File this under: image matters!

It's possible I'm a Diva and just don't know it!

If you know me in real life, you'd know that how I physically project myself (i.e. clothes, appearance, etc.) is really not a concern of mine.  I keep to a strict workout regiment, I eat [what I consider] well, and wear clothes that I consider comfortable and feel good.  I do it all for myself, not anyone else - because it all feels good to me.  As a happy side effect, I look good (as I imagine) for my wife - even though she and my kids make fun of my man "tiddies."  Whatevs... like I said, I do it for no one else but myself, and objectively, I think I look good for a close-to-50-year-old!

That said, image does matter at the poker table.  Everything said and every action completed leads your opponents to complete a story about you.  As evidenced, may I present to you today's hand analysis:

First, if you sign up for ClubsPoker, you can view the hand rather than relying on my mediocre retelling.  Use the referral link provided if you're able to do so.

The hand in question is linked here.

A bit of background- I've been ramming & jamming at the table.  As I see it, I have a very aggro image, and I've taken down more than my fair share of pots by opening and cbetting, while not really showing down (I think I may have shown a nutty / close to nuts hand in probably about 30-40 hands).

This hand comes from the $0.50 / $0.25 tables.

Effective stacks are $70.39 (prior to my posting the BB).

Folds around to BTN who limps and I check the option with 5c7h.  You can probably already anticipate where this is going...

$1.25 pot.  Flops come magic for me: Qc7d7c - trips for me... and personally, I'd prefer to lead here.  Combined with my image, I think I'd get action - or at minimum suspicion - but there's not a whole ton my opponent hits here in their limping range.  I think my best approach is to check the flop to put it on my opponent and feel them out.  Therefore, I check the flop - they surprisingly lead full pot $1.25.

To me, these guys at this stake are fairly passive - so a full pot bet says my opponent has something almost guaranteed.  I'm near certain they're going to commit a ton of money - and I want to get lots of money into the middle.  Perfect time for a "small" check / raise, no?  I raise to $5.00 and they immediately snap call.

$11.25 pot.  Turn is a lovely 5h, and despite the completed boat, I *DO NOT* want to slow down when I have a fish on the hook.  Mindful not to blow my opponent out of the water (I think pot or more than pot would really have them questioning, but 2/3 pot seems to be about appropriate), I lead for $7.50 and again, my opponent snaps.  My target ranges are Qx and 2 clubs - perhaps an over to the board + 2 clubs (i.e. AcXc or KcXc) but more likely Qx given the lead.  Again, passive play at these stakes - I think the population of players checks through a flush draw.  So, $7.50 - and I get a snap.

$26.25 pot.  Now here's where I have to think.  I want to get value from all the Qx that has called thus far.  I'm pretty certain that since the flush didn't get there, this is an opponent who will check through all missed draws, and likely get to a free showdown (i.e. not bet riv) with a Qx.  I want neither scenario to occur - therefore I want to bet rather than try for the check / raise river.  My risk analysis is as follows: I can get stacks in the middle ($57.39 behind at this point) at a 5-10% chance my opponent leads riv and calls the stack off (not a bluff), giving me $57 * 10% = $5.7 + 5% chance of lead / fold (bluff) $~20 * 5% = $0.40 --> $5.7 + $.4 = $6.1 cumulative factored earnings, vs. [call it] 70% chance of calling a % pot bet + 0% chance of calling a flush draw and shutting down the possibility of the bluff riv: the maths are $~20 bet * 70% = $14 but I need to subtract for the bluff ($20 * 5% above) $.4 --> $13.6 in earnings.  Therefore, to me, betting / leading is my most profitable solution.  Looking back, I think I should have clicked $20 instead of what I actually bet - but I have the benefit of 20/20 hindsight in the above calculations.

In real life, I lead for a near full pot - wow - and I guess that's the point of this title: "image matters."  I lead for $25 and get snapped immediately - which makes me think in retrospect that I could've gotten away with an open shove of $57!  Perhaps I need to revisit my calculations?

I'm shown AdQs - wowowowowowowow How the heck do you limp that on the BTN?!?!?!??!?  I take down a pot of $73.25.  Again... image matters!

When is a bluff not a bluff?

When it's the winner, of course!  Silly goose!

I'm going to cease the caveat / apology that I have no way of reconstructing the hand in a standardized way.  I'll share the hand history with you, of course, but you need to sign up for an account in order to view it.  Use my link at the side if you're able to give me a referral :-).

Now for the good times!

Some background: I have no idea what this player is doing.  He's relatively new to the table.

.05/.10 poker - moderately deep-stacked with $19.61 effective.

Folds around to me in the cutoff and I look down at 9d9h.  I open a standard 3x ($0.30).  SB 3bets to $1.20...  now, given that he's a new-ish player, I'm not going to give a 3bet automatic respect.  He's seen me play a bit, so he realizes I'm pretty aggro - so this could be a possible play at shutting me down.  He has $30.91 behind.  BB folds & I flat, opting to avoid getting it in for 200BB.  Take a flop; why not?

$2.50 in the pot - flop comes JhAsJd and he immediately leads for $0.60(????)  I call - and I'm probably in call down mode if he's giving me a cheap check/down.

$3.70 in the pot - turn is 5h putting out a 2 heart flush draw potential, but otherwise should be inconsequential.  He checks and I happily check through.

$3.70 in the pot - river is a 3d, again a blank.  He checks for the 2nd time.  By this point, he can have Ax (not real likely because he effectively shut down on the flop (6x into 25x is not a very solid bet) and checked down...  The concern is that he has an Ax that's afraid of trip Jacks, or an Ax that's afraid of a better Ax.  There's always the lingering Jx concern, but I'm giving that a very small possibility given how the hand is going down.  Finally, I think there's a lot of 88-KK in his PF 3bet range.

Perhaps I'm over-thinking it...  However, that's what I'm targeting - the 88-KK (obviously not JJ) hands.  I want a bet sizing that feels value-ish and by no means screams "fold fold fold," because I want him believing my Ax (more likely that I have an Ace from his perspective) is going for value.  I select around 1/2 - 2/3 at $2.45 and get snapped off - surely a goner!  But no, he shows Kc9c(?!?!?!?!?!)  Nice $8.17 scoop!

Again, when is a bluff not a bluff?

Hand history (must be logged in)

Create a new account at ClubsPoker with my rerfe
ral!

When deep-stacked, you need to nut the hell up!

I'd argue at normal stacks (~100BB), it's a cooler to get set over set.  However, when you're deep-stacked, you need to be super careful with non-nuts, and be sure you have the correct read before stacking off 300BB!

Sitting at a deep-stacked $0.05/0.10 table.  I have 500BB / $50.  UTG+1 limps, HJ opens to 4x with a $10 stack, and I flat my 7h7c.  BTN ($12.81) comes along, as does SB ($28.06) and BB ($28.01).  Pot size: $2.10

Flop comes pretty decent 6hJd7s -- no real scare draws other than the open enders on top and bottom.  This was a raised pot, so I'm not hugely worried about 89/T9 or 54, but I am mildly concerned about the HJ holding JJ...  He has 100BB effective; if I'm set over set, so be it...

Original raiser leads for $1.05; I flat as does the SB and BB.  Pot size: $6.30

Turn is a 2s, putting 6hJd7s2s out there, and now I need to pump money into the pot given SB & BB flatted the open - they could be drawing, and I want to charge them for their pairs if they have them.  2s turn is a very blank card, though it does put out an unlikely flush draw to a JsXs or 6sXs hand.  Again, more reason to inflate the pot.  However, SB leads out for half pot, $3.15 ($23.86 behind), folding out BB.  Original raiser flats and I raise to $14.75 in a now ballooning pot of  $12.60.  I want the money in and I don't believe either of them have me beat with my mid set.  Pretty sure SB would have 3bet PF, and original raiser would have shipped with $5.40 behind after his flat.

To my surprise... well can't say I'm entirely surprised... the SB ships $27.01 which folds out the HJ and I snap it off to see a turned set of 2d2h...  Poor choices led to worse results, as in he should have folded out on the flop instead of lingering with essentially 2 cards better than Ace high, and he ships it with one out and one card to go.

River is a Jh if it's of any consequence, and I scoop a $63.47 pot.

If you want to see the replay, sign up at ClubsPoker with my referral link (they give you a free $0.50 / day)and view the following:

https://play.clubspoker.com/d/external-table.html?tableId=756002&entryId=0&secondary=true&gameId=13631961&appMode=replay&useLobbyHands=false

Some of the time you have a horseshoe up your ass, some of the time you are the horseshoe

Today's miracle is a "fairly standard" hand ending in a straight flush.  I wish I could have a written hand history instead of the viewer.

I'm in the SB at .05/.1 on a deepstack table with $117.92.  Folds around to middle position with $23.04 who opens to $0.3 (3x) and gets called by the HJ.  BTN who previously posted, folds.  I opt to call the mighty Js9s and BB folds.

Goes 3 way to a bingo flop of 2sTsKs and I opt to check.  Without fail, original raiser leads for $0.83 (75% pot?) into the $1.1 pot.

I feel as though this is a reasonably strong bet - He's either got a naked As, AsKx, AsQx, AsJx, AsTx, etc.. or QsJx (I have the Js, don't forget).  There's a TON of combos that he has here that can withstand a check/raise, and given how deep we are, I'm going to juice the pot if I'm going to get the 230BBs into the middle.

I go for a smallish c/r to $2.55 and he snaps.  At this point, I'm almost 100% certain he has the As and some combo rather than a naked As.  I guess I'm forgetting that he can also show up with AsAx, and I guess sets of KK, TT, so there's another several combos.  Pot size: $6.20

Turn card hits him even more perfectly for his range - Qc.  Given my c/r flop, I press for $4 into the $6.20 pot, setting up a close to pot sized all in effective.  He snaps off the $4, leaving him with $16.49 and the pot with $14.20.

The river is a beautiful Qs, which gives him the nut flush and/or a boat and/or an unlikely quads (there's a bad beat on the site, so this would be really great!).  I'm worried if I lead, he'll simply call behind given the strength I've shown, PLUS I want him to commit himself with whatever hand he may have... even if he has AxJx without the As, though I'm extremely confident he's far stronger than a straight.

As planned, he leads into the 2sTsKsQcQs pot with $5.30 - lighter than I hoped, but still enough to commit.  I c/r to $17 and he snaps it off with AsJd.

Like I said, sometimes the you have the horseshoe, other times you are the horseshoe!

If you want to see the replay, sign up at ClubsPoker with my referral link (they give you a free $0.50 / day)and view the following:

https://play.clubspoker.com/d/external-table.html?tableId=756003&entryId=0&secondary=true&gameId=13989201&appMode=replay&useLobbyHands=false

Wow, this blog has gotten stale!

 Checking in for my once-every-two years post!  I don't even know if I'm writing to anyone, so if you're out there, leave a comment!

I've been playing significantly on Global Poker, but lately moving my play over to ClubsPoker, as well as some remaining play with SwC (Seals with Clubs).  Nice thing about both Clubs and SwC are the players are woefully bad -- not that Global doesn't have its share of terrible players.  However, it seems as though Clubs and SwC have true mouth breathers.

Problem with Clubs and Seals is they lack the traffic to really multi-table.  So what I've been doing is spreading my play between multiple sites to compensate for the traffic on a particular site; it's painful with Seals, but Clubs and Global are similar enough that I can size the windows and get around 8-10 tables going at a time.

I've been all but non-existent on BetOnline; I use them primarily as a sports book when my teams are in season, but my bets are sized between $1 - 10... not very much!

Summary of play: tight is right.  I can open loosely from all positions, but click fold to a 3bet or pound away when I have the hand or my opponent is 3betting wide.  Standard stuff.  It seems like the players are far looser on the sites above - playing ATC - so you need to be aware that every once in awhile, they'll surprise you with 42o when you've 3bet the pot with AK and the flop comes 44 K or 44 A.  Again, pretty standard.  I think the biggest key for all the play across those sites is, "be willing to fold any hand at any time!"

'nuf said.  I'll try to start posting more regularly.

The 'ole Zeebo trick

 File this one under "they never fold a full house," boys...

Admittedly, I shouldn't be arrogant about it, but this guy was just to big of a fish to not shove my quads on him.  However, the story goes as follows:

6-max $10NL, folds around to the fish BTN who decides to limp.  SB folds to me and I raise to $0.65, which the fish, as fish are known to do, calls.

Flop comes a beautiful AA9 rainbow.  Now, it's unlikely the fish is trapping, but it's even more unlikely he connected with this flop.  Therefore I opt to check, and it checks through.

Turn is a Kh putting a 2flush on the board.  I have to start getting some value for the hand, and he's not likely to pay off any hands unless he has a worse Ace (unlikely given that it'll be the case Ace, or the flop check will get him to pay off his Kx hands).  I delay cbet $0.95 into $1.55 and he snap calls.

River is the most beautiful Ac, giving me quads - the only better card would have been a random Kx or 9x in retrospect.  However, with quads, against this guy, I'm not just potting it and calling it a day...  no... this guy has a boat and he'll pay off.  Therefore I ship $8.30 into $3.45 and he pauses for a good 20 seconds before making the call and doubling me up.

Zeebo.  It's good.

The worst hand history replayer!

 Hello all [or whomever peruses this site after several years of absence]!  Been a long time - been playing on Global and BetOnline.  Moreso BetOnline of late because it allows HUDs and I was running in place with the HUD-less Global.  Not to say that there's no money to be made at that site; there definitely is!  It just takes far more concentration.

Hand of the day is nothing really of consequence but more of a brag post of the villain spazzing out:

Not sure if you can see it, but I steal from the HJ with the powerful 52s.  My opponent, who's been very verbal in the chat box, decides to 3bet me to 10BB.  Mind you we're around 200BB to start the hand so we're pretty deep...  SB & BB fold and I decide to flat and take a flop.  Pretty easy hand to get away from if I miss.  If I hit, I'm looking at knocking it out of the park given how big he talks in chat and his prior hands - he's complaining particularly about my lack of hand quality that shows down and wins (i.e. QT vs. his T8s, or his witnessed turned set of mine vs. my opponent's overpair...)  He's seeing what he perceives as generally fishy play and in his mind he confirms it as he dumps his stack to me...

Anyway, back to the hand: I of course flop magic (would I be posting a folded 3bet pot on the flop otherwise :-) ???).  I lead given his strong-ish 3bet and he decides to jack me to all in (WTF????  Couldn't you accomplish the same thing by just raising a normal amount and deciding from there???).  Needless to say, by the end of the hand, all he's left with is and empty stack while muttering to himself...  At least he'll have a good story!

Continued adjustments

I'm playing a lot of volume online once again.  I'm continuing to play 6max, and playing between 6-7 tables.  The timer on Global Poker is so short that I can't think and move my mouse fast enough to keep up without timing out...  At any rate, I've made quite a few adjustments lately in lieu of seeing the garbage that I get called by.  My thought process is that I've been allowing my fish opponents too much leeway and they can correctly call a lot more the longer their stacks are.

1. My open sizes when I have limps in the pot has been amped up.  I'm opening .65 for one limper + .1 for each additional limper.  This shortens stack depths significantly and forces my opponents who are looking to limp call into making very large mistakes.  Getting the stack depth down to a 10:1 call instead of 15: or 20:1 is a big change and makes the flopped pots much much larger.  It also makes my mistakes (i.e. shoving AK high into a 7 high board) much more palatable.  To my opponents, in those instances, I look like a huge fish even though they're the ones calling off after limp calling 73o for example.
2. My 3bet sizing is MUCH larger - with very short stacks afterwards.  A typical open to .3 from my opponent will be met with a response of 1.35 or even 1.45.  An open plus a cold call will get an even bigger 3bet.  I realized my opponents are calling very large 3bets PF, and my 3bet range is usually WAY ahead of their open range.  It's such strange behavior; I've seen some players play a short stack of $4, open and call $1.25 only to fold a fairly innocuous flop.  Seriously?  FWIW, 4bets will go half stacks.
3. Keep my opens smaller.  It makes me look like I'm in a TON of pots when I'm constantly opening for .3 - which is pretty true.  My opening range is roughly 50/50 their limping range.  If I open, I can usually pick up the pot with a cbet when they miss, frequently when I'm up against a hand that dominates me because we'll both have missed.  As an aside, I believe that I get so many callers when I've opened a pot because they think that I'm over the top aggro and playing too many hands.  Ironically, they're play 74s or 92s or 76o...
4. Fold out my opens when getting 3bet.  Obviously this is hand dependent, but .3 is sorta a "suck me" bet as an open.  If I'm getting 3bet, the vast majority of the time I'm beat because this player pool is so weak passive.  They're generally not 3betting air though I've caught quite a few who ship it with T9s, etc.
5. Stealing for .5 when I have a very loose caller in the blinds.  The more likely my opponent is to defend at any cost and c/f flops, I'm upping my open sizing to .5.  Simple cbets will get them to c/f flops.
6. Out of position opens are always .75 for one limper and +.1 for each additional limper.  If I'm opening out of position (e.g. the blinds) then they're going to pay for it.

It's just such a wild wild west rodeo out there...  One of my poker buddies put it succinctly: they're playing "street poker" where it doesn't matter the cards they're holding...

Second post of the year!  Don't call it a comeback!

Anybody out there?

It's been nearly 2 1/2 years since the last post!  Holy crap!  Let's see, in that time, there's been a lot of world events and craziness!  There's also been a ton of personal events - which I'll try to detail.

1. My son is applying to colleges & starts in the fall of 2022!  He's applied to several schools with the goal of majoring in Computer Science, just like his dad!  UPenn, Georgia Tech, University Of Maryland, University of Virginia and Carnegie Mellon are the focus; our collective fingers are crossed that he gets into at least one!
2. Last post I reported that I was considering purchasing properties with the goal of becoming a landlord.  During the core of the pandemic, we got our opportunity and purchased several properties: two 1 bedroom apartments and a 2 floor condo.  I had the wherewithal to foresee the looming inflation cycle that we're currently going through, so I took on lots of debt to complete the purchases.  Now, of course, I look like a genius; fixed low-interest debt with current and future dollars that are becoming cheaper and cheaper to repay the cheap debt!  I would have liked to purchase more properties but nothing really suited me as far as cost vs. rental return.  Plus, I got tapped out pretty quick purchasing 3 properties in short of a 12 month span.
3. My father died a few months prior to the pandemic start.  Not a bad thing.
4. My kids are doing really well academically and socially.  They have the normal anxieties of teenagers, but seem well adjusted though the pandemic definitely took its toll on all of our mental health.  I think we all came out stronger.

So poker: I'm not playing live whatsoever.  I stopped playing with the pandemic, and started again a few months after I was vaccinated, but the delta variant started up and I weighed the value of exposing myself to COVID (I assumed, poorly or not, that the majority of poker players around here lead somewhat unhealthy lifestyles and do not exercise prudent precautions to reduce exposure / evidenced by the fact that I was very much in the minority by continuing to wear a mask at the tables).  Therefore, I stopped live play altogether - and have since moved my game to 100% online.

I've had a lot of success with Global; not only have I improved my game, but also I've learned to become less reliant on a HUD.  I've been fairly diligent about note-taking, watching ranges, and looking for strange behaviors.  I can 6-table at 6max, and find the games to be reasonably soft.  Most importantly, it's fun playing there because my aggression factor is way off the charts compared to the norm.  Most of the players don't know how to handle it, and I find that they default to a check / fold position unless they hit their pair / set / hand, making the game a pretty straightforward endeavor.

Hopefully [no promises], I'll write another entry on the things I've picked up during my current online stint.  To be sure, it hasn't been a smooth or easy road, but the future looks bright and it's only getting better!  Anyway, if I don't post before the holidays, Merry Christmas, Kwanza and [a belated] Happy Chanukah!  Also Happy New Year!

Considering real estate investment [non-poker]

Still playing online and live, though not nearly with the frequency I once did.  Funny how life gets in the way.

As careers progress and wealth gets accumulated, I find that I'm looking for new ways to diversify my holdings.  From my 401(k), 529 and other side cash investments (mutual funds, bitcoin), I think I'm flush with exposure to the stock market.  Unfortunately (really, fortunately - it's a good problem to have), there is still continuing excess cash flow.  I've been discussing available opportunities with my brother in law, and concluded that we should purchase a property with the intent of becoming landlords via a partnership.

Combined, we have around $100,000 of available capital to deploy (that's the rough number he and I feel comfortable using), and I'm not 100% convinced that real estate is the way to go, but it seems to be the most obvious and easy choice.  The idea is that we purchase a property, start a positive cash flow stream, escrow the cash flow and in a few years, purchase another property while also paying off the first one on the backs of the renters.  Pretty simple.

I'm sure more than a few of my readers have or are finding themselves in similar situations - albeit likely with even more capital.  What are you doing with that cash besides plowing it into the stock market or a high yield savings account?  I'm plumb out of ideas...

Thoughts are:

• A franchise (which requires a TON of time)
• Commercial real estate (which I lack education)
• Beach house summer rental (lower cash flow, but allows our families to use it in the off season)
• REIT / Real Estate Investment Trust (no control over what the REIT does AND also puts more money into the stock market)

Donkin' around on Global Poker

I've been starting to play a bit of online poker lately.  Over the past week, I've run into 2 fun little hands:

It's been a fun going so far.  At the current moment, I have no interest in ramping up my playing to anywhere near levels I was doing pre- Black Friday.

I hope all is well [if there are any remaining] blog subscribers.  Things within the blogosphere have certainly changed; the wold seems to have strongly moved to vlogging.  Oh well.

If you're going to lose a hand, do it spectacularly!

Poker has been terrible for me this year.  I say that tongue in cheek; I've played little more than 5 sessions - if that much.  I've been working a lot lately, going back through last year and, in fact, my overall poker sessions are way down against my prior year(s) averages.  Therefore, I supposed I'm being quite myopic in my overall outlook because of limited data points.  As it stands, I'm in the hole for a couple of buy ins, a situation I'm not accustomed to.  I realize that it's an ego thing and I'm probably being too pessimistic since there are 9 months remaining in the year, but I worry that I'll not be able to catch up on the deficit given the rate I'm playing.  I hate being in deficit territory!

Further increasing my deficit, telling for the title of the post, I'm here in Melbourne, Florida, for work.  As usual, I try to get a feel for the local poker scene, and had an opportunity to play for 2 hours last night at Club 52 @ Melbourne Greyhound Park.

After an up and down ride, I find myself sitting on my original buy in (~$200) - it's a 1/2 game.  After a couple of limps, I raise to $12 with TT.  2 players call as do the original 2 limps.  We see a 5-way flop of T 9 7 rainbow it gets checked to me.  I want players in the pot, and it's very likely I'll get action from this kind of flop.  I'm targeting hands like QJ, Tx, random 8's, random J's, etc.  This board hits a lot of 4 other player's ranges, and a bet with a vulnerable "nut" top set hand requires a bet.  I lead for $35, wanting to keep in the more likely gut shot J's and open enders.  Much to my chagrin, it folds around to the one aggro player who's been hitting the cards like a fiend.  He check raises me to $80 or so.  I'm never letting this go, and the way he's been going, I don't doubt he has a nut-like hand or monster draw (pair and straight draw, overs and straight draw, set, etc.).  I don't want a card on the turn / river discouraging further action from him or me, so I opt to get it in right there on the flop - I shove for ~$180.  He snap calls and immediately flips over 99 for a flopped mid set.  Before I can even flip my hand over, the dealer puts out a 9, his one out, completing quads for him!  This is now the second time in Florida (and the second time in live poker) that I've been one-outted (in 2014 at the Hard Rock / Tampa, I flopped a set of K's over a set of 8's and he also turned quads).  That ended my session on a sour note, further pushing me into loss territory for the year.

Side note: as it so happens, a few of the first round games of the NCAA basketball tournament are going to be played in Jacksonville - a 2 hour drive from here.  As a University of Maryland alum, I love to watch the Terps play, but haven't yet had an opportunity to watch a tournament game up close & personal.  Therefore, I'm extending my trip to drive up to Jacksonville to watch the Terps hopefully win its first round game and move on to the round of 32!  Maybe I'll be able to hit bestbet Jacksonville again?