Really Cold Deck

It is hard to lose this many coin flips and take as many bad beats as I did in a 2 day span. Somehow I still have half of my roll in tact and hope to grind my way back up. I don't think I tilted too much though I did play a few more hands than usual to try to get unstuck. I believe I lost somewhere in the neighborhood of 17 all ins, the 15 recorded here, a cooler, and 1 hand I put in chips drawing dead. I think I won about 5 all ins.

I am going to have to drop down in stakes but can still comfortably play $2/$4 PLO and PLO8. Long way from Durr land though.

If anyone can survive this session, there is little chance it could get worse.

Here are the 15 all in losses I recorded.


Flopped Nuts then hit a bad turn

One of the 6 outs on a 3 way all in hits


Lose a Coin Flip I am slightly ahead


Bad River Way ahead when Money goes in


Lose on Pot Committed Aces

Way Ahead then a Bad River


Better Wrap with Bigger Flush Draw Does Not Work Out

Aces against 2588 single suited all in Preflop Bad Result


Lose a Flip Slightly Behind


Lose another Flip Slightly Behind

Bad River ahead when Money Goes In


Ahead on Coin Flip Bad Result

Brutal 2 Outer on the River

Flopped Nuts Can't Hold Up

Coin Flip Slightly Behind

As bad as this run was at least I was not one outed. Look at this poor soul, though I am not in this hand.

Top Boat No Good

So I temporarily have an enforced no online poker rule. MB changed my password. Still not twitching though I am getting close.

My Son's Gamble

An interesting article about a mother’s struggle with her son’s perceived gambling addiction. It all works out pretty well for all parties. A good read: My Son's Gamble - NYTimes.com.

How to deal with the odd man out

Time for some more discussion folks. Since we no longer have access to the room we had been using we are going to be moving the game around on a rotating basis. The question becomes how to determine who gets seats when there is more demand than supply. Fortunately, we will only have to do this some of the time since Adam has generously offered up his place which has plenty of capacity and Ryan is willing to try two tables by converting his game room to hold a second table. However, we are not always going to have access to high capacity venues. We may be limited to 10, 9, or even 8 seats.

There are many different factors which could be used to decide who gets priority. They include but are not limited to the following:

* "Seniority" as in the people who have been playing mid-week poker the longest. Should people who have been with the group longest get priority?

* Attendance - people who have shown up the most regularly over the past few months. Does it make sense that the players who always show up get spots over those who show up periodically?

* Duration - players who show up and play the longest each night. Should a person who plays from 7pm until the game breaks trump a player who shows up late and/or leaves early?

* Hosts - people who have offered their place to play. Clearly anyone hosting would play while hosting. But do people who host get priority over people who don't host
when playing at a third party location?

* First come first served? - True casino style would be that those who show up first get seats and after the table is full they can either wait or leave. RSVP order to the email invite could conceivably be used but I don't think that would be a good solution.

* Rotation - everyone would take a turn sitting out. Does it make sense for everyone to have to skip a week every so often when the seating is limited?

* Other? I'm sure there are other ways we can determine who gets a seat and who doesn't which are not listed above.

Also, as a sidebar, I want to know what people's opinions are about player versus shuffler. I am working on a way to get the shuffler to take up less rail space, ideally the solution would take zero rail space. But if the choice had to be made between having the shuffler or having people shuffle the cards but squeezing in an extra person, what would people prefer?

Please comment on what you think would be the best method for distributing limited seats. I'd like to get this resolved so that we can have the procedure in place for next week's game. Thanks!

Donks are Back

For a few months it seems like I was just eeking out small wins as the players just seemed to keep getting better and better. I sat down at a $5/$10 table, only to find Mesorucky and Waterpologuy, two really good players who I really can't figure out how to beat. Mesorucky said something interesting in the chat, he said the fish are back, something to do with cake's affiliation with the sport book site. He claimed to be up $100K, playing $25/50 PLO. Since then, I have been on a major heater and have found a few fish along the way.

Here are 3 bad beats I took yesterday and I still came out ahead for the day.

Nut Flush on Turn Cracked

In PLO8, I have the nut flush on the turn and check raise all in. Not a horrible bad beat as villain has 4 outs for the boat and 2 outs for the straight flush, plus he has a low, albeit a terrible one. Villain hits the boat.


Terrible call against obvious AAxx Hand

I am screaming here that I have AAxx hand and would expect a call from a run or a double suited hand like 789T double suited. Instead I get a call from A358, single suited which is going to match up terribly against an AAxx hand. Villain then hits bottom pair and figures he is priced in at 3.5:1 to call my all in bet. He hits trip 5's on the river.


2 Outed on the River

This dude figures I must have a super draw as he shoves all in with top 2 and a gutter to the bottom end of the straight draw. There was no way I was going to give a free card here so I bet out with a pot size bet into the original raiser. Pocket T's would be a bummer but the chances are so remote with 2 people checking and the original raiser is highly unlikely to raise with a TTxx hand. He hits his 2 outer.

Even with these beats, I can still come out ahead with donks like this one who can't figure out that I would only be raising with the nuts as there are zero combo draws on a rainbow, straighty board.

Second Nuts is No Good


Deep stacked all in push with non nuts

Generally not a good idea to go on a boat draw deep stacked. I Push U Pay is normally a very good player so I don't know what happens here.

Another Bad Beat 2 outer

Tony is uber aggressive so I decide to go with my top 2, only to be rewarded with a brutal 2 outer hit on the river by villain.

4 Outer Here

Nut flushes on the turn have a tough time holding up.

So there you have it, even with all these donks hitting imagine all the other hands I had where villains put there money in way behind and missed. Fish are swimming, time for the sharks to come out.

Marsh's Kings

Below is Marsh's hand history of the hand that busted him out of Event 9:

Blinds were still 25-50. I had about 3000. Table was 5 handed at this point. I raise utg with KK after being active early, but missing all flops and now in drum mode. I make it 200 straight. Folds to SB who flats. He is my target at the table so I am pretty happy. Flop is J 9 4r. He donk bets into me for 300, I raise him to 1300, he tank-flats. Turn is a 6, he checks, I ship the rest and he calls. We roll over KK vs 69o, river is an 8.