My Single Favorite Line

It's always nice to lose all the small pots and win all the big ones. My single favorite occurance in Limit poker is flopping a flush draw from early position on a loose table, raising against several opponents when I have the equity to do so and having a player from late position such as the button re-raise me, trapping the whole table for another bet. When I see that it's go time, that's the green light, time to ram and jam the pot and trap most of the table for a full cap. I will lose with my draw about two-thirds of the time, but when the flush hits I'll win a big massive pot. The play is also deceptive against the casual/bad player because you began raising before the flush hit. They'll often not be able to put you on a flush when it hits and anyone that makes a smaller flush (if you're with big cards) will lose the maximum to you. It's just feels nice to drag a pot about 4x the size of the average pot.

Most of the time, the best way to play isn't to try to win every pot, just try to win the big ones.

Check in next week where I'll be discussing the reason 90% of cash game players are terrible. If you find yourself fitting the description, you'll be able to improve your cash game drastically and if you are already a very good player, you can take full advantage of that 90%. I haven't seen it discussed anywhere else so don't miss it.

Limit-Up

Yey! I just moved up in limits online. This is no huge accomplishment because I started out with $50.00 and started at the .5/.10 table. I needed 300 BB's to move to .10/.20 regularly so I only started needing $10 or 100 BB's from the .5/.10 table. A few hours later and I made it.

I'm going to try to do it the long way, but I may be tempted to jump limits later. I'm fairly confident I could hold my own at the $2/4 tables, I just don't have the bankroll for that right now.

I have to be careful, though. I tend to get in a lot more trouble online than I do in real life. I just don't give people the respect that I would normally. I tend to think they're pulling a move on me more often than I would irl. This is all because I can't look over at the person and try to figure out what they're up to. I didn't realize I used that as much in limit as I do. When something's not there anymore, you definitely start to miss it.

It's not just that. I'm really bad with names, I mean terrible. There are people that I speak to two or three times a day at work (I only work 2 days a week) whom I've worked with for several months and if you asked me, I could not tell you what their names were. Short of being a friend, relative, or someone I speak to on a daily basis, I probably will not remember your name. Now that's fine for live play, I can remember faces just fine. However, it's a problem online. I use reads irl but the main tool I use in Limit is just recognizing betting patterns and remembering how someone plays. I have a hard time online with this because there are no faces, just names and occasionally pictures (which are the only reason I can do anything). I struggle trying to remember that bob29 check-raised his trips, l33tz limped with Queens, Jacko raises with K10o, and deeznutz will raise middle pairs all at the same time. In real life, that all comes naturally, I don't even have to put in the effort for a 9 handed table. Online, I'm lucky to be able to keep track of 3 people at once. This is one of my biggest weaknesses and it's something I have to work on.

Who would have thought being bad with names would hurt your poker game?

The Cardsharp continued...

If you haven't already, read the previous post first. Then watch this video (Pay no attention to the first guy):



I chose this video because the guy is pretty sloppy, probably just learning, and it's easier to spot the move than the video in the previous post. These are fairly basic and can explain how the really good cardsharp (last post) did most of his tricks. Once you go back and watch the first video, you should be able to spot several of these.

Trick #1: Starting with the blue deck, all he does is palm the card. Somewhere around 0:35, you can see the hand movements when he slides the card into his palm. He deals and just drops the card back on top after.

Trick #2: The next thing he does is called dealing "seconds". To do that, you just use your thumb to slide the top card to the side and pull out the second card. When you do it quick enough and with a lot of motion, it's hard to notice. Obviously, the top card will be face down.

Trick #3: This is bottom dealing. The Kings are on bottom of the deck. When he gets ready to deal one, he'll just pull it from the bottom. If you look closely, you can see the difference when he deals each King.

Trick #4: He's just palming again. He handles the deck alot so it's hard to tell, but I'm pretty sure he palms it at 1:29. He drops the card out of his palm at 1:34. You can count all 3 cards right there while there are only 2 cards in the other stacks. Granted, he's on a bed, but this can be pretty much unnoticable in the right hands (and as you'll see, all these tricks can be).

Trick #5: I bet you guessed it by now, it's just more palming. People can get very good at switching cards out this way.

Trick #5: Yep, he just switched the card in his palm with the one on the table. With a lot of practice, it's not hard to do.

The last couple were easy to figure out because the cards were face up, but do you think they would be nearly as noticeable face down? Of course not, you'd have no they had even been switched. It's much easier when you see the two cards change face up.

This is a neat trick that shows some decent sleight of hand:



Bet you didn't see what was going on until he showed the Ace. He just slid the Ace out from the bottom when he put the deck back together after the cut, and then he palmed it. You can see the point that he slides the it out, but you can't actually see the card.

These basic tricks can add up to hundreds of variations. They are hard enough to spot when you know what's happening and you're staring at their hands. Would you notice this during a card game from someone you didn't suspect? No, you wouldn't. You'd probably only figure out something was going on if they screwed up. A really good one would do it right under your nose all night. Dickie, and others as good as he, would even swap the entire deck out right at the table. You don't make six figures a year cheating without being that good.

This next video shows what a combination of tricks can do. He actually changes decks at the end and it's hard to spot even though you're looking right at him:



He swaps the two decks out at 0:56. A cheat can take the used deck and bring in his stacked deck that way. From that point on, he can keep the deck where he wants it all night. Shuffling will not undo it completely and they can just work it in time to get it back where they need it.

When these simple moves are used in combination, the deck and cards can be manipulated any way the cheat wants and controlled throughout the session. That's just the tip, though, because there are many, many more cheats not mentioned here. These are just a few basics.

The Cardsharp

The man in this video is not a stranger. He's not just a pair of hands. He's your good friend, maybe your best friend. He knows your family, your kids by name, was at the last Christmas party, even brought presents. All your friends know him and they know what a great guy he is. He's loyal and was always there when you needed it. You've had a lot of great times together. You two have never talked about poker, but you decide ask him over to your card game. He says "Sure, I'll bring the beer!" and you get ready for a great night. Little do you know what he can do with a deck of cards. This is your friend.










Sadly, the day after you'll never see your friend again. You just met a true professional. This is how Dickie made six figures a year.

Do you want to know how he did it? Next time, I'll pull back the curtain and show you.

Doyle Brunson North American Poker Challenge

The five day tournament is over and Joe Hachem is the champion winning a cool 2.1 mil. This is a little bit of validation for him to prove his WSOP Main Event win was not a fluke.

One notable hand was when Ed Jordan moved all-in against Mads Andersen and Negreanu on a board of Qh,Qc,10h,4h. Mads bowed out but Negreanu called. Get this: Ed Jordan flips over 8s,7s and Negreanu flips over Ac,Kh. What a call! Jordan didn't improve and was eliminated. After the hand, Joe Hachem takes the mic and announces "Daniel Negreanu is the sickest poker player on the planet."

Negreanu came into the final table as the chip leader and was 3-2 by the oddsmakers at Bodog to win. Unfortunately, Daniel lost a couple big pots and was eventually eliminated by Hachem.

This was a great win for Hachem. He's been on fire lately after having not one, not two, but three final table appearances at the WSOP this year and just barely missing two new bracelets.

Also of note was that Grinder solidified his spot as Cardplayer Player of the Year in this WPT event and stacked another 50k on top of his 29th place winnings for it.

You can read up on the whole tournament at
Cardplayer.com

This Week In Poker

School is out and due to that I played a whole lot of poker this week. I didn't get the 40 hours I wanted because I ended up having more things to do than I had planned and lost one day to feeling a bit under the weather. I couldn't resist playing a little NL this week for the first time in ages and was pleasantly surprised that I think I'm playing better than I was before. It's completely due to the experience that I've gained playing post-flop from all the limit play.

Oh, I started back up online this week. I had to start my online bankroll all over again after I cashed it out back when it was unclear how online cardrooms were going to deal with the new law. I'm all the way down to 10/20 cents :( and I won't be moving up until I triple up my roll to $150. I follow Lederer's suggestion of having 300x the BB before moving up limits.

Also, I played a couple Fixed Limit SitnGos and a No Limit where I placed 2, 2, 1. On the two SitnGos, once I was at a big chip disadvantage heads up, but we were about even in the other. I'm not sure how to play Limit heads up in a tourney. I do pretty well without the increasing blinds, but they just throw me off in tourneys when you are down to the final two. They were so high I couldn't really let the blinds sit out there without trying to pick them up, but the bets were so large by that point that losing a few means I'm severly short stacked. Not sure, that's why I think I lost both.

In the NL SitnGo, at one point I was almost out on the bubble against two overwhelming chip leaders and 1 guy that had about 4 times my stack. I could tell they had tightened up because I was about to go out and no one wanted to get involved until then. I only had about 8 times the blinds so I couldn't afford to do much but move-in preflop. The game seemed to come to a halt for a while until I finally got some action and doubled-up, putting me just barely in 3rd place and opening up the game now that I wasn't on my last leg. The 2nd place huge stack got involved in a big pot with the chip leader (Doh!) and was put out on the bubble. Eventually the other guy went out and that left me heads up with something like 5-1 chip disadvantage. ThanxB. I figured I had no chance so I just got really aggressive and hoped to get lucky. On about the 3rd hand, I picked up KK and the guy thought I was just pushing with air. I ended up doubling up twice to take the lead and then took it down.

I can tell I'm going to love tourneys when I get to that point. I just want to do the cash game thing now and eventually move to NL as well for the experience, but tourneys are where I want to be after that. They are about 100x the fun.

I also played in Jasper last night and found a good table. I averaged about 8.5BBs/hr or about $17/hr minus $13 for expenses. Bingo must have been closed that night because the place was full of retirees. Every seat in the house was soft. Early on I did a good job of getting away from hands before they cost me too much. I folded like 3 hands that anyone else at that table probably would have been raising with on the flop. My reads were on and it saved me a few extra chips. I ended up giving them back at the end of the night when a couple new players sat down for the last 45 minutes who were extremely loose/aggressive (and one looked JUST like a young Mark Seif). I would have a big hand and raise or re-raise and they would put in a 3rd raise and then raise all the way through the hand. I thought I was beat on a couple hands and check-called all the way only for them to flip over middle pair (huh?) or a weaker two pair. I could have made another 5-7 BBs had I known how they played. Merry Christmas guys.

An older guy that's there regularly and I sat on one end of the table with huge stacks of chips for 1/2. He had moved up to nearly $200 and I was up to $190 so it was a bit awkward with the people commenting about how they were broke as they had to rebuy over and over. It reminded me of the gambler's lament:

"Dear Lord, help me to break even. I need the money."

Unfortunately, I noticed a huge decline in the older guy's play after 10 o'clock and he ended up dropping off about half his stack in a couple hours. It was pretty bad because before he was showing down monsters and by the end he was calling with A high and bottom pair. I felt kinda sorry for him because he plays really well but he just doesn't seem to have the endurance at his age.

Well, that's enough for now. I'll be logging a lot of hours this week and I mean it this time. I could be at work Mon-Fri but I choose not to in order get in the table time. I'll probably be blogging plenty as well. Peace Out.

How To Cheat Your Friends At Poker

Don't let the title fool you. I'm not going to tell you how to be a card cheat so don't get so damn excited. I'm referring to a book I recently read titled "How To Cheat Your Friends At Poker." When I first picked up the book to skim through it, I figured the cover was some gimmick and the book was really about playing ABC poker to beat your friends or a few cheap magic tricks or something. Nope. It's the real deal, boys. The whole thing is literally about how to be a real card cheat. My personal morals and ethics would not let me buy it for anything near that reason, but as an entertaining read, well that's another story.

The story is told through the eyes of "Dickie Richards," and no, that's not his real name. Let me tell you, this guy is dirty. I mean Duuuuurrrrttttyyy. You know that dirty relative you have. Everyone has at least one; my family has a few. The one with no shame that will tell stories of his glory days that would make a sailor blush. The stories that make you think he's full of shit 'cause no one would do anything like that, but it just might be true too. Dickie is the epitome of that person. Not just that, he's concentrate. You know that devil that you see on people's shoulders? No that's not Dickie, but he takes notes from Dickie.

"Being buddies sometimes means putting in some effort. Usually, you only have to do that work to get invited to a game.....Maybe you lend and hand when your friend is stuck in the parking lot and you stop to help fix his flat tire. He'll be grateful and want to hang with you some day, and maybe you'll wind up playing cards. He'll never know you let the air out of his tires in the first place."

You know Worm from Rounders? I'm not totally sure they didn't base that character on Dickie. There are so many similarities, like either Worm was based on Dickie or Dicked was based on Worm. If Rounders had made a spin-off book based on that character, they couldn't have done it much better than this book. The only difference is that Dickie is much meaner, dirtier, more cunning, ...and richer.

The title is a little bit misleading. I've read it, and I may know more ways people can cheat and what the slang for it is, but I'd still be no better at it than anyone else. In fact, the book only really has one dedicated chapter to it and in that chapter he says to go buy Erdnase's book if you want to figure out how actually to do it all. Dealing seconds, palming, slugs, cold decking, bottom dealing are all mentioned but he doesn't go into much detail on how to do it. Dickie didn't really want to teach people how to cheat, he just wanted an outlet to tell the world the things he had done. That's not easy to do in his line of work because the next day you might get whacked. This book should really be titled "Memoirs of a Con."

However, what the book does do is give you insight on the life of a card cheat. With each new piece of advice he gives you, he'll usually accompany it with some story that happened to him. These things are fun to read. I found myself laughing out loud at what I was reading.

"I played in a weekly game with a bunch of thirty-to-forty year olds who worked at a northeastern college. One night, three young coeds showed up shitfaced. They'd heard about the game and wanted to play some poker. They weren't beauties, but they were all fuckable. They were welcomed into our game. Somebody suggested, only half-jokingly, that we play strip poker. After a few more drinks the girls agreed, and no one had to convince the fellows.

We played for six hours. I won big. All the girls were completely naked and ready to play for "favors." The guys were down to socks and underwear. I told the table that I was taking my winnings, scooped up all the clothes and walked out of the room. Everyone had a good laugh. Besides, no one was going to chase me across campus in just their underwear, and with a raging hard-on.

I went out the back door, got into my car, and drove away. I never saw my friends again. They must have thought of it as a joke taken way too far. They were drunk and never thought to stop me; they must have forgotten that I had all their wallets in their slacks...

Subtract the $300 I'd paid the hookers to pose as coeds, and it was still a good business move. Whores can act; they almost had me believing they were shy about taking off their clothes."

That is only the tip of the iceberg.

Dickie wasn't just a card mechanic. He did quite a bit of con'ing. He was a loan shark at one time. Also, a pimp. His passion was with cards though. Throughout the book, he describes clever tricks like making an extra set of fake car keys to leave on the table when he "goes to smoke." That buys him enough for him to snatch the cash box and get the hell out of town. They think his keys are on the table, he's not going anywhere.

"Junior, the most trusting of the bunch, had told me that Ploppy - a two-faced old coot - had complained to all the other guys in that game that I was cheating. I was cheating, of course, but he didn't know that. I get pissed at being slandered about something no one really knows I'm doing."

There are other things besides cards, too. For instance, there's a chapter dedicated to screwing the host's wife. Another one describes a con he made up to pull a few hundred from strippers. There are things that are just hilarious that are just too wrong for me to put down in this blog. If a movie were made about this guy (and it would be a great movie), it would be rated R or NC-17 and Quentin Tarentino would direct it (minus some of the violence).

Like all things, there is a climax where karma catches up to him towards the end at the 50,000/100,000 stakes Judge's game and he wants to jump off of a bridge afterwards. He can't believe how stupid he was. You can feel how mad he's getting while he's building up to tell you what happened to him. I won't spoil that for you, though.

Next time you're on a road trip, have some time to kill, or just want a new book to read, pick it up. You don't even have to like poker for this guy to be hilarious.

A Gambling Joke

A guy worked all his life in Pittsburgh. One day he wakes up and hears a voice in his head: "Quit your job, sell your car, sell your house, go to Vegas."

The guy figures he's been working too hard, so he ignores it and goes to his job. Every day, he hears the voice, louder and more often:

"Quit your job, sell your car, sell your house, go to Vegas!"

This guy's been in the same job for twenty years, and he doesn't want to throw that all away. But every day, the voice comes back. He tries to ignore the voice, he goes to therapy, he gets on Prozac, but week after week, month after month, the voice just gets louder:

"QUIT YOUR JOB, SELL YOUR CAR, SELL YOUR HOUSE, GO TO VEGAS!"

Finally, the poor guy can't take it anymore, so he quits his job. He puts his house up on the market and takes the first offer that will give him cash. He sells his car, and he cashes in his retirement options. He takes all the cash and buys a ticket to Vegas.

When he steps off the plane, the voice says, "GO TO CAESAR'S PALACE." He hops in a cab and goes up the Strip. When he enters the front doors, the voice says "GO TO THE ROULETTE TABLE." The guy doesn't even check in. He makes his way past the slots, past the blackjack tables, and pushes his way to the first roulette wheel he sees.

"PUT IT ALL ON 13-RED."

The guy takes his whole roll of cash, slaps it down on 13-red, and the dealer spins the wheel. The ball goes round and round, eventually slowing...it bounces around different numbers until it finally lands on 26-black.

The voice says, "FUCK!"

-Dickie Richard

The Cooler

I haven't played any limit this week, instead feeling like playing No Limit again. I brushed up today just before going back to play in Florida. I think I didn't play as well as I should have. I know I made at least four really loose calls pre-flop but that doesn't bother me nearly as bad as some of my post flop play where it really matters. I know I made mistakes in several hands.

It's ironic because the only time I've left down, I felt really good because I couldn't think of any clear mistakes I had made all night. Tonight, I left up and felt really really bad and could think of a couple hands right off the top that could have been played better. I'm glad that it's that way, but it doesn't ease the feeling at all.

One thing that bothered me, although I know it's correct, was that I raised pre-flop exactly 10 times and folded by the turn 9 out of 10 times. At least 5 of those times, the flop came 3 of one suit, which I was not holding. I never paired big cards and the one hand I won was a straight I caught on the river. I folded the best hand once or twice, and one time I probably should have stayed in. I had AQ and raised pre-flop. The flop came 3 hearts with 1 Ace, neither of my two cards were a heart. The pot was about 10 bets and I was in 2nd position with 2 players to act behind me. The small blind raised and I folded, figuring that with 2 people behind me and the raiser to my right, I was drawing slim. Everyone folded and she showed me A3, no heart. It's just terrible to fold the best hand, worst mistake you can make in small stakes limit. I should have re-raised, to get everyone besides the flush draws out (who would have still called)and to see if anyone already had the flush. That would have been the correct play but instead I gave up about 10-15 bets. Awful play.

The cooler came at the end of the night. I had KQs and raised preflop on the button. It was 6 handed. The flop brings AA2 rainbow and it's checked around. The turn brings the Q with all 4 suits on the board. I'm confident I have the best hand here. There is only one guy that worries me because he was a tricky player and always slowplayed trips or big hands he made on the flop. His check on the flop didn't guarantee he didn't have trips. I raised here and he called as well as one other guy. This raised my suspicions because there was no draw on the board and people usually get out of the way if they have nothing on these kinds of flops. To add to it, these guys were semi-tight. The only hands I could put them on were a duece, small pocket pair, and queen thats afraid to raise because of the 2 Aces, or a straight draw. I really had my eye on the tricky player here. The River brought the 3rd Ace. I felt like I had the best hand at this point with only 1 Ace left in the deck. I had a full house and could only be beaten by the case Ace or pocket Kings. Both players would have raised pre-flop with Kings so the worst case scenario was lose to the last Ace or tieing the pot. The tricky player checked, the next checked, and I raised. Tricky player re-raises me and the next folds. I re-raise back, and he caps it. I'm still kinda suspicious of the case Ace because if he had it, he would have played the hand exactly this way. I put him on about 20% Ace (which is a huge percent considering only 1 left in the deck), 70% to hold a Q, and 10% to be holding something else. There's no way I'm folding here and I think we're going to split. I can't shake the feeling of the case Ace though because of how the hand played out. He'd have raised with any medium strength hand like a duece or pocket pair and would have folded if a straight draw hadn't come in. He rarely bluffed. "You got the Ace?" I ask him. "Nah, I got a Queen." I immediately put him on the last Ace then, something that is very hard to do, but I had played with him for about 3 hours at this point and had a great read on the way he played/acted at the table. He was good enough to not be re-raising me with a smaller hand that Aces full, as he knew I was strong if I was re-raising. With 1 big bet to go for a 20 big bet pot, I certainly was calling, but as I did, I asked him to show the Ace to everyone, being about 90% sure that's what he had now. He shows the Ace and I muck Aces full of Queens, the 2nd best hand.

I'm not unhappy about the hand. This is not really a big deal in limit unlike had it been No Limit because the last call was automatic here, no matter what I thought he had. It would have been more deserving of that analysis had it been a No Limit game. I was just really happy that I had such a good read on him that I could put him on the 1 card in the deck by how the hand played out. But you're never totally happy losing a huge pot to the case card. I ended up losing about 6 BB's in that pot, thanks to his slowplay (something, btw, you should only rarely do at small stakes. He could have won more had he fired back at me on the turn trapping the caller between us).

I'll get my game back in gear this week and be looking to do some damage next time. Playing poorly is just not acceptable.

Your Table Image Matters In Low Limit

As you may know if you read the blog, I play live often at a $1/2 card room in Florida. The people there are about 80% retirees, married couples, or guys coming in after a hard day at work. The huge minority are players that are there to make money and play seriously.

I always find it funny when I see players sitting at these micro-limit tables wearing Ipods, hoody's, and worst of all, Sunglasses. Are you kidding me?!? This is low *limit*. Guys are watching their favorite player at the WSOP and without thinking, just imitating what they see and bringing it to the card room. Are they really afraid that the 70 year old retiree squinting at the flop is gonna catch a read on him and call down his stone cold $1 bluff. This just seems so ridiculous to me. If anyone sits down at my table like that, I pin him as a *sucker*. He obviously has not played much limit. This isn't High Stakes No Limit son, this is Bingo at the local VFW.

If anything, this image actually hurts them. The vast majority of people are there to have a good time, not to be the next World Poker Tour champion. They are paying money to gamble, socialize, and have fun on the weekends. Do you think they are having fun with you if your not saying a word, covering your face, trying to imitate a statue everytime you bet? Well, they aren't. That's too serious and it either makes them not want to play at your table or play better whenever you're in a hand. On top of that, if you're quiet, whenever you suddenly wake up and start betting, it's a huge red flag to everyone there. You don't want to be Chris Ferguson at these tables, you want to be more like Daniel Negreanu; happy, friendly, chatty, always smiling etc.



That was a great example of playing well while being very entertaining to the rest of the table. Even though your tight play is pretty well known to most, when you're very friendly and talkative, people will still want to come into pots and play with you. I'm sure the "serious" players are afraid that talking too much will give something away, but anyone with any real sense will realize that the old lady waiting to call will not pin you on your KK because of how you were joking with your neighbor at the time.

If your a statue, your soft seat will usually dry up after you run off all the players you earn from. However, if you're fun, people will sit there with you all night and just keep rebuying. They are paying to have a good time remember, make sure they get their money's worth.

Another side effect is that conversations start up that will continue through hands. Many times players involved won't even be paying attention to whats going on or paying any attention to the hand that they are still in. When you raise or re-raise, it's not nearly as big of a flag because most people don't even realize it and you've been involved with the table all night so it's not as big of shock that you're suddenly alive. You'll find people not even realizing the action is to them to call or fold to your raise, they get reminded mid-sentence, and make a quick call to keep the action moving. You can make a lot off your value bets in this way.

I'm naturally quiet when I play. I like to concentrate and get absorbed in my own world at the table. However, I knew this wasn't the best way to play at these low limit tables and last weekend I decided I was going to have a good time. I would be chatty, strike up converstations, and be as friendly to everyone as I could be. I ended up having the most successful night I've ever had. I played as well as usual, but the pots I won were usually bigger because more people wanted to play. Often one or two conversations were going on while I was in the hand (with the best hand) and I got way more action than I normally do. Even when I would raise with KK or something pre-flop, someone across the table would say "He must have a great hand, if he's raising he's got it"......AND THEN CALL. I would literally raise with QQ pre-flop, look across to someone I had been chatting it up with all night, see them looking at me deciding to call or fold to my raise and say "C'mon, you know I've got it" and they would STILL call. These are the same players that would previously fold without a strong hand whenever I raised. Here they were calling with rags.

My table stayed soft all night. People kept rebuying over and over and my stack kept growing and growing to the point I started feeling like I needed to hide part of my stack before their good demeaner changed and I got mobbed to get their chips back. It never happened though, the seat was soft all night, the pots were big, I got lots of action, and probably best of all, I actually had a lot of fun.

I almost felt sorry for the guys that would occasionally sit at the table with the serious, No Limit demeaner you see professional players have. They played well enough but they didn't win nearly as much as me and were often made fun of and disliked by the players at the table. At one point, a guy sat down that takes 1 dollar bets far too seriously, wearing an Ipod and a hat that almost covered his eyes, and some of the most desired people to sit with almost got up and left. Everytime he was in a hand, he would lower his hat to the point you couldn't see his eyes. Guess what? The married couple and retirees never got a read on him, but he also never got any real action.

The next time you're sitting down with a table full of people playing for fun, leave the headphones at home. You're there to make money and they are there to have a good time. Make sure that happens and they will keep the money coming. Oh, and save the sunglasses for Foxwoods.

What's the play?

I went to Jasper the other night and played the best limit I've played since I began. I'm confident in saying that. Even so, I left stuck one big bet. In the first 2 hours I sat down, I'd never seen so many people making or flopping the nuts. Every other hand someone had the nut flush, nut straight, or full house. It was unreal. I heard "I flopped the nuts" about 8 times in that 2 hours. I won 1 hand with AJ suited on a flop of AA7 rainbow against only a couple of people and really didn't get much action on it. I still managed to not get in trouble against any of the monsters and stayed even, thankfully. No complaints though, the pots were huge and I couldn't wait to make a hand.

Long story short, I only won 1 big pot all night, compared to the usual 3 or 4...and a couple small pots. I had a hand come up that I wanted to share and see if there was another other move I could make to have won the hand. I had AA on the button. It's checked around and I raise. I get 5 callers. The flop comes Q82 with two diamonds. It's raised by a player sitting across from me, everyone folds to a girl who calls. It's then folded around to me. I had been watching how the girl played all night because she was a pretty decent player. She folded garbage hands, only came in with solid hands, and usually only smooth called on draws. I'm pretty sure she also respected my raises because she never called them unless she had a big draw. I felt he was betting Queens and she was calling with a diamond draw. I thought my choice came to:

(12 Small Bets in the pot)

A) Raise for value. I had the best hand against two players. Just hope the diamond doesn't get there and hope the overpair holds up. I couldn't have gotten either player to fold.

B) Smooth call hoping to keep the pot smaller and raise or even better -Reraise- on the Turn and try to force out 1 player or give he/she bad odds to call, primarily the guy who would need to improve to two pair or trips to win. This was awkward though because the flop raiser was to my left. I wouldn't been been able to make a move that gave the girl the wrong odds to call so the only person I could try to force out by this would be the guy betting his Queens. If I got to make it 2 to go, it would only be because she had raised or re-raised which meant she probably hit something big. She only raised with good hands and only re-raised with huge hands.

C) Smooth call to see if the diamond hits on the turn, if it doesn't I can raise or re-raise then since her chances of making the flush were now cut in half.

I couldn't figure out any good way to protect the hand because of the position I was in and the size of the pot so I raised for value. It was called around and a diamond hit on the turn. He raised and she re-raised. The pot was now about 11.5 Big Bets with 2 to go. I folded the AA but I would have been sick if I'd laid down the best hand in that pot. At the showdown, he had a pair of Queens and she had a diamond flush.

I feel strange about laying it down because the pot was large and if I laid down the best hand it would have cost me almost 14 big bets by the end vs the 2 or 4 it would cost me to call and be wrong. If she had two pair I would have had a decent redraw to two pair or trips. I just knew she had the diamond flush though, so I'm not sure what the correct play was there.

This hand bothers me because I'm not sure what the correct play was on the flop. I think it's between betting for value or calling to see what the turn brings and betting then if it was safe since protecting the hand would have been almost impossible (unless I missed something). The last option would have lost the minimum if the flush hit but the first option would have built a bigger pot to win unless the flop raiser decided to check the turn because of my re-raise.

I also wonder what the correct play would have been if the diamond hit but it was only 1 Big Bet to go. I'm pretty sure folding would not have been right, and calling or raising to push him out would have. Any thoughts on this?

High Stakes Poker

There's a few things I want to mention before heading out for another night in the card room. Have you guys seen the show High Stakes Poker on Game Show Network? If not, you should check it out. Episodes can be found on YouTube of course.

This is the sickest pot you and I've ever seen. Keep in mind they are playing with their own money.



Other interesting High Stakes Poker moments include Esfandiari threatening to quit poker (and looking sincere) after losing over 100K in a big pot. He mentions selling furniture several times through the episode.

Mike Matusow is always fun to watch. In his best episode, he decides to get up and leave until players at the table offer him 4,000 just to stay. He does so saying they'll all regret that after he breaks them. A short time later Mike busts out, leaving 100k at the table.

In other news, I really hate playing online. There's just something about it I don't like. When I actively played another card game, I always hated playing that online. It's unfortunate, but that's just how it is. I love playing live poker and dislike the online stuff. However, after a hiatus from the online game, I've had to get back on. I have to get in practice during the week and it's about the only way. I signed up to Full Tilt (which is ok, but not great) and on the first day back watched Phil Ivey win 40k in a limit heads up game. 40k in 15 minutes. Over the last 30, it was something like 90k total. That's great for Phil, 90,000 for 30 minutes of work and unfortunate for the millionaire he was playing who started with 150K and was left with 40K. Odd and yet not so odd thing was, Phil didn't even seem interested. He kept taking breaks every 5 or so minutes. I could imagine him getting up to talk to someone, taking a break, checking out what was on tv, going to the fridge for some food, answering the phone etc. This wouldn't be strange for the average person killing time, but he was playing for over 100K....and it's nothing special.

The truth is, it isn't anything special. If you haven't heard about it, check out the story of Andy Beal, the billionaire that almost broke the Vegas pros. They played as high as 100,000/200,000 limit. What Ivey was playing with total was just the blinds in that game.

Protect Your Hand or Muck It

It's Friday and as I plan to continue doing for a while, I went down to Jasper to play some 1-2 Limit. I think I played "ok" tonight but nothing great. I had a few new "tricks" to add to the bag and I wanted to get some field time with them. That's almost always a little bumpy until I get it down.

When I say "tricks," what I really mean is a correct play that is not always intuitive and it helps maximize your profit of the long run. I want to discuss a couple interesting hands that I played tonight; one that I misplayed and one that I think I played correctly.

It was the end of the night and I had just sat down at a new table filling it up. I recognized a couple of people there, but most of the table was new to me. I was sitting to the left of a loose, aggressive player and in low limit 9 handed game, that's usually the best seat in the house.

I have to take an aside here because it will help to explain why I misplayed the first hand and played the second very well. In a low limit game where 6-8 people are regularly seeing the flop, it's very hard to protect your hand profitably. This is because the pot is so large on the flop and later betting rounds that many people are getting very good odds to draw out on you if you're holding the best hand. Most of the time, people are extremely loose and calling just to see another card, but they are often unknowingly making the correct play. I'm not even talking about open straight draws and flush draws that only require about 5-1 and 4-1, but even draws to two pair or trips when they currently only hold middle or bottom pair. Gutshots are also possible since they only need about 10.5-1 and the pot is often that big. When a player flops top pair, they will usually bet out. That's the intuitive move and they are betting for value. However, they are not protecting their hand which is extremely vulnerable. Their bet will just be called as it should by many players with even small draws. You don't profit when that happens. Then on the turn, the flop raiser could raise again, but because of his bet on the flop and the number of callers, the pot is even bigger and many will even have the odds to draw to the river. Again, they don't know that most of the time, but their call is still correct. You see a lot of people play like this and then someone catchs a 2nd pair on the river or some other hand to win. Then the losing player tries to ridicule the player: "How could you call that raise with bottom pair on the flop??? With no pair??? With just overcards??? With a gutshot???" It wasn't the player that called with a pair of 3's on the flop that made the mistake, but the other player who failed to effectively protect his vulnerable hand.

The way you have to try to protect a vulnerable hand in a low limit game is to pay close attention to the pot odds. There is often no way to protect the top pair on the flop in a big multiway pot and raising only makes it much harder to protect on the turn. The player should either hope a raise comes from his/her right in order to re-raise and cut the pot odds in half. Then the player with the 4 or 5 outer cannot call profitably, and if they do call without odds, they are contributing dead money. You profit in limit this way. If there is no raise to then re-raise, then a raise on the turn will at least be more effective since the pot is much smaller than it would have been had the top pair player just led out. That's not even mentioning if you can get in a re-raise on the turn forcing players to cold call 2 raises. That just shatters their odds.

Many times it's just impossible to protect a top pair hand and that's why they are so vulnerable and should be played very carefully. It's also why pocket pairs and suited connectors play so well in these big muliway pots. If they make their hand, a set/straight/flush, the hand is not nearly as vulnerable and doesn't require the protection that weaker hands need. Protecting a weak hand in a game like this is difficult, but extremely important in maximizing your hourly rate.

So I sat down with some new faces and folded a few hands until I was dealt AQ offsuit from late position. There hadn't been a raise when the action got to me so I raised it. It was called all the way around. The flop comes Q104 with 2 clubs. It was checked around and I raised with my top pair. The pot was re-raised ahead of me and most of the table called. I wasn't sure about how the player who re-raised played and didn't give him much respect. The pot was quite large at this point. I considered re-raising, but decided against it since it wouldn't really accomplish anything (Another mistake. In situations like this, raising or folding is usually right and calling is the worst play you can make. This is like mistaked 3 of 5 this hand. Ow!). The turn brings a club, the flop raiser raises again, it's called around, I call the 2, and it's re-raised again. Several people leave at this point, and I realize I'm probably behind, but I'm getting something like 20-1 (the pot was massive). There are 3 of us left on the river when the board pairs. It's raised, I call hoping to showdown. Well, there's a betting and raising war at this point, where I get in 1 call before making the definite laydown giving away my chance to win a $50 pot. They both cap it and one flips over the flush and the other flips the full house. He caught a set on the flop and the board paired on the river. He raked in the biggest pot I've seen in 1-2 limit (25-30 BB's in 1/2 Limit is just unreal) It was nearly a $60 pot in the end.

To make a long story short, I made several mistakes and one was going too far with a hand I couldn't protect (not considering that the guy already had a set). The pot was so big that even if there was a raise to my right and I re-raised, everyone would still be getting enough pot odds to cold call two bets and draw to their 4 outer and up. The size of the pot definitely had a big impact on why I stayed so long, but with 9 people to the flop, my hand was far too vulnerable to hope to stand up without being able to protect it. I wasn't just up against a couple guys with better hands at the time, but the rest of the table and had no way of narrowing it down. I should have gotten out much sooner. I ended up losing about $10-15 on that pot alone with just top pair. Top pair is a good hand in a small pot since you can easily protect it by betting but you're at the mercy of the deck when you can't protect it in big pots like this. There were several huge mistakes and I hope to learn from them. I certainly paid for it.

The 2nd hand was one I was fairly proud of even though no one at the table understood what was going on. I had KQ offsuit on the button. It was checked around to me and I raised. 6 people called and the loose aggressive guy to my right raised (check-raised that is). I called as did everyone else correctly at that point. The flop had J94 all clubs. I had the King of clubs in my hand. This board gave me two overcards, a flush draw to the 2nd nuts, and a gutshot straight draw. Added together that's a great hand with a lot of outs and 13 of which are to the nuts. It's checked around on the flop. I thought about raising here since I certainly had pot equity to profit from a raise but I decided to try to keep the pot small since any raise would still have allowed any player to draw to any 4 outer and I planned to try to protect my hand on the turn. I didn't want the pot to be too large that a bet there had no effect. The turn brings a blank. It's checked around the table and the guy to my right (who check raised me preflop) raises. I'm definitely not folding here. It's either call or raise. The pot is about 7 big bets, give or take. Calling would give the next guy 8-1 (8 BB's with 1 to call) and so on. Everyone could draw with any low pair and try to two pair or trip up profitably. Part of the strength of my hand was having overcards to the board and winning with a pair of Kings or Queens if I missed the flush or gutshot. At that point, I just wanted to push people out of the pot to raise my chance of winning with just a pair even though I felt I was beat at that point. I re-raised making it 4 to go and cutting the pot odds down to about 4-1. The table folds around to the raiser to my right and he calls. A blank hits on the river and he checks. I check figuring him almost certainly for some pair. He flips up Q high and my K high takes down the pot to the gasp of the rest of the table. It even takes the dealer longer than normal to realize that just K high was taking down the pot. Turns out my bet was effective at protecting my hand as I hoped. A couple of people had folded low pairs because of the 2 big bets they would have had to call. Had I not raised, they would have stayed cheap for just a call (a correct call) and gotten a cheap showdown short of me deciding to bluff the river which almost always fails in this type of game (and I wouldn't have done it here). The re-raise effectively pushed people with better hands out of the pot increasing my chances of winning. Even if I picked up a few callers, the pot equity I had was very good for the strong draw I had as well. This is a good example of how you need to play some hands in order to max. your chances of winning. I could have played it differently in many ways, but most would have led to losing a pot that could have been won.

In limit, sometimes you have to check the best hand to protect it. Sometimes you have to raise even though you know you currently hold the worst hand. The only way to get an idea of what to do is to pay attention to the pot odds and equity and figure out what's going on with your odds and well as how a play you make will affect those left to act after you.

Anyways, that's all for now. There's so many things that go on in that card room that I could rant about, but I'll save that for another day. It's a great place to go to get free or cheap experience in low limit. I fully expect a bad day to come up where I leave the place a big loser, but hopefully it won't be anytime soon. Most of the time I'm not satisfied by the money I leave with, but rather how I played. I could leave way up and feeling terrible or down and feeling very good. Odd how that is.

Till next time,
Peace