Talking Stick

Here is a quick recap of my Arizona poker tournament at the talking stick resort.  First off, thanks to my high school buddy Don for the good company and ride to the casino.  What an awesome poker room!  47 tables, computerized check in (take note, Crazy Moose).  Spreading every imaginable game, but unfortunately Don & I busted out a few minutes apart and we were too bummed to play more.  The structure was great, 20 minute blinds, 7500 starting chips, and after break, 30 minute blinds.  I had some ups and downs, running into a couple of monsters, including slow played kings against my AJ, top pair, top kicker flop.  Also hit a set of 5's on the turn against my ace king preflop raise.  My downfall came with my short stack (5.5K, with blinds @ 500/1000...me in big blind).  An early position raiser had one caller with his 2500 raise.  I had AK suited, but was not in a good spot to shove having no "fold equity".  I elected to flat call and shove on any flop (the old "stop & go" play).  The flop was 8/9/x with 2 hearts.  Shove away!!!!  The initial raiser folded, and the limper called with KQ of hearts.  The turn was a dagger in my heart, a Queen.  My heart then soared like an eagle when an ace hit the river.....but then fell like a rock when I saw it was the ace of hearts.  Player down.  A victim of being a short stack as much as anything else. 

Variance

Thinking about variance today.  Both in life and in poker (is there really any difference?).  I think my life has revolved around avoiding variance.  I really do hate those poker games where there is a ton of pre-flop raising and re-raising.  Even with great starting hands, you can be destroyed by a bad flop.  Entering a lot of these big pots can quickly destroy your bankroll, or on the other side of it, build a huge stack.  The problem is the big variance, or swing in your fortunes.  I much prefer a more steady game, with few raises early which gives you a chance to see more flops, evaluate your hand, and actually give or accept correct pot odds.

On another topic, after hearing about the table changes at the Crazy Moose, I am thinking about not playing there anymore.  It is sort of like my little private club (cozy atmosphere) has been invaded by the masses.  I really don't like playing poker on the table games layout, even if only for a while in a tournament.  What I really do hate is the slow deterioration of the poker room....from 4 tables, to 3, and now 2.  Also, I have been hating the 2/20 spread game for a while.  I used to be a much more consistent winner at the 3/6 and 4/8 games.  Also, if that were not enough, I also am not happy about the increased rake.  Add to that the bingo mentality of the monte carlo board "had to play my suited 2/3 because the straight flush pays $500".  So, your aces get crushed because the idiot played them, and then you could not protect against his draws with a big bet because of the spread odds.  Great.

I am not crazy about Jokers, and the same is more true about the Lucky Bridge.  Jokers does have some good structure tournaments however, and I may restrict myself to tournaments only at both casinos (except of course for the Omaha game).  

Final Table Dealing

 

For the first time in several years, I was asked to deal the final table.  This decision's main ramification is that you are stuck there until the tournament ends, usually about 11:30.  Way too late for this old guy!!!  But, there were 33 players signed up and tips would be good (FT dealer gets 50%), so I said, "Okeydokey".  I ended up going out around 18th (lost 1/2 my chips against what I believe was a massive bluff), and then the rest on a blind vs. blind with my A/10 suited shove against K/5 offsuit.  He flopped a 5, I turned a 10, he rivered a 4 card flush with his 5.  Sigh, some days just go like that.  I dealt several major suckouts, including another 4 card flush on the board, a 4 card straight that busted a flopped set.

So, I went home late, tired, and richer by $18 after my buy-in.  Could have been worse I guess.

Omaha

I want to talk a little about my favorite poker game, Omaha 8.  I have frequently said that if I could play Omaha at every casino that I would never play another hand of Texas Hold'em.  I have several reasons for this.  First, it is a more complex game, thus relying more on skill.  For example, the number of possible distinct starting hands in hold 'em is 1326, but discounting suits, there are only 169.  In Omaha, there are 270,725, and leaving out suits, 16,432.  So, you can immediately see that you seldom see the same exact starting hands, unlike hold'em. This requires more critical thinking before deciding to play a hand.  That said, the pots in Omaha are usually pretty large due to loose pre-flop play and the large number of interesting looking starting hands.  It is not unusual to have 6 or 7 players in a pot, sometimes to the river.  There are always pot odds working either for or against you, and the river is unusually brutal (or generous).  Drawing hands are sometimes more powerful than made hands, and you can lose or win half the pot anytime during the hand.  To me, the keys to winning at this game are starting with reasonable hands, analyzing the possibilities after the flop, not chasing when the board is obviously scary, and saving that river bet or call as often as possible.

So, after playing probably 100's of thousands of hands, what is my advice for the novice Omaha player?

1.  Discard the junk hands.  These include those with a dangler (a card that doesn't fit with the other 3 cards).  Also unplayable are middle cards, even those in sequence.  This particularly applies to 9/8/7, which are called "pirates", presumably because they steal your chips.  I am not a fan of ace/5 or bigger, unless suited ace and a couple of cards that work together.  For instance A/5/K/J, single or double suited is playable, while A/5/9/Q non-suited is not.

2.  Premium starting hands always include an ace, with A/A/2/3 double suited being the best starting hands in most opinions.  I particularly like 4 cards below a 6, while I really love any A/small with a 6.  I will even play these with a "dangler", like a jack.  The reason is, the 6 gives you the option of a 3/4 pot.  Imagine the action you get with an A/2/6/x on a flop of 3/4/5.  You may get jammed and re-jammed by other A/2 hands, but end up chopping the low and hogging the high.

3.  I like, and will play, hands containing 2 high cards and 2 low cards.  Many people will not, but 2/3/10/J can make many nut hands.

4.  Sometimes "taking one off" will yield very good results.  You must evaluate your hand for drawing potential when the "perfect" card comes on the turn.  Since it is a less expensive street, I find it sometimes possible to call a bet, but usually not a bet and raise.

5.  The river changes everything in Omaha.  You can go from a hogger to nothing or a chopped pot with one card.  I find that it is usually best to fold when the action is heavy unless I have a nut hand on the high or low side.  If it is THE nut hand on the high, this is when you can dearly charge the lows and second nuts.

6.  I quit chasing anything except nut low when the board is paired.

7.  A flopped straight or 2 pair almost never works out well.  You can bet, or raise but with many callers you are treading a mine field against the flopped sets and flush draws, not to mention the low draws.

8.  Small pairs are playable, but you have to be very cautious about making the underfull or smaller set.  Best not to be too aggressive with them, better to check call.  Eights are my favorites of the small pairs.  Don't ask.  I just tend to flop sets more often with them, and they have enough high card strength to crush smaller sets.  Also, you are often going to lose half the pot, since an eight is essential for low hands.  But, if you are playing a couple of low cards too.........

9.  The worst situation, the one that costs me the most money is being sandwiched between a nut low and a made high (which I have a draw against...like a straight or flush with my set).  Even though it may be a huge pot, I must remind myself that I am only playing for 1/2 most of the time.  The absolute worst situation is having 2 nuts  both high and low that you cannot force yourself to muck.  Imagine sitting with 2/4/K/Q suited king.  The flop is A/3/10, two of your suit.  Great, you have nut nut draws as a 5 will give you the wheel, a jack gives you the straight.  In it to win it.  Now the turn brings a 6.  It is bet and raised to you.  Wow, nut low.  River is a 2.  You lose to the 6 high straight from the 4/5 who hogs the pot.  The other player turns over 2/4/10/10.  You were playing for a chop on the low and a 3 outer on the high.  Great.

10.  Most players play too many hands.  That said, I am in about 65% of the pots.  Many players would say that is too high, but given the limpfest, you are playing virtually all blinds and buttons, so that is a third of the dealt hands.  Position is not king like in hold'em, but it is still important.  Much better to see the action from last position.

11.  Another unplayable hand:  trips (even aces, unless your 4th card is a 2 or 3 suited).  You will seldom have more than a pair.  You are drawing to one out for a set.

Hope this helps.  I highly recommend playing Omaha on a free site like pokerstars.net.  You can gain experience and it is fun. 

Coin Flips, Jabba the Hut & Getting Your Money In Good

I like to think that I usually, and that is a big usually, get my money in good.  For me, that means entering a coin flip situation with the pair, rather than with the over-cards.  On Friday night I was not running too well.  I won one nice pot with a turned aces up.  The person driving the betting reminded me of Jabba the Hutt on Star Wars.  He had a sneer on his face as he kept winning pots with massive bluffs.  He played virtually every hand, usually raising with some real crap...think K/3 offsuit, with which he rivered a straight, naturally using the 3.  He was able to get away from his hand when I bet big on the turn due to two flush draws on the board.  Opportunity missed as I believe he would have donked off more chips to me if I had checked.

Down to 2 tables, and 13 players, I was short stacked with a little more than 5 big blinds when I picked up 8/8 in early position.  Easy shove decision.  The big blind, a shorter stack, called with A/Q.  A queen showed up on the river to put me down to 1-1/2 blinds.  With most of my chips in the pot with the BB, the small blind raised me all-in with A/6 vs. my J/5 suited.  I called.  He hit a six on the flop, an ace on the turn, and rivered another ace for the high hand of the night.  Player down.  I did not get them all in with the best hand, but was only a 60/40 dog.  I watched another short stack shove the hand before with 4/4 and triple up when her callers failed to pair.  This game is unfair at times.

The big bluffing player?  Glad you asked.  He redrew a seat on my table when we broke the third table.  He was one of the first out despite his big stack.  Han Solo would be proud.  

Bluffing and Showing

I would like to throw out the topic of bluffing this morning.  We all do it sometimes, some with lots more frequency than others.  It is necessary to bluff in order to win some hands (those flush or straight draws that don't arrive), and sometimes it is dictated by our chip stack, our table position, and/or our table image.  Here are some nuggets I would like to pass on, and ask for the readers' input. 

 Do you ever show a bluff?  This is a subject for some serious discussion.  One school of thought says that you should never show a bluff as this allows for successful future bluffs.  Another school says that "advertising" a bluff can pay off nicely for you when you want a call.  To me, the quandary is the fact that while never showing keeps your opponents guessing, showing a bluff gets those calls you may want, but also may result in calls you don't want.  This happened to me a couple of months ago when I showed a massive bluff to a frequent bluffer (Dougy Fresh) who called me down very light when I had a strong hand, and then caught a miracle card on the river.  I believe that he would have folded except for the fact he had seen my earlier bluff.  I am leaning now towards the never show school.  This is true for about 99% of the hands.  Keep them guessing, show only when required, as in all-in situation or to win the pot.

 

I believe that we all bluff much more often than we think we do.  An example is when we raise after multiple limpers with a small pair, say 6's.  While we do indeed have a "made" hand, we are in no better than a coin flip with almost any other hand.  Thus, we are semi-bluffing at best.  While this is not a true bluff, as that would imply having "nothing", when we bet with bottom pair, or with ace high, we sometimes have the best hand, but more often than not are actually bluffing.  I personally prefer to check these hands down as they have quite a bit of showdown value and if you are called, you are beat.  Also, if you are raised then you must fold which takes away from the showdown value you enjoyed.

 

I have noticed several players in the cash game betting big when checked to in last position after the flop.  Say, a $20 bet into a $10 pot.  I am very tempted to check raise these players, as I believe that they have nothing or maybe an unimproved small pair.  What do you say?  Bluff or "semi-bluff"?  Waiting to do this with top pair or maybe a pair with only one over-card on the table.

 

Frequency of bluffing.  The reason the infamous 2/7 or my previous favorite, 2/3, is such a good bluffing opportunity is the frequency with which you are dealt these cards.  That is why K/9 or J2 also works.  It is not the card strength, but just your commitment to bluff that makes it work.  On the whole, I would prefer to use k9 as my bluff cards, as they have so much more pure high card strength.  We all gain attachments to certain combinations of cards due to our history with them.  We remember the huge pot we won when the monster flop hit us right between the eyes.  All told, I think that we need to bluff with infrequency, but using some outside measure.  Say, at 5 minutes before the hour, or third hand dealt by the new dealer.  Regular, but random.  That way, we are not influenced by other factors.

 

Nuff Said

 

This was my 4th Royal Flush online, 2 in cash games.  Note chip count, bought in for $400.

Ace King Rules

It is not often that you see it, but in today's Morning Moose, ace king won every single time.  It was an amazing sight to see player shove with it, get multiple callers and win.  One big pot was won with two callers both having AQ.  I got my money in good on a raise from a big ace, caller with Q/3 suited, and my 5/5.  Flop was J/6/5, with two clubs.  Big ace shoves, called by the suited cards (clubs), and of course by my set.  Runners brought a straight to the flush draw using his 3.  Player down, but not me as had chipped up earlier.  Later in the tournament I had the pleasure of calling his short stack out of my big blind with Q/9 and hitting two pair despite his rivering the ace.  Revenge is sweet after all!!  Queen nine was very good to me, knocking out Dirt Farmer with Q9 suited.  Helps to flop the flush.

We ended up doing a 5 way chop for $136 each.  I was second in chips, but with only 7 big blinds it seemed prudent.  I will take a $100 net win any day of the week.