My first time playing for the year...just 7 people. Let's take a look at each one as they .
Christine: Tight-passive. Seldom raises, she likes to limp, check, and call. However, she does so with better cards than most of the locals so if she is calling you, be careful, if she is RAISING you...get out. On the bright side, this is an EXCELLENT formula for going deep into tournaments and she regularly makes the final table. Unfortunately, unless she is hitting a lot of hands it is a terrible formula for actually WINNING tournaments because she will get blinded down to where she is basically all-in every time the blinds come around.
John: Tight-passive aggressive. Likes to limp, slow-plays a lot, occasional raises. Like Christine he limps but does so with better cards than the average player there. However, because he then raises for value and consistently raises the correct amount to price people in he consistently amasses enough chips to be a factor and with patience and skill is a threat to win every tournament.
Barbara: Tight-loose. Limps with literally any 2 cards...and will chase long-shot draws all the way to the river. When she is hitting the flop, very, very dangerous. When her long-shot draws hit she takes down huge pots because they are well disguised. They are also mathematically improbable. Even if she acquires a pile of chips you can always get them back. Get a medium to strong hand, raise every step, and raise again on the river if no draws hit. Boom, instant rebate.
Gary: Getting better. Actually bluffs on occasion now, though he lies about it. Has not been caught yet. Also getting better at getting out of the way when he is beat. Has perhaps even more tells than I do. He is a cautious-aggressive player. One of his biggest tells is when he has bottom or middle pair and thinks it is the best: if he is last to act, it is checked to him and he has middle or bottom pair he will say, "Oh, no. No checking here" and bet either the minimum or about double the minimum. On occasion he will make a desperation raise of more if he thinks he is beat but can make someone lay it down. Always trying to build an image of playing only the best hands by saying, "Good lay down" when he wins a hand this way.
Marykae: She got better when she was gone. The other day I actually saw her complete a straight without counting. She is also pretty easy to read. When she has a big hand she will grab her chips so she can bet as soon as it is her turn. If she has a monster she will just go ahead and bet out of turn. But she is more patient and plays better cards, too.
Danny: Very nice guy. He is a strange player. He will take any two over cards to the river even with flush and straight draws on the board. He will make bizarre calls on the river with hands like queen high. He gives away lots of chips but somehow seems to make them back. I have not yet figured out how he gets them back. His game has very little deception to it so pretty much everyone should know when he has something. He and Marykae both pretty much always let you know where their hand is.
Me: A virtual chameleon. If I want to win I am tight-aggressive...no, that is not true. Once I build a chip stack I remain aggressive but I become loose-aggressive, raising with some speculative hands. When the situation is right I will raise with any two cards...3/9 off, k/9, queens...it doesn't matter, I know I can win the hand whether I have anything or not. But that is only on nights where I set out to win. I establish the right image early, then go to work on people. If I just want to hang around for a while I will limp with good cards, then raise when I hit stuff. If I don't care I will limp with about any 2 cards and may or may not play them to the river.
So last night I was planning on the tight-aggressive, I would either raise or fold. If I raised it would be 3 times the blind + 1 blind per person who entered before me. I would put on pressure after the flop and make plays at a lot of pots.
While everyone was getting settled in there was quite a bit of talk. There is a lot of dissatisfaction with both the new people from the new league and also how some incidents were handled in my absence. The collective psyche is very delicate. Interestingly enough, at this point this post delves a bit into an arena that perhaps belongs on my main blog rather than here.
I used to be a hyper-competitive individual. I wanted to win. Badly. I played hard but fair. Anything legal I could do to win I would. I have been known to play basketball for hours on a sprained ankle because I was not willing to forfeit a game. That would be a game of 2 on 3 with my closest friends, not a game that meant anything. But it illustrates the depths of the competitive fire I have within. I hated to lose. When it came to chess I studied the game relentlessly. I acquired books detailing the games played by the masters, investigated their strategies, adapted them, and became one of the very best players ever to come through St. Helens...for the record, I lost not one local tournament game and only lost one game in State tournaments. There were more talented players naturally, but none who had the drive to study the game and become good at it.
That is true of any strategy game. Even pseudo-strategy. I have never lost a game of Diplomacy, perhaps the only game I have ever seen where luck plays no part whatsoever in the outcome. I have seldom lost Axis & Allies and can count on one hand the number of games of Risk I lost. These things all feed back into my competitiveness.
In other words, for many years the idea of letting people win was not a concept I ever considered. Nor would I play less than my best. If they could beat my best, nice work. If they couldn't...well, that is how it was. I was really too competitive.
As I have grown older I have mellowed quite a bit. I have learned to control that side of me. I have been known to let people beat me. I have even been known to play less than my best at various endeavors as I have developed into a person who takes into account other people's feelings "even" in games. How does all this apply?
Well, I took inventory of their mood. This group just wanted a relaxed game where the cards...not how they were played...just the cards themselves determined the outcome. They needed for poker to be fun for them. And if I came out firing, raising at will, making moves...well, since it is me they would not mind but they would not enjoy themselves as much as they would otherwise. So I made a decision. I was still going to try to win or at least do well...but I was going to do it their way.
That means I was going to limp into pots, raise very little, just let the cards determine things. Now, I know good and well this is not my best game. But it is the game that was needed. I would be tested early.
About the second hand I picked up A/K. That is a raising hand. And a strong raising hand. I was relatively late to act. I started to reach for 300 chips to raise out some of the limpers. I stopped...and limped. Score one for the nice guy side of my personality. I lost the pot to some low pair.
Right there I was sort of on tilt but sort of not. I knew I should have won the hand. Because I limped I lost it to a hand that would not have been there had I raised properly. On the other hand, I also knew it was good for the group as a whole to be able to play their style...so it was still the correct play as a person even if it was the wrong play as a poker player.
So a couple hands later I picked up K/10. Normally from early position that would find the muck. I might play it if I could enter with a raise from middle position and would definitely play it with the right image. But in this game I would never build an image so it becomes a trash hand. If a King hits I am afraid of their kicker and if a 10 hits there are lost of times they will hit a higher pair. Be that as it may I flopped 2 pair, though there were 2 spades on it as well. I decided to see if anyone was on a draw and made a pot-sized bet. Everyone folded so I showed. At least by showing I had bet a strong hand I could build a little image as someone they would need a hand to call. Then I killed that image with one hand.
I limped with pocket 3s from the button. Flop of course was ugly...a King, a 9, some other over card, I think a queen. Everyone checked to me. I raised it up pretty strong. Christine just could not let her hand go and called. John quietly folded. Gary whined for a while about the size of the raise, John pointed out it was just 3 times the blinds. Well, I had Chris on either middle pair or a couple overs. I bet again on the turn after she checked and she stayed with me. The river was I think a 9 or 6. She checked but I thought it might have hit her. With a King and Queen out there, a pair of 9s and a 6 on the board as well and a hand she would not let go I decided I had put enough chips in the pot and meekly checked behind her. She turned up an Ace/ten and my 3s dragged the pot.
That just about put Gary on tilt that I would bet 3s. He would have hit some nice hand, John claimed to have folded 9/6 (a full house by the river), and Gary just wouldn't let it go until finally I said, "What I am hearing is I made a great bet since without it I would have lost the hand."
That changed his tack to "Well why did you just check on the river?" Great question. And the answer was I think great as well. "Because there was no hand I could beat she would call with. I made as much off the hand as I could. If I bet and she-re-raised I would have to fold. If I bet and she didn't have me beat she would fold. So a bet could only hurt me."
Sadly, I think he learned from the experience because I saw some subtle adjustments to his play where he was going to bet the river and then didn't. Interesting.
I checked from the big blind with K/6. Flop came 6/9/10, 2 clubs. Checked to Gary who did his, "Oh, no, no checking" routine. I initially put him on the 10 but the bet was small and the more I thought about it the more I thought he had a vulnerable hand. I revised my estimate to him having maybe the 9 or 10 but more likely the 6 with a worse kicker. I thought about re-raising but decided to do it on the turn instead. Turn was a blank, according to plan I checked, and then...well, he checked. My plan was blown. River was an Ace putting a spade flush, an over card, and his reaction to it in favor of a fold. I checked, he raised 500...and inexplicably I called. I could justify folding or re-raising here...not so much calling. I thought he would fold to a big re-raise as I knew he had at best a marginal hand. By now I had put him firmly on something like J/6, so I would have him beat even if he called. His raise smelled like someone disgusted they had led all the way to the river only to be busted by an Ace. I am positive he would have laid it down. But I called...and I was wrong about the 6. He had a pair of 9s. Still, with a couple overs out there...I was pretty surprised by his play. very aggressive for Gary. And knowing what he had I am even more positive that a river raise or a check-raise would have won the hand, particularly after my exposition after the 3s hand.
Well, that took me down about 1/3rd of my stack. I went back into passive mode. Hit a couple hands to get up to about 3700. Then came a hand that really, really shocked me. I picked up pocket 10s, blinds were 1/200. Folded to Danny...who raised. What? So I instantly put him on Kings or Aces. There is no other hand I have EVER seen him raise with. I almost folded right there. But I thought I would try to take a cheap flop, see if I could luck into a set. I called. Christine, behind me, re-raised. WHAT? Danny called and I made the crying call. Flop had an Ace on it. Danny bet, I folded, Christine called. At the showdown Danny had A/J and Christine had A/Q.
Now, I do not feel bad about either of my calls nor my lay down. If I hit my set my implied odds are through the roof. I could easily have taken one or both out.
I DO, however, feel bad about my reads. Both of them acted out of character and I over-estimated the strength of their hands. I still was correct about the strength of their hands as compared to mine post-flop but they were weaker than I thought pre-flop. I was correct to call all the way around looking at it mathematically speaking when I retroactively apply the odds...but I was unable to put them on the hands they held because I was so shocked they would raise with those hands.
Well, after that I was thinking about raising but instead limped a couple times...hands like A/J. Took down a couple pots, lost a couple, was staying between 2 & 3K until the blinds hit 2/400. Took a couple losses where I limped with good hands and got beat by bad hands. Hit about 1400 in chips.
One reason playing a sub-optimal style is a bad idea is because poor play begets poor play. From early position I picked up A/4 clubs. That hand should hit the muck as fast as I see the cards in that position. First off, that is at best a speculative hand. If I hit my Ace I have kicker issues...I will end up playing the board for my kicker. If I hit my 4 I am afraid of the over cards that will be on the board by the river. So really I am playing for the nut flush (1 in 16 hands I will get a flush DRAW...and about 1/3rd of the time that will turn into a flush, so basically I want the 1 in 48 tries hand to hit) or a miracle flop...A/A/4, 4/4/anything, something like that. I am an idiot. If I were not limping with my good hands I would not limp with this one.
Well, sure enough the flop comes out with 2 clubs and 4 high. I was not a big fan of the 2/3/4 flop...but I liked the top pair/top kicker/straight flush draw. I went all in. Nobody called so I got away with it. Bad, bad play though...who wants to go out on a pair of 4s?
Well, the other problem with bad play begetting bad play is sometimes it works. So a few hands later I pick up A/10 off. I limp in. Flop comes pretty good for me, 10/6/2 rainbow. No straight draws, no flush draws. I pretty much ignored everyone else at the table. I was first to act, I decided to put pressure on. I was going to raise. However, any reasonable raise would be more than half my chips so I just went all-in. And Marykae got out her calling chips. Oops. She had pocket 6s...she flopped her set and I was basically drawing dead.
For the night I played horribly and finished poorly, 5th out of 7 people. Hardly an auspicious beginning. Yet the evening was a success. I think by choosing to allow them to play their preferred style I allowed them a long, relaxed evening where they could just enjoy poker again. Sure, my results are not so good...but that is a byproduct of choosing to play that way.
It also through poor John way off. He spent about 1-1/2 blind levels trying to figure out what I was doing. So I added deception to my game...it may look like (and have the results of) incompetence...but hey, whatchya gonna do?
Tuesday
Monday
An interesting situation
A friend was playing in his league's end-of-month tournament. On the line was free entry into a tournament at Chinook Winds. They started with I believe 20 people and were down to the final 6. He had 46K and the blinds were 3/6K. On the button, everyone folded to him. He picked up A/Q off suit.What do you do here?
I will argue there are several "correct" plays and they depend on personality.
1) Fold
This is for the "rock", the player who plays nothing except the absolute top hands. It is way too conservative. The person who would do this will seldom...most likely never... win a tournament. When it is folded to you on the button, A/Q figures to be a big favorite over the 2 random hands behind it. You have to do SOMETHING with it.
2) Call
This is a very conservative play, and probably correct for people with risk-aversion type personalities. I actually have one friend whom I consider a stronger player than myself who uses this strategy almost exclusively and has had excellent results with it. It has the positive aspect of disguising your hand. If you hit it on the flop you are likely going to pick up a nice bundle of chips because very few people will believe you limped with a strong Ace in that situation.
On the dark side, it opens you up to a bluff if the small or big blind is an aggressive player. I think A/Q is a good raising hand, not so good as a calling hand. If you raise with it and someone calls you can assume they have some sort of hand. Conversely, if you limp and the small blind raises they might have a real hand...including the disastrous A/K or pocket Aces or even pocket Queens...or they might have a 2/6 and sense weakness and just be trying to pick up a weak pot. Obviously, they might have that hand even if you limp...but you are more likely to know about it if you raise. In other words, one advantage of raising is it protects you against a trap. Sure, they will be out of position...but if the flop comes K/7/4 rainbow and they raise out of the gate, can you call with A/Q? So you are risking your chips (if you call) to find out nothing. So it works well against people whom you know whether they are bluffing or not...or people whom you are pretty certain won't bluff even in perfect circumstances...but carries a certain amount of risk.
3) Standard Raise
For people who habitually enter a pot with a raise, let's say the standard raise is 3 times the blind. I might argue that 4 times is a little better since it gives them a pot odds disincentive to call unless they have a real hand, but that is personal taste. This can win a couple ways. First off, it might win the pot outright. Picking up 9K adds almost 15% to your stack, a very nice pick-up and you will win with this raise often enough to make it worthwhile. However, what if you are re-raised? In this case, that would be 18K leaving him 28K...an M of just over three and if you get a re-raise all in, now you would be offered some nice pot odds: at the least you are calling 28K to win 67K, or 2.4-1 and A/Q is certainly strong enough to make that call. And that is if it is the small blind that re-raises you. Your odds are slightly better if it is the big blind. You have to be ready for this move because people are always suspicious of button raises in unopened pots.
But what if one or both simply call? Then you have options. You can play the pot, raising if it hits you (or if it looks like it missed your opponent) or even completing the oft-deadly stop & go where you raise regardless of the flop. Many players will call the all-in pre-flop but once they see the flop will fold if they miss even though their pot odds...and probably outs... are the same. So a raise lets you win one of three ways: they fold pre-flop, they call and the flop hits you, or they call, the flop misses you but you raise them out on the flop. This can backfire if you miss the flop, they hit it and that leads to their call where you are drawing thin. So you risk losing all your chips.
Of course, any time you enter a pot you risk losing all your chips. Is A/Q a hand you feel comfortable busting out on? In my case...yes. But I am a loose aggressive player when my M reaches that point.
3) Raise all-in pre-flop
This has the advantage of taking maximum advantage of your fold equity. If you raised, you probably aren't getting away from A/Q anyway pre-flop and if you will call a bet, my theory is you are (almost) always better off MAKING the bet. Put the tough decisions on your opponent.
It has the downside of allowing your opponent to call with a wider range of hands in this case if they have an awareness of tournament play. With 46K and blinds of 3/6, you have barely over M5 and blinds are going to go up. Therefore you are real close to the danger zone and good players will make moves from the buttons. They still aren't calling you with 3/9...but you might get a call with a dry Ace or something like K/10. You are actually hoping for the Dry Ace call since you have it dominated. But they can call with so many more hands because they KNOW your situation that if they are astute players you have an excellent chance of getting called by a weaker hand. That is a pretty strong argument in favor of the all-in...but the huge negative is they are also locked into the hand and if they miss the flop you can't get rid of them...and sometimes those hands river you.
If you have A/Q, they have something like a 7/8 suited...that is the type hand a lot of people will call with...if the flop misses you both they would probably fold to a bet. However, if the chips are all in the center they aren't going anywhere. Let's say the turn is also a blank...yes, they are way behind, about 6-1...but they do have those 6 outs so about 12 - 15% of the time they are still sending you home. That is the downside to going all-in pre-flop...sure, you get your double-up when you win but the flip side is you can't get rid of them before the river. Pros and cons each way.
Well, he elected to go all-in. I cannot fault his choice. I probably would do they same things because I am an aggressive player, I know I am very likely to have the best hand and only be called by hands I am at worst in a race with and more likely dominating. I expect to see an Ace in the hand of anyone who calls in that situation.
The small blind went into the tank for a long time before she eventually called. Personally, I think she made a huge mistake. She should have gone all-in herself rather than just a call. Her hand, as we will see, is the type of hand you really do not want to see multiple players. If the Big Blind has any hand at all he is now getting a nice price, about 2-1, to make the call...calling 46 to win 92. Essentially he is getting 3-1 on his chips and there are a lot of hands you could call with that. However, if she raises all-in his odds go down. If your hand is worth calling an all-in, it better be worth calling a re-raise behind you...and once one player is all-in, if you have a marginal hand you really want to isolate. I really dislike her play here.
The Big Blind folded rather quickly. Our hero flipped up his A/Q and she flipped up A/6 suited. He was almost a 3-1 favorite to double up. Personally, I like those odds and would take them every time. Of course, when you are a 3-1 favorite, 25% of the time they hit a 6 or, in this case, a flush and he was gone.
Later he said that looking back he should have folded the hand. I disagree. With his chip stack, position, and hand the very least he should have done was raise. He got in with a big advantage. The only other thing he might have done here was the stop-and-go, but that would leave the door open for the big blind to call based on pot odds if the small blind called, so then he would need to beat 2 hands instead of one. I will argue he played this hand correctly and simply ran into a mathematical problem...and one reason Hold 'Em is fascinating. If the better hand won every time people would play a lot fewer hands...and I would rake in a lot less chips from the people who often call me with trash hands like A/6 suited.
Of course, not being upset depends on being happy with playing better. If you are results oriented and think that someone sucking out on you when they should not be in the hand or should not have called then this is probably the wrong game anyway. The player who consistently gets in with the best of it will, in the long run, have more success, though there are certainly times when it seems like you should play incorrectly as you see K/3 beat A/K or some such brutality. But that is short term and over the course of several hours of play you will see the guy playing K/3 give his chips to the guy playing the A/K. Unless, of course, the guy playing the A/K lets the K/3 in cheap....
I will argue there are several "correct" plays and they depend on personality.
1) Fold
This is for the "rock", the player who plays nothing except the absolute top hands. It is way too conservative. The person who would do this will seldom...most likely never... win a tournament. When it is folded to you on the button, A/Q figures to be a big favorite over the 2 random hands behind it. You have to do SOMETHING with it.
2) Call
This is a very conservative play, and probably correct for people with risk-aversion type personalities. I actually have one friend whom I consider a stronger player than myself who uses this strategy almost exclusively and has had excellent results with it. It has the positive aspect of disguising your hand. If you hit it on the flop you are likely going to pick up a nice bundle of chips because very few people will believe you limped with a strong Ace in that situation.
On the dark side, it opens you up to a bluff if the small or big blind is an aggressive player. I think A/Q is a good raising hand, not so good as a calling hand. If you raise with it and someone calls you can assume they have some sort of hand. Conversely, if you limp and the small blind raises they might have a real hand...including the disastrous A/K or pocket Aces or even pocket Queens...or they might have a 2/6 and sense weakness and just be trying to pick up a weak pot. Obviously, they might have that hand even if you limp...but you are more likely to know about it if you raise. In other words, one advantage of raising is it protects you against a trap. Sure, they will be out of position...but if the flop comes K/7/4 rainbow and they raise out of the gate, can you call with A/Q? So you are risking your chips (if you call) to find out nothing. So it works well against people whom you know whether they are bluffing or not...or people whom you are pretty certain won't bluff even in perfect circumstances...but carries a certain amount of risk.
3) Standard Raise
For people who habitually enter a pot with a raise, let's say the standard raise is 3 times the blind. I might argue that 4 times is a little better since it gives them a pot odds disincentive to call unless they have a real hand, but that is personal taste. This can win a couple ways. First off, it might win the pot outright. Picking up 9K adds almost 15% to your stack, a very nice pick-up and you will win with this raise often enough to make it worthwhile. However, what if you are re-raised? In this case, that would be 18K leaving him 28K...an M of just over three and if you get a re-raise all in, now you would be offered some nice pot odds: at the least you are calling 28K to win 67K, or 2.4-1 and A/Q is certainly strong enough to make that call. And that is if it is the small blind that re-raises you. Your odds are slightly better if it is the big blind. You have to be ready for this move because people are always suspicious of button raises in unopened pots.
But what if one or both simply call? Then you have options. You can play the pot, raising if it hits you (or if it looks like it missed your opponent) or even completing the oft-deadly stop & go where you raise regardless of the flop. Many players will call the all-in pre-flop but once they see the flop will fold if they miss even though their pot odds...and probably outs... are the same. So a raise lets you win one of three ways: they fold pre-flop, they call and the flop hits you, or they call, the flop misses you but you raise them out on the flop. This can backfire if you miss the flop, they hit it and that leads to their call where you are drawing thin. So you risk losing all your chips.
Of course, any time you enter a pot you risk losing all your chips. Is A/Q a hand you feel comfortable busting out on? In my case...yes. But I am a loose aggressive player when my M reaches that point.
3) Raise all-in pre-flop
This has the advantage of taking maximum advantage of your fold equity. If you raised, you probably aren't getting away from A/Q anyway pre-flop and if you will call a bet, my theory is you are (almost) always better off MAKING the bet. Put the tough decisions on your opponent.
It has the downside of allowing your opponent to call with a wider range of hands in this case if they have an awareness of tournament play. With 46K and blinds of 3/6, you have barely over M5 and blinds are going to go up. Therefore you are real close to the danger zone and good players will make moves from the buttons. They still aren't calling you with 3/9...but you might get a call with a dry Ace or something like K/10. You are actually hoping for the Dry Ace call since you have it dominated. But they can call with so many more hands because they KNOW your situation that if they are astute players you have an excellent chance of getting called by a weaker hand. That is a pretty strong argument in favor of the all-in...but the huge negative is they are also locked into the hand and if they miss the flop you can't get rid of them...and sometimes those hands river you.
If you have A/Q, they have something like a 7/8 suited...that is the type hand a lot of people will call with...if the flop misses you both they would probably fold to a bet. However, if the chips are all in the center they aren't going anywhere. Let's say the turn is also a blank...yes, they are way behind, about 6-1...but they do have those 6 outs so about 12 - 15% of the time they are still sending you home. That is the downside to going all-in pre-flop...sure, you get your double-up when you win but the flip side is you can't get rid of them before the river. Pros and cons each way.
Well, he elected to go all-in. I cannot fault his choice. I probably would do they same things because I am an aggressive player, I know I am very likely to have the best hand and only be called by hands I am at worst in a race with and more likely dominating. I expect to see an Ace in the hand of anyone who calls in that situation.
The small blind went into the tank for a long time before she eventually called. Personally, I think she made a huge mistake. She should have gone all-in herself rather than just a call. Her hand, as we will see, is the type of hand you really do not want to see multiple players. If the Big Blind has any hand at all he is now getting a nice price, about 2-1, to make the call...calling 46 to win 92. Essentially he is getting 3-1 on his chips and there are a lot of hands you could call with that. However, if she raises all-in his odds go down. If your hand is worth calling an all-in, it better be worth calling a re-raise behind you...and once one player is all-in, if you have a marginal hand you really want to isolate. I really dislike her play here.
The Big Blind folded rather quickly. Our hero flipped up his A/Q and she flipped up A/6 suited. He was almost a 3-1 favorite to double up. Personally, I like those odds and would take them every time. Of course, when you are a 3-1 favorite, 25% of the time they hit a 6 or, in this case, a flush and he was gone.
Later he said that looking back he should have folded the hand. I disagree. With his chip stack, position, and hand the very least he should have done was raise. He got in with a big advantage. The only other thing he might have done here was the stop-and-go, but that would leave the door open for the big blind to call based on pot odds if the small blind called, so then he would need to beat 2 hands instead of one. I will argue he played this hand correctly and simply ran into a mathematical problem...and one reason Hold 'Em is fascinating. If the better hand won every time people would play a lot fewer hands...and I would rake in a lot less chips from the people who often call me with trash hands like A/6 suited.
Of course, not being upset depends on being happy with playing better. If you are results oriented and think that someone sucking out on you when they should not be in the hand or should not have called then this is probably the wrong game anyway. The player who consistently gets in with the best of it will, in the long run, have more success, though there are certainly times when it seems like you should play incorrectly as you see K/3 beat A/K or some such brutality. But that is short term and over the course of several hours of play you will see the guy playing K/3 give his chips to the guy playing the A/K. Unless, of course, the guy playing the A/K lets the K/3 in cheap....
Wednesday
2007 the Year in Review
So just over a year ago I stumbled on Texas Hold 'Em. From just a tiny tike I had long longed to play poker. I loved the concept of gauging where I stood without seeing their cards. Of course, I never got to play. So when I found a place to play for free (poker stars) I went nuts. It was awesome. Not too long after I started playing in live tournaments.
Over the course of the year I ended up playing in over 70 tournaments. They ranged in numbers from as few as 5 to as many as 90 people. My finishes ranged from win to 2nd person out.
Early in the year I played way too many hands and, as is normal for people who play too many hands...I hit a lot of them. Late in the year I played way too many hands...but this time I knew I was playing too many hands and gave up a lot of winning hands between the time I should have folded them...i.e. pre-flop...and the time they would have won...the river...because I only hit part of them in between and someone bet.
In the middle of the year I hit my best playing style which involves a sliding scale number of hands. In that stretch I won tournaments left and right, my reads were awesome and I felt I could win whenever I wanted. Then, for whatever reason, I started screwing around with it, got worse, and never got it back. Worse, my reads got lazy to the point where as often as not I don't bother with them at all anymore.
With that said, looking back, here are some numbers to crunch:
I won 12 tournaments.
I finished second 7 times.
I finished third 8 times.
I finished fourth 10 times.
I finished fifth 7 times.
I finished 6th 2 times.
I finished 7th 4 times.
I finished 8th 7 times.
I finished 9th twice.
I finished 11th once (the first major tournament I played).
I finished worse than that about 10 times...it is not completely clear the exact number because there were several times I did not finish the tournament because I was running it, a few times where my results book was not clear.
So of 70 tournaments I KNOW the results for, I finished as follows:
First 17% of the time
Second 10% of the time
In other words, I reached heads up over 25% of the tournaments, and that includes an awful lot of tournaments I did not take very seriously
Third 11%
Fourth 14% of the time
Or, in other words, over 52% of the time I was top 4.
Of course, 14%+ of the time, I finished lower than final table.
In the two largest tournaments, one of 88 and the other just over 90, I finished 11th and 8th. The 11th place I had only been playing for a month or two and do not believe I could have done much better. I played pretty much over my head in that one. Ironically, Emily, who I had taught less than a month prior, outlasted me and could have done even better than she did. She keyed in on the key principles...play good cards, play them strong, don't get involved in big hands unless you are relatively sure...and did awesome.
The second tournament I could have done better. I had the chip lead not too long before final table, but for reasons that will not be discussed here, I wished to finish worse than 8th. I was unable to meet my objective, though I did bleed off almost all my chips before that point. I think I could have finished anywhere from 1st to 4th if I had continued playing my best game. So big fields (relatively speaking) do not drastically alter my finishes.
Here is the scary part: despite being in the final 2 over half the time, I actually believe I am a better player than my results show. There were a lot of tournaments where I wanted to "see where I was at", would build a chip lead, then would give it all away intentionally since I knew where I was...on top of my game, able to play with anyone.
There are only two tournaments I was disappointed with my performance. They were both Oregon Trail Poker related, the first at Lydias, the second at West Linn. Both times my day was crushed by donkeys.
The Lydias one, I was a prohibitive favorite (21-2) to double up. However, he hit his 2-outer on the river and I was the second player out. I do not regret my play. I had a strong hand, played it aggressively, and someone made a superstitious call that paid off. I got in far and away with the best of it, the wrong card flipped, and that is why it is not completely a game of skill. The inferior player ended up with the chips and I do not apologize for so saying. I have played that individual many times since then and the numbers pretty clearly show which of us knows what they are doing and which of us just gets lucky sometimes...though, to be honest, I never see him get far at the final table, so even saying he gets lucky is stretching a point.
At the second one, the hand that must still have me on tilt or something, my flopped set got run down after heavy, heavy betting by a hand that needed runner-runner to hit the ignorant end of a straight. While my read was so on that I laid down my set on a flop where the only hand he could have held that beat me was a ridiculous 7/9 on a flop of A/Q/8, it crippled me and kept me from ever being able to play during the entire tournament. It was all-in or fold, and that is just "get lucky" poker, no skill required. So though I outlasted the guy who donkeyed my chips to him, I never had a chance in that tournament and that disappointed me.
I say I regret my performance...but I do not know what else I could have done. I raised strong pre-flop, I raised and De re-raised the flop, I raised the turn...and not until the turn did he have a gut shot straight draw...so I do not know how I could have gotten him off the hand...and, to be honest, I am not sure I should have. I was value betting him up to that point, even though I was pricing people on draws off of the hand if they understood pot odds...though I suppose one could argue they had implied odds in their favor, though neither had the chips to play based on that...so I will argue I also played this hand correctly...much to my detriment.
Be that as it may, looking back I am pleased with my development. As with most things, once I reach a point where I have essentially mastered it, I am pretty much done with the game. I will still play from time to time, but much like my movie regimen...the numbers will be in serious decline. It was a pretty good poker year. Now I am ready for the next project.
Over the course of the year I ended up playing in over 70 tournaments. They ranged in numbers from as few as 5 to as many as 90 people. My finishes ranged from win to 2nd person out.
Early in the year I played way too many hands and, as is normal for people who play too many hands...I hit a lot of them. Late in the year I played way too many hands...but this time I knew I was playing too many hands and gave up a lot of winning hands between the time I should have folded them...i.e. pre-flop...and the time they would have won...the river...because I only hit part of them in between and someone bet.
In the middle of the year I hit my best playing style which involves a sliding scale number of hands. In that stretch I won tournaments left and right, my reads were awesome and I felt I could win whenever I wanted. Then, for whatever reason, I started screwing around with it, got worse, and never got it back. Worse, my reads got lazy to the point where as often as not I don't bother with them at all anymore.
With that said, looking back, here are some numbers to crunch:
I won 12 tournaments.
I finished second 7 times.
I finished third 8 times.
I finished fourth 10 times.
I finished fifth 7 times.
I finished 6th 2 times.
I finished 7th 4 times.
I finished 8th 7 times.
I finished 9th twice.
I finished 11th once (the first major tournament I played).
I finished worse than that about 10 times...it is not completely clear the exact number because there were several times I did not finish the tournament because I was running it, a few times where my results book was not clear.
So of 70 tournaments I KNOW the results for, I finished as follows:
First 17% of the time
Second 10% of the time
In other words, I reached heads up over 25% of the tournaments, and that includes an awful lot of tournaments I did not take very seriously
Third 11%
Fourth 14% of the time
Or, in other words, over 52% of the time I was top 4.
Of course, 14%+ of the time, I finished lower than final table.
In the two largest tournaments, one of 88 and the other just over 90, I finished 11th and 8th. The 11th place I had only been playing for a month or two and do not believe I could have done much better. I played pretty much over my head in that one. Ironically, Emily, who I had taught less than a month prior, outlasted me and could have done even better than she did. She keyed in on the key principles...play good cards, play them strong, don't get involved in big hands unless you are relatively sure...and did awesome.
The second tournament I could have done better. I had the chip lead not too long before final table, but for reasons that will not be discussed here, I wished to finish worse than 8th. I was unable to meet my objective, though I did bleed off almost all my chips before that point. I think I could have finished anywhere from 1st to 4th if I had continued playing my best game. So big fields (relatively speaking) do not drastically alter my finishes.
Here is the scary part: despite being in the final 2 over half the time, I actually believe I am a better player than my results show. There were a lot of tournaments where I wanted to "see where I was at", would build a chip lead, then would give it all away intentionally since I knew where I was...on top of my game, able to play with anyone.
There are only two tournaments I was disappointed with my performance. They were both Oregon Trail Poker related, the first at Lydias, the second at West Linn. Both times my day was crushed by donkeys.
The Lydias one, I was a prohibitive favorite (21-2) to double up. However, he hit his 2-outer on the river and I was the second player out. I do not regret my play. I had a strong hand, played it aggressively, and someone made a superstitious call that paid off. I got in far and away with the best of it, the wrong card flipped, and that is why it is not completely a game of skill. The inferior player ended up with the chips and I do not apologize for so saying. I have played that individual many times since then and the numbers pretty clearly show which of us knows what they are doing and which of us just gets lucky sometimes...though, to be honest, I never see him get far at the final table, so even saying he gets lucky is stretching a point.
At the second one, the hand that must still have me on tilt or something, my flopped set got run down after heavy, heavy betting by a hand that needed runner-runner to hit the ignorant end of a straight. While my read was so on that I laid down my set on a flop where the only hand he could have held that beat me was a ridiculous 7/9 on a flop of A/Q/8, it crippled me and kept me from ever being able to play during the entire tournament. It was all-in or fold, and that is just "get lucky" poker, no skill required. So though I outlasted the guy who donkeyed my chips to him, I never had a chance in that tournament and that disappointed me.
I say I regret my performance...but I do not know what else I could have done. I raised strong pre-flop, I raised and De re-raised the flop, I raised the turn...and not until the turn did he have a gut shot straight draw...so I do not know how I could have gotten him off the hand...and, to be honest, I am not sure I should have. I was value betting him up to that point, even though I was pricing people on draws off of the hand if they understood pot odds...though I suppose one could argue they had implied odds in their favor, though neither had the chips to play based on that...so I will argue I also played this hand correctly...much to my detriment.
Be that as it may, looking back I am pleased with my development. As with most things, once I reach a point where I have essentially mastered it, I am pretty much done with the game. I will still play from time to time, but much like my movie regimen...the numbers will be in serious decline. It was a pretty good poker year. Now I am ready for the next project.
Tuesday
probably the last game of the year...
ran the game last night, decent turnout of 12 people not named me, including 5 new players NOT from Go All In.
I got stuck with a table that...well...how do you politely say is NOT designed to be fun. I had Boston John who was taking even longer than usual...how long was he taking? They were done with their third hand at the other table before our table had DEALT the first hand. How is that even possible? Anyway, besides him we had Janet, Norman, and Darrell...and for whatever reason, Janet was cranky with everybody and Norm was nicer than usual. Weird. The new girl did not know how to play and the other new guy (her husband? boyfriend? anyway...) was a strange, strange player. I almost elected not to play since with the last arrival the tables would almost be even without me (6 and 7) and I knew this table would instantly put me on tilt.
I play to have fun with friends and sitting at a smoky table of players that are hard to get along with is not my idea of fun. But I elected to see if I could overcome my tilt to play well.
So John and this other guy promptly get in these huge bluff and rebluff wars. 2 and 3000 chip pots were being taken down with hands as bad as Jack high. Well, Darrell and I were just sitting there with our jaws on the floor and eyebrows on the roof...and waiting to catch any excuse for a hand.
I checked into a hand with an K/J from the big blind. Called off a bunch of chips against crazy guy when he bet on a low board and I had the bachelor hand. Called his turn bet. He checked the river and my King high took it down as I thought it might. Against Boston John and that guy I stayed in against a pre-flop weird raise (blinds 25/50 he would raise to 125, stuff like that...and he was doing it on purpose to screw with us, as he admitted) with a pretty marginal A/7 suited. Stayed with them through the flop and turn bets, rivered a 7 and took down another nice pot.
By this point I had not had a single legit hand but had won 3 or 4 pots with nothing despite heavy betting. I had not raised once at this point. Not pre-flop, not post-flop. In other words, I was playing really, really well, not raising bluffing maniacs, calling with weaker hands than I normally would, and knowing when to fold them.
And the game promptly got wilder. Janet was low on chips and playing short-stack, Darrell and I were waiting for hands, and three or four guys were just maniacally raising and re-raising with nothing. It was so bad that at one point 3 people were all in on a board of A/K/J/10/3, 3 clubs....and the winning hand was the paired king. He beat pocket 9s and someone who didn't even have a pair! Darrell and I were just laughing/crying...we had both folded queens for the straight.
Then came I think maybe the second hand all night I was active in and lost. I raised from early position (by now we were down to 5) with A/10. Lance, the big stack, hesitated a long time and then called. He could have something like A/rag, maybe 2 face cards, maybe medium pockets? Flop was ugly for me, a K/J/rag rainbow. I had a gut shot straight draw. He raised. I thought about it for a few seconds. He had been involved in some of those crazy pots, but if he hit the King I was drawing pretty thin. I called. Turn was ragged and he overbet the pot.
Every instinct I had said to call him. I did not think he had even a pair which meant I was probably ahead. BUT...he was also big stack and if I folded now I still had over 8K, plenty to work with and if I called and did not hit the river I could not call him and he would bet big. I did not feel like falling back to 5K. I said, "I think I am being bluffed" and folded, as did he. He claimed to another guy he had the jack. Maybe. Maybe not.
He tried to give all his chips to the old guy to my right. He raised from early position to about 6 times the blind. Old guy re-raises. I look at my 4/5 suited and cry. I would love to have a reasonable hand to call but can't call pre-flop 50% of my stack on a long shot draw no matter how loose they are. New guy folded, I folded, Darrell folded, Janet folded.
Flop came ragged. Lance raised. Old guy re-raised. Lance re-re-raised. Old guy called. Turn put possible straight on the board. Lance checked. Old guy raised. Lance went all-in. Old guy paused, hesitated...and finally called. He had Lance covered by about 1K. They flipped up their cards.
Lance had A/4. No pair. No straight draw. No flush draw. Nothing. (See why I thought I was bluffed off my earlier hand?) And worse...he was winning. Old guy had Q/J suited. But no straight draw. No flush draw. Just 2 big cards.
He did not improve and now Lance had a HUGE chip lead.
Not too long after I limped in with a 4/6 suited from the small blind. Darrell checked it. Flop paired my 4. With a defeated look Janet went all-in for her last 200. Old guy went over the top all-in. I called. Darrell called. Turn was a 6. I checked, Darrell checked. River was a 4. Darrell raised. I went over the top all-in. He folded. I took the other 2 out with my full house.
Now we were down to 3. And Darrell decided he wanted to go. So he just started pushing all-in. Every hand. I told him I could just take his chips off the table. At first he did not get what I was saying. Then he understood, but not before he had doubled up Lance again.
So now Lance had a ridiculous lead, something like 4-1 on me chip wise.
Well, about the second hand I rivered a straight on him that he priced me into calling. He got disgusted and just started shoving all-in pre-flop every hand. Sadly...with his chip lead, if I could not catch a hand, that was some good poker. I could not call it with 2/7, 3/5, 2/6...which is what my first three hands were when he was doing that.
Then I caught K/7 and called. And won. And again with A/6. Paired the 6. Took a slight chip lead. Called with q/j...and his 2/8 paired the lowly 2. Ouch. Next hand his 8/9 took out my K/10.
Looking back, I think I did about all I could. From the time I saw the make-up of the first table I was totally on tilt. I hate playing with sssssssssssssllllllllllllloooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwww players...and I would say taking 3 hands to get one hand dealt is pretty slow. I dislike playing with "drunken monkey poker" players...and ended up with 4 at the first table and 5 and the second table.
But I deliberately wanted to see if I could play well on tilt. I intentionally bust out quite frequently because if I am not having fun I don't care. Well, that is the epitome of being on tilt. Playing badly on purpose is still playing badly. Tonight I wanted to play goodly. And I did.
And there is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that in a legit game I would have destroyed Lance. Just wait for a semblance of a hand, double up, rinse, repeat. But it wasn't worth my time. I was ready to be done with this group for the year.
Which is too bad. Some of the people are really nice and fun to play with. But my tolerance for some of the others is really slipping and more and more often it just isn't fun. Oh, well. On to the next thing, then.
I got stuck with a table that...well...how do you politely say is NOT designed to be fun. I had Boston John who was taking even longer than usual...how long was he taking? They were done with their third hand at the other table before our table had DEALT the first hand. How is that even possible? Anyway, besides him we had Janet, Norman, and Darrell...and for whatever reason, Janet was cranky with everybody and Norm was nicer than usual. Weird. The new girl did not know how to play and the other new guy (her husband? boyfriend? anyway...) was a strange, strange player. I almost elected not to play since with the last arrival the tables would almost be even without me (6 and 7) and I knew this table would instantly put me on tilt.
I play to have fun with friends and sitting at a smoky table of players that are hard to get along with is not my idea of fun. But I elected to see if I could overcome my tilt to play well.
So John and this other guy promptly get in these huge bluff and rebluff wars. 2 and 3000 chip pots were being taken down with hands as bad as Jack high. Well, Darrell and I were just sitting there with our jaws on the floor and eyebrows on the roof...and waiting to catch any excuse for a hand.
I checked into a hand with an K/J from the big blind. Called off a bunch of chips against crazy guy when he bet on a low board and I had the bachelor hand. Called his turn bet. He checked the river and my King high took it down as I thought it might. Against Boston John and that guy I stayed in against a pre-flop weird raise (blinds 25/50 he would raise to 125, stuff like that...and he was doing it on purpose to screw with us, as he admitted) with a pretty marginal A/7 suited. Stayed with them through the flop and turn bets, rivered a 7 and took down another nice pot.
By this point I had not had a single legit hand but had won 3 or 4 pots with nothing despite heavy betting. I had not raised once at this point. Not pre-flop, not post-flop. In other words, I was playing really, really well, not raising bluffing maniacs, calling with weaker hands than I normally would, and knowing when to fold them.
I think one hand where I nearly doubled up is a good example. Boston John did one of his goofy raises, new guy called, I called with 3/6 diamonds, new girl calls. Flop came with 2 diamonds and a gutshot straight draw. I checked, new girl checked, John raised, new guy re-raised. I had nothing but a 6 high flush draw. I called because I did not believe either had a strong hand. New girl calls behind. John folded. Turn is a blank but a big card, I think a queen. I checked, new girl checked, new guy bet. Pot odds were right for a flush to hit and I genuinely thought I would have the better flush, I called, so did new girl. River was a big diamond. I checked, new girl checked, new guy raised, I called, new girl hesitated, hemmed, hawed...and called. Her I put on the straight. Him I put on a pair. Nope. He had 2 pair. She had the straight. And I raked a huge pot with a 6 high flush.
By the time I put out 2 last people at our table (the other one was down to 3) I had about 8 or 9 K. However, Darrell had also accumulated a fair share of our chips. We spread 21K among 5 players. Meanwhile, at the other table, they had accumulated all the chips from that table into just three players hands, so Darrell and I were still about medium on the chip stack despite being far and away the best players at the table that night.And the game promptly got wilder. Janet was low on chips and playing short-stack, Darrell and I were waiting for hands, and three or four guys were just maniacally raising and re-raising with nothing. It was so bad that at one point 3 people were all in on a board of A/K/J/10/3, 3 clubs....and the winning hand was the paired king. He beat pocket 9s and someone who didn't even have a pair! Darrell and I were just laughing/crying...we had both folded queens for the straight.
Then came I think maybe the second hand all night I was active in and lost. I raised from early position (by now we were down to 5) with A/10. Lance, the big stack, hesitated a long time and then called. He could have something like A/rag, maybe 2 face cards, maybe medium pockets? Flop was ugly for me, a K/J/rag rainbow. I had a gut shot straight draw. He raised. I thought about it for a few seconds. He had been involved in some of those crazy pots, but if he hit the King I was drawing pretty thin. I called. Turn was ragged and he overbet the pot.
Every instinct I had said to call him. I did not think he had even a pair which meant I was probably ahead. BUT...he was also big stack and if I folded now I still had over 8K, plenty to work with and if I called and did not hit the river I could not call him and he would bet big. I did not feel like falling back to 5K. I said, "I think I am being bluffed" and folded, as did he. He claimed to another guy he had the jack. Maybe. Maybe not.
He tried to give all his chips to the old guy to my right. He raised from early position to about 6 times the blind. Old guy re-raises. I look at my 4/5 suited and cry. I would love to have a reasonable hand to call but can't call pre-flop 50% of my stack on a long shot draw no matter how loose they are. New guy folded, I folded, Darrell folded, Janet folded.
Flop came ragged. Lance raised. Old guy re-raised. Lance re-re-raised. Old guy called. Turn put possible straight on the board. Lance checked. Old guy raised. Lance went all-in. Old guy paused, hesitated...and finally called. He had Lance covered by about 1K. They flipped up their cards.
Lance had A/4. No pair. No straight draw. No flush draw. Nothing. (See why I thought I was bluffed off my earlier hand?) And worse...he was winning. Old guy had Q/J suited. But no straight draw. No flush draw. Just 2 big cards.
He did not improve and now Lance had a HUGE chip lead.
Not too long after I limped in with a 4/6 suited from the small blind. Darrell checked it. Flop paired my 4. With a defeated look Janet went all-in for her last 200. Old guy went over the top all-in. I called. Darrell called. Turn was a 6. I checked, Darrell checked. River was a 4. Darrell raised. I went over the top all-in. He folded. I took the other 2 out with my full house.
Now we were down to 3. And Darrell decided he wanted to go. So he just started pushing all-in. Every hand. I told him I could just take his chips off the table. At first he did not get what I was saying. Then he understood, but not before he had doubled up Lance again.
So now Lance had a ridiculous lead, something like 4-1 on me chip wise.
Well, about the second hand I rivered a straight on him that he priced me into calling. He got disgusted and just started shoving all-in pre-flop every hand. Sadly...with his chip lead, if I could not catch a hand, that was some good poker. I could not call it with 2/7, 3/5, 2/6...which is what my first three hands were when he was doing that.
Then I caught K/7 and called. And won. And again with A/6. Paired the 6. Took a slight chip lead. Called with q/j...and his 2/8 paired the lowly 2. Ouch. Next hand his 8/9 took out my K/10.
Looking back, I think I did about all I could. From the time I saw the make-up of the first table I was totally on tilt. I hate playing with sssssssssssssllllllllllllloooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwww players...and I would say taking 3 hands to get one hand dealt is pretty slow. I dislike playing with "drunken monkey poker" players...and ended up with 4 at the first table and 5 and the second table.
But I deliberately wanted to see if I could play well on tilt. I intentionally bust out quite frequently because if I am not having fun I don't care. Well, that is the epitome of being on tilt. Playing badly on purpose is still playing badly. Tonight I wanted to play goodly. And I did.
And there is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that in a legit game I would have destroyed Lance. Just wait for a semblance of a hand, double up, rinse, repeat. But it wasn't worth my time. I was ready to be done with this group for the year.
Which is too bad. Some of the people are really nice and fun to play with. But my tolerance for some of the others is really slipping and more and more often it just isn't fun. Oh, well. On to the next thing, then.
Friday
How to go from chip lead to out in 2 hands
Played at Mixers to hang with Roman for a bit and let traffic die down. For them, a HUGE turnout...we started with 7 and after one guy busted out we had another guy join.
To my left is a guy I have played with 2 or 3 times. Complete maniac which means when he hits cards he wins and when not he loses. To his left, All-in Dee. We don't call her that for nothin. To her left, a guy I had not seen before. To his left, Taz, and to his left was Gypsy. Then to my immediate right was Roman.
First hand I limped with J/9 from late position with several people in the pot. Flop was low, Taz bet, I folded, guy to my left called, but on a big turn bet he folded. Tazz claimed low pockets. Maybe.
Then I folded for a while to get the feel of the table. For the most part it was a limpfest but heavy, heavy action thereafter. Dee is still Dee. If she raises a reasonable amount she has something, if she goes all in she usually has nothing but will also re-raise with a super strong hand if someone has raised ahead of her. Taz also will go all-in if he thinks people will fold, as will the guy to my left.
Therefore, the correct formula is to limp into more hands than normal since nobody is raising, then fold unless you catch the nuts. If you catch them, check once, if nobody raises, make a small raise and call their all in.Easy money.
So I limped with 8/10. Flopped 2 pair. Checked to me, I bet small I think 200 into a pot of about that, both Dee and Taz called. Turn was a blank, I raised 200, Dee folded...what, Dee folded? Huh? That confused me a lot. Has she switched up her play? Anyway, Taz called. River was another blank. I bet 600, Taz folded. I wanted to set a table image of strong hands sho I showed the 2 pair.
Guy to my left got felted. He decided to deal so he moved to my seat and I moved to his. This would soon cost me because I have not played with a dealer for months so I don't follow the button, I follow the dealer. Bad, bad habit.
Folded a few, limped with 7/8. Flop came 4,5,6. I bet into it. Oops...Roman was first to act, I was acting on the dealer, not on the button. Idiot. Roman admitted he would have bet into it, instead he checked. Taz called. Turn was a third diamond, I bet into it, he folded, I showed the straight. But I had cost myself chips with my out of turn bet. Bad play.
Shortly thereafter I checked the big blind with 8/10...and the flop was 7/9/J. I raised, Taz came over the top all-in and I called. He had top pair but never improved and I had a huge chip lead.
Meanwhile, another guy arrived and ended up sitting to my right. He is exactly the type of player who puts me on tilt. He is slow and methodical about everything, even if he is folding 2/7 off to a massive raise, puts in the wrong amounts, splashes the pot, etc.
So the game got boring to me. Plus, Dee was talking on her cell, the dealer was talking instead of dealing, and the game slowed to a crawl. I got bored. That is dangerous.
So I made a crack about being the next one out.
And instantly trouble arrived. I raised with Aces. Dee called. I blind raised the flop. It came J/10/J. She hesitated. I could see she wanted to put all her chips in. This could mean any of several things.
A) She thought I was bullying and would fold.
B) She had nothing and knew that was the only way she could win the pot.
C) She was on a straight or flush draw
D) She hit top pair and wanted to bet it.
E) She hit trips
I thought the most likely was any of C, D, or E. Her hesitation led me to weight E heaviest and figured she had a weak kicker. Anyway, I knew I had priced myself in with my pre-flop and blind raises (800 and 1600) since there was now over 5K in the pot and she only had 2200 left...even if she came over the top all-in and I put her on the Jack I was calling. So I thought about it and decided she had the jack and was trying to decide if I would call. So I flat out said "Go ahead, Dee, I'll call you, let's get it over with." So she went all in, I called, and sure enough, she had the jack. But she did have a better kicker than I expected, a Queen...and that is what flipped on the turn so I was drawing dead.
I still had 3450, so it was not like I was short stack. Next hand I limped, Dee limped, the second-to-shortest stack went all-in. I had Q/J and decided it would be funny to call so I did. Flop gave us 2 diamonds. Check, check. Turn was a Jack and Dee bet it all-in, only this time she had me covered. I instantly put her on the Jack as I have seen her do it before, and also figured I had a better kicker. So I decided to think about it. I still had about 2200 if I folded. I verbally counted my outs.
I had 9 minus two for the diamond flush...7 outs. 46 cards to come, 7 outs...about 6.5-1...except then I realized 2 things;
1) there was already about 3800 in the side pot. So I would be calling 2200 to make 8200. Not near the 6.5-1 I needed...IF I WERE BEHIND.
2) I was probably ahead. Yes, Dee had the Jack...but I was pretty sure my Queen had her outkicked. Which meant her outs were either 3 (if she was not diamond suited) or 12 (if she were diamond suited)...so I was probably actually either a 15.33-1 favorite (if she had 3 outs) or 3.83-1 if she was on the diamond draw. Either way, I knew I was the favorite.
Of course, I did not bother to figure up the odds on her winning, just as I did not bother figuring out the pot odds. I did the outs counting, knew she had the Jack, knew I was ahead...and checked the time. It was 7:30. Traffic should have died down, I was ready to go, the game was boring, and THAT is how I decided to call. Forget the pot odds, forget the outs...if I won I had chips, if I lost I had no traffic.
And sure enough, she had the J/6 of diamonds.
Now, remember, the previous hand, my Aces got cracked by Q/J. This hand, I had the Q/J...a hand I normally won't play against an all-in raise.
I deserved to see that diamond roll off on the river. I cannot argue I was not on tilt, I cannot argue I did not play the last hand poorly, and I cannot argue that I cared about going from a dominating chip lead to out in two hands.
But here is the real irony...traffic sucked. Getting off I-5 onto the Banfield was BRUTAL. My evil plan for world domination was foiled once again by import drivers...(there were about 4 Washington, a California, and 2 (two) North Carolina plated cars jockeying with each other for position and slowing everybody to a crawl.)
On on the whole, I am pleased. As usual, whenever I want to I can build a chip lead at that venue. Then it depends on how into the game I am and how Roman is running whether I finish or not. I suspect you will seldom see me win there, largely because I don't care. I just want to see a few hands, get off a few jokes, hang out with Roman for a bit, and let traffic die down. So I will have a lot of blow-ups like this. I will build a chip lead just about every time, of that I am confident. And I am just as confident I will give it all away real, real fast.
To my left is a guy I have played with 2 or 3 times. Complete maniac which means when he hits cards he wins and when not he loses. To his left, All-in Dee. We don't call her that for nothin. To her left, a guy I had not seen before. To his left, Taz, and to his left was Gypsy. Then to my immediate right was Roman.
First hand I limped with J/9 from late position with several people in the pot. Flop was low, Taz bet, I folded, guy to my left called, but on a big turn bet he folded. Tazz claimed low pockets. Maybe.
Then I folded for a while to get the feel of the table. For the most part it was a limpfest but heavy, heavy action thereafter. Dee is still Dee. If she raises a reasonable amount she has something, if she goes all in she usually has nothing but will also re-raise with a super strong hand if someone has raised ahead of her. Taz also will go all-in if he thinks people will fold, as will the guy to my left.
Therefore, the correct formula is to limp into more hands than normal since nobody is raising, then fold unless you catch the nuts. If you catch them, check once, if nobody raises, make a small raise and call their all in.Easy money.
So I limped with 8/10. Flopped 2 pair. Checked to me, I bet small I think 200 into a pot of about that, both Dee and Taz called. Turn was a blank, I raised 200, Dee folded...what, Dee folded? Huh? That confused me a lot. Has she switched up her play? Anyway, Taz called. River was another blank. I bet 600, Taz folded. I wanted to set a table image of strong hands sho I showed the 2 pair.
Guy to my left got felted. He decided to deal so he moved to my seat and I moved to his. This would soon cost me because I have not played with a dealer for months so I don't follow the button, I follow the dealer. Bad, bad habit.
Folded a few, limped with 7/8. Flop came 4,5,6. I bet into it. Oops...Roman was first to act, I was acting on the dealer, not on the button. Idiot. Roman admitted he would have bet into it, instead he checked. Taz called. Turn was a third diamond, I bet into it, he folded, I showed the straight. But I had cost myself chips with my out of turn bet. Bad play.
Shortly thereafter I checked the big blind with 8/10...and the flop was 7/9/J. I raised, Taz came over the top all-in and I called. He had top pair but never improved and I had a huge chip lead.
Meanwhile, another guy arrived and ended up sitting to my right. He is exactly the type of player who puts me on tilt. He is slow and methodical about everything, even if he is folding 2/7 off to a massive raise, puts in the wrong amounts, splashes the pot, etc.
So the game got boring to me. Plus, Dee was talking on her cell, the dealer was talking instead of dealing, and the game slowed to a crawl. I got bored. That is dangerous.
So I made a crack about being the next one out.
And instantly trouble arrived. I raised with Aces. Dee called. I blind raised the flop. It came J/10/J. She hesitated. I could see she wanted to put all her chips in. This could mean any of several things.
A) She thought I was bullying and would fold.
B) She had nothing and knew that was the only way she could win the pot.
C) She was on a straight or flush draw
D) She hit top pair and wanted to bet it.
E) She hit trips
I thought the most likely was any of C, D, or E. Her hesitation led me to weight E heaviest and figured she had a weak kicker. Anyway, I knew I had priced myself in with my pre-flop and blind raises (800 and 1600) since there was now over 5K in the pot and she only had 2200 left...even if she came over the top all-in and I put her on the Jack I was calling. So I thought about it and decided she had the jack and was trying to decide if I would call. So I flat out said "Go ahead, Dee, I'll call you, let's get it over with." So she went all in, I called, and sure enough, she had the jack. But she did have a better kicker than I expected, a Queen...and that is what flipped on the turn so I was drawing dead.
I still had 3450, so it was not like I was short stack. Next hand I limped, Dee limped, the second-to-shortest stack went all-in. I had Q/J and decided it would be funny to call so I did. Flop gave us 2 diamonds. Check, check. Turn was a Jack and Dee bet it all-in, only this time she had me covered. I instantly put her on the Jack as I have seen her do it before, and also figured I had a better kicker. So I decided to think about it. I still had about 2200 if I folded. I verbally counted my outs.
I had 9 minus two for the diamond flush...7 outs. 46 cards to come, 7 outs...about 6.5-1...except then I realized 2 things;
1) there was already about 3800 in the side pot. So I would be calling 2200 to make 8200. Not near the 6.5-1 I needed...IF I WERE BEHIND.
2) I was probably ahead. Yes, Dee had the Jack...but I was pretty sure my Queen had her outkicked. Which meant her outs were either 3 (if she was not diamond suited) or 12 (if she were diamond suited)...so I was probably actually either a 15.33-1 favorite (if she had 3 outs) or 3.83-1 if she was on the diamond draw. Either way, I knew I was the favorite.
Of course, I did not bother to figure up the odds on her winning, just as I did not bother figuring out the pot odds. I did the outs counting, knew she had the Jack, knew I was ahead...and checked the time. It was 7:30. Traffic should have died down, I was ready to go, the game was boring, and THAT is how I decided to call. Forget the pot odds, forget the outs...if I won I had chips, if I lost I had no traffic.
And sure enough, she had the J/6 of diamonds.
Now, remember, the previous hand, my Aces got cracked by Q/J. This hand, I had the Q/J...a hand I normally won't play against an all-in raise.
I deserved to see that diamond roll off on the river. I cannot argue I was not on tilt, I cannot argue I did not play the last hand poorly, and I cannot argue that I cared about going from a dominating chip lead to out in two hands.
But here is the real irony...traffic sucked. Getting off I-5 onto the Banfield was BRUTAL. My evil plan for world domination was foiled once again by import drivers...(there were about 4 Washington, a California, and 2 (two) North Carolina plated cars jockeying with each other for position and slowing everybody to a crawl.)
On on the whole, I am pleased. As usual, whenever I want to I can build a chip lead at that venue. Then it depends on how into the game I am and how Roman is running whether I finish or not. I suspect you will seldom see me win there, largely because I don't care. I just want to see a few hands, get off a few jokes, hang out with Roman for a bit, and let traffic die down. So I will have a lot of blow-ups like this. I will build a chip lead just about every time, of that I am confident. And I am just as confident I will give it all away real, real fast.
Tuesday
A quite Vincible Smurf
only 8 players. As John and I had discussed last week, last week I just got no hands at all and it was as un-action oriented as he had seen me. This week what would happen?
Early on, more of the same. Fold, fold, fold. Picked up A.Q. Raised. Couple callers...but I only saw one of them. That would hurt. Flop comes out A/Q/9. I raise. Bill folds. I thought he was the only one in the hand and show mine...so Christine folded. She would have called. Cost myself some chips.
Couple hands later picked up the Rockets. Raised. Couple callers. Flop was ragged, more raising, they all called right down to the river, picked up a nice pot.
Then...nothing. Went cold. Fold, fold, fold.
Blinds are up. Fold, fold, fold.
Picked up A/Q. Raised. 4 callers. Flop was 8/9/8. Checked to me, raised, 3 callers. Checked the turn, heavy betting at the river, I folded on a 9 high board. Sure enough, Todd stayed with K/8....and lost to Chris and her A/8.
Folded for a while. Picked up A/Q in late position. Raised. Three callers. Hit the Queen on a Queen high ragged flop. Raised. Someone came over the top, the other 2 called, I folded. River was a King and someone won with K/8. Again my raise was called...and beat...by a garbage hand.
Fold, fold, fold.
Down to about 1800, blinds up.
Fold, fold, fold.
I did not want to be folding but Todd was raising regularly and I was getting hands I could not call even a bluffers raise with...q/4 (would have tripped the 4s), 6/10 (would have flopped a straight), 3/6 (would have rivered a 6 high straight), K/6 suited, just trash hand after trash hand and after taking those two whuppings when I got in with far and away the best hand but got crushed by trash, I could not play anything except good hands or bad hands with good position...and with the raises and callers, those were not happening.
Finally I went all-in for my last about 12 or 1300 with A/Q. I would not mind a caller. I got 3. And then 2 of them went all in. Christine ended up winning with 2 pair...K/8 were her hole cards.
Three times tonight my A/Q was beaten by K/8. Grr.
The sad thing is...I played really well. I had good reads on people, I played the correct hands, I played them correctly...and it did not matter. Trash hands sometimes win and this was one of those nights. I ended up 5th or 6th, but to be honest, on a night I thought I should have won, does one place that ain't first really matter? I am going to argue no.
Or maybe I am wrong. Maybe I am just a horrible player who deserves to get beat. I don't really believe that...I pretty much have a good idea of the range of hands people are holding, I get away from hands where I am beat, I do the "correct' things to drive out sub-par holdings...but if people stay in with that, though they are mathematically incorrect to do so, they still are going to hit x% of the time...and sometimes those percentages work against me. And, in truth, with 3 and 4 callers, A/Q is an overall underdog even if it was individually a favorite against any calling hand. So the odds were not even in my favor and statistiacally, my A/Q did about right for the night.
Early on, more of the same. Fold, fold, fold. Picked up A.Q. Raised. Couple callers...but I only saw one of them. That would hurt. Flop comes out A/Q/9. I raise. Bill folds. I thought he was the only one in the hand and show mine...so Christine folded. She would have called. Cost myself some chips.
Couple hands later picked up the Rockets. Raised. Couple callers. Flop was ragged, more raising, they all called right down to the river, picked up a nice pot.
Then...nothing. Went cold. Fold, fold, fold.
Blinds are up. Fold, fold, fold.
Picked up A/Q. Raised. 4 callers. Flop was 8/9/8. Checked to me, raised, 3 callers. Checked the turn, heavy betting at the river, I folded on a 9 high board. Sure enough, Todd stayed with K/8....and lost to Chris and her A/8.
Folded for a while. Picked up A/Q in late position. Raised. Three callers. Hit the Queen on a Queen high ragged flop. Raised. Someone came over the top, the other 2 called, I folded. River was a King and someone won with K/8. Again my raise was called...and beat...by a garbage hand.
Fold, fold, fold.
Down to about 1800, blinds up.
Fold, fold, fold.
I did not want to be folding but Todd was raising regularly and I was getting hands I could not call even a bluffers raise with...q/4 (would have tripped the 4s), 6/10 (would have flopped a straight), 3/6 (would have rivered a 6 high straight), K/6 suited, just trash hand after trash hand and after taking those two whuppings when I got in with far and away the best hand but got crushed by trash, I could not play anything except good hands or bad hands with good position...and with the raises and callers, those were not happening.
Finally I went all-in for my last about 12 or 1300 with A/Q. I would not mind a caller. I got 3. And then 2 of them went all in. Christine ended up winning with 2 pair...K/8 were her hole cards.
Three times tonight my A/Q was beaten by K/8. Grr.
The sad thing is...I played really well. I had good reads on people, I played the correct hands, I played them correctly...and it did not matter. Trash hands sometimes win and this was one of those nights. I ended up 5th or 6th, but to be honest, on a night I thought I should have won, does one place that ain't first really matter? I am going to argue no.
Or maybe I am wrong. Maybe I am just a horrible player who deserves to get beat. I don't really believe that...I pretty much have a good idea of the range of hands people are holding, I get away from hands where I am beat, I do the "correct' things to drive out sub-par holdings...but if people stay in with that, though they are mathematically incorrect to do so, they still are going to hit x% of the time...and sometimes those percentages work against me. And, in truth, with 3 and 4 callers, A/Q is an overall underdog even if it was individually a favorite against any calling hand. So the odds were not even in my favor and statistiacally, my A/Q did about right for the night.
With no cards...
Just 7 other people. I wasn't going to play but thought eh, might be my last game for a while, might as well. Of the 7 there were 2 new players, both older gentlemen playing an older style of poker. It was a fairly passive group, however. Verne to my left did not raise pre-flop even once all night, Bill Rickman will occasionally raise, but not often, Barbara never raises, Gary Todd will, but if he does you know he has Aces so his raises are seldom indeed, Al raised once all night...with Aces...and John very seldom raises.
I limped once, then was folding, folding, folding. Got into a hand from big blind with J/9 spades. Flop came 10 Spades, 9 Hearts, 8 Spades. I had middle pair, open ended straight flush draw. I raised. Everyone called. Turn was a 5 diamonds. Checked around. River was a King. I checked, Verne bet, Barbara called, I folded. Barbara had a straight.
More folding. Got down a ways to about 2600 or so. Raised three times the blinds with pocket jacks. 4 callers. Flop was bad for me with a King and Queen on it. Everyone checked, I raised. They all called. Turn was an Ace. Checked around. River was a 10...yay, I made the Ace high straight. Quick check...nope, no flush possibilities. I raised. And Al came over the top to put me all in. With the nut straight, of course I called...and he had a King Jack. Split pot.
Fold, fold, pocket jacks. Raise it. Only Barbara calls. Flop comes ragged, King high. I raise, she calls. Check to the river, she hit runner runner to hit a straight...
From there on it was look for an all in hand. And I was totally card dead. Nothing. Garbage. Rot. Finally, having blinded down to just 600, Al raised, caller or two by the time it got to me, figured I was getting 4-1 on my chips with a J/9, decent drawing hand, I called all-in. Flop was ragged and low. Al bet big. Bill came over the top all in. I figured I was finished. Nope, just bad poker. Bill did that with nothing. He had A/10. No flush draw, just two big cards against someone who raised pre-flop and, with someone all-in, showed strength post-flop. Now I had 2 live cards. Neither hit and I ended the night having "won" 1 hand...the split pot.
The only two decent hands I got were the fishhooks, and both times they were cracked by K/J. That hurt.
Worst thing is, there was no such thing as bluffing anyone off a pot since virtually every one was contested at the river, including some crazy ones.
Case in point; Bill and Al raised and re-raised each other on the flop, turn, and river. And on a flush and straight heavy board, Bill showed his pair of threes he had raised 2000 on the river, and Al showed the pair of 2s he had called that river bet with. So if they will raise and call like that with nothing...well, you ain't getting them off a pot with a mere 1600 chips (what I was left with after the second Jacks hand) or less. So I had to have cards and just never got them.
It made me sad. Last night should have been John v Drew finals round 2. Sometimes you just can't catch anything or do a thing. I ended the night without a clean win.
I limped once, then was folding, folding, folding. Got into a hand from big blind with J/9 spades. Flop came 10 Spades, 9 Hearts, 8 Spades. I had middle pair, open ended straight flush draw. I raised. Everyone called. Turn was a 5 diamonds. Checked around. River was a King. I checked, Verne bet, Barbara called, I folded. Barbara had a straight.
More folding. Got down a ways to about 2600 or so. Raised three times the blinds with pocket jacks. 4 callers. Flop was bad for me with a King and Queen on it. Everyone checked, I raised. They all called. Turn was an Ace. Checked around. River was a 10...yay, I made the Ace high straight. Quick check...nope, no flush possibilities. I raised. And Al came over the top to put me all in. With the nut straight, of course I called...and he had a King Jack. Split pot.
Fold, fold, pocket jacks. Raise it. Only Barbara calls. Flop comes ragged, King high. I raise, she calls. Check to the river, she hit runner runner to hit a straight...
From there on it was look for an all in hand. And I was totally card dead. Nothing. Garbage. Rot. Finally, having blinded down to just 600, Al raised, caller or two by the time it got to me, figured I was getting 4-1 on my chips with a J/9, decent drawing hand, I called all-in. Flop was ragged and low. Al bet big. Bill came over the top all in. I figured I was finished. Nope, just bad poker. Bill did that with nothing. He had A/10. No flush draw, just two big cards against someone who raised pre-flop and, with someone all-in, showed strength post-flop. Now I had 2 live cards. Neither hit and I ended the night having "won" 1 hand...the split pot.
The only two decent hands I got were the fishhooks, and both times they were cracked by K/J. That hurt.
Worst thing is, there was no such thing as bluffing anyone off a pot since virtually every one was contested at the river, including some crazy ones.
Case in point; Bill and Al raised and re-raised each other on the flop, turn, and river. And on a flush and straight heavy board, Bill showed his pair of threes he had raised 2000 on the river, and Al showed the pair of 2s he had called that river bet with. So if they will raise and call like that with nothing...well, you ain't getting them off a pot with a mere 1600 chips (what I was left with after the second Jacks hand) or less. So I had to have cards and just never got them.
It made me sad. Last night should have been John v Drew finals round 2. Sometimes you just can't catch anything or do a thing. I ended the night without a clean win.
Yawn
Another slow night...just 10 players, so 2 tables of 5. The dynamics change so much when there are just 5 people...and again, depending on who those 5 are. At my table there was Don to my left, then Barbara, then Christine, then Bill. What sort of table does that make it?
Don is a very, very aggressive player. He raises a lot, will check-raise like a fiend, and will bluff a lot. He likes to slow play a lot so I won't raise with just high cards very often.
Barbara likes to limp with any two cards, dislikes pre-flop raises, but will call them quite often, including with junk hands. However, about 4 times the blinds usually chases her off unless she has a really good hand.
Christine is a solid player. She typically limps/calls and will chase but she knows when to fold and almost always makes final table.
Bill is a different bird. He changes gears a lot but also tends to play a lot of power poker. He will shove with some pretty questionable hands (Q/2, Q/4 type stuff).
Additional factor; the next-door Radio Shack had been broken into the previous day so at 8 PGE was shutting off the power, so we needed to finish by 8 so the blinds were going to be really fast, which I hate doing. And no, I do not get the connection between the break-in and the power outage either, but...whatever. You work with what is, not what should be or what makes sense.
We started slow. I was playing almost no hands and catching no cards. In the big blind I checked with some garbage hand...J/3? Anyway, ended up pairing it. With the splashes and the limps ended up winning almost 400 to get above starting range. The next hand I "played" I had Q/10 suited, the blinds were 50/100 already. I raised to 300, everyone folded. A couple people had limped, so I made another about 500 between splashes and limpers.
Won a couple forgettable hands, forgot a couple, we got down to 8, final table.
Up to this point it had been a fairly uneventful but nevertheless fun game. The dynamics of the table were "friends playing cards". Now that would change. To my left sat Boston John and to my right sat Gary T. To John's left was Don, then to his left my Father in Law John.
Now, Boston John is one of those guys who I really do not enjoy playing with. He calls it "drunken monkey poker" and that is how he treats it. He will raise all-in without bothering to look at his cards, make horrific calls and wild raises not because he thinks he has the best cards or because he is reading people but just because it is "free poker". It is players like him who make the game no fun for people who, knowing it is free poker, still play it "real", play their best game and try to make sense.
Gary plays with his hand face up...or at least, he might as well. I can read him like a book. Unfortunately, he also smokes like a freight train. He not only chain smokes, he tilted towards me so I was operating in a brutal haze. I took to sitting about 3' away from the table, coming up long enough to check my cards, then retreating. Very unpleasant.
Papa John I have essentially taught Texas Hold 'Em. He knows poker but not this version. I taught him quite a bit, and he has enough natural talent that he could easily win a tournament if he caught the right cards.
Now the table is a bit chippy. Gary and Bill are going at each other a bit, John is causing discomfort, and now there is a tenseness and an edge. Suddenly all the joy has gone out of the game for the night for me. About three hands in I am big blind, everyone limps, I look down at the Cowboys. All in. They all fold and now I am over 6K. We only started with 30K in play, so I am above average and at the moment, chip lead.
Bill has been up and down. Right now he is up. Blinds are 2/400. I am playing almost no hands. With about 5 players I check the big blind with 9/10 off. Flop comes A/10/9 rainbow. Bill raises 1000. I put him on an ace with decent kicker. Gary whines and complains as he does when he is beat but he calls. Weak Ace or maybe even the 10. 2 people to act behind me. I check the score of the Blazer game. They are winning. Gary is lighting a cigarette. I decide to either win or lose the tournament right here because with Aces at least one of them will call me. I don't want to sit in the smoke, I would not mind watching the game, but if I win then I am going to win the tournament. With chips in hand, I am good enough to take this table without breaking a sweat if I want to. But I am only going to make a move if I legitimately think I am ahead. I don't mind getting sucked out on but my goal is to always put my chips in with a lead.
I know Bill's game well enough to be pretty confident in my read. If he had 2 pair he would have shoved. Gary would have re-raised with 2 pair or better. Barbara will call if she has any pair, Christine will fold unless she has me beat. I think about what they might have. I put the girls on weak hands, though this is iffy. They have really not had a chance to show the strength of their hands. But Barbara looks ready to release her hand and Christine lost interest in the hand, so I believe they will both fold. I decide I am ahead.
I go all in for my last 5500 over the top of their 1000. Fold to Bill who hesitates. He ponders. He fingers his chips. He starts to release his hand. I revise my estimate to a weak ace or maybe just a pair of 10s or 9s. He calls. Gary folds, claiming he will regret his fold. I put him on maybe the 9. Bill flops up A/7. Cool, I am way ahead, about a 3-1 favorite. The turn is a complete blank. At first I thought it was a 9 and he was drawing dead, but then it proved to be a 6. Oh, well. No flush draws, no straight draws. I am 3-1 to nearly triple up and take a commanding lead.
Until he spikes the 7. He has me covered by 100 chips and I am gone.
Which was more than okay. It gave me a chance to get the tables cleaned up, the place straightened out, and I got to watch a lot of the Blazer game.
Now, in retrospect, most people I know would not have made the move I made. There was a chance I was reading them wrong and someone had 2 pair. I could have just called and seen the river. I could have folded...well, okay, I flopped 2 pair, I wasn't folding to a mere 1000.
The situation is I could have folded my way to the final 2. A couple people were low on chips and the blinds were fast so I was in great position. Why put my tournament on the line where I KNOW I am getting called by at least 1 and probably 2 players (I really believed Gary would call)?
And the answer is simple. I believed I had at worst a 3-1 lead with a great re-draw. Even if I were enjoying the table, I want to WIN the tournament, not finish high in the points. At no point am I likely to have a better hand to double or triple up with. They are in the hand, they have shown interest. If they both have Aces, as I suspect, that leaves them the case Ace to catch trips. That leaves them at most 7 outs; 3 to pair the other card in their hand, 3 to pair the turn, and the case Ace. Even if they hit their card, I have a redraw for the boat if a 9 or 10 rolls off.
I believe I am a better player than most if not all of the other players at that table. I am not, however, more than 3 times as good. I am unlikely to have a 4-1 to double up. I can't win without doubling up multiple times. So I am taking my shot whether it is early, late, or in the middle of the tournament. I am after tournament wins, not 20 or 30 more points because I laid down a probable winning hand.
As I told John in the post-mortem, even knowing the outcome of the hand, had they laid their hands face-up and said they would call, I would have done the same thing. I had the best hand. I had the best draw. Sometimes that works out...sometimes it doesn't.
As I look at it, the situation was win-win. Either I have so many chips nobody there is coming back on me or I get to watch the Blazer game. So yeah...I would do it again. And again. And again. Busting out only bothers me if it is inadvertent or if I get in with a worse hand. Neither thing was true.
Don is a very, very aggressive player. He raises a lot, will check-raise like a fiend, and will bluff a lot. He likes to slow play a lot so I won't raise with just high cards very often.
Barbara likes to limp with any two cards, dislikes pre-flop raises, but will call them quite often, including with junk hands. However, about 4 times the blinds usually chases her off unless she has a really good hand.
Christine is a solid player. She typically limps/calls and will chase but she knows when to fold and almost always makes final table.
Bill is a different bird. He changes gears a lot but also tends to play a lot of power poker. He will shove with some pretty questionable hands (Q/2, Q/4 type stuff).
Additional factor; the next-door Radio Shack had been broken into the previous day so at 8 PGE was shutting off the power, so we needed to finish by 8 so the blinds were going to be really fast, which I hate doing. And no, I do not get the connection between the break-in and the power outage either, but...whatever. You work with what is, not what should be or what makes sense.
We started slow. I was playing almost no hands and catching no cards. In the big blind I checked with some garbage hand...J/3? Anyway, ended up pairing it. With the splashes and the limps ended up winning almost 400 to get above starting range. The next hand I "played" I had Q/10 suited, the blinds were 50/100 already. I raised to 300, everyone folded. A couple people had limped, so I made another about 500 between splashes and limpers.
Won a couple forgettable hands, forgot a couple, we got down to 8, final table.
Up to this point it had been a fairly uneventful but nevertheless fun game. The dynamics of the table were "friends playing cards". Now that would change. To my left sat Boston John and to my right sat Gary T. To John's left was Don, then to his left my Father in Law John.
Now, Boston John is one of those guys who I really do not enjoy playing with. He calls it "drunken monkey poker" and that is how he treats it. He will raise all-in without bothering to look at his cards, make horrific calls and wild raises not because he thinks he has the best cards or because he is reading people but just because it is "free poker". It is players like him who make the game no fun for people who, knowing it is free poker, still play it "real", play their best game and try to make sense.
Gary plays with his hand face up...or at least, he might as well. I can read him like a book. Unfortunately, he also smokes like a freight train. He not only chain smokes, he tilted towards me so I was operating in a brutal haze. I took to sitting about 3' away from the table, coming up long enough to check my cards, then retreating. Very unpleasant.
Papa John I have essentially taught Texas Hold 'Em. He knows poker but not this version. I taught him quite a bit, and he has enough natural talent that he could easily win a tournament if he caught the right cards.
Now the table is a bit chippy. Gary and Bill are going at each other a bit, John is causing discomfort, and now there is a tenseness and an edge. Suddenly all the joy has gone out of the game for the night for me. About three hands in I am big blind, everyone limps, I look down at the Cowboys. All in. They all fold and now I am over 6K. We only started with 30K in play, so I am above average and at the moment, chip lead.
Bill has been up and down. Right now he is up. Blinds are 2/400. I am playing almost no hands. With about 5 players I check the big blind with 9/10 off. Flop comes A/10/9 rainbow. Bill raises 1000. I put him on an ace with decent kicker. Gary whines and complains as he does when he is beat but he calls. Weak Ace or maybe even the 10. 2 people to act behind me. I check the score of the Blazer game. They are winning. Gary is lighting a cigarette. I decide to either win or lose the tournament right here because with Aces at least one of them will call me. I don't want to sit in the smoke, I would not mind watching the game, but if I win then I am going to win the tournament. With chips in hand, I am good enough to take this table without breaking a sweat if I want to. But I am only going to make a move if I legitimately think I am ahead. I don't mind getting sucked out on but my goal is to always put my chips in with a lead.
I know Bill's game well enough to be pretty confident in my read. If he had 2 pair he would have shoved. Gary would have re-raised with 2 pair or better. Barbara will call if she has any pair, Christine will fold unless she has me beat. I think about what they might have. I put the girls on weak hands, though this is iffy. They have really not had a chance to show the strength of their hands. But Barbara looks ready to release her hand and Christine lost interest in the hand, so I believe they will both fold. I decide I am ahead.
I go all in for my last 5500 over the top of their 1000. Fold to Bill who hesitates. He ponders. He fingers his chips. He starts to release his hand. I revise my estimate to a weak ace or maybe just a pair of 10s or 9s. He calls. Gary folds, claiming he will regret his fold. I put him on maybe the 9. Bill flops up A/7. Cool, I am way ahead, about a 3-1 favorite. The turn is a complete blank. At first I thought it was a 9 and he was drawing dead, but then it proved to be a 6. Oh, well. No flush draws, no straight draws. I am 3-1 to nearly triple up and take a commanding lead.
Until he spikes the 7. He has me covered by 100 chips and I am gone.
Which was more than okay. It gave me a chance to get the tables cleaned up, the place straightened out, and I got to watch a lot of the Blazer game.
Now, in retrospect, most people I know would not have made the move I made. There was a chance I was reading them wrong and someone had 2 pair. I could have just called and seen the river. I could have folded...well, okay, I flopped 2 pair, I wasn't folding to a mere 1000.
The situation is I could have folded my way to the final 2. A couple people were low on chips and the blinds were fast so I was in great position. Why put my tournament on the line where I KNOW I am getting called by at least 1 and probably 2 players (I really believed Gary would call)?
And the answer is simple. I believed I had at worst a 3-1 lead with a great re-draw. Even if I were enjoying the table, I want to WIN the tournament, not finish high in the points. At no point am I likely to have a better hand to double or triple up with. They are in the hand, they have shown interest. If they both have Aces, as I suspect, that leaves them the case Ace to catch trips. That leaves them at most 7 outs; 3 to pair the other card in their hand, 3 to pair the turn, and the case Ace. Even if they hit their card, I have a redraw for the boat if a 9 or 10 rolls off.
I believe I am a better player than most if not all of the other players at that table. I am not, however, more than 3 times as good. I am unlikely to have a 4-1 to double up. I can't win without doubling up multiple times. So I am taking my shot whether it is early, late, or in the middle of the tournament. I am after tournament wins, not 20 or 30 more points because I laid down a probable winning hand.
As I told John in the post-mortem, even knowing the outcome of the hand, had they laid their hands face-up and said they would call, I would have done the same thing. I had the best hand. I had the best draw. Sometimes that works out...sometimes it doesn't.
As I look at it, the situation was win-win. Either I have so many chips nobody there is coming back on me or I get to watch the Blazer game. So yeah...I would do it again. And again. And again. Busting out only bothers me if it is inadvertent or if I get in with a worse hand. Neither thing was true.
Monday
A new strategy
There is something I have been doing a bit lately just to see how it works. It is kind of the inverse of a blind check.
I love to blind check when I am first to act. Like, if I am out of position and weakly call with something like J/10 or something where I am trying to sneak into a cheap flop or if I raise with something like Big Slick or Fishhooks or something and someone calls or even re-raises, if I stay then I want to see what they are thinking so I will blind check. This essentially turns me into the button, though it does not give me the option to steal-raise. If they check, depending on the person, I usually have a pretty good idea of whether they improved and whether they will call or not if I raise subsequently. Some people slow-play so often that I do not get that information...then again, I am a smart enough player that I don't blind check with them, either. At least, not that they know about. I might have a plan for the hand that includes checking regardless of what card comes.
I actually like this plan against habitual slow players. If they are never going to raise their good hands, I am not going to do their raising for them. If they want to check down their set, let's check it down and I will play a small pot with them. Only if I have a pretty sure-fire win will I bet against the constant slow-players. This, by the way, is yet one more reason to mix up my game. Otherwise, if I am always (and only) betting good hands, people will fold and never pay me off. Conversely, if I am always (and only) slow-playing, they will check down every hand and I will not make enough chips on my good hands to pay the blinds and make up for hands I get involved in where I lose.
Be that as it may, my new plan is great fun. I usually, though not always, do it with a high pair. I have also done it with Big Slick, a medium pair, and once on medium suited connectors.
If I am first to act and raised pre-flop then everything is in place. After the last call, just before the flop, I blind raise, anywhere from 3 times the blinds on up to a pot-sized bet.
This blind raise proves quite intimidating. People instantly have to put me on Kings or Aces whether I have them or not. Thus, unless they can beat at the least a pair of Aces they cannot...or, rather, should not...call. I have a great chance to take down the pot right there. If not, then it puts tremendous pressure on them.
Take a hand from the other night. It was about the 5th hand of the night. I was in the big blind and picked up the Cowboys. 4 or 5 people had limped in so I jacked it up a bit more than usual, 300, which was 6 times the blinds. There was already about 3-400 in the pot, so they still might be priced in. Only Gary C. called and he was on the button. Before he could deal the flop, I said, "Raise" and tossed out 600. He was so shocked he almost folded right there. Then the flop came...rag, King, Ace.
I was thinking this flop was perfect for me. I know his game so well that I knew if he had Kings or Aces he would have raised, and with a range of pocket 8s or better or something like A/rag suited or better or even with 2 paint cards he would call me. So there was a real good chance he hit his Ace or King and would pay me off. I actually put him on the Ace and hoped he would re-raise me because after I hit the Alabama Knight Riders I would go all-in in a heart-beat. I did not believe he had a set of Aces and anything else I was destroying.
He hemmed and hawed and hesitated and considered and paused...and finally called. The turn was a blank, no straight or flush draws. I considered checking, but then decided to continue putting on the pressure and raised another 600. He asked what I had, paused, thought, almost folded, almost raised...now I was sure he had something like A/good kicker, but not A/K because he would have re-raised me with top two pair. In other words, I believed he had a good hand but he was beat, and beat badly.
The river was a blank. As usual, I raised and he thought, pondered, sighed, and finally folded face-up...Jacks. He had the Fishhooks. He called my pre-flop raise, a move I don't mind there. He should have raised them, it would have completely changed the hand. Since he didn't, he allowed the blind raise. And that determined the hand. Well, that and flopping the set. My blind raise completely intimidated and demoralized him (and he was eliminated soon after).
It also builds an image for me that if I am raising, you better come strong or stay home because I am not going to be afraid of any card that hits on the flop. It is a somewhat risky play...if someone DID limp/call with the Rockets, that hand would have broke me. Or if they limp/call with something like 8s and they hit their set while I miss mine it can cost me. But even if someone has something like A/9, A/rag, something like that, my blind-raise might get them off their Ace even if an Ace hits. It is something I will do sometimes with a weak pair...say, the hockey sticks. 7s are nothing to write home about, but properly played they can do wonders.
Of course, part of properly playing them is knowing your opponents. There are people I play against whom I am laying those 7s down pre-flop from the small blind and others against who I am going to raise them from Under the Gun. It all depends on my image for that night and who else is at the table. I know who is passive, who is a gambler, and who will respond with aggression. Against those who will re-raise, even with Aces I will probably not blind-raise since their re-raise might show 2 pair or something similar that will have me beat. With people who use blind aggression I want to consider the texture of the flop and the hands they will use before I put in a lot of chips.
So the blind raise is, like any other tool, one to be used selectively. Against the right player it applies tremendous pressure and gives you an advantage. Like anything else, when mis-used it will cause trouble. Just sayin'.
I love to blind check when I am first to act. Like, if I am out of position and weakly call with something like J/10 or something where I am trying to sneak into a cheap flop or if I raise with something like Big Slick or Fishhooks or something and someone calls or even re-raises, if I stay then I want to see what they are thinking so I will blind check. This essentially turns me into the button, though it does not give me the option to steal-raise. If they check, depending on the person, I usually have a pretty good idea of whether they improved and whether they will call or not if I raise subsequently. Some people slow-play so often that I do not get that information...then again, I am a smart enough player that I don't blind check with them, either. At least, not that they know about. I might have a plan for the hand that includes checking regardless of what card comes.
I actually like this plan against habitual slow players. If they are never going to raise their good hands, I am not going to do their raising for them. If they want to check down their set, let's check it down and I will play a small pot with them. Only if I have a pretty sure-fire win will I bet against the constant slow-players. This, by the way, is yet one more reason to mix up my game. Otherwise, if I am always (and only) betting good hands, people will fold and never pay me off. Conversely, if I am always (and only) slow-playing, they will check down every hand and I will not make enough chips on my good hands to pay the blinds and make up for hands I get involved in where I lose.
Be that as it may, my new plan is great fun. I usually, though not always, do it with a high pair. I have also done it with Big Slick, a medium pair, and once on medium suited connectors.
If I am first to act and raised pre-flop then everything is in place. After the last call, just before the flop, I blind raise, anywhere from 3 times the blinds on up to a pot-sized bet.
This blind raise proves quite intimidating. People instantly have to put me on Kings or Aces whether I have them or not. Thus, unless they can beat at the least a pair of Aces they cannot...or, rather, should not...call. I have a great chance to take down the pot right there. If not, then it puts tremendous pressure on them.
Take a hand from the other night. It was about the 5th hand of the night. I was in the big blind and picked up the Cowboys. 4 or 5 people had limped in so I jacked it up a bit more than usual, 300, which was 6 times the blinds. There was already about 3-400 in the pot, so they still might be priced in. Only Gary C. called and he was on the button. Before he could deal the flop, I said, "Raise" and tossed out 600. He was so shocked he almost folded right there. Then the flop came...rag, King, Ace.
I was thinking this flop was perfect for me. I know his game so well that I knew if he had Kings or Aces he would have raised, and with a range of pocket 8s or better or something like A/rag suited or better or even with 2 paint cards he would call me. So there was a real good chance he hit his Ace or King and would pay me off. I actually put him on the Ace and hoped he would re-raise me because after I hit the Alabama Knight Riders I would go all-in in a heart-beat. I did not believe he had a set of Aces and anything else I was destroying.
He hemmed and hawed and hesitated and considered and paused...and finally called. The turn was a blank, no straight or flush draws. I considered checking, but then decided to continue putting on the pressure and raised another 600. He asked what I had, paused, thought, almost folded, almost raised...now I was sure he had something like A/good kicker, but not A/K because he would have re-raised me with top two pair. In other words, I believed he had a good hand but he was beat, and beat badly.
The river was a blank. As usual, I raised and he thought, pondered, sighed, and finally folded face-up...Jacks. He had the Fishhooks. He called my pre-flop raise, a move I don't mind there. He should have raised them, it would have completely changed the hand. Since he didn't, he allowed the blind raise. And that determined the hand. Well, that and flopping the set. My blind raise completely intimidated and demoralized him (and he was eliminated soon after).
It also builds an image for me that if I am raising, you better come strong or stay home because I am not going to be afraid of any card that hits on the flop. It is a somewhat risky play...if someone DID limp/call with the Rockets, that hand would have broke me. Or if they limp/call with something like 8s and they hit their set while I miss mine it can cost me. But even if someone has something like A/9, A/rag, something like that, my blind-raise might get them off their Ace even if an Ace hits. It is something I will do sometimes with a weak pair...say, the hockey sticks. 7s are nothing to write home about, but properly played they can do wonders.
Of course, part of properly playing them is knowing your opponents. There are people I play against whom I am laying those 7s down pre-flop from the small blind and others against who I am going to raise them from Under the Gun. It all depends on my image for that night and who else is at the table. I know who is passive, who is a gambler, and who will respond with aggression. Against those who will re-raise, even with Aces I will probably not blind-raise since their re-raise might show 2 pair or something similar that will have me beat. With people who use blind aggression I want to consider the texture of the flop and the hands they will use before I put in a lot of chips.
So the blind raise is, like any other tool, one to be used selectively. Against the right player it applies tremendous pressure and gives you an advantage. Like anything else, when mis-used it will cause trouble. Just sayin'.
So when you play slow...
early on was not getting much but just waited...waited....waited....waited...got good cards, raised, got a couple callers, raised the flop, they folded.
Waited...waited...waited...raised Aces. Got a couple callers. Raised the flop, they folded. I was staying between 2500 and 4400 all night.
Finally, when I was at the upper end, raised pocket 10s. Leng called. Flop came King, rag, rag, he checked, I raised, he came over the top. I instantly knew he had the King...but now I was getting about 8-1 on my chips so I called. He had the King...and a 10. So I was chasing the case 10 and did not get it. Now I am down to about 1600.
Lots of callers to my big blind. I have 4/7 Spades. Flop comes 7/k/7, 2 hearts. They check, I go all-in, Leng calls (by now he had lots of chips) and I have about6K.
Get to the final table. Keep adding chips here and there. Pick up A/10. Raise to 3 times the blinds. Larry calls. Larry is a good player, always has a nice pile of chips when he gets to the final table. But he had taken a couple losses and my raise left him about 1000, less than I raised. Flop came King high. He checked, I went all-in thinking he was priced in but I could make that raise...but not that call. He thought for a long time and then folded. I picked up lots of chips on that one.
Get down to three people...Leng, John, and me. Leng is short stack, I am big stack. Pick up A/J, raise 3 times the blinds. John folds, Leng calls. Flop is beautiful, A/J/rag, though there are 2 clubs. I raise, he calls. Turn is a blank, he checks, I go all in, he calls. He has nothing...a 2/4, though the 4 is a club. And he spikes a club to double up and cripple me.
I double up a couple times, at the break I have about 12K, John has about 14K, and Leng has about 12K. We all go back and forth but I lose a couple hands and get low. Got down to 4500, in the big blind for 2K leaving me 2500. John, who twice had Queens busted, once by a Straight on the board, the other time when I river flushed him when I was all in pre-flop with 7/9 Hearts and my last 2000. I thought he might be a bit on tilt, he went all-in. Leng, who will call with any two cards, called. I hesitated. I had a 7/10 off. I knew I should fold. I decided 3 - 1 on my money and I probably had 2 live cards. I did. But both of them improved, I didn't and I was out in third.
But I am fine with that, I like both guys, they played better tonight and deserved to finish higher. Most important, I had fun.
Waited...waited...waited...raised Aces. Got a couple callers. Raised the flop, they folded. I was staying between 2500 and 4400 all night.
Finally, when I was at the upper end, raised pocket 10s. Leng called. Flop came King, rag, rag, he checked, I raised, he came over the top. I instantly knew he had the King...but now I was getting about 8-1 on my chips so I called. He had the King...and a 10. So I was chasing the case 10 and did not get it. Now I am down to about 1600.
Lots of callers to my big blind. I have 4/7 Spades. Flop comes 7/k/7, 2 hearts. They check, I go all-in, Leng calls (by now he had lots of chips) and I have about6K.
Get to the final table. Keep adding chips here and there. Pick up A/10. Raise to 3 times the blinds. Larry calls. Larry is a good player, always has a nice pile of chips when he gets to the final table. But he had taken a couple losses and my raise left him about 1000, less than I raised. Flop came King high. He checked, I went all-in thinking he was priced in but I could make that raise...but not that call. He thought for a long time and then folded. I picked up lots of chips on that one.
Get down to three people...Leng, John, and me. Leng is short stack, I am big stack. Pick up A/J, raise 3 times the blinds. John folds, Leng calls. Flop is beautiful, A/J/rag, though there are 2 clubs. I raise, he calls. Turn is a blank, he checks, I go all in, he calls. He has nothing...a 2/4, though the 4 is a club. And he spikes a club to double up and cripple me.
I double up a couple times, at the break I have about 12K, John has about 14K, and Leng has about 12K. We all go back and forth but I lose a couple hands and get low. Got down to 4500, in the big blind for 2K leaving me 2500. John, who twice had Queens busted, once by a Straight on the board, the other time when I river flushed him when I was all in pre-flop with 7/9 Hearts and my last 2000. I thought he might be a bit on tilt, he went all-in. Leng, who will call with any two cards, called. I hesitated. I had a 7/10 off. I knew I should fold. I decided 3 - 1 on my money and I probably had 2 live cards. I did. But both of them improved, I didn't and I was out in third.
But I am fine with that, I like both guys, they played better tonight and deserved to finish higher. Most important, I had fun.
Good poker made easy
So after the Thursday performance I felt like I really played well. Next up, 14 players. My table had Boston John to my right and John C. to his right, the rest of the table was pretty passive. Gary B., Paul, Danny, and...and....someone.
Boston John is one of those tough, tough players for me, much like Randy. Not because he is a great player...actually, specifically because he isn't. He likes to call it...and treat it as..."drunken monkey poker". He will make insane calls because it "is free poker". Which would be fine...except he is beating the edge. In other words, if I get him in as a 22-1 dog...which I do regularly...he hits about 40% of the time, a ridiculous statistical anomaly that threatens to disrupt my game. However, it also makes it easier to make more sketchy calls because he will raise and/or call with almost any 2 cards. So you need less of a hand because his raises mean less. Gary B., Paul, and Danny are pretty easy to read, though I respect all their games and John C is one of the few people I credit with being straight out better than me at poker.
Overall, I like this table because I can play good poker and it will mean something. I tend to do better against better players because I get my chips in too often against bad players and due to the sheer volume of times I put chips in play, their long-shots hit too often against me and I get in trouble.
Started out winning a couple hands, then losing a couple. About even after the first blind level. Was limping in for whatever reason. Decided to switch it up and play good poker. Picked up pocket 3s from middle position. Raised triple the blinds to 300. Gary called. Flop came 8/q/8, I raised, he folded. I saw what he folded, A/9. I had not realized it before but he does not protect his cards when he looks at them. I had to actively work to not see his cards all night.
Next hand, I bumped it with pocket 4s. One caller. Another flop like the one before, the board paired and had a King. Randy checked, I raised and...he folded? Randy folded? He must have had something like a 2/9 or something. He never folds before the river. So I was up about 4K off those 2 hands.
One hand I lost a few chips on. Limped in with K/9 suited. That is one problem with limping. I start playing trash hands like that. I am essentially playing for the second nut flush since any straight means I bust out to someone playing the big slick. Couple other callers. Flop came King high, I raised, Paul folded, Danny and Randy called. As soon as Danny called I shut it down, putting him on the King and better kicker. We checked it down and sure enough he flipped up Big Slick. So I lost about as little as possible...it is an open question whether he would have raised or not, and an even better question if I would have called. I would argue I was playing somewhat poorly with limping...so I might have.
Meanwhile, Paul started doing some selective raising, John C. raised on occasion...and when they did, it was great because it told me they had good hands. Did some selective calling. Example; picked up the transvestite (A/4) suited. John C. raised. I put him on a big pair, MAYBE Big Slick. I called. If I hit the flop hard, either the Ace or 2 or even a complete flush, I could take a bundle of chips, if not...he only double the blind and I was in the big blind so I was getting 4-1+ on my chips (the plus was if others called...which they did). The flop was ragged with King high, he raised, we all folded. He showed Kings.
Now, I liked that he showed them because it let me know my read had been pretty solid and pretty much let me know how he was playing. But it also let us all know to respect his raises.
So now the table had slightly shifted to where some limping, some raising was happening. Boston John came back from death's door several times to actually have me outchipped. I had about 4200 by the time we got to 3/600...and unbelievably, nobody had busted out.
I picked up Q/K suited. I raised three times the blinds to 1800. Everyone folded to Boston who had limped in. He now went over the top all-in. Here is where reputation matters.
If Paul, Gary B., Danny, or John C. makes that raise I fold. With Boston John...yes, he might have me crushed with something like A/Q...but I doubt it. He is just as likely to have 10/4 suited or some such trash. Actually, more likely. So I went ahead and called. It was playing the person, not the cards because K/Q is a dangerous hand.
If someone like John C. calls, I am going to credit him with having limped with something like an A/Q or A/K where I am playing for 3 outs since I am dominated. I will essentially discount the flush and straight possibilities as those require everything to fall just right. Since I think it likely I am dominated, I will fold. But with a looser player like Boston, I am more likely to have 2 live cards...and 2 big ones. That is the difference between calling and folding. If I fold, I am in trouble with 2500 left.
Well, this time John had a legit hand...A/J. But I spiked the queen on the flop, he never improved, and now I had a nice stack of over 8600 (blinds who did not call our duel).
This let me play a hand I maybe should not have. I called a raise of double the blinds with J/8. The flop came Q/J/10 giving me second pair and a gut shot. I briefly considered raising, but before I could Paul raised. Now, normally here I credit him with the Queen since he was first to act and is a solid player. However, I did have A) chips to play with, B) middle pair, and C) I have been called so many times by 2nd pair that sucked out, I was still a bit on tilt and randomly called, as did one other guy. Turn and river were blanks and were checked down. Paul only had the 10s and my jacks were good. Interesting.
Not long after that, Gary was down to 400 and under the gun. I promised to call him (I was in the Big Blind and had 600 out there) if he went all-in. It got the desired laugh. Couple of limpers, including John C. I raised enough to put John all-in...and John, to my surprise, called. I was a bit bummed. I figured he would know me well enough to not call there. Also, I really wanted to isolate. The more people involved, the more likely I will get my Aces cracked.
Well, Gary turned up the 5/8...of Hearts. John turned up the 9/10...of Hearts. I had both Red Aces so if a lot of Hearts came, I wanted 4, not 3. Gary had a long-shot straight draw or needed 2 pair, John had a better straight draw and a flush draw.
The flop I did not like much at all. It had a 6,7, and rag...and 2 hearts. Gary had an up and down straight draw, John had a flush draw. Turn was a 10. But neither got help on the river and they were both gone. That also sent us to the final table.
I now had 14, 15K, something like that. And I kept winning. If I got into a hand, I won it. There was really only one "big" hand. It came when we got down to 5 players.
I was in early position and picked up 7/9 diamonds. All night I had folded these hands. Now, however, with a clear chip lead...by this point I was well over 18K and probably had over half the chips in play, the others being pretty evenly distributed among the other 4...I decided to limp and see if I could hit it hard. With blinds of 4/800 people were not raising much. Well, everyone calls and as the small blind completes I say, "Looks like a family...first one of the night." Obnoxious Gary says, "Nope, because I am going to raise it."
Fair enough. Actually, I will argue this is a strong play. You have Terry limping under the gun, I limped, so did Bud and Danny. That means, with Gary's blind, there is already 4000 in the pot. That is a worthwhile pot already. A strong raise here will get rid of weak hands and might even win the pot. Picking up 4K at this point is huge. Instead, he made a minumum raise, 800.
I consider this a weak, weak raise. Let's look at what price everyone got:
Terry had originally called 800 to win 1200 (the blinds) if nobody else called.
I had called 800 to win 2000.
Bud called 800 to win 2800.
Danny called 400 to win 3600.
Now, his raise:
Terry needs to call 800 to win 4800. He is getting a whopping 6-1 on his money. Even if he was just being funny with a 2/7 off suit call, he is getting the correct price to call. In a stunning move, he weakly folded. Very weak play. What hand can you call getting 1.5-1 on your chips, but not call 6-1? As an aside, this tells me he does not understand or use pot odds. This is valuable information for the future as far as pricing him in or out of hands for draws, etc. He will go with his hunches instead.
I need to call 800 to win 4800 with a strong drawing hand that, if it hits, has hidden strength and can take down a HUGE pot.
Bud now needs to call 800 to win 5600 and does so.
Danny needs to call 800 to win 6400, an incredible 8 - 1 on his chips. And amazingly, he is the only one for whom the price got worse...but still, even if I have 2/7 against Aces, at 8 - 1 I am at least going to see a flop. So is Danny.
Well, the flop was great and horrific for me. It was great because I flopped a flush, with the backdoor runner-runner straight flush impossible dream draw. It was horrible because if anyone else flopped a flush as well, there were and Ace, King, Queen, and Ten out there that beat me. I flopped the 5th nut flush. If the second nuts loses a lot of chips, how many can you lose with the 5th nut flush? Well, with 7200 already in the pot I wanted it. And since Terry had folded, I was first to act. I did not even hesitate, almost as soon as the third card hit the table I went all-in meaning it was going to cost anyone who called all their chips. I am getting called by the Q, K, or Ace high flushes. Nobody else can even think about it because I have their outs to the straight flush.
They all got out of the way. Gary, as usual, complained about having to make a laydown and insisted it be run out, showing his K diamonds and some other random card. He would not have made his flush and I would have taken him out. He lost a hand he could have won.
If instead of a weak nuisance raise...a raise so small that anyone who limped is priced in by definition, except for the small blind...he had raised, say, 4 times the blinds, lets see if I call. Blinds are 4/800 so that would be 3200. Now I have to call 3200 to win 7200 once Terry lays it down. I also see weakness in those behind me so cannot imagine they would call this raise so there are no implied odds to make the weak call look right. I fold and probably so does everyone else, giving him the pot. However, he is a weak player who does not understand the concepts of pot odds...he actually makes fun of people who use them...and thinks if he raises, people should fold...then complains when they did because he had such a great hand.
Of course, he also had targeted me because I had made a pre-flop raise with A/10 and hit top pair, raised it again and was called. At the showdown, Danny had, as I suspected, a weaker Ace. It had not been a big pot, but Gary thought I was playing weak cards.
Really? 5 handed, A/10 is weak? Okay. Anytime you want to go all-in, you go right ahead. I will call you more than likely if I have A/10 or better. With 8 or 9 players, no. But 5? In a heartbeat.
Got up to about 22K. Got down to heads up with Bud, whom I have not played with, and a HUGE lead..about 30K to 12K. And could not put him away.l At least twice blind raised his last 1000 pre-flop...and he won both hands. Got him all-in 4, 5 times...and either he won or we split every time (twice we split). He never got over about 14K...but I could not put him away. Finally did just by attrition and won.
Overall, it was a solid night. I played slow, solid poker. Only once all night were all my chips at risk (the hand against Boston John) and, while I did get in slightly behind and suck out, it was not a huge deficit. I slowly but steadily made gains when I played hands and lost very few. Once more, play good cards, play them strongly, or fold. Good things happen. Very few spectacular...or even interesting...hands, just a steady climb to accumulate chips.
Boston John is one of those tough, tough players for me, much like Randy. Not because he is a great player...actually, specifically because he isn't. He likes to call it...and treat it as..."drunken monkey poker". He will make insane calls because it "is free poker". Which would be fine...except he is beating the edge. In other words, if I get him in as a 22-1 dog...which I do regularly...he hits about 40% of the time, a ridiculous statistical anomaly that threatens to disrupt my game. However, it also makes it easier to make more sketchy calls because he will raise and/or call with almost any 2 cards. So you need less of a hand because his raises mean less. Gary B., Paul, and Danny are pretty easy to read, though I respect all their games and John C is one of the few people I credit with being straight out better than me at poker.
Overall, I like this table because I can play good poker and it will mean something. I tend to do better against better players because I get my chips in too often against bad players and due to the sheer volume of times I put chips in play, their long-shots hit too often against me and I get in trouble.
Started out winning a couple hands, then losing a couple. About even after the first blind level. Was limping in for whatever reason. Decided to switch it up and play good poker. Picked up pocket 3s from middle position. Raised triple the blinds to 300. Gary called. Flop came 8/q/8, I raised, he folded. I saw what he folded, A/9. I had not realized it before but he does not protect his cards when he looks at them. I had to actively work to not see his cards all night.
Next hand, I bumped it with pocket 4s. One caller. Another flop like the one before, the board paired and had a King. Randy checked, I raised and...he folded? Randy folded? He must have had something like a 2/9 or something. He never folds before the river. So I was up about 4K off those 2 hands.
One hand I lost a few chips on. Limped in with K/9 suited. That is one problem with limping. I start playing trash hands like that. I am essentially playing for the second nut flush since any straight means I bust out to someone playing the big slick. Couple other callers. Flop came King high, I raised, Paul folded, Danny and Randy called. As soon as Danny called I shut it down, putting him on the King and better kicker. We checked it down and sure enough he flipped up Big Slick. So I lost about as little as possible...it is an open question whether he would have raised or not, and an even better question if I would have called. I would argue I was playing somewhat poorly with limping...so I might have.
Meanwhile, Paul started doing some selective raising, John C. raised on occasion...and when they did, it was great because it told me they had good hands. Did some selective calling. Example; picked up the transvestite (A/4) suited. John C. raised. I put him on a big pair, MAYBE Big Slick. I called. If I hit the flop hard, either the Ace or 2 or even a complete flush, I could take a bundle of chips, if not...he only double the blind and I was in the big blind so I was getting 4-1+ on my chips (the plus was if others called...which they did). The flop was ragged with King high, he raised, we all folded. He showed Kings.
Now, I liked that he showed them because it let me know my read had been pretty solid and pretty much let me know how he was playing. But it also let us all know to respect his raises.
So now the table had slightly shifted to where some limping, some raising was happening. Boston John came back from death's door several times to actually have me outchipped. I had about 4200 by the time we got to 3/600...and unbelievably, nobody had busted out.
I picked up Q/K suited. I raised three times the blinds to 1800. Everyone folded to Boston who had limped in. He now went over the top all-in. Here is where reputation matters.
If Paul, Gary B., Danny, or John C. makes that raise I fold. With Boston John...yes, he might have me crushed with something like A/Q...but I doubt it. He is just as likely to have 10/4 suited or some such trash. Actually, more likely. So I went ahead and called. It was playing the person, not the cards because K/Q is a dangerous hand.
If someone like John C. calls, I am going to credit him with having limped with something like an A/Q or A/K where I am playing for 3 outs since I am dominated. I will essentially discount the flush and straight possibilities as those require everything to fall just right. Since I think it likely I am dominated, I will fold. But with a looser player like Boston, I am more likely to have 2 live cards...and 2 big ones. That is the difference between calling and folding. If I fold, I am in trouble with 2500 left.
Well, this time John had a legit hand...A/J. But I spiked the queen on the flop, he never improved, and now I had a nice stack of over 8600 (blinds who did not call our duel).
This let me play a hand I maybe should not have. I called a raise of double the blinds with J/8. The flop came Q/J/10 giving me second pair and a gut shot. I briefly considered raising, but before I could Paul raised. Now, normally here I credit him with the Queen since he was first to act and is a solid player. However, I did have A) chips to play with, B) middle pair, and C) I have been called so many times by 2nd pair that sucked out, I was still a bit on tilt and randomly called, as did one other guy. Turn and river were blanks and were checked down. Paul only had the 10s and my jacks were good. Interesting.
Not long after that, Gary was down to 400 and under the gun. I promised to call him (I was in the Big Blind and had 600 out there) if he went all-in. It got the desired laugh. Couple of limpers, including John C. I raised enough to put John all-in...and John, to my surprise, called. I was a bit bummed. I figured he would know me well enough to not call there. Also, I really wanted to isolate. The more people involved, the more likely I will get my Aces cracked.
Well, Gary turned up the 5/8...of Hearts. John turned up the 9/10...of Hearts. I had both Red Aces so if a lot of Hearts came, I wanted 4, not 3. Gary had a long-shot straight draw or needed 2 pair, John had a better straight draw and a flush draw.
The flop I did not like much at all. It had a 6,7, and rag...and 2 hearts. Gary had an up and down straight draw, John had a flush draw. Turn was a 10. But neither got help on the river and they were both gone. That also sent us to the final table.
I now had 14, 15K, something like that. And I kept winning. If I got into a hand, I won it. There was really only one "big" hand. It came when we got down to 5 players.
I was in early position and picked up 7/9 diamonds. All night I had folded these hands. Now, however, with a clear chip lead...by this point I was well over 18K and probably had over half the chips in play, the others being pretty evenly distributed among the other 4...I decided to limp and see if I could hit it hard. With blinds of 4/800 people were not raising much. Well, everyone calls and as the small blind completes I say, "Looks like a family...first one of the night." Obnoxious Gary says, "Nope, because I am going to raise it."
Fair enough. Actually, I will argue this is a strong play. You have Terry limping under the gun, I limped, so did Bud and Danny. That means, with Gary's blind, there is already 4000 in the pot. That is a worthwhile pot already. A strong raise here will get rid of weak hands and might even win the pot. Picking up 4K at this point is huge. Instead, he made a minumum raise, 800.
I consider this a weak, weak raise. Let's look at what price everyone got:
Terry had originally called 800 to win 1200 (the blinds) if nobody else called.
I had called 800 to win 2000.
Bud called 800 to win 2800.
Danny called 400 to win 3600.
Now, his raise:
Terry needs to call 800 to win 4800. He is getting a whopping 6-1 on his money. Even if he was just being funny with a 2/7 off suit call, he is getting the correct price to call. In a stunning move, he weakly folded. Very weak play. What hand can you call getting 1.5-1 on your chips, but not call 6-1? As an aside, this tells me he does not understand or use pot odds. This is valuable information for the future as far as pricing him in or out of hands for draws, etc. He will go with his hunches instead.
I need to call 800 to win 4800 with a strong drawing hand that, if it hits, has hidden strength and can take down a HUGE pot.
Bud now needs to call 800 to win 5600 and does so.
Danny needs to call 800 to win 6400, an incredible 8 - 1 on his chips. And amazingly, he is the only one for whom the price got worse...but still, even if I have 2/7 against Aces, at 8 - 1 I am at least going to see a flop. So is Danny.
Well, the flop was great and horrific for me. It was great because I flopped a flush, with the backdoor runner-runner straight flush impossible dream draw. It was horrible because if anyone else flopped a flush as well, there were and Ace, King, Queen, and Ten out there that beat me. I flopped the 5th nut flush. If the second nuts loses a lot of chips, how many can you lose with the 5th nut flush? Well, with 7200 already in the pot I wanted it. And since Terry had folded, I was first to act. I did not even hesitate, almost as soon as the third card hit the table I went all-in meaning it was going to cost anyone who called all their chips. I am getting called by the Q, K, or Ace high flushes. Nobody else can even think about it because I have their outs to the straight flush.
They all got out of the way. Gary, as usual, complained about having to make a laydown and insisted it be run out, showing his K diamonds and some other random card. He would not have made his flush and I would have taken him out. He lost a hand he could have won.
If instead of a weak nuisance raise...a raise so small that anyone who limped is priced in by definition, except for the small blind...he had raised, say, 4 times the blinds, lets see if I call. Blinds are 4/800 so that would be 3200. Now I have to call 3200 to win 7200 once Terry lays it down. I also see weakness in those behind me so cannot imagine they would call this raise so there are no implied odds to make the weak call look right. I fold and probably so does everyone else, giving him the pot. However, he is a weak player who does not understand the concepts of pot odds...he actually makes fun of people who use them...and thinks if he raises, people should fold...then complains when they did because he had such a great hand.
Of course, he also had targeted me because I had made a pre-flop raise with A/10 and hit top pair, raised it again and was called. At the showdown, Danny had, as I suspected, a weaker Ace. It had not been a big pot, but Gary thought I was playing weak cards.
Really? 5 handed, A/10 is weak? Okay. Anytime you want to go all-in, you go right ahead. I will call you more than likely if I have A/10 or better. With 8 or 9 players, no. But 5? In a heartbeat.
Got up to about 22K. Got down to heads up with Bud, whom I have not played with, and a HUGE lead..about 30K to 12K. And could not put him away.l At least twice blind raised his last 1000 pre-flop...and he won both hands. Got him all-in 4, 5 times...and either he won or we split every time (twice we split). He never got over about 14K...but I could not put him away. Finally did just by attrition and won.
Overall, it was a solid night. I played slow, solid poker. Only once all night were all my chips at risk (the hand against Boston John) and, while I did get in slightly behind and suck out, it was not a huge deficit. I slowly but steadily made gains when I played hands and lost very few. Once more, play good cards, play them strongly, or fold. Good things happen. Very few spectacular...or even interesting...hands, just a steady climb to accumulate chips.
Friday
Bad poker made easy
The Goose and I were going to go to a movie but it did not start until late so to dodge traffic and wait for the movie start, I headed over to Mixers.
First off...wow, how the mighty have fallen! There were 4 of us besides the tournament host...Gypsy, who works next door, Taz, who works there, myself, and a guy I don't really know though this is the third time I have played with him.
I had a pretty firm goal going in even before I knew how many people would be there. Accumulate enough chips to win if I wanted, then about 45 minutes in start working on depleting them by playing "respectable" hands that could still lose and not look like I was dumping them.
Early on I pretty much limped from small and big, raised if I played from anywhere else, or folded. Meanwhile, I got a read on their play.
Gypsy has gotten better. Now he raises a bit more often and, instead of just raising with the nuts or close to it, he raises with draws, for one thing, which adds a lot of deception to his game. The director is a terrible, terrible player. He stayed in on a board of 4/5/6 against flop and turn raises with Big Slick. Then, just to prove it was not an isolated incident, he stayed in against pre-flop raises, a board of A/K/5 against a raise on the flop, and another raise on teh turn with a 2/4 and when he rivered a 3 he had lots of chips. Of course, he kept giving them back by staying to the river with any 2 cards...
Taz was playing his normal maniacal game and going from short stack to average to short to average. The other guy has calmed his game a lot and gotten much, much better.
I just played good cards and played them solidly. Once I called a raise with A/J hearts, the flop was low and ragged, checked, when an Ace hit the pre-flop raiser (three time player guy) bet and I put him on a better Ace and folded. Sure enough, at the river he had big slick.
Other than that, I played my cards solidly. On one hand I raised with A/9 (I loosen my requirements a bit 5 handed) from the button, the director called. I knew he would call with any 2 cards but I bet the flop after I missed it anyway. I bet it strongly and he actually folded.
An interesting hand came up I was not in. First guy folded, I folded, director, in the small blind, hesitated to complete his blind. As soon as he did, Taz reached for a big chip. Director completed, Taz raised, he folded. We all saw what happened and commented on it. I knew Taz would make that play and knew what to watch for. Just another reason to pay attention even when not in the hand. You can pick stuff up.
It paid off a couple hands later. With 4 players (Gypsy had busted out after a couple bad calls) I picked up Q/J in the big blind. He hesitated, then called, Taz folded, guy to my right completed, I raised 3 times the blinds (2/400 w/ante...one reason their attendance has fallen. People don't like the ante.) to 1200. He hesitated again, then came over the top all-in, the other guy folded.
Now, had I not seen and confirmed his hesitation, I don't know if I would have called. After all, when all else is said and done, I had a Queen high. But several things worked against him.
1) He consistently mis-valued hands.
2) His initial hesitation led me to believe he had something weak...maybe middle cards or low cards or at best something like a K/4, that type of trash hand.
3) His second hesitation included pulling out calling chips, then deciding to make a big overbet...2500 more or so all-in. It seemed like a move, not a "I have a killer hand and think he will pay me off."
Had Taz...or even the other guy...made this play I would have folded. But based on my read I called.
And he turned up Q/2 off.
Good read. Better flop...Q/J/rag. Turn was a deuce, giving him 2 outs. He hit neither.
Then the Goose called...the movie was off. I started looking to go home, loosening my play A LOT,
I took a lot of small pots and ended up pretty clear chip lead with about 9K (only 15K in play) and 3 players
Picked up pocket 3s. Raised to 1200. Might have been a bad raise since it essentially pot committed me. Taz came over the top all in, it was only about another 8 or 9 hundred so I was guaranteed calling. He had A/4. He hit the 4 on the flop, I never improved. Now he was the chip lead
Next hand he raised, we both called (I had K/7 and would not have called had I not wanted to go.). Flop came King high, 3 spades. Guy next to me made a speech about should he go all-in? then checked. Now, that could mean several things:
1) he really had a big hand. I did not believe it.
2) he had a weak hand and wanted us to check in hopes he could improve. This I believed.
3) he had a draw to a strong hand and wanted a free card to get it. Another possibility, though I really thought it was #2.
I did not check. I sent in the chips, believing they would both call and Taz had something like Big Slick. He did call, the other guy folded. And Taz was ahead...though not as far as I thought. He had Aces. I thought I had 3 outs (the 7s), but because he had a BETTER hand than I thought, I actually improved to 5 outs since the Kings would help.
Fortunately, I did not improve and was on my way out the door.
I know it sounds weird to go from chip lead to out in 2 hands and think I did well...but that fit my time frame and I did exactly what I wanted. Had I wanted to win I would have. Instead, I proved (to myself) that I was, that night, the best player at the table and when it was time to go, I got in with hands that were believable I would call on but were odds on favorites to lose. (I actually suspect I was a slight favorite on the 3s, but not so much that I was surprised to get beat. Probably something like 51-49 or some other statistically irrelevant advantage.)
So I will argue I played well, even on my bust-out binge.
Plus, I got home with no traffic. A perfect night.
First off...wow, how the mighty have fallen! There were 4 of us besides the tournament host...Gypsy, who works next door, Taz, who works there, myself, and a guy I don't really know though this is the third time I have played with him.
I had a pretty firm goal going in even before I knew how many people would be there. Accumulate enough chips to win if I wanted, then about 45 minutes in start working on depleting them by playing "respectable" hands that could still lose and not look like I was dumping them.
Early on I pretty much limped from small and big, raised if I played from anywhere else, or folded. Meanwhile, I got a read on their play.
Gypsy has gotten better. Now he raises a bit more often and, instead of just raising with the nuts or close to it, he raises with draws, for one thing, which adds a lot of deception to his game. The director is a terrible, terrible player. He stayed in on a board of 4/5/6 against flop and turn raises with Big Slick. Then, just to prove it was not an isolated incident, he stayed in against pre-flop raises, a board of A/K/5 against a raise on the flop, and another raise on teh turn with a 2/4 and when he rivered a 3 he had lots of chips. Of course, he kept giving them back by staying to the river with any 2 cards...
Taz was playing his normal maniacal game and going from short stack to average to short to average. The other guy has calmed his game a lot and gotten much, much better.
I just played good cards and played them solidly. Once I called a raise with A/J hearts, the flop was low and ragged, checked, when an Ace hit the pre-flop raiser (three time player guy) bet and I put him on a better Ace and folded. Sure enough, at the river he had big slick.
Other than that, I played my cards solidly. On one hand I raised with A/9 (I loosen my requirements a bit 5 handed) from the button, the director called. I knew he would call with any 2 cards but I bet the flop after I missed it anyway. I bet it strongly and he actually folded.
An interesting hand came up I was not in. First guy folded, I folded, director, in the small blind, hesitated to complete his blind. As soon as he did, Taz reached for a big chip. Director completed, Taz raised, he folded. We all saw what happened and commented on it. I knew Taz would make that play and knew what to watch for. Just another reason to pay attention even when not in the hand. You can pick stuff up.
It paid off a couple hands later. With 4 players (Gypsy had busted out after a couple bad calls) I picked up Q/J in the big blind. He hesitated, then called, Taz folded, guy to my right completed, I raised 3 times the blinds (2/400 w/ante...one reason their attendance has fallen. People don't like the ante.) to 1200. He hesitated again, then came over the top all-in, the other guy folded.
Now, had I not seen and confirmed his hesitation, I don't know if I would have called. After all, when all else is said and done, I had a Queen high. But several things worked against him.
1) He consistently mis-valued hands.
2) His initial hesitation led me to believe he had something weak...maybe middle cards or low cards or at best something like a K/4, that type of trash hand.
3) His second hesitation included pulling out calling chips, then deciding to make a big overbet...2500 more or so all-in. It seemed like a move, not a "I have a killer hand and think he will pay me off."
Had Taz...or even the other guy...made this play I would have folded. But based on my read I called.
And he turned up Q/2 off.
Good read. Better flop...Q/J/rag. Turn was a deuce, giving him 2 outs. He hit neither.
Then the Goose called...the movie was off. I started looking to go home, loosening my play A LOT,
I took a lot of small pots and ended up pretty clear chip lead with about 9K (only 15K in play) and 3 players
Picked up pocket 3s. Raised to 1200. Might have been a bad raise since it essentially pot committed me. Taz came over the top all in, it was only about another 8 or 9 hundred so I was guaranteed calling. He had A/4. He hit the 4 on the flop, I never improved. Now he was the chip lead
Next hand he raised, we both called (I had K/7 and would not have called had I not wanted to go.). Flop came King high, 3 spades. Guy next to me made a speech about should he go all-in? then checked. Now, that could mean several things:
1) he really had a big hand. I did not believe it.
2) he had a weak hand and wanted us to check in hopes he could improve. This I believed.
3) he had a draw to a strong hand and wanted a free card to get it. Another possibility, though I really thought it was #2.
I did not check. I sent in the chips, believing they would both call and Taz had something like Big Slick. He did call, the other guy folded. And Taz was ahead...though not as far as I thought. He had Aces. I thought I had 3 outs (the 7s), but because he had a BETTER hand than I thought, I actually improved to 5 outs since the Kings would help.
Fortunately, I did not improve and was on my way out the door.
I know it sounds weird to go from chip lead to out in 2 hands and think I did well...but that fit my time frame and I did exactly what I wanted. Had I wanted to win I would have. Instead, I proved (to myself) that I was, that night, the best player at the table and when it was time to go, I got in with hands that were believable I would call on but were odds on favorites to lose. (I actually suspect I was a slight favorite on the 3s, but not so much that I was surprised to get beat. Probably something like 51-49 or some other statistically irrelevant advantage.)
So I will argue I played well, even on my bust-out binge.
Plus, I got home with no traffic. A perfect night.
Tuesday
Pinball Poker
Small turnout of 8, but Leng elected to play so we split to 2 tables of 5. I had Barbara to my left, John to her left, Randy to my right and...uh...someone across from me. Trying to remember who. Oh, well. Bill. Bill Rickman.
I started off okay, winning a couple pots. When the blinds were up, picked up fishhooks with a couple people in the pot. Raised to 400. Randy called. I was first to act so I blind raised. I did that because I figured to have the better hand and I did not want him staying around on a draw. Also, if an Ace rolled off, I did not want him thinking I was scared of the Ace. Flop was ugly. 8/k/8. He really wanted to call, but my blind raise scared him off and he finally folded.
Then something happened. I started limping in...and I knew it was weak and did not care because I just wasn't in to the game. This is happening a lot lately. Anyway, I had the q/9. Flop came Q/5/3. I raised. Barbara and Randy both called. I gave her credit for the Queen and was not proud of my kicker. The turn was checked around and the river was an Ace. She hit two pair...Aces and 5s. A couple hands later, I was in the big blind with K/7. Another ragged flop with King high. I bet, they both stayed. Checked to the river. Again an Ace spiked and Randy hit two pair...his kicker was a 3.
For whatever reason, that put me on tilt. And it should not have. But getting slapped around twice in short succession when I flopped top pair, played them weakly (I should have bet bigger and bet the turn both times) I got river ratted. I think it was largely because I really didn't feel like playing so I let stuff affect me.
And when I was next in the big blind I had K/7 and it was just Barbara and I. I still had plenty of chips, about 5K since I had won quite a bit early before I lost interest. Anyway, the flop came King high. For a third time in just a short period I had flopped top pair. However, this time it looked dangerous...3 clubs. My 7 was a club. I thought about betting. If I were not on tilt I would have. But I found myself in a weird place...not enjoying the game, but attached to my chips. When I play well, I will lay chips out there without worrying about losing them all. When I play poorly, I hesitate to bet when I should and call less often.
Turn was another club giving me a 7 high flush. I checked, she bet, I flipped my cards up saying "I just have top pair and a 7 high, I can't call." She flipped up hers...a 3/5, with the 5 her club. I had the better hand. I played it weakly. I lost chips.
And I kept bleeding them until at the final table I had just 1600. I went all in with K/Q suited and ran into big slick. I spiked the queen on the flop...but there was a 10, too. I said, "Give him his Jack" and meant it. The turn was a blank but the river gave him the Jack and I was on my merry way.
I have been trying to figure out where the fun went. I used to love poker and want to play. Now about half the time I like it and the other half I just don't feel like playing...or if I play, after 10 - 15 minutes I get bored. I find very few hands interesting (note how few I looked at here...I got up over 6000 chips early on. There should be some interesting hands in there.) Hmm. What is going on here? Must examine this situation.
I started off okay, winning a couple pots. When the blinds were up, picked up fishhooks with a couple people in the pot. Raised to 400. Randy called. I was first to act so I blind raised. I did that because I figured to have the better hand and I did not want him staying around on a draw. Also, if an Ace rolled off, I did not want him thinking I was scared of the Ace. Flop was ugly. 8/k/8. He really wanted to call, but my blind raise scared him off and he finally folded.
Then something happened. I started limping in...and I knew it was weak and did not care because I just wasn't in to the game. This is happening a lot lately. Anyway, I had the q/9. Flop came Q/5/3. I raised. Barbara and Randy both called. I gave her credit for the Queen and was not proud of my kicker. The turn was checked around and the river was an Ace. She hit two pair...Aces and 5s. A couple hands later, I was in the big blind with K/7. Another ragged flop with King high. I bet, they both stayed. Checked to the river. Again an Ace spiked and Randy hit two pair...his kicker was a 3.
For whatever reason, that put me on tilt. And it should not have. But getting slapped around twice in short succession when I flopped top pair, played them weakly (I should have bet bigger and bet the turn both times) I got river ratted. I think it was largely because I really didn't feel like playing so I let stuff affect me.
And when I was next in the big blind I had K/7 and it was just Barbara and I. I still had plenty of chips, about 5K since I had won quite a bit early before I lost interest. Anyway, the flop came King high. For a third time in just a short period I had flopped top pair. However, this time it looked dangerous...3 clubs. My 7 was a club. I thought about betting. If I were not on tilt I would have. But I found myself in a weird place...not enjoying the game, but attached to my chips. When I play well, I will lay chips out there without worrying about losing them all. When I play poorly, I hesitate to bet when I should and call less often.
Turn was another club giving me a 7 high flush. I checked, she bet, I flipped my cards up saying "I just have top pair and a 7 high, I can't call." She flipped up hers...a 3/5, with the 5 her club. I had the better hand. I played it weakly. I lost chips.
And I kept bleeding them until at the final table I had just 1600. I went all in with K/Q suited and ran into big slick. I spiked the queen on the flop...but there was a 10, too. I said, "Give him his Jack" and meant it. The turn was a blank but the river gave him the Jack and I was on my merry way.
I have been trying to figure out where the fun went. I used to love poker and want to play. Now about half the time I like it and the other half I just don't feel like playing...or if I play, after 10 - 15 minutes I get bored. I find very few hands interesting (note how few I looked at here...I got up over 6000 chips early on. There should be some interesting hands in there.) Hmm. What is going on here? Must examine this situation.
Monday
Thinking back
There is one play I made in the Friday tournament which has really gnawed at me as a mistake...actually, it was a play I DIDN'T make.
Here is the situation: A guy raises from middle position, everyone checks to me in the big blind. With A/6 I call because something about it did not feel right. I kind of thought he was playing position more than his cards and he thought everyone would fold. Generally speaking I am folding A/6, suited or not, if someone shows strength. But this time I decided to play, and going into that decision was his short stack. I had chips to play with at this point as I was the clear chip leader at the table.
The flop came King high and paired my 6. Check, check. Right there I figured I was ahead. I planned to bet the turn. Out came another high card. And I ....checked.
That was a weak play. I had twice read him for weakness. Even though I was weak as well, with 3 overs to my pair on the board, I thought he had something like a couple high cards. I believed I was ahead. And I gave him a free card to catch up. I should have put him all-in. He checked.
River was a blank. I had decided to check it down when before I could act, he hovered his hand over his last 2K. My first thought was he was trying to intimidate me so I should bet. My second thought was if he bet the 2K I would fold. My third thought was when Kenneth does this same tell, he actually HAS the hand.
So I sat back to think. If I went with my first read I should bet the 2K. If I was correct about his weakness he would fold and my own weak hand would win the hand. After all, there were 3 overs to my lowly 6s on the board.
However, 2K would, thought I was chip lead, still be a reasonable chunk of my stack. I would still be chip lead, but there wasn't enough in the pot to really fight over, certainly not enough to risk 2K.
I KNOW that tell, though. When someone who usually waits for their turn suddenly, deliberately, and intentionally, does something to reveal their plan out of turn...THEY ARE ACTING. And when someone acts, figure out what they want you to do and do the opposite. In this case, he obviously wanted me to check. I knew it as surely as I could know anything. I knew he was weak. But I knew I was weak, too. I never really convinced myself he was doing the Kenneth on this one. Different people, same tell, different meanings.
I talked myself out of the raise because I did not want to raise with 4th pair and have him call. I wanted him to check.
So I checked. And he, with a relieved sigh, checked. And showed his pocket 4s.
Sure, I won the hand. But I won it weakly and only because he played it weakly. I should have gone with my read, bet the 2K, and put the pressure on him. No matter what the result of the hand was, I was outplayed on this one. I made a read and refused to go with it.
This is a weakness in my game. If I am going to play an aggressive style...raising pre-flop, making continuation bets, being willing to shove all-in with vulnerable hands if I think I am ahead...then I need to be aggressive all the way. If I read my opponent as being weak, I need to put pressure on them regardless of what I have.
This was a time I played my cards instead of the opponent and it cost me.
Not so much in chips...I am positive he would have folded had I put him all-in as I should...but it cost me in table image as I demonstrated I would A) play a weak hand and B) allow myself to be manipulated.
An aggressive player needs to control the table. When I am playing correctly people will fold if I am acting after them because they know if I enter the pot I am coming in firing. This allows me to develop an image, alter the table mores, and even play more pots since the way I set this image is to raise early, win the hand, and show good cards.
If I am a part-time aggressor, part-time soft player I destroy all the good work I have done and am going to get some calls I don't want. So the mistake was, in retrospect, HUGE. And hopefully it is one I will not make again.
Here is the situation: A guy raises from middle position, everyone checks to me in the big blind. With A/6 I call because something about it did not feel right. I kind of thought he was playing position more than his cards and he thought everyone would fold. Generally speaking I am folding A/6, suited or not, if someone shows strength. But this time I decided to play, and going into that decision was his short stack. I had chips to play with at this point as I was the clear chip leader at the table.
The flop came King high and paired my 6. Check, check. Right there I figured I was ahead. I planned to bet the turn. Out came another high card. And I ....checked.
That was a weak play. I had twice read him for weakness. Even though I was weak as well, with 3 overs to my pair on the board, I thought he had something like a couple high cards. I believed I was ahead. And I gave him a free card to catch up. I should have put him all-in. He checked.
River was a blank. I had decided to check it down when before I could act, he hovered his hand over his last 2K. My first thought was he was trying to intimidate me so I should bet. My second thought was if he bet the 2K I would fold. My third thought was when Kenneth does this same tell, he actually HAS the hand.
So I sat back to think. If I went with my first read I should bet the 2K. If I was correct about his weakness he would fold and my own weak hand would win the hand. After all, there were 3 overs to my lowly 6s on the board.
However, 2K would, thought I was chip lead, still be a reasonable chunk of my stack. I would still be chip lead, but there wasn't enough in the pot to really fight over, certainly not enough to risk 2K.
I KNOW that tell, though. When someone who usually waits for their turn suddenly, deliberately, and intentionally, does something to reveal their plan out of turn...THEY ARE ACTING. And when someone acts, figure out what they want you to do and do the opposite. In this case, he obviously wanted me to check. I knew it as surely as I could know anything. I knew he was weak. But I knew I was weak, too. I never really convinced myself he was doing the Kenneth on this one. Different people, same tell, different meanings.
I talked myself out of the raise because I did not want to raise with 4th pair and have him call. I wanted him to check.
So I checked. And he, with a relieved sigh, checked. And showed his pocket 4s.
Sure, I won the hand. But I won it weakly and only because he played it weakly. I should have gone with my read, bet the 2K, and put the pressure on him. No matter what the result of the hand was, I was outplayed on this one. I made a read and refused to go with it.
This is a weakness in my game. If I am going to play an aggressive style...raising pre-flop, making continuation bets, being willing to shove all-in with vulnerable hands if I think I am ahead...then I need to be aggressive all the way. If I read my opponent as being weak, I need to put pressure on them regardless of what I have.
This was a time I played my cards instead of the opponent and it cost me.
Not so much in chips...I am positive he would have folded had I put him all-in as I should...but it cost me in table image as I demonstrated I would A) play a weak hand and B) allow myself to be manipulated.
An aggressive player needs to control the table. When I am playing correctly people will fold if I am acting after them because they know if I enter the pot I am coming in firing. This allows me to develop an image, alter the table mores, and even play more pots since the way I set this image is to raise early, win the hand, and show good cards.
If I am a part-time aggressor, part-time soft player I destroy all the good work I have done and am going to get some calls I don't want. So the mistake was, in retrospect, HUGE. And hopefully it is one I will not make again.
Saturday
Elks Lodge Tournament
over 90 players, 3500 starting chips.
I started slow, folding hand after hand. By the 2nd time through the blinds, with the blinds up, I had only been able to "play" one non-blind hand...I picked up pocket 4s from middle position. I had it read as a soft table, raised 3 times the blinds, they folded.
A couple hands later picked up pocket 10s, raised 3 times the blinds to 300, one caller. This guy was a maniac. He would call down straight and flush heavy boards with anything from a pair to a low flush. Of course, the maniacal nature of the table had been set on hand one when Aces raised, Queens called, and on a flush and draw heavy board where neither ever improved, they got it all in.
The flop came Q/Q/8. I thought he might have something like A/Q, K/Q...but he might also have something wildly different. I threw out a 300 chip feeler bet. He raised to 500, we pointed out it had to be 600 so he reluctantly did.
That could mean a couple things; it could mean he had the queen...or it could mean he thought I was making a continuation bet and would fold. I called to see one more card. It was a blank. I checked, he raised. I thought about it, said, "No, I can't get away from thinking you have the queen." and folded. He showed pocket 8s. He had flopped the boat. I got away from it pretty cheap but still it cost me 600.
A few hands later in the big blind with several limpers I had the bachelor hand. The flop was something like 5/7/8. Checked around. Turn was a 9. Checked around. River was a king. A guy made a minimum position bet. I was not sure if he had the king or straight so I called 200 to win about 1000. Nope, he had the straight.
So now I was in trouble. I had won one hand, played 3, and was getting blinded out. I wanted to make a move but I just had trash hand after trash hand. Finally I picked up K/J suited. I had about 1500 left, we were on the 4th blind level, 3/600. A guy 2 seats to my right raised, I went all in. He had pocket queens...uh-oh. One out. And I flopped it to double up.
Next hand I picked up pocket 10s. I raised it. The guy who value bet the straight called. The flop was beautiful, A/10 diamonds and a rag. I went all-in. He went into the tank. I put him on either something like a diamond draw or MAYBE something like top pair and trying to figure out if his kicker was good. But I thought the draw was more likely, I thought he would definitely call with top pair. I was wrong, he had A/9, top pair, mediocre kicker, and he called. My set held up and suddenly I was chip leader.
I won a couple more hands and finally our table was broken up. I ended up sitting next to John. I came out firing, knocking down a couple quick pots with strong hands. And I was playing correctly...it was raise or fold, put the pressure on. I even raised a J/8 off and everyone folded. I knew I had the correct table image.
Then I went card dead. I doubled John up once when I had pocket 9s and he hit an over.
But I was bleeding.
At the next break I had about 11,500. And the blinds went up.
Now it became an all-in fest so unless I had good cards I could not play at all. And with people going all-in for 6, 8, 10K it just wasn't worth playing. One guy kept going in with stuff like K/5 so I knew I would call him with any reasonable hand. And I picked up pocket 3s. Sure enough, right on cue he went all-in. I was going to call...when 3 people called before it got to me. My 3s went into the muck. Ironically...they would have held up. Nobody ever paired and he took it down with A/Q.
Well, I was in trouble and ended up going all in from late position with K/2 hearts. If everything followed recent form, everyone behind me would fold. But the big blind had K/J and called. No help on the flop. None on the turn. But I spiked a deuce on the river. It was a bad beat.
Bled down a bit, picked up K/6. All-in since I would be in another circuit anyway. Again, one caller, the big blind (different guy, I did this one from early position). He turned up...wait for it...K/j. No help on the flop. None on the turn. And I spiked the 6 on the river. Brutal.
But now I had over20K.
And by the time the all-in fests let me play another hand I had 16K. With blinds at 6K...I was in trouble. Pocket 5s. All in. Only the guy I had spiked the 6 against called...and he only called because he was in for 6 in big blind and only had 2K more. He flipped up K/7. And hit the 7 on the first card. So now I was down to 8K.
And I was on the bubble. Should I have made that move? We were 9 handed, final table. That guy had only 8K so he had to survive the blinds. The guy 2 spots to my left would be all-in on his circuit of the blinds. So I could sit and wait for them to go through the blinds and see if they survived...or I could take a shot at really moving up the rankings. On the bubble, a lot of people get tentative. That is the correct play for them. For people like me who are trying to win, not make the points, I would argue it is the wrong play. I am not disappointed at all.
Well, the next hand, the guy 2 seats to my right went all-in on a flush board with a pair of queens...and was taken out by a pair of aces. Neither of them had any of the needed suit, though the board had 4 hearts. Crazy. So I was at least 8th.
I had 2 hands left. And next hand I picket up 7/8 diamonds. Not a good hand...but at least a decent drawer with the odds it was probably better than my next hand. I went all-in, everyone except the big blind folded, he just had k/5. But I never got any help and was gone.
Weird. When I played well, I lost chips. When I played poorly, I won lots of chips. I was a suck-out artist all night. And that makes it hard to feel good about finishing so high.
I started slow, folding hand after hand. By the 2nd time through the blinds, with the blinds up, I had only been able to "play" one non-blind hand...I picked up pocket 4s from middle position. I had it read as a soft table, raised 3 times the blinds, they folded.
A couple hands later picked up pocket 10s, raised 3 times the blinds to 300, one caller. This guy was a maniac. He would call down straight and flush heavy boards with anything from a pair to a low flush. Of course, the maniacal nature of the table had been set on hand one when Aces raised, Queens called, and on a flush and draw heavy board where neither ever improved, they got it all in.
The flop came Q/Q/8. I thought he might have something like A/Q, K/Q...but he might also have something wildly different. I threw out a 300 chip feeler bet. He raised to 500, we pointed out it had to be 600 so he reluctantly did.
That could mean a couple things; it could mean he had the queen...or it could mean he thought I was making a continuation bet and would fold. I called to see one more card. It was a blank. I checked, he raised. I thought about it, said, "No, I can't get away from thinking you have the queen." and folded. He showed pocket 8s. He had flopped the boat. I got away from it pretty cheap but still it cost me 600.
A few hands later in the big blind with several limpers I had the bachelor hand. The flop was something like 5/7/8. Checked around. Turn was a 9. Checked around. River was a king. A guy made a minimum position bet. I was not sure if he had the king or straight so I called 200 to win about 1000. Nope, he had the straight.
So now I was in trouble. I had won one hand, played 3, and was getting blinded out. I wanted to make a move but I just had trash hand after trash hand. Finally I picked up K/J suited. I had about 1500 left, we were on the 4th blind level, 3/600. A guy 2 seats to my right raised, I went all in. He had pocket queens...uh-oh. One out. And I flopped it to double up.
Next hand I picked up pocket 10s. I raised it. The guy who value bet the straight called. The flop was beautiful, A/10 diamonds and a rag. I went all-in. He went into the tank. I put him on either something like a diamond draw or MAYBE something like top pair and trying to figure out if his kicker was good. But I thought the draw was more likely, I thought he would definitely call with top pair. I was wrong, he had A/9, top pair, mediocre kicker, and he called. My set held up and suddenly I was chip leader.
I won a couple more hands and finally our table was broken up. I ended up sitting next to John. I came out firing, knocking down a couple quick pots with strong hands. And I was playing correctly...it was raise or fold, put the pressure on. I even raised a J/8 off and everyone folded. I knew I had the correct table image.
Then I went card dead. I doubled John up once when I had pocket 9s and he hit an over.
But I was bleeding.
At the next break I had about 11,500. And the blinds went up.
Now it became an all-in fest so unless I had good cards I could not play at all. And with people going all-in for 6, 8, 10K it just wasn't worth playing. One guy kept going in with stuff like K/5 so I knew I would call him with any reasonable hand. And I picked up pocket 3s. Sure enough, right on cue he went all-in. I was going to call...when 3 people called before it got to me. My 3s went into the muck. Ironically...they would have held up. Nobody ever paired and he took it down with A/Q.
Well, I was in trouble and ended up going all in from late position with K/2 hearts. If everything followed recent form, everyone behind me would fold. But the big blind had K/J and called. No help on the flop. None on the turn. But I spiked a deuce on the river. It was a bad beat.
Bled down a bit, picked up K/6. All-in since I would be in another circuit anyway. Again, one caller, the big blind (different guy, I did this one from early position). He turned up...wait for it...K/j. No help on the flop. None on the turn. And I spiked the 6 on the river. Brutal.
But now I had over20K.
And by the time the all-in fests let me play another hand I had 16K. With blinds at 6K...I was in trouble. Pocket 5s. All in. Only the guy I had spiked the 6 against called...and he only called because he was in for 6 in big blind and only had 2K more. He flipped up K/7. And hit the 7 on the first card. So now I was down to 8K.
And I was on the bubble. Should I have made that move? We were 9 handed, final table. That guy had only 8K so he had to survive the blinds. The guy 2 spots to my left would be all-in on his circuit of the blinds. So I could sit and wait for them to go through the blinds and see if they survived...or I could take a shot at really moving up the rankings. On the bubble, a lot of people get tentative. That is the correct play for them. For people like me who are trying to win, not make the points, I would argue it is the wrong play. I am not disappointed at all.
Well, the next hand, the guy 2 seats to my right went all-in on a flush board with a pair of queens...and was taken out by a pair of aces. Neither of them had any of the needed suit, though the board had 4 hearts. Crazy. So I was at least 8th.
I had 2 hands left. And next hand I picket up 7/8 diamonds. Not a good hand...but at least a decent drawer with the odds it was probably better than my next hand. I went all-in, everyone except the big blind folded, he just had k/5. But I never got any help and was gone.
Weird. When I played well, I lost chips. When I played poorly, I won lots of chips. I was a suck-out artist all night. And that makes it hard to feel good about finishing so high.
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