Captain Slowroll and the World of Tomorrow

Played a session at Planet Hollywood today and made $500. Netted about $2K in the past five days, which makes my February mediocre, but mediocre is an improvement over how my month looked last week.

I was too caught up in the variance, in my bad run of cards, to be much of a writer this month. A couple things I'll mention now.

Played with the most prolific slowroller ever. He was Gutshot Man from my -$1,240 PLO/$2-5 NL session. A better name for him is Captain Slowroll. He loved to make the second nuts, get called, and then shake his head sadly, tap his cards against the felt, say something like, "Damn. You got me. Your 8-high straight is good." Then the other guy, a supernit who raised to $30 preflop and couldn't possibly have an 8-high straight, would flip over something like pocket Aces, and Captain Slowroll would show the 7-high straight and say, "I thought if you called me there you had to have me beat! Wow!"

He bluffed so often, betting almost every hand to the river, that about 75% of the time he said, "Ya got me," the other guy really had caught him bluffing. But 25% of the time Captain Slowroll had made a straight or two pair somewhere along the way.
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Playing at the Tropicana I witnessed the most unprofessional hour-and-a-half of poker dealing I've ever seen at a casino. One dealer told us, "I don't want to be here," and looked at a player like he was an idiot when he explained why he'd pushed all-in. Another dealer failed to see a flush and pushed a big all-in pot to the wrong player. I saw it and wanted the donkey with the backdoor flush to win, but he didn't see his flush either, and I believe in the saying, "One man to a hand," and that it's unethical to point these things out during a hand, so I didn't say anything until after it was over. Of course it was too late by then.

The best, though, was the hand where a player was all-in preflop for about $20 and two other players called. The flop action was bet-and-fold. The dealer, an Asian woman who spoke little English, forgot about the all-in player and placed the flop cards in the muck and pushed the flop bettor the pot. The all-in player complained and showed AT while the flop bettor showed 99, which was the best hand on the pre-existing flop. The dealer, realizing her error, grabbed five apparently random cards out of the muck and turned them faceup. No burning, no turning. Re-bet says he believes she found the correct three cards for the flop, but I thought one of the boardcards was one of my mucked holecards. "Pocket nine good," she said, announcing the winning hand after the five "boardcards" were out. The guy with AT seemed kind of at a loss and walked away. To this day all I have to do is say, "Pocket nine good," and Re-bet just loses it.

Upswing

Today I played a couple sessions at Planet Hollywood and won $725.

Things may be turning around. Gotta keep going.

Huge Overdog

Planet Hollywood. One table going. Mike Manchester and the Gamblin Duke sitting. They look up at me shaking their heads about how good the game is and how bad they're running.

Manchester is a dealer who takes down a lot of tournaments when he's not in the box. His cash game play is kinda rough IMO but in this game he's still, as Bill Fillmaff would say, a "huge overdog." A rich girl vaguely associated with the fashion industry has distributed over a G around the table, betting crazy and calling $100 river bets with the nut low--I'm completely for real.

The Duke gets flushed out for his last buy-in and I get his seat. Fashion girl loses her last chips, doesn't rebuy, and I'm like, "Fuck."

I flop Kings Full, and after checking the flop a stack pushes against me, and I'm like, "Sweet."

A decent little session of which I need a couple more before month's end since for the moment I can't get at the $1,500 or so I have on Intertops.

Check out "Re-bet" Todd's poker blog.

Stranded Cyberdollar

Intertops
1 hour
+ $306

Aladdin $1-2 NL
3 hours
+ $50

I got on the phone with Trucard customer service to find out why I hadn't received a debit card. They told me the merchant (Intertops poker) is no longer using their service. I shot an email to Intertops and they confirmed this. I won't be getting a debit card, and I won't be able to use Interpay to get my money in or out.

I can probably get them to send a check, but I have a couple problems with that option right now. So my money is stranded in cyberspace, I kept thinking, and I logged on to Intertops and sat at like four $200 cap PLO tables and just played uber-aggressive. I mean, what difference does it make? I have no immediate prospects of getting my money offline, anyway.

Let me take a shot at building a huge fortress of meaningless cyberchips that I can stack in meaningless cybertowers.

Set Over Set, Rinse and Repeat

Paris $1-2 NL $300 cap
7 hours
- $260

If you play a lot of live action holdem you'll get set-over-setted once every month or two. I got set over setted twice this session.

Plus I lost to another sick two-outer. I continuation bet a KTx board with AQ and got called. From the way the guy called I put him on a weak pair or weak draw. An offsuit five on the turn looked good so I bet the rest of his chips, about $150, and he called with pocket fives. I know this isn't technically a bad beat since he was a slight favorite on the flop, but there's no way that particular player calls the rest of his chips off if he doesn't hit his set.

This month has pretty much been a mathematical aberration. I keep waiting for things to change but they're just not. After the second set over set, which hit on the river (they all came on the turn or river after most of the money had gone in) I just sat there with my mouth open while the table "Oohed" and "Aahed." I left after that hand. I didn't think I'd be able to play well anymore. I also would have started throwing cards and being rude to people, and I didn't want that either. So I just went home and I feel good about that decision.

I don't know if any of you have gone through stretches like this or how you've gotten through them. I have complete faith in my ability to win in the long run but I hope I don't go broke in the short run.

Worst Live Session Ever

Aladdin/Tropicana $1-2 NL (Thursday)
11 hours
+ $360

Ballys $1-2 NL (Wednesday/Thursday)
12 hours
+ $90

Paris $1-2 NL (Tues/Wednesday)
11 hours
+ $280

Aladdin $2-5 NL Holdem/$1-2 Pot Limit Omaha, Mixed Game (Tuesday)
9 hours
- $1,240

It's been a few days since my last post because I've been playing constantly to make back what I lost in one awful session. This month has seen me run worse than I have in a long time, and I haven't had a session like I had on Tuesday in over a year.

It started out as a $1-2 NL game, and I posted a comment attached to my last entry about how the guy insta-called me for his whole stack on a gutshot and nailed it on the turn. Later on the same guy only wanted to continue playing if we increased the stakes and included Omaha in the mix. Well, that was great as far as I was concerned, even if it was a bigger game than my bankroll liked.

Most of the big hands of the night came during the $1-2 PLO, not the $2-5 NL. A hand came up where I had QJ98 with Queen-high clubs in position. A player was all-in for $60 preflop and it went four ways to the flop. The flop came KT7 with two clubs. I ended up all-in against "Re-bet" Todd's top set. I made my straight but he made his boat and I lost $500 on the hand. Later I got reraised by gutshot man when I had suited aces so I just got $200 of his $250 stack all-in preflop but his J933 made the nut full house.

Since that night it's been slow going at the tables. I'm still running bad. I'm barely in the black for the month right now. Everyone who plays for a living goes through stretches like this, and I guess the trick is to survive them and not let them affect your morale or your game too much. It's hard to play your best game when it seems like the cards are laughing in your face.

I feel good today. It's 1 am here and I just woke up. Now I'm headed to the Strip. Wish me luck.

Getting to Know Pokertracker

If I'm gonna play online I should do it right, so I bought a registration for Pokertracker.

Silly I never did this before, during my previous online poker incarnation. Here's data from the first few sessions on Intertops. I won $300 here, not including bonuses. Won another $50 or so in PLO but didn't get Pokertracker for Omaha.

VP$IP (voluntarily putting $ in pot): 21%
PF (preflop) Raise: 11%
Folded BB to steal: 80%
Most profitable hand: AA
Least profitable hand: AJ (Of course)
Most profitable garbage hand: 46 ("For the Queen!")

The Gamblin Duke has a VP$IP of 90% when UTG in live games due to habitual straddling, with a 72% PF Raise percentage ($35 "to go") in that position.

NC John has a 45% VP$IP with a 2% PF Raise. He can correct me since he uses Pokertracker but I think those numbers are spot-on.

Driving to the Aladdin later today to crush all Arizona-residing cardplayers and take their entire bankrolls. That'll be my business for the rest of February.

Phantom Filipino Sisters

Aladdin $1-2 NL Holdem
6 hours
+ $70

I got it all-in on the turn with trip nines with an Ace kicker vs. trip nines with a King kicker for a $600 pot, but the board double-paired on the river to bail out the evildoer, the maniac LA-residing Lou Diamond Phillips look-a-like poker "insurgent."

This month the river card turns for the Forces of Darkness.

What I'll really remember from this session is the Filipino guy trying to get me to go out with his sister. His phantom sister, I suspect. The dude was drunk off Coors and claiming to be Chinese until a Chinese guy at the table called bullshit on that statement. He proudly told the table, "She is 22 years old. She is hot! She live in Summerlin! She drive BMW325i? I think 325i." If she really existed I probably would go out with her.

Logging the Last Hours at Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo $1-2 NL Holdem
8 hours
+ $290

It's good times when you limp with KK on the button and the maniac straddler makes it $30 and you reraise to $100 and he pushes for $330 with 9-3 off.

That's Poker

Monte Carlo $1-2 NL Holdem
8 hours
- $430

I commenced this exciting session of no limit holdem by running pocket kings into pocket aces. After that I was lucky enough to make three flushes. The problem with that was that every time it was the second nut flush and someone else held the nut flush. I flopped two pair vs. a higher two pair. No sets. One straight but no action. My only pots were from steals, plus I made quad aces with AK, but that came against Todd heads-up and I didn't bet it hard.

The funny thing is I just got back from the casino and I really don't feel bad about it. Some days in the past that I lost I was yelling the whole drive home. I think I'm calm about it because I really feel like I lost the minimum on these cold-deck hands I was dealt. Most players would have gone off for about a grand tonight if they'd taken my seat. I really feel like I played well and stayed in control and aggressive. It just wasn't meant to be.

I'll go back tomorrow and finish up my hours for the freeroll. Things should turn around.

Donkey Kong

I've been playing some donkey cards lately. At the start of this month I did some poker reading and other training trying to add a level to my game. If one thing's for sure, it's that trying this stuff has screwed up my flow at the tables. I'm forcing things too much and getting away from what's made me a successful cash game player.

Or I should say, this keeps happening at the start of my sessions. Then I reach a point, usually a couple buy-ins deep, where I say to myself, "Okay, screw this! Let me just play my game." And then I calm down and begin the long road back to a winning session.

So over the last 25 hours of live action poker, I'm up $100. I'm also up another $250 over about 9 hours playing on Intertops.

My last session at Monte Carlo went for 17 hours and netted a $10 blockbuster win. It started out a full-blown Hellmuth-meets-Hieronymus Bosch nightmare. Todd joked that there was a sign over my head that said, "Play back at me!" Pretty much every time I raised preflop and bet the flop, I got checkraised. I was quickly down $600. So I'm not running so good right now but at least I am winning.

And I think about Todd's session and how he played 20 hours and didn't quite get even and left straight from the poker room to drive 90 mph to Phoenix. And I think of the thin old man in the sailor hat who was sitting next to me at the Monte Carlo. He never spoke. Even when asked a direct quesiton by another player, he stonewalled him. He didn't even look up to acknowledge the other guy. After a while the Gamblin' Duke was openly asking people at the table what language they thought he spoke. The consensus was Finnish.

But the guy knew English. He was there, pretty obviously, to log hours for the freeroll tourney with the $50K first prize. Though with his supertight play embedded like code in his subconscious he has no chance in the tournament. He kept rebuying and I didn't really know what his deal was but it reminded me of something I read in "Shut Up and Deal" about casinos being places for lonely people.

Freeroll!

Got in a big hole today at Aladdin. After nine hours I dug out of it.

Kinda disappointing result but overall I think my play was strong.

The Monte Carlo Resort Hotel & Casino of Las Vegas, Nevada is having a freeroll tourney next month. Players can qualify by logging 40 hours in their poker room in February. Todd, Patrick and myself are gonna go down there to play tomorrow. With any luck we will be joined by the incomparable Fighting Chicken.

Playing Online -- The Return of El Hajjh

Played online for the first time in over a year. Funny, I was actually feeling really nervous like it was my first time playing cards for real money, even though I was just playing $.50/$1 NL to experiment with a loose-aggressive style. Played two tables on Intertops for about an hour and made $175. I guess I was lucky cause I had nothing but air a lot of the time but nobody ever played back at me except one time and that was when I had the nuts.

I also got unlucky in a uniquely online way. While I was playing I started up my iTunes program, and it slowed down my computer, temporarily freezing poker. I heard the beep alerting me it was my turn to act but I couldn't click on the table. Finally I saw my pocket jacks on the button in an unraised pot. I measured a raise and hit click at the exact moment my hand was automucked. Flop comes AJ6 rainbow and all hell breaks loose with bets, calls, and checkraises.

My screenname is Highwaytime but I am thinking of playing under the only other screenname I have used: El Hajjh. He is from Marrakesh, Morocco and when he draws out on you he makes pronouncements in player chat like, "I have yet to show my true power," and, "That is why I am man from Marrakesh."

I'll have to mull that over. It's a complicated issue.

So tomorrow Todd is getting into town and I'll probably play a long session at Aladdin. In the meantime, fillmaff must be a genius cause he can win with the worst hand in no limit holdem.

Back to the Library

So I still haven't played cards this month. But I've been hitting the books. First I broke out my copy of the Omaha book by T.J. and Tom McEvoy. It's interesting cause the book is written like a screenplay with dialogue between T.J. and Tom. But the advice they give just seems too tight.

I remember when I first got into poker and I read Doyle's no-limit chapter in Super/System, where he basically writes, like half a dozen times, "I put these weak motherfuckers all-in with any two cards at any time." It scared the shit out of me. Then I found T.J., another old Texan who wrote a NL holdem book, but describing a style easier to manage for a former economics major who started out in limit holdem.

I just became a member at cardrunners and I've been downloading and watching a lot of their cash game videos. I am glad I paid the membership fees. I wanted to go on to Intertops (Prima network site) and try out some new things at low limits, but I couldn't get funds into my account. I tried using a prepaid Visa card but no-go. Then I signed up for an InterPay account, a new Neteller-ish service, and I loaded funds onto the InterPay account. But to get funds from InterPay to Intertops they wanted the CVR from my InterPay card, so I'll have to wait until I get the physical card in the mail.

Looking Ahead

So this month I'm trying a different strategy. I'll play two weeks out of the month, but on the days I play I'll be at the tables all day. If I play 14 days in February, 10 hours a day, that'll be 140 hours. That's 31 hours more than I played in January.

If anyone is coming into town, let me know when you're coming, cause it's always easier for me to play long sessions when I have a friend at the table.

I just got a complaint from a blog reader that I still haven't analyzed John's game as I wrote I probably would. Go back and note the use of the word "probably." I decided not to do that because I'll be playing lots of cards with him and it's dumb to let him know my line on his play. We play hard against each other.

But I can write a little, and I'll be oversimplifying. It is important to have a balanced game and John illustrates this. He plays most hands defensively, from behind. He will call a pot-sized bet on the flop with top boat or a straight draw. He will call a preflop raise with AA or 67. Those who don't know him often bet their stacks off to him when he has the Brass Brazilians. Those who do know him often give him free cards when he's drawing cause they've watched him liquidate too many stacks by checking the nuts. Of course he gives away free cards that beat him. But he usually gets away from hands when that happens. He isn't a calling station, and I don't see calling stations cashing out $4,200 off one buy-in in a $200 capped $1-2 NL game.

Party on.