JJ's Blog

So I think my 2007 poker year has come to an end. I took pretty lengthy break in Sep, Oct, and Nov, but I was able to squeeze 3 games in 3 weekends in Dec, so I'm pretty satisfied.


On the first weekend in Dec, we played a 3 handed $2/$4 limit mixed game and I got schooled to the tune of $125.


The following weekend we played an 8 handed $2/$4 limit mixed game and I got lucky and won it all back - that, and I outplayed Karl in some monster pots.


Then, this last weekend I played at the ever so juicy golf-course game. This game is marked by lots of players with lots of $100 bills that they keep peeling off every time they need to rebuy.


And rebuy they did!

I didn't exactly count, but I'm guessing that within the first hour there was 15 rebuys at our 8 handed table. The rebuy frenzy settled down a little and probably averaged 4 rebuys per hour thereafter. This type of activity, really puts a lot of money at the table and makes the game play really big.


The game was $1/$2 blinds NL Hold'em with a $100 min / $200 max buyin. I had only brought $250 with me to the game, so I needed to get lucky early, or avoid getting unlucky early, or I'd be going home early. I bought in for $200.

The game was pretty loose/aggressive. By loose, I mean there was a whole lot of calling and overcalling of preflop raises. By aggressive, I mean there was a whole lot of aggressive plays at the pots after the flop - mostly as stone cold bluffs.

I decided the best strategy was to play super-tight preflop, but lower my calling/raising standards a little post flop.

I was up to about $350 when I got involved in a big pot. Holding A-4, on a board of A-3-4, I got another player to put his entire $150 stack into the pot on the flop holding A-10....I lost when one of the last two 10s comes on the river. Back to even.

I piddled my stack down to about $130 when I was dealt AA in the SB. A MP player open raises to $20. The player to his left calls. The player to my right (button), raises to $60. I go all in for $130. The player in the SB calls my $130 and leave $150 behind. The original raiser and caller bow out. The button goes all in with his $1200 stack and the Big blind calls - creating a side pot. Button show KK and confirms a label that I had been putting on him as a solid player. The BB shows A-10 and confirms a different label that I had been putting him on. The label rhymes with "ronkey".

I triple up.

Last big hand. I hold QQ when we are 5 handed. I preflop open raise to $20 from UTG. I get 2 callers. The flop comes 5-6-7. I decided to put about another $120 of my $300 stack in on this flop. So I bet pot ($60) on the flop and get one caller. This guy was pretty fishy. He chased, and mostly hit, every draw of the night. I saw this guy call $110 into a $65 pot chasing a flush draw against a short stack...and hit of course - reinforcing his bad play.

I decided that I may just be betting for value by getting my entire stack in on this hand. So, when a 5 comes on the turn giving a board of 5-5-6-7, I bet $120 and get check raised for my last $120.

With a pot of $540, I need to call $120. I very well might be up against 8-8, 9-9, 10-10, J-J. More than likely I was up against A-5, A-6, A-7, or A-8. Unlikely, but I may be up against 6-6 or 7-7.

Given the range, the pot odds 3.5 to 1, and the extra incentive of punishing the same guy who hit a 2 outer on me earlier, I make somewhat of a crying call and say, "I hope you didn't get lucky on me."

Villian shows 8-9 for a flopped straight. I wanted to puke. I didn't show my hand, but I said, "well, I guess I'll need a 5 or a queen".

A queen hits on the river. I hit my 4 outer and rake $650 pot against the guy that earlier hit a 2 outer on me for a $150 pot.

So the big question is-------------->What is the best strategy for playing a small blind (1/2) game, when the average stacks are big (400x - 500x) and the opening preflop raise is usually 7x to 15x - a game that plays much bigger than it should? I guess it really depends if you are deep or not. Comments welcome.

Next post, I'll share my winning secrets to fantasy basketball. It involves trading away top 50 players in exchange for players that you can put up on waivers 2 weeks later.