Momma Told Me (Not to Come)

"That's Not The Way to Have Fun, Son"



When the voice of reason calls, there I am to ignore it.  Wednesday at Wheeler, after a very good run there I have hit the skids.  I pondered long and hard about making the 20 minute drive.  Decided to go anyway.  I was asked to deal table 3 (24 players), and chipped up nicely.  My best hand was JJ, I raised, called by 10/10.  Flop was 6/6/6 (sign of the cross quickly made), she led out, I raised, we got them all in and I doubled up.  Later, one of my new nemesis players raised to 200, I called with QQ and saw a king high flop.  He led out 200 with about 600 behind and I tanked momentarily.  If he had more chips I would have folded, but decided to pot commit and re-raise him all-in.  He tables AA and I am below starting chip stack.

Combining to 2 tables I eliminate a player when I have AA vs. his A/10.  I reach the final table with below average stack.  One player is railed, down to 8 players.  I am in the small blind at the 200/400 level with 7/8 off.  The big blind has been known to get out of hand, and the nemesis from earlier (he has knocked me out twice before) is on the button.  Pondered a small blind fold, but hoping to get a great flop and chip up.  We see the flop 3 handed and it is 8/9/J with 2 diamonds.  I have 1600 behind and make the (bad) decision to shove.  Me reasoning?  It is a draw heavy board and I caught a piece of it plus a draw.  They both call.  The turn is what I assume is a great card for me, an 8 giving me trips, but the river brings the flush in and both players shove.  The big blind turns over 10/6 of diamonds for the flush, but my nemesis has 8/9 of spades for the full house.  The big blind survives as he had more chips, but player down.....me.

A quick observation.  When you are running bad, really bad stuff happens no matter how strong you are.  Playing an 18 player SNG this morning, down to the bubble, I am in the big blind with my old buddy, 7/8 again and am 2nd in chips.  The flop is unbelievable for me 6/9/10 rainbow!  Leading out is the chip leader from the small blind, and I happily re-raise him.  He shoves and I call, he turns over his slow played AA!!!!  The turn is an ace, and the river is a 6 for his full house runner runner.  Player down out of the money. 

Am I A Nit?

Playing an online 45 person SNG today a guy called me a "nit" (just before I knocked him out in 3rd place).  I thought about it for a while and just looked up the following poker definition.  I would agree that I am definitely on the nitty side, but I do bluff (please disregard this sentence if you are one of the players in my weekly games).  I think that I am generally a successful player, so would tend to stay the course in my game.  I generally lose to the loose aggressive player who shows up at the party with some random unexpected holding, or refuses to let go of bottom pair and then gets lucky with trips, two pair, backing into a flush or straight, etc.

Here is the definition I found online:

Probably the player class singled out for more abuse than any other, the 'nit' constitutes one of the most disrespected and ridiculed players at the table on the whole. Fish dislike them for the lack of action they create, and good loose aggressive players grow tired of their predictable tight play and see themselves as some kind of class above due to the extra complex decisions they force themselves to play.

However, their reputation is probably undeserved, and some of the most successful players in history have generally been on the nittier side of play - particularly when it comes to bankroll management. Fundamentally, your life is much harder in poker if you are consistently playing mathematically weak hands. Although you can take this too far and only start playing big pairs etc, a well balanced and controlled tight aggressive player is a hard player to deal with pretty much regardless of the stake level in question.

Even some of the biggest winners in the hyper loose aggressive high stakes online games have been on the nittier side of play - it is simply very hard to play against people who usually have a hand, but who throw in enough bluffs that your brain starts to question them at points.

Where nits really break down is when they start refusing to bluff at all. Many players discover poker, realise they get paid often just for betting with only good hands, and start to stop bluffing completely. The problem of course is that poker is a game where any kind of long term predictability is very bad, and as players around them quickly notice their tightness, they start attacking the nits blinds unrelentingly, and fold whenever there is action from them. In all but the poorest standard games ultra tight player type goes broke steadily once they have been identified by the other regulars.

Although watching skilled loose players is often an incredible sight, for most of us mere mortals a tighter approach to poker is usually correct. You face more simple decisions, will have the best of it mathematically speaking much more often, and as long as you bluff occasionally will not have any major leaks. Being a nit is not bad as long as it is balanced well, and this term of abuse often gets unfairly applied to players who are not only profitable, but also greatly feared by nearly all players at any stake level.

Only a Certain Number of Heartbeats

I was sitting around (imagine that!) and felt my heart beating.  That led me to speculation as to how many heartbeats we "get" during our lifetimes.  My estimate fell fall short of the statistics on the above chart.  How does that relate to poker you ask?  The heartbeats we are allotted in our lifetimes are fairly finite.  The bad pokerbeats we get seem to be almost infinite.  Lately I have been receiving my fair share plus.  Just to recall the past week's last hand of the tournament, Wednesday I got it all in good with AJ vs. A10, even hitting my jack on the flop.  A queen king knocked me out for his broadway straight.  Friday night I went all in with A2 and was called by K10 (I was on the button, he had limped from early position).  Despite hitting a 2 on the flop which was not needed, I lost to a 10 on the turn.  By the way, same player as Wednesday.  In frustration, I yelled at him, "How does it feel to always get your money in bad against me?"

And finally, the big Sunday tournament, I go all in with no chips with 4/4.  Doomed to failure with 2 callers, but once again going all-in with the best starting hand.  My only bright spot Sunday was dealing earned me $80 which almost paid the $100 entry fee.  I will be so happy when my string of bad beats ends and I again rise to the heights of pokerdom.

Predictability & C-Betting

Predictability:

I have been going back and forth on the c-bet discussion.  My main concern is avoiding predictability.  You can say, but Dr. Phil, if you always c-bet, is that not predictable?  Well, yes, but the problem the caller is facing is determining whether you are betting a monster, a made hand, a draw, or air.  The position that we always want to put our opponents in is making a bad decision based on a lack of information.  If we only bet our hands when we "connect" with the flop, but check when we miss (or even have a monster), then we become more predictable because the opponent has more information.  It is a polarizing action.  The opponent must figure out if your c-bet has hit your hand, missed, given you a great draw, or maybe did not need to hit anything since you started with aces!  What is a player to do?  And, since most flops miss most hands, you must assume that your opponent has missed his.

Next compelling reason:  pot odds

Let's say that you have raised pre-flop from the button with our old friend, AK.  The flop is air for you, let's say it is queen high, but it is "checked to the raiser" from the big blind and a limper.  If you bet, you are offering odds to the other players.  They may be good odds, they may be bad odds, but odds they remain.  If you check, you are essentially offering infinity odds to the players.  Bad things can happen.  The pair of 2's who was already in "flop or drop" mode now gets a free card to hit his set.  The 6/7 suited who caught a gutshot or backdoor flush draw gets a free card to improve his hand. Bottom pair with no kicker can now improve and/or come after you on the turn after your show of weakness.  The lesson here is basically never give them infinity to one odds.

I have looked into my heart about why I have not c-bet in the past.  The reason?  I have essentially chickened out.  Because I have missed most flops I lose confidence rather than plowing ahead.  My fears rest in the land of the check raise and the float.  A very good play that all advanced players know is the float, where you assume the pre-flop raiser does not have a pair and/or missed the flop.  By calling the predictable c-bet, they can then fire a bluff or their made hand on the turn or river.  The check raiser does not fare as well, as a check raise is such a strong play that you are correct to fold your c-bet to it.  Really advanced players know this and will punish you.  However, if you are into the meta-game, sometimes you can win huge by re-raising the check raiser.  This is good for very deep stacks but does not usually pay in the smaller faster tournaments.  Just not enough chips to force anyone to fold.

Good Friday (But Not For Poker)

I am thinking about writing a book about last night's poker game at the Legion.  Here are a few of the chapters.

1. If you can't win playing online poker, skip live poker.
2. Listen to your gut.
3. Listen to your own advice about C-Bets.
4. Learn how to deal.
5. What happens when a #9 trouble hand meets #1 trouble hand?

Chapter 1 begins with me losing badly in several online games.  Games I normally crush.  Games I own.  Games where I normally play smart.  Took every beat possible and no draw ever came in except for my opponents.  This is usually a big signal to me that I do not belong in a "real" game. Signal ignored.

Chapter 2, I am relaxing watching "Killing Jesus" on tv.  It is Good Friday.  My gut tells me that this is a day for religious reflection.  But then I think (not listening to my gut), hey, prayer in the pokerroom is always heartfelt (please, bring the club on the river).  But no, like a dummy a deaf ear is turned.

Chapter 3, I just friggin wrote about the importance of the C-Bet.  How could I not do it here!!!!  The situation was very early in the tournament.  Zach, an excellent player who is making oodles of big money in big tournaments raises from early position.  There is a caller.  I have QQ, I raise to $200.  They both call.  The flop is 9/9/Q.  Hallelujah!  It is checked to me.  Craftily (not wisely), I check behind reasoning (I think) that there are no hands out there that can call me.  The turn is an ace and Zach bets a couple hundred, the other player folds and I flat call.  Now I begin overthinking.  Does he have pocket aces?  The river is a brick and Zach bets $250, I raise to $500.  He calls and turns over A/9 for the underfull.  That is great, except I missed an excellent opportunity to get all of his chips.  He later states that he never had an opportunity to check raise me.

More about c-bets.  I am in position against two callers from my pre-flop raise with my AQ.  With a jack high flop we all check.  King on the turn, we all check.  River a brick, we all check.  We all turn over AQ for a 3 way chop.  There is no way I could have not won the whole pot (and probably a larger one) with 1 or 2 continuation bets.  My bad again.

Chapter 4, I am heads up all-in (I have lots more) with Matt.  We both reveal AQ suited.  No flushes come and it is a chopped pot.  Somehow I get my bet mixed up with the pot and chop 1/2 my chips (not the overage, just the original ones.  Matt ends up enjoying an extra 500, and I lose 500.  Idiot!  This would not have happened if I was not dealing.

Chapter 5, my last hand was a shove with A/10 of clubs.  I am called by AQ.  Player down.

The Wheels Came Off in Wheeler

My day started great yesterday.  Enrolling in the Americas Cardroom freeroll along with 621 of my poker buddies, I managed to take down my 2nd win in this bad boy for a total of $2.50.  While the money wasn't big, it does buy some entries into bigger tournaments.  I am on a mission to roll the money up big time.

So, full of errr confidence I made the drive to Wheeler fully expecting to win there.  I loosened up with my favorite "Old Chubb" dark beer and enjoyed the "Hog wings" appetizer.  Unfortunately I was asked to deal table 3 as we had 21 players.  Drinking the beer before dealing may have been a mistake as many errors were made by me.  Fortunately only 3 had to bust out before my dealing was done.  I lost a big pot the very first hand, raising with AJ, called by RB (stands for Rat Bastard) with A/10.  Kept firing into the 10 high flop.  Hmmm.  So much for my continuation, however the problem was being out of position and really did not lose more than 1/3 of my stack due to the possibility that I had the overpair.  Oh well, I never really gained traction in the tournament getting up to maybe 3 starting stacks maximum.  Had QQ 3 times, winning twice mostly because of pre-flop folds, losing the third time to AK on a king high flop with 3 spades.  I tanked for a bit when he bet big since I had the queen of spades, but made the good laydown.

Last hand, I am in the big blind for 800, with QJ of hearts.  UTG makes it 3000 to go, everyone folds to me.  I have only 1800 behind, will be in for 400 next hand.  What do you think I did?  Well, obviously since it was my final hand I called.  He tabled AK off.  I fully expected to see a small pair here with his large bet, but happy enough to get it in with live cards and suite.  I failed to connect and his AK high won.  I came in 6th place.  Did not really play poorly, just never really got going.  Ran the hand through my odds calculator and I was 40% to win pre-flop.  Given stack size and blind situation was a great call. 

Top Ten Trouble Hands

Watched a short youtube video by Daniel Negreanu on the top 10 trouble hands.  I think we can all agree about most of them.  Watch the video to hear his reasoning about each of them.  Funny how my top trouble hand is the one most quoted by professionals.  The only ones I like on the list are KQ and K10 because of some history with them.  But, that said I agree with Daniel that they are indeed trouble.

1. AQ
2. JJ
3. KJ
4. Q9
5. AJ
6. K10
7. AX suited
8. KQ
9. A10
10. J8


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5DSOlbfJOo