Lately have been playing a lot on the Cryptologic sites, PokerPlex and InterPoker primarily. I was a Party-only guy when I first began playing and after quadrupling my initial $100 investment I found myself going cold in both the SnG's and my regular $25NL Hold Em games. After losing a bit I quickly cashed out perhaps a bit hastily, mostly from frustration but in retrospect I'm glad I did it and I regret not doing it earlier when I was up more. It's not so much the money that I lost, it wasn't that much, but more so that the more I think about it, the more that money was really doing me no good there. I should have tried other sites, gotten other bonuses...and that is what I am doing now with the Cryptos. PokerPlex had a sweet offer, play 300 raked hands a month and get $50 each month. Play is pretty soft, there are some manic Europeans that like to throw money around and sometimes they will lay bad beats on you but for the most part they give their money away.
InterPoker also has a nice monthly bonus, 100% matching bonus up to $90 for playing 8x in raked hands or 780 hands. Also choke full of loose Europeans. I deposited the $90 and I've almost quadrupled it. About 1/3 through the raked hands needed. Check out this hand:
Game #635110473: Texas Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2005/05/15 - 19:26:07 (ET)
Table "Lantana" Seat 4 is the button.
Seat 1: Panizzi ($34.25 in chips)
Seat 2: MestariJ ($73.83 in chips)
Seat 3: Ange04023 ($69.47 in chips)
Seat 4: Gsolis31 ($24.25 in chips)
Seat 5: achaean ($53.05 in chips)
Seat 6: bondboy ($129.15 in chips)
Seat 7: dubstars ($24.50 in chips)
Seat 8: lolmtslum ($50 in chips)
Seat 9: ismaskin ($44.50 in chips)
Seat 10: Somatic ($39.80 in chips)
achaean: posts small blind $0.25
bondboy: posts big blind $0.50
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Gsolis31 [Ac As]
dubstars: raises to $1.50
lolmtslum: folds
ismaskin: folds
Somatic: calls $1.50
Panizzi: folds
MestariJ: folds
Ange04023: calls $1.50
Gsolis31: raises to $10
achaean: folds
bondboy: folds
dubstars: raises to $24.50 and is all-in
Somatic: folds
Ange04023: folds
Gsolis31: is all-in $14.25
Returned uncalled bets $0.25 to dubstars
----- FLOP ----- [5s 2s 6d]
----- TURN ----- [5s 2s 6d][9d]
----- RIVER ----- [5s 2s 6d 9d][Kh]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
dubstars: shows [6h Qh] (A Pair of Sixes, King high)
Gsolis31: shows [Ac As] (A Pair of Aces, King high)
Gsolis31 collected $49.65 from Main pot
But on the flipside, you have ridiculous beats like this one. Given the flop, why this guy thought his top pair with his lousy gut-shot was any good is beyond me.
Game #458695214: Texas Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2005/05/10 - 01:11:29 (UK)
Table "Pantomime" Seat 1 is the button.
Seat 1: DixeNorms ($88.60 in chips)
Seat 2: iltempo ($22.25 in chips)
Seat 4: Gsolis ($33.75 in chips)
Seat 5: marshal7 ($49.50 in chips)
Seat 6: Graucho26 ($14.81 in chips)
Seat 8: Piete2911 ($34.09 in chips)
Seat 10: Gazza1606 ($45.02 in chips)
iltempo: posts small blind $0.25
Gsolis: posts big blind $0.50
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Gsolis [2d 5s]
marshal7: folds
Graucho26: calls $0.50
Piete2911: calls $0.50
Gazza1606: calls $0.50
DixeNorms: calls $0.50
iltempo: calls $0.25
Gsolis: checks
----- FLOP ----- [4d 3c 6c]
iltempo: bets $3
Gsolis: raises to $6
Graucho26: raises to $14.31 and is all-in
Chaser71 joins the table at seat #9
Piete2911: folds
Gazza1606: folds
DixeNorms: folds
iltempo: raises to $21.75 and is all-in (why?!?)
Gsolis: calls $15.75
----- TURN ----- [4d 3c 6c][8h]
----- RIVER ----- [4d 3c 6c 8h][5d]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
iltempo: shows [7d 6h] (A Straight, Eight high)
Gsolis: shows [2d 5s] (A Straight, Six high)
Graucho26: shows [As Ah] (A Pair of Aces, Eight high)
iltempo collected $14.13 from Side pot #1
iltempo collected $43.68 from Main pot
Overall, I like the Cryptos a good deal, variance can be high but I guess you have to know when to give it up. I notice I make most of my money by flopping monsters against people who can't make any sort of laydown. I also make a lot of money by laying it down when I'm on the other side of the flop. It's not my usual 'live game' play, as I tend to be more aggressive but online I've noticed that's how the money goes. Not a whole lot of outplaying being done, just knowing when to lay it down or chasing when the other guy has no idea how to bet properly.
Monday, May 16, 2005
ESPN Challenge
So for those that don't know, up until this past Sunday, ESPN was holding a competition where one seat to this year's WSOP was on the line. It was a 10 week promotion and basically each week you would have a chance to accumulate 30 points to enter a Sunday qualifier. The top 50 from each of the 10 Sunday qualifiers played a final tournament for the WSOP seat. I thought this was a cool contest and played a lot but only managed to play in 3 Sunday qualifiers as I flaked on some and commitments prevented me from playing others. Here are my standings:
Sunday April 10 2pm qualifier 143/1500 (top 10%)
Sunday April 24th 3pm qualifier 43/1500 (top 3%!!) I get a stick of Degree for this one.
Sunday May 8th 2pm qualifier 453/1500 (disappointing considering my pace)
Well, May 8th was supposed to be the last Sunday qualifier before the final tournament but ESPN decided to add a last chance tournament this past Saturday 14th. The catch was you had to get 90 points. Three times as hard, right? But I was on a hot streak and won two of the multi-table tourney's (30 people) and was up to 60 points right away. Anyhow, the last chance tourney came...and went. I had some high hopes since I was on a rush on ESPN but out of 584, I came in 186. Overall, it was pretty fun, and good practice as I'm sure lots of these people play online for real money as well. I'll be awaiting ESPN's coverage of WSOP 2005 with glee.
Sunday April 10 2pm qualifier 143/1500 (top 10%)
Sunday April 24th 3pm qualifier 43/1500 (top 3%!!) I get a stick of Degree for this one.
Sunday May 8th 2pm qualifier 453/1500 (disappointing considering my pace)
Well, May 8th was supposed to be the last Sunday qualifier before the final tournament but ESPN decided to add a last chance tournament this past Saturday 14th. The catch was you had to get 90 points. Three times as hard, right? But I was on a hot streak and won two of the multi-table tourney's (30 people) and was up to 60 points right away. Anyhow, the last chance tourney came...and went. I had some high hopes since I was on a rush on ESPN but out of 584, I came in 186. Overall, it was pretty fun, and good practice as I'm sure lots of these people play online for real money as well. I'll be awaiting ESPN's coverage of WSOP 2005 with glee.
Artichoke's
I've been slacking on posts, so I will make a solid effort to keep up from now on. I figure every 2-3 days is a good goal. I know barely anyone reads this but perhaps that will change with time, and with posts.
On the Artichoke Joe's front, I made a return with Rod 3 weeks ago. It had been a while because after our last stop there we decided to take a break from the tournament. Limit tournaments are a different beast and we both had some pretty ridiculous beats there. But I managed to talk Rod into going and after playing no hands the blinds are at 30/60 and I'm in the BB with A7o. I push all-in after a late position raise. I think I'm on my way out when a 7 falls on the turn and all of a sudden I have some chips to play with. I think somewhere along the line I get a low pocket pair which I raise with as we are 4 handed and of course get callers. I keep firing and keep getting called down by one guy who pretty much calls anything, it's limit after all! My 55's hold up and all of a sudden I find myself the chip leader. The thing with this tournament is that obviously AJ's wants to finish it as soon as possible so the blinds jump from 60/120 to 200/400. And of course I have to post the first BB. UTG raises to 800, SB goes all-in and I bow out with J4o hoping to get this heads up and just go all-in till I can regain a chip lead or bust. SB manages to stay alive and I push all-in in the SB and finish a disappointing 3rd place after getting so close to my first win ever at AJ's. It's a winner-take-all single table tournament so $200 is up for grabs. I did get a freeroll and the following week (Tues May 10) I returned with Rod again for my freeroll. Nothing Doing. I'll probably go back sometime but Rod is done with that tourney after too many bad beats and no freeroll. The upshot is that I have 700 points for the FreeRoll tournament in September. It's slightly above average, most people have 500 (you get that for coming in 1st/2nd in any of the tourneys and then 100 points thereafter). So hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in some more points before then.
On the Artichoke Joe's front, I made a return with Rod 3 weeks ago. It had been a while because after our last stop there we decided to take a break from the tournament. Limit tournaments are a different beast and we both had some pretty ridiculous beats there. But I managed to talk Rod into going and after playing no hands the blinds are at 30/60 and I'm in the BB with A7o. I push all-in after a late position raise. I think I'm on my way out when a 7 falls on the turn and all of a sudden I have some chips to play with. I think somewhere along the line I get a low pocket pair which I raise with as we are 4 handed and of course get callers. I keep firing and keep getting called down by one guy who pretty much calls anything, it's limit after all! My 55's hold up and all of a sudden I find myself the chip leader. The thing with this tournament is that obviously AJ's wants to finish it as soon as possible so the blinds jump from 60/120 to 200/400. And of course I have to post the first BB. UTG raises to 800, SB goes all-in and I bow out with J4o hoping to get this heads up and just go all-in till I can regain a chip lead or bust. SB manages to stay alive and I push all-in in the SB and finish a disappointing 3rd place after getting so close to my first win ever at AJ's. It's a winner-take-all single table tournament so $200 is up for grabs. I did get a freeroll and the following week (Tues May 10) I returned with Rod again for my freeroll. Nothing Doing. I'll probably go back sometime but Rod is done with that tourney after too many bad beats and no freeroll. The upshot is that I have 700 points for the FreeRoll tournament in September. It's slightly above average, most people have 500 (you get that for coming in 1st/2nd in any of the tourneys and then 100 points thereafter). So hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in some more points before then.
Monday, May 02, 2005
Odds Pay Off
Played a $20 NL Hold Em Tournament with some friends this weekend in San Jose. We usually only get together to play about once every month or so but it's always a good time, as everyone knows each other and we always do a pot-luck before hand. One time I brought some KFC and ending up eating most of it as I busted out early and fried chicken seemed to hit the spot. Since then I'm expected to bring KFC every time and I happily oblige. This weekend, a particular hand came up where I was able to make a nice gamble that paid off. I tend to limp in with any pocket pairs JJ or lower (thought this can change at any given moment) although I know lots of people prefer to raise with mid/high pocket pairs. I have my own reasons which I might go into in another post but on this particular hand I was looking at TT. I hit the perfect rainbow flop T92. It gets checked to me and I bet a little less than the pot and get three callers. The turn is a Q, a concern now with a straight draw on the board so after it's checked to me I put in a bet of about half the pot, the reason being that with one card to come, a straight draw is not getting proper pot odds and if someone comes over the top, representing the made straight I could perhaps get away from the hand with minor losses. Well, the next person to act raises all-in and it's quickly folded back to me to decide. I quickly realize that I am up against the J8 for the made straight but here is where the books pay off. Basically, I have 10 cards to improve to a full house so with one card to come I am a 3.4-to-1 dog to fill up. I calculated my pot odds to be a little over 4:1. Also, if I lost this hand I would still have some chips to play with, not much but something to fight with, and lastly there was the slim chance that perhaps I still held the best hand. So with the pot laying me a good price, I knew I needed to take a risk in order to get in the money and I made the call. I get shown J8 and the river drops a Q and I win with Tens over Queens. I definitely think without knowledge of the hand/pot odds I would have had to lay this down. But knowing that I was getting the right price on my money, and considering the other factors I felt it was the right call to make and luckily for me I got the card I needed. I was chip leader after that hand and it allowed me to get in the money where I eventually took third place. Perhaps I needed to be more aggressive as it got short-handed but that's just another aspect of my game to work on for next time.
Online Bonuses
In addition to playing regularly on PartyPoker I opened up an account at PokerPlex to cash in on their $50 Bonus. Play 300 hands, raked or not, and get $50 each month you do so. After some initial problems, I finally managed to clear the bonus this weekend. Their software is lacking in many areas but tolerable. The lowest NL tables they have use 0.50/$1.00 blinds with a minimum buy-in of $20. It's definitely a different game than Party's $25NL tables with blinds of 0.10/0.25. Anyhow, I'll be going back there every month to clear the bonus but I doubt I will be playing many other hands once I clear the bonus. It's hard to find an open seat sometimes and the program runs slow. But then again, there seem to be a lot of people who like to play their mid/bottom pairs aggressively so who knows. Overall, I recommend checking it out for mostly soft play and an easy bonus.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
