I am going to try and catch up on my week so far. Tonight was the night I was headed to the Island Casino. Tonight was the night that I was going to play a little bit different and play more aggressive and see what happens.
I arrived at Island casino and signed in. Payed my fee and then went and got a dinner for $3.99. You can't beat the dinner price for Steak and Eggs with Toast and Hashbrowns. They have different dinners everynight.
There were about 30 people playing tonight. One of my first hands was the KJ and on the flop came a AKx. I went ahead and raised and the guy next to me raised. On the turn I checked and he raised and I followed. On the turn I raised and he figured I made a hand on the turn with the 10. No, I was playing aggressive and he folded the winning hand of AJ. I was totally surprised and he was not happy. We discussed the hand later on and I told him he had me. He thought I had made a hand with the 10 and he wasn't going to try it. I ended up taking him out to set up the final table later on.
During the evening I played a number of hands with K in the hand and I won them. My final hand at the table before we went to the final table was AA and the guy next to me played AK and he lost with that.
When we got into the final table I became conservative and didn't play the pots I should have. People were going all in trying to build there pots. I just didn't want to get involved with that unless I had a very good hand. I threw away quite a few Aces and Kings during this time. I ended up playing 94 and had to go all in because of low chips. I of course lost the hand and came in 4th place. I did get my money back and so it wasn't a total loss. Two hands later someone went out and got 3rd. If I would have held on a little more I might have gotten into 3rd instead. I felt good about my play tonight. I was aggressive at the start and that was good. I had players around me that were aggressive and they seemed to back off tonight and did not play me hard. I did win with the best hands until the end.
I have to remember what it felt like to play at the final table and how I did it before to get to the money. I was aggressive and I need to get back to that feeling.
Next week I will be back at it again. I will have read more of the Harrington book and hopefully it is helping me.
Always looking forward for the next adventure. Sunday golf at 9:30 with J & P again.
Having Fun.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Poker
Now that I have had a couple of days to calm down and think about it I can go ahead and blog about my tuesday night poker. I decided to play on Tuesday this time and see if there weren't as many people. That is what happened. There were about 6 alternates waiting to get in the game. Well, I wish I could have lasted as long to see the alternates come into the game.
I was so upset about being taken out. I usually don't let the cards affect me and take every thing in stride. Thats the way the cards go. Except that the last few weeks I have been taken out early and not getting the cards so I can play the way I want to play. I was given KQ and I raised to $300. I was reraised to $500. I called. The flop came out xQx and so having the bottom pair with a K kicker I felt I was in a good position. I went all in to try and pick up the chips now. The guy then calls me and we turn over the cards and he has Q10. Wouldn't you know it that on the river he comes up with another 10. I could spit nails.
I had a friend playing tonight AB and he told me he sucked out on the river a couple more times on other people. He did get to the final table but didn't last long by playing loose. Another person was playing tonight and she was aggressive. She put a bigtime bluff on her friend at the table by telling him not to call her. She had the cards. He threw away pocket 10's and she had J7 to take the pot.
I have decided to read Dan Harrington's books. Maybe I can pick up some thoughts on playing the game from him. He is a tight player and plays good hands. He works with position as well. We will see what I can pick up from him.
I am over it now and will go back next tuesday night. Sunday it is golf again with J & P at 0930.
Keep the cards and golf balls flying.
I was so upset about being taken out. I usually don't let the cards affect me and take every thing in stride. Thats the way the cards go. Except that the last few weeks I have been taken out early and not getting the cards so I can play the way I want to play. I was given KQ and I raised to $300. I was reraised to $500. I called. The flop came out xQx and so having the bottom pair with a K kicker I felt I was in a good position. I went all in to try and pick up the chips now. The guy then calls me and we turn over the cards and he has Q10. Wouldn't you know it that on the river he comes up with another 10. I could spit nails.
I had a friend playing tonight AB and he told me he sucked out on the river a couple more times on other people. He did get to the final table but didn't last long by playing loose. Another person was playing tonight and she was aggressive. She put a bigtime bluff on her friend at the table by telling him not to call her. She had the cards. He threw away pocket 10's and she had J7 to take the pot.
I have decided to read Dan Harrington's books. Maybe I can pick up some thoughts on playing the game from him. He is a tight player and plays good hands. He works with position as well. We will see what I can pick up from him.
I am over it now and will go back next tuesday night. Sunday it is golf again with J & P at 0930.
Keep the cards and golf balls flying.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Wednesday Poker
I was at work later than I wanted to be and when I got out of the meeting I headed straight over to Island Casino. Remember last week I ended up being an alternate and was there by 5:30. I wanted to be there by 5:15 tonight and try not to be an alternate. I was able to get there in time and I actually ended up being the 20th person to sign up and just missed the alternate list.
When the game got started the table was tight aggressive and started to loosen up a bit a few hands into the game. I remained very tight and did manage to win a few of the hands. With one of the good hands I had I decided to raise and see if I could get some action. No one wanted to play. They all figured out I was only playing good hands and they didn't want to loose the chips. I decided then that a few hands later I would try again and the same thing happened. That happened to me 3 times total. No one would play when I put in a raise. Not so good when you actually need to get chips to keep going. I did get down to about 1300 in chips and decided to go all in on my last hand and got beat by a set of 7's. There were still alternates waiting to get into the game so I do not know what my placement was. It didn't matter anyway.
Maybe it is time I really started studying the game and figure out when to play the cards that are not the top ones I usually play. It is interesting that their is a group from work that is playing and they will not invite me to play. I was told by one of them on Thursday that the reason is they want to be able to keep their money and not loose it. That just makes me laugh. Keeping me out of a game because they are afraid of loosing their money? Doesn't make sense to me. Maybe I should set up a game here at my house and see if I could get them to play here.
Looking forward to my Sunday golf with J & P. I do enjoy playing with them. It is a nice 4 hours away from the usual stress of what goes on in my life at home and work. That is why I also like Poker because it gives me a chance to concentrate on the cards and the people around me and think of the other things. I have been looking for a place to play more Blackjack. The casinos are playing the special games of blackjack and that doesn't interest me since I do not play the extra chips to get the other payoffs.
Keep the cards and golf balls flying.
When the game got started the table was tight aggressive and started to loosen up a bit a few hands into the game. I remained very tight and did manage to win a few of the hands. With one of the good hands I had I decided to raise and see if I could get some action. No one wanted to play. They all figured out I was only playing good hands and they didn't want to loose the chips. I decided then that a few hands later I would try again and the same thing happened. That happened to me 3 times total. No one would play when I put in a raise. Not so good when you actually need to get chips to keep going. I did get down to about 1300 in chips and decided to go all in on my last hand and got beat by a set of 7's. There were still alternates waiting to get into the game so I do not know what my placement was. It didn't matter anyway.
Maybe it is time I really started studying the game and figure out when to play the cards that are not the top ones I usually play. It is interesting that their is a group from work that is playing and they will not invite me to play. I was told by one of them on Thursday that the reason is they want to be able to keep their money and not loose it. That just makes me laugh. Keeping me out of a game because they are afraid of loosing their money? Doesn't make sense to me. Maybe I should set up a game here at my house and see if I could get them to play here.
Looking forward to my Sunday golf with J & P. I do enjoy playing with them. It is a nice 4 hours away from the usual stress of what goes on in my life at home and work. That is why I also like Poker because it gives me a chance to concentrate on the cards and the people around me and think of the other things. I have been looking for a place to play more Blackjack. The casinos are playing the special games of blackjack and that doesn't interest me since I do not play the extra chips to get the other payoffs.
Keep the cards and golf balls flying.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Going Fast
Tonight was one of those nights I should have stayed home. I got to Island Casino at 5:30 and I walked in and found out I was the 2nd alternate. This is the first time that I was an alternate for a poker game. To sit and watch the hands being played and you are not being able to play a hand and knowing when you do get to sit down you will be down chips and haven't done anything yet. When I did get to sit down at the table the first hand I drew was an AQ. I needed to play catch up with the chip stacks. I got a Q on the river and sucked out on the other guy. Ok, that was a good start.
Then I played AQ again and lost to a pair of J's. I lost a big share of my chips on this hand and basically I was now waiting for a good hand to go all-in with. On the last hand I played AJ and lost to a pair of K's. You see I was getting the cards but wasn't getting the flop.
Could I have won if I had bet more money at the pot? Sometimes I will do that and the two players I played against did question me on it. I really believe they would have raised or reraised me anyway so why not just see a flop and try to slow play the hands and get a little more of the chips. As you can see that didn't work.
My placement for this tournament didn't matter since I really didn't get through the alternates that were still sitting and waiting for a chair.
I have been doing some reading on Blackjack strategy. I really enjoy Blackjack and would like to start playing it again. I know the only time I do play is when I go to Auburn and play at the Muckleshoot Casino. I was looking around the Island Casino this evening to see if they had a regular Blackjack table and I could not find one. Maybe this will mean spending some time driving down to Pendleton to play and Wildhorse Casino. That would be a 2 hour roundtrip and that is doable for some time to play blackjack for a few hours.
Golf this weekend. I didn't get to play this last week and I am looking forward to it.
Have fun and keep the cards going.
Then I played AQ again and lost to a pair of J's. I lost a big share of my chips on this hand and basically I was now waiting for a good hand to go all-in with. On the last hand I played AJ and lost to a pair of K's. You see I was getting the cards but wasn't getting the flop.
Could I have won if I had bet more money at the pot? Sometimes I will do that and the two players I played against did question me on it. I really believe they would have raised or reraised me anyway so why not just see a flop and try to slow play the hands and get a little more of the chips. As you can see that didn't work.
My placement for this tournament didn't matter since I really didn't get through the alternates that were still sitting and waiting for a chair.
I have been doing some reading on Blackjack strategy. I really enjoy Blackjack and would like to start playing it again. I know the only time I do play is when I go to Auburn and play at the Muckleshoot Casino. I was looking around the Island Casino this evening to see if they had a regular Blackjack table and I could not find one. Maybe this will mean spending some time driving down to Pendleton to play and Wildhorse Casino. That would be a 2 hour roundtrip and that is doable for some time to play blackjack for a few hours.
Golf this weekend. I didn't get to play this last week and I am looking forward to it.
Have fun and keep the cards going.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Blackjack Fun
Made it over to Auburn and had dinner with C's sister and brother-n-law. I love to eat at the Famous Daves Restaurant on South Hill. Good food and great service. They even gave me a ice cream sundae for my birthday which was yesterday. Another year older and still don't feel like it. I like to play and have fun when I can.
I got to the Muckleshoot Casino and immediately went over to the blackjack tables to find a place to sit down and play. It took a while for someone to go out and open up a seat. I sat in seat 6 and started playing. Immediately I started to win and my chip stack started to build. I pulled aside my startup money and started playing with the house money. I played basic strategy and was doing well. About 2 hours into playing and the lady next to me looked over at me and told me that I haven't said a word since she got there. Now, when I play cards I get very serious and concentrate on what the cards are that are out there and what my strategy is going to be. I don't talk to people that much other than to tell them congrats on a good hand. Well, the table was singing everytime the dealer busted and they were singing the song "Thats the way we like it" and the lady turned to look at me and said I needed to sing with them. I told her the next time I would. Well, I missed the next time and she looked at me and said I had to sing by myself. Ok, I did. I sang a solo for the table. I am still a very quiet person. I did it for the table. When the shoe was done I decided to go ahead and color up my chips and call it a night. It was a good night. I started with $100 and ended up with $165. I am happy with that.
Tomorrow we head back over the mountain and I will play poker on Tuesday or Wednesday night at Islands Casino. Since I am traveling this weekend I will not be playing golf. Having a good time.
Have fun and keep the cards coming.
I got to the Muckleshoot Casino and immediately went over to the blackjack tables to find a place to sit down and play. It took a while for someone to go out and open up a seat. I sat in seat 6 and started playing. Immediately I started to win and my chip stack started to build. I pulled aside my startup money and started playing with the house money. I played basic strategy and was doing well. About 2 hours into playing and the lady next to me looked over at me and told me that I haven't said a word since she got there. Now, when I play cards I get very serious and concentrate on what the cards are that are out there and what my strategy is going to be. I don't talk to people that much other than to tell them congrats on a good hand. Well, the table was singing everytime the dealer busted and they were singing the song "Thats the way we like it" and the lady turned to look at me and said I needed to sing with them. I told her the next time I would. Well, I missed the next time and she looked at me and said I had to sing by myself. Ok, I did. I sang a solo for the table. I am still a very quiet person. I did it for the table. When the shoe was done I decided to go ahead and color up my chips and call it a night. It was a good night. I started with $100 and ended up with $165. I am happy with that.
Tomorrow we head back over the mountain and I will play poker on Tuesday or Wednesday night at Islands Casino. Since I am traveling this weekend I will not be playing golf. Having a good time.
Have fun and keep the cards coming.
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