Weekend activities and some poker

I had a pretty fun weekend that I should blog about so y’all don’t miss out on the life of Ricky. I drove home Thursday afternoon to make it in time for the Dark Night. Turns out I didn’t actually need to skip class as I ended up waiting 5 hours in line with all the other Batman dorks. It was fun though as I got to bug Chris and with about two hours to go we decided to roll over to a bar and grab some drinks. Batman itself was an awesome movie and def. worth the wait. Probably the best I’ve seen this year. The action and general plot of the movie was amazing, not to mention how creepy/cool Joker was.

Nothing happened after the movie and I just went to bed. Got to play some golf the next day. Evan and I went out and drank awesome fake Austerlian beer (Fosters is actually brewed in Canada, wtf!?!) and shot a pretty good game.

I really wanted to get an actual keg for a small “house warming” party at Thakkor’s new apartment but Evan talked me out of it arguing that we would be lucky to get 5 people and a keg with 5 people is probably a bad idea. Yeah, probably right. So we settle with a mini Heinekin keg and some Longbored and head to Thakkors. The party is pretty funny. We have some drunk competitions; who can climb a palm tree (nobody), who can do 25 summersaults, drink a beer and then do 25 more, and some others I’m forgetting. I went against Dustin in the summersault deal and owned him on the summersaults as my technique was flawless but laughed the whole time trying to drink my beer. So he was on number 40 or so and I just finish my beer. Then I go into crazy summersault mode (something I don’t do often) and win 50-49. It was damn close. Then I sort of started drinking a whole shit load and ended up passing out on the most uncomfortable couch ever while playing TF2. I think I ordered a pizza at one point because I was pretending to be the “Don.” I woke up the next morning super tired and not feeling great. Fun night, though.

After driving back at 11:00 PM last night I’m now back in Santa Cruz. I played some tournies today and went deep in the Sunday million only to bust QQ < style=""> I actually think I could have gotten away from it…UTG pushed about 11 BB and MP big stack man flat called. I had 23 bb and was almost positive he had KK/AA. I pushed and oh well. Then I sort of tilted a bit playing 2/4 FR and HU. After being up $400 or so I’m now down $700. That was dumb.

I also banned myself from PTP’s “Shooting Off” as I didn’t want to deal with any more of the bullshit that goes on there. It is entertaining for me but far too many things piss me off and more importantly, it is a gigantic fucking waste of time. The useless drivel that occurs there astounds me sometimes…yet I still can’t help but read it. Anyway, problem solved! I’ll let my $8k in stakes run their course (they’ll probably be $4k by the end of it but whatever) and then probably limit myself to about $1k out at a time. The staking was fun and I’ll have to go through and figure out how much I actually made but I need to focus on my own poker as its much more profitable.

Not much going on

I haven't been playing much poker at all and it feels great. I played the 20r 6max and $100 1r1a 6max last night and pretty near bubbled both. Like 30th and 32nd when 27 paid. Anywho, I really like both these tournies as they start at the same time on FTP and I think I'm way better at 6max tournies. They also only get about 200 runners which means I don't have to sit there for 7 hours to get top 20 and cash for like $200.

But more importantly, I've been seeing a lot more of Santa Cruz and getting out. I went running twice yesterday and have been going down to the beach to just chill almost everyday. Tonight I'm going to do a pub quiz night type deal which should be fun as Santa Cruz people are generally donks when it comes to knowing shit.

I also cut back quite a bit on my staking as I don't have one big investment that is up right now. All my $1k+ stakes are down and most of my smaller $100-500 stakes are down significantly as well. Oh yeah, I've also lost about 18% in the stock market. So this awesome month I'm having is pretty much offset by my shitty investing strategy.

Other than that, I'm heading back to Davis this weekend to see Batman Dark Night which I'm actually pretty excited for. Evan has been hyping it up for like 9 months now so it better be damn good. Now I'm off to another boring class.

Been a good month

I never did get around to posting this but I got 4th in the 40k Guar on FTP. After three long months I think I'm due. It really should have been at least a 2nd or 1st but got owned on the with KK < 10Jo. That was for double the rest of the table and I would have just been able to run over everybody else. With that said I'm really happy with how I played overall. I think I'm going to take a week break and explore Santa Cruz and maybe get back into WoW.

Bay 101 and shots at 5/10.

After being in Santa Cruz for over two weeks without going to the Bay 101 casino, I finally made my first trip there last night. My first thoughts when getting there was how shitty a location it had. A big empty lot to the right and a bunch of shabby office buildings across the street and the highway was buzzing behind it. I figure the inside will be nice like a normal casino but boy was I wrong. The walls are all ugly white washed with absolutely no décor at all. The ‘reception desk’ was unstaffed and the minute I walked in the door some ugly guy walks in front of me, sticks out his hand and looks behind me. I know he wants my ID but I say “What?” because I’m a bit pissed at how rude this guy was and he honestly doesn’t say anything, just keeps starting, looking super pissed off, behind my head. I pull out my ID and he stares at it for a second, hands it back and walks away. Pretty fucking bad.

The poker room itself is WAY bigger than I imagined. I’m use to the small Indian casino’s in Oregon with only 4-6 tables but this one must have had upwards of 40 or 50 tables. I’m a bit confused as, like I said, I’m used to the little Oregon ones where the floor man knew me and just put me on the list automatically. I walk up to the big list and I ask what games are running and this guy, once again, doesn’t say anything at all. He just points behind him and starts being rude to someone else. I see that they are running only limit games 3/6 up to 80/160. I get the guys attention and ask him to put me down for 3/6 to 10-20. He looks at me annoyed for like 5 seconds before super exapsteratdly asking me “YOUR NAME!?” Patrick, I say. He turns around, and literally is shaking is head, writes my name down. Wow. I could have sworn because we donate so much money to casino’s you expect good service or at least not down right rude service. I then have to wait an hour and a half to finally get a seat at 6/12.

The table is super talkative and of course I’m the youngest one there so they all make fun me, want to see my ID, etc. I don’t play a hand for probably 20 minutes until I get A8o on the button. Everybody has been limping a ton and there are about 2 limpers before me. I raise it up and get 3 callers, including the BB. Flop is all rags and I miss completely. I bet and they all call. Flop is like a J or something. Then all check and I bet and only the BB calls. The river is an 8 and we check/check and I take it down. This hand seriously set me up for the next 8 hours of play as everybody thought I was the super loose kid who bets too much. I think I played better than I ever had live. I played my normally stragagy, limping behind a bunch of limpers and raising from LP when there was only 1 or 2 limpers. It worked really well and I built my stack to about $800 (from a $400 buy in). I went a bit card dead around midnight and over the next 3 hours dropped down to 600 and about 3 AM decided to call it quits and drive home.

My feelings are very mixed now on live. I really feel like I played super super good there. This hand is a good example. I have K6s OTB and after 2 limpers I raise it up. Flop comes down KQ5. I bet and everybody calls. Turn is another king. I bet and only the BB calls who I had a good read on. River is a 9. He checks and I actually THINK about the hand, which I never do online. I figure a bet is best because he will call any smaller PP and any Q 6 or 9. And if he caught his straight (which is a smaller part of his range) he will raise and I can fold. And he will never bluff C/R, ever. Well, he did C/R and I thought about it again and folded my trips face up. He was shocked and showed his 10J for the river straight. This is something I would never do online.

On the other hand, I had to deal with mega uncomfortable chairs and very annoying people. I was seated between two Vietnameese brothers who were clearly colluding. It was so obvious and I kept calling them out on it but nobody would do anything. It didn’t affect me too much because I’m not an idiot but they just owned the fish with their super blantent collusion.

Like Viet #1 was BB and Viet #2 the button. A bunch of limpers would come in as per usual and button would raise and then BB would 3-bet. And, of course, a lot of limpers folded because they are dumb. Then BB would check and fish would check and button would bet. Then BB would reraise and of course the fish had to get out of there and then they would check it down. OMG it tilts me how bad the collusion was and nobody did shit about it. It actually saved me chips one time. It folded to button (Viet #2) who raised and I called out of SB with AJs. Then freaking Viet #1 in the BB 3-bet and then the button capped it! Wtf. I get a bit pissed here and fold. I ask to see both players hands and the BB actually had QQ but the button had A10o. He would never ever cap it with A10 off if his brother wasn’t in the hand. I ranted a bit to the dealer but the guy just kept saying “I always cap with A10” and how they saved me money anyway, which is true. So anyway, that’s my story of Bay 101.

Then I come home and because its super late I figured there would be a bunch of euro fish on and fire up FTP. I’ve had a sick month so far and decide to take load up 3/6 and 5/10 along with my normal 2/4. I stack a 20bb shortstack at 5/10 real quick with my A10 > AK AIPF. Then I get a half stack to sit in with me and on the third hand or something we get AJs vs his A6o AIPF. 6 on the flop and he is doubled up. Then we go back and forth for awhile. I had been playing a weird style of limping the button with almost my whole range because he was just potting OOP everytime, building pots for me. I’d mix it up between raising with shit and good hands. No real big hands until I pick up 1010 OTB. I limp and he makes it 30. I make it 110 and he calls. Flop is Jc9d3c. Not a bad flop for me. He donks out 80 into 130 and I make it 320. He calls and the turn is a 5d, making two flush draws. Now I have a hard decision on the turn as there is about 830 in the pot and I’ve got 550 left. I decide there is a good chance he has a FD, lower PP or Q10 striaght draw. I ship it in and he snap calls with JKo. Oh well. Take a shot at 5/10 and it didn’t work out. Grind back 2/4 and I’ll try it again someday. I think there are plenty of fish up there to where I have a big edge.

LOL-O-COASTER!

Such a lol day.

Today was fun. In the morning I went and took my marketing midterm which was easy pesy. Then I come back and played some tournies and naturally lose. I’m really going to try and stop playing tournies- not so much because I’m losing money but because of the opportunity cost (oh econ!) of me not playing HU. Its just so stupid to play these tournies where if I’m +ev at all, my hourly probably isn’t better than like $50 or something whereas in HU I freaking rock souls to pieces.

So I bust the tournies, am pissed etc and go running. I come back and sit down ready to play a serious 2/4 HU session. I win like 800 or something when my now good buddy KingEppy came and sat with about $240. He turned out to be a super nitty and C/F a lot of flops so I just kept betting, etc and got him down to about $120 or something and then I push over his PFR with 55 and he calls with A10 and naturally gets the wheel to bust my set. Oh well. I kept whittling him down again and had him at 270 when we get my AK v AA and he holds obv. Oh well.

At this point I’m a little tilted as I had this guy on the ropes and now he is up quite a bit on me. Errr…so I start open raising to 24 which probably wasn’ the best idea but I honestly thought it was +ev because he was still calling a lot PF and then just c/f the flop. Anyway, I lose one a good pot on a bad bluff where he called me down and then try it again like three hands later and lose a buy in. SHIT. Now he is up to $1k from his $240 buy in. And from there I continue to lose pot after pot. I can’t catch shit and he starts to c/r me a lot and taking down 60-100 pots. There isn’t much I can do. So he was up to $1.6k at his tops but then I finally started to catch some cards and get 600 back until he left. JERK. Blah, he ended up $900 on me. =(

Anyway, I’m tired of writing so I’ll shorten this up. Other dude buy ins for 160. Loses it quick stupidly. Does it again. Loses it and says he is drunk. I think he ends up losing 3 $160 buy ins until he finally buys in for 152.55 or something (his last $$$). He, of course, builds his stack up to like $1k but he is super agro and I'm super awesome and just bluffs at every hand I check, etc. After winning some good pots I have him down to $500 when this hand occurs.

FullTiltPoker Game #7158687400: Table Yosh (heads up) - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:22:18 ET - 2008/07/10

Seat 1: Ricky_Travel ($702.60)

Seat 2: bcali1980 ($465.35)

Ricky_Travel posts the small blind of $2

bcali1980 posts the big blind of $4

The button is in seat #1

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to Ricky_Travel [Td Kd]

Ricky_Travel raises to $12

bcali1980 calls $8

*** FLOP *** [5d 7h 9h]

bcali1980 bets $12

Ricky_Travel raises to $24

bcali1980 calls $12

*** TURN *** [5d 7h 9h] [7d]

bcali1980 bets $429.35, and is all in

Ricky_Travel has 15 seconds left to act

Ricky_Travel has requested TIME

Ricky_Travel: you have hearts

Ricky_Travel calls $429.35

bcali1980 shows [6s 2h]

Ricky_Travel shows [Td Kd]

*** RIVER *** [5d 7h 9h 7d] [3c]

bcali1980 shows a pair of Sevens

Ricky_Travel shows a pair of Sevens

Ricky_Travel wins the pot ($930.20) with a pair of Sevens

bcali1980 is sitting out

Ricky_Travel: good call

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot $930.70 | Rake $0.50

Board: [5d 7h 9h 7d 3c]

Seat 1: Ricky_Travel (small blind) showed [Td Kd] and won ($930.20) with a pair of Sevens

Seat 2: bcali1980 (big blind) showed [6s 2h] and lost with a pair of Sevens

Oh sweeeet! I was pretty pumped as I was pretty sure my K high was good. If not, I’ve got like 20% to hit. So the day ended good….up almost $900 with about 3 hours still to play. =)

I like July.

I really, really do.

Happy 4th!

I decided to drive back to Davis for the 4th of July because it didn't really seem like much was happening in SC. I guess the big party spot, Seabright, where they light all the fireworks is being cracked down on so nobody wants to go there. So instead I figure I'll spend a couple days at home and chill with highschool buddies. I think we're having a BBQ tonight...maybe play some drunken poker where I can spew a bunch of money.

Off to a great start this month!

looking to be one of my best months ever. NOT.

Here are some ugly hands.


Full Tilt Poker $2/$4 No Limit Hold'em - 2 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

Hero (BB): $400.00
BTN/SB: $400.55

Pre Flop: Hero is BB with J J
BTN/SB raises to $12, Hero raises to $40, BTN/SB raises to $120, Hero raises to $400 all in, BTN/SB calls $280

Flop: ($800.00) 9 A T

Turn: ($800.00) J

River: ($800.00) 6


Full Tilt Poker $2/$4 No Limit Hold'em - 2 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

Hero (BB): $435.00
BTN/SB: $333.50

Pre Flop: Hero is BB with 9 A
BTN/SB raises to $12, Hero calls $8

Flop: ($24.00) J K A (2 players)
Hero bets $16, BTN/SB raises to $46, Hero raises to $116, BTN/SB raises to $321.50 all in, Hero calls $205.50

Turn: ($667.00) 5

River: ($667.00) 8


Full Tilt Poker $2/$4 No Limit Hold'em - 2 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

Hero (BTN/SB): $472.10
BB: $238.65

Pre Flop: Hero is BTN/SB with T 7
Hero raises to $12, BB calls $8

Flop: ($24.00) 5 T 6 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $20, BB calls $20

Turn: ($64.00) 4 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $64, BB raises to $206.65 all in, Hero calls $142.65

River: ($477.30) K


Full Tilt Poker $2/$4 No Limit Hold'em - 2 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

Hero (BB): $559.50
BTN/SB: $401.50

Pre Flop: Hero is BB with 7 K
BTN/SB raises to $12, Hero calls $8

Flop: ($24.00) 3 J T (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN/SB bets $16, Hero raises to $56, BTN/SB calls $40

Turn: ($136.00) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $104, BTN/SB calls $104

River: ($344.00) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $300


Here is an ugly graph.



ENJOY!