Slow Play Friends- Part II

Recently a friend opined that he was no longer doing friendly check downs with friends, or at least friendly players. The rational is that good players don't play that many hands, and when they do they need to get maximum value from them due to the many horrific bad beat suck outs. I generally agree with this. I wrote a while back about a friendly check down that turned bad and its aftermath. I recently was "guilty" of not soft playing a very good friend, also my roommate in the Tri-Cities and a fellow employee.

Here was the situation. We were playing in the morning Moose tournament and were down to 3 handed at the final table. An out of town visitor, who was a major luckbox and kind of obnoxious had more chips than both of us combined. My friend and I were heads up in a blind vs. blind situation. Honestly, I cannot remember if I completed the small blind, or if we were both in a big blind due to the loss of a player. The blinds were significant, maybe 2000/4000 and represented a big chunk of our chips. Anyway, the flop came down with Q/9/X with me having a queen with no kicker (3). As first action I went all in. My friend looked very annoyed at me and called for all but a couple of his chips. He had a 9. My hand held up and I was in fairly good shape to take on the chip leader. However, I was upset at myself for betting into him, and for his dumb call. The very next hand I ended up raising with A/4 offsuit and was reraised by AA, which I idiotically called, feeling I was pot committed. My friend ended up in 2nd place which was worth an additional $90, so it had a happy ending for him.

My rationale.....remembering that man is a rationalizing, not rational creature.......was that I wanted one of us to have a shot at taking him down. Neither of us had enough chips individually. If I checked down top pair and he drew out the chips won would make the difference in my chances, but we were both at a huge disadvantage. The upshot was that my friend was ticked off at me for a while, I was upset that I had been disloyal to him. Also, I feel that for a while I had very bad poker Karma, which is about the worst punishment one can earn.

Just an update on a super bad beat....Went all in with a raise before me with AA, called by QJ suited and original raiser with AA. Naturally a straight hit for him and knocked both aces out.

A corollary to AA from a tournament yesterday. I saw a guy misplay them as bad as I have ever seen. He was in the bb and there were at least 6 limpers, including me with 10/J suited. He raised.....$20 from the $20 limp!!! Naturally everyone called. He flopped a set, but the flop was all diamonds. He bet like $30 and the flush draws called. He ends up going all in on the river, calling the all in nut flush, and also the player with 3rd nut when a diamond hits. super dumb.

The Crab Shack

A little known game is played at the Crab Shack Restaurant in Wheeler, Oregon on Wednesday nights. I finally tried the game tonight after hearing about it for a couple of years. It is basically the same guys who play Friday nights at the American Legion in Cannon Beach. We had a turnout of only 14 players and I was disappointed to get only 1100 in starting chips. The blind structure was 15 minutes, starting at 10/20. I got lucky early, limping with 99 and flopping a set. I bet, was raised by K/Q on the queen high 2 heart flop, and I shoved all in with a third player mucking the nut flush draw. Queens called and was out when my set held up.

My problems revolved around QQ. I raised from the big blind fairly large ($250, with 25/50 blinds and several limpers). Got two callers and saw a flop with ace high. Check/check/check. Turn pairs 8's and I check, one player bets $200 and I call. River, another 8, check, bet $400, I fold face up, he shows A/3 offsuit::::????? Nice call, idiot.

Later, after losing two big pots to the same clueless guy with a straight draw one time and a flush draw the other, I see pocket jacks in the big blind with a very good player raising 4x BB from the button. I decide to reraise all-in to push out AK, AQ, AJ, and smaller pocket pairs. He says, "Oh, no, a cooler", but calls anyway. I have him covered by only $25. He shows pocket Queens and the door card is.... a queen, leaving me drawing pretty dead. The clueless player takes my last chip when he flops top pair 8, with his 7/8 and turns another 8 against my Q/2 offsuit in the small blind. Good night.

Addendum to the above: After sleeping on the thoughts above I decided that I kind of like the shove with jacks. Here is why.

1. The player was a good, and thoughtful player, not a donk. Even strong bluffs will be effective a large percentage of the time when you are playing for your tournament life.
2. I am ahead of all but 3 hands, and in a coin flip or ahead of against a very large range (pocket pairs, face cards, suited connectors, all hands that he would raise with from the button).
3. The person going all in rather than calling all in has a huge advantage. He can win 3 different ways. By getting the other person to fold, by showing the best hand, by getting lucky on the flop, turn or river (random sets, straights, flushes).
4. So, all told, the correct play with bad results. Gotta make the play every time except when playing with deep stacks. Then, I probably smooth call and reevaluate on the flop. In this situation had I done that, all the chips would have gone in anyway with a queen high flop (one overcard and less likely to have hit his range). So, same results minus the benefits mentioned of shoving preflop.

Please comment on my thoughts.......thanks.

Good Riddance Spade Club

I cashed out of Spade Club website about a month ago. There were some disturbing signs. They had reduced the payouts, but had more frequent smaller payout tournaments. After cashing out I canceled my premier membership and played a few basic (very small prizes and not many tournaments). I managed to win $6.00 in one before quitting and received my last check a couple of weeks ago. Then, by email I was informed that they had sold the site to "Zen Poker" and we had 30 days to cash out. Good riddance. The next thing will probably be canceling my cardplayer magazine subscription that I won.

Pay Attention, Donna!

Some games you look around the table and say "s--t". This morning was a prime example. Three of the country's premier calling stations were seated, along with two of the biggest bluffers known. A couple of hands happened that caught my attention. The first one, Frank, a solid player who was short stacked pushed all-in (with A/8 suited). Donna, a.k.a. ATC does not realize he has pushed and says call from the small blind while throwing in a chip to complete the blind. Sorry, verbal binding. In go another 600 chips and she turns over 7/9 offsuit. A 9 on the flop seals Frank's fate.

A few hands later, I check my big blind with 9/5 offsuit with 4 limpers, including "ATC". The flop is A/J/5 for bottom pair. Checks around. Turn is a 7, checks around. River is another 7. I bet $200, fold to ATC who says "I will keep you honest" and throws in 1000. She says, "I just wanted to call". Too late, pay attention next time. I reluctantly fold the best hand as the call would have cost me nearly all my chips. TRY PAYING ATTENTION!!!!!

I am knocked out of the tournament on my all-in by Sarge who has me exactly covered. I have KQ suited, he calls with.....A/8 offsuit. Two of my suit on the flop with his ace, and both a flush draw and gutshot miss. Bye bye nightmare table.

Is it just me, or am I being cold-decked?

Originally the term "cold deck" was used to describe a rigged deck used to cheat players. It's common usage now is to describe improbable cards coming which beat hands, like flopped quad kings on a KKA flop with runner aces for another player's quad aces. I have been the victim of this for a couple of days.

Example 1. In the Omaha game Wednesday only one hand got really wild with a capped preflop kill pot with multiple players. The pot had to be at least $150 preflop. I held 10/10/xx, and the flop was 10/9/4 rainbow. With top set, in early position, I bet out and was called by two players or more. The turn was an ace, I bet and am called in two spots. The river, another ace for my tens full of aces. I am raised by one of the original preflop jammers. I call, he turns over A/9 for the back door overfull. Cold deck! He irritates me by saying, "but I flopped two pair (9/4)", with which he was drawing almost dead.

Example 2. I am playing in the morning tournament today and raise all-in on the button with 7/7 with one mid position limper. The blinds fold, and he calls for 3/4 of his chips. I say, "Nice call, pair?". Nope, K diamonds/J offsuit. Well, at least it is a coinflip situation. The flop? Ace/queen/10 of diamonds. WTF!!! Donk call and unbelievable flop for the straight, but wait, it gets better? At this point I am drawing dead anyway, but the turn brings the Jack of diamonds for the Royal Flush!!! Cold Deck, sir!!!!

Example 3. I am playing in 45 person SNG with 14 remaining. I raise all-in with AK red cards offsuit and am called by......AK black cards offsuit. Chop city coming, except for the 2 clubs on the flop. Yep, turn club, river club, I am gone due to .......THE COLD DECK!!!! I am so done with poker at least for the day.