It's About the Story

The beauty of the game I play in regularly is the mix of people and players it gets. Much like a casino, we have younger people who thought poker was like it would be on TV, older guys who had the younger guys, lawyers, doctors, professionals, college professors, carpenters, waiters. People buy in for the table minimum every time, or deliberately lose their first buyin so they can buy in for the real max. That makes it more fun in my mind, because there is a challenge to learning the nuances of each new player.

Sometimes you get it through their stories. I know the lawyer on the other end will gamble if he's stuck, and go into "lockdown" if he's booked a big win. I've observed it, but I also predicted it because he's a criminal defense lawyer, and that's just how one think – if you can't plead out, gamble when your client has nothing to lose, play it safe when you've got a great case.

These stories make this game my absolute favorite, even when there are the inevitable swings.

The gentleman two seats to my right was telling me quite a story, and in the end I profited from just listening to what he wanted to tell me.

First, he had a habit of speaking Italian to the man between us. They were friends. Second, he softplayed his friend and the gentleman to his right, his roommate. He would check it down with them once all the other players were out. He valued his friends more than he valued the money he might win from his friends.

I have often said I hate softplaying, even in circumstances like this, and it would have bothered me a lot more if it did not become passionately clear that he also valued the social aspects of poker and the thrill of the gambol over the money he might win as well.

He requested Omaha every time the button was on him. This despite the fact that he recognized he had no clue how to play it – but it resulted in enormous pots and you could just see him get a thrill out of the chance to drag a big one. And he dragged a few of them. Omaha is a variance-ridden game, but he redefined variance. Up 4 buyins, down to the felt, 5 buyins in front of him, and so on. He was the very rollercoaster I try to avoid in my own play.

We had two big hands together, the results of the first leading to how I played the second. But these two isolated hands were part of a much wider spectrum of crazy play. Pushing the pot with nothing but a weak draw or Ace high when his opponent showed strength. Bluffing calling stations. Overvaluing big pairs. This gent was the quintessential "gambler." And I had position on him, and I made almost every dime of my almost 12 buyins from him (I was in for 3 because of the Hulk thing if you're wondering why I said 7.5 won earlier). Yes, I won other pots, but my two big double-ups were a result of him and him alone.

First hand: small raise to me on the button, I call with a weak holding, but it's going to be at least 6-way action because no one folds in Omaha so I am willing to see a flop – these folks pay off sets even when they don't have a redraw. (Q 6 10 10). Flop is Q 6 6. Bingo. Our friend bets, I raise. Turn is a blank – makes no straights or flushes. Our friend checks, I bet, he flat calls. River is the case 6. I look at him, he instapushes (3 buyins) and naturally I call with the best hand ("Call. I have quads."). He shows me two Aces rag rag. Yum.

Second hand – I've now built my stack up to about 6 buyins – I've gambled a bit, but usually only against the smaller stacks. Our friend has gone on a heater of his own (since he plays every pot he made some money back quickly), and is developing a healthy stack again. I have most of the table well-covered.

I am dealt J 10 9 5 double suited. Early position (a very tight professor who knows the math well) limps, two callers, and our friend raises pot. I elect to call because I can get away from the hand unless I nail the flop against these two players – Professor is almost certainly not going to repop it preflop, preferring to see a flop even with a premium hand. I figure our friend has aces. Plus, this makes it a big pot preflop, and I don't have to put in too much to win a lot, so I call. I know, I know, the siren song of the person who's way ahead on the night, but nevertheless.

Flop is 5 5 6. Bang. Professor checks, our friend bets pot, I repot it. Yes, I repot it. I know he could have me beat already, but he also was betting and raising with one pair all night (and slowplaying his monsters), and I am proceeding with my read. Against a better Omaha player, I probably fold to the pot bet, but repotting seemed like the right thing to do at the time. He pushes, and it's less than my pot raise so I call. I am only behind 56, 66, and a 5 with a better kicker now, and while the repot of mine was probably ill-advised in retrospect, I really could not put him only on those three hands, especially since he would not have played 66 fast. Once I am in for that much, I am now facing a bet that is giving me more than 3-1 on my money, and except against 66 I have 9 outs twice. I decide I need to call – too big of a chance I have the best hand.

He did have the Aces. Unfortunately he also had 5-6, and his rags put him ahead in the pot against my rags (not as far ahead as you think – Professor had the other two Aces, so he has no Ace redraw, just the sixes). As I am saying "well, I have a lot of outs" the Jack hits. It's one of those suckouts where you had the odds to chase, but the player will remain convinced you're the bad guy because he had you beat and then you won. It's also one of those hands where I played my read, built a big pot because of my read, gave myself the odds to chase by over-raising, and got lucky that I hit my gin card on the turn and it held. I make the same amount of money if I smooth call the flop – he's not getting away from the hand. But he told me a story, and I listened.

Sometimes stories are a whole lot of fun. Even if maybe you misheard them.

Wow

7.5 buyins in less than 6 hours. Nice night. Got it in once ahead and lost, once behind and won. Otherwise people were just paying me off. Quite a good feeling.

Unfortunately, my Hulk card cap was wagered and lost in a pot. So I feel alone and sad.

The Next Gen of Smashing

Roller Coaster

That's the only term to describe my Friday night. Long story short: I was in for 5 buy-ins before I cashed out for 6 and a half. Crazy night.

I was up and down so much the night seems like a blur. Consequently, it's a bit hard to learn from your mistakes if you're not sure where you made them, but let me give it a go. Yes, I believe Imade may mistakes given the swings I had. No game where you're in for 5 buy-ins and swing back to up on the night can possibly represent optimal play.

1. I called too much. Often I made the right read to call, but I needed to raise in some more spots, and fold in quite a few as well. There's just a few guys in this game I love to play pots in position with, and it bleeds over into other players I should be re-popping or folding against.

2. I tilted for a period. At one point I got it in way good in a couple of spot against the loosest player at the table, and he ran me down with maginal calls both times. I knew he was going to give me action, I just couldn't believe he caught up both times. As a result, there was at least one 45-minute period where I was playing angry. That's silly and needs to stop. I am getting better at absorbing beats, but this is one of the worst leaks in my game right now -- I need to keep striving.

3. I probably played a little too sociably. In a couple of spots, I "pulled up" because I was playing someone I knew and liked. While I don't mean I softplayed them, I probably raised more with the winner, because I had won enough of their money and didn't mind if they folded. I understand why I did this, but I'm not sure it's a very good idea (the people I like tend to be the better players).

At the end of the day, I played longer than I was accustomed. One of the usual producers hit the game big and cashed out early. That took a lot of money off the table, and I was not able to make a comeback because the worse players were extremely short. Finally, one of the best producers of them all came by late and I got involved in a huge hand with him.

To set things up, I had made about 2/3 of my money back, and flopped top two pair on a two-diamond board (PLO). Based on my read and past experience, I was convinced that I had the best hand, and the producer knows me to be a good player, so I thought I would represent my hand as stronger than it was. I bet pot, he raised, and I re-potted. He called. The third diamond came on the turn, gave me a better two pair, and I pushed representing the nut flush (knowing this plyer could not call without the Ace of diamonds in his had for the nut flush, but also know he would have called my flop raise with an inferior two pair, a crappy flush draw, and a straight draw). Unfortunately, he did have the nut flush draw (with nothing else with it, so my initial read was confirmed) and had hit it, so obviously he called. I rivered another King to win a massive pot. It was a misread on my part that paid off -- I took a shot and made a play, and got extremely lucky. The producer was pretty steamed, but I felt like I was striking a blow for all of us who had been sucked out on by this guy over the last couple of years......


Anyway, I cashed out about an hour later and headed home. While all the adrenaline was fun, I need to work on my game not being so swingy.

Is that a broken record I hear in the background? ;)

Just a Couple of Hours

I played poker for a couple of hours Saturday night.

Here's the set-up: my family was in town two weeks ago, and I suffered the usual burnout that provides. I love my family, but as an introvert I need time to myself sometimes to recharge the batteries. With the whole weekend taken up with family events, that did not happen.

So, I sheepishly begged to go play poker Friday night, and my wife graciously agreed. She even proposed a new deal (described in )her blog) -- I can play on the weekend if I watch the kids for her to go do something she likes). She had no reason or need to do this, she's just that much of a rock star!

I look forward to playing my usual Friday game, and hoping to avenge the loss I took the last time I was there. However, as the week marched on, we got something in the Pittsburgh area we've avoided for a couple of years -- large scale flooding.

Some of you may recall the bad floods we got in 2004 in the areas known as Millvale and Sharpsburg. A lot of people lost homes and possessions, and it even made national headlines (especially when Teresa Heinz Kerry came down from her mansion not to give money, but to say "I'm not in a position to do anything much other than to find out...I want to find out"). Fortunately the flood wasn't as bad this time, but as my main game is in Sharpsburg they cancelled it because of issues with the roads and the air conditioning.

So, I went to my "backup game" -- it's in fact closer to my house, but no Omaha. It runs out of a closed restaurant at the bottom of the hill I live on. They spread a number of games. I started at the smaller game, and quickly got stuck a bit where I turned two pair and called two half-pot bets from a guy who slow-played his better two pair on the flop. Then they called the bigger game.

The reason I am willing to play a slightly bigger game at this place is because they don't spread Omaha, and therefore the pots actually stay much more manageable. Also, it's less likely that people will get much deeper stacks than I will have because of the lower amounts of "gambooling" that will go on without the pot limit and Omaha elements.

In any case, I topped off my stack and got to work. I did not play particularly long, and I also played pretty cautiously. The result was a steady grinding. I evaporated my loss at the smaller game and made a decent profit on the night (about half my buyin).

There weren't too many notable hands. I picked off what I thought to be a fairly obvious bluff on the river with Jacks on a King-high board. I flopped an Ace with AK against a short stack with Jacks who pushed preflop. I called a small river raise with two pair against a gentleman who hit runner runner second nut flush and checked it to me (huh?)

Nice night, ended early, and I made enough that Kris gets a pedicure. Fun.

Getting It in Good and Bad

The goal, of course, is to get your money in good. Regardess of you ability to read and calculate, however, sometimes you get your money in good and still lose, get your money in with a great draw with odds but still miss, or get your money in bad. That's just the way poker is.

Nevertheless, it is ubelievably frustrating to have all of the bad happen collectively in one night, like two weeks ago.

The scene is the usual one: No-limit hold'em and pot-limit omaha, capped 100BB buyin (you can buy in double if you bust). Recently I have been playing well and running well. It's been fun.

I don't think I played terribly, but upon relfection I now think my reads were a bit off. I also was willing to play too many big pots, mostly because the hyper-agressive players were on my right instead of my left (meaning I was calling their raises instead of raising myself). Thats' the temptation of Omaha, of course -- it's so draw happy that you will often have odds (or convince youself you have odds) to run after your nut hands.

In any case, every time I got it in ahead, they caught up. Every time I got in behind (or with the worst hand that was a favorite with two cards to come), I missed. And every time I got it in with the second best hand in HE or PLO, I was shown the nuts. Very ugly.

Here's hoping next time goes better!

Quasi-wordless Wednesday II (To Borrow a Phrase)

I will try a new post in the next few days. I got crushed the last time I played cards, and it merits some discussion, but let me try to have a good session first to get the taste out ;)

Wordless Wednesday (To Borrow a Phrase)