Live Poker

So I played in my first live tournament, NL Hold 'em. It had re-buys the first two rounds and an add-on before the third round. Not use to that format I folded a couple of big hands because of big bets. The best example is the following:
I was next to the Big Blind and had AKs (round 2 blings 15/30), I raise to 130. One caller then an All-in and an All-in behind him which would actually raise it. Now the first guy to go all-in had gone all-in before with Aces and I called with Kings and I caught a King on the flop to force him to re-buy. He had about 540 in chips and the other guy had about 700-800. I had both covered his all-in scared me out. Had I realized I could re-buy I would have called but instead I folded. They flip their cards over and before the flop comes I had both totally dominated. (SHIT!) So the flop comes with two spades, turn the third spade! (DOUBLE SHIT!!) I beat them both in the imaginary world of if I had only had some balls. I was big chip stack at the table before we got split up, without re-buys or add-ons by the way. I saw no point in buying 1000 more chips when I already had a big stack. Retrospect maybe I should have but it didn't feel right at the time. Anyhow, I got moved as people started dropping and was moved to a bad table. The guys next to me smelled like they just walked out of an alley and a distillery repsectively. Plus the table was a pai gow (or something other than poker table) which I couldn't understand because the casino had plenty of poker tables. I ended up on tilt because of these factors I think and lost a monster pot on a straight draw. I got moved again after that to a much nicer table. But by that point the blinds and antes were starting to eat away at me too much. SO I went all-in with 7s and was called by a guy with AK. Well he caught a K on the turn and I went home after about two hours and 20 minutes. No idea what I placed and it really doesn't matter since I lost but I learned a lot. I think as long as I can take away a new piece of knowledge about the game, I'm just investing into the future. Next time I'll know to call big bets if the re-buy option is there, chances are, I'll win and not have to re-buy. I can be more aggressive, which is how I play anyway. I think I'll go again soon, its a weekly tournament so I'll maybe become a regular in it. Until next time, keep winning, unless you're playing me.

Position, Position, Position.

In real estate or any good business, the motto is "location, location, location". And I'm sure it sounds cliche but it is not only true but very important for poker players to know, "position, position, position".

In Doyle Brunson's Super System he describes how he plays particular hands and how he would potentially play them from various positions. He is very specific about AA, KK, AKs, QQ, "small" pairs (Jacks or lower) and suited connectors. He goes on to say any hand he explicitly did not mention he throws away. Of course this is very general because if he played exactly that way he would not be the legend he is. David Sklansky takes it a step further in Hold 'em: For Advanced Players. He places starting hands into groups: AA, KK, QQ, AKs are groups 1 and so on. Sklansky then describes when to play each group (I have yet to reach the part where he says how to play those hands. But the thing I got from both is position, also something that finally became clear when I sat down at a live table.

I sat down to play three times last night and I'll start with the last first. I had just played in a grueling tournament for two hours and couldn't fall asleep so I sat back down at a $50 max buy-in table (NL of course). It was a full table, or ring game as Mr. Brunson likes to say. So I used the combined knowlegde of position and card selection and as if it were a perfect world it worked. In fact, once I established a table image, I had complete control. The table was tight so I played loose and mostly stole blinds (too many people folding to even the slightest pre-flop raise). I was also getting good cards so that helped. I lost a few hands but that really helped me more than anything because it got people to call more. I was down to about $25 when I got hot and not even with great cards, mostly I just used the word of the day, "position". I turned things around and by the time the last person left the table I was up about $21 (the cost of the tourny I entered earlier). An example of using my position was I limped- in with nothing and the button after about 6 callers. I think I had 9 4 offsuit (yeah a real power hand). Anyway, the flop comes rainbow 2 Q J. Checks around to me, I bet the pot. I get one caller. Blank on the river, check to me, I bet half the pot and take it down. Aggression and position. Got to love it.

So the first time I sat down, I was thawing chicken and decided to entertain myself (ADD kicked in). Second hand I get pocket rockets. Usually I lose with the aces so I raised to $3. Oh yeah, blinds are $.50/1 NL $100 max buy-in. I get one caller (there were about 5 callers of the big blind). The flop comes 2c 10s 6h (or something like that, can't remember suits). I bet $10, the guy calls, I'm thinking Kings or maybe he played a Brunson? Turn is a deuce, so again I bet the pot, he calls. Now I'm thinking he's an idiot or has some magic cards. The river comes a magical Ace giving me the boat, I thinking this guy has a lot in this pot and he is representing a strong hand, so I go all-in with $53 (mind you this is my second hand). HE CALLS! Of course I take the pot and he mucks. On my fifth hand I bring down another monster pot and decide that the chicken has to be thawed by now. So six hands $150 up and I'm out like Seacrest. Now I know this doesn't happen all the time and that I happened to catch good cards and people willing to call, but I had to share the beauty of no-limit hold 'em.

Final story and then class will be dismissed. So all my poker talk has been about NL Texas Hold 'Em which happens to be the most popular thing out there right now. On the way back from OKC, I was reading Card Player magazine (and Brunson talked about it too in his book) about giving action to several types of games and being versatile. So last night I decided to play 7 card stud in a tournament (the $7000 Guarantee on PP). I'm not a stud player so I quickly scanned over what Super System had to say before I sat down in such a tournament. I mainly browsed the starting hand section and walked away not feeling like I had some mystical formula or anything, but for $20 what the heck. 376 was the final total of entrants raising the prize pool to $7520 with the top 40 receiving money. One thing I did read was being careful of your "position" in relation to the person bringing it. I more or less dominated my table and was chip leader (of my table) heading into hour two. Blinds were getting big so the weaker players were finally getting knocked out (it took about an hour an fifteen before the first person got knocked out on my table). Then it was a mass exodus and people with bigger stacks than me showed up. No longer the big stack I tightened game. Then the big stack (12000) knocked out two in one hand closing my table. I got shipped to a table where I was about mid stack with 3400. I won a couple of small pots, but got sucked into one that dropped me to about 1200. The guy only brought it in for 50 with a 4 showing. It folds around to me and I have a pair of 6s with an 8. I complete hoping to steal the antes. Nope he calls (not to mention I'm chip dominated). He gets a 2 and I got a 9, he bets 200, I call (should have raised). Junk for him again, he bets, I raise, he re-raises and I'm all-in. He has only a pair of 5s. Then he catches a 2 on the end for two pair and I'm sent home (wait I was already home...). Needless to say, I finished 76 out of 376, which I feel good about since stud isn't "my game". Just shy of the money but I felt like I played well and I had a good time so.

Be a Winner at Winstar

So I recently had to go to Oklahoma for some top secret stuff that I cannot disclose for fear of people knowing why I was there. Regardless, I finally gathered up the jewels to enter into a casino and play poker. I felt that with Gus's glowing review of said facility and with a partner in crime (my wife), I would be able to sit and play. For some reason I have been really nervous about playing live, I mean I play with friends and stuff, but the thought of really playing was intimidating. It took about 30 minutes to get on a table, $1/2 no-limit. The minimum buy-in was $100 and having read part of Brunson's book I knew I should start with more. I didn't fully take his advice and plop down a grand or so but I did ask for $160 in chips. This way I had some breathing room if I botched a few hands from nerves and it kept me from being low stack. I sat back and gathered intel for about five or six hands. I played one hand fairly cheaply and lost about $5 on a bad bluff on the end (looking back I played the whole hand wrong but I learned). A couple hands later I finally got my feet wet, and lost a monster pot. I had QJ and the button and just limped-in for the big blind after about 6 callers. (too many people in the pot for that hand) The flop left me with top pair with Jacks and a straight draw. Although I bet after it was checked to me, I apparently didn't bet big enough. One man called with a flush draw. I think the turn was a blank, so I bet again and again bet small enough for the other guy to stay in. The river comes the K and gives me the best straight possible (with the available cards). The old man bets $35 and I thought, either he is trying to steal the pot or he has two pair. I waited and as I was calling someone said he caught his flush...... Oh shit. He did. And I lost about $60 or should I say I bought my first lesson on position and the value of raising pre-flop. After that I went back to basics and playing good hard poker. I had already evaluated the table and decided to use that to my advantage. Most everyone was very tight, so I went aggressive. Most of the pots went down to this guy two to my left and me. I used my position on him when I could, played a few odd hands just to keep him and the table guessing and raised a lot. All in all, I played for about 3 and a half hours and walked out with $369. It looks like my reading books and studying the game paid off. It makes me eager to get back to a live game as opposed to internet. I felt as though I got a much better read on my opponents and it felt more natural touching the cards and chips. Oh yeah a note for Gus, Amarillo Slim was there at the table next to mine. He was playing $5/10 no-limit. And there was A LOT of money on that table, the guy next to him left for about 45 minutes and they were about to collect his chips and sit another player and I heard them say that man had $1300 in chips. So I looked at Slim's stack and he had about ten full stacks of the green chips and several more of the red $5 chips, I think the other guy had at most two stacks of green.

3X Clean, 3X Awesome!!!

3X Clean Guaranteed. This is what my Old Spice body wash says on the outside. Yes, I use body wash and I use one of those scrunchy things. It is nicer than using a community bar of soap with pubes on it. Anyway, what does it mean 3X clean? Does it mean it gets you three times cleaner than normal soap? If so, does that mean normal soap really doesn't get you that clean? Or does it mean you are extra clean, like 3X clean when you're done? Would I have to take three showers with normal soap to get this clean or is it on a sliding scale? Can I brag to my friends that I am three times cleaner than they? Does this mean I only need to shower every three days? What if I get 3X dirty? Do I need to shower three times with my 3X clean soap to achieve the 3X clean sensation? Should I write the people at Old Spice and ask them what 3X Clean guaranteed means? Do I need to do a study to see if I actually achieve the 3X clean level in say a double blind experiment? And upon those results contact Old Spice and receive my guarantee. Wait, what is the guarantee? Is it a money back guarantee? I just don't understand what it means to be 3X clean, but I will say I smell good after a shower.