November 2008 - Posts
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Nov 24 2008, 08:23 PM
I'm finally getting away from online poker, I have 16 bucks left on stars and will likely lose that soon, and that will be a relief. After my trip to Macau, my live bankroll almost doubled, making me more comfortable playing the stakes at my local club. And it showed this week. I played a 200 rebuy tourney last wednesday and dropped 600 in there, never really getting cards, and playing spewy. I came back for cash on Sunday and made a nice 1300 in a couple hours. Like most of my recent sessions, including in Macau, I'm a little down or even for most of the session and make all my profit in the last hour or less. I played well at the end of that last cash session, while getting cards too. I like this one hand where I flop quads holding TT, and managed to disguise my hand well enough to get maximum value on the river (Check flop, check call turn, bet river when my opponent likely hit a flush on a very scary board: TTQKA, 3 spades). With that, my BR is up to RMB 14500, around $2100, good enough to play RMB 5/10 without being scared.
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Nov 18 2008, 08:39 PM
I just spent 3 days in Macau with a couple friends. The goal of the trip was to play as much poker as possible (and win) and celebrate one of my friend's b-day on Sat evening. Our plane was on time this time, and we landed in Zhuhai, on the other side of the China-Macau border around midnight. It takes an hour to get from the airport to the border, and when we got there, we discovered the border is closed from midnight to 7AM. After briefly looking for hotel in Zhuhai we decided to spend the night in a bar. We got insanely drunk on whiskey and beer, playing a game we like. If you like to gamble (Oh, wait... this is P5s) you should try it. it goes like this: (does anyone know the name of this game in English? we call it "le nettoyeur" in French)
52 card deck 1- Dealer decides to bet (anything he wants, there is no "set" bet amount 2- Dealer deals 4 cards to each other player one at a time. No cards for him.
3- Player 1 decides to bet (any amounts he wants, max=the pot, min=1. he HAS to bet smth) 4- dealer deals himself 1 card.
- If the card is higher than P1 cards in the corresponding suit, dealer wins P1's money. P1's money is added to the pot.
- If the card is lower than P1 cards in the corresponding suit, P1 wins the equivalent of his bet from the pot. P1's bet and dealer's equivalent money are removed from the pot and go to P1. If P1 had bet the pot size, he takes it all and the hand is over (no more money in the pot) - It the card is of a suit that P1 does not have in his 4 cards, dealer wins and money is added to the pot. 5- Repeat until either there is no more money in the pot (dealer lost all), or each player in the game have played against the dealer.
6- When the hand is over P1 becomes dealer, go back to step 1. It's really a fun game, especially drunk, and that night I made 1000 yuan (~US$150). Good start to the weekend.
Comes 7AM, we make our way to the border and then the hotel in Macau. We had the room booked in the Best Western Taipa for the previous night, so we could check in right away at 9AM. Hotel is OK and rather cheap for Macau, but don't go for the breakfast, it's ugly! So we sleep until 2PM on Friday, and make our way to the Grand Lisboa for our 1st session. there are 2 tables of 10/20 running at this time. We sit and start playing. The room is fairly nice, I preferred the Grand Waldo though, but they don;t have any games there. Dealers are ok except for the occasional trainee who can't deal or count for shit. I have 1 in mind that pissed me off each time she was dealing. The game starts awfully for me, 3rd hand I get AA, get 2 callers on my raise pre, check shove a Q high board, and lose to QQ. That's 1 buy in (HKD2000). Reload and 15 hands later I get AA again (Nice, twice in my 20 first hands) and lose to a strait (I had AA 5 more times during the weekend and won all 5). I'm down to 400 in 30 minutes. It's going to be a looong day. Shortly after that I get a few double up to go back to 4000, and get card dead for like 10 hours, staying around 4000. Around 6AM Saturday, I get cards again and run this up to a little over 7000 for a 3k profit. After 19h of play I'm kind of tired and go to bed. My friends went back to the hotel a couple hours earlier, one down 6k, the other one up 5k.
I Sleep for 6 hours, and we go back to the casino for just a few hours poker, we have to meet our friend for his bday in a bar at 7. I buy in for 3000 (max buyin), we play for 3 hours, and I end up even after losing big on my first hand. B-day party. We planned on a long party, getting trashed all night. We started having champagne in the Moet Bar at the Four Seasons. Weird place, the bar is empty... and in a middle of a shopping mall. Seriously, it's in between Gucci, LV, Prada and Hermes. Champagne mojito are great though. We then have dinner in a small Portuguese restaurant. Fantastic food and lots of wine. Then we proceed to the bar street and have a couple long island ice teas in the Casablanca Bar. Around 2AM, my bday friends gf is drunk, so he take her back to the hotel.
So my other 2 other friends and I... go back to the Grand Lisboa. Drunk. I lose my 1st buy in in 15 minutes (don't play drunk, you always think you have the nuts) and then try to play tight until I'm more clear. We play until 11AM, and by the end of the session I', up 5500 HKD. In the only really notable hand, I flop a set holding KK on AKx flop and get called all 3 streets with by 2 pair and win a big pot. Play is really not good in Macau. By then, we have to leave to catch our plane back, I end up the only winner out of 4, with a significantly increased bankroll. Hope to go back there soon!
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Nov 09 2008, 08:24 PM
Didn't play much online last week, but got what I needed live this weekend, some confidence back.
We played our homegame on Saturday and I made over 700 on my 100 buy in which is my 1st big win in over a month. I also think it's my 1st game without rebuy in a very long time. I played well made good calls and set great traps.
Then Sunday I played at the club, that's the real test. 80% of the players there are way better than me, and the game is much bigger. We play 5/10, I bought in for 800 and played 7 hours on that, ending the session with a small profit. I played really tight for most of the game, didn't hit much, but I managed to back when I did. I made good reads, bad folds, but after a couple hands, the scare was gone and my relative confidence was back... And that is exactly what I needed before going to Macau Thursday. Until last Friday I was thinking I'd lose my roll at the tables there, now I am much more confident, especially since most players are week there, I'm going for a big win so I can really boost my bankroll and stop having to play out of my roll when I go to the club. Next stop Macau, wish me luck!
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Nov 04 2008, 09:18 PM
Online:
After a dry run in SNGs, I kind of took a break from
online poker for a few days. Well not really, I took a break from 45 man turbo,
play some cash and lost a few buyins, then managed to come 3rd in a
6.50 45 man (new reminder: STICK TO THOSE!), and proceeded to drop my BR down
to $28. Each time I get down there I hope I go busto so I can forget about the
online pokerz. But guess what, the pulled me back in again.
So I’m down to $28, and yesterday I feel like playing
an MTT after work, and register in the $10 $8,000 guaranteed. I think it’s a
waste of those 10 bucks, but I don’t care, next thing I know, I’m deep in this
thing, top 10 when the bubble bursts, top 4 with 40 left (1000+ entries), and I
end up dying short of the FT. Here is how it went with
I start by chipping up slowly during the 1st
hour, no really interesting hands, I hit trips3 times holding a low pocket and
get paid fully on one. My stack is a little under 8k before the 2 hour break
when this hand happens: I’m in the BB with Q4o, blinds 150/300. 4 players limp
before me, I misclick and minraise to 600, all 4 call, pot is already 3000,
flop comes 6s7hQh and I hit top pair and elect to take a stab at the pot and
bet 2100, obviously one player shoves others fold. I have him covered and hope
he’s on a flush draw. I call after some time, coz anyway, if I fold I just have
10BB left, and, well, fuck it. He turn 67 for 2 pair, and I’m almost dead until
I river another Q. I’m up to 16k and a whole new tournament starts! I’m going
deep in this thing!
2 hands later, I hold 66 and call a minraise to 600,
shortstack goes all in for 90 more, both call, flop comes A45, raiser prob has
an ace, I give up until it goes check check, turn 6. Sweet, raiser bets, I
raise, he shoves call, and he turns over AQ. Weee 25k chips, I’m top 20 stacks.
From here I play pretty tight chipping up with all
ins against shorties when I have a pair or big ace, I win a nice pot when the
SB lets me in the BB hit a strait on the turn with the 3 in my Q3 hand, up to
40k. he my jacks hold against 88 for a 30k pot: 56k. at this point, I’m top 10
in chips. I bust another shortie 55>TJ, up to 67k and proceed to lose 1/4th
that trying to steal blinds with weak aces.
Next crucial hand, I hold 77 and face a standard 3x raise
close to the bubble. I shove and hold against AJ for a 110k pot, now I know I am
at least making the money I don’t really use my stack well on the bubble
because there is a pretty aggressive player on my table who is doing that every
hand. Bubble bursts, I’m sitting on 120k, top 5.
Couple hands after the bubble bursts I lose a race
A3<88 against a short stack in the blinds and drop to under 60k quickly. Then
it gets crazy, I double up on Aces, then again with QQ, drop again to150k, get
paid nicely on AA again, and that’s the end.
I Get card dead and fold for 5 consecutive orbits
every single hand until I am down to 95k at blinds 3500/7000 with 15 left, I
shove QJs oop, and get called twice including by a guy with 57 for half his
stack!!! 9guy prob doesn’t like money), other had AK, the board gives 2 pair to
57 on the river after I turned the J. Pissed me off for good. I win this, I
have 300k and 3rd stack with 15 to go, FT is looking good. Instead I
go out 15th for $78… Oh well.
I’ll give this tournie a try more often, the timing
is perfect since the US
have changed time, it starts at 8PM here around the time I get home from work.
Live:
Ouch. So the club in Beijing opened recently and I played there
last weekend in the 200r tounie. Rebought twice and busted early not getting
any cards. I then put 1000 on a 5/10 game and lose it all in 5 long hours of
being card dead. I still have some progress to make, most of the players there
are better than me (How did he fold AK on A86 rainbow flop, when I shoved his
raise with trip 8?).
I’m down 2300 in 2 weeks there, that hurts the
bankroll just before my trip to macau.
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