High On Poker

What a weekend! The good news, I won over $700 at poker. The bad news, I lost over $200 at table games (drat that craps!). The good news, I chopped the top four spots in a tournament. The bad news, it wasn’t the WSOP Circuit event, where I busted out at approximately 179th out of ~830 players.

That’s the long and short of it. Now, get comfortable, because I took notes. Let’s get this trip report started:

I barely slept Thursday night. I had taken the day off from work and spent my time doing tedious errands, all the while not giving the trip a thought. It was like it wasn’t real, or maybe that I couldn’t believe that the trip was here. I really look forward to my trips to AC. The ability to play live poker in a safe, clean, accommodating environment is a pure joy to me. More importantly, AC poker rooms have something that the NYC clubs will never have: the casual player.

The casual player is not a donkey. He is not a fish or an Internet player on his first trip to a brick and mortar casino. The casual player is the guy who just likes to play. He thinks he’s good, and he might be, but can often go the other way too.

The casual player is drinking and having fun. He’s playing a game and wants to win. He might tilt, but what’s it to you? He might sometimes suck out, but we are playing poker, after all.

I’ll tell you what he won’t do, though. He won’t act like a douschebag. He won’t be looking to exploit your weaknesses. He won’t be trying to tilt you. He won’t be an overaggressive dickwad. But, hell, if he is all those things, that’s cool, cause you can beat him anyway.

Okay, weird start for a trip report, I’ll admit. I’m on little sleep and lots of poker, so bear with me. My point is, in a casino, these casual players are scattered amongst the sharks, internet pros, wannabes, angle shooters, and addicts. It’s a regular pot potpourri of degeneracy, and the casual player is the one who legitimizes the whole parade.

Love that Poker! So, let’s get to this one more time.

Randy Hole picked me up at about 1pm on Friday morning. The ride was quick and smooth, and we arrived in AC around 3pm. Our hotel, as per usual, was the Showboat. It fit the HighOnPoker criteria for picking an AC hotel: it was the cheapest casino/hotel on the boardwalk for that weekend. Really, all of the hotels are interchangeable. I love the Showboat, and I know it like the back of my glands, but if I can save $10 by staying at Bally’s, then hell, as long as it has a casino on the strip, it’ll have everything I need.

All casinos in AC have poker rooms or are close enough to a casino with a poker room. It’s no Vegas, folks. You can walk from one hotel/casino to the next in no time. From one end of the Boardwalk to the other, the walk might take 20 min. Perhaps 30 tops. And if its not unbelievably cold, its a nice walk on the Boardwalk. Realistically speaking, though, you’ll only have to go for a 5 minute walk to find poker, and more often than not, you can go there via interconnected casinos.

So, Showboat was the cheapest and most willing, and in my book, that’s a winner for a hotel room or a date! That killed ‘em in Scarsdale! One thing I have learned is that Showboat’s suites are inaccessible on weekends, even with the greatest shmoozing, so we settled into our normal room. And then we went to gamble!

First stop, Pai Gow. Randy was actually on his way from NYC to South Carolina to visit a friend. When he heard about Roose’s and my plan to play the WSOP event, he figured it’d be a good time and a good waypoint to his final destination. When Roose found out his holiday party was Friday night forcing him to drive to AC at 10pm, Randy and I headed out at 2.

Pai Gow, how do I love thee?! The sad truth is, I like games of chance that are entirely out of my control. There, I said it. Pai Gow is one of those games. Even though you receive cards and must set them in two poker hands, the cards really play themselves. So, while it feels like a game where I get to apply poker knowledge, it really is just a game of fate doled out by a series of cards that practically arrange themselves. It takes about 2 minutes to learn all of the nuances of the game, but it sorta feels like poker and most hands are pushes, so money lasts.

I sat down and bought in for $500. I planned on playing $100, but I wanted to up my visibility and my newfound cash bankroll allowed me access to the largest stack of $100s I’ve ever had available on a casino floor. After 30+ minutes, I found myself up .25. Yes, a quarter. Seeing that I had my fun, I stood up and tossed my profit to the dealer. The two players at the table asked me to stay, but I wasn’t gambling with their money so off I went.

The next stop was craps. I decided to back Randy 50% to make it easier for him to play. He wasn’t there for the gambling, but we were having fun, and his action was as good as mine in craps. Long story short, I dropped $240 when it was all said and done. Terrible rolls by Randy and I didn’t help.

With lighter wallets and the evening approaching, Randy and I decided to head over to Harrah’s, the location of the Circuit event. Dave Ruff and Timmy Bones were also in AC for the event, and we arranged to loosely meet them at Harrah’s. When we arrived, Randy and I signed up for a $50 ($38+12) single table satellite to the $300+40 Circuit event. We were numbers 3 and 4, and it didn’t look like there were people clamoring for these single table satellites, so we settled into the only open game, 2/4 limit, to kill time. Within 2 orbits, I was called over for 1-5 spread Seven Card Stud. I left Randy for more senile competition.

I was the youngest player at the Stud table by 20 years, easily. I chatted it up lightly with my partners, and started off tight. When I saw that most hands were checked down or faced $1 bets, I played more hands. I don’t remember any with particularity, but I do remember that I was the only one betting out $5 at a pop. As I played, I saw Ruff and Bones stroll in. They put themselves on the same satellite list, which cut both ways. On one hand, one of us was likely to win if we were 4 out of 10 players. On the other hand, only one of us could win. While we waited for the tourney to be called, Bones and Ruff hung out at my stud table, railbirding me. It’s honestly something I don’t think I can do, wait around for poker patiently. But it was fun having the company, and by the time they called the tournament, I was down $21 but having a great time.

Next up…the Single Table Satellite, Roose’s arrival, and more pokery goodness.

I had a nice conversation yesterday on the girlie chat with DP from Wired Pairs. A couple of days ago, I jokingly posted a fake quote which I attributed to him. It was a reaction to a comment he made to an earlier post in which he suggested that I was a mixed game snob. Our conversation cleared the air. I don’t begrudge anyone from playing NLHE and only NLHE. It doesn’t affect me, and part of my newly-identified libertarian beliefs (I always had these beliefs, but only recently realized their association with libertarian ideals), is to let people do whatever they want as long as they are not hurting someone else.

There are a lot of good reasons to specialize in NLHE cash games, NLHE tournaments, or a combination of the two. The greatest one that comes to mind is that if you concentrate on one game, you may stand a better chance to excel at that game. It’s the ole Jack of all trades, Master of none argument. If you play too many games, you may become adequate across the board, but you are unlikely to Master any particular one.

NLHE is also probably the ideal game to specialize in, if you wish to specialize. Obviously, its the most popular game around, so you’ll have more opportunities to play it over any other game. Then there is the hordes of unwashed masses piling into B&M card rooms and sitting in their BVDs playing online. Donkeys galore, I tell ya, so why not concentrate on NLHE games.

And this doesn’t even mention the fact that some players may be naturally better suited toward NLHE. This, actually, segues nicely into the true point of this post. Sure, I’ve gone over the various reasons why playing a variety of games are good. But what about the player who only plays NLHE who actually is better suited to play LHE, or Omaha, or one of any number of games.

I believe it was Howard Lederer who said that it was good to play a variety of games because that was how he learned that he was a naturally better LHE player than NLHE. The same could possibly be true for any number of players.

Ironically, me and my loose self tend to do better at the limit games. In a tournament, I’d rather be playing NL. It’s just part and parcel to the nature of tournaments. You want people to get knocked out, you are dealing with a finite amount of chips, and your losses are capped to the buy-in. But in cash games (online, specifically), I find myself sometimes too loose, relying on pressure and my ability to rebuy.

Not so with limit games. There, my too loose blow-ups don’t result in an all-in. It results in a loss of a few extra big bets. Similarly, I actually seem to excel specifically at Razz, because it requires board reading skills and the application of pressure, but not necessarily the extent of board reading skills and memorization required for Stud High, since flushes and straights don’t matter in Razz.

Similarly, my ability to read the boards and sequence cards has made LO8 a favorite and profitable game of mine. I believe it has a lot of parallels with my Razz strengths, except for the greater emphasis on reading outs and draws.

So, yeah, I’m not saying YOU should HAVE TO play games other than NLHE. But I was pontificating on how players’ personalities and natural abilities could offer them greater success with different types of games. Stud and Stud H/L aid players who have a great memory and ability to remember which cards are already dealt out (even after a player folds and covers his board). Razz aids players who are good at playing boards and applying pressure. Omaha aids those good at draws, calculating outs, and calculating redraws. Limit games in general, with LHE included, aids players who emphasize good starting hands, and protects those who have momentary all-in blow-ups or those who can’t handle the variance of losing an entire buy-in in one hand.

Am I proselytizing again? I don’t mean to. It’s just that I’m playing a lot more non-Hold’em games right now, and, well, I write about what I’m doing. Case in point, I lost $150 at 5/10 Razz last night and placed 22 (16 paid) out of 160+ in a Razz MTT (where I bumped into Mowenumdown before busting…I hope he moneyed). As I type, I’m also playing 1/2 Duece-to-Seven Triple Draw on Stars. I love the non-hold’em games, mostly for their new car smell. It’s just fresh and new for me, and it appeals a bit more to my gambling nature, since I’m not used to these games like I am with the hold’em games.

In Hold’em news, I’ve got the $300 WSOP Circuit event on Saturday. My nervousness is slowly rising, and I’m trying to keep things in perspective. The hardest part is remembering that the level of competition may actually be WORSE than my usual lower stakes, rather than better. I base this off of advice from a couple of people, but also based on the fact that the WSOP name probably attracts every bar-poker-champion wannabe around, and I’m playing the lowest buy-in, $300+40, where all of these donkeys will probably be playing.

Any advice you have out there would be greatly appreciated. Until next time, make mine poker!

“If you only play NLHE, you are a loser and don’t deserve to play poker.” -DP*

I came to a realization last night as I lay in bed thinking about my Hoy win. That same night, SoxLover was at PokerStars playing 2-7 Triple Draw with none other than Greg Raymer himself. I also recalled hearing that once PokerStars added 5 Card Draw and the Lowball Draw games, their HORSE games started to slow down in traffic. Ah, the virus that is mixed games (a term I incorrectly use for anything non-hold’em) is spreading, and ironically, we have illegal online poker to blame for it.

Remember earlier this year when there was all that controversy about the WSOP eliminating most of the Non-Hold’em games from their roster. It made financial sense, really. The explosion of players came from watching NLHE on TV, and those players then learned the game for themselves online. To teach America a new game via a 60 second explanation at the beginning of a two hour broadcast would be a real gamble, so televising an Omaha tournament or a Stud Hi/Lo tournament was not the highest priority for television executives pining for ratings.

How would we, the people of more than Hold’em, overcome this television-enforced exile of our non-Hold’em games? It looked like we could not. We could hear professionals complain, but we couldn’t find a way to get the masses to change their NLHE tastes. It seemed like NLHE was going to engulf the poker world, and leave nothing in its wake.

And then came the anti-online poker legislation, and suddenly online poker havens like Party Poker closed their doors. The players moved to Fulltilt, where suddenly the mixed games were more prominent. They also went to Stars, which was just finishing up their final touches on the addition of HORSE and HOSE cash games. Not long after, Stars added 5 Card Draw, and it’s evil goatee-sporting twin Lowball Draw (including 2-7 and A-5).

What does this mean? Why, it means that online poker may actually save the non-hold’em games! Casinos won’t do it. They have limited space and only spread the games that are in demand, which are all too often NLHE or LHE. TV won’t do it. They have limited time and need to bring in an audience, so don’t expect anything other than the formulaic NLHE tournaments that WSOP and the WPT made oh so popular.

But online, the possibilities are limitless. Stars doesn’t lose by adding 2-7 Triple Draw. Full Tilt doesn’t pay an extra dealer to add the Razz tables. Instead, they do just the opposite. If it costs x amount of dollars to program these non-hold’em games, that money is finite. But the amount that a site can bring in due to players who are attracted to the variety of games, well, that is limitless, hypothetically. Similarly, when Hold’em players who are just along for the fad get bored with hold’em (not all do, of course, but it happens), those players may get hooked on the other non-hold’em games. In the end, the amount it costs these poker rooms is likely minimal compared to the intangible benefits of attracting different players and retaining old ones.

So, great, FT is now teaching the masses about Razz. Now what? Well, FT does throw some televised tournaments, as does PokerStars, so the next step is for the non-hold’em games to build a player base online, enough to convince someone from these online poker rooms that the audience would find a television program that was non-hold’em poker. It’s still a while in the making, but if these sites can garner enough attention for these non-hold’em games, it is hopefully only a matter of time. And instead of the WSOP hooking players on hold’em and, consequently, feeding these online poker rooms, the online poker rooms may just be building the audience that the WSOP needs to make televised PLO8 a real success.

In other news, you can tell that I’m absolutely giddy about winning the Hoy. It’s been a great three days for me financially, and its giving me all the confidence I need going into the WSOP Circuit this weekend. I’ve hit my stride, and I plan on charging forward to victory. Until then, I’ll be grinding away at the office and pining for the weekend.

Until next time, make mine poker!

* Statement not actually attributable to DP.

From hanging out with the I Had Outs girls, I had an opportunity to meet SIF, the man behind the blog, Ship It Fish. SIF is one of those players who take the game very seriously. He is able to earn worthwhile money consistency, but more importantly, is a student and connoisseur of the game.

Because of these things, SIF’s homegames generally have a different feel from what I am used to. Whereas I am used to playing the usual NL tournament or cash game, SIF’s game has a mixed lineup, where NLHE rarely is played in its natural form. Whereas I am used to playing in low buy-in homegames at stakes I’d gladly play lit, in the SIF games, I’m playing at stakes that really matter. Ironically, for SIF and some of the other players, I suppose this second point doesn’t apply, as SIF and at least one other player were playing significantly below their usual stakes. The bottom line is, at 1/1 PL and NL stakes and 4/8 Limit stakes, as far as I’m concerned, we might as well be playing in a casino, if it weren’t for the odd game line-up. It sure as hell isn’t a low limit goofball of a game.

All that said, its a fucking fun time. Granted, I won, but regardless, I really enjoyed the company at the table and the games we played. Playing mixed games is kinda like learning hold’em all over again. It’s fresh and new, and there is so much to be learned. The rotation this week, in order, was Double Board Pot Limit Hold’em, Limit Omaha 8 or better, Stud High/Low (declare with no qualifier), No Limit Deuce to Seven Single Draw, Pot Limit Omaha, and Badugi. It’s an interesting line-up, with some games that seem mightily close to wild card silly homegames, and it plays a little like that too, with a carefree attitude. But every player at that table is focused on improving their game and learning, so its an interesting balance.

I probably made my biggest pot in a hand of NL Duece-to-Seven Single Draw. I was dealt a 96432 right off the bat and felt confident that I had a strong hand. So far for the day, I had been giving a lot of action, winning the first two pots of the night and playing probably 8 of the first 10. It’s really just my way of warming up, especially since I started with some decent hands. Consequently, I accumulated chips, but also solidified my image as a loose player. Ironically, my loose image is probably my biggest money maker.

So, I’m holding a 96 low and feeling very confident. Since it is single-draw AND no limit, most pots have been relatively small. Someone will raise preflop from 1 to 4 (actually a pot-sized bet, probably due to the influence of the many pot-limit games we play), and someone will call. Once the draw is done, at most you’ll see a bet of $10 and then either a call or fold.

This hand, however, was different. From middle position, Chuck, a smart player who I have the upmost respect for, raises to $10. When it gets to me in one of the blinds, I think for a bit. 96 is pretty good and players have been betting without a made low, so I could very well be ahead. I decide that calling is out of the question since I’ll be out of position, a crucial aspect of most draw games and especially duece-to-seven. I decide that I have to fold or raise, and since 96 is a nice starting hand, I decide to take the hand down right away by raising to $30. Chuck thinks it over, hesitates and pushes his whole stack in. Meanwhile, some other people at the table are chatting it up about some other topic and I’m sitting their sweating this large stack that was just pushed into the middle. “How much is that?” I ask, meekly. Chuck couldn’t hear me over the noise, and his neighbor wasn’t either. I speak up, “Can I get that counted?” Chuck is now leaning back as his neighbor starts eyeing the chips and counting them down. I’m getting annoyed as the process seems all messed up, but I’m keeping my cool and trying to figure out what to do. “I might be good here,” I say, hoping to get something from Chuck. I ask him directly, “Am I good here, Chuck?” I don’t get much of a response besides a nervous chuckle. “$150 or so…oh wait, $120.” The chip count was in, and it would be $120 or so to call after my $30 bet was met. “I think I’m good here. Okay, (I hesitate a moment to make sure I’m not crazy and realize that I’m up well over $120) I call. And…I’m pat (which means that I’m not taking any cards).” Its certainly possible that Chuck was dealt an 8-low or something, but overall, I’m reading weakness. He thinks I’m loose and probably wants to push me off of a draw with his big bet. It’s ME, also. Against another player, I’d give Chuck more credit for a hand, but I’m openly known as a loose player, and Chuck is likely taking advantage of it. I also thought back to the tell that my bro-in-law Marc saw me showing, leaning back in my chair. The more I think about it, it’s a sign of weakness. It’s “let me lean back and appraise the situation.” It’s “let me get comfortable, because this hand is making me uncomfortable.” All these things told me to call, so I did. Standing pat was tricky. I figured that I would be drawing VERY slim if I drew, so I had to believe that I already had the better hand if I was going to call. Chuck stands pat also. He announces a 9-high, and when I ask for his kicker, he says 8. I show my 96 low and take the pot.

On at least two occassions, I pulled a BaJordan, my term for calling bets pre-draw in Badugi and then drawing three out of my four cards. In at least one hand, I won a monster pot when I held my 4 and drew an Ace, 2, and some random card that matched the 4′s suit. By the third draw, I still had bricked my fourth card but still took the pot off of my two competitors. For those not in the know, in Badugi, if you have 2 cards of the same suit, only one plays, so a 4-card Badugi with a club, heart, spade, and diamond is a strong hand and is generally needed to win.

Stud H/L declare was interesting. Unlike the Stud 8 or better that is played on the Internet (and most everywhere), Stud H/L doesn’t require an 8 or under hand to qualify for the low. However, after the 7th street betting, each player still in the hand takes two chips under the table and comes out with either 0, 1 or 2 in their fist. When its time to declare, each player opens their fist exposing whether they are going for the low (0 chips), high (1), or both aka pig (2). Then there is one final betting round. In one hand, I held a Queen in the whole, turned a Queen and hit another Queen on 6th Street. I was up against SIF and when he started to re-raise me on a board that looked like he was playing low, I decided to slow it down. “Am I behind your straight?” I asked myself aloud. As soon as I said it, I internally damned myself. How could I just announce that I was behind a straight! Damn! I decided to call, and when we reached showdown, he decided to go low…with a Ten low and a Flush! He thought my external monologue was a bluff and I was trying to induce action against my full house. SIF was a bit surprised to see he was ahead, but we chopped the pot, since he went low and I went high. In a later hand, I scooped by hitting 5 hearts in a row from third to 7th street. NOICE!

Double Board Hold’em is freaking crazy. Picture PL Hold’em, but with TWO FRIGGIN’ BOARDS. In an early hand, I held AKd, and the flops were Ace-high and King-high. I bet and take it all down. But its a weird game, because 0n other occassions, players are willing to push with nothing on one board because they have the nuts on the other. It’s a game where you split the pot between the two winners, so there is a lot of value to forcing your opponent all-in (and hoping he was playing the board you had the nuts on) or forcing your opponent to fold (when you have jack-shit on one of the boards).

I could go through the rest of the games, but those were the really odd ones. I’m beginning to realize that PLO and PLO8 (we didn’t play PLO8 at the game, but we did play LO8) are not my games. Something about all that exposure in Omaha just throws off my game. That said, I like me some limit Omaha.

I had a great time, and left +$345, presumably the big winner of the game. When we were leaving, SIF asked when I was available for the next game. Shiyit, with this success, you name it, buddy.

The next day, wifey Kim and I enjoyed morning in bed…watching cartoons, of course. She had some errands to run, so I played a bit of poker online. I started with various levels of LO8, following that nebulous thing I call my poker mood. I was up about $60 on a 5/10 table, but gave it all up on my last hand, leaving +$6. In that same time, I lost $24 or so at a 3/6 LO8 table. Oh, and in case you are interested, it was the shorthanded table. Jordan likes playing lots of cards.

I took some time away from the computer, but when I came back, all the LO8 rooms were full…except for an 8/16 game with one player waiting around. I popped into that room, and realized that he was sitting with 10 BB, $160. I love shorthanded players. They are either playing scared and therefore are too tight, or playing to double-up and therefore are too loose. I don’t, however, like playing hi/lo split games heads up. All too often, you split the pot and the only winner is the rake (which I believe may also be higher than in a non-hi/low split game).

That said, I saw a fish waiting to be filleted (read that last word carefully, you pervs) so I got out my knives. Usually, I’ll sit at the table with my regular buy-in or higher and try to scare the fish into just handing me their money, but since it was high-low split, I figured I’d just jump in with $160, so I could tell if I was making any real progress.

In the early-goings, I wanted to see which type of fish we had. Was it the desperate loose fish or the scared tight one. So, I began raising immediately. I believe I had a relatively uncoordinated hand, but I had two cards that would qualify for a low and two high cards, so I was willing to go for another bet. He folded and I had the start of my read. On the next hand, I raised preflop and he called. On the flop, I missed entirely and there was no low, but I continuation bet and took down the pot. On the next hand, I called and when we saw the flop, he bet. I re-raised with a low draw or maybe top pair, but nothing really re-raise worthy. He folded. And hence, we had our read. As it turned out within 20 hands, and probably within 15, he was busted anyway. Easy money.

Later that day, I decided to earn my way into the Blogger Big Game. The first stop was an $8.70 18-person turbo SNG to earn a $24+2 token. In the early-goings, I was sucked out, AK v. AQ all-in preflop. He hit his Queen and left me with under 300 chips with blinds at or near 50/100, and maybe 4 players out at most. But, I fought my way back, stealing some blinds and then doubling and then tripling up. I ended up moneying in 6th for some cash but no token.

Without a $24+2 token, I wasn’t planning on playing a Tier 2 token race for a $69+6 token. But, I was up so much for the day thanks to my lil LO8 fish, so I decided to buy in directly. I was used to the two-table $24+2 Tier II token tournaments, but when I looked at the SNG lists, that wasn’t available. Maybe FT got rid of it. Whatever the case, I decided to play a single table tournament for $24+2 (cash!) that would pay out 2 tokens and $66 to third place. While I waited for it to fill up, WeakPlayer IM’ed me wishing me luck. He was in the same tournament. “This is going to take forever to fill up.” I told him. “I’m trying to get more bloggers to play,” he responded. “Hell no! I’d rather play against bad players.” And I meant it too.

By the time it started, it was me, Weak (on my immediate right) and jecilmd, along with 6 strangers. Weak made a great isolation play early on against a player who had pushed 2x in a row, clearly trying to just pick up the blinds. Weak’s AT took out his opponent’s KQ, and I became emboldened. One player, Dougie, was “playing his rush” as he put it, and seemed to be making lots of BS moves. So, when there were 5 or so limpers, including me with 89h, and he decided to raise big, I thought he was just stealing the considerable pot. I decided to put him to the test, pushing all-in for a goodly amount more. To my surprise, he called with AQd and I looked like a fool. I still don’t know about my play. On one hand, as long as I’m not against a high pocket-pair, I have a good chance of taking it down OR going to a “coin toss” with two live cards. On the other, I have 89h! When the flop came down AKQ, I knew I was fucked. When the turn came down Ten, I thought to myself, “JACK JACK JACK!” When the river came out as a Jack and we chopped, well, Weak said it best in the room’s chat box, “bwahahahaha!”

When we were down to 4, it was me, Dougie, Weak and jecil. Eventually, I knocked out jecil who was shortstack for a long time. I then busted Weak in 3rd and won my token.

But I didn’t play the Blogger Big Game. I wanted to, I swear, but after a day separate from wifey Kim, we were on the coach enjoying each others’ company when I noticed it was 5 minutes till game time. There were only 12 players registered, so I couldn’t even sign up and sit out for a bit. Next time, though. I swear.

That’s enough for today. It was a $500+ weekend. My live winnings so vastly outnumber my online winnings (which at one point was NEGATIVE for the year this weekend, but is not at about $150, not including bonuses) that it is almost silly. I know a bunch of you are heading to Vegas this week, so have fun. I’ll be at Harrah’s in AC playing in a WSOP Circuit event. Wish me luck.

Until then, make mine poker!