Dumb, Dumber & Dumbest...Me!!!!

So, let me begin by saying I have been sleeping poorly, going to bed late and waking early.  Driving to Richland yesterday to play in the deepstack that I usually crush, had the distinct feeling that I should drive back to the house and go to bed.  Should have listened to that inner voice, as I was heading back there soon enough.

Winning a couple of hands and losing a couple at the first blind level, I was slightly over starting chip stack of 10K.  Getting pocket kings 2 under the gun with a limper, I raised to $350 at 2nd blind level.  With multiple callers and out of position I was happy to see the flop...J/8/5 with 2 clubs.  This is a flop that is good news for kings as it is possible to get action while having probably the best hand.  I bet out $800 and was raised to $2100 by "Al" in middle position.  His raise was called by the big blind and I immediately put Al on AJ and the other player on a flush draw.  That would make sense, so I called.

The turn was a queen, and I checked.  Al bet another 2100.  He was getting short of chips having lost a couple of hands and it made sense to me that he would not pot committ but still want to protect his hand.  The other player called (loose call???), so I called too as the pot now was over 11,000.

The river brought another queen, which I thought was a great card for me as it would counterfeit and random 2 pair hands that had snuck in, and did not stand to improve anyone's hand.  WRONG!!!  This is where I got dumb and dumber.  Al shoves, the other player shoves, and I shove, believing that I had both players covered.  Definitely should have slowed down, asked for chip counts and thought for a few minutes.

We turn over our hands:  AL has J/J for a full house, the other player has Q/10 for a gutshot straight draw that turned into trips by runner/runner.  The other player has me covered and I am the first player out of the tournament.  Like I say, dumb, dumber, and dumbest.

Vegas Rules

Venetian Poker Room
My game usually the one on the left by column 4/8 omaha
There are 59 tables in the room

Hopefully my chip stack within an hour

Getting excited for the Las Vegas annual buddies trip this Monday.  Thinking of trying some pot limit omaha, but only if I can chip up in other games/tournaments as this is a big game (meaning big stakes, huge pots) and I feel that I am a rookie at it.

So, thinking about some Vegas "Rules" before I leave.  These are just some random thoughts about what to do or not do while there.

1.  Buy in for minimum at first until you get a feel for the players and action.
2.  Identify the locals.  They are all grinders and will not give you action without the nuts.
3.  Identify the tourist/rookies.  That part is usually very easy.
4.  Always get a player card when going to a new casino.  It is free, quick, and sometimes some freebies with it (I have gotten sunglasses, free slot spins for a million bucks, discounts on buffet, etc.).  But the big deal is getting comps for your play, up to $1.50 an hour.  Have gotten enough in the past to pay for room, gift shop stuff, etc.
5.  People watching is the best in Vegas.
6.  If an attractive woman approaches you in the bar, she is a hooker.
7.  Buffets have gotten more expensive, but the breakfast is faster, better and sometimes cheaper than the coffee shop.
8.  Walgreens next to the Venetian has a cheap ATM as well as the best place to buy whatever you need.  Vegas is designed to suck money from you, so save where you can.  I always get extra waters while playing poker to take to the room.  Venetian serves premium Fiji water (yes it is from the island), and when you order a beverage (I drink coffee and Baileys exclusively), ask for a water too.  Same $1 tip gets you both.
9.  If you just want a cup of coffee in the morning, skip the coffeehouses and head for the poker room.  Most have free coffee there.
10.  The slots at the airport are supposed to be the worst in Vegas.  Avoid them.
11.  Free Wifi can be tough there (remember rule 8), I use my phone to set up a wifi hotspot so I can use my Kindle.  There are free spots, Starbucks or McDonalds for example.
12.  Things are very far away but because of their size they look closer.  Take the free tram if you can then walk the rest.
13.  The sports book area is a great area to sit in a comfortable chair and take a break.
14.  Catch the free entertainment when you can:  water show at the Mirage, Pirate show outside of Treasure Island. 

3 Good Things

Rather than focusing on my rotten, horrible, awful luck in the tournaments yesterday, would like to tell you now about three good things that happened recently in online tournaments.

1.  Playing in my "step" tournament (is this somewhat like a stepchild?), a 6 person SNG, I managed to knock every player out....no, not in one hand.  Never done that before.  And, no, I did not turn into the big chip bully, just happened to get them all in at the right times.  Now in step 8, but I think too late for the televised event.

2.  I did a late entry into a No Limit Omaha tournament with 90 entries and finished in 5th place (won 70,000 in play money...significant as my total bankroll was only 340,000.....20K entry fee).

3.  For I think the first time ever in my Omaha game career I hit a "steel wheel"....a 5 high straight flush!  While it is very possible not to "scoop" the high and low pots due to other wheel hands, or even a higher straight flush, I did indeed scoop this in a 100/200 limit game....even capping the river bets 3 ways.

Now, one funny story.  Donna playing at Luck Bridge is seated next to me.  She is rambling about the prize drawings they are holding for Cinco de Mayo, repeating herself a couple of times.  So, I pick up on it, saying, "Oh, by the way Donna, did you know they are having drawings tonight?".  After about the third time, others at the table are also commenting about the drawings.  Donna, irritated, does her usual thing about holding fingers up so she can ask you a question that leads to her flipping you off. Sorry, no takers on that old trick of hers.

Getting Bad Beats Out of My System Before Vegas

It is important to "cleanse your palate" when sampling fine wines.  Just as important, but not quite as widely known, is getting the bad beats out of the way in small tournaments before entering big ones that really matter.  With that thought in mind I purposefully got two horrible beats today.  In the morning Moose, with blinds at 25/25, I limped in with 5/5 and about 6 other limpers.  The flop was a thing of beauty, rainbow K/Q/5.  The player to my immediate right bet $150 after the blinds and one limper checked.  He had been active, trying to bluff a calling station, losing a ton of chips, then chipping back up to over starting chip stack.  I had missed a draw but recovered most of my chips on another hand.

I raised his $150 to $300 with a fairly wet board and he shoved with his K/T.  Call.  Turn was an ace, river was naturally a jack for his broadway backdoor straight.  Player down.

Not to be deterred, and wanting to purge myself of all possible bad beats, I signed up for the noon Bridge tournament.  Chipped up nicely, mainly through the chip leader who called my shove of AQ with A9 after second ace hit the turn, I am chip leader at my table, I flopped top pair with a flush draw to the queen (Q3 hearts in small blind).  I bet, am raised (had him covered) all-in.  He has a better flush draw with KJ of hearts.  Turn is a king and I am now the short stack.  Successfully shove with 3/3 and called in two places, hand holds up and am back in contention.

Final table, I flop middle pair from small blind on Q/J/3, bet, am raised all in by big blind, I fold (He flopped 2 pair (J/3), nice fold on my part.  Now short stack, player shoves with A/5, I call with A/10  He rivers a 5 and I am out.  A player who was on my table during the earlier tournament just sadly shook his head.

Real honestly, it is hard for me to second guess my play, as got all my chips in every time with the best hand.  These are just some bad beats that I got out of my system.

Eking

Managed to eke out a small win on Friday, $85 for 5th place, less $40 buy-in, less $5. dealer tip, for a $40 net win.  I was hoping for lots more as I need to build up my poker bankroll for Las Vegas next week.  No notable hands, lost about 1/4 of my chips early with a failed flush chase, then doubled up nicely against a player insisting on calling my preflop raise with my AJ, betting the jack high flop, and shoving on the river.  He had pocket 2's.  Really, what was he thinking?  Stone cold bluff?  He was eliminated shortly afterwards after recovering some of his chips (he had me covered) on another horrible call.

Down to 10 players, I was sitting on 7 big blinds and looking to make a push.  The table composition and my cards shut me off completely, as two players who acted before me kept pushing....I had suited aces 3 times against their raises, but no kicker, so folded.  Your really can't be doing any calling in those situations as you need to be first in the pot.

The final table was dealt by a rookie dealer who continually made mistakes and was frankly pretty sloppy in his card shuffling, cutting, mucking, figuring side pots, etc.  It was nice to see someone less competent than me in the chair.  He came alive on the final table, going all-in 3 hands in a row with everyone folding.  Blinds were 500/1000 so he was not picking up chump change.  He met his waterloo by raising preflop with KQ offsuite, and being raised my the chip leader who had KK.  His aggression on the flop did him in as the only card that could show up to slow the action was an ace.

I was very frustrated to get nothing but junk cards, and just folded my way into the money.  My final hand was against a poker rookie who had to be told everything....no, that is a string raise.....no, you need to raise twice the big blind, etc.  He knocked a buddy out who shoved with QQ by calling with A/6 offsuite.  Naturally, he caught his ace.  I was down to 2 big blinds, had not seen an ace, so when he raised to 5,000 (blinds at 1/2000) under the gun, I was next to act and called with AJ suited.  It really pained me to call as his range had me in trouble, but with my stack size figured they were all in the next 2 hands anyway.  He had AQ and he hit his queen on the flop.  The turn gave me hope with a king....and a couple of players had been eliminated earlier when broadway draws appeared, but I did not get that lucky.

My best hand was 9/7 offsuite in the unraised small blind with one limper.  I limped, flopped a straight on an 8/10/J flop and eliminated a player with J/10 and also got a flush draw's money in the pot.  Life can be good sometimes.   

Poker is Insane: The Definition of Insanity

We are all familiar with that classic quote about the definition of insanity, "Doing the same thing over and over expecting different results", but I am finally realizing how much this applies to my poker game.  I have a short list started of stuff we (I) keep doing that does not work.

1.  Raising in early position and expecting garbage hands with position to fold.
2.  Calling raises out of position with less than top 5 hands.
3.  Limping in early position with small pairs.
4.  Raising, check raising, or calling a "calling station"
5.  Bluffing into more than 2 players.
6.  Playing garbage because we were "priced in".
7.  Raising pre-flop with AK, getting multiple callers, missing flop, and betting with the expectation that everyone will fold.
8.  Calling a re-raise of your late position raise with less than QQ.
9.  Drawing to gutshots.
10.  Playing gapped suited connectors because of the Monte Carlo board.

Final Table Dealing

For a change of pace, I was asked to deal table 1, the final table at the Friday Legion tournament.  This is a serious committment as it normally breaks around 11:00, but the good news is that the tips always cover your $40 buy-in.  So, I dug in to deal and hopefully play for 4 hours.  I have a real knack of dealing myself real garbage.  It is hard enough to deal and play, but when you constantly have 8/3 offsuit, it is really a stretch.

My last hand was QJ under the gun shove with 3 big blinds (1200, with 200/400 blinds).  I was called in two places, the big blind, who was one chip shorter than me with her 6/6, and the button, who I had put on a major heater earlier, with AK.  I flopped a jack to take the lead, but there were two diamonds, and the only player with a diamond was the AK, holding the king of diamonds.  True to my luck lately, the turn and river were both diamonds, eliminating both of us.

There was a controversial play late in the tournament, when only 4 players remained.  The luckiest player, who controlled probably 2/3 of the chips caused some major bad feelings.  The situation was the short stack, all-in for 1000 at the 2000/4000 blind level, and the other 3 players all calling.  So, the main pot was 4,000 with a side pot of 9,000.  It was checked around to the big stack, who bet 10,000 on a flop of 10/3/5.  One player got a very pained look on his face...he was the 2nd largest stack, with around 16,000 total chips.  He muttered, and folded, while the 3rd shortest stack said something like, "I hope you are not bluffing".  When they turned over their hands, the short stack had 3/J , while the big stack, after taking the sizeable side pot, turned over A/4.  Gut shot draw.  The turn was another 10, and the river a brick.  The all-in survived with a pair of 3's, while the 2nd in chips practically threw up on the table, having folded a 10.  The finger pointing began, and the short stack proceeded to win a couple more hands and became the chip leader, while the 4th player was eliminated.  The short stack guy ended up winning the tournament (well, they chopped 3 ways, but he had the most chips), while our bluffing player came in 3rd, but chopped the same amount.  Mr. Big Stack managed to donk off most of his chips, and even did not want to chop until after he lost his big blind and was dead last in chips.  He took home the money for high hand, quad queens as well.

I correctly pointed out that the chip leader's play was really a great one, as he was not bluffing into a dry pot...which would definitely be a cardinal sin...but into a larger pot than the main pot.  It is always correct to take a pot like that, even if it means a short stack survives.  I would point out that his play, while excellent, was really pretty lame and unintended as he had no real clue or understood the significance of eliminating a player.  That said, I always want better hands to fold to my bets!!!!