Sorry, that I haven't written in a while. I went on a losing streak in December and then I caught the flu. The flu was so bad, I couldn't even play poker in bed.
Since the losing streak, I decided that I needed to do a little rethinking. I made the decision to play mostly Sit-N-Go's and tournaments. I'm doing pretty good. I'd say I'm cashing at 75% right now. More on that later.
I was heading down to San Diego early because of a business meeting and I had a show in San Diego that night. I picked up a copy of Daniel Negreneau's DVD and became motivated to play no-limit hold-em.
The only casino on the way to SD was Ocean's 11. They are a tough club, but I figured if I lost $80 at $1-$1 No-Limit, I would have paid for a good lesson is no-limit.
My strategy going in, is to play tight and just start reading players, if I can. As a result of my strategy, my 2 and 1/2 hour session made me a $160 winner with my $40 buy-in. I won 4 hands and voluntarily entered 8 pots.
My wife is going to have a great Valentine's day. Here's some specific of the day:
Maniacs Galore
$1-$1 No-Limit means the blinds were $1 each. The maximum buy-in was $40. This was my second time at a no-limit table. The low blinds and the low buy-in meant that the table would be full of maniacs. In fact there were 6 maniacs at the table.
Maniac Strategy
The strategy of the players at the table was simple. If you have a premium hand, you bet a little bit to invite action. If you have a strong hand but beatable hand, you bet strong to take the pot instantly.
For example, if you're dealt a pocket Jacks. You bet 10-20 times the blinds or you go all-in. Although Jacks is a good hand it can be beat by a higher pair on the flop. So it's best just to take the pot now.
If you flop the nuts, you bet small because you want people to call or make a dumb move.
Problem with the Maniac Strategy
The problem with this strategy is that you may win a lot of hands, but you'll lose a lot of hands and you'll lose a lot of money in those hands. The losing principle here is that you're overplaying your hands. If you go all-in with your pocket Jacks, a maniac will call it with Ace-King. You're not in a coin-flip situation with your entire stack.
Capitalizing on the Maniac
The key to winning big is letting the maniac dig their own hole and play super tight. Don't chase. Don't play marginal hands. Oh yeah, get lucky too.
Here's what happened to me. I'll admit I got lucky, but then again, in a normal game I wouldn't have won so much.
After about 10 minutes of observing maniac play, I realized, I need to play premium hands.
Hand #1 - I'm dealt Pocket Aces in the small blind. The table limps to me with 5 callers. I move in with a raise of $7. All 5 callers call the raise.
The flop comes 9-5-3 rainbow. That's a great flop for me. I'm first to act, I throw in $20 because I want this pot right now. I don't want to mess around with just a pair. Everyone folds except seat 7. He goes all-in and has me cover. Crap, I'm thinking he has two pair or trips. I look at my stack and I realize I'm pot committed, so I push in the rest of my money and I reach into my wallet for another $40 to re-buy.
Seat 7 flips over two pair 9-5 against my aces.
The turn comes a King. The river comes another King. I just made two pair on runner-runner to basically double up. I'm now at $85. I got lucky on this one. But I did have outs. The 3 could have paired or the remaining aces could have come out too.
Hands #2 and #3 - A couple of hands later I flop two pair and I bluffed a pot to get my stack to $90.
It's close to my time to leave because I need to get a hair cut before the show.
Hand #4 - I'm in the small blind and I have not seen my cards yet. Seat 3 comes in with a $10 raise. Seat 4 calls. Seat 5 calls. Seat 8 calls and I look at my cards and I'm looking at pocket Aces. I'm looking at a $40 pot. 4-to-1 odds with aces. I'm calling. The big blind decides to call as well. Now I'm getting 5-to-1.
The Flop - Q-Q-J. This is a scary flop. I'm first to act and I check. I want to see what happens.
The big blind checks. Seat 3 goes all-in for about $15. Seat 4 folds. Seat 5 calls. Seat 8 folds. Now it's my turn.
I'm thinking that the pot is huge. Do I believe that either of the two players has a Queen? The All-In may have a Queen. Seat 5 definitely doesn't. He's been so aggressive that he would have gone all-in instead of call. This is part gamble, but there's enough money in the pot that I can chase an ace for a full house. Also, I can put Seat 5 all-in to win a sizeable side pot in case I lose to trip Queens.
I call because I want to see the turn. Seat 5 makes a comment wondering why I'm still in the hand.
The turn comes a 2. I immediately put Seat 5 all-in and he calls.
I flip over my aces and he flips over his Jack. I knew it.
I win the side pot and Seat 3 mucks his hand. I'm thinking that he either had a Jack or King.
I win about $90 on the hand and I gave the dealer a sizeable tip.
I'm also screwed, because I have to get my haircut and I can't get up and leave right now. I decide to be nice and play through the next blinds. The game is so slow at this point that I can only make it through 4 more hands and I have to leave. The table was not happy, but then again, it's their style of play that causes them to lose money.
While observing play, I noticed that everyone at my table either had low stacks or rebought 2-3 times. I also noticed the better players ended the day with shortened stacks.
Cheers for now. I'll blog next about my first attempt at the All-in style in an S-N-G.
