Kohl's Poker Blog

Recapping November's Poker

Wow, it's been a while!

Let's start with last night.

We had 10 people, including some friends of Jeff's that came over and were cool guys. My welcome extends to them if they ever wanna come back, it was a pleasure.

The beginning was rather frustrating. I'd end up with big hands out of position, unable to turn a damn thing with them... hands like AQ flopping J-3-6, or my AKo flopping 2-3-4, all in spades. Not much I can do there but fold... so much of my game last night was spent twiddling my thumbs. :X

About an hour and a half into it, I hit a big one 5 or 6-handed: KK. I pushed all in, knowing full well that blinds were gonna be doubled and I had to make a move. I had 3 or 4 callers, which was gravy... but I was definitely worried about the Ace possibility.

To the flop we go, with something like J-3-8 rainbow, probably the best possible flop I could get with KK. I went to the showdown with 2 other players, and my KK held up against JJ, allowing me to quadruple up and knock out another player in the process. We were 4 handed and I had a stack of maybe $12, so I was a decent threat, since my chip count gave me the ability to be patient.

However, I kinda got impatient. James went all-in ahead of me, and I held AJs. I felt that if I were to call, I would be making the right decision; if James was on mid-suited connectors, (which is quite the possibility, especially considering he was chip leader) or anything moderate in value for an all-in (QJ, KJ, A9, etc.) he was a dead dog if he didn't hit a draw.

I watched James place his chips in the center and determined he had a legitimate hand. However, I know James' is pretty much a "gambler", meaning that he's not afraid to put his money on drawing hands... and for James, a drawing hand is a legitimate one. I've also seen him put all of his chips in the center on 27o, so I figured my call was definitely justified, so I moved all mine in.

James turned over 99.
I turned my AJo.

Pretty much a coin flip here.
Flop came 8-10-8. An ace or a jack never hit the turn/river for me, and James took my chips.

Oh well... that one was pretty much justified. James went on to win it all on 4 runners against Nick's JJ. (Atleast I think that's what Nick held) James, someone up there loves you man... you hit draws even when you're not tryin' for 'em :) Congratulations, you've taken some tough losses lately, you deserve it.

As for the two poker nights before that, Rob and I found ourselves heads up on both occasions. I like facing Rob heads up because my reads on him are pretty solid, sometimes down to the two cards he has in his hand.

The first time, I had JTs and he held AJ. He went all-in and I had to call, especially considering JTs is one of the best drawing hands in poker. Unfortunately in this case, I was dominated 2:1.

J came on the flop, and a rag on the turn. The only way I was gonna win was if a 10 came, and well... I drew a miracle (7% odds to win the hand on the river) and made a 10 on the river. Sorry Rob, that money should have been yours; I still feel bad about that one. Pretty ridonkulous. :X

BUT THEN GUESS WHAT, I SUFFER EVEN A WORSE BEAT. (which you can read about in the article below this -- it's quite the heartbreaker indeed) :)

Oh yeah! The other game we played.
Again, I was heads up against Rob, and he pushed me all in (He was 3x my stack). I had to call with Q9s, and he flipped K-10. I lost, and that was at. Nothing else too notable that evening... so that's that.

Overall, I've been pleased with my poker play lately. I haven't been stupid with my play, and I've been tight-aggressive like a should be. I've placed in the money 70% of the time, and placed first 50% of the time. My game's finally starting to come around, and I'd like to thank everyone for helping me out however they have; every hand is a chance to learn something new.

Leave comments if you wish, take it easy everyone!

posted by Kohl @ 5:29 AM