I goofed up in AC, but not at 2 / 4 (I think?)! I have DATA this time.

So, alright, I'll come clean about it right away, I lost something like $220 at Atlantic City (AC) this weekend. But, I had a great time. And, I lost $80 playing blackjack in 5 minutes, which was, in terms of hourly rate, the worst decision I made all weekend. I lost another $140 playing 4 / 8 Hold 'Em after I got brutally assaulted by missing flush draws and overplaying pocket aces... but, I have no data concerning that since it was 2am at the time and I was exhausted / shouldn't have been playing any more. Anyhoo, I did ok at 2 / 4 coming out up $20 after a max up of $132... I took a break from playing 2 / 4 for 5 hours and then waited like 30 - 45 min for my friends who never showed up and then decided to sign up for 4 / 8 since I was tied down to the poker room. My friend's cell phone wasn't working inside the Tropicana and so I had to stay there and got enticed to gamble more. My fault entirely.

It turns out, though, that this time I have real data! My girlfriend gave me a Moleskin notebook for Christmas that conveniently fits into my back pocket. As such, while I was playing 2 / 4, I kept semi-meticulous notes (which also kept me focused, I think) and now I can present you with actual hands and other stats. This way, I won't be writing that, "Oh, I think I played well." Rather, I can show you what actually happened and you can judge for yourself:

Total Hands seen: 149, Total Hands played: 50, % played: 33.55%, Total Time played: 5h 42min

Below I'm going to post all of the hands that I played / what happened during those hands. Assume that position 1 = SB, position 2 = BB and position 10 = dealer.

1. Qs-3s (BB), checked on BB, folded to a bet on the flop that missed me.
2. 8c-3c (BB), checked on BB, ".
3. 6h-4h (SB), called SB, ".

4. K-J (position 9), called pre-flop raise... won with 2 pair by the river... hmm should've taken better notes here.

5. Qc-Jc (5), called for $2 pre-flop, folded at flop.
6. K-7 (BB), checked pre-flop, folded flop.

7. 5-5 (SB), called pre-flop and I beat some guy who was holding 4-4.. He bet the flop of 7s - 7c - 10s. Everyone else folded and I called. He and I both checked the turn (6s) and the river (Jc).

8. A-10 (7), called a raise pre-flop. Flop came down: 9 - 10 - J everyone checked the flop. Turn came down: 2 (I called a bet), River came down: 2 (I called another bet). I'm not sure what I lost to, but I suspect it was a Jack. Not quite sure what I was thinking here.

9. Ad-8d (6), called a raise pre-flop with 8 players in the pot. Flop: 3d - ? - ?. I called a $2 bet here figuring I had 16 : 1 odds for the runner - runner flush. Turn: Ac I bet the turn. River: 8c and I bet the river and won with two pair. I really wish I had written down what the flop was.

10. 5h-6h (BB), checked pre-flop, folded flop.
11. 3-3 (10), called pre-flop on button. Missed the flop and folded.
12. Ac-7c (5), called pre-flop and missed the flop.
13. A-10 (3), called pre-flop and missed the flop.

(It's kinda looking like I'm a calling station at this point, but let's read on).

14. 2-4 (BB) checked pre-flop and folded flop.

15. A-10 (9) called pre-flop and called bets down to the river and got beaten by A - A, wish I had written down the board here.

16. A-J (4) called pre-flop and flopped A - J - ?. Presumably I bet through to the river and won since I didn't write anything except for a check mark.

17. 8h-9h (BB) presumably checked pre-flop and folded when I missed the flop.

18. 8-8 (9) called a pre-flop raise. Flop: 6 - Q - 4 someone bet and I raised. Turn: Q and I called a bet. River: 10 Someone bet and I (finally) folded. One guy was carrying pocket 2s and the other guy had Q - rag (interestingly, he was the same guy who raised pre-flop from, I think, the big blind).

19. 7-7 (3) called pre-flop. Flop: J - 6 - 9 and I folded to a bet. I'm not sure if this was the correct move here.

20. 9h-10h (1) called re-raised pre-flop (was this a wise decision?). Flop: 10 - 8 - Kh Called a bet @ 6 : 1 odds (I'm assuming this was crazy wrong with a runner-runner straight and runner-runner flush). Turn: A and called another bet (this was mad wrong). River: K and finally folded to a bet. What was I thinking here?

21. K-K (10) I know I raised pre-flop and won from there... but not sure what the board was.

22. Kc-10c (9) called pre-flop and missed flop most likely.
23. J-7 (SB) I won, but otherwise, no idea. I think I hit a straight.
24. J-10 (10) I won again, but apparently by betting on the river and causing some dude to fold when all I had was 10s. Next time I need to be more diligent with writing down the board.

25. Q-J (BB) checked pre-flop and folded on the flop: 8 - K - 6. Was this a good call?

26. Ad-2d (9) called a pre-flop raise most likely. Hit the flush on the turn and won a huge pot (~$70). (This point was my max up of like $132).

27. 7-7 (SB?) called pre-flop but folded to a flop of: 10 - ? - J.

28. 10d-9d (SB?) called pre-flop and flew of the handle when I flopped 2 pair: 10h - 9h - 7. Unfortunately, some dude was holding J - 8 in his hand. I'm pretty sure there were maybe 3 or 4 of us in the pot pre-flop. Should I raise this hand in general at SB?

29. A-9 (BB) checked the flop and then folded.

30. Ac-Qc (SB) raised pre-flop and some guy called with K - 3. Flop came: J - 9 - 3 . I bet the flop, turn and river and he held on with the 3s... I don't know if this was the right move.

31. 6-6 (8) called pre-flop and folded to a 4 : 1 bet on a flop of : 4 - 5 - 5. I think this was the right move.

32. J-2 (BB) checked and folded the flop.

33. J-9 (SB) Called pre-flop. Flop came: 10 - 8 - 5 and I called a $2 bet. Turn: 3, I called a $4 bet. River: 7 with no flush and I bet and was called / won. I'm pretty sure this was an o.k. play since I had 4 : 1 odds to call on the flop and turn.

34. 6-6 (7) called pre-flop and checked a flop of: 7 - 7 - ?. Folded to a bet on the turn.
35. (10-2) (BB) checked and then folded to a bet on the flop.

36. Qs-Js (3) called pre-flop fold on flop 8d - Kh - 6h. Folded with 5 : 1 odds on flop.

37. K-8 (BB) check pre-flop fold on flop with 7 : 1 odds : 4c - 6s - 3d.
38. 4-4 (6) called pre-flop then folded to 5 - 6 - K flop.
39. Ac-9c (7) called pre-flop then folded to a flop of Ks - 6d - 10s

40. A-Q (6) raised pre-flop flop: J - 3 - ?, bet and called raise on flop and folded on turn. I assume "nothin'" means that I didn't catch the turn at all...

41. Ac-Jc (5) called pre-flop raise, called $2 on flop and folded the turn. 8 - 8 -7 - 5 - 2 (I presume there was one club on the flop).

42. 8c-2c (SB) called $1 and then folded on flop bet.

From this point on my notes on position get shoddy presumably because it was getting kinda late.

43. A-Q : Called pre-flop, checked the flop and raised the turn and the guy folded... no idea what was on the board... man this isn't useful.

44. 8s-9s Called pre-flop with 4 flush on the flop... didn't make it by the river.

45. A-J called pre-flop, flop and turn, but folded river. I guess I'm a calling station :). Flop was
7 - 8 - 9. My guess is I was chasing a gutshot?

46. 8-5 (BB) check then fold.

47. J-J (7) Called pre-flop raise. Flop came: Qd - K - Kd so I folded to a bet here. Turn was 4d and river was 5s. Some dude made a flush.

48. Jd-10d (6) called pre-flop and folded on flop bet of 7s - Qc - 10c then turn of Ad...

49. 9-9 (5) called pre-flop folded on flop bet on: 3 - Q - K.

50. K-K (3), I raised pre-flop, some dudes called. The flop came down 10 - 8 - ? and some dude was carrying 10s - 8s so he hung on until the river despite me betting the flop and the turn. (I called his river bet).

So, having written all this down it seems like I'm calling station / I fly off the handle... maybe someone can email me tips? / I should post some of these hands on the twoplustwo forums...

Foxwoods! once again

Went to Foxwoods again yesterday. This time it was Drew, myself, Tyler and Brannon. We left around 1130am and got there at about 1pm and stayed until like 730pm. I had a great time and did a little bit more learning. Essentially, I need to stop flying off the handle on hands. I ended up down about $100, which sucked (granted I was dealt absolute garbage for about 4 hours straight). I think if I discount my retarded moves, I probably would've been down more like $40 or $50. But, hopefully, I can iron these things out and eventually move up to $4 / $8 again. The big hands where I got crazy were basically when I got dealt pocket pairs and then saw overcards on the board. I tried to shake the other one or two players, but they just kept calling no matter what I bet. I also lost my patience after awhile and started playing crap hands like Q / 9 off-suit. Anyways, more sessions and more focus will help and I'll keep working at it. :)

Foxwoods!

Nick, Drew and I decided to go again to Foxwoods tonight. I did way better than I did last time and learned some more warning signs, etc to look for. This time I came out up $94. I started out playing 2 / 4 and doubled money to being up $114. Then, since I was holding $224, I decided to give 4 / 8 a whirl. I ended up having a max up of about $164 while I was playing 4/8. But, a combination of 3 - 4 rounds of blinds plus a missed flush dropped me back down to $94. At that point, I was getting very tired and we had already been there for about 4 hours (this went down at 11pm). So, we decided that it was time to leave and I left up about $94. Based on tonight's performance, I think that my greed definitely makes me play a bit longer than I should. I should have really left when I was up $160, but decided that I might win more if I kept playing. But, at that point the table started getting tighter and I started getting tired, which made it harder to keep playing. Thus, it was a good decision for me to leave. Anyways, combined with my $20 from last time, I'm now up to $114 of made money. I'm looking forward to going agian.

Adventures since Foxwoods.

Well, it's been awhile since Foxwoods... but I've decided to start playing online for lower stakes than I could play in a Casino. This way, I figure I can improve my game and when I earn enough money, move up to the next bracket. I'm starting out at 0.04/0.08 and 0.10/0.20 Limit Hold 'Em (basically the type of stakes I would play with friends). Currently, I'm up almost $11. I figure that once I earn $30 this way, I'll move up to the next stake level since I'll be playing on profit. I will most likely invest in an online poker tracker at some point so that I can really improve my game / potentially actually make money. I'll keep you folks updated on my progress. Below I've posted some interesting hands from the night.

Lots of the stuff I figured out worked. Foxwoods!

Last night at Foxwoods went much better than last week. I had a max up of $75 and I ended the night up $20. Basically, I would've ended up a bit higher, but I decided to kind of fool around a bit with bluffing at the pot and playing a bit more aggressively than I usually do. I found that if there were few players in the pot and that if I didn't do it too often, then I could successfully bluff the pot. I took down a good $80 or so worth of pots that way. It was only once I thought I could just do it repeatedly that people caught a whiff of my BS and started calling me down. Then, I kept pressing it a bit too much and started losing my profits. However, my observation from last week that I don't play well when it gets late and tired was a good one. Once I went down to $20 up, I woke up and saw that my playing had partially been crap because I was just getting too tired. Thus, stopping was awesome and I ended up leaving with money I didn't have when I sat down. :) I hope to go again soon and keep trying at 2 / 4.

I had a great time at Foxwoods and figured some stuff out.

So, I had a great time at Foxwoods last night. Nick, Dru and I went to play some 2/4 while some friends of mine from home played slots and drank for free until their livers became foie gras. Anyways, 2/4 is definitely my speed and the swings are more in price range for right now. I think that based on how things went I will go more often and play 2/4 until I get good enough / have enough money to start playing 4/8. Granted, I did lose the $120 I ended up bringing, but I actually only lost half playing 2/4. I had a bunch of ups and downs with two four (I was up $40 then down $40 etc etc). It's really different than 4/8 in that the game is kind of like a sandbox while 4/8 is like the monkey bars. You can get hurt playing in the sandbox but you have to be like really stupid. I goofed around and straddled and then bet into everyone at the table blind... that was funny since people were getting pissed at me. :) And it only really cost me $20. I did take down a bunch of hands on runner-runner draws, which also made the peeps at the table love me. Actually, though, one of the players at the table was telling Nick and Dru when I sat down to play at their table. He thought I was a really good player since I was "appearing to be wild", yet I had the sense of when to call / fold. I made like $60 at their table and then started getting tired... which is the reason I think I end up losing a lot when I go. I do well at first because my head's on straight and then I get tired and just make stupid ass decisions. The reason I did ok with Tyler and Jason back in June was because I got really lucky / we left before I had a chance to get friggin stupid. I think that next time I go back I want to go earlier and leave earlier because I really need to be sharp to play. All in all, I lost $120, Nick came out up $40 and Dru was the big winner and came out up $120! :)

But, when I got really amused was when I said to myself, "Look, I'm playing badly right now, if I sit here and keep playing 2/4 I'm going to lose the $60 I got left, so I might as well stop playing." That was a really good decision. I then said to myself, "Well, since this money is basically going in the garbage anyways [as it's a Foxwoods tradition], I might as well sit down to some No-Limit and just get a feel for what's up with it." That was actually a good use of the money. I got to see sort-of how people were playing and what kinds of bets people were making. Basically, No-Limit is erratic and crazy. I sat down to a 1/2 No-Limit table and pre-flop people would just casually throw in $10 or $20 as a raise. Sort-of like what we do with dimes and nickels. Typical large bets were like $50 - $75. This means that this game will not be in my price range for quite some time. Although, I will say, that if you know what you're doing, you can make a lot more money a lot faster than in Limit Hold 'Em given the stakes and the buy-in.

Funny story, I said screw it after losing a bit and then just went all-in on an A-4 off-suit just to mess around. I got like 4 calls ($40 bet) and caused some guy with an Ac-6c to fold. Turns out if he had stayed in he would've hit a flush on the turn and knocked everyone out. He was really pissed at me and was glaring at me the entire time, which made that my "Degree all-in moment". I was giggling at the table while his arms were practically around my throat. I had such a good time. Best $60 I ever spent.

Figured I should update this sucker.

Wednesday night was another magical night of poker for me. I ended up more than doubling my original stack of 500 chips to 1200 chips! Then we played a tournament where we bought in for 300 chips and I came in 3rd out of 7. Not bad I guess considering I suck at tournaments real bad. My big mistake was calling an all in with Ac - Kc and a board of A - 8 - 8. It just didn't occur to me that my worthy opponent was holding an 8... Eh, whatev. I'm going to start updating this blog more often with hands, etc once I put together a simple form to fill out for each hand. Something must exist like this on the internet somewhere. :)

Finally, an update!

Greetings there sports fans. I ended up taking a month off from writing this sucker due to laziness, but I'm back. Last night I had poker at my place again. It was a pretty small night with about five players. Many hands were won with low pairs and it was a bit surreal. Definitely not my night for luck as I went bust, but I played a little less conservatively than I should've in several instances. I'm still trying to think up an efficient way to keep notes during the games so I can give you guys some kind of better recap than like, "We had stuff and then winning." ;-) Maybe I'll make up a worksheet.

Funland Diva Supersize Macaroni #5

Once again I ended up having poker on Wednesday night. This week I wound up making a killing by quadrupling by initial stack of 500 chips up to 2000 chips. It was definitely a strange night as quads and quints were hit during multiple games. I suppose my two biggest pulls were hitting quad 6's and quad aces on 7th street after having trips on the deal during Crazy Queens (7 card stud more or less). The craziest hand of crazy queens was definitely that of E-money who made five of a kind 9s on fifth street. She ended up having queen nine in the pocket with a queen up and then a 9 and a queen on fourth and fifth street. Simply crazy. :)

Foxwoods double header ends in tragedy... :)... :(

Greetings there poker fans. I ended up making two trips to Foxwoods this past weekend and played a bunch of $4 / $8. Well, I'll put it to you this way, it was well, not a lucky weekend for me. I correctly went to the river on something like 6 or 7+ four to a flush draws (on the flop) over the whole weekend and didn't make a single one of them. The one that particularly got me was getting dealt Ac / Kc on my last hand and catching two clubs on the flop and then no aces / kings or clubs by the river... barf. It happens. 6 / 9 and 3 / 9 off suit were pretty much all I was dealt the entire weekend (it was seriously freakish). In that sense, I was actually kind of lucky in that it's kind of crazy to see so many 9's. So, it was bad. But, as a good friend of mine put it, "If you don't want to play a game where luck is involved, there's always chess." This is true, but I suck at chess really badly. I'm gonna go ahead and take a break from casino stuff for awhile. Maybe try to make a comeback playing some $2 / $4 where my limited casino-fundage will go a lot farther. :) More to come on Wednesday after poker.

Poker night is back.

Greetings there poker fans. Tonight was another magical poker night at my humble abode. I ended up nearly doubling my chips with a finish at 940 chips with a 500 chip start. It's been awhile since I played, but there were some interesting hands:

1. Styles ended up going all-in in no-limit Omaha Hi with Qs / 2s / 8 / 10 on a flop of Jh / 9s / blank of hearts. What's interesting here is he thought he had the nut straight Q to 8. Unfortunately, he had an open-ended straight draw. Two players proceeded to call his all-in both with four to a flush (I believe). Bottom line is, he ended up making his runner-runner flush on the river and robbed 'em both when they missed. Oh silly.

2. Somewhere in there we had a hand of either Omaha or No-Limit or Limit Hold 'Em... yeah, I'm tired, where Big Papa destroyed an unfortunate young soul by pulling quad kings against a full boat 8 over kings... it just hurts sometimes don't it?

Anyways, I feel like I'm getting a better handle on things and not just going on auto-tilt when I play. I'm folding more often when I should be and also calling more often when I should be... except in Anaconda... man I have no idea what is going on seriously... barf. Next post should be Sunday after my Saturday adventure at Foxwoods playing $4 / $8... yes.

Impromptu Trip to Foxwoods.

Styles and I decided at the last minute to take a trip to Foxwoods yesterday and play some 4 / 8. I read some of the Lee Jones Limit Hold 'Em Book and wanted to see if it made a difference in my play. To be honest, it did. I ended up about even for the night (down $8) after catching an AQo on my last hand and calling a raise to see the flop, which I missed. That being said, I took away a lot from this session / had a lot of fun. As such, it was a good one. I think I've finally got a good grasp of a profit / loss algorithm that works for my style of play. If I am up over $100 and lose half, then I take a break. If I am up over $150, I straight up just take a break and try for a new table. Another big thing I learned is that you need to bet the turn to protect your hand. I haven't quite gotten there yet in the Jones book. However, I should credit Hellmuth as saying this early on.

Overall, I had some pretty big hands early on which amounted to my max up of $157. Styles maxed at $270 and then we both ended up leaving about even. I raked in a lot of cash on runner-runner nut flushes and in particular, flopping a boat with AJs. One thing I'm still having trouble with is loose aggressive players. I figure if I raise with pocket aces that a dude with 8 - 3 off-suit isn't going to cold call. That was probably one of the more annoying losses of the night. Seems like I still have a lot to learn / watch out for. Anyhoo, I've got some friends who may want to go to AC during the week. Maybe I'll take them up on their offer. ;-)

Transformers was insane / free.

Ok, this is totally not poker-related. I just went to see Transformers with Special K and my GF and it was INSANE. GO SEE THIS MOVIE. INSANE INSANE INSANE. IT WAS AWESOME. I AM NOT JOKING. IT WAS NOT JUST COOL EXPLOSIONS. THE MOVIE WAS CONCENTRATED AWESOME. Also, there was a slight technical problem where the sound kept cutting out so guess what... WE SAW IT FOR FREE! FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I felt like friggin bio-sparks from my ancestors. As the money was being handed back to us they were resonating pure energy. Seriously... that was awesome.... AWESOME.

Impromptu Weekly Game Night. / Google Calendar.

I attempted to take a week off playing poker on Wednesday night, but, as usual, I ended up playing anyways... After a BBQ sponsored by my buddy Special K, we ended up having a quick poker night as usual before going on to play a game of Mare Nostrum. I went down 200 chips as usual. T-bones and E trade financial seriously cleaned up by doubling their chip stacks. My hat's off to both of them. Anyways, my biggest gain from the night is the realization that Anaconda is a huge bluffing game. I just usually throw my cards away unless I can put together a stellar hand. But then, I sort-of realized that people bluff a lot with not so much showing and it can work out. I took down a pal of mine who appeared to be on a flush draw after fourth street. I ended up beating him with a lousy two pair and scaring away a full house. Problem is, I tend to suck at bluffing so, we'll see how future games of Anaconda turn out. The other new edition to the site that you may notice is that I've put up a Calendar at the very bottom of the site (do scroll down). If you're in the "inner circle" and are interested in going to Foxwoods (or next year Mohegan Sun) or AC, etc drop me a line via email and I'll put up the event on the Calendar. We should be able to coordinate some kind of system this way. ;-).

College Poker Association Stuff.

So, I was thinking. This is theoretically a blog about the Yale Poker Scene / my poker experiences abroad and on www.collegepokerassociation.com. Well, maybe I should write down some of my thoughts about that website. The play on CPA isn't that great (not that I'm the greatest player in the world, either). It's just that when you're not playing for money, the play tends to get really loose and curiosity gets the better of most people. For instance, people are going all-in all the time with absolutely nothing. I'm not saying a little bit of aggression isn't warranted, but like 8 of the 10 folks at the table can't have it or anything close. The real action on CPA is in the sit & go tournaments for bronze, silver, and gold tickets and also the daily freerolls (i.e. where money is at the end of the tunnel). The bronze tournaments can be easily won by essentially sitting back until all the crazy folks have gone bust and then pushing it with a hand. The silver tournaments are good play usually. A good way to build up the "gold nuggets" and chips to play in as many freerolls and sit & go's as you want is the limit hold 'em tables. I usually play at the "Mackenzie" 100 / 200 limit table. I know you only start out with 1000 chips, but if you play a little very low buy-in no-limit hold 'em or build a stack at the limit table you'll be good for awhile. Anyways, the site is a great way to kill time and also make some money if you're so inclined. ;-) My SN on CPA is: chasiubao. It means "Roast Pork Bun" in Cantonese.

I am not a zoologist.

I've been reading the first couple of chapters of Phil Hellmuth's book against J-Z's advice. It was on a shelf at the local library and I said, "What the hey!". Yeah... turns out I am really confused by it. So far, what I've gleaned from it is that if you have some kind of middle pair on the flop or an overpair you should bet or raise depending upon your position to feel out the table. Otherwise, the message is confusing and his advice is something along the lines of "you have to feel it out and trust your instincts". The way he describes how to play involves an analogy to animals. He summarizes different player types by ascribing them to certain animals. For instance, a loose aggressive player is a "jackal" who will have huge swings. To be honest, it gets really tough to follow his advice after a couple of chapters because the usage of the animal metaphors is way too clumsy. He also makes assumptions for each bit of advice like you have a certain pair in a certain position with certain people at the table also in defined positions. I find that that advice is much too specialized and anecdotal to be really valuable. I am anxious to get back to lab to pick up the Lee Jones and Miller books to see what they can tell me.

I had a great time in AC, but I still have a lot to learn.

Bottom line: I went bust and lost my $100 that I brought to play with. However, I got to play for about 10 - 12 hours over two nights with that money at the Trop. On Friday night, I ended up coming out up $1. More or less, I broke even. It was a pretty tough time. Most of the players there were really good by the time I got to sit down. Basically, there were a bunch of drunk dudes with really short stacks and a few guys with large stacks indicating that they had just taken the drunk guys. I thought I played things well the first night. Probably the best (and / or dumbest) playing I did during the first night was catching a middle pair of Jacks with a rainbow flop of Q / J / 2. I bet the flop and got most people to fold except for this one guy. The guy then bet the turn and the river and I called both. Turns out he had nothing and was just shining me on, but it could have easily been the reverse and I would've been none the wiser.
On Saturday night, I was treated to a lovely dinner at the Seaside Cafe by J-Z from my previous posts. I had a most excellent hamburger and he had an awesome prime rib. We talked a little post-flop poker strategy and generally had a nice time (I had two root beers). Saturday night started out great. The best hand I caught was an Ac / Qc with a flop of Qd / random club / random club. I made maybe like $80 - $90 on that pot. Within 30 minutes, I was up $170! And then, my luck / intelligence ran wayy out. J-Z commented that I made some "questionable decisions" which was his very gentle and kind way of saying that I have trisomy 21. Basically, I'm at the point now where I know what hands to play with when I start, but I'm not sure of how to play them if the flop isn't super magical. I have a lot of trouble discerning where the border is between dropping the hand because it's crap vs. it might have a chance. The other big problem is that I don't quite understand what someone is "telling you" if they bet / raise / re-raise / check. Two examples:

1. I had a Ks / 6s on big blind and the flop is like 2d / 2s / Js. The turn comes down a 3c or something and I make the flush on the river. I bet the flop and knocked out everyone except for this one dude. I believe he bet the turn and I called. He bet the river, I raised and then he re-raised and I re-re-raised. Turns out he had a 2 / 3 for the boat. I guess conventional wisdom says that if the dude re-raised, he had the boat. Should I have raised pre-flop? I think I need to put this one up on two-plus-two and see what people have to say.

2. I had an As / Qs pre-flop and raised and had one person who stayed in. The flop, turn, and river were all rainbow undercards with no flushes or straights possible by the end. My opponent kept betting at each stage and I kept calling. Finally, she bet on the river and I made the mistake of folding. I didn't think my ace would've held up. But, J-Z was under the impression she was full of baloney pants. So, maybe I should've called, but I will never know now.

Anyways, I've ordered some books from Amazon courtesy of a teaching prize from my department here at Yale. Hopefully, these books will help me out. Mebs I'll go to Foxwoods later this week, but I think I need to read some first.

Weekly Poker Night.

Greetings there Yale poker fans. Tonight was yet another exciting night of poker at my house. Overall, I went down about 300 chips tonight. But that's nothing too crazy with a 500 chip buy-in. My worst streak ever was re-buying twice to 1500 chips and then going bust in like 10 seconds. Some highlights:

1. I really need to keep a notebook by the table when we play. I never seem to remember all of the awesome hands exactly.

2. My first big loss (No Limit Hold 'Em):
I'm holding pocket 9s on big blind. It's mostly calls to me so I raise to 30 chips. People call. Flop comes down Q - 9 - 2. Happy with my trips I bet something like 50 - 100 chips. This knocks us down to two players. The turn comes down a 4 and I believe we both check. The river is a 4 bringing the board to: Q - 9 - 2 - 4 - 4. I'm sitting pretty with my boat. I bet 150 chips and my opponent calls and turns over pocket Qs. That was one sucker punch. Brilliant slow-playing.

3. 3-5-7:
In the three card round, I decide to "go in" with pocket A-A-9. Luckily, I got called with a 3-5-7.... fantastic. Wait? Ended up paying 105 chips on that one... barf. 3-5-7 was actually dealt twice!

Despite these losses, I did catch a bit of luck playing a little heads up with my friend D-saster (get it?) at the end of the night after the rest of the gang passed out from heat exhaustion. The final hand was an all-in with a K / 5 off-suit against my As / Qs. It was something like 80 chips to call and I was holding like 320... I definitely sensed a bit of wetness around my "crotchal region" around the turn: 9 - 2 - 3 - A. The ace helped me out, but a 4 on the river would've "pooped me in my dudies" as it were. He didn't make an ace on the river... sweet.

Anyways, I'm off home to NY for the weekend to hang out with some friends at Long Beach Island and then Atlantic City for some more $4 - $8 Limit. Hopefully I can catch some discipline again and fold like 90 hands in a row... or not have to. Either way, you'll get an eyeful of text on Sunday... maybe.

Poker Extravaganza Night 4: Destination Foxwoods.

We went to Foxwoods last night around 7pm and stayed until about 5am. It ended up being a worthwhile session. J-Z (formerly "J") gave me some tips about how to play 4 /8 Limit Hold 'Em that really paid off. By the end of the night, I was up about $280 given a $140 buy-in. Mr. T (formerly "T") came out up $300. J-Z basically tore the room up and left up $800. Like they say in the movie Rounders, you never remember the hands you win, but you can't forget the hands where you lost big. At one point, I was down to $44 and had to fold something like 30+ hands in a row (which was a shock to me) before I finally caught some cards and built my way back up. Here were some of the highlights:

Probably my two biggest legitimate losses during the night were when I had pocket queens. I basically got beaten by undercard trips or pocket Aces. The other losses just involved me playing poorly. I had about one crappy win where I got lucky and I got two queens on the flop holding A / Q off-suit against pocket Aces. That guy was pissed.

Poker Extravaganza Night 3.

Tonight was poker extravaganza night 3 at my place. I ended up doing pretty well. I made out with about1100 chips after starting with 500. Won about 200 in a 100 chip buy-in tournament and then another 800 playing "cash games". Nothing too amazing went down or was worth recording. Just made a bunch of good hands and folded a ton of crap. I do tend to go a bit overboard when I hit overcards or when I hit two pair. It's easy for me to get a bit off course if I do well on the flop but then fight draws on the turn and the river. I'm sure I'll get a hold of myself tomorrow when I hit up Foxwoods for a little 4 / 8. In any case, we'll see.

Poker Night 2 / Gus

Tonight was pretty magical for me. I doubled up (going from 500 chips to just under a 1000). The night started out kind of amusing / standard. We hit a bunch of huge hands (only some of which I kind of remember at this point). We played a bunch of stud variants like Chicago and well, 7-card stud along with our usual fare of . I guess that's not really a bunch! (Yeah.) Anyways, here's the rub:

Hand #1 (big pot):
20 / 40 Limit Omaha Hi. I ended up taking down a big pot after consistently betting to the river after hitting a nut flush on the flop. Magical. That's what we like to call "aggressive Gus". Yes, turns out I can bet all over the place when I have the nuts. Shocking.

Hand #2 (funny):
"T" goes up against his good buddy "J" with a flop of 10 / 10 / K. "T" did a little pre-flop raise, which "J" called. The turn is a deuce. You'd've seriously thought it a blank. So "T"-bones pushed it. "J" calls. The River is a king. "T" goes all in and "J" calls. What do you think "T" has and what do you think "J" has? Well, turns out little mister "T" had a pair of deuces with a seven kicker and was therefore full of dudies. But, we were laughing our asses off. I guess the oxygen was getting a bit low in my living room.

Hand #3:
Crap. To be honest, I don't remember any more hands. All I remember is laughing till I peed myself over the whole "different identities of Gus" thing. I don't know if you've seen the commercials, but we do enjoy poking fun at them. "T" often slow plays so he's like "trapping Gus" who "check raises all of your chips away". Usually when we're screwing around it's just like, "I'm gonna bet a lot so I'm aggressive Gus". But then things get friggin stupid and we're start making crap up. "I'm not feeling particularly religious and so... I'm 'secular Gus'". We've also come up with like "hit in the face Gus" and the ever popular "dudy pants Gus". No offense to Gus, we love the guy. We all felt bad when he got smoked by Brad Booth when he had pocket nines (Bradders had the bullets).

Hand Baloney:
The poopies really hit the fan when we started going on about the Jennifer Harman commercial though.

(Before the Flop)
"T": C'MON ACES! C'MON ACES! C'MONNNNNN ACES!!!!!
(Flop hits showing an ace)
"T": YEAH YEAH YEAH ACES YEAHAHAHAHAHAAHHHAHHAAAAAAAA YEA!!!!!!!!!!!
Me: C'mon bud, gimme a sign. Just a little something.
("T" picks his nose and rubs it all over the ace. Afterwards he proceeds to wear a cowboy hat and fire off his guns multiple times)
"T": YEEEEEE-HAAAAA I PAIRED MY ACE! I PAIRED IT!!!! ALL-IN! ALL-IN!
("T" frantically pushes all of his chips in)
Me: C'mon man, just a little something.
"T": YOU CAN'T BEAT ME YOU HAVE A 7 / 2 C'MON MAN C'MON!
Me: Well, when you're beat you're beat.

We were totally peeing all over the room everywhere it was like a friggin wet t-shirt contest. More to come tomorrow probably. :)

Yale Poker Scene / Poker Night

To be honest, I haven't found much going on at Yale in terms of regularly-scheduled poker games. This is one of the main reasons why I like collegepokerassociation.com since I can always get a game for free when I want to. It's also cool because I can play in tournaments for free with the chance of winning some money. In terms of Yale games, there was one tournament sponspored by CPA and Habitat called "Casino Royale". That was a pretty cool tournament with decent players. The dealers were a bit iffy at times (they accidentally folded a couple of people's hands). But, overall, I had a good time.

To get around the lack of poker games on campus, I started one up that I run every week. We usually play dealer's choice with lots of No Limit and Limit Hold 'Em. We also play some wacky stud variants like Follow the Queen and Anaconda along with some more standard ones like Chicago. Despite my Italian heritage, I have not yet engaged in a game of baseball.

This week we had some extra fun (played poker) as a good friend of a friend is back in town. I tend to be a somewhat decent player except when I go on tilt (see the name of the blog above). We had some pretty classy (and / or stupid) showdowns tonight which I think are worth mentioning: (Disclaimer: my memory is fuzzy so if I know you and some of these are off let me know).

Crazy Queens (basically follow the Queen except if the Queen o' Spades pops up everyone turns in their cards and new hands are dealt out to all of the players still in with the pot remaining the same):
-My friend, whom I shall refer to as "T" made some ridiculous bet (like half the pot with maybe 300 chips in the pot given that we all start with 500 chips) with something like two blanks and a 7c / 5c showing. Another friend, whom I shall refer to as "E" debated calling. She had a full house. In essence, since no queens had come up during the round and thus no other cards except for queens were wild, we were all sort of guessing that "T" was holding something like three of a kind or a full house. Turns out "E" called and wouldn't you know it, "T" had three queens underneath. Straight flush... barf.
-In another round of Crazy Queens, Aces were wild and I was showing 10d / Jd / Kd / Ah after we went down and dirty with young master "R" sitting to my right and "E" sitting to my left. There were 150 chips in the pot and I made a hesitant bet of 50 after "R" checked. I was playing the royal flush, but, in reality, I had an ace-high flush. "E" had something like a full house or four of a kind, while "R" had both of us covered with a straight flush. I can't remember if "E" called or not but "R" certainly did and, well, yeah. Fun bluff though. :)

Those were, to me, the most interesting hands of the night. Otherwise, it was just me being stupid trying to push people around with top two-pair and getting burned by trips and / or nut straights. Sigh... I seriously need to start doing yoga meditation or something and rock it hard with Dhalsim to just take a second and think before I go tilt my money away. More to come tomorrow night.

Endnote: I forgot one of the best of hands where I tried to be "aggressive Gus" and I went all-in on a J / 7 off-suit after "T" raised 10 chips in a 5 / 10 no-limit game. At first, I thought it might be amusing to come over the top, but then I just said screw it. By that point, my tilt was so bad it was just like whatever. Turns out that, uh, young "T" actually had pocket queens and was just slow-playing as usual. The flop was like 2 / 8 / J and I got excited because my outs increased. Otherwise, the turn and the river were just blanks and I basically screwed up. I lost about 200 chips there but I managed to make them back on the next hand after my good friend "P" lent me 200 chips. I hit trip 3s from a big blind 6h / 3d. Flop was 3 / 3 / 5. "R" made a bet of like 50 chips or something and I went all-in... again. He ended up only having one 5. Lucky for me. :)

Welcome to My Poker Blog

Greetings folks. This is where I'll be posting neat stuff that happened to me whilst playing poker. Most of the time, you're going to hear wonderful stories about how I thought a 7 / 2 off suit was the best thing that ever happened to me at a ten person 2 / 4 limit hold 'em table. I hope, though, that I can share some insights I've had (or perhaps need to have) about my poker play and about the playing I do on www.collegepokerassociation.com.

I'm currently at grad student at Yale going for my Ph.D. in the department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. You'd think I'd be better at calculating odds given the circumstances. Anyways, we'll see how often I post here. Probably not that often, but you never know.