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.