Poker and Football

I played very little poker over the past weekend because of the NFL playoffs. Football takes a priority over poker (most of the time). There were some really good games and I learned to dislike Randy Moss even more than I thought I could, and it's not because of the end-zone celebration (mooning incident) either, it's because all this guy can do is deep post and slat routes. If he isn't in the play, he is useless. He is an overpaid thug that helps Dante by giving him great numbers. Dante is not that good of a QB either. But I digress.

I have learned to respect Peyton Manning as a QB. I have never believed the hype about how good he was, and he wasn't that good at Tennessee. His little brother isn't all that either. They are methodical players that NEED good players around them. QB's like Vick, Favre, and dare I say McNabb all can make things happen on the field with lesser talent. Tom Brady is a great QB as well. Bulger is getting there if his O-line can give him time. Pennington and Rothlisberger (sp) both are pretty talented, but they are young with talent around them.

This being said, I enjoyed last weeks games and am looking forward to the games this weekend.

OK....Now for some poker

I played in a freeroll tourney last night at a local establishment and I had a lot of fun. Since most of my poker experience is online where I can scream and yell and whine without affecting the table - real live poker is different.

I wanted to play this tourney just for a change of pace for one thing, but I also needed to working my skills of reading my opponents. I have not even begun to master this art and I assume that I will have to read a book to get more info.

I did play rather well in the tourney making it to the final table, but went out first in 9th place. I was pleased with my play since I didn't know anyone there. There were a lot of lucky beats and I played pretty tight considering.

The first hand I actually played was a huge pot for me. I am dealt 10/7 in the BB. Fold, call, call, fold, fold, call, and I check. Flop comes 10c/3d/7d and I catch two pair. SB bets 200, I call, next player raises it to 300, fold, SB calls and I cap it at 300. Turn card is 4d. SB checks, I check and next guy checks. I am putting SB on top pair and I have put MP on a flush draw. River is a 10d. I am hoping that someone hits the nut flush, so I place a T1000 bet to get some action. My new friend in MP asks me for a chip count (woo hoo) and puts me all-in. SB folds and I call. He flips over the Ace of diamonds and starts lauging until I show him the boat. It was a nice way to more than double up and that is exactly what you want when you draw a hand like that.

Another hand in the game had me pinned up against who I thought was the best player at the table. I was dealt Qs/Js and it turned into a heads up between the two of us. The flop was As/3d/10c so I was drawing to the nut gutshot straight. I had about T8000 chips and he was at about T5000. He had been pushing aggressively all night and really bullied the people at the table, and he tended to push all-in without too much of a hand. So with this flop he bets into me for T2000. The odds are against me here for the straight, and if he has the ace I can't touch him but I cannot let him think that he can bully me here so I raise him all-in. This wasn't that bad of a bet, Doyle Brunson says that you should always make someone play for all of their chips as often as possible. That may be a bit outdated, but there is a lot of truth to that position, and I felt like enforcing it tonight. This guy starts looking at me for a tell, and I look at him and ask him if he wants to see my cards (with a grin) and he says "yeah"...so I tell him that it will only cost him some worthless chips! He smiles and pushes in and shows Ad/10d. I flip over my QJ hand and he looks back at me and starts shaking his head. He said that I only have 4 outs and I told him that was all I was going to need and everyone kind of chuckled and then the turn card came out with a King! I had hit my straight, but he still had 4 outs to hit is full house. So he says that it is his turn to get his four outer, and I tell him that lightening had already struck this table and the river was a 4h. He gave a very professional nod my way and I went over and shook his hand. I heard him tell someone near another table that he thought he had a good read on me with a middle pair which I could see because of the way I was betting. I was lucky with the turn.

I went on to get T24000 in chips, but when they had the last table change I was next to a guy with T65000 and he stole everything at the table. I called him on a bad hand and took him for about T8000 but then went out two hands later on a semi-bluff.

All in all I had a very good time.