harrahs poker room in back.jpg

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The blurry picture above is the back part of the Harrah's poker room. This is the way it looks after a 10 hour session...SERIOUSLY!

On to the good stuff...so I went into Harrahs, was going to try to make a move to the coast but after having a lazy day with the kids and wife, it turned out to be about 6 pm before I started moving around to get going. A drive to the coast takes about an hour and half, dependent on how fast you like to move. The coast has the Beau Rivage, Imperial Palace, Isle Of capri, and Hard Rock Cafe...there are more casinos but I am naming the ones with poker rooms, that I know of, because there could be more poker rooms that I don't know of. So I roll into Harrahs snap a few pictures and get into a 1-2 no limit game. I am at table 10. Table 10 and table four have got to be the coldest tables in the room, the freaking AC blows directly on these tables...good thing I always carry my jacket. So if you are in Vegas and you see somebody carrying a jacket into a casino, he's probaly going to play poker.

It has been a long time since I played at a table where it was weak not even weak tight...just weak! I got to play with the owner of Collettes...i hope I spelled that correctly, a bar/club that is for people of weird tastes (can't get into here but if you want to know message me)...good guy though. He had a lot of the chips on the table until he ran into quad queens.

I started a little loose, gave away $50 and reprimanded myself, got back into the groove and went into tight/aggressive mode. In the next 30 minutes I made $150, in less than two hours I'm up 3 beans!

HOW? Stuff like this. I'm limping under the gun with AJ suited, get five callers, hi-jack makes it $15, I re-pop to $45, all the limpers fold to him and he calls. Flop is 8 high. I lead for $40 and he folds, I take it down. I am in the hi jack seat and under the gun makes it $15 to go, three callers to me on the button and I see 89 suited, I put out $60 and get called in one spot, he is out of position, and probably has a big ACE. The flop is jack high, he checks, I bet out $50, he folds. WEAK...or was it? I mean, look...new kid sits down and is in the cut off seat, I look at A10 in the hi jack seat, i limp in as did five others in front of me, new kid opens to $10, all five limpers call! When it gets to me, (I was just going to call at first but when I saw that $60 in the pot they asked me if they could join my stack), so I re-pop to only $45! They all folded! WEAK! I can't really talk strategy here, it was like I was in a movie, like Rounders, yeah, when Mike was making his moves at the end of the movie to make all that money back and his reads were right on everytime, I was in that moment. I can play a bit but not as good as these folks were bad, I mean they made me look GOOD! It did help that the cards slapped me in the face also. I am on the button and look at 89 diamonds, there are six people limped into the pot. The flop comes, 5 6 7 rainbow. The nice lady in the big blind bets out, two people call behind as do I and the small blind. The turn is a deuce I believe, the small blind leads out, the lady raises, the other two fold and I feel like taking it down here, so I pop it again basically putting the sb and bb all in, sb folds and bb, the lady, calls quickly and tables the other side of the straight, 3 4. I made plays on several pots that would have got snapped off by good players! IT FELT GOOD! This is why I try not to ever talk badly to them, I offer them gum, I offer to get them drinks, you just have to keep them comfortable and happy as you take the money...'nuff said about that.

It was a good night, four hours of work that could have easily...EASILY gone the other way! You all stay nice as rice and mello as jello!

Harrah's jackpot sitting at over 100k

I got in two sessions last week and came away winners through both. I did spend a lot of time playing though, I believe I put in about 36 hours in those two sessions...SICK!
Playing tight-aggressive nearly nit like is tough but I pulled it off my first session and came away a decent winner. My strategy going into this session was tight/aggressive, observe the table, play gap connectors and small suited connectors from position only, play pocket pairs from any position and be able to call one raise with them. Muck A baby off suit in all positons, call in position. This strategy worked out great, I think I got one big pot every two orbits. There was only one time I had to outplay someone and he was the loosest player at the table, I had to bet the river with Ace high and he contemplated calling but let it go due to the way I had played the entire session...normally this guy would call me without hesitation, because of my past before this session. That was good to see because I am sure he had a small pair.

My second session had me busting out in my third hour when my kings ran into aces. The only thing that stung here is the type of player, and I should have know better to just call and look at a flop but would I have been good enough to get away from the flop that was 9 high? I want to say yes but if I would have picked up this guys tells pre-flop, which I should have, then I could probably say yes, but this was a lesson learned for me. Here is the deal, the kid was pretty loose, he entered most pots and tried hit his hand. I've played in the past with him and I was just waiting. I saw him snap someone off with K2 hitting the king on the river for two pair, but it was the other players fault they barely bet! So this is how the hand went down...I'm in middle middle position, I have one limper, I make it 15 to go, small blind makes it $100 to go, the big blind(MR. LOOSE) simply calls. The limper folds now I have another $150 left, with $200 in the pot, and yes the small blind is all in, I decide to get a nice side pot so I shove! And the loose kid smiles and turns up his aces, LUNCHBOX in the small blind turns over pocket 10's. The flop is 9 high and I don't improve. I get up for a second come back to the table and the loose guy is racking up! I move to another table and sit there for awhile and finally another loose one sits at the table, well I proceed to get my kings in against 9 high and a flush draw on the board, there are three of us and J7 of hearts takes out queens and my kings. O for Two with the kings. This guy is like, don't worry i'm not leaving, i'll give you a chance to win this back. He wasn't being a dick he was truly sincere, and he went on a spree snapping people off with the worst and I just sat back and picked off other folks. I just kept waiting, it got so bad that the kid next to me with a titelist hat got busted and came back with a vegence and made four times his initial buy in through the j7 guy. At one point, after he had accumulated a monster stack, I make a raise into him he folds as does everyone else. He turns to me and says," I laid down AQ to you, you're too tight, i'm not going to take my chances against you." Inside I am laughing my ass off! If anyone that knew me heard that they would not believe what they heard but he said it and I took it as a compliment and felt like I did finally change up my image somewhat. Well, 15 hours later, the j7 guy busts out even after pulling out another $400. Three hours later I am up a bit and decide, especially after all the texts my wife sent me, that it was time to go. So good seeing you Wild Bill, and thanks, Good seeing you Joe Buesch and thanks! I hope to get back into Harrahs sometime soon because the jackpot is still pretty high, 144k...they hit the 230k on tuesday or wednesday. So remember your style of play may not matter but your image is what counts. Stay frosty!

Stay nice as rice and mello as jello!

Six man sit and gos...

So I can't get to the mortar house and play poker so I've resorted to playing online where sit n gos are my main event. I've been working with my bud, Mitch, and trading online strategy. I've been pretty successful at the six man tables. The play here should be tight/aggressive...you can't make moves out of position with suited connectors etc. When it gets four handed, loose aggressive play will work to a point.
Feel your table out look for the one who wants to give away his chips by calling out of position.
Wait for them to make a mistake and JUMP on them.
Sit back and be patient...it will work for you.
When heads up be somewhat aggressive.
Don't Tilt!
HAVE FUN!

You all stay nice as rice and mello as jello!

Down but not out...

So in the year 2009 I have not pulled out a win in six attempts so I am down, thus far, for the year! I cannot remember the last time that I had a bad start ahhh, yes I do, when I first started playing back in '02, and if it wasn't for that bad beat jackpot that I gave Dave the cab driver at the end of that year to get me close to even, that would have been my worst year.

So let me get into my last cash session, I got to the beau a few weeks ago and some of the fellas were out there some playing in the tournaments that were going on and one playing cash at the same table I happened to sit down at...he introduced himself by asking me how much I had behind when I raised my second hand after sitting down at the table with pocket kings. Parfait shocked me a tad bit and we got a little laugh from it.

So yes, second hand I look down at two brotha kings...i'm in early middle and I open for $15, hijack,button, small and big blinds all call. The flop is 447 rainbow, sb bets, bb calls what should I do here? Well I called, and hijack calls behind leaving the button who folds. The turn is a 3 but brings a flush draw...sb checks, bb checks I contemplate and push out $100, I look at the hijack seat, a pretty lass with a lot of chips in front of her and she contemplates and I feel like she wants to raise but eventually she just calls, sb fold, bb fold. The river is a 3, I believe, not so sure but it was a baby and the board was double paired. I FELT LIKE I WAS BEAT WHEN THE LASS CALLED...so I feebly check and she pushes out two stacks, covering me...now odds say call but I really felt like I was beat...I painfully mucked my big pair and watched her take it down. Now what I am about to tell you is somewhat embarrassing for me and it is something I really do not like, this was the first time that I had ever done it knowing that it is an asshole thing to do. The pretty lady got into a hand heads up with the 10 seat, she was in the 9 seat and they went to the river on a paired board and either he checked (he had position) or bet but it was a called river and he turned his hand over to show a full house, she smiled and threw her cards face down towards the dealer, the dealer reached for the cards and I asked to see them. She got upset, floor came over and explained that on a called hand any player at the table can see the other hand etc. She had pocket queens, which she probably had in the hand with me or Aces as the rest of the table told me as she had slow played them earlier against two other guys. Well she racks up a few minutes later and leaves...one of the guys said, "Way to chase away the best pair at the table," got a good laugh from that and when I re-looked at her she was better looking than I thought. Ahh well...

So I grind it out for another two hours and I get this bald guy on my right after Parfait took a pretty bad beat, and he proceeds to widdle his $300 down to about $100 plus bucks, he's in the sb, I am in the bb and hijack opens for $12, he's pretty tight aggressive and I know he's got a decent pair or AJ and higher, bald man calls I look down at a couple of street walkers (pocket queens...there is a reason why I'm calling them street walkers) I want to take this pot down now, i'm out of position with a good hand but would rather not see a flop and fold to an ace so I repop to about $35, hijack, reluctantly folds, sb shoves! HUH!!!!! Did you really slow down on aces or kings just to wait for me to open? Freaking confused, I SHOULD FOLD THE STREET WALKERS, but I feel like I have the best hand and he's just trying to make some ground up, so it is about $70 more to me...FOLD! But I did not I called and we watched the flop come 7710A2, when the ace hit I said you got there huh? He said, not in a vicious way at all, I got there all the way on the flop and he turns over pocket sevens. I smile and just watched him beat me every time we were in a pot heads up, I have A7 in the sb, he limps on the button, flop comes ace high, I check to him he checks, turn is a Q I bet he calls, river is a deuce I bet again, he calls and turns up A8...he wins, finally down to my last $40 bucks I'm under the gun and he pops it, I just shove with pocket 10's, it gets back to him and he calls. The door card is...YES A 10! For a 1089 flop, the turn is a 2 and the river is a Queen he goes, dude i'm sorry but I hit a straight, as he turned his pocket Jacks over...I get up and say thanks guys, but I gotta go, he's got all my money. Ever have that kind of night? It has rarely happened to me and I have always been the guy on the other end of it but it was so eerie being abused by this guy, yes abused, so that is my sad tale but there will be bad times, must fight through them and get positive, I know it'll come around. 'nuff said. You all stay frosty!

Talk again soon...stay nice as rice and mello as jello!

Guest Blogger...a local's point of view...Welcome P-Back.

I returned to Harrah's this weekend and sat down at a juicy table and got felted after two and a half hours...fraking embarassing. One good thing is I ran into one of the young regulars that I used to play with and against...used to think he was a lunchbox...not really...he wanted to give you a little of his perspective and I told him to write me something, thinking he was messing with me...he did. Enjoy...

Return to the poker life/ Harrah’s New Orleans Gripes It had been awhile since I last sat down. Lots of changes in my life have come since. A baby arrived, a real job, and also having to cater to the needs of a fiancée who is still in college. It had been exactly 11 months since my last “session”. What I consider a real session of poker would consist of a minimum of 6 hours of uninterrupted poker. As we all know, with these added responsibilities, my poker life had been put on the back burner. Being a New Orleans native my whole life, Harrah’s has always been the home track. So when I walk in to Harrah’s on March 7th, 2009 it was sure to be an exciting return to the world I was so accustomed to. But Harrah’s, arguably the most profitable business in NOLA, had to make some changes. The first sign that I had returned to my home for so many years was the beautiful sound of the word “cocktails” flowing out of the mouth of our lovely waitress. So I ask for the usual, a tall double crown and coke. She informs me that due to the current state of the economy, Harrah’s will not allow her to serve me a double. In a stunned silence I finally muster the courage to just order a single. If Harrah’s cannot afford to offer drinks to their players, doesn’t that take away from the “house advantage”. Think about every poor decision you have made in a casino. How many of those were NOT alcohol influenced? Back to our girl. Now I understand that people may call me an asshole for the following exchange I had with her, but it is what it is. She kind of brought it upon herself. After I have had around 6 of these “single” crown and mostly cokes, she must have realized I was only tipping her every other drink. She notifies me that she will be leaving and this is her last round and kind of stands there for a second. So I turn to her and say, “well with the current state of the economy, I can only tip you every other drink.” I don’t think it went over well, but it got quite a few laughs from the guys near me. Harrah’s is ridiculous. I feel bad for their waitresses who work off of tips because they give them no wiggle room to hook you up. That’s how they make their money. Not anymore. On to poker. I kind of prepared myself for a session full of getting a feel back for the game(1-2 NLHE). My expectations weren’t set very high. I had a couple of goals in mind for the night. 1- Play a patient game- Premium hands only so I could cut down on tough decisions and not risk a lot of $. 2- Pick my spots well- Recognize which players I could profit from most. 3- Pay attention- Pick up on everything that used to come natural. Betting/Raising patterns, tells, % of hands each player was involved in. All of which are crucial to playing winning poker. Needless to say, I felt much like a kid playing his first session of no-limit. Nervous, timid, and somewhat scared to stick my foot into the water. Kind of embarrassing. The first hand I choose to get involved with is my kryptonite (J10s). Older fella raises to $17 preflop and with 1 caller to me and the button in front, I opt to call. This guy had been playing a ton of hands and 75% of them that he played were a raise and take situation. Not many people had stood up to him. This was evidenced by the $1400 he had sitting in front of him. Flop comes down Jc8s7h. He leads out with a $25 bet which prompts the other player to fold. Well, I decide to just flat it, keep the pot small and see if he is going to fire again. Turn card is 2s. Picking up 8 more outs here makes me feel comfortable raising if bet into. He shoots $50 into the pot of approximately $105. I have only $145 more so I ship it. I can’t recall the last time I had that feeling. Hand shaking towards the betting line with a handful of checks, heart pounding, and hoping to just take it down now. God do I miss this. He eventually folds showing 99. I drag in the pot and a little confidence. By the end of the night, I had opened the game up. Raising suited connectors in position, calling raises with any 2 cards knowing I could steal at some point. I did happen to get caught in a pot drawing out at a nut flush/gut shot draw for a little over $100. All in all I leave my first session after 8 hours up a shade over $300. Not bad for a night where I cost myself at least $200 more. 2nd session I return on Tuesday after working early that morning. I arrived around 3pm. The room was surprisingly full. I sit down and immediately flop set over set against the big stack. This guy played with a reckless abandon that I hadn’t seen since the Biloxi days. He was the type that if you bet, he pushed in. It just so happened I didn’t have to wait that long for my double up. Sitting on $600 after about the first hour was nice. I was knocking back single shots of crown at an alarming rate and I know I’ll be here awhile with the old lady at the Britney Spears concert. I knew it was just a matter of time until I loosened things up a bit. Enter the douche bag. This guy was 6’2 275-300lbs, approximately 23 years old. Announces his presence at the table prior to sitting. No bull shit. Proceeds to inform everyone that he is an internet player and that he only knows 2 things, raise and fold. Super was the first word that popped into my head. This is gonna be fun. First hand, he calls the $12 raise. A weak continuation bet of $10 is shot into the pot of $38 and insta-raised to $35 by our internet soldier. Takes down the first pot. Very next hand, he raises preflop to $22 and takes it down. At this time we are switching dealers. The new dealer sits in and asks everyone how they were doing. This douche bag announces that once he doubles up twice through that guy(pointing at me) he will be doing better. LOL!! Can’t wait! Another interesting thing he was doing is whenever I took down a pot, he would ask me for a count and rebuy for ½ my stack. Nearly an hour and a half in and after telling all 3 dealers the same thing about doubling through me I had had it. Our little internet tough guy raises to $22 and gets 3 calls around to me on the button with 67o. I decide its time. 5 way pot with a flop of A Q 3. It checks around to me. First thing that hits me, is that this guy isn’t the type to check an AK or AJ in this spot. Too aggressive. Hasn’t missed a bet yet. So I decide to see where I stand with the other 3 players. I fire $45 dollars as to which our tough guys looks down and decides to raise to $135. I am sitting at nearly $900 after my bet and he is around $550. Quick folds around to me and my first thought was to fold and not to get too deep. WRONG!! “Go with your instinct”, I told myself. “He doesn’t have an A and you know it.” I put him on JJ or 1010 just trying to steal from me. So I re-raised to $285 total and waited. He goes to moaning and telling me I have 2 pair and I am lucky and how he can’t wait till I miss a flop and folds eventually. I gladly turn over my 67o and show him the goods. He freaks out and calls me a sicko and wonders how I can make that play. “Because I know you have 1010 or JJ” to which he then says he had 1010. Not too much went wrong on this night. My reads were pretty strong and I played well. End up leaving after 8 hours up $975. Strong work for the second night back. 3rd /4th sessions back I returned Harrah’s Friday night and immediately picked up where I left off. I was sitting on a gold mine of a table. No familiar faces, all young guys and all here for different bachelors parties. You don’t find games any softer than this. All drunk 21-25 year olds with money to spend getting drunk and carrying an ego problem. Not to mention not much in the way of live NLHE poker experience. This one guy from Staten Island was obnoxious. If he didn’t say the word fuck or a derivative or it 500 times, he didn’t say it once. From a poker standpoint there really wasn’t much to this night except for wading through all of the bull shit and bluffs. I have never in my life, besides at a 3-6 limit game, seen more gutshots hit while people were banging the pot. I witnessed my biggest pet peeve about these jackasses who chase this shit is that when they finally hit it, they don’t bet! Chase a 4 outer and hit it and then are too scared/stupid to bet it. Were you really taking less than 2 to 1 odds to hit this and then sit on your hands when you get there? I really guess I should be thankful they don’t bet because I would’ve lost a lot of $ early. My night was cut a bit short because a family emergency and I end up with 5 hours logged and another $509 to the good. Saturday night saw the same stable of players. Mostly the same crew but a little more intoxicated than the night prior. I sat with $300 instead of the normal $200 because I was very familiar with the game and felt good about making big money. I run into my first barn door when I run my 2 black Aces into a flop of all hearts with 6, you read right, 6 players for $25 preflop. Jh6h3h and I lead out a feeler bet of $40. To my surprise, I only get 1 caller and he isn’t part of the stable crew. Actually, he was a pretty solid player. On the turn was a Kc. In my mind I was looking to check raise at this point depending on the strength of his bet. His bet turned out to be a bit stronger than I hoped at $60. At this point I was confused as to what he could’ve been holding. I tanked for about a minute and a half and decided to call. The river was a 2c putting a board of Jh6h3hKc2c which didn’t seem too bad. I decided to check and let him dictate the action hoping one of two things. 1- I put him on Ah Jx meaning top with flush draw on the flop and hoping he would take another stab at the pot thinking he was good or… 2- He had 2 pair with KJ or a small flush Well bet he does with $50. Here is my dilemma, either way I feel I have to call. Couple reasons. 1- $50 into a pot of nearly $400 with an overpair that has what I felt as a 20% chance of being good is plenty enough odds. 2- He is an unknown and I would just like to see how he played this hand for future considerations I make the call and this guy had 4d5d for the straight. I was totally confused. Did he really think I had shit? Had I raised preflop and then led into the pot with 5 donkeys waiting behind me? Was he really expecting to take the pot down on the turn for $60 into $280? Doesn’t matter. After that hand I had to rebuy and was now in for $500. I switch tables/stables after a couple of those guys leave and “rocks” sit down, whom I am all to familiar with. I find a table that looks a little weak besides one young Indian guy I have played with 2 of the last 3 days. He is all kinds of tight and in my opinion, overthinks himself way too often. First day I sat down with him he folded 88 preflop for $12 and told me he didn’t want to be in a coinflip. OK? It’s a flip for the first $12 and then you decide your fate after the flop, right? Wouldn’t you want to see a flop of A85 and have a chance to stack another $300? I would. I think that’s what makes me dangerous. I’ll play any 2 cards at any time in any position. DECEPTION. You never know what I’m holding. Back to the action. About 5 hands into this new table I have noticed that every pot has been raised preflop. Not the normal $15-22 raise, the chicken shit “I have nothing” $5-10 raises. Well this guy in early position, who looks as if he has no business at a poker table, raises to $12. He looks like he belongs in the middle of a mosh pit at a Limp Bizkit concert. Well I look down at QQ. I repop it to $26. As he is completing the bet I point out to a guy on my right that his hand is trembling. I know this guy has AA and tell this guy that I am about to stack him if I hit a queen. Flop comes out Q103. He checks to me and I know he is going to check-raise. I lead out $30 and he makes it $90 and I jam it in there. He insta-calls and proudly fires over 2 Aces. Really? I didn’t know you had those? I show my QQ and the dealer(Maria) shows me an Ace on the turn. Done and Done. I am shipping another $250 on top of the $90 he already has committed. Great game! Knowing where you are the whole way and having your nuts kicked in on the turn. I wonder what thoughts if any went through this guys head? Any rational and decent poker player in his spot should know that the 1 hand that he still has beat with that flop is KK. Would I reraise twice with JJ, 1010, 99 or AQ? Wouldn’t you think you were beat and save the other $250? Or even give it a second to settle in? Na! Insta-call. Steaming, I proceed to rebuy for the last $200 that I am willing to donate with the way the night is going. I dump off about another $30 in a rage with shit like 3d6d, 94o, A4. I go take a walk and regroup determined to play my game and get this back. Well I get into a pot with Mr. 2 outer when he raised to $17 and I had 77. 4 handed flop comes down AA4 and we check it around and the turn was a J. Fred Durst himself checks and I bet out $20 bucks and both fold. Before he mucks his cards he shows them to the guy next to him and under his breath says, “it’s ok, he only took $17 off of me when I took $400 off of him with the same hand”. He is lucky, lucky that I didn’t get up and kick the shit out of him. Punk bitch! I can’t wait for the next time I sit down with him. I think Keith was his name. He’s got red hair and a long goatee. Also, he has those earrings that stretch your earlobe to the point where you can put your fingers through it. If any of you sit with this assclown just watch his hands tremble and hope to flop him. He will give it all to you. I sit for the next couple hours grinding my ass off. No real big pots, just a bunch of $25-60 pots. I make one move on our Indian friend who is ever the thinker. I raise out of desperation to represent a hand with A9o in the cutoff. He flats out of the BB. Flop is A75 rainbow. He checks over to me and I bet $25 and he min raises to $50. I know if he didn’t flop a set or is holding AK that he is going to fold. So I push in my last $185 on top and he quickly folds face up AQ. WOW!! This guy either respects my game too much or doesn’t have a spine. Either way when I look back at it, this was the key hand of the night. Up to around $550 and an old friend arrives. Big Ray comes and graces the table with his presence and instantly tightens the table. I dunno if it is because they are scared that if they take his money that he will follow them outside and literally crush them or what. But, he has that effect. I immediately open my game up. Playing all sorts of madness. One of the key hands is 4c5c. I have a great record with this hand, probably around the range of 76-0 with it. I call a raised pot with 5 players to me. Nearly $75 in the pot preflop. I am in position and board falls Qs9c4h and we check it around. Turn another 4 with a rainbow on board. Bet of $45 into me and I flat it. River is a 2 and the guys lays another $100 to me. Am I beat? I think not. He was not the original raiser, and not the type of guy that would check a set into 5 others. I call and he says he missed. I guess J10? Or maybe KJ. Who cares. Here’s a story about the legendary 4c5c. My buddy B and I went out to Vegas in Dec 05. We were there for nearly 2 weeks. First night there I get hit in the face with the deck. I couldn’t miss. I pull $3500 out of a 2-5 game at the Rio. The rest of this trip was basically about proving a point. I wanted to break a table so bad. Just sit down and take every dollar off of it. B and myself go to the Mirage and sit in a 2-5 and for the most part, stay out of each others way. Well I bought in for $500 and was sitting on nearly 2K when I looked down at what else but 4c5c. I was on the button and action to me was a raise to $35 and B going all in for $120+. I am not folding my hand and this other guy, who I didn’t think was going to repop it but I knew he was going to call had nearly 1,500 in front of him. So I call and the flop is Kh 3c 2c. I remember it like it happened last night. This guy bets out $300 and I push. He tanks for awhile and calls with KQ. Nice call sir! What are you still doing with this hand? My buddy B starts cheering for an Ace because he has AQ. I look over at him and say, “B, you don’t want an Ace man.” The turn was the Ace and he turns his hand over and says, “what do you mean I don’t want an Ace?” I show him the 45 and he goes crazy. “Mike blah, how do you call $125 preflop with 45 blah?” I didn’t have an answer and probably never will. It is my hand and I don’t know if I can ever fold it preflop. I’m a sicko I guess. That trip was great. I made over $6k in just cash games. I got more hours of massage than I did of sleep and stayed in one on the nicest suites I could ever imagined. The best part, it was FREE! Saturday’s session ended with me leaving the table with $1350, extremely happy with a profit of $650 on the night. For the 4 sessions since I returned I am up a total of nearly $2500. Much better start than I could've expected considering the fact I was on a limited bankroll and still a bit rusty. Hope things keep up!

P-Back

Thanks P-Back...

You all stay nice as rice and mello as jello!

Dead Money tournament...my goals, the fun and my mistakes.

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to play in a satellite with nice deep stacks and levels set up for those who like to play poker. The week before I went I thought of some goals I wanted to accomplish. Everyone there knows that I can be aggressive and if I get chips...LOOK OUT! Here was my gameplan...play tight aggressive, get a feel for the table and then start making moves against those that you can make them against. We had two lunchboxes, and I mean that in the nicest way, who I had to watch closely. My other goals were this, I wanted to knock Tex out very baddly, not because I don't like him-far from it-because he is one of the better tourney players at the table besides Davey. Again, I wanted to knock him out, I did not want to see anyone else do it. I also wanted to get into it with Geno and WildBill. I wanted to outlast Davey and Parfait, two of three that I wanted heads up. So there we have it, I know that the other guys had ideas on what they wanted to do but I wrote notes to myself about how each of them played from my many sessions of watching and playing with them, in a way...it helped.

So I tried to play tight aggressive, I was in the hi-jack seat on the first hand and almost everyone limped to me..."YOU CANNOT LIMP TO ME, WHEN I AM IN POSITION!" I wanted to play tighter but I looked down at 9-5 clubs and raised about 5 times the big blind. Everyone folded around to me. Davey, wanted to see how a master played so I showed him and we had a chuckle. I did try to play tight aggressive and my clues as to what the others were doing fell right into line, it took a while but my reads became good and I was happy.
The day went well and we talked about the different guys who we've played with, Big Mike going to jail, Flyboy, the old 5-5 no limit game where you could buy in for whatever and listening to the stories of the local boys, most of the table were from Houma. We watched the game and I did call the Arizona Cardinals that day and forward into the superbowl. Basically it was well worth the trip and the experience was like none other.

Well, one of the lunchboxes is getting hot and heavy and involved in a lot of hands but is not showing down many of them. He is up and than he starts to lose a little bit, I have him covered in this hand...I open from position with A2clubs and get two callers, the flop is all clubs...he bets into me, I call the other player folds. The turn is a blank, he bets into me again, I min raise and he shoves. Now I have him beat but can he have a set here, or does he have a lesser flush and thinks I'm making a move on him. I try to get a read, just in case the board pairs and he shows a set for the full house. He is stoic and seems like he wants a call, must have a flush. I call he turns over 9-7 clubs, I show my hand and we shake hands as the river bricks out. First one out caused by me, I proceed to put lots of pressure on the table. Tex is getting into hands with good hands and cannot connect, I see the frustration but I also see the calm before a storm brewing in him. He raises and I believe the blinds are 50-100, to $1000, he threw the wrong chip out there. Everyone folds to me in the big blind I look down at a couple of 8's, normally I put him on a big ace and I don't want to race, but he is short stacked, and he is my primary goal. Now, I only made this play to tell him to fold but alas he did not. I say "All In." He contemplates and eventually calls, I think he had AK or AQ. He missed, I have more chips. YES! I KNOCKED TEX OUT! I DID! YES! At the same time I felt bad, I do consider him a friend. Well I got involved with Geno three times and went 2-3 against him, he ended up finishing right outside the mula. I only bluffed you once Geno, if you had a pair on our last head to head you had me beat, the one where you took a while to fold. I got involved with Wild Bill and could not get him to go away. I can't remember the hand that well but there was three to a flush on the turn and he bet into my flop raise, I contemplated and talked out loud on what he might have and raised him BIG on the turn and he called. I gave up when the fourth flush card hit. He showed Ad 8c for the winning hand, he had me the whole way but I could not get him to go away. Maybe he'll talk about it but it twisted me up for a minute. Davey went on a long run and made me fold some good hands because he was to my immediate right, good meaning K 10 suited, q 10 suited, junk like that, LOL! We really did not get into many confrontations. Parfait got smacked around by the other lunchbox, Robert, hope I got that right, he's a cool cat, the cards worked well for him and he chipped up against the likes of Parfait, Geno, Davey and eventually me.

Finally my mistakes, well not plural I just kept making the same mistake over and over again and it kills me! We got three handed and i was short stacked, well I chipped up twice, had both of the other two smashed but could not do anything because after playing for eight hours I believed that both Joe and Robert would eventually start making moves against me. Alas, I was wrong everytime, they were card racks but I stayed in there with second and third best everytime...that is what cost me this satelitte. I was not outplayed. I gave it away. Do I sound arrogant there? Sorry, I really am not trying to but I am telling the truth I messed it up for myself...I got involved in two huge pots when I had the worst of it because I did not believe he could have the hand that he eventually showed me. LOL!

So, I have rambled on long enough, it was a great time and I hope Davey, Wild Bill or Geno set one up again, heck maybe play one of those every other month...this time for the cash...

Well until next time...

Stay nice as rice and mello as jello!

My disagreement with MIKE CARO

What's up? So I am reading the november issue of bluff magazine, yes the one with the two blondes on the front cover and I work back to Mike Caros article called Mental Malfunctions. Mike Caro is brillant and has had a lot of impact in the world of poker. Today, I am going to have to disagree on a point that he made under his topic-The pot is too big to fold-at the end of this portion of his article he says this "Another mistake players sometimes make is to play low quality hands before the flop when many players have already entered the pot. You might assume you're getting good odds, but thing about this: Everyone can't be getting good odds, so someone must be taking the worst of it. If you're playing 8-7 off-suit, that someone is you."

I totally disagree, my understanding is that his many players refers to three or more limpers before it gets to you, 8-7 in a multiway pot is golden. This hand will hit or miss and when you miss it is easy to let it go. On the other hand, he might be talking about you being the second one in and than having many players limp in after, that would be a bad move because if they had not limped in after the price was not right. But in general when you have odds greater than 3 or 4 to 1, almost anything is playable in my eyes. I don't know maybe I'm wrong here hit me back and correct me, is Mike Caro right and I cannot see what he is talking about or am I right understanding that the odds before a flop with a holding of 8-7 off at 3-1 is not a bad play? Heck there may be even more that I am not seeing, help me see it. I know I kept it short and sweet, just going to wait for any responses.

Stay nice as rice and mello as jello!