Poker According to Ammbo

Some Wins Are Just Embarassing!

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 14:26:00 +0000

So I was in a satellite to the 750K tournament on full tilt this morning and wound up at a table with Karina Jett. I chatted about the PartyPoker Million IV where I played with her live as well as with her husband. She actually knew who I was from googling her name and finding my blog. That was cool to be quasi-remembered. She and Chip both seemed quite nice in person. Both of us busted from that one and played the next one. We both won a seat at different tables. Full Tilt keeps the tournament going after the bubble breaks in a satellite so my table became an all in fest. I love all in fests. I got lucky and got to the final table. Some people (including Karina) were still playing tight! I did not understand this, as the tourney was over, we all had seats. It was not until after I won the thing that someone reminded me there was a bounty on Karina. I feel retarded, but it makes for some amusing hand history! Note that my M goes from 4.25 to 78.87 in 10 hands!

---Tournament Summary---
$0 MTT: Finished 1/9 for $0
Data for 13 hands.
You played 11 hands (84.62%)
You raised 7 times preflop (53.85%)
-----Hand 1-----
Hero's M = 4.25
Full Tilt Poker Game #3784410882: Satellite to $750K Guarantee (28384700), Table 1 - 300/600 Ante 75 - No Limit Hold'em - 15:00:46 ET - 2007/10/07
Seat 1: Nocturnick (2,960)
Seat 3: Taz 572 (2,905)
Seat 4: gnff (1,655)
Seat 5: JimNova (15,425)
Seat 6: ammbo (6,375)
Seat 7: vanaus1 (5,930)
Seat 8: ericontilt (1,665)
Seat 9: TexasTee69 (6,445)
All players post the ante 75
gnff posts the small blind of 300
JimNova posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #3
Preflop: ammbo dealt 8 3
ammbo raises to 6,300, and is all in
vanaus1 folds
ericontilt calls 1,590, and is all in
TexasTee69 raises to 6,370, and is all in
Nocturnick folds
Taz 572 folds
gnff calls 1,280, and is all in
JimNova folds
TexasTee69 shows A K
gnff shows J 5
ammbo shows 8 3
ericontilt shows 6 2
Uncalled bet of 70 returned to TexasTee69
Flop: 8 8 7
Turn: 4
River: 2
TexasTee69 shows a pair of Eights
ammbo shows three of a kind, Eights
ammbo wins side pot #2 (9,420) with three of a kind, Eights
ericontilt shows two pair, Eights and Twos
ammbo wins side pot #1 (30) with three of a kind, Eights
gnff shows a pair of Eights
ammbo wins the main pot (7,520) with three of a kind, Eights
gnff stands up
ericontilt stands up
-----Hand 2-----
Hero's M = 12.57
Full Tilt Poker Game #3784415832: Satellite to $750K Guarantee (28384700), Table 1 - 300/600 Ante 75 - No Limit Hold'em - 15:01:22 ET - 2007/10/07
Seat 1: Nocturnick (2,885)
Seat 3: Taz 572 (2,830)
Seat 5: JimNova (14,750)
Seat 6: ammbo (16,970)
Seat 7: vanaus1 (5,855)
Seat 9: TexasTee69 (70)
All players post the ante 75
JimNova posts the small blind of 300
ammbo posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #4
Preflop: ammbo dealt T 4
vanaus1 folds
ammbo: All skill, baby
Nocturnick raises to 2,810, and is all in
TexasTee69: lol
Taz 572 calls 2,755, and is all in
JimNova folds
ammbo calls 2,210
Nocturnick shows J 7
Taz 572 shows J K
ammbo shows T 4
TexasTee69 shows 6 9
Flop: 2 7 5
Turn: 8
River: A
Nocturnick shows a pair of Sevens
ammbo shows Ace Ten high
Nocturnick wins side pot #2 (110) with a pair of Sevens
Taz 572 shows Ace King high
Nocturnick wins side pot #1 (8,590) with a pair of Sevens
TexasTee69 shows a straight, Nine high
TexasTee69 wins the main pot (420) with a straight, Nine high
Taz 572 stands up
-----Hand 3-----
Hero's M = 7.41
Full Tilt Poker Game #3784421239: Satellite to $750K Guarantee (28384700), Table 1 - 400/800 Ante 100 - No Limit Hold'em - 15:02:02 ET - 2007/10/07
Seat 1: Nocturnick (8,700)
Seat 2: menyook (19,286)
Seat 5: JimNova (14,375)
Seat 6: ammbo (14,085)
Seat 8: jakeis1 (2,960)
Seat 9: TexasTee69 (420)
All players post the ante 100
ammbo posts the small blind of 400
vanaus1 posts the big blind of 800
The button is in seat #5
Preflop: ammbo dealt 4 6
TexasTee69: ok
jakeis1 raises to 2,860, and is all in
TexasTee69 calls 320, and is all in
Nocturnick folds
menyook raises to 19,186, and is all in
JimNova calls 14,275, and is all in
ammbo calls 13,585, and is all in
vanaus1 folds
menyook shows K 9
JimNova shows J A
ammbo shows 4 6
jakeis1 shows 2 4
TexasTee69 shows 8 7
Uncalled bet of 4,911 returned to menyook
Flop: 5 6 4
Turn: J
River: K
menyook shows a pair of Kings
JimNova shows a pair of Jacks
menyook wins side pot #3 (580) with a pair of Kings
ammbo shows two pair, Sixes and Fours
ammbo wins side pot #2 (33,375) with two pair, Sixes and Fours
jakeis1 shows a pair of Fours
ammbo wins side pot #1 (10,640) with two pair, Sixes and Fours
TexasTee69 shows a straight, Eight high
TexasTee69 wins the main pot (2,620) with a straight, Eight high
jakeis1 stands up
JimNova stands up
-----Hand 4-----
Hero's M = 18.64
Full Tilt Poker Game #3784435858: Satellite to $750K Guarantee (28384700), Table 3 - 400/800 Ante 100 - No Limit Hold'em - 15:03:49 ET - 2007/10/07
Seat 1: SiKenD04 (26,232)
Seat 2: ammbo (35,415)
Seat 3: Karina Jett (10,772)
Seat 5: vanaus1 (4,380)
Seat 7: Nocturnick (27,360)
Seat 9: warman24 (4,360)
All players post the ante 100
warman24 posts the big blind of 800
The button is in seat #6
Preflop: ammbo dealt T A
ammbo: gl in the 750K, Karina
SiKenD04 folds
ammbo raises to 35,315, and is all in
Karina Jett folds
thebirdman84 folds
vanaus1 calls 4,280, and is all in
Karina Jett: ty same to u
warman24 folds
ammbo shows T A
vanaus1 shows 4 4
Uncalled bet of 31,035 returned to ammbo
Flop: A 7 8
Turn: 6
River: 8
ammbo shows two pair, Aces and Eights
vanaus1 shows two pair, Eights and Fours
ammbo wins the pot (9,960) with two pair, Aces and Eights
vanaus1: final table good karma
vanaus1 stands up
-----Hand 5-----
Hero's M = 22.78
Full Tilt Poker Game #3784439118: Satellite to $750K Guarantee (28384700), Table 3 - 400/800 Ante 100 - No Limit Hold'em - 15:04:13 ET - 2007/10/07
Seat 1: SiKenD04 (26,132)
Seat 2: ammbo (40,995)
Seat 3: Karina Jett (10,672)
Seat 7: Nocturnick (27,360)
Seat 9: warman24 (3,460)
All players post the ante 100
warman24 posts the small blind of 400
SiKenD04 posts the big blind of 800
The button is in seat #8
ammbo: ty
Preflop: ammbo dealt 5 T
ammbo raises to 40,895, and is all in
Karina Jett folds
thebirdman84 folds
Nocturnick folds
warman24 calls 2,960, and is all in
SiKenD04 folds
ammbo shows 5 T
warman24 shows A 7
Uncalled bet of 37,535 returned to ammbo
Flop: 7 3 4
Turn: 9
River: J
ammbo shows Jack Ten high
warman24 shows a pair of Sevens
warman24 wins the pot (8,120) with a pair of Sevens
-----Hand 6-----
Hero's M = 20.85
Full Tilt Poker Game #3784442575: Satellite to $750K Guarantee (28384700), Table 3 - 400/800 Ante 100 - No Limit Hold'em - 15:04:38 ET - 2007/10/07
Seat 1: SiKenD04 (25,232)
Seat 2: ammbo (37,535)
Seat 3: Karina Jett (10,572)
Seat 7: Nocturnick (27,260)
Seat 9: warman24 (8,120)
All players post the ante 100
SiKenD04 posts the small blind of 400
ammbo posts the big blind of 800
The button is in seat #9
Preflop: ammbo dealt T 8
Karina Jett folds
thebirdman84 folds
Nocturnick folds
warman24 raises to 8,020, and is all in
SiKenD04 folds
ammbo calls 7,220
warman24 shows Q K
ammbo shows T 8
Flop: 3 9 6
Turn: T
River: 2
warman24 shows King Queen high
ammbo shows a pair of Tens
ammbo wins the pot (17,040) with a pair of Tens
warman24 stands up
-----Hand 7-----
Hero's M = 27.33
Full Tilt Poker Game #3784445637: Satellite to $750K Guarantee (28384700), Table 3 - 400/800 Ante 100 - No Limit Hold'em - 15:05:00 ET - 2007/10/07
Seat 1: SiKenD04 (24,732)
Seat 2: ammbo (46,455)
Seat 3: Karina Jett (10,472)
Seat 7: Nocturnick (27,160)
All players post the ante 100
ammbo posts the small blind of 400
Karina Jett posts the big blind of 800
The button is in seat #1
Preflop: ammbo dealt 6 6
thebirdman84 folds
Nocturnick folds
SiKenD04 raises to 24,632, and is all in
ammbo raises to 46,355, and is all in
Karina Jett folds
ammbo shows 6 6
SiKenD04 shows J A
Uncalled bet of 21,723 returned to ammbo
Flop: 2 9 3
Turn: 8
River: 5
ammbo shows a pair of Sixes
SiKenD04 shows Ace Jack high
ammbo wins the pot (50,564) with a pair of Sixes
SiKenD04 stands up
-----Hand 8-----
Hero's M = 45.18
Full Tilt Poker Game #3784450373: Satellite to $750K Guarantee (28384700), Table 3 - 400/800 Ante 100 - No Limit Hold'em - 15:05:34 ET - 2007/10/07
Seat 2: ammbo (72,287)
Seat 3: Karina Jett (9,572)
Seat 7: Nocturnick (27,060)
All players post the ante 100
Karina Jett posts the small blind of 400
thebirdman84 posts the big blind of 800
The button is in seat #2
Preflop: ammbo dealt T 8
ammbo: seat
Nocturnick folds
ammbo raises to 72,187, and is all in
Karina Jett folds
thebirdman84 folds
Uncalled bet of 71,387 returned to ammbo
ammbo mucks
ammbo wins the pot (2,400)
-----Hand 9-----
Hero's M = 46.12
Full Tilt Poker Game #3784451686: Satellite to $750K Guarantee (28384700), Table 3 - 400/800 Ante 100 - No Limit Hold'em - 15:05:44 ET - 2007/10/07
Seat 2: ammbo (73,787)
Seat 3: Karina Jett (9,072)
Seat 7: Nocturnick (26,960)
All players post the ante 100
thebirdman84 posts the small blind of 400
Nocturnick posts the big blind of 800
The button is in seat #3
Preflop: ammbo dealt 7 5
ammbo raises to 73,687, and is all in
Karina Jett folds
thebirdman84 folds
Nocturnick folds
Uncalled bet of 72,887 returned to ammbo
ammbo mucks
ammbo wins the pot (2,400)
-----Hand 10-----
Hero's M = 47.05
Full Tilt Poker Game #3784453541: Satellite to $750K Guarantee (28384700), Table 3 - 400/800 Ante 100 - No Limit Hold'em - 15:05:57 ET - 2007/10/07
Seat 2: ammbo (75,287)
Seat 3: Karina Jett (8,972)
Seat 7: Nocturnick (26,060)
All players post the ante 100
Nocturnick posts the small blind of 400
ammbo posts the big blind of 800
The button is in seat #4
Preflop: ammbo dealt 8 5
Karina Jett raises to 8,872, and is all in
thebirdman84 folds
Nocturnick raises to 25,960, and is all in
ammbo calls 25,160
Nocturnick shows K T
ammbo shows 8 5
Karina Jett shows Q Q
Flop: 8 3 8
Turn: 7
River: A
Nocturnick shows a pair of Eights
ammbo shows three of a kind, Eights
ammbo wins the side pot (34,176) with three of a kind, Eights
Karina Jett shows two pair, Queens and Eights
ammbo wins the main pot (27,016) with three of a kind, Eights
Karina Jett stands up
Nocturnick stands up
-----Hand 11-----
Hero's M = 78.87
Full Tilt Poker Game #3784456468: Satellite to $750K Guarantee (28384700), Table 3 - 400/800 Ante 100 - No Limit Hold'em - 15:06:18 ET - 2007/10/07
Seat 2: ammbo (110,419)
All players post the ante 100
ammbo posts the small blind of 400
thebirdman84 posts the big blind of 800
The button is in seat #2
Preflop: ammbo dealt 5 6
ammbo: gl in the main
ammbo: I am trying to bust out!
ammbo raises to 110,319, and is all in
thebirdman84 folds
Uncalled bet of 109,519 returned to ammbo
ammbo mucks
ammbo wins the pot (1,800)
ammbo: lol
4 6 BB (Folded to ammbo.)
J J BB (Folded to ammbo.)

6-Max Tournaments

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 14:20:00 +0000

Lately I have had a lot of success in 6 max tournaments. I took third in the FTP 14K guaranteed last night for $1400 and hit another FT last week. In the last month or so I have opened my game up a lot and have gotten almost recklessly aggressive. I think this new aggression helps me out in 6 max games where I only have 5 other hands to make fold rather than 9. In a full game I inevitably either bluff half my stack off or I get trapped by my opponents. In 6 max I steal so many blinds relative to my opponents that I feel I wind up with a sizable advantage. I also looked over some of my stats for the past 2 months and I found an interesting one. I have 12 final tables and 8 wins. If I make a final table I tend to win. I think a lot of this is because so many players just do not know how to play short handed. They let the blinds and my raises eat them alive. The only real down side to my short handed game is that my stack fluctuates a ton. I won a 90 player SnG at Full Tilt last night and at the final table I went from chip leader to 5/5 and then back to chip leader in about the space of 10 hands. It was crazy, but I just kept stealing even after I got short stacked and my opponents just let me.

I kind of enjoy being a complete LAG!

ITH Convention 2007 Trip Report

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 15:08:00 +0000

It was quite a good trip. I averaged 4 hours of sleep the whole time, so forgive me if I leave out critical details. Here is the gist:

Before:

After:

Piemaster and SteveGriff flew into NYC on Wednesday evening and we all opted to go out for a few pints that evening. I was planning to play the $500 tournament at the Borgata the next day so we only stayed out until 12:30 or so. I thought the tournament started at 8 AM (duh) so we got up at 5 and drove to AC. Of course, the tournament was not until 11 AM so we had to cool our heels. In the tournament I made a few good bluffs but overall failed to take advantage of an early chip lead at my table. I got the lead by nearly tripling up in a raised pot with 63o. I was BB (50) and called an UTG raise from a super aggressive player after 5 others called. The flop was . I checkraised his $500 bet to 2K and got two callers. The turn was the lovely . I checked (bad idea) and it checked around. The river was (action killer) and I value bet 1500. Both called, I assume with AK and a flush.

I made it as far as the dinner break before this hand came up on the last hand before dinner. I had AQ, BB reluctantly called my raise. I c/b on a flop of A44. He bet into me when a T turned and I put him all in. He called with AT and rivered another 10. I had all of dinner to strategize what I would do from UTG with an M of about 2.5. When I got back from dinner I pushed with and ran into KK. That was all she wrote.

I wanted to stay and rail Primitive but he insisted he was a big boy (he is 7ft something, after all). Off I went to the cocktail reception. There I had the pleasure of meeting numerous people for the first time, including Rocket and Wynton, both of whom live in NYC not too far from me.

That night I played the midnight madness tournament, and to be perfectly honest, I remember very little about it. Apparently I busted somewhere in the mid ranks.

The next day I played the limit event. I got a bit crazy at my first table, raising tons of pots and playing against Sami nearly every time he was in a pot. I managed to suck out a few times and build a bit of a stack but got moved and lost all table image. I was out before too long.

In the NL event that day I wound up getting nice and lucky and finishing fourth. Christine (ammboswife) finished third. It is her custom to outlast me in every tournament we enter. She is good. We stayed to rail Pie and Wade as they went HU. Pie finally made an "Oh, screw it I am tired" all in call and Wade took the trophy.

That evening I was quite tired and decided to go to bed early-ish. Christine and I had gone to play nickel slots and get free drinks for an hour or so after the tourney. We went back to the poker room and found a very drunk table of ITHers playing a 2/4 game. Actually, on the way over there we ran into MX at a non-ITH 2/4 table and watched him value raise seven limpers from the BB without looking at his cards. On a flop of he finally looked at his hand, only to find he had and had flopped the nuts. The hand was capped on the flop and the turn and two people paid him off on the river. Insane!

Inspired by MX, I took Nside's offer to play his stack while he tended to a very drunk SuitedPair. I lost a fair bit of his money and decided to play one more hand when he came back. I capped blind from MP, with Ed Miller reraising behind me. The flop came . I looked at my cards only to find I had capped blind with ! The flop was capped and right before the turn card came out, Ed yelled for the queen of clubs. Lo and behold, the hit the turn! This gave me the nut flush draw, a gutshot royal draw, and the nut straight. We capped again. The hit the river and I value bet. Ed folded his two small clubs and Ciaran sighed as he paid me off with . Nice pot, but Nside gave it all back when he got his chair back, the big fish.

In the ITH main event I played a nice aggressive game and trapped both Torch's 55 and SuitedPair's AJs with KK. The joke was on me when SuitedPair hit her ace and I was gone.

That night we decided to play the midnight madness tournament, a $100+20 turbo. 12 minute levels, $120 to buy in, 12K in chips, and starts at 12:12 AM. Oh, and no antes. Big fun! I played my normal tight-but-opportunistic-in-position game and was pretty short most of the time. I open pushed at one point with TT and got called by AJ. When the cards were rolled the girl next to me said she had folded AT. Ugh when the A hit the flop, with a J on the turn and then my miracle ONE OUTER on the river! The blinds were getting crazy so I got a bit crazy, too. Highlights include open pushing from UTG with 22 at a 7 handed table. SB called with QJ and went home. SB limped in my BB and I put him all in with . He called with A7o but I flopped a straight.

Osmosis and I both made it to the final table. I shifted back to fairly tight until the shorties busted. Osmosis lost a lot of chips with AQ and a few hands later pushed 100K at my 40K BB. The SB called all in for about 90K. No brainer. I actually got laughed at by the ITHers railing for looking at my cards before calling. Needless to say, my 94o busted both the SB's AK and Osmosis' AQ. We got to 4 handed and I was refusing to make a deal. 4th place paid $800, first paid $5400, and I had 800K in chips to the next stack's ~400K. No deal. Until, that is, I doubled up one of the shorter stacks when his Q6s made a straight against my K7s (he called all in). That reduced my chip lead and then the blinds went to $40K/$80K. I made a deal, taking $3K and everyone else got about $2.6K. The thing ended at 7AM, the perfect time to buy a few rounds for the rail!

Monday at work was no fun. None whatsoever.

I am really looking forward to the next convention and/or AC meetup!

Little Poker, Lotsa Wins

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 21:11:00 +0000

I guess I should have posted about it, but a few months ago a friend wanted to go to Atlantic City and I said what the heck. I played a $100 tournament, my first poker whatsoever in months. I ended up winning $3000 for first place. Not too bad for a rusty guy! I think that was in March.

Flash forward to this morning. Again, I had not played much poker in the last few months. The dog woke me up early so I played a few tourneys and SnGs. I probably played 8-9 tournaments total and was not doing well. QQ was losing to every hand imaginable. One bright spot in the morning:
Damn! 10,000% ROI is not too bad for a $26 investment. The only reason I had cash online is because I had played a few late WSOP qualifiers (went deep in one, but no love). I hit some monster hands in this tournament and put a lot of bad beats on people (Took my share, too). The worst was flopping two pair with 23s from the BB against a minimum raise. His aces did not hold and I doubled. I also got 3 way action on KK, smooth calling a raise and an all-in, and the original raiser tried to isolate the all-in with AQ. The KK held. I also got 3 way action when I flopped the nuts with QT at the final table. 89 flopped two pair and KJ came along for the ride with just top pair. When it was 3 handed I had one guy playing any two and one guy playing for second. I had over a million chips to their stacks of about 180K. Heads up lasted three hands, as the guy playing for 2nd just started moving all in every hand.

Not a bad day for a rusty ammbo!

Chalk Up Another One.

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Fri, 26 May 2006 01:41:00 +0000

So the run continued into the day. I just chopped another tournament for $2750:
(Click to see full size)

I was the chip leader for the last half of the final table, and I was really on my game. I did nearly lose three handed when I ran into AA, but I came back to regain the lead. When one of my opponents finally busted the shorter stack, he ended up with 8,000 more chips than me, 50.07% of the total chips. As such, he got to set the terms of the deal. He wanted to take $3K and leave me with $2500, but I rejected that. I am not so arrogant to say I am better than him, but I know I am much more experienced heads up, I had excellent reads on him, and I think I would have won outright if we played. As it was, I got $7 less than he did and settled for a technical second place. No big deal.

All said and done, I deposited $500 into Party Poker last night around 10 PM. In less than 24 hours I turned that into $5093. Not bad! It is funny, I played a few $100 and $50 tournaments, but I kept bubbling in them. I made all of my money today in $20 and $30 tournaments. Feels good to have some game left! I think I need a break now.

I love a good $2 Rebuy!

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Thu, 25 May 2006 16:59:00 +0000

***** Hand History for Game 4357695524 *****
NL Texas Hold'em Trny:24043905 Level:4 Blinds(100/200) - Thursday, May 25, 12:55:33 ET 2006
Table Speed Rebuy(707938) Table #23 (Real Money)
Seat 9 is the button
Total number of players : 9
Seat 1: kelthehel ( $54140 )
Seat 2: Hickory ( $5380 )
Seat 3: pearljam1012 ( $3000 )
Seat 4: vikum ( $710 )
Seat 5: yuqinwu80 ( $15490 )
Seat 7: GONETILTIN ( $8690 )
Seat 8: ammbo ( $3000 )
Seat 9: iamkingsosa ( $11840 )
Seat 6: WLIND ( $5850 )
Trny:24043905 Level:4
Blinds(100/200)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to ammbo [ 7s 2d ]
pearljam1012 is all-In [3000]
vikum folds.
yuqinwu80 folds.
WLIND raises [5800].
MizTam has joined the table.
Player MizTam has been moved from table 76 to this table
p.o.
GONETILTIN folds.
ammbo is all-In [3000]
iamkingsosa is all-In [11840]
kelthehel folds.
Hickory is all-In [5180]
WLIND is all-In [50]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 7h, 4h, 5h ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7d ]
** Dealing River ** [ 4s ]
WLIND shows [ Kc, Ks ] two pairs, kings and sevens.
ammbo shows [ 7s, 2d ] a full house, Sevens full of fours.
iamkingsosa shows [ As, 9c ] two pairs, sevens and fours.
Hickory shows [ Qh, Ah ] a flush, ace high.
pearljam1012 shows [ Ts, Qd ] two pairs, sevens and fours.
iamkingsosa wins 5990 chips from side pot #3 with two pairs, sevens and fours.
WLIND wins 940 chips from side pot #2 with two pairs, kings and sevens.
Hickory wins 7140 chips from side pot #1 with a flush, ace high.
ammbo wins 15100 chips from the main pot with a full house, Sevens full of fours.
Re-buy: ammbo re-buys 3000 chips and the chip stack increases from 15100 chips to 18100 chips.
Re-buy: iamkingsosa re-buys 3000 chips and the chip stack increases from 5990 chips to 8990 chips.
Re-buy: pearljam1012 re-buys 3000 chips and the chip stack increases from 0 chips to 3000 chips.

Poker Is Funny Sometimes

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Thu, 25 May 2006 12:34:00 +0000

So due to a big tax bill, a number of other expenses, and poor performance at the table, I cashed out all of my money from Neteller to cover things. I was beginning to wonder if I had lost something in my few months off, as I had only been back a few days and was steadily losing. I decided to keep $500 in Party Poker for the evening and see where I could take it. I ran it down to $280 on a few lousy SnGs and suckouts and finally decided to enter a few multi-table tournaments to stretch my poker dollar. I entered a $33 and a $22 80 and 705 entrants respectively. Results are below:
(Click images to view full size)

A first and a second are not too bad for a guy who is rusty. I made a few mistakes, took a few (horrific) beats, but I came back from a 10 to 1 disadvantage in the first tournament and came from short stack with 5 left to second place in the second tournament. I don't know if I was on or if the poker gods decided to let me hit all of the hands I needed.
One quirky little thing, I folded 88 from the BB to three all ins at the final table of the second place. Had I called with marginal odds (I had plenty of chips), I would have busted the eventual winner. Funny how life works.
Anyway, I have a nice little shot of confidence in my game again. I may play a little more and see how I hold up with my rejuvenated bankroll. Thanks to all who read this and comment. You keep me running.

Weaning Back In

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 10:16:00 +0000

It has been an interesting few months. I have found myself completely disinterested in poker and as such have not been playing since about December, a span of perhaps three months. Prior to that, I had gone to Vegas, cashed in a WPT minor event, and hit Turning Stone where I had a good showing in one of their events. However, I began to simply lose focus, lose interest, and lose money as a result. Poker was not fun so I quit. Rather, I took a hiatus. Over the past week I have been quietly weaning back into it. I started playing a few of the Party Poker 3-Table sit and go tournaments. They now have a $50 level so I play those when they are running and I play the $30 level otherwise. I try to have 4 tournaments running at a time at all times.

The results over the past week are not too bad. In three days I played 27 3-table tournaments and made $822. That is a 70% ROI. Do I still got it or what?

I know that ROI is not sustainable and the sample size is puny and the results are skewed by two first place finishes in the $50 tournaments, yadda yadda... but I cannot help but smile at these results. I feel as though I have not been away at all when I am at the tables. I fall right back into it like riding a bike; I never forget how to do it. I will keep you informed how my little comeback is progressing over the next few weeks. I don't want to go too fast, after all.

I will also try to be more dilligent about updating this site. I know that I am not playing a lot of poker now, but I have missed a few updates about tournaments I played at the WSOP and a few WPT events as well as the ITH convention and a win at Binion's Horseshoe last summer. I might try to compile a few trip reports on them, but they were quite a while ago. We shall see. Until next time, keep your cards down and your stack up.

Lake Tahoe WSOP Circuit Trip Report

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Fri, 13 May 2005 14:02:00 +0000

I barely know where to begin. It has been a long trip! I got to Tahoe on Wednesday night and met up with Matthew at the airport. We headed to the casino to play the next day.

In the first event, a $500 limit event, I played well in my estimation. The only real mistake I made was the last hand I played. The cutoff limped first in and I thought about folding but decided to call with 55 behind him. Then the big stack (who had been playing very tight) raised from the SB. I called and wound up with all of my chips in on a 7 high flop only to see his JJ take me down. It was a terrible play. That hand put me out in 10th, one off of the final table. Ugh. My 10th place finish was still good enough to double my money but I was nevertheless disappointed.

In the second event, a $500 limit event, I got very lucky. I either doubled up or busted a player each time I had AA. One hand was very scary when my opponent turned a set of jacks. Unfortunately for him the jack on the turn gave me the nut flush and he saw no help on the river. I left him with 75 in chip left, and after posting a $50 ante, he was ammboed! I blinded off for a while and finally decided to take a coinflip once we were in the money. My AQ was no good vs. 99 but I will take that hand again any time.

The next day was a $1000 NL event. I think I played very well. I defended my blinds at the right times and I pushed people out of pots at all the right times. Then a hand came up that I will never forget. I posted the hand here, but I think my wife already spilled the beans about the result. In the end I decided to take a shot at a huge pot and was out of the tournament in a flash. My father had stopped by to watch and was amazed that I was out after doing so well. Oh, well... I got some quality time with daddy out of it.

The final event was a $1000 limit event. Again, I truly felt on top of my game and managed to survive a few tough hands to make the final table. I ended up busting in 8th place when my QQ lost to 99's quad nines. I am not upset at that hand in the least, but I am much more upset at the hand I misplayed earlier. I had 99 in the BB and called an MP raise and a button call. The MP raiser checked a ten high flop and the button bet. I just called and the raiser called. He suddenly bet out a Q on the turn and I knew I had messed up so I folded. He said he had AQ (obviously) and the button confessed to having a smaller pair. I was not pleased with that mistake. In the end, however, I would have been all in with my QQ and lost to 9999 so it did not really matter.

Overall, I played some of the best poker I have ever played. I made the money in 3 out of 4 events, made one final table, and only missed the money in the other event due to a "that's poker" type of situation. I also had a great time. I had more fun at the table that I can remember having. I felt incredibly relaxed and at no time did I feel overmatched or intimidated by another player. I cannot wait for my next major event.

Personal note:

Right now I am sitting in a crummy motel in Niagra Falls, NY. I am still not home after travelling all day yesterday. Because of a flight delay I missed the Buffalo to Ithaca bus so my wife came to get me. Since we were so close to Niagra Falls we decided to go have a look. Neither of us had been there since we were kids. We also had a look at the new Casino Niagra, which seems to have quite a nice poker room. Then, on the way home, a deer bolted in front of the car and I ran right into it at about 50 miles per hour. Neither of us were hurt, the airbags did not even deploy, but the deer was killed. I feel awful about it. As a result, our 2004 Toyota Matrix is not drivable. My wife rented a car to head back home in order to take a final while I site here in this crappy hotel waiting for the insurance people to look at the car. FYI, Geico's service rules. The silver lining? I have wireless internet at this $30 per night hotel!

Party Poker Million IV Trip Report

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Wed, 23 Mar 2005 23:57:00 +0000

It has been a tough tournament. Not because the opponents were tough but because the stacks have been up and down. Matthew had a tough first day, running KK into AA and 99 into a KK. His opponent slowplayed both times. As a result, he was out late on day one.

I had a tough time on day one, too. My table draw was great, I had no recognizable faces at my table. However, I could not get much going and found myself slowly sliding down in chips. After losing flush over flush and a few other key hands, I found myself desperate. I had 1500 left on a 500 big blind. I folded A4o to a raise from the button on my blind and had 1000 left with 300 of it in on the SB. It folded to me and I pushed my last paltry chip in with Q5o. The BB called without looking at his hand and showed K8s. I flopped a Q and stayed alive. A few hands later I picked up KK and doubled up again. I picked up JJ a few hands later and flopped a set against KK. Before I knew it, I had 25,500 chips at the end of day one. I was a slightly above average stack with only 270 players left and 180 getting paid.

On day two I got a fantastic table draw. The only Pro was Karina Jett, Chip Jett's wife, and she was short stacked. I was second in chips at this table and the chip leader had only 29,000. I bluffed him from a pot and took the chip lead. For the first two hours at this table I could do no wrong. I ran my 25,000 stack up to about 60,000. I doubled Karina Jett up when she raised all in with K9o and I had to call from the BB with T6o. She was then crippled on the next hand with AJ vs the BB's 53o :). I called the 53o as the winner when I saw the hand. Then our table broke.

I got moved to a table with Chip Jett, the chip leader. He was in my big blind when I had the button and I was not pleased. He had a monster stack and was raising every hand. We made the money when he raised the big blind who was all in. He showed 67s and she showed 56s. Poor girl! We were all now guaranteed $5,000. At this table I had a very aggressive player on my right and two on my immediate left (including Chip). I made a few moves but the blinds were killing me. I finally had that table break up and I was moved to a table full of amateur players. Fantastic! I blinded off a few hands (at a 4000 big blind, that is a lot of stack!). I finally three-bet a player with TT. He flopped two pair with his A5s and I was gone in 92nd place out of 750 players.

I made the second money level for a total of $10,500. Not bad given that it cost me about $600 to qualify for the trip. I was still disappointed that I did not go deeper but I'll take it!
Matthew and I also played a $200 SnG. He took second for $600 and I was the first one out. However, I played another one and won it for $1000. The whole table was drunk, that was a treat! :)

All in all it has been a successful trip for both of us. Matthew and I exchanged 20% stakes in each other so we both leave here with our trips more than paid for. We will be playing the $300 and the $500 side tournaments as well, so I will post my wins there, too. :)

Been a Good Year for Poker...

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Mon, 07 Feb 2005 07:57:00 +0000

I think I have made over $80K at poker this year. Not saying I did not give it all back in one way or another... But I had 20K at once, a 9K score, two 4.5K scores, and numerous 1K-3K scores. PLUS if I add in three trips won online that brings me to almost 80K before counting losses. But wait, ammbo... You said three trips. I only count two in your trip reports, the Party Poker Million III and the PokerStars Caribbean Advanture. What gives? Welllll......

BOOYEAH! (click the pic)

Hitting this bad boy again this year. Hopefully with more success than last year. Still gonna be fun!

Does time really fly that frikkin fast??

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 01:14:00 +0000

So not a lot of poker lately. I completely neglected to bring a few posts over from ITH so I have updated those. Of the poker I have been playing lately I must say I love the PartyPoker 5/10 6 max tables. I have nowhere near enough hands to say if I am beating the game, but I am up 78 BB in 2100 hands. I cannot believe how fishy some of the players are! I played these games once before in my life and had a 2 hour 40 BB session and thought it was a fluke. I guess not. Funny that I crush 2/4 and apparently crush 5/10 shorthanded but I lost my ass at 3/6 full ring. I just don't get it. Dat dere be poker! I am moving my WPT reports over here, check them out. The trip could be called a success. :)

PokerStars WPT Event Side Tournament Report

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Wed, 12 Jan 2005 01:27:00 +0000

My last trip report was on the main event. As you may know by now, I was busted when 'Miami' John Cernuto raised with 22, called my 3x reraise, and cracked my KK. I made it through one day in the tournament and felt good about the way I played throughout.

On Sunday I played a side tournemant. $300 buy in, 131 players. With 1500 starting chips and 30 minute levels I decided to play a little tight and see what happens. Early on I doubled up by limping with A4o from the SB. A weak player who had limped in EP reraised my checkraise on a rainbow flop of A84. I pushed all in and he called with QQ. (!!) This allowed me to coast through a string of rags. I built excellent table image at the table I was moved to by folding every hand for about 5 circuits.

Late in the tournament a player known by the others as "knucklehead" pushed all in to resteal my blind steal. I folded my 33 and he showed me T6o. He was incredibly aggressive. Much later I raised UTG with AKo. He asked for a count on me, saw he had me well covered and pushed in. The BB called immediately and I grudgingly called. Knucklehead has 66, the SB had QQ and I flopped an ace, tripling up. We got into the money which was the final two tables. Then one of the craziest hands I have ever played came up:

The blinds are 400 800 with a 100 ante. I am on the button with . I picked up 7 purple chips and announced "raise to 7000." OOPS! The purple chips were worth $500 each and I had meant to raise to 3500, my standard raise. I was held to the raise I had announced and had to put in 7000 chips. The SB remarked what a big raise it was and he pushed all in for about 10,500. With more than 18,000 in the pot I had to call the additional 3000. Of course he had . The flop came . I felt like an idiot. The turn was the and the river was the . He was gone and I was the chip leader! It was the wildest mistake I have ever made!

At the final table I was about 7th in chips but not far out of first. The shortest stacks doubled up and it looked grim. Finally people began falling out. I picked up QQ and JJ back to back and busted two players. When we were four handed we made a deal that I was not too keen on: $5500 each and play for the last $3500 in the prize pool. I was about even with one player and had about 1/4 more chips than each of the other two. I took the deal because the table was very unpredictable.

After we busted the other two players I found myself HU with none other than knucklehead. He was hyper aggressive and had about 4x the chips I did. I managed to double through him to get the lead and then doubled him up when I had J8o with top pair and he had 69o for the nut straight. It took me a little while but I figured him out. He would move in preflop with junk and try to trap with monsters. I avoided his traps with AA twice (min-bet on the flop after limping in from the SB is a dead giveaway). Finally he pushed on me when I had ATs. His J9o was no good to my nut flush and we were even again. He pushed again with K3o and I called immediately with KTs. I made another nut flush and he was nearly ammboed. He was all in on the blinds for three hands until I got him out.

I made $9000 for my efforts, making it a very profitable trip. I think I would rather be HU against a very aggressive player than a careful player. Once I figured out his betting patterns it was a matter of time befor I let him trap himself.

The trip was amazing. Atlantis Resort is a beautiful place, full of palm trees, exotic marine life exhibits, good restaurants, and waterslides. It was a tad expensive, but the extra $1000 PokerStars chipped in for spending money was not even exceeded. I will definitely try to qualify for this event again next year. Never once did I feel like I was outclassed at the tables even though I may have been. The vacation was great and the poker was even better. See you all there next year!

PokerStars WPT Event Day 2

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 01:26:00 +0000

I was seated at a table with Hoyt Corkins in the 10 seat, I was in the 6 seat. I took his blinds once, that was fun. Kathy Liebert got moved to the 1 seat early on in the first level and paid me a great compliment. She looked at Hoyt then looked at me (I sat on her left yesterday) and said, "Oh great, I picked a great table." Her sarcasm was heavy.

I ran my stack up to 24,000 by busting a short stack. He was the weakest player at my table yesterday so when he defended his blind against me a second time I decided to push on him with . He showed . I turned and rivered two pair and he was gone.

A while later the player on my immediate right made it 2000 to go on a 600 blind. I looked at and reraised him to 6000. He called. The flop was . I pushed my remaining 13,000 into the pot and he called immediately with . He received an additional on the river to seal the deal. I am out.

I have given some thought to that last hand. I wanted action. Taking the pot preflop was not an option. He had shown that he could make loose calls and raises earlier so I felt good about giving a good price to him. My wife said push preflop but I had 21,000. I did not want to overbet and get him out. Oh, well. If I never got sucked out I would win every event.

I will enjoy the sun and hopefully make another one of these trips. I feel like I played great poker and if I can avoid getting unlucky I have a great shot at these things. I will return with an added boost of confidence. Hopefully I will make some cash in the side games to pay for the overpriced food.

PokerStars WPT Event Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Sat, 08 Jan 2005 01:22:00 +0000

The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure got started with about 425 players. The first day was split into two ‘flights’ of ~200 people each. I was assigned to the first flight so I played on Thursday. People in my flight included Greg Raymer, Chris Moneymaker, Hoyt Corkins, John Juanda, Kathy Liebert, Erick Lindgren, David Williams, Tom McEvoy, and more. I also met up with another ITHer, Mets2602. He is a nice guy.

Players were seated alphabetically rather than randomly which I thought was odd. My table was full of internet players who I did not know. It turned out to be one of the toughest tables imaginable. There were few reraises and a relatively tiny number of showdowns the whole time at my table. It was a tight table.

With 10,000 starting chips and 75 minute levels it was no surprise that no one on our table was busted for the first 5 hours. We just passed the same chips around while other tables were accumulating chips and busting players.

I made a little bit of headway early, adding about 1500 to my stack. I had AA once in the first level and won the blinds. I had JJ as well but just called a raise then folded on a K high flop. I blinded down for about an hour and a half to 5200 chips before making a late charge. I ended the day with 15,200 in chips, just about average. Some key hands:
Blinds 25 50: I have in MP. I raise to 175 and a player in the BB reraises me to 350. I call. The flop is . He leads 500 into me. I give a little thought then reraise him to 1500. He immediately folds his kings face up.
Blinds 200 400: I have in the SB. An aggressive player limps first in from the CO. This would be a warning bell but last time he did this he had A9o. The flop is . I have top pair and a gut shot. I lead out 1200, the BB folds and the aggressive players asks how much I have. He puts me all in for my last 4K and I call. He has A4o and I double up.
Blinds 200 400: A few hands later I have . We finally busted a player and he is replaced by Kathy Liebert sitting directly on my right. She raises to 1200 on a 400 blind and I call from the button. The flop is . She leads out and bets 2000. I immediately say “Raise” in an authoritative voice because I had been planning on raising with an ace. When I looked at my chip stack, I realized that a good raise of 3-4K more would commit me. Instead I raised the minimum, 2000 more. Kathy thought for a little while and then said “That was suspicious,” and folded. By sounding tough then making a weak raise because I was short on chips I let her think I had a monster hand. I felt like I accidentally outplayed a pro! The truth is I probably had her beat.

On the whole, I spent the day respecting raises and looking for any opportunity to raise first in to steal blinds. I raised with J4o (and folded to a reraise), 86s (won a nice pot when I hit the 6 vs. QJ from the BB), 55 (folded to a reraise), and 88 (defended my blind and took a nice pot). I had decided to get aggressive and take advantage of tight play but I seemed to run into a lot of monsters. I am thrilled to start day 2 on Saturday with more chips than I started with.

Mets2602 on the other hand… he had been asking me for advice on MTT play. He finished the day at 42,000 in chips, good enough for third! He was also at a table full of pros! He had John Juanda, Erick Lindgren, Steve Zolotow, Alex Brenes and Dewey Tomko… and he crushed them! Way to go, Mets and keep it up!

Another amusing side note; I have met a lot of nice and friendly people. Many of them have screen names that I recognize as aggressive or bully, or weak. It is funny to put a face to the avatar on Stars!

Credit where it is due...

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Sun, 19 Dec 2004 11:49:00 +0000

I was so adrenalized over the WPT win that I forgot to give praise to Mean Gene for pointing out the backdating function that was right in front of my face in blogger. Strange, my other blog does not have that. Maybe it is a template issue. I care not, I am going to the Bahamas!!!

WPT Here I Come! (again)

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Sun, 19 Dec 2004 04:45:00 +0000

Over the last few weeks I have been playing sporadically. I made a few good cashes in some tournaments, nothing over $2000 but still good income. My poker playing has been restricted since I took on a consulting gig at ITH. My obsessive personality has been nit-picking this site to death! As a result I have played maybe 10 hours of poker this week.

But what a ten hours it was! I just finished qualifying for the PokerStars WPT event. The tournament started at 5 PM and I finished at 10:50 PM. There were 193 entrants but with 30 minute levels and 2500 starting chips it was still a grind. I missed the first 20-30 minutes because I was out doing laundry (I know, where are my priorities?). I got back and just sat there for a long while. I got involved in a few hands. I flopped a flush with T8s from LP and overbet the pot. I folded to a raise when a 4th club hit the turn and was at 1400 chips. I doubled up a little later with AK vs. AJ and was sitting well.

A few more key hands:

I have A A UTG on a 200 blind. I limp. Rabscuttle, a player I know to be very solid, raises to 1K. Sweet. I just flat called him after some thought. The flop is T 9 4. I check and he bets 1000, over 1/3 of my remaining stack. I checkraise all in and his QQ is no good.

I have A K on a 200 BB. I raise to 600 from the CO and the SB reraises to 1200. I pop him back another 800 and he flat calls. Crucial information! The flop was 7 4 4. He chacks, I bet 2K, half the pot. He calls. The turn is the 6. Check check. The river is the 6 and he bets 2200 into me. Because he was cautious preflop I have him on TT or JJ. I raised him to 4800 and he called. My flush was good, the HH said he had TT.

I have A K and raise from LP to 2400 (I think the blinds were 800 at this point). The player on my left moved all in for less than 1/3 of my stack. I called him and he showed K Q. I make another nut flush and he is gone. I felt good about the call because he had threatened to do that after I stole a few of his blinds.

I have A A on an 800 blind. There is an UTG raise and I reraise to shut out the loose big stacks, about 5500 in the pot. The flop is J 6 6 . I like this flop as I have Aces up. I bet 3K and he calls. Flush draw is my read. Turn is K. I bet 5K he calls. River is a blank and he puts me all in for another 5500. I call and he shows me K Q. This hand put me in 5th place and I pretty much coasted from there.

The funny thing is that I was not even going to play! I had been playing the $25 rebuy satellites. After winning my first one I just parlayed it into more W$ by unregistering. I lost what I thought was my last $650 satellite last weekend and decided to burn my remaining $33 in W$ in a $3 rebuy. I ended up winning out of 370 people to get one of two more seats. OOPS! So I decided to delay a trip to Chicago and play it out today. Good decision, methinks!

Other than that I have not had a lot of poker going on as I mentioned. Hopefully I will find balance and play more than I have this week.

Content Management??

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Sat, 18 Dec 2004 00:01:00 +0000

I really wish Blogger would let you backdate posts. The real content is now a half a mile below all of these journal entries I migrated from ITH. Oh, well... you can plod through my poker progression as you get to the actual site content, sparse as it may be. I have yet to set up my permanent links, so give me some frikkin time. Again, very little poker managed to squeeze in around my new job. I am completely obsessive so it is occupying all of my mindshare.

Am I still a Pro Poker Player...

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Thu, 16 Dec 2004 23:37:00 +0000

... if I get another job? It is pathetic how little poker I have been playing over the last few weeks. This job maintaining ITH is turning into a full time gig! I spent the day going through my bookmarks looking at other poker blogs. I have not visited some of them in a long time so it was kind of cool to catch up on them. It was, of course, work related this time. I want to get some of them to link to ITH or even review the book. We'll see what kind of response I get. I also asked permission to link to their blogs (I prefer to ask if I don't know the person) so hopefully you folks will have something to read until I get all of my trip reports, etc. moved here from ITH. I promise I will play some poker to report on!

PokerStars WPT Event

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 00:32:00 +0000

So far it has been a waste of time. I have been playing a lot of $25 rebuy qualifiers. I have done quite well, accumulating W$ to apply to the big Saturday qualifiers. I have so far stunk it up in those. My last one was a disaster. I need to learn to fold overpairs. I lost KK to 77 on a 872 rainbow board. I bet the pot (700) and he moved in for 2100. Tough fold that I could not make. I then busted out with KK to an idiot who played 90% of his hands. He limp/reraised with T8s and flopped two pair. Ugh.
I had $33 W$ left last night and I won't have time to play another $650 saturday qualifier so I decided to burn them off in a $3 rebuy. Oops! Rather than burning off my remaining W$ I won one of the two seats in a field of 166 people and only used 9 W$. I had the big stack by a huge margin with 7 players left and just never let up on them. Great. Now I guess I will try to find time to play another satellite or just save the W$ for the WSOP qualifiers.

Welcome to Ammbo.com

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 05:42:00 +0000

I started this site to have a central repository for my poker exploits. You can read about some of my past play at Matthew Hilger's Internet Texas Holdem. I maintain a journal in the forum there. I might add that it is a very good forum and a well run site. ;) I plan on migrating all of the posts on that site here to keep all of this information in one place. I doubt many of you will be too interested in my ramblings but as many blogs tend to be, it is cathartic for me. Who knows, you might learn something and I am sure I can learn a lot from you. Stay tuned!

Los Angeles Trip Report 12/5/04

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Sun, 05 Dec 2004 22:36:00 +0000

I played a $200 tournament at the Bicycle Casino on Saturday. I had the opportunity to meet both Geormiet and niin, both of whom were playing the tournament with me. Both nice guys. I connected with Geo before the tourney and we had a chance to chat for a little while. niin and I were not able to make cell phone contact initially, so I just went and took my seat. The person on my immediate right was vaugely close to niin's description, and sure enough it turned out to be him. Out of 300+ people in the tourney, I was right next to one of the other two ITHers!

The tournament itself was fairly well run. We had 1000 chips to stars and 30 minute levels. The players were bad. I saw a lot of awful play and pegged maybe three people at the table as solid players. The rest were maniacs or weak calling stations. On to the action! Here is a recap of all of the hands I won: ________. That's right. I did not win a single hand. I had a maniac on my left and a calling station on his left. Rotten position. I bet my KQ with top pair and a flush draw into the calling station and she then made a huge bet when an ace turned and I folded. I then raised AQs and the maniac called. I missed and put out a fairly good sized bet and he called. I check/folded the turn. By the time the third level came around, I had 400 chips on a 50 blind. One player who had been quiet suddenly tripled up with AA by moving all in in the dark on two opponents. The next hand I got KK UTG (my first pair) and made it 150 to go. He called. I moved my chips in in the dark and he called on a 589r flop with a set of fives. Bye bye, ammbo.

Overall I had a great time. I met a few friendly ITHers and had a good time with the people at my table. I like to be a chatterbox at the table, but I usually back that up with good play. This time was not to be. I was very disappointed with myself that I made moves on two players I should not be making moves on so early and that my overall performance was so dismal. I have had a bit of a live tournament drought lately and I think I need to examine my live game for holes. I do think I lose a little bit of aggression when I am in a live game vs. online.

Playing Poker for a living 11/22/04

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 22:27:00 +0000

You know you are having a horrible run when your wife looks at you after someone came over the top of your TT with 33 and catches on the turn and says, "I think PokerStars hates you."

I have been chasing the WPT event at PokerStars for a good portion of this week. I tend to take the most horriffic beats at that site. They don't call it riverstars for nothing. I lost my KK to AK on the river. I lost with AA to J9s and he put me all in. I lost KK to A2o, once again he put me all in. There are days where you play great poker and get rewarded by watching terrible moves by terrible players get paid off at your expense. It is one of the most discouraging things you can endure. It has gotten to the point that I expect to lose as a favorite. Perhaps this is a defense mechanism to soften the blow when it happens. I shudder when I see Ax turned over and I am holding KK. I cringe when I see TT against my AA. Anytime they have an out on me, they hit it. Maybe Stars does hate me. I am up a few thousand lifetime on that site, but it is going downhill rather quickly. I still do not want to believe it is rigged, but the pessimism makes me gunshy nevertheless. I may need to take a hiatus from the site, not because it hates me, but it is psychologically taxing to expect bad beats every time.

On a brighter note, I mounted a great comeback on PartyPoker in the $50 Large Caps earlier this week. I cashed $4650 from it and took the profit from the site immediately. A few days before that I learned an expensive lesson about tilt (a $1100 lesson in 3 hours) at the $100 NL tables there. The money from that tournament is now profit. Incidentally, I now have a large sum of money in my Neteller account that needs to get moved. Mr. Tax Advisor will be getting a visit from me soon.

I played four disastrous tournaments today. The 350K on PokerStars ended abruptly when I defended my blind with KJs and I was immediately called by a guy who outchipped me by very little holding KQo. He gave it no thought, he just stuck his chips in. I was mad at myself for the move on a player who was playing loose and mad at him for calling his whole stack. I would like to think a better player would lay that down. He went on to make $3000 in that tournament. Rub it in. I also played the 100K on Paradise. I got some chips early when KJ and KQ called my AK to the river on a king high board. I then folded perhaps 60 hands in a row (no exaggeration) and finally ended up running what was left of my stack into AA with 77. I then played the Aussie Million qualifier on Party. I have never seen such terrible players in a $300 tourney. I lost some chips early but doubled with QQ when J8o called a 4x raise and then crippled himself by calling all in on a J high flop. I wound up running into AA with TT, then folding 55 to an all in from a maniac, then finally pushing with ATs and getting called by 55. He hit quads so that he could feel like he made a brilliant play. I wonder if it is justifiable to get indignant when I get busted out of a tournement by some idiot making a play I would never make. Maybe I need to gamble more with these crazies.

A few changes in my game recently: I refuse to stick all of my money into the middle of a pot with AK unless I have a good read on a bad player. If I get reraised, I am calling to see a flop. I used to be too quick to shove my money into a pot with it preflop, and I lose a lot of coin flips that way. I am also dropping AJ, AT, and KQ from early position. At most tables a call means you are destroyed and you will be in deep fecal matter on the flop. I am also raising small pairs from MP and LP. I am not looking to invite a coin flip, but I think I would rather be on the pair side of things if it comes to that (Except on stars where I will lose the coin flip no matter what side I am on. ). I am also using more position bets and checkraise bluffs from the BB. A nice scary board will chase most people out of the pot with such a move. I am also being more cautious about playing one pair. I have sniffed out a lot of sets when holding TPTK and made some good folds. Two pair is a different story, but I am working on dropping that as needed. I make a lot of money from people who can't fold TPTK or two pair, and I have no intention of giving it back when the roles are reversed.

Overall, I am up well over $5500 this week, including a Final table at one of my favorite tournaments, the $50 Langosta tourney at 3 AM. It was only a few hundred but it was fun to hit a final there, as it has been about 5 times since I monied there. I am up good money this week, but the recent bad luck seems to stay front and center in my mind. I need to put that aside and focus on playing good poker. I refuse to allow these disgusting beats to dull my aggression. Onward and upward, there is a final table in Langosta calling my name!

Playing Poker for a living 11/07/04

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Sun, 07 Nov 2004 22:25:00 +0000

Well... It has been an interesting few weeks. As you may know, I recently won a large sum in the Paradise 100K. I had a run of 4 out of 6 final tables in MTTs and made over $22K in 3 days. Never in my life did I expect such a showing in such a short time.

Since then it has been up and down. I was consistently winning over $300 per day at the $100 NL tables. Then, in one day I gave $500 of it back. It seemed like if my opponents had one out they would hit it. A horrible run. At the end of one day, my wife offered to trade jobs. I read up on human rights violations with regards to prostitution in Thailand, and she played poker. It lasted 20 minutes and she made $60 at the NL table I placed her at. That sparked a nice run where I made about $800 in two days (including today) at the NL tables.

I am finding that I lose aggression over time at the NL ring games. I have been varying my play to be sure that I bring it back. For instance, I would play for a few hours without ever just calling. I would either raise, reraise, or fold on any street. This turned out to be a profitable way to play poker, as I got a lot of remarkable folds. It also tightened me up considerably. If I was not comfortable raising with AJ in MP, I would fold it. In this way, I played only raising hands and a few bluffing hands. I do not, however, think this is an optimum way to play. I think there is a great deal of value in NL to the limping hands in LP; suited connectors, baby pairs, and suited aces.

Another adjustment I have made, especially in NL ring games, is to be very caqreful playing one pair after the flop. Top pair is not as strong as I once thought, depending on your opponent. My pokertracker stats tell me that I have a big negative when I have one pair, so I play it a little more cautiously. Most big pots I lose are with TPTK vs. a set. More folding is in order.

I played the PPM semi finals on Friday. I had terrible cards throughout the tournament and finished in the top 200. I never managed to get my stack to double the starting chips, so I am amazed I made it that far. I did not see AA or KK the entire tournament, 253 hands. In fact, I kept track, and I did not see AA for 670 hands (including the tournamnet), and when I finally did get it I lost $80 to a turned set of queens all in preflop in a NL ring game. I can do without AA, thanks! One interesting thing about this is that I saw AA once in the Paradise 100K, and took the blinds. Never having a hand that you have trouble folding helps a great deal.

Overall, I am up more than $31K in the 11 weeks I have been playing as a pro. This is a great number to hit, but there were a few big tourney wins that mask a lot of tourney losses. A portion of that money has also been split with team Selachian, with whom I still chop some tournaments that we play together.

Overall, It has been an excellent 2 weeks since my last update. I have over 2K hands on many opponents at the $100 NL games, and am very comfortable there. Another $3K added to my PTY bankroll and I may move up to the $200 NL games.

Paradise Poker $100K 10/24/04

noreply@blogger.com (Ammon) — Sun, 24 Oct 2004 21:37:00 +0000

Thank you to everyone who was sweating me.

I had one HELL of a day on Paradise today. First, I had 54% of the chips with 3 people left in the Seahorse tournament when the server crashed. This means an auto-chop and I received 1st place money, $1670. Nice payday? Oh yeah.

Then the 100K. I was an average stack all the way through. Then, with blinds of $400, I moved all in for $2900 from UTG+1 with 77. I got 4 callers!! Flop 246. No bets. Turn J. Uh oh. River 3 and I quadrupled up! I was against AQ, KQ, and A9. this put me 9th in chips with about 100 players left.

Then this hand came up:

I am SB with AdKd. A highly aggressive player raised to 10K, on a 3K BB. I smooth called. The flop was T62 rainbow. I moved all in for another 12K and he immediately called with AKo to split the pot. This is important because...

A few hands later I had 88 in MP. I have 28K. I raise to 7500 on a 3K blind. The same MP calls. The flop is 462 rainbow. I bet 10K, maniac MP raises to 20K. I have 11K left. At this point, I pondered for a long time. I used almost all of the time bank before reraising all in. He called with KcJc and did not improve. I crippled him and gave myself a lot of breathing room. Had he not called immediately with AK unimproved three hands before, I would never have made this call.

Then, on the bubble, I called a raise with TT. Flop was 9 high and I pushed. UTG had A9 and I was 2nd in chips.

I cruised to the final table from that point, then it got interesting. There was a lot of jockeying back and forth. I blew off a lot of chips just calling with second pair and dropped to 6th out of 8 left.

After some terrible play by the big stacks, we were 5 handed and I was the short stack. I called my last 19K with JTo on a 12K blind. the raiser had A4, the flop was KKJ and he did not catch an ace. I was alive!

He busted out soon after. A few hands later, I was once again desperate. We were 4 handed and I had 7K left after folding 52o in the BB to a raise. I called my last 1K on the 6K SB with QhJh. The BB had 9s3s. The flop was 33T. I was 5.3% to win the hand. I caught running jacks to stay alive. Amazing!

Three hands later I was once again SB with AKo and I was now up to 50K in chips. I pushed on the 12K blind. I was called by KJ. YES! Flop is ATxr. I said to my wife, I do not care if I get sucked out, I should have been dead already. Sure enough, the turn was the Qd. Ugh. The river was a beautiful Jc and we split. WOW!

A few hands later I called an all in from the second stack with AcTc. He had been aggressive throughout the tournament and was all in from the SB on my BB every time. He showed K8s and I flopped an ace. He was gone and we were heads up, guaranteeing me $15,000. AMAZING.

My opponent had 400K and I had 150K. He immediately offered me $2K to stop now. I bargained up to 3K and we moved all in with crap. He won and transferred the money a few minutes later.

All said and done, I made over $20,000 today. I am still shellshocked. I cannot really comprehend what just happened. I do not think I have ever played poker as well as I did today, nor have I ever gotten as lucky as I did today. In both tournaments today, I had AA exactly once. I won the blinds. The rest of the day was just playing poker.

My landlord will be happy to know the rent is taken care of this year! Check it out!