$60k in 60 days -- Days 32 & 33

[Schneids]

Day Thirty Two (June 13) -- 06.14.04, 00:44

Today was yet another busy day, and totally awesome in every regard of the word. I did manage to get a 30 minute session in before leaving the house for a graduation open house, and pulled $1249.50. After returning home I got another 30-minute session in and won $754.50, before again leaving to go play 2.5 hours of basketball in the park. This was immediately followed by 2.5 hours of volleyball at a friend's house. I got home at 9:45 and showered, finally prepared and ate a dinner, did a little posting, then played poker for another hour tonight and won $1089 before deciding I need to call it a night since I'm so sore and tired from my physically enduring day. That's a $3093 day with 2-hours of playing for me! The day would be perfect if only Minnesota wasn't actually the land of 10,000,000 mosquito breeding sites. Volleyball after dark -- although very fun -- is hard to do around here because the mosquitoes are so damn annoying as soon as the sun gets anywhere close to the horizon.

Now that I actually have a few minutes to type, I want to pose a question that has been on my mind a lot recently: to what extent should I feel morally relinquished of responsibility in others' lives? Specifically relating to poker, should I feel bad knowing that every day that I play there is a very realistic chance I am winning money off of at least one person who absolutely cannot afford to lose it? I know that by playing poker all participants accept the risk associated with the game and have made a choice to play it despite said risks. In reality, however, most pathologically addicted gamblers lose control over their willpower to say no to poker (or other forms of gambling) to some degree, and do not really "choose" to engage in the activity consciously. It's so sad seeing someone bust at the table, sit idly for 10 minutes, return with something like $300 more, and repeat this process at least once a week. Does anyone else picture this person sitting in front of his computer, frazzled and frustrated with his "bad luck," at first saying to himself, "alright, that was the last time ever," then fervently changing his mind and typing his credit card number in and snowballing losses that he will never be able to repay? It's a tough topic of poker with no easy answer.

Ok. Back to today's regularly scheduled program. It's so easy to play this game when every time you get a freeplay from your BB with hands like T3o and flop two pair, or almost all of your pocket pairs flop sets, and people are paying you off when you hit but folding when you miss.

My short sessions today were clinics on value bets and raises. I've wanted to work on these even more on the turn and river, and produced some positive results in doing so: 2 folds, and I raise AcQc, and the BB defends. Qd3c5h flop; check, I bet, call. Turn Js; same action. River 6s; BB bets, I raise, and BB calls with Qs9c. Pretty simple, though it's very important to recognize which players will play top pair like this when HU and bet out on the river to ensure the PFR doesn't check it down.

In this hand, I've started doing the following on the turn often. A lot of times I'm right, but this time I wasn't: I open raise AdAh in the CO, button cold calls, and we're HU. QdJh9s flop; I bet, call. Turn 7c; I bet, raise, I 3-bet, CO caps, I know I'm in trouble and call. River As; I bet, CO calls. I had 3-bet TPTK on the turn against a different opponent earlier in this session, so, I feared CO would check the river if I bet, plus if I check raise I don't really like a 3-bet because then KT becomes a very real possibility; therefore, I do believe betting the river with the intentions of calling a raise might be most correct.

A small leak in my game I've been trying to work on more is not paying off raises in spots where it seems very likely I'm beat. Unfortunately for me, today I mucked a winner (an extreme rarity for me!): UTG+1 limp, I complete in SB with As3d, BB checks. 3s9h3h flop; I bet, both call. Turn Th; I bet, BB calls, UTG+1 raises, both call. River Kc; I check, BB checks, UTG+1 bets, I call, BB check raises, UTG+1 calls, and I muck. The final board was 3s9h3hThKc, and I just couldn't find a way where BB could play a hand like this and not be beating me. In particular, it smelled like QJ. In any event, BB had Qh3c and UTG+1 had Td9s. I felt piturbed about mucking the winner here, so I made a poll in the HU/SH forum asking what others would do on the river. At the time I type this it looks like somewhere between 2/3 to 3/4 of people feel this is a call on the river. The rest prefer fold and a few like raise. In all honesty, I can see a (weak) case that could be made for raise but only if the river was not a king or some other card that completes a straight.

My final hand is a sign of running well, and more importantly, involves an **interesting** decision on the river. The button, who is a favorite maniac of mine, open limps, I raise from my SB with AcTc, BB 3-bets, button caps, all call. Flop AhTh6s; I bet, BB raises, button 3-bets, I cap, both call. Turn Td; I bet, BB raises, button 3-bets, I cap, both call. River Qd; I bet, BB raises (and only has $8 left), button 3-bets (leaving him with $5.50 left), I call, and BB calls all in. BB had AdKh and button had As8d, and my hand was obviously good. So now, back to the river choice of NOT taking the last few dollars off button... I really, really wanted him to stay at this table. I was willing to give up $5 for the slim, slim chance he'd be able to double up a lot of times and get something of a stack going again. I had the best seat in the house against him, so, as I said I was willing to give up $5 in hopes of him making a miraculous comeback. He did get up to $23, but was unable to build anything back from there.

Anyway, it looks like another somewhat early bedtime for me, tomorrow should be at least a 5 hour day worth of playing, if not 6-8.

Total for Day 32: $3093
Goal to date after 32 days: $25,005.74/$60,000


Day Thirty Three (June 14) -- 06.15.04, 11:19

Yesterday was another laidback day, with a little bit of playing in the afternoon, and a lot of playing at night. During the day I finally watched one of those DVDs I bought, and I've been trying to decide which ones to buy this week... Best Buy and Circuit City have some pretty nice deals going on right now. At three for $20 from Best Buy, I think I'm going to get A Few Good Men, We Were Soldiers, and My Cousin Vinny. Circuit City has a large amount of very watchable movies at two for $15, and right now I'm deliberating between The Godfather (well, I'm definitely getting this one), Forrest Gump (same), and two of the four of The Italian Job, Tommy Boy, The Water Boy, and Traffic... That is, unless later I decide to just get all four of those.

I continued to run well early on. In my first session, I was up $405.50 in an hour, and later I got another fifteen minutes in up $40. The night was a different story, as I played 4.5 hours and lost $1,089.50. It was one of those sessions where it felt like every single time I missed flops, someone was taking a shot at me and giving me tough decisions, and every time I hit the flop everyone immediately got out of the way. There was an interesting afterthought to this night though, since Gonores was able to finally hook up a HU match on a private table with my number one favorite opponent of all time. I watched this for awhile, while trying unsuccessfully to get myself to start a journal while watching.

After awhile, Gonores was surprisingly down a little and wanted to call it quits since they'd been going at it for a little while and wanted sleep (plus he's a skirt wearer that cannot handle a late night!), and lucky for me my Number One willingly obliged in allowing me to continue the HU match! He got off to an early lead, I think around $400 while I struggled to hit any cards and he was managing to pull hands out of his ass. This continued, and I slowly came back while taking advantage of his over aggression and mixing it up extremely well. As my luck would have it though, Empire decided they didn't want the match to continue, at the point I was up $272 in the match... I wanted to check my buddy list at a time I thought was well-between hands being dealt, and in doing that it caused me to get disconnected from the private table. James was watching, and said this guy bolted the second Empire removed me from the table. We both think he was scared and really did not want to continue, but also had too much pride to do anything but stay at the table as long as I did.

I was able to log back on and found my foe at another table, and twice asked him if we were going to continue our match. He never responded (which is rare for him since he's usually a chatterbox at the table). So, I sat in his table. It got down to three-handed, and he picked up and left at the point the third guy at the table only had $40. Obviously, my fishy now fears me HU (where as 2 minutes into our HU match he told me it was a losing proposition for me to play him)! I continued playing on this one table after he left for about 30 minutes and saw myself swing from even to minus $650 to back to up $49. So, that leaves me down $323 on the day with 6.75 hours of play.

Some hands, it feels like I close my eyes as I make a raise and hope for the best. One of those I limped UTG with AhAs. I was 3-way against the two blinds, to see a Qs6s4h flop. SB bet, both call. Turn 2h; SB bet, BB raises, I 3-bet, SB folds, BB calls. Phew, I know I'm not against 53 now. River Ts; check, I bet, call and win against Qh9c.

Usually in poor sessions (such as my night-cap last night), there are a couple of hands that are essentially "session-killers." I can pinpoint this hand as one of them, since at this point of my session last night I was up around $200, and after this hand my night went into a constant freefall. UTG calls, two posters check, I raise from the button with AdKc, SB folds, BB 3-bets, all call but one poster until I cap, all call. Ah5cQd flop, BB checks, UTG bets, 1 fold, I raise, SB folds, UTG calls. UTG then check calls a 3d turn and Jh river and beats me with his Qc3c and turned two pair.

The following hand is perhaps the most fun I've had in a hand all week: I raise UTG with KdJd, and it's folded around to the BB who calls and has been bemoaning his bad luck to everyone at the table. 8s5s3s flop; check, I bet, BB raises, I 3-bet, BB calls. Turn Kh; BB bets, I call. River 6s; BB bets, I raise, BB pauses and uses up most of the time on his clock while managing to type into the chat "unreal" and "u lucky [censored]," and then folds. Two pair, a set, or a baby flopped flush I'll never know, but I'm pretty certain it was one of those three since this guy on the overall whole wasn't clowny and was capable of making a lay down (especially when "all the idiots were catching cards" against him).

The final hand makes me feel like I exude immense power when I'm at the table... Really. UTG limps, I raise UTG+1 with AdTc, and end up HU with UTG. 8c3c3s flop; check, I bet, call. Turn Ac; check, I check. River Ts; bet, I raise, and UTG calls with 7c5c. I love it when the any two suiteds hit their flush, yet fear me so much that they cannot come close to maximizing their return when they finally hit that flush they’ve been playing all day for! Yeah, it was a borderline river raise but at the time I guess I must have thought there was some positive EV to it.

Total for Day 33: -$323
Goal to date after 33 days: $24,682.74/$60,000

[MRBAA]

Other people's losses aren't your concern, although most of us feel bad for people who gamble too much. It's not in your control. If you don't believe me, try telling a sick gambler at your table in a live game that they should get help. You're a lot more likely to get back a 'fuuck you' than a 'thank you'.

[Schneids]

Intro/Day 1
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Day 28/Mulligan
Day 30/31

[ChicagoTroy]

You can't control other people's behavior, but it certainly says good things about you that you think about this. I suppose you could draw a comparison to something like Budweiser, since they sell a product that's OK when used responsibly.

On the other hand, it's also a little bit like the bartender or liquor store owner selling booze to somebody who's already wasted. There's a very real amount of responsibility on the person who does that.

Here's what I'd suggest, since poker sites claim to monitor for signs of compulsive gambling. If you see somebody engaging in what looks like CG behavior, notify the website. The person involved would actually BENEFIT from you being at their table, and you can keep your conscience clear.

[IlliniRyRy]

Schneids,

I didn't understand what you were saying about your HU match and how Empire didn't want it to continue. Why not? This whole story around your "favorite player" is foreign to me, could you explain? Really curious....

[gonores]

[ QUOTE ]

After awhile, Gonores was surprisingly down a little and wanted to call it quits since they'd been going at it for a little while and wanted sleep (plus he's a skirt wearer that cannot handle a late night!),

[/ QUOTE ]

Let's not pull punches here. I was playing my way through an all-day hangover, I didn't have my A game, and this opponent, though terrible, has a game that is better for HU than it is for a 6handed game. As an aside to James282 - my opponent did a very decent job of changing gears, especially with his top pairs, and he sniffed out a ton of my attempted checkraises. I have no one to blame but myself...my review of the match confirms that I have become complacent about my HU game, and my poker game in general. I'm not sure if it's the new ADD meds I'm on, or the move to Madison, or the pressure of going pro, but I just seem to be looking for too many easy answers with those standard, unnoticed, small-pot sort of hands. Meh. I went to bed completely demoralized...hopefully last night was my rock bottom. It was a $850 loss that should have, at the very least, been a $500 loss.

I'm glad you got a chance to work him over for a little. Hopefully, he will be around long enough to let me get a chance to take advantage of my fish image with him...I'm not sure how I'm gonna take advantage of it, but mark my words...it's not over yet.

[ QUOTE ]
It's a tough topic of poker with no easy answer.


[/ QUOTE ]

The easy answer: F*uck 'em. Whether they do or do not have a problem, there are many people who are a lot more deserving of your sympathy than them. Look at the opportunities to do good that poker has afforded you. Right now, you could easily cut back to an hour of play every day and spend the rest of your time helping kids, invalids, war vets, etc. And if you didn't take it, someone else would...those guys would stop at nothing to lose their dough.

Sigh...I'm rambling and not really adding value to this board right now. I'm gonna stop, get some more sleep, and figure out what the hell it is I need to do to get out of my rut.

[Scorpion]

I don't know if you have said, but what levels do you play?

[Schneids]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't know if you have said, but what levels do you play?

[/ QUOTE ]

10/20 6-max. If tonight goes like this afternoon's session, I might try some 15/30 full just for a change of pace.

[Schneids]

Doug, you know you've helped my game develop as much as anyone. My late-night comment was in jest.

In all honesty there really was no way for you to win against him last night. The cards were too unevenly distributed. Maybe you think you could have played better, and maybe it's true. But the fact of the matter is you are significantly better than him at HU, and you lost because sometimes that happens. Especially with Party's backwards blinds. Especially when you play one match for less than an hour. Especially when your opponent has reckless aggression and hits some hands. The fact is your win-rate HU is impressive and just due to how you're running you'll lose some matches. So keep the head up (har har) and don't beat yourself over how you've been running lately.

But then, I know you know all this. I'll be your ear if things continue to go bad any longer I know you've been there for me plenty dude -- so use me.

[Ulysses]

Get a room.