Who Dat?

Let me begin by saying that I'm thrilled that the Saints got it done in the Superbowl tonight. Aside from being a Patriots fan and thus hating the Colts by default (it's impossible to hate Peyton Manning personally though, he's too good and too likable), I have a NO 88 "Shockey" jersey hanging in my closet and God knows the city of New Orleans needed it more.

I only put in around two hours of poker on Sunday. The games were pretty lame post Superbowl, though I guess near the end of my session the fish started getting home from their parties and thus game quality improved. I think yesterday and today accounted for the only back to back days this year thus far where I have run significantly below AIEV on both days. Despite this I booked decent wins, and still felt like I was running ok; AIEV is only one aspect of variance after all. The month of February is off to a solid start, though not as explosive as in January.

Here's my favorite hand from Sunday. Preflop I was isolating a fish whom was running 50/10 or so. My river check was actually a bit of a "not paying enough attention" misclick. Even though the villain was a huge megadonk (75/39), I think typically it's still optimal to just lead fairly large. The fact he overshoved the idiot end of the straight is just crazy fortunate for me (and insanely wtf bad by him). I guess while I'm analyzing I could have easily bet the flop for thinnish value versus this retard, though double checking he did fold to cbets 50% - a pretty marginal difference between cbetting and c/cing.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (8 handed)
saw flop | saw showdown
Button ($84.50)
SB ($100)
BB ($116.90)
UTG ($77.15)
UTG+1 ($140.15)
Hero (MP1) ($111.75)
MP2 ($100)
CO ($155.95)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with 10, A
UTG calls $1, 1 fold, Hero bets $5, 2 folds, Button calls $5, 3 folds

Flop: ($12.50) J, 7, 10 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

Turn: ($12.50) K (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $3, Hero calls $3

River: ($18.50) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $76.50 (All-In), Hero calls $76.50

Total pot: $171.50 | Rake: $3

Results:
Button had 8, 9 (straight, King high).
Hero had 10, A (straight, Ace high).
Outcome: Hero won $168.50

Ronfar3 vs Megadonk, 4 rounds!

I'm still running well, particularly at 200NL. As a result I put together back to back fairly large profit days on Thursday and Friday. Hopefully I can continue the trend Saturday. I suppose some of my perceived "run good" at 200 is actually less about variance and more about table selection, though I can't deny that in 2010 thus far the doomswitch that plagued me throughout much of 2009 has been lifted!

As seen in the "currently playing" section, I've decided to retry Grandia 3 which I abandoned half way through when it was released around two years ago. I absolutely love the Grandia battle system, but the protagonist and leading lady just bugged me so I didn't finish it the first time around. In all, it definitely is a pretty decent game, though not in the same league as Grandia 1 and 2.

The Flames won another game today, putting in a rather dominant effort in Florida. Despite outshooting the Panthers 40-13 the final score was 2-1, and had Florida forwards not missed a couple gifts it could have easily gone either way. The compete level of our new forwards is refreshing, though it's possible after they get more comfortable the work ethic will die.

As per the blog title, on Thursday I ran into a villain against whom I played 4 non trivial pots, including a very large 440+bb pot at 200NL. Villain had been running 80/40 or so, with 20% 3b (and 0% Ft3b, unsurprisingly) over around 80 hands, rebuying at least once. In the final hand you may notice my 3b size is extremely large even given how deep we are. Based on my reads I'm certain it's fine, and he probably would have called $100 or more. Anyway, here are the hands in the order which they occurred:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (8 handed)
saw flop | saw showdown

CO ($200)
Button ($243.05)
Hero (SB) ($200)
BB ($224.30)
UTG ($52.45)
UTG+1 ($82)
MP1 ($74)
MP2 ($70.55)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q, Q
3 folds, MP2 calls $2, CO bets $8, Button calls $8, Hero raises to $30, 3 folds, Button calls $22

Flop: ($72) 3, 5, 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $51, Button raises to $102, Hero raises to $170 (All-In), Button calls $68

Turn: ($412) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($412) 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $412 | Rake: $3

Results:
Button had 8, Q (high card, Queen).
Hero had Q, Q (one pair, Queens).
Outcome: Hero won $409


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (8 handed)
saw flop | saw showdown

UTG ($200)
UTG+1 ($209.05)
MP1 ($263.55)
Hero (MP2) ($403)
CO ($234.50)
Button ($50.45)
SB ($57)
BB ($39.40)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with J, J
2 folds, MP1 bets $14, Hero raises to $42, 4 folds, MP1 calls $28

Flop: ($87) A, 4, 8 (2 players)
MP1 checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($87) A (2 players)
MP1 bets $30, Hero calls $30

River: ($147) 9 (2 players)
MP1 checks, Hero bets $32, MP1 calls $32

Total pot: $211 | Rake: $3

Results:
MP1 mucked 4, 6 (two pair, Aces and fours).
Hero had J, J (two pair, Aces and Jacks).
Outcome: Hero won $208



PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (9 handed)
saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($200)
SB ($200)
BB ($228.50)
Hero (UTG) ($507)
UTG+1 ($234.50)
MP1 ($50.45)
MP2 ($40)
MP3 ($36.40)
CO ($37)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with K, K
Hero bets $8, 7 folds, BB calls $6

Flop: ($17) 10, 9, Q (2 players)
BB bets $34, Hero calls $34

Turn: ($85) 8 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($85) 3 (2 players)
BB bets $186.50 (All-In), Hero folds

Total pot: $85 | Rake: $3

Results:
BB didn't show
Outcome: BB won $82


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (7 handed)
saw flop | saw showdown
MP1 ($224.35)
MP2 ($211.25)
CO ($443.65)
Hero (Button) ($450)
SB ($225.95)
BB ($42.50)
UTG ($38.50)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, A
3 folds, CO bets $16, Hero raises to $66, 2 folds, CO calls $50

Flop: ($135) 9, 3, K (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $99, CO raises to $377.65 (All-In), Hero calls $278.65

Turn: ($890.30) 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($890.30) 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $890.30 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had A, A (two pair, Aces and nines).
CO had Q, K (two pair, Kings and nines).
Outcome: Hero won $887.30

Taking $714.65 off a single megadonk isn't too shabby.