To Fold...or not to Fold...?

That is the dilemma that plaques every poker player. You have a good hand, not great by any means but good enough to win and someone bets over the top of you to force you into a decision. These are the times when experience, reading a player and poker math really come into play.

Here is an example of what I mean. The game is No Limit Texas Hold'em. 200/400 blinds. Five players and you are on the button (the dealer) and you have an average chipstack of about T4000.
You are dealt Qh-10h, FP calls, MP calls, You call, and SB calls...BB checks. Flops comes 10s-4s-10c. You trip up your 10's, but there is a flush draw on the board. SB checks, BB checks, FP bets 400, MP folds, you call 400, SB folds, and BB folds. Turn card is a 7s. MP bets 400 (minimum bet), and you raise it to 800. MP calls the 400 to make it 800. Now he has to know that you have trips if not a full house, but you figure he either has hit the flush, or has the Ace of spades that would give him a nut flush.

River card is a Js.

There are four spades on the board. You have trips. MP bets all-in with his last 750 chips. That means that there is over T5000 chips in the pot. I have about T2500 chips left at this point. All he needs is a spade, it could be the 2 or the A, doesn't matter. Any spade beats my tripped 10's. He could also have a pair of Jacks. But you typically don't slowplay Jacks in Middle Position (MP). But he might have been fishing for a flush with a drawing hand. He could have and 8 and a 9 for a straight. But you typically won't play that hand from middle position with the blinds this high, and he would have folded it at the flop, not bet. No, I figure I have to put him on at least AJ or AQ. AK would have come out with a raise pre-flop, so I don't think he has that, or he might have had pocket something like 7's or 8's.

Regardless of his hand, he is in the driver's seat. He pushed all-in making me make the decision but I am still in pretty good shape. If I lose the hand, I am still in but it will drastically affect my chipstack. If I win, I can coast and bully the other three players until it's over.

It's at this point that I look at the other players. Sometimes you can read where another player had a nut hand and folded it, or he had the nut card. This can be very helpful. But in this case, I am not reading anything. There are at least 9 chances that he has a spade.

Another thing to think about is that sometimes when you have a strong board, you can "bluff" someone out of a pot.

OK, so I figure that for only 750 chips more I can end this dilemma. It is less than a minimum raised bet, and If I lose the hand I can stay and play some more - so I call. The player flips over AJ suited in clubs riding a strong hand thinking he had a strong two pair on the board, but my 10's took him down.

To Fold...Or not to Fold?
Shakespeare would have loved the tragedy that is Poker!

Raising the Bar

We just had our second big tournament event, and with 35 players it was an absolute blast. I didn't play that well, but I enjoyed it immensly never the less.

I again struggled to get decent hands, and played well without them but to no avail and I was pushed out in tenth place. The second tourney was a bit tougher, but with a big bulls-eye on my back it should be. I made the halfway point and then exited.

A couple of big hands here and there, but since the play was relatively solid I just enjoyed the evening. Played a few Heads-up games and won, and played a few small tourneys and broke even.

I actually didn't concentrate very well which caused me great distress. I did bluff well though which had been a weaker part of my game. Hopefully I can bring it all together soon to beat my opponents soundly.

-m²

Making it fun!

In the past month I have enjoyed poker a little more than usual. I have been playing online for about a year, and seriously for about 7 months. I have played home games with friends and that is always a great time, but just recently a group started a poker club in our area...

The poker club consists of about 20-25 poker players with about another 15 players that come and go. We meet every few weeks to play. It is an absolute blast!!!

When I play with friends, I really have to keep my competitive edge in check. One reason is because they don't really take it that seriously. It is still fun, but I want to learn and win all the time.

There is a freeroll (no money) tourney that is sponsored locally each week, but with a freeroll players can play without any constraints. This limits your abilty to gauge the player or determine the right play and you can learn a lot of bad habits. The freeroll does give me plenty of opportunity to work on my table presence, but that is about all I get out of it.

The poker club allows the group to enjoy live play with a larger group of good players. It also affords us the ability to learn the finer points of the game as well as learn each other's tendancies.

Learning is a great thing, and I have always enjoyed endeavors that allow me think and learn. My father used to always say that it is a sad day that you don't learn something new!

I completely agree.

The day after tomorrow

My wonderful string of bad cards continued to follow me last weekend. Played in a few $20 SnG's at a friends house with about 15 players and let's just say it was a rough night.

In 5 hours of play and 4 Sng's I only saw 5 pocket pair hands (Jacks, 7's, 4's, 3's, 2's). I won ONE POT with AK suited and that was only the blinds.

Very difficult, but it gave me a nice chance to work on putting players on hands.

I played 4 games, won one pot and still got in the money one game. Very loose play. There was a few people that watched me and mentioned that I scared them with my play.

I will just have to save that for another day!!!!

Good Play...Bad Play!

I just started playing Omaha High this past week, and it can be a very addicting game to play. The math involved is ridiculous if not overwhelming (especially for me!). I find that the similarities of the games help in simplifying the thought process or "slow down" the Texas Hold'em game for me. This is probably not the case with most players, but I typically look differently at things.

Enough about Omaha for now....


Tuesday Night FreeRoll!!!

So I decide to meetup with a buddy of mine for the FreeRoll at Big Daddy's in Fayetteville. It's a pretty good game with some solid players. You get some odd play sometimes because it is a freeroll.

My buddy Jim (names changed to protect the innocent) shows up and starts playing pretty hard right off the bat. I determine that tonight I am going to work on concentrating on focus and pot to bet ratios. I am fortunately sitting next to an obnoxiously loud female on my right, and a mumbler on my left. I can't hear very well so I don't know which is worse for me. I can tune out loud noises pretty easily, but since I can't hear anything the mumblers require an additional feat of attention which really annoys me - especially in loud places.

OK...so I am setup pretty well for my learning engagement. I determine that I am going to play solid at least for the first hour, and then play silly and loose during the second hour. The reason for it is to have wild swings in my game so I can find my balance.

Within the first 20 minutes, Jim is out. Really bad play on his part...and he was trying! He came in 5th a couple of weeks ago on some pretty crazy races which gave him a misconcieved sense of accomplishment.

Two hands after Jim leaves the table, I catch QQ. I bet hard in LP and SB raises me. I push all-in and SB calls and shows JJ. The board is nice to me and I double up. Two hands later I double up with two pair. Three hands later I double up again with two pair. Next hand I win the pot with ...you guessed it, two pair! After I fold a few hand I get KJ and push all-in against 88. I catch a King on the flop and put him out.

Then comes the break....

Although I would love to keep working on my winning streak, my purpose after the break was to push around the other players with very loose and aggressive play. I find that this is also a very good way to find tells in other players. Doyle Brunson says in his Super System book that you want to always try to get the other player to play for all of his chips. That was my intention.

Blinds are 100/200. I wait a few hands in to start when I finally catch a 9h10d. I push hard with T1000 bet. No one calls and I steal the blinds.

Next hand I get J7 suited in clubs and I bet T1000. Button and BB calls the 1000 chip raise and SB folds. Flop comes 3/10/7. BB checks and I bet T2500. Button folds and BB calls. Turn brings a Jack and BB with about 2000 chips left checks and I bet 1500. He pushes all-in and shows KK. I call and show my two pair and he doesn't get any help on the river. The guy was out and came over and shook my hand and said that this was the best poker he had seen in a while.

No offense, but it must not take much to impress some people.

Next two hands I am dealt 84o. Twice in a row!

Third hand comes J3 in the BB and I raise to T1000. Folds to the dealer and she calls. Flop comes AA3. I bet T2500 and she folds. Seems like an easy hand, but dealer was the aforementioned obnoxious woman and she couldn't make up her mind whether to talk on the phone with her friend or play cards. She was extremely lucky in about 6 hands that kept her in the tourney. Blinds are now 200/400

Once around the table and I am dealt 1010red in the SB. Limpers to me and I raise to T2000. I am watching the reactions at the table and see the frustration. One caller in MP and the dealer calls. Flop comes AKJ rainbow. I bet T2500 and MP folds. Dealer is watching American Idol on the big screen TV 20' away and we have to nudge her to play. She raises to T5000.

I have about 2500 more in chips than she does, so I push all-in knowing that I am way behind in the hand and she shows KJ. See what I mean about lucky? I don't get any love in the turn or river and I lose the hand. No problem.

My concentration is not shaken, nor is my poise. I am trying to focus on the hand and how I could have played it and then focus on the the next hand. AJ and I am the dealer.

Three callers and I push all-in. BB calls with A8. He catches an 8 on the turn and takes the hand. Everyone attributed my loss to Tilt, but I had other aspiriations in mind.

The guy in the BB made a sarcastic statement about my play and I just blew him off.

Since I was in this for the learning opportunity, I feel that I was very successful. I am strategically working toward getting competant with a tight aggressive game.