Just A Short Note

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

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

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!