Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Oh, the Outrage!
So the entire state of Michigan is outraged over being snubbed in the BCS selection for the college football national championship game. Ordinarily, due to my intense dislike for Michigan, I would take some sort of pleasure in this news. But, oddly, I don’t. Something is changing. I’m changing. I’m not sure I like it. I actually feel some weird sense of sympathy for the Wolverine fans. I’m sure this is temporary and I’ll get over it soon.
Anyway, the Cornhuskers lost the big 12 championship game vs. Oklahoma. Nebraska spotted them 7 points on the 2nd play of the game after a turnover on the NU 5 yard line and then basically played them even for the rest of the game. They had a pretty good season though. They had 4 losses – of which 3 of the losses were to teams in the hunt for the national championship game most of the season (USC, Texas, and Oklahoma – if it weren’t for a fluke bad call vs. Oregon). 1 bad loss for Big Red though– Oklahoma State. But even when you loose, you sometimes win. NU gets a great bowl - they face Auburn in the Cotton bowl on New Year’s day.
As for poker this weekend, I went to a neighbor’s house for a “Couples Night”/Euchre Tournament/Poker game. It was a lot of fun. I volunteered to sit out of the Euchre Tourney so that we had the correct numbers of players. This allowed me to focus on the Husker game. As I watched the Euchre action, I was really sort of pissed that I didn’t play. It looked fun. It was also cool to hang with the wife for a night.
The poker was a series of 1 table NLHE SnG tourneys w/$20 buy in. There were a lot of inexperienced players. I was asked to set up the blind schedule and format. I had one case of chips to work with that allowed each player to start with $1000. I started the blinds at $25/$50. We increased the blinds on each rotation until we were down to 8 handed, then the blinds increased every 15 minutes. 11 people started the first game.
I fared really well for the evening. I won the first two tournaments and placed 2nd in the third tourney of the night. I think the formula for these results was ((0.55*skill)+(0.45*luck)) = $239 in winnings.
Early on, I could see that the play was pretty slow, the blinds structure was really fast, and I’d have to gamble it up a little. I was sort of telling myself, “do not bluff at this game, it won’t work”. Then, on one hand I was dealt an AJ in middle position. I raised it PF. The button and small blind called. The flop comes Kxx. SB checks and the button mentions something like “is that a queen?” This gives me some insight that I might be able to make a play at the pot here. I fire in a continuation bluff/bet. The button folds, but the SB check-raises me all-in.
I can’t call. I’m pretty sure the SB was on a naked bluff, but he snapped me off pretty good. Henceforth, his name will be “bluffer”.
OK lesson learned – do not bluff. On a later hand with 2 limpers and the blinds at 100/200, I go all-in from middle position with a pair of 8s. The button agonizes for 1 full minute before mucking. I take this to mean that an Ace was just mucked most likely with a Queen or Jack. It’s folded around to the 2nd limper who reluctantly calls with AK. I double up and am on my way to victory lane. Whoo Hoo!
As a corollary to this story, I did find that it was much easier to “speculate”. Preflop action was rarely raised, and when it was raised, the raise was usually to double the big blind. I think the lesson was two-fold when playing at a table with many inexperienced players (1) Don’t bluff (2) speculate more.
I played one such speculation had with tremendous results. I was in late position with A9s in spades. With blinds at $25/$50, action is limped in 2 places to me. I guess an argument could be made to raise here (to define my hand, to build a big pot, or to eliminate real trash hands like J5s that can stack me if it hits just right). In the end, I decided to limp. I was pretty sure I couldn’t raise enough to fold everyone. A normal sized raise would just be called by everyone and they would, unwittingly, be committed to the rest of the hand by calling this pre-flop raise.The flop is really good for me. I’ve got 2nd pair/top kicker with a redraw to the nut flush. Action goes SB-check, EP1-bet $100 (pot started with $200), EP2-calls $100, I call $100 (I’m hoping one/both of these EP players are on a flush drawn or have 2 big cards like A10 or AJ). The SB (the guy who check raised all-in from the hand above), makes the same move, he check raises everyone to $250 more – he’s all in. Bluffer!
EP1 calls. EP2 calls. I call (I’m getting a real sense that one/both of these players on straight or flush draws. If the flush comes, I’m getting paid off. If a blank comes, I might get another bluff and then I can push all in. If an A comes, I’ll probably get paid off. I decide to gamble a little and just call here).
The pot now has $1600. I have about $1200 behind. My 2 opponents have $800 and $600 behind respectively.
The turn brings a blank. Here’s where my memory gets a little fuzzy. I can’t remember the action, but I think it went EP1-bet $200, EP2-call, JJ-call.
The pot now has $2400. I have $1000 behind. EP1 has $600 behind, EP2 has $400 behind.
The river is a spade. EP1 bets $200 again. EP2 goes all in. I go all in. EP1 calls.
Can you believe it? There was 3 quality flush draws out there and an open ended straight draw. Wow!
I drag a pot of about $4000 and eliminate 3 players.
A little while later, I have three quarters of the chips in play when we get down to 3 handed. The two other players decided to concede 1st to me and chop 2nd and 3rd. Great deal for me! I accept!
On the third SnG of the night (which started at 230a), we start with 7 players. I grind myself into 2nd place at about 4a. I have $3000 chips, chip leader has $3500, and 3rd place has about $2000. 2 places paid (65%/35%). The hosts are standing by the door, tapping their feet, arms-crossed, glancing at their watches every 30 seconds. I take an unfavorable straight distribution chop deal.
Pretty good evening!
