While watching the Arizona Cardinals get humiliated on Monday Night Football last night, my wife and I had reruns of this year’s World Series of Poker set as our flip channel. I haven’t watched poker on television in several years as the play in tournaments like the WSOP isn’t conducive to a learning environment regarding improving poker play at cash games. That’s not to say it can’t be entertaining, but I just don’t find enjoyment watching others play poker like I used to.
However, last night we spent a few minutes during football’s commercial breaks to watch some hands unfold and we came across one that my wife and I differed on a play that was made. I wanted to discuss it here and see what others thought of the play.
At this point in the tournament, the players were in the money and cashing out at about $125,000 and increasing with each player being knocked out. I don’t recall specific chip counts for each of the players involved, but it really doesn’t matter too much as all the money went in the pot pre-flop. I will do the best I can to reconstruct the hand as close to accurate as possible so a fair decision can be given on what you would have done.
Player A was dealt pocket jacks. Being in early position (not exactly sure where but he acted before the other two players involved), Player A led out with a raise of about 2.5 times the big blind.
Moving to Player B, who is holding Q-10 of spades, this guy re-raises all-in for an amount more than the initial raise but not so much that it puts everybody at the table all-in. This player was likely short stacked and saw an opportunity to get heads up or maybe even steal what was in the pot and not get called by the original raiser, hoping to build his stack a little and last a bit longer so the payout grew larger should he go out an hour later or so.
Player C then looks at A-Q offsuit. He re-raises the all-in from Player B. The re-raise is so much that it would put Player A all-in should he call. It folds back around to Player A.
So let’s recap. Player A raises with pocket jacks. Player B re-raises all of his chips with Q-10 suited. Player C re-raises with A-Q offsuit. It is back to Player A with his jacks and a call means he is all-in.
I do not know whether Player A had more than Player B, because their chip stacks would determine whether Player A finished higher than Player B should he have more at the start of the hand and they both be knocked out by Player C. This data might affect your decision on whether you call or not, however, without that information I still would like to know whether you call or fold with the jacks.
Player A agonized over the hand for a bit and finally folded. My wife was surprised to see him fold what she considered a really good hand. I told her I agreed that jacks were a good hand, but not in this scenario and I too would have folded. In a best-case scenario you are up against two overcards between the two players, which is exactly what was the case here. You figure you have to either be up against one player who is holding a smaller pocket pair and the other player has A-K or A-Q or both players have high cards that would beat you should an ace, king, or queen come out. Again, this is all best-case scenario. Worst-case scenario would involve being beat already by one of them who is holding queens, kings, or aces.
Playing against one person for all your money is fine when holding jacks, but once a second opponent enters into the mix your jacks aren’t quite as dominant. It would take queens or higher for me to make that call, and even queens I would be nervous.
I told my wife another reason for the fold is because the players were in the money. By folding, you assure yourself some more time to stick around and climb up the money ladder. Should Player B get beat by Player C then you automatically move up one spot in the money. I could see the argument for calling and tripling up should your jacks win, which would put you in a great spot to make it even deeper in the money, but I don’t like the odds of going up against two unknown hands that apparently are pretty strong with all the raising and re-raising going on with just jacks. I mean, do these people look like men who are beaten by jacks?
Player C ended up winning the hand, knocking Player B out of the tournament, with ace-high when nothing hit. So Player A would have won with his jacks, which hurt even more when he saw a jack come on the river giving him what would have been a set, not that he needed it.
Not sure if you agree with my assessment of how to play this hand, but I would have folded the jacks.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Weatherford (November 27)
The months of October and November were good to me at the poker tables. I played in six games and profited a total of $695. My average win at each game was $115.83, but two of those games netted me only $25 and $30 each, hurting my average quite a bit. Taking those wins out I would have averaged $160 a game, but a win is a win and I should not thumb my nose at those two small profits.
My latest game was in Weatherford where I play once a month and usually do well for myself. I once won enough money to purchase a new refrigerator for our kitchen. I haven’t had a huge payday since then and prior to Saturday night the last two times for me there were losses. It was good to get back on track and log a winning session from those guys again.
I won $120 for the night and played for eight-and-a-half hours, breaking down to $14.12 an hour. My year-to-date hourly rate slightly increased to $11.85.
The play at my table was generally decent from everyone for the first few hours until a guy sat down who I can’t stand playing with. He is one of those people who has to tell his bad beat stories over and over. I have heard them all so many times I could finish them up should he want to ever stop talking, which doesn’t happen much. Another complaint I have about this guy is he thinks he is a great player, and he may win money consistently but it is never from me because, in my humble opinion, he is one of the easiest people to read. He makes speeches about not having a good hand before raising on the river with his nut flush. He overbets pots with hands that are huge favorites rather than making value bets.
There was one hand that I called exactly what he had Saturday night. He was in the big blind and after a few people called for $2 it got back to him. Before bumping it another $5 he said, “I’ll raise it in case my hand hits.” Right there I put him down for a suited hand that is either connected like K-Q or will give him the nut flush with the ace. He got a few calls and the flop was A-X-X with two clubs. He led out with a bet and got a call. I figure he hit the ace and is in the lead with top pair. The turn was another club and he immediately checked. The other player made a bet and after posturing for a bit he called. To me this screams of him now having the flush. The river was a blank and he checked again. The other player bet and he came over the top with a raise. Now I am 100 percent positive he has the flush. I don’t recall whether the other player paid him off or not, but the guy ended up showing A-4 of clubs for the pair of aces on the flop and the turned nut flush. It was just as I had suspected.
I’m no professional, but when I can read a guy that well and put him on hands on a regular basis like I normally do, I can only imagine the field day people have with him at WinStar. The guy said he plays poker on a weekly basis and his win-loss ratio is about 2-1 with his combined wins covering any losses. From what I see that is hard to believe.
Generally, my night in Weatherford was pretty tame. I did have to re-buy after I lost my first $100 chasing a straight draw that would have tripled me up, but I made that back and then some by the end of the night. I do have one scenario of interest from the game that I will describe in detail.
I was sitting at approximately $240 at the start of the hand. In early position I looked to see pocket fives. I limped in for $2 and was going to cut bait should a bet be made and I not hit a five on the flop. With four others we saw a flop that came out 3-4-7 rainbow. There was $10 in the pot at this point.
Although not hitting a five, this is a pretty great flop for me. One of the blinds checked it to me and I bet $7. I was called by a guy in late position who had about $75 after the call. Everybody else folded. That put $24 in the pot.
The turn was a six, completing my straight. I decided to not slow-play my big hand and disguise it a bit in case the other guy had a hand worth going the distance with. By betting I figured he wouldn’t put me on the straight, even though it only took a five to make one. I bet $12 and was on cloud nine when my opponent announced a raise. He made it $35 to go. This left him with $40 remaining.
My decision at this point was whether to go all-in now or wait until the river. I figured we were splitting the pot at this point, but should he have two pair or a set I thought he would pay his last $40 on the hopes of hitting a full house even if my raise now made it very clear I was beating him. I could disguise my hand some more and wait to bet his last $40 on the river, but I figured there was no point in that because if he did have less than the straight on the river he might not put all of his money in the pot, even though it would be for so little of an amount compared to the pot.
With that in mind, I decided to go ahead and put it all in now and he instantly called. So that meant he had the straight and we were splitting it. But wait! He had 8-5 for the higher straight, giving me only three outs to tie and no chance to win. The river was a two and he doubled up.
My question is this, is there any reasonable way of losing less money on that hand? I maybe could have bet more money on the flop and not given him a chance to hit the inside straight, but that is really the only other chance I see at winning the pot. Once the straight is there I don’t think I would have folded at any point. There is a possibility that had I slow-played my straight on the turn he also would have checked and we might not have got it all in on the river, but I highly doubt that. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
I plan on going to WinStar this week, so I will update you after that. Until then.
My latest game was in Weatherford where I play once a month and usually do well for myself. I once won enough money to purchase a new refrigerator for our kitchen. I haven’t had a huge payday since then and prior to Saturday night the last two times for me there were losses. It was good to get back on track and log a winning session from those guys again.
I won $120 for the night and played for eight-and-a-half hours, breaking down to $14.12 an hour. My year-to-date hourly rate slightly increased to $11.85.
The play at my table was generally decent from everyone for the first few hours until a guy sat down who I can’t stand playing with. He is one of those people who has to tell his bad beat stories over and over. I have heard them all so many times I could finish them up should he want to ever stop talking, which doesn’t happen much. Another complaint I have about this guy is he thinks he is a great player, and he may win money consistently but it is never from me because, in my humble opinion, he is one of the easiest people to read. He makes speeches about not having a good hand before raising on the river with his nut flush. He overbets pots with hands that are huge favorites rather than making value bets.
There was one hand that I called exactly what he had Saturday night. He was in the big blind and after a few people called for $2 it got back to him. Before bumping it another $5 he said, “I’ll raise it in case my hand hits.” Right there I put him down for a suited hand that is either connected like K-Q or will give him the nut flush with the ace. He got a few calls and the flop was A-X-X with two clubs. He led out with a bet and got a call. I figure he hit the ace and is in the lead with top pair. The turn was another club and he immediately checked. The other player made a bet and after posturing for a bit he called. To me this screams of him now having the flush. The river was a blank and he checked again. The other player bet and he came over the top with a raise. Now I am 100 percent positive he has the flush. I don’t recall whether the other player paid him off or not, but the guy ended up showing A-4 of clubs for the pair of aces on the flop and the turned nut flush. It was just as I had suspected.
I’m no professional, but when I can read a guy that well and put him on hands on a regular basis like I normally do, I can only imagine the field day people have with him at WinStar. The guy said he plays poker on a weekly basis and his win-loss ratio is about 2-1 with his combined wins covering any losses. From what I see that is hard to believe.
Generally, my night in Weatherford was pretty tame. I did have to re-buy after I lost my first $100 chasing a straight draw that would have tripled me up, but I made that back and then some by the end of the night. I do have one scenario of interest from the game that I will describe in detail.
I was sitting at approximately $240 at the start of the hand. In early position I looked to see pocket fives. I limped in for $2 and was going to cut bait should a bet be made and I not hit a five on the flop. With four others we saw a flop that came out 3-4-7 rainbow. There was $10 in the pot at this point.
Although not hitting a five, this is a pretty great flop for me. One of the blinds checked it to me and I bet $7. I was called by a guy in late position who had about $75 after the call. Everybody else folded. That put $24 in the pot.
The turn was a six, completing my straight. I decided to not slow-play my big hand and disguise it a bit in case the other guy had a hand worth going the distance with. By betting I figured he wouldn’t put me on the straight, even though it only took a five to make one. I bet $12 and was on cloud nine when my opponent announced a raise. He made it $35 to go. This left him with $40 remaining.
My decision at this point was whether to go all-in now or wait until the river. I figured we were splitting the pot at this point, but should he have two pair or a set I thought he would pay his last $40 on the hopes of hitting a full house even if my raise now made it very clear I was beating him. I could disguise my hand some more and wait to bet his last $40 on the river, but I figured there was no point in that because if he did have less than the straight on the river he might not put all of his money in the pot, even though it would be for so little of an amount compared to the pot.
With that in mind, I decided to go ahead and put it all in now and he instantly called. So that meant he had the straight and we were splitting it. But wait! He had 8-5 for the higher straight, giving me only three outs to tie and no chance to win. The river was a two and he doubled up.
My question is this, is there any reasonable way of losing less money on that hand? I maybe could have bet more money on the flop and not given him a chance to hit the inside straight, but that is really the only other chance I see at winning the pot. Once the straight is there I don’t think I would have folded at any point. There is a possibility that had I slow-played my straight on the turn he also would have checked and we might not have got it all in on the river, but I highly doubt that. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
I plan on going to WinStar this week, so I will update you after that. Until then.
Friday, November 19, 2010
WinStar (November 18)
In the course of a night of playing poker, the littlest decisions can greatly affect the outcome of your game. Electing to go to the bathroom could result in missing a hand that might have garnered a double-up or, just as easily, maybe stopped you from going broke. Folding one hand might keep a little extra money in front of you for the next hand that ends up as an all-in double-up. These are the kinds of minor details of a poker game that can have major consequences, both good and bad, later in a game. During last night’s trip to WinStar with Clint I had one of these types of situations that a split-second decision on my part netted me far greater money than I would have had I not taken action when I did.
We will touch on that a little later though. For now let’s work our way chronologically through the night.
I bought in for $180 and was not getting anywhere after about an hour or so. I think I was down about $15 when the following hand took place. I was dealt A-6 of clubs in middle position and limped in for $2. A man two to my left, who we will call Senor Chang, also called the $2. It got around to the blinds, which one of the players raised it to $7 total. When it got back to me I called the extra $5, as did Senor Chang. There were four people seeing a flop and that put $28 in the pot.
The flop came 10-5-2 with two clubs. I now had a flush draw and checked it when it got to me after the original raiser and another player checked. Senor Chang, who was last to act, bet $25, leaving himself another $79. The original raiser, who had about $200 at the start of the hand, called after thinking for a while and it came back to me when the other guy folded. At this point I know I need a club or probably an ace to win the hand. The pre-flop raiser’s check-call on the flop didn’t seem like the “I hit a huge hand with my pocket tens and now I’m going to slow-play this until the river” kind of play. He truly acted as if he wasn’t sure what he should be doing.
My options were to fold and save $25, call and see what comes on the turn and possibly river if it is checked around, or raise the bet and become the aggressor. Looking back, I maybe should have raised it to $75 or $100 and put Senor Chang to the test for everything he had. However, in the moment and after thinking for a good amount of time about it, I elected to call. The pot now had $103 in it.
The turn was a red seven, showing a board of 10-5-2-7 with two clubs. The first guy checked, I checked, and Senor Chang moved his remaining $79 into the pot. The first guy quickly folded and I counted out what would have been the call. If I called and lost I’d have a remaining $60 and need to re-buy with the $120 I had in my wallet. After going through the possibilities of what he had I decided I couldn’t risk nearly all my money on nine outs, or maybe 12 if a pair of aces could have won.
After I folded Senor Chang showed me 6-2 offsuit for a lowly pair of twos, which still had me beat. So my ace would have been good had it hit.
Well, folding to keep me from being at $60 didn’t help much because I ended up having nearly that anyway about 20 minutes later, and the worst part is I don’t remember how I got there. I can’t recall any big hands I lost except one that I flopped top pair and was beat on the river by two pair with betting throughout the hand, but I really don’t think it was for an amount large enough to take me from $130-ish to $55, so there had to be some more hands in there that I lost a little at a time on. The point is I was down to $55 when the following happened.
Deciding that the difficulty in having to double up and then double up again to get back where I started was greater than the threat of re-buying for another $120 and possibly losing $300 total, I slapped my money on the felt prior to being dealt the ace and queen of hearts. It was raised by a country boy who apparently had been playing for somewhere between 22 and 26 hours, which his chip-stack did not reflect a great amount of profit from a day’s length of playing. With my $120 in play and $55 on the table, I had more money than he did at the start of the hand. A handful of players called the raise and we saw a flop of A-K-3 rainbow.
I don’t recall the specific bets that took place, however, I know going to the turn it was heads-up between the country boy and myself. The turn came with a six and he went all-in. I didn’t hesitate too long to call and showed my A-Q. A king came on the river and he said I had him out-kicked, showing A-9. By the end of the hand I had $305, putting me in the black.
At this point I became the table’s executioner. It just happened that two or three guys at a time would have anywhere from $20-60 in front of them. One at a time they would push all-in pre-flop. It just so happened that during this brief window of opportunity I had a hand good enough to call, or the bet was small enough compared to the amount of money I had, and won five pots this way. I did this with queens, tens, A-J offsuit, A-Q suited, and J-10 suited, building my money towers higher and higher until after some more bullying with very questionable hands that I raised pre-flop and continued betting on the flop I had a chip-stack of $575.
It just so happened that the hand I held tens is something worth discussing because it involved a little more action than a simple all-in, call.
I was sitting in the big blind and had posted my $2 bet. A foreign gentleman who looked to be from Central America made his all-in push of $24. It folded around to a hoodied-Youth who I hadn’t seen show a hand, or win one, all night. He made the all-in call, as did the small blind on my right. At this point I was ready to fold my hand unless I had an upper-echelon starting hand. I looked down to see my cards and found two tens looking back at me. This made things very interesting.
The small blind had a smidge more than $200 in front of him after calling the $24 bet, but his during this hand and conversation with him prior to this moment made me fairly confident he had only called hoping to see five cards for the $24 fee and see who has the best of it at the end. The real concern was the hoodied-Youth. He had his arms crossed in front of his chips and I had to ask how much he had in order to gauge how much the hand would ultimately cost me. He uncovered the chips, which were about another $75. I decided my hand was only good enough to go against one player and I made a raise to $100 total.
Hoodied-Youth frustratingly mucked his cards in the middle and the small blind laughingly told me I was on my own. I don’t recall the hand I was up against, but I think it might have been A-3 offsuit. Hoodied-Youth never let it be known what he had or even if he would have ultimately won the hand or not had he called my bet.
The final hand of interest was when I held 9-10 offsuit. This was at about the time I had reached my peak of $575. There were seven of us who limped in for $2 each to see a flop, which came out 9-10-J. Flopping two pair is a good position to be in, but flopping bottom two pair and the three community cards make it fairly easy for a straight to exist is not the ideal circumstances when holding two pair.
The first player to act led out with a $5 bet and two players after him called. This put $29 in the pot. The next player, sitting on my right, raised it $15, making it $20 total. Had the guy on my right not raised, I would have because I wouldn’t have wanted any straight draws hanging around. But with a feeler bet of $5 made (which I expect he held a ten or possibly a jack with a small kicker and wanted to see who would be hanging around), two calls, and a raise all going on before it got to me and I had another player on my immediate left to act after me, I decided it was best to play with caution and see if I could improve any.
I called the $20, as did the guy on my left and one of the $5 callers. This left four of us for the turn with a pot of $104. The fourth community card was an ace, creating a board of 9-10-J-A. The only reason I don’t like that card is because it gives someone holding A-J, A-10 or A-9 a higher two pair. It didn’t affect the outcome of a straight, so that had no bearing on things.
The first player checked, as did the guy who raised it on the flop. Being my turn and a little curious at the two checks ahead of me, I elected to take the free card should the guy on my left also check. What scared me most now was the guy on my left and the first guy to act. Either one of them could be slow-playing their flopped straight, which in my opinion is a bad idea considering there are three people showing interest in the hand and would call a bet from the player who flopped the straight.
The check from the guy who raised on the flop made me feel like he was holding a mediocre hand with a draw and hoping to either take it on the flop or hit his hand on the turn and make a lot of money. By slowing down and checking I felt he hadn’t improved and didn’t want to try and semi-bluff again into three opponents.
The guy behind me checked and the river came out as another ace, creating a board of 9-10-J-A-A. My hand is now completely ruined and all I can do is give up should a bet be made. However, the first two players checked, creating quite the opportunity for me. Everything in me said a bet of about $50-60 would win the hand because nobody held anything good enough to call. I pondered how much to bet for a good two minutes, debating back and forth whether I wanted to risk a tenth of my stack on a complete bluff. While I don’t usually mind making that kind of a bet when I believe it will work, doing so against three opponents is a tough sell.
Once I had decided I could have bet and won the hand, I took so long to come to that decision I felt my bet would scream of bluff because the other players would realize I was making the only play that would win me the pot. By thinking through my play and coming to a conclusion on what to do, I ruined my play by not acting quickly enough.
I finally did check, surrendering the hand, and the guy behind me checked. The players to my left and right split the pot with Q-J, flopping top pair and an open-ended straight draw. I was correct in my assessment that they would have folded to a bet, but just to make sure I stated that I really wanted to bet. Both men agreed that I looked like I was going to and had it been about the amount I was going to put in the pot they likely would have folded.
At that moment in the game I was playing scared poker, not wanting to lose any of my profit. That is a losing way to play cards and it is something I am going to have to rectify if I want to continue improving at cards.
I ended up not winning too many hands after that and quit after nearly five hours of play with a $180 profit. My hourly rate for the night was $37.89, bringing my year-to-date hourly rate up to $11.70. I have won $1,580 in 2010 playing cash games in Weatherford, Oklahoma, and Shreveport.
I have been on a bit of win streak lately. The last five games I have played in have netted me a profit of $575.
In a weird twist of fate, last night was the one-year anniversary of when I started playing the game of poker again seriously. In that year, I won $3,195 and earned $16.68 an hour. That gives me hope that in 2011 I can reach my goal of building a $300 bankroll into $5,000. Let’s hope this past year’s success continues in 2011.
We will touch on that a little later though. For now let’s work our way chronologically through the night.
I bought in for $180 and was not getting anywhere after about an hour or so. I think I was down about $15 when the following hand took place. I was dealt A-6 of clubs in middle position and limped in for $2. A man two to my left, who we will call Senor Chang, also called the $2. It got around to the blinds, which one of the players raised it to $7 total. When it got back to me I called the extra $5, as did Senor Chang. There were four people seeing a flop and that put $28 in the pot.
The flop came 10-5-2 with two clubs. I now had a flush draw and checked it when it got to me after the original raiser and another player checked. Senor Chang, who was last to act, bet $25, leaving himself another $79. The original raiser, who had about $200 at the start of the hand, called after thinking for a while and it came back to me when the other guy folded. At this point I know I need a club or probably an ace to win the hand. The pre-flop raiser’s check-call on the flop didn’t seem like the “I hit a huge hand with my pocket tens and now I’m going to slow-play this until the river” kind of play. He truly acted as if he wasn’t sure what he should be doing.
My options were to fold and save $25, call and see what comes on the turn and possibly river if it is checked around, or raise the bet and become the aggressor. Looking back, I maybe should have raised it to $75 or $100 and put Senor Chang to the test for everything he had. However, in the moment and after thinking for a good amount of time about it, I elected to call. The pot now had $103 in it.
The turn was a red seven, showing a board of 10-5-2-7 with two clubs. The first guy checked, I checked, and Senor Chang moved his remaining $79 into the pot. The first guy quickly folded and I counted out what would have been the call. If I called and lost I’d have a remaining $60 and need to re-buy with the $120 I had in my wallet. After going through the possibilities of what he had I decided I couldn’t risk nearly all my money on nine outs, or maybe 12 if a pair of aces could have won.
After I folded Senor Chang showed me 6-2 offsuit for a lowly pair of twos, which still had me beat. So my ace would have been good had it hit.
Well, folding to keep me from being at $60 didn’t help much because I ended up having nearly that anyway about 20 minutes later, and the worst part is I don’t remember how I got there. I can’t recall any big hands I lost except one that I flopped top pair and was beat on the river by two pair with betting throughout the hand, but I really don’t think it was for an amount large enough to take me from $130-ish to $55, so there had to be some more hands in there that I lost a little at a time on. The point is I was down to $55 when the following happened.
Deciding that the difficulty in having to double up and then double up again to get back where I started was greater than the threat of re-buying for another $120 and possibly losing $300 total, I slapped my money on the felt prior to being dealt the ace and queen of hearts. It was raised by a country boy who apparently had been playing for somewhere between 22 and 26 hours, which his chip-stack did not reflect a great amount of profit from a day’s length of playing. With my $120 in play and $55 on the table, I had more money than he did at the start of the hand. A handful of players called the raise and we saw a flop of A-K-3 rainbow.
I don’t recall the specific bets that took place, however, I know going to the turn it was heads-up between the country boy and myself. The turn came with a six and he went all-in. I didn’t hesitate too long to call and showed my A-Q. A king came on the river and he said I had him out-kicked, showing A-9. By the end of the hand I had $305, putting me in the black.
At this point I became the table’s executioner. It just happened that two or three guys at a time would have anywhere from $20-60 in front of them. One at a time they would push all-in pre-flop. It just so happened that during this brief window of opportunity I had a hand good enough to call, or the bet was small enough compared to the amount of money I had, and won five pots this way. I did this with queens, tens, A-J offsuit, A-Q suited, and J-10 suited, building my money towers higher and higher until after some more bullying with very questionable hands that I raised pre-flop and continued betting on the flop I had a chip-stack of $575.
It just so happened that the hand I held tens is something worth discussing because it involved a little more action than a simple all-in, call.
I was sitting in the big blind and had posted my $2 bet. A foreign gentleman who looked to be from Central America made his all-in push of $24. It folded around to a hoodied-Youth who I hadn’t seen show a hand, or win one, all night. He made the all-in call, as did the small blind on my right. At this point I was ready to fold my hand unless I had an upper-echelon starting hand. I looked down to see my cards and found two tens looking back at me. This made things very interesting.
The small blind had a smidge more than $200 in front of him after calling the $24 bet, but his during this hand and conversation with him prior to this moment made me fairly confident he had only called hoping to see five cards for the $24 fee and see who has the best of it at the end. The real concern was the hoodied-Youth. He had his arms crossed in front of his chips and I had to ask how much he had in order to gauge how much the hand would ultimately cost me. He uncovered the chips, which were about another $75. I decided my hand was only good enough to go against one player and I made a raise to $100 total.
Hoodied-Youth frustratingly mucked his cards in the middle and the small blind laughingly told me I was on my own. I don’t recall the hand I was up against, but I think it might have been A-3 offsuit. Hoodied-Youth never let it be known what he had or even if he would have ultimately won the hand or not had he called my bet.
The final hand of interest was when I held 9-10 offsuit. This was at about the time I had reached my peak of $575. There were seven of us who limped in for $2 each to see a flop, which came out 9-10-J. Flopping two pair is a good position to be in, but flopping bottom two pair and the three community cards make it fairly easy for a straight to exist is not the ideal circumstances when holding two pair.
The first player to act led out with a $5 bet and two players after him called. This put $29 in the pot. The next player, sitting on my right, raised it $15, making it $20 total. Had the guy on my right not raised, I would have because I wouldn’t have wanted any straight draws hanging around. But with a feeler bet of $5 made (which I expect he held a ten or possibly a jack with a small kicker and wanted to see who would be hanging around), two calls, and a raise all going on before it got to me and I had another player on my immediate left to act after me, I decided it was best to play with caution and see if I could improve any.
I called the $20, as did the guy on my left and one of the $5 callers. This left four of us for the turn with a pot of $104. The fourth community card was an ace, creating a board of 9-10-J-A. The only reason I don’t like that card is because it gives someone holding A-J, A-10 or A-9 a higher two pair. It didn’t affect the outcome of a straight, so that had no bearing on things.
The first player checked, as did the guy who raised it on the flop. Being my turn and a little curious at the two checks ahead of me, I elected to take the free card should the guy on my left also check. What scared me most now was the guy on my left and the first guy to act. Either one of them could be slow-playing their flopped straight, which in my opinion is a bad idea considering there are three people showing interest in the hand and would call a bet from the player who flopped the straight.
The check from the guy who raised on the flop made me feel like he was holding a mediocre hand with a draw and hoping to either take it on the flop or hit his hand on the turn and make a lot of money. By slowing down and checking I felt he hadn’t improved and didn’t want to try and semi-bluff again into three opponents.
The guy behind me checked and the river came out as another ace, creating a board of 9-10-J-A-A. My hand is now completely ruined and all I can do is give up should a bet be made. However, the first two players checked, creating quite the opportunity for me. Everything in me said a bet of about $50-60 would win the hand because nobody held anything good enough to call. I pondered how much to bet for a good two minutes, debating back and forth whether I wanted to risk a tenth of my stack on a complete bluff. While I don’t usually mind making that kind of a bet when I believe it will work, doing so against three opponents is a tough sell.
Once I had decided I could have bet and won the hand, I took so long to come to that decision I felt my bet would scream of bluff because the other players would realize I was making the only play that would win me the pot. By thinking through my play and coming to a conclusion on what to do, I ruined my play by not acting quickly enough.
I finally did check, surrendering the hand, and the guy behind me checked. The players to my left and right split the pot with Q-J, flopping top pair and an open-ended straight draw. I was correct in my assessment that they would have folded to a bet, but just to make sure I stated that I really wanted to bet. Both men agreed that I looked like I was going to and had it been about the amount I was going to put in the pot they likely would have folded.
At that moment in the game I was playing scared poker, not wanting to lose any of my profit. That is a losing way to play cards and it is something I am going to have to rectify if I want to continue improving at cards.
I ended up not winning too many hands after that and quit after nearly five hours of play with a $180 profit. My hourly rate for the night was $37.89, bringing my year-to-date hourly rate up to $11.70. I have won $1,580 in 2010 playing cash games in Weatherford, Oklahoma, and Shreveport.
I have been on a bit of win streak lately. The last five games I have played in have netted me a profit of $575.
In a weird twist of fate, last night was the one-year anniversary of when I started playing the game of poker again seriously. In that year, I won $3,195 and earned $16.68 an hour. That gives me hope that in 2011 I can reach my goal of building a $300 bankroll into $5,000. Let’s hope this past year’s success continues in 2011.
Friday, November 12, 2010
WinStar (November 11)
Certain card games a person plays in are unforgettable. This is not because of the money profited or lost, the hands won or beaten, or even specific events that take place throughout the game, but rather the game is memorable because of the lack of every one of those characteristics. Last night was just such a night for me in that I ended up in only two showdowns and the rest of the three-and-a-half hours of my time were spent glancing at the score of the football game between the Baltimore Ravens and Atlanta Falcons while raking in the occasional pot while implementing a tight-aggressive style.
I ended up with a $30 profit for the evening, which was pretty close to my peak. The lowest I ever got in chips after initially buying in for $180 was $100. I’m not going to say I didn’t get any cards to play with, because I did get my fair share of good starting hands. I had A-K four times, pocket kings, tens, and eights once each, and pocket sevens and fours twice each. The sevens came back-to-back and I won both pots, turning a set on the first of those two hands. I also saw A-Q and A-J suited, which neither won. All in all it was a decent night for hands. What stopped me from getting a bigger profit than $30 was my image apparently was very well known as nearly every bet I made was respected and I won most pots uncontested. Either my tight representation was winning me my pots or I just never got in a situation where my great hand was up against another great – albeit second best – hand.
The two hands I had a showdown with were identical in that I held a pocket pair in each. The first showdown was with pocket eights and I hit a set on the first three community cards. The flop came out A-K-8 rainbow. Since it was not raised pre-flop I felt confident I was not beat by a higher set of aces or kings and I was also not too worried about being outdrawn by someone holding A-K. With that in mind, I decided to slow-play my three eights and I checked the flop, as did the other four players in the hand.
The turn was the 6 of hearts, putting two hearts on the board. When it was checked to me, I decided to find out if anyone was holding something worth fighting for and I made a pot-sized bet of $10. This seems large compared to the relative amount of what was in the pot with five people limping in for $2 each and the great strength of my hand, but this was a table where pre-flop raises ranged from $6-20 and people holding draws liked to see if they could make their hand by the end. People at this table wouldn’t look at my pot-sized bet and think, “Woah dude, what’s with the power play there?” I was called by one guy at the other end of the table and everyone else folded.
The river was a black ten, completing an ace-high straight but not making a flush. I led out and bet $15. When I was raised the minimum amount I decided to simply call. I was still confident I had the best hand and probably could have gotten another $15 or $20 out of the guy, but had I re-raised and he came back over the top of me I would have a very serious decision as to whether he held that straight or not. I made the call and showed my hand. He was shocked to see what I had and said it was good as he threw his cards into the muck.
The other hand I won at showdown was against five other players and it was checked down to the end. I limped with pocket fours and when the flop came out with two aces I had mentally clicked the check-fold box, but we just kept checking. By the end of the hand we showed our cards with some thinking their queen would win, but I took down the pot as my pair of fours was best. One guy to my right said he thought I missed an opportunity to bet somewhere along the way and I couldn’t tell if he was joking, because at no time was there a reasonable flush or straight draw and if the second best hand was queen-high then I wouldn’t have been called had I made a bet. If by missing an opportunity to bet he means to win the pot earlier on, then sure, I would agree with that. But if he means it as I missed an opportunity to win more money by building a pot, then I couldn’t disagree more. Nobody would have called a bet because we all thought somebody was slow-playing their ace. The first person to bet would have won that pot.
The rest of my night consisted of raising a few hands pre-flop and making a continuation bet on the flop for the win, limping pre-flop and hitting my hand on the flop and betting for the win, or making calls for a draw that didn’t come and not winning the hand. There really wasn’t much to talk about from last night. It was an enjoyable table with only one over-talker from the woman on my immediate right. But after a few hours the table sort of turned on her and started mocking her jargon – I should mention she was a foreigner – but it was all in jest and no harm was meant by the things we said.
Financially, last night was not a disappointment, but winning $30 certainly isn’t much to write home about. My hourly rate from last night was $8.57 and since the beginning of 2010 I have made $1,400 playing cards at a rate of $10.75 an hour. In a year’s time of playing cards I have won $3,015 and have made $16.14 an hour.
The Weatherford game is coming up the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but I might not be able to attend since that day is our family feast with Joanna’s kin. I will definitely get in a game before the Las Vegas trip in December. Hopefully two games can be found.
Until then.
I ended up with a $30 profit for the evening, which was pretty close to my peak. The lowest I ever got in chips after initially buying in for $180 was $100. I’m not going to say I didn’t get any cards to play with, because I did get my fair share of good starting hands. I had A-K four times, pocket kings, tens, and eights once each, and pocket sevens and fours twice each. The sevens came back-to-back and I won both pots, turning a set on the first of those two hands. I also saw A-Q and A-J suited, which neither won. All in all it was a decent night for hands. What stopped me from getting a bigger profit than $30 was my image apparently was very well known as nearly every bet I made was respected and I won most pots uncontested. Either my tight representation was winning me my pots or I just never got in a situation where my great hand was up against another great – albeit second best – hand.
The two hands I had a showdown with were identical in that I held a pocket pair in each. The first showdown was with pocket eights and I hit a set on the first three community cards. The flop came out A-K-8 rainbow. Since it was not raised pre-flop I felt confident I was not beat by a higher set of aces or kings and I was also not too worried about being outdrawn by someone holding A-K. With that in mind, I decided to slow-play my three eights and I checked the flop, as did the other four players in the hand.
The turn was the 6 of hearts, putting two hearts on the board. When it was checked to me, I decided to find out if anyone was holding something worth fighting for and I made a pot-sized bet of $10. This seems large compared to the relative amount of what was in the pot with five people limping in for $2 each and the great strength of my hand, but this was a table where pre-flop raises ranged from $6-20 and people holding draws liked to see if they could make their hand by the end. People at this table wouldn’t look at my pot-sized bet and think, “Woah dude, what’s with the power play there?” I was called by one guy at the other end of the table and everyone else folded.
The river was a black ten, completing an ace-high straight but not making a flush. I led out and bet $15. When I was raised the minimum amount I decided to simply call. I was still confident I had the best hand and probably could have gotten another $15 or $20 out of the guy, but had I re-raised and he came back over the top of me I would have a very serious decision as to whether he held that straight or not. I made the call and showed my hand. He was shocked to see what I had and said it was good as he threw his cards into the muck.
The other hand I won at showdown was against five other players and it was checked down to the end. I limped with pocket fours and when the flop came out with two aces I had mentally clicked the check-fold box, but we just kept checking. By the end of the hand we showed our cards with some thinking their queen would win, but I took down the pot as my pair of fours was best. One guy to my right said he thought I missed an opportunity to bet somewhere along the way and I couldn’t tell if he was joking, because at no time was there a reasonable flush or straight draw and if the second best hand was queen-high then I wouldn’t have been called had I made a bet. If by missing an opportunity to bet he means to win the pot earlier on, then sure, I would agree with that. But if he means it as I missed an opportunity to win more money by building a pot, then I couldn’t disagree more. Nobody would have called a bet because we all thought somebody was slow-playing their ace. The first person to bet would have won that pot.
The rest of my night consisted of raising a few hands pre-flop and making a continuation bet on the flop for the win, limping pre-flop and hitting my hand on the flop and betting for the win, or making calls for a draw that didn’t come and not winning the hand. There really wasn’t much to talk about from last night. It was an enjoyable table with only one over-talker from the woman on my immediate right. But after a few hours the table sort of turned on her and started mocking her jargon – I should mention she was a foreigner – but it was all in jest and no harm was meant by the things we said.
Financially, last night was not a disappointment, but winning $30 certainly isn’t much to write home about. My hourly rate from last night was $8.57 and since the beginning of 2010 I have made $1,400 playing cards at a rate of $10.75 an hour. In a year’s time of playing cards I have won $3,015 and have made $16.14 an hour.
The Weatherford game is coming up the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but I might not be able to attend since that day is our family feast with Joanna’s kin. I will definitely get in a game before the Las Vegas trip in December. Hopefully two games can be found.
Until then.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
The Times We Live In
Following Chris Moneymaker’s meteoric rise to stardom after winning the 2003 World Series of Poker that revolutionized Texas Hold’em, I really lost interest in the World Series and other televised poker tournaments. The game just wasn’t the same after that.
Sure, Moneymaker’s story brought in a ton of money from new, inspired players who believed in the “Anyone Can Win” mentality that Moneymaker helped popularize. However, the celebrities of Texas Hold’em just aren’t the same as they used to be.
On Yahoo’s website today I saw a photo of the new WSOP winner standing next to the final table with his “posse.” The photo was indicative of what the game has become. It was a 23-year-old douche-bag-looking dude and about nine others who looked identical to him. It seemed like a “life imitating art” moment straight out of HBO’s “Entourage.”
While there still are those in the world of poker who I can admire like Phil Ivey, the bombardment of posers and phonies looking for 15 minutes of fame and a million-dollar payday is just too much to wade through.
In the late 90s when I would watch the World Series of Poker, the amount of talent at a final table was amazing and it was a joy to watch the titans of poker battle one another. And the players of old had personalities. They were characters. They weren’t all 20-something college dropouts who decided a 9-5 job was too lame and playing cards for a living was the cool thing to do. I’m not saying that some of those dropouts aren’t worthy of being card pros, but because there are so many of them they have become caricatures of themselves.
The World Series of Poker was also more interesting prior to Moneymaker because unless cards were shown at the end of a hand, the viewer didn’t find out what the players were holding. The hole-card camera was non-existent prior to the 21st century, and therefore it was almost as if you were playing at home trying to figure out what the guy had before a showdown commenced.
I know this is mostly just “old man” syndrome spouting off a rant, but the game of poker is a joke to watch nowadays. Especially when the field has thousands of people and it is more luck than good play that earns you a World Series Main Event bracelet. That is not to say that good players aren’t winning each year, but I cannot be convinced that in a field of 5,000+ contestants that the best player is crowned winner each year.
Something that would bring me back as a viewer to the World Series of Poker is if the Main Event’s buy-in was increased to thin the field back down so only the truly great players were playing again. Would average players want to risk $50,000, or even $100,000, of their savings simply to say they took part in the World Series of Poker like some do now with the $10,000 buy-in?
The way things are now, it is as if the NFL were to open up the playoffs to every team in the league, all college teams and any other group who could get enough players to field a team and have the brackets whittle their way down through 12 or 13 levels, where by the end of things you have the only two teams who could survive injuries playing in the Super Bowl, whether that is the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers or the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks and Deion Sanders Pop Warner football team.
Sure, Moneymaker’s story brought in a ton of money from new, inspired players who believed in the “Anyone Can Win” mentality that Moneymaker helped popularize. However, the celebrities of Texas Hold’em just aren’t the same as they used to be.
On Yahoo’s website today I saw a photo of the new WSOP winner standing next to the final table with his “posse.” The photo was indicative of what the game has become. It was a 23-year-old douche-bag-looking dude and about nine others who looked identical to him. It seemed like a “life imitating art” moment straight out of HBO’s “Entourage.”
While there still are those in the world of poker who I can admire like Phil Ivey, the bombardment of posers and phonies looking for 15 minutes of fame and a million-dollar payday is just too much to wade through.
In the late 90s when I would watch the World Series of Poker, the amount of talent at a final table was amazing and it was a joy to watch the titans of poker battle one another. And the players of old had personalities. They were characters. They weren’t all 20-something college dropouts who decided a 9-5 job was too lame and playing cards for a living was the cool thing to do. I’m not saying that some of those dropouts aren’t worthy of being card pros, but because there are so many of them they have become caricatures of themselves.
The World Series of Poker was also more interesting prior to Moneymaker because unless cards were shown at the end of a hand, the viewer didn’t find out what the players were holding. The hole-card camera was non-existent prior to the 21st century, and therefore it was almost as if you were playing at home trying to figure out what the guy had before a showdown commenced.
I know this is mostly just “old man” syndrome spouting off a rant, but the game of poker is a joke to watch nowadays. Especially when the field has thousands of people and it is more luck than good play that earns you a World Series Main Event bracelet. That is not to say that good players aren’t winning each year, but I cannot be convinced that in a field of 5,000+ contestants that the best player is crowned winner each year.
Something that would bring me back as a viewer to the World Series of Poker is if the Main Event’s buy-in was increased to thin the field back down so only the truly great players were playing again. Would average players want to risk $50,000, or even $100,000, of their savings simply to say they took part in the World Series of Poker like some do now with the $10,000 buy-in?
The way things are now, it is as if the NFL were to open up the playoffs to every team in the league, all college teams and any other group who could get enough players to field a team and have the brackets whittle their way down through 12 or 13 levels, where by the end of things you have the only two teams who could survive injuries playing in the Super Bowl, whether that is the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers or the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks and Deion Sanders Pop Warner football team.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
He Who Now Plays With Purpose
It has been nearly a year since picking up the game of poker regularly again, and in that time I have logged about 183 hours at the tables in cash games and profited nearly $3,000. To be more exact, it was $2,985. The money made in the past year has helped my wife and I get through a one-income period while I was out of work, it bought us a new, larger refrigerator for the house resulting in the old fridge being put in the garage for my soft drinks, and it has also been used to pay for nice meals and extra clothes that might not have been purchased had my poker playing not been profitable.
Something I have noticed about the past year though is I never have a bankroll to play with. Whatever money I make is regulated to a bill or a big purchase to make my family’s life a little better. While that has been a wonderful blessing on my wife and me, it has limited my playing some. Because I never have more than $400 or so to play with I sometimes am regulated in how aggressive I can be or some of the bets I want to make during a game.
So what can I do about that? A recent blog post from a buddy of mine has helped give me a little direction with my poker playing. Slope, that is my friend’s name, has given himself a goal for next year to play a certain number of hours in online poker games to get special bonuses awarded to the most frequent players. What he has done is set an attainable objective and now he has a purpose when it comes to the game. Obviously the ultimate purpose is to make money at poker and by logging in his hours he hopes to accomplish that while at the same time receiving his bonuses. To take a page from Slope’s playbook, I too am going to set a goal for 2011.
Despite making almost $3,000 in a year playing poker, more than half of that was obtained between Nov. 18 and Dec. 30. In that time span I profited $1,615 and had played 56 hours and 30 minutes of poker. Since the beginning of Jan. 1, I have only played 126 hours and 45 minutes of poker. My playing time in the last month-and-a-half of 2009 was significantly more routine than this year, and I have to figure with a full-time job and child on the way it isn’t going to get any more frequent.
I have a monthly game in Weatherford that I consistently play in, WinStar trips are made about once a month and the occasional trip to Shreveport or Las Vegas also allows for poker games to be played. Therefore I can figure to get about 25-35 sessions of poker in for 2011. Should it be on the low end of that estimate and I could average a $200 profit in each session, which is a tough but doable goal, I can figure to win $5,000 in a year by playing cards. That does not factor in any of my Sunday night tournament play, which I don’t know if I am going to count as I want it to really be cash game money only.
So I think I am going to establish my goal at starting with a $400 bankroll on Jan. 1, 2011, and ending the year with $5,000 in that bankroll, built up completely from cash game profits only. If I can have a $5,000 bankroll that will give me all the freedom in the world to play at the $1-2 table and not be concerned with losing. It could even lead to playing in a $2-5 game with some regularity in 2012 and seeing if I have the chops to handle the players on that level.
Next year, the purpose of this blog will be to chronicle my journey to build a sizeable bankroll from poker profits only and not siphon off any of that money for other budgetary reasons. Posts will include hand histories and questions posed about my playing. I want to continue to use this site as a tool for my advancement in the game of poker.
Until then…
Something I have noticed about the past year though is I never have a bankroll to play with. Whatever money I make is regulated to a bill or a big purchase to make my family’s life a little better. While that has been a wonderful blessing on my wife and me, it has limited my playing some. Because I never have more than $400 or so to play with I sometimes am regulated in how aggressive I can be or some of the bets I want to make during a game.
So what can I do about that? A recent blog post from a buddy of mine has helped give me a little direction with my poker playing. Slope, that is my friend’s name, has given himself a goal for next year to play a certain number of hours in online poker games to get special bonuses awarded to the most frequent players. What he has done is set an attainable objective and now he has a purpose when it comes to the game. Obviously the ultimate purpose is to make money at poker and by logging in his hours he hopes to accomplish that while at the same time receiving his bonuses. To take a page from Slope’s playbook, I too am going to set a goal for 2011.
Despite making almost $3,000 in a year playing poker, more than half of that was obtained between Nov. 18 and Dec. 30. In that time span I profited $1,615 and had played 56 hours and 30 minutes of poker. Since the beginning of Jan. 1, I have only played 126 hours and 45 minutes of poker. My playing time in the last month-and-a-half of 2009 was significantly more routine than this year, and I have to figure with a full-time job and child on the way it isn’t going to get any more frequent.
I have a monthly game in Weatherford that I consistently play in, WinStar trips are made about once a month and the occasional trip to Shreveport or Las Vegas also allows for poker games to be played. Therefore I can figure to get about 25-35 sessions of poker in for 2011. Should it be on the low end of that estimate and I could average a $200 profit in each session, which is a tough but doable goal, I can figure to win $5,000 in a year by playing cards. That does not factor in any of my Sunday night tournament play, which I don’t know if I am going to count as I want it to really be cash game money only.
So I think I am going to establish my goal at starting with a $400 bankroll on Jan. 1, 2011, and ending the year with $5,000 in that bankroll, built up completely from cash game profits only. If I can have a $5,000 bankroll that will give me all the freedom in the world to play at the $1-2 table and not be concerned with losing. It could even lead to playing in a $2-5 game with some regularity in 2012 and seeing if I have the chops to handle the players on that level.
Next year, the purpose of this blog will be to chronicle my journey to build a sizeable bankroll from poker profits only and not siphon off any of that money for other budgetary reasons. Posts will include hand histories and questions posed about my playing. I want to continue to use this site as a tool for my advancement in the game of poker.
Until then…
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