I Hate Ace/Jack

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!

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

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.