Teriyaki House, 4/1/11

Roman called and asked if I wanted to play. Bob had advertised this as being triple points as an April Fools Day joke so the turnout was huge. 4 full tables, a couple people on the waiting list.

On the bright side, our table had all people I know and more or less like. On the dark side...that means the longer I last, the less likely I am to enjoy the company of the people.

On the way there Roman and I were talking a bit of strategy. I pointed out in these free restaurant games I tend to fall into bad habits. People limp far more often than raise, so I start limping and playing passively which is always a recipe for disaster.

I am at my best when I am aggressive. I bring it in for a raise, make continuation bets and value bets. No limp-calling. No playing numerous bad speculative hands like 8/9 off.

So the first hand I picked up A/J suited and brought it in for a raise. I got three calls. The flop was a mess, something like a 2/7/8 type rainbow. I continuation bet and got two calls. The turn was a 4 and put a second spade out there. I bet again, one call. The river was a blank, I checked, he checked behind and showed...J/4.

Wow. Seriously bad play on his part calling on the flop unless he was going to bet later because there is no possible reasonable hand I have he is ahead of. But he did hit his four on the turn, so he won the hand. This hand would matter later.

I then pick up pocket 6s, raise, get about 4 callers. The flop is the 5/6/7 with two diamonds. I bet, three callers. The turn is the 4 of diamonds, I bet and get two calls. The river is another diamond, a guy comes out betting,  Easy fold. Any 3, 8 or diamond beats me.

So now I am down about 40%. I start folding a lot.

And watching how they play. Jen is sort of on tilt having gotten beat a couple times when she bet and people drew out on her. The guy who played the J/4 is playing any two cards that are suited, have a face card or better, or are split by no more than one.

About 4 people limp, I have a q/9 suited and start to throw it away. Then boredom and the desire to see a cheap flop with a losing hand induce me to call.

Jen raises to 5 times the blind, the J/4 guy calls. Again I nearly throw it away but then I start thinking.

She has a nervous way of betting when she does not want a call and is capable of throwing away hands. So really I am trying to flop a good hand to beat J/4 guy. Barring that, I know I can bluff her off the pot.

The flop gives me a gutshot, flush draw, and the pair of 9s with the 9/8/blank, two diamonds. I check, she copies her previous bet and he calls. I consider raising but decide just to see what happens on the turn and call. Basically I am putting my tournament on the line because I think she has a low pair and is afraid of the board and he is so loose he could have anything from a dry ace to deuce-seven so there is no way I am getting away from this hand.

Jackpot. The Jack hits the turn. She gives the exasperated sigh of someone who knows they are beat, then bets 1000, he calls. I only have 1700 left so I shove. She makes the crying call and he makes the brutal call. The river is a blank, she shows Aces, I show the nuts and triple up.

Almost. I had been getting a lot of texts and had my phone on the table. It was covering a 300 chip. Cost myself 600 chips that way.

So now I have a nice stack. I lose a bit on another set that runs into a straight, but nowhere near getting it all in. Slowly I start building my stack.

Then I get moved to another table. Exactly what I hate happened. I know nobody at this table and there are two poker-brat type guys at the table...they are constantly talking about what everyone should do, know all there is to know about poker and are going to disseminate it.

Next to me is a woman playing at approximately the speed of a glacier racing a slug. To my right is an older lady trying to out-slow her. The game slows to a crawl as we play about one hand every five minutes.

So the woman next to me shows a complete lack of understanding of the game. She bets into two all-ins with just an overpair, a couple times she shows trash hands at show-downs after two other people have shown hands with straights and flushes and looks like if someone reads the board she might find out she won.

In about a half hour I think I play one hand and win without a showdown. The I call with a 2/9 suited because one person is all in blind and three people limped. I am in small blind, so... I flop trip 2s. Betting ensues. I make a HUGE pile.

I get moved to another table and this time Roman is at the same table. We have some fun, I win some hands, lose a couple. My wins are all nice, my losses all small. I get moved to the other table. I have now played at all four tables tonight.

Now I am at the table with Helen so again someone I am familiar with. The slow playing woman from two tables ago is two seats to my right, we have three older ladies who take 30 seconds to fold every time. Ugh.

Pick up A/10 suited when we are down to 6 and it is folded to me in middle position. I make it three times the big blind. Slow lady calls. Flop is A/10/blank. She raises, I re-raise, she calls. The turn puts a King on the board. She shoves, I insta-calls. If she has the Q/J so be it, but I want to put her out.

She has a K/2. The 2 is a spade. So is the river. She flushes me on the river. I lose 22,500 of my 52k on that hand. Ouch.

Lose a couple more hands, the blinds are up to 3/6 and I get down to 20k. Start shoving when people show weakness and win several pots uncontested.

I slowly but surely work my way back up. I play a 4/6 hearts. I have no explanation for that. I flop a flush  and take out two people who bet top pair and second pair respectively.

Get down to heads up with slow woman.

Early on she is hitting every hand and betting, I keep folding. She says, "This is too easy" to which woman behind me says, "Oops, should not have said that".

I start pushing hard. K/Q off, all-in. She folds. middle suited cards, shove. She folds. She raises, I have A/5 off, I shove. She folds.

She limps in, I check a trash hand, hit two pair, she shoves, I now have the chip lead.

Pretty soon I win it all.

I am pretty happy with the night. I think 34 total people played. I could have tilted after the J/4 play, but did not. I played aggressively as tournament play demands, did not needlessly risk my stack, and even late when I went from 52k down to 10, I did not panic but looked for the right situation to get it in.

And yeah...I won the biggest tournament I have played in at any point in the last couple years.

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.

Small game

People from work keep asking for a game to be put together and other people have asked for one as well so I put one together. Friday seemed to be the popular day requested so that is when I set it up...except I inadvertently put Saturday on the evite. So we ended up with just 5 people. Grr.

Emily was to my left, Roman to her left, Phil to his left, and Steve immediately to my right. I started out horribly. Every time I flopped top pair, someone else flopped something better. For example, I checked my option with A/8. Flop came 5/7/8. I raised, Phil re-raised. Turned out he had flopped a straight. 

We started with 10K and I was down to maybe 7K when I pulled pocket kings. With blinds of 50/100 I picked up pocket Kings. I raised to 400, Emily called. Flop was A/Q/something small. I raised, she called very quickly. I put her on the Ace and checked when the turn brought a blank. Surprisingly, she checked as well.  The river was a 9 and she bet out. Since I had put her on the Ace there was no way I could call but I really agonized over it. Finally I folded face up...and she flipped up pocket 9s. Right fold, wrong cards I thought she had. But it was several more chips, too...

Finally I got down to about 4200. Picked up a hand, doubled up through Steve. Slowly started to rebuild my stack. Slowly but surely I built a lead and soon I had over half the chips in play...but not on any memorable hands. Just kept picking up blinds and small pots. 

Got down to 3 way between Roman, Emily & I. Roman was first to fall and then it was heads up. But Emily only had 3K, I had about 47K...it was just a matter of time. Finally we got all in pre-flop with my a/3 against her K/4. I hit a meaningless 3 and took it down.

Chenowith

Was asked to be a replacement in a charity golf tournament. Have only gone once this year and that was with a foursome where we had 2 teams each playing best ball. Fair enough, just don't expect much from me.

First hole we play has a sign, "217 yards to end of fairway". No problem, I rip out my beloved 7 Wood and promptly overdrive the end of it, which I could not see at the time because it was a drop away area. Anyhow, we played that one and my second shot as well, which I put a ways out there. In fact, on that hole we played 3 of my shots so I was feeling good.

We played par golf for the first 3 holes, then a bogey when none of us could hit the green on a par 5. That would prove to be a trend.

It was on our 8th hole it all went wrong. By then I was already starting to feel fatigue. We put together 4 pathetic drives. The BEST of the 4 was maybe a 150 yard "blast" that landed in a fairway bunker. Out of the bunker, 3 of us hit about 30 yards each and one guy somehow cranked it up to about pin high...but on a downhill lie looking over a sand trap to a green that fell away from us. We just shook our heads...this was a shot none of us was capable.

I laughed. "Don't worry, I got this. I am going to hit a sand wedge flop shot that will bring rain, land about 3 feet the other side of the cup and back up to it." We all laughed because....well...I can't do any of that.

First off, I can't hit the sand wedge at all. Horrible club for me. I have no clue what yardage I hit, when I do pull it out I typically skull shots, and I can't hit a flop or put back spin on it.

So I promptly hit a shot that went about 100 yards straight up in the air, floated over, landed a little beyond the stick and backed up to about 4 feet from the cup to give us an easy par save. It was AWESOME. And unbelievable. That is NOT a shot I have in my bag.

Well, Dave was collecting the other balls and rolled one towards Jason...and it dropped. But we putted from mine. Easy put. Straight line, no break, make able distance. Oh, not make able for us...we all 4 yipped and bogeyed the hole.

It was a melt-down after that. My 7 Wood, which I NEVER struggle with suddenly I could not swing. I hit 40 yard drives with it where the divot out-flew the ball, sliced my driver like nobodies business...and everyone else was struggling too. We mixed pars and bogeys about equally.

On one hole I again over drove the fairway because I did not realize there was a chasm beyond the fairway. Jim was at the end of the fairway. Jim, Jason and Dave promptly all hit into that chasm which meant my chip into the sand trap short of the green was the best shot. "No problem," I said, "I have a sand wedge." We all laughed because we had seen my sand shot earlier. Except this time I hit it perfect, had the flying sand like you are supposed to and rolled it about 3 feet from the cup.

The next hole we took our one mulligan. It was a 136 yard par 3 that my beloved 8 iron...far and away my 2nd best club and one that I used to hit about 165 yards...was a good 20 yards short. Jim re-hit his drive and it ended up on the fringe about pin high. I rolled a bump and run to about 6" from the cup, Jim was about 10", Jason missed by a couple feet...and Dave holed out for a (cheap) birdie.

Next hole I broke out my driver for no apparent reason and crushed it (for me these days) about 260 yards. Unfortunately, that put us about 135 yards from the hole on an uphill side hill lie to a blind green with a tree overhanging it.

"No problem," I said, "I am going to blast my pitching wedge over the tree about 8" from the cup." We all laughed since I had hit my 9 iron short on a 120 yard shot a few holes previously. Clearly a Pitching Wedge was not going to carry 135 yards uphill. So I blasted the pitching wedge, it flew over the tree, we all lost sight of it. After everyone else hit, we rolled up the hill, my ball was pin high about a foot off the green in the fringe. Great shot.

That was about it for the great shots for me for the day.

We ended with a 7 over 79 for the day, not bad for 3 duffers and a guy who had not played in 6 years. We hit 2 illegitimate shots all day: we brought my first drive somewhat back from the OB per the "official" rules which was kind of cheesy and we took the mulligan. Otherwise it was totally legit.

I played surprisingly well even without having good control over my 7 wood or 8 iron...which are typically the 2 clubs I hit 80% of my shots with. I definitely felt like I held up my end. We used at least a half dozen of my drives, 8 or 10 chips, 5 or 6 puts...so I would say overall about 20 - 25 of my shots were used so I was right there with Dave and Jim. Jason had not played in about 6 years and we ended up using maybe 5 of his shots.

And we had fun so that was good. Good experience, glad I went.

Starving Crazed Weasels, July

Pretty decent turnout. At my table I had Cassie to my left, then Kevin, then Emily, then Robin, then Pete.

Cassie is a loose/passive. She calls too many hands pre-flop and then pretty much check calls to the river but she will fold if she hits nothing on the flop. Kevin is a tricky player. He plays a wide range of hands, will raise with little, call with anything from the nuts to a made hand, re-raise if he thinks you will fold...Emily plays different every time out. Lately she has been loose/passive but with looser calling standards than Cassie has. Tends to make to many calls because she doesn't believe the better...but calls with nothing herself. Robin is a tighter player who will raise with her good hands. Pete is a loose-aggressive player who makes a lot of moves. Me? I switch it up ever game.

Early on there were 3 limpers, I limped with 9/10 Diamonds knowing Cassie would check in the big blind. Flop came down 8/J/K, 2 diamonds. I raised, everyone folded.

Then I went card dead. For a long, long time. Nothing I could play. Kevin, Robin and Pete were taking turns raising. So I had to pick my place to make a move. Finally won a couple small pots. Picked up K/2 diamonds. Randomly called a raise from Kevin planning to steal. Someone else also called...I think it was Emily. Flop gave me a pair of Deuces and flush draw. I called another raise, Em also called. Turn was a blank. I called anyway. River gave me the flush. Kev raised, Em called...I though about re-raising but weakly called. My flush beat their straights...Em had the low end, Kevin the high end.

By now Emily was getting low. She had about 5 blinds was all. I picked up the Cowboys under the gun, raised 5 blinds. Em called, everyone else folded. The Cowboys held up and she was gone.

A while later with a limper I completed from the small blind. Cassie had yet to raise pre-flop so it seemed safe. Sure enough, she checked. I had K/2 again. Flop came K/Q/2, 2 clubs. I raised. Cassie came over the top all in, everyone else folded. Since her raise was only 200 over the 500 or so I had raised it was an easy call. She had 7/8 clubs, flush draw. It did not get there and I had put out my second person. Funny thing is...I was doing it with horrible cards. I was playing really poorly.

With an action oriented table like this with frequent raises I should not be playing K/2 type hands...yet I had done so twice. Now we moved Phillip over.

Phillip is good when he is patient but he tends to get bored so he plays a lot of questionable hands. But he seldom re-raises or raises into multiple limpers. Having him on my left is good.

Soon after I picked up Queens under the gun and raised. Kevin called. Paint maybe? Flop came K/J/10, 2 diamonds. I had a straight draw, backdoor flush draw and 2nd pair. I bet. He almost folded, then he said, "if it is worth playing, it is worth a bit more" and called. He is not the type who does the act thing so I doubted the King. Either Jack or a draw. Or both. Bet again on the turn. Same thing. On the river he checked again.

Now, I had watched him against Pete several times. When he thought he had the best hand he would check/call to the river, then bet. So when he checked here I was pretty sure I had him beat. I thought about putting him all in but decided that would seem desperate so I raised the same amount. He hesitantly called...and rolled over the K/Q. Ouch.

That took almost half my stack. Back to tight mode.

Shortly thereafter we combined to 1 table.

To my left was Eric. Easy to read. More on that later. To my right was Joe...he plays tight/passive. Kevin was to his right, then Kenneth, then Pete and finally...uh...someone.

Ken hit a couple nice hands and built a huge chip lead. Meanwhile, I was hovering between 3K and 4K. By now the blinds were 2/400. With 3K I have an M of just over 5. When it was folded to me, just 3 people left to act I pushed my last 3100 in. Eric folded and Pete...came over the top all in. Kenneth thought about it. I actually thought he would call...the chip loss would not hurt him and he could take out me and Pete, 2 of the more difficult players. But he folded. I flipped up my A/J and Pete flipped up...2/6? What? Well, he had not been paying attention and did not realize I had moved all in. I doubled up to 6800...ironically, the highest point I would get to all night.

Up and down, no real playable hands and now Kenneth was raising liberally. With 6800 and blinds now 3/600 I could not play much. Say he raised to 1800 or 2400, both reasonable and typical raises. I call the 2400. Now there is 4800 in the pot (minimum...more if the blinds involve neither of us) and I have 4400 left. I better be pretty sure I am beat to fold there...which means if I call I am really playing for all my chips. So if I enter a pot I am only doing so with a hand and I am going to push either pre-flop or on the flop. Pre-flop I will know Kenneth is committed so that means if I play a pot he is in my chips all go in on the flop. So I was playing really tight.

Got down to about 3K again and pushed with K/10 suited. Got called by 10/J and doubled up again.

Got down to 4 players. Almost called when Kenneth and Kevin got involved but then decided to wait for a heads up opportunity. Kev went out. Now it was me, Kenneth and Eric.

Ken was playing much looser than normal...raising with q/10 type things. He was playing really well. Eric was still playing tight. I had seen him play 3 hands: A/Q, A/K and A/8 suited.

Kenneth folded on the button. I planned to raise and steal the blinds. Just as a matter of course I glanced at my cards to mask what I was doing and reached for my chips. As I did, out of the corner of my eye I saw Eric glance at his cards. He straightened up and grabbed his chips. All of them.

Now, I had seen him straighten up before. He had a hand he planned to play. I had NEVER seen him grab all his chips. I had a 10/5 off suit. I said, "Well, I am going to fold since Eric has Aces." And by his jerk and upset face I knew I was right. He wanted to double up. I said it before...at times, Eric is REALLY easy to read.

Of course, I thought I had more or less been on my game. Back at the first table there was a hand I laid down top pair when top pair was 10s and I thought Pete had Jacks or Queens. He later said it had been Jacks. I had a pretty good feel all night for what types of hands...made hands, draws, weak or strong...people had so it was not unusual for me.

Oh well. I just had no cards all night. Finally Ken took out Eric. By now he had almost 36K and I had just about 3. The first hand I picked up queens...and he folded the small blind. I doubled up once, then picked up J/9 suited, I had said up front I was going to play fast and push hard so I moved all in...and he called with A/K suited. He played really well and deserved the win for sure.

I played pretty well to get there with no cards most of the night and never getting over 6800...to come in 2nd was pretty impressive.

And it was fun so there you go.

Starving Crazed Weasels, June

This happened a few weeks ago so I am a bit hazy on it but more or less...

had 13 people so we split into tables of 7 & 6. At my table I had Cassie to my left, then Kevin, then Tim, then Kenneth. It was a pretty passive table early on. Twice I checked in the big blind with garbage hands and flopped 2 pair, took down nice pots both times. Gave a bunch of chips to Tim when I read him right but it didn't matter...I had A/K and bet pre-flop. He called. Flop was low, like 6/7/8. I read him for weak, raised, he called. Turn was a blank, I raised, he called. River was I think a Jack or something like that, he checked, I checked behind...and he had hit the jack. He had like K/J or something, I had him beat almost the whole way but he wouldn't go away.

Picked up pocket Kings, raised them, Kev called. Flop had an Ace, I raised, he called. I thought he might have an Ace but was not sure. Hit a King on the turn. Raised, he called. Raised on the river but it was a "keep him in" raise when I wanted to raise him all in. He called, he hit the King but my trips was better. Not putting him all in was a mistake.

Picked up K/10 early, raised it. Kenneth called from the big blind. I flopped top 2 pair. Raised. Kenneth called. I took a look at his stack. We were both committed. Either he would double up or I would bust him out. Turn was a Queen. River was a 9. Great, all he needs is a Jack to beat me...but we are both in so deep that the smaller bet I placed on the River to put him all-in had to be made. And he had to call...the river gave him 2 pair, Queens and 9s. He had called early on a gut shot so it ended up costing him.

The other table put out a couple people so I switched over to even it out. And quickly got a sense...there was one guy taking a ridiculous amount of time for every decision.

Now, there are times when I will take some time for a decision. Let's say in the hand with Kenneth the roles were reversed a bit. Let's say he had me covered and comfortably so. I flop top 2, raise, he calls. Turn is a Queen. Now there are some straights on the board as any A/J or 9/J completes it and I am now also losing to pocket Queens so there are several legit hands that beat me. I raise. If he re-raises me all in I am going to need some time. There are a lot of factors to consider:

How much is in the pot and what are the odds I have of re-drawing to beat him if I am behind? What hands could he make that play with? Is he playing his cards or is he playing me, did I somehow show weakness or fear of the straight?

So yeah, I will take some time. On the other hand, 3 people limp in, 2 people fold, and I look down at my cards I need 3 seconds to decide what to do. Not 3 minutes. To fold. Again. And again. And again. It slowed the game to a crawl and I started to tilt.

I had a great chip stack by now, clearly in the lead. Shortly thereafter we combined to 1 table of 8.

And Tim came over with a HUGE stack. He must have ran roughshod on them after I left. And he just kept rolling, taking out person after person.

I lost a large chunk when I raised pocket Queens, he called. Flop was Jack high. I raised, he called. Turn was a King, I raised, he called. River was a blank, he checked, I checked behind...and he had trip Jacks. He played them well. Only by making a river bet could he have gotten more but I was nervous anyway. This time I was reading strength.

Lost more chips when I had pocket Kings, raised all the way and on the river an Ace fell. He bet, I folded, he showed the A/4 he stayed in with. Bad play got good results.

Then got into a key hand. Phillip had been up & down and I had him about 2-1 in chips. He made a min raise, I called from the big blind with Joe and Tim also calling. I had J/9 suited. Flop was 9 high. I was first to act and raised the pot. Joe and Tim folded, Phillip called all-in. He flipped up J/10. Interesting call...assuming I had hit any part of the flop he was drawing to just 6 outs and I could easily have a bigger pair, bigger set, or even bigger cards. In other words, he could only beat a draw or a bluff.

Until we turned a 3. Ouch. Just like the Kings that lost to the River Ace I was a big favorite. We knew 7 cards. Of the 45 unknown there were 3 that helped him so I was a 15-1 favorite. Against the Aces I was an even more impressive favorite as he had just one shot at it. I lost 2 huge percentage plays.

And then came the crippling blow. Pocket Kings against pocket Queens and he rivered the third queen.

I went from threatening the chip lead to under 5K with 4/800 blinds in 3 hands where I lost to a 3 outer, a 3 outer and a 2 outer.

So when I picked up an A/8 clubs. Phillip had folded, Joe was short stack, Tim was big blind and had folded to lots of raises much smaller. I decided to steal the blinds and even if called an Ace high figured to be good 4 handed with 1 already folded.

And both Joe and Tim called...and Tim had A/Q. I couldn't hit my 3 outer and was out in 3rd.

I might have found a better place to get the chips in but I doubt it. With just the blinds to beat, Joe whom I had covered and Tim who had suddenly become tight I think it was the right move even if I had 2/7. It was still a meaningful raise and I needed chips. Plus, with the way our points are set up had I taken out Joe the benefit would have been well worthwhile. Oh, well.

Lydias

Being on vacation, I was close enough to go and since I did not make it out to St. Helens thought I might as well play. 12 players, divided into 2 tables.

To my left was Forrest, a decent player with some pretty easy to read tells. To my right was Bob, then Randy, a wild and horrific player who thinks chasing runner-runner draws is a smart play, to his right was Bill, a sometimes very good, sometimes very wild player, and the other player was...was...uh...someone.

Early on I was getting trash hand after trash hand. Two times in a row Bill dealt me 4/9 diamonds. Then he mixed it up with a 2 of diamonds, 9 of hearts.

The first hand I played I checked into the big blind with A/9 clubs. Flopped top pair and a flush draw. Called a bet with Randy also calling. Turn was a blank. Randy bet, the odds were right, I called. River completed my flush. I raised 1K into a pot of about 2K, Randy called and I took down a nice pot.

A while later I checked my option with 3/5 hearts. Flop gave me a flush draw. Bill raised the pot. The odds were wrong to call...but it felt weak. I called planning to take it away on the turn. But he raised again. Time to reconsider. This time I was getting better odds, I did not believe he had the flush draw...maybe top pair, maybe 2 pair, but no flush draw. My strict odds were not quite right but my implied odds were great. I called. And the river gave me the flush. He bet big, I called, he had 2 pair and I took down a nice pot with a crap hand.

Back to folding.

Pocket Kings, raised, no callers, flashed them to begin creating my image. Very next hand picked up pocket jacks. Raised, 3 callers. Flop was Q/10?Q. Ugly. Checked to me, I raised. Mary Kay, who by now had moved to our table after Forrest and the kid I had not played with before had busted out, hesitated, thought, and said, "OK, I see one more" and called.

Now, with some players, that means "shut it down, she is slow-playing trips." With Mary Kae that means, "I am on a draw and will see another card to see if I hit it." Everyone else folded. I bet the turn, she called, and the river was another blank, I bet, she folded. Very nice pot, I was up over double.


Didn't play another significant hand until the final table.

Now I had Barbara to my left: calling station, will call any bet with top pair or better, will chase draws whether it is statistically correct or not. To her left Bud. To his left an obnoxious guy whose name I don't know and I don't really have a feel for his playing style. To his left was...uh...someone, then Bill, then to my right Bob.

Picked up pocket kings, raised, couple callers, flop was blank, raised, turn gave me a set and I took someone out since he had K/J. By now Barbara had taken out 2 players and gone from short stack to chip lead.

Bill was coming over the top all in on me all night. Have to watch that.

Under the gun picked up 3/7 suited. I throw this away every time. However, I have been planning to choose a bluffing hand and decided this, my "superstitious hand" since it is our wedding anniversary, would be it. So I called planning to bluff on the turn if circumstances looked right. Flop gave 3 hearts. Checked around. Turn actually paired my 7. I decided to wait one more since Bill looked like he was thinking about raising. He checked. River was a blank, I bet, everyone folded.

I raised with pocket jacks, Bud re-raised his last few chips, an insignificant raise, I called. He had big slick. Flop gave me a Jack, turn was a Queen...if a 10 came I would lose the pot...but it was another Jack. Quads. Nice.

Raised big slick. Barbara called. I flopped top pair. Raised significant. She called. Repeated on turn and river, she had pocket 9s, took down huge pot. Similar play a hand or 2 later and now I was chip lead.

Not too much later took Barbara out, had commanding lead on Bob, played him soft since he was sort of on tilt. He wanted to go so we called it.

For the night I played very well. And, in a shocking turn of events...this time it paid off! I got in with the best of it time and again, my draws hit

Jax, 6/24

Since I was passing through downtown decided to stop off at Jax. I really like playing there; their trained dealers prevent the stupidity of slow-rolling, stuff like that and the players are better on average. You see a lot less plays like Randy with his chasing runner runner as a good play, less stuff like Boston John playing "drunken monkey poker"...though there are still a wide variety of plays including a guy famous for playing 3/4.

Starts with 10K in chips and blinds of 100/200.

27 players, 3 tables of 9. Nice. Nothing to play in the first 4 hands. 5th hand I was in the big blind. Several limpers, looked down at pocket 9s. Bumped it to 700 total, still got lots of callers. Dealer commented, "Wow, 6K in their" referring to the pot. Flop was nice...Q/7/4. I glanced at the pot and raised to 5K. If someone hit the Queen I was in trouble...but everyone folded. Nice pickup that added 60% to my stack just like that.

Went with the Doyle plan of playing the next hand. Called a small raise with q/9. Regretted it instantly...I just called a raise with a weak hand out of position. But then I got lucky...the flop was Q/9/5 rainbow. I flopped top pair and the only reasonable draw was someone holding 10/J. My first thought was to slow-play...but then I reevaluated. I wanted to create an image where people were nervous about being in a pot for me. I bet the pot. Everyone folded. Nice...

A few hands later I picked up pocket 9s again. Jacked it up 3x the blinds, a couple callers. Flop was all low, someone raised, I came over the top, everyone folded.

At this point I was very happy. I had more than doubled up without ever being at risk...AND WITHOUT SHOWING DOWN A HAND!

The guy 2 seats to my left had limped once and not played a hand past the flop when he did an under size raise. I was one off the button with j/10, not a great hand but with about 4 callers the odds were right. I went ahead and called. Flop came 10/9/6. The guy who raised it checked and it was checked to me. I raised. Initial raiser hesitated, then came over the top all in, everyone folded to me. Time to think.

My initial rating put him on A/10 or better and pockets down to about 6 or so. When he checked I narrowed his range a bit: high cards and afraid of someone having hit the flop or maybe a small pair. This reeked of a bluff but there was still an outside shot I was drawing real thin to Jacks or better. However, there were enough callers initially that I was getting a bit better than 3-1 so I called...and he flipped up Pocket 8s. I was way ahead but he had 6 outs (any 7 or the 2 8s) to win...so I was a prohibitive 39-6 favorite or better than 6-1. Furthermore, the first time I showed my cards I showed people A) I was willing to gamble a bit, calling a raise with J/10 off and B) I was either reading people well to call him or else was a poor player who overvalued top pair...depending on their perception of me.

I won that hand. Now I was in control of the table and people did not want to get involved with me if they could help it. This let me pick up a few small pots, including one that I thought was brilliant.

I had been watching a guy for a while. When he had bottom or middle pair he would lead out with a small bet, a feeler bet. Nobody had challenged him. At one point he limped from the small blind. I thought about raising but elected to check. Flop came, he made one of his small raises, I re-raised him and he folded. I flipped up my irrelevant hand to show the bluff. That, in retrospect, was a mistake. I had a tell on him and may have cost myself chips later by showing a bluff. But on the other hand...I also showed people I did not need cards to win a hand.

After the break we condensed to 2 tables. A guy sat down to my right who had me out chipped but otherwise I was leading the table.

I folded a few hands, then utg+1 picked up A/Q. The guy to my right had limped so I jacked it 4 times the blinds. We were both deep stacks and I could take it down on the flop just by betting. A couple other people called, guy to my right folded. Flop was ugly, all low and diamond, with a raise, re-raise and call in front of me I folded.

A few hands later I checked from the big blind with a weak Q/8 off. Flop came ugly...Q/J/9, 2 diamonds. Guy to my right checked, I raised, everyone folded to him and he went into the tank. Then he started trying to get a reaction to me. I decided to throw off a few false tells by acting super strong...if he knows the tells. I looked pretty uninterested, let my attention wander...and waited until the third time he asked, "You have K/10 already?"

He had made a HUGE mistake. If he had just come over the top I would have folded. I had top pair, weak kicker on a draw heavy board. But after his talk and trying to draw me out I knew he was weak. If he just called I was raising big on the turn, if he raised I was moving all in. I finally engaged him in conversation.

"I might. Hard to say."
He had no clue how to respond and folded. When he did he inadvertently exposed the deuce of diamonds and I heard him telling someone he had "a real high one to go with it"...I assume the King or Ace. Anyhow, the hand was still being talked about several minuted later.

And here is where I stopped playing well. I had built a great table image...but now I tightened up. That was the first of the 3 mistakes that would hurt me.

The second came shortly when I raised UTG with Big Slick. 3 callers. Flop came Q/Q/9. Guy to my right...who had thought a long time before calling...checked. Every instinct I had said to raise. I meekly checked, essentially giving up on the hand. An old guy I had watched for a while went all in. Folded to the guy to my right who hesitated for a long time. I figured he had an under pair at worst but the 2 queens were just too much. He folded.

I had to think about it. I knew the old guy didn't have a Queen. I actually thought he might have hit the nine. I had watched him play and he was weak tight. He would bet once with middle pair, then hope to check it down. Going all in represented either strength or a stone cold bluff. Even if he had the 9 I was drawing thin to 6 outs. Folding was correct.

And for whatever reason, I looked at the guy to my right and said, "This is a HORRIBLE call"...and called. Old guy ended up having Pocket Jacks and they held up. And I was right...I was not getting the right odds to call, particularly when it turned out the guy to my right had also had big slick and someone else folded a third Ace. I was actually drawing to just 4 outs...

Anyhow, now I was down a bit. The very next hand the woman three seats to my right...who was short stacked...came over the top of a raiser and a caller to go all in. In the big blind I looked down at the Cowboys. I re-raised enough to commit anyone who called as I wanted to isolate her. It worked and I regained a good portion of what I had lost.

Then came the hand I didn't play. UTG the next round I limped with 6/7 suited. A guy who is regarded as one of the better players but whom had been unwilling to play with me. He is a guy I have played before...he was the guy on my left. Anyhow, he had been up and down a bit. Now he was down. After another limper, he raised all in. Guy to my right, as is his wont, hemmed and hawed for a while...and then called.

I desperately wanted to call. I had the chips to play with, though it would definitely cut into me about 40%, I was highly unlikely to be dominated...and I had the first guy read for being on a move. Still, I would be calling with 7 high...I REALLY wanted to call...but for whatever reason...I folded. And the guy was on a move with 3/4 and was against K/10 suited...same suit as my 6/7. Well...the guy paired his 4, I would have hit the straight, and the K/10 never hit anything.

From then I pretty much just got blinded until we collapsed to the final table. Once there I was middle of the pack in chips.

The table was a fast table with a lot of raising and re-raising. One guy took down a huge pot when he jacked pre-flop with pocket queens and flopped a full house. The very next hand he raised, the guy 3 seats to my right re-raised, the original guy raised again, guy to my right went all-in, and after thinking for a while got called. Guy to my right had pocket Jacks. Guy who flopped the boat? Pocket Queens. The Queens held up and guy to my right was crippled.

The next hand everyone limped to the small blind...who was the guy I had bluffed earlier. He limped, I had pocket jacks so raised, he re-raised, I checked the pot...it would about double me up now, I shoved, he called...with Aces. Oops. I was left with 1000 chips and blinds of 1/2K.

Now, here is where tournament strategy comes into play. If I care about the points (I don't) then I don't even look at my cards, I make the guy 3 seats to my right go through the blinds...he has 3K. On the other hand, if I want to see if I can make a comeback, I look for my best hand.

Best part is I now hit a hot streak. If I went all in the first hand I would have quadrupled up. The next hand (2/6 off) I would have flopped 2 pair. Then the tragic happened...I picked up Big Slick. It was the best hand I would get before being in the blinds, I called.

And the guy who had gone all-in with 3/4 called, among others, and flopped 2 pair. 3s and 4s. I was done.

I played really well early...I was aggressive, I played good cards strongly and when I did not have cards I played the players and picked up a couple pots I had no business winning. However, late I became passive, made 2 bad calls...I need to close out stronger.