Lodge Results for Sunday 07/30/06 - Preseason Game 2

Before I discuss my play at The Lodge, I have to state that I got quad kings on Thursday and quad aces on Friday. Also, had I played my 10-5 offsuit on Sunday, I would have had quad 10's. Just bringing that up because it has been months since I had them.

On to The Lodge. This was another preseason event which was done in a sit and go fashion. It was going to be 10 tables total so if you busted out in the first 5, you could move to another until the 10 were complete. I ended up playing 3 of them.

First table... 4th hand I get JJ and call a raise to my right. Blinds are 25-50 and the raise is to 200. He gets 4 callers and the flop is J95, 2 hearts and 1 diamond.. First to act bets 200, original raiser folds and I raise to 500 and am quickly called after the other player folds. Turn is a K of diamonds and first to act bets 1000 and I push all in, he quickly calls with Q9o and catches his ten on the river for his 4 outer straight!!!! DONKEY!!!

Second table, don't get many cards, call an all in with AJo and we chop when she also has AJo.
I get AQo and raise to three times the blinds and get one caller. The flop is J42 and I check to which my opponent goes all in. My stack was and the final table was about to start so I called, she had A4 and my hand does not improve.

Third table, finally get some good hands that hold up in the beginning, but then go card dead for 2 blind levels. Finally the blinds are 300-600 and I am in the big blind with about 1900 in chips. Button raises all in and I decide to call with J8s and he turns over AK for the third time and I am eliminated.

Next week will be the final preseason tournament.

Pocket Pairs

Had a home game last Friday and ended up down $14 after being up $13. We start with $20 each and the blinds are $0.10 - $0.20. Doesn't seem like there would be nice pots, but we had some that were over $20. Most pots were in the $1-3 range as there was normally a raise preflop. Lots of pocket pairs that night, I had AA once and KK twice. I took a nice pot when I raised to $4.00 and was reraised to $8.00. I decided to push all in hoping he had QQ, JJ or AK. He quickly called with 22 and my kings held. Still shocked as to why he made that move. I would have only called that with AA or KK and if he was tight only with AA. The next time I had pocket kings, I was cracked by none other than Ax... A8 to be exact. I still am stymied how to properly play kings because I don't want to raise so high as to not get a good pot, but it seems Ax seems to call and normally wins out. From that point on my high pocket pairs have not held up.

Saturday night I was card dead, folding every hand except SB and BB unless raised. Finally I get KK and raise to 5x the big blind. Player to my right who is monster stack calls. Flop is 443 and he checks. I know he caught his 4, but I decide to push all in and am quickly called. He has K4 and the river brings his boat.

Sunday night I was getting great cards, but missing the flop completely. I get AA and raise 5x the blinds and get 4 callers!!! Flop is K73 of hearts and I know somebody called with suited cards. A well known bluffer bets 2000 and I decide to go all in with 5800, get TWO callers as in addition to the initial bettor. I know I am dead. Turn the initial bettor goes all in and gets one caller. River is an ace of HEARTS and the player to my right turns over J8 of hearts!!! and I am done.

Gotta love free poker!!!!

Lodge Results for Sunday 07/16/06 - Preseason

At last poker is back at The Lodge after 3 weeks of nothing to do on Sunday except rot in front of the TV watching DVDs. This week was different because it was a heads up tourney and I was looking forward to playing. Too bad I only lasted one round. It was the same format as the National Heads Up Championship where brackets are used. We started with T100 in chips and the blinds were at 1-2. The nice thing is they were capped at 5-10 and each game lasted an average of 45 minutes to an hour with the exception of one game that went 2 hours so Dan raised the blinds to 10-20. I got a first round bye due to people who preregistered failing to show up. After waiting about an hour I finally got my chance to play. Started out with lousy cards the first 8 hands and then finally won a hand with king high. I stayed around T60-75 in chips for the first 3 blind levels and wasn't able to capitalize on my pocket aces halfway through. About 45 minutes in, I was down to T35 in chips and get A2s and push all in on the big blind. My opponent calls with KQ and the flop is QAx, turn is a K and the river is a Q and I go down to a full house. Overall it was interesting and it was easy to steal blinds at times, but I didn't have any cards to really play with cause I was missing the board most of the time and when my opponent bet, I didn't have any draws. Also I noticed when I hit, my opponent missed completely so I was never able to win a decent pot to get my stack up. No poker next week, but will be another preseason game the week after that.

Bad luck

Played in a home game Friday night, a little $0.10/$0.20 action with $20 max buyin. Doesn't sound like much, but at the end of the night there was over $200 on the table and a couple pots went over $50. I started off decent, up and then even when I wake up to pocket 7's under the gun. I raise to $0.60 and get reraised to $1.20. There are two callers behind me and I decide to gamble a bit and call. Flop is 875 and I am glad I called. I bet $7.50 and the reraiser goes all in. Next player folds and then the player to my right pushes all in as well. Without thinking I call and realize I am beat with a set of 8's. First all in had AK (why he went all in, I will never know), but I don't get my case 7 or my straight to chop the pot so I have to rebuy. I start grinding my way back up and am up to $27 from my $20 rebuy when I get AJ in the big blind. There is a raise preflop only double so I call. Flop is 9TQ and the button decides to go all in after me and the other player in the hand check. I am not sure what the player to my left will do, but I seriously consider calling. There were two diamonds on the board, but my A was a diamond and all I needed was a K or an 8. It would put my entire stack, but if my other opponent calls, I would triple up. I decide to lay the hand down and the all in is called. I don't remember what they had, but they both had me at the time. They decide to run it twice and and the first run the K falls and the second run, the 8 falls. So much for not chasing the straight. I end up cashing out with $20 so I ended the night down $20, mostly from the set over set.

Next night decide to hop on Party Poker and played an $11 3 table tourney and a $0.25/$0.50 NL game. Knocked out of the tourney in 14th place, but end up making $35 on the NL game after calling a bluff to the river with middle pair.

Results for the weekend: +$15 for 7 hours of poker... I won't be quitting my day job.