Two Weeks in A Row...

So, as I stated in my previous post, I finished third in the Borgata Weekly $340 on Saturdays, last week. Below is the hand anthology (the notes I kept) from that tourney. I played this week also and chopped the tournament. I really feel that I played optimally and I got lucky at the right times (like after immediately getting unlucky). I am excited to cash in more tourneys and have more victories under my belt.

So here are the hand histories from the November 17th Borgata Tourney:

Key:
R = Raise
UTG= Under the Gun, 1st pos after BB
BB= Big Blind
SB = Small Blind
HJ = Hi Jack
CO = Cutoff
RR = Reraise
CR = Check Raise
OS = off suit
B= Button

$340 buy in, 135 people to start, 10k in Chips.
Round 1 Blinds, 25-50
3rd hand of tourney QJ os in the SB. late pos R to 250, I defend and BB calls. 3 way action. Flop is K 6 10. I chk, bb chk, Rer cont bets 600. I call, BB calls. Turn is 9s. I lead out for 800, bb makes it 2400, R folds, I RR to 5500. BB pushes. I figure we have same hand or he has set, I call obv, he has K4 os, drawing dead gift for me, up to 22k after this hand.

Round 2 50-100
A few orbits later, I have 22 in the bb. A weird guy limped in late pos, I complete, we take the pot 4 way. Flop is A 7 9, checks around. Turn is K, checks to weak guy, he bets min, I call. One other caller. River is 9. I check, it checks around. Weird guy has JJ. ?? And he was never folding if Ibet, or anyone else bet on any street. My instinct was to raise the turn, but I wouldve lost the hand. Once I check the flop, he believes his JJ is the nuts.

Round 3 100-200/and Round 4 100-200 25ante
Weird guy raises in the CO. I call on the B with Jd6d. I have been playing raise or fold, very little calling. But I felt like this would be a good oppty to take a pot away from a weak player. Flop comes out K 8 3 rainbow. He bets min, I fold disgusted and he shows K5 os, nice hand min raiser.

Ks10s 2nd pos, I like raising in this position. I R to 600, tight tight chic pushes for 1750 more. I want to call bc I am big stack but I know that I am way dominated and if I am lucky its 60 40, but most likely I have three outs, either way. I folded, questionable fold here considering my stack size.

Ac6c limp, with possible limp/RR plan, but there was a R and a RR after,, so I fold preflp.

J10 hh in bb. B limps, SB completes, three way. SB is tight player and does not get tricky, very straightforward. 335 flop with 2 spades. SB checks, I bet 350 thinking this is a good oppty to win sm pot. B folds and SB acts a bit and raises to 1200, I fold saying I had flush draw and he shows me 36 os. NH.

A4 os on button. Now I have categorized each player at my table as LF (limp fold to raise) or LCR (limp call raise). 3 limpers in front of me, all are LF. I raise to 900, they all fold,I win pot.

55 HJ, R and all fold. I win pot.

Big hand for me. 3c4c. One limper, I limp in middle pos. The button, a knowledgeable player, capable of thinking on more levels than most in this tourney raises the button to 725. He always raises UTG and B so he can have any range of hands. Limper folds. I have big stack and decided to out play this guy after the flop if the situation permits. I check dark. Flop comes out J 8 5, one club. He checks behind, which gives me a lot of information. I know that he has nothing and he is worried I hit the flop. The only hand he can have on that board with his check, based on his style is a set. But I doubt that he had a pair on the B that connected wtih the flop- that would be lucky. Turn is 6 cl giving me a gut shot and a fl draw. I lead out for 800 into 1600 pot. He raises to 2k without thinking. I know he is raising on a move. I insta call. River is complete rag. I lead out for 3400 knowing he can't call, and he insta mucks. That was an earned pot. Up to 31k after this hand.

K8suited bb, fold to an all in.

KJ os sb , fold to a raise by tight player.

Round 5 200-400 50 ante
KQ 3rd pos, raise, all fold, win pot. Played no other hands this round.

Round 6 300-600, 75 ante
Q2 os on B. 2 limpers, I raise to 2400, all fold, nice pot.
A5 hh, limp in middle pos with one other limper. Flop comes all hearts. Checks around. I bet turn, all fold. I show for credit.


Will finish post tomorrow.

Happy Turkey Day!

Good afternoon all. Much has transpired since my last blog report. Ostrich and I both had a big stack in the Full Tilt Event #1- he made a play that cost him a lot of chips- but it was the correct play. Unfortunately, his opponent put all his chips in on a flush draw and hit. Ridiculous. I lost with JJ to a flopped set and there was no way for me to get away from it with the stack I had compared to my opponent (Buckohfive). So, unfortunately we did not cash, but I believe I played extremely well.

Since then, I have bubbled the UB 2pm twice, won the 8pm 20k guar, 12th in the 8pm, four cashes on Full Tilt without going deep into the money ( I need to work on that), and several bubbles. Last night was horrendous. I had so many ridiculous calls of my all ins and reraises and while I was way ahead, the three and two outers hit like no tomorrow. But that will happen. I really feel good about my game. I feel that it is getting better and better every day. I also feel like my decisions are more thought out, deeper and more psychological. I feel that I am developing into the player I want to become. It may take me a little while to get there, I have always been a slow learner, but when I learn, I learn good. =)

In live action, I played three tourneys in Atlantic City, the $340 on Saturday, the $midnight madness (just for fun), and the $120 on Monday. I cashed 3rd in the Saturday for 5k, bubbled the midnight and donked out of Monday with Kj against bottom two.

The $340 on Saturday was the BEST absolute BEST tournament I have ever played with one exception. I did not readjust myself for 3 handed play against two players who were extremely extremely aggressive. And because I was playing super aggro the whole tourney, I did not change gears, which is def the most difficult part of my game and the one that needs much improvement. On the upside, my ability to self-criticize, review my mistakes and improve is huge compared to players who just keep playing & repeating the same mistakes.

However, if I can get myself into my A game zone for every tournament, I will go much deeper more often. One important aspect of Saturday's tournament was that I took notes on every single hand I played, and at the final table, every hand regardless if I played or not. I got this idea from Thomas Fuller's blog (http://gnightmoon2006.blogspot.com/)- I check his blog every so often to read his hand history anthologies, and they are very useful. I also found that when you record your hhs, it forces you to think harder, and play better, because now your hands are memorialized. Maybe this is just psychological for me, but it works nonetheless.

I will post hand history from the Borgata $340 later this week.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving all!!!!!!

Good money and peace,

Lucky C and her sidekick, Ace.

Organic Condoms, Pornorganicgrafic....and Ostrich's 12k Cash

While in the kitchen, a thought flew into my head- are there such a thing as Organic Condoms? Where this thought came from is unimportant, but one worthy of a mention in the blog. As a result, I googled it and low and behold, they exist! Check them out here. http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1198802

Anyway, Ostrich cashed for 12k, second place in the 55k guaranteed on full tilt last night! So awesome. As always I am very proud of him.

I cannot stress enuf how exhilirating and refreshing it is to work for myself. I feel so in control of my life and my destiny. I love being self-employed, be it as an attorney, a poker player, or otherwise.

Ok, lastly, let me apologize for the x-rated nature of the first paragraph- apparently when ostrich so a sneak peak of my blog title, he classified it as "porno-graphic". I think, more correctly, it should be considered "pornorganicgraphic" (pr: porn-or-gan-ik-graf-ik).

Enough of my silliness. Ostrich and I both satellited into the FTOPS #1- wish us much luck!

Will report results soon!

Good money and peace,

Lucky C and her sidekick, Ace.

Success right around the corner...

Jon and I have decided to concentrate online for the majority of the rest of the year. Although I made a decision back in Sept not to play online until Jan 08, it is in both our best interests to focus online. That is where my original poker success started, Jon has proven to be an extremely talented and profitable online player.....so its where we continue to build. So around Nov 1, we started with online again. I had $200 on Fulltilt, $175 on stars and a friend owed me $35 on ub.

On Fulltilt, I made a run at $50 sngs and ran my account up to $650. Then Jon played a few multi tables, had a few smallish cashes, and we were up to over $800. And then I lost five $50 sngs in a row, so frustrating. I stopped for the day. The next day, I cashed in 2 out of 5, recovering a bit. And finally, on Sun, I went o for 5 again, cutting my account down to 450, but Jon played a $75 sat for the Sun 750k guar, and won, and then I played a $24 one for shits and giggles, and I won my entry as well. We both went deep. I busted 265 for a $400 profit, and Jon finished around 40ish, for a $1700 profit. Accounts back up!

Yesterday, Jon and I both had another very frustrating day in sngs- both of us lost a bunch, but Jon won his entry to the $300 super sat tonight for FTOPS, which is awesome, and I am goinng to try and rebuild this morning.

I busted on stars- had ran it up to just under $400, and then lost a bunch of sngs and played 3-rebuys which were devastating. Oh well, $175 is not enough to work with anyway. I just got lucky on Tilt to build up that much.

On Ultimatebet, I took $30 from my dad and $25 from my friend, and played two $25 multi tables. I won last night's for $1560, which is so awesome. I annhililated when I had a ton of chips- super aggro. I am trying very hard to change my mind set and become more aggressive and think deeper about hands....difficult when multitabling, but it is very important.

As for everything else, Jon and I are still selling the apartment. I cannot wait to move!

More later,

Good money and peace,

Lucky C and her sidekick, Ace.