High On Poker

This is a hand that Mr. Goss sent to me via email. I figured that I may as well go over it here, since it’s such an interesting hand. Rather than give too much away, I’ll just get right into the hand and then give my analysis.

Mr. Goss is dealt QhJh7sTs on the cut off in a PLO (Hi only) .10/.25 game. There are three limpers and Mr. G calls. The button posted preflop, so he is in the hand too. Deec, the SB with only $4.33, raises pot to $2.25 total. Taku, in EP with $33 calls, as does Mr. G with $22.

The flop is a well-coordinated KsQdJh. Mr. G has bottom two-pair with an open-ended straight draw and two backdoor flush draws. Deec pushes all-in for $2.08. Taku and Mr. G call.

The turn is an As, giving Mr. G a broadway straight with a draw to a mid-to-high spade flush. Taku bets $5.10, and Mr. Gross calls.

The river is a Jc, giving Mr. G a fullhouse, Jacks full of Queens. Taku bets pot, $8.30. Mr. G pushes all-in for $13.11 more. Taku calls.

At showdown, Deec has AhAhc3h2c, for a fullhouse, Aces full of Jacks. Taku has KsKcTc5d, for Kings full of Jacks. Mr. Gross has the lowest fullhouse of the three and loses the hand.

Let’s take a look at each of the betting rounds and analyze if there was any room for improvement with Mr. G’s play. Preflop, Mr. G limps in late position. This is not a bad move, overall, since he has position and his cards are fairly high and coordinated. However, QJT7ds (ds=double suited) is no monster. Even so, I wouldn’t mind seeing a raise here to push out all of your other opponents. Also, there is a button who has posted the SB, so raising might push him out, giving you position on later streets. That said, I’m about 33/33/33 between folding, limping and raising here. All are decent plays.

Facing the bet from Deec should not concern Mr. G. Basically, at in low limit PLO games, players will pot preflop with shortstacks often because they have a NLHE mentality AND a case of the awfukits, once they get close to the felt. Most of the players fold except Taku, and here I would definitely raise. First, if you can isolate Deec, even when you are behind, you aren’t THAT behind. We can tell from Taku’s hand (KKT5ss [ss = single suited]), that he might not fold, but if you pot it, at least you have a chance of isolating the competition and saving the rest of your stack. By the time the action is to Mr. G, the pot is already over $5, so a raise from Mr. G would cost about $12+, so maybe this isn’t the smartest play, since you’ll only get called by Taku when he has you beat. I’m not 100% sure what the optimal play here is, but flat calling can be dangerous. At the very least, you have to be very cautious on the flop, because you have no information on your opponents. I also don’t mind a fold here. Side note: Mr. G, in his email to me, said that he read Deec as having Aces with the push. In that case, I don’t know why Mr. G would play the hand. If he were going to play it, isolating the Aces wouldn’t be a horrible move, since they are not huge favorites preflop in PLO.

On the flop, Mr. G has two-pair, but it’s bottom two-pair. He has an open-ended straight draw, but he’s already losing to anyone with AT, and if he hits his 9 for the low straight, he has the idiot’s end of the straight. The backdoor flush draws are fairly negligible at this point, especially the spade flush draw, since a T-high flush draw could also screw Mr. G if he’s facing a higher flush draw. It happens all too often at Omaha. Deec bets $2, and really, its such a small amount that I don’t mind the flat call. A raise here is probably a bad move since Mr. G’s hand is really dependent on one of those draws coming through, so keeping Taku in (to pay him off if he hits) is a smart move.

The turn brings a ten-high flush draw, and the broadway straight. The board hasn’t paired, so he has the nuts, and his two spades should reassure him that if he is facing a higher flush draw, the flush isn’t likely to hit (he has 2 of the remaining spades needed to fill his opponent’s draw). Here, I start betting like mad, getting my money in while I’m definitely ahead. Taku raises $5.10, and here, I’d at least min-raise it back. More likely, I pot it, trying to get all of my money in while I’m ahead or push out the competition and win the $5.10 right there. A small raise would be fine too, though, since Mr. G should only fear a card that fills the flush (an unlikely event) or a card that pairs the board, although there is no clear indication that anyone has a set. Still, when in doubt, pot.

On the river, the board pairs. Mr. G, in his email, suggested that maybe he should have flat-called here. It’s hard to lay down a full house, and I don’t think anyone could blame him for calling down. I don’t even mind the re-raise, because there really isn’t much to suggest that someone was playing a set early on in the hand. So, I’m going to say that pushing is correct.

After my long drawn-out analysis, all I can say is, what a fucking hand! It’s tricky from start to finish. The key may be that he shouldn’t have been in the hand in the first place. QJT7 is not a great hand, and if he was going to play it, I would’ve liked to see him play it against Deec early by trying to push off Taku preflop. At least if Taku called, Mr. G would have some idea that Taku was strong. Plus, Taku would probably have bet the flop, thinking that Mr. G would call, at which point, hopefully, Mr. G would fold his botton two-pair to Taku’s set. I believe Taku didn’t bet his set because he wanted to keep Mr. G in the hand. On the turn, once you know you are ahead, get all your money in there. Unfortunately, in this hand, he probably would’ve been called, and then have been writing about a suckout.

Thoughts, people? This isn’t an official You Decide, but it’s an interesting hand, and Mr. Goss would love some insight. In the meantime, you all have a great weekend, and I’ll see you at the Blogger Big Game on Sunday.

Until the Big Game, make mine poker!

I have to give a huge shoutout to Miami Don, who has singlehandedly gotten me to play the type of stakes that I’ve wanted to play all along. The Blogger Big Game is coming up this Sunday and I couldn’t be more excited.

When I started to play online poker, I made my chops at $.10 to $1 buy-in tournaments on Golden Palace Poker, home of the smallest deposit requirements and cheapest tournaments. But in the back of my head, I wanted to be playing the bigger games. In fact, when I invariably reloaded my $20 every month, I would start off with a $10 SNG, my way of saying, “I can do it!” to the world, before the world bitchslapped me back to the penny games.

I’ve progressed from the ten cent tournaments and now regularly play $20-$30 games. I tend to stick to the $10-20 range usually, and the blogger games have only reinforced that level.

But not anymore! The Blogger Big Game is here and I’m finally going to have a chance to play stakes that will actually mean something more than the usual online poker game. Thanks Miami Don for making it possible. The best part might just be the fact that I don’t have to put -$75 on my spreadsheet if I lose. According to my record keeping, any game entered into for a tournament is -$0, since I tack on the loss when I win the token. In other words, when I played the $8.70 18 person Token SNG for a $26 token, I considered that a -$8.70 loss, even though I won. When I took that token to the Tier 2 Token SNG for the $75 token, I considered it a $0 loss/win, since it cost me nothing to enter and I got no money out of it. Hence, when I play in the Blogger Big Game, I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Rumor has it the prize pool is already over $1000 and we haven’t even hit 20 players.

When you are done earning your Token to the Big Game, go for one more $26 Token. This was, you too can consider DADI X: Fight the Power to be a freeroll. It doesn’t look like DADI X will have the usual corporate sponsors, but who knows what will happen going forward. Whatever the case, the staff at Donkeys Always Draw, Inc. are actually all Cambodian immigrants living in a series of shanty shacks in Mexico (right across the boarder for easy access), so the government and that evil Mr. Frist won’t get their grubby hands on us. Come on out and show Frist who is boss…and it ain’t Tony Danza, its the American people.

Since I’m always getting requests for more Razz content (cough cough), here’s a fun hand for you with some basic Razz strategy. I was playing in the $5 Razz MTT (100 players) on Full Tilt last night (so much for cutting down on online poker). Razz MTTs feel like they are very luck-dependent, largely because once I’m in a hand, I’m usually raising the whole way. I play any three cards 8 or lower (as opposed to Felicia‘s general 7 or lower requirement), and with the donkey Razz players in these MTTs, my new guilty pleasure, 8 or less is usually enough to give me an edge preflop against most of the players.

In a series of hands, I noticed that one player, BFK, would call down with terrible cards. I also noticed that he seemed to react relatively quickly. In situations like this, when I take the lead, I like to be extra-aggressive and bet as quickly as possible. It goes back to my general belief that poker, especially online poker, has its own rhythm. When my opponent starts dancing for me, I like to keep the beat moving, so that they don’t have time to think about what a particular hand means. Instead, they keep doing what they are doing, which is usually calling me with worse cards. Here we go:

I’m 2nd big stack at the table, but BFK has a fairly healthy stack. I start off with 6A/7, so I’m within Felicia’s tighter requirements, which means that I’m going to amp up the aggression even more, if an opportunity arises. To me, I just feel that it makes sense to raise while you think you are ahead. Fold when you think you are behind, unless you have a huge draw. Check or call when you are unsure.

Hanta, with a K showing, brings it in for 50, and I’m on his immediate left. I complete to 150 total, hoping to push out players with semi-playable hands or two low cards, since for all I know, I’m getting a brick coming up. They’ll fold and I’ll win it while I’m ahead, hopefully. At the very least, I’ll thin the herd and hopefully be heads up, where one bad card for my opponent may open up the door I need to take down the hand.

PokerBrat, with a 3 showing, calls, and I’m a bit nervous. I played in a token race with him earlier, and he barely played 3 hands, so he’s a tight player (although who knows if that translates to his Razz game). PB is on a shorter stack, but has enough to hurt me and play a bit. BFK has a 2 showing and calls as well. Hanta (K) folds.

Now, here is the thing. None of those guys raised, so I’m confident that I am not up against A23 or something really scary. But I could be up against A37 or something similar, or even A8/3, in which case I’m ahead now, but that might change. In other words, I don’t know where I am at, because BFK might have T8/3 the way he plays. Regardless, I’m cautious.

On my fourth street, I am dealt a 3, for a 6A/73 (draw to a 76 low), pretty good this far into the hand. However, Brat has 34 showing, and BFK has 26. No obvious bricks, so I have to be cautious.

Brat bets out 150. BFK calls. I decide to call as well, because (a) if they had great lows before, they may’ve paired with their low fourth streets, and (b) they still might brick, and I might be sitting on a pat 76 in one cards’ time.

And so I am. Fifth street brings a 4, for a A6/734. A 76-low is pretty strong with this level of competition, and with 5 out of 5 low cards, the chance that my opponents have a high card in the hole just went up. Plus, many players (myself included) are happy to play 8-lows or 8-low draws, so even if they have an 8 in the hole they are screwed (temporarily, at least). Beautifully, Brat was dealt a Ten, so he must be concerned. Even better, BFK was dealt the 8. So, ideally BFK has an 8-low right now. I’m 100% in the lead, so I kick into my super aggro mode, trying to stuff the pot before BFK has a chance to realize how behind he actually is. I bet 300, and Brat folds. BFK calls.

Now, the sixth street for me is an 8, so I’m still at a 76 low, but I’m worried because BFK hit a Queen. He’s likely to fold if he has another low card, but then again, I’ve seen him make bad plays earlier. I raise immediately, practically before the cards are dealt. BFK complies and calls immediately. Basically, he is in a call-down mode. I know this, so I want to keep the pressure on, so that he doesn’t have time to think or work out what my obvious betting pattern is telling him. Remember, I raised preflop which signals that I have an 8 or lower hand to most people. I hit three cards below 8 and then I start betting aggressively. Sounds like a made hand to me, but a chasing opponent won’t stop to think about it if you don’t let him. Go fast and often, he’ll oblige, hoping to get his next card quick so he can “get luck”. I’m also keeping his rhythm up (he is calling me almost as fast as I’m betting.

The seventh card is dealt facedown, and for me its a negligible 9. WIth his board, I can only lose if each of his three hole cards are exactly 4, 3, and Ace. In other words, I got a lock. So I bet, super fast, of course. And he calls, super faster.

And what did he have: 73/268Q/2, or a 87 low. If he stopped to look at my board, what could he see. He saw I had a 7348 board, which meant that he must have believed that none of my three hole cards were 5 or less. Puh-lease! I bet preflop, so he should’ve known that much.

Now, basically, this is an example of taking advantage of your opponent’s shear stupidity. It was nothing amazing on my part. I bet when I thought I was ahead, called when I wasn’t sure, and then bet when I was definitely ahead. The key was in building the rhythm for the later rounds.

By betting quickly, you can set the pace for the hand. Just like in most sports, if you set the pace, you control the game.

So, there you have a pretty typical Razz hand, for all you Razz newbies. I just use it to highlight the importance of controlling tempo during a game. You can cause other players to make stupid errors if they are dancing to your beat.

That’s it for now. Thanks everyone for the comments lately. I haven’t done a great job of cutting down on online play, but I have gotten a lot of sentiment from out there that I should work on fixing my leaks online. True enough, and the honesty is appreciated.

Until next time, make mine Razz!

Here’s a quickie thought that sparked while I was reading yesterday’s O-Poker post:

When is it right to change your usual play on a particular hand when you just raised the last several hands?

Let’s get more specific. A similar situation happened last night during Mondays at the Hoy, but it didn’t really stand out to me at the time. I’m a big fan of playing rushes, something I believe I picked up years ago when I was reading Brunson’s original Super/System. If memory serves correct, the principle was that when you win a hand, its generally good to play your next hand if possible. This is how rushes are created. It’s part luck, but also part perception from the rest of the players that you are getting lucky. In truth, however, I might win a hand with QQ and then raise preflop with A6s on the next hand and face no resistance. When I get 88 next, I’ll raise preflop again, and often the table will be conditioned to fold (or just as likely will fold because they hold terrible cards).

Let’s not talk about specifics, though. Let’s keep in the realm of hypotheticals. Let’s look at a series of fictional hands, but really focus on what the earlier hands do to the last hand. Since online poker is stupid and I hate it, let’s pretend we are playing in a blogger tournament, the perfect hybrid of online poker’s convenience (and looseness) and live poker’s attention span (player’s actually watch what you are doing and formulate general reads!). These hands all happen consecutively.

You are dealt AA and you raise preflop on the button. Everyone folds to you.

The very next hand, you are dealt 99 in the CO and raise preflop. It folds to you again.

You are in late position with QQ. There is a limper or two, but when it gets to you, you raise, and everyone folds.

You are dealt AJs in middle position. You raise to 4x the BB, and the CO re-raises you to 15x the BB. You have a sizeable stack, but you are out of position. Now what?

This is what I’m talking about (sorta — it’s hard to come up with a suitable example/series of hands). For some of you tighter players, this really won’t come into play that often. For a player like me who likes to play (and make) rushes, it will happen more often, because once I win that first hand, I’m raising with all sorts of hands thereafter, including 55, KQ, AT, etc.

The problem is, by the time I’m at that third-to-fifth hand in my raising series, I have to assume that my opponents are getting suspicious. This can cut both ways, though. I may have just ran into a bigger hand, like AKo v. my AJs, or even KK or AA. It’s bound to happen sooner or later, so we have to be conscious of that possibility. But what if we are facing someone with TT or less. Hell, players might be so sick of me that they’ll make a stand with KQ, just to say, “Hell no, Jordan, I’m onto you.” In my example, our hand was AJs when we finally got resistance, but what if it is 99? AJs can be folded easier, because you are most likely hoping for a cointoss, but 99 may be a cointoss OR can be more easily dominated by a higher pocket pair.

I have no easy solutions for this issue. I still think that it makes sense to go into a rush of raising when the momentum is right. It can be a lifesaver when blinds get high, and a momentum builder in earlier rounds. One series of 5-6 dominating hands will keep you in the table’s collective conscious and give you a “bully” aire, even when you tighten up for a long while thereafter and just play monster hands.

I’d suggest that when you do face resistance, though, you have to fold. You’ve effectively induced your opponents to widen their starting hand requirements, which would argue against folding. Instead, it would encourage calling because you are probably ahead, or re-raising to find out how strong you are. On the other hand, your dominance in prior hands will also make players more gunshy and when they are willing to play back, they’ll have the goods.

As you can see, I don’t have any answers, just questions. But I do have a suggestion. Fold. Your rush is over, and losing a couple of blinds preflop is better than going into a hand against someone who has too wide of a hand selection (thanks to your rush) to pin down early, especially if you are out of position. In fact, that should be your signal to change gears, at least for a few hands, and let your dominance recede a bit. Essentially, you’ve lost your credibility, so you have to change your game to reflect that change in circumstance.

So, bottom line, creating a rush can be a great thing, but you have to be ready to pack it in when you run out of credibility.

Random thought of the day: Playing very loose for the first 5 hands of any cash or tournament game online would be a great way to fool a player relying on PokerTracker who has never played with you before. Of course, this assumes that they are looking at the fact that you play 60-80% of the hands, and ignore that little icon that tells them that they only have 5 hands for reference.

On an unrelated note, I’ve been toying with the idea of hosting a homegame on Sunday afternoon, since Bradley’s mixed game will be on Saturday this weekend, and I can’t make it. If anyone is in the NYC area and is interested in a $20-40 tournament (perhaps a $20 single rebuy), hit me up with a comment or email at HighOnPokr AT yahoo, but don’t forget to leave off the last E for +EV!

Until next time, make mine poker!

Hey all. Just dropping a quick line. If you are able, I highly encourage you to go to the WPBT Winter Classic, planned for the weekend of December 9th. However, if you can’t make it and are from the North East, you can still get in on the inter-blogger action.

Sir Woffle mentioned a Foxwoods gathering for Nov. 11th weekend. I haven’t heard much about it since then, but if you are interested, give a shout out, god damnit! Personally, that will be a tough weekend for me, whereas Nov. 18th is a LOT easier. But I’m going to do my best to make it out on whatever weekend we all can agree on.

And while you are not at the WPBT Winter Classic, why not join me at the WSOP Circuit Event at Harrah’s in Atlantic City for the weekend of December 9th. I’ll be playing in at least one of the two $300 tournaments scheduled that weekend, so you know there is at least some dead money in the event. Of course, a blogger gathering would necessarily distract me and keep me up through the late hours of the evening, but for you guys, I’ll just have to suck it up.

Now, before you do any of these things, definitely first check out the WPBT event. That really will be the marquee event of the season. But if you are like me and can’t make it out to Vegas, we can at least console each other together.

Really folks, how long is this long view we are talking about? Sure, playing 10 sessions and then announcing yourself as a pro because you won 8 out of 10 doesn’t qualify. But what happens if you spend an entire year playing poker online, daily practically, only to come out even at the end? What does that say of your game? What does it say about your ability to play online poker?

This is the issue I am facing. I keep a spreadsheet of all of my wins and losses. Starting next year, I plan on moving my record keeping onto a online website made for that very purpose (the name of which I forgot, but its been referred to by TripJax). What I’ve realized is that in my goal to reach $1800 by the end of the year, I am only about $400 short, which is right where I’m supposed to be, approximately. However, all of those wins came from Live play! My online stats tell a very different story, one that starts with a zero, and ends with a zero.

How could this be? A year ago, I won $1200, most of which was online. This year, in my handful of live forays, I’ve made most of my profit. Online has been a $0 EV affair, ignoring the various bonuses (which realistically would put me in the positive for several hundred, if not a complete grand). [Side note: Should I be counting bonuses on my spreadsheet, since they really just consist of my rakeback?]

I’ve gone through various reasons why my online game is not where it should be, but for the sake of completeness, I’ll give you a Cliff’s Notes version: (1) I don’t pay enough attention, (2) I play when I’m not sober, (3) I may be playing like an action junkie [i.e. too loose], and (4) I chase losses. But this isn’t necessarily about improving these things. It is about figuring out why my Live game is so much stronger (on paper) to my online game, and whether I should near-quit online poker. Not quit. Near-quit. I just mean that I should cut out the routine of playing nightly, in favor of withdrawing most of my online dough and saving the rest for occassions like the DADI tournaments, the Blogger Big Game (set up by Miami Don, in which I shall be playing, now that I earned a $75 Full Tilt token), and the various blogger sanctioned online tournaments, as well as the occassional MTT.

On one hand, I have to consider that this has been an off year. I’ve shown last year that I can make a profit at online poker, so one year of breaking even might not be such a big deal. It’s all an issue of defining the long term. To me, a year seems long enough. Sure, players have an off month or two, but a year?! In hindsight, maybe I should look at my stats to figure out how I did every month and determining if there was a few soul-crushing months to cause my current situation, but does it even matter? Keep in mind that this is ignores the fact that I may go on a tear for the next several months, ending the year in the black. It also ignores the fact that I have recieved a financial benefit from my online play in the form of bonuses. But it doesn’t ignore the fact that online poker is not as profitable as it should be for me (at least this year), so is the time spent playing it just time wasted?

These are the issues I’m confronting right now, with eyes wide-open and no sense of impending doom or self-pity. Live play is just more interesting to me, and the online poker is like a weak replacement drug. I think I’ve likened it before as heroine (live poker) to methadone (online), and while that analogy just emphasizes the obvious self-destructive nature of the poker obsession, it also highlights the fact that online poker is a different (and dare I say, lesser) form of poker than its live counterpart.

This is not to say that online poker sucks. Clearly, there are those who can make bundles of cash online. That just might not be me. I’ve heard more than a few pros hate playing online. Maybe I can be one of those guys. My fear, though, is that my live game sample is too small. If I played 340 days a year online, I’ve played less than 50 times live (I believe, offhand). So, am I really just a break even player live who hasn’t had his come-uppance? Or what if I’m a +$1800 year player, but it just happens to be that THIS YEAR it is all from live play, whereas next year, my luck will come online instead of live?

Oh my! Where to start?

I will say this. I played live yesterday and took $145 in profit home with me. I was at Bradley‘s homegame, and the mixed format just makes everything fresh again. I believe that I made most of my money from Princess Maigrey, who, from my estimation, thinks I’m a loose donkey. Maybe its because I played just about every hand for the first 20 minutes. Of course, to the table, I look like an action junkie (and I sorta am), but I’m also building my table image and perhaps even annoying some people as a side effect but not an intended consequence. In a live game, you can do these things. Sure, you can try to do it online too, but a quarter of the players are too busy multi-tabling, another half of the players are watching TV in the background, and the remaining players are either too stupid or too smart to adjust their play to my table image.

Eh, all these questions are starting to make my brain hurt. All I know is that I got a lot of poker coming up, including a trip to Roose’s homegame or the Salami Club on Wednesday, followed by an afternoon sans wifey Kim on Sunday (while she goes bridesmaid dress shopping with her friend), during which I’ll either build my own homegame (any takers in NY?) or try to make my way to Salami or one of the other live clubs. Whatever I end up doing, I’m hoping its a live game. Realistically, though, if that becomes too much of a hassle, I’ll be online. Cause even though I’m a heroine addict, sometimes (SOMETIMES) methadone will do. My plan going forward is to finish my Stars bonus, withdraw a chunk of my online dough, and potentially start to rebuild with $300, used mostly for MTTs, SNGs, and blogger games. Let’s hope that does something for me.

Until next time, make mine (live) poker!

Longest. Day. Ever.

An odd thing happened on the way to 6:30pm today; I finished everything.

Sometimes there is nothing worse than being uber efficient. Two weeks ago, I was in the middle of trial prep for three cases. The first one settled (for $850,000…booya), we lost the second one on summary judgment before it got to trial, and the third one is happening as we speak. As a result, it’s been quiet in the office, with the head honcho at trial and my team leader playing second seat.

What’s a man to do? Thankfully, I got down to business, looking over my cases, expecting them to be neglected and disheveled after focusing exclusively on other peoples’ cases for the last several weeks. Well, they were a tad neglected, but only a tad. Once the review was done, though, I realized that most of my work is already done. And now, I’m bored as hell.

Might as well take some time to speak to you about the changes happening at HoP. First, welcome TwoDiamondPhillips, aka Big Mark from the Roose Home Game. If you recall, Mark had taught me a couple of wacky homegames, and while we talked, I guess this blog came up. He also dropped what, to me, was one of the funniest card puns, the Two Diamond Phillips. That Mark is one funny mofo, with 2d Phillips being only a small sample, so its good to have his sarcastic ass commenting here and there.

The biggest change for HoP is my recent live game focus. It might not be apparent yet on this site, but I’ve increased my live game schedule big time. Of course, that just means playing once a week steadily and twice a week when I can manage. Roose’s home game is a start, albeit one that encourages a relaxed atmosphere to tense competition. But its also a great place to talk through hands. The depth of player is a bit more shallow than your average blogger gathering, so I’m not receiving much in the way of existential poker philosophy, but I’ve found that I learn the most when I’m teaching, and Petey allows me to do just that. Frankly, though, just chatting through hands has generally been a boon.

On the other end of the spectrum, I had a great time at SIF‘s homegame, so I’m planning to attend game 2 this Sunday while wifey Kim is having a birthday brunch with one of her gal friends. The mixed game format means that I’m constantly paying attention, and the competition is strong, so I’m forced to play the closes thing to an A-game that I have, considering that I know shit about 2-7 lowball tripledraw.

I haven’t made my return to Salami just yet, but that is also in the cards. They were robbed a couple of weeks ago, but it was 2am on a weekend. By my estimation (adopted from SoxLover), the smart man plays early and leaves before 11pm.

I’m booked for Atlantic City twice in December. The first time is Dec. 8-10th weekend, where I will be playing the Saturday $300 WSOP Circuit event at Harrahs, and the $300 event on Sunday as well, probably. I’m still toying with playing a $500 event, but it would be on my birthday, Dec. 11th, and by then, I might be happy just heading home. After all, two weeks later, I’ll be back in AC, this time at the Caesars for my 6th installment of Christmas with the Heathens. Feel free to read about last year’s trip Here, and Here, and also Here.

May 2007 = Vegas, thanks to Roose’s bachelor party. We have over 12 people going, including his brother, brother-in-law (through his sister, not his fiance) and father, so its a mixed group. I’m hoping that I won’t be the activities coordinator, even though I’ve been one of the pointmen on setting up the trip. Frankly, once I get there, you’ll be hardpressed not to find me at a poker table. Fortunately, Roose has the same idea. Now what should we do with the non-poker playing guests? I know…ignore them.

While I’m at it, I’m going to try my gosh darn hardest to make it to Foxwoods in November. Woffles suggested Nov. 11th weekend for a N.E. blogger free-for-all, but I’m privvy to the next weekend, since wifey Kim will be in Miami tanning, erm, I mean attending a speech-language conference. Worse case scenario, everyone goes on the 11th and I go on the 18th. I’m fairly confident he of the breakfast food will be there anyway…degenerate.

Live poker isn’t the only thing changing at HoP. I’ve finally decided to take a step into the 22nd century and boy is it cool. I’ve gotten back to Bloglines, since I’ve found that checking sites randomly means that a few slip through my fingers. That said, you all have been a bit slacking lately, or I’ve been reading too much. You pick, really. Whatever the case, I’m watching you all, so be on your best behavior.

Oh, and then there is that other thing. PokerTracker and PokerAceHud. If you don’t know what they are, let me give you a quick rundown. Tracker collects your hand histories, so you can analyze your play. I still haven’t mastered this function. Instead, I just rely on AceHud, which basically places stats on top of your openned poker table with information on your opponents. So, if someone has only entered 10% of the pots, but has a high preflop or postflop aggression rating, its safe to say that he is Tight-Aggressive. It’s also helpful to see players that see 42% of the flops, since I know they are willing to play crap cards.

I eventually gave into this shortcut tool basically because I’ve come to the conclusion that I can use any help I can get. I can’t seem to concentrate when I play online, so this gives me something akin to a read. Truth be told, though, I’d be better off withdrawing all of my dough from online. But its poker, and I’m a poker player, so I’m going to keep at it, and accept what comes my way (while working to improve myself).

So, its a whole new HoP in a whole lot of ways, but this rambling pointless post will also show you that nothing much has changed in this here cabeza.

Now go write something so I don’t have to post this drivel.

Until then, make mine poker!

When it rains, it pours. I was in a 180-person SNG, $20+2 (actually, I’m still in it), when I was dealt QQ in middle position in the fifth hand. I didn’t have much in the way of reads, yet, which really flavors this hand. I’m up to 1580 already in EP, so I raise from 20 to 80. Two players fold and the next player, JBWit, raises to 200 total. I do know one thing about JBWit. In the first five hands, he played one, limping and then folding after the flop. Everyone folds to me, and I opt to call.

The flop is 9s Js 5c. I check and JBWit bets 200 into the 430 pot. I raise to 460 total (260 on top), and he pushes all-in. If I call, I’m just about all-in myself. I think for a minute and decide to fold.

Stupid play, or smart caution? Do tell…

It seems like my decision to play more live poker is paying off in dividends, literally. I made my triumphant return to Dave Roose’s homegame, where the tournament formats have a very fast blind structure and the hazy room makes the players move very slowly. I’ve often mentioned how I think adaptability is a crucial trait for a poker player, and these games are the epitome of that concept.

Last night’s game last about 2 hours with a cast of eight players. There were the usual players, like Roose, Robbie and Randy Hole, Peter, and new regulars (for me at least) Eric & Heather. Big Mark was also there, and I hadn’t played with him in months, if not years.

The night started off with the usual wait. As players strolled it, Mark taught me a couple of poker variations of the home game wild-card variety. I was semi-familiar with Black Mariah, but his version was called 1-3-5, double spit or something like that, with the word Mariah thrown in somewhere. Granted, these types of games have no place in a real casino, but for donking away with friends, I can see the appeal. In our case, we merely played a few hands for the hell of it, and happily tossed the mock-game altogether once the players were ready.

The tournament starts with 2000 in chips, and blinds of 25/50. This, alone, is nothing out of the ordinary, and seems to be the preffered chip count to underground casinos and legitimate casinos with low buy-in tournaments. I believe the blinds went up every 12 minutes or so, though, so that accounted for the fast structure. Still, we were well into the game before we had our first casualty, Robbie Hole, if I’m not mistaken.

For most of the game, I was folding. More accuratley, for the first level and a half, I did some suspect limping, but mostly because I think it makes sense to see lots of flops while the blinds were still low. With blinds escalating, I tried to stick to my Rule of 10 (if I have less than 10x the BB, I either push or fold). Overall, it was working well. I was able to push some people off of hands, including one hand when Roose limped with QQ in late position after a few limpers (a mistake admitted by Roose immediately after the hand. I was in the SB with 74o and about 1100 left with blinds of at least 100/200. Randy, in the SB, raised to 350, after the 557 flop. I hoped to just take the hand right away, and Randy is relatively loose, so I pushed for my complete 1200. Everyone folded to Roose who thought a while before folding his QQ. Randy also folded…the hammer. We rabbit hunted anyway. By the river, Randy and I would’ve chopped. The turn and river were Aces, so we’d have AA775. Neither pathetic kicker would play.

I chipped up with selective aggression, usually avoiding seeing even a flop. I knocked out Eric after he lost a brutal big hand to chipleader Roose. I ended up calling Eric’s push with A6o. He had JJ, but the turned Ace was enough, and I felt bad…for about .5 seconds. Eric has an interesting move, when he pushes preflop with suited connectors, or even on the flop when he misses the board if it checks to him. Hence, my call wasn’t atrocious, especially considering his small stack. Still, I hope to take advantage of my knowledge at future games.

Peter was on my left, and I’ve taken it upon myself to give him tips here and there. He reads this site every once in a while, and I encouraged him to read You Decide #44 and the post after it. If he’s reading this post, I’ll add this little nugget for him: When you and I were in the blinds late in the game and we saw the 66x flop, you immediately looked at your chips. So, when you bet, I knew you had it. So, Pete, when you see a great flop, do your best NOT to look at your chips right away. It’s a blatant tell that most seasoned players know about thanks to Mike Caro’s Book of Poker Tells. As it turned out, I was right, too. He had trip sixes.

Eventually, it got down to Petey, Heather, Roose and I. Petey made some errors, folding a pocket pair to preflop pressure when he was very shortstacked. He eventually went out on the bubble. Heather took 3rd and got her money back. Roose and I were ready to go heads-up, but then he offered a chop. 1st got 100 and 2nd got 40, so we agreed on a 80/60 chop, with him getting the 80. He had me outchipped 2:1, so I think it was the right move. But as he drove me to the train, we both agreed that it would’ve been fun to play heads-up.

This was my third trip to Roose’s homegame in the last few months, and I’ve chopped 1st and 2nd each time. It’s all about playing the game according to the blind structures and the players. At Roose’s game, you need to play tight and aggressive, until the blinds get high, and then you just need to play aggressive and in position. I survived mostly from stealing blinds with preflop all-ins with hands like J8d and K4h. Try the same move in a blogger tournament, and you won’t even see the final 2 tables.

Thanks again to Roose. I’m glad I’ve been playing more live. Next stop is SIF’s 2nd homegame.

Interesting note before I go. This week marked the return of the New Jersey continuing legal education classes, a scam set up by NJ to make money. Unlike the first year classes, there is no homework, and therefore little impetus to pay attention. I spent most of the time listening to my iPod in the back row of the stadium-like classroom. As I looked to my right, one guy was on his cell phone, playing poker. I joked that if I had planned better, I would’ve brought cards and we could’ve had a pick-up game. I also ran into an acquaintance from my Ireland trip during lawschool. John was older then most of the rest, a smart, good-natured guy. When I saw him, I first couldn’t remember his name, but once it came back to me, I walked over and said hi. He was sitting a row in front of me in class, and during a particularly slow part, he handed me his card. Written on the back, it asked, “If you play poker, would you be interested in playing?” I passed him my card, “Abso-fucking-lutely.” After the class he told me that they usually play stud and draw games. Odd, I thought. But I’m in if he emails me. After all, I’m not a hold’em player, I’m a poker player.

Until next time, make mine poker!