Stumptown

Just to throw people off the scent, a few nights ago I played in a different league. I did this for a couple reasons.
First, the dealing issues of the other night were getting to me a bit. I wanted to just play, not worry about dealing, not have to think about all the extraneous details...I just wanted to flat out play. Second, I wanted to test my skills against a group of people I did not know. Third, my other plans fell through at the last second and I just happened to be by a Stumptown game.

The chip denominations were different and this would throw me a bit. Whites were 100, reds were 500, blues were 1000, and greens were 5000. You started with something like 7 or 10K, I am not sure which...but the chip counts are not steady. As does our league, there was an early chip. But there were also drink chips. And you could continue to purchase drinks and add more chips. So I had an Orange Juice...easily the WORST OJ I have ever had, a Coke, and a Root Beer...and ended up snagging another 3 red chips throughout the game. So I don't actually know where my stack started or was for a good portion of the game in relation to my starting stack. Also, I did not know how many chips were in play.

It is important to know roughly how many chips are in play so you know where you stand. For example, to start the game, let's say we all start with 10K and there are 10 players. A few hands later you have 20K, you know someone is short stack. Short stacks of necessity play a different game so you need to watch out for them. However, with this structure, the short stack might have bought drinks for himself and 3 buddies, showed up early, and ordered food...and still have 10K or even more!

But one think about Hold 'Em...you need to quickly learn the rules of wherever you are playing and adjust to them.

I was familiar with Stumptown theory from having read their website. I quickly decided to play tight-aggressive poker. Raise or fold, no limping, not even small blind.

First hand, early position, 5/7 off. I briefly considered raising. Then I pulled my head out of my sphincter and folded. Later in the game I would have raised this, but first hand with a full table of people I had not played with and raising a hand that even in late position is marginal at best? No, not smart. Ironically...I would have flopped trip 7s and taken down a huge pot. I folded until I was on the button. This time K/7 off. Again I considered raising, then *POP* my head came out of my sphincter again and I folded. And again I would have flopped trip 7s...

So I was considering playing poorly but actually playing well by folding trash hands instead of playing them. And contrary to my expectations, people were frequently limping. The few times they hadn't they had shown Aces and pocket 6s.

Finally, in my big blind I picked up J/8 off. Not a great hand, but a nice drawing hand. It reached me with only a minimum raise from the under the gun so I was priced in to calling. This would also serve to show I would defend my blinds, even though if I had something like K/7 again I would have folded. The flop came ragged with Jack high. A maniacal player 2 seats to my right raised. I re-raised. UTG called, the guy who raised the flop folded. Turn was a King, checked, and the river was something like a 4. We checked again and my J/8 was good. The guy I re raised out of the pot was complaining about my "big re-raise with such a weak kicker". Well...maybe.

Trouble is, I had been paying attention to everyone. Time after time I saw them call raises with K/5 off, Q/3 off, just terrible, terrible hands. So I knew there was a chance I was beat, but not as good a chance as there normally would be.

Also, I had picked up stuff on 2 or 3 people. For example, seat just left of the dealer, guy named Zack. He looked like a poker player...he has the stocking cap, the intimidating glare, the ipod, the Phil Ivey hang over the table and look at everyone thing...but he might as well have been playing with his hand face up. For example, the third or fourth hand of the night. He had limped in a couple times and then, from early position he raised three times the blinds. Flop came out Jack high. His eyes almost beat the last card to his chips. He bet again, called a re-raise (from the guy I would later re-raise on my J/8 hand). Turn was an Ace. He did the shoulder slump. Checked. Called a raise from my re-raiser but reluctantly. River was a low card. Check, check. I had him on pockets from the beginning and with no fear of the Jack but hating the Ace I figured Kings or Queens. Re-raiser was surprised to see his Cowboys...but to me it was just visual confirmation of what I already knew.

But I had also watched re-raiser. Everyone gave him marginal respect because he has a reputation as a mad bluffer. But watching...most of the people I saw were bluffing even when they didn't know it. They saw any paint/rag as Aces and would call any raise with it. They would also raise with nothing. For example, Zack raised from early position with Q/3. How do you raise from ANYWHERE with Q/3? You can if you know your competition...but he just thought he had good cards.

So I adjusted my play somewhat. I loosened up a bit since I needed less of a hand to call a raise. ERROR ALERT. I loosened up my play...on a maniacal table. That is contrary to the soundest poker advice. On a loose table, tighten up. On a tight table, loosen up.

The theory is simple; on a loose table, you just play premium hands because you will get action on them and others will do your betting for you, building huge pots with little to no effort on your part. On a tight table, you can raise more hands because they will play back at you with fewer hands.

Anyway, I was up a few chips after my J/8 hand. And a couple hands later I raised to 4 times the blinds with K/Q. Zack said he would have played for 3 times...a couple callers, I ended up hitting top 2 pairs and taking down a nice pot. Zack commented I had won more in that pot than he had chips. I was sailing beautifully. Next hand I picked up A/Q. "Just for you, Zack, I will just raise 3 times" I said. He laughed...and folded anyway. But I did get 3 callers Flop came all rags. Heavy betting before it got to me. I hesitated to let it go...I had GOOD CARDS! Then I remembered...these guys played BAD CARDS. And the flop was bad. So I released my hand. Sure enough, someone had called with something like A/3 and flopped a straight.

A few hands later in the small blind I picked up J/8 of clubs. I called a raise that had about 4 other callers...and the big blind went all in. And there were 2 callers before it got to me. Wow, now here was a decision. If I called and won I would be the dominating chip stack with well over half the chips in play...and if I lost then I would be down to about 7000. The guy who went all-in was actually one of the better players. He seemed to be showing down stronger cards than anyone and I did not credit him with being a maniac. Plus, he had re-raised into 5 or 6 people who had either raised ahead of him or called a raise. I put him on pockets, Queens or better and probably Aces. But what had the other 2 called with? Both were somewhat maniacal so any paint card...not cards, card...or even a dry Ace and they would be in there. But against 3 people I decided I was a prohibitive underdog and folded.

And they all turned up hands weaker than I would have believed. The guy whose game I respected probably the second most turned up A/9 of hearts. From late position that is probably a playable hand...but re-raising all in into that many players? What the smurf? Of course, compared to the A/4 and K/10 the others turned up...yeah, he knows his opponents. And he hit his straight on the river to take a huge pot.

But after that hand and a few blinds, I lost a couple more pots where I had strong cards, they had trash hands and their trash hands hit...example, my A/10 from late position, I raised, and someone who called a 4 times the blinds raise with 9/5 hit trip 5s.

Then I called an All-in with A/K against pocket 6s. I hit my King...but he hit a set. And a couple more blinds, which had raised a few times...and I was in the danger zone. I had about 5K left with blinds at 3/600. At one point Zack was the big blind alone after the guy whose game I had respected got rivered on a 3 outer by the mad bluffer. From the button I had A/J. Regardless of who had been in the pot I was going all in. With just one guy left I figured to be good. But Zack woke up in the big blind with pocket 10s. I sucked out when I hit a Jack on the flop and an Ace on the river to get back to 10K. A couple circuits without a playable hand and I was all in again, this time with A/10 against K/8 suited. They held up. Then, still with 10K I picked up my first pocket pair of the evening, 6's. I re-raised all in against a couple of them, got called by the maniacal bluffer and the 6s held up. I was now rolling with a nice chip stack.

I folded the next hand, the bluffer got taken out and we were down to 3 handed. With over 20K I no longer felt I had to push all in every time and went back to playing poker. Next hand I picked up pocket 6s, raised 4 times the blinds from the button, they folded, I showed the 6s because I thought it was funny. Next hand, big blind, they both called, I had pocket Queens. I raised 4 times the blinds, they folded, I showed. Next hand, the button went all in for a small amount. I looked at pocket 3s.

hmm. I doubted he had a pair, just something like A/k, A/q, maybe A/10 or something. I was a favorite against him with my pair but I would be a decided underdog if the other guy called too. So it was raise or fold. I went all in. He hesitated, then folded so it was my 3s against...wait for it...wait....wait...9/10 off. He went all in from the button with 9/10 unsuited. I liked my chances, though he still had 2 overs. And sure enough, the turn was a 9. But it did not hurt bad since he only had like 5K prior to that hand.

And for those keeping track, my last few hands were pocket 6s, trash, pocket 6s, pocket queens, pocket 3s...while 3 handed.

Not too much later we finally dusted off the short stack and I had the chip lead.

Now, to this point, I had been playing a conservative game. I played only good hands, only played draws with very positive EV, got out when I was behind...and now I for whatever reason shifted gears.

I chased a gut shot straight with a backdoor flush draw. What? That is a HORRIBLE play. I gave it up on the turn when the board paired, not because my draw was worse but because I was smarter. I folded saying, "Nah, if you got the 5 I am drawing dead." and he, impressed by what he thought was my strong read, showed the 5 for trips. No, I did not think he had the 5...I just thought he had something better than drawing dead to a 10 in a small pot not worth calling 5K.

Then I played something like a J/4. Sure, we were heads up...but...that is a J/4! Flop came 4/9/K. Check, check. Turn was a 7. I bet...now, based on his betting, 5K would have been plenty. I stupidly raised 10K. Too big a raise and perilously close to pot committing me for all my chips with a whopping pair of 4s, Jack kicker. Weak, weak play. Fortunately, he overplayed his hand and went all in. I quickly folded saying, "If I had seen you bluff even once I would have called because I caught a piece of it." so he flipped up the cowboys...he had trips on the flop. It was the right lay down but the wrong bet. And it would have been an even better lay down if I did it pre-flop.

Well, I won a couple hands here and there but lost a couple, too. I folded to a couple of his pre-flop raises and before I knew it was down to about 15K so he had a pretty significant chip lead. And with A/7 I thought about moving all in but just called. The flop came K/rag/rag. He checked, I moved all in, he called...with 2 pair. I was pretty much drawing dead and 2 cards later I had finished 2nd.

For the night I started out playing really well, only playing strong hands and playing them strongly. I had a good sense for whose way to stay out of and who to play with. In the middle part of the night I made a couple weak plays that cost me but tightened up, played proper short stack play and got the chip lead. When we got to three handed I thought I played my best poker of the night, putting pressure on them when I had good hands and getting out of the way when I didn't. Heads up was a disaster. I really need to work on that part of my game.

Aggressive destruction

Lydias, last night...very, very sad turnout. 9 people total including me. Really just enough for one table so I did not play early but one person went out before the end of the first blinds so I popped in.



Weakly limped in the small blind (where I came in) with J/7 suited. Terrible hand, limping is a terrible idea. Let's count the flops I can play if they hit. A/K/Q of Hearts...any other Heart flush, I am beat. J/J/7. 7/7/anything. Other than that...I am beat. For example, the flop came horribly for me...9/10/J. I have top pair and gut shot straight draw...but the ignorant end. Anybody playing Q/K has me drawing dead. Anybody playing a legit Jack has me crushed. Even a J/10 or J/9 has me in a deep hole. But when someone bets just a hundred it is so tempting to say I have top pair and straight draw and pay it. And I weakly did pay the first hundred, though on the turn I laid it down. But there was 125 chips I pointlessly gave away on a trash hand. Hmm. Better tighten up a bit.



Folded a few hands, then raised an A/10. Got rid of everyone but Randy. Did my stupid "Price him in" raises down to the river, he stayed in and hit his flush on the river. Couple hands later, same thing but this time he missed his flush.

Won a few pots, lost a couple, actually felt like I was playing well. I was raising or folding, wasn't playing weak hands, and was getting out of hands when I was beat. Then I lost a couple back to back where I had good hands but stayed in too long. Still okay chip wise.

Picked up pocket 8s. Raised. Randy stayed. Flop came 7/q/7. I actually like that flop. Only one card that hurts me, there is really no hand including a 7 someone should be in the hand. I raised. Randy came over the top all-in. It felt wrong. I went into the tank long enough it had people talking.

I have seen him do that before and he has a good feel for when to do it because I have not seen him called on it. He also did a little forward flick like he was tossing his cards in like he does when he knows people are folding. But he also does it when he is bluffing. In fact, I read him for a bluff. But there were some mixed signals.

For instance, he had not put his chips in. He tends to physically put his chips in when he thinks he might lose but leave them in his slot when he thinks he is golden. So that argued he had it.

But then he started talking about how he knew I wasn't going to call. And that is when I started shifting from thinking I WAS calling to thinking I wasn't. He was trying to talk me into a call and if he wanted me to call then I was probably beat. So at that point I shifted a bit to deciding if the odds were right to call.

To do that I had to figure out what he had. And I put him on something like Q/K, maybe even A/Q. So I was behind about 4-1, 2 cards to come. I would have to call off about 1800, all I had left, but there was already about 1800 in the pot...the blinds, my initial 200 raise and his call, and then my 600 raise and his call. Folding here meant I would pretty much be all in the next hand I played since I was about to go through the blinds and would have slightly over 4 times the blinds, which were about to go up, and just an M of 3. So maybe this was the right time.

But the more I thought about it the more I could not see calling. To start with, I might be so far behind I could not catch up. Second, the money wasn't right. Third, he started talking and doing stuff designed to get me to call...like, "Oh, I better put these in" and physically putting in the 600 call chips. He was too relaxed...and said he wouldn't show. Those were all factors overriding my initial take that he was bluffing and the things I had picked up that led me to believe he was bluffing. So I let my snowmen go...and he thought better of not showing and flipped up the A/7.

Okay, he stayed in with a weak hand and hit...that happens. And I misread him for a long time. Up until he started talking I think I would have called thinking he was bluffing. He actually talked himself out of my chips.

Sadly, that put me in a hole. And when I picked up pocket 7s just a couple hands later I had a decision. I was under the gun, so it was a marginal hand. However, the blinds were going up next hand. Before they went up I had considerable fold equity. Except for Randy it was a passive table where people were folding to strong raises. Picking up 300 would help immensely. I started to fold and instead went all-in. Fold to Randy who hesitated. I was pulling for him to call because he will call with weak hands and that gave me I figured at least 60-40 to double up. But he folded. In fact, everyone folded except Barb who will also call with some weak hands so I did not care when she called from the big blind. Until she flipped up the rockets. Uh oh.

Flop was 3 clubs, backdoor straight draw. Turn was another club and gave me a gut shot. I was laughing because I had 9 outs to split the pot and 3 to win. She was still 4-1 to win, but I had a much better shot than I deserved. And the river was the worst possible card for me...it gave her a set without giving me a flush so I was gone.

Overall I am not disappointed with my play except the first and last hands. I knew the 7s were weak and started to correctly fold them. Then I instead put all my chips in the middle and ran into a stronger hand. Oh, well. Next time, gadget, I'll get them next time.

An easy fix

Today's random thought, which mostly occurs because I am thinking about poker again; I know of easy fixes to holes in several people's games.

On the bright side, this means I am once more thinking about poker a lot which means I am enjoying it again. That is good and is promising for my playing future.

For example; two easy fixes for me:

1) Play better hands.
This means I will play fewer hands, they will be better, and I will give away fewer chips on marginal hands. On those occasions I insist on playing around with the 6/7 suited, J/10 off trash, release them on the flop unless I flop the miracle straight.

2) When I have the best hand, don't price people in.
I cannot count the number of times I have flopped top pair, top kicker or 2 pair, made small raises to keep people in, and had them suck out with backdoor straights or some such nonsense when if I just raise appropriately I take down the pot right there. When you take down a lot of small pots you can afford to properly play your own drawing hands.

Okay, I lied; 3 easy fixes:

3) Mood.
When I am hesitant about playing I seldom play well. I need to get my head on straight. Either go to have fun or don't go at all. See, I pretty much always play well when I am having fun, whether I am getting hit in the face with the deck or not I accumulate chips. Conversely, when I am not having fun I lose the chips quickly regardless of how good my cards are.

See, still lying: 4 easy fixes

4) Eliminate the Captain Limp-a-holic portion of my game.
I play my best when I raise or fold. It gets most of the trash hands out, I pretty much know where I am at, I win a lot of uncontested pots which, again, then pay for my mistakes, and it gets other people off their game. So many times I will raise with something like A/J, raise the flop whether it hits or misses, they will call, I raise the turn and people will fold. This tells me so much; A) they will stay in on draws, B) I price their draws in, C) if they can see "1 more card" cheaply, they will. So I gain hand knowledge and probably have the best hand. Conversely, I limp in, 6 people take the flop, then unless the flop comes A/J I pretty much have to check it and if I win a pot, it is smaller.

Actually, if I were to pick just 1 fix for my game, #4 would be the one. Just make that adjustment and I will improve, even if I am raising garbage like the 9/J I love to play so much. But if I combine it with playing better hands...I will cause fear at any table I sit down at.

Emily: Quick and to the point. Believe people more often.
How many times have I watched her call off hundreds, even thousands of chips, saying, "I think he's bluffing" and show down something like King high and sometimes even worse. And once she was even right...but not often enough to make it worthwhile.

She does a better job than I do of playing solid hands. She usually builds a nice chip stack. But too often she gives it back on 1 or 2 calls. Remove that flaw and she would be even better than she already is (and I think when she wants to be, she is already better than me) and could knock off our games as often as anybody. It was not a fluke that she was our points leader until August. Fix that one flaw and I would have never caught her.

Kenneth: Don't give away his intentions too early
Simply watching him tells you everything you need to know about his hand. If he is folding he has the cards ready to flick. If he has chips in his hand...he is raising. I know the standard wisdom is "someone reaching for chips out of turn is trying to get you to check"...but it does not apply in his case. If Ken is reaching for chips out of turn he has the nuts or real close to it. Stay away.

Phillip: Remember each hand is its own. I have twice gotten him off better hands by raising him all in, and both times his fold was influenced by stuff on prior hands that led him to believe I had better cards. He has been improving by leaps and bounds, so I expect to see him beating me regularly pretty soon.

Tracy: Not letting people know when she has given up on a hand.
When she knows her cards are not good enough, she just stares at the board the entire time it is being dealt. Easy read.

So there you have it, just off hand observations that would tighten up a few people's games and make them even better than they already are. And worth every cent people paid for them...

The thin line between good & bad

After my much improved tournament winning performance, I no longer felt pressure to actually perform well...so I approached last night with a modified view. No limping, either raise or fold...but instead of limiting myself to premium hands, I would loosen up a bit. Last night I really did not care if I was crushing people or getting crushed.

I started out well, hitting with A/Q and A/J. Both, by the way, premium hands...that I played as premium hands. Then I started goofing around. For example, I decided to play 6/7 spades...hardly a premium hand. And I raised it. And I flopped an open ender. Which I raised. I really wanted to show it down, but someone made a large river raise I had no intention of paying off after I missed my draw and there was someone to act behind me.

No problem, I was only down a little bit. Then I was in the big blind, everyone limped and so I got a free ride to play a J/5. Flop came J/5/5. I raised it. Owen, a new guy, re-raised. Right there I put him on the 5. I was drawing dead to two jacks. I paid him the 200 anyway. Turn was another 5. He reacted. I knew he had quads. I checked, planning to fold. He raised 200. Now, remember, I had put him on the 5 back on the flop. Why would I pay this bet? Why did I pay his flop bet? And sure enough, the river was a jack, giving me the boat. I checked, he bet his 200. And I paid him again, mucking almost as soon as I tossed in my chips and saying, "You have the 5, don't you?" He said he did. I actually never even saw it because I was disgusted with myself. I made a read and kept paying him for no particular reason. Funny part is...I hit my jack. I hit my out. And still knew I was beat. Why did I pay him off?

A few hands later in the small blind I picked up J/10. Todd made a raise to 3 times the blind. There were several people behind me, J/10 is a good drawing hand...I called, then folded to his flop bet.

Big blind again, with 9/8. Flop came nine high. I raised. Someone re-raised. I put him on over pair, folded. Someone else called but folded on the turn. Hey, a good fold! How did that happen?

Then I started getting blinded. I had lost a few chips here and there on those hands mentioned above. Got down to 1600 with blinds of 1/200, so 300/round, I had a shade over 5 times the M. I was looking for a spot to double up or get out completely. Picked up the dead mans hand. they folded to me on the button. Behind me were two people; Adam, a somewhat loose player, and John, a very tight player. I briefly analyzed my chances:

John will pretty much only call if he has me beat, and he is big blind; A/8 is odds on to have that hand crushed. Also odds on to have the small blind crushed, but Adam likes to gamble. He will call with any paint, maybe any connectors, and probably any ace so I have a pretty good chance of getting called. He loves to see the flop. However, if instead of going all in, John will call with a wider range of hands if I raise less.

So I raised 600, 3 times the blind. John looked at my chips and smiled, so he knew I was going to the felt. But first it was up to Adam. Adam hemmed and hawed, almost folded, but then said, "Well, I at least want to see the flop with these." and called. I put him on a marginal hand that is a good drawing hand. John folded. Flop was all rags, Adam did not like it, checked. I tossed in my last 1000. He almost folded straight away and I started rooting for him to call, putting him on something like K/Q, maybe Q/10, something like that...a couple over cards that in no way connected with the flop.

I changed my mind when he finally called...because he had Big Slick. And he hit the King on the turn so I was drawing dead.

Overall, had I just been playing good cards it would have been a good night. Instead I called off 600 chips, or 20% of my starting stack, when I read I was beat, gave away another 400 betting medium suited connectors...right there, on 2 hands, I gave away 33% of my starting stack. After that the blinds did not take long to put me in the danger zone, I made a correct read in that he did not like his hand on the final hand but an incorrect read as to the actual strength of his hand...but do not feel bad about that hand, actually. I had essentially gone all in pre-flop. Perhaps I should have waited for a better hand than A/8, but on the button it figures to be the strongest hand and I would probably do it again.

With 2 exceptions I would say I played okay, had I just kept my starting hand selection tight I would have done great. So at least I am not down on myself this round :-)

The Comeback

Frustrated by my play, I decided to see if I had what it takes to play well. I determined to raise or fold, trust my reads, and go with it.

Tough group of players. To my left is the guy with the drunk girlfriend who loves to bluff, then Randy, then Gary B, then Cowboy hat wearing Jason, then Todd, then the other Gary and then me. As a general rule, other then other Gary these guys all have large chip stacks. Jason, Todd, and boyfriend all raise liberally more often than not.

First hand I had poor cards, Todd raised. Raised again after the flop, everyone folded, he showed his Cowboys. Next hand, nothing. Then in the small blind I picked up Fishhooks. Several limpers. Normally, here I just limp. This time I properly raised. 1 caller, Jason. Flop was all 9 & below. I raised, he folded. Normally I won't show here but this time I wanted to set my table image so I showed them.

Couple hands later picked up Big Slick, raised it, Jason called again, I bet top/top on the flop. They folded, I showed. I was developing the perfect image. Getting cards and playing them strongly.

A few hands later had A/J suited. Raised, couple callers. Hit nothing on the flop, raised it anyway. Callers. But they were "weak" callers...the type that hem and haw and basically could play with their hands face up because I know they are chasing and chasing long shots. Some people can hem & haw and I don't know what they are mean...but with some of these players, they do not think on deep enough levels to make me think they are sucking me in. Then again, Em's bluff the other day was not a typical play for her, either... Anyway, missed the turn, bet it anyway, they folded.

By now I was up about 7 or 8 hundred. As a side effect, Bob announced a bounty...50 bonus points to anyone who took me out. It would come into play.

I was in the big blind again and had 4/5 Hearts, a hand I don't mind seeing a cheap flop on. I had been resisting playing these types of cards in limping situations, so I was playing better for sure. This time the flop came 4/4/6. I had flopped trips. I led out four times the blinds, 200 chips. Folded to Jason. He said, "I get bonus points for taking you out, right?" I nodded. "All right, I'm all in."

Wow. To make that sort of re-raise is either very, very confident or just stone cold awesome. What could he have to make that raise? I went into the tank for a long time. If he had a 4/6 I was pretty much drawing dead. If he had 4/anything higher than a 5 I was in deep, deep trouble. I pretty much discounted the pocket 6's because he had not raised pre-flop which, when he has them, he likes to make stiff re-raises because he doesn't like to see flops with weak pairs. Finally I put him on four possible hands; 4/something that had me beat, 2 overs, a 6/something, or a draw of some sort. Then again, if he was on anything like a draw I had a redraw to the boat.

Mathematically inclined players will assign percentage likelihoods to each hand possibility and then decide whether to call or not. I just went with the idea that I had a better hand and plenty of outs if not.

He was on a draw. He had an open ended straight draw, he did not hit it, and I added a little over 3000 to my stack.

At this point many players better than I advocate playing big stack poker...raising more hands, pushing people around, putting pressure on them. I thought about doing that...but it simply isn't my style. I elected instead to maintain my current strategy.

Not too long after that I played a hand quite weakly. In the small blind I picked up pocket 3s. Everyone limped to me. I should have raised pre-flop. I weakly completed the bet. I checked the flop. So did everyone else. I should have bet the turn. I checked. And someone rivered an 8. Any time up until then I could have taken down the pot. By weak play I cost myself.

I got switched to another table not too much later and suddenly was card dead. When you go from playing 20 - 30% of your hands at an aggressive table to playing only when in the big blind at a passive table...you know the cards have deserted you. But I remained patient. I won a couple times in the big blind when flops hit me.

Then I started getting cards again. I was raising to 4 times the blinds to limit callers. With blinds at 3/600 I picked up A/K diamonds. I raised to 2400. Beaver fan to my left came over the top all in for about 3700 more. Bluff Girl called. I called. This was going to be a huge pot.

And I flopped the nuts. 3 diamonds. Bluff Girl checked...and I made a HUGE strategic error. I actually thought she would call me so I went all in. She folded. I think had I checked she might have bet on the turn or river.

But it did leave her just 2400. And I had over 20K. Picked up A/Q next hand, raised again. Bills Fan called. I raised the flop. He called. I checked the turn...he raised. Something about it did not feel right so I called. River did not help me. He raised 4800. It felt like a semi-bluff. Even the smallest pair would beat me, as would A/K. But it did not feel right, and I don't know why. But I called. And he had King High. That call got me HUGE credit for reads...and the next hand from the button I raised an A/3 clubs. He called again. And we had almost an exact replay...except I rivered a 3. He flipped up the A/K this time...and I showed the 3s. Now they feared me.

Final table.

Not too long after that I put out bluff girl, put out Don...I was rolling. And I was making the correct calls and lay downs. We got down to final 3; Saul, Don's wife, and me. Saul was clear chip lead, I was a bit behind, and she was short stack.

For whatever reason, Saul is in my head. I become more passive against him...partially because he has rivered me so many times. I am cursed against him. Or feel cursed. I am not.

I was raising, he was calling, and then...I would check it down. This let him suck out on me a couple times. But I took down a couple pots of my own. And Chris took a couple pots from him.

On one hand he raised to 1200, I re raised to 2400. I ended up out kicking him on that hand. It was a nice pot. Then pocket 9s took down another nice one.

Somehow we had missed a blind level, so now they were 500/1000.

And I made a mistake.

I picked up 10/J. 3 handed, I like that hand. I raised to 4000. He called. Flop had an over and with 2 clubs. I raised. He called. I decided I was beat. Turn was another club and gave me a gut shot straight draw. I checked, he raised.

Now remember, I said I thought I was beat after the flop. So I did what any intelligent player would do...I did not count outs, I did not consider pot odds, I did not come up with any rationale reason to call...and did so anyway. Those chips should never have gone into that pot.

And the river was a 4th club. He checked for a club. I was pretty sure my Jack was a club...though I had not taken that into account at any point in the hand. He raised...I checked...and had the Jack High flush. I showed, he mucked, and I had the chip lead.

In the big blind I picked up 6/9. Flop came 6/7/8. I will bet bottom pair/open ended straight draw. I raised. He came over the top all in. I had bottom pair. I had an open ender. I figured he had the 7 or 8. I thought he was ahead but I had the better draw. But I would only be getting 2 - 1 on my money and need about 3 - 1 to call on an open ender.

That was poor figuring on my part. Let's count the outs; 4 tens, 4 fives...oh, and 2 sixes and 3 nines. I actually had FIFTEEN outs, not 8. I was actually a favorite to win that hand! So my call was incorrect by my math...but correct by the accurate math, even had my read been accurate.

As it turns out, my read was off. He had 5/6. I was actually ahead. Turn was a harmless (it seemed) queen. And the river paired the 8. We both had 2 6's, 2 8's, and my nine beat his 6...but not the queen. She meant it was a split pot.

I took a few hands, Chris took a few hands. He was being blinded lower, so was she, and my raising was now putting pressure on them...but I was getting raise-worthy cards.

A couple hands later I picked off a 6000 chip stone cold bluff he made on the river. He was down to about 8000. I picked up the Colts (4/4) and put him all in. He called. He rivered a Queen. I picked up pocket 9s. I put Chris all in. She rivered a Queen.

Both were real low, less than 5K each, I had over 50K. Finally I put Chris out.

Saul went all in. I figured I was no worse than 52-48 and called. He won the hand. And it happened again when I had a good hand, he had a better...he was coming back. Bob and I chatted about how reminiscent it was of the time Amanda won the first 11 or 12 hands head to head.

We got it all in again, this time I had a weak J/3. Still, with 2 players, I figure I am no worse than a 55-45 dog or so, aka 1.5-1...I was slightly wrong, checking in at 63-36 or about 2 - 1. But I flopped a J/3. And the river was a 3, giving me a boat and the win.

Looking back, it was overall, despite a few mistakes, a great night for me. I almost exclusively played strong poker. I only played good cards and I played them strongly. I did not bleed off a bunch of chips limping in. In fact, there are a few hands that may have cost me. For example, in late position I folded K/9 because I read Bluff boyfriend to be about to raise...which he obliged and did. K-9 is, like its namesake, a dog hand. Ironically, the flop was k/9/k and the case ace was held by Gar to my right. I could have broken him that hand. But it was still a good fold because it would have been a terrible pre-flop call. So the no-limp policy was good. And I did not meekly fold just because people raised if I had reason to believe I was okay or had a good chance to suck out. Nor did I call when it was hopeless. Here is a fine example:

I raised pre-flop to 2400. 2 callers. Flop, someone went all in for 5200. Got a caller. I had A/K suited...but the flop did not connect with it at all. Based on things they had said, I put both Bills Fan and Terry on individual pairs which, by definition were lower than my Anna Kournikova. So I needed to call 5200 to win about 17 = 18K. I was getting a little less than 3-1 on my money. I had 6 outs if neither of them had an Ace or King, 2 cards to come. So at BEST I was about 24% to hit or about 4 - 1 and I was only getting 3-1 so long-term the correct play is a fold. Of course, my pride was in the way. I wanted, really, really wanted to call. I tried to talk myself into calling. But I decided at least one of them had to have one or more of my outs counterfeited so I was less than that and folded...properly. My read was right...they both had just a pair. And one had an Ace, the other a King. Sure, I only would have risked 5200...but it would have given 5200 to someone I did not want to have it...namely, not me. It was a tough fold but a correct one.

So I have revitalized my belief that I can play good poker on occasion, taking down a tournament that had I believe 22 people overall and doing it playing correctly and with decent reads. Now I can go back to my normal suctitude.

How to play like a chump

I was pretty upset that 6 people from work who committed to showing up all no-showed...though at least 2 called. 2 hours after they were supposed to be there, but at least they called.

Early on Jamey was hot. He was catching Aces. I lost a few hundred when I flopped top pair on board, bet it, he came over the top. Alan folded. Right there I should have put him on an over pair but did not. His pocket rockets took me for a ride. Alan was convinced I was betting different than I normally do, though I did (and do) disagree. When I have J/8 and am playing well, I raise pre-flop. When I am playing poorly, I limp. I had raised pre-flop. I flopped top pair, I bet it. I do not dislike this play at all. I did get outplayed as Jamey let me do the betting and correctly so as he had me beat with hidden strength.

Lost a few hundred on other hands, too. I was catching cards..I had 2 pair beaten 4 or 5 times.

Came a hand where I was in the big blind with 2/8. Board paired itself early. Everyone checked it to the river where I paired my 8. Nick came out firing and it caught my attention. First off, he massively overbet...the pot had maybe 200 in it and he bet 1000. Second, his betting style heretofore had been quite steady...he would gently toss his chips in the direction of the pot (and more often than not directly into the pot itself). This time he authoritatively tossed them away from the pot with an atypical smile. I correctly read it was unusual and in a half a heartbeat tossed in my own chips.

This was a bad play for several reasons. First, the smile and confident pose are "I have a better than normal" type tell. Second, I did not look at the board for straights, flushes, anything like that. I decided he was bluffing, noted his atypical reaction, and did not go any deeper than that. Even if he HAD been bluffing it was a weak play on my part. Third, even if he WAS bluffing, I was paying 1000 to win 1200.

By the same token, when I mentioned his unusual bet caught my attention, that brought a lot of criticism my way with comments such as, "I don't even have a betting style" from Nick and similar stuff from a couple others.

Well...that makes it even MORE telling. When people do not think about how they bet they are prone to giving off a LOT of information. There are people I play with who regularly put out a bet in small denomination chips when they have a weak hand and put out large denomination chips when they have a strong hand. I assume it is because if they have a weak hand they expect to lose the chips and don't mind seeing small ones go away...but it is hard to say.

Meanwhile, I picked up pocket Queens. I had been folding for a while, so I came out raising 4 times the blinds. Emily called...and I have played with her long enough to know that means she has a good hand. She will limp with weak hands but never calls a raise without something good. Flop came A/10/rag, 2 diamonds...and she came out betting. I put her on the ace and folded. Someone else called. On the turn she laid out her 5000 chip and he folded. And she flipped up a 2/3.

She totally bluffed me. I misread her as badly as I have ever misread anybody. As Roman admitted when we talked about it later, in all the times we have seen her play we have never...NEVER...NEVER seen her bluff. In almost 10 months of playing, this is the first bluff she has ever pulled off and she did it beautifully.

Someone thought she had put me on tilt...I do not think she did. I was actually kind of proud of her. And I went back to fold-fold-fold. But that blinded me to 5100.

I picked up pocket jacks after a couple people had limped in. I planned to raise and was too lazy to make change so I just went all in. Jamey called. He had A/K...standard race. I figured I was about 52-48 to win...and I was actually off a bit. According to Card Player magazine, that situation is a 57-43 advantage to the fishhooks, so I was looking good to double up. Until the flop gave him a King, I never improved and I was first one out.

And deservedly so. I think I won 1 hand all night. I played poorly yet again. I am starting to think I have lost my feel for the game. Oh, well. Easy come, easy go.

Lydias, 9/24 or The Perils of Random Dealers

I was right in that hazy "I want to play/nah, I would rather watch football" area last night. I elected to play. Sadly, that meant I was in my weak "I want to be the well-liked" guy instead of playing a strong game. As a result, there was lots of limping.

Of course, it is easy to excuse that. By limping I get to play a lot more hands and the rationale always goes something like this. "Ooh, 5/7 unsuited. Garbage hand, but a good drawing hand. I can get in for cheap against a lot of players and if I hit, I will take down a nice pot. If I just limp then I can play these."

Okay, good theory. Problem is...5/7 is NOT all that good a drawing hand. There are really only maybe 2 flops that hit that mean anything...4/6/8, 6/8/9...and on the latter I am drawing dead to anyone playing j/10 which is a much better drawing hand. Any pair might look good but is probably beat.

As a result, I sat there bleeding away chips. Because once you get into the limp mode, you can find something to like about almost any hand. And I know why I do it, too. Most of the people there prefer to limp. And they tend to tilt a tiny bit if someone is regularly raising. This is one reason Cowboy hat guy and the two bikers are so effective. They really don't need cards to play because they raise so much that people get tense and underplay their own cards against them. So by blindly and maniacally raising the majority of hands, they win a lot of small pots...and sometimes they hit when people play back as well. My raising is more selective when I am playing my game properly...but no less lethal.

When you play good cards strongly you tend to have good results. When you play cards weakly, and here it matters not if the cards are good, bad or indifferent...if you play your cards weakly, you get beat on some hands and pushed off others.

Case in point. Tall Bill was sitting a couple spots to my left. Early on I picked up the bachelor hand in late position so weakly limped in. This was a raising hand in a limped-into pot, but I let people stay around. Flop came K/rags, two diamonds, giving me top pair, Jack kicker...against a flush draw. Bill bet. He will bet a flush draw and I knew it. I should have bet him out of the hand pre-flop (mistake 1) and here I should have re-raised to price him out of a draw (mistake 2) but instead called (mistake 3). That is the one thing you CAN'T do here. If he is on a draw and hits it, I have no redraws. I suppose running king/pair the board...but that is so unlikely I don't even count it as a draw. Should the Jack of Diamonds hit I have 2 pair...and he has the flush. In other words, I have given him control of the hand and unless he is not actually on a flush draw but is suddenly betting middle pair...something I did not see him do even once all night...he can just keep betting small amounts to control the pot size until the river and if he hits he has, at least against me, the nuts. And I processed all this information between the time he bet and the people between he and I folded...then I called. Weak play begets weak play.

I did bail on the turn...but I paid off 200 to lose a hand I could have won with better play. And paid off a few hundred more limping and folding.

Then I hit an interesting stretch. I picked up 7/8 in the big blind. 4 other people in the hand. After the flop I saw 3 of them give up. I read it in their posture...one of the things I was looking for tonight. Sure enough, it was there, that little shoulder slump you can only see if you are specifically looking for it. It is not deliberate and I doubt any of them even noticed it. Watching, I saw it several times last night and it was helping my reads a lot. Turn, nobody was interested and one guy pre-mucked. River was another high card...I was literally playing the board. Checked to me on the button, I bet 200. Stone cold bluff. Except I knew nobody was interested in paying more to see who had what. They all folded. I did not show. Next hand I picked up 7/8 of hearts. Paired the 7 on the river and won that hand. Next hand was another 7/8 unsuited. Played it. Hit the pair of 7s. Bet. Three callers. Turn was an over card, heavy action, folded. But three consecutive hands with 7/8...weird.

It would get weirder. Picked up pocket 6s in the small blind. Limpers to me. Every instinct I had said make a good, strong raise here. So I weakly completed the bet. Flop came heart, diamond, diamond, nothing too dangerous. Tall Bill bet. I put him on another diamond flush draw. Couple callers. I called. Turn was another heart. He hesitated, then bet. I was positive my read was right, though I adjusted it to now give him either another pair or a gutshot straight draw to go with it. People folded to me. I was doing the math in my head to see if a call was right. It was a good size pot, I had 2 outs, one would complete a heart flush...which I was NOT worried about...and I had the 6 of diamonds, so that did not worry me. I was debating call or fold...when Randy flipped up the river card. It was a 6 of hearts, I saw it out of the corner of my eye. It would give me the winner...except I cannot legitimately call there. I folded face up.

This is one of the drawbacks of having people deal their own. There are a lot of things to watch for; are people betting the correct amounts, acting in turn, is all action completed, etc. Also, keeping the playing surface "clean" so people can assess what is going on; I will cover 2 other dealing mistakes that had potentially huge impacts on the outcome of the night a little later on. This was a mistake by Randy that cost someone...probably Bill...some money. I had just about decided to call, but rather than "bury" the card and draw to the case 6, I mucked. He hesitated about folding, started to show his cards...which led me to believe in retrospect I should have mucked earlier in the hand. Usually when he showed when it was not a showdown it was a spectacularly strong hand; with the current board, that would represent a mis-read by me and trips for him already, or he could have been doing something out of character for him, bluffing, in which case I might have had him beat. But I could not in good conscience call after seeing the river card. But he might have hit an even bigger hand with that 6 so who knows who it hurt? I think everyone thought it was me that was hurt...but there is no guarantee I was going to call his bet on the turn. And the more I think about how he played the hand, especially him wanting to show, I think he had something where trip 6s wouldn't touch him.

In fact, with the 6 being a heart, let's read the hand backwards. River heart, turn heart, one heart on flop. He will bet top pair...maybe he had something like A/Q of hearts and was betting top pair, top kicker. Then when the turn came with a heart he could have had a flush draw and the 6 of hearts could have given me trips, him a flush... so his betting was consistent with how he plays both top/top and flush draw. And his wanting to show his hand would also fit, saying, "Hey, you didn't get screwed...I would have had a flush"...though this also is no certainty. In the end, it does not matter who had who...the inadvertent early card reveal fundamentally altered the flow of chips. And the flow of play, for that matter, because I had to be careful not to tilt there.

Later, I was down to about 1900 with blinds at 1 & 2 and shifted into raise or fold mode. I always play better when I am in that mode...note to self; READ THAT LAST SENTENCE AGAIN. Just sayin'...

Anyway, I picked up pocket 7s. I planned to raise. A raise to 800 would only leave me 1100 so I would be pot committed. I elected to take advantage of my fold equity. All in. Everyone folded and I picked up the blinds and a limper's chips. Hmm. 2300....a couple hands later, last hand before break and blinds would raise, picked up pocket 10s in the big blinds. Todd raised to 325, I came over the top all in, everyone folded and I picked up a nice chunk. Showed my 10s.

First hand back, picked up pocket 10s again. Back to back pocket 10s. This was the night for like hands time after time. Then someone pointed out he hadn't cut the deck...and a misdeal was declared. That hurt because 10s are a powerful hand with 5 players which is what we had at that point.

Again, a simple dealer's mistake cost SOMEONE a huge pot because with just over 10 times the blinds, I had raised to 800...but I was probably going to the felt if someone played back at me. Now, there is no guarantee 10s will hold up. Sure, they are a powerful hand...but they are also quite vulnerable. Any over card can hit...and people will play any two face cards in that situation and especially any Ace....or any two pair or a straight, which some people will play suited connectors there...so I was probably a slight favorite but nothing so overwhelming that I was super confident if I got 2, 3, 4 callers...

Of course, the redeal was not kind. Muck. In fact, lots of mucking followed, got down below 2000 again, all in with pocket 9s. Showed when everyone folded. In big blind, about 3 limpers, all in for 2100. Old Bill called. I said, "This time I have something better...not unbeatable, but better" and flipped up my queens. He said, "I've still got you" as he was counting out his chips. From what and how he said it, i figured I was drawing thin against Kings or Aces, so I was real happy to see him flip up A/J suited. One over, a flush draw. I like my chances. About 67-32 if Card Player's calculator is correct. And here we run into a third major dealing situation.

Bill was the dealer. He dealt out one card, 2...then moved his hand over them. And stopped dealing. He then burned a card. But he was not sure if there were 2, 3, 4, or even 5 cards dealt! Part of it was because there were chips scattered all over, folded cards mixed in with the chips, and his hand laying on top of part of the flop. I had turned my head for an instant, so when i turned back I thought he had flopped a couple extra cards in some bizarre order.

So then he burned another card and flopped the next one, one of the best cards in the deck for me...the 7 of hearts. A complete blank. Of course, I was trying to figure out where we were at. And he started to muck the deck...but there were either 4 or 6 cards out there. So confusing. Finally I figured out what had happened, we put the 7 back as burn card and flipped up the card I did not want to see...a 10. So the 7h now became the burn card, turn was a jack. He had a straight draw, so he could win with any Ace, Jack, or queen...he had 7 outs, about 14% so I was still looking good. And my queens held up. With limp chips, I now had about 5K and was coasting.

What should have been an easy, straightforward situation became a confused mess because of people not used to it dealing. If the chips are collected in one place, the mucked cards in another, the all-in hands properly situated they would be close to the board but never on it so everyone would know how many cards had been flopped and how many were yet to come. Instead it became a huge, confusing situation with cards everywhere mixed in with chips everywhere and poor Bill getting very, very confused. It is an easy, easy fix...just keep a clean playing field and this doesn't happen.

Well, not long after that I got involved with Randy. he has a little tell...when he has an awkward number of chips, he doesn't like to get change...so he will just go all-in. So you need a little bit less of a hand to call him when he is doing that. I was 99% sure I was right...and there was one hand I was really rooting for John to call on.

Not to long before that, Randy had limped in. Flop brought Jack high and almost before the other guy said check he said "No Checking!" and forcefully planted his chips down. I instantly put him on the Jack. Turn was a scare card, giving possible straight draw. He did the shoulder slump. Everyone checked. River was a Jack. Other guy checked and Randy did his "No checking!" chip slam. Other guy folded. I said, "Didn't matter, Randy had his Jacks." I actually thought there was a chance he had quads...he didn't, just trips...but I was glad to be on him so well since in the past I have struggled to read him. Well, later, John was looking for a chance to double up. So was Randy. Randy was real low and did his shoulder slump all-in. I wanted to call but had only an 8/5 off and John was still behind me. I actually thought he would call and would be drawing all but dead against 2 opponents. I put Randy on maybe A/rag, maybe a couple face cards. John had A/rag and folded...and Randy showed the bachelor hand.

So it was just a matter of waiting for my spot to get Randy heads up. Sure enough, a couple hands later he went all-in again...and I picked up A/rag. Sometimes that is an insta-muck...I had mucked A/5, A/7, and A/9 earlier when I was looking for spots to get all my chips in the middle myself. This time I figured I was ahead so called. I was.

Randy had something like K/9, maybe even 2 face cards...but unless he paired he was done. He didn't pair.

I made it to the final table despite my poor early play. Once there I could not catch a hand to save my life. I started looking for a spot to get all the chips in the middle. The blinds raised. I watched and watched and watched... I almost did it with K/4 suited, then remembered 3 things; 1, that is a pretty crappy hand. You are trying to hit the second nut flush, there is really no other hand you can make. With suited cards pre-flop you hit a flush 1 in 16 tries. I would not play that hand with chips, why play it on a hand I could go out on? 2) I was in early position; there were 4 people left to act. 3) All 4 of those people had a LOT of chips and would not hesitate to call if they could take someone out. I wisely folded. I briefly regretted it when the flop's first card was a King. I regretted it less when I saw the flop was all suited...and obviously not the cards I had folded.

Next hand I picked up K/4 for a second consecutive hand, but this time unsuited. I reached for my chips, then my brain started working.

Fold. Fold. Blinds went up. I was all the way down to 800 chips with blinds at 3/6. I picked up pocket 10s in the big blind, raised it my last 200, 2 callers. The flop was sad. 7/8/10. Sure, I had trips...but the way Jerry jumped I knew I was in trouble. I put him on the J/9. First guy checked, he bet, and I almost mucked my 10s. Then I decided to see if I could get lucky and get the board to pair itself. I commented I had thought I was good when I hit the trips...and before I could complete it he said, "They are no good" at which point I completed my sentence with "until you looked like you had J/9." He flipped up his cards...no jack. But he did have a 6 to go with his 9. So I was drawing to actually a good number of outs; 1 10, 3 9s, 2 8s, 2 7s, and, after the turn, 3 4s. 11 outs, close to a quarter of the time my redraw wins the pot. This was one of the 75% of times...which was fine. Even if I win I am on death watch with just 2400 chips...4 times the blinds...so I will be all in momentarily.

A mixed evening once more. Lately I have been sloppy with my reads but tonight they were very, very solid. But I was playing weakly and thus had a soft 5th place finish. Not where I should be.

Charity Tennis Tournament, 9/22/07

Phil of the HYD softball team put together a tennis tournament for novices. The entire $10 per person entry went to Kenya, so it seemed a good thing to do. Along with fellow HYDer Molly, I went out to play.

My foot and ankle were still tender from the softball stuff but I thought I would give it a shot. Unfortunately, even in warm-up I knew I would not be playing long. But I gave it a shot.

A couple things happened even before we started to play. First off, the courts he had reserved, somehow the message had not trickled down and the club had not reserved them. So instead of inside, we were outside for the games. Second, a lot of people no-showed, so instead of all mixed doubles teams there were a few guy-guy teams.

In the first set, Molly and I were matched up against Phil and Nick, both fellow HYDers. So the first set was all HYD all the time.

They got the first serve. About one shot in I knew I should not be playing. So I did exactly the worst thing I could...I played half-way...just hard enough to get to balls but not hard enough to hit them right. We only one one of the first 4 games and were down 3-1 with Phil serving. So I decided to go all out for the rest of the first set and then quit...but I knew I was into my "competitive" mode where I refuse to be beat so if we lost, I was playing another set.

I started getting to every ball, playing the net aggressively, and, unlike the first time where I just lobbed my serves, I started actually playing...getting a couple aces off Phil and a couple more off Nick. Even the returns they got were weak since I was putting a barrel full of spin so they struggled to handle them. I did a lot of network and a few baseline shots. We broke Phil's serve, won my serve, broke Nick's serve, then Molly won.

During that stretch the key play was one where I started at the net, Molly moved up to the net during the play, Nick was at the net and Phil was playing baseline. After several sharp shots Phil lobbed one over Molly's head. I came all the way across court from front left to back right, got it on the first hop, and sent it back to the far corner. Their weak return was easy pickings for Molly who put the point away. It was a fantastic save that turned the tide completely.

Suddenly, from down 3-1 we were up 5-3 and Phil was serving. He unleashed his best serves at me but I was so dialed in now that they were easy returns. I played them like a banjo, running them from side to side and then putting the ball where they weren't. We won that won to finish the set 6-3.

And I was done. My ankle is toast. It is questionable whether I will be able to make it to softball. But for a few brief moments I was "that guy" again, the one who is so competitive that he will do any legal thing he can to win, will get to every ball, make every shot...I like the pressure of being the man. To be honest, we beat a better team. If we play 10 times they probably win 6 or 7 of them...but not this one.

Weasel School

So a few people at work, a couple relatives, and a couple people from the HYD team all want to learn how to play Texas Hold 'Em. I told them I would go ahead and teach them. So I am trying to put together a 1 day "Basics" school. So I am going to start with an outline. If you see anything obvious I missed or think a different order would be better feel free to let me know:

Introduction: The 7 cards of Hold 'em
Here I figure to show them how each individual gets 2 hole cards, then the flop, turn and river are community cards. This sections will also include:
Ranking the hands
If you know the ranking of the hands you have a good start. I will have a little fold-out with it they can keep by them. Perhaps I will have a board with straight, flush, and full house possibilities, as well as a few sample hands; one hitting a straight, one a flush, one two pair, etc. so they can see the possibilities.

Part 1) The Hole cards
Here I will go over the concept of starting hand strength. I will probably have them play a few hands face up so they can see the relative strengths of starting hands. I will really drill the importance of knowing their hole cards, knowing the value of their hole cards, and knowing whether those cards are likely to hit a flop and, post-flop, how well their cards fit the flop.

Part 2) Basic betting strategy
Here I will go over the blind structure, relating their bets to the blinds, options of checking, folding, raising, or re-raising, along with what amounts they should raise if they choose to do so.

Part 3) Play a few hands face-up to give them practical experience of relating what they have heard to the actual game.

Conclusion: Provide a set of links to pokerstars, full tilt, and maybe another free online spot or two.
That will probably be it for day 1. With that information they should be able to understand what is going on.

Day 2:
More strategy:

1) The hole cards: ranking the starting hands
Here I will cover a little bit what hands should be played and which ones should find the muck.

2) Position
Here I will discuss why you can play something like say...K/jo from late position but not early, why certain hands are strong no matter where you sit but others can only be played late.

3) Basic outs and odds
How to calculate outs, the 2% rule, etc.

That should give them a start. Anybody who only wants to ever play casually with family and friends will (theoretically) have enough information to play a good enough game to have fun, not be embarrassed, and, when the cards fall right, maybe even win here and there. If they want deeper strategy they can either read up on it or I could create more advanced material.

How You Doin' Fall ball game 3

Started at shortstop. Always something that gets me pumped, though I note that lately it makes me nervous, too. That must be old age creeping up on me...I used to LOVE the position and the action. Actually, to play well I need a lot of action. Keeps me interested and on my toes.

Be that as it may, we were again visitors, which I like. I get to get involved offensively which almost always is a good thing since it gets my confidence up. This time he had me batting second. Betsy Singled and up I came. I think of this as an RBI opportunity, particularly with their defensive alignment. They only had 3 outfielders. Instead of going with the classic baseball outfield alignment, they left right field open. Wide open. Their "right fielder" was lined up almost in straight-away center field. Crazy. Especially against someone like me who lives with the opposite field.

So right field was wide open, Betsy on first. I always want to at a minimum double to take away the double play opportunity. With their defensive alignment I figured they would be pitching inside and letting people pull so I was looking for something inside. I didn't get it...he put it out over the heart of the plate. I adjust well enough but got a little bit on top of it. I lined it to center, no chance of getting out, but no chance of scoring Betsy or even doubling. So it was a marginal success. On the bright side, I did not make out so we still had the big inning potential alive. And we took it. Becky grounded out but Betsy and I advanced. Nick brought us home. We scored a couple more, then into the field we went with 4 or 5 runs under our belt.

It started like one of those quick-sand innings. They were hitting poorly...but sometimes that is advantageous as their poor hits were Texas Leaguer type that land in front of the outfielders. They had a run in and a couple on with 2 out when one of them hit a screamer to right center. I went to take the throw in by second base. As I often do, I made a random sweep tag...and the runner was off base for the third out. She should have been standing on the bag, but had taken a few steps towards third for no apparent reason. It should not have been an out...but it was. Just another reminder that solid fundamentals such as always making the tag will lead to an occasional unexpected out.

Our bats were hot and this time I had the sacks stacked. The first pitch was where I thought he would pitch me the first at-bat, inside. It was also short. I relaxed. It hit the front corner of the plate...and he called it a strike. Huh? Bad call I suspect, though since I don't know the slow-pitch strike zone, I could be wrong. Still, I suspect a pitch that lands on the corner of the plate closest to the pitcher is too low to hit, so I doubt it should have been a strike. Regardless, having 2 strikes does not bother me. Every pitch looks like a grapefruit. I simply adjust my approach and plan to go with the pitch.

And I did. Because his next pitch was a mistake, belt high and outside half of the plate. I took a couple half steps and a 3/4 swing to drive it into the wide open spaces of right field. Had Betsy been faster I could have easily tripled or even scored, but as it was she just strolled to third and I was at second. Again we both scored and had a nice lead.

Next inning with a runner on and one out a guy popped behind third. I thought it was deeper than it was and called it. I was there easily...but a bit embarrassed and feeling like a ball hog when I realized how shallow it was...maybe 5 steps behind Steve. That was his ball and I stole it. Ball pig.

Bottom half of the inning I again came up with a runner or two on and 2 out. This time Betsy had popped out so she was not one of them. To my amazement, they had not yet shifted to cover right. In fact, I deliberately looked down the left field line...and they shifted that way even further!

There was no doubt I was turning the pitch inside out no matter what he threw. And I did. But I got under it a bit. Instead of the line shot I wanted to produce it was a soft fly. They still had no shot at it, but whereas I could have crawled home had I hit the line shot, the soft fly gave them time to make a play on our runner who headed home. They had no chance at getting him...but they could try. Sadly, as I was approaching 2nd I stepped badly and rolled my ankle.

I almost took myself out for a pinch runner, but before I could yell for time, Becky grounded out.

At that point I did something I have never in my life done before. I took myself out of the game. I did it for a couple reasons. First, we were ahead at that point something like 15-1. So I did not feel needed. Second, I am finally at the point in my life where my long-term health means more to me than winning a garbage-league softball game that nobody will remember the score of in 2 weeks. Third...it REALLY hurt.

It was bad enough I followed that bit of anti-machismo with another move I have never made before. I left before the game was over.

On the bright side, I played okay against the only other undefeated team in the league. I got some nice hits, made a couple plays...on the dark side, we would have mercy rule'd them even without me so I was not needed...and I did some poor teammate stuff like leaving early. So a mixed day.

The Hand where criticism keeps me thinking about it

Picked up A/7s in late position. Raised, got a couple callers. Flop came 10/8/7 rainbow. Checked around so I raised it. They both called. Turn was a 6. I raised it. Both called. River was a blank. Checked around. I showed my 7s, guy to my left showed 8s, winner showed 10s. Someone laughed and said something along the lines of "Nice, only the worst hand bet."

But did it? There are a lot of ways I could have played this hand. One was folding. However, in late position in an unraised pot A/7 figures to be marginally the best hand. I could have limped in but that is a weak play that invites a steal raise from the blinds. Or I could raise with what figured to be the best hand. I don't mind my play here, particularly since those to come were tight players. Standard wisdom goes loosen up when the table is tight and tighten up when the table is loose. With a couple callers but no re-raise, I probably have the best hand, though there is always the possibility someone is slow-playing something like cowboys or rockets, though the odds are slim.

The flop I played well I thought. They both checked it, I hit a pair, even if it was bottom pair, and bet what was likely the best hand, even if it was just bottom pair, top kicker. Had top pair hit, more often than not he bets it here since his hand is vulnerable. Middle pair might play just as they did, checking and calling a small bet. In this case, top pair had mediocre kicker so check-called as well.

The turn was where I actually like my play a lot. Nobody has shown any interest in winning the pot, only in making "see what happens" calls...I suppose you could give the top pair credit for letting me do the betting if it were a tricky player...but it is someone I read as more call and hope with a tendency towards staying with 2 overcards. He plays good cards and calls a lot with rare raises. Sometimes he hits his good cards and wins, sometimes he misses them, stays with them, and loses. Meanwhile, I have a pair and a belly buster straight draw. I figure to have lots of outs IF I am behind. I have 2 7s for trips, 4 9s for the straight, and 3 Aces for 2 pair. If I am behind, any of these should give me the winning hand. At this point I have them both put on over cards. So I believed I had the best hand and was certain I had the best draw when I bet.

Of course, I did not hit my straight. Here is where I think I played it weakly. The river was a big card, a King if I recall correctly. Played properly, it is a good scare card and worth a bet. Instead, I saw what I DIDN'T have, the straight, and weakly checked. Though perhaps it was not that weak...a bet into 2 opponents with just a small pair is not so much a value bet as a "here is more of my money" bet. So perhaps checking was the correct thing to do.

Either way, based on my reads and draws, I believe I was correct to be betting. And based on their cards and styles of play, both of them were correct to call. The top pair might have re-raised with such a vulnerable hand..though I think calling was a very valid option. Top pair, weak kicker against a raiser is not so good...I could easily have been holding Jacks or Queens and still played it exactly as I did. In that case, they lose the least money possible while staying in the hand. If they re-raise on the flop and I re-raise all-in, they have to lay it down. By simply calling they stay in the hand and ended up taking a small pot.

Overall I am not displeased with my play. Possibly a river bet would have taken it down...but perhaps not. I figured they would call and since they had both called on the turn I believed I was beat without river help.

Yes, in the end I had the worst hand and did all the betting...but in the same circumstances, I would do the same thing which leads me to believe that, for me at least, it was the correct play.

I think it also illustrates a lot about play styles. I am not afraid to play low or middle pair, particularly when I have a draw to go with it. If people miss pairing the board 2 out of 3 hands and the other 2 play passively, I might take down the pot in any number of ways; raising with the worst hand, betting with the best hand, hitting a nice draw...but if I play it passively I will have to fold to any bet with just low pair and never hit the draws or make people fold. Nor will I have a deceptive game if I only ever play top pair.

And it works for me. That night by the final three I had such a commanding chip lead that Josh or Phillip would have had to have hit a HUGE hot streak even to pull even. So looking back, even though I lost THAT HAND, I think THAT PLAY was still correct.

interestingly enough, for MOST of the people I play with, this would be the wrong play. Most are too cautions, too timid, and tend to only bet with stuff like top pair, two pair, trips, and fold to any heat. Probably 80% of the people I play with would automatically fold on the flop to the first bet if no Ace hit.

Nor would I say they are wrong or I am right. Different personalities, different styles.

Lydias, 9/17

One of my flaws is I refuse to believe, for whatever reason, that it is possible to go into a night, play well, and never win a hand.

So I sat down to a 7 player table. Immediately to my left is a guy I have only seen play once. He is a weak-aggressive with more tells than an Israeli dig. To his left is Todd, who lately has been playing a much sounder game so he is a bit harder to read since he is bluffing less and playing better hands. We also had I think Danny to his left, the Cowboys fan who plays quite similar to Todd sitting to my right, Bill to his right and...one more. Randy maybe?

This is a table where bluffing is pointless because someone will call you all the way to the river. I did not see one hand not shown down. So you HAVE to have cards to play.

It was also a weak-aggressive table. Until a couple people busted out and Don joined the table there was not one hand raised pre-flop. On the bright side, you can limp in with any drawing hands...all those medium suited connectors have as much value under the gun as they do on the button. On the dark side...unless you flop a MONSTER you are probably beaten.

And if you are not even getting suited connectors...well...here was a night when how I played did not matter.

I limped in with a few drawing hands...stuff like 4/5 hearts, 7/8 off, k/j off. But for the most part, even in a limp-fest, I folded, folded, folded, folded, folded...and proved wise, wise, wise, wise because not one of my hands would have hit and on a night when everything is getting shown down...well..you have to have the cards to win. Meanwhile, we had several hands with 3 full houses on them at showdown, several trips, etc. Big hand after big hand.

I was being blinded out. The best hand I had was at one point, in a hand eerily similar to another I had shown John the previous session, I picked up J/10 suited in the big blind and checked it. Weak play? Maybe. But there was no raise I could make that would drive everyone out with 5 other people in the pot and I was not going all-in with J/10. It is not that good a hand. Well, it looked good when I flopped 2 pair...problem is, there was a queen to go with it. So anyone with A/K has me drawing all but dead to 4 outs. And with 5 other people in the pot...who is betting against it? And yes, they had already limped multiple times with Aces, Kings, Big Slick...so it was not an unreasonable assumption. Still, I bet into it to test their resolve. Nobody came over the top, but 3 people called....including Randy who lately has been on a slow-playing kick. If he had a good but not great hand...say, 2 pair...he would have come over the top. Right there I was done with the hand. Of course, the turn was a queen, counterfeiting my bottom pair anyway. I checked and folded. One full house beat 2 others at the showdown.

I only played 2 other non-blind hands, both of them weakly. I limped with pocket 4s and pocket 7s. The 4s had a huge flop of face cards and were into the muck fast. The 7s saw a better flop...only one over card, a 10/6/4 flop. This had promise. I bet into this one...and had one caller, one re-raise, and a re-re-raise. Fold. Sure enough, someone had the 10, someone else a set of 6s.

Other than those hands I folded, folded, folded. On a table where you can't make moves...what else is there to do when people are hitting straights, flushes, boats or sets on every hand and even a pair looks like gold to you? Ironically, I still had more chips than 2 other people who went to the final table...despite not winning a single hand all night. Actually, I did not show down a single hand all night. I was down to about 1400 (I started with 3K) and the blinds were still only 100-200, so I had time. I was at 7 times the blind...the point where I pick a premium hand, raise all-in pre-flop and have fold equity so I either steal the blinds, double up, or am out.

This is a night I would argue I played well...and it was some of the most boring poker of my life. On the bright side, just watching the others battle, I picked up some nice information so we will see how that goes.

Sample Column 3, rough draft

Sometimes there is a hand where one group of solid players believes it is correct to make a call while an equally talented group disagrees. In those instances it comes down to personalities. Let's examine such a hand.

There are two primary players in the hand.

Our hero has been hot, catching a lot of hands. As a result he has played a lot of hands and has a loose-aggressive image. His last few hands have seen him win with some aggressive betting, but on the most recent hand he played he laid down pocket 6s to a flop of 10/K/A rainbow.

The villain has been playing tight all tournament. During the most recent hand he played, his bet got someone to state, "You have been playing tight all night," as they folded. Yet the villain has been all in 3 times by this point.

The blinds are at 300/600 with 8 players. It is folded to the hero on the button. With the large stack, he looks at pocket 3s. He raises to 4 times the blind, 2400. The villain, in the small blind, comes over the top for 4600 more. The big blind gets out of the way.

Should the hero call? There is 5400 in the pot (2400 from hero and villain, 600 from the big blind) and he has to call 4600 to win 10,000. If he calls he will no longer be big stack, though he will still be in second place.

He is getting 2.1-1 on his money. If his opponent has a pair he is a significant dog, 4-1 or higher and it does not make sense to call. If his opponent has just over cards he is a slight favorite, about 52-48. With any over cards he is getting the correct price to call. This being the case he has to determine whether his opponent has a pair or if he just has over cards.

This is where you need to take playing styles into account. Remember our hero has been splashing chips around a bit. Classic poker theory therefore tells you he has a wide range of starting hands. Additionally, he raised from the button, a classic stealing position.

Conversely, the villain just was credited with playing tight and has been all-in several times. If he called the initial raise he was pretty much priced into the hand regardless of what came on the flop. With 5400 in the pot and 4600 chips remaining he would have been getting the correct price to call almost any flop. By raising all-in he takes advantage of possible fold equity, particularly if the button raise was a marginal action or if he was making a move. The all-in raise is therefore the correct move if he was going to play the hand at all.

It also widens the range of hands he is likely to play in this situation. The odds he has a pair are significantly less than the odds he has a pair.

Our hero did, in fact call and the villain flopped up K/7 of diamonds. Now that we know the cards, was the hero still correct to call with only pocket 3s? As it turns out, the 3s are a slight favorite, 50-49% with a slight chance of a split pot.*

In this case the 3s held up, eliminating the villain. It is important to remember, however, that poker is not about short term results. Even had the villain prevailed on this hand, it was still a statistically correct call and in the long run will have positive results for the hero.

So the next time you have a low pocket pair, remember to consider position, the table image of those to follow, and that a pair has the advantage over an unpaired hand and you might have a new tool to add to your arsenal.

*http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_odds/texas_holdem#

Starving Crazed Weasels, September

Had 9 players this month, a decent turn-out. We started with double chips and slow blinds, 6000 chips with 45 minute blinds to allow for plenty of play.

Early on I picked up the Cowboys. I bumped it up. I think there were 4 callers. I would have liked fewer, but...well, sometimes other people pick up hands as well. Flop was all low, no straight draws but there were a couple of spades out there. With 4 callers, I was probably behind but I wanted to see to who so I raised, Emily re-raised. Right there I knew I was in trouble. When she re-raises, she has something good. The question was...trips, or 2 pair? I elected to call. Turn was another spade. I checked, she bet. I checked my hole cards...yes, the King was a spade. She was ahead, I had a better draw...I did not believe she had Aces so was not afraid of the higher flush...I called. Sure enough, the river was another spade. I now had the King high flush. No boats on the board...only an Ace High flush could beat me. I made a large bet, she called. She had flopped 2 pair and ended with the 8 high flush but my King high was good and I had a nice stack going.

A couple hands later I picked up the Rockets under the gun. I raised to 4 times the blind and got a couple callers. One stayed with me to the river with top pair on the board so I took another nice pot.

A while later I picked up j/9 and the flop came jack high. It was checked to me on the button so I raised it. Alan folded. Phillip stayed with me to the river, when I showed the Jack/9 he groaned...he thought I had him out-kicked but he had j/10.


This hand did let me know he has a GREAT read on me. Earlier he had called the cowboys, here he knew I had the jack...I am giving off information somehow, but not sure how.

Just a couple hands later I had J/9 again and the flop came 10/8/rag, rainbow. I thought about it for a bit and decided to build the pot. I bet...and all 4 other people folded.

Weird. On the one hand, they aren't respecting my pre-flop raises; I got multiple callers of 4 times the blinds on both my cowboys and rockets. Then, post-flop, they all lay down on a non-dangerous flop? I would soon take advantage of that.

I limped in with A/2, then called a minimum raise. Flop came 2/6/9, 2 clubs. My Ace was a club. Phillip raised, I put him on the 6 or 9. I should fold, I knew I should, but I talked myself into calling since I had the Ace and backdoor flush draw. It was a HORRIBLE call. He checked the turn and I decided to get in his head. I counted down his last 4600 and raised that exact amount. They were convinced I had an over pair and he laid down his nines. I showed the bluff. That got them fearful. I had showed pocket pairs, King high flushes, straights...and now a brutal, huge bluff.

I had put Tim out earlier and several times Bob, Roman, and Phillip had been all-in but won, some of them multiple times. Meanwhile, I had a nice stack and was hitting a lot of hands.

With blinds up to 3 and 6 hundred (and only 1 person out...some very nice playing!), people folded to me on the button. I looked at pocket 3s, bumped it up to 2400. Bob, in the small blind, went all in for 4600 more. Roman folded and it was decision time. I needed to call 4600 to win 5400, a little better than 2 - 1 on my money. Should I call?

If Bob has 2 overs...which is what I put him on...I am a slight favorite, maybe 52-48 or so since he is almost guaranteed to have 2 overs. On the other hand, if he has a pair I am behind. What are my odds there? Well, I have 2 outs, 5 cards to come; about 20 %, so I would be a 5-1 dog and it would be wrong to call. So then I have to figure out how often he will have pockets versus how often he will have a pair.

Then I remembered how just a couple hands earlier Phillip folded to Bob, pointing out how tight he had been playing. This made the current situation rife for Bob to be on a bit of a bluff...I raised from the button, prime bluffing position, and had been playing a lot of hands so he knew I had a wide range of hands...so he would need less of a hand to make a move. I called.

He flipped up K/7 suited. I was ahead and a favorite to add a nice chunk of change and put out a dangerous player. He got no help and was gone.

Alan was not a huge fan of my call and I really had to think about it before making it but I think it was the correct call. More analysis to follow later.

We narrowed the field a bit, then I raised with pocket 6s. Almost everyone called, the flop brought A/K/10. Someone was ahead, I got out of the hand. Someone hit a straight.

For some reason, I was upset with myself. I thought I had not raised enough to get rid of people...but seriously, in retrospect, the hands that called were all worthy of calling. But I was on tilt anyway, so shortly after I made a TERRIBLE play.

4 players left. I picked up pocket 9s. I was going to raise, with the blinds I would be bumping to about 3200. If someone re-raised I would be priced in, more or less, so I decided to take advantage of my fold equity. I went all-in.

Emily called almost instantly. She had taken a LOT of chips from me and our stacks were close. Phillip, the short-stack, almost called...he thought and thought and thought and finally folded. I flipped up my nines, afraid she had queens...but she had A/4. It later turned out Phillip also folded A/4...well, I dodged the Ace, though she did have a gut shot by the river...and she was left with 600 chips.

I had had more than enough chips to justify playing the hand correctly but was on tilt over losing with 6s. Terrible play, I just got lucky that she made a loose call (because, as she said, "sometimes I get competitive against you") and did not hit her Ace. Now I was chip monster.

Next hand Josh put her out when the big blind put her all in.

From there it was smooth sailing as Phillip and Josh took turns being short stack and I picked off the blinds here and there until I caught a hand when Phillip did, took him out, and shortly thereafter Josh was all-in via big blind, so I blind called...and my 4/5 beat his q/3 when the 4 paired to give me the win.

How You Doin' Fall ball game 2

This game was going to be rough. After Tuesday's practice my defensive confidence was...well...low. So many balls hit right to me that I just botched. I suppose a couple of them were justified by bad bounces...but a lot of them weren't and even those "bad bounce" ones aren't in my mind. My reactions have slowed but my mind refuses to accept that and I still believe any ball that comes within my reach should end up in my glove. Well, with low confidence, I was going to be shortstop tonight.

We were short-handed at the start of the game as Casey called and said she was sick, so we brought in Betsy...but she was leaving Woodburn at 5:30. Fortunately, we batted first. Eric started us off with a single. Becky hit a moderate roller to short. He bobbled it a little bit, then hurried his throw. It was low and I came up with runners on 2nd and 3rd, no outs. On the bright side, I love situations like this because there is no doubt in my mind I will produce. On the dark side, I had just watched someone who looked a lot more talented than me hit on my weaknesses defensively.

I set up deep in the box for a change, planning to stay behind the ball and put it into right field. Sure enough, he took that as his cue to give it to me chest high and over the outside corner. It was a little further away than I thought and I hit it off the end of the bat instead of the barrel, so instead of a deep drive it was more a line drive, but perfect placement over the second basemen and in front of the outfield. Eric and Becky scored and I had a single to start the night. Julie grounded me into a fielder's choice, so I got a few seconds to sit on the bench. I was a bit disappointed with myself...had I doubled instead of singled he would have had to make a play to first which would have put pressure on their short and maybe kept our inning alive. As it was, we ended with just 2 runs in the first. Still, producing at bat helped me feel good heading into the field.

When it comes to softball I have discovered I am very much a confidence player. When I have it I play well, when I don't...I don't. First batter was a guy. He laced a pretty hard one. The Delta Park infield is nice and smooth, so I picked it clean and threw him out pretty easily. They got one aboard, then Steve threw someone out at first. They got runners on first and second, I got the next ball and went the short way to third.

We scored a couple more in the second, though Betsy had not arrived yet so we had to take an out in her spot or we would have scored more.

Bottom half was more of the same. They got runners on first & second with one out. Next one grounded to Steve who stepped on the bag for the second out. With 2 outs, another ground ball, this one to my left. I scooped it clean but did not think Julie could take a toss and find the bag so I ran it there myself which created one of those awkward situations where Julie and the runner are coming at 45 degree angles and I am running towards them both. I bumped the poor runner a little bit, but we got the out and were up 4-0 after 2.

I led off the third inning. The first pitch was really low and short. Ball two...except the Ump called it a strike. Huh? I needed a golf club to hit that one, how could it be a strike? This is one of those times starting with a 1-1 count hurts. No problem, his next pitch was belt high and middle of the plate. Sadly, I came out of my shoes. This was much prettier than my first at-bat. Nice, long, arching drive. Of course, when you hit nice, long, arching drives, they might be pretty to look at...but as I was about half-way to second the ball settled nicely into the glove of their right-center fielder and I was out. Fortunately, the rest of the team was hitting and we scored 2 more.

Bottom half of the inning was more of the same...they got runners, Eric made a catch, I made a play, JJ made a play, we are up 6-0.

4th was ugly. On the bright side, Betsy showed up. She actually got her at-bat leading off the inning. With Betsy, Eric, Becky and I coming up to start the inning, this would be a great chance to put the game out of reach. Unless Betsy popped out, Eric grounded out, and Becky grounded out...our best hitters went down in order.

Bottom half of the inning, first guy singled, second girl hit a smash down the line. Steve made a solid stop, dropped it, picked it up...and threw it to the fence. They had 2nd and third, no outs. Next guy hit it to my right. It was a long run. I tried to backhand it but it bounced over my glove. It would have been a fantastic play...if I had made it. I didn't. I needed to. If I am going to be that guy, the one that changes the momentum of games, that is the type of play I have to make.

I did make the next play, throwing the runner out at first, though another run scored on the play. I just thought we needed an out more than we needed to try some tricky pick him off third play. In the long run I think it was wise because that out settled us down a bit. They did score a run, then with the bases loaded, still 1 out, I took another grounder to my left, stepped on the bag and leaped over the incoming runner, through a perfect strike to first and the double play got us out of the inning. But now it was 6-4.

I led off the next inning. As usual I was first pitch swinging, and this time it was right down the line into the right field corner. I was into third easily with a stand-up triple. J.J. had noticed me limping a bit (I tore up my knee a bit kneeling to catch one sinking liner earlier and had been on my knee a couple other times, so I was hurting. Well, Julie popped out right behind me. Then Nick flew to deep left. JJ told me not to go, but I tagged up and scored anyway. Good thing because Larianne lined out to short so we would not have scored.

Again there was a grounder I thought I should get (though nobody else thought so...maybe I AM too hard on myself...I just know I would have gotten that one had I been playing a lot) and they got a runner aboard who eventually scored. By this time I was wearing the glasses, which are so hard to get used to. Still, putting them on was a mistake. Sure, everything was blurry before I put them on...but after I did, i could not see without them and I could not keep them clean. It was after I put them on that I started missing the balls I thought I should get to. So maybe blurry is better? But I was worried because it was taking me that extra half second to pick up the ball...I don't know, maybe I should stop playing. A key play came with 2 outs. They had the sacks jacked and at 7-5 were breathing down our necks. The batter hit a slow roller up the middle. I grabbed it, took a quick look, and knew the only chance we had for an out was at second so I took off to outrun the base runner. Unfortunately I was coming straight at him and could not stop...it was the same guy I had made contact with earlier and I ran into him pretty good. I felt bad about it...I am not a dirty player and I guarantee you I am not going to hurt someone over a crap-league softball game and here I run into the same guy twice in the same game. I was able to make sure I took most of the impact, but still...he was pretty cool about it, though.

Next inning, we had a run in, 2 outs, and the bases loaded when I came up. I was drooling. Here is where we were going to break the game open. We were ahead 8-6 now and I never doubt myself in these situations. Sure enough, the first pitch he served up was ball one. Then an inside strike. No way was I going to left, they were perfectly positioned for me there. The next pitch was somewhat inside. I had 2 strikes, though, so there was no way I was letting it pass. I came out of my shoes, drove it deep to right...well, okay, right center. I missed the pitch, it jammed me a bit, and instead of right field where I wanted to go, I went back to right center and the guy made a fine running catch. Instead of clearing the bases as I expected to do, I was just the third out and with 6 minutes left, it was unlikely we would bat again. By not coming through at the plate, I put the pressure on us in the field. 2 runs is nothing.

The first guy hit a line shot that got past Steve, then past me. Way to make up for bad hitting, Barton. The next girl hit it down the third base line. Steve made a great stop but threw it away. First and third, no outs. Next batter flew out to short left center, no chance for the guy to score. 1 out. Next batter hit it to Steve who looked the runner back and threw her out for the second out. JJ walked the next batter to load them up. Next batter hit a slow roller. I got to it, lined it up, threw to first...and we had the win, 8-6.

Overall, I did all right. No scorer would have given me an error, though I would have given myself 2. I hit 2 for 4, knocked in a couple, and scored a key run. On the downside, I should have gotten those 2 balls and certainly should have driven in 2 or 3 runs in my last at-bat to take the pressure off. Still, it was a lot of fun and we got the job done.

Rough Draft, Sample Column II

One of the most underused but extremely valuable skills in Texas Hold 'Em is knowing your "outs" and how often you will hit them.

An "out" is any card which turns your currently losing hand into a winner. Imagine that you could play with all the cards face up. You have a K/Jo. Your opponent has Pocket Aces. The flop comes Q/10/4 rainbow. Your opponent bets. Should you call?

The first thing to consider is how likely you are to get the card you need to overtake your opponent's lead. We know you would lose the hand if it ended right now. However, there are several cards that change the outcome. Either of the 2 remaining Aces give you the nut straight and any 9 also completes the straight. There are 6 cards that turn your losing hand into a winner. You could also hit runner-runner Kings, Jacks, or one of each...though in the latter case your 2 pair are no good since it gives your opponent the nut straight. For simplicity sake, then, we will just take the most likely scenario...hitting either an Ace or 9 for your own straight.

There are 6 cards that help you. These 6 cards are your "outs". Any one of them turns your hand into the winner. Now that we know how many outs we have we need to figure out how often we are going to hit them. Many people fear this next step because it involves mathematics...but it is such a basic level of math that you should easily be able to do it in your head even if you have only the most rudimentary level of math skills.

A good rule of thumb is to multiply the number of outs you have by 2 for each card to come. This gives you a close approximation of your percentage chance to win the hand. Let's walk through the above example. You have 6 outs after the flop. So multiplying 6x2=12. And there are 2 cards to come so multiplying 12x2=24. After the flop you have 24% chance or about a quarter of the time you will complete your straight. How close was our rule of thumb? Well, typically on an open ended straight draw you will hit it about 34% of the time*...but that is with 8 outs. We had 6 outs because our opponent held 2 of them. Adding in the 2 outs we are missing, we would have had 32% (8x2=16, 16x2=32) which, for something you can do quickly and easily in your head without having to memorize a lot of charts is pretty good.

There is one more thing to consider, however. What if the turn is an Ace? You have to be feeling pretty good at this point...you have the nut straight. However, you have given your opponent a redraw. Now he has a set. If the board pairs itself, he will make a full house to defeat your straight. This is a good opportunity to test your new found skills. What are his chances of making his full house? Work through it yourself, then check the answer at the end of the column.

Let's look at one other factor with outs. Sometimes even if you make your hand it will lose to someone else who makes a better hand. What if instead of pocket Aces your opponent had A/8 of Hearts in our example and the flop came with the Q/10 in our Q/10/4 flop are Hearts? We still have the same outs as before, the Aces and 9s to make our straight. Now, however, if the Ace or 9 of Hearts falls, we make our straight but lose to their Flush. So how many outs do we have now? We know what 7 cards are...our hole cards, our opponents' hole cards, and the flop. Of the 45 cards to come, 8 make our straight...but 2 of those cards also make our opponents flush. Therefore we now have just 6 outs even though 8 cards make our hand.

Now that you know how to calculate your outs and approximate how often you make your hand, be sure not to go overboard with it. Having a 3/7 in hand and seeing an A/Q/9 flop, if someone bets from early position, don't bother counting your outs. Just fold. You are so far behind it is not worth chasing the impossible dream. Play smart and you will have a valuable tool when deciding which hands you might have that are currently losing but have a good chance to run down your opponent and which hands you are holding that are total losses.


Answer: About 20%. He has 10 outs: 3 Queens, 3 Tens, 3 4s, and even the Ace. 10x2=20.
Odds courtesy of http://www.holdempoker4u.com/holdem_probability.html

Sample Column rough draft I

Ah, the moment of anticipation. As the second card slides across the felt towards you, you receive that miniature burst of adrenaline. What will it be this time? Pocket Aces? The Cowboys? Maybe the dreaded Fishhooks? Or a pedestrian and forgettable 3/9 that will find the muck almost as quickly as the turn to act comes to you?

Naturally I am referring to those glorious moments before you peek for the first time at your hole cards. Before you look at them everybody has the same chance to win the pot that is about to develop. After everyone sees their hole cards that percentage chance changes immensely. Some cards will get played regardless of what others do, other times they won't get played regardless of what other people do. But every time you have that glimmer of hope that this time you will be looking at a pretty pair of cards.

Your hole cards are the foundation of every hand. They can be used to strong-arm your way to dragging a monster pot when you hit the nuts and someone else pulls a strong hand...but not quite strong enough. They can be used to bluff a better hand off the pot when things break just right. Or they can be used to finesse out a few extra chips when your opponent has a decent hand and you have cards just a pip or two better.

They are also among the most misunderstood. If you hang out around the poker table long enough you will hear someone say, "I hate Pocket Aces. They always lose." When you hear that, you know someone does not understand how to play them to their fullest potential. For example, if you have 4 other people in the pot with you and you are holding the rockets you are going to win about 56% of the time.* If you can get head to head that number goes to an astonishing 85% if the time. If you compare that to a common favorite starting hand that many people say "wins all the time" like J/10s in the same situations the figures are 29% and 58% respectively...a great deal lower. So why do people fear Aces and love J/10s?

It is a matter of expectation. If you have Aces you expect to win. But many times people limp in and let large numbers of people into the pot. Even if they win more often than they lose, they EXPECT to win and quickly forget. However, those times their Aces get cracked stick out in their mind and are weighted much more heavily in the memory bank. It is a much better story to tell about the "fish who stuck in with a 2/7, hit the deuce on the turn and rivered me with a 7 to steal my pot" than to tell about "I raised the Aces, 2 callers, raised the flop, 1 caller, checked the turn and raised the river, he called, he had a pair of Jacks." That is what you EXPECT to happen...so it never crosses your mind again.

By contrast, when you get in cheap with a trash hand because they let you check in the big blind and those pocket deuces make a set on the flop, that makes a good story.

There is a lesson to be learned from this. If you know the approximate percentage chance of winning with a hand against various numbers of people then you can adjust your play accordingly to maximize the number of chips you win when your hand hits or minimize the number of chips you are going to lose by playing that 3/9 "because it was suited". Any two cards can win if they are played right or flop strong...but some hands are going to flop strong a whole lot more than others will.

An easy way to improve your play then is to study which hole cards are worth taking a peek at the flop and which ones should be in the muck. It is worth picking up a book by your favorite author and studying their starting hands to see which hands are going to keep you in the chips and which will send you to the rail if you like how they look to often.


* All statistics courtesy of http://www.beatthefish.com/poker-strategy/texas-holdem-poker-hands.html
Poker Terms:
Cowboys: Pocket Kings
Fishhooks: Pocket Jacks
The Nuts: The best possible hand on the board