PFP Session #10 - The 7th Circle of Poker Hell

I took a 15 minute power nap before heading in to The Oaks last night and while I was drifting off I was dreaming about flopping bottom set and making quads against two over full houses. My actual night was pretty much the opposite of that. There may be some profanity in this post.

As I walked in the door I saw a $30/$60 with 10 regulars and a $15/$30 with a bunch of unfamiliar players. I sat down at $6/$12 while I was waiting for my name to be called for the latter and saw even more new faces. After 5 minutes it was clear that half of these guys had no clue - absolutely no clue. Someone made a run of the mill full house and 3 people verbalized something to the effect of "Wow! A full house!" At that point - as you might suspect - I thought "These guys don't have a clue what they're doing."

I got dealt 25-30 hands over the course of 45 minutes, didn't drag a single pot, and lost $150. That's not really news or all that uncommon, but a little frustrating.

Putting that first speed bump behind me I made my way to $15/$30 and bought in for $1,000. There were a few characters that came in to play throughout the night as once I sat down no one left the game for 2 hours - a sign of a great game. The people were:

'The Old Man" in seat 1
"The Guy with Glasses" in seat 3
"Sunglasses" in seat 4
"The Lady" in seat6
"The Young Guy" in seat 7

In a normal game 3 or 4 players will make it to the flop on average. If 5 or 6 players are making it to the flop regularly it's a good or great game. We had 3 hands go to the flop 9 way for 2 or more bets in the first 30 minutes I was there!

I took seat 2, next to the old man who I once heard say "Oakland really went down hill when World War II started" - he was very, very old. He had about $2,000 in front of him and roughly 1/3 of the time I could see either one or both of his cards.

A few hands in I made top pair out of the big blind and ended up losing to Sunglasses. He'd flopped a pair of threes and rivered two pair when a 7 came out. The way it went down I wasn't surprised to see him roll over two pair, but it took me a second to note "Wait...Did he call first in before the flop with 73 off suit?" When you see someone do that, they're basically announcing they're going play anything. And he did. He had $1,000 in front of him.

I noticed The Lady - also sitting with $1,000 - call a hand in early postion with 84.

The Guy with Glasses was capping it 100% of the time someone reraised him after he raised preflop and would 3 bet the flop anytime someone raised him.

The Young Guy was the worst. There was one hand where The Old man Raised AJ and The Young Guy called his with J7. The flop was KQJ, the turn was a K and the river was a Q. The Old Man bet the whole way and The Young Guy called the whole way. Neither of them realized that their pair of jacks had been counterfitted and didn't play. At showdown they both stared at the fucking board cards for 5 seconds trying to figure out what happened!

So now that we've established that I was playing with people who were not just bad, but lacked any fundamental concepts whatsoever, let me tell you about what was going on with me. Nothing that's what! I could not make a fucking hand!

After 15 minutes I thought to myself - "This game is almost too good. Don't try to do too much. Just be patient." And I was for the most part. But when every pot has 40+ chips going in before the flop, you're getting the odds to see a lot of turn and river cards and it get's expensive if you're not dragging some pots.

I did win one pot in the first hour. It was an unimproved pocket 5's and there were five hundred fucking dollars in the pot! How does so much money go in when no one can beat a pair of 5's? Five total goofballs at the table, that's how.

In the second hour I won no pots.

Let me go deeper in to the torture. It was not just watching these fuckheads drag $600 pots left and right while I took hand after hand to the flop and got no help and missed all my draws and tried to keep my shit together.

On one hand I had 86 of clubs and we took the flop 7 way for two bets. The flop came down K 8 4, it got checked around to the raiser who was on the button and checked it. The turn was a 5 giving me a gut shot straight draw to go with my pair. Someone bet, I called, the original raiser called, The lady called and then the Young Guy raised it. Normally when you check raise 4 people on the turn it means you have something. The river was a 2 and The Young Guy went all in for his last $20.

I thought about calling even though I had a really shitty hand, but there were two players behind me and even a complete fool wouldn't check raise 4 people on the turn as a bluff. It was only $20 for a shot at over $500, but I let it go. The original raiser called and The Young Guy rolled over A5 for a pair of 5's and took down the pot. GAH! So frustrating.

I had a hand where I had Q7 off suit in the cutoff with 3 limpers in front of me and I had the chips in my hand to call, but trying to stay patient I let it go. I'd seen the old man's hand and he had J9. I was trying to decide if having the information of knowing what one of my opponents had would take it from a fold to a call and I opted to toss it. The flop came Q T 7 and the river was another 7. It ended up being a big pot without me pushing it. In isolation this hand is nothing to note, but after missing so many hands, it sucked to be so close to calling and let it go.

I had AK 3 times in pretty close succession. All 3 times it was 4 bets before the flop. Twice I totally missed, but on the 3rd one the flop came out A 7 4 rainbow. The young guy check raised me and since I was not going to fuck around in a big pot I three bet it. He had capped it preflop after playing pretty tamely preflop thus far so I thought he could have an ace or a big pair. He just called on the flop and the turn came out a Q. He check raised me again and I thought he could easily have QQ or AQ, but after that hand with the God damn A5 (and two other times I'd seen him make hopeless bluffs since) I wasn't going to fold. The river was another Q and after a pause he checked. Thinking maybe he had A6, A7 or 67 or who knows what, I bet out. He check raised me again and showed me quad queens after I called. GAH!

It's not just the two outter coming in, it's the fact that I got check raised 3 times. I'm sure that has happened to me at some point, but I can't think of another time that someone has done that to me and I paid them off the whole way. Normally only a very strong player would consider that line and I'd either stand off on the river, or let it go after getting hit for the third time. Anyway it sucked.
 
Right after that, The Lady won a pot that had $900 in it with AK, hitting a K on the river for one pair of kings. That is an ungodly pot. It should take two sets and 3 draws and an over pair to make a pot like that not who knows what that can't beat one pair.

Then I got AA, flopped a set and lost to Sunglasses who had 34 and made a wheel on the river.

After 2 hours I was stuck $1,200. The lady walked out with $1,500, The Guy with the Glasses cashed out $3,000 after having $500 when I sat down. The Old Man got it worse that I did and was down to the felt.

The game cooled off, but I started making some hands. In the third hour I flopped trips and it was good. I made two pair on the turn that filled up in the river. I got AA again and it held up. I finally made a flush draw and got paid off. I took it back to the point where I was only stuck $250.

Then I went right back down the toilet. All in the 4th hour: QQ was no good twice. AJ of clubs on a J 8 4 flop with two clubs didn't come home. I lost with trips. I made another set of aces and I lost to 34 again. Can you believe that shit?! TORTURE!

It took all of 55 minutes to go from -$250 to -$1275 and that's where I walked away. This was the worst poker day I've had since 2010. Of course I didn't play at all in 2011 or the first half of 2012, but still worth noting.

I'll be back in action on Monday or Tuesday. GRRRRR!

Project Flying Panther Session #9 - Tired Panther

I made it to the Oaks over the weekend, but I was with a friend who wanted to play low stakes. I won $360 playing $6/$12, but by Wednesday I was ready to put in some time on The Project.

I made my way to the Oaks after work and bought in for $400 at the $200 Max game. Over 30 minutes I played one hand of significance where I made it $20 with KQ suited, got 4 callers, bet $75 on a A Q 5 flop with two of my suit, and took it down. With a $56 profit in tow I made my way to $15/$30.

I got off to a good start running my starting stack of $1,000 up to $1,350 in the first hour. But over the course of the next two and a half hours I dropped down to $300 and actually bought more chips so I wouldn't look so short.

I've been pretty fortunate during the project to not have a sustained run of unplayable cards, but that is what happened here - hand after hand of garbage mixed in with a few strong hands that didn't come home.

During this stretch the $30/$60 game broke and some of the regulars made their way in to the $15/$30. This was bad news in the short term, but thinking long term it gave me a change to play against people that I know are solid winning players at the higher stakes. I was actually not impressed. These guys didn't give me any trouble at all. I have to remind myself that I used to play against some of the best players from all over the world on a regular basis and I'm ready for anyone when it comes to limit hold'em.

I was able to make a moderate comeback and ending up losing $399 at the $15/$30 which was a total of a $343 loss for the session. I'm ahead $3,273 for The Project.

On a separate note, I am feeling warn out. I'm doing my best to be a great father and husband, a strong employee at HitFix, a productive poker player and someone who takes care of themselves physically. I'm finding there are not enough hours in the week to give it everything I have and be really outstanding at all of those things. Or rather, there are, but that leaves zero time for anything else. I'm finding a balance, but sometimes it can be overwhelming as I find myself wanting to spend more time on all those things (For the record I actually felt great last night, and I don't think fatigue played in to my loss).

Throwing caution to the wind in terms of workload, I'm going to put in a long session on Friday night and then try to do as much nothing as possible over the weekend. You'll find out on Saturday how that goes.

Project Flying Panther Session #8 - Waiting Panther

After a weekend filled with birthday parties, including my son's first birthday, I was too beat to make it to the tables on Sunday. But on Monday night I made the trek down to Bay 101 hoping to play some $40/$80 and take this thing to the next level.

Even though I've played games this big many, many times, it's been a solid 3 years since I've played a hand at these stakes and I was feeling something walking in the door.

It made me think back to the first time I ever played poker in a casino. I was 20 years old and I'd been playing 20 cent / 40 cent limit hold'em with my college friends. We'd been playing twice a week for about 3 or 4 months and my biggest win to date was $19. When I heard that Cache Creek - an Indian casino about 90 minutes away - had poker and you only had to be 18 to play, I had to go.

My friend Jake and I made the drive and soon discovered that the lowest stakes were $3/$6! AHHH! We knew The Oaks Club had a $1/$2 game and figured that every casino would have that stakes, when in fact the Oaks is probably the only cardroom in the country where you can find a game that small. After a trip to the buffet we decided we couldn't just go back without playing.

We got our pockets emptied both losing about $150. But we vowed to return and we did with better results. This is the only time I've ever played 15 times my normal stakes and it was so, so terrifying, but so exciting.

I had a little bit of that same juice pumping as I walked in to Bay 101. But the list for 40/80 was a mile long. So I put myself up for 20/40 as well and jumped in to a $2/$3/$5 no limit game while I waited.

I bought in for $500 (the table max buy in) and spent the next hour and a half listening to the turds at my table spout gibberish about how the $20/$40 game couldn't be beaten because you can't protect your hand and other nonsense. It was a great game, but I was totally card dead and chose not to mix it up too much with total air.

One big hand came up however. I was in the big blind with 98 off (one club) and we took the flop 6 way. The flop came down QJT with two clubs giving me a straight and the third nuts. There was $25 in the pot (after the $5 rake) and I bet out $20 not wanting to mess around with a draw heavy board. An old man called me and a young woman made it $95 to go. The old man had about $200 left, I had about $450 and the woman had $600. My first thought was that she probably had QJ, QT or JT. I didn't think AK was in her range because she'd just called in late position preflop. K9 was the only hand she could have that could beat me, but with so many draws out there I decided to just call and then go for an all in check raise on a safe turn. The old man and I both called.

The turn was the 9 of clubs which totally killed my hand. The flush got there and now anyone with a king would also have me beat. I checked and the old fired off his last $100 with no hesitation and I figured he had a flush. The woman called and I chucked my hand into the muck. The river was a red 5 and the woman won with K9 of diamonds.

After that hand I looked at the $375 in front of me and felt like I had just had a huge win. I easily could have blown off that whole stack on the flop. A penny saved is a penny earned.

I lost $257 over 90 minutes before the called me for the $20/$40. When I sat down at my new table I quickly noticed 3 Asian women one each who looked about 40, 50 and 60. They all looked really put together - dyed and styled hair, nice clothes, big diamond rings, necklaces, freshly painted nails, and one had a Louis Vuitton purse. Cha-Ching!

This is totally profiling. I may sound insensitive, but when you sit down at the poker table you have to start with a picture of your opponent and then adjust it as you watch them play. I've been surprised before, but not this time. These three all came with money to blow and were very loose and very passive. This was a $100 an hour EV table for me. But out of nowhere three players left! FOOLS! And the game broke.

My new table was good, but not as good. In about 2 hours I won $338.

In the movies they never make the hero wait 3.5 hours to play the big game, he just sits right down. But that's how long it took me to get to the top of the $40/$80 list and I decided to give it a go for 1 hour and then call it a night.

As soon as I sat down, a bunch of players got up and I found myself playing 5 handed. This would be an awful turn of events for many players, but since I've played over a million hands of 6 handed limit hold'em I was happy to be playing short handed.

I wish I could say I played really well, but I just got lucky. I got AA and won a small pot. I got AJ, flopped a J and turned a J. I got KK against the guy I'd been popping often when he was in the big blind, he played back at me, and I turned a K. These were all contested heads up and were pretty small pots, but along with a one or two even smaller ones I picked up 70 chips. Not a lot in a 4/8 chip structure, but when you're playing with $10 chips, it adds up! I won $708 in about 45 minutes and the game broke.

For the night I banked $789 and my profit for Project Flying Panther sits at$3,616.

I might be back in action this weekend, but not before hand.

Project Flying Panther Session #7 - Freerolling Panther

I rolled in to The Oaks Club last night not knowing if I was going to play $30/$60, $15/$30 or $200 Max, but the long list for the $200 Max and an awful looking $30/$60 game of all regulars made it an easy decision.

At 5:45 I dropped $1,000 on the table and bought in feeling sharp and ready to play. A few hands in, I three bet with AQ, turned and A and won a small uncontested pot. Then I three bet 99, bet it all the way, and won another pot where my one remaining opponent folded to my river bet.

5 minutes after that, I won a very nice pot with K9 suited. There was 6 way action for two bets before the flop when the first three board cards came out QJT, I had the second nuts. The great thing about that board is that everyone who is in is likely to have caught some piece of it. The turn and river were a 5 and a 2 and I got paid off nicely by players drawing and players who had made a pair.

I made one last splash with AK on a board of 9 T J K Q and found myself up close to $600 by about 6:15. Sometimes this shit is easy.

It just so happens that 6:15 is when the Wednesday night tournament kicks off. It's a $100 buy in tournament with an $80 rebuy, and after some hemming and hawing I hit and run at the $15/$30 and jumped in to the tournament. We ended up with about 150 entrants, with 20th paying $285 and a first place of $5,880.

After two hands went against me early I lost my first 4,000 tournament chips and had to rebuy for another 4,000 about an hour in. Right after I rebought I made an all in semibluff with 65 on a Q43 flop and ran into a set of 3's. But after a 2 on the turn and a brick on the river I was back in business.

The players I played against in this tournament were awful. They made it so easy for me by making little bluffs when they didn't have it, big all ins when they did and folding anything but very solid hands to my continuation bets. I ran my stack up to about 40,000 with relative ease, never having more than half my stack at risk on any one hand

Then some of my chips got blinded away. Then I lost about 11K with QQ vs K5. Then I lost another 10K with AT vs AK. Before I knew it the blinds were 1K/2K and I only had 10K left.

At that point we went down from 4 tables to 3 and I raced over to my new table, shouting to the dealer to deal me in just at the last second. "Oh shit, I'm going to go broke on this hand after running over here like that" I thought. But when I looked down at 87 of hearts two off the button, I wasn't going to let it go.

I moved all in and when it got to the big blind he asked for an exact count. I had 9,200 total. He counted out enough chips to call. Then put them back on his stack. Then counted them out again. Then put them back on his stack. He held his cards like he was going to fold them and then put them back. "Jesus Christ man! Do something so we can get on with out lives! We can't just all sit here starting at you like you're a God damn Rembrant!" is what I was thinking and what I am going to say the next time this situation comes up. Finally he made the call. He turned over JT with one heart meaning I was about 40% to win. I flopped a flush (Hooray!), but the river out a 4th heart on the board and I was done (boo!).

I was super pissed as I waked out the door and here's why. I had this run of 5 tournaments in a row at the Oaks where I finished between 13th and 15th in tournaments with 60-90 players that paid 10 spots. FIVE IN A ROW between 13th and 15th. I've played a few tournaments since then, including one cash, but I immediately threw that out the window mentally and went into "What is it with these fucking Oaks tournaments that I keep coming up just short of the money!? Why am I bothering with this stupid shit!? These players are awful and I can't catch one break! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

By the time I was at my car I had regained my perspective.

I'd just won $588, and then I lost $180. This is not a catastrophe. I still made $408 in a little over 4 hours. By the time I got home I was back in good spirits. I'm $2,827 to the good for The Project and 25% of the way to my planned target of 100 hours.

I'll be back in action Sunday night - perhaps with some $40/$80 at Bay 101.

Project Flying Panther Session #6 - Bluffing Panther

My sister and her family came to visit over the holiday weekend and I started talking to my brother in law (one of the Project Flying Panther investors) about poker. He's been reading my blog and asked my why I haven't posted about more bluffs. The plain and simple reason is the types of bluffs I pull the trigger on are very boring - but effective.

I played about 3 hours of $15/$30 yesterday and one bluff that fits both the boring and effective category came up about an hour in to the session. I was in the small blind some with some piece of shit hand that I've forgotten. There were two callers, I threw in one chip to complete the small blind and the big blind checked his option. The dealer scooped $4 out of the pot for the rake leaving $56 in the pot.

 The flop came down A 9 2 and we all checked. I was all set to check again when another 2 hit the turn. "Ah ha!" I thought. This card didn't help me at all, but it was also unlikely to help my opponents either. Even better was that if anyone had an ace they probably would have bet it on the flop and there was a fair chance someone might have bet a 9. On top of the it was completely plausible that I as the small blind could have a 2 in my hand. Plus is was a small pot that everyone seemed to have given up on. And I was only risking $30 to pick up $56. Put that all together and this was just about the best bluff of all time! Sure enough I fired out and everyone folded.

This might not sound too exciting, but if you can find a spot like this once an hour and break even the rest of the time you'll make $56 an hour - a killing at $15/$30.

It was all down hill from there...

I spent the first two hours fluctuating from -$500 to -$100 and back down again. I was at about -$200 when a very odd hand come up.

An early position player raised and I called with 55 (a marginal call at best). A player behind me called as did both blinds and we took the flop 5 way. A 5 of spades was the first card off the deck along with a 2 of spades and a red K. The original raiser bet, and I decided to get deceptive and play my hand fast - I raised, the big blind called, the original raiser 3 bet, I capped it and we took the turn 3 handed.

The turn was a 7 of spades and the original raiser bet into me. This was very, very odd. The way I played my hand was consistent with a flush draw and if I didn't have that I had to have a big hand. How was this guy betting in to me? The only thing I could think of was that he had a king of spades and another spade in his hand or maybe the ace of spades to go along with a king. I just called and the player in the big blind went all in for his last two chips. I was hoping for a board pair in the river, but instead I got a 4th spade, the jack. My opponent bet again and even though I was getting a little better than 13 to 1 to call, I folded.

My opponent took the side pot and then it came time to show for the main pot. Normally in this spot he would just roll over his hand. Instead he said "I'm showing in turn for the main pot" meaning he wanted the other player to show his hand first. "FUCK!" I thought. "That means he does not have a spade." The other guy didn't want to show his hand either. "Double fuck! He doesn't have a spade either!?" Sure enough after 30 seconds of the dealer, the big blind and the original raiser talking about it (two of the three were not native English speakers) the big blind showed A3 of diamonds and the other player showed AK with no spades. GACK!

I made another set on the very next hand and lost to the same guy. A little while later I called a raise with KT off and a shortly after that I 3 bet someone with A9 off. These are not strong plays and I realized I was not playing well. Even though the game was still good and I'd been planning to stay for at least another hour I packed it in for the night. I lost $797 for the session.

But the good news is after 6 sessions of Project Flying Panther I've played 21 hours, I'm ahead $2,419 which means I'm making $115.19 an hour. The bad news is this sample size is so small that these results are nothing more than a slight indication that I should expect to win. In fact if I put in 100 hours over The Project I'll end up playing about the same number of hands that I used to play on one busy Sunday when I was playing online. Amazing!

Project Flying Panther Session #5 - $30/$60 Panther

After a layoff of over a week I rolled in to the Oaks Club tonight feeling great mentally and physically. I spent the weekend in a house near the Russian River with my family and a few close friends. After many hours of slowly floating around the river over the weekend and a 20 minute nap on my lunch break today I was fresh and ready to go.

I got called almost immediately for a seat in the $15/$30 and by the time I'd played 10 hands I was ahead $400. Hot Damn! Sometimes this shit is easy. You get pocket kings, bet the whole way, people call you, and no body makes anything better than one pair. But over the next hour I dribbled most of it back.

Meanwhile I had my eye on the $30/$60 game the next table over. I've been a little conflicted about moving up. The whole point of Project Flying Panther is to play bigger games, but I've been doing so well at $15/$30 that part of me wants to keep pounding away at those players while I have the momentum.

After 15 minutes of hemming and hawing I racked up my 220, $5 yellow chips and traded them in for 110 $10 green chips. I dropped 9 $100 bills on the pile and I was all set to go with $2,000 in front of me.

On the second hand I got dealt QJ of diamonds. Immediately I felt the adrenaline and not the "Get some! Let's do this!" type of adrenaline either. It was the "Oh fuck, how much am I going to have to put in the pot if I lose this hand?" type. The answer to that question was $210 - I raised before the flop, got 5 callers, flopped a queen and lost to a straight on the river. Sometimes this shit ain't easy.

The last time I played $30/$60 at the Oaks was in 2009 when I was at my absolute peak as a limit hold'em player. I remember sitting down, feeling totally comfortable and smugly declaring to myself how awesome it was to be the best player in the biggest game at the Oaks. I would never have claimed to be the best player that plays at the Oaks, only that that day I looked at the 9 guys at the table and saw 9 players that I was sure were not as good as me. The stakes didn't register as much then either as I'd been playing $50/$100 6 handed against some real ball busters online - in fact sometimes it was a $50/$100 game, a $30/$60 and two $15/$30 games all going at once so one $30/$60 seemed like nothing.

Fast forward to today a few hands after my QJ hand and I looked down at AA. Boom, more adrenaline and my heart started racing. I totally expected this. It's how you feel when you move up and get a big hand. I also knew for certain that after maybe 45 minutes or an hour I'd settle in and feel comfortable. And that's exactly what happened. But for this hand I was still in the irrational fear zone.

An early position player raised to $60, I made it $90 with my AA, the big blind called and we took the flop 3 way. The board came out 9 6 4 with two hearts and one spade. After two checks, I bet and got two calls. The turn came a 7 of spades and the original raiser bet into me. A bet like that is representing some improvement on the turn or a slow played big hand

At this point the initial jolt I got when I first looked at my hand had not cleared. My body was still in fight or flight mode and when my opponent bet into me, my body dropped a shitload of chemicals into my system. On fear scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being taking a dump while reading Garfield and 10 being having a grizzly bear outside your tent when you've just rubbed a salmon all over your body, I was at about an 8. I'm not saying it makes sense to feel that way, just that part of my brain was going absolutely apeshit.

But the good news is, this has happened to me many, many times and the other part of my brain took about 1/2 of a second to come to the conclusion that my opponent was much more likely to betting a hand that could beat AK or AQ - but not AA - in the hopes that I had big cards. That part of my brain was still in control and with all the calm I could muster, I slid 12 chips in the pot. The big blind folded, the original raiser called my raise, check called the river and I took down a pot that got me back in the black.

The next two hours were super boring. I got a lot of shitty cards, won just enough small pots to stay even and tried to get a feel for my opponents. The game got a little worse as two weak players were replaced with solid ones. I decided it was time to go after one more round. Happily I beat out an unknown hand with 99 at showdown and took down QQ with QT after I turned a straight.

In the end I booked a $117 win at $15/$30 and a $468 win at $30/$60 - both small wins for the stakes, but still some nice money away from the table.. My $10,000 starting bankroll is now at $13,216.

Another mini vacation will put Project Flying Panther on hold over the holiday weekend, but I should be back in action on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday depending on how I feel.

Sleeping Panther

After a couple of strong sessions I'm eager to get back to the tables, but real life is going to intrude. I'm in L.A. for business through Wednesday and then off to the Russian River for a mini vacation on Friday night through Sunday. There's some small chance I might sneak out on Thursday, but if not it will be July before I find myself back at the tables.

Project Flying Panther Session #4 - Rising Panther, Falling Panther

Coming off my last session at The Oaks on Wednesday, I rolled in on Friday full of confidence and ready to go. After about an hour of uneventful low stakes Omaha, I made my way to the $15/$30 game, slammed ten $100 bills on the table, and said "Who want's some bitches!? Come and get it!" while pounding my chest. Ok, maybe it was more a silent placing of ten $100's and a quiet chair scootch up to the table.

I got put to the test right away. On my second hand, I got dealt KQ and put in a raise. The player in the big blind has been there every time I've played $15/$30 during Project Flying Panther and he's sort of been my nemesis. He's a generally solid player, but he tends to over do it on the deceptive plays - lots of slow plays, check raises and seemingly random bets out of no where. He's giving up a lot of value, but it makes him tough to read. He's also hit a disproportionate number of times against me.

After my raise with KQ, both blinds called and the flop came down Q 5 2, three different suits. They both checked, I bet, the small blind folded and my nemesis check raised. "Ah ha!" I thought, "I bet he has a worse queen or is on a bluff. I'll just call and raise him on the turn." I was almost 100% sure I had the best hand here. The only hands that could beat me were AA, KK, QQ, AQ, (those would all have 3 bet preflop), Q2, Q5, 52 (all would have folded preflop - maybe Q5 suited would call) and 55 or 22 (captain slow play would have waited for the turn to raise with these). Against everything else I'm way ahead.

The turn was a 3 and my nemesis checked. This seemed very strange, but checking back was not an option, so I slid 6 chips in to the pot. My nemesis, quickly raised. Panther what!? Despite the analysis I went through on the flop, I felt like I was beat here. This would be a very, very strange line for a bluff. In the end I decided that against a tricky opponent it was better to err on the side of calling down, so I called the turn raise and a bet on the river. My nemesis rolled over A4 which was air on the flop and made a straight on the turn. GRRRRR!

I got KQ again on the next hand and lost that one too. I quickly found myself down $250. But I took a deep breath and reminded myself that I was going to play for close to 5 hours and that the cars should all even out.

It did not even out; it took a massive turbo in the right direction. I raised QJ, flopped a Q and rivered a J against two players who called all the way. I got AA in a 5 way pot where everyone put in 4 bets preflop, the flop came king high, and the turn and river were both total bricks. I flopped a small set in a multi way pot. I made another two pair that held up. That all went down in about 45 minutes and I found myself up $600.

Then came the queen hand of the session (In bike racing the 'Queen Stage' is the most prestegious stage, so I think of the biggest hand of the day as the queen hand sometimes - it's dorky). By this time there were two guys who were losing their ass, who both bought in for another $1,000, ordered double shots of scotch and announced they were going to go apeshit.

Shortly after that I got dealt KK, there was a raise and a retaise (from one of the drinkers) and I capped it. We took the flop 5 way and it came down K 8 3 (ZING!). There was a bet, a raise and a reraise before the action got to me! WHAT!? I am not used to having top set on a dry board and facing a bet, raise and reraise in front of me so I wasn't exactly sure what to do. I had about 2 seconds to decide before I gave off information so I opted to just call.

We took the turn 4 way and a J came out. The drinker to my right bet, I raised, and the drinker to my left called. The river was an 8 making me a full house and they both called me, with the drinker on my right rolling over pocket aces before throwing them into the muck. After that hand I was up $1,100 on the session.

I got KK again on the very next hand and lost at show down and then the wheels came off the bus.

This old man on my right went on an absolute tear. He won at least 10 pots in about 30 minutes, including 5 straights (4 of which were gut shots hit on the turn or the river), a couple of full houses and some two pair hands. I got the full force of this rush when my KK, AA, TT and KQ that hit top pair all got chopped down.

On one of those hands, the flop was T 8 4, the turn was a 5 and the river was a J. The old man turned over 67 and said "I had it all the way." Normally I don't say much at the table and I never criticize other players, but I couldn't stop myself. "No you didn't, you hit a gut shot on the turn! You had 7 high on the flop!" The rest of the table joined me in what was actually a pretty warm chuckle.

After the old man was through with me I was winning $300 on the day, but another 45 minutes of sour cards and no pots got me all the way back down to even. There is never a good time for an $1,100 downswing, but having it happen when you're up $1,100 is a pretty good time for it.

But wait! There's more! I got AA again and JJ, and AK and won small pots with all three putting me up $300 with about 30 minutes left to go in my planned session time. Then I picked up AJ, raised, got three bet, and hit a gut shot on the turn to make a straight against AQ.

Winning $500 as the blinds came around I thought about picking up 15 minutes early, but I'd walked in the door planning to play until a set time and I decided to stick it out for one more round.

In the big blind I got dealt, Q7 of spades and the flop came with a queen and two spades. I missed the flush, but the turn was a 7 and the river was a queen. A few hands later I picked up QT of hearts, raised it, got three bet and the flop came down K J 5 with two hearts. I played it very fast, got tons of action, turned an A making me a straight against AK and I took down a nice pot.

When I racked up my chips I was ahead $1,014 for the night. BOOM!!! My $10,000 starting bankroll is at $12,631.

Project Flying Panther Session #3 - Trust it Panther

After a frustrating finish to my session at Bay 101 earlier in the week, I was glad to get off to a good start Wednesday at the Oaks Club.

I walked through the door at exactly 6 o'clock and sat down in a $6/$12 game waiting for my name to get called for either $200 Max or $15/$30. I got dealt 3 hands, won two of them, and got called for $15/$30 at 6:06 up $204 after 6 minutes (Sorry backers, this $204 is outside of the Project Flying Panther stakes).

When I walked over to the $15/$30 there were two empty seats, and 5 players were away from the table. It looked like the game might break before I took a hand, but after a couple of minutes everyone returned.

I bought in for $1,000 and just like at $6/$12 I got off to a strong start. I won a very uninteresting hand with top pair and was winning maybe $100 when I got dealt K4 of spades on the button. Several players limped in in front of my and I called. The flop came down K 9 8 with two spades. There was a bet and I put in a raise. The turn was a brick and I bet again. The river was another king and I got paid off by one player who had who knows what.

By 6:30 I had $1,400 in front of me and I noticed that there were about 120 entrants in the $100 + one $80 rebuy tournament that was just starting. I thought about picking up and going to play the tournament, but decided to stay. "If I had $680 profit in front of me I'd go play" I thought.

By 7:00 after making two pair twice I was sitting with about $1,650 in front of me. I went and asked the tournament director if there was a seat left or if they were taking alternates. There was a seat and I really felt like taking it, but I thought about it some more. I know for a fact that for me there is a better hourly rate at $15/$30. I just needed to keep doing what I was doing and trust it.

The next hand of note came up shortly after. I had 98 of spades in late position, 6 of us took a flop for 1 bet and the board came out 7 6 3 with two diamonds and one spade.The small blind bet, everyone called, I raised with my two overs and a straight draw and everyone called. With 6 of us still in a nice pot was building. The turn was the 2 of spades and it was checked to me. I didn't have anything yet, but I thought to myself "If I bet, no one is folding here - I'm going to get 5 to 1 on my money when a spade or a non diamond 10, 9, 8 or 5 will likely make me the best hand." It was an easy value bet.

The river was a dream card - the 5 of clubs - making the the total nuts. ZING! Even better two people had 4's in their hand and I got two bets from both of them on the river. There was over $600 in that pot (some of which had come from me) and once I stacked my chips I was ahead more than $1,000.

About 7:30 my phone rang. It was my friend E.B. asking if I wanted to get together for a movie or a trip to the Oaks. Here is how that conversation went down.

E.B.: "Hey, do you want to go to the Oaks or go see a movie?"
Me: "I'm at the Oaks"
E.B."Awesome, I...
Me: (as the cards come out) Hold on, I just got a hand. Hold on just a second.
Me:(to myself, looking at my cards) - holy shit, pocket aces.
Me: (to E.B.) - I'll call you back (CLICK!)
Guy Next to Me: "I'll call you back huh? Must be a big hand."
Me: (to myself): Fuck this guy next to me! He just read my hand for the whole table!...oooh ace on the flop! Oooooooooohhh someone betting in to me! 

I played that set of aces fast and got called down by AJ and another player that had who knows what.

Even more good shit happened to me and I found myself with $2,500 in front of me by 7:45. I came back to earth a little, but at 8 I racked up 449 five dollar chips, cashed out a $1,245 profit at the $15/$30, and went to the movies with E.B.

After a great session my $10,000 starting bankroll sits at $11,617 after 10 hours of play. I set a goal to play 12 hours this week so I'll be back in action for 5.5 hours on Friday.

Project Flying Pather Session #2 - Slow Down Panther!

I made my way to Bay 101 last night full of confidence, ready to crush those San Jose turds. As per usual I had a longish wait for the $20/$40 game, but found an open seat in the $2/$3/$5 no limit game.

This game has a max buy in ($500) similar to the 200 Max game at the Oaks ($400), but it plays much bigger. The reason why is there's $10 in the pot when the cards come out instead of $6. That might not seem like a big deal, but those extra dollars have an effect that resonates throughout the hand. A raise preflop might be $20 instead of $12, which means a pot sized bet on the flop might be $60 instead of $35 and a turn bet might be $150 instead of $90.

I spent about 45 minutes at the $2/$3/$5 game and was up about $75 when they called my name for $20/$40. I took one last hand as I racked up my chips and looked down at 77. I thought "Shit! I should have racked up my chips faster, I bet I'm going to go broke on this hand!" But I'm not folding 77 with 120 big blinds in my stack and plenty of chips on the table. I just called the $5, got one call behind me and the button made it $25. It was folded to me and we took the flop heads up.

The flop came down 554, I checked and my opponent checked. I wasn't sure if this was checking a big pair as a trap or just a miss, but it felt a little fishy. The turn was a 6 and given that I had an overpair and a straight draw. Despite my fishy feelings I wasn't checking an over pair with a 10 out redraw. I bet $40 and got called. The river was a 9 and checking was my only move. If I was against big cards I might induce a bluff and if I was against a big pair, I wanted to get to showdown as cheaply as possible. I checked and called a bet of $40 and my opponent turned over KK. GRRRRR! Stupid pocket sevens!

I lost $27 at the $2/$3/$5, and bought in to the $20/$40 for $1,000. I played very well for the first two hours in a great game and found myself up $600. I felt like I was in total control. I made some strong lay downs and was right. I put in some thin value bets and was right. I had a tight read on most of my opponents.

Then the deck turned against me and I turned against myself. There was one player who gave me a ton of trouble and he was actually the worst player in the game. This guy had one move - call. Before the flop - call. On the flop - call. On the turn and river - call, call. If he had the total nuts or a big pocket pair he'd raise, but 75% of the time he was in preflop, and any piece of the flop - meaning as little as 3 to a straight or 3 to a flush or any pair or even one over card - would have him calling all the way. Against a player like this you just need to make some hands, even marginal hands, and you'll get paid off. The last thing you want to do is try to bluff him - DUH!

Unfortunately I had 5 or 6 hands where I had good starting cards, like KQ or AJ that just didn't connect and I'd end up losing to J4 that paired the 4 on the turn. I foolishly kept firing away thinking "he's calling every hand, he can't hit something every time!" but sure enough I missed time after time and he would catch some bullshit piece of the board and call me down. In fact he was crushing the table and there were 3 other players who were ready to blow their top because they kept losing to him as well.

I couldn't have pulled a win out with the cards I got (unless I'd left earlier), but I certainly could have lost a lot less. I know I could have saved many turn and river bets if I'd slowed down. One of my big strengths as a poker player has always been that I'm much better than my opponents at keeping my emotions out of my decision making at the table, but this time I have to admit that frustration got the better of me on at least a few hands down the stretch.

I had an $1,100 downswing over the course of 2 hours and ended up losing $486 at the $20/$40 and a total of $513 on the night. My $10,000 starting bankroll now sits at $10,372. I'll be back in action at the Oaks on Wednesday or Thursday.