80% of the poker decision I have made in July have been wrong (PERIOD)

This has been compounded that the other 20% of the time, some maniac catches a river card that I couldn't imagine would help his hand, yet it does when I call his all-in.

The only comfort I have is that they generally do not have the pot odds to call down with their gutshots even when they stack me.

I will be posting most of today's fuck ups in the NL section because I really am not sure anymore. Except this one......

This is the only move I have made on a pot all week. I had 300+ hands vs opponent. He was 19/4/10 so he was tight and could be moved off hands, but his CO/OTB PFR was 9.8%. So he was tight, but liked to steal.

I have [8h] in SB. Opponent had PFR my blinds the last 3 orbits.

Folded to CO who raises to $1.75. I re-raise to $5.75 and he calls.
[Jd][3h] Pot $12
I bet $8.50 and he calls

Pot $29
I'm all-in for $39.65. He calls with $27.15. He had Aces of course with . That takes 2 of my 12 outs away. I miss the other 10 anyway.

My other fuck ups today will be in the NL section shortly.

I dropped down to $25NL tonight to try and work out the kinks, get through this bad run, and even experiment with a few things because it seemed like the sensible thing to do. I did this last night too, but only I'm 3 tabling instead of 2 tabling.

WRONG!

1st effin hand: Ran KK into AA OTB. I don't know WTF this other jerkoff is thinking.


I've also found myself raising, flopping top two pair and folding either the turn or the river when 4 to a straight or flush are on board. This is really draining me.

So far for July:
$50NL 2416 hands -12.89 bb/100
$25NL 957 hands -51.10 bb/100
and let's not forget the .25/.50 blind 30 BB capped game 255 hands -37.61 bb/100

The key culprits AKs,AQs,JJ 42x dealt -2.3 bb/hand

Interesting History With an Opponent

As most people who've read this journal know, I've had most of my problems with LAG's/maniacs. I also dropped down to $25NL a couple of times this week to try and work on this problem. The following is a history of hands between myself and a LAG at a $25NL table, who I had direct position on (he was immediately to my right) where I came out ahead in the end. Hopefully I've learned something.

Opponent is 47/7/31 after 104 hands.

Our first contest was almost 50 hands in.

I have $27.60 [9c] MP2
Villain has $33.65 and open limps MP1, I call, CO calls, SB folds, BB checks

[7d][2c] Pot $1.10
BB checks, Villain bets $.75, I raise to $2, CO and BB fold, Villain calls

Pot $5.10
Villain bets $4, I fold


Our 2nd battle was just 4 hands later.
I have $25.15 in BB with [Ts]
Villain has $35.30 in the SB
MP2 raises to $.85, Villain calls, I call

[2h][8h] Pot $2.55
V checks, I bet $2, MP2 folds, V calls

Pot $6.55
Check, Check

Pot $6.55
V bets $5 - I remember he bet the same relation to the pot last time the board paired and I folded. Here I called and he turned over [8s]

So now I know that he'll call with garbage in the blinds for a raise and he likes to be tricky.

Then, just 3 hands later, we had our 3rd confrontation:

I have [9d] in CO with $25
V has $68.70 in MP2
V open-min-raises, I call, blinds fold

[Qc][7s] Pot $1.35
V bets $1, I raise to $2.50, V re-raises to $4, I just call

Pot $9.35
V checks, I check - Most people don't min-raise AKs so I wasn't afraid of the flush. It's usually a pocket pair or sometimes middle suited connectors. When he 3-bet my raise on the turn, I thought he might have a big pair. I took a chance that he had a big club though.

Pot $9.35
V bets $8, I push $20.50.......player not in the hand says "do it you got him, lol"......V calls and shows [Kc]


11 hands later we butt heads again:
[Jc] OTB $47.15
V is CO $24.75

V limps, I raise to $1.10, V calls

[Qh][8c] $2.55
V checks, I bet $1.25, V raises to $5.25, I re-raise to $18, V folds

In 14 hands altogether I won 6x ($33.85) and lost 8x ($12.55) for a difference of +$21.30. Now WTF did I do differently here?

I just had the most comical session of my life. I wish I could have some how recorded it so everyone could look back and laugh on it years from now. Last week, I withdrew a little more than 1/2 my roll from FT. I've only played 1x this week, tonight being the 2nd. I'm going to stay down at $25NL until I have over $1200 again and then move back up. Figure that shouldn't take too long. Especially if they keep playing like the following....

My 3rd hand with [Qh] OTB.
3 limpers, I make a healthy raise to $1.60.
Both blinds call , 1st 2 limpers fold, super short stack is all-in for $2.95.
I re-push and both blinds fold. There is $10.10 in the pot.

Flop [2s][8h]
Normal player thinks: lol, I got this idiot crushed and I'm 98% to win after the flop
Full Tilt player thinks: Oh fuck, he's still drawing live. He has a runner-runner gutshot draw.

[Td] - I LOSE!
Ok, this was pretty funny. It was only $3.20 and expected.

Bout 2 orbits later another funny one comes up. I have [Jd] UTG+1.
UTG (short stack fish - 60/25/33) raises to $.75, I re-raise to $2.50 (1/3 his stack), he pushes for $7.50, I call. $15.25 in the pot.

[Qc][9d]
Normal player thinks: lol, I just got this player's stack in with 3 outs. what a dummy.
Full Tilt player thinks: fuck! He already had 3 outs and now he's up to 5. He has me right where he wants me.

[3s] - I LOSE!
Still pretty funny. They were both short stacks at NL25, although I would like to start winning some hands soon.

Different table: [Kh] 2 off the button.
UTG+2 (86/3/38 - NOT A MISTAKE - HIS VP$IP IS 86%) limps,
MP1 (61/3/29 - ok I give up now) limps
I raise to $1.35 and naturally both call.

[4c][9c] Pot $4.40
Checked to me, I bet $2.50, UTG+2 calls, MP1 has some sense and folds

Pot $9.40
Normal player thinks: I just hit my card and now I'm stacking this fish
Full Tilt player thinks: Shit! Now I'm commited and he's going to show me some ridiculous hand on the end

UTG+2 checks, I bet $5.50, UTG+2 calls and has $8.30 left.

Pot $20.40
UTG+2 checks, I bet $6.50, UTG+2 is all-in for $8.30, I call

UTG+2 shows his persistance as he catches his gutshot straight with [3h].

Now I'm starting to get a little irate.

2 other run ins with this station.
1 - I flop 2 pair, he flops better 2 pair and calls down.
2 - I flop top set on a monotone board, he folds.
Evidently this style works for him as he cracked Aces with K5o a few hands later and walked away with +3 stacks.

3rd table: [5h] in CO. I open-raise to $0.75. SB (42/9/31 ultra short stack) calls.
[5d][9c] Pot $1.75
Normal player thinks: Why couldn't I save my 1st set of the night for a bigger stack. Oh well.
Full Tilt player thinks: Oh well. At least I won't lose too much here.

Check, check on the flop.
Pot still $1.75
SB checks, I bet pot, SB is all-in for $4.50, I call.
SB has [9s]
Yeah that one was funny.

That's ok though because I got it back only about an orbit later.
I open-raise to $0.85 from CO with [Jh] and of course SB calls again.
[Jd][6c] Pot $1.95
SB checks, I only bet $1 because I don't want to lose him. SB calls.

Normal player thinks: I've got him right where I want him. He's going to give me my money and his right back.
Full Tilt player thinks: He's got me right where he wants me. I'm going to double him up for the 2nd time in less than 10 hands.

Pot $3.95
SB checks, I bet $2.25, SB is all-in for $7.90, I call.
SB shows [Qd]

AHA you dummy, I got ya.



Normal player thinks: Wow, that was a really brutal stretch. First I lost a hand where I was all-in and 98% on the flop. Then I lost 2 a 3 outter and a 4 outter. I finally flop my first set of the night and get set over setted against another station then lastly I flop top 2 pair and lose again to runner-runner better 2 pair.
Full Tilt player thinks: Standard session, especially after a withdrawal. I'm very lucky they were short stacks and I only lost about 2 stacks combined after it was all said and done.
MTPaid thinks: Just gives me more confidence in my decision to withdraw and play live more often.
ED may have: Broken everything in the house after a session like this if it were for a meaningful amount of money then screams "Full Tilt is rigged"

Seriously though, if this session had been against fully stacked players at a higher level I probably would have been compeletely demoralized pokerwise. Brutal.

As it is, I'm probably going to play one more day, get my iron man status for the month and then quit playing there for a while at least. Play more live and screw around with whatever I have left on AP.

This is the mentality that your dealing with vs some of these people:

Opponent is 52/10/37 and +2 full stacks. This is even after he doubled me up once already. I finally flopped a set that paid off. In fact, if you can believe it, I actually tripled up when I had him (QQ) and another fully stacked player with [7h] all-in on a [6d][Ts] flop. Thankfully the board paired on the turn.

Anyway, we had 2 more confrontations. The first time, he raised from the Button and I called with AK from the SB. We both had close to 300BB and since he wasn't folding, I didn't want to make a big pot preflop. I missed the flop and we both checked. On a turn blank, I bet pot and he raised. I folded.

Our next confrontation just 2 hands later....
He limped in MP2, I raised [Kd] in CO to 4.5x BB and he called.
[4c][4h]
He checks, I bet 2/3 pot, and he check-raises me for the 3rd time this session to 3x my bet. I had kind of gotten sick of it and doubled his bet. I would have folded if he came back over me.
This is what followed however:

I got 33
ehhhh
ehhhh
ehhh
eghggg'

Until finally he folded, but for the next 10 minutes I had to endure nagging about whether I had a pair of 3's beat. A fricken pair of 3's.

Just remember, whenever you raise, you always have AK in their minds........and they're often right.

Andy Bloch On The Rail And The OneOutWinner

How bad has my tournament run been lately? I played the Midnight Madness 2x this week. Didn't make it out of the 1st hour either time.

Then last night I played in a FTOPS Super Sat for Event #1. 28 entrants, Top 6 cashed, Top 3 got seats. We're on the bubble. I came into the Final Table with a decent stack, but played only 4 hands, all preflop raises and each time I was faced with a call and a push on the flop where I missed.

There are 7 left and it's between me and one other player for short stack. All of a sudden, Andy Bloch shows up on the rail CHEERING FOR THE OTHER FUCKIN SHORT STACK! Jesus Christ, even the Full Tilt pros are against me now.

I was lucky enough to double up with A9o in the BB when a big stack in the SB open-pushed with 96 and then again with the same hand when 2 players limped to me in the SB and I pushed. All folded.

Finally it gets down to me and the other short stack (I'm actually 1K ahead of him) the very next hand when he open pushed, but I was lucky enough to catch Aces OTB. He had pocket 5's and missed all of his outs.

Tough shit Andy Bloch. Maybe that's exactly the motivation that I needed.

----------------
So I hit a 2 outter on the turn to win a hand the other night and 2 nights ago I did one better. I guess it's the only way to win sometimes. I still think I made the right play.

[Jd] in BB. I have almost 2 full stacks.
UTG+2 is micro-stacked and pushes for less than 4BB.
MP2 w/ 100BB calls.
SB (no read yet but 38/14/18 thru 28 hands) re-raises about 4x to 15BB. He started the hand with 60BB.

I read this as a possible isolation attempt and pushed. SB called.
MP2 [Qc]
SB [Kc]

Flop: [4c][7c]
Well, at least I have one out.
Turn:
River:

And I think that's the 1st time I've ever lived up to my Full Tilt screen name with the one out winner.

Had my last post with highlights from an AC trip wiped out. I've already forgotten half of it so I won't probably won't be posting it again.
Cliff notes:
- First time I ever open-raised in a live 2/4 game and picked up the blinds. I had AA.
- Large woman sucked out runner-runner with T4o vs flopped nut straight. She took some shit afterward, but defended her play by saying that "I watch the World Poker Tour on TV." She paid me off in to large pots afterward.
- Some older guy on the bus tries to have a very strange conversation with me about poker. I realize that he's been talking about Blackjack and calling it Poker the entire time after he asks me a question about splitting Aces.
- An older woman thinks the dealers is picking on her because they always make her go first after the flop.
- Thought I was going to have my first losing live 2/4 session ever until I got red hot in the last half hour or so and picked up a couple of monster pots with a flush and set and another decent one with TP2K vs. the WPT woman.

Online has been going well lately as well although I haven't played as much this past week. I actually have a legitimate shot at breaking even for the month after a horrid start. I've won 5 of the last 6 days that I've played.

I had my first hardcore NL 6-max session yesterday. Tried it out 3-tabling $25NL. Not sure if I'm going to stick with it or go back to FR. I got fairly lucky on a few hands and fairly unlucky, I think, on a few others, but did very well overall. I absolutely ran over one table and that was enough to offset what happened on a few others. Key hands, critique is welcome since it's really my first real 6-max session in an uncapped bet game.

Table 1: My stats 22/8/18
Hand 1A
[Js] in SB. I have full stack, BB has me covered.
Folded to me, I raise to $1. BB (29/3/48) re-raises to $3. I call.
[Jd][4c] Pot $6
I check and plan to c/r AI for $20, but BB bets pot and I re-evaluate and decide to fold.

Hand 2A
[5d] in CO. I have full stack. OTB, same opponent, has me covered. We really don't have much more of a history.
I open raise by hitting the "pot" button to $0.85. OTB calls.
[6d][Qs] Pot $2.05
I bet pot, OTB calls.
Pot $6.15
Check, check
Pot $6.15
I bet pot, OTB thinks and pushes. I have $15.30 left and I'm getting a little less than 2-1. Nice bet, I fold.

Table 2: My stats 25/20/35 - This is the table that I ran over and probably had the rep of a bully, which did affect the way I played a couple of hands late.
Hand 1B
[6s] in CO. I have full stack. OTB has full stack as well.
UTG limps, I raise to $1.10, OTB (41/20/36) calls, UTG calls.
[9h][6c] Pot $3.65
UTG checks, I bet $2.50, OTB calls, UTG raises to $5, I push, OTB calls, UTG folds.
OTB has [9s]. Nh and thank you. Turn is a blank and he's drawing dead.

Hands 2B and 2C - back to back aggression (and luck) oop. Neither opponent had been at the table a long time.
I'm BB w/ [Ts] sitting on 2 stacks. OTB is short stacked ($9.55)
OTB opens to $0.85, SB folds, I re-raise to $2.75, OTB goes all-in for $9.55. I'm getting almost exaclty 2 to 1, so I call. I figure it would help my image too.
He has [Qc] and I'm actually ahead. Board comes all rags, Ten hi. I hold.

I'm SB w/ [3s] sitting on 2+ stacks. BB is another shortie ($7)
Folded to me, I raise to $0.75. BB re-raises to $1.25??, I call.
[Js][Ks] Pot $2.50
Check, check
Pot $2.50
Check, he bets $2, I raise to $7, he calls all-in.
He has [Th]
- I just stacked 2 shorties.

Hand 2D
[6d] OTB w/ 2.5 stacks. BB is another shortie ($10.85)
I open for $0.85, BB re-raises to $1.45, I call
[5h][Kc] Pot $3
BB bets $1.50, I raise to $4.50, BB calls.
Pot $12
BB checks, since he didn't push flop and he checked here, I think I'm ahead. I love that turn card. I bet $5.25 to put him all-in. He calls with [Qc]. River is a blank.

Hand 2E
OTB [7s] w/ 3+ stacks. Table is getting sick of me.
UTG and CO limp, I raise to $1.35, both call and have full stacks.
[Ts][9d] Pot $4.40
Checked around.
Pot $4.40
UTG checks, CO bets $3.40, I call, UTG calls
Pot $14.60
Checked around.
UTG has a boat [9h] which he brilliantly slowplayed and checked down and then complained that nobody bet the Ace on the end.
CO has [Tc].
I'm glad I didn't try to steal that one at any point and lucky that I didn't hit the flush.

Hand 2F - Battle of the blinds again. Did I get lucky or was he just making a move?
[6s] (my favorite hand) in SB w/ 3 stacks. BB (48/26/9) who I'd actually been bullying if you can believe it, has 1.5 stacks.
Folded to me in SB, I raise to $1, BB calls
[4s][Qc] Pot $2
I bet $1.75, BB raises to $6.
I take a lot of time. I just have the feeling he's making a stand and doesn't have a Q, I re-raise to $14 and plan to dump if he pushes, but he just calls. Flush draw? Bad kicker?
Pot $30
Here, I may have done something stupid though now that I felt invincible. I figured he couldn't fold with $30 in the pot and only $20 left so I pushed. This gave him 3 to 1 on a call, but he folded. Stupid me. I hoped he'd see it as me bullying again, but he didn't.

Table 3 - My stats 24/6/12. Player directly to my right was insanely aggressive (72/10/25) and winning. I kept waiting to trap him, but never really found a spot. I mostly had to fold to his large bets.
Example - Hand 3A
[Js] in BB w/ full stack.
CO limps, OTB limps, SB (2 stacks) raises to $1, I re-raise to $3.50, CO and OTB fold, SB calls.
[Ac][Tc] Pot $7.50
SB is all-in for $45.55, I fold

The only time I actually caught him, I called down with [Jd] with the NFD+2 overs. He was aggressive, but would sometimes fold if someone came over the top. I hit the nuts on the river, he bet into me for 2/5 pot, but folded to a small raise. I ended up breaking about even vs him.

My overall stats for the 1 hour session were 23/13/21 +66.62 BB/100 after 263 hands.

I'm not sure if Hell exists, but if it does, it must be full of 2/4 tables.

Yesterday's trip much better than Wed's. Table was pretty insane, but I caught a couple of big hands early.

Notables:
[7d] in BB.
About half the table limps.
[8h][9s]
I bet, UTG who's a maniac raises as I figured he would. He'll raise with any piece of the flop, including bottom pair. A couple of cold callers and I just call, looking for the c/r on the turn.
<-- Best card in the deck.
I check, UTG bets, 1 caller in MP, I raise, UTG calls, MP curses himself for getting stuck and calls.
Don't remember the river, but I still had the nuts. I bet and both folded so I didn't even have to show.

[Js] in EP.
I raise, maniac re-raises and we go heads up.
[Jd][8s]
I check-call.

I c/r and get called
Another forgetful blank, I bet and get called. He mucks.

Here's another interesting hand in between 2 maniacs.
Observation: Maniac to my right had previously raised the flop with [7d] on a [Js][9h] board in a family pot. He'll frequently call and raise with air. I lost a TPTK hand vs him when he runner-runnered 2 pair.
I raise UTG+1 with [Qc]
1st maniac from previous hands 3-bets me, folded to the other maniac who calls the 3-bet from the BB, I cap
[2c][3c] Pot 12SB
BB bets into us, other maniac tries to raise before I even act. I raise before him, he 3-bets, BB calls, I call
10 BB
BB bets, I call, other maniac raises, BB 3-bets, I painfully fold.
Turns out BB had 43o and other maniac had pocket Jacks.
I mention that somebody probably should have raised preflop to move him off that hand, someone else who picked up on my sarcasm said yeah or even 3-bet. BB didn't pick up on the sarcasm and agreed. I don't think he had a clue.

I won 1 other tremendous pot with pocket 8's when I flopped a set. It was a raised pot with most of the table in, the flop got capped with only half the table leaving. I was almost positive I was behind the flopped straight (589 flop), but picked up the boat on the river. It was actually the only hand I won in a 2.5 hour session after dinner, but I still finished up 9BB just from that hand alone.

One other funny moment at the table. New player sits down and the dealer asks if he wants to post. He doesn't understand what she's saying so after she repeats herself 3 or 4 times, he finally asks "Raise?". Yes, sir. She's asking if you want to raise before you've even been dealt into a hand.

So basically, aside from 1 losing session, I've spent that better part of the last week and a half taking money from girlfriends and wives of people playing iin higher games and pension checks from retirees at the Taj.

Wow, I fell like I've just been set up and raped at Full Tilt. That might be the end of my little 6-max experience.

First off, I noticed this a lot when I was 2 tabling, but it's even more ridiculously obvious now that I'm 3-tabling. I'm being dealt the same hands at the same time at multiple tables way too frequently. Today I had 98s at all 3 tables at the same time. Then I had K6s in the same suits a few minutes later. Then I see the same flops a lot when this happens too. ATo at 2 tables, each in the SB and the flop is 272 on each board? It's not just today either. This has been going on for a while now and it just seems wierd.

Anyway, onto the setup and raping......

At the first table, I am 3-bet 5 of the first 11x I PFR. Once, I was check-raised on the flop and the other 5x I took the blinds.
Finally, I PFR with [7s] after dumping a stack purely on PFR and folds or missing the flop. I get called and then c/r'ed on a [Ts][3c] flop. FU I'M ALL-IN! My 8-hi is good as he had [2s]. So now I get cocky......

I PFR [Qh] in MP and the same prick 3-bets me again from the Button. We both have double stacks. I call and then bet pot into him on a [6d][Ts] flop. He's all-in, I fold.

OK, fine, that's the setup I guess.

5-handed [7s] CO with 2 stacks
I raise, same dipshit calls me OTB + SB calls
[Ks][7d] I bet 2/3 pot, OTB calls.
Now this is just me being paranoid, but I think I might be fucked here. Actually, I'm pretty sure I'm fucked because this is how it works. I check, he bets 2/3 pot, I call
I check, he bets 2x pot. WTF am I gonna do? Fold a boat? I call and he shows me [Qd] and trash talks about how great he is to catch his 4 outter and get paid.

At the same time on a different table, I have another guy who's 3-betting me frequently.
I PFR [4h] OTB 4-handed. I have 1.5 stacks, he has me covered.
SB re-raises to about 3x my bet....AGAIN! I call.
[Tc][6h] He checks, I bet pot, he calls
He checks, I bet 2/3 pot and he pushes. I'm getting over 4-1 with 14 outs on the river so I call. He has [Kd]. I miss.

Then of course, I must tilt. [5h] on the 3rd table at the same time. I'm in SB. UTG raises and there are 2 callers, so I call as well.
[7d][Qh] Original raiser checks, 1st caller bets 1/2 pot, 2nd caller makes a healthy raise. This is where I usually dump my nut draw, but fuck it, I'm pissed and I'm due to get lucky. I push cause I'm an asshole, knowing I'm against a set. I get called by [7c] and miss my 8 outter.

I got in one more coin flip battle vs a half stack with [Qs] vs [8c]. He had a 25% PFR so I put him in. Just for good measure, he hit a set.

So, to recap....within a span of about 10 minutes at 3 tables:
77% to win on the flop, dump a stack and a half
32% to win on the turn, semi-bluff a 14-outter, dump a stack and a half
27% to win on the flop, I tilt off a stack, but I had outs.
47% to win preflop, I lose 1/2 stack in a coinflip.

So I know I was a dog in most of these hands, but christ, what are the odds that I lose them all?