Gone for the weekend

Well, it’s been a while since I posted.

Poker wise, I haven’t been playing too much. I did hook up with the Skype crew for a couple of games during the week. I made the money in a few, lost a couple, but had fun in the process.

One night, me and Dog ended up playing together. During one of the SNG’s, Dogs Uncle Tilford (sp?) who is in his early 80’s called Dog on Skype. Dog added him to our conversation. We finished the one tourny we were at and decided to play a $6 sng.

After about 3 hands into the sng, Dog went all-in and lost. It was funny cause it was the first time Dog’s Uncle was listening to him play. Dog says something to the effect of “wow, I really impressed him with my play”. Knowing Dog and how he consistently plays good, going out in the 3rd hand was just bad luck and bad timing.

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Last night was the first night of the Leagues SNG Challenge. Irisheyes represented my team. I wasn’t able to watch because I was still at work but I see she got sixth. I don’t know how the table “played” but hopefully everyone played good poker and had a good time.

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Tomorrow, I am leaving for the weekend to go to a Service Managers Conference in Florida. I will be gone from Thursday through Sunday evening. Of course, I will bring my laptop with me but I am not sure how much playing time I will get. I like everyone and all but I will be in Florida so poker may take a back seat for a couple of days…..lol

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There has been some issues with some of the League members. I don’t think I will comment on that because I am not involved. I do have some thoughts on the overall League status which I may post when I get mt thoughts coordinated…we’ll see…

Hopefully, I will see some of my bud’s this weekend and get to play….If not, I will talk to ya all next week.

Good Luck at the Tables!

SNG League Challenge

Well the League has decided to try a SNG Challenge.

The premise is that teams are randomly picked, then a SNG table is set up and the teams play against each other. There are 9 different teams and the challenges will be played on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

I like the set up. It makes it a little different than the regular league games because there are teams involved. I am not really sure what the winning team will get. But, I am not doing it for the money or prizes, I am doing it for the bragging rights.

On the surface, setting something like this up may seem easy but it isn’t. My hat goes off to all those involved for the hard work.

 

I look forward to the SNG Challenges and I know our team (Onlysteph (c), ffbigfoot, irisheyes46, and me (svcmgr) has a fighting chance.

For those in Satan’s Skype Sect….you know who you are….watch it, I will use the power

when needed to decimate anyone in my way……..

See ya at the tables…..

Great Weekend for the League

For those of you who don’t know, I am a member of the Poker Chip Squad League.

It is a League and Forum of some really nice people and some really good players.

We participated in the On Line Forum Challenge this weekend. We didn’t do too well in the Freeroll on Saturday but, in the Buy-in on Sunday, we kicked BUTT!

I played in the Freeroll on Saturday. 511th place out of 1312. Not a very good performance but I was card dead through most of the tourny and couldn’t get chipped up to stay in.

I also played in the Vegas VIP Freeroll. I bubbled out in 6th. Stupid on my part because 5th went out on the very next hand. Maybe I could have held on for some money. Blagger and Lippy did well and placed in the money. Lippy got second as a matter of fact. Good job boys!

I figured out too late that I was going to be able to play in the buy-in OFC game and by the time I tried to register it was already closed. Pretty stupid on my part. I thought that when you reg’d on-line that your money was “committed”. It wasn’t. Crap. I really would have like to have played.

Dog and Ash made it to the final table. Dog got taken out by a Monkey call. Dog had top pair with a King kicker (it may have been a Jack, but it was paint anyway) and the big stack called with a 7 9 off and hit trips….jeeze. Like I said before. Skill gets you to the top, luck gets you over the top. Dog didn’t have the luck. He played a excellent game even though he wasn’t getting a lot of real good hands.

Ash played solid too. The only problem I saw was at a point in the tourny, there were 4 or 5 members of our league at one table. That means you had to play against a league member which makes it more difficult. You don’t want to take your own league member out of a tourny but you gotta do what you gotta do.

For those that played in the buy-in OFC, there will be a “freeroll” set up to split the $400.00 won by the League. The league owner (Rich) is good about that and we all appreciate it.

Great Job by all the league memebers who participated!

Monday night at the tables – follow up

Per Blaggers suggestion in the comments section of the previous post, I got the hand history and went through it.

I was suprised at the whole thing so lets take a look.

The SNG single table tourny lasted 90 hands.

Hands 1 -3 Fold

Hand 4 – J 10 clubs on small blind – No pre-flop raise. K Q rag on the flop. Someone bet $100.00. I called. I hit the A on the turn to make my str8. won $1,300.00

Hands 5 – 17 , All fold

Hand 18 – A K – raised, no calls

Hands 19 – 37, All fold

Hand 38 – 5 4 hearts in the small blind. Limped. Flop comes 10 K Q w/ 2 diamonds. All check. Turn is 7 spades. I bet $200.00. All fold.

Hands 36 – 45, All fold

Hand 46 – 8 9 off in BB. Checked down and I win

Hands 47 -50 Fold

Hand 51 – Q Q on SB. I raised and got one caller. Flop is 6 8 10 w/2 spades. I checked, other guy bet. I check raised all-in and he folded. Won $2,740.00

Hand 52 Fold

Hand 53 – K 9 suited hearts. Limped in. Flop was Qh, 6d, Ah. I bet $400 and got one caller. Turn was a Js. other guy checks. I bet $1400.00. Other guy folds. Won $3,440.00

Hands 54 – 63 fold

Hand 64 – A Q off (4 handed). I pre-flop raise. Got re-raised all-in. I call. Up against A K. I got lucky and hit a FH with Q’s over and won $4,180.00.

Hand 65 – Fold

Hand 66 – K 5 BB. SB just calls. Checked to the turn. I bet $400.00 with my K high and other guy folds.

Hand 67 – A, 8 suited. Pre-flop raise all-in. No callers.

Hands 68 – 70 Fold

Hand 71 – J 8 on SB. Limped in and flopped a str8. Won $1,800.00

Hands 72 -73 Fold

Hand 77, K Q off. Raised. All fold.

Hands 78-84 – Fold

Hand 85 – A 4 suited (3 handed now). Raised, All fold.

Hand 86 – Fold

Hand 87 – A A in BB. Called a all-in and Won.

Hand 88 – Heads up. J 10. I raised and got called. Flop comes 10 3 K. I checked the flop. Other guy bets. I check raise all-in. He folds.

Hand 89 – Fold

Hand 90 – Limped in with J 4. Flop comes A 4 4. I check. He goes all-in. I call and win.

So, out of 90 hands I would say that I “seriously” played 7 hands (4, 51,64,71,87,88,90).

88 and 90 were heads up hands so I may not even count those.

5 hands with one lucky suck out on hand 64.

Is this an example of how patience is very important? You bet!

Since I was folding a lot, some of my “bluffs” had more value to the other players.

I did steal a few blinds along the way to “stay in”.

All in all, I think this is an example of being patient and when you do get a hand, be aggressive with it.

Comments are always welcome. 

Monday night at the tables

Normally, I play at a Live tourny on Monday nights.

Last night though, I just didn’t feel like going out for 3 or 4 hours and playing.

I was just going to park my butt on the couch and watch some TV.

I didn’t properly prepare for this activity though. I left one critical factor out of the whole equation. I didn’t get the remote control from my wife.

Next thing I know, “Dancing with the Stars” was coming at me in HD TV.

That lasted approx. 10 seconds. Then, I stood up and told the wife I was going to see who is on line. I got the evil stare from her (When I am on line with everyone I usually drink, smoke, and laugh too much. I also tend to stay on line longer than I should). Being the good husband I am, I totally ignored the evil stare and went on line.

I saw Lippy was playing so I went over to watch him play for a while. Lippy proceeded to talk me into a multi table $0.50 buy in sng tourny. I played in it for a while. I didn’t place in the money. There were a few Monkeys in it, (The old, Ace rag is a all-in hand, Monkey’s) and I dodged them for a while but I wasn’t successful in making the money.

Dog and Blagger came on and Dog joined a Omaha H/L pot limit table with all of us watching. I got bored (not so much bored, I was mad at the Monkey’s and wanted some revenge) so I entered a $6 sng single table. Dog ended up winning his sng (we have come to expect no less of him in Omaha H/L Pot limit).

In my sng, I had some cards early then I went totally cold. Blagger was watching and even he was suprised. It started getting to a point where I was getting in danger of blinding out. The table was being pretty aggressive so pre-flop limping was normally not being allowed. I bluffed a couple of hands that kept me in chips for a while, then I started getting callable hands again. I ended up winning the whole thing and got $27.

Blagger and Lippy left for the evening (Lippy gets up at 4a.m. uggh, and Blagger goes to sleep at 4 a.m…lol) which left me and Dog.

Never being one not to want to learn, we went and played a Omaha H/L pot limit sng.

Of course, I learned some more stuff from Dog about the game.

We had an interesting experience. There was a player at the table that was very aggressive and pre-flop raising a lot. If you have played this game, pre-flop raising early in a tourny is not very smart. It was interesting to see the table “learn” about this guy. After a couple of called down hands, you could see the other players become more aggressive against that guy. Once everyone learned he was a Monkey, it was like a feeding frenzy against him. He did have a couple of suckouts but in the end, Dog ended up taking him out.

Dog and I ended up heads up. So we did our normal all-in every hand thing. Well, it lasted a total of 1 hand and I won with Dog in second. It was just my turn I guess….

I can’t wait for Dog’s guest blog about Omaha H/L. I would like to hear about how to defend against Monkeys. I would like to learn more about starting hands. I would like to learn more about how much to open up, if any, at a shorter table. We are waiting Dog…….

It was a fun (and profitable) night for me. I look forward to more of them.

Comments appreciated

Weekend stuff

Well,

I played a little this weekend. Not as much as I would have liked too (Easter and all) but got some playing in on Friday and Sunday.

Friday was the skype crew night. I ran into Dog and Lippy who were playing at the sng’s.

I should have written a lot of this down but I can’t write, drink, and play at the same time…lol.

I also played at the League sng table on Friday (I think it was Friday) with other members. I didn’t place anywhere near the money. I remember sucking out on a PP in one hand against petrafyde (I think). PP against PP. I think I had 8’s or something and he had a over pair. I hit the 8 on the river. However, payback is a bitch because later in the game, I went all-in (I was short at the time) with PP A’s and he sucked me out. So, we are even.

Later in the evening, Dog, Lippy and I played in a Omaha H/L pot limit sng. Some stupid player (me, lol) suggested a side bet on who would last the longest.

Well, if you saw the posts in the league under the bragging section, you would know that Lippy won (he got 3rd in the tourny), I got second, and Dog brought up the rear. It was pretty fun even though I lost.

Sunday, I played in the VIP freeroll. I had some pretty good cards throughout the tourny and I think I only sucked out once with my A K vs. A J or something. (I think a J hit on the flop and I called an all-in bet but the river gave me a str8).

I “felt” good all during the tourny (you know that feeling when you are playing and everything seems to “come together”) and I ended up winning. I only did one add-on at the break. I only had $1.07 left in Vegas and  I thought the add-on’s were $1 each. After I did the one add-on, I found out they were only $0.50 each but it was too late. I ended up with a pretty good chip stack against everyone else. Dog saw me “goof around” a little with some opportune betting when I didn’t have anything (“I would check, oh God, I wouldn’t have done that”…lol) but I was playing the players at that point not the cards and it was close a couple of times but I prevailed.

I was going to come back later in the day but other things popped up and I wasn’t able to get back on line.

All in all, a pretty good weekend.

Hopefully, I will be able to profit more on my “ticket” I won at the VIP freeroll.

Motivation and poker

What motivates me to play poker?

I have been thinking about this lately because my desire to play seems to be lower than normal.

Prior to determining my type of motivation, I think the first question I should ask myself is, “what are my goals?”

I have talked to other players and there seem to be a few “general” goals.

1. Some people are motivated by the money. They play to win more money each time they play. Sometimes, they will even adjust their play based on the potential for winning money in a tourny. Being close to the bubble, they may slow play or not call hands until they reach the money. If your goal in poker is to, for example, double your bankroll in 3 months, I would say you are money motivated.

2. Some players don’t worry so much about the money, They are more interested in beating everyone. Whether this is in a freeroll, homegame, or buy-in, they just want to win. I think the motivation factor here would be the competition.

3. If your goal is to be the best player in the League, I would say your motivator would be more along the lines of a social/competitive player. You are in the League because of its social aspect as much as you are in it to win.

4. My goal is to, someday, be in a “major” tournament and win or place high. My other goal is to learn about the game, apply it, and earn the respect of my friends and fellow players. To me, having people think “Be careful, Dave’s playing, he’s pretty good!”, is something that motivates me.

Of course, on any given day, your goals can switch from money, to competition, to the social aspect, but as a long term effort, the main goal should be held.

Now, knowing this, what would reduce my motivation in playing recently? Maybe it’s that right now, I am more involved in the learning process than the physical act of playing. I was playing with Dog last night in a couple of sng’s. I played one sng that was a pot limit Omaha H/L game. I did this mostly to learn more about the game from Dog. If I were to win it, it would be “icing on the cake”. The main goal was to learn. 

I am looking forward to the “learning game”, so I hope Blagz and the others involved can work out the details. Once the date and time are decided, hopefully, I will be able to play and learn.

I haven’t been really motivated to play sng’s by myself. Maybe its because I look at it as more of a money motivator instead of a learning motivator. I don’t know.

What motivates you? What do you do when your motivation level drops?

Comments are welcome.  

Been out of town

I haven’t posted for a couple of days because I have been out of town on business. As a matter of fact, I am writing this from my Hotel room now.

I did get to play for a little while last night. I got together with Dog, Ash, gotmewrong, and Blagger on skype. Mostly though I just listened and laughed. I ended up breaking about even for the night. Lost in 2 $2 sng’s but made $10.00 at a $5 sng.

For those of you that don’t know, my screen name is Svcmgr. Svcmgr = Service Manager.

I work in the Machine Tool industry as a Service Manager.

I am currently installing a new machine which is fairly large. Hopefully, a picture of me standing on the machine is below.

I have done bigger machines and smaller machines but I thought this one would be interesting.

I should be back in a couple of days and be ready to play some poker.

Until then, good luck to all and see ya at the tables.