Tao of Poker

Hit and Run Quads

"There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting." - Buddha

I've been busy looking for a new apartment and trying to cram for my Fantasy Football draft. I like my team's prospects more than my actual chances of finding a moderately priced apartment that's just a tad wider than the dirt hole Saddam Hussein crawled out of last year. Pressed for time, I had a few quickie sessions on Party Poker over the last few days. The other night, I played with Ugarte for a little bit on the NL ring tables. He saw me take down a pot with AA on the button. I flopped an ace and got one guy to push his chips all in.

This past week, I was issuing bad beats more frequently than the L.A.P.D. on a muggy summer night. I cracked AK with AQ when I flopped top pair, top kicker and some guy pushed his stack all in with Big Slick. That was the first hand I posted when I sat down! Nothing's cooler than doubling up right away. I also bad beated a dude holding suited Slick when I caught a river straight after he flopped two pair. He tried to slow play and foolishly let me catch my Queen. Nothing's cooler than watching your four outer spike the nuts on the turn, aside from the moments after your opponent to pushes his stack all in with two pair and you hear those cheesy Party Poker fireworks going off celebrating your win.

Yesterday afternoon, I cracked pocket aces when I flopped quads with JJ. He pushed his stack all in with a board: 6JJ. It wasn't pretty after he saw the result. He berated me for a full orbit before I turned his chat off. I was going to limp in with the Jerkoffs, and made a loose call on the raise. Of course I would have folded if I knew he had aces. I'd love to crack Phil Helmuth's AA in a WPT event, with the assistance of the Hilton Sisters, only to flop quads, send Vince Van Patten spinning off his chair, and slow playing Helmuth's whiney ass to the river. I'd crack a smile while I stacked up his chips while he berated me for not folding to his substantial raise preflop.

Stud Boy

Congrats to Felicia for taking third in a big Stud event at the Four Queens. Inspired, I went slumming at the low limit Stud tables. I fared pretty well in a short hit and run session taking in a nice 40BB in an hour against a table of calling stations that don't understand how to fold. After two sets of mine were cracked after I was beat on seventh street straights on consecutive hands, I won most of my horde back on two quick hands. The first one was uglier than Ricki Lake's baby pictures. I caught a straight on seventh street after I chased one of my six outs all the way down. The second one was pretty. I was dealt 99/J. I caught my set on fourth street in a five way pot. I checked then called a bet. By sixth street, I hit quad 9s. One guy raised the pot with xx/Qc10c5c7d and chased everyone out. I raised, and he reraised and it was capped. On the river I assumed he got his flush. I led out with the betting and we reraised each other until it was capped. He caught his flush on the river, and I took down a monster pot. Great session for me. I originally started as stud player in college and it wasn't until I moved to Seattle and went to a few casinos out there that I was introduced to Texas Hold'em. People play too loose and think top pair is a decent hand on seventh street with other people showing possible straights and flushes.

I never hit Quads twice in a day... in two different games. I flopped quads last week in an Omaha hi/lo SNG.

Party Tournaments

I played in a two $20 multi table tournaments this week. The first one, I came in 636th out of 1612 when I flopped top two pair with KQs and lost to 88's set. First place paid $6400+. Yesterday morning, I took 334th place out of 930. First place got $3800+. I lost when my 88 ran into KK.

I took a shot at a $10 SNG Aussie Qualifier in one of the tighter tables I've played with in a very long time. There were 9 players going into Level 7. I came in 5th when I was short stacked and moved al in with K4, losing to K6.

I finally cracked my cold streak of bubbling out of $30 SNGs with a win. I was up very early when someone went all in with an A on the board when I was holding AK and raised the pot preflop. He had A9s. I blew a huge chip lead when it was three way and was down to my last T800. I stormed back and won it all, with the help of some river suckouts and winning those coinflips. That was a fun SNG, it was all over the place when it was three way... everyone had the chiplead at some point and no one could knock anyone out when they were shortstacked.

I continued my futility at the Omaha hi/lo tables with another crappy 5th place finish in an SNG. I'll find some more time to play Omaha and a few more tournaments this weekend.

Crush Your Bookie

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