The Poker Game of Life

One more month to go

2006-04-03T16:32:00.000-07:00

One more month to go before my rookie year is over. If we assume that I breakeven for the rest of the year I'd say that my first year has been very interesting.

First off I must say that this job is very stressful. However overall I've made more money in less total hours (let's not count the hours that I spend dreaming about cards) so I'd say the move from Microsoft has been a good one.

Hopefully my second year goes even better than my first. I would say that the single most important factor in my success thus far has been to listen to everything everybody has to say. Even the bad players can be helpful in your approach to the game. Loose aggressive players give players problems for a reason. They might not win longterm but the problems they present are one of the best parts of the game that I've been trying to add into my own.

Anyhow, if any of you would be willing to link to my High Stakes Poker page I'd really appreciate it and link back.

A link to a nice guy's page

2006-02-23T01:26:00.000-08:00

A nice guy setup a link to a few of my site so here's one in return. If you're interested in his site here is the location:

Online poker rules

For the love of the game

2006-02-21T12:36:00.000-08:00

Everyday I sit in 4 to 6 games of the Party $30/60 limit variety and occassionally make my jump into $50/100. I grind out a decent living and aspire of course to continue to progress up the "limit ladder" so that eventually I'll be playing even higher and making more money.

I won't deny that if you were to sit here and watch me play you'd still see a glimmer in my eye when I get a good player out of a few extra bets that I would've avoided losing in his situation. However for the most part poker has lost much of it's original luster and is now more of a complex analytical job.

Fortunately there are still times when my love of the game still comes back into play. One of my favorite things to do is play $1/2 mixed game with my college buddies from the fraternity. Last Saturday was one of those days. It's funny that if I were to lose $80 in that game the feeling is close to as devastating as if I go off for $4k in the $30/60.

I've played 65k hands in 2006 but the 2 most memorable hands this year have got to be the consecutive hands that I took this young kid off in the home game. I'll spare you the details but I bluff checkraised the river and got him to fold then showed him to a round of applause and laughs from the crew. The very next hand I rivered a straight on a board on a flop that was 3 spades. I checkraised the river and when everybody started laughing he decided to 3 bet and I of course automatically capped and my hand was of couse good.

new forum hand posts

2006-02-16T23:04:00.000-08:00

A couple new hands are up on the forum. Would love to know comments.

partypoker updates

2006-02-16T14:23:00.000-08:00

Well I'm not really happy with the Party Poker updates. Here's a list of why I'm not happy

1. Pokerace HUD works slow now. Why do my stats keep on disappearing? is party in the magic business now? "And boom your stats disappear before your eyes.

2. The fucking buttons dont' work. Perhaps party is in business with doctors who will make tons of money off my newly developing carpo tunnel syndrome. What do they think I'm working at Microsoft still?

3. The sidebet buttons are back up. I'm sure i'll find out how to delete these again but come on. Party makes like $70k a yr off my rake already do they really need to induce me to gamble on something so dumb as if the card will be red or black? Do they really want the fish to go broke so I can find another game?

Anyhow there is one positive development from party. They're going to allow us to use our partypoints to buy cool things. I wouldn't mind an ipod or TV instead of a stupid partypoker hat.

The comeback

2006-02-10T10:32:00.000-08:00

At the end of November I was on a roll. I had made tons of money in the party $30 and $50 games and had decised to focus entirely on the $50/100 game.

Then it happened. I ran bad. I went on a $23.4k downswing in the $50/100 game and my bankroll was beginning to hit dangerous levels for that limit. I had still the game beat for a ton but could no longer afford to play at that level.

So I swallowed my ego (which is huge BTW) and stepped back into the party $30/60 games. Then it happened again. I ran bad or on tilt. In retrospect it was probably a combination of both. Irregardless of the reasons I lost another $12.4k which really isn't the worst slide I've had but was at the absolute worst time.

I was a wreck. I had emotional breakdowns and serious doubts about my career and game. I spent a day drinking with my friends and contemplated a serious decision. I could cash everything out and go get a job. I had still made more money than my old Microsoft job and I did have a nice little run.

Or I could man the fuck up and start all over. My girlfriend was/is very supportive and totally had me feeling that I could comeback. I took my bankroll and spent a day studying and watching my friend Ian (pro player) and began to put my game back together from day 1. Everyday I played I thought about just putting my resume' back together and job searching.

In January I saw 40k hands and got almost all of the money that I had lost in both the $50 and the $30 games. I was stoked, not only had I gotten the money back quickly but I had gotten it back in the $30 game which I thought would take forever (since obviously $50/100 is much bigger than $30/60). I was and am totally focused.

Yesterday, February 9, 2006 I broke my all time high and the 2 month ride of essentially breakeven play.

I had only won $3,102 but it felt better than my $16k week or my $9k day.

I'm back

I'm all heart and I think he needs another

2006-01-31T23:18:00.000-08:00

Just posted a hand that makes me look like a maniac. Check it out on the forum I'd love to hear some comments.

Hand analysis

2006-01-27T16:19:00.000-08:00

At the request of some of my friends and blog readers I'm going to begin posting hands in the forum for the Checkraise website located here.
Poker Forum

Hopefully people will comment and we can have healthy discussions on how to play certain hands.

I'm like Fidelity baby

2006-01-23T21:00:00.000-08:00

"So Trav have you been investing much in stocks lately?" - My uncle with my cousin

"Ah, not really. I've got plans in the future but right now most of my money is invested in Aces and Kings. hehe" - Me

"Haha, that sounds dangerous" - My cousin

"Ah, maybe with Kings. Not aces though" - Me.

Need inbound links

2006-01-20T12:58:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

I need to get new inbound links to my http://www.pokercheckraise.com/ in a few of the back pages. In exchange I'm willing to give a free hour of lessons in the game of the user's choice. So if you have a poker blog or website and are willing to setup a link for me please send me an email and we'll arrange a time for the lessons.

Pretty great deal I'd say.

High Stakes poker on TV

2006-01-19T14:19:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I saw the new TV show "High Stakes Poker". If you haven't seen this show yet you're definitely missing out. It was simply amazing to see a $100k minnimum buyin no limit cash game.

One of the most interesting hands I saw was a set of 5's over a set of 2's on a 542 board. Some rich doctor got Ted Forrest all in for like $100k pot. Sick I tell you, just sick.

At any rate I'm going to post more often. See you guys soon. Also if you're interested in High Stakes Poker online check out the site for more info.

20/20 vision

2006-01-15T18:53:00.000-08:00

"I spent a G on these glasses but my vision is priceless, seein' thru u niggaz like a fuckin psychic" - Lil Wayne

I'd say about once everytime I go out I see an acquaintance (note acquaintance is very different from friend) and they ask if I'm still at Microsoft. I then tell them "nope I'm pretty much playing poker for a living right now." Then they either go 2 routes, one route is when they ask me hella questions which is ok I guess.

Or they give me a very strange look. It's kind of a "you used to be smart or cool back in college but now you're just a loser" look. Then they say something like "well if that makes you happy I guess you can do it while you're young." I'm never really sure what that means, like are they saying go ahead and waste your life away gambling for awhile but eventually you'll have to get a job?

Sometimes I see this look and hear this statement and get hella pissed off. Lately though it's more of an eye opener and a reminder of why my friends are who they are.

It also makes me sad because it's kind of sad that college graduates working in great companies are so ignorant (IGNANT naggaz) that they are too close minded to entertain the possibility that maybe I can make more money in less time doing something I love than I ever would at the peak of my corporate career.

But I guess that's why they're acquaintances and not friends.

In retrospect

2006-01-09T23:28:00.000-08:00

2005 was a pretty good year for me. I quit my job at Microsoft and made more money playing poker. Unfortunately Dec. was a really bad month and I actually had a $37k downslide. At the very end I luckily made a triumphant comeback and now I'm about $15k off my high.

I know I know funny to be happy about losing and off of my high. But you see I was starting to doubt myself and had to spend a significant more time studying. Anyhow everything worked out and now I think 06 can be amazing.

At any rate does anybody still read this? If you do it'd be nice to hear from you sometime. checkraisetrav at gmail dot com.

Good luck

Goals for 06

2006-01-03T11:22:00.000-08:00

Well I hope everyone had a happy new year. Now that my girlfriend went back to Houston I'll be back to focusing on my game. Despite a few rocky months I'm confident and ready for 06 with a $150k goal and a drive to improve in tournaments. Wish me luck.

On our Texas Holdem online website there's also a new page on Money Management. Please let me know what you think.

Also, lessons are back on due to continued interest. I took awhile off because I was focusing on my game but now I'm ready to break to teach part time. Please send email to checkraisetrav@gmail.com if you're interested. Details are also on the website.

On Fire

2005-11-07T19:29:00.000-08:00

Well after a shitty Sept I bounced back in October and had a good month. Now in Nov I'm on fire again. You know you're runnin' good when you're at 2.78BB/100 in the $50/100.

Got about 70k hands loaded from the $30/60 and it looks like I'm shaping up to about 1BB/100. Blah blah blah, yeah I know 100k hands at the minnimum and even then it's hard to tell. Regardless I gotta focus. 1.5BB/100 would be pretty nice.

Hope everybody is running well.

No more comments

2005-10-10T10:23:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately people are utilizing my blog for bad marketing and SEO schemes. So I've disabled the ability for people to leave comments. However if you've got somehting to say please send it over to me thru email. Always great to hear from other poker players.

On a good note I just won a qualifier to the $750k guaranteed Party Poker tournament at the end of the month. Not to be cheap but paying $30 sounds nice compared to a few hundred to enter. Plus I sure could use a little tourney win in an easier tourney to boost how I feel about my tourney game.

Hopefully I'll see you guys there.

I'm still alive

2005-10-07T10:32:00.000-07:00

I heard there's been some discussion about if I'm still alive in my buddy MJ's forum. Well I am. =) Truth is I had that after a stellar August I had an awful September that drove serious doubts into my mind about poker. So I've been spending most of my waking life studying and trying to improve. Hopefully October shows an improvement in my progress.

Hey Bob!

2005-09-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the note Bob. Actually since starting in the $30/60 4 months ago I've gotten a better grip on the bankroll needed and winning expectations. In fact I actually started with a bankroll way too small for the game. I guess my experience in the actual playing part of the game and running good helped me do well and got my bankroll up to where it should be (was at about 750 BB now it's at 500 a bit scary). It'd be really nice to chat with another pro online sometime. If you're open let me know.

Definitely got more to learn

When does the doubt stop?

2005-09-08T14:41:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all the comments asking me to post. I've always thought of myself as an average or below average writer but I guess the subject matter more than compensates for that.

I think someone asked what a good win was? I'd say anything less than a grand is hard to even consider a win or loss. That being said if I could make a grand a day I'd have a few yachts and I'd still be saving money, buying strangers groceries and my friend's prostitutes. hehe. Just kidding, I probably wouldn't save that much money. ;)

Anyhow due to normal swings in the gameI would have to say that a $3k swing either direction occurs quite frequently.

So what I'm really curious about is when do the doubts stop? If there are any other pro players out there that read this please let me know. I've beat this game for a pretty sweet amount of sugar (pun intended) but now that I'm on a bit of a downswing I'm constantly doubting every aspect of my game. When does that stop?

What's a bad day?

2005-08-30T16:26:00.000-07:00

To answer a couple of questions:
1.) I play 2-4 tables a day. I'd rather play 2 unless I'm in the groove real good.
2.) I'd like to make 1.5 BB per hour. I'm at that right now for 2 tables but I think I'm just running good. I'd say 1 BB/hour or 1BB/100 hands would be fine

So a fuckin' bad day is losing 3k yesterday with no more than $500 in mistakes and losing $3k today. So here's a few things that show you're running bad:

1.) Losing AA vs. AKs two times in a day
2.) Losing AA vs. A8 in a critical moment in a tournament where there's 54 players left out of 240.
3.) Doing nothing but stealing the blinds 4x in a day with AA and KK.

Considering all that I guess it's not that bad. I'll be back tomorrow!

Step it up

2005-08-26T16:51:00.000-07:00

Step it up, step up your game,
fuck the fame, just send the chips,
Fifty, one hundred here we go...players better get a grip
Cuz here I come.

So I'm slowly making ventures into $50/100 and it's going great. All I have to remember is to not make too many moves. I make way way too many moves sometimes. hehe. I can't help it, nothing is better than stealing pots you don't rightfully deserve.

I love this job. Good luck out there guys and thanks for all the notes about those of you who like my posts. =)

Don't wake me up

2005-08-17T20:26:00.000-07:00

"Was it all a dream, I used to read word up magazine, Salt N' Pepa and Heavy D up in the magazine" - Biggie Smalls

Is this a dream? I'm in the middle of the best winning poker week in my life and I leave for Houston tomorrow. On Monday I had a day that was so sick (in a good way) I almost cried. When I get back I gotta talk to a tax accountant but for now I'm looking forward to a nice big steak courtesy of a the donks in the $30/60 limit holdem game. God bless you guys.

Nasty

2005-08-11T15:06:00.000-07:00

I placed 10th out of 229 people. I think I got $229 or so minus my $100 buyin and i win $129. Sheesh...I'm better off in the $30/60. I guess my winnings buy me like 3 rounds of blinds in my limit game. hehe

Nothing against gays

2005-08-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

I got nothing against gays as I know a couple and they're ok in my book. Long as they don't hit on me and know that I got a girl it's cool homie. :)

So today I'm in a tournnament, there's about 27 players left out of 229 with a $100 buyin so I'm feeling pretty good about it. Wish me luck (it's not over yet and it'd be nice to get the $6,000 first place.)

I send in a raise of 999 chips and a guy talks shit to me and says I'm cursed for such a flagrant raise. I mean come on can't a guy have a little fun in our profession?

Anyhow so then a guy who's not even in the tournament says, "That raise was the gayest thing since gay town." First off is that funny to anybody? I think it's like the dumbest thing I've ever heard. So I reply and say, "Almost as gay as watching an online poker tournament."

=)

Life is full of questions

2005-08-08T17:28:00.000-07:00

How long will the game be good? The $30/60 is going really well for me and I continue to do way way better here than at my last job. Being a worrying geek I do have a few concerns which I'm sure some of you other players making lunch money off the donks have as well.

1.) How long will the game be good? Will it dry up and then all the money be gone? That would make me very sad. My Dad was telling me about how he crushed a lowball Razz 2-7 game for months making so much money it was incredible. Then the game dried up and everyone owed him money. He used to sit down and say, "Why don't you guys all give me $50 and I'll leave right now. Save everybody time". I've heard so many legendary stories about him sitting down and then everybody puts their name up for a seat change and these come from other people.

Then the game dried up. Will the internet dry up? So I'm building my bankroll for my next move. I'll be damned if I'm not retired at an early age.

2.) Where and when will I hit my limits? I'm at $30/60 now and making a good wage. If I can win at the same hourly rate when I step to $50/100 I'll make more money than I'd ever make at the pinnacle of my career in the corporate world. Will I hit that limit and all of a sudden have more money than I know what to do with? Or will I instead hit the limit and get frustrated and learn that I'm not as good as I think I am?

It gets trickier. Assume I can't really beat it. Will I be able to beat it after continuous study in 6 months? A yr?

How shitty would it be to reach the pinnacle of your career at 26 years and 11 months? :)

Funny because I face the same questions now that I did last year at Microsoft. Am I progressing in my career climb at the optimal rate? Am I happy with my quality of life. will I get stuck as a financial analyst? Will my poker site make me happy?

I always found that the answer was that I'll never know until I try.

i don't mean to complain

2005-07-31T19:07:00.000-07:00

Today I played at a smokey casino for 3 hours in a tournament. They took the top 8 out of about 45 to the next round where first place is $10k. The buy in was $275. I placed 11th. Doesn't that suck? I'd rather place 45th than 11th. At least that way I would've gone about my merry way much earlier.

That's why I like ring game poker better. But...

I doubt I'll ever be on TV for limit holdem.

Let's put it all in perspective

2005-07-27T10:14:00.000-07:00

Chattin' it up w/ Pops over dinner yesterday and I suddenly came to an amazing revelation. Back in the day you saw about 30-35 hands an hour vs. about 60 hands per hour now. That's about twice as many hands per hour. Plus you can play in multiple games simultaneously.

So if I play in 4 games for a year full time I'll have seen as many hands as a guy playing for 8 years full time. Let's call it 6.5 to 7 years since I won't always be in 4 games, etc.

Doesn't that blow you away?

Point of view

2005-07-20T15:25:00.000-07:00

"When your father turned to the dark side the good man inside him died. He ceased being Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader. So you see Luke, what I told you was true from a certain point of view" - Obi Wan Kenobi

"From a certain point of view??!!" - Luke Skywalker

Today I took 3 straight pots off a guy for a total of about $2,800. He then proceeds to tell me, "I have to go now but I'm sticking around anyway because I like your action. You know what I just called your raise with? 92o"

I guess from a certain point of view I'm not a good player. =)

Strategy email

2005-07-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

So our Poker Strategy site has a brand new service that we're providing to those that are interested. It's a free email subscription with tips to improve your game.

Check it out here:

http://www.pokercheckraise.com/tips/

I'm a make it do what it do

2005-07-18T16:02:00.000-07:00

"Ray this is on you. You gotta make it work" - some guy to Ray Charles
"I'm a make it do what it do baby. yeeaaah" - Ray Charles

What's next for me in poker? Things continue to go well and life is much better now than how it was back at Microsoft. Life's amazing sometimes. Anyhow I'm just gonna make my poker game do what it do baby.

yeaaah

Apparently I'm a fish

2005-07-15T18:32:00.000-07:00

So I've recently learned that I'm a fish. Imagine that, a winning player at high stakes limit poker and I'm a fish. Here's the story...

I raise w/ AQ from the cutoff and the small blind calls.

The flop is 234 rainbow and she checks I bet of course.
The turn is a 8 and she checks I bet. This bet doesn't happen all the time but it sure happens a lot I'm a bully man and that's the way it goes.
The river is a 5. She checks and I bet. She calls.

I got 3rd nut straight and she turns over K2. She then proceeds to call me a fish. It's amazing what some people believe is good play and what they believe is bad.

New updates to pokercheckraise.com

2005-07-06T18:33:00.000-07:00

My webmaster has helped develop a couple of new pages for the Online poker strategy guide. If you're interested check them out.

Poker Lessons - Details on the lessons I'm giving. I'm also actively recruiting new teachers now since things are getting a little hectic with lessons. Let me know if you're interested.

Bonus Hunting Guide - A guide on how to make free money by taking advantage of the free money given out by poker sites.

They're alive

2005-07-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

I was chillin' at a cool lounge on Saturday night (not drinking b/c I was recovering from food poisoning). The music was amazing, mostly breakbeats and that cool lounge music which I never know the name of. At any rate I was telling my buddy that I wish I had a CD of similar music so I can zone out when I play cards online.

I told him that I basically just turn up the music and "zone out" and then at the end of the session usually the chips just stack up. Or in this case the virtual chips. When I play hard I focus too much, push too hard and end up burning chips in the process. Strange how when I just sit there and play my game the chips just stack themselves like they're alive.

Poker lessons are going well and I actually am enjoying seeing the players grow. A nice, unanticipated benefit.

Good luck, burn them chips guys.

luck

2005-07-01T14:13:00.000-07:00

So I'm getting over food poisoning which has to be about the worst thing that can happen to a person. I was sick literally the whole day yesterday. What luck.

I've had a lot of comments about my first royal flush. That's pretty amazing that some of you have had so many already. Since I started playing fulltime 3 months ago I rarely see them and have only hit one in my life. I wonder if I'm just not that lucky in that regard.

Anyhow came across an offer with Noble Poker. If you sign up thru this link Noble will match your first deposit up to $700. Quite a bit of free money.

Happy 4th of July weekend all.

My first royal flush

2005-06-29T16:50:00.000-07:00

The first royal flush of my poker career. My father who played for a living for 30 plus years has hit 7 royals. Isn't that amazing, only 7 in a career where you play everyday.

And yes that's my screen name and yes I wish I was in a $30/60 game. hehe, $20/40 was softer than $30/60 yesterday.

Oh and to answer a few questions in advance.

1.) Yup, if I see your stats and you're a pigeon limping in with weak hands I'm raising from late position with very marginal hands to isolate you. :)

2.) Yup I'm putting in as many bets as I can with 2nd nut straight and a flush draw. If you're not I think you should sign up for my poker lessons.

Send the chips!

***** Hand History for Game 2280016655 *****
$20/$40 Hold'em - Tuesday, June 28, 23:53:17 EDT 2005
Table Table 52085 (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: GrouchoMarx ( $480 )
Seat 2: RedWolf83 ( $1047 )
Seat 3: RanPhen ( $1449 )
Seat 4: alo10b3 ( $1097 )
Seat 5: Kayber2 ( $1454 )
Seat 6: CWALDOB ( $716 )
Seat 7: JOVENUTO ( $397 )
Seat 8: LmRLmR ( $793 )
Seat 9: betumup ( $1881.5 )
Seat 10: fishieface ( $3183.61 )
CWALDOB posts small blind [$10].
JOVENUTO posts big blind [$20].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Kayber2 [ Qd Td ]
>You have options at Table 48771 Table!.
LmRLmR folds.
betumup calls [$20].
fishieface folds.
GrouchoMarx folds.
RedWolf83 folds.
RanPhen folds.
alo10b3 folds.
Kayber2 raises [$40].
CWALDOB calls [$30].
JOVENUTO folds.
betumup calls [$20].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Jd, Qc, 9c ]
CWALDOB checks.
betumup checks.
Kayber2 bets [$20].
CWALDOB calls [$20].
betumup calls [$20].
** Dealing Turn ** [ Kd ]
CWALDOB checks.
betumup checks.
Kayber2 bets [$40].
>You have options at Table 48771 Table!.
CWALDOB calls [$40].
betumup raises [$80].
>You have options at Table 48771 Table!.
Kayber2 raises [$80].
CWALDOB calls [$80].
betumup calls [$40].
>You have options at Table 48751 Table!.
** Dealing River ** [ Ad ]
>You have options at Table 48771 Table!.
CWALDOB checks.
betumup checks.
Kayber2 bets [$40].
CWALDOB folds.
betumup calls [$40].
Kayber2 shows [ Qd, Td ] Royal Flush.
betumup doesn't show [ Qs, Th ] a straight, ten to ace.
Kayber2 wins $637 from the main pot with Royal Flush.

You're not a real poker player..

2005-06-28T01:49:00.000-07:00

Until you've called a player down with Ace something high and the person you called beat you with Ace something higher.

It happens to me on occassion and I just smile and say, "Oh you got Ace queen high that's way way the best hand" as I quietly muck my Ace Jack. The other players at the table look at you in amazement like "How can he have all my chips and make that ace high call."

Your commitment to your hand...

2005-06-21T21:22:00.000-07:00

Ever notice that some player's are ridiculously in love with their poker hands even when they shouldn't be? Do you also notice that some people are ridiculously in love with their significant others when once again they shouldn't be? Today I was playing too many hours of poker (like always) and the thought came to mind that loving your hand and loving your wife/husband/girl/whatever are highly related.

For example, say player Mike raises with AA and the flop is JT9 all diamond and Mike doesn't have the A of diamond. There's 4 way action and everyone raises like crazy on the flop. Mike should get out the hand obviously but he's in love with AA and stays in there like a fool and wastes his time, money, and life.

It's the same with love. Don't you know plenty of people who are so in love with somebody who treats them badly. Yet they still continue to stay in this bizarro relationship because there was a point in time when everything was great. When they used to hangout all the time, walk around the park, go out to eat. You know that time....before the flop.

There's also those players who are too quick to give up on their hand. Say player Phil has AK and the flop comes JT2, he bets immediately gets raised and there are a few callers making it a big pot. Some players mistakenly give this pot up when they actually have four queens for the nuts and if they're getting 11 to 1 they should absolutely call. Whether or not the A or K are real outs is debatable and not the point of my thought.

At any rate this player is comparable to the guy or gal who gives up on their relationships way too easily. They had something great at the beginning and even though they have a shot at something beautiful they give it up because everything isn't perfect. (By the way if you don't think the stone cold nut hand in poker is one of the most beautiful things you've ever seen you need to stop reading and jump in the game RIGHT NOW!) :) So they break up with the other person when in fact if they were smart and really sat down and thought about it they should give it a shot and try and reconcile.

Gimme that queeeeeen on the turn. (By the way the turn is when I turn 27 in Sept)

Side note...one the biggest pot in awhile today, $1,737 but still lost for the day.

Absolutely Beautiful

2005-06-19T22:09:00.000-07:00

If my poker prowess ever excels to the level that Robert Horry (aka Big Shot Bob) plays basketball I will be a happy man. His game tonight was absolutely amazing.

Now don't get me wrong, I want to be the Michael Jordan of poker. But if that doesn't ever happen I hope I can excel under pressure, that's the most beautiful part of any game. Stepping it up under extreme pressure.

Horry does all the little things to win. Dives for that loose ball, rebounds hard, scrambles, sits the bench with no complaints and it works.

It's the same in poker. Understanding the basic math principles, studying your opponents, reading books to understand other opinions, and putting in the dirty work to become successful.

poker lessons / passion

2005-06-17T11:45:00.000-07:00

Just got done with George's poker lessons. I actually had a great time teaching the class. Sometimes I forget how much love I actually have for the game. I've really noticed that in order to be successful at anything you have to have a real passion for it. When I was working at Xbox the vice presidents there were so passionate about their product it actually made you excited and happy to work. That's probably why they got where they are.

What a rush

2005-06-16T17:48:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been playing in a few tournaments each day in both limit and no limit since tournaments are definitely a weaker part of my game. Today I won a limit tourney for the first time (The 2nd one I played in). There were 50 people total and first was worth $1,500 and 2nd worth $1,000. Pretty significant difference in money between first and second.

So it's heads up with about 30k each in chips and 400-800 blinds. Pretty small blinds (chip stacks were about 37x the big bet if I remember correctly) so we got to play heads up for a really really long time. He got me down to 10k in chips and my buddy Ian was watching and says, "Beat this fucker". I just gritted my teeth and played my best poker, caught a few hands and hey I won first!

What a rush. I mean the difference was only $500 but man that felt great. It was way better than winning a thousand dollar hand in $30-60. Ok, ok, not waaaaay better but at least a little better. I think it's something just about winning that makes you feel this crazy rush. Way better than any drug or alcoholic beverage (even scotch). :)

In the matrix

2005-06-16T10:08:00.000-07:00

I call the world of online poker "The Matrix" because nothing is exactly real. I see roughly twice as many hands per hour and I have no clue who I'm really playing against. The funniest thing about playing online poker is that people are ridiculously rude. I had some guy call me a "f**kin' idiot" because I sucked out on him. Besides one "almost fight" that happened to me at a casino I've never experienced so many rude people in "the real world". I'd bet my bankroll 95% of the rude crowd is skinny little geeks who wouldn't have the nerve to even look at me wrong in public.

What can you do though? The online game is huge and I need the money. Besides I can fly and dodge bullets in the Matrix nowadays anyway.

Bring it on Agent Smith.

Value betting on the river

2005-06-12T14:19:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been thinking a lot about value betting on the river. Conventional old school wisdom says that you should only bet the river when you are likely to get called by a hand that is worse. That means if you think your opponent is going to call you down with mid pair no kicker that you should bet mid pair with a strong kicker. Sounds funny but those extra bets add up.

The problem that I've been debating is whether or not the fact that your opponent knows you only bet the river for value negates the value that you gain from this bet. For example, if your opponent knows that you only bet the end with a strong hand but that you'll bet the flop and turn on bluffs does he become correct to call you on the flop and turn with a weak hand and fold if you bet the river?

Therefore I'm a proponent that on occassion you should bet the river on a pure bluff as well. Not that I haven't been doing this but I just started really formalizing my thought process on this topic recently.

Part 2

2005-06-10T13:40:00.000-07:00

Well we'll never know since he mucked it. I can't see him playing any hand that strongly except QQ or JJ (that's a bit much for JJ I think). My stats are somewhere along the 15% playing hands, raising about 11% so you can't really put me on anything too weirdo except if you think i'm on tilt.

Which I wasn't. :)

What a move

2005-06-09T16:24:00.000-07:00

These weirdos on Party Poker continue to try funny things w/ obviously bullshit hands in the $30-60 game. Listen to this hand and see if you can guess what the guy was doing.

Preflop: I raise Mid position with KK, immediate left reraises and everyone else folds. I 3 bet and my immediate left caps.

Flop is small and we cap again.

Turn is an A, I bet and she raises. In my mind the A is irrelevant, would she really cap the flop with AK high? Not this chick, she's not that weird. :) At any rate either she's got KK, AA or QQ and I'm going to pay off.

River is a K and here's where I make my mistake. I check raise the river and she folds.

What the hell was I thinking. Either she had me beat or she didn't. If she had AA she's going to reraise and I lose another $60 for a total of $120 mistake. If she had QQ she folds and it's so unlikely she has anything else then Mars would be the size of the moon seen from earth. (Oh wait that's happening but anyway).

What do you guys think?

A new blog

2005-06-08T11:14:00.000-07:00

One of my closest buddies and a really strong player has a new blog called Solving the Poker Puzzle. I highly recommend it. The quote about the girl is particularly funny. :) A strong woman player is a dangerous thing.

Running good

2005-06-06T10:22:00.000-07:00

Well it's been 3 weeks since I graudated to $30-60 and things are going swimmingly for me (but not so well for the fish!). :) I'm now playing in 2 tables at once, my friend is recommending 4 but I want to take that one step at a time. At any rate I'm actually finding it a great game. There's about 2 pigeons per table (sometimes just a few mediocre players and no one awful) but that seems to be all I need. It's a simple "isolate and pound it to them" with tricks needed only for extra bets.

My friend MJ the owner of the Party Poker Strategy Guide has a great idea that I'm going to promote. If you sign up to play poker at one of the sites which we promote I'm willing to help teach you how I play poker. I know I know...what a shameless sell job. It is what it is though an extra way to make money on the side. If you want personalized lessons please let me know and we'll arrange something. I'll share hand histories, etc so you can see the results for yourself.

Good luck!

A professional laydown

2005-06-02T20:26:00.000-07:00

While playing at Party Poker today in the $30-60 I ended up in the same game as a really tough player, my buddy Ian. Ian's tough to the point where I ask him advice on my own game. Anyhow, he made a very impressive laydown today, here it is as well as our thoughts behind the play.

Preflop:
Ian raises from early position w/ QQ
I reraise from late position with KK
Ian caps and it's heads up. I'm pretty sure he's got anywhere from JJ-AA to AK.

Flop: 10, 4, 2 rainbow
The flow is just what both of us hoped for. Whoever had the better hand preflop still probably has the better hand. Although a set of tens is a potential hand.
Ian bets and I smooth call. I smooth call hoping to get more action from his hand on the turn where I intend to raise him. Maybe I can get him to think I'm making a move on him with AK suited or something.

Turn is a 7
He bets and I raise. He smooth calls.

River is a 4.
Ian checks, I bet and he hesitates for a long time and finally mucks his hand. After we chat and discuss the hand. He felt that it was possible for me to make a move w/ a weaker hand than QQ, and that it was possible I had JJ. However he felt that if I had JJ I wouldn't bet the end because he called my turn raise and clearly anyhand that calls a raise on the turn beats JJ. We both know each other to be really tough. He said that it was possible for me to raise the turn and try to get him to fold but then I would check the river. The river is clearly just a value bet. He was dead on with this read. What was interesting about the hand is that if he came back over the top of me on the turn I would have to put him on either a set of 10s, AA or maaaaaybe KK. No other hand really gets played that strongly on the turn.

So he made a great laydown with QQ. What is really funny is that I would've laid down KK if he popped me again. But I will admit that would take some serious nuts.

recommended books

2005-05-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

I had someone ask me what books I recommend. I really based my initial game on David Sklansky's "Texas Holdem" and "Texas Holdem for advanced players". It's really good for limit holdem...the super system from doyle brunson is also worth a read.

That'll give you the basics but after that it's all about experience. Learn and then unlearn the books.

What lucky timing

2005-05-25T20:14:00.000-07:00

I had some ridiculously lucky timing in this hand playing $30-60 today. Here's the story:

I'm under the gun w/ Aces and I limp in (not recommended by the way but I wanted to mix things up a bit) and the guy to my right raises. Big blind calls and I reraise.

Flop comes, A, 9 2.
I bet and get called in both spots. Kind of a weird call I think but I'm happy to keep them tagging along.

Turn is a 9
So now I've got the nuts and if I don't got the nuts well shit....nice hand buddy. hehe. I decide to get a little tricky and see if I can get a check raise here. It works as the guy right behind me bets, the big blind folds and I get my raise in.

River is a king:
I bet and get called. I was really hoping he had pocket kings and just played them terribly stubborn. Unfortunately for him he had ace/king which is pretty legit at that spot. I could have easily played ace/king in the same way. If he made that laydown he'd be amazingly tough especially since I'm reasonably unknown to him.

Just nice lucky timing. Huge pot. $660 total I think.

The jump

2005-05-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

I've jumped to a consistent $30-60 player now and the main difference is aggression and control. I've definitely had to make refinements in my overall thinking in order to be successful at this limit. Time will tell.

There's a reason

2005-05-24T09:36:00.000-07:00

"There's a reason they call it the dummy end of the straight" - My Dad

Please checkout my new article Poker Draws for more details.

I'd love some feedback on it.

To receive you must give

2005-05-18T15:04:00.000-07:00

My friends and I have added several new strategy articles to my
Texas Holdem Online strategy guide including a few on no limit topics. I hope you guys like them. I'll be frequently updating there so please check back often.

Lately I've been thinking about how I receive a lot more action from players when I give a little action. When I sit around and play tight and solid I get paid off very seldom. However, when I show a bluff or two here and there whether successful or not I get a lot more action thereby allowing me to net out with more chips.

For example, the other day I tried to bully thru a player. I raised preflop, went 3 bets on the flop after he check raised, and I bet the turn as well. I checked the end and he turned over a weak ace and won the pot. My bully strategy didn't work so I decided in my head that next hand I get I'm going to ram it to him all the way but I've got to have a strong hand. He's going to call for sure.

A few hands later I flop a set and check raise him on the flop. He immediately goes 3 bets and says, "Trying to steal the pot again eh?". I say, "Are you?", and smooth call. I check raise the turn, he immediately goes 3 bets. At this point I'm a little concerned about my hand so I call. I call the end and he turns over top pair with a weak kicker. All that action because I gave a little action on a prior hand. Note only that but I had a pretty good shot of winning the hand I gave him a little action on.

Don't get carried away with this idea, but sometimes giving a little action isn't such a bad thing.

Try it out sometime.

Big deal

2005-05-16T16:06:00.000-07:00

Been playing online at Poker Stars lately. Not a bad game there at all.

Yesterday I played at the casino up north and ran into a really young kid who has own over $200k this year playing in tournaments and online limit and no limit. It was my first time sitting int he game with him and so I was particularly interested in seeing him play. Seattle's a small town so I won't put his name in this blog out of respect. At any rate I thought I actually might be able to learn something. He was a tight solid player but I didn't see anything remarkable about his play. In fact I saw a more holes than I thought I would see. He paid off when beat against players who I was certain had strong holdings and I put a move on him when it went short handed w/ a marginal hand.

Makes me feel like i should be playing even bigger limits. Sky's the limit when your arrogant. hehe.

Sometimes you lose even when you win

2005-05-11T15:54:00.000-07:00

Been taking a break from playing Full Tilt and Poker Room to play at my local casino's $8-16. Definitely feels like too small of a game now but I need the break from looking at a computer screen. I don't really want to drive an hour to play in anything bigger either.

So, 6 wins in a row makes a guy feel like a champion. Like I've got the Sharingan (Naruto anime joke). http://yhbt.mine.nu/t/ check that link out and you'll know what I mean. Naruto is amazing.

Anyhow, last night I only won $80 when I should've won $300. In fact that's what I need to win everday minnimum. I'm mostly disappointed because I let a strong player slightly put me on tilt. It's rare that I find a young player who I think is better than me but yesterday I did. Add on the fact that he acted right after me and it took me out of my game just enough to make a difference.

So, what did I do? I got up and left. Never sit in a game where you feel uncomfortable, in fact I should've left earlier.

A hand played poorly

2005-05-09T13:32:00.000-07:00

Time to be a little humble for once since my good homegirl says I have an "understated arrogance" about me. Here is a hand I played poorly.

The Players:

Big blind - A pretty decently strong, tight aggressive player

Seat 3 - weak tight player. I actually like having him in the game since I know where he's at and I can steal from him.

Seat 5 - Yours truly

Seat 8 - Loose aggressive

Seat 9 - Tougher than me but a little looser. If the pot odds are right he's likely to call with a marginal hand and take a look at a flop.

Scenario:
Seat 3 limps in, I raise w/ queens. Everyone else cold calls.

Flop:10, 7, 2 with 2 diamonds:
Seat 3 checks to me
I bet
Seat 8 raises
Seat 9 calls
big blind calls
Seat 3 pushes it to three bets
Everyone calls

Turn: 4
Big blind: checks
Seat 3: bets
everyone else calls

River: J
Big blind bets
Seat 3 calls
I fold as does everyone else.

Analysis:
When the jack hit I mucked my hand as that was surely 8,9 who completed his open ended straight draw. However I think I could've mucked my hand on the turn. When the weak tight player went 3 bets I'm surely beat by a set (which he later said he had). The other 2 players probably had flush draws. In fact I might've been able to get away from my hand when it went 3 bets on the flop.

2 small bets and 1 big bet donated to the competition.

Jacks - My last date

2005-05-06T10:19:00.000-07:00

With my ankle still healing (I took my first step today) it's been a few weeks since I've been out at the bars or on a date. I'd like to think that's the only reason, whether or not that's true..um. hehe.

In the hole:
Anyhow, my last date was a pair of Jacks in early position. At the bar after I had a couple of glasses of Glen Livet on the rocks she looked beautiful. It was just like when you look down and see a pair of Jacks in the hole. I promptly got her number and setup dinner at a nice restaurant.

Preflop:
I picked her up and I immediately noticed all the warning signs. Although she was pretty hot she talked about herself all the time. That would be ok but I wasn't hearing anything interesting. Call me obtuse but I think if you're going to talk all the time about yourself you should be pretty damn interesting. Otherwise just be quiet and uninteresting, maybe people won't notice. :) Anyhow, so things started to not look that great. It's just like Jacks in a limit game. You sit there and say well there's 12 overcards to come that will beat me if I just limp in with this hand. I should probably put more money in this pot and maybe I'll get the blinds or limit the competition. So, what did I do...I took her to the expensive restaurant and got us some drinks.

On the Flop:
The flop came low, 9, 8, 2 but with 2 hearts. The conversation picked up slightly and the scotch kicked in as well. There were still some weird signs that I won't go into but in my mind they sounded like overcards hanging in there trying to catch something or a flush/straight draw. Naturally I continued to play my hand but something seemed suspicious.

On the turn:
She said something bad about my friend who was with me when we met. Sheesh. The ace of hearts I said to myself. She bet, I folded and took her home.

"Just throw that shit in the muck"

Playing Fast

2005-05-05T17:12:00.000-07:00

The other day i had 4, 2 in the big blind in the local $8-16 game. Hey...don't give me flak it's the biggest they've got and i wanted to play in a live game not online for a change. Anyhow, got pretty lucky with timing in this hand.

2,4 in the big blind. 5-way action

Flop is 3, 5, 6 with 2 hearts:
Since there were so many people I decided to play this hand fast, maybe I get raised by a flush draw or something funny. I bet, Danny raises, and there's a reraise on the button. I hesitate and cap.

This is such a great hand because Danny is such a tight player. He's how I used to pay. He just sits around waiting for aces and kings and thinks he can beat the game that way. Although in that $8-16 loose game that's all you did need to do. Back to the hand.

The turn is a 10:
I bet the turn, Danny raises and the other guy goes away. There's no hand I can put Danny on besides top set of 10s, maybe 6's since he played it pretty aggressive on the flop. He's that tight. He couldn't have any other hand. He wouldn't even play a set of 5s against me in that style.

I repop him and bet the end. Naturally....he had a set of 6's.

I love taking chips from tight players, especially since in that game I was one of them. :0

Anyhow that got me to thinking how it really is all about timing. If I was Danny I might've played the hand in the exact same way against me. Although I probably would've been able to lay it down when it went 3 bets on the turn. My point is lately I like to play fast, just bet and get those chips in there.

Like the other day I raised with ace, king and flopped the nut straight. I slow played it and lost to a full house when a ten hit on the river. I wanted her to get me all in which is what happened and got knocked out early. (sigh)...then I had to settle for playing 13 and speed with the girls.

I had no chance in speed. hehe

Full Tilt Commercials

2005-05-04T16:19:00.000-07:00

While taking a little break from work I found a few pretty cool commercials, with Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, and Chris Ferguson. I really like Ivey's. Check them out.

Full Tilt Poker.

Poker Tournament Rules

2005-05-03T17:54:00.000-07:00

In my never ending quest to put together a strong poker site on the web I've added a new page to my poker site. I thought I'd share it here as I'm sure some of you are putting together your home tournaments and it might be useful to print out for reference.

So the new page, Texas Holdem Tournament Rules also has an interesting rule that I actually had to ask my dealer friend about. It is as follows:

Suppose we have players A, B, and C in a Texas Holdem tournament where the blinds are 5-10. Player A opens with a raise to 50 total chips (he matches the 10 chip blind and raises by 40 chips). Player B reraises all in for a total of 70 chips (he calls the bet of 50 chips and raises 20 more). Player C cold calls the 70 chips. Player A can not reraise since Player B did not put in a legal raise. Player B raised by only 20 chips when he needed to match a raise of 40 total chips.

Now let us consider an example of when player A could reraise. Again we have players A, B, and C with the blinds at 5-10. Player A raises to a total of 40 chips (he matches the blind of 10 chips and raises by 30). Player B pushes all in with 70 chips (calls the 40 chip bet by Player A and raises by 30 chips). Player C then cold calls. Player A can reraise as much as he wants because Player B has sent in a legal raise. Player B has matched the original raise amount of 30 chips.

Why I love poker

2005-05-02T16:15:00.000-07:00

Poker provides me with an opportunity to be the man. To be clutch. Clutch like Ray Allen last night. You could just tell the Sonics were going to win that game even when we were down. Ray just had that fire in his eye. Like just give me the ball, I want to take the shot, I want to win the game, I want to be the man. Bibby had it against the Lakers. Jordan had it. He was so clutch. You knew that no matter what he was going to win the game for his team.

It seems like there are only a few brief moments in life nowdays when true heroics shine through. Life isn't quite like the movie "Troy" where Archilles is a super hero. If you're like me as you've gotten older you run into heroes a lot less each year. That's why I love basketball and that's why I love poker.

Poker provides me with the opportunity to be the man. To be clutch. Every hand is another shot at the rim. Every chip you add to your stack is another point that the other team has to make up. Every steal is like another battle that Archilles won. Every time someone says "man he can play" feels like that fadeaway shot by Jordan when he just left his hand hangin' in the air because he knew that shot was going in. It had to. He was clutch. He was the man.

All in or just call

2005-05-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

I played in a very small no limit cash game at MJ's sweet house the other day. I was intending to just chill out and socialize but hey if there's a game I usually accept the challenge just for pride.

Ended up leaving w/ 5x the cash buy in when there were like 8 of us playing. I found that amusing, just wish we were playing for a lil more money.

So I had 9, 10 of clubs and the flop comes 8, 7, 3 with the 7 and 3 of clubs. I check, the guy on my left checks and the other guy pushes all in for like 1/3rd the pot. I've got him and the other guy covered no problem and I'm thinking about if I should push all in or just call. I decide on just calling with the hopes of inducing a call.

He folds and after we show our hands my good buddy says he thinks I should've gone all in to isolate. I said, I want the most equity out of my hand with the draw.

I think there's really good points in each of our views. If I push all in i probably get a guy w/ ace king, an ace high flush draw, or overcards to fold. That way if I catch a 9, or a 10 I might be able to win the pot (effectively giving me more outs than the 15 in my straight and flush draws). However, I looked at it more like I've got over 50% ( more on poker probabilities) to win this hand if I hit and I want more people in to get more money.

In retrospect I think I should've pushed all in myself. Thoughts?

Clay Poker Chips

2005-04-28T19:42:00.000-07:00

So I was surfing around and found a cool website if you're interested in buying Clay Poker Chips. Thought I'd spread the word.

Play for first

2005-04-28T15:10:00.000-07:00

Lately I've become fascinated with tournament play rather than limit Holdem. I'm considering playing in bigger tournaments and getting away from the high limit games for a change of pace.

I played with my buddies last night over sushi and short ribs for a going away party. I caught a few breaks and took home first place but the sushi and new maps in Halo2 were just as if not more enjoyable. :)

So, we get down to the final table and there's 4 of us. 3 of us have about 300 in chips and chip leader has about 1,100. The blinds are at 15-30. At 15-30 you're losing 45 chips a round and since the action is 4 way I'm thinking that I'm liable to get blinded out if I don't start making any moves. I'm a little lucky in that chip leader is laying off the aggressiveness and not pushing us around.

I run into Ace, 9 and decide to push all in for 300. My philosophy here is that since I've still got about 300 in chips the 2 guys with approximately the same amount of chips will still have to fear me. However, a double or triple of the blinds won't really do much and leave me open to someone reraising me. If I were to say bring the action to 90 chips and then I get reraised I'd have a hard time calling and I'd be crippled in terms of chips.

My steal is successful. 345 or so in chips now.

I notice that nobody is really playing anything and the action is folded around to me quite frequently. This is where I think things get beautiful.

I just decide I'm going to play for first. That means I've got to get some chips and since my opponents are waiting for strong hands and chip leader is chillin' I'm going to start bullying everyone around. I start raising all in with nothing if the action is folded around to me. I'm successful as no one even calls.

Now I've got about 600 in chips, chip leader about 1000 and the other guys have about 200. Still not in the running for first but giving myself a shot.

Blinds are now 20-40. Chip leader raises out of the small blind to make it 200 to go. I've got Ace, 10 and I push all in hoping to make him fold. He contemplates for awhile and now I'm not happy at all with my push to all in. He says, "You got aces, kings, ace/king, a pair? I've got Ace/Queen." This is where it gets beautiful. So I say, "Ah, muck it and I'll show you." He throws away and I show him Ace/10. He gets mad.

Now in my mind no matter what the next time I push all in he's going to call me so I'd better have a strong hand. A few hands later I've got Ace, queen and sure enough he calls my all in. I catch a few more breaks and win. Good times for a lil home game.

A few months ago I wouldn't have been able to let loose and push all in trying to steal my way to a contender for first place. I'm pretty happy about that.

Caught a break

2005-04-26T16:47:00.000-07:00

I finally caught a few breaks. My ankle isn't broken and instead I've got torn tissue damage. One week after I quit my job and lose my health insurance but at least it wasn't broken. Still got xrays so I'll need an extra check raise somewhere.

Also, I've been playing at Full Tilt for the sign up bonus which is pretty nice. They match dollar for dollar up to a max of $600. That's pretty huge, so after a few days of work there I'll have a nice little bonus.

They don't really have a ton of poker games going on there but they've got enough to make me happy with an extra $600 bonus. Whoop!

Ok, enough sounding like a stupid commercial.

Thank you to the player/bloggers who linked up to my new Texas Holdem Online strategy site which I've been working non stop on I'm still trying to spread the word so any help would be very cool. Also, any feedback (negative or positive) would be nice as well.

So here's the biggest break in a poker hand that I caught today. I'm playing in the 6-handed $8-16 game and I've got Ace-8 of spades one away from the button. I send in a raise, and the big blind calls me.

The flop: 9, 10, 2 with 1 spade:
The big blind checks and I check. Normally I bet here trying to pick up the pot but I've been doing that play all day so far. The players are starting to get a Good read on me and I want to mix it up.

The turn: 4 of spades:
Not a bad card for me giving me the nut flush draw. Unfortunately the villain bets and I decided to play this particular hand aggressive and I raise. I think this looks like top set of 10s since I've been pretty much betting every flop before this. I'm not very happy since he calls.

I miss the river, he checks, I check and I....I win. Can you believe that? Since it's on full tilt I can't see what he has but I think he must have had Jack/queen and decided to bet his open ended straight draw. Nice little break there right?

The right read

2005-04-24T00:07:00.000-07:00

So I may have broken my ankle playing basketball last week. I can't put any pressure on it. All this week I couldn't go to the gym, I couldn't walk to get a cup of coffee, I couldn't go out to the bars. It may be a surprise to most of you that this injury is really making me mad! It's making my life boring, annoying and cumbersome. Add this to the fact that I'm really running unlucky in poker and you guessed it...my life is kind of in a mess right now both socially and work wise.

How do I feel about this?

I think it's like when you have a pair of queens and there's a king on the board in a heads up game and my opponent looks weak when he bets into me.

I can cut my losses short, give up and just be depressed. Mope around the house and watch TV. (ie. I can just fold the pot as it's not really that big yet).

Or, when my opponent bets into me I can raise, give it my all with an attempt to make him fold. Instead I can get off my ass do whatever I can to make my ankle and life better. Evaluate the situation and once I make up my mind really go for it.

I think I'll do the latter. Hopefully I made the right read.

What's a good game?

2005-04-22T23:56:00.000-07:00

Do you know when you're in a good game? It took me quite awhile before I could recognize a good poker game and what I consider a good game is going to be quite different from what others feel is a good game.

What the hell do I mean? Quit jabbering? hehe.

Well, first off let's define a good poker game. A good poker game is one where you can make money based on your skill.

A chat w/ my buddy.

I was talkin' to my buddy who's actually a poker dealer at the place I grew up playing. So I asked him how the game is now and he said there was a great game the other night. Capped preflop, flop, turn and river almost every hand. 5-6 way action every hand. Great game. I said, "that doesn't sound like a good game to me." When I play poker I'm not in it to gamble. I'm not there to take my Aces up against 6 way action, how am I supposed to win money in a game like that? In games where there's too much action and too many players you're liable to have crazy swings. Sure if you can sit in that same wild game everyday you're going to win long term but the same game doesn't come up everyday. It's not '85. I was chattin' w/ my pops the other day and he was telling me how the game back in the day there were the same players everyday. You just sat and learned them, next thing you knew you were getting their paychecks every week.

So what do I think makes a good game?

Here's a list of my ideal game. A game where I'm likely to skip a party to stay in.

1. 1-2 bad players nothing more

2. I must feel that I'm the 3rd or 4th best in the game.

3. Not too wild

4. I need to be able to read the game.

1. 1-2 bad players and nothing more:

If there are too many bad players there's too much action. Sit back and think about it. If you've got Ace/king and the flop is Ace, 8, 6 with 7 way action. If they're bad players you might have someone calling with an 8, a weak ace, a gutshot straight or whatever. It almost becomes where any card can beat you. So, I recommend staying out of games with more than 3 bad players. There's tpp much variance.

2. I must feel that I'm at least the 3rd or 4th best in the game:

Obviously I want to be the best in the game but that doesn't always happen. I need to feel at least in the top half of the game in order to make any money. I've sat in numerous games and tried to figure this out. It just seems to me like if I'm at least in the top half I can make some money because the good players usually stay out of each other's way.

3. Not too wild:

I don't like a wild game with crazy action. I like a game where I can bet though weak players and control the tempo. If I raise w/ a flush draw I want my opponents to fold or just call on the flop so I can check the turn and buy that free card. Naturally i can adapt my game but a wild game puts too much variance in my hourly win rate.

4. I need to be able to read the game:

I need to be able to read the game obviously. This is obviously the most important thing to consider. If I can't read almost everyone at the table I"m out. :)

2 good post ideas

2005-04-22T16:47:00.000-07:00

So i've got 2 great topics to blog about but i need some help first. I've worked my ass off on my poker strategy guide for the past 2 months...like at the minnimum 2 hours a day and need links to it. (see post below). Once I get a few I realy want to post about.

1. how to judge if the game is good or not
2. why men are like pocket jacks - since all the women have been after me since i posted "why women are like ace something".

:)

Checkraise poker strategy guide

2005-04-22T13:40:00.000-07:00

For the past few months I've been working on a poker strategy website.

It has a wide variety of Texas Holdem poker tips and ranges from beginning thoughts such as Does a flush beat a straight? all the way to some super advanced strategy thoughts on playing Ace King.

Naturally I'll always post in my blog but I'm hoping that my readers will also enjoy my site.

Texas Holdem Online strategies:

www.pokercheckraise.com

Since it's brand new I could really use some links to help promote traffic. Can you guys link up to my new strategy site to help make it popular?

Sincerely,
Travis

When you run bad

2005-04-19T23:42:00.000-07:00

Hi guys,

thanks for the comments. I really appreciate the feedback, it would be great to get a few more links to my site.

Anyhow, so here's a few answers. I didn't 3 bet the preflop when I had kings because I wanted to mix it up a little bit. Do I think it's wise to slowplay big hands short handed most of the time? Absolutely not, but mixing things up a little is good.

The guy in seat 5 won that hand with Ace, queen just like I put him on. I've actually been getting a lot of these funny beats lately but hey that's ok.

I read the other day about a player considering quitting playing poker altogether. What does that tell me? Well that tells me he's probably been taking a lot of bad beats or he's not that good. In reality I think the players out there (especially online) are so bad right now that I'm pretty sure (based on this guy's blog writings) that he's just running bad. I've been running a little bad myself lately and every time I do I just sit back, take a day or two off and evaluate my game. I spend one day not thinking about poker at all, I go party and drink or whatever. In reality if I didn't need to play to survive I'd probably take a week off. So that's my advice and thoughts when you run bad.

Easy laydown

2005-04-18T20:08:00.000-07:00

Ever lose a pot and still feel good about it?

Yesterday I lost a pretty big pot in $15-30 and still felt pretty good about the way I played. I was in the 6 handed $15-30 game on partypoker and a guy in seat 3 came in with a raise. I cold call with pocket Kings and so does the man behind me.

The flop is Q, 10, 4 rainbow:
Seat 3 bets
I call
Seat 5 raises
Seat 3 calls
I reraise
Seat 5 calls

Turn is a 7:
Seat 3 checks,
I bet
Seat 5 raises
we both call

River is a queen:
Seat 3 bets,
I fold
Seat 5 raises,
Seat 3 calls
Seat 5 wins with Ace/Queen

Analysis:
Even though I lost this hand I feel really good about my laydown on the river, even though the pot was big. I was pretty sure seat 5 didn't have me beat as he's pretty aggressive and would almost surely reraise with pocket tens of pocket queens. He's not so bad as to show queen ten.

Seat 3 was a weak loose cannon type of player. He ended up having queen, jack but I actually gave him credit for Ace queen or King queen. What an awful call on the turn on his part right?

At any rate I lose a big pot...$20 preflop, $30 flop, $40 turn so I lost $90. If that queen hadn't of come (or an ace) I make a bet on the end and win the pot for $330.

That's life I suppose. Back to the daily grind. Any thoughts? Differing opinions.

Easy money

2005-04-15T14:16:00.000-07:00

My friend from Google asked if I wanted a job there yesterday and I proudly turned it down. My poker prowess calls and my long term goals are not within the walls of the corporate world.

So I'm back to making money the way I'm supposed to. I made my return to my bread and butter game...the 6 handed $10-20. Quickly beat the game up, some of these guys play so bad. Here's a prime example, one player limps in, I'm one away from the button and send in a raise with King/Queen. Flop is queen high and both check to me and i bet. The turn is another queen and this time the limp in guy bets. I know I've got the best hand and I smooth call to get the blind player to call. He does, and I raise the river and the player calls me down with....a pair of 8s. A pair of eights. How bad can you play?

Sometimes I almost want to type, "Why don't you pigeons just give me a couple hundred each, I'll leave and it'll save us all some time."

Think that'd be ok to say? :)

Sit and go tournaments

2005-04-14T14:40:00.000-07:00

I'm primarily a limit holdem player but lately I've become intrigued with the sit and go tournaments. Don't get me wrong...I've won a few casino tournaments but nothing more than 40 people and I have way less confidence in my tournament game mostly due to relatively less experience in the area.

What do you guys think of the sit and go tourneys? What limits do you like? I've played in the $50, $100, and $200 so far and it seemed like an awful big time commitment for the potential payout. I feel like I can make that hit playing $10-20 or $15-30 in a much easier way and in less time.

Any thoughts?

Runnin' bad

2005-04-13T11:22:00.000-07:00

I've been running pretty bad lately (down $2,000) in the last 2 sessions. One session was a brutal $30-60 game where I just seemed to get outdrawn. The rest was lost in the 6 handed $10-20.

It's times like this that I take a break, hit the gym hard and come back clean. The toughest part of the game for me is the discipline to know I'm doing the right thing.

What do you guy's think of the sit and go tournaments on partypoker? I played in a couple yesterday ($100 and $200 placing 3rd and 4th, respectively). It's a lot of time investment but it seems like decent practice for the final table at tournaments.

Poker draws - Free ride

2005-04-11T11:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I split a pot with a player and feel great about it.

Amazing right? Splitting a pot is the equivalent of kissing an unattractive girl, it's just ok at best. So, why did I feel great about the hand? I was really happy about the way I played it.

I raised preflop with Ace, nine of hearts intending to steal the blinds in $15-30. They both called and the flop was, 8, 10, jack with 2 hearts. This gave me the open ended straight draw plus the nut flush draw for a total of 15 outs.

As an aside, people often calculate this incorrectly. They think they've got 9 flush draw outs plus the 8 cards for their open ended straight. They fail to recognize that 2 of their 9 flush outs are also used for their straight. Effectively, they're double counting their flush and straight cards outs. The real outs are 15, 9 give the nuts and 6 likely give a tie. But I digress, back to the story.

Both blinds check to me, I bet, the small blind calls, and the big blind raises, I reraise (I'm 50% to win this pot even though I have nothing right now) the small blind calls and the big blind calls.

The turn is a queen giving me the straight. The only hand that can beat me now is King, 9 which I have a hard time putting either of these guys on since they're not that bad. Both players check to me, I bet, the small blind raises and I reraise. He calls. The river is a 2 and it's checked to me and I bet and am called. We both split the pot with Ace, 9.

I was happy with the free flush draw ride I got with the straight. There's no way he can beat me in this hand on turn and I can only improve. In retrospect I think I could've checked the end since it's pretty obvious we had the same hand. I like the 3 bets on the flop because I think it helped me get paid off in future hands. It's funny to me how if you show a little aggression players start paying you off with all sorts of funny hands (mid pair, ace high).

Poker, Tiger Woods, & the Masters

2005-04-10T19:08:00.000-07:00

Anybody see the master's golf tourney today? It was absolutely amazing. Tiger Woods had a 1 stroke lead and the other guy was gaining on him then suddenly Tiger hit an amazing unbelievable shot to go up 2 shots with only 2 holes to go. Then, Tiger blew it. He bogeyed the next 2 holes and allowed his competition to tie him for a deciding playoff round.

Has the equivalent ever happened to you while playing cards? It happens to me on an occassional basis. I make a great move, whether that's an extra raise without the nuts because I know my hand is strong enough or that great lay down with a decent hand. Next thing you know I get my adrenaline rushing and I'm in there sending in too many bets losing a few pots. All of a sudden, the greatness of the play I originally played has been negated by that adrenaline rush and I'm back where I started or even worse, behind.

Naturally, this needs to be removed from my or anyone's game for maximum success. I just was thinking about how beautiful it was that even though he fell behind for a minute, Tiger still pulled out the win with 3 consecutive beautiful shots. This is the attitude I believe is necessary for a poker player to really reach that next level.

Super intense competitiveness, the drive to never give up, and the will to push yourself to greatness. OK, just a few thoughts on a great golf tournament.

Poker - Playing Fast vs. Slow

2005-04-06T16:44:00.000-07:00

I've had many requests for my excel tracking spreadsheet which I'll load up onto the site by the end of next week, so please keep checking back. Sorry about not posting more but I wanted to finish strong at Microsoft. Now that I'm no longer working and playing full time I have more time to post. :)

------------------------------------------------------------

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the bet on the turn and the implications of it when deciding to play your hand fast or slow. In Limit Texas Holdem the turn bet is double the preflop and flop bet. This is really the bet where you shake those pigeons in that small limit loose game (if you can shake them at all :) ) and where the real money comes into play.

Consider the fact that calling one bet on the turn is the same as if you called a preflop bet and a bet on the flop. That's quite a difference. So now you're thinking, "Where the hell is Trav going with this, I already know that?" Well, let's look at how this affects the total amount of bets you can get into a pot.

Scenario 1 - Strong play early:
Preflop: Call
Flop: Bet, get raised and reraise
Turn: Bet and get called
River: Bet and get called

The total amount of big bets in this pot is 4.

Scenario 2 - Check raise on the turn:
Preflop: Call
Flop: Check and call when your opponenet bets.
Turn: Check and raise the turn. Your turn raise gets called.
River: Bet and get called

The total amount of big bets in this pot is 4.

Analysis:
Both of these assume your opponent likes his hand enough to raise and/or lead the betting and call you down. Notice that if you play your hand strongly in the beginning of a hand and if you wait until the turn you get the same amount of big bets into the pot (4 big bets in both scenarios).

However, in scenario 1, you give the strength of your hand away early on (when you push 3 bets on the flop). But because you pushed it early in 1/2 bet increments you may be able to get your opponent to call you down. For example, let's say that your opponent raised preflop and you were in the big blind with a medium pair and flopped a set. In this scenario you may be able to stick your opponent in the pot the whole way if he has an overpair (aces or kings). Many opponents (even good players) have a hard time getting away from a pot that gets pushed on the flop where the bets are in 1/2 bet increments when they have a strong hand.

In scenario 2, the strength of your hand is revealed on the turn. Many opponents, myself included, have a hard time calling a check raise on the turn. A lot of opponents can't check/raise on the turn unless they have a really strong hand. Thus, many of the same players who would've called you down if you had 3 bet on the flop in scenario 1 would fold their overpair if you waited until the turn to check raise. This can also work the other way as well, some opponents feel that the pot is big enough on the turn so they will call the turn and the river.

Naturally, every opponent is different as is each scenario. I was just thinking about the differences between playing my hand fast in a straight approach manner and waiting until the turn. Thoughts?

Sunglasses & Poker

2005-04-04T16:30:00.000-07:00

Ok, one more post primarilyfor entertainment value and then I'll get back to serious high stake poker strategy thoughts. :)

So, ever notice how everybody wears sunglasses at the poker table nowadays? I, myself am one of these players and became one when I entered the $8-16 and up limits. As with everything I've developed a strategy guide that you can use as a player to put some analysis into the player who wears sunglasses based on the type of glasses. (Note this is entertainment only and not serious).

Before I go to the strictly for amusement section I will note that any player who's wearing clear sunglasses where you can still see their eyes really has no clue about being a poker player. They don't understand that you're wearing the glasses so you can stare at a guy w/o him being bothered or noticing and simultaneously hide what you're looking at in terms of reactions.

On to the fun:

1. Black Gucci sunglasses: A high maintenance player. If he's a guy, he's got some dough. Likely a pretty boy or young overly aggressive player. You got a shot at the waitresses and dealers.

2. Red clear sunglasses: A player without a sense of style. The red indicates a need to be noticed and simultaneously shows that he/she is not cool. Try not to hangout after the game with this person. No shot at even making friends.

3. Blue clear sunglasses: Same thing as red. I will give light blue sunglasses a break...they're not that bad.

4. Clear sunglasses: A stylish player who cares about image but not much about concealing their hand. Not much shot at picking up the dealers since they know you can't play unless they're new and can't play themselves. Excellent chance of picking up on the waitresses.

5. big Aviators: Cool and functional for cards. Enough said. Good for both groups of girls.

6. Dolce & Gabana: These glasses rock. :) Good for both.

7. Basic plastic black glasses: Definitely functional and all you really need for the game. Not necessarily helping you pick up on the girls though.

Women are like Ace something

2005-03-31T11:07:00.000-08:00

I was thinkin' about the similarities between women and starting in Texas holdem with Ace something. Now this is all in good fun and I hope I don't offend anyone. I watch Sex in the city, haha, so if you're a 2005 gal you can just substitute what I say with "men" and then it's all gravy. In fact I'm going to talk with some of girls I know and i'll write somethin similar for guys. But, I digress, let me get to my thoughts:

Women are like Ace something. Women are all very different, but almost all of them have something interesting to them, that's where the Ace comes in. Ace high can be pretty valuable depending on the situation and is always worth a thought.

The different types of women are like the kickers that you get with your Ace. Ace/King suited is like a gorgeous girl in a dead sexy outfit, you'll take her in early poker position and your approach to her and the hand may differ. You've got a few different ways she can be good. You're always happen to see your Ace/King suited chick. Ace/King offsuit is similar except not quite as sexy.

Ace/Queen and Ace/Jack are like decent girls. Guys that aren't that picky like them anywhere, even in early poker position. I equate poker position to how often they're dating. Early position equals dating a lot and late position is like not being popular with the girls at all. So guys that are dating a lot, if they're not that picky like these girls no matter what. However, the better players, the picky ones, don't play these hands in the early position because they don't want to lower their standards.

Middle position. Middle position is similar to if you're dating but really not that often. If you're one of these guys, you're in love with Ace/King as soon as you see her and if you get a chance to hangout with Ace/Queen or Ace/Jack you're stoked. Raise, raise raise (the poker pot guys sheesh). In fact, if you're not that good of a player you're going to start hanging out with Ace rag and below. Ace rag girls are not really good but bad players mess with them even when they're dating.

Late position. Late position is like when it's getting late at a club and you're desperate. Even the best players know that they should play Ace/Queen and Ace/Jack aggressively to try and get some value out of them. They also consider playing Ace rag to steal the blinds.

In the blind: In the blind is like when you're really doing something else and a girl just runs into you out of nowhere. Almost falls into your lap. It's like a bonus. If you look down and see Ace/Jack or higher you're like "oh that's pretty cool, I just met this girl at the optometrist office, let's see where it goes". Where it goes depends on the flop. You might flop something you like or simply fold the hand quickly (she might dump you or vice versa). If you happen to run into Ace/Rag in the blind you're like "well i guess that's ok, no big deal".

Ok, that's it. And who says poker is detrimental to dating? =)

Poker Details

2005-03-30T14:23:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. I believe i'm linked up to all the new readers that linked to me but if i missed someone please let me know. I'd like to put a few thoughts into ink on a few questions I've been getting.

Slowplaying Pocket Aces under the gun:
People have asked me for a few thoughts on why I limped in here rather than raise. I love the inquiry and in fact I agree with you for the most part. In general I think you should raise with Aces up front to narrow down the field and in fact in a loose game where people are calling raises anyway you should definitely raise putting in more money and getting fewer players against you. However in a tigher game a raise here might just steal the blinds which is what i definitely didn't want to do. So I hoped for some action thru the slowplay, got some and got bitten by it.

Players not getting that much better in higher limit:
Completely agree with the comment here as well. More aggression with weaker hands. The particular game I was in was tigher and tougher than normal though.

Party Poker $30-60 - 2nd Hand - First Session

2005-03-28T15:16:00.000-08:00

In my last post I got stuck in my very first hand in $30-60. Now losing $420 in one hand can be quite discouraging but after going thru countless hand iterations where you win or lose I really have become somewhat numb to the whole ordeal. It's just another hand. Learn and move on. I will say that losing can be quite annoying which is why I try and leave it to the losers. ;)

Preflop:
So a few hands later I'm under the gun (UTG) with pocket Aces. I decide to limp in, disguise the hand and hopefully get some action (hopefully 3-4 way and no more!). 2 other players limp in and the blinds are both in.

Flop: Queen, 9, 4 - with 2 diamonds
Awesome. I feel great about this flop. Most players won't have 2 pair, if somebody flopped a set then hey I'm beat but that's just life. It's also highly unlikely. If someone had queens I would expect them to raise (although I wouldn't put it past players at this level to be very tricky), perhaps 9's and I doubt 4's (I doubt many players are playing pocket 4's here. You never know but just in general).

The big blind bets and I just smooth call. Everyone else folds.

The turn: 2 of clubs:
Here's where I plan to make my raise when this player bets his queen.

He bets and I raise. To my surprise he reraises me.

I'm a little surprised at the reraise. If he 2 pair or a set in the blind, wouldn't he have tried to check raise? Would he really 3-bet a flush draw? Would he 3-bet Ace/Queen or King/Queen? Neither of these seem likely. However, the 3-bet with Ace/Queen seems most likely so I call.

The River: 8 of diamonds:
A diamond! The worst card in the deck for me. He bets and I make a crying call since the pot is so big.

He turns over 5, 3 of diamonds. He bet his diamond draw and on the turn got really aggressive with an open ended straight and the diamond flush out. He had a 15 card out, but I had the other 31.

Analysis:
I don't feel bad about how I played the hand at all. The pot got so large at the end I felt like I had to call. If I had a better read on him I might've been able to laydown but this is online poker and it's pretty tough to read that facial expression. :)

So now I've played 2 hands in the biggest limit I've ever played and I'm stuck $720. I proceed to lose even more and get stuck $1,000. Then I make a huge comeback and end up beating the game for $1,800 after putting in a total of 4 hours. Funny, I only remember a couple of hands I won. It seems that I only remember the hands I lose.

My first $30-60 session was a success. Obviously I'm not ready to say I beat that limit everyday but it's a step in the right direction.

Party Poker - $30-60 First Time

2005-03-27T23:47:00.000-08:00

What a great weekend. I went in to get my eyes checked on Friday and left with a free pair of D&G sunglasses and a new girl's phone number. It gets better though...last night I finally stepped it up to the $30-6o partypoker game.

I'm the first to admit I'm cocky. There is a thin line between confident and arrogance and I tend to reside on the arrogant side of the city with occasional trips to confident. My homegirl once said I have an understated arrogance about me. =) whatever that means.

So...my confidence was immediately shaken stepping into this game. I was nervous already seeing as the biggest game I'd played in up to this point was the $20-40 at the Mirage.

My First Hand in $30-60:
So I come in after the dealer and post. I'm a big fan of coming in after the button rather than posting in the blind but I'll leave my opinions on that for another post. There's a raise in 4th position, a cold call in 7th and I look down at Ace/2 suited. Having already posted the blind, I think I'm getting appropriate pot odds to call and perhaps catch a funny flop or a flush draw (assuming the blinds call). Naturally they don't and we head to the flop with 3 way action and I'm holding a rag hand.

The Flop: A, 2, 5 with 2 hearts and 1 diamond.
Beautiful. 4th position bets, 7th cold calls, I hesitate for the appropriate amount of time and raise. 4th position immediately folds and 7th cold calls.

The Turn: King of diamonds. Now I've got 2 pair and the nut diamond draw
Although I didn't like the King, I like the diamond. It's checked to me. Now, if that king wasn't a diamond I would've checked here but seeing as I also have the nut flush draw I bet. 7th position check raises me and now things are getting tricky. Naturally I put this guy on Ace/King since he cold called a raise and didn't 3 bet. I contemplate a call which in retrospect was what I should've done. Instead I reraise hoping to slow him in his tracks and with the intention of checking the river unless I catch a 2 or a diamond. He caps the turn and now I'm sad. haha. I call.

The River: 8 of clubs.
He bets and I call. He turns over pocket kings (caught a set on the turn) and after my first hand in $30-60 I'm down $420 out of my own chips.

Analysis:
It was really irrelevant that he got lucky and caught his king on the turn. In reality the hand that I put him on was all he needed to beat me. We're playing $30-60 here and there are very few players in this game that would call a preflop raise cold and be able to cap the turn against me except for pocket aces, ace/king, or pocket kings. He could've easily had one of these hands and he did. I think since he was an unknown player that I could be a little disappointed in myself if I just called the turn when he check raised and called the end. I mean perhaps he was weak enough of a player to have Ace/Queen (which is like ace rag to me) or Ace/Jack (even better he's going on my buddy list if he's got this). My diamond draw and my aggressive attitude got me a little bit in this hand. An extra $120-180 depending on how you look at it.

Well what happened next?
What a nice welcome right? It's like welcome to the table you pigeon. We're here to show you what the game is really about and push you back to $15-30 again. Either that or wipe out a few thousand and set you back a month.

Nope, of course your boy didn't get out the game. In fact the very next hand I played was under the gun with Aces and I got those cracked for $300.

And...I still came up $753 at the end of my session. Happy ending right?! I'll post the rest tomorrow.

Scotch & Hustlin'

2005-03-26T21:59:00.000-08:00

"I'm a hustla homie, you'se a customer cronie" - Jay-Z

Most of my posts seem to be about really hardcore poker strategy so today I thought I'd post a hopefully amusing story about pull tabs and the old school.

Had some excellent dim sum with my Dad today. I was a little hungover as I usually am on Saturdays, a little too much Glen Livet and not enough ice. Seems to happen on Fridays a lot. It's like the bartenders say oh shit there's Trav get out the scotch that you froze into ice cubes so we can get him extra drunk again. :) Anyhow on the way home I was talking with him about gambling and I randomly had a weird thought that I brought up.

"Hey Dad, do you think you could beat pull tabs if you waited till the tub got close to empty and picked the ones where the jackpots hadn't beat hit? Effectively letting somebody else dump their money into the machine and winning off their bad luck?" - I asked

"Trav, I used to do that all the time." - Dad said

So, old school pull tabs didn't come in the bins they come in now. They had straight stacks and you could see relatively close how many were left. He said he used to go into the casino before playing, buy out the pull tab box that he could beat. This is where I think the story gets funny and really sheds a little insight into how my Dad thinks.

"So then you'd go thru all the tabs and come out on top?" - I asked

"Hell nah. I'd pay somebody to do that and then I'd go do something else. Make $100-200 (this was not a bad little hit back in the old school days) off the box, tip the guy $20 to rip thru the tabs and pocket the sugar. I got better things to do then run thru a shitload of pull tabs." - He replied.

Turns out it'd be tougher to beat pull tabs today. Statistically speaking, pull tabs have one of the highest hold rates in casino games (30-40% hold rate) and they pull the machines now before they get too juicy. Understanding when to pull the tabs is more precise now too, since they can weight them with precise measurements down to 1-2 individual pull tab pieces.

So, if you can beat all that today...good for you. haha....let me know if this works for any of you hustlers out there. I'll stick to my poker game.

Poker Slowplay - Ace/Six

2005-03-25T13:00:00.000-08:00

My good friend is leaving, moving down to SF. Which by the way is a beautiful city. I would say if I were going to live anywhere besides Seattle, it'd probably be the bay or perhaps Venice, Italy which I had the pleasure to visit this past summer. Anyway, he holds a weekly poker tournament at his place, small game like 12 people, $10 buy-in. So instead of playing $15-30 like I intended to where 1 pot would be more than first place in this tournament I decided to hangout with my buddy and play in his tournament.

I made a huge mistake in this tournament and lost my chip lead. I've got 700 in chips, chip leader about 1,200 and my buddy Dave has about 180. The blinds are at 30-60, so Dave has like a round or two left unless he makes some moves and doubles up.

Here's where the magic sets in as I bust Dave out. I've got Ace/six in the small bilnd and Dave has 120 left in chips since his big blind is 60. Ace/rag is a shitty hand, we all know that. But, in heads up competition I look at it like the nuts, especially with Dave short stacked in chips. He's smart so he knows he needs to double up really soon and last time I was in the small blind I limped in, he pushed all in and I had to fold, since I had a marginal hand.

I decide to slowplay Ace/Rag and limp in knowing that he'll push all in with whatever hand he's got trying to steal my 60 chips and survive another round. Sounds funny doesn't it? Slowplay such a shitty hand. It worked though. He pushed all in with King/Jack, I immediately call and neither of us catch anything.

4 hands later I bust out, I got pushed around a little bit and by the time I made a move the villain had a good hand.

My win? $30...one big blind in the game I'll play tonight. hehe. Plus getting to hangout with my good friend, and a few kills in Halo2. Sometimes it's not all about the money. =)

Flush draw - Raise it!

2005-03-24T13:58:00.000-08:00

In my last post I wrote about the incorrect play of calling with flush draws without the proper pot odds. At the end of that post I said that instead of folding I would probably raise. My rationale for this is as follows:

1. Naturally I am assuming that my opponent is capable of laying down a hand. If the pot is short handed and I raise I may be able to take the pot away from him right there without having to make a hand.

2. Aggression is the key. More often than not in Texas Holdem nobody has a hand. Thus I like to lead to force my opponent into calling.

3. Assume he calls my raise. Then what do I do on the turn. Well that's really going to depend on what I can get him to do. In prior hands when I bet on the turn does he fold thinking I have a big hand? Or, does he get stubborn a lot and decide to pay me off all the time.

If I've checked the turn in prior hands when I show weakness and only bet the turn when I was strong I might mix it up here and bet the turn.

If he's in the latter category I'm going to check the turn and get a free card. The card isn't really "free" in a sense because I had to raise on the flop to get it. But it's a half priced card because I didn't have to call the turn.

Ok, what happens if I get 3 bet? Well, I'm probably going to call the raise as the pot is now big (unfortunately with a lot of my money). If he bets the turn I'll probably fold depending on pot size.

Opinions?

Flush draws are over rated.

2005-03-23T13:51:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to Vinyl Bar & Poker Club, Aces full of eights, John-Paul Costales V2. Human Head, Razy Boy for the comments and the links. It's always welcome.

Today I was thinking about flush draws and how so many players make basic mistakes when they have them. First off, a lot of players don't know that if you hold 2 suited cards your chances of flopping 2 to a flush are only 1 in 10 and your odds of flopping a flush are only 1%. So all those guys out there playing any 2 suited cards being first or second into the pot (like J, 4 suited) well those guys are pigeons.

Most players don't have the above problem. However here is a mistake that I see even somewhat knowledgable players make and is my point of this post. If you flop 2 to a flush the odds of making a flush are about 1 in 5 to make it on the turn and 1 in 5 again to make it on the end. In aggregate turn and river , you willof you making a flush are about 36%. Let's see how these numbers play out in real life.

Suppose I'm in a $1-2 game and I have Ace, 4 of spades in the big blind. 1 player limps in and the small blind calls making the pot $3 total. Suppose the flop is J/10/2 with 2 spades. small blind bets, should I call? Well to call means that I'm putting in 33% of money into the current pot when I'm only going to win if I make my hand 20% of the time. Putting in $1 for a chance to win $3 when i'm only going to win 1 time out of 5. Simply put, calling here is not the correct play. That is of course ignoring the fact that I might win if I hit my ace or what the player to act after me will do.

So, in the above situation, what would I do? Well to be completely honest if the player was any good I would probably raise. :) I'll post my rational for why this goes against my flush draw pot odds analysis in the next post.

The drive to improve my poker playing

2005-03-22T10:02:00.000-08:00

At the end of last night's session I was up $1,257 fot the night, playing in the 6-handed $10-20. That's a great 2 hour session dollar wise and it pushed me to an all time high on my "year to date dollars won". :)

Even though the night finished a success after every session I always focus on how I can improve as a player. Last night was no exception, here are 2 hands which I believe I played poorly.

Hand 1:
I'm in 2nd position with Aces and limp in hoping to get some action. Someone in late position limps in and the small blind folds. The flop is J, 8, 3 with two diamonds. The big blind bets out, I smooth call and the late position player folds. Turn is a 7 and the big blind bets out again. I smooth call with the intention of waiting until the river to pop him. The end is a 6, he checks I bet and he folds.

Analysis:
I'm pretty sure that since he didn't even call he was on a flush draw. In retrospect I should've put the pressure on him on the turn which would force an extra big bet out of him in order to potentially make his flush. Also by just calling the mistake is that if the flush hits and he does bet thru it do I call here? I hate being a caller, particularly in short handed games where I need to be aggressive. That being said, my slow play was meant to mix my game up a little bit. I missed out on $20.

Relevant Quote: "As a poker player you hate to call off your money" - Erik Seidel after losing an old WSOP.

Hand 2:
A passive player Under the gun (UTG) limps in, and i'm in the small blind with Ace, 8. I raise, the big blind 3 bets and UTG cold calls. I'm pretty sad now and call. Flop is 8,8,Q rainbow. I check, the big blind bets, UTG calls, and I call.

Turn is a 5 bringing a club draw. I check, the big blind bets, the UTG raises and I hesitate and cold call 2 bets. Big blind calls.

The river is checked all around.

Analysis:
I allowed myself to be intimidated by the turn raise from the UTG player. He's not so poor as to have Q/8 and he's not tricky enough to have pocket Q's. I'd bet my Lexus on that. He could have possibly had pocket 5's but I'm about 75% sure he would've raised with any pocket pair in a short handed game.

The big blind almost certainly didn't have pocket Queens because he just called the raise and is not tough enough to wait until the very end to check raise (although that would have been brilliant but he's not capable of that).

I should've reraised and probably would've trapped the big blind in for another bet as well as the UTG player. If it doesn't get capped I should've bet the end as well. That's an extra $80 I missed thru a misread.

Conclusion:
I've got a few weeks left before I leave my job and play even more seriously. While I don't think these small mistakes are enough to stop me from success they have to be corrected or I'll never become the world class player I hope to be.
Thoughts?

Party Poker vs. Casino Poker - Less Hands

2005-03-21T13:33:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, for the first time since Vegas on New Year's I played poker in a casino. I play almost everyday, but my game has really started to become focused online. Mostly due to one thing...the money. I do so much better playing partypoker online it's ridiculous. They just play so bad.

So I lost a little bit playing $8-16 on Saturday which actually seems like a small game now. It was good seeing a bunch of the regulars there that I haven't run into in awhile. It's almost like a strategic truce with some players as they recognize you can play, others are actually friends.

One thing that I really noticed was how much slower it is to play in a casino. I'm seeing like 30-40 hands an hour playing at a casino vs. what I would estimate is 60-70 online. I'm curious as to what others think about this, how many hands do you think you see an hour online? What about in the 6 handed game?

Poker Strategy with Dad

2005-03-20T12:55:00.000-08:00

I had an interesting talk with Dad the other day. Over dinner a lot of families have talks about how work is going and my dinner table is no different. The only difference being the fact that my work talks are primarily related to different perspectives on the poker game.

So yesterday my Dad encouraged me to try mixing a few things up hold 'em and see how that works for me. Now, don't worry, I have a good deal of mix up in my game. In fact I believe being tricky is key to success. He was simply illustrating a point. To illustrate this point he used a few examples in his own career which I thought would be interesting to share here.

He tried a few things with different types of hands to see how they affected his pockets. Pops used to play 12 - 14 hours a day, everyday. He'd open and close the game. For one month he didn't play any pocket pair under 8's. He also took a different month off from playing any suited connectors besides the really big ones. I think the word "discipline" comes up short when referring to how this must have been. He found this hurt him financially and went back to playing both types.

The point he was making was do what you need to for analysis and to grow as a player. You need to really analyze your game's strengths and weaknesses and do what is necesary for improvement. I see some players make the same mistakes over and over and go broke. Nothing wrong with making mistakes but not learning from them is the real tragedy.

Poker Tracking and Excel

2005-03-18T12:59:00.000-08:00

I've been getting a few emails and posts about my excel sheet which I promise to have up on this site by the end of next week. By nature I am not much of a technical guy, more mathematical and while the 2 are related I'd just as soon compute pot odds on a thousand dollar decision instead of trying to figure out how to post an excel file up here. I'll get a buddy to help.

First off I should say thanks to MJ for sending over some traffic. Being primarily a hardcore poker player I'm new to the online community. (That was some good chinese we ate the other day buddy) .

I'm glad so far everyone is liking the site, i'm planning on updating everyday (it's going to be like a nice meditation break from my play). I don't know about you guys but playing for multiple hours online is much more taxing than normal play.

Regarding poker tracker and why I don't use that only for tracking my results. I actually created my own spreadsheet for tracking (not from 2x2) which I use in combination with Poker Tracker. Poker Tracker is great, I especially like the preflop raise percentages and the detailed statistical analysis. However, if there is a disconnection in my internet then I can't download anymore of my hand histories from a particular game until I leave. Sometimes I'm really into a groove and don't want to leave. If I choose to stay then I lose my results in pokertracker from that disconnection point on.

Also, I still play in casino games and if poker tracker can include my wins/losses there then I must admit I don't know all the functionality. Finally while poker tracker can keep my wins/losses in order it doesn't really have my win rate per hour. This is what I really need to look at. How much am I winning per hour? Is it enough to the point where I can justify to myself that I'm quitting my job at Microsoft? Since I'm gone on April 8th...the answer so far is yes.

Poker Strategy - Jack/Ten Suited

2005-03-18T11:15:00.000-08:00

I have mixed feelings about Jack/Ten suited.

Great poker possibilities:
There is no disputing the possibilities of this hand. You can flop potential flushes, nut straights, straights, and the other obvious hands if you pair/trip/or full house up. In a hand that's got 4 or 5 people i'm actually likely to cap a pot with this hand. It has tremendous multi-way value.

Hold 'em is a game of high cards:
On the other hand it's Jack high. I don't like to cold call a raise without multi-way action with this hand and I really don't like to be first in the pot in late position with this hand. Natural questions that arise in this situation are, should i try and steal the blinds with Jack high although it does have tremendous draw potential, just limp in and see if i can hopefully get multiple people in the pot or just fold the hand pre-flop. Even though I live off the money I win these questions still arise in my mind. What's the answer? I'm honestly not sure, I try and mix it up.

My biggest pot ever:
Came from Jack, ten suited. There was an early position raise by the first person in, 3 cold callers, another raise and I'm in the big blind. I've got Jack, ten of clubsand I call 2 more bets. The pot ends up being capped and it's 6 way action before the flop.

I'm playing $15-30 online and the pot is $360 pre-flop. The flop is King, queen, nine of clubs. I couldn't believe it, i flopped the absolute nuts, a straight flush. I check, there is a bet and everyone calls, including myself. The turn is a 9 and I check again, the same guy bets, everyone calls and I raise. In retrospect I might have been better off with just a call here hoping to not lose anyone until the end. After my check raise, the early position raiser raised again and everyone except for me folded (to my dismay). Since it was heads up now I capped the pot. I figured my opponent had Kings full of nines or maybe quad 9's. It really didn't matter what he had since I had the absolute but I made sure to take my time before each of my decisions in an effort to somewhat conceal my hand.

The end was a blank, I led the betting and we capped the end. Total pot was $960 minus the $3 rake so I netted out with $957. It was beautiful.

when I look back I definitely got lucky. However, I think that if I had Kings full in this situation I wouldn't have put in so many bets. Did he really think that I would cap the turn and the end without a straight flush or quad 9's. He really had 3rd nuts. I don't think an opponent would cap both the turn and the end with queesn over 9's or king/9. If I had his hand I probaby would've just called the end.

What do you think?

Poker Theory - Can't beat the game?

2005-03-16T09:37:00.000-08:00

The other day I was thinking about how blessed I feel to be able to consistently beat the poker game. It wasn't always so! It brought back memories of over a year ago when I was so frustrated with the game I nearly quit. I had been playing for about 1 year and was stuck overall for $3,000. (Note: I keep very detailed records in Excel so let me know if you'd like the tracking template and I'll send it over).

Anyhow so I was starting to feel like I had a gambling problem and I talked with my Dad (who played for a living for many years). My Dad and I have a great relationship where I can pretty much tell him anything. During the time that he played for a living he saw many people make a ton of money and others lose everything they had because they had a gambling problem. In fact he said he busted so many people he personally felt responsible for sending them to Gamblers Anonymous. A cold fact of life when you're a poker player. Based on all this I felt my Dad certainly had the experience where he would be able to tell me to quit if he thought it was getting to be too much.

Instead of telling me to quit, he told me that I was still learning. He harshly critiqued my game. He advised me to take a short break, think about what I was doing that didn't work and revise that and read a few poker books. Finally he told me to play in a higher limit game since I had the money to play in it comfortably. "A bigger game? How can I play in a bigger game when I can't beat $4-8?" I said in a frustrated tone. He then explained to me that the rake plus tip to the dealer is a higher percentage of each pot in comparison to a bigger limit game which makes it harder to beat.

So...instead of giving the game up I bought more chips and played for higher limits. Funny huh? I'll post part 2 soon.

Old School

2005-03-14T10:44:00.000-08:00

I was watching Tilt yesterday (which by the way I think is an excellent TV show) and I love when the Matador said, "When I first started playing cards you had to be as tough outside of the cardroom as you were in the game. All these young players with degrees at home playing online poker wouldn't have lasted a day back then." That's so old school and from what I hear (I wasn't around to actually experience it) that's exactly how it was.

I feel like a really big mix of old and new school. 9 months ago I was a complete old school player. When I think of old school style I think of the type of player who would check the nuts into you and let you make the mistake of betting. Eventually punishing you on the end with a check raise. The downfall of this strategy is that it puts you in the position of needing to catch a hand.

Nowadays I'm definitely in the new breed of players. Constantly pushing. It seems like new school is to push hard on the pots and let your opponent decide whether or not to call. The downfall of this strategy is that if you're over aggressive you're going to lose a lot of chips.

So what's better? What's the optimal strategy? I think you have to mix it up. Aggression is the key but it must be tempered with reading and an ability to trick your opponents. But I digress, I don't want to get into all of that now I just wanted to put a few thoughts down on the different schools of thought.

Strategy - Mistakes happen

2005-03-11T14:24:00.000-08:00

I played the 6 handed $10-2o yesterday and lost $200. I think it's funny that I expect to win every time I sit down and play but that's probably the attitude you have to have. After each session I always think about how I could've played differently to win. Yesterday was a prime example.

I'm under the gun with Kings and I limp in, seat 2 raises, the button reraises, both blinds call, I call, and seat 2 caps. So we've got 5 way action capped preflop for a $200 pot. The flop is Q, J, 3 and I come out betting hoping to narrow down the field since the pot is already pretty big. Seat 2 raises, the button calls 2 bets cold, and I call. I put the button on a queen and seat 2 on Aces/Kings/ maybe ace queen, or Jacks. I only beat 1 of these hands.

The turn is another queen, I check, seat 2 bets, the button calls, and I call getting a little stubborn. At this point the only hand I really can beat is A/J or smaller pairs. I'm pretty much going to check call the end.

An ace comes on the end. This is the worst card in the deck for me since there's really not that much I can beat. I check, seat 2 bets and when the button calls I just feel like I can't overcall and win. I fold the hand, seat 2 shows pocket 10's, and the button shows pocket 9s. Almost the only hands I can beat that would be played that way.

I couldn't believe it. I lost a $300 pot because I didn't call $20. In retrospect I think I should've played the hand more aggressively by reraising the flop and taking control.

I made a mistake and paid for it. I made a few more mistakes and had to take myself out of the game. I'd rather lose $200 one day than go on tilt and blow a grand. When you take the game seriously you have to manage your emotions and your bankroll or your brilliant plays will be offset by a few tilt sessions.

Strategy - Heads up Play

2005-03-08T16:33:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been playing a lot of 6 handed $10-20 on party poker.

I would say that this is a great game if you're in an action kind of mood. In my humble opinion I think the key is actually not to play a ton of more hands. Obviously the hand values change since the blinds come around much more quickly and those A/J pigeon hands become quite valuable in a short handed game. I think you have to loosen up but don't go overboard.

A key that I've found to success is actually to play the hands you do play more aggressively for the small bets (preflop and flop) as stealing pots is a more essential part of your play.I almost always raise coming into a pot preflop if I'm first in to potentially steal the blinds and the hand right there. Occasionally, I might limp in with Aces or Kings hoping to get some action behind me or maybe a J/10 suited hoping to get multi-way action .

I think mixing up your play is also a key to success in this game. I find that my opponents quickly become tired of me raising preflop all the time and betting a lot of flops if they do call my preflop raise. They often loosen up their play considerably and this is the perfect time for my mix-up.

Here's an example, if I've been pre-flop raising for awhile and I raise with Ace rag in middle position. Let's say someone in the middle cold calls and the flop doesn't hit me at all. I might bet this flop and if called, check and fold the turn if he bets. Next time around, the same play might occur and let's say this time I hit my hand with A/K and the flop is safe with an Ace. I might play the flop the exact same way but check raise the turn. I find that I've gotten paid off when I play a hand in this manner by funny hands such as bottom pair or something else silly.

I think my opponents are just getting tired of me pushing them around all the time and want to figure out what I'm doing. The bad news for them is that I got them for 2 preflop bets, 1 small flop bet, 2 turn bets and potentially a bet on the end as well. That's 4 1/2 big bets. Think about how many hands that takes to get even with me.

Differing or agreeing opinions? Any other cool thoughts?

Article - Fortune Mag

2005-03-08T16:26:00.000-08:00

It's amazing how big online poker is. I'm from Seattle and the players online are so much weaker that it really blows my mind. I'm really curious as to how players from other cities view their hometown vs. online. Thoughts?

Here's the fortune article. It's booming baby! :)

http://www.fortune.com/fortune/articles/0,15114,1026777,00.html?promoid=cnn?cnn=yes

Intro

2005-03-08T15:32:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my thoughts regarding Texas Hold ‘em Poker. Since this is my first entry I should give you a little background as to who I am. I’ve been playing poker for most of my 26 year old life but only seriously for the last 2 years. It all started one day when my friend wanted to go play poker at a casino. I suggested my Dad’s casino (my Dad is a part owner in a mini casino here in Seattle) and off we went. To my surprise my Dad was actually sitting in the $4-8 hold em game and we sat down and played.

I then spent the next 1.5 years losing money and almost gave the game up. A serious talk with my Dad got me back in the game and then suddenly everything clicked. Now i'm a serious winning player.

I'll go into more detail regarding my story as I continue to post. I write here in hopes that you can be entertained and laugh at my writings, learn from my agony, and hopefully enjoy my success. Good luck to you and I hope you like the posts.