Posts Tagged ‘PCA’

I’m embarrassed to say that I’d never heard of Praz before I played with him during this year’s PCA, but I could tell immediately that he was a great player. He has this intense table presence that you rarely see, where you can tell he is studying everything that happens at the table, considering all of his options, and fighting for every pot he possibly can. Getting involved in a pot with him was intimidating, so it was no surprise how many blinds he was able to steal.

Like I say, I’m embarrassed I hadn’t heard of him, because it’s clear to me that he’s soon going to be recognized as a top-tier player. He final tabled the most recent WSOP Europe and now has won his second bracelet in a huge field $1500 NLHE tournament. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Praz, but hopefully not at my tables.

One month into 2010, it’s time to review my progress towards my Yearly Resolutions.

Goal 1: Average 15 Hours/Week Playing My “Regular” Games

I’ve found that 15 hours/week enables me to earn a pretty healthy income, far more than I could make at any real job I could get, without impeding too much on my lifestyle.

I consider my regular games to be anywhere from 2/4 NL to 50/100 NL as well as big tournaments like the Sunday Majors, the FTOPS, and the WCOOP; time spent playing any of these will count towards my goal.

Slightly ahead of pace: I played about 70 hours this month, not counting a few hours spent in smaller stakes games and the PLO8 tournament at the PCA.

Goal 2: Earn $X in NLHE Cash Games  Read the complete post...

Here’s a few miscellaneous hands I made notes to post about. These first two were from my first night here, at $5/$10 NLHE, and the last one was from today in a pretty nitty $10/$25 game with a couple tough players.

River Check-Raise

Two limpers, I complete J6s in the SB, BB checks. Flop KJ6, all diamonds. I bet $35, the first limper raises to $75, the other players fold, and I call.

Turn 5d, we both check.

River Jc, I check, he bets $150, I raise to $550, he pays me off.

Slowishroll

Two limpers, I raise to $65 with 88 in MP and get 3 calls. Flop 458 rainbow, I bet $200 into a $275 pot, one of the limpers calls and the others fold.

Turn J, he check-calls $400.  Read the complete post...

100/200, very young kid in CO opens to 450, I call with Js 9s in SB, relatively bad German calls in the BB. Flop Q c Tc 5s. I consider leading out but decide to check, and we check it through. Turn is a blank, I bet 750, BB raises to 2K, CO folds, I think a long time and call with about 6K behind. River is the Ac, I shove pretty quickly, he folds disgustedly.

100/200, aggressive and very good guy raises to 450 UTG, I call next to act with Ac7c, same young kid from before calls in BB. Flop 7h 4h 2c. Checks to me, I bet 400, kid calls, original raiser folds. Turn 9c, kid checks, I bet 1100, he raises to 3500 with about 10K behind. After considerable thought, I call. river 9d, he bets 3500 pretty quickly, I call, he shows something random like Qd6d.  Read the complete post...

Playing in a pretty nitty 10/25 NL. UTG straddles for $50, gets two calls, I make it $275 to go with 7s 5s on my BB. Straddle folds, other two call. I’m playing about 7K, they both cover. Flop Qs 5d 5h. I bet $750, first player folds, the other one calls.

Turn is the 2s. With the deck crushed and my opponent’s stack in my sights, bet sizing is important here. I’m thinking he can have four types of hands:

a) Float/total air- Almost certainly folding to any bet, and not factoring into my decision.

b) Trips or better- Money’s probably going in no matter what, so doesn’t matter.

c) One pair Queens or better- Probably not folding but not raising either. I think he’ll pay off with these on the river for anything up to a pot-sized bet.  Read the complete post...

After two hours of 5/10 NL this evening, I was up about $800. By my rough count, I’d voluntarily put money into the pot 16 times, won 13 of those pots, and saw exactly 1 showdown. I was going to leave at the next time collection, but then I played a pot where four people limped over a straddle of my big blind, and I made it $140 to go with absolute certainty that, even if they recognized what I was doing, none of these guys was going to do anything about it other than maybe call and then fold any flop that misses them, which is actually even better for me than if they just fold pre-flop. Sure enough, one dude called and folded the flop. “Well,” I thought to myself, “if they’re just going to give it away, maybe I’ll stick around.”  Read the complete post...

Ever since reading Tommy Angelo’s excellent Elements of Poker, I’ve been working on keeping calm and focused while playing live poker. This is no mean feat: the pace is glacial and the company grating. There are a million reasons to zone out, wander around, or get annoyed with someone. My mother, a yoga instructor, recently gave me a Thich Nhat Hanh book, and that, combined with Angelo’s advice, which itself draws largely on the famous Buddhist scholar, gave me some things to work on at the table. Specifically, both advise focusing on your breathing as a way to stay calm and conscious in the present moment.

As I say, I’ve been working on this for a while, and on Day 1 of the PCA, I felt like I was doing it about as well as I ever have. I was a statue, sitting placidly at the table, back straight, hands in my lap, slowly and deliberately breathing in and out.  Read the complete post...

First hand of the day, I raise to 2500 UTG+2 with AKs. Older guy in the CO takes a minute to eye up my stack and think, then shoves some ridiculous amount like 35K. I’m pretty sure he has AQ, because of the hands he would monkey-ship, it’s the only he’s most likely to have to think about (AK/JJ he probably shoves a lot faster).

I’m equally sure he’s going to get there. Sure enough, dealer opesn the flop and it’s Q32 with one spade. Turn and river blank off and finished.