Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Time to Build a Bankroll

As I get ready for the 2010 World Series of Poker I’ve been playing some poker at the local casino, Potowatomi Casino, which is located near downtown Milwaukee. The No Limit Hold ‘em game that they spread there is primarily a $3-$5 game, meaning that the small blind is $3 and the big blind is $5. When a player buys in to the game they can buy in anywhere from $200 - $600, but no more than $600. When I buy in to the game I buy in for $400, so I’m right in the middle of that range. I was trying to keep a “regular” schedule of playing on Tuesdays and Fridays. On Tuesdays they run a poker promotion that usually drew a decent number of players to the room, and Fridays tend to be the busiest night in the poker room. I had a very fortunate run at the casino that ran from about the middle of April to the beginning of June. This, of course, worked out very well for me since I was trying to build my bankroll for going to Las Vegas near the end of June.


I don’t have details from every session, but I can give you some of the highlights of some of the larger hands. I had a session that wasn’t going particularly well for me one night. I was in to my second buy in and only had that $400 in front of me, so I was down about $400. I was in seat 6, and the player in seat 2 was playing at me aggressively because I had shown him a bluff earlier and I think he was trying to “even the score”. In this hand I was dealt 8-8. I had limped, and was able to see the flop cheaply along with 5 other players, including seat 2. The flop came 8-7-4, giving me top set. Normally in this situation I would check the flop and hope for someone to bet, but since seat 2 was in the hand and was raising me almost every time I bet the flop since the “bluff” hand I decided that betting here would also prompt that same response. I led out for $65, and when he repopped it to $155, I moved all in for the remainder of my chips. Seat 2 had me covered (he had approximately $1300 in his own stack). He called almost instantly, which actually startled me momentarily in to thinking that maybe I got unlucky and he was holding 5-6 (which would be a straight), but he was holding 9-6 for an open-ended straight draw. The draw didn’t get there, and I dragged home that pot.


Winning that pot got me just back to the “plus” side, even though I had just over $800 in front of me. I got involved in a very large pot almost immediately after that. In fact, it was only two hands after the hand I just described, which is partially why it’s so shocking. In this hand I was dealt 5-5 and was in early position. I had limped with the hand, and the player in seat 9 made it $20 to go. Seat 9 had been playing very tight. I suspected he might have a large hand, but since it was only another $15 and other players were also calling I also called when it got to me. There ended up being 5 players who saw the flop, including seat 2. The flop came 6-5-2 with two hearts. I had once again flopped a set. This time I decided to check it, figuring that seat 9 would bet and it would give me an opportunity to check-raise him. He only had about $300 in front of him, and since the pot was about $100 already, almost any bet he put out there would pot-commit his stack if he had a big hand like A-A or K-K. Well, the player in seat 8 bet before seat 9 got the opportunity. I had played with seat 8 before. In fact, he was on the losing end of the largest pot I ever won, which I talked about in a prior post. He bet $35. I knew he was just fishing for information with that bet. Well, he got his answers very quickly. Seat 9 raised, making it $125. This is pretty much what I expected, and I suspected he had Aces. I didn’t expect what happened next. Seat 2 reraised, moving all in for approximately $900!! The player between seat 2 and I folded and I looked back to make sure I had the set of 5s I thought I had. I didn’t think long, but I figured if he actually had 3-4 (for the straight), or 6-6 (for a better set) that he wouldn’t have played it like that. I said, “Well, I call.” and moved my $782 in to the middle of the table. Seat 8 folded, and seat 9 was thinking about it for a while, but while he was thinking about it I could hear seat 2 mumbling/whispering, “Oh, wow, he busted me.” I’ll be honest, I was glad to hear that. Seat 9 eventually gave up the hand, stating that he had Aces. Seat 2 turned over the Ah Qh, for a flush draw, so I still had to fade some cards. No heart got there, and now I was raking in a +$1700 pot! I understood what seat 2 was trying to do, but I think he forgot to account for the other players and their stacks when making his move. I think he figured his “all in” declaration was only putting about $300 in play (which would have covered either seat 8 or seat 9). He could have reraised to $300, at which point I would have still moved all in, but he might have been able to throw it away and save almost another $500. He still might have called with his flush draw, but by moving all in he gave himself no option to do that, and as it turned out, I was just fine with that.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

2010 WSOP just around the corner

If you follow the blog you've noticed that I haven't been posting a lot. Well, now that the 2010 World Series of Poker is about to begin that's going to change. I've been working on building the bankroll for the trip, and most of that has come through playing at Milwaukee's own Potowatomi Poker Room, which I refer to as Poto for short. In my last post I discussed a huge hand with which I got involved. Shortly after that hand occurred, I went up to the Wisconsin State Bowling Tournament and tore the MCL in my right knee in an "accident" that occurred while up in the Fox Valley area. Due to the brace that I had to wear and the pain I had in the knee, I took some time off from playing at Poto. I've been out of the brace for about a month now so I've been trying to keep a regular schedule of playing there, and it's been working out for me so far.

I'm almost afraid to discuss it in too much detail, because I've just been on an incredible "heater" down at the poker room and I don't want to jinx it. The bankroll for the WSOP trip is shaping up nicely, and I'm really looking forward to this year's World Series of Poker. This will be the 5th consecutive year that Dan and I have made the trek to Vegas for this poker extravaganza. In our prior trips, we have typically gone out to Vegas for the opening of the World Series. This year due to some scheduling conflicts that wasn't possible so we are heading out near the end of June. I've been looking at the schedule of events, and it looks like we will be out there for all of the following events:

Fri, Jun 25th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event
Event #45: No-Limit Hold’em
Structure Sheet Pre-Register Now

$1,500
Fri, Jun 25th
5:00 PM
3-Day Event
Event #46: Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better
Structure Sheet Pre-Register Now

$5,000
Sat, Jun 26th
12:00 PM
4-Day Event
Event #47: No-Limit Hold’em
Structure Sheet Pre-Register Now

This event may take 4 playing days & 5 calendar days to complete depending on field size.

$1,000
Sat, Jun 26th
5:00 PM
3-Day Event
Event #48: Mixed Event
Structure Sheet Pre-Register Now

$2,500
Sun, Jun 27th
12:00 PM
8-Day Event
WSOP Tournament of Champions
Structure Sheet

freeroll
Mon, Jun 28th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event
Event #49: No-Limit Hold'em
Structure Sheet Pre-Register Now

$1,500
Mon, Jun 28th
5:00 PM
3-Day Event
Event #50: Pot-Limit Omaha
Structure Sheet Pre-Register Now

$5,000
Tue, Jun 29th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event
Event #51: Triple Chance No-Limit Hold’em
Structure Sheet Pre-Register Now

$3,000

Now, our flights are scheduled to return home on the 29th, so I would only get in to an event that started on the 28th or 29th if I had a significant cash in a tournament prior to that, or if I won A LOT in the cash games, but it would have to be A LOT. As it stands right now, I plan to enter Event #45. As the trip nears, I'll talk a little more about the winning streak I've been on which will explain where I'm sitting at on the bankroll situation. All I can say right now is I'm REALLY excited about this year's WSOP! Shuffle up and deal already!