A trip to the boats in Shreveport/Bossier City last weekend netted me about $450 in profits, but it was not all made at the poker table. Thanks to a little lady luck in the car on the drive to Nacogdoches, at the hotel in Nacogdoches, and on the drive to Shreveport, I made about an extra hundo from a carnival game called Between the Sheets.
My time at the poker table, which included three different sessions, ended with profits of $95, $245, and $25. Between the three separate games I really only have one hand worth talking about, but it is a controversial one because I have gone back and forth on whether or not I made the right play at the end.
After starting at the table with Danny three seats to my right, he eventually left to go play at Slope’s table and I was alone against seven opponents. These opponents included a female two to my left who was a solid player, showed good hands down and even folded on the river with a set she had flopped and bet throughout the hand against a flush when the third spade came on the end. Basically I am trying to say that she was good and I didn’t want to get mixed up with her as I felt she was better than me.
The particular hand we are discussing came when I was in the big blind. The female two to my left called the $3 pre-flop bet (I was playing $1-3 no limit at the Horseshoe Casino) as did a gentleman later in the rotation. The small blind completed his bet and I looked down at two off-colored kings.
By this time during the night I was dead tired and practically falling asleep at the table. I hadn’t raised a hand all night (at this point in the evening I had been playing for about three hours) and I hadn’t made it to many showdowns. The few hands I had won were unchallenged after the flop or turn and I was sitting with $275 in front of me. My original buy-in was for $180.
I am one of those people who will disguise good hands in my blinds by simply calling unless the hand is too good, like aces, kings or queens. Jacks and tens I will split raising to calling by about a two to one ratio and every other pair and non-pairing hand combination I simply call with to see what comes on the flop. So with my kings I pumped up the bet to $18 total. That is a little high of a raise (6x), but I was too tired to make good decisions post flop and didn’t want to have to figure out what my opponents had should I be put to the test later.
One might argue that I should not have been playing cards if I was this tired and nearly falling asleep at the table, but between Slope, Danny, and myself we only had the one car and the hotel was not within walking distance. I was simply trying to kill another hour or so before we would go home for the night.
After raising the bet, I received two callers, the woman and gentleman to my left. The small blind folded his cards. The pot now had $57 in it. The flop came 3-5-7 rainbow. This is a great flop for my cards. I felt confident I had the best hand and there wasn’t a real draw I had to worry about except for possibly a pair with an ace like A-7, A-5, or A-3 or a double-belly-buster draw with A-4 creating an open-ended straight draw. Being first to act I made a half-the-pot-sized bet of $30. A little surprised by what happened next, the woman two to my left raised $45, making it $75 to go. The guy in last position folded and it was back to me.
I don’t really know what I was thinking when I did my next two actions because it was possibly the two worst things to do in this position since it helped my situation none. I called the $45 and then checked when an eight hit on the turn. With only a bit of hesitation the woman bet $75. Sitting in front of me was $175 and by calling I would be left with only $100. I had no clue where I was at in the hand and I was just too scared to risk my entire stack on what might turn out to be a dominated hand. I have been working on folding overpairs lately because it has led to some bankruptcies the last couple of times I played in casinos. I felt it was better to fold and keep the stack I had than risk my chips on something I clearly had no feel for one way or the other. I folded, flipping my cards up to show the big lay down I had made and saw her give an unclear look that could have meant, “He’s folding that monster! What a fish!” or it could have meant, “What a fold. This guy read me like a children’s pop-up book.”
You might think I was way too timid on that hand and have no place at a poker table or you might think I made a very decent fold that saved me $175 in chips. I have gone back and forth on what I should have done and come to different conclusions every time. Sometimes I think she overplayed A-7 or pocket nines and other times I think she knew I had a big pair because I was so tight throughout the game and thought I would come along with her when she was holding top set on the flop. I really am not sure. What do you think?
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Weatherford Game (August 28)
This is going to be a short post because when you lose $300 in 45 minutes there really isn’t much to talk about.
I lost half of my first $100 buy-in with jack-10 of hearts when a jack was the highest card on the flop, the turn gave me the flush draw, and I didn’t improve on the river. I bet a little more than half the size of the pot on the flop and turn hoping to improve, but was eventually beat out by queen-jack, giving my opponent the same pair as me but a better kicker.
I went through the rest of my money when I re-raised pre-flop with pocket 10s and was called by two players, leaving myself $30 for the flop. The flop came with a queen, jack and low card. I pushed all in and was called by a guy who said he thought he was making a bad call.
I hate hearing people say that because they don’t really think that. They are just saying it to cover themselves if they happen to lose, and they look less foolish because then they can just say, “Well, I said it before I made the call that I was behind.” But the only punishment for being wrong when you make that kind of statement is winning a pot.
The guy had A-J and won when I didn’t improve.
My next buy-in was foolishly wasted on two hands. The first was a waste when I tried to make a play on my cousin Clint, who I was pretty sure had a draw and wouldn’t call a raise on the river when he missed his hand. Everything worked out according to the plan (because Clint really was on the draw as was shown when the hand was over) except for the guy who called the turn bet from Clint after checking first. He then led out on the river and I was pretty sure I couldn’t beat him with my king-high hand.
The rest of that buy-in was flushed down the drain with 5-6 offsuit when I made a frustratingly aggressive play on the flop with middle pair when a five hit. I was beat by pocket sevens.
My third buy-in only took one hand to go through. As I was sitting down with my new chips I was dealt ace-king offsuit. Three people called the $2 pre-flop bet and I raised it from the small blind to $10 total. The three limpers and big blind called the additional $8 and we had a $50 pot going into the flop.
The flop was K-Q-9. I quickly led out with $45, letting everyone know I wasn’t screwing around on this hand. The big blind folded. The next guy struggled with what to do and eventually called. The next two players folded.
Before the turn ever flipped over, or came off the deck for that matter, I pushed my left over $45 into the pot and said all in. The turn came out as a 10 and the guy, once he realized I had already acted, called and showed K-J for the straight. I didn’t improve and was saying my goodbyes. Not a good night at all.
Between $265 and $300 losses my last two times to play poker, things are not going very well lately. Hopefully I can turn things around next month.
Friday, August 27, 2010
WinStar (August 23)
Writing up a report on my gambling activities is not near as much fun when you lose, but it still needs to be done.
My brother and I went to WinStar Monday night and both walked out with lighter wallets. After four hours of play and folding 98 percent of my hands before ever seeing a flop I lost $265, but there wasn’t much I could do when seeing J-4 suited and 7-2 offsuit over and over again.
The only hand even worth mentioning was the one that sent me into a whirlpool of self-doubt and regret that took quite a while to escape from. I did not have the C.J. Wilson approach of living in the moment and breathing through the eyelids last night.
I was dealt Q-J of clubs in early position and called a $10 raise after putting in my two dollars from a player across the table from me. The senior gentleman on my left who liked to play a lot of hands, would chase draws, and hadn’t shown a true bluff yet also called the $12 bet. There were three others who called the bet as well, building the pot up to $72 before we ever saw a flop.
The flop came out K-6-2 with the king and two being clubs. I checked with the intention of seeing how everyone else reacted to the flop. Should a bet be made then I would let the mathematics and pot odds determine my action. It ended up not mattering because all six of us checked it around.
The turn was the 7 of clubs, completing my flush. I was thrilled to see this card and elected to not slowplay my flush. I didn’t want to give the guy with the ace of clubs the opportunity to get a free card and get the higher flush. As first player to act, I immediately made a $30 bet. The amount was a little small, but I was pretty sure my actions were very clear to everyone that I had the flush and was not making a bluff. So if they wanted to gamble and draw for a higher flush then so be it, but it would cost them $30. The gentleman on my left and the pre-flop raiser called my $30. This created a $160 pot.
The river was the ugly four of clubs, giving me the second nut-high flush. I disgustingly checked and the man to my left bet $35. The pre-flop raiser folded, bringing the action back to me. I was 100 percent confident the guy had the ace. I would have bet everything in front of me and in my wallet that he had the ace of clubs. However, when it came to folding my queen of clubs I couldn’t do it. To win $195 by calling $35, it was just too enticing. I knew I was beat, but I could not force myself to fold it.
I will say that although folding hands I know I am beat on has been a problem for the past year, lately I have been able to make the big lay down and preserve my chips. Yet, last night I reverted back to paying off people so I could see their better hands.
Sure enough, the guy did have the ace of clubs and raked in his pot. After that hand I self-destructed and didn’t recover fully until about two hours later, but by that point it was too late as I was repeatedly getting horrific starting cards that weren’t worth wasting two dollars on.
Last night’s loss brings me down to $3,095 of profit since November and $1,480 for the year. My hourly rate also took a hit from $21.07 to $18.93 since starting to play poker regularly again. Hopefully I have better luck in Weatherford this weekend, but because of my fantasy football draft Saturday night, I will probably show up late for the game.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
WinStar (August 17)
With Emery’s birthday party coming up this weekend and some extra cash needed for a few items related to said party, I decided a trip to WinStar was required. Should I win anything it would help alleviate the bills that are mounting for this simple stay-at-home-with-friends-and-family get-together that has snowballed into an extravaganza.
The trip overall was a success that netted me $185 in profits, but it all came on one single hand that took place about five minutes before I left for the evening. I played for four hours, equating to a $46.25 an hour rate for the night. That is my largest per-hour rate since the big refrigerator win back in March where I made $131.67 an hour for nine hours of play.
I won several hands in the first hour that put me up to $130 more than what I bought in with. One medium-sized pot I won was with a complete bluff that required a $50 bet on the turn with nothing but ace high. My opponent was a young guy who was very meticulous and precise with his bets and his movements. When he would make a bet or fold his cards, it was always with a slow push to the middle, and his chips were stacked neatly not only in front of him in precise $50 stacks, but his bets were placed slowly in the middle in one stack as well, never thrown willy-nilly like some players will do. I felt with the personality this kid was showing, he wouldn’t want to call big bets with anything less than the near nuts. He just seemed timid.
The specifics of the hand were that I raised pre-flop with A-J offsuit when sitting at about $220 in chips. I raise with this hand about 50 percent of the time. It just depends on who I am up against and how my luck has been running. I had been winning some hands early and decided to keep pushing the limits. I made the bet $7 to go and received two callers, getting the pot up to $20.
The flop came out with a king and two low cards. None of this helped me. The first player checked. The second player, Mr. Meticulous we will call him, led out with a $10 bet. I decided to push a little bit and see how my strong play was received. I raised it up to $30 total, making it an additional $20 to call. After the first player folded, Mr. Meticulous thought for about 20 seconds and made the call. This put the pot at $80.
The turn was a ten, creating a board of a king, two non-matching low cards that I can’t recall specifically, and a ten. Mr. Meticulous checked it to me and without hesitation, hoping to show that I wasn’t scared and had a good hand, I moved out $50. Mr. Meticulous had a big decision to make and the bet was for about a quarter of his stack. We were pretty close in chips, but he had me covered by $20-30. I should note that I had won a pot earlier in the evening from Mr. Meticulous with pocket kings in which he asked if I would show should he fold. I said I would and honored the agreement when he mucked his hand. This might have weighed in on his decision with this particular hand.
Mr. Meticulous ultimately folded and I raked in the pot, heart racing and palms sweating from having to fret over making a stone-cold bluff.
After about an hour I was the chip leader at the table with a little more than $300 in front of me. Things were going great until Action Jackson sat on my left. This guy was one of those players who straddles every chance he gets and raises pre-flop three out of four hands simply to make larger pots. Does it not occur to these people that a $2-5 table is only 15 feet away? Well, long story short, Action Jackson pushed everyone around at our table until he had $900 in front of him, forced several to put in some re-buys, and had sent two guys packing. In the process of this, I went card dead, called a few hands pre-flop that I had no busy being in, and moved seats to get Action Jackson away from my immediate left.
I told myself when I arrived earlier I would only play until 11 p.m. and no matter where I was at that point I was going home. At 10:55 p.m., I had dwindled and chipped away at my $130 profit until it was a $10 loss, which even included a tiny win with an ace-high straight that was checked down until the river and I made a nearly minimum raise of $13 on a guy’s $12 bet and was called. That was the status when I looked down to find two glorious kings staring back up at me.
It just so happened this took place when Action Jackson was doing one of his straddles and two players had already called. With $170 in front of me I made it $15 to go. Those behind me folded and the three guys who had already put in their $4 finished the bet and we went to a flop with four players. The pot had $60 in it.
The flop was J-6-3 with two hearts. The players all checked to me and I made a bet of $50. Without much hesitation, Action Jackson moved out a large stack of red chips to make the bet $100, making a minimum raise. The two other players folded and it was back on me. I had $105 left after making my $50 bet. To call would leave me with $55. That just isn’t enough to do anything with on the turn, so if I am going to do anything it is either raise or fold. I decided Action Jackson was just being a bully again and would put him to the test on his top pair or flush draw. I moved all in for another $55 and he made a somewhat begrudging call.
I flipped up my kings and he elected not to show. Since everything I have said about this guy sounds terrible making you think he was a real a-hole, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. He was actually a really nice guy who was joking with the entire table and not rubbing anyone the wrong way despite taking everyone’s money. So the fact that he didn’t flip his cards is usually an annoying thing, I didn’t quite mind it in this particular case.
The turn was a low heart completing the flush if that was what he was going for and the river was the ace of clubs, giving him a higher pair if he happened to be holding an ace. After several moments of him tapping his cards and mulling the situation over, I finally said laughingly, “Dude, if you flip over a winner I’m going to be pissed,” to which he replied, “No. You’re going to win. I’m just trying to figure out if I have something.” He finally folded and said he had a jack with a low kicker that kept getting close to all the other cards on the board.
I got up a few hands later and left with $365, essentially doubling up for the night.
Regarding my hourly rate, in 2010 I am making $16.94 an hour and since playing seriously again in November my hourly rate is $21.07. I’ve made a total of $1,745 in 2010 and $3,360 since November.
I’ve played a total of 159.5 hours since November. My average length of play for a single session of cards is five-and-a-half hours. In 29 different games, I’ve profited 20 times and lost the other nine. My average win in those 20 games is $272, but if you exclude the freakish $1,185 win I had in March that average would drop to $224. My average loss is $231.
In 2010 only, I’ve had 11 wins and six losses in 17 games and played a total of 103 hours. My yearly average per win and loss is $297 and $255. Taking out the big March win that resulted in a new refrigerator brings the winning average down to $209.
Hopefully I can play again before the Weatherford game next month. I will post anything new in the meantime.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Weatherford Game (July 31)
My monthly poker game in Weatherford was played a week early this time because of a vacation the hosts of the game were going on later this month, and although there is no sure way to know, the move in weekends might have caused the amount of players who showed to dwindle significantly. While we usually run two full tables for most of the night, the most we saw at any one time was two tables of seven each. This lowered the expectation level of money to be won radically.
Things got off to a great start when I won a $130 pot flopping a full house with ace-four. One player went all in and another called that bet. I tried to get the other guy to come along for a little longer once the turn came, but he wanted nothing to do with it any more.
I won some small- and medium-sized pots that helped me build my stack to more than $300. For most of the night I hung around between $300-360. I would win a pot to get to $350 and then lose another pot a few hands later to get me back down to $300. This went on for several hours.
Two significant hands that took place during this time were ones I lost by folding on the river. I know for a fact I made the right fold in one case because I was shown the better hand. In the other hand, I’m not 100 percent positive, but I am pretty sure I was losing to three-of-a-kind.
The first hand was the one I’m not entirely sure about. I held pocket aces and it was a straddled hand. I was the small blind and it was folded around to me. I had two options, which were to raise it up to $12-16 or be sneaky and smooth call for $4. Since there were only two other players in the hand and not much risk of playing sneaky, I decided to simply call. I also did this in hopes that the straddler would think we were weak and raise with anything he held. He was a loose-aggressive player and this play was not out of the question.
I called, as did the big blind, and the straddler checked his option. The flop was K-K-5. I led out for $10 into a $12 pot. This bet was to find out who held a king. If I was called, then I would most likely shut down unless it was the straddler, who would try to be tricky in certain spots like this. I was called, but it wasn’t by the guy who straddled. Instead, the caller was the big blind, who was a pretty straight-forward player. I felt, and still feel, he had a king. The turn was a 9 and we both checked. The turn was a 2 and I immediately checked. As the big blind reached for chips I threw my cards face up and said, “Don’t worry about it.”
The big blind was shocked at my folding aces. He said something along the lines of, “Are you sure?” I told him it didn’t matter what he bet, I knew I was beat. The straddler asked if I was curious what the guy had and I told him it was most likely a king and even if I had laid down the best hand I wouldn’t lose too much sleep over it because everyone is going to make a mistake when playing poker. However, I still don’t think I made a mistake. I am even surer of my fold because the big blind made a point to not show his hand, which leads me to believe I made the right decision. Most people like to show others when they have made a mistake because they think it will get under their skin and send them on tilt.
The second time I folded a big hand was when I held trip sevens. The way the hand played out is unclear at this time, but what happened was I bet the flop that had a seven, a lower card and a higher card, two of which were hearts. The turn was another seven, giving me my three of a kind. I bet again, getting one caller. The river was a third heart. I bet $15, which was about half or maybe a third of the pot, and was raised $30 more. I thought for about a minute of whether my opponent was trying to pull a fast one on me, making me believe he had hit the flush when in reality he hadn’t. I finally decided to fold the hand, showing my seven. My opponent flipped up his cards, showing two hearts for the flush. I was correct in my assessment.
The only other hands of consequence for the night were when I held a pocket pair that hit a third one on the flop. The first hand was pocket nines and I busted the player on my left. That pot put me up to $560. The second time I held a pocket pair that tripped up was with jacks. I doubled up the only other player in the hand when he had a set of queens on the flop. That hand sent me back down to $380.
We quit about five minutes after the trip jacks hand and I logged in a $280 profit after seven-and-a-half hours of play, giving me $37.33 an hour for the night. My grand total since playing poker seriously again in November is a profit of $3,175.
Things got off to a great start when I won a $130 pot flopping a full house with ace-four. One player went all in and another called that bet. I tried to get the other guy to come along for a little longer once the turn came, but he wanted nothing to do with it any more.
I won some small- and medium-sized pots that helped me build my stack to more than $300. For most of the night I hung around between $300-360. I would win a pot to get to $350 and then lose another pot a few hands later to get me back down to $300. This went on for several hours.
Two significant hands that took place during this time were ones I lost by folding on the river. I know for a fact I made the right fold in one case because I was shown the better hand. In the other hand, I’m not 100 percent positive, but I am pretty sure I was losing to three-of-a-kind.
The first hand was the one I’m not entirely sure about. I held pocket aces and it was a straddled hand. I was the small blind and it was folded around to me. I had two options, which were to raise it up to $12-16 or be sneaky and smooth call for $4. Since there were only two other players in the hand and not much risk of playing sneaky, I decided to simply call. I also did this in hopes that the straddler would think we were weak and raise with anything he held. He was a loose-aggressive player and this play was not out of the question.
I called, as did the big blind, and the straddler checked his option. The flop was K-K-5. I led out for $10 into a $12 pot. This bet was to find out who held a king. If I was called, then I would most likely shut down unless it was the straddler, who would try to be tricky in certain spots like this. I was called, but it wasn’t by the guy who straddled. Instead, the caller was the big blind, who was a pretty straight-forward player. I felt, and still feel, he had a king. The turn was a 9 and we both checked. The turn was a 2 and I immediately checked. As the big blind reached for chips I threw my cards face up and said, “Don’t worry about it.”
The big blind was shocked at my folding aces. He said something along the lines of, “Are you sure?” I told him it didn’t matter what he bet, I knew I was beat. The straddler asked if I was curious what the guy had and I told him it was most likely a king and even if I had laid down the best hand I wouldn’t lose too much sleep over it because everyone is going to make a mistake when playing poker. However, I still don’t think I made a mistake. I am even surer of my fold because the big blind made a point to not show his hand, which leads me to believe I made the right decision. Most people like to show others when they have made a mistake because they think it will get under their skin and send them on tilt.
The second time I folded a big hand was when I held trip sevens. The way the hand played out is unclear at this time, but what happened was I bet the flop that had a seven, a lower card and a higher card, two of which were hearts. The turn was another seven, giving me my three of a kind. I bet again, getting one caller. The river was a third heart. I bet $15, which was about half or maybe a third of the pot, and was raised $30 more. I thought for about a minute of whether my opponent was trying to pull a fast one on me, making me believe he had hit the flush when in reality he hadn’t. I finally decided to fold the hand, showing my seven. My opponent flipped up his cards, showing two hearts for the flush. I was correct in my assessment.
The only other hands of consequence for the night were when I held a pocket pair that hit a third one on the flop. The first hand was pocket nines and I busted the player on my left. That pot put me up to $560. The second time I held a pocket pair that tripped up was with jacks. I doubled up the only other player in the hand when he had a set of queens on the flop. That hand sent me back down to $380.
We quit about five minutes after the trip jacks hand and I logged in a $280 profit after seven-and-a-half hours of play, giving me $37.33 an hour for the night. My grand total since playing poker seriously again in November is a profit of $3,175.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Patience Really Is A Virtue
In the past week regarding certain activities that can become nerve-racking like softball and poker, I have taken a page from Texas Rangers pitcher C.J. Wilson’s playbook in that I am trying to live in the moment, not reflect on mistakes, breathe through my eyelids, and that sort of thing. When Wilson is shown in the dugout during a Rangers game, he is sitting calmly on the bench, trying not to focus on what has happened in the prior innings but instead simply look ahead at what he has to do coming up. While this attitude certainly didn’t work out for me at last week’s softball game, I think it has done a lot of good for my poker playing the last three days.
Following Saturday’s win of $210 in Weatherford, Clint and I kept the poker high going by making a trip to WinStar last night with my brother, Bart. Clint logged a win, Bart a loss, and me, well, that is debatable. I profited $30 for the night, fighting and clawing my way out of a hole to do it, but after playing for four hours and earning a measly $7.50 an hour it might not have seemed worth staying up late, stressing over pot odds and putting up with the riff-raff that goes along with a trip north to Oklahoma casinos. For me, it was a lesson in how to manage a single buy-in with tight, patient play.
I bought in for $180 and did not have anything left over to re-buy with should luck not be on my side last night, but had I asked Clint for a loan I probably would have gotten it. However, I wanted to avoid that at all costs. So instead, I simply worked with the money I had and told myself if I went broke then I was sitting in the lounge waiting for the rest of my party.
After winning an $8 pot about thirty minutes after sitting down, which still didn’t put me above my $180 starting point, I didn’t win my next hand for another two hours. I simply folded hand after hand, occasionally seeing a flop when holding a pocket pair or an ace with a suited low card or unsuited high card, but never seeing it improve.
My lowest point for the evening was $70, which I hit a couple of times. At one point I made an all-in $53 bluff with king-high on the river into a $60 pot against a kid who had me slightly covered. He had called my continuation bet on the flop after I raised it pre-flop. We both checked the turn and I made my all-in bet on the river knowing it was the only way I could win the pot. My opponent thought for a good 30 seconds and finally folded.
The first time I was able to get back near even was with pocket aces against pocket kings. All the money went in the middle on the flop after raising it to $8, getting a call behind me from a guy with about as much money as me (which was $70 at the time), being re-raised to $30 from the small blind and smooth calling his bet in hopes that the player behind me on the button would call the bet as well. He didn’t call the extra $22 and when the small blind immediately moved all in on a J-2-2 board I called and had my hand win in the end.
Even though I had built my stack back up to about $150, that wouldn’t last as I continued my losing streak, which included one hand where I was dealt pocket queens.
I raised under the gun to $7 with the two red ladies, being called by two players, one of those being the player to my immediate left. He was a nice, older gentleman who didn’t talk much, but was pleasant when he did.
The flop came out as K-10-3 rainbow. I was first to act and bet $15 into a $22 pot. The man on my left called and the other guy folded. The turn was another 10. I decided I probably couldn’t beat what this guy was holding at this point and was ready to fold if he bet. I checked it and so did he.
The river was a 5 and I had a decision to make. The pot contained about $50 in it and my opponent had $45 left. I was sitting at about $90. If he had a monster hand and was hoping I would bet the river, he would have checked the turn like he did. But he would have done the exact same thing had he been on a straight draw or held a medium pocket pair just opting to take the free card. So I had to determine whether he had a big hand, a smaller pair than mine, or nothing at all.
My options included betting half my stack to put him all in with the hope he either folds and I win without a fight or calls and has a lesser hand, bet about half his stack and see what he does in return, or check it and let him decide what to do. Let us break down each preference and see what would happen in every possible scenario.
The first choice is to bet $45 and put him all in. He likely isn’t going to call for everything he has without at least a king, which beats me. The only way he would do that is a frustration call. Honestly, while this is the most aggressive play and aggressive play is a winning strategy, I don’t really like this move right here.
The second choice is to bet $20-25, leaving him with next to nothing if he calls. However, I doubt he simply calls for half his money if he has three tens or the king, which is what he would have to hold to make that call. If he had more money then calling $25 just to see what I have with a middle pocket pair is a little more likely. Yet, when it is nearly everything he has, he isn’t going to “keep ‘em honest” just because. So by betting $20-25, he is going to either fold with his lesser hand or move all in for the other half with his better hand. Also, I doubt he moves all in for his remaining money on a bluff because it is such a small amount he will likely think I am committed to a call. This seems a little better option than the first choice simply because I am going to get the same outcome, but am risking less money. I like this decision a little more than the first one so far.
Now for the final option: to check. This is certainly the most passive way to play the hand, but that was sort of the theme to my play last night. By checking, I am giving him all the power in the hand. If he elects to bet, I then have to decide whether he is betting his best hand for value or betting a bluff because it is the only way he can win. Checking results in me having to do all the work and it comes down to my feeling about if he has a hand or not, and this is all determined on how much he bets. However, not betting anything could result in him also checking and I risk nothing to see who has the best hand at a showdown.
Whatever option you prefer, I elected a check and make a decision should he bet. He did bet all of his money and after concluding he had the goods, I folded. He said he would show me for a dollar, which I was happy to pay for some peace of mind. He flipped over pocket kings, which means he flopped a set and turned a full house. Good fold and good play.
I only lost $22 on the hand, but it was a culmination of all my losing hands that should have sent me over the edge by this point in the night. Yet, I continued to be patient and keep up the C.J. Wilson tranquil attitude. My new approach to keeping a cool head while playing was put to the test on a hand that on any other night I would have brooded over for hours and possibly could have sent me into the normal tailspin of tilt that usually ends up in my complete demise and bankruptcy.
I was dealt the ace of clubs and five of diamonds on the button. It was $2 to call when it got to me and about six other players had limped in for the minimum amount. I decided to see a flop and watch what happened from there. At this point in the hand I had $98 after the pre-flop call. With seven of us seeing a flop there was $14 in the pot.
The flop was 4-6-7 with two clubs. I now had an open-ended straight draw, an over card and a backdoor flush draw. It was checked to the player on my right, who was an aggressive bettor that had been winning a lot of pots because he put players to the test for their chips and was not afraid to bluff with absolutely nothing. He bet $10. I decided to call this bet, figuring I would entice a player or two to come along with us, helping to build a good-sized pot should I hit my straight. Two players who had checked made the call and it was to the kid I had earlier bluffed with king-high on the river, who was sitting in middle position. He went all in for $35, a $25 raise. It now got to the original bettor. He re-raised the bet to $75. It is now on me and I have $88 left after my earlier $10 call.
Should I decide to play this, it is obvious I will go all in for my last $13. Although I had two people behind me to act, I really didn’t think they were going to make the call should I go all in because of their reactions to all the raising and re-raising that had taken place prior to my turn. So it really just came down to being up against the two opponents, one of whom had me covered. Should I beat the guy that had me covered but lose to the all-in player, I would have ended up with $106, resulting in a $6 profit of where I started at the beginning of this hand. If I won it all I would have about $270.
To recap, I have Ac-5d, the board is 4c-6s-7c and it is an all-in play for me with no money to pull out for a re-buy. What would you do here? We’ll have our answer … after the break.
Welcome back. After contemplating if I wanted to risk everything I had on an open-ended straight draw, I elected to fold. I took a lot of time to make the decision and was surprised nobody called the clock on me. Folding may be a weenie play to some of you, but I just couldn’t get myself to make the call getting 2-1 on my money with what could be only six outs if one of those two guys was on a club flush draw. I figured at best I had eight outs for my straight and an additional three outs should I pair my ace and it hold up, but that was best-case scenario.
Like I thought would happen, the two players behind me also folded and it was down to heads-up. The turn was the jack of clubs and the river was the five of clubs, giving me what would have been the nut flush, only losing to a straight-flush of 3-6 or 6-8 of clubs. The two guys both showed eights and no club, giving them both the same straight. One of the players held 8-6, which at the time of my decision was middle pair with an inside straight draw and I don’t recall what the other player’s second card was to go with his eight.
As I said earlier, this was one of those hands that usually I would go over and over in my mind second guessing myself about what I had done, knowing that had I called I’d be in the black and possibly winning more. But with my unworried outlook that didn’t dwell on the past, I put the hand behind me, moved on and focused on what was going on at that moment.
I’ve only played cards twice since taking on this new attitude, but I really feel like it helped factor into my profits for both nights. There were moments on Saturday that I could have said, “Oh, screw it,” and shoved out of frustration, but I stuck with it and continued to play as good as possible, not letting previous decisions influence current situations. We will see tonight how the C.J. factor works for me in softball as we play a very tough defensive team at the hottest possible moment of the evening.
Until next time…
Following Saturday’s win of $210 in Weatherford, Clint and I kept the poker high going by making a trip to WinStar last night with my brother, Bart. Clint logged a win, Bart a loss, and me, well, that is debatable. I profited $30 for the night, fighting and clawing my way out of a hole to do it, but after playing for four hours and earning a measly $7.50 an hour it might not have seemed worth staying up late, stressing over pot odds and putting up with the riff-raff that goes along with a trip north to Oklahoma casinos. For me, it was a lesson in how to manage a single buy-in with tight, patient play.
I bought in for $180 and did not have anything left over to re-buy with should luck not be on my side last night, but had I asked Clint for a loan I probably would have gotten it. However, I wanted to avoid that at all costs. So instead, I simply worked with the money I had and told myself if I went broke then I was sitting in the lounge waiting for the rest of my party.
After winning an $8 pot about thirty minutes after sitting down, which still didn’t put me above my $180 starting point, I didn’t win my next hand for another two hours. I simply folded hand after hand, occasionally seeing a flop when holding a pocket pair or an ace with a suited low card or unsuited high card, but never seeing it improve.
My lowest point for the evening was $70, which I hit a couple of times. At one point I made an all-in $53 bluff with king-high on the river into a $60 pot against a kid who had me slightly covered. He had called my continuation bet on the flop after I raised it pre-flop. We both checked the turn and I made my all-in bet on the river knowing it was the only way I could win the pot. My opponent thought for a good 30 seconds and finally folded.
The first time I was able to get back near even was with pocket aces against pocket kings. All the money went in the middle on the flop after raising it to $8, getting a call behind me from a guy with about as much money as me (which was $70 at the time), being re-raised to $30 from the small blind and smooth calling his bet in hopes that the player behind me on the button would call the bet as well. He didn’t call the extra $22 and when the small blind immediately moved all in on a J-2-2 board I called and had my hand win in the end.
Even though I had built my stack back up to about $150, that wouldn’t last as I continued my losing streak, which included one hand where I was dealt pocket queens.
I raised under the gun to $7 with the two red ladies, being called by two players, one of those being the player to my immediate left. He was a nice, older gentleman who didn’t talk much, but was pleasant when he did.
The flop came out as K-10-3 rainbow. I was first to act and bet $15 into a $22 pot. The man on my left called and the other guy folded. The turn was another 10. I decided I probably couldn’t beat what this guy was holding at this point and was ready to fold if he bet. I checked it and so did he.
The river was a 5 and I had a decision to make. The pot contained about $50 in it and my opponent had $45 left. I was sitting at about $90. If he had a monster hand and was hoping I would bet the river, he would have checked the turn like he did. But he would have done the exact same thing had he been on a straight draw or held a medium pocket pair just opting to take the free card. So I had to determine whether he had a big hand, a smaller pair than mine, or nothing at all.
My options included betting half my stack to put him all in with the hope he either folds and I win without a fight or calls and has a lesser hand, bet about half his stack and see what he does in return, or check it and let him decide what to do. Let us break down each preference and see what would happen in every possible scenario.
The first choice is to bet $45 and put him all in. He likely isn’t going to call for everything he has without at least a king, which beats me. The only way he would do that is a frustration call. Honestly, while this is the most aggressive play and aggressive play is a winning strategy, I don’t really like this move right here.
The second choice is to bet $20-25, leaving him with next to nothing if he calls. However, I doubt he simply calls for half his money if he has three tens or the king, which is what he would have to hold to make that call. If he had more money then calling $25 just to see what I have with a middle pocket pair is a little more likely. Yet, when it is nearly everything he has, he isn’t going to “keep ‘em honest” just because. So by betting $20-25, he is going to either fold with his lesser hand or move all in for the other half with his better hand. Also, I doubt he moves all in for his remaining money on a bluff because it is such a small amount he will likely think I am committed to a call. This seems a little better option than the first choice simply because I am going to get the same outcome, but am risking less money. I like this decision a little more than the first one so far.
Now for the final option: to check. This is certainly the most passive way to play the hand, but that was sort of the theme to my play last night. By checking, I am giving him all the power in the hand. If he elects to bet, I then have to decide whether he is betting his best hand for value or betting a bluff because it is the only way he can win. Checking results in me having to do all the work and it comes down to my feeling about if he has a hand or not, and this is all determined on how much he bets. However, not betting anything could result in him also checking and I risk nothing to see who has the best hand at a showdown.
Whatever option you prefer, I elected a check and make a decision should he bet. He did bet all of his money and after concluding he had the goods, I folded. He said he would show me for a dollar, which I was happy to pay for some peace of mind. He flipped over pocket kings, which means he flopped a set and turned a full house. Good fold and good play.
I only lost $22 on the hand, but it was a culmination of all my losing hands that should have sent me over the edge by this point in the night. Yet, I continued to be patient and keep up the C.J. Wilson tranquil attitude. My new approach to keeping a cool head while playing was put to the test on a hand that on any other night I would have brooded over for hours and possibly could have sent me into the normal tailspin of tilt that usually ends up in my complete demise and bankruptcy.
I was dealt the ace of clubs and five of diamonds on the button. It was $2 to call when it got to me and about six other players had limped in for the minimum amount. I decided to see a flop and watch what happened from there. At this point in the hand I had $98 after the pre-flop call. With seven of us seeing a flop there was $14 in the pot.
The flop was 4-6-7 with two clubs. I now had an open-ended straight draw, an over card and a backdoor flush draw. It was checked to the player on my right, who was an aggressive bettor that had been winning a lot of pots because he put players to the test for their chips and was not afraid to bluff with absolutely nothing. He bet $10. I decided to call this bet, figuring I would entice a player or two to come along with us, helping to build a good-sized pot should I hit my straight. Two players who had checked made the call and it was to the kid I had earlier bluffed with king-high on the river, who was sitting in middle position. He went all in for $35, a $25 raise. It now got to the original bettor. He re-raised the bet to $75. It is now on me and I have $88 left after my earlier $10 call.
Should I decide to play this, it is obvious I will go all in for my last $13. Although I had two people behind me to act, I really didn’t think they were going to make the call should I go all in because of their reactions to all the raising and re-raising that had taken place prior to my turn. So it really just came down to being up against the two opponents, one of whom had me covered. Should I beat the guy that had me covered but lose to the all-in player, I would have ended up with $106, resulting in a $6 profit of where I started at the beginning of this hand. If I won it all I would have about $270.
To recap, I have Ac-5d, the board is 4c-6s-7c and it is an all-in play for me with no money to pull out for a re-buy. What would you do here? We’ll have our answer … after the break.
Welcome back. After contemplating if I wanted to risk everything I had on an open-ended straight draw, I elected to fold. I took a lot of time to make the decision and was surprised nobody called the clock on me. Folding may be a weenie play to some of you, but I just couldn’t get myself to make the call getting 2-1 on my money with what could be only six outs if one of those two guys was on a club flush draw. I figured at best I had eight outs for my straight and an additional three outs should I pair my ace and it hold up, but that was best-case scenario.
Like I thought would happen, the two players behind me also folded and it was down to heads-up. The turn was the jack of clubs and the river was the five of clubs, giving me what would have been the nut flush, only losing to a straight-flush of 3-6 or 6-8 of clubs. The two guys both showed eights and no club, giving them both the same straight. One of the players held 8-6, which at the time of my decision was middle pair with an inside straight draw and I don’t recall what the other player’s second card was to go with his eight.
As I said earlier, this was one of those hands that usually I would go over and over in my mind second guessing myself about what I had done, knowing that had I called I’d be in the black and possibly winning more. But with my unworried outlook that didn’t dwell on the past, I put the hand behind me, moved on and focused on what was going on at that moment.
I’ve only played cards twice since taking on this new attitude, but I really feel like it helped factor into my profits for both nights. There were moments on Saturday that I could have said, “Oh, screw it,” and shoved out of frustration, but I stuck with it and continued to play as good as possible, not letting previous decisions influence current situations. We will see tonight how the C.J. factor works for me in softball as we play a very tough defensive team at the hottest possible moment of the evening.
Until next time…
Monday, July 12, 2010
Weatherford Outing A Success
Saturday night was the monthly $1-2 hold’em game in Weatherford and I was more than content to log a $210 profit for the evening. I played for nine hours and earned $23.33 an hour.
Ever since winning $1,200 back in March, my wife, Joanna, has it in her head that every trip should end up like that one, but that just isn’t going to be the case. While there’s plenty of money to be made at that game, a really good night on a normal basis would be winning somewhere between $600-900. A good night is between $200-600. Any sort of profit less than that is certainly a good thing but feels like a waste because there are thousands of dollars in the room, and since the game is only held once a month it is a long wait until the next opportunity.
I had only three hands of interest, and one of those was played about as straight forward as possible. I started the night with $100 and quickly (within 20 minutes) was down to $60. The worst part of that was I don’t know where I lost $40 in so quick a time span. I even considered the idea that I didn’t get a full $100 when I started because I couldn’t recall where I had spent so much money in so little time. I did have a lot of speculative hands worth seeing a flop with, but I just couldn’t for the life of me think I had paid $40 in pre-flop and flop bets without something to show for it.
After that point I made an all-in bet when there was $60 in the pot and I had top pair, top kicker. I wouldn’t have gone all in had I more money, but with about $50 at the time, I couldn’t see why I would make a bet of $25-35 with a flush and straight draw possible, only leaving myself $15-25 on the turn. Had I done that I wouldn’t have enough to push out those on the draw or even people with an inferior hand hoping to hit two pair or three of a kind on the river for such a small risk to win a large pot.
So, I pushed all in for $50 or so and figured if they wanted to draw to a big hand then they would have to pay big for it. Even if I don’t get a call then I essentially double up without risking a showdown, which is what happened as nobody called my bet.
Back at a little more than $100 I started to build my stack with small-pot wins until I came to what would be ultimately the biggest pot of the night for me. At this point I had $175 in front of me and covered the two players involved in this particular hand. I was dealt the two red aces and raised it to $8 after two callers before me. A player after me called, as did one of the guys who had limped in prior to my raise. There is now $27 in the pot after three $8 calls and the $3 from blinds.
So with three players seeing a flop, the cards came out A-8-4 rainbow. With the very best hand at this point and little fear of being drawn out on, I decided to play it a little slower than I normally would, which meant not making a continuation bet. By checking the flop I might get them to think I have kings or queens and am not happy about seeing an ace on the flop, prompting them to bet if they happen to have the last ace.
Well, my plan didn’t get to take form because the first guy to act led out with a bet of $13. So now I have to decide if I want to raise or call. Raising shows I am not afraid of the ace and may scare off anyone holding top pair. Calling is more deceptive and entices the guy behind me to call the bet as well. The obvious play here is to simply call with no threat of being outdrawn on. Should something scary come on the turn then we can reassess the situation.
I called the $13 as did the guy behind me; excellent outcome for me. Now the pot has $66 in it.
The turn is the jack of clubs, creating an A-8-4-J board with two clubs. The first guy to act bet again. This time he went all in for $82. I am ecstatic over this. Of course, on the outside I am thinking hard about what to do and making it look like I am worried about what the guy behind me is going to do. After about 20 seconds I called.
Now this hand looked to be exactly what people who play cards dream about with a huge hand that doesn’t need a ton of decision making resulting in a big pot. Well, it only got better because after some hemming and hawing from the player behind me, he said he was going to go all in also. I politely said call after waiting a second or two, not even needing a count, and flipped up my set of aces. It turned out I barely had him covered by only about $10. The second guy called me an SOB in a friendly, joking manner and said he had a set of eights.
The final card came, which didn’t help his eights, and the other guy who was all in showed the final ace, not particularly caring what his kicker was because he knew it didn’t matter. After all was said and done I had $475 in front of me, which was my peak for the evening.
With a large amount of chips in front of me, I started playing a lot of speculative hands to see if I could hit a well-hidden straight or two pair that could get a lot of money in the pot against opponents with high cards thinking they were good. Instead it just resulted in a quick decline that made me have to tighten back up once I was down to $250. Two of those losses were against my kryptonite, Jay, one being because I didn’t bet enough with top pair, top kicker on the flop to get a fold and the other was a chess-like battle that never went past the flop. Let’s take a look at the latter.
Jay is a very good player who is aggressive and hard to put on hands. Of all the people at the Weatherford game, he is among those who I don’t like to be at a table with (a list which includes Jason, Phil, and Clint). The hand in question was one that I held K-Q offsuit. Jay raised it pre-flop to $10. I was the only player to call the bet, creating a $23 pot with the blinds.
The flop was A-10-6 with no real flush possibility for me and Jay made a pot-sized bet of $25. Here is where the thought-based fighting came in to play for both of us. The way Jay played this particular hand up to this point made me think he was holding a high pocket pair like kings, queens, or jacks. I ruled out aces and tens because he most likely wouldn’t make that big of a bet with such a large hand and I didn’t consider nines or lower because his pre-flop bet was not the right kind of amount for that holding. I’ve played with Jay enough to get these kinds of feelings during a hand with him and sometimes they prove right.
So, with him having a pocket pair that was lower than the ace, I thought a small raise would get him to fold, thinking I held the ace for a higher pair, and if I was wrong then I wouldn’t lose a ton of money on my misread. I made a minimum raise to $50. The size I chose was because a lot of times against lesser players a minimum raise means they are holding a monster hand. I thought he might take that into consideration when thinking about what to do.
After a minute of consideration and stacking chips around, Jay made a raise of his own, putting out an additional $50, making the bet $100. This put me in a tough spot because I certainly can’t make a call. I either have to make another raise, which would likely have to be an all-in because if I left anything behind it would be so small that I couldn’t do anything with it on the turn to get Jay to fold, or I have to fold my hand now. Keep in mind I have a king and a queen, which is nothing right now. I could make a straight with a jack, but I don’t really want to put everything I have on the line for an inside straight. So if I do raise, it is with the hope I don’t get called.
Let’s go back to what I think he has. After the flop and his initial bet I put him on kings, queens, or jacks. Those are looking less likely now with Jay re-raising my raise, but still a small possibility he is being stubborn. I have to now consider that he has the ace with either a king kicker or even a ten or six to make two pair. I still am not considering a set because he would let me bet it for him.
Since I have hardly anything to work with and I would have to go all in for any hope of winning the hand, I elected to fold the hand. Speaking with Jay later in the night, it turns out he did have pocket jacks like I thought he did. He said he had a feeling I was trying to represent the ace and push him off of his pocket pair, which is exactly what I was doing. So to recap, we both had the other person’s hand pegged and it was a matter of who would say chicken first, which happened to be me.
After breaking down from two tables to one for the final few hours of the night, I hovered between$200-300 for the rest of the night. I did have one big hand that put me up above that amount after I had dwindled down a significant amount when my pocket queens held up twice against A-K suited.
The pot was raised to $8 by a player two to my right, whose name was Steve. I re-raised with my two queens, one of which was a heart, and made it $30 to play. It folded around through the blinds to another guy named Matt and Phil, who both called after just limping in the beginning. I figure one of those two have a pocket pair that they are willing to pay through the nose for to see if it hits the flop. The other one I’m not too sure about. It came back to Steve, who called the $22 re-raise. So there was $120 in the pot at this point and I had only the other Matt covered. Phil and Steve both were beating me by about $400 each.
I should note that I did some table talk about how I thought all the money would be going into the middle pre-flop because I didn’t want to risk any more money without seeing three cards, allowing me to know if an over to my queens came on the flop. By making the statements I did, I was hoping to scare anyone with kings or ace-king from pushing again. And if they do push in the middle, I could be pretty confident they were holding aces because they would not only be confident of their hand, but they would think I was willing to call for all my chips pre-flop, which I wasn’t. The ploy apparently worked because one of the players did have ace-king and another guy said he was thinking about pushing until I said the comments I did.
So with four of us to go and me being last to act, the flop came with nothing higher than a nine and two hearts. I don’t remember the cards exactly, but they didn’t include an eight or a three.
The other Matt was first to act and with little hesitation he moved all in for $50. Phil immediately folded and Steve folded not too much longer after that. With $170 in the pot and getting more than three to one for a call, I took my chances against Matt flopping a set and called. I also wasn’t too concerned about him having a set because with the raising and re-raising going on behind him, he would probably let us bet it and get more people to call in order to build a bigger pot for his great hand.
After making the call I flipped up my over-pair to the board and he flipped over the ace and king of hearts for a flush draw. Someone asked if we wanted to do business, meaning run the final two cards twice, to which I said I would allow Matt to make the decision. At this game I will always give a single opponent the option if he wants to and normally do not initiate “the business.” Matt said he wanted to run it twice and we did, but it didn’t matter because I won both times.
I mentioned the flop didn’t have a three or an eight because Phil said he had pocket threes and Steve said he had pocket eights. Obviously, had the flop contained one of those cards they would have made the all-in call.
I was pleased with how the night went. So much in fact, Clint and I are going to WinStar tonight to play some more before his wife gets home from New York City.
With last month’s $200 loss and this month’s $210 win, I have won a total of $2,865 since last November and in 2010 I have logged a profit of $1,250. Sadly though, $1,185 of that $1,250 came in one nine-hour session. My hourly profit for the year would be $14.30 and it is $19.90 since starting to seriously play poker again in November. Not terrible numbers considering I make $12 an hour in my cubicle. Maybe living the dream isn’t such a fantasy after all.
Ever since winning $1,200 back in March, my wife, Joanna, has it in her head that every trip should end up like that one, but that just isn’t going to be the case. While there’s plenty of money to be made at that game, a really good night on a normal basis would be winning somewhere between $600-900. A good night is between $200-600. Any sort of profit less than that is certainly a good thing but feels like a waste because there are thousands of dollars in the room, and since the game is only held once a month it is a long wait until the next opportunity.
I had only three hands of interest, and one of those was played about as straight forward as possible. I started the night with $100 and quickly (within 20 minutes) was down to $60. The worst part of that was I don’t know where I lost $40 in so quick a time span. I even considered the idea that I didn’t get a full $100 when I started because I couldn’t recall where I had spent so much money in so little time. I did have a lot of speculative hands worth seeing a flop with, but I just couldn’t for the life of me think I had paid $40 in pre-flop and flop bets without something to show for it.
After that point I made an all-in bet when there was $60 in the pot and I had top pair, top kicker. I wouldn’t have gone all in had I more money, but with about $50 at the time, I couldn’t see why I would make a bet of $25-35 with a flush and straight draw possible, only leaving myself $15-25 on the turn. Had I done that I wouldn’t have enough to push out those on the draw or even people with an inferior hand hoping to hit two pair or three of a kind on the river for such a small risk to win a large pot.
So, I pushed all in for $50 or so and figured if they wanted to draw to a big hand then they would have to pay big for it. Even if I don’t get a call then I essentially double up without risking a showdown, which is what happened as nobody called my bet.
Back at a little more than $100 I started to build my stack with small-pot wins until I came to what would be ultimately the biggest pot of the night for me. At this point I had $175 in front of me and covered the two players involved in this particular hand. I was dealt the two red aces and raised it to $8 after two callers before me. A player after me called, as did one of the guys who had limped in prior to my raise. There is now $27 in the pot after three $8 calls and the $3 from blinds.
So with three players seeing a flop, the cards came out A-8-4 rainbow. With the very best hand at this point and little fear of being drawn out on, I decided to play it a little slower than I normally would, which meant not making a continuation bet. By checking the flop I might get them to think I have kings or queens and am not happy about seeing an ace on the flop, prompting them to bet if they happen to have the last ace.
Well, my plan didn’t get to take form because the first guy to act led out with a bet of $13. So now I have to decide if I want to raise or call. Raising shows I am not afraid of the ace and may scare off anyone holding top pair. Calling is more deceptive and entices the guy behind me to call the bet as well. The obvious play here is to simply call with no threat of being outdrawn on. Should something scary come on the turn then we can reassess the situation.
I called the $13 as did the guy behind me; excellent outcome for me. Now the pot has $66 in it.
The turn is the jack of clubs, creating an A-8-4-J board with two clubs. The first guy to act bet again. This time he went all in for $82. I am ecstatic over this. Of course, on the outside I am thinking hard about what to do and making it look like I am worried about what the guy behind me is going to do. After about 20 seconds I called.
Now this hand looked to be exactly what people who play cards dream about with a huge hand that doesn’t need a ton of decision making resulting in a big pot. Well, it only got better because after some hemming and hawing from the player behind me, he said he was going to go all in also. I politely said call after waiting a second or two, not even needing a count, and flipped up my set of aces. It turned out I barely had him covered by only about $10. The second guy called me an SOB in a friendly, joking manner and said he had a set of eights.
The final card came, which didn’t help his eights, and the other guy who was all in showed the final ace, not particularly caring what his kicker was because he knew it didn’t matter. After all was said and done I had $475 in front of me, which was my peak for the evening.
With a large amount of chips in front of me, I started playing a lot of speculative hands to see if I could hit a well-hidden straight or two pair that could get a lot of money in the pot against opponents with high cards thinking they were good. Instead it just resulted in a quick decline that made me have to tighten back up once I was down to $250. Two of those losses were against my kryptonite, Jay, one being because I didn’t bet enough with top pair, top kicker on the flop to get a fold and the other was a chess-like battle that never went past the flop. Let’s take a look at the latter.
Jay is a very good player who is aggressive and hard to put on hands. Of all the people at the Weatherford game, he is among those who I don’t like to be at a table with (a list which includes Jason, Phil, and Clint). The hand in question was one that I held K-Q offsuit. Jay raised it pre-flop to $10. I was the only player to call the bet, creating a $23 pot with the blinds.
The flop was A-10-6 with no real flush possibility for me and Jay made a pot-sized bet of $25. Here is where the thought-based fighting came in to play for both of us. The way Jay played this particular hand up to this point made me think he was holding a high pocket pair like kings, queens, or jacks. I ruled out aces and tens because he most likely wouldn’t make that big of a bet with such a large hand and I didn’t consider nines or lower because his pre-flop bet was not the right kind of amount for that holding. I’ve played with Jay enough to get these kinds of feelings during a hand with him and sometimes they prove right.
So, with him having a pocket pair that was lower than the ace, I thought a small raise would get him to fold, thinking I held the ace for a higher pair, and if I was wrong then I wouldn’t lose a ton of money on my misread. I made a minimum raise to $50. The size I chose was because a lot of times against lesser players a minimum raise means they are holding a monster hand. I thought he might take that into consideration when thinking about what to do.
After a minute of consideration and stacking chips around, Jay made a raise of his own, putting out an additional $50, making the bet $100. This put me in a tough spot because I certainly can’t make a call. I either have to make another raise, which would likely have to be an all-in because if I left anything behind it would be so small that I couldn’t do anything with it on the turn to get Jay to fold, or I have to fold my hand now. Keep in mind I have a king and a queen, which is nothing right now. I could make a straight with a jack, but I don’t really want to put everything I have on the line for an inside straight. So if I do raise, it is with the hope I don’t get called.
Let’s go back to what I think he has. After the flop and his initial bet I put him on kings, queens, or jacks. Those are looking less likely now with Jay re-raising my raise, but still a small possibility he is being stubborn. I have to now consider that he has the ace with either a king kicker or even a ten or six to make two pair. I still am not considering a set because he would let me bet it for him.
Since I have hardly anything to work with and I would have to go all in for any hope of winning the hand, I elected to fold the hand. Speaking with Jay later in the night, it turns out he did have pocket jacks like I thought he did. He said he had a feeling I was trying to represent the ace and push him off of his pocket pair, which is exactly what I was doing. So to recap, we both had the other person’s hand pegged and it was a matter of who would say chicken first, which happened to be me.
After breaking down from two tables to one for the final few hours of the night, I hovered between$200-300 for the rest of the night. I did have one big hand that put me up above that amount after I had dwindled down a significant amount when my pocket queens held up twice against A-K suited.
The pot was raised to $8 by a player two to my right, whose name was Steve. I re-raised with my two queens, one of which was a heart, and made it $30 to play. It folded around through the blinds to another guy named Matt and Phil, who both called after just limping in the beginning. I figure one of those two have a pocket pair that they are willing to pay through the nose for to see if it hits the flop. The other one I’m not too sure about. It came back to Steve, who called the $22 re-raise. So there was $120 in the pot at this point and I had only the other Matt covered. Phil and Steve both were beating me by about $400 each.
I should note that I did some table talk about how I thought all the money would be going into the middle pre-flop because I didn’t want to risk any more money without seeing three cards, allowing me to know if an over to my queens came on the flop. By making the statements I did, I was hoping to scare anyone with kings or ace-king from pushing again. And if they do push in the middle, I could be pretty confident they were holding aces because they would not only be confident of their hand, but they would think I was willing to call for all my chips pre-flop, which I wasn’t. The ploy apparently worked because one of the players did have ace-king and another guy said he was thinking about pushing until I said the comments I did.
So with four of us to go and me being last to act, the flop came with nothing higher than a nine and two hearts. I don’t remember the cards exactly, but they didn’t include an eight or a three.
The other Matt was first to act and with little hesitation he moved all in for $50. Phil immediately folded and Steve folded not too much longer after that. With $170 in the pot and getting more than three to one for a call, I took my chances against Matt flopping a set and called. I also wasn’t too concerned about him having a set because with the raising and re-raising going on behind him, he would probably let us bet it and get more people to call in order to build a bigger pot for his great hand.
After making the call I flipped up my over-pair to the board and he flipped over the ace and king of hearts for a flush draw. Someone asked if we wanted to do business, meaning run the final two cards twice, to which I said I would allow Matt to make the decision. At this game I will always give a single opponent the option if he wants to and normally do not initiate “the business.” Matt said he wanted to run it twice and we did, but it didn’t matter because I won both times.
I mentioned the flop didn’t have a three or an eight because Phil said he had pocket threes and Steve said he had pocket eights. Obviously, had the flop contained one of those cards they would have made the all-in call.
I was pleased with how the night went. So much in fact, Clint and I are going to WinStar tonight to play some more before his wife gets home from New York City.
With last month’s $200 loss and this month’s $210 win, I have won a total of $2,865 since last November and in 2010 I have logged a profit of $1,250. Sadly though, $1,185 of that $1,250 came in one nine-hour session. My hourly profit for the year would be $14.30 and it is $19.90 since starting to seriously play poker again in November. Not terrible numbers considering I make $12 an hour in my cubicle. Maybe living the dream isn’t such a fantasy after all.
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