Spring Poker Round-up

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!

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”

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?

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

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

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

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.