Tao of Poker

Lively Up Yourself on Party Poker

"It is with trifles, and when he is off guard, that a man best reveals his character." - Arthur Schopenhauer

It's been an odd week for me on Party Poker. Firstly, after an atrocious April, I am up for the month of May. Every down session has been followed by an equally better session that wiped out the previous losing day. It's been great to play with confidence. I've placed in a few SNGs and I've done well at the NL ring games. No Limit is my game, it suits my personality. My brother suggested that I stick to my strengths to rebuild my bankroll. I stopped playing $3-6 and concentrated on $25 and $50 NL ring games. I know it can all disappear in one session, so I will not gloat any longer.

I've was recognized on Party Poker for the third straight session by players and devoted readers of the Tao of Poker. They all happened to have blogs of their own. Monday it was Bruce. Tuesday it was Lou. And yesterday it was Tilted Litt. And Maudie saw it happen twice this week. Here's what she had to say about it:

Mr. Pauly was recognized - again for his blogging fame. He's becoming quite the celeb! The guy had even used his bonus code! Good one, Pauly!

One night I played pretty good and the other time I played like shit. I also get quite a few cyber railbirds, like... Iceyburnz, Al Can't Hang, and Chris Halverson.

Yesterday I got to sit and play with Stinkypants, who joined my NL table an hour or two into my session. He got one player on tilt through the chat and he threw a barrage of insults and cuss words, but Stinky held his ground and waited for the right moment... and took him down! I had been playing with the guy for an hour prior, and I wanted so badly to bust the bluffer. He was playing 10-8 and J-6 and hands like that all day.... but I wasn't getting any hands, so I was happy to let Stinky take him down... AQs vs K8s. Alas, I had to leave and get ready for the last episode of The OC, so I bailed.

Today, I had a couple of crazy hands. I caught a full house on the river to beat a guy who flopped a straight. He called my AQs raise preflop with K9o. He flopped 10-J-Q. He was loving life when I caught a Q on the turn and reraised all-in after he raised me after my checkraise on the turn! He had me beat. There was over $110 in the pot... and I almost shit a friggin' Datsun when I caught an ace on the river for a full boat!! He wasn't pissed and was completely cool with the hand. He told me that he realized he probably should have folded... after my re-rasie all-in... with just K9o and without the nuts. I walked away soon after for a quick hit and run.

The second hand was a tough one and it happened very early in my session. It's one of my trouble hands that I'll be discussing sometime later this month. The pair of Jerkoffs. I had JJ in late position. I raised to $5. The button just called and it's headsup. The flop: 7-9-10 rainbow. I bet $10 or roughly the size of the pot. If he had a higher pair, then he would have reraised me. I put him on a middle pair 88 or AK or AQ... and I was sure I had the better hand, unless he flopped a set. He reraised me $12 and went all-in, which instantly made me think he had flopped a set and didn't want me to catch a straight or our draw him. I must say that prior to that hand, I layed down to raises and reraises on the turn from two other players at the table... so maybe he thought he could bully me with a bluff-raise. The more I thought about it, I felt he was trying to steal the pot. I called and took a deep breath. The turn & river: 3 and 2. I won the hand with a pair of Jacks. He had K8o... and just an open ended straight draw when he went all-in on the flop. Why he called a $5 preflop raise on the button with K8o is exactly why we dubbed those players... a fish. He's been tagged and I hope he tries that shit again.

I played in a $35 Qualifier to a WSoP Super Satellite. I got busted out in 151 out of 249. I played one hand and got booted. I set up the post & fold button for 50 minutes. When I finally decided to play... I saw AJs on the button with no callers. I raised the blinds and the little blind called my 5xBB bet. I flopped top pair: J-9-7. And I went all-in. He called with Q-4o and guess what? He caught a Q on the river. I was bounced. I played one hand the entire time and nimrod never respected my preflop raise. Sigh.

I hopped an a NL table to vent my frustration. I made my money back in no time and walked away with $60 in 30 minutes, winning back my buy-in. The Hilton Sisters hooked me up bigtime. I raised from the LB to make it $7. The big stack in EP called with 66. Unreal. I went all-in after a flop of 3-7-8 and he took all his time and eventually called. He even took the time to write "Let's gamble" into the chat before his time ticked down and he called. What a tool. I was pumped when I took him down. Later on, I hooked me a big fish. I raised $4 from the button with 77 and hit a crazy flop: 3-7-Q. I raised to $10 on the flop and I got one caller. I put him all-in on the turn and I beat his Q-6o. I can't believe the crap that some partyfish will call raises with.

By the way... feel free to visit my other blog, the Tao of Pauly for some comic relief. There's more to me than poker... and I get in plenty of trouble when I'm not at the tables too. I've been writing a fair amount since I got back from Las Vegas. I got pretty sloshed yesterday afternoon with Haley and some of her bourgeois cronies... and gave it my best Al Can't Hang-esque flavor to cover my Cinco De Mayo binge which I posted earlier today. I also had some interesting things going on after I went to go see Mean Girls on Monday... which was pretty freakin' hysterical. Not a teen-chick-flick like I expected. You'll laugh for sure. I explained why I went to go see that flick in a post called: Why I Saw Mean Girls... A Jedi Mind Trick Backfires. OK, that's it for now.