Horses and Donkeys

Horses and Donkeys

You can lead a horse to water, but only a donkey will follow you to the river.

Running Good

Two good finishes yesterday., 3rd place in 7 stud tournament and 15th in huge tournament (paid 27 places). Discovered that not all button raises are a cheap attempt to steal my blinds...defended with A/8 vs AK...oh well.

Trouble with the Ladies

Busted twice late in two Omaha tournaments with pocket aces vs. pocket queens. Safe to the river then they both caught their 2 outers! One actually had more outs as a 6 would have made a straight, but still......

Results have been very good lately, with lots of very deep runs, final tables and one cash plus lots of points to enter more tournaments (spade club).

Merry Christmas to all!!!!!

Knock Knock Joke

Ralph: Knock Knock
Sally: Who's There?
Ralph: Control Freak.- Now you say "Control Freak Who?".

Christmas Spirit (Mountain)

Last Saturday was my big day at Spirit Mountain. Arriving at noon I sat down at a 3/6 game and was totally card dead. The player to my immediate right hit two high hands in a row for a $600 win ($300 every half hour...both cards do not need to play). When a seat opened up on the 4/8 game I switched tables figuring that I wanted to stay on a low limit table in order to chase the high hands, but also wanting to play a high enough limit to beat the rake. 12 hours later, I had broken even thanks to hitting quad aces for a high hand. Ended up spending the night at the lodge, nice room and covered it with my comps. A good day gambling, but could have quit once when I was about $250 ahead. My "lesson Learned" is that if you make $200 playing poker that is equivalent to a $75,000 a year job ($200 x 5 = 1,000/week = $48,000 year pretax). I am planning to quit anytime I am $200 + ahead for the immediate future.

Good Player or Bad Player Quiz

Today I have a quiz for you. You must decide whether my opponent is a good player or bad player. To give you some history with this player, he is the one who knocked me out of our local (Cannon Beach) "Tournament of Champions" last year on the first hand. If you recall, I raised preflop with pocket 4's, caught a monster flop of 6/6/4, and was reraised by this particular player with his pocket kings because, in his words, "I don't think you have aces", and refused to lay it down despite my reraise all-in with the statement, "don't call me if you like pizza", referring to the free pizza being served at the first break. He called, and the river brought another 6 to knock me out.

Anyway, last night I was playing tight, had won one small pot with pocket 8's (one opponent folded after flop) when I bet out on a 10/10/6 flop. I then pick up pocket kings in middle position with one limper (the villain previously described). With the blinds at 40/80, I make it $350 to go, and everyone folds except the limper who calls. The flop is excellent for me, queen high, with a 10 and another small card, rainbow. He checks, and I bet $800 into the $800 pot. He raises me to $1600 and I question him. "Queen Ten?, I can't beat 2 pair". I then, reraise him all-in. I am not sure of the total reraise, but we started with 2200 and I probably had about a 600 raise. He kind of does some math and calls. When we turn over our cards, he says, "I put you on a small pair". He then proceeds to deal himself (he was the dealer) a 7 to go with his queen/seven suited that he called my raise with, and reraised me, and called my all-in with. I was stunned but not surprised as he usually does go in with the worst hand and gets lucky.

So, my questions are:

1. How bad is his play?
2. How bad is his read?
3. Did I bet too much on the flop? I was representing perhaps what he thought I had, so maybe with a bad player I should have made a more suspicious bet, like maybe 1/3 of the pot, so if he reraised me, then I could push all-in and get a fold. The reason I bet what I did was that I was still worried about a medium or strong ace catching up, which is what I put him on.
4. I think I played it about right and just got unlucky. I got the desired result, all-in with the best hand so what better scenario than that?

Please post your comments...analysis

I Hate Canines (King/nine, or K9)

Today I have been knocked out of two tournaments with K9 vs KQ and KA. The morning moose tournament I raised preflop with my KQ suited and was called by "Dirt Farmer" with a big stack and K/9 suited. The flop K/9/7, he checked (big blind), and I went all-in for pot size. He insta called and I was gone. Twenty minutes later, in an online game, I raise from the small blind with Ak and am called by....K9 offsuit. The flop has some middle cards, 6,7, ten high and I bet 300, he calls. The turn, king, I shove, he calls. River hits an eight for the straight with his 9. Just some really bad luck.

I have turned the corner on tournament play though with 2 online cashes (60th out of 1700, and 2nd out of 134). One of the wins (2nd) was just for a free year's subscription to Card Player magazine, but that is cool. I also place 2nd in the 10 a.m. Moose Friday for a $150 win. Cash games not so good with a small ($100 loss) marathon Saturday game. I felt o.k. with it, but could have quit a couple of hours earlier for a small win. Late Sat. nite play is just....crazy. When you have Tony, Miguel and Latif in the game it can get wild. I watched Tony go from $300 buy in to $700 to the felt. Miguel came in with $300 and had $700 in front of him when I left. Here is an example: Too Tight Randy raises preflop, rut-row! I envision aces, so I immediately muck my A10. Miguel calls with 8/3 offsuit and flops two pair then rivers the boat despite $20 bets to the river. Sick. I only survived by playing extremely tight and pushing hard when I connected. Of course, the problem with this type of play in this type of game is that it is like playing with your cards face up. Someone raised to $7 preflop with one caller and I reraised to $27 with pocket aces and everyone folded. But, just ask Randy how it feels to let them in cheap and get snapped by the 8/3. I will take the small win every time rather than try to trap.

Pulling Out of My Slump

Things are not well yet with my poker game. I am working hard to identify my "leaks" and weaknesses. There is an excellent site called mzonereport.com that will evaluate your play based on the data they pull from all the internet sites. I must warn you though that it is fairly disturbing to see how the statistics view you. I cannot reveal what the stats told me about my game cause too many of you play against me sometimes, but suffice it to say I am making some changes that you may notice. You can subscribe to their service and view other players' tendencies as well, but will wait to see if I think it is worth it.

Update: tonight's cash game worked out for me. After two- one hundred dollar buyins, I cashed out for $328. That was pretty much my peak of winnings, so good timing. Aces cracked by 4/7 offsuit, but made some of it back on the side pot.

Placed 8th in 18 person SNG online. On final table, I open raised with AK suited, was called by A6 suited, reraised by pocket queens, and re-reraised by pocket 10's who had the biggest stack at the table. I knew it was a sick pot, but just too big to fold...whoever won the pot would have about half the chips at the table. We ended up 4 handed all-in and the flop was terrible: 4/4/10 for the flopped full house. The A6 of hearts ended up making a meaningless flush on the river and the queens missed. Maybe next time I will let the other 3 have at it and wait for a better opportunity.

Legionnaire's Disease

Well, Friday night at the American Legion. I have been playing poker literally all day and frankly not exactly lighting it up if you know what I mean. My best finish was 5th place in a 7 card stud game (97 players), but just getting trounced in holdem. I briefly think about not even playing as just not feeling the love, but it is sort of a ritual, and I do like many of the players there, so here goes.

I manage to not lose all my chips early on with pocket jacks (versus KK and a turned flush), and actually only lose 160 chips. Please see attached youtube video on how to play jacks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP9CBtSW0kA&feature=related

Basically running card dead and tired of seeing every possible combination of small cards with a three (7/3, 8/3, 6/3, etc.). I shove a couple of times with big aces and get lucky with either folds or one double up, my A/7 vs. K/10 suited. We are down to two shorthanded tables, but I am definitely the shortest stack with blinds of 300/600, in the big blind with 900 behind. The luckiest player at the table, Carl, is dealing and he has just knocked out another player who slow played his flopped two pair, aces up vs. Carl's QQ. Carl of course hits his two outer on the turn.

I am in the big blind with 300/600 blinds and only 900 behind. A late transfer to our table holds the game up on the button, and he finally limps in. Carl was just enquiring as to my chip count before he showed up, so I am expecting a raise to put me all in...which is just fine with me with ace/ten. Carl disappoints by just completing and I sense the futility of shoving, so I check my option. The flop is 10/j/q with two clubs. This gives me bottom pair, gutshot straight draw and backdoor nut flush with my ace of clubs. Excellent. I shove my last 900 in and both players call, giving me a great shot at tripling up. They both knock the meaningless turn card, and when the 8 hits on the river Carl bets 2000. RUT-ROW! The other player comments that he believes Carl hit his straight, which he did with a 9/4 offsuit!!! Carl hits his unbelievable 4 outer (although he believed he had 8 outs, the king would give me the nut straight), however I may have been beaten by the button as well. Just not my day.

Haunted by Donkeys

Like the movie, "The Sixth Sense", I am haunted by donkeys everywhere. At the Legion tournament last night my problems began when I agreed to deal as well as play. It is very distracting to me, and I never cash when I deal. Nonetheless, no one else wanted to, so I took the $10 playing discount and the 3 free drink tickets and dealt table 2. I took a couple of early pots, so I imagined the curse was off (did I mention the date? Friday the 13th). My first problem was limping in with 8/9 offsuit...one of my favorites. The flop had a 9 & 10 with two of a suit. It was checked to me and I bet second pair with the button, immediately to my right calling me. The turn was a blank, so I bet again, with another call. When the third diamond hit the river....thanks dealer (oops, that's me), I checked. The caller bet $400 into the $600 pot and I suspected a missed straight draw (turned out that was true), so I check raised to $1200 which he called with the Q/J of diamonds. He was on a straight (flush) draw, and made the flush. He didn't reraise me without the nuts, but it left me with only $1000 in chips. Here is where the donkey part comes in, though one could argue that my check raise was a donkey play. We broke one of the tables and went down to the final 2. A couple of plays into it, with 100/200 blinds, I pushed with QJ offsuit. Yes, you could argue that it was a donkey move, but with only 5 times the blind, and opening the pot for an 800 raise, I thought I had a good chance of everyone folding. However, one of the bigger donkeys in our game had a decent stack, not huge, but maybe 5000, and made the call with A/10 offsuit!!! That has got to be a huge donkey call. What is he expecting to see? I will push with many aces, true, but probably with AJ or better, or any pair. As it was, I had 2 live cards, flopped an open ended straight draw, and he had only one overcard...which ended up being the best hand. Rats!

My next donkey story was an online 45 person SNG. We were down to around 18 players, and I had the 5th largest stack, around 6500. The second chip leader was at my table with around 10,000. He had been playing very donkish all along, playing virtually every hand and calling big bets with marginal hands, but getting very lucky. I was under the gun with pocket 10's and I mini-raised the BB (200) up to 400. I realize this is not a huge raise, but an UTG raise from someone who doesn't play many pots is usually a big red flag for everyone. True to form, the donk, on the button, called me which encouraged the small and big blinds to call as well. The flop was excellent, 9 high and rainbow, with no connectors. Check, check, bet pot, call, fold, fold. The turn, another small card, pot bet, raise, reraise allin, call. River pairs the 5 on the board which actually came as some relief to me as I thought he may have flopped two odd pairs and gotten counterfeited, or was holding two overcards hoping to hit. He had called 400 cold with 9/5 suited and flopped two pair, then rivered the full house. I was out. In retrospect, I may have underbet preflop, but got exactly the flop I wanted to get the A/9's, or smaller pocket pair's chips. I still think his call was donkey, even though it was only 4% of his chips.

Update on Poker

It has been a while since I have written, so here goes. My week in the Tri-Cities was fairly disastrous. I had one bad loss in the cash games, and my only wins were smallish ones, with two cashes in the 10 a.m. tournaments. The last morning tournament was played with a maniac who was calling any raises with absolute junk and getting blind lucky. I missed my big opportunity with 5 players remaining when he went allin with pocket 2's. I laid down my pocket jacks because I was 2nd largest chip stack and there were at least 2 short stacks that I felt would bust out shortly. I reasoned that moving up in the payout was worth folding versus a possible coinflip situation. Oh well.

At Wildhorse, I made a last minute decision to play in the first hold em tournament. I was getting very poor cards, and frankly not playing too well. I also managed to lose a big chunk in the Omaha 4/8 kill game. One player could not lose, and had at least a $1000 in front of him. I tried to play fairly tight, but just could not get draws to come in or good flops to hold up.

On Thursday, my good friend Bob and I played in the horse tournament. I had a fair run on the omaha game before & after the tournament, paying for about 1/2 my buyin. My last hand was a holdem against a pro, Debbie Leinhos. She raised preflop (she raised a lot), and I called in the blind with Q/10 offsuit. The flop was Q/10/x, and I check/called as there was another player involved and did not want to drive him off. She bet, we both called. The turn was a 9, and when she bet after my check, I reraised all in. She had K/J for the turned straight and I was gone.

Light at The End of The Tunnel?

This week has been a mixed one for me. Other than Tuesday's 2/20 debacle, it has been a fairly break even week. Last night I won $35 in a really good 2/20 game, then played in the omaha tournament, getting my money back for 4th place. I have played in two morning Moose tournaments, and haven't done so well in either. I do feel that I am playing fairly well, but made a couple of major goofs this morning. I raised under the gun with pocket 6's, and an extremely loose, very lucky big stack called, then called another 600 from a short stack all-in with pocket 4's over my call. We were on the bubble for the final table, so instead of checking down to get him out, he bet when hit his straight. My best play would have been to reraise the all-in as an isolation, as it would not have cost me any more...but I would have been out had the loose big stack called.

It Continues

I have played in at least 8 tournaments today and the best I have done is 11th place in a 100 person omaha tournament. My stay at the American Legion tonight was about 45 minutes. I won one hand with a semi bluff, small pot. I then lost half my chips with A/10 to a flush chaser with 2nd pair (king} (I turned the ace), and he rivered the flush. My last hand? Pocket 9's in the big blind calling a preflop raise with one other caller. Flop came ragged jack high with two spades and I pushed my last 1000 chips. A very poor player called my all in, so I immediately put her on AJ or KJ. When the original raiser came over the top I put him on queens, kings, or aces. The other caller put all of her chips in. When we turned over our cards I saw the AJ as suspected, and pocket kings, with the king of spades. Another spade on the turn left me drawing to one out which did not come.

In rethinking the hand, my initial thought was that the original raiser probably had a range that could have included any pair (cutoff position) or two face cards, king queen or bigger. The odds are better that it was AK or AQ, and with "only" 5 pairs ahead of my hand, I leaned to two big cards. With the other limp/caller in the mix I probably should have check/folded, but really thought my hand was too strong to play it that way. If I had reraised the original raiser, we probably would have ended all-in heads up which would have had the same ending, but saved the other player some chips. The pot size was about my whole stack, so I was probably stuck in any case. I guess that I was just destined to go out on that hand as I would have check/raised any continuation bet unless the AJ got real aggressive and the raiser went all-in behind them.

On an earlier hand, the dealer in the game got very lucky with AQ vs. 77 on a Q7X flop. They ended up all in after the flop, then an ace came on the turn, and of course the river brought another ace. Double ouch!! I really do not like that dealer as I have seen him sneaking a peek at players' mucked hands as he gathers them to shuffle. I mentioned it to another player and he verified that he had seen him do it as well. I was prepared to call him on it tonight, but didn't see him do it.

I keep thinking that I am either playing very poorly or just running unlucky or a combination of the two. I have to rethink my tournament strategies as whatever it is, it is just not working for me.

Bad Beat Magnet

O.K., this is starting to sound like whining, but here goes again. I am playing in a daily cash tournament on spadeclub. With 600 or so original players, we are down to 60, with 18 places paid. I have under average chip stack with 400/800 blinds and an ante, i look down at pocket 10's, with one limper, the play is routine, I shove. The limper who has me covered, but is not super stacked, calls me with....Q10 suited. I am happy to see his 3 outer, specially when no straight draws flop, and no flush draw. The river of course brings the queen.

Another online tournament, another loss...this time AK suited, with a small raise early in the tournament. The big blind gets frisky and goes over the top all-in with pocket 4's. Great flop 10/j/j with one of my suit, giving me....are you counting kids?....10 outs plus backdoor flush possibilities. Airball!!!

Big freeroll on Ultimate Bet....one limper, I have pocket jacks. I raise pot, short stack calls, small blind raises, big blind reraises, limper calls, I reraise all in, everyone goes all in. With 5 all in it is necessary to get super lucky...not my forte. The hands are: small blind, A/8, big blind (also most chips) A/A, limper, 9/10, and short stack K/J. With a flop of two kings, the short stack gets new life and the other two players are knocked out, along with me, by the aces. Dumb all in by me, but I was trying to isolate and work on the side pot. A worse call was the A/8 as he had second most chips at the table and what the heck was 9/10 thinking?

Last tale of woe (hopefully) (today), I am in a 45 person SNG and we are down to 10 players. I have fallen below average chip stack and have played super tight the entire game, folding blinds almost every hand. I pick up K/9 offsuit on the button and decide to raise. The big blind, who has me covered x2, reraises enough to put me all in, or at least pot committed if I call. One thing that does not work for me is playing final tables short stacked, so I decide to call, hoping for two live cards and no big pairs. He has AK, and I am out on the final table bubble. Not a bad beat, but a bad timing story.

My tournament play has been good enough to get me deep into tournaments, but I find myself either taking bad beats or just going card dead.

Just How Unlucky Can I Get?

You know, bad beat stories are a dime a dozen. Yet tonight in a pot limit omaha hi/lo game I got a very bad one. I was playing some low cards with a pair, 2/4/J/J and the following flopped, 2/2/4 with two hearts. Someone else bet, I bet the pot, and got two callers. The turn was a 3, and the river was a 3 of hearts. I was all-in, and lost to the A5 of hearts for the straight flush wheel!!!

Card Dead in Vegas

First of all a hi to Christina, dealer at Green Valley Ranch Casino. Good luck on your writing. On a business trip to Vegas and the first day always sets the tone for me. Playing in a small $40 buy-in tournament with one table and what turned out to be about 7 alternates within an hour of arriving at the hotel. I was running pretty good and made the final 4, 2nd in chips. Due to so few players the payout was bad, only $450 total paying top two (if all players had shown up by starting time, there was a 1000 guarantee). I looked down at AJ suited under the gun, and raised to 3000 (blinds 500/1000). The big stack folded, the short stack called with all but three thousand chips, so she was extremely pot committed. She was an older player who had played very tight and only called or raised with big hands. The big blind was a little harder to read as he had called some big raises then later folded, and had also shown down some monsters and had played them well. He reraised me 6,000 all-in. I went into the tank for a moment or two, calculated the pot (13500, with the lady's 3000 sure to go in for a total of 16,500). My call, if I made it, was not too bad odds, and I would still have viable chip count (around 4500) if I lost. If the short stack got knocked out I could probably bargain for at least my buy-in back, and if I won then I would likely offer a chop for a $200 win. If the bigger stack lost the side pot to me I would then be almost equal in chips to hers and be in better position. So, with that in mind I sort of reluctantly made the call, fully expecting to see at least one bigger hand, and at least one pair. I was pleasantly surprised to see her QJ offsuit, giving her only one live card against me. His A/10 offsuit was an even nicer surprise giving me two hands that I had dominated.

The flop of course included both an ace and a 10 which not only increased her outs, but also put me in 2nd place looking for my 2 outer. The turn crushed me, with another 10 falling, leaving both of us drawing dead. She was eliminated in 4th place, we struck a deal for $50 to third, and I went out next hand to Mr. A/10 when he caught a queen on my all-in A8 suited vs. his KQ offsuit. Just some bad luck, but thinking about the action would probably play it the same way again, so it was the right thing to do.

In other action at the casino, the next day I played for 4 1/2 hours (including the tournament) and won only 3 pots, losing about $300 total. The $1/$2 no limit was bad for me, kept getting pushed off hands when I missed the flop after my raise, or failing to connect on some draws. Big regret hand was playing a suited 8/9 of hearts, the flop was 7/7/10 with 2 clubs. Pocket aces made it 20, which I called, then 4/6 clubs re-raised all-in for all my chips (aces with big stack) called before my action. I mucked my straight draw figuring I was looking at both a flush draw or trip 7's, or even a flopped full house. The flush draw missed, but he went runners for a baby straight. Missed opportunity but think it was a good fold none the less. In the tournament I won one hand, going all-in with 10's and getting a call from the eventual #2 winner with his pocket 5's. Moving on to the 4/8 limit game, won only 2 hands...pretty much with some lucky weak cards. A special promotion paid $7,777 if you flopped quad 7's. I had pocket 7's twice, but no luck with them. That would have been an excellent end of the story if I had hit them.

Final Table Angst

Life is tough for online players today. With the UIGEA in effect it is getting more and more difficult to transfer money into poker accounts. I was notified this week that my small independent bank will no longer take debit transfers beginning in December. Because of that, I have to begin playing tighter, and in lower limit games as I may not be able to replace any money that I lose. Well, anyway, on to my final table story.

I was playing in a 45 person SNG and had gotten lucky early to move into 1st place. I was no lower than 3rd place at any time, and by the final table was solidly in 2nd with around 10,000 in chips with the chip leader at 22,000. The next biggest stack was around 7,000. The tournament paid 5 places, so I was pretty locked in to cash at this point. I picked up AK offsuit in middle position with one limper before me. Blinds were 200/400 with a 25 ante, so I made it 2200. The giant stack was on the button and he reraised enough to put me all in!!! I thought for a moment and made the call. My reasoning was this: There was 3500 in the pot before his raise, and with his money 10,000 plus 3500 made it a 13,500 pot which I could call for 7500 giving me 2/1 on my money. I did not think that I was probably any worse that a coin flip against his range (any pair, plus AK, AQ). Guess that I should have just gone with the philosophy of "live to fight another day" as I still would have been in very good shape by folding. (cardinal rule: the two big stacks should not fight each other). His hand? Pocket aces. 9th place finish.

As we speak, I am in another online tournament and have just busted out. Small raise in late position, I call with 6/5 suited. We take the flop 3 handed and it is 789 with two clubs (I have diamonds). Check, bet big, I reraise all-in, both players call. One player has a 10 for the open ender, the other pocket jacks for the overpair plus gutshot. They are playing for a combined 9 outs ( 4-6's, 3-10's, and 2-jacks). The three outer 10 falls on the river giving the jacks the win. Sick!

Getting Unlucky Against One Guy

Have you ever noticed how you can run a table but just be owned by one player? In the Tuesday Moose tournament that happened to me. With only 11 players, I had about 1/3 of the chips with 5 players remaining. The short stack was all-in with 1,000 at 500/1000 blind level and I picked up A/J two under the gun. I raised all-in to isolate him and he turned over....A/3. Naturally, a 3-outer 3 came on the flop and he now had 2500. The very next hand, under the gun, I have pocket Jacks. I raise all-in and the same player (with only 500 invested), calls with...8/9 offsuit! The flop has a 7, the turn a 6, and the river.....you guessed it a 10 for the runner-runner straight. This player managed to donk off "my" 5000 chips on the next hand to another player with his flush draw!!!! P.S. Got knocked out in 4th place.

Terrible Cards-Fair Results

One of my mantras in poker has become "focus on making good decisions not on good outcomes". Last Friday my patience was tested on this as I went an entire tournament with not even one pocket pair!! I focused on playing my position and my stack rather than the cards and found myself the short stack on the final table (45 players). I was forced to go all-in and behind a couple of times and got lucky, then I just focused on letting other players knock themselves out so I could advance in the money. The tournament paid 6 places and when we got down to 7, I was rooting for the shortest stack to lose. Amazingly, they just kept surviving (one example A9 vs A8 short stack who caught an 8). When a very good player got a bad beat and went on tilt (she still had enough to watch me get knocked out in blinds) she donked off her chips and went out on the bubble! One more player got unlucky before my blinds got me for 5th place and a $90 win. I consider it one of my more intelligent games cause I never gave up and just played the hand dealt me as well as possible.

Back in the tri-cities for a few days....Sunday evening very good to me on the $2-20 spread game. $220 in winnings for about 2 hours of play. The game does tighten my sphincter somewhat cause you can really lose a lot on one bad hand. I got very lucky with a QJ suited vs AA when the jack flopped with two diamonds. The ace jammed it and the queen came on the turn with another jack on the river. Unfortunately the aces ran out of money early or it would have been a huge win. But, that is a good example of me overplaying top pair, and aces overplaying a single pair. Someone pointed out that my top pair with flush draw was probably ahead of the aces on the flop. Last night I was watching high stakes poker and almost an identical situation happened with Barry Greenstein holding aces and Tom Dwan holding king queen suited on a queen high flop with two spades. Dwan ended up winning a pot of almost a million when they went all-in and he caught another queen on the turn. It was the largest single pot ever on the show.

FOUND: THE WORST PLAYERS IN THE WORLD

Well kids, the search is over. After an exhaustive search of Northwest casinos, Nevada casinos, and many online sites, the verdict is in. The worst players in the world play on....drum roll, please....Spade Club!!!! I realize at this point because it is a monthly subscription based site there is therefore no real entry fee for the tournaments (well there is, but the points you need are ridiculously easy to obtain). Because everyone is essentially freerolling you get some calls which to be charitable are "loose". Here is an example from yesterday. I had been playing pretty tight and it was fairly late in the $100 daily tournament...think I was around 60th place with about 120 players left. I had a ton of chips earlier, but had taken a break and been somewhat blinded off, so I set about chipping up. (On a side note: I had knocked two players out with a preflop early position raise with pocket 5's and flopped quads!). I found my pocket 5's again in later mid position and decided to raise big to 6,000 (blinds were 800 I think) with a couple of limpers ahead of me. Everyone folded except one player, in earlier position, but after another limper and the two blinds. The flop was ace high with a couple of rags. He bet 1600 and I came over the top all-in for 10000 or so more. He hesitated for just a couple of seconds and called, showing A/10!!!!! Unbelievable!!! They were suited, but he had either no flush draw or a backdoor draw at best. I was out!

Later in the day, I went out with my pocket pair all-in vs. guess what? A10 suited. He flopped the flush. I just cannot tell you how often I see overcall all-in calls with A10/AJ offsuit and worse. I am folding AK with 3 all-ins almost every time and believe me it would lose most of the time. With that said, I have been a member of Spade Club for 3 months and have almost covered my membership with cash wins. I am looking to trim back my internet play for several reasons. First, it has not been hugely profitable for me. I played for 6 hours in one tournament and only won $15. I sort of fell on my sword cause I had other things to do, plus the wife was mad at me for playing all day...so went all-in with A5 offsuit to get it over with (called by AK big big stack). First prize was $700 and I was in 12th place (out of 2800 players). Probably could have just sat out and won twice that amount. C'est la vie.

Never Ever Play Pocket 4's

Pocket 4's are costing me a lot of money. I have busted out of at least 3 tournaments either with them, or against them. Some have involved losing races, which is just the way it goes in poker, but others have involved flopping a set, then having straights and bigger full houses develop. I had pocket 4's today in a tournament and folded them preflop against a small raise....they would have lost on the river. Last night I flopped a set, against 4/5 offsuit, who had called a $15 raise (kings), then called my reraise of his $20 raise from the kings $15 bet! He hit a 5 on the river to beat me.

My new favorite quote, "honesty is the best policy, but insanity is the best defense". Mark Twain

Some on-line Success

I have been playing mostly tournaments lately, Spade Club nightly cash tournaments. Have had some luck lately, cashing in two. I am on the weekly leaderboard in 7th place, which is the best I have ever done. Tonight was frustrating, as my computer starting freezing up, and despite 3 reboots and a system restore I could not get back onto my two tournaments. Was not doing particularly well on either one so no big loss, but it is still so frustrating.

A-Hole Danger

Well, I have been sitting myself down and giving myself a good talking to. I feel that I am starting to cross the line to become a complete ass. An example was last night at the Omaha tournament. There is a couple who plays together and I have a very low opinion of the lady's skills, but also recognize her incredible luck factor. Those two things combined make me likely to go on tilt when she beats me. I was in a pot (4 way) with her all-in for a little more than the big blind (300 main pot, 1500 or so side pot). I had raised pre-flop with a strong hand, but missed the flop and turn....we all had checked to the river....when her guy went all-in with possible straight or trips, or full house with a paired board. The other player and I folded, she showed two cards, one giving her trips, and he threw his hand into the muck without showing. I then called for the floor, since the rule is that when two players are all-in, both hands are to be tabled. Troy warned the two that they must both show cards in the future.

In telling this to other dealers and supervisors, they agreed that it was improper, since it really smacked of collusion, and that their warning would have been more severe, as in, "you do that again and you will not be playing here". I spoke briefly with the guy involved and he really was unrepentant, as if I had accused him of cheating, which I guess that I was. Where the a-hole part comes in is that she basically still had no chips, so I could have just let it slide, but because of my dislike of her playing (not her), I had chosen to make a nasty issue of it. In the future, just like calling all-ins I need to take a moment to think through what I am saying or doing and run it through a filter of "is this necessary".

On a brighter spot, I did win the tournament (chop 1st & 2nd), also hit a king high straight flush at the Moose for $200 Monte Carlo (flopped open ender with my 10/J diamonds...ace would have given me the royal for $2500) .

Double Donkey Play

Situation: Moose $25 tournament, 22 players. Big Blind, early (50/100 blinds), i have about 1700. Everyone folds to small blind, an excellent player, who completes. I have Q/10 offsuit and check my option (1st donkey mistake, small blind showed weakness by limping, should have raised then). Flop is 10/6/2 with 2 diamonds. Small blind bets 200, I raise to 600 (about 1/3 of my chips). Pot is now 1000 and I have maybe 1100 behind. Small blind reraises me all-in (he has me covered). I pause briefly....and call. This would have been an excellent spot to lay any pair down including kings. The small blind could have the following hands:

10/10, JJ, QQ, KK, AA, A10, 10K, 10J, 66, 22, 10/2, 10/6, 6/2 or two diamonds with the 10 of diamonds. These are all hands I am way behind with.

Turns out he had limped with 10/2 offsuit. I had outs, but by raising for information (or what I believed to be the best hand) and ignoring the information he gave me I got knocked out. This was an ultimate donkey play...first by not raising preflop with a strong hand in position, then by calling with a hand that is probably beaten.

Luckiest Player Ever

I am always getting all my money in with the worst of it. You know, overcards to my cards, pair over pair, dominated hands, etc., yet I always manage to get my runner runner to win the all-ins. WAIT! That's the other guy!! Never mind.

Punishment

• At the legion tournament I was seated with a very arrogant, very lucky player. I had never played with him before and he just had this cocky air about him that I just did not like. He bumped into Ross twice early on, a pretty solid player who has won a zillion times in our weekly tournament. The first one Ross raised with pocket queens, this guy reraises big and Ross goes into the tank and asks if he will show if he folds. The guy agrees, Ross folds his queens face up and this guy shows...pocket jacks! I would never in a million years have folded the queens, but hey that's me. A hand or two later they both end up on the river with a king high straight on the board, Ross having two pair. The guy bets into him and Ross lays it down in fear of an ace...which the guy doesn't show while very arrogantly making some comment about having to pay to see it.
• Later "the guy" knocks out a player who flopped two pair with his AQ vs his AK, but the turn....a king!
• He then knocks the dealer out with his AJ when he rivers a straight over the dealer's two pair, king queen with his gutshot on the river.

Anyway, you get the drift. I was happy to move to another table, but he drew the seat two to my left when we consolidated to three tables. On my big blind, he and the under the gun limped in and I had K/4 spades. I checked my option and the flop came king high with one spade. I bet 3 times the big blind, the UTG called and he reraised me 3 times my bet. Really, without thinking much I reraised all in, trying to isolate him. My first thought was that he might have a small pair and was trying to get weak kings to fold. He held KQ offsuit and I was drawing thin. The turn brought another spade, tripling my outs, but his hand held up. It appears that he can catch 3 and 4 outers all day, but 11 outers fail me.

In retrospect, dumb play, but I think that the big part of my problem was wanting to punish the luckbox and not just playing smart.

Bad Flops/Bad Matchups

There is nothing sicker than losing all your chips with a premium hand by getting a very bad flop for your hand (and a dream flop for your opponent), or by getting the worst possible matchups. Here are some recent tournament problems I have had this week:

1. My all-in with AJ, 2 callers, one with AK, the other with JK. With any flop other than 2 jacks, straight cards, or possible flush with my ace, drawing almost as dead as the KJ.

2. My AK, flop is 66K, naturally my one caller has 6/5 suited.

3. My pocket 9's all-in vs. opponent's pocket 7's ( he catches his two outer on the flop).

4. My A/9, big raise called by Q/10 (yes I know, but I was a big stack late in tournament). Flop is 9/k/j for a flopped straight. Should have been able to get away from it, but after continuation bet with a call, I pushed on turn.

I am running very very bad in tournaments this week, but doing better in cash omaha games. Just waiting for my luck to change for the better!!!

Tilt versus Tilt

I have been able to avoid going on tilt (mostly) for a very long time. It is something about playing a lot that probably hardens you to the crazy calls, unbelievably lucky suckouts, and all the other random stuff that happens at the table. But, yesterday at the American Legion I was saying to the guy next me, "just shoot me" and was fully prepared to just throw all my chips in on the next hand. What was it that put me on tilt? First of all it was a very "chatty" table. There were a couple of players that were talking a lot while deciding what to do. In addition, the dealer was chatting and taking forever to shuffle, deal, split pots, figure out all-ins, etc. Playing and dealing is a thankless task there...I no longer do it as it "pays" $10 plus 3 free drinks is just not worth the distraction while playing. All this is going on during that time in the tournament when blinds are starting to get large, and it really hurts small stacks when the play is so slow they get bumped up to a bigger blind unnecessarily soon.

But the real problem was one of the very slow chatty players who was just playing random cards aggressively and getting very lucky. Finally I picked up AK suited and reraised him all-in (my all-in not his). My AK held up against his trash and I doubled up. He then went on super tilt and went all-in blind 3 hands in a row. Someone called with a poor but dominating hand to his (10/8 vs 10/5 i think), and he caught his 5. That put the other player on tilt. Finally he was eliminated and the table regained some degree of normalcy.

I ended up making the final table but went out on the money bubble in 7th place after getting super lucky on an all-in with my A4 suited vs AJ offsuit and flopping the flush, but then "live by the sword, die by the sword" when I went all-in with A4 suited vs AQ. Sadly, I even hit my 4, but he hit his queen....oh well......

Moving Past Results Oriented Play

O.K., this is sounding a little bit like "loser talk", but let me elaborate. I have been playing in lots and lots of tournaments simultaneously online. My drug of choice has been spadepoker.com which runs tournaments every 15 minutes. They have some Omaha pot limit high only, which is becoming a favorite, but I still lack some basic skills....like choosing great starting hands. Still, I have been able to win some pretty big tournaments, and usually get very deep by playing conservatively, waiting for the right position and cards.

When I say that I am moving past results oriented play, when you play several tables at once you are forced to make quick decisions, and those decisions are based on starting hands and position as well as pot odds, which you must calculate very quickly. For example, if I am in late position and there are 4 or 5 limpers, and it is early in the tournament I will limp with any two cards with the intention of folding to a blind raise. The decision is a pot odds one, and I am looking for a miracle flop in position. Because I am looking for a miracle, when the flop is air for me, I am not disappointed in the results. I am basing my actions on making good decisions, not expecting good results, but happy if I get them.

Another way of looking at this is when you get pocket aces. We all love to look down and see American Airlines looking back at us, yet I have busted out of many tournaments when I have gone all in with them. Some players (including me in the past) have cursed the poker gods because of the ENTITLEMENT they feel when starting with the best hand. You just have to get over it and accept that you made the right decision, someone else felt that they made the right decision with their pocket jacks, then got ultra lucky to catch their two outer. The bottom line is that if we focus on results we will sometimes be happy and sometimes sad. If we focus instead on making good decisions we can be disappointed, but still feel good about our play. I busted out of the Legion tournament last night after about an hour of play. I made some marginal decisions (raising in late position with A/3 offsuit, getting called from the big blind, continuing to bet through the river with calls all the way....I did flop an open end straight draw) that cost me chips early, but ended up going all in with my eyes wide open, extremely sure that I was behind. I had A/8 spades, flop was 10/Jack/King with two spades....One all in, one over the top all in, me acting last. As expected, the first bettor had 10/J for two pair, the second had A/Q for flopped straight. What made my decision easy was that I had around 7 big blinds and the pot was laying me very good odds with a couple of limpers folding. I missed my flush draw (could also have split the pot with a queen) but left with no regrets. I did not achieve the results I wanted, but felt I made a good decision at the end.

Poker Article-Card Player Magazine

I really enjoy reading about poker, self-help books, stories about games, analyzing of hands, tips, etc. Here are some excerpts from an article I enjoyed.

Investing, like poker, requires cold, calculated decision-making. You must remain completely objective and emotionally detached. Most of all, you have to stay firmly planted in reality. I was recently sent a quote from the cutting-edge website scopelabs.net that read: "Trade what happens, not what you think should happen or want to happen."
What am I talking about? First, let's substitute the word "play" for "trade", with play encompassing all actions-checking, folding, calling, betting, or raising. Now, let's look at an easy example. We've all witnessed beginning players chasing down straights or flushes despite greatly unfavorable pot odds. They aren't playing what is actually transpiring at the table. They are playing what they want to happen. They are gambling in the purest sense--hoping to hit their draws. For them, it is much more about hope and gamble than making objective, calculated decisions based on all of the relevant factors happening at the table. This sounds exactly like Moose poker!

Poker can be a very cruel and unjust game in the short term. If you don't accept those terms, you can get into a lot of trouble. If you try to take matters into your own hands and excercise vigilante justice, the results can be disastrous. Take the situation of the guy who plays everything (now we are talking Moose) and gets a mountain of chips due to a great streak of luck. Most of his opponents will be salivating as they try to get their hands on those chips. You have to be smart about it, though. You can't just indiscriminately attack him because you believe those chips rightfully belong to you. If he's going to call no matter what, you have to wait until you have something to beat him. Yet, so ften I see players just continue to feed the luck monster needlessly instead of waiting for the right set of circumstances. If a player wants to give his chips away, you have to be ready to pounce and take advantage, but you can't play just because you think or want him to give those chips to you.

Anyway, I like the theme of this article...and how it can plug a leak in your game. You have to play according to what is happening, not what you wish or hope to happen. People will still draw out on you when they are not given the correct odds, but you always want to be on the side of getting all your chips in with the best hand.

Speaking of which, on another topic, whining now, I keep losing coin flips! It seems like I am losing every flip no matter which side I am on. With a pair, I lose to overcards, with overcards, I lose to a pair. When it is pair over pair, they hit their set! I even hit my overcards (ace king vs. pocket jacks) as in AK flop, and he hit his jack! This has happened to me at least 15 times this week. Sick of it!!!

Vegas Part III - Cash Games

Having experienced primarily limit cash games, I decided to jump in to the 1/3 no-limit games at Caesar's (they didn't offer anything else, lol). I had some ups and downs, usually just buying in for the $100 minimum and quitting if I lost 2 buy-ins, or doubled up. I got "stacked" one night, very late, when I overplayed my top pair, 2nd kicker (KQ) on a QJX flop. Naturally, he had the QJ. A couple of times I quit when up $75-$100, or down about that much, so overall it was pretty painless. The most interesting games (both $75 losses) were sitting next to the WSOP cash guy and with the young guns. One involved a very drunk Texan who was spewing chips, getting lucky and had 3 of us waiting for a good opportunity to get all his chips. He would declare "all-in" and shove all his 400 or so chips into the pot, spilling them all over. He was cut off from more drinking (a very difficult thing to do in Vegas!), and finally left after losing about 1/2 his stack. The other game was just really really fun. There were two young hotshot internet players and the sponsored Austrian kid. One of them suggested early on that we play "7 deuce" (you would like that Lynne). So, the game is, if you win a pot with 7/2 all the other players give you $5. I agreed, figuring that I really wouldn't participate, or maybe get a lucky 772 flop while holding 7/2. WRONG!!!! What it did was turn the game into a giant bluff-fest. The first hand won by 7/2 was a preflop raise to $20 with 5 callers, then a flop all-in bet of $150 that got everyone to fold on a K/10/X flop (I had pocket 9's). He laughed like a maniac and cashed in shortly afterwards. The second one was a more modest $12 preflop raise, then a continuation bet of about the same, everyone folded and he showed. The third one was more interesting as he raised fairly large preflop, got a caller, ended up putting about $250 in the pot and was called by 2nd pair....ouch....all for trying to win $40 in side action. Anyway, it was a ton of fun and only sorry I didn't connect on my 9's, or at least call the bluff! As an afterthought, it would have been a great idea to say "sorry, I am too tight of a player to participate", then mercilessly bluff all night since they would always figure that I held the nuts being a tight player. Then, at the end I could bluff one last time, show the bluff at the end, and say, "sorry guys, I've been doing this all night long!" then stand up and cash out.

I got involved in two limit games, one at Planet Hollywood with 4 drunk Canadian guys that was pretty wild for a 2/4. Every hand was capped preflop, I was down to about $20 on a $60 buy-in when I picked up pocket 6's, flopped a set, and won a $100 pot. I left quickly after that. The other limit game was at Palace Station, where I had gone to meet Bob for a 4/8 Omaha game which broke down while I was enroute. I won about $60 in a very soft 3/6 half kill game.

Vegas Part II - WSOP

Finally, my dream has come true, I got to go to the main event, but unfortunately not as a player but as a spectator. The Rio is next to Caesar's, I could see it out of our room window, so I decided in the heat of the day to walk there on Tuesday. Very bad decision. It is at least a mile and a half and I was soaked in sweat and near death when I arrived. After refreshing with a $3.25 bottle of water I found the WSOP and the 6 remaining tables of players. It was pretty cool to watch them from the catwalk above the featured table. I saw Antonio Esfandiari, Dennis Phillips, Phil Ivey, and Marcel Lusk (spectator). There were some unbelievable hands, with 5 people busting out while I was there (got down to 50) on hands that even I would have been able to get away from. A prime example was losing by raising with AJ in early position for $140K, being re-reraised to 450K by pocket kings, calling, then calling an all-in with a flop of K/J/?. Come on now! Even I give credit for having a king, but then again I am not playing in the WSOP final 50 either.

On two separate occasions I played with guys that had played the main event. One kid showed me his cashout ticket for 493rd place, good for $27,000. He was interesting to talk with, he had won his seat by winning $800 in a $12 buy-in online tournament, then using the money to buy into a $350 tournament and winning his seat plus $1000 spending money. He gave me some advice when I asked him about how he got so deep in tournaments. He said, it is all about position and aggression. He also said that early in a tournament he would never go all-in, even with pocket aces, as blinds are just too small, chips are too large, and not worth the risk.....I thought that was interesting advice.

The other kid I played with was from Austria, and was a "sponsored" player, meaning his entry was paid, but he could only keep 80%. He didn't cash, but said he had done well in cash games and tournaments while there. More on his play in a later update.....

What Happens in Vegas...Part I Tournaments

Back from my 5 day Vegas visit with Bob. Some "highlights" from the trip include arriving at 9:30 Saturday night and getting checked in at our hotel just in time to play in the 11:00 tournament at the Sahara. There were 83 entrants and one $20 add-on allowed in the $45 buy-in. I became the chip leader early on, taking out two players with 3 of us all-in (my queens, vs. jacks and deuces). With about 30,000 in chips I figured that I could cruise to the final table, but had to get lucky with 2 tables on my all-in kings vs. aces. I loved hearing someone at the other end of the table say "I threw away a king", but luck was with me catching the case king on the river. Bob and I both ended up on the final table (they paid 11 places), with me finishing 7th and Bob 5th....going out on a lost coin flip. We both thought it was a good start to our visit, but I am convinced that the sleep deprivation I suffered that first night cost me money in the long run.

I played in two other tournaments at Caesar's Palace, one of them twice......I busted out early losing a coin flip with my overcards to deuces....rebought and got knocked out again when I lost another coin flip with my 10's vs. AK. It just not seem fair to be on the wrong end twice!!!

Fire Dancing...Continued

Some random thought I had about the fire dancers

1. If they mess up, do they get "fired", or is "terminated" the correct term?

2. I can't keep a match lit most of the time outdoors. How do they keep those swinging torches from going out?

3. How long does it take to re-grow eyebrows, and how in the heck do the women keep their long hair from catching fire?

Further 4th of July Activities

Rounded out the evening with a viewing of "Fire Dancing" at the park. Fireworks are banned in Cannon Beach, so this was about as close as you could get. We went early and had an ice cream cone...man, I sure do not miss owning our old ice cream store...the young gal behind the counter said her arm was sore from scooping and I definitely remember that. I also remember the 4th of July our only help called in "sick". We got to the park early and had a chance to chat with our old neighbor Watt, who said he was the organizer of the show. He recommended a place to sit, I swiped some folding chairs from a booth, and we sat next to some friends of Helene's. The place started filling up and we discovered that we had been mislead about where they were performing, so we were lucky to get a spot up close next to Helene's boss, Margot & her husband, Paul.
The show was spectacular, with 5 performers doing some cirque de soleil type acrobatics holding flaming batons, some hoola hooping with multiple flames, flaming swords, etc. It was a very enjoyable free 45 minute entertainment and was capped off with a whole bunch of illegal skyrockets going off right in the heart of downtown! What a surprise. In all, a fun 4th.

5th Place at the Legion

Fourth of July weekend. The big highlight was the annual Cannon Beach parade. I was asked last week during the poker tournament if I would ride in one of the humvee military vehicles from Camp Rilea. You betcha! Sounded like fun to me. So, this morning I walked to the Legion post and saddled up with a couple of other old vets. We were equipped with big bags of salt water taffy donated by Bruce's Candy Kitchen and especially made in red, white and blue colors. We led the parade and tossed candy to the kids along the route and smiled and waved. It was very heartwarming with people shouting out "thanks for your service".

My big poker highlight was another final table, in the money ($25 net profit), finish. I was playing pretty solid poker with a very card dead streak, then got hot for a while. My aggressive style once in the money did me in as I lost a fair stack of chips stealing (well I did have K/J) on the button against the big blind, a loose calling station (he called for most of his chips with A/7 offsuit).

I then got knocked out when I bet from the cutoff all-in with KQ offsuit only to catch the big blind chip leader with AJ suited. Oh well. My late tournament steals or big bets from late position have been running into monsters of late, but I still would repeat both plays with the same cards. With position I have been considering just calling with this type of hand, then going big if it is checked to me, but I still think the steal is the way to go, especially if you have not been raising every hand on the button. Aggression wins a lot of pots, and a lot of tournaments, so I will try to stick with my mostly winning game plan and try to quit running into monsters in the blinds.

Much Better to Be Lucky

Friday night Legion tournament, a most amazing story. I almost did not play, but went at the last minute. My luck has been spotty there with lots of very good players among the 40 or so that show up every week. This was the last week to qualify for points to get into the quarterly freeroll which is a great tournament: 20 players, $800 first prize, and free pizza. I was on the cusp at #19, with 5 points (1-2nd place finish), and only 6 points guaranteeing a seat, so if the wrong players finished high, I was out.

The very first hand set the tone. I like to be a little aggressive early as you only start with 2150 chips, 10/20 blind structure (15 minute rounds), so chipping up early is a good thing as it widens the hands you can play and bulletproofs you from bad beats. Plus, the players tend to play pretty conservatively early so it is easier to get some easy chips. I looked down at KJ suited and put a small raise in, 3 times big blind. Ross, who sometimes deals and has won probably more than anyone calls me from the blind. With a flop of AJ8 he checks and I continuation bet a pot size $200. Ross, playing the player and knowing I like to be aggressive calls. The turn is a blank and I bet another $200. Ross and I eye each other suspiciously and he calls. The river: jack. Ross immediately pushes all-in and I ask, "AJ?". He clams up and I briefly think about it and decide he is slow playing a weak ace and call. He shows his QJ and Wow! Double up first hand!

But, here is where it gets strange (for me). The second hand of the tournament I look down at pocket 8's and with a couple of limpers I decide to raise again (after all, I am the chip leader in the tournament). John, who is an excellent player and is dealing to my immediate right calls. The flop is queen high with 2 small cards and two diamonds and when it is checked to me I continuation bet again pot size. John calls, and as he burns a card I yell out "diamond!", and sure enough there it is: the eight of diamonds. John checks to me and I check behind him...yes it is a little strange to call for a card, get it, make a set, then check but I had my suspicions. The river, unbelievable, the case eight! John bets $300 and I come over the top all in. He insta-calls with his King high flush that he hit on the turn and I table my quad 8's to knock him out (my high hand lasted until the final table when it got beaten by quad 10's). In retrospect I am pretty amazed that both players didn't get away from their hands with a pair on the board, but I could have just as easily gone down in flames on the first hand if he was slowplaying a flopped set. Anyway, have never tripled my chips in two hands before and probably never will again.

Two other lucky hands, one I raised with AJ, was called by AQ, caught the jack on the flop and knocked the player out with my all-in. Second very lucky hand was with A9 on the button, raising 3000 and getting a reraise all-in from AJ in the small blind. He had me covered by $100 and I flopped 2 spades with the ace of spades in my hand. Unbelievably it went runner-runner spades for the nut flush! That just "never" happens to me.

Needless to say I was able to coast to the final table despite being fairly card dead after that, but used my big chip stack to steal a lot of blinds late and ended up chopping 1st & 2nd (I was chip leader by 3000) with an excellent lady player and giving her husband 3rd place...didn't like playing against a "team", plus I offered 1st place points to her, which she needed for the TOC. A very nice win and a prime example of being lucky.

Lucky or Good????

The debate rages on whether it is better to be lucky or good. In my humble opinion, it is better to be good, since luck seems to come and go, and we all tend to get our share at times. A case in point is Ramone, the man with the lucky horseshoe placed strategically where "the sun don't shine". For many months, he seemingly could not lose. Every time he played, he cashed out for hundreds of dollars. Then inexplicably, he began to lose. I saw him lose many sessions, and then he sort of quit playing (I think he was visiting his son in Texas at least part of the time). Anyway, yesterday at Spirit Mountain I was in the luck mode, and I like to think playing skillfully as well. The morning began pretty well on the 3/6 table (only table going at 9:00), with pocket pair after pocket pair. They were running an "aces cracked/win a rack" promotion so I was particularly happy to see my pocket aces contested with re-raises. Unfortunately, I spiked an ace on the river to take the pot over his two pair and lost the $100 bonus. Anyway, when the 4/8 game began, I moved tables (away from my lucky seat) to take advantage of the higher stakes. Wednesday's the promotion they run is $25 for any full house, $100 for quads, $200 for straight flushes.

The table was pretty tough, with a lot of high limit players killing time until the no limit game started, and I quickly found myself down about $200. Then, the better players left and the deck really started to hit me. I collected 5- $25. full house bonuses, and won some nice pots with them. Where the skill part came in was maximizing my winning hands, and getting away from losing hands early for the most part. The table was just so weak, with players making dumb bluffs into crowds, failing to raise with the nuts, or just failing to value bet at the end. A prime example of the weak play I saw was a board with a flop of K/10/7, I had pocket 2's, so decided to "take one off", despite a bet and call. The turn brought another 7, so decided to call again ( I am not thinking this is a smart play at this time), and the river brought another 7, so when it was checked to me, I bet $8, figuring that at least I would get my $25 bonus, and when I got a caller, figured I lost, but no, he had nothing and I took down the pot. I ended up with a $240 profit (which was a huge comeback from -$200). It was a good day and a lucky one too. I don't think that I have ever had as many full houses in one session before.

Can't Understand Some Players

So, here is the scenario. I am playing in an online World Series Qualifier, top two win a seat in a $1500 WSOP event, plus $1000 cash. I find myself in late position (button?) with lots of limpers and me with pocket aces. I don't want a whole lot of competition as it would be a huge mistake to just limp, so I make a pot size raise to thin the field. I get two callers, one with J/10 os, the other with J/9 os. Great! The flop is good for me with a Q/K/K, giving the J/10 what he thinks is an open-ended straight draw, and the J/9 a gutshot straight draw. In truth, the J/10 only has three outs, since the other guy has a 9, and the gutshot likewise has only 3 outs since the other villain has a 10. The ace is obviously no good to them since that fills me up. I bet about 60% of pot size, to try to judge the opposing hands, thinking I might fold if one of them comes over the top with their KQ. I get two callers. The turn is a blank, and I go all-in. They both insta-call for nearly all their chips (they both had me barely covered) on their weak draws. The river....a 9 for the completed straight for J/10 and I am gone. I think that I played this hand pretty well, could have moved all-in on the flop, but am busted for sure if a king is in play. I just think this was super donkey play on both their parts as the betting pattern had to put me on a big pair, aces, kings, or queens or at the least AK or KQ which would have put them both far, far behind. I think there are situations where you have to put all or most of your chips in on a draw, but this was fairly early so I don't really understand their play.

Spade Poker

So, my new website for my online gambling is Spadepoker.com. It is free for 14 days (enter code: spades I think for the 14 day trial. One problem with Washington residents is the legality issue which will probably disqualify you. You have to verify both email address and physical address (fax driver's license) in order to take any money out. I have not yet had that problem, but come very close. It is a pretty cool site, with downloadable avatars of your own choosing, tons of freerolls and "point builders" which you need to enter bigger tourneys. There are a couple of world series qualifiers going now. You need to earn a bunch of points to enter....have made it once, but busted out early on a bad beat for a $1500 entry plus expenses. I have qualified for the last one next week so here's hoping. One other thing that I like about the site are the omaha tournaments. Most are just for points, but there are cash ones too. Since enrolling in this site, ultimatebet is 2nd choice except for cash omaha games.

Funny

Thought this was very funny, and true. Kinda small to read.

Weekend results

Lots of tournament play this weekend. Out of five tournaments, I made the final table on 3, but only one 2nd place cash. I thought this morning's Moose was going to go my way after I totally sucked out on two all-ins, but was ultimately knocked out by someone else's suckout. The first was really a sick one, with me limping in early with 3/6 suited. The flop was my dream....4/5/7, I bet, was called, then re-raised. I came over the top all-in, the first caller called and the raiser folded his k/7 face up. We turned over our cards to show my flopped straight, and Derrick's better flopped straight with the 6/8!!! The river however saved me with another 8 for a chopped pot. Never been so glad to share in my life. My second big suckout was a button raise with A/6 against a short stack. He called and the flop was K,10,x. We both checked. The turn was a 6, giving me a pair. He then went all-in. I thought for a moment and decided to call the $1000 bet into the 700 pot. He turns over KQ and I am in trouble. The river...another 6! Unbelievable, I never get this lucky.

The final hand for me was a blind steal attempt agains someone who had just stolen both my blinds. We were down to the last 6 players with one very short stack, so in retrospect, maybe not so bright a thought. Anyway, I raised to $3000 (blinds 500/1000), and big blind calls (did I mention my steal was with Q/5 offsuit?) with AJ. The flop was KQX, and the bb bets to put me all-in. I think for just a second and decide he is bluffing (which he was), and call with middle pair. He comments that he was just trying to get me off the hand. The turn is beautiful, a 5, giving me 2 pair and negating his overcard. The turn...his 3 outer 10 for the straight. Sick!

Anyway, counting bounties & freeplay wins earned, I only lost $20 this weekend for an awful lot of play.

Winning Night at The Moose

I have been very disappointed in the cash games at the Moose for quite a while, but having been gone for a couple of weeks decided to "get back on the horse". It was a pretty bad game, with 7 or 8 players to the flop, a lot of preflop raises and reraises. I decided to just play very tight and wait for my opportunities. For about 2 hours it was up and down, never getting up more than $30 or down more than $50. When the suggestion was made to change to a $4/8 game I vetoed the idea, along with one other player. When she left, I went along with the change, but with reservations. Turned out it was a great idea. The game really didn't change with a lot of preflop raises, etc., but I eventually started getting some great hands and was getting calls from vastly inferior ones. The average pot was at least $100. An example was a "light preflop raiser" to my right raised, I reraised with AQ of spades and everyone at the table called when it was capped. The flop was queen high with no flush or straight draws and when it was bet and raised in front of me I reraised with everyone calling. The turn was a bit of a cooler with another queen hitting, but sure enough it was bet into me, with my raise not shaking two other players. The river....ace...bingo! Just in case someone got lucky on their kicker they were now in trouble. Sure enough it was bet into me, I raised, they reraised, I capped to see the "genius" (self described at the table earlier) show a queen 4 for trip queens. Ouch, that's gotta hurt.

Anyway, it went that way for over an hour and I ended up cashing out for $530, with a $100 original buy-in. Nice day of work.

Tough Time Winning

My online poker is just getting to be a joke. After cashing in 14 straight tournaments I can't even finish in the top 20! I am getting snapped right and left with people who I assume watch me fold 20 straight hands, then when I raise pot size, they call me with absolute garbage, and somehow manage to connect solidly. Case in point...raised in late position with AQ, called by Q/4 offsuit????? Flop has a 4 in it....I lose! This is not an isolated incident. It seems that a number of players sort of live off calling biggish raises with ATC (any two cards). This is especially true with the big stacks. I just don't understand their willingness to probably take the worst of it for even 10% of their chips. Fold, let the guy pick up the blinds and move on!!

Lucky Electrical Storm

Sometimes just plain old dumb luck trumps any possible skills. Such was my situation on a 45 person SNG tournament. I had done alright, getting to the final table, but was desperately shortstacked. Then the dumb luck starting happening with big stacks colliding, then multiple players going all in with the biggest stack winning and knocking them out. It finally got down to 4 of us and miraculously with me having about 1 1/2 blinds, a three way all-in with the big stack winning. I was heads up with about 2,000 in chips vs. over 50000 and virtually no chance. Then the real luck happened. I called a big blind and he folded. Hmmm. Then an autofold when he posted his small blind. Hmmmm. Looks like someone is offline or sitting out. I then proceeded to play as fast as possible, collecting blinds and antes for several minutes. Finally he reappears and comments that they were having an electrical storm and he had lost power. I was then back in the game with over 20,000 in chips!!! After a few back and forth wins I flopped a monster and put him on the shorts stack. One hand later he overplayed top pair and was gone. Winner, winner chicken dinner! With the win my online bankroll is now the largest it has ever been. I am starting to play higher buyin tourneys and doing pretty well in them. I cashed in a "Sniper" tournament with about 500 players, collecting a lot of bounties along the way. Cash games are a little drag on my bankroll with the Omaha the worst. Today I had a huge stack in a pot limit game and got all-in three way with my pocket aces, only to get cracked by 9/10 offsuit when he rivered trips. Ouchy!!! If he had not been a shorter stack, I would have been "felted", but he had less than the other player who I beat with his K/10 offsuit. It is unbelievable the trash hands people are willing to put all their chips in pre-flop.

Losing Coin Flips

Friday night at the American Legion I drew a very tough table. There was one totally clueless old guy, three calling stations, a great internet player, 2 more tough internet players, a perennial luckbox, and one rock plus me. I was totally, completely card dead, with only one small pair which failed to connect. Mostly what was dealt was cards like 8/2 offsuit. Everyone at the table took turns winning giant pots (the first pot was sort of an indication of what was coming, with an internet guy limping in under the gun with 2/3 suited and making a straight on the turn). Finally I pick up pocket 9's in late position, raise to $300 (I think the blinds were 40/80), and immediately have the big blind...the very good internet player....come over the top of me all in for about 700 more. He had doubled up once, then lost it all back to a full house over his nut flush. I called to see the classic race AQ vs. my underpair. The flop...sick...K, J, 10...I am drawing almost dead. The river even brought a 9, but his flopped straight held. I am now the short stack at the table, and after seeing two hands in a row that I would have won but folded my garbage, I go all-in with QJ. With two players (both blinds) checking down and a jack on the river thought I was good to go another hand or two, but no, the slowrolling flush wins. I have just been super unlucky with my coin flips lately, going out 4th in a 45 person SNG after losing 3 in a row. Hopefully my luck will change soon.

The Big Tournament

Sunday finals day and my practice games online were miserable. Tried playing in the cash game for a while and lost a bunch (over $200). This was not looking good, but am always hopeful. The seat draw was o.k. with all the small stacks and only one giant stack (Max). Overall, a decent table. My game went uneventfully, with my chip stack increasing slightly with pretty mediocre cards. I ran into two problem hands, one with my AJ in the cutoff. I raised 3 times the big blind to 12,000, and the small blind (Max) reraised me to 36,000 which was about all of my chips. I quickly folded and he showed pocket aces. Disaster avoided. The next problem hand came when I raised in early position to 17,500 with my pocket 8's (I think the blinds were 2/4000). I was called from the button and when the flop came A/K/J, I checked and folded to the all-in bet. With a couple of pushes with small pairs as we got down to about 12 players total, I took advantage of everyone tightening up. Once I pushed with 3's, and Alex, a very good player (not big wild Alex), told me that he had folded 4's. I pushed once more with 2's, and Alex said he folded pocket 3's!!!! It shows that the aggressor has a really big advantage, as you can push with small pairs, but you just can't call, as you are either in a coin flip or dominated by a bigger pair.

Something very upsetting happened when we got down to 10 players. Only 9 would get paid, with 9th getting $500, so someone on the other table suggested that we pay the bubble boy his $120 entry back. Everyone quickly agreed except for easily the worst player in the tournament, Paul. He had been a totally oblivious luckbox and was the 2nd shortest stack, so it made no sense for him to vetoe the idea, particularly since the money would come out of 1st and 2nd places!! There were a few pointed comments to him from some people you wouldn't expect to say anything, and shortly afterwards Grady got knocked out and we went to the final table. My draw was bad, seat 4 with the other short stacks, Paul at 2, and Bob P. at 3. We all made one run around the table and Bob was forced all in and got knocked out. Paul went next, and I noticed that I could not get through the blinds (now 10/20,000), so I picked my spot and went all-in with K/10 two under the gun. Everyone folded to the big blind who only had to call 8,000 more with A/9. His ace held and I was out in 7th place for an $800 win. In retrospect, I could not have done much better, though I may have by waiting until my big blind as Sheila was fairly short stacked and she is also very conservative...so she might have folded her small blind to me if she was not raised.....Oh, well. Sometimes you just have to jump. Overall I felt good about my tournament, and with a few better cards and a couple of breaks I could have gone deeper, but it is always good to cash.

Getting to The Finals

I have been really pretty sick this week. I have a bad cough and just feeling run down. Finally went to the doctor's on Wednesday and got some antibiotics and cough medicine. I am feeling about 90% today, which is a big improvement. I played a couple of times this week, but my heart just wasn't in the game...lost a little won a little, broke even. I have been very hot online, cashing in 14 of the last 20 tournaments I have played. Saturday was my flight for the big $10000 added tournament and I felt o.k., not great, just o.k. I warmed up with three sitngo's, winning one, and cashing in another. My flight was not a particularly tough one, but all of them are challenging in one way or another. I got some very good hands (pocket kings 5 times, and pocket aces once), but other than one big pot won mostly blinds with them. You know how sometimes one player just owns you? Bonnie was my personal nemesis. If I raised, she called. If I limped, she was in the pot, and always seemed to outdo my cards. I probably lost over 15,000 in chips to her over the course of the tournament. I did mention that I had pocket kings 5 times, my big hand with her was my big big blind vs. her small blind on the final table. She limped in, I raised all-in and she called me with A/10 offsuit. I really feared the worse with my past luck against her, and kings being ace magnets and all, but they held up and I knocked her out. There were two other memorable hands, I had about 30,000 in chips, looking to coast to final 5 with 6 players left. Kevin escaped an all-in as short stack, then that honor went to Nam. He pushed with KJ and I quickly called with AQ. The flop no help, same with turn, then a jack on the river doubled him up. I became the short stack and went all-in twice with no callers, picking up the 9000 in blinds and got back in the game. Kevin finally pushed with pocket 2's, and I again called with AQ. Flop kk7, turn 4, river 7, two pair with an Ace kicker! Our flight was over and I was chip leader with 50,000 to carry over to the finals today!!! Because I wanted to go to Portland on Sunday to help my daughter with "Pugcrawl" sales of her t-shirts (see them online @ http://www.saybone.com/), if I had made the finals with insignificant chips I was planning to forfeit...so good and bad.....

Getting Bored With Poker

Poker is getting to be boring to me. I have seen the futility of the cash game at the Moose with the loose callers and the online games are not financially meaningful to me. Every time I get my online bankroll up I buy into a bigger buyin tournament and get spanked. Last night I played in a "Sniper" tournament which paid a bounty for knocking players out. I got one, but ran into pocket aces and a flopped set with my two pair K/10. I am beginning to hate that particular hand. It is just about useless except for straights, and even then does not always make the "nut" straight.

Anyway, I am burned out on the Moose and pretty burned out online too. Tonight is t.v. night for me.

Friday Night at the Legion

Card dead. Would only have won with one hand if I had played every hand to the river. I considered shoving with 7x big blind with 8/9 offsuit. I know it sounds very bad, but I have great luck with it. I folded and flop had 2 8's and another on the river for quads. I would have tripled up as two got into it with a weak ace and AK. I shoved with A7 spades (lots of spades had been flopping) 2 under the gun. AJ called and nobody paired anything and I was out. I played until very late online in a 45 person SNG and won it (cracked aces the very last hand with a flush).

Sit N Go fun

An interesting morning for me. Signed up for a 45 person SNG, one of my favorites, with 5 places paid and 1st getting 18x buy-in. They usually go pretty fast, and it is not too tough to get to the final table, but have been busting out lately on the bubble. Anyway, the first hand an early position player goes all-in preflop. Not real unusual, but with only $15 in the pot, not a real bright move. Everyone folds and we deal hand two. Again he goes all in with one limper, everyone folds and he picks up $25 more. Beginning to look like a pattern when he does it the third time. The fourth hand I limp with AQ offsuit, and he again goes all in!!! I call, and he shows pocket 2's. The flop.....22j for flopped quads! Idiotic play rewarded and I am out first. I hang around and observe for a few minutes watching him fold the next hand preflop, then again go all in to a raise with like a 3/7 offsuit. He loses to the AK when an ace hits and he is back to a little over starting money. One hand later he is out when he again goes all in with junk. Amazing.

My next 45 person SNG goes much better with a 1st place finish. It went really long with it getting to $100 antes plus 500/1000 blinds with 3 of us left. I caught some great cards at the end, with my last opponent not believing my AQ with a queen high flop (He had A7, with a 7 on the flop). He had me way outchipped and with the tables turned I caught AK vs. his weak ace on his all-in. A good day of poker.

You Can Go Home Again

This week has been an interesting one for me. First of all, no poker. Helene & I flew into Dallas on Wednesday and spent the night at my brother's house, meeting up with my mom and sister there. The next night we visited my cousin and his family, then Friday mom, Kathy, Doug and I drove to Liberty, Missouri, my home town. It had been 30 years since Mom had been back, and twenty for Kathy. Doug has been back within 5 years, and I was here 12 years ago. The town has changed a lot, sprawling out with lots of big box stores, new home developments, etc. Really, just an urban sprawl thing for Kansas City. The core of the town has remained delightfully unchanged with lots of the old Victorian houses looking like the did 50 years ago. We were able to revisit all of our old homes, including Mom's in surrounding towns of Richmond and Rayville (which is just a wide spot on the map) population 204. The property values here are something I have not seen for a long time, with really nice houses in the low $100's, or if you wanted to spurge and buy a really cool old house, maybe $300. A similar house in Portland would run you a cool million in Alameda.

Last night I dropped in on Ann, our old next door neighbor who was hosting a bridge club meeting with lots of kids I went to school with. It was fun catching up with them and discussing our "old age" and ailments. A few are retired, but several still working for now. Today we see a bunch more relatives then back to Texas tomorrow. Doug & I are road tripping, while the ladies fly back to Phoenix. It has been fun.

No Luck in the Dime

I won an entry into the "Dime", which is a $10 buy in, $10,000 guaranteed event through a 10 cent satellite. I have been looking forward to the "big" one for a while, but luck did not favor me. My pocket 9's ran into AQ with a KKQ flop, and I lost a good chunk. Then my all-in with pocket jacks (is there any other way to play them?), ran into pocket kings. I finished about in the middle of 1200 entries. Oh well, try try again. This week I am going to Dallas and Kansas City so this is about it for poker for a week. I probably could use the break, kind of like cleansing your palate between wine samples.

Hello, My Name is Luckbox

Yesterday was a marathon poker day for me. I left home at 8:00 a.m., drove 2 hours to Spirit Mountain casino, played 6 hours for a small loss, drove 2 hours home then played in the Friday night Legion tournament. I experienced a run of incredible luck that has eluded me for a very long time. Let me tell you about a few hands. First of all, I was hitting my hands very hard most of the time, if in an unraised blind, I would inevitable hit 2 pair or top pair. I won quite a few hands and was in very good chip shape.

Memorable hand #1 was my isolation raise on the big blind, who was very short-stacked with my A/8 offsuit. The button wakes up with AA, but can only call with $200 less in chips than my bet. The flop comes 7/9/10 for an open-ended straight draw. The turn is the 6 and I crack the aces. Hand #2 I have moved to another table and am seated in the worst possible spot, to the left of two young hot shot internet players, and to the right of the two best players in the tournament, including someone who runs a poker game in Portland. She is very aggressive, and has position on me, so when she raises from the big blind with two limpers, plus me completing from the SB, I am concerned, but think she may just be trying to pick up some weak limps. True to form, they all fold, and I decide to call with my A/7 offsuit. The flop: 7/7/K! Excellent! I check to her, she fires a half pot bet and I call. The turn, rut-row, another king. I check, she bets again, and I call. I had her well covered and the turn is an ace, giving me 7s full of aces. I bet into her, and she folds, saying "if you had bet more, I would have pushed", and shows her pocket queens.

A few plays later, the other dreaded player on my left limps under the gun with A/9. I complete the SB with K/8, and the flop comes king high, so I fire a pot sized bet. Mike calls, and turn is an ace. I bet again, pot size, and he comes over the top all-in, but it is less than 300 more to call, so I reluctantly throw my chips in, but the river is another King!! Whew, bye Mike.

Anyway, my night sort of went that way until the end, and heads up with a 4 to 1 chip advantage. I totally donked off a bunch of chips on a steal attempt with 4/7 only to run into JJ. The tables turned and our final hand he pushed with J4 suited, I called all-in with A/6 offsuit, and he caught a 4 on the river. Second place paid $215, so it was a profitable day even with offsetting buy-ins, dealer tip, and earlier loss. I will have to admit that I was a major luckbox the entire tournament (except for of course the last hand), and if I experienced just 1/2 the luck of last night I would do very well in tournaments.

Pocket Aces X Four

I played in a "step" tournament today and actually got pocket aces four times. Here is the unbelievable part....they all held up on 4 all-ins and I didn't get "in the money" in the tournament! How is this possible you ask? Good question. The 2nd hand of the tournament I got in a raising war with the button when I defended my big blind. I often like to do this early if for no other reason than I want to send a message to him, "don't go raising my big blind light". He actually had only A7 suited. The flop came with an ace but with two queens. I check raised him, then continued to bet all the way, eventually going all-in. Like a true donkey he called all the way, despite me having him covered (by about $50 since I wasn't involved in the first hand played). His hand held up, he insulted me by calling me "stooge". I got pocket aces the very next hand and won that, but was only up to $150 or so. My second double up with aces came soon after but still only up to around 500 or so. I think the take-away from this is that you don't need aces to win (though it often helps). Also, be careful early when the blinds are tiny. Play for small pots if you don't have a huge hand. Had I just surrendered my blind gracefully I would have been the early chip leader and crushed the table. As it was, my early mistake haunted me the rest of the game and I was forced to play "catch up football" from then on.

On Line This Week

Being at the beach all week I played in one live tournament, but mostly just online. The Friday Legion tournament was disastrous for me, I was about the 4th person out. Just for the record, and to show you how crazy tournaments can be, I think that I outlasted the two best players. One went all in when he hit his full house on the river (aces full of fives), but his opponent had hit aces full of jacks on the turn. In retrospect, his reraise of the original better on the river was very bad play, but I did see him win a big online deepstack tournament last night, and he often is on the final table on the big tournaments there. Anyway, my kings, 9's and 5's all got cracked early and I was out. On line I have been doing fairly well in omaha except when moving up too much in stakes. I just don't have the "gamble" or the stakes to run with the big dogs. In tournaments I am doing very well, coming in 4th in a 90 person SNG last night, 2nd in a 45 SNG, and qualifying for the "dime" on Sunday (a $10 buy in 10,000 guarantee event) with a 30 Cent satellite. Also have qualified for the freeroll on Saturday, and moved up again in the step tournament to step 3. So, not too bad. I may make a day trip down to Spirit Mountain this week, wish I was in town for the Wildhorse Roundup....hate to miss the big show.

Things We Hate to Hear at a Poker Table (with translations)

#1- I'm putting you all-in
Translation: I have the best possible hand and am planning to knock you out
Your Response: Oh no you're not, I fold! (actually used this one yesterday)

#2- How much do you have left?
Translation: I'm about to put you all-in or fold if you have me covered.
Your response: I call

#3- Do you have a set? (or a straight, or a flush, or a full house)
Translation: Whatever hand they mention, they can beat
Your response: Fold to any bet

#4- I "just" call.
Translation: I want you to believe that I want to raise, but am trying to convince you that I have a monster hand.
Your response: I raise

#5- I reraise
Translation: All of my chips are either going into the pot or I am folding to your all-in and losing a lot of chips
Your response: I am all-in, or I fold.

#6- I have to call for pot odds
Translation: I have garbage but the sound you hear is a massive suckout coming
Your response: My pocket aces are doomed

Has the Nightmare Ended?

This week has been tough for me. The cash games have roughed me up every time and despite making the final table on nearly every tournament I have entered, have not cashed until today. Yesterday's tournament at Joker's was particularly brutal, going all in with A6 suited in the cutoff in a blind stealing attempt only to run into pocket aces just like my last two hands at the same tournament a month ago.

The 10 a.m. Sunday Moose tournament is one of my favorites, with 5000 chips, 20 min. blinds and a $5 cash bounty. We had about 30 players and I was very card dead the entire tournament. The biggest pair I ever got was pocket Jacks, and I had pocket 8's 4 times. Needless to say, I struggled to make the final table as the short stack, with only enough chips (1500) to make about one round. I got very lucky deciding to go all in with 4 other players in a pot (went for the volume) including one other all-in. I chose that hand with a queen/eight suited as I have personally been busted by that combination a couple of times. I flopped top pair and turned the flush and was back in the game. I tried to stay out of trouble and successfully bluffed a very cautious player when we were in the blinds and the board paired. I went all-in, he laid down the winning hand, saying "I hope you had the trip queens". I showed him my small suited connectors and he went a little on tilt. I showed them mostly for the benefit of the other regulars at the table to send them the message that I was willing to bluff with all my chips and not just wait for great hands. I did make one big goof-up when I thought someone had just bet and I came over the top all-in with a suited 3/5. Turns out he had thrown all his chips in, not just bet. Ooops. I wish that had a happy ending, he had pushed weak with an 8/9 diamonds. I ended up making a straight, but he made a flush. I have to slow down and make sure where I am on the hand when putting all my chips in. I would normally have folded that hand without a thought unless in the blind for not many more chips, or shortstacked. We ended the tournament early when 3rd place was eliminated and the chip leader...by about 3 to 1 margin, generously offered to give me 2nd place plus another $100. I quickly accepted and earned a total of $455 including 3 bounties. Hooray!

One other note. Played in a freeroll online for a seat in the Saturday $1000 game (top 30). I had to leave to catch a 4:00 movie and turned my seat over to my buddy Ron with 900 players remaining and me in 218th place. I completely forgot about it until Ron called after the movie and told me he was in 18th place with 58 left. I drove to the office to watch him win my seat in 24th place. Way to go Ronster!!!

Moose Poker Rules

I have just spent 2 very long a very unproductive days playing poker at the Moose. In honor of the players there, I would like to post the "Moose Poker Rules", which are different than regular poker rules.

1. You must play any two suited cards despite any action (raises) before you. After all, you could flop quads, a flush, or two pair!

2. If you are in a blind you must defend it with any two cards despite any action before you.

3. If you flop a pair you must call to the river in case you get runners for two pair, trips, a straight, or a flush. This is commonly called, "flop a pair and go from there".

4. If you flop any hand that could go runner-runner for a straight or flush you must call to the river.

5. If you flop a gut-shot draw you must call to the river despite any action.

6. If the board is paired and there is a lot of action you must chase to the river with a flush or straight draw, after all somebody probably doesn't have a full house or trips.

7. If you are in a blind and you have a hand like King/Jack offsuit, or any weak ace you must raise, after all, you are out of position with a marginal hand.

8. You must play any "weak ace" against any action. After all, it is the highest card. You might flop two pair or hit your kicker (and then you must chase to the river..see rule #3).

9. You must play any cards that have a name. I have helpfully shown some of these powerhouses below:

* 10/2- "The Brunson"- he did win two WSOP titles with them
* 9/3 "Matilda"
*10/4 "Broderick Crawford"
* 9/2 "Montana Banana"
* J/5 "Motown"
* Q/3 "San Francisco Busboy"
* 6/9 "Big Lick"
* 5/8 " The Devon" (o.k. this is one I made up, he won 3 big hands with it one night.)
* 4/5 "Jesse James"
* 9/5 "Dolly Parton"

Anyway, you get the idea.

10. You must play any cards that are your personal favorites (Lynne's 7/2, my 2/3 offsuit, JT's J/2, etc, etc.

11. If you are the worst player at the table and win a pot over $30 you must tip the dealer several dollars to keep it safe from the grasping hands of the other players. After all, he did do you a special favor by giving you the winning hand with your marginal cards.

12. If you have been very lucky and have a big chip stack, you must begin raising every pot with any two cards just in case.

13. If someone raises, you must re-raise with any two cards to "build a pot" just in case you get lucky.

14. If the board is double paired with possible straights or flushes, you must call a bettor with your king high "to keep him honest".

These are all the rules I can think of for now, but I am sure others will come to me. Stay tuned.

Friday Legion

Another Friday night at the American Legion. I started off like a house on fire, doubling up early when AK raised, I reraised with AA, and he went all-in. I ended up making Aces full of 4's on the hand (which held up all night as high hand, good for $66). Virtually every hand was hitting me solidly or people would fold when I raised because I was so smoking hot. There was a consolidation of tables and a seat change which did not help me. I was easily still chip leader in the tournament when a short stack went all in (with q/10...kids don't try this at home) and the dealer went all-in over the top. I really just miscalculated the dealers chips (he had just won a big pot). I had pocket 9's, so I called his pocket aces and lost about 3000 in chips. OUch! Anyway, made the final table and was 2 out of the money with around 10K in chips, in really good shape when I got pocket kings in early position. With blinds at 600/1200 I decided to just go all-in to pick up blinds and drive out aces and maybe get called by a weak pair on the short stack. A slightly drunk player who has been ultra lucky and was probably 2nd in chips (had me covered by $500) calls me with his ace king offsuit and hits his 3 outer on the flop and I was gone.....Definitely would have cruised into deep money had he not gotten very lucky.

Some days it seems like no matter which side of the equation you are on you lose the coin toss, but in every tournament I have gone out in lately am proud to say that I have been the favorite in nearly every one with the pair vs the overcard(s). On tilt a little at home I played in a 90 person SNG and came in 3rd for a great replenishment of my cash.