The cc Line

The Sound of Failing Miserably

2010-02-15T18:13:00.000-08:00

New and creative ways to lose pots:

1/2 NLHE

Pot #1: Limp in from the SB with 5,5 (4 other limpers already). BB raises to $15. UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, other 2 callers call and I call. 6 players. Flop is K,5,2 rainbow - pretty ideal for my hand because I think anyone with a king will want to end the pot on the flop. As I'm first to act, however, I don't want to risk it being checked around if no one has a king and then have someone pick up a draw on the turn. I bet $37 into the $90 pot, figuring any king will call or better yet, raise. I have $77 behind after this bet. UTG+1 calls and everyone else folds. No way he has AA or KK because he would have re-raised the $15 preflop at a minimum. Turn is an A, still no flush draw. I forget the exact action here but it all goes in for both of us and he has me covered. I have a set, he has 3.4 off...wheel straight. River bricks and I'm felted. In retrospect I made his odds but I never suspected that he could be playing 3,4 and calling the $15 UTG+2. If I bet 80 and leave myself $33 behind I probably fail to extract any value in the event that someone does have a king and being that he was a gambling sort, I'm pretty sure he calls open-ended and hits to felt me anyway.

Pot #2: I have K,10 off. I'm again in SB in a limped pot with 2 other players, including the Brazilian guy to my immediate left. Flop is K,x,x rainbow. I lead the flop for $8 into $6. He calls, other player folds. Turn is an 8. I lead the pot for $15 into $22. He calls. River is a 4. I lead the pot for $25 and he calls and flips over 8,4 of diamonds. I'm flabbergasted and as he rakes in the pot I do what I never do, which is question his play. I ask him why he called the flop. His answer? I had a diamond draw. He had 3 diamonds to the flush, that is.

Pot #3: I have A,6 and again in a 3 way limped pot, this time in position. Flop comes A,Q,x. Other 2 players check to me, I bet $10. One girl calls other player folds. Turn is a brick. She checks. I bet something like $22. She calls. River is an 8. Before acting, she checks her hole cards, then checks. I check behind because of her peek and she has Q,8, rivered 2 pair.

Pot #4: UTG raises to $10 preflop, I call from mid-position with 10,10, someone else calls and the guy from the BB shoves for 42, initial raiser folds, I call, other caller folds. He has J,10. Guy to my right immediately says "I folded a 10" at which point I know I'm f'd. I am already only hoping for a 4 card flush to get on board because I know he's going to hit a J and any straight I can make, he makes one better (except if J,Q,K,A hits the board).

J on the flop, no flush draw, drawing dead.

Good times, good times.

Hit and Run

2010-01-29T14:09:00.000-08:00

A quick hand in which I was recently involved:

1/2 Cash game, with a definitive end time. Ten minutes prior to the end of the game I have KQ and open to $11 from position. I get called from one of the blinds, who has me covered. We are the two biggest stacks at the table. Flop comes Q,8,x and he checks to me and I continue for $15, fully expecting to take the pot right then and there. He surprisingly calls. Turn is a jack (2nd heart on board) and he again checks and I again bet, now $25. This time he raises me to $75 and I instantly call. River is another J. His action and he looks down at his stack and shoves out three stacks of red, $300.

I tank and mull my position.

Some additional tidbits about my opponent:

-He is quite drunk.
-He has, not five hands previously, felted a player when he made a river call of an all-in with top pair, 3 kicker on a paired board that had both straight and flush possibilities.
-He is a pretty well-off guy.

If I call and am wrong, I take a $110 loss on the night. If I call and win, I take a $700 win from the game. If I fold, I take a $200 win from the game.

What do I do? What would you do?

Grinding?

2010-01-25T16:07:00.000-08:00

From Malcolm Gladwell, who retells an experiment documented in a book by Kahneman and Tversky:

"...a group of people were told to imagine that they had $300. They were then given a choice between (a) receiving another $100 or (b) tossing a coin, where if they won they got $200 and if they lost they got nothing." (Note: by nothing, he means nothing additional. They don't lose any money by losing the coin flip, they just don't get any more than their $300.)

He continues:

"Most of us, it turns out, prefer (a) to (b). But then Kahneman and Tversky did a second experiment. They told people to imagine that they had $500 and then asked them if the would rather (c) give up $100 or (d) toss a coin and pay $200 if they lost and nothing at all if they won. Most of us now prefer (d) to (c)."

Why this example? I think it relates pretty well with a lot of the poker play I've witnessed in the past year or so. How many times have you seen people willing to gamble their entire stack from behind on some ugly draw and chalk a loss up to the cards but those same players missing a value bet when playing from in front. The rationale is that they are always just happy to take down a pot and win one, never minding that the win was modest.

It's a vital flaw in thinking, in my opinion, and one that can ultimately separate winning from losing long-term.

Get back to the choices above (a-d). Which side of each choice did you fall on? Think about why.

As Gladwell (and I assume Kahneman and Tversky) points out, "What is interesting about those four choices is that, from a probabilistic standpoint, they are identical. Nonetheless, we have strong preferences among them. Why? Because we're more willing to gamble when it comes to losses, but are risk averse when it comes to our gains."

It sounds familiar, no?

Heads Up - Twice As Nice

2009-10-15T14:03:00.001-07:00

So after two months, one snapped humerus bone, three hours of surgery and four loser's bracket victories, I finally found myself as one of the last two left in a yearly heads-up tournament. Having come through the loser's bracket, I now had to defeat my opponent twice heads up as this was a double elimination tourney. A dubious prospect, since this was a guy who had rather handily dispatched his opponents thus far, a guy I knew to be unafraid of making moves with any two cards and with an uncanny skill for reading his opponents' hands. Plus, the guy had had his arm broken in an ill-fated arm wrestling match during the day the tournament was originally supposed to conclude. Fate should reward that kind of suffering, no?

Well, fate might, but I won't.

Starting even in chips but at a disadvantage strategically since my opponent could play as loose as he wanted to with a match in hand, things didn't quite get started as I hoped. I made some raises, forced a few continuation bets in and folded, folded, folded when I didn't connect and was re-popped. I've detailed before that one of the things I like best about heads up is playing each and every hand, the action aspect of it all. What's not so fun is a succession of god-awful hands like 2,8 where your raise is called, a deuce flops and your c-bet is tripled. Not exactly the kind of sweet action I enjoy.

Fold, fold, fold.

Pretty soon, I was down to about 1000 chips (5000 in play) and in serious chip envy. You know, the kind where your lone big chip has about five friends, where each and every smaller denomination chip has left town and made the deficit seem insurmountable from sheer stack size alone. That's where I was.

Well, heads up is its own beast, layered with skin ready for discard. All it takes to adjust is to slide out of one mode and into another. Add that to the chipleader's inevitable desire, once ahead, to never double up his opponent and give him life and aggression is often well rewarded. I began firing at pots with pot-committing raises and saw the glances at the few chips I had behind. My opponent ceded the small pots, not willing to commit the chips to get me back in it all at once. In fairness, he probably had garbage hands, like most are. But while he was conceding blinds and small pots, I was listening to the most delightful sound of new chips clacking on top of old. Slowly, I rebuilt. Five hundred more. Seven-fifty. Soon enough, my double up to 2000 was complete, albeit done in a grinding fashion.

And patience was finally rewarded. After a pre-flop raise into me, I peeked at JJ and pushed. My opponent made a crippling call with K,J and I seized control of the match and a few hands later, it was over. We were even.

As we began the second match, I felt that the pressure had shifted the other way. No one wants to lose two in a row, especially a confident, competitive player. This match was therefore less aggressive, more cautious on both sides, as we both now had the opportunity to win the whole thing. Small swings on either side of level were the norm in the early going, as pots hovered around 10% of the overall chip count (500). And then, cautious as things had been, it exploded.

In my favor.

And again, it was a monster for me. KK. My opponent raised preflop (25/50) to 150. I re-raised to 450, he called. Flop came Q high, all diamonds. He shoved, I called. Neither of us had a diamond. He had QJ. I held up and he had a scant 600 chips. It was that quick. Again, a few hands later the match ended, when I drew out a flush against his all in.

A long time coming, and it felt good.

More poker coming this weekend, I'll keep you updated.

Big River/Bonanza/No Need To Worry

2009-10-12T17:42:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are savvy to the songs of the man in black, you're already onto the theme of this post - cash, cash, cash.

I've been long overdue on a post as a couple of personal matters have occupied all of my time the past five or so weeks. I've managed to squeak in a few local tournament sessions however, as well as the long-awaited conclusion to August's heads-up tournament (see a previous post from August about the ugly delay in this one.) And despite the inactivity, my game hasn't suffered too much, exactly the opposite in fact, as I managed to work some modest cashes through some tough local fields.

Backtrack a bit and I was playing in my regular monthly rebuy tournament. It happened to be the same night as the Marquez/Mayweather fight and there was enough interest among the 30 or so players to order it up, so we had that going and I was half-distracted during the early stages until it became evident that Mayweather had Marquez dominated. So back to the cards and I got a little momentum going, but needed to really chip up if I wanted to make some noise, the quick blind structure and levels make rebuys almost useless after a certain point. So when I failed to connect on a draw and gave away my stack and had to rebuy for 1500 chips at 200/400, I didn't expect much. Even less did I expect to go on a tear the way I did. Pocket pairs held up, draws got there, bluffs were respected and as we consolidated to the final table I was one of the top three stacks.

While the timing of that run was much-needed, as always when it cooled off, it cooled quickly and I scrambled to make moves. In the next few levels I ran 88 into AA and doubled up a short stack, then folded a flopped top pair again to AA where I could have been felted. Later, I folded a 66 into a bad flop but then a couple hands later moved in with that same holding and one of the two overs my opponent held spiked on the river and I was out for a min cash. Cash #1.

So, even though it was five hours deep into the night, I moved right over to another table and played my delayed semifinal match in the heads up tourney. Winner hit the cash, loser was bubble boy. I had been ahead about 3500 to 1500 in chips when the break occurred but that quickly flip-flopped and I found myself on the short end of that margin. Slowly I ground my way back within 600 chips (2800-2200) when I looked at JJ. I raised, he re-raised all in with AK and I called. It held and I finished him off shortly thereafter when I drew a 3 outer, when all in blind. On to the finals, time/date still to be determined, but I was in the cash, my second of the night. Cash #2.

Flash-forward two weeks later and another home tournament, again a rebuy affair. Bigger buy in and rebuys but a smaller field and fewer places cashing. I arrive late, fold a bunch of garbage hands until about the end of the second level, attempt an ill-advised triple up with a mediocre holding and rebuy. Again, however, I go on a bit of a hot hand tear and take advantage. I three-bet preflop and get two other guys to shove behind me. The initial raiser folds and I shove with AA. Shortstack turns over A10 and big stack turns over QQ. I hold and rake a big pot and am on my way. Shortly thereafter, AK flops a K, a big stack reraises all in over the top of me and I call. He flips J,4 suited with a pair plus the flush draw but I ice the draws and bust him. Now I have a giant stack and I start raising everything in sight and smaller stacks topple quickly. Queens were good to me as I twice hit top pair and got it in for the win against small stacks. Then I made a fairly loose call of an all in with Q10 suited and my opponent showed his 8,9 sheepishly. We got down to heads up shortly after I made a bad read of a nicely disguised AA when I again flopped top pair and doubled up a good player. A bit of bad luck kept me from perhaps winning when I checked my option with 5,7 and the flop came J, 5, 5. We both checked the flop and a J came on the turn and we again both checked. The river was a blank and I don't remember the exact way it went in, suffice it to say it all did and my opponent turned over a J to best me. Oh well. Another good cash, #3.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to play at all since but it looks as if my other stuff has been straightened out and I'll be back in the mix, both on the tables and here documenting it, beginning right away. Thanks for reading and I'll keep you in the loop, as I'll fill in the details of the conclusion to the heads up tournament.

The Question Is How Fast, Pt. 2

2009-09-07T18:33:00.000-07:00

Continued from previous post...(road trip theme being abandoned)

So I have just doubled my short stack and my table has broken. I'm not too upset with this, as that table had begun to eyeball my stack and take shots at me.

My new table, however, is a dream. Three ultra tight older guys, check. One insane old guy who will play and continue any hand at full speed and never slow down if he misses a flop. A couple of guys in their thirties and forties who play straightforward. One girl with a healthy stack who seems to be mixing it up pretty well. And one guy who loses a huge pot as I settle in when his top two gets shoved upon by crazy old guy's flush draw (which was for crazy old guy's whole stack, not insubstantial) who I get an immediate suspicion had been the table boss prior to that hand. He now is on a shorter stack than I and I watch him closely, as we are going to make similar plays with our short stacks.

I feel okay about it and my first hand is AcJc and I sweep the blinds with a preflop raise. Bingo, hope this continues.

It doesn't.

Neither the cards nor the plays got there for me. It was really frustrating watching the play at this table and then having to peek down at J,3 off and fold. As I got shorter and shorter, I just wanted anything that would give me a shot because I really felt as if I could make a run if I could even get a semblance of a normals stack.

Limp, limp, limp, limp to me in the small blind, ready to shove. 8,4 off. Muck.

Frustrating.

I wonder if I should shove anyway but such thoughts are nixed when a multi-way limped pot (about 4 or 5 players) that I can't enter gets shown down and the crazy old guy has pocket kings. Pocket kings.

Finally, under the gun (literally and figuratively) I get 9,9 and in it goes. I get looked up by crazy old guy who has A,8 off. Here we go.

'No ace, no ace, no ace,' I think.

Ace on the flop. I mentally check out about 95%.

'Nine on the turn. Nine, nine, nine, NINE,' I think.

Ace on the turn. I mentally check out the remaining 5%.

I stand.

Four on the river.

I walk away. I get about 10 feet from the table when the girl calls over to me. "Where are you going?"

I walk back over. She points at the board. "You made a flush."

Holy shit. It's true. I hit runner, runner (including his third ace) and provided one of the dumbest displays ever. I didn't do anything out of line, I was just that donkey who didn't even bother to consider the board or the options.

So back to it, after an apology to the table. The old guy doesn't even seem to have noticed, as I really didn't dent his stack too badly.

Unfortunately, I can't capitalize on this gift. I am ice cold and can't enter any pots. I get short stacked and shove. Everyone folds. Over and over and over. Four hours I play my short stack like this. Four hours I have zero pocket pairs, perhaps punishment for my inattentiveness with my nines.

Finally, I get it in again with a caller. The BB looks me up with AK off to my Qd9d. He looks slightly ill at my holding, one of the worst ones for his hand to be ahead of.

I flop a queen in the window!

But there's an ace underneath! An ace on the turn (deja vu?) I scan for diamonds--not this time. I need a queen. Two outer. Two outer. Two outer.

Out. Two hundredth.

(or so. top 70 got paid)

My assessment of my play? Too tight, mostly. Too aggressive with middle pairs. I think I did a good job managing my short stack in particular. I got it in against the right players, the ones who would fold when I didn't have it, and the ones who would call if I did. I tried not to let it get down to 10 BBs, preferring to move with about 13 or so to keep the gamblers at bay. I had a good feel for people at my tables and, while my starting hands limited my action, felt like I had a decent read on how people were playing. It was a good experience, good to get a big tournament feel, one I haven't had in a long time. If things go well in the next couple weeks, I might hop to Borgata to see about their WPT event coming up.

The Question Is How Fast

2009-09-02T21:48:00.000-07:00

I've never been a speeder. Owe it to my first automobile being a late 80s Chevy Sprint, aptly named since it could go dart forward about fifty yards, only to hit a max velocity that could get swallowed up by a John Deere special. That was followed by an '85 Chevy Impala, a lumbering workhorse that caused criminals to duck for cover when I rolled by due to its resemblance to the plainclothes detective car of choice during the period. Once I sold that one, I've been without a four-wheeled mode of transportation for a number of years. Speeding has not been much of a worry.

But maybe it should be. In my poker play, at least. Fire up the engines, I'm taking you for a ride through the $550 Mega Stack at Foxwoods.

"Metaphor's the worst/Are you being driven or do you drive?" -"Art Class", Superchunk.

My day began alongside 644 other dead-eyed hopefuls, including 2002 WSOP champ Robert Varkonyi and his wife Olga. The structure was why I chose to play this particular tournament, having not played anything but small rebuy tournaments for a good while. 20k in chips to start, 50 minute levels, including 75/100 and 100/200 followed by the elusive 100/200 with 25 ante. Just a good structure that allowed for a ton of action and plenty of patient play, something I pride myself on. I determined that it was not going to be a sprint and settled in, knowing that some people wouldn't, that they would get addicted to the big action they have seen/heard/read about and spew chips in efforts to be uber-aggressive. All done while elaborating on the intricacies of poker in a sonorous Massachusetts/Boston/New England accent that never gets old for me because I can picture each pontificator as Cliff Claven. "It's a little known fact..."

Sure enough, about 20 minutes in, the first player busted from the table next to me when his two pair ran into quads. 30 minutes left in the 25/50 level seems like a must-shove with two pair, no? See ya. Not ten minutes later, another yahoo from the same table made a flush on a paired board and guess what? He shoved into quads...against the same player! This guy was now up to over 60k in chips and had his table shaking their heads. "It's a little known fact that a flush is no good on a paired board," the Claven next to me puts out for the table to absorb.

Meanwhile I was having a pretty good level myself, opening pots and hitting flops. Even caught a couple wired pairs and by the first break had chipped up to about 22,500. While not avoiding big pots, I was determined to keep myself out of any kind of crippling danger. Just no need at this early stage, particularly with at least four players that I could target at my table.

"Do not pass me/Just to slow down/I have precision auto." -"Precision Auto" Superchunk

Feeling pretty good about myself, I get a little overeager with some raises and give back my chips from the previous levels and then some but don't panic. And sure enough the predictable guy next to me pays me off when his hand gets into my nut draw but I manage to back into two pair when my flush misses and he makes a terrible call. Good to go, I'm right where I need to be, though my starting hands have begun to cool.

Then things go awry. I flop top pair on a ragged board against a call station in the big blind and decide to make some ground. It's exactly the situation I have been waiting for and he's more than happy to oblige, calling me on the flop and on fourth street. I realize on fifth street that I must have missed a yield sign a ways back and pull up with a check and he checks behind and turns over a full house, made on the turn. I could only laugh, and the low hum of table antennae dipped to a brief silence as we all stared at him and his monster. Checked the river? God bless him.

So I'm a little below my starting stack now but still in fine shape with regard to the blinds. Except that I pick up pocket 8s and my raise is called by the same guy. Nine high flop misses me and he leads and I raise, hoping to take it down right then. Only he calls. We both check the turn and the river and he flops over pocket aces. Again, I can only laugh as this guy fails to even attempt to extract any value while playing from way ahead. Unfortunately, I can't hear my own laughter over his stacking of my chips, as I have now put myself into a semi-short stack situation and need to get on the road to Healthysville asap. Checking the map I see that it's a long way there, approximately 150/300 miles away and getting further. A short time after I check and it's already 200/400 and I've obviously gone down the wrong road.

Luckily, there are shortcuts. I pull a quick U-turn in the big blind when the small blind apologizes for having to raise the unopened pot but apparently doesn't see my 18 wheeler of KK about to run him down. More folding for a good while longer leads me back to the same spot and I need a GPS before I have to make a blind turn. Not quite blind but I decide that Exit J8 suited in the hi-jack in an unopened pot might be my only hope for a cup of coffee and a shot of energy. The big blind looks me up and Holy Johnny Chan, I flop the nut straight, 7,9,10. He checks, I decide to continue since I'm so short there is no point on letting anything get there if he has some sort of KQ hand. He check-Seidels me all in and I of course call. He has 7,9 for two pair and I fade his boat and double. The table, sensing my imminent dominance or demise, is at this moment broken.

-TO BE CONTINUED

Brass Ring

2009-08-21T10:00:00.000-07:00

I have another writing career separate from this blog and in it I find myself exploring a few of the same themes over and over. What it is that draws me to them is not very difficult for me to figure, without delving too deep into my subconscious. One is existence and the other is work. Often I integrate these themes together for I find their relation is more than superficial. Why do we exist? Why do we work? Are our lives, our existence, validated by the work we do? If so, how does the connection affect the way we live, the choice of what we spend our lives doing, the path we stumble down? And how, upon further reflection years later, do those choices, of work, of lifestyle, look with the benefit of hindsight? More often than not, survival becomes a skeletal connector, as we alter our ideals and continue to work at jobs for necessity, for practical rather than idealistic reasons.

I, for one, have taken a roundabout route to where I am at the moment. While I have altered my worldview and the rosy-eyed view I had of my career goals, I still maintain them, persevere and sacrifice where necessary. I haven't been beaten down by less glamorous aspects of the written word, the written work and constant hum of reassuring rejection. In fact, poker has helped me a great deal in the last half year or so, giving me something outside of my regular realm to analyze, ponder and twist around in my head and on these nonexistent pages.

Perhaps my musings can be best summed up by this exchange from an old script of mine.

INT. UNMARKED POLICE CAR NIGHT

Detective Carver knifes the car through the industrial district. Detective Breaux sits in the passenger seat, eyeing the scattered individuals they pass. He cracks his window as the hot air from the dash blows on him.

CARVER
So something has to come after, huh, Breaux? After death?

BREAUX
Thats right.

CARVER
What about before?

BREAUX
Before? What do you mean?

CARVER
I mean before. If there is something that comes after life, doesnt that mean there had to have been something before it too?

BREAUX
There is no before. Life is the before. Were granted life to experience mortality so that we can try to achieve divinity.

Carver pulls up to a red light. He looks at Breaux.

CARVER
Alright. So, let's say that there is a heaven and let's also say that you're going to get there. How long are you going to be there?

BREAUX
How long?

CARVER
Yeah, how long? A week, a month, what?

BREAUX
Forever. Eternity.

Carver laughs. The light changes and he throws the car in gear.

CARVER
Now, to me, that sounds like a pretty uneven plan. Eighty years as a mortal and just like that, eternity as an immortal.

BREAUX
It fits. See, all of life is a prelude to the one time, the one day, the one minute that salvation is in your grasp. We all face it. How we respond in that moment is what ultimately determines the fate of our soul.

CARVER
And you'll be ready?

BREAUX
My faith will get me through.

Carver looks at Breaux.

CARVER
I'm not much for religion, Breaux. I'm more of a believer in balance.

BREAUX
Balance?

CARVER
Balance. Like a see-saw.

Carver tilts his hand up and down.

CARVER (CONT’D)
Nothing before, nothing after. Life exists to sustain itself, nothing more. Sometimes it can't even do that.

BREAUX
You're way off.

CARVER
Am I? You ever hear of the seventeen year cicada?

BREAUX
No.

CARVER
Sounds just like its name. It's a type of cicada that lives as a nymph underground sucking on tree roots for seventeen years. Then, it makes its way to the surface, molts into an adult and spends six weeks trying to reproduce. Then it dies. The newborn nymphs burrow into the ground and the process repeats itself again seventeen years later.

BREAUX
So?

CARVER
So what do we, as humans, do that is so different from the cicada? Instead of burrowing down into the ground we do stuff. We play golf, we go to the beach, we shoot two guys in the back in an alley. Seems a bit of a waste doesnt it? We all end up in the same place as the cicadas.

BREAUX
Why do anything then? Why do you do this?

CARVER
I'm no good at golf and I cant swim. But youre missing the point.

BREAUX
I'm missing something, that's for sure.

Breaux shakes his head.

BREAUX (CONT’D)
Your theory doesn't make sense. If life only exists to sustain itself how did it begin in the first place?

CARVER
It's a fluke, a series of coincidences, luck.

BREAUX
You think life is luck?

CARVER
I think you're lucky to be sitting there next to me and I'm lucky to be driving this car.

BREAUX
I think you're full of it.

CARVER
I'm sure you do. But you're evidence of it yourself.

BREAUX
Me?

CARVER
Your wife is pregnant?

BREAUX
She's in labor right now.

CARVER
Congratulations, Breaux. You've succeeded in replacing yourself. Existence for the sake of future existence. Just like the cicada. Balance.

Breaux looks at him, seething. Carver glances at him.

CARVER (CONT’D)
No need to get angry, Breaux.

BREAUX
How do you expect me not to be? You ridicule my religion, you ridicule me and you expect me to just take it with a smile?

CARVER
I'm not ridiculing you, Breaux. You've got your beliefs, I've got mine.

A small smile grips Carvers mouth. Breaux sees it.

BREAUX
You get off on this, don't you? This is why you like rookie partners, so you can boss them around and give your goddamn lectures.

CARVER
Careful, you're blaspheming.

BREAUX
Fuck you.

Carver nods. He pulls up to another red light and looks at Breaux. His smile disappears.

CARVER
You've got it wrong. I don't like rookie partners, I request them.

BREAUX
What the fuck does that mean?

CARVER
It means that when shit goes down, I know what I'm doing, that I'm not the one whos going to make the mistake and get my ass shot.Life is luck, Breaux, but death isn't. In our line of work death is intentional, not accidental.

Carver smiles.

CARVER (CONT’D)
You are my balance, Breaux.

The light turns green and Carver pulls forward.

Aaaaaand Scene.

I haven't read that in awhile, just popped into my head with some existential thoughts the other day.

Why all this existential babbling? Perhaps it comes on the heels of having the privilege to see a band, an unbelievably talented band that sings songs that make your guts twist, that sings songs that you feel like have been with you forever the first time you hear them? A band who never made it. Maybe they will, someday. Maybe. But in the meantime they work. They play on regardless, over two hundred shows a year, withstanding the barren nights of five people in a bar in the middle of nowhere for a show, for the pleasure of that elusive night when there is a full club, people singing along. They put out albums full of songs dripping with the scars they've suffered, the same bloody knuckles, torn hearts and raspy whispers that you and I know all too well but have never been able to describe.

Here's a taste.

I was able to catch a couple of their recent shows and it only reinforced the decisions that I have made. Watching these guys do something they love, in defiance of society's rules and ideas of what a person has to be by a certain age, flaunting the conventions of what the limits of one can hope to achieve by doing things a certain way, it all struck home. It all became personal. Which is what good music is supposed to do. Good writing too. I hope I can not make it as much as they did.

TWO COW GARAGE TOUR DATES

Aug 21 2009 8:00P
the brass rail Ft Wayne, Indiana

Aug 22 2009 8:00P
Mac’s Bar lansing, Michigan

Aug 23 2009 8:00P
Schuba’s Chicago, Illinois

Aug 24 2009 8:00P
The Triple Rock Minneapolis, Minnesota

Aug 25 2009 8:00P
The High Noon Saloon Madison, Wisconsin

Sep 9 2009 8:00P
Off Broadway St. Louis, Missouri

Sep 10 2009 8:00P
The Bottleneck Lawerence, Kansas

Sep 11 2009 8:00P
Suburban Home Anniversary @ Three Kings denver

Sep 12 2009 8:00P
Suburban Home Anniversary @ Three Kings Denver, Colorado

Sep 13 2009 8:00P
Urban Lounge Salt Lake city, Utah

Sep 14 2009 8:00P
The Badlander Missoula, Montana

Sep 15 2009 8:00P
Tractor Tavern Seattle, Washington

Sep 17 2009 8:00P
Sam’s Bond Garage Eugene, Oregon

Sep 18 2009 11:00P
MusicFestNW- Ash Street Saloon Portland, Oregon

Sep 20 2009 8:00P
Thee Parkside San Francisco, California

Sep 21 2009 8:00P
Cranes Hollywood tavern Los Angeles, California

Sep 22 2009 8:00P
The Radio Room San Diego, California

Sep 23 2009 8:00P
Yucca Tap Room Tempe, Arizona

Sep 25 2009 8:00P
Emo’s (inside) Austin, Texas

Sep 27 2009 8:00P
Double Wide Dallas, Texas

Ready or Not

2009-08-13T18:13:00.000-07:00

Just a quick poker update after three more sessions - two tournaments, one cash game - and one misread. Busted out of both tournaments early on, couldn't get anything going and was mostly card dead for both. No real hands to dissect from either since I mostly folded or swept blinds with my raises. Cash game was more successful as I had been playing a little sloppily in past weeks and wanted to tighten up a bit. Luckily for me I was able to catch some decent starting hands early and build up a little bit of a stack when my biggest hand of the night came through. I raised from middle position with 9,9 and got a call from the button. Flop came 8,9,9 and I had a pretty good idea that my quads would be good. I checked and my opponent led out. I called. Turn brought a blank. I checked and my opponent bet out, a pot-sized bet. I thought about the last film I had seen in order to seem like something was on my mind and when sufficient time had passed, called. River was meaningless to me, of course, and I led out for half the pot. He thought and thought but then laid it down. Poker is easy.

Until you misread an opponent, that is.

One of the last hands of the night, I limped with AQ, hoping to trap a late position raiser. No raise came and the flop was good to me, A,K,x rainbow. I bet out and got one caller, very quick call. Turn was a club, now two on board. I bet again and again my opponent called. At this point I had him squarely on A,x, definitely not AK, not his style to limp from late position with it. I began to think about my river bet. Then it came with another K so I downsized a bit to around half the pot. My opponent thought for a couple minutes (during which time I relaxed, if a raise was coming it would have come quicker) then called. I confidently flipped my AQ and he showed a K for trips. We talked about the hand after the game and he said he thought that I had been playing bottom set on the flop. He had also picked up the nut flush on the turn (which surprised me even more because he didn't raise me on that street) to go with his pair of kings, and was worried I had filled up with his third queen. As I had him covered, he was worried about getting stacked late in the night, so he just called it and took it down. It was a very surprising result and threw me off for the rest of the game (only about another 10 minutes.)

I'm looking at playing the $550 deep stack event at Foxwoods on August 22nd. If I do, I will obviously post the lead up and results.

Bad Liver and a Broken Heart

2009-08-07T09:16:00.000-07:00

I'm old. I'm not gonna lie. I aged out of the bar scene a few years ago by any reasonable measure, yet it somehow always draws me back in. In that way I can sympathize (on an obviously lesser, more pitiful scale) with the athletes, actors and others who refuse to give up the spotlight, hoping for one more run of glory, one more rush of adrenaline when the eyes of the world focus squarely in their direction. Being in bars is kind of looking at a past life, when I was new to everything and all was new to me. Every turned corner brought excitement, new possibility and an introduction to the great equalizer, disappointment. When you're young, disappointment is a piercing shiv to the gut, the cruelest imaginable twist to the purest of plans. Broken hearts, broken dreams. The stuff that make up life when it's new. When you're young, you recover quickly from such cruelties. Years later, however, these things just make you feel tired and, well, old.

But there's always hope.

And the hope always looks similar because the hope is fresh-faced, exuberant and idealistic. The bastards of young, indeed. The sip from this fountain of youth, as well as the sip from a decent beer, are what brought me out of hiding, hoping to find something to catch me up in the swirl of my ancient youth.

What I found was The Stranger Waves. A three piece from Chicago, they pounded a couple certainties through my head: 1 - yes, I'm old 2 - rock and roll still has the power to instill an infusion of energy unparalleled to almost anything else. It stirs a re-kindling of emotional cues from our lives, for what is a love of music if not a back beat, and at times a sharp relief, a primary focus, for the events we embark upon? Why do we spend hours figuring out the songs to play at our weddings? How many times has every single song that played after a heartbreak been solely written for one's own situation? The themes of music are universal but individually interpreted, the best of which can be enjoyed on many levels, from a pure pop aesthetic to a primal, immediate response which we might not even understand.

So it was with the Stranger Waves. Jangly guitars, reverberating vocals and harmonies, a vicious, unrelenting percussion all held together a Buddy-Holly-on-amphetamines sound recorded at 33 1/3 but played at 45. Undeniably catchy, unmistakably talented and furiously eager to serve up a memorable string of songs, they banged out a set that left me in a strange spot - basking in the glow of a remembered glory, of a needle full of sound building to a few minutes of ecstatic revelry in support of a trio of guys barely more than half my age. It was a high worth the effort of making the scene, even after mine has long gone.

Check them out if you can.

www.myspace.com/thestrangerwaves

Blister In The Sun

2009-08-05T06:01:00.000-07:00

A quick recap as this is a continuation of my previous post: So I had withstood a combined avalanche of my own bad play and a decidedly mediocre stretch of cards to break even at the Borgata and managed to snag the last seat on the bus to get me back home in time to my heads up poker tournament. This tourney is an offshoot of my monthly one, run by the same guy and usually featuring many of the familiar faces from those tournaments, albeit far fewer of the newcomers to the game. Not a tournament for which I should have been operating on two hours sleep and caffeine and expected to sail through. Stranger things have happened, though. And stranger things did...

Heads up is always an interesting time. Playing virtually every hand is an anomaly unless you are heads up. It's also fun as hell. Who doesn't want to be involved in each deal of the cards? More often than not it is with just two god-awful cards in hand, so the play is contingent on the player, not the cards. Because of this aspect it also allows terrific opportunities to set up an opponent who makes a lesser hand after you have pushed him around a bit.

So it was in my first match. Playing aggressively and raising, c-betting and re-raising nonstop, my opponent finally made a stand and shoved preflop when I re-raised him. Unfortunately for his AJ, this was a legitimate hand and my AK had him dominated and took him out. Bang. Fifteen minutes, one victory.

My second match saw me against a very, very aggressive player so I decided to mix it up a little bit, play a little slower and let my re-raises and other moves convey a little more power, all the while hoping to catch a big hand and disguise it, knowing that my opponent would likely make a move into it.

And it worked.

Kind of.

He raised (with 7,7 as it turns out). I peeked at Q,Q and re-raised. He didn't believe me and likely figured he could get me to fold anything except a premium hand, and shoved on me. Perfect. I called, of course. But the flop came 5,6,8. Ugh. The turn was a blank and he had 10 outs to get there. He got there the hard way, by flipping a river 7 to make trips.

So now I was in a quandary, left with only about 10% of chips in play. But I did have one slight advantage and I began to use it.

All in. All in. All in. All in.

Finally he called, and I was behind. We both made pairs on the flop but he made top and I made middle, until the river brought a beautiful, redemptive 7, making me trips and getting me healthy again. But then he took the initiative again and started popping each pot and I got whittled away, chip by chip. Finally, I made a move and got it in what I thought was in great shape - top pair, open ended. But he had a set and I was looking at 10 outs, same as he had earlier. And same as he had earlier, the 7 came on the river. Straight for me, double up.

On it went, back and forth like that. Any time the shorter stack went in, their hand held. Finally, at the 90 minute mark (playing 30 minute levels) with blinds about to go to 200/400, which would have been ridiculous for my stack, and basically made it an all-in each hand either way, I made a stand when the board threw out three nines. My opponent boated up and I was done, for now. For this was a double elimination event and I merely proceeded to the loser's bracket.

Once there, whether it was caffeine, adrenaline or the mid-afternoon sun, I perked up and played some pretty good poker. I made a tough call of a post-flop all-in holding 4,4 in my hand and it held against my opponent's ace high. I battled back in my next match from a 3:1 chip deficit, rallying to take it after over an hour. Then I went on a true rampage in my next match, winning in fewer than ten hands as the cards found me quickly and I took it right at my opponent with a barrage of raises that he had no answer to.

The tournament, however, was not completed. And it was an ugly reason why not.

A couple months ago, the host of this tournament had purchased a professional-quality arm wrestling table. At the events since then, people have taken shots at each other on this table, always for fun, and always entertaining. That day? Not so much. At one point, there was a sickening "CRACK" similar to if you had a thick tree branch and you somehow snapped it clean. I had thought that the table leg had cracked. Not so lucky. I turned to find one of the tournament players holding his arm where it had sickeningly broken, in the middle of the humerous bone (the large bone in your upper arm). Just a sick accident, but apparently not one uncommon to arm wrestling, as Wikipedia notes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arm_wrestling (see the "Avoiding Injury" section and the two pictures to the right of it, exactly what happened.) Straight to the emergency room he went and he awaits surgery in a few days. Just an ugly few minutes and we all felt awful for him.

Anyway, he was one of two guys left in the winner's bracket, while I had made my way to being the only one left in the loser's bracket. So play was obviously postponed and I await the loser of the other match to see who will advance to the finals against the winner. To win I'll need three straight wins, one against the loser of that match and two against the guy who advances from the winner's bracket, thus far unbeaten.

By this point it was about 8 pm and another full day of poker had been played. I was beat and needed to crash and crash I did. I will update the tournament results once it finishes.

Prove It All Night

2009-08-03T15:50:00.000-07:00

Had a rather unreal 26 hour stretch of poker on Friday and Saturday, which I felt needed a couple days to breathe before I put it down. Honestly, I may have forgotten half of it already since the 26 hours were virtually one, with only a minor two hour nap thrown in between the first fifteen and the next nine.

Backtracking to the beginning, I got an email that immediately piqued my interest from the subject line alone. "AC?" it read.

Um, yes please.

Turns out a couple of the regulars from my weekly cash and monthly tournaments were driving down to the Borgata in Atlantic City and had room available in their car. I confirmed my interest, grabbed some essentials and we were off. Friday afternoon traffic being brutal to the Jersey shore, it took a good four hours to get down there but we sauntered into the Borgata's poker room and were all immediately seated at separate 1/2 NL tables.

For anyone who hasn't been to the Borgata, the room is absolutely immense. 85 tables but it seems like even more when it's crowded, just a mammoth space teeming with players of all styles, all abilities and all attitudes, with basically any game you could want available to spread.

Back to my game, the first pot I enter gets limped to the button, who pops a raise. From the SB I see KQ off and come along, as does one of the limpers and the BB. Flop comes Q, 4 3, just about as good as I can hope for in this spot. I lead for half the pot, the BB raises me, the limper goes away and the button re-raises. Ugh. I get out of dodge, however reluctantly, and the other two mix it up, with the button eventually taking it down with his Q,3 two pair.

And a pattern is set.

For the next six to eight hours any pot I entered with a decent holding (middle pairs, A,10 or above, good suited connectors) might allow me to see a flop but was immediately bet or raised right out of it after whiffing. Nothing was working for me, raising, calling, limping, re-raising, it all was going awry and I began to spew some chips in frustration. One particularly awful hand was flopping second pair on a flop of all spades, putting my opponent on AK with the nut draw and craftily (so I thought) let him bluff at it for three streets when no other spades fell. Of course, my read was half correct, he did have the A of spades but he also had another in his hand and was value betting the donkey the entire way. Hee-haw.

Two add-ons later and I had been resigned to the ugly fact that when my last fifty bucks got swallowed by whomever played the next hand with me, I was going to hit it and call it a night. Defeatist attitude was in full swing, bad posture, the head-shaking, bitter folding, I had all the plays in the loser's handbook working hardcore.

And then, strangely, things changed.

How, I don't know. Maybe I had indeed just had a stretch of tough beats, bad cards and players not conducive to my style but in a flash it turned. Welcome to poker 101.

I look at pocket queens and re-raise a raiser all in for my last $45. He calls with...JJ. Queens hold. Two hands later my A10 off flops trip aces and I get it all in again against...A6. From there, the drunks from the clubs rolled in, as well as a few players deciding to go on a bender right there at the table. Flush with new confidence from actually winning hands, I took a few more chances and when I hit a few more flops, I was on a legitimate heater. Then, I came tantalizingly close to making a truly memorable run. Probably 6 of 12 hands, I looked down at wired pairs. None hit sets, which would have allowed me to make the big score but several of them were enough to take down pots. So, so close and I could feel the table around me start to be wary of me, now it was their attitudes that were shifting when I played hands.

My last hurrah, now thirteen hours deep into it, was when I raised with AcQc and a kid sitting on about $75 re-raised all in from the BB. My first instinct was to call and I was a split second from doing so when I remembered how much he had been overplaying AK all night, way over-raising that particular holding. So I thought about it and decided to wait for a bit better of a spot. And funnily enough, the very next hand saw me with 10,10. I raised again, everyone cleared out, the kid from the previous hand again shoved on me and I snap called him. His face fell and he showed KJ off and I managed to avoid any trouble from the cards and felted him.

So at this point, I had come back to break even, a pretty amazing accomplishment after hours of terrible play, and felt the redemption of avoiding such a big loss flowing through me. However, I also realized that I had been playing for almost fifteen hours and in approximately three and a half hours from that time I had a heads-up tournament back home. So I clocked out, cashed out and hit up the bus station in a hurry. I got the last seat on the next bus, took it and immediately fell out. The ride home, just over two hours, went by in a matter of seconds for me and I was up again and navigating the trains to my heads-up tournament.

To Be Continued...(but enjoy the link until tomorrow)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEkyaoPdar8

Welcome to the Sticks - Movie Review

2009-07-31T08:55:00.000-07:00

I used to date a woman, an attractive, successful woman, who had the attention span of a gnat. Conversations would be cruising right along and in the blink of a goldfish's eye, her focus would be on something else, be it a stunning sunset, a sideshow freak or a shiny new nickel on the ground. The conversation, having thus hit a snag, would come back on line when she, having lost track of her place in it, would inevitably utter "Wait, what?"

Today I begin a new aspect to this blog, one I hope to continue weekly with few snags, distractions and bumps along the way. This is the first of what I hope to be a weekly movie review. It's a relatively simple conceit - watch a movie, scatter some semi-coherent thoughts about the way it told its story and how successful I felt it was, and share.

Simple, no? Seemingly so, though I make no promises to the types of movies I will write about, what aspect of the film I might choose to dissect and whether it is even an actual review of the movie or more my personal reaction to it. My taste, similar to yours and the rest of the movie-going public's, is wildly diverse.

So what I'll do is start with a film that likely no one reading here has seen, but which most of you will in a year or two.

Wait, what?

I'll explain later.

This first film on the queue is the largest-grossing box office film in French history, a 2008 comedy called "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis" (Welcome to the Sticks).

The whoosh you just felt was the vaccum of users hitting the "Back" button and moving on to a non-French-film-reviewing blog. For both of you who have stuck around though, here's the basic plot:

A middle-aged postal supervisor fakes a handicap in order to land a plush transfer to the French Riviera but it backfires and he is instead sent to the dreaded North of France, a province home to a presumed backwater people who speak in an almost unintelligible "Schticks" dialect.

A simple premise, really, and one that must be deftly handled by both director and actors in order to make the characters both human and comic while avoiding stock situations and thinly drawn stereotypes. While at first it appears to be headed for a film that makes the simple folk of the North seem foolish, soon enough we see that those same provincial attitudes of superiority are ripe for satirizing the Southerners and everyone in France is the true butt of the jokes for holding such notions of the other group, regardless of which character you best relate. While our hero initially lags into a depression for his unfortunate circumstance and falls victim to comic miscommunications with the locals in his new locale, his rocky relationship with his wife back home strengthens as she marvels at his ability to withstand the rigors of living in such a place, with such people. But what she doesn't realize, is that once her husband acclimates to his surroundings (and goes on a couple benders with his co-workers) he finds that the North is not such a bad place after all. He continues his charade with the help of his new friends, building to a climax when his wife decides she must move north and support his efforts. His attempts to hold onto his marriage, his job and learn a little about human nature are all tested as he figures out how he must come clean.

The central figure of the postal supervisor is obviously the key and, this being a French film, is played by an unassuming, middle aged man (think the French Larry David) who comes across perfectly as the put-upon everyman who only wants to do right by his family. It hits the mark in its slight, subtle humor mixed with some standard language-barrier jokes and a couple excellent moments of over-the-top and physical comedy. It doesn't try to overreach or get overly sentimental in its approach and while it occasionally asks the viewer to accept some scenarios that might seem questionable, it does so gently and moves on, never requiring a prolonged suspension of disbelief.

As for why I feel that eventually everyone will see this film, it is because the American rights have been bought by Will Smith and his production company, presumably so that it can be a vehicle for him. The fish-out-of-water premise and the themes of small town/big city, regional pride and acceptance of strange cultures are easily translatable to a wide American audience. Think "My Cousin Vinny" which explored all of them in the context of a comedic courthouse film, using the New York/Alabama juxtaposition. It will be interesting to consider the two regions (states, even?) that Smith might choose to set the film in here in the states. Any thoughts on what would be the best two? Alaska might have to be involved.

Trailer...

Cash Rules Everything Around Me

2009-07-29T20:58:00.000-07:00

My regular cash game resumed after a several week summer hiatus and I pulled in a modest win, about 3/4 of a buy-in. It was one of those nights where I couldn't get in a normal pot so I had a somewhat interesting go of it. Early on, I landed two sets of 9s against the same player and more than doubled up, then ran wired jacks into wired aces on a 10 high flop and gave a bunch back. Flopped trip fives holding A5 off against KQ on a Q,5,5 flop only to have the river whitewash me with a two-outer Q to give my opponent the pot. Then a card dead period gave me a nice long stretch to keep an eye on the baseball game on the nearby television and grind my stack down to its starting point. A set of queens on a flush and straight draw-heavy flop (3rd time against the same player, who was a little shell shocked when I showed him, somewhat sheepishly, after he had folded) paid me modestly and then my biggest pot of the night came along. Under the gun in a straddled pot (1/2 NL) I look down at A,A and knowing that one of the next nine players is sure to raise the straddle, just limp. I get my wish immediately as the player to my left makes a tiny raise to 10. If asked, I couldn't have wanted anything more, since he is indicating a big hand with such a light raise and if anyone else peeks down at an interesting holding, they might pop it up again before it gets back to me. No such luck on that front, but two players do call the raise to 10 and it's my turn to act and I bump it to 55. Player to my left calls, the other two players clear way. Flop is perfect for me, 10 high rainbow. I lead out about 2/3 of the pot, $80 and my opponent shoves all in. I immediately call and he looks at me and says "Please don't turn over aces." I do, they hold against his K,K and I'm back to over double my buy in.

The hiatus of several weeks in this game has really shown me how familiarity with players in a regular game can be both good and bad. Not only do you have to know the ins and outs of the players and be wary of the deviation in their play based upon previously conceived notions of their moves, but the familiarity breeds a certain amount of complacency. I have more than a few times found my mind wandering instead of keeping track of preflop action or getting involved in lengthy conversations that distract from perhaps gleaning a little more information from my opponents. I'm not even talking about tells or betting patterns, but just certain styles of play from good, winning players that I could benefit from watching more closely and emulating.

It is nice to be back in the cash game though.

You Can't Sexy Dance To Punk Rock

2009-07-24T16:12:00.000-07:00

You can't sexy dance to punk rock.

It's true, sort of. Being 6'5" I can't sexy dance, well, ever. It's just too much elbows, knees and feet to ever fit an acceptable definition of sexy.* But rare is the day you see me dancing and rare is the day that Superchunk plays a live show, so when I got word of the latter, I figured anything was possible.

The show being free was an added incentive to my sexy dancing potential, as it gave me that much more money to load up on drinks at the bar in the pre-show lead up. And in the crowd during the opener, Versus. And on the way back from a nearly-too-late run for the nearest bathroom, inconveniently located on the other side of the crowd, up a ramp, into a waterfront mall entrance, up an escalator and wound round a maze of stores. But with success (and more beer) in hand, I arrived back just as the 'Chunk finished their guitar tuning. Wasting no time in passing out beers to the crew that included DJ, L3K, the jaded scenester, Miss Annie and a couple others, I had one thought on my mind.

Sexy dancing.

Wait. No. Definitely no.

Superchunk.

Yes. Oh yes.

And the North Carolina quartet didn't disappoint. Setting the tone with "Throwing Things" to open, they pounded out hit after hit from their 20 year catalogue of rock and roll goodness. Heads bobbed, people jumped up and down, women swooned.** As the sun gently slipped down behind the skyline opposite the band and simultaneously illuminated the seaport pier on which the band was playing, the lights from the stage struggled valiantly to keep up with the spectrum of color before asserting their dominance as night came on. When the band played "Driveway to Driveway" it was enough to make a man feel like...well...like sexy dancing.

But alas, as everyone knows, you can't sexy dance to punk rock.

*Apologies to Kai Landry, who I'm sure could easily provide an acceptable definition of sexy.
**Apologies to the screenwriter of Dead Poets Society for the blatant rip-off.

Results follow up

2009-07-12T10:47:00.000-07:00

Ran deep in both my tournaments this weekend. Cashed 4th on Friday night and bubbled out last before the money on Saturday after 6.5 hours of grinding. Results notwithstanding, I think my play Saturday was much better, I read well, didn't make many mistakes and was patient, a key to my game.

I'll come back with more details and thoughts later.

Sweet and Lowdown

2009-07-10T15:21:00.000-07:00

I've got a double-header of home tournaments the next couple of nights, both of which I have cashed in but not won (2nd and 3rd) in the past few months. Both are rebuy tournaments, tonight's is my regular one and tomorrow's is one I first played in last month. Still working the transition mentally in the differences between my cash play, which surprisingly to me, has become more regular than my tournament play. So both tonight and tomorrow, with the rebuys out there, I am going to pick a spot early on, try to exploit even a minute mathematical edge in a hand, and send it in. Since I like to hold on to my second rebuy to rebuff a potential bad or tough beat later on in tonight's tournament, if my minute edge doesn't hold, I'll retreat into grinding/stealing systematic play and attempt to build a stack with the help of the deck and position.

I'll give a quick write up tomorrow of tonight's tourney and then hope to follow with the same Sunday for Saturday night's action.

Evil v. Good

2009-06-29T17:58:00.000-07:00

I've been working in new aspects to my play lately, trying to evolve into more than just a straightforward player, particularly in my regular cash game and a couple of local tournaments that feature many of the same players. Anyway I figure it, if I don't mix up my play, the reactions to my playing a tight, simple (and predictable) style of poker will come at my expense, either via bigger hands or by bigger bluffs. The beatings will be swift, severe and painful.

As you might expect, the early results have been mixed. However, I am committed to working such plays into the fold of my game, short-term losses notwithstanding.

Let me document a couple of the literal misfires.

The first was more of a lapse in judgment than anything else. Relatively early in a 2 rebuy tournament I raised an unopened pot with 10,8 off and got 3 callers. I flopped trip 8s with 2 diamonds on board and led out. Two players folded and the last, a guy I often play against, called. The turn brought another diamond and I checked and after a brief thought about making a move, merely called a bet by my opponent. He's a solid, winning, tight player and doesn't usually make moves without good hands, so at this point I could have ditched, since at the worst I had him on a middle flush, but decided to see the river, hoping to boat up or represent that I had done so. When a fourth diamond hit the board on the river, I saw even more opportunity make a play at the pot. With about the size of the pot left in my stack and two rebuys in hand, I shoved, hoping my standard tight image would induce a big (if incorrect) laydown of the likely flush my opponent held.

It didn't. My consolation was that I was afforded the knowledge that I do indeed have a tight image, as he called with a somewhat resigned "If you boated up, you've got it" as he showed one of the big hands I hoped to represent, the nut flush. With two rebuys, he wasn't laying that down under almost any circumstance, a fact that I should have recognized earlier.

A consolation to this was that after rebuying, much later in the tournament I was able to make plays, hit hands and continuation bet my way to a second place finish for a tidy little cash.

My next ill-fated semi-bluff was in my regular cash game and the problem with this one was not so much opportunity or timing as it was some poor execution on my part.

After a small preflop raise from a player in early position drew a couple callers, I looked down at K,3 suited from the BB and came along. Flop came A,K,x with two clubs on board (I held no clubs) and I checked and the preflop bet out. Having been in many games with him, I was almost 100% that he had an ace but not A,K. My normal play here is to get out of dodge and wait for a better spot but the new me decided I would make a play on this hand if a scare card came on the turn (or if I happen to hit a 3.)

Well, a club did turn and I decided to spring the trap. I checked, my opponent kept his action consistent and bet out and I raised. And I made my mistake, and it was two fold. The first mistake I made was in not calculating my opponent's stack, which after his last two bets was dwindling somewhat. The second was because of his stack, I didn't raise enough. Granted, my check raise gave him pause for a couple minutes and I did have him thinking he was beaten but because it wasn't enough of a raise, he ended up making the call. The river bricked out and I was left with a basic tenet of poker: bet or lose. So I bet, enough to put my opponent all in because of his previous call, he was now short. Not automatic type of short, but still short. And again he agonized, and again he called and his ace was good. If his stack is bigger, he probably folds it on the river. If I raise more on the turn when his stack was bigger, he probably folds it right then. Duly noted.

On I go, waging the battles to improve. Whether it happens or not, we shall see.

God Bows To Math

2009-06-26T12:16:00.000-07:00

So I had a three hour cash session last weekend and managed to play with the worst players in the world. Literally, not figuratively. I heartily recommend that if anyone is interested in winning buckets of money to stop what you are doing and immediately head for this venue...

But first a few quick asides:

I think that the United States men's national soccer team showed a lot of guts and heart in the past week. I'm as much a bandwagon follower of the team as anyone and I love to watch us play against the premier teams in the world. I thought we outplayed Italy for the entire first half of that game (US led 1-0) at the half, but that second half non-adjustments doomed us. Italy came out attacking in the second half and the US went back into a defensive cocoon. Unfortunately, we don't mark as well as we should in those situations and multiple times Italian players got free for chances and put some big ones in. I don't think it is a coincidence that once Altidore was subbed out that Italy's strikes soon followed. He's the kind of player we have been lacking. Not that he is a world class, top 5 striker or anything but he has a knack for the goal and he's a presence on the field. Opponents are always keen on where he is and leery of a big counterstrike by him. With him out of the game, Italy felt comfortable that no other US striker could counter and their pressure, already ramped up, came full on and we collapsed. Similarly, his goal in the Spanish match was exactly what other teams fear, that smaller defenders will be overpowered by his size and strength (and there certainly was no foul on that play, contrary to the Spanish defender's claim) and he showed that he knows how to finish, something lacking in past forward prospects the US has featured. And it would be remiss to not say that the player of the game was Tim Howard, who had every line and angle covered and played a superb match in goal against unrelenting pressure from the Spanish. The opportunities they created were plenty and he held fast, with a good deal of assistance from the defensive corps.

A couple of cash game hands to talk about, one involving me, one not, with a bit of stomach acid-inducing results. First one, cash game, I call a preflop raise from a tight player from the SB with 6h7h and we see a heads up flop of 8,9,A rainbow. I check, other player checks. Turn peels a 10 giving me the donkey end. I lead out, get raised and call. River is garbage, I again lead out, other player goes all in, I call and my straight tops the set of aces.

Next hand (I'm not involved) goes similarly: same tight player raises preflop, gets a caller, flops a set of Ks and gets drawn out on the turn by A,Q who makes broadway. What interested me about both hands was that the tight player would have won both had they not flopped the set. In the first, in order to string me along, it was a (proper) check post-flop with the nuts that cost, in the second it was bet at but the outs were available only because of the K on the flop. Kind of sick to watch the same player get felted in eerily similar situations two weeks in a row with legitimate monsters. It was also a great reminder of the chance that sometimes goes into big winning sessions from big losing ones and a good lesson for me about waiting for big hands.

Which I promptly had to realize in the action that immediately followed. I have been fortuitous lately with not taking such beats when I get my big hands, that is until that same cash session a couple days ago. Raising with KK preflop and getting heads up out of position, I check-called a board of Q,3,x and after a blank on the turn we got it in and my opponent held...Q,3. Suited, you know. I've kind of been due for one of those hands so took it in stride and rebought. Shortly thereafter I had my entire stack in again when I flopped a flush with Kd9d against the preflop raiser's set of 10s. My hand held but I gave back a chunk later on when I got AcKc and after check/check on the flop and a K showed on the turn, my raise was shoved upon. Only another fifty into a pretty decent pot and I called into a set of 6s and was dead. It was one of those up and down nights that is tough to make a decision on whether I was playing sloppily or if it was just the night of second bests (mostly). I think it was a mix of the two and I'm going to work on tightening a few holes that I spotted in my play during some of these hands.

Back to the worst (and I really do mean the worst, in a worst is so bad it's the best for anyone with a clue sort of way) poker room in the country...

The Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, FL. If you have the opportunity to go, drop what you are doing, whatever it may be, and GO. The play was so awful, the betting so terrible, the calls so light that I really felt like I could have sat daily and made a killing. Who knows, maybe that is something to consider. I was there on a Saturday night and the complex, which includes a slew of nightclubs, bars, restaurants and a casino was hopping. Distractions galore. Drinks flowing for most of the people. Cash too. One thing about Florida poker rooms, regardless of the game, players can max out at a 100 dollar buy in. So I sat at a 1,2 table with it and watched a parade of first-timers sit and buy the table minimum of...$40...and drop it within a few hands, calling themselves into oblivion. One moron sat/stood for five minutes and proceeded to go all in blind for $40 four consecutive times, losing all 4 times. I was the beneficiary of one of those donations when I had KQ against his Q5. He cheered lustily on a K,5,x board, not realizing. Then there was the guy who called two consecutive all-ins with 2,7 once when he hit a deuce and the other when he hit a seven. I later felted him consecutively when I flopped top/top and he kept calling me with third best pair. The following hand I picked up KK and his revenge strategy was foiled when he again flopped middle pair. Just brutally awful play. No need to bluff and it is actively discouraged at this game but don't fret, when you get the nuts, everyone will pay you at the Hard Rock Hollywood. Just be patient.

I've got some more play to detail but this post has gone on too long already, I'll hold them for the next entry.

Math is Money and Money is Math

2009-05-25T09:01:00.000-07:00

"This ain't smart, dude, this ain't art, dude/This is sonic economics and I'll put it on a graph for you to prove" - Lifter Puller, "Math is Money"

I played the tightest eight hour session that is humanly possible at Caesar's yesterday.

Luckily for me, only two people at the table seemed to be aware of this fact. As a result I was able to make a couple moves on them while only playing premium hands against the rest of the table. The end result was a double of my buy in after having it closer to triple the entire time. Time after time, there would be someone who thought I was making a move on them and we would go heads up, I would value bet the river after inevitably making the nuts or clear and away the best hand and they would make crying calls. As mentioned in my previous post, the players changed but in contrast to that, their styles didn't. They kept coming and I was happy to fold, fold, fold and then make up for my time by pounding someone when I got a hand.

There was, however, one hiccup. The only hand that I lost at showdown the entire day.

And of course this hiccup is the hand that I'll cover here. It is also the one that kept me from walking away with a larger win since I made it the last hand of my day. And here was my first mistake: I had resolved to leave after playing my button but when that hand came I looked down at 6,8 off in an unopened pot and decided to limp in, thereby breaking trend with not only how I had played all day but my own philosophy not to play hands for $2 that I wouldn't play for $25. No one raises and the flop comes 8, 8, 5, two spades. Dude from early position bets out $10, mass folding ensues and Svetlana from Brooklyn calls the $10. Now Svetlana happens to be one of the two players at the table who has been aware of my snug play, showing me when she laid down a middle A on an A high flop a couple hours earlier when I raised her. She also is the only person at the table who has me outchipped, as she has about 1k in front of her. So it's action to me with about $30-$34 in the pot at the moment. I raise to $35. Both players call.

After the double call, the turn brings a 10, making the board 8,8,5,10. Early position guy again leads out, this time for $35. Now, this was a guy obviously new to poker, as he had consistently been looking to the dealer for assistance and been confused by raises and so on. So he bets and Svetlana calls, and under her breath I hear her say "This hand is really confusing." At this point I am 95% sure that she also has an 8. She was a good enough player to know that I wouldn't have raised without an 8 and wouldn't have raised with 5,5 if I had a boat on the flop. So if she is confused, it is because she has the case 8 and can't figure out why the other guy is still in the hand. She also has tipped that she didn't have 5,5 because if she did she wouldn't have been confused, as she would have suspected that both I and the other guy had an 8 in our hands. And she wouldn't have been concerned, which she obviously was.

It's at this point that I began to think that I was about to lose a big pot.

But I called anyway. Thinking I'm beat and with the math not supporting even a $35 call (slightly over 5 to 1 and me looking at a 3 outer if I'm outkicked and likely drawing dead if either of them happens to have 10,10, unless the case 8 somehow is still in the deck) I just couldn't get away. Perhaps it was the combination of it being my last hand of the day, the fact that I was tired and hungry or maybe I am just that guy who will pay you off.

River brings a 4, making the flush, albeit on a paired board. Guy from early position goes all in for his last $64 into a pot of about $210. Svetlana scopes me out and I can tell she's not happy with her middle spot in this pot and by the play of the early position guy and by the fact that I have shown the nuts probably five times in showdowns in the last eight hours. She makes the call and it's on to me and I take my time to review everything I can remember. When I do so, it looks more like the early position guy was probably misplaying a big pair the entire time, probably not aces or kings but maybe queens. Svetlana has the case 8 but she looks pretty nervous. Could she have a worse kicker than a 6 (and with a 4 and a 5 on board, only a 2 or a 3 can I beat). Unlikely.

And then I do the math.

$340 in the pot, $64 to call. I cut the $64 out of my stack and put it in.

Math is money, and money is math.

Swine Flu Poker

2009-05-21T16:55:00.000-07:00

Ah, the swine flu. Like West Nile, bird flu and SARS before it, it is likely to be the end of us all. And no better place to meet up with it than a dirty poker room. Fever, headache, nausea, general discomfort. It all sounds familiar in the poker world.

What does the flu have to do with the felt? Mutation of course. Like any strain of the flu, a poker game mutates as it meets resistance. Plays that work for a few orbits become less successful as the game extends with the same cast of players. Check-raise early and watch your victim absorb the blow and then unleash it on you an hour or two later. Similarly, when a game goes from full to short-handed or vice versa, everything changes. I have been having some difficulty adapting to this back and forth dynamic and keeping my game in order, particularly from short-handed to full. I feel pretty good in six and seven handed tables these days but when it fills back up to ten, I have been making some boneheaded plays. In analyzing where exactly my problems begin, I think that I need more work on the dynamic of pots with more than three people in them. These pots are more likely to be raised, bluffed at, shoved, sometimes all in the same hand. Recognizing this fact, I realize I need to really focus on preflop reads so that I am better prepared when I find myself in such situations. One perfect example was when I came into a pot with a raise with 8,8 and we went to the flop with 5 players, me in middle position of the five. Two overs came and after checked to me, I followed suit when I should have fired out. The check held and from there the pot went downhill for me when an ace turned, while simultaneously turning my stomach. By freezing on the flop without good reads to fall back upon, I ultimately cost myself any chance of winning it.This example is a primary sticking point in where I'm at right now in my cash game, which is to say, improving but not fully there. I think I have a solid feel for how I play and with that understanding I think that it's time to mutate it a bit.

Excuse me now as I go wash the stench of that ill-played non-attempt off of my hands.

Cash games

2009-05-13T18:49:00.000-07:00

I've been active in cash games lately and running fairly well. Let me throw an interesting hand from last night's $1/2 NL game at you all and I'd be interested to hear how you think I played it (or should have played). For the most part I play pretty tight, so factor that in for what it may be worth. The hand starts with me having about $300 and both the guys in the hand having me covered by a good amount.

I hold J,10 and call a standard raise to $6 from the cut off. 5 players in, I've got position on everyone. Flop comes K, 9, 7, giving me the double belly buster draw. The beauty of this is how hidden it is on that board. A lot of people will rightfully only consider the cards that make a straight work with the 7 and 9 as scare cards come the turn, so I like my spot here should the high end hit. So check, check, someone bets out to $8, guy to my right calls. While I'm contemplating my move, guy two to my left accidentally raises out of turn to $25 (after checking from the SB). Being a friendly enough game, he is allowed to draw it back in. At this point, I just call the $8, which makes everyone laugh and throws him off. "You knew I was planning to raise and you flat call anyway?" The reality was that I was cutting my chips for the call and missed his accidental action altogether but he didn't realize it. He thinks it over and finally just calls. Other hand mucks. 4 ways to the turn. Q ball hits. Board now K, 9, 7, Q and I have the nuts (2 flush cards on board) and because of the accidental action on the flop, my resulting bizarre play and the inside nature of my made hand, no one has me on it, of that I'm positive. Check, check to me. I bet out $40 and guy who tried to raise out of turn calls and guy to my right also calls. River brings another Q but the flush misses. Board is K, 9, 7, Q, Q. Inadvertent raiser bets $65, guy to my right folds.

What do I do?

Queens Boulevard

2009-03-06T03:39:00.000-08:00

Please allow me to be the six millionth person to write about pocket queens. I offer up the lame excuse that I have been getting them often lately, so it made a natural, if often discussed, topic to cover.

Personally, I feel that some players are completely irrational in their beliefs about pocket queens - i.e. that they will definitely cost you more money than they will win back, that they always lose, that they would rather have pocket 10s, etc. I always love that last argument from players, that they prefer lesser pairs. Not lesser hands like suited connectors or something that might have better shot at cracking A,A or K,K, but lesser pairs, like 10s. The argument being that lesser pairs are easier to fold, I suppose. Well, go ahead and fold them preflop if you're so eager to get away from good starting hands and save yourself the decision and the few extra chips.

The thing that is precisely so interesting to me about pocket queens is that I feel it is a hand that is emblematic of what poker is all about. It's a hand that forces decisions, tough ones, ones that can separate winning sessions from losing ones. A made starting hand that can run into resistance in a variety of different ways and is often put to the test, forcing a decision, occasionally for everything. Not such of a no-brainer as aces, or a resignation hand as kings (as in "Well, I've got kings, if you've got aces you've got me") but a hand that forces a player to think, that allows his opponent a chance to make plays on him, and vice versa.

Twice I have lost recently with queens and I wouldn't have played either hand too differently in retrospect. One of the hands I didn't play at all, in fact. I folded pre-flop with Q,Q, after anguishing about it and almost giving myself a brain hemorrhage. The situation was actually easier than I made it to be at the time, but as anyone knows, at a table when things aren't going your way, it can be easy to just ship it and blame fate (see the resignation hand k,k note above). With my starting stack in a cash game whittled from $300 to $135, there was a raise to $10 and a call before me. I looked at Q,Q and bumped it to $35. Another guy behind me went all in for $37 total, then the initial raiser made it $135 to go, which set me all in. The initial caller folded and I stewed but in the end, something about his comfort level was too easy, so I released it and he showed A,A. Play, playback, decision. That is queens in a nutshell for you.

The other hand was slightly more interesting because of how it unfolded and the possibilities therein. Both my opponent and I may have misplayed this hand (so maybe I would have played it differently), or perhaps neither of us did. In a different cash game, with Q,Q I opened to $10 and got a couple callers, including a tight player who had position on me. Flop came all clubs, with my queens as an overpair and with me holding the Q of clubs. Checked to me and I led for $15, getting a call from the tight player and no other action. Turn was a rag and I went for $31 and again was called, after some deliberation. River was more garbage and I went for $62. Again she deliberated but then called and turned over a set of 5s, which surprised me somewhat. What I found interesting about holding queens in this situation is that the flush draw seemed to me to be no good throughout. Her style was tight enough that she wouldn't have necessarily raised with the nut flush draw if she hadn't paired the board and again, I was forced to think through all the different hands she might be holding and think about my play if the flush did hit. Would the Q be good? If it falls, how do I play it? What is my play if she then comes over the top of that play?

I'd be interested in hearing everyone's thoughts on how they like to play Q,Q against various styles of player.

Typecasting

2009-03-01T10:18:00.000-08:00

While many poker dictionaries already exist, I hope someone eventually puts out some kind of Facebook for poker players. Not just an ordinary social networking of games and players in local areas mind you, but something that applies avatars to each member, one that is consistent with their play, bankroll, regard for the game, knowledge of how to play and experience. Some of the avatars could be things such as:

Old Sal - the old rock at the table who grinds away and plays only winning hands, yet still manages to get bet into on the river. He makes $53-$55 per session, like clockwork. He often mutters under his breath about how to play real poker.

Johnny Poker - A guy, usually in his 20s or 30s, who plays perfect poker 100% of the time. According to him, that is. He plays winning hands and sets others up for his big move later on. When people make moves on him and they work, show bluffs, don't respect his carefully cultivated table image, betting patterns or otherwise play non-perfect poker, he immediately goes into Self-Tilt. He often speaks (condescendingly) to his end of the table about how to play poker, then moves tables to find the Mecca of poker, the table that will treat him and his savvy play with proper respect.

Coach - Middle-aged guy who shows up in some sort of windbreaker with a High School logo on it. His son plays, or played, or perhaps he was the coach. And as every coach knows, hard work and dedication equal success, even when natural instinct or aptitude for a game aren't inborn. He'll play hard, win a few pots from some drunk guys and donate chips to the players he feels are better than him, often as a measure of respect for their ability, if nothing else. He often speaks to anyone who will listen about backing up the cutoff man, free throw percentage or making a textbook block on the free safety but never about poker.

Subway Joe - the crazy guy who appears to have come up right from the subway circa 1977 New York City. That is, he's crazy, wild and talkative. You might think he's drunk but he's not. He will play 50% of pots to the river and then fold or shove, regardless of the action. Subway Joe's stack varies between $12 and $1000 several times an hour. He speaks out loud to everyone but usually not anyone in particular about anything and everything possible before he mysteriously disappears from the table, leaving his stack behind and forcing the floor to bag it up for him after an hour or so.

The Corona Brothers - these guys, usually friends, always show up together, they don't care about playing as much as getting a free drink or two, usually bottles of Corona. They put the table minimum out there and play super-small ball. They talk only to one another, usually about finding the waitress and getting some more Coronas.

Russian Ivan - Russian Ivan is often German or Czech, it doesn't really matter. He plays a Vivid Video loose style and forces winning hands to fold for about the first five hands until the table realizes he is playing every hand and forces him to show down. He often turns over air but stays at it until he loses all his money. He speaks to the dealer, who explains how he can't take his cards off the table or string raise and also talks to his friend who hovers behind him, but since no one else speaks his dialect, no one knows if he cares about playing poker, making money or even if he knows the hand rankings. His presence at the table is desired until he does give someone all his chips and then both he and the beneficiary leave the table, taking a ton of money off of it. NOTE: he is not to be confused with Petr, the shrewd Nordic player who will actually take all your money. Sometimes it is difficult to make the distinction right off.

OK, I know I am stereotyping a liberal amount here, but I am just off of a 15 hour cash session at Caesars where I did run into multiple versions of all these players as the table turned over three or four times. I had gotten into the game at about 11:30 p.m. on Friday night and as the night/morning progressed it was interesting to see who would show up off of the craps table to donate some of their winnings back to others, which players had no interest in actually playing poker and the various styles exhibited by each, which were unsurprisingly very similar.

For instance, Coach, after never once raising, bluffed off his whole stack with a very hearty "All In!" obviously designed to scare off his opponent. The problem? His opponent had bet $50 into him and Coach only had $77 left, so the extra $27 didn't do its scare work. Coach did not rebuy.

Johnny Poker, after making some good reads, like laying down his 8,8 on a board of 8,Q,Q (Q) after a turn bet and raise, knowing the turn Q had just given someone quads, patted himself on the back for awhile before supremely tilting himself based on a hand he was not even in, after the B,B min-raised the UTG raiser, who of course re-raised, forcing the rest of the table out of the pot, which he would have apparently connected to, big-time. Then he attempted a play in which his opponent didn't respect his turn raise on a dangerous board after a flush card came on the turn after an ace high flop. "Doesn't he see the flush out there?" he asked me. Well, yes, Johnny, he does. He has the nut flush actually, which is why he called you and then bet back into you on the river. And you called him. Johnny Poker left the table for another, only to return with a big stack about 8 hours later, Tilt himself again and depart again. But we were all a little smarter for having sat with him.

Old Sal showed me pocket Qs on a J high flop as he folded them into a $17 bet. "I only got $2 invested in that pot, why do I want to risk it?" Good point, Sal. Gotta keep that profit range within the street's expectations or the markets will react poorly. Also, good job limping in with queens.

Ivan, well he forced me off of a hand the 2nd hand he sat, as he raised, c-bet and then bet big on the river as my A,K never connected. Then he doubled me up on a flop of J,Q,K when he had Q,4. Then he stacked up (playing roughly 27 of 30 hands) until his friend showed up and lost it all in 2 hands and left. I was card dead, unfortunately

I'm sure there are others that I've forgotten at the moment but should they come to me, I'll be sure to recount them. Be sure to keep an eye out as my new PokerFace project gets startup money.

Of Mice and Men

2009-02-25T20:50:00.001-08:00

Well, my rebuy tournament didn't go as I planned. It went so poorly, in fact, that I can recap it in only a few sentences. Basically, I caught a brutal table draw of good players and add in 3 wild card players who redefined the term loose and it became a terror zone. Any pot entered was likely to become a decision for my stack after one of the wild guys tripled up and then subsequently doubled up again. He politely donated back to a few strong players around me but I had dreck to look at. He then busted me twice in quick order when I got it in with A,J against his 8,8 (8s played well for him in the time I was there) and then when I had As10s against his A4 off. An ace flopped for both of us and gave me a four flush to the nuts. Unfortunately, he turned a non-spade 4 to best me again and that was that. Barely played any hands, didn't make it out of the 3rd level, even with 2 rebuys.

Moving on to a more successful tale, I have run well in cash games for a couple weeks and had hands hold up in big pots. K,K in multi way action and no ace hit the board, a set faded a straight draw, top pairs have been good for small/medium pots. Only time I can remember even throwing a moderately bad beat on a guy was when I had K,J and the flop came K, 8, 4. I bet at it the whole way and the board threw a J on the river for me, which was enough to best a guy's 4, 8 two pair flop.

One hand that I lost for a decent amount is one that I question if there is any way to avoid losing the amount I did. I'll put it out there and see what everyone thinks. Preflop, I raised to $10 and was called by 2 players when I held AhQh. The flop came with an ace and one heart. I felt I was likely ahead and had just accumulated a few big pots so decided to mix up my play since my opponents were both playing a bit tight. I checked-called the flop for $15 with one of the players dropping out. Turn brought me the nut flush draw to go with my aces. I check-raised a $20 bet to $60 and was then set all in by my opponent for an additional $65 or so, an opponent who, again, was playing tight previously. I called and she had flopped a set of 7s. Now, I don't think that there probably would have been any way I could avoid doubling her up (I missed my flush on the river) since I'm not going anywhere on the flop or the turn unless she raises me out of the pot (likely on the flop) for some reason, but I have been running through various scenarios that might have allowed me to perhaps make a big laydown. I'm not saying that I believe that I could have or should have done it, as I had her easily covered at the time but am just speculating and wondering if there is any way that hand could have played out to allow me to scram.

Any thoughts?

Controlling Pot Size

2009-02-20T14:41:00.000-08:00

As the title of this post suggests, I have been focusing on the aspect of controlling pot size, be it trying to play small ball or trying to maximize winning hands. I noticed that I tended to always make a continuation bet post flop after raising preflop and on the occasions that I missed the flop entirely, that is, almost all the time, I was getting myself into situations where the size of the pot was making decisions for me about my play, rather than my holding or my read of the situation and opponent. Basically speaking, I was forcing myself to play hands by creating bigger pots, whether or not I was ahead or behind, and in doing so, was systematically whittling my stack in the event of a no-draw/bluff only type of situation. Now, I am not saying that I am not a believer in making continuation bets, only that I realized that I was doing it systematically, as if by rote and as with any mechanical, repetitive type of play, it becomes obvious to opponents what is happening and they adjust and react. So in talking with a friend about my play, he suggested trying to control pots with check/calls and check/raises to mix things up, to make the 3-bet or 4-bet preflop to weed out speculative hands when playing from ahead and go back to playing a more fundamental game from position. He also suggested that in the rebuy tournaments that I play often, in trying to trap a lot more with the big pairs early on, as the structure is such that the starting stack size can get committed to a pot awfully quickly early on. In essence, using that to my advantage, as opposed to seeing it as a hindrance. The same with trying to play small ball and keeping pots reasonable when flopping something like middle pair or a decent draw.

In any event, I am playing one of these tourneys tonight and will report back on how it goes.

The Four Aces

2009-02-09T11:27:00.000-08:00

I should have won, no doubt. The cards ran me down in the way that I always dream they will, in the way that I always complain that others always luck into, but never me, unlike every other card player in the known universe. The way that always leaves me assuredly stating that "if I had gotten run over like that, I would have won too."

But I didn't.

How good was it for me? Really good. Really, really good. I got pocket aces four times in the span of four and a half hours. And regardless of what else may have happened the rest of the night, that should be enough.

But it wasn't.

A brief description: forty-some person home tournament, 30 minute levels, two rebuys available. I won the first hand of the night opening standard 3x from mid-position with king high and getting no takers. A harbinger, perhaps? Just two hands later I look down at my first pleasant surprise of the night, A,A. Unfortunately, it gets folded to me in late position. I again make a standard 3x raise, certain that at the very least one of the blinds will look me up this early on.

But they don't.

And I again sweep only the blinds. This early on, it didn't really bother me too much. Sure, I always want action, lots of action, lots of big action, with aces but with everyone at the same stack and generally just settling into the tournament, it was easy enough to take it in stride and move on to the next hand.

And sure enough not twenty minutes later, still in the first 30 minute level, I look down again at A,A. This time, under the gun limps for 50, second to act also limps and third to act, I raise to 200. The button and the BB both call, as do the two early position limpers. Five to the flop, we see 8, 9, J with two spades. The BB checks, the initial limper bets 250 and the guy next to him calls. At this point, with 1500 in the pot and about 1250 in my stack, a standard raise could price in any and all draws and leave me pot-committed regardless of the turn card. So I put it all in, knowing that if someone has a made hand like Q,10 I can just rebuy and not really be shortstacked, as we're still at 25/50. But it gets folded around to the guy next to me, who chews on a call for a minute or two before finally pitching his hand and I drag a decent pot.

I win a few more before I run into some bad luck, when I raise preflop and my A,J hits a J high flop and I bet at it, get one caller and then shove for about 1100 when the turn brings a rag and again get a call. The caller turns over 9,7 for a pair of 9s (second pair on the flop) and I'm in great shape until the river brings a 7 to felt me. Arg. Rebuy.

I tilt a little and right away shove my stack in when I connect (perhaps middle pair, don't remember specifically) on the first flop post-rebuy. Luckily, no one calls and I remember feeling happy that no one did and recognizing that I had gotten away with an awful play. But winning that hand did settle me down a bit. It went a bit choppy afterward, as I again lost a good-sized pot to a river card but then immediately doubled back up when I lucked into a set with pocket 3s against pocket Ks.

I hover for a level or so and then the big guns come back. A,A on the button at the 300/600 level. Juicy, right? Well, not so much when everyone folds to me, I raise and the blinds (one of which was the chip leader) fold as well. Sweep the blinds, not insignificant, but unlike the earlier fold to my raise, at this point in the tournament, a big pot could indeed propel me to a cushy position, as there are only about 15 players remaining, so not being able to capitalize with them stings.

So not long after, I incredulously stare down at yet another A,A, this time from early position. Under the gun folds, I again raise, this time varying my raise a little, perhaps worried that I am tipping my hands, so I make it an even 2000 to go (still 300/600). No one takes my raise variation as a read of a middle pair or a weak ace and again, it gets folded to me and now I just am dazed. Four times with aces and no flops on three of them? Ouch.

My daze continues when the very next hand I see 9,9 and limp from under the gun, as the button is on a very good, aggressive player. And it folds to him and he shoves. I call, as his range is very big here but he has AcQc and he turns a queen to win a very big pot. I have him covered but now I'm a short stack and the blinds are moving to 400/800 momentarily. I shove shortly thereafter and lose but rebuy again in hopes that perhaps, just perhaps, I can pick up A,A one more time and get back in it.

But I don't.

Bombs away...

2009-02-02T19:25:00.000-08:00

Been playing more frequently the past few weeks, mixing in cash games with home tourneys and generally feel like I'm getting back into step. Of course, I have made a couple of boneheaded plays in each game to go along with some quality moves so I feel like I have come out about even in terms of my overall play.

Here is a key hand to note from one of my cash games (home game, NLHE, 1,2 blinds).

From early position a player raised the $2 BB to $7 and got an early position caller, a mid-position caller and a call from the button. In the BB, I looked down at A,J off and raised it up to $21. Both early position players folded, the mid-position player called and the button folded. Now, I have played with the caller previously and know him to be a very good, smart player. I suspected that his call (both of the $7 and then of the $14) was a speculative one, as he is definitely the type who would have raised the early position raisers with any good holding and absolutely the type who would have come over the top of my reraise with a premium holding. Though out of position, I felt good about my read and all signs told me that I was ahead.

Flop brought out 9,9,x and I continued for $25 into $64. He immediately came over and upped it to $75 and I broke the play down. And here is where I needed to perhaps adjust my thought process a bit and I'll point out why. Having put him on nothing preflop, and based on our past playing history together, I felt he believed he could take the pot away with this raise, even with what I suspected was a nothing hand. He knows me to be a conservative player and figures that this raise will make me go away unless I have a 9. Well, let me out play him this time, is what I thought. So I called the $50, intending to scare him into thinking I had the 9 and was trapping. When an ace hit on the turn, giving me a pair of aces, I led out for $70 and he went into the tank and I thought I had him. My conservative style was paying dividends and he was giving me credit, convinced I had the hand.

Until, that is, he said the following: "I can't believe an ace hit" and my stomach lurched. Why would he worry about an ace? He didn't have an overpair to the board, he would have raised preflop with it. Which could only mean...

...that he has the 9 and is putting me, because of my tight game, because of my call of his $50 raise post-flop, on pocket aces and thinks he just got outdrawn by the ace on the turn. All the while I had him on nothing, because of my preflop read, and I was right, but I never varied my thinking to consider that his nothing may have included that 9. That he was playing off my style and using it against me, that I was the one being trapped. My only hope now was that he would consider himself beaten and fold to my $70 bet and $95 behind it, not wanting to toss $165 at a one-outer if he really had convinced himself I had the bullets.

So I wait for his decision, chagrined at my mistake, and eventually he called with a resigned "I have to see what you have." The river brought a blank and I checked, certain I was beaten and knowing not to put any more into the pot, as he would certainly call, and he checked behind, certain he was beaten, content not to risk any more money against what he felt I must be holding.

Only one of us was correct. And sadly, belatedly, it was me.

Back from the abyss

2008-12-27T15:05:00.000-08:00

So it has been awhile since I have posted and I have a few poker related tales to tell.

Inactivity is the bane of my poker game. I don't play often enough and I lose traction on my play, all the little things I remind myself about the style of poker I should play. I am a fitting example of the player who plays the style that fits his personality and often I need to mix things up to avoid the ruts of one style. However, I often realize that I'm mixing it up at the wrong moments and it's often losing some hands or laying down failed plays that remind me the importance of having a structure to your own poker game and that I must establish myself before mixing anything up. Duh.

Lay ground work.

Set up a play or an image.

Follow through with it.

At a key moment, play off that image or style to great benefit.

Simple, right?

But alas, it does not always work. I was recently in W. Palm Beach, FL and decided to make a stop over at the Palm Beach Kennel Club to check out the poker room there. Now, I had scouted the website and because it was not much to speak of, I wasn't expecting too much. Plus, it is the dog track, you know? An exacta on the 2,5 isn't the same when they're chasing a mechanical rabbit. But at the least I figured for some loose play, hopefully by some degenerates, that I could play a relatively tight game into and feed off of and hope for the big hands. After all, I was only heading there for a few hours, not a big session at all.

So my first surprise was finding that the max buy-in for the entire room, regardless of game, was $100. So I bought in for a hundo at a 1-2 table and was, not surprisingly, a short stack. However, there was not a ton in the big stacks so I felt room to make plays would be available.

And here, I went awry, as I tried to get involved with some decent, but not fantastic, holdings right away. And when the flops missed me and I was bet into, it was either put it all in with air or fold. So I folded twice and paid my blinds and waited. And I made another mistake, though not on purpose, but rather through inexperience. Having never been in a room with the buy in limit, I was not aware that I should have reloaded back to my initial $100 after each pot I lost. Instead, I chipped down by about half and when I looked down at A,A and made an all in re-raise and was snap-called by K,K, it meant a double up to my initial stack instead of a full double up of the buy in. And again, it showed me why fishing around with marginal holdings early on was a bad play. Had I been playing more often, the first hour would not have been merely a reminder of little things forgotten and opportunities missed.

One other note about the Kennel Club is that many of the players there are new to the game and like the low buy in stakes but make no-limit their first introduction to the game. So there is plenty of opportunity there, no doubt. Unfortunately, none of it was seized upon by me, as evidenced by the following:

At one point hours later at a new table when I had folded for literally hours and won pots without ever having shown down, a guy two to my right told a new player how loose I was playing even though he had never seen a single card of mine. No one had seen anything I had played since I had sat. I asked him if he really thought I was playing loosely and he nodded. I pointed out that he hadn't seen a single card yet, hoping that he would get the hint that I was only playing winning hands, so I could make a move on his chips at a later point. Well, he didn't get the point or perhaps it came too quickly because only a few hands later I flopped the nut flush draw, an open-ended straight and (as it turns out) one over card. So when I bet into my monster and basically pot-commit myself, he shoved with middle pair and NO DRAW. Of course I called, 18 outs twice for me and none came home. What I should have realized that he wanted to see my cards more than he thought I was playing winning hands and was willing to lose money in order to see. But he got both and that is why, on occasion, poker is a cruel, cruel game.

Harrah's Part 2

2008-11-02T18:41:00.000-08:00

So still smarting from my loss of the previous day, I lived up the early part of Friday night of Bill's pre-wedding festivities with a great dinner and drinks, got to hang with some old friends from all over the country (met Gene D and his wife as well) and then hit up Harrah's late night with Fast Eddie, another old friend who has had good success at Harrah's tables in the past. Considering that I showed up wearing a suit, I knew everyone would immediately book me for the tourist that I was, so I made a decision to play up that angle as much as possible. Luckily, there were a couple drunk guys at the table, not surprising considering the time of night and while my chips ($200) were en route to the table I got involved in a hand with the first two cards dealt me, KcQc. I flopped a flush draw, bet at it, got called, hit the flush on the turn (meanwhile my chips had been delivered but I still tried to bet without using them, furthering my image as the table rube) but then slowed down a bit on the river as the board paired (all the while remembering my brutal river beats of the previous day.) Fortunately, my opponent had neither a boat nor the nut flush and I dragged a nice little opening pot to get things started.

Hey, things change from day to day, minute to minute in poker. Maybe this was my night, right? Well, it certainly appeared as if I might go on a nice run a few hands later, when from the button I peek down at the two black aces. The pot had been raised by a short stack to $15 and he had drawn a caller. I popped it up to $45, the blinds folded behind me and the short stack called for his last $23 ($38 total) and the other caller also came along. So we had a main pot of $117 already and a side pot of $14 (the $7 difference between my raise and the short stack's amount. Can you smell that? Oh yeah. It's the sweet smell of the Painkillers. The bullets. In position, in a big pot, ready to inflict damage.

But before they do, a funny thing happened. The flop came 8,9,Q. Rainbow. And then a not-so-funny thing happened. Johnny Poker decided to lead out with $90. Into my aces. $90. Really? Really. And I was insta-ready to reshove, except for a small, nagging voice in my head that told me I had just gotten out-flopped. And it didn't help the villain that he bet out the exact amount of my incorrect hero call of the previous session.

So I decided to assess my options and see what I could find out. I started talking at him. First, I asked him how much he had behind. He had about $125 behind, had me covered by just a few dollars. He counted it out for me, restacked it for himself. I played along, peered in and asked if he was sure of his count. He was.

I'm beat. I know it.

But I have aces on a rainbow board.

I ask if he has Jack, Ten, ask if he flopped the straight. I get nothing in return. Did you flop a set of queens? Again, not much of a reaction.

And across the table, drunk guy number one asks if we can play some poker. Luckily for me, the guy to my left, a punk-rock guy with his girlfriend playing in the seat to his left, tells him to cool it, that it's a big pot. I silently thank him for buying me more time, 'cause at the moment, I'm torn on my decision. Why would he lead out so big if he hit a monster? Bottom set? I tell him he doesn't have kings because we would have gotten it all in preflop. Is he even listening? I've got nothing so far, except my own rambling dialogue on the hand. And finally, I ask the right question, or rather, just say the right thing which was almost just a passing thought I happened to voice.

I've got a big hand, I say.

And he shrugs. He shrugs. He could care less. I think if you had taken a photo of me at that moment, my mouth would be slightly open, my eyes wide and a little glimmer of understanding would be all over my face.

I look at the dealer and announced that I fold. I fold face up. My end of the table winces at the aces.

The short stack turns over Q,Q for top set. Wow, I think.

The villain turns over J, 10 for the nuts. WTF, I think.

Why he bet at me considering that I had been the pre-flop raiser, I will never understand. If he checks at that moment, I would have led out for a good amount, he could have generated himself a side pot with me practically dead to rights and either just smooth called me or raised me after I had pretty much pot-committed myself. Just a terrible play by him and it allowed me to extricate myself from a really bad position with minimal damage.

To make matters worse for him, perhaps in some sort of karmic punishment of his play, the board paired itself on fifth street and the short stack took the main pot down with a river boat.

So needless to say, I was a little wary of table 15 (same table as the previous day's session) as it seemed to have it in for me. About a half hour later, I look down at 8,8 and make a raise to $12, which promptly gets called by two players and popped to $45 (all in) by one of the blinds. And again, something didn't feel right so I trusted my instincts and folded. Both players behind me called and as it turns out everyone was wired, with the all in having the aces. No side pot developed in the face of a painted board so again I was left wondering when my break was going to happen, the hand that would get me going.

While contemplating that, the drunk guys left, a couple guys busted and our table broke up. I, along with an older lady who had just sat, moved over to another table in front of the cage, the same table where Fast Eddie was sitting. And immediately, the old lady begins firing at pots, and firing back straight whiskeys. She's making crazy plays and getting away with them, showing bluffs when they work and luck-boxing into two pair on the turn and river when leading out from behind. And she's talking, a lot. She's railing on people and telling them how awful their play is, all the while misreading hands and earning a big, fat bulls-eye with her mouth and her bloated stack of chips.

So after watching about an hour or so of this and watching some good play and some mediocre play from the rest of the table, I get bored. So I decide to egg on the old lady.

"Philhemina, you getting in this pot?" I lean forward and ask, as the cards slide around the table.

She looks over her half-rim glasses at me, eyes blurred with whiskey and money. "You got such a big hand, you want me in?" she drawls at me, even though the cards are still being dealt. She takes the briefest of glances at her cards and grabs a stack of reds and pounds them past the line. "A hunnert."

Now, I don't know about you, but a hundred dollar bet into an unopened 1-2 pot with such abandon and recklessness deserves to be punished. It's just begging to be taken, itching to be taught a lesson.

I look at the guys at my end of the table as the action is folded to me and mouth the standard, "One time," I say. "One time."

And I actually have something. Nines. Two of them.

I don't even glance at the hundred in there as I double-fist my stack into the center of the table. "Yup. All-in." I bang it up to $238 total.

Three seats to my left grimaces as he folds. "I want to play. That's my favorite hand."

It gets back to Philhemina. She wastes no time, and i mean none, in getting the other $138 out to complete her call, and I about regurgitate all the dinner and drinks from Bill's rehearsal dinner. Please, I think, don't let her have actually snuck into a big hand. She doesn't show as the flop comes out king high, no straight or flush draws. Turn brings a queen and I draw my breath tighter and the river throws out a brick. I flip my nines and wait. She looks at them and checks her hand. No eruption from her but I still hold my breath. She might be reading her own hand wrong for all I know.

Finally she flips up A,8 offsuit and I let out a laugh, partially in relief, partially in disbelief, partially because she still has a stack of chips in front of her that I want.

"Philhemina," I look down at her as I stack up, "that was a great call."

Day three at Harrah's to come.

New Orleans poker (and Wild Bill's wedding)

2008-10-29T16:41:00.000-07:00

So I was down in New Orleans for Wild Bill's wedding and managed to sneak in 3 sessions at Harrahs while there, so figured I would give a long-overdue update and detail some of the action, which as many locals probably already know, can be pretty head-scratching.

The first session didn't go so well. Bill and I sat down late afternoon for $200 at a just-opened 1-2 NL table and I promptly folded about two rounds of garbage trying to get a feel, having not played in awhile.

The key sequence was consecutive hands immediately after that. I looked down at A,K suited, raised to $15 and got a caller. Flop came K, 10, x rainbow and I led for $20, getting the taker and feeling good about where I was. Turn brought another brick and I put out $30 and again the guy two to my left came along with a call. River came with a Q and here I pulled up the brakes. Was this guy playing K,Q? Or even worse, A,Q? I checked and he came out for $90. Now, writing this makes it seem obvious to me that I was beat, but at the time, at the table, when I knew for all the world that I had been ahead until that point, made me want to call down that $90. So I made the call and he showed neither K,Q nor A,Q but Q,9 for the gutterball and not even the nuts gutterball, to add insult to financial injury.

So, taking all this in, I hope to be able to get back in a hand with this guy, and soon. Well, careful what you wish for, because the very next hand I look down at K,K. I raise once again to $15 and this time get 3 callers. Well, wouldn't you know it, the flop again brings a K high rainbow and I check my set. Guy to my left bets at it, gets both callers along and I put my last $30 or so on top, getting 2 of them along for the ride and feeling nice and toasty.

Which, as anyone who plays regularly knows, is a bad idea. Running cards fire the guy to my left another straight into my face and I'm down a buy in. He admits he thought I was tilting. No consolation to me.

Bought back in and did some grinding for a few hours until an ill-timed bluff forfeited my meager comeback and left me down for the session.

Day two to come...

Poker Interlude, Part II

2008-08-27T20:13:00.000-07:00

A few years ago ESPN, as part of their WSOP coverage, had little features called "The Greatest Hand I Ever Played." Offhand, the only one I can remember was a great bluff that Gavin Griffin made on his way to a bracelet victory. They were nice little stories and they added clips of the hands to augment it. Overall a good little break from the action without having to go to commercial. Much better than the moronic "Nuts" pieces they do. Really, do I care if pros have leaks worse than the Titanic and bet $50,000 on three holes of golf or play Rock, Paper, Scissors to kill time?

The reason I bring this up is because I melted down in the bizarro counterpart to this feature, which I feel certain is The Worst Hand I Ever Played. I can see a producer figuring out exactly how they are going to document my facial tics after I have irreversibly blown the hand, how they are going to put my awful decisions into slow-motion to make them more dramatic, how they are going to throw some voice-over of a fake poker announcer (I wonder if bizarro Gabe Kaplan is available) to mock me and wonder aloud exactly what the hell I am doing. Maybe they'll throw some special effects in and riddle my hunched over, broken body with a slew of bullets to put me out of my misery before the hand even ends. Whatever my fate, I deserve the ridicule that comes with a play so stupid that I made it twice.

That's right. Twice. In the same hand. And it wasn't just some meaningless middle position hand in the 25/50 round, it was a hand that defined a whole night's worth of effort, that derailed any and everything that I had done until that point.

In other words, it was The Hand.

And I blew it.

Twice.

To get up to speed, read my previous post on how my tournament had gone. I'm now at the final table and we're seven-handed. Top five get paid, the good money is in the top three spots. I'm on a medium-ish stack, there are two stacks shorter, two really big stacks and three around the same as mine.

On The Worst Hand I Ever Played, I was in late position, fourth of seven to act preflop. The first two fold. The player to my right shoves for his last 4150 (I have a little more than 14k) and lo and behold, hallelujah, after suffering through scores of just brutal non-playable hands, I look down at J,J.

And here's where I short-circuited. Instead of taking the time (really it would have only taken seconds had I stopped to think) and assessing my options, I immediately just call. Not shove, just call.

Giant mistake #1, because the chip leader to my left and on the button, has now been priced in and his huge stack can afford the price without any worry. Not only that, but he could be, and probably is, playing any two cards here. Awesome.

Compounding my mistake, and proving to me that I'm a moron, the big blind decides that it is worth his while to get in and mix it up as well. So basically any flop can be dangerous to me, or so I think, conveniently forgetting that I have a PREMIUM HAND.

The horror, the horror.

The flop comes perfectly for me: 2,3,10 rainbow. The BB checks and...

I go all in and drag the pot!!!!

Um, no, wait. That's not what happened. Not at all. Because I, being an utter fool, check behind him and the button/big stack checks behind me.

The sheer stupidity of this play is mind-boggling. At this stage of the tournament, at this level of blinds (500/1000) I need this pot to have a chance to win. And they're offering it to me. They've forgiven my mistake of not isolating the all-in, they've added their own chips to the mix for me to take and I...FREAKING...CHECK.

Riddle me with those bullets right now.

Because a 4 came on the turn and the BB, not being an idiot like me, went all in. He had me covered and I folded, as did the button. He turns over A,5 for the wheel that he had drawn inside to because I had let him.

The all-in flipped over his losing A,Q and I just sat there, contemplating all the different ways that I could, and should, have won that pot. All the different ways that I had misplayed the hand. All the ways that I just wasted five hours getting to the position where I could have assured a cash, put myself in second in chips with six players left and all the ways that I am sometimes just plain dumb.

Needless to say, I bubbled out in sixth about 10 minutes later. No money for my effort, nothing but the hope, that small hope that I cling to, that it was behind me:

The Worst Hand I Ever Played.

Poker Interlude

2008-08-19T19:46:00.000-07:00

So I've been waiting on Bill to get through his stories where they would finally mesh with my own and he's almost there, but until he reaches that point I don't want to provide any details to his hilarious recap by giving my perspective on the events in Vegas where our poker paths crossed.

So for now, I'll give you a recap of my most recent home tournament escapade, in which I made a play so horrendous, so absolutely mind-boggling idiotic, that if anyone had suggested that I give more money to the prize pool as some sort of penalty, even after I had busted, I would have nodded my head and paid it. Really, it's that bad. On a cringe-inducing scale, it falls probably somewhere between watching Jim Mora, Sr. give a press conference and seeing slow motion replays of Lawrence Taylor snapping Joe Theismann's leg over and over.

I'll get to that shortly. First, the setup: Same structure as usual, two rebuys available, 30 minute levels, 1500 in starting chips. 41 people turned out, a great showing for a home tourney and the prize pool promised to be juicy. Unfortunately, as I sat down, I noticed a slew of the game's regulars and strongest players also grabbing seats at my table. No big deal, I decided. I had promised myself I would be aggressive with my stack and I was at first, right out of the gate firing at flops with nothing when I missed and 3 betting pots where I had raised preflop. I built a stack and then watched it drain away as those same plays fell perfectly into the hands of players who, you know, actually had made hands. So shorty I ran for a good long while as just absolute dreck found its way into my hands. I mean, not even a whiff of cards that I could push my stack in and hope to double with (with the rebuys, my short stack was almost assuredly getting called down when it got in.) Still, I knew that I had to get it in and quickly. No point in hanging around with few chips when shoving can, at the very least, double my stack through a rebuy.

And that is exactly what happened. No, this is not the horrendous play. Not yet. Patience. It's awful, I promise. No, this was one of those "I see a face card, I'm all in regardless of my other card" hands. One of those hands so forgettable and ordinary that, well, I've forgotten what it was. Either way, I can confirm that I did not win and I joined the chorus of those pitching in money for a rebuy. My table had dispatched a player and unluckily for us, drew another player I recognized as a tough regular. The table tightened up and my cards seemed intent on proving that it is not true that a player cannot have a deuce in his hand every hand for nine consecutive hands. I wish I were kidding. With a slew of players still going, my chances of cashing looked bleak unless I could catch some breaks or power my way through the Nordic conditions at my seat.

Luckily, a little of both happened. My table lost another player and fortunately for me, broke just into 100/200 blinds. At this point I was still on my exact rebuy of 1500 one way or another (I believe I got a walk through on my BB post-rebuy.) Anyway I move to another table, now down to 3, and am moved into, what else, the 200 big blind. And what else is new, I look down at 2...10. Munson. I mean, Brunson. Miracuolously, three limpers come in and I check. The flop throws a Jack high rag board that also includes a 2, pairing me. I remind myself that I am now ahead of any A,x hand that just missed the flop and with only 1300 behind and 900 in the pot already, I decide to fire. I push it all in and two hands fly into the muck, followed by a big stack ever so slowly, one by one, counting out the chips to make 1300 and moving them in.

"I've got a deuce" I say, and flip my cards, "And I'm ahead?" as the villain turns over a Q,6 offsuit that has missed everything. Huh? My previous tablemates from the brutal first table eyeball one another as the turn and river brick out and I more than double up. So this is how the play is going to be over at our new table is the common thought flashing across their eyes. After the solid, tight play previously, for me at least, it is welcome. As is the A,K I look down at on my very next hand when I raise a limped pot up and then am subsequently re-raised to 1800 by an all-in shove. I call and this new villain tables a 10,10 that holds and I'm back down again. No fear, however, as I immediately hit a flop as I play my rush and drag another pot. Unfortunately for me though, is that after only about 6 hands at this table I'm carded out to switch again. Two smart, solid players are now on my left but at the other end of the table are a couple of bigger stacks that have apparently called everything and drawn out. And as often happens with those players, eventually the cards don't fall their way and they don't adjust their play and boom, boom, boom, in only a few hands, they're out and an opportunistic, patient player is stacking their chips. I was not that lucky player on this night though, as my big hand of Q,Q raised up a raiser who then buckles under my pressure. A little later, with blinds moving up, I make a semi-bluff when my AcJc flops two clubs and I get my chips in first against the player to my left. Luckily, he is one of the players at the table who can realize hand ranges and potential crippling calls and analyze if there is a better spot to get his money in. Even though he has me on something that he suspects is worse than his hand (he is claiming 2nd pair, 8s) he eventually mucks it. A little rabbit hunting is somewhat ugly for me as it turns out I would have made my flush on the river and felted him.

After this, I mostly play position as my little run of good and decent cards ends and I go back to picking up zilch. I make big raises to steal blinds a couple rounds in a row and maintain my stack, which is on the low/middle end. Not in dire straits by any means yet but when blinds move, pots build fast and fold equity lowers almost exponentially. The other remaining table sees more action as our host is absolutely marauding through his tablemates, busting players and then following that by bullying the shorthanded table. Finally, he felts another and we're down to the final table.

I draw the worst seat, to the host's right, inches from his mammoth chip stack. As far as what I need to do, I know it: I need to double up quickly or my stack is ending up ten inches to the left. However, the one thing I do like about this position is that it will be easier, if I pay close attention, to try and get a quick read on the big stack's starting hands if he lets anything slip. More than any other player, when cards were dealt, if he moved for his, I was watching covertly. If he didn't, I was trying to gauge his reaction to others' raises. Sometimes big stacks don't want to get involved with certain other players, and as the host, he knew everyone at this table better than the rest. Little things I was trying to pick up.

Two smaller stacks busted almost immediately, bringing us to 8. Fortunately for me though, one of them was not Mr. Q,6 offsuit. Because after biding my time through a round of blinds and folding under combined pressure and poor hands, I look down at K,2 in the BB and again it's an unopened pot. A king flops for me and I make the "No mistake, I've got a K, you should fold now" all in move. Once again, chip...chip...chip...push it in call, this time with...Q,J off?? Which has again missed like a Chris Dudley free throw??? I'll take it, and when the turn brings another king and clinches it for me, I do.

Now I'm back in good shape. And after I flop a Q a couple hands later and take the rest of Mr. Q,6's chips, thus becoming the final table's Mr. Fortunate timing, I am up over 14,000 in chips at the 500/1000 stage of the table and we are now down to 7. Top five are cashing and the top 3 spots are a tidy little profit. The table is moving, some good play with chips getting out there. The two smart, solid players who had been on my left at the 2nd to last table are now both to my right. The big stack is to my left, with a small/medium stack, 2nd biggest stack and another small/medium stacks to his left rounding it out.

Which brings us to The Worst Hand I've Ever Played.

Don't worry, I didn't forget. That, my friends, would be impossible.

To Be Continued...

Caesar's Tournament #1

2008-08-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

Continued from last post.

So while waiting for everyone to arrive in Vegas I bought into one of Caesar's daily $65 +5 tournaments and was put into the 4 seat. Right off the table appeared tight and I won a couple of multi-way pots when the flop bricked out and I was the only one to lead out into it. I did, however, spew some of those chips back over the next few hands, as I kept being aggressive with rags but when those same players came back over the top I knew I had to clear way.

About twenty minutes into the first level was one of two hands that I want to recap in a little more detail. I squeezed out 9s,10s in late position and called the raise to my immediate right. Another guy called from the 1 seat and we went in 3 handed. Flop brings 3,10,10 and visions of chips flying my way fill my head. 1 seat checks, 3 seat puts out a pot sized bet, I call and the 1 seat folds. Turn bricks and 3 seat puts out a bigger bet. I stare down the board, hoping he'll guess I'm chasing an ace, maybe put me on big slick. Finally, I can my bad acting and announce a raise and am called instantly. Could he have hit with a pair of 3s? No way, he wouldn't have led into a 3 way pot with them. River brings another brick and he weakly leads out for something like 300 into a pot of 3000. I jam and he folds his A,A face up and I rake it in.

Cracking the painkillers has left me the table chip leader and I try to take advantage by getting involved in a lot of pots, hoping the tight play will continue and I'll be able to apply some pressure with my stack. Unfortunately, I give a bunch back as I get caught raising my A,x when I flop an ace, only to see a raise and a re-raise behind me and fold thinking I'm outkicked at best or have run into two pair or a set, only to see the showdown and see that I would have been good. This sticks with me a bit as my biggest criticism of myself as a player is that I give my opponents too much credit sometimes for being on bigger hands. I dig back in and only a couple hands later, during 50/100, with two limpers already in the pot, I find A,A in middle position. I raise to 350 and get four callers, not my ideal scenario with the painkillers. Flop comes Q, 7, 4 rainbow. Check, check and my friend from the 3 seat leads out. He's on the shortstack now, with not much left behind. The pot is around 2000 or so and my stack is not much more than that. I jam it in. The 5 seat to my left insta-calls. Checkers both fold and the 3 seat shoves his small stack in as well. He flips over 4,4 for a set of 4s. To my left the 5 seat flips over Q,Q for a set of Qs. I'm down to one of the remaining aces to stay alive, as the 5 seat has me barely covered. Neither comes and I'm bounced. Not my best moment and I'm left thinking about aces being cracked and how I could have forgotten how often it happens. The lesson, as always, is that some nights the painkillers make the pain even worse.

Next up: Wild Bill's poker bender and another Caesar's tournament.

Ah, Vegas

2008-08-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

I have been on the go for a few weeks in a row, and have some catching up to do. It started with a long weekend way up in northern Vermont, about 5 miles from the Canadian border. We rent what Vermonters call a "camp" what everyone else would call a lake house in the woods. It hit the spot and 3 days of fishing, grilling and swimming provided a great reprieve from mid-July weather back home.

The following week, I put in three long days at work and on the third, headed to the airport for a trip to Vegas for Wild Bill's bachelor party. Flight cancellations and delays were brutal but somehow I managed to get DJ and I on a later flight and arrive in Vegas a cool 8 hours past our scheduled arrival time. So instead of settling in with a fun Wednesday night of action at the tables, we checked in at 4:30 in the morning. Nice. Thanks, airline industry. Every time I think it has hit its lowest, I'm proven wrong.

The one consolation of the lost time was the fact that Caesar's had given away our room, even though they had been informed by phone hours earlier that we would be checking in late because of the flight delay. Why is it a consolation? Because they bumped us up from our standard room to a "Petite Suite" which was bigger, had a sweet flat screen TV (who watches TV in Vegas? More on that later…) and two bathrooms which connected through a double-headed shower. One of the bathrooms had a jacuzzi tub and a bidet and overall I felt like somehow fate had at least made an attempt to balance out the poor luck with which the trip had begun.

Anyway, local Vegas buddy Big E provided airport transportation for us and we in turn bought him entry to the Caesars buffet at 7 am sharp. I was impressed with the buffet, Caesars has it located right next to their pools with both indoor and outdoor seating. And while no one was yet at the pool at 7 am we still snagged a window seat and chowed down. After breakfast, we took a walk through Caesars to get a feel for it and DJ sat down at a video poker machine, won a few dollars and proceeded to act as if it were still Wednesday night at 9 pm rather than Thursday at 8:30 am by ordering a double whiskey coke no ice straight off. Only in Vegas.

We checked out the Caesars craps tables and since $25 tables right off weren't really appealing to us, we hit up the Flamingo, which was dead so we sauntered next door to the place formerly known as the Barbary Coast and now known as Bill's. Coincidence? We thought we would find out. We settled in at a craps table and hovered around even, drinking multiple whiskey cokes and dropping maybe $75 each before DJ got a hot run going. Over on the table next to us, they were holding a daily "How to play craps" informational session and when it broke DJ was in the midst of firing us back up, having hit a few points and smothering the 6 and 8, which we were playing as well. Well, of course as soon as the yokels got done with their craps lessons, they decided to head over and play some. Not only does one dude squeeze into a non-space right next to the shooter (DJ) making him uncomfortable, he immediately asks if the table is hot. DJ and I exchange glances, followed by the inevitable 7-out seconds later. Well, it was a hot table buddy, thanks for the moosh.

So we left the tables up a few dollars and headed back to Caesars, planning on getting out to the pool. Of course, it's July, it's the desert and it's 1 pm, so of course it is 112 degrees outside. Undaunted, we poured buckets of sunscreen on (I don't tan, I crisp. Anything less than spf 30 and I sport a full on lobster red after 5 minutes) and snagged two seats by one of the pools. As we settle in, about 15 feet away half a dozen gorgeous Italian women pose for a friend's photo. I track down some water and a couple Coronas. Poolside in Vegas. Sun. Women. Beer. Nice.

An hour later we head back up to the room. We had escaped the midday heat by hanging out in the water but after a while it became a little too much and we needed a little air conditioning. Back in the room we checked on the arrival of BH, due in a couple hours. In the meantime, I thought it would be a perfect time to check out the poker room. As it turns out, a 3 pm tournament was beginning in 15 minutes. $65+5, 50 person max, 30 minute levels, 2000 in starting chips. Seats still available.

I bought in.

Next installment: The Painkillers run amok.

Main Event/Podcasts

2008-07-13T10:36:00.001-07:00

I've been following the Main Event vicariously through reports and Andrew Feldman's excellent podcasts on ESPN. He does a solid job in the interviews and getting interesting guests to come on (including players still alive) and discuss the quality of play, decision-making processes and other topics. Here are the most recent after Friday's and Saturday's play, with the links along with an article on Brandon Cantu and Jeff Madsen (both of whom are on the 07/12 podcast.)

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/poker/columns/story?columnist=wise_gary&id=3484515

This is not 38, This is Old 97

2008-06-29T00:58:00.000-07:00

Home tournament last night. Approximately 25 players, same format at previously with two rebuys available. With the WSOP going on, several of the steady players are out in Vegas, so it was a motley crew of folks who showed up. I made some mental notes that perhaps there were going to be some unbluffable folks and some players who might make some charitable donations to the cause.

With that in mind, I decided to be patient. Of course, the second hand of the night I flopped the nuts when my Q,10 off hit a K,J,9 flop. It got a little worrisome when a second 9 came on the turn, with the levels being low and the game having just started, I didn't figure to make much but if by chance someone was slow (or mis) playing pocket jacks or kings, I was going to take my first rebuy sooner than expected. As it turns out, I was up against A,J and no J or 9 came on the river so I won a decent pot right off.

The next couple levels were pretty rough, as I mainly folded garbage and watched some big pots go on without me. Sets against top pair, that kind of thing. I got caught speculating a few times and dumped bottom pair in one instance and A,Q that had missed everything in another when I did pick up some hands.

But patience is something I pride myself on at a table and tonight I remembered it. Literally. After folding for awhile to some strange play, I got the itch to play. Anything. Any 2 cards.

But I didn't. I constantly reminded myself to make good plays and not to get antsy and start limping just to get the feel of being in the game.

Instead I waited. And I got bested when I flopped top pair in the BB with Q,8 and my middling stack was immediately called by the table captain and his A,Q. But I didn't panic, didn't think about how I had to shove immediately with my rebuy. The levels were at 100/200 when I rebought for 1500 and I was able to steal some blinds. Then, at 200/400 I woke up to Brooklyn, the borough of Kings. No brainer shove from 2nd position for 1700 but no one picked up anything. Bummer, but I rake the blinds. Now at 2300. Very next hand, painkillers: AcAs. I'm under the gun. The guy I rate as the most knowledgeable of the other players at my table is in the BB. He just watched me shove and pull the blinds and I didn't show. He's in for 400 already. Of all the people in the BB, I'm glad it's him, as he would be the most suspicious of my back to back moves. I shove, it comes around to him, he smiles and lays it down. He tells me that if he had any face card, he was going to call. I show him the aces to put in the back of his mind for later on, just in case.

Then, a few hands later, I get the hand that helped me the most through the middle stages of this game. A monster 5,10 offsuit. But I'm in an unopened pot in the SB and I limp. The BB follows suit and the flop is money: 10,5,3 rainbow. I check, BB bets 600, I shove and he instacalls with top pair. He doesn't match up his kicker and I'm doubled.

After this, patience. And more patience. It makes for a dull recap but a solid game. I rode my stack to the final table, where I got literally nothing for 3 rounds as the blinds crept up. Anything marginal and I was beaten to the pot by a shove or something to preclude my move. Finally, after joking to the table in an effort to remind everyone that I hadn't yet played, I look down at 2,2 in early position. My stack is marginal comparative to the others and not in good shape with regard to the blinds. I need to make something happen.

But I fold. A month ago I probably would have shoved after folding so much. Behind me comes a shove and a call. 6,6 and A,A. Bullets dodged, literally. (incidentally a 6 flopped and an A came on 4th street. Rough.)

So I wait. And finally, I get a break. In the BB, I look at 10,8 and three players limp. I check my option and get the sweetest sight: 7,9,J. Boo-yah baby. Needless to say, I raised it up after someone came in and doubled through them. It got me comfortable and a few hands later, I see the Brooklyn boys again. Again, they only rake me the blinds but the blinds are significant at this point and no need to risk a flopped ace when I can smell the money.

And then, the heavy lifting was done by others. After I had won a good pot when my A,7 turned into lucky sevens on the flop and turn, I sat back and folded as people got overagressive or desperate. Again, the blinds were big and I could have made moves with hands like A,8 but I didn't see the need when committing to a multi-way pot this late could bust me or cripple my stack. Here is where I was happiest with my patience. Throwing away openers that can play in order to achieve my goal of cashing. And cash I did. I ended up 3rd after my run of cards ended and I pushed from the button with Q,6. K,10 called and that was that when a 10 flopped.

A follow up tomorrow to break down a couple hands.

We Went Dutch, Dutch, Dutch

2008-06-18T16:12:00.000-07:00

Anyone who is following Euro 2008 can't help but be impressed by the performance so far of the Dutch squad. Not only did they emerge from the so-called Group of Death, but they thoroughly obliterated their competition in doing so. Results like 3-0 over the World Cup champion Italians, 4-1 over the Cup runners-up French and 2-0 against #12 in the world Romania sent a powerful message to the rest of the world that this may be the time for the Netherlands. Their counterattacks have been cruel, doling out punishment to the sides who dared press forward or got caught napping, and in doing so exposed some glaring weaknesses in back of the French and Italian sides.

All this after coming in with what seemed to be a barrage of injuries to boot. The quarters promise some great matchups, Italy/Spain being perhaps foremost. Whichever side flops more should prevail. Who that will be is anyone's guess.

Anyone interested in a lighter take on all things soccer-related that happen from an English perspective should check out the following blog, a quality mix of sarcasm, humor and jealousy:

http://sniffingtt.blogspot.com

When you need to feel better about your game...

2008-06-16T11:57:00.000-07:00

The facial expressions and reactions are priceless. If you ever need to cheer yourself up, just watch this over and over.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN6wAHTWeEA

The Empty Bottle Was Half-Empty

2008-06-16T11:14:00.000-07:00

Preface: I didn't mean for this post to be a story of bad beats but sometimes it's inevitable, like that brutal flush card on the river.

Losing money is never fun. Never. Sometimes, however, it is worse than others on the felt. I was victimized to the tune of a couple buy-ins in Atlantic City this weekend but came away shaking my head not in anger but in that semi-disbelief kind of way. (can disbelief be only semi? I'll have to check on that.)

Anyway, I sat at a 1-2 table with a 300 stack and felt like I had been put at the wrong table. From the 3 seat I watched and folded my first few hands as each pot was raised not to 10 or 12 or 15 but to 20 or 25 and then promptly reraised and called. The second hand I sat for was raised to 16 and the raiser got 5 callers. Immediately my thought was that this was a wiiiiiide open table and I needed to be patient and wait for a hand to slice and dice some of the loose action. However, watching everything go down I wondered if I would get the chance. A preflop re-raise (I had already folded) to 52 was called by 2 players and then one of the callers led out post-flop for about 125 and induced a fold, then flipped over a 2,7 off that had missed everything. The initial raiser who had folded under the bet was not happy and did some grouching about the call of 52 with such a hand. Me? I was salivating, just hoping to pick something up quickly while everyone was hot. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough. Two hands later, the same two guys tangled again, mixing it up preflop and clearing out the field. The flop came 3 diamonds and they tread cautiously, unusual for what I had seen thus far. However, once the river came with a blank, the fireworks started. Bet, raise, all-in, insta-call. The guy who had previously had the 2,7 had flopped the K high flush. His nemesis, however, had flopped the nut flush and not only raked in a 700 pot but threw in an unnecessary comment about the previous hand. The table rightfully pointed out that he should shut up about having been outplayed, particularly after winning a big hand right back.

Unfortunately, this left the pot-builder on a short stack and the other guy on a monster, which it became immediately evident he wasn't going to relinquish, as he went into hibernation and left the table about a half hour later. So things cooled down before I could heat up. As it turns out, I never did get the gas past about 3 on the dial. My position plays with marginal hands got raised and bet at post flop and when I picked up some monsters (A,A, K,K) I couldn't get the necessary action. And then the gods of the felt took some jabs at me. My A,Q ran into an A,K. My A,6 in position hit an A on the flop and my steadily increasing bets didn't force out a similarly suited A,8 and I was check-called down the whole way, culminating when we both made river flushes with our kickers. Pocket 3s when I was short-stacked and all in for 45 was called by Q,J off and a J hit the flop. In the BB, my Q,5 appeared huge when the flop came Q,5,3 only to actually be a massive dog, as my opponent had pocket 3s. Miraculously, he didn't bust me as he checked the river after rags on the last two streets. A,2 hit me for top and bottom pair on the flop only to fall victim to a flush on the turn when a flop bet couldn't chase out a chaser. Basically, the cards didn't fall for me. In any of these cases, a slight turn could have amounted to a big change in the course of my night. But they didn't. That's how it happens on occasion and I accept it.

I finally busted my second buy in (only 200 this time) when I had about 150 left and made a position call with Q,9 off in a multi-way pot. Flop came Q,3,2 rainbow and it was checked to me. I bet out and got one caller. Turn came with another Q and this time early position led out for more than the pot. Folded to me and I considered what could be. A few minutes I contemplated whether I could lay down three Queens in the face of only one big bet. The way I had been running all night was forefront in my mind, as was his check-call and overbet of the pot on the turn. Ultimately, I couldn't get away, though I suspected I had been trapped by a higher kicker. A blank came on the river and my opponent shoved. Now I knew I was beat but with only about 50 left behind, I made the call and sure enough K,Q was felted to best my kicker.

Running cold is one thing, running scared another. I left knowing I would catch up another day.

A Couple Thoughts on the WSOP Circuit Final Table at Harrahs

2008-05-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

I was taken aback by the first hand of the Final Table at Harrahs New Orleans in the recent circuit event. Here is how it went down, with my thoughts mixed in. Remember, this is the very first hand of the day:

Chip Leader (687k) raises from the 4 seat to 22k.

2nd in chips (400k) re-raises to 45k from the 6 seat.

4th in chips (300k) smooth calls from the 7 seat.

Let's break that sequence down: Chip leader raises, no big deal. 2nd in chips picks up a hand or wants to send a message, reraises. 4th in chips smooth calls so he must have a monster since the chip leader still has to act behind him on the re-raise. He can't figure he's priced into anything. At this point I would give the credit to the 7 seat, 4th in chips and put him on the biggest hand.

Until...

Chip leader reraises to 120k.

2nd in chips moves in for his 400k.

4th in chips calls for his entire 300k.

Wow. A ton of action. This sequence would tell me that the chip leader has a hand. If it was only 1 reraiser, maybe he comes back over the top with a marginal hand. But a reraiser and a smooth-caller? He must have something. The shove by 2nd in chips tells me he must have aces to have re-raised the initial raiser, been smooth-called and then re-raised again on top of it and still feels like his hand is the best. Aces or perhaps Kings. He was only invested for 45k, he could easily get away from almost anything else. The problem, however, is that I feel the same way about the smooth-caller's call. He must have aces or kings with only 45k invested and all that action in front of him (raise, re-raise, re-raise, all-in). How can he call with anything else? Being priced in is not a factor at this point for either of 2nd or 4th in chips since if they lose, they go out with something like $23,000 for 9th and a little more for 8th and the winner of it all takes $387,000. Only the chip leader can really contemplate that since he has them covered and can still have a good stack to play with. However, even he can still get away as he's in for 120k and there is still another 280k to call and there has already been one caller.

And the kicker.

Chip leader also calls the double all-in. AND he had the A,A. He must have been in shock when these guys started shoving and knowing that he had aces, had them dominated.

2nd stack turns over J,J for, in my opinion, a poor play. Very poor. You've had a raise in front of you, re-raised yourself only to have been called and re-raised (warning flags, anyone????) and you decide to shove for everything when you're only in for 45k and have 400k total??? With J,J???? I hate that play. You have to figure one of them has you. Plus, there is no need to shove at that point. The shows of strength around you are there. If you want to play them, call that re-raise and try to take it away on the flop if anything comes that could be considered a scare card. At that point, a call could mean he had almost any pocket pair that he initially re-raised with and Aces and Kings would be wary of any set.

Similarly, I don't like the play by Q,Q to call the all-in. Yes, it is hard to lay down Q,Q, much harder than J,J. But again, he had not once raised this pot, the other 2 guys each raised twice, doubling and tripling the amount (3x raise, 2x raise, 3x raise, 3x raise) and you're going to call that for everything? Again, only 45k invested at the time the action came back to him where he was put all-in. Have to figure one guy has at least K,K or A,A and another has at worst A,K. Don't like the call at all. Not as bad as the shove with J,J into the pot at the time, but still pretty rough. Just no need to risk it. The risk of all your chips and 9th place prize money (since he was the smaller of the chip stacks that could be eliminated, he would get the lower finishing spot if they were both eliminated) where you could easily be dominated 4 to 1 vs. reward (at best a coin flip for all your chips, where if you win you take the chip lead) doesn't seem to fit to me, not with all the action.

I can only recall seeing one hand like this, in the final table at the USPC at AC one year when one of the local pros (a young Italian-American guy) had a ton of action before him, looked down at Q,Q and folded it in about 1 second and watched the other two turn over A,A and K,K.

So the cards come, the A,A painkillers hold up and 2nd and 4th chip stacks are eliminated on hand 1 of the day.

The only thing I can think is that it being the first hand of the day, no one was in a groove yet or could believe that they were going to get cold-decked right out of the gate.

What a way to start the day though, huh?

One Flies In, One Flies Away

2008-05-13T09:40:00.000-07:00

Home tournament again last Friday. Finished 8th, top 5 got paid. I need to do something to step up in this game and cash. I seem to be able to make the final table by playing with selective aggression but never seem to be able to make the plays that will get me to a powerful stack size while there.

A few hands to recap:

4th hand of the tournament, 25/50 (opening stack: 1500). I look down at 8c9c and raise to 150 in middle position, get one caller, then a guy in the small blind reraises to 375. Another 225 into 725(big blind folded) and I make the call and the other caller folds. Pot is now 950 and we're heads up. Flop is a bonanza for me 8,8,3. He leads out for 600 and I reraise all in for another 525. Again, with two rebuys allowed I know he's going to call as there is no benefit to folding and playing short stacked. He even says to me "I have to call you," and I expect he knew he was behind. We flip and he shows K,K no flush draw. Turn is a brick, river brings him another K and fills up his boat. Rough. I would have loved to have been an early chip leader and to start to lean on people and loosen right up.

Rebuy. Get A,8 suited right away and think that I don't like it so much but I have to play it so I raise and sure enough end up losing even more when the flop misses me by a mile and my c-bet gets reraised all in. Now 40% of my second rebuy is gone and I know I have to tighten up and either wait for cards or the right spots to shove over the top. I pull of the latter a couple of times and rake in a few hundred each time, slowly trying to build back up. I give some chips back trying to make something with a pair of threes but then finally wake up to a few hands. I shove with 10,10 and get a call by a guy who didn't want to and his Ace/rag combo goes down. Then I get K,K and unfortunately my raise draws no callers but I pull in the blinds. Then at 200/400 I get A,10 suited, raise it up to 1600, get reraised all in (I'm at 3200), another person on a short stack calls and I realize I'm priced in and with a rebuy in my pocket there is no sense in folding into the big pot and being left with 1600 when I can rebuy for another 1500 so I call. Dominated by A,Q on the big stack and 9,9 on the short one. No flush falls for me and a 9 hits the turn and I bust again.

Rebuy #2. Short stack blinds at 200/400 and about to raise up. I shove almost right away and my A,J suited rivers me a flush to double up. I decide to be patient even though I need to accumulate chips, probably a bad decision, but I was hoping to get some decent cards and lop some chips off the table chip leader who had more than the rest of us combined. Finally after hovering for awhile I reraise all in with J,J and get a call by shortstacked A,9 and the jacks hold up and give me enough chips to not sweat the ever-increasing blinds for a couple rounds, as well as knock out the player that allows us to consolidate to the final table.

Final table. Well, I just played awfully here. I barely made any moves. In fact, I can only remember playing two hands. First, at 300/600 I raised to 2000 with A,Q suited and got no callers, including the big blind who folded 5,5. He had me outchipped by maybe a couple thousand but didn't want to play for most of his stack with that hand. Not sure if I wanted him to either but since the play was aggressive at the table and I was not making moves a race was probably the best I could hope for. Then a few hands later in the small blind at 300/600 I outthought myself and felt the burn of knowing I made an awful play. After three limpers into the pot and with my stack at about 4400, I look at K,5 off. Another 300 to call but the big blind to my left has just used his last rebuy and I feel certain if I limp he will shove for his 1500 and I decide I don't want to play K,5 for 1500 so I fold. Of course, he doesn't shove, only checks his option and the flop comes king high, which ends up would have been the winning hand. Just brutal. The very next hand on the button, I fold J, 8 off under a raise and the flop comes J,8,x and the raiser shoves all in and my burn is gettting worse by the second. So I think you know how this song is going to end. A couple hands later I find K,9 of diamonds, raise it up to 2000, get reraised all in for my last 2400 and after checking the time (blinds went up to 400/800 right after this hand started) decided to make the call. I had had success earlier with King high when going all in, and I generally (not always) would rather do it with a hand like this than with a weak ace but in typical fashion, he flips over the painkillers (A,A). I pick up an inside straight draw (Q) on the flop, a flush draw on the turn but nothing materializes and I'm out again.

I have to mix up my game more and make the necessary adjustments at levels like 100/200 in this game to accumulate chips. Playing back at people in earlier levels with rebuys available usually draws calls and in later levels usually draws shoves. But I am handcuffing myself with tight play in all rounds and need to fix that, and quickly.

I Put $900 On The 5th Horse, In The 6th Race

2008-05-06T15:46:00.000-07:00

A little post-Kentucky Derby perspective and analysis. First off, I had keyed Big Brown at the top of my bets. His trainer, Dutrow, often only enters horses he believes will win races. A few years ago he entered a horse called Connie's Magic in two races only three or four days apart at Belmont and won both. So when I heard him talking about all the money their stable was going to be laying on BB, added to his past performances, I was sold.

Unfortunately, I had planned on a quicker pace, something that would benefit the closers and allow them to get up to fill out the exotics. The first quarter of 23 1/5 was nowhere near the speed duels of past years, when either rabbits or overmatched horses figured their only shot was to get out in front and try to hold up. This pace scenario played perfectly into a stalker's situation and Big Brown was properly situated near the lead the entire race and showed himself the best around the turn and down the stretch. Unfortunately for me, the closers that I had filled out underneath Big Brown - Colonel John, Visionaire, Court Vision and Pyro - never got the trip, the ride or the pace they needed and left me with a handful of losing tickets.

Big Brown looks to be for real and I fully expect to see him in person at Belmont gunning for the Triple Crown in June.

Mama Tried to Raise Me Better, But Her Pleading I Denied

2008-04-29T15:56:00.000-07:00

Played in the home tourney again last Friday night. 28 players. I came out firing and playing loose/aggressive from the get go and got some chips on bluffs and reading weak play when I had marginal hands. Unfortunately, I was at a table of half people who were among the less experienced in the tournament and I donked away half my chips on a big post river bluff with 10,8 off on a board with 3 spades, an ace and a queen and I bet big and a guy with pocket jacks (!!!) made the call. So I then ended up pushing in with nothing when I was in the BB to either win or rebuy and a guy with K,7 called and won. Note to self: don't try to bluff beginning players, they get married to hands. So I rebought and was starting to get cards and bully people a little when I was in the 200 BB with about 3000 (1500 to start). One limper, an all-in of 500, then a call before me. I look down at 3,8 off and make the call, as does the initial limper. 2000 in the pot. Flop comes K, 8, 3. SB checks, I go all in, hoping it will be read as an overbet by someone with a king. Initial limper doesn't hesitate and counts out his chips methodically and calls. We show. Initial all in of 500 has nothing, I have 2 pair and limper (who didn't reraise after the 500 raise since he was a novice player who limped or called everything, never raised) shows K,K for a set. Turn gives him quads and I'm busted again.

So I rebought again, my final allowed rebuy of 1500 (starting chip count). Blinds were at 100/200 and only a few minutes before moving to 200/400, so I began to shove in order that the blinds wouldn't catch me and the guy next to me was doing the same with his last 2 rebuys and I won both of those off of him in 3 hands, once with a better kicker on my ace, then another when my pocket sevens held up against his A,8. Right after that happened I also was able to double up when two players went all in short-stacked with nothing and I woke up to a nice A,K.

My table finally splits (down to 2 tables) which was a good thing. I get to my new table and pick up a couple of hands right away and grab some more chips. Then I get the painkillers (aces) against another player's preflop all in of A,x and am really piling it on, probably now close to 14-15k in chips. I got bluffed out of a hand a couple later, but I hadn't made a hand myself postflop (A,Q) and couldn't make a call anyway and was happy to fold, even though it turned out I was ahead. No need to risk. However, against the same guy a few hands later, I get K,J and call his raise. Flop comes K and 2 rags. He goes all in and I call immediately. He has ace high and I'm ahead but an ace comes on the turn and I lose. I thought he had me outchipped but he didn't and I went from about 15,000 in chips to 3,800. I moved all in the next hand with Q,J suited and picked up the 400/800 blinds so got some breathing room there. After that, I played pretty well, made the proper moves to pick up limped pots by shoving and built up to more than 8,000 again. Then, got lucky in a 3 way pot (other 2 all in and I had them both easily covered) when I had Q,Q against 9,9 and A,K. Flop brought a K, Turn brought an A and river brought a Q and won it for me. So I was back again up to about 14,000 and sitting nicely and made it to the final table of 10.

My first move at the table was questionable, I'm sure the other guy hated it and I kind of did too but I am still testing out not being so conservative in my play and trying to take some risks, even some very dubious ones. I'm in the 1400 BB, a guy moves all in for 4000 total before me and everyone else folds. 6100 in the pot and 2600 to call, I have rags, I called. He was wired with Jacks and easily beat me. So I was down to maybe 9000 after that round but then made a button play on a guy who had raised to 3000 two to my right. I look down at A,K suited and shove for my 9000 and the blinds and he all fold. I got credit for a power button move by the table but in reality I had a hand and that was my only play. But I took the credit anyway. This hand is important because of how things went later on.

As an aside, I had the host, the best player at the table, to my right and another real solid guy to my left (he gave me the props for the button play). To his left were 2 players who I didn't think were as strong, then it alternated around with good and average players.

So I was back up to around 14k and folding dreck. One player busted and was done and another 2 busted but had rebuys left and rebought and folded a few hands in a row while not in the blinds. In theory, I should have figured they would have busted soon and brought us to the bubble (top 6 got paid). In reality, the very next time I was on the button, I look at A,J off. Same guy two to my right raises again, this time to $4000 and everyone else folds. I shove for roughly 14,000 and the blinds again fold. He almost insta-calls with Q,7 of hearts, without bothering to figure out pot odds or anything. He also had over 20,000 in chips so could have folded without being crippled in any way. Now, the pot odds (roughly 2 to 1 on his 10,000 call) make it a viable play as long as I don't have aces, kings or queens in which case he's a huge dog. However, to lose this hand does really hurt him and makes him probably 3rd shortest stack. Personally, I would have dumped it as there wasn't a need at that point to risk 70% of your chips on Q,7 of hearts. Maybe he thought I was bullying him specifically or playing from position only. Don't know. Maybe he thought I should have folded to his raise or was merely stealing again but if I double through him, I'm the chip leader. I checked the odds calculator after I got home and I was 60/40 ahead preflop. Either way, the flop came Jack high (pairing me) with two hearts (now down to 54/46 in my favor) and the turn flushed him and I was drawing dead. It hurt because I had played pretty well for 4 hours and even my bust out was not a bad play in my opinion, maybe even a good one and it all added up (or subtracted down) to a $60 loss for the night.

I still can't get over that hump to the winning zone but I feel like it's only a matter of time. I'm pleased that I didn't turn into a rock when we got down to 9 players, I went for the big play with a good (the best) hand and got marginally unlucky, rather than make it a foldfest and hoping others busted to get me into the money.

I'm hoping to make it to Atlantic City, perhaps this weekend, for some more live action at the tables.

Slow times

2008-04-23T19:42:00.001-07:00

I have been bogged down the past couple of weeks with trying to find a place to live. Sounds easier than it is in my neck of the woods. However, there will be some poker this weekend and I promise to fire a couple of card-related posts up.

I've also been perusing some of the poker clips on you tube, love the high-stakes poker game where kid poker runs into quads twice in the same session and donks off a half mil or so even in the face of his opponents' both representing monsters. Even the pros are not immune to getting married to hands. I encourage you to track the clips down if you have the time. one is against Lindgren and the other against Hansen.

Running into the Painkillers

2008-04-09T11:02:00.000-07:00

Sorry on the delay of the report on my first taste of the home tournament I played in last Friday night. It's a great game, very well run, populated by players who run the gamut of experience. For instance, two to my right was a pro player who regularly plays very high level games at the Borgata in Atlantic City. Then, a few seats over from him was a woman who had virtually no poker experience and zero hold 'em experience. Stepping in as a new player into this tournament, which has been regular and ongoing for a number of years, put me at an immediate disadvantage since I needed to figure out who was who in terms of experience, aggressiveness and skill, as well as make my decisions with regard to the structure and blinds, which was one of the most vital aspects of the game.

Chip and clock management was so vital in this game because while the blinds and levels were manageable with relation to opening stack size (1500), each player was allowed 2 rebuys, making for some very aggressive play. At any point, in any level, you were at risk of playing a hand for all your chips. Anytime your stack dwindled even a little below its opening count, you were better to start shoving with any decent hand (and sometimes with anything, period) and hope to pick up pots or get called and get lucky. Of course, being new to this game and structure, I wanted to be aggressive but found that most times I was beaten into the pot or had nothing to play if I wasn't. I did succeed in following my plan to stay aggressive from position in all instances and picked up some pots when my preflop raises drew other players' warning flags and my c-bets finished the pot off. However, in such a delicate structure, without having amassed a great deal of chips (some raises were re-raised or shoved upon and a couple of bluffs got sniffed out) I found myself just over my starting count when I looked down at 6,6 out of position. I raised, was re-raised all in and rather than play with a small amount of chips against growing stacks, made the call, hoping to be in a race against a big ace. Well, I was against a big ace. Two of them in fact, and I was left behind like Macaulay Culkin. I had him outchipped by a 25 chip so I tossed that in the next hand, waiting to lose it so I could rebuy. Well, of course I look down at Q,Q and inwardly bemoan my luck to make the move one hand too early or not to have been able to rebuy just yet. Well, as it turned out, I would have lost that rebuy immediately as two other hands shoved, one with 9,9 and another with K,K that held up.

So I rebuy and only a few hands in I look down at 5,5 in the BB. I raise the limped pot and only the small blind calls. The flop brings me a set with two diamonds on board as well. SB bets and I shove all in. He mutters to himself what a bad call it would be if he makes it. Then he revises his previous comment and now says it would be a terrible call. Of course, he eventually does make the call and is on a diamond draw. Not a terrible call in this structure, especially since he had the chips to make it but I manage to fade any diamonds or backdoor straight possibilities and double up.

At this point, the blinds moved to 100-200 and I began to try to make things happen and ran into some roadblocks. Raises were shoved back at by smaller stacks looking to double up (or possibly to give them a chance to rebuy) and some of the bigger stacks were now formidible, having gobbled up small stack shoves themselves. So picking spots was very important, but after getting caught stealing a couple times, I was able to snag blinds with shoves UTG with Qc10c and Kh9h in consecutive rounds. However, I needed to make something happen quickly, so upon looking down at 4,4 in an unopened pot, I shoved out of position. I was immediately called by the player to my left, not a good sign since she too was out of position. Everyone else folded and once again I had picked the wrong moment to shove and had come face to face with the Painkillers, aka A,A. I again did not catch up and at this point in the game the 100/200 level was only seconds from ending and with the next level at 200/400 and the BB about to hit me, I chose not to use my last rebuy since I would have had to shove in the first 2 hands and then likely again in the next several if I did not double up immediately. So I was left slightly lamenting that I didn't push earlier in previous rounds where I might have been able to double up or take down a pot or rebuy if I didn't, whereas now I found myself with the last rebuy worthless to me.

I plan to try and play regularly in this game, and as the skill levels are so wide but with the majority of the players seemingly above average, I think it promises to provide a lot of good experience in a wide variety of situations.

Home tourney preview

2008-04-04T10:03:00.001-07:00

Playing in a home tournament tonight, that is semi-regular. It's my first time playing in it and it is supposed to have players of wildly different skill levels. What I like about it is that it is a cheap entry and they allow 2 rebuys, so I plan to mix up my play. Usually I play cautiously, with bouts of aggression at selected opportunities. Basically, I try to get myself in good spots and hit them hard, then stay out of the fray when uber-aggressive and uber-tight guys make plays into pots, unless I have a hand worthy of mixing it up or I'm really priced in. I pride myself on my patience ordinarily and making good reads on my opponents and dictating my play based on how the table is playing. However, tonight, with the 2 rebuys in my pocket, I plan to play very aggressively from position even so far as becoming one of those uber-aggressive guys, represent hands early and often and chase down some draws where I would ordinarily muck. In short, get out of my comfort zone and play as if I'm at a single table satellite type event, where early chip-gathering is a must. I think there will be about 25-30 people at this thing so it will be important for me to identify early on the better players so not to attempt bluffs on the more inexperienced players who will call down everything with top or second pair. We'll see how my adaption to a new style fits and whether or not I'm suited to such a style of play.

Love and Basketball

2008-03-29T11:39:00.001-07:00

Jason Love, that is. He's a 6'10" center for Xavier, and in my opinion, the key to tonight's Xavier/UCLA Regional Final game. His role will be to try and provide quality minutes to slow down his UCLA namesake, Kevin Love and K. Love's awful beard. J. Love is capable of doing it and I expect him to come out with a high level of intensity, however he is foul prone so he needs to keep his aggression controlled because I fully expect K. Love to get any and all calls when there is physical play down low.

I think this one is going to be interesting. Xavier has shown a resilience that belies a veteran senior and junior-laden team, overcoming a big deficit against Georgia, showing poise against Purdue and never panicking against W. Virginia after losing a big lead and falling behind by 6 in overtime. UCLA, other than its 16/1 first round matchup, has shown alarming lapses in play. Its defense has been extraordinary in 5 of its 6 halves though and this is the key to the game, Xavier's offensive execution against UCLA's stifling defense. As I wrote a couple of days ago, Xavier has very balanced scoring and they will need contributions from a lot of players to overcome the Bruins.

My pick? Xavier does it, 65-60.

As for UNC/Louisville, this game can and will end one of two ways: a UNC win 100-80 or a game that comes down to the last shot for Louisville. If Louisville's press doesn't cause the kind of turnovers that Clemson was mostly successful with in their games against UNC, the Heels will win and win big. If they can get the cheap turnovers and capitalize on them, it will be interesting. My one guarantee for this game is that Padgett, Caracter and Palacios for UL will combine for at least 13 fouls. I expect the national POY to get to the line about 10-12 times in this one.

The pick, as much as I don't like to do it, is UNC. I will still root for UL though.

Hoops Friday

2008-03-28T09:00:00.002-07:00

Picked the four winners correctly yesterday, went even against the spread as I thought the UNC game would be tighter and UCLA never put away WKU. I'm happy with my analysis of the other two games though, as Josh Duncan showed up big time as I predicted and Tennessee's apathetic, sloppy play was punished by an interesting Louisville team. Interesting because they have size and athleticism but their play was ragged. I think Pitino is one of the great college coaches and if he can have them focused and tight against UNC it could be a very interesting game.

As for today's games, I like Stanford over Texas, Memphis over Michigan State, Wisconsin over Davidson and Kansas over Villanova.

Sweet Sixteen

2008-03-27T07:06:00.000-07:00

Ah, Sweet Sixteen. It brings back the memories of overdone, overwrought parties filled with anxious adolescents seeking that elusive teenage liberation. It recalls memories of a John Hughes movies jammed with longing, lust, angst, wild keggers and Long Duck Dong. (As an aside, has any lead in a teen comedy been more of a washout than Jake Ryan? He dumps his hot girlfriend, misses the best party of the year, at his own house no less, while he's upstairs looking through his yearbook, then spends Saturday outside the church on the off chance that he can make out with Molly Ringwald. What a waste.) It also brings to mind the crucial round of the NCAA basketball tournament. By now, most of the pretenders have been sent packing, along with the hopefuls and you're left with the teams that have a legitimate chance. At this point anyone can reel off 2 wins to reach the final four and 4 wins to the championship is not an unreasonable thought for any of them. Here are my picks for Thursday's matchups (and I'll stick with the John Hughes/Sixteen Candles theme):

North Carolina -8.5 against Washington State. This matchup is Jake Ryan's girlfriend Caroline, the hottest girl in school, against Samantha Baker (Molly Ringwald). On the surface it's a no-brainer, Caroline is the party-hungry prom queen who looks about 25, but if you remember, Molly Ringwald sneaks in and steals Jake while Caroline is busy partying. She lost focus. Carolina better not do the same. I think they'll recover from WSU's mind-numbing tempo in time and squeak out a victory, provided that they don't simply try to outscore WSU and actually put forth a semblance of a defensive effort. If they come to play on the defensive end, WSU will end up like Sam Baker in the locker room, wrapped in a towel and staring in envy.

Louisville -3 against Tennessee. The line tells you everything you need to know about this one. It's Anthony Michael Hall against Jake Ryan. One is the higher seed who peaked prior to everything getting started and has been looking sluggish throughout. The other has everything going for it at the moment and is trying to make big things happen. I like Louisville to wake up the next morning in a Rolls Royce in the parking lot with the prom queen.

Xavier +1 against W. Virginia. This is a little more interesting and you have to really look to find the right comparison, but eventually you realize that it is Bryce against Cliff, the two geek brothers who are Anthony Michael Hall's best friends. In the movie Cliff is the more confident of the two and seems to be the leader but in the long run you realize that it is Bryce, played by John Cusack, who had the staying power. W. Virginia is the sexier pick with Huggins, Joe Alexander and an upset win over Duke but I think Xavier, who has a better 6'9" inside outside player in Josh Duncan and tremendous offensive balance, will use its depth to its advantage and be standing at the end. Look for Xavier's stellar FT shooting to be the difference in the endgame.

UCLA -12.5 against W. Kentucky. This looks to be the least competitive game of the day, both in reality and spread-wise. I liken it to Joan Cusack vs. the water fountain. Joan Cusack eventually wins an ugly, comic battle and you feel a little guilty for laughing but you do anyway. UCLA advances.

the Beats go on

2008-03-26T16:43:00.000-07:00

The bad beat has been hovering all around me the past couple of weeks, not in the lowercase sense (i.e. "Holy crap, that was a bad beat") but rather in a bigger sense. A Bad Beat way, jackpot included.

Two weeks ago Caesars in AC had just paid off a table to the tune of 27k when someone's quad 6s got snuffed by a straight flush. Then, last Friday, halfway through my basketball/poker session, the excited voices rose to a new decibel and then exploded. Turns out that quad 7s were way ahead of trip Qs (or Queens full of 7s actually) until the river when the final lady showed up to the party and netted the loser a cool 20k. The winner pocketed 10k and the other 8 players split about 10k.

These Beats always lead to a discussion among players and dealers on the appropriate amounts to kick back to the dealer. In the latter instance above, the kid threw back a grand to the dealer, even though his buddies were telling him to tip half that amount. Personally, I think it is up to the discretion of the player, each case is different, each dealer is different, the player's personal circumstances might dictate a little more or a little less. Everyone has a different opinion.

Either way, it's a dilemma that I hope to be able to write about in a practical sense at some point in the future.

Basketball and Poker

2008-03-25T16:19:00.000-07:00

Went back to Atlantic City last Friday in order to play poker and watch basketball simultaneously. Caesar's was my poker room of choice, they have a lot of games going, the televisions are nicely placed in height and distance from the tables, the room is a little bit wilder than the average and you get the feeling that patient play might get handsomely rewarded.

Of course, that really didn't apply to me on Friday since all I really wanted to do was watch hoops. The poker was really a secondary measure to being surrounded by the college action. As a result, I chose a brand new 2-4 limit table and grabbed the 10 seat, where I could easily monitor three televisions as well as the cards being felted. My favorite game of the day was obviously Drake/W. Kentucky, it was one of the classic NCAA games that you'll see THE clip from for the next 20 years, and well-deservedly so. The kicker of that game is that the W. Kentucky guard who receives the inbounds pass and rushes the ball upcourt had more than 30 points and I along with everyone else was certain he was going to fire the final shot. Not so. He kicked it back for a 28 footer, the buzzer went off with the ball in midair, it found the nylon and W. Kentucky moved on. Just a great game.

What was not a great game was my 2-4 limit game. It was the exact opposite, in fact. NFHE was in full effect and in three hours I had some dream starting hands (aces, kings, queens twice) all lose as there was simply no way to get anyone off hands. And I don't mean draws, I mean hands, period. Like Jack/Deuce offsuit. Or 3,9. Soon enough, between the basketball and the best-hand-always-wins mentality of the table, I was down a decent chunk of money. But, luckily for me, there were more games on the tube. I settled in and sure enough, all that loose play sent my money right back to me over the next few hours during the late games. All in all, I think I ended up clearing a couple bucks and having a great day watching games, which was my intention for the day anyway.

Shaking off the Rust (in a mostly unsuccessful way)

2008-03-24T12:49:00.000-07:00

Lessons learned. I'm good at remembering them but often learn them through trial and error rather than a more abstract approach, like watching someone else fail.

I’ve been getting in more play recently, after a few months of nothing and my inactivity has showed, as my play has been erratic and my decisions questionable. As always, I try to take away something from each game and making mistakes, in some cases huge blunders, always sears those scenarios into my head for future reference.

A few games and hands worthy of mention because they feature a couple of mistakes I made, one because I didn’t consider all the options and one because I did:

I played in a home game a few weeks back, 1-2 NL, $300 min buy in, rotating two rounds of NLHE with one round of Pot Limit Omaha. I tried to play tight/aggressive but in retrospect I played mostly tight, content to take down pots when ahead instead of milking them. Until the following boneheaded play, that is.

Hovering around even, I folded A,7 o/s in the face of a raise and a call and watched as the other three aces hit on the flop and turn. The pot was small as the two remaining players tread cautiously (pocket Js and suited connectors I believe) but my tightness cost me money and left me watching from the side. The very next hand, however, I pick up As9s and call a preflop raise. The flop comes 10,9,4 rainbow and I bet out and the preflop raiser comes over the top with another raise. Red flag, right? Right? Well, unfortunately my flagman had taken a coffee break. I call. The turn brought another nine, giving me a set and I make the worst possible play and move all in. In this instance I can only be called by hands that have me crushed. Everything else will fold under this bet and I will not make any additional money. Of course I am immediately called and he turns over pocket 10s for the top full house. Just an awful play on my part. I never thought about the bet, didn’t take the extra ten or fifteen seconds to think about the scenarios in which I could most make or most lose my money, just fired blindly. Attribute it to rust, poor decision-making or just stupidity, any way I slice it it is still an awful play. Lesson learned. Think.

The second hand that I want to recount was in Atlantic City. Got into a 1-2 NLHE game at the Tropicana with $300 and again was hovering around even but this time feeling pretty good about my play. I had lost a couple races against smaller all-in stacks where my hands and the pots dictated calls but then won it back by opening up a little and catching some big hands when I got in the mix with lower connectors and made good value bets. The hand that was the crucial one of the day unsurprisingly was when I looked down at pocket aces from the big blind. It was folded around to the old guy directly across from me who made it $22 to go and everyone folded to me. I popped it to $60 and he made a quick call, no hesitation. He was tight and I put him on a big pair. Flop comes J,7,2 rainbow and I led out for $50. He immediately goes all in and I go into the tank. I stare at him, which elicits some joking comments from the table but they give me the time to make my decision. I ask him if he has pocket jacks and he tells me that he will show me if I fold. I tell him that if I fold, I don’t want to see what he has. I’m 80% sure he has the jacks. He’s got me covered, it’s another (roughly) $190 to call into the pot, which is now at around $410 and ultimately, this is what did me in, that I figured I was getting better than 2 to 1 on my call and that I’ve got the edge on any hand he can probably be playing other than pocket jacks. And ultimately, I should have listened to my instincts because I called and he showed the pocket jacks and I didn’t catch my two outer. Again, lesson learned. Think, but trust instinct.

The one thing both of these cases had in common that I seem to have ignored is the strength of the hands my opponent was holding and telling me that they held, by the post-flop reraises. I got married to both hands and couldn't get away, wanting to believe that I was ahead and talking myself into it. But talking myself into it is not the same as actually being ahead, and I plunged ahead with my losing hands, instead of seeking a divorce, ended up busted.

(Well, only kind of, actually. As a postscript to both of these stories, I rebought and began grinding and ended up nullifying my losses by more than half. Not how I envisioned the two sessions but still better than a total washout.)

Floyd Mayweather is a bad man

2007-12-11T14:46:00.000-08:00

There are few opportunities to see the best athlete in a given sport perform at their absolute peak level. This past Saturday night was one of them. For three minutes, the world was treated to the best that boxing has to offer.

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. took on Ricky Hatten in a title fight at the MGM in Vegas and I duly invited my fight friends over and stocked the fridge with beer. Having seen the snooze-fest that was Mayweather/De La Hoya back in May, I was merely hoping for a few punches to connect, hell, for a few punches to be thrown. The May fight offered only a glimpse at any action, so the thought of a brawler like Hatten taking the fight to Mayweather offered more promise than that of De La Hoya doing anything, including not fighting, to avoid being hurt in his last pro fight. And Hatten did his part. He went after Mayweather. He wasn't landing consistently but he was dictating the pace of the fight. Prefight, he had said that he was willing to take two or three punches if he could land one of his own, figuring his would pack more power. What he didn't count on was Mayweather's defensive skill, his hand speed and his own inability to land his power punches once he got inside. What he really didn't count on was anything like Round 8.

Quite simply, Round 8 was as good a statement round I have ever seen a fighter have. It was not the best round of boxing, for nothing can top Hagler/Hearns round 1, but it was the moment when Floyd Mayweather, Jr. solidified his place in history. His decision over De La Hoya was a dull affair against a past-his-prime opponent and left more doubters than believers. This was different. He had an opponent who sported a 43-0 record, one with 31 KO's, one who was taking the fight at him. He had an arena of screaming, singing, cheering Brits urging his opponent on. He had a legion of disbelievers, myself and 8 others around me, wanting to see him get put on his butt. And he did what true champions, the true elite, do.

He shut us up.

Quickly.

Three minutes of absolute devastation, absolute domination. As good a three minutes as any fighter has ever had, he showed why he talks the way he does, why he thinks himself above the rest, above all of us. Give Hatten a shred of credit: he stayed on his feet. Most wouldn't have. As Mayweather was pummeling him (and there is no other real way to accurately put it) he took it, literally, on the chin. Again. And again. But when the bell rang to end the round, it rang for all the Hatten fans, all those of us who hoped he could shut Mayweather, Jr. up. This fight, while not yet done, was over. The nine people in my living room knew it. Hatten knew it. And more than any of us, Mayweather could smile because he had known it all along.

Hatten succumbed two rounds later, as vicious lefts from Mayweather, Jr. left him tumbling into the corner and then to the middle of the canvas, but that was merely an epilogue to the best chapter that Floyd Mayweather, Jr. has ever given us and probably ever will.

Satellite Rides, part 2 - Heads Up

2007-12-07T08:49:00.000-08:00

Who plays heads up poker?

Let me restate that. What I actually mean is, who practices playing heads up?

Tournaments, cash games, home games. All feature similar scenarios, the most common being that you're playing against a table full of players. You're playing pot odds, you're preying on weak opponents, you're playing position. Even if you're down to three handed, you can muck garbage in the face of a raise and call, you can pick a better spot, you can play your opponents' fears of the third player against them.

Heads up, however, there's no one else to scrap with, no one to juice up a pot out of position, no time off from the blinds and antes. I liken it to playing blackjack against the dealer in a six-deck shoe. Any card is possible at any given time. You can't figure that the raise you're staring at is not made by an oppenent holding eight high. It doesn't take a genius to figure the pot odds and most pots will end after the flop if not earlier. But still, after weeding through a table or a tournament of players, selectively picking spots to make moves, heads up forces you to mix it up, no matter your style of play. You're in every hand. Loose is not even the proper word for it. It's the blackjack dealer firing you five straight ten-deuces while the house shows an ace each time. How are you going to play?

Back to me.

After flopping a boat and subsequently whittling the table to two, I had a slight chip lead, perhaps 25k to 20k. Blinds were at 300/600 and my opponent was a good one. Last year he had won both my super-satellite table and the following "winners" table of all the super-satellite winners to punch his ticket into the WSOP Main Event. Last year, he fought back from an improbable chip deficit to whip me heads up.
And so we began.

Things started well for me. We quickly established the standard pre-flop raise and I took down a few pots, incrementally increasing my advantage. A potentially disastrous hand for me was salvaged in the following way. I held 10,5 off and the flop came J,10,x, with no flush draw. I bet and he called. Turn brought an A. I checked and he checked behind me. River brought me a 5 and I made a 3K value bet. He made a reluctant call telling me that my bet was the perfect amount and he had to see the ace that I held. He turned over J,x and went green as he realized he was ahead until the river and his check had allowed me to hang around long enough to win on fifth street. He started muttering about how poorly he had played the hand. I just smiled and went all in the next three hands, which he mucked. Now he was shifting back and forth and telling the guys we had busted that he was getting leaned on. And he was. I put the pressure on even more, hoping to lure him into shipping it on my terms, and not allowing him to wait for a hand. Somewhat questionably, I pushed all in with A,J off preflop hoping he would wake up to a smaller ace or perhaps something like J,10. He didn't and folded. All the while, however, I was keenly aware that a single double up would shift our spots and give him the chip lead.

A,K. In a normal situation, it's longed for, overbet, cursed and cherished. Heads up, it's a monster. I drew it for the first time all day and raised on the button (small blind) up to 3k (blinds now 400/800) and got a call. Flop was all rags and my opponent pushed all in. My thoughts were as follows: He called my 2200 raise. He's making a stand. But did he hit the flop? Did he need to hit the flop? It was a perfect flop for a small wired hand. I thought about it for a minute or so and tossed it. A double up at that point puts me down. I didn't need to make the play, right there, right then. He showed bottom pair. A,K is, after all, only ace high.

Back and forth we went, trading pots, grinding each other. And then the momentum swung. I had another Q,10 off. I raised, he called. Flop came 10 high. He checked. I decided to get tricky. He had been pushing in whenever he sensed weakness and I wanted to give him some. I checked behind him. Ace came on the turn and I got what I wanted as he pushed all in. The only problem now was the ace. Did he check a low flop with ace high? I thought about it and called. He flipped over A,Q. I could only smile at my misstep. The river brought a Q, giving us both two pair, his higher.

Now he had the chip lead. He began leaning on me, grinding me down. Seemingly any raise he pushed in. The cards that I was raising with and betting post-flop kept coming but now they looked different, weaker. Did I really want to risk everything with them? After a few lost pots in a row and my stack shrinking, I knew that I would have to or exactly what I had hoped to do to my opponent would happen to me: being forced to move in on his terms.

So I battled back with the best weapon at my disposal, the all-in. Four of five hands I went in pre or post flop, three of them with total junk. Not wanting to relinquish his advantage, he folded.

And on we went, firing away at one another. An hour had passed and only two hands had made it to the river when I looked down on the button and saw 8s,10s. I raised the 800BB to 2400. He re-raised to 6000. I counted out my stack and found it at about 11,600. His raise was unusual and enough to elicit suspicion. He wanted me to push. Perhaps I should have laid it down and I don't think I was getting the right odds to call (2.3 to 1) but I did. The flop brought me some help: K,J,9 with one spade. And here is where heads up play is unique. My first thought upon seeing the flop was "All in." Unfortunately, he was first to act. His thought: "All-in." I could only smile. With 20k in the pot and 8k in front of me I was getting 2.5 to 1. I figured my 8 and 10 were live. If all my straight draws were live, I would have 14 outs, roughly 31% to win IF he didn't already have an over pair to my 8 or 10. More importantly, I only had 8k left. I fold and his 37k stack is going to put me in every hand. I went for it.

He looked at me, dismayed, and said something I wanted to hear "You got me." I looked at him and said "Not just yet." We flipped and he showed A,3 off. My 14 outs were all live, all I could hope for.

Turn came Ks, giving me the flush draw. I now had 20 cards to win against his 24.

But it was not to be. The board paired again with a red nine, making Ks and 9s with his ace playing.

And again, he got the better of me heads up.

Could I have won?

Sure.

Did I play well?

Mostly.

Am I comfortable heads up?

Definitely not.

After all, who practices heads up?

Satellite Rides

2007-12-04T15:31:00.000-08:00

Each year, I host a super-satellite table as part of a friend's poker tournment. The premise arose when we decided we knew enough people interested in poker to send one of our own to the WSOP main event. A bunch of us run super-satellite tables, give the table's entry money to the winner, let the winners square off later on and the lone figure to emerge heads to Vegas with his Moneymaker dreams in tow.

So last year I was the victim of one of the greatest heads-up collapses or comebacks, depending on your point of view. I was slightly behind in chips when I got the best of an all in battle and took a commanding 38-2 chip advantage. After sucking out on his first all in in the hand immediately following (J,8 vs. J,5) my opponent won a race (2 overs against 4,4) to double up again to 8k and then went all in several more times in a row, which I couldn't call with terrible cards. I don't remember how it went exactly after that but suffice it to say with the blinds at 500/1000 he made some good plays and regained a small advantage before we again went all in and he took it down. Not my finest hour.

So on to this year. We operate with a rebuy system and my nemesis drew the seat to my right. Nine players. After about 90 minutes he went all in and I caught him on a draw with my top pair and busted him. He rebought and kept battling though, grinding his way back to respectability. Meanwhile, I was playing well, as well as I feel like I have perhaps ever. I was catching guys when I made hands and I was bluffing when I didn't. Even a misread turned my way, as I called a postflop bet with nothing, confident my opponent was on a bluff and I could take the pot away from him on later streets, then hit the turn and the river to allow the cards to do it for me.

The crux of the game was destined to come down to a final showdown and big hands made it happen. First, my nemesis cut the table from five to three when he got himself tangled in a three-way all-in pot with only Q,10 off, finding himself pot-committed but fortunate as a Q hit and held off his opponents' A,4 and A,K. Then, my own Q,10 got large as a flop hit 10,10,Q and my opponent, wired and disbelieving of my strength, fired at the flop (smooth call) and pushed in after the turn.

So there we were. Me and my nemesis. Side by side and face to face.

Again.

to be continued...

South Florida Sunstroke

2007-11-28T13:32:00.000-08:00

Am I a pussy?

Is it better to take a decent profit away from a table without making the play, the one play, that could potentially double or triple that profit or is it better to make that play, even though it could cost you all your winnings and then some?

Here's how it went: I was at the Hard Rock casino in Ft. Lauderdale. Nice enough facility, competent dealers, got in a game right away on a Sunday at noon. I sat at a 1,2 NL table, bought in for $200 and quickly realized that the table was tight as a drum preflop but more than willing to pay off winning hands and make calls when they should pitch. No better example than watching a young guy fire at a pot post-flop, turn and river, incrementally increasing his bets, and get called by a guy who had third-best pair on board. Third best. And he won, as the guy firing was on a stone bluff and busted. Have to love seeing those kind of backdoor wins that are completely undeserving. Let the meat feel good about those chips and wait for a hand with him, I tell myself.

I got rags for a few hands and watched the limp-fest. Luckily, the guys in the one and three seats mixed it up a little and I got to see a couple showdowns as well as a couple nice face-up laydowns by the one seat and the winner showing his hand as well. So finally, onto my rush. A half hour in, I hit top pair, fire three times, get called down and win a decent pot. This is followed by a chop, hitting trips three out of four hands (deuces twice, treys the other) and mixing up my action nicely to disguise my strength, a boat a few hands after that when I was wired with 10s and another guy went all in with A,7 off preflop and a second boat when my wired 5s hit on the turn in a nice three-way pot and boated on the river. The deck was steamrolling me and these guys refused to accept that any of my raises were legit, pre or post flop. Just a great combo of events. I even took advantage of the rush to play a suited 3,9 (preflop raiser raised to $5!) and hit two pair on a flop to take down another pot. As another player sat to my left (I was in the 8 seat) the Israeli guy in the 10 seat told him not to get into any pots with me because no matter what I had, I hit it. Finally, the table started avoiding me and I began to use that respect to my advantage, raising limped pots and watching the dominoes fold, acting as if their hands were radioactive. Mind you, this was all in roughly an hour and I had taken this table over. I had notched up to over six hundred and was the table's big stack.

And then, I faltered.

Family pot scenario, someone made a miniscule raise, perhaps to $6 and there were six or seven callers. I have offsuit red 5,10 in late position and make the call as well. Flop brings J, 10, 3 with two clubs. The one seat bets $12. One caller and I make the call as well. Turn brings the 5 of clubs. One seat bets $15, other guy folds, I immediately raise to $50 (for this table, a significant raise. Most raises higher than $20 have been insta-folded.). One seat doesn't like it, immediately goes in the tank, talking at me, talking to the dealer, trying to get a read on me. He shows his cards to the dealer as he watches me, seeing if I react to his phony laydown. I know he's not on the flush. If he is, he's a great actor. I'm positive he's going to lay it down, that he has top pair and he's posturing for effect. My two pair is ahead and I've raised him out of the pot. I'm berating myself on the inside. This table is tightly wound drum, of course he'll fold to any raise.

Then he calls.

And I have fifteen seconds of confusion. On the inside, I'm trying to figure his hands. A,J with a club? That would be an insta-call for an extra $35, plus he would have re-raised preflop. Was his posturing masking something like trip 3s? Did he make a low flush and he's giving me credit for a higher one? As all this flashes through my mind, the river brings a blank. One seat checks to me.

And I freeze. I know that in that second I should fire but I haven't played NL in four months and by all standards, I'm still a novice, particularly when it comes to managing a stack. If I fire $100, is that enough? The pot is maybe $180. He is second stack at the table, perhaps $150 less than me. If I push all in, he's only calling me with hands that beat me. My hour long rush would be for naught and I'd be in the hole an additional fifty.

If I push, top pair goes away. A low flush likely does as well. I should push.

But I don't.

I check. He turns over J,10. Top two. I muck.

My table mystique is broken. The kid in the three seat says "That's the first pot he's lost." The one seat rakes in the pot and I kick myself. A couple hours later, I cash out, up about $250 profit. Not bad for my first session in four months but I can't get that pot out of my head. I win that, and I add to my big stack, keep control of the table and keeping my rush going. Instead, now the one seat has a comparable stack and my bullying time cools down quickly.

Alternately, his crying call after the turn might indicate that he would have called the rest of his stack. So I walk away with a profit. It could have been larger. It could have been nonexistent. I am on vacation. I am happy with the money. I tell myself this.

But I still feel like a pussy.

The Mental Exam

2007-08-05T17:10:00.000-07:00

It's early August and pro football teams have begun their training camps. Each year there are a handful or more of big name veterans who make the rounds of the teams with specific needs, looking to be that one final piece of the puzzle that can elevate the team to playoff or title contention, or perhaps just looking for one final payday before fading off into obscurity. As you read about these guys, inevitably each article written about them visiting team X mentions how he came in for a physical. The team of course wants to ensure its potential investment by confirming the player's physical readiness and make sure he's up to the rigors of the game. Which left me wondering about the other side of it, the mental side. How many of these guys are mentally up for joining another team, mentally committed to the grind of the season with new teammates, how many are just looking for a chance to pad their statistics in the hope of extending their career beyond that one? Some, of course, are hard-wired to compete at their fullest level regardless of situation. Some, obviously not. Each has their own motivations and results vary.

What the hell does this have to do with poker? Well, I have recently been thinking a lot about the mental aspect of poker, about imposing your will upon other players when needed, about sitting down at a table with a plan of attack and implementing it. About really focusing on playing the opponent, playing the table and letting the cards support your actions, rather than the reverse. A self-given mental exam, before sitting down at the table if you will. Figuring out what you plan to do, taking stock of yourself before pulling back that chair. Even as little as planning one play per session, one scenario where you have the plan of how you're going to play it, sticking with it when the scenario happens, then testing it over and over and seeing the results. The pot sizes, stack sizes, ablility and makeup of your opponents will vary each time so keeping mental notes (or even physical ones) of these variables and the results can yield helpful information. The mental ability to stick with your plan, even in the face of adversity and knowing that over the long haul, that this play will make you better in that you know its results, you've tested it, is not just limited to that play but to the ability and commitment to improving your game. Each session might not yield a winner but if your game improves, so will your winning sessions. Next time you play, do yourself a favor and give yourself a quick mental exam, have a plan ready to go, so that you aren't that lost player wandering from table to table, looking for the elusive payday before fading into the poker obscurity, also known as a 1-2 limit game.