Mixers, 6/26

Low turnout to start. On the bright side, at my table I had Roman, Amanda, Juan, Eric "Gypsy", and Bob. Before the tournament we were talking a bit of strategy. I always find that helpful because A) I love talking poker so it puts me in a good mood and B) it makes me formulate in words concepts that I know but sometimes relegate into the background and with my mind functioning on too many levels proper strategy gets relegated to a default and, therefore, incorrect function.

First hand out of the gate I was under the gun and picked up big slick. I raised it up, got a couple callers including Roman & Gypsy. This did not make me super confident as both of them don't call with nothing. Fortunately the flop paired my ace and presented no straight or flush draws so unless someone hit 2 pair or trips I was ahead. I raised again, they both folded. Roman had 8's so it was a good raise. Top pair, top kicker is a nice hand but not one that is good to slow play because if I price people in they will run me down.

Won a couple more hands and then a couple people showed up late. I use the term "people" loosely. Jackass might be more apropos. One was a guy I have played with once before...he is the Fount of Annoyance. I once went into a hand against him with pocket Kings, he had a Queen/Jack suited and thought he was ahead. Normally I like that...I want people getting their chips in against me with worse hands. However, he is so loud and obnoxious that I would rather lose and be gone. Add to that the woman sitting across from me and all the pieces were in place for one of my patented Tilt blow-ups where I deliberately call off my chips on a good but beaten hand just to get away from the situation.

He exacerberated it but trying to call me out several times. Once he pointed to me and...someone...his finger was actually pointing to Eric when he said he and to me when he said she, but he said "he and she only go in with good hands, they don't play at all."

Okay, let's examine the situation. He was raising a lot every hand, which I don't mind, but he was going all-in quite a bit as well. Well, I am not going to call a raise with a 2/6 or 6/10 for all my chips, especially with blinds at 25/50 and me having plenty to play with.

One hand he folded, from the small blind I raised with A/9. To my surprise Roman called, as did Gypsy. Flop gave me the Ace and I came out raising. Roman showed hesitation in calling but did, Gypsy folded. Turn was a blank, another raise. Roman did not know what to do. I apparently cannot read him because I thought I had him beat. I figured he had a high pocket pair, maybe hit the medium pair. I thought there was a faint chance he had A/rag but figured my nine kicker was good. He folded and showed me the 10...he actually had me beat. I showed the A/9. This brought another commentary from the Fount where he thought I played superbly.

No, I did not. I WOULD have been playing superbly if I had the correct read or better cards. However, let us assume instead of the initial call Roman had re-raised...or, for that matter, if Gypsy had. Then what do I do? I have top pair, yes...but my kicker is marginal. It is not unusual for Gypsy to limp with A/j or A/Q and Roman had to have SOMETHING to call my raise...no reason he could not have had one of those hands. If he re-raises I have a tough decision. Sometimes I will call, sometimes I will lay it down. In this case, against these players in this hand, yes, it worked to be aggressive. But against some players...say, a Jeff who will re-raise or an Eric or Dee who comes over the top all in, then what do I do? I do believe the pre-flop and flop raises were correct...but they are not always. It was a tough hand all around and I got lucky. Fount believed the hand should ALWAYS be played that way and aggression is always right. That would cost him against Gypsy.

After a while Gypsy took a bundle of his chips when he bluffed off a large portion against Gypsy's pocket 7s. A couple hands later as Fount of Annoyance was explaining to the wild woman how I only ever played good hands and he was just educating her I picked up big slick again. I raised under the gun. Wild Woman and Fount of Annoyance both called. Flop came King, rag, rag. I raised, Wild Woman went all in, Fount called with the rest of his chips. I thought about folding. Top pair, top kicker is good, but what could she re-raise me with? 2 pair? Did she have cowboys? I was worried. I actually flat-out dismissed the loud-mouth. I was calling him no matter what (in truth, my raise would have almost put him all-in by itself and I deliberately had raised that amount for that purpose.) Finally I decided she was making a move and called. I was right...she was making a move with A/8...no flush draw, no straight draw, not even a pair. His hand was equally bad and I put them both out. His less obnoxious amigo had few chips left. I actually did not mind that guy but until he busted out Fount of Annoyance hung around making a running commentary so shortly thereafter we showed him the door as well.

Instantly the table returned to a fun one with table talk, good-natured ribbing, people sitting forward, smiling, laughing. It was a good lesson in a couple of things; 1) I need to be ready to change gears in an instant, and be aware of how the addition of even one person can completely change the dynamics of how a table plays. Jeff is a good example. Whenever he arrives at a table where everyone is limping he will raise, raise, raise with any two cards becauce he will make everyone fold often enough to be making money in the long run. He can control a table that way. Linda or Dee changes a table to "I will show one card, and that as slowly as I can" so the whole table becomes a competition to show the least. Knowing who is at the table and how they will affect it is vital. 2) Whereas most books will tell you against players such as Fount who over-raise over often you need less of a hand to call since the odds they have a real hand are less, my strategy is a bit different; wait for that premium hand and get rid of him.

The one thing I saw I wanted to comment on but did not because I thought it would be poor etiquette was a couple of times Amanda limped in before Fount acted and ended up throwing her cards away when he raised. With someone like him in the pot I pretty much only played hands I was willing to go all-in with specifically so when I did go all-in it would mean something. Those extra chips she would have had would end up making a difference.

Well, with the table down to my fave five we went back to a fun, laughing table. Everyone was playing really well. Amanda particularly was improved. She made several uncharacteristic raises and I folded some decent hands because I thought she had me beat. She did not show so I was having a tough time getting a good read on her. However, I was also hitting hand after hand. Cowboys, Big Slick, Pocket 10s, A/q, A/j all paid off. I raised with medium connectors a few times and they hit too.

I had enough chips that at one point I raised with A/6 suited (5 handed I figure it is much stronger than 8). Roman came over the top all-in. Whoops...did I get caught with my hand in the cookie jar? On the one hand, I really did not want him gone. On the other, there was a chance he had a pair instead of a couple good cards so he might be way ahead. I went over the hands he could have. A/face card, something like King/J, maybe Q/10, or a pair, any pair. No, not any pair. He knew I had raised so he had 10s or better if he had a pair. I looked at my chip stack and decided to take a chance. It was win-win...I got rid of a dangerous player or else doubled him up and all but ensured he would be at the final table. He had 10s, they held up. I was more happy than anything. One reason I will never be a good poker player...I should not be happy to see chips flow towards people who can beat me more often than I can beat them. Then again, I would rather have fun at the table than win.

Finally the other table got to 3 players. Along came Jeff, Eric, and another obnoxious guy. Eric and obnoxious had some sort of friendship/feud going where they were trying to get each other to go all in. As a result I was back into fold, fold, fold mode. Twice I folded to his all-in moves while I had the big blind. He bragged about having 9 high on one and Jack high on another and about how bad I was for folding. Little did he know I had 2/6 once and 3/7 the other time. Of course, playing tight has its advantages. When I did raise, he and Eric held a conversation about me. Eric discoursed for a while making it clear he thinks of me as a sub-par but acceptable player so they "respected my raise" and folded. I wish they had not respected it, I had the goods.


Eventually Juan fell, Roman went out and then Eric and Obnoxious got into a hand together and got it all in. Eric won and had a HUGE chip lead. Amanda had maybe 4 or 5 thousand, I had maybe 15, and that meant Eric probably had 30 or 32K. I raised to 4 times the blind at one point (1600) and they folded. I had raised a few times, they had both folded. I wanted to maintain my image of tight player only playing premium hands so I said something along the lines of, "I need some action now while I am getting cards so I can survive later when I am not." Eric then lectured me on why my raises were too big, I had to think about whether the small blind could call, etc. I pointed out my raise was only 4 times the bb, his lecture continued. He had been the BB that hand and folded. Now from the small blind he raised...to 1400. I laughed and pointed out his raise was only TWO HUNDRED LESS than mine!!!!!!!!

Play continued until I was in the big blind. Amanda called, Eric raised, I looked at Pocket Rockets. I tried to decide how to get all Eric's chips in...well, all of mine and double up through him. I decided his ego was enough he would call me so I went all in. He did call...with A/9. He went from chip lead to about 8000 just like that. A couple hands later he went all in. It was still a good chunk of change. I had folded crap hand after crap hand and this time looked down at Q/10. I could not think of what he would have I had beat. He could have J's, Q's, K's, A's....big slick...I figured at best I was dominated, at worst I was drawing almost dead needing to run down a big pair. I started to fold but as I was flicking my wrist to toss in my cards I randomly picked up the chips and threw them in instead.

I was in much better shape than I would have believed...he only had a pair of threes. I hit a queen and he was gone, it was heads up with Amanda.

She had played well all night but had so few chips that I might have taken her lightly. I picked up 2 pair right away and got her all in. Of course, when she rivered the straight she doubled up...but still, she had maybe 10K chips, I had her about 5 - 1. Then I hit top pair...but she had another striaght. I don't know how many straight hands she won but at one point Bob picked up the gift certificates and put the winning one in front of her and second place in front of me. It was pretty funny. Finally, with blinds of 1K/2K (I think I went the entire 500/1K without winning a hand) I won a hand with a raise. I put the 4K chips aside and said, "When those go in, you know I have the nuts. Those are the last chips into the pot." I thought it was pretty funny.

After that we had some back and forth. I won a few hands, she won a few. Then I started doing some pre-flop raising. At one point I raised to 6K. She called. Flop came A/K/rag, all diamonds. I raised another 6K, she folded...and I showed my 2/7 of hearts. I think that was the difference maker because it showed I was playing maniac style...I might be raising with something or nothing. A few hands later she doubled up one last time but her last 4K finally fell in my hands and I had a win.

Looking back, despite the Fount of Annoyance and his hench-dude and Eric & Obnoxious it was a lot of fun overall. Taking them out was exquisite and I need to be sure to not just flame away my chips when people like them show up. Pick my spots, double up, and get rid of them so the fun people can play.