Deja Vu All Over Again

Wednesday and Friday night poker were deja vu for me.  Both nights I was asked to deal table #2 while the final table dealer was Carl Jr.  Both nights I made the final table with a short stack, and both nights I ended up with a micro stack all-in, Wednesday with a single blind in the BB, Friday with 1.3 BB's under the gun.  Also I was totally card dead on the final table (thanks Carl) both times.  I didn't bother looking at my cards the first night as I had only one blind , Friday I limped in for $600 with only $200 behind under the gun with A/6.  Figured it would probably be the best hand I would see, and by limping encourage more limping, or better yet some limps then a big raise that blows the other hands out.  No such luck.  My final hand Wed. was 6/8 and a 9 on the river would have made a straight for me.

The essential problem is one that Ray Zee so eloquently explained to me recently, "You let yourself get too short stacked".  Gee, do ya think?  How does this repeatedly happen?  Well, for one, you have to survive to get to the final table.  Sometimes that means laying a hand down after investing a lot of chips, sometimes it means you have lost a big hand just prior to the final table, but were left a few pitiful chips.  And, sometimes it means that you just never get an opportunity to play a hand due to prior action, lousy cards, etc.  I have always tried to be "seat committed" rather than "pot committed" as have experienced massive comebacks with almost no chips.

There is an excellent book about playing turbos, "The Poker Tourament Formula", it has some flawed ideas but the main issue of aggression before getting too short stacked is a critical concept.  One of the key ideas is that you must identify what is a turbo tournament and how fast it really is.  The faster the tournament, the more luck figures into the outcomes and the more you must gamble.

Taking Out The Trash

Tuesday morning is trash day for us, and every other week it is also recyling day.  The trucks make horrendous noise very early in the morning as they ply our street.  Sometimes they seem to go back and forth 5 or 6 times.  It is very annoying.  Which brings me to my topic, taking out the trash. Because I was up so early with the garbage trucks I sat down to play a few online sng's.  I prefer to think that when I raise preflop that I am forcing the garbage hands to fold.  You could call it "taking out the trash".  Sometimes (usually) the garbage refuses to be taken out and bad things happen to me.
The first tournament, first hand,  I raised in late position with JJ, a pot sized bet of $110.  With blinds at only 10/20, you could expect garbage hands to fold, but both the small and big blind called as well as at least one limper.  Well, at least I have position.  With a flop of 9/4/3 (remember my story in cash game in Vegas?), the big blind bet out about $300.  I had no problem with the shove and to my dismay he tabled what else but the 9/4 off.  Oh dear, player down.

Next tournament I decide to trap a little by checking my option in the big blind with QQ.  The flop was something like J/5/3, so I bet out a pot size bet.  Called in two places.  The turn is a king.  I don't like it but bet 1/2 pot.  Two callers.  River is another 5, I bet same amount and one caller shoves and the other overshoves.  Hmmm.  Like a donk I call the huge pot.  First caller shows K/10, the winner shows 5/8.

Next up, I raise UTG first hand with AK spades, re-raised by 9/9, shove by AQ clubs.  Everyone calls.  Flop is AQx and we are both eliminated.

Next tournament, short, I shove with 8/8 and called by limping AK, ace on flop.

Next I am heads up with AJ vs. one limper with Q/10.  On a QQx flop we both check.  Ace on turn, I shove he calls, player down.

Common denominators?  Well other than one hand I was best hand preflop.  Some things I learned. Sometimes when you trap you are the one trapped.  Players will not throw away trash preflop even against a raise.  Players will chase flushes, straights, overcards, and small pairs no matter what the bets.  The thing that continues to amaze me is how the one caller has exactly the hand that beats you.

Don't Give Me Aces!!!

We have all been there many times.  Playing along casually checking our cards and our heart starts beating loudly as we find AA.  There is probably no better feeling in poker, except for the feeling when you actually win with them.  The best case scenario is when you raise with them and someone gets frisky with AK or a pair.  Gotcha!!!  Playing in sit 'n go tournaments yesterday I found those ideal conditions twice, and twice they sent me to the rail.  The first one was a re-raise all-in with AQ.  He found a queen on the flop, then another on the turn.  Player down.  The second one was probably worse with the all-in re-raise by 2/2 (what pair is he ahead of? or does he just enjoy coin flips?).  Unbelievably he hits his 2 outer on the flop and I am now drawing almost dead.  Player down.

Nothing to report from the Friday Legion tournament.  I dealt table 2 mainly cause I am running sooooo bad that I just wanted to play and get my entry fee back.  How is that for positive thinking?  True to form, I did not even make it past the break.  Not real good play, not real good cards, and virtually no luck.

Vegas Post Mortem

Here is something frustrating.  Spent about 45 minutes yesterday updating my blog (due to popular demand) when I hit some key and deleted everything!!!  Learned my lesson will now save work in progress as I go.

So, starting my day to day Vegas experiences.

Day 1:  We arrived about 2:00 Monday and by the time everyone else got there and checked in, bags stowed, food eaten,etc. we hit the poker room about 4:30.  The omaha game was fine and I ran up about $150 in sugar but then hit the skids and could not win a hand.  After giving it all back and re-buying a couple of times, I went to bed about 1:30 a.m.  A very bad start to my week primarily because of the sleep deprivation plus the negativity of starting in the hole.

Day 2:  Kind of a repeat of day 1.  Started playing a 1/2 NL holdem game with a $200 buy-in.  Played tight and was down about $100 when I picked up 10/10 under the gun.  The button straddle was on by an older local player who was crushing the game.  He had stacked several players and had about $1000 in front of him.  I min-raised, hoping he would re-raise me on his straddle.  He just called the $6 total bet.  The flop was awesome for me, 9/4/3 and I bet $25.  He re-raised to put me all-in.  I snap called and he tabled 9/4 for 2 pair which held up.  I left for the omaha game.  It was no kinder to me and due to lack of sleep called it quits fairly early.

Day 3:  Decided to control my losses by playing some tournaments and headed to my old cash cow the 11:00 Mirage $65 tourney.  I lost my stack fairly early with my AQ meeting KK, but decided to re-enter as felt the game was pretty soft and blinds were still manageable.  It turned into an o.k. decision when we chopped 8 ways for $300 each.  The payouts were really designed to encourage this as very top loaded with big fall off for 2nd, with the other places paying just a little less.  We all got about 3rd place money.

Day 4:  My Tri-City buddies were leaving in the morning at 11:00 and Don coming in about the same time from Phoenix so I just hung out till he got there.  We talked about playing the 3:00 WSOP deepstack but decided to wait for Friday (bad choice). So, I suggested we go over to the Mirage and hit it again.  Don busted out early and I was running very good, probably 3rd in tournament when my 9/9 raise got a shove from a fairly bit stack holding KJ.  He flopped A/Q/x and you can imagine what the river card was (his gutshot 10).  The same player got the rest of my chips when I got it in good with a weak ace vs. Q9 and he found 2 queens.  We moved over to the Orleans where we were staying.  My bright spot was hitting a royal flush in video poker with max play 5 cent machine which paid $200.  I used the money to enter the 7:00 Omaha $125 bounty tournament there but had very bad luck and was out in 2 hours.

Day 5:  Don and I hung out at the Orleans, he was playing video poker and hit 2 royals and quads on the quarter video netting him $2000.  Nice day for him.  We wandered over to the Rio to sign up for the 3:00 $235 deepstack only to be told that it was being cancelled due to the monster stack tournament.  Crap.  That was the reason Don had driven to Vegas and the tournament I had been looking forward to.  We checked out other tournaments and decided to try the Caesar's Palace 2 p.m. $125 deepstack.  They had remodeled the poker room, it was much smaller with little room for big tournaments.  We were both seated at insane tables with rookie players.  It would go like this:  small blind, big blind, raise to700 (really? with blinds at $25/50?).  Players made really dumb plays, mixing up the value of chips, folding unraised big blinds, etc., etc.  The better players were slaughtering the game.  I lost most of my chips with my J/J hitting trip queens.  The player was bad but knew that he needed to flat call my bets to the river.  Don was knocked out, I lasted another hour and went out on my A/2 small blind vs. JJ in the big blind.  The flop had 3 spades (I had the A) with a 3/4 on the board.  Had more outs than I could count...any ace, any 5, any spade.  Player down.

Day 6:  We got up early and drove to Phoenix, no more poker. On a positive note had a great visit with my family.

In retrospect the first day was a killer for me.  I was playing catch up football and was tired the whole week.  The cash game went so bad for me that I was feeling snakebit and just quit doing it. Tournaments were my best bet and with a smidgeon of better luck would have cashed in another one or two.

Vegas

So with high hopes I began my week in Vegas.  Omaha is my game of choice due to the many juicy games including pot limit.  I have played only 4/8 with a half kill so far.  Due to the WSOP running the card room is jammed with good players.  Makes it very tough.  I have managed to lose 1/3 of my bankroll in 2 days so will slow down by playing only tournaments for the next 2 days.  A fixed maximum loss is preferable to the bloodletting that I am now experiencing. The tournaments going on now are crazy.  Venetian is doing a $1500 tournament with $1 million guarantee.  I am shooting more for the smaller $100_ 300 ones.

Trapping Vs. Straightforward

One of the dilemmas we constantly face is how to play our hand.  Do we trap, or do we bet away in a straightforward manner?  Both plays can be deceptive.  For instance, we are in an unraised small blind with garbage like 3/7 off.  The flop is 3/3/7.  Do we check or bet?  In this case I like to bet.  Why?  Because I want A/3 to raise me and J/J to call.  You have created a big pot, out of position, but you are holding a monster with only 5 combined outs against you.  On the other hand, a check could give a free card to the jacks or the slow played A/3, which is infinity to 1 odds.  Not good for you.

I play so much omaha and both trapping and straightforward play occurs.  My feeling is that you want to get the money in the pot when you have the best hand as the draws always come along anyway.  In the omaha game I seldom win when I flop 2 pair, but checking is not a good alternative as it gives low draws free cards as well as overpairs a chance for their 2 outs.

Where I do like to trap is with great hands in the blinds.  I have previously written about how poor a play raising out of the blinds is. Having a hand like AK in the big blind can be a huge win.  Since it is a drawing hand, taking the "free card" by not raising is such a better play than raising only to have the whole world jump on or the small pair decide to flip and go all-in.  Yikes!!!  By seeing the free flop with a monster hand you can evaluate and make a decision on your play.  I think that too often we get married to cards like AK, QQ, even KK and AA and don't really stop to evaluate the texture of the flop.  In my omaha game, I might have the most powerful starting hand of AA23 double suited but trust me the flop can easily destroy it and I will throw it away in a minute on a flop like, KK9, or 9/10/J, etc.

This Makes Me Want to Puke

Playing in the Legion tournament tonight I had the honor of being the 1st out.  Here is the setup.  I entered a few pots, chased my under pair once, lost about 1/4 of my chips.  I picked up 10/10 under the gun and limped in (trapping).  The button raised and several callers.  The flop was 7/3/2, and I bet out.  The know-it-all youngest hotshot player at the table called along with others.  The turn was another 2 and I bet again.  Callers.  The river was another 2 and I bet and was raised all-in.  Now, the thought went through my head that he could have a 2 but more likely a 7, so I called with my 2's full of 10's.  He jumped up, saying "I have the 2 (he was playing 5/2 off" and ran over to the high hand board to post it.  I quickly exited the building.

So, the super loose kid gets some reinforcement on his play.  Not the night I had in mind.

The Worst Plays in Poker-

I have been thinking about what constitutes very bad play in poker.  Here is my list, hope that my viewers will comment and/or add some.

1.  Raising with hands less than AA or KK from the blinds after limpers.  I see this quite a bit, and frankly don't get it.  Usually the raise is not enough to elicit folds and simply builds a big pot while the player is in the worst possible position.  While it does scream uberstrength, I think that the handicap of poor position negates any psychological edge.  Knowledge is power and position is knowledge.

2.  Shoving with weak pairs.  Come on guys, nothing says weak pair like shoving pre-flop.  Yes you will be called by better pairs, and yes you will be called by strong aces and many other hands that are coin flips.  Knock yourselves out.....which brings me to my next bad play.

3.  Shoving with virtually nothing in the pot.  Go ahead, pick up my blind and show your J/J.  How much more value could you get by min-raising and having me pick up a pair of 10's on a ragged 10 high board?  We have all been scorched by players getting lucky against our premium hands, but let's make some reasonable pre-flop raises to drive out the complete garbage and take the lead.

4.  Calling and over calling shoves with weak hands.  O.K., this is conditional.  You have the chip lead and a short stack shoves.  Depending on the stack sizes or your holdings it is perfectly reasonable to call with any two cards sometimes.  What I don't get is the marginal calls with easily dominated hands and similar or only slightly larger stacks.  And, don't get me started with the over calls of a called shove!!!  We have all seen those monster pots, side pots, and more side pots created.  Trust me, most of the over calls should have folded.  True, sometimes they make sense, like a short stack shoving, a medium stack just calling, and you the big stack waking up with QQ or better.  Now is the time to re-raise to either isolate the original raiser or take out the caller too.

5.  Letting yourself get so short that you have no options.  O.K., so this worked out well for me last Friday night but usually it is a recipe for disaster.  Most poker books call for taking a stand (this means shoving) with any two cards when you are under 10 big blinds.  Why?  Because 10 big blinds is a threatening stack even to the big boys.  Three big blinds, not so much.

6.  This may seem to fly in the face of #5, but sometimes, sometimes, you really need to let yourself get very short.  The way it happens is you are prepared to shove with ATC, but it gets pre-shoved before you.  Or, you are in a blind and all hell breaks loose after you.  We have all experienced that miracle comeback chip and chair phenomena or seen it happen.  I too often see players just giving up by making stupid calls, limping with short stacks then calling raises, even throwing their last few chips in from the blind with poor cards to "build a pot".  Yeah, sometimes it works out but mostly you are better to check your option, hope for a great flop and get them in with a made hand or super draw.

7.  Poor bet sizing.  Ideally a bet is made to accomplish a purpose, to elicit a fold, to make those on draws pay incorrect odds, to build a pot with a great hand.  I often see people make really bad bets like min-raising after lots of callers out of position, or min raising from the button which fails to cause anyone to fold, or overbetting with the nuts (though against some players can be a great play as it denotes weakness).  Mostly I see players making weak bets out of position in an effort to see a cheap turn or river.  I will usually raise these bets with a made hand.

There are tons more, these are just the ones on the top of my list.   

Biggest America's Cardroom Win

I have been playing Americas Cardroom for a few months now.  Won my first "real money" in a $10 prizepool freeroll and have steadily increased my bankroll.  Cashing in several .50 buy-ins, and one other $1. tournament, my biggest win before yesterday was around $9.  The $150 GTD tournament was open for late registration, and I sort of like coming in late to avoid the early idiot play.  Several hours later, I finished in 3rd place for a win of $17.64.

Playing today in $10 freeroll, going deep with 608 entries.  They pay 10 spots, with first only $2.50, but have had success on this before.  Unfortunately, the website has frozen on final table.  I stand at 4th place, with 8 remaining, so definitely in the money if they get it running again.  If not, hope they pay at least my spot @ .95.  Better yet would like to see a proportional chop by chip count.  It will be interesting to see what they do.  Update:  My account has been credited for $1.17 which is better than 4th money.  Sweet!!!