Sleep With the Fishes, Dine on the Whales

There are times when your hand is too good to fold, but the stack sizes mandate you also can't just call. Here's one from a recent hand I played in one of my online poker games . It was a No Limit Texas Hold'Em tournament which I prefer to Omaha even if I've been playing a lot of Omaha recently. The small blind was 600 the big blind was 1200. I was in the small blind with about 6000 behind. A player UTG who was fairly tight but with a stack size of about 8k stewed for a while and then called. A big stack who has a history of picking me off and basically because he has my number calls my shoves with any two cards and always gets there called. The guy on the button took for a while in his timebank too then made the call. Both he and the early position player were pretty quick in making their decisions throughout the tournament so I took this to mean they had genuine decisions. The guy on the button might have contemplated a steal or wondered if he'd have the odds ...

More thoughts from my rush online poker experience. I shouldn't say thoughts as I'm basically just asking questions into the wind. Maybe, I will ask Reid or Kai to comment on their best ideas on how to play these tournaments from a math perspective or some of the other current and former GCPers who play poker tournaments to gettheir perspective. Another question is by quick folding and being super selective are you just racing through the blinds to your own detriment? One thing I appreciate was I was able to quickly discern some possible leaks in my game. I don’t know if I was adapting to the format or just playing bad in spots. With a ton of hands I got to see a variety of hands including big boys far more often than I would in a standard tournament. I was looking to double every time I got them in the rebuy period. I kind of mangled Aces a little bit. In early position I put a 2.5x raise out and saw four callers come with me to the flop. Maybe I should have bet ...

Played a huge low buy-in multi-table tournament using the Rush engine. It was standard Texas Hold'em poker but on speed. I didn't really have a strategy although I (unwisely) toyed with a couple throughout. Not that I could really learn anything from one tournament, and probably it would have been far better to stick with one style one day and try another the next. It wasa rebuy tournament which motivated me to veer off course a couple of times in the early levels. Those low rebuys are really dangerous as the safety net is never going anywhere so to speak and pretty soon you are investing a lot more than maybe you wanted to. Probably want to really test things with an Omaha poker version to see what my limits are. I noticed a couple of things, for one... people actually tightened up after the rebuys ended. I suspect it w as much in a regular tournament but I was a half-expecting them to keep playing a little more aggressive as they did in the early levels. Arguably,...

Sometimes you just got to go with a hand and not think too much of table dynamics. A lesson I reaffirmed recently in a poker game at the big Harrahs. I had played with a gentleman all day and he was playing a cautious, tight aggressive style. He seemed to have few leaks and really had discipline in his hand selection. I'd learn after a couple of hands he had a penchant for overplaying small pairs, but I didn't know that at the time. His poker strategy seem straightforward and I read him as thus. When he raised from early position, after never having done that all day, I worried a bit when I looked at pocket queens. This hand is a tricky one to play and based on the fact his bet was one quarter of his stack size I felt like I was playing for his entire stack. I considered shoving as I had about double what he had but I still had the entire table to follow. Maybe I shouldn't isolate and who knows what kind of hands could come. I gave some small consideration to ou...

First, Gene and I want to apologize for the site going down so much the last few days. Perhaps, interest in the World Series of Poker Main Event was greater then we anticipated. Couldn't have anything to do with the locals that went deep huh? Anyway, we hope to get things righted as soon as possible and hope we will no longer have these kind of issues moving forward. Thanks for the emails and the texts. -Had a couple of live sessions at Harrahs. One a winner, one a loser. Not so much fun losing as winning strangely enough. I'll probably blog about both in an upcoming post. I definitely was mixing it up a little big trying different ways how to play poker . Before I go into that kind of stuff, thought I'd catch up and do a little bit of a random post with some poker links and otherwise. --It was nice to see John Dolan's mug on the FoxSports coverage of the World Series of Poker. Thanks to Jerard Parfait linking that to us on our Facebook page. I have a feeling the lives...

I thought he was mulling over a fold at this point. I told him I had two pair, very Jaime Gold like, (the dealer didn’t reprimand me for my poor sportsmanship either). Can you get in trouble for that in online poker games too? He decided to call and showed me two pair of his own. Clearly, I should have just bided my time. I think his entire intention was to check-raise the river and really get a chunk of my stack in there. The Ace changed things for both of us but he had to decide if his two pair was now no good. I think it scared him a little bit but I do think he was pondering over raise or call still at that point not sure he had just been dealt a bad beat . I gave him the easy way out and had I not said anything, and simply played poker, he probably would have put some chips in. He had that excited look during the hand as he checked called me on the first two streets like he was going to get some action. I kept asking to be put on the 2-5 list as I had built up some profit...

Okay let's get to the poker part of things. After the Bachelor party had ended, which consisted of one adult establishment and some drinks afterward some of us wandered over to Harrahs. I had a good chat with one of my friends who I hadn't seen in months. Then in not the clearest state of mind decided to play poker which is often a mistake though it is usually more easily made by logging on to my computer and looking at sites like https://poker.bwin.com/texas-holdem-poker . I sat down and decided to embrace the image I was portraying. I sloppily dumped my chips into a haphazard pile in front of me and kind of relished when the dealers would tell me I had to stack them. Thank you for the Texas Holdem poker tips , I thought to myself. I would grab a handful of chips when betting and would kind of toss them into the pot. Basically, I tried to mimic any idiot at Harrahs at 3 in the morning when he'd be better off taking a cab ride home. Not so hard to feign when realit...

The other kind of sweat is the fellow players and backers that make up the game. Backers are usually also players. Trading saves is never a bad idea. I remember at the Bayou Classic a couple of years ago when Brandon R. went deep he was at a table with Phil Gordon (who I believe eliminated him). Phil Gordon was reported to announce he had a "save" or a piece of one of the other players there. Being a stand-up guy he didn’t want anybody to think they were colluding by hiding these facts from the other players. I’ve played a ton of tournaments since and I’ve yet to have anybody announce they had a piece of a tablemate—even when I knew they did. Phil Gordon owns a piece of an online poker room it is not https://poker.bwin.com/ . That annoucement was a classy move. No doubt made easier by Phil Gordon’s internet created wealth (virtue as they say is often just a lack of temptation) but many people might have decided to root for or sweat Gordon from that day onward. Course at Gordo...

Everybody's got a sweat in the World Series, whether they are the casual fan who picks a player they think has a personality or has a smattering of Cinderella in them (see the Chris Moneymaker effect) all the way to people who make their living as a backer of players. Everybody in between (meaning those who care about poker) has some reason to root for or against players in the World Series and the sweat factor is one of the most enjoybable aspects of a poker game . You hate Phil Hellmuth? You’ll have plenty of opportunity to root against him and “sweat” his chances this year. Disagree with his online poker strategy or his live play or his demeanor in general? He's easy to hate, and easy to find on ESPN's coverage of the Main Event starting with his annual “entrance” to the main event (pictured is an entrance of his to a party last year--he has no ego). If I ever make enough money in poker or the poker industry I know exactly what I’d do on Day 1 of the Main Event… It’ll i...

Sorry, seems like every time I start to do a post on poker hands I go in every direction but the poker. Alright, following up the Bachelor party post after I went on a rant about BP and the attornys. After ACME Oyster house we started to plot out our evening. There was some discussion about casino poker in our future but not just yet. Some of them were a little uneasy and said they need to Learn Texas Holdem before playing. I was really feeling like putting on a workshop during a bachelor party so I suggested we wait til the very end of the evening. As we walked I talked with the other guy on the Bachelor party I didn’t know who was a dentist and he told me about how he made the move from Mid-City to Old Metaire and his practice exploded. He was able to raise prices and not deal with people not willing to pay him. As a self-avowed life Nit I was a little disappointed to know he once provided the same quality work for a much lower price but I kept him in mind for my next appoi...

So recently I was able to get in two sessions of poker at Harrahs . It was so nice to not just get my fix from Texas Hold em online and get into a live casino. That’s always fun especially now as my time seems to be pulled in every direction. Vacations, busted pipes, busted attic, busted yard, busted grill (requiring a dental appointment or two), and a baby seem to be enough to keep me away from my second vocation too often. Recently, I went on a bachelor party for a friend of mine who is a CPA in town. He’s one of the smartest people I know. You need a good CPA that will keep you out of tax trouble and keep your money in line I highly recommend him. Course he mostly works with businesses and only high income personal clients (who aren't friends or else I wouldn't be considered). Email me for contact information if you are interested, especially if you are killing the nosebleed Sit and go poker tournaments , you'll both be happy. Anyway, I was joined by a couple of non-pok...

The main event is shaping up to be a good one for railbirds and hopefully television watchers for those that follow local players. We have a slew of them still alive in the WSOP No Limit Texas Holdem Main Event. Our magazine stretches the Gulf Coast a big. Sure we take the entire coast from Florida to the tip of Texas, though we probably should do more for our friends in Tampa and players closer to Brownsville but we also think of ourselves as a hub that stretches up the Mississippi to Tunica, and count Arkansas players, Georgians, Tennesseeans (sp?), Alabamaians and others as our own. Basically, if you routinely play the tournaments in our area we'll include you too. King of the WSOP Circuit Dwyte Pilgrim may be a New Yorker but he's also kind of one of us. I mean he's always here winning our money so why not. Lol. However, with the likes John Dolan of Florida, Gabe Costner and Pejmanpatric Eskander of Mississippi, Jacob Tyler and Bill Melvin of Alabama, and Jared Ingles ...

With the World Cup, which I immersed myself in for a month, and now the World Series Main Event, I'm repeating immersion. Sorry, wife and son. It's been a grand series so far with a fair amount of players locally many of who's poker room is online rather than real doing great things. Course to them poker tournaments are just poker tournaments whether it is a mouse they are wielding or a chip stack. Before I get into the WSOP , which I will with a post tomorrow, especially with all the local guys doing well, there is another international tournament that caught my eye with this news item . The Iroquois Nation’s Lacrosse team, ranked fourth in the world can’t get clearance to travel internationally for the World Championship in England. Seems the Brits won’t recognize their passports. These guys had to scrape together the money just to play in this thing and burning through money hoping to catch a flight. They’ ve already had to forfeit their first game against… England....

Strange we are engaged in two wars overseas but the headlines are dominated by anything not having to do with politics or war. I think more should be done to acknowledge their sacrifice and service. Anyway, played some Texas Hold'em with Jess’s cousins and got a sprinkling of unnecessary run-good. Man… if I flopped like I did in those games at the last three Harrahs events things would have been a lot better a couple of months ago. Bam! Flop a flush. Bam! Turn the nut flush, Jess’s cousin turns second nuts. Why is it I’m deep in a cash game when that happens and I’m on the losing side of things. I’m on the winning side dragging pots like I’m breathing when it’s a friendly game. Need to stop wasting my run-good in games like that. Might as well not play them. Lol.Anyway we played six times. I won the first five. Got to heads up in the sixth with a big chip lead and tried to bluff her unbluffable cousin. Running so good I thought I was bullet proof? Maybe. It’s happened before. Sho...

Sorry was in the middle of boring you with stories about my kid with no internet acess to online casinos to ply my trade at poker. Did think about making a day trip to the Sarasota dog track to play in their poker room with Jess's cousin but that didn't happen. Course not having much of the Internet wasn't the worst thing in the world because besides poker I don't play too many online casino games . (BTW, this photo was taken by my wife's cousing Kyle LeBlanc at Venice Beach). Anyway, where was I in my more boring recounting of the vacation and veiled bragging about my boy? Ah, how quickly time flies, the oft repeated phrase I hear every where I go... I’ve certainly always been the type to stop and smell the roses and I am not afraid to savor a moment. Though I imagine, like other things, being a parent will change my perception. Probably it will feel like tomorrow when the boy is going off to college. The other type to stop us would be recent parents whose chil...