Poker Diary

March 2004

March 28
Tonight was my weekly $200 Omaha tournament. I finished 24th. I thought the "three table jinx" was over, but I could not escape it tonight. I made one mistake about halfway through the tournament and had to build my stack again. I managed to do it when I turned the nut straight and scooped a big pot. I came back from the break with descent chip position and got dealt two hands in a row that didn't hit. The first was A255 and the second was A2Jx with a suited ace. Both hands did have scoop potential on the flop, but it did not fair well. When the big blind got to me, I had $767 in chips and the big blind was $600. I was dealt KKK2 and the deuce was unsuited. I was left with $167 to try and win with. The small blind was a little better, but when four people called, I knew I was dead.

After the Omaha tournament, I played in a WSOP cash qualifier. There were two seats being given away and I felt good about my chances. I have been having some success on these. The blind's were $30 and one player made it $180. I was dealt pocket eights and was in late position, so I called. I figured if I flopped my eight, I would win a big pot. If it didn't flop, I was not going to be short on chips. The flop came J85 and I made a small bet. The small blind raised to $420 and the original raiser folded. I called the bet figuring I would get his money on the turn. The turn was a 2 and the small blind put me all-in. I was excited to call. He turned over pocket kings and I started counting my money. The river was a KING! I did everything I could to manipulate the situation and get all of his money into the pot when I had the best of it and I succeeded, but it came to bite me on the butt.

March 25
I played two table $100 No Limit tournament online today and some of these online players still amaze me. We were down to six players and I was first in chips with $7975 and the person behind me had $7880. The other players each had below $3900. I picked up pocket aces and doubled the $200 blind to $400. The second chip leader raised me to $1,000 and I reraised him to $2400. I would expect the guy to proceed with caution, but I should have known better. He called. The flop was T92 and I moved in for $5575 because the pot size was already $5100. The guy called me so quick I thought I might have just ran into a set. The player turned over KT. He flopped the pair of tens with a king kicker and he called off all of his chips without a second thought. In the two table Sit N Go's they pay four places and this guy could have easily made it into the money. He did not need to win the pot because he was still going to have $5480 in chips and he would still be second in chips. Instead of placing (or winning) the tournament, he left with nothing and I happily took my profits to the bank.

March 23
I love days when I win at almost every table I play at. This was the case yesterday. I sat in nine games and won in eight of them. My only loss was for a whopping $17. I felt like I was playing terrific poker and I was not going to look back. That lasted until today.

I did not lose much today, but it seemed my game was out of whack. I sat down in a $6-12 Holdem and the action was incredible. I found myself getting sucked into hands that I wouldn't normally play because the action was "good". I played suited aces, over-protected my small blind and I naturally found myself in trouble several times. I did win a few of these hands, but I was not winning overall. I have expressed my dislike for playing in the $3-6 level because it is hard to get players off of hands. This game was similar and I soon realized after I was down a rack that I better straighten my ass out. I can not play their game. I need to play my own. My game is better when I start with solid hands, play with fewer opponents, and am able to focus my attention on what each player has. I finally turned my game around and then got moved to Omaha.

Omaha is without a doubt my best game and it is very difficult to throw me off my game. But again, there was so much action, I played two or three hands I shouldn't have. It did not last long because the guy next to me made a comment that straightened me out real quick. I was talking to another player across the table about his final table appearance the other night with Steve Badger. I was telling him that Steve taught me how to play. The guy next to me said that Steve is the best in this game. A couple of hands later, I had to show down one of my "garbage" hands -- 2399 double suited. I normally don't play it, but it was double suited and the 99 could qualify to win me the $20,000 Bicycle Casino bad beat jackpot. I thought I would limp in after the two players in front of me did. The guy next to me raised and I thought "that's what I get for trying to limp in with this garbage". I felt obligated to call his raise because there were six players in the hand and I was last to call (no chance of a re-raise). The flop was J33 and I bet my three 3's till the river, facing only one opponent at the showdown. I turn my hand up and the guy next to me fans my cards out and says: "Does Steve teach you to play like that?" I told him Steve would kill me if he saw me playing that and I was snapped back into Omaha reality.

March 22
I played in the PokerStars World Series of Poker Main Event Qualifier last night and I was hoping to do great things. I played so well the other night when I won my way into today's event and I planned on being consistent. There were 296 entries which meant they gave sixteen seats away. I had average chips during most of the tournament, but managed to pick up a pot about midway through that put me above average. Considering this was halfway through the tournament, I had about $4200 in chips. I made a mistake on one hand that almost eliminated me. There were two players that limped in front of me when I held pocket Queens. The big blind was $100 so there was $350 in the pot when the decision came to me. I decided I wanted to make a raise, but I also wanted to play the pot. This would be a great way for me to build my stack as long as an ace didn't flop. I raised to $500 and one player called. The ace flopped and since I already made the decision to be done with my hand in this situation I should have followed through. But instead when the player led out for $500, I played back at him. I raised it to $1200, but then he reraised. I had to dump my hand and was left with only $715. I built my stack up again slowly and a little while later, I called the button's all-in move. I held pocket tens. He had A7. This was the exact situation I wanted (better than just a 50/50 race). The flop was 865 giving him the straight draw and I was crossing my fingers that I was going to make it out alive. The turn was another eight and it was looking good. BAM!! The river was an ace which left me with only a few chips. I look forward to winning my way into this event in the coming weeks. I'm determined to get to the Main Event at the WSOP.

A couple of hours later, it was time to play in my weekly $200 Omaha event. (I wish their were more Omaha tournaments online of this size.) They paid nine and I finished a disappointing thirteenth. I had a chance for awhile but I was eliminated when I held AAKT against the big blind's 7753. The limits were big and I had lost chips on the previous two hands, so my raise pre-flop put myself all-in. The flop came 877. He flopped four of a kind and I was sent packing.

March 20
I played the $500 Omaha HiLo event last night at The Bicycle Casino. I was not pleased by the table I drew, which included Miami John Cernuto and Super Mario Esquerra. I knew I would have a difficult road to make it to the final table. If I did not manage to make it to the final table, I figured I could at least observe two players who have had significant success in Omaha tournaments and study their game. I was impressed by John's play. He is one of the few players not afraid to bet top pair in Omaha and is able to pick up pots by doing so. I did not lose many chips to either of these players. It was the rest of the table that ate away at my chips. Most of my opponents passively limped in and made it difficult for me to play my normal game. I normally choose to go to battle with one or two people, but I wasn't able to do that last night. If I were to raise the pot when a couple of people already limped, the players behind me were not likely to fold their mediocre hands because of the value they would be getting. I had to play many pots for minimum bets and try to get maximum value from premium hands. Anybody familiar with tournaments will know it is difficult to get a lot of premium hands. My chips just dwindled and I left the tournament in nineteenth place. They only paid nine so I was not very close. My mentor and best friend, Steve Badger managed to get sixth, which was a little disappointing since he went in hoping to win the final Omaha event at the Winning of the Green for the third year in a row.

March 18
I did not have the best day at work yesterday. I believe a lot of it had to do with the fact I was sore from my accident and my mind was a little off center. It is so important to focus at the poker table and I was finding it difficult to do that all day. Today I went back into work ready for action. I was lucky to be able to sit in a $6-12 game all day and found my game back to normal. I was concentrating on what was going on around me rather than thinking about my poor car. I had a great day am ready to focus 100% during tomorrow's $540 Omaha tournament.

March 17
I'd like to win my way into the $10,000 event at the World Series of Poker. There are many online poker casinos giving the opportunity to do that. I played on Pokerstars in a satellite that put the top two finishers into a final on Sunday. I think I played my best No Limit poker on this night and did win my seat into Sunday's event. Last week there were 270 players and the top fifteen won seats into the World Series. I know I need to play solid poker to achieve this. I do not need to win the event, I just need to finish in the top fifteen. I am working on my strategy at the moment.

I also played in a satellite for the $25,000 WPT Bellagio event. This is also a two tiered satellite. For every $1150 in prize money, they give one seat into Saturday's event. I played in one that only had $1050 worth of entries so no seat was given. The prize money was awarded to first place only. When I got heads up with my opponent, I decided a deal would be best for me since there was not a seat to win. We chopped the prize pool and I am going to try another day.

March 16
I did not have a good day at work today. I was switched around from game to game and was never in a game for longer than an hour. To top it off, all of the games I played in were the $3-6 limit. I was even asked to save a $2-4 game because the game was so short. I do not usually don't do as well in the lower limit games because it is more just "showdown" poker. When I came into pots raising, the players called anyway. My pocket pair of queens were getting beaten by 68 offsuit, etc. My total days loss was about $220. The loss is not an issue, being stuck in crappy games all day is.

After work, I went to run an errand, and ended up having another car hit me in a head-on on collision. I managed to walk away with only bruises, but it kind of puts things into perspective. I have the best kids, a great life and a job I love to do. I should not care if I am in a crappy game while I am working.

March 14
My finish in the weekly Omaha HiLo tournament was substandard tonight. I finished in 57th place and was never in contention at any stage in the tournament. After I left the game, I played the $15-30 game and won a little over $500. I made about the same amount last night playing in the $10-20 Omaha. I need to play more in the online ring games when they are available. Unfortunately, Omaha Hi Lo is not the most popular game and it is difficult to find them at all times of the day.

March 13
I played the $300 Omaha High Low tournament last night and I did well although I did not make it into the money. During the first two rounds, I won 1/2 of a pot. I came back from the break and got involved in a hand with A23x and got 1/6 of that pot. I was down to about $200, but I knew I could make a comeback. I scooped the next pot I played when the player in first position tried to bluff me with his pair of sevens. I called him with my pair of jacks and my chips went up from there. We got down to four tables and I was eliminated holding top two pair and the board came runner runner giving the other player a full house. I was very pleased with my play and I look forward to next week for the $500 event.

March 10
I sat down at a $6-12 Hold'em table and the person next to me introduced himself and told me he regularly reads my poker journal. I thought it was really cool that he introduced himself to me and I wanted to send him a personal "Hi", so "Hello to Michael from Texas". He was in Los Angeles for business and decided to play at the Bicycle Casino.

After work, I played in the $300 No Limit Holdem tournament and sucked. I was eliminated on a hand I shouldn't have been involved in. When I left the tournament area, I joined the Loser's Lounge where Warren Karp, Jim Miller, Amir Vahedi and Mickey Mouse were seated at an empty table. I told them about the hand I lost with and all of them agreed I played it wrong. I held pocket nines and had $1425 in chips and the blinds were $50-100. The player in first position moved all-in for $750. I put him on two overcards or a small pocket pair and I called. A player behind me (who happened to be in the blind) also called. The flop was QT7 and the blind bet his last $500 dollars which I also called. I figured I was getting the right price on my hand. The blind scooped the pot with his AQ. All of my friends said I didn't need to get involved in the hand because I had no money invested. They also said that even if I was correct about the first player having two overcards I was in a race situation and it was unnecessary. I also made a bad move by not moving all-in over the top of the first all-in. I would have saved myself $500 in chips by making that move because the blind would have folded (the blind also told me the same thing). One last thing was I shouldn't have called the last $500 on the flop. After listening to the four of them (and they all agreed with each other), I realized my mistake. The one positive from the whole experience is I won't make the same mistake again. They all said that was the most important thing.

March 7
I played the weekly Omaha HiLo tournament on PokerStars tonight. There were 103 entries so they paid eighteen places. I had pretty good chip position at three tables and made a mistake on one hand that put me in danger of not making the money. I struggled to finish in the money, but I managed to get there. I placed sixteenth. I am a little disappointed in my finish (only because of my error), but I can say that I have definitely broke the "three table" jinx.

March 5
Who folds A228 in an Omaha HiLo tournament?... The guy who knocked me out in tonight's tournament: Daniel Rentzer. Let me start by saying, I love giving Daniel a hard time and he knows it. He really did fold that hand in the last tournament we played together. In tonight's event, I was shortstacked and we got our money in on the flop. I held AJ97 double suited, and he held KQJT. The flop was K98, giving me two pair and two backdoor flush draws. The turn was an Ace of clubs. Daniel announced that he now had a straight. The river was a seven. I told him, you hadn't made a straight and when he looked at it, he said "yeah, the seven just gave it to me". I joked with him that he doesn't deserve the pot when he can't even read the hand correctly. I am curious to know how he finished. [Daniel ended up 14th.]

The other topic I wanted to discuss is Chris Moneymaker's finish in the Bay 101 Shooting Stars WPT tournament. He finished second and I couldn't be happier for him. I have always stood firmly by my opinion that he played great during the World Series of Poker. He got lucky on a few hands, but I can't think of one champion that didn't get lucky sometime on their way to a victory. His read on Dutch's Boyd's two-overcard bluff was the best. Before either players turned their hands over, Chris asks for low cards which showed he read Dutch correctly for having high cards, no pair. Before I knew the results of today's tournament, I was thinking about the growth of poker over the last year. Most people credit the World Poker Tour, but Chris's win goes hand in hand with the WPT for contributing to peoples interest in poker. Chris' second place finish today will only bring good things to the world of poker. Phil Gordon of Celebrity Poker Showdown won the event. Actress Mimi Rogers also made the money.

March 4
Today, I had a losing day at the tables. One of those days filled with "bad beats". But this is not your typical bad beat story. I am going to give one example of a bad beat I took today and then talk about what I know. I held pocket aces in a six way pot. The action was capped before the flop. The flop was KQ7 with two clubs. A couple players checked, I bet and got three callers (one of them all-in). The turn was an ace of clubs. I did not put any of the other players on a flush draw, so I bet again and got one caller. The river was a six of clubs. I thought to myself, "oh this is great, four clubs up there one of these two have a club in their hand." The first player checked and I checked behind him. The player turned over 5 of clubs, 4 of spades. He flopped no pair, called four bets before the flop and caught runner runner to beat me. The all-in player turned over ten of diamonds, eight of clubs. He took the main pot with the exact same situation (no pair, four bets before the flop and caught runner runner). These type of beats used to make my insides burn. Now after experiencing them too many times, it doesn't phase me much at all. These are the type of situations I look for when I am playing poker: players willing to call four bets before a flop with 54 unsuited and T8 unsuited. I couldn't have a better job. I actually get paid to play with players like this! There were other beats I took today in loose games, but I happened to win in that particular game. These players might have beat me on one of the hands, but I got them in the end. That is what it is all about. Because my job as a prop involves saving games that might be in danger, I was forced to play in many games today. I lost in eight of eleven of the games I was in. I lost a couple hundred for the day. But I am not bothered by the events of the day. I took bad beats, it happens in poker. Not only did I take bad beats with my hands, I also took bad beats having to move from great games to help prop crappy ones, but that is all in a day in the life of a prop.

March 2
Playing in one of the three $6/12 Omaha games at The Bicycle Casino today, I had the privilege of sitting at the same table with Robert "Chip Burner" Turner. Robert is always great for the game and great for the players. Unfortunately, I have difficulty beating him. I raised with A2Q9 (Ace high diamonds). The flop was T62 with two diamonds. Robert bet out and I raised him trying to slow him down. I did. He just called, and then checked the turn when it came a deuce. Now I bet and he called. The river was a ten. He checked again and after some thought, I checked. Robert is the only guy I play with who will catch his scooper card against me EVERY time. Of course he now showed Ace-Ten and scooped the pot. (I was glad I slowed him down with my raise because he checked when the ten hit). Like I said earlier, it is a pleasure when he is at the table because the game is always good, but I have not always felt that way since he always beats me. I have finally realized, that as much fun as it would be to beat Robert, it is not important for me to specifically beat him in hands. It is important for me to beat everybody else at the table.

March 1
Last night I played in the Pokerstars $200 Omaha High Low event. I normally play this event every Sunday, but since The Bicycle Casino was holding their Winnin' O' the Green tournament series, I almost decided to play in their $100 No Limit Holdem event. I have been doing quite well on the weekly Omaha tournament, making it down to three tables on eight of my last ten attempts. Normally, this would be discouraging, to get so close but not cash, but I took it as a positive. In all the events, I got my chips into the pots with good hands in good situations, even though I lost. I knew my time was near. It finally came to be last night. I won the first prize of $5160.

There were a couple of key hands that led to my victory. The first came when there were three tables left. I raised in late position with A367 and got two callers. The flop was 974, both players checked and I bet. The first player folded and the second called. The turn was a king and we both checked. Since I had only one and a half bets left, his check most likely meant he had no King. The river paired the four. He led out and because I listened to the instinct I had on the turn (that he held no king), I called with my pair of sevens. He turned over 2366. This pot was the turning point for me because I collected $15,600. This was the first time I broke the $10,000 threshold.

When we got to two tables my cousin, Joie, said I was going to win. She knew this for two reasons. One, because I chose to play online rather than at The Bike and two, because I made it down to two tables, finally breaking the three table jinx. They only paid one table so I hoped she was right. I continued to play my careful aggressive game and I ended up third chip leader when we got to the final table.

Players were getting eliminated around me, mostly by the player I got head-up with, but I was still in good chip position. When we got heads-up, the other player suggested a chop. We were almost even in chips, but the blinds were relatively small compared to our chip stacks so I declined. I told him, "not at this level". The thought of winning the tournament straight up appealed to me too. I have battled for weeks to earn a victory and I was closer than ever. After I declined the deal, he warned me that I was playing with the World's best heads-up Omaha player. I thought to myself, world's best, why would he want to chop then? I responded: "Bring it on!"

Heads up play lasted about fifteen hands. I found him to be aggressive almost every hand. I knew I needed to manipulate him so that I minimized my losses and maximized my wins. The other key hand in my win came when I raised with A235. The flop came 554 and I just waited for him to take the bait. I knew he wouldn't resist if I gave him the opportunity. He checked and I checked. The turn was an ace and again we both checked. The river was a six, with me holding a full house and nut low. He led out like I thought he would and I raised. He called and I scooped the pot. I collected $72,000 on that pot and it gave me a little more than a 2-1 chip lead on him. Two hands later, I won.

The final hand, I was dealt AQT3 and on the turn I put him all in with a board of AQ57. He held KQT2. His only out was a jack, and when the river was a three, I was elated. I was happy with my performance, as I have been for the past couple of months, but a lot more pleased with the result. Now I am excited to play in next week's tournament.