turned the boat
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1254967
2 - Flopped the nuts with a junk hand. Why didn't I bet the river? Don't know. I was drunk
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1254974
3 - Drunken retard poker with a flush draw. Getting about 2-1 here, but I'm a 3-1 dog. Soberly I probably fold. Strange I did suck out playing as stupidly as I was
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1254985
4 - This was a small hand but just really, really funny. Fucker called me with Ten high on the river and I trashed him afterward
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1254988
Afterward.....
Me: oh my god your more retarded than me
Me: i had to double check to make sure you called with 10 high
Cash32706: come one at least bet the pot....
Cash32706: i have been calling on the river all night....you have seen that
Me: Hell no I'm drunk

Table 4: 48/15/0 - true maniac but never went to showdown.
1 - Only 1 hand but it was vs the only guy playing worse than me (64/7/56), but of course that means he has the better hand. Ironic?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1255004

PS: Aceless streak at 1771 hands and counting

Aceless streak ends at EXACTLY 1800 hands. I picked up the blinds with them from CO vs two blinds with VP$IP's both over 40. Go figure. Strangely enough, I picked them up again 2 hands later on the same table and didnt' see a flop that time either.

Also lost a pot that I thankfully kept small to a 2 outter on the river and missed a 15 outter. Then there was this hand. Who goes broke here? Or at least loses more than $4.50 with the 2nd nuts?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1255561
Opponent was TAG 16/7 and I was pretty sure they weren't checking a set all the way to the river. So even though my hand was well hidden, what else was left for him to have?

Believe it or not, I'm kissing the ground after booking a $7 win tonight. My biggest win in 5 days and I've been playing every day, usually 2 sessions per day. Rough start to the month.

I played 1800hands and was dealt aces three times. Very few KK and one of them ran into AA for a full stack.

Hmm.....had my first positive session of the month yesterday and today I had my worst sesson of the year, losing back 3x what I won yesterday in about 50 hands. Now I look at PT and try to figure out WTF has happened in July???

Today:
AK 7x + AQ 8x = Disaster

AK/AQ that went to flop: 3 for 8 -$53.55

I did fold AQs once preflop. Would have won a big pot.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1261584

AK/AQ in July = 55x -.24 bb/hand

Pocket pairs in June:
-.07 bb/hand
AA+KK 11x in 2,250 hands -$5.25

Flopped Sets:
+$6.35
-$46.50
+$0.95
-$4.50
+$3.25
+$8.95
+$3.65
+$13.30
+$16.25
+$9.20

Win a small pot, lose a big one with a set? Maybe I should slowplay them more? I'm +$0.90 after 10 sets! WTF??