Pawned by a Fish !

Last night, I was trying to qualify for the Grand Prix tournament over at Pokerroom which had 50K guaranteed by playing in a qualifying satellite tourney.

Played well throughout until we were down to four. Only two got seats. There was this guy over to my right who just wouldn't shut up during chat. He kept making inane comments about how good he was and how he was going to outplay everyone.

Normally I don't really mind this stuff as its par for the course to have a weirdo like him in every table. On one hand where I was BB, this same guy just completed his SB. I pushed with an A5 suited. He showed AK and I was a huge underdog and lost the huge pot as we had almost even chips at that point.

What got to me was his comment afterwards : "Knew you would do that". And then he kept on prattling again about how some of the young guys never learned their lessons.

After I bust out. I stopped playing and analyzed my play. Did I really make a wrong move ? Did all his chatting affect me negatively to make that push ? Did I telegraph the move such that he had a good guess about my range ? I had about 10xBB at that point. Down to four, on the bubble, and I would never make a flat out bluff on that play. I would have done the same exact play for any A-rag card, two face cards and any pocket pair for some insurance just in case he called back.

It just so happened that he had AK when I made the push. If I had a pocket pair and he made the same trap. I would have been slightly ahead and busted him out on that hand.

But I did learn a lesson for next time. Since he was a weak-tight player, an alternative would have been to just raise 3xBB and folded after his push. Just didn't use reads and automatically played it aggressive at that point like I normally do.

You know what the kicker was. I sharkscoped him after the game and miracles of all miracles. He was a losing player with a negative forty something ROI.

Hyuk Hyuk. But thank you for the lesson. I'll see you next time.

Poker Wish List

Just for fun, I decided to jot down a wish list of things I wanted to do in the poker scene during the next few years or at least during my lifetime.

1. Play with a famous pro online/live.

The online part shouldn't be so hard. Full Tilt pros can be found playing in the site every once in a while. So all I need to do is to increase my bankroll enough such that I can afford a one time buy-in at their stakes. I enter, sit down, play one hand and cash out. mweheheh Bonus is to win a hand and call the pro player a donk.

2. Play in the WSOP.

This one's admittedly harder. Besides the visa hassles of going to the US, there is the fact that I can't really afford the buy-ins plus the additional expenses of Vegas. But I believe this can be achieved as all the major sites offer WSOP qualifiers every year. So one of my objectives going forward is to try and qualify for the succeeding versions of this crazy event. Now I just need to be really lucky or discover a missing uncle who just died and left me an inheritance.

I'm not delusional enough to wish for a bracelet. All I really want is to play in one event in the WSOP for the experience and if I get seated on a table with Ivey or Hellmuth, then I kill two birds with one stone. (see wish 1). Although Shannon Elizabeth would be much much better. =) woof woof

By the way, in case you didn't know, Hellmuth just won his 11th bracelet a couple of days ago (most by any player) and also has the most cashes in WSOP history. Say what you want about the poker brat, but he certainly has game.

3. Win a big online tournament.

When I say big, I mean one of the Sunday Guaranteed ones. And when I say win, I mean 1st place. heheh .... sobra bang kapal ....

I've won a couple of small buy-in tourneys and placed deep in one or two big ones, so I think I can eventually do this. But again I would need a pretty good bankroll to afford the $100++ average buy-in per tourney on a consistent basis. So maybe within 1 to 2 years from now would be a good timeline for this one. Again, being lucky is the key word here.

4. Make 1 million pesos profit playing online poker

Note that its pesos and not dollars. Actually 3 and 4 are interconnected as winning one big sunday tourney will surely make you achieve this goal. But even without the big win, I firmly believe that with patience, continuous learning, good bankroll management and a lot of luck, this can be achieved. As to when, heheh, now that is the question.

I know some of the above may be far fetched. But its always productive to have some kind of goal in mind. Besides, it's way too fun to write about stuff that you only dream about . =)

Played good but ...

2k guaranteed at poker.com. Played perfectly. No big mistakes. Was already ITM 18 players left with a good stack when this hand came up.

Cutoff position and I get KK. Folded to me. So I raised 3xBB. Guy in dealer position reraised all in. Had a pretty good read on this guy and knew he didn't have the rockets. So easy call.

You know what he showed. Queen effing three. Yep.

And of course this post wouldn't have a point if he didn't suck out. Flopped a Queen and rivered a three.

sigh

good news is i'm already ITM but without that suckout, it would have been a big payout as I would have been in the top 3 with 17 left.

grrr

Right or Wrong ?

Last night, I was playing in a $6.50 SNG at FTP. We were down to 4 and I had the lowest stack. Was basically just looking for the right time to push. But lo and behold, 3rd place guy suddenly goes all in, gets called by big stack and proceeds to bust him out giving me a sure 3rd and ITM.

Just two hands later. 2nd place guy also goes all in after flop and called by big stack guy again. And he busts him out again.

So without really doing anything from the bubble, I now have sure second. I had about 2K in chips against 12K which was a pretty bleak situation. Then suddenly I noticed that Big Stack guy kept folding and folding fast which means only one thing in FTP : he was disconnected.

So my question is, what do you do in this situation? (1) Do you steal blinds like crazy ? or (2) do you act like a gentleman and wait for him to reconnect, since basically his play is the only reason you even got to 2nd?

Well, I'm not going to pretend that I took the high road and did option 2. Heheh ... because I started to steal his blinds. My logic and I know that this is only a lame excuse is that I can't wait forever and he might not come back anyway. His house could have been struck by lightning and his broadband connection got fried. =)

Of course, after a few minutes or so, he managed to reconnect and I managed to steal enough such that we had even stacks. To his credit, he didn't say anything. No yapping about how I took advantage of the situation.

A few hands later I was slightly ahead in chips. He raises, I look down at A-5 and push. He calls and shows A-10. Flop was blanks, turn was a five and no miracle at the river. And I take down 1st.

Oops ....

Your comments about what you would do in the same situation would be highly appreciated. As poker players, are we obligated to act morally ? I mean this was just low buy-in so no real damage done, but I heard about something similar which happened in the Ultimatebet 200K guaranteed during HU play where the difference between 1st and 2nd was in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Poker and Pirates

Finally got to play some online pokah these past few days after a week long hiatus.

And the results are pretty mixed. First I lost a 5 dollar buy in tourney. Then I place 4th in a $2 buy in for $20 by sheer dumb luck. Then I get hot in the SNGs and ITM'd 3 in a row before losing 2. Busted out in a 10 dollar buy in at Pokerroom. Busted out again in the Poker.com 2k guaranteed. Bubbled out in 7th in a Full Tilt 45 person SNG (my AQ push called by an AK). Then finally capped it by finishing 17 out of 370++ in a 4.5K guaranteed over at Bodog for $54.

Hahah .... weird. It was like up down up down. No significant cash, just enough to cover all the buy-ins with a few dollars left over.

The last hand at Bodog was a classic. I had 6-2 in the Big Blind, when 2 other guys limp in. Blinds and antes were huge. Thought about jamming but decided to just check. Flop comes 6-6-7. Guy in SB pushes all in. I had him covered so automatic call. Then suddenly the other guy also pushes all in and he had me covered. Pot commited I had to make the crying call. SB flips over J-7. And of course the other guy had A-6.

That's poker! =) Hooks you with just enough drama and wins to ensure that you come back.

Also got to watch Pirates of the Carribean 3 with my daughter this past weekend. And I don't know if its just me, but didn't really like it that much. I mean the action sequences were awesome especially the boat fight in the maelstorm. But they put too much blackmailing and backstabbling events prior that you had a hard time following the plot. So instead of just enjoying the ride, you had to try and figure out what was going on half the time. My daughter kept asking me questions about who the good guy was. Mweheheh ... Being six years old, it was hard for her to understand why all the ugly looking brutes were the good guys. Weaned on disney cartoons like Snow White and Little Mermaid, the villains are always supposed to be fearsome and sinister. So Captain Jack Sparrow is the epitome of a villain except he's good...... well kind of ......

The Shanghai Experience

I was in Shanghai China the last 5 days for some business meetings. Just got back yesterday and here are the notables:

1. One of the most if not the most progressive city in China. Somebody said to me that it can rival New York for the number of skyscrapers. Has the 4th highest building in the world in the JINGMAO Tower. Worth a trip to view the city from the highest floor.

2. Taxis have small LCD TVs installed. Be wary as the taxi drivers drive like crazy so accidents are common. Traffic is also quite bad especially in the Puxi area.

3. Center is highly polluted. There is a perennial smog that is present. You can look up in the sky and not see any blue even if its supposed to be sunny. Just a grayish haze.

4. Nanjing Road - a wide shopping road that is closed to traffic and is exclusively used by pedestrians. Somewhat similar to streets in causeway bay in hongkong except on a bigger scale. Tons of shops from the designer brands to the local unknowns. (see pic)

5. Eton Hotel - hotel where I stayed in the Pudong district. Owned by Filipino tycoon Lucio Tan of Asia Brewery and Fortune Tobacco fame. Walls of the bathroom were made of transparent glass. Heheh ... pretty nice if you're staying with your gf or wife.

6. Have dinner in one of the restaurants in the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Located at the 56th floor of the jingmao tower. It offers you a breathtaking view of the city lights and the river while you're dining. Awesome food.

7. Maglev Train - travels at more than 500km per hour.

Didn't really have time to go around so that's pretty much all I can think of. Shanghai is nice for a 2 to 3 day trip like Hongkong. There are expats and foreigners all over the pace so English is understood in most areas. It's not a place for a relaxing vacation as the pace is too hectic and I certainly wouldn't want to live there. But it's worth a visit for the experience, chinese food and the shopping. You will also tend to realize that China has really become quite the economic superpower as you see the infrastructure and the huge buildings & factories that have sprouted up. All the top brands from cars to shoes have an office in Shanghai and it really is an exciting city to see.

Out on the poker front, haven't really had a chance to play since I got back. Looking forward to the long weekend to play in some tourneys and hopefully do well. =)