short session = profit

I played last Friday night. I'll write about one hand (not much excitement), but man was the game soft for a couple hours. Granted, I also ran good, hitting some flops, making some draws, etc; but it's insane how much I got paid off. I was playing pretty tight too! I started playing at 7pm and left the table at 10:50; I cashed out of a $1/$3 $200-max buy in table with $636 in profit. Yea, I bought in for $200 and cashed out $836. In less than 4 hours. Insane.

I'm obv not an amazing player; I just took advantage of weak, bad, or dumb players when I had hands.

I left when I did for 2 reasons:
1 - The biggest stack at the table by this time was only $150, with a number of $100 stacks
2 - I found myself becoming unwilling to put my chips in without a lock on a hand. Scared money.

So I took my profit and left.

----------
So I'm sitting on about $450 at this point; I'm in the cut-off. I've been playing tight: really only raising with premiums. I'll call preflop a bit light, in position, against raises from EP raisers with big stacks, but if I don't connect with the flop I'm gone.

A couple limpers, and I look down at 5c 6c. I haven't raised all night with these hands, but I wanted to mix-it-up (number of players are still here from when I sat down), so I raise it to $12. The SB calls, the limpers fold (at which I almost laughed out loud! How can you limp / fold in EP when it only costs another $9 to play for at least $24?). SB had been at the table for about 1 orbit, and came across as not really knowing what he was doing. I was happy for his call!

Flop: 2c Qc 7c

SB checks; I bet $20, SB calls.

Turn: [2c Qc 7c] 6d

SB leads out $30. I think this is a bit strange; I ask how much he has left, he counts out about $130 more.

Either he's sandbagging a flush, or he's trying to name his price for a river card.

Then, I look at him, and realize that he seriously looks confused. I'm not sure what to make of this, but it certainly doesn't strike me as confident. And it doesn't appear to be an act. I feel like he hasn't sat at a poker table very often.

I raise. I put two $100 stacks into the pot, and take a deep breath.

SB thinks. "Phew," I'm thinking, "no flush."

Then he says, "ah, I don't think you have the flush, I call," and turns over Qs 3c.

I say "flush," and turn over my cards. River was meaningless, I rake in a nice pot with a baby flush.

Guy next to me says "That was ballsy with a 6-high flush." I agreed. I trusted my read, though. Thankfully confusion != strength for this guy.

Maybe the confusion was because he surprised himself that he called a raise OOP with Q3o!

Don't forget who you're playing against

Villain: $250. Been at the table about 30 minutes; don't think she's folded a hand preflop yet. She appears to be not very experienced (bet sizes, chip/card handling, general demeanor, etc), very very passive.

MP: $350. Very, very aggressive. Usually a $3/$5 player.

Hero: $700. Typical playing for me (LAG). Not happy MP is here, but happy Villain (and her friend) is.

MP raises to $10. Hero calls with 2c 2s. Villain calls.

POT: $30
FLOP: 256 rainbow.

Villain bets $15. MP raises to $40. I think about raising, but I want Villain to come in, so I just call. Villain calls.


POT: $150
TURN: [256] 9

Villain bets $40. MP folds. I push. Villain thinks for a half a minute, then calls.


POT: $550
River: [2569] J

Hero shows a set of 2's. Villain shows a set of 6's.

I've rarely folded sets on rainbow boards. There is a possible straight, sure, but I really don't think she's leading out on a draw. The more I think about this, though, the more obvious this should have been that I was way behind. It was obvious to the entire table just how aggressive MP is, and she wasn't the least bit afraid to bet right into him twice...I don't see what else this besides 55 or 66. Slight possibility of an over-pair, but I could only see this being AA with her leading out twice (especially twice into a raiser and a caller).

If I had stopped and taken a minute or two to replay the hand, to figure out what she would lead out into two aggressive players, I would have pinpointed that hand to 55 or 66, and saved myself some money. Instead, because I had seen her show QQ after leading into a rag flop, I simply assumed that must be what it was again.

Sometimes AK is enough at showdown

Tulalip $1/$3

HERO: UTG+1, $600. I'm in for $300, so I'm not too far up. Passive table - mostly loose preflop, tight/passive postflop. Perfect environment for me; I love it!
VILLAIN: UTG, $200. Literally first hand at the table; why he decided to come in UTG is beyond me (Tulalip allows you to come in behind the button and not have to post). I've played him a number of times; he likes to create an early, aggressive, run-over-the-table image.


UTG Raises to $15.
HERO looks down at AKo. This could a re-raising, but in this early of a position I'd rather just call and see a flop. Everyone else folds.

POT: $33
FLOP: 828r

UTG Bets $25.
HERO calls.

If he's got a pocket pair I've still (more likely than not) got overs. Granted this is often more of a limit poker play, but I'm OK with taking one off here to see a turn. He looked very uncomfortable when I called. Doesn't look like he has anything.


POT: $88
TURN: [828] T

UTG Bets $75.
HERO calls.

He got a very, very determined look on his face after the turn card came off. If I could have read his mind I believe I would have read "If this guy has something I need to keep showing strength so he'll go away." Still doesn't look like he has anything.


POT: $238
RIVER: [828T] 5

UTG looks kind of disgusted, says "Check." I consider the fact that we may have the same hand, and a bet here could move him off of it. Instead, I decide to check behind. Why? Sometimes AK, on a rag board with an aggressor who obviously missed everything, is good enough to show down. With the size of the pot, if he really did have any pair he'd likely call anyway.

I decide to take the safer route in case my read was way off and save a hundred bucks. I also considered betting so I didn't have to show my hand, but I liked what it might do to my already loose/crazy image that I'd call this guy down with nothing but the nut-no-pair. I was prepared to call his bet here, too, even if he went all-in: I was fairly certain that we were at least holding the same hand.

I turn over AK; UTG turns over AQ and throws it into the muck, and shakes his hand as the pot comes my way.

Follow your read

One thing I've been working on is following my read, even when I can't say what my read is based on. I've played a lot of cash game poker over the past 3 months - at least once / week, and most every session was at least 10 hours (most closer to 12-15 hours). I've gotten a lot better in general, and more specifically I've gotten much better at following my reads.

Game: private home-game, 6-handed $0.50/$0.50 NLHE, $100-$200 buy-in. We've got over $1,000 on the table. Deep stack poker is awesome. Play has been very aggressive.

SB: $400, possibly the most aggressive player at the table. This is the first time I've played with him (the rest of the table I've played with twice before).

Me OTB: $280. I've been picking my spots carefully, made some good plays that worked, made some good plays that were picked-off... having a great time, too.

CO limps in, I limp with Q2o. I did this because: a) I'm on the button, and I play almost anything 6-handed on the button with no raise, and b) there's a running joke on this email discussion list we're all on that claims Q2o to be the nuts. SB raises to $2.50, CO folds, I call.

FLOP: 929 rainbow.

SB bets $6. I call. Why? Something in his mannerism, or the way he tossed his chips, or something else, tells me he doesn't have anything. I consider raising, but this player loves to 3-bet, so I just call and hope to get to a showdown.

TURN: [929] 7x

SB bets $15. I call.

RIVER: [9297] Jx

SB bets $35. I take some time, count my chips, take a look at the SB, count the $35 out, take a look at the small blind. I just don't think he's got anything. My motto lately has been to pick my spots, and if I was following that I'd have folded preflop, or at least on the flop. But I also need to follow my reads, and if I think I've got the best hand I'm at least calling.

So I do call. SB says "Nice call. Ace high." I turn over Q2 and collect a $148 pot with a pair of ducks.

Am I writing this to brag? Only partly ;)

My point is if you have a read, follow it. Or, more specifically, if I have a read, I'm following it. I often cannot put my finger on what it is that gives me the read I have, so I guess that's the next step. But there are times when I'm playing where I get an almost overwhelmingly strong sense of exactly what's going on in the hand. That's what happened here.

It's a feeling I can't describe, but it just kind of 'makes sense,' in a similar way that great music just 'sounds good.'

I run damn good

Tulalip $1 / $3

Hero ($1300). LP. Last 1/3 table going, and I've been playing well, running well, and playing against idiots who apparently hate money.

SB ($600). Straight-forward player; won a huge pot with quads a while back. Nothing fancy, typical player.

UTG ($25). Tulalip bartender who's been waiting and waiting for the nuts, blinding off and chasing stuff.

Bunch of limpers, so I decide to see a flop with QTo. Shut up, it's a weak ass hand, I know, but more likely than not everyone will miss, I'll bet, everyone will fold, money comes my way. Been doing it all night.

Pot: $18
FLOP: Jc Qc Th rainbow.

Unlikely AK is out there, as it's been limped. SB bets $12, UTG pushes all -in. I've got top two, and don't want any more flush draws in there, so I bump it to $75. Folds to SB who calls.

Pot: $190
TURN: [Th Jc Qc] Tc

SB checks. I bet out $150. The flush got there, so I hope he's got the nut flush. When the SB calls, it smells like a flush. Sweeeeet!

Pot: $490

RIVER: [Th Jc Qc Tc] Qd

Kind of an unfortunate river, as if he had a Q we're now chopping. SB checks. I fire out $250 (in green $25 chips). SB shows 7c 8c and folds. Apparently, he was looking for the 9c (or was hoping I'd stop betting and that his flush was good). UTG turns over AK for the flopped straight (well played, and no - she wasn't looking for a limp reraise). I turn over QT for da boat.

$490 in a limped pot. not bad, not bad at all....

The stuff that dreams are made of

Tulalip $1/$3

Hero: MP, $900. Playing aggressively, making moves, pushing the table around. Very much a LAG image. Even though when the big pots come up I almost always have the goods, people continue to think I'm just making moves on them.

Cut-Off: 1st time playing poker in a casino. Luck-boxed into a few medium-size pots. $240 (up from $100).

BB: Young kid. No read. Not involved in more than a couple pots over the last hour or so. Casual player. $180.

UTG raises to $12. I look down at 2 black aces, and I bump it to $35. CO calls. BB takes a few seconds, and announces all-in. Folds to me. It's spread-limit, so I know the betting is capped, but I still announce "All-In." Dealer tells me it's capped, so I say I call and am all-in blind before the flop. CO calls. Dealer pulls money in, and I put out $200 before the flop, CO pushes his chips into the pot.

I have no idea what the flop turn or river were. Nobody improved.

BB showed pocket deuces (?!); CO shows AhQd (?!?!).

Insanity. $180 with 22. $240 with AQ0. I love this game!!!

Big Score

Had my biggest one night win Saturday night at the $1/$3 Tulalip casino game. At one point I was up to $1800, but ended up cashing out at $1625, for a profit of $1425. Brilliant poker playing?

Not at all. I was watching one of the Live at the Bike episodes late Friday, and one of the announcers called it out just right: he said NL hold 'em is a game of mistakes. The object is to make as few mistakes as you can, and capitalize on the mistakes of your opponents. That's pretty much what I was doing. I'd catch players over-playing medium-strength hands, and just take their money. Here's a great example:

I'm in middle position with 7h 8h, and I limp in. Player on the button pops it to $20. It folds around to me, and I call. At this point, we're both pretty deep for these levels: I've got about $600, and he's got about $400. As a general rule, I use the 10-times rule to decide whether to call with hands like small pocket pairs and low-mid suited connectors: if the player has 10 times the amount of his raise (and, of course, I do too), and I think he'll pay me off if I hit, then I'll call. If not, then it's not worth it.

I also know, too, that this is quite a large raise for this player, and the last time he made this large preflop overbet he showed jacks, so I have an idea right off the bat where he's at.

2 players, pot is $44.

FLOP:
Kd 8c 8s

I lead out for $30. He pops it to $100. I smooth-call, and plan on leading any turn. He says something like "Great, I've been trying all night to avoid you, and here we are." Whatever; unless he has K8 or KK I'm good..

TURN:
[Kd 8c 8s] 2c

Pot is $244, he's got about $300 left. I bet $100, he goes all-in. Of course, I call.

RIVER:
[Kd 8c 8s 2c] a meaningless river card

I show 7h 8h for trip 8's. He shows Tc Td for 2 pair. And for some reason he goes off for about 5 minutes on how I can call with that garbage. I ask him if he plays suited connectors and he says, "not like that." I say something to the effect of him obviously being a limit player, which he didn't take too kindly to.

Thing is -- I'd probably play AK just as fast, and I'd expect him to as well. I can't tell you how shocked I was when he didn't have a king there. Insanity.

------------------

So for the next hour this guy is steam-raising and playing super-aggro. I don't mind; if I don't have a hand I get out of the way, all the while he's building up a nice stack from the rest of the table.

Then, round two:

After a couple limpers, I raise to $15 from middle-late position with 3c 4c. I'm raising often, but not excessively, and I'm mixing up what I'm raising and limping with, so this fits in to the script perfectly (see this post). Same dude calls me from the button. Blinds fold.

Pot is $40.

FLOP:
[Td 4h 3s]

Not a bad flop, eh?

I bet $30. He calls, and gives a little speech: "You'd better have something this time." I don't know what this means, except that he must've hit part of that flop or has a pocket pair. TT he'd for certain raise here.

TURN:
[Td 4h 3s] 3d

Well, I've got a likely lock on the hand. I don't get fancy: I want to build a pot, so I stick some money in there. He already told me on the flop he liked his hand, so the 3 is likely not going to affect his hand quality, so he should be able to call here too. I bet out $50. He comes over the top and goes all in for another $250 or so. Massive bet. Massive.

I, of course, call.

RIVER:
[Td 4h 3s 3d] 9h

I show 3c 4c for a full house. He shows 3h 5h for trip 3's. He then gets an attitude again, saying "You raised with 3c 4c?" I remind him that not only did he call preflop with 35o, but that he called a flop bet with bottom pair. He then goes on like a doofus saying "I can't beat you, I just can't beat you can I?" He says a few other rude things as he's standing up to leave. I ask him if he's going to the ATM, because we'll save his seat for him.

That may have been a little over-the top, but the table got a laugh from it.

Raising with deceptive hands

Tulalip $1/$3

First off, kudos to Tulalip casino for upping the buy in to $200, and though they changed the big blind to $3 so you don't quite have 100 bb's, it's still a much, much, much better game!

I just lost a decent chunk of my stack to the player on my right with a sick river card. I went from about $250 down to $60. Don't remember the betting details, but I know the dude called my turn push with a flush draw and an over card, and the river spade killed my set.

I topped off back up to $200 before the next hand, when I'm dealt 4s 6s. I love these hands, especially in position, and I'd decided as a bit of randomness that this session, I would raise/re-raise black suited gappers and connectors, and just call/limp with red suited gappers/connectors. SO, in late position I raised this up to $10. I get called by the dude to my left who just rivered the flush; others fold.

Pot: $22
FLOP: 6d Qd 4c

BB checks, and I fire out $20; I thought about betting much more than pot to chase out the flush-draw, but I decided to gamble a bit and just play carefully if the flush came.

Pot: $62
TURN: [6c Qd 4d] 6d

The flush got there and I got my boat. I could fire out to represent the flush, but I decided to trap a little, and hope my opponent was on the flush draw (I was almost certain he was, and if he wasn't he wouldn't be able to call my bet anyway). I checked, and he bets out $30. I take my time, cut out my chips, stack them back up again, look at my opponent -- I'm trying my best to sell some disappointment, but trying not to ham it up too much. I kind of "reluctantly" call.

Pot: $122
River: [6c Qd 4d 6d] As

I need to lead out here, but I want it to look weak. I have $140 left, so I bet out $30 as a "blocking" bet. My opponent min-raises to $60. When I push all-in, it's only another $50 anyway, so he calls and turns over his king-high flush. I show the full house, and he says, "Oh my god. You raised with that crap?"

I love it!

Playing big pots

I'm addicted to Live at the Bike, a webcast of cash games at the Bicycle Casino (they don't webcast anymore, but you can subscribe and watch the archives here), and just yesterday I was watching a show with Barry Greenstein doing commentary.

He was talking about the fact that his aim when playing no limit, is to play for big pots. "Duh" I guess you could say, but it helped me plug a little leak. I realized I was trying to win too many of the smaller pots, which meant I was at times losing too many chips with marginal hands. Don't get me wrong, I'm still playing some of the smaller pots, and I'll take stabs at pots when I don't think anyone's connected. But this last session, instead of 2 or 3 barrelling, I'd give up once I'm called if I don't improve.

I'm still getting in there with hands that can hit hard, and, quite honestly, hope to get lucky. Cases in point:

Hand 1:

After a couple limpers, I limp on the button with Ac 6c. With this hand, I'm not looking to hit top pair; I want something like 2 pair or, obviously, flushes or flush draws. The BB, a young woman I've played with a number of times, raises it up to $8. The cut off calls, and they both have enough money behind for me to take a chance with this hand, so I call too.

FLOP: Ad 6h 2h

BB bets $15. CO calls. I've got top 2 pair, so I raise it to $50, and both call. I can put one of them on a decent ace, and the other one on a likely heart flush draw.

TURN: [Ad 6h 2h] 6d

Well, I don't care if the flush gets there now, and it's likely the BB is happy with her 2 pair with a good kicker, so it's time to bet. The pot is almost $150, and I've got about $100 left, so when they check it to me, I just stick it all in there and hope they've got something they can go with.

BB calls, and the CO calls!

BB shows AJo, CO calls Ah 9h, so both are drawing dead. I don't remember the river, and I collect a pot over $350.


Hand 2:

Very early in the session, and I've been gambooling it up a bit to try to build my stack. I've gone up to $150 and now down to about $85.

I limp in with 7d8d UTG. There were a couple limpers, then the button bumps it up to $10. It's $8 more for me to call; it's a close-call whether it's worth taking a long-shot here (I'd like to have a little more in my stack for this to be over-all profitable, but it's early in the night and I'm willing to take some more chances to try to build a stack to play with). I call, hoping for a straight draw or flush draw.

FLOP: 7s 7c 2c

One of the few times I will check raise is right here. If I was holding two 7's, and flopped a set, I'd lead out. One in hand and 2 on the board I'm more apt to check-raise OOP. [edit: if stacks were deeper, I'd lead out, but this game is rarely very deep stacked so the check-raise is my favorite move here]

I check. Button bets out $35 (gross overbet to chase out a flush draw). I go all in for an additional $50. He takes some time, asks if I'm on a club draw, then calls with TT. Turn and river blank out, and I double through, while hearing from him how horrible my preflop call was.

I'm convinced I got the call here because I've gone all-in on draws, one that hit, and one that didn't get called but I showed. I want my opponents to think I'll put them to the test for their stack whenever they're in a pot with me (and I don't always have to have a hand to do it). My range is really wide, too, so there's a ton of flops that will connect with me big time.


Hand 3:
UTG raises to $6. Folds to button who raises to $16. I'm in the SB with AsQs; I'd rather not see a flop so decide to try to take it down here, and re-raise to $35. UTG folds, button calls.

His call and no raise here, I believe, means he's got AK or AQ. I could get into trouble here, but with no queen on the flop I'll have to bet to win.

FLOP: Js Jc 2d

If he's got AA/KK/QQ I'm screwed. I HIGHLY doubt he called the reraise with AJ/KJ. I'm sticking with my original read that he's on AK. Rainbow flop means no flush draw.

I go all in (approx $100). Button hems and haws a bunch, then folds AcKc face up. "Good fold," I said, "I definitely did not want to see an ace or a king." He asked what I had and I told him queens, but mucked my hand. The entire table seemed to believe me (I don't know why!).

This was one of the few times playing out of position can earn you the pot: if you go with your read, and you know the guy can't call an all-in here, you stick the chips in and win the pot.

Can you get away from this?

Tulalip $1/$2. Pretty standard; there's really only two of us who are doing much 'playing' while it seems other 4 are only playing their cards. I've got about $260, cut off has over $300. He seems to be a pretty standard tight/passive player.

5 limpers to me in the big blind. I look down at KK, and say "Put ten more dollars in everyone," and raise to $12. 4 callers.

Pot: $48

FLOP:
Kh 7s Th

SB checks. I bet $50. Folds to SB who calls.

TURN:
[Kh 7s Th] 8d

SB checks. I've got a weird stack size now: pot is ~$150, and I've got $200. I'm putting the guy on a flush draw, but I can't just bet the pot here, and 1/2 pot bet would leave me with barely a barrel on the river, so I figure my best move is all in here: the pot is big enough to take down now, and if he wants to chase a heart then he's paying a horrible price for it.

I say I'm all in, and SB insta-calls. I turn over top set, and he turns over J9o for a turned straight.

River is a meaningless Q (just gives him an even bigger straight).

Can I get away from this hand? I can't check-raise the flop with 2 hearts out there, can I? Do I under-bet the pot? Do I massively over-bet the pot to make most any draw not worth it to call?

Live 6 max this weekend

Sunday should be interesting: one of the guys on the Microsoft poker discussion list is putting together a regular deep stack 6-max home game: $0.25/$0.50 blinds with a $100-$200 buy in.

And I honestly have no idea what to expect. I know the guy organizing it plays higher than that: he's a Tulalip $3/5 regular. And I don't know if that means he's better than $1/2 players, or that he just has the money to risk more. I mean - I never felt out matched at the $3/5 games: I don't believe there's a ton of skill difference from the average $1/2 player to the average $3/5 player.

I'm not used to short-handed play, and am not sure what types of adjustments I'll need to make. I'm honestly anticipating come out of there lighter: I'm really hoping the caliber of play is going to be higher than I usually play. I need to learn more about this game, and if I play better players I'm bound to both learn, and lose - for a time at least.

The main difference won't be the stakes, though, but the stacks: I'm not used to playing against maybe one other deep stack. I don't know how much to adjust my play because of that.

I may do some strategy reading online the next couple of days, hoping to find something that'll help me out somewhat.

Live play: Tulalip $1/$2

Over the past 1.5 months I logged 7 live sessions, with 2 wins and 5 losses for a grand total of -$257. Not great. Not horrible, but not great.

I had been playing very well, I thought. But I took last weekend off, and the week away from the tables gave me time to reflect, and found what I thought were some leaks. Well, the two major ones were: 1) playing too many hands, and 2) bluffing players who were incapable of folding top pair no kicker. Simple stuff. Basic discipline.

Tonight, I logged two wins: 1 for $676, and one for $28 (at a local casino playing $2-40 spread).

Tulalip $1/$2.

Got sat not ten minutes after arriving, which is awesome. When I got to the table, I had to ask again if it was 1/2 or 3/5: two players had over $500 in front of them. One woman had $500 in green $25 chips alone! You don't see this too often in a game with a max buy-in of $100.

Table seemed pretty gambly, which meant that the best course of action was to tighten up and pick my spots; avoid marginal hands OOP, and value bet my strong hands on every street. Standard poker.

Pot of the night:

UTG with 44, make it $6 to go and 3 of us go to the flop:

FLOP: 934 rainbow

I don't like to slow play here: I lead out $10; folds to the button who raises to $30. I'm guessing an over pair, and knowing what I know from him in the past, he'll call most anything I put out there if he's got an over pair. I raise to $80, and he re-raises to $180.

This re-raise really got me. I took my time and thought about this. I started the hand with about $320. I start to consider whether I've got the underset: whether he really has 99. I begin to wonder how deep our stacks need to be to consider folding a set here.

Once I decide to call (spread-limit, so betting is capped after the 3rd raise), I take a little time to count out the chips and figure out how to get him to call for the rest of my chips: if he's got 99 then oh well, I reload.

I say "I call, and I'm all in blind on the turn." He INSTAcalls.

TURN:
[934] 6

RIVER:
[9346] 9

Villain: shows 88 for two pair, 8's and 9's
HERO: shows 44 for a full house, 4's full of 9's.

I've played this guy like 3 times over the past couple months, and won large pots from him each time. He says that here he put me solidly on AK, and figured I was trying to push him off his hand. It's amazing that he didn't consider the fact that I could have simply had 99/TT/JJ/QQ/KK either!

Thing is: in this guy's eyes, I'm the guy that raised on the button with 64o and almost cracked his KK when I flopped 2 pair (over a month ago). In his eyes, I'm the guy who will call or raise with seemingly any two cards, and an UTG "standard" 3x's raise means AK or some odd 10-7 or 9-6 etc.

Somehow, to him, I'm the guy who tries to buy pots with big bets. He apparently hadn't noticed how locked-down I was playing this session. Of course, this was also helped by the fact that earlier in the session I re-raise-shoved on the flop with nothing but a draw, was called, and got there. Thing is, in that situation I read the hands perfectly and was a mathematical favorite to win. He saw me push with a draw; I saw me value-betting. He probably considers me reckless.

I'm happy to have this reputation! :)

Score!

Just got back from a 11+ hour session at Tulalip. I was playing fairly loose and very aggressive, which I know helped me win some big pots but also helped me lose more than I might have if I had played a bit more snug. My stack was bouncing from a low of $30 (I reloaded here) to $150 back to $75 to $250... it was a roller coaster, but I was playing poker, I wasn't just waiting for cards. Higher variance with this style (short-term), but in this game it really is the optimal way to play: it's so passive! Of course, I wouldn't have gotten the action I did had I played snugger. But I digress....

Last hand of the session, we're 7-handed, I'm in the small blind. One fold, limpers all the way to the button who raises to $12. I look down and find Jd9d. I love these types of hands, but I loathe playing them out of position. Still, 2 other limpers and me are fairly deep ($200-$300+), so I decide to call the raise and hope the rest of the limpers also call. This is the type of hand where if I miss I don't get fancy, I check-fold. And, as expected, all 6 limpers call (one limper is actually all-in with his last $12). Pot: $72.

FLOP: Jc 4c 9s

Awesome, top 2; don't like the flush draw, but that will only get there 35% of the time. I bet $50. UTG goes all-in for less. One fold, MP min-raises to $100. Folds to me.

Top 2 on a flushing board. Thing is, the guy who raised has been very quiet - hasn't played a hand in a while, and I typically see him raising with decent hands. I ask how much he's got left: $140. While I'm affraid of a set, he'd have raised pre with JJ or 99; 44 is the only hand in his range that I think is beating me. He's looking me dead in the face. He feels very strong about his hand, I can tell.

I say I need a minute. "Tell you what," he says, "you take a minute and I'm going to put these on" (referring to his sunglasses). Something doesn't seem right, I dunno. I remember back through the night; I remember him saying that QJ and AJ are two of his favorite hands. Something just... I dunno, I watched him flop 2 sets today, and -- he's just acting different than he did then. I can't pinpoint at all what's "different," but it just is.

He's actually at this point got his back turned to the table. It's almost a Phil Laak-Unibomber move. I take another second, and then remember that I'm at $1/$2 NL, and that push-monkeys will get married to TPTK.

I then say a silent prayer that he doesn't have a set, and then announce all-in. He whips off his sunglasses, stares at me, looks at his cards and thinks. With no insta-call, I know he doesn't have a set, and he either has AcKc with the flush draw, or AJ. After about 20 seconds he says, "I can't lay this down, I call."

"Top two," I say. He says "Holy s*#t, I'm way behind," and flips over the JackAce. The other two players - one had A4o, the other had J8o. Only 2 aces left that I have to dodge.

Top two hold up. I rake in a $400+ pot. This is the biggest pot I've ever won. I simultaneously bust 3 players, and the game breaks. It was 8am; I'd been playing since 8:30pm, with every intention of leaving around 1 or 2am. The game was so damn good, though, that I couldn't leave - I just couldn't!

Yea, it's an easy game when the deck smacks you upside the head - AND your opponents are willing to go broke with one pair!.

Tulalip - Two Thursday hands

Tulalip $3/$5

I've folded for 3 orbits, and observed insanely loose-passive play from most of the table, with one LAGGY raising and C-betting all but maybe one pot he's been in. He's been picking up a lot of dead money without having to show any cards. I'm UTG with KK. Awesome.

I raise to $20
Folds to Laggy in MP who calls, others fold. Pot = $48

FLOP: 6s 4c 10d
I check, hoping laggy will c-bet (like he has all but maybe 2 pots he's been in)
Laggy checks.

TURN: [6s 4c 10d] 3d
I bet $40
Laggy calls.
This looks like it could be 5-7, and I thought about this. However, I'm convinced he would have bet the flop with an OESD. (and yes, I believe 5-7 could easily have been in his range).

RIVER: [6s 4c 10d 3d] 5h
I check.
Laggy bets $50
I reluctantly call, almost certain I'm beat.

Laggy shows Ad 7h for the straight. First off, he called 4xs BB bet from an UTG player who had yet to play a hand in 45 minutes. Secondly, he made that call with A7o! FINALLY, that's right, he called $40 on the turn with a gut-shot; with the over that gave him 7 outs. Awesome call man, awesome call.

Why did I make this call when I was almost sure I was beat? He could have played AK the same way; he also could have believed I had AK, and once I checked the river it gave him the green light to make a play.

Nice thing about this evening for him: he made some awful calls on draws that hit; he's going to believe he played well, and play like that the next time too. And hopefully I'll have the privilege of sitting at his table in the future.

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2 hours later, I'm stuck, and my stack has been whittled down to ~$100. A few new players just came to the table. My table image of über-tight won't matter at all now, and the short stack makes it look like I'm either playing like crap or am super unlucky.

MP raises to $15; MP+1 calls.
I call on the button with Ac Qs.

FLOP: 9c As 5s
MP bets $30, MP+1 folds
I push for $85 more; MP insta-calls.

Board: 9c As 5s 10c 3d

MP shows Ah 10d for 2 pair.

Awesome call with top pair/OK kicker. I can't see making that call on the flop. I was so glad he did, though - I'd love to be called in that spot ever time, with the dude chasing a 3-outer. Funny thing too, when we flipped our cards over he seemed genuinely surprised that I had him out-kicked.

Cold-decks suck.

Short live session

Had the itch to play, yet had some things to do until about 10 this evening. I played a nice session online this afternoon, and felt very good about the way I was playing.

When I finally got to the Tulalip, it was about 10:40. I was actually hoping to play $1/$2, but the list was like 12 deep, and the $3/$5 was only a five minute wait: no-brainer.

It's incredible how passive the table was. A LOT of limping; a lot of limp/calling of raises, a lot of checking around on the flop and the turn... thanks to Chad for reminding me to play opposite of the table - I loosened up my starting hand requirements, got selectively aggressive, and picked up a few small pots ($20-$25).

Here's a fun hand from about mid-way through the session:

UTG raised to $15 and got 3 callers before me. With $60 in the pot, I decided to speculate witgh 5s 7s for another $10 and see what the flop will bring (I hate, hate, hate playing this type of hand OOP, but I couldn't bring myself to fold for only ten bucks more).

FLOP: Kc 6d 8d

With an OESD, I bet $40. UTG min-raises to $80. Folds around to me; another $40 for a pot almost $200 with an OESD? He has no idea what I have; he's seen me play mostly tight, and I'd bet figures I'll fold to any pressure. I'm betting he's got a flush draw - maybe AdKd or AdQd. That means I'm whittled down to 6 outs.

I call, with the awesome plan of folding to any diamond.

Turn: [Kc 6d 8d] Qs

Well hell. If he's got AK or AQ diamonds, I'm very far behind. I'm done with this hand, so I check. Oddly, he checks right behind.

?? Now I'm wondering if he's got AA or maybe even KK (top set now), trying to get me to bluff at it.

River:[Kc 6d 8d Qs] 4s

Thanks for the free card, pal. If he has anything at all he'll call a not-too-outrageous bet. I'm tempted to shove here, but also want to get called. When I sat down he had about a $800 stack (max $300 buy in), so he's either gotten very lucky, or he's very good. Erring on the side of caution, I decided "good" and decided to not over bet.

With the pot at around $200, I dial in $100. He calls so fast that I kick myself for not betting more. I show my straight, and he mucks. I asked what he had, and he said flush draw. I asked if it was king high, and he said queen high.

Talking to him, it sure didn't sound like he was putting me on a hand at all. If he's willing to call that river bet with 2nd pair, he either thinks I'm a moron, or he's just not good.

I don't care which it is, I won a nice pot with one of my favorite types of hands (just not OOP), and hopefully loosened up my rock-tight image so maybe I'll get some more action here.

-----------------------------------

Later in the session, I find Ad 10d in the cut off. I raise to $15, and the big blind - most definitely the tightest player at the table (me being 2nd tightest), so I figure he's got to have something - a pair, AK, AQ, perhaps KQs.

FLOP: Jd 5s 9d

BB bets out $20. I contemplate a raise, but if he's drawing to the flush I want him to get there, so I smooth call. I'm slightly worried that this will give away my draw, but - well, too bad. I wonder, though, if I should have raised to get more money in while I still have a big draw.

Turn: [Jd 5s 9d] 4d

Well OK, I've got the nuts. Unless the board pairs I can't be beat. With $70 in the pot, he bets out $50. Again, I contemplate raising, but I want to give him a chance to bluff on the river. I'm praying no more diamonds come as it'll probably kill my action. I take some time; I go through the mental routine of counting outs if I was still on a flush draw (though to anyone else it probably just looked like I was thinking), count out 10 red chips and push them over the line.

River: [Jd 5s 9d 4d] 8c

No diamond, but now that I think about it it's doubtful he'd have put me on runner-runner flush draw, calling his bets the way I had (he most likely realized we were the two tightest players at the table).

BB checks. God damn it, why couldn't he have bet? If he's got a flush I'd have expected him to bet. If he's got the 2nd nuts, I'd have expected him to bet. Now I have to dial in the right number again. There's approx $170 in the pot. I consider shoving, but it's very doubtful he'll call a shove, even with 2nd nuts, so instead I opt for a relatively small number: $50. If he's got a flush, this has got to look like a weak bet, and maybe even something like a pair or a set.

... and he folds...

I wonder what he had; I wonder too if my bet was so small that it was too obvious that I wanted a call. I figured he wouldn't have been betting the turn that strongly without the 2nd nuts, so I think he's got KdQd or KdJd. I figure he's got to put me on a flush, but since he's not holding the Ad he's got to be worried that I might.

As I mucked, I said to him "I had it." I didn't show it, just said it. Someone else asked him what he had, and he said "second nuts." I can't imagine folding the 2nd nuts to that bet on the river.

Live games rule

If you read my post about my first Tulalip trip, you know what happened when I made the worst call of my life. Scariest thing about that hand was that I had pocket aces, under the gun, and got like 5 callers when I made a standard 3x's blind raise.

SO in a very spur-of-the-moment decision, last night I decided to head to Tulalip (was going to go Sunday afternoon, but that indeterminable "something" pushed me into action last night). Long wait for 1/2; short wait (2nd on list) for 3/5. So within 5 minutes I'm sitting at the 3/5 table; max buy in is $300, I started with $200. (side note: maybe I'm becoming an action-junkie, but I'd much rather play 3/5 than 1/2 - something a year and a half ago I didn't think I'd hear myself say)

I sit down UTG, and I look at my cards - one red ace, one black ace. I immediately have flashbacks to what happened last week. I'm sitting in the same seat (seat 7), though different table. I don't know a thing about this table yet - don't know what "standard raise" is, don't know how loose/tight/good/bad they were. I decided on the higher-end of the probable raise-spectrum: I raised to $20. Wouldn't you know it, I get 5 callers!!

In my head I'm preparing myself to be able to let go of these aces if the flop or turn is scary. Unlike last week when I was married to my aces, this time I was scared of them. It's kinda like the first time I held a gun - it felt good to hold it, but also made me nervous. Aces are powerful.

$120 in the pot; flop comes AsKc3s. BINGO!! Big blind checks. I look at the pot, look at my stack, and mutter something about not having enough ammo for the turn if I pot bet the flop, so I just shove all-in. Folds to the big blind, who asks for a count (that was easy - $180), and then calls. I turn to him and say, "flush draw?" Shakes his head yes. He's got Ks7s. All I have to do is dodge the 35 spades left in the deck, and I've more than doubled on my first hand. Turn is red, river is black - but a club. *phew* Doubled+ with pot A.

The table was really weird - quite passive; so much limping. Very abc players, too: bet if they had it, mucked if they didn't. When I was in position with even a moderately OK hand and there were several limpers, I'd often put a raise in (3x's bb + however many limpers there were), and that would usually be enough to take down a $20 or $25 pot preflop without a confrontation. You had to be careful, though, of EP raises: they would often times build into a monster pot as after one or two callers, people were I guess thinking they were getting odds with ATC.

Best play of the night: I'm in the cutoff with J10. A couple limpers, so I join in the fun and limp too. BB checks his option, and 5 of us see the flop. FLOP: 89x. Checks to me, I bet $15 (OESD to the nuts!). BB calls (he's been in most every hand and chases), all others fold. Turn a blank. BB checks; I bet out $35, he calls.

Here's where live poker rules over online... River is an ace. If I wasn't watching the guy, I would have thought this was an awful card for me: I've seen him call down one hand with bottom pair + an ace. Online I'd have no idea what to do here: if checked to, I would probably check behind, playing it safe. But I wasn't playing online: as the ace falls off, this guy visibly slouches and looks super disappointed; it was obvious to anyone who watched is body and his face that he certainly did not like that ace out there (I wouldn't be surprised if he'd been on the same draw I was actually). He checks, I fire like $75 or something out there, and he mucks. He was such an abc player that when he didn't bet the ace I knew he didn't have it. His physical mannerisms just drove the point home. I earned that pot damnit!!! With J10o. :)

...incidentally, I had aces one other time, in MP. After one limper I raised to $25 ($5 more than my standard raise would've been if I were in position), and got no callers. I was surprised, guess that was too much. The table had possibly noticed, though, that most times I raised preflop I ended up dragging in chips. Or they all just had rags. :)

After a little see-sawing back and forth, I ended up cashing out $550. Short session, about 4 hours. I'm happy with $350 in 4 hours! I left even though the game was really good - I had a good line on all but 2 players (the 2 new players that just sat down). The game was SO soft. I opened up my game a lot more than usual from position because the table was so passive I knew most any significant bet on the flop, if the action before me was right, would take down the pot. I knew who to stay away from at the table (Mr. TightNit in seat 2); I knew who would be willing to double me up with middle pair (Mr. Overbettor in seat 9, who was about $800 deep)...

And yet I walked away. Why? Because for whatever reason, I started to get nervous about putting chips into the pot. Maybe it was results-oriented thinking.... I had a nice profit, and I didn't want to blow it? I dunno... I never had that type of thinking in Vegas; maybe because I was stuck so bad from last week? Whatever reason, something in me decided I wouldn't be playing great poker at that point, and I made the best decision possible: when the blinds came around to me I cashed out.

Live poker is so rigged

note to self: if a good opponent whom you've witnessed really only raising or folding is smooth calling your very large bets, there's a VERY GOOD CHANCE you're already beat.

played at the Tulalip this evening -- they had 1/2 with a max $100 buy in. That didn't sound like enough - only 50 BB's, so I opted for the 3/5 max 300 buy in. Yes, yes, yes I know - 60 big blinds, but I wanted the bigger action. My experience in Vegas playing $1/3 at Ceasar's which played more like a 2/5 game vs the 1/2 at the Venetian that played like a...well... a 1/2 game, I enjoyed the bigger action. I've got the money these days, so I might as well play for bigger stakes, and make it easier to beat the rake.

I'd been there a bout 2 hours; played very VERY tight; had c-bets picked off by 2 uber-aggressive players whom I was hoping at some point to use their aggression against them. My $300 buy in was whittled down slowly to just about $175, when this hand happened:

UTG, a VERY loosey-goosey player, upped it to one of the two "standard raises" for the table: $20 ($15 was the other standard). I find 88 in MP, and figure if no A, K, or Q hits the flop I'll take it down with a shove-raise, because I know he's going to c-bet. We get two more callers tagging along, one 2 to my right and one on the button (who is a very good, thinking, tricky player).

FLOP: 389 rainbow.

I immediately start trying to decide how to extract the most out of this hand, when UTG announces all-in. WOOOOOO!!!!!! Thanks for doin' my work for me, buddy! I didn't think the other guy would be calling anyway, but in case he did I wanted him to get all his chips in there, so I shoved as well. Amazingly enough, the next guy calls (I've got him and UTG covered)!!! Button-boy lays it down. Nice thing about Tulalip is they make you turn your cards over before they deal the rest of the cards in all-in situations, so we flipped our cards over. UTG had AJo (drawing dead); other dude has 34!!! He's looking for runner-runner something. That doesn't happen, and I take down a big pot, pushing my chip count to over $400. (at this point I immediately have the thought I should just take my profit and go home, OR go to the 1/2 game - this particular game is a tough game... )

SO a few hands later I'm UTG, and find AA. WOOOOO! I want to raise, but I don't want to call attention to my strength (plus I want some action!). I'd been raising 3x's the bb in ep/mp; and 4x's in lp (unless there were limpers in which case I'd raise it 3+(number of limpers)xbb, so I make it $15 to go. I get 4 callers. No exactly thrilled about going into a 5-way pot with aces.

Flop seems harmless -
K37 rainbow. BB checks; I bet out $50 (2/3 pot); then something peculiar happens: the toughest guy at the table, the guy who I have tried desperately to stay out of his way, makes the call from the button. I'm thinking possibly AK or KQ. Oddly still, is that the BB then calls. I have NO idea what he has, but I'm pretty sure I have him beat. I'm putting the button on a delayed-steal attempt.

Turn: blank. BB checks; I fire $100, and button-boy calls after the briefest hesitation. Then the BB calls! Last card: 7. There are now 3 clubs on the board, and 2 7's. Anyone playing 2 clubs or one or more 7's has me beat. BB goes all-in for his remaining $42. I smooth-call, in the hopes that button-boy is not too confident about his hand and mucks or at least doesn't raise.... no such luck. He shoved. I took a good 5 minutes to figure out what to do here, AND I MADE THE WORST CALL OF MY LIFE!!! I got married to my aces. The alarm bells just didn't go off loud enough or soon enough - why is a good, very aggressive player smooth calling my large bets (especially in light of how I played other hands). I should have figured that one of them has GOT to have me beat.... but instead, I'm married to my aces and call.

Button boy shows 33, for a flopped set and a rivered boat. Other dude had a Kx clubs, and rivered the flush, so my aces ended up being in last place.


I rebuy, and start playing well. I push my initial stack from $200 up to just under $300 with a few bets/raises/steals (I've become a little more aggressive now), when on the button I find AA. There have been 4 limpers, so I raise to $40. Blinds fold; MP dude (who just sat down fairly recently, has a fairly short stack - not even 150 - and didn't witness my cracked aces and should think I'm super-tight as I've been folding away for the past 20 minutes) makes the call. It's so hard for me to understand how you limp for $5 then call $35 more, but hey - more power to ya. Others fold, we're heads-up.

Flop: 4 10 4 all red. MP dude checks, I bet $75 (just under pot); he check/raises all-in! I've got to call $74 more. As I'm making the call, I announce to the table, "If this happens again, I'm leaving." Dude flips over 108o!! I can hear fuel55 now: "top pair is gold!" Turn is: an 8. And the river is.... yep - another 8. Runner-runner for a boat to crack the aces, holding complete rags and check/raise/shoving into an opponent who's really been playing super-tight. "Nice hand sir," I say, "very well played." I smile, wish the table good luck, and rack my chips and get the hell outta dodge! I swear if I avoided the one dude at the table, the rest of them were begging to give their chips away! But after the 2nd aces cracked, I was feeling very very tilty, and knew my image would be that of a punching bag, so I figured my best bet would be to high-tail it out of there. I don't believe I was on an unlucky streak, but I wasn't terribly fond of the table image I probably had at that point.

I'm tellin' ya - with patience, and some brains, that game would not be that tough to beat. I know two major leaks I have:
- getting married to a powerhouse hand and being unable to get rid of it, despite all the evidence that it's now beat
- tilting after taking beats.

I will be out there next weekend, and I will try the 1/2 tables and see how those games are -- there's a definite style difference between the PNW, AC, and Vegas, and I need to acclimate to the PNW style, so I should start smaller next time. Hell, maybe I'll go back tomorrow. Eh, I'll probably stay home and try some tilt tournaments.

How NOT to play 2 pair

Caesar's $1/$3 game; was playing more like a 2/5 game (average preflop raise was $15) with a $500 max buy in. Fairly aggressive, but were still a number of limped pots.

Setup:
I had played the day before with Villain, who was an OK player, but had a tendency to misread player's hands (which is why I was able to win a big pot from him with AJ vs his A10 when 2 aces hit the flop). He had backed down to my reraise twice (I re-raised so seldom I don't think anyone called my re-raises). I know he remembered all this because he mentioned bits and pieces of these during the few hours we played on Sunday. Villain is in the BB

When no one shows any aggression off the bat, the table became very limp friendly, so I thought nothing at all of limping on the button with 45s. 5 to the flop:

A 4 5 rainbow.

SB checks
Villain bets $10
folds to me, I pop it to $40.
Fold to Villain
after a slight consideration, he pops it to $100.

I'm confused, as while he could have 23 in the limped pot, I would guess he'd want to keep me around to the turn & would call then push the turn. I take a lot of time on this, talk to him a bit, and he says "big blind special."

I call.
editorial: this is by far and away the worst thing I could have done. At this point, I have bottom two pair in a limped pot and only $43 invested. I really have only two options here: I fold and take the loss, or I push my two pair. Calling is awful because unless another 4 or 5 falls on the turn I'm going to be in the same predicament, only with more money invested. My only other option would be to not have re-raised his initial bet.

Turn: Qc
Villain announces all-in.

THIS, of course, is the problem with calling the large bet on the flop. I didn't have a plan when I called that bet; if a 4 or 5 fell on the turn, then obviously I'm good, but what about a blank? Calling that flop raise gave him the license to represent any number of hands.

What happened was that I invested one small bet in hopes of flopping big; when I flopped big but got played back at I made an incorrect decision: calling his re-raise was wrong. I ended up folding, and thus losing almost $150 on a 45s.

I wish the story ended there....

After he announced all-in, I was trying to pick up something from him; I even flipped my cards over in order to try to get something from him; I was so caught up in the adrenaline that my typically rock-solid observation skills were shot. After I folded and the pot was pushed to him, he showed me his hand:

45o.

Now, I can understand that to an extent -- if he wanted to put me on tilt a bit, then that was a perfect way to do so. Thing is, immediately after collecting that pot, he racked up his chips and left the table. As he was racking the chips I even said to him, "Dude, that was like rubbing salt into the wound, I wish you hadn't shown me what you had." He responded, almost in anger, that he had told me he got a BB special and he couldn't put me on the hand that I had.

No kidding. I played tight enough that no one would be able to put me on that type of hand (though I did play them and took down pots with them but not needing to show the hands).

Lessons learned:
1. don't call with that type of hand in that position with that flop action, as the turn will rarely bring about a "good card," as there are so few left in the deck. Some may think I should have folded after the re-raise on the flop, but I'm still of the opinion that pushing here was the right move. I bet we would have chopped the pot, and moved on.
2. always have a plan with a hand: if you're playing 64s and flop an OESD know what you're going to do or how far you're willing to go with it on the flop; if you have ATC and flop two pair have a plan of what you're going to do when you flop a draw, flop just one pair, etc etc.

Always go into a hand with a plan. Sure, the plan can change on the fly with the cards in play and action in front of you, but you've got to have some sort of plan. And tell the consistent story.

Poorly played hand, and I still wish that dude hadn't shown me his hand -- he had no reason in the world to except to rub-in the fact that he outplayed me. And as I said, since he was leaving the table it wasn't even a tactical move on his part to tilt me: he's not going to benefit from me being on tilt after he leaves. He was, basically, being a dick. I guess you'll find that at the poker tables at times.