Huge Day Yesterday

I am just sitting down to start a session. I thought I should post because I played about 3k hands last night after I posted. Finished the day up 6k. I won 11 bi's at 3-6 and lost a bi at 2-4. Its nice to get hot at the end of the month as I haven't ran particularly well so far. I guess my tourney score at the beginning of the month makes up for running bad in cash so far. I am closing in nicely on my January goal of making $30k... looking to surpass it with a few days remaining.

- Hov

Focused

Things are going well grinding cash the last few days. I had two small winning days on Monday and Tuesday. Took Wednesday off from poker. Yesterday I played well during an afternoon session but booked a 3k loss. I wasn't to worried about the loss earlier in the day and came back to play a late night session. I ended up grinding back 2k of my days losses at 3-6. I ran really bad yesterday so I'm happy with how yesterday went money wise only losing 1k. I have been splitting my time playing cash about equally between 2-4 and 3-6 the last week. I really like playing different levels at the same time as it just allows me to table select so much better. I think it is much more profitable playing an assortment of tables at both levels rather than 8 tables of 3-6. Reason being is that there usually aren't more than 3 or 4 really soft 3-6 tables at a time. My EV (expectation) playing the softest 2-4 tables is much better than my EV playing an average 3-6 table.

I actually just got done playing a session today and I saved some hands to share with you. I ended up winning two bi's at 3-6 and one bi at 2-4.

I have been having a little trouble with Lyric this last week as he is one of the better regulars in my games and I have been playing against him a lot lately. The problem is that I have been running ice cold against him and he is running me over. He has been playing way to aggressive in general but especially in 3bet pots against me. So basically this hand was the first time all week I flopped a pair in a 3bet pot against him... http://www.pokerhand.org/?1996539

This hand was played funny and I'm not really sure what to think... let me know what you think of this hand. The guy sat like two orbits earlier and I had no read... http://www.pokerhand.org/?1996665

I almost felt bad about this hand. Not. http://www.pokerhand.org/?1996690


School went well this week... and I got a puppy with my roommates.

- Hov

Emo Grinding

Played again for most of the day yesterday. I started my session at the beginning of the stars sunday million. I ended up going deep... which sucks lol. I guess it forced me to play 4k hands of cash during the course of the tournament. I took like 180th out of 7,500 people cashing for like $1400. I lost a 700,000 coin flip to become one of the chipleaders with KQ all in preflop against 99 and 10. First place paid over 200k so I was disappointed after I busted out. I know my day will come when I run hot late in these to take one down. After winning like 2k in the cash games yesterday it pulled me to about even since the last time I posted like 3 days ago. Hopefully I can take yesterdays success and turn that into a nice prolonged heater. The 100 rebuy on stars started a few minutes ago so I'm going to rap this post up and start playing. Maybe I will even save a few hands for you guys to see.

- Hov

Poker Content

I played a late night session last night. It went very well and booked a nice win of 2.5 bi's. I feel like last night i was playing really really well. Being back in Tucson also means that I have my poker setup that I get to play on. With two huge monitors and PA hud running it really allows me to pick better spots. I generally play much looser on my computer setup in Tucson because there is no overlap etc. that you get while playing on a laptop. It just allows more time for making the correct decision and being able to see all 8 tables I'm usually playing helps too. Anyways... I feel really on top of my game after playing on laptops most of the last month. Gonna grind like 2-5k hands tonight depending on how I'm feeling.

A few days ago I played my first MSNL HU Match. Its a $1000 bi with 64 players competing in a Heads Up tournament. You can find details about the tournament here.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=95678

I won my first match against HoosierAlum. I guess he was supposed to be sick... but I easily disposed of him. The format is best of three HU matches to decide who moves on to the next round... zomg like march madness. I won the first match with bottom set. Lost the second match after whittling him down and then losing with him allin against my combo draw. Got back to even and then lost the second match with QQ v. KK all in on an undercard flop. It was a 3bet pot so it was kinda just a cooler. Won the third match with QJ on a KJJ flop against AQ. I played in this same tournament last year and finished 5th-8th. The structure of the matches are very strange with each player getting 2000 chips and the blinds are set at 5-10. This really isn't a common form of poker so I am lucky that my game adapts well to the format. I understand the game theory for this structure better than the competition and I am confident coming into my next match. All 64 players in this are online pro's and its fun because we all know each other and there is a high level of competition. Next round i play Bobbofitos. I talked to him a bit at the Turning Stone Casino a few months ago. I know he wrote a poker book for twoplustwo.com. Contact me with offers as I want to book some side action on this match. 1st place for this tournament gets 25k I think.

Lazy

I have been a bit pathetic the last few days... just waiting around for school to start. Luckily today is the end of that. I have been on campus for most of my first day of school. Right now I am posting from a computer in the library. I just finalized my class schedule for this semester a few minutes ago. Suddenly I am much more optimistic about this semester after I finished tweaking my schedule to my liking.

I'm unsure of what I'm trying to do with this blog. I feel a bit uncomfortable updating my blog with how much I have won/lost over a certain time although most of my readers enjoy it. I feel like analyzing poker hands would be very boring for most of my readers so I will also try to stay away from that. I wont be writing about my personal life either for obvious reasons. If you have any ideas for posts, questions about me, etc. e-mail me at BrettP@email.arizona.edu and I will respond accordingly.

On Pace

I am finally back in Tucson after spending a month in Washington for winter break. School starts next Wednesday so that will force me back into normal sleep schedule. After capturing a 14-0 lead a few minutes into the game yesterday the Seahawks collapsed and everything started to go wrong. My prediction couldn't have been worse and the Seahawks suffered an ugly loss.

I have been playing a decent amount poker over the last week with good results. Although I have played just half of the hands I would have liked, I am already past half way to my goal of making 30k this month. Hopefully I can put in a few really good days before school starts. I'm playing in the Sunday Million on pokerstars and maybe a few other tournaments that run. During those tournaments I will probably be 6 tabling 2-4 nl. Hopefully I have another big Sunday. I will update next time something interesting happens.

12

So this last weekend I ended up playing a lot of poker while watching all the big games. I felt like I was back living with snowbank. All we did was grind and watch TV.

The Seahawks had a very impressive victory against the sob story skins. Other than a few blunders by Matt Hasselback in the second half, the Hawks couldn't have looked much better. I will go out on a limb to say that the Seahawks have the best defense in all the land. They are very healthy coming into next Saturday and I'm expecting a big upset win against the Packers. The Seahawks are 9 point underdogs. lol

As for poker... I played 3k hands on both Saturday and Sunday. I was disappointed after I booked a 1k loss on Saturday. I had to have a huge Sunday so I booked a 6k win. All the hands were at 2-4 so 15 buy in's in 3k hands is always nice.

I am never going to post a hand where I got bad beat because that is boring. When I run hot I am going to post hands where I put huge coolers/beats on people. This happened a lot yesterday.

2 outs 175bb's deep? yesssss

POKERSTARS GAME #14377132061: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($2/$4) - 2008/01/06 - 20:34:51 (ET)
Table 'Endymion III' 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: smurf0 ($457.05 in chips)
Seat 2: brysonpare ($400 in chips)
Seat 3: Islander21 ($218.05 in chips)
Seat 4: MyNameIsHov ($814.70 in chips)
Seat 5: Tr3CooL ($705.05 in chips)
Seat 6: wader ($471 in chips)
wader: posts small blind $2
smurf0: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to MyNameIsHov [Ah As]
brysonpare: folds
Islander21: folds
MyNameIsHov: raises $8 to $12
Tr3CooL: raises $30 to $42
wader: folds
smurf0: folds
MyNameIsHov: raises $78 to $120
Tr3CooL: calls $78
*** FLOP *** [Kc 9h 5c]
MyNameIsHov: bets $160
Tr3CooL: raises $425.05 to $585.05 and is all-in
MyNameIsHov: calls $425.05
*** TURN *** [Kc 9h 5c] [8s]
*** RIVER *** [Kc 9h 5c 8s] [Ac]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
MyNameIsHov: shows [Ah As] (three of a kind, Aces)
Tr3CooL: mucks hand
MyNameIsHov collected $1413.10 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1416.10 | Rake $3
Board [Kc 9h 5c 8s Ac]
Seat 1: smurf0 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: brysonpare folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Islander21 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: MyNameIsHov showed [Ah As] and won ($1413.10) with three of a kind, Aces
Seat 5: Tr3CooL (button) mucked [9d 9c]
Seat 6: wader (small blind) folded before Flop

runner runner

POKERSTARS GAME #14378592446: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($2/$4) - 2008/01/06 - 21:41:19 (ET)
Table 'Persephone III' 6-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 2: ShayneMO ($360.10 in chips)
Seat 3: jisoo ($412.70 in chips)
Seat 4: trb68 ($133 in chips)
Seat 5: MyNameIsHov ($993.55 in chips)
Seat 6: Big_Rob_48 ($394 in chips)
MyNameIsHov: posts small blind $2
Big_Rob_48: posts big blind $4
LChaney: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to MyNameIsHov [Kc Ac]
ShayneMO: folds
jisoo: raises $8 to $12
trb68: folds
MyNameIsHov: raises $28 to $40
Big_Rob_48: folds
jisoo: calls $28
*** FLOP *** [7d 6d Kd]
MyNameIsHov: bets $50
jisoo: raises $102 to $152
MyNameIsHov: raises $801.55 to $953.55 and is all-in
jisoo: calls $220.70 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [7d 6d Kd] [As]
*** RIVER *** [7d 6d Kd As] [Ah]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
MyNameIsHov: shows [Kc Ac] (a full house, Aces full of Kings)
jisoo: mucks hand
MyNameIsHov collected $827.40 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $829.40 | Rake $2
Board [7d 6d Kd As Ah]
Seat 2: ShayneMO folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: jisoo mucked [6c 6s]
Seat 4: trb68 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: MyNameIsHov (small blind) showed [Kc Ac] and won ($827.40) with a full house, Aces full of Kings
Seat 6: Big_Rob_48 (big blind) folded before Flop

So Close

Last night I took 5th in the Wednesday Night 150k on Pokerstars. 1st was 51k so coming away with anything but a win in such a big tournament is very frustrating. The structure was very good... 20 minute levels with 150 bb starting stacks. In the money the average stack was always around 35 bb's so compared to most online tournaments there was a lot of play.

My final two hands were as followed:

(5 handed)
Folds around to SB who completes. I raise to 4x in the BB with 77. SB shoves for 18bb's total. I snap call getting like 1.75:1 and he shows JJ.

The SB was DrCaligula and we actually have some history. He is an online tournament pro but we have played a bit of 5-10 nl over the last few years against each other. My read has always been that he is a tricky lag that spews a lot... typical of most tournament players in cash games though. As for recent history he limp folded the SB to me 3-4 orbits before.

Before that hand I was 2nd in chips but I was left with 10bb's.

(5 handed)
Folds around to me in the SB and I shove for 10x with QJdd. BB calls with Ax and holds.

I was very happy with my play throughout the tournament. The only hand that I can really second guess was the 77 v. JJ hand at the final table but I felt like I was ahead of his range so I don't mind the call. When we were at the two final tables I was dominating my table and running up my stack without seeing many showdowns. Then with 14 people left i got switched to the much tougher of the two tables (major beat IMO). I had to play fairly abc and just coasted into the final table where I was 4/9. At the final table I was sandwiched between the two other pros at the table which kinda sucked as it definitely changed the table dynamics and was forced to play a style I didn't want. Seeing as I play maybe one of these tournaments a week... It is always nice to pad my cash game profits with a little score like this.

2008

One of my new years resolutions was to start keeping a blog. This blog will detail my progress as a poker player and cover my adventures as student and entrepreneur. My readers can expect two posts a week but I assume there will be weeks with 5+ and some with none. I'm headed back to Tucson on the 9th and school starts for me on the 16th. In the first half of January I plan on grinding 40-50k hands at 2-4 or 3-6. My first few weeks at school shouldn't be that tough so I want to have a big month poker wise.

Happy New Years Everyone!