First Hand Out

Playing in the "Morning Moose" today, I limped in early position with 8/9 of hearts.  Probably 7 limpers total...typical of this $25 tournament.  Flop was awesome, 6/7/10.  Under the gun player bets 200.  With two diamonds out there I decide to reraise all-in to either induce the flush draws to fold or let them call on the draw.  Everyone folded to the original raiser who pondered a bit, then said, "I call, if you have the 8/9 you have me".  I said "Yep", and turned it over and he showed 10/10 for top set. Turn was a brick, then the board paired with a 6 on the river.  Player down.

Moving over to the cash game (a second one had just started), I watched aces get cracked by a flopped set of 8's (Dougy), then the very next hand I have the aces, and when it is raised to $8 to me, and the guy whose aces were cracked tilt/calls with 4/8, I reraise to $28.  Both players call.  Flop is small and slightly connected but with a 4 and I bet $20.  Both players call.  Turn is a brick, I bet $20 again, and both call, with the tiltman going all-in for less.  River is an 8, I bet $20, am called by original raiser who tables JJ.  I take the side pot, and the main pot goes to the 4/8.  Sick.  Aces are cracked the next time they are dealt (by 8/3 no less) who makes the dumb end of the straight on a A/9/10/J/Q board.  Very sick.

I end up cashing out for $315 on my $100 buy-in, so good day for me.  It was one wild table I gotta tell you.  Saw some major league chip stack swings (Hal up $500 to the felt for example).

Royal Today

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Playing in a NL Omaha tournament today I hit my royal flush after shoving on the flop with the open ended straight flush draw.  Nice river card.

Picking on Roland

Felt very fortunate to have the $100 bounty player land on my table this morning, particularly since I had doubled up.  Roland got the seat to my immediated left, which meant that he had position on me.  I limped the first hand, mostly because he was forced to post.  I caught a piece of the flop and bet, he raised big and forced to fold.  This was the pattern that continued until he knocked me out!  I raised his big blind with 2/6 suited, he defended heads up with 7/3 suited.  Flop was 7/3/5, and when I bet he raised and I folded my gutshot straight draw.  Later, I raised with J/Q, he called with A/10, another player shoved and we both folded.

Last hand, I was extremely short having called a short stack shove from my blind with 9/2 suited only to see A/9 suited.  In the big blind, with only 100 behind, Roland min raised Brian who called (very loose player).  I found A/10 so I am in it to win it.  Roland shoves blind before the flop, and turns over A/A.  Player down.

Be careful what you wish for.  I wanted him on my table, and honestly raised or called a couple of times just to punish him or try to short stack him.  Bad idea. 

Thought Provoking Article

http://regressing.deadspin.com/why-its-hard-for-poker-pros-to-make-a-living-playing-l-1526098295

Swept Away by The Tsunami

Playing in the tournament above the Tsunami Grill in Wheeler last night decided that it just wasn't for me.  For starters, it is about a 20 minute drive in the dark, raining, around scary curves with elk and deer lurking in the woods, ready to wreck your car at any moment.  It is the same guys who play Friday night at the Legion, so that part is fine.  They are mostly the usual suspects and am familiar with their play.  You get extra chips (100) for showing up early but the bad news is that you definitely need them.  Starting chips is only 1000 with 15 min. blinds starting at 10/20.  You can become alarmingly short stacked very quickly, as I quickly discovered.

Entering a couple of pots early on with AQ, 66, 89 suited I folded to the preflop raiser when I failed to connect on the flop.  Now down to about 800 in chips, blinds up, folded some blinds and down to around 600, shoved with AK, picked up blinds, won another hand and eventually down to 525 two under the gun.  Blinds were 25/50, but going up next hand to 50/100 so when I discovered KQ I quickly shoved my 10 big blinds which were about to be 5 big ones.  Everyone folded to the big blind, Robert, who had won several pots and quickly called with 7/7.  Robert, you may remember from earlier posts is my nemesis who I always lose to (except for the first hand of a tournament where I flopped quad 2's vs. his nut flush draw (and I do mean nut flush as he had a draw to straight flush).  Surprised to win that one.  Anyway, following my recent pattern I failed to hit my coinflip draw and was out.  Good news was I got home in time to watch most of American Idol, but got distracted watching Grimm Season 1, which is my latest binge watch tv show.

I am not a big fan of horror shows, so I turned it off when originally aired, but found it very humorous, good acting, good plots, music and manageable gore.  It is an engaging storyline and will have to now finish season 1 and move on to seasons 2 and 3.  My binge watching is getting seriously behind as I have a few others going.
  

Some Practice Tournament Ideas

Because I play on several free sites, Pokerstars, Zynga (facebook), and Cardplayer Poker, I have a fun way to experiment with different styles of play.  Some things I will be trying this week:

1.  Never calling.  Either re-raising or folding every hand.
2.  Raising 100% of the time from the button (unless raised before me).
3.  Raising 100% of the time from the small blind if folded to me.
4.  Raising 100% of the time from the big blind if no-one has raised, particularly if small blind is only caller.
5.  Calling raises from early position, then shoving after the flop with any two cards.
6.  Min-Raising when I am the big stack on every hand (from late position).

These are all excercises in ramping up my aggression, which is one of the problems I have as a TAG (tight aggressive) player.  This type of play is the LAG (loose aggressive) style which many players use today.  When I am playing in real money games I intend to mix up my style more which should make me less predictable.

I will let you know how this experiment works out.  I tried it in a free tournament this morning on CP by open shoving with 5/6 suited.  I turned two pair but was eliminated when the board paired 8's...my opponent had A/A.  LOL.

Learning to Embrace My Inner Donkey

I am really trying to get a handle on this donkey thing.  I just keep getting snapped by the luckboxes, so I am trying a new strategy....If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.  Almost knocked a player out by calling his raise (he had 9/9) with my 5/3 offsuit.  I flopped a 5, called his bet, turned a 3, shoved, he called but the board paired aces and counterfeited me.  Guess I am not such a lucky donk.  Fortunately, I was chip leader and thus lived to fight another day...coming in 2nd in the tournament.....losing my final hand with Q/9 vs. Q/10 on a flop of Q/10/9.

Lynne, reading your comment on my last post, I feel your pain.  That was donkdom to the Nth degree.  If you look at my rules for donks, you will see that they cannot fold any pair or draw.  And, always remember that an unimproved pair is not the nuts, even if it is an overpair to the board.

So, as I am embracing my inner donk, I have resolved to change my game up a bit.  I am going to experiment with playing position, not cards, and stack size, not cards or position.  Try to think of my "new" game as one of rock, scissors, paper.  We all know the rules on that one.  So:

Position beats cards
cards beat stack
stack beats position

If you think of poker as "playing the player", "playing the stack", "playing the position" rather than simply believing that you must have premium hands, or flops to win, then you have lots more opportunity.  For a while I intend to ignore my cards pretty much and try winning by playing better.  That will include playing some real donkey hands, so will let my dedicated readers know how that turns out.

I am planning on playing tomorrow night at the semi-private game above the restaurant.  Have not had good luck there but time for a change!!!