OK, I guess I should update while sober... right?

Styles here. All those who read this blog are probably under the impression that the Hats were all killed in a horrible grease fire of some sort. But we're still here plugging away. There's a couple of things to report on, so I'll get into it!

MELBOURNE:

In early March Benny, Matty, Shandog, Phil and I all embarked on a journey to Melbourne for three things: Drinking, Poker, and Comedy. And not necessarily in that order.

The first night we decided to get drunk and see whatever comedy shows we could. But first we had to have our dinner in a cafe/diner in Swanston street, near the Hi Fi bar. We were pretty drunk and as this video shows, we found the jukebox to be a fine entertainment source:



That night I also went to Crown Casino for the first time, and of course, loved it in my drunken state.. I popped all the money in my wallet ($135) onto a $2/$3 table and started playing, a bit hazy because obv I was drunk and just having a good time in Melbourne. I had one hand where I called a $35 bet on the turn with AT and the board reading A822 and I got overcalled by a 3rd player in the hand. The river was a T and the first bettor bet $55, which I then reraised all in for like $100 more and the overcaller called for like his last $45. The original bettor mucked AJ faceup and I apologised for drawing out on him, collected my $400 pot and left the table because even I was drunk enough to realise I wasn't playing that well.

The next day we just got as much comedy in as we could handle, and we moved to our ballin apartments in South Yarra. I also noticed that there was a poker tourney on that day at crown with a $100 buy in. First prize was $2200 so of course I had a crack. I had a massive hand early on where I limped UTG with AA, and this old guy went to reraise but looked at me suspiciously and just called. A LP guy raised and I reraised, and the old guy made the look of a crying call so I suspected he had a monster but he figured I had him beat. The LP guy flatted as well.

I wasn't sure if I liked the flop of AJ3, since I figured I was unlikely to get any action, however I checked, the old guy led out, the LP raiser shoved (??) and I called after hollywooding a tad. The old man painfully let go of AK face up. (nice laydown amirite?) The LP guy had JJ of course and he bricked giving me a fairly solid stack early on.

I remember a young-ish lady sitting down at my table and I immediately classified her as probably a tight passive fish. Sue me. I was, of course, right, except she turned out to be a calling station. She minraised on my BB at blinds 150/300 and another lady in late called. I called with the 2s3s. The flop was Q45, with the Q and 5 of spades. I led out for 3/4 pot and the raiser called and it was headsup after the lady in late folded. The turn was the 8s and I bet 3/4 pot again and when she minraised me I immediately shoved. She called tabling KQ, lol. So I was chipleader at my table when there were around 40 left (out of 108 starters).

I coasted along to the final table, simply stealing blinds to maintain my stack with no action hands. I remember this one bluff I ran with like 59os when this guy raised my BB. I had just sat down at the table and it folded to the small blind who had me just outchipped. He 3x'ed the bet and I 9x'ed it (just to let him know I wasn't some passive fish who he could steal from) and he called. The flop came QT4. He led out and I called. The turn was a 6 and he checked and I bet around 1/2 the pot. He looked at me for about a minute and folded JJ face up. It took all my willpower not to laugh at him and after deciding whether or not to show I figured this close to the bubble it would definitely pay to have a dirty tiltbox to my right, so I showed him the 9 high bluff and he lost it.

"Are you some kind of fucking moron? How can you possibly call a raise with that shit? I can't believe how bad some of the players in these fucking tournaments are." Blah blah blah etc etc.

Anyway, it gets to the actual bubble: 10 left. This guy gets into a pot with some other guy, raises and calls a reraise preflop, flop is AT4 and check raises all in and looks so sour when the other guy calls with AJ. The tilty guy goes nuts and gives this spiel about how its "the only move I made all game" (he had like J4 btw) and enjoys the sweet success of the bubble.

Anyway it's the final table and there's been one KO so far so I'm guaranteed $367. I pick up AsJs and just shove it in since the table average is around 16BB and I have like 13BB. It folds to this old passive calling station who has been playing just terrible and he makes the call and I show AsJs, expecting it to be crushing (since the guy was calling pretty much ATC to defend his blinds). This pot would put me in the chiplead if I won it, and I was fine to see myself up against the 77 of Mr. Station. Of course the poker god decreed that Styles Shalt Not Win a Race LDO, and I busted. But I still had a fairly good time.

A few nights later I bought in (sober this time) to the $2/$3 tables for the max of $200 and had a blinding session. The table wasn't full so I was in my element playing 6 handed against these guys.

I had one blinder: I had QsTs, two people limped and I raised to $15 on the button. The blinds folded and the two limpers called. The flop was Jc9c4h and the first limper lead out $20, which the other limper and I called. The turn was fantastic, the 8h, making my nut straight. Just as I was figuring what way to get action in the pot, the first limper shoves, and the next guy quickly calls! I check my cards again and of course make the call. The river shows the (seemingly) safe 6h and the first guy shows his Js9h for top two. The other guy in the pot is looking for me to show my hand and not want to fuck around with the slowroll I show my nut straight. He looks at me for ages, makes a pained expression and slowrolls the fucking Jh7h for the runner runner flush. God I was annoyed.
But anyway, I ran a big bluff against Mr. Runner Runner and took back a similar pot. I was sitting on around 600 when this hand happened. I had As7s and raised a couple of limpers to $20 on the button. One folded and one called and the flop was QJ4 offsuit. The guy checked and I bet $25 and he called. The turn gave me a flush draw with a 6, and the guy takes the lead and bets $25. As anyone who plays against me knows, I hate having the lead taken away from me, especially by a donk. I raise fairly quickly to $75 and he calls. The river is the Ah, and the guy leads out $75 and I instacall. He sheepishly says "I have nothing..." and doesn't want to show his cards, but flashes a 7 and says "wow" when I show my hand.

I ended up making $800 at poker at Crown and losing $300 at craps. But realistically, I had a ball and it was great, I can't wait to go back there (definitely going for Aussie Millions 2009.)

The Interwebs:

I haven't had much success online since coming back from Melb, going through a $600 downswing at MTTs ranging from $12-$55. I did however, come first in a $33 game on FTP for $1500 while all the hats and some others like LaLa, Steel88, and luckyshades were railing. I'm currently in the process of donking that off obv. I'll also try to update some more, it's good knowing that theres some out there who like reading this!

DRUNK POST

Heres the hats, as we ball. drunk. and fucking sweet. Me and shannon drrank a bottle of midoriand a bottle of blue smirnoff vodka. in an hour. shannon hart and matty p drank a dickload of alcohol. because tonight is st pats night in bathrust.not poker. even though we ball at poker, we kick ass at drinking and fucking sluts. thats how we ball, this is how we do. respect us.

Another heater, almost an 8k one!

I just had another good run on stars. I do love these. Started off simple:

PokerStars Tournament #80374360, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $11.00/$1.00
180 players
Total Prize Pool: $1980.00
Tournament started - 2008/03/10 - 09:51:59 (ET)

Dear Willskis,

You finished the tournament in 4th place.
A $158.40 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

You earned 137.60 tournament leader points in this tournament.
For information about our tournament leader board, see our web site at
http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/tournaments/leader-board/


Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

Then I saw my other tourney coming up, the one I've done well in in the past.
One could say I did well in it again. :D

PokerStars Tournament #80124545, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $40.00/$4.00
150 players
Total Prize Pool: $6000.00
Tournament started - 2008/03/10 - 11:15:00 (ET)

Dear Willskis,

You finished the tournament in 1st place.
A $1,650.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

You earned 319.02 tournament leader points in this tournament.
For information about our tournament leader board, see our web site at
http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/tournaments/leader-board/


Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.


This whole time I was also in an $8.80 rebuy game. I was doing ok until I started doing VERY well with 50 players left out of 2000.

PokerStars Game #15881086918: Tournament #80160276, $8.00+$0.80 Hold'em
No Limit - Level XVI (2000/4000) - 2008/03/10 - 14:07:55 (ET)
Table '80160276 83' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: psl86 (110582 in chips)
Seat 2: deuces3742 (84689 in chips)
Seat 3: Willskis (103011 in chips)
Seat 4: zVxUmW (5588 in chips)
Seat 5: bittarsolar (86819 in chips)
Seat 6: damu88 (169314 in chips)
Seat 8: narbet (181313 in chips)
Seat 9: F0RTUNE500 (118578 in chips)
psl86: posts the ante 400
deuces3742: posts the ante 400
Willskis: posts the ante 400
zVxUmW: posts the ante 400
bittarsolar: posts the ante 400
damu88: posts the ante 400
narbet: posts the ante 400
F0RTUNE500: posts the ante 400
F0RTUNE500: posts small blind 2000
psl86: posts big blind 4000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Willskis [Kd Ks]
deuces3742: folds
Willskis: raises 6000 to 10000
zVxUmW: calls 5188 and is all-in
Mórenito is connected
bittarsolar: folds
damu88: calls 10000
narbet: folds
F0RTUNE500: folds
psl86: folds
*** FLOP *** [7d 7s 3h]
Willskis: bets 16000
damu88: raises 24000 to 40000
Willskis: raises 52611 to 92611 and is all-in
damu88: calls 52611
*** TURN *** [7d 7s 3h] [Kc]
*** RIVER *** [7d 7s 3h Kc] [8d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Willskis: shows [Kd Ks] (a full house, Kings full of Sevens)
damu88: shows [Tc Th] (two pair, Tens and Sevens)
Willskis collected 194846 from side pot
zVxUmW: shows [5c 5h] (two pair, Sevens and Fives)
Willskis collected 24764 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 219610 Main pot 24764. Side pot 194846. | Rake 0
Board [7d 7s 3h Kc 8d]
Seat 1: psl86 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: deuces3742 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Willskis showed [Kd Ks] and won (219610) with a full house, Kings full of Sevens
Seat 4: zVxUmW showed [5c 5h] and lost with two pair, Sevens and Fives
Seat 5: bittarsolar folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: damu88 showed [Tc Th] and lost with two pair, Tens and Sevens
Seat 8: narbet (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: F0RTUNE500 (small blind) folded before Flop

That put me at chipleader, and THIS pot further cemented that.

PokerStars Game #15881293133: Tournament #80160276, $8.00+$0.80 Hold'em
No Limit - Level XVI (2000/4000) - 2008/03/10 - 14:17:26 (ET)
Table '80160276 83' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: psl86 (72582 in chips)
Seat 2: deuces3742 (101089 in chips)
Seat 3: Willskis (270810 in chips)
Seat 4: shibashi (144090 in chips)
Seat 5: bittarsolar (114322 in chips)
Seat 7: Mórenito (163714 in chips)
Seat 8: narbet (191713 in chips)
Seat 9: F0RTUNE500 (104578 in chips)
psl86: posts the ante 400
deuces3742: posts the ante 400
Willskis: posts the ante 400
shibashi: posts the ante 400
bittarsolar: posts the ante 400
Mórenito: posts the ante 400
narbet: posts the ante 400
F0RTUNE500: posts the ante 400
narbet: posts small blind 2000
F0RTUNE500: posts big blind 4000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Willskis [Js Qs]
F0RTUNE500 said, "wow u dodged a ton of outs"
psl86: folds
deuces3742: folds
Willskis: raises 6000 to 10000
shibashi: folds
bittarsolar: folds
Mórenito: folds
narbet: calls 8000
F0RTUNE500: folds
*** FLOP *** [Kh Ts Ac]
narbet: checks
Willskis: bets 12000
narbet: calls 12000
*** TURN *** [Kh Ts Ac] [7s]
narbet: checks
Willskis: bets 20000
narbet: calls 20000
*** RIVER *** [Kh Ts Ac 7s] [6s]
narbet: bets 12000
Willskis: raises 40000 to 52000
narbet: calls 40000
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Willskis: shows [Js Qs] (a flush, Queen high)
narbet: mucks hand
Willskis collected 195200 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 195200 | Rake 0
Board [Kh Ts Ac 7s 6s]
Seat 1: psl86 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: deuces3742 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Willskis showed [Js Qs] and won (195200) with a flush, Queen high
Seat 4: shibashi folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: bittarsolar folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Mórenito (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: narbet (small blind) mucked [3h Ah]
Seat 9: F0RTUNE500 (big blind) folded before Flop

I would have been overwhelming chipleader with over 700k before I got sucked out in this pot:

PokerStars Game #15881741983: Tournament #80160276, $8.00+$0.80 Hold'em
No Limit - Level XVII (2500/5000) - 2008/03/10 - 14:38:39 (ET)
Table '80160276 83' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: psl86 (194209 in chips)
Seat 2: deuces3742 (139889 in chips)
Seat 3: Willskis (433031 in chips)
Seat 4: shibashi (113390 in chips)
Seat 5: bittarsolar (100622 in chips)
Seat 6: 494H (186122 in chips)
Seat 7: Mórenito (54494 in chips)
Seat 9: F0RTUNE500 (57098 in chips)
psl86: posts the ante 500
deuces3742: posts the ante 500
Willskis: posts the ante 500
shibashi: posts the ante 500
bittarsolar: posts the ante 500
494H: posts the ante 500
Mórenito: posts the ante 500
F0RTUNE500: posts the ante 500
Willskis: posts small blind 2500
shibashi: posts big blind 5000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Willskis [9d 8d]
bittarsolar: folds
494H: folds
Mórenito: folds
F0RTUNE500: folds
psl86: raises 8333 to 13333
deuces3742: folds
Willskis: calls 10833
shibashi: folds
*** FLOP *** [3s 8c 4c]
Willskis: bets 20000
psl86: calls 20000
*** TURN *** [3s 8c 4c] [3h]
Willskis: bets 65000
psl86: raises 95376 to 160376 and is all-in
Willskis: calls 95376
*** RIVER *** [3s 8c 4c 3h] [Ac]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Willskis: shows [9d 8d] (two pair, Eights and Threes)
psl86: shows [As 6c] (two pair, Aces and Threes)
psl86 collected 396418 from pot
F0RTUNE500 said, "ouch"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 396418 | Rake 0
Board [3s 8c 4c 3h Ac]
Seat 1: psl86 showed [As 6c] and won (396418) with two pair, Aces and Threes
Seat 2: deuces3742 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Willskis (small blind) showed [9d 8d] and lost with two pair, Eights and Threes
Seat 4: shibashi (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: bittarsolar folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: 494H folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Mórenito folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: F0RTUNE500 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

No great call goes unpunished as usual I guess. :p

I kept grinding for a while but I eventually busted out 17th at 5k/10k blinds for $179.
Not bad for $16 investment, but its still no $5600.

What a night.

I woke up at 1am after napping at 8pm after working in Orange at NPL.

I played a 12 180-man SNG from my bed while listening to music, lol. I came like 30th, meh.

Then I decided to actually get out of bed, and I just signed up to like 7 different SNGs, from a 1 table $3.40 turbo to another $12 turbo SNG. I was playing around 8 tables at once. I also signed up to the $44 6-max NL game that I won about a month ago. Here's a few notable results.


PokerStars Tournament #76881845, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $15.00/$1.00
9 players
Total Prize Pool: $135.00
Tournament started - 2008/02/09 - 11:00:45 (ET)

Dear Willskis,

You finished the tournament in 1st place.
A $67.50 award has been credited to your Real Money account.


Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

PokerStars Tournament #76881868, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $6.00/$0.50
18 players
Total Prize Pool: $108.00
Tournament started - 2008/02/09 - 11:00:47 (ET)

Dear Willskis,

You finished the tournament in 1st place.
A $43.20 award has been credited to your Real Money account.


Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

PokerStars Tournament #76881932, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $6.00/$0.50
45 players
Total Prize Pool: $270.00
Tournament started - 2008/02/09 - 11:02:55 (ET)

Dear Willskis,

You finished the tournament in 3rd place.
A $42.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.


Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.


Thats when things started to get good. While I was playing my $44 6-max game, I jumped in to more $12 180-man SNG's.

PokerStars Tournament #76889046, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $11.00/$1.00
180 players
Total Prize Pool: $1980.00
Tournament started - 2008/02/09 - 12:21:58 (ET)

Dear Willskis,

You finished the tournament in 1st place.
A $594.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

You earned 275.19 tournament leader points in this tournament.
For information about our tournament leader board, see our web site at
http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/tournaments/leader-board/


Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.



But wait, there's MORE!

I kept grinding and grinding and grinding my 6-max tables, and before I knew it, final table!

I took the chiplead early but when we were down to 4handed the stacks were something like 90k, 85k, 80k and 5k. So I proposed (rather untactfully for the shortstack) a 3-way chop.

We knocked him out and the idea took hold, so we chopped for $1232 each, more than 2nd place money.

Hello Willskis,

Congratulations on your finish in tournament #76741348!
You agreed to a deal at the final table to adjust the payouts as follows:

Official New
Player Payout Payout
========= ======== ======
juventus777 #1 $ 1815.00 $ 1232.00
Willskis #2 $ 1138.50 $ 1232.00
hurley711 #3 $ 742.50 $ 1232.00

When the tournament ended, you were automatically credited with
the official 2nd place payout of $1138.50.

The difference between this amount and the amount to which you agreed
in the deal is $93.50, and this amount has been credited to your account.
You will find this transaction in the cashier history at this time.

Good luck in your next event, and thank you for your participation.

Best Regards,

PokerStars Support Team



And here I was thinking I was on an online downswing.

Impressed yet?

PokerStars Tournament #73423001, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $40.00/$4.00
145 players
Total Prize Pool: $5800.00
Tournament started - 2008/01/17 - 11:15:00 (ET)

Dear Willskis,

You finished the tournament in 1st place.
A $1,595.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

You earned 313.66 tournament leader points in this tournament.
For information about our tournament leader board, see our web site at
http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/tournaments/leader-board/


Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

Styles Smashes Lightning Poker

I popped in at Star on my way home from Newcastle and I went up to register for 80NL as I had a bit of spare cash. I saw on the side there was a lineup for "Lightning Poker" the PokerPro style electronic card tables. I'd played on it before with Matty when it was just a free trial (and we'd already lost our real buy-in to the 80NL donks).

Anyway, putting my username in as Willskis (duh) I sat down with two random guys who were keen to play. They seemed nice enough and we played for very small pots early on. Then I got on the SB and flat called, 3 to the flop. The flop was rainbow. beautiful. I bet out around 1/2 pot, get called. Turn is . I check and the guy bets 17 dollars. I raise to 37 and he immediately shoves. Instacall by me and he goes "do you have a seven" pressing the "show cards" button and showing . I'm like "I have a seven and a pair of jacks, is that good?" (gotta love the donk image) and he starts swearing and going off. So like four hands in I have around $155 in my account.

Heres a couple of golden hands.

I limp at a very soft 6-handed table with . The flop is one that I love, . I have overcards, flushdraw, and gutshot. I bet, this guy raises all in and I pretty much instant call. The turn is a blank but the river is a . He shows a lower flush draw with a 5 () and says "I had you till you rivered me". LOL. Owned.

But here is the hand of the night. This hand is something you'd see in some big budget Hollywood movie. We're around 1.5 hours in. 6-handed. It's limped to me on the button. I raise to $10 with . 4 callers. The flop is.... wait for it... . Yes, you are right. I flopped a straight flush. They check to me and I shove. (JOKES) I check behind obviously. The turn is so hot that I want to have sex with it. putting two Aces on the board. Checked to the guy on the cutoff, and he bets $25. I instacall, hoping they will put me on a draw. Unluckily, I get no other customers. When I see the river, I want to cheat on the turn and have a meaningful relationship with the river. It is the . That's right shoppers, I hold on a board of . The best part is, the guy overbets $83 into the pot. I obviously put him all in and he calls, tabling ! I swear I am not making this up. God I love running good.

So I left Star city with $420 profit after 2.5 hours work. That's how the HATS ball.

The epidemic of the "Sick Call"

I've noticed an increasingly large amount of Texas Hold'em players, whether it be live or online, calling on the river with _extremely_ marginal hands when pressed. Examples of pros doing this include Kenny Tran calling with simply top pair on a 4-flush board and Raymond Rahme making a giant river bet call with simply 88 on a board of overcards.

My roommate Tamim is also prone to doing this, and sometimes he makes amazing calls (like the call of my all in river bet on a heavy board with just AQ high when I had 23os bluffing the river) but it also leads to him being very susceptible to value bets.

I personally don't like the sick call, and I never, ever, ever call down without at least a pair, even in Hold'em, when so few people have an actual real hand. I find myself physically unable to call with a high card, even when I'm exceedingly pot committed.

An example of when I should have made a sick call was a few months back when I had Q9 at a $20 homegame 30c/60c at Mark and Jen's house. I got involved with a rather largish pot with Jarron and local donk Teddy.

I was BB and the game was 4 handed. Jarron raised UTG to $3 and Teddy called and I called in the BB. The flop came J84. I checked. Jarron bet $6, Teddy (as usual) called. I check-raised to $16, figuring neither had a very strong hand. Jarron looks mutinous, but because he has Teddy to act behind him he lays his hand down.

Teddy calls my $10 raise, and we go to the turn. It is an ace, and against any player who actually THINKS, it would be a great card to make a nice bluff on, if I had, say, check raised on a hand like AJ, AQ or AK. So it's me first and I bet $30. Teddy thinks for a moment and calls, leaving himself with maybe $15. I have around $20 left, and am panicking.

The river completely bricks, a deuce, and Teddy thinks for a moment, and exclaims, in that familiar Asian accent, "I'm aww in."

What can I do here? I'm attrociously pot committed. Even if I don't think Teddy has much of a hand, which I don't, I physically can't call with Q high here. I know what you're saying, "Styles, you got yourself into this situation, you made your bed..." etc. etc. But really, Getting the odds I was getting (roughtly 4-5:1), I only had to beat a bluff one in every 5 times for a call to be worth it. But I was sure Teddy HAD to have Q high beat, even a player as crazy as Teddy couldnt be still in this pot without a little piece.

So I didnt make my sick call. I let Teddy take the pot, at which point Jarron stands up swearing. I felt bad because I had represented such strength in the hand, but I had made a good play against Jarron, but a horribly donkish one against the complete calling station, Teddy.

Teddy, rolls over 9Tos by the way, for Ten high and a busted straight draw. Most uncool.

Anyway, I'm probably getting off my point. What do you think about this rush of people calling with very marginal hands? I think it has happened because people have gotten so good at Texas Holdem, realised you can win so much with pure aggression, that the standards of a river call are so much lower, because people are "playing the man" more than the cards now.

What do you guys think? Leave some comment love.

Styles