Sorry that I haven’t updated in a while, poker has been kind of up and down this month. I’m up $300 or so online but down $645 in live play. We took a trip to the HSBC earlier in the month. I saw lots of the same weak tight regulars and ran into a plethora of calling stations and over aggro bullies. Playing overly aggressive tables isn’t my forte’ and I dumped 2 buyins in a little under 6 hours. I finally got all $90 of the money that I had left with me into the middle on a big combo draw. The pot was huge but I ran into a bigger FD who ended up making a pair on the river to beat my turned pair.

As for online play, my graph looks like the Andes mountain range since I’m having the hardest time beating 50NL consistently. I’m crushing 100NL at a 17BB/100 rate over >700 hands, but that’s just taking shots. I think that I’m playing more cautiously on my shots and am not making the stupid errors that I am at 50NL. Take this hand for example that I played this afternoon:


POKERSTARS GAME #16166664151: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.25/$0.50) - 2025/03/22 - 13:45:35 (ET)
Universal pokerstars Poker HH Converter Tool from TwoRags.com

SB ($47.95 in chips)
BB ($38 in chips)
UTG ($72.50 in chips)
UTG+1 ($61.25 in chips)
MP ($10.45 in chips)
MP+1 ($26.40 in chips)
Hero (CO) ($49.50 in chips)
BTN ($64.90 in chips)
SB: posts small blind $0.25, BB: posts big blind $0.50

PRE-FLOP:
Dealt to Hero [K Q]
UTG: calls $0.50, UTG+1: folds, MP: folds, MP+1: calls $0.50, Hero: raises $2.50 to $3, BTN: folds, SB: folds, BB: folds, UTG: calls $2.50, MP+1: folds

FLOP: [9 4 K]
UTG: checks, Hero: bets $5, UTG: calls $5

TURN: [9 4 K] [6]
UTG: checks, Hero: bets $12.50, UTG: calls $12.50

RIVER: [9 4 K 6] [6]
UTG: bets $2, Hero: raises $27 to $29 and is all-in, UTG: calls $27

RESULTS:
Total pot $100.25 | Rake $3
Board [9 4 K 6 6]
UTG showed [K A] and won ($97.25) with two pair, Kings and Sixes, Hero showed [K Q] and lost with two pair, Kings and Sixes

The guy was 28/2/1, what’s he calling w/ here that I beat? I put him on a FD and still shoved it!

I think my problems now are mostly psychological. I’m running on autopilot a lot because I’ve started playing just to earn the Goldstar bonus (which I should hit by the middle of next month.) I’m stacking off too light, which is a strategy that worked wonders at Bodog but just isn’t feasible at Pokerstars. I’ve still got this hubris problem that plagues me. I expect to win by default and I expect people to put their money in bad against me. This expectation causes me to get upset at 3bettors and makes me want to throw things when my A-Ko gets ck/raised on a Jack high flop. I will definitely have to get adjusted to the 3betting since I plan to move up soon, and I really feel that I am a good player that isn’t playing his A-game right now and isn’t fully engaged mentally.

I did find and plug some leaks earlier in the month. Both in live play and on the Internet I was making too many cbets and wasn’t allowing worse hands to bluff or catch up. I worked w/ Threads13 from 2+2 and read some stickied articles about the subject and figured out that 100% Cbets was just too much. Firing 100% of the time worked at 25NL for a 6.67 BB/100 win rate, but has caused me mental anguish at 50NL. Cbetting on missed flops should be first villain dependent and second board dependent. Some people just don’t fold to cbets that often and a lot of players recognize the fact that a paired flop has probably missed everyone!

Also, Cbetting when you hit also needs to be judiciously done. I was always of the opinion that checking the flop w/ top set on a dry board was a rather obvious play that indicated that you held that exact hand. I bet the flop when I crushed the board every time because Cbetting was what I did. After some coaching I’m now trying to recognize when I’ve got a good lock on the hand and can squeeze out some value from a worse hand. I’ve learned that some people interpret a flop check as weakness and not the nutz. I’ve started extracting good values with this new mentality and feel that it shored up some big leaks in my game that were getting exploited by the 50NL regs.

I guess that’s it for now, I know it’s vague but it hit the highs and lows. A big shout out to Edmond for closing on his big card room deal last month. If you haven’t checked out his blog lately then you need to see what “the man” is doing. Hopefully, I’ll get my graph out for March right after the 1st, until then, I’m bailing water and pluggin leaks!

February turned out poorly. I was having a decent month then I decided to take a shot at 200NL under sub-optimal conditions. I quickly dumped 1.5 buyins and then proceeded to lose several more buyins at my normal stakes of 50NL. I dropped down to 25NL and proceeded to win 6.5 buyins which got me up to over 20 buyins for 50NL again, but the momentum didn’t hang around and I have been stagnant to losing ever since. I had KK 6x on the 28th and ran into AA 2x and lost to sets and a flopped str8 on some of the others. When the 2nd strongest starting hand can’t hold up for you when you are dealt it 6x, then you are destined to lose money. Crap, I had AA get 4 bet by K-Jo. I smooth called with position to trap him into another bet, and of course he flops the joint on me.

Enough whinning, Feb turned out like this:



($73.92) at FRNL - Lost $325.90 taking a shot at 200NL
+$10.00 in FT bonus
+$0.46 in Rakeback (just opened a new UB account, one session)
+$8.80 at HORSE
Total, ($54.66)

I could have squeaked out a winning month for Feb, but I got one outted when my top set ran into middle set. We got it all in on the flop and the villain proceeded to turn quads. Still though, I haven’t had a losing month since Sept and losing $55 isn’t so bad when you look at it in comparison to my wins.

I started March off on Saturday by winning one buyin at 50NL, but that got erased last night when I dropped $80. Apparently my Aces are auto losses against KK no matter when the money goes in. Also, TPTK is no good against J-2s in a raised pot. The villain defended his BB, flopped bottom pair then turn trips on me. I never put him on a deuce of any kind, but it cost me $10 or $15.

In general, I feel that I’m running bad and subsequently that I have started making more mistakes. Hopefully, I can get these leaks plugged and get back to some winning ways.

March Goals:
Earn bonus + rakeback on my new UB account
Maintain Goldstar on Pokerstars
Make $1k online
Make a trip to the casino to take some easy money from the live donks
Find and plug some leaks

Theory: He who controls the initiative, controls the hand.

If no player makes a good hand or a decent hand on the flop, turn or river, what determines who wins said hand? Initiative

What do I mean by Initiative?
Initiative is what wins the pot until a real poker hand is made that can rightfully claim said pot.

Always ask yourself when you are getting ready to enter a pot: Who has the upper hand (by being the aggressor) and who is in the position of having to make a hand?

“If you constantly call other people’s raises, you will always be at a disadvantage (regardless of their cards.) Also, if you are making them call you, they will always be at a disadvantage.” – Doyle Brunson (though I may be wrong on the quoter here)

I would like to theorize that initiative is a key weapon of a successful poker player. Looking at initiative as a weapon to be wielded, then we, as poker players, must learn to use initiative. We need to recognize when our opponents have the initiative and also to let our opponents think that they have the initiative when we hold a pot controlling hand. Sometimes we need to push the initiative ourselves and sometimes we need to relinquish the initiative to an over aggressive opponent who will stab himself in the foot when he makes a major blunder (i.e. when we have a made hand against an aggressive opponent.) Raising him to take the initiative away too soon may cause him to fold without committing significant dollars to the pot. We need to also recognize when our opponents have acted in a way that takes the initiative away from us and decide if they genuinely now possess a controlling hand or are they simply exploiting the initiative.

Here are some ways that we can take the initiative in a hand , some of which are ways to take the initiative away from another player in the hand.

1. Raising preflop – This is the most basic of methods to control the initiative in a hand. When you are the pfr’r, you will win the blinds a significant amount of time. Also, you are going to Cbet a high percentage of the time when you are called pf, most of which will be a bluff or a semi-bluff. The villain has put himself into a spot where he must either make a hand, or bluff/rebluff into you to win the pot. These are usually small pots won in this category, but many small pots over time will add up to a significant portion of your total win.

2. 3 betting preflop – When someone has announced by a pfr that they wish to possess the initiative, you can snatch the initiative away from them by 3 betting them. 3 betting is very good for defining yours and your opponent’s hand pf. Sometimes this is done when you hold a significant pf starting hand, sometimes it is done “light” from the blinds vs. a LP raiser, sometimes it is done in LP vs. a player who is getting out of line or who folds to 3 bets often. This is a more powerful weapon than a standard pfr, and must be followed by a Cbet much more often when called. When you 3 bet an opponent, you firmly hold the initiative in your control, but when you get it wrestled away from you, the pot is usually larger, and the villain will more often than not hold a very powerful hand. 3 bets by the villain are just as effective against our raises and they will fire a Cbet just as often on the flop. Therefore, we must make a decision pf about what flops we need in order to be prepared to defend against the villain’s post flop play. Folding to a tight villain’s 3 bet is rarely a huge mistake especially OOP. As stated in PNL, we need to plan our hand in advance and decide if our expectation looks positive.

3. Floating allows the initiative to stay in the pfr’s control until they give up the initiative by checking the turn. This is a more passive way of taking the initiative and is dependent upon the pfr’r giving it up and not firing a 2nd barrel. Your call on the flop will sometimes be with a draw but when the villain gives up by checking on the turn, you can easily turn your drawing hand into a very +EV semi-bluff. Floating is also tried w/ PPs that haven’t improved and have two or less overcards on the board, 2nd pair hands and bare overcards when they think you’re on a pure bluff. The best defense against habitual floaters involves check-raising your strong hands and bluffs/semi-bluffs on the turn.

4. Check-raising muscles the initiative from your opponents. By giving your opponent the opportunity to fire at the pot, you allow them to control the initiative before you snatch it away from them with a raise and announce that you have a real hand. The villain may elect initially not to bet at the pot, but that’s in their control since you have allowed them to possess the initiative by your check. C/Ring also allows you to control the initiative as a bluff, such as when you feel that a LP raiser is getting out of line, many times a C/R will snatch the pot away from them. Once again, if you have to wrestle with an opponent over the initiative after a C/R, then they very often will hold a good hand and you can fold easily if you do not also possess a strong hand. (See Baluga Theorum)


Min C/R’s are poor attempts to either bluff cheaply or finesse some more money into the pot. Min C/R’s are usually done w/ very strong made hands when they are finessing, and they allow the original possessor of the initiative to feel that they have to hang on due to the “pot odds” being offered them. Pay attention to your opponents and take notes on who has a strong hand w/ a min C/R and who uses this same play to bluff. In the absence of good information, err on the side of caution against this play.


5. Double-barreling can be a great tool when utilized at the proper times. It holds the initiative firmly in your hands and says to your opponents that you don’t leave your kids out in the cold to be snatched up by some conniving soul. Not 2nd barreling gives up the initiative and allows floaters to take command of the hand. Watch the caller’s stats to determine if they are a likely floater and decide based on the board texture whether or not the flop hit the villain’s range and if you think they will fold to a 2nd barrel. Once again, past history is the best indicator of future actions, so pay attention to hands that you aren’t involved in.

6. Semi-bluffing is a powerful and leveraged use of initiative. Just calling w/ strong draws has less EV than semi-bluffing w/ them since you don’t generate any fold equity through your use of betting/initiative. By letting the other player control the initiative you have relinquished control of the hand and have become completely card dependent for winning the hand at showdown. I win with most of my draws by being the bettor, not by showing down the hands that I make 33% of the time. Good semi-bluffing involves knowing your opponents. Daniel Negreanu says, “If you bluff a bad player, you then become one.” This is a doctrinal poker proverb and applies to semi-bluffing just as much as pure bluffing. It is also a key to understanding how to beat the lowest stakes (up to 25NL.) +EV semi-bluffing can involve floating, raising for free cards on the flop, double barreling and ck-raising. Learning when and where to apply these tactics will require discipline and discernment.


Here are some ways that we relinquish the initiative in a hand. By relinquishing the initiative, we can attempt to trap an aggressive player, or we have relegated ourselves into having to improve our hand to continue in it.

1a. Smooth calling pf is bad when talking about controlling the initiative. Smooth calling forces you to make a hand as most of the time you’ll be facing a Cbet on the flop. Unless the villain is a good floating candidate or you have a hand that either hits the flop hard or is easy to fold when it misses, you shouldn’t be calling other people’s pfr’s. Small pocket pairs are excellent for smooth calling as you either hit the flop or you dump your hand. Suited connectors are good to smooth call with, when you’re in position. You should also only be smooth calling w/ SC’s when you and your opponents are deep enough to take advantage of the implied odds of these high potential hands. SC’s don’t connect with the flop all that often, but they are hugely deceptive when they do hit. Also, SC’s shouldn’t be played for TP hands unless you think you can pull off a float steal on the turn.

1b. Smooth-calling pf OOP is horrible. Full Ring is a game where the blinds matter very little since they come around less often. Blinds matter more in 6max games since your opponents are stealing w/ a much wider range. Also, blinds matter more in tournaments since they become larger and larger percentages of your stack. You should usually only defend with hands that hit the flop hard or are easy to fold as discussed above. Drawing hands OOP are very –EV as any acts of initiative through semi-bluffing are made blindly as to the actions of the pfr’r. A good 3 bet can be much more +EV than a simple smooth-call, but remember to pick your spots carefully by knowing your opponent.

2. Slow-playing is voluntarily leaving the initiative in your opponent’s hands and allows them to bet worse hands w/o you initially revealing the strength of your hand. However, when you do finally reveal the strength of your hand via a C/R or Turn/River lead bet, the jig is up and the strength of your hand is now much more apparent. Slow-playing should be mostly board dependent and partly based on the strength of your hand. A set of Jacks can be slow played on a J-7-3r board, but should never be slow-played on a J-9-8 board w/ 2 to a suit.

From fimbulwinter's "Pilgrimage into 25NL" regarding errors made at 25NL
“5. Slow-playing the wrong kinds of hands. People ALWAYS slow-played sets. One hand a guy had JJ on a J98 flop and pushed in on the river with a board of 389JQ. Slow-playing should depend not on the strength of your hand but on the likelihood of it being outdrawn. One hand a habitual lag bet into my A7s on a board of A33r in an unraised pot. If I'm ahead, he has very few outs, if I’m behind he'll probably get paid as he was such a terrible lag. I called and put a blocker out on the turn and river and took a nice pot against his 88.”


Conclusion:
Know your opponents and pick good spots to use initiative to pick up orphaned pots. Most of the time players don’t make a hand and the pot will be won by whoever takes possession of the pot. Pots are obtained by utilizing initiative to represent a controlling hand.



Disclaimer:
Playing +EV aggressive poker can be learned, but there is a cost associated w/ learning. This cost is not variance but is commonly referred to as “spewing.” There is a very tough learning curve associated w/ becoming an aggressive poker player. In the micros, the judicial use of these tools is paramount. It is both a quality and a QUANTITY issue. I think the poker books flying off the shelves do a great injustice to many beginning players by not stressing the value of folding. Overuse and misuse of these tools WILL cost you more money than playing passively will. Implement one aggressive strategy at a time until you get it down, then move on to the next one. Try to use all of these weapons sparingly and in the correct situations.

It is significantly easier to run all the moves mentioned above if your image is that of a true TAG. If you are running LAG stats, you won’t be able to sell everybody on the stoutness of your hand. Planning ahead and folding PF is often the best line out there that the micro player can embrace, then the initiative plays will have more teeth.

Special thanks to Threads13 and King Spew on 2+2 for helping me to revise this essay into a readable and correct format.

Mid-month Update on my “Break”:

My February goals were:
Reinvigorate my spiritual life.
Create new habits
1. Prayer time
2. Reading time
3. Exercise program
Purify my body, through a strict diet.
Retool my calendar so that I am doing things based on what is important, not what I feel like doing.

Well, I can’t say that I have thoroughly kept any of my stated goals for the month. I’ve played about 7k hands online, (which isn’t much.) It’s definitely a lot less than I would have covered if I weren’t considering myself on a break. I’ve done well in regards to live play though; I’ve declined several home game invitations and two invitations for trips over to the casino. I’ll definitely be making a trip over to the Horseshoe on Saturday, March 1st (Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.)

I’ve done fairly well w/ increasing my reading time, but my prayer and meditation times are mostly unchanged. If reading helps to improve your spiritual life, well, I’m probably doing better in this area than I was before this month. I’m also thinking about spiritual matters more often, but taking the time to stop to pray and meditate just isn’t happening.

I did make an improvement in my sunroom, which I am proud of. I used some of my bankroll to buy a nice, cushy love seat that my wife and I can both crawl into and do some reading together. We’ve already turned the TV off on a few nights and sat together for some reading time alone. This is very +EV for the marriage, though I’m sorry to say that we haven’t “broke in” the new furniture yet. The wife has some sort of problem w/ the neighbors being able to see us. I guess it IS a sunroom…

My strict diet only lasted a week, though I’m just now having caffeine again. An exercise program is yet to be considered and is as of yet non-existent.

I’ve probably done the best in regards to my calendar retool. I’ve been writing down what I spend the majority of my free time doing. I know this is reactive instead of proactive, but at least I’m looking at what I’m doing and can view it in terms of whole months and weeks. It also helps me to know what my normal activities are during the week and this allows me to stick to a better schedule and plan accordingly.

Overall, it looks like I’ve hit 2 areas on my list to some degree and haven’t budged any on the rest. Not a very successful break, IMO. I guess that I’m just a degenerate gambler at heart and am struggling to fight my way out of this cubicle that I call a job!

January was a nice start to the year. I had a good trip to the Horseshoe-Bossier City and got fully rolled for 50NL on PokerStars without having to deposit anymore money. I wish that my earn rate at 50NL would have been higher, but a wins a win and a few of the losses that I took were unavoidable suckouts.

In a borish economist voice, "The chart is upward trending with a few rough patches at the end. It looks like we've found ourselves a winner."


I will be taking a break from poker in February. It’s not that I’m burned out or anything, I just need to put my priorities back into order.

My goals are to:
Reinvigorate my spiritual life.
Create new habits
1. A prayer time
2. Reading time
3. An exercise program
Purify my body, through a strict diet.
Retool my calendar so that I am doing things based on what is important, not what I feel like doing.

I recently bought Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham on audio CD, The Essays of Warren Buffett by Warren Buffett and Lawrence A. Cunningham, and No Limit Theory and Practice. I won’t start reading NLT&P until March. I want to keep my mind clear and focused upon the long-term.

Cliff Notes on my 29th Birthday Trip to the HS-BC

In celebration of my 29th birthday, Mr_Taterhead (the poker player formerly known as BJJIII) and I decided to make a long trip over to our favorite cardroom, the Horseshoe-Bossier City. Last year at this time we went up to Tunica, MS during the WPO and the WSOP-Circuit Events. This year we decided to forego the 5hr long drive in exchange for an hour and a half one and we got free rooms ta boot at the HS-BC!

My holiday started on Wednesday since the Tunica trip was slated for the 16th through the 19th. Because the drive was going to be less, we shortened our trip down to the 17th through the 19th. We planned on leaving on the night of the 16th, but Harper (Mr_Taterhead’s kid) got sick and Mr_T had to stay back. I decided to stay an extra night home w/ my hot wife and drive over in the morning. I hoped to grind online most of the day Wednesday, but ended up down in the south side collecting some late rent monies, and only getting 3 hours in at Pokerstars. I think that I netted $10 or so after 2,800 hands of 25NL and had at one point been up >$100. We’ll call Wednesday a wasted day, as I got nothing accomplished that I had hoped to.

A Great Start

Thursday morning ran according to plan and I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my get-away. I was able to do some quality reading and have some quiet time before I took a shot at 50NL. My shot was a successful one as I won $135 and cleared my first ever $50 FPP bonus within an hour’s time. I’m now fully rolled for 50NL and am looking forward to the increased stakes. After a quick shower, I headed out of town at 11am.

There were a few stops on my way out, so I didn’t arrive at the HS-BC until ~ 1:30pm. Check-in wasn’t until 4pm, so I just went straight to the tables. Josh, the daytime floor manager , greeted me when I walked in. He’s a super nice guy and keeps things running smoothly. I hit him up for a club sandwich and, of course, I’ve got meal comps running out of my ears from frequenting this place twice a month for the last year. If you ever visit the HS-BC and start accumulating the $1/hr food comp, don’t freak out when you put your card into the reader machine and it tells you that you don’t have any points or dollars built up. The $1/hr comp rate of the poker room is completely different than that of the rest of the casino. The reader told me that I had $1 in comps, but Josh explained the difference to me and informed me that I had $120+ of comps built up! (Friday night seafood buffet here I come!)

Learning from others

I was pretty card dead for the afternoon but was able to break even by playing positionally aggressive poker . I think my stack grew to a $100 profit at some points, but it also got low enough that I had to top it off once after a tough series of hands. The player on my immediate left [(the 9 seat) we’ll call him Michael] and I had lots to talk about as his primary income was from live poker. We played together at several tables and I really learned a lot from him. We immediately hit it off and were soon sharing ideas and reads that we had picked up on the other players at the table. His style of reading players was quite different from mine, but his stack and results proved to me that he knew what he was doing. I won’t elaborate on how he reads players because I don’t want to expose any of the information that he uses and that he shared with me, but I must say that picking his brain made it well worth the trip.

The table was to my liking at first, but changed dramatically late in the night when one very bad and very lucky maniac sat down in Michael's seat to my left. One maniac by himself isn’t that tough to deal with, but when that maniac is on your immediate left and is hitting every hand that he plays, he changes the entire dynamic of the table. Normal players start to play back at him in some questionable spots and they start playing more like him. They chase too many weak draws and call preflop with some very speculative hands hoping to have the same lucky results that the maniac is having. This leads to maniac tables where the game is more like craps than it is a game of skill. I was even to slightly down when the maniac sat to my left. I should have taken the hint to get up when he sucked out on me early, showing me the Q 9 from the SB that he had called my LP pfr with. I doubled through him w/ the nut flush a little later and had my head out of the water very briefly. I knew that I didn’t have as consistent of results at these maniac tables, but I just never got up for some better playing grounds.

The most memorable hand that I played Thursday night was when I limped in on the button w/ 6 5 . Several players had limped in as well and we saw a low, two diamond flop. The table checked around to me and I fired $20 into the $21 pot and got 2 calls. The turn completed my flush and once again the table checked to me. I fired out $50 this time and only got called by the 10 seat. He was a very large black man who looked like he knew what he was doing, though he had the demeanor of a live game rock. The river put a fourth diamond on the board and the 10 seat stacked up his chips and pushed all in for $80. I dumped my 6 high flush and felt like puking on the carpet. The guy wasn’t even nice enough to tell me if he had it on the turn. I can’t imagine him calling the flop w/ a lone big diamond, so I assume that he had me beaten on the turn. I got up a little after this hand was played, eating a loss of $270 for ~11 hours of play.

Our Accommodations

I did take a <1 hr break during this session to check into our room and rest my mind for a few minutes. The check-in process was super easy and I had my stuff out of the car and into the room in no time. The rooms at the HS-BC are top of the line. Our room had 2 queen beds, a desk, a couch, a 32’ TV, fully marbled floors in the bathroom and a huge Roman bath. The Roman baths were the clincher for me; these things were enormous! They also provide complimentary bath salts to heighten the experience. I know that I ran the water for 15 minutes and still never got the whole thing filled up. And even with the tub not being completely full, I was still easily able to sit fully immersed in warm relaxing luxuriance.

Friday Lunch: My First Visit to a Buffalo Wild Wings

I’m not much of a daytime sleeper, so after 5 hours of in and out sleep and a long bath, I was up and ready to go by 11am. My buddy and I went to the Buffalo Wild Wings located on the Boardwalk. The atmosphere was incredible and is definitely a great spot to watch the big game. Our server, Kristen (I believe,) was jam up and really took the time to walk us through the menu. She was very knowledgeable of the different sauces that they had to offer and she made some great recommendations for us. My only complaint about the place was that their wings were a little on the small side, but that won’t prevent me from giving them a positive review. Good service and a great atmosphere go a long way to completing the experience in my book.

I took a catnap after our lunch outing and walked into the poker room ~1pm. This was a rather quiet session and I really can’t think of any hands that were worth mentioning here, but I netted a small $60 profit on the 3 hr session. I returned to the comfort of our hotel room and tried to relax before my long Friday night marathon. Mr_Taterhead arrived around 4:30pm and after a quick conversation he was out the door to play some cards. Within 15 minutes he called me to tell me that they were starting a new table and that I should come down and join it. I love starting new tables since the game usually isn’t full of maniacs or players on tilt yet. I like starting w/ mostly equal stacks and I feel that I can pick up reads on players more quickly than other players can. So, I put my hoodie on and headed back down to the cardroom.

This table was very much to my liking. It had semi decent players with no calling stations or maniacs. What I like about tables of this texture is that you can raise preflop in position and if you don’t take down the blinds and limps immediately, you can continuation bet with a high percentage of success to win a slightly larger pot. When they call your raise preflop then fold on the flop, you can add to your stack w/o much risk. Most of the time, you win enough of these to net out a profit, so you shouldn’t feel discouraged if you get called on the flop a few times in a row. It will net out in the end.

The only real memorable hand from this session was one in which I raised from the SB into several limpers with A Q . I make a larger than normal raise in this spot to discourage callers and set miners. I got called in one spot and then checked the Ace high, very-uncoordinated flop to encourage action from weaker Aces. The villain checked behind and I led the turn and river for a nice medium sized pot. The villain was very surprised to see my big ace, and mucked his hand w/o showing. Later he admitted that he had A 6 w/ a flush draw that he had picked up on the turn. Note: You should never call a big pfr w/ a dominated hand such as this. A-x suited is so over-rated, good players just aren't going to pay you off when you make your flush and if they can't beat a pair of aces then you're wasting money there too. This is a great example of why not to play A-Xs. He ran into a bigger Ace, stayed in due to his draw that he picked up on the turn and paid off 2 streets of value post flop.

Friday Night Seafood Buffet

I played another 3 to 4 hours in this session and booked a small win of ~$120. Unfortunately, I got hungry and the HSBC buffet was calling to me. After some coercion, I finally talked Mr_T and another friend into going upstairs to try to break the buffet. Kim and Joe quickly hooked us up w/ some buffet comps and we were on our way!

On Friday nights, the buffet at the HSBC is a seafood buffet that runs for $21.95 or so. Due to us being well-respected degenerate gamblers, we got to eat for free based on our comps that we had accumulated in the pokerroom. The buffet spread is quite large and the assortment of foods included home-style, Chinese, soup and salad, seafood, dessert, and even some Cajun cuisine. The stuffed halibut was my personal favorite, followed closely by the crawfish etouffee. I ate until I almost popped, but fortunately for me, we had a room upstairs that I could relax in until the drowsiness of a big meal wore off.

Out of the Hole!

Around 10 or 11 I decided to come down out of my nest and play some more cards. There was another new table starting up and I jumped right in. This new table seemed tougher than normal though. There were only 2 old guys to start the action and 5 young guys who seemed ready to gamble. When 3 of the 5 young guys turned out to be friends, I considered making a table change. I hung in there a few minutes and realized that not only were they trying to bash each other’s heads in but they were drinking heavily and really sucked at No Limit Texas Holdem. My new friend Michael from the previous afternoon’s session joined the table on my immediate left. This is where we actually discussed our strategies for reading opponents. The action was really hot and the 3 friends were quickly going broke. Luckily, they were there to gambool and kept reaching into their pockets for more Benjamins. I think they even ended up making a few trips to the ATM. I took a preflop race w/ one of them w/ my A Q vs. his J J . I had raised from LP and he stuffed his short stack in from the SB. I had figured out that his range was pretty wide at this point (Jacks were actually in the top of his range) and felt very comfortable that I wasn’t going to be in a dominated situation w/ my A Q . I caught an ace in the door to take down the $120 pot. Within 2 hours they had all three made it to bustoville, I’m not sure if it was the rusty nails they were drinking or simply them not understanding that K-Qo in a 4-bet pf pot is a losing hand.

Substitutions

With the 3 friends gone and all of their money left on the table, the line up made some dramatic changes. Only one of the old men remained and he was joined by an even older man in the 10 seat who Michael immediately pegged as someone who would call you down w/ 2nd pair. Mr_T was in the 1 seat and was taking a beating from the deck. The 2,3 & 4 seats were filled by a bad player, an excellent player and a player who thought he was excellent but actually played very straight-forwardly and bordered on just plain weak-tight. The 6 & 7 seats to my right had some weak players come and go and I was in the 8 seat w/ Michael on my left.

With one limper to me in the cut-off, I made it $15 to go w/ A J and got called by the old man in the 10 seat. The flop was Q 10 4 giving me a gut shot and the nut flush draw. The 10 seat was pretty tough to read but he definitely didn’t appear strong when the flop hit. I bet $20 when he checked to me and was really surprised when he called. The turn was a total brick and when I fired out $50 the old man got stubborn and called again. The river was a blessed Jack, and I somehow felt some relief that I had just caught up in the hand, though I hadn’t made near the hand that I had hoped. Once again the old man checked to me, but w/ 2nd pair and having fired on 2 streets already, I couldn’t fathom what he would call me with on the river that I beat. I checked behind and announced that I had a Jack not quite knowing what I expected him to turn over. He showed 10 2 for a flopped 2nd pair. He seemed kind of upset as if I had sucked out on him, but if you figure the outs on the hand, I had 9 flush cards, 3 straight cards, 3 aces and 3 jacks to track him down. With the 4x rule on the flop, I’ve got 72% less 10 (for outs over 8) for an equity of 62% in the hand w/ 2 cards to come . On the turn I’ve still got 39% (18/46) equity in the hand. I don’t think this was much of a suck out. I’m ahead on the flop w/ 2 cards to come and only a slight dog on the turn w/ 1 card to come. I’ll take this scenario every day of the week including Sunday! I played this table until 2:30am before deciding to turn in. I cashed out a $285 winner for the night and was now back into the positive. Mr_T hung around for a while longer to try to get even; I think he came in around 4:30 w/ some more bad beat stories.

Saturday Morning

My phone rang around 8:30am but I struggled to stay asleep until 10ish. Mr_T beat me to the shower and was out of the room and headed to the cardroom before my shower water was even hot. I meandered to the cardroom around 11 and was once again pleased to be seated at a newly opening table. This table had the best line up of all for the entire weekend and it turned out to be my most profitable. There was one good player, one semi-maniac, a nut-peddling, weak-tight regular and a bunch of exploitable middle-aged men who called pf and folded to cbets. Now that’s my kind of table!

The cards ran very good for me in this session. I picked off a $30 straddle-bluff w/ one caller w/ a measly pair of 3s on the flop. My big hands held up, I flopped a flush w/ J 10 and I had the one maniac’s number. The biggest hand that I won was all in preflop for ~$200. I was in the big blind and the table limped around to me and I put $25 on top w/ the A K just hoping to take down the limps. It folded around to the maniac who asked me if I had a big hand, I responded, “I have a big enough hand that I can raise $25 out of the blinds.” He thought for a second then announced that he was all in. The 3 limpers between us obviously folded. I got him to count down his stack and he had ~$180 that I would have to call. I looked at my stack and had about that much in profits. I wedged my hand into my stack to separate the profit portion out and said, “Let’s gamble!” This isn’t a raw gambling shot in the dark. What does he have here that he would limp behind with but he would push all in over my BB raise with? It boils down to the fact that he is making a play on me w/ a medium pocket pair. He would have raised any big ace or any pocket pair as big as or bigger than 10s preflop. I figured out that I would be in a coin flip or better and decided to gamboool! He turned over pocket 8s and we were flipping. The flop contained a Q and a 10 giving me 4 additional outs. The turn was a dud, but the river was a Jack to give me the Broadway straight! The maniac reloaded and I stacked the pot. I played another hour or two and due to my level of exhaustion from not having slept more than 5 hrs per night for 2 consecutive nights, I decided to cash in my $400 win (4hr session.)

Overall, for the trip I netted $581 in poker winnings , less a meal and some gas. Both nights at the hotel were comped and my friends and I had a wonderful time. I’ve been to Tunica and I’ve been to Biloxi and I must say that the Horseshoe-Bossier City ranks right up there with the top poker rooms in the south. You can usually get sat down at the game of your choice in a matter of minutes, the food comps are great, the dealers are first class and the tables, set-up and chairs are second to none. The next time that you’re passing through the Bossier City, Shreveport area, make sure to swing into the HSBC. When you walk into the casino, take the escalator downstairs and head to the left of the gambling area. The cardroom is 75% glassed off and has a flat-screen in view for anywhere you may want to sit. Good luck and I hope to see you on the felt soon.

I’d like to apologize for delaying so long in posting my 2007 results. December was an absolute sputter after a great month such as I had in November. I only made $275.00 in December, $100 of which came from bonuses. Bodog didn’t give me a very fond farewell either, in fact, you could say that it kicked me in the rear on my way out.


Here’s how I closed out at Bodog:



I got a pretty warm welcome at PS to start off with though:



2007 Looked like this:



2007 Results:
$1,800 in Live Ring
$100 in MTT (17 of them)
($50) mixed games/other
$2,810 online FR
$255 in Home games (mostly tourneys)
$1,650 for the BBJP at the Goldstrike in Tunica, MS
$200 in Misc (sidebets, poker room promotions and bounties)

Total of $6,700 in profits for 2007

This was definitely my best year yet. I moved out of the micros for a while on Bodog and really built my roll to something that’s got some girth. I dropped back into the micros when I went to PokerStars, but I only deposited $200 on that site.

Despite losing an arm and a leg in Biloxi during the Gulf Coast Poker Championship, I was still able to turn a profit in my live play by taking the Shoe for 5 buyins over the Thanksgiving holiday.

I fully expect to make at least $10k in 2008, and truthfully, if I make less than $20k, I’ll be disappointed. Poker is like a snowball that you get running down hill. The bigger your roll gets and the bigger the games that you play in the more money that you can make. This is all contingent upon you not getting in above your head though and spewing off all your hard earned money in a short period of time.

Here’s to a great 2008!!!

Dec 22nd Trip to the Horseshoe-Bossier City

I took a day off from work Friday to extend my holiday weekend and to give me some time to play cards and finish up my Christmas shopping. Well, finish up really isn’t the correct word there; I had to do my Christmas shopping. After doing my shopping and errands, BJJIII and I hit the road around 11:30 headed to our favorite card room, the Horseshoe-Bossier City! The Shoe was busy and almost full, but they quickly had us seated at the same table. Within an hour we’re splitting a huge club sandwich, compliments of the $1/hr comp rate that we’ve accumulated that the Shoe offers its poker players.

Sputtering Start…

I’ve been on a bit of a downswing lately, so I really didn’t expect to come out smoking like I did on my last trip. In fact, I started the day off by flopping on my face multiple times. I check-raised a flush draw vs. some lady who was running uber hot. She, of course, called, then proceeded to win the hand as my draw didn’t get there. I guess that I thought that she might be capable of a fold. What was I thinking? I had top pair turn into trips on the turn, which got scorched by some-young guys full house. This is not the way that I like to start sessions!

Table Change Please!!

At BJJIII and my table were a couple of decent players, a grouchy old rock and an old lady who couldn’t fold due to the fact that everything was going her way. She was $1,200+ deep at a $1/3 game and had obvious flaws in her strategy that we were looking to exploit. When she announced that it was time for her to head home, we begged her to stay since her leaving would cripple the table and probably leave it on a course to be broken up. We kept her around for 30 minutes despite her saying that each hand was her last hand, but I think she came out to the positive in this time period, so it might have been better if we would have just let her leave. A call to her husband 1 hour away sealed the deal and she stacked up 2 racks of red birds and headed out the door.

BJJII got hit in the face w/ the deck when his 10-7o flopped the nut str8 and he doubled through an old man w/ the idiot end of it. He had a day that we all dream of card wise. A really good reg sat down in the 2 seat to BJ’s left and the game seemed to get much tougher. I was down about a buyin at this point and felt it was time to make a move to a softer seat. When I talked to Joe (the night floor manager) he pointed me to the back of the room where the table seemed loose and jolly! Ahhhh! That’s more like it, limp, limp, call my raise, fold to my Cbet. That’s right!

A snake in the weeds

When I sat down in the 8 seat, I noticed a tough spot in the line up that I hadn’t noticed on my first glance through. Two seats to my right sat a man who goes by the nickname of Ace. Well, he used to, but he goes by a different name now since ever dealer in the room used to announce his presence when he walked through. He’ll always be Ace to me and he is a pleasure to talk to for the long hours of a live poker session. He’s the man who set over set me in my last session at the HSBC, which is linked at the top of the page.

Don’t call it a comeback!

Soon enough I started making my money back. I’ve gotten really good at recognizing orphan pots and I’m able to pick them up like they were quarters on the sidewalk. My top pair hands were good for a few wins then I got dealt the mother of all starting hands, Pocket Aces!

Dealt to Hero: A A
3 folds
Hero ($400+) raises to $12
CO folds
Button calls $12
SB ($222) calls $11
BB folds

Flop - J 6 4
Pot - $39
SB cks, Hero bets $30, Button folds, SB calls $30

Turn - 6
Pot - $99
SB cks, Hero bets $100, SB calls

River - 10
Pot - $299
SB cks, Hero bets $80, SB calls $80 and is All In

Villain shows Q-Jo for One Pair- Jacks
Hero shows A-A for One Pair- Aces

The SB was an older man and had seemed very straight-forward since I had been watching him. He said that he played online at UB. He seemed uncomfortable throughout the hand and mostly squirmed in his chair. I thought that he was on a draw and was floored when he called the $100 turn bet. He looked very resigned when I put him in on the river, in fact, he held his chips out after he checked in a manner that hinted at surrender. As if he had no choice but to put them in. Thanks for the crying call. He reloaded instantly for a full buy-in and a short while later I’d tie into him again.

I had moved to the 3 seat across the table to get a better view of the whole table. (I always try to stay in the 2,3,7 or 8 seats because they offer the best view of my opponents.)

Playing small flushes

I played 5 4 and made a small flush, only to lose to the 6 3 for a bigger flush. This didn’t really bother me that bad since it wasn’t that big of a pot. The table was loose passive and I felt that I had solid reads on everyone. I don’t limp much at all out of position in these games, but for some reason I caught a wild hair and decided to play a very unorthodox hand.

Dealt to Hero – 6 4

Hero ($500) calls $3
1 fold
MP1 calls $3
MP2 ($300) (SB from hand above) calls $3
3 folds
SB calls $2
BB checks

Flop – A 9 8
Pot - $18
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $15, MP1 folds, MP2 calls $15, SB folds, BB folds

Turn – K
Pot - $48
Hero bets $25, MP2 calls $25

River – Q
Pot - $98
Hero checks, MP2 bets $75, Hero….

This put me into a tight-spot. The old man played his hand like he had a draw and any FD almost had to be bigger than mine. I planned to check-call the river to snap off a bluff, but this was a rather large bet for a straight-forward player when a FD gets there on the river. That 5 4 hand kept running through my mind and I kept asking myself if flush over flush could happen again in such a short period of time. I studied the old man and found that he was quite rigid and was pushed back into his chair. Not in a super confident “I have you kind of way,” but in a “I hope that snake doesn’t bite me” kind of way. I counted his breathing to see if he was excited or scared, but I didn’t get much from that. Finally, based on the fact that I did have a flush and that the villain was quite rigid, I dumped $75 into the pot prepared to be behind. He tapped the table and said “Good call.” I showed him my flush and he mucked his hand. Later, he admitted that he had TP.

BJJIII had gotten up from his table to come over for a visit and watched the hand progress. He said that he would have snap called the river, I don’t think the hand was that simple. My estimate of the villain being a straight-forward player, coupled w/ how he played the hand made it a much harder call, IMO. Also, losing to a flush over flush just before this didn’t make things any easier.

One More Round

An hour or two later, I’m still hovering at about even (+/-$30) when BJJIII comes over to tell me that he’s ready to go and that we’ll play one more round. Some new guy had joined my table, he looked a little buzzed and wore his feelings on his sleeve. I think he was the type that liked to play blackjack and thought that he’d give poker a try. Earlier, I stated that I’ve gotten good at picking up orphaned pots. This isn’t really anything that I can put my finger on most of the time, it’s kind of a gut feeling based on the flop texture and the reactions of the other players. It also helps when you’re checked to in position. Two such hands came up as we were preparing to leave. One I took down uncontested and the other I got called by the man mentioned above. He seemed so uncomfortable and couldn’t remember his cards for anything. I guess that he may have been trying to reassure himself that his middle pair was good. Based on this read, I fired 3 streets into the guy w/ bottom pair before I convinced him to fold w/ my river bet. The very next hand I picked up K Q and raised it preflop and, of course, the new guy calls. I flopped a king and bet the flop and turn before he finally gave up again. Next thing that I knew, BJJIII handed me 2 empty racks and I headed for the cage. I cashed out a $120 winner that I scraped together on my “One Last Round.”

I love live poker!!!

Just wanted to wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! with this Christmas card.

BJJIII and I made a trip to the Horseshoe-Bossier City this weekend, I hope to have that report up soon. I netted a $120 profit while BJJIII took home the chedda w/ a $700+ win.

PokerStars has been good to me in December and I have all of my money off of Bodog. I'm only 170 points away from Silver Star, which I don't feel is bad since it's my first month there and I'm still learning to multi-table well. I hope to earn the rest of the FPPs by this weekend so that I don't have to cram just to make SS. I've played up to 12 tables comfortably at 25NL and hope to move up to 50NL very soon where my FPP earn rate will double. My 10k hand estimate appears to be on target for my moving up plans. I'll move up to 50NL short for a while, but plan on staying there until I'm fully rolled for 100NL.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and remembered that the reason we celebrate this holiday is for the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

So, I decided to open a PokerStars account. I've never had one before, so I took advantage of a promotion from Pokersourceonline.com to get an annual subscription to StoxPoker. I'm really trying to get better and feel that playing tougher competition and joining a site like Stox will greatly benefit me.

I need 250 FPPs to complete the bonus and I picked up 47 in 2 hours tonight. I was able to get in 390 hands in 2 hours on PS, where I usually get in 300 in the same time frame on Bodog. I really like the software and I can definitely see where people can play so many tables at once on this site. I think I'll keep some money on Stars even after I finish the bonus.

I was actually doing really well tonight and was up 3 buyins at 25NL when this hand came up.

POKERSTARS GAME #13717389690: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.10/$0.25) - 2025/12/07 - 22:05:12 (ET)
Universal pokerstars Poker HH Converter Tool from TwoRags.com

Hero (UTG) ($90.15 in chips)
hollonusar ($23 in chips)
GrandJury23 ($39.10 in chips)
vinny mcgraw ($31.55 in chips)
KHSPoker21 ($27.55 in chips)
black dallas ($47.60 in chips)
spunkmonk:
KHSPoker21: posts small blind $0.10, black dallas: posts big blind $0.25
kapsell: sits out

PRE-FLOP:
Dealt to Hero [8 8]
Hero: raises $0.75 to $1, hollonusar: calls $1, GrandJury23: folds, vinny mcgraw: calls $1
spunkmonk leaves the table
KHSPoker21: calls $0.90, black dallas: calls $0.75

FLOP: [8 3 T]
KHSPoker21: bets $2.50, black dallas: calls $2.50, Hero: raises $10 to $12.50, hollonusar: folds, vinny mcgraw: folds, KHSPoker21: folds, black dallas: raises $34.10 to $46.60 and is all-in, Hero: calls $34.10

TURN: [8 3 T] [T]

RIVER: [8 3 T T] [T]

SHOWDOWN:
black dallas: shows [K K] (a full house, Tens full of Kings), Hero: mucks hand, black dallas collected $97.70 from pot

RESULTS:
Total pot $100.70 | Rake $3
Board [8 3 T T T]
Hero mucked [8 8], black dallas (big blind) showed [K K] and won ($97.70) with a full house, Tens full of Kings


If bad players couldn't suck out, then eventually there'd only be a bunch of sharks swimming around trying to take each other's rolls. I was in the process of exiting tables, so I just took my 1 buyin win and checked out for the night. I'll definitely be back!