You take the good, you take the bad...

Hello all, thanks for stopping by for a quick read. I haven't been playing much lately (babies are a bigger time sink than poker!). I have managed to play a bit more live. I still am doing much better Live vs Online. Today I think I realized why. When I sit in a poker room, I have chips in front of me, just like online. However, the chips at a casino don't seem like real money anymore, at least not until I cash them out. I have finally managed to work my offline roll up enough that if I do take a horrible beat, I have enough to reload a few times. It would take a pretty significant downswing now for me to have to get some money from "the bank" (aka Mrs IF).

Today I went to Argosy again. Took the day off from work to play in their Monday noon event. It has a $100+15 buy in. Since today was my birthday, I gave myself a buy in for a present :) It is a bounty tourney, and you get $20 for each player you eliminate. I have been running well live, and was hoping to take 1-2 down and maybe cash. I am still up in the air about this tourney. You start with 3000 in chips, but the blinds start at 50/100, and 20 minute levels. It's not too bad, you get quite a bit of play for your money. Unfortunately, my luck wasn't with me. I got to play in 3 hands, and should have played in a 4th. First hand of the tourney I'm UTG with 8s8h. I decide to see how this thing will play and raise to 300. One caller. Flop is 5 3 2. I bet out 600, and the caller folds. I'm the table Chip Lead!!!

Second hand that I thought about playing was right after there was an AK vs AA all-in. The AK ended up with 100 chips after. Guy UTG raises to 500, then the AK calls. I looked down one off the button to find KdQd. I think for a few, and muck. The button mucks, the SB calls 500, the BB mucks. Flop is 8 7 4, rainbow. SB checks, UTG checks. Turn is a K. Check check. River is a K. Ick. SB checks to UTG, who bets out 300. SB calls and we see AJ vs J10. All-in has A 9, and AJ takes the pot. Could have had a bounty. Bah.

Few hands later I'm in MP and get AcQh. I raise to 300. Around to the BB, who I had been playing 1/3 NLHE with for about an hour prior to the tourney start. This guy was going all in on the flop with top pair and a flush draw with really really bad kickers. He was down at least 300 in the NLHE game prior to the start of the tourney. He calls. Flop is 9c10cJd. He checks. I bet out 300 as a continuation. He insta-check-raises all in. No hesitation. I put him on Jc with a any kicker (his range is that wide, yes). I saw him make this play twice at the cash game, so I'm pretty sure I have a ton of outs. Any A, K, Q, or 8 gives me either a straight or a better pair. That's 14 outs (unless he is on the flush, but then I have redraw to the nut flush). I think about this one for a while. I go between mucking and calling about 3 times, and then think that I might actually be ahead with the 14 outs. Looking at twodimes.net, if he has Jc 6d I have a 50.8% chance, so if my read at the time was correct, it would be correct to call. If he has J-8 instead, I am about a 60/40 dog, so it is a close decision. I finally decide that to win this, I'm going to have to gamble sooner or later, and I decide sooner is a better choice, as I can try to get into a side game and make the buyin back up. I call. He shows Jc Kh. I lose my Qs (he would have the bigger straight) and one K. I now have 9 outs. Whoops. 10 on the turn, 6 on the river and I have 100 chips left.

Next hand I have Ac8c and call. One caller. Guy who played in my raised 88 pot raises to 1000. Yikes! I'm in trouble here. Folds to the limper who laughs and folds. Guy shows AA. One club on the flop, but there's also the case A. Turn pairs the board and fills up AA. I'm out before the first level ends.

I get on the 1/3 NLHE list again. I played some 3/6 LHE and some 1/3 NLHE prior to the tourney start and ended up -$2. So I have some catching up to do. 5 mins later I get called as they start a new table for the "losers" like me. This table starts out very very tight, as we all just busted out and no one wants to take a beat early. I steal a few pots. I get KK on the button, raise to 15 as there are 3 limpers, and everyone folds. An orbit later I get 88 in the CO with 3 limpers in front. I raise to 10. BB calls, as do the limpers. Flop is Q 7 9. BB immediately bets out 25. Folded to me. I smooth-call, hoping that something hits on the turn that I can bully this guy. I've noticed that he can get pushed off hands when he thinks he's beat. He's got a buddy "sweating" him and looking at his cards. Me and the guy to my right have noticed that he's complaining to this guy about being outdrawn a lot, including in the tourney. Time to see if my tight image can pay off. The turn is a K, and the BB actually winces when it hits. I thought it could be an act, but he immediately trys to cover it up and bets out $25 more and starts giving off a HUGE tell, rubbing his neck. I raise to $50 and go into Chris Fergusen mode, putting my hands to my face and staring at the cards on the board. Guy goes into the tank. He thinks for a good 5 minutes, then calls. River is a 6. He checks. I look at my chips and count out a bet of 50. I'm watching him out of the corner of my eye, and he's starting to count what he has left. I realize I have 35 more if I bet the 50, so I count it all out and then push it all in. He doesn't hesitate to fold and start hemming and hawing with his buddy about how I hit that K and how I'm such a donk for playing AK on that flop. Yada yada yada. I didn't have the K, buddy, and I knew he didn't either. This is one of the best plays I've made in a live game in a while and felt good. I took my read and used his "bad beat" thinking against the guy and scooped a nice $200ish pot. I debated showing the bluff to get some tilt out of the guy and advertise that I can bluff, as well as to loosen up the table a bit, but decided to keep it to myself. I think had I shown it some of my raises later would have given me some action with my KK, AK, and AQ all of which were folded by limpers after I raised PF.

After 2 hours, I was up to $389 from my $200 buyin. I had covered my tourney entry and lunch, so I decided to call it quits early. The table had turned over a bit with people moving to the 2/5 game, and a loose-aggressive guy had moved to my immediate left and was playing back at me pretty hard. I had topped out at around $420, and lost a little back on a 10 8 3 board when my AQ suited missed. Mr LAG showed me the 8 3 off that he had played to my raise and I decided it was time to move on.

I might try to play some more SnGs online, and some less cash games. Look for me on PokerStars or FullTilt as "Illinifan" I'll cya at the tables.