Koffee Barn and Starving Crazed Weasels

Played lots of free poker Friday and Saturday. A few things stood out,.

First, I had a pretty good read on people both nights...and sometimes, that does not matter.An example from the Kofee Barn (Teriyaki House soon...ycu) I raised pre-flop and flop with the best hand a couple times, then they turned and/or rivered better hands, raised, and I did not mae the crying call.

The problem is, when you only start with 3K chips, losing just one or two hands puts a serious crimp in your style. So I got down to about 1300 or so with blinds at 50/100. My M was under 10, so I was definitely looking to make a move.

About that time Paul came to our table with 2 other players. Paul was big blind, I was the button and he and I were continuing some of our long-running good natured smack. We have played together quite a bit over the years and I respect his game and think he respects mine.

So in the process of our smack talk, he says, "You better not be raising my blinds like you always do" to which I replied, "well, I am the button, so you know I am raising."

The first two guys then limp into the pot. I casually glance at my cards and announce, "Raise".

With 350 in the pot already, 1300 left, any raise will pot commit me, so I then follow up, "I am all-in."

This brings the table to a halt as they all stare at me. "Told you I was going to raise your blinds, Paul." I said.

He disgustedly tossed his cards away. The under the gun limper hesitated a long time. "I have not played with you much" he said. I could tell he was fishing for information.

So I sent mixed signals, both that I wanted and did not want a call. He folded, I raked the pot.

Later I told them, " I cannot tell a lie. I had pocket kings." (which was true...that was what I raised with, figuring they might call). Then I took it back, saying, "Oh, I did not mean that hand...I meant a couple nights ago." It brought the desired laugh.

well, I soon had a great read on the table, and after Roman busted out, I just started rolling, building a nice stack without ever having to show down a hand. I just knew what they had and folded when behind, bet when ahead, and bet when they were ahead but felt weak.

By the time we reached the final table, there was only one player I thought was even close to my skill level. She used checks, raises, re-raises, and calls to define hands and was doing great until she ran into an over-pair, queens versus kings that she mis-read.

When she busted out, I looked around and, for the first time I can remember, sat at a table where I believed I was not just a good player, but the best player at the table and not by a little.

That is one thing about the Starving Crazed Weasels league...sure, bluffing is a horrible idea usually, but other than that, it is actually a pretty solid league. There are at least 6 players I think are equal or better to my skill level, and I seldom feel like the best player.

There are people there who give me more trouble than even random strangers playing online.


Got to the final table with a modest stack. Soon built it up to about 30K when a hand came up that I still question. With blinds at /48K and three players, the button raised to 8K. The sb called, and I had a choice.

The button was a solid player who bet when he thought he had the best hand but over-valued pockets and top pairs. The small blind was a girl going back and forth between wanting to go home and wanting to win, so her play was pretty erratic. I had J/10 suited...not really worthy of a call, but then again...4K to win 20K...5-1 is hard to pass up. I called.

The flop came J/9/blank, giving me top pair and a flush draw. Before we could act, the original raiser was grabbing chips. We checked to him, he raised 17K. She folded, and I had a decision.

If I called, I was going all-in. Problem is, I just knew he had A/J, and the Ace was probably the club Ace. That meant I was drawing to 12 outs twice, 4-1...and getting 3-1 on my chips.

Of course, I would have the re-raise strength, but this guy, if he has top pair or an over-pair, is not capable of laying it down. (Twice I watched him pay off flushes he did not even see because he had straights).

So I was pretty much putting my tournament on the line on a draw. Or I could fold, rely on my believed better skill, and keep my chips. I elected to do that.

He never said what he had, but the very fact i was thinking through this out loud...not the part about him not being able to lay it down, but definitely the "I think you have A/J and backdoor flush draw, I need to call 17 to win 41 so 3-1" part completely demoralized them both.

And not long after, he was gone, we got down to heads up.

It was so easy. She checked, I bet because she had nothing. She bet, I called if I had anything and folded if not. In this manner I twice doubled up when she bet into my made flushes. I could have beaten her, but I was bored and wanted to go home, so I went into maniac mode, betting and raising with nothing and it took me about 4 hands to go from chip lead to out.


The next night, I wanted to play well. I seldom win the SCW tournaments because they are actually among the toughest I play. You not only have to get the cards, you have to play them correctly.

Early on I was catching cards. Took nice pots with Pocket Aces, with a couple straights and flushes, a bunch more with a full house. And it is full houses I want to talk about.

On the first, I checked my full house on the river because I mis-read one of the two guys in the hand and thought he had Quads. As it turned out, he had K/Q and thought his hand was good, while the other guy had a lower full house, and my tens full of Aces were good.

Not raising a full house on the river tells you how poor my read was. That is an obvious raise.

Meanwhile, another hand came later. A couple limpers, I completed from the small blind with 7/9, and my brother checked in the big blind. The flop was 5/5/5. Ugly. Check, check, check.
Turn was a 7. I had the full house. I bet about 3/4 the pot. My brother announced, "I have two high cards, so I have to call", most folded and Fox called.

The river was a ten and my brother gave off his tell. I have something on him that lets me know when he has a big hand. It is pretty reliable. So reliable that I checked my full house.

He bet. Fox called. I looked at my full house....and folded.

Correctly, I might add. Fox had a flush, and my brother had the full boat, 5s full of 10s.

I am pretty proud of that. That makes I believe three times I have laid down a full house in live action and I have been correct every...single...time.

Does not mean it is easy...full houses are rare and hard to come by. At the same time, knowing to lay it down made my night.

From there I went on a rampage and ended up winning, a rarity I am not disappointed in as there were 15 people...and at the start of the night, I thought it was about as tough a table I have ever been at there, with Kenneth, Kevin, Phillip, Pete, Robin, Rick and Tracy at the table. that includes three of the toughest reads I have, the person who reads me maybe even better than Emily, two tight players who are pretty determined, and a guy capable of making moves with any two cards. No easy pots there.

To not only survive that table but be building a stack was something I was pretty proud of. But laying down the full house...that was memorable.

A bad day Rushing with good results

Sat down to play a bit of Rush. Decided to start with 5.25. As a general rule, starting small forces me to be patient and aggressive. Other times I am just not sure if I really am in the right frame of mind and it will theoretically minimize my losses.

First hand I pick up 6s in the big blind. I like to set mine with these.

Well, Under the Gun limps, the small blind completes, and I…make my first error of the session. This is clearly a raising situation. Most of the time a raise to about 50 cents will win the 30 cent pot, an easy, nearly risk free 20 cent pick up.

I lie to myself that I want to play for a big pot. Problem is…with two limpers, what hand can give me a set that they will play a big pot for? MAYBE a flush…but then I don’t want to play a big pot. So that was a clear mistake.
Flop has an Ace and King, the sb bets 30 and I meekly fold.
- 10 cents


Next couple hands I fold (one in small blind with .35 cent raise and holding 3/5 off).
I fold the big blind to an early raise to 40 cents.
- 10 on hand, - 25 total…all Blinds.
I fold an unsuited 9/10 in the SB to a 35 cent button raise.
-5, -30
On the button I fold off suit J/8 to 40 cent middle position raise.


2 behind the button I pick up pocket 5s. It is folded to me so I raise to 30 cents and the big blind calls.
The flop is Th, 9c, 5c. I am somewhat happy with that flop, though not ecstatic. There is a possible flush draw and the 9/10 hits a lot of hands people call with…10/J, Q/K type hands…that could turn into bad turn cards for me. Forget the slow-play, I bet 50 cents and he folds.
+61 cents, overall +.01 cent.

This is the type hand I am not always sure how to play. I could check here, but I want to charge him to draw. Sure, I will improve to a full house or better 1-in-3 times. They will improve to a flush or straight sometimes, but will not always be on those draws.

So this might be a place where a little less aggression could lead to bigger over-all wins but with more variation. However, I am not sure it fits my play style. I think I prefer winning lots of small pots with minimal variation.

I fold a couple UTG hands, then open-fold a 5/7off from the cut-off. This was a mistake. That is a clear raising situation. Probably left 15 cents on the table.
Open fold early with J/8 off.
UTG fold 3/8 off.

I am dealt Qh/9H in the big blind. The button click-raises, the small blind folds, and I call. I am getting 3-1 for a drawing hand…but I am more playing the position bet.

The flop is pretty innocuous, a 4/8/6 rainbow. I lead out for 30 cents. Usually this results in a fold, but this time he calls. At this point, I should be done with the hand. I took my shot, it failed. No big deal.
Turn puts a second diamond, the 10 on the board. Now I have a gut-shot that has no value. For some inexplicable reason…I bet 50 cents. And he calls.
And the river is a 4 diamonds. Anyone who had the four will re-raise me, anyone who had something like middle pair, back-door flush draw has a flush now. I am obviously done with this hand…by which I mean I idiotically bet 1.10 which he snap calls with his pocket Aces.
So I bet 1.90 into a pair of aces. Well done. I have played hands worse before…but not many. This was a disaster. Overall I lost 2.10 on the hand.

I do not hate my pre-flop call or even my flop bet. After that…I played about as bad as someone could.
I fold middle trash to early raise and under the gun trash. Then, on the button, I open-fold. Do my cards matter? That is a clear raise.

I would not hate my fold if I did it for the right reason. But I thought to myself that, fresh off that horrific hand I had just played, I did not want to bluff off anymore money. That is the wrong reason. So I left a good situation without playing the hand. Bad play.

I am having a really bad session so far.
One off the button I fold Q/8 off to an early limper.
Early fold 2/7o. Middle position q/9 off folded to raise.
Early position 3/4 off hits the muck.

Under the Gun I fold K/10 suited. This is probably a good fold. Weak hand, early position…but then again, almost 70% of the time when I raise under the gun everyone folds. It is a sign I am playing tight, and somewhat looser is better. In this game, a healthy number of open raises picks up a lot of small pots, and a continuation bet works a very high percentage of the time. Whereas I routinely fold K/10 suited against a raise or, in a normal game, from anywhere but late position, it is a clear raising hand on Rush.

I fold 5/1o suited in small blind to open-raise from button.
I pick up A/q off in the big blind. The hijack min-raises. Again…very clear re-raise here and I weakly call. I am better off folding than calling and better off raising than folding. Yet another weak play. I wonder why I am only sitting behind 3.26 when this hand started?

Flop is Ks, 2C, 7C, a very clear raising flop. I meekly check-fold. Another poorly played hand.

I fold K/Q off in sb to early raise to 40.
Open fold 10/5 from mid-late. When I am running well that is a raise.

I pick up A/K off in the cut-off. I already know I am raising or re-raising. UTG raises to 30. UTG+1 re-raises to 1.05. I am in the “squeeze” position. I can either go all-in or fold. I choose the latter. Good choice…as the BB calls behind as does the initial raiser and they get it all in, pocket Kings versus pocket Aces.

A couple forgettable folds, then I pick up pocket tens utg+1. I open raise to 30, the BB calls. Flop is A/Q/4, 2 spades. He check-calls my 40 cent raise.
Turn is Jack, checks all around and we both check the river 3. He wins with K/Q off, his pair of queens beating my tens.

It is possible a turn raise would have won…but doubtful. Most people with second pair, good kicker (and a gut-shot at that point) will call the turn and I did not have enough behind to bet him off at the river…nor, on that board, would I have tried. I am fine with my play on this hand.

Usually, when I bet there people fold so when he did not, I was done with the hand.

Now I have only 2.31 and pick up 7s UTG+1. I raise to 30, next guy calls. Flop is A/8/8, 2 spades. I continuation bet 40 cents, he calls, I am done with the hand. I check-fold to a two on the turn.

A few forgettable folds, including J/3 off in BB to raise.
Another weak open-fold from button with 1.51 and 4/5 off and another with 3/8H.

Pick up A/Kc UTG+2, raise to 30, the hijack and bb call. Flop is K/9/3 rainbow. With about 1.21 and a 90 cent pot the choice is clear…all in, no callers. I win a hand.
Now 2.10, but fold big blind with 5/8 off with a limper and raiser to me, down to 2. even.

A/J UTG I raise to 30, 1 caller.
*** FLOP *** [3d Td Qh]
I continuation bet 40 cents, he raises to 4.91 all in. Obviously he has me more than covered. Why the over-bet? He is clearly not paying attention to his opponent so could be on bluff…but that is all I can beat. I am not playing poorly enough to call off my chips on a gut-shot getting less than 3-1 so an easy fold.

I maybe should have folded pre-flop…but what are normally “series 3” type hands in tougher games are often top hands in this, so I do not feel badly about it. Actually, I am glad I did it as it shows I am starting to get aggressive again.

Except a lot of folding ensues, including two sb when limped or raised to but with weak hands, and a BB fold with 3/5 off when button raised.
UTG + 2 I open raise A/10 off and win the blinds. (This, by the way, demonstrates why I think raising A/Jo of K/10H is a good move).

However, I was still playing timid. A few good folds, then I picked up pocket 3a in the BB. The button open-raised to .35, a clear raising situation, but I merely called (fold or raise! NO CALL!) and check-folded on a K/9/4 rainbow. Badly, badly played.

Now I have just 90 cents in front of me. On the button I pick up A/Ks. UTG+2 raises to .35 and I am already planning my all-in…when the cut-off raises to 1.40. I am much happier raising all-in with A/K than calling…but there is 1.40ish I can win already in the pot so I call all-in and first villain calls.

Flop is A/K diamonds and 5c. I am felling good about aces up…until utg+2 raises a buck and cutoff re-raises all in. UTG+2 folds and cut-off shows….A/3 clubs? I am running good to pick up a nice pot if he cannot pick up runner-runner threes or clubs.

What a weird hand. What could UTG+2 have had? And what did KarnieB think he could beat to push all in with top pair, weak kicker?
Anyhow, good for me. Back to 2.66.

Made a few unremarkable folds, then picked up A/Ko in the hi-jack. UTG+2 raises to .35. Obviously I am re-raising here…and here is where tournament play is different. IN a tournament, low on chips, it is a clear all in. Here I should have raised to about 1.05.
Instead I went all-in, he called with pocket 10s and I never improved. I had given up my buy-in.

I did not feel bad about the buy-in…but I knew I was being too conservative, then making up for it by being aggressive at the wrong times. So I put in another 5 and went back to work.

Couple folds, then open-raised pockets 5s from the cut-off, nobody called, +15 cents.
Fold J/5s in BB to 35 cent open-raise from button.
Fold K/2s in sb to early raise, couple other folds.

Finally pick up A/Jo in bb and the cut-off just click-raises. When I am playing well I re-raise here but this time I just call.
And here is why I should raise pre-flop. The flop is A/K/10 rainbow. Pre-flop, I was behind any pair but ahead of any Ace 9 or below. Now I am behind any A/10 or below and WAY behind any A/Q or A/K. A/Q might be worse, as if I hit my kicker, they hit a straight.

At the same time, this could be a hard hand to get away from. So I want to play a small pot. I check. He checks behind. The turn is an innocuous 2h, I bet .20 and he folds. I pick up a 42 cent pot. It would have been bigger had I properly raised pre-flop…either because I would not have gotten the 3 cent rake or because he would have called and built the pot. Even though I won, I feel like I played the pre-flop portion of the hand poorly. I like my flop and turn play. On the flop, if he bets I can raise to see if he has it, and represent a better hand than I have. The turn gave us a flush draw, so I need to charge him to make it.

The usual progression of folds follows.
I pick up pocket 5s in middle position and open raise to .30. The big-blind click raises to 50, I call and we take the flop heads up.
He leads out with 50 cents into a 9/k/7 2 suit flop. I am not interested in losing a big pot with a little hand, so I fold.

I actually like my play on this. I mask my hand by not limping, his raise meant I was calling 20 cents to win 45, or a little more than 2-1…but he had me covered, so I was playing for 5 bucks if I hit my hand. If I miss, well…minimal investment for potentially huge reward, it is easy to let it go.

A few other easy folds, including 8/3o in sb when utg open raises 1.15 all in.

UTG+1 open raises to .21 cents and I call from the next seat with pocket 6s. And here lies the danger…A middle position guy re-raises to .99, another guy calls, the original raiser folds and it is .78 cents to me.
I do not mind this much. I have two other players, and the hands that give me a set while not giving them enough to call are few and far between. Additionally, after their pre-flop action, they are highly likely to raise, even if they miss it, and if I hit I am looking good to triple up.

I would prefer to play it for less and .99 cents but…
Wow, what an ugly flop. J/8/10 rainbow. Two other people in the hand, I am done. They get it all in….Q/K versus set of tens. The straight never completes, but it doesn’t matter…I had long moved on to the next hand by the time the river arrived.

Folding time…including 8/9o in bb against a raise and call in front of me. If I had a deep stack I might think about this for a bit, but then I am sure I would still wisely fold.
A bunch more folding, including open-folding J/5 suited in small blind. That is a huge mistake because the BB is likely to fold.
I fold some more, including BB to raise to 40 when I have 4/7o.

Finally I raise to 40 (the cut-off limped in and I was blind-stealing) from the button and…uh-oh, BB calls. Flop is 10/9/10 2 suited. I bet 70 cents and he folds. Good, solid aggression pays off.

Fold brigade including 2/4s in sb to raise

UTG+2 I open raise to 30 with A/9s. The cut-off and big blind both call. The flop is nice, a 9/10/6 rainbow. When I was the pre-flop aggressor, I am almost always the post-flop aggressor as well. No way for people to know if I hit anything or not. Here, I have second pair, top kicker, so I bet into two people, raising to 60 into pot of .89. They both fold and I collect a nice gain.

And it really feeds into what I am learning. Aggression, properly channeled, means you do not necessarily need cards. They were folding whether I had a pair or not. At the same time, when people play back at you, if you do not have cards, you have to be willing to lay it down. Sometimes I am…sometimes not so I need to watch that.
But I am starting to return to my aggressive ways. I open to 30 from the hijack. Only the cut-off calls. The flop is Ad/Jd/4c, I lead out for 40 and he folds. Guess my K/10o was the best hand…

Very next hand it is folded to me in the Sb. I raise, bb folds. Does not really matter I had A/8. I made the right poker move and that is what matters. It also brings me back to 5. even, though still down 5 overall.

Next hand, I am small blind. UTG limps, UTG+1 limps, KarnieB (whom we saw earlier) click-raises to .20. Hmm. Two early limpers…small pairs or suited connectors probably? And a min-raise. Earlier in the session when I was playing passively and poorly, I would flat call, but here I raise to .90 and everyone folds.

I make the correct play again and get a great result…I make 50 cents (2 limpers, BB, and the 20 cents from KarnieB).
I then fold the 5/7 bb to an early raise. There are times to be aggressive and times to move on to the next hand.

A few folds follow, including folding the hijack with A/9off after early limp and a couple raisable button-hands after early limps.
UTG+3, pick up the cowboys and open to 30. The bb pauses, thinks, then raises to .50. That is only 20 cents to me.

The pot is now 1.5; my 30 cents, the small blind, his bb and call, and then his raise. Now, if he gives me a serious raise, I probably just call. But this raise is begging me to run him off the pot. It feels like a big ace or medium-big pair. Really, the only hand I fear is Aces and his re-raise is too weak for that. If he had aces, he probably would have raised the pot or so.

So now, how much to re-raise? He has 3.45 behind, so any raise by me should pot-commit him. I get lazy and raise all-in. He snap-calls…with Big Slick. Sweet, he is drawing to 3 outs.
He never improves, and I rake a 7.42 pot in. Now I am sitting behind 8.87 and feeling much better about my game. I am starting to get aggressive, making the right reads and moves.
Next hand, bb with a/5 off. I check with about 4 limpers and then check-fold a Q/K/K 2 suited flop. With that many people involved, I am way behind. How far behind? Well, one of the limpers had pocket Aces…which means only running 5s would let me win, otherwise I am drawing to a runner-runner split pot with him. By the same token…he won the pot, and it was just .94 cents.

By which I mean the “clever” play of limping with Aces is not for me. It forces you to play small pots when ugly, dangerous flops hit. On this one, there were straights, flushes, and even anyone with a goofy hand like K/J has him crushed…and that is a hand LOTS of people play on Rush. Just one more reason I hate the limp. It fails more than it works. And when it works, you seldom make enough to make up for the times it does not.

Next hand I have 7/9 in the cut-off. Not a great hand…but it can hit a middle pair or hidden straight draw. It is certainly worth an open raise…but I fold. And several more folds follow.
I pick up A/10o in middle postion and open to 30. The bb calls, and then check-folds a k/3/6 two suited flop. Controlled aggression works well. And people do that all the time. Occasionally they will lead out on the flop or even re-raise, but most of the time it is call-check-fold. I love it.

Next hand, sitting behind 9.08, I pick up Big Slick in the big blind. UTG min-raises, UTG+2 raises to .75 and I….fold? What? I guess the re-raise MIGHT be Aces or Kings or even Queens…or might be someone like me who re-raises lots of hands. Oh well. Folds seldom bad.

Couple more folds and, with 8.98, pick up Queens on the button. I love this…button raises are usually suspicious, so a big hand there can get you paid sometimes. UTG limps, UTG+1 raises to 1.41 all-in. Decision time.

Obviously I am not folding, but do I flat-call trying to pick up a blind or limper or do I re-raise trying to isolate? Well…I would not be surprised by anything from any pocket pair to A/10o or A/xs. I doubt he has Aces or Kings, but he might. A raise here builds a big pot that will be hard to get away from if an Ace or King flops, so a call seems wise.

Everyone folds, and he flips up…K/9 of clubs? What? Awesome! And I have the Queen of clubs, so I am blocking both straight and flush draws. By the river there are 2 Aces on board and I pull in a nice pot.

In fact, it is nice enough I am now sitting behind 10.44. Since I lost 5.15 earlier and then put 5 back in, I am not in as good as shape as it looks…on the other hand, I am now ahead by .29 cents which feels pretty good after playing so poorly earlier.

At the same time, it is sometimes bad because I start thinking about whether I am up or down and playing based on that instead of what I should do. Example; a few proper folds, then I pick up q/6o on the button.

Only someone being exceptionally charitable would call this a marginal hand…but on the button it is a clear raising hand. I do not want to get “stuck” again so I open-fold it. Bad play.

A few hands later, I raise the A/10s from middle position. The button, sb and big blind all call and suddenly we have 1.20 in the pot (pre-rake). Oops…

Well, the flop is decent. 2/2/k rainbow. If I was ahead before, I am ahead now. If I was behind before, I am behind now. The blinds check to me, I bet .60 into the pot and everyone folds. After rake, I pick up 1.12.

I used to check those flops figuring “there are three people, one of them has the king”. Now I bet as if I have it…and good things happen.
Several folds later, including a sb and bb to raises, I open-fold a 4/5 in the sb. This is always a mistake. Raise that!

Very next hand I fold the bb with k/jo a cutoff raise.
I know I am playing too soft, but several folds (one sb) follow until I pick up the same K/Jo in the sb and open for 30. The BB re-raises.

This is a clear fold. It is seldom indeed that someone plays back at me, and Estrike has no notes on him so he has not done so before. Believe him! Or I could idiotically call. Which I do. And then I bet into a 10/q/8 2 suited flop and he re-raises. With a double belly buster I call. The turn pairs the board. I check. He waits…waits…waits…and then bets 2/3 pot. I fold 2.25 or so too late. Gave away a lot of money I did not need to.

I still like my initial raise and do not hate my call or lead bet on the flop…but no way should I have continued past there. Save a dollar.

So now I am down to 8.41. This is bad because for the night I am stuck 1.74. But since I am not going to be tentative…it will let me play. Hopefully.
A few folds, then I open to 30 from early middle position. 2 calls and then the bb comes over the top 11.85 all in. EyesMindAssassin with the massive overbet for the win as nobody calls.

From the cutoff I then open-fold q/8o. Again, not a great hand…but I need to raise there. The next hand I have k/5 suited and do open from the button and pick up the blinds.
A button fold to 2 limpers, then I find myself with 6/6 in the big blind. I call a hijack raise to 40 and see a 10/10/2 flop into which I lead out, he folds, and I pick up the pot. Just .61 cents, 30 of which is mine…but I pick up 30 cents here, 15 cents there…it adds up.

In fact, when I pick up a lot of blinds, it lets me chase a few more draws that can turn into big pots. So it is well worth doing.

Next hand, middle position limps, I limp behind with 5/5, and the next guy bumps it to 30 cents.

This is a bad, bad raise. Two limpers have put in ten cents apiece and the pot has the blinds already, so it is a .20 cent raise after they fold. The first limper needs to call 20 to win 65 and, after he calls, I need 20 to win 85, or better than 4-1. Easy call.

And great flop. Jc 5h 2h. I flopped a set, just one draw. I bet .50. The pre-flop raiser, to my delight, bumps it to 1.50. The first limper folds, and I have to think. His most likely hands include suited A/J, over-pair, or a flush draw.

If he has an over-pair or A/J NOT hearts, I want to slow-play here. If he has A/J Hearts, he has 11 outs twice, 44%…I want him all-in NOW while I am a favorite (and have the re-draw to the boat). If he has Queens or Kings I want him all in now before an Ace kills my action. If he has Aces, he will get it all-in unless he is one of the better players on here.

I raise all-in, he insta-calls and has pocket Kings. One is the heart, so he has a back-door flush draw…and a 9H falls on the turn. Uh-oh…but the river is a blank, and the 16.42 pot is shipped my way.

This is why I am not afraid to set-mine even against raises like earlier. Sure, I lost a buck there…but I can do that if I can double up when I hit. Besides which, people regularly fold both pre-flop and flop, so I can realistically expect to win over half the pots I am involved in with even pedestrian pairs like deuces when I am playing with proper aggression.

Yet I also have some coward in me. Several folds later, I have a/6o in sb and fold to a raise. I usually do because I am out of position with not just a weak hand but an easily dominated one. Any A/7 or above is a quite believable hand, so there is really no flop I will be happy to see. So good fold.

A couple folds later, UTG limps and in the next seat I do as well with pocket deuces. Sometimes I will try to see a cheap flop with a drawing hand. Then we get a fold, a click-raise to 20, a raise behind that to 1.00,and a raise to 3.. The first limper calls.

Now I have a tough choice. There are lots of people interested, so if I hit my hand I will make a lot. But I am not getting remotely close to 8-1, there is a chance of set-over-set and I have people behind me. Time to fold.
And the next guy raises to 10.25. I just saved 3 bucks.
Oh, and it was aces versus queens and I would have flopped the set and won 13.55…

A few folds later, I pick up J/10 suited on the button. This is a hand I like to raise with, and will sometimes call a min-raise or will limp if others have. What I really want is to flop the straight draw. I am never particularly happy to get a pair because of kicker issues…a lot of loose players love A/J, A/10, K/j type hands. Q/10, Q/J, K/10….I am crushed every which way from Sunday.

Unfortunately, someone bumps it to .35…and even more unfortunately, I lie to myself that position and straight and flush possibilities make it a worthy call.
Even more unfortunately, I get a partial hit on a K/10/4 rainbow flop. He raises to .40 cents, I pop it to 1.10 and he calls. The turn is a Q. Now I am really not happy. A/J is a believable hand, as is A/K, A/Q, or A/10. About all I can beat is a bluff.

Yet when he checks, I bet 1.40 into him which he calls. Now, that is not as foolish as it seems. Lots of guys who raise pre-flop will call any re-raise on the flop, then check-fold the turn if they hit nothing.

When he check-calls the flop it makes me nervous. That usually means someone has a hand good enough to see a show-down but not good enough to raise…or they are slow-playing. Either way, I am beat.

And when a harmless 5c falls on the river, he is all-in 4.75. Easy fold, but took a bit of a hit.

In the big blind next hand, 10/3 off with raise and re-raise in front, easy fold.
Open-raise from button with A/8o, no callers.
Open raise from cut-off with k/9s, no callers.
A few folds of questionable nature such as the last one, then open-raise from button with pocket 7s, no callers.
And so it goes. Lots of folding to raises, raises in position or with pairs, and so forth.

With 13.62 in front of me, I pick up Aces on the button. I really want someone to raise in front of me. The cut-off click-raises and I raise to 90. Everyone folds. I pick up the blinds and his 20 cents.

The lesson here, though, is I do not re-raise enough from the button. A click-raise indicates a position raise more often than not, and while most of them will call the pre-flop re-raise, very few do anything other than check-fold the flop.

And after being reminded of that, I called a raise to 25 from the cutoff when I was in the big blind with a/10 off. Flop comes down 9/10/k rainbow. Middle pair, top kicker, clear raising situation…and I elect to re-raise. Unfortunately, he checks behind me. 3s on the turn, I bet, he folds.

Lots more folding, then a fun hand. Big slick utg+2, raise to 30. The blinds call. Flop was Qd, Jh, Th. I have the absolute nuts at the moment, and a draw to the second nut flush of the backdoor variety. Still, I am not going to be too happy if another heart falls, so I continuation bet, and into two people, I bet 90 cents, almost a pot size bet.

One caller, and he checks a 4s, but calls my 2.70 bet. The river is a harmless 6c. How to maximize it? He checks to me. I figure he has a busted flush draw or maybe top pair, questionable kicker. I bet in reverse, a 2.50 value bet but he folds pretty quickly. I doubt he would have paid anything. Still, I took down a nice 7.56 pot so that was cool.

About this point I am sitting behind 17.70 and thinking I should pack it in. That is a nice win and usually when I start thinking like that, I change my style and then give a bunch of it back. But I keep playing.

After a few folds, pocket Aces under the gun. I open to 30 and everyone folds. Grr.
Next hand, bb special, A/4 off. 5 limpers including sb, I check. Flop is 4s 6s kh. I lead out for 30, which often gets a lot of folds. One caller. Turn is Ac, I bet 60, he folds and I take down the pot.

A little while later, back to back hands show the difference between being aggressive and being passive. In the first I have 4/5 off in the cut-off and open fold. The next hand I raise a 4/6….slightly worse, in my opinion…from the button, one seat later…and win the
blinds.

A few hands later, I narrowly avert disaster. (Okay, so I easily averted it) by folding J/3 under the gun. Flop was 8/8/J, so I would have bet. Turn was a 10, river was a Jack, which would have given me a full house…which would have beaten the queen high straight but lost to the straight flush and cost me a lot. Sometimes folding is not just a good thing, but a great thing. Irony is…my j/3 was suited, which lots of people play “because it is suited”.

Lots of folding, including couple blinds, follows before the next hand of any interest. I pick up A/10o in the blind. Obviously this is a hand I will raise with from even middle position, so on the button it is a virtual lock…the key word being virtual. The hijack raise to 30, the cutoff folds.

Here is where my cautious side shows. Sure, he could have a low to medium pair, he could have medium suited connectors…but he could also have A/J, A/Q, A/K, or even a high pair. He might be like me…raising all sorts of trash hands with position, or he might have a hand.

The point is, there are better spots to play. Why get involved when one person has shown strength and there are two left to act? Fold and move on to the next hand. (The blinds also fold, so we will never know if it was a good move. But I lost nothing, so I think it was.)

A few folds follow, and then I open raise the button with a monster…q/5 off. The big blind calls. The flop is Q/8/2, 2 hearts. He checks, I raise, he folds. Ah…the joys of position. He must have feared my mighty kicker…

A few folds later, I pick up pocket queens in early middle position. I open to 30 cents, the button re-pops to 1.05, I call and we take the flop heads up. And it is an ugly flop, K/8/2, 2 hearts.
Lets see…he re-raised me, but he did so from the button. That can mean lots of things. Lots of people are playing the Full Tilt Academy and will raise from the button with any two cards to fulfill a challenge.

I think that is a dumb reason to do it…but I also realize it is a factor.

People will also re-raise with A/K, A/Q, any suited ace, a medium or even a small pair. They just really, really believe in the power of position. So I have 3 ways to play this hand;
1) Aggressive. Come out raising.
2) Tricky. Check, planning to check raise.
3) Passive. Check, figuring he will only raise if he has the king, so planning to check-fold.
I choose aggressive, I raise, he folds, I am happy.

Next hand I fold A/Jo to an early raise when I am the Hijack.
A couple folds later, I make a bizarre, bad play. I was sitting behind 19.21 and for whatever reason decided I would make 20 my goal and then quit. But instead of being patient, playing tight-aggressive, solid poker, I did the following.

UTG+2 limps. Sitting on the button with 9/J off, this is an obvious fold…so I re-pop to 40. The blinds fold but the limper calls. Low pair maybe? Suited connectors? Slow-playing Aces?

For a silly play like this, the flop is pretty good. 8/9/4, 2 suits. He checks, I raise, and my bad play works out as he folds.

Very next hand, I am the button and fold the 3/4 suited to a min-raise from early. Ironically, I would flop the nuts as A/2/5 rainbow hits…but I was gone by then.

After a few folds, I ran into one of those cases where the raise may not be a good idea. I opened from the button and the big blind called. The flop was 10/3/q rainbow. He checked, I bet half the pot, he called. A lot of people will call the flop assuming it is a continuation bet, so I am not too troubled.

Turn was a 7, putting a second spade on board. He check-calls 80 cents. I figure he either had the 10 with a weak kicker, maybe the ten, or a moderate pocket pair, or perhaps big slick. Anyhow, I am done with the hand. River brings a King. Now I am way behind A/J, K/Q…I am happy to check behind him. He had K/9…so he called the flop and turn with a gut-shot straight draw. And took down the hand…

I go two different ways when I get close to a goal. Sometimes I get too aggressive (see prior hand) or too passive (several questionable folds in between). So how to guage this hand? I am down to 18 even, pick up A/5 suited and raise.
That itself does not bother me. What does it I made my raise utg+1. A/5 suited is a drawing hand. Unless I flop a flush draw or a miracle 2/3/4, I am not overly happy to see either card in my hand match the board. If I hit my Ace, I have kicker problems. If I hit my 5…well…I have a pair of 5s.

The small blind calls. This troubles me more than the big blind calling…a lot of people in the big blind over-value the “discount” and call with a wider range of hands. Usually the small blind needs a bigger hand to call.

The flop is 6/9/j, and I have 4 to the flush. Not bad. If he is calling with A/J, K/Q, Q/J, 10/J, etc. and I complete my flush, I will look good to win a nice pot. But he check-folds to my continuation bet.

After a few folds, I raise A/J from the button, the blinds fold. Nothing too exciting, but just solid ABD poker, slowly working my way up towards 20.00.

Tired of solid poker, I am in the big blind with 10/8 clubs. The button opens to 30 cents and has 29.17. I have a suited one-gapper and decide it is worth calling his possible position raise.

The flop comes 8/k/6, two suits. I lead out for half the pot and he folds. I mark a note on his profile that he plays position poker, but passively. Had he re-raised, I probably give him credit for the king and fold.

However, it is a sign I am getting looser. To back this up, a couple hands later I am the small blind, have K/10 off…and call a raise from the hi-jack. What am I thinking here? K/10 is a horrid hand.

It is dominated by A/K, A/10, K/Q, K/J, and is in trouble to most straight draws. Worse, the big blind also calls, so I am out of position against two players. Flop is 7/6/9 rainbow. I passively check, and they check behind. The turn is a 4, I bet half the pot, they both fold.

Still, I should not have been in the hand. If I had re-raised pre-flop…maybe. But calling? Not too smart.

Now I am sitting behind 19.36. So close…

In the sb, I pick up pocket fours. Someone limps from early, and the hijack raises to 30. I do not like being in the squeeze position, but I do like having people interested when I have a trap hand like 4s. So I call, as does the original limper.

I like the flop, 5/3/6 rainbow. I likely have the best hand and, with the middle of the straight draw, I like where I am. I raise. The original limper folds, the raiser calls. The turn is a King of the 4th suit. Hmm. Lots of guys will call with Big Slick, so I am not too worried, because I still have 10 outs. I bet a buck…and he calls. The river is a 9c, I check, he checks behind. His pocket 7s take a nice pot.

Even though I lost the hand, I am not disappointed with my play in this hand. I was aggressive, I got to see the river for a price I found worthwhile. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Sometimes you look down and have 17.56 in play…

A couple hands later I open to 30 from the cut-off with A/7 off. The big blind hesitates, then calls. He is a guy I have seen make some pretty loose plays so I am not too worried.

The flop brings 2/9/q rainbow. He check-calls my half pot bet.
The turn is a Jack, putting a second club on the board. It also completes the draw for anyone playing 8/10 or K/10 and both the queen and jack hit a lot of potential hands. He check-calls my half pot bet. The river is another 9 and a club. There are straight draws, flush draws, and straight flush draws. I check behind him. He had 7/9d, so he hit trips on the river. Well played by him, too aggressive probably by me, but I would rather err on the side of aggression than passiveness. I also figure he planned a river check-raise, so I like my check behind.

But now I am going in reverse, with only 16.06 in front of me.

1 fold later, I am the small blind with A/J suited when the button opens to 30. It is a clear re-raise, but I meekly call. Sometimes, I will randomly decide to go for the home run, and this is an example. Instead of taking down a small pot, which a re-raise would probably do, I play for that 1-16 chance of flopping a flush.

The flop is A/10/5 rainbow. Another clear raise. I check. He bets half the pot…is this guy my clone? A re-raise is in order…and I just call. The turn is a 6. I again check-call a half pot bet. Again…I should have re-raised.
The river is a q. Uh-oh…if he had something goofy like K/J…which would actually be a solid raising hand from the button…I am now facing a straight. It would also make 2 pair for a lot of hands I would believe. I give serious consideration to check-folding. He bets 2.70…hmm. I am going to fol….what…did I just call? I did.

And he had A/Q.

So perhaps the check-calling was not so bad, I got hurt less than I would have. He had a very good hand, played it strongly, I played passively and gave away 4.30 in one hand. Then again, I do not think I am strong enough as a player to get away from A/J against a button open raiser when I hit the flop like that. I need to be, though. Re-raise the pre-flop and flop and, facing that much resistance, I might get away cheaper. But I was trying to get cute and trap him…and got trapped myself. I was badly out-played on that hand and it cost me.

And now I am at 11.76. My how it flies away in just two or three hands…

A couple hands later a middle position guy limps, from the next seat I jack it to 50 cents with a/10 off. Not a good move. Well, maybe it is…everyone folds and I take down the pot.

If I were a couple seats later I would like this move, but I think I was too early in the hand with a marginal hand like that. Oh well.



A couple hands later, a late position min-raise finds me in the big blind with Q/6. I argue that 3-1 makes this playable and call. Then I check-fold a 2/j/k flop. Horribly played. I should log out instantly. But I do not.

I did not think so at the time, but looking back on it, I think maybe I was on tilt. I was upset with myself for too much aggression on some hands and for the big pot holding nothing but top pair, third kicker.

Still, I am still somewhat aggressive, raising the awesome K/4 off from the cutoff and watching everyone fold.
And the next hand raising a more reasonable Q/10 off from the cut-off. This time the big blind calls.
The flop comes 2/a/10, all spades. He checks, I bet half the pot, he folds. Could not tell you if I had a spade or not, did not really matter.

A couple hands later, it is folded to the small blind who completes. I should raise, after all, I have a monstrous 3/5 off. However, this hand stands a fair chance of being second best after…well, 99.999% of all possible flops, so if I am going to win this hand, now is the time. But I check anyway because sometimes I am a truly awful player.

A 6/j/1, 2 suited flop sees him min bet. An obvious re-raise…but I fold. Because sometimes I am a truly awful player.

And the very next hand, I am the small blind. The button open-limps, I weakly complete with the 9/10 off, and the big blind does what I should have and raises to 50. The button calls, I fold, having wasted a nickel with weak, poor play.

However, even weak, poor players can pick up good hands. In the hijack, one guy limps to me and I look at pocket aces. I bump it up to 60. The utg limper flat-calls and the flop is 2/5/7, 2 clubs. He checks, I bet, he folds.

I do a lot of folding, then in middle position, largely out of boredom I suppose, I open-raise an 8/Q off and everyone folds.

Pockets 7s in middle position. One person limps and I have a choice. A re-raise here would be strong and probably wise. Often, when a few people limp, one of the blinds will make a big re-raise. 7s are good if you get in cheap but cannot stand a big raise. At the same time, if I limp, often that brings others into the pot. I really only plan to play a big pot if I flop a set, so I limp to try and see a cheap flop. At a normal table where I am trying to maintain my “table image” of someone who is aggressive and whom you better have a hand to stay with me, then I raise. But here where most people are so busy rushing to the next hand that they do not take notes…why not try to see a drawing hand cheap? So I limp.

The Big blind checks and we see a 10/6/k flop, all hearts. I have no hearts, but I do have heart, and when they both check, I make a half-pot bet, they fold and I take it down. Had someone re-raised, it would be an easy fold.

So there are times I am being aggressive, and then times like the one shortly after where I open-fold the button…and the sb folds, giving the big blind a walk. Are my cards really relevant here?

Next hand, in the hijack, I do raise, and still nobody calls. Pocket deuces win again.

The lesson, oft-repeated, seldom followed, is controlled aggression wins lots of small pots I am not entitled to by my cards. But smart aggression I guess entitles me to them. At the same time, better hands are easy to fold.
Example; next hand I am in late middle position with A/J off. Under the gun click-raises, I fold. The pot later gets large and I would have lost it to pocket 9s. Good fold with a better hand than the ones I was raising with.
The lesson is still clear; raise lots, call seldom. When I am playing well, I fold K/2 suited in the big blind, as I later do…yet if it were folded to me, I would raise that from the hijack or later.

That is one way I use these hand histories, to see if I was playing well or poorly. For example, I open-folded the small blind. That is always a mistake, even with “trash hands” like the 10/3 suited I did it with. The big blind folds that so often that I should always give him a chance to do so by raising.

I then am in too much of a hurry to fold and open-fold pocket 4s. Now, as it turns out, I was under the gun and two people got all in with pocket 2s versus pocket 10s…of course, the deuces only had 88 cents, but this is a good example of a time where a conservative fold was a good one…if I am results oriented instead of “proper play” oriented.
At a normal table, open-folding pocket 4s under the gun is automatic. On Rush, not raising it is typically a mistake because often it flat out wins the pot, other times it hits the set, and other times it wins unimproved through continuation bets. But not a huge mistake to fold.

Raising A/5 suited from the cutoff pickes up the blinds.
Under the gun+3 with pocket 7s follows the pocket 4s formula. Regular table…easy fold. Rush…automatic raise. Only the cut-off calls. Flop is dangerous…J/Q/9 with 2 suits. So naturally I bet half the pot, he folds, and I pick up a small pot.

Looking for “one more hand” I pick up a suited J/Q on the button. I open to 30, the small blind calls and we take the flop heads up. The flop is A/5/3 rainbow. I bet 50 cents into a 70 cent pot. Why did I make it 50 instead of my standard 40? Acting too fast. And I am not happy when he calls.

The turn is a 7, giving me 4 to the flush. He checks and I check my flush draw. The turn is a Jack of the 4th suit. I now have a pair, but the way he has played this hand I figure he could have a dry ace, 2 pair, or just a couple high cards. Most of what he holds are dangerous, so I check behind him. He had K/2 of same suit I had, so I am glad no flush hit…and he missed his gut-shot straight draw so I take down 1.59.

Now I have just about 13.86 and decide it is a good time to quit.

Despite some poor early play, I finish about 3.75 to the good. Woo-hoo!

A Couple of fascinating hands

Playing 5/10 cent Rush, I was sitting behind 11.78 when I was dealt A/Ko. The guy under the gun is someone I have marked down as raising every time it is folded to him so when he opened for 30.

(Rush is Texas hold 'Em, 9 handed...where as soon as you fold your hand, you are sent to a new table with new players and dealt a new hand. It is easily possible to see anywhere from 2-400 hands per hour per table. Many people multi-table, so you know they have little or no idea who they are playing against. It makes certain plays...position bets, continuation bets, etc. much more effective, but bluffs much LESS effective because the odds anyone still in the hand past the flop actually has a hand and will call you down.)

A/Ko is nice pre-flop but tends to miss a lot. On top of that, Villain is aggressive enough that I am going to have a hard time putting him on a hand. He could have any ace, any pair, any two face cards, or even any one or two-gappers, suited or not. That is a pretty wide range.

I bounce it up to 1.05 and it is folded back to him. He calls. I am not particularly disappointed. On most flops I expect him to bet and plan to re-raise. If he calls that or re-raises, I am done with the hand. The cards do not really matter, I figure I am playing the player at this point.

Until the flop comes K/K/9, 2 hearts. I just hit the third nuts. The only hands I am afraid of are pocket 9s or K/9. Sure, both of those are reasonable holdings even under the gun for someone as aggressive as he is…but I am not going to play in fear of them.

He checks. This brings warning signals to my brain. Why would he check?

Four possible reasons.

First, he has nothing, is afraid of the board, and fears that hit me. He has given up on the hand and I am not going to get paid off.

Second, he hit it huge, has the stone cold nuts or close to it. He wants to induce a bluff.

Third, he has a draw…either straight or flush. People on Rush chase gut shots all the time, even in the face of obvious better hands, so…I would believe that.

Fourth, he plans to bluff me off the hand with a big check-raise if I continuation bet.

Now, I have tried everything to get paid on these type hands. Standard continuation bets, overbets, underbets, checking the flop, or even checking all the way to the river. It almost never works regardless…which is not unexpected. Hard to call if you do not have a King or pocket 9s.
Well, I decided to go the “fear bet”, betting 10 cents into a pot of about 2.50 after the rake.

He pauses, then raises to 2.55. Sadly, this tells me little. It pretty much eliminates the first possibility, but does raise the idea that he missed but thinks I missed as well and is playing the player.

He could also just be going blind aggression, raising and reraising at every opportunity. I have seen several people do and I do have him marked as hyper-aggressive in my notes.

I actually half-expected him to re-raise, I got my result. Now, how to handle it.

I refuse to play in fear and plan to play it aggressively. The only thing I am realistically afraid of is him having A/x suited and drawing to the heart flush, but even if he hits it I have a 10-out redraw to the full house.

Still, I would rather make him pay to draw out on me and if I am behind a pair of nines, I want to at least put him to a big decision, wondering if I have Kings so I re-reraise him all-in.

He thinks about it for a bit, but calls all-in. We now have a 19.00 pot…and he turns up the A/Q of hearts.

He is drawing to the flush and runner-runner straight.

And of course turned the flush when the 2 of hearts hit.

So now I am about a 3.4-1 underdog. Any 9, 2, or Ace will give the full house or the miracle king would give me quads. 10 outs, we know 8 cards, 52-8=44, 10 winners, so 34-10 or 3.4 to one against.

I wonder how upset he was when the King hit to give me the stone cold, absolute nuts...quad kings, Ace kicker?

At first it felt like I had put a bad beat on him, mostly because it was the King that hit instead of one of my other nine outs. But percentage wise, I win about 23% of the time.

Compared to the brutal 21-1 hits I have taken repeatedly, it was pretty reasonable. And had the roles been reversed…had a blank fallen on the turn and he caught a heart on the river, I would not have felt like I took a bad beat. I would, however, have known he did not get the right price to draw to the flush.

So I wonder how the hand looked from his side.

“I have A/Q suited under the gun. Usually when I raise, most people fold. I raise three times the blind.

Oh, someone re-raised. Everyone folds to me. My 30, 15 cents from the blinds, I am getting somewhat better than 1.8-1 and if I hit a flush I might be able to stack him.

A re-raise usually takes a stronger hand. So he probably has a medium pocket pair or better, Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, or A/K. I am probably behind but if I catch up, those are hands that will pay me off.

Ooh, bad flop…K/K/9. At least I have the nut flush draw. Let’s check and see what he does.
Hmm. Led out for 10 cents. I have seen people do this before. They are just trying to see if I have anything, figuring I will fold if they bet. A re-raise should drive him off and if not I have the flush draw.

What the…he raised all in? Lets see…my 2.55 plus his is 5.10 plus the 2.5 from pre-flop, pot is about 13.85 and I figure to have 9 outs. If he had the king he would just check so he might have the 9 or a small pair in which case I lose an out or two but pick up 6. I am getting a little better that 2-1,calling 6.50 to win 13.85 and might have as many as 14 outs if I am even behind to begin with. That is 18 outs twice, so I am actually a favorite to win. I call.


But that is not how I would have played it. Lets switch places for a second.

I pick up A/Q Hearts under the gun. I am going to raise. Uh-oh…re-raise. (Note that I do not know if this other guy keeps notes…if he does, they are probably going to show the re-raise as coming from someone who does a lot of re-raising, though usually from middle to late position.)

Lets put him on a range of hands. To re-raise someone who raised under the gun, he needs a pretty strong hand. Of course, I have seen some pretty loose re-raises with hands like 6/7 suited, King/Queen off and so forth, but mostly I am going to put him on Jacks or better or big slick. I am mostly looking to hit the flush if I call, not sure how happy I will be to hit either my Ace or Queen.

Hmm. K/K/9, two hearts. That hits almost every hand I put him on. Check-fold seems wise.
He raised ten cents into that pot? Ridiculous. One of three things. Either he hit it hard…Big Slick or pocket kings, maybe Jacks, Queens or Aces and figures it missed me and I will fold but does not want to invest too much if it hit me or, more likely, it missed him, he figures it missed me and I will only call if I hit it.

I did miss it but I have the nut flush draw. If I re-raise he will most likely fold and if not, I will believe he has the King or nine and be done with the hand.

Raise to about 2.55 does seem right, but when he came over the top all in…I would fold.

Not that I would not check my odds to the flush, but more that I could already be drawing dead to the full house. On top of that, there are easier targets than getting all my money in on a draw where I am getting the wrong odds and might be drawing dead. I would rather raise all in than call all in, particularly when I am calling all-in to someone who showed strength pre-flop and on the flop. A fold seems pretty clear to me here.

And that analysis represents, to me, the difference between aggression and prudent aggression. Whichever side of the situation I am on, I like the flop re-raise. I just hate the all-in call if I am the one making it.

Perhaps that is too cautious. Maybe it is marginal situations like this I need to improve on. The problem is, the range of hands I might put my opponent on has far too many that hit that flop or are well ahead of me and far too few where I am a favorite.

Add to this...it is not necessary to get involved in such close situations. Rush is a pretty soft game. People fold otherwise playable hands because by folding they get dealt a new hand that might be Aces. It is not unusual to see everyone, including the blinds, fold to a min-raise from any position...even Under the Gun, the Button, or even the small blind.

So why get involved in a HUGE pot where you might be drawing thin or dead to someone who has twice shown strength?

Not to take too much of a page from Phil Hellmuth...but I feel I am a bigger favorite with 2/7 in a small pot where the opponent is out of position and shown no strength than having the Nut Flush draw on a board likely to have someone holding trips or better. Win small pots, let big ones that are close go.



Yet there are times I will make a loose call, as well.

Also on Rush, later same session, but this time there is nobody at the table I have made a note on. This is in itself unusual as I have notes on thousands of players.


Under the gun limps in. This typically means a suited ace, suited connectors, or a small to medium pair, probably 8s or worse. Under the gun +1 also limps, and I put him on about the same range of hands. One other player limps, the small blind folds, and I have a 4/9 Hearts. Not a great hand. I consider raising since nobody showed strength, but elect to just check.

I will be out of position for the entire hand with what can only be charitably described as a trash hand. I am drawing at the 6th nut flush against three players out of position…a pre-emptive fold would not be a bad idea here. I check.

The flop is intriguing. 6s, Jh, Ah.

I hit nothing but did flop what is now the 4th nut flush draw. Also, the Ace is out there, which means the most likely flush draws I will be facing would be the King/Queen or suited connectors…and the suited connectors I could beat.

Still, I check and when the next guy bets .45 into a pot of 40 cents (after rake), I am going to fold…until the other two guys call. Now I am getting 3.78-1 to call…and will probably get more action if the flush hits.

Then again, I am still afraid of something like an unsuited j/10 where the 10 is a heart, or K/10 or K/Q where any of those are the heart. Fold or call?

I decided to take one off. I call.

And I do not know if I love or hate the turn…7H. I completed my flush. But there are lots of flushes that beat me and it did not complete any likely hands.

I could raise here, representing a better flush…but I am only going to get called or re-raise by better hands so it would be wasted money. I would like to see a cheap showdown. So I could play some pot control and check.

That is what I do. And to my surprise, everyone checks behind me.

Okay, time to do some analysis.

Under the gun limped, bet the pot on the flop and then checked the potential flush. Hands that fit this criteria include big aces, J/10, suited connectors, medium pairs. He could have top pair good kicker, a gut-shot straight draw, a small set, or even something like A/J for 2 pair.

Oddly, the one thing I did NOT put him on was a flush. Most players who limp with suited connectors raise big when the flush card hits. Sure, a few will slow-play it, but mostly they are doing so much betting and raising they figure they need to protect against something like K/Qo where either card is a heart.

The calls are more troubling. If they had a big hand, knowing the bettor was silent, they probably raise here trying to build the pot. By not raising, it becomes more likely they hit something callable if cheap, like top or middle pair or, if good players, are also trying to see their weak flush to a cheap showdown.

I figure my hand is good.

River is an off-suit three.

Check or raise?

I elect to make a thin value bet, raising to 90 cents into a pot of about 2.10. Both under the gun and under the gun +1 call…I am curious. Both with low heart flushes? Seems unlikely. Maybe a medium set afraid of the flush and a big pair? Maybe two pair?

Then it gets worse. The button raises to 2.20. What a weird raise…it is 1.30 to me, and 2.20 into a pot that now has 5 bucks or so in it.

He is raising into one guy who has raised an earlier street, one guy who has called the raise and raised the river, and one guy who has called a flop raise with people behind him, a river raiser and two callers.

If he makes a serious bet...say, pot size or better...I am going to believe I am beat and go away. I will not be getting the right pot odds with a weak hand. I am not afraid of laying down a hand when i believe I am beat and, in fact, at least twice have laid down suited connectors on the river when a big re-raise has convinced me the opponent(s) had a better flush. But he made it very, very affordable.

In fact, I expected both guys behind me to call again, so it would be a double digit pot I would see really cheaply.

So now I need to call 1.30 to win 6.1. I am getting 4.69-1 to call on a hand played really strange…but there are two people behind me. If they do call, I am getting almost 6-1.

The three completed no draws. The only hands that beat me are suited hands containing the King, Queen or ten of hearts. Still, re-raising into 3 players, this looked like a value-bet.
I nearly folded but elected to call based on the great pot odds.

And here it got even stranger. Both early limpers fold and the showdown is between the button and me.

I had to think about what hands he could have that I could beat because that 3 changed nothing.

Two pair, a set, or a complete bluff. The way he played this hand, I figured maybe a weak ace or set. Those were the most likely hands, but there was a possibility he could have K/Q hearts.
And my soft bet and two soft calls certainly did not represent a lot of strength.

If I could convince myself he did not have a suited hand that held the King, Queen or 10 I would re-reraise. However, if he re-raised, i would have to fold. Much better to see the showdown the call.


Still, when he turned over A/3 for two pair…I want to play more hands with him. Odds are good he had at best the third best hand and maybe even the fourth. I would be surprised if at least one guy did not fold a set or low flush, maybe even the 10.

I was feeling fishy for making it to the river.

On the bright side, between my blind, flop, and river I put 2.75 into what turned out to be a 7.69 pot…and I took it down.

A Fishtastic Feeding Frenzy

5/10 Texas hold Em

New Player in the cut-off posts 10 cents, the button disconnects, and play begins 8 handed.
Under the Gun +1 limps in, folds to cut-off who checks, the small blind completes and the big blind checks.
Pot is now 40 cents.

Flop is 7 Clubs, 10 of Spades and 5 of clubs. The blinds both check, utg+1 min-raises to 10 cents, the cut-off calls and both blinds fold.
Pot is now 60 cents.

Turn is the Ace of Hearts. Both players check, pot remains 60 cents.

River is the 8 of diamonds.

UTG+1 raises 60 cents.
Cut-off hesitates, then raises to 2.40.
UTG+! thinks, then raises all in.
Cut-off calls the last 2.83.

Now, the board is 7C, 10S, 5C, AH, and 8D. What could each player have?

On the 5/10 level, a limp from early position is often a trap with Kings or Aces, though many other times it is a small pocket pair, a suited ace, a dry ace, or even suited connectors.

Coming in paying to see flops from the cut-off is by definition a weak play. The problem with being a blind is you have to put chips in the pot without knowing what cards you hold. Checking it with one limper and 2 players to act certainly indicates no strength either, and he could literally have any two cards.

The blinds folded at the first sign of interest in the pot, so it is safe to assume they had sub-standard hands.


First, lets play it through from the eyes of the UTG player.

He picks up pocket 8s. There are 2 big blinds and a small blind already in, the table has seen lots of limping, and the button is disconnected. Hand values go up slightly therefore.

If he can see a flop getting 4-to-1 odds, he is still taking the worst of it, particularly out of position, but if he is disciplined and lays them down if someone raises or if he misses the flop then it might not be a brutally bad play but it is pretty weak for sure.

Flop 7C, 10S, 5C
The blinds check to UTG. Only one player behind him who has two random cards and entered the pot involuntarily. He may or may not have some random hand that the flop hit but it is likely the 8s are the best hand. A raise to see where he stands seems reasonable...but a min-raise?

He is offering 5 to one odds and expressing weakness. This is a horrific bet. At his level, with a player who has already shown he is somewhat loose by his early entry, the cut-off is going to call with any Ace, suited or not, if he hit any part of that flop or has even the most ridiculous of draws, perhaps even any 2 face cards. So really, a min-raise will tell the UTG nothing about his hand, eliminating only hands that you want to hit like 2/7.

So the cut-off calls, telling you nothing about his hand, the blinds fold, and now the pot is 60 cents.

The turn is Ah. On the bright side, it did not complete the flush draw. On the dark side, it it a lot of hands that the cut-off might have called with and, if he was playing 2 face cards, gives him an inside straight draw. Not good odds...but you figure he might play them. You check, and he checks behind. Did he miss it?

The river is beautiful...the 8D. It completes no draws. Unless he was slow-playing pocket aces or pocket 10s or holding specifically J/9 you have a lock on the hand and now you need to figure out how to get your last 5.23 in the pot when there is only 60 cents in there.

Previously you min-raised. Now you raise the pot, 60 cents.

For the first time, your opponent takes some time to think it over. Then he raises you to 2.40. This seems good.

After all, you have shown no strength in the entire hand. The 8 seems very nonthreatening. He could have something like A/5, A/7, or A/10 and have hit 2 pair. Or maybe he has an 7. If he held 4/6 then he hit a straight, but that is an unlikely holding. You can rule out the pocket Aces with a great deal of certainty. Everything is coming up roses. Raise to all-in and hope he calls.


Now to look at it from the cut-off position.

You have had a rough night away from the tables and sat down on tilt. People sucked out on a couple of ridiculous draws, taking down your pocket aces with A/9 off-suit and with A/5suited. You know you are on tilt and should not be playing.

The table has been checking to the big blind, so you take a calculated gamble one off the button and pay into the blinds. Then the button disconnects, so in effect you limped from the button. You pick up J/9o, a truly weak hand.

Under the Gun+1 limps, folds to you. That limp represents weakness most of the time, but there is no point to raising here...if he re-raises you will have to fold and you already wasted a blind by buying in at this point. Happily, the small blind completes and the big blind checks. You take a flop 4 handed and with position.

Flop 7C, 10S, 5C.
A complete blank. You hope everyone checks and you can take one off looking to hit your inside straight. The blinds follow the plan and the UTG player then min-raises.

This is bad because he could easily be playing a suited Ace where one of these cards hit his kicker, he could be semi-bluffing on a flush draw, or might even have hit a set of some sort.

However, the min-raise is offering 5-1, the limp pre-flop followed by a min-raise after 2 checks feels like a pot-steal. So there are 2 ways to play it:
1) re-raise about the pot, trying to take it down with air.
2) call, planning to raise if he checks the turn and a scare card hits.

With 2 players behind you, both with random hands that might have hit, you decide to call, planning to raise the turn regardless of what card comes.

Both blinds fold and you take the turn heads up with 60 cents in the pot.

The turn card is perfect, the Ace of hearts. He checks. Time to bet and take down the pot...but wait...what if he had an Ace and is slow-paying you? Bet or check?

The entire reason you called the flop was for this situation. Doing anything other than betting is the wrong play. A half-pot bet should let you know exactly where you stand. If he is truly as weak as he appears, you will get away with your weak pre-flop and flop play. If he actually has something, he will likely raise you and if he just calls, you will at least get one more shot at your ridiculous inside straight draw.

Remember, there are only 4 cards that complete it, and one of them also completes the flush. Though the flush is unlikely, it is certainly possible enough to call your outs maybe 3-1/2, giving you roughly 7% to hit your hand, meaning you need about 14-1 pot odds to call anything he raises you.

You weakly check. Bad, bad play.

And it is promptly rewarded when the river gives you the absolute nuts, the 8 Diamonds. You can only hope it gave the opponent enough to call your raise.

It does better, he comes out raising to the size of the pot.

That is a curious amount giving his pre-flop limp, flop min-raise, and turn check. A quick look at the board...no flush, no full house, no higher straights. He must have the Ace or 2 pair.

How much to raise? There is 1.20 in the pot, he raised the pot, so re-raising the pot to 2.40 seems about right. Hopefully he will call.

And he does.

Show-down; the UTG loses with his river set of 8s to the river straight of the cut-off.


Sadly, I was the UTG and think I played this hand about as poorly as I could. No question I was on tilt. On the flop, I did not even really consider the inside straight. I read him for weakness, believed any face card or ace on the turn would win the pot for me, and called his raise based on that. Then, when the perfect card hit, I checked as I switched my thinking to "I bought the card, might as well see if I can get lucky and hit my straight."

I actually thought he had something like a dry Ace or perhaps some suited connectors and that even the Jacks might be outs. If I hit any 8, 9 or Jack I would call his river bet assuming he stayed true to form and bet small, so the 5-1 pot odds I called were reasonable when I did not know what he had. I thought I had 10 outs and was about 4.7-1 against, getting 5-1 to hit my hand with implied odds much, much higher.

Of course, once I knew what he actually had, the math changed a bit. He held 2 of my outs so I only had 8, slightly worse than 6-1 against and if I hit a 9 or jack, he was unlikely to call so no implied odds.

I played the hand very, very poorly and need to remember hands like this so I do not play this way. Just because it worked out for me this time does not mean it was anything other than a huge, huge mistake.

Starving Crazed Weasels, June

Smaller turnout of 11, but that is all good...will be that way sometimes.

Actually had a pretty soft starting table. I did have Kev to my left...he has become one of my toughest opponents. But next to him was Amy, playing for the second time, to her left Tess, also playing for the second time, Then Rick, playing for about the 4th time. So really, a good table to play ABC poker...fold a lot, raise my good hands, and so forth. In fact, I think only twice at that table did I get to the showdown with second best hand; once when we had an All-in and checked it down, once when I checked after the flop and she never bet.

Started nicely with pocket Queens, raised, couple callers, flop small and ragged, raised, they folded. I showed.

I wanted them to have in their minds that I always had the best hand so wanted to show a lot of strong hands. 

Played a few small hands and won them. Meanwhile, Kev kept getting rivered by his sisters. In one hand he flopped 2 pair, bet to the river and lost when Tess hit the straight on the river...but was also beat because Amy hit  Flush on the same card.

I was hitting a lot of hands but nothing memorable, so I played and won about 8 or 10 hands and had a nice stack. 

Got to the final table and now it was getting ugly. Had Josh to my left..I want him on my right. To his left was Tim, then Tess, then Amy, then Rick, then Phillip, then Ken. So I had Phillip and Ken to my right and Josh and Tim to my left. I was not happy.

I put out Tess when she had few chips and I paired, and the very next hand put out Tim when he had less than the small blind. 

I had a nice chip lead, but then came an ugly hand. I had A/10, raised.Ken called. Flop was rainbow, small cards. Ken checked, I raised, he almost folded, then said, "I don't like calling on outs, but I am going to. He called.  Turn put a second Heart on the board, he called my raise. River was another Heart. He checked, I read him as having hit his draw and checked behind. He was bummed I checked and flipped up the King/2 of Hearts. He hit runner runner to take 3K from me. That hurt.

Josh took out Phillip and was climbing the chip board.

I got little bits back from Ken a couple times.

Amy was next to fall and then Rick, who was tired, went to the river on a hand he normally would fold and Josh took him out. Uh-oh, both Ken and Josh have lots of chips and we are down to final three.

I had A/8 spades, raised. 3 handed, that is pretty good. Ken called. Flop was ragged, a couple Spades. I raised, he called. . Turn was a blank, raise/call. River gave me the flush, I raised him all in, he called with...2 pair maybe?

Down to Josh and I. I had maybe a 2 to 1 chip lead and the advantage of being in Josh's head. Picked up A/2 Diamonds first hand. Raised. He hesitated, was going to fold, then called. Flop was ragged, no help, just one Diamond. I raised. He called pretty quick. I was done with the hand. Turn was 5 Diamonds. Hmm. I raised to keep control of the hand. He snap-called. River...another Diamond. I river-ratted him. How to get the most out of him?

A quick glance at the pot told me it had more than he had left, I raised all-in, he called. He had the straight. I had the Flush. Back to back hands I put out 2 of the most dangerous players we had.

For the night, about everything went right. Not only did I pretty much only play good hands...those hands held up. Only once did I get crushed and that was a hand I felt Ken normally wouldn't (and shouldn't) have stayed on, but he had a couple back door draws on the flop and one came home so  I don't mind that at all. I played well and had good results. And a lot of fun,

Starving Crazed Weasels poker

I have not done one of these for a while. We decided more or less at the last minute to have a poker tournament Saturday. Actually, for some of us (read "me") it was last minute. Others had thought it was planned, so...well...

Going in my plan was to play pretty tight. Play top ten hands from early position, play a wider range from later. Pretty standard. I also planned a lot of raise-or-fold play. In other words, disciplined poker. 

Folded the first couple hands and then picked up pocket 7s from middle position. I will sometimes take a flyer on these hands and did on this one, planning to raise but Robin beat me to it. Cris and Tracy called, I called, Pete called. Flop was 10/something/10. Tracy raised. I almost called. This would test how I was playing.

When I am playing poorly, I will call here trying to get lucky and planning to simply tighten up if I lose the hand and win with solid poker. But getting lucky is not playing skillfully. It is deliberately playing in situations where you should not and trying to, instead of win by skillfully getting your chips in good, trying to win from behind. 

I folded. Turn was another 10. D'oh! I would have had a full house. But there was heavy betting with Robin leading out, Cris and Tracy calling. At the showdown, Robin had pocket 6s for a full house. Cris had pocket 7s (my hand was dead...) and Tracy holding the case 10. She had quads. Nice.

Folded a few hands, then came one of the key hands of the night.

 2/4 of diamonds on the button. About 5 people had limped so the circumstances were perfect to play this hand; get out cheap if I miss the flop, if I hit it I should pick up a nice chunk. But then something happened. Pete raised to 250 from the small blind.

Pete is a good player but struggles with this League because he relies a lot on 2 things: 1, people understanding what bets mean and 2) bluffing to pick up pots. 

Problem is, many of the players in this league don't understand what raises mean. They have no idea about relating raise sizes to the blinds and/or other people in the pot, when a raise means something and when it doesn't. But that is a minor problem. Actually, it means when you have a good hand you should rake a nice pot because people are not scared away by the bets. It is not uncommon for people to call over pot-sized bets (or, for that matter, to make those bets in the first place) nor to see people fold to minimum bets with dozens of blinds in the pots after the river.

In this league, bluffing is French for "giving away your chips to anyone with even a weak pair or two high cards". With that element removed from his game it is much tougher for him. This is not a knock, simply a recognition that his style of play and this league's style of play do not mesh well.  When he learns to mix up his play he will do very well.

You can, if not outright win, at the very least finish top 2 or 3 every month simply by playing A-B-C poker. Fancy plays, check-raises, value bets...these nuances are too advanced for most of the players in the League at this point, though there has been incredible and vast improvement.

Anyway, when he raised, that SHOULD have driven out almost everyone. A big raise from late is supposed to indicate a strong hand

Instead all but one called so I was priced in. In position with a weak drawing hand, true...but I could get out after the flop easily. Besides, I know Pete will often raise like that trying to steal small pots like this one where lots of people limped.

Except there was no need for me to get out, it was a dream flop. 2/2/j rainbow. How to get the chips in the pot? Pete bet 500 , Cris and Tracy called. I wanted to keep people in so I did not re-raise and just smooth called. 

Turn was a 6 of one of the suits, I think hearts. Now with possible straight and flushes on the board, checked to me, I raised. I wanted to charge people for staying with horrific back-door draws. It is not unusual to see people needing runner-runner stick around. Pete, Cris and Tracy all called. River was a blank. I raised it to 1000 or so. Pete called with a look on his face that let me know he was irritated and knew he was beat but had a hand he could not lay down.  Cris called all-in and Tracy called. I showed the trips. Pete showed pocket Kings and Cris showed top two pair.

Now I was sitting pretty. We start with just 3000 and I already had almost 11K. 

Hit a ht streak, won 2 or 3 consecutive small pots. Had no hand for one hand and someone went out. Boo, I needed points and needed to take people out. *sigh*

Folded (!) to me about 1 to the right of the button. I had 2/7 of Hearts, lots of chips. I thought it would be funny to raise. At this point the blinds were 50/100 so I raised to 300. Pete was down to 650 and went all-in. Folded back to me.

I had been raising frequently, though every other time I raised I legitimately had good hands. I did not want people to think I was raising with junk. How to either call or fold without destroying the table image I had been working to develop?

Aha! "I was just raising to be funny that time," I said. "I am thinking about calling because I think it is funny."

Actually, I was planning calling because I knew Pete had a super-wide range of hands he would make that move with. With only 650, he wanted a heads-up pot and there were only the blinds and I to force out. I had been raising a lot so he knew my raising range was wide. That meant any pair, any Ace, any two face cards, and maybe even something like J/10. 

I know I am all but dead to any pair but against the rest of his hands I am 60-40 and something about his raise did not feel like a pair. It felt like a desperation, lower-end of his range, somewhat on tilt all-in.  So I was actually figuring it for a coin flip and I will take that kind of chance to put a dangerous player out. And at worst, he would double up and be having fun which is something I want everyone to do at these things.

He made it easy. "With the blinds, you are priced in."

He was right. His 650 , the blinds, and my initial raise meant I now needed to call 350 to win 1100, more than 3-1 and I believed I was only a 3-2 dog. I called. 

He was right where I thought he might be, at the low end of his range of all-in hands, A/9. He was still the favorite, but I had two live cards. 

And I hit the 7. 

To this point I had been red-hot, picking up hand after hand. Now I went card dead and just at the wrong time. I needed points to catch Kevin and Josh in the standings. To get points I needed to finish well and take out lots of people.

Instead I had to sit there folding as Phillip, Tracy, and Rick went out. Then Joe went out. Then Emily and Robin in the same hand. My stack was blinding down and I was getting no cards. We were down to the final 9. Eric had a huge stack, Kevin had almost as much, and I was way behind them in third.

Bad part is, I was tilting and I knew it. Every hand was taking forever. I could tell certain people were going to fold before the action ever got to them, but they would sit there and ponder their move for 3 or 4 minutes every time. And with 3 people at the table doing that, it got real boring real fast. This is not a super serious league as a general rule. We like to keep it fast-paced. Instead it was sooooooooooo slooooooooooooow. I was trying to get myself out. But I wanted to do it on a good hand.

Picked up Jacks. Raised, everyone but Josh folded. Flop was ragged, 10/6/2 rainbow. I bet the pot. He looked like he was going to fold, then called. I should have gotten suspicious as that is a pretty reliable tell but I missed it.

Turn was a King, I checked, he checked. 

River was a blank, I bet enough to put him all in, he called. He had a 6/10.

yes, Josh, the guy I think is usually a real good player called a healthy raise with 6/10. He later admitted he only did it because he had not played a hand for a while and it was his big blind.

Anyway, that hurt. 

A few hands later I had j/9 on the button. About 4 people limped, I limped, big blind checked. Flop was Q/J/4, all Hearts. My 9 was a heart. I had middle pair, enough chips left to be dangerous, and a mediocre flush draw. I went all in. 

And promptly got called by Kevin, Eric, and Josh. Uh-oh, I was dead. No way was middle pair any good against three callers, especially with Eric being one of them. He is a very conservative player. Josh will take a flyer trying to get me out and Kevin will call with a wide range of hands when he has a lot of chips, but Eric? No, one of them for sure, probably two of them already had me beat.

Turn was a blank. River was a blank. I reluctantly showed my measly pair of jacks...and it was the winning hand. What? Well, one had A/K, one had a King high flush draw, the other had I think a straight draw? Anyway, it never hit any of them and Jacks were the best hand. 

Ironically, I now had over 13K, more than at any other point in the game. 

Josh was crippled and soon taken out. Down to Amy, Kevin, Eric and I. I really needed to outlast Kevin as I was pretty sure I now had enough points to overtake Josh as I was only 100 points behind him when the night started and with 17 people, that meant I was scoring well. 

Poor Amy was pretty out-classed. It was her first time ever playing the game and she was hitting a lot of hands that she might not have been in had she known the game better. I was excited for her to have done so well, but now that it was just some of the tougher players left, she was intimidated and ended up going out when her pocket Aces got beaten by Erics' two pair.

And then something funny happened. I got a J/10, raised, flopped a straight. Kevin and Eric stayed with me right to the river and I tripled up. I was now sitting on over 25K.

And then Kevin went all-in on a gut-shot straight draw when I had trips. I took him out.

Eric is a solid, A-B-C player. He also is super easy to read if you pay attention. Example:earlier, Rick had limped in. Eric looked at his chips. Blinds were 50/100. He had no 100s, so he just tossed a 500 out there which we allowed as a raise. Rick reluctantly showed me his hand, K/J Hearts as he folded. 

"Should have called, you have a better hand than he does." Sure enough, flop came Jack high and Eric now made change and bet 200.

"Told you," I said to Rick. "You had him right there." After the river betting I told Rick, "He was afraid of the Jack. He had some pair lower than that and wanted to bet but was afraid of that."

Sure enough, later Eric told me he had tens on that hand.

It was a good hand to raise, but not to raise to 500 with blinds at 50/100. He made that raise not because he had a good hand but because he had a hand he wanted to play and did not want to make change. After the flop, he wanted to make a continuation bet but when he made change he might as well have flipped his cards up. 

Now that it was he and I, I went to town. Three times I did not even bother to look at my cards, just watched him. If he hesitated I knew he had a weak hand and bet. Once, ironically, I did not look at my cards and limped in. He checked. Flop came A/K/something. I bet, he folded. Looked at my cards...A/K. Awesome. Not that it mattered, I was playing him not the cards.

But the patter was set. Any time I had a pair I bet. He folded. Any time he checked, I bet. If he bet....well, he didn't. Soon I had the chip lead. Soon I had the game. 

I played really well at first. I made good reads, made the correct play, maximized my winnings and minimized my losses. When I went on tilt, I still played well. I only played hands that had a chance of winning...other than the one semi-bluff that inexplicably won.

Once I got down to three people I knew I had a real good shot at winning. I picked my spots, built my stack, and ended up winning for the first time this year after a 3rd, an 11th, a 2nd, and I think a 4th. 

Oh, and for the record? Because Kevin had been in first place, I got 20 for taking him out instead of 10...and in the current standings I am ahead by 10 points. Awesome.

Starving Crazed Weasels March

Had not been playing very well. I play so rarely any more that I started playing like a maniac. Stay in until the river hoping for that miracle card, that sort of stuff. So this month I decided to play well just to see if I could. Nice turnout.

Had Tracy to my right, then Phillip, then someone, then Emily, then Shelli, to my left Rick and then Chad. Fun table.

About 2 hands in picked up pocket 10s. Raised. 2 callers. Flop saw an Ace, a raise and call ahead of me. Lately, I would have played it hoping to turn a set. This time I folded.

A few hands later picked up pocket Jacks. Raised, couple callers. Flop was A/K/10. Heavy action, again I folded instead of justifying the loose call with hope for a set or straight. I was playing well.

Picked up Big Slick, raised, couple callers. Flopped an Ace and a couple diamonds. Pushed it, took down nice pot.

A/J, raise, hit the Jack, took down smaller pot.

Took down a couple pots here and there, lost very little. Got up a small amount, picked up the Cowboys, raised it.

Flop was ragged, Queen high. I raised it and Emily came over the top. Now, I taught her how to play and I know how she plays. There are really only two times she does that; one, if she has something like A/Q and wants to chase out stuff like pocket jacks or draws, and when she is on a pure bluff...which she has only done once. Anyway, there was no way I was getting away from this. I also thought she might have Aces.

Whoops. She had pockets. Not Aces though...worse. Pocket Queens. Which means she had a set. I was drawing mighty thin, about 5% (21-1). Turn was a blank. I was going to be out early for the third month in a row.

Except the river was a King.

Suddenly I was chip lead. Caught a hot streak.

Started trying to put people out. And twice people hit runner-runner to stay in. No big deal.

Rest of the night was just a succession of raise with good cards, fold bad ones until Phillip came calling.

He completed from the small blind and I checked. Heads up, I had an A/4. Flop was a blank. He raised, I called. He will often raise trying to drive people out with weak hands and if they call, just try to check it down. Sure enough, he checked the turn and river so I bet enough to put him all in.

He correctly said I was bluffing, but he was low and did not want to go out with such a weak hand. He showed what he was folding...2/3. He had a pair of 2s and would have beat me. We both read each other correctly but I went with my gut and he didn't.

Lo and behold, we got down to kevin and I. He was more aggressive than I have ever seen him and, since Em and I had to leave and because I love to see flops, I basically called every hand and he took me to the cleaners. He badly outplayed me and deserved the win. But I was happy, I played well except for the one hand against Emily. Other than that, I either got in good every time or read the person correctly.

Beacon Rock, Dec 6, 2008

Golfnow had a great price, the sun was out, the Goose wanted to study, I wanted to golf...so off I went.

Hole one has a slight right bend, trees along the right, open to the left.  I slapped it about 250 yards, ended up curving around the trees and along the right-center of the fairway. A nice chip, 2 putt, PAR. Nice start.

Hole 2 has a bend left at about the 125 from green mark, a 285 yard hole. About a 240 yard drive left me about 60 yards off the green after I faded right. I hit the front of the fringe and 3 putted for bogey. 

Hole 3 is a 150 yard straight par 3. Well, except the trees that overhang both sides. So keep it low and go straight or, like me, ramp up an 8 iron, get under it, and end up about 10 yards short. My chip left some work to be done, 2-putt, bogey.

Hole 4 is a Par 5, 391 yards so not especially long. I lost sight of my first shot, was pretty sure it was along the right side, maybe just into the sparse trees. Never found it. Technically, I should have re-teed. Instead, I backed off to about the 200 yard marker and dropped in the rough. Not officially correct, definitely Drew correct. 7 wood was a few yards short of the green. Chip was weak, 2 putt. I counted the drop for a 6, bogey.

Hole 5 There is water, but no way to tell how far away. Well, there is one way...shorten your swing and put your drive into it. Re-tee, crushed it. It is a 467 yard hole and I was about 135 off the green, well over the water. An 8-iron got me close, 1 putt PAR even after the penalty!

Hole 6Par 4, 316 yards, water down the right side, trees close on the left. I was right of the water. About 100 yards, took a gap wedge, landed short, chipped on, 2 putt, bogey.

Hole 7, par 4, 345, trees left, trees, water and houses right. Sliced a bit, but still had a clean look at the elevated green. Did not want to be short, added a club, skulled it, over green to the back fringe. Chip was wimpy (notice a trend?), 2 putt, bogey.

Hole 8, 134 yard par 3. My pitching wedge is my 135 yard club. Yet I left it short. My chip barely got on the green, 2 putt, bogey. 

Hole 9 starts tight but opens up, a 333 yard par 4. However, if you go right on the tee shot, a large oak overhangs the right side of the green. I crushed the drive about 250 yards, shanked my chip over the tree, then barely chipped onto the green, 2 putt. 

43 for the front, I was pretty happy with that. I thought I was playing poorly; my drive was all over the place, my chipping was short, short, short, short...but averaging 2 putts per hole covers a lot of errors.

The back plays slightly different as they change I think 3 tee boxes. Hole 10, though, is just playing hole 1 again.

This time I sliced and ended up where I was worried about hitting a tree on my back swing, even though about 20 practice swings showed I had lots of room. I actually whiffed on the ball I was worrying so much about hitting the tree. I did not count the stroke since I did not hit the ball, don't know the "official" rules and was playing Weasel golf. Then I shanked the shot right of the green. A short chip left me a make able putt which I left short. Bogey.

Hole 11 Par 4 I was worried about my driver, you don't want to go too far, so I pulled out my beloved 7 wood. And promptly chunked it about 130 yards and right, leaving myself a 160 yard shot. For some inexplicable reason, I whipped out my 8 iron instead of my 5 or 6. In a shock to, well, nobody, that left me short. Tired of landing short, I chipped over the green for variety. Back onto the green, 2 putt, a 6. My first big number. 

Hole 12, the 150 yard par 3. I aired it out, thought it was great, but ended up about 6 yards short. Nice chip for a change, about a 5' putt for PAR.

Hole 13 This time they changed the tee box, making in a 338 yard hole and the hardest on the course. I clipped it, pulling a ground ball left about 80 yards. I declared a Mulligan. I re teed. Well into the trees. Ironically, could not find the 80 yard grounder, but the tree one I found. Sand Wedge back onto the fairway...except short, so in the rough. Chip to fringe, putt from fringe, then 1 putt. Bogey.

Hole 14 A 501 yard par 5. I crushed my drive, clearing the water. Then I hit my 7 wood, pin high but right. Chipped on to about 6'. Missed the birdie, got the PAR.

Hole 15 7 Wood, slightly teed. Went too far right and short. 160 yards out, pulled out my 5 iron. Splash in the lake I thought was past the hole. Drop. Aimed left, waited for wind to die, which was pretty strong by now, 5 iron aimed left...thought it was water again. Upset, pulled my 8 iron, powered it up, landed about 4' short on the fringe. Went to see if I could recover either ball. The first one was gone, but did find my second. Chip was nice, putt lipped out, so a 2 putt a 7. Another big number. Ouch.

Hole 16 The tee box was moved back, making it a 425 yard par 5. With the wind, I teed lower and crushed the drive. Unfortunately, I was playing it to slice so I powdered a tree. It bounced left into a marshy area. No problem, line of sight to the elevated green, 7 wood distance. And my 7 wood I hit so bad my divot ended up 45 degrees left of my line of sight, the shot went about 40 yards. Now 85 yards out. Gap wedge. BAM! Smack into a tree, bounced onto fairway about 45 yards away. Now, that means I SHOULD use my Sand Wedge, but I don't trust it. 8 iron, hit to the right fringe. Used putter, got close, 1 putt, saved a bogey. This hole could easily have been a big, big number, maybe even double digits but I kept my head, didn't get upset, and made something out of nothing. And had I aimed slightly right, missed those trees, I would have had a great shot at an Eagle because that drive was as hard hit as any I hit all day. See hole 18 for why that matters.

Hole 17 133 or 134 yards. The wind scared me. Teed my 8 Iron low to the ground. Moved the ball forward. Aimed about 20 yards right of the green. Skied the ball. Almost hit the 9th/18th hole tee box about 40 yards left of the green. Spectacular chip, about a 6' putt that rolled in. PAR.

Hole 18 I CRUSHED my drive. 284 yards. I walked it off. I then managed to watch my modified 8 iron roll over the green. And weakly chip. And my par putt lipped...hung...and rolled out. Bogey.

44 for the back. Not bad. 

An 87. I am ecstatic with that. A course I have never played before, Rated 67.4 with a slope of 107 (as if I know what those mean...)