Double Trouble with Prim and Harrier - Poker, Sports, Cooking, Gardening, Mixed Drinks and more

Tonight's session was a little disappointing considering how much potential it had, but surprisingly, most of that potential came from the games that don't usually have much of a role in my grind. I'd say this is a good sign.

It started with Courchevel, which got yet another chance, and once again yielded decent returns, at least if we take bounties into account. The cash itself was only a min-cash, shortly before the next ladder, but I had a good stack through several stretches and even briefly took the chip lead, not long before the bubble started approaching.

What happened to that stack? A couple of things, including some card dead phases, but I have saved one slightly annoying hand in particular. There was at least one bounty on the line, and I had a very good starting hand for that window card. The flop already counterfeited the low, but gave me the nut flush. We all know about the risk of that in Omaha-type games. Maybe I should have pushed harder to get my opponent out of the pot. At least I still had enough sense to find a fold on the river.

PokerStars, $3.92 + $0.48 - Courchevel H/L Pot Limit - 250/500 (60 ante) - 5 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

UTG (Hero): 38,439 (77 bb)
CO: 1,694 (3 bb)
BU: 34,653 (69 bb)
SB: 8,742 (17 bb)
BB: 29,320 (59 bb)

Pre-Flop: (1,050) 3♥ Hero is UTG with 9♦ J♥ 2♠ T♦ A♥
Hero raises to 1,000, CO 3-bets to 1,634 (all-in), 1 fold, SB calls 1,384, BB calls 1,134, Hero calls 634

Flop: (6,836) 3♥ 2♥ 6♥ (4 players, 1 all-in)
SB checks, BB bets 500, Hero raises to 1,500, SB folds, BB calls 1,000

Turn: (9,836) Q♥ (3 players, 1 all-in)
BB checks, Hero bets 5,500, BB calls 5,500

River: (20,836) 6♣ (3 players, 1 all-in)
BB bets 20,626 (all-in), UTG (Hero) folds

Total pot: 20,836

Showdown:
BB shows 6♦ 6♠ 4♦ 4♥ 8♣ (HI: four of a kind, Sixes; LO: 8-6-4-3-2)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 45%, Flop: 56%, Turn: 54%, River: 50%)

CO shows J♦ 7♣ 3♠ A♣ 2♣ (HI: two pair, Sixes and Threes; LO: 7-6-3-2-A)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 55%, Flop: 44%, Turn: 46%, River: 50%)

BB wins 17,418
CO wins 3,418

Another hand I saved happened earlier on, with a more pleasant conclusion - even though I totally misread my opponent. With their betting pattern, I put them on a pre-flop set, which I know is vulnerable. This is why I gave that hand a chance with its straight and flush potential around the window card, and then pushed it when I got a wrap and a (not very good) flush draw. Turns out my opponent had acies and a nut flush draw that dominated mine instead, but at least the straight draw still delivered. Not sure if that hand was played so well.

PokerStars, $3.92 + $0.48 - Courchevel H/L Pot Limit - 50/100 (12 ante) - 6 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

UTG: 2,988 (30 bb)
MP: 4,347 (43 bb)
CO: 2,666 (27 bb)
BU: 3,922 (39 bb)
SB (Hero): 3,667 (37 bb)
BB: 3,366 (34 bb)

Pre-Flop: (222) T♣ Hero is SB with 8♥ J♣ 7♦ Q♦ 9♣
2 players fold, CO calls 100, 1 fold, Hero raises to 200, BB 3-bets to 700, 1 fold, Hero calls 500

Flop: (1,572) T♣ 6♣ K♥ (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets 1,572, Hero raises to 2,955 (all-in), BB calls 1,082 (all-in)

Turn: (6,880) J♠ (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (6,880) 7♠ (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: 6,880

Showdown:
SB (Hero) shows 8♥ J♣ 7♦ Q♦ 9♣ (HI: a straight, Nine to King)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 37%, Flop: 42%, Turn: 82%, River: 100%)

BB shows 6♠ A♠ 9♠ 5♣ A♣ (HI: a pair of Aces)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 63%, Flop: 58%, Turn: 18%, River: 0%)

SB (Hero) wins 6,880

Another minor success happened in 2-7 Single Draw of all things, where I also got a mincash with a few bounties. Given my poor results in this format so far, any kind of profit in the first game I tried after a long time is a welcome sight. I still need to get a feel for the ranges, a couple of my hands were better than I gave them credit for, which also led to me folding a few winners at times.

Courchevel may get another chance tomorrow evening, but will otherwise likely continue to be a "Sunday game". 2-7 SD will probably be tried a few times as well, competing with Five Card Draw to be the side game to Badugi, though it is quite possible that neither of these two will qualify in the end.

Originally posted by Harrier88
Tonight's session was a little disappointing considering how much potential it had

I guess I hadn't seen nothing yet... today's Courchevel earned good stacks and good bounties yet again, but finished a few places before the bubble. The fact that the bounties allowed me to easily freeroll the tournament is of little consolation.

The turning point may have been this hand with a correct read gone wrong, in contrast to one of yesterday's hands, which was the opposite case. I jumped in with a rundown hand around the window card, hoping for some nut straight potential. Maybe this was a bad idea already. In any case, the flop gave me trips, and my opponent got frisky. I knew about the danger of a full house, but... would they really have a 6? I expected overplayed trips instead, and thought that I could stay ahead with a collection of the best available kickers in the deck.

My read was correct, and while my opponent did have an ace kicker too, I was still slightly ahead. They most certainly did not have a full house... yet.

PokerStars, $3.92 + $0.48 - Courchevel H/L Pot Limit - 100/200 (25 ante) - 6 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

UTG (Hero): 16,713 (84 bb)
MP: 3,000 (15 bb)
CO: 3,000 (15 bb)
BU: 8,628 (43 bb)
SB: 7,783 (39 bb)
BB: 2,855 (14 bb)

Pre-Flop: (450) J♥ Hero is UTG with J♦ K♠ T♠ Q♣ A♠
Hero raises to 400, MP calls 400, 2 players fold, SB calls 300, 1 fold

Flop: (1,550) J♥ 6♥ J♣ (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets 800, MP folds, SB raises to 3,950, Hero raises to 8,000, SB calls 3,408 (all-in)

SB shows 9♦ 9♣ A♦ 7♦ J♠

Turn: (16,266) 7♠ (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (16,266) 4♥ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: 16,266

Showdown:
UTG (Hero) shows J♦ K♠ T♠ Q♣ A♠ (HI: three of a kind, Jacks)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 47%, Flop: 55%, Turn: 26%, River: 0%)

SB shows 9♦ 9♣ A♦ 7♦ J♠ (HI: a full house, Jacks full of Sevens)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 53%, Flop: 45%, Turn: 74%, River: 100%)

SB wins 16,266

The bubble was still a fair bit away, so the game continued for quite a while, with me recovering to a degree. Nevertheless, I missed a spot to get top-level stack, as well as another good bounty. To add insult to injury, this opponent was also the one who took me out just moments before the bubble, which could have been avoided with a win or a split pot right here. So it really was the defining moment.

I wonder if I should avoid getting into spots like these in the first place, or if you simply need to take those risks in Courchevel, which is known to be an "action game". Either way, promising runs in three out of three tournaments played so far certainly pique my interest in this format, even though I have had short-term success in there before and know that it can be misleading. Not sure when we will see some Courchevel magic next, possibly Friday or Sunday.

There should be some 2-7 SD and Badugi tonight, would love to get some cashes to report later on.

The Mother of all Coolers

In 2-7 Single Draw, with me on the right side of it. You almost have to feel sorry for the guy, especially since my hand was a long shot to begin with. Then again, so was his, and it was limped from UTG, something I surely wouldn't do, and going by what I have read about 2-7 SD strategy so far, I shouldn't.

PokerStars, $2.94 + $0.36 - 2-7 Single Draw No Limit - 40/80 (20 ante) - 6 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

UTG: 844 (11 bb)
MP: 2,656 (33 bb)
CO: 1,431 (18 bb)
BU: 2,840 (36 bb)
SB (Hero): 2,440 (31 bb)
BB: 4,517 (56 bb)

Deal: (240) Hero is SB with K♣ A♠ 5♠ 2♦ 7♥
UTG calls 80, 3 players fold, Hero calls 40, BB checks

Draw One: (360) 5♠ 2♦ 7♥ 3♠ 4♦ (3 players)
SB (Hero) draws Kc As, BB draws 4, UTG draws 2
Hero bets 240, BB folds, UTG raises to 744 (all-in), Hero calls 504

Total pot: 1,848

Showdown:
UTG shows 2♥ 7♠ 6♠ 5♥ 4♥ (7-6-5-4-2)
SB (Hero) shows 5♠ 2♦ 7♥ 3♠ 4♦ (7-5-4-3-2)
SB (Hero) wins 1,848

This and another hand earned me some bounties, but not enough to be freerolling. I seemed to have been too card dead to secure a cash, though once again, I suspect that the main problem was me playing too tight rather than having the deal to blame.

I don't think the same can be said about Five Card Draw, which was also played tonight, and I am going against the popular wisdom once again and claim that 5CD is one of the most variance-heavy versions of poker around. The folds I made in there were revealed to be good. the hands just weren't coming for most of the night, and the one pat straight I had got a walk in the BB if I remember correctly. I realize that 2-7 SD can often have very similar problems, but I am still feeling better about that one at the moment.

Badugi was just another troll. A fair amount of double-ups without bounties and then the big stack bully casually gets the hand he needs after drawing 2 when I finally challenge him - again, not long before the bubble.

So those were the current poker updates, I expect we will see some non-poker updates in the next few days too. Poker will likely continue on Wednesday with some more draw games.

TGIF... well, not quite. I signed up for six hours of overtime at work tomorrow morning, perhaps foolishly so. And I have been pretty exhausted throughout most of the week, so there has been no poker since Monday. It's a little annoying, and I am starting to get a little tired of being tired in general, but I'm confident that skipping those days was a better decision than dragging myself to the tables in that condition. I'd say that knowing when not to play is an important part of wider poker strategy too.

Hopefully, this won't mean that I will lose momentum, because we have had some pretty decent runs recently. I think we should see the whole shebang on Sunday again, including Courchevel and the like. In the meantime, I can read up a little on 2-7 Single Draw ranges.

ah the Round The Clock at Partypoker.. :)))

Originally posted by taavi1337
ah the Round The Clock at Partypoker.. :)))

Yes, exactly this! I play those.

How's gardening going?

I harvested a lot of radish, carrot, lettuce and kale from my little upstairs greenhouse.
Especially the kale is growing like an idiot. I harvest the leaves every 4-6 weeks.
The tomato's are blooming and the yellow pepper too.

Very, very healthy

Originally posted by Primrose6789

Originally posted by taavi1337
ah the Round The Clock at Partypoker.. :)))

Yes, exactly this! I play those.

Won $0.22 ticket again, just folded hands when I had like 0.5 blinds and all busted... ♦ easy money ♦

Originally posted by Zeezout
How's gardening going?

I harvested a lot of radish, carrot, lettuce and kale from my little upstairs greenhouse.
Especially the kale is growing like an idiot. I harvest the leaves every 4-6 weeks.
The tomato's are blooming and the yellow pepper too.

Very, very healthy

Great job, Zeezout!

Here´s my gardening update for February

The "nursery"

Here they are: the babies, who were either just born or are still too small to be repotted. WAY more seeds have germinated than expected, the Apocalypse Red, though, hasn´t germinated like last year. But we got plenty of more HOT STUFF and sweet peppers, so it looks like the Bowsers and little Lemmy are VERY determined to become this year´s gardening kings. :f_biggrin::f_ugly:

The "kindergarten"

Here, we have already our "kindergarten" with the "early birds". Some of the peppers germinated early and were already ready for separation and repotting. Here they are - in our little "kindergarten".

The salads are already at "kindergarten"-level too. Gonna leave them in those pots because they will move to the field pretty soon (well, as soon as the weather turns a little bit warmer).

Larry is keeping up with the Bowsers and Lemmy. :f_biggrin::f_wink:

You guys sure make gardening look interesting. Maybe I will get into it myself soon.

Today was supposed to be another big poker day, but while Courchevel had another run that finished within relatively short distance of the bubble, the rest fell flat due to much more frustrating issues:

That's as far as I get when I try to log into Pokerstars now. It's just loading, or pretending to, but nothing ever happens. Technical problems are some of the worst ways to stop your runs, especially when you are not given any clue what happens, what causes them, what would solve them and for how long they will last. At least they happened before I regged those tournaments.

Well, so much for not losing momentum. We will be back when we will be able to play again.

The winners and the loosers (gardening update)

We are pretty much in the middle of February and I can report about the "big winners" and the "fails" so far. So, let´s see what germinated and what didn´t:

The big winners:

Sweet Julie: ALL of the seeds germinated and we got four beautiful little baby plants.
Here´s an example how "Sweet Julie" looks like:

It´s a small sweet snack pepper. perfect for the little ones - like Baby Peach and little Lemmy Koopa. :f_biggrin::f_wink:

Quadrato d`Asti gialo (Yellow sweet pepper)

Well, the classic yellow capsicum: we got four of them!

Those are exactly the seeds I used!

Pimientos de Padron (spicy)

Also a classic one, especially in the mediterranean cuisine. ALL seeds germinated!
Example:

Yumm! Looking forward to eating these in summer!

Chili Kusburnu (spicy)

The four last seeds had to be used up, I guess they were from 2022 or even older? Don´t know exactly but ALL seeds germinated:
Example:

Chili Habanero (HOT!!!)

My absolute favorite!!! All seeds germinated, while i picked three strong plants, one had to be thrown away (because weak):
Here´s an old pic of my Habanero from 2023:

Chili Aji Charapita (spicy)

Also one of my favorites!! The most expensive chili in the world. Aji Charapita is also called the "caviar among the chilis".
Example:

Pepper Corno di Torro rosso (Bullhorn pepper, sweet)
Too much!! Oh boy, ALL seeds germinated, got too much, had to throw away two plans (the weakest ones):
Example:

Chili "Little Elf" (spicy)
A Birthday gift from Harrier: ALL seeds germinated! Got three baby plants, which will all move to the terrace.
Example:

Excited to try these in summer!

So, those are the most successful ones, of course we got plenty of more peppers which will all move either to the field, to the little garden in front of our house or to the greenhouse. And now, let´s name the "loosers" which FAILED to germinate:

The big loosers

- Turkish spicy pepper (a spicy chili, with a sweet taste)
- Apocalypse Red: AGAIN! NONE of the seeds germinated!
- Quadrato d´Asti rosso (red capsicum)
- Cauliflower "Snowball"

Well, more luck next year with them ....

Update: Pokerstars seems to be working again. Good for us.

Nice Prim!

Doing well!

I am starting with this garden concept this year. Great concept and really good plan/materials.

It's in Dutch though ...

https://makkelijkemoestuin.nl/

It's about harvesting 3-4 times more from the same surface, with a really good concept of sowing, ground and an app to guide even beginners into harvesting a lot.

I must say I love it, although I'll build my own planters. It's much cheaper

Yes, you guys really do make gardening sound interesting.

That does it, I couldn't wait any longer - I just ordered a bonsai starter set with a couple of tools for the job. An ambitious project, maybe, for someone with little experience when it comes to horticulture. Still, I couldn't help but give it a try.

There will be updates about all of this for sure on this blog, but first, let's wait for the seeds to arrive. Even if things go well, it will surely then take a very long time until it looks like something, so maybe I will eventually try the same thing with some seedlings or young plants as well. Nevertheless, I wanted to try to raise at least one of them from scratch too.

But yeah, soon enough, it won't be just Primrose with the gardening updates in here.

Nice!

Always loved bonsai trees. They look spectacular when taking good care.

Hmmmm ... maybe a bonsai apple tree would be interesting too ...?

Here I will build my planters coming two weeks. Materials are here and I'm eager to start. Still too cold though, but coming days it will be better.

Originally posted by Zeezout
Always loved bonsai trees. They look spectacular when taking good care.

Hmmmm ... maybe a bonsai apple tree would be interesting too ...?

Potentially, every tree could be turned into a bonsai, as far as I know, and I have often heard that trees from your own climate are a good idea in general. My own picks will be revealed as soon as the seeds arrive.

Bonsai trees really are fascinating, but I expect it will be a daunting task for me. Ah, can't hurt to try, though. Even if it fails, I should at least be able to gain some experience with them, and with horticulture in general.

Originally posted by Harrier88
Potentially, every tree could be turned into a bonsai, as far as I know, and I have often heard that trees from your own climate are a good idea in general.

I think that the potential for this one has long past

(Click the picture see the tree's location)

There are plenty of absolutely giant trees in the tropical rainforest too. Or in other places, like the giant sequoia, for example, which is native to California.

Apparently, though, people have turned even those kinds of trees into bonsai.

Prim and I should really go to the Palmengarten again some time.

Originally posted by Primrose6789
The winners and the loosers (gardening update)

Thanks for the post Prim, you have inspired me to get my own peper/ parika plants this srping on my balcony! :f_love::f_thumbsup:

@Harrier88: Good luck with growing that bonsai!