One Step Up, Two Steps Back

Tonight I played in Step Four, using my ticket worth $215, and I came in a lovely 9th place. Out of 9. Sigh. In both of my previous tourneys I had doubled up early when I had big pairs and other players had smaller pairs that they couldn't fold. This time around, I found QQ in the Small blind and decided to just flat call a button raise to 80 at the 10/20 level. Normally, I repop here, with no intention of folding, but this time around I wanted to slow-play my Queens, and trap the button for some more chips. The big blind also called, and we saw a J-8-5 flop with two spades. I checked, as did the big blind, and then the button bet 175 into the 240 pot. I flat-called, and then the big blind check-raised and made it 500+ to go. the Button obv folded, and it was decision time for me. Unfortunately I didn't think about it for long, pushed, and got called by his flopped trips with 88. That left me with 80 chips, which i managed to triple to 240 on the very next hand (AQ on the button), but within a few more hands I was out.
My mistake in the QQ hand was not taking enough time to consider what the big blind could be repopping with. Even if he was only raising with a King-hi or Ace-hi flush draw I'm about 50/50 to win. If he has a flush draw with the 8 of spades I'm barely ahead (I had the Q of spades so that was not an out), and that's also the case versus the 10-9 of spades or 7-6 of spades. Plus I only had 255 chips invested in the pot, so if I had folded I would still have 1250 or so. The other thing I needed to consider was the flop itself. In the previous two tourneys, all three times I got it all-in versus a medium pair on a small-card flop. This time, the flop's highest card was one rank below my pair, and the big blind's big raise should have suggested to me that he was neither fazed by the Jack nor by my flat-calls pre- and post-flop. So really, the only hand I had soundly beaten was Ace-Jack. It's a difficult fold, but it's a fold I could have and more to the point SHOULD have made considering the stakes.
After that debacle I decided to start again at the beginning and played a 500 FPP Step One tourney. After a bluff gone bad (hard to bluff the guy with the nuts, good thing for me i checked the river), I was down to 800 chips early. But after that, I caught fire and went on to crush the table, finishing first and winning a Step Two seat. I then played Step Two, got lucky early on when I stacked KK with my QQ on a Q-hi flop (eerily reminiscent of earlier, but in my favor this time around), and maintained one of the top two stacks all the way into the money. I donked off a bunch of chips with 4 players left, but then got them donked right back (Ace-2 is NEVER ahead of my all-in). Shortly after that, though, the prettiest hand in poker did me wrong, as with three players left, I called a button push with Ace-King of Spades and lost to his Ace-8 off when an 8 flopped. (God Damn Eights). That hand crippled me, and I finished in 3rd a few hands later, giving me yet another Step Two ticket. So far, I've invested $21 and 1000 FPP's and I have a Step Two seat. Back to the grind...

Another Step Up !!

Tonight, I decided to use my ticket for Step 3, a $82 buy-in sit-n-go that paid the top two finishers a Step Four ticket worth $215 and paid 3rd, 4th, and 5th another Step Three ticket. Well I RUN GOOT. About 10 hands in I got QQ UTG, made a raise to 80 at 10/20, and got called only by the big blind. The flop came 6-5-3 with two clubs, I bet 100, got check-raised to 300, pushed, and got called by his 77. He missed on the turn and river and I doubled up early. Since 5 places paid back at least the buy-in, I decided to play pretty tight after the double-up, and maintained my stack for the next level or two. I raised coming in several times, and the only times I got played back at were when I had low pairs, which I naturally folded. It was down to five players (so we were all In The Money) when the key hand of the tourney came up. I raised to 900 at 150/300 with 10-10 UTG, and the button pushed for about 2200 total, which I called. He flipped over QJ off, and I won the conflip, which gave me about a 2-1 chip advantage over each of the remaining players. After that I re-tightened, raising only when I was not going to fold to a push and settling for letting the smaller stacks fight it out for the other top spot. Eventually one of my opponents doubled up and took a big chip lead, but fortunately I had position on the shortest stack and he was loathe to challenge me. On the final hand, the big stack limped, the shorty pushed with 33, and the big stack woke up with QQ and won, giving himself and ME the Step Four tickets !
So now I have a ticket worth $215, and my total investment so far is $21 plus 500 FPP's. Not Too Shabby. I have been playing very solid sit-n-go poker and have been fortunate to get action on my big hands. Let us hope the string can continue ! !

On To Step Three !

Tonight after work I played in a Step Two satellite on Pokerstars and WON a seat for Step Three worth $82 ! This was one of the more interesting sng's I've played, as there were two players involved in the sng who were from the same town (in a foreign country) and after about ten minutes of play I could plainly see that they were colluding. They were inolved in a lot of pots, and there was a lot of chip movement between the two players - on a lot of hands one would raise, the other would reraise, and the first would fold. Fortunately for me I picked up KK a few hands in and got doubled up by 10-10 on an all-undercards flop, and then got JJ in the blinds and was able to get it all-in vs. 55 on a 222 flop, giving me a sizeable stack early. I managed my stack well, and because of the two aggressive guys, I played pretty basic poker with a few timely bluffs mixed in for balance. I also gained from the fact that I played both the KK and the JJ hands very fast, so when I played other hands full speed ahead it looked to the field like I had a monster. Four-handed, we had one extremely tight short stack who played NO hands, and fortunately for me he was SB when I was BB and he gave me a LOT of walks. When he finally busted I had a slight chip lead, and I was able to use my knowledge of how my opponents were betting and my tight image to maintain my lead. On the final hand, the smaller stack of the two min-raised the button (which he had done a bunch of times), I repopped with 66 in the SB, and he snapped off the call with QQ. Luck was on my side however- the flop came A-7-6, and my trips held up. That hand was the only time I got my money in bad, and it turned out good. And "cheaters never win". Next up - Step Three !

Going for the PCA

Pokerstars is once again offering packages to the Pokerstars Carribean Adventure, except this year they have come up with a great way to give even low-limit players like myself who can't cough up the 10 grand a chance to get a seat. They are offering Step tournies, which are 9-player sit-n-go's in which the top 2-3 players win seats to the next "step". The buy-in for the cheapest one starts at $7.50, and if you finish in the top two you get a seat for the next round which has a $27 buy-in, until after six steps you get to play in a $2100 sit-n-go for a PCA seat. Probably the coolest thing about the Step tourneys is that they pay out 4-6 places, with the top two being seats to the next round and then the next place or two being seats for the same step you just played, so that if you make it through a few steps and then come in 3rd or 4th you don't have to start all over again at the beginning. (for more info click here).
I've played several times, and am going to post my results so far here. Hopefully I will move higher and get that seat ! !

played 500 FPP buy-in Step One - finished 9th (AQ all-in on an Ace hi flop - guy hit a flush)
played $7.50 buy-in Step One - finished 1st - won a ticket for Step Two worth $27
Played Step Two - finished 3rd - won a Step Two ticket worth $27
Played Step Two - finished 5th (lost with KK to AA all-in preflop) - won a Step One ticket
Played Step One - finished Out Of The Money
Played Step One - finished 4th - won $1.50
Played Step One - finished 3rd - won Step One Ticket
Played Step One - finished 2nd - won a Step Two ticket thanks to a rotten beat - Ac8c chipleader beats 99 short stack all-in preflop - board came 9-7-6-x-10.

total investment so far is $21.00 plus 500 FPP's, and I have a Step Two ticket.

Wednesday Night Fenway = PLAYOFFS ! ! !

Friday Night Fenway - Look For These Signs

I Actually Feel Bad For This Guy...But Not Too Bad

I've been playing quite a bit of hi-lo Stud lately, especially in the last week since Pokerstars is doing a "double-FPP" promotion. I was multi-tabling at the time of this hand, and didn't get to see what my opponent had until I looked at the Hand History about 10 minutes later. He played the hand about as well as he possibly could and had to figure I was betting a low hand.

PokerStars - 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo Limit ($1/$2) with 10 cent ante - 2007/05/14
Seat 1: GeoffreyM ($28.50 in chips)
Seat 2: djelove1 ($42.30 in chips)
Seat 3: Mr. B41 ($41.55 in chips)
Seat 5: LordPye ($8.45 in chips)
Seat 6: atlas_afs ($41.25 in chips)
Seat 7: plato65 ($113.20 in chips)
Seat 8: pouchouchou ($49 in chips)
*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to GeoffreyM [6c]
Dealt to djelove1 [Ad Ah Ac] (cha chinggggg)
Dealt to Mr. B41 [8s]
Dealt to LordPye [6d]
Dealt to atlas_afs [9s]
Dealt to plato65 [Jd]
Dealt to pouchouchou [6s]

GeoffreyM: brings in for $0.50
djelove1: raises $0.50 to $1 (I'm in early position and the table has been loose)
Mr. B41: calls $1
LordPye: folds
atlas_afs: calls $1
plato65: calls $1
pouchouchou: folds
GeoffreyM: calls $0.50
*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to GeoffreyM [6c] [Th]
Dealt to djelove1 [Ad Ah Ac] [8h]
Dealt to Mr. B41 [8s] [Ks]
Dealt to atlas_afs [9s] [Jc]
Dealt to plato65 [Jd] [2h]

djelove1: bets $1
Mr. B41: calls $1
atlas_afs: raises $1 to $2
plato65: folds
GeoffreyM: folds
djelove1: raises $1 to $3
Mr. B41: calls $2
atlas_afs: calls $1
*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to djelove1 [Ad Ah Ac 8h] [3s]
Dealt to Mr. B41 [8s Ks] [Qd]
Dealt to atlas_afs [9s Jc] [7h]

djelove1: bets $2
Mr. B41: calls $2
atlas_afs: raises $2 to $4
djelove1: raises $2 to $6
Mr. B41: calls $4
atlas_afs: calls $2
*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to djelove1 [Ad Ah Ac 8h 3s] [As] (QUADS ! ! ! )
Dealt to Mr. B41 [8s Ks Qd] [Qh]
Dealt to atlas_afs [9s Jc 7h] [3d]
djelove1: bets $2
Mr. B41: calls $2
atlas_afs: calls $2 (obv the ace forced him to slow down)
*** RIVER ***
Dealt to djelove1 [Ad Ah Ac 8h 3s As] [5d]
djelove1: bets $2
Mr. B41: folds
atlas_afs: calls $2
*** SHOW DOWN ***
djelove1: shows [Ad Ah Ac 8h 3s As 5d] (HI: four of a kind, Aces)
atlas_afs: mucks hand
djelove1 collected $41.70 from pot
No low hand qualified
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $42.70 Rake $1
Seat 1: GeoffreyM folded on the 4th Street
Seat 2: djelove1 showed [Ad Ah Ac 8h 3s As 5d] and won ($41.70) with HI: four of a kind, Aces
Seat 3: Mr. B41 folded on the River
Seat 5: LordPye folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 6: atlas_afs mucked [9d 9c 9s Jc 7h 3d 2d] (dude was rolled-up too ! ! ! )
Seat 7: plato65 folded on the 4th Street
Seat 8: pouchouchou folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)

"What Can I Beat?" - Two Great Examples

Last night I played some 25c/50c NLHE on Pokerstars and experienced two hands where a "deeper think" about "What Can I Beat?"would have led to difficult, but correct, laydowns. In the first hand, the table I was at had just lost a couple of players, so I raised to $1.50 in MP with Qs9s, and it folded around to the BB, who called after a few seconds of thought. The flop came Q-8-2 rainbow, and after it was checked to me I bet $2. My opponent check-raised me to $4, whereupon I reraised him to $6 and was called. The turn was another Queen, giving me trips, and my opponent bet $25 (which would put me all-in if I called) into the $15 pot. I thought for a few seconds, and called, only to find out that my opponent had Q-10 offsuit, and he scooped the pot. In retrospect, this was a poorly-played hand:

- My hand value was not strong enough to enter the pot with.

- His hand value was too weak to call a raise with in a heads-up pot out of position.

- The flop was played OK by both players - I bet a good hand, he raised to see where he stood, and I reraised to redefine the strength of my hand. However, if I had reraised more strongly, say to $10, I think my opponent would have probably had to put me on a bigger Queen or an overpair and lay down his hand.

- His turn bet was terrible, and -EV, because the only way I should be calling this bet is with a better Queen, Q-8 or pocket 8's. If I have a pair like TT or JJ I'm folding, and if I have KK or AA I probably also have to fold. He got called by the ONLY HAND that could both consider calling and that he had beat.

- My turn call was atrocious, because I needed to ask myself, "What Can I Beat?" It's hard to imagine that he would call a raise pre-flop with a worse Queen, and since an 8 was on the board I'm beaten by Q-8 as well. The only way I'm ahead is if he had flat-called a raise pre-flop with KK or AA, and that also seems unlikely.

Later that night, on the same table, a similar situation occurred. A LAG player who had been entering a lot of pots for raises and had shown down some Ace-rags raised UTG to $1.50, I made a somewhat loose call on the button with KJ offsuit, and the big blind also called. The flop came Jh 5d 3h, UTG bet out $2, I called, and the blind folded. The turn was a 10d, and UTG bet $5 this time, leaving himself just over $10 behind. I thought for a few seconds, decided that this player was either bluffing or on a heart draw, and pushed all-in. He called (after much consideration), the river was an offsuit 5, and I won the pot when he showed down QsJs and my King kicker played. In this case it was my opponent who needed to think "What Can I Beat?" He was behind a set, any overpair, AJ, KJ, and J-10, and he didn't have a flush redraw. However, unlike the previous example, in which there were no straight or flush draws present, in this case there were two flush draws and a straight draw on the board, making it possible that I was semi-bluffing with a big draw. His mistake was to bet the turn after I had called his flop bet, because I was not strong enough to bet the turn strongly myself, and then he could have value-bet the river and limited his losses when I called. Unfortunately, I didn't win as much on this hand as I had lost on the previous hand...but a win is a win...

Plugging Those Leaks

The month of April is going to end up being a profitable one, although not as much as it could have been thanks to the ever-present "leaks" in my game. I seem to find myself winning a whole lot of small-to-medium pots every time I play but somehow I manage to lose one big pot along the way that really cuts into the profitability of my session. For example, last night I brought it in UTG for a 4x the BB raise with QQ. It passed around to the button, who reraised me another 4BB. One of the blinds (on a very short stack) called the raise and I did as well. The flop came A-K-Q, and I checked to the re-popper, who bet 8BB, which was called by the short stack. As soon as the shorty called I put him on Ace-X, and figured that the repopper couldn't have Aces, so I called as well. The turn was a blank, and I checked again to the repopper, who bet 20BB. Now at this point the shorty was already all-in, so if I folded I was going to get to see the repopper's hand, but of course I couldn't find a fold with my trips and called him. The river was another blank, and I check-called the repopper's river bet, only to find out that he did indeed have Aces in the hole. In retrospect, I had a pretty easy fold on the turn, because after I called the flop bet the repopper had to give me credit for a very strong hand, and since he continued betting despite this I should have known that I was up against KK or AA and let the hand go. What it comes down to is that I get a bit too stubborn with my very good hands, and once or twice a session make a negative-expectation play despite all the evidence in front of me that I am either beat or going to get called by what must be a better hand.

The other leak that's been occurring has been on my steal-reraise hands. About every 20-30 hands I will reraise a few limpers with raggy Aces or other similarly trashy hands. About half the time I get no callers and win a few blinds, but the other half of the time I get called and find myself in troublesome spots where I am betting big with a mediocre hand and praying that my opponent will fold, but instead I'm getting called or even reraised. The result is that the pots I win are small, and the pots I lose are much larger.

So my goal for May is to recognize and eliminate those -EV plays, and also limit my steal-reraise attempts to hands that actually have some value to fall back upon. Vamos a ver !

The April Turnaround

The month of March pretty much sucked. Thank goodness it only comes once a year. I blew most of my bankroll in March, so at the start of April I had to do something I'd hoped I wouldn't have to do : rebuy. So far, it's looking like a good decision.

Since I had run so bad in March I decided to move down one level in cash games, and started playing 10c/25c NLHE full ring games, buying in for about 20 bucks/table and playing two tables. The results have been good for the most part, and I have been very pleased with my play. I have also paid a few visits to the Hi-Lo Stud tables and done well there too. Sit-n-go's, which used to be my bread and butter, have been my bane lately, although I did win one after being down to 550 chips with 4 players left, keeping my ROI respectable. However, I've discovered that my generally tight play seems to be much better suited to cash games than tourneys and sit-n-go's, so I've been focusing on them, and with good results.

The Foxwoods Poker Classic

I went down to Foxwoods last Thursday for the Foxwoods Poker Classic, specifically to play in Friday's event, which was NLHE with an $1100+100 buy-in. I had never played in a large live tournament before, nor one with anywhere close to this big a buy-in, so I approached the day with all sorts of emotions tumbling through my head, although, surprisingly enough, nervousness was not one of them. The tourney started at 10am with 545 players, which meant that only 50 would make the money. We started with 5,000 chips, and the blinds began at 25 + 50, with each level lasting 50 minutes, so there was plenty of time to be patient and wait for a good hand before getting involved in a pot. In fact, I was amazed at the general tightness of pretty much all the players, not only at the early levels, but throughout the whole event. There was not a lot of tricky play going on and minimal bluffing as far as I could tell. Also, I had expected a dearth of chit-chat but that was also not the case, as most of the players seemed like they were there to have a good time and hopefully win some dough.
As for the play, well, I don't think I've ever been so card-dead in my entire life. In the first level I think I played one pot post-flop, and that was from the button, and I folded to a check-raise on the flop (and the raiser showed me top pair). Pretty much every time I had a speculative hand (one that I would raise with entering an unopened pot but not call a raise with, like AJ off or KQ or a small pair) someone would come in for a raise in front of me and I'd have to let it go. Eventually my table was broken up, and when I got moved I finally got to see a few flops and win a couple of pots. I called a standard raise in the big blind with KhQh, bet a Q-high flop on every street, and was called all the way down by the raiser with JJ. I got to see a free flop with A7o in the big blind and check-raised the button on a A-7-3 rainbow flop, causing him to fold. At the first break I had about 5700 chips, which I was happy with considering how few pots I had been involved in. Shortly thereafter I got moved to another table, and through the 3rd and 4th levels I really didn't make much headway, ending with about 5000 chips. I pretty much stayed at that level for quite some time, and then finally doubled up to about 11,000 late in the 5th level. Right out of the next break I got AA UTG, raised, and everyone folded. Then later in that level, I had become short stacked, and doubled up when I pushed KK behind a raise and beat AK when I turned the case King (good thing too, as of course an Ace came on the river). However, the card-deadness continued, and soon after the dinner break, right after a hand when I had pushed Q-10 off with my extremely short stack and amazingly tripled up, I pushed all-in over the top of an UTG raise with AQ off and was knocked out when his QQ held. Overall, I was content with my play, given both the lack of cards I got and the extreme tightness of my opponents. I finished about 83rd out of 545, which I was extremely pleased with considering the fact that it was my first major tournament.

Not so pleasing was what happened to my wife the following day in the $530+70 shootout. Early on, she had check-raised a very loose-aggressive player all-in when she held KQ on a AKQ flop, and he pondered what to do for about 5 minutes before finally mucking his hand. Soon after that she got to see a free flop with 23o in the blinds, and bet the pot when the flop came K-3-2, getting one caller. The turn was a 4, and she bet again and was called again. The river was the ultimate scare card, an ace, and she smartly checked to the caller who bet a measly 200 chips, and she called to find out he had Ace-5 and had turned a wheel after having called a pot-sized bet in a tiny pot with only a gutshot on the flop. A few hands later, she limped in UTG for 50 chips with QQ, got a couple of callers, and then the same loose-aggressive player she had tangled with earlier reraised, making it 600 to go. Since Mel only had about 1800 chips in front of her, and she knew the other player (who thought she was bluffing on the previous all-in) was probably raising with Ace-rag or total trash, she pushed all-in, and after the other player announced "I want to see what you have this time", he called her with his Ace-6 suited, said "oooh, good hand", and then of course flopped an Ace to knock her out. The worst part about the hand was that her opponent then started laughing after the Ace flopped, an utterly classless reaction from an utterly terrible player, and an unfortunate early end to the tourney for my wife.

Later in the day my wife's parents came up to the Woods and we were able to enjoy dinner with them and spend some time playing slots and chatting. It was a fun, but expensive, weekend for sure.

Finally, Some Redemption

The last couple of weeks have seen my both my bankroll and my confidence take a hit. I've been playing well for the most part, but I've made a few bad (read : loose) calls and suffered a disproportionate amount of coolers. Since my wife is out of town this weekend, I thought it would be a good night to play a couple of tournaments and hopefully get some of that confidence back. I played two tourneys tonight, a $10+1 and a $1+.10, both of which started at 7pm on PokerStars. In the $10 tourney I was able to double up pretty early with 77 vs. AQ on a Q-7-2 flop, but then lost a couple of races and got knocked out when a guy called my pre-flop all-in with A9 and flopped an ace to beat my 10 10.
The $1 tourney was a different story, and it was one of those rare tourneys where the suckouts were few and far between - if you got your chips in good your hand tended to actually hold up, which doesn't always seem to happen. I was able to grab some chips early, and for the first couple of hours maintained an average stack. Before I began play, I had made a promise to myself : it's a small buy-in, so bluff as infrequently as possible, and only play top hands behind raises, because people tend to play looser in these smaller events. So I found myself folding 99 behind a raise and a call, and AQ in the SB to a raise from a player that had about as many chips as I did, and managed to save those chips for better hands and better situations.
During the second hour I was able to build a pretty good stack and because of this was able to open up my game a bit and gain a lot of positional equity. One of the stategies that worked extremely well for me in this tourney was my ability make small, odd-size raises and take down a lot of pots pre-flop. I call them "change raises", where I'll raise enough to even out my stack, but it will be smaller than a standard raise. For example, if I have 5674 chips and the blinds are 100-200, I'd raise to 474 rather than the min-raise of 400 or the standard raise of 600-800. With 11084 chips and 200-400 blinds I might raise 1084. To me, they're a great way to mix up my play. I get the same fold equity as I would with a standard raise, while giving my oppponents absolutely no information about the strength of my hand and putting fewer chips at risk.
In the third hour, I really didn't get many good hands, and by the end of the hour I saw my stack slipping back to average-size. Then the key hand of the tourney came up. I change-raised from the button with a measly 10c4c and got called by both blinds, which was not exactly the result I was looking for. However, I was pleasantly surprised when the flop came 9c5c2c. It was checked to me, and I bet about half the pot with my made flush. The small blind immediately went all-in, and I called to find that he had flopped trip deuces. Thankfully my flush held, and just a few hands later I was able to double up again with TT vs. JhTh. This put me in the top 20 or so with about 80 players left. By this time the blinds were getting high, making post-flop play exceedingly rare, and I roller-coastered up and down a few times, winning with 99 vs. A 10 suited when he flopped two to his flush and missed his 15 outs, losing with 66 to AK, and beating AQ with JJ. I eventually crawled my way into the top 10, thanks to a well-thought-out monster bluff from the small blind that was followed immediately by a win with pocket Jacks on the button.
When the 4th hour began, there were about 23 players left from the 1800+ that had started and I was about 13th in chips. Unfortunately, I didn't get a hand for the first two orbits, and then fell victim to a suckout knockout when I went all-in behind a raise with AKo, got called by the raiser with As8s, and watched him turn a flush after a King-high flop. I finished 16th and won a whopping $8 and change, but more importantly, and amazingly, made NO mistakes in the whole tourney. Every time I got my money in the middle, I was at worst in a coin-flip situation, and more often than not I was a favorite. And I don't think I got caught bluffing one time ! It may not be a big win monitarily but confidence-wise it's a much-needed boost !

The Worst Week Ever

Whenever you have a good run, or in my case, for the last few months, a really good run, eventually things have a way of turning. The last week or so has been one of those weeks. Every time I have a good hand, someone has a better hand, and every time I have a great hand, I get no action. I've been getting hammered playing NL cash games, so tonight I changed it up, went back to my bread and butter, and played a couple of $10 sit n go's. And I came in 8th out of 9 players in both of 'em. In one, it was a blind battle, and I raised 3x with AJ in the small blind and got called. The flop came A-6-3, and rather than play it fast, I chose to check-call my opponent. The river came a jack, giving me top two pairs, and when my opponent went all-in I of course insta-called only to find that he had a set of 6's. In the other, I donked off a bunch of chips early when I check-raised with bottom pair on a 9-6-9 board and my opponent couldn't fold pocket tens, and then, when I finally got my first real hand of the game, AK suited in the small blind, I ran into KK from the UTG raiser and blanked out. In cash games, jeez Louise, I've lost in every conceivable way. Flop a set of 4's, guy turns an ignorant straight with 23 suited. Lose with KK to the 22 of a guy who had been donking off chips like there was no tomorrow on a 5-5-2 flop. Lose with AK on an ace-high flop to another chump who calls me down with Ace-8 off and hits his 8 on the river. So I'm gonna take a couple of days off, re-focus, and hopefully start March like a lion. My three resolutions for March:

1) Play hands fast(er). If I have a big hand I want to make people put in big bets to beat me with their draws. No more checking a big hand from the blinds - if I hit the flop I am going to bet it. I'll learn better where I stand in a hand by betting out than by check-calling. No more flat-calling with big hands in multi-way pots. Also, I need to start betting on the turn when I hit my drawing hands. I need to continue to implement the tactics I've learned from reading the new Sklansky book (No Limit Hold 'Em - Theory And Practice), especially concepts like blocking bets.

2) Getting away from hands that must be beat. Too often I've found myself calling a river bet when I have little chance of holding the winning hand, and that's the biggest mistake one can make in poker. If a player bets into you on every street or calls your bets on every street and then raises you on the river you've just gotta give him credit for a real hand, especially if you've been showing strength the whole time. If a scare card comes that doesn't help you at all and he keeps on betting you've gotta think it didn't scare HIM. I've also seen myself make some terrible river raises lately when I've had hands that were not strong enough to raise with or could only get called by someone who has a better hand.

3) Bluffing a little bit less, and picking the right situations to do it. I've been trying to expand my game by bluffing more, and for the most part it hasn't been working. One of the tactics in Sklansky's book is to occaisionally raise a bunch of limpers with a total garbage hand when you are in late position or one of the blinds, and what I've been finding is that once 4 or more people are in a pot this tactic just doesn't seem to work, because if one of the players calls, the others become more likely to call because of the attractive pot odds they are being given, and generally at least one of them will hit the flop hard enough that they won't fold to pressure, again because of the odds created by all the extra money in the pot. I need to concentrate my bluffs on those players who I know to be weak, but also capable of folding medium-strength hands.

My goal for the next few weeks is to win enough to finance my entry into one of the tourneys at the Foxwoods Poker Classic. If I eliminate these leaks from my game I will be well on my way !

Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad

Played in 3 different tourneys on PokerStars today and managed to cash in two of them, coming in the top 5% of the field both times.
The first one was the weekly VIP $20,000 freeroll, which had about 3600 entrants and a 10-minute-per-round blind structure, another pseudo-turbo as it were. The key hand for me in that tourney occurred just before the money bubble burst. With 300/600 blinds and a stack of around 15000 chips, I raised to 1800 with QQ and got min-reraised to 3000 by a player who had about 12000 chips. I called, the flop came Queen-high, I checked, he bet 4200, and I check-raised him all-in, figuring that he had to have AA or KK and couldn't fold. He called, and I cracked Aces. I played pretty solidly after that, finishing in 144th for a "free" $22.
The second tourney was $7 pot-limit HE, and I suffered an early defeat in that one. I twice reraised limpers with Ace-rag and suffered the consequences of my "tricky" play, although in the second case the guy on my left called my reraise with only pocket 4's and managed to flop trips while I was trying to represent top two pairs. Sigh.
I also played in a $10 + one rebuy + one add-on (which started at the same time as the $7 PL) and managed to win a big pot early which gave me excellent momentum for remainder of the first hour. I finished hour one with close to 8000 chips (having started with 3000 after taking the rebuy), and added on the extra 2k. Play slowed down a bit in the second hour, as the blinds were still small compared to stack sizes, and I was able to use my table chip lead to take down a lot of pots. In the third hour, I twice had monster hands back-to-back, once calling an all-in with AK and flopping Broadway and then winning with QQ, and later raising with KK twice in a row and both times having a caller fold to my flop bet. Shortly after the Kings really beefed up my stack, however, I lost about half my chips trying to steal a couple more pots pre-flop and that, combined with rapidly escalating blinds, put me back into "all-in or fold" territory, where I remained until my ouster in 30th place, which was good for almost $67. I'm really pleased with my play as of late, as I really haven't been making any significant mistakes, and feel like I am this close to sitting at another final table.

The Baddest Of Bad Beats

Played in a $10+1 NLHE tourney on Pokerstars tonight, a pseudo-turbo with 10-minute levels, and saw waaaaay too many bad beats, but two of the worst were hands I was involved in, one of which went in my favor, and one that didn't. The one I lost: blinds 15/30, UTG raises to 60, late position player makes it 150, I call from the small blind with 66, UTG calls. Flop comes 6-4-3 with two spades, UTG bets out, late position player pushes in, I push in, UTG calls. UTG has 10 10 (which I think I'd be folding here behind TWO all-ins), late position has JJ. 10 comes on turn, but fortunately I win the side pot vs. the player with JJ so I only lose a few hundred chips. Now here's the one I won :

PokerStars Tournament #42679814, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) -
Table '42679814 33' 9-max - Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: boriqua (1620 in chips)
Seat 2: Talon27 (1255 in chips)
Seat 3: scoupie doo (2100 in chips)
Seat 4: Tittytat23 (2050 in chips)
Seat 5: Todd12345 (1435 in chips)
Seat 6: jtthebrick (2295 in chips)
Seat 7: AJblocker (1600 in chips)
Seat 8: djelove1 (1885 in chips)
Seat 9: Mark5551 (4165 in chips)
Talon27: posts small blind 25
scoupie doo: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to djelove1 [Ac Kc]
Tittytat23: folds
Todd12345: calls
50jtthebrick: folds
AJblocker: folds
djelove1: raises 135 to 185 [A pot-building raise]
Mark5551: calls 185
boriqua: calls 185
Talon27: folds
scoupie doo: folds
Todd12345: calls 135
*** FLOP *** [Ts 2h As]
Todd12345: checks
djelove1: bets 400
Mark5551: folds
boriqua: raises 1035 to 1435 and is all-in
Todd12345: folds
djelove1: calls 1035 [I actually figured I must be behind but I felt pot-committed]
*** TURN *** [Ts 2h As] [Kd]
*** RIVER *** [Ts 2h As Kd] [Ah]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
djelove1: shows [Ac Kc] (a full house, Aces full of Kings)
boriqua: shows [2d 2s] (a full house, Deuces full of Aces)
djelove1 collected 3685 from pot

I was able to double up again several hands later, but then a combination of going card-dead and extremely slow players on my tables meant the blinds basically chewed me up after a while. I was able to fold my way into the money, and of course right after the bubble burst I pushed UTG with King-Jack off (my least-favorite hand, although it didn't really matter what my cards were, as I only had twice the big blind so I was pushing with anything) and got called by Ace-Jack off, busting 81st, and winning a whopping 6 bucks or so. The positive news is that's 3 tourney cashes in a row for the house, as my wife finished in the top 5% in a $20+2 earlier in the day and tripled up on her investment. We're building momentum on our way to the Foxwoods Poker Classic !

An Early Valentine's Day Present

I played in a $15+1.50 NLHE tourney on Pokerstars tonight, which I haven't done in a while, and finished well into the money, coming in 25th out of 771 players and profiting over $50. I was very happy to do that well, as I was beyond card dead in the third hour, winning a whopping three pots, two pre-flop with uncalled raises (crappy hands too - KJ suited and A9 suited) and one all-in on the short stack with A4 vs. Q3. I was also pleased that I lost exactly once in the whole tourney as a big favorite, against a small stack who pushed A4 suited on the button vs. my KK in the blinds and flopped an ace. Everything else held, and I even hit a couple of 3-outers near the end to survive as long as I did. I caught FIVE pairs of Queens in the first hour and they all won, twice flopping trips, and also got Aces twice and stacked smaller pairs both times. All in all it was pretty basic poker, but it worked !

What A Week !

I'm back in Beantown from vacation and may I say...what an action-packed week it was !

Monday - Flew to Phoenix. Met my wife's grandfather, who is 83 and just bought himself a NEW Ford Mustang - sweet ride. Spent the night at Harrah's Ak-Chin casino in Maricopa, Arizona, played too many slots, and lost a minimal amount.

Tuesday - Played in a $60 buy-in tourney at 1pm (20+10 buy-in, $10 "dealer appreciation" add-on, $20 re-buy) with a field of 40 players and WON, taking home almost $600 for my efforts. It was a typical casino tourney with low blinds for the first few levels and then rapidily escalating blinds later on. I was pretty much card-dead for the first 4 levels and then turned into a card rack, catching huge hands and winning every race I was in. The key hand in the tourney was also about the only time I got my money in way behind - I went all-in with JcTc in early position with a very short stack, got called by a player with KhJs, the flop came ten-high with three hearts, and my opponent missed his 12 outs. After that it was pretty basic pre-flop all-in poker, and the last hand was the classic all-in showdown, with my QQ making a boat vs. his AK. Also played in a $70 tourney that night with about 30 players in it and busted out in the middle of the pack after being card-dead most of the night and losing most of my chips when I went all-in with AK and lost to AQ on a rivered Q.

Wednesday - Had brunch in the casino, lost a few bucks on slots, and went to the Crowne Plaza San Marcos in Chandler, AZ to check in for the conference my wife was attending. Enjoyed a free buffet at the event, and then went to the Fort McDowell Casino, where I played slots for a couple of hours and left up $20.

Thursday - Celebrated my birthday by going to the PGA's FBR Open at the TPC Scottsdale. Got a bonus birthday present as a guy standing outside the gate with a stack of tickets gave me one, so I got in for free. Spent a few hours there watching Vijay and Freddie, got an autograph from Billy Mayfair, and headed back to the hotel for another cocktail party, which was followed by dinner at a local restaurant.

Friday - Spent the afternoon at a local "1800's western town" attraction and then went to the conference banquet where my wife received an award (and got a standing ovation) for her contributions to the company during the year past. I even played a little poker, as they had a casino night for prizes after the banquet.

Saturday - Flew back from Phoenix, got home just before midnight, and listened to a voice-mail from my real estate broker saying that we had gotten an offer on our home, which had been on the market for almost a year and had seen little action.

Sunday - Played counter-offer ping-pong all afternoon until a deal was worked out, and watched the Sub-par Bowl until it was clear that the Colts had the game in hand.

Now that's a good way to spend a birthday week !

Limping With Aces, Part Two - Getting Away From Them

The inherent danger of limping with aces in early position is that you could end up in a multi-way pot and have to make some very difficult decisions after the flop. But one of the best feelings in poker is making the big fold and finding out on the end that it was the right play. Here's an example from last night's 25c/50c NL game.
I was in the small blind with Jc8c, UTG limped, a couple of players called, and I called as well. The flop came 9s-Jd-8s, giving me two pairs. Since there were about 5 players in the pot and the flop was very coordinated, I bet out $1.50, mainly to find out where I was at. The UTG immediately made it $5 to go, it was folded around to me, and I was faced with decision time. The UTG player only had another $10 and change behind, so if I called his raise I would basically be committing myself to the hand. I decided that he did not have Q-10 for the nut straight, as I didn't think he would have played it that fast with 3 people left to act behind him, so I put him on the flush draw, possibly with a ten, or a hand like Jack-ten which was top pair with a open-ended straight draw. I called, with the intention of moving all-in if the turn card was not scary (a spade, Q, 10, or 7). The turn was the 3d, and I pushed in. UTG sat there for a minute, typed "AA" in the chat box, and folded. I did not show my hand, but wrote "If you really had AA that was an excellent fold" and then said "two pairs". He replied "was worried about the straight" and I replied "put you on the flush draw - couldn't give you a free river card." I thought he played the hand excellently after the flop - just I had bet my strong hand to find out where I was at, he raised with his strong hand to find out where he was at. Once he got called by me and I pushed the non-threatening turn card he made an excellent read that he was beaten, but even if he had not been way behind at the time I could easily have had one of the hands I had put him on and thus would have had myriad river outs. He didn't put me on the correct hand, but he did know he was beat, and made a big-time fold.

Limping With Aces, Part One - Pick The Right Spot

I RARELY limp with Aces. I RARELY flat-call a raise with Aces. But in certain situations I am willing to do it. Here are three examples, one of which is from my play.

My wife told me about a hand of 25c/50c NL she played the other day. She had AA in late position, a couple of people had limped, and then another player made it $3 to go. She flat-called the raiser and I believe all the other players folded. I really like this play for two reasons. Since the raiser had raised a significant amount, it was unlikely that anyone else would be able to call the raise without a very big hand, so there was no reason for her to reraise to drive the other players out. Also, if she had reraised to $8-9, I think the other player would have to put her on at least KK and most probably would have to fold. The flop came A-9-7, the raiser bet out, and my wife called. The turn was a blank, he bet out again, and she called again. The river was another blank, he fired a third shell, and my wife reraised him the minimum. He called, and it turned out that he had flopped trips as well, as he held 99, and my wife scooped a very nice pot. I was actually surprised he didn't push over the top of her raise on the river, but he must have sensed that she either had AA or that she would have to fold a lesser hand to his push. Well-played hand by all parties involved - I don't know that the guy with 99 could have played it much differently since there was really only one hand that could beat him.

I was playing 25c/50c NL at a table where there had been a lot of limping and mini-reraising going on, so I decided to limp UTG with AA. I had already limped a couple of times in early position with smaller pairs and hands like QJ suited and folded to big reraises. There were a couple of smallish stacks ($15-20) at the table, and one of them mini-raised my limp to $1, another small guy called the mini-raise, and a third guy called as well. When it got back to me I reraised, making it $5 to go, hoping that at least one of the small stacks would call, and was pleasantly surprised when they both did and everyone else folded. The flop came 10-8-4 with two diamonds, and since neither of the other players had more than about the size of the pot in front of them, I pushed all-in and watched them both fold. (As an aside, these guys were really terrible - I don't know how or why you would put only $5 of your $18-20 stack in the pot at any time UNLESS you have Kings or Aces and are slowplaying, like in the next example - if you are gonna play for that % of your stack push it all in pre-flop or fold.) I think I did about as well as I could on this hand - if I raised pre-flop I might not have gotten any action, and if I had it would have been for less money. And there was no reason to slow-play the flop - if they had two diamonds or any kind of draw they would probably have called and I certainly wasn't folding to any bet so I might as well just get it in there and make them make the hard decision.

The third example happened at this same table earlier in the evening. A very small stack ($9) limped UTG, and I reraised to $2 in middle position with KK. The guy to my left called, and when it got back to the small stack he reraised it to $3.50. At this point, I felt pretty sure he had AA, but since he only had another $5.50 behind I called the raise willing to risk another $7 on the hand, also taking into account that the guy to my left probably couldn't ALSO have AA and so if I lost the main pot to the small stack I might still be able to win a good-sized side pot from him. The flop came small, 2-3-4 or 2-4-5 with two hearts, and the small stack checked. I immediately bet his remaining $5.50, and was surprised when the guy to my left, who I had covered but still had $30 or so, repopped it up to $11. The small stack obviously called, and since I was now positive he had to have AA, I put the other player on a lower pair like tens or jacks or queens, and so I pushed all-in. He called with what turned out to be 10 10 and I was able to scoop the side pot when no ten came, but lost the main pot to the small stack and his Aces. I benefited greatly from the small stack's limp, because if he had come in for a raise, I certainly would have reraised enough pre-flop to put him all in, and I seriously doubt that the guy with the 10 10 would have called that reraise. And he benefited as well - he tripled up !

KK Stacks AA AGAIN !!!

Like the two examples in my Cardplayer thread weren't enough ! Here's the scenario - 25c/50 NLHE, I'm in the big blind with KK and about $44 when a player in middle position who has just bought in for $50 makes it 2 bucks to go. The small blind calls and I obviously call as well. Flop comes K-9-7 with two spades, and I check to the raiser, who bets out 5 bucks. SB folds and I smooth call. The turn is a blank, doesn't help the flush draw or straight draw, and I once again check to the raiser, who makes it $11. At this point I figure he's got one of four hands: AA, AK, or 99 or 77 for trips, and since I'll have $25+ left after this bet I once again smooth call, feeling that an all-in move at this point would still be a bit of an overbet and might scare him off. The river is another small blank, once again I check, and the other player does not disappoint, firing $20 into the pot. I check-raise him with my last $5+ and of course he calls with his AA and discovers the grim news.

I actually had one heck of a run in the hour I played tonight:

- I slow-played AsTh on an AhTs4s flop which I got to see for free from the big blind. The small blind bet out $1.50 on the offsuit 6 turn and when the river came another Ace, he bet $4, which I raised to $9, causing him to go all-in for about $10 more with his AK offsuit.

- I reraised a bunch of limpers on the button with QQ, and stacked a guy who called my raise with 9-8 offsuit and couldn't fold on a J-9-7-x board when I put him all-in on the turn.

- And I beat AT with KK on a ten-high flop, but I had to check on the river as the flush draw and a gutshot straight draw both got there.

We're havin' gravy with our biscuits tonight !

Controlling Pot Size In Limit Hold 'Em - A Tip From Mike Caro

I received a few poker books for Xmas this year, and in one of them, Championship Hold 'Em, TJ Cloutier and Tom McEvoy pass on a good tip from Mike Caro regarding managing pot size and effective pot odds in limit hold 'em. Most of us who are playing in a limit hold 'em cash game and wake up with AA or KK in one of the blinds would raise and reraise pre-flop no matter how many people had entered the pot in front of us. However, Caro thinks this is not always the best play. Caro says that if several people are in the pot already, your raise/reraise is not going to drive any of them out, because the pot odds for a call will be so high that a call is really mandatory with any two cards. Once the flop comes, they will also be forced to call a flop bet with any piece of the board or any kind of draw, again because they are getting such a huge price. In addition, if several people are seeing a flop, there is a very good chance that at least one of the Aces or Kings is already out of the deck, leaving you with only one card to catch to make your hand a big favorite. Caro advises flat-calling pre-flop and then betting out on the flop to get a good idea of where you stand in the hand, unless the flop is very threatening to your hand, for example 3 cards of a suit you don't hold or three connecting cards like 7-8-10. With a big pair and several people in the pot you cannot expect your hand to hold up very often without improving, and if you have provided your opponents with significant pot odds to call with their draws the chances of your hand holding up are small indeed. The flip side of this is that if you do reraise pre-flop, flop a monster, and bet it, opponents who are paying any attention at all will have to put you on a monster hand and most of them should drop out. Yes, you have made more money in the sense that you built a bigger pot pre-flop, but you have lost the ability to disguise your hand and possibly make even more money by check-raising on later streets. I have always been one to flat-call raises in the blinds with JJ, QQ, and even AK, as I have always felt that the best way to make money on those hands when out of position is through the check-raise, and I think I'm gonna add KK and AA to the list.

The Further Adventures of Pocket Kings

Rather than re-type the story of my latest adventure with KK, here's a link to a thread about it I started on CardPlayer.com. You don't need an account to read it, but if you don't have a CardPlayer account you can click here to open one - it's free and comes with e-mail.

Maximizing Profit On Your Big Blind Special

Whenever you play poker for more than a few rounds of blinds you inevitably catch one or two "Big Blind Specials". That's when you get to see a flop for free from the big blind with a trash hand and flop a monster. The problem with BB specials is that most of the time they're hard to squeeze any money out of, because once you check and call on the flop , you opponent will usually slow down on the turn if you check (unless he also has a monster), forcing you to value-bet the river hoping to get a crying call and make a few extra bucks. So when I got to see a free flop of 6-A-6 with 6-5 off in the big blind today I tried a different tack. There were several people in the pot and we all checked to the button, who bet about half the pot (it was No Limit). I was next to act, and instead of flat-calling with my trips, I min-raised, doubling his bet. This drove everyone else out, and the button called. I bet about half the pot on the turn and about a third of the pot on the river, and I got the button to call me down with Ace-Ten. I'm sure that if I had not raised on the flop he would not have bet the turn, and then I would have been forced to make that tiny value-bet on the river to try to squeeze a few extra bucks out of him. The other very positive aspect to this play is that by raising immediately I found out right away whether anyone else had a 6, as that player would obviously have also called my raise (and probably with a better kicker than my 5), and I also prevented anyone who might have called the original bet with a medium pair from getting any kind of odds to catch their two-outer later in the hand.
I've also recently lost a couple of hands with medium pairs like 8's when the flop was along the lines of 6-3-3 and one of the blinds value-bet his 4-3 offsuit all the way to the river. Since so many players will bet an Ace-six or even a draw like 4-5 in this spot it's very tough to get away from that kind of flop when you have an overpair, and especially so when the bets you have to call are all small in relation to the size of the pot. I like this strategy of betting out right away as well, especially when you have kicker trouble and really can't stand much of a raise. By betting out you are controlling the size of the pot, and if by chance you do run into a full house or trips with a bigger kicker and get raised on the end, you can call for a smaller price or even throw away your hand because the pot might not be big enough and you feel your hand just can't be any good.

On Second Thought...

Kings are still terrible. I played some 25c/50c NLHE tonight and I got Kings at least 5 times. Twice my opponent called my bet on a rag flop and check-raised me on the turn when an ace hit. Another time, I raised with Kings and got no action, and on the VERY NEXT hand I got 'em again, and the same scenario spins, my opponent calls my garbage flop bet and check-raises me on the turn ace. (I soon discovered he was just a donkey in wolf's clothing - he called a river bluff-raise from me with only Ace-Ten high and my Ace-Queen hi was good). AK was a big loser tonight too - kept missing flops and getting my bets called or raised. The one time I DID hit the flop (K-5-5), I put the other guy (a small stack) all in on the turn and he caught a river Queen to win with King-Queen. I lost with KQ to Q-10 on a Q hi flop when a 10 turned, etc, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. Amazingly enough, despite the bad beats, terrible showdown stats, and general carnage, I managed to not lose any dough on the night, because I took a lot of mid-sized pots on the flop and turn. Oh and because Kings did hold up one time !

Truly Bad Beat O' The Day

I'm just glad I wasn't involved in this hand ! halijedi had JUST sat down at the table too...

PokerStars Game #7859360831: Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2007/01/10
Table 'Ganymede II' 9-max - Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: Yoshin ($31.40 in chips)
Seat 2: ridedc ($34.35 in chips)
Seat 3: djelove1 ($33.60 in chips)
Seat 4: halijedi ($50 in chips)
Seat 5: Mooshta ($89.80 in chips)
Seat 6: thedon10048 ($49.90 in chips)
Seat 7: King Ming ($30.55 in chips)
Seat 8: Drake_Wolf ($25.65 in chips)
Seat 9: asp1177 ($108.30 in chips)
Drake_Wolf: posts small blind $0.25
asp1177: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to djelove1 [3s 2c]
Yoshin: folds
ridedc: folds
djelove1: folds
halijedi: calls $0.50
Mooshta: folds
thedon10048: folds
King Ming: raises $0.50 to $1
Drake_Wolf: calls $0.75
asp1177: folds
halijedi: calls $0.50
*** FLOP *** [Kh Qh 4d]
Drake_Wolf: bets $2
halijedi: raises $3.50 to $5.50 [WITH ONLY A LOW FLUSH DRAW]
King Ming: raises $20 to $25.50 [WITH TOP TWO PAIRS]
Drake_Wolf: folds
halijedi: raises $20 to $45.50
King Ming: calls $4.05 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [Kh Qh 4d] [6d]
djelove1 said, "my my my"
[I figured one player had KQ and the other had either a set, Aces, or maybe JhTh for the open-ended straight-flush draw]
*** RIVER *** [Kh Qh 4d 6d] [6c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
halijedi: shows [5h 6h] (three of a kind, Sixes)
King Ming: mucks hand
halijedi collected $61.60 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***Total pot $64.60 Rake $3 Board [Kh Qh 4d 6d 6c]
Seat 1: Yoshin folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: ridedc folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: djelove1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: halijedi showed [5h 6h] and won ($61.60) with three of a kind, Sixes
Seat 5: Mooshta folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: thedon10048 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: King Ming (button) mucked [Ks Qs]
Seat 8: Drake_Wolf (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 9: asp1177 (big blind) folded before Flop

Maybe Kings aren't SO bad...

Played about an hour of 25/50 cent NL on Pokerstars and absolutely crushed, in no small part thanks to Kings! 3 hands did the damage:
- On one table, I held KsKh in late position with about 28 bucks in front of me. The big stack (over $200) standard-raised to $2 and the player next to me, with about $18, made it $4 to go. I decided to isolate and take my chances, figuring the big stack couldn't call without exactly AA, and pushed all-in. The big stack folded and the other player took time, so I knew I was in great shape, and then called. On the river, the board showed 4 diamonds with a 10 and a Jack but fortunately for me the caller had QsQh and I scooped a very nice pot.
- On my other table, I got three big hands in a row and made the most of them. I had 10 10 in the big blind and checked a six-way limped pot. The flop came K-J-4, UTG bet out, and everyone folded, including me. No harm no foul !
Very next hand I had JJ in the small blind and the player on the button, who ALWAYS raised on the button if first to act, made it $2 to go. I decided to call and see a flop, once again thinking I could fold if overcards came. The button had fewer chips than I did, so I was willing to pay him off if he did indeed have an overpair, and in addition I had out-finessed him in an earlier hand when I flat-called his button raise with 10 10, flat-called his flop bet when 3 undercards came, and check-raised him on the turn when a Queen came, causing him to fold. In this hand, the flop came 8-7-5 rainbow and I decided to bet out $3, figuring him for overcards. To my surprise he raised it to $7, and I quickly called. The turn was a 3 and I bet out again, but kept it a small $4. Again I was surprised when he pushed in for his remaining stack, about $16, and I briefly went into the tank before calling. My reasoning was that he had to be on a draw of some sort, because I just didn't think he would play a big hand like trips, a BIG pair, or even two pair that fast, or that maybe he had 99 or 10 10 and thought he was ahead and wanted to get me off MY draw. It turned out that my first impression was correct, as he actually had 7-6, so he had hit the flop hard and actually made a pretty good play on the pot with a hand that he really couldn't fold. Fortunately for me the river was a blank and I was able to scoop a very big pot.
Amazingly, on the very next hand, I got KINGS on the button! An early position player made it $1.50 to go and I decided to reraise to $4.00, which he called. The flop came K-9-7, all diamonds, and the other player bet out $3.50, which suggested to me that he had at least the Q or Ace of diamonds in his hand but probably hadn't made a flush. I immediately raised it up to $8, figuring there was no way either one of us could fold and so I might as well get my money in while I was ahead, and he called. The turn was an offsuit 3, and he checked to me, so I made another $8 bet, giving him the proper odds to call with his flush draw while at the same time KNOWING that I could fold to his river bet if another diamond did come. Magically, the river was the case King, giving me quads, but making it impossible for him to call my $9 river bet. I showed the Kings and commented "10 10 JJ and KK in a row" and got a couple of "nh"s for my effort.
The Kings weren't all good today though, as in a later hand I raised UTG with KK and the same guy who was in my previous hand called in late position. I bet the Ace-rag-rag flop, and he called, so I shut it down on the turn and folded to his turn bet. They can't ALWAYS win...but you knew that.

Bad Reads + Kicker Trouble -> Bad Raises and Dumb Plays

Since I've been playing mostly NLHE lately I've seen myself make some real donkey plays thanks to not fully thinking through the action in the hand. Yesterday, very early in the Bodog tourney, I was in late position with KcJc and called behind several limpers. The flop came King-x-x, and the player immediately to my right bet out about the size of the pot. I called, the turn was another little card, he bet out roughly the pot again, and I called again. Right away, bells should be going off in my head telling me I'm beat. He's repesenting a King, and the only hands with Kings in them that I have beat at this point are King-ten and lower. I could see betting King-ten (or less) on the flop, but it seems less likely on the turn after I had called. The river came an 8, which paired the board, and my opponent made a BRILLIANT bet - he only bet 75 chips into what was now a 600+ chip pot. Since the river bet was so weak, I felt there was a possibility that my hand was good, but rather than just call the weak bet with my mediocre holding, I raised another 100 chips. He of course called with KQ and his kicker played and he scooped the pot. My failure here was twofold - I did not raise nearly enough to make him even think about folding, and I raised with virtually no possibility that my hand was good. The size of his river bet was key: since he had bet so little, it was hard for me to pick a raise-size that would get him off his hand - a small raise had to be called and a big raise would look like a bluff, because after all, if I DID have that big a hand wouldn't I WANT to be called ? A great play by my opponent and a lesson learned.

In a NLHE cash game the other day I had tripled up my starting stack and had started raising with lesser hands than is my usual wont when this hand came up. I raised 3x the blind with A2 off and got flat called by one player. The flop came J-10-x and I correctly checked, figuring that my opponent had some kind of hand and would bet and I'd get away with a minimal loss. To my surprise, he also checked. The turn was an ace, and I again checked. My opponent proceed to bet out about the size of the pot. Again, the bells should be ringing, but like a donkey I reraised him with my feeble ace, and he called. The river paired the 10, and I bet out $4, about 1/4 of the pot, and he reraised me to $8. I called, like a dummy, and he of course had Ace-ten for a full house. I made multiple mistakes on this hand:

- When he checked the flop behind, I should have put him on Ace-big (he would have bet any decent pair) and just resigned myself to folding the hand if he bet.

- When the ace came and he bet, I should have put him on Ace-big, because after all he did call my preflop raise and then bet the ace. My turn check-raise was totally without merit, and when he called I should have known I was way behind.

- When the board paired and he raised my river bet, I couldn't beat anything, and could only tie Ace-9 or less, which is a doubtful holding again since he had called the preflop raise and my turn check-raise.

Remember that when you come in stealing with raggy aces most of the time you DON'T want to see an ace flop and you certainly don't want to call any bets with the ace on the board.

Sunday's Results - The Land Of Kings

My wife played in a low buy-in tourney on PokerStars this morning and played very well, finishing in the top 3% and winning more than 4x her buy-in. The key to her success was patience, especially late in the tourney. At one point she was short-stacked (about 9 big blinds) with about 90% of the field out and held KJ suited in the big blind. The big stack on her left made a standard 3x the BB raise pre-flop and she was tempted to push, but realized that the big stack would have to call a push because of the 2:1 odds and that the only hands she could be ahead of at this point were King Ten and Queen Jack, so she passed. The patience paid off as she got KK about 3 hands later, went over the top of an all-in from the UTG player, and actually got an overcall from another small stack. the UTG had AQ suited, so no fault with that play at all, but the other caller had 99, which is a terrible call vs. two all-ins. The kings held, she tripled up, and went on to a great finish, which would have been higher had she not gone 0-3 in coin-flips for chunks of her stack in the next couple of rounds.

I played a $5 value-added tourney on Bodog later in the afternoon and did not finish in the money but I did have a hand that reinforced a lesson previously learned. My wife played in the Ladies NLHE Championship at Foxwoods late last year and got bounced when her Kings fell victim to Aces. She had raised, got reraised by the big stack (who had been loose reraising a LOT and had just had aces several hands before), and pushed all-in. The unfortunate fact about the hand was that an ace flopped, so if she had flat-called the reraise she most likely could have gotten away from the kings on the flop. We discussed this, and she then went on to play a $200 sit & go in which the same hand - almost - developed. She raised with KK, got reraised, and flat-called instead of pushing. The flop came Ace high and she folded the Kings face up to the other player's bet. He was kind enough to flip over AA, and she went on to chop first and second. So today I had a similar hand develop: my stack was about average at 2100+, blinds 75/150, UTG limped for 150, I had KK and made it 500 to go. The player two to my left pushed all in for 1400+, and then the big stack, new to the table and with 8000+ chips, flat-called. What to do? I of course pushed the rest of my stack in a heartbeat and the big stack called with AA (other guy had 99). Could I have played it differently ? YEP. Consider:
- The big stack had a reraise and an all-in in front of him and he flat-called. Whay would he want to put 20-25% of his chips at risk vs. two likely opponents without a HUGE hand? And wouldn't he most likely push over the top with AK or QQ? AA was the only hand it made sense for him to flat call with, with AK suited a slight possibility, but since I have KK it's unlikely.
- If I fold I still have 1600+ chips meaning I still have room to maneuver a little.
- If I flat call pre-flop I still have 700+ chips AND WHEN THE ACE FLOPPED I could have gotten away from it KNOWING that one of the two players had to have an ace.
If I had had a bigger stack I probably call pre-flop and fold on the flop, and if I had a smaller stack I'd have been pot-committed and most probably would have pushed all-in in the first place rather than just reraise to 500. Overall, it's DAMN hard to fold Kings. But they SUCK.

Reraising pre-flop with unmade hands

I have been playing NLHE for several years and until recently my tight, straightforward style has seen me loathe to reraise limpers or raisers pre-flop with anything but top pairs (AA, KK, and QQ) and occaisionally AK suited or JJ. With lower aces and middle pairs I've been happy to flat-call and see a flop. However, I have long noticed that top players reraise much more often preflop than would be possible if they were only raising with these top-top hands. In addition, I have always been one of those players who wants to put the pressure on my opponents to make the tough decisions, whether it's pre- or post-flop. (If I am the first one into a pot I nearly ALWAYS raise coming in). Thus, I have started to loosen my requirements for reraising preflop, especially in NL cash games, and I have found it to be a very effective strategy, for a lot of reasons.
- Position: Reraising preflop from late position serves to re-establish one's position in the hand and once again puts the onus of decision-making on the other player.
- Narrowing the field: I generally don't want more than two other players in the hand pre-flop - the reraise serves to shut out those players who would have limped in with small pairs or medium suited connectors (and could only play beyond the flop if they hit their hands) and hopefully get only the hands that I would want to face to call - medium pairs and lesser aces.
- Gaining info: If I reraise and get a caller or two I "know" that they must have some strength. Plus if they reraise me and I am in with a less-than-premium hand I can toss it away for a minimal loss. If I hit the flop and bet and get a caller I can slow down on the turn and river if I think I have kicker trouble or reel them in if my hand is truly huge. And of course if they bet into me and my hand is no good I have an easy fold - I don't have to wonder if they are betting an actual hand: since I raised them and they are betting into me they've just gotta have something good.
- Building a pot/stealing a "plus" pot: A reraise builds bigger pots when you are representing a big hand and can steal a pot that contains not just the blinds but the chips of a couple of limpers as well. Even stealing one "plus" pot like this every round or two can make a big difference in your stack.
- Value: The preflop reraise gets you more value for your lesser hands. It's very difficult to tell where you stand post-flop with medium pairs like 77 up to 10 10, but if you have reraised pre-flop and only one overcard comes it makes it easier for you to represent that your hand is at least as good as the top card on the flop.
In my view the pre-flop reraise is most effective in position. If I am in the blinds with a hand lower than AK or JJ and several folks have limped or called a small raise I am much more likely to play a trapping style with these lesser hands and just call, hoping to hit my hand hard and trap the other players for at least one round of bets. I also find this play more effective in cash games. In tourneys or sit & go's , especially when the stacks are still deep in relation to the blinds, it's difficult to get people off half-decent hands if your reraise represents only a small portion of their stack, whereas in cash games people seem to want to have a big hand before they risk several blinds on a flop.

Another good session

Thursday is my one regular day off from work, so Thursday late-night is the one time during the week when I have 3-4 uninterrupted hours to play poker. Sometimes I will play in a tourney with a small field, but generally I'll play one or two sit & go's and maybe a cash game for an hour or so. Last night, after saw the Boston Bruins get their asses whupped by the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Gahden, I came home and played a $20 9-player sit & go on Pokerstars. I hadn't played a sit & go in several days (I had been playing mostly cash games because of the Pokerstars anniversary celebration) but I played well and cashed in third for $36.00. I actually got lucky to cash as when we were 4-handed there was one player who had the majority of the chips while the other 3 had basically their starting stacks and I made a donkey call vs. the big stack with Q4 vs. his Q 10 but hit a 4 on the river to double up.

After that I decided to play a 25/50 cent NL cash game. I have not really played NL cash games until recently but have found that my game is well-suited for low-limit NL. I think the reason for this is my betting style. I am a standard-raise, continuation bet type of player. I will make the same 3x the BB raise the vast majority of the time when entering a pot, and will make a half to 2/3 of the pot bet post-flop no matter what I have. This strategy works for me in several ways. First, it is very hard to put me on a hand when I make the same raise with AA or JJ as I would make with KQ suited or even 75. If I get reraised and my hand isn't that good I can easily toss it, but by massaging the size of the pot I can also call small reraises if I feel that my hand is playable. Post-flop, consistently betting 1/2 to 2/3 of the pot allows me to take down pots when I don't have much of a hand with minimal risk but also allows me to bet flops when I have hit them big and frequently get paid off. An example from last night - I was in the BB with KK and 4 limpers. I reraised to $2.00, trying to build a good pot with my strong hand and also blow out the weak aces that a lot of people will play for a minimum bet. We went to the flop 3-handed and it came K J 9. MOST players who are first to act in this spot would check their trip kings, and this is where my consistent betting style works for me. The pot was about 7 bucks so I made a standard continuation bet of $4.00. I got a call and a fold. The turn was garbage, so I lead out again for about $5, which was only about 1/3 of the pot, but again the size of the bet made it manditory for my opponent to call with any kind of hand or draw, and of course I was hoping he had trips jacks or nines. On the river, which was more trash, I got my opponent to call me all they way down with only 10 10 and I won a very nice pot. This strategy also worked on several other occasions where I raised in late position with hands like KQ and AT, got one caller, and missed the flop, but the combination of my position and the equity I had developed with the KK hand meant that my 2/3 pot continuation bets were not getting called unless someone had a hand. I was able to win 4 or 5 juicy pots in that session and wound up with a profit of over $60!

Overall a good night, and I was even able to transfer some $$$ back into my checking account to pay some bills !

My goals for 2007

My primary goal for 2007 is to actually make some money playing poker. I have been playing online and live for several years now and my results have been decent overall as I am up on PokerStars and Bodog and am even on UltimateBet (I won $100 playing in the CardPlayer freerolls they ran before the recent US gaming legislation but have lost it all). In live poker action I am up for my trips to the Tropicana in Atlantic City, which is a GREAT place to play live ring games because the players are generally pretty good but not aggressive, and am probably down for my time at Foxwoods. I would guess that I am about break-even for all locales combined. So for 2007 I want to actually profit at poker and I plan to do this by focusing on the games I have an edge at and not spending time messing around with Razz, draw games, and Omaha, where I am not as strong.

A good start to the year

So far the year has started on a positive note for me, at least poker-wise ! I was lucky enough to spend the weekend of New Year's with my wife at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut. I played three sessions of poker during the trip.
On Friday I played in a $4/$8 limit Hold 'em ring game that had to be the loosest live game I have ever played in. When I first started to play live poker I natually started at the $2/$4 level but I soon discovered that game to be way too fish-y. I play limit poker in a very tight, straightforward manner so I found that the higher limits suited my play better, but this 4/8 table was all about gambling. I got aces on my second hand and found myself in a SEVEN-way capped pot preflop. By the turn the board read 3456 so my aces had shriveled up and I folded them quickly - needless to say 8-7 offsuit won about a $250 pot by the time that hand was over. I also lost with JJ and QQ - in fact the only two decent pots that I won at that table were with 7d4d on the button in a multi-way pot when I flopped the flush and with 6s4s in the cutoff when the flop was 6-4-2. I left that table after about two hours and was down about $85.
On Saturday, New Year's Eve, I once again played $4/$8 but this time around I was seated at the exact type of table I like to play at, one with an even mix of tight and loose players, and my results were good as I pocketed a $111 profit in a two-hour session.
By this time my wife, who usually plays sit & go's while I play limit, had decided that it was time to switch to some limit after having fallen vicitm to 3 bad beats in the 3 sit & go's she had already played. I decided that since she was playing limit I would try a $100+20 one-table sit & go. I don't like to play in sit & go's when my wife is also involved because the expected value declines too much - if I win money I want to win OTHER people's money, not my wife's ! So I sat down for my very first live sit & go, played some very smart and perceptive poker, and was able to come in second, winning $300 for a net profit of $180. (Meantime my wife, after having been down several big bets, hit a nice run of cards at the 4/8 table and won almost as much as I did in my sit & go!)
Overall poker profit in 5-6 hours of play = just over $200.

Weclome to My New Poker Blog

Hello and welcome to my poker blog ! My name is DJELove and I am a small to medium stakes online poker player. I mostly play on Pokerstars.com using the screen name djelove1 and also play on UltimateBet.com and Bodog.com as DJELove. I have been playing online poker for several years and specialize in one-table NLHE sit & gos, low-to-medium limit hold 'em ring games, and medium-limit Stud Hi-Lo ring games. My record as a tourney player is nothing to brag about ( thepokerdb.com ) but my sit & go stats are very respectable ( sharkscope.com ). My goal in this blog is to share and discuss hands and playing strategies as well as keep track of my successes (or failures). Thanks for reading !