Why you should always raise a big hand preflop

Playing this online tournament the early position player failed to raise with his big slick. The suited KQ also failed to raise my big blind "flat tire". We saw the flop 4 handed and I flopped two pair. With 2 clubs out, I bet pot and was called by both kings. The turn filled me up, I shoved all in and they both called me for a triple up. I held the lead in the SNG until the end when I came in 2nd. Was pretty card dead the whole time so just folded my way to the money.

Slow Drain

Sometimes the online game is a slow drain. Lately I have been playing terribly and unlucky to boot. I cannot really blame luck as much as just playing poorly. I am not using my big stack when I have one to punish limpers and steal blinds. I am not picking my spots carefully when I am a short stack. And, I am really calling raises and defending blinds too liberally.

My bankroll is taking a slow drain as well with not enough cashes to make up for all my losses. I did have one big win today in PL Omaha. After losing my first minimum buy in decided to max buy in. I then got into a monster 3 way pot with a flopped set and my open ended nut straight and wheel draw. It came in and I felted 2 players.

One decision I have made is to bite the bullet and play in higher $ buy in tournaments. The lower levels are just too donk-infested to win consistently, though I do pretty well, the time it takes is just too small a payback even with a win.

Final Table + No Chips = 5th Place

One of the regular dealers at the American Legion tournament frequently says to me, "You are always on the final table". And yes, I do make the final table with great frequency, however I am having a very hard time winning it all. Last Friday I was running particularly card dead. One player at my first table just ran over it, playing every hand and winning probably 12 of the first 15 hands. Once he got a lot of chips he raised most pots. I tangled with him once with a flush draw that did not come in and ended up bluffing off 1/3 of my chips on the river in a futile attempt to salvage the hand. Never once during the course of the evening did I have more than twice the starting chips, and got to the final table with about starting chips (2200). The only way I survived was by massive bluffs on scary boards.

An interesting thing happened at the final table. The dealer, Carl, was down to a single $100 chip in the big blind which was $200. He tripled up on that hand with a 9/2 offsuit, then did it again. At the end of the day he was chip leader....a classic "chip and chair" story. Me, I ended up 5th for a $101.00 win ($55. net after buyin and tip).

Comeuppance

After running very good this week with 5 cashes in 5 sessions I finally got brought back to earth with a bad loss at the Omaha game (only my 2nd since they started it). Great starting hands failed to connect with the flop, draws did not come in, big hands gotted snapped, split or quartered, and monsters appeared (lost with a full house once against quads and another boat against straight flush). The hands (darned few) that I threw away would have won big pots and even misread the board once and another time threw away the best flop at showdown cause i also misread it. Probably not my finest hours at the table.

Snapped With The Best Hand

Part of poker maturity is accepting that if you are playing well, you will usually get your chips in with the best hand, but not necessarily the best draw and furthermore you will often lose when players catch their 1,2 or 3 outers against you.

This morning at the Moose I raised under the gun with AQ with blinds at 100/200 making in 600 to go. I was reraised allin to 1200 (I had about 600 behind). He had A/10 and caught his 10 on the turn. I folded my big blind the next hand and then picked up 6/7 offsuit in the small blind with my nemesis in the big blind. I raised all in for the additional 200 when it was folded to me. He calls with Q5 offsuit...can't blame him, only 200 more. I flop a 6 with two kings. O.K. The river brings another king for the full house. Back in business, sort of.

King 10 suited raises my next BB and I defend with KQ and double up. I then pick up 9/9 with an allin with KQ which I have covered. He makes a straight and I am down to $300. Moved to another table I find AJ offsuit under the gun, throw my last 300 in (blinds at 200/400), Sal calls from the button with A/2 of spades and small blind, Dirt Farmer, reraises all in with A/8 offsuit. Unfortunately Sal calls and his everyone covered. The flop brings my jack, hope......The turn 2 spades, and the river the eight of spades for Sal's flush. Dirt and I are both gone with better starting cards than the winner.

TJ Cloutier Chocolate Chip Cookie

Does this cookie look like TJ or what? Very funny.

Card Dead at the Legion

Tonight was a card dead night for me. I mucked nearly every hand for the first 45 minutes, playing only one to the river which I folded. After we combined to 3 tables I went all-in once, everyone folded, and my chips went from 1000 to 1500.

My last hand was in the big blind with one limper who was not deep stacked at all with the small blind just calling. I had 4/6 suited, a decent hand, but checked my option (200/400 blinds). The flop was 4/8/8 and the small blind checked, I went all in and am called by the limper who has unexpectedly called with K/8 offsuit. WTF was he doing in this hand? I think my better play would have been to raise all in out of the blind, which may have induced his fold, but anyone playing that bad probably calls anyway.

Muy Caliente

Have been running very hot today with 5 tournament cashes (1 first, 2 seconds, and 2 thirds) and a triple up in cash game. My new plan is playing in bigger buy in tournaments because frankly they have better players which works to my advantage. You just don't get as many donk calls at higher limits, but they are still there.

Omaha has been my bread and butter lately. Am doing well seeing a lot of flops then either playing strong or folding. Where i do the worst is with the maniacs who seem to want to get all their chips in preflop with AA or A2. Better to see what the flop brings and play small ball.