High On Poker

Obviously, this is an atypical hand because of the entire tables’ willingness to gamble. Still, the fact remains that when you draw attention to your bad luck, other people will tend to adopt your viewpoint. They’ll call you down more, or re-raise, all with the thought that you are in fact unlucky. When they suck out on you, and they will eventually suck out on you now that they are not folding to unlucky ole you, it will just reaffirm the tables’ opinion that you are so unlucky, they have to call all of your bets. Usually, by now you are playing looser to make up for your unlucky losses, thus creating the perfect “bad luck” storm, where you overplay cards and they over-call you.

If anything, its the opposite of the lucky guy. I’m sure you’ve been at a table where someone has gotten extremely lucky (maybe a bunch of premium hands in a row, holding up for big pots of a guy who hits every flop, etc.) and then continues to run over the table. Amazingly, a lot of players fear the “lucky” player moreso than the skilled player. And on that note, I highly recommend building the image of a luckbox. It can actually be quite useful.

Until next time, make mine poker!

Yesterday, I posted about my HU losses in the HUC5. As part of that post, I wrote about how I lost one tournament because I pushed all-in over a preflop re-raise with pocket Tens, only to be called by pocket Jacks. I figured that some of you would consider it a cooler, and I wouldn’t 100% disagree. Still, I can’t let myself off the hook that easily. I hold myself to high standards, which I will discuss in a moment, and if you too strive to be the best poker player you can be, I suggest you hold yourself to the same standards.

But first, a quick recap. I found some time to play two quick SNGs last night. The first one was a 6-seater on Absolute, where I took 2nd place with minimal effort. The other one was a 4-person HU SNG on FullTilt, where I won my first match and lost my second. In the second match, we went back and forth for a long while. By the last hand, we were nearly even, with me slightly trailing. I was dealt 77. I bet or check-raised, and he pushed all-in. I thought for a moment and realized that I was likely behind. However, my brain and my finger were not on speaking terms, apparently, and I clicked “call”. He had pocket Jacks, and I lose again.

That loss really pissed me off because I knew better. In fact, I flew in the face of one of my recent Quick Tip, “When playing poker, if you know that you are beat, fold.” When I posted that quick tip, it was a bit tongue in cheek, mostly a reaction to players who call and say, “I knew you had it.” But it applies to me as much as anyone else. I knew I was beat, but I called.

RecessRampage, in his comment to the last post, wrote, “I’m not sure I can get away from TT heads up…” I can certainly understand that thought. TT is within the top 5 best hands, so fearing a higher hand is somewhat counter-productive. However, in both the TT and 77 instances, I could feel that I was behind. It was likely subtle clues like the speed of my opponents’ all-in/raise, combined with the rarity of such moves.

Whatever the case, though, I asked myself this question, “Would the best player in the world be able to lay down TT in HU play given the conditions at the time?” I would venture, yes. My next thought is, “Don’t I want to be the best player in the world?” Yes, once again. Ergo, I must learn to lay down TT in HU situations.

Admittedly, I’m nowhere close to being the best player in the world, and I don’t have much of a chance of reaching that status. However, it is where I want to be; where I strive to be. It’s why I blog almost daily, and play just as much.

So, next time you’ve faced a situation that feels like a cooler, take a step back and look it over again. If there was a way to escape the cooler situation, then its up to you to improve yourself so that next time, you can make the correct move.

Yes, I hold myself to impossibly high standards, but it works for me.

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While I’m here, I’m going to post my long answers to PokerPeaker‘s email interview. If you want to see Peaker’s end product, take a look at his post on PokerWorks.com.

1. Why did you begin to blog?

I began to blog as a hobby, or more accurately, a passion project. I was talking and thinking about poker too much, and I didn’t have an outlet to discuss poker on a daily basis. I stumbled upon a now defunct blog, and then found Tao of Poker. After a while reading blogs, I began to think that writing a blog would be a great way to work out some more thoughts, and just as importantly, meet some fellow players who were as passionate about the game as I was. I succeeded in both goals.

2. When you did, was improving your poker game one of your reasons?

Absolutely. I had ideas, but no outlet to work them out with intelligent people with a similar obsession (Editor’s Note: Notice the use of “similar obsession” rather than “similar interests’). The blog gave me that opportunity and also forced me to chronicle my actual wins and losses. The blog was the driving force that got me to change my outlook of poker from a fun game to play to a long term pursuit.

3. How has blogging improved your game?

I’ve further developed my ideas about certain situations, like how to use aggression in heads-up play and how to use a shortstack in a tournament. I tend to think very differently than most players, so I also get a lot of feedback when I post some of my more questionable hands. That feedback has opened me up to a ton of new ideas. It also introduced me to a lot of blogs whose content have really added value to my game.

4. How do you think most bloggers play? Are bloggers generally better than the average player? The average online player?

This is sort of a loaded question, but I’ll do my best. The second and third questions are easy. Bloggers are almost unanimously better than the average online or live player. To me, that’s as plain as day. You put any blogger at a table with a bunch of mediocre players, and I’d gladly back the blogger. We think about the game more, we discuss it more, and we play it more. How could we be worse? Now to the first part. I’d say we play an intelligent game, that takes into consideration more ideas than the average player. Whether than means an individual blogger is tight or loose depends on that blogger’s individual personality. Overall, I’d say we are opportunistic players who play a tight aggressive game. This doesn’t even consider the fact that bloggers play different against each other than we do against the general populace.

5. How do other players play with bloggers? Do they seem to enjoy it? Have you run into “fans” outside of the blogging community?

If you want to play with bloggers, I suggest you join one of the weekly blogger tournaments, specifically the Mondays at the Hoy and the Mookie on Wednesdays. In general, if you come to play a blogger game and you are looking for a good time, you’ll find it. It’s the closest thing to a live game online, since we tend to know each other’s plays and we talk a lot in the chat. As a newcomer, you’ll be welcomed, and you’ll likely have an advantage as an unknown player. I should warn you, though. After playing for a couple of weeks, don’t be surprised if you find yourself starting your own blog.

I’ve only been outed twice or perhaps thrice in my two plus years playing poker. I’ll admit its immediately flattering. I’d gladly chat with anyone who wants to talk and isn’t a dick.

6. Has blogging improved your live play at all?

Yes. It got me to keep notes on particular hands, so I’m actively processing my play afterwards when I’m blogging about it. It’s also given me an opportunity to write out some of the thoughts I have at the table, like when I pick up tells. The act of writing it out really helps me analyze my play and retain new information.

7. Most blogs, I’ve noticed, aren’t soley about poker these days. Why not?

It’s very difficult to write about poker everyday and not turn into an endless journal of “Today I lost $115″ and “I won 124 yesterday” or a string of hand histories. Most poker bloggers are open, opinionated people, otherwise we wouldn’t blog. So, its only natural that eventually, a blogger will mention that, “Hey, my job sucks” or “My wife’s pregnant” or “the government is establishing a nanny-state”, Frankly, that’s some of the most interesting parts about poker blogs for me. I love learning about these people all over the world who share a love for poker. In general, I’ve noticed that we are 99% good-natured people.

8. Do you learn from other blogs? Which ones? Why?

I read a ton of blogs, but there are a select few that really have taught me things that I use regularly. I have to give credit to Fuel55. I’ve learned a thing or two from him about set farming. Hoyazo posts a lot of deep analysis. I don’t necessarily agree with him on all things, but he always explains himself in a way that is well thought out and intelligent. It’s important to get different perspectives on how to play because sometimes, Hoy will open my game up to new ideas and other times I’ll learn what my opponent is thinking when he reads a hand, even if its not what I would be thinking. Finally, I have to mention DoubleAs, who really got me to open my mind about the pressure poker and the complexities of the game, generally. He doesn’t post often anymore, but his archives are fantastic (not to mention his book).

The bottom line is, you can learn something from every blog out there. If nothing else, blogs are a window into how other people think. As a poker player, you are constantly coming across new people who you need to read immediately. Blogs can offer you a foundation in the various ways people think about the game, be it how others play a hand in a hand history recap or how players approach the game overall. As a student of poker, you should be a student of life and people in general, and I’d venture to say that there isn’t a better opportunity to see poker players laid bare as when they write their personal thoughts on a daily or weekly basis.

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Until next time, make mine poker!

For the last two mornings, and the last few weekday mornings of last week, I woke up to find my jaw clenched tight. Invariably, I was up 30 minutes to an hour before my alarm, but after futile attempts of reclaiming my sleeping hours, I resolved myself to an early, if slow, start to the day ahead.

Its funny how stress can affect one’s body. The stress is mostly coming from one thing, work. About a month and a half ago, I found myself mired in shit, the result of another bout of uber-stressful workload combined with the challenge inherent in learning new skills. Now, a month and a half later, those days are long gone on everyone’s mind, with the exception of mine. After all, a lot of those things that I worked on 6 weeks ago are coming to fruition, and its like I’m back in the stressful deep end again.

No more complaints for this post. I promise. Sometimes, though, a little ole fashioned semi-anonymous online bitching and moaning can go a long way to alleviating some of my internal negative monologue.

But onto poker. After kicking some serious HU ass a few days ago, I faced Lucko in the semi-finals of the HUC5…and lost in 3 matches (best out of 5). I was card dead, but I also didn’t play my absolute best. In the first match, I had a chance to win when he was shortstacked at 900 (to my 2100), and I called his all-in with KT vs. his Ace-high. He hit, I didn’t, and we battled on, with Lucko eventually taking the win.

In round 2, I was also ahead for the early goings, until I crippled myself with my TT vs. his JJ, all-in preflop. I bet, he raised, I pushed, all the while, thinking to myself, “Jordan, you could be in a world of pain…maybe you should wait to see the flop.” Cue a bunch of people saying that you can’t get away from TT in a heads-up match, and then cue me saying that those people have already lost the HU match before its begun.

After round 2, I pretty much knew it was over. Still, wifey Kim needed some help and I needed to cool down Lucko’s rush, so I took a 5 minute break. During that break, I also took some of my headache medication to change my overall demeanor. It was clear that I was not on my game, and I needed to do something to end Lucko’s onslaught. I mentioned it yesterday and I’ll mention it again; once you lose a HU match, it becomes exponentially easier to lose the next one. I proved that when I lost the 3rd match after a long-fought battle.

Congratulations to Lucko, who was both a great participant in the pregame smacktalk and a gracious winner. He faces RecessRampage (aka Alan) in the finals. Matt from Just Another Donkey and I were supposed to duke it out for the $90 third-place prize, but we opted to chop. $15 profit. BOOYA!

As for other news, today is wifey Kim and my 2 year anniversary. Unlike some of my fellow bloggers, I’m not going to dedicate a post to my lovely lady on this celebratory day, mostly because she doesn’t read here that often. But I will say this: The most important thing to me in this world, more than this blog, more than poker, and more than myself, is the amazing woman I somehow luckboxed into marrying. When I first met Kim, I instantly fell in love with her. I didn’t believe in love at first sight, but that is exactly what happened. It took us two years before we fully started dating, and another 5+ years before she became my wife. I am a better man for having met Kim, and there is no one who could ever take her place.

To celebrate, wifey Kim and I will be going to our favorite steakhouse. On a day like today, when I keep finding myself grinding my teeth and locking my jaw from the stress of my workday, just the thought of seeing Kim helps me to relax. Kim, I love you. Thank you for everything.

Back to pokery stuff. My upcoming poker schedule looks pretty sweet. I was incorrect when I stated in my last post that I would be making my triumphant return to the Lawyer’s Game. In actuality, I’ll be joining Matty Ebs for a 1/2 NL game filled with financial types, which means I’ll have to feign interest and knowledge in sports and finance. Whatever the case, at least I’m the new guy to the game. The new guy always seems to win.

Next week, Dave Roose and I are heading to AC for the weekend. We initially got a room at Showboat for both nights, costing $299 per night. I love Showboat, especially since it is the official Atlantic City casino/hotel of High On Poker. Alas, $299 was a tad high, so I went about seeking a better rate. We eventually settled on the Tropicana Casino Hotel, my old stomping grounds as a kid (literally, as a kid, when my family would stay at the Tropicana on our usual trips). I got a special poker room rate of $99 the first night and $129 the second. There is only one catch…I have to play 4 hrs of cash poker per day. Somehow, I have a feeling I can handle it.

Oh, and if you are looking for a good read, check out PokerPeaker‘s most recent Pokerworks article. I helped by answering a few questions from the Peaker, which was then used for some of the article’s content. I may post the full Q & A here, so keep an eye out, if you are interested.

Until next time, make mine poker!

I had a problem with my laptop, recently. The left 1/3 of the monitor was darker than the rest of the monitor, but I’m usually the type of guy to ignore such things. Still, when playing online poker and chatting with GCox or Trip, I had trouble placing everything on the screen. Either the chatbox was too dark or the poker was too dark. I called Dell and tried to work it out with them before ultimately opting to have them send me a box to mail my laptop to them for free repair. I got the box, sent it to Dell and got my computer back all within a week. When I read about Hoy‘s problem with his Dell laptop, I was impressed that they helped him so well. Now they are two for two, leaving my very impressed by their quick, helpful response and turnaround time.

In the meanwhile, I was in poker limbo. Friday night, I played the AlCantHang birthday tourney (and on that note, happy birthday to the one-man-party known as ACH), which was just a fancy name for Katitude‘s usual Friday night $1 rebuy Donkament. I doubled up more than a few times, and ended up at the top of the leader board near the end of the rebuy. But I lost a bunch of my chips and then my crappy desktop lost its internet connection for about 30 mins. When I came back, we were at the final table, but I was the shortstack. I busted shortly after. At least I can say that I had fun.

Yesterday was a slow day at Casa del High. Wifey Kim and I were invited to join bro Keith and sis-in-law Jen to see Wheel of Fortune tape live in NY. That was scheduled for 5:30, so after running some morning errands, I found myself with too much time on my hands. I saddled up to the desktop to play a quick HU game. Wifey Kim was off doing girly things (mani and pedi), so I figured a quick game would suffice. I won the first one, a $11 turbo on FT, in under 10 hands. That was a bit too quick, so I decided to play another.

Fortunately, my opponent had the same idea and jumped into the next open $11 turbo. I jumped in right after him. In general, if you win a HU match and you have an opportunity for a rematch, go for it. You already know how he plays and he’s likely going to be playing worse, desperate to win back his money and pride. If you busted him on a suckout, alls the better. This time, I won in about 20 hands. He was playing the exact style as the first one, if a little bit looser thanks to the tilt effect.

I tried for round 3, but someone jumped in before me. I was disappointed, but moved on.

When it comes to HU matches online, I like to be the guy joining the room, rather than the guy who first signs up for the game. It is largely due to the fact that, when it comes to HU matches, a $5 HU match is the same to me as a $20 HU match. I can adjust for any skill level, and the stakes don’t matter, as long as they are within my usual range. So, ideally, I like to jump into a room with one person already waiting. It means I play when I want to and I don’t have to sit around waiting for competition. It also offers me a subconscious psychological edge, which is admittedly hard to explain. The long and short of it is that I’m impatient and I just feel more conifdent when I’m joining and playing immediately.

With that in mind, I looked for another $11 tournament, only to find that none was ready to go. I looked around and finally settled on a $22 HU match, ready to roll. In both instances, and for all games I played yesterday, the matches were turbo, which is to my benefit. As a short stack specialist, I prefer the later stages in HU play, where I can use my short stack skills to steal significant blinds (at 50/100, the blinds are 1/15th of our stacks; at 100/200, the blinds are worth more than 10% of our stacks) and control the action.

Sadly, my opponent had enough and didn’t look for a rematch. I looked for more open games and didn’t see anything worthwhile. I scoped out everything in the general price range, when I noticed an open $33 turbo HU match. This was less than my profit so far, so I figured I’d take my shot. In my head, I was thinking about TripJax. He recently posted about moving on to $50 and higher SNGs, even though his bankroll was not equipped for it. Trip, GCox and I came up together in the poker ranks. Admittedly, the last year has been slow progress. We are all individually doing well, but our advancement to higher stakes took a back seat to UIGEA withdrawals and our depleted online bankrolls. So, when Trip wrote about playing higher buy-in SNGs, I did what any competitive immature person would do and got jealous. I suppose envious is a better word, since I don’t wish ill on Trip, but rather similar success for me. Whatever the case, I saw the $33 SNG as a start in the right direction.

Once I started the $33 HU SNG, I decided to play a tight game to start. This might be surprising to some people who play with me, but when it comes to online HU matches, I’m more interested in getting a feel for my opponent, rather than running them over with incessant raises (that’s usually step 2 or 3). I fold a lot to determine whether they are going to start playing at me more aggressively. I’m essentially building an image and setting the tone for the game. Notably, if my opponent seems timid (for instance, he folds his SB right away), I may opt for the super-aggro style. In both instances, my eventual goal is to get my opponent to put all of his money in the pot when I’m way ahead. When I start aggro, I’ll simply limp or check to induce my beaten down opponent to make his move. When I start tight, I’ll also limp or check to get my opponent to continue his overaggression.

As it went, I got a little lucky in my HU match, catching a river 8 after I called my opponent’s top pair against my middle pair of 8s. I had more chips at the time, so even though I was lucky, the call would not have crippled me. My opponent was steamed, but signed up for another game. Sweet.

The second HU match went well, too. This time, it took a bit longer, but I eventually got my opponent to push all-in with his remaining 600 chips when I had pocket Aces. In this instance, I had set up the game such that my opponent was pushing in most hands where I limped. I set this up by basically folding repeatedly, whether I was in the SB or the BB facing a raise. I conditioned my opponent to think that I was waiting for the nuts and would not call with anything other than the nuts. I limped with AA, confident that (a) he was wary of my raises because of my series of check-folds, and (b) he would raise me all-in if he thought I was weak. So, I limp, he pushes and I call. It’s easy with Aces.

I tried to get into another game with the same guy, but someone beat me to it. But a new player sat in a $33 match, so I took him on…and won.

The rush was great. I’m not sure, but I may’ve played another one in there. Finally, I thought I had to take a break. No matter how good you may be at HU poker, you will eventually lose. Everything is heightened in HU poker, including variance and the role of luck. It was just a matter of time before I was unlucky enough to bust. Rather than continue until I got to that point, I turned off FT and stopped playing for the night.

I love HU poker. In fact, I can’t wait to play some tonight. I hope to face off against Lucko tonight in the semi-finals to the HUC5. Other poker for the week includes a return to the Lawyers’ Game, a game I haven’t been to since my first visit and first place win in January of 2007. Thanks to Matty Ebs for the invite.

Until next time, make mine poker!