Catching Your Outs

Last night at the American Legion I was hoping to repeat my victory last week.  Seated at the same table as the other two players I chopped with I recognized a tough field.  The dealer was excellent, two other players, excellent, one older calling station, one tight aggressive player, and a calling station lady.  I hunkered down early, playing tight and increasing my stack about 1/3 playing aggressively in position on scary flops.  I then lost some chips raising in middle position with QJ suited and flopping the straight draw which failed to materialize, losing to a flush draw that missed but spiked a king.

Limping in late position with 5/5 and 5 players in the pot (is that a sign or what?), the flop was high with 2 clubs.  I went ahead and bet small, getting one fold.  The turn was the 5 of clubs and I came out firing 500.  Everyone folded but the calling station on the button who flat called.  The turn failed to pair the board but also put a possible straight out so I checked.  She had only 175 remaining which she bet, calling I am shown AK of clubs.  Ouch.  No 5 on the turn and I shut down.  So far, not running good on draws with lots of outs both times.

With about 1300 in chips remaining and blinds at 100/200 I pick up QQ with a couple of limpers.  I shove and the big stack calls with 5/5.  Doubling up and hopeful I then run into this hand:  An active player raises a couple of hands in a row, showing AQ once, then raises to 600.  I have J/J, so I ship it and he calls with A/10 suited in hearts.  The flop is ace high all clubs and I have the jack of clubs.  Naturally my 11 outs (twice) fail to deliver and now I am down to 400 chips with blinds at 200/400.

Last hand goes calling station limp, my all-in with A/4 suited, limp, limp, check.  Not good.  The flop is A/K/J, so when the first limper min-bets figure I am way behind.  Next limper shoves a huge stack and blind calls with first bettor folding.  Know I am way behind, but hoping for no Q/10.  Shover turns over KJ, for two pair, caller shows K/10 for pair plus gutshot.  Bad but not horrible news.  Lots of outs after the 7 is turned.  I need one of the 2 probable remaining aces (limper folded one I am certain), one of the 3 4's,  or one of the 3 sevens for 8 outs.  Fail!

Loose Aggressive

Emailing my old high school buddy, Don, about WSOP strategy (he is playing in an event this year), I began reading about loose aggressive players vs. tight aggressive.  Deciding to try it in the big $25 Moose buy-in morning tournament I found some early success by calling raises in position with gapped connectors (flopped a straight once).  Usually those hands would go into the muck preflop.

Anyway, a funny story.  Different tournament, an unnamed regular (big, ugly, crude) plays super aggressive, super loose and usually either cashes or goes home early.    He had doubled up through a donkey and literally was playing every hand, raising most of them.  I found myself fairly short stacked against his pre-flop raise and decided to shove with 5/5.  Another player behind me, with a fair stack called and Mr. Loose overcalls.  I think the preflop raise was something like $300 and I reraised to around $900.  Anyway, the flop comes 8/x/x and it goes check check.  Great.  The turn brings another heart and the first caller shoves.  Mr. Aggressive gets very irritated and mucks his 5/8 offsuit face up.  The bettor into the dry pot turns over no pair and a heart draw with overcards.  The river bricks and I rake the pot. LOL!!!!!!  Mr. Aggressive fumed and went totally on tilt, which is difficult to distinguish from his normal play, and bubbled out.  Alas, I also failed to cash but it was worth the show.  He had knocked me out several weeks ago overcalling two calls of a big stack shove with K/10 offsuit against my AK and had spiked the 10.  Words were exchanged then and basically I have ignored him since.

Two good articles on LAG vs. TAG play:\\

http://ezinearticles.com/?Loose-Aggressive-Vs-Tight-Aggressive-Play-in-Poker-Tournaments&id=1134926

http://www.parttimepoker.com/tight-aggressive-vs-loose-aggressive-play-in-holdem-tournaments

Reading Material

Playing at the Legion last night I was asked to deal table #1.  I hate dealing and playing.  It is difficult to do either well.  With a small showing (several players at Wildhorse Poker Roundup in Pendleton) and only 2 tables I agreed, plus the tips normally cover your buy-in so it is like a freeroll.

Getting hurt early on some big draws I tightened up, getting back in the game with pocket kings and another hand.  Limping on the button, the big blind checked and the flop came king high with two hearts.  He bet $250 and I called with my K/10.  I thought after calling that I had made a huge mistake letting a flush draw in too cheap and not "defining his hand" with a raise in position.  The turn brought the dreaded third of the suite and he bet about the same amount.  Again, like a donk, I just called.  The river was a blank and he shoved.  I thought for a moment or two, and barely having him covered I called.  He meekly asked before turning over his hand "do you have a pair?", so I knew I had snapped his ace high bluff.  Just had a feeling about him, being a young gun and pretty aggressive.

Later I made two seperate calls for a lot of chips against another bluffer, and almost knocked another player who was on tilt and shoved from the small blind.  I instantly called with K/10 and won against his J/3 offsuit.  He was really upset and could not stop raving about my "snap call".  Overall, I think that I was just making some very good reads and good calls with less than the nuts. 
At the end of the day, we chopped  $630 three ways plus I made my buy-in back from tips.  Great night!

Wildhorse. The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves.

Wildhorse continues to frustrate me. Playing Omaha/8 before the tournament yesterday I ran up a $90 profit. The tournament I played lots of hands early (my plan) and just had tons of second bests. When the blinds escalated I was short stack at our table until finally getting all my chips in multiway and hogging a nice stack. Lost most of them back on a monster draw (straight plus nut flush draws). The guy who won it became chip leader. Finally, in the big blind I pick up A/2/3/8 (a wonderful starting hand) when the UTG player raises. Everyone else folds and I happily put my last chips in. He shows A/2/x/Q for almost the same hand. Flop is A/4/x giving me nut low draw. Turn and River blank and he knocks me out with his pair of aces with queen kicker. I finished about 125th out of 244 players.

Returning to the cash game it was ugly early. One old fart kept rivering everyone. I flopped a straight in a kill pot (8/16) and he called my raise with pocket 4's. He caught a 4 on the turn and another on the river for quads. Sick. After 2 rebuys finally started winning and cashed out for $220, a net $10 profit. Whoopee!!!!

Taking The Fifth

How is this even possible? Took 5th place in 3 consecutive tournaments. Morning moose, Joker's Friday deepstack, and Moose Sunday. Nothing but bad beats to report mostly. The first one K/9 (suited!!!!) calls my AQ shove and hits a 9. Then shortstacked 5/3 big blind calls my AJ shove and hits a 5. At Jokers I am chip leader at the final table when 6/6 shoves a big stack. I call with 8/8 and he spikes a 6. Short stacked I take the flop in the BB with QJ and QQ calls my flop shove on a jack high flop.

The last tournament nobody wants to die and we are up to 2/4000 blinds when in the BB with a min raise from Marco on the button I call with A/9 suited. Queen high flop, check, check. Turn an ace, I shove and Marco calls with AK.

Table on Tilt

I love the concept of "tilt". As a boy I spent a lot of time playing the pinball machines at the drugstore, bowling alley and bus station. At the bus station I learned about tilt from the hoodlums that hung out there. They often would use cheaters, usually packs of matches, to prop the front legs up a little bit which slows down the action and allows higher scores which award free games. By doing this they extended their play time dramatically for the nickel invested. They really needed to do this as their usual winning strategy was to shake and jiggle th machine to extract maximum points which often caused the pendulum tilt mechanism to activate.

This brings me to poker tilt. Yesterday and the day before I witnessed some major tilt going on. An older player who always always remains very quiet and calm was definitely on tilt. He was bluffing, calling light and generally not playing his usual winning game. The next day another older player was so badly on tilt he raised every hand, big, trying to either prove he had more money than the other players (he did), or larger cajones, which he did not. And no, I am not the players described, though I was definitely stuck and venturing into tilt territory.

Personally, I believe that more money is lost on tilt than at any other time. This usually happens when you get hit by some major suckouts or by a loose player calling big preflop raises with garbage hands then connecting solidly. Pocket queens yesterday were dealt 7 times in about a 20 minute span with 5 coming back-to-back-to-back-to back-to back. Yes, 5 people had pocket queens in a row. Only one stood up. The rest took nasty, nasty beats. Mine were done in by pocket 10's who caught the two outer on the river, despite at $20 preflop raise, a $20 flop bet, and a $20 turn bet. Stubborn lady!!! One guy even had the back luck to get them twice and lose both (runner flush, ace on river). Anyway, there were multiple players on tilt at the table and the pots were humongous. I was in to the game $420 and felt fortunate to escape with a $240 loss. I saw people stuck $400 plus.

My advice to guard against tilt? Number one, take a short break after a nasty one, get up, walk around until your head clears. Never, ever play the next hand. Second, do not target the bad beater. When you plot revenge, dig two graves is the saying. Third, let the game come to you and do not force it. Don't try to "beat them at their own game" by playing garbage, no matter how many times you see it win. Tighten up, quit playing speculative hands under the gun. Play tight aggressive, if someone raises, fold unless you can re-raise. An last, but not least, recognize when you are entering the tilt zone and acknowledge it to yourself.

How Do I Do it?

How in the world can I hit a Monte worth $120 and still lose $75 ($50 in the cash game, $25 in tournament)? Glad you asked. Here is how. First in the tournament I was running ultra tight and card dead. I voluntarily entered only three pots, folding the first to a raise (10/J that ultimately would have rivered a straight), all-in with AK suited that found a flush on the river vs. flopped set of 10's, and lastly Q/J offsuit against 8/8 all-in as a short stack. I still managed to come in 8th out of 27 or so.

Cash game, playing pretty good I get aces cracked by two players chasing straights, they both hit and chopped the $200 pot. Terrible calls with K/10 offsuit and j/10 offsuit from my UTG $10 raise. I even raised the flop big blind bettor who hit a jack, to $35, and they both called.

I then managed to hit quads with my pocket 7's, which was worth $120, except Bob was playing so $30 went to him plus big dealer tip to Hector. My worse hand besides the aces cracked was calling Thuy's straddle raise to $19 with my Q/J offsuit. Flopped the top pair with jacks, she bet $20 on the flop,turn and then rivered a king to win with her AK. Sick.

Dumb & Dumber (subtitled: Lucky & Luckier)

One of my favorite movies, really!!! I can sometimes relate so well to the characters, particularly at the end when they chase down the Hawaiian Tropics suntan girl's bus to correct their wrong directions to a town where they might find a couple of guys willing to travel with them.

My story involves losing my slim winnings two days in a row to two different players. Let's give them the nicknames of "Nemesis I" and "Nemesis II". The first one is a guy who from conversation is an old regular who has returned. He has show a steady profit every day playing tight but aggressive. My type of player. I lost 100% of my profit to him on two hands. The first I turned a nut straight with my 3/6, betting $20 into a medium pot. He called and the river paired the board with a third heart. He bet $20 and I folded. Maybe a good fold, maybe not as at best playing to a split pot.

The second hand was much uglier. Playing 2/2 in a multi-way raised pot the flop came 2/7/10. My nemesis bet $12 and with other callers I flat called as to not drive off the customers. The turn is a queen and he bets $20 with one caller, now I raise. He re-raises and the other player also calls, so I again call( almost out of chips...$10 remaining). River, Queen. My last $10 goes in to see his 10/Q take the pot. Sick. I leave stuck.

Next day, "nemesis I" playing again, I change seats to gain position on him. But I win the one pot we enter together. Yes!!! However now Nemesis II moves into action. This is where I relate to dumb and dumber. Under the gun I see 10/10. I like this hand, but don't love it, so I just limp (my error as you will see) to see the flop cheap and possibly trap. The flop is great for me 8/2/4 rainbow. I bet $10 and the small blind (Nemesis) calls. The turn is another undercard, I bet $20, he calls. River pairs the 8, he bets 20, I call. He shows his full house 8's full of 2's. Unbelievable. He is a very tight player and would have folded preflop to any bet from me. I manage to lose $60.

Next hand against him was kind of weird. Playing 8/9 suited, one of my favorites, the flop is J/8/Q with two of a suit (not mine). Aaron bets $2 and everyone calls the ridiculous small bet. The turn brings another of the other suit that flopped...can't remember the denomination, but not a 10 which I was looking for. Aaron again bets $2 and this time nemesis raises to $20 saying something about getting rid of flush draws. At this time, as he is a "cagy codger", I suspect larceny or a flush draw so I call with my pair plus straight draw. The river pairs the 8 giving me trips, so when he bets (everyone else folded), I raise it to $40. He re-pops it to $60, perhaps thinking I am trying to re-steal, and I call. he reveals his 2nd full house against me (slow played his flopped set of jacks). Told you he was cagy. Anyway, the two hands represented my drop from profitability to a $70 loss for the day.

The Royal Treatment

Today was kind of a strange poker day for me. I woke up not feeling like "the sharpest knife in the drawer". I left the house for a business call, then had to return when I realized that I had forgotten my paperwork. Kind of groggy, sleep deprived, whatever. Quitting about 3:00 to take the dog home and feed him I decided to go play poker. When I arrived, about 4:30 realized that when I changed clothes had forgotten my wallet. Luckily I had $100 in high hand money waiting for me from yesterday (quad 9's). So, buying in for $100 decided to go into ultra squeeky Randy tight mode, folding every hand until I picked up KK in late position. Raised to $12 with a couple of callers, flopped a set, rivered full house. Now up to about $140 this hand came up: I limped in early position with AQ of spades. No raises, good. The flop was K/J spades and I think a queen. Checked around. Good. The turn pairs the king and "Too Hard to Handle Randle" bets $10. I reluctantly call hoping to catch a flush, but probably in trouble if I do. The river? Glad you asked, 10 of spades for the Royal Flush!!! Big payday on the Monte board of $846.00.

Luck continued with me, flopping a full house with 4/4 and other assorted big pots. Cashed out for almost $1164 even after a generous tip to dealer and $100 to Bob (we have a 75/25 deal if both are in the game, but gave him the consolation prize for showing up late). Sweet!!!!

Draws

A few interesting hands last night:

1. In a 3 way raised pot I hold A/4 diamonds. Flop is 10 high with 2 diamonds and it is bet $20 to me by original raiser. Call, and raised behind me. We both call. Turn is a queen, no diamond and it is bet to me and I raise to $40. Both players call. River bricks and it is checked to me, so I bet $20. Player behind me shows his hand to neighbor and mucks face down while original raiser mucks his A/10 face up. I win big pot with ace high busted draw. Other player later says he had open ended straight flush draw, which means he had 8 outs, two which were the nuggets. The key here was that they were both very good players capable of laying down hands when they believe they were beaten. However, in a limit game that is not always a good idea.

2. In a monster pot later, I raise to $12. in late position with 9/9 and am re-raised $20 by the big blind and called by the player to my right, a fairly tight asian guy. The flop is low, 6/7/2 and the BB bets $20 which we both call. The turn is a great card for me, an 8, giving me additional outs against overpairs or sets. The BB bets $20, next guy raises all-in to $40 and I call. BB re-raises to $60. Call. The river is a jack which misses my draws and when the BB bets $20 I fold. He turns over K/K for the $40 side pot and the other guy turns over J/J for the rivered 2 outer set. According to my poker calculator I was about a 4/1 dog on the turn, while my neighbor was a 20/1 dog. The kings guy was disgusted and racked his chips and left. He had done well, winning a huge pot with Aces and was very lucky all night hitting lots of 2 pairs playing "any two cards".

3. Another huge draw: Loose player raises to $12 preflop with 7/7, I call with 10/J suited (diamonds again). Flop is Q/9 (diamonds)/x. He bets $15 and I call. Turn is a blank, he bets, I call. River is a blank, he checks, I check (missed a bet or raise somewhere methinks). According to my odds calculator we were a coin flip preflop, and on the flop I was actually almost a 3/1 favorite. I had any J, 3 outs, any 10, 3 outs, any king, 4 outs, any 8, 4 outs, any diamond, 7 outs, for a total of 21 outs twice. Unbelievable that almost half the deck made my hand. But, true to form I was unable to hit a massive number of outs.

4. Last hand of the night: Loose guy again raises preflop (10/10 this time) and I reraise to $32 with A/K suited. There is one additional caller. Flop is A/10/x, checked to me, I bet $20, drawing almost dead and they both call. Turn is x, check to me, bet. One caller. River,x, check, bet, re-raise for my last $5. I call. When I say "nice catch", he whips some crap on me about "never being behind". Again, it was a coin flop preflop and he caught the only one of two cards that could have kept me interested (other than flush draw). If there is no ace or king on the flop I am check folding most of the time. If he misses his 10 and the ace or king comes he becomes a huge dog. Like I say, nice catch of the card that keeps me in the hand.