Glued to the seat

The Grand

2009-11-15T14:38:00.003+01:00

Just saw The Grand, which had been waiting in my DVD stack for a while. I thought it was a quite good poker comedy or indeed a good poker movie. A "mockumentary" in the style of A Mighty Wind or Best In Show.

Also, I've enrolled in Full Tilt Poker Academy. There's a time and place for everything - and it's called college.

Also, you have corn in your teeth.

Fizzle

2009-11-03T16:55:00.002+01:00

Brag: In the District Championship in online Texas Hold'em at Svenska Spel Poker, I lasted longer than last year's winner. Everybody did, since he was the first one out in 40th place (two pair vs flopped flush).

Beat: AKo vs AT clubs, rereraise all in before the flop. A Ten on the flop and I'm out in 13th place.

Variance: One player was sitting out the whole tournament, seats won in satellites were not redeemable. Still, he beat more than half the starting field. 15th place, I think, since I was the one who knocked out him and one other shortstack in the same hand with a runner-runner straight making me 10th of 13 remaining.

Not bluffing

2009-08-09T21:12:00.001+02:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

At least a small profit

2009-06-01T19:12:00.002+02:00

I travelled south to where I grew up last Friday to go to a kind of high school reunion. My sister and her family were going to be out of town so I would stay at their house but didn't have any particular scheduled time to be there.

So, I made a detour and left my bags in a locker at the train station and went to the casino in Malmö (one of the four legal casinos in Sweden) to play poker.

I've been there quite a few times especially this last year now and know how it works and the style of play. 20/20 (Swedish crowns, say US$2.5) blinds on NL Texas and recently they changed it so you can buy in max 200 big blinds instead of 100.

I get seated right away at a newly started table and recognize a few regulars in the room. At my table, a loose Danish "semi-pro". Several bought in short, 1100, and I don't want to risk too much, I buy in for 1500.

I'm not going to stay all night, I have to take a late connecting train onwards. I play conservatively but hope to hit my draws. The chips in play are 20, 100 and 1000 so a raise is often to 120 or above instead of 4 BB to 80 and such, like you would see online. Twenties are scarcer than hundreds, like at the Vegas $1/$2 tables where the $5s are what you play and the ones are change.

Fold, limp, fold, limp, raise, fold to big reraise. I get 44 and call a small raise, hoping to get a set. And yes, a 4 on the flop, no immediate draws. A shortstack goes all in with a bit more than 300 and I'm the only one still in, I call. I crack his KK.

QK spades, call a raise preflop and the flop is QKx, all clubs. Hmm. Guy to the right goes all in with 3000+. I decide that this is where I double up or bust in this loose-passive room. I call with my remaining 800 with the assumption that the guy to the left will fold his flush draw, which he does. Flip the cards, he has Q4, no clubs. 4 on the turn. Here, live, there must be fewer suckouts than online because there is NO 4 on the river and I get a nice pot. I leave one orbit later, up 500 gross (I had two beers, but the beer money is in another money clip).

I later see in a Swedish poker forum that one guy was there Friday and switch tables because at his table there were "six tight players and two fishes". I wonder if he was the guy to my right with Q4, he seems like the type. I also wonder if I was classed as a tight one or a fish. :-)

When I get home Sunday evening, I haven't played online for four whole days (jonesing!) so I open a €0.25/0.5 and intend to leave if and when I am up, no matter how much. €1 is enough.

KK, flop Q and I call opponent's irregular (but large) bets down all the way to the river all in. They hold up to his AQo, there was no funny business with a weird two pair Q7 or a set of rags. Out up €36.

Maybe I will repeat my casino visit next Friday, I'm going southwards again. And this summer I will repeat what I did last summer, stay in town at hotel or hostel and play several nights.

Sidenote: WSOP has started. A play money Holdem client in Facebook, Zynga, have a promotion. Win a tournament of certain ones run June 8-22 and you get entered into a draw where 18 randomly selected tournament winners will play a final tournament June 30. Up for grabs is two WSOP Main Event packages. Here's the weird part: It's open to the whole world, just meet the age limit (21 to play in USA). The winners are announced July 1. Main Event starts July 3. A bit of a tight squeeze... Also, in addition to the buyin you get travel (good luck arranging that with two days' notice) and three hotel nights at Rio. But, but, but, what if you're still in after day 2? Are you on your own then? Oh, and you get VIP Lounge and backstage passes. Uh-huh, just you and a few thousand other online qualifiers will get that same exclusive treatment. Having once won a WSOP Main Event package and having been in Vegas I can just say; YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!

The reunion
I showed up at the auditorum of my old high school and was greeted by a woman I then realized was the current principal. I introduced myself with name and graduation year, 1989. "Oh, great that you youngsters come too." Uh oh.

Inside, I see name lists of those who accepted the invitation, which this year was those who graduated in a year ending with 4 or 9 (i.e. it's a multiple-of-five anniversary). I knew that, that was what the invitation said. What it didn't say was that the invitation went out to only "20 years and up". Some ceremonies and stuff and at one time those from each year stood up. Quite a few 50 years anniversarians stood up. There were a handful of 1979 and 1984. I was the only one there from 1989... Toootally the wrong intended audience. I thought this was going to be more of a class reunion opportunity, not a historical society.

In the evening there was a dinner, and there two girls from my class showed up (the meeting in the auditorium wasn't "mandatory"), and one's parents were there (graduated in 1959 from the same school, and were high school sweethearts). From my year in total, seven had accepted the invitation but I don't think all showed up. Some gossip, some eating and drinking and an early exit. Sure, let's do this again in twenty years.

Both too tired to sleep

2009-05-13T10:41:00.002+02:00

Guitar Hero is fun. Rock Band is fun. Poker is fun.

The Gambler, with Kenny Rogers, is kinda the anthem of poker players.

Therefore, this recent Penny Arcade webcomic panel is fitting:

Cradle-Song of The Chickenman.

No dogs playing poker

2009-04-26T21:00:00.000+02:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Too easy

2009-03-25T09:39:00.002+01:00

So, I've bet on nine preseason Major League Baseball games in the last weeks of the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues.

Result: One lost, one stopped at a draw after the 10th inning (money back) and seven won . Suspiciously easy...

My highly scientific method: If one team gives about 1.7 times the bet or lower and is above the other with >2 times the bet in the rankings (Won - Lost), bet. Just win or lose, no tricky over/under bets ("Well, Billy Bob Pugwash is probably pitching for the San Angeles Demons and it's partially cloudy so I don't think there will be many runs.") or messy parlays.

It goes better than my poker. No long-winded bad beat stories but: Several KK vs AA. Good hits vs better hits like JK (the very first hand after my quad Kings) flop QJJ, turn blank, river K for a full house... vs QQ for a flopped boat.

Let's see - I play poker, drink bourbon, follow baseball, have a lucky dollar bill in my wallet and a lucky halfdollar in my pocket sometimes. Is my honorary US citizenship in the mail already? Of course, weigh that against the fact that I've made jokes about the governor of Alaska and that my Delta Airmiles have expired (and that I got 4 S'ed once).

W Innings

2009-03-21T00:17:00.003+01:00

I'm reading Baseball For Dummies. I've verified that my TV channel package will show Major League Baseball this year as well (it was last year I saw some games on one of the sports channels and got hooked). I created an additional fantasy baseball lineup.

In preseason betting, I'm two out of three. I only make "surebets", low odds on favorites. Damn KC Royals. Go Cubs and Yankees.

I haven't found any cheap bats, balls or gloves yet.

Pass the beer and pretzels.

Batter up

2009-03-18T11:30:00.004+01:00

I wrote earlier that I was getting hooked on baseball.

Opening Day is approaching, and I've even created a fantasy baseball lineup at MLB.com, the Swedish Meatballs.

Even before I got interested in baseball, I bought an MLB baseball cap. A Yankees one. I don't have any particular team preference, I just like the design. Also, good luck finding anything other than a Yankees cap in Sweden, because it's more of a (hip hop?) fashion item/accessory. I think in stores, it's 90% NY or more, and a few of the other well-known Major League teams (Angels, both Sox). More for the look of the logo than any geographical preference. Something like Arizona Diamondbacks or Seattle Mariners would be a rare find.

I think I'll try to find a Mets cap and let it fight it out with my Yankees cap.

Also, maybe I should try to scrounge some equipment and get some people to play ball, or at least catch. That could be fun. But official baseball equipment is expensive, and there's not a lot of second hand stuff (other than bats from our local variation brennball and retired streetfighters). Also, I'm doublehanded. I would be a right-handed hitter but a left-handed pitcher. Gloves are hard to find, and then gloves for the right hand would be even harder to come by.

2009-02-19T14:36:00.000+01:00

Too keep my Blogspot "active", here's how I feel at the tables sometimes.

more animals

The last holdout

2009-01-01T14:26:00.002+01:00

Just before 2008 ended, I was the last person in the northern hemisphere with Internet to get a Facebook account.

Nom

2008-12-17T20:24:00.000+01:00

see more puppies

A first for everything

2008-12-16T21:11:00.005+01:00

Did the earth move for you too, honey?

I woke up half an hour early this morning hearing rattling and rumbling, and feeling some shaking. I didn't think much of it then, thinking it was a passing heavy truck, or a flyby from the nearby airbase (fighters or helicopters). It can't be, not in Sweden, right?

Wrong, it was a real earthquake, the first one I've felt.

Initially reported to be between 4.5 and 5.0 on the Richter scale (USGS first said 4.7), those bastards at USGS now seem to have downgraded it to a 4.2.

We want bragging rights, damnit! And T-shirts!

U.S. Presidential Election 08

2008-11-06T13:01:00.004+01:00

So Tina Fey didn't get enough electoral votes but Keegan-Michael Key will get an auger rated in January.

What will The Daily Show do now?

see Sarah Palin pictures

US and A

2008-08-08T22:24:00.002+02:00

I'm becoming Americanized... When I was in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2006 there were times when people thought I was a local. Not surprising, since I'm white, didn't wear the traditional national costume of Krepplachistan (I wore Hawaiian shirts, mostly), and my English language skills are very good according to TOEIC and university courses.

At that time, I didn't pay much attention to the TV screens lining many poker rooms. They showed sports, much baseball.

A while ago, I was channel surfing and saw that a sports channel included in my package showed at least one Major League Baseball game from NASN daily and I watched for a while and then decided to learn more about baseball. Much as I did with cricket, satisfy my curiosity about what the big deal was.

Now I'm hooked.

I'll probably start following it even more next season, from the start, and probably also partake in fantasy baseball. I'll learn more about the trickier rules and what numbers are considered good.

Part of the appeal I think lies in that it, like poker, is much a game about percentages and a little gambling. Should they give an intentional walk with runners on first and second with two outs at the bottom of the eighth with a weak hitter next in the lineup? I dunno.

It would be fun to try playing (or just pitching, batting and fielding) but baseball isn't a big sport here in Sweden and the nearest field and club that I know of is 40 miles (60 kilometers) away and that's a bit far to do anything serious.

A certain festive betting and gaming site gave me $10 again (they do that from time to time to lure me back) and I blew it all on what I thought would be a sure bet. But nooo, the D-Backs choked against the Pirates and lost 2-0.

Geez. The next time I'm in Las Vegas I'm going to be a total degenerate. I'll be at a poker table, drunk as a skunk on fine American products like bourbon and canoe lovemaking beer with half of my attention going to the TVs and ballgames "No, no, nooo, don't put in a rookie pinch hitter now, I've got three Benjamins on the over/under. Awfuhgeddaboudit, get me some racing forms..." Yup, it's the ponies next, I'm afraid.

Good read

2008-07-30T19:36:00.001+02:00

more cat pictures

We'll do it live!

2008-07-09T12:27:00.000+02:00

On an almost spontaneous whim, I quickly decided I wanted to play live poker at a real casino and made reservations at a hostel close to the nearest casino (which isn't so near, far enough that it isn't a one day affair) in Malmö, Sweden.

Took the train there, went shopping, and then checked in to the hostel. Exactly what I was looking for. I just need a bed, access to bathroom and shower and a door you can lock. Not a fancy hotel with oak furniture, carpets, trouser press, minibar, conference rooms and starred restaurant.

I get to the casino, have a burger and a beer, and soon get a seat at 20/20 (crowns, about $3). Yes, 20/20, not 10/20. No flop, no drop - meaning that if you just check or limp, there will be a flop and rake, and if you raise, there will be a larger pot and more rake.

I buy in max, 100 Big Blinds. I recognize a regular two seats to my right, I've seen him when the poker room was elsewhere in the casino (and I lost a good-sized pot at Fixed Limit with King-high vs Ace-high flush to him), saw him outside another time when I didn't play poker there, saw him in the poker room at another table when I played with dad. To the immediate left of me was an Englishman (?) who lost two big pots against Regular, reloading inbetween, and finally went all in in the dark with his last 2-300. I have QJo in the Big Blind, no other callers. Should I? Yes, I call. He turns up his cards, Ace-rag. And hey-o, a Jack on the flop. Dominating, but the turn causes me to mutter "hmmph, gutshot". And he gets the four-outer 4 for a wheel (Ace-to-Five straight) on the river.

Later, there are new players. I'm wedged in between three Danish semi-pros. I'm nearing the felt and reload with another 1000. That was necessary, to have ammo, and I fight my way up somewhat.

Hand of the night: I get KK, ye ole cowboys, of which one is a Spade. Bet hard, a Dane calls. Three Spades on the flop, one is an Ace, more betting. Bingo! Turn is the Queen of Spades, giving me the nut flush, there could be a straight now, a worse flush, he could try to represent a straight flush or even Royal Straight Flush but I'm blocking that with my King of Spades. I don't remember if the river paired (possible full house) but I don't think so, and the Dane is squirming, he has something halfway decent. I have about 1000 left and bet half of it, 500. If he calls, I have him and get a good pot. If he raises, I have him and get a better pot. I don't think he will fold, because he's got so much in the pot already and I think that he thinks that I think I can maybe buy the pot. Texas Hold'em and poker at its finest.

And I get confirmation that I've got him, he says "If you have the King, well played, otherwise not" and reluctantly calls. I flip my cards over and he mucks. He must've had a straight or Ten of Spades for a (non-nut) flus and straight flush draw.

After about five or six hours of play, I cash out about 50 Big Blinds down. Better luck tomorrow, you can easily double up with one good hand and also milk shortstacks.

Oh, I got a membership card, giving you free entry for a year at all the four state-run casinos in Sweden. They aren't allowed to give comps, meaning no free drinks, no bonuses, no enticements. They got into some trouble when they opened and they tried to act like a Real Vegas Casino giving out free alcoholic drinks and giving some high rollers free or discounted hotel rooms. As a welcome gift I got a pen and a 20-crown marker (you also get those if you get a dinner package) which you can use at any table game. However, you can only bet it on numbers at the roulette, not black/red, odd/even, so they will almost certainly get it back.

I never had reason to flash my WSOP T-shirt (Main Event started that day).

Straddle is allowed, but isn't live. Just as I had read on a Swedish poker forum, the poker room was populated with regulars, tight nits, "tourists" trying out something other than online poker for the first time with a minimum or half buy-in and the worst of all: The trashtalking hollaballa online pro, getting all Hollywood and getting seconds from getting Time called, folding their 78 on a AKJ flop saying "I put you on Tens or Jack Ten". After playing five hands: "Geez, you're tight at this table". And the pièce de résistance: Actually saying "LOL".

Day 2:

In total, I played for six hours. I cashed in for the max amount and took good care of my stack and took a break about once an hour, during which the button orbited approximately three times, meaning 30 hands/hour. Some times I was up about a 1000 and some change and thus break-even for the visit.

I'm not here for a Great Big Win, I'm "happy" breaking even, having had a mini-vacation with shopping, good eating and drinking and a lot of poker.

What caused me to go home was: 37 in an unraised small blind. Remember that it's 20/20, small and big blind are the same? Lo and behold, the flop is the perfect 456. Flopped a good straight! Pocket 78 could be better but after some moderate betting the turn comes 8. Don't think there's a 79 out there.

Hmm, the river pairs with a 6, the pot is about 1000. I beat most hands; all slowplayed big pocket pairs, flush draws (rainbow board), rag draws. What the heck, all in first to act. Last to act is Tanned Older Guy, who earlier got four of a kind in deuces with A2o. I saw him buy in with a Big Red Square 10.000 chip (what are they called?). 2000 is the max buyin at 20/20, so you pocket the 8000 and can refill up to 2000 if you're down.

Aw heck! Dang! Fork! Of course he was happy flopping two pair with 56 and riverring a full house. Why couldn't he have had a 7 for split, 23 for sucker straight or a big pair?

I shake his hand, no hard feelings, and leave, making a joke that doesn't translate well but is in the style of "well, I'll go home and continue folding, but sheets this time".

Online play, the days after that, things I've seen playing online.

At 1/2 tables, max buyin 400. One player with 1248 on one table and 160 at another. Variance!

Calling an all in with AA in a Speed tournament (3 minute blinds), he went all in with 99 and of course flops a 9.

AK, flop KKx, pot-sized bets on flop and river and he won't fold. river J and of course he has JJ.

AA. Flop AAx and several players in. Checked all around. Minimum bet on the turn, no callers. WTF?

Fold 78s against bet 5*BB, flop 569 rainbow. Fun.

Online and live poker is rigged...

Well, at least it's winning

2008-06-18T10:47:00.004+02:00

I played a LOT at Full Tilt in May, earning me a seat in the Iron Man freeroll at the Silver level. Also, I played every day in May and got a seat in the One-A-Day Freeroll
.

The one-a-day started one hour before the Silver freeroll and had a $2000 prize pool. After more than two hours, I finished in the money, there was 927 participants and 360 places paid. A bit much, a third "getting paid" instead of the usual 10%. A whopping $4 was my prize for 87th place there!

In the Iron Man $15000 freeroll (Silver), there were 809 participants and 180 places paid. I finished in the money there as well. 25th and $60.

The trick is: Don't bust!

But here's my peeve: The payoff is so little. You could play for hours in a tournament and finish in the money, but in the lower parts of the payout structure, and you get 2 to 5 times the buyin when the winner or last three get 100 to 200 times the buyin. It almost doesn't seem "worth it". I put in a lot of effort to get to these freerolls. Well, at least in the Iron Man, there's more put into it by Full Tilt, since the winner of each of the four Iron Man freerolls plays for $5000 more, and the winner there plays for up to $100.000 more but couldn't they add more? A lottery for T-shirts, or random bonuses if you really play the freeroll. Bubble prizes?

On unique thing (I think) for Full Tilt that I've tried is the CAP cash games. I'm mainly a Texas No Limit player, but I'm a bit apprehensive about playing the higher levels. No fear, at the CAP games, which are still No Limit, the maximum you can put in the pot is thirty (30) Big Blinds, so you might not go busto to a suckout or a miracle flop (AK vs 88 on a AK8 flop for example). You can still wield the weapon of a big raise or trying the waters with check-calling/raising and sometimes get paid off, which is trickier to do in Fixed Limit. I railbirded a rare $500/$1000 6-seat CAP game. That was just sick. $30.000 is the maximum bet and there were preflop shoves and stacks of $60.000 shuffling back and forth.

Another somewhat lucrative type is the Token tournaments. $8 for a 18-seat Turbo Sit'n'Go, where five players win a $26 tournament token which can get you into any $24+2 tournament or Sit'n'Go and 6th place get $14. One third of the players get paid, not too hard to reach.

Some time this summer, I'll try the Sunday Brawl. I crave a Big Win.

I wanna go too

2008-06-16T08:48:00.004+02:00

Apparently, Iggy finally stopped writing about politics and started playing poker again.

The result? WSOP Main Event, baby!

Quoth:

I played the best weak-tight poker of my life.

Nine drunken hours later.

On a whim, I'm in the WSOP Main Event.

Congratulations...

RoundersBuzz

2008-06-13T13:01:00.000+02:00

I recently came across a new site that is interesting both for poker bloggers and card players, RoundersBuzz.com. It is a recently launched social voting website just for poker content. If you are a publisher looking to drive traffic to your site, you can submit poker articles, stories or news at RoundersBuzz. If you are a poker player looking to improve your game, you can quickly sift through the best poker content voted up to the main page by the community.

Besides the main page, there are five Category pages for specific stories. The most popular categories are the two strategy categories; Tournament Strategy and Ring Game Strategy. They also have categories on General Poker, Online Poker Tools and Poker News.

Mushy Shorts

2008-05-30T13:22:00.004+02:00

Wil Wheaton, in addition to being a writer, a blogger and for a while having been on Team Pokerstars is also an actor.

He's the one with the beard.

Feel the pretty.

Thunk different

2008-04-19T19:15:00.001+02:00

I haven't SWITCH.ed, I just got another computer. Now I have one in the kitchen (a laptop), one in the bedroom and two disused ones in the closet. I still lack a tablet PC and/or something like an UMPC.

My cutesy little Mac Mini arrived yesterday. It's got wireless keyboard and mouse and my flatscreen TV (bought with "poker money") has a VGA port.

Also, Full Tilt Poker has a client for Macs, so I rearranged the sofa and cushions and played lying down all evening and morning.

Play Online Poker

Two final tables out of two MTTs played and two SnG wins and one second place out of five SnGs.

I think I can attribute that to the relaxed playing style stemming from the ease of use and that I'm not rushed. Instead of multitabling and using the pre-select buttons - Fold! Check/Fold! Raise! - I seem to be more prone (didyer catch the pun?) to ponder the situation, not just playing the cards.

The fact that I'm streaming dubstep from iTunes radio also helps.

It kind of matches my Neil Poulton designed external hard drive (500 gigabytes, althought I'd like to say "half a terabyte!").

It just works.

Cat-ch the cards

2008-05-20T09:57:00.001+02:00

more cat pictures

Think of the children!

2008-03-27T13:12:00.000+01:00

Bet de haus

2008-02-28T09:08:00.000+01:00

see more loldogs are funny dog pictures!