Guidelines

It helps me sometimes to follow some simple guidelines.  Notice that I am calling them guidelines and not rules :) Here are a few:

1. Don't chase straights and flushes on a paired board.
2. Flop or drop small pairs
3. Don't call raises with weak aces.
4. Don't shove with weak aces unless under 3 or 4 big blinds.
5. Don't chase the lower end of straights.
6. Play squeaky tight under the gun and early position.
7. Don't limp much, mostly to trap or with small pairs.
8. Complete the blind if there are several limpers with any two cards.
9. If first in the pot on the button, raise.
10. If short stacked and under the gun with 5 big blinds, go all in with any two cards.
11. Don't forget to raise with your draws in late position to get a free card.

Weak Aces

Let's begin by stating that one of my least favorite hands is ace/weak.  Last night at the legion I was constantly being dealt A/2, A/3, A/4, A/5, A/6, A/8.  I played a few of them last night at the Am. Legion tournament, particularly if suited and in position with only limpers.  I did not win a single hand with them.

The players at my table were the usual mix of aggressive donks, passive donks, semi-pros, and competent players.  4 of the original 9 on my table would end up on the final table of 9.

I played pocket aces differently last night than I ever did before.  I had lost about half my chips to John, an excellent player to my left, who called me down fairly light on my double barrelled missed flush draw bluff.  He won the hand with his weak ace (A/8 as I remember it).  When I picked up my aces, I was in the cutoff with only the blinds in the hand.  I decided to "gamble" and just limp with my rockets.  John completed the blind and the big blind checked.  Darn.  Had hoped for a raise somewhere so I could re-raise and isolate.  Anyway, the flop was 8 high and John bet out (he had K/4, and had bet second pair).  I re-raised all-in and he hesitated then called.  I managed to avoid another 4 or a king and made a key double up.  Whew!!!

A few hands later Blake, sitting to my immediate left, next to John, min-raised my big blind with his short stack.  John, the chip leader at the table, called and I called with K/5.  The flop had a 5, I checked, Blake shoved, John folded and I called, having him covered.  He turns over A/A.  Well played dude until the king hits the river.  Player down.  Very similar scenario to my aces, but I managed to avoid the two pair river card.

On to the final table, I am in fairly good shape but there are a few monster stacks in the hands of competent players.  Two of the big stacks self destructed, including a call from 6/6 against my Q/Q, and we got down to 5 players, with 5 spots plus the bubble being paid.  I was the short stack after another shortie tripled up and when the button raised 2.5 x my big blind, elected to shove with my weak ace, A/6.  Had almost enough to elicit a fold, but he was 2nd in chips and feeling frisky with his A/8, also a weak ace.  When he hit his 8 on the flop it was all over for me, finishing 5th for $72, a  $27 profit after buy-in and gratuity.  Oh well, a win is a win. 

Quitting Time

One of the main leaks in many player's game is staying too long either after they get stuck, or when they are up is staying too long in the game.  They either give back their winnings or get stuck further, seldom "getting even".  So, that begs the question, when do we quit?  In my experience, if I buy in for a reasonable amount, say 10 times the big bet ($200 in a 2/20 game), a good time to quit is if I have at least doubled my buy in, or at maximum, tripled it.  My experience is that I seldom continue running up my winnings to more than 4 times the buy in, and often lose back part of the winnings.

They say that you should not quit a good game, that is, one where there are lots of contributors and you are running good.  I say that the game often turns quickly on you and it is just too easy to give back winnings.

On the other side of the coin is the question when to cut your losses.  If I am "min-buying" in to the 2/20 game for $100 or $120, I am willing to lose the initial buy and reload at least once and sometimes twice.  If it is a good game and I am just getting very unlucky but playing well and getting good cards 3 times is acceptable.  I have found that few times am I able to come back from 4 buy-ins to break even, let alone show a profit.

So there you have it.  What is your "threshold of pain"?  What do you call a good win?

  

Back to Back Quads

Playing online tonight, I had back to back quads.  Never done that before.  I was kind of bummed having busted out of two tournaments right before.  The first one I flopped top two pair with my K/J suited.  A player with J/10 got frisky and reraised me all in on his open ended draw and caught on the river.  The second tournament I flopped top pair top kicker with my AK, then lost to trip 9's.  Short stacked I went all in with my A/10 and bumped into.....AK.  Can't win with them, can't win against them.

How can you write about poker when you don't play any poker?

I was not feeling well Friday night so no poker for the week.  There is no poker at the Legion this Friday due to using the area to prep for Christmas baskets.  Play online is not worth talking about, so, here is a cartoon for your amusement.

 

Another Tournament Cash

This time, only 4th place, good for $60.  The hand of the day which would have propelled me to 1st place and eliminated 2 players (one of whom chopped 3 ways) was this:  Jeff shoved a fairly big stack with 4/4 on the button.  I had limped with AJ.  The big blind shoved a smaller stack with A/10.  I tanked and ultimately folded.  Pocket 4's won, but would not have with a jack that came on the river.  Opportunity missed.  I think Jeff would have folded if I had shoved, but I had too big a stack to shove, and he probably would have called or shoved if I had raised.

The unusual pot of the tournament was a shove by Rob with small suited connectors.  Another player called also with suited connectors.  I was in the big blind and called with Q/3 suited.  The board paired with an ace on the flop,  a brick hit on the turn, then the board paired again.  The other players and I thought that I had won with my queen kicker.  Both Rob and the other player got up and left before the dealer split the pot 3 ways.  Rob never returned and it looked as if the other wouldn't either.  A buddy of his chased him down, he returned and ultimately was one of the 3 players to chop.

Seat Reservation for One, Hall Party-Final Table

Tournament life is treating me well lately.  I stayed away from the Moose yesterday as had not slept well the night before and had a lot of business stuff to attend to.  This morning chopped 3 ways after arriving short stacked and in the big blind on the final table.  The button raised almost enough to put me all in, then the small blind shoved.  Before I even looked at my cards, the button mucked.  That helps.  Finding pocket 9's, I called for all my chips.  She turns over AJ suited, and when the board double pairs queens and 7's, I take the pot (the initial raiser said he had A/7, his bad).

From then on, I just stayed out of trouble and coasted to the finish line.  Honestly, I am somewhat surprised anymore when I don't make the final table or cash.

Sunday Tournament Hands

Had my typical bounty tournament experience.  Got exactly two bounties including my own when we did a 3 way chop for $400 each.  How is that even possible?  My true bounty was a great one.  To lead up to it, I was seated at the back table and dismayed to see Jimmer in seat 8.  I really do consider him to be the one of the best players locally and if he got some chips it would be a very tough table.  Also at the table were Ali, who can bluff with the best, Marco, who can play very tricky and solid, Chad, who paid me the ultimate compliment by saying, "Crap, you had to be on my table".  When I asked why, he said, "because you always get my chips".  Nice rep!!!  Kathy, Jimmer's wife was seated to my right, and Heather to my left.  Kathy can play very aggressively while Heather is fairly predictable with very solid hands if she is calling, and monsters if she is raising.  Rob was seated next to Heather. The other players were wild cards for me.

Jimmer played aggressively the first couple of hands, and took them down.  Then, Marco called one of his raises.  Flop was high cards, Marco checks out of position and Jimmer bets.  Marco calls.  Turn is a brick, Jimmer bets bigger (around $800 I think), Marco calls.  River is an ace, Marco says, "All-in", but Jimmer wearing headphones does not hear him, and bets out $1800.  The floor is called and ruled that the $1800 must stay, but he does not have to call the all-in.  He folds, but is now down to about 1/2 original stack.  He recovers some and then I pick up 8/8 in early position (UG +1), I raise 3x blind and Jimmer as well as others call.  Flop is 10 high and I bet around $300, Jimmer raises to $600 and everyone else folds.  I call.  Turn is another small card and I ask Jimmer how many chips he has left.  $1200.  I bet $1200 and he calls.  Good call with 10/7.  Luck however cannot be denied and I spike my 2 outer 8 on the river.  Player down!  I think everyone at the table owed me a big "thank you".

Another noteworthy hand:  Rob goes all in with a short stack and is flat called by Barbara.  Fred (I think that is his name), flat calls, then Marco shoves a fairly large stack, having everyone covered except Fred.  Barbara calls, and Fred goes in the tank.  After much deliberation, he makes the call.  Here are their hands:

Rob:  5/5
Barbara:  7/7
Marco: 10/10
Fred:  Q/Q

No-one hits their pair and 3 players are out.

Later, on the final table, this hand comes up:

Scotty:  6/6 shove
Me:  8/8  fold
Carolyn:  7/7 all-in   (we were seated in that exact order, which is interesting)
Steve:  A/10 call, having everyone easily covered.

Flop is 7/A/x, turn x, river 10

Carolyn takes it all, if I had called would have fallen to Steve's 2 pair as I had her covered (barely).  She donks out shortly thereafter with a preflop shove of her good sized stack with 6/6.  Steve calls with AK and rivers and ace.  I double up through Steve when I got cute 4 handed raising with A/3 suited and him flat calling with A/K.  Flop is low, with a 3 and I shove.  He calls, but no miracle king on the river this time.  If he had re-raised me might have folded, but had about 40% of my stack involved so maybe not. Already being in the money may have gone ahead and gambled.    

Profitable but Unenjoyable

Last night's cash game was painful and marginally profitable.  Mistakes were made that cost me high hand (bet the sole opponent off hand with AK on a flop of AA5.  He bet the flop when I checked, so I called.  On the turn a 10 hit, so thinking I did not want to give a free card that could fill a straight, or fill up a pocket pair, I bet $20.  He folded and the dealer did a rabbit hunt and showed me that I would have hit quads for high hand.  Crap!

The thing that made it painful was not the money, I ended up $101., but it was a loud and obnoxious player.  I even moved to get farther away from him.  Good seat choice, Hendler took the seat and hit quads.  The player was told by the floor to quit talking about an incident (you know the player and the incident...it involved two former employees).  I offended my as I liked the dealers and really dislike playing with this guy.  His final hand that I saw, he bluffed a side pot with 7 high.  The all-in player was an idiot and folded his hand before showdown.  Unbelievable.

Today's morning Moose made the final table but Ali kept snapping me.  I shove with A/J on an ace high flop, he calls with A/4.  The board pairs twice, first the ace then a 9 so we chop.  I shove heads up in blinds with AK suited, he calls with 4/4.  I hit an ace on the flop, pick up the nut flush draw on the turn, then he rivers a 4, but not the 4 of diamonds.  Player down.  Unbelievable.

Moving to the cash game, I play tight until picking up K/K under the gun.  I limp to encourage raisers or plan to bet big if the flop does not contain an ace.  The button makes it 7 to go, Hai calls, and I re-raise to $27.  They both call.  The flop is 9/2/2, I bet $20, the raiser re-raises, Hai calls, I re-raise, he re-raises all in and Hai folds.  I call and see the bad news, pocket 9's.

Moving to the main table, I again get snapped kings, this time with Aaron and Joe in the hand.  Flop is 3/9/J as I remember.  I bet $20, they both call.  turn is another 3, I bet $20, both call.  River is a queen. I check, Joe checks, and Aaron bets $20.  We both call, he has 8/10 for the straight, Joe has trip 3's.  Kings probably cost me over $150 today.

I manage to eke out a $47 profit for the session.