Kid Rock & Cheli

A buddy of mine was walking into da Bears' NFC Championship game on Sunday and met Kid Rock and former Blackhawk Chris Chelios. They were nice enough to stop for this photo op and have a beer with him.

Short Stack MTT Quiz

What would you do in these situations? I was recently asked these questions by a friend of mine and we and others had varying answers. Concensus on some, but others had somebody off the norm.

How would you play these hands?

• 1. You have 11 BB's holding 55 utg+3. It folds to you. SB is TAG with 15 BB's, BB is ave with 30 BB's.



• 2. You have 9 BB's utg with AJo. BB is ave player with 24 BB's. Push/fold?



• 3. Same situation with ATo.



• 4. You have 13 BB's on the hijack with 44 and it folds to you. SB is tight weak with 30 BB's and BB is loose ave player with 6 BB's. Your play?



• 5. You have 14 BB's utg+4 and it folds to you holding ATs. SB is chip leader with 60 BB's and kinda loose, BB is TAG with 18 BB's. Your play?



• 6. You have 12 BB's on the hijack with A3s. Button is a tough thinking player with 23 BB's, SB is weak ave with 10 BB's, BB is standard TAG with 20 BB's. your play?



• 7. You have 7 BB's utg with JTs, your play?



• 8. You are the SB with 11 BB's holding rags and its folds to you. BB is thinking player with 26 BB's. Your play?



• 9. You have 8 BB's on the hijack and it folds to you with 64s. Both SB and BB are standard players with 20ish BB's. Your play?



• 10. You have 10 BB's on the button with 43s. The SB is a standard TAG with 9 BB's and the BB is an ave player with 11 BB's. Your play?



• 11. Same situation as 10 with 43o.



• 12. You are hijack with 10 BB's holding A7o. SB is unknown with 26 BB's, BB TAG with 17 BB's. Your play?



• 13. You are the cut off with 11 BB's holding A2s. You have pushed the previous hand and were not called. The button is a thinking player with 14 BB's, the SB a standard tag with 19 BB's, and the BB and weak somewhat loose player with 22 BB's. Your play?



• 14. You have 11 BB's utg+3. SB is an unknown with 15 BB's and BB a TAG with 21 BB's. What's the worst Axo your shoving?



• 15. Same situation but with Axs?



• 16. Same situation, as 14, what's the worst pocket pair your pushing?



• 17. You are UTG+1 with 9 BB's and QJs. SB is an uknown with 16 BB's, BB an ave player with 21 BB's. Your play?



• 18. You are the hijack with 12 BB's and hold KJo. SB is tough thinking player with 17 BB's, BB an ave player with 31 BB's. Your play?



• 19. Same situation as 18 with 9 BB's?



• 20. You are UTG with 10 BB's. SB is TAG with 20 BB's, BB TAG with 16 BB's. What's your pushing range?

I'll leave these up for a few days, then we can discuss some of the plays that my friends and I talked about in these difficult short stacked spots.

Keith

Sit 'N Go Frustration!

This was almost me today!

Man, am I playing well and just getting ROYALLY F*$(#ed! Played in a few single table sit n gos today and did fine...up until 3, yes 3 super bad beat in a row!

It all started with AA and 4 people remaining. I get the big boys on the button and make a standard 3x BB raise to 360. The big blind instapushes all in for another 3K and I instacall! He has A-Q os. Flop is K-J-10! WTF! I'm out in 4th, no money.

Movin' on. Midway through the tourney, I get 99 utg and raise to 3x BB. 2 caller. Flop is 9 high, 2 spades. BB bets the pot and I raise with still some behind me so he thinks I can still fold. Like I would with any 2 cards. He puts me all in and I call. He has JJ and guess what hits the turn. A f&$*in' JACK! I did get lucky on the flop, but a devastating way to lose it on the turn.

Last but not least, I am short stacked with 6 left and just doubled up with Q-9 suited against 7s. I have 1K or so and raise to, you got it 3x BB with A-Q os. Flop is Q high. I bet small so I have some behind me, just like last time. He puts me all in and I call. He shows 88 and of course the turn is an 8. Another lucky flop and unfortunate turn.

This was all in a matter of 15 minutes. How many 2 outers and 10% chances can beat me in a short period of time. If these tourneys were for more money, I'd close the site forever. I have been running well on sit n gos, kinda my thing nowadays. But it's hard to make a good profit when these beats kill you, especially your motivation. They just knock you down to mess with your head. I'm getting warm just thinking about them.

ENUFF OF THIS SHENANIGANS! I want to get back to winning! Fuck all this bad luck!

Better Luck than Me at the Tables,

Keith

Home Games Busted & Neteller

Got a few links for ya here! I guess a home game was busted, but it should really call it an underground game because there was obviously some rake taken from the game.

First article here

Another article here

Neteller Gives US Players the Boot!

No more using Neteller for deposits and withdrawals. Cashed out the last $60 I had in there today and used up all my NetPoints, which I'm sure everybody else did also. About 1 in a million chance of winning anything.

I'm going to do some research and find the best site or online bank for transfering funds back and forth. We'll see.

Looking like online poker just took another hit!

Good Luck,

Keith

What Are My Goals?

I was playing online today and realized that I have just been playing for fun lately. This isn't all bad, but without goals for myself, I don't know if I'm progressing in my poker career or just skating by a mediocre player.

I am a winning poker player, but does this make me good? I don't know. The goal I had for myself is playing in a $10,000 buy in event this year. Winning my seat in an onine satellite of course. But sometimes this is difficult to do because of the time of each tourney. You must be there each and every step of the way. I would like to buy-in directly for $200 or so, but that would be a majority of my bankroll.

Setting goals for myself will help me accomplish this. So here we go.

• Goal 1-Win $2,000 playing online. This will mean playing 1 big buy-in event per week. By big I mean $30. So, big for my roll of < $400.



• Goal 2-Play in the FTOPS final event. It's a $530 buy-in so definitely satellite into it.



• Goal 3-Have 1 credit card paid off completely with poker winnings. Even if I need to start by bankroll at $10 again.



• Goal 4-Win a $10,000 buy-in online. Possibly through cashing in points at Absolute for a $200 tourney buy-in.



• Goal 5-Take more time during hands to think about what my opponent may have (this is more a helpful reminder).

I think this is a good start.

Lastly, play soid poker every single time I sit down. If I'm not playing well, stop and do something else!!!

Good luck with your goals,

Keith

What a Crappy Showing!

I went and played in the church game. Great food! Beer was cold! Play was....well...less than perfect. I got there about 6:15 and played a little Sheepshead Poker. It's a Wiscahnsin (sound it out) game. Had to be refreshed and lost about a buck before the "big game" started at 7.

By big game, I mean more money. Not necessarily good play. Every continuation bet was called down by a flush draw, bottom pair, Ace high. it was a horrible day. I couldn't tell you how many times 4 players saw the flop on a raise, then 3 saw the turn on another raise. Then check, check, check. And a tiny bet on river. Lots of loose play and I don't think more than 10 people in the entire room actually knew how to play poker.

Enough of that ranting. Our table broke, and I was moved to a full table. I had 425 left with blinds of 50/100. Not a huge fan of the structure and I'm not sure if I'll play in another one. First Ace or pair, I"m pushing. First hand, I get A-7 in mid position and push. Limper before me, a guy I know, pushes his all in for another 500 and he had A-3 diamonds and we get called by A-5 os. So I have the best of it going in. 2 diamonds on flop, 3 on the turn, 2 outer doesn't hit. NH GG! Played ok, but disappointing results.

Played in two more side games. $20 8-person and went out in 4th for nothing. Good structure, because I ran it. Then a $20 17-person and the structure was push or fold after about 1 round. I went out with A-10 utg all in called by A-Q. Still had some chips, but was all in for 75 with blinds 200/400.

Not Done Yet

After that was feeling bad, but not tired. I played online. Made up the $100 I lost by winning $250. Won a $10 sit n go for $50, then took 3rd in a $10 MTT rebuy for $133. Played 2 NL .10/.25 tables and sat with $13. Won $5 on one. Cashed out with $63 at the other. Made some huge hands against a chip dumper. He was just giving his chips away. Had KK and got some cash. Set of 2s for some more. Top pair 10s for more. It was ridonkulous. I didn't go to bed until 4:30 because the tourney took so long. Last hand, I had 3s in the sb. Pot-size raise. BB calls. Flop 2-2-8. I bet pot. He calls. Turn Q. My play? I push all in and get insta called by A-2. Sonuvabitch!

All in all I had a complete poker filled day so I'm done for a couple days. Cashed out $400 at Bugsy's Club and have around $300 left there. Working tonight and looking forward to da Bears' game tomorrow. Then going out to dinner with the fam in Chicago area. Sister's and mom's birthday.

Hope everyone is doing well,

Keith

Had to Post This...

...while it was on my mind. I was looking through ITH and saw many critiques of how hands were played. Now, there is no right or wrong was to play a hand. It all depends. If you flopped top pair top kicker, do you play it this way or that way. Well, whatever wins you the most money or loses you the least money. Are you ahead or are you beat?

What Dan Harrington employs in Harrington on Hold 'Em is that there's a percentage that each play should be used. Raise sometimes and call sometimes to a bet with a certain hand. Mixing it up is where the great players make their money. I read a post where someone said the other player played the hand strange, but he ended up having the best hand AND getting all the money in with it. Strange maybe, but was it a predictable play. Definitely not!

If this was 2+2 there would've been the right and wrong play. I don't post at 2+2 but like to read hand examples.

That's it!

Keith

Racks and Stacks

Thought it was a nice title for a post. Looking at some of the online players, I wonder where they are getting all their money. It seems that some of them should've been broke a long time ago. Are they reloading or are they actually winning someone's money?

This is technically my 100th post and man has it seemed like I just started this yesterday. The old site is gone...well...not being used anymore. Let me hear some feedback about the new site please.

As always, looking for link swaps with anybody that has a quality blog site. I like the reading too. It's good to get into other poker player's heads and see what they're thinking throughout a hand and a session or tourney. The more you know!

The church tourney is tomorrow! Can't freakin' wait. I'll post after the tourney and let you know how I did.

New Blog Address

I moved my blog to a different address because I wanted people to come for the reading and not necessarily for bonus info, which I started with and have fallen off of because of the lack of players. I'm doing this for myself and for those who enjoy reading it. I'll still have the links, but won't be as forward about the bonuses.

Keith AKA GUMBY