IS THE CURSE LIFTED?

Is the curse lifted?


PokerStars Tournament #15798253, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $20.00/$2.00
180 players
Total Prize Pool: $3600.00
Tournament started - 2005/11/29 - 13:20:19 (ET)

Dear BulldogMafia,

You finished the tournament in 5th place.
A $234.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

You earned 138.39 tournament leader points in this tournament.
For information about our tournament leader board, see our web site at
http://www.pokerstars.com/tlb_tournament_rankings.html


Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.



It has been a long while since I have hit the money in anything. I have been on a big time dry spell when it comes to tournament play. Don’t get me wrong I have had the occasional hit on SnG’s but even there my ROI has gone down considerably.

Over all I was blessed with some nice cards but I also made some great moves when the cards were not so nice.

Here is one example of a move, as you can see I was last in chips. Hell I was last in chips since there were 12 people left and I lost a race with a pocket pair:

*********** # 245 **************
PokerStars Game #3193770210: Tournament #15798253, Hold'em No Limit - Level XII
(800/1600) - 2005/11/29 - 16:30:28 (ET)
Table '15798253 8' Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Plip-it (55653 in chips)
Seat 2: OPE11 (51730 in chips)
Seat 4: DocDR (21336 in chips)
Seat 5: GameC (82677 in chips)
Seat 8: BulldogMafia (10769 in chips)
Seat 9: rooy (47835 in chips)
Plip-it: posts the ante 75
OPE11: posts the ante 75
DocDR: posts the ante 75
GameC: posts the ante 75
BulldogMafia: posts the ante 75
rooy: posts the ante 75
DocDR: posts small blind 800
GameC: posts big blind 1600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BulldogMafia [Kc 5c]
BulldogMafia: raises 9094 to 10694 and is all-in
rooy: folds
Plip-it: folds
OPE11: folds
DocDR: folds
GameC: folds
BulldogMafia collected 4450 from pot
GameC said, "Get one in my BB. :P"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4450 | Rake 0
Seat 1: Plip-it folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: OPE11 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: DocDR (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: GameC (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: BulldogMafia collected (4450)
Seat 9: rooy folded before Flop (didn't bet)

I had my moments where I was totally brilliant and a complete donk at times. But over all I loved my play and my patience in waiting for the cards. The one hand that still troubles me though is the following….. the villain had not played any hands since I had been moved to the table. I put him on a high pocket pair, possible Jacks or maybe AKs to have re-raised my initial 3x bet. King on the turn saved me but the only thing different that I should have done is lead out on the flop with a probe bet:


*********** # 141 **************
PokerStars Game #3193252020: Tournament #15798253, Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII
(200/400) - 2005/11/29 - 15:21:17 (ET)
Table '15798253 8' Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: ykaudi (10409 in chips)
Seat 2: senecal (2265 in chips)
Seat 3: Clembeasta (5683 in chips)
Seat 4: Norton111 (20340 in chips)
Seat 5: GameC (11521 in chips)
Seat 6: joedbud (16826 in chips)
Seat 7: TheHerman (29320 in chips)
Seat 8: BulldogMafia (12415 in chips)
ykaudi: posts the ante 25
senecal: posts the ante 25
Clembeasta: posts the ante 25
Norton111: posts the ante 25
GameC: posts the ante 25
joedbud: posts the ante 25
TheHerman: posts the ante 25
BulldogMafia: posts the ante 25
senecal: posts small blind 200
Clembeasta: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BulldogMafia [Qc Qh]
Norton111: folds
GameC: folds
joedbud: folds
TheHerman: folds
BulldogMafia: raises 800 to 1200
ykaudi: raises 1600 to 2800
senecal: folds
Clembeasta: folds
BulldogMafia: calls 1600
*** FLOP *** [2c 6s 4h]
BulldogMafia: checks
joedbud said, "i dont know about balls or brains but herman got plenty of chips"
ykaudi: bets 2000
BulldogMafia: calls 2000
*** TURN *** [2c 6s 4h] [Ks]
BulldogMafia: checks
ykaudi: bets 5584 and is all-in
BulldogMafia: folds
ykaudi collected 10400 from pot
ykaudi: shows [Ac Ah] (a pair of Aces)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 10400 | Rake 0
Board [2c 6s 4h Ks]
Seat 1: ykaudi (button) collected (10400)
Seat 2: senecal (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: Clembeasta (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: Norton111 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: GameC folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: joedbud folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: TheHerman folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: BulldogMafia folded on the Turn


Beyond that I have played in several tournaments. Over all I have gotten deep in many of them and even some with great chips stacks only to run into weird situations. Example: $45K Guarantee $10+1 Re-buy on Stars, in the BB with 7c8c, 5 limpers (still re-buy) I am doing VERY well with an above average chip stack $8K in chips (2nd level). Things are there usually crazy all in fest pre-flop so I have lessened my requirements somewhat. Flop comes 6s4s5h giving me an 8 high straight. I check intending to check raise, there was a raise, a re-raise and another re-raise until it got back to me. I of course with the nuts at this point go all in. I get one caller who holds 10h6h for top pair 10 Kicker! Which means I had over a 90% chance of winning this hand. Turn is a heart, river is a heart and I am left with $400 chips. This is the type of plays that I have been facing.

www.pokerdiagram.com guys did a private tourney on Pokerroom. I think 45 people went at it with the money starting in 5th place. I went out in 8th. Again played it well, but was a tad card dead on the final table. I went for a steal with Q-10 and got caught with my hand in the cookie jar by the BB with pocket 88’s. Felt pot committed when he went all in and I didn’t improve.

Any ways I fell good about that finish, now I have to go out and get another one…..

Until next time, may the pagan poker gods be kind…..

Wheelchair Tourney

Damn I was pissed on Sunday…. They say in order to get far in tournaments you have to win races and avoid bad beats. Well, I can’t win a race and bad beats go out of there way to find me. Yeah I know I am bitching like a little girl….. but damn….. Wheelchair tourney at Empire Games. One re-buy or add on is allowed. I am playing ok, but took a hit when a guy flopped trips and I paid him off to the river (I had a good read on him and ignored it with my TPTK. Always watch the hands, if they are trembling you know he has a very nice hand). Anyways I am down to $7,500 out of our starting stack of $10,000. I am in the BB, 4 limpers and I look down and see AcKc. Blinds are $200-100, I raise it to a total of $1200, UTG limper folds, UTG+1 re-raises to $5,000, folds back to me. There is $7,200 in the pot and it only cost me $4,000 to call but it would leave me with only $1200 if I did. I felt he either had a monster or had a small pocket pair or AK-AQ. He had over bet the pot before with crap so I felt a monster was not likely. So I went all in and flipped over 44. I obviously didn’t improve.

I re-bought and start building my stack again. I get it to $21,000 by the break. After the break I limp with 66 and the BB is the only other person in the hand. Flop comes 8-9-6 rainbow, giving me trips. Blinds are $600-300 with a $100 ante, pot was $2400. BB checks I bet $1500 he calls. Turn is a 10. He goes all in. Now that ten was scary because he could have straight. But for some reason I just didn’t think he had one, as he would have slow played it, not tried to scare me off with an all in. I thought more and more then he goes…”I will show if you fold”. But I didn’t believe he had it…. So I called. I had him covered by $5,000. He flipped over 10-Jo for top pair and an opened straight draw. River was 7 giving him a straight and I am down to $5,000.

Next hand I stole the blinds and antes with 99 from UTG. In the BB I folded to a bet on the turn with 6-2 in hand and nothing on the board. In the SB next hand I complete with 8-7o. There are two limpers besides the big blind. Flop comes 10-9-6 with two spades. I had just flopped the nuts but on a very scary board, so I went all in. BB folded. UTG called, button called. Turn was a 10s, river 4s. UTG turned over QsJc. Button Turned over 9dAs giving them both spade flushes and knocking me out.

Man to lose two key hands on the river just sky rocked my blood pressure. I know I gotta work on handling beats like that but damn…

Over all I didn’t like my play at this tourney. I was suffering from the over think and I paid for it all over. More than once I could have taken big pots or avoided losing chips and I just didn’t do it.

Well anyways. After hanging with the wife and my family at my mom’s I jumped on Poker Stars. I played in a couple of $20 180 person multi’s. 3 in total. 1st I was knocked out in 180th place out of 180….yes I know pathetic but I flopped a king high flush with KcQc (I had bet hard pre-flop and got one caller only from UTG limper). Flop came all clubs, UTG checked I bet out little more than 1/3 of my stack and UTG called. I felt my opponent was chasing so I went all in on a blank turn and he called with AcJs and caught his ace high club flush on the river. 2nd one I got deep but then blew it with 60 people left. I needed to double up and bumped into a higher pocket pair. On the 3rd one I actually made the money (of which I am proud) but made some key mistakes when the bubble burst and found myself in last place with 10 people to go. Poker Stars runs 9 handed tables so we were one shy of the final table. My M was a 5 and I was in the SB when UTG raised it to 3x the BB (standard raise as a lot of pre-flop stealing was going on). I had QQ, given my stack and the amount of the pre-flop raise I had to go all in or fold. No way anyone could justify that type of fold so I went all in. BB folded and UTG showed AA.

Made about $70 back playing $3-6 limit but beyond that nothing else to brag about.

Damn been bleeding money with very little return. Time to change that!

Pokerstars 180 person Multi and a couple SnG’s

I took a thrashing on the cash tables the other day and my bank roll is hurting because of it. I had KK lose 4 out 5 times, I was ahead all 4 of those times and each time my opponent caught trips. Ugly but my bank roll is hurting. So I am on a mission to build it back up.

After I helped my daughter with her homework (I love Algebra she doesn’t), I sat down and played some. I must say that I played well last night. Hit 4 SnG’s and made the money in two of them, one I don’t count the loss that much as I had to take my daughter to her Mom’s. Hit a 1st, a 2nd, a 4th and a 5th. The 5th I was trying to make a move to get enough chips so I could sit out and take my daughter to her moms. Unfortunately the pagan poker gods believe in ‘hast makes waste’. Bad part was they were all $5 SnG so my profit was only $14.

I also jumped on a $20+2 180 person multi on Pokerstars. I have to say I played this one well, real well. Most of the time I was in the top 10-20% of the field. I played it tight but super aggressive and I have to say I made very few mistakes. Here are a couple of examples of my play:

-KK- Mid position, I have about $3K in chips average is $2K, blinds are $100-50. 3 limpers ahead of me, pot is $450. I pushed, got one caller with AJo. No ace came to save him and I was golden. Up to $5K.
-AKo- SB- Blinds $400-200 and I have about $8K. Mid position player raises to 3x the bb, late position player re-raises to 9x the BB, Button who was short pushes. I fold…. See no stupid mistakes. They all push and they had QQ, KK and AKo. Mid-position player with QQ won it on the river.
-Q3- I have $14K in chips, 35 people left, blinds are $800-400 I am somewhere between 5-7th in chips. I am in the SB. Chip leader at our table limps, folds to me I complete. BB raises it too 2x the BB or $1600 to go. Chip leader calls, I have 5:1 to call which makes this almost mandatory. Flop comes 3-3-10 (dream flop), I check , BB bets out $2400, Chip leader folds, I raise to $4800, BB goes all in for his 9K total. I call. He show QQ giving him one out or 5% chance to win. Turn 7, river Q!! I am down to $5K in chips.

I survived with that $5K, I don’t know how but I stole when and where I could but rarely as my table was active and my cards were crap. I stole w/ Q7 form the CO. I stole with A7 from the button, I doubled up once with KQ vs. A8 but that only brought my M up to a 5 or 6. Some how I made the money, which started in 18th place. 18 to something like 12 paid the same so I decided to try and double up. I got As10s in the SB. Folds to the Button who raises it to 3x the BB, I go all in, BB folds. Button calls and shows 77. I don’t improve and I am out in 18th for $43.

Total profit for the night is $35. Hey don’t knock it remember my bank roll is low…. ;-)

CYA

Elks Club Tourney

Played in the Elks Club Tourney this past weekend. Good blind structure for the area, $10,000 starting chips, $200-100 blinds and rounds last 45 minutes. You can re-buy for $100 if below $2,000 chips during the first three levels. Then you can add on at the break. I did the add-on at the break so my total investment was $250. They do keep 30% of the prize pool for charity but again this is the best structure for the area.

Any ways I was up and down during the whole tourney. Bluffed 5 times and got caught twice. Once when I knew the guy was chasing and I strongly believed he caught his straight on the river. I was bluffing but he was just calling and I felt he had an open ended straight draw. Problem was an 8 came on the river and he all of a sudden goes all in. Which he only did when he had the nuts, so I had to fold with only ace high. So, my second bluff was just a stab at a pot that no one was going for. Again the calling station called me with a pair of 3’s.

Like I said I was up and down. Started strong but then it would go down, make it back, then lose some of it and by the break I only had $17,000. Just to give you some perspective by the break last time I had $60,000. I had to add on. Again after the break I had $27,000, and for the longest time I would lose some and win some….and I kept on going back to $27k. Finally made some with QQ (best pocket pair of the day) and hit my high of $45K. Got moved and ended up losing it all in two hands. It was horrible but then again I can never win a race.

Key hands:

• I had 99 in early position and raised it to 3x the BB. I felt my tight image would allow me to get away with this move with minimum callers. If I had any re-raisers I would fold. Anyways, I was sadly mistaken because I got 5 callers. The flop came 4-2-2. The SB raised it to $2,000 (blinds where $400-200). I was getting 4:1 odds and I had an over-pair to the flop. I didn’t think the tight old man called with a 2, so I called it. One lose caller behind me called also making the pot $10,000. Turn was a 7. SB old man went all in, he had me covered. Again I had an over pair to the board but I couldn’t put him on a hand…. The only thing I could think of was he had a duce for trips, full house (7’s or 4’s) or a higher pair than mine (possible 10-10, or J-J). I told him I had an over-pair to the flop but just didn’t think it was good and folded. Loose player behind me called and the SB showed KK. I dodged the cowboy bullet but wish I had dodged the flop bet also.

• 44. Again I raised 3x from Mid position and the BB (same old man from before called). Flop came 8-7-x rainbow. He bet out the minimum and I thought for a moment and raised it to $2,500 or slightly more than 3x his bet. He folded.

• My two bluffs that I mentioned above.

• Right after my second lost bluff I got 10-10 and went all in. Loose gentleman behind me called with 10c9c and although he ended up with a double belly buster straight draw he didn’t catch it. That win brought me back exactly to what I had lost against him.

• K7o hand. Yes I know, really weak but I thought I was going to be able to limp in with it on the button and two callers ahead of me gave me good odds. Plus I had not played a hand in forever. The SB unfortunately raised it but only another $1400 (blinds were 800-400). The BB folded but the two people ahead of me called. It only cost me $1400 to call into an $8200 pot that is almost 6:1.. The flop came K-Q-x. The SB bet out $3,000 real quick and the two limp callers ahead of me folded. Now I had not seen this guy play AT ALL as he had just sat at our table so I didn’t have a strong read on him. My gut said he didn’t have a King but I could be wrong. I went through the possible hands that he could have raised with….88+, AJ+, KT+, and felt I was ahead of about 50% of those (don’t knock it as I did this math in my head in the middle of a tourney). Anyways, I called! I meant to go all in but in the pressure of the moment I just called. I had $3K left at that point. Turn was a 3 and he went all in (he had $3K only too). I called thinking I was either Way Ahead or Way behind. He turned over 99 and the river didn’t help him.

• 6h3h. I know extremely weak hand but I was in the SB with one UTG caller. I almost didn’t complete the SB but thought I could get lucky. Flop came Kh-2h-5d, giving me a gut shot straight draw and a baby flush draw. I checked, BB checked and UTG bet out $2,000 (pot was $2,400). I called, BB folded. Turn was 7h. Now I put him on a pair of kings but was not sure about his kicker which could have been a heart and would most probably be higher than mine. I figured if I checked he would check behind. I didn’t want him to hit a heart on the river so I went all in. UTG said he folded AK no heart.

• QQ. I only had about $25K and blinds were high $3,000 and $1,500. With $11,500 in the pot I thought it big enough to justify an all in….so I did and they all folded.

• Got moved to a real aggressive table. My previous one had been tight with some lose callers and very few re-raises. I stole the blinds with QTo in the CO.

• I have at this point $44K left with blinds at $6,000-3000. I got 66 from mid position. I had been real quiet but I felt with an M of 5 I had to make a move. I raised it to $18,000. It folded to BB who thought about it for a while and raised it all in. I felt I was either in a coin flip or WAY BEHIND a small pair like 77 or 88, although I felt he had a weak ace. It was only $11,000 from me to call into a pot of $50,000. With almost 5:1 odds and probably a 50% of winning I felt the call was mandatory. He flipped over A8o. Flop was a blank, turn a blank and the river an ace of clubs. Leaving me $15,000

• Next hand I got AhQh. I went all in. Button called, SB went all in, BB folded, button folded leaving the pot with $51,000. SB turned over KK and although I did hit a Queen there were no hearts on the board and no ace came to save me.

Well ended up playing for 6 hours and had ZERO return on my time and investment. Over all I am happy with my play as the cards were not overly kind. There is a couple more charity event around town in the near future. Let’s see which I can afford to play at…..

11-13 Empire Games Wheelchair tourney ($250)
11-19 World Team Poker a ($550)

The 19th one I am very interested in playing and our rat pack team would be perfect for it. Unfortunately one of our team members will be on vacation…. Lets see if we are able to play.

Until next time, may the river be kind.

Rules to play poker with...

Copied all but the last point from another blogger but I love this….



1.) Don't play tired.
2.) Don't play if you don't have the time.
3.) Don't play angry.
4.) Stop playing until you cool down after a brutal beat.
5.) Don't "take shots" because you are having a bad day.
6.) Don't play if you are anxious.
7.) Don't get so focused in that you feel like you "have to make moves," let the damn game come to you.
8.) Don't play unfamiliar games at your typical limit.
9.) Don't play stupid.
10.) Have fun.


Last night I practically broke all 10 rules (well except #8)…… I played one $20 SnG’s on Pokerstars, the $3 Re-buy with $10K guaranteed, and two $20 180 person tourneys. First I was pissed at the wife as we butted heads over some stupid issues (we made up later but…). So I wasn’t in a happy place when I sat down. I couldn’t sleep the night before so I was extremely tired and broke rule #1. I had made a rule to improve my bank roll on stars and to stick to SnG’s where I make money. Until such time as my bank roll could afford large tourney’s again I was going to stay away from them….. well playing in 3 different ones and not cashing didn’t help. When I went extremely card dead on one $20 tourney I broke rule 6 & 7. Arg over all it was not a good night. I spent $75 on all my buy-in’s and re-buy’s and only brought in $36 from my single cash on the SnG.

I will say that I am extremely proud of my ITM finish at the SnG. It was one of the most difficult games I have played in a while with the competition being top notch when we were down to 5 people. The short stacks kept getting lucky and doubling up or staying alive with the most unlikely outs, so it was extremely hard to stay alive.. Example a short stack went all in with K9o and was called by AKs. The board read, 10-J-9-A-Q giving both straights. But through the entire game I kept a steady medium high chip stack. When we finally ended it was $600-300 blinds with $50 antes and we had been playing over an hour. I busted o the button with Js9s. I had just lost a pot on the river so I was the short stack with only $2,650. I raised to $1800 and the button raised me all in. I felt pot committed and called he showed A-10, spiked an ace and I didn’t improve. Ah well I did play it well.

The tourney’s on the other hand….ugly just ugly. First $20, I lost ¾ of my stack when my set bumped into a higher set (we both hit the flop hard). The $3 Re-buy, I played it well until I went a little card dead and made a move with AsQs….really played AQ poorly and lost 80% of my stack. Didn’t improve after that.

The third tourney another $20 I was just card dead. I made moves to stay alive but that will only take you so far. I mean I hit zero flops….zero. Let me give you an example. I am in the BB with AJo. Folds to button who raise to 3x the BB. The SB calls, I raise it to 9x the BB, they both call. Flop comes K-x-x, SB bets out 1/3 of the pot. I re-raised him to 3x his bet. Button folds….SB thinks about it and folds. That was a move….a very nice move but a move. Now you can’t do that all the time because someone will play sheriff and call you down but you can do it every now and then.

Ah well, such is the cards….

Live Tourney-

OK I played in a live charity event last Sunday. Over all I have done well in this tournament but this time was not one of those.

Still in the re-buy period ($10,000 starting chips, blinds started at $200-100), I had about $9,900 with blinds at $400-200 and had only played one hand (which I won a small amount). I had a real lose guy on my right, he played a lot of pots with crap hands and wasn’t afraid to call an all in or chase. (As an example of his play, with 3 spades on the board and an obvious straight possible from his opponent he called an all in chasing the nut flush with one card to come. They both showed their hands with his opponent having a straight and he turned to me AFTER he called and asked me what his outs were prior to the river…). On my left I had Tim, WSOP New Orleans circuit winner who is an aggressive player. I have played with Tim before but not loose guy on my right.

I have AhKh, loose guy raised to $1000 (2.5x the BB), I call, Tim with $6,000 behind goes all in. Folds back to our loose villain who calls. I have $1,000 invested, and $8,900 behind, what would you do? My reads at the time was Tim had a small to medium pocket pair (I have seen him do the same play twice prior to this) and loose villain on my right had and semi crappy hand but no pair. These were my reads but obviously I could be wrong. I was getting almost 3:1 on my money if I just called….. again WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

I went all in to try and almost triple up. Remember we were still in the re-buy period. Loose villain called my additional all in with KJo, Tim had 7h7d. Flop came 6hJhJc….Turn was Qc (any non-pairing heart any Ten would win hand for me)….river was 2d. I had to re-buy.

What I did wrong with this hand…. I should have re-raised our loose villains hand pre-flop, prior to Tim getting a chance to making a move. This may have caused Tim from moving all in. Although I think regardless of that all my money would have gone in on the flop…then again maybe not.

Well anyways, after that I went card dead. Defended my blinds against the aggressive villain to my right with K-9 and lost about a 1/3 of my re-buy. Lost another $2500 against a solid player when I tried to steal the blinds with KJo and it was obvious he hit a queen on the flop (he also showed it after).

So by the break I had $3,900 left and I thought I could add on. This is when I found out I could not do so. I was pissed at my snafu but decided to make the best of it. So after the break blinds were $800-400 with $100 ante. First 3 hands we lost someone each time. Then I got Ac5c in early position and moved all in. It slowly folded around the table (everyone seemed to remember my last hand I showed AhKh) until it got to the BB. This guy was a solid player who made standard 3x raises. He thought about it and thought about it and said I think you have my ace out kicked. I told him then he should call as I needed to double up …. I think he had A7 or A8….but thank God he folded. I went through the blinds and managed to steal again with K7o. That move was scary as 3 people obviously had hands they wanted to play and didn’t.

Then by the time the blinds came around again (2nd time since the break), they were at $1600-$800 with $100 ante. I had $5,000 left after posting the blinds and antes. Two guys were in with me, both extremely loose players but I had A-2o. I thought about moving all in pre-flop and may have won it there but decided I had to take a chance and double up if I wanted to continue to live. So we saw a flop…which came A-9-x rainbow. Loose villain on my right checked, I checked (again I should have gone all in here) and loose villain #2 bets out $2,500 into $5,700 pot. I really didn’t think he had an ace and was on a complete bluff. Loose villain #1 folds and I moved all in for an additional $2,500. Villain #2 called making the pot $15,700. I thought shit he has an ace but he turned over 10-9o…..giving him second pair against my pair of aces. Then the turn brought a 10c giving him two pair and the river was no help and I was out.

I can’t complain I got my money in as an 80% favorite and lost. Such is cards and the cards were not going my way. Would have been worse if my read had been off and I had gone all in as a huge dog.

Next Live Tourney will be the Elks on Saturday….hopefully the cards will fall better then.