Sleep With the Fishes, Dine on the Whales

Where were we? Ah yes, Keith had just made his comment about me having a decent poker hand and that raised the ire a bit of the button. Bad Hat admonished him suggesting he had a better one which is standard conversation in live casino poker . Which immediately closed his hand range to me. Aj, A10, maybe AQ at the best or some mid-level pair but I don't think those poker hands are as likely for him to make a comment and over-represent his holding. Hmmm. A monster hand certainly doesn’t suggest he has a big hand. So if I was pipped it was only slightly, and I’d have opportunity to steal from the guy too. Flop came Ace high with two diamonds. I bet, Bad Hat raised, okay he's got me beat right now, I call. Turn is a nine. I shove my stack in and he deliberates for a while and then calls me with AJ. I hit my flush but didn't need too. That was a big hand... again, a lucky one base on starting Texas Hold 'em hand strength. Bad Hat talking about the strength of hi...

Yes, somebody can wake up with a monster and I can’t hit the rail with a marginal hand but its worth the risk to have a deeper stack for bubble play and in the money play. This is certainly more like I'll do in certain online poker games and I'm certain about that. Certainly! I’ll also pepper in some 2.5x raises, because if I can try and outplay somebody after the flop for cheap I'll do it. I vary my hands shoving with big pairs as well as just raising with them so nobody should infer I'm less strong shoving as I am just raising. Interesting because the Harrahs weekly tournament has recently ended for me with me shoving and people calling me light. Fortunately in Biloxi, these players have smaller calling ranges and I pick up a lot of pots just jamming. I know many of the internet kids do exactly this in live play, but I think you have to really evaluate your opponents to see if the play has a positive result or not. Some earlier critical hands: I played a pot...

I really enjoyed playing with Captain Tom and I think I learned a good bit from him. Though I was constantly asking myself if he was generously giving insight or allowing me to stray adrift from optimal Texas Hold'em play. One hand we discussed afterward I think I played rather badly. I was in the small blind with Q4 suited. My stack was low (five handed). It was folded to Captain Tom who put in an exactly the size of my remaining stack. I was going to get a little less than two to one to call with the blinds and antes but I still had the big blind to my left to deal with. For what it’s worth I didn’t feel like she was going to play. I talked myself out of the hand with some rather bad logic, I believe. At first I thought Captain Tom must have held a hand to bet out exactly my stack. That was a sizable raise and it would discourage the BB from playing. Then I rethought it and decided he couldn’t be super strong. His bet looks like that but he knows would, so worst case s...

Who is that chump in the grey shirt behind Jennifer Tilly?

Last week I went two for two at the IP. After playing so much Texas Hold'em poker online I was happy with my live play and even moreso tasting the requisite amount of luck I needed to get so deep. Haven't had much run good recently, especially in the cash games where I’ve made bad calls and gotten into bad spots. I went quite card dead in numerous spots over the two days (of course) but the only point where it really hurt me was at the final table of the second tournament once we got about five handed. Suddenly, I felt like those guys I watched throughout the tournament try to fold their way forward. Shove with any two cards I'd think as they'd stall and fold, and then I’d check them off the list of having any chance to win. At the final table of all times I found myself doing just that. I knew my stack was just about to get so low they were going to call with anything and despite the need to retain some fold equity and have something to double up with I couldn’...

Trying out phone to blog

With no straight or flush draws on the board in this No Limit Texas Hold'em hand, SPR smooth called holding top set with relatively few if any draws. I said smooth called, of course SPR would just say called, because what's the difference between a smooth call, a flat call, and regular call he would ask. I know this is one of his pet peeves. Funny I should mention that because I'll get to the splitting linguistic hairs later in the blog (and fully realize I could be completely wrong) about the differences between calls. Anyway, he smooth called, and I think there is a reason to say smooth here, so I will say it, he smooth called. The turn was a 5. I think all the money got in here, but it might have happened on the river. Maybe SPR will tell this story better next time he blogs about his action in poker tournaments online . The River is of course a 5. Turns out it was the case five because SPR's enemy was holding two of his own. On the flop he was like 99.10%, on the t...

Alright the IP Poker Classic or whatever this tournament series with 4, that's right count 'em, 4 World Series of Poker seats to give away is called, is starting on Wednesday night. The first buy-in is a peppy hundo for the 7 pm Texas Holdem poker poker tournament. The second day is a noon start with a $230 buy-in. Course they also toss in a 10k WSOP seat, so there is going to be an overlay regardless. I'll be there for both events, so too publisher John Price is right. Next week we'll be having some totally free t-shirts to hand out for the magazine and possibly some other freebies we'll be drawing raffle style via email submissions. On our facebook page is the cover to our latest issue. We up the page count by 50%, got a new cover style, and got some great advertisers we hope you guys will thank by giving them some business. Special thanks to Jacob N, Captain Ron, J. Little, and the rest of ya'll that made the magazine happen. Really great the local pok...

It's so hard to do though when you play poker even for a long time. I've been there. Coolered and battered and beaten and it feels like it happens every time but in reality the ones that sting the most are the ones that end your session because your session was all but over anyway. In my last session of the weekend I went to the Beau where I've run bad of late. This is another of those superfluous contributing factors that f with you mindset. I wasn't quite ready to call it a night after a day of playing but I wanted to say hi to some people and then kill some time. Why not sit in a game, I had enjoyed a couple of poker tournaments why not another cash game? I went out with a different strategy and paid the price a little bit. I decided that I would just play for two dealer downs and try to double up if I got a big hand. But like my first friend I didn't pick up as I told myself I would. The game was far better than the one I crushed earlier in the day. Also, th...

If I hadn't played two days before maybe I get blinded by the set, and ignore the player paired with the texture of the board. In that session, I ended up with a big win. I got ahead and stayed there which is a key in all poker games . True I hit some hands but I also listened to my gut. I made calls that took balls and were really thin and I trusted myself to make hero folds too. I also stole some pots with bets that took balls and won money from the good players as well as the bad players we were all surrounding. Course, my friend doesn't have that luxury, he's not able to reevaluate and jump back into the pool. He can only stew about it. Anyway, keep your head up man. The second phone call came from a different friend that endured an terrible cooler. Full house v.s Full house against idiots or some such hand. This friend was shaken. Only minutes beforehand they had wanted to leave and took it one extra hand. Saw a flop and thought it was a going away prize. I've bee...

Sometimes you find yourself, questioning yourself on the way to the casino, now you are laying a path for failure and arming your passivity with excuses which is the wrong mindset when you got to play poker . I think it's paramount importance to play in the proper mindset, but I think that has to be carefully undertaken as a guideline for playing. I listended to a cash game pro on a podcast last year and he talked about variance and playing on Tilt (and what my friend is experiencing and I have too is just Tilt in a long term version of it), and he said, you have to learn to play through Tilt. If he's in a downswing he doesn't hide from the casino. He knows he has to lose, everybody does, .400 hitters go back to the dugout a failure 6 out of 10 times, so he choses to play through the slide as quickly as possible. If he's losing he's going back to the casino even faster than if he's winning. He wants to get in enough hands that can cross that threshold of ...

In one single day I got phone calls from two good friends who have been through two of poker's most difficult wringers. They are both live players first and foremost but have had success in online poker as well. The first had a bit of "I can't leave when ahead, and most certainly can't leave when behind, so I can't leave at all." The time crunch of life has limited his poker playing to a confined structure of weekend hours, so he's in a constant corner. The second ran into a cooler, and in effect feels like he's in a constant cooler. These are both things most of us, okay, all us even Jesus (Ferguson) have experienced playing poker. I know I have endured both. The constant corner that can be the perpetual trap of live play is simple. Personally, as life, wife, baby, and everything else consumes me, it's harder and harder to get out there and play, even worse it's harder to get out there and play well because of the constraints of ...

There is some rule about doing what is best for the moment and the game. I don't know if they learn that rule in poker school or where but I've certainly heard it. If the one guy showed his hand and he split the pot, it should be split. The poker floor manager with a little bit of prodding got relieved out of making the decision when the old guy finally split the pot. The other reg, pointed out that he didn't think the guy knew that he chopped at the moment he showed his hand. And while that sucks that a guy doesn't know he's the winner or part-winner, I've been on the other side of that coin, if that guy shows his hand even if he thinks he's the loser he gets the pot. Until the rule change is made that a player must know that he's won the pot to win the pot, and all he has to do is show a winning hand, even if he thinks it's a loser it doesn't matter. Oddly, I found myself in a similar situation later this trip. I was in a cash game in a differ...

I went to law school but didn't like lawyers. No offense to most of you that I've met since then but plenty of offense to the rest of you. I couldn't see dedicating myself to working 60 hour weeks with some of the most vile and detestable people I've ever met. Okay... That's pretty harsh, especially from a guy in the poker industry, and considering the types of people I play online Texas Hold'em against for sixty hours a week, I've done exactly that. No, I find many lawyers to be some of the most honest, industrious and intelligent people I used to know before they got savaged, jaded, and bitter. Just kidding. I never knew an honest person that became a lawyer. Okay, I'm totally joking. I like some lawyers, those lawyers that sue themselves. Sue who? sue everybody! Okay, I'm part lawyer and I'm not a self-loather, so truth is there are lawyers that I like, and despite me enjoying an argument a little too much, including the rhetoric of persuasio...

Played at the IP, Hard Rock, and the Beau this past week. Played three or four tournaments (zilch) and played cash games (winner, winner, small loser). Taking a break from online poker grinding me was a welcome change. Even still when I go to the coast I get that little twitch of excitement that comes from traveling and relishing the opportunity to compete. All former athletes feel that little buzz even if has been adapted to a different competition whether it is a sales call, an ad pitch, a live or even a play online poker game, a softball game, a beer pong game or whatever, that little fire's embers are still alight deep inside and traveling seems to really stir up the fire. Pretty much got to even on the trip(s) couple of hotel stays sandwich between a ride home to do some fathering duties. Which means things could have been a lot worse from a poker perspective but could have been a lot better. I was stunned by the paucity of the crowd at the Beau's poker tournament. In the...

First off, though they probably won't read this, I want to extend my thoughts and prayers to my wife's cousin Theresa and her husband Damon who are going through a rough spot. Damon is over in Iraq right now and I know he wishes he could be home. Just hate to see bad news break when you are rooting so hard for good news. Without going into it, if ya'll could put them in your thoughts and prayers too it'd be much appreciated. Hard to transition from that… There have been a lot of poker conflicts, lawsuits, and court cases in the news recently. The revelation the FBI is sniffing around Full Tilt is a surprise. Poker--live poker and online poker--is full of dirtbags, con-men, grifters, and in general a-holes, but I never got the feeling guys like Chris Ferguson or Howard Lederer ever were a part of that crowd. They just seem too cerebral and academic. I have a feeling this will go away. The allegations of money laundering--reading between the lines--may just be som...

Ever not want to leave the house, fear the sight of the color green, and generally are miserable? For those of you that drink Absinthe, I'm not talking about that bad experience. I'm talking about allergies. If there was ever a time to stick to my goal of conquering online poker it's right now, when I fear for my sinuses when leaving the house. It's well established I'm not a genius by any stretch of the imagination so of course, I'm kind of to blame for being miserable. Well, not as much to blame as you fools that guzzle the Absinthe , though you at least get some fun before the bame. Since coming to New Orleans and rediscovering my allergies, or perhaps getting some adult onset ones (as I had my childhood pollen allergies beat for a while) I never bothered to find out exactly what they were. I just knew in the spring I'd be miserable and have to take some over the counter stuff. Also, strangely in the fall, for the first time, I'd have itchy e...

I'm going to be all over the place today... First off, if you want to be a better online poker tournament player or just want to be a better poker player in general, if you aren't watching these free training videos you are an idiot. http://www.jonathanlittlesecrets.com/freecoaching/. I regret missing some of the earlier ones because I got a long way to go to become a better online poker tournament player but these are a great start. Lots of good tidbits next time I log on to play poker tournaments online . After I get done this post I'm going to play poker online and try out some of that stuff. -Metallica really got soft in their old age huh? -Thought this was a cool story: http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/16812/california+surfer+receives+whale+of+an+escort+during+marathon+paddle/ Basically, a whale escourts a pro surfer paddle boarding for 4o miles to raise money for Breast Cancer. I like this story because my mother has battled Breast Cancer twice, also because ...