King Me!!!!

BJJII and I decided to make a run to the Horseshoe-Bossier City this past Friday night. BJ's friend Ben was in town and also made the trip with us. Ben is a great guy and an awesome poker resource. Right now he's a student and making his living off of online poker, you could say that he's living the life. I think he's gonna stay with it after he graduates here in the near future, so anytime I get a chance to pick his brain I jump on it. He, BJ and I had some great strategy conversation on the hour and a half drive over there and I think that really put me into the proper frame of mind for a great live session.

Pulling into the Horseshoe's parking garage I felt mentally ready to take on the live donks. I also felt the "ON" switch click over on my luck box. Literally, I felt lucky! We were immediately seated at a $1/3 table since we had called ahead and had Josh put our names on the list.

Nice start

I hadn't even gotten seated before I was dealt the 2nd best starting hand in Holdem. Literally, I was still standing when I looked at my cards. Without pause I tossed 3 red chips into the pot for a 5xBB raise behind one limper. I got called by a guy in an orange and blue long-sleeved polo(we'll call him Fgators) who only had around $175 in front of him. The flop was Q high and very uncoordinated, Fgators checked to me and I bet $25 into the $30 pot. He came over the top of me for a min raise, and after thinking about it for a second and evaluating his remaining stack size, I pushed all my chips into the middle of the pot.

This was my very first hand and I'm all in! He thought about the situation briefly, folded then let it spill that he had Q-9o. That's a great piece of information for future reference. I think to myself, "Welcome to the game, sir!" and settle in for a great session of cards. I immediately straddle on the next hand to build on this loose table image that I've walked into.

Expertly played, sir!

My next play is rather questionable, but it was against Fgators (who I had quickly figured out was a donk) and my hand (kicker) was concealed. I had A-Jo in the BB and 4 people limped into the pot and the SB completed. I check here almost always due to the fact that A-Jo is such a trap hand. I didn't vary from my standard play in this spot.

The flop was J-9-7r, which wasn't the best looking flop for my hand, but I definitely think that testing the waters was fine in this situation. I led out for $10 after the SB checked to me and got 2 callers before Fgators made it $35 to go from the cutoff. This should probably have been a fold for me, but the pot still wasn't too huge and I didn't think that I was breaking into any commitment thresholds w/ my call. I called to await further action by the CO and to see if either of the 2 callers would hang around. Both of the flop callers folded and I'm left heads up with Fgators.

The turn was a 6 and I check-called $20 thinking that I'm probably behind, but for $20 I couldn't fold in this spot. The river was an Ace giving me Aces Up and I looked over at my opponent's stack to gauge what my river bet would be. He only had $25 left in front of him and my dreams of winning a truly massive pot were crushed. I put him AI and he calls w/ his flopped 2 top two pair (Jacks up.)

I sure heard it from my pals when I stacked this pot, but it wasn't the first time that I had sucked out in my life. I was disappointed w/ myself, I had completely ignored the commitment thresholds that were set by my opponent's smaller stack and really felt that I had grossly misplayed my hand. He was in the 4 seat at the time though and seeing his stack was very difficult from the 7 seat that I was sitting in. If it were anyone else but Fgators, I probably would have quickly folded on the flop.

Yep, that's all of 'em

We had been playing for about 3 hours or so and my stack had grown to ~$500. I had the table covered and had 2 total rocks on my immediate left who I gave a lot of respect to due to the fact that one of my buddies who happened to be there had pointed them out to me as regulars. Now when I say they were tight, I mean they squeaked when they put money into the pot. The 1 seat was really loose-passive, the 2 seat was now Fgators, the 3 seat was Fgator's wife who we (my pals and I and the two rocks on my left) had stacked multiple times only to have her reload again and again for $100. The 4 seat was Ben, followed by BJ. I was in the 7 seat, an Asian man was in the 8 seat, a cowboy in the 9 seat and an older cowboy was in the 10 seat.

I had had a really good card distribution for the day, I had stacked Fgator's wife w/ Aces once and consistently had raising hands spread throughout the afternoon. When I looked down to another pair of Kings, I made it $15 to go behind BJ's UTG+1 limp. The cowboy in the 9 seat called, as well as Fgators in the SB.

The flop was so beautiful, K-6-5 rainbow! YAHTZEE!!! Fgators checked to me, since I had the board crippled I figured that I would weak lead for $20 and take down the $50 pot. When the cowboy called behind me I knew that he had to have a good piece of that flop. He was around $250 deep after his $20 call. I wanted to jump up and dance a jig when Fgators came over the top of me for a check-raise. When he made it $70 to go I realized that I was actually going to play a big pot w/ this flopped set of Kings.

Now I started thinking about how to keep the cowboy in the hand and not lose any of the potential business that I had going on at this point. I knew he was tight and would fold easily, so I banged the table with my shuffling chips just as I got check-raised. I paused for some Hollywood effect, and then counted out the $50, which I, with a tinge of disgust, tossed into the pot. The cowboy came along! Yee Haww!!

The turn could have been better; it was the 4 that put 2 diamonds on the board. Fgators immediately pushed for $132. I was kind of nervous about the straight draw getting there, but I knew that I could never fold top set in that spot. I repushed to put the cowboy all in and he reluctantly called w/ his flopped set of 5s! I'll give it to him, he knew something was up, I could see it in his eyes, but he couldn't fold a set in that spot. Fgators turns over 6-5o for bottom 2 pair on the flop. They're both drawing stone cold dead on the flop and just for good measure, my favorite dealer Kathy turns over the case King to give me quads on the river!

Enough

Not long after this, the LP player in the 1 seat went broke, as well as the contributing couple that had continually re-bought all afternoon. The remaining players looked around at each other for a second, determined that the loose action was gone, then decided to find greener pastures.

It was kind of slow for a Friday night at the Shoe and the seats weren't being filled (it was only 7pm.) There were nothing but regulars filling the other tables, so my buddies and I talked about heading over to the El Dorado to see if the action was any better over there. Upon further thought, BJ and I decided to go home to our wives and we dropped Ben off at a nice restaurant with some of his friends so that he can do what single guys do. I had netted a $670 profit in 4.5 hours and felt great! This was quite a relief after having lost in the previous 4 live sessions that I had played.

Once home, I realized that I had drank too many Red Bulls and couldn't sleep. With my wife passed out on the couch, I cranked up an online session of $100NL on Bodog. Within an hour and 15 minutes I had picked up $143. It should have been a +3 buy in session, but a guy hit a 3 outer on me on the river after we gotten all the money in on the flop. I'll take a one buy in win in just over an hour though; it's much better than a sharp stick in the eye! Despite a horrible start to the month when I lost $500 at the Shoe, the month has really turned around and I have gotten back into the black for a nice little profit on the month. Hopefully I don't blow it in the next 3 days!

Hopefully I'll keep running goot and keep the winning trip reports coming!

Bodog Poker Blogger Tourney #2

Filed in archive Internet Poker by David Aydt on September 11, 2025

Info from this site: Keep your poker face.com

Bodog... er NewBodog.com (thanks to the wonderful people that are taking advantage of legal loopholes because of the UIGEA) is staging the second part of its Online Poker Blogger Tournament.

Bodog, well known for its soft bonuses and even softer ring games, is putting up $125 in tournament credits in addition to the money put up by your fellow bloggers to compete for. Again, thanks to the wonderfully vague UIGEA, its become difficult for players to transfer funds from the bigger sites such as PokerStars or Full Tilt to compete.

But, who doesn't like free money? So, if you have the means check out the email invite below to participate (for poker bloggers only please):

Bodog is pleased to invite online poker bloggers to play in it's first ever Poker Blogger Tournament with added prize money courtesy of Bodog.

Bodog is adding a total of $125 in bonus money to the tournament. If you are one of the last 5 players to be eliminated prior to being paid out by the standard payout structure, you will get your buy-in returned by way of a $10 bonus. If you finish 2nd in the tournament you will receive a $25 bonus. And if you finish first, Bodog will give you a $50 bonus.

This tournament is Bodog's way of acknowledging poker blogger's contribution to the great game of poker.

The tournament will run weekly on Tuesday evenings and will require a password for entry that all bloggers can promote within their community.

Details of tournament:
• Dates Remaining: Sept 11, 18, 25 and Oct 2, 2025
• Tournament Name: "Online Poker Blogger Tournament" at Bodog
• Entry Password: bodogblogger
• Buy-in + fee: $10 + $1
• Starting Chips: 3000 (Double Stack)
• Payout: Standard Bodog payout structure
• Bonuses:
o T$50 bonus paid to 1st place finisher.
o T$25 bonus paid to 2nd place finisher.
o T$10 bonus paid to the 5 players that are eliminated prior to payouts.
 These bonuses will be awarded within 24hrs of the tournament completion.
 T$ = Tournament Credits. These can be used as a buy in to almost all scheduled tournaments at Bodog and have a ratio to cash of 1:1.
 T$ can also be combined with cash to buy in to tournaments.
• Day of week: Tuesdays
• Start time: 8:35pm ET

Bodog has committed to run this tournament every Tuesday through October 2nd. If participation warrants it, we'll be able to keep it running and possibly increase the prizes and/or turn this into a poker league with an ongoing leader board!

If you haven't played at the Bodog Poker Room before, please download and install the free software client at:

New Bodog

"The important thing is to keep playing, to play against weak opponents and to play
for big stakes."- Warren Buffet

This is my motto for online poker. In fact, I might just make it my signature
statement. Warren is speaking of playing bridge in this situation, but boy, does it
ever apply to poker!

"The important thing is to keep playing," if I don't have a bankroll because I blew
it on playing some game that was out of my league, I'm out of the game and can't
continue to make money. Taking shots is one thing, but over estimating your
abilities and over extending your bankroll is just arrogant. Spending your bankroll
is akin to being a quitter, IMHO. Bankroll management is key in our game, if you
don't have any tools you can't do any work. Our Bankroll is the tool of our trade.
No money, no play, it's that simple.

"To play against weak opponents," Many people have ego problems that keep leading
them to play tougher and tougher games. I guess that their motivation is different
than mine. My motivation is to make money at a hobby that I enjoy, not to beat the
best players in the world. I think that eventually one will lead to the other, but
I'm not going to risk a substantial portion of my bankroll against players who have
developed their game far beyond mine. "You can sheer a sheep many times, but only
skin it once" has a key thought in it that you may not readily see. I'm looking
to sheer sheep, not fight wolves! That's why I don't play my current stakes on
some of the more populated sites. I'm a 4 lb bass in a 2-acre pond where I'm
currently playing, but if I were to move over to Poker Stars... well, a 4 lb bass is
snack food in one of those games. Yes, a Brian Townsend who is driven by ego to
conquer the game will run up the gamut of the poker world faster than me and will
probably always be a better poker player than me, I'm okay with that. I just want
my little piece of the pie on a steady and consistent basis.

"And to play for big stakes." This is kind of a see rules 1 & 2 statement, if you
manage your bankroll and stay in the game and you consistently play against weaker
players with the occasional, calculated shot taken to move up in the poker world,
eventually you will play higher and higher stakes that will give you a bigger and
bigger return. 8 months ago I was playing $10NL with a $24 Bankroll. This was the
smallest stakes game that was available to me and I was consistently playing weaker
opponents. In the last 8 months I have moved up to $100NL and I still feel that I
am one of the best players on the site and stakes that I am playing. Do I want to
move up to $400 and $600NL, yes, when I'm ready and when my bankroll is large enough
to sustain the variance of that stake. Without bankroll management, I am likely to
become just another shooting star.

That's my $0.02 on how this snippet of Buffetology relates to poker.

It’s been well over a month and a half since I have been to my favorite card room, the Horseshoe-Bossier City . After the hit that my ego took when I went down to Biloxi, MS, I decided to slow down a bit and take some time off from the live felt. I thought that I might be a little rusty with my reading of tells, but I ended up picking up on some things, but wasn’t as sharp on it as I had been the last time that I visited the Shoe.

There were two changes at the Shoe that I noticed. The first was a flat screen added at the back of the room, this flat screen was much bigger than the rest of the flat screens, and a little lower down on the wall. I guess this was so that the seated players near the back of the room would be able to watch TV w/o having to strain their necks while looking way up near the ceiling. It was a nice addition to the room.

The second change was that the room had went from a $1/2 NL structure, to a $1/3 NL structure. The house does this for one primary reason; it allows them to drop the first dollar of rake much quicker than a $1/2 game will. As a poker player, this raise in stakes actually creates a slightly larger game, but it also brings the pre-flop raises back into a normal range relative to the big blind. This may be a temporary phenomenon, but the pre-flop raise size was 4 to 7x the BB on almost every hand versus the 5 to 10x for a $1/2 game. Basically, people are buying in for the same amount or more, and they haven’t adjusted their betting sizes up to match the new structure. The biggest example of this comes in a 7 way limped pot that now holds $21 vs the $14 of a $1/2 structure. The standard flop bet is still $10, which is now half the pot, versus a bet of ¾ of the pot. This creates a situation where drawing hands are more valuable. I actually like the adjustment as it allows a good player to play for slightly higher stakes, while everyone else is still betting like it is a $1/2 game.

The session started off nicely, the 2nd hand dealt to me was pocket 8s, and despite the warnings going off in my head, I just over limped them in the high jack. The flop was K- J- 7r and it checked around to me and I just checked right along w/ everyone else at the table. The turn was an off suit 3 and when it checked around to me again I bet $10 into the $15 pot. The button and SB folded and the BB min-raised me to $20. Everyone in between folded back to me and I just smooth called hoping to see a cheap showdown with him having a 7 or a bluff or I might be able to spike an 8 on the river. Sure enough, the 8 fell on the river and the villain checked to me again, I fired a $25 milking bet into the pot and he made a crying call w/ his lonely pair of Kings from the BB. “Nice slow play buddy!” Mark me as up $50 for my opening hand!

I raised behind some limpers w/ pocket 9s or 10s a few times, only to see four-handed flops of A-K-7. Well, the 7 may be off, but there was definitely an Ace and a King on every flop when I held 9s or 10s and when your 4 handed w/ a MPP on that kind of flop, you never fire a continuation bet, unless you’re some kind of maniac!

I over limped my favorite hand, 63 from the CO, and saw a multi way flop of A45 . Well, 63 is my absolute favorite hand, but a suited 6-3 will do. A lady in the 1 seat fired $15 into the pot and when the action folded to me I made it $45 to go. The button and blinds folded and the 1 seat called the additional $30. The turn was the 10 , and after the 1 seat checked to me, I fired a full stack of reds into the pot earning the fold from my opponent. The 2 seat began giving the lady some pointers about how I was playing, but from what I could hear, he had no clue of the depth of my game. I got up from the table to put this hand into my voice recorder because I didn’t want the table to know that I was capable of such a strong semi-bluff.

After folding for an hour or so due to K-3o’s and 8-4s’s and the like, I decided to make a move and loosen up my table image a bit. With the 64 in MP2, I open-raised to $10 and got called by the standard 4 callers. The flop was on my side as it fell A87, giving me a flush draw w/ a gut shot str8 draw. The lady in the 1 seat once again led into the pot, this time for $10. I raised it to $50 from the 5 seat and once again the 1 seat is my only caller. The turn is a total brick, and when she checked to me again, I blasted another $100 stack of red chips into the pot. She folded a little quicker this time and I triumphantly flipped my semi-bluff over and ask for the dealer to reveal the river card for me. It would have filled up my gut-shot which would have been the go card for a monster pot for me. Too bad I bet her out of the hand on the turn, but the result was what I was looking for, I showed down a non-premium hand that I played aggressively and won. Then it was back to folding.

Unfortunately, the table roster turned over 75% within the next hour or so, and I was still very card dead and folding every hand dealt to me. I did win some small hands out of the blinds, but they were relatively inconsequential. The value of my shown bluff was quickly diluted as the players rotated out, and I was back to square one as a rock! Seats 1 & 2 left, and a lady that we’ll call Ms Debbie transferred over to the 2 seat from another table. She was sitting $550 deep, and had a no-nonsense look to her.

With my squeaky tight image, I raised to $15 from the CO w/ K J getting the standard 3 callers to put the pot at $60. The flop came K-4-2r and Ms Debbie led out into me for $30. I felt like this was some kind of information bet and I wanted to test the waters to find out where she was at. I counted out $90 and saw that she was already reaching for some calling chips, I probably should have taken this as a sign of weakness, but I hadn’t played much with her as of yet and I wanted to control the pot a bit and so I just called her $30. The turn was an uncomfortable 10 and we both checked the turn. The river was a 9 and she led out again for $50. I thought maybe that she had paired her kicker and caught up, so I once again just called her down. She saw my hand and admitted that she was out-kicked, and I was just perplexed at how she could be out-kicked by my K-J on that board. When I questioned her, her response was classic, which set the tone for the rest of the hands that I played against her. She said, “I hit two pair a lot!” And she meant it! She claimed that she was on a card rush since 5am that morning and it was 6pm. Boy, was I itching to get involved with her now!

Another hour or so went by with me folding or raising, and my won pots were small ones. Many pots I would just let go after my pre-flop raise; the standard 3 players would call me, and the flop would come all over cards to my MPP. A-Q had become my standard “premium” hand, and I can’t tell you how much I really hate this hand! Anyway, I’m dealt another AQ in late position and bump it to $15 and once again get the standard 3 callers, including the now deep-stacked Ms. Debbie. She had grown her stack to ~$800 when this hand came up. I was ~$550 deep at the start of this hand. The flop was Q 54 and she led into me for $30. Due to the last hand that I played w/ her, I figured that she was out-kicked once again and so I made it $90 to go. Everyone folded around to her and she called, so far so goot! As she calls she questions me, “Do you have pocket Kings over there?” The turn was a very scary card, it brought the J which fit into her 2 pair range and kind of spooked me a bit. I checked behind on the turn to control the size of the pot and to induce her to bet the river with a weaker queen. The river was another bad card, an off suit 10, and once again she led the river into me, this time for $100. I called due to the fact that I had induced a bluff, but unfortunately the river had paired her kicker. “NH, Lady!”

This frustrated me a bit, and I lost another pot w/ QQ against a turned set. Fortunately for me, live players don’t bet in increments of the pot, nor do they raise accordingly. Min-raises are standard and the river bets following a turn min-raise are usually the size of the initial turn bet. “Reload, table 6!!”

With about $290 sitting in front of me and Ms Debbie sitting uber-deep at about $1,600 in the BB, I’m dealt KQ in MP2. UTG and MP1 limp in, I decide to play this one different and not raise to $15 with it, especially since a $15 raise only swells the pot and doesn’t insure a heads up pot. Most of the rest of the table limps in and we see a flop of QJ3 . Ms Debbie leads out for $10, MP1 calls $10 and I raise it to $50. The rest of the table folds out to Ms. Debbie, she calls and the MP1 player folds. Pot = ~$130. The turn is an off suit 7 and she checks to me, I feel that I am once again ahead of her range, especially since her range includes many flush draws and Qs with worse kickers. I reach over and push out a stack of reds for a $100 bet and, in return, she digs around in her monster stack to find 2 black $100 chips for a min-raise! With the history that I had w/ her I didn’t hesitate to push out my remaining $140. She instantly called the additional $40 and totally floored me with her hand, I never once put her on this, especially since she had just checked her option in the BB. I mean, I’ve got her pegged as a player who overplays top pair, chases on occasion and generally is flying by the seat of her pants. She then enlightens me with her brilliant knowledge of poker tells, “Sweetie, when someone bets their black chips, that means that they plan on getting them back!” Wow, and you play that bad? Thanks for the insight! Her hand? Pocket Aces that she checked into a multi-way limped pot!

I’ll admit that I grossly over-played my hand, but this is the worst example of playing pocket aces that I have ever seen! Then to feel so confident about her one pair is just plain sickening. I played my hand like I had >2 pair, and she puts all her money in against this betting line w/ confidence. Geez! I wish that I would
have brought more money to the casino! The river was a brick and I’m sent packing with another poker horror story.

Thinking back on this final hand, I’m less sick about my decision than I was when it first happened. I had her pegged as a certain type of over-player, and I got my wish by getting all of my money in against her, but for once she woke up w/ and once again grossly misplayed a very strong hand. Here’s to unfortunate circumstances!