Thursdays

So, Thursday in NYC has always been a poker night for me. Whether it was back in the day of the beer-riddled Thursday night .25/.50 donkfest of my youth or the slightly more serious present-day, Thursday is the day I've ordained myself to enter the sometimes surly world that is underground poker in the Big Apple.

I tend to classify the type of poker found in this environment into three categories. At the top, the poker houses of Old, like the Mayfair Club, where there are three tables or more, food and drink available, and decent dealers. Unfortunately, these are now few and far between after the cop busts of 2003-4 and of the couple I know of, I have a few misgivings about.

At the bottom, there are places that make you wonder whether you are playing poker or in the middle of gang warfare. When I mean gang, I mean the losse fitting, low jean-riding gang tpe clothes the kids are wearing these days. Small, smoky, uncomfortable places where you're constantly almost certain someone is packing heat, waiting for the right moment to pistol-whip the cashier. Sometimes you don't know until it's too late if you've stumbled into one of these places...do I walk out? Will they think I am a cop or something? Unless I have a specific purpose in mind, I steer clear.

For me, I prefer the middle. The middle for me is a one, sometimes two-table house with people I already know and trust, whether they range from good friends to occasional acquaintances...the perfect mixture of social time and action-filled gameplay with folks of varying skill levels. My sojourn into this kind of action started in the waning days of the Wall Street Club, headed by Jamie. I found them through the internet, and immediately started going there on Thursday, their designated night. Changes came to Jamie's life and MattyEbs took over the Thursday night game, and then Wall Street became the Wall Street game in Murray Hill...then Stuy Town, and now, Midtown.

So, now that the history is out of the way...thursday at the house of ScottyCards, one of Matt's good friends and the house where this Thursday night game is currently played. I bought it for $170 at this 1/2 NLHE game(I have a superstition about buying in with odd numbers...never $200) and we got to playing six-handed as others arrived. I built up my stack very early against a guy who is there every week, but I never remember his name. I really should find a way to ask him in an inconspicuous way that isn't jerk-like. Anyway, through a good run of cards and a mined set I worked up to about $285 fairly quickly. MattyEbs arrived and before long we hit the key hand of my night.

Now, I wouldn't say that Matty and I play soft against each other, but we are friends and we'll do our best to not intentionally bust the other one out, if the aituation warrants it. Matt's acting before me, I'm limping with 10c7c.the flop comes x-7-7, two cards to a flush of some kind. Matt bets out 15, I call. the turn turns out to be insignificant for both of us, but there's now a flush draw on the board. Now Matty, he sometimes likes to play that card game where he will show you a card to help you make your decision easier(or sometimes harder) and I decided to play that game with him this time. He bets out 30 or something...I say, "Did you hit your flush?" He said"Are you afraid of the flush? I wouldn't be." I turn over my 7. "You want me to raise?" Here's where I should have taken the hint. Matty says,"I'll show you my ace..." He flips over Ad. I do my typical not thinking it through all the way thing and shove, Matty shrugs and flips over the case 7. Why oh why did I do that? He saw my 7, and his ace was his way of telling me that I'm outkicked..otherwise he wouldn't have shown it, I believe. But alas, I didn't process this. I had him covered, but now I'm down to 75, and though I made some hero calls and was overall happy with my play the rest of the night, I wavered from 175 back down to 80 before I got stacked off by AK hitting a straight over my two pair JQ. Truthfully, it was 5am and I was dead tired by this point, and I looked at losing the $80 as a good excuse to go home, so I made a money losing decision for the sake of some shuteye. I did learn a lot in that 9 hrs of play though, and it only makes me hungry for the next session. To the next!

The iPAD

OOOOhhhhhh. I really want one of these.

Ouch. Back to $200

I think I did about 10 of those 45 person SnGs wtthout a cash. Couple that with losing 10 bucks in the land of Rush, I'm right back to where I started. I need to mentally regroup and take a break, and come back focused later tonight or tomorrow!

Downswing, around $240

Hands like this plagued my recent .10NL session....

Full Tilt Poker, $0.05/0.10 No Limit Hold'em Cash Games, 9 Players

Hand Converter by the Pokerhand.org community

Board:

resplandor (UTG): $15.30

scarfroto (UTG+1): $4.55

edgie212 (CO): $4.54

empty-alias (Button): $6.83

v8power (SB): $5.90

hamster644 (BB): $9.37

Crossfighter (MP1): $10

wayow (MP2): $18.43

Theeal74 (MP4): $4.04

Dealt to: edgie212

Pre-flop:

(2 folds), Theeal74 raises to $.40, (2 folds), edgie212 calls $.40, (3 folds),

Flop:($.95) (2 Players)

Theeal74 bets $.60, edgie212 raises to $1.80, Theeal74 calls $1.20,

Turn: ($4.55) (2 Players)

Theeal74 bets $1.84 and is all-in, edgie212 calls $1.84,

River: ($8.23) (2 Players)

Results:

Theeal74 Showed

edgie212 Showed

Theeal74 wins $7.69


You're in with the best of it, right? Eh. Couple that with 5 straight busts in the much-heralded 45TurboSNGs, you've got me around $240.

Mookie Plans

Tomorrow night, I plan on introducing my blog via chat at the Mookie to anyone who will liaten. Hopefully this might further my readership, but it's almost a guarantee that I'll lose $10 in the outing. My luck in the Mookie has been nothing short of dreadful...I've made one final table that I didn't even cash. This is not representative of my typical tourney results...this week I will endeavor to improve.

Min-cashed another 45 TurboSNG today. I love how quickly they get done (30-45 min, tops), but it is a bit of a crapshoot. But, at my current bankroll, I could play $5 single table SnGs that sometimes last longer. I enjoy them as much as the next guy, but once you're down to 3 most people play like they've watched the WPT too many times on TV. Do I want to min-cash in 90 minutes or in an hour? For now I am going to follow the steps of Jamhawk and play these a lot more, or at least a few per day.

Holy Shitballs! Late nite Super Turbo Win...$273.13

I wish I could learn how to print these FT screens on a Mac while running XP on it!

Mr. Jamyhawk has the right idea with these suckers. It is indeed a shovefest, but 2 double-ups and you're swimming. I chopped it two ways 50/49 for a big end of the evening win for me. If you had told me I'd have a $73.13 profit in 48 hours I would have been quite happy but incredulous...I really have been running well and playing focused.

I'm also finding that pimping out my progress makes me stick to my bankroll and work hard for better results! big up to Jamyhawk for turning me on to these.