January Play & 2008 Poker Resolutions

01/05/08 Chu 1/2 NL (seat 7)

Ward called me the night of the 4th and asked if I was interested in going to play some poker the next day – OK, sure, twist my arm.

We arrived just before noon and played for a little over 3 hours. I got seated right away, but Ward had to wait for a few minutes until a new table opened up. I grabbed seat 7 since it’s one of my favorites and it was available – I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this but I favor seats 2 and 7, not because I’m superstitious but because they afford the best view of the players that will act behind me, and they give me a good view of the other players at the table so I can watch for tells.

Anyway, I’d been re-reading some of my notes and comments that I’ve posted here and decided that with a new year, there would be a “new” player at the table – me.

My poker new-year’s resolutions for 2008?
1) Don’t play anything except premium hands from EP.
2) Play a bit looser in MP and substantially looser (for me anyway) in LP – in other words, play position more.
3) Rarely call when entering a pot – usually either raise or fold.
4) Be very careful about defending my blinds.
5) Work very hard on observing tells and patterns in my opponents (I think I was much better at this a year ago, but my skill in this area has deteriorated – and I want to get back to that form).
6) Look for spots to bluff.
7) Semi-bluff more often.

So, how did I do?

Well, I worked hard on 1-5 all day – kept my focus, was diligent in my card selection, and left up $120 for the day. I got a lot of bad cards and remember the following hands because they really stood out against the crap I was getting.

Table notes: seat 2 was a maniac and started out on a huge roll getting up to ~$300 fairly early - which he then proceeded to donk-off. Seats 1 and 6 were tightish but 1 liked to make continuation bets with whatever he had. At least 60-70% of the pots were raised pre-flop, and there were typically at least 3 callers paying to see the flop.

1) Within the first circuit of the button there’s a bunch of limpers and I picked up 6, 2 offsuit from the SB. With $13 out there, sure – I’ll throw my $1 to see the flop. BB didn’t raise and the flop was Ad, 6d, 2h. With lots of limpers I can’t afford to try for a check-raise, so I bet out $8. It gets called by 2 and raised by the cutoff to $16. Now I move all in for a total of $44. It get’s folded to the CO who calls and flips AK. Turn and river are blanks and my baby 2-pair brings in ~$110.

2) About 45 minutes later I hadn’t played a hand. From MP I raise to $10 with AcQh and get 3 callers (so much for image). Flop was 9, 8, 6 rainbow and I had to fold to player 6’s bet.

3) A few hands later, I looked down at 3, 2 offsuit in the SB and call the $1 again, even though it’s just the 2 blinds. Flop was Kd, Jc, 3s. Eh, I bet the pot of $3 to see if my 3’s are good – BB calls. OK, that’s it, I’m done. Turn is the 2d – wait a tick. I bet $8, which is half of the BB’s remaining stack, and he calls. River is the 5c and we check it down. 2-pair wins over the BB’s pair of jacks.

4) Another hour goes by without me playing a hand and I pick up QQ from the SB. There were 5 limpers and I pop it to $15 – and get 3 callers (image? what image.) OK, so the flop is a 9, 8, 5 and I bet $30. I would rather have bet at least $40 but my chip-stack was dwindling and $40 would have been more than half of my stack – which I don’t like to bet, I’d rather move-in than bet more than half of my stack – but I didn’t want to just move-in here. Anyway, everyone finally gets the message that I have a hand and they bail out. Yay.

5) So how tight was I? From under-the-gun I look down at AsJd and folded it. No one seemed to be giving my pre-flop raises any respect, so I decided not to play that over-rated hand (one that the "old" me would have played).

6) OK, so I again went through a long dry-spell of folding-folding-folding, and finally pick up AsKs on the button – I raise it to $10 and get 3 callers. Flop is a scary K, Q, 3 all in clubs. Seat 1 checks and seat 2 moves in for his last $36; seat 6 folds and I see that as it comes to me, seat 1 looks like he’s ready to fold – so it’s just me and the maniac. I consider what he's likely to have in his hand and I put him on 3 likely holdings: a) no pair/no flush and the bare ace of clubs b) a pair and a high club c) 2-pair. I didn’t put him on a made flush although I suppose he could make that play with 2 small clubs. I realize that I’m getting 2:1 if I call and decide that unless he’s already got 2-pair, I’ve got to call. So, I call and he flips over Kd Tc. Sweet! Everyone at the table flips out when they see that I don’t have a club and I know they were wondering at the idiot who made that call… Two red cards on the turn and river and the pot was mine. Man, that was a nice feeling to see that my read was spot-on. I didn’t say a word to the people who were saying that I made a bad call and got lucky.

7) One of the last hands I played involved 4 limpers and I looked down at AdKs in the BB. I seriously considered popping it but decided to check and hope for a good flop. Flop was 876 and I check-folded to a $6 bet.

That’s it; Ward wants to go, so we’re outta here.

I am most pleased with my read on hand 6 and was glad to see that hand hold up. I was able to spot a couple of tells on 2 of my opponents, but they were clear as a bell to me and I was a little disappointed I couldn’t do better in that area – but I’ll keep working at it.

Maybe I should focus on 1 tell-area at a time (like watching the eyes or the way they put their chips in) during each casino visit so I can get my comfort level back. Otherwise I feel like I’m looking at too many things at once and, likely, missing a lot. I also need to work on items #6 and #7 from my list above - but I think that may have to wait until my tell-reading skills are back in shape.

Anyway, more stuff to work on during 2008. Poker drawer is at an even $2,000.

Year-End Pokering

I haven't posted in a while, but I did do some playing in the latter half of December. Played on 5 separate occasions, and took some notes so I'd remember enough to reconstruct what happened when I finally did get enough time to post an update...

12/15 Chu 1/2 NL (seat 2)

I’d been battling a cold for much of the previous week, so I wasn’t sure how effective I’d be at play, but this was the first chance I’d been able to go play in several weeks – and, dammit, I was going to go. As play started, I felt like I wasn’t really focused, so I decided that I would only play one $60 buy-in and leave after either busting out or when I got too hungry and needed to break for lunch.

Cards were very cold all day long. No big pairs, no big aces, and not really connecting on any flops… I can only remember a couple of hands:

1) Seat 3 raises it to $4 from UTG, 2 others call and I look at 6s 4s in the BB, and put $2 more in. Flop is Ks Js 5s for a baby flush – to which I bet $4. Seat 3 raises it to $12 – the others fold and I ponder a second and move in for my remaining $25. Seat 3 (a fairly solid player who I’ve played against before), mutters disgustedly and reluctantly calls. He flips Kd Jd and I show the flush. Turn brings the 2s, and I double up after a blank on the river.

2) I limp in with As Th from late position with 6 other players. Flop is Ad 7s 4c giving me top pair and OK kicker – which I assume is probably good since no one raised pre-flop. Seat 8 bets out $5, I and 1 other call. Turn is 9c, seat 8 bets $5 and I call, other guy folds. River is the 8h, and we both check – 8 flips over AQ and takes it.

I don’t remember the last hand, but ended up walking away from both the table and my $60 after about 2 hours of play.


12/22 Ventura 4/8 limit (seat 7)

I’ve been doing some thinking about limit poker and decided that I need to change my game in order to play it (play more drawing hands, less slowplaying, etc.), and I went to the little place in town to see how I could do.

1) One of the first hands I picked up was 8s 5s in the SB, and I call the $2 to see the flop after 4 other limpers. Flop is Kd 9s 7s, and I decide to play for my draws – I lead out betting, which is called in 4 spots. Turn is 4c and I bet again, and am called in 2 spots. River is the 6d, to which I bet and am called by seat 2 – he flips Kc 5d and my small straight wins.

2) From the button I call seat 2’s raise with Qd Jc (2 had been raising all over with some really iffy hands and I was getting tired of continually laying down for him). Apparently I wasn’t the only one cuz the blinds and the UTG player called too. Flop was an interesting Kd Tc 5c giving me 6 clean outs to the nuts. It’s checked around to 6 who bets, and we all call (too much $$ not to). Turn is a lovely 9s – and it’s checked to 2 who bets, and I raise; everyone bails out except for 2 who calls. River is the 2h and I bet after 2 checks – he calls and shows Kc 7c and I scoop a nice pot.

3) Action opens with seat 2 raising and seat 6 re-raising – I look down at Ad Ks and make it 3 bets which gets folded to 2 who caps it – seats 5, 6, and me all call. Flop is As Qh 9h and seat 2 bets, 5 and 6 call, and I raise it – everyone calls. Turn is the Jd. It’s checked to 6 who bets and I raise to see where I’m at, 2 folds, 5 re-raises and 6 caps it. Now I know that my hand is no good, but I ponder for a moment and finally “decide” to muck it. After the dust settled, seat 5 had Th 8h for the small straight, and seat 6 had Kh Td for the bigger straight.

Left a little over $100 up for the day.


12/26 Chu 3/6 limit (seat 3)

Went for dinner at the Chu (we were camping near there) and while waiting for some friends to arrive, I decided to play some poker. $3/$6 was the only table that was open so I sat down for some limit action.

1) A kill was in effect (making this hand $4/$8) and I picked up pocket 7’s in LP, and raised it after 3 limpers came in. BB called and the limpers called. Flop was 2,3,4 rainbow – it was checked to me and I bet, BB called and everyone else bailed out. Turn was a 5, seat 7 checked and I bet as a bluff – he called (crap). River was a 10 and we both checked – I flipped the 7’s and he mucked. Huh? No ace? Called a turn bet with 4 parts of straight on board? Hmm…

2) The Chu occasionally has “splash pots” – they’ll draw table numbers every 30 minutes and if your table is called, the next hand is “splashed” with $25 at the start of play. So it was a splash and I’m in the BB and everyone limps – everyone. I look down at T9 offsuit and check. Flop is a pretty cool T, 7, 3 rainbow, and I come out betting – which nearly everyone calls. Turn is the 6d and I bet again – and 4 people call. River is the Kh, and we all check around – T9 holds up and I scoop ~$100.

Played ~ 45 minutes and left a bit over $100 up.


12/27 Chu 1/2 NL (seat 2)

Erik and Bob met me at the Chu for some post-Christmas poker fun – but there wasn’t much fun. In fact, none of us came out ahead – Bob did the best by getting back to “even” before the day was done. The cards were very cold for me – no decent cards and the flops were nowhere near what I was holding. Only 2 hands stand out:

1) Seat 4 raises seat 3’s open-limp to $4 from EP and seat 7 calls, Erik in the SB calls, and I call with my measly Tc 2h from the BB. Flop is Ts, 4h, 2d for top and bottom two-pair. Erik and I both check, seat 3 bets $4 and seat 4 makes it $8. It’s folded to me and I decide to make it $28 to go. Seat 3 bails and seat 4 grimaces about that being a BB type of flop. He then moves all-in (has me covered) and I call my last ~$50 figuring that he’s not on a set. He flips over Aces and groans as I flip the 2-pair. Turn 8 is good and River 4 is – Oh no! Counterfeited on the river. Chips on 7!

2) After losing my second $60 buy-in and with my 3rd dwindling, I was about ready to go. We decided to wait until after the 2:00 splash pot hoping that our table might get called. Splash announcement – “Table 5, and Table…7” Woo-hoo! OK, so we hang out and they drop the $25 and deal the cards. I’m in late position and I see everyone limping – yes, everyone. It gets to me and I look down at Ah Qc and move my last $18 into the pot. It’s folded around to seat 6 who calls and everyone else bails. Flop is Q (Yes!), 9, 2 rainbow. Turn is another 9, and the river is an Ace giving me 3 pair. She mucked and I scooped a little over $65 to give me back my 3rd buy-in. We packed it up and hit the café.

Played nearly 3 hours and left down ~$120.


12/29 Ventura 4/8 limit (seat 2)

1) I’d been playing for ~20 minutes and a new player sat at seat 4 in the BB. From the button I look down at A6 offsuit and call. The blinds check and 5 are off to the flop – which is A, J, 3. BB bets out and only I call figuring to bail if he bets again (likely a bigger Ace). Turn is an interesting 6 and I raise his bet – which he calls after a pause. River is a 8 and he check-calls my bet – I flip the 2-pair and he mucks muttering about “you’re very lucky”…

2) I got moved to a new table (still seat 2) and picked up QQ in my first hand. From 2nd position, I raise and get 4 callers. Flop is T, 2, 3 rainbow and I bet – 2 fold and 2 call. Turn is a 4 and I bet again, only seat 7 calls. River is a 5 (crap), and I check – seat 7 bets. Dammit, I call – he flips over pocket 6’s for runner-runner gutshot. He told me that he thought I was bluffing the whole way. Yeah, whatevah.

3) From MP I look down at T8 and decide to play since I hadn’t been in a hand for a while – and 4 others come along. Flop is Qh, Jc, 9h for a flopped small straight. Seat 6 (a solid player who’s game I respect) bets out, seat 9 raises, I re-raise, and 9 caps when it’s called back around to him. We all call. Turn is the 9s – seat 9 bets and I raise to see where I’m at against the paired board. Seat 6 re-raises, 7 folds and 9 caps it. Crap. I hem and haw and replay the hand to see if there’s any way I can still be in the lead. 6 is too good a player to make that re-raise with just trip 9’s – so I assume he’s got the boat or the nut straight and fold my small straight. River involves more betting and raising – 6 finally calls and shows J9 for a boat while seat 9 shows A9 for trips. Trips? You really thought they were good? Wow. Anyway, good fold on my part, but damn that Turned 9…

4) I’d been sitting and folding for quite a while getting into a few pots & getting out when crap would hit the flop (in fact, I was up ~$50 when I moved to the 2nd table and whittled that $150 away and had recently rebought $100 more…) when I look down at TT in LP of a kill-pot ($8/$16). Several people had limped and I decided to raise it – the BB calls as do all of the limpers, so 5 of us to the flop. Flop was Kh, Tc, 2h – which is nice but I can’t allow any free cards. It’s checked to seat 9 who bets, I raise it and only get 1 to fold – the others evidently have enough of it to want to see more. Turn is a 3c and I bet again when it’s checked to me – everyone calls. River is the 7s (no straight, no flush – woohoo!) and I bet again. Everyone folds to seat 8 who says, “Well, I can beat a bluff” and calls – I show the set and scoop nearly $300. Seat 7 says he had a QJ and seat 9 says he had the flush draw…

Played for awhile after that, but couldn’t get anything else to work out – left up ~$20 for the day.

Poker drawer is at $1,880.