Beware! Negreanu-esque blog

(continued from a tweet on 7/6/2008). Actually, I think I'm just tired of hold'em in general. BTW, I know it's been almost a year since my last post, and I had fallen off the wagon a bit poker-wise, but I have been playing. In the past year I've noticed that hold 'em has become more like bingo, especially at the lower limits. There's often no strategy employed at these limits because the people who sit across from you have NO concept of correct play.

I went to the boat on 9/15/07 and found myself at a very juicy $1-2NLH table. People would call with absolutely ridiculous cards, and I was just waiting to bust them. I actually employed a little Hellmuth strategy: PRF with a good hand, C-Bet, when people come over the top, fold to show that you'll fold to a bet. I've seen Hellmuth talk about this technique all of the time; portraying weakness as a set up for a big trap later. Well, I did pulled it off. Doubled through a few people like that at the tables, and in the 2 single table satellites I sat in. Strict conservative poker would have had me lose money, but employing smallball techniques, I didn't have to invest much to pull it off. I am still amazed at the number of donkeys that think they know what they're doing at the tables. I had a guy sit yesterday and tell us about all the "fish" at his other table... and he was only up like $150. Wow. Lots of fish there!

I remember playing the $1-3 NL Hold'em game at Argosy sometime in February '08 (before flying out for my MBA interview at Cornell) while waiting for a spot on a $2-5 NLH table. I was playing very tight to conserve my stack for the big game. I don't remember the exact hand, but I remember making a 10-15xBB PFR with a high suited connector in position (maybe KQ or KJ). One person called. Flop came and I flopped top pair (the other 2 were like a 5-8 or something), rainbow. She checks, I bet 2/3 pot and she calls without hesitation, so I start to think she has 2 pair, middle pair, or a medium pocket par. Turn gives me 2 pair. I fire again (1/2 pot), and she calls. River comes 7, only 2 cards to a flush. I'm not sure where I'm at, so I make a probe bet; like BBx2, only to get reraised. I called because I feel my 2 pair was good because I was only afraid of a set of 5s or 8s. I beat everything else, or so I thought. Apparently, the flop gave the girl a gutshot straight draw, which she caught on the river. Yeah. That's poker, right? The thing that bugs me the most is that she had the gall to say "yeah, I knew he had top pair at least, but sometimes I like to try to hit those." Yes, yes, I know that you want people to do that to you all day long, but it just bugs me that, afterward, she tried to justify her bad play to me. Consequently, I flopped a straight on her only for her to catch a flush at the end. Again, that's poker; I get it. Just save me the soliloquy.

Lately, though, hold 'em feels very much like the same ol' same ol'. I wish that Caesars (which is soon to be the Horseshoe) would spread other games, like an affordable Stud/Stud Hilo game, or more Omaha games. Tonight's session at Caesars was no exception to the usual donk poker at low limits. Nothing noteworthy hand-wise, but just a general reiteration of the wreckless nature of the low limit poker players, be it in limit or no-limit games.

I've been playing a lot of mixed games online such as HORSE/HOSE/HA, and I've recently revived my PokerStars account to try to learn Kansas City (2-7) Lowball Triple Draw. I'm becoming a big fan of 2-7, but I'm still having trouble figuring out the odds and the hand selection. Most recently, I've began to do the Chris Ferguson challenge. The challenge is: build up $10K from scratch by winning freerolls etc. I am now up to an astounding $4.68, mostly by playing mixed games or Omaha freerolls. I'll keep everyone posted as to the results.

Ok, that's all for now!