Tulalip, Reno, Phoenix

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

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!

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

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

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

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!