Lessons Learned: Morongo

I promised I'd talk about my trip and I'm holding up my end of the bargain.

1) The Shower Shuffle - It works! I previously posted about an article by Phil Laak describing the shower shuffle. This is when, to induce a call, you show one of your cards to an opponent who is thinking about folding. I was not the one to perform this trick, but I knew what he was doing. Here is what you need to know. The board was 2-3-6-A-10. No flush draws. The person in early position bets both the flop and the turn. Then he moves all in on the river. The caller agonizes over the decision so the all-iner shows the 6 and says something to the effect of "You can't beat my six. Hurry up and fold." The caller convinces himself to call on the river only to have his two pair of aces and twos beat by the all-iners aces and sixes. The move worked to perfection.

2) Jamin's Patented Double Check Raise - Before I left, J asked me to try it. He said he got it to work online but never in a live game. Well I did it. Just for him. Didn't work completely though. I didn't get paid off in the end. But then again, maybe that river card wasn't the card for me. Anyways I am the big blind. One caller and then the guy on the button only doubles it. Random thing though. I had played with this same guy last time I was at Morongo almost two months before. I remembered that in small hands (2 or 3 people), he liked to just double the blinds to generate action if he had a good hand like A-J or A-Q suited. So knowing this I call with my 7-10. The other guy also calls. Flop is J-10-7. The J and 7 are suited. It is almost perfect. The two of us check and button bets. This confirms to me that he has A-J. Got'em. We smooth call behind him. Turn is a miss. We both check. Now he bets out big because he thinks we are on a draw. I take my time. Try to act like I am making a big decision. I know I am raising though. I'm worried about the draw that the guy behind me has. I don't know if its the straight or the flush. Anyways, after 20 or 30 seconds I raise all in. About 3 times the size of the guy's bet. Next guy mucks it immediately. Bettor thinks about it for quite a while. Then shows me his hand. A-J. Tells me he can't believe he's folding it because he thinks I'm bluffing, but he knows I've been playing tight. So he's going to fold. Which leads me to my next point.

3) When Playing Tight Isn't Correct - When you go to a casino and play no limit hold'em, there are a few general types of players. You have the tourists (fish), the rocks, and the sharks. At least thats how the baby sharks see it. How do I know? Because I am one of them. I am no great white. No master of the ocean. I am "bad" enough to live but not the killing machine I will grow up to be. And this is exactly why playing tight when other baby sharks are in the water is not a good thing. Unless you hook a fish or run into a monster, the others will mistake you for a rock and you won't get paid off big. You won't get that big call you need to beat the rake. Because your table image is too good. How do you beat this? You play looser and more aggressive. But you don't go overboard. Confused yet?

Look. What if instead of playing by the book, you open it up a bit? Change from Tight Aggressive Aggressive to Slightly Loose Aggressive Aggressive. In my situation, I wanted the other players to think "well he might have k-j or maybe middle pair with the flush draw" instead of "He never raises. He must have something great." Unfortunately, the horrible run of cards I had for the night left the players only seeing me show down aces and kings during the previous two hours. If I had seemed more loose and aggressive, maybe he would have called and I would be thirty dollars richer.

So here's my final lesson from the trip. If you want to be a break even brick and mortar casino player, play tight. Some days you will win, some you will lose, but in general you will tow that even line. If you want to be a winner, learn to read your opponents and loosen up your table image a bit. You will no longer need to hit monster over monster to win big. People will give you more with less. You'll get more bad beats. I won't lie. That happens when people are confused and call more often. Who cares?!? You'll be winning even more money.

BUT learn to read the others first. You don't want to call all-in with two pair, aces and twos, when the other person has aces and sixes. If you find this happens a lot, guess what. You're the fish. Get out of the great white's tank.