Upcoming Poker Tournaments

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 ...

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!