Just been made an offer I could not refuse, so I have decided to pass it around. You can take on the original poker playing miscreant and try and win a place to a massive tournament which has a $2.5 million prize pool with CD Poker (bonus code: pkrknave).

If you do fancy taking me on in a online game of poker - which is free, then let me know the time and days that suits you best (i.e Sundays between 6pm and 10pm GMT), and I will set up the game and may the best reprobate win!

Sorry but no US citizen, which seems ridiculous since they invented the game!

Contact me: Pokerknave [ @ ] gmail.com

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If there are anyone in the Birmingham area (UK) and was not good enough to make it to the real WSOP 2008 then I am organising a tourney for rubbish players called the Not WSOP 2008. All invited!

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Now it's use is relegated to describing my poker play.  Up and Down, around and around, walk the dog...

Why is it that after a tough losing streak I suddenly hit my outs?  Or get a goofy call or raise when I obviously have the nuts?  Why is it that after I have a nice winning streak I suddenly seem to get sucked out time and again by the calling stations?

The last few months have been one long win streak followed by a short but devastating, tilt filled losing streak where all my winnings go away, followed by a small buy in and another big win streak, followed by a cash out and another brutally devastating tilt and angst filled losing streak, followed by some more buy ins and a modest winning streak.  What the hell is happening?

I talked about patience in my previous post (an eon ago) and I'm wondering how much patience really plays into my success.  Patience works when I have it and my opponent loses it, and when I have a premium hand and my opponent doesn't, AND when my opponent doesn't suck out.

Here are a couple of typical situations.

The Hero (me) : AKs
The Villain       : small pocket pair (7's or lower)

The result when I am patient?  Flop hits the Hero and misses the Villain.
The result when I am impatient? Flop doesn't hit the hero and the Villain takes it down.
The result when I am a fingernail width away from complete tilt meltdown?  Flop hits the Hero and the turn or river spikes the set for the Villain.

Or does it?

Last night I had a really good session, I played a few sng's and finished in the money in most of them.  The two that I didn't finish in the money, I got sucked out MAJOR BIG TIME.  Here are the two hands that knocked me out.

Both hands were against very loose aggressive players, their chip stacks fluctuated wildly the entire time I was at the table with them.  Making bluff raises, making position moves and simply making really bad calls on re-raises that hit.  This is what I remembered about their play.  They called with inferior hands and hit, a lot.  Two things that bothered me about this, first that they were so loose with their calls and raises that I could not get a handle on what they are holding at any given time.  The second is that they were hitting so frequently that they had HUGE chip stacks that they were able to wield effectively like a bludgeon.  Can't raise with a mid pocket pair, Throw away A-10 or lower.  QJ almost unplayable, forget about low suited connectors.  Both games had this guy at the table.  No, he waqsn't actually the "same" player, but they played almost identical games.  Very loose and almost suicidally aggressive.

So I waited, I waited until a situation called for making a big strong play to take away a big chunk of those bludgeoning chips.

Here is the first situation.

I'm in early position, second from the button.  I find pocket rockets (why do all bad beat stories start off with pocket rockets?) so I decide I will try to induce a bluff by the (P)sycho (A)ggressive (N)imrod who has all the chips at the table.  I get another limper and then the expected raise by PAN.  There are 5 or 6 of us left at this point and I am either second or a close third in ship count at this point.  PAN has me covered but if I win the hand I will cripple him down to last chip position.  The blind levels are $100-$200 with a $25.00 ante.  I have roughly 3000 in Chips, PAN has a little more than 4000.  There is around 450 or so in the pot from the blinds, another $200 from me, and another $200 from the limper to my left, for a grand total of around $850.  PAN raises another $600. for a total of about 1450 (just about what we each started with.)  I decide that the pot is good enough and I don't want to play against two people so I do the all in re-raise.  I really just want to win the pot right there, I don't mind a call from either the limper or PAN, but I just want the money that is already in the pot.  Limper followed my script with a fold, but PAN does not oblige.  He calls my all in with J 10 suited.  And no he did not hit a runner runner flush to win the pot.

Flop comes Q-10-9.  He picked up an open ended straight draw with the pair of tens.  Turn comes a rag, and I'm thinking, don't hit the freaking straight on the river.  The river obliges by spiking a 10.  He made three of a kind on the river to knock me out fifth or sixth.  And I'm trying to figure out why he would call an obvious over pair or at worst two over cards to his J 10.

Very next game I find myself in an almost identical situation.  This time however I am the small blind.  Again there are about 5-6 people left in the tourney, Blinds are at 100-200 with no ante, I am third or fourth in chips to PAN2 (The Return of PAN!  Once is never enough.)   I have about 2200 in chips, PAN2 has about 3100.  But in the last few hands his stack went from 5000+ to to about 850 back to it's current 3200 or so.  I had a feeling he would not back down to any hyper aggression so again I wanted a really premium hand to knock him on his arse.  And no sooner than I ask am I dealt AKo.  I would have preferred aces or kings (queens or jacks would have sufficed too I think) but Big Slick should work against the weak ass junk that he has been playing (and hitting I have to admit) with.  So there is an early position limper, and then a raise from PAN2, folds to me in the small blind where I go all in.  Limper folds and Pan calls with the monster of all monsters 10-9s!  I am feeling really good especially when an  Ace AND a 10 hit the flop.  No way another 10 hits again!  I believe the board even paired up (8's I think, but I'm not sure) so I'm not worried that he will hit a 9 for 2 pair.  When the lucky, donkey hits a third 10 on the river.  Two freaking times in a row I have top pair and I get called all in with a weak 10 and the donks make trips to knock me out.  TWO FREAKING TIMES IN A ROW.

So I got have a couple of cigarettes and play another game and I notice that I am not playing against the opponents at the new table, I am still playing against PAN and PAN2.  Mind you neither of these two numbnutz are sitting at the new table, but I am constantly looking to make raises against the first person I see make a questionable call with a weak assed hand.  And I stop myself.  I actually stopped a tilt from getting way out of control.  Or did I?  I did stop making super hyper aggressive lead plays, but I did make a very questionable call of an all in by the short stack at the table when I was comfortably in second chip position out of 4.  I'm in the small blind, and I just took a huge stack off the current short stack by calling an all in with AQ to his pocket 9's.  I hit the queen and he didn't improve and he was close to the felt.  He goes all in a few times and survives to bring his stack back up to above 1k, when we find the fateful hand.  First off this guy is a good player, I have played against him before and he is no slouch, I looked up his stats and they confirmed what I figured out by playing against him.  He knows how to play well.

So He raises all in, and the button folds and I find myself in the small blind with pocket 7's.  I think I decided that I was going to raise with these if it folded to me when this guy went all in.  I didn't even think, I simply called, I reacted.  I didn't give it a second thought, I told myself I have the best hand right now, and if he sucks out he sucks out.  Why did I think I had the best hand?  Not entirely sure, because he was short stacked and it smelled of a desperation play.  any face card, any ace, got to make a stand before i get blinded out.  In that situation I have to think that my pocket pair is good.  So I call without hesitation.  Big blind quickly gets out of the way and folds.  So Mr Premier Good Player turns over pocket Jacks.  JJ -vs- 77.  Not looking too good for me I must say.  And then the flop comes out and I am thinking can it get worse without him hitting a jack?  10 -9 - Q.  He picks up an up and down straight draw in addition to having the over pair.  Well fate didn't wait until the river to add drama to this one, the turn brought me my miracle 7 and an innocuous 10 on the river giving me a boat and the rest of his chips.

So what gives?  I think I'm making the right play but it turns out to be the wrong play but I suck out and win.  Is that other player writing a blog about the donkey who knocked him out with an improved under pair against his over pair like I was earlier?  Was it a good play on my part?  It turns out that I ended up winning this tournament.  But if that 7 doesn't hit, I'm very easily looking at being knocked out of the money.  So what the fuck?  Do you have to play "bad" to win the tournament?  When I play with "patience" like I was espousing in the previous post, I often finish in the money, but rarely win it all, when I play like this, I find that when I do make it to the money I win it or finish third.  All or almost nothing.  When I play "safe" (i.e. with patience) I'll finish 2nd or 3rd more often than not.  I looked at some other hand histories of tournaments that I had won. I found a lot more questionable calls on my part than I remembered when I won the damn thing.  In one I was chip leader with 4 or 5 remaining and it is folded to me in the big blind, and I find A-3s (clubs.)  The small stack is in the big blind.  I figure my ace is good since it is folded to me, and since it is suited it is even more of a reason to raise and bully the small stack.  Well he re-raises all in and I quickly call only to find a small pocket pair.  I won the hand in the worst and cheapest way that a small pocket pair can be beaten.  I counterfeited his pair.  The flop comes with an over pair to his pair and the river brings the second over pair to his.  So my Ace out kicked him for two pair.  I didn't give that hand a lot of thought after the fact.  But why did I think that my A-3 was so good?  What if he had an Ace with a better kicker?  Why didn't I even consider the possibility of him having a pocket pair?  TWO over cards are almost equal against an under pocket pair, not ONE over card,  Why did I assume I had the best hand without analyzing the situation, and why did I forget about it so quickly after winning the damn thing?  After all, I was just randomly going through my tournament win hand histories to remember that hand.  At the time of that win, I walked away from that game pleased with my play and result, but after further review found a big blunder that could have cost me the game.  In fact it is that very blunder that cost me lots of games in my losing streak.  Over valuing hands that I had no business over valuing.  That time it didn't cost me and it actually propelled me to the win.  Does a win like that cause you to change how you play the next time?  More loose, take more chances, make more plays (i.e bluff) etc...?  Is that why I play with more patience after a losing session?  Back to the basics?  If back to the basics works so well then why does it seem that I change my style after a winning streak?  I know that you have to adjust your style of play to the opponents, but you have to start somewhere, right? 

So what the hell gives with my game?  I am a lot better than I was when I first started playing a few years ago.  I'm playing for bigger stakes and taking more money home than I did in the past.  I've had two very successful months playing, and all of a sudden I start chasing and making a lot of plays, and playing at higher stakes than I should be, and I got spanked.  What the freaking fuck is going on with my game?  I want to ask where my game went but now I'm wondering if I ever had it at all.  I thought I was recognizing when I make a bad play and get rewarded, but now I am not sure.  How quickly confidence turns to overconfidence turns to abject uncertainty.  Got to keep that yo-yo from dancing in my head.

No more chasing for me.  No I will chase the occasional flush or straight draw, I won't chase the higher stake game to make up for a bad session.  If I win this one game at this higher level, I'll cover my losses, and then when that goes south, It becomes, well if I win this one, then I can lessen my losses...  That's where the tilting causes the worst chasing, not when the cards fall, but what table I chase them at.  I'm still a little fish in a little pond, and I have to remember that when this game I love comes so easy.  So no more big ponds for a while.  No more chasing those barracuda's when I should be frying the pan fish.  Each pond has them, fish.  I just have to stop being one of them. 

If only it were that easy.

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Patience is not my forte.  And it has been killing me at the poker tables.

I'm not sure when exactly it happened, but my game has gone all over the place the last few months.  I think it happened when I started to play at the cash tables in addition to my usual sit and go tables.  The dynamic at a $20 or $30 or $50 or even (gasp) $100 dollar SnG is much different than at a $.25 - $.50 or $.50 - $100 NL cash game.  Playing in the cahs games, I have watched guys go all in with second or third pair with a board that has straight and flush possibilities only to be called by someone with nothing better than Ace high that it affected my game and not in a good way.  I found myself chasing and calling when I should be folding or raising.  I inevitably find myself with a pair of Queens and having to decide pre-flop whether the joker who called an all in with bottom pair a couple of hands ago is tilting when he re-raises me 4 times my raise.  Do I Call or Raise or Fold?  I raise all in and find that this time he has pocket Aces.  This chasing and overplaying has unhinged my game to the point that I found myself playing A-2 off suit in early position for a raise early in a SnG tournament.  Needless to say, I didn't make the money very often with this strategy.  When I play well in a SnG is when I wait for my opportunities and not try to outplay my opponents or overplay my hands.  Pushing a flush draw or open ended straight draw is a good way to bust out early in a tournament, and the loose way people were playing in the cash games, got me to chase those draws and the infrequent catches I got in playing that way, further reinforced this gamble first mentality.  My SnG game has unfortunately suffered as a result.

So I decided to give myself one last chance at getting on track.  I loaded up some money and decided to play some SnG's when I had the time to sit and play.  At least a couple hours uninterrupted.  So I decided to rip some MP3's while playing to clear the pile of CD's from my desk.  My strategy?  Be Patient.  Be very very patient.  I wouldn't play anything but premium hands in early position and I wouldn't call re-raises with anything but a super premium hand in any position.  I only bet or bluffed at a pot if I felt there was real weakness or disinterest by the other players and I wasn't afraid to drop if I didn't think I had the best hand.  I would push people out when I made my hand and there may have been an attractive draw on the board.   I really paid attention to my position and when I would bluff or semi-bluff and got raised or re-raised, I would drop the hand and not chase.

I found myself making the money or bubbling out with a bad beat if I was short stacked.  My game was coming back to me.  I dropped A-10 in front of a raise, I would not call a re-raise with A-J, I wouldn't lose all my chips with Top pair and top kicker.  I was back.  I played what was probably my best game of poker in this run.  I stepped up to a bigger stake than I normally play and played my patient passive style and jumped in when I had good hands and found myself in the final 4, one out of the money.  I played very selective but aggressive, I was taking advantage of the fact that whenever I did show my hand it was always strong, and I started to raise with more frequency and I loosened my starting hand requirements in the short handed play.  I doubled up against one guy and then he got knocked out by the chip leader and it was down to 3 all in the money.  And I decided I was not going to be simply satisfied with finishing in the money, I wanted to win this one.  So I continued my very selective play.  I raised when I had good hands, but I didn't call raises with anything but super premium hands and I re-raised with selective hands as well.  It was a long time before anyone tried to show down against me.

The chip leader and I finally whittled the third guys chips and it was down to 2.  He had about a 2-1 chip lead over me but that didn't phase me.  He seemed to be a guy not used to playing in the higher stakes and was easily bullied off of hands.  He made a lot of minimum raises and would fold to re-raises or bets after the flop.  I won some chips and got to about even in chips and then lost a big hand but not all of my chips.  I had A 8 and I limped in form the button.  He raised me and I called.  The flop comes A high with two low cards and he bets into me.  I'm worried that he has a better kicker than I do, but i don't want to release the hand so I call.  I should have raised and then folded to a re-raise or maybe win the hand right there.  Calling was the wrong play I think.  Next card comes and it is a Jack.  This time he checks, and I am no convinced he has at least two pair, so I check behind him.  The river comes and it pairs the board (I think threes) and he makes a pot sized bet or there abouts and I am trying to figure out if what the hell is going on.  I decide that he has a better two pair than I do, and fold.  He was kind enough to inform me that he had pocket Jacks and hit a set on the turn and a boat on the river.  I was down to about the same 2-1 in ships like when we started heads up and I went back to work on winning small pots and not trying to get into too many show downs. 

I manged to get almost even in chips again, and I find myself with A-Q he raises and I decide that I this is a good enough hand to raise all in.  I don't expect a call in this situation as his standard response is to fold, but he calls and turns over A 8.  He doesn't improve and I win the hand and knock him out.  I forget exactly I think either the Queen or an Ace hit on the board.  He chats that he was getting impatient and that this was the toughest game he ever played in.  I thanked him and said he was playing tough as well, etc...  It was a nice feeling to walk away in first place after sticking to my guns and playing patient.  There were a couple of times where I did get a little lucky in show down situations, for instance, over cards hitting when the opponent had an under pair etc... but overall I didn't jeopardize my stack when I had the worst of it, and I was able to win a lot of showdowns by playing my good hands aggressively and folding my weaker hands before it got crazy.

The problem is when I go on runs like this, is I find myself playing more hands than I should.  Usually because I was rewarded for such play by in a previous game.  When you make it to the money round of a SnG you are playing more hands than when you were at the beginning of the SnG. So after finishing in the money and starting another tourney, you are in that zone when you do raise with Ace high, because you probably have the best hand against one opponent.  Against nine others, that Ace high is garbage.  So either don't play right away or be better about "down shifting" and playing patient.  We'll see how it goes the next time I play.  Whenever that is.

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Firstsngwin

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I played in a couple of poker games a week or so ago and had a couple of hands in early position that had drastically different results.  The first was in a live game I regularly play in with some friends, the second was in a Turbo NL SnG on Poker Stars.  In both hands I had a medium to small pocket pair and I was first to act.  First the good hand.

I had pocket fives and limped in UTG.  The blinds were at 75-150 and I had a little more than what we started with.  There were two more callers after me, when it gets raised to 600.  Folds back to me, and I call.  The other limpers both fold.  I was very suspicious of the raise, the guy who raised is a really good player.  Based on what I have seen him do in the past, I got a vibe that he was playing position and wanted to win the pot uncontested pre-flop (which he would have done had I folded...)  The flop comes K 6 7 rainbow.  I didn't hit my set and I had runner runner straight possibilities and not a lot else.  The king on the flop also worried me, so I decided to check.  He immediately bets another 600.  I thought about it and almost folded when found myself pushing all of my chips in and announcing  unnecessarily, "All in."

That slowed him down and he thought about it for a while and reluctantly mucked his cards with a "Good Bet."  Probably not the text book way to play low pocket pairs in early position especially after calling a raise and not hitting my set. But I got a feeling that he wasn't that strong and I felt I could push him off the hand with the check raise.  The cards didn't matter, it was just the way the hand played out.  Something about his play screamed "he is playing position and will let the hand go if you go all in."  So I did, and now as I write about it, I wonder if I really did pick up on some kind of tell, or if I am rationalizing the wacky play on my part...

In any event, I made it to the money and finished third out of 11 players.

The other story ended up worse for me.  The first hand of the 1 table turbo sit and go tourney started with my getting pocket nines.  I usually don't like to play turbo SnG's because they tend to be a lot looser at the start and I don't find myself pressured to make a play later in the tourney when I have less than average chips.  Turbo SnG's are an action junkies dream, because a lot of people play any two cards and somehow manage to hit a lot.

Anyway, I get dealt pocket nines and I raise about 4 times the blind, I get two callers; the first is  immediately to my left and the button is the second.  The flop comes 5 4 4.  I bet the pot figuring that no one hit and I want to take it down now.  Both guys call.  Now around half my stack is in the pot.  We started with 1500 in chips.  Blinds start at 10-20.  I bumped it to 120, got two callers so there is around 390 in the pot including the blinds pre flop.  After the flop there is over 1500 in the pot.  The turn brings a five and I slow down, I check and it checks around.  Now I'm thinking that these two guys have over cards and are simply looking to hit.  A 7 comes on the river and I go all in figuring (incorrectly) that I have the best hand.  First guy folds, and the button of course calls and turns over a 3 4 off suit for the full house.

I let out a stream of words that I won't repeat here and now.  I was disappointed that my raise did not discourage this guy from calling with a pretty weak hand.  And more disappointed that I would not let myself believe that one of them hit either the 4 or 5.  I was honestly expecting him to turn over an A J expecting he would get a split pot.  I was wrong!

I thought about that hand a few times after that.  Was he a donkey?  Was he a shark?  Was that a good or bad play?  Playing in the turbo games is a little different than a normal SnG because the blinds go up so much faster.  I rarely successfully adjust my play to account for the wild variances in starting hands played.  3-4 has to hit rather specifically to bust out a hand worthy of raising pre flop.  Why play it?

I looked up this guys stats on an online poker stats DB called sharkscope and it turns out that he is a very solid player; at least according to his stats.  So I am trying to think why would he call the opening raise with a 3 4 on the button?  One reason to make that call is that if you hit with that hand, it is unlikely that you are going to be beat by a better starting hand.  Losing a little less than 10% of your chips is possible to overcome during the course of the game, when your potentially to double up is good if you hit your hand.  The key part to that is the "if."  He was in position so if he misses the flop he can drop, but that is a lot of money to risk.  Or is it?  How important is that 10% in a turbo game where the betting is much looser than in a regular SnG?  These are probably questions I should have been asking myself before I lost all my chips to him, but... 

Playing in early position is always an adventure.  Familiarity with my opponent helped me one time, and a bullheaded refusal to accept reality knocked me back a peg the other time.  I still like to try different stuff out from time to time, I feel like my game has gotten a little formulaic and predictable so I want to do things I don't normally do (like play a small pocket pair in early position for a raise...)  I'll let you know if I end up playing a 3 4 off suit for a raise and a call on the button and how I do after that.  My guess is that it will play out, call - flop - fold, but you never know...

I'm still trying to figure out that play.  Man, a 3-4.  Too bad a nine didn't come on the river, it could have been the lesson of "plays you don't want to make on the Button..."

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With the Bears sucking like a giant hoover, I find my attention has drifted back to poker.  I haven't played in a while and it was nice to scratch that itch even though the results were less than desirable.  I played with some friends and had some nice moments but didn't finish in the money in our tournament.  We played some cash afterwards and I was seriously out of touch and watched more money slip away.  Not a good night for my bankroll, but it was fun to get together and see the poker gang again.

Once the poker bug is indulged it's hard to turn back so I threw some money up on a site and played some low-mid level sit and go's.  I had some immediate success that slowly faded, so I wanted to change my luck and played in a multi-table tourney.  That proved to be more profitable.  I finished 3rd in the first one I played and 7th in the other.  I made both final tables and was close to the felt in both games.  Some timely cards and some timely plays got me enough chips to make the final tables and throw some muscle around before finally falling with a couple of bad decisions.  But I'll get to that later.

I had pocket queens under the gun and decided to do what I usually don't do, I limped in rather than raising.  I had just lost a sizable portion of my chips on a pseudo bad beat and I wanted to trap with rather than protect my hand in order to get those chips back.  Limping in early position usually is a red flag that the person has a monster hand.  The amount of times that people actually raise an early position limper seems to be getting more infrequent (at least on the site and levels that I've been playing) so this tactic can be dangerous by allowing people to stay in the hand cheap.  But fortunately I got a raiser three seats from the button and everybody folds to me.  My normal play here is to re-raise about 3 times his bet, but like I said, I was going to play this hand differently, so I just called.

Flop comes Q 8 A suits irrelevant.  My initial thought wasn't "Great I flopped a set!" it was a sarcastic, "Wouldn't that just be great if he had Aces to bust me out with a higher set.  Maybe I should have re-raised him pre-flop..."  But I shoved that thought from my mind and checked.  He bet about a third of the pot.  I decided to raise here to see where he stood rather than call like I did pre-flop.  So I raised to the amount currently in the pot including his bet.  He immediately re-raises me the amount of my raise.  I'm trying to decide if he just has one ace or maybe two pair, but i figure with as much money as there is in the pot, I might as well go all in.  The amount of money in the pot is too great and if he had the Aces I was worried about, well then good for him, so I re-raise all in.  He calls.  He then proceeds to show 9 8 off suit.  He bet, and re-raised and called an all in with bottom pair, weak kicker and not a lot of draw potential.  He didn't hit a miracle draw and I doubled through him.  After the hand, he chats, "Well Played." 

Actually he typed "wp" which I am assuming is short hand chat for "Well Played."  And I am thinking to myself, I guess it was since I doubled up, but was it really well played on my part or a "poor play" on his part?  His play was saying, "I can only beat a bluff, but I'm calling anyway."  It is good to have a monster hand when your opponent thinks you are bluffing.  This is the kind of thing that happens when you raise with a weak hand and get called.  It was nice to see someone else getting caught with their hand in the "overplaying my hand" cookie jar. Because I hate it when I do that and get burned.  It was nice to be on the other end of that flame this time.

The two hands that knocked me out of each tourney were stupid decisions in calling a raise.  In the first tourney where I finished third out of 180, I was under the gun, in three way action and I have A 7 o.  My initial thought is I have the best hand and I want to protect it.  I raise 4 times the blinds and get re-raised.  In a 9 or 10 handed table this is an easy lay down.  3 handed, I am thinking he has King or Queen high as it is less likely that another Ace has hit one of the players.  Without much thought to how this guy has been playing I raise all in and immediately get called with an A Q s.  Needles to say I didn't improve and he knocked me out, just about doubling his stack I had around 45k and he had around 55k.  It bothered me that I got knocked out because I have such horrible luck playing an Ace with a medium to weak kicker late in tournaments.  I had enough chips that I could have folded and lived to fight another day, but I couldn't get past thinking that i had the best hand.

The hand that knocked me out of the other tourney 7th was even more lame on my part.  I'm the small stack at the table just having lost a huge stack calling an all in by someone with less chips than me.  I had a K J diamonds, she had A J o.  She took about two thirds of my stack.  SO I find myself  in the big blind with a 10 3 of diamonds.  The big stack of the tournament is immediately to my right in the small blind.  It's folded to him and he raises 1 and a half the blind and I immediately call thinking he is on a steal.  The flop comes 10 6 6 suits irrelevant.  He checks and I immediately go all in hitting my 10.  He has A K o and the turn of course brings a K.  I don't hit the miracle 10 on the river so I go out 7th.  this was another case of me making a rash judgment that I couldn't let go to make that pre-flop call.  I was definitely short stacked, but calling even a modest raise with a weak hand like that to "defend my blind" knocked me out.  Had I folded the blind preflop I might have somehow held on for a place or two, I would have had more prize money. 

That being said I was extremely happy with the results of the tourney.  I finished, 4th out of 180 and 7th out of 180 two nights in a row.  Well played indeed.

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"But you know evil is an exact science
Being carefully correctly wrong"
    Nemesis - by Shriekback, from their Oil and Gold album

Forgive me, but I just had to get a shriekback quote in sometime...

So I went to a charity poker game sponsored by Chicago Charitable Games and had a blast.  I played in what amounted to a 40 dollar multi table tourney.  I finished 2nd out of about 45 people and had some interesting hands against one particular opponent at our table.  I went with a pal of mine as it was the theater group that she works for that was sponsoring or hosting the event. 

The tourney started off like most of these do, with a raise from early position and a bunch of callers.  I didn't have a hand so I folded as I am wont to do early in a tournament like this.  A big guy in a nice Cubs jersey and diamond studded earrings seated 3 to my left calls as well.  The flop comes with a flush draw and the original raiser makes a big bet, everyone folds except the Cubs fan who thinks about it for a while and then calls.  The turn brings the flush card and we get 2 checks.  The river brings a blank and the original bettor makes a decent sized bet and is called by Mr Cub with a Jack high flush.   The original raiser of course turns over pocket aces.  The original raiser is a youngish kid, maybe a year or two out of High School and he looks like he just took a shot in the gut.  I'm not sure if he is going to puke or cry.  Perhaps both.  I decide I need to pay attention to Mr Cub and it is a good thing as he is to become my Nemesis.

A couple hands later I am first in and I have pocket 5's.  I decide to limp in and I am followed by a raise and a re-raise and I am thinking that this tourney is going to be something akin to the showdown at the OK coral.  The re-raiser also lost a sizable portion of his stack to Mr Cub and he goes all in.  I think about calling for a few seconds, but I decide I don't want to be short stacked so early, so I surrender the bet and wait to see what Mr. Cub does.  He of course calls.  Mr. Cub has something along the lines of Q 4 and the all in guy has A J.  All in guy wins the pot and much of the chips he previously lost to Mr Cub.  I am kicking myself for folding, because of course, a five fell on the flop and I would have flopped a set and taken them both out.  Instead I hear the cards mocking my caution from the muck.  I think folding was the right play to make (at least that is what I tell myself as I still hear those cards heckling me for the fold.)

There is a lot more of this nonsense going on by Mr Cub and he starts to build a bunch of chips.  By nonsense, I mean making position plays or calls with really off the wall hands, but he is raking his far share of pots.  But he is losing his fair share as well.  His stack is rising and falling like the tides, but much much faster.  He was the chip leader for the tourney and then in a matter of minutes, close to the felt.  A little while later with the blinds at 50-100 I find big slick and first to act.  So I raise to 500.  Mr Cub re-raises me and a guy wearing a Cardinals shirt in the big blind goes all in.  At this point I have both of them covered so I decide to raise all in and Mr Cub says well he has to call now.  He does and turns over 6 7 off suit.  The other guy turns over big slick as do I.  Wouldn't you know Mr Cub flops a straight and seriously cripples my stack.  I'm left with about 1200 of the original 4000 buy in and I realize now that Mr. Cub is in fact my Nemesis.

We have a break so I go have a smoke and commiserate with my friend about the hand that knocked me around.  She is doing pretty well, holding her own with a stack bigger than she started.  She says something about Big Slick and how it never works for her, in sympathy to my plight I think. 

After the break I find myself short stacked and trying to find a way to build it back up.  I have 10 9 of diamonds in the small blind.  There are 3 limpers and I decide that I probably will make a stand with this hand as I have around 1000 in chips left, but instead of going all in now, I decide to just call and see what happens.  The big blind checks behind my call so there are 5 players.  The flop comes and I have an open ended straight draw, a flush draw and a straight flush draw.  I decide to check.  It checks around.  The turn comes and I complete my straight and now there are two flush draws on the board, both red.  I still have both the flush and straight flush draws as well.  I decide to check raise but everyone checks behind me.  The river brings another red card, but not the diamond for my flush, I tell myself that it was my own fault not betting the straight with 2 flush draws on the table, so I make the play I should have made on the turn and go all in.  Much to my surprise and fear I get 2 callers but my straight is good so I almost quadruple up.  I now have some chips to work with and work with them I do.

Enter the Nemesis.  I find myself with pocket tens and I raise 3.5 times the blind one off the button.  My nemesis looks at me and asks how many chips I have and raises me all in.  I quickly call and he turns over A 9 off suit.  A nine hits the board but a ten comes for my set and I double up and seriously cripple his stack.  I now have more than 8000 in chips and my nemesis has around 6000.  Hmmm, who is the Nemesis now?

At this point I am feeling really good, we are down to 2 tables from the original 4 and I am about average in chips.  I haven't had to move from my table and I am feeling like I have a sense of the players around me.  There is a deaf lady sitting next to me who is very friendly and makes some basic plays, like continuation bets and not raising as much when she has a strong hand.  I saw her raise the minimum with with pocket aces and once with pocket queens, she tended to raise larger amounts more with weaker hands like A 9 or smaller pairs.  My nemesis likes to make calls with hands that bust over cards and has been moderately successful with it, he plays his good hands strong and likes to make raises in position with a lot of limpers.  So I find myself in late position with A J o.  The first 2 players limp in after the blinds and it is folded to me.  I'm not sure how to play this hand.  I am fairly confident that if I raise here I'll only be called with a better hand and the 2 limpers seem really fishy.  A slow play from one of them seems likely.  So I decide to just call.  My Nemesis looks around like what is going on and raises it up to about 1.5 - 2 times the pot, I forget the exact amount.  A young frat boy, suburbanite looking kid with frosted blond hair and sunglass who is sitting in the small blind and very short stacked starts counting his chips and talking about how he has to call because of all of the money in the pot and pot odds and all that.  So he goes all in short.  Big Blind folds quickly and the original limper thinks about it and folds, then the second limper thinks about it and folds and now I am thinking, what is going on here?  The two people I was worried about folded.  My Nemesis did his typical raise from position in a pot of limpers and I wasn't' worried about frat boy as he was basically calling with any two cards.  All I had to do was have a better hand than nemesis and I was in good shape, so I went all in.  He of course had to call since so much money was in the put and he turns over J 6 o.  Frat boy turns over 6 5 o and I, of course, turn over my A J o.  Much talking about outs and percentages is spoken as the dealer flops.  Nemesis says, "Show me what 8% looks like."  I'm laughing out loud now, wondering if he really has only an 8% chance to win.  Frat boy hits his 5 on the flop and has a straight draw, but I hit my Ace on the turn and complete a 2 for 1 special on the knock outs.

The final table eventually made it's way to me and my friend, Rebar (her nickname), makes her way to the final table as well.  I ended up knocking her out 7th.  Well actually me and another guy, we'll call him The Elder Gentleman, as he was decidedly white haired and well that is what Rebar referred to him afterwards.  I raised with big slick he moves all in after me, Rebar moves all in from the small blind and I call with AK diamonds.  Elder Gentleman has AK o and Rebar has KJ o.  Not looking good for my friend Rebar, but I ask you, what the hell are you doing going all in with KJ o with a raise and a re-raise in front of you?  Live to fight another day!  Flop comes with 2 diamonds, Jack hits on the river giving Rebar the lead, only to have an Ace come on the river.  I was so sure that a diamond was going to hit that I was momentarily not sure what actually happened.  Old Dude (my nickname for him, though I never spoke it aloud...) and I split Rebar's chips and she finished 7th, 2 from the money.

The guy who ended up winning the tournament (i.e knocking me out second) really played well.  He joined my table near the end of the tournament and something about his demeanor made me pay attention to his game.  He really did a good job of mixing up his play.  He limped in and raised without any discernible pattern.  He would limp in from the small blind with monster hands as well as mediocre hands.  It was really hard to get a grip on what he was doing.  I tended to be more cautious and play fewer hands, he played more hands and his chip stack fluctuated as a result.  In a silly move as chip leader (yeah, I really was at one point chip leader of the entire tournament!) I moved all in with pocket 2's and he called form the small blind with pocket Jacks.  I don't like playing pocket 2's in general because any card can pair up and beat you and there are only 2 cards that can come to improve your hand, so I generally throw that hand away as useless.  This time I figured as ship leader I could bully my way around and if I got called by some desperation move, I would still be ahead.  Well he called, and he hit a set on the turn.  My chips really helped him a lot.

I was pretty quiet for most of the rest of the game, I won some pots and made it to the final 3.  As the blinds started to increase at a maddening pace chips kept flying around the table.  We were all pretty even with chips, and finally the third place finisher was knocked out (by the eventual winner) which relieved me greatly as I was really hemorrhaging chips at this point.  I won a couple of blinds, lost a few more and had to call an all in with something like J 6 as the blinds just went up and I had only enough for 3 more hands.  I didn't improve and he beat me with an over card, Queen I think, though to be honest I don't remember exactly.

I was pretty pumped with finishing 2nd, so Rebar and I went to eat before we played some more.  We went to Benihana for some good eats..  (For those who don't know what that is, it is a Japanese restaurant where the chef prepares food at your table  with flair and style and very fast and skillful knife work...)  We went back and played in a 25 dollar sit and go tourney, I got knocked out early (I think I finished 7th out of 10) but Rebar made some plays and totally dominated the play after I was gone.  She finished first and knocked out 2 guys at once.  It was a classic version of the guys not respecting the lady at the table.  I was really pumped for her.  During dinner I was teasing her that I finished second in the big tourney we played in.  I would raise my 2 fingers and sort of wave them in front of her, kind of a not so subtle reminder that I finished second.  I did that once more after she won that sit and go, and she smiled and said she had one for me two, and flipped me the bird with a brilliant smile behind it.  "I finished one and you finished two," she sang as she waved the bird in front of me.  I've known Rebar since High School and when we get together, we just ooze class.  ;-)

I had a blast playing, and I played well.  I didn't tilt when I got sucked out by my Nemesis early.  I kept my strategy of being patient and picking my spots.   I got lucky cards at times and took advantage of those spots and made some really good calls and raises other times.  I did make some bad plays but I kept them to a minimum.  It would have been nice to finish first and I had a chance, but I have no complaints, I played a really solid game.  I was really happy that I really felt good playing against live players for a change.  I felt that my online play really helped me in reading opponents in two ways, first is betting patterns, the second is recognizing situations.  I was playing against complete strangers and feeling like I could get good reads on them.  I was making tough decisions that mostly worked out, while limiting bad play on my part.  This is a huge boost of confidence.

I recommend going to these charitable game places to play some poker.  I didn't' hit the cash games, but it looked like there were some really good players as well as some live ones.  There were certainly some live ones at the tournament tables, and it was really nice to not be one of them.  I'll probably head out again in another month or so.

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I have had the displeasure of being in a bad position against the chip leader on a number of single table sit and go tournaments the past couple of weeks.  How it manifests itself is I find myself anywhere from second to fourth in chip position with 5 or 6 players left.  The blinds are increasing and being able to steal a couple of extra blinds really starts to pay off.  So while I see the benefit of being aggressive, I need to balance that urge with the knowledge that I don't want to foolishly risk chips and get blinded out just out of the money.  Let's look at a situation like this.  I am Fourth in chips and have about 2300 in chips.  The chip leader has around 4300, number 2 has around 3200, number 3 has a little more than me say 2700 and the short stack has around 1000.  (does that add up right if we all started with 1500 in chips?)  Anyway.  When I am in the big blind, the chip leader is on the button.  The short stack is immediately to my left and the guy third in chips is to my right.  The blinds are at 75/15 and every time I am in the Big Blind, everyone folds to the Chip leader and he raises 3-4 times the blinds.  I look at a hand like Q 3 o and decide to fold.  Next time around the same situation happens and I look at something like 4 8 o and fold again.  I'm down under 2000 in chips and he does it again and I fold, again.  I am able to steal a blind or two to hover at 2000 and the next time around he does it AGAIN.  It seems like he is just simply stealing my blinds, and I am surrendering them without so much as a fight.  So what do I do?

I've been in this situation a few times before and when I decided to take a stand and re-raise all in I found myself getting called with better hands.  Is it possible that this guy has a better hand than me every time he raises in that situation?  Or with a hand good enough to call a re-raise?  Probably not, but when do you know when he does have a monster hand and take down the pot?  I was getting really frustrated and I reasoned that if I didn't make a stand I would bleed too many chips to this guy and fall too far in chip position.  He was not a very good player and got his chip stack by making bad calls and being rewarded with very favorable flops.  Now he was being a bully and targeting me.

In this particular situation, I went with my gut and picked a few spots where I had a decent enough hand to make a stand against the crap he was likely raising with.  Any pair regardless of how small, any Ace, King or Queen, any suited connector and decent gapped connectors.  If he had a decent hand and called, I would likely have live cards, and possibly have a better hand.  It became apparent that he was on the steal EVERY time I was in the Big Blind, so I re-raised him all in a couple of times in a row.  He folded every time.  Well, not every time, he called once where I had A 8 s and he had A 6 s and he ended up losing and doubling me up.  He slowed down against me after that for a while, but that respite didn't last long and there he was raising me again.  My nemesis and I ended up the final 2 at the table and I knocked him out by hitting my draw.  I raised all in on a flush draw after the flop and he called with top pair; I was not expecting a call.  The flush card came on the river.  So after all that nonsense it came down to a coin flip.

My luck at stopping the bullies has been pretty mixed.  It worked last time, but man did he get under my skin.  My tight image at that table and his obvious attempt at stealing the blinds made it easier to counter.  But it always gives me pause to go all in because even bullies can get dealt pocket Ace's.

I came up a couple things to consider when dealing with a bully:

Why is he targeting my chips?
basically having an idea of why you are being targeted will give a lot of clues as to what you can do to counter it.  There are a lot of reasons he could be "picking on" me.  Things like a personal vendetta, chip stack size, table position etc...

What is my chip size in comparison to the bully as well as the rest of the table?
How many chips I have can help dictate what I can do and to whom I can do it.

What is my table image?
This is really important in figuring out whether or not I want a call or not for a particular play or bet.

How loose or tight are the other players at the table?
This helps me predict how they will react to my action against them.

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I stumbled across a link of the Barney Frank hearing on on-line gambling.  It's a little over 2 hours long but it is a fascinating watch and I urge you to watch it. 

I tend to fall on the side of Mr Frank on this issue, and I loved his referencing John Stuart Mill's essay "On Liberty."  Mr Frank sums up Mills argument, "It is not the goal of the government to send people with guns, under the threat of imprisonment, to make you better."  I read "On Liberty" in college and in my opinion it brilliantly defines what it means to live in a free society that values and protects the rights of the individual.  My take: a person is free to do as he will as long as it does not infringe upon the liberty of others.  Ya think our current President ever read that book?  Me either.

I think the tact that is being taken in trying to overturn this piece of legislation is a little skewed.  It comes down to PR really.  Those that want law overturned (like me) appear to vice ridden Godless heathens (maybe we are) and those that support this law appear to be virtuous and God fearing.  People who don't care one way or the other might find it hard to agree with the heathens for no reason other than how it would look.  Why essentially support a vice?  It's not their battle so don't get involved.  It is the same logic that many people didn't mind the (un)Patriot Act.  "It doesn't apply to me so why should I care?"  It's about PR, ya have to make it apply to them then they will care.

I think that this prohibition should be attacked from a different angle.  If you can somehow classify an activity that is approved or even liked under the same umbrella and then prohibit that under the guise of enforcing this prohibition you can get the original legislation overturned.  Something like say, online trading.  The parallel to online trading and poker may be a little weak but hear me out.  Online day traders are essentially gambling that the stocks that the purchase are going to improve and they will make money.  Not unlike a poker player wagering that his hand will improve to win the pot.  A person who is skilled at evaluating the value of a company might do well in online trading while a person who is not could lose their life savings.  Not unlike poker, just ask Phil Hellmuth and his 11 WSOP bracelets.  Unforeseen or seemingly random events can cripple a persons online stock portfolio (can anyone say Enron?)  Not unlike a person hitting a runner runner on the river to win a pot, again, ask Phil Hellmuth.  See a pattern?  I do.

Let's ban online trading as it can be just as dangerous as online poker.  Maybe it would work if ESPN had a show on online traders...

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