How not to slow play a set:

5/10 game at UB.

R2GOOD: — –
hotcookie42: As Ad

Pre-flop:

Rawhideman folds. shebedawon folds. coldstart
calls. VitaminABC folds. R2GOOD folds.
hotcookie42 raises to $10. coldstart calls.

Flop (board: 3c Tc 5d):

hotcookie42 bets $5. coldstart calls.

Turn (board: 3c Tc 5d Ac):

hotcookie42 bets $10. coldstart calls.

River (board: 3c Tc 5d Ac Ah):

hotcookie42 bets $10. coldstart raises to $20.
hotcookie42 re-raises to $30. coldstart calls.

Showdown:

hotcookie42 shows As Ad.
hotcookie42 has As Ad Tc Ac Ah: four aces.
coldstart mucks cards.
(coldstart has 5c 5h.)

Not that he has to fear this type of suck-out often, but why not make some money off me on the other streets?

How to overplay an overpair:

Deep Stack tourney on Stars.

Dealt to hotcookie42 [Ks Kc]
mr fed: calls 30
rexmundi1337: folds
hotcookie42: raises 120 to 150
cldealer53: calls 135
Mad Matt: calls 120
mr fed: calls 120
*** FLOP *** [4h 3d 7d]
cldealer53: checks
Mad Matt: checks
mr fed: checks
hotcookie42: bets 500
cldealer53: raises 500 to 1000
Mad Matt: raises 1010 to 2010
mr fed: folds
hotcookie42: raises 2990 to 5000
cldealer53: raises 65 to 5065 and is all-in
Mad Matt: raises 6090 to 11155 and is all-in
hotcookie42: calls 4710 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [4h 3d 7d] [2h]
*** RIVER *** [4h 3d 7d 2h] [Th]
1916 said, “goodness”
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Mad Matt: shows [4s 4d] (three of a kind, Fours)
hotcookie42: shows [Ks Kc] (a pair of Kings)
Mad Matt collected 9290 from side pot
cldealer53: shows [7c 7s] (three of a kind, Sevens)

Clearly I’m behind on the flop and should not spew chips in all directions, nor do I have to bust out on this hand. But come on, both of them have sets? Boooo.

How to quadruple me up:

First hand of rebuy tourney on Stars:

Dealt to hotcookie42 [Js Jc]
hotcookie42: raises 2980 to 3000 and is all-in
fillup1230: calls 3000 and is all-in
spankdig: calls 3000 and is all-in
uraqx: folds
poppino: folds
Ocean: calls 3000 and is all-in
PJ94Z: folds
kid_canvass: folds
fillup1230 said, “gl”
*** FLOP *** [9s 2h 4d]
*** TURN *** [9s 2h 4d] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [9s 2h 4d 3s] [9d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
hotcookie42: shows [Js Jc] (two pair, Jacks and Nines)
fillup1230: shows [Jh Ah] (a pair of Nines)
spankdig: shows [Kh Qd] (a pair of Nines)
Ocean: shows [Ts Td] (two pair, Tens and Nines)
hotcookie42 collected 12030 from pot
spankdig re-buys and receives 1500 chips for $3.00
fillup1230 re-buys and receives 1500 chips for $3.00
PJ94Z said, “wow”
uraqx re-buys and receives 1500 chips for $3.00
PJ94Z said, “what is this… a crap shoot ?”
Ocean re-buys and receives 1500 chips for $3.00
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 12030 | Rake 0
Board [9s 2h 4d 3s 9d]
Seat 1: Ocean (button) showed [Ts Td] and lost with two pair, Tens and Nines
Seat 2: PJ94Z (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: kid_canvass (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: hotcookie42 showed [Js Jc] and won (12030) with two pair, Jacks and Nines
Seat 5: fillup1230 showed [Jh Ah] and lost with a pair of Nines
Seat 6: spankdig showed [Kh Qd] and lost with a pair of Nines

Wow, how many outs do these guys have! According to pokerstove.com, somehow the KQo is a slight favorite pre-flop. Sick!

How to confuse me and make me laugh:

hellbelly posts the small blind of $2.
hotcookie42 posts the big blind of $5.

Dallas: — –
HappyPhantom: — –
hellbelly: — –
hotcookie42: As Kc
FINNY11: — –
ColonelKurtz: — –

Pre-flop:

FINNY11 calls. ColonelKurtz folds. Dallas calls.
HappyPhantom folds. hellbelly calls. hotcookie42
raises to $10. FINNY11 calls. Dallas calls.
hellbelly calls.

Flop (board: Ah 7s Ad):

hellbelly checks. hotcookie42 bets $5. FINNY11
calls. Dallas raises to $10. hellbelly re-raises to
$15. hotcookie42 re-raises to $20. FINNY11 folds.
Dallas folds. hellbelly calls.

Turn (board: Ah 7s Ad Js):

hellbelly checks. hotcookie42 bets $10. hellbelly
folds. hotcookie42 is returned $10 (uncalled).
hotcookie42 wins $92.

Are they trying to steal the pot? Do they think they’re winning? Does someone have an ace and the ability to fold it here? Someone explain.

I’ve been taking shots at the 10/20 game lately. Tonight I had a good result after a very up and down session. My goal lately has been to play a set amount of time in a session, rather than quitting winner or when I’ve lost a certain amount. It helps me to remember that I’m winning or losing over the long term, not just for the one session. Plus, the longer I play, the more crazy hands I have to report to you folks!

Gearing up for Atlantic City after Christmas and then Atlantis. Lots of poker in the coming weeks.

Saw this on Cardplayer’s website this morning: http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_news/detail.php?p_id=714

This article raises the question of why we who ordinarily play on the Internet would ever want to play live in a casino. Of course I enjoy the soft competition and the money-making opportunity that casino action represents. But my main reason for playing in a casino is more often to practice the social and psychological aspects of the game. More often than not, at the end of a live session my thoughts focus on my interactions with other players at the table, not the number of hands I was able to play in an hour (unless it was frightfully low, which in the small limits it usually isn’t). I like chatting it up. I like shuffling chips. I even like tipping good dealers (when they push me a nice pot, of course). I like to feel real cards in my hands and enjoy sweating that second hole card (after the first one is an ace!).

How can I enjoy these aspects of the game if I am sitting in front of a computer screen?

Playing poker in a casino is a ritual I enjoy like others might enjoy a Renaissance festival: sure, getting in a horse-drawn carriage and driving around the block is fun once a year, but most days I just want to hail a cab and get to my destination as quickly and odorlessly as possible. (Maybe a cab is a bad example for this.)

Playing poker in a casino reminds me of all the things I enjoy about the game other than the pure mental exercise I perform when playing online. Logistics make online poker superior to casino play on most days in my life, but there must be a reason that the view of Foxwoods rising out of the trees, or the Vegas strip shimmering in the desert heat gets my heart pounding every time. If I have the chance to play efficiently run, profitable poker online, why am I so psyched about my upcoming trip to Atlantic City? It’s not because of the boardwalk, let me tell you.

It is my sincere hope that these automated poker tables never become a mainstream casino standard. If I want to play poker on a machine, I’ll stay home in my pajamas. Playing in a casino is a special occasion for me, and I want to enjoy it to the fullest – dirty chips and misdeals included.

For winning the heads up championship at FARGO a few months ago, I earned one genuine Greg Raymer-autographed fossil. It arrived in the mail a few days ago. This fossil is far too large to use as a card protector, and also would sort of blow my cover at the 5/10 tables. I’ve been using it as a napkin holder on my dining room table.

Today I had the fossil by my side while I waded through the Sunday deep stack tourney on Stars. I have to say that I usually am not a superstitious person, but I had an amazing run of cards in this tournament. Could it have been the power of the fossil??

Long story short (and I do mean long: 11 hours!), I got down to heads up with a player whose screen name rhymed with mine (what are the odds of that in a 1065-person tourney?). The best characteristic of this player was not his screen name but his propensity to fold way too much heads up. I was able to steal many pots preflop and on the flop, and after flopping a set on an ace-high flop i had a four to one chip lead. My opponent decided to try to bluff-raise all in with 92 when I had AK, and he turned a deuce to even out the stacks again. I wondered how long this match could go on!

I recovered most of my lead when the following hand came up:

Seat 3: Hero (3230440 in chips)
Seat 7: pacerookie (2094560 in chips)
Hero: posts the ante 2000
pacerookie: posts the ante 2000
pacerookie: posts small blind 20000
hotcookie42: posts big blind 40000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero[5s 3c]
pacerookie: calls 20000
Hero: checks
*** FLOP *** [2d 3h 5d]
Hero: bets 40000
pacerookie: calls 40000
*** TURN *** [2d 3h 5d] [5h]
Hero: checks
pacerookie: bets 120000
Hero: calls 120000
*** RIVER *** [2d 3h 5d 5h] [4s]
Hero: bets 300000
pacerookie: raises 700000 to 1000000
Hero: raises 2028440 to 3028440 and is all-in
pacerookie: calls 892560 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Hero: shows [5s 3c] (a full house, Fives full of Threes)
pacerookie: shows [6h 9h] (a straight, Deuce to Six)

What a wonderful river card. After 11 hours, I took down my first big multi-table tournament win and netted $2650. Not a bad return on $11! Many people think it’s crazy to play a tourney that takes so long to finish, but these deep stack things have the best structure on the Internet, and it’s worth the time to get experience playing a real poker tournament instead of an all-in fest.

While I can’t prove that the fossil helped me at all during this or any other tournament, I can say for certain that the support and discussions I’ve had with players like Chris and Matt, as well as ActionBob and others, have helped my game immensely, especially during this past year. If they were not willing to take the time to generously share strategy and analysis, my game would not be where it is today. Thanks, guys!