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.