Six-Max Blog Attack

I'm terrible at poker. I used to be kinda good, but now I'm terrible. So, to reverse the slide, I am going to live blog the $30K tonight on Full Tilt. You'd think I would do something like...ohIdontknow...go back and re-tool my game, but NO! I'd rather rely on an old superstition, a method I used way back when when I was regularly cashing and Final Tabling online poker tournaments and you...the fortunate reader...got to travel along on the increasingly scattered and drunken ramblings of your intrepid narrator.

I also want to get that review off the top of the page. But don't tell the ReviewMe people. I'm happy to sell out for a pittance. I just don't want everyone to know about it. Our secret, 'kay?

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7:55 p.m.: This is a $100+9 buy-in double-stack, 6-max tourney (12 min. levels). 409 runners. $40,900 pool. 54 paid.

8:01: Cards in the air. Gotta see more flops in 6-max. Aggression has been a problem, part of the reason I'm playing this 'un.

8:04: Got a very aggressive puppy at the table.

8:07: Gonna publish every 15 minutes to bug you Bloglines folks. Tonight's beverage of choice is Red Hook ESB, also known as Left Hook in your finer beer-drinking circles for its hangover prowess.

8:09: I know I'm supposed to see more flops, but there are three rabid dogs at this table (one of whom appears to be terrible), so I'm just gonna play it cool for a couple levels. I'm also gonna wait for two cards that add up to more than 10.

8:12: I've seen two flops from the blinds, both with K-rag. Both flops came AQx. I'll bet you $100, the flop comes Kxx when I have AQ. Yes, that's my mind set these days.

8:14: Case in point. I open-raise with QJ and get re-raised by the only other tight guy at the table. Am I that obvious? This guy's so tight he checked his second nuts (as last to act) on the river. So I fold.

:8:20: Holding the nuts is good in 6-max, too. Got paid on the turn, not the river.

8:21: AQ. No king, but I totally missed. Continuation bet was called. Trip 4s on the board by the river (check-check on the turn) and I fold when he bets.

8:26: Gotta raise those little pairs, too. BB calls. AQx flop and my continuation bet with 55 is called. Aggro puppy checks the rag turn too and when I fire again, he folds. I'm basically at even. My entire table is, in fact. We're just trading chips back and forth. No bust-outs yet. High of 3700. Low of 2200. I have 3160.

8:32: Guy to my immediate left has called two straight raises from me. Folded when I bet the flop both times. First time I had somethin'. Second time I didn't.

8:34: He's on tilt now. I just flopped trip kings from the BB and got 500 out of him when he hit his ace (T4260).

8:36: Publish.

8:38: AT out-flopped by KJ. Check-raised by aggro-puppy, who shows. No? Really? You had a king? I'd have never thought.

8:40: Must remember that people will raise with A7 in 6-max behind limpers, so AJ is a really good hand.

8:42: Speaking of AJ, I just flopped trip jacks with QJ in the SB. Checked around. I bet half the pot on the potential straight turn and get min. raised. I call. River is a Q and I bet the pot, thinking I just out-drew a straight. Um, AJ actually, who just called, to his credit. T5300

8:47: It's hard to blog during 6-max.

8:49: Boatage! Flopped trip dueces from the BB. Got it all in on the 822 flop (with two spades). Dodged the spade draw, filled up on the river. Deck has been incredibly kind. T7800.

9:01: First break. T8204. 33 of 232 remaining. Ahead of Clonie! Rowr.

9:09: Still only one guy gone from my opening table (courtesy of moi) and I have a stack two times larger than the others. Should exert pressure, yes? Blinds are only 50/100, so the reward is rather small...unless the guy still to my immediate left calls my raise with A6 and folds when I continuation bet.

9:12: I turn the nut flush, but check it. The 4th diamond on the board kills my action, methinks, so I over bet (pot-sized) to make it look sketchy and get called by TPTK, no diamond. T10454. Even at 6-max, $100 buy-in, fancy isn't really necessary.

9:16: Maigrey kicked me out of X-chat. Like 20 minutes ago. I only just realized it. Left Hook kickin' in.

9:26: Ugh. Why is it, when I flop TPTK with AK, someone always catches a set. With dueces. Cost me an extra 1500 to see it, goddamn it. T7870

9:28: Still better than par, but behind Chloe.

9:32: Gettin' rough in here. Deck's hitting others. Those raises with 77 are being called in 2 places and with all overcards, you gotta just abandon it, especially when T9s flops a boat. Goin' the wrong direction. T6450

9:33: On the plus side, my table is action-oriented again. Blinds are still only 80/160. Mucho tiempo, as we say here in Northern Mexico.

9:39: Heh. Suddenly I find myself the shortest stack at the table. Still a viable one, but I liked the situation better 25 minutes ago. We're now listening to "Recipie For Hate," a title I'd like to direct at the dealer.

9:45: The bad news is I've gone card dead. The bad news is my table is full of chip slingers.

9:49: Man. I've totally lost my feeling for the surroundings. Felt very in control there for a bit. Now, I'm not so sure. I might not be the only one. Table has tightened up a bit.

9:56: Made my first "play" of the evening. ATo in the BB and pushed over 4 (yes, 4!) with 6K and took it down.

10:01: Must get to the break. Re-group. And just as I say that I win a pot with bottom pair after a solid rasie/read. So...who knows?

10:08: And I don't make it to the break. Because I got a big pocket pair, the first in a while. And 6-max, I'm going to the wall with JJ. Of course, I ran into QQ. Motherfuck. Somebody tell me how I get away from JJ on a six-high flop in 6max and I'll give you $7.