Disjointed Post that Accumulated Over Three Days
Posting this morning from the bus on the way TO work this morning. Usually there isn't room to sit and type (sometimes I don't even get a seat), but so far so good today. I don't have a lot of ground to cover, which is good because it's an express bus.
A couple quick things about Party Poker before I talk about the home game I played in last night. One, they have a new table type that I really love. The multi-table sit and go! Two- and three-table sit and gos, so far with $22 and $33 buy-in. It's about time. And unlike Stars' two-table sit and gos, these fill up within minutes. On the downside, the first version of the software update they released to support this feature (and others) was a big mess, and crashed every time you closed it. In addition, when you make the final table in these tournaments, a message comes on the screen congratulating you, which stays up for about five minutes and blocks your view of the pot. For a site that must be making money hand over fist, they don't exactly hire the best software developers/testers in the business. How these versions could have made it out of beta testing is beyond me.
So I played in a home game last night with some friends. Cash NLHE game, $50 buy-in with two equal blinds of $1. A mix of good players and bad, with some right in the middle. I had a stellar night, a win much larger than you would expect in four hours at those limits. I took home $420. My actually chip count at the end put me up $455, but the bank was wrong, and I was the bank, so there wasn't much I could say about it. I have no idea how it could have gotten short $35 (I was very careful playing the bank), but it's particularly odd because there were seven players, and the bank was off by $5x7. Anyway, I made my money on good cards. I had pocket aces twice, and they held up all in against a single opponent both times. I also got called all-in on big bets at least twice with someone having a draw, and the draw didn't get there either time. I released top and bottom pair on the flop once, and made a few other tough laydowns that turned out to be correct, so there WAS some skill involved.
I realized something about playing in a home game with friends last night. I don't really like it. There are certain players that I can see straight through--I can tell when they have a hand and when they don't. It actually really makes me feel bad to take their money. It's sort of an odd situation to play poker if you feel like you lose when you win. These are people I genuinely like, too, and not just a bunch of people who happen to gather together because they all play poker.
It's also not as much fun socially to see these people when playing poker. Since I have to focus on the game (and dealing when I am the dealer, which I was last night), I don't really feel like I can relax and stay involved in the side conversations. When I'm in a hand, I have to maintain my blank expression, and not respond to people in the way that I normally would. And when I'm not in a hand, I feel like I have to keep an eye on the action, or the game will come to a grinding halt.
I also realized last night that these people, who I like very much, and who I think like ME very much, have been playing on a fairly regular basis and not inviting me. It was never said explicitly, but when you hear people saying things like "We met before when we played together last week as so-and-so's house" and "What was with that Asian guy with the dreadlocks who played at your place last week?" it's not that hard to figure out. I asked one of my good friends about it after the game, and he confirmed that some people didn't want to invite me, because I was "too good". It hurt my feelings a little, but at the same time I saw it as a pretty nice compliment.
So I played solid the whole night. I accumulated a nice stack early on, and didn't give it away by playing looser while ahead (something I have been working on lately). There was only one hand that I think I may have played poorly, and it has to do with a new theory I have about playing a big hand on a "drawy" flop. I shall call it "Flopping the Vulnerable Nuts", and it applies to no-limit only. It is particularly relevant in tournaments. Don't worry--it's short. Or at least short-ish.
Flopping The Vulnerable Nuts
by "Chicago" Phil Sandler
Let me start by reading from the Book of Conventional Poker Wisdom:
When you flop a big hand that may be vulnerable to draws, you must protect your hand by betting big, ruining the odds of the drawing players and increasing the chance of taking the pot down on the spot. The size of the pot is irrelevant; a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Perhaps I overstate this, but this is generally the advice you're going to get from a solid player. Don't slow-play a vulnerable hand, because it's inevitable that you will get outdrawn and end up paying someone off because your hand is too good to lay down.
Lately I have not been taking this advice. I am quite capable of laying down a beautiful flop-hand when it goes all to hell on the turn (which actually might be exploitable, but ignore that possibility for now). There are situations where you can flop a big (but vulnerable) hand, and still have MANY MANY cards that can fall on the turn that will leave you with the nuts. When there is multi-way action, my theory is that it can be profitable to take that chance. This is especially true in a tournament, where winning a single small pot can often be (almost) meaningless.
So last night, I was in the small (yet equal) blind. Four limpers to me, and I look down to see 4d3d. I check the option, as does the big (yet equal) blind.
The flop is beautiful: 6h-5s-2h. I am first to act, and I check my vulnerable made hand, hoping that someone to my near left will bet and get some callers. At that point I will have the option to raise (if the pots gets swollen and juicy), or flat call (if a bunch of people fold) Alas, it is checked to the button, who bets the pot ($6). What should I do? The Book tells me that I should raise the pot, and make it $24 to go, which is very likely to be the end of the hand.
Maybe it's because I'm a greedy bastard. Maybe it's because I'm stupid. Maybe it's because I don't have the basic common sense to take $12 when it is being offered to me. But I like to think that it's because I'm smart and disciplined enough to make this play and take this risk. I decide that I want more than $12 for my monster flop. I know that any non-heart over a 9 is likely to get someone to pay me off. In addition, I might get paid off by flush draws who don't know enough about pot odds to fold to a big best. So I smooth call, with the intention of overbetting the pot on the turn if nothing scary falls.
Three more players call, and five of us see the turn: the 5h. I have pre-decided my play for this contingency, and I execute it. I bet $20 into a $36 pot. If I get raised, I'm gone--no one here will want to pay $40 (minimum) to test my resolve on this hand without the goods. Player to my left makes it $80, everyone folds to me, and my cards join the party in the muck.
The big downside that I see to this play is that you might be missing an opportunity to get callers who think you are on a re-steal. When you are up against players who call too much, straightforward play is often the best way to go.
One more quick note. My stop is coming up so I REALLY better make it fast. I have noticed in the past two weeks that I haven't really felt like playing very much. Even when I do have time, I've been pretty content to just sit and watch some mindless TV, or play a bit of Warcraft 3 (that rhymes). I've been a bit confused about why this is the case. Since I no longer force myself to play when I don't want to, I have really cut back on the number of hours I play each week. I think I now have a good theory on why. I think because my new job is actually mentally stimulating, the void in my life that poker filled is no longer nearly as large as it used to be, and I don't "need" poker in the same way that I used to. Which, by the way, is a really good thing.
Ok, one more thing, and this time I mean it. I really, really feel like I am playing well lately, like I am firmly at the top of my game. Maybe the cards are being kind to me, or at least being kind enough to let my hands hold up when I get my money in with the best of it. Maybe it's because I won my first multi-table tournament last week. Or maybe it's because I officially crossed that financial boundary that I feel like I have been stalking for the last two months. At any rate, I feel strong and confident when I'm playing, and it is a great feeling. But this, like all things is the game of poker, is probably only temporary. Cards are essentially like women--you can't trust them as far as you can fling them, they change their mind every five minutes, and they sponge up your money until you are left cold, hungry and tired in the gutter, wondering why you ever thought you could put even the tiniest bit of faith in them.
Bah, I don't really mean any of that. In the long run, you actually CAN trust the cards. :)
Alright, so I lied--that wasn't it. Actually it was, but since it's now Wednesday, and I (obviously) didn't have the chance to finish that up and post it on Monday, I've got a leeeeeeetle more to report. Just a little, I swear it.
I played in my "regular" pot limit tournament ($50+5, 9:30pm Pacific) again Monday night and finished 10th out of 46, five away from the money. I never really built a huge stack, but I always managed to stay just a little south of average. I took a bad beat to semi-cripple me (the idiot who I lost to had me covered and could have busted me, but apparently wasn't smart enough to put me all-in). I lost the last of my stack (which was at about 40% of average at that point) to the only decent player I saw in the whole tournament. I made it 3x the big blind preflop (I had more than 8x the BB, which is my minimum for NOT simply raising all-in preflop; adopted this standard reading Paul Phillips), with QJo, and was called by the big blind. Flop comes 9-high rags, and I move in when he checks. He thinks forever, and finally decides to call. Turn is a K, river is a blank, and I know I'm dead. He flips A2o for ace high, which is a hell of a tough call. He didn't have me covered by that much, so he was basically finished if I had a better ace or any pair.
It was a "tough" call, like I said. I'm not sure it was a "good" call. But he was better than most players I have seen in that tournament, based on hands other than this one. And he made the winning (if not "correct") play in any case.
I also played in three $50+5 sit and gos, and won one of them.
I will be playing tonight, but getting an update up tomorrow will be tricky, as I have volleyball. Maybe if I can get some elbow room on the bus . . .
A couple quick things about Party Poker before I talk about the home game I played in last night. One, they have a new table type that I really love. The multi-table sit and go! Two- and three-table sit and gos, so far with $22 and $33 buy-in. It's about time. And unlike Stars' two-table sit and gos, these fill up within minutes. On the downside, the first version of the software update they released to support this feature (and others) was a big mess, and crashed every time you closed it. In addition, when you make the final table in these tournaments, a message comes on the screen congratulating you, which stays up for about five minutes and blocks your view of the pot. For a site that must be making money hand over fist, they don't exactly hire the best software developers/testers in the business. How these versions could have made it out of beta testing is beyond me.
So I played in a home game last night with some friends. Cash NLHE game, $50 buy-in with two equal blinds of $1. A mix of good players and bad, with some right in the middle. I had a stellar night, a win much larger than you would expect in four hours at those limits. I took home $420. My actually chip count at the end put me up $455, but the bank was wrong, and I was the bank, so there wasn't much I could say about it. I have no idea how it could have gotten short $35 (I was very careful playing the bank), but it's particularly odd because there were seven players, and the bank was off by $5x7. Anyway, I made my money on good cards. I had pocket aces twice, and they held up all in against a single opponent both times. I also got called all-in on big bets at least twice with someone having a draw, and the draw didn't get there either time. I released top and bottom pair on the flop once, and made a few other tough laydowns that turned out to be correct, so there WAS some skill involved.
I realized something about playing in a home game with friends last night. I don't really like it. There are certain players that I can see straight through--I can tell when they have a hand and when they don't. It actually really makes me feel bad to take their money. It's sort of an odd situation to play poker if you feel like you lose when you win. These are people I genuinely like, too, and not just a bunch of people who happen to gather together because they all play poker.
It's also not as much fun socially to see these people when playing poker. Since I have to focus on the game (and dealing when I am the dealer, which I was last night), I don't really feel like I can relax and stay involved in the side conversations. When I'm in a hand, I have to maintain my blank expression, and not respond to people in the way that I normally would. And when I'm not in a hand, I feel like I have to keep an eye on the action, or the game will come to a grinding halt.
I also realized last night that these people, who I like very much, and who I think like ME very much, have been playing on a fairly regular basis and not inviting me. It was never said explicitly, but when you hear people saying things like "We met before when we played together last week as so-and-so's house" and "What was with that Asian guy with the dreadlocks who played at your place last week?" it's not that hard to figure out. I asked one of my good friends about it after the game, and he confirmed that some people didn't want to invite me, because I was "too good". It hurt my feelings a little, but at the same time I saw it as a pretty nice compliment.
So I played solid the whole night. I accumulated a nice stack early on, and didn't give it away by playing looser while ahead (something I have been working on lately). There was only one hand that I think I may have played poorly, and it has to do with a new theory I have about playing a big hand on a "drawy" flop. I shall call it "Flopping the Vulnerable Nuts", and it applies to no-limit only. It is particularly relevant in tournaments. Don't worry--it's short. Or at least short-ish.
Flopping The Vulnerable Nuts
by "Chicago" Phil Sandler
Let me start by reading from the Book of Conventional Poker Wisdom:
When you flop a big hand that may be vulnerable to draws, you must protect your hand by betting big, ruining the odds of the drawing players and increasing the chance of taking the pot down on the spot. The size of the pot is irrelevant; a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Perhaps I overstate this, but this is generally the advice you're going to get from a solid player. Don't slow-play a vulnerable hand, because it's inevitable that you will get outdrawn and end up paying someone off because your hand is too good to lay down.
Lately I have not been taking this advice. I am quite capable of laying down a beautiful flop-hand when it goes all to hell on the turn (which actually might be exploitable, but ignore that possibility for now). There are situations where you can flop a big (but vulnerable) hand, and still have MANY MANY cards that can fall on the turn that will leave you with the nuts. When there is multi-way action, my theory is that it can be profitable to take that chance. This is especially true in a tournament, where winning a single small pot can often be (almost) meaningless.
So last night, I was in the small (yet equal) blind. Four limpers to me, and I look down to see 4d3d. I check the option, as does the big (yet equal) blind.
The flop is beautiful: 6h-5s-2h. I am first to act, and I check my vulnerable made hand, hoping that someone to my near left will bet and get some callers. At that point I will have the option to raise (if the pots gets swollen and juicy), or flat call (if a bunch of people fold) Alas, it is checked to the button, who bets the pot ($6). What should I do? The Book tells me that I should raise the pot, and make it $24 to go, which is very likely to be the end of the hand.
Maybe it's because I'm a greedy bastard. Maybe it's because I'm stupid. Maybe it's because I don't have the basic common sense to take $12 when it is being offered to me. But I like to think that it's because I'm smart and disciplined enough to make this play and take this risk. I decide that I want more than $12 for my monster flop. I know that any non-heart over a 9 is likely to get someone to pay me off. In addition, I might get paid off by flush draws who don't know enough about pot odds to fold to a big best. So I smooth call, with the intention of overbetting the pot on the turn if nothing scary falls.
Three more players call, and five of us see the turn: the 5h. I have pre-decided my play for this contingency, and I execute it. I bet $20 into a $36 pot. If I get raised, I'm gone--no one here will want to pay $40 (minimum) to test my resolve on this hand without the goods. Player to my left makes it $80, everyone folds to me, and my cards join the party in the muck.
The big downside that I see to this play is that you might be missing an opportunity to get callers who think you are on a re-steal. When you are up against players who call too much, straightforward play is often the best way to go.
One more quick note. My stop is coming up so I REALLY better make it fast. I have noticed in the past two weeks that I haven't really felt like playing very much. Even when I do have time, I've been pretty content to just sit and watch some mindless TV, or play a bit of Warcraft 3 (that rhymes). I've been a bit confused about why this is the case. Since I no longer force myself to play when I don't want to, I have really cut back on the number of hours I play each week. I think I now have a good theory on why. I think because my new job is actually mentally stimulating, the void in my life that poker filled is no longer nearly as large as it used to be, and I don't "need" poker in the same way that I used to. Which, by the way, is a really good thing.
Ok, one more thing, and this time I mean it. I really, really feel like I am playing well lately, like I am firmly at the top of my game. Maybe the cards are being kind to me, or at least being kind enough to let my hands hold up when I get my money in with the best of it. Maybe it's because I won my first multi-table tournament last week. Or maybe it's because I officially crossed that financial boundary that I feel like I have been stalking for the last two months. At any rate, I feel strong and confident when I'm playing, and it is a great feeling. But this, like all things is the game of poker, is probably only temporary. Cards are essentially like women--you can't trust them as far as you can fling them, they change their mind every five minutes, and they sponge up your money until you are left cold, hungry and tired in the gutter, wondering why you ever thought you could put even the tiniest bit of faith in them.
Bah, I don't really mean any of that. In the long run, you actually CAN trust the cards. :)
Alright, so I lied--that wasn't it. Actually it was, but since it's now Wednesday, and I (obviously) didn't have the chance to finish that up and post it on Monday, I've got a leeeeeeetle more to report. Just a little, I swear it.
I played in my "regular" pot limit tournament ($50+5, 9:30pm Pacific) again Monday night and finished 10th out of 46, five away from the money. I never really built a huge stack, but I always managed to stay just a little south of average. I took a bad beat to semi-cripple me (the idiot who I lost to had me covered and could have busted me, but apparently wasn't smart enough to put me all-in). I lost the last of my stack (which was at about 40% of average at that point) to the only decent player I saw in the whole tournament. I made it 3x the big blind preflop (I had more than 8x the BB, which is my minimum for NOT simply raising all-in preflop; adopted this standard reading Paul Phillips), with QJo, and was called by the big blind. Flop comes 9-high rags, and I move in when he checks. He thinks forever, and finally decides to call. Turn is a K, river is a blank, and I know I'm dead. He flips A2o for ace high, which is a hell of a tough call. He didn't have me covered by that much, so he was basically finished if I had a better ace or any pair.
It was a "tough" call, like I said. I'm not sure it was a "good" call. But he was better than most players I have seen in that tournament, based on hands other than this one. And he made the winning (if not "correct") play in any case.
I also played in three $50+5 sit and gos, and won one of them.
I will be playing tonight, but getting an update up tomorrow will be tricky, as I have volleyball. Maybe if I can get some elbow room on the bus . . .