JJ's Blog

They say that one of the most important decisions that you can make as a poker player is where you decide to take a seat. I agree. This decision may be more important than what game you play, limit vs. no limit, the stakes, whether you play a loose/aggressive style or a tight/aggressive style, whether you smooth call an early position raise with AQo, or any other intra-game strategic decisions.

The other night I was faced with a dilemma. I had the choice of 2 games. The first game was 5 minutes from my house, the players (as a group) were fairly weak, action was very live (people would peel off $100s to rebuy like I peel off $20s), and the game should last for about 10 hours. Perfect. On the downside, I don’t know any of the players at this game, and beside the potential to win some money, I didn’t see myself having all that much fun.

The second game was 40 minutes away, the players (as a group) were much stronger, the action would be OK (but nothing compared to the game listed above). On the upside, it should be a lot more fun. I know, and am friends with several of the players at this game, so even if I loose some money, I’ll no doubt enjoy myself more.

So the decision really boils down to a fundamental question. “Do I play poker with a primary objective to win money (and a secondary objective to have fun)? Or do I play poker with a primary objective to have fun (and a secondary objective to win money)?” (By the way, winning money is almost always fun, right?)

The answer to this question should guide decisions like the one listed above. For the true poker player, who measures his/her success by counting the $s won, the decision is easy – play the game with the highest monetary expectations – game #1. For the recreational player, who has several intermixed objectives (Did I have fun? Did I win money? Did I learn something new? etc…), the decision is more difficult. For the recreational player, the decision is based on which game provides for the highest combined expectation of these various factors – game #2.

I chose game #2. I guess that means I’m not a “hard core” poker player. OK.

So on my last post, I talked about 2nd and 3rd level thinking at the poker table. There are probably professional authors that have written much more eloquently about this subject, but this is my version - with one example.

1st level thinking is when you look at your cards and decide how you would like to play them. For example, you are in middle position, action is folded to you, you look down and see an Ac-Jc. You like your hand. Conditions look favorable for a raise, so you decide to fire in a standard raise. This is a good example of 1st level thinking. You are considering your cards and how you’d like to play them. You are not too worried about what other people think at this point.

2nd level thinking is when you attempt to determine what your opponent is thinking about his hand and how he wants to play it. In my last post, I listed a hand where I thought I was using some 2nd level thinking. This is more than just “putting a player on a hand”. This involves trying to understand what your opponent is thinking about his hand and how he might play his and. In other words, 2nd level thinking is trying to predict your opponent’s 1st level thinking. Of course, you’ll need to assign a hand (or range of hands) to your opponent to accomplish this, but you’ll need to go one more step and try to forecast his thoughts about his hand and how he might play his hand.

3rd level thinking is a little more complex. 3rd level thinking is involved when you try to figure out what your opponent is thinking about your hand. I think this 3rd level thinking goes beyond simple betting patterns. For example, if I check a monster hand (full house) hoping my opponent will bet so that I can check raise him, I really haven’t engaged in 3rd level thinking. Instead, I’m just trying to trick him into a trap. I’m hoping that he’ll fall for my trap. 3rd level thinking, in my opinion, is a deep, thoughtful consideration of the types of things an opponent must be thinking about the quality of my hand and the meaning of my play. I have an example:

Example: It’s the late stages of the 30 person re-buy NLHE tournament. There are about 7 players left. Play is very tight. We have about 4 players guarding short stacks determined to make the money. The blinds are coming around relentlessly. The stress is high. I’m in middle position and find a JcTc. I make a standard 3x raise. I figured that play was pretty tight and I stood a reasonable chance of winning the blinds, plus my hand was not too terrible. The fact that I was in middle position might have made my raise seem even a little stronger. It’s folded around to the small blind/chip leader who calls. Big blind bows out. The flop comes 9c – 7x – 4c. This is a very good flop for me. I have 2 overs, a flush draw and a gut shot. BINGO! Small blind checks.

Here’s where the 3rd level thinking kicks in. Standard play would be for me to semi-bluff with a big drawing hand. But as I start to really think about it, I begin to see that if I semi bluff here, there’s a good chance my opponent (a very “aware” and perceptive player) would pick up on this and might find this as an opportunity to make a play on me here (with a big check raise) or try to make a play on me on the turn when a blank hits. He’s the chip leader and can afford to get saucey. I’m really trying to predict what my opponent might think about the hand I hold if I fire in a continuation bet here.

So, I figure I can take my free card here and really disguise my flush draw with a check. So I check. The turn is admittedly a thing of beauty – the Qc. I now have a made flush (with 2 outs to a straight flush!), the flush is well disguised, and the queen may have improve my opponents hand. BINGO! (As a side note, poker is really easy when you catch perfect cards). He checks.

As I begin to ponder my next action, I start to consider what he must think about my hand. If check the flop and bet turn, he has got to consider this turn bet is a semi bluff. I think there is a good chance he’ll give me credit for a J-10 (open ended) or even a hand like Ac X (nut flush draw). Now the challenge for me is to size my bet to make it stink to high-heaven like a semi bluff. I only bet 1/3rd. I think I wanted to really sell weakness here. It worked. He called.

The river is a thing of beauty - a complete blank. He checks. I’m pretty sure he caught some piece of this board by his turn check-call. If he is on a busted draw, then anything I bet will not get called; however, if he has a Q, 9, 7, or 4, I can probably get some value with a river bet. Once again, I really try to get into this guy’s mind and predict what he is thinking about my hand. I convince myself that he must think there is a good chance that I’m on a busted draw. Now, my challenge is to find a bet and a rhythm that will convince him that I have a busted draw.

I’m not much of an actor, so I don’t really like sending false, weak tells. Instead, I just paused a little longer than normal before I bet 5000 (into a 10,000 pot). He considers the situation for a few seconds and calls. I immediately show the flush (which by the way, was my only 5 card hand I was dealt after 6 ½ hours of play that night – what are the odds of that?)

Anyway, this is my best example of 3rd level thinking. I’m sure good players do this all the time. Not me. This is my first memory of applying this level of analysis and deep thought during the actual play of a hand. Pretty cool!

As it turns out, I was pretty darn accurate in my analysis (read here).

Great Thanksgiving weekend!

I’ve long held that Thanksgiving is the best of all the American Holidays. It’s the food, it’s the football, it’s the 4 days off from work, it’s the changing of the seasons. All that crap. Christmas may be the holiday for the kids, but Thanksgiving is my holiday. This Thanksgiving was particularly good. The weather was incredible….among other things.

Wednesday – Poker at friend’s house. Lost $56 playing limit mixed games. I’ve noticed that I have a real hard time concentrating at poker after a long day at work. I was mis-reading my hands, mis-reading the board, and missing bets all night. Plus, I was card dead. I was actually lucky to escape just down $56. It was nice to chill in a low stress poker game with some buddies though. I did violate one of my own golden rules. I played some stupid game (Red/Black) not understanding the rules, the strategy, etc…I’m such a fish. All in all, I didn’t mind the loss though.

One hand came up that deserves a quick mention. The game was stud 8. The game was 6 handed. I started with a 3 card low but found myself heads-up with the table manic on 4th street. He brought it in originally. I caught good on 4th street and so did the manic. I bet, he raised. I called. We both caught bricks on 5th. He bet, I called. This was not unusual. This player would bet/raise with made hands, suspect hands, and trash hands in almost exactly the same fashion. 6th street goes brick to him and brick to me (I pair a hole card deuce) but my board now looks like a made low. The betting goes check-check. The river is a brick for me. I have no low and only a pair of deuces for low. He checks. I figure the only way to win is a river bluff into a nice pot. The pot has about 6 big bets. My $4 river bluff has to work about 1 times in 6 to break even. So I give it a go. I get called. Manic show a pair of 3’s, no low, to scoop. I was a bit disgusted. So I asked, “you called with a pair of 3’s”? He defended himself with, “yea, that’s a pretty standard play in Stud 8. Really! It’s pretty standard.”

So I got to thinking. This may be a pretty "standard" play for the Manic, but is it the correct play? If I dealt 7 random cards to 2 players, a pair of threes figures to be the high hand about 24% of the time (simulated here) . When this pair of 3s is the best hand, manic can expect to recover half of the pot when he is staring at my low board. So the $4 “standard play” call on the river will expect to win half of the pot about 24% of the time. This means for this play to be profitable, the pot would need to have about 9 bets in the pot. I don’t see how this is the correct play. Agree/no?

Thursday – Great weather. Great food. No stress! Lion’s lost…again. Who cares?

Friday – Great weather. Got the Christmas lights up. They look good. Got the leaves and dog poop picked up. The Cornhuskers win! Now, they play the evil Sooners in the Big 12 championship game next Saturday. When they win, they get a BCS bid and a possible post season showdown with the even more evil Michigan Wolverines. Back-to-back post season whoopings of the Wolverines would put a complete end to any ’97 National Championship controversy – although last year pretty much closed that chapter.

Saturday – Great weather. Got the house cleaned and laundry done. Won a H.O.R.S.E. SnG on FullTilt. Played some poker at a friend’s house. This is an annual pot-luck dinner and rebuy tournament. It’s a lot of fun. I did OK. I cashed for a tidy $170 profit after 6 hours of work. I had three observations from the night.

First, I really like cashing in a long, hard fought tournaments. I don’t really mind loosing early in a long tournament, but I despise, absolutely despise, going deep into a long tournament and not cashing. I dislike the last scenario (going deep without cashing) so much that I’d just prefer not to play tournaments at all. I’d be perfectly happy to just sit at the cash game for 8 hours. But these home games usually start with the tournament and cash games start up a few hours later. Having said that, it does really feel good to do well in a tourney. It’s probably more the feeling of beating most of the field than the actual cash prize. I was really disappointed in a few of my plays and the fact that I couldn’t get a little deeper.

Second, I think most of the players have totally perverted the proper rebuy strategy. Everyone pretty much knows that proper rebuy strategy is build your stack and be prepared to rebuy if necessary… several times….maybe even 7 times. Sometimes you need to push small edges or make difficult calls. But, the key is to build your stack….not donk off your chips. One key hand illustrates this.

At the second level, $25/$50, play has been crazy. Our table probably had 8 rebuys and numerous all-ins. Anytime you entered a pot, you must be prepared for the all-in push. I’m in middle position with about $1500, with A7s. I make it $200. I’m playing looser than ‘freezout’ but much tighter than most. It’s folded around to a late position player who is not real good. He’s had to rebuy about 4 times. He will push with any 2 face cards. He has about $700 left and he pushes. An early position limper (the maniac from the story above) who has about $4500 decides to call. Action back to me. With the pot re-opened for betting, I push in my last $800. This decision on my part is probably bad (one of several bad decisions for the night), but not important to this story. The EP limper/caller/maniac, calls my all in for another 800. We flip our cards. My decision now looks a little better. I hold the best hand (me A7s vs. bad player KJo vs. maniac 42s) with a good chance to nearly triple up. At this point, the maniac mentions to the table that he really likes his hand. That he “had to call”.

Let’s take a look. The maniacs 42s vs. 2 random top 20% hands figures to win 24% of the time (simulated on PokerStove). He’s getting 900:700 on his initial call (1.3 to 1) when he is a 3:1 underdog. Ouch! Then, when I bump it another 800, he is getting 3:1 on his call while still being a 3:1 underdog - not too bad. As it turns out, manic wins it and I’m in line at the rebuy counter. But, I think he made a horrible decision. He had successfully built up his stack to be in a good position after the rebuy period. He was exactly where he needed to be at that point. Then he ended up putting a third of his chips at risk being a big underdog.

On the flip side, he was now in really good position for the rest of the tournament. (Fast forward…He just needed to shift gears a little after the rebuy period. He didn’t.) Anyway, I guess the point is that I saw an awful lot of play during the rebuy period that seemed more like it people hoping to hit the lottery than strategically trying to build their chip stack. Chris E and Hespy were the exceptions (BTW. They finished first/second for the night). Maybe the best rebuy strategy in this type of environment is to play your top 10 hands only and hope to get paid off – you know, swim upstream.

Third, this may be the first time I’ve played, for an extended period using "level 2" thinking and even flirted a little with with "level 3" thinking. Level 2 thinking is where you, as a player, attempt to get into the mind of an opponent and figure out what they are thinking about their hand and their next play. One hand illustrates this.

It’s after the rebuy period. I had just busted a player for about $2000 and had a nice sized stack, but there were several really big stacks at the table. One big stack was to my left. Action was folded to me on the button. I looked down and found AQo. I really considered limping and disguising this pretty strong holding. But I got to thinking. If I raise, what will Mr. Big Stack to my left think. He will surely think this is a steal. He has been pretty quiet so far. He may see this as an opportunity to make an early position re-steal play if the flop comes ragged or if it hits him. This early position re-steal is a play that is definately in his arsenal. So I raise. He gives it careful consideration, and then, as expected, he smooth calls.

Man, I have this guy right where I want him. I know the play he is going to make before he makes it. “Watch this, “I say to myself, “If the flop does not contain an A, K, Q, or J, he’ll lead out for about 1/3 of the pot.” The flop comes rags. It has a 6-2-2.

Like predicted, Mr. Big stack opens for a 1/3 sized pot bet. Man, I’m good. I’m not only thinking about my hand. I’m completely in the mind of Mr. Big Stack. I know exactly what he’s thinking. I think I’ll go ahead and ruin his world right now. I’ll triple his opening bet, blow him off the hand, and stack his chips in front of me. So, I triple his bet.

Mr. Big thinks for a short while and re-raises (2.5x) my bet. He has now put about two thirds to three quarters of his chips in play. Now, I’m confused. Here’s what I’m thinking. I’ve seen this bet, raise, reraise pattern on TV with 2 seasoned pros - both of who are holding sqaudouce. I’m pretty sure that both Hespy and I both have nothing but my nothing is better than his nothing. I would be a complete genius if I pushed or called here. I’m feeling so in sync with this player. I’m locked in. But, the other side of my brain is going “it so early in the tournament”, “why get all in with such a bad hand, find a better spot”, “I wonder if the cash game will be live tonight”, “why did he leave money behind if he’s bluffing”, “sometimes players will leave a little behind to make their bluffs seem even stronger – and Hespy is the kind of guy that would do this.”

In the end, I can’t continue. I can’t muster the gonads to follow through. I fold. Live to fight another day. Something like that. Hespy claims he held a 6 for top pair. I don’t believe him. He just made a stronger play than me. Hats Off!.

Anyway, I was feeling kind of good about myself for being able to play poker at what I thought was that “next level” - level 2 thinking.

I've got one example of "level 3" thinking that I'll post next time.

Cheers. Happy Turkey Day!

I seem to have the most success at the poker table when I play very straight-forward, “percentage” poker. In business (and in football) the analogy for executing basic, fundamental strategy is called “blocking & tackling”.

I think that the fancy moves that we read about or watch on TV probably work better at the higher stakes games and tournaments where being tricky is sometimes necessary to gain an advantage. At the low stakes games, there seems to be enough players making enough mistakes that fancy play is not all that necessary. Every once in a while, someone will make a fancy play, a check raise bluff, a weird overbet, a ridiculous min-raise, etc…and it will really pay off for them. While impressive, these are pretty rare, and in the long run, can end up costing you more money in lost opportunity than they make for you. As an example: limping with AA under the gun in no limit Hold’em. Occasionally, you’ll trap someone really bad for a huge payoff, but frequently this is a poor play and you end up taking a flop 7 handed, out of position, having no idea how your hand ranks and you end up wasting a hand that could make you a nice little profit (5 or 6 bets)

Most importantly, these tricky plays only work with players that are sophisticated enough to be confused by the play and make a mistake as a result. If you try these plays on the unaware, they can backfire! I guess that’s my epiphany – don’t be tricky with players who are too unaware to notice.

I have 2 good examples of this. (This is to the best of my recollection and may be a little wrong…but it’s still a good example).

EXAMPLE 1: On Saturday night, we were playing a PL Omaha 8 tournament. The tournament started with 3000 in chips and 25/25 blind levels. With this blind structure, I should have settled in for a long evening of tight play. But, I’m not one to heed my own advice, so, with blinds of 25/50, I opened a pot in middle position for a pot sized raise after 2 limpers. I had a high only hand (10 J Q Q) and ordinarily like to fold or limp with a high only hand. Even though we had only played about 1 hour, preflop raising was very infrequent – it was a limpfest. So I decided to get tricky with my preflop raise. I was hoping to eliminate some of the high holdings behind me and I thought for sure this raise would convince everyone that without a doubt, I held A2xx. After all, what else would I raise with? I’ve read that A2xx is dealt at a full table about 50% of the time. I was hoping this was one of the times where no one held A2xx. This would allow me to bluff on later streets at some of the secondary low holdings that entered the pot in front of me.

The two limpers call. The flop comes with a 3-8-9. This is pretty good. This gives me 12 outs to the nut straight, 8 of those outs keep the board high only, and a good board to try a continuation bluff selling my hand as A2xx.

Here’s where it starts to go bad. It goes check, check to me. I bet pot (~$600). Big mistake! But, here’s my thinking. I was trying to continue to convince the table that I had A2xx and this was a promo raise to fold some better high hands (like 2 pair or top pair) while drawing to the nut low. I know – this is very tricky and only people who play the game regularly and were paying attention would be able to piece this story together. I also hoped that I might be able to fold someone holding A3 since they just got counterfeited. Early player 1 (EP1) calls (is all in). EP2 calls as well. Here's my mistake...a $200 bet would have accomplished the same thing and would have kept the pot small. I'm an idiot.

The turn brings a 3rd low card (6). Now the board reads 3x 8x 9x 6x (I still hold nothing - 10 J Q Q) for a draw to win ½ the pot. EP2 checks. Now I’m sure that everyone at the table has put me on A2xx. I can just sense it. It’s pervasive. The stench of me holding A2xx and a low on the board is undeniable. My choices are check behind or continue to bluff. I was just so sure I had set up a good bluff here, so I bet ~$1200. EP2 thinks and thinks and finally calls. Now I’m in trouble. I need help!

The river brings a blank (5). The board reads 3x 8x 9x 6x 5x. I’m beating almost no one. I’m holding nothing but an overpair. EP2 checks. I’m in soooo deep now. I can’t pull myself out. I have $1300 left. The pot has about $4500. EP2 has shown no strength. He looked like he just wanted a reason to fold. My problem is that I only had 1300 reasons left to convince him to fold. So I bet my last $1300. EP2 goes into the tank. He loads up his fists with the call amount and swings it back and forth across the commitment line. He mumbles, “how can I fold?”,… “I guess I should fold”. “Just fold already,” I scream in my mind. Finally, he calls and shows A4 for the 2nd low and….thank God – no high. I get ½ of the side pot. Of course, I’ve got no claim to the main pot with a just an overpair. I’ve just lost 20% of my stack.

After the hand was over, I complained, hey man, “why didn’t you believe me that I held A2xx?”. I looked around the table for some support and 2 of the more seasoned players nodded in agreement that they thought for sure I held A2xx. The EP2 player that was not convinced, just said, “hey, I’m new to this game. It didn’t really hit me. I thought you were going high the whole time.”

Lesson here….don’t get tricky when straightforward will work. I tried to bluff a player I had never played with while drawing. I just trashed my entire game plan (bet your made hands only). Why didn’t I just follow my basic strategy and fold this hand preflop? You know, blocking & tackling.

EXAMPLE 2: The cash game after the tournament was pretty good. We played 2/4 dealer’s choice. It was very passive. Razz was a very interesting round. Most of the players were new to Razz. I’m not a very good Razz player, but I know how to read a board. I know when I’m in the lead and when I’m drawing to take the lead. This basic knowledge seemed to be enough to make a little profit on this round. On one hand, I’m dealt a 3-5 down and an 8 up. I look around the table and see only 1 card lower than mine (6) and one card tied with mine (I really like to see my cards duplicated around the table as this reduces that chance that I’ll pair up). This other 8 is held in this hand by my nemesis. High card brings it in. The 6 does not raise so I don’t think he is real proud of his hand. I call as do 3 others.
4th street is not real good to me. I draw a 9. My cards are (3-5) 8-9. Player 1 is xx 6 J. Nemesis is xx 8-6. Player 3 is xx J K. Nemesis bets, player 3 calls – not sure why, action to me. Since I’m drawing to a better 8 than nemesis is representing and the pot is 4 way, I call. I’m getting 7.5 to 1 on my call here.

5th street brings a 6 for me. My board reads (3-5) 8-9-6. Player 1 xx 6-J-8. Nemesis bricks out xx 8-6-Q. Player 3 bricks xx J-K-J. I’m in the lead now. I bet. Player 1 makes a reluctant call. Nemesis 2 bets it! What? Player 3 folds. Here’s where it gets interesting.

In limit poker, I think it is very important to make a few extra bets and avoid paying off a few extra bets each hour. I think this is how you move from loosing a little each hour to winning a little each hour. At this point, facing a raise, I could get tricky. I could smooth call. I have the best hand, but is vulnerable. If I smooth call, I’m sure player 1 will call. I’m also sure nemesis will bet out with almost any card on 6th street. I could trap 2 extra bets here with a smooth call. In the end, my hand is just too vulnerable to draws, so I 3 bet. Player 1 folds (yes!). Nemesis calls.

Now if I give nemesis credit for A2 in the hole, I’m still in the lead but drawing to worse 8. 6th street is a brick for both of us. He pairs and I catch high. I bet. He calls – he needs to catch on the river to take this pot back. In my mind, he needs a 3, 4, 5, or 7. He has about 12 outs. I think this makes him about a 3:1 dog.

River goes check - check. I win! Admittedly, I got a little lucky to outdraw him with my 3-5-8 vs. his starting A-2-8

This is another example of the advantage of straight forward play. My nemesis lost 2 extra bet when he got fancy and tried to raise with this draw. Basic strategy suggests that you try to play your draws as cheap as possible. His raise on 5th street was atrocious. Not only was he behind and still drawing, he gave me a chance to knock out the 3rd player whose calls were making his draw profitable. With the third player out and nemesis facing 3 bets, he just destroyed his own drawing odds.

So, I’ve been playing a lot of online H.O.R.S.E. games lately. If you’re like me, when you play stud/stud8 online, you are furiously writing down door cards on the hands you intend to play (Hey, I’m not too proud to write down door cards when no one can actually see me doing it).

Well,…I’ve developed a very cool, high tech system for recording door cards. It goes like this:

1) Open your MS Paint utility program
2) Open your online poker window
3) Position the windows so that you can see most of both windows simultaneously (minimize overlap)
4) When you are dealt a hand you intend to play, press Alt+print screen
5) Press alt+tab to switch to MS Paint
6) Press ctr+v to paste
7) Press alt+tab to switch back to PokerStars
8) Then, after the hand, press alt+tab to switch back to MS paint and press Ctrl+z to remove the picture

I’m thinking about patenting this brilliant idea, but I need a good patent lawyer. Know any?

If this doesn’t work for you, another option you can try that doesn’t involve memorizing dead cards
1) If the pot is not opened, open for a raise
2) Lead out on 4th and 5th street no matter what cards come
3) Check/fold on 6th/7th street unless you have at least Aces up

Warning: This is not acutally a profitable stud strategy, but at least you can multi-table or watch pistions basketball while playing.

The recipe for a good weekend:

A) The cornhuskers won – pulled out a squeaker. They were the beneficiaries of a late game ‘bad beat’ (as opposed to being the recipient – i.e., Texas).
B) Plenty of Dad time – circus on Saturday; Rock climbing on Sunday; some Library time, etc…
C) 3 day weekend – observing Veterans Day
D) Plenty of Household chores – cleaned the basement, finished the laundry
E) Workout on Monday – played some basketball (won 1, lost 1), worked out with my son
F) No Poker – I needed a break after the poker ‘binge’ from last weekend where I put in 3 months of poker time in just 3 days.
G) I guess (F) above isn’t ‘exactly’ true. I played some online poker. Won a $10 H.O.R.S.E SnG. Then, placed second. Then won some money playing $1/$2 Omaha 8.
H) Winner/Winner for last week on my two fantasy B-Ball leagues (offsetting a looser/looser from the prior week).

There are some things you know. And, then there are some things YOU KNOW. For example, you know that you shouldn't eat an old piece of pizza you find in the company fridge, but until you've been in the hospital with an IV shoved in your arm as a result of food poisoning from eating some suspect food out of the company fridge, you don't really KNOW. This is the difference between common sense and first-hand experience. There is no real substitute for that first-hand experience.

I had a couple of these experiences recently during a few marathon sessions at Foxwoods. These are items that everyone knows, but until this weekend, I didn't really KNOW.

Move to the left of a manic We've all been advised to the wisdom of seat selection. In limit poker, I've been advised that you'll want to position a manic to your right. This gives you the advantage of knowing how the manic will act before you take action. I learned this lesson is a real meaningful way during a session of Omaha8. Originally, I was positioned 2 spots to the right of this maniac. After about 5 hands, I realized the fact that if I limped with a marginal hand (A488 rainbow), it was getting raised. If I raised for value with a strong hand after a couple of limpers (A238 w/suited A), he'd shut out the table with a re-raise. Anyway, when a seat became open 1 positions to this player's left, I took it. This gave me an extremely strong position. In low limit poker (4/8 holdem or 4/8 omaha), you often have lots of dreamers playing marginal hands pre-flop hoping to get lucky. This is especially true in Omaha8. I hate these players.

With the maniac to my right, I would use him to help "protect" my medium to strong hands. For example, I was dealt A4KK w/suited A. Maniac is UTG and opens for a raise. I can now re-raise to protect this hand. I'd love to get this pot head's up or 3-way. Players behind me are now facing 3 bets cold. I've got to assume that some of them may fold holdings like 2389 or JJ87. When they fold, I benefit as my holdings are promoted up a notch. Plus, this type of "protection" 3 bet really helps me understand the holdings of those who call 3 bets cold behind me. If someone behind me smooth calls three bets and then leads/raises/calls on a low flop, I'm pretty sure my low is no good.

On the other hand, if I have a very strong hand that I'd like to take against a large field (A246 with a suited A), when the maniac raises, I can smooth call. This smooth call gives the table some relief that they may be able to sneak in with just 2 bets preflop. My smooth call tends to start a series of calls behind. Often times, this turns out to be a sort of "pot building" call as the other gamblers at the table will come in for a discounted 2 bets preflop (as opposed to the more frequent capped preflop pot). If it subsequently gets raised/re-raised, no problem. Bring it.

Anyway, having the maniac to my right worked like a charm. I felt I like had had a lot of control over the table from this position. This is pretty rare in low limit poker games I've played in where players often complain about suckers who play weak holdings and chase them down to the river to catch some miracle.

Change gears and swim upstream Once again, I've heard different experts espouse the virtues of "shifting gears" (alternately playing loose, then tight). This is especially useful in NL Hold'Em ring games and tournaments where confusing an opponent into making just one mistake can make your whole evening a success. As a corollary, it is also important to "swim upstream" (when the table is playing loose, you play tight. When the table is playing tight, you play loose). This worked like a charm during another session of Omaha8. We had just finished playing about 4 hours with a mega maniac at the table. We had received about 6 new players to the table who all seemed to know each other and play together. I could tell right away that these were solid players. They knew the lingo. The folded a lot of hands pre-flop and they raised a lot. Things were tightening up and the aggression was going way up.

I was approaching the end of a very long (14 hour day) Omaha8 session. I was still stuck about $200 (down from a peak of about -$400). I was feeling a little giddy. So I started playing a little reckless. I was raising with weak holdings, getting the pot short-handed and showing down marginal hands for winners or splits. This group of guys then began to grumble and mumble about how poorly I played and how weak my hands were that I was showing down. I could sense a collective effort to "punish" the ass in seat 4 who keeps making stupid plays (that be me). After about the 5th such pot (I caught a 3 on the river to promote my A5 to the best low and take ½ the pot), I literally got cussed out for playing so bad. Then, I shifted gears. I made a mental contract with myself to only play premium hands and see if I could get paid off. It worked great. I was getting called/raised, usually by one of the table "cops" who decided it was their job to punish me. On one hand I held A31010. The flop came 2 8 10 (admittedly a great flop). I bet and was raised. I call. Turn was a 2. I bet, was raised, and called. The river was a K. I bet, was raised, I 3 bet, he 4 bet. I call. He showed A235 and I scooped a monster. I can understand the flop and turn betting, but the 4 bets on the river was exclusively a payoff from shifting gears.

Don't play when you are tired This one is such basic common sense that I shouldn't need to elaborate...but I will. If you play long enough, you should, on average, be dealt just as many big hands as everyone else. If you are supposed to be dealt AA once every 3 hours, on average you will be...and so will everyone else. The problem with averages is that there is always this nasty thing called "variance" that comes along for the ride. Sometimes you'll be dealt those pocket rockets 5 times in three hours. Sometimes, you won't see pocket AA for 8 straight hours. Hey, it happens. The real issue comes in when you are playing exhausted. You start to loose proper perspective on time. When you are dead tired, after being dealt rags for 6 straight hands, your mind starts to compress time and distorted these 6 successive rag hands. In your mind, you start believing you've been dealt rags for 30 straight hands. When you are dealt KQo, your mind starts to convince you that this hand is just as strong as AKs. When you are dealt pocket 8s, you start to assign the same strength to this hand that is ordinarily reserved for JJ.

When you're playing NLHE, the margins are so thin. You need to pay a time charge ($5/hr) and tokes. Your risk/reward ratio is so thin that you just can't make mistakes and expect to win money. You just can't afford to play less than excellent poker when playing No Limit.

As my story goes, I was able to give back over $500 in profit in just a few hours. I'd like to say I gave back the money as a result of some bad beats or making some aggressive moves in coin flip situations. This was not the case. I simply donk called and donk bluffed in bad-bad spots. Oh well, live and learn!

The poker results for the weekend were "so/so". I beat up my first session pretty good and then lost most of the other sessions. Net – I lost $41 for the weekend. That sucks!



Key Hands:
Session 1 - NLHE w $1/$2 blinds $300 max buyin. There’s this one guy….there’s always this one guy - right? Anyway, he’d been steadily loosing. Loosing, bitching, loosing, bitching. You know the routine. Then, things started to turn around for him. He was seated on my left, switched seats and was now 4 seats to my right. He went on a tremendous rush. He turned his case $40 into about $650. I’m in the cutoff+1. He brings it in for a raise of $15. We are playing with $1/$2 blinds and opening raises are anywhere from $7 to $20. Most of the time a raise above $12 is a little weaker hand that needs some protection. I peak down and see pocket AA. I know, I know, ya don’t need to be a genius to play this hand. Anyway, I make a pretty standard play and re-raise to $40. It goes fold around to original raiser who calls. Flop comes J 3 x. It goes check. I bet $50 and get check raised to $150. Now I start to entertain the thought of a set, but only briefly. Ya see, I’m still glowing from a hand about an hour ago when I found pocket As against someone’s pocket Ks. It played the exact same way. On that hand, we got our money in. I won, end of story. Anyway, back to this hand….I called but was nervous. The alarm bells are gradually increasing in volume. The turn brings another 3. I thought this was a good card. If my nemesis was playing a hand like KJ, then an unlikely K on the river would not kill me. Now is when it gets strange. He checks the turn. That’s right, he check raised the flop and checks the turn. The volume on the alarm bells start to go a little silent. I check behind. The river brings a thing of beauty, an A, giving me Aces full. I’m only dead to pocket 3 (which is distinct possibility the way this hand played). He goes all in and has me covered. The alarm bells are on full volume again. My head is buzzing. Stop the noise. I have about $150 left. I call. He shows pocket Js for Jacks full of 3s.

Not to rub it in. I tell him that I would have folded to a large bet on the turn. His tricky play, checking the turn, cost him $340. Oh well, sucks to be him.

Session 4 – 4/8 Omaha 8 with ½ kill: There’s this one guy….there’s always this one guy - right? He is loud, obnoxious, and proceeding to get drunk. He announces to the table that he usually plays $100/$200 Omaha8, but he has lost a shit load and just wants to mess around. For the first hour, he raises every hand blind and reraises/caps anyone who pushes back – all of this is blind. He played two thirds of his hands blind raising and reraising on every street. Amazingly, he is winning money. There is some little old lady at the table who is going out of her mind. She tried limping into pots about 4 times, only to get blasted off her hand with 4 bets preflop. It was very entertaining. Anyway, the pots during this session are monsters. The folks that want to play hands end up putting in 4 bets preflop and then can not fold until the river because of “pot odds”. I estimated the ave pot size to be about $90 during this session. Anyway, through his mostly incoherent dribble, I discovered that he was a big fan of playing high only hands and then scooping the pot when the low doesn’t show up.

The hand goes like this. I’m dealt A Q 9 10 with the A suited. I’m UTG. I limp…expecting it to be capped. It is. 4 ways. The flop produces a board of 10 J 2 rainbow. This is a pretty good hand for me, but I check expecting it to get bet by someone. It goes check around to big spender who bets. I call with Top pair top kicker and open ended. We get 2 overcalls – most likely from dreamers holding unlikely runner-runner low hands. The pot now has 10 big bets. The turn brings a 9. Now I have 2 pair and still open ended. The board reads 10, J, 2, 9 - no low possible. I check. Check. Check. Big Spender, on queue, bets, I call. The two dreamers fold. The pot now has 12 big bets. I think to myself, “I need a 10. One time dealer…..TEN”. The river brings a K. That’s OK too. (Hey, it’s been a long session I’m not thinking clearly). I know have the nuts. The board reads 10, J, 2, 9, K. Here’s where the hand gets interesting. Not wanting to miss a bet, I lead out. I’m raised. I make it 3 bets. Big spender makes it 4. At Foxwoods, when you are head’s up there is no cap to the betting in limit poker. I make it 5 bets. Big spender makes it 6. Convinced we are chopping. I call and show the nuts. I’m disgusted that I’ll have to chop this pot. Big spender tables a straight to the K. He held 9 Q xx. The pot contained 24 big bets. This is $192 pot (of which I contributed $76). Wow! I’m convinced he would have kept re-raising until one of us was all in if I would have obliged. I should have. Oh. Well, live and learn.

Session 7 – The “Johnson” blow up - $1/$2 NL: I am CARD D.E.A.D. I’m tired. I need some friggin cards dealer. C’mon! I’m just coming off of a hand where I’m dealt AQo in the SB. I bet $20 into a limped pot. I get the BB to call and the 2 limpers. The BB is a very solid player. With $80 in the POT, I’m out of position with no pair and one overcard to a board of K 6 2. So I make a $50 stab at it leaving me with only $50 behind. I’m raised all in by the BB. And I fold. He shows me AA. Talk about waking up to a hand. This is the story of my night.

Anyway, I reload and win a little and I now have $225 in front of me. I’m on the button. There is a straddle. It gets called by 4 players to me. I look down and find KsQd. I ask, “did this guy straddle or did he open for $4?”. After everyone yells in unision, “STRADDLE”. I make it $20. The guy on the straddle, a pretty solid player, either attempting to defend his straddle or waking up to a big hand, makes it $40. I, sensing an opportunity to exploit my tight image I’ve been developing over the last 4 hours, make it $80. He calls. The flop comes rags 3d 6d 9d. I wanted to tell a story that I had a big pocket pair, so I bet $75. I’m such a donkey. The pot was gianormous at this point. My $75 bet must have looked pitiful. Anyway, I get called. The river brings 4d. I’m ready to give up the pot at this point. My nemisis now bets his last $75. I’m ready to muck, but I figure I better peak back down at my cards just to make sure I can safely fold. What do I discover? The Q of diamonds. I’m such a donkey. The queen of diamonds! BINGO! I have Q high flush. The pot has $321 and I need to call $75 and I’m beat by 2 hands - an Ad or a Kd. I call and I’m pleased to show the 3rd nut hand. Alas, I’m am crushed by the nut hand held by my nemesis - Ad Jh. Talk about waking up to a hand. Jesus! I picked this spot to bluff? WTF?

This is the first of 3 posts on the Poker trip to Foxwoods. On the first post, I'll review the casino and the trip. The second post I'll recap some of the poker and my version of a Matasau blowup. On the third post, I'll discuss a couple of my lessons learned.

Foxwoods Poker Adventure.

The Costs:
First, airfare to Boston was pretty reasonable, $158. But don't let that fool ya. You'll still need to figure in the cost of parking ($22), the cost of taxes and airport fees ($20), the cost of rental car/gas ($140). Then, Massachusetts charged us tolls to use their roads about every 10 miles ($5). I swear we must have paid tolls 4 times trying to get out of that state. The hotel we decided to stay at was about 12 miles from the casino. This worked out OK, but it took about 15 minutes to get back and forth and we had to coordinate with each other on who was staying/leaving each time we traveled back and forth. The Hotel was $209 all in for 2 days. In total, my share of the costs was about $350 for the 3 day trip.

The Travel Time:
Second, you need to figure the time commitment just for the travel. It's only a 90 minute flight DTW to BOS, but when you add 2.5 hour airport lead time, 1 hour to get a rental car, and the 90 minute drive to the Casino. I left the house at 4a and we arrived at the casino at around 11a. If we had driven, it would have taken 10 hours (door to door) and cost about $60 in gas. So, we paid about $180 to avoid 6 hour of commute time.

The Poker Room/Casino:
The poker room and casino are huge. I'm not a real connoisseur of casinos, but from what I could tell, it was a nice casino. It was very large, had all kinds of table games and slots, a large variety of restaurants, offered a race book and smoke free areas. They even had a theater and a night club. Blackjack stakes started at a min of $25 which seemed way too high.

The poker room was Gianormous. When we arrived on Saturday morning, the place was packed. I'm not sure that they had one idle table. They claim to have over 100 tables and they had about 15 temp tables set up outside of the poker room. All of this action was driven by the World Poker Finals. This really reminded me of walking around the RIO during the world series. There were thousands of poker players at the casino on Saturday morning. It was crazy.

It took us a looooooong time to get a table (over 2 hours). Their sign-up/call process sucks. They use a PA system and large screen monitors for the sign up list. It really sucked. I think they were just overwhelmed with demand. They would call for initials in rapid fire succession for a game, and since the place was so packed you could really claim your seat efficiently and risked being skipped if your yells of "LOCK IT UP" were not heard. The dealer skill level was mixed. I had some really good dealers and some really bad ones. They did OK. I'm not as critical as some on dealer skill. I just get pissed when we are paying $5 per half hour to play NLHE and the dealers are cranking out 8 hands in 30 minutes. The crew I traveled with were much less forgiving of the dealers and some of the other players were real critical as well.

They did spread a large variety of games and at all limits. As an example, they spread stud from low limits of $1-$3 to $200-$400. They spread high limit mixed games (SHOE, OE). They also offered a variety of 1 table NLHE Sit-n-go tournaments starting at $120. The blind structure was pretty "middle of the road". I played NLHE, Stud, Omaha8, and H.O.R.S.E. The NLHE game was moderate. The Stud and Omaha games were very soft. The H.O.R.S.E game was very tough.

So the real value for me from this poker room, was the game variety they could offer. The poker room was more/less on par with Greektown for comfort. There was not necessarily any more/less fish at this casino. The comps were not especially valuable. The poker room management was not particularly noteworthy (the gold standard on this has to be the Venetian). Beverage service was real slow (but free alcohol - which I didn't take advantage of). They did have a little lounge to the side of the poker room where you could chill out for a while (by chill out, I mean sleep for 5 hours instead of going back to the hotel...rock).

Overall:
It wasn't a bad trip. The countryside was scenic. But, for the price and time it took get there, there is much better value in a trip to AC or Vegas. The group I traveled with all agreed, the only real reason to plan another trip to Foxwoods is to participate in one of their tournament events. I guess I can say that I've played at Foxwoods now, but I really don't see me going back there again.

So I'm off to Foxwoods tomorrow morning. The plan is to play a boatload of poker for 3 days and then return to Detroit on 11/5, vote...Republican of course, then recover for the rest of the day - a company holiday. I'll try to take some notes on the hands I play poorly or other interesting events and post them for feedback. I'm looking to play a variety of games (stud, limit Omaha8, NL Hold'Em). I'll even play a mixed game if they spread it.

I have an $1100 cash bankroll that I built steadily, consistently, month-by-month, grinding away. I have to admit, I'm a little worried that I might get carried away, thinking I'm a better player than I really am, and blow the whole chunk. For me, I feel much worse after a big loss than I feel good after a big win. The lows are much lower than the highs are high.

That kind of 'reverse' pleasure from poker has me sort of nervous about a trip like this. I want to 'inch' a little closer to the proverbial 'edge' by playing higher limits. I want to experiment with making a $200 raise and seeing how I respond, but I'm just really nervous that a few bad beats will have me back in the hotel, watching TV and licking my wounds.

I guess I should be a wee bit more encouraged by the run I've been on lately. I'm sure most of this hot streak is related to sheer dumb luck, but at some point maybe I can start to assign a small amount of this success to playing decent poker.

In the last 6 months, I've won $3100, I've cashed in 3 of the 8 tournaments I've played, I've won money in 18 of the last 21 cash game sessions, and I've won the last 11 straight cash game sessions.

Ok, like in business, I must now establish an achievable but difficult goal for the weekend. My goal is to turn $1100 into $2200! I'll let you know how it goes.

So I've been playing alot of limit H.O.R.S.E. on PokerStars. The "R" round is, off course, RAZZ. Razz is the 7 card stud game where the lowest hand wins. The betting/ante structure is exactly like Stud. There is only one winner and there is no "qualifer" for low (i.e., 8 or better).

Once you start playing this game, you'll start to appreciate the bizzare difference between this game and stud.

In Stud, you attempt to put people on probable hands by guessing what they might hold, based on betting patterns and calling order, and calculating your chances holding a better hand or drawing out.

In Razz, you know with certainty, through 5th street, the best possible hand an opponent can hold. In some senses, the game is easy. When you are ahead - make your opponents pay to chase - bet and raise when you are ahead.

In other senses this game is very complex - knowing when to chase when you are behind is the key. I think it is a mistake, given the antes and "trapped" money to just adopt a simple approach of 'never chase'. Like most forms of poker, you need to assess the probability of catching cards that will win you the pot vs. the existing pot odds of each street of betting.

I'm having some real problems with the following 2 decsions - I would appreciate any advice.

Situation 1: You are the bringin for $.50 with a K up and a A 5 in the hole. The antes amount to $1.60. It is folded around to a 6 who open/completes to $2. Now you are heads up, facing a $1.50 call into a $2.10 and you are well behind. If you call, you are 'betting' that you'll catch good on 4th street and your opponent will catch bad. Because if you catch bad and your opponent catches good you cannot call a bet on 4th street. I tried to do some math and I just can't figure it out. What do I do? I think the decision to fold is much easier when you hold 2 overcards (your hole cards are A 6 with a K showing and your opponent open/completes with a 5 showing).

Situation 2: You have a fantastic starting hand A,2,4 and get the pot heads up against a 10. On 4th street you catch a J, and your opponent catches an 8. There is $4 in the pot and your opponent bets $2. You call. The pot now has $8. On 5th street you catch an 8 and your opponent catches a 7. Your hand reads A,2,4,J,8. Your opponent's hand reads 10,7. He bets $4 into an $8 pot. Chase? No? You are drawing to the near-nut 8. He has a made 10 and a redraw to a 7. You are getting 3:1 ($4 into a $12 pot). I'm thinking this is a good spot to call (based on pot odds) but I'd like some validation. Good cards for you include catching a 3, 5, 6, 7 combined with him catching a 7, 8, 9, 10, J, K, Q. I think there is a 33% combined probability of you catching good and him catching bad and with 3:1 you are just getting the right price. Then, there is also the chance that you both catch good or you both catch bad (i.e, you catch a 6 and he catches a 6).

Maybe the correct decision is.....just don't play Razz.

I witnessed a couple of decisions at the poker table the other day that I have not been able to assign any logical reason. I racked my puny brain and I was just stumped. Why would any rational, thinking human being make this kind of decision? Here’s the scenario:

It’s $1/$2 NLHE cash game with a $100 max buy-in and a reload rule that states you can only reload once you are totally busted. The table is 9 handed. Seats 1 – 4 are new players to the table. Seats 5-9 have been there for about 3 hours. Most people have between $75 and $150. A couple players have more than $200. Seat 1 is the short stack with $40.

Seat 1 UTG limps for $2, seat 3 raises to $12 – standard raise. Seat 4 (me) raises to $30 with JJ. Fold around back to seat 1 who, with a convincing display of exasperation, tosses all $40 in and says “I’m all in”. Seat 3 folds. I call. Seat 1 tables a K9o. After seeing my hand, he declares, “well, I had to make a move….c’mon King”.

After loosing the hand, he looked somewhat relieved that he was now able to reload back up to the full $100 max.

I though and thought about this. Why did he feel the need to “make a move”? With a raise and a re-raise in front, he had to figure to, best case, have 1 overcard. Why put 40 precious dollars at stake hoping that you have one clean overcard that you might be able to spike and win?

Later that evening, I saw almost the same move by a player in seat 9. He had taken a few bad beats earlier and was clearly frustrated. He threw his last $30 into the pot after an $8 raise and a $25 re-raise. He tabled a 7s5s and slapped his hands together and said “its time to get lucky!”

Then it struck me. I’ve seen this same sort of desperation move as people get short stacked during NLHE tournaments. With the escalating blinds, tournament players need to continuously build their chip stacks if they want any hope of making the money. You’ll see a player suddenly short stacked when the blind levels change. They’ll find themselves a hand they can gamble with to double or triple up and push “all in”. Often they look favorably upon a hand that contains 2 “live cards” which puts them as only a 2:1 dog vs. two overcards - a hand like 7s5s.

I think both of these players may have been afflicted with a disease called “Using No Limit Hold’Em Tournament Mentality at the Cash Game”. It’s no wonder really. The popularity of tournaments is causing loads of players to learn how to player poker by participating in NLHE tournament home games or on the internet. I know a lot of players that will only play NLHE tournaments. Many of the players venture over to the ring game have “cut their teeth” on tournament poker.

My opinion is that both of these player just donked off their remaining chips - using a pretty standard decision making process used in tournaments. You don’t need to “make a move” in the ring game. The blinds never change. Both players had 15x to 20x the big blind which gives them all of the normal options to raise/reraise for value or for steal attempts preflop. The could call preflop and open a pot, post flop, for a pot size bet. Agree?