poked

I played in a 20 dollar tournament with a friend of a friend with 5 other people involved.

I failed miserably, which goes to show how bad I am in a short handed tournament. Come to think of it, I tend to fail miserably at poker in general.... HUMPH

Anyway I might be going again tonight so hopefully i'll bring home a bit of cash now that i've bought my ticket to many more games ;)


Hopefully this will stave off my need to run off to foxwoods ;)

NPR

My good friend john suggested listening to this podcast:
http://thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=938

Its very enriching. I can see how this relates to poker and how it can effect my game strategy. This goes back to if sitting at a table where i'm getting owned on, just get up and leave.

Things to remember

For trip 4, I have to remember a few things...

a.) Be humble. I could get my butt whooped at any time easily.
b.) watch for the first hour.
c.) be patient.
d.) look out for draws.
e.) try to get on an easy table.

3rd time

This was another milestone in my poker career as I track my winnings and losings. I've been told by friends who care about my well being to quit while I'm ahead. And I told him it doesn't work like that in poker ;)

I did great this time. I went with a game plan which was to sit and play tight/passively until an hour and just feel how the table is. After a while I noticed a few players who seemed to be decent, very selective and very aggressive (these guys had lots of chips in front of them). A few others were extremely loose players and even aggressive in bluffing. This was key to making decisions later in the game.

On one hand in particular while I was still starting my chip stack, I raised 10 dollars preflop. Most people called since I guess my table image wasn't established yet. Okay fine. I hit an Ace on the flop, giving me top pair with a good kicker so I bet 20 dollars. Everyone folds until it gets to a loose player who I know likes to bluff. He gives it a second pause and then calls. I check around to him, he bets 40 at me. I call. River comes around I check, and he pauses again looking a little trapped and decides to drop 80 dollars in the pot. I flat out called him with my heart in my throat. I knew it was the right move as something compelled me to catch this particular lie mid throw. But its always scary to just "throw" in 120+ dollars worth of calls in two rounds of betting.

I showed him my top pair. He mucked his hand. I felt great. I not only proved my worth but the entire table was shocked at the fact I only had top pair. I established a good table image. Which is key to how I work my magic.

However, one issue remained. I wasn't catching the cards! For a good solid 2 or 3 hours I was not getting anything. I was just bleeding my winnings and got back down to my starting chipstack through little forays that ultimately didn't land me anything. I was thinking I should just go ahead and leave, or play a different table. But I stayed with the knowledge that everything at this table was working except for a little luck.

And it payed off big. I won't go into too much detail but things worked out well. At this particular table I did well. After a while some cards started going my way and I have to say the luck came at the right time.

One thing I have noticed is that I start to play sloppy after 7-8 hours.....

Good advice on choosing tables

I found this useful tidbit of advice from Mike Caro on which tables to leave when you run into these signs...

Reasons to leave a game: (1) Game is bad; (2) Your image is bad; (3) You've been losing, inspiring opponents; (4) Silence; (5) Your foes play selectively, but aggressively; (6) Game is too loose for your bankroll (loose games are generally more profitable, but require larger bankrolls, due to increased fluctuations of outcomes); (7) You can't actually spot mistakes opponents are making; (8) You're worried about cheating (this will eat up mental energy, even if it's false); (9) You feel "glued to your seat."

This is good advice, and next time I sit at a table I will be sure to look for these signs before deciding to continue to play.

Second table

This table was very different. There were very weak players on this table. Bad players:

1.) A caller who played a lot of hands down the river and lost almost all of his pots.
2.) A few generally weak players who either didn't know what to call/catch with.

These guys supplied the most of the money at our table.

The good players were:

1.) An older lady who showed me her tournament paper showing that she was in first place. Good tight/aggressive player but not aggressive enough in certain hands.
2.) People who liked to bluff at the pot once and a while. I was hoping to catch these guys in a bind once and a while since I would slow play these players for lots of money.

Overall I think I played conservatively and well. I bluffed at pots a couple times, and won with nice monster hands. Once in a while I would get bluffed out for $25 when a lot is in the pot, but sometimes its not worth going for it.

New strategy...

Now that I've had a couple of days to review what went wrong that first table I'll point out a few mistakes I made/noticed.

1.) The person directly left of me was very loose/aggressive. So anything I played was in danger of being stolen or bluffed at often. Any attempts to defend or bluff back at is risky at such high stakes.

2.) I should have played much slower in the beginning to realize that the person directly left of me was very loose/aggressive. If I had gotten a better feel for the table first I could've geared myself up for a change in style/tactics.

3.) After an hour I should've started to play incredibly tight/passive. This lets me lose fewer hands/less money while at the same time gives me a better table reputation of being tight. Let them try and bully me but if I had anything really good going for me I could've easily have slow played some of them.

4.) A lot of people were getting in th flop cheap and trying to catch anything. If I were to play good hands(Pockets, suited face cards) I should've raised pre-flop to make them pay and also if I felt like they were trying to catch anything I should've made it expensive for them to see it.


The second table I did very well at. Next post to review the second table I played at.

Things I have learned this trip

I want to just point out that I've been awake for almost 20 hours now, so bare with me if my writing is a little wacky.

Today has been a big milestone in my poker life. I feel like my skills have improved slightly. I distinctly say slightly because I have learned 2 very important things today.

Firstly, old people should not be categorized as "soft". Up until today I thought they were all tight and passive players. The first table I sat at, I was being outplayed by loose aggressive players. Were they young? No. They were at least 4 times my age and were chasing things down the river, re-raising my 40 dollar raises with 150 dollars.... I got so frustrated I couldn't readjust my strategy in time and got busted out. I need to recognize a table that I am able to play at before getting myself into that situation and that old people deserve more respect. I am officially humbled.

Second, once you get busted out and are frustrated its much better to walk around, play craps, or whatever for an hour until you feel like you've lost that universal sting known as being on tilt. I played craps for about an hour. I didn't play aggresively, and walked away about even and felt fine. I went back to the poker room and won back what I lost plus some. Luckily this table was soft enough for me to play well. I need more tables like that ;)

Position

The importance of position can't be understated. Remember that if you're first to act everyone knows how to respond to you. Conversely if you act last you can react to everyone else. This is a huge HUGE advantage. The difference is that you can play K8 as the dealer to better efficiency than if you were to play A8 if you were left of the dealer. The difference is huge. Whenever you play A8 you'd play blind and not really know if someone has you outkicked. But if you were last as K8 you can see how people bet first to know if you should fold, or re-raise. You can even try to steal the blind. You just have more options when you act last. So remember these things:

1.) The earlier you are to act the tighter you should play
2.) If you're last to act take advantage of your situation and observe what is going on in the hand.

Want to know how to make money in poker?

This is a secret to my success to making money at poker. I feel like I shouldn't tell you guys as this will make me seem less good at poker. But I trust you not to spread this around too much on the internet (I'm talking to you 5 people who read my blog... yes 5... all 5 from the whole internet). Anyway the secret to winning any amount of money is to play is....


Play people worse than you. Thats right, there isn't anything easier to do than to play against people who are not as keen on the draws or can't read as well or bet heavily enough. This is the true secret to always winning. This does not mean leave the table if you're having a few bad beats, but if people are outplaying you and forcing you to fold most of the time, you are probably at the wrong table. If you are any bit decent at poker and want to play for money, just play against people who know enough as to know about small and big blind, and in general what a pair, two pair, trips, straight, flush, or full house are. These are the minimum requirements, otherwise the play style of someone who has no idea how to play might accidentally trap you without knowing it OR they will play like a true random maniac which can be dangerous.

I remember one time an old gentlemen at a poker table had literally no idea how to play, and someone I considered a shark at the table tried to bully him out. The old man kept calling and asking around what should I do? This prompted the shark to keep firing until he put the old man all in at which point the old man still called. The shark had top pair, but the old man held the pocket queens. So beware of the truly unaware but if you want to make money look for players worse than you. Thats my secret. Don't tell anyone...

Gut instinct

Ever have this situation where you have 10 9 offsuit, and you know its not a good move but at the same time there's something deep inside that screams this hand is a winner? And someone raises on top of your limp and you hesitate before folding, still thinking to yourself that it is going to be the winning hand this time... And low and behold there is Jc7s6d on the flop?

Don't feel too bad, because if you called every 10 9 offsuit on a raise chances are you will lose 29 times out of 30. Mathematically speaking you played it right to fold on 10 9 offsuit. One thing to know, is that sometimes when you get these gut instincts, most of the time it is okay to call when there are a few conditions that are satisfied:

1.) You are huge stacked and the raise means nothing to you
2.) There is huge potential pay off (in the case of pockets hitting trips, or a Ax suited for a nut flush possibility)

Its great if you get these gut instincts. Sometimes its worth going on them. But beware, there's a difference between playing because you just want your 10 9 to win and knowing deep inside that its going to hit. Its the difference between compulsively gambling and knowing when its your night. So if you're just starting or low on chips, its not worth calling.

Learning about people

I've been wondering for a while what has poker done for me? And the weird thing is that a long time ago it has taught me the value of outward and hidden motives.

It might sound strange and maybe a little cynical, but it has taught me to consider why people do one thing outwardly when secretly they're hoping to benefit from it. This is not always the case as I do believe there are more actions more altruistic in nature than selfish but in some ways I tend to think a little more as to why people do things.

I used to be bluffed all the time. And I probably still have my pots stolen from me all the time, but at least now I don't think a raise is always a show of actual strong hands. Sometimes a strong raise might just be a bluff. The outward appearance of a VERY big raise for a very small pot might cause concern for the amateur poker player, but to become an experienced poker player every raise should be considered and evaluated in this way:

"Why is he/she raising"
"What does he/she want me to do"
"How does that benefit him/her"

As always, consider the actual opponent when asking this about poker. A more experienced player might know you know this, and will over raise a pot in the hopes you think he's bluffing. And now that you know, you can watch out for that. But now that he knows that you know he knows......... Anyway, the point is not to stick to this algorithm, but to always evaluate who your opponent is, why he/she is doing it, and what they want you to do.

This skill that I've acquired from poker is nice in that it not only benefits my game, but also makes me one heck of a cynic sometimes.

Player Profile #1: The Older Gentlemen

Now this first post profiling player types might get me in trouble. Let me give a disclaimer that in no way am I condoning stereotypes or to "peg someone" immediately on what they look like. Just as a general guideline these are player types that I tend to see. I mean no offense with any of these player profiles.

The older gentlemen that I tend to see at poker tables are all usually good players. Most of the time however I'll notice that they play really tight and not as aggressive as they should be. This is just a common observation and no don't accuse me of being 'ageist'. As I've said, this is all just from personal observation and yes of course there are times where there are older gentlemen who play differently. There are certainly young men (and women) who play like this as well. My point is to watch for these traits:

1.) Look to see if they play very few hands and how often do they call preflop
2.) Do they raise or defend often?
3.) Do they play to the river when you raise?

Be careful with this profile. You could set yourself up into a big trap if you force the pot and try to bluff them at the wrong time with a lot of chips. All it takes sometimes is a moderate size bet and most of the time they'll just cave. If they call be careful. They are going on something and since they are tight they might be slow playing OR they're trying to catch cards OR seeing it down to the river. And if they raise, well you better have something.

And if you see this old man run for the hills:

One skill worth waiting for

The one thing every poker book talks about is playing PREMO hands. I've read a few books, and a majority say that if you suck at poker and you're stuck playing at a 10 person table full of sharks, you have to play with PREMO hands.

AA, AK, AQ, AJ, KK, KQ,KJ,QQ,QJ,JJ AND NOTHING ELSE! If you had no idea how to play then yes, this would be a good way to learn since most of the time if you paired the board you'd be ahead by a lot.

But getting these cards aren't very common. Most people would go nuts waiting for hands like these. But if there's one thing poker has taught me, is that careful preparation makes all the difference. You have to wait for these premium hands. Its very possible you'll play all night and not catch any cards. But you'll be happy when you do get them.

It all pays off in the end, since you can wait it out, not risk your chips, and learn who your opponents are. You might say "but they'll know you play tight" And I'll, "say so what?" You win a few hands this way or even steal a few pots they'll start respecting you and realize you ain't a fish. And with respect, you can start stealing a lot of pots. And once they catch on with that, well hey you can start playing tight again and land a whopper. Even better would be that you have everyone at the table guessing your style of play, they really have no idea what you're doing. Soon enough you'll have all the chips.

Busto!!!

One day, a long time ago, after not playing poker for almost an entire year I decided to play again. I called up a few buddies and we all agreed on playing poker. Upon arriving, to my surprise we were not playing NL holdem as I have grown to love. Instead, we were playing a home grown game called Busto. After much pleading, whining, and reasoning they were unmoved. We were playing Busto.

Busto is simple. Its basically NL holdem with a slight twist in stakes. One dollar buy in with 10 and 20 cent blinds. If you know anything about NL holdem, everyone is incredibly short stacked to begin with. My plan was more or less this: Go heavy on pots with any Ace rag or a king. There's no reason not to. If you hit it big a few times you've gotten a huge edge on your opponent since you'll be instantaneously big stacked. Now mind you this was a fine balance to figure out when to be aggressive with bad cards but it was definitely worth the experience as my strategy seemed to have worked. This game soon became a lesson in how to play big stacked against opponents with little to no money left.

The counter thought to this was that if I was stuck short stacked against someone with a lot of chips, I would just leave and go home! =) But since they were friends (and since I depended on a ride home) realistically I would've given it my best shot and quit after 10-15 dollars.

I think this is relevant to regular poker ($1-2 blinds with 300 bucks is normal) in the sense that if you're caught with 20 bucks left, you should probably buy in with more money. Or the better move would be to leave and go home.

Gambling

So I had this epiphany about poker while playing craps at Foxwoods. Everyone I know (except poker players) seem to have this stigma that going to a casino is bad. bad bad bad. I have a feeling its because they think I'm gambling, or that I am giving my money to foxwoods. I'm not sure if people realize that there is a distinction between table games where you are playing heads up against the casino, and player poker at a casino where you are playing against other players. The casino gets their money by taking $5 every half hour. In essence, you're paying 10 dollars an hour for the right to play poker at their tables. Granted this is all about money and luck, but I believe there is a VERY VERY fine line that distinguishes poker from gambling and a game involving luck and money. Yes, you can still lose a lot of money if you're bad at the game, but when you look at it that way, someone has to be winning right? By the way, I lost in craps =(

What are your thoughts? Would going to the casino to play poker by yourself really bad? Is it as bad as sitting around and drinking by yourself? Ever see someone having a glass of wine at home after a hard days work?

Welcome

This is my first attempt at blogging. I just need to express myself instead of rambling about my poker experiences in an uncategorized, incoherent way. I feel this is something that might actually interest people who don't know me.

One thing to get straight. This isn't about bad beats and whining about how my Aces were cracked by pocket twos. This isn't about how some dumb butt called a raise with 4 8 off suit, or how some jerk off caught their inside straight draw. If you've ever played poker for long enough you've not only listened to someone moan about how they lost all their chips, but you've probably have whined yourself. This is not about that. This blog is about discussion. This is about revelations about the game itself as well as strategy. I see this as much of a way to help me as it is a way to help you. So without further ado, welcome all you unknowns. Perhaps when one of you lucky schmoes who wins the world poker tour with 10 2 off suit and you make it big and standing on 10 million chips, you'll remember us.