First off, let me apologize to all of you for not posting anything the past couple weeks. With Finals for school and then a week long work trip (to Vegas, but I’ll talk about that later) and then the FPN State Championship, I haven’t had a lot of time for blogging…but I do still apologize. So, the order of things in this post will be (1) FPN State Championships, (2) My Vegas work trip and (3) the upcoming summer sessions.

1. FPN state championships – Well, I’ll say that this was the biggest tourney I’ve been in so far, playing live poker and it was a little intimidating, considering that the most people I’ve played live against before this past weekend was around 70 and I walk into a room with over 250 people in it. Now, with that said…I sat down and put on my best poker face and commenced to playing cards. Here are a couple hands of note that I play that I thought I did pretty good at and then I’ll tell you about my stack killer.

Blinds – (50/100), I was BB and I’m dealt QAu. There is a bet from middle position of 400, I raise to 800, original better calls. JT8 rainbow on the flop. Checked to me, I bet 800, folded to me.

Another hand, As4s dealt to me. I raise to 300. Two callers. KdQd4d on the flop. I decide to take a stab at it and steal this pot. I bet 600 and both players folded to me.

Blinds – 75/150. I’m dealt TT out of position. I raise to 450. I get two callers and the flop comes down with 653 all diamonds. chk, bet 300. I raise to 1200 and this hand was folded to me.

Blinds 100/200 – I’m dealt 4Jc. 65A all diamonds (at this point, I was sitting with about 19000 in chips and the tourney started at 10K in chips.) Now, I know a lot of you will not like this bet but I put out 600 in chips. I get one caller. Qc on the turn (and you probably will not like this bet either) and I make a pot bet and the hand was folded to me.

Here is the stack killer.

Last hand before the first break. I’m on the button and I’m dealt QQ. 247 rainbow on the flop. I put out 750 in chips. Called. 6 on the turn. he chks. I chk. 8 on the river, I bet 2500, he raises to 4000, I call. He has 35.

Yeah. He had 35 unsuited and was out of position…I WAS PISSED!!! Had to shake it off but he did get a lot looks and a couple of headshakes.

The rest of the day was really not all that exciting…I didn’t catch much, tried a couple semi bluffs but essentially got blinded out. I made it to the 12th level and beat out over 140 people so I’m not that upset about it all. It was my biggest tourney and I survived for over 4 hours. Next time, I plan on making it to the final table.

Now the week before the FPN championship, my job sent me to Vegas for three days. I didn’t get a ton of time in the casinos because I was working 13 hour days. I did get a chance to play that casino version of Holdem, where you are only playing against the dealer, not the other players. Took $50 to that table and left with $450. I just thought it was an interesting game and I did make some money so I might think about hitting it a little more when I get to MN casinos.

Lastly…the FPN has a new format for the summer with instead of 8 week sessions, there are monthly sessions so there is the chance of more people qualifying. I have no chance really of qualifying for May because of being gone two weekends, unless I win both 4 and 7 pm session next Sunday so I’m just kinda happy to be back at my bar, playing every Sunday. I am currently in 15th place and like I said…I have to have two top 3 finishes next Sunday to even think of qualifying for regions.

So, it’s back to business as usual…unless I get lucky online, I think I am not going to make it to the WSOP this year as a player…but there is always winning the Powerball…hmm…maybe I should go buy a ticket or two this weekend.

See you at the tables and again, as always, feedback and comments are welcome.

Thanks for reading.

Hello again. Let me apologize for not getting a post up lately. I am winding down at school so finals are on my mind so I kinda forget to get out here at talk to you all.

With that said, the last two weeks have been so-so for me, my play has been ok and I’m buckling down, getting ready for two things, State championship and the new promotion. The new promotion is going to be interesting. Instead of 8 weeks of play, there are going to be monthly champions, so my play has to be more on track and less erratic. I say this because normally in the long sessions, the first couple weeks, I do ok, but no final tables. Then, I get going by week 4 and start making final tables. I think now, I’m gonna hunker down and get back to my base game (tight-aggressive) and see how that plays out. No more testing out new strategies and testing out new table images. Getting back to the basics but adding a weapon that I’ve really been working on. What is it? Not saying, if you want to see it, you’ll have to play with me.

Now, back to prepping for state. I’m playing less online poker and concentrating on playing better poker at the bar because when I play online, I have a tendency to play looser and take way more chances so I think I’m just gonna play my freerolls that I usually play and less sit and go’s. Now, I’m thinking of hitting up a tourney at Running Aces or Cantebury…one of the lower buy-in’s, mainly because I am broke but I want to see how I do against people that I don’t play with on a regular basis. I’m also thinking of hitting up a couple other bars in the area to do the same. I’ll post any results from there when I do that.

I’ll be doing all of that when finals are over, which are in a week. So, I’ll try to get something up this coming weekend but after that, I’ll be posting whenever I play so to get feedback from anyone that wishes to help.

Thanks again for reading and I promise to get better posts up after the 15th of the month.

See ya at the tables.

Hello all again. After taking a week off for Easter, I was back at it this past weekend at Cooper’s in my FPN bar league. I’m still running the sessions, well, only the 7 pm session but I’m the unofficial points master so of course, with the promotion winding down, everyone that matter is closely watching points and making sure I’m not making mistakes. This session might come down to the last week, hell, even the last session to see who qualifies for state and\or regionals.

I’m sitting comfortably in 5th place, which would qualify me for regionals but I don’t need to qualify again because I can’t get a double stack at state so, my first question is…do I stop playing so someone else can qualify? Is that fair to me or should I have the mind frame that if they want to qualify, they better beat me? I know that sounds kind of rough but hell, this is competitive poker and I’m a competitive person. If they want in, they should earn it.

Enough of that, let’s talk strategy. I’m still working on expanding my play and getting used to playing a wider range of hands. This week, it was trying to see as many blinds as possible. Now, I wasn’t tossing in chips randomly but if I had a suited cards, unsuited connectors and other sets of face cards that I would not normally played and I could get into a pot rather cheaply, I did. I’m not going to get into the particulars because honestly, I didn’t note them as I have been doing since I started blogging but I will tell you about one hand in particular and again, I welcome any feedback or suggestions.

The blinds were at 100\200 and I had about 1500 in chips in front of me. There were 7 people at the table and I was in middle position and hadn’t gotten a decent hand in a while. I was getting dealt mainly 2 5u, 4 7u, etc…so I got dealt Q3d. Now, normally, in middle position with that many people at the table, I would fold but I felt good about this one. I called the BB and he checked with 4 people in the hand including the SB. Ad Kd 4h on the flop. Two players check to me, I check and the BB checks so I’m thinking that at best, there is a pair of Kings out there or maybe even a pair of Aces and players are looking for tells. Turn comes and it’s 10d. I have my flush and it’s unbeatable. Min bet and a fold and it comes to me. I put in a pot sized raise. BB double takes and pushes all in. He has me covered and most people know that I’m not one to risk a lot of chips normally and I assume that his is why he bet the way he did. So, I call. I show him my flush and he shows me pocket aces. He’s pissed, mainly because he is close to qualifying and this bites into his chip stack. He wonders why I chased down that flush, when I normally don’t and I just shrug and tell him that I felt I was due. Someone else asked me why on the side cause he knows I normally don’t play that way, I tell him the same thing…I just felt it coming. Rag on the river and I double up.

I went out early in both sessions, mainly because I had a test to study for and some of my “anarchy” didn’t work but I do think that now, people will put me on a wider range of hands there, mainly because of my play and that I was also showing all of my hands, regardless of whether they paid to see it or not, which we know I never show my hands unless you pay me to see em.

So, with that all said, I’m still looking at the State Championship and wondering about how to play with a starting chip stack of 10,000 in chips. I’ve asked a few people and gotten some good advise but I’m worried about sitting there for 2, 3, 4 or more hours, just folding hands. Do I ramp up the aggression early? Do I sit back and let the chips come to me? Do I steal blinds or fight for pots?

Anyone got any more suggestions?

That’s all for now. I’ll see you next week and thanks for reading.

Sorry for not having a blog last week folks…if any of you are parents of grade school children, you have probably gotten sick with the same crud my wife, both boys and myself have had in the past two weeks. I did go play on the 21st but I didn’t feel good so I didn’t play good at all and I couldn’t get a post up last week because Monday through Thursday, I was sick as a 2 5u catching a four card flush.

Anyways, so after reading Mr. Mackey’s post about “they were suited”, I felt inspired to work on playing with suited connectors. So, last Sunday was dedicated to play any and all suited connectors I got and playing them aggressively. (Note: Remember, I have already qualified for the State Championships in the WSOP promotion for the FPN bar league so I can do things like this right now.)

First couple of hands were hands that I like to play anyways so I played them like I usually do and won a few hundred chips. Finally got my first set of suited connectors…78h. I was in middle position but I had a chip lead at this point and I called the preflop raise up to 200 with the blinds being 25\50. Flop comes down and it’s 56h 10d. I have my straight flush draw and the other person in the hand is a decent player but I know he bluffs alot. I check, he bets 200 again, I check-raise with a pot sized bet of 775. He calls. Turn is Ah, I have the flush. I put out a bet of 1\2 the pot, about 1200 in chips which he would have to go all in to call and I have him covered with that bet with about 1000 in chips left in my stack to spare so I’m confident he is gonna fold. He calls, he also has a flush but he has 23h. Rag on the river and I take down a big pot.

Next set of suited connectors comes a lot later. Blinds are 200\400 and I have a huge chip stack. I catch J10d. I’m in the BB and only the SB calls. I check and flop comes down with QK9. I have my straight and SB checks, I check. A on turn. I have the nuts at this point. He pushes all in (700 or so in chips) I call, he has JJ. I show my straight and the river is a rag and I take another player out.

Table is now down to 6 players and we all know that I love shorthanded poker. Next hand was 34d. Since I have the chips to spare, I call the BB’s raise to 2000. He looks at me and says “I hope those kings work for you. I say, I hope so too. Flop comes down A45. He checks, I check…I know I should push but I think he has something. Q on the turn. He puts out 800, I call since I have a little draw and I’ve been catching the draws and I put him on AQ with that bet. He looks at me like and again says, “Ladies have been coming up tonight, I’m gonna catch a set.”. I say nothing back. River is 4. He bets 1600, I raise to 3200. He calls. He has JQ. I show him my set, he’s pissed and calls me a “chasin’ donk that is using his stack to bully” and leaves the table pissed. Oh well…

I end up winning the entire 4 PM session after wearing down poor Eric (a regular at my league). The 7PM session wasn’t anything spectacular. I didn’t catch a lot and ended up getting hungry so I tossed my chips in on a bad hand so I could get some dinner.

So, now I am in 4th place in my league, although, I am thinking of not playing for a couple weeks to allow someone else to qualify…not sure, my competitive nature tells me that if they want to qualify, they should play better.

Anyways, as always comments are welcome and for the young man\woman that recognized me on FPN online, I appreciate the shout out and knowing that I have one fan is kind of an ego boost.

I’m hoping that “The Boss” will give me a little extra allowance so I can buy into the $60 satellite for the Running Aces Harness Park MN Poker Tour event but who knows…COME ON TAX RETURN!!!

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you at the tables!!!

Well poker fans, nothing new this week. I did make a final table at the 7 pm tourney at Coopers but I went out in 7th place, which is enough to put in up to 15th place, up previously from 28th. So, with that said, I’m not gonna talk about my previous weeks hands. I’m gonna talk about strategy and the two comments from my last posting.

Now, when it comes to strategy, I like to keep it tight and aggressive. I’ve tried putting out a loose table image but since I am really uncomfortable playing that style, I stopped doing it because I was putting out tells that people that I know that I play with have told me that they could pick up on it. I like the tight aggressive style\image because it is actually the opposite of how I personality is so that throws off people that hear me talking before or during play. Also, with that tight image, I’m finding that I can semi-bluff more effectively. Which is a good segway to the next part of this post…comments.

Mr. Mackey himself commented on my last post with this:

Good stuff, Michael!

So, I guess to sum it up, when I am running a bluff, I am usually fairly certain that my opponent will feel extremely uncomfortable calling. Sometimes I am wrong, of course! And sometimes a good player will make a big call.

Now, I do have the advantage of playing with the same 20 or so people every Sunday night…so these people know that I have a conservative playing style and that I rarely bluff…unless they are reading my blog now but that doesn’t really matter. So, I can toss out a semi bluff with let’s say middle pair and if it’s one of those people that I play with regularly, I can get away with it. If it’s a newer person, I’ll wait til I get a better hand or, if I’ve already beaten them a couple times, I’ll shoot out the same betting pattern to let them think I have a winning hand. Now, as for premeditation, I do plan out some hands and I do try to time my bluffs because the people I play with know that I do play monster hands aggressively so I try to plan out timing on my bluffs for maximum affect.

Next commenter…

Bryan Mileski Says:
March 11th, 2010 at 6:02 pm e

Most of the time though, I play in deeper stack tournaments that allows me the stack to be wrong if I 3-bet bluff. I never like to bluff on an all-in. I don’t play many bar tournaments but I suspect a bluff would require you most of the time to risk your whole stack as they are typically short stack tournaments. In that instance, it would be much more situational rather than picking on certain people.

I’ve never played in a deep stack tournament so I normally don’t start my bluffing til I’ve won a few hands and I have the chips to spend. I know that is not wise but it’s where I am comfortable. Also, you should know that I am not one of those players that can figure out pot odds, implied odds and whatever else. I’m a hunch player and all I really do is look at what I have, where I am sitting position wise, my stack and how the players I’m sitting with have been playing. It’s all I know how to do. Now, I will sit there and make it look like I’m working the odds in my head, but most of the time, I’m thinking of what I want to eat at the break or if I should have another beer or not.

Well, that’s all I have for this week. Maybe next week, I’ll remember to take notes so I can comment about my hands again.

See ya at the tables.

Hello again. Midterms are over so I can get back to blogging on schedule. It sucks that I play poker on Sundays and then I have a class on Monday night but that is only for 2 more months…

Anyways, again since I have already qualified for state and double qualifying doesn’t do me any good, during the second session, I am testing out new parts of my game. Mainly, semi-bluffing, bluffing and playing different types of hands. Here is a brief synopsis of the hands that I played this weekend.

4 PM – blinds 25/50. Dealt AKs…two seats to the right of me pushed all in, I had her covered. She has pocket A’s. Lose 1200. Now, with this hand, since I know that the player is somewhat of a bluffer and will over bet her hands, especially when she is trying to steal blinds but this time, I was wrong. The community didn’t help at all, I lost 1200 and was down to 700 in chips, but I’ve come back from worse.

Blinds 100/200. Down to 500. K8s. 5 players at the table at this point and I love playing shorthanded poker. I push all in. Two callers. 885. I quad up to 2000. Now, I normally wouldn’t push all in with K8s but I was down to 500 in chips, the shortest stack at the table and both blinds are players that will call bets to protect their blinds.

Tried playing suited connectors a couple times…never hit but I’ll keep trying to put them in my game. I don’t know if that is a timing thing or what. One time, I played it from the BB and called the min bet on the flop. I had the chips and wasn’t worried about losing cause if a bigger bet would have came, I would have folded. The other time, I was out of position but thought J 10d was a better one to work with than the previous hand, which I believe was 78s.

7PM – blinds @ 50-100. Dealt AQc, raise to 300. I raise 600. Two seats to my left (Matt – A notorious bluffer) all in. I call. He has JJ, I catch Q’s on flop and river. I dbl up. Now, again, a lot of people would say that AQ is not the hand to call an all in bet because it can be beat by pocket pairs and AK and I was behind percentage wise but the reason I called it was because Matt is known to bluff with an all in push and AQ happens to be my favorite hand.

A9h blinds 100/200 – pushed bets. hhs dealt. (I meant to note the cards but because I was in the hand and forgot to but they were all lower cards) Club in river, check check. Heart on river, I catch a Ace high flush so I’m sure I’m golden because there was no straight flush possibility and I push with 2400, call and he shows a King high flush and I’m up to 9000.

The rest of the night was unremarkable…I lost the majority of my chips on bluffs that didn’t work and the last hand, I just gave up on and tossed my chips in because I wanted to get a little reading done for my last midterm test.

I’m currently in 23rd place being that I’m only getting points for showing up. I think I am going to switch my game back to my normal game because I have to start prepping for state. I know that it’s going to be a whole new type of scenario then what I’m normally used to playing so I have to start working on the mental part of my game…my patience and my watching the players more intently.

I have been trying to read more and more about mentally noting players during play because I’ll admit that I’m not that great at it. I know the players at the bar, mainly because I play with them once a week but I’m sure I’ll not have played with the people that I’m playing with at state.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you at the tables.

Sorry about the late entry…I’m in the midst of mid-terms and I’ve had my nose in books for the past two weeks. So, to catch you all up, I have qualified for Free Poker Networks State Championship in the WSOP promotion, which means, I am the closest to winning a seat at the WSOP than I ever have been before. I just have to play my way through another 1000 or so people before I actually win this seat. Easier said than done.

Now, I have taken over duties as host at my bar due to the previous host moving out of the area which is making it harder for me to keep notes on my hands because I’m still getting used to doing that and playing at the same time.

Last Sunday was your average beginning of a session for me. I have this weird pattern of not winning much the first 2 -3 weeks of a session and then hitting 4-5 final tables in a row. I wonder why that happens…anyways.

I didn’t make it to final tables in either the 4 pm or 7 pm tourneys so I did some reading and made some rule calls. I didn’t mark any hands at all that I can remember, although, I did get pocket Q’s busted by a flush draw. I caught a set but didn’t push the betting to keep him from chasing his draw. Oh, well…I think my mindset was that I’ve already qualified for the State championships so I have nothing to really play for at this point…besides the nightly prizes. Also, like I said before, my mind was on midterms so I think I was more worried about that.

I really have nothing else besides to say to whoever is reading that if you do want to discuss poker or anything you see in my blog, please feel free to email me at michaellhughes@gmail.com. I’ll take any advice that is given, as long as it’s given without being abusive.

Thanks again for reading and I’ll see you at the tables.

Morning all…another session is in the books and yours truly was able to put up a 5th place effort in the 7pm tourney last night at my bar league which gave me 1st place overall for the first session in the Destination Las Vegas: 2010 WSOP Promotion for the Minnesota Bar League\Free Poker Network. Which means, I am a little closer to possibly winning a seat at the 2010 World Series of Poker. Now, I know that my blog title is “My Journey to the WSOP” but I didn’t put a year in or specific WSOP because I really have no idea on how long this is going to take me.

Anyways, due to circumstances, I am now running (at least for the next few weeks) the Sunday tourneys at Cooper’s. Now, I’m ok with this because this get’s me a free tab of a couple beers and a meal but I was not able to take notes of my hands in detail because I had to keep an eye on time and hands and settle a couple disputes. So, with that said, I will say that I had a good night of poker, the 4 pm session wasn’t very favorable to me because I was too worried about keeping track of time and what not so I wasn’t able to play really good poker. My last hand of that session was the only notable one…

I had pocket 10’s in the BB, blinds were at 200\400 and I was down to about 1000 in chips. This was the first decent hand of the session that I can remember. A couple folders and then three seats to my right calls, I check and the flop comes down 10 5 5. I push all in, the caller calls, and he is holding pocket 5’s. Oh well, I’m out of the first session and I can put in numbers into the system and play in the side game for a while.

7 pm session was hectic and all I can tell you is that I made it to the final table and to 5th place so I’m in first place overall and I qualify for state without having to play in the regions. Nuff said about that.

So, with State coming up in about 2-3 months, I am a little worried about luck. Now, I know that people consider poker a game of skill but I am a huge believer in luck and fate. Now, last session, I went on a 5 week cold streak until I went to regions and then, my luck changed and now, I’m back to my normal game so if anyone out there wants to sacrifice a chicken for me, please do so.

Since I have nothing else to write about, I am going to address the two comments left on my last post. I’m not angry about them at all, rather, I am glad that someone is reading my blog and cares enough to comment on them. So….

Justin, thanks for the feedback. With the KT raise call, I should have put in that the raiser is a known bluffer and will try to represent a good hand after the flop to scare off people and he will fold immediately after any bet if he hasn’t scared off anyone. When he put out that second bet, I knew he had a hand, which is why I folded. You are right with saying that I shouldn’t normally call a raise with the KT, but I felt I could have gotten some chips off this guy if he was bluffing. With the pocket 6’s, well…yeah, I shouldn’t have played that the way I did but this was an instance where Troy was messing with me and he even admitted that he shouldn’t have called my original bet with what he had but just wanted to poke fun at me, so you are right there too. Justin, you have some very good advice and I do listen to whatever is tossed at me because I still consider myself a somewhat novice player. So, thanks for all of your advice cause I really do appreciate it. I try to mix up my play a little to keep people at the bar off balance. They all know that I play really tight so when I do toss out a big bet on a weird hand, it’s only to remind them that I can mix it up, or to rely on that tight image to steal some blinds now and then.

Onto Mark…thanks for reading…I will be putting how I finish on any night that I play live or a big tourney online (I haven’t been playing alot of online poker due to being in school) and I will put down where I sit in the standings for my league.

Thanks again for reading this and agian, any and all advice will be read and honestly, unless someone is just being mean, I will always take it into account.

Well poker fans…I had another night at Coopers in my bar league. There was a small turnout due to Valentine’s Day, luckily for me, my wife and I don’t put a lot into Valentine’s Day…we both think it’s a waste of money even though I did take my two boys to get Mom some flowers and candy.

Anyways, this week, I took some notes on the hands of note, except for the final table in the 7 pm session because play became frantic and people were dropping out quickly until the final four. So here we go.

BB 75u folded once a bet was made

SB J3u folded once a bet was made

Dealer 54c fold. Now, some people would say that this is a playable hand in this position…I’m still not comfortable playing suited connectors this low yet. I’ve seen that they can pay off but not enough for me to want to play them this early in the night. If I had a significant chip stack or even in heads up, I would think about playing it but not yet. The next hand has a little more action.

Dealt K10s called 200 bet, KQA rainbow, bet 200, raised, called. A on turn. 600 bet to me, I know he has an ace…I fold. He shows me AQ. Now, I know I had outs with the straight but I didn’t feel it coming and I didn’t want to risk half my stack, still early in the night. This was only the fourth hand and I still like to play with a tight\aggressive table image so folding this hand now, I felt would pay off later and it does in the second session.

Q8 fold.

10 5 fold.

Now, this is where that prior K10s fold partially paids off now and later. I’m in the BB, and I’m dealt 78u. Now, I’ve played with the SB for a while and know that she likes to protect her blinds, almost to the river. So I toss out a bluff with 200. SB calls. QJ10 rainbow, I bet 300, SB calls me only so I know she is chasing something but hasn’t caught it yet cause she bets big when she does catch so I look at the river. A, I bluff with 600. SB folds and shows me that she was chasing a straight. I, of course, don’t show because I almost never show my hand unless you pay to see it.

I folded a couple hands, forgot to note them because I got into a conversation. Then I get dealt pocket sixes. The former tourney director Troy, who was playing his last night at Coopers cause he is moving to Brainerd, calls to spite me, we both laugh cause he’s a good guy and this is free poker so I don’t take it that seriously. 4 10 7 flop…he bets 200, I raise to 600. He calls. turn is 3, I push all in, he calls. He has 4 10. I’m out of the 4pm session and I do some homework since the bar is strangely quiet. ———————

7 PM session. Now, I didn’t do a lot of noting of hands because I wanted to really concentrate on what was happening around the table so here we go with the next session.

Blinds 25-50 A2u- fold because there was a monster bet out there, he showed pocket 10’s when everyonce else folded and he stole the blinds.

29u- folded obviously.

Blinds are still 25-50. I’m in mid-late position and I’m dealt pocket 10’s. A couple min bets from my right, I raise to 100 and I’m called twice from BB and one person on my right. Flop comes K64 rainbow. I’m first to bet. I toss out 300, and I’m called twice. 7 on turn. I toss in 500, everyone folds to me. This is why I like to put that tight table image out.

Quick side note…I know that I’m spelling out a lot of my strategy and anyone that might come across me could use this against me. I’m learning how to gauge the tone of the table Well, I am working on a lot of my other facets of my game because I think I have the tight\aggressive strategy down, well, I have it 90% down. Now, I’m working in better bluff timing and semi-bluffing into my game. I do a lot of working on those parts online when I play on FPN and on Bodog. Full Tilt and Pokerstars free play is too wild to work on those portions of my game so I don’t try stuff out there too often. Back to the game.

Blinds are up to around 200- 400 at this point in the night.

BB 37- fold

This hand you should note that we have only 6 people at the table and I love playing short handed poker. I tend to get more aggressive at this point and it normally pays off. I’m SB and I’m dealt A8d call BB. A 10 7. I bet 300. 1 caller. 4 in the turn. Chked to me, 500 bet, called. 6 river. 1000 bet, folded to me.  This is where I tend to pick up the most chips. People are seem to be put off by my late aggression, especially when I force them out of a pot. I’m trying to switch mid table to keep them off balance and it seems to be working.

KJu forgot specifics….got chased out the pot…

Final table.  9 people. Have to get somewhat tight again.

A6u – Folded because of big bet to my right. Didn’t feel good and I the flop and turn wouldn’t have helped me at all, so I guess my gut was right on this one.

At this point, we were back down to 6 people and I’m in the SB and I’m dealt A6s. Flop comes and it’s KhKc9h, I bet 1000. Called by one person. 5h on the turn, check check. Qh on the river, SB bets 2000 I fold.

Blinds 500\1000

Couple hands later. I’m dealt JJ. I call the BB. J67 on the flop. I min bet, BB raises to 1000. I RR to 2000. BB folded.

Next hand, I played. I’m in the SB and I’m dealt 57- Flop comes 584. I bet 300. Called…K on turn. I push with 600, folds around to me.

Tight aggression is working so far for me. Again, I like playing short handed poker. We get down to 4 people.

I get dealt AQc late position, to the direct right, he raised to 1200, I push all in. Folded around to raiser, he calls. I catch an A, I dbl up to 5200.

At this point, the play got really hectic and fast paced. My last hand, I got dealt K9u. Flop was AK2. I push all in after a min bet to me, he has an A, I don’t catch anything to help and I’m out in 4^th place.

Thoughts…so, honestly, my working on my aggression is starting to pan out. I’m getting better with my timing and my reading of players and what they are possibly holding. Pot Odds and those kinds of things…well, I’ve never been a numbers person so I’ll never be able to do that kind of figuring in my head but I have had one person tell me that even though I can’t do the formulating of the odds in my head and know what I’m doing, I’m probably doing it and not knowing that I am, so I’m ok with that.

Of course, comments are always welcome and you can either comment on the blog or send me an email at michaellhughes@gmail.com.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you at the tables.

If you have been reading me lately, you know that I am working on winning a seat at the World Series of Poker. I don’t have any illusions of winning it all like Moneymaker, I just want to be able to say that I was there, one time and I played Texas Hold’em with the best players in the world, if even for one day. So, with that said…Sunday night, even though it was Super Bowl Sunday, I was at my poker league and I was in rare form tonight…in the 4 pm session, I came in 4th place and in the 7 pm session, I came in 2nd. Good night for me all around…played my game and didn’t let the couple of donks that were there get to me.

Hands of the night:

4pm session – I’m in early position and I am dealt 88. Now, the table I was at had been playing really loose, and I was making it a point to put out a tight table image. I posted a 3x BB bet and everyone but the blinds ended up folding…showing me that they had respected my image. Flop comes down AAK. I’m totally pissed off…worst flop imaginable. So, it’s checked to me and something told me to push, so I toss in a pot sized bet. SB folds, BB calls…I’m a little scared now but I look at the river, A comes on river, I have a full house but that K on the board worries me but I remembered that the caller is a bluffer and had been doing it all night. J on the river and I push all in…he looks at me and says, I put you on a K at first, but now, I put you on that A and he folds. I muck my cards, rake in my chips and say, “Yep, had that A”.

Nuff said about that.

Highlight hand of the second session.

I’m not feeling the same vibe I was in the first session. I’m down to about 1200 in chips and thinking I’m gonna get blinded out. I’m in the BB and Im dealt J7…nothing special, hoping no one raises so I can at least see the flop. 89J on the flop. SB checks, I put in a 1/2 pot bet and two people fold, SB calls, J on the river, he pushes all in, I call, he has J2. I’m expecting a large card on the river and a split pot…nope, 10 comes in on the river, give me the straight and the win doubling me up and from that point, I made it to a second placed finish which in the points race for the league, puts me in 3rd place overall with 3 weeks left for me to make more points.