Sleep With the Fishes, Dine on the Whales

As GeneD mentioned on his blog on Monday we both played well and got beat by the cards. He at least salvaged a winner. I had a couple of memorable bad beats but everybody does. It's tough when things don't go your way to concentrate solely on the fact you made the right decisions and got your money in good. Don't be results oriented! It's even worse when the Monday night table is rockier than Mars because you only have a limited opportunity to get these guys to put all their chips at risk. You get those statues to move and then they suck out and it stings. That being said, I feel I played strongly enough and I'm just looking forward to this weekend and not focusing on the two outer or the runner-runner that ended my night. Instead, I should reflect on getting back to folding the second best hand as I had to do a couple of times on Monday. Minimizing your losses is a win. In fact, the only mistakes I made were a couple of missed bets at the river (still my leak). I...

Lunchbox, donkey, dum-dum whatever you want to call them, unfortunately or fortunately, you can't play tournaments without them. I played this past weekend at a venue that has more than their fair share, which usually allows me, a player who is like one level above said dum-dums to have success. I look down at J10 of spades with two limpers before me. I like to raise with this hand a lot but sometimes I like to limp and hope I hit my flop dead on to a big pot. This time I chose limp with 6 to act after me (9 handed). Limp, Limp, Limp, Limp, Limp, now it's just the big blind to act. We've got 1800 in the pot ($100-$200 blinds). Now this guy, a LAG who fired at every pot no matter the flop (and to his credit was having success as our table was mostly tight), but unlike a player I'd rate as a good lag he'd put too much into the pot when his opponent revealed strength. I also saw him make some questionable decisions. I kind of hope he'd try and buy the pot ...

We all need them. Sitting at the table, the best possible medicine sometimes is to remove yourself from the play. Imagine you are observing yourself and the opponent and see what you might be missing or what you are giving away. How many times, have you seen somebody bet into the nuts when it was obvious to you (not in the action) the other guy has a MONSTER? Probably more rarely (because everybody that reads this blog is intelligent and a good poker player :) ) how many times have you done that yourself. I'll never forget betting into a guy with the nuts with a miserable hand when the guy next to me said he saw it as soon as the flop hit. And yeah, this is me a guy who prides myself on being a good reader of people (I do pay the price for that hubris). Just like I couldn't get away from a guy who I put on a full house, playing with Lusky, and called with A high straight. He had pocket Queens. I looked at my AJ and the two jacks on the board and said he probably didn't ha...

Actually not quite. Parked at Harrahs in the afternoon. Booked a small winner went to dinner with my college friend and a work colleague of his. After beers, hand grenades, more beers, watching a group straight from the office T.V. show drink a magnum of hurricane at Pat O's (3 gallons and $175) during their business bonding trip, I headed back to Harrahs. Ran into Raceland Brian and we ended up on the same table. Two things: 1. I was very impressed with his knowledge of live poker and online strategy. 2. I was embarrassed at how poorly I played. I suppose early on I could blame the liquor for three or four just bad calls, and later not betting a flop and protecting my hand, but I rationalized things to myself and still made the bad calls. I just played dumb, no excuses. The table was pretty ripe. There was a kid to our right who called everything, even saying "You can make it $500 but I'm going to see my flops." At one point he told me his was 1400 in. See...

Met up with a college buddy I hadn't seen in years. Parked in Harrahs to play some late night poker. Liked my table when I sat down and was surprised to see as many weak or borderline players there. Guy to my left was good and it became pretty clear we were staying out of each other's way. Watched a dude chase two gut shot straight draws (wheels) to the river and catch. Hmm. He got a lot of chips and overvalued his Aces with middle and low kickers. Hello target number 1. Got AQ suited. Raised from UTG. Smart older gentleman called. A passive caller called and then domino time. Big pot. Ace hits the flop and I just knew I was ahead--two hearts. I bet. Old guy calls, target number 1 calls. Threeway to the turn. Brick. I bet big trying to take the pot right there but old guy calls. Guy to my left says "He'll get what he needs on the river has done it all night." Target folds. I already knew I didn't want to see a heart but that cinched it. Riv...

This week's column... As I sometimes do, I stray from poker, and as I've been on a vacation caused hiatus from the game, now's as good a time as any to sound off on other subjects. Next time I'm offered to cut the cards I might just respond this way... "I prefer the whore that is your sister" (said Materazzi) after Zidane sarcastically offered to give the defender his shirt after the match because he had been pulling it. http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/7133672 -That has to go down as the greatest/worst way to end a career. Kicked off the field in overtime because you headbutted an opponent who taunted you in the World's most important championship. This would be like Mike Matasow hauling off on Shawn Sheikan heads up in the Main Event and getting blinded out while fighting. Next time somebody owes me some money, I might just... "... use rattlesnakes as deadly weapons to collect on a (poker) debt have been charged with conspiracy to commit m...

But it won't be for long. Sorry folks. Been out of town/vacation. Celebrated my Grandmother's 90th birthday and my own. I know I'm getting old, because at some point I became a third of her age. If I get to half, that's awesome for her but bad news for me. Didn't mean to be a mute. I tried blogging through my phone to the website but I can't get it to work. I'm trying to find the pictures I sent that have gone to limbo. Blogger told me they'd be posted here. Now they aren't in my phone and aren't here. Weird. Was really hoping to get that to work to send chip counts during the Gulf Coast Poker Championship and take some "live" photos. My grandmother didn't have online access, well she had dial-up that moved as fast as most 90 year olds in their Buicks. For the record my grandmother isn't one. She drives like she's got a lot of places to go and not much time to get there. I've been in her car as the local po...

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It's white linen night in New Orleans, so I'm expecting some drunk, fairly well off guys to hit Harrahs midnight and later, and for things to get crazy. Even better I'm hoping they bring their girlfriends to show how good they are at Poker and try and bluff at every pot. It's so salivating, I barely can contain myself on the drive over last night. This will be better than New Years where I booked a HUGE winner with guys that couldn't see straight enough to focus on the community cards. The great thing is the late drunk guys get there, at a time most of the older regulars have already left. It's just the me and the young guns vs. the drunk guys, and the young guns will gamble moreso than the older rocks. Perfect for my style. I plan on arriving at around 9:00. Get on a table. Get some play in, maybe build my stack a little and then just wait. You know what they say about the best laid plans... I sit down and immediately watch a guy drag an over $2,000 po...

Been away from the blog for a bit. Posting some edited parts of an email I sent to my buddy a couple of weeks ago who played in a live game where he was 90% or better favorite going to the river in 5 or more hands (in a row) and he lost them all--and of course along with that a big chunk of his bankroll. 6 hands in a row, vs. 1 and 2 outers going to the river, you have to start questioning the dealer and your opponent(s). The math on that is just too outrageous. You should barely lose a coin flip 6 times in a row, much less a 90%er. Cheating is far more common in this game, particularily home or club or side games, then anybody would expect. Get a book about card cheating (I got one at Barnes and Noble) read it and review those hands and other times the math seemed upside down. After I read it, I played at that crooked bar game I told you about and saw just about every angle being played. S..H..A..D..Y. Worst part of it, is it's fairly easy to do. I've spotted a few of those sa...