Manipulate Emotions to Your Advantage; PLO is Crazy

So, since AA is back, I've revived my focus on poker. I played both days this past weekend, and am planning to play tomorrow as well. Finally, I've started to catch cards and be able to trap the donks who don't have a clue what's happening.

Saturday, I was sitting at a very strange calling station $1-2NLH table in seat 10. Some were aggressive, some were passive. Some played strict HOH poker. To my right was a VERY aggressive player; apparently a player who had just moved from California. All at the table were convinced that she was a donk, but after careful analysis, it seems to me that she is a very strong player who was not afraid to gamble. She could bet people off decent hands, play marginal hands very well, etc. Anyway, I hadn't posted yet since the blinds were 2 away from me, so I was watching a hand between her and the HOH player. He PFRed to like $15 and she called. Flop came junk (unbenounced to me and most of us, the flop have a gut shot straight drwa). HOH made a pot sized bet, she called. The turn, as we later found out, completed the gut shot straight. HOH bet, she pushed all in, HOH called. They don't show yet, but the river comes blank and she doubles through HOH.

So, the HOH guy starts to go off about how she is a crap player because she called a pot sized bet with a straight draw. So, the lady fires about how he was an idiot for calling with an all-in with an overpair. The HOH guy goes completely on tilt, busts out and rebuys a few times. All the while, this lady is just dragging pot after pot with what ended up being the best hands. It seemed that many people were trying to attack her/her stack and she could capitalize... all because of that one gut shot. She actually hit a few more gut shots, and when I say few, I mean more than 2. She also did a very good job of protecting her stack. She picked the right times to gamble. At the end of the day, she was up at least $1800, and the other dude was stuck at least $500.

That night reminded me of a story I heard about a poker player.. I think I read it in a magazine. Basically it goes: "While sitting at a very tight table, a very weak loose-aggressive player sat down. He played every hand, but not only did he play every hand, he RAISED every hand. He won a lot of pots with crap cards. So, we all tried to bust him, but his cards kept holding up. He made a lot of money off us and then left. The rest of us sat there and talked about how how bad of a player he was. Later on, after leaving the casino, I analyzed his play. Being that aggressive, he knew that people would try to bust him with 'good' hands. He played accordingly, and knew when he was beat. He wasn't the bad player after all; he was the best player at the table, and we were the bad ones for trying to pick on one player versus playing our game."

To update you all on how I did, I got up a few hundred. I could never coax that lady into a pot with me. Seems like she would always fold when I showed aggression. I did, however, also change up my play. I pushed a few more marginal hands, started to straddle-with-mandatory-reraise a lot. Didn't get a lot of action at first, but would eventually get action... lots of action. Many times much more than I wanted. I remember having AKos anf PRF UTG to $20. I got 6 callers. Flop came middle cards, and I CBET about $40. 2 folds I believe, and one re-raises to $100. 1 calls, folds to me, and I of course have to fold. Crazy. But I was early, so maybe that dude hit a set or something. I didn't sweat it. Those actions/folds gave me action later in the game... profitable action. I saw people winning pots all night with 5 high flushes, so I would limp with Ax suited and bust people. It's nice to catch cards. They couldn't even see it coming.

Ok, one last word about this session. If there are any poker newbies reading this, do NOT bring friends to watch you play poker if it's your first time ever on a table. Doing this essentially labels you as "FREE MONEY." There was this guy who sat down in the 3-4 seat with like $200. Not unusual, but what was unusual was that he had 2 buddies, who weren't on lists just sit back and watch. They weren't even on the rail. I told AA that it was the first time in a LONG time that I felt like a shark on the table. The look on his face just said "Please sir, take my money." Sure enough, after about 3 orbits, he was busted. So if it's your first time, just don't say anything to anyone, k? It'll save you money.

Sunday's session was 1 hand on a $1-2NLH table, a $45 single table SNG, and about 4 hours of $1-2PLO. Our PLO table was stacked! 2 WSOP winners, 3 high limit cash game players, 1 strictly PLO player (who has probably played the big game), one of the Russians, and AA and myself. Play was CRAAAZZZYY. It was nothing to see $300-$600 pot bets get called. They just kept digging into their pockets, pulling out $100 chips, pumpkins, or cash, and kept going. AA and I were just trying to catch hands. Unfortunately for AA, he was still card dead from 4 months ago. I did ok. I pulled a few small-medium pots, but got one big beat on the river for all of my winnings from the night before.

I don't remember any notable hands, but I did feel very comfortable and competitive on the PLO in comparison to the last few times I played. Hopefully, they'll keep spreading the game. I wish they could spread a low limit Omaha high-low game also. That'd be fun.

I think tomorrow I'm going to try to get them to spread a $5-$10 HOSE table. We'll see.

Card Dead, but Good Laydowns

First, AA, this question is directed to you: WHY THE HELL DO WE PLAY POKER?!?!?!? :)

For you sports fans who don't get it, AA and I have been absolutely card DEAD in hold'em for the past 6 months. What's worse is that my good hands would get beat. For example, I'd get KK early with one caller; flop comes AQX. I bet and get re-raised. Grrrrr. Showed the kings before I folded, and he flashed his ace. I did get AKd and AJs, preflop raised, and everyone folded, so I'd win an amazing $15.

Here's the best laydown of the night. $1-$2NLH - 8 handed, I'm 3rd to act and get dealt JJ. The guy under the gun raises $10. Action to me, I re-raise to $30. All fold to this one guy, who goes all-in for his last $120. The guy next to him, who is the big stack, calls. All fold to UTG, who also calls (and has roughly $45 left). Action to me again. I go into the tank for a minute, and fold. Eventually, UTG goes all in for his last $45. The big stack calls. The first all in-er and the big stack both had AK unsuited, and UTG had QQ. I was dominated. The river came with an A, so the two split the pot. Easy laydown, but good laydown nonetheless.

I sat on 2 tables last night, and play was SUPER tight. Most of you may know that I'm a pretty tight aggressive player, so being at a tight table wasn't helping my game (especially when getting rags). I need to remember that the best way to play a table is to play the opposite of your players, take more chances, etc. There is this new straddle strategy I need to try sometime soon, though it's pretty expensive.

So, even though I donked off a couple hundred, I feel that I reinforced my confidence in being able to read situations properly. This is the beginning of the comeback, so keep posted for updates!

Be Mindful of Your Table Image

So, I just got home from an 8 hour session where I'm stuck $140. Interestingly, I feel like I played great poker for 7 of the 8 hours. Recently, I read an article in CardPlayer that talked about developing and utilizing your table image. So, it took me about 3ish hours, but I developed a "rock" image... meaning uber-tight play. Every time I raised, everyone folded; and I, still trying to develop an image, would show a premium hand, and complain about how I didn't get any action.

As the night went on, my hands got progressively worse and worse, but I had learned that I could strategically raise certain people, and they would fold (by strategically, I mean that that it'd only work in certain situations). It actually worked out really well because I, being the "tight" player, could bet people off better, and often times winning hands, because they respected my bets and disliked the texture of the flops. There were even times when I had to 2 barrel and 3 barrel some hands because they would be suspicious. Eventually, they would fold and I would rake the pot. At this time of the session, I was up about $160, and really never had to showdown a hand.

Then disaster happened... our table was broken up

So, when I sat at the new table, I was still in the "raise/steal" mode. What I failed to realize, due to fatigue, I'm sure, was that most of the people at the table had no idea about the image I had built at the previous table. So, I would see situations that were similar to the raising situations at the other table, and they wouldn't work. In fact, in retrospect, I played enough pots to have actually developed a "loose aggressive" aura. It didn't help that we had an actual poker elite (for Caesars Indiana) at the table, who was pretty much dictating the action. I ended up donking off most of my stack in an effort to bluff out the pro, who was in turn trying to bluff me out as well... it's just that he had 5x more chips than I did. I lost all of my profits and about $140 to the pro, who was playing very good aggressive poker.

So the moral of this story is: Remember that your table image last only as long as the table remains together. If you move/break, you have to reset, and reestablish your image.

Trust Your Instincts, but Think About Big Hands Also

2 very interesting situations came up this weekend. I was playing $1-2NLH last Saturday evening when a couple sat down at our table. I had seen the guy before, though I hadn't seen his wife. It turns out that the wife is a much stronger player than the husband. I was sitting in seat 7, the husband took seat 8, and the wife took seat 9. So, as the night wore on, I saw seat 8 make some absolutely horrendous calls, say a call with TT (black) on a board with 23577, four diaminds to a raise and reraise. He actually lost his whole stack (~$200) about 20-30 hands before this hand. He went and re-bought for $80, and is down to $75 or so when:

$1-2NLH
SB - $300ish
BB - $325
UTG (Hero) - $350
UTG+1 (Villain) - $75
UTG+2 - $500
UTG+4 - $200ish

Hero is dealt KK

Blinds post. Hero raises to $15. Villain calls, UTG+2 calls, UTG+4 calls. The rest fold. Pot is $63.

Flop: 2 3 9 rainbow.

Hero bets $35. Villain raises all in for $60. Pot is now $158.

I thought, "...well I guess this guy hit bingo..." I guess I had been raising a lot of pots because I my raises were getting a lot of action. At any rate, I was getting 6 to 1 pot odds to call. So I went into the tank and thought about what I could beat.

I can beat QQ-TT, 88-44, and most suited connector combinations. All I'm really scared of is AA, 99, 33, and 22.

Next question; what would this guy call me with? Well, he's looking for an opportunity to double up, and doesn't know how to fold a lousy hand, so he could have top pair with a good kicker, 2 pair (23, probably not 29 or 39), or a set. So, overall, I looked like I was in good shape.

But, there was something about the hand that made me wonder. This dude is on tilt, and he's a bad player, and I don't think he'd slow down if he hit a set. Something didn't seem right. So I did the math if my worst fears were correct. If he had 2 pair, I was a 4 to 1 dog, but I was getting 6 to 1 on my money. If he had a set, which is what I felt like he had, I was drawing to 2 outs, so like a 25 to 1 dog or something.

I folded, and showed my KK. He showed me his 88 and raked the pot. Wow. After "color commentary" from the "poker pros" at the table, I still felt like, and still believe today that I did the correct thing in that I followed my instincts. However, I made my decision based more on my feel of the situation, rather than the concrete facts of the situation. Probably 90% feel. So, had I sat back and thought about the whole situation, I would have probably focused more on the hands that I was beating and insta-called. Bad play for me.

I ended up winning it all back and then some from him before that dude busted out.

Hand number 2. Consequently, the hand I hang my hat for the session. The table I was at had broke up, and I was placed at a new table. I didn't know much about the players before this hand came up:


BB (Hero) - $400ish
UTG - $1500
UTG+2 - $500

Hero is dealt KK (no diamonds)

Blinds post, all players limp. Hero raises to $15. UTG calls, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 raises to $35. All fold to Hero, who calls, UTG calls. Pot is $125.

Flop: J 7 8, 2 diamonds

Hero bets $35. UTG calls. UTG+2 raises to $135. Action to Hero.

So, again I go into the tank. Preflop, I raised, UTG+2 reraised. So, that makes me think, AA-JJ, AK-AJ suited/off-suit. The flop comes, and I take the lead again, and UTG+2 reraises again. So, I think, maybe he's protecting his AA, maybe he hit a set and is protecting against the flush. Not sure, though the reraise tells me that I'm most certainly beat. Add that to the fact that I'm sandwiched between two players, and I reluctantly fold. UTG eventually folds, and the villain show the set. Wow, great laydown for me!

His story was just too compelling for me to think I was ahead. So I was 1 for 2 in big plays that day. Not so bad, I think.

Be Strong Enough to Fold KK

Quick update folks. I've played a few home games and a few times at the boat since we last spoke. No real interesting plays to note, though that is something noteworthy. The value of being able to play straight poker is huge.

I've been watching the Poker After Dark series lately and I've noticed that for the most part, they play straight poker. Some play a little faster, some play a little slower, but usually they play good, fundamental poker, rather than always trying to set elaborate "traps" for people. Maybe this is because the players they're playing against are also world class and can see these traps, but I think that TV glorifies all of the trap plays even more so than I once thought. So, what I do is DVR the whole week's shows, and watch them all at once so you can see most of the plays (by the way, the fact that they try to pretend that they play every night is laughable). What I found is a "formula" for good poker play:

Position + Premium-to-Very-Good Starting Hand + Situation Read = Success

It's easy to notice that even the "world's most aggressive" players play straight poker for the most part. It's just that these aggressive players have an uncanny ability to read and exploit the situation. Most know what hands are good starting hands. Of these people, maybe 1/3 to 1/2 realize the importance of position. From that percentage who know both, maybe 2-3% of these people have the ability to read the situation properly. The ones who have all three qualities are dangerous players, and consequently, the ones who are very good at it are the pros.

So, what's the tidbit for today? Simple. Make poker an objective game. Do not get "emotionally attached" to certain hands because they are "supposed to win." Know and keep in mind that certain hands have a certain win percentage. Know also that your position is very important, and sometimes is more important than the cards you hold. Finally, know the situation that was created or that you created, and exploit it.

Here's an example. I saw this too many times last night at the 2-4-4-8 table (yeah, yeah, I know, but I was only sitting there to try to hit the $201K bad beat jackpot).

6 players see the flop. One player inevitably has KK, QQ, or JJ (not me this time, I promise). Flop comes 3-4-5 (2 flush cards).

Look at the situation objectively. First, think about the game you're playing. 2-4-4-8 is a loose game, where the players skill level is relatively low compared to the other limits. Also, the bad beat is up to $201K, so you know that people will be calling with ANYTHING, suited connectors as low as 2-3, pocket pairs as low as 2-2, just to see if they can hit bingo.

1 player bets, and 3 fold, 1 calls to the one holding a pocket pair who raises. All call.

Ok, so the player took a stab, and got 2 callers, with no raises. They must have draws, as they didn't raise. What draws? Who knows, but, whatever they are, they'll beat the pocket pair if they hit. There are many danger cards for the player.

3 to the turn. Turn comes 6 and completes the 3-flush. A bet and a raise to the guy with the pocket pair, who calls. The initial bettor calls.

Ok here's where the person with the pocket pair should have folded. The danger card came, there was a bet, and a raise, and he calls.

The river comes blank, and the 1st position guy bets, 2nd position guy raises, pocket pair guy re-raises (I can only guess in an attempt to trap), and the 1st position guy caps it. All call.

When one shows the flush, and the other shows the straight, the guy with KK is bewildered, and gets mad because his "KK got cracked." He got too attached to a hand that was "supposed to win." If he looked at the situation objectively and took in all of the factors he would have known that he had the worst hand at the turn.

Another classic case is when one has KK and raises, and only gets called by tight/passive players. If the flop comes with an A, be ready to throw your hand away to aggression. The situation YOU created with the raise enticed known tight players to play, so be expecting your caller(s) to have an A.

Bottom line: Read your situation, exploit your situation, and be a strong enough player to know when you're beat.

...because Stone Cold said so!

Moving Up in Limits

I've been playing since my last post, but I haven't been doing a good job of blogging the experiences.

I've played 2 tournaments, one at work and one held by AA. I did ok, 4/11 in the work one, and 1/19 in AA's. Not much real poker being played in the one at work, just the proverbial "let's see if the cards hold up," which is fine, some of the players had never played poker before, so it was probably a good learning experience for them. AA's tournament was a pretty decent one. I was catching cards and playing some decent trap poker. Knowing opponent's tendencies really makes a difference, and since I had played many of these people before, I was able to steal in spots where I normally wouldn't be able to steal because of image, etc.

So, on to the subject of this post: moving up in limits.

I was playing $1-$2NLH at Caesars this past weekend, and was amazed and frustrated at the same time by the amount of strange plays being made at the table. No one uses extraction plays when they have the nuts (good for me), a host of donkey calls, and a handful of bizarre bluffs. I guess it all gets back to the strategy you incorporate into your game. 2 examples:

This is my 2nd or 3rd hand at the table. Table limit is $300.

Hero: $194
Villain: $400ish

Hero: KcQs.

SB posts $1, BB posts $2. Villain calls. Hero raises to $15. 8 players fold. Villain calls. Pot is ($33).

Flop: Jh Jd Ts

Villain bets $20. Hero calls. Pot is $73.

Turn: 9c

Villain bets $15. Hero calls. Pot is $103

River: Jc

Villain bets $20. Hero raises to $60. Villain folds and shows a Td.

He folded a boat and told me he put me on a jack. I was bewildered.

Good for me!

The other hand I don't remember as distinctly (stack sizes), but I was BB and looked down at KK. The button called and I raised to $15 (which was in my normal raise range). All fold to the button, who goes into the think tank. He then calls. Flop comes blanks; no cards higher than 7, rainbow. I bet $25. Villain moves all in. ALL IN?!?!!?!? So I go into the tank. I can only beat QQ-88 (and any non-board pairs), bluffs, and single pairs. I have this sinking feeling that he called with a pair to my raise and got lucky. So I say, "I can't beat your trips," show my KK, and fold. He then shows his neighbor his cards, and from what I could guess, he had a set of 7s, as he said "Kings don't always hold up" or some nonsense. I was thinking "well at least they don't know how to extract."

Pretty good outcome right? So why talk about moving up in limits? The obvious reasons are for more money, and to improve my play. But more importantly, to play actual POKER. I talked about my good hands, but I still took a loss on the night because they didn't know when to fold. My AK, AQ, AJs were thumped by donk hands, like 6-2, because the player thought that "this was the hand to go all-in." In higher limit games, like $2-$5, you have a better feel that players aren't going to get desperate and put their chips in with any 2 cards. It is a cash game after all, not a tournament.

As an aside: I have come to HATE the any-amount live straddle from any position.

Be Aggressive and Know Your Opponents

Ok, now I admit that it has been at least 2 months since I've played what I consider to be *serious* poker, as the holidays, trips to the Philippines, and cruises have seemed to get in the way. Now that I'm getting back into the swing of things, I remember one of the most fundamental tenants of poker that one needs to be successful, especially in weak games. BE AGGRESSIVE! If you're playing in a pot, you should be raising. If your hand is not good enough to raise, then it's usually not good enough to call (with exceptions of course). I saw way too many pots where 8 people limped in and saw a flop. #1. That's not poker, that's bingo. #2., and more importantly, you have NO idea where you stand in the hand. The flop is almost meaningless since you can't put anyone on a hand. Worst that can happen is that the flop actually hits you with middle pair or something and someone busts you with a hidden pocket overpair. You'll have no idea. So, when you're sitting at the tables or online, keep this in mind: No one limps in when I'm in the pot. They'll have to pay to play!

One last thing I want to mention is something I'm getting better at every time I sit; pay attention and know your opponent. Not just what they play, but their skill level also.

My rule of thumb is: Don't give anyone credit for a move you've never seen them do.

With this, there is also an inverse rule: Don't make a move that your opponent will not recognize.

My friend AA says "You can't sing to a man with no ears." This is very true; especially in lower limits and tournaments. My theory is that the reason Carlos Mortensen was the last pro to win the WSOP Main Event is due to the fact that professional high-end moves are nullified by an amateur's ignorance of the move and inability to recognize it. Then, it's just a math game... here's what I mean.

Let's say that there are 200 players that we can consider to be "high-end professionals." In last year's Main Event (2006), there were like 8700 people. So, to win the WSOP, a pro would have to bust out about 50-60 people (fuzzy math, but it illustrates my point). Let's say that 1/2 those people have NO BUSINESS being in the tournament. That means of the 50-60 people the pro has to bust out, 25-30 of them will have to be beat on pure luck. Over that long a stretch, you're talking about A LOT of luck. So, naturally, the larger the tournament is, the more it favors the donks, because there are just so many more chances for the donks to come out ahead. Another way to look at it is this: Say that you are in a shooting competition. I give myself 200 bullets to hit a target dead center, and I give you 8500 bullets to hit dead center. You are likely to win because you have the advantage of numbers.

Back to the point, don't pull a move that you don't think your opponents will recognize. To more experienced poker players, a check-raise means trouble. To inexperienced players, it simply looks like you missed a bet. If your opponent has never bluffed (over time), it's likely that they'll be more prone to be bluffable. You get the picture.

Lastly, playing a table simply to try to qualify for the "Bad Beat Jackpot" is not a good enough reason to play the table. I hate limit.