Project Flying Panther Session #7 - Freerolling Panther

I rolled in to The Oaks Club last night not knowing if I was going to play $30/$60, $15/$30 or $200 Max, but the long list for the $200 Max and an awful looking $30/$60 game of all regulars made it an easy decision.

At 5:45 I dropped $1,000 on the table and bought in feeling sharp and ready to play. A few hands in, I three bet with AQ, turned and A and won a small uncontested pot. Then I three bet 99, bet it all the way, and won another pot where my one remaining opponent folded to my river bet.

5 minutes after that, I won a very nice pot with K9 suited. There was 6 way action for two bets before the flop when the first three board cards came out QJT, I had the second nuts. The great thing about that board is that everyone who is in is likely to have caught some piece of it. The turn and river were a 5 and a 2 and I got paid off nicely by players drawing and players who had made a pair.

I made one last splash with AK on a board of 9 T J K Q and found myself up close to $600 by about 6:15. Sometimes this shit is easy.

It just so happens that 6:15 is when the Wednesday night tournament kicks off. It's a $100 buy in tournament with an $80 rebuy, and after some hemming and hawing I hit and run at the $15/$30 and jumped in to the tournament. We ended up with about 150 entrants, with 20th paying $285 and a first place of $5,880.

After two hands went against me early I lost my first 4,000 tournament chips and had to rebuy for another 4,000 about an hour in. Right after I rebought I made an all in semibluff with 65 on a Q43 flop and ran into a set of 3's. But after a 2 on the turn and a brick on the river I was back in business.

The players I played against in this tournament were awful. They made it so easy for me by making little bluffs when they didn't have it, big all ins when they did and folding anything but very solid hands to my continuation bets. I ran my stack up to about 40,000 with relative ease, never having more than half my stack at risk on any one hand

Then some of my chips got blinded away. Then I lost about 11K with QQ vs K5. Then I lost another 10K with AT vs AK. Before I knew it the blinds were 1K/2K and I only had 10K left.

At that point we went down from 4 tables to 3 and I raced over to my new table, shouting to the dealer to deal me in just at the last second. "Oh shit, I'm going to go broke on this hand after running over here like that" I thought. But when I looked down at 87 of hearts two off the button, I wasn't going to let it go.

I moved all in and when it got to the big blind he asked for an exact count. I had 9,200 total. He counted out enough chips to call. Then put them back on his stack. Then counted them out again. Then put them back on his stack. He held his cards like he was going to fold them and then put them back. "Jesus Christ man! Do something so we can get on with out lives! We can't just all sit here starting at you like you're a God damn Rembrant!" is what I was thinking and what I am going to say the next time this situation comes up. Finally he made the call. He turned over JT with one heart meaning I was about 40% to win. I flopped a flush (Hooray!), but the river out a 4th heart on the board and I was done (boo!).

I was super pissed as I waked out the door and here's why. I had this run of 5 tournaments in a row at the Oaks where I finished between 13th and 15th in tournaments with 60-90 players that paid 10 spots. FIVE IN A ROW between 13th and 15th. I've played a few tournaments since then, including one cash, but I immediately threw that out the window mentally and went into "What is it with these fucking Oaks tournaments that I keep coming up just short of the money!? Why am I bothering with this stupid shit!? These players are awful and I can't catch one break! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

By the time I was at my car I had regained my perspective.

I'd just won $588, and then I lost $180. This is not a catastrophe. I still made $408 in a little over 4 hours. By the time I got home I was back in good spirits. I'm $2,827 to the good for The Project and 25% of the way to my planned target of 100 hours.

I'll be back in action Sunday night - perhaps with some $40/$80 at Bay 101.

Project Flying Panther Session #6 - Bluffing Panther

My sister and her family came to visit over the holiday weekend and I started talking to my brother in law (one of the Project Flying Panther investors) about poker. He's been reading my blog and asked my why I haven't posted about more bluffs. The plain and simple reason is the types of bluffs I pull the trigger on are very boring - but effective.

I played about 3 hours of $15/$30 yesterday and one bluff that fits both the boring and effective category came up about an hour in to the session. I was in the small blind some with some piece of shit hand that I've forgotten. There were two callers, I threw in one chip to complete the small blind and the big blind checked his option. The dealer scooped $4 out of the pot for the rake leaving $56 in the pot.

 The flop came down A 9 2 and we all checked. I was all set to check again when another 2 hit the turn. "Ah ha!" I thought. This card didn't help me at all, but it was also unlikely to help my opponents either. Even better was that if anyone had an ace they probably would have bet it on the flop and there was a fair chance someone might have bet a 9. On top of the it was completely plausible that I as the small blind could have a 2 in my hand. Plus is was a small pot that everyone seemed to have given up on. And I was only risking $30 to pick up $56. Put that all together and this was just about the best bluff of all time! Sure enough I fired out and everyone folded.

This might not sound too exciting, but if you can find a spot like this once an hour and break even the rest of the time you'll make $56 an hour - a killing at $15/$30.

It was all down hill from there...

I spent the first two hours fluctuating from -$500 to -$100 and back down again. I was at about -$200 when a very odd hand come up.

An early position player raised and I called with 55 (a marginal call at best). A player behind me called as did both blinds and we took the flop 5 way. A 5 of spades was the first card off the deck along with a 2 of spades and a red K. The original raiser bet, and I decided to get deceptive and play my hand fast - I raised, the big blind called, the original raiser 3 bet, I capped it and we took the turn 3 handed.

The turn was a 7 of spades and the original raiser bet into me. This was very, very odd. The way I played my hand was consistent with a flush draw and if I didn't have that I had to have a big hand. How was this guy betting in to me? The only thing I could think of was that he had a king of spades and another spade in his hand or maybe the ace of spades to go along with a king. I just called and the player in the big blind went all in for his last two chips. I was hoping for a board pair in the river, but instead I got a 4th spade, the jack. My opponent bet again and even though I was getting a little better than 13 to 1 to call, I folded.

My opponent took the side pot and then it came time to show for the main pot. Normally in this spot he would just roll over his hand. Instead he said "I'm showing in turn for the main pot" meaning he wanted the other player to show his hand first. "FUCK!" I thought. "That means he does not have a spade." The other guy didn't want to show his hand either. "Double fuck! He doesn't have a spade either!?" Sure enough after 30 seconds of the dealer, the big blind and the original raiser talking about it (two of the three were not native English speakers) the big blind showed A3 of diamonds and the other player showed AK with no spades. GACK!

I made another set on the very next hand and lost to the same guy. A little while later I called a raise with KT off and a shortly after that I 3 bet someone with A9 off. These are not strong plays and I realized I was not playing well. Even though the game was still good and I'd been planning to stay for at least another hour I packed it in for the night. I lost $797 for the session.

But the good news is after 6 sessions of Project Flying Panther I've played 21 hours, I'm ahead $2,419 which means I'm making $115.19 an hour. The bad news is this sample size is so small that these results are nothing more than a slight indication that I should expect to win. In fact if I put in 100 hours over The Project I'll end up playing about the same number of hands that I used to play on one busy Sunday when I was playing online. Amazing!

Project Flying Panther Session #5 - $30/$60 Panther

After a layoff of over a week I rolled in to the Oaks Club tonight feeling great mentally and physically. I spent the weekend in a house near the Russian River with my family and a few close friends. After many hours of slowly floating around the river over the weekend and a 20 minute nap on my lunch break today I was fresh and ready to go.

I got called almost immediately for a seat in the $15/$30 and by the time I'd played 10 hands I was ahead $400. Hot Damn! Sometimes this shit is easy. You get pocket kings, bet the whole way, people call you, and no body makes anything better than one pair. But over the next hour I dribbled most of it back.

Meanwhile I had my eye on the $30/$60 game the next table over. I've been a little conflicted about moving up. The whole point of Project Flying Panther is to play bigger games, but I've been doing so well at $15/$30 that part of me wants to keep pounding away at those players while I have the momentum.

After 15 minutes of hemming and hawing I racked up my 220, $5 yellow chips and traded them in for 110 $10 green chips. I dropped 9 $100 bills on the pile and I was all set to go with $2,000 in front of me.

On the second hand I got dealt QJ of diamonds. Immediately I felt the adrenaline and not the "Get some! Let's do this!" type of adrenaline either. It was the "Oh fuck, how much am I going to have to put in the pot if I lose this hand?" type. The answer to that question was $210 - I raised before the flop, got 5 callers, flopped a queen and lost to a straight on the river. Sometimes this shit ain't easy.

The last time I played $30/$60 at the Oaks was in 2009 when I was at my absolute peak as a limit hold'em player. I remember sitting down, feeling totally comfortable and smugly declaring to myself how awesome it was to be the best player in the biggest game at the Oaks. I would never have claimed to be the best player that plays at the Oaks, only that that day I looked at the 9 guys at the table and saw 9 players that I was sure were not as good as me. The stakes didn't register as much then either as I'd been playing $50/$100 6 handed against some real ball busters online - in fact sometimes it was a $50/$100 game, a $30/$60 and two $15/$30 games all going at once so one $30/$60 seemed like nothing.

Fast forward to today a few hands after my QJ hand and I looked down at AA. Boom, more adrenaline and my heart started racing. I totally expected this. It's how you feel when you move up and get a big hand. I also knew for certain that after maybe 45 minutes or an hour I'd settle in and feel comfortable. And that's exactly what happened. But for this hand I was still in the irrational fear zone.

An early position player raised to $60, I made it $90 with my AA, the big blind called and we took the flop 3 way. The board came out 9 6 4 with two hearts and one spade. After two checks, I bet and got two calls. The turn came a 7 of spades and the original raiser bet into me. A bet like that is representing some improvement on the turn or a slow played big hand

At this point the initial jolt I got when I first looked at my hand had not cleared. My body was still in fight or flight mode and when my opponent bet into me, my body dropped a shitload of chemicals into my system. On fear scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being taking a dump while reading Garfield and 10 being having a grizzly bear outside your tent when you've just rubbed a salmon all over your body, I was at about an 8. I'm not saying it makes sense to feel that way, just that part of my brain was going absolutely apeshit.

But the good news is, this has happened to me many, many times and the other part of my brain took about 1/2 of a second to come to the conclusion that my opponent was much more likely to betting a hand that could beat AK or AQ - but not AA - in the hopes that I had big cards. That part of my brain was still in control and with all the calm I could muster, I slid 12 chips in the pot. The big blind folded, the original raiser called my raise, check called the river and I took down a pot that got me back in the black.

The next two hours were super boring. I got a lot of shitty cards, won just enough small pots to stay even and tried to get a feel for my opponents. The game got a little worse as two weak players were replaced with solid ones. I decided it was time to go after one more round. Happily I beat out an unknown hand with 99 at showdown and took down QQ with QT after I turned a straight.

In the end I booked a $117 win at $15/$30 and a $468 win at $30/$60 - both small wins for the stakes, but still some nice money away from the table.. My $10,000 starting bankroll is now at $13,216.

Another mini vacation will put Project Flying Panther on hold over the holiday weekend, but I should be back in action on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday depending on how I feel.

Sleeping Panther

After a couple of strong sessions I'm eager to get back to the tables, but real life is going to intrude. I'm in L.A. for business through Wednesday and then off to the Russian River for a mini vacation on Friday night through Sunday. There's some small chance I might sneak out on Thursday, but if not it will be July before I find myself back at the tables.

Project Flying Panther Session #4 - Rising Panther, Falling Panther

Coming off my last session at The Oaks on Wednesday, I rolled in on Friday full of confidence and ready to go. After about an hour of uneventful low stakes Omaha, I made my way to the $15/$30 game, slammed ten $100 bills on the table, and said "Who want's some bitches!? Come and get it!" while pounding my chest. Ok, maybe it was more a silent placing of ten $100's and a quiet chair scootch up to the table.

I got put to the test right away. On my second hand, I got dealt KQ and put in a raise. The player in the big blind has been there every time I've played $15/$30 during Project Flying Panther and he's sort of been my nemesis. He's a generally solid player, but he tends to over do it on the deceptive plays - lots of slow plays, check raises and seemingly random bets out of no where. He's giving up a lot of value, but it makes him tough to read. He's also hit a disproportionate number of times against me.

After my raise with KQ, both blinds called and the flop came down Q 5 2, three different suits. They both checked, I bet, the small blind folded and my nemesis check raised. "Ah ha!" I thought, "I bet he has a worse queen or is on a bluff. I'll just call and raise him on the turn." I was almost 100% sure I had the best hand here. The only hands that could beat me were AA, KK, QQ, AQ, (those would all have 3 bet preflop), Q2, Q5, 52 (all would have folded preflop - maybe Q5 suited would call) and 55 or 22 (captain slow play would have waited for the turn to raise with these). Against everything else I'm way ahead.

The turn was a 3 and my nemesis checked. This seemed very strange, but checking back was not an option, so I slid 6 chips in to the pot. My nemesis, quickly raised. Panther what!? Despite the analysis I went through on the flop, I felt like I was beat here. This would be a very, very strange line for a bluff. In the end I decided that against a tricky opponent it was better to err on the side of calling down, so I called the turn raise and a bet on the river. My nemesis rolled over A4 which was air on the flop and made a straight on the turn. GRRRRR!

I got KQ again on the next hand and lost that one too. I quickly found myself down $250. But I took a deep breath and reminded myself that I was going to play for close to 5 hours and that the cars should all even out.

It did not even out; it took a massive turbo in the right direction. I raised QJ, flopped a Q and rivered a J against two players who called all the way. I got AA in a 5 way pot where everyone put in 4 bets preflop, the flop came king high, and the turn and river were both total bricks. I flopped a small set in a multi way pot. I made another two pair that held up. That all went down in about 45 minutes and I found myself up $600.

Then came the queen hand of the session (In bike racing the 'Queen Stage' is the most prestegious stage, so I think of the biggest hand of the day as the queen hand sometimes - it's dorky). By this time there were two guys who were losing their ass, who both bought in for another $1,000, ordered double shots of scotch and announced they were going to go apeshit.

Shortly after that I got dealt KK, there was a raise and a retaise (from one of the drinkers) and I capped it. We took the flop 5 way and it came down K 8 3 (ZING!). There was a bet, a raise and a reraise before the action got to me! WHAT!? I am not used to having top set on a dry board and facing a bet, raise and reraise in front of me so I wasn't exactly sure what to do. I had about 2 seconds to decide before I gave off information so I opted to just call.

We took the turn 4 way and a J came out. The drinker to my right bet, I raised, and the drinker to my left called. The river was an 8 making me a full house and they both called me, with the drinker on my right rolling over pocket aces before throwing them into the muck. After that hand I was up $1,100 on the session.

I got KK again on the very next hand and lost at show down and then the wheels came off the bus.

This old man on my right went on an absolute tear. He won at least 10 pots in about 30 minutes, including 5 straights (4 of which were gut shots hit on the turn or the river), a couple of full houses and some two pair hands. I got the full force of this rush when my KK, AA, TT and KQ that hit top pair all got chopped down.

On one of those hands, the flop was T 8 4, the turn was a 5 and the river was a J. The old man turned over 67 and said "I had it all the way." Normally I don't say much at the table and I never criticize other players, but I couldn't stop myself. "No you didn't, you hit a gut shot on the turn! You had 7 high on the flop!" The rest of the table joined me in what was actually a pretty warm chuckle.

After the old man was through with me I was winning $300 on the day, but another 45 minutes of sour cards and no pots got me all the way back down to even. There is never a good time for an $1,100 downswing, but having it happen when you're up $1,100 is a pretty good time for it.

But wait! There's more! I got AA again and JJ, and AK and won small pots with all three putting me up $300 with about 30 minutes left to go in my planned session time. Then I picked up AJ, raised, got three bet, and hit a gut shot on the turn to make a straight against AQ.

Winning $500 as the blinds came around I thought about picking up 15 minutes early, but I'd walked in the door planning to play until a set time and I decided to stick it out for one more round.

In the big blind I got dealt, Q7 of spades and the flop came with a queen and two spades. I missed the flush, but the turn was a 7 and the river was a queen. A few hands later I picked up QT of hearts, raised it, got three bet and the flop came down K J 5 with two hearts. I played it very fast, got tons of action, turned an A making me a straight against AK and I took down a nice pot.

When I racked up my chips I was ahead $1,014 for the night. BOOM!!! My $10,000 starting bankroll is at $12,631.

Project Flying Panther Session #3 - Trust it Panther

After a frustrating finish to my session at Bay 101 earlier in the week, I was glad to get off to a good start Wednesday at the Oaks Club.

I walked through the door at exactly 6 o'clock and sat down in a $6/$12 game waiting for my name to get called for either $200 Max or $15/$30. I got dealt 3 hands, won two of them, and got called for $15/$30 at 6:06 up $204 after 6 minutes (Sorry backers, this $204 is outside of the Project Flying Panther stakes).

When I walked over to the $15/$30 there were two empty seats, and 5 players were away from the table. It looked like the game might break before I took a hand, but after a couple of minutes everyone returned.

I bought in for $1,000 and just like at $6/$12 I got off to a strong start. I won a very uninteresting hand with top pair and was winning maybe $100 when I got dealt K4 of spades on the button. Several players limped in in front of my and I called. The flop came down K 9 8 with two spades. There was a bet and I put in a raise. The turn was a brick and I bet again. The river was another king and I got paid off by one player who had who knows what.

By 6:30 I had $1,400 in front of me and I noticed that there were about 120 entrants in the $100 + one $80 rebuy tournament that was just starting. I thought about picking up and going to play the tournament, but decided to stay. "If I had $680 profit in front of me I'd go play" I thought.

By 7:00 after making two pair twice I was sitting with about $1,650 in front of me. I went and asked the tournament director if there was a seat left or if they were taking alternates. There was a seat and I really felt like taking it, but I thought about it some more. I know for a fact that for me there is a better hourly rate at $15/$30. I just needed to keep doing what I was doing and trust it.

The next hand of note came up shortly after. I had 98 of spades in late position, 6 of us took a flop for 1 bet and the board came out 7 6 3 with two diamonds and one spade.The small blind bet, everyone called, I raised with my two overs and a straight draw and everyone called. With 6 of us still in a nice pot was building. The turn was the 2 of spades and it was checked to me. I didn't have anything yet, but I thought to myself "If I bet, no one is folding here - I'm going to get 5 to 1 on my money when a spade or a non diamond 10, 9, 8 or 5 will likely make me the best hand." It was an easy value bet.

The river was a dream card - the 5 of clubs - making the the total nuts. ZING! Even better two people had 4's in their hand and I got two bets from both of them on the river. There was over $600 in that pot (some of which had come from me) and once I stacked my chips I was ahead more than $1,000.

About 7:30 my phone rang. It was my friend E.B. asking if I wanted to get together for a movie or a trip to the Oaks. Here is how that conversation went down.

E.B.: "Hey, do you want to go to the Oaks or go see a movie?"
Me: "I'm at the Oaks"
E.B."Awesome, I...
Me: (as the cards come out) Hold on, I just got a hand. Hold on just a second.
Me:(to myself, looking at my cards) - holy shit, pocket aces.
Me: (to E.B.) - I'll call you back (CLICK!)
Guy Next to Me: "I'll call you back huh? Must be a big hand."
Me: (to myself): Fuck this guy next to me! He just read my hand for the whole table!...oooh ace on the flop! Oooooooooohhh someone betting in to me! 

I played that set of aces fast and got called down by AJ and another player that had who knows what.

Even more good shit happened to me and I found myself with $2,500 in front of me by 7:45. I came back to earth a little, but at 8 I racked up 449 five dollar chips, cashed out a $1,245 profit at the $15/$30, and went to the movies with E.B.

After a great session my $10,000 starting bankroll sits at $11,617 after 10 hours of play. I set a goal to play 12 hours this week so I'll be back in action for 5.5 hours on Friday.

Project Flying Pather Session #2 - Slow Down Panther!

I made my way to Bay 101 last night full of confidence, ready to crush those San Jose turds. As per usual I had a longish wait for the $20/$40 game, but found an open seat in the $2/$3/$5 no limit game.

This game has a max buy in ($500) similar to the 200 Max game at the Oaks ($400), but it plays much bigger. The reason why is there's $10 in the pot when the cards come out instead of $6. That might not seem like a big deal, but those extra dollars have an effect that resonates throughout the hand. A raise preflop might be $20 instead of $12, which means a pot sized bet on the flop might be $60 instead of $35 and a turn bet might be $150 instead of $90.

I spent about 45 minutes at the $2/$3/$5 game and was up about $75 when they called my name for $20/$40. I took one last hand as I racked up my chips and looked down at 77. I thought "Shit! I should have racked up my chips faster, I bet I'm going to go broke on this hand!" But I'm not folding 77 with 120 big blinds in my stack and plenty of chips on the table. I just called the $5, got one call behind me and the button made it $25. It was folded to me and we took the flop heads up.

The flop came down 554, I checked and my opponent checked. I wasn't sure if this was checking a big pair as a trap or just a miss, but it felt a little fishy. The turn was a 6 and given that I had an overpair and a straight draw. Despite my fishy feelings I wasn't checking an over pair with a 10 out redraw. I bet $40 and got called. The river was a 9 and checking was my only move. If I was against big cards I might induce a bluff and if I was against a big pair, I wanted to get to showdown as cheaply as possible. I checked and called a bet of $40 and my opponent turned over KK. GRRRRR! Stupid pocket sevens!

I lost $27 at the $2/$3/$5, and bought in to the $20/$40 for $1,000. I played very well for the first two hours in a great game and found myself up $600. I felt like I was in total control. I made some strong lay downs and was right. I put in some thin value bets and was right. I had a tight read on most of my opponents.

Then the deck turned against me and I turned against myself. There was one player who gave me a ton of trouble and he was actually the worst player in the game. This guy had one move - call. Before the flop - call. On the flop - call. On the turn and river - call, call. If he had the total nuts or a big pocket pair he'd raise, but 75% of the time he was in preflop, and any piece of the flop - meaning as little as 3 to a straight or 3 to a flush or any pair or even one over card - would have him calling all the way. Against a player like this you just need to make some hands, even marginal hands, and you'll get paid off. The last thing you want to do is try to bluff him - DUH!

Unfortunately I had 5 or 6 hands where I had good starting cards, like KQ or AJ that just didn't connect and I'd end up losing to J4 that paired the 4 on the turn. I foolishly kept firing away thinking "he's calling every hand, he can't hit something every time!" but sure enough I missed time after time and he would catch some bullshit piece of the board and call me down. In fact he was crushing the table and there were 3 other players who were ready to blow their top because they kept losing to him as well.

I couldn't have pulled a win out with the cards I got (unless I'd left earlier), but I certainly could have lost a lot less. I know I could have saved many turn and river bets if I'd slowed down. One of my big strengths as a poker player has always been that I'm much better than my opponents at keeping my emotions out of my decision making at the table, but this time I have to admit that frustration got the better of me on at least a few hands down the stretch.

I had an $1,100 downswing over the course of 2 hours and ended up losing $486 at the $20/$40 and a total of $513 on the night. My $10,000 starting bankroll now sits at $10,372. I'll be back in action at the Oaks on Wednesday or Thursday.