My Poker Blog

A really bad session, at least to start with ...

2010-07-31T12:58:00.001-07:00

I played a session last night that was truly brutal. In short order, I went through over $100 in some pretty tough beats. Here are the details. I sat down at the $2/$5 no-limit game in the cutoff, posted by big blind, and got dealt in. I picked up the Ace/Spades, King/Diamonds … not bad for my first hand! It was folded all the way around to me, and since I was new to the table, I just checked my option. The small blind called, the big blind checked, and we went to the flop. The flop was Ten/Spades, Jack/Spades, Ten/Hearts. I’d seen better flops overall, but I did have a gutshot straight draw and two overcards. The blinds checked; I bet $8 into the $15 pot and got only one caller (the small blind). The turn was the Deuce/Spades, so now I had a flush draw to go along with the straight draw and overcards. But I didn’t have any read on my opponent, so when he checked to me I just checked behind. The river was the Nine/Spades, so now I had the nut flush. But for some reason, I felt really uneasy about the hand. If my opponent held Jack/Ten or Ten/Nine, I was dead. He overbet $40 into the $30 pot; since there were so many other hands out there that I could beat (a lower flush, a straight, trips) I went ahead and called. Sure enough, my opponent held the Jack/Hearts, Ten/Diamonds for a flopped boat … I’d been drawing dead practically the entire hand. All I could do was silently congratulate myself for not having lost more. A bit later, I picked up Six/Clubs, Six/Diamonds in the big blind. The player to my left called the $5 blind, everybody else folded, I checked, and we were heads-up to the flop. King/Clubs, Five/Spades, Seven/Diamonds flopped. A King was very much a possible holding for my opponent, so I checked to see what he would do. He min-bet $5 which I thought was rather odd. I went ahead and called. The turn brought the Ace/Clubs, another scare card, as my opponent could have an Ace if he didn’t have a King. I checked again, and he checked behind. I was starting to realize that I might just have the best hand. The river was the worst card possible: Six/Spades. It gave me a set, and no flush was possible. I put out a pot-sized bet of $20, and was immediately raised another $20. That’s when I figured out that my opponent could have rivered a straight. I paid it off, and sure enough, he rolled over the Nine/Spades, Eight/Spades for the straight. So between those two hands, I was down around $50. Could it get any worse? Of course! Some time later, I picked up Ace/Clubs, Jack/Hearts in the cutoff. I’ve blogged before about how much I hate this hand, but when it was folded around to me I figured that I just had to play it. I raised the bet to $15, and got only one caller – the small blind, a really loose cannon who could be playing with any two cards. The flop was Deuce/Diamonds, Deuce/Hearts, King/Clubs. My opponent checked. Sometimes I will continuation bet and sometimes I won’t; this time I didn’t, because I figured that my opponent would call whatever I bet, and with such a rotten hand, why bother? The turn hit me nicely; the Ace/Hearts. I bet $20, which was around two-thirds the size of the pot. My opponent called. The river was the Nine/Hearts. Now, my opponent woke up and put out a $40 bet. Had he hit the runner-runner flush? Floated a flopped set of deuces? Or did he have a lower two pair, or a raggedy Ace for a split pot? Naturally, I had to call. Naturally, he had the Six/Hearts, Four/Hearts for the rivered flush. Say buh-bye to another $60-some dollars; now I’m down over $100. Even though I’d hit some of the toughest beats I possible could (although I probably could have played these hands a little better), I stuck with the game, and believe it or not … by the time my session was done, I was actually winner for the night! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I went to the World Series again this year at the Rio; I actually spent about two weeks out there. I have to say, the cash games during the Series are not what they used to be. Maybe it’s because I was out there so late in the Series; but at times it was actually tough to find a game. I ended up having to head over to Caesar’s or Bellagio just to get some action. Quite a disappointment. On the other hand, I did final-table one of the Venetian Deepstack events, which was pretty nice. Also did well in a Binion’s Poker Classic tourney downtown. Here’s a list of the poker rooms I visited while I was out in Vegas this month, in no particular order: Rio, Orleans, Venetian, Mirage, Caesar’s Palace, Flamingo, O’Sheas, Excalibur, Hard Rock, MGM Grand, Bellagio, Aria, Binion’s, Golden Nugget.

Spring Poker Round-up

2010-04-27T10:25:00.000-07:00

I spent last week in the tiny little town of Pendleton, Oregon; playing the Spring Poker Round-Up at the Wildhorse Casino. I've said before how much I enjoy this tournament, and how it is probably the premier tournament series in the entire Northwest.

This time around, I hardly played at all in the cash games. Instead, I entered four no-limit tournaments and cashed in one of them. It was a lot of fun, and I played some really great poker. One player who I had knocked out earlier in one of the tournaments stayed at the rail and watched me play until I busted (in the money), and when I did he came over to me and told me he thought I'd played really great poker. He said he didn't see me make even one mistake the whole time he was watching me. That made me feel pretty good!

On Saturday was the "Main Event", which had a $500 buy-in. I played really great poker in this tournament; knocked out five players (two in one hand) and, uncharacteristically for me, spent almost the entire tournament with a bigger-than-average stack.

The only hands I'm going to post are the two that knocked me out of the tournament. Actually, it was the same hand both times, pocket Queens.

The first time, I was at a table with WSOP bracelet holder Susie Isaacs. She had one of the short stacks at the table, and when it was folded to her in late position she pushed all-in. I was on the button with QQ, raised all-in to isolate her, and it was heads up. She had pocket Jacks, flopped a third, and took roughly half of my stack in the double-up.

It's probably worth noting here that I've played at Susie Isaacs' table three times in tournaments, and there's no question in my mind that she is the meanest, nastiest player I've ever played against. Every time she's said something to me, it's been with a sneer on her face and a snarl in her voice. Once, when I asked the dealer for clarification on a rule, she interrupted him and said "That's the stupidest question I've ever heard in my entire life." I have no idea what I could possibly have done to her that's made her so angry with me; maybe I remind her of somebody else. But she's one cranky witch.

My last hand came about ten hands later. I was in the small blind, and when it was folded to me I went all-in with pocket Queens. I was called by the big blind with pocket Kings, and lacking Susie's skill at sucking out, I ended out out and on the rail.

Speaking of Suckout Susie ... for many years, the Wildhorse had a poker hostess with that nickname. Her real name was Michelle Bylinga, and she was extremely gracious and friendly to everybody she met. She was particularly known for her elegant, flowing outfits and floppy, outlandish hats. Sadly, Michelle died unexpectedly in February. She was missed by everybody at the tournament and it was very sad to hear about her passing. Rest In Peace, Suckout Susie.

One of my best sessions ever!

2010-04-05T21:29:00.000-07:00

I've just returned from a long weekend in Las Vegas. The trip wasn't really poker-related -- I was in town on other business. I did have the opportunity to play some poker, but I wasn't really in a poker mindset. Consequently, I stuck to the $1/$2 NL games (substantially lower than what I usually play), and played at some really small rooms on the mid-strip such as Imperial Palace, Harrah's, and Planet Hollywood.

I did have one truly extraordinary session at the Flamingo that's worth noting. I won more per hour and per big blind than I think I ever have before, and it was really two key hands that made it happen.

The instant I sat down at the table, with $300 in chips, I was dealt Ace/Jack offsuit. I was in late position (there was no blind posting for new players), and when it was folded to me I opened with a raise to $7. The only caller was the big blind, so it was heads-up to the flop.

The flop came Ace, Jack, Nine, so I had flopped two pair. My opponent checked, I bet about $20. It was an overbet to chase away the straight draws (there was no flush draw on the board). He raised me to around $75. Since I had just sat down on the table, I had no read on him. I was hoping he just had an Ace, although I suppose a set of nines was possible. But how can you get away from top two pair? I re-raised to $150, and he four-bet me all-in. I called. He had Ace/Nine, a lower two pair. The board bricked, and after one hand I had doubled up.

My very next hand was pocket Aces. I raised to $7 again and everybody folded, so I won $3 on that one.

The second key hand came near the end of the session. I was dealt the Ace/King of Clubs, again in late position. So beautiful! A loose kid on my right raised to $13 pre-flop. I called, as did the button, so it was three to the flop.

Ace, Queen, Nine rainbow came on the flop, so I had top pair with top kicker. The kid on my right checked, and I put out a bet of around $50 -- again, chasing away the straight drawers. The button called, the pre-flop raiser folded, and I was heads-up. I was hoping my opponent didn't have Ace/Queen! Maybe Ace with a worse kicker. Maybe even a straight draw paying a bad price. Regardless, even if I was ahead I would have to dodge possibly two cards that might pair my opponent.

The river was the Six of Diamonds. I thought, well, if I was ahead already, I probably still am. I bet $100, and my opponent just called again.

The turn was the Deuce of Spades. I put my opponent all-in -- around another $100 or so (I was the huge chip leader at the table had him, and everyone else, covered). He called. I rolled over my pair of Aces, surely losers at this point. He bellowed, "Nice River!" and showed his Queen/Five offsuit. Queen/Five!! He stomped away as the dealer pushed the pot to me. I turned to the guy next to me and said, "Nice river? What does he mean by that? The river didn't affect either of our hands." He said, "Well, that's just what losers say when they call off all their chips like that." I still think it's a weird thing to say in that circumstance.

Playing the Role of “Table Bully”

2010-01-02T19:49:00.000-08:00

In poker, the “table bully” is the guy (or, sometimes, girl) who seems to be controlling all of the action. Frequently loose, always aggressive, he’ll come barreling into pot after pot, tossing fistfuls of chips into the middle on every street and winning the hand more by bluster than via showdown. I’m very rarely the “table bully” in the games I’m in, and there are several reasons for that:

First of all, I’m not loose enough. At nearly every table I sit down on, I’m the tightest one there. If there happens to be anybody tighter than me, I watch out for them and proceed very carefully whenever they are in a pot. I’m actually far more afraid of the tight players than I am the bullies.

Secondly, I’m not good enough. I don’t really know how to be the bully. There are plenty of players who fit that role naturally, and I’m not one of them.

That’s not to say I can’t be the table bully, or that I never have been. It’s happened from time to time, and when it does, it’s extremely satisfying.

I haven’t been playing very much poker lately, so I wasn’t sure what to expect when I sat down at a $2/$5 no-limit table. I soon realized that the player to my left was really loose; entering a lot of pots and staying in them for too long. This kind of player will show a lot of variability in his results. By that, I mean he will win or (usually) lose a lot of money in a single session.

I’d much rather have a player like that on my right than on my left, but I can adapt. In this sort of situation, I just play tight and bet perhaps a bit more meekly than usual; my loose opponent will frequently raise my bet or bet for me if I check, so I can lean back and just let him run the action for me, and rake the chips when the hand is done and I show the better holding.

The pivotal hand of the session came several circuits after I had sat down. A couple of folks had stepped away from the table, so there were only seven players, and I was on the button. Given these two facts, I gave myself permission to play a bit looser than usual.

The first two players folded, and the next one min-raised to $10. This player had been making that kind of play a lot since I sat down, so I was neither impressed nor intimidated by this. The next player folded, and then it was to me. I had some suited connectors (8§ 10§), and only a small bet to call, so I called. Both blinds also called, generating a $40 pot.

The flop could hardly have been better: 10© Kª 8ª. So I had bottom two pair; but the board was seriously draw-heavy. Given this fact, I wanted to chase out as many players as possible; or at least make them pay to play further.

The first player – the loose guy on my left – led out with a $15 bet. The next two players folded, and when it came to me, I raised to $60. When my opponent called, I put him on a draw at best, or perhaps (less likely) a King for top pair.

The next hand was the 5©, a really great card for me. It didn’t fill any draw, and made me believe in my hand more strongly. I felt even better when my loose opponent checked. I bet a good-sized $120 into the $160 pot, knowing full well that my drawing opponent would call regardless of the terrible pot odds I was laying him. He quickly called the bet.

The final card was the Q§. This filled a few straight draws, and when my opponent checked again, I checked behind, realizing that he could only call any bet I made if he had me beat. He showed the 10ª 4ª for a flush draw and flopped middle pair, and I dragged in a pot of nearly $400.

From that point on, I started to push people around, just like a table bully should. An example of this came later in the session. The min-raising player from the earlier hand was under the gun, and min-raised from there. The next two players folded, and I looked down at 10ª 10§, a very playable hand under the circumstances. I called the raise; the player in the cutoff called; and the three of us went to the flop.

It came down Kª 2§ 2©; not great but not horrible. When the first player checked, I decided to take a chance. I bet $20 into the $40 pot, and my opponents immediately folded. Obviously, neither of them had either a King or a Deuce, but it was probably my reputation most of all that got them to fold.

Another hand showed this even better. I was in the big blind with Q© 9¨. An early player called the $5 bet; everybody else folded, and I checked, so it was heads-up to the flop.

The J© 7ª 8© came out. Not a great flop for me. A ten would complete my straight, but aside from that all I had was a Queen-high. I checked. My opponent bet $8 into the $12 pot.

Now, 99 times out of 100, I would have folded right here. It is undeniably the best move. But today I was the table bully. I enjoyed the fact that players were afraid of me, and I wanted to maintain that dynamic. I decided to call, and see what happened on the next street.

The next card was the 5©. I decided to bet the pot here (around $30), as if my heart draw had come in. If I got called, I still had outs. If I was raised, I could release my hand here (or re-raise if I sensed weakness).

My opponent went into the tank for awhile. He asked me questions about what I had (“Did your flush draw come in?”). I tried to look completely uninterested and thought about dead cats. Eventually, he folded.

It wasn’t a big pot, or a terribly significant hand. But it did show how my image was intimidating players, and I think it landed me some extra chips that I probably wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.

Why Do People Play This Way?

2009-09-10T19:04:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I really don’t understand why some people play the way that they do. I’m willing to accept that their play conforms to some standard of logic that I’m just not aware of. But then again, sometimes I just have to wonder.

I was at a $2/$5 no-limit table and was the chip leader after playing really tight and beating the table up with good hands. I was in the small blind with A§5©; not a great hand but good enough for a call. The cutoff called the big blind; I completed; and with the big blind the three of us went to the flop.

The flop hit Q§Qª7©. A complete miss for my hand. I lost interest in it and checked; but then the other two players checked behind me.

The flop put out the 7§. I doubted at this point that either player had either a Queen or a Seven, so I decided to bluff with the (likely) best hand; my Ace kicker, that is. I put out a tiny min-bet of $5. The big blind folded, but the cutoff called.

Here’s where things got funky. The river was the Q¨, putting a Full House – Queens full of Sevens – on the board. So unless I (or my opponent) had either a Queen or a pocket pair of Sevens or higher, we were obviously going to split the pot. At least, I thought it was obvious.

Just to be goofy, I put out a tiny $10 bet. My opponent insta-folded so fast it blew me away. I raked in the $25 pot, completely unable to figure out why he wouldn’t call my post-oak bluff. I guess I should just be happy that there are some players like that out there!

Sort of in spite of myself, I’ve been watching this TV show on the G4 network called “2M2MM” or “Two Months/Two Million”, about a foursome of 20-something poker pals who rent a house in Vegas and try to make $2 Million in two months’ time. Overall, the guys are pretty dorky and nerdy, but it’s fun seeing them goof around while winning (or losing) six figure sums each week.

Back To Detroit

2009-08-27T16:23:00.000-07:00

Move over Rancho Mirage; I think Greektown has become my new favorite casino.

I played in the tournament with a $75 buy-in. By Detroit standards, that would be a high-roller tournament. In fact, only 26 players showed up to play, counting me. I played a grand total of three hands over a two-and-a-half-hour period, and finished in ninth place. They only paid the top three. The structure was dreadful, with several levels that doubled the previous level (i.e. 50/100 went straight to 100/200). This makes it more of a luck-fest than a poker game.

My first hand came in the third level. By that point, three people had already gone out, one during the first level. That’s just incomprehensible to me. Regardless, I took Ace/King to showdown and beat my opponents Ace/Four to double-up (the board had two Aces on it, so my kicker played).

My second hand was a Jack/Ten. I flopped top pair, bet, and took the pot.

My final hand was pocket sevens. By this point we’d all combined to one table. I went all-in preflop (the first into the pot) and was called in two spots, by a King high and by a Jack high. A King and a Jack both flopped, so the Kings took us both out. Even though I finished out of the money, I played spectacularly well and not at all disappointed.

I made my way over to the cash games. The $1/$2 no-limit was the only NL they were spreading, although they had a $3/$6 limit game going too. The buy-in at the $1/$2 table was $50-$200, and most people were buying in for just $50. The crowd at the Detroit casinos is so different from anyplace else. One player was complaining because they had just cut off his phone service. There were a lot of discussions about lottery tickets. One guy said, “I’d played the same numbers every week for years. The one time I didn’t play last week, they hit. I woulda won $75,000. I couldn’t even sleep that night.” Another two players got into an argument over which of the Jackson brothers was the very first lead singer of the Jackson Five – Jermaine or Michael. Being a Jackson Five fan, I already knew the answer (they both were lead singers at the start and traded lead on different songs). But I kept my mouth shut and just raked in the chips. The players were so appallingly bad. I made a decent amount of money; actually a shocking amount of money given the fact that this was only a $1/$2 table and folks were losing their stacks at only $50 at a time. The only reason I left is because the table finally broke up – too many players lost all their money and had to leave. But I am sure that I’ll be back.

Visiting Former Hometowns, Chapter Two

2009-08-08T16:19:00.000-07:00

I was in Kansas City last week, another burg I used to call home. After wrapping up my business, I decided to check out the Harrah’s out that way. I don’t recall having ever been there before (as in Detroit, the casinos were all built after I moved away) but I probably have been. I know I’d never played poker there, though.

I started out at the cash games ($1/$2 no limit), but between felting the other players and them just up and leaving, I soon found myself with only three opponents. I’d rather play Bridge than Poker when it gets that short-handed (and I don’t even know how to play Bridge), so the table just broke up.

Serendipitously, a $30 buy-in tournament was starting to get underway, so I bought into that and decided to play some tournament poker for a while. Fifty-three other rounders had the same idea.

Long story short – I finished in second place, which put me in a terrific mood. It was good for $294, so not a bad payday for four hours’ work.

There weren’t really any big hands that stood out; I just played pretty tight and let the cards come. I won more than my fair share of coin-flips, but my theory is you need to in order to win anyhow. There are a couple of hands I played really terrible though, so I’ll post those. Maybe I’ll even learn from them.

In the first hand, I was the table’s chip leader by a wide margin. I’d just taken out two players with AA, and I was still stacking the rewards when the next hand got dealt. A spankin’ new player had just sat down to my right, and was under the gun. He had a medium-sized stack. He glanced at his hand immediately went all-in.

I looked at my hand: JJ. For some reason, I thought about what I should do! The answer of course, is you muck immediately. But I was on a big high from just winning a huge pot and taking the chip lead. I didn’t know the player who just sat down, and couldn’t get a read on him. He was older than me (maybe in his 60’s), so if anything that should have cautioned me that he probably wasn’t a maniac. But like a fool, I decided to re-raise all-in myself, to isolate him.

Naturally, the rest of the table folded. Naturally, my opponent had AA. And naturally, he won, as he deserved to. My stack was so big at that time that it barely made a dent, but gee what a stupid way to play Jacks, when the under-the-gun player goes all in!

The second hand was against the player who was probably the best in the tournament (counting me as well). I was in the big blind; he was in early position and doubled the bet. It folded around to me; I had King Ten so I decided to play.

The flop came King Eight Deuce. I decided to go for the check-raise. I checked; my opponent bet, I raised a big amount, and he re-raised all-in. He had me covered, but just barely (we were the two big stacks at the table). I should add that this guy was playing really tight and I had a lot of respect for his game. Nevertheless, like a doofus I called his all-in, and put my tournament life at stake with top pair.

Naturally, he had flopped top two pair (Kings and Eights). Fourth street bricked, but I rivered my three-outer and handed him a terrible beat. His chip stack was crushed, and he was completely ticked off. He walked away from the table (ostensibly out of everybody’s earshot) and swore up a blue streak. I couldn’t really blame him either. As a sign of just how good a player he was, he nursed his micro-stack back up to a decent level and ended up going out third, just before I did.

Overall, the room (and the tournament) was a lot of fun. Since it was the Midwest, everybody was really friendly and nice. I had the final table in stitches with goofy jokes and silly behavior. When it got to heads up, the dealer could hardly shuffle because he was laughing so hard. By the way, the last hand (for the record) was my 44 against the Villain’s Jack-rag. A Jack flopped, and that was that.

A new poker show has made it to TV, “Face The Ace” featuring Full Tilt’s stable of champions and bracelet winners. I’ve only seen the first episode, but I thought it showed promise. The amateurs won every round, but only because they got hit with the deck each time. The host (some guy from The Sopranos) was pretty decent; Ali Nejad is also in the house but fortunately is subdued. The chatter at the table is probably the best part of it all. Erick Lindgren in particular gets an A+ in trying to keep the show interesting. Sadly, the show came in dead last in its timeslot. We’ll have to see whether it can find an audience. Here’s hoping!

Back In The Saddle: The Greektown Casino

2009-08-01T17:54:00.000-07:00

It’s been almost two months since I played any poker. I don’t think I’ve had that long of a hiatus from poker since I started playing three or four years ago! What’s kept me from the table has been a seriously intense amount of work from my real job, at least mostly. But I finally had the chance to visit a card room and learn whether or not I could still play.

I found myself in Detroit last week, and decided to check out the Greektown Casino. I had only visited it one time before, right after it was built (which was right after I moved out, having called the Detroit area “home” for about seven years).

For those of us who remember the “old” Greektown – pre-casino, that is – what they’ve done with that neighborhood is a bit … jarring. I recall shopping in that little brick mall with quirky, crooked bridges connecting the different sides. Well, that mall is now the casino. Except for a handful of restaurants on the first floor (some of which are vacant), it’s entirely given over to that evil vice.

I can’t say it’s not an improvement, however. The “old” Greektown was more than a bit tattered at the edges. It was desperately trying to recapture its glorious reputation the way an over-the-hill call girl tries to deny the ravages of time by applying too much makeup. So spicing the neighborhood up with a casino has definitely been a shot in the arm.

The cardroom had two hold-em games being spread amongst the five or so tables; a $3/$6 limit game and a $1/$2 no-limit game. The no-limit game had a buy-in of between $50 and $200. Given the sad state of the Detroit economy, it shouldn’t surprise you to learn that most folks were buying in for the minimum.

The players were atrocious. Some of them made me wonder whether they’d ever played poker before. I’ve been at some easy rooms before (Harrah’s flagship in Las Vegas and Agua Caliente in Rancho Mirage come to mind), but this one beat them all. It was one of those sessions where you don’t dare bluff; just value-bet your good hands and fold everything else. I ended up doubling up during my two hours there.

I didn’t play very many hands, and only one hand actually stands out, although it played itself so posting it won’t give you any idea about whether I am a good player or not.

I was on the button. Three or four players limped in from early and mid position, which was happening quite a lot. A player two to my right bumped it up to $10. He had a short stack – but then, nearly all of them had short stacks. I looked down at A©A§ and min-raised it to $20.

The player to my left, the small-blind, was a maniac, splashing around in just about every pot and intimidating the entire table (except me, since I wasn’t in too many hands). He was also the only guy at the table who had me out-chipped. He looked at his hand, grabbed a stack of red chips and re-raised it to $100. Given his range, he could have had pretty much anything and just been trying to make a move on the pot, with all that dead money lying out there. I was thrilled about his re-raise; it made it more likely that the rest of the table would fold out, and I could go head-up with the maniac.

Indeed, the table did fold, until it got to the initial raiser. He only had around $50 left in total, so he called the re-raise and was all-in.

I had about $150 in front of me, so I re-raised all-in myself. I think he realized at this point he’d been squeezed, but facing only a $50 re-raised on a pot with around $300 in it, he pretty much had to call, so he did.

He showed the Q©Qª. The initial raiser inexplicably showed J§6§. In fact, I actually said, “I think I like your hand the best,” pointing to the suited Jack.

The maniac shouted, “Give me a Queen!” He got his wish, as a Q¨ came on the flop. But unfortunately, it was accompanied by a Aª and a 2ª.

The turn was the K§. At this point, the suited Jack actually had a better chance of winning the hand than the Queens did; the Queens had only a single out, but the other hand could river a straight with any of the four tens.

However, the river ended up being the 2¨, and my Aces full defeated the Queens full. The guy with the suited Jack left the table; the guy with the Queens was completely steaming but continued to play for a while longer. Me; I just stacked up my chips and went on to the next hand.

A Very Odd Poker Session

2009-06-27T11:14:00.000-07:00

This post will probably be somewhat longish, as I intend to comment on an entire Poker session I had recently. It was a very unusual session; the kind of session that can only happen in no-limit hold-em. Posting this kind of stuff is very helpful to me, particularly when I go back and look at it later.

Before I get to that, I should confess that I’ve made peace with the fact that I won’t be able to get back to the World Series this year. I suppose that’s the trade-off for having a real job. And the fact that I’ve never been busier is probably a good thing, particularly in this economy.

There are two more tournaments coming up that I probably won’t make it to either. The Summer Poker Roundup in Pendleton is the weekend of 7/18; that’s definitely out for me. And there’s a tournament in Reno called the Pot Of Gold at the end of July (at the Grand Sierra). I might still make it to that one for a tournament or two, but I’m not counting on it.

Now, let’s play some poker. There’s a $2/$5 table waiting for us.

The context for this session is as follows: I’d played a bit of poker lately, but not very much. And I’ve been on something of a losing streak too. Whenever that happens to me, I study my play very closely to see why: Is it just bad cards, or is it bad play? Sometimes it’s one; sometimes the other. But when I see full house over full house, or AQ (me) versus AA (villain) on a board with an Ace and a Queen, it’s a bit comforting to see that it’s more likely to be bad cards. If I can continue to just play my game and have confidence I should bring it back.

Meanwhile, as I evaluate the session I’m going to post below, I have to give myself a grade of D+ or maybe C-. Pretty pathetic, as you will see.

Hand #1 of 5: I’m under-the-gun, and see Q© 7ª. Now, as I’ve blogged about before, I have started to mix up my pre-flop play a little bit. I’m worried that I’ve become too predictable, so every sixth time I open-raise, I do so with whatever hand I manage to pick up. And this was one of those times, so I put $15 into the pot.

The key to this kind of crazy Gus Hansen style is to immediately surrender if there is any resistance, or if the flop doesn’t give you anything better than a pair. Since I’ve started this strategy, I’ve been really pleased with the results. Most of the time, my opponents will fold without a fight (there’s the benefit of a tight image). Occasionally, they will play back at me, and I’ll let it go. But overall, it has been a smallish money maker.

The problem here is that this particular hand has come on the heels of a couple of really decent starting hands for me – AA and QQ to be precise. And since everybody’s folded pre-flop, I haven’t been able to show down my tightness. So it looks like I’ve just been stealing blinds from middle/early position. Consequently, this time around, I got three callers: The cutoff, the button, and the small blind. This didn’t bother me; actually, I thought it was pretty cool to see such a nice, big pot getting built up. If I flopped anything decent, nobody would have any idea.

So with $65 in the pot, the flop came 7§ 2¨ Q§. Now, this is probably the most perfect flop imaginable for my garbage hand! I have top two pair, and doubtless a stranglehold on the pot.

The small blind checked, and since I didn’t like seeing the flush draw on the board, I put out a big bet of $50. This would be enough to chase out any draws. My only caller was the small blind, and so with $165 in my pot (I mean THE pot), we went to the turn.

A raggy 10ª came out. The small blind checked again. Still worried about the flush draw, I put out a bet of $120 into a $165 pot, and my opponent quickly called. Now the pot was over $400, and I was really starting to wonder what the other guy had.

The river was the A§, and suddenly my opponent came alive and bet about $325 into the $400 pot, enough to put me all in. I sat for a minute and thought about what hands he could have:

· A flush draw that came in: Not possible; nobody would chase the bad pot odds I was offering from the start.

· A straight draw that hit: Even less likely. It would require him to play exactly King-Jack and call all the way to the end.

· A set, or a higher two pair (such as Aces up). Possible; but if that was the case then I am supposed to lose anyway. I’ve frequently been able to fold to a set, but I wasn’t going to this time.

· A pair of Aces, a lower pair, or some other kind of garbage. I actually thought this described his hand and betting history most closely. So I called.

He turned over the 8§ 9§ for a rivered flush, and I lost my entire $500 buy-in (plus a few more chips I’d won along the way). The lesson here is that not every player is good enough to lay down draws when they’re getting too high a price to chase. I obviously should have folded on the river and saved my last $320 dollars.

While he raked in what used to be “my” pot of over $1000, I pulled out some more Franklins and bought back in. *sigh*

Hand #2 of 5: I’m in the big blind. A young, way-too-loose player two off the button limps, the rest of the table folds to me, and I check with the 5§ 10ª. There’s $12 in the pot.

The flop was sweet: 5© 5ª 3ª. I check, planning to check-raise my uber-aggressive opponent after whatever continuation bet he doubtless puts out. Much to my surprise (and mild consternation), he checks.

The turn is the 2©. Since nobody else was going to bet my hand, I put $5 out. I didn’t like all the draws on the board. Without much delay, my opponent called.

The river was the Jª, so the spade flush draw had arrived. I value bet $10. My opponent raised to $45. I actually thought I had the best hand; my loose opponent was very unbelievable, and my read of his body language made me think he was uncomfortable with the situation. I called and showed my set; he tabled the 8¨ 2§ for two pair, and I snagged the $100+ pot.

I totally don’t understand limping from early position with Eight/Deuce offsuit. He was behind from the start, and drawing almost completely dead from the flop on.

Hand #3 of 5: (This hand I played SO BAD!) The same loose player from the last hand is now under-the-gun, and limps for $5. It’s folded all the way to me in the small blind. I have a gorgeous hand; the A¨ K¨. I just complete the bet, intending to outplay my opponents post-flop. The big blind checks, and with $15 in the pot we take it to the flop.

9© 8§ K©. With top pair top kicker, I make a pot-sized bet of $15. The big blind folds, and the other player calls. I got him!

The turn is the K§. I check with my trips, to let my opponent catch up. If he bets, I’m probably check-raising to protect against the flush. However, he just checks behind.

The river is the 8ª, so now I have the nut full house. I value-bet $40, almost the size of the pot. I’m hoping it looks like a bluff. My opponent raises to $155! What is up?

The only hand that beats me is if my opponent has exactly 8¨ 8©. But if he had that, wouldn’t he have bet more on the earlier streets? He filled up on the turn … and checked? It’s much more likely that he had the last king, and we were splitting the pot. Nevertheless, I was convinced that there were monsters under the bed, so rather than giving myself the chance to double up (he had me covered), I meekly call. I really think that earlier hand – Hand #1 – made me a bit gun-shy. He had J§ 10© for a missed straight draw, and I disgustedly pull in a $350-ish pot. I congratulate myself on winning the smallest amount of money possible. My opponent eventually busts out and leaves a few hands later; those chips should have been mine too.

Hand #4 of 5: Another pathetically-played hand. In middle position, I open-raise to $15 with Q©Q§. My only caller is the small blind, a player I hadn’t seen before. The two of us take the $35 pot to the flop.

9¨ Aª J¨. The small blind checks. Some players (including occasionally me) will bet out with the underpair on a board like this to see “where they’re at”. I figure in this case, I can learn the same by just checking and taking Fourth Street. That’s what I do after the small blind checks.

The turn is 2ª. The small blind bets $10. I’m pretty much certain he doesn’t have an Ace here, and that my Queens are best. But I just (inexplicably) call, rather than value-raise.

The river is the 5©. Now my opponent bets $35 into the $40+ pot. I can’t imagine how that card helped him; he’s got to have a busted draw. But again, meekly, I just call. He shows the 5¨ 5ª for a rivered set and ownership of the $120 pot; I’m so disgusted that I just muck. I played this hand so passively that I deserved to lose it.

Hand #5 of 5: In middle position, I pick up AªKª. I resolve to play this hand more aggressively than I’ve been playing up to this point. My raise to $15 yields only one caller, the button. By this point I’ve worked my stack up to almost $700; still under my two $500 buy-ins (the first of which I donked off in the first hand I have listed). My opponent has me covered with over $850 in chips.

The flop comes K§ 5¨ 6©, so I have top pair and top kicker. Having promised myself to play this hand fast, I see no reason to change my mind, so I bet $20 into the $30-ish pot. My opponent calls.

The turn is the A¨, now I have top two pair. There’s around $70 in the pot. I bet $60 (I told you I was going to play fast!) and my opponent snap-calls.

The river, oh beautiful river, A©. I have the totally nut hand, Aces full of Kings. No quads possible, and no higher full house. I pot-bet $200. My opponent min-raises me to $400. Calling would leave me with less than $200 behind, so I go ahead and put it all in. He calls and proudly shows his A§ 8§. He is stunned to learn that this $1300 pot is going to me instead.

Whenever I am involved in a big pot like this (and sometimes when I am not), I go back and study it carefully to see what I can learn. In this case, I am completely baffled as to why he played this hand like this. The only thing I can think of is that he must have thought I was tilting from the previous hands I’d been playing. So, he decided to push with a moderate hand. Seriously! The only Ace he beats is Ace/Seven, Ace/Four, Ace/Three, or Ace/Deuce; he either chops or loses to any other Ace. And would I have bet so fiercely without an Ace? Even a flopped set fills up and beats him. Baffling.

I didn’t stay at the table much longer, and ended up logging a $300 win for the night which, frankly, I didn’t deserve. But I’ll take it.

Defending My Blind

2009-06-13T22:00:00.001-07:00

If you've read much of my blog, you know that I am not a fan of trying to defend the blinds, for the most part at least. If I'm in the blind with garbage, and the action folds to a late player who raises to steal with garbage of his own, I'm perfectly fine letting him have my blind. Usually. I figure that I can win it back later, either from him or from some other player, with my ordinary tight game.

But just for fun (and something different), I decided to defend with a hand lately, and it worked out pretty well.

At a $2/$5 game, action folded to the cutoff, who raised to $15. The button folded. I was in the small blind with Ace of Hearts, Jack of Clubs. Believe it or not, I will frequently fold this hand from just about any position if there's action. It's such a trouble hand. But I decided to play it this time. I called the raise; the big blind folded, and we went to the flop.

The flop came Jack of Spades, Queen of Diamonds, Seven of Spades. Based on my read of my opponent, I felt that I probably had the best hand, with middle pair. (He'd need to have a Queen or a higher pair to be safe ... or a flopped set). I checked, intending to call whatever got bet.

He put out $25, and I called.

The turn was the Ten of Clubs. There were plenty of draws out there, but I was still optimistic. I checked again; he bet $55 and I smooth-called. I could tell he was a bit nervous about the fact that I was still playing along.

The river was a brick -- the Three of Hearts -- and I sprang my trap. I bet $90, basically bluffing with the best hand. He folded quite quickly. I don't know what he had, probably nothing or close to nothing. I had about $185 in the way of a decent-sized pot. So defending my blind actually worked out here.

World Series of Poker 2009

2009-06-03T20:57:00.000-07:00

I’m just back from the WSOP (although I’m still hoping that I can make it back there before it ends…). I entered Event #4, the $1000 buy-in Hold-em tourney. Over 6000 people played, which is the largest field ever for a non Main-Event WSOP tournament. I made it through 80% of the field, which is better than my Main Event performance last year, but once again I finished just out of the money, a bit of a disappointment overall.

I don’t really have much of a structured message with this particular blog entry, so let me just share some random things that happened while I was there over this long weekend.

· I stayed at the Rio (I’ve stayed there several times before). They were charging $40/night which is appallingly low. They must truly be desperate for business.

· I rented a car, drove it to the Rio … and ended up not using it again until I drove back to the airport. I thought for sure I would be taking a couple of trips to the Strip or downtown, but I never left the Rio the whole time.

· Even though I didn’t make it to any other poker rooms like I expected to, I did talk to a lot of other players about what the local scene was like. It’s pretty sad. Apparently the only room with much activity is at the Venetian. The Bellagio crowd has been so sparse that they’ve started to spread lower limits just to get people to come into the room. And at Caesars, they hired a new manager late last year who has jacked the rake up to $7/pot. Seven dollars!! Who would ever play in a game like that? I was particularly sad to hear about that, because I’ve always enjoyed the poker room in Caesars.

· It was almost exactly a ½-mile walk from my hotel room to the Amazon Room, where all the poker was being played. I walked back and forth two or three times each day. Who knew poker could be so physically demanding!

· I learned that “Gamma-O” is the official testosterone supplement of the WSOP. Hmm. If there is any group of guys less likely to suffer from testosterone deficiency than poker players, I don’t know who it would be. (Although somebody I was talking to about this made the serious and cogent point that the WSOP didn’t have much sponsorship of any kind – where is Apple, he wondered? What about Expedia or Travelocity? Good question.)

· Almost nobody at any table was wearing a wedding ring. At first glance, this seemed a bit odd. But thinking about it further, I realized it wasn’t. After all, what kind of woman is going to marry a poker degenerate? One kid at the table said that his girlfriend broke up with him via text message at 2am – while he was playing poker. Somebody asked him if he left the game to go try to fix things. He said, “No, it was a really good game!” We all nodded with complete understanding.

· I bought a copy of the book Check-Raising The Devil by Mike Matusow, personally signed by the author. He wrote “Steve: Best of Luck. Mike Matusow.” Cool.

· I bumped into one of the home game regulars at the Poker House, Brandon, at a cash game. It was pretty cool to see him there, and ironic to actually bump into him. I learned that he had also gone to Pendleton last spring, but I didn’t see him there.

· I tried out a fascinating new meta-game strategy with incredible success: Go to bed at, say, 10pm. (For an old guy like me, that’s not a challenge.) Set your alarm for 2am. When it goes off, wake up, don’t do anything to clean yourself up, and go down to the cash games for about four hours. Everybody else at the table will be drunk or tired or otherwise off their game. At 6am (or whenever the game finally breaks up), go back to bed and sleep until 10 or noon or whatever. What a great piece of advice! I made more in those four hours of play each day than I did in twelve hours of daytime play.

· I folded pocket Kings preflop against pocket Aces. Seriously! I got dealt the Kings under the gun in a $2/$5 game, raised to $20, and got one caller. When the action got to the cutoff seat (a guy who was really, really tight), he immediately popped it to $100. My jaw just dropped open. I literally turned and stared at the guy. I sat and thought about it for maybe two minutes, which for me is an eternity. Then I said, “Wow, I am the biggest donkey that ever played poker,” and I folded my Kings, face down. The other player mucked immediately, and the cutoff tabled his Aces face up. I said, “Wow, you wouldn’t believe what I just folded.” He said, “What, Jacks?” I said, “No, Kings.” He said, “You’re right, I don’t believe that.” Nobody at the table did, they just laughed like I was making a sick joke. I was in shock for quite a while after that.

· This last has nothing to do with poker, but it did happen during the trip. Walking through the airport on the way back to Seattle, an announcement was made over the intercom at a decibel volume slightly higher than that of an air-raid siren: “ATTENTION ALL PASSENGERS!! IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY, PLEASE DIAL NINE ONE ONE FROM ANY TELEPHONE!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION!!” Huh? Could any piece of noise pollution possibly be less obvious?

Anyhow, back to reality, for the time being at least. I am still hoping to make it back to Vegas before the end of the series.

Trying Out A New Strategy

2009-05-26T21:28:00.000-07:00

The World Series of Poker has started … I am heading out on Friday to play the $1000 event. Because of my work schedule, it may be the only event I play this year. I hope that it isn’t! That would really bum me out. But at least I am starting to allow myself to get excited about it. I am staying at the Rio this year, which (in addition to the tournaments) will have some really good cash games throughout the tournament. Unlike the Pendleton tournament side games, the cash game competition during the WSOP will undoubtedly be comparatively lame, so I am thinking I will have better results playing those games than I do in Pendleton.

I have begun to introduce a new strategic idea into my pre-flop poker game, and so far it’s working out pretty well. As it happens, I play really tight pre-flop. Sometimes I fold fifty or sixty hands in a row, and folding seventy (or more) isn’t even all that uncommon. It does sometimes get frustrating … folding Ace/Nine suited on the button after two limpers enter the pot, for instance. If I didn’t enjoy poker so much, I might even call it boring. It is, however, a lucrative and money-making strategy that has served me well. No matter how tight I play, it always seems as though I can pick up a caller or two whenever I open-raise preflop. Sometimes my opponents will tease me for how tight I play – while they are calling my preflop raise! (I, on the other hand, have even folded Queens preflop when I come across a player as tight as I am who opens the pot for a raise.)

I have begun to wonder, as successful as this strategy is, am I leaving some money on the table? I don’t really want to play any looser, and I’m not a good enough player to make the best post-flop decisions when I have marginal hands. But … maybe I don’t have to play consistently loose … maybe I can just play loose once in a while and pick up some cheap pots?

So I’ve been trying out a new preflop strategy: I count how many pots I open-raise. After I have opened ten pots, the very next time I have the chance to open-raise again, I will – regardless of position; regardless of my hand. This doesn’t mean limping (I don’t count those), nor does it count the big blind when I am in a hand already. It doesn’t even mean calling somebody else’s preflop raise, or re-raising preflop like I would with pocket Aces or Kings. It means open-raise.

So every eleventh preflop opening hand, I’ll come in for a raise with (generally) garbage. In a way, the strategy is self-protecting: If the table is really loose, I won’t be open-raising many pots, so my bluffs will be very rare. At a tight table, however, I am more likely to play this extra garbage hand.

Once the flop comes, I go back to playing regular poker. If it doesn’t help me, I am done with the hand. If somehow it hits me square on, then I’ll play it. If I am lucky enough to take a winning hand to showdown and table something like an Eight/Five from early position for a straight, I will end up confusing the heck out of my observant opponents. They won’t know what I am up to next time I open-raise!

Since I starting this play, I find I am playing garbage no more than two times a session, so it’s still pretty rare. Usually, I just steal the blinds, which is fine with me. Once, my eleventh hand was pocket Jacks – but I had to let it go after I got two callers and two overcards came on the flop. And one time, I got one caller. We checked the hand all the way to showdown … and my high-card ten won the pot. Sweet!

I’m even wondering whether once every eleven hands is still too infrequent … maybe I should bump it up to once every six hands? I will play with this concept a bit more and see where it takes me. But I think I’m on to something here. At a minimum, it should shake up people’s evaluation of the type of player I am.

In the meantime, I played a hand recently that showed just how to misplay aces. Whenever I have aces, I always raise pre-flop, and I’m quite happy just to take the blinds. If I get one or two callers, that’s okay too … it just requires me to play the later streets very carefully and be prepared to lay it down if I can see that I am beat.

In a $2/$5 game, it was folded around to me in the cutoff. I had the K¨8¨ and raised it to $15. A little loose for me, but sometimes I will walk on the wild side. Actually, I’d been playing rather passive all night, so I thought I would exercise just a bit with this hand. The button and small blind folded, but the big blind min-raised $10 to $25. Given the pot odds, my position, and a hand that can be very creative, I decided to call.

The flop was pretty much perfect: Q§10©K§. I flopped top pair on a draw-heavy board. My opponent bet $30 into a $50 pot, and I called with what I thought of as the best hand.

The turn made it even better: The K©. Now my opponent checked, and I made a huge nearly pot-sized $100 bet. After a long pause, my opponent called.

This call surprised me and worried me. What could he have that was better than three Kings? A draw? Not with that size of a turn bet. A flopped straight? A full house?

The river was a meaningless 6ª. My opponent checked, and I was more than happy to check behind. He showed me his pocket Aces, I showed my turned trips, and I won a $300 pot.

I really think my opponent misplayed this hand. His preflop bet was too low, and let me into a pot I had no business being in. His flop bet was okay, but still I think too small given all the possible draws out there. I think I would have bet $40 or even $50 there, to chase folks away (or at least define their hands better). But his turn call was a complete disaster. How could he think his hand was still good, given the board and my strong bets? All too often, players get married to pocket Aces (or Kings or Queens or …) and are just not able to lay them down when it’s clear they’ve been cracked. And yes, it still happens to me too on occasion.

Can’t Find A Coach … Oh Well!

2009-05-17T09:01:00.000-07:00

I was reading Your Worst Poker Enemy by Alan Schoonmaker and in it he makes the point that having a poker coach is a really terrific idea, and every serious poker player should have one. A poker coach can be a friend you can bounce poker ideas off of and who can critique your play, or somebody you hire who does that kind of stuff as a living.

I thought about this and saw how it makes sense. I mean, I don’t know what I don’t know, and I’m sure that I could always benefit from having another pair of eyes watch my play and share their conclusions with me. I have a couple of friends who are into the poker scene, but I don’t have much of an opportunity to spend enough time around them to actually critique certain plays or provide advice on how to do things better. And although there are plenty of coaches out there who do this for a living, almost all of them live in faraway places like Las Vegas or L.A. or Michigan. Their business model is, “Pay me $200 for an hour’s work, then send me a bunch of hand histories of your play, and I’ll email you back some advice. I’ll let you know when your hour’s up.” I’m sure this can be valuable, but it also seems coldly impersonal. If I hire one of these e-coaches and do a session with him, then later follow-up with him on some other stuff, is he even going to remember who I am? “Let’s see, is this the maniac who cold-calls preflop three-bets with seven/deuce offsuit, or is he the tight rock who only places Aces and Kings?” I honestly don’t know if I’d get my money’s worth.

Fortunately for me, I found a local guy who does poker coaching for a living. He’s been playing poker for over thirty years and coaching for over ten years. In my discussions with him, he has a very clear strategy and approach to the game that I’m certain could benefit me. We spent some time talking with each other – I guess I should say, interviewing each other. He spent as much time asking me questions about my playing style, strategy, poker philosophy, etc. as I did with him.

Ultimately, he said, “You know, I don’t think I can be very much help to you. You seem to have a very successful style and good results, and your approach to the game doesn’t show very many weaknesses. I’d be happy to take your money if you’d like, but I don’t think I’d be able to give you much useful advice.”

I was pretty surprised to hear this and actually more disappointed than flattered, but I guess I’ll take my kudos where I can get them.

But this may be why I blog so much; or at least, try to. If I put some hand information and thoughts down on paper, it helps me consider strategy and ways to do things better. It’s also useful when I look at older posts and re-learn stuff I knew before and forgot. So maybe my blog is a coach of sorts.

I am surprised to see that the World Series is nearly upon us. I’ve only identified one event that I am going to be sure to play; that’s the $1000 buy-in NLHE tournament that starts on May 30. That is, two weeks from yesterday! I’m hoping to play some more events too, or at least hang out at the truly lucrative cash games nearby, but between a huge workload in my real life and the fact that I’ve pretty much used up all my vacation days, I really don’t know if I’m going to be able to do much more. I know that the Main Event is out; I have something else already scheduled that week that I couldn’t move even if I won a free seat. *sigh*

I will post a hand I played recently in a $2/$5 game. I haven’t done that for awhile! The point of this particular hand is to show that sometimes Ace/King actually is successful. I’ve heard Ace/King called “Walking Back to Houston”, which goes back to the days when the Texas rounders would overplay the hand and then, well, have to walk back to Houston without any bankroll left. People still overplay the hand today, as if they’re holding pocket Aces. The fact of the matter is Ace/King is a drawing hand. I’ll raise with it pre-flop, but if I don’t flop a pair I’m gone. And if the pre-flop action gets too heated, I don’t have any problem folding it preflop.

I hadn’t been at this table very long at all. I’d only played a few hands since sitting down, and hadn’t shown down a single one of them. In this hand, I was in the cutoff seat with A©K©. Everyone folded to me, so I raised it $10 to $15. The button called and the blinds folded. I had never played with this opponent before and I didn’t have any kind of read on him, so basically I could only play my cards. I was totally preparing to fold on the flop if it missed me (which a flop will do two out of three times).

The flop was Aª K¨ J§. At first glance, it looked gorgeous (two pair!) but upon further examination, it looked more troubling, with all kinds of looming straight possibilities. I didn’t really think it likely that my opponent had flopped a straight (Queen/Ten usually can’t stand a preflop raise; at least I wouldn’t think so). But it’s very possible it was on the way for him. I decided to check, looking for a check/raise. I thought that would be the best way to define his hand. If he re-raised me, I would start to worry. My opponent bet $15 – rather a small bet – so I raised it to $60 to make drawing a very poor decision, odds-wise. I would have been happy to take the pot there … but he called the raise.

The turn was the 7¨. If my hand was good on the flop, it was almost certainly still good. I put out $100 – again, with an eye toward making a drawing hand pay too much to make it worthwhile. Again, he called. There’s no way he could have me beat … is there?

The river was the 8¨. This put a backdoor diamond flush on the board, and some less-likely straights as well. I ignored those, and value-bet a smallish $150. I was confused at what my opponent was calling with (a smaller two pair maybe?) and my bet was meant to block anything he might choose to bet. He called; I showed my hand, he mucked, and I dragged a $600 pot. If he was drawing, he played very poorly. If he had an Ace, he should have let it go after all the strength I was showing. But it is the mistakes of our opponents that build our bankrolls.

A Disgusting Job

2009-05-05T18:31:00.000-07:00

I can think of few jobs more distasteful than that of a poker room masseuse. To have to put your hands all over a sweaty, stinking, unshaven, fat old man should justify one for combat pay.

Worst of all is the scalp massage. Running your fingers across some guy’s greasy hair and zitty scalp makes me want to reach for the barf bag.

At Pendleton last week, I saw one intrepid soul working on a guy who was sitting backwards in his chair. His tee shirt had ridden up from his saggy pants, revealing a most unappetizing butt cleavage. I immediately had two thoughts: (1) Say no to crack (but unfortunately too late for that); and (2) I was reminded that I need to have somebody move my refrigerator.

Poker Roundup, Days 4 and 5

2009-05-03T07:59:00.000-07:00

I played the Saturday tournament (the Main Event) which was a $500 buy-in. There were 417 total players and 45 were paid. I ended up finishing around 80^th. They played down to the final three tables, then broke for the day and met again Sunday morning to finish up. That part of the event was broadcast live on “Holdem” radio, some Internet station.

Sunday was the “last chance” tournament, which I skipped. I decided to play the cash games instead. It really is some of the toughest poker that I will probably see, so I wanted to put myself to the test. I played super-tight. It was the kind of game where one or two hands will probably define the entire session in terms of coming out ahead or behind. Unfortunately for me, these two hands came down like this: First, I had Aces cracked; and then I was bluffed out of a huge pot when I had two pair (and position) but the fourth diamond came on the river and my opponent pushed all-in. After I folded, he showed me his six-high garbage hand (a good play I have to say). So bottom line, I came out loser from that session.

One other really interesting hand was played where the dealer made a mistake that I had never seen before. The short stack pushed all-in from middle position. Everybody folded to the small blind, who said “call”. He didn’t touch his chips at all, he just said “call”. Then he turned over his hand – pocket Queens. The short stack had pocket Jacks.

At this point, the dealer mucked both hands, washed the deck, and pushed the pot to the short-stack (the one with Jacks). Seems the Wildhorse Casino has a house rule that any hand that gets shown is immediately declared dead. The dealer didn’t hear the player say “call”, and the player didn’t push his chips in, so he just assumed that the guy with Queens had folded face-up.

The guy with the Queens went ballistic. Both the guy sitting next to him and the kid on the short stack said that they had heard him say “call” – it’s just that the dealer did not. They called the floor man over, and the result was that the pot was split between them (the short stack had not touched the chips that were pushed to him, so the pot was easy to rebuild). So that was that. Very odd error I think.

As I evaluate my tournament play, I really think that I did very well, at least for this point in my poker career. I played three tournaments; cashed in one of them; and finished in the top 20% in the other two. And in all of the tournaments I managed to outlast all of the pros, with one exception (Marsha Waggoner lasted longer than me in the Main Event). So I guess that’s something. You can bet that I will be back at future roundups!

Poker Round-Up, Day 3

2009-05-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

I decided to go introduce myself to Linda Johnson. I had heard that she is very friendly and approachable as pros go, so I decided to find out. And she was! We actually chatted for several minutes. If you don’t recognize her, she is one of the personalities connected with the World Poker Tour. I asked her to tell me a funny story or two about the WPT, and she had some cued up and ready to tell (she must get asked that question a lot).

It seems that there was a WPT final table at Foxwoods that had Phil Hellmuth, Jr. as one of the participants. Now, whenever Phil is on camera, the viewing audience is in for a treat. Although he is one of the best tournament players around, he tends to become explosively emotional very easily. Sometimes other players will exploit that weakness. One of the best ways to light the fuse is to check-raise or re-raise him. He never expects that and it drives him crazy.

At this particular WPT final table, Phil was playing against Hoyt Corkins. A big pot was developing between the two of them, and so the cameras were really closing in on Phil, waiting to see what was going to happen. When Hoyt suddenly re-raised Phil all-in, Phil leapt out of his seat, all six-foot-four of him going airborne like Michael Jordan going in for a layup with the Chicago Bulls. Unfortunately, one of the television cameras was suspended on a dolly directly over Phil’s head, so when he popped up out of his chair, he bonked his head against the camera like a car hitting a brick wall. He flopped back into his chair just as suddenly and nearly passed out from the pain. But since he realized that he was on camera, he tried to be very cool and nonchalant about it all. However, nobody was fooled, and while Phil was trying to keep his composure (not to mention his consciousness), the entire room roared with laughter.

I also asked Linda some questions about a theory I have concerning how to play pre-flop in a tournament once the antes start up. I had some ideas about this that I hadn’t ever heard anybody else talk (or write) about, so I wanted to run them past her to see what her opinion was. She thought I had come up with a decent strategy about pre-flop play with antes, so that made me feel pretty good.

Back to poker: Trying to piggyback on the previous day’s success, I bought into the $300 tournament along with 398 others. As the tournament began, they started a fundraiser for a charity fund that assists casino employees who need small-scale financial assistance (trip money to Portland for medical treatment; flowers for the death of a family member, that sort of thing). I gave them $10, got a cheap plastic lei as a reward, and hoped that the added karma would get me deeper into the cash.

Unfortunately, karma notwithstanding, I only lasted until around 7pm, where I went out in 70^th place, out of the money. Back to the cash games I went, where I played another two hours without winning even a single pot! That may be a new record for me. At least I didn’t lose much money at it.

There was one very interesting hand that came up at my table during the tournament. I wasn’t in it, but it was pretty incredible to watch unfold. It was around the fifth or sixth round; antes had just started to kick in so there was a lot of dead money pre-flop.

I was in the small blind for this hand. The player under the gun was the short-stack, and he raised a decent amount. It was folded around to the cutoff, who raised all-in. (This player had the first one covered. ) The next player – the one on the button – then re-raised all-in! He had them both covered. I folded, as did the big blind, and it was back to the original raiser.

This guy hemmed and hawed and thought for about five minutes. He obviously had a big decision to make. The longer he thought, the more agitated he became. He started to talk, ask questions, get a bit louder, become more agitated, then basically he admitted that he had pocket Kings! What would you do in a situation like this?? I mean, you have to believe that at least one of your raisers has pocket Aces, right? Well, that’s the conclusion he reached, so ultimately he folded his Kings, face-up.

So there were two players in the pot, all-in preflop. The cut-off had Ace-King. The button had pocket Queens! The flop came Four-King-Nine, the turn was another Nine, and the river another Four. The guy with Ace/King won the pot and more than doubled-up; the button was the new short-stack, and the guy who folded his Kings face-up (and would have ended up with not one but two full houses) went into orbit he was so upset. Obviously, he didn’t last much longer, but the button didn’t either. We were talking about that hand at the table until it broke and we all moved away. I’m sure the kid who folded the Kings is going to lose sleep over that hand. I know I certainly would!

The only other interesting thing about the tournament has to do with the bracelet I won at the DevCon Poker tournament. I was wearing it of course. One of the dealers asked me about it (I was sitting in seat nine, next to the dealer, so he could easily see it). He thought I had won it in one of the preliminary Pendleton tournaments this year! It looks very much like the bracelets they are giving away to the winner of this year’s Roundup tournaments (a bit smaller though). I started laughing because I was a bit embarrassed, and when I explained what it was and how I got it other folks got to chuckling about it too.

Poker Round-Up, Day 2

2009-04-29T17:02:00.000-07:00

Thursday I bought into the $200 no-limit tournament, along with 386 other players. The game started at noon and lasted until forever. I finished 28th, which was good enough for $250. Woo-hoo! Now I actually have some stats to go with my otherwise-empty Hendon Mob database entry.

I was out by 8pm, so I went over to the cash games. But I was completely wiped out. I had been SO FOCUSED during the tournament that I just didn’t have any brainpower left for the cash game. I went through the motions for about an hour, then gave it up and went back to the motel for the night.

There are plenty of C- and D-list pros in attendance; basically the ones that seem to show up every year. I’m talking about Linda Johnson, Marsha Waggoner, Susie Isaacs, Vince Borgio, Howard “Tahoe” Andrew, and “Oklahoma” Johnny Hale (the last three I actually played against in either the tourney or a cash game). The one player who isn’t here that I expected to see is Tom McEvoy. There’s a big tournament going on at the Bellagio right now, so perhaps he is there instead.

Poker Roundup, Day 1

2009-04-28T15:42:00.000-07:00

I had hoped to blog about the tournament real-time, but since I didn’t have any Internet at my motel I wasn’t able to do that. But I still wrote down some notes each day; I’ll post them a day at a time. Enjoy!

I flew into Walla Walla in the late afternoon on Wednesday, got my rental car and drove down to Pendleton to my relatively decent motel room. (No Internet access, which always drives me up the wall, but that’s another story.)

That evening there was a Super-Satellite playing at the Wildhorse Casino (the Roundup host), so I got there in time to enter it. Several hundred players put down $115, and the top 20% got paid entries into Saturday’s $500 “Main Event”. I went out in the first round, when I decided to play Ace/King from late position. An Ace flopped, I called a big bet from one player (everybody else folded) and by the turn, all of the chips were in the pot. The river was a Queen, my opponent had Ace/Queen, and I was out.

So I went to the cash games and bought into the $2/$5 no-limit table. I folded every hand for over an hour. Then I got pocket Aces. I raised, got re-raised by one player in late position, so I re-raised him; eventually we were all in pre-flop. He had pocket Queens. A third Queen came on the flop, and I was broke.

I re-bought, folded for another hour, then ended up in the Big Blind with King/Deuce of Clubs. Several limpers came into the pot so I checked. The flop was perfect – Ace Deuce Deuce, giving me trips with best kicker. I bet out, got one caller who raised, everybody else folded, I called. Rags came on the turn and river, and by then all the chips were in. I showed down my trip deuces with King kicker, and he showed Ace/King, so I doubled up. Basically, I was back to even for the night (not counting the satellite entry). I ended up the night net winner a small amount.

Just A Short Note

2009-04-21T18:09:00.000-07:00

I haven't played very much poker in a long time, which is very frustrating for many reasons. Mostly because my skills tend to fall off a cliff after only two or three days off. I've been playing a little bit lately, and I might as well be playing with my cards face up. It's beyond tragic. I'm just giving away my chips.

Worse than that: I'm headed to Pendleton, Oregon for the Poker Round-Up tomorrow afternoon. Five days or so of non-stop poker at the Northwest's premier poker event. I went last fall and it was truly spectacular. Among the pros there were Linda Johnson, Tom McEvoy, Marsha Waggoner, and Susie Isaacs. I can't even remember who else.

Meanwhile, I've somehow found my way onto the Hendon Mob Poker Database: http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=s&n=122369

The photo is from the WSOP Main Event last year, the first day. I obviously don't have any statistics yet, because I haven't cashed in any qualifying tournaments (the Wildhorse/Pendleton tournaments will qualify, if I do well in any of them). Frankly I'm surprised I'm even on their website, without any stats.

There are four tournaments on my radar this week in Pendleton -- one each on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The Saturday tourney is the "Main Event" with a $500 buy-in. There's a satellite to that tourney on Wednesday night, so I might just play that too. And you can count on me hanging out at the cash tables in between the tournaments. Some of the best poker I've ever seen.

Not Much Poker Lately

2009-04-13T19:58:00.000-07:00

As is always the case, the biggest reason why I haven’t posted anything lately is because I haven’t been playing very much poker (and the corollary, which is that I’ve been really busy at everything else going on in my life). Up until yesterday, I’ve only played a few hands the past few weeks. One of these will give you an idea of how my poker’s been going recently: I have Ace/King, opponent has Ace/Queen and has me covered. Flop is Ace-Rag-Rag. All the money ends up in the pot. River is a Queen; I lose it all.

Yesterday, I managed to get about two hours in. I played only two hands the entire time – pocket Queens, and the very next hand with pocket Aces. When I got up and left, I’d doubled up my buy-in. Not bad for only playing two hands!

My co-worker Steve has been playing some good poker lately, recently taking down second place in an online tournament that brought in over $3000. He also plays in a weekly home game tournament in Chicago, and keeps threatening to get me into the game on one of my frequent trips out that way. He told me this humorous story about his last time there.

One of Steve’s opponents asked him for the secret to his recurring tournament success. “It’s very simple”, Steve said, reaching over and picking up one of his opponent’s chips. “No matter what you do, never ever ever bet this chip.” He put the chip back down on his opponent’s stack. “As long as you remember that warning, and never bet that chip, you will be certain to win the tournament.”

Roughly half the table got Steve’s point immediately, and chuckled obligingly (including, fortunately, myself, who heard the story some time after it happened). The other half of the crowd figured it out after thinking about it for a short while. Unfortunately, the guy Steve had been talking to was completely perplexed. He picked up the indicated chip and inspected it very closely, as if it were somehow magnetically charged or differently weighted.

“I don’t get it,” he complained. “What did you do, put a hex on it or something?” This generated another round of chuckling from the assembled table. Indeed, at one point this player went all-in – minus only the one chip Steve had identified. (He won that hand, which merely added to the mystique.)

Eventually, Steve was heads-up with this player, who still hadn’t deciphered the Secret of the Magic Chip. Sadly, whether magnetism, magic, or cosmic rays were responsible, it didn’t prevent our victim from losing the heads-up to Steve – although he did eventually figure out what Steve’s statement actually meant. Just not in time for it to do him any good!

Tulalip, Reno, Phoenix

2009-03-25T18:01:00.000-07:00

Once I played a tournament and was down to a single chip. I came all the way back to go out on the bubble. -- Overheard at the table

It's been quite a while since I posted, but I have been playing quite a bit of poker.

A few weeks ago, some buds and I went up to Tulalip on a Saturday. I played poker while they shopped, drank, and played slots. There was an 11am tournament but the structure was really terrible (blinds doubling every level) so I was rather dispirited and didn't play well. I still made it into the top 1/4 of the field but not the money. The cash games were pretty juicy though. Very loose. One hand stands out in particular:

It was a $2/$5 no-limit table. I was in the big blind. Five players limped in (!), and I looked down to see pocket Aces. I raised to $25 and everybody called (!). I told you it was a loose game. I really didn't like seeing so many players still in the hand.

The flop came King, Queen, Six rainbow. Not a bad flop for pocket Aces when there's been no indication of pre-flop strength. As first to bet, I put out $100. The next two players folded; then the next one went all-in, for about $250 more (I had him covered). Everybody else folded back to me, so it was heads-up. I thought for a long, long time. I even apologized to the table for taking so much time, but I couldn't figure out what my opponent had. I had been watching him for awhile and didn't really think he was that good of a player, but even donkeys can flop monsters.

So what did he have? A flopped set fit the flop bet, but why would somebody limp with pocket Kings or pocket Queens? And would somebody call a big pre-flop raise with pocket sixes? (I wouldn't.)

Finally, I said, "Did you flop two pair?" The only hand I could think of was King/Queen. I couldn't see somebody re-raising all-in with Ace/Queen or even Ace/King, although I suppose it's possible.

I finally folded, tossing my Aces face-up onto the table. (I almost never fold face-up.) After this, he showed his hand as well -- King/Queen, for a flopped two pair. I was really behind! Everybody at the table was blown away with the fact that I could both call his hand and fold two Aces, but when I spent some time thinking about it, it wasn't that hard of a move. I would have been in a lot worse shape if he had smooth-called, then shoved on either the turn or river. Maybe he was worried I had a straight draw. But I probably would have lost a lot more money.

A similar hand happened the following week in Reno, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I decided to spend a few days in Reno, at the World Poker Challenge in the Grand Sierra (the former Reno Hilton). They have a $5000 event that used to be part of the World Poker Tour. They still hold the event, but it's no longer televised. But I decided to play some of the prelim events.

Get this -- $30/night got me a deluxe Suite room! I guess the hotel industry is truly hurting.

I did play one of the tournaments, and made it to the final three tables, but they only paid the final nine so once again, I got frozen out. But I did play a really good hand early on.

I had pocket Jacks in late position and raised after two limpers. They both called. The flop was Ten/Nine/Eight, so I had an overpair and a sweet eight-card straight draw. It was checked to me, and I put out a decent bet. I was happy just to buy the pot there, but if I got called that was okay too. Well, the next player (a scary-good older lady) check-raised me an amount that would put me all-in. The third player folded, and it was back to me. Once again, I thought for quite a while, and once again I made a not-too-hard fold face-up. Then she showed her hand -- Queen/Jack, for a flopped nut straight. I was practically drawing dead. It was, I must admit, an excellent play.

Later at the same table, I got dealt pocket Kings and raised big pre-flop. I got a call from the same lady. The flop came Ace/King/Ace, so I flopped a full house, but not the nuts. I could totally see from her reaction that she was thrilled with her hand, and this bothered me. I put her on one of three hands; two of which beat me: (1) Pocket Aces, for flopped quads; (2) Ace/King, for a flopped nut full-house; or (3) Ace/X, for flopped trips. I slowed down and let her take the lead in the betting. But of course there was no avoiding it; by the turn all the chips were in the middle. The turn was a Ten, and I called her all-in. She showed Ace/Jack, so I had her crushed. That is, until the river came -- another Ten, so her Aces full beat my Kings full. Ugh. What a bad beat. All I can say is that I still had plenty of chips left ... and later, I actually knocked her out of the tournament.

While I was there at the Grand Sierra, Jennifer Harman held a charity tournament to raise money for the Kidney Foundation (she is a kidney disease survivor). I thought about playing it, but decided against it because the structure was so awful and the cash games so lucrative. But a whole lot of pros came to town to play, including Todd Brunson, Andy Bloch, Jeff Madsen, Howard Lederer, and a bunch more that I've forgotten. Kathy Liebert was the last pro to show up to play, and also the last one to be knocked out. I thought that was impressive. Layne Flack was "scheduled to appear", as the saying goes, but was a no-show. Maybe he couldn't make bail.

While I was in Reno, I went downtown to take a look around, and it was just as dreary as I remember it. There was of course almost no poker action going on -- everybody was out at the Grand Sierra. I also stopped by the Atlantis and the Peppermill, two larger resorts south of downtown. I played some limit at the Atlantis.

I got back from Reno just in time to head to Phoenix for a work function. In between teaching classes and meeting customers, I attended the "Fourth Annual InterSystems Developers Conference Poker Tournament" (although it was my first year playing). It was a $20 buy-in; 43 players entered, and your favorite blogger ended up winning. The cash prize for first was $265, but more importantly the winner received a really awesome bracelet! I was disappointed when I saw it though; I was hoping for something really tacky but this one is quite elegant. It has "DEVCON 2009 Poker Champion" engraved on it. It almost looks like a medic-alert bracelet; I showed it to a friend and he said that either I had won the poker tournament or I have an allergy to penicillin.

I wish I could share with you some defining hand from the tournament, but I really don't have any. The structure was short levels and rapidly escalating blinds; although I generally don't like such a structure (see the above Tulalip/Kidney Foundation tournaments), of all the players there I think I knew the best way to exploit it. The key for me was to play just a little bit looser than usual (but still tight); release post-flop immediately if you don't hit paydirt; and whatever you do, don't bluff. What's the opposite of bluff? Whenever I got lucky and flopped two pair, I'd just bet the most and somebody would always call with top pair or middle pair. Frankly, I got hit by the deck. Anybody could have won with the hands I got dealt.

Anyhow, that's what I've been up to this past month or so. I still have the Pendleton Poker Round-Up circled on my calendar; and of course you can count on me playing some of the WSOP events (while wearing my DevCon bracelet, I promise!).

Coin-Flips

2009-02-28T20:49:00.000-08:00

I played poker with Tarot cards last night. I got a full house and four people died. -- Steven Wright.

In poker, the player who bets the most wins. The cards are just used to break the ties. -- Overheard at a table recently.

I spent last weekend in Las Vegas. Actually it was a work-related trip, so I didn't have an opportunity to play much poker, but of course I did play some. I was staying at Harrah's, so I played there mostly. I stopped by Treasure Island's little poker room too for a little while. I tried a couple of times to get into the Venetian, but the wait list was so long that both times I just gave up and went back to Harrah's.

This wasn't really a problem though. The games at Harrah's are really soft, and even though the limits are low, I can sometimes make more at a $1/$3 NL game there than I can at, say, the $8/$16 limit game at Bellagio. I played a tournament there once last year, something called a "bounty tournament". I paid $100 to buy in, and got $10 back for every player I knocked out. There were around 40 players total in the tournament, and I took out eight of them! So I was nearly free-rolling even before I made it into the money. I finished in third place and took down a decent prize.

So while I was there last weekend, I did end up playing a tournament there. It was not a bounty, just a $100 buy-in standard tournament. I think there were around 30 players total who played the tournament.

There's a saying that to win a poker tournament, you need to win the coin-flips. That means when you and an opponent both have a roughly 50-50 chance of winning (say, two overcards versus a small pair), you have to win more of those "coin-flips" than you lose. I think it's probably true.

At this point in my poker experience, I fully expect that in any tournament I enter, I should make it into the top half of finishers every time. If I don't at least achieve this, I've almost certainly played extremely poorly. So top-half is my baseline expectation.

On the other hand, if I'm playing very well, I should make it into the top quarter. This is where I ended up during last year's WSOP Main Event. But that still won't make it into the money, which usually pays just the top 10-15% of players. So to get to that point, that's where the luck in involved. That's where I need to win the coin-flips.

In the tournament I played last weekend, I found myself in three coin-flip situations. I lost all three of them, and finished in ninth place (they had just assembled the final table and I was the first one out). So I finished out of the money.

I think it speaks well of my game that I was able to survive not just one coinflip, but two. It took three of those situations to knock me out.

The first time was early in the tournament. I had just knocked out one player and was one of the overall chip leaders. I held pocket fives in the big blind; the small blind (who was seriously short-stacked) went all-in with Ace-Queen, and I called. A Queen flopped, and he doubled up. I was knocked down to average chipstack size ... not a big hit in the grand scheme of things, but a coinflip loss nevertheless.

The second time, I had Ace-Queen in the big blind and called the all-in of a short-stacked guy with pocket Jacks. The board bricked out, and now I was down to a short stack.

The final coinflip was when I raised pre-flop from early position with Ace-Jack. It's not a move I recommend, but I was pretty short-stacked now and I had to start making some moves. I was called by a lady with pocket Eights. A third (and rather redundant) eight came on the river, and I was out. She went on to take second place in the tournament, so I guess I shouldn't feel that bad about it.

Next week is the World Poker Challenge at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, and I am taking some time off work to go play in it. It used to be a World Poker Tour event, but it isn't any more. There are actually seven tournaments that will be played while I'm there, although I'll probably only play in two or three of them. I'm hoping to spend sometime downtown while I'm there, because I remember last time I was there the games were ridiculously soft. It's also where (I think) I played a poker game against Jamie Gold, before he won the Main Event. I'm really looking forward to the experience!

Sometimes Slowplaying Works!

2009-02-19T17:14:00.000-08:00

I had posted recently about how dangerous it can be to slowplay and how I rarely do it. Well, here is an example of a hand that I slowplayed, and it allowed me to completely felt my opponent.

This was a $2/$5 no-limit table. I had not been at the table very long, so I didn’t have good reads on very many folks. But when you are dealt pocket Kings on the button like I was, reading your opponent isn’t necessarily a critical skill. My opponent was two off the big blind and called the $5. It was folded all the way to me, so I raised to $20. The blinds folded and my opponent called.

The flop could not have been more perfect. It was King, Eight, Eight rainbow. So I had flopped the (second) nuts. The only hand my opponent could have that beat me was a pair of eights. But there are hardly any hands he could have that could stand any bet from me! So when he checked, I checked behind.

The turn was a Seven. Still nothing I could bet at, so when my opponent checked, I checked behind again. (Obviously I was going to be the river, regardless of what came off.)

When the river came deuce, my opponent put out $30. I raised to $80, and he quickly went all-in (around $300). I had him covered and called. He proudly turned over his pocket deuces for a rivered full house, and was sad to see my Kings filled a bigger boat. I took in a pot of over $300, and my opponent hit the rail.

Barely a few hands later, same table, even the same seat, new player.

I was third from the blinds and the first into the pot with pocket Jacks, so I raised to $15. My only caller was the small blind.

The flop was three low cards – Six, Five, Deuce rainbow. He checked, I bet $30, and he raised to $60. This made me a bit cautious … I was ready to toss my hand but decided to pay for the turn and called.

The turn was a third Jack! My opponent bet $50. I didn’t know whether he was on a straight draw or something, so I raised it to $200 (he only had about $150 left). My opponent thought for a long time, and spent a lot of time looking at me. Finally he said, “So, do you have pocket Jacks?” What am I supposed to say?? I’m sure that if I had said “yes” he would have folded. I also knew at that point that I had an unbeatable hand. Anyhow, I just said “No” and looked away.

He must have believed me, because he called the all-in. The river was a Queen, and he showed his pocket Tens. I showed my trip Jacks and took the $500+ pot.

He expressed his disappointment with the fact that I had mis-remembered my hand. I would have offered him my heartfelt condolences, but I was too busy stacking up my chips.

Some Upcoming Poker

2009-02-12T20:35:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be on the road playing some poker tournaments this spring; trips specifically (and solely) for poker. I'm kind of excited about it, it's putting a toe into the water of what it would be like to actually be a poker pro and travel all over playing the major tournaments. I've already mentioned the World Poker Open in Reno and the Poker Round-up in Pendleton. I'm also going to Las Vegas next weekend, for a quick weekend away, actually a work-related trip of sorts and I'm not actually sure how much poker I'm going to get in.

I've also looked over the WSOP tournament schedule, and I'm definitely going to be playing some of the early ones. I've decided I won't play the Main Event this year, but instead take the money and play four or five of the smaller buy-in tournaments; maybe more. I actually have some plans made that conflict with the Main Event dates, so if nothing else would have, that would have been the determining factor. On the other hand, I suppose that if I win a cheap satellite into it, I might blow off the personal trip and play the event instead.

I will be playing the $1000 buy-in that starts May 30. It's a four-day event; they must be expecting several thousand entrants. It will certainly be a taste of the Main Event. And get this -- I got a "deluxe" room at the Rio for $40/night! Can you believe it? I know that I have a lot of Harrah's points, but even so, they must truly be hurting to give their rooms away for that cheap.

Here's a hand to chew on in the meantime. It's a huge suck-out story.

I was in the big blind of a $2/$5 no-limit game. Three limpers came in; the small blind completed; and I checked holding Queen/Five of Spades.

The flop came Queen of Hearts, Four of Hearts, Queen of Diamonds. So I had flopped trips, although with a rotten kicker and a dangerous board. I bet $12 into the $25 pot (I probably should have bet more). But the bet had the desired effect, chasing everybody out but the button, who called.

The turn was the Six of Diamonds. This time, I put $24 into the pot, and again the button called. I couldn't figure out what he might have, other than a draw.

Well, if he was drawing, he got there on the river. A third heart came. But ... it was the Five of Hearts! So, his heart flush (if he had it) was loser to my rivered full house. Sweet! I bet $60 and he raised me all-in for another $170 or so (I had him covered). I was happy to oblige.

That's when I saw that he actually held the Queen of Clubs/Ten of Spades! So, basically, I was behind the entire hand until the river Five saved me. My 7% win actually came in! As I was dragging in the pot of a little over $500, I promised myself (again) never to whine about bad beats any more.

Slowplay Yourself Into Oblivion

2009-02-05T17:49:00.000-08:00

I like to slowplay on occasion, just like anybody else. But I use it much more rarely than most folks do. If there's any draw on the board, even if I have a great hand like trips, I will bet it and take the smaller pot rather than check and give the free card that beats me to my opponent. I'm more likely to slowplay when the flop is complete garbage, I have a monster hand, and realize that there's no way my opponent will call anything unless he can catch up.

(One hand I almost never slowplay is a straight. It is just way too vulnerable to draw-outs.)

Here's an example from a recent hand that proves my point. It was a $2/$5 no-limit table. I was the "cutoff" seat with pocket Queens; the big blind had pocket Nines. Preflop, it was folded all the way to me, so I raised it to $15. The button called (I don't know what he had) and so did the big blind.

The flop came Ace-Nine-Deuce -- all Hearts! Now, here is where my opponent (the big blind) lost the pot. He had flopped a set of Nines on a draw-heavy board -- and checked!! I can promise you, with all those hearts and the Ace overcard, I wouldn't have called a one-cent flop bet. So the flop was checked all the way around and we went to the turn.

Guess what? The turn was a Queen. So now I was set-over-set against the guy. And now that he was basically drawing dead, that's when he put in his bet. He put $15 into a $45 pot (way too little for so many reasons). Me, being no dummy, immediately raised the pot ($60). The button folded; the big blind called.

The river was the Ace of Clubs. So now we were looking at full house over full house. The big blind bet roughly $60; I raised to $160; he went all-in for about $400 (I had him covered), so I called and took the pot.

He had nobody to blame but himself for losing a pot that should have been his. Granted, the flop pot only held about $45, but if you'd asked him whether he would have rather won $45 or lost over $500 I can guess what his answer would have been!

Upcoming Poker Tournaments

2009-01-31T19:15:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted anything lately, but I actually have been playing quite a bit of poker lately. I checked out the Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs earlier this month, and I discovered that it was a really good room. A lot of tables going, even early in the morning (i.e. 9 or 10am). Being the Midwest, everybody is really friendly and nice. And there is a very wide degree of skill levels present -- some really good players, and many appallingly poor players.

I also spent a day at the Muckleshoot Casino in Auburn recently. They claim to be the largest poker room in Washington state, and they probably are. I'd only been there one time before. The skill level at this place is really very good, so if you are going to be there you sure as heck better bring your "A-game".

Finally, I played at the WPC Tournament at the "Silver Dollar" casino in Renton last week. I think WPC stands for Washington Poker Championship, but I'm not sure. It's a rather ostentatious title for such a small scale tourney. But it is a fun place to play and I will probably return to the room sometime. (I finished out of the money, busting while holding pocket Aces. I don't want to talk about it!)

I've booked a couple of trips to some games coming up to: The "World Poker Challenge" in Reno in early March. This used to be a WPT event but it no longer is. I'm playing a few of the preliminary events. I suppose if I do well I might stay longer and play some more events, but the biggest reason I'm going is that I've only been to Reno once and I remember how loose the games were there. I've wanted to go back for some time, so now I have an excuse.

I'm also going to the "Poker Roundup" in Pendleton, Oregon in late April. I've blogged before about the roundup I went to last November and how much I enjoyed it. The quality of play there is some of the best I've ever experienced. Maybe it's not such a good idea to jump into that pool again! But I really liked having to be on my toes the whole time I was playing.

The World Series has posted their schedule for this summer's events. I honestly haven't decided whether I will play the Main Event again this year or not. After all, $10,000 is a lot of money! I guess if I satellite into it I will of course go. Or if one of these other tournaments ends up putting some significant benjamins into my bankroll I will probably go. But I'm thinking instead of taking the $10k I've been saving up for the Main Event and using it to buy into four or five prelim events instead. If I score in one of those, maybe I'll do the Main Event too.

Here's a recent hand I played at a $2/$5 no-limit table. Actually, it's a hand I didn't play, which is really the point of the post.

I was in middle position (the so-called "Hijack" seat) with a nice starting hand, Ace of Clubs/King of Diamonds. It was folded to me, so I opened for a raise of $15. The next player (in the "Cutoff" seat) flat-called. As he was basically a calling-station, this didn't really trouble me at all. The button folded. The small blind, a decent player, put in a re-raise of $20, making it $35 to go. The big blind, another decent player who was short-stacked at the table, then re-raised again, all-in! This was a total of about $130, or nearly $100 on top of the small blind's raise.

Something bizarre was going on here, and I wasn't feeling very comfortable. The odds say that I should call any raise with Ace/King unless one of my opponents holds either Aces or Kings. And I usually will do just that (not knowing, of course, whether I really am up against that or not). But I was getting a nasty vibe from all this, which I attribute to my read of the players involved. Rather than call the extra $115 or so, I folded. The next player folded too, but the small blind called.

The flop came Queen of Clubs, Eight of Hearts, Queen of Diamonds. The Six of Spades came on the turn, and the Two of Hearts on the river. The small blind showed his pocket tens, which beat the big blind's pocket nines. My Ace/King would have come in third. The small blind dragged a pot of nearly $300.

The point of the story is that too many people (in my opinion) overvalue Ace/King as a starting hand. Unless you draw something that helps it improve, you've got a poor hand that can be beat with a pair of deuces. Beware!

Yep, haven't posted lately ...

2009-01-04T20:00:00.000-08:00

I just got back from Hawaii (holiday vacation), where they don't have any casinos. And the condo I was renting had a broken Internet modem, so I couldn't get any Internet poker action. So that's one reason I haven't posted lately.

But I do have a hand from long ago I'll post, along with a rather minor interesting experience: I found Tom McEvoy's email address on the CardPlayer website, so I sent him an email asking if he was truly at the Pendleton Poker Round-up last fall. And he wrote back! He said that he was indeed there, and that if I had brought my book to him he'd have signed it for me. I thought it was pretty nice that he wrote me back.

So here's the hand. I think it was maybe one of the best hands I've ever played. It's $2/$5 no-limit, and I'm on the button.

Everybody folds to the cutoff, who just calls the big blind. I look down and see Jack of Diamonds/Ten of Clubs, and limp as well. The small blind completes; the big blind checks; and it's four to the flop.

Flop comes Eight of Diamonds, Three of Diamonds, Nine of Clubs. So, I have a really nice open-end straight draw, and an inconsequential backdoor flush draw. At this point, I'm willing to call a bet if the pot odds are in favor. So my call would have to be less than about a third of the pot (not counting other callers, if any).

Everybody checks to me, so I'm thinking I might have the best hand after all (especially with such a rotten flop). I bet half the pot, $10, as a semi-bluff. My goal is to chase away some of the players -- maybe all of them -- but if anybody calls, I have decent outs. The small blind calls; the big blind folds; and the cutoff calls, so I only chased out one player.

The turn is the Ace of Clubs. Somebody on a club flush draw picked up some outs, but I can't imagine anybody staying in with just that. Nevertheless, anybody with an Ace pulled ahead of me here. The two remaining players check to the raiser (me), but I don't fall for the bait and check behind. Basically, my big flop bet bought me a free card.

The river brings the Seven of Spades, completing my straight (which is the nut hand). Now the small blind comes alive with a big $50 bet (the size of the pot). The cutoff folds, and it's to me. How do I get the most value for this hand, anyhow? I raise it $90 to $140, and get a quick call. I show my straight, he shows his three eights, and I drag a $300+ pot.

I understand his call, because my straight was so well-hidden that it was pretty much impossible to see. But I don't like his initial river bet. I think it was too big as value bets go (which is what he should be trying for here). It will chase away potential callers with inferior hands, and only be called by hands that will beat his, like mine. I also think it was a mistake for him to slow-play his flopped set with such a coordinated, draw-heavy board.

But I am pleased in how I played this hand!

Bizarre Clonie Gowan Story

2008-12-17T20:25:00.000-08:00

Clonie Gowan, in case you aren't aware, is a professional poker player. She was also -- up until about two months ago -- a member of "Team Full Tilt", a select group of about a dozen poker players affiliated with the poker website FullTiltPoker.net.

Something odd has happened. I noticed recently that Clonie's image no longer is amoung the group of players that appear at the end of every "Full Tilt" television commercial. A visit to the website shows that she has been airbrushed out of every photo and removed from every listing of players. She's apparently been dispatched down the memory hole, with a degree of efficiency that would make a Bellagio chip-runner jealous.

Naturally, there's a lawsuit involved. Clonie is suing Full Tilt's parent company (along with some of the owners individually) for $40 million. She claims that when the website was founded, she was promised 2% ownership of the company. Apparently there's nothing in writing to prove this. But she says some weeks ago, Howard Lederer (the purported CEO) offered her $250,000 to walk away. She thinks she deserves more; hence the lawsuit.

Now, I'm not a lawyer. But I do know quite a bit about contract law, so I can make a couple of conclusions about this situation.

1. The fact that this alleged ownership interest lacked a written agreement isn't terribly relevant. An oral contract is just as binding as a written one in most cases (there are plenty of exceptions. Real estate transactions, for example.). Having something in writing is helpful, of course, but not usually a requirement for an action to proceed.

2. On the other hand, in order for a contract to be binding, it must involve an activity that is legal. In other words, if you hire Vinnie the Blade to knock off your ex-girlfriend, and he doesn't, you can't sue him in court for breach of contract, because the basis of the contract was not a legal activity. Is running an online poker room legal in the United States? It's not entirely clear whether it is or not.

Regardless, I'm sure that Full Tilt isn't eager to see this action make its way to a courtroom. It would pretty much oblige them to open up their books and show a lot of details about where the money come from -- and goes -- that they'd just as soon keep private.

If Clonie is seeking $40 meg for 2% of the company, she's basically saying the firm as a whole is worth $2B. That's difficult to accept, at least for me. If you'd value the company at between one to one-and-a-half times annual revenue (pretty generous for these types of enterprises that are public), a back of the envelope guesstimate (by me) would give Full Tilt a value of maybe one-tenth or one-twentieth Clonie's number.

My prediction is that the two sides will settle for a low, seven-figure number that will remain secret; Clonie will fade away, and we'll never hear any more about the matter.

But the whole thing is bizarre.

I've always thought that Clonie Gowan was an odd fit for that organization. Frankly, she's not that good of a poker player. And her vocabulary includes the kind of words you'd only find at the dockyard ... or in the Illinois Governor's office. She actually holds the record for the most bleeped player on the TV show "Poker After Dark".

Think about it: Here are some of the other members of Team Full Tilt:

* Former World champion Chris "Jesus" Ferguson

* Eight-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel (8 bracelets! Only three human beings have more.)

* Jennifer Harman, perhaps the best female player in the world

* Phil Ivey, widely considered poker's very best player overall

* Erick Lindgren, who's been both WPT and WSOP "Player of the Year"

* Widely respected cash game player Patrik Antonius

* Etc. etc. etc.

And ... um ... Clonie Gowan? I mean, how does she fit in with this group, after all?

Not to mention the fact that she basically confessed on an episode of "Poker After Dark" to having cheated in a game. She said she noticed the deck they were playing with had too many Aces ... but she waited until the pot was pushed to her before she notified the floorman.

Believe it or not, there's a code of honor among poker players. Handshake agreements fall under that code ... but so does respecting the integrity of the game that you're in. Every player has the obligation to do what's best for poker at all times; Clonie didn't live up to that requirement.

That doesn't mean she doesn't deserve to be compensated for her work on behalf of Full Tilt. But if she's that kind of player, it just might indicate why she's no longer part of their team.

Why I Hate Ace-Jack

2008-12-14T17:05:00.001-08:00

I’ve posted before about Ace-Jack, and how it really is a pretty bad hand to come into a pot with. I frequently fold it pre-flop if there’s any action early on, and I always fold it from early position. But some folks don’t, and they end up having to deal with consequences that I’m able to avoid.

I was in early position at a $2/$5 no-limit game with Ace/King offsuit. The first player folded; I raised to $15, and got two callers – a loose, middle-position player, and the guy on the button. The flop came Ace-Ace-Three rainbow. I checked, hoping for the chance at a check-raise … but unfortunately the other two guys also checked behind me. The turn brought a deuce. Although this meant a straight was in the offing, I thought that was extremely unlikely. After all, who is going to call a raise pre-flop with a five-four?

I bet $20; the button called and the other player folded. The river was a nine (no flush draws), so I put in a $60 bet. My opponent called and proudly showed the Ace-Jack. I turned over my Ace-King and dragged the pot.

How I Play Kings

2008-12-02T18:17:00.001-08:00

I nearly titled this "How To Play Kings" ... but that would be a little presumptive I think.

But it is true that the way I play pocket Kings (or Queens or Jacks, or even to some extent Aces) is different from how a lot of people play them. To begin with, with any of these hands I'm quite content to take in a small pot. Someone (Stu Ungar?) once said pocket Aces will either win you a small pot or lose you a big one, and I've played enough to realize that's true. So, given that choice, I'd rather win the small pot.

So with any of these hands, I will raise from any position, or re-raise if it's already been raised. Ideally, I want to be down to a single opponent pre-flop. None of these hands play particularly well with multiple opponents.

On the flop, if an overcard comes (i.e. an Ace when I'm holding Kings, or Ace or King when I have Queens, etc.) then I am pretty much through with the hand. Just about the only hands worth calling a pre-flop raise with contain an Ace, so now I am beat. Fortunately I most likely have only put in a comparatively small amount, so it's not too painful. Frustrating, but not painful.

With Kings or Queens, I will reraise a preflop raiser, trying to get heads-up like I said. If my opponent re-reraises me, I'll just call. That way, if I'm taking my Kings against Aces, I won't lose as much as I would if I continued to make it a shove contest. Then just check and call it down, and hope the Kings hold. I'll almost never raise all-in with Kings, but I will call somebody else's all-in. If they have the Aces at that point, well I guess too bad for the home team.

Here are a couple of hands from a recent poker session to show you what I mean. Both of them occurred at the $2/$5 no-limit table.

In the first hand, I was the big blind. A player in early position limped (oh how I hate early position limpers, such a bad play). Everybody else folded to the small blind, who called. I looked at my hand -- pocket Kings -- and raised to $20, hoping one of my two opponents would fold. The first limper called ... and then the small blind re-raised me, to $100! Usually, I would have just called ... but I really did want the other player out, so I re-re-reraised again, to $300. The early limper folded; then the small blind went all-in, which was a total bet of $500. Well of course I was committed, I had him covered, I called. A river King gave me trips, which I didn't need against his pocket Queens. The $1000 pot was mine.

In the second hand, I was in early position with Ten/Four of clubs and folded, so I was just a member of the audience for what went down. It was folded to the button, who raised to $20. The small blind folded; the big blind re-raised to $50. The button then raised to $160; the big blind went all in (about $400) -- he had the button covered -- and the button called. The big blind showed his Kings and the button showed his Aces. The dealer placed five bricks on the board, and the big blind had successfully donked off almost his entire stack pre-flop.

I don't even like the big blind's first re-raise. At this point, he is already heads-up; I would have just called the button and taken the flop. But after the button re-raised, his all-in shove was a horrible decision. Think about it: Not many hands are worth putting $160 into the pot pre-flop; and fewer of those can be beaten by pocket Kings.

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Here's a shout-out to my co-worker Steve, who came in second in a recent PokerStars tourney for a $7000+ payday. Many more of those Steve and you probably won't be my co-worker for long! Big congrats.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Seattle area has a new casino which opened recently, the Snoqualmie Casino. I went and checked it out over the T'giving weekend. I guess I will be charitable and say that since it just opened, they haven't grown to their capacity yet. When I was there, only one table of the 12 in their poker room was playing, and it was a $4/$8 limit table. There was list for $2/$5 spread limit. I played the limit table for a few hours, and the other players there were just ghastly. I've already written how I don't like the lower limit tables, because the rake alone makes it almost impossible to beat. Anyhow, they promise that they will have a larger poker room opening in a few weeks; let's at least hope they have more players too to populate it with.

The Importance of Being Patient

2008-11-25T18:10:00.000-08:00

I waited a couple of days to post this, and I am glad that I did, because there’s an additional chapter to the story that hadn’t occurred earlier.

I was playing at a $2/$5 no-limit table, like usual, and suffered a really terrible beat that risked putting me on a massive tilt jag. It took a lot of discipline not to just donk off the rest of my chips . . . or resolve to give up poker altogether!

First of all, I had been playing my game really well all evening, and had started to build up a respectable stack. I was suitably tight, very attentive to the play and to my opponents, and feeling really good about the session. Then, along came the following hand.

I was under-the-gun and found Ace/King of clubs, a premium hand if there ever was one. Like I usually would with this hand, I raised it to $15, and action continued to the player on my left. He re-raised me to $50. Now, he was also playing quite tight and I had a lot of respect for his game. But I wasn’t going to surrender my nice hand before at least seeing the flop. Everybody else folded; I called; and it went to the flop heads-up.

The flop was Ace-rag-rag, so I had top pair and top kicker. There were no straight or flush draws. Very, very nice. I put out a $40 bet, and he insta-called me. This confused me, but we went to the turn.

The turn was another rag. I thought I still had the best hand, but his behavior was baffling, so I just checked. He checked behind me; this gave me quite a bit of confidence.

When another brick came on the river, I put out a bet of $100. He raised all-in, which was not much more. I had him covered, so I called and turned over my pair of Aces with top kicker. He turned over his pocket Aces, for a flopped set! I was behind from the start. Worst of all, I really couldn’t blame anybody for the hand. I’m just not going to surrender Ace/King suited pre-flop; I think it was just fated for me to lose. I lost everything I had won that session, as well as a decent chunk of what I had brought to the table.

I played on for a few more rounds, extremely tight, more as an exercise in forcing myself not to tilt. But the cards didn’t break my way at all, and ultimately I just got up and left. It was a truly horrible experience.

So that’s where it stood for a day or two, and I had decided to post the hand here as a therapeutic measure. But tonight, the next chapter was writ; I’m glad I waited to post, because I see both of these hands as part of a matching set.

The theme of this entry is patience. If I hadn’t had patience, what happened next probably never would have. And if I hadn’t had a fundamental faith in my game – perhaps my best poker quality – it definitely wouldn’t have.

Another day; another $2/$5 game. I sat down still dejected from the last session, with a rather fatalistic outlook on the world, and pretty much expecting to see my chip stack wither away either gradually or through one classic crash-up like before.

After a couple of rounds where I was starting to build my stack (like usual), and playing very carefully and (if I do say so myself) quite disciplined and good, I looked down under-the-gun and found pocket Aces. I brought it in for a raise ($15). The player on my left, somebody I hadn’t ever played with before but who I pegged as relatively tight, raised it to $50. This seemed eerily like the previous day’s fiasco, although this time I held the Aces. It folded around to me, and I said (to myself), oh, the hell with it, and I just shoved in my stack; around $500 (I had my opponent covered). He insta-called, and all we needed now was a board.

It came Queen, Jack, and three rags. I turned over my pocket Aces. He turned over his pocket Kings. I won a huge pot; even bigger than the one I had lost the day before. All was right with the world once more. My opponent got mad and left.

I never think it’s wrong pre-flop to shove with pocket Aces, in a cash game at least. At worst, I am 80% to win. I don’t feel the same way about Kings though; nor even (generally) about calling somebody else’s all-in while holding Kings. I have some more thoughts about playing Kings, and I’ll post those some time. But I did want to make this entry for the time being.

2008 Pendleton Fall Poker Roundup

2008-11-18T19:10:00.000-08:00

I have to say, this is one of the very best tournaments that I've ever been to. Not only were the tournaments good, but the side action was some of the consistently best poker I've ever seen. It was a great place to play poker!

I took a walk around downtown Pendleton Saturday morning, and although there's not much to it I must admit it's a pretty decent town after all. And it isn't as small as I originally expected; all in all it's probably about the same size as the town I went to college at in Nebraska. So it was a very comfortable place to be.

The motel I was at was as cheap as could be, but not a bad joint at all. Best of all, the wireless Internet worked! And it was next door to the 24-hour Denny's restaurant, so I had decent breakfasts all weekend (and a few nice lunches too).

Along with around 300 other folks, I played the $500 buy-in tournament on Saturday. Much to my surprise, there were a lot of pros who were there! I didn't expect this, because of the WSOP circuit tournament going on in Tahoe, but there they were: Susie Isaacs, Marsha Waggoner, Tom McEvoy, Barbara Enwright, Linda Johnson, a few others too. When I saw Tom McEvoy, I remembered that I happened to have brought one of his books with me to read on the plane, so I resolved to bring it back the next day and see whether he would autograph it for me.

I made it more than half-way through the field, but busted out before the money. But on the other hand, I saw that I had outlasted every pro except for Linda Johnson, so I guess that's something.

The next day (Saturday) was the "Main Event", with a $1000 buy-in. But I was having such a good run at the cash games that I decided to skip it and just play $2/$5 after all. I brought my book for McEvoy to sign -- but he never showed up! I guess when he busted out of the Friday tournament so early, he just decided to head out. Bummer! I really wanted to meet him.

Sunday was the "Last Chance" tournament, with a measly $200 buy-in. Just for fun, I played a $20 satellite to see whether I could get in for cheap; made it all the way to heads-up, and then cut a deal with the other guy. I gave him the win, and he gave me $75. So I decided to go ahead and play that tournament. There were over 200 entries.

I made it to the final five tables . . . but they only paid the final two tables. So I nearly made it. Then, back to the cash tables for more money-making.

At one of my cash games were two pros that I'd never heard of before: Vince Burgio and Howard "Tahoe" Andrew. It's probably a good thing that nobody told me they were pros until after they had left or else I might have probably been intimidated. As it was, I pretty much wiped the table with them. "Tahoe" especially received a lot of pain from playing pots against me. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure they haven't heard of me either.

They play either two or three of these "Poker Roundups" each year; not clear to me yet which it is. But I can promise you that I will definitely be back! I have found a group of really good poker players, top to bottom, and it's a totally terrific environment to play in!

Pendleton Fall Poker Roundup

2008-11-14T07:44:00.000-08:00

So here I am in beautiful tiny Pendleton. I flew into what was certainly the smallest commercial airport I have ever flown into -- and I've flown into plenty of tiny airports. Long Beach, Santa Barbara, and Traverse City come to mind. As for this place -- the waiting area was smaller than the turboprob plane that brought me there! Since it's only 40 miles away from Walla Walla, I'm surprised that it's even still open.

The motel I'm staying at reminds me of the places in Kansas City they used to close down because of all the drug trafficking. Sometimes I'm so cheap I can't even explain it to myself. The difference in price between this joint and the casino hotel is basically one decent no-limit pot, so it's not like I wouldn't be able to afford the upgrade.

Then I popped over to the casino, expecting to be seriously disappointed. The casino itself (the Wildhorse) looks like any other Indian casino, the kind that you find every thirty miles or so in Michigan. I thought, okay, their poker room has maybe six tables in it, if I'm lucky (turns out it has four). I wandered about the slot area (smoking section of course), looked through the gift shop, then walked over to the convention center to take a peek. Many times, big tournaments are held in the convention area rather than the poker room (like the WSOP).

I ended up walking into one of the largest poker rooms I'd ever seen outside of Las Vegas and L.A.! There must have been 50 tables set up, maybe more. It was extremely impressive. So, just to get the feel for the crowd, I sat down at the $2/$5 no-limit table and bought in for $400.

That $400 lasted me around six hours, but I had one of the worst runs of cards I can remember. In fact, there's really only two key hands that I played where I put in more than $15-$20. In the first, I had pocket Queens, and my opponent had Ace/Jack. The board flopped a Jack, and the third Jack came on the river, so I lost a decent pot there (around $200). The second hand, I had Ace/Jack suited on the button, and I ran into a flopped full house (pocket nines caught a nine-five-five flop). That pretty much did it for me.

When I have a session with bad hand after bad hand, I start to think, well, I hope I got all the bad hands out of the way so next time I get better hands. I'll see whether this holds true, because I'll be playing the $500 no limit tournament today. Some of the dealers said they expect around 500 players -- this would make for a prize pool of $250,000! I think it will be fun.

Tomorrow is a $1000 tournament. I will probably play that one too, but to be honest I haven't decided yet.

Some Interesting Hands

2008-11-07T21:35:00.000-08:00

For one reason or another, I found a few hands I played recently rather interesting, so I’ll post them in case anybody else does too. They’re all from the $2/$5 no-limit table.

For the first hand, I was in the big blind. The first player folded. The second player called the big blind of $5. He was a very loose player, seeing a lot of flops, so his call didn’t mean a thing to me. (Although I don’t believe I will EVER understand why somebody in early position would ever just call the big blind.) The only other caller was the small blind, another loose cannon. I looked down to see Queen/Six of clubs – true garbage – so I checked and the three of us saw the flop.

It was Seven of Diamonds, Queen of Hearts, Jack of Clubs. So I had flopped top pair with rotten kicker, but almost certainly the best hand. The small blind checked; I bet $5 into the $15 pot and got both players to call. Nice.

The turn was the Six of Diamonds, and suddenly I had two pair. Oddly enough, at this point the small blind overbet $40 into the $30 pot. There’s no way he had me beat; I’d seen him play enough to know that if he had either a set (because of a pocket pair) or a better two pair than me, he’d have bet it earlier. So I just smooth called his bet. The third player folded out of the way.

The river brought the Nine of Spades. At this point, my opponent checked. I value bet a measly $60 (the pot was over $100) and without much delay, he called. I showed my two pair; I don’t know what he had because he mucked. But I brought home a nice $220 pot.

As for the next hand on the agenda, I was in late position. The player under the gun raised to $20 or four times the big blind. (Now that is how to come in from early position!) This guy was moderately tight, so I was a bit concerned about what he might have. The next player folded; then the one after that called the bet cold. He was a very loose player and his call didn’t really mean much to be as he had been playing a lot of pots. Frankly, I put him on two high cards. The next player folded; I looked down at the two red Queens. Now, believe it or not, frequently in this situation I would strongly consider folding! That is, a tight player in first position coming in for a raise, with one player calling the bet cold . . . absent any other information, I’d assume at least one of them had Aces or Kings. But this was a very loose table, with everybody calling every bet with bizarre hands, so I thought that it was extremely possible that I had the best hand here. So I went ahead and called. The player to my left (who was the button) also called – but I actually liked that, because he was a truly terrible player and I saw it as a chance to take some chips from him. The two blinds folded.

The flop was pretty good for me: Seven of Hearts, Three of Hearts, Three of Spades. I thought that it was extremely unlikely that it had hit anybody; with that much pre-flop action, you’d have to believe everybody had cards higher than seven. The betting round confirmed my hunch, as the first two players checked (at this time I put the UTG guy also on two high cards). I put $60 into the $87 pot; the button called and the other two players folded (whew!)

The turn was the Jack of Clubs; my Queens were almost certainly still good. This time I put $140 out (the pot was around $200) and again my calling-station opponent came along for the ride.

River: Three of Diamonds. Now, only three hands beat me: the case Three, or pocket Aces or Kings. No way my button buddy had those. I put him all in for another $120 (I had him covered). He thought a good long time before folding, and the $460 pot was mine.

Big deal, you’re thinking, anybody can play pocket Queens. And you’re right. So this last hand is about as opposite a hand as you’ll find . . . in fact, it played out so odd that I just cracked up when I was over. I won’t tell you my holding until the very end.

I was in the big blind. The first player folded; the next one limped (he might be the tightest player I’ve ever seen); another fold, then the next player min-raised to $10 (why oh why such a ridiculous raise?). The one to his left called the raise; it folded around to me. At this point, with the pot odds I’d have called another $5 with any two cards, so I did. Mr. Tight also called, so it was four to the flop.

The flop came two black Aces, and the Deuce of Diamonds.

When I see a flop like this, I have two competing reactions: (1) The fact that two Aces came makes it less likely that anybody else held an Ace pre-flop; and (2) If anybody does in fact hold an ace in their hand, it will become pretty clear during the betting that is to come.

I checked; so did Mr. Tight. The pre-flop raiser put out a min-bet of $5, and I was the only caller.

The turn was the Three of Spades, and it went check-check.

The river brought the Ten on Clubs. The pot held just over $50 by now. I value-bet a miniscule $20 into the pot; my opponent called, and I turned over (what I knew from the flop on was) the winning hand:

Seven/Deuce of Clubs!

I don’t know what my opponent had for sure but it must have been two high cards.

I’m going to be playing at the “Poker Round-Up” at the Wildhorse Casino in the massive metropolis of Pendleton, Oregon next week. Just a change of pace to shake things up. I’m going to enter a couple of events there in addition to playing the cash games; I’ll let you know how I did.

I Hate Ace/Jack

2008-10-25T17:06:00.000-07:00

I haven’t posted much to my blog lately, and there are two reasons for this. First (and most) of all, I’ve been pretty busy with my real life. Work has picked up, which is always a good thing but particularly good when the economy as a whole is in recession. And second, I’ve had a terrible string of poker sessions lately, and it’s no fun to blog when the news is bad. It’s just been loss after loss after loss. Poker is like that sometimes. When it happens to me, I just have to drop out of the game, go off somewhere, and look at my game really closely to see whether I’ve been playing badly or just have been getting bad cards. I should probably find a poker coach or poker buddy that I can bounce things off of, but since I don’t have one posting to this blog really helps as an alternative. (By the way, I’ve decided that my recent results are due to a bit of both – bad play and bad cards.)

Since my luck has started to turn a bit, I’ve got an entry to blog about.

If you’re a regular reader to my blog, you know how much I despise Ace/Jack has a starting hand. Here’s another example of why I’m convinced it’s just a bad trouble hand.

It was really early in the session of a $2/$5 no-limit game. In fact, the button hadn’t even made it around its first orbit since I sat down. I was in the cutoff seat (one to the right of the button). The action folded around to me, and I looked down to see my “favorite” hand, Ace/Jack of diamonds. Since nobody else had shown any interest in the pot, I decided to throw a bet out and see whether I could just pick it up without seeing a flop. I raised to $15. Everybody folded around to the big blind, who called my raise for another $10.

The flop came Jack of Clubs, Two of Spades, Three of Spades. I had top pair with top kicker, but I didn’t like seeing such a draw-heavy board. My opponent over-bet the pot for $35. I decided that he had a made hand, and that he didn’t want to see me draw out on him. Big deal, I also had a made hand! So I flat called.

The turn came Nine of Clubs. Without any hesitation, my opponent bet $65. By now, my tell-detector was starting to ring. From his mannerisms, I could see that this guy really thought he had a good hand. But I still thought my hand might be better, so I called again.

The river was the Ten of Spades, and my opponent almost beat the dealer into the pot with a bet of $140. At this point, I was so frustrated I could have bitten a poker chip in two. My rule of thumb is, when you don’t know how an opponent plays, it’s safer to just assume he means what he’s saying. It’s a conclusion that I’ve reached the hard way. And here my opponent was screaming that he had my hand beat. Maybe he did and maybe he didn’t. But I decided to let the $220-plus pot go, and wait for some other opportunity. After all, the beauty (and of course the curse) of no-limit hold ‘em is that you can lose one pot, and make it all up on the very next one.

I kept my eye on this guy until he left the table, and I concluded that he was pretty loose pre-flop but excellent post-flop; so consequently I’ve decided that my fold was good, although I wish I’d have done it a street sooner.

This brings us to the very next hand. I was in the “hijack” seat, one to the right of the cutoff. It was folded to me, and I looked down to see the King of Spades and Jack of Diamonds. Again, since nobody else wanted the pot, I put $15 in to see if I could snag the blinds. I admit it was pretty loose by my standards; maybe I was a bit on tilt from the last hand. Or maybe I just wanted it to look like I was on tilt. The button raised it another $10, and it folded back to me. I wasn’t thrilled now with my hand, but the pot was laying me four and a half to one, so I was obliged to call.

The flop was Two of Hearts, Eight of Clubs, King of Clubs. So I had top pair once more! I bet $30, just enough to chase away the flush draw. My opponent raised me another $30. Again because of the pot odds, I called. I should add here that I wasn’t getting any tell from him that made me think I was beat, but I was going to be cautious going forward anyhow.

The turn was the Four of Clubs, so the flush draw arrived. I didn’t really think he had it. I put out a $80 bet, and this time he just called.

The river was the Four of Diamonds. I really thought I was the winner here. I had my opponent covered, and I could see he was a bit nervous. I put him all-in (a little over $175) and after a short delay, he put in the crying call. I showed my two pair (Kings and Queens with a Jack kicker) and he mucked, so I don’t know what he had; I’m guessing an underpair to my Kings. Maybe he paired the flop, with an Ace-Eight. Regardless, I pulled in a pot of over $600.

So this makes the point how you can lay down a decent hand that might be best but might not be, and surrender a good pot; only to pull in a bigger pot with a better hand later on – maybe even the very next hand, like what happened to me.

Meanwhile, I ended up getting a revenge hand against my first opponent later on. Here is how that came down:

I was in the cutoff seat once more, and again the bad guy was the big blind. By now I was the deep stack at the table, just barely edging out my opponent’s chipstack.

The blinds posted ($2 and $5). The first player folded, the next player called. Two more folds, then the next player called. I looked down to see two black eights, so I called. The button called, the small blind folded (getting 11-to-1???) and six of us went to the flop.

The flop was Eight of Diamonds, Ten of Clubs, King of Hearts – a beautiful rainbow flop that gave me some well-hidden trips.

The big blind – my nemesis – put out a min bet of $5. The next player called, then a fold, I called, the button folded, and three of us took the turn card.

The turn was the Six of Clubs. Some draws were starting to come in, and I was ready to take the pot now. The big blind put out $20. The next guy folded, and now I was heads-up. I raised to $60. He doubled my raise to $120 and I called.

The river was beautiful – the Eight of Hearts. The big blind bet $150. I decided how much to raise; ended up pushing all-in for $400. It wasn’t too much of an overbet, and I was hoping it looked a little desperate.

My opponent went into the tank for ages. I just tried not to move or anything. He thought and thought and thought, and just when I had decided that he wasn’t going to call off the rest of his chips, he called. I showed my quads, he said “nice hand” and mucked, and I brought home a pot of over $1000.

I love poker.

Lay It Down!

2008-10-14T15:28:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest weaknesses that I have in my game (which I continually try to improve on) is being unable to lay down a decent hand post-flop when common sense tells me I am beat. There is no question: When I consider which hands have cost me the most money, it’s either bad beats (and I can’t do anything about that) or holding onto a good-not-great hand for too long.

I’ve been trying to tell myself two things: First, it’s better to lose a little bit of money than a lot – so lay that good hand down. And second, the nature of no-limit hold-‘em is such that if you let this decent pot go now, you will find another decent-sized pot later that you have a better chance of picking up.

So with that thought in mind, I want to post two hands I played recently.

I was at a $2/$5 no-limit table in the small blind, and thanks to some decent cards and nimble play I was the chip leader at the table with about $800 in chips. A player in middle position who wasn’t that good doubled the big blind to $10, and it was folded around to me. I looked down to see the Ace/Queen of Spades – a very good hand, but not exactly premium because it is so vulnerable to a bad flop. So I called the raise for another $8. The big blind, an extraordinarily tight player, called the raise also (this troubled me a little) and we went to the flop.

The flop was perfect – Queen of Hearts, Jack of Diamonds, Deuce of Hearts. With such a draw-heavy board, I led out for a pot-sized bet of $30. The big blind doubled my bet to $60 (Danger Will Robinson!), and the other player quit. Getting four-to-one on my call, I stayed for another card.

The turn was the Nine of Clubs. I was really worried about this other player now. He was so tight, and I could hardly remember a hand he’d played to this point. But I didn’t want to surrender the action completely, so I put out a “blocking bet” of $60 into a pot of around $150. If my opponent raised this bet, I was gone.

He thought for a REALLY long time. Usually, but not always, I’ve found that a long pause means my hand is best. But then he put out a raise of $80, to a total of $140.

I really hated laying down top pair with top kicker, but I couldn’t put him on a draw with that degree of aggression. He probably had a flopped set, or maybe two pair. I wanted to call so bad, but I let it go.

Three hands later, sitting in the “hijack” seat, the following hand came down:

An early player limped in. I looked down to see two red eights, so I limped also. The button limped, the big blind checked, and so four of us went to the flop.

The flop was Seven of Diamonds, Six of Spades, Five of Clubs. So I had an overpair and an open-end straight draw – pretty nice, although with such a crowd in the hand I wasn’t sure what to think.

The initial limper bet $10 into the $20 pot – the kind of bet you make when you don’t know what else to do. In other words, I wasn’t terribly frightened of it. In fact, nobody was – we all called.

The turn was the Jack of Spades. Now the initial limper bet $40 into a $60 pot. I really didn’t put him on a Jack, so I called. Everybody else folded, so it was heads-up to the river.

The last card was the Seven of Hearts – what a great card. My opponent checked, and I thought about what to do.

Because of his scared river check, I still didn’t put him on a Jack, and I didn’t put him on a Seven either (for trips). I decided that I had the best hand. The only realistic hands that beat me were a flopped set or a flopped straight – and my opponent hadn’t bet enough to chase out hands that could challenge those holdings with a redraw. And I didn’t put him on a higher pocket pair either, because of his weak preflop play.

Now many times I would just check behind, ready to show down the hand and move on. But I’ve been trying to value-bet the river more frequently in these types of situations, so I put out a $60 bet. My opponent quickly folded, and I brought in a $130 pot.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Fox Sports Net has a new program, called “Club WPT”. I suspect it’s an appetizer for the upcoming season of the World Poker Tour (now on FSN). This program is ghastly. They bring five appallingly poor amateur poker players in and they play for the life-changing sum of $5000. It’s almost unwatchable.

Poker After Dark on NBC is a really good show. On Saturday night, they broadcast the “Director’s Cut” program, which is a summary of the week’s action interspersed with player interviews that reveal what was their thinking behind certain plays. But will somebody explain to me, why do they use for background music during the “Director’s Cut” the soundtrack to cheesy porn flicks? I’m serious; watch this show sometime and listen to the background music.

Canterbury Park and Other Locales

2008-10-05T11:55:00.000-07:00

I spent last week in Minneapolis and was able to spend some time at the Canterbury Park poker room. I have been there once before and I was looking forward to going back. I was hoping that my coworker Steve could also come with me but he wasn’t able to make it.

I wrote earlier about how the typical Foxwoods player was sort of the stereotype of the East Coast, badda-boom, badda-bing guy. Well, the Canterbury player was just as much the stereotype of the northern Plains folk: Really friendly, cheerful, talkative, and with an accent so thick that I could almost tell you a player’s address as soon as they started speaking. I really had a lot of fun playing there.

Even the jokes at the table were more tame! Here’s one that I got quite a kick out of:

This lady goes to the grocery store to buy some groceries. She finished shopping and goes to the cashier to check out. After she puts all her stuff on the conveyor belt, this guy comes up behind her to stand in line. He looks at what she is buying and says, “Well, I can tell that you are single.” The woman is quite surprised. She looks at her purchases – milk, eggs, bread, that kind of thing, nothing out of the ordinary – and she can’t tell what he is seeing. So she says, “Yes, I am single, but how could you tell?” The guy says, “’Cause you’re ugly.”

I mostly played $8/$16 limit. They were running a lot of Sit-n-Go’s the day I was there, and I kept wanting to play one, but the cash game was just too juicy to leave. It was surprising how quickly the players at that level became more cautious once they saw how I was playing. It was pretty much like a light switch clicked on about twenty minutes after I sat down.

I have some more work travel coming up, and by coincidence, they are to places that have nearby poker rooms: Spokane (Northern Quest) and Kansas City (Ameristar, Harrah’s, etc.). I may be heading out to New York City next month, and if so I may see whether or not I can extend a day or two and drive down to Atlantic City. I did that once and really had fun there. And then I am going to Pendleton, Oregon next month for a sort of vacation. There is a big tournament playing there.

Meanwhile, I got invited to a cash game at my friend Thom in Burien’s house last night. I was glad that I was going to be in town to play it, as much as I have been on the road lately. It was really a lot of fun to play there, even though the stakes were lower than what I usually play (specifically, .10/.25). Unfortunately, I nearly tripled up in only about three and a half hours of playing. I was merciless at the table, pretty much stomping everybody except for Thom (who is a very good player) and Kim (who I never really had a hand against). So now I don’t know whether they will want me to come back! I guess I just can’t keep myself from going for the jugular whenever I see two cards in front of me.

I played one really big hand like a complete donkey and sucked out, felting one guy who deserved better. I had pocket Aces, and my opponent turned the flush. Now, I had a read on this guy that was so solid he may have well been playing his cards face up. I knew he had that flush. He (properly) went all-in, a huge overbet to the pot. With the nut flush redraw, I called. My 15% chance of grabbing another Spade came in, and I took all of the chips. All I could do was apologize because it was such a pathetic play.

So why did I call the bet when I knew I was so far behind? I guess for a few reasons, none of which I can really be proud of (and some of which aren’t even very good reasons):

I wanted to throw out an image of being kind of a goofball of a player. I do that sometimes, usually early in a game, to mess with my opponents’ judgment of what kind of player I am. Sometimes it even pays off.
If I won, I could maybe put my opponent on tilt, and maybe a few other players too, and then tighten up and rake in the rewards.
I felt that I was a better player than most of my opponents, so if I lost a pot I could easily win it back by grinding the rest of the night.

Anyhow, I was pretty embarrassed at how the hand ended up, so for the rest of the night I played a lot tighter . . . and made even more money, although at least in a more respectable way.

Two Hands to start the game with

2008-09-21T14:31:00.000-07:00

I'm going to discuss two consecutive hands I played recently at a cash game ($5/$10 no limit). They were the first two hands I played at this particular table.

I had just barely sat down at the table and had to post the big blind. I didn't recognize any of the players and I hadn't seen even one hand played out before I posted.

An early player limped in; a middle player raised it to $50. The small blind called. I looked down, and saw Ace/Jack of hearts. Yee-haw! What do you think I did? Reraise? Smooth call and slow play? (I can tell you that I made my decision instantly, and never second-guessed it for a moment.)

I folded.

What?? Fold Ace/Jack suited from the big blind? What could ever have compelled me to do something so ridiculous?

Well, of course several things went into my decision.

First of all, I didn't know my opponents at all. I didn't know whether the pre-flop raiser would play any two napkins, or was super-tight and only played Aces.

Second, Mr. Raiser already had one over-caller. Another tighty? Who knows? I sure didn't! I could be way behind already; against any pair I am under 50% to win. Was I willing to commit so much of my hard-earned money on just a guess or a hunch? No; at least, not until I knew the players better.

Third, as I've alluded to already, Ace/Jack is the kind of hand that can seriously be behind. Any pair leads it at this point; and against Ace/King or Ace/Queen it is something like a four-to-one dog. And the pre-flop betting made it seem quite possible that I was up against a bigger Ace; certainly Ace/Ten or worse wouldn't be very likely to raise into two limpers, or overcall a big raise. The fact that my hand was suited adds maybe a percentage point or two to my chances; unless I flop a flush, or at least a four-flush, the hand isn't really worth taking any further past the flop.

So I folded, as did the early limper. It was heads up to the flop.

The dealer put a Four/Deuce/Ten rainbow on the board (and no hearts) -- completely missing my hand.

The preflop raiser put a $70 bet into a $120 pot. The small blind thought for a while, fiddling with his cards while he considered what to do. He eventually said, "I think your bluffing", and mucked his hand.

I don't know what either player had, but as the session continued that day I determined that the early raiser was moderately tight, and the small blind who called him much looser. In other words, I don't think the pre-flop raiser was bluffing, and I think I made a good laydown.

++++++++++++++++++++++

The very next hand, I was in the small blind. The same pre-flop raiser from the last hand raised it to $50. The player to his left insta-called. Everyone else folded to me, so I was looking at putting $45 into a $115 pot; in other words, I was getting pot odds of 2.5 to 1. If my hand was a winner 40% or so of the time, mathematically a call was the right choice.

I looked down and saw Ace of Spades/Queen of Diamonds; a hand only one kicker better than my previous hand.

I decided to call. Ace/Queen is actually a LOT better than Ace/Jack. And I trusted that I could get away from the hand if I failed to flop anything.

It was up to the big blind now -- and he popped it up to $100! A curious little min-raise.

The preflop raiser called the extra $50; now there was $260 in the pot.

The player on his left, who insta-called the initial raise, said, "Well, that's too much for me" and folded his hand! I was baffled. The pot odds at that point were over five to one! I called the raise, and we went to the flop.

The cards came King of Diamonds, Two of Spades, Jack of Spades. I was first to act.

I had basically garbage at this point. A gut-shot straight draw, sure; but the Ten of Spades completes the potential flush for my opponents. With only a 13% or so chance at the non-spade straight, I had lost total interest in the hand. I checked.

Oddly, my two opponents also checked.

The turn was the Jack of Clubs, putting two Jacks on the board. Now, my non-spade straight was a 7% possibility; but against the potential full house it was still loser.

I checked -- and again, the two other players also checked.

The river was . . . the Ten of Diamonds! So, I had rivered my straight!

By now, I pretty much thought that I had the best hand after all. I didn't think somebody with a full house would have played it that way -- it would have meant that they seriously slowplayed a set (holding pocket kings) or two-pair (say, King-Jack). So I began to consider how best to get the most value for my hand.

I decided to bet $200 into the $350 pot -- a pretty big bet, maybe looking like a "scared" bet. I got one caller -- the big blind -- and the other player folded.

I showed my straight. My opponent showed Ace/King offsuit, and I dragged in the pot of over $700.

Needless to say, I think my opponent misplayed his hand. His preflop re-raise was good; with Ace/King your goal is to build the pot, and you're not afraid to see the flop.

Checking the flop was a huge blunder. You've got top pair and top kicker, on a board that is straightening. Why give an opponent (i.e. me) the chance to catch up? Put out a bet here and pick up your pot. I certainly would have folded to a bet here!

After the turn brought another Jack, I can understand the check here. I don't agree with it, but I do understand it. Having failed to bet the flop, he doesn't know where he's at in the hand. And being timid, he just checks behind. He should have bet here to gain some information. Again, I would have folded if he had.

On the river, it's too late. I even think the call was a mistake; any Queen or Jack beats you.

Needless to say, it was a lucrative session at the poker table that night.

Stealing blinds

2008-09-18T16:30:00.000-07:00

I've heard more than a few players say that they probably lose more money from the blind positions than anywhere else on the table. I'm sure that's the case for me also, but maybe not as much as it is for other players.

I'm not really all that connected to my blinds after I post them. If you want to steal them, go right ahead. They don't belong to me anymore, those chips belong to the winner of the hand (and it usually won't be me).

Whenever I hear advice to defend your blinds or (worse) "protect your children", I cringe. Protect your children? It's not your children fool, it's a couple of clay chips.

I've lost way more money "defending my blinds" than I ever have letting somebody with garbage steal them. I've even played games where the same player would raise (or re-raise) whenever I was in the blind position so that I would fold and he would take the blinds. Go ahead!

But I have to add, if I wake up with a decent hand (say Ace/Queen, or a pair of Jacks or better), I WILL play back. And I consistently find that when I am up against a thief who is taking my big blind every round, and I am patient enough to wait until I have a playable hand before I try to defend, I end up winning in one hand much more than what I lost surrendering all those other hands!

And ... what's more ... I confess that I'm not the least bit above stealing blinds myself! If I see that the big blind is really tight, and I am in late position (or sometimes even middle position), I will from time to time toss in a raise with a wide range of hands and try to pick up the pot right there. If I do, that makes me feel better about letting all my blinds go.

Back from Foxwoods

2008-09-16T16:44:00.000-07:00

Well, I spent the weekend at Foxwoods, and except for getting a flat tire on my rental car, I had a terrific time (as always).

On a dare from my co-worker Jon (who wasn't able to come down with me after all), I joined 37 others in playing the $560 buy-in Saturday afternoon tournament. The tournament lasted about six hours! But unfortunately, for me it only lasted about three. Even though I made it through over half the field and played good poker, I didn't get the helping of luck I need to make it into the money. My last hand happened when I shoved my short stack from middle position with Queen/Eight offsuit. I was called by a pair of sixes, so with two overcards my chances were just under 50%. But another six flopped, and I was down to less than 5% to win. The last two cards were blanks, so it was off to the cash games for me.

A couple of hands will illustrate how I did playing cash poker. Both times I had pocket queens.

The first time, I bet big against a guy who had flopped a flush and consequently donked off way too many chips. I don't know what made me think my hand was any good . . . I know better than that!

The second time, I put my opponent all-in after the flop came three low cards (I had him covered). He had pocket kings! The board was a five-card straight, so we ended up splitting the pot. Whew!

One more hand stands out and it is truly pretty sick. I had six/five offsuit on the button, and joined six other limpers. The flop came nine-eight-seven with two spades. I had flopped a straight! Now, I think straights are really vulnerable hands. The big blind bet out and got two callers, and when it came to me I popped it up big. The big blind now re-raised all-in (he had me covered), and I called. He had two spades, Jack high, and roughly a one in three chance to win. Do I need to say what happened next? The flush card came on the river, and I was felted.

Foxwoods is such a fun place to play. It was not very busy, however. Folks attributed the small crowd to the fact that there is a big tournament going on at the Borgata right now, so a lot of players are going there. Also, college has started up again so a lot of the kids are back in school.

The people who play in the poker room at Foxwoods are a total hoot, at least to this kid from Nebraska. They are basically a caricature of the East Coast tough guy, like they just stepped out of an episode of The Sopranos. One guy literally referred to his cousin Vinny. Another guy was directed to "fuhgettaboutit"! All I needed was for somebody to say "Badda-boom, badda-bing" and the picture would have been complete.

And of course, each hand was a macho contest, with nobody able to back down from anybody else. Now for me -- who years ago gave up any pretense of being macho -- it was no problem at all for me to fold my blinds or call a bet without raising. But for the other players, what can I say? The standard pre-flop raise was anywhere between $30 and $50 (in a 2/5 game!), and five or six players would stay in. Pots routinely came close to the $1000 point by showdown. It was a very unusual environment for me, and while I never really got frustrated with this style I was baffled most of the time on how to adjust.

Later this month, I will be in Minneapolis so I'll have a chance to check out the Canterbury Park club. I've been there before and it is a really nice, fun poker room. Really bad players, which is the most important element of course! I'll be there with my co-worker Steve, and I'm sure it will be a great time.

Some Poker Thoughts

2008-08-24T12:17:00.000-07:00

Whenever I lose a hand (or when I see somebody else lose a hand), I like to examine the situation and try to figure out why the hand was lost. By far the most frequent reason why somebody loses a hand (at least as it seems to me) is because they get involved pre-flop with inferior cards. A small pair from mid position . . . two high cards from early position . . . garbage from the button . . . kicker problems compared to your later-position caller. All these fall into the category of being just too darned loose pre-flop. After the hand is lost, the loser feels they have been outdrawn or unlucky; but really what happened is that they went to war with inferior weapons.

That's why I will almost always fold an Ace in mid or even late position when somebody else has entered the pot. I've written about this before; my Ace-Six in middle position is beat when there are four other folks in the pot and an Ace flops. So why even force yourself to make those tough post-flop decisions? Just let it go; your investment is zero; wait for a better hand.

It really surprises me how many folks think they are the next Daniel Negreanu or Freddy Deeb or Gus Hansen, and call a pre-flop raise with Eight-Six offsuit. The pros know how to get away from a bad hand like this post-flop when they are beat. I don't, and most of the folks I play against don't either (even though they think they do).

And don't even get me started on complete donkeys who hold onto a nice pre-flop pair such as Queens or Jacks, or even Kings, and continue to bet like crazy after an Ace flops and they're beat. If I have Queens pre-flop on a board with an Ace, I'll fold it so fast you won't even realize what happened. It is truly appalling how many poker players can't do that.

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I've been making plans to visit Foxwoods next month while I'm in Cambridge on business. It's made me think about my last trip there, and how enjoyable it was.

I showed up around 10:00 am to play some $2/$5 no-limit. There wasn't a seat open, so I put my name on the waiting list. Soon, they had so many folks waiting for that game that they decided to open up a brand new table, so I sat down at it with eight others and played all day.

I left around midnight, which is a decent 14-hour session. Everybody else who opened the table with me had already left, except for one guy who was still playing. When I got up to leave, he also decided to leave, so we walked up to the cashier cage together to cash in our chips.

As we were walking up there, he said, "You know, I have been watching you play now for 14 hours, and I was never able to figure out what hand you had whenever you were in the pot. I could just never figure it out. Whenever you showed down, I was always wrong in my guess. You always played differently than how I expected."

I thought that was a really nice thing for him to say. He didn't have to say that. (I suppose maybe he says to everybody just to butter them up.)

Table image is important, but sometimes it just doesn't matter. I remember one time I was at a cardroom in Shoreline (the Hideaway I think it was). It was a $4/$8 limit game. I don't really like to play that kind of game because the rake will just kill you (I wrote about that earlier also) but I guess you could say I was out "slummin" that day and just didn't care.

The players were atrocious. It's the kind of game where the way to win is just to be patient and wait for a good hand, and when you end up with the nuts just value-bet like crazy. So that's what I was doing -- fold, fold, fold, fold. The folks at the table were joking about it.

Then I get dealt pocket Aces, under the gun. I bring it in for a raise. A guy in middle position chuckled and said, "You had to brush the dust off those chips before you could bet, didn't you?" He said this while he was putting in his chips for a call! Of course, I won the hand, after betting (or re-raising) each street and letting him call. He showed King/Jack which paired the Jack on the flop. Astonishing.

Finally, some Poker to talk about!

2008-08-13T22:08:00.001-07:00

Since I've gone so long without playing any poker (or writing about any hands I've played), I will post three hands today. Usually, it takes me awhile to get back into the groove of playing good poker; but this time I guess I got right back on the bicycle and took off from where I left.

This is all $2/$5 No-limit hold-em.

The first hand, I was in second position. The first position folded. I looked down -- hello! Two Aces, spade and heart.

Now I am more than happy to take the pot right there with Aces. I think Stu Unger said that with pocket Aces you either win a small pot or lose a big one; and my experience has definitely confirmed that. So, with Aces (or Kings or Queens or Jacks), I will almost never slowplay. I go straight for a raise, hope everybody folds (or that I get a maximum of one caller), and move to the next hand. So I made it $15 to go.

Everybody folded around to the big blind, who called. I was okay with one caller.

The flop came Ace of clubs, Three of spades, Ten of hearts. My opponent checked.

Now, this is probably the best possible flop for me. Whenever I flop a set, I pretty much never slowplay. Usually the set seems to come with a coordinated board -- flush or straight draws. But this board seemed pretty safe, unless my opponent was playing with something like King-Queen. I gambled that a free card would be safe, so I checked behind.

The turn was the Ten of spades. Now I had a Full House!

At this point, my opponent bet $15 into a $32 pot. The only thing I could be afraid of here would be pocket tens, and if that's the case, I'm going broke (he had me more than covered). But it seemed more likely to me that he was on some kind of draw -- straight or flush -- or maybe he'd made his straight or had a ten for trips. Just in case, I didn't want to scare him away so I just smooth-called.

The river was the Queen of Hearts. How wonderful -- whatever draw he was on came in.

The pot was $62. He bet $40. Time to spring into action. I raised to $120. He re-raised to $265, and I went all-in for about $620. He insta-called.

I showed my Aces for the boat. He had King/Jack of spades for the Broadway straight and a flush draw. I dragged in a pot of nearly $1250.

As I evaluate this hand, I don't think I could possibly have played it any better. As far as my opponent's play goes, I'm okay with it up until the river. I probably would have bet a smaller amount, and if raised would probably have just called. I'd like to say I'd have folded to a raise, but I don't think I could have. So, his mistake as I see it was going into a raising war and donking off all those extra chips.

The next two hands go together. They were both against the same opponent, and the first one totally set up the second. My opponent was a pretty good player for the most part, and the way I played these hands was quite risky but it paid off.

The first of these hands, I was in the cutoff. It was folded around to me. I looked down and saw Ace of clubs/Jack of spades. Not a good hand at all, but if nobody else wanted to take the pot I decided I would try to. I brought it in for $15. The button -- my opponent -- was the only caller, so with a $37 pot we went to the flop.

The flop was Five of spades, Queen of spades, Ten of diamonds.

Ugh. I have a gutshot straight draw (with the King) but basically this is the sort of hand I'm ready to give up on. Essentially, I'm hoping -- begging -- that my opponent will put out a bet so that I can just fold the garbage I'm holding.

I checked, and he bet $5. Now, that's not even a real bet. Assuming I have four outs, my chances of winning at this point are around 17%; and the pot is laying me (barely) a bit more than that. I was compelled to call.

The turn was the Jack of hearts. So, now I have second pair on a board that is straightening; again I'm ready to fold. I check; again he bets $5 into a $47 pot.

Finally, I realize he actually has nothing and that I'm playing with the best hand. I call the $5.

The river is the Six of hearts. The pot is $57. I bet $30 -- just over half the pot. After a long pause, my opponent calls. He has the Ace of diamonds and Ten of hearts for a pair of Tens; my turned pair beats his flopped one and I pull in a pot of $112.

The second hand unfolds almost exactly the same way. This time, I am the big blind. My opponent is again to my left, under-the-gun. By the time the action gets to me, he and two others have completed the big blind. I have Jack of hearts and Nine of spades and just check my option.

The flop comes Queen of spades, Ten of spades, Ace of hearts; so I flop a very vulnerable open-ended straight draw.

The small blind checks; I check; my opponent minbets $5 into the $20 pot. It's folded to me, and I call.

The turn is the Five of spades -- garbage. I check; he minbets $5 again, I call again.

The river is the Queen of hearts. I basically have a jack high hand. But this board is a carbon-copy of the last board I had with this opponent, the one where I had slowplayed the winning hand. If I played this hand the same way (and so far I had), would I be able to win it with the bluff?

I bet $30 in the $40 pot, and my opponent instantly folded.

Frankly, I don't bluff very often -- I hardly need to to win at poker against the folks I usually play -- but it really did work out here, and I am very pleased at how I played this hand.

Over a week of No Poker !!!

2008-08-11T17:18:00.000-07:00

I really hate to be away from poker for such a long time. And it nearly always happens just as I start to find myself "in the zone" poker-wise. I'm making really good reads; betting just the right amounts; folding when I'm beat and raising when I'm not, etc. Then, I take a long break . . . and when I get back to it, I have to start all over again from (what feels like) zero.

So I don't have any new poker stories to share. I guess I will talk about the World Series some more, and some poker I have coming up.

One of the things I found myself doing during the WSOP, particularly since I was so short-stacked almost the whole time, is looking at the tournament clock and determining how much time was left in the level we were playing. I started to ask myself whether I would be able to survive to the next level, as if that were the goal I had set. I realized that I was playing around four hands each hour, and winning three of them, and that was enough to keep my chip stack stable. Four hands an hour isn't much; it lets you play really tight.

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Here's a shout-out to my coworker Jon, from Boston. He played in a NL rebuy tourney at Foxwoods last month and finished 6 out of 91 for a $1300 payday. Congrats Jon!

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Meanwhile, I am headed to Boston myself in mid-September for a nine-day series of meetings and classes at HQ. During the weekend of 9/13, I will head down to Foxwoods and spend the weekend there. I've done that before during long trips back to HQ. I'm trying to talk Jon into going out there too. He's more of a stud player but as you can see from above he's decent at NLH also.

Some more WSOP tidbits

2008-07-24T21:56:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted anything for awhile, mainly because I haven't been playing much poker lately! After a week and a half in Vegas, the pile of things that need my attention has grown so large that I can hardly dig myself out. So in the meantime I will spend some time sharing some more details about what the WSOP was like.

(I've found that no anecdote is too trivial to hold the interest of my friends who have been asking me what it was like. I was afraid after a few hours of stories that I was going to have to start making some things up!)

The World Series truly was an international affair. At my table were people from Greece, France, Sweden, Luxembourg, Canada, Japan, and a few other places. One young guy at my table spoke fluent English, Greek, and Swedish! What an odd combination.

The Greek guy at my table was this old fart who spent a lot of his time complaining about Scandinavian players. He thought they were too loose and aggressive, making too-large bets. He bitched so much that I really started to get annoyed. When he finally busted out, I thought, "Serves you right you racist bitch." He had accused me of being Scandinavian when we first sat down; I told him I was more German than Scandinavian but if I had known what a jerk he was, I would have said, "Yeah I'm Norwegian," just to piss him off.

The Luxembourg guy sat down (in the Greek's vacated seat, in fact) and offered to share his gum with us all. He was very excited, his first trip to America and he found this extraordinary gum! I took a look at it and said, "Dude, that's Rolaids." He didn't know what that was -- nor did most the rest of the table! So I said, "It's an antacid." Still no response. So I said, "If you eat something spicy and your tummy hurts, you take a Rolaids and it makes you feel better." The whole table got a laugh out of that; the Luxembourg guy laughed the most of all.

I spent the entire first day in the main room, the "Amazon" room, and stayed at the same table. Over half of the folks at my table busted out during that day, but I hung in there.

The second day, I drew a terrible draw. They put me in a satellite room called "Brasilia". This room had something like 68 tables in it, and I was at table 63. They were breaking the tables from highest to lowest to fill other short-handed tables, so before lunch they broke my table and I had to move to another one -- still in the Brasilia room. It was like table 57. Naturally a few hours later, my table broke again, and I moved to Brasilia 34. I'm not going to claim that all of this moving around affected my chances, but it was rather distracting and it did prevent me from developing a consistent image. At least I can take comfort -- and I do, too -- that at no table was I the first player to bust out.

Near the end of my remarkable run, I looked around the room, and I saw Gus Hansen at the next table, Men "The Master" at the table next to that, and Alexander Kostritsyn the table next to that. I couldn't believe that I was in that company -- or, even more, the other big pros that had already busted out!!

I asked myself at one point, "What in the world makes you think you can play this game at this level with the Big Boys?" I immediately realized the answer: The fact that I can!

Other things to do in Vegas . . . and a shout-out

2008-07-19T12:50:00.000-07:00

There are other things to do in Las Vegas besides just hang out at the casino and win (or lose) thousands of dollars. So here is my Top Five list of things to do in Vegas which don't involve gambling:

Eat breakfast at the Golden Gate casino downtown. They have a dumpy little diner in the back with cheap, good, and completely nondescript food. Sometimes I'll even drive all the way downtown from the Strip just to have breakfast there.
The buffet at the Rio. It's probably the biggest . . . it might just be the best.
The buffet at the Fremont, downtown. Not as big as the one at the Rio, but I really like it. Plus, they have a soft-serve ice cream machine!

Hmm . . . I see that my list of things involves a lot of eating. Maybe we'd better do some exercise now.

Walk the Strip, all the way from the Mandalay Bay to the Sahara (or even the Stratosphere if you are really inspired). This was a lot more fun when the Frontier and the Stardust were still standing. This little jaunt can take me all day, as I tend to pop into some of the casinos/bars/restaurants along the way just to see what's happening. For people-watching though, this stroll is hard to beat.
Watch the Fremont Street Experience display show downtown. Okay, not really. It's so appallingly lame that I can barely watch it for 15 seconds without wanting to flee. But watching the people who are watching the show can be entertaining. It's a tragedy to realize that this tacky show may be the highlight of these people's lives.

There is, however, a lame guilty pleasure on Fremont that I do enjoy.

There's a slot place squeezed in between the Golden Gate and the old Pioneer Club that sells $1 Margaritas (I forget the name of the joint). Out front above the door they have this jumbotron that advertises the Margaritas. It is an endless loop commercial of different people and characters (George Washington, Mona Lisa) enjoying the drinks, while the words superimposed on the images advertise the product. I first saw this same sequence on my first visit to Vegas 15 years ago . . . and it was probably 15 years old even then.

Anyhow, one of the scenes is of this dog, a pit bull terrier, cocking his head left and right, while a cartoon Margarita glass glides across the screen. I'm a sucker for dogs, and this little scene just cracks me up every time I see it.

There is one other thing that's fun to do in Vegas, but you need to be adequately prepared (it is the desert after all) and the weather has to be cooperative (not too hot, not too windy). That's go hiking. There are some decent hiking trails around the city and it's worth trying some of them.

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Now, a shout-out to my poker comrade Thom. We both played in a home game last night, a tournament hosted by Poker John at the Poker House in Kent. It's always a lot of fun to play these games. Unfortunately, I ended up out of the money, and it was Thom who finished me off. Nursing a perilously short stack and being on the button, I had a Jack-Five offsuit. It was folded all the way around to me, so I pushed. Thom, in the big blind, called with King-Jack (naturally the right thing to do). The board was irrelevant, and I was out. I went upstairs to the cash game and managed to nearly make up my entire buy-in in an hour's time, something that's hard to do in a game that was 25c/50c!

Meanwhile, Thom went on to win the tournament. I am not surprised, he is a good player. But the competition was pretty fierce. If I understand it correctly, I think the heads-up was against Robert who is one of the best players in the group. So congrats to Thom for a well-earned win.

Definition of a Cold Deck

2008-07-16T19:05:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I think that the sign of a good poker player isn't necessarily how much he wins at the table; but how little he loses.

Here's an experience at the $1/$3 NL table at Caesar's one morning last week. I woke up with pocket Queens. My opponent had pocket Aces. He won. The very next hand, I got pocket Kings. A different opponent got the Aces. He won. Before the button had finished its orbit, I got pocket Jacks. A third opponent this time got the Aces and won. After that hand, I had to get up and walk away . . . I was just too bewildered.

As far as the question of good/bad poker player goes, you tell me: I started the session with $700 and finished with $500. I lost $200 at that table, but easily could have gotten felted -- three times!

I really hope that I don't have anything like that happen to me again!