Winning Again

So I'm beginning to realize that I like to blog when I win.  It's true.  No one, like to write while their on a losing streak.  I seem to notice this about other poker bloggers.  It's a little humiliating to have a blog and then begin to describe the spiral downward.  Also, if you're married, like me, to the most wonderful person in the world.  You don’t want her to know that you're in the middle of a losing streak.

What did I do while I was losing?  I did other things.  I worked on my home business.  Worked on preparing to start a family.

I also quit playing ring games.  I seem to be losing most of my money this way.  I realized about a month ago is that to win a loose ring games, you have to hit your flushes and straights.

Whenever I was chasing my nut flush and could not hit, I'd go on tilt and play top pair over aggressively.

Winning at Low Limit Hold'em requires patience and losing can cause you to lose patience.

I decided to play SNG's and I was actually doing pretty good at that.  I was slowly building my bankroll up again.

I was at Pechanga on the 26th.  I played in a No-Limit tournament that I soon found was a Limit Tournament and I was out quickly.  What a waste.  You have to get lucky pretty fast to survive Speed Limit Hold'em.

I then sat down at the $2/$4 table, which I had not done in months and actually won.  I came with $80 and walked away with $120.  How did I do it?  By hitting my flushes and straights.

Once I started following my own advice, I would win.  It's simple.

• Be patient.  You don't have to play every pot.
• Have two cards that can work together.  High suited. 1-gap connectors. Pocket Pairs.  Play the blinds. Throw away King-3 offsuit.
• The flop must improve your hand. If you hit nothing and you have an Ace.  Get out.  You'll lose a lot of money chasing an ace when your opponent just hit two pair.
• If you hit bottom pair, see the turn cheap, only 1 bet.
• Don't fall in love with top pair.  The other guy has two pair.
• If you have the nut flush or open ended straight draw, chase it.
• When you hit your flushes and straights, you will be feared at the table and you'll be able to bluff.
• Make calling stations pay for their actions.
• Make aggressive players pay for their actions, especially when you have two pair or higher.
• Check raises to define your hand and fold when they play back at you.

Good luck all.

Reading Players Online

I recently won a SNG at Full Tilt and I was presented with a hand that required a little reading of the other player.

We’re in the third level of the SNG and I'm the chip leader. 

I'm Under-The-Gun (first to act) preflop and have Ad-Qc. 
As chip leader, I decide to lead out and bet four times the BB to 200 to see if I can win this pot now.

Seat 4 and 5 fold.
Seat 6 calls
Everyone else folds.

The flop comes 4s-Jd-4d.

I'm guessing this flop didn't hit either of us.  But I don't want to lose a lot of money.

I check and seat 6 checks.

I'm pretty that flop helped no one.

The turn comes a Kh.

Since I'm in early position, I want to see what my opponent does.

I check.
Seat 6 bets half the pot at 250.

The only question I have at this point is "does my opponent have a King?"

My gut tells me that he doesn't based on his current chip stack which is at 1000 at this point.  The reason is that the half pot bet feels like a probe bet.  If he had the king at this stage in the tournament, he'd be all-in.

I call.

The river is 3h.  I'm 100% sure he doesn't have the 3.

I check.
Seat 6 goes all-in.

I think for a second.  With Ace-Queen, I have the high cards and I have the best hand.

I call.

Seat 6 shows 10d-9d. He's on a flush draw.

I win the pot and knock out player 6.  Another player at this point chats "UR kidding!"

I respond "I knew he didn't have it."  Come on, I would never have gotten that deep with a player if I thought he had a hand.

Playing 7-2 offsuit

I just found the best time to play 7-2 offsuit.

I was in a Sit-N-Go and it was down heads up.  I had the dominant chip lead with 10,000 to his 1,500.  Preflop, my opponent was first to act and goes all-in.  I'm only afraid of an over pair.  I figure as long as I have two live cards I'm in good position.

We show our cards and my opponent has A-J suited.

The flop comes 10-9-2. The turn and river come junk and I win the tournament with 7-2 offsuit.  Nice.

The Weirdest Hand Ever

I've decided that I'm going to play more Sit-N-Go's and tournaments and pull back from ring games.  I'm really trying to work on my no-limit skills.

Yesterday, I was playing a SNG and I came across the wildest hands.  Fortunately, I was not a part of this hand.

It's only three hands into the match and the blinds are at 15/30.  I have 86o under the gun and I obviously fold.

Seat 3 bets small to 60. Seat 4 calls 60 for pot odds. Seat 6 raises to 255 to isolate the raisers. Seat 3 then goes all in. Seat 4 calls the all-in and then seat 6 calls the all-in.

Here's why I don't like.  Unless I have Aces or Kings. I'm not calling all-in.  It's too early in the tournament to be knockout with a low pair.

Seat 3 shows pocket Tens. Seat 4 shows pocket Jacks.  Seat 6 shows pocket Kings.  Seat 6 is the favorite.

The flop comes 8-A-T.  Now Seat 3 is the favorite.
The turn comes J. Now Seat 4 is the favorite.
The river comes K. Seat 6 triples up.

This is by far one of the freakiest hands I've ever seen.  Then again, why do people play this reckless.

Rough times ahead

Things have not been going well.  I've been careful not to get involved big losing hands, but I'm just not pulling it out.  Every session it's $5 here, $5 there.

 

What am I learning.  Cards run cold.  In low limit games, you have to hit your flushes, hit your straights.  If you can't do that, you're not going to win pots.  I'm not hitting anything.  I've been using a Poker Tracker program to chart my opponents.  I'm definitely playing against a lot of loose players.  On average they lose money, but the lucky ones tend to win a lot of money by hitting the lucky straights and flushes and also by hitting their two pair playing the K-2 down to the river.

 

I could begin playing that way, but why?  It's a losing proposition in the long run.

 

I started playing no limit poker.  I'm starting at the $.05/$.10 and after a rough start I'm actually ahead $10.00.  Talking about grinding.

Playing the Aggressive Player

Every night, I'll play a few rings games and if I do well, I'll play a SNG with my winnings.  Last night was no different.  I won about $20 on a $.50/$1 table. I got lucky, I made two double-belly gut shot straights and won a good sized pot.

I decide to play the next $5 No-Limit SNG at Full Tilt.  I'm starting to play a new strategy of playing a little passive.  I mentioned this before, but I hate being out of position and the only way to get position is to use the check raise.  The danger in this method is that you give your opponents first rights to a pot.  At the other hand, you can make it work for you, as I'll describe here.

Early in the tournament, I'm testing my opponents.  I'm on the button and its checked to me.  I decide to take a shot at stealing the blinds, my player to my left (Seat 6) immediately comes over-the-top to challenge me and I let it go.  The next time, I limp in and Seat 6 overbets to steal the pot again.  Note to self - Seat 6 attacks at weakness.

Seat 3 to my right decide that when they are in late position, they will steal blinds and for three rounds, I'm folding on the blinds.

===================================

I hate being pushed around, but I can't beat a bluff with bad cards.  Needless to say I'm playing passive, yet solid poker. Things weren't going well until this hand.

I'm dealt Pocket Aces on the big blind.  Everyone limps into the pots and it's called to me.  Pros will tell you not to play Aces passively, but I decide at the last minute to check in early position. 

The flop comes Ace-x-x.  I have trip aces. Everyone checks to Seat 2, who bets the pot.  It comes to me, I call and everyone else folds.  The turn pulls another rag.  I check and Seat 2 bets the pot again.  He's committed about half his remaining stack.  I double his raise.  He then comes all-in and I call.  He has Ace-8 making two pair on the turn.  I have trips and Seat 2 is out.

===================================

What did I accomplish?  This fantastic play sent a message to the entire table.  Beware of the limper…that's me.  Now when I'm playing Seat 6, and I limp in with bad cards, Seat 6 won't raise me to steal.  When I attempt to steal the blinds from Seat 6, she won't defend as often.

When Seat 3 tries to steal my blinds, I would come over the top with raise and now Seat 3 has gives up.

I was in a better position to bluff and steal.

Grinding Away

I haven't written in a while, but I'm just grinding away at the tables.  The moment I get amass chips at one table I lose it on the other.  I've been at break even for over a month and desperate to move forward.

I must remain patient and better yet, I can't force action.  Here's something that I notice, the only times I move significantly ahead is when I make big hands.  You know…flushes that come on the river, straights and full houses.  Top pair is fine, but I can lose to lucky two pair or hidden trips.

That's why this is a grind.

I'll be at Pechanga again this week and since I'm in the late show in San Diego, I have a little longer to play.

Cheers.

Beating Pot Limit Omaha High/Low

It was late and I wanted to play a fast SNG.  I went to Full Tilt Poker and saw a Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo game about to start so I entered.

Like any game of Poker, the key to winning Omaha, you need to play tight up front.  In the early rounds, I will only play with four cards that can work together somehow, straights, flushes, pairs, and aces.

This game was a little unusual. In the first hand there were three players all-in and at the end there was one player with a 3-to-1 chip advantage on everyone else.  And this player used her large chip stack effectively. She played every hand and if no one played aggressive, she bet the pot to steal it.

This player was on my direct right.  This was the best position for me.  The reason was that if this player bet the pot, I had an easy decision to fold my marginal hand without losing any chips.  I soon began to what the rest of the table drop out like flies.  When the table got to three players, I had the same amount of chips I started with.

I knew I had to act.  How do you beat the dominant chip leader?  The chip leader was playing loose, so you play against the loose player.  I always let this player lead out.  If I liked my hand I limped.  If I didn't like my hand I folded.  Every time I had to act first post-flop, my move was checking.

Forgive me for not giving any details, but I can't remember exact hands in Omaha.  Basically, anytime I flopped a good hand, I checked.  The chip leader would bet the pot and then I'd raise to the new pot size.  I'd either win or split the pot.  My Passive Aggressive style accomplished one important thing.  The chip leader was afraid of my checks.  She was always afraid that I was slow playing.

Here's an example.  I had A-J-x-x. The flop came A-J-J.  I was first to act and I checked. On the turn, nothing, I check, she checks.  On the river, I check, she bets pot, I come over the top and win.

The benefit for being feared at the table was that I would get free cards in early position.  If I'm the first to act post flop, I check and she checks.  When you give your opponent free cards in Omaha, you'll lose, because you're giving your opponent an opportunity to beat you with anything.

Needless to say, I won this SNG.

Home Game Tournament

The company the I work at occasionally has poker tournaments for fun.  Soup, a good friend of mine, is moving to Fresno, so we had a going away poker tournament.  There's a significant difference between a home game and a casino game.  In a home game, most people will see flops, call raises and play with anything.  It usually means you have to play careful and you can't go in overconfident.

 

My strategy in this game was threefold:

 

Position

Great reads

Position

 

In other words, I want to have position against my opponents. I want to be able to force my opponent into a tough decision rather than bet into a dominated hand.  Also, I don't want to risk everything when I don't have a good read on my opponent.

 

The first half of the tournament was a game of limit hold'em and we hand the blinds move slowly.  My main strategy was wait for good hole cards and play aggressive.  I got good hands, made straights and took pots.  There were some players trying to steal pots. I challenged a few times and took about half.  Can't beat a bluff with a worse bluff.

 

I did play a hand in the dard.  I was the big blind and called without looking.  The flop came King-Jack-4.  I raised and was called.  The turn came a rag and I bet again, and my opponent folded.

 

By the time limit was done, I had the same amount of chips where I started.  We moved to no-limit, I knew I had to make a move or I would never make it.  Because there was a rebuy in this tournament, I was willing to risk a mediocre hand in order to double up.  I took my opportunity with and opened ended straight draw against a set.  I lost and came in with a rebuy.

 

Now, I am back to where I was before I got busted out.  I'm going to sit back and wait for my hand.  So how many times can a person be dealt 7-2 in a game.  Well apparently 7 times seems like a good number.  And guess what, if I had played every 7-2, I would be a dominant chip leader. Flopping trips and two pair on three occasions. But of course, I'm mucking 7-2 pre-flop.

 

Oh well, in the long run, you know you can't win with 7-2.  During this time, I'm doing quite nice building my chip stack.  I'm playing position and then pouncing when sensing weakness.  Stealing blinds and going over the top on weakness.

 

The Defining Moment of the Night.  I can't exactly remember the exact details of the hand, but here's what I remember.  I'm in late position and of the 7 of us, 4 people limp in and I'm dealt J-9.  Since we have limpers, I limp in as well. The flop comes Ace-5-9 of hearts.  Someone may have it their flush. Someone comes in for a standard raise, so I decide to call and see what happens. The turn comes a 9.  I hit trips but I know I need a full boat.  Well, I now need to know where I stand.  It's checked to me so I'm going to make a probe bet and I come in for a standard raise.  My friend comes in for a significant raise for about half my remaining chips.  After thinking I call off half my chips and the river brings a Jack for my full house.  My friend raises me all in and I quickly call to win and basically triple up and I'm the chip leader.

 

Huge controversy here...kind of.  Should I have called on the turn.  The answer was yes and the reasoning is pot odds.  In fact, when I was raised for half my chips, the question in my mind was not folding, it was whether to go all in or not.  My thinking was that by calling, if I missed my draw, I'm still in the game.  If I make my hand, I'm the chip leader.

 

Here's why this was the right call.  There's over 100 chips in the pot.  I'm raised 20 chips, that's giving me over 6 to 1 on my money.  I had 10 outs.  I needed to either pair the board, my kicker or hit quad 9's.  With ten outs, I need to make at least 5 to 1 on my money, since I was 20% to hit my hand.

 

Now, it's down to two of us and the remaining players were short stacked.  In fact, my heads up opponent knocked the last two players out in the same hand.  It was an interesting hand.  The winning hand was 5-7.  The losing hand was K-Q suited and A-J.  Calling with 5-7 was the right move for the chip leader.  When two players go all in and you only have to call a small amount with 2 live cards, then you do it.  As long as no opponent has a 5 or 7 you can get lucky.  And he did, flop brought a 7 and it held up.

 

Head to Head.  I like to play head to head.  Anything can happen with any cards.  For most of head to head, whoever raised first would win. The one thing I noticed about my heads up opponent was that he was a calling station.  I had a hard time getting him to fold.

 

Last hand.  I have 6-9. I call and I'm raised.  I call.  The flop comes Q-8-6.  I go all in. After thinking for quite a long time, he calls.  I accomplished what I needed to and that's put my opponent on a tough decision. I did, I just didn't think he'd call.  I knew he didn't have the Queen and I was thinking he's wait for another chance to knock me out.  Well the turn gave me a double belly buster straight draw and I never made my hand after that.  I come in second and I get my two buy-in's back.

 

So in all of the tournaments I competed in with my fellow co-workers.  I've come in 2nd place four times. Hope this helps you.

Great Learning Podcast

If you want to some good practical advice on playing Sit-N-Go's, I've got a great podcast for you.  It's Poker Diagram (www.pokerdiagram.com).

It is available on iTunes and is generally published once a month.  Two guys from England basically play a SNG's and comment along the way.  Great play and great commentary.

Good word of practical advice this week.  If you're a low limit player like me, realize that you're playing for fun and not for money.  The key is to find a level of play that you can consistently win.  You don't want to play high limits in hope of getting lucky and making quick cash fast.  Play for run and not for money. Your wife will thank you.

Playing the Maniac

I was at Pechanga again - my favorite card club. I waited about 20 minutes until finally getting a seat at the $2/$4 table.

I sat down at seat 1. I hate seat 1 because I can't perform one of my favorite bluffs and that the big blind bluff. I'll tell you about it later but it's basically playing the big blind in the dark without looking at them. Basically, because the dealer is blocking you, the table can see that you haven't yet looked at your cards, plus I have to move my cards because if seat 2 or 3 mucks, their cards might hit main and my hand is dead.

So I sat down in seat 1 and the lady in seat 2 asked me if I was ready for a wild ride. I looked around at everyone's stack and said, "Let's see what happens."

After about two hand I realized what she meant, the guy sitting in seat 7 was a maniac, playing slow and complaining of a headache. Let me describe his maniac tendency. Preflop he was 80% raising, 10% limping and 10% folding. When anyone would raise him, he was always reraising. Believe me, he was raising with anything. Especially with 1 face card and any two cards above the value 2.

Let me talk about maniacs for a second. The key to beating the maniac is to play tight, value bet and don't allow his style of play to frustrate you. I have a great frustration story to tell you later. One thing you'll notice is that the maniac will win a lot pots, but they are small pots. They will lose a few, but when they lose they really lose. During my two hours of play, I saw this maniac drop about $200.

Tight play is the key. After about mucking 6 hands preflop, I'm dealt pocket aces under the gun. I'm first to act after the blinds and I limp in. There are about 4 callers and as I expect the maniac raises. Seat 9 calls and I reraise to $6 to isolate. Amazingly enough, no one folds and the maniac caps it to $8. I'm a little concerned. Because the bet is capped with 6 players in the hand.

The flop comes 8d-Ad-5c. Great flop. I made my set but there's a flush draw. So I'm hoping that the board pairs. Again I'm in early position, I check because I'm expecting the maniac to raise. Suprisingly, seat 6 bets $2. The maniac raises to $4. I decide to take a stand and I reraise to $6. This effectively causes everyone to fold but the three of us. Seat 6 calls the $6 and the mainiac caps the bet to $8, I call. Here's what I'm thinking. The maniac caught a piece of the flop. Maybe the 8 or 5. Seat six is on a flush draw. Now I'm really hoping that the board pairs.

The turn comes the 5d. This is the best card I could imagine. I just made my full house. Seat 6 just made his flush and the maniac will play no matter what. I, of course, check because I'm setting a trap. Seat 6 bets $4. The maniac raises to $8. I reraise to $12 and seat 6 caps it at $16. The maniac actually folds at this moment. When seat 6 capped the betting, I'm very concerned. Does he have pocket 5's? The only hand that can beat me. Crap. I won't even win the jackpot if he does.

The river is 6h. I doubt that he has pocket 5's, but I've invested enough in this hand. I check, seat 6 raises. I say, "there's only one hand that can beat me so I'm calling." Seat 6 flips over Kd-7d for the nut flush. I flip over my Aces full of five to win a monster pot. I'm about $70 up on just one hand. The table is amazed.

When playing a maniac, you'll win a large pot with monster hands. I crippled the maniac and in about 2 hands, he's off to get another hundred to continue playing.

10 hands later I'm in the big blind. I'm fully expecting the maniac to raise. He doesn't. It comes to me and I have Jh-8h. I call. There's 7 players in the hand. The flop comes 2h-8c-8s. Tip 8's and I'm thrilled. I want to trap again. I check. It's checked to the maniac, who bets. It comes to me and I call because I don't want to give away my hand until the turn when the bet doubles. Then seat 6 raises to $4. The maniac reraises to $6 and I decide to cap it at $8. We're down to 3 players again.

The turn is 2d. Full house again. I check, seat 6 bets to $4. Maniac raises $8. I reraise to $12. Seat 6 having learned his lesson earlier folds. Maniac caps it at $16. I know for certain this guy doesn't have pocket 2's. I know I'm in command.

The river is 7d. I won. How much am I going to get? I bet $4. The maniac raises to $8 and I reraise to $12. The maniac pauses the seat 8 says, "he just reraised you." The maniac says, "I know, good for him." He calls and I flip over the full house and he mucks. I'm now up $130. The problem the maniac had here was that I played a hand like J8 suited. If he was a normal player and raised preflop, I might have thought twice about mucking J8 suited. But because I was in the blind and his style of play, I'm playing J8 suited no matter if he raises or not.

I end the day about $60 ahead. I lost two hands to him. The first time, I had top pair with Kings, he caught a Jack on the turn to give him a set of Jacks. Fortunately I only lost the minimum. I don't like to be aggressive with top pair. When playing a maniac you know that he'll play with any two cards. This means that the value of top pair is reduced significantly, because he can hit two pair with any random board.

The second time I lost to him was with King high. I knew that he couldn't beat king high. He caught a 3 on the river to pair up. At this point I tightened up, I and walked away a winner.

The lesson today, don't be intimidated or frustrated by a maniac. I've played against maniacs many times and I have ALWAYS seen them lose at the end of the session.

Defeated at $2/$4

I ventured again into the world of $2/$4 online Hold'em.  Crushed once again.  I started with $120 and ended with $40.

I'm following strictly.  Howard Lederer's Limit Hold'em chart.  I started by losing about $10, then $20 and then moved my way up to $130.  The great fluctuations occurred with good solid aggressive play.

My upward swing was due to aggressiveness with good hand.  I was raising any time I hand a preflop qualifying hand.  In fact, my table began to fear me.  I was getting away with picking up blinds having one caller and getting them to fold when the flop missed both of us.

The downward spins occurred when my somewhat strong hand was beaten by a dominant hand.

For example.  I have Queen, Jack.  I flop top pair and begin to play it aggressively.  Unfortunately my two other opponents have pocket Kings and pocket Aces.  I lose.  As I should, but I didn't dump a lot of money into it.

I am then dealt a fairly good hands preflop. Pocket tens, pocket queens, Ace-rag suited with good draws that don't work out.  This all occurred within a two rounds of blinds and I couldn't make these hands hold up. Generally I don't mind losing a good hand once in a while, but six times I got descent starting hands in the correct position only to be cracked.

Frustrating.  That's poker I guess, but why does this happen when I'm trying to move up?

Back to $1/$2 until I build my bankroll back to normal.

I Love Low Limit Professionals

Have you ever been in this situation?

You're at a low limit table and you make a fairly loose play to win the pot. Then some "professional" has to go on about how you got lucky and they feel they need to critique your play for the next three hands.

That happened to me yesterday. I really ticked a guy off and it was beautiful.

I just sat down at a $1/$2 table at Full Tilt Poker (http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/?aff=1956) and I'm in seat 7.  When you sit down at a table you're asked if you want to post the small blind.  Since I'd have to wait three hands for the big blind, I decide to post my dollar.

I'm dealt 10-4 offsuit.  It's folded to me and I check, since I'm already in the hand.  Seat 6 folds. Seat 9 raises. The button calls as does the small blind and big blind.  I decide to call this raise, so maybe I'll get lucky.

The flop comes Queen-10-7 rainbow.  The blinds check, I check and seat 9 bets.  One caller and everyone folds to me and I call the bet.

Fourth street brings me a 4 and now I have two pair.  I check, seat 9 bets, knocking out the last player and I reraise and I'm called.  The river is junk.  I bet and I am called with Pocket Kings and I win with two pair. This really ticks off seat 9. I win about $10

Of course, I had to show that I was playing with a lousy 10-4 offsuit.

Following this hand, here's how the chat proceeds:

Seat 9: 10-7 offsuit???
Humble Guy (me): I'm crazy.
Seat 9: You're stupid.
Humble Guy: Maniac.
Seat 9: Moron. You must lose a lot of money playing this way.
Humble Guy: There's this concept called pot odds.
Humble Guy: I was getting 8-to-1 odds preflop calling with two live cards. Would you call with those odds?
Seat 9: Shut up, retard.
Humble Guy: Hit and run baby.
Humble Guy has left the table.

I'll admit not very Humble, but I had fun.  I won about $10 and that paid for my $5 No-Limit SNG, which I won and earned another $18. Then I played Razz and won another $10.

Normally I wouldn't hit and run, but I really wanted to play a tournament. And as Barry Greenstein states in his book, Ace on the River, "You should try to win money and let the losers win the arguments." I wasn't in the mood to battle a person on tilt, so I took his money and left.

Another Win

I just won another SNG at Full Tilt Poker (http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/?aff=1956).  I'm still playing the lowest price SNG.  I think I'm ready to move up.

 

This was a particular interesting tournament.  The table was particularly tight.  I was able to steal alot. The key to this win though was taking notes.  You've got to use the tool when available.  I like to label my opponents tight vs. loose and passive vs. aggressive. My bluffs usually happened by limping in, since that's what everyone was doing and if I sensed that no one had a hand, I'd raise.

 

The first player out was the best.  He was attacking anyone when he sense weakness.  This guy, you can sit back and wait for a big hand and then come over the top.  In fact, many times just going over the top forced this guy out.

 

On player was down to 24 in chips. He build his chips up to 1200 and he goes all-in. I'm dealt Ace-King.  This guy was so lucky that I knew I'd lose to him with AK.  I called and he flips pocket tens.  I was right, he won.

 

He miraculously regained a lot of chips and wound up in the final three.  When we were down to three, I became aggressive.  I threw in a standard raise every hand and took 6 hands in a row without ever seeing a flop.

 

When it came head-to-head, I trapped my opponent to 200 chips with trip Queens. He was blinded in the next two hands. I was dealt really bad cards.  Soon, he had the chip lead on me.  I continued to raise all the time and I moved 1,000 over his stack.

 

One thing to know is that almost any hand can win head to head.  I like to see where I stand with big card.  I'm finally deal J-T off.  I figure I'm going to end it now and I pull a straight on the river.

 

Cheers.

This Week's Online Success

I've actually had a pretty good weekend online.  My wife had surgery last week so my playing was limited. Before surgery, I had a pretty bad run and lost about half of what I earned the previous week.  This weekend on the other hand was good.

 

What was the key? Simply, Aggression. I took that attitude that whenever I had a hand I needed to fight for it.  If I would normally call, I was raising.  If I had big cards, I was raising to isolate. 

 

Control of the table.  The other key was to control the table. By raising and looking like a maniac. No one was going to out raise me.  I wanted to be in control of the raising. This cause a lot of people to leave the pot and it also kept that bad players in.

 

This new found aggressing helped my no-limit tournaments.  I made the money in 7 out of 10 SNGs.

 

More later...

The Swings are Tough

I'm doing my normal playing and just as I'm coming off a great week in poker.  It's followed by a losing week so far.  Last week, I won close to $360 and now I'm down $120.

 

I'm learning a few things with this loss.  At cash games, if I'm not in control of the table I need to leave.

 

Losing on the river is just as common as winning on the river.  It feels like my worst losses occur on the river.  I have the best hand going in and I lose it on the lucky river.  This is the balance of poker, being aggressive and being prepared to give it all up for the lucky card.

My Best Stud Hand

I was playing in my monthly home game with my old roommate and a couple of friends. In this blog I'm just going to talk about a hand.  I'll get to the rest of the game later.

 

The game was Follow the Queen.  It's 7-stud but if a Queen is dealt as an upcard the card following makes that rank a wild card.

 

I'm dealt three Kings. Two down and one up. Very strong hand. One of my opponents has a 4 showing. The next I'm dealt a 6 and two seats down a queen is dealt. My opponent with the 4 is now being dealt the wild card, which is a 7.  I'm still feeling confident.  My set is still good.

 

On 5th street, I'm dealt a Jack, but my opponent with the 4 is now dealt another 7 giving him a set of 4.  Not only that he bets strong. My kings are not looking very good at the moment.

 

On 6th street, my hope is another queen comes out but it doesn't.  It's now down to three players. The set of 4's is betting strong and I'm calling.  The third player is staring at my cards and wondering why I'm calling.  My calling is enough to scare him out of my pot.  My fear at the moment is that I'm now losing to a four-of-a-kind.  I'm cringing as I call the max bet.  I know I'm making a loose call.

 

On 7th street, I'm dealt my down card.  It's a Jack and I just made a full house.  Incredibly strong hand, if I weren't playing a stupid wild card game. The 4's again bets strong and I have to call.  I can't fold a full house.  I'll just pay the guy off.  He flips over a Ace for three-of-a-kind.  I win a huge pot with my boat.  That was scary, because I was losing up until the last card.

 

At the same time, if these wasn't a wild card game, I had King-King-Jack as my down cards and King, Jack, 7, 6, 2 as my upcards.  This is an incredibly deceptive hand for stud.

 

In conclusion, I hate wild card games.  The reality is that you need a wild card to win. I've thrown away natural trips because I didn't have the wild card and I could have easily lost this hand.

This Week In Poker

This has been my best week in poker overall.  I started this week with $80 in my Full Tilt Poker Account.  Today I have $220 in my Full Tilt Poker account.  I also went to Pechanga Casino in Temecula and I walked away with $120.

 

What happened this week compared to any other week? I finally to my own advice and I decided to play very tight.  The reason I lose in Limit Hold'em is that I play way too many hands. Basically, I wait for playable hole cards.  In early position, I'm playing premium hands.  In late position, I'm looking for good flush and straight draws.

 

Here's some highlights of the week.  One reason I get in trouble online is that I get bored and will play anything.  I now play two tables at a time. Generally two different games so that I don't mix things up.  The only trouble I ran into with this strategy is when I play Hold'em and Omaha Hi/Lo. I am tempted to go for the low hand in Hold'em.

 

My second strategy is any game is to wait for good starting hands.  I already talked about Hold'em a little, the standard I want to maintain is playing no more than 33% of the hands dealt. In the case of Omaha, I'm looking for hands that can scoop the pot.  I want Aces with suited x cards, good pairs, three cards to the wheel.  I'm also playing Razz and here I want my first three cards to be below an eight.

 

I also started playing a lot of Sit-N-Go.  Here's how it went.  I played three Omaha High/Low SNG's and came in first in games 1 and 2.  Third in game 3.  I played two Razz SNG's and came in third in game 1 and first in game 2.

 

Today, I was at Pechanga.  I performed only in the 9:45 show at NCT so I figured I'd play from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.  By the time, it hit 5:00 I was already up $120.  I decided to take my winnings and leave early.

 

I sat down at the $2/$4 table and I figured I only played 10 hands and muck everything else preflop. Also, everytime I made it to the river, I won the hand, which means I won every showdown.  The key is that I was more willing to throw away bad hands.

 

If you every play low limit Hold'em, you know that the rake is very high.  The only way to beat the rake, is to win and not lose. One final note is that calling down the river is very expensive. If I bet every round, that means I'm putting at risk, $12 per hand.  If I can be aggressive and raise preflop and after the flop, I'd only spend $8 to know where I stand. Once the flop hits you should spend the money to find out where your at.  Many times I folded on the flop with top pair, when anyone was aggressive with me.  There's no reason to call off a stack of chips on top pair.

 

I'll have more to day later.

$200K Satellite Adventure

Last night I played in a Satellite tournament at Full Tilt Poker.  The Satellite was for their $200k tournament.  It was also like a freeroll because I used my player points to enter.

My motivation for entering was not really to win, even though I wanted to.  It was really to assess where my tournament skills where at today.  I must say, I left that tournament with a great deal of confidence.  More than I normally have.

There was only one payoff spot at that was first place.  The prize…entry into the $200k tournament worth $257.

Going into the tournament and had a few things in mind:
1. Play is going to be loose because the cost to enter was relatively low.  I want to find who are the players who don't care if they win or lose and get them to risk all their chips against me.

2. I want to play tight.  I don't want to play crappy hands so I'm going to use Dan Harrington's starting hand suggestions in his book, "Harrington on Hold'em"

3. Selective Aggression.  Since I'm tightening up on starting hands, any pot that I enter, I'm always raising pre-flop and post-flop.  If I'm losing on the turn and river, I'm going to give up my hand.

4. I want to steal blinds if I can.  Phil Gordon in his seminar at the ESPN zone said that stealing blinds is important to survival.

Following this strategy, I placed 6th in a field of 140 players.  My only regret was that there wasn't any money for the final table.  This was also some of my best poker too.

I was getting good cards building my stacks and that gave me the confidence to bluff more.  In fact this was the first time that I stayed ahead of average from the get go.  I was in first place for most of the tournament until the last three tables.  I lost my lead not due to anything I did, but some real bonehead all-ins that would double-up my closest opponents.

Near the end, I was in third place until a bad beat and a bad decision knocked me out.

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Here's some hands of note:

My first double up - There was a player at my table, who was playing like a maniac (seat 4).  He was three seats to my right, so he was in early position every time I was in the blinds.  In fact, he was raising every time he was in early position.  My suspicion was that he was stealing blinds with anything.  And he was always raising with big cards and suited connectors.  I was dealt K-9 suited in early position and Seat 4 came in raising.  It was a standard raise. So I called and we're heads up.

The flop comes in K-8-4 rainbow.  I check because I want to see what he does.  He bets the pot.  His past behavior is that he's always raising the pot when he misses or catches a small part and he's all-in with a significant hand.  I basically didn't put him on anything to beat my Kings, so I raise him over the top and he folds.  Later to find he had Jacks.  Good fold.

A few hands later, I'm dealt Queens in early position and I come in with a standard raise.  Seat 8 decides to call me.  The flop comes off K-Q-9 giving me trips.  Again, I check and seat 8 bets. I'm thinking he has Kings, so I'm going to trap.  I call his bet.  The turn comes a five.  I check, he bets and I double his bet.  He raises me again and I go all-in.  The river comes an Ace and my opponent flips over 7-8 suited.  He went all-in on a gutshot straight draw.  Amazing.  I'm now in the chip lead.

When in the chips lead, I like to hang back.  I will get aggressive with some hands, but I'm not going to risk my lead or significant chips to lose during a fancy play.

My strategy is really working until we're down to two tables.  I'm in third at this point.  On two occasions, I had pocket Aces and no callers.

I'm now dealt pocket Queens.  I raise and seat 9 calls my bet.  The flop comes rags, nothing over ten.  I bet the pot.  Seat 9 reraises and I go all-in.  My queens are up against his aces.  I lose about half my chips.  With the play down to two tables, it was right for me to do this.  I just hate losing.

I'm now in the middle of the pack chip-wise.  We get to the final table, and I find myself in down to 6 players with about 20,000 in chips.  I'm dealt Ace-Queen in middle position.  I raise and seat 9 calls.  Seat 9 is now down to 13,000 in chips and short-stacked.  The flops comes rags.  I check. Seat 9 comes in with the minimum bet.  Pot odds dictate I call. The turn comes a Queen and seat 9 comes in with the minimum bet.  Thinking I have the best hand, I put time all-in.  He quickly calls.  He flips over Q-8 but an 8 came on the flop and I'm beaten by two pairs.

I'm down to 8,000 in chips and I'm tired.  I was dealt K-x.  I go all-in and steal the blinds and antes.  I'm now dealt Q-J.  I go all-in and steal the blinds and antes.  I'm now up to 10,000 in chips.  Next I get Ace-8 suited in the big blinds.  I go all-in and I have one caller with Ace-9.  I'm out.

My Best 5-card Draw Hand

I haven't written in a while, so here goes.  Several months ago, I was invited to a home game by one of my old college students.

It's one of those games where dealer chooses the game.  There's about 6 of us playing that night for low stakes cash.

The guy on my left is the dealer and chooses 5-card draw.  The cards are dealt and I am dealt a 9-high straight right off the bat.  This is where position gives you the greatest advantage.

Before my turn to act, there is a bet and a raise.  I decided to call the raise hoping the original bettor reraises and he does.  It's called to me and I then reraise to cap the pot.  I'm in a hand now with 3 of the 6 remaining players.  The three players ask for standard drawing amounts, 2 or 3 cards, except 1 who asks for 1 card.

It's now my turn, so I say, "I'm going to scare the table, I do not need any cards."  I did this for two reasons, I want to let the table know that I have a great hand.  The second and real reason was because of the guy who asked for only one card.  He's obviously on a straight or flush draw.  If he hits the flush, I need to know that before I bet.

The table is obviously taken aback by what I said.  Now it's important see what happens.  If the guy who needed one card bets strong, I know I'm beat.  Fortunately I doesn't.  It's called to me and I bet the max bet which is a dollar.  I know that two of these players are elephant and will pay me off.

I win the pot and now I have a story to tell my kids.

The Day I Met Phil Gordon

I know, we're all bored of politics.  So here's my second poker blog in two days.

I heard from MousePlanet that Phil Gordon was going to be at the ESPN Zone in Downtown Disney for a poker seminar.  I was excited so I left immediately from work and arrived at ESPN Zone to wait 2 hours in a non-moving line to attend this event.  I had the foresight to bring Barry Greenstein's new book to read.  I unfortunately didn't have the foresight to bring a sharpie pen.

At 7:00, we're let in and I get a really night seat.  I find out that there is a drawing for a seat in the main event at the World Series of Poker. In fact, not only a seat and accommodations, but every day before the event, Phil is going to coach you and look at your table and give you pointers.  I have never wanted to win a grand prize more in my life.

At 7:30 the seminar starts and much of what he said was in his video.  I did learn a few things.  Never call off your chips with a medium strength hand. And always raise when first to act in the pot.  I suggest you get his video for even better information (http://www.expertinsight.com/?aff=75).

Afterward, there was a quiz based on the seminar.  Five questions and an extra ticket for the main prize for getting each question right.  I, of course, got 5 out of 5.

While everyone was completing the questionnaire, I decided to go and meet Phil.  There was a person in front of me and when it was my turn, I shook his hand and had him sign my video.  I only had the ball point pen from the seminar so the signature didn't come out.  The indentation is there on the video cover.

I told him that I was a fan and asked him how I should play these small stakes tournaments where the blinds double quickly.  He told me that I should play them and that I should play incredibly tight for the first two rounds and then apply pressure when the blinds get big.

Phil is a really nice guy.  He's friendly and outgoing with a biting sense of humor.  He's definitely handling his new celebrity status very well.  If you have a chance to meet him and say hi, take it.

I didn't win a thing.  That was the most disappointing thing of the night.  I have never wanted to win a grand prize more in my life.

Oh well, God's will, I guess.

The Deadly River

I haven't done a poker blog in a while so here goes.

It seems that anytime I do well at poker and have days were I don’t do well.  The only problem that I have with limit poker is sucking out.  I'm starting to play pretty tight and only going into hands with fairly descent hole cards. But sometimes you just can't be luck.

My favorite casino is Pechanga in Temecula, CA.  I generally win there.  The last time I was there I lost about $60.  I will admit that I was playing a few too many hands, but at the same time, I could not get people to fold if my life depended on it.  Everyone is calling their draws to the river and then I get beat.

This was typical, I'd have pocket Queens, I'd raise with no one folding. I'll play it strong to the river only to get beat by someone's gut shot draw.  That's poker, but then again, that's frustrating.  On the other hand, the pot is pretty big if the straight doesn't hit, the problem is the straight does hit.

Yesterday at Full Tilt Poker was even more frustrating.  On five occasions, I had the best hand until the river.  Let's review a few hand.

My hole cards are 8-8. Not bad, I raise to see where I'm at.  And I get a caller.  The flop comes K-K-8.  I flopped a full house.  My opponent bets, I raise, he reraises and I cap it. I know my opponent has a King.  The turn comes a 3.  I raise, he calls.  The river is a 3. My full house just got beat.

Later I got a pair of Queens, and I get beat by a flush with runner-runner hearts.

Now I have K-T.  Flop comes K-T-7.  I flop two pair.  I raise and the guy to the right calls.  The river comes a 3. I bet and the guy on my right calls.  The board comes a Jack and I'm thinking, I'm beat. The guy on my right checks and I check to lose to his pocket Jacks.  I could just scream.  I was fortunate to realize that I was trapped on the last card. Two hands later, I foil another lucky player on the river and save myself a bet.

I will admit, that half of the draws we're good.  The players rightly played their hole cards. Other times, it just doesn't make sense.  Sometimes you can't beat luck. That's when you get up from the table and leave with what you've got left.

I'll be back tomorrow about how I met Phil Gordon two days ago.