Reader's Choice Blog

A few blogs ago I posted some ideas for my next efforts.  In response to one of the requests I would like to discuss "waiting for big hands vs. making plays".  Card dead, we have all been there.  Some days you look down at 7/2 (I know you live for those days, Lynne) or similar cards seemingly every other hand.  Or, you get late position playable hands under the gun.  Think Q/10, K/2 suited, A/9 etc. These are hands that you could well shove with on the button but are suicide in early position.  What is a player to do?

Big hands are so very hard to come by.  We all love to be short stacked and have the dealer send kings, queens, A/K our way in any position.  This does not necessarily happen for us.  So, what this means is that we sometimes have to get our chips in the pot with less than premier hands.

There are two considerations.  First, how desperate are we?  With just a few blinds we are in deep trouble for various reasons.  We do not have enough chips to make healthy stacks fold once they have limped in or will defend their big blind with almost any cheese. We also must consider position as well.  The earlier we are, the better our hands should be to make our final stand.  If we are in the unfortunate position of being to the right of big stacks, we must make our moves with better hands. This is a time when when we should consider moving in earlier when we can do more damage to a big stack and they will be less likely to defend.  If shoving against a small stack, we must consider their desperation point as well as what point we are in the tournament.  If we are on the bubble, they may fold just to survive to eke out a cash.

In general, I would like to make my "moves" against passive players who will not defend weaker holdings, or against medium stacks who are vulnerable but not desperate or big gamblers.  I want to shove with reasonable holdings but not necessarily garbage....though that is o.k. if other conditions are prime.  Remember that "any two cards can win", just as "any two cards can lose".  A few Friday nights ago a highly skilled short stack moved all-in from the small blind with 2/8 against the tight big blind who found A/Q.  Naturally, he hit a 2 and doubled up.  Like I say, any two can win.

Lately I have been questioning my authority as some sort of expert or guru.  Most of what I write about as recommendations are based on my poker readings.  I enjoy reading poker books, watching instructional videos on youtube, and analyzing my own and others play.  Like I say, I am not an expert just a poker degenerate who likes to blog.  Recently I passed along a book to a poker friend that covered this same subject.  Even though I play against this person regularly I like to share information and tips.  In general, I like better play at the tables.  At coffee today talked to yet another poker pal about this.  We would both prefer playing against better players than rookies, clueless players and calling stations.  Good players will lay a hand down, donks will not.  Thus they cannot be bluffed and will get lucky against you often enough that you will feel the pain.  This is just how it works.

On another topic, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you.  My cards are running pretty good right now, managed to win the Friday night tournament with a two way money chop (30K in chips vs. 22K).  Looking forward to the new year, some trips to Las Vegas and a financially successful poker journey.  Will publish the hard facts about my poker year in the next blog, have kept very detailed records and will summarize after Friday night's tournament is over.  

Slow Play Controversy

Last night at the Legion I got involved in a controversy regarding slow play.  There is a regular there who is by far and away the slowest player in our game.  He will routinely agonize and Hollywood before acting on his hand.  He really slows the game down and I hate, hate, hate having him at my table.  When I deal, my attitude is that I want to deal as many hands as possible to the table.  It is a turbo tournament and if fewer hands are dealt then you are at a disadvantage to another table.

So, here is the situation.  There is probably a minute left on the clock before the first break when a shortstack player on the button shoves (K/10).  It is folded to the cutoff, our annoying slow player (as I am opposed to writing critical pieces using actual names, I will call this player "Darren") who absolutely tanks (he has limped in).  This goes on as he looks at the clock, letting the time run down so we will be unable to play another hand before the break, then finally calls....with Q/Q!!!!  Unbelievable.  The flop contains a queen, but also a jack, so our hero has the open ender.  The turn brings a 9, making him a straight, and the river brings an ace making a bigger straight.  Karma is a bitch, is it not?

After the hand is over the dealer takes "Darren" to task about his slow play, and he admits that he did not want to play another hand before the break (?????).  The dealer points out that QQ is a snap call situation (heads up with a shorter stack).  The discussion goes on for a few minutes, we chip up the tables and I talk to the dealer briefly about the hand.  He asks me if I would say something to the player which I am more than happy to do.  I also talk to the other players and ask them to chime in as well (they do not).   When we return we have a pretty nasty discussion involving slow play and karma as well.  The table breaks up soon after and thankfully he is assigned to a different table.

What is your take on this?  All the players agreed that this was a major dick play.

The Night of The 3 Outer

I would like to start by saying that top pair/top kicker is sort of a double edged sword.  Obviously it is a great situation as you have the best possible single pair hand.  That said, a single pair is a very vulnerable holding.  Another issue is dominated hands.  Often we have duplication in our holdings but when one player holds a higher rank card as his kicker the other player is usually drawing to only 3 outs. So, with that preamble I would like to share with you my experience this week during our Wednesday night tournament.

I started off very well the first hand of the tournament, calling a fairly large pre-flop bet with KQ suited.  I hit top pair with 2nd best kicker. There was action on my flop and turn bet, winning the river on showdown.  I was doubled up.  My trouble started early as well when I raised UTG with A/J and was called by almost the whole table.  Flop came down A/6/7.  I continuation bet and got one caller.  The turn brought an 8 and again called when I bet.  The river was a 9 and I made one last bet. Called.  He turns over A/6 off for a winning 2 pair.  So, now still above starting stack, I find AK suited in the big blind.  After a couple of limpers the button raises to 150.  I re-raise to 400.  Both a limper and the button call me.  Flop comes down K/J/10 and I fire a big bet.  The limper calls and the button folds.  The turn is a small card, I fire again and the limper shoves.  Call.  He turns over KJ for 2 pair.  I still have 6 outs but fail to find a queen or ace.  I am now short stacked.

My final hand is AK suited in the big blind, middle position short stack shoves, call.  He has 8/8 and I fail to find my spades, an ace or a king and am the first out of the tournament.  What did I do wrong? I am going out on a limb here and say "nothing".  I thought the first losing hand was sort of stupid as he caught his 3 outer on a hand that by all good judgement he should have folded preflop.  A/6 off? Really?  What early position raising hand is he ahead of?

The second beat was much worse in my opinion.  That guy was most definitely the monkey in the middle between a raising button who has position on him and a re-raising big blind with a big stack. I am continually amazed that players put so much faith in K/J.  It is an easily dominated hand, and also suffers from the gap.  Yet, I see players often getting very frisky with it, and sometimes winning.
The very last hand was sad because I was eliminated being unable to find 6 outs when the previous hands were lost with a total of 6 outs against me.  Just plain unlucky.

What Would You Do?

Playing last Friday night we consolidated the original 4 tables down to 2.  I was short stacked with 1700 in chips blinds at 200/400.  The player two to my right was playing fairly tight for him.  He is a good, aggressive player who will make big laydowns and switches gears at the right time.  At our previous table he told me during the break that he had pocket 10's twice under the gun, raising both times and folding after the flop when there was lots of action.  He will also lie about his hands, but in this case I believed him.

So, back to our action.  He had raised to 900 two hands earlier and showed AK suited after everyone folded.  He again raised to 900 vs. my big blind.  All players folded around to me and I found A/8 offsuit.  With probably not enough hesitation I shoved my remaining 1300 which he called.  He turned over AJ suited.  I understand that he will always call my shove given the chip count, and I could not guarantee that I was ahead of his range.

Total pot before my shove= 1500
My remaining chips= 1300
Total pot with his call= 3600
I would have 200 in the small blind next hand

So, what would you have done?

The results, which must be separated from the decision was that he caught a jack on the flop or turn and I was eliminated.  Just trying to decide if I made the right decision or not.

Reader's Choice

Sometimes I get tired of thinking up clever titles for my blog.  So, I would like to run a "reader's choice" title for my next one.  Here are your choices:

1.  The Comprehensive List of People Who Give a Sh-t About Your Bad Beats.  This would be a very short blog.
2.  Bad Beats I Have Taken.  This would be a very long blog
3.  How Hat Choice Impacts Your Poker Game Results.  Should the fedora be feared?
4.  Poker.  Hobby or Addiction?  This one is too close to call
5.  Short Stack Shove Ranges.
6.  Do Donks Realize They Are Donks?  Thinking about this lately.  I play with some very predictable players (sometimes I am one too).  Do they realize that when they call a raise their hand is almost face up?  One player always has an ace if he calls.  Some players shove with their small and mid range pairs.  Every time.
7.  Why do players fall in love with KJ?
8.  It has been said "any two cards can win".  The corollary is, "any two cards can lose".
9.  Position vs. Cards vs. Chip Stack.  Which is most common, which most powerful.  I am re-reading a book on this now.  According to no less an authority than Doyle Brunson, it is position.
10.  Waiting for big hands vs. making plays.

America's cardroom pre-Thanksgiving game

Haven't gotten deep in these freerolls lately, decided to stay home from the Wednesday game due to bad weather.  Earlier I cashed in a .50 buy in tournament as well.  My last hand here was a shove from the big blind with AK and called by the small blind who had KK.

Pendleton Redux

Pendleton has been a total disaster to me in the past.  I have written previously about the bad beats taken in the many tournaments over the years.  I have jokingly called my entry fee a $230 buffet, one that I often would eat after the active players had gone through.  So, while not overly excited to try it again, it would be nice to reconnect with Pasco friends and hey, a bad day at poker is lots better than a good day doing most other things.

Monday Day One
The long drive to Tri-Cities.  First stop is to see my old friend, Bob Pischel.  We enjoy a visit and catch up on each others lives.  He is getting very frail and failing on many levels but maintains his intellect, humor, and sweet disposition.  We should all be so lucky to hit our 90's like him.  I drive out to my friend Ron's house and find his hidden key.  Making myself comfortable I watch some t.v., surf the web and wait for Ron.  He never shows up before I go to bed at midnight.

Tuesday Day Two
Ron and I catch up on things in the morning, I stop to say bye to Bob, then play in the morning Crazy Moose tournament.  I play poorly and unluckily getting knocked out before the final table so head to Pendleton.  It was good to see the "usual suspects" but the super turbo 10 min. blind tournament is basically just gambling.  I arrive in Pendleton, check into the hotel and head down to the poker tournament.  The horse tourney is in full swing so I sign up for the 4/8 omaha table.  A tri-cities dealer is in the game and also Larry, a Cannon Beach friend.  Later, another tri-cities player joins it. Omaha is a streaky game and it does not go well for me.....at first.  After 3 100 buy-ins I catch fire and sometime after midnight cash out for $625.  A fine day of poker, and a long one.

Wednesday Day Three
A short night of sleep, maybe 6 hours and I wander down to the poker room.  I sign up for a $43 sit and go single table tournament.  Running good, I win one of the two prizes, $200 in vouchers for any tournament.  Since I had already bought in for the noon Seniors Tournament, sold the vouchers to a guy standing in line.  I am now freerolling the big tournament.

The seniors does not start off well for me.  I fail to connect on a couple of big draws, lose 1/2 my chips to a stubborn lady who cannot find a fold with top pair against my middle pair missed straight draw on a paired, three suited card board.  I get knocked out right before the first break, but decide to re-enter.  I really was not playing that badly, just not getting any luck.  My re-buy turns into a good decision as I make the money in 20th place (out of 324 entries), cashing for my first time in Pendeleton for $500.  Had a lot of ups and downs, doubling up several times, and doubling others up a few times as well.  Some memorable hands:

1.  I called an older guy's button raise from the big blind with A/7.  He was tight aggressive and wore a "final table" Wildhorse hat.  The flop was mostly rags with a 2, and his small bet on the flop got called by me.  He checked on the turn when another 2 came, I bet and he called. An ace on the river got all his chips in.  He had quad 2's.

2.  Same table, second break.  I am always looking for steals here, either mine or others.  Folks are anxious to hit the restrooms (specially us seniors) so when someone bets, people usually fold quickly. A lady on the button raises my big blind fairly large (she has the bigger stack).  Everyone else has left the table.  I see a weak ace and decide to defend.  The flop comes A/A/x and I decide to shove.  She snap calls with...rut row.....K/K !!!!  The turn seals the deal for me with another ace...QUADS!!! and I get a much needed double up.  There is a giant guy at our table who has been knocking player after player out.  They break our table and we both head to the same table.  He will continue chipping up there as well.

3.  I double up a few times, lose some chips at the new table.  I get all in several times with AK, JJ, and have a very presentable stack.  My final hand when down to 20 players was at the 8000/16000 blind level, 2000 antes.  With around 80K in chips was just looking for a spot to shove.  It is folded around to my button and I find J/10 unsuited.  The player to my immediate left is a medium stack and the big blind is chip leader.  He has shown himself to be a very loose aggressive player, raising with crap and calling with crap.  However, he has been observant and respectful of my play and even folded an ace earlier against my re-raise shove...I showed my ace, but not my 3, when he commented that I had him outkicked...he must have had a 2. LOL!!!  So, anyway, I was surprised that the small blind flat called me, leaving him open to a 3 bet from the big blind.  Despite the size of the pot, around 190K with 24 already invested, and "only" $50K to call (almost 4/1 on his money), he folded pocket 4's.  The small blind turns over A/2 suited!!!!  WTF?????  Would he have folded if unsuited? Anyway, not needing help he hits an ace on the flop.  Player down.  Had I folded, there was a 4 on the river and I could imagine a scenario where he would have been eliminated before me.  My key question is always, "If I had it to do over again would I play it the same?".  And yes, I would.

So, cashing for $500 and heading for bed I again could not sleep.  5 hours later I am up and later join a Seattle friend for breakfast in downtown Pendleton. Exhausted by two back to back 12 hour poker days I am on the road home by 11:00, finally believing I may have broken the Pendleton curse.  

Celebrating Friend's Success

A couple of my local poker buddies flew to Lake Tahoe this weekend to play in the $365 buy in turbo WSOP circuit event.  I haven't gotten the update on Michael, but Bob Turk came in 5th for a $3000 win.  Good job, Bob.  Looking forward to hearing all the war stories on Wednesday.

Winning Week, Bad Shoves, Hero Calls and Fear The Fedora

Interesting poker week for me.  On Wednesday I managed to get money back on the bubble. Had I played it differently (i.e. folding rather than shoving) would have moved up one place on the payout ladder.  Here is what went down.  I am rather short stacked (around 3500 with blinds at 300/600) and am in the big blind.  There is one limper (Kyle a.k.a. "Juicy") when the extremely aggressive button (Scott) who has a big stack raises to 1800.  I consider his raising range and knowing that he plays very loose aggressive style and also we are 5 handed.  I shove.  Previously he folded to my shoves when I had big hands, QQ, KK, etc.  Kyle gets all thoughtful, and with a similar stack to Scott's, mucks his cards, but holds them aside for possible later viewing.  Scott calls and as I table my A/8, he rolls over A/J.  I comment that "8's are lucky for me, you are in real trouble".  And he is as the flop is 5/2/8 !!!!  But then he hits his 2 outer jack on the turn and I am out.  Kyle turns over 5/5. Had I folded, Kyle would have called the original bet and Scott would have been out when the jack hit on the turn for sure if not sooner.  Oh well, a cash is a cash.

That brings me to Friday's game.  Early on I got stung by a hero call.  Kurt, in the big blind with 2/3 and me on the button with 4/8 suited get a flop of 2/3/k with 2 clubs.  Kurt, a tight player min-bets.  I am definitely priced in and I call.  The turn is a brick for me, Kurt bets 2 min-bets and again I call. The river is a great card for me to bluff, another king.  When he checks, I bet 3 min-bets (around 125 as I recall) and unbelievably he calls.  There is absolutely nothing that I have other than air that he can call with his counterfeited 2 pair.  Hero Call!!!!

Later I hit a big jackpot with 6/6.  I am seated to the left of "Junior" a very loose aggressive player. He has chipped up nicely, nearly knocking a player out on the first hand of the tournament.  I limp under the gun, several other players limp as well, and Junior uses this opportunity to punish us limpers by betting big on the button.  I consider folding briefly, but then decide to shove just cause I think he will fold on a steal.  Nope, he ponders briefly and calls with......10/5 suited!!!!! Wow!!!  So the flop comes down with a 6 for my set, the board pairs for a full house and I am now pretty deep in chips.  Not too many hands later I have 6/6 in the big blind (blinds at 50/100) when the good young player Chris to my immediate left raises big (500) with A/K suited.  I call for the additional 400 and the flop comes down perfect for me, 6/A/x.  I check, he shoves, I call.  Player down.

At the break I am up about 3x initial chips and already thinking about the final table.  I win a few and lose a few after we get down to 2 tables, and easily make the final table with a healthy chip stack. I lose a big blind vs. blind hand to Robert (a.k.a.RB...or Rat Bastard) for a healthy chunk of my chips when he rivers a flush vs. my top pair.  He also short stacks the dealer when he had K/10 vs. K/J on a king high flop by rivering a 10.  He is one very lucky player we all concede.  Later I get most of those chips back from him.  We play down to 6, agree to pay the bubble, then 2 more players are eliminated.  Now 4 handed I am chip leader, we take a break, and at the end of the break agree to a 4 way chop which gives us all 2nd place money.  I take the silly points for 1st place, which absolutely no one cares about except me who has been point deficient all year.  Total win, $237 less buy-in and tip netting $177.  Hey, nobody said you get rich playing this stupid game.

Oh yes, I was dressed all in black, wearing my black fedora.  Might be my new poker look.   

Hand Classifications

Doing some studying lately on James "splitsuit" Sweeney's website (www.splitsuit.com), came across this interesting thoughts.  Hands can be classified into several varieties.

1.  Bluff Hands.  You have no pair, perhaps no draw.  You are purely bluffing.

2.  Semi-Bluff Hands.  You have a draw.  Perhaps you are 4 to a straight or flush.

3.  Showdown Hands.  You have a hand with "showdown" value.  Ace high, top pair no kicker.  You would like to see a cheap river.

4.  Value Bet Hands.  You have the probable best hand and are looking to extract an extra bet from your opponent.  Say you have top pair, top kicker or maybe random two pair, even a flush that is not the nuts.

5.  Stone Cold Coconuts Hands.  Do we really need to talk about this?

So, the important thing to do is to figure out exactly what kind of hand we really have and proceed from there.  When you are raising an early position bettor with your ace high flush draw, this is obviously a semi-bluff situation.  You may indeed have the best hand (value), but it is not a pure bluff either.  It could develop into a showdown hand if you do not (heaven forbid) get re-raised off your nut draw.  You are raising to help define your hand, get a free or cheap card on the turn, or even take the pot down now.

For me, the value bet is where things get dicey.  Often with top pair top kicker for instance you think you are value betting, but in reality you have at best a showdown hand.  It will often be the best, but if you bet and are either called or check-raised you will probably lose.  A lot of "value" is lost on the river either from overplaying the hand or failing to bet it.  You have to know your opponent and figure out his range.  For instance, say you have QJ and a board something like J/3/5/9/2.  You have bet and/or raised all the way vs. a tight player.  You really have to believe that at best you have a showdown hand.  His calling range is just too tight to see him continuing with a worse kicker.  On the other hand, a loose player may call with a worse kicker.  However, being loose he may have a random 2 pair hand that is just looking for the river bet to check raise with.  That for me is the dilemma.  On the one hand we want to extract value, but on the other we don't want to give away more money than we are losing anyway.  I see the latter happen probably more than the former.  The guy just can't help betting his queen high flush only to lose to the king high.  The king high will always call (or some will re-raise) but will seldom bet, fearing the ace and looking for the donkey bluff or bet with a worse hand.  So, to me the value bet is really a very high skill talent and my hat is off to those who successfully read the players to accomplish it.

Bad Calls? The Nature of Lucky Players

Here are a couple of examples of what I consider bad calls and the player getting lucky.  Last night at the Legion, I frankly was running very card dead.  Near the break I was down to about 1/2 the starting stack of 2150 (around 1125), with blinds at 60/120 I raised 2 UTG to $250 with A/K. It was folded to the big blind who called.  The flop came down 3/3/2, and when he checked to me I shoved $875.  He called.  I am in shock to see what he called my raise with, 10/2 off suit.  He had a good but not great stack.  He explained that  it was "not that big a raise".  Hmm.  Guess he was feeling lucky as he had over-called a shove and a previous caller earlier with K/10 off and had won the pot with his king (vs. 10/10 and AQ).  So, I was prepared to walk but got a river reprieve when a king hit the board.  Yowza!

So, again running cold after the break, I am down to $900 on the button with blinds at 200/400.  I am dealt A/9 and after the table folds to me I naturally shove.  The short stack small blind folds and the chipped up big blind calls with 7/5 off.  He hits a pair on the flop, 2 pair on the turn, and a flush on the river with his 5 of diamonds.  Unbelievable.  It is true that I was too short stacked to have any fold equity and may have made the same call in his position, but sheesh.

Heading home early, decide to play in America's Card Room $10 freeroll (that is the total prize pool, with 10 spots paid).  Over 3 hours later, still playing and down to the final table.  I am 3rd in chips, running very good when I raise UTG with AQ.  One player calls, who has me outchipped.  The flop comes down K/Q/x and as 1st action I shove.  The other player snap calls with J/J.  Sweet!!! With only 2 outs against me I am looking to double up and be the massive chip leader, also laddering up one step on payouts. The turn is a 10.  Rut Row!  He now has an open ender but I am partially blocking the top with my ace.  Sure enough, the ace comes on the river giving him the runner runner straight and I am out in 8th place.  Un-freaking-believable.  A horrible call pays off big for the villain.

The screenshot below was taken maybe 10/15 minutes before the hand.

Pokerstars

I am frustrated with Pokerstars website.  I really enjoyed my daily omaha games and small buy in sit n goes.  So, when they eliminated those it was disappointing and so far have not researched other sites where I could enjoy these guilty pleasures.  Yesterday decided to enter the 50K tournament just cause I am so done with the site that I don't care about my bankroll.  There were 782 players and frankly I just wanted to min cash (however the min cash didn't even pay back your buy in.  Bastards! They have upped the rake so much it is just stupid.  They were paying 136 players, which is also dumb.  So, anyway, just putzed along and decided to play very tight thanks to some youtube videos I have been watching......will write about that soon.  Seizing a couple of opportunities I got it in bad (lower pair over higher pair, dominated hands, etc.) several times but got lucky.  Eventually I was eliminated in 5th place for a total win of $638,000.  It is fun to work your way through a huge field and only wish that could happen in a live game.

As an update, my friend Mike says that Pokerstars has reinstated the small buy in SNGs.  Will check it out today.  

Don't Give Rides To Good Players and Don't Eat Fried Foods and Drink Coffee Late at Night

It could have been worse.  Only in the sense that I could have been knocked out of the game early. Very uncharacteristically of me, I phoned a local friend and asked if he wanted a ride to the Bayway poker Wednesday night game.  I know that he hates to drive at night, so yes, he would love it.

We are seated at different tables and my cards are running so bad.  Lots of blackjack double down hands.  You know the ones, 9/2, 8/3, 7/4.  I chase a flush draw and lose 20% of my stack.  My bad, particularly early.  The other table is knocking out player after player (20 original entrants).  Players from my table are moving over constantly.  Finally I win the lottery ticket and get to move.  Yay!!! My cards do not improve.  At least immediately.  Finally, as a short stack I get them all in against a shorter stack with a king high flush draw.  As I turn my cards over I apologize that "I am on a draw", but when he tables his J/7 of spades (no pair) vs. my K/9 of spades he is in trouble.  I hit a king, not that I needed it, on the river.  Player down.  Now with a few more chips I again get them all in against a shorter stack and knock out another player.  This table really is dangerous, the other table has not lost anyone except the dealer.

I shove several times with premium hands picking up only the blinds and lose a couple of pots with QQ and AQ.  Down to 10 players I am under the gun with AJ off and only 3+ big blinds.  An obvious shove situation so that is what I do.  I am called by the player next to me, who would have been very short had he not made a hero call on a monster bluff a few minutes before with king high.  He has AK and I am out when he hits a king on the turn.  A player on the other table gets knocked out the same time and the final table is set with 8 players.  I would love to drive home now but guess what?  My "good karma" friend who I gave a ride to is one of the chip leaders!!!  They play down to 2 players and the guy who knocked me out refuses to chop, but is eliminated in just 4 hands.  I spend the time visiting with a couple of other players hanging out and watch the staff clean the floors and prepare to close.


Home much later than usual unless I have won the tournament I lie in bed with indigestion and insomnia due to the consumption of fried foods and coffee very late in the evening.  On the positive side I have some leftover broasted chicken to eat for lunch today.

Collateral Storm Damage

The big storm this weekend was kind of a dud in some ways.  Yes, we did lose power for 12 hours.  Yes, there are some trees down in town and branches and leaves everywhere.  However, the really damaging stuff managed to avoid us.  The collateral damage I sustained was missing Friday night poker.  Despite living only 4 blocks from the Legion, was really uncomfortable leaving the house with the weather so sketchy.  They had a light turnout, only 24 players, so prize pool was way down (of course there were also fewer players to get past).  Also missed the Wednesday tournament at our new place, the Bayway Tavern.


Downtown Nehalem suffered from some major flooding, but I heard that there was no damage to any of the businesses.  Thank goodness.  If we had to find yet another place to have our Wednesday game that would be very tough.

So, in summary, Nehalem flooded but o.k., just North, Manazanita torn up by tornado.  Cannon Beach, in good shape.  We were lucky.

Staycation vs. Spousecation

I used to travel.  A lot.  Nearly always for business as I was District Sales Manager for a furniture company, then later as a Regional VP for Macy's, and finally as Marketing Manager for Homes and Land magazine.  The first job required nearly constant travel, at least 1/2 the time.  The second only sporadically, but fairly regularly.  The last, one week every month.  I will have to say that I never loved travelling or being away from home, but you accept that when you take the job.  Interspersed with these jobs were others that did not require any or little travel.  You can normalize your life then, doing stuff on a regular basis, taking classes, having a schedule.

Is there a trend towards doing "staycations"?  You know, when you just stay home and do stuff you would on a vacation like eating out, movies, seeing local stuff for the first time.  Personally, I am finding that staying home is like a vacation to me.  All my "stuff" is here, tv has all my favorites, I sleep in a comfortable bed, I get to play poker and see friends, fish, stay up late.  Somehow all of that seems to be interrupted when I vacation.  Not to mention the extra expense.

Another trend I see is what I am going to call the "spousecation".  This happens when one of the couple takes a trip without the other one.  It happens to me fairly often when I go to Vegas to play poker (spouse invited but does not want to go), visits to family (sometimes she is with me, sometimes not), her visit to sister in New York (don't get me started on why I don't like to travel to NY), poker trips to Eastern Washington, Pendleton, visits to Seattle ( Usually I am on board, but sometimes not). So, lots of different reasons for the spousecation.  Currently my oldest daughter is visiting friends in France and Italy by herself.  While that is o.k. with me and her family, it is a long time to be gone from teenagers at home.  Not sure I would have been up for that.  Anyway, travel is a sometimes necessary evil as I get older and find it more and more challenging.

Melting Pot

In this election year there is a great divide.  Often the discussions revolve around immigration, income inequality, gender and race bias, and taxes.  We are a country that is a giant melting pot (though describing it as a salad bowl may be more accurate) and a land of opportunity which has driven most immigration, whether it be for freedom or economic opportunity. I woke up this morning thinking about the many people I have met around the poker table.  If ever there was a microcosm of America, surely the poker table is a great example.  First of all, there is the economic oppportunity of sitting down with little and leaving with a lot.  But, it depends on many things, including skill, knowledge, and often luck.  There is also the opportunity to go broke, just like in our economy.  Sometimes you just cannot catch a break no matter how smart you are, no matter what skills you have, you are just in the wrong place at the wrong time.  However, just like in America, you have the opportunity to dust yourself off and come back to try again.  We call it a re-buy, but in our economy it can be a bankruptcy or a billion dollar business loss.

The people I have played poker with represent an amazing cross section of the country.  I have played with recent immigrants (legal and not) from many countries.  I have played with christians, jews, muslims, hindus, and probably many other religions.  It is not a topic that is often discussed.  My opinion is that there are no atheists playing poker because I often see people praying for a card.  And, unlike some prayers in church, you always mean it at the poker table!!!

I have played poker with doctors, lawyers, dentists, construction workers (lots of these guys), business owners, consultants, bookkeepers (for you Dewey), school teachers, migrant workers, drug dealers, felons, cops, farmers, chemists (Mike), jewelry designers (Dave), pot growers, bartenders, gays, lesbians, fishermen, car salesmen, students, millionaires and multi-millionaires, military and retired military, blacks, whites, browns, and any color you care to mention.  Retirees, plant workers, poker dealers, poker pros, corporate vp's and presidents have sat at my table.  We all get along and accept the other players because we realize that they are people just like us, sharing a common goal (get the other guy's money, and keep him from getting ours).  Sure, there are disagreements, sometimes kind of nasty, but not violent, and there is always the next day for paybacks!!  I don't like or respect every player at my table, but can be civil to them.  On the other hand, I have formed many lasting friendships around our common interest.

In conclusion, there is really no reason we cannot come together in this country if we share common goals.  Do I want to "spread the wealth" or inject some economic "fairness" in the poker game.  Hell no!!!  What I do want is to not play in a fixed game which favors some over others, or have the house take too much of my earnings (think taxes).  I just want the opportunity to play the game fairly, in a friendly atmosphere, and hopefully profitably.  My end result will always be in question, but at the end of the day "it is not whether you win or lose but how you play the game".

Suffering

I had a doctor's appointment this morning.  Not to worry, just a change of physicians required a visit.  While in the waiting room I bumped into one of the Cannon Beach poker regulars.  I began our conversation by asking how his game was going.  "Not so good, haven't cashed in a long time".  Now this is a very good young player who has had big wins in big tournaments.  I replied that my luck was so rotten that I constantly was losing to 2 and 3 outers.  I also observed that the game seemed to be a lot tougher than a few years ago.  He attributed it to the wealth of online information available to the "recreational" player.  I disagreed as I feel that very few of these guys spend any time studying and trying to improve their game.  So, I was called into my appointment and our talk ended.  Thinking later it seems to me that the quote about pain being inevitable but suffering being optional applies to my poker thinking.  How often I wake up in the middle of the night agonizing about some bad call or opponent lucky suck out.  My suffering is definitely optional, and often drives my blog posts.

Shifting gears somewhat, I am definitely unhappy with Pokerstars.  Recently logging on and planning to play a little Omaha hi-low limit poker I was disappointed to find that they had removed all of those games, replacing them with only high limit no limit omaha high.  Also, they removed all slower speed SNG tournaments so only turbo and hyper remain with much higher buy-ins. Evidently they were tired of us guys enjoying ourselves and instead are looking to burn through our play money faster.  Turning to WSOP website, that is a joke too.  With a 48% preflop fold statistic I am super tight, with most players folding preflop 20% of the time on average.  Unreal.  This is not poker.
What is a guy to do in this sparse live game environment.  Looks like I am heading back to Americas Card Room.    

Fishing and Poker

It should come to no surprise to anyone that lots of poker players also fish.  I have been listening to their stories for years.  Lately, I decided to join them.  A friend who is a fishing expert took me under his wing recently, loaning me tackle, showing me the hot spots and when to get your line in the water, even cleaning our catch!!  I am indebted to him, cause you know how it goes.....give a man a fish, etc. My first outing, 1 nice coho salmon, 2nd outing, 2 nice salmon 1 jack and 1 chinook,  3rd outing, nada.....raining and blowing wind, miserable, lasted 3 hours before giving up.  After we left got reports that it was "the best run of the year" for an hour and a half with everyone catching multiple fish, even one guy using bass lures!!!! Oh well.

So, my salmon fishing may be done this year as we are leaving town for a bit and the run will soon end.  Steelhead fishing coming up.

  Back to poker.  Not a lot of luck this week.  Wheeler ended early when my flush draw failed against pocket kings.  Cannon Beach was worse with my pre-flop raise AJ, several callers, flop of 2/3/3, and one caller of my shove....really expected to see an A/3 suited, but no, worse, pocket 2's.  No poker for me for a week or so, leaving tomorrow for Dallas and St. Louis family visits. 

Back in The Saddle-

Finally decided to get back on the poker horse.  It has been too long.  My last tournament was 2 months ago.  So, driving to Wheeler last night I was eager to play and to see my poker buddies, as well as to enjoy a tall glass of Old Chubb beer.  The turnout was fairly light, around 21 players, 3 short tables.  I drew seat 1 on table 2 (which combines to 21 as in number of players, and also adds up to 3 tables) coincidentally if you are into numbers meanings).  Looking around at the players I was kind of going rut-row.  There were all of the usual suspects plus some players on known heaters.  All in all a pretty tough table.  Scott was dealing, and what a string of cards he put out!  I had A/A early, winning a large pot from K/K.  Got A/A again which I folded after the flop with 4 callers on a coordinated flushy board and a big bet with caller in front of me.  Good fold as a straight was hit on the turn.  During the course of the evening Scott dealt A/A a total of 8 times.  Unreal.  When we formed the final table, A/A was dealt back-to-back the first two hands!!!  Aces did not lose once all night (except for my early hero fold).  There was even a set over set aces and 5's hand to add to the excitement.

Never having a huge stack, I nonetheless managed to get hot late in the tournament, knocking 3 players out on separate occasions.  One of the luckiest hands was shoving from my small blind in a multi-way pot with 6/7 off on a flop of 5/8/x all spades (I had zero spades).  Two callers and I rivered a 9 to more than triple up.  Getting down to 3 players, we were all very close in chip count, so I suggested a chop.  The one lady in the tournament agreed, but the other player (1st time I have played with him) did not want to.  Shortly afterward, she raised with A/9 suited, I shoved with A/Q, she called and failed to find her flush or 9.  Down to 2, we agreed to chop even though I was now about double his stack.  Felt good to play again, and even better to win!!!

Side note:  sickest hand of the night, lucky player raises with 10/J, short stack dealer shoves with A/K, biggest stack over shoves with Q/Q.  Mr. Lucky (strawberry Sasquatch....no names) calls for all of his chips.  King on the flop, Q on the turn, and......you know it, 9 on the river for the straight. Dealer down, big stack crippled.

Long Time No Post

Wow.  It has been a long time since I have posted.  Hope my few followers have not given up on me.  Such a busy and sad summer for me.  In June, I traveled to Phoenix to help my mother for a couple of weeks after her stroke.  I recounted my poker adventures on that trip.  So, in August spending another week in Seattle helping family with their transition to new house, and then getting a call that mother had suffered another stroke.  Back to Phoenix for another week.  This time the stroke affected her speech and ability to form thoughts.  She is a strong willed woman, and certainly did not want to live with both the physical problems and mental problems now existing.  Her vow if she ever got really sick was to "stop eating and drinking till she died".  So, that is exactly what she did.  Her plan was to go in 5 days, maybe she had read that somewhere.  Unfortunately she was in excellent health and it took her twice as long.  She passed away last Saturday with my sister and brother-in-law by her bed.  We cared for her that last week with hospice care in her old home, now my sister's.  My younger brother was with her for several days before I got there and was also able to say goodbye.  Betty was 89 years old and lived a good life.

So, my poker game has been held in suspension.  Really did want to play last night, but just not feeling up to it yet.  Think I will grieve for a while longer.

Picture from last January's visit.  She loved to work puzzles and play bridge.  Now some of the other players at her retirement community will have a chance to win 1st place.  I got all my card smarts from her.

Life Without Poker

This summer has been a poker bust.  First a long trip to Phoenix with only one tournament at the very end.  Then a couple of weeks in Seattle (yes, I do know that there are cardrooms and casinos all over the place) with busy family schedules.  My last two tournaments at the Legion were pretty bad, finishing in 12th or 13th place each time, busted by lucky lucky players (my 10/10 vs J/10 the first one, followed by my A4 two pair busted by runner runner flush one pair of 3's hand).  I am trying to expand my interests this summer by doing some fishing, working on daughter's new/old house, gardening some, and just generally doing other stuff.  With my mom's sudden health deterioration it hammers home the point that life is pretty short.  That said, we do need to follow our muse where it leads us.  If poker is indeed my focus, then play I must.

Upcoming in late September is more travel, this time to Dallas for a visit with my brother and his family, then on to St. Louis to see Lincoln, my oldest friend plus wife's family.  She is heading off to see her other sister in New York, so during her absence may have to slip over to Tri-Cities to see friends and of course play tons of poker. 

Tournament Game Face

Decided that the missing element from my game is a good "game face".  Practicing this one.

Running Not So Good

Sometimes, let's face it, we are just not running good.  It is a combination of things usually.  Like, too tired to play well, not focused, card dead, bad match ups, lousy flops, opponents red hot, etc.  I was running soooo good before my Phoenix trip thus the letdown has been brutal.  Last Friday night was an example of bad match ups.  Running very good pre-break, had doubled up to around 4200 in chips, just where I like to be.  I was out 4 hands after the break.  This is how it went down.  Playing a 9/10 on the button, the flop came down A/7/8.  Pretty good flop, so when a loose aggressive player bet 400, I was happy to call.  The turn paired the ace, and after my check he bet around 800.  Too much for a straight draw, so I folded.  He showed A/7 for the full house.  Now down to 3500 in the big blind, the dealer raises to 600.  Another loose aggressive player (is it just me, or are there lots of these guys?), re-raises to 1200.  I look at my cards and hallelujah, pocket kings!!!!  So naturally, given the action and my chip count, I re-raise, intending to go all-in (but neglecting 3 100 chips on top of my cards), trying to isolate.  She folds and he snap calls, turning over A/A.  I turn my kings over and the dealer runs the board, failing to find either a queen or a king on the 9/10/J board.  I am out, but wait, what about the other 300 chips?  Oh, he just said call, and I just shoved, not stating I was all-in.  No argument about me keeping the chips, so I post 100 in the small blind, am dealt 3/3 and after calling the flop, shove $100, hoping no-one caught anything.  I am called by two players, it is checked to the river and the guy with A/A knocks me out with 7/10 having caught a 10 on the flop (I told you he was loose).

With low expectations, I dealt table 3 at Wheeler.  Also running good early, had doubled up when we broke my table after the 1st break.  After running and playing good, went totally card dead.  There was no hand I was dealt that would have won any pot.  Also, the cards were lousy and it was mostly fold, fold and fold.  One opportunity was against a short stack who was playing squeaky tight on my table who shoved about 1/2 my stack.  I had 6/6, and with loose aggressive players behind me, figured a coin toss at best, so folded.  The big blind (LAG!!!) called with Q/8 off suit, knocking his AK out when she hit an 8 on the river. I hate this game!!!!

My last hand was from the small blind, blinds at 200/400, with only 1350 chips.  Only one limper (Mr. LAG) who turns out was playing 4/7 suited, I shoved.  The big blind, a newbie girl, just called, pricing LAG in.  She had A/J also.  So the board ran out with a 7 on the flop and I was eliminated in 10th place, she was short stacked for the final table.  If she had re-raised all-in, I believe Mr. LAG would have folded, but maybe not.  In any case that in my opinion would have been the correct play, and we would have chopped the pot and lived to fight another day. 

The New Normal

The past 3 or 4 weeks have been pretty crazy for me.  Spending 17 days at my mom's retirement home and caring for her were draining, so when my friend Don suggested the $200 buy in Talking Stick Saturday tournament I was "all in" for it.  We registered early and were seated at adjoining tables.  There were approximately 175 players, so first prize was substantial.  We both got off to good starts, Don winning around 6000 on his first hand, me about $1000.  Turns out we would both need those chips.  I lost about half my chips to the same player when I rivered a straight to his full house on a board of A3A52, my 4/5 losing to his A/2.  Over half my smaller remaining stack went to an 8/7 suited who raised under the gun, flopping 2 pair to my open ender with the 9/10.  Could not hit the straight draw.  I recovered those chips with a big blind shove holding AA vs. small blind's 9/10.  We were both very short, but he had me covered.  Last hand was my AK vs. KQ on a queen high flop.  It was against a very loose aggressive player so I flat called his preflop raise, then shoved after his continuation bet.  A 10 on the turn doubled my outs for the jack giving me a straight, or an ace topping his pair, but could not find them.  Don got very short, went on a run, and nearly made the money finishing around 28th.  In the meantime I found the 4/8 omaha high/low game (with 1/2 kill), and managed to drop $140 before leaving.  I realized afterward that really not on my game due to the stress of the past weeks but despite that needed this session to blow off stress.   

Who is the shark here?

So my first time at the retirement home poker game, I am the youngest player by 20 years.  A nice old lady immediately accuses me of being a shark.  Hmmm, have they been reading my blog?  I buy in to the 5/10/25 cent game for $4.00.  I am a little confused at first because both the green and black chips are worth a quarter.

The dealer Antes for the table, and it is dealer's choice on the game.  This could get wild.  Happily their game of choice is Omaha high/low.  I win a couple of pots, having to explain to the table captain (who incidentally they call "captain"), who actually won the pot.  Confusion on this happens frequently.

I am up a couple of bucks and feeling good until we stray into the classic home games, and some I have never heard of before.  Grocery store? Double omaha? The cross....that I have played before.  So, mostly staying out of these games, and folding the nuts once out of confusion.  We played only one texas hold em hand...my dealer choice...and had to explain it to 3 players.  WTF...the most popular game in the world!!!

The pot of the day was won with a flopped straight flush with another player betting, him raising, and the rest of us calling....me with a low draw.  Bottom line, had fun, was invited back....why wouldn't they as stuck $2.65 and 2nd biggest loser.

Mistakes Happen

Playing on Pokerstars today, I made a horrible mistake.  With only 2 Million in my account I accidentally signed up for a $1 million buy in tournament.  There goes my bankroll management that I am so careful about.  So, I find that there is a $200k bounty in effect.  Great, after a couple of hits I am a big fat target.  But, luckily I get it in with a shorter stack and win my 1st bounty!!!  Now "only" stuck $800k I feel slightly better.  Then, boom, another bounty.  Also, am now in contender position with only 20 or so to eliminate before cashing for over $1 M !!!  I am starting to like this until raising big from the button with multiple limpers, the big blind shoves a huge stack.  Fold to me and I snap call with my KK.  He turns over JJ, and there is dancing going on until the flop which has a jack. Crap, I am eliminated in 50th place and he gets my bounty with his lousy 2 outer.