Good Golly Miss Molly

Source: wineharlots.com via ScottSmith on Gentlemint

How can you run so freaking bad?  Twice today have been rivered by a small set.  How the heck do they stay in with that crap?  Just knocked out of yet another tournament when I guy shoves with 3/3, I call with K/J suited.  Hit my jack, but he hits a 3, then rivers quads!!!!!

Also today (another day), two players stayed in a hand with draws for a 9 (board was 7/7/9).  They hit their one outer to split my money. 

Double Bubble, Toil and Trouble

Starting my evening at the Legion good, an envelope for $17 from my last dealing tips.  Bad table draw, as usual, 3 calling stations and 3 donks, one "X factor" (young kid never seen before), and 2 solid players.  O.K. Down to business.  I chip up early thanks to one of the donks (who usually runs incredibly lucky) with my K/J vs. his Q/10.  Am then bluffed out of a big pot with an all-in player after the donk bluffs into the dry pot with A/J vs my A/K.....the all-in player wins and later cripples me when I flop a set of 4's, she flops a straight flush draw....and hits it on the river.  FONK!!!!

I make a good/bad preflop laydown against an all-in AQ vs. my 7/7 who is called by A/J.  Flop has his queen, but also my 7.  Crappola!!!  Would have gotten both of them, and we go to final table after that hand.  On the final table I pick up a few hands and double up with my AK vs J9.  Trouble ensues when one player refuses to pay the bubble.  We discuss him during break.  The remaining players do something cool, which is agreeing to pay the bubble without his money!  Never seen that before.  After the bubble I am next out in 5th place when I shove preflop in small blind vs. bb who has A/J vs. my Q/J.  Not a good matchup, but great flop with 10/K giving me twice the outs.  I fail to hit and am eliminated by......the guy who wouldn't pay bubble.  Crap, I wanted that pot, would have been chip leader, damaged him, instead won  $69 and after tip and bubble money netted $20.  Oh well, a win is a win. 

Plugging Poker Leaks

Leaks, we all have them.  I like to think about how much a better player would win (or lose less....which is the same as winning) on any given hand.  Poker leaks are like holes in a ship, eventually they will sink the largest one, no matter how small they may seem.  Here are some common ones, and some of mine.

1.  Calling (or chasing) with insufficient odds.  Example:  flush draws must get 4:1, straight draws 5:1, gutshots 10:1 (ignoring "implied" odds).

2.  Telegraphing moves.  For example, reaching for chips....this comes under the category of tells, and is a subject for another day.

3.  Not playing with sufficient aggression.  It has been said that if you cannot raise a raiser, you should fold......ignoring for a moment position, stack size, the player, other callers, pot size, implied odds, etc.  My best poker training early on was playing in a "Raise or Fold" limit online game.  Every street was capped and aggression plus good starting card selection was important.

4.  Overcalling on the river.  I see this all of the time.  Big pot, initial raiser bets, more than one caller.  Yes, a huge pot it is a mistake to fold often, but most of the time you must be super strong to overcall.  This fact is ignored by a lot of players.  I would, for instance, overcall with a straight on a paired board or a 3 flush board against some players, but not others.  Can you imagine ever doing that if Randy is the original bettor, Evan calls?  On the other hand, if it is Aaron & Joe, in a $200 pot, ya sure you betcha!

5.  Small blind completion.  This one is a tough call.  Yes, you are getting great odds in a family pot, and when you are delivered the "small blind special" it is very lucrative.  On the other hand, playing garbage in the worst position seldom works out, so I like to limp when it is 4 or more limpers as you are getting 10:1 on your money.  Fewer, not so much.  The $1. you save every rotation adds up.

6.  Not folding to extreme aggression.  Let's say you have pocket queens, and raise but are raised, re-raised.  With a jack high flop it is raised and re-raised in front of you.  Have to pause and ask yourself what they could have that would cause that action.  A fold would not be a bad play here, and could save you at least $80.

7.  Playing too long, especially when behind and getting rotten cards.  We all want to play to get ahead or get even, but stuck is stuck and better to stop digging that hole you found yourself in when you are tired and running bad.

8.  Raising with mediocre hands out of position.  I see this a lot.  Many limpers, small or large blind busts out a fairly large raise (and sometimes a small one!).  In my opinion, you better have aces here, yet I see it with hands as weak as A/10.  WTF!!!!! 

Here is a good link:

http://www.learn2holdem.com/poker-leaks-analysis/poker-leaks.htm

Good Tri-City Visit

Feeling pretty good about my last visit to Pasco.  For a two week visit, no trips to the ATM and came home with more money than I left with, even with some evenings out and lots of cash expenditures.

I am currently reading a book, "Fooled by Randomness".  It is a very hard read, written by a stock trader and includes a lot of theoretical math concepts.  I try to take away the lessons for life and poker that I can.  Here are a few:

"Heroes are heroes because they are heroic in behaviour, not because they won or lost".  I think about the Congressional Medal of Honor recipients, most are awarded posthumously.  You could say they "lost", as indeed they lost their lives, yet their actions were heroic.

"A mistake is not something to be determined after the fact, but in the light of the information until that point".  This relates to good laydowns that would have been rewarded.  My most recent being folding 3's to raise, re-raise, and cap, only to flop trips and river quads.  You could view it as a mistake after the fact, but given the information available was not a mistake.

"You feel some pleasure when the performance is positive, but not in the equivalent amount as the pain experienced when the performance is negative.  Negative is 2 1/2 the magnitude of positive."  This relates to me about poker and bad beats in general.  The down feeling of losing a huge pot does seem both more memorable and painful than the pleasure of winning a big pot.


 

But I was running so good!!

This week has been a pretty good week for me.  Cash games crushed, 5th place in two tournaments (not much money, but hey, a win is a win), running very good until yesterday.  I slipped into tilt mode after this hand:  an older player (think old = tight), raises UTG to $7.00, I call with 3/3, button, an idiot, re-raises to $27 with A/9 suited.  UTG re-raises to $47.  What do you think I do?  Correct, I fold but show Holly my hand and instruct her "don't bring it".  The donk calls, of course.  The flop has a 3, and the river is the other 3.  I lose the Monte money of $150, and the $150 pot.  Welcome to Tilt City, we hope you enjoy your stay here.

Later the game turns ulgy with Thuy, Ramon, Penny and others calling any raise with garbage and winning.  Stuck $200, I call it a night.

This morning went for the Tri-fecta at the Moose, the 8:00 I get knocked out with my A/J vs K/J, 10:00 I come in 5th for $50.00, and the All-In or Fold noon tournament I come in 8th (My A/Q vs K/Q, 9/9, and 8/8.  The nines win the main pot, I lose the side pot to 8/8 who has overcalled two all-ins......this place is donk city.

Starting February Good

Playing last night at the Crazy Moose for some hours towards the $5000 freeroll tournament.  You have to be super careful or it can cost you much more than you stand to make!!!  I have been running pretty darn bad, so when offered a seat on a very short table I chose to wait.  We finally got enough players for qualification on Montes, They had a sign up list for a 3/6 game starting at 6:00, so got on that but not sure about playing the "no foldem holdem".  By the time 6:00 rolled around, I was up about $250 in the 2/20 game, so my decision to move to 3/6 was suspect.  However, I wanted to accumulate hours with little risk, so seemed prudent.  My buddy Ron was on the list and he suggested we do a 75/25 chop on Montes.  Since he is the luckiest player in the casino I had no problem agreeing to it.  Was up on the high hand board for an hour and a half with AAA/22, but it got snapped with 10 minutes to go.  Sorry Ron, no $25 for you.  Then, true to form, Ron is in a hand with 10/J of clubs on a flop of A/Q/x of clubs.  He hits his flush on the turn and then BINGO, king of clubs on the river.  He says,"I will be kind to you guys and not bet", I knew instantly what he was going to turn over.  We split the $885 and I went on to win another $50 in the game for a total win for the evening of $500.  Great night of poker.

The only downside was a drunk who took the seat to my immediate left who kept sucking out on everyone, was eating something messy and getting cards, chips, and table dirty.  I quit playing after enduring about 20 minutes of it.

Played in the 10 o'clock tournament today, taking 4th place for $70 despite playing very poorly, with  some bad calls, bad laydowns, and mostly failure to take advantage of position.  Got to do better than that.  

Poker purgatory, heaven, and hell

If we were to imagine for a moment what poker heaven would look like it is this:  Clean, comfortable tables and chairs, attentive staff offering sumptuous, delicious table food (all on comps, naturally and served by beautiful waitresses), maybe lattes made by a skilled barista, friendly dealers, your best friends seated around you, and of course no bad beats.  The river is your best friend.  Your draws all come in while your made hands hold up.  You would leave every session up several times your buy-in, but would seldom leave as the game never broke down and you never got tired.

On the other hand, poker hell is easy to identify:  squeaky chairs, annoying players, rude staff and dealers, every hand a bad beat for you, constant trips to the ATM, bad coffee, nasty food that your comps don't cover, huge rake.  The river screws you, always.

Now we come to poker purgatory.  In the Catholic religion, it is a place between heaven and hell where souls wait for final disposition.  I think that is where we all are now.  We go to the poker room and it is comfortable....sort of.  The food is o.k., but the really good stuff is out of reach of the poker menu and our comps.  Some friends are there, but when you are in a hand with them heads up you never get value out of your big hands, lots of people you don't like or are very annoying are playing and to make matters worse, they chase to the river.  Sometimes you win, but often you lose, usually when you can least afford it.  Just when you are on a roll, the game breaks down.

Hold it!  This is starting to sound like poker hell!!!