Interesting week to be honest. I will jump to some poker stuff first. Been playing on Black Chip Poker on-line. Can't get money on there because now they take no credit cards and I'm not doing Western Union. So, been playing some free rolls and such to try and get so I am playing for money that way eventually. Tough row to hoe! Playing several Punta Cana tournaments which if I finish in the top 5 I get an entry into another $1.10 Punta Cana tournament and if I win that one I get an entry into the $5.50 Punta Cana tournament; I have made it that far as I won one of the entry events and then on my 2nd try I won a $1.10 event. I haven't played the $5.50 event yet, but I believe that just moves me up to a larger dollar event. I am hoping at some point this leads to some real money...the poker in these events is pretty mediocre, so barring bad luck, which I have certainly experienced, one should be able to move on through. I have also been playing a $200 free roll that "hands" out real cash without much luck; it moves much faster and while the play is worse the variance is much higher. I played the PL Omaha event and much like PL Omaha I got my money in good with the nut straight on the turn only to lose to a full house on the river...sigh...but alas, it is fun and hopefully I will see some further progress soon.
As to being conflicted, I find that as I advance in age things get complicated. People get intertwined in your life and then something happens and you have to untangle that "intertwining." I don't want to be specific here but I have several situations that have come up this week that have really put me in the middle of things that I don't want to be in the middle of. It's hard not to take sides and it's hard to keep people happy. I don't have an answer for it. Sometimes I know one side is right but I'm still "intertwined" with the other side which leaves me in a difficult situation with difficult decisions to make. Like next spring, I want to play softball, but there's a situation where my best friend on the team may not be asked to play...I'm not going to play if that happens, but is that fair to either of us? Yeah, yeah, I hear you people out there saying that I need to retire anyway, but, hey, I have a blast playing. Maybe they will come to their senses and realize they need a pitcher...I don't know, that's not even the most annoying/serious of the issues this week, but it's the only one I can share.
I went to my first basketball meeting last night in preparation for the upcoming HS basketball season. I am a basketball official if you have forgotten. It was interesting. The points of emphasis are on elbows and excessive contact. At this point, the powers that be are trying to turn basketball into a non-contact sport. I understand that there are too many fights and too many head injuries, but c'mon this game was meant to be a physical game in some instances. When I played, you got real physical with your opponent and then shook hands afterwards. You respected the fact that they didn't back down. Also, there weren't many cheap shots; it was clean, hard basketball. Now...sigh...it's just not the same anymore, but I still love officiating basketball and being part of the game I love. Hopefully, in some small way, I make the game better while I am on the court.
Thanks for reading follower(s)!
Bum
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
I folded the nuts, etc.
Hey "All"
The Poker League got together Saturday to play two tournaments: Pot Limit Omaha and No Limit Hold'em. We played Omaha first. I was involved in several interesting hands but will go over a few.
First hand: I have AA7x, 2 hearts. It's early, so the blinds are 25/50 (we start with 5000) and there are 6 people seeing the flop. I did not raise because this early in the tournament most people will call anyway and I don't want to create a big pot at this point in the tournament when my aces may very well be worthless after the flop (this is a 10-person tournament); obviously, as the blinds increase and the number of players decrease, then I become much more aggressive with AA in Omaha.
Flop: A 9 J (two hearts): pot is 300 before any betting. Checked to me. I'm way ahead here. I bet 200. 2 callers.
Turn: K (not a heart): Yippee...pot is 900 before any betting. I check. Lefty bets 600 and Buffy calls; I sigh on the inside and call; I still have outs afterall and I'm getting 3.5 to 1 on my money with the nut flush draw and full house and quad draws.
River: shit (not a heart): this sucks...Pot is 2700 before any betting...I don't know how the betting went but Lefty bet, Buffy called after trying to figure out how his nuts could get beat and I folded quickly. Nothing I could really do here, it's just PL Omaha and that is just the way it is; extremely volatile game.
So, then I end up a bit short, but I turn it around partly on one huge bluff on a straight board where I just had a pair of 2's and the other guy had 2 pair. 2 pair suck in Omaha and with a straight staring you in the face it is tough to call. I had a pretty good read on him and if he called I was going to be amazed.
Later in the tournament we were down to 3 players and I was probably the big stack by then and getting bigger all the time.
My Hand: A 8 9 10. Blinds are 400/800 I think. The dealer folded and I called; BB checked. I had been raising a lot so I just tried to sneak in here.
Flop: A A 7. Check, Check.
Turn: 9: Yahtzee right? Not so fast. 1600 in the pot before any betting. I bet 1200. He bets pot which makes it 2800 for me to call and when I look at his stack, I know it's either all in or fold...you say "fold? You have the nuts!" Yeah, yeah, but I was overthinking and not thinking at the same time. I knew I had 3 aces and I knew I had a straight draw. However, I did not connect that my 9 that would help me with a straight also made me a boat...I asked if he would show. "Sure." I folded after convincing myself that he had a boat, making my straight draw worthless and he flips A 4 5 Q...I say "nice hand," a little annoyed that he didn't have the boat but had a higher kicker than me...The dealer looks at my hand and says, "You just folded the nuts!"
Well, the good news is that I eventually won the Omaha tournament and I have won 4 of the 5 Omaha tournaments we have played this year. Wow, I have never done that before and next month we play PL Omaha 8 which can be much more confusing than just standard Omaha. I hate making that mistake, but I think I learned from it and it certainly added to the fun of the evening.
It's 9/11; Let us never forget!
Bum
The Poker League got together Saturday to play two tournaments: Pot Limit Omaha and No Limit Hold'em. We played Omaha first. I was involved in several interesting hands but will go over a few.
First hand: I have AA7x, 2 hearts. It's early, so the blinds are 25/50 (we start with 5000) and there are 6 people seeing the flop. I did not raise because this early in the tournament most people will call anyway and I don't want to create a big pot at this point in the tournament when my aces may very well be worthless after the flop (this is a 10-person tournament); obviously, as the blinds increase and the number of players decrease, then I become much more aggressive with AA in Omaha.
Flop: A 9 J (two hearts): pot is 300 before any betting. Checked to me. I'm way ahead here. I bet 200. 2 callers.
Turn: K (not a heart): Yippee...pot is 900 before any betting. I check. Lefty bets 600 and Buffy calls; I sigh on the inside and call; I still have outs afterall and I'm getting 3.5 to 1 on my money with the nut flush draw and full house and quad draws.
River: shit (not a heart): this sucks...Pot is 2700 before any betting...I don't know how the betting went but Lefty bet, Buffy called after trying to figure out how his nuts could get beat and I folded quickly. Nothing I could really do here, it's just PL Omaha and that is just the way it is; extremely volatile game.
So, then I end up a bit short, but I turn it around partly on one huge bluff on a straight board where I just had a pair of 2's and the other guy had 2 pair. 2 pair suck in Omaha and with a straight staring you in the face it is tough to call. I had a pretty good read on him and if he called I was going to be amazed.
Later in the tournament we were down to 3 players and I was probably the big stack by then and getting bigger all the time.
My Hand: A 8 9 10. Blinds are 400/800 I think. The dealer folded and I called; BB checked. I had been raising a lot so I just tried to sneak in here.
Flop: A A 7. Check, Check.
Turn: 9: Yahtzee right? Not so fast. 1600 in the pot before any betting. I bet 1200. He bets pot which makes it 2800 for me to call and when I look at his stack, I know it's either all in or fold...you say "fold? You have the nuts!" Yeah, yeah, but I was overthinking and not thinking at the same time. I knew I had 3 aces and I knew I had a straight draw. However, I did not connect that my 9 that would help me with a straight also made me a boat...I asked if he would show. "Sure." I folded after convincing myself that he had a boat, making my straight draw worthless and he flips A 4 5 Q...I say "nice hand," a little annoyed that he didn't have the boat but had a higher kicker than me...The dealer looks at my hand and says, "You just folded the nuts!"
Well, the good news is that I eventually won the Omaha tournament and I have won 4 of the 5 Omaha tournaments we have played this year. Wow, I have never done that before and next month we play PL Omaha 8 which can be much more confusing than just standard Omaha. I hate making that mistake, but I think I learned from it and it certainly added to the fun of the evening.
It's 9/11; Let us never forget!
Bum
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