TFI Friday

Wednesday night was a bit of a slog, but storing all my sessions in a bankroll ledger is a really powerful motivational tool to grind it out. Turning a losing session into a break even one feels like a win, and having a profitable session and seeing that balance jump feels very satisfying.

Here's the two most interesting hands from that night...

PokerStars Game #3532584272: Hold'em No Limit ($1/$2) - 2006/01/04 - 16:42:23 (ET)
Table 'Klotho IV' Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: homeboy604 ($204.50 in chips)
Seat 2: INEEDCHIPERS ($77.15 in chips)
Seat 3: Canucktr ($99.45 in chips)
Seat 4: TanOrpheus ($196.15 in chips)
Seat 5: spagnolv ($118.25 in chips)
Seat 6: Herrick ($198 in chips)
Seat 8: MommasKids ($73.35 in chips)
Seat 9: wyattearp3rd ($40 in chips)
Hovanky will be allowed to play after the button
MommasKids: posts small blind $1
wyattearp3rd: posts big blind $2

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to TanOrpheus [Qh Kd]
homeboy604: folds
INEEDCHIPERS: folds
Canucktr: folds
TanOrpheus: raises $4 to $6
spagnolv: folds
Herrick: folds
MommasKids: calls $5
wyattearp3rd: folds

I'm not worried about MommasKids preflop call here, he's seen just about every flop, bought in for less that the maximum and has donked away $40 in the 10 mins I've been at the table

POT : $14
*** FLOP *** [Kc 4c 4s]
MommasKids: bets $6
TanOrpheus: raises $6 to $12
MommasKids: calls $6

AK is the biggest threat, hence the reraise to find out where I stand, the flat call makes me worry about the club flush draw

POT : $38
*** TURN *** [Kc 4c 4s] [7h]
MommasKids: checks
TanOrpheus: bets $18
MommasKids: calls $18

Ok, so looks like he missed the club draw, with AK he'd have either bet out first or reraised me here to push me out of any draws. I'm convinced that I'm either ahead or we have the same hand now.

POT : $74
*** RIVER *** [Kc 4c 4s 7h] [Th]
MommasKids: bets $20
TanOrpheus: calls $20

Uh, small bet like that says he hit that ten, but surely he wasn't playing pocket tens, maybe he had K 10 ? I'll pay anyway, just so I know, there's a good chance I'm still winning

*** SHOW DOWN ***
MommasKids: shows [Td Tc] (a full house, Tens full of Fours)
TanOrpheus: shows [Qh Kd] (two pair, Kings and Fours)
MommasKids collected $111 from pot

Blimey, that was the last thing I expected ! As Howard Lederer says "Whenever someone sucks out on me, I remind myself, that's why I'm here".

***********

Then on my other table about 20 minutes later I played this hand poorly...

PokerStars Game #3532217913: Hold'em No Limit ($1/$2) - 2006/01/04 - 15:57:48 (ET)
Table 'Gudrun' Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: Firstbluff ($141 in chips)
Seat 2: tucko ($101.15 in chips)
Seat 3: Becca62384 ($32.55 in chips)
Seat 4: yuan ($70 in chips)
Seat 5: brothaman34 ($59 in chips)
Seat 7: mikariel ($36.85 in chips)
Seat 8: TanOrpheus ($225.10 in chips)
Seat 9: JRog2x ($178 in chips)
yuan: posts small blind $1
brothaman34: posts big blind $2
homeboy604: sits out

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to TanOrpheus [9s 9c]
mikariel: calls $2
TanOrpheus: calls $2
JRog2x: raises $6 to $8
Firstbluff: folds
tucko: folds
Becca62384: folds
yuan: folds
brothaman34: folds
mikariel: folds
TanOrpheus: calls $6

JRog2x recently joined the table, no read so assuming can play until proven otherwise. I call and try to hit a set

*** FLOP *** [Ah 8d Ks]
TanOrpheus: checks
JRog2x: checks

Hmm Preflop raiser and no continuation bet, very suss.

*** TURN *** [Ah 8d Ks] [Kd]
TanOrpheus: checks
JRog2x: checks

Still no bet, maybe has like AJ and the other K has scared him

*** RIVER *** [Ah 8d Ks Kd] [9h]

Oh, that's an interesting river.

TanOrpheus: bets $8
JRog2x: raises $12 to $20

Uh oh, better find out where I stand for sure (-In hindsight there were too many hands that had me beat here and I should be just calling, but like I said I had no read-)

TanOrpheus: raises $14 to $34
JRog2x: raises $36 to $70

At this point only one hand makes sense anymore, AK. With no other hand could the action have logically gone this way. I turn to my friend and say "oh he has AK". I should fold, but call, I guess to prove my read right. Also his raise is just the right amount for me to put in, given the size of the pot and the strength of my hand, but I know he has me beat after two reraises.

TanOrpheus: calls $36
*** SHOW DOWN ***
JRog2x: shows [Kh Ac] (a full house, Kings full of Aces)
TanOrpheus: shows [9s 9c] (a full house, Nines full of Kings)
JRog2x collected $158 from pot


Despite these two quite expensive hands, I still kept taking down small pots and put in the grind to post small winning sessions. I haven't got the spreadsheet in front of me but this week I've played for something like 8 hours over 3 nights and made about $500, and that includes spending $100 in tourney entry fees but not placing in any. It seems that the NL cash game is where it's at for 2006. Bring it on.