Tired

So, against normal people's common sense, I decided to go and play poker, and had an $800 losing session, sigh.

The only really amusing thing was that I managed to get F to double up on me AGAIN when he had QQ and I had KK. Of course, at this point, I was down to $300 or so in chips, so it wasn't a big hit for him, as my big pocket pairs with big preflop raises kept getting called by the maniac in the 6 seat with Ace-Big, and of course he'd hit his F-ing ace on the flop. Sigh.

But I didn't play terribly badly, although I didn't play nearly aggressive enough. But next week, I'm definitely NOT playing on Wednesday, and going to the lenten series instead. I stay out way too late on school nights if I go play poker.

So, tonight, I'm going to stay in, read my EFM, and curl up with the fantastic new book that came in the mail the other day - even if I should go read the new Super System 2 that came in the mail as well.

decisions decisions

I owe a weekend update - it was crazy at the poker tables; there was one $18,000 pot, and several >$10,000 pots (I, obviously, wasn't in any of them), but I'm busy fighting with my computer and have a meeting in 6 minutes.

I need to decide today if I'm going to do what I WANT do to (play poker), or what I SHOULD do (go to the lenten series at church). Sigh, decisions.

Thank goodness I decided to play poker last night

As I had another fantastic night - I made a profit of twice what I bought in for, chaching.

Again, cutting and pasting from an email to my poker manager buddy:

I'm in the 6 seat, the button is in the 8 seat, meaning R and SS are in the blinds. F is in the 3 seat, in middle position and makes it $50 to go. I look down at my hand and see KK, and make it $150. Everyone folds (SS somewhat reluctantly), and F calls. Flop comes down Qc Js 2s, and F bets out $120 into the $320 pot. I immediately raise it to $325 total, and then F comes back over the top of me and reraises $1200 (which would put me all in). I think for about a minute or three, and finally fold. F flips over his pocket queens for top set. I possibly have played this wrong, because I likely should have just called the $120 and seen the turn and hoped it was a K, but oh well - this pays off for me later, I believe. I get out of the hand relatively cheaply (although I don't know if I consider $500 cheap!).

About an hour or so later, R gets up to leave because he's not feeling well, and I move to take his seat (thank you seat change button!), and sit and fold for the next 15 minutes until the dealer change and SS gets up to leave. I'm in the big blind, and F makes it $25 to go (he's still in the 3 seat), and 3 people call before it gets to me. I look down and see that I have Qd Jd, so I call the raise.

Flop comes down: 4d Kc 10d. What a fantastic flop for me - I have the flush draw and the straight draw - 15 outs twice. I bet $50, and F raises it to $250 total. I can easily call this.

Turn is a 7d: (4d Kc 10d) 7d. Woo hoo! I make my flush, and instead of checking, I actually go and bet out $400. (Again, not sure if this is the right move, or if I should just check, but by betting, F perhaps thinks that I'm trying to scare him out and don't have the flush). F calls.

River is an 8s: (4d Kc 10d 7d) 8s. At this point I have around $500 left, so I push it all in. F asks how much it is and I STUPIDLY start cutting my own checks down. I can totally tell that my hands are shaking (unusually - normally I do a good job of controlling that), and can't imagine that I'm going to get a call because of these obvious tells. S and R2 both tell me later that next time I should just push my chips in and let the dealer count them so I don't give that away because the tell really shows up when you're cutting your chips down.

I'm wrong, F calls, I flip over my flush, F mucks the hand and I double up my chip stack. I have no idea how F justified this river call unless he possibly had a set that he couldn't let go of, but he only raised $25 preflop - big pairs for F are worth at least $50.

A couple of orbits of the button later, I'm in the big blind again, and F bets out $50. The crazy dude in the 5 seat calls, and R2 calls from the small blind. I look down and see pocket rockets. I most definitely do NOT like having 3 people in the hand calling a bet of $50, because there have to be some big pairs out there. So, I take a deep breath, and grab a stack of green chips and say "I raise - $400 total." There's already $150 in the pot, so it's not a huge overbet of the pot - only $100 or so, but I really just want to take the $150 in the pot already and not have to see a flop. And then I look at F and say, "You are going to have to pay to hit your set of queens on me this time."

Well, this is not to be. F actually calls. Crazy guy folds, and R2 thinks and thinks and doesn't want to muck his hand at ALL, but does eventually fold. I put R2 on pocket jacks (you'll see this is important later).

The flop comes down Js 3c 10h. I HATE this flop, but I think i'm good because I don't think F has the JJ. I bet out $500, and F calls. UGH. HATE.

The turn is a 10s: (Js 3c 10h) 10s. What's running through my brain here is "Oh my goodness, I JUST doubled up and I'm going to GIVE IT ALL RIGHT BACK." But I'm in bad position and I have no option but to bet another $500. Anyone else playing against me that's decent (M, S the visor dude, T, etc) pops me back and makes me CRY thinking they have a 10 or pocket Jacks, but F is not this good, I guess. Still, he CALLS. YIE.

The river is an 8d - a brick. I look at my chips and I am crying inside when I say "I'm all in." F asks how much is there, and I haven't learned my lesson and cut my checks down myself (but my hands really aren't shaking this time), and it's $810. F sighs and actually calls! S
(who is sitting to my left) says, before I turn over my cards, "Your kings are no good sir." and he finishes just as I flip over my pocket aces on the table. F sighs, shakes his head and folds, and I double up again. Spider says "Wow, I would probably have had to fold Kings to her preflop raise." F shakes his head and says something to the effect that he didn't have kings.

R2 says "Augh, do you know what I folded?" and I looked over at him and said "Jacks." He said "Yes! What a good raise, good good bet, I couldn't possibly call that with Jacks."

S also says that he would have easily folded QQ to my pre flop raise, and probably would have folded pocket kings, since he knew exactly where I was at (I said I wasn't being subtle). He also then commented, "I cannot believe he called you on the river - what did he think you had, pocket nines??" (AA and KK already had the queens beat, JJ made a full house, and TT had the quads, so QQ was the worst possible hand there). I told him I had no idea how he called, but I'd take the double up gladly.

Yowsa. So, what may have been a bad play in the early stages of the game definitely lead to me doubling up for six times the amount of cash I lost on that first hand.

As I had another fantastic night - I made a profit of twice what I bought in for, chaching.

Again, cutting and pasting from an email to my poker manager buddy:

I'm in the 6 seat, the button is in the 8 seat, meaning R and SS are in the blinds. F is in the 3 seat, in middle position and makes it $50 to go. I look down at my hand and see KK, and make it $150. Everyone folds (SS somewhat reluctantly), and F calls. Flop comes down Qc Js 2s, and F bets out $120 into the $320 pot. I immediately raise it to $325 total, and then F comes back over the top of me and reraises $1200 (which would put me all in). I think for about a minute or three, and finally fold. F flips over his pocket queens for top set. I possibly have played this wrong, because I likely should have just called the $120 and seen the turn and hoped it was a K, but oh well - this pays off for me later, I believe. I get out of the hand relatively cheaply (although I don'tknow if I consider $500 cheap!).

About an hour or so later, R gets up to leave because he's not feeling well, and I move to take his seat (thank you seat change button!), and sit and fold for the next 15 minutes until the dealer change and SS gets up to leave. I'm in the big blind, and F makes it $25 to go (he's still in the 3 seat), and 3 people call before it gets to me. I look down and see that I have Qd Jd, so I call the raise.

Flop comes down: 4d Kc 10d. What a fantastic flop for me - I have the flush draw and the straight draw - 15 outs twice. I bet $50, and F raises it to $250 total. I can easily call this.

Turn is a 7d: (4d Kc 10d) 7d. Woo hoo! I make my flush, and instead of checking, I actually go and bet out $400. (Again, not sure if this is the right move, or if I should just check, but by betting, F perhaps thinks that I'm trying to scare him out and don't have the flush). F calls.

River is an 8s: (4d Kc 10d 7d) 8s. At this point I have around $500 left, so I push it all in. F asks how much it is and I STUPIDLY start cutting my own checks down. I can totally tell that my hands are shaking (unusually - normally I do a good job of controling that), and can't imagine that I'm going to get a call because of these obvious tells. S and R2 both tell me later that next time I should just push my chips in and let the dealer count them so I don't give that away because the tell really shows up when you're cutting your chips down.

I'm wrong, F calls, I flip over my flush, F mucks the hand and I double up my chip stack. I have no idea how F justified this river call unless he possibly had a set that he couldn't let go of, but he only raised $25 preflop - big pairs for F are worth at least $50.

A couple of orbits of the button later, I'm in the big blind again, and F bets out $50. The crazy dude in the 5 seat calls, and R2 calls from the small blind. I look down and see pocket rockets. I most definitely do NOT like having 3 people in the hand calling a bet of $50, because there have to be some big pairs out there. So, I take a deep breath, and grab a stack of green chips and say "I raise - $400 total." There's already $150 in the pot, so it's not a huge overbet of the pot - only $100 or so, but I really just want to take the $150 in the pot already and not have to see a flop. And then I look at F and say, "You are going to have to pay to hit your set of queens on me this time."

Well, this is not to be. F actually calls. Crazy guy folds, and R2 thinks and thinks and doesn't want to muck his hand at ALL, but does eventually fold. I put R2 on pocket jacks (you'll see this is important later).

The flop comes down Js 3c 10h. I HATE this flop, but I think i'm good because I don't think F has the JJ. I bet out $500, and F calls. UGH. HATE.

The turn is a 10s: (Js 3c 10h) 10s. What's running through my brain here is "Oh my goodness, I JUST doubled up and I'm going to GIVE IT ALL RIGHT BACK." But I'm in bad position and I have no option but to bet another $500. Anyone else playing against me that's decent (M, S the visor dude, T, etc) pops me back and makes me CRY thinking they have a 10 or pocket Jacks, but F is not this good, I guess. Still, he CALLS. YIE.

The river is an 8d - a brick. I look at my chips and I am crying inside when I say "I'm all in." F asks how much is there, and I haven't learned my lesson and cut my checks down myself (but my hands really aren't shaking this time), and it's $810. F sighs and actually calls! S (who is sitting to my left) says, before I turn over my cards, "Your kings are no good sir." and he finishes just as I flip over my pocket aces on the table. F sighs, shakes his head and folds, and I double up again. Spider says "Wow, I would probably have had to fold Kings to her preflop raise." F shakes his head and says something to the effect that he didn't have kings.

R2 says "Augh, do you know what I folded?" and I looked over at him and said "Jacks." He said "Yes! What a good raise, good good bet, I couldn't possibly call that with Jacks."

S also says that he would have easily folded QQ to my pre flop raise, and probably would have folded pocket kings, since he knew exactly where I was at (I said I wasn't being subtle). He also then commented, "I cannot believe he called you on the river - what did he think you had, pocket nines??" (AA and KK already had the queens beat, JJ made a full house, and TT had the quads, so QQ was the worst possible hand there). I told him I had no idea how he called, but I'd take the double up gladly.

Yowsa. So, what may have been a bad play in the early stages of the game definitely lead to me doubling up for six times the amount of cash I lost on that first hand.

Poker Definitions

For those of you who need a little guide to the terms I use that I may not think to explain in my poker posts, here's the best glossary I've seen online:

http://www.pokernews.info/pokerterms/

You can't be a winning player if you don't ever fold winning hands

One of the truisms in No Limit poker is that you don't have to have the best cards to win - you play the players, not necessarily the cards.

The scene: I have $600 in chips and am sitting under the gun in the 10 seat at the little no limit table. My friend and the best little no-limit player there is in this casino, T (but not previously mentioned T) is sitting in the 9 seat which is the big blind - to my right. A semi-fish, B, is sitting to T's right in the small blind, and some guy who's a little annoyed with me for sucking out (staying in to the river and catching my draw) on him is on the button in the 7 seat.

Before I start this story, I need to clarify something: Normally, you want to have the good players to your right (which is called having "position" on them), as you get to see what they do before you act. Oddly, this is absolutely the worst position I can be in with T. I hate being to his left - I prefer being to his immediate right, where I have to act right before him. The reason for this is he knows how I play, and if I'm already in a pot (having bet my hand), it's harder for him to get me to fold a hand (otherwise called 'pushing me off a pot). If he bets into (before) me, I have a much harder time calling, and he can get me off (get me to fold) a hand I might otherwise have bet out on my own. So for this story, I'm in the worst position at the table.

Back to the story: I look at my hand and see a pair of aces (pocket rockets, in poker lingo). This is a great hand, but I really only want one person in against me, so I raise to make it $35 total to go. Everyone folds until the button, and the button calls the $35 raise. This is good for me, because this guy is in just to try and get my money, and I've got a good hand that can take his, I'm sure. But then B calls, and THEN T goes ahead and puts his $30 in to call. I'm not exactly pleased at this point, as I cannot put T on a hand - he's calling because he has odds and if he hits his hand (which doesn't have to be a good hand, as he's an aggressive player), he's going to get paid off.

The flop comes down J Q Q. Yuk. This is not a good flop, because I have three people in, two with likely premium hands that could easily have a Queen with them.

B bets out $35. What this tells says is "I don't have the Queen!". Someone who has the queen should, rightly, check this hand, and expect me to bet (as the pre-flop raiser), and then Check-Raise me when the betting gets back to him. So, I put him on a straight draw or a jack. I'm not worried.

T then smooth calls the bet. This scares the bejeezus out of me, because T is a good player. A smooth call is telling me that he has a better hand than B, and most likely actually has the Q. It would have been much easier for me if T raised the pot, because that, too, is a clear sign that T does not have the queen, and I could easily come over the top of him, raising big, and knowing that my aces are the best hand at that point. But no, he does just what I would expect him to do if he had the queen - he just calls.

Crap. Crappity crap. I probably said something to that effect. Actually, I'm pretty sure I looked over at T and said, "Have I told you how much I hate you today? I HATE sitting on this side of you!" It's not a poker game with T if I don't tell him I hate him (in a good nature) once during the session.

After about 30 seconds of debating, I fold my hand. Yes, I fold the pocket aces, because I can't think they're good - I'd have to pay $35 to hope an ace came on the turn, because if it doesn't, I know that T is going to make it a couple hundred dollars on the turn to see the last card.

The turn is another Q: (J Q Q) Q.

CRAP! That third queen coming down means the likelihood of T having the 4th Q is about 1:38, or 2.6%. My aces were probably good!! T manages to get more money into the pot from B.

The river comes down a 6: (J Q Q Q) 6

Some betting goes on, T gets more money into the pot from B, and then shows his Jc 8h. DAMMIT!! B shows his King-Ten of diamonds (he was on the straight draw), and I would have won that pot.

Did I do the right thing by laying my hand down? Possibly. I know T would have made it a lot to go on the turn card, and if the third queen didn't come down, I'd have a very hard time doing anything. However, after playing a bit with M, and getting some tips from him, I think I would have played it differently.

Edit: I need to add that after this hand, and after I almost beat the crap out of T for totally playing me, he admitted that he smooth-called on purpose. He knew my play, and he knew if he just smooth called, I would have to put him on a Q. He also knew if he raised, like he generally does, I'm popping him and coming all over the top of him. It was really a very very good move on T's part.


On the flop, when T smooth-called, I, too should have immediately smooth-called. Since I raised a big amount preflop, T has me on 4 hands: JJ, QQ, KK, or AA. If I smooth-call the flop, I represent (to him) an already made hand - maybe I have the Jacks for a full house already, or maybe I have pocket queens, giving me quads. My smooth calling should then scare the crap out of him!

NB: I know, T wouldn't put me on JJ because he has a J, and when we see the turn, he can't put me on QQ because that would put 5 queens in the deck, but the point is still valid.

When the turn comes down, I know my hand is good, and I bet it like I have the best full house - I can't put T on the Q, and I should expect to win the pot, especially if T puts me on pocket Jacks - he would expect to split the pot with me, unbeknownst to him.

That said, given the information I did have, I don't think I made the wrong play folding the aces in that situation. The wrong play I made was to sit to T's LEFT. Rrr.

A short poker story

I'm cutting and pasting from an email I sent to my friend who manages the poker room I play in, since it tells the story and is easier than rewriting...

[snip]
What an absolutely crazy (but good) night! M and A.D. were both in their poker lesson moods, and M gave me two or three really good tips that made me a LOT of money. One - how to play your big pocket pair when the damn over card comes up on the flop, and two - a huge tell on Spider when he's bluffing. He told me that one when Spider was in a pot with another player and was bluffing, but the guy actually folded, M said that both he and A.D. knew that Spider was bluffing because of a big tell he had, so when it was heads up with him and I in a pot, and I was betting out with my AQo, flop Q 8 3 rainbow, he called, turn was another 3, I bet, he raised, I called, and then the river was a blank, I bet $200 into a $1k pot and he raised me another $600, I wasn't sure I could call until I took a look at him and he was exhibiting the EXACT same tell that M told me about and I said "Ugh, I have to call you" and flipped up my cards, he said 'that's good' and I got to take the pot down. HOLY CRAP! :) Without that lesson from M, it was 50-50 on me folding to such a big bet.
[snip]

And that little tip from M netted me my biggest pot of the night - $2,000 or so. WOW.

the hand where I do everything right, yet still lose

I told y'all I'd write about a hand I actually lose, because I do have the capability of doing this, more often than I'd like...

The scene: I am playing the $200 max NL game, which means lots o' fish.  I am sitting in the 2 seat, the button is in the 5 seat, which means the small blind ($2) is in the 6 seat, and the big blind ($5) is in the 7 seat.  I've got about $600 in chips accumulated. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, the seating is numbered in order, and the person to the left of the dealer is seat 1, and then it goes around clockwise. Basically, I'm sitting in late-middle position.

Here we go: The 8 seat, who is under the gun, or first to act, raises to $15.  Seat 10 (to the right of the dealer) calls, seat 1 (my friend T) folds.  I look down at my hand and see the King of hearts and Queen of spades (KhQs).  This is good enough for me to call $15 with, so I put my money in.  Seats 2-4 fold, the button calls, the small blind folds, the big blind calls.  We now have 5 people in to see the flop.

The flop:  Ks Qh 2h.  In poker lingo, this flop hit me smack on; I've got the top two pair, and the only thing that can beat me is a set.  Since someone with KK or QQ in the hole preflop would normally raise at least $25 or $30, I'm positive that I've got the best hand.

So imagine my surprise when the 8 seat (initial raiser, under the gun) makes it a HUNDRED to go.  Since there is only $77 in the pot, this is an overbet of the pot, and is screaming "I don't want to be called!".  Too bad, everyone reading this should know that I'm going to at least call this.

Now imagine my confusion and surprise when the 10 seat calls this too.  Actually, since he only has $180, I'm somewhat surprised he merely calls instead of pushing in right there and getting to see the last two cards and maybe knocking someone out with his raise.  But as I said above, lots of fish, and this is definitely a fish-type play.

Well now, I'm still pretty positive I've got the best hand.  I mean, I've got the damn King of hearts, so I've got top two with a pretty decent redraw.  I put the preflop raiser on AK without hearts, because that heart draw scares him and he's trying to get people out.  I put the 10 seat on a flush draw, with maybe a Q in his hand.  So, I'd much rather take this pot down right now, and get the draws out while I can, or at least make them pay dearly (and wrongly) for their draws.

So I say "I raise.  Make it $300 all day."  Poker lingo: all day = straight = total.  At this point, anyone who has half a clue at the table know what I have (I counted three of those people at this table).

The 8 seat quickly says, "I call", and starts counting out his chips.  When he realizes he's just committed about half his chips (he has about $200 left after the $300 call), he asks, "Can I raise?" The dealer (and everyone else at the table) says "No, that's a string bet."  This really doesn't phase me in the least - maybe the turn card will scare him somewhat and he won't push his chips in, but unless some big card comes down that scares me, I'm going to put him all in on the turn anyway.  Keep in mind, I'm pretty positive he doesn't have a heart in his hand.

What does make me blink and go "what the hell?" is when the 10 seat pushes his remaining $80 in.  Sheeesh.  Of course, if you're on the short stack, you're getting odds to call a lot of hands - if he's on a flush draw, this is  the right call, even more so if he has a pair.

The turn card is a Jh, making the board now: (Ks Qh 2h) Jh

The 8 seat is the first to act, and pushes all in for about $230.  I've got the Kh, so not only do I have top two (which I think is good), if a heart comes down, I have the second best hand possible.  This is an easy call, so I do.  I flip up my cards, showing top two with the redraw.

The 8 seat flips his cards up, showing:  the Ace of clubs and the Ace of diamonds.  I am overjoyed to see this, because wow, what a fish to not realize he was totally beat on the flop, and I couldn't believe what a dog he was.  He only has 10 possible cards that he can hit on the river to beat me (1 Ace - the Ah gives me a flush, 3 twos (to pair the board and give him a bigger 2 pair than I have), 3 Jacks (same deal as the twos), and 3 Tens to give him the straight (again, we take out the Th, because that gives me the flush).  That means I'm a 4 to 1 (80%) favorite to win.

Then the 10 seat flips up his hand: Ah Jc.  This is good and bad news.  My odds to take the side pot just went up (one less Jack in the deck), but it means I lose the main pot if any heart comes down.  But considering the side pot is something like $500, I'd be okay taking just that if it came down to it.  (for those of you counting, the 10 seat has 16 outs (8 hearts (I have 1 in my hand), plus the same 8 that seat 8 now has) to win or split the pot.  He's close to the favorite in this game.

The river is, of course, the Tc, giving both of my competitors the Ace high straight and beating my 2 pair.  Yarrrrrrrr.  I think my reaction is really just, "Wow."

It gets better, though.  My friend T in the 1 seat is so amazed, as this is the worst beat he has ever seen, does what I really wanted to do and asked the 8 seat:  "What did you think she had that you could possibly call that raise on the flop?"

The 8 seat replies: "Well, I thought she had 2 pair or a flush draw."

T blinks and says, "Really?  So when the heart came on the turn to make the flush and you knew you HAD to have been beat, since she now either really does have a flush or 2 pair to your aces, you pushed all in??  I mean, I'm really trying to understand this here, because I just don't get how you justify calling and pushing in."

Seat 8 gave the typical fish reaction: "Well, I just couldn't lay down pocket aces."

So the tip for you poker players: pocket aces DO lose, and they DO win.  But really, if you think you're beat, you're going to lose money in the long run (80% of the time here), if you keep calling because you can't lay down the aces.  It was a costly hand, but I would seriously play this the same way every time, and 80% of the time, I'm the one raking in the pot.

The one where I bust the jerky drunk lawyer

Since I'm on a poker roll, and there's some interest in these stories...  The next one will be a hand I lose, just to show I don't always win

The scene: it's late and I'm about ready to go home, however, I've just played my blinds (forced bets) and my button, so I figure I'll wait until either the blind comes around again or the next dealer sits down. (aside: at the no limit games, you pay the house a set amount every half hour instead of the house taking money from each pot, so generally you get a lot of people leaving on dealer changes) I'm sitting in the cutoff position (2nd best position - to the right of the dealer button), and I have 67 off suit.  There are 4 limpers (people who just call the big blind, no raising), so I throw my $5 in and get in for cheap.

The flop comes down 6h 8s 9h.  This is a spectacular flop for me. I have a pair, plus the open ended straight draw - it's a big hand.  Jerk Lawyer (who we will refer to as JL in the future) is first to act and bets $25 (into a $25 pot, which is stupid on its own, but that's another story), gets a caller in middle position, and I raise $50 to make it $75 total to go.  I have a big hand, and but would prefer to take it down now, because maybe I don't make my hand.

JL moves all in as his response.  Middle position caller folds.  I look at his chip stack and instead of being neatly stacked up in $100 stacks, it's a random jumble of checks, so I ask him how much he has.  He picks up about $50 in chips and begins counting them out individually. Oh my damn, how annoying.  So, since the dealer wasn't doing her job and asking him to just push his chips in so she could cut them down, I have to say, "Can you have the dealer count your stack down?" and JL snottily replies, "Just because your knickers are in a twist doesn't mean you have to be snitty." Geeeeez.  I tell him I'm not being snitty, I have a big decision to make and I need to know what he has, as this factors hugely into the decision.

The dealer finally cuts the stacks down and it turns out to be $444, compared to my $650.  This is, unfortunately, way too big of a bet for me to call, and I have to muck my hand.  JL then says, "Well, at least I know how much money I have now!"  I tell him, that no, actually he doesn't.  The dealer then smiles, and says, "Here's the pot."  I think, "Yeah, you jerk, you have $444 plus the amount in the pot." 

Then he starts stacking his chips up into random piles again (aside: I totally hate this. I am absolutely anal about people and their chips and it's a big thing in NL to know how much your opponents have), but on top of that he is stacking his green ($25) chips randomly in with his red ($5) chips.  So, again, I'm going to have no freaking idea how much money he has. 

I say to him, "Well, while I'm in bitch mode, I need you to put your big checks out in front so I can see how much you have."  The dealer makes a comment that I'm right and he has to put them in front.  JL then says "You're right, you are being a bitch but thank you for telling me what I need to do."

Cripes.  Did I mention I was SO READY to go home?  Now I frickin' need to stay and clean this guy's clock.  Sigh.

So, for the next two hours, he cannot stop from calling me names.  Random things like, "Oh, what's the bitch doing?"  and "Oh, is the bitch in?" and "Oh, you are such a poker goddess, is that how you play poker?" and "I'm going to go home and tell my daughter about you so when she plays poker she's just like you."  It's to the point where the dealers are absolutely flabberghasted, because to be honest (and I'm truly not being egotistical here), I'm one of the nicest people in the casino and I always treat the dealers with respect and rarely lose my temper and bitch people out, so they're just stunned that someone is treating me this way.  It was good to feel loved, but I was afraid that one of them was going to reach over the table and get this guy ejected and trust me, I was extremely okay with this guy calling me names and letting his ego get in the way.

NB: Ego is most of guys' downfall in poker, that I've noticed.  That, and believing that girls can't play poker.  I try and encourage this mode of thinking as much as possible.

So, then he gets on this thing after two or three more jack and cokes, where he's saying 'If she raises, I'm going all in'.  And then he says that across the table to me for about a half an hour: "If you raise, I'm going all in!"  This actually pisses me off a bit, because it cripples my game.  Unless I have pocket aces or pocket kings, I can't call an all in raise pre flop - he's got about $750 to my $1200 at this point.

So, JL is in the big blind, there's one limper and I'm on the button and look down and see the King and Jack of clubs.  Crap.  This is a hand I would raise on, especially on the button, but I can't because I know JL will push all in and I can't call that bet.  Sigh.  So, I throw my $5 into the pot, the SB calls, and JL looks at his hand and raises it an extra $25 to make it $30 to go.  Well, I can certainly call that, as that's about as much as I was going to raise.  His raise gets out the two other limpers, so it's heads up, me and him, and I have the positional advantage.

The flop comes down: 7c 5c 2c.  Yes, that's right, I now have a King high flush - the second nut (only thing that can beat me is an Ace High flush, and I can't put him on this hand because the odds of him having 2 of the remaining 9 clubs are very very small).

JL looks at me and asks, "Is it just you and me?"
I say, "It looks that way, yes."
JL smiles and says the three sweetest words I could possibly hear, "I'm all in"
I reply, "Reeeeally?" And then I check my hand to make sure that I have two clubs, and then check the board to make sure that yes, there are three clubs there, too, and say sweetly, "I call."  And flip over my KJc to the "oooooohs" of the table.
JL looks, and flips over his 7h 4h.

Yes, that would be top pair, crappy kicker that he pushed in on.  With a flush on board. The only way he can win is to get running 7s, running 4s or a 7 and 4.  Pretty slim.

The turn is a K, which means he's now drawing dead, and all his money is MINE.  To make things sweeter, as the dealer is flipping his cards over to show his hand didn't win, he asks, "So what happened, did I win?"  The dealer, one of my favorites, says, "Oh no honey, she has a flush," and pushes the $1500 pot my way.  I think if it wasn't terribly impolite, the whole damn table would have stood up and cheered.

And damn if I didn't give that dealer the biggest tip of my life (a green chip) because that was too precious of a hand to not acknowledge.

Turns out the next dealer was coming in right as the flop was coming up so he'd seen the whole thing.  Later he tells me that 'It's good to see that happen that way.' When I ask for clarification, he says "You know, when the one who's doing the annoying gets busted by the person he's trying to annoy."  The dealer who had dealt me the hand came up to me the next day (this was a weekend) and said "thank you SO much for the tip! I couldn't say anything yesterday, I tried to but you were in a hand, and we're supposed to be impartial, but I was so happy to see you take that jerk out."  I love being a regular that the staff likes. :)

And for those of you interested in playing poker:  don't ever let your ego come to the poker table with you; it will only get you in trouble.  You can bring your self-confidence, that's necessary, but leave the ego in the car.

How I busted the fish

Okay, this should be the last poker story for today, but this time I get to write about how I busted the last fish at the table Saturday night.

So, it's later at night at this point, and this guy with a boston red sox cap sits down (we will call him B for expediency).  M leans over to me and mentions that this guy and one other annoying player are his marks at the table.  Unfortunately, the other annoying player gets up and leaves before either of us can bust him.  As we're playing, M is in a pot with B, and it gets to the turn and there's a flush on board, and B bets maybe 1/4 of the pot, and M looks at him and then says raise.  He matches the bet, and then throws his stack of purple chips ($7500 total or so) into the pot.  B looks at it and says 'how much is that?' and then realizes his error as he looks at his ($700) stack and says 'Oh, that would put me all in to call'.  He thinks for a while and has to fold.  M later whispers in my ear, "How'd you like that stone cold bluff?"  YEESH! I didn't even realize it.

M then starts betting weirdly for him.  Large bets into a small pot, etc.  After he busts out this guy we call Spider, he leans over and explains his reasoning - he was doing that for the last hour to set up Spider and B - that they wouldn't think he had a good hand (when he really did) and would call his big bets down.  Which Spider did.  So M is a little off kilter, I think - it's obvious M and I talk about hands and the game and such when we're sitting together and B isn't so stupid to not realize this, so he may be thinking my game is somewhat like M's.  (aside - it's so not. M is 10 times the player I am - at the moment.  I'll catch up, though)

Anyway, to get to the story.  I have pocket Jacks on the button, and 4 people limp in and I raise to $90.  In this game, that's the standard "I've got a good hand get out of my way" bet.  I hate Jacks.  HATE HATE HATE them because you get screwed if an Ace, King or Queen comes up.  So, I'm really unhappy when I get THREE out of the 4 people calling this bet!  In fact, the only person who folded was M. Sigh.

To make matters worse, the flop comes down Q - T - 2.  Of course, there had to be an overcard to my JJ there. But, taking Mark's lesson to heart, I bet $150 into a $360 pot to see where the heck I was, after everyone checked to me.  I did have to pause and close my eyes to do a bit of math for a second before I bet, and this may have enticed the fish in but was totally unintentional.  The first caller folded, the second caller folded, but the fish (B) called my bet.

This told me a lot about what he had.  First, he's a fish.  If he had the Q, he would have raised me, because he's just not that good enough to smooth call me, hoping to pop me on the turn.  AA and KK are already ruled out, because if he had those, he would have re-raised me preflop (again, not good enough to smooth call hoping to trap someone (me) in)  So, I have to put him on AK or AT.  Either of these are ok with me - my JJ is good.

The turn comes a 9, giving me an open ended straight draw, in addition to my pocket pair.  It also reduces the number of outs B has by one (the 3 kings he has are no longer good if he has AK, they make me a straight, but now the 2 jacks left to make my set make him a straight, if he has AT, he's drawing to an A or a T - still 5 outs).

So, imagine my surprise when B pushes all in on the turn.  I look at the board, and after three heartbeats say 'I call'.  There's just too much money in the pot at this point ($660 not including his $400 bet), and I really think I'm good.  I flip up my jacks, and he turns over AKo.  Wow.  For those of you taking notes, this is a Bad Move. 

The river is an 8, giving me the straight, and the pot, plus the privledge of busting the fish.

f

more poker talk

To expound on M's statement Saturday night when he said "Hey, we were talking about you last night and a bunch of people said that they were glad that you didn't sit at the table becuase they didn't like taking your money. Not because you're a girl, because we love taking chicks' money, but because they all really like you."


It's totally true.  They love taking chicks' money.  Some girl sat down at our table after totally getting lucky at another big game (H.O.S.E. which is a mixed game of Hold'em, Omaha, Stud, and Stud 8 or better), and damn if they didn't think of her as fresh meat, and not in the sexual manner either.

Let's keep in mind here that this chick who's sat down is NOT a good player - that's pretty obvious to most of the folks at the table. But, I digress...

In the first couple hands she played, AD (again, an aggressive crazy gus hansen type player) came in to the pot with her holding 10-2 off suit (for those who are new to poker, this hand is AWFUL).  Of course, AD knows if he hits, he'll totally get paid off because she cannot put him on that crap hand, as she's never played with him.  The rest of us regulars, are always fearful of craptacular flops when Ad's in the hand because in all likelyhood, since  it's missed us entirely it means it's hit him full on.  Anyway, I believe the flop comes down 10-2-A, and she eventually puts all of her chips in and they get passed right over to AD.  I think she had AK or something.

The VERY NEXT HAND (after she buys in for another $400), she raises, AD looks at his hand and sees, guess what, 10-2 off.  He says to someone across the table that he has to play this hand (the chick could hear what he said, too).  The flop comes down Q-2-8, girl bets, AD calls because he has a pair.  The turn is a 2.  Girl goes all in, AD, with his trip 2s, of course, calls.  Turns out she had QQ.  Oops.

So she gets up and moves to the WORST SEAT at the table (if you read my earlier entry, this means she moved directly to the right of AD, who was directly to the right of M, who was to my right).  I lean over to AD and said "Oh geez, she has no idea she just moved to the worst seat in the house."  AD replied, "I know, and the next time I get a big hand and she's in, I'm going to raise big and she's going to come in just because she's pissed at me and I'm going to take her out.  Just so you know."  This basically tells me if Ad's raising big, and the girl's in, I'd better have damn good cards because he's not doing his usual raise on anything crap.  This isn't collusion, as you could think, as collusion is really two players consipiring to trap other people in and get all their money.  AD was just telling me to get out of the way, as I wasn't out to bust this girl, though I would if I got the chance.

M was up eating at this point and didn't hear, so when he did come back from dinner, I basically passed the word on to him, since we're all friends.  Again, not collusion, as it was just a heads up that AD had changed his usual game style.

Sure enough a couple hands later, the girl raises it from $10 to $50 pre flop.  AD comes in for $50, and M makes it $300 to go (which is an unusually high raise for him).  The girl calls, AD drops.  Flop comes down Js - 9s - 2s.  Girl pushes in, M calls.  Turn is a brick, and the river is the 8s. Girl turns over pocket 10s (with the spade), M turns over pocket Aces with the spade, making a higher flush, and busting the chick.

Turns out AD had the 6 and 7 of spades, which, had M just smooth called the $50 raise (as he might have been prone to do otherwise), he would have had a made hand on the flop (with the flush), so when the girl pushed all in, AD would have then come over the top and pushed HIS chips all in, forcing M out of the hand (there's no way M could have called $3500 with a flush on board, even if he had a draw to the nuts).  At that point, when the river spade comes down, the 10s that the girl has makes a higher flush and she actually wins the pot.

Again, this was not collusion - it was M wanting to win the pot vs AD winning the pot.  If they were colluding, M would not have made it $300 to go pre-flop - he would have smooth called, and kept AD in so that one of them would have a chance of busting her.  Then, when the flop comes down, and she pushes all in, AD (had he been in the hand) would not have gone over the top of her, but let M call so that one of the two of them would take her chips.  But instead, M doesn't want to give his chips to AD, and AD doesn't want to send chips to M either - thus, no collusion.

But dang if they don't like taking chicks' money.

weekend update

Man, was last weekend fun, or what?

I finally got over the flu on Thursday (thank goodness), and since I had plans to go down to Champaign for the Illini-Wisc game with Julie, this was a good thing. I made plans with my friend Bonnie to have her watch Wrigley - she's got an acre of land with two dogs, four horses and an electronic fence, so this was a Good Thing for Wrigley, too - especially since the weather was supposed to be very nice over the weekend and everyone would spend lots of time outside enjoying themselves. Since Julie lives about 40 minutes south of me, I was going to go to the boats on Friday, stay there at the boats at the poker room rate, and then meet J at her house so we could travel downstate, watch the game, and have dinner, etc etc and then I'd go ahead and make a weekend of it, and play on Saturday too since I had the room for the day anyway.

I got to the boats later than I usually do on Fridays since I dropped Wrigley off around 6, and chatted with B until 6:30 or so before heading down, instead of leaving around 4 pm to miss the traffic, and it's amusing, since everyone came up to me asking why I was 'late'. I know it's a small thing, but I seriously like being a regular. Unfortunately, the day was a tough losing session, which means I was working on 2-4 hours sleep when I got to Julie's the next morning. I hate losing, but I have to remember that it's all one big poker session, and I'm up when you consider that game.

Saturday was great. I got to J's about 9:15 am (uuugh) and we headed down to Champaign, got decent parking even though she couldn't find the parking permit (we think it got lost in a move somewhere), and watched a really well-fought game, which of course, we won. YAY! I would totally put my lack of sluttiness aside and do Deron Williams in a heartbeat, thankyouverymuch. We thought about eating somewhere in town, but decided against the traffic, and ended up eating dinner at Bakers' Square somewhere in the Kankakee area. I love me the pah, truly. Whenever I go to Bakers' Square (which is very rare), I have to get a slice of pie to go, since I so rarely have pie, and I adore the triple berry. So, I got some of that to go, for it would keep in the car (or even in the room if I wanted to do so).

Anyway, I was debating either going back to the room and sleeping for a bit before hitting the poker tables again, or just going straight there, as it was about 6:30, and once it gets later on the weekends, there gets to be a really long line for the games, and it's almost impossible to get a seat. I decided to call in and put my names on the list, and then go back to the room and see if I could fall asleep. I couldn't, so headed over to play me some poker.

I get there, and it's pretty packed already, but they just opened up a $10/$20 table, so I had a seat right away, even though I was waiting for the "little" no limit game, or even the "big" no limit game. As I walked to my seat for the 10/20 game, M (a really good "big" NL player) whispered in my ear and asked that if they asked me if I said I wanted to play the big game, to say yes, even if I decided not to sit down there so that they'd have enough players to open the game. I told him I was thinking about playing anyway, but of course I'd do that for him.

M then said "Hey, we were talking about you last night and a bunch of people said that they were glad that you didn't sit at the table becuase they didn't like taking your money. Not because you're a girl, because we love taking chicks' money, but because they all really like you." I laughed and asked if theyreally said that. He said they did, but that he said "But i told them I didn't feel that way, i told them I wanted ALL your chips!" I laughed, and took my seat, because while I know that Mark does want every chip at the table, he'd rather take them from everyone else first, and then go after mine.

I had just gotten my chips and was waiting for the big blind to come around so I could start playing, when they went ahead and opened up the "feeder" game for the big NL game (which means that our game moves over to the 'main game' when they lose players), and I picked up my chips and moved, intentionally picking the seat to the right of M, so I got to see what he did before I had to act, and when I sit next to M, I can get him to give me tips and lessons on how to play NL poker (which turned out to be incredibly valuable, and I'll get into it later). Sully, who was playing the big game, came over, looked at the lineup (it was 5-6 handed at the feeder game, with some pretty decent regulars) and said "you should go find a better game". I said I would - and that I was really waiting for a seat at the little game. To be honest, I was mostly sitting at the game so I could watch and listen and learn, and wasn't risking a lot of my chips unless I got premium hands.

Luckily, I got a LOT of premium hands, and by the time they called my seat for the little game, I was up $450 or so. I went ahead and took that seat, and let M move over to the big game (he was below me on the list), and proceeded to lose $200 at the little game. Coincidentally, after the first $55 lost, I asked to be put back on the list for the big game. Also luckily, as the line at the cage (where you buy/sell chips) went down, and I went to cash in/color up the chips from the big game (you can only have so many chips at the little game), a seat opened up at the big game, and the boys were saying "oh there isn't a list" and I said "yes there is! me!" and instead of coloring the chips up, put them right there at the WORST SEAT at the table. Right in the middle (I prefer the ends), and on the right side of A.D. - a really aggressive raise-on-anything player (think Gus Hansen). Again, my good fortune that a) A.D. is one of the people who likes me, so when I folded he'd let me look at his cards and get an idea of how he plays, and b) the seat to the left of both M and A.D. opened up in 20 minutes so I moved right over there into the BEST SEAT at the table. It was on the end, plus it was to the left of A.D and M, so I got to see what A.D. and M did first, and I was sitting right next to M, so if he folded I got to show him my cards, and he gave me lessons and notes on people's tells all night. One of his little lessons netted me a $2500 pot, because I knew my opponent was bluffing and was able to call his huge river raise, and another one of his lessons netted me smaller, but still decent sized pots all night.

I ended the night WAY up (I turned $900 into $4600) thanks to M and his really good teaching, and since the game broke and we all left at once (after the last fish left when I busted him - ME! ) , M and I walked out and he continued to give me lessons all the way to the car, and asked if he was going to see me next weekend. I told him probably Friday, but I have a party on Saturday and likely won't be there.

So, all in all, it was a good weekend, and I picked my dog up on Sunday and he had a super duper weekend with the boys, so it was all good.