Would you look at all this free time!

Ok, I kid. Free time. Ha. That disappeared years ago. I'd swear your kids occupy much more time after they stop needing you to clean up their digestive waste, feed them and the like.

So, my version of internet poker is dead. Funny thing, it looks like Party Poker might just have the best chance of being invited back in the fastest when all this clears up. I hope they've taken some time to spiffy the place up.

A few posts back, I posted about a hand (link - go read it, I'll wait...) I played at my local bar poker league. JamyHawk and Jordan over at HighOnPoker (it's your turn btw in WordsWithFriends (OhCaptain)) both left comments about their thoughts on the hand. I figured I should rebut a little with some more thoughts about this and bar poker in general.

First, Waffles comment on his blog is in someways very true. When you are married with two kids and the nearest casino with Limit Hold 'em is a one hour drive away (that makes it two hours round trip) you really want your night out playing poker to last longer than 20 minutes. I haven't even got the label half way worked off the bottle of my first beer yet. Let's savor the freedom, the peace and quiet. (Shhhh....you hear that...ah...everyone is sleeep)

Second point, not all bar poker is created equal.

I've played in my share of locations since legal bar poker first appeared in Minnesota. Yes, it was illegal up until a few years ago. Sigh. Friggin' blue law state. (Why the hell can't I buy beer on Sunday? Geez) Quite a few of them we poker played in a Keno style. You shove your chips in with five of your closest friends and see what happens. It's the NumbBlowMe rebuy tournament in a bar. Not much fun.

I've chosen to play at the bar I have based on the level of the game. It's a few steps above this. Quite a few of the players are much more skilled then just playing shove monkeys. Granted, it's still a bit more loose/passive then a lot of games, but so are many of the low buy in casino tournaments I've played. But I ask, what better environment to learn to play and read players of that type.

This brings me to a rebuttle a point made by Jamy when he says,

"When you say "I decide to check and gather a bit more information". I disagree. I don't think you are ever going to get information by checking."

This is where playing in a regular game differs from online and live games with lots of strangers. The Well Manicured Man and I have played hours of poker together. I pride myself on building very accurate reads on players I have a history with, and this guy, I have. He spews information as long as you are willing to look for it. One thing I hope no one ever tells him about, he spins his top chip in his bet pile when he's a big hand and just sets the chips down with no spin when he's fishing....but I digress. Checking to this guy gives me a ton of information. He has a really bad habit of bet sizing differently on his continuation bets with a hand and without. A cardinal sin when you are trying to keep me off balance. If he bet small (which he did) he's got nothing. He bets big, he's got something worth protecting. This habit of his is spot on. The second way this helps me is, for free, I get to see the reaction of the other man in the hand. In a game like this, while I have no history with this guy, I know that for whatever reason, he's going to be paying attention to the last guy to act, WMM and not me. So I get to watch him without him trying to hide from me. He shows bubkiss. So for free, I got to watch as one player told me he's got nothing and the other player told me he was holding a weak hand. All for the low price of nothing.

All while sipping a tasty bottle of 312 from Goose Island Brewing Company.If there's a beer company out there that wants to sponsor this blog and get some SEO magic, just look me up. (But why oh why does Anheiser Busch need to buy up my favorite little breweries? I'll miss you 312)

I've noticed over the years that I have more success at bar poker when I adapt my game to fit the situation. In Jordan's post, he writes,

"When you have a strong hand in a game where donkeys are likely to call with ATC, that is not a sign that you should play the strong hand slowly; that’s a sign that you need to stamp down on the pedal as hard as possible. Rather than fearing that your opponents will suck out on you, focus on the reverse. For players to suckout, they must be behind. Therefore, more often than not in that situation, you will win."

When thing I was never really afraid of was my opponent sucking out on me. Actually quite the opposite. My call from the BB is waiting to see the flop before committing all my chips. See previous comment about wanting to strip the label off my beer. It's true, they will call with any two cards, so it best not to commit everything with QQ and find yourself racing against 2 other players. Mathematically, it's too close to call with the range of over cards they could be holding. Second, after the flop, I do slow play it because my read is telling me I'm way ahead here. Scaring people out of the pot at this point to me is playing with fear of losing to a suck out. I'm playing the hand for value. Remember, the longer I have chips, the greater my opportunity to strip the labels off of beer bottles.

I think another big difference between bar poker leagues and straight up tournament play has to do with the payment structure. When I play a tournament for money, I want to get paid. The deeper I go, the more money I make. This point is well understood. Now, bar poker leagues are a different beast. While sure, there's some gift certificates for 1st, 2nd and 3rd. I like me free stuff, but the bigger prizes comes after weeks of play. Each week, the top 30% of the tournament gets points. If you think about the random donkeys that play these things, you quickly notice that while going really deep once is cool and all, the people that make the points most often usually find themselves moving on to bigger pastures. Making the final table every week pays better long term than winning once in a while.

It really all depends on which prize you are shooting for.

While I wait for the hope of seeing my online funds returned to me, I guess I'll have to play what I can. Maybe we can finally find that online euchre or 500 client...I know, I'm dreaming.

And thus ends the rambling.

The Free Poker Network, the parent company of my Minnesota league has an online poker client now. It's no where near as polished as Stars, Tilt or Party Poker, but it is another way to get into their bigger tournaments. My first forays into playing the site but it at about bar poker level of skill. If you are interested in trying it out, their affiliate program requires me to invite you with an email. Shoot me an email and I'll invite you.

When the read is spot on but your opponent has no clue

So, last Tuesday, I made it back Brother's for the weekly game of the Minnesota Poker League. Much like the drop in posting on this blog, I've just not been finding the opportunity to play bar poker. Somehow, I've made it 4 weeks in a row. Shocking. Hell, I've even made the points two of those three weeks. I figure not to shabby consider the previous times I'd played live poker, were the two whiskey club meetings since the WPBT Winter Gathering.

Oh how I missed poker.

So last night, I sit down at my assigned table. A couple new faces and a few usual suspects. The lady sitting on my left is sort of new. She seems to have come a lot since I went on hiatus, everyone knows her. I've played at her table once before, more on that later. Don't let me forget.

There's a new guy sitting directly across the table from me. He's a bit disheveled and playing almost every hand. Let's just say, he's giving no real solid indications about having poker skills. Three to my left, is the well manicured man I've written about in the past.

The hand I'm sharing today is one that I know I misplayed. I did. I made a tactical decision and it the results...

I started the night in the big blind and haven't played a hand yet. I have 1975 T$. We are in the first blind level (25/25). I'm in the big blind. The player two to my left limps, well manicured man raises to 100, next player folds, Disheveled Man raises to 200. It folds to me, I look down to find QQ. In the early stages of bar poker, I hate to go crazy to early with hands like QQ. You are much to likely to be seeing the flop with 3 or more other players to get any real value out of a raise. I call. The early limper insta-mucks. Well manicured man just calls.

The flop comes KJ6 rainbow. Since I'm in early position and whiffed the flop, I decide to check and gather a bit more information. Well manicured man raises to 100, again. A little something about him, he likes to organize the stripes on his chips. He's a very orderly guy. This small raise into a pot of 350 has traditionally meant that he's weak and looking to thin the herd. I'm figuring him for ace rag. Disheveled Man calls. Now, I have no history on him. Everything about his mannerisms tells me he's weak. His raise preflop seemed odd when he did it, like he was bluffing. This call also appeared to me like he was fishing for something. I figured I was way ahead of both of these guys at the time, so I just called. (Mistake 1)

Turn is a 9. I'll be perfectly honest, this wasn't a card I wanted to see. While I didn't think Well Manicured Man (WMM) would raise pre with QT, I'm not sure where Disheveled Man (DM) is. WMM raises it again to 100. I'm positive, he's got air. Ace rag is still a good guess. DM raises super fast to 500 and is totally looking like this is an absolute bluff. When I looked back at WMM, this really made him look uncomfortable. If my read is correct, I'm still way ahead here. Both guys are fishing for something or being bar poker stooges and bluffing madly with crap.

The river is a Q. I've made a set. I decided to take my stand. I know there's the ten possibility for a straight, but I just couldn't put either guy on any tens. Each one looked disappointed with the river. So I shoved. I really thought I was shoving for value. At best, I figured someone had AK, KQ or maybe even JJ.

WMM folds instantly. DM starts counting out chips like he's making a crying call. He calls and turns over pocket tens. "You caught me bluffing, can you beat a pair of tens?"

I sat there pretty much in shock. My read was spot on. He was convinced he really didn't have much. Someone at the table had to show him the straight by laying the cards out. "Wow. I figured I was busted."

I'll be perfectly honest, it sucked losing to someone that didn't even know what they had. A nice healthy sprinkling of salt in the wound. He had me covered so I got to take the lonely walk out. I don't like busting ever, but busting in the first blind level totally sucks.

It did remind me of a very important lesson you always have to keep in mind when you are using reads on weakness to make a decision. A player is only showing weakness they think they have. They may not realize just how strong they really are. Sigh.

How many times have you asked the poker gods?

I don't know how many times I've asked the poker gods to let me flop quads. I know, calling from out of position with medium pocket pairs is stupid, that's why I checked! Plus, 3 other people were going to see this flop so why raise, out of position with 9's?

He bet into me every street too until I was all in :)

Knowing when to play the hammer

I think I picked the wrong time to lay down the hammer preflop. What was I thinking?

Congrats to my friend DeeBakes! He won the Gambling Tales Podcast freeroll the other night! Here's his recap. Head on over and congratulate him.

When a raise out of turn sets off the alarms

Tonight, I was playing a little Minnesota Poker League bar poker, tuning up for the WPBT gathering in Vegas. I was in a hand tonight that I thought I would share to see what you think.

Blinds are 200/400. I have 3800 in chips and am sitting in the cutoff. When I looked down, I found 99, not a completely crappy hand at all. I figure if it folds to me, I raise it up to 1200ish.

When the action folded to me, the player on my left shoves for a 1000. Now, it wasn't a huge shove, just 2.5 big blinds, but the big stack on the button, moves like he wants to insta-call but suddenly realizes that I haven't acted yet.

I sat there for a little bit and thought this through. Everyone at the table was going to let me act first, but my plan to raise just doesn't sound like a good plan any more. With 600 chips in the pot from the blinds, this shove of 1000 after me, a 1200 chip raise is out of the question. Why don't I just beg everyone to call? I'm positive the button was going to  put chips in the middle as soon as it was his turn. He's definitely strong. I got the feeling the blinds new this too.

I figured it was either shove or fold and wait for a better spot.

I'm not a huge fan of nines. They are pretty and all, but a coin flip at best to almost all of the hands that the big blind would act so strong with. What to do, what to do...

I folded having committed not a single chip in the middle.

The player to my left turns over K6h (WTF? Couldn't wait to shove this????) and the button turns of pocket tens.

Whew! Dodge a bullet there! Of course, the flop contains a 9 and the set would have held, but since I didn't know that preflop, I think I made the right decision.

What do you think?

Having fun playing live poker with Aberlour 12 year old scotch whiskey

I've spent the last few months pretty much not playing live poker. By not playing live poker I mean not more then once a month if that. Bourbonators has pretty much been my only live poker since sometime last spring. Before this hiatus, I had played at least one night a week for 4 years. Maybe I was a little burned out. Maybe.  I had reached a point though, I was getting bored playing online only. There's only so many online hours you can spend before you long to just splash some chips around.

Last Friday night, we had our monthly meeting. Our host's wife is spitting out a baby ANY day now, so it was a little dicey about whether he was gonna host or not. He had picked up a bottle of Aberlour Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky (aged 12 years). We think we've tried this one before, but we've lost the list. Nice huh? Oh well, if I keep this up and post every month. There's always a chance, we might just get the official web site going.

On with the booze!

According to the package, this single malt has been aged in traditional oak casks and finest Sherry Casks. Double casking was developed in distillers in Scotland. The British would sell them their used sherry casks and after aging the whiskey for a while in the traditional vessels, they would move the spirits into the sherry casks for a little more maturation. Interesting idea.

The tasting notes on this package described the color as a golden amber with hints of rub red. You can see that in my first picture. I have noticed that the darker/redder the liquid, the more likely it is to either be sweeter or comprised of more complex flavors. Sweeter for me in a whisky is not always a good thing. (Sorry Canadians)

The nose is described as "soft and round with fruity notes of red apple". I have no idea what round is supposed to smell like. Any clues? But it was definitely pleasant fruity. The palate was listed as "sherried character and fruity flavours balanced with a rich chocolate, toffee and cinnamon and ginger spiciness." My perception was definitely a richer flavor than many scotches I've tried. It really was a warm, deeply comforting flavor that I found quite enjoyable. So many of the scotches I've tried have either been very smoky or very peaty. This was neither. Just smooth, a tiny touch of sweet and very relaxing. The finish was also as described, "warm and lingering with some smoky notes and gentle pepperiness."

A drink well done.

It very well could have been this spirit or the fact that we had a short table of 6 runners, but I found myself in a strange place. I really wanted to play poker and had a lot of fun playing it. So incredibly weird. The host had also purchased the nummy and delicious 312 beer from the Goose Island Brewery.

The 6 guys that were there were 6 guys I've played many times. The more I think of it, the more I realize that many of them actually read this blog and I probably shouldn't go babbling on and on about what kind of tells, habits, tendencies I've noticed. Maybe just recap a hand or two that seemed fun or somehow caught my attention.

The first hand was something I've really sucked at for a while. Some people might wonder how the hell you could screw it up but I think others will definitely recognize just what a challenge it can be. In this first hand, I held AA. Yep, I suck at playing this hand, especially from very early position.

Now how the hell can you suck at playing aces, I mean really. Well, for the longest time, I've been consistently winning the smallest of pots with it. Annoying as hell. Taking the blinds is not my goal, but it seemed to be my modus operandi.

On this night, I played them different. I normally 3 BB raise everything, but I also tend to be the tightest guy at the table. My guess is, the 3 BB raise from EP would probably just look like aces when I do it. I had spent more time also playing against my usual tight image. I had been a down right bully a few times and play a bit more pots then usual.

I opened from under the gun with just a min raise. With the table short handed, I hoped this might generate a little action, if I could get a few callers, there was more the one guy here that would take a stab at a squeeze play.

Two guys did indeed limp and the button did a reraise. A nice sized one too. The blinds quickly folded and back to me. I realized this might be a really good time for a really big over bet. I had bullied this player earlier and if he's got a hand that's trying to clear out the deadwood, like a big ace, he just might defend his raise. My bet was almost all of my stack and sure enough, he moved it all in over the top. Gin!

He tables AQs, this was exactly the type of hand I thought he might have. It's also a hand that's almost a 9:1 underdog to pocket aces, all I would need to do is dodge the remaining 50 spades in the deck (that's a joke, but doesn't it seem like when this happens, every card turned over is a spade...just sayin) I dodged them all and doubled up with aces.Whew!

.Since it was 6 handed, I really did figure it was time to be very active and more aggressive. The weird thing was, the 6 of us were taking way longer to finish a sng then we ever took when there was twice this many players. It probably was the scotch.

The night did produce a fair amount of drama. In the hand pictured below, the flop was laid out from right to left. Yes, the 87 had flopped the straight and two cards later, the A2o hits the bigger straight. The sick part was the 87o was a big stack, and the A2o was a little stack we were trying to bust from the tournament. Poker can be so cruel.

I believe this was one hand later, same two players. KJ was the big stack again, and got rivered for the chop. Sigh.

I went away from the night with a smile on my face. I finished 2nd in the 2nd sng, so the whole night cost me my $5 for the booze. Well worth it. I felt good about the way I played and had a blast doing it. Hopefully, these keeps with me to December. Which is taking it's sweet ass time, don't you think?

The sum of my SNG's - god save the queen

I'm beginning to believe I'm never supposed to cash again. I played two SNG's tonight. How I busted from the first... (you'll have to click through to see them in a reader)



And from the second tournament...



Queens rock?

Playing Kings or Queens Short Stacked

Two blasted weeks in a row, I've gone home early from poker league. Last week, with QQ. This week it was KK.

Last week, I knew I was throwing the night away. Blinds were 50/100 and I was on the button. With two limpers in front of me, I made it 600. The little blind called after thinking for a while and the limpers folded. When the flop came AJ6 rainbow I heard the LB say "Let's go 600 again." I've played with this guy now for a few years. He's an older gentleman and either goes really deep doubling up with crap aces and small pairs or goes home early. My little voice said, "A 10"...so I did what any tilt monkey would do, I counted all of my remaining 1450 in chips and said, "All-in." My little voice was right.

This week was different. The blinds were 100/200. Under the gun raises to 600, a fairly standard raise and this guy only raises with big aces (AKo/s, AQo/s, AJo/s) and pocket pairs 8's or better. I'm short stacked (not atypical for me in this game only about 2 hours in) with 1,700. I was next to act and found KK.

Now, here's the decision that I need your help with. There's no way I fold, duh. The question is call or raise. If I call, it doesn't exclude others from the party and I'm not sure more people is necessarily bad. I am hiding behind a tight playing raising from early position. Or, do I shove roughly 8 big blinds over the top and keep the party small?

As it turns out, the flop didn't contain an ace, but the turn did. This got me thinking and hopefully fishing for advice. Had I just called and seen the flop, my post flop shove would have gotten his AQo to fold, but since I shoved pre-he insta-called me with the AQo. leaving no room for wiggling.

My question(s) to all of you: shove or call pre? Is a min raise even worth a shot with only 2 BB's left behind when I'm done? Is there any reason I could ever friggin' hope to have a hand hold up playing poker?

*on a side note: as I was leaving the table, the guy tells me, "Man, you just can't win a coin flip can you." - Sigh. If only we were that close. I've got me as a 2.5:1 favorite. Not sure what kind of coin he's talking about.

Just when you think the doom switch is fully engaged

I've had a really unfun run of cards lately. Actually, I found away to give back a few buy ins in just a matter of a couple minutes at limit hold 'em. You know when AKs flops AAX and some donkey decides it's positive EV to cap every street with you and that damn deuce on the river just had to give him a full house, right? Of course you knew that. Friggin' deuce on the river gives the donkey a full house A2o is the gawd damn nutz...fricka fracka...why I oughta...

Anywho. This time next week, I should be lining up to see Steel Panther with a group of bloggers at the WPBT winter gathering. I'll just say it now, sorry for any drunken tweets or posts that might show up. Dude..it happens.

So, I really did figure the doom switch had been engaged the last couple of days. I probably shouldn't be playing poker exhausted, but we all know, we don't play bad, there's evil people that run these poker site that are out to get us. That's why they invented the doom switch. To get us. (I kid...I'm pretty sure I was WAY too tired to play poker)

Well, tonight, I felt like I got a little bit of my karma back. Check out this screen cap -

Now, before you go and think, "Well, OhCaptain, did he slow play those aces all the way to the river?" The answer, of course, is absolutely, positively, no way. We got it all in on the flop cuz I think diamonds are purdy.

Here's the replay:



I'd love to hear some theories or explanations of how I had a suspicion that he had a big pair and this was some awesome play. He was not normally not that passive early, but why do I care, I'm trying to shake off a doom switch and pretty much just tilting the night away. I suppose I really should be writing about Vegas. I said I'd write about Vegas...but but but, no excuses, I was just wasting my time playing cards.

***UPDATE***

Doom switch is still fully engaged. The most passive bubble play you've ever seen. I went artic card dead after the straight flush. Doing my best to stay afloat with stealing and position play. I finally ran KQh into KK and then did this sick orbiting for like forever watching the most passive moronic play. Sigh. It finally took KK to take down my QJ. Sigh.

PokerSluts recaps in a timely manner

Yeah, timely. That's me. Thank goodness for hand histories! Not this past weekend, but the weekend before, I played the Limit Hold 'em edition of the PokerSlut Tour XVI. I love me some limit hold 'em because it's a really great way to learn how to play a much wider variety of hands and also play more optimally post flop. I had a really fun time playing the tournament, even finishing 2nd. By the time we got heads up though, I was way ready for bed and just couldn't wait for it to get over. Probably why I never stopped firing raises to stpetebeach...probably why he also didn't stop calling any of them either.

There are a few things I'll rarely do playing no-limit that I will do in a limit game. One thing I do if I think a player is mostly raising with big cards is play small, suited connector type hands and see a flop, especially from the button. Take this hand:

If felt there was a good shot that SmBoatDrinks was raising with a ace or a bigger pair. We are short handed and my button limp screams weak. Which it is, but in limit, I'm getting 5:1 to call from position. I've also got a fairly sizable stack. I can let go of this hand if I completely whiff the flop.

When the flop hits, I know I'm never laying this hand down, that flop is perfect for me. The trick now is to get maximum value, unless of course he's got a bigger flush draw, but still, two outers make it difficult to worry too much at this point. I flopped the nuts and have the stone cold nut draw.

By the way the action turned out and what he had for cards, I'm assuming he didn't have me anywhere near that flop. Which was good to know, I think my play with a bigger stack had been eradicate to hopefully be confusing.

In my opinion, that's one of the keys to limit hold 'em. You want people to think you are playing different cards then you are.

This next hand actually happened earlier, but I figured I'd lose you by now and could just lay it out for discussion. I'm disguising my hand since I didn't actually play in the hand, but I do question the comments of others as to why, why would they say what they say...My comments are in red, if you can't read red, let me know I'll provide a copy in an alternate color.

Full Tilt Poker Game #16056750288: PokerSlut Tour XVI (111159087), Table 1 - 200/400 - Limit Hold'em - 22:34:32 ET - 2009/11/15
Seat 1: Julius_Goat (2,270) <-- Good to see you on the felt!
Seat 3: Zerbet (2,250)
Seat 4: stpetebeach (7,100) <--Isn't this Fasso from Ante Up? I asked and no one would say.
Seat 5: OhCaptain (5,000) <-- 2nd in chips :(
Seat 6: wvapoker (290) <--Gonna be making a move soon
Seat 7: SmBoatDrinks (3,125)
Seat 9: WiredAces77 (3,965)
Julius_Goat posts the small blind of 100
Zerbet posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to OhCaptain [Ap Aq]
stpetebeach folds
OhCaptain folds <--I know, pocket aces, but look at the suits. I never play those unsuited.
wvapoker raises to 290, and is all in <--As long as we understand that this will be called with any two shiny cards in a later spot to act...just sayin'
SmBoatDrinks folds
WiredAces77 calls 290
Zerbet: double you tee eff
Julius_Goat: gg light <--well played comments are always welcome in blogger games
Julius_Goat calls 190 <--Can't say that talking while calling is a good move live, but here, I'll let it slide
lightning36 (Observer): later, mates <--Good game my friend!
Zerbet calls 90
*** FLOP *** [2h 6h 9d]
Julius_Goat checks
Zerbet checks
WiredAces77 checks

^--check, check, check? No one bets? I know there's someone all-in but it's not like he'll have a huge stack when he's done. Let's build a side pot.
*** TURN *** [2h 6h 9d] [Ac]
Julius_Goat checks
Zerbet checks
WiredAces77 checks

^--sigh. More checking.
*** RIVER *** [2h 6h 9d Ac] [2s]
Julius_Goat checks
Zerbet checks
WiredAces77 bets 400
OhCaptain: later <--Saying good bye to Lightning suck.
Zerbet: sigh
Julius_Goat has 15 seconds left to act
SmBoatDrinks: gg <--well played comments are always welcome in blogger games
Julius_Goat folds
Zerbet: betting into a dry side pot? really? <--I don't know Zerbert, it looks like a value bet to me. Most people only do this when they have something. According to my math, that bet would make a side pot with enough profit to make up for the initial bet if called.
Zerbet has 15 seconds left to act
WiredAces77: really <--representing a 2.
Zerbet folds <--representing not a 2.
Uncalled bet of 400 returned to WiredAces77
*** SHOW DOWN ***
WiredAces77 shows [2d 4d] three of a kind, Twos <-- See, a 2.
wvapoker mucks <--apparently, not a 2.
WiredAces77 wins the pot (1,160) with three of a kind, Twos
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1,160 | Rake 0
Board: [2h 6h 9d Ac 2s]
Seat 1: Julius_Goat (small blind) folded on the River
Seat 3: Zerbet (big blind) folded on the River
Seat 4: stpetebeach didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: OhCaptain didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: wvapoker mucked [8c 8h] - two pair, Eights and Twos <--nice! sorry it didn't hold up.
Seat 7: SmBoatDrinks didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: WiredAces77 (button) showed [2d 4d] and won (1,160) with three of a kind, Twos

Now, Zerbet went on for a while and seemed to get pretty steamed over some of us not seeing that bet as being a bad play. I personally didn't think it was horrible or even donkish. It's the last opportunity for a value bet with what is most likely the winning hand. The only hands the all-in dude could have that would beat you are a 2 with a bigger kicker, a set of 6's, 9's or aces. If no one was betting those by now, then they are morons. If that's what the all-in hand had, so be it, but we are looking for value from the others.

Zerbet was right that there was probably no one at the table that would call just to see, but there was a chance that someone with an ace might call. There was almost no chance that the person calling would have a better hand, but to say you shouldn't bet because no one is likely to call is just crazy. How would you know that in some weird twisted moment, the guy with K9o doesn't call just to keep him honest. In limit hold 'em, you bet to build bigger pots. I don't see the harm in fishing for value. Getting that one extra bet can make or break your day.

Here's the replay if you want to just see it play out. And no...I didn't muck aces, but thought it looked cool...kay?

Learning How To Fold Kings

I really need to find more time to write about poker. This week has been full of topics: the $100 bonus on Full Tilt, PokerSluts, WPBT and Poker League. For now, you'll just have to work with me on a hand from poker league and try really hard to convince me I made the right decision...I'm really doubting it...

So, I missed the last two weeks of league and hadn't played any live poker in that time. I know, shocking. I felt good going in to the night, no bad beats swimming in my, no fear of one outers, really, no baggage what so ever.

I had done a decent job of chipping up for the first 30 minutes. I sat at the table mostly enjoying the table chatter. We had the return of a guy that used to play quite often and then sort of disappeared for the last year or so. My memories of playing him mostly go back almost two years ago.

In our conversations, this guy had told us that he's spent most of this time playing online and going up to Canterbury to play the tournaments there with a bit of success. When we last played, his game was fairly ABC with a bit of a passive nature broken up with some recklessness. But I wasn't really sure how to use any of this early on. I don't like to rely on someone's tendencies from a long time ago, people change.

We are about one hour into the tournament, my stack sits 2025, a little more then starting stack. My chipping early had been whittled away. There were 7 people left at our table and I'm now under the gun with blinds at 50/100 T$. This early at poker league, I'm hard pressed to ever play much from this position. The play tends to be weak/passive and even raises will get called by a party, but for this hand, I was dealt KK. I'll play that from any position. I raised a standard raise, to 300.

The guy to my left folds. On his left is the guy returning from the past. He quite firmly moves all in for 1600. This really struck me as odd and my "somethings up detector" was going off like the alarm on LOST. Why so big? AK? AA? KK? QQ? Hm. the next 3 players fold until the BB announces he's all in for 1850.

I have a rule in my head at poker league. Never fold AA or KK preflop at poker league, but what's going on here. I stuck to my rule and called. I had both players covered but I have to tell you, I had a feeling one of them had aces.

The BB player was true to what I expected from him. He'll do this with almost any pair 99 and up or any painted ace.

But the thought I couldn't get out of my head came true. The guy that hasn't played for a while had played me like a fiddle. He tables AA. The BB guy...yeah he had AJo. Crap, I know now I'm in big trouble, but with one ace left in the deck, my odds improved...son of bitch...case ace on the turn. I'd need a K on the river to take the tiny little side pot. Nope. AJo gets that one too.

Now, the dude with aces is talking after then hand about how he'd hoped I'd perceive the shove as weak and call. I'll be perfectly honest, I call with Kings regardless right there, but should I?

I think here is where I should really integrate more 3rd level thinking for a select few players. He's talked about playing a lot more online and in the casino. I think his game is definitely improved since his explanation is 3rd level thinking...he's making this move on the hopes that I perceive him as weak. Well played. Being a 4:1 dog with kings sucks, but should I consider folding that hand? My something fishy alarm was going off and I ignored. Can you fold kings pre to anyone? When do you give a guy credit for an improved game and use that in your decisions? How do you smell a rat?

Without looking, I covered the next two cards dealt to me in the BB with my remaining 175 chips. With about 4 others in the pot, the community cards get dealt, The cut-off shows their paired ace and I find JJ. Yep...running like a god can be fun.

Tough Decisions

Last night, Bodie25 invited a group of us over to his place to watch the Pacquiao VS. Hatton fight on PPV. I'm really not a huge boxing fan, but the invite also mentioned poker and foosball. How could anyone say no?

While the under card was going on, Bodie25, Mrs. Bodie25, DeeBakes and few other characters sat down to the green felt to splash some chips and drink. Not sure how this got chosen, but we were playing .25/.25 NLHE. I guess we did have a few beginners at the table.

I started off the night hitting a king high flush to take down a pot of a little over $8 on the first hand I played. Not too shabby in $5 NLHE ring game, but these ill gotten gains didn't last. I spent quite a while raising and then folding on the flop. The Jack Daniel's was kicking in and then so did the crazy calls and raises. It's hard to get anything going when all-ins are called with 23c and then hit.

As Pacquiao said, "This fight was easy" and had sent Hatton into next week with a hook, I was griding my way back to even. A nice flopped set of 3's really helped get me there.

There was one hand of note for the evening. Bodie25 even asked if I could write about it so I could explain how on earth I got away.

The table had pretty well thinned out and we were short handed. We have 4 people remaining; starting on my left was Bodie25, DeeBakes and Todd. In the home games I play, these are 3 of the toughest players we have. Bodie25 and Todd are much more regular NLHE ring game players and if you've been here before NL ring games aren't my bread & butter...ok, they are a financial sink in my bankroll.

Bodie25 is dealing.  I'm first to act and squeeze, J♠T♠. Not having any information, I check. Bodie and DeeBakes check and Todd raises to .75. A pretty much standard raise. Since Todd will raise here with a pretty huge range of hands, I call and so does Bodie. This doesn't really provide any information. Todd will raise with almost anything and Bodie will call with the same.

The flop comes J♦T♣9♦. That is both gin and crap. There was $2.50 in the pot and I wanted to know where I was at besides just having top two pair. Todd checks. I raised it to $2. Bodie very confidently announces raise and makes it $7 to go. Todd pretty quickly folds and the action returns to me.

Bodie25 is a good player, but he's also agressive. This was a fairly sizeable raise. My first feeling on this was an overbet for value. But I had some doubts. Bodie has a tell that I know he knows about. When he's stressed, he swallows hard and you can hear the click. There was no click. I'm going in the tank on this hand. My thoughts are to either shove or fold.

So, what hands need I be afraid of? KQ, Q8 and 87 already of a made straight. He called the raise pre in position, so any of these are possible. 99 and TT are also definitely possible. I'm quite sure he would have open raised JJ preflop along with any over pairs to the board. If he has K♦Q♦, not only is he ahead, but I no longer have one of my outs. Friggin' straight flushes.

There is a very good possibility that he has a hand that I'm not behind. QJ is in the mix and while it's not a big hand to me, I'm not really fond of it. KJ is also in the mix. It's also entirely possible he's made two pair as well or even better for me, he's bluffing or semi-bluffing with a lotta of hope.

So. Thinking this through, I know I'm no where near the nuts. My first impressions of Bodie are that he is quite strong. He's starting to chat it up the longer I take. This is good for me. He's providing me with much more information.

"If you shove, I'll be making a pretty snap decision." - this seems totally genuine. I don't think he's lying. Impression: he's got a made hand or a bluff/semi-bluff.

"You think you have outs?" - I respond with, "I have top set." His demeanour changes. "I don't think you have top set..." - He then goes on to talk about hands he thinks I have. I'm not sure where I read it or saw it, maybe it was "Elements of Poker", but who ever said it explained how when people start talking about the hands they think their opponents have in a situation like this, they talk about all the hands they know they can beat. He talked about everything a straight could beat.

He was definitely showing signs of strength. He showed his hand to Todd. Todd's first impressions of the hand looked like he was thinking strong, but Todd is a good player. His reactions weren't as definitive as I'd hoped. Since Matt had done this, I let DeeBakes see mine. Matt again show strength and showed DeeBakes as well.

Dee's reaction pretty much sealed the deal for me. His expression changed when he saw Bodie's hand. He stared at the board after looking at it with very serious eyes. For me, this told me KQ. His long stare and serious eyes meant he knew I was beat and pinning my hopes on full house draw. I had at most 4 outs.

Using the rule of 4 and 2, I've got a 16% chance of beating a straight and a 12% chance if he's got K♦Q♦. Crap.

I went with my gut and mucked top two pair face up, letting the cards land in front of Bodie next to the community cards. He looked on in amazement and turned over KQo. I can dodge bullets baby.

I was glad I escaped. Dee couldn't let it go and got Bodie to deal out the remaining two cards. The 10♣ shows on the turn. I would have hit my full house, but I'm not upset. I need to make that lay down. What would you have done?

It's fun when you run like a god

In poker league, I've been running like a god. The god of crap. I've lost hands (big pots) to quads 3 times. Last night, I got to go home early when my AA ran into the formidable 77. That's poker league.

I've been playing a lot more limit hold 'em ring games again on Full Tilt. My time has been fairly limited and this running like a god problem of mine hadn't really shown it's face there...until this session.

This guy had repeated gotten his money in bad and lost. I figured he was tilting and an idiot...

Well that one sucked. Now I'm tilting...and hopefully not an idiot.

I don't know if I'm an idiot or not, but I definitely think I'm running bad. I have learned to just stand up from the table rather then continue to allow myself to tilt and run worse. Let's just hope this turns around and I actually start winning some hands when ahead.

How to have fun and make friends playing live poker

It's been a week and a half since I posted? Crap! Fail. I got more stuff to write about then I have time in the day. I suppose I could give up my evening sessions playing cash and sngs and then spend that time writing...huh? I'd give up poker to write about poker?

Since we last spoke, we had our monthly Bourbonators meeting. Poker sucked, scotch rocked. More on that in another post. My Eh Vegas recap is coming, but the pictures are posing a problem. Too much dust on my sensor and an inability to find the time to fix them on a computer that takes two minutes just to open the raw files. Someone tell my wife I need a new computer and more time for this...um kay?

So the topic today is: How to have fun and make friends playing live poker. This comes from a hand I played last night in Poker League. I've said this before and I'll say it again, this stuff is great for working on your reads and skills necessary to play live poker well. I love online poker, but live poker just adds the extra information necessary to really have a good time.

My results for this last league have sucked giant rocks. 5 of the last 6 weeks, I've run the 2nd nuts into the nuts to bust. 4 of those 5, they had to draw into a two outer to get there. *sigh. You know you are playing good and running bad when it takes quads and set over set (their set hit on the river) to take you out. Going home still sucks.

This hand last night was loads of fun...but I'm not sure we will be friends.

I'm in the BB. The blinds are 50/100. I've been slowly chipping away. I've seen the flop 3 times in an hour and half. I'm thinking my table image is tight. The average VP$IP at poker league is somewhere around 60%. The table is 6 handed (they are also running a bar and frequently forget to balance tables).

UTG, a LAG, opens for a rather smallish 200. UTG + 1, a fish (loves to call with almost any two cards and then fold the flop), calls. It folds around to me. I find two black queens. I decided to show strength and raise to 700. First, this is poker league. People love cheap flops. This isn't gonna be cheap. Second, UTG likes to steal big pots with aggression. I smell a trap coming from the BB.

This is why I love live poker. My raise, and it's size are done simply to gather information. UTG goes in the tank and this isn't a fake tank. His hands are telling the whole story. He looks back at his cards and grabs them like he's gonna muck. Then he puts them down. Moves his hand towards his chips and the quickly stops. Moves them back to the cards. You can see his brain churning. These quick jerky motions are usually signs of doubt and mind changes. He sets his cards down and quickly grabs the 500 chip he needs for the call. Stops for a second and then throws it in.

I really didn't see any attempts at deception. I really think that all these motions were his thoughts playing out in his hands. I've seen this before. When you play people who play lots of online poker and very little live, you see there hands move to the buttons. This is no different.

So what does this mean? Well, AA, KK and AK he'd just snap call or raise. That's the kind of player he is. Even QQ might be a snap call for him. AQ, AJ are hands that would require thought like this and so would JJ, TT and on the very outside 99, 88. He's probably putting me on the a big hand that's not AA or KK.

The flop comes A45 rainbow. Thankfully, I was watching him, not the cards. There was definite disappointment in his face. I glanced down to see the cards and saw the ace. Cool! He doesn't have one!!! It's taken me a long time to trust my reads and tonight I did. His reaction to the flop made me believe that he definitely has QQ, JJ or TT (99-88 are still possible but in no better shape). One hand I chop, the others I'm crushing.

I've played this guy many times. He pounces on weakness but it's more like weak online information. He's not watching me. So I check. Checking should tell him I don't have an ace and confirm the likelihood I have a big pair and will be afraid. He knows me too and knows that I'll laydown if I think I'm way behind. His history tells me that he's gonna make move now. He reacts by moving his hand to check, but again, he stops and announces "All-in".

As Joe Navarro repeats over and over again in "Read'm and Reap", immediate reactions are much more likely to be true then later actions. I feel like he just confirmed JJ or TT. If he had a set of aces or AK, he's checking behind, there's no chance I'm drawing the straight. KK would have been played different a while ago and I really don't care if he's got QQ. He's got JJ or TT.

I call.

He asks, "You got an ace?"

"Nope, and neither do you. I have QQ."

"Shit! You idiot. How could call that?" showing TT. "I really think there is no way you call that there. God damn. Seriously. Queens?"

I respond, "Oops, sorry. Rookie mistake." I think I made my point. He doesn't improve and we don't send friend requests to each other on Facebook.

While working on my recap...

Some days we just run like a god.

I was working on my recap of Eh Vegas and playing in the Riverchasers BBT4 event basically folding every hand dealt to me. (When I sat down at the table, Kat and I were about the only two that weren't LAGtards) I did a lot of folding. Took a stab at one pot with second pair, top pair calls. It happens. I still have time and chips.

I successfuly muck hand after hand after hand only once raising and entering a pot (72o - what else - it also flopped trip 7s - BOOM - of course no one wants to play with me) until I get AA. 

OK, I took everyone's advice and played my aces hard. I just got unlucky, right? Is there yet another way I should play this?

Oh well, back to writing my recap.

Never play a hand with a 9 in it

Never play a hand with a 9 in it.

I read that advice somewhere. I'm pretty sure it was an article about razz, but if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense in most games. It's rarely ever the high and most probably never the low.

Last night was poker league. Lately, I've just been completely unable to get anything going. It's still a great place to practice some aspects of poker, but mostly it's a dang good reason to get out of the house and hang with fun people.

Lately, I've really been experimenting with a much more small ball approach. The games tend to be pretty tight passive and when my game is on I think I can exploit this after the flop.

Under the gun, the blinds are 50/100, I decided to limp with 99. Usually if someone raises preflop, you are either against over cards or bigger pairs and raising now will encourage them to raise again. Spiking a set can be gold! Lot's of people will die with top pair or even any two pair. The guy next to me calls and the two blinds join the fun.

The flop comes As9s8c. Gin! The two blinds check, I'm really not happy about the two spades because it will be tough getting rid of the flush draw players, like the guy on my left. I bet out for 400 (pot size). Only the guy on my left calls. He's a notorious straight and flush chaser.

The turn is a second 8. Whew! If he's on a draw, I'm good. We both check.

The river is a blank. (I think it was a 4d) To induce a raise, I bet out here 600. Not really pot size, I was hoping for it to look like a steal of the pot. Well, he reraises me the minimum. I'm pretty sure he'd do that with anything from 2 pair up. Maybe he's got trip 8's. I'm pretty sure a shove for value here will get called. So I shove.

He couldn't have more instantly called and turned over 88. Friggin' quads!

Unlike the post with the aces a little while ago, that I now admit to totally screwing up, I ask you, how the hell do I not go broke here? (BTW - we both had monster stacks at the time)

Well, this one sucked

I believe I'm supposed to go broke here every time.

Why can't this happen every day...

I'll admit. I 1 bet raised with KK. I was trying to set a trap.

I also checked the flop.

And he just wouldn't stop betting into me.

Um. Shove?

Before we move on to Vegas

Only 3 more days until I hit the relative warmth of Las Vegas. 10-12 inches of snow here today. Ya think I'll be ready for the heat? (I know, it's only supposed to be in the 60's. But Sweet jeebus! That's' about 50 degrees warmer then here)

I don't know that I have really posted true poker content for a while. This is a poker blog...

My little experiment with Limit Hold 'em was kind of a big meh. I'd go up fast and then down fast. My most valuable lesson from the experience was that I need to avoid playing when I can't be patient. Forcing the action just doesn't work at the micro stakes I play at. When I'd lose to a stupid calling station, I'd tilt and push even more chips into bad hands. Never good.

The bankroll has been sliding for a couple of weeks. Not steeply, but sliding none the less. I decided to switch back to my bread and butter and relearn how to play patient. Single table sit-n-gos.

I think I'm getting back into the swing of these. I bubble a couple but cash in a few more. I'm not quite getting all the way to winning these on a regular basis. Hands like this one certainly take the wind out of your sails:

Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Seat 1: OhCaptain ($5,500) - -
Seat 2: Villain($3,500) -


PRE-FLOP:

OhCaptain posts small blind $50
Villain posts BIG blind $100
Dealt To: OhCaptain


CALL OhCaptain ($50)
CHECK Villain


FLOP:

Pot: $200
   

BET runaway350z ($200)
RAISE OhCaptain ($400)
CALL Villain($200)


TURN:

Pot: $1000
     

BET Villain($3000)
CALL OhCaptain ($3000)


RIVER:

Pot: $7000
      



SHOWDOWN:
Villain:

OhCaptain:


Villain collected $7000 from main pot with two pair, Queens and Eights

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $7 Rake: $0

Final Board:
     

Seat 1: OhCaptain small blind showed [Ac Ah] and lost with a pair of Aces - Net Gain/Loss: ($-3500)
Seat 2: Villain big blind showed [8s Qc] and won 7,000 with two pair, Queens and Eights - Net Gain/Loss: ($3500)
  

Well, letting this guy catch two pair is disappointing. I'd played him for a while. He liked to bet into you to push you off pots. I'd let him do this time after time for just this moment. He would have bet the river like this hit or miss. Unfortunately, he hit.

The sng ended with a better example of how he rolled.

Seat 1: OhCaptain ($1,500) -
Seat 2: Villain($7,500) - -


PRE-FLOP:

Villain posts small blind $50
OhCaptain posts BIG blind $100
Dealt To: OhCaptain


RAISE Villain($200)
CALL OhCaptain ($100)


FLOP:

Pot: $400
   

BET OhCaptain ($1300)
CALL Villain($1300)


TURN:

Pot: $3000
     



RIVER:

Pot: $3000
      



SHOWDOWN:
OhCaptain:

Villain:


Villain collected $3000 from main pot with two pair, Aces and Queens

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $3 Rake: $0

Final Board:
     

Seat 1: OhCaptain big blind showed [8c Qd] and lost with two pair, Aces and Queens - Net Gain/Loss: ($-1500)
Seat 2: Villain small blind showed [Kh Qc] and won 3,000 with two pair, Aces and Queens - Net Gain/Loss: ($1500)
  

I'm really not sure I under stand his calling with KQo there. My guess is I want him to do this EVERY time. I have no problems with the way I played that hand. Near as I can tell, he hit his 6 outer to win it. That's exactly how I want him to play...drawing to a really thin deck.

I know, I slow played my aces and lost. I rarely slow play them. It seems every time I do, I end up losing.

Did I mention that Vegas is just 3 days away? I really can not express how excited I am. I'm meeting some guys for a trip to the Pinball Museum on Friday. If you haven't heard of this and are going to the gathering, let me know. I'll hook you up with the details...I mean a pinball museum! How friggin' geeky can I get? I'm gonna love every minute of it!