CARDRUNNERS

OK Ryan, you seriously need to stop putting up the funniest and most random crap known to man in your blog. I need to work on mine so that CR doesn't boot me off the list for being lame. I'll try to think up some cool stuff- but for now, it's poker talk.

I got to sit in on Taylor & Ryan's session the other day. It was freaking awesome to hear Taylor's thought process as it was happening. I tried to chime in on occasion but kept fairly quiet b/c I'm sure I sounded like an idiot. Ryan played 26/23 poker with an 18 aggression factor (46 flop agression), which was pretty damn cool. He played for almost 90 minutes, and we got a lot of good poker talk in, as well as Taylor telling us about his visit to the grocery store.

After the session I talked talked Ryan into sweating me, so we loaded up the LiveMeeting program and setup two 2/4 tables, and off we were. We played pretty ABC, and I was trying to LAG it up more, but most plays were pretty basic. We got into 3 interesting spots, where Ryan and I talked about it and I think we made good decisions each time.
LINK: First hand.
We raised T8os, c-bet the flop, hit a pair on the turn and bet again, and then had to fold to a river bet on an ugly board. If you see the hand, I think it is pretty ABC, and we had to fold on the river. Ryan put him on 76, but the guy was pretty crazy and retardedly active (68/16) and could have had anything.
LINK: Second hand.
We raised 33 on the button and flopped a set. The overly active player I mentioned above lead out at the flop, and with such a drawy board, a raise was in order. Plus maybe he would call a raise and put us on a flush draw. We put him on KJ/KQ when he bet the flop, and assumed the same when he called the raise. We value bet the turn, and value shoved the river. Which he paused to call, even tho he rivered 2 pair.
LINK: Third hand.
We raised AK UTG, and missed the flop. I had been raising a lot and didnt think I would get much respect if I bet. We opted to check. A Q hit the turn, and the bb put out a weak bet, so we opted to raise, hoping that he would fold a T, and maybe a weak Q, and put us on AQ. If not, we still had overs, and 4 outs to the nuts. He folded to the raise, and power poker worked.

It was a good session, and I'm glad that I got to discuss a couple interesting spots with Ryan. I netted $250 in my session with Ryan sweating me, and I know that Ryan lost $1400 with Taylor sweating him. So obviously, Ryan>Taylor.

My 101k challenge on FTP is still going strong. I just broke through $10k profit after 38 days, sitting on $11.4k on FTP now. My overall bankroll is officially over $30k. I'm excited. :)

I'm defintely ready to move up to 2/4 with Taylor.

PS - I found the amazon.com milk.
AMAZON MILK

And I laughed my ass off at this quote:
"Milk comes from cows. And other mammals. But don't drink milk from other mammals, except from cats. Cat milk is sweet, delicious, low in calories and has a high fiber content. It's great for your digestive system."

Taylor was really emphasizing playing back at people preflop who were overly aggressive (with good holdings), and taking away the control of the pot when I am in position.

Had a few interesing hands come up:
LINK HERE: Hand 1
BrushYoToof was being very lag, and had a huge range of opening hands, so we re-potted AQ from the sb after the button called. Flop play was standard, and the guy pushed with A9 and we called. Easy enough...

LINK HERE: Hand 2
BrushYoToof again raises preflop (min-raise) and we re-pot with AK on the button. Good flop, bet it, bad turn, check behind, and Brush leads out a weak $19 bet on the river.
***This is where it gets interesting. I said, "OK, so we call this right?" And right when I was saying that, Taylor chimes in with a "OK, we need to put in a value-raise here." This is something I would never do at 1/2, I'd just look to show down my top pair. Taylor put the guy on a weak A, like A9/A8, and thought that we would get paid off if we made a medium sized value raise. So we raised his $19 river bet to $110 into a $162 pot. The guy calls with JT.
-To which Taylor says, "Do these guys REALLY play like that?" It was pretty amazing the kinds of bad plays these guys were making. Taylor said he wanted to sit in on this game because they were so bad. I hope Brush isn't a CR member.

Flopped a set-under-set in a limped pot, and got it all in and lost. But I'll post the hand because there is some very good info that Taylor gave me:
LINK HERE: Hand 3
We potted the flop since it was fairly draw heavy, and we figured that a limp UTG could be big cards like KQ/QJ/QT/AQ etc. He waited a second, and then min raised us. Taylor was explaining to me at this point, that we should make a small raise, maybe up to $55-$60. The purpose of this is to make it an amount that the other guy could still "push us off our hand" by shoving his stack in. If we raise too much, then we eliminate the possibility of him bluff-reraising, and we might even get top pair to slow down. I was running out of time, so I potted it, not thinking... And of course he shoved, and we were happy until we saw him flip over TT for middle set. Lost the pot, but there still is a lot of valuable information in this hand.

Here is a hand I never would have won if Taylor and Ryan weren't sweating me:
LINK HERE: Hand 4
Raised a red AQo on the button, and the sb called. This guy's numbers were very solid, he was playing about 22/18, a solid aggressive game. We c-bet a J high flop with 2 spades, and he called. The Ks hit the turn, and I had no clue what to do. Taylor and Ryan discussed - I listened to what was going on in their heads. Taylor was emphasizing that the Ks was a scare card and that I needed to bet again. I fired another barrel and the guy folded. Taylor said that he really felt that the guy didn't have a flush draw and that he wouldn't check-call a set. Taylor and Ryan put his range on a small pp or maybe JT. Most importantly, we fired another shell based on the player - we tried to figure out his range of holdings and how he would react to another bet on that turn card. It makes so much sense when I see it, but it'll take me a little time to get used to actively engaging in that kind of thought process myself, to fire another barrell there. I'm gettin it though...

Nothing too out of the ordinary - I was never put to any major difficult decisions. Taylor emphasized another key. We are never putting ourselves in a position to get stacked. We are putting our opponents in that position becuase they are the ones that are having to react to us.

I am finally heading home (sitting in JFK right now) after a four day trip to Chicago and New York. It was very productive from a business end.  I got to see the CR office for the first time, which was great.  Its good to have a physical image of where your partners are working.  Andrew, Taylor and I did some interviews and I think we have found them a good assistant who will be working out of the Chicago office.  She seemed very enthusiastic and should be a good fit. 

Last night was spent in New York where Taylor and I got the experience of sleeping on Ezra's roll out couch.  I slept pretty terrible and I think Taylor slept worse than I did.  To begin with Ezra has this crazy cat who was up all night.  This cat would run around the room with its head cutoff and even jump on Taylor and I while we slept.  There were a few times during the night that we were awoken by this insane animal bounding from my stomach to his.  Then after not sleeping well and getting to bed well after 3AM construction starts at 8AM.  We were awoken to hammering and sawing by the crew as well as intense sunlight that came through the windows.  Needless to say I am glad I only stayed on night and I think Taylor is getting a hotel room for tonight.  

I haven't had a chance to play much the past few days as we have been very busy with meetings.  I am looking forward to getting home and getting settled this weekend.  I think I will put in some good sessions in the next few days as well as spend some time with friends who I haven't seen since New Years.  I am really looking forward to being home.