My Christmas eCard to Family and Friends

Pocket Queens Pre-Flop

In the continuing saga of my venture into MTT online, I have run across the problem of what to do with QQ pre-flop. Let me clarify first of all that this thought process refers to what to do with QQ pre-flop IF you are in a position to have a choice. Obviously if your stack has dwindled to anywhere near 10x BB, you are in no positon to be choosy. At that point, you are going to push with QQ pre-flop even if you are the third over-shover. But what about when you don't NEED to push? Can you lay QQ down pre-flop? Should you? If so, when?

Let me give some background first of all. Over the last week and a half or so that I have been playing MTT online, I have taken QQ all in pre-flop and run into KK or AA about seven times. In each of these cases I have asked myself...could this have been avoided? The most recent incident was yesterday and things went down like this: I was playing in the $15K Guarantee with Rebuys (which, if you look at my stats, you will see that I have been moneying in quite frequently...look up stats for any player at http://www.officialpokerrankings.com/ My screen name is BricktopUS) and I was well above average chip stack after the first break. The action was opened by another large chip stack two under the gun for 5x BB. This seemed like a weird size raise to me since there were no antes and he was opening. It was mucked around to me. I was in the Horn (the position right before the Cut Off) and I looked down and saw QQ. So naturally, I re-raised to about 3x his raise. Everyone mucked back to him and he shoved. So, at this point, if I muck the queens, I still have a slightly above average chip stack. Of course, if I double through him, I am a monster chip leader and can probably coast to the money quite easily. I thought about it for a long time and then called. He had KK and I was out of the tourney.

Now hindsight being what it is, it's really easy for me to look at the situation and speculate as to what the right play was. But what if he had had JJ or AK and my QQ had held? Then I wouldn't be so quick to question my decision.

I'm really in a quandry about this one so I went for advice to three poker buddies...Devo, Bear, and Happy Donkey. Devo noted in a reply to my email that he felt that there WERE certain situations in which you could fold QQ pre-flop, but probably only 1-3% of the time. Bear, on the other hand, pointed out that when you re-raise or call a re-raise all in pre-flop with QQ, you have to reasonalby expect to see AK a lot of the time (in which case you are still coin flipping) and sometimes you will see KK or AA. Of course AQ or JJ would be the best scenario, but those are probably going to greet you in that situation less than one third of the time. Bear further pointed out that if you are not in a situation in the tournament where you are ready to put your life on the line on a coin flip, you might want to consider laying down the QQ. Happy Donkey and I discussed it further and we came up with the additional observation that QQ really is CONSIDERABLY weaker than KK. I would probably never or only in some very rare, bubble type situation lay down KK pre-flop. Why? Because the only hand that beats it is AA. KK not only beats every other hand, it DOMINATES every other hand. QQ on the other hand is dominated by two hands...AA and KK, and it is coinflipping with another...AK. So we decided that AA and KK are in a league of their own, and there is a rather large gap there in strength between KK and QQ.

Ultimately, after seeking out everyone's advice on the topic, I reached the following conclusion: It seems to me that during MTT you have three distinct portions of the tourney...beginning, middle, and end. During the beginning portion, everyone has roughly the same amount of chips because only a few people have doubled up yet or become short stacked. As a result, you do not have a chip cushion to protect you from having to put all your chips in the middle on any given pot. You are going to have to risk your tournament life, most likely, at least once in this period in order to double up, which is usually critical. Also, perhaps more importantly, everyone else at the table is in the same mind set...they are all looking to double up and grow their chip stack, so they are more likely to put all their chips in with slightly less than pristine holdings. (I am speaking here only of MTT online with mid size buy ins...large tourneys online, and even more so live, play totally differently in the beginning stages from what I hear...much more conservative as no one wants to be knocked out in the first few rounds.) So at this point in online play, we should probably be willing to get all our chips in the middle pre-flop with QQ most of the time and take our chances...we need that opportunity to double up. Once we move to the next phase of the tournament, however, things change. During the middle phase, which I would define as beginning somewhere between 1.5 hours and 2 hours into the average MTT, stack sizes begin to spread out. There become noticeable groupings of short stacks, average, and chip leaders. During this phase, we are looking to grow our chips by picking on short stacks and using position plays. At this point, we want to gain as many chips as possible while facing as little resistance as possible. We are not so much concerned during the middle stages with our cards as we are with finding places to steel blinds and antes. During this middle phase, we should play much more cautiously pre-flop if we find ourselves in a raise, re-raise confrontation with another big stack. In the example I cited above, I definitely now believe that I should have laid the queens down. Finally, once we reach the money, we enter the late stage or end game of tournament play. At this point, blinds and antes tend to accelerate quickly and people start, once again, playing more aggressively. At that point, I think we go back to being willing to gamble a little in order to build enough chips to compete at the final table. I probably would be unwilling in most situations in late tourney play to lay down QQ pre-flop.

I would be very interested to hear anyone else's take on this topic.

Until Next Time...May your days be merry and bright, and may all the fishies at your table bite!

Online Poker Tracking Software

So now that I am getting into playing online, I thought it was about time I purchased one of those online tracking programs that shows you statistics on your opponents as you play. I was planning on purchasing Poker Tracker along with a compatible program that takes the Tracker information and turns it into a Heads Up Display (HUD) that overlays on top of your Full Tilt screen (or Ultimate Bet, Poker Stars, whatever.) This software keeps track of every hand that any of your opponents play while you are at a table with them. It then turns this information into statistics that show you (among other things) how many flops they see, how often they show down at the river, their win % at showdown, how often they attempt to steal blinds, how often they fold to steal attempts, etc. Of course, this is highly useful information. The problem was that since Poker Tracker accumulates and stores all of this data on your computer's hard drive (as opposed to on their servers), you have to have a reasonably proficient computer in order to run it properly. Also, my understanding is, that while you can license the software to run on up to two machines, it does not integrate the data from one machine to the other, so it is definitely in your best interest to accumulate the data and play all of your tourneys from the same machine.

This all being the case, I decided last night to go out and splurge on a new laptop. (I'm fairly certain that the one I was using was a Commodore something.) I bought a nice, new Fujitsu (they told me that these are the best brand) Life Book. I am already enjoying it immensely, and especially enjoying the part where I can play three different sites and not crash my machine.

So this morning, just as I am getting ready to buy Poker Tracker, I remember seeing on Annette Obrestad's website a mention of a tracker software called Poker Crusher. I looked it up on her blog (which by the way is excellent....annetteobrestad.blogspot.com) and it looked like it was even better than Poker Tracker. It gives basically the same statistics, but instead of accumulating them on ONLY the tables that you play on, it taps into a database of millions (supposedly) of hands that have been and are being observed and tracked regardless of whether you are online or not. Plus, Poker Crusher stores all that data on their databases instead of on your hard drive...which is great, since those data files can get really big from what I've heard. The downside is that Poker Crusher charges a monthly subscription fee (which is pretty steep) especially compared to the one time fee charged by Poker Tracker. So, needless to say, before I purchased this, I wanted to make sure the program was all it was cracked up to be.

So I downloaded the 5 day free trial version of Poker Crusher and installed it on my computer. I was super excited to see how it worked, so I immediately opened Full Tilt and sat down in a one table sit and go. Of the 10 players at the table, three had no hand history/stats what-so-ever. Of the seven remaining, only one person showed stats based on a hand history of more than 1000 hands. This seemed pretty odd to me as I know that a lot of these sit and go players grind out several SNGs every day. So I clicked on my own stats to see what's up. They had only tracked me in their database for a little over 300 tournament hands (information current through today's date according to their system.) Since I've played literally thousands of tournament hands per day for the last week and a half, that was pretty disappointing to me. It certainly seemed that they were not tracking nearly as many hands as they led people to believe. I also had some issues with usability and the HUD interface.

I have sent an email to customer service at Poker Crusher asking them to address my concerns. I let them know that if their software can do what they say it can do, then I am definitely interesting in purchasing it, but if not, it's a steep price to pay for what Poker Tracker can do equally well.

Has anyone out there used either Poker Tracker or (more specifically) Poker Crusher? I would love comments on either interface. I know that Poker Crusher is quite new, so I don't know if anyone is on there yet, but if you are, let me know what you think.

Until next time...Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Back to Back

Quick update on the progress of MTT online: A few days ago, I accidentally entered a Limit Hold 'Em tournament on Full Tilt that I thought was a No Limit tourney. I didn't realize my mistake until I went to raise the first time and realized that I could only double the big blind....ooops! Fortunately, I went on to win my "mistake", so that ended up being a profitable blunder.

The very next day, I took first in the $18 NL Bounty tournament on Ultimate Bet. That's two first place finishes in consecutive days. Hooray!

I should point out that as I am accumulating experience online, I am simultaneously reading Harrington on Hold 'Em (two volumes) and the Full Tilt Tournament Guide. They are both EXCELLENT and I highly recommend that anyone who wants to get into tournaments order and read them.

Position Play in MTT

I recently heard about Annette Obrestad (the teenage phenom from Norway) winning a Sit and Go tournament without looking at her hole cards. I thought to myself, "this I gotta see!" And fortunately, you can. The video of the tourney is available on YouTube. I am pasting a link at the upper right hand side of my blog. This is fascinating material for anyone trying to improve their MTT play (as I am.) Look at how she plays position, looking to steal blinds and pick up pots in situations where there is unlikely to be any resistance. This illustrates one of the concepts that I am learning and finding very fascinating about tournament play as opposed to cash play: in tournament play what YOU hold in your hand is not nearly as important as what your opponents DO NOT hold in theirs. Look to pick up chips when there is no resistance to your doing so. Use fold equity to do most of your chip accumulation and then only confront other players when you are certain you have the best of it. As you watch the video, you will notice that Annette often makes moves that are not necessarily correct position play, and she undoubtedly gets lucky several times when she calls someones all in with the worst of it. But if you focus on the many good plays she makes as opposed to her suck outs, you will still learn a lot.

I guarantee watching it will improve your understanding of chip accumulation in tournaments and proper position play. The quality of the video is pretty poor so I suggest that you do NOT blow it up to full screen, but you can still see enough of what is going on to gain valuable information. I suggest that as you are watching you just let the video play until Annette enters a hand then you pause it and note the chip stacks of the players that are already in the hand, how many limpers there are, if there was a raise in front of her, etc. Then continue on.

Online MTT...What Fun!

My experience with online poker thus far has been very limited. I tried a few different types of cash games, but never really did well, and honestly didn't really apply myself. I enjoy live poker so much, and I am lucky enough to live in Vegas, so I've never really felt the need to play online. Until lately. I have to admit that the lure of tournaments is starting to suck me in. The internet is such an efficient way to gain lots of tournament experience in a very short time. I consider myself a true student of the game in all regards and I strive constantly to improve myself as a cash player. If I want to branch out into tournament play, what better gateway than playing online?

The first night I played online, I entered six tournaments and didn't cash in any of them. The next night, I cashed high enough to pay for my entries, but basically broke even. The third night, I made around $200 total and then last night, I entered five tournaments, moneyed in four out of five, and placed third in the $11,500 guarantee. That netted me about $1400 for the night. Not a bad start to my online tourney career.

That having been said, I know that I have a lot to learn and a long way to go. I am really having fun, but I also recognize that tournaments are going to be a very big new challenge for me and that they can also be extremely frustrating. Working for hours to get yourself in a great position only to be sucked out on for all of your chips by some random donkey is extremely annoying. Time will tell whether I will have the skills or patience for this type of play.

Until then...watch out for BricktopUS on Full Tilt...I'll be donking it up at a table near you!

Donkey, Donkey, Who's Got the Donkey?

Last night while playing at Binions (where the $1/$2 games can sometimes play more like $5/$10 games since there is no max buy-in) the following hand came up:

I was in the big blind with K 5 of clubs. The pot was unraised with about six other callers. The flop came K 9 6 with two clubs. The small blind bet out $15 and I smooth called behind. (At this point my hand is not worsened by more callers behind me so I am trying to build a pot rather than isolate against a hand that is probably ahead of mine at the moment.) Unfortunately, no one else called and the turn came off a 4 of diamonds. The SB again bet out, this time $50. At this point, I was fairly certain, based on my observations of the player thus far, that he had a king with a better kicker. The obvious play at this point would be to flat call with my hand and hope that a club or a five came off on the river. But there is a better play, in my opinion, that has a lot of upside and very little downside.

Here's what I did: Instead of flat calling the $50, I raised to $120. This raise accomplishes three great things: First, by raising into a board like that, it is very hard for the bettor to put me on anything less than two pair. This means that against a tight aggressive player (which this guy appeared to be), I have instant fold equity. I would imagine that K 10 and possibly even K J will be folding to that sort of raise. Second, if he doesn't fold, it is extremely difficult for him to bet back into me on the river, so I am most likely going to be able to check behind him if I don't hit my re-draw. This is important because had I simply checked behing him, and had the flush draw not appeared, he would very likely have bet back into me on the river. And at that point, depending on what he bet, I might have been getting enough pot odds to make it necessary to call with naked top pair, even if I suspected that my kicker wasn't good. Lastly, and most importantly, raising on the turn set me up for a bigger payoff if I did hit my re-draw. As it was, he did call my raise on the turn, I hit my flush on the river, he checked, I bet $140 for value and made it so that he was almost pot committed to calling me based on the size of the pot. He did and I got paid off. Had I simply smooth called his bet on the turn, he would certainly have noticed the flush possibility on the river, would have checked into me, and I could probably have only squeezed another $60 or so out of him, because I would have defined my hand so clearly by calling two streets that he would have a hard time putting me on a hand that did not beat him.

Ironically, after the hand was over, I got a little bit of trash talk from some other players at the table about how badly I had played the hand. They acknowledged that I had flopped a monster, but couldn't understand why I would raise on the turn when I was (by that time) not a favorite to catch my re-draw. Had they considered the above factors, perhaps they would have thought differently. Fortunately, I don't mind being considered a donkey. It's my favorite table image of all.

Until next time...HEE HAW!

Weird Tactics

Last night I was playing with some friends at Ceasar's and I ran into one of the resident annoyances that lurk around the lower stakes No Limit games. His name is Fisher and apparently his MO is to sit at a table, play for half an orbit or so, then get up and walk for almost an hour or until he is about to get picked up. Then he'll come back and sit for a few minutes, take his blind, and then get up and walk around for another ridiculously long period of time. He does this for no other purpose than to annoy the other players at the table. Last night, he was warned that he was third man walking, and even though the entire table called floor over three times to get him removed, we had no list so they wouldn't pick him up.

So he comes back to the table, sits down, and decides to start in on my friend and I. We were sitting next to each other at the table so he began commenting to the player next to him (and anyone else that would listen) that we were colluding. A few minutes later he got heads up with my friend and pushed all in for about four times the pot. As my buddy is thinking, this old guy starts heckling him. Then he looks at me and says, "What's wrong, cat got your tongue?" He continues, "Nothing to say now?" So being the calm, cool, collected, ultra-zeny chick that I am, I ask him if he'd like to take it outside right now. I told him that I was pretty sure I could take him, even without the help of my buddies. For some odd reason he pretty much stopped talking at that point.

Anyway, one of my personal pet peeves is people that try to use cheap tricks to knock other players off their game or get some kind of advantage. I mean if you can't win on the strength of your play, just lose peacefully and let the rest of us play cards.

The game itself was incredibly soft. I think I took down somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 pots on bluffs and semi-bluffs and only got caught once. Unfortunately, although I was super successful taking down medium sized pots, it seemed like everything I got involved in big pots I either failed to win my races or got sucked out on. So I ended up logging a small loss for the night, which was especially frustrating given how well I felt I was playing. Ah well...there's always tomorrow.

Until next time...remember, if your table mates annoy you, there's sometimes no substitute for a well timed bluff.

Sometimes All You Can Say Is WOW

What a crazy last few weeks this has been in my life. I have to first give a shout out to Bryan "Devo" Devonshire for taking a look at my blog, appreciating the hand analysis stuff, but also encouraging me to write a little more about myself. He writes a great blog as well...so check it out: campfires.blogspot.com

So what about me? Well my real name is Tamara. I have been loving my new journey back into full time professional poker and have already met a lot of really cool people along the way who have been nice enough to keep in touch, read my blog, or just chat poker. Most specifically I am thinking about Bryan and Brian in Las Vegas, David in Huntington Beach, Maria and Terry in L.A., Travis in Colorado, Milton in Biloxi, "the Poker Monkey", and everybody else that I might be forgetting. Also, my two oldest poker buddies...you know who you are...I love you both.

So I have found that when it rains in this life, it often pours. My life has pretty much come apart altogether over the last several months and specifically the last few days. No need for specifics, but lets just say that when you have no stability in your life, and then you add a broken heart to the mix, it makes you think really hard about what is important in your life. I wrote this on Thanksgiving and even though it isn't really poker related, Devo encouraged me to share it on the blog. So here it is:

There are many, many drones in this world. Lost souls, dead already, driving through life in their steel coffins, each journey bringing them neither closer nor farther away from a life that they never began to live. But, it strikes me tonight, that there are also many miracles walking amongst us each and every day we breathe. Wonders, marvels, triumphs, super heroes...people who have beaten the odds, people who have fought...some winning, some losing, those for whom life has been and is a symphony, those who refuse to go quietly into that dark night. Each of these worthy of their own screen play,their own novel. So many stories that have been shared, and so many, many more that will remain untold. The prevalence of these extraordinary lives is both inspiring and frightening. So much to marvel at, so many to leave us humbled and amazed... who are we? What is my extraordinary life next to these extraordinary others? What significance do I play in a world so wonderful, so terrible, and so large?

I heard a hymn today. It wafted out of an open window along with the smell of roasting turkey..."I feel better, so much better, since I lay my burden down." Children were singing, and their sweet voices made tears well up in my eyes. Almost instictively I looked up towards heaven and felt a knot in the pit of my stomach as I realized that I had ceased to believe anything or anyone was there. Far from marvelous or awe inspiring, this chilly afternoon the empty heavens seemed just that...sad and lonely and alone. The brilliant blue sky seemed wasted in its brilliance, with no one to thank for it, and no spirit to soften its great expanse. I longed in that moment to sing praises to an unseen Being, to believe that there was order in this crazy world, to feel the quiet peace of faith, to offer thanks to someone for the breath I was so very grateful to take. I almost wished I could return to the days when doubt did not hover on my shoulder, when unanswered questions still seemed answerable. I remembered what it was like to be enveloped in the warm belief that everything happened for a reason, that my life mattered, that all of it somehow made a difference to someone.

Now I stand in the "enlightened" clarity of skepticism and I realize why we have filled our lives with motion, with haste. We do not want to stand still, even for a moment, because if we do we will have to face our own mortality, our own fraility in the face of time, the bitter realization that the wonderful things which make us individuals might just not matter at all. If there really is nothing after this life, if the heavens are empty, then what point is there in any of this? It seems to me that the absence of a purpose for living reduces every human emotion to pure selfish pursuit of pleasure. Love exists only to please ourselves, to bring happiness to the organism until the organism ceases to exist. The highest act of human sacrifice out of love for country or friend or family becomes nothing but a futile excercise in foolishness.

So here I am. I once had faith and when I did I longed for the freedom of self expression, the freedom to do anything I should please without fear of Divine judgment or reprisal. Now, free to do as Ichoose, I find that my choices seem hollow and without meaning, and I wish that I could believe again in something worth living and dying for. But I am too much of a truth seeker to permit myself false comforts or unwarranted graces. False faith would be as intolerable as forced love. And I cannot lie to myself by claiming that I see proof of something for which I have not found sufficient evidence. Still, there is the problem of love. There is the problem of morality. There is the problem of truths which seem to spread eternal through the generations of man. People love. People fight for good. People protect their children as if their future meant something...instinctually, basically, humanly. There is something within me, within us, that desires justice, that desires meaning, that desires goodness and kindness and love. There is a voice within me that cries out for truth a voice that refuses to accept the idea that none of this matters, that nothing matters. And that voice, that desire, that love...THAT is SOMETHING. It is something just as validly and as completely as the heavens are something, as truly as the skin on my bones or the sun in our sky.

How do these somethings co-exist? What are we to make of this vast universe, this gargantuan cloud of life that seems to dwarf each individual, compared to the individual thoughts from tiny human beings that can still change the world? I don't know the answer. But I feel within my heart, at the deepest level, in the core of my being...that there is something. Something. Something.

Until Next Time...Be Happy!
Tamara

The Dangers of Over Playing Your Hand Pre-Flop

One of the biggest mistakes I see novice players make is over betting their hands pre-flop. Many newer players see the big boys on TV (and the more experienced players at their own tables) raise the pot pre-flop with hands like 5 6 suited or pocket 3s. The novice players then decide that if they get a decent starting hand (just decent...not necessarily premium) it is the correct play to re-raise pre-flop. The problem with this is that the novice players fail to realize that for a pro there is a HUGE difference between the range of hands with which they are willing to open action with a raise, and the range of hands with which they are willing to call a re-raise pre-flop. For example, last night in the $2/$5 game at the Wynn, I regularly opened the pot with a raise with small suited connectors, small pocket pairs, QJ off, etc...but twice I folded KQ suited to two bets pre-flop. Why? Because I was unwilling to invest $60 with KQ suited? No. At that point it's not about the dollar value of the second bet, it's about the fact that once a pot has been raised and re-raised, I become completely uncomfortable playing KQ because even if I flop top pair, there is a very good chance that AQ or AK is in the pot and I am out kicked. Folding to the second bet isn't a money decision at that point, it is an information decision.

This same line of reasoning illustrates how re-raising pre-flop with sub-premium hands can get the novice player into serious trouble. Take the following hand for example: A loose aggressive player who had been raising a lot of pots pre-flop, opened the betting from early position for a 3x raise of $15. A new (and in my estimation, probably beginning intermediate) player re-raised from the cut off to $55. I looked down on the button at pocket kings. Based on my experience at that table, I felt that even if I smooth called the $55 it was unlikely that more than one other person at the table would call. Therefore, I felt my positive expectation was greater by flat calling in that situation and disguising the strength of my hand rather than three betting pre-flop. I did just that, the original raiser (who was a more experienced player and probably realized what my flat call meant in that situation) mucked, and I took the flop heads up.

The flop came jack rag rag with two hearts. The re-raiser in the cut off came out firing for $90. I raised to $200. He almost instantly pushed all in for $150 more on top of my $200. At that point, his insta-push worried me a little, but I was obviously pot committed and not really thinking about mucking at that point. I called and he turned over A J off. My kings held.

My point in all of this is that by re-raising pre-flop with a sub-premium hand, he enabled me to limp behind him with a monster and keep the strength of my hand disguised. Had he simply called the original raise, I would have probably three bet to thin the field and he would have had a better idea of what I held and more information to use before getting stacked on the flop.

Until next time, if you can't be the best player at your table, may you at least be the luckiest!

Keeping an Eye on Your Changing Table Image

When we are playing cards, we need to constantly be aware of how our table image evolves as we play and make adjustments accordingly. Happy Donkey was playing last night at the $1/$2 NL game at Santa Fe Station and the following two hands provide an excellent example of that concept:

The first hand Happy Donkey made a fabulous bluff on the turn. The cut off had opened the betting pre-flop with a raise, which HD called from the BB with Q 10. The flop came nine high with two clubs. HD checked and the cutoff made a rather standard continuation bet of $25. HD called this bet with the express purpose (as I later found out) of putting in a bluff on the turn. The turn came an ace of clubs and HD bet out $75. The cut off thought only briefly before disgustingly mucking pocket Kings face up. Happy Donkey then turned over his Queen high (with no club) bluff and scooped the pot. It was a great play and a wonderful bluff, but on the very next hand, HD made a mistake by not realizing what showing a bluff like that would do to his table image.

On the very next hand, HD was dealt 3 4 clubs in the SB and called into an unraised pot pre-flop. The flop came 2 2 K two clubs and HD led out with a pot sized bet of $15. He was min-raised to $30 by a player in middle position and the rest of the table folded. A blank came off on the turn and when HD checked, the other player bet the pot for $75. Happy Donkey had to lay down his flush draw.

We later talked about this play and went over the various reasons why one would want to bet out with a flush draw. Certainly, when the board is paired (as it was) on the flop, leading out with the flush draw can be a good play because it is very difficult for anyone without a deuce to call you. Even Kings with medium to bad kickers will usually lay it down in that situation. So betting out the flush draw, rather than calling, gives you an extra way to win the pot. HOWEVER, because HD had just showed a big bluff the hand before, it was extremely unlikely that he was going to receive much credit for his bet on the flop. This would have made betting out brilliant had he actually had the deuce, but since he only had a draw, betting out after showing the bluff just made it much more likely that his bet would be raised. He would have been better, had he considered his current table image, to check/call the draw. Had he done so, the bet on the flop would have been smaller, there might have been more callers, and he might have ended up having the odds to call for his flush again on the turn. Instead, he had to lay it down.

Until next time...remember... your table image suffers dramatically if you wear shades at games with buy-ins under $1000!

Value Betting on the River

Yesterday (Halloween), Happy Donkey and I were playing at MGM in the $1/$2 game. We were basically killing time waiting for more friends to arrive before heading into the club. We were the only people in costume at the poker room. My costume was definitely "club attire" so you can imagine the kind of reaction that provoked. It was definitely an interesting (and profitable) experience.

Anyway, on to business. In the middle of our short session, the following hand transpired: There were about seven limpers into the pot, when I looked down in my BB and found pocket Jacks. I was definitely not interested in taking a flop seven handed with jacks so I decided to put in a decent size raise and try to thin the field. I made it $17 to go. Happy Donkey thought for a moment from UTG and then called. This started the usual "avalanche" and we ended up taking the flop six handed anyway. I had made up my mind that if I flopped an over pair I would push, but the flop came A A 9, two clubs. Obviously I checked. Happy Donkey then bet $35 into a pot that was about $104. Since we have spoken recently about sometimes betting out your huge hands instead of slow playing them, in order to mix things up, when he bet, I put him on the ace. He got one caller from middle position, everyone else mucked to me, and I, of course, also mucked.

The turn came a red five. This time Happy Donkey checked. Again I love this move. Makes it look like he was bluffing or betting a flush draw on the flop and now he is backing off. The other player bet $80 and Happy Donkey just called. At this point, I will reveal what HD had: A 9. He had flopped big full. In light of the strength of his hand and the relatively few hands that the other player could be betting with, I don't like his flat call on the turn. If the other player has a flush draw, he needs to min raise the turn in order to get more money from him, since if he misses his flush he is not going to bet or call on the river. If the other player has an ace (even one with a bad kicker) it will be difficult for him to lay it down to only a min raise and if the other player DOES have a decent kicker, a raise on the turn might just get him to push. But, as I said, HD flat called.

The river came off a red deuce and again HD checked. In my opinion, this is not the best play. At this point, the other player should also have narrowed HD down to having either an ace or a flush draw. The player would then know that if HD missed his flush draw, he will not pay off a river bet, so the other player is unlikely to bet the river unless he has a smaller full house. An AQ or AK would probably have raised pre-flop and even an AJ might be uncomfortable betting the river in that position. On the other hand, if HD bets out something reasonable (like $100), it is going to be almost impossible for another ace to fold.

As it was, the other player did have an ace...with a six kicker. After HD checked the river, the other player checked behind him. I believe that HD probably lost out on between $80 and $180 of potential profits by not optimizing his play on the turn and the river.

This illustration reminds me of something that I have been thinking a lot about lately and trying to improve within my own game as well: A chip that you don't extract when you have a winning hand is just as much of a loss as a chip you lose when you have a losing hand. I really need to be vigilant that I am making the most of my opportunities when I have big hands. I am very much coming to believe, "When in doubt...bet." Slow playing is valuable as a tool in our poker arsenals, but, in my opinion, it is overused by many people in about the same way that AK is overplayed.

Until next time, may all your opponents try to bluff at you when you have the nuts!

Benefits of Paying Attention

Last night I played in a tournament at the Venetian (we chopped 1st through 5th) and experienced a situation where paying attention to a hand that I was not involved in reaped benefits for a hand that I was involved in.

We had been playing for around four hours and were down to two tables. We were playing short handed waiting for one player to bust so we could be down to the final table. There was a younger dude at my table who was playing good, solid, aggressive short handed poker. He raised frequently and put pressure on the other players, but didn't raise so often as to be considered a maniac. I mucked my hand under the gun and watched as the two players behind me mucked to him in the small blind. He looked at his cards and raised the bet to 2.5 times the big blind. The BB called. At this point, I put the young dude in the SB on any random two cards. I did not feel that he needed to have a legitimate hand to raise in that position.

The flop came down 3 3 2 with two spades. The SB looked at the flop and I thought that I detected something in his eyes that made me think he liked the flop. I can't really explain exactly what I saw, but I thought to myself, "hmm...this guy might have a three." Of course, you wouldn't normally put someone who raised pre-flop on a hand containing a three, but I think it's important to keep an open mind, and realize which of your opponents are capable of making which types of plays. Anyway, the SB checked the flop, which I took as a sign of strength given the texture of the board (had he had nothing, I think he would have bet into this flop, believing that his opponent would also have missed) and the BB checked behind him.

The turn came a seven and did not bring the flush. This time the SB bet out $1000 (the pot was around $3000) and the BB called. The river was another three and the SB bet out $3500. The BB mucked.

As the BB was mucking, I immediately spoke up loudly and said, "Quads!" Now I had been extremely quiet at this particular table so my speaking out at all sort of startled everyone. The SB balked a little, looked up at me and said, "What?" I decided to be firm and I said authoritatively, "You have quads." Not "I think you have quads," or "do you have quads?" but "You HAVE quads!" The player was obviously taken a little by surprise and he paused for a second, then turned over the case three. "How did you know that?" he asked. The player next to him said, "Wow, it's hard to put someone on quads." I didn't say a word...just smiled.

A little while later, I raised from the cutoff to pick up the blinds. The BB was the quad guy. He put a chip on his card, like he usually does when he is going to play his hand, and then looked up at me. Normally I am not a "starer," but in this case I looked right at him. I wanted him to think that I was capable of staring into his soul and seeing his cards. He looked at me, looked at his cards, looked at me, then uncovered his hand and mucked. He didn't enter a pot with me for the rest of the night. Perhaps it was partially coincidence, but I definitely got the feeling that this guy didn't feel comfortable with the fact that I had accurately and convincingly read his hand. Just goes to show that paying attention, even when you're not in a hand, can bring you benefits later on.

Until next time...may all your guesses come true!

Diminishing Value of AK in Multi-Way Pots

The other night, Happy Donkey and I were playing in the $1/$2 No Limit game at Sunset Station when the following hand presented itself: Happy Donkey opened from early position for a $10 raise. A short stack in middle position pushed for $40 and then another reasonably short stack on the button pushed for about $105 total. Happy Donkey thought very briefly and then called the all-ins. He turned over A K off.

Later we discussed the hand and I wasn't thrilled with his call. I have heard a lot of discussion lately about how AK becomes less and less valuable the more people that enter a raised pot ahead of it. Now, of course, the first and most obvious reason for this is the possibility that AK is dominated by AA or KK. But let's set that possibility aside for a moment and focus only on the concept that the more people enter a raised pot, the more likely other Aces and Kings are to be "out" in other players' hands and not available to show up on the board. Barry Greenstein talks about this concept briefly in his book "Ace on the River" and it is worth considering.

I posted this quandary on cardschat.com in order to see what other players had to say about playing AK in a multi-way pot and one user, "zachvac" gave an awesome/informative analysis. I will quote it here in its entirety to preserve the cool train of thought:

This is a concept many people don't seem to understand. Of course it's good to isolate with a hand like AA because I want to be able to put opponents on a range of hands. But I would gladly go all-in PF with 9 other players with AA. Someone said the equity of hands goes down with each person entering the pot. That's false. The equity of AA goes up as each additional player enters the pot.

Let's pretend everyone has 100 chips for simplicity.

From pokerstove: (I'll round)AA vs. single random hand, 85%pot equity = 200*.85 = 170AA in 4-way pot, 64%pot equity = 400*.64 = 256AA in 9-way pot, 33.5%pot equity = 900*.335 = 301.5

Don't know about you, but I'll take the 301.5 chips over the 170 chips on average any day.

Now let's test it for AKo heads up, 65.5%pot equity = 200*.655 = 1314-way pot, 38%pot equity = 400*.38 = 1529-way pot, 18%pot equity = 900*.18 = 162So especially since this is a ring game, you would rather have AKo vs. a random hand 9-way than 2-way. Of course as mentioned this is a random hand. The hands that would push like that are not random hands.

I'm going to be a little bit liberal on the hands they may hold, say TT+, AJs+, KQs, AQo+.heads up: 51.64%pot equity = 200*.5164 = 103.283-way: 30.814%pot equity = 300*.30814 = 92.4224-way: 18%pot equity = 400*.18 = 72. So yes, if you have AKo and think the others are pushing with legitimate hand, not only does your equity decrease, but your ev becomes negative with a straight up PF all-in.

Pot odds may dictate a call anyway, let's look at the example given:

I was thinking of using pokerstove, but it won't give you how often one player will beat another heads up given that the third player has one of the predefined "legit" hands as well. If we consider the side pot ignoring the third hand (meaning if the results come out close we should fold, because we are boosting the value of our hand with every A or K the other person holds.He has to pay $88 to get in on the pot. He wins the side pot 51.64% of the time, $110 in that pot ($55 from him and bigger stack of the 2).110*.5164 = 56.804Main pot is $135 ($45*3), he wins that 30.814% of the time135*.30814 = 41.5989Total win = 56.804 + 41.5989 = ~98.4.He's paying $88 to win an average of $98.40.

Good play based on that criteria of hands, not adjusting to the lesser odds of winning the heads up.

I would love to hear everyone else's opinion on this...so post comments.

Tooting My Own Horn

I usually spend the time in this blog analyzing hands that either myself or others were in and trying to figure out if they could have been played any better. In this case, I have to take a little bit of time to go over three hands that I played last night that made the difference between going home a big loser (which I would have been had I not made these plays) and going home a small winner.

I was playing $1/$2 No Limit at Mandalay Bay with Happy Donkey (who continued his world domination by winning another $800 last night.) The first hand in question was against a new player who had just sat down at the table. I had a J 5 off suit in the big blind and saw the flop in an unraised pot. The flop came down Q 5 2 rainbow. I checked and the new player bet out $15 from middle position as the second to last player to act. The button and small blind folded and I called. At that point, I called for the express purpose of putting in a bluff on the turn. On the turn (which was a 6) I checked, and he bet $25. I raised to $65 and he laid it down. One of the reasons that I was so happy with this play is that my read on him was truly a "pure" read. There was nothing abnormal about his betting pattern, I had never played with him before, and he had just sat down. It was a pure read that I didn't feel that he had a queen. So that was kind of cool.

The next hand was even better. I was dealt pocket Kings in my $4 straddle. There had been four limpers so I raised to $21. Three limpers called and the BB mucked. The flop came about the worst possible scenario for Kings... A J 7 ALL Hearts. I did not have the King of Hearts. I checked, one limper checked behind me, and Villain bet $50. The other limper mucked. At this point, I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do, I wasn't sure what he had, all I had to go on was that he had called me down a few hands ago and paid me off when I slowplayed top pair. So he might be out for revenge. I smooth called the flop and the other player mucked.

I was watching him for a tell and I noticed that he was staring pretty intently at the board as the turn was going to come off. (Staring at the board can often mean that someone is on a draw...but be careful with this, some people use it as a reverse tell.) I decided that I thought he was on a one card heart draw and made up my mind to bet if no heart came on the turn. The turn came a black nine and I pushed all in for about $200. He insta-mucked. I showed Happy Donkey my hand and as a result was called to show the whole table, which was fine, I was pretty stoked.

The last hand was a little stranger. Again, I was straddling and the pot was raised to $15 pre-flop by an English fellow from the cut-off. I called with an A 5 Diamonds and the Villain from last hand called. The flop came Q 5 3 ALL Spades. I checked, Villain checked, and the British guy looked at Villain and said, "You check?" Villain said "yes" and British guy then said "Check." The dealer started to burn and turn and the English guy plopped $35 out in the middle. Villain immediately objected, since English guy had already checked, and I agreed. The two of them started to get into it so floor was called. They made the correct decision that his check had to stand.

The turn then came the 2 of spades, bringing a one card spade flush. I checked, Villain immediately checked, and an obviously flustered Englishman checked behind us. The river came a Jack of Diamonds. I checked again and Villain bet out $40. Six months ago, this would have been an insta-muck for me, but I have since started to try to act on my reads more often, because they tend to be right. So I went into the tank and talked the hand out. I believed that if he had had a queen he would have bet the flop. I also felt that if he had had a spade, he would have bet the turn. So I reasoned that unless the Jack had "accidentally" hit him on the river, I might have him beat. I also considered the general weirdness that had surrounded the hand and the argument and thought that he might be trying to take advantage of the situation. Finally, I looked at him to try to pick up a tell one way or the other and he would not make eye contact and instead kept staring at the felt in front of him. I called and he threw his hand away face down. I showed my "hero call" and received the requisite "ooohs," "aaahhs," and "great calls" from the rest of the table.

I wanted to share those hands because I thought that they provided some worthy material, and if I pat myself on the back a little in the process...so be it. Everyone needs a good pat now and again!

Two Great Plays in Biloxi

Sorry for the delay in getting another post up, but we were having so much fun in Biloxi we didn't want to stop and blog. For five nights straight we played poker all night and slept most of the day. (Could anything be better?) I have to give huge props to the Beau Rivage Poker Room for taking such good care of us the whole time we were there. Not only did we receive the poker rate ($70 weeknights/$90 weekends) but they comped almost every meal we ate at the buffet, cafe, or table side service (our choice.) The games were juicy without being too overrun by donkeys. The floor was knowledgeable and the dealers were proficient and friendly. We're already planning another trip back to Mississippi!

In addition to doing some damage ourselves, we met some really interesting characters during our stay and witnessed some fabulous poker. One of the coolest hands involved a young, local rounder named Gabe who was easily the best player in the room. (In my humble opinion.) I wish that I had been watching the hand from the beginning so I could give a true blow-by-blow, but I can summarize by saying that Gabe raised pre-flop from late position and only one player called. I believe the flop was 9 - 10 - 5 rainbow. The other player bet into Gabe and he called.
There was also action on the turn but I can't remember who bet. The river card paired the board and the other player pushed all in for around $800. Gabe went into the tank and thought for almost three minutes before announcing "I call." The other player tapped his hand on the felt and said "good call." He flipped over the 7-8 for a busted straight draw. This wasn't in and of itself particularly noteworthy except that it was an awfully large amount to risk on a stone cold bluff on the river. (The pot was quite large before the river though, so the bet was not abnormally large in relation to the pot.) The amazing part was when Gabe flipped over his cards. He had the naked A-K...no pair. He had called over $800 cold because he put the other player on a bluff. I have to say, that was pretty damn impressive.

Now, I will note that I was skeptical after watching this play, wondering whether Gabe routinely called down large bets with less than premium holdings. If he did, and lost as often as he won, it would make his call a little less impressive. I was at the table with him quite frequently over the next few days and I watched him also make some very impressive lay downs when he was beat so that helped to strengthen my opinion of his play, but, in all fairness, I also watched him call down a larger than normal number of hands that he felt were bluffs. Sometimes he was right and sometimes not, but all-in-all I'd say his reads were more on than they were off.

Another interesting hand (which I was watching more closely) was especially fun because I felt that both players played it very well. The pot was raised pre-flop, but that was very normal for this game, and several players took the flop. The board came down three diamonds, the highest of which was a ten. The first player in our drama bet out the size of the pot (about $50) and another player called him. At this point, Milton, a local who is a solid player and a really fun guy, pushed all-in for around $400. The original better started thinking. He thought and thought and then called. The third player instantly mucked the lone queen of diamonds face up. Milton showed the naked ace of diamonds and the caller showed the K J of diamonds. Another diamond came off on the turn and Milton took down the pot. What impressed me about Milton's bet was that he knew it would be hard for a made flush to call his all-in push without the ace in their hand. He knew he would be calling a bet on the turn, so he gave himself the extra fold equity of pushing for a large amount on the flop. The caller, of course, made a great call with the King high flush and just happened to get sucked out on.

The hand reminded me of something that I need to improve on with my own game. If you are faced with a situation where you will be willing to call off all of your chips on a draw, either on that street or on the following street, it is usually better to raise the initial bet and give yourself one added way to win (fold equity) than it is to just call. This is also true on the river when you will be willing to call a bet, it is often better to bet out yourself. This assumes, of course, that you have a reasonably good read on your opponent and you are not likely to be bluff raised.

Checking in the Dark

My friend and novice poker player (known here in the blog as Happy Donkey) asked me about a week ago what the point was of "checking in the dark." He'd seen people do this at the table and wondered what their reasons might be. I tried to explain to him that people have different reasons for doing this, but it's a hard concept to grasp without examples. Last night, as Happy Donkey and I were playing in a rollicking $2/5 No Limit game at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, MS a perfect example arose of how to use a blind check to your advantage.

I was sitting in the BB with K 7 hearts and a new player to the table raised from middle position to $15. There were two callers after him and I called the additional $10 from the BB. The flop came down 7 - 5 - 7 rainbow. I checked and the original raiser bet $50. The other two players folded and I called the $50. At this point, I have to figure that he is going to be very suspicious of my flat call. There are very limited hands I could call him with that do not contain a 7, one of which would be if I was making a loose call with a straight draw. Because I wanted him to think that I was making a call with a draw and bet into me again on the turn if the draw did not come, I quickly checked in the dark after calling his bet on the flop. The turn came a deuce of diamonds bringing two diamonds to the board but not connecting with any draws I would have been on. My little charade worked and he bet into me again on the turn. Again I smooth called, but this time I did not blind check the river. I am planning on betting the river for value, but how much I can bet will be determined by the texture of the river card. The river came a 10 of diamonds and brought a runner-runner diamond flush. I decided to bet out $100 and intimate that I had made a diamond flush on the river. I believe that he thought I was bluffing with a busted straight draw and may have had only overcards when he called me. Of course because I won I did not ask to see the losing hand.

The point is that a blind check on the turn can often times help disguise your hand as people will almost always read a blind check for weakness and often as a drawing hand.

The games have been juicy here in Biloxi the last two nights so look for some good entries this week. Until then, may all your opponents cooperate in your devious plans.

It Was the Right Play, No It Wasn't, Maybe It Was

Two nights ago I was playing the $1/$2 No Limit game at Green Valley Station while waiting for a seat to open in the $2/$5 game. I bought in for $200 and had a little less than that in front of me when the following hand took place:

I raised to $12 from early position with K J of hearts. There were two callers after me, the BB called, and the player who had limped in under the gun also called. The flop came down J 10 8 rainbow. UTG bet $15 into a pot of $60. At this point, I put UTG on a drawing hand of some sort, most likely a combo draw with something like 10-9. The reason I immediately jumped to this conclusion is because I had seen him make these "blocker" type bets with drawing hands at least three other times since I had sat down at the table. When he had big made hands to protect he would bet the size of the pot, but when he had a drawing hand he would bet much less, and I had seen him fold to a raise when he made these $15 bets at least twice.

So I decided that with all the drawing possibilities out there I needed to protect my hand and figure out exactly where I was right there on the flop. I raised to $60. All the other players mucked and then, after a few seconds of consideration, the UTG player moved all in. Now at this point, I only had about $85 left and he had me covered. I went into the tank.

I tried to figure out what hands this player could have in this situation. I felt certain that he would have raised coming in UTG with pocket Js or 10s, so the only reasonable set possibility seemed to be 8s. It was certainly very possible that he had limped in with a hand like J-10 or J-8 and had flopped two pair. It also seemed possible that he had flopped a straight with a hand like Q-9, but I think he would have smooth called my raise with that hand and a rainbow board. I did not think that this particular player would push with a hand like QJ or KJ, but those were also possibilities. The final choices would be drawing hands. I did not think this player would push with middle or bottom pair and a re-draw so that narrowed the drawing hands down to J-9. Ultimately, I felt that his push was a strong move and indicated something that needed to be protected. I felt that it was much more likely that he had a set of 8s or two pair than any of the other options and in those cases I would be drawing really slim. I decided to muck my hand and after I did so he showed me the J-9 for top pair with the open ended re-draw.

Needless to say, I went over the hand again when I got home that night trying to decide if I had made the right play. I continued to believe that the most reasonable hands at that point were J-10, J-9, J-8, or 8s. Of those, three of them have me completely dominated (J-10, J-8, and 8s) and one of them I am approximately a 60/40 favorite. I had to decide that even though he did end up having the J-9, I had made a good lay down because I couldn't narrow down his possible hands enough to justify a call in that position.

Or could I?

About an hour later, something dawned on me. Remember on the flop when he bet $15 and I said that I immediately put him on a drawing hand? I had seen him make that move before and it was always with a drawing hand. Now granted, my data set was small as I had only seen his hand once and the other times he had folded before the river, but that was my first impression of the situation. Had I been willing to trust my read of his betting patterns, I could have narrowed his holdings down to the only drawing hand that it seemed possible he would push with... J-9. Yes, it would have been a sick read, but it's one I think I am capable of making. Had that been my conclusion, it would have been correct for me to call.

Next time I will blog from Biloxi where I will be playing at the Beau Rivage for five days. Until then, may all your hero calls make you look like a hero!

Lost and Found

I was playing $1-2 No Limit at Santa Fe Station two nights ago and the following hand provided an excellent example of a situation where you DO NOT want to disguise the strength of your hand.

This was an extremely loose game so (as I often do at this limit) I was playing almost everything pre-flop unless there was a raise. Then I would evaluate my criteria on a case by case basis. I called $2 from late middle position with 7-10 off suit. The player immediately to my left raised to $10, the button called, both blinds called, and an early position limper called so I threw in the extra $8 as well.

The flop came 10 - 9 - 4 with two clubs. The SB checked and the BB bet $15 into the $60 pot. The early position limper called the $15. At this point, I had a decision to make. I considered the following factors: My hand is likely not going to improve on the turn. Given the weak bet by the big blind, I am inclined to put him on a draw of some sort and the same with the limper who called him. The player immediately after me is the original raiser and if he entered the pot with two big cards, I definitely don't want to flat call and give him odds to call for overcards. So my options at this point are to make a significant raise or to fold. I decide that there is a very good possibility that I currently have the best hand and that if I am wrong about the original raiser and he is holding a big pocket pair I will find out in short order. So I raise the pot to $60.

The original raiser thinks for a few seconds and then mucks. What happens next is what really surprised me...the button cold called my $60 bet. As soon as he did this, the SB mucked and the BB started hemming and hawing about whether or not to call. While the BB went through his considerations I tried to figure out what in the world the button had. Here was my thought process: At this point, if the button has a bigger 10 than I, or even two pair or a set, he would be very foolish not to raise. With open ended straight possibilities for such popular cards as 7 -8 and J - Q, with a flush draw on the board to boot, and with two early position better/callers, he needs to protect a made hand at this point. If he just flat calls my $60, he is giving both other players the odds to call with any straight or flush draw and even a hand as strong as a set would then be very vulnerable. Following this train of reasoning, I decided that it was most likely that the button held a big draw like a flush draw with straight possibilities and/or overcards. This would make it correct from a pot odds point of view to flat call my bet and his hand would not be hurt by other players also calling. So even though I wasn't at all sure about my read, that's what I decided was most likely.

The BB eventually mucked, but not before stating that he thought he was probably laying down the best hand at the moment. This led me to believe that he held a 10 and that seemed to only strengthen my thought that the button was on a large draw. The other limper also mucked and we saw the turn heads up.

The turn came a K of hearts. If I was right about what the button held, this card could be trouble, but it wasn't as bad as a club falling. I checked to see what he would do. (I'd like to note that my check here was admittedly pretty weak, but I was hoping to get some sort of help with my read when he bet or checked behind me.) The button came out and bet $50. Now this bet was extremely confusing for two reasons: 1. The pot at this point was over $200 and 2. I only had about $75 left in front of me. When he bet this amount I really struggled to figure out what was going on. Did he have JQ and he had just turned the nuts so his $50 bet was his way of enticing me to call? Did he not notice how little I had left? Did he miss his draw but saw the $50 as some sort of value bet? I couldn't figure him out, and because I couldn't figure him out I reverted to my original read. I decided to continue acting on my assumption that he had a big draw. Since the K only hit a small number of drawing hands and since my remaining stack was quite small in relation to the pot, I decided that I had to call him, and since I was going to call I might as well push all in, which I did.

The river came a 10 of clubs...double whammy. If he was on some sort of combo club draw, as I thought was most likely, he just hit it, and if he had a big 10, he still had the best ten. He hesitated and since I was the first in order, I turned over my hand. He made a disgusted noise and threw the 9 4 of diamonds face up into the muck. He had flopped bottom two pair and the river had, of course, killed him.

Now obviously I made an incorrect read on this guy, but I wanted to point out that it is the fact that he misplayed the hand badly that allowed me to win. After I raised to $60 on the flop he ABSOLUTELY NEEDED to protect his hand. Bottom two pair is always vulnerable and should be bet strong, but even more so when there are straight and flush draws on the board. What did he think that I had? What did he think that the other two players had? He ended up with the best case scenario for him, both other players mucked and I had only top pair. But even so, his bet of $50 on the turn was so weak that it gave me the odds to call him even with my limited outs. Think about it: On the turn I have outs to two tens, three sevens, and three kings. That's 8 outs...I need 4 to 1 on my money, which I was easily getting. My point is that had he shown strength on the flop by re-raising me, I would have folded and he would have taken down a nice pot.

Remember, slow playing and tricking players into thinking that you have a weaker hand than you do only works if your hand is strong enough to deserve to be slow played. Protect your weaker hands! Especially those that are unlikely to improve but have a significant chance of worsening.

Until next time...remember, if you always go in with the worst hand, no one can ever suck out on you!

A FABULOUS Read and a BAD Call Lead to a Big Pot

Here's how it went down: When the tight/conservative player went all in I started evaluating what I thought he had and I narrowed it down to 10-10, J-J, or Q-Q. I was leaning more heavily to J-J or Q-Q. The reason for this is twofold: I did not think that this player would risk his entire stack unless he had a made hand. This is the case with many more conservative players. This analysis enabled me to eliminate AK and AQ from the possible holdings. I further believed that this player would not push all in in that situation with A-A or K-K, he certainly might have re-raised at that point, maybe to something around $100, in order to isolate against one player, but I didn't think he would go all in. Moving all in at that point was a large overbet of the pot and it indicated to me that he #1: had a hand that he felt needed protection and #2: was willing to take the pot down right there with no further action. These factors combined to make me eliminate A-A and K-K as options. I did not think that he would risk that much money on anything lower than 10s and so that left the three middle pocket pairs, with me leaning more heavily towards J-J or Q-Q. After speaking with Happy Donkey later in the evening, I discovered that his thought process had been almost identical to mine except that he had settled on either 10-10 or J-J. Therefore he made the call believing that he had two live, suited overcards and was coin flipping.

The other player ended up having just that...J-J. So my conclusion is that Happy Donkey made a GREAT read but a BAD call. Even though he correctly identified the hand that his opponent most likely held, he made what was, in my opinion, a donkey call. Here's why: First, there is the Q-Q factor. Q-Q could not be eliminated as a possible hand. If you look at 10-10, J-J, and Q-Q as the most likely hands, two are coin flips and one has you dominated. Second, you have to give yourself a little wiggle room in your calculations for mistakes...if Happy Donkey's read had been off, it was much more likely that it was off and the raiser had a better hand than jacks than it was likely that the raiser had a worse hand than jacks. Lastly, CALLING an all in bet is much more passive than MAKING an all in bet because you have no fold equity when you call. Therefore, while I do MAKE all in bets that I think might result in facing a coin flip situation, I rarely just call if I think that I am coin flipping. I would rather get my money in the pot when I have the best of it. If I had wanted to flip a coin for my money, I would have bet red or black.

Until next time may all your coin flips come up heads!

A _____ Read and a _____ Call Lead to a Big Pot

Last night I went to play some 1-2 No Limit with a friend of mine. We headed out to Sunset Station and just happened to be seated when the jackpot was hit at another Station casino. With poker room attendance at a typically light Monday night level, the players' share was $615...so we each went away for the night with a nice little bonus. I also observed an interesting hand that I'll share with you:

My friend (we'll just call him Happy Donkey...his choice, not mine) and I were sitting at the same table and it was a very good game. There were several tight, conservative, rather predictable players and three loose, aggressive donkeys...perfect mixture. Anyway, it was my live $4 straddle and one of the conservative players made it $12 to go from early-middle position. Two LAP called from middle position and my friend, Happy Donkey, raised to $25 from the button. I mucked and the original raiser pushed all in for $252 total. The two LAP mucked and Happy Donkey called time and went into the tank. As my friend was contemplating what to do, I evaluated what I thought the all in pusher most likely held. I'll tell you next post of my conclusion. After thinking for around a minute, Happy Donkey called. Both players flipped over their hands and Happy Donkey showed the KQ of spades.

My question to you for today is to weigh in on the following: What do you think the original raiser had? Was Happy Donkey dominated, coin flipping, or in the lead? All things considered did he make a good call or a donkey move? Answers and outcome on the next post.

Protecting Yourself from Questionable Ethics

The other night I was playing in one of my typical No Limit games (the exact casino is not important, but let's just say that there are a lot of canals involved) and two situations arose within the space of an hour invovling players using strategies that I felt were unethical.

The first incident occurred when the player to the immediate right of me came out with chips before the flop. He held a large stack of ($5) red chips in his hand, about 20 chips or so, and as he brought the chips over the bet line he began quickly cutting them out on the felt. I had seen him come out with the fistful of chips and as I looked at my hole cards, in my peripheral vision I saw him cutting out several chips. I had a starting hand that I would not play to a raise, so I quickly mucked. When I looked up, I saw that the chips he had cut out were ($1) white chips, not red chips. He had stacked five white chips below the large stack of red chips, purposely held them in such a way that they were concealed, come out with the large stack of chips and then cut out five white chips one at a time in order to make it look as much as possible like a raise. When he saw that I had mucked my hand he started laughing as if this was all part of a secret joke. I didn't really care as far as my hand was concerned because I wouldn't have played it anyway, but the intent of the player was far from honorable and that disturbed me. I asked the dealer what the rule was since he had taken a large stack of chips over the bet line and in many casinos where I have played the player is then forced to at least put in a minimum raise and in some cases I have seen all the chips in the bettor's hand go into the pot. When I asked what the rule was in this casino the dealer just laughed.

The second incident involved two other players and was much worse than the first. Two players were in a pot that had been raised pre-flop and then bet on the flop and the turn. The river was checked and as soon as it was time to turn over hands the second player to act announced that he had an ace (which would have been top pair on the board.) This player was already racking chips getting ready to leave the table and he announced the ace without picking his hand up from the table as if he was too busy racking the chips to turn it over right that second. The first player started to muck his cards as he heard that the racker had an ace, but apparently thought better of it when he saw that the second player had not yet made a move to turn over his hand. The first player held his cards face down over the muck and said, "Let me see it." The second player picked his hand up off the table, still facing down, and as he said again, "I've got the ace man," he made a little flipping motion with the cards as if he was starting to flip them over...but stopped short. Now the first player was definitely suspicious and demanded again that the second player show his hand at which point (a little late in my opinion) the dealer stepped in and asked for both hands to be turned over. The first player tabled his King high no pair and the second player mucked his hand face down then turned and left the table.

I have played casino poker for years and have occasionally heard players misrepresent their hands on the river, but have never seen it taken that far or be that blatant. This kid had just won a huge pot about 5 minutes prior for around $1200, why try to cheat his way into $150 more?

I respect all the angles of our great game and agree wholeheartedly with the axiom, "It is immoral to let a fool keep his money." But I believe that a legitimate poker player will pride him or herself on taking that money through superior poker playing, not through questionable angles, unethical pot shots, or just plain cheating. This needs to serve as a reminder to all of us to never muck our hand until the winning hand is tabled and to always keep a sharp eye out for those who feel they need a little extra advantage in order to win.

Until next time...when you sit down at the table, may the sucker not be you!

"Why Did You Choose to Get Agressive There?"

Last night I played the 2-5 NL game at the Venetian. It was one of those nights where I couldn't hit a flop if it was the broad side of a barn. After playing for three hours, I was just above even, due only to the fact that I had pulled off three huge bluffs. Only once had I actually flopped a pair in three hours, and that hand ended up losing when a flush came on the river. None-the-less, I felt like I was playing well, and was happy to be ahead when I hadn't been catching any cards.

Finally, I ended up catching a flop. I was dealt A 5 off in the big blind and we had two limpers come in. The button raised to $20. Usually, I don't like playing Ace rag in a raised pot, especially out of position, but this guy was very loose, raising a lot of hands pre-flop and the table had been playing very agressively, so I thought that there was a pretty good chance that any of the three limpers would have raised an ace coming into the pot. I made the decision to call the extra $15 and the rest of the limpers followed suit.

The flop came down 5 - 5- 4 rainbow. I was first to act and I checked. The table checked around. The turn came an 8 of clubs putting two clubs on the board. I checked again, but this time, with the intention of check raising. This table was far too agressive for it to be checked around again. Villian bet out from middle position for $30. The button folded. I felt I needed to raise here for two reasons. First, to get the person out between myself and Villian in case he had a flush or straight draw. And second, to get a little more information as to what Villian could be holding. I raised and made it $80 to go. The player in between us folded, Villian called, and we saw the river heads up.

The river brought a 3 of hearts, which was essentially a blank. At this point the list of hands that Villian could hold is quite varied. He could have a five with a weaker kicker, an eight with some kind of re-draw, a busted flush draw, a straight, or a full house. I decide that this player is strong enough that if I check he will bet out with any of the above, either for value or to steal the pot. If he does so, he will most likely bet the size of the pot, which as it stands, is $240. I decided to make a blocker bet in order to pay less for the same information, so on the river I bet $100. I felt that he would not be able to raise me if he had anything less than a full house. If he did have a full house and raised, I would muck. He flat called the $100 and then said, "Do you have the full house?" I immediately knew that he must have turned the straight. He won the pot, but as he was dragging it he felt obligated to critique my play. "I can't believe you raised me with just a five," he said. "And then you picked a weird time to get aggressive on the river." Interesting that he saw it that way. I guess he didn't understand that I wasn't betting $100 on the river because I was convinced I had the best hand, I was betting it because I was worried that I didn't have the best hand.

Sometimes the largest victory you can claim on any given hand is not to win the most money, but to lose the least. Until next time...remember...a chip saved is a chip earned.

To Flip or Not To Flip

When I'm not out playing live, my favorite online game is the Heads Up Tourneys on Full Tilt. At the moment, I am playing the N/L Hold 'Em and Stud H/L varieties almost exclusively. I have developed a strategy that seems to work well when it comes to decisions in potential coin flip situations.

As any of you who have played these tournaments have probably noticed, there is a particular set of players that enjoy pushing all in on a semi-frequent basis after the pot has been raised pre-flop. It typically goes something like this (for me.) I will triple the big blind (often with a hand like A-8, KQ, JQ, 55, you get the idea) and then someone will push all in over top of me. What to do? Well the answer depends on a couple of factors. First, let's assume that the villain is not doing this ALL the time. There are players who will raise all in anytime you raise or (in extreme cases) every pre-flop. I deal with them a little differently, so for the sake of this evaluation we will assume that villain is not raising all in all the time, but just occasionally or even semi-frequently.

The first thing that I evaluate when deciding whether to call all my chips into the middle is the skill level of the person I am playing. At the limits that I play, I feel that I am definitely the dominant player 95% of the time. Therefore, I believe that I can grind the other player down and I don't need to try for coin flips. Because of this, I will usually fold anything but Qs, Ks, or As pre-flop in this situation. Now, obviously, the more often someone is making this move, the more lenient you need to become with the hands you are willing to call. If it starts happening more frequently, I will sometimes add AK or AQ to the mix of hands I am willing to get all my chips in with. Another way to adjust to many of these maniacs is to start playing small pot poker. Stop raising with your big hands pre-flop and try to win in unraised pots. It takes longer to finish the match, but if you are the superior post-flop player it should not be a problem.

My strategy begins to change as the limits go up. If you get to the 60/120 blind level and above, and you still have not vanquished your opponent, you can no longer afford to pass up solid opportunities to secure the win. You then must consider getting all your chips in the middle with progressively less spectacular hands. I also adjust my requirements substantially when I feel that I am facing a tough opponent. I played a tournament last night against a player that was surprisingly good. I had what I felt would be a coin flip situation in the 40/80 blind level when I held AJ suited and I took it. He had pocket 9s and I lost, but I felt ok about the decision because I was a little low on chips and I was facing an opponent that was not easily dominated. I did come back and beat him in a re-match.

Well that's it from the virtual felt today. Good luck and may all your cards be live!

An Almost Awesome Bluff

Last night was a lot of fun and I had the pleasure of playing at one of the more interesting tables I've encountered in the last several months. My buddy Ben and I went to Ceasar's at 5pm to play in the PLO tourney. We were both knocked out fairly early so I ended up playing 2-5 No Limit. The game was reasonably tough when I sat down with a few decent players, so I played tight the first hour or so to get my bearings. Around that time people started leaving and the fabric of the game changed dramtically. It got softer by the hour. We had a visit from some famous basketball player (wasted on me) and I ran into three old friends. I cashed out up $1100 so it was a good night overall. I'd like to share one really interesting hand that I watched:

I wasn't able to get the names of the two players involved (I'll do better next time), so we'll just call them Small Blind Boy and Button Man.

The table folded around to Button Man who limped in. Small Blind Boy put in a decent size raise, I think he made it $40 to go. The big blind mucked and Button Man called. The flop came down Q 9 7 rainbow. Small Blind Boy bet out $100. Button Man thought about it for a moment and then called. The turn came another queen. At this point, I was putting Small Blind Boy on something like AK or AJ and figured that he had made a continuation bet on the flop. I didn't see how he could continue bluffing at it at this point, so I wasn't surprised to see him check. Button Man was evidentaly waiting for this as he promptly bet $250. I should note here, that I didn't put Button Man on a Queen at this point, as I think he would have slowplayed the turn with no draws on board and hoped that Small Blind Boy hit something on the river. I wasn't sure exactly what Button Man might have but I was almost certain he didn't have a Queen. Apparently Small Blind Boy must have been thinking the same thing becasue he called for time to contemplate his options. Finally, after looking like he was going to muck, he moved all in. I was surprised and so was Button Man as he let out an involuntary cry of "Man...I know you have the queen." He finished this thought with, "but I have to call you now." With this exclamation, Button Man put his remaining chips (only about $180) into the pot. Now, before you go any further, care to speculate on what both of them had?

I doubt you guessed it. Small Blind Boy turned over a J 5 offsuit for a whopping jack high. And...believe it or not...he was the dominant favorite in the pot at that point! Button Man flipped over a 6 8...he had flopped the open ended straight draw. The river was suitably dramatic as a 6 came off giving Button Man the pot.

I was super impressed with the read and the chutzpah of Small Blind Boy in attempting to steal the pot on the turn with a check raise holding Jack high. And it would have worked...if only Button Man had had more chips. As it happened, it was a great reminder that you always need to have your opponents stack in mind when you bet. Pushing all in when his opponent was pot comitted turned Small Blind Boy's brilliant read into a donkey play. He admitted that he didn't put Button Boy on an 8 high, he just felt that he didn't have a Queen and, as such, he might be able to push him off of his hand. I think he would have succeeded, but he neglected to notice that Button Man was almost out of chips.