Goof Ball Problems

I sat down with a bunch of goof balls at $2/$3/$5 at the Oaks tonight. I got involved in a big pot right away.

On the second hand an early position player raised to $35 and got called by a middle position player. I looked down at AK and made it $100 to go. Both players just called and the flop came down A T 5. So far so good.

The first player checked and the middle position player move in for $300. There were no flush draws out there, he was putting out "I am a goof!" vibes and there was nothing for me to do but go all in for $400. The other player folded, the turn was a queen, the river was a 7 and my opponent showed me A5 for two pair. GAH! The other player said he had KK! If he's 4 bet like he's supposed to, Mr. A5 is out of there, and I could have either gotten off it or more likely gotten it in there and won $500 on the second hand! Instead I was stuck $400. DOUBLE GAH!

The game was playing fast and loose and I bled chips for 3 hours. I didn't win a single pot at showdown during that time. I don't think I made more than a couple of bets for value either. The only thing that kept me from going totally down the toilet was a few well timed bluffs. But that only slowed the bleeding and I found myself stuck $800 at one point.

Then a bunch of the goofs left and the game cooled off. It went from lots of 5 way pots for a raise post flop to standard 2-3 players post flop and a lot more limped pots. I much prefer the latter. I'd rather have people who are playing straightforwardly who I can figure out what they're thinking rather than nut balls who are all over the place. The nutballs always go broke, but the only way to beat them is to make hands and in recent memory I never seem to make the big hands when things are fast and loose.

During the cool period, I won about 10 pots in an hour. I got AA and it held up with some action. I made a straight on a hand that was bet all the way through by my opponent. I flopped top pair with a flush draw in a big pot, got action on the flop, and unloaded everyone on the turn. I took down a short stack who flopped a K with K9 vs my KJ. A few basic raise, get two callers, and they both fold to a bet hands went my way. None of these were huge pots, but the certainly added up.

I turboed up to +$318 on the night and headed for the door. It felt great to book a win when I'd been losing all night.

Using "The Hammer of Future Bets" at the Oaks

When I walked out of the Palms at 5:30 am on Monday to fly back to Oakland I was thinking "I do not want to bet on anything for at least a month." Fast forward 36 hours and I was at the Oaks playing $2/$3/$5.

Most players go into a no limit session thinking "I'm going to wait for a big hand and take someone's whole stack with it!" Stacking other people is great, but the only problem in you need a big hand AND you need your opponent to have a worse, but still big hand or make a big bluff. It just doesn't come together all that often.

Lately I've been going in thinking "I hope I run into a lot of spots where my opponent can't call."

I bought in for $500 and had a hand where my opponent couldn't call come up right away. 4 of us saw a flop for $25 each and it checked around. The turn brought a 3rd diamond to the board making a flush possible and the big blind bet out $50. I had the ace of diamonds in my hand and had two options: call the $50 and hope to hit or put the heat on. I made it $175 to go and after some hemming and hawing my opponent folded, and I picked up the $150 in the pot.

One thing in play here is what David Sklansky calls "The Hammer of Future Bets." From my opponent's perspective he's trying to decide if I made a flush on the turn or not. If all he had to do is call the raise on the turn he might have done it on the off chance I was bluffing or raising a hand that wasn't a flush that he could beat. But if I did have a flush he doesn't just have to worry about the $175 I just put in, he also has to worry about the $300+ I have behind. If I had a flush I'm certainly going to shove that last $300 into what would have been a $450 pot on the river.

I had almost the exact same thing come up on the very next hand. I made a big raise on the turn after calling a flop bet when a third card of a suite came out and won the pot. Again I had the ace of the suit, but not a made flush.

Close to 100% of the time there is 4 to a straight on the board and it's checked to me I bet 75%-100% of what's in the pot and I don't think anyone has called me in the last 6 months.

This sounds simple enough, but believe me it's hard to put in a big bet without a real hand.

Here is another great example that is both frustrating and a learning moment. A player to my right raised to $25 in early position and I looked down at AA. I was sitting on a stack of about $1,000 at that point and he had about $900. I made it $65 to go and after some hesitation he called.

The flop came down J 6 3, he checked and I bet $80. He started asking me if I'd show if he folded. I didn't say a thing. After at least a full minute of asking me if I'd show every 10 seconds he folded QQ face up! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

It might look like this is a great play, but it's not. It's fear. He wasn't thinking about the $80 I bet on the flop. He was thinking about the $150 that I was going to bet on the turn and the $250 on the river. He's thinking "I'm not sure I want to put $500 or $600 or my whole stack in on this one." He's both getting ahead of himself and he's thinking that most of my three bet range is AA and KK. I happened to have AA, but I could have easily had AK or AQ or TT.

I realized in this moment that I need to be three betting way more. For almost everyone else at the table a 3 bet means JJ-AA or AK. I need to start putting the heat on people regularly because they are going to panic and put me on pocket aces.

I managed to run my $500 up to about $1,400 and then had a slow but steady decline. One guy gave me a lot of trouble and by gave me a lot of trouble made a few huge hands and dodged my draws.

On the first hand he had KK and I had top pair and a flush draw (I missed).

On the second hand he flopped an ace high straight against my straight draw (I missed)

On the third hand he flopped trips against my straight draw (I missed)

On the fourth hand he made a flush against my two pair.

My normal go to is to push pretty hard with draws in the hopes of picking up the pot without having to make the draw, but in all of these instances I luckily read him as being strong (i.e. not likely to fold) and he bet small enough that I was getting the right price to draw. I'm really lucky I didn't get crushed on that first one.

In the end I booked a $274 win on the night. A little disappointing given that I was up $900 at one point, but a little move in the right direction. I'll be back in action Thursday or Friday.

2015 WSOP - Final Thoughts

I read an article that said that this past weekend was the busiest poker weekend in the history of Las Vegas. I have no trouble believing that. My guess is that for every person who played the Colossus there was at least one friend who tagged along or one person who wanted to play, but got shut out. I think they could have done another 10,000 entries if they had the space. I know I would have plunked down at least one more buy in and probably two if I had the chance.

As I understand it every tournament across town sold out and had hundreds of alternates for tournaments that normally only have dozens of players. Every waiting list I saw Friday and Saturday for cash games (at any stakes except high limit) was 50+ names long and sometimes 100+. Basically every single casio had every single poker table full and could have filled up the same number of tables again.

A few other things stick out about the trip.

#1 - I had shitty luck on this trip. In poker and other games, I ran well below expectation.

#2 I desperately want to do well at the WSOP. I really wish I could play more this year, but on top of major financial risk it's just not easy for me to take time off from work and away from my kids. Look how cool the final table set up is!

How amazing would it be to be at a final table playing in front of a crowd and being live streamed on the internet? I want it so bad! GAH! I took that picture of the last two guys in the $3,000 shootout. Fun fact - one of them was not wearing shoes and the other was in sandals! If you had a poker player foot fetish you would have lost your shit!

#3 - Losing sucks. There is no doubt about it. But I'm able to handle losing so much better now at 35 than in my 20's. It's not fun, but I don't get nearly as upset as I used to. I get less upset for a much shorter amount of time. It helps a lot that there is much less riding on my success these days, but I think being older and wiser is as important.

#4 - I'm already doing the math on how many hours I'm going to have to put in between now and next june at $2/$3/$5 at the Oaks in order to win enough so I can spend some, pay for a longer trip with more events, and have enough left over to still have a bankroll.

#5 - I'm massively torn between wanting to go play today and not play for at least a solid month.

One of these days I'm going to get the job done!

2015 WSOP Event #6 - $1,000 Hyper Turbo

I was on the fence about playing this one. After my relatively quick demise in both flights of the Colossus I didn't feel super pumped about paying a fast structure event. But I was excited that barring a final table I'd get to play it in one day.

After all the fucking wire transfers and pre-registration and waiting in fucking lines it felt great to just walk up to the cage, plop down a grand and walk out with my seat card all in less than 5 minutes. I sent out a nasty tweet to the @WSOP twitter account while waiting in line for my pre-registered seat card for the Colossus, but I will say that in terms of logistics in general they do an amazing job.

It also felt good to start at 11 am instead of 9:30 pm.

When I got to my table I saw I was sitting next to Annette Obrestad. Annette is most famous for winning the 10,000 Euro buy in WSOP Europe main event (for $2,000,000+) when she was 19. She was a prodigy and already a seasoned online pro by that time. I'd say she's one of the top 10 women tournament players (with Vanessa Selbst as the undisputed #1) and is #187 on the all time tournament earnings list now at 26. She can't be much more than 5 feet tall or much over 100 pounds - she's tiny! I can also now say that she's super nice.

I had my starting stack of 5,000 up to 7,000 when a big hand came up. With blinds of 50/100 a early/middle position player raised to 250 and I reraised him to 800 out of the small blind with 99. He called and the flop came down J 8 4 with two spades. I bet 1,100 on the flop and after about 15 seconds my opponent moved all in for 2,700.

I was watching him intently before he moved in and I got the sense that he was genuinely conflicted. I took my time deciding what to do. I had to call another 1,600 with a chance to win the 5,500 in the pot and I'd still have about 3,500 to work with if I called and lost. I figured if he had a hand like AJ, KJ or QJ he'd be all in with little hesitation. A flush draw was a likely possibility. 88 or JJ were possibilities. 9T was not all that likely since I had two of the 9s. A8 would probably fold to a reraise pre-flop, but still a remote possibility. 44 probably would get mucked pre-flop. 66 or 77 was possible. AK probably would have shoved pre-flop, but maybe not. A total bluff had to be considered, but he wasn't making a huge raise so that didn't seem like it would have much chance of working thus he wouldn't be likely to try it.

I was having trouble putting the picture together, but in the end I figured there was probably a 40% chance I'd be good and I was getting 3.5 to 1 on my money. He had TT! Of course! That fit together with being conflicted, but still going for it. No miracles for me on that one.

I got KK twice in the next 30 minutes and got a little action bringing me back to about 5,000 in chips.

After 2 hours of play I had my one hand against Annette Obrestad come up. She'd had some hands go against her and was down to 2,250 and in the small blind with blinds at 200/400 with a 50 ante. It folded to her and she moved all in. I was expecting this and looked down at Q3. Again I took my time sorting it out.

I had to call 1,850 to win the 3,350 in the pot. I thought she might shove with any two there as I had a tight table image and she's aggressive. I'd be a small favorite against a range that was literally any 2. Unless she had a pair I'd be getting the right price to call.

I called and she had 93 of hearts! A ha! I was way ahead. And I flopped a queen! Double a ha! And she made a flush when the turn and river were both hearts. GAH! I was 95.2% to win after that flop, but who's counting?

A couple of hands later I was on the button with 1,800 left. I looked at a king which was enough to go with and I shoved. The big blind called with A2 and when I looked at my other card it was a 2 also. Double GAH! Again no miracles.

That was the end of my 2015 WSOP.

WSOP Colossus Event 5D Recap

I made my way back to the Rio for my second shot at glory in the Colossus on Saturday night and started playing as part of the first "late wave" at 9:20. By that time the 4th flight of the tournament had been underway for 2 hours plus a break and was now on level 4 (100/200 blinds).

The news would come out the next day that a total of 22,374 entries were part of the Colossus - 10 to 20 times as many entries as typical no limit event at the WSOP and 200 times as big as a bay area $500 tournament. An astonishing 2,241 spots would pay with 2,241st paying $1,096 and 1st paying a surprisingly low (relatively speaking of course) $638K. 1st place in some tournaments can get as much as 40% of the total prize pool and I've never seen an event with 1st getting less than 10% (which would have been about $1.1M).

I got off to a terrible start. On the second hand I was in the small blind and the big blind was not at the table (his cards are automatically folded, but his chips go in the pot). The action folded to the button who made it 500 to go. I had 4,800 chips and T8 of hearts which felt too strong to fold against a hand that could be any two, but not strong enough the 3 bet (maybe). The flop came down T 5 3 which was a great flop for me.

I have to admit that even though I was very likely to have the best hand, I was thinking about how to avoid going broke with it on the second hand.

I checked and my opponent bet a modest 500. I called. The turn was a king which was a bad card, but I again checked and called 500. A repeat of the same bet on the turn is almost always weak, but my options were to pretty much commit to going all in or just call it down. The river was a 2 and I decided to fire out 1,000. I didn't think I could fold to a bet, but figured I might be looking at a bet bigger than that on the river if I checked - it was primarily a "blocking bet." There was also some chance I'd get called by a worse hand trying to catch a bluff as I took a weird line on the hand. My opponent called with K3 and I was down to 2,300. Shit!

Two hands later I got dealt TT. Someone opened for 525 and I shoved. He called me with AJ and I managed to double up.

Around this time I realized I was playing with a bunch of stooges. Not like pretty good players who were worse than me or experienced players with a few major leaks, but a few total novices who were having trouble handling their chips and cards and others who were probably the third best player in their monthly home game. It was a real shit show.

It took three other hands that went south to finally get rid of me.

With the blinds at 100/200 with a 25 ante I made it 525 to go with A3 one off the button and got called by the actual cowboy on the button and the woman with the "cow girl" hat on in the big blind. These two were both in the novice category. The flop came down QQ9 and I figured I'd win with a bet if neither had a Q. The cowboy only had 1250 left so I bet 1,100. After a little fussing he went all in and I called another 150. He had KQ and I was down under half my starting stack again.

A few minutes later the cow girl moved all in for 1,500. I was in the big blind with KQ and decided I could easily have the best hand as she had no idea what she was doing and I was calling 1,300 with a chance to win 2,050 getting almost 3 to 2. I called and she showed me A4 which meant I was almost exactly a 3 to 2 underdog. I got no help and was down to about 700.

3 hands later I got dealt QT in the cutoff and shoved (or perhaps plopped is a better word here) my last 575 into the pot. The small blind and the cow girl called me. The flop came down Q J 9 and I thought "A ha! Something good!" But when the small blind check raised the flop and bet the turn I figured I needed help. None came and I lost to the AQ of the small blind (cow girl had KJ).

If I had to do it over again I would probably not enter a late wave. With the stakes so high compared to your chips stack it's hard to survive any one bad thing happening to you. I'm happy that it took three bad things (or 4 if you count the hand I lost T8 to K3) to finally get me, but I'd much rather play deeper.

WSOP 2015 Event #5A -$565 Colossus - Recap

I'm back! I rolled into the Rio at about 8:00 on Thursday night after a long day. My first order of business was to pick up my seat card. I'd registered and wire transferred my buy in a few weeks prior in the hopes of avoiding a huge registration line. FAIL!

What's hard to see in that picture is the 250 other people in front of me wrapping around the corner. The people were moving only slightly faster than pictured. I was thinking I might have 2+ hours of waiting in my future, but after an hour I made it to the front where a dozen WSOP employees were   scurrying around like busy little beavers making copies of driver's licences and getting us all to sign waivers

After I got my seat I headed to the cash game area where everything from standard no limit hold em to $10 a point Open Faced Pineapple Chinese Poker to Big O (omaha where you get 5 cards instead of 4) was in action. I wanted to play a little just to be comfortable in the room before I had to put it on the line in the tournament.

I jumped into a $2/$5 game and was surprised to find that most of the table was sitting on stacks of $1,000-$2,500! I bought in for $500 and quickly discovered that this was the weakest $5 big blind no limit game I'd ever seen. It was total amateur hour. There was a lot of drinking going on and so much talking during the hands! Most players don't say shit when they're in a hand because unless you're Daniel Negranu you're likely to give away information about your hand.

Sadly I didn't make much happen. After 2 hours I was even when my one big hand came up. I got dealt JJ and a dude who thought he was a real hot shot opened for $20. I three bet to $60 and got called by a drunk dude and the hot shot. The flop came Q 4 2 and hot shot bet $60. This clearly seemed like a weak tester bet to me and mr drunk looked like he was ready to fold so I made it $160. I felt like he either had a hand like KQ or a pair 55-TT and would put me on AQ, KK or AA if I raised. He thought for about 30 seconds and called. The turn was small and we both checked. The river was another blank, he bet $200 and I folded.

I made two big mistakes on this hand - 1) I didn't make it enough to get the job done on the flop 2) I didn't shove the turn. In the end I think he did have a Q, and I think I could have gotten him off of it, but I pussed out.

I lost $208 on the session.

The next morning I rolled into the Rio ready for the Colossus! They had tables crammed in everywhere. Notice the slot machines in the background near these tables. They just plopped some down right in the middle of the casino!

 Here are some more outside of Buzios seafood restaurant.

The tournament started at 10 am sharp and my table was maybe a little tougher than I expected but it was pretty tight and everyone kept the pots small. 

We started with 5,000 in chips and blinds of 25/50. My first big hand came up when I raised with JT of spades, got one caller and the flop came down Q T 7 with two spades. I bet and got called. The turn was another ten! With trips and a flush draw for backup I fired again, but my opponent folded.

A little while later with blinds of 50/100 I called a preflop raise of 250 with AQ and we took the flop 5 way. The flop was AQ4 making me two pair. The preflop raiser checked, I bet 700 and got one caller. The turn was a blank and I checked hoping to induce a bluff or otherwise convince my opponent he was good if he had an ace. Like clockwork he bet 1,300 and I shoved for about 3,500. He folded and I took down a nice pot.

By the first break I was up to 8,700. 

The villain in both of those hands was the same guy and I got involved with him again a little later. With blinds of 100/200 the under the gun short stack to my right made it 600 to go. I three bet him with 1,500 with TT, and the villain went all in for 3,200. The short stack called for about 2,500 total and I called as well. The short stack had AQ and the villain had KQ off! His shove was a terrible play in my opinion. I was 44% to win, but a king showed up on the flop and that was it. If the villain had folded I would have beaten the AQ. Grrrr!

Shortly after that everyone left in the Brazilia room (about 200 of us) put our chips in reglular zip lock bags and marched as a group across the hall to the larger Pavilion room where they handed us each a seat card as we walked in. This took about 10 minutes and a few players bitched about how we were missing that time and that the tournament should be paused. But as one floor man said, it doesn't make sense to pause 480 tables while 20 move. I can't imagine the logistical nightmare of running a tournament with so many players spread all over the casino.

Moving to a new table sucks. It takes a while to get to know the new players and all the knowledge you've gathered thus far goes up in smoke.

But I made nice progress at my new table. I stole a couple of pots. I won with a shitty top pair of aces at showdown. I made a loose call on a Q 2 2 flop with 55, hit a 5 on the turn and induced a bluff (I would have won with a bet on the turn as it turns out if I missed, but I checked the turn and my opponent bluffed the river). All of sudden I was up to 12,000 chips.

A little later I met my demise. With blinds of 150/300 with a 50 ante I made it 900 to  got with KQ. The small blind made it 1,900 to go and I called. 

I just had a long conversation with one of my poker friends about how three bets from the small blind are almost always JJ-AA, AK or AQ when you're deep enough and the initial raise doesn't come from a steal position. So that's what I was likely up against. I could make an argument for folding pre-flop, but I didn't.

The flop came down Q high and my opponent bet 2,000. At this point I'm hoping he has JJ to AK or made a loose pre-flop 3 bet. I called and he bet 3,500 on the turn. This is when alarm bells should have gone off. But I didn't hear those bells and shoved for 7,000. I got quickly called by AA and did not improve.

There still isn't an official count of the number of entries from yesterday, but over 10,000 people entered between flight 5A and 5B which went off at 7 pm. About 1,500 made it through to day 2.

At 2:30 or so when I went broke I headed to the cage to sign up for flight 5C starting Saturday at 10 am, It was sold out and so was the 7 pm flight 5D! I was surprised. As I waited in line a few people shouted out "colossus is done yall!" after talking to a cashier. But when I made it to the front I was able to get a late wave start for the 7 pm flight.

Basically I'll be starting at 9:30 when the tournament is on level 4 (100/200 25 ante), but with a full 5,000 chip stack. I'm not thrilled about this. Part of me is wishing I'd registered for multiple flights early, but to do that you have to pay in advance and I didn't want to wait in what is sure to be an ungodly line for refunds on Sunday. 

If I can get off to good start anything is possible.

Later in the day I made my way to the Aria. When I got there the lists for $1/$3 and $2/$5 no limit were 100 players long! But I put my name up anyway and played a little pai gow while I waited. After an hour and 45 minutes they called my name and I sat down a $2/$5. I got off to a cold start and dropped $300 on a A T X X X board with AQ vs AT and was down $500 at one point. But $100 at a time I clawed my way back and made a $76 profit on the  2 hour session.

More news to come as it happens!

Back to the WSOP after 5 years!

I'm hanging out at LAX after a short work trip to LA and just about to fly to Vegas. I used to go to Vegas 3 or 4 times a year and twice spent a full 3 weeks at the WSOP taking my shot at the big time. Now it's been 3 years since I was there for 1 days in 2012 and 5 years since I was more than just stopping in.

It's also been 4+ years since I stopped playing poker professionally. I took 18 months away from the tables and then in 2013 I put in about 250 hours. In 2014 it was more like 100. I made some money, but it was about what I'd make in a good month in 2007 over the course of 2011-2014.

This year I've gotten back into it more seriously. I've been paying $2/$3/$5 (with a $10 straddle that seems to be in play about 25% of the time) no limit hold'em cash games almost exclusively. Every Friday night I'm at the tables and in my last 25 sessions I've booked 20 wins.

So unlike past summers where I've yearned to return to the Rio, but totally unwilling to take the risk I have a little bit of a bankroll to work with and will be back after a 5 year absence albeit in a limited capacity.

I'm going to play the $565 buy in Colossus tournament which is going to be the largest in person poker tournament of all time. It has 4 starting flights over 2 days and if you go broke in one you can re-enter. I'm prepared to fire all 4 bullets if I need to. The first flight is tomorrow at 10 am (5/29/15) and I'm hoping that will be the only one I need to get to Day 2. The people in the know are predicting 20,000 entries (probably from about 10K unique entrants).

I'm also going to be playing at least a few more tournaments and cash games over the 4 days I'll be in Vegas.

I've never been in better shape physically (I ran a marathon in March after running 3 half marathons and 6 obstacles races of 4-15 miles in the past 18 months) and I think my judgement is a little different at 35 than at 25.

Hopefully I'll have a good story to tell. Let's do this!

Project Flying Panther - Recap and Stats

As I mentioned previously I played 78 hours over Project Flying Panther and won $1,369. I'd give myself a C+ for the effort. It could have been much better but it also could have been worse.

Here is a more detailed breakdown of my results.

-$1796 in 4.75 hours of $40/$80
-$330 in 6 hours of tournaments
-$284 in 2 hours of $2/$3/$5 NL
-$184 in 5.75 hours of $20/$40
+$152 in 6 hours of $200 Max
+$468 in 1.5 hours of $30/$60
+$3,307 in 52 hours of $15/$30

If I'd cut out all the other shit and just played $15/$30 and kept the same hourly rate I would have won $4,961 for the project.

Over the 78 hours I played roughly 2,730 hands (an estimate based on a somewhat conservative 35 hands an hour).

Of those hands 2,520 would have been in cash games and if I had to ball park it I'd say I won one in every 8 hands. That means I won about 314 pots, paid about $1,609 ($4 per pot + $40 in tournament rake) in rake to the house and tipped $314 dollars.

Over 3 months I played 2,730 hands. This is a shockingly low number to me as I used to play 3,000 hands in a day almost every day when I was an online pro. I once played 1,200 hands in an hour and have played 7,000 hands in a day. $1,369 would have been a great result for a day, but not so much for 78 hours. Also if I had done this online the rake would have been about $800, I would have tipped $0 and I would have earned about $400 in bonuses, so it would have been more like a $3,000 day.

The big question is was it worth it to take on some backers and play some bigger games? I'm not actually sure. I got a sense of the larger games at he Oaks which is valuable. I posted some solid results at $15/$30 which is promising. And I scratched the itch I was having to play a little bigger. On the downside I probably could have made much more money crushing the $6/$12 and banking $25-$30 an hour which is what I'm going to do for the next few months.

I'm still thinking about the 2014 WSOP and how I can get out there for one or two $1,500 events. I think my best bet is to just grind it out, play within my bankroll, and be patient. There is only so much progress that I can make in 8 hours a week. That has been one of the toughest things about getting back to poker - not having tons and tons of time to devote to it.

PFP Session #21 - Holy Shit I Can See This Guy's Cards!

Earlier this week I'd been playing $15/$30 at The Oaks for about 3 hours and was up around $400 when a new player sat down on my right. He bought in for $1,000 and I could see he had another two grand at least in his roll. He was a well dressed man in his 50's.

He started losing right away, not playing all that poorly, but in a slightly loose very straightforward way. When he had about $600 in front of him he put his chips into 3 stacks of 20 and a dozen of stacks of 5 chips. I noticed right away that all of a sudden I could see his card when the peeled them up to look at them because his chip stack was no longer blocking my view. Most players bend up the corner of the cards and shield them with their hands, but he was bending up the short edge of the cards parallel to the edge of the table and we were in seats 6 (me) and 5 (him) which is a part of the table without much curvature.

There have been times in the past when I've played against people who haven't been great at protecting their cards. Usually it's been a case of being able to see one of an opponents cards every couple of hands which doesn't help all that much. There are so many times where one of you have garbage or your opponent does and/or the other players spoil the party.

Not this time! This was 9 out of 10 hands I could see both cards (the difference between one and both cards is astronomical - knowing for certain that an opponent missed completely is very powerful), for a while we were playing 6 handed and this guy was playing fairly loose. There were 5 big hands where this came into play.

Big Hand #1. The Villain raised AK off suit, both red, under the gun and I three bet him with 22. This was a risk. If anyone else came in I could be in a tough spot, but heads up I had a hand where I could beat him if neither of us improved, and get away without losing a single chip if he hit. Happily everyone folded and the flop came down Q 9 7 with two hearts. He checked I bet and he called. The turn was the 10 of hearts. I was all set to fire again when he bet into me! WHOA! Normally this would be an instafold, but I knew I had him so even though I had shit, I raised him. He called. The river came out an ace! ACK! We both checked, he showed his hand and I threw mine in face down.

Big Hand #2. The Villain raised with AJ after a couple of limpers and I called with A7 of hearts on the button. Why would I call him when I was dominated? I decided the value of acting behind him knowing what he has was worth so much that I should get in there anytime I had anything at all playable, even if I was dominated. The flop came down 7 high! Ah ha! The Villain bet, I popped it, we lost everyone else and he called. The turn was a K which might have slowed me down normally, but not this time. I bet and he called. The river was an ace and he fired out! Bang! I hit him with a raise again and he called.

Big hand #3. Everyone folded to The Villain who raised from the button with 44 and I had J2 in the small blind. I called as did the big blind. The flop came down Q 9 7 and I check raised him, thinking that he wouldn't call me all the way down with an under pair. The turn was a K and he mucked after I bet. This was a hand I never would have played or won, without seeing his cards.

Big Hand #4. The Villain raised with KJ of clubs and I called with KT of diamonds in the small blind. I don't know if folding because I'm dominated or three betting to isolate would have been better. I think calling is probably the worst of the three, but these are not considerations I have run across many times, and in the heat of the moment I called. The big blind folded anyway and the flop came down ace high. I check raised, fully expecting to drag the pot immediately, but my opponent called. The turn was a small card and I bet out. He raised me! WHOA! I have never been so surprised to be raised in my life. I feel like I almost said "WHAT THE FUCK!" out loud. I knew he was on a pure bluff, but at the same time he had me beat!!! The only thing to do was three bet and hope that I didn't get hero called down by a better king high! Happily after he thought for a second he mucked it.

By this time I think he noticed that I'd been doing some funky shit. Not mentioned here are a few other hands where he hit and not only did I not give him good action, he got zero action. It's not often that you see a guy three bet, check the flop heads up and then fold the turn, but I did that at least once. I could feel his frustration.


Big Hand #5. On this hand he had 88 and I three bet him with A9. By the end of the hand there was a K two Q's and a J on the board and he called me all the way down. I decided it was time to pump the brakes a little.

There were other hands with a varying number of other players involved that I've forgotten where I was able to save $15 here or $30 there when he hit big. "Oh you've got the ace of spades? I guess I won't draw to a king high spade draw. Is that a set? No reason to do anything with this top pair I have"

This went on for 2+ hours! The whole time I was thinking "I'm never leaving this game. Never. If this guy stays I'll play straight through until morning and all the next day." Eventually he moved to a different seat and the party was over.

 I didn't see his hand every time because 5 or 6 time I forgot to look! It's just not a habit  look over at your opponent's cards as the cards were coming out. It also took a great deal more mental energy to keep track of what he had - suit and rank of two cards - and what I had and still play at normal speed.

Did anyone else notice me looking? I don't think so, as I had sunglasses on the whole time and was carful to look with my eyes not my head.

The bad news is I lost a little during that 2 hours ACK! I missed a bunch of big draws and otherwise had some neutral to poor results against the other players.

The good news is I played for another 30 minutes after he moved and ran hot! Hot Hot Hot! I had 99 in a pot that was 7 way for two bets preflop and hit a 9 on the flop and made quads on the river!. Since I'd been doing some goofy shit for the past few hours I did not get credit for a made hand. It was 3 bets on the flop 5 way, 2 bets on the turn 4 way and 1 bet on the river 3 way. That hand put me up $600 and after 5 and a half hours I was ready to pack it in.

I almost left right then, but I was still stacking chips from that pot and decided to toss out the big blind and play one more round. After folding a few hand I picked up 87 of spades, flopped a flush draw, pushed it, hit it, and got paid. That put me up to +$900.

On my last hand before leaving I picked up AA and The Villain picked up something. We went to war, I won, and a few other people got dragged down with him. That pot put me up $1,251 on the night and back in black for The Project.

I'm too fucking tired to write about it, but I can also tell you that today I played Session #22 - The Final Session in Project Flying Panther - and won another $460!

HUZZAH!

After 78 hours I booked a $1,369 win for The Project. Backers look out for an e-mail from me this weekend and I'll share some final thoughts and some stats in one more post on Sunday.

Fly Panther Fly!

PFP Sessions #19-21: The Good, The Bad, and the Holy Shit I Can See This Guy's Cards

Again apologies to my backers for my poor track record on reporting!

Session #19 - The Good

Coming in to session #19 I was stuck $538 and I got that back in a hurry. I was in a great game and I got great cards, it was as simple as that. The big hand of the night came when I posted behind the button after missing the blinds. Another player posted as well and there were two limpers when the action got to me. I popped it with A8 of hearts and we took the flop 6 handed.

The flop came down three small hearts giving me the nuts! Zing! Better yet when I bet there was a raise and two callers. Rather than reraise I decided to wait for the turn since the raiser would be first to act on the next betting round. Like clockwork he came out betting and another player raised in front of me! Now I was faced with another decision. I decided to just call and hopefully keep both players in the pot.

The river came out another small card and the turn raiser bet, I raised, he reraised, since I still had the best possible hand I hit it again and he called showing a jack high flush.

I made 3 or 4 straights to go along with that flush and generally cruised to a win of $1,090.

Session #20 - The Bad

Coming off four winning sessions in a row, and playing on a Friday I was feeling good about my chances. But when I looked at the $15/$30 it was all regulars so I decided to sit in the $200 Max game and I got my ass kicked in short order.

I lost $200 on a hand where I flopped bottom two vs a straight on a Q J 9 board. I called an all in of $150 on the turn (which was a blank) after getting raised on the flop. I'm not sure how I feel about that one.

I lost another about $325 on a hand where I had A8 suited, the board was  6 7 9 (with one of my suit), someone bet $95, I went all in for $290, I got snap called by J9 and missed. I love this play - I was 44% to win after he called and I'm surprised he did.

On another hand I made it $15 from the button with KQ, the big blind made it $40, I called, the flop came down 8 5 3, he bet $30 and I called. The turn was another 3, he bet $40, I made it $150 and he called. The river was a brick, we both checked and he showed me 87. That was another $220 out the door. I felt like that $40 on the turn was weak and I'm glad I went after it. Normally this type of play is gold for me as I have a tight image, but I'd only been at the table for under an hour and never played with most of the players so I had the image of a guy getting he ass handed to him.

After 2 hours I left losing $904 for the session.

Session #21 - Holy Shit I Can See This Guy's Cards

I started writing this up, but I really shouldn't be rushed since it's not an every day story. I found myself sitting next to a guy who was regularly flashing his cards and it led to some unusual situations. Look out for it tomorrow.