I'm Coke'd Up

I.e., full of Coke Zero and Twix bars.

Through certain scientific processes, I have determined that 5CZ + 3TwB => Unholy Crapola. It also means jitters like a mofo. I pulled yet another all-nighter last night, and for once it is actually kicking my ass. I have heard most human beings suffer side effects from lack of sleep ... but I don't recall ever having experienced them. Maybe I'm just getting older and losing my extra-terrestrial powers.

On the positive side of things, I am as pumped as ever to play the WSOP. I have decided to do it, once and for all. I think. At least right now I see myself as just a step away from being king of the poker world. I'm about to take Las Vegas by storm. People will be calling me the next Phil Ivey within 72 hours.

They said there would be hallucinations ... delusions of grandeur ...

So where does that leave us? Obviously if I'm making millions every day playing cards, I'll have little to no time to write down my random thoughts. The blog will have to become history, unless Billy decides to take it up again. This could be farewell, dear lone reader!

Deep breath, and ... back to reality. I am heading home to get some much needed sleep. I am friggin' ripe right now ... haven't showered or shaven in three days. It's time to pack my bags, get some TLC from The Wife (backdoor outs of that happening ... enjoy the double entendre, hey-o!), and ship out to the City of Shattered Dreams. It's Las Vegas, bitch! I can't wait!

Miscalculation

I had a bit of a setback on Wednesday night. Went and played some cash stud during offpeak hours (weeknights -EV) and got killed. I was doing a pretty good job of staying even, hanging with the tough grinders there at Commerce. But then I lost a big pot. Basically an idiot with a huge beard cold-called a 3bet on 5th street with a gutshot draw, even though the three betters had all just paired their door cards. I was 3betting my trip 7s against 8's showing and 2's showing, because 8's were dead. Beardo needed a 7 for his straight and stayed in even though I was SCREAMING that I had trip 7's. On the next street, the idiot bricked, the 2's caught my fourth 7, and I caught crap. Beardo grimaced and said that he needed a 7, and then mucked on 6th street. I ended up losing a big pot to a 2's full boat. Steamboat in my case. Ugh. Uncle Tilty showed up and then it was a slow bleed to death from that point on. I should know better than to go to Commerce on a weeknight ... game selection, ai ya.

So I wasn't sure where that left me. My goal of playing Wednesday night was to get myself off the fence and give myself that final shot of confidence (and extra cash) I needed to play in the WSOP. But losing made me more confused than ever. I have been telling more and more people that I'm playing the tourney, in an attempt to shame myself into playing. "You can't back out now, J ... then you'll have to tell everyone that you wussed out." I think it is probably going to work.

Phil Ivey (my favorite poker player other than myself ... awww screw it, I got a man-crush on this brotha) won his 6th bracelet last night after going three WSOP without winning one. Rumor has it that he tipped his entire winnings (over $96k for first place) to the dealer staff, presumably because he made so much money on sidebets. I know he has a standing bet with Daniel Negreanu that they have to pay each other $200k if one of them wins a bracelet. And Phil obviously had several other specific bets with various individuals ... he won't talk about the bets other than to acknowledge their existence. So it's all speculation, but I've heard he might have made as much as $10M in bracelet prop bets. Honestly, I would not put it past him. Ballin' ...


Anyway, I'm happy for Phil, but this is pretty devastating for the fantasy league wager with Billy. I was riding high Wednesday night when I found out Max Pescatori took 4th place in the $10k Stud, good for 8.5 points. But then Ivey snags a bracelet for 20 points, bringing the tally to Billy 21, Jamin 8.5. (Forrest earned Billy a point for taking ninth in the $40k event). And Daniel is currently chip-leading the $10k Mixed Championship through Day 1. This fantasy league could be a rout in the making ...

My new tentative plan is to try and satellite into the event. If it hadn't been for recent things that had come up financially (in addition to a downswing in cash games) I would be playing the event no question. But as it stands, I have about $2,300 total to gamble/eat/party with. That is cutting it somewhat close if I drop $1,500 on the tourney ... definitely a short roll for a three-day trip. The satellites are supposed to be really soft ... I'm confident I can win the entry. But it is sort of a matter of will I have enough time. I am arriving the day of. So chances are I'll have to play perhaps two satellites, AND register for the tourney. And sometimes the satellites have waits. I have pretty much given up on the napping idea. I think I will just have to hit the ground running.

Anyway, I know this post was a bit of a ramble ... not a literary achievement by any stretch of the imag. But, I gtg. Check out the Twitter update feed on the sidebar while I"m gone ------>

Peace!

Slim to None

This is approximately what I look like when I'm dressed for work everyday.



Not much to look at, but I guess some women do still go for the whole business suit thing. I would have to admit that I dress a lot better than the salary I make would lead you to expect. Nevertheless, I was more than a little surprised this morning when, as I headed down the elevator with The Wife, a mildly chesty, 30-something blonde saunters in and begins to openly flirt with me. Completely disregards that I'm with The Wife. Maybe this one just has a thing for donkeys and can't help herself ... hmmmm.

But I quickly realize that this is a lose-lose situation for me. I am drawing completely dead here.

I'm happily married, so there is absolutely no chance of anything happening with the blonde. But of course The Wife is still going to make sure I hear about this little encounter ... probably for a long time to come. So even though the circumstances were completely beyond my control, and I did nothing wrong whatsoever, I am still going to be punished somehow. I didn't even get my money's worth by flirting back with the chick.

I realized that my Vegas plans are a bit of a lose-lose as well. If I play the tournament, and (likely) bust out, I may kick myself for not just playing cash games or smaller tournaments. However, if I DO play cash games and still get reamed, then I'll really kick myself for not taking a shot in the tourney. Once again, it's like if I'm going to lose I might as well get my money's worth.

Was that too much of a stretch? Did my analogy hold water? If not, no big deal. I really just wanted to try and use that donkey picture somehow ... it's just so appropriate.

20/40 Club?

Been reading online today about Stud hi cash games in Vegas. Assuming this game isn't defunct, it looks like there is a regular 20/40 that runs in the Bellagio. I also found out that it is considered by some to be a relatively soft seat ... and I've always told myself I'd play at Bellagio next time, next time. But now I see this, and for once I can afford the buy-ins. Hmmm. Intriguing.

Of course, to say that me playing 20/40 limit poker would be taking a shot is a GINORMOUS understatement. I would be shooting at the moon. I have never played higher than 4/8 before. This would be a huge jump for me. I'd have to be crazy to even consider it.

Almost as crazy as playing in a $1,500 WSOP event ...

Realistically, my chances of not going broke are probably a lot better playing 20/40 stud for an $800 buy-in than a $1,500 buy-in tournament. The reasons are several. One, I have much more experience playing stud cash games than stud tourneys. Two, the buy-in itself is a lot less ($200 is the minimum buy for 20/40). Three, while four winners can feed off of just two big losers in a cash game, only about 10% of the field gets paid in your typical multi-table tournament.

However, the upside of a tournament is of course MUCH larger than that of a cash game. If you happen to play well and catch good cards in a big tourney, you are looking at a terrific payday. Cash games tend to be more of a grind ... steady profit leading to a larger and larger bankroll over time. A multi-table tourney is like that speculative stock that has maybe a one percent chance of going through the roof, but mostly will either lose or break even. For a great player, cash games are like the bonds that may take the small loss here and there, but generally pay steady dividends over time.

So what kind of investor will I be feeling like this weekend?

I am more than a little tempted to forego Event #16 and put that $1,500 strictly towards cash games. I've heard advice along those lines come from more than one corner. However, when I tell those same guys that I mostly just want to fulfill my dreams of playing in the big time, they all give me this knowing, wistful smile ... and tell me they understand completely.

I kind of wish I hadn't told so many people that I was playing the WSOP now ... at this point I would feel rather sheepish if I backed out. But maybe it's just the wiser move. A better investment. Maybe I'm just getting nervous because the date is approaching and I feel under-prepared. Maybe I am just looking for an excuse to run back to the security blanket. I don't know what I'm going to decide to do four days from now ... I really don't.

WSOP Fantasy League

This is my first time trying this. It was kind of a last-minute deal ... I asked Billy the day before Event #2** if he was interested in gambling, and of course he said yes. So just like that, we've got ourselves a heads-up fantasy league.

Each of us made a prioritized list of players we would choose, and then we flipped a coin to see whose list would kick off the draft. The way I run in coinflip situations, it should be no surprise that Billy was able to select Phil Ivey as the number one overall draft pick. But I was okay with that, because my first choice was also a Phil -- this one of the Hellmuth variety. In fact, I was able to get my first eight picks through no problem. Our complete lists are below ...

Jamin - Urteamcantspellpokr

Phil Hellmuth, Jr.
Bertrand Grospellier
Erik Seidel
Max Pescatori
Kathy Liebert
Nenad Medic
Andy Bloch
Shaun Deeb
Barry Greenstein
J.C. Tran
Matt Glantz
Mike Matusow
Roland De Wolfe
Michael DeMichele
David Williams


Billy - Guillermo de los Gringos

Phil Ivey
David Benyamine
Chris Ferguson
Daniel Negreanu
Tom Schneider
Erik Lindgren
John Phan
Scotty Nguyen
Michael Mizrachi
Allen Cunningham
David Tran
Ted Forrest
Marcel Luske
Shannon Shorr
Robert Mizrachi

Notable Cockblocks: I was barely able to pick up Andy Bloch ahead of Billy. I think it was a real coup to be able to get him so late in the draft (14th overall pick). The guy has a really great tournament record ... to wit, two WPT final tables and twenty WSOP cashes, including finishing runner-up to Chip Reese in the inaugural $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event over one of the toughest fields ever assembled. No bracelets yet, but in our league you get points for all final table finishes. So I think he'll turn out to be a solid earner.

Of course, there is another side to this. I really wanted Ted Forrest, but somehow I let him slip to 23rd overall!! The guy has five bracelets, and twenty-one WSOP cashes. He's also won two WPT titles on five final tables. This was a major mistake on my part, which has already come back to bite me in the ass. Through three completed events, Ted Forrest is so far the only drafted player to earn any points (by taking 9th place at the $40,000 buy-in WSOP 40th Anniversary Special). Grrrr, the Suicide King! The one that got away!


**We started counting at Event #2, because Event #1 was the Casino Employees tournament. I don't think either of us were planning to draft Andrew Cohen ... whoever he is.

"Mymymy Poker Face, My PoPoker Face"

"Who is this Lady Gaga I've been hearing so much about?" ~Ben "Superdome" Peters

"First prize at the World Series of Poker is a million bucks. Does it have my name on it? I don't know. But I'm gonna find out." ~Mike McDermott, Rounders
_ _

The $1,500 Stud tournament last year paid exactly $135,753 for first place. I've been secretly plotting what I'll do if I win that amount. Four C-class Mercedes, 675 Nintendo Wii's, and 271,506 McDonald's apple pies are all in the running.

After taxes, it's not really quit-your-job-and-turn-poker-pro money. But damn it, it's close. My workload lately has just been bananas, so I would have to think looooong and hard about walking away if I made a big score. Of course, such speculation is the definition of counting a chicken before it hatches. In actuality, I don't really think so highly of my stud game to expect to take down a major tournament against the pros on my very first try.

But I can dream.

At work, however, I have to keep up appearances and pretend that I have some interest in the tasks that I'm performing. In reality, I'm just going through the motions for a few more days until I hit the desert. My heart is in Vegas. Honestly, that's probably where the money would go if I did go deep in Event #16. The Wife and I are seriously considering buying a house out there. The prices of homes are ridiculously low in that area right now, especially compared to West Los Angeles, where we live. Buying property out there would definitely be on the table if I won. It can't really get much cheaper than it is now.

So at my job lately, it's all I can do to appear like I give a crap. It's my poker facade. I'm sure once I've gone broke and return to town with my tail between my legs, things will go back to normal. Yes, soon enough I'll be able to continue with the "f**king grind" that is my life. For now, though, the dream is alive.

Fired up! Ready to go!

My reading schedule is all out of whack, but I'm making some pretty good progress. I went ahead and picked up the Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide, and I thought Keith Sexton's piece about starting hands in tournament stud was excellent. I didn't think so highly, however, of David Grey's section. As mentioned previously, I read a review on it, and I would have to agree with the reviewer's assessment that Grey's teaching is just way too vague to be of much use. Hopefully, the other sections will justify the $30 I spent on it, whenever I get around to perusing them. So far I think I've gotten about $3 worth of value. Will update.

Last night, I went and played the 4/8 Stud at Commerce, then came home and read the Chip Reese section of SuperSystem. It was really encouraging to re-read that text after so long ... there were some tactics that I had just glossed over in the past, but which I had nonetheless been executing at the table. Things in the book that I had not highlighted before, but had somehow managed to learn through experience. Certain concepts made more sense to me now. So I'm starting to feel pretty confident about my game. I'm definitely NOWHERE NEAR a Ted Forrest or a John Hennigan, but right now I am pretty sure I'm currently getting the maximum out of my abilities.

(Sidebar: This is why it's recommended to read poker books after you are already somewhat familiar with a particular game. Sure, there are some books made especially for the complete novice. But even with those, I think you'll get more out of text if you already have a good grasp on the mechanics and basic rhythms of play. Then you can read up and plug some of the [inevitable] holes in your game. Play more, and then re-read. Rinse, and repeat. My two cents.)

Today on the bus to work, and on my lunch break, I've been reading the Sklansky text. This is an extremely dense book, and there are a lot of things I did not pick up on while reading through it before. They do a really good job of covering just about every situation that might arise in a seven-card stud cash game. Better put -- they provide enough examples of concepts and the different variations on those concepts that come up during gameplay that it's really easy to extrapolate their teachings to cover any hand of stud poker. Must read!

I've also been practicing on PokerStars with stud tournaments. I've played in two of them, and busted in each. Not a great sign. But these were low-stakes donkaments, with plenty of idiots who chased me down the river every time I picked up a good starting hand. I imagine the quality of play in a $1,500 tourney will be higher. Plus, I generally just do better in live games. There are so many small things that don't really translate to online play. Thus, I'm not too concerned about my lack of success on Stars. It's good practice just to see how play is affected by the rising blinds, how the inability to rebuy changes strategy, etc. ... I've experienced these things in hold'em tournaments but not in stud. The lack of many other ways to practice makes the frustration of online play kinda worth it.

That's about all I have to report. I blast off in five days, and it can't get here soon enough. It's taking a lot for me to resist playing in hold'em home games until the big day. But I'm busy enough at work that I can manage the urge ... I think.

Tweeting ... All Systems Go.

I've gone over to the dark side.

Follow me on Twitter ... @grindorgamble

Is this me?

Tao of Poker - Donkeys at the 2008 WSOP

I'm a fan of Pauly's blog, though I haven't really kept up with him with any regularity. The picture he paints of the $1,500 WSOP events is pretty bleak. Thousands of clueless donkeys being led to the slaughter, and then braying about their terrible luck to their loved ones during the walk of shame through the Amazon Room and back to their hotels. Hundreds of home game heroes and weekend warriors with dreams of poker glory filling their sad little heads. And the local Vegas pros who are only too willing to relieve the poor wretches of their precious bankrolls.

Naturally, I would like to think of myself as one of the winners. I have spreadsheets and logs that tell me that I'm a winning poker player. I've played at enough cardrooms and in enough house games to feel that I can go toe-to-toe with just about any low- to mid-stakes player the country can offer. I definitely think I have an edge in your typical donkament field. I would like to think that I'm different.

But this is the World Series of Poker.

And EVERYONE thinks they are different.

Probably the only way I'll find out what role I'll be playing in the Rio's annual Fish Festival (alternatively nicknamed "Slaughterhouse Rock") is to actually find out. Buy a seat and play in the damned thing. One tournament loss doesn't necessarily doom a poker player to the depths of obscurity forever, but one big win can certainly propel him to some ridiculous heights. I've already decided to take my shot, as stated in previous posts. But reading that Tao post today was pretty freakin' sobering. Quite the cautionary tale.

Forking over fifteen Benjamins isn't something I can take lightly just yet. So I'm going to have to try my best to make this an investment, and not just a charitable donation.

Hollywood Swingin'

Gah! What a brutal couple of days bankroll-wise. Saturday I was debating whether or not I should play the cash games after a local home tournament. I ended up doing so, and proceeded to lose about $580 playing heads up and then three-handed. Both guys I can outplay pretty easily; one is far too loose and the other too tight. But the loose guy was hitting everything. Turning an out-kicked pair into two pair. Turning a lower pair into trips. Making all of his draws while I missed mine. Outflopping me with dominated hands. And so on ...

The tight guy was hitting on me too. On one hand, I flop top pair with the nut flush draw. He flops a set, and trap-calls my lead-out bet. I make my flush on the turn, and lead out again. He raises, I shove, and he calls. But, I get Greensteined when the Ace pairs on the river. Another time, his low flopped straight holds up against my bigger open-ender plus flush draw. Ai ya!

And this morning, I had to drop about $720 on dental care ... my insurance policy (a good one!) only covered half of my crown procedure. In hindsight, I might have been better off claiming I forgot my checkbook in the car and dodging payment until after the Vegas trip. But that would have required me to screen phone calls for the next few weeks, and ignore all the "courtesy" notices that come in the mail. Well, some time ago I decided that that portion of my life would be over. So I sucked it up and shelled out the cash then and there.

Nevertheless, now I'm stuck $1,300 and I still have a week and a half before I even get on the plane to Vegas. This will put a cramp in my side action, for sure. After paying for food and drink for three days in a city that is particularly well-designed to separate tourists from their hard-earned cash, I'm down to about $600 to play games other than Event #16 ... yikes!

I think it's time to either find some investors, or to make a quick score or three before I go ...



BTW: Until fairly recently, $600 would have been plenty of bankroll for me to have a great Vegas trip with plenty of gamble. Nowadays, it feels like chump change. I can't decide if that means I've progressed a lot or just become more of a degen.

Self-Awareness

I'm up late in the wee hours of the morning. Supposed to be working, but instead I'm reading through some old blog posts that I wrote back in the day. It's really interesting to me. Some of these posts contain fairly deep insights and creative ways to think about (mainly) no limit hold'em. But others are overly simplified, and in some cases just plain wrong. I wonder how in the world I won the money that I did if I actually thought and played like some of the strategy-articles I wrote suggest. (At one point, I wrote something like "recognizing when you're on a lucky streak and when you are on an unlucky streak is a key to poker success." LOL, yikes!!) Maybe the poker games in which I played were just much softer than the ones I play in now.

Another thing that strikes me is how cocky I came off in a few of my posts. That aspect is rather embarrassing. I take some comfort in the fact that I am a lot more humble now than I was then, even though I am certainly a better player. I suppose now I recognize more of my weaknesses and limitations, and have a better grasp of what separates me from the true world-class players out there. I couldn't see these things before, because my knowledge was too limited. I had too many blinders on that had to be shed through trials on the green felt, before I saw how much better I could be (and still can be). I guess it's like they say -- the more you learn, the more you realize how much you don't know.

Now, I am a confident player. I know that my skills are as strong as ever, and that my level of experience and poker "wisdom" are finally starting to catch up with whatever natural abilities I've had all along. But even with that confidence, I'm better able to see areas for improvement. The arrogance has not been completely eradicated quite yet. However, now I think my self-awareness has improved to a point where I can better limit the effects of my shortcomings, and use my strengths to the maximum.

Reading through the posts, especially ones where I staked out a particular position on a poker topic, I have to smile. They remind me of some of the players I play with these days. Very solid players, but players that are unable to see beyond a particular set of beliefs. Players that don't even realize how limited and inside-the-box their thinking is.

I take heart from the fact that I can see a real progression from my very first posts from early 2006 all the way through my posts from late 2007. I think it bodes well for my future, and I'm looking forward to looking back once again a few years down the line from now. The upside to poker knowledge is infinite.

Light Reading

To help me prepare for the stud event, I have decided to revisit what I consider the sacred texts of seven-card stud play. I know reading up before a major tournament probably seems routine to most amateur and semi-pro poker players out there (they're thinking DUH, or should I say durrrr?), but I'm trying my best to document my entire process of preparing for and playing this event. Afterward, the plan is to review what preparations seemed helpful and what things I would have been okay without. This should help me prepare better for next year's Series, and give my poker friends some tools to use in their eventual quests for bracelet glory. A little bit of analysis, as Phil Laak [1] would say, "for the television audience at home."

The book that first gave me an inclination to try my hand at seven-card stud was the late Chip Reese's section of the original Supersystem. His writing style is ridiculously easy for the beginner to digest, and yet includes enough advanced concepts that after reading through it once or twice, you will absolutely be able to hold your own in most stud cash games.

The other book that really shaped me as a rookie was Sklansky's Seven-Card Stud for Advanced Players. Most poker book enthusiasts will tell you that this is required reading for any intermediate stud player looking to improve his or her game. I would agree with them wholeheartedly. This book expands on many of the concepts that Reese's writings introduce, and also contains many ideas all its own.

I am currently re-reading Sklansky, with an eye toward finishing it by the middle of next week, and to read the Reese section by the end of next week. Then I'll have one more week to review all my notes on each before the trip. I am debating picking up the Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide. From the review I've read, David Grey's section on Stud tournaments is solid, but not spectacular. Worth it? I am also questioning if I really need to buy and read through Max Stern's Championship Stud in the short amount of time I have before the tournament. Debatable. But I generally prefer more information to less, so we'll see. (I've heard that the Razz section of Championship is one of the definitive texts, though.)

I also plan to skim through the manuals in the hours before the tournament, just as a bit of a warm-up exercise. A little last-minute cram, just like back in college. I think this preparation strategy has an edge over playing stud hands immediately before the event (which was another option I considered). This is because I want to have in my head the correct way to play certain hands -- not just the way that I typically play them. Although I feel I am pretty good at stud, even winning players have certain tendencies and weaknesses that cause them to lose equity over the long run, to not make as much as they could. Including the pros. Like Phil Ivey [2] said, "I don't know anybody who plays every hand perfect ... besides Phil Hellmuth." [3] So I'm thinking it'll be good to get outside of my own mind, to a certain extent.

The question is, will this cause me to over-think, and not trust the instincts that I've built up over all my hands of play? As Phil Gordon [4] said, “It doesn't take a rocket scientist to be good at poker. Anybody with a fourth-grade education can figure out the logic behind the odds and outs.” I guess if I bust out early or play some hands egregiously, there will be plenty of time to second-guess the method. For now, I think doing plenty of reading beforehand will be +EV.

Staying at Planet Hollywood

Wow, how things change! I just booked a room for the weekend of the 6th at Planet Hollywood. The last time I blogged about poker (November 2007), PH was just about to have its grand opening. I played in their poker room once during last summer's WSOP, and I have to say I liked it. I only played for about an hour, but I'll never forget them giving everyone free donuts for breakfast. This was like manna from heaven at the time, as I had just pulled an all-nighter on the first leg of a 5-day/4-night stay, had already blown through a rather unhealthy percentage of my bankroll, and needed the carbs just to keep my eyes open until I could check into my hotel room later in the day ... but that's another story for another time. I have so many tales I wish I had blogged about from that summer, but I should be focusing on this World Series, not last year's! Suffice it to say that, even though I know many casinos offer little comps like that, the timing of that particular courtesy gave PH an A+ for first impressions.

Another big change is that "the wife," as I occasionally referred to my longtime girlfriend, has now become The Wife. We got hitched three weeks ago (no, not in Vegas, though I somehow maneuvered my way into spending part of our honeymoon there, hehe) and she's coming along on this trip to root for me and such. I have mixed feelings about this. Obviously we are still newlyweds, and naturally we both want to maximize the honeymoon phase of our marriage as best we can. Spend as much time together as possible. Still, it does mean that I'll have one more thing to worry about. During our past trips to Glitter Gulch together, there has been some tension arising from the fact that I tend to want to play as much poker as possible when I'm there. It's just extremely torturous for me to be around such a high concentration of fish and not be allowed to cast a net! So in order for me to be happy, it means either her sweating me for hours on end (boring), or her finding other activities during the long stretches that I'm playing (lonely). Also, she likes to do things like going to shows and going to the trendy ultraclubs -- activities which tend to have the same peak hours as juicy poker games, and which cost me rather than earn me money. For one of us to be happy and the other not be miserable requires quite the balancing act.

The Wife has assured me that this trip will be different. "Since the main reason for the trip is for you to play poker, and I'm just tagging along," she says to me, "I'll totally be fine with you playing as much as you need to." And somehow, I actually believe her. I can't even count the number of times that she has surprised me by being a heckuva trooper, putting up with all kinds of less-than-ideal situations with nary a complaint. There's a reason she's The Wife now. I am giving her the benefit of the doubt for the time being.

And there is a side of me that really wants her to be there. I won't have any poker buddies out there (at least as of now) to encourage me to play well and to mourn my bad beats with me. Even though I am naturally a bit of a lone wolf, a part of me didn't want to step into such a large ring without having someone in my corner between the rounds. Hopefully The Wife can double as my "Mick." I think subconsciously, this came through when I was selecting my room. Las Vegas isn't doing so well with this economic downturn, and as such there are some hotels offering some sick deals on rooms right now.

Unfortunately, Planet Hollywood is not one of those hotels. I am paying about triple the bare minimum price to stay in Vegas that weekend, and I am sure on some level I chose PH because I knew The Wife was more likely to come along than if I had booked, say, Gold Coast, which is much cheaper and pretty much right next to the Rio (i.e., absurdly more practical), but perhaps not as glitzy. (Comma count = six on that last sentence. I'm, sorry, Mrs., Stave.)

On the bright side, PH is right smack in the middle of the Strip, and I can reach all kinds of great cash game action with a short stroll in either direction. Or just right downstairs. Furthermore, the stop for the twice-an-hour free shuttle to the Rio sits just between PH and Paris. So there's some practicality there too.

I only hope that the PH buffet is as scrumptious as its predecessor Aladdin's was back in the day. Hopefully, change turns out to be good.

P.S.

I realize that this blog has been all but defunct for quite some time now. It would be a MAMMOTH task to try and recap a year and a half's worth of poker action from both myself and my blogmate Billy in the few weeks before I launch for the WSOP. So what I'm going to try to do is to incorporate information that's relevant to current events into my postings as best I can. We'll see if it works or not.

And though I initially rejected it as wretched and vile, I am coming dangerously close to using Twitter. In some ways, it really makes a lot of sense as a way to provide regular updates on how an important event is going (assuming live-blogging is out of the question). So perhaps I'll create a Twitter account just for the WSOP, and then try my best to walk away from it forever. =) If I do become a Twittererererer, I'll let y'all know how to follow along.

Back to work for me now ... at 8pm. Ugh. This is why I need to strike it rich at poker.

The WSOP and Me.

Well, I am finally going to do it. I've decided it's time for me to try my luck in the greatest tournament series on the planet - the World Series of Poker. I'm going to play Event #16, the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud tournament on June 6th.

I feel like this is as good a time as any to take my shot. I have now been playing cards for almost five years. At one point in poker's history, that would be considered barely getting your feet wet. But with the advent of online poker, and the immense volume of poker strategy literature that is available these days, players can rather quickly gain a lifetime's worth of experience in a relatively short period of time. The speed of online poker, and the ability to play multiple tables at once, allows a player to see hands at a rate the old pros could never achieve. Simultaneously, poker books and articles are widely available, and allow a player to learn tricks and avoid traps that Doyle Brunson and T.J. Cloutier had to learn the hard way. (Incidentally, both of these guys have written influential poker books themselves.) The poker information out there allows us newer players to stand on the shoulders of giants, so to speak.

Do I think I'm ready for the challenge, or that I can really compete with the professionals for a bracelet? Yes and No. Or rather, No, and Yes. To play a WSOP event in 2009 has been one of my poker goals since at least 2007 (another being to play the Main Event in 2010). Now that the time is here, I can't honestly say that I'm a favorite to even make the money in an event. Furthermore, this will be the largest buy-in I have ever made into a single session of either cash or tournament poker. So I think there is a very real chance that the money on the line will affect my play negatively. Lastly, I really just can't shake the feeling that I'm just throwing away $1,500 by doing this. Do I really have the bankroll to potentially blow through a dime and a half in a few hours, and not miss it? No, I do not.

But I think the second question -- whether or not I can compete -- has a different answer. I do not consider myself a tournament specialist by any means. I greatly prefer to play cash games. But my tournament record is nothing to sneeze at. I find that I often play better in tournaments, as somehow I do a better job of reining in my loose-aggressive tendencies until they are needed. And I've crushed most seven-card stud games I've played in. Along with cash no-limit hold'em, it is one of the games in which I consider myself an expert.

Furthermore, I've taken some steps to improve my chances. Since I can only afford a low buy-in, I've decided to stay away from the no limit hold'em events. While I have the most experience playing that game, I know that there are thousands of other young guns out there who also play that game better than any other. But there aren't so many young guns who are aces at seven-stud. I consider myself pretty rare in that regard, as the average stud player is much older than 26. The game just is not as popular these days.

And since the smaller buy-in no limit events tend to have fields through the roof and are often lotteries, I've elected to play an event that historically has had tiny fields by comparison. Last year there were 381 entrants. Given the current recession, I expect that number to stay at about the same level.

Another advantage to playing a limit event as opposed to pot limit or no limit is that the effects of getting unlucky on one hand are limited, at least in the early rounds. Of course, as the blinds and antes increase, it can get to the point where you go broke in one hand in stud just like in no limit hold'em. But early on, the big coolers and bad beats won't hurt as much, and won't knock you out two seconds into the tournament.

This particular tournament is also good because I think a lot of the top pros will be tied up elsewhere. Event #16 starts at 5pm, but there is a $5,000 No Limit event that starts at noon the same day. With the higher buy-in, I'd expect several of the big names to be playing that tournament. I'm sure there will be some that bust out of the $5K really quickly, but hopefully that steams them up enough that they come over and play worse in the stud tourney. Even pros aren't completely immune to the effects of bad beats and extended sessions.

However, there are some factors that will be working against me in the event (outside of the obvious ones like my lack of experience in big events, lack of experience in stud tournaments as opposed to cash games, etc.). The hugest disadvantage is the sleep factor. Hundreds of thousands of World Series hopefuls have come to the big show, completely unprepared for the looooong, long hours required for these events. I have played a few long sessions in my life, but only a handful as long as this one rates to be if I survive the first day. The schedule says play will begin at 5pm and end at approximately 3am on Sunday. Then we're back at it at 2pm on Sunday!! I'll be doubly disadvantaged, because I am flying into Vegas Saturday morning at 8am (!), which means I'll have to wake up at about 5am to fly from Los Angeles.

It will take a LOT of discipline for me to rest up in my hotel room, and not try and get in on too much of the side action before the event. And, this being such a monumental step in my poker career, there is a significant chance that I'll be too amped up in the early afternoon to get any rest. So a large part of my survival will rest on my ability to avoid physically and mentally crashing at around 10pm. I think my odds of being at the top of my game in those crucial rounds are realistically slim.

I had originally wanted to play some satellites before the event, but now I'm a bit more ambivalent about it. I think winning a seat for $175 will allow me to play a lot more comfortably than ponying up the full amount. Even if I have to play two or three satellites to get the buy-in, I'll feel much better about the stakes. However, as mentioned above, all that poker action might worsen my play, as the number of hours played in one day continues to mount. I haven't decided yet what to do about it. I might play the event until I bust, and then play satellites and cash games afterwards to "retroactively" win my buy-in. Or something along those lines.

So is the whole thing worth it? I know that I will inevitably be pretty disappointed if/when I bust out of the tournament. That is the nature of tournaments -- the only person who doesn't get sent home is the winner. Even second place wishes they had done better.

But I think it's good that I am not really expecting much in the way of results. I mostly just want to get the experience under my belt, but still have a shot at winning something. This first step into a larger arena will give me a better idea of what to expect in World Series to come. And, if nothing else, I'm guaranteed to have at least a few stories to tell.

Nevertheless, I wouldn't play if I didn't think I had a chance to win.

Cash Games at Commerce

So in the last three multi-table tournaments I’d played as of last Monday, I’d gone 2nd, busto, and 1st. A pretty good streak, I’d say. I started to think about things. How can I do so well in tournament play and so mediocre in cash games?

I decided that the reason I didn’t do as well in cash games was that in the games in which I play (i.e., the lower limits), there are many more players seeing the flop than in your average tournament. Players in tournaments are trying to survive, and you can generally assume that if you raise preflop, you will have fewer opponents with narrower hand ranges after the flop. So it becomes easier to put people on hands, and thus you can avoid being trapped or you can take down pots when they have nothing.

In my live games, by contrast, there could be six players seeing the flop after a raise of 5x the big blind and they could be holding virtually anything. Playing only big cards just doesn’t work so well against half the table because most flops are going to give you either a single pair or nothing.

This renders continuation betting virtually useless. Rarely will you be able to take down the pot, so you’d probably better have a fairly strong hand (at least two pair, often) to be betting. But if you adhere to this, your bets will scare out the other players and you won’t get paid off so well.

After reaching this conclusion, I decided to stick to tournaments and forego cash games completely until I could afford to play at higher limits.

This resolution didn’t last long. On Friday, I went back to Hollywood Park to play in the rebuy tourney. Open-ended straight draws got there three times out of three, and I was done quickly. Stupid tourneys, I told myself. I'm going back to cash.

Saturday, I was sitting around my apartment, looking for something to do. The casino was calling. I decided to drive down to Commerce, since I hadn’t been there in a while, and play some live no limit before the UCLA football game. Played pretty well, and didn’t take any major bad beats. I walked out up $340. Hey, I thought, maybe I’m not so bad at cash games after all.

Sunday, I went back, but I had some reservations about it. I was afraid that Saturday had been a fluke, and that I would merely be giving back what I had won the previous day. But again, boredom got the best of me, and I made my way over.

I played good – but not mistake-free – poker, enough to be up $200 after about an hour. Around that time, I saw a familiar face sit down at the table and I could barely believe my eyes. It was Sgt. Donk from Vegas, back when I vacationed there in May. He was visiting a friend in Los Angeles (he lives in Maine, himself), and they randomly decided to play some poker. I couldn’t fathom what the odds were on that. It’s a very small world indeed.

I continued to play well. Took a horrendous beat at one point, for a huge pot, and I completely lost my composure. I was visibly steaming, and in my mind I recognized that I was in grave danger of giving away all my winnings for the day, and maybe even more from my wallet. I could just feel it coming.

But the strangest thing happened. I’m used to seeing poker players try and take advantage of another player who is on tilt. They say things to make him angrier and to play worse, and they gun for him in every pot they can. Didn’t happen last night. Quite the opposite, in fact. The guy to my immediate left, as well as Sgt. Donk, actually went out of their way to talk me off the ledge. They deliberately engaged me in conversation about everything but poker, until I calmed down and was my normal happy-go-lucky poker self. Later on, they let me know that they didn’t want to see me blow up and lose a lot of money. I’m quite grateful to them for that – I’ve never seen that kind of class at a poker table before.

Anyway, thanks in part to them, I later took everything I’d lost back from the guy that put the beat on me, and a few hundred more on top. I ended the day up $701. Combined with Saturday, that makes a nice little two-day run.

I would like to think that my cash game play has been fine all along, and that I had just been having a run of worse than average luck at the casinos. But I know that’s not entirely true. I’ve learned a lot in the past few months, reading the Harrington on Hold’em series, as well as the recently-released Professional No Limit Hold’Em and How to Dominate $1 and $2 No Limit Hold’em. I plugged several leaks in my game with them, and I highly recommend them.

So what does this all mean? I’m up over $3,700 in the past week – by far the best run in my career. Can I keep it up? I certainly hope so.

I left the game last night a little earlier than I might have. But my stack was at a nice round $801, and the guy that had put the bad beat on me had donked his way into a stack of $400. Plus, he had been gunning for me for a while. Every time I entered a pot, he moved all in pre-flop, regardless of his hole cards. I had survived several of those in order to attain my current stack, but with the way his stack was growing, I was getting a little wary of risking my chips. I decided to call it a night.

But before I took off, Sgt. Donk spoke to me away from the table for a little bit. I found out that his real name was Adam, and he apologized profusely for mispronouncing my name in Vegas and last night. He asked for my contact information, so that we could stay in touch. He said that he really liked the way I played, and asked if I ever needed a backer or someone to stake me in the WSOP or anything. He said that in Maine and being in the military, he didn't get to play very often. But he recognized a great player on the rise, and he wanted a piece of my action if I ever made it big.

I was stunned. It was the last thing I had expected from a guy like this. I graciously gave him my information, and I told him that I would love the opportunity to have such an arrangement with him. We parted ways as friends.

I can hardly describe what it felt like to hear that from a guy. That level of respect ... just made me feel validated. All the hard work that I had put in over the past three years. Everything I had learned. All the frustration and the euphoria, the backaches and the headaches, the laughs and the cries -- it was all worth it now. I didn't really care about the $701 I'd won any more. Hearing those words of praise for my poker-playing ability was worth a hell of a lot more.

First

Wow, been forever since I’ve blogged – over a month, actually. Well, the past week has generated some huge developments in my poker career so I had to put some stuff up. My career rounded the three-year mark over the summer, and for most of that period, the growth that I experienced has been notable, but slow.

Over the summer, I decided to do something about it. If I was going to maintain my goal of playing in the World Series of Poker in 2010, I was going to have to crank it up and get some practice playing live tournaments. So back in August, I re-read the first two Harrington books, and then I worked through the third. After doing better than I had expected in the Workbook, I decided that I would play in one live multi-table tournament (MTT) per month for the next three years to get some practice and build up my stamina. And who knows, I thought at the time, maybe I’ll cash in one or two of ‘em.

The first one I played (back in August) went about as I'd expected. I played extremely tight for about an hour and a half, and eventually the increasing blinds forced me to push all-in with Ace-Queen offsuit. I got called by pocket Jacks, lost the race, and was out of the tournament well short of the money. $150 down the drain.

After that experience, I decided to try and find a smaller tournament for my next attempt. I was delighted to find that Hollywood Park holds a daily $20+$10 rebuy tournament at 11:30am. And since I’ve been out of work since late August, I was sure to have a few spare days to give it a shot. Job interviews and other commitments prevented me from doing so until last Monday. But as soon as I had the free time, I made my way down to Inglewood.

I played well. I was able to steadily increase my stack as the blinds went up, with only a few setbacks along the way. Thankfully, the bad beats I took were by players with smaller stacks than mine, so I was able to survive their donkery. I surprised myself by making it all the way to the final table, and as a 3:1 chip leader when it got down to heads up, I decided to make a deal with the other player. I took down a first prize of $2,625, and my confidence in my poker-playing ability had never been higher.

Among my group of friends, I had been the first to do a lot of things. I was the first among us to start playing online poker. I was the first to start playing at casinos. I had been the first to play in a live MTT. And now, I had become the first of us to cash in and to win a live MTT.

I’ve realized as my friends and I have moved on from college that they don’t share the same dreams as me. Unlike me, they don’t realistically see themselves playing poker full-time in the near future. They don’t seem to have the same goals of rounding for a living, or being top-name tournament pros some day. I guess I’m the only one who believes that, given time, I can become the best player in poker history. I freely admit how silly an aspiration that is, but I feel that since it'll be nearly impossible to accomplish, I will always have something to motivate me.

A week ago today, I took the next step down the path of my poker career. I’m very excited to discover where it will ultimately lead.

Runner-Runner, Runner-Up

I went to Vegas last weekend, and I had been feeling a little bit donkish after tilting away all my winnings for the trip in the last 10 minutes at Bally’s. I pretty much reverted back to my former self at the poker table – pushing too hard with top pair, paying off sets, putting everyone on draws. Basically the way I played when I first started playing poker in the 714.

Came back, had a productive day at work on Monday. I arrived home to find out that Billy was back on Full Tilt, playing cash games. I was immediately stricken with jealousy, and it wasn’t long before I was on it again too. I played some small games early on – a limit Sit n Go (took 3rd … damn those donkeys) and some HORSE. It was fun – it felt good to be back.

But a part of me really wanted to play in a multi-table tournament. After reading so much Dan Harrington over the past month, I was itching to put myself to the test. I signed up for a 90-player Sit n Go and it was off to the races.

In the beginning, I definitely caught more than my fair share of cards. I hit sets on probably three of my first five pocket pairs. But I played them well also, and made sure that I got paid off nicely each time. I was the tournament chip leader for at least half of the tournament’s four hours. Still, I can’t say my results were entirely due to good cards; around about the middle of the tournament, the deck just about froze on me. But since blinds were going up, and everyone wanted to cash, I was able to increase my chip lead by being aggressive and picking my spots well. I applied Harrington’s concept of “sticking and moving” in the middle rounds as best I could, and when it came to be bubble time, I was had a 2 to 1 chip advantage over the next biggest stack. I was in pretty good position to secure my second ever multi-table tournament win.

As we neared the final table, I relinquished the chip lead but continued to play well. Stayed patient, stayed alive, and didn’t get timid. The final table was ridiculous – it seemed like there were a lot of huge all-in preflop races where the overcards flopped a pair, but the pocket pair rivered the set to either double up or knock someone out. Must have happened six or seven times at least … even I was the beneficiary of one of those. (I guess it’s true that the pocket pair is the favorite in those situations, haha.)

Finally I made it to heads up play, and my top pair got cracked by a runner-runner two pair. Of course, I had my Phil Hellmuth moment, stomping and screaming around my living room. I didn’t care so much about the difference in monetary prizes. I just wanted the title. I wanted some more bragging rights for Grind or Gamble. For UCLA. For the 714. But it wasn’t to be.

Still, I learned a lot about myself. I learned that I have what it takes to do well in big tournaments. In an upcoming post, I will probably lay out my plan to play a lot of live MTT’s over the next three years, in order to stay on track to start playing WSOP events in 2010. But for now, I’ll just smile through gritted teeth for my second-place finish. I should have won. Maybe next time.

A Game to Improve my Memory (Seven-Card Stud)

A year-and-a-half ago, I was primarily a Seven-Card Stud player. This was after experiencing mind-bottling swings back and forth in my bankroll playing online, and pretty much losing all confidence in my ability to be a consistent winner at no limit Texas hold’em.

But there was no way I was quitting poker entirely. I just needed a new game to learn. My first trips to casinos started me out with limit hold’em, so I was fairly familiar with that game. I had read books on it, played a lot of it, but was weary of it after 9-4 offsuit rivering a third 4 to crack my overpair too many times. No thanks on going back to that.

There was also Omaha 8, a game that’s spread in a lot of the casinos here in Southern California. The fish that frequent the cardrooms seem to enjoy it, as they feel fully justified in playing lots of starting hands and chasing a lot. It satisfies their desire to gamble in ways that limit hold’em can only begin to approach. I’d been told by a few savvy players that Omaha was the game to play, because so few people played it well and there was so much action. Still, I didn’t relish the thought of putting significant portions of my bankroll in jeopardy learning a game that was brand new to me. Furthermore, there wasn’t a preponderance of literature on the subject at the time, so I decided that Omaha wasn’t yet the game for me.

How about Stud? All I really knew about it was the basic format, and that the tables seemed to be mostly filled with old timers and young donkeys that were running bad at hold’em. (I’m trying my best not to think about how well that second category fit me at the time.) But I had a copy of Supersystem, and thus I decided to read Chip Reese’s section on Seven-Card Stud. The strategy that Mr. Reese outlined seemed fairly straightforward, and so I committed it to memory and soon tried my hand at the $4-8 Stud games at the Commerce Casino.

I enjoyed early successes. The more experienced players at the tables rarely gave me credit for having anything. I played aggressively, and I generally got paid off. Their lack of respect for my abilities ensured that I could expect to leave each session ahead a few hundred dollars on average. However, as a few months passed, and I was playing with the same players regularly, they began go to get a handle on my game. I found that I was getting trapped more often, and that my big hands were getting paid off less. I went back to the text of Supersystem, and tried to plug the holes in my game as best I could. I also tried finding articles online, but for the most part they were written for a pretty basic level of play. A skill level that would get eaten alive in the games I played in. I was missing something, but I didn’t really know what it was. I was completely baffled on how I could be a winner at Stud. Just like no limit hold’em, it seemed that I couldn’t beat the game any more.

Eventually, I just gave up poker entirely.

It started out as just a break. But with Billy out of the country, I didn’t really have anyone to get my competitive fire going. Didn’t have anyone in my ear yapping about bad beats, or blogging about improving their game. I lost interest in it. My girlfriend was happier when I wasn’t playing poker. My family was happy to hear that I was off it. I was focused on work and the classes I was taking at night. Poker was no longer a part of my life.

Well, eventually all that changed, and when I came back to the game, it was playing no limit hold’em. I came back to find out that the live games were as juicy as ever, and I saw some of the biggest cashouts of my life in early 2007. Since then, my game has steadily improved (though I can’t say the same for my bankroll), including a sharp increase in poker acumen over the past month or so. I feel like my skills at no limit hold’em have never been better.

Recently, Billy and I were jokingly brainstorming on ways he could improve his memory of his hole cards in hold’em. He has a history of forgetting exactly which two cards he’s holding, and for some reason, he still hasn’t taught himself to consistently double-check. We always get a good laugh when he quickly mucks a hand based upon what he convinced himself he was holding rather than what he actually had.

And even though I give Billy a hard time for failing to remember cards he had just seen, the discussion caused me to realize an area in which my Stud game could use a lot of improvement. As they say, Seven-Card Stud is “a game of live cards.” This means that it is crucial to always be aware of how live your hand is at all times. That is, you have to have a very good idea of how many outs you and your opponents have to make their hands.

As you play Stud, the reasons that memory is important become obvious. Say you have an open-ended straight draw on 5th Street, and need either a King or an 8 to make your hand. However, a player to your right who had been inactive until this point just caught a King, and leads out with a bet, representing that the King helped him. In order to know how many outs you have left, you have to think back to the earlier streets and the cards people folded. Did anyone fold a King or an 8? Do I have the full seven outs, or is it fewer? You cannot determine if you are being offered the right pot odds if you cannot recall how live your hand is.

Assume for a second that again, a King is leading out on 5th Street, but this time you have two Queens in the hole. Now, it’s pretty clear that if he has the pair of Kings that he is representing, you will want to know if any Queens have been folded already. Chances are, you’ve been paying careful attention to the cards out there, and you will immediately know if a Queen or any of your kickers has been folded somewhere. You’ll be looking out for that. But you should remember all the cards that come out. Have two people folded Kings already? If so, then it’s unlikely that your opponent actually has the case King. But if you only focus on the cards that help you, you likely would have missed whether or not anyone had folded a King.

At least, I would have. Everyone can remember what they have seen. Some simply have a better sense than others, and I’m definitely among the ‘others.’ I recognized that I had been probably sacrificing a ton of profit by not having a better handle on what my outs and my opponent’s outs were. Either by calling bets when I didn’t have live cards, or not extracting the maximum when my cards were the best. But like with Omaha 8, I didn’t want to lose a lot of money just practicing improving my memory at the tables.

So I came up with a game that would help me remember what cards have been folded in Seven-Card Stud. It is set up like an eight-handed Stud game, except there are no hole cards. Eight door cards are dealt out. The low card stays in, and then the three players to act after the low card all fold. The folded cards go into a discard pile.

On 4th Street, I act as if the high hand leads with a bet (though no chips are necessary). The two players left of the high both fold and their cards are placed into a second discard pile.

On 5th Street, there are three “players” remaining. Once again, the high hand stays in, and the hand immediately to the left discards into a third pile.

On 6th Street, it is heads up and the low hand discards into a fourth pile, and the game is over.

Next, I create a chart of the hands that I can remember being folded, as follows:

I give myself 1 point for every card I can remember from 6th Street. 5th Street cards are worth 2 points each. 4th Street cards are worth 4 points each and 3rd street are worth 8 point apiece. If I did my math correctly, that should work out to a total of 50 points possible.

As I get better and better at identifying how many of each card rank have been folded, I’ll start upping the ante by attempting to remember the specific suits. Once I’ve played this game enough times and remembering what’s been folded becomes second nature, then I can go back to the tables and focus more on watching my opponents instead of watching the cards. Who knows? Maybe one day I’ll be able to perform the Rounders scene in real life, and read all my opponents’ hands blind.

Acting Strong when you’re Strong (Follow-Up)

So last night was the big home game, and I had a couple of opportunities to practice what I just preached in the last post. I flopped some huge hands early in the session, and each time I was faced with the question of how best to get paid off. (FYI: Our home game is a no limit hold’em cash game, with $0.10 and $0.25 blinds.)

Hand A
I picked up the 7s-6c in the cutoff seat, and decided to limp in after several people limped in front of me. The button folded, and the small and big blind called and checked, respectively. The flop was nice – Qh-7c-7h. Ben, a loose-aggressive player, bet out $1.25 into the pot of $1.50 from the small blind. It was folded around to me, and I was pretty sure that Ben was holding a Queen only. Since he is an aggressive player, I figured a call would probably get him to bet out again on the turn. A raise here would probably scare him off. So I just called -- standard play.

The turn brought the 7d, giving me four of a kind. Ben, as expected, bet out again – this time for $1.50. Now, how to get him to pay off my quads with his full house? Instead of smooth-calling his little bet, I decided I was going to come in for a raise. However, I didn’t want to completely announce that I was holding the case 7. I decided to “Hollywood” him a little bit, and represent that I also held a Queen.

“I think we’re probably chopping here [i.e., splitting the pot with a tied hand],” I said to him casually, “but I’m going to raise just in case you don’t have a Queen.” I made it $4.50 to go, and he nodded his head dutifully and called.

The river was a King, which wasn’t the greatest card for me because now he might fear a bigger boat. Ben checked to me, and I considered making a small bet that he would have to call. But it occurred to me that he would probably have to call all in, since the turn bet had knocked his stack down to about $5 and the pot was $13. I put him all in, and he called. He didn’t seem all that surprised to see my quads, which, considering my little speech, I guess I can’t blame him for.

Maybe acting isn’t my strong suit?

Hand B
A little later, I was in the in big blind with As-Kc. Nice. I love picking up big hands in the big blind, because I get to see what everyone else does before I decide how strong I want to play them. Especially when it's the Ace of spades. Just a beautiful card.

Anyway, there was an early position limper, and then Sean raised it up to $1 in middle position. Sean is a tight-aggressive player, which normally would be considered a good thing. But unfortunately, he has two major holes in his game: inability to extract the maximum from his opponents and inability to get away from second best hands. Another thing that isn’t necessarily a hole but hurts him is a huge fear of being bluffed. Not the best combination of liabilities for a no limit hold’em player.

It was folded around to me, and I re-raised to $3.25. The limper folded, and Sean thought for a moment before calling. The flop was almost too good: Ac-Ad-4s. A monster for me, but normally trip Aces don’t get paid off all that well. So I had to ask myself, How do I make sure I get something out of this for once? I don’t want to scare Sean out of the pot. But if I check, I’ll have two options if he bets. I can either check-call or check-raise him. Either of these moves looks scary to most hands he could have that don't contain an Ace.

What I want to do is make it look like I’m trying to steal the pot from him. With a board like A-A-x, most players just won’t put you on the Ace until your actions say that you have it. Furthermore, just about no one is expecting you to bet a flop like that if you’re holding an Ace. If I bet here, I can really use Sean’s fear of being bluffed against him. I decided to make a smallish bet relative to the pot size ($3.75 into $6.85) and hope to the poker gods that he was holding a pocket pair. A bigger bet might look even more like a steal, but there's a chance Sean will fold to it anyway just because it's so large.

After I bet, I thought I would try and augment my deceptive play with a little more acting. Sean is an experienced enough player to recognize that typically weak means strong and strong means weak when it comes to physical tells. Initially, I considered acting strong in hopes that he would read me as weak. Still, that wouldn’t be convincing enough. Even better would be if I could act like I was acting strong. That is, I wanted to appear that I was weak and trying to appear strong. Do all the things players do when they're afraid but are trying their hardest not to show it. I pulled my hat down low so that he couldn’t see my eyes. I balled my hands into fists and used them to cover my mouth. I sat there like a statue, waiting for him to act, hoping he would take the bait.

He thought for a while, and called.

The turn was a bit of a scare card for me – the Jack of clubs. I was still pretty sure I had him beat, but immediately I started getting nervous. I had put him on a high-ish pair, and if he’d had pocket Jacks, he had just made a full house on me. Similarly, if he had smooth-called on the flop trying to trap me with A-J, he had just made an even better full house. I wasn’t all that happy to see it.

Still, this is poker, not tiddly-winks. If my charade was going to work, I had to keep looking like I was bluffing him. I bet out $5.75, throwing the chips out aggressively and in his direction. I was acting like I wanted him out of the pot, and I have to admit, the wee bit of nervousness I felt from seeing the Jack come out probably helped me to appear afraid of a call.

Sean thought a little longer this time, and the longer he thought the more convinced I became that he was holding either pocket Queens or pocket 10’s. He would have re-raised me preflop with Kings, and he would not have thought this long with any Ace or with pocket Jacks. He definitely would have folded a pair smaller than 10’s to my re-raise before the flop. Eventually Sean decided to push all in. I called and showed him the bad news. He groaned and showed me pocket Queens.**

I felt for him, he was in a rough spot there. But I was also kinda satisfied with myself. See, Sean is a full-time actor, and probably sees bad performances all the time. So maybe my acting ability isn’t quite as terrible as I’d thought; I had just managed to act my way into $30 worth of his chips. :-P


**As a side note, I think him losing that pot ended up costing him even more money later on. He got bluffed out of a very large pot while holding pocket Queens when there was a King on the board. He bet and called a raise on the flop, then checked and thought forever before folding to a big bet on the turn. I can’t be sure, but something tells me that losing the pot to me with Queens earlier was bouncing around in his head when he made the laydown later in the evening. Ouch.