The Home Game

Had 9 people show up, we went all at one table.

To my left, Kevin
to his left Roman
to his left Kenneth
to his left Drew
to his left Nick
to his left Nathan
to his left Jose
to his left, my right, Ryan

I have played with Roman and Kenneth a lot and know their games pretty well. I have played with Nick I think 3 times, Nathan and Ryan twice apiece, and the other three never. That means my strategy should be play very few hands until I get a feel for them, and play those hands strongly. Watch the game closely, get a feel for who plays what and how they play it.

So I promptly pick up some semblance of a hand, get involved in a 4 way pot, and lose about 800 chips to Ryan. He took the others for a lot more. To my credit, I was ahead until the river, but that gave him the straight and I got out of the way.

A few hands later I picked up pocket Queens. I raised them, Jose called. Flop was perfect for me, all low cards. I raised, he called. Hmm... turn another rag. I raised, he called. River put a potential straight on the board if he called with something goofy like A/4...I raised, he folded.

Pocket 10s, I raised, everyone folded. A/8, if they are going to be passive, I am going to raise...everyone folded.

Perfect, I have the image I want...which has been helped by my holding forth as we went along on how I never bother to bluff because I always get caught. So now I have shown a couple good hands and not shown a couple but I seem to always have cards when I am in the pot.

Meanwhile I am watching the others. Jose had a full boat early that took a bunch of chips from Drew who had 2 pair. Drew is pretty loose anyway. Nathan is bluffing left and right but never having to show. Kevin is a tight/passive player and bleeding chips like mad. Calling station is the correct term.

Kenneth and Roman are both building chip stacks. Ryan is bleeding.

And I am playing too many hands...limp/calling with 5/7o, stuff like that because I know if I catch a hand I can put the hurt on some of the guys. And that would prove costly.

Roman raised. I know Roman's game so I put him on something like a strong Ace, maybe 2 face cards, possibly a pocket pair. Nathan called, I had 6/7 hearts and decided to take a flyer. Flop was good...3/6/9 2 clubs. I have a little something on Roman and instantly narrowed his range of hands to 2 overcards. He checked. Nathan went all-in for 1900. I put him on a bluff. I went into the tank. And started talking.

"I hit part of that. I think I am ahead of you." I count out the chips...it is over 50% ov my stack. I count the pot...1900 exactly. His all in means I am getting 2-1, I have him on a bluff, and I have a pair...a WEAK pair, to be sure, with a mousy kicker...and no real draw. Maybe a backdoor gut shot, but that is so unlikely I don't include it in my thoughts. There are several things to consider:

1) If I am wrong about Nathan and he has an overpair I am drawing thin...5 outs, about 20%...a 4-1 dog
2) If he has 2 overs (that are not counterfeited by Roman) I am instead a 3-1 favorite
3) Roman is yet to act behind me. And there are 2 scenarios there:
A) He has what I think he has, 2 big cards, and will either fold (preferred) or just call
B) He has an overpair and will re-raise to drive me out. This is unlikely as I am pretty sure of my read, but he is also a very capable player who can and will slow-play to suck people in. If he re-raises I am priced in to calling and could be done...but I am not going to call because I will think I have too much ground to make up. I respect his game more than enough to think a lay down becomes appropriate. Furthermore, he is now giving off signs that he may, indeed call.

So if I call Nathan and Roman calls or folds, I will most likely be crippled no matter what. Even if Nathan is on a pure bluff, with just a pair of 6s and 7 kicker I am a distinct dog to 2 players. If I call Nathan and am right I am a favorite to double up. If I call him and am wrong about his holdings...I am a dog and likely to A) short-stack myself and B) give a lot more chips to someone who enjoys bluffing. That is a hard type of player for me. I don't want to do that.

Ultimately, against my better judgment, I folded, mostly out of fear of Roman. Then...he folded. I was sure he was going to call or I would have.

And yes, Nathan later told me I was dead on...he was on a stone cold bluff. But it was a great bluff because I went in with a weak hand and it was such a large percentage of my stack.

Well, that got me into playing my correct game for a while. I built my stack back up to about 6K, then went on a little run. First, I checked into a hand from the big blind with a garbage q/8. Flop was King high...but I paired my 8. I checked, Nick checked, Jose raised. I put him on a bluff and called. Nick called. Turn was an Ace. Nick checked, Jose raised...I thought about it, decided he did not, in fact, have either the King or Ace and called. Nick folded. River was a blank, I considered raising but then came to my senses...if he re-raised or went all-in, I would fold, this way I could see if my 8s were good relatively cheaply. They were and I took down about 4K.

A couple hands later I jacked it up with pocket 10s. Kevin called. Flop came K/Q/rag, 2 diamonds. I did not like that much. I raised anyway...and he reraised. Now, normally, I lay it down right there. But this...this did not "feel" right. Nothing I could put my finger on.My first thought was he was on a flush draw and I should re-raise. That was my immediate thought. But I had not seen him pull that move all night. He might have just the King or Queen... So I called. I raised the turn (a blank) and he just called. Interesting. River was another blank, I checked, he raised...but he raised only 500, leaving himself 600. That was curious...there was plenty in the pot by now, I had raised I think 600 pre-flop, 600 on the flop, he reraised me to 1000 (I was not enforcing the proper betting rules because of all the new players...a mistake on my part), and the turn was another 600...so at least 4800 in the pot. He is raising but not going all-in. My instincts said to re-raise him all in. But I hesitated. I knew I was not folding at this point. Did he have the King or Queen? Or, in light of the flop, did he have a busted flush draw? I called. He turned up...pocket 9s. I picked up a nice pot. And a bad habit.

Raised A/K. Ryan called.

Because a few turns later I played a King/2 Hearts because Kevin and Jose were in the pot and I wanted to be in as many pots as possible with them. What I forgot was Kenneth was also in the pot.

He is not above bluffing but he is a good, good player who does something weird...he plays GOOD cards. And he had raised this pot. I should have folded. I didn't. Flop was pretty ragged. I hit my deuce. Kenneth raised. Jose folded. The correct response here? Fold. I am behind. Way behind. This is Kenneth, not one of the 4 bluffers. So of course I called...and the turn was a Jack. He went to raise, miscounted his chips, and went all in thinking it was 2300 (he had been raising 1800 so the all-in would be correct). However, he ACTUALLY had 3500...a much more significant raise. And I again responded not to him but to the guys who had been raising/bluffing with nothing. I called. And he flipped up pocket jacks...he had a set. I announced I was drawing dead. River was a small heart...and someone pointed out I had flushed him.

Oops. I played that hand HORRIBLY. I had nothing, really. And did not even see the flush possibility. And instead I put him out and picked up another huge pot.

So then I started getting into too many hands. Problem is...Nathan, Kevin, Drew and Jose had all been eliminated. We were down to the following:

Me
Roman solid, tight player, not too tricky, pretty much ABC poker
Nick: solid, tight player, not tricky at all.
Ryan: solid player usually, somewhat tricky, the most likely of any of us to bluff.

In other words, it was time to adjust my game; if they raised and I had little or nothing, fold. If they limped, I could raise with any 2 cards.

Instead I got super tight.

As a result, by the time Ryan went out Nick, Roman and I were about even in chips.

We traded the lead a few times. Worst case was where Roman raised, the flop came K/J/rag, I had an open ended straight draw and gave Roman a lot of chips when he turned out to be playing the K/J.

Anyway, we traded a few more times. I got down to 6500. Nick folded. I had pocket 6s so went all in, actually figuring Roman would fold. He called...with pocket 8s. I flopped an open ender...4/5/7. But never got more help and finished in third.

I think part of my problem was I got into my "invincible" mode...sometimes I look at the table and don't worry about playing some bad hands because I know I can rebuild my chip stack. But then when the fish are gaffed I become the fish because I don't adjust my play style. With Nick and Roman I could have gotten down to heads up just by stealing the blinds a few times...they were both playing super tight. But I got involved in hands where they had cards a couple times and ended up getting short-stacked. In other words, I was outplayed. And I went from chip lead to out in third.

Not that I cared...I like them both, had a great time, and had made some pretty spectacular calls, 1 each against Jose, Kevin and Ryan. So although I played poorly in the final 3 I played really well on the way there with the noticeable exception of the hand with Kenneth.