Reflecting

Reflecting on life this week.  On my last trip to the beach I learned that two acquaintances passed away and a third had a stroke and was in rehab.  Then I learned this week that another friend was slipping into dementia.  Both men who died did so quickly.  One had suffered a heart attack and did not realize it, he passed away in the ambulance leaving the doctor's office.  He had the opportunity to tell his wife that he loved her and did not suffer.  The other went to the doctor because he did not feel well.  He was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, went home to hospice and passed 2 weeks later after the opportunity to say goodbye to family and friends.

This week I visited the friend suffering from alzheimer.  I am afraid for her due to her otherwise good health and relatively young age.  It is a wicked disease and the symptoms frighten me.  I was thinking about the Irish toast quoted above and recognize it's truth.  I am not much of a beer drinker, but the rest sounds damned good to me.

Reality Check

Well, it was bound to happen.  After running so good I ran into the proverbial brick wall yesterday.  Nothing really went right from the start.  I had reserved seats 9, my "lucky" seat from the awesome previous session.  I was a little late getting to the table and found someone's chips there.  I told the dealer who checked with the floor who verified that I had locked that seat.  The player was not happy but we joked a little, he moved to #5 and lost $250 there.  I was not doing much better.  I also had a very nice older man to my right who had two bad habits.  The first was taking forever to make a decision on his hand, though since he played virtually every hand, and to the river I cannot imagine why he takes so long.  The second is wanting to tell me how he had the nuts on any folded hand.  Other than that he is a great guy.   A regular, who is also a casino employee, and who buys in small and virtually always cashes out big was stuck a hundred or more.  Several high hands hit our table, 9 high straight flush and a royal flush.. the player hitting the royal had earlier claimed to never hitting a straight flush.  They gave him a special hat.  I never got one last month, they claim they were
out.

When things are going bad for you, nothing works.  I had super premium hands several times and did not win with them.  I hit the best possible full house with 7/7 on a board of 7/4/4/3 and lost to quad 4's.  This is not a whine, just saying that when you are running good, you can't miss, when bad you can lose with any and all hands.  I ended the session down $254.  Really honestly, I played well, laid down losing hands on the river, was the third tightest player at the table, just did not connect well.  It will go better next time.  

Murder in Tulalip!!

I killed the game yesterday.  Slaughtered it.  Decapitated it and displayed it's head on a pike.  There is currently an APB out for me in Marysville.  Bill O'Reilly has contacted me about writing a new book called "Killing Omaha". Wow.  It began as a crazy game and never paused, with our first hand capped preflop.  The player in seat 6 raised preflop every single hand and the player in seat one usually 3 bet it and someone else would cap it, like the very loud maniac in seat 7.  Like I say it was a crazy game and very high variance could be expected.  Two players had to rebuy after the first hand.  Crazy player in 6 rebought 3 times, crazy in seat 1 rebought multiple times.  I was seated in 9, the monkey in the middle.  How did this ever work out for me?  I tightened up and also was fortunate enough to scoop a few monsters.  I bought in for $100, rebought for $60, and cashed out 7 hours later for $866.  Like I say, a very good day.  No high hand money to pad my numbers, only had one briefly on the board.  I royally screwed up one opportunity, flopping trip kings, turning trip jacks (K/J/J/X in my hand), and 4 players folded to my turn bet. Check, check, I meant check!!!  Dang 2 cards make me quads.  What was I thinking?

Why Do We Play Poker?

I was thinking about why the heck are we fascinated by, addicted to, love playing poker.  I came up with several theories.

1.  Psychological.  This has many forms.  The competitive ego driven need to win and the addictive nature of gambling come to mind.

2.   The social aspect.  We enjoy hanging out with friends and acquaintances.  It is fun to b.s. at the poker table while enjoying an adult beverage.

3.  Financial.  Some people are strictly about the money.  These would include the professionals, the grinders (semi-pros), and people desperate to augment their incomes.

4.  Mathematical driven challenge.  I think some people really enjoy the challenge of figuring odds and playing a math driven game.

5.  Boredom.  Sometimes it is just a way to relax and forget about other problems.

6. "Fun".  This may encompass other factors mentioned above.  If I am at a table and not having "fun" it can be for many reasons, the people playing, the volatility of the game (I prefer a low variance one), how I feel (playing tired is a deal killer for me), losing a boatload of money, etc.

When you sit down to play, sometimes several of these are at work.  Personally, I am very competitive and enjoy that challenge.  That said, I also have a very addictive personality and find I must choose my addictions wisely.  I do get a charge out of winning money but after keeping close tabs on my win/loss numbers over several years find that it is pretty much a zero sum game for me. Am finding the social aspect more important as I age and pretty much am miserable if at a table with a bunch, or sometimes even one jerk.  I think it is important to assess the other players and decide why they are there as well as trying to understand your own motivations.

Last night I had a tough drive from Seattle to the beach, almost 6 hours.  Traffic was bad and still suffering from my dental surgery on Monday.  The Legion game beckoned of course and despite my weariness went to see friends and play.  The first table was fine, enjoyable players, friend dealing, no maniacs and pretty predictable play.  I got moved fairly soon in a table balancing to a nightmare. Horrible dealer, clueless maniac, aggressive smart player, aggressive lucky maniac, very savvy player, clueless calling stations.  I lost over 1/2 my chips to a calling station who had limped with A/K 2 UTG.  I was on the button with AJ suited.  Flop was A/2/3.  He bet $200 and I flat called. Turn paired the 3 PLUS bring in a flush.  He bet $300, I raised to $900.  Naturally, he calls being a calling station and not a thinking player.  The river is queen, he checks, I check behind.  Wow.  I cannot believe he has me out kicked and chose to call my big turn raise.  Later, short stacked, blinds 80/160, I have $610, I shove UTG with AJ suited (you saw what happened with my AJ earlier, right?), the aggressive and lucky player 3 UTG calls with Q/9 suited.  What is he thinking here?  He lost a huge pot earlier with his 9/5 vs. A/9 on a 9/5/A flop, then regained them on aggressive player vs. the donk I lost chips to earlier.  Anyway, I hit a J on the flop but he hit two of his suit, then a 9, then his flush.  In reality I was so tired that I considered getting up earlier and leaving my chips to blind out, and definitely did not want to hit break with no chips so I was all in no matter what with any reasonable holding.  Turbo tournaments are so tough. 

Good day at the office

Up almost $400, gave back $200, cashed out for $200 win.  No high hands, 2 straight flushes at my table.  The maniac from Sunday was at another table until later to my immediate left.  He was much calmer today.

Many ups and downs, paying off 3 under-full houses, folding another to a flush ( I had 777/AA playing pocket 7's) when it got raised and re-raised by nut low.  I was feeling snake bit by my under-fulls from earlier hands.  Also lost half pots to runner runner low cards.  It is never easy in high low poker.  On the plus side won a couple of giant pots with huge draws against me.  

Bad seat, bad table=high variance

Sometimes you can instantly tell that it is a bad table and/or seat choice.  So, today when the 1st omaha table opened it was a complete clusterf**k.  I had my designs on seat 9 but it was already reserved, so I chose seat 1, another popular choice I have noticed among the knowledgeable players.  Immediately I felt a strong cold draft from the a/c in the floor.  Also, the player 2 to my left is a well known maniac, raising and straddling often.  I like to see the raises coming and so did the regular immediately to my left moving to seat 4.  I moved to seat 5, while seat 9 did not show up so a new player sat there.  His wife then moved to 8 from 3.  Another player sat down in 3, was dealt one hand and told he had to move as another player was ahead of him.  Oh yeah, the guy in 6 complained because another seat was not filled.  It took more than 10 minutes for the game to start.

Once begun the maniac began his craziness.  He buys in for $300 and often rebuys another 200 when he loses some.  What I found was that seat 6 was also a maniac.  Any time 3 raised he would re-raise naturally maniac one would 3 bet and the other guy cap it.  I was a monkey in the middle.  I quickly lost  $100, reloaded, and eventually cashed out for $210 feeling lucky to escape without a loss.  The maniac in 3?  Stuck 600-800 by my best estimate.  The maniac in 6?  He hit 2 high hands for $350 and won at least $600 besides.  Two of the best players lost $100 and $400.  I have never seen one of them leave without multiple trays.

Grinding on The Roller Coaster

Thursday omaha game, there early eager to play.  Nothing went well and losing $20 on the first hand was a bad sign. The 2 problems in poker are not getting any good hands and the other side of the coin, getting great cards and missing flops and/or rivers.  My problem was the latter.  You just cannot fold top set until the river and then must usually call down the guy chasing a low that never came who backs into a flush with his 2/4 suited (actual example) when he bets his flush that cannot beat a flush.  I felt the pain of an older gentleman, an excellent player, who burned through 2 or 3 hundred quickly, flopping sets of Queens 4 times only to lose.  One of those times was a flop of K/Q/8.  I had pocket kings, he had his queens and another player pocket 8's.  It was a large 3 way pot that everyone kept raising and re-re-raising to protect from draws. Happy note on river despite a straight card hitting, I won with top set.

So, after a 7 hours of play and 3 buy-ins of a $100 I was nursing a headache, tired and ready to admit defeat.  I had just gone through a bruising hand with the guy to my right and a very bad player.  We tuned the ace high straight while the other guy flopped a set of 3'skills.  We rammed and jammed but he would not fold.  The river paired the board. Ouch.  Shortly afterward the player on my right, a regular and always a winner, quit, stuck at least $300.  I caught fire, got back to my original stake. Ready to quit, but feeling the heater, I gave some back.  Playing A/QX/X, the flop came with 2 aces.  I bet out, got several callers, then after a blank on the turn hit quad aces on the river.  It held up as high hand and quitting a few hands after the money was paid ($150), left $93 ahead.  I was exhausted and it was fairly late.  I really understood what it means to be a "grinder".  $10 an hour is not my idea of success and now today am worn out. 

Double your bonus, double your fun

I have been saying that my plan was to just play tight/play right and pretty much ignore the high hand bonus.  I was practicing what I preach Sunday and doing pretty well, up a hundred or so after several hours.  I then won a $150 high hand flopping trip jacks with an ace kicker.  The turn card was a king and a raise from an aggressive good young player worried me.  The ace on the river beat his jacks full of kings and held up for the 1/2 hour.

During the next 1/2 hour I hit a runner runner 10 high straight flush playing 8/9 suited.  A 10 on the flop, 7 on the turn and 6 on the river.  Never won 2 in a row and the good news was a 4th table was going so the high hand was now worth $200.

Heard an interesting story about the tournament in progress.  One of our players was at the table when someone retrieved cards from the muck to declare he had a straight flush????  Chaos ensued and eventually cameras were consulted, tournament halted, the pot was awarded to him, his chips were forfeited, and he was 86'd permanently.  Weird.  A dead hand should never win a pot.

Final win report:  bought in for $100, cashed out for $490.  

Low earnings per hour

Thursday's session did not start off well for me.  I was quickly stuck $100 but undeterred I rebought again, and again and again.  It was super frustrating as players at my table kept winning the high hand money.  One guy hit 3 times, another couple of them twice, and several others at least once.  Seemingly I was the only one not getting either the $100 or $150 bonus.

Finally my game picked up and recovered one buy in.  Then I won the biggest pot of the day, around $250 when I rivered the nut straight and nut low.  There were multiple players and jamming on every street with 2 pairs and sets plus 2nd nut lows.  Sweet.

My Seattle poker buddy Jim showed up, we had talked about getting together.  He sat in the 5/5 plo and got stuck $1500 before we took a dinner break at the buffet.  I offered to buy dinner and he said I probably had lots of comps.  I did not realize they paid $1. an hour.  Checked my card and found $92 in my account.  Nice.

Finished playing after 10 hours stuck $17.  Jim did not recover, lost another $500 buy in.  How can I complain?