Time Limits

3-8-2010

At times I may put myself on a time limit when I go play and when it gets closer to that time to leave I tend to play a little more aggressive. I also, forget to go through my progressive thought process during proper decision making. That is an opportunity for me to fix and I will figure it out. Let me take you through my last hand of the session and what I learned and need to apply going forward. The guy involved in the hand with me is an older gentleman who sat down with $300 and as most calling stations, passively called it off to everyone even me at times. Well he rebought and started playing a little better and got his stack back up a bit, but was getting very lucky.

1-2 NL game and I am in the cutt off seat (one before the button) and look down at a couple of nines. Three people limped in so I make it $17 to go. Everyone folds but my buddy calls.

He is in the hi-jack seat (two from the button) his range of limping and calling is wide open. Plus he made a comment earlier that I had a lot of chips and he likes playing with me. So I do not have him on a big Ace, maybe a small pair, a weak Ace, some type of connectors, I do not put him on anything bigger than pocket 10s he is just not that savy or he just has crap.

The flop comes 8 5 3 rainbow, he checks and I fire out $30. He calls.

Now, if I would have went through my progressive thought process I probably put him on at least second pair, A 5, or even top pair with a six being the weakest kicker, since he only called. I would have also looked at the call as him thinking I am on a big ace maybe even an over pair, and he is hoping to hit his second pair on the turn or even his eight, remember he is a calling station.

The turn brings another 8. He checks, I think for three seconds... and fire out another bet. He says how much, and calls.

My freaking radar should have gone off at this time. Everything in his body is saying, I have three of a kind, and everyone at the table can probably see this but me, because I am leaving after this hand and if I get this guy to play a big pot here I can leave up quite a bit of money! YES!

The river is an off suit 3. He grabs his chips and puts in a nice value bet. Now I go into the think tank and start thinking the wrong things.

"Did you call me with A3? I freaking bet you called with some kind of three, what else can you have?" Inner small voice..."Fold Ray." Yet I did not do the right thing in this spot. Think about his range here and what he may have, think about what you beat and cannot beat. I can beat pocket sevens, sixes, fours and deuces or a bluff. He could have everything else that beats me and the way he bet it looked like he wanted a call. I was not in that place and thinking like this during the hand, I usually do this, but at that time, before I was going to leave, it all went out the window.

I called and he showed the 8 7 off suit. Now it was a lunchbox call from him pre-flop but I played this hand so bad and did not catch all of the blaring reads that told me that I was beat on the turn. I hope you learned something from this, yes I play bad 70% of the time, but seriously, do not rush your decisons and if you have a way to play the hand back do it and 8 out of 10 times you will be correct. 80% is a pretty good figure.

Some other notes of interest:

I believetheir is a huge convention downtown this week that involves Doctors. Doctors have a lot of money and they do love to play poker. So if you get to Harrah's this weekend look me up, I will be there extracting as much money as possible.

AT&T is back in town and he may roll through with me. Harrahs has a tournament twice a month with a $300+$40 entry fee. 8000 in chips and 40 minute levels...maybe something to jump into, hopefully this takes off.

Alright, until next time you all stay nice as rice and mello as jello!

SUCKOUT!!!!

3-2-2010

I made my move and hit the felt for my second session of the year. It was Saturday evening at about 4 pm and it was pretty cool as the convention center must have been having a cheerleading contest of some sort as multiple sets of matching young ladies in ribboned hair and colorful, skirts moved into and out of the convention center. Took me twenty minutes to get to the freaking garage!

I went into the session with a plan...I screwed that plan and 10 hours later I booked a session that paid 5.50 an hour! ARGH!!!

Here is a highlight on how well I played, after about 20 minutes of folding...about four hands. I look down at 7-8 of clubs, three limp to me and I open for 15. A young asian girl and a black guy come along. The flop is K 7 2 one club and two hearts. They both check to me and I fire out half the pot. Black guy folds and the other player calls. Must be a heart draw? The turn brings a 3 spades, she checks again, "Goodie," I think "She should fold to this BIG bet."
I fire 3/4 of the pot and she makes what looks like a crying call. What range does she have here...must be a KING, maybe? She must be a genius, getting me to bet this, I freaking fired two barrels...GO AWAY LUNCHBOX! YOUR KICKER SUCKS!!!! The river is the A of spades. She checks again, I fire in a bet to put her all in...she thinks on it, shrugs her shoulders (I now KNOW she has at least a KING at this point) and she calls. OH SHE IS A GENIUS! I say one pair and turn over my cards, she gets up and turns over K 10 offsuit, and looks to be leaving...the rest of the table say you win, she looks back and smiles big, sits down and buries her face in the black guys chest in embarrassment, "I thought he had three of a kind!"
LUNCHBOX! Of course she proceeds to bleed those chips off to the table and gets up an hour later with $50 and leaves.
What's the lesson learned? You cannot bluff a calling station.
So now, I am disgusted with myself and am down quite a bit...so I change tables and get position on a long haired, asian kid who has been playing since friday night. Ahh, I remember those days.
After about two hours of play I open from the button with 9-8 clubs, I get five callers, this was maybe the third hand I played, FIVE CALLERS! The flop is 2 9 3 rainbow, they check to me I push out half the pot and the only caller is the asian. The turn is an A, still no flush draw, the asian checks and I fire another decent bet...he calls. At this time, my thought process is this bet and he should fold, bet and he should fold...he called again. I give up! The river is a blank, he checks again and I check right behind...he tables the A 2 off suit! I don't know why, I usually don't do this, but I wanted to know why? What were you drawing for the deuce or the ace? I gave the guy a little lip and had to stand up and stretch before I sat back down. Not really like me to berate people as I am a HUGE guy, and I really don't need that attention. Moving on, this guy had about $1100 in front of him and I figured he was big stacking me. No problem, if he continued to play this way...I would see this stack dwindle away. If I continued to play this way I would be busted very soon myself. Last highlight....
I am playing so bad that I am straddling in a 1-2 nl game! I decide that no matter what I have, if I get three callers, I am going to raise. Five people call, I fire out $45. Two of them call me one being the long haired, asian kid. I check my hole cards and I see pocket threes. The flop is 6 7 4 unsuited. They both check to me and I fire out $75 the other guy folds and the asian raises, making it $105 to go...go ahead and fold ray. Yet I sit there and think about it, four fives and two sixes versus what's in the pot...I should push or fold. Another bad decison, here it comes, I called. My LORD, he must have been looking in on me as a FIVE hit the turn! WHAT THE HELL AM I SO HAPPY ABOUT! He could have raised with 7 8 suited and the five gave him the bigger straight...hell he may have raised with the 8 9 and now has the NUTS. The asian checks to me and I push in what I have left, about $300, quickly. He thinks on it for a few seconds, if he has me he just slow rolled me with the delay otherwise I don't think he has it, and calls, the river brings a deuce..."I got the bitch end of the straight." He looks at me and I turn over my threes and he tosses his cards into the muck. Someone yelled to see his cards and the dealer turned over the 6 7 off suit! WOW! I SUCKED OUT!!!!! Well I hope you enjoyed this view into my dumbass thought processes. Next time...I look for the results to work along with the process both being positive.
Untill next time...Stay Nice As Rice And Mello As Jello!

Goals and my first session of the year

What is up? Long time since I have written anything. It is funny how we all think we are on the cusp of greatness in this game and still can not get there. I am going to work hard to try to get there and maybe with a little feedback from the readers, I may get over that hump. I have put together several goals, personal, work, and of course in this game we love poker. I have a large goal to win a medium buy in tournament this year ($500 or more buy in) my smaller goals are to keep playing the $1-$2 nl game and continue to beat it for at least one buy in a session. Even smaller will be the way I approach the game. I will be doing a lot of learning as I am not in the hand, watching players body language and betting patterns against the flops and from what positions they enter pots. I will also be on here at least twice a week. I hope by the end of the year you and I have learned quite a bit about this game and maybe ourselves.

Let's talk about my first action of the year. I entered Harrahs at about 10:30 pm this past Saturday and had a plan of action in place. Got into a game at about 11 pm and by 3:30 am was up two buy ins! That game broke and I got into another and proceeded to bleed off my winnings for the next six hours. During my last hour of play I got it all back! HUH? I KNOW!

The question is...Did I get lucky? Yep.

Well I went into the game playing tight/aggressive, told myself to not get involved with weak aces up front nor in back. If I did open it would always be for a raise, so I was only playing quality hands. I only played J 10, Q J, etc. in position if there was a raise into me otherwise I folded, and they had to be suited, so I sat around for awhile. For the most part it worked, my first three dealers were uneventful as I was only up a little when this asian player came over and plopped down in the four seat and started playing crazy, raising just about everything. Then I caught it, I got a nice tell on him, when he had a hand he leaned in a bit and would bet every turn. When he had a weaker hand, usually a drawing hand he would fire at the flop and check the turn, yet when he fired at the flop he sat back a little and thought on it for a few seconds. Well, I was on the button and had pocket sixes, under the gun limped, asian guy pops it for $15 one caller to me and I call. The lady in the three seat, in the big blind, comes along as well. Four to the flop of Q 7 4 two spades...I am watching the asian guy, indirectly, don't want to stare at him, he is sitting back a bit...good he missed. The lady checks, asian guy fires about forty into the pot, other guy folds and I call so does the lady. The turn card brings an off suit three, the lady checks again, the asian guy does it again thinks and fires about $80 into the pot. I am now looking at the lady, who looks nervous, because I am trying to figure out if she is going to come along or if I need to raise to get her out, but the nervous look told me she may not call. I simply called and she made a crying call. The river brought a beautiful card, an off suit deuce. The asian guy leaned back a little more and started talking to himself a little, he than fires out thirty dollars! Now how much do I want to raise is what I am thinking, how much can I get out of him? I am not worried about the lady to my left....I make it another $200 to go, the lady insta mucks and the asian guy just smiles and says something under his breath, probably something derogatory and he eventually folds. I instantly turn up by sixes and said,"that had you beat huh?" He smiled and nodded his head. Actually folks making that raise into both players probably was not the right move but I felt like I was way ahead yet it was probably not the right move. The table broke an hour later. I move to a new table yet I am really ready to go and should go but GREED is calling me to get more money because the line up was WEAK!!!!!

I gave away a few hundo the next few hours of play. At about 7am Tex, who blogs here as well, sat down next to me, he was not clear headed and was trying to get there but he sat down and picked up aces and got paid off, an hour later he got up, racked up his winnings wished me luck and went to get some sleep. Hope he slept it off well...nice play with the AQ, Tex!

Well it is 9:30 am and I rebuy, tell myself to start playing correctly and I start to build my stack back up. There is this dude in the eight seat, who was so easy to read. One of the easy tells that you all should look for is when a player is in the hand, and hits the flop their hand will move towards their stack, it is an involuntary muscle move. Well the eight seat did this several times and was snapping people off left and right with sets. He built himself a nice stack but he just could not outplay people during other hands, when he would miss with AQ he would make a continuation bet and when called, he would give up. Everytime he did so he did not make that move towards his chips. A very solid tell. I am on the button and look down at 5-6 off suit. Five of us limp in, the flop is A 8 7 two clubs. Three bets into me and I call, only for an off suit four! The last player folds. The turn is an off suit FOUR!!!!! Check, check, eight seat bets the pot, I make it three times the bet to get the flush draw out and the other two behind me fold. The bettor raises back into me!
"YES! No, wait am I reading the board correctly? Yep, I have the nuts right now! So he must have a set, two pair or the same hand."
I ask him how much he has left, he instantly says to me, "I'll go all in if that is what you want."
"All in!" I said.

He called and turned over A 4 off suit for two pair..."please no ace, no four!" The board bricked out and I take down a monster pot.

I continued to play much tighter and built back what I had won, packed up and left.

So yeah, I got lucky...because me and my opponent hit our hands at the same time otherwise I do not get paid off the way I did.

Until next time...You all stay nice as rice and mello as jello!

Missing reads yet seeing them at the same time...

What is up? So I had a pretty bad weekend, compared to the last 10 sessions, I took a couple of losses. No worries, you got to take these hits every now and than, yet, I believe I could have got away from them. This is the difference between amatuer (Me) and pro (Phil Ivey).

Okay, here are a couple of rules you should follow before going in to play live action. 1) GET A GOODNIGHTS REST! 2) Have your strategy set and adjust during the game 3)When making a big decision-slow down, walk backwards and understand the action up to this point.

Well Friday night, the cards were just not coming and the best hand I saw after two hours (actually one hour) just felt like two hours, was q 10 in middle position, I limp in so does the button, small blind and big blind taps the table. The flop came out Q 4 6 rainbow, I fire out a three quarter bet hoping to take the pot down, button calls and the blinds fold. The turn is another Q...I decide to bet $55...now the button says, "How much?" The alarm bells should have gone off in my head, BUT THEY DID NOT. I say what I bet and he calls. The river is a blank, I fire out $100 and he says all in...could I have gotten away from it before betting $55? Nah, could I have not bet the $100 on the river after the call on the turn, if my spidey senses were up, YEAH! Well, I call the extra, whatever, and he shows Q 6 suited. Now, we are not talking about the beat here, we are talking about how I could have possibly gotten away or paid less for that river.

Saturday, did not get enough sleep AGAIN! Even though I thought I did. I'm doing alright until about an hour into the session and I am under the gun and had straddled, six people called the four bucks, when it gets back to me I look at pocket 10s and pop it to $35. I get two callers, middle position and the button. The flop is 9 2 3 rainbow, harmless. I bet out out $55, middle folds and the button says, "HOW MUCH?" (YOU FREAKING KNOW HOW MUCH LUNCHBOX, YOU WATCHED ME STACK IT AND PUSH IT ACROSS THE FREAKING LINE!!!!!). "$55", I say. He called. The turn is a Q, I quickly...again I say, quickly run through what he may have, here is what I say to myself, "AQ, did he float with AQ, nah, he made those over bets when flush draws hit earlier, lets make sure and bet $100." Yes, that is all I thought about! What should I have thought...here, over pair, aces to jacks. Set of nines, deuces or threes...two pair maybe. A whole lot that beats me right? After I bet he goes all in, now I should againg think on it, right? I DON'T! I call and he shows a set of threes! The funny thing is he thought he out played me, NO LUNCHBOX, you profited off my freaking MISTAKE! I make bo bo you make money! YOU SUCK!!!! Sorry, I uh, got a little out of hand there. I basically beat myself this weekend and hopefully this will be a cleansing for me.

In conclusion, I may not have gotten away from these hands but I could have paid a lot less to see the beating.

What quesitons might you have?

Stay nice as rice and mello as jello!

chris my nemesis from the state of Mass. Let me tell you how he crushed me and how i came back!.jpg

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Greetings and Salutations!
What a day! Got to meet some cool guys from the state of Mass.etc and a ringside judge for boxing matches. What I want to tell you about is my quick win, sudden loss and huge win after a four and a half hour rollercoaster!

So I get into Harrahs at about 1:45pm four 1-2 nl games going and they tell me that they are opening a game on table 12 at 2 pm. I set up in the three seat. Nine other guys that I don't know sit down...SWEET! Talked to a guy from Oklahoma on my left who had a cute girl sitting behind him telling me about the soft games he plays in and makes a $1000 a week there...WHERE? Get me that info bro! As we are talking he tells me that he told his girl that I seem to be the guy that he needs to look out for. As he finished this statement, he raises on the button. I smiled and looked down at two kings. Now, the right thing to do here is try to get heads up but these folks were very readable and I wanted to know how many aces may be out there. There were five limpers, and six callers to his raise. The flop was 10 high. I check, as does everyone else to him. He bets about $40, I call...everyone else folds. The turn is a Jack, I check again and he shoves all in..."Crap," I say as I look at him, "Did that , Jack hit you?" He tightened up even more, 'nope, it sure didn't' I telepathically said to him. I called the last 125 and turned my Kings over, he nodded and shoved his hand in the deck and pulled out another $100.

So by 4:30 pm I'm up pretty good. I'm talking to a kid from Mass.etc who is on his bachelor party, and one of the party is in the six seat. I've been getting hit in the face with overs, AJ, AQ, AK, A10...so i've been opening to get the junk out, the table seems to be getting anxious. So with a decent hand I opened from the hi-jack and, Chris, the guy in the photo, part of the bachelor party comes along with four others. I miss the flop but Chris, bets out $40 and takes the pot down. Two hands later I am in the cut off seat, while talking to the guy to my right about .357 magnums that have bullets that fire pelts for home security, I look down at KJ off and open again, I get six callers. The flop is K 7 5 two diamonds. They check around to me and I push out $40, Chris, my nemesis, is the only caller. The turn is a diamond. MISTAKE COMING! I bet out $100, Chris, gets REALLY excited and contemplates, I know as the 100 is flying in the air that FUCKED up. So Chris pushes all in for another $85. I need to fold here, no matter what I need to fold here...MISTAKE COMING! I called. Yes, I CALLED! River is a blank and Chris shows the A 6 diamonds. GEEZ RAY! I am so pissed at myself that I don't get up and continue to tell myself to learn from that obvious mistake and grow. Well I play for another hour and 15 minutes and am close to doubling my buy in when this hand comes up.

I am in the hi jack seat and Chris is under the gun plus one. He opens to $15, gets two callers before I look down at 8 10 spades, normally, I FOLD. In my spot, as I noticed the cutt off and button don't want to play, I called. Now I called because I can outplay Chris and the other callers at the table, I know which spots to mess with and which not to, but if I can hit my hand, Chris will never get away from his, at least I hoped. The small blind called and we went to the flop five handed. The flop was a 9c 8c 4c, sb checks, Chris bets out $40, fold, fold to me...now here is what I am thinking, AcKh, AQ, AJ, A10 maybe, 1010, JJ, qq, KK, AA and does not have the flush draw or is trying to bet off the flush draw. This is the range I put him on, more the over cards versus the over pair. I called. The sb folds. We are heads up folks. The turn is the 10 of hearts! YAHHHHHTTTTTZZZZZEEEEEE!!!!! Chris bets out $60, okay, now I put him directly on an over pair. I raised it to another $125, Chris tanked...so now I knew I was against an over pair, no set, no made flush. After a bit Chris went ALL IN! Crap! Over pair with a big flush draw now...Uhhh, $245 to you Ray. CRAP AGAIN! Okay, I call. River a red five! Stepped away from the table turned my back and did a weak Tiger pump and sat back down. Pulled in the pot and smiled. Chris came over, yes came over and shook my hand and told me he thought I was on a move because he had bluffed me two hands before the diamond hit and thought I was pissed at him. I told him he did the best he could to get value out of me it just worked out for me is all. We talked I asked him if I could get his picture and told him about the site and hopefully he is reading this, told you bro, no shit talking. You played the hand well enough. Maybe you could have played it different to get me off but remember Chris and folks...That's Poker!

Stay nice as rice and mello as jello!

brandon doing work..jpg

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8-15-09

The picture above shows my boy Brandon on the bottom left with the back of his head to us, my seat is to his right, a few stacks there with my water, mp3 player and the rest of the players on my table, who were there after hour four.

Bachelor Party! We started the festivities at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Ms. Four of the eight played in the $200 tournament and myself with the other three did other things in the casino. The later part of the day we were going to hit Bourban street in New Orleans, just the thing that my bud Alex was looking to do for his bachelor party, that's correct, no strippers!

Well I sit down in a 1-2 NL game, I LOVE THE BEAU, I adjust my my chair, get the cocktails that I want, pass my card over for my comps, place my cell phone on the table and plug in my mp3 player and start to play some poker. The reason why I went through this is because the only thing you can do at Harrah's in New Orleans is get a cocktail, except for RED BULL! What's up with that, unless you want to pay for it or you're a diamond club card holder, which means you have gambled over $50,000! Whatever!

So I am in this game and use my tight aggressive strategy and I will only play small pairs deuces and up on the button. The jackpot is quad fives beat. My goal is to find the regulars and non-regulars, find the nits, weak tights and loose aggressive players in the first two dealers. I found all of them by that time. In the one seat was a weak tight player, who happened to be winning, in seat three was a loose aggressive regular with Auburn attire on. He mixed it up well and his betting was varied and well done for the most part. If he is reading this, I figured you out by the time we played that big hand. In the five seat was another weak tight player. In seat six was a regular loose aggressive player with big sunglasses on, the other black guy at the table in the begining. In seats 7 and 8 were two more weak tight players.

Well I am going back and forth with my stacks and get somewhat back to even in about my second hour of play Brandon sits down to my left. I am on the button and there are four limpers to me, I look down at A 5 of spades. The flop comes K A 2 rainbow. Check to the big sunglass wearing black guy who fires out 15, I float (call) and the rest of the table folds. The turn card is a 7 of hearts, now there is a flush draw, BSBG fires $50 and I call. The river brings a non-flush 2. He contemplates and fires another $50. This is what I saw, I have more information than you as the reader, I know that when he has the best hand on the river he overbets a bit, but since he bet the same as the turn it made me suspicious plus the only thing he could have is a weak ace or maybe two pair but again if he had that he would have bet more to get that value out of me. I call and he shows air as I turn over the A5. He nods.

I am now in the cut-off, very next hand, one before the button and I look down at AJ diamonds. I really don't like this hand especially to a raise. Well in middle position a weak tight player makes it $15 to go, BSBG calls, I reluctantly call and we get two callers behind. Now let me tell you why I called and why it is dangerous to call here in other circumstances. When the raise occurred I looked over to the Auburn geared loose aggressive player who would act behind me and he looked like he was not going to play and I really wasn't worried about Brandon and the other two between him and I. Normally, if you don't know the table yet, this hand should not be called by an early raiser, that is a strong raise into the field and you are either facing AK, AQ or the top pairs, JJ, QQ, KK, AA. What is AJ going to do? Maybe hit the nut flush, or you hope for AAJ, JJA or q 10 k, is about it. Your kicker is not good here but with this field I new I could play with them. The flop cam A Q A, raiser bets out $30, fold to me and I call, I instantly put him on AK...AQ will not bet here, should not bet here and this guy does understand poker so I gave him a bigger kicker. The turn brought the 7 diamonds, which is a flush draw for me. The raiser bets out $50, I called for the flush and my J, so there is about 11 outs so I am about 25% to get there so i am a 4-1 dog, the pot is giving me about 3-1, I should only call at even or 5-1 on my money. When you look at the implied odds, if I hit my flush, maybe not my jack, with what he had left I was an easy 5-1. The river brought a hold'em card(blank). He put his remainder one hundred plus in the pot. Now I could call and HOPE that he had a weaker ace or be beat by my first thought, AK. It was AK, AQ that were the only two hands that beat me but I folded my hand up for the table to see. The BSBG said you called me with an ace but wouldn't call him with that ACE! During this same orbit (dealer) I am under the gun, and I make it $15 to go with pocket kings, I get SEVEN callers! My LORD! Well the flop comes K 8 8, two hearts. I check, Brandon looks like he is going to bet but decides not to and it gets back to Big Sunglass Black Guy, who bets out $50. I call and everyone else folds. The turn is the Q of hearts, I hesitate and check again, he bets out $100, I call. The river is a hold'em card and I want to bet but I may not get a call, so I get the remainder of my chips, about $130 and hold it in my hands looking at the board. He says, "Save your money."
I instantly plop it across the line, and say, "all this?"
He called quickly and I turned over my full house he showed me the A of hearts and King of clubs, without that hand he would not have doubled me up. Without my showing that I would not call with the AJ of diamonds he would not have called. If I would not have called him down with the A5 of spades he would not have called. Basically, when you are playing against the better players, you have to consider everything you do while they are there, they will remember. The weak tight ones only remember the hands they are in. Play chess?

You all be cool and stay nice as rice and mello as Jello!

Young and consistent...brandon and brett, harrahs regs that normally leave with your money..jpg

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So I get into Harrah's on a Wednesday afternoon...yes I snuck in and no one at home knew...my wife thinks i'm addicted to gambling and my answer was..."Only when there are lunchboxes at the table, babe."

The funny thing is I have not been in the poker room for at least 15 months...since my daughter was born. Well, when I got in there I saw a couple of guys who used to grind it out before I left on my hiatus. There they were killing the table. Still grinding it out on the 1-2 NL game and killing it! Usually the young ones want to get into the 2-5 NL game quickly but Brandon has done a pretty good job at staying in a spot where he knows he will make money and make money he has! Brett does play in the 2-5 game and does pretty well in both games. These guys are solid and I respect their games.

I get into the game after checking on my buddy AT&T(yep, he has those initials, pretty cool) and Davey both are pretty deep in the Wednesday tourney and look to final table, they both did and cashed! Nice job Davey and AT! I think AT&T is 7 for 8. I hate him for this, he has a pretty cool job, he goes off shore to West Africa for a month and comes home for a month! So now I tell my kids to study hard and become engineers! I mean if AT can graduate from PENN STATE and get a gig like this...shoot...Ya know?!?

Back to poker, so I'm at the table and look at the line up, a lot of regulars, guys who can't get away from hands, you know raise with pocket aces, get called in eight spots, a flush draw hits the flop they don't even have the ace for that draw, two people go with him to the river and check raise him all in when the flush hits and he says, "Pots too big, I can't fold!" When I'm thinking...you were probably beat on the turn, no further details on this type of player but you know the one I'm talking about...MARRIED TO THEIR HAND! There are a couple of spots that I decide I don't want to mess with, why give myself a headache trying to outplay them. I really want the one seat, older guy, who is splashing around and calling down with stuff like 7-2 suited and gets there to snap off a decent pocket pair in a three way pot, it was brutal.
In an hour I'm up one bone and doing pretty well, there are a couple of guys who keep grimacing every time I raise, looked like they wanted to play but didn't. I did not mind as the freaking deck keep smacking me in the face.

I usually go in with a tight/aggressive strategy even tighter because I try to only play jackpot starting hands. Any Ace none suited I folded unless I was in the cut-off or button where I would open with them. Any suited or gap connector I would limp from early to middle position with bigger than 6-5. I would call a raise only if I felt like I was last to act or with anything suited 9-10 or higher from the early to middle position. I played AK, AQ, and AJ suited from any position...I considered AJ off and A10 off bad hands from early to middle position...just trouble. This helped me to DO WORK! this session. There is more to this strategy but it involves reads, bet sizing and some body tells.

A new player sat down in the 7 seat, I was in the 10 seat, and made some money on his first hand. I am now in middle middle position and look at two red aces. I make it $15 to go and proceed to get FIVE callers! What the HELL! The flop comes J 2 7, two spades, I have the ace of spades, the deuce and seven are the spades. They check around to me and I push out $60 and only the new guy calls...now my heart starts to race, and my palms are getting sweaty but on the outside I'm looking at the cards and looking at him for any signs as the turn card comes off which is a red deuce. QUICKLY I diagnose his hand, if he called with j7, j2, 72 he would have raised on the flop to get rid of flush draws or he may have just called because he knew I had a big pair and was sitting on J7 or J2 for two pair and just got a full house on the turn or I just counterfeited his two pair with the second deuce or he would have raised to try to take it downd to get it done if he was savy enough...he was not savy. Now I am putting him on a big J, KJ, AJ, QJ, J10, possibly J9 and he could be suited and looking for a spade. He could have pocket queens, kings or jacks but I think he re-pops pre-flop with these hands so I discard those. He checks to me again and I push out $125...he freaking beat me to the pot! No raise so he must be drawing or has a big jack. The river brought a 6 of hearts, he checks, now I can do one of three things...check behind because he may not pay off a bet anyways and I can show my monster so that folks at the table don't think I am making moves...2) I push out a value bet about 1/3 of the pot and hope to get paid off...3) I push all in trying to make it look like I am buying the pot. I go with option two and he folds his hand up showing the J10 of spades. These situations are scary because that could have gone the other way, the freaking spade could have hit the river and he gets paid!

I've rambled long enough, I get into the poker room when I can and I hope to build the bankroll so that I can get into the 5-10 NL game one day, most guys sit with 2-5k in that game. Usually your bank roll should be about 10-15 times your buy in depending on how you play so, one day. My next step is the 2-5 NL game and the usual buy in is 500-1k, but we'll see.

After the tourney, AT&T and Davey come over and look at the table and laugh, as they also knew it was pretty soft. They wanted me to pick up and go to the Beau with them so they could play in the 6pm tourney on the coast. Tell you about that at another time and about the two footlongs that I ate...and the near bet for $300 to eat a third loaded with chilli and all kinds of shyte!

Until next time you all stay nice as rice and mello as jello!