HoldemFAQ.com

I just have to share this one.

I played in the PokerStars $18.50 + $1.50 turbo satellite to the nightly $50+$5 - $50,000 guaranteed tournament. I held on and won a seat in the main tournament.

On the first hand, I am in the BB. I get:

Everybody folds to the small blind, who raises to T80 - which is 4x the BB. I figure he is a donk who is trying to steal the blinds. Since I have an excellent hand, I raise it up to set the tone early on. I DO NOT want him to make a habit of stealing my blinds. So I pop it up to T240. He calls.

Pot: T480

The flop comes:

SB checks. I bet T380. SB raises to T1100.

What the heck? Does he have 99, TT, KK, or AA?

I do not ponder too long. I figure he would have reraised preflop with AA or KK. The only thing I need to worry about is 99 or TT. I push all-in (I know - dumb move. Why put my tournament life on the line with one pair?)

He calls and shows:

How sick is that? First hand of the tournament and the blinds get two huge pocket pairs.

The turn is:

The river is a brick and I suck out (for once) to double up.

dobbbber - if you read this - I am so sorry.  That was sick in a lot of ways.

I live about half way between Foxwoods and Turningstone. I always seem to get to Foxwoods, but I have never ventured the other way into New York. I decided to go out there and give it a shot. It did not take any longer that it did to get to Foxwoods. The casino is right off the New York State Throughway. It is pretty easy to get to.

As I pulled in, I scoped out the building. It looked pretty big. I parked and went inside. My plan was to walk around and get a lay of the land - and of course to find the poker room. After a bit, both objectives were accomplished.

I was somewhat disappointed to find only 30-40 tables, and only 10-15 or so were active. The highest game was a 5/5 NL game with a $500 Max buy-in. I decided that I was going to play this game. Overall, the level of play was very good. There were probably seven people at the table who I would peg as solid. Among the other three, there was usually a mix of people who were alright and people who were clueless. If you get more than two or three solid players at a table, it can make for a long night. Needless to say, this was going to be a long weekend.

Several hours into my session I have $650 in my stack and pick up

in an early position. I make it $25 to go. The button calls as does the big blind.

Pot: $80

The flop brings:

This is a jackpot flop - I have the absolute nuts. However, there are several draws that might be out there. The most obvious is the spade flush draw. Secondary is QJ for an open-end straight. Still less obvious but possible hands are AQ, AJ, Q9, and J9.

I have observed the button to be a decent and quite aggressive player. He was not afraid to raise in the face of weakness. Several times through the evening, I saw him reraise weak bets and take down the pot right there. As the Big Blind checked, I analyzed the situation.

If I lead out with a continuation-sized bet, the button will not know where either one of us are. He might see it as a continuation bet and reraise. If he totally missed the flop, he might fold. Also, he might smooth call with any kind of draw. He is capable of any of these plays. Since we had not previously tangled, and I had seen him attack weak bets on several occasions, I decided to make a probe-sized bet. Hopefully the bet will be interpreted as weak, and he will attack. I lead out for $30 into the $80 pot.

The button ponders for a second and decides to raise. I have set the trap, and he has fallen for it. He makes it $130 to go. The Big Blind immediately folds. Back to me.

I have a couple of choices here. I can smooth call or I can raise. I analyzed both plays.

Calling: This play will let him take control of the hand. If I call, then I would check-raise the turn all-in. The problem is that if I call, then there is $340 in the pot on the turn. He will certainly make at least a half pot-sized bet of $170,and more likely a pot-sized bet if he himself is afraid of the flush. Knowing that I only have $495 left, he knows that I will be pot committed pretty quick. More than likely, he would just push all-in himself regardless of his holding. If a card comes that completes a straight or flush (or both), I have a really difficult decision on my hands. In this scenario, he has done what any good poker player should do - he has put the decision on his opponent (which would be me). I do not like the prospects of the call in this situation.

Raising: I have $595 left ($650 - $ 25 preflop - $30 flop). The pot contains $240 ($80 preflop + $30 my bet + 130 button’s raise). If I raise, I need to make it 3x his last bet, which would mean pushing $390 into the center. This would leave me with $215 and essentially pot-commit me. If I am going to raise, it has to be all-in. He could have raised as a semi-bluff. If I come over the top, he would be hard-pressed to make the call. The only holding that he can profitably call with in that spot is precisely QJ of spades (giving him an open-end straight-flush draw). Knowing that calling is a bad move, it seems like raising all-in is the best option here.

I move all-in. The Button immediately calls. I like his hole cards:

The cruel pokergods reared their heads on the turn when the

landed.

In a final good gesture, the button said, “I never put you on pocket kings. But, I do hope you get the case king on the river.” Doing so would have given us the bad-beat jackpot worth over $30,000. But alas, the poker gods were not on my side.

This is the first time in a live game that I lost to a one-outter.

Was I mad? No, not really. Replaying the hand from his point of view, I would have done the same thing. Raising the preflop raiser with bottom set and two spades on the board is a reasonable play. I certainly would have called my all-in as well. He had a 4% chance to improve to quads, and unfortunately for me, that 4% was due to hit.

I was in Las Vegas this spring for a four-day conference. The conference was held at the Venetian. I was staying at the Mirage, which was right across the street. I had played poker a couple of times at the Mirage, but the room was kind of small. There were only about 25 tables, and the highest limit was 2/5 NL. I wanted some bigger games, so I looked into the poker room at the Venetian. Afterall, I had to pass the poker room every morning on my way to the conference (yes, I was tempted to blow off the conference and sit in the poker room - but I resisted the urge).

There was a 5/10 NL game going that looked somewhat tame. The minimum buy-in was $500, and the maximum buy-in was uncapped. The stacks seemed to be in the $1000 range, so I thought this should be a decent game. I was escorted to the table and did not even have to get my own chips. The Venetian had a chip runner come over and buy my chips for me. How nice! I was greeted by name and was treated very nicely. We were playing 6 handed when this hand came up:

UTG raises 3x BB to $30. I have

in UTG + 2. I make the call and the button the pops it to $90. UTG calls. I have no choice. Its $60 to call into a $210 pot.

Pot: $285

The flop comes:

Wow! What a nice flop for me. UTG checks. I, of course, check to the preflop raiser. He decides his best bet is all-in for an additional $900. UTG folds and I smile. I insta-call and show the flopped full house. I had a REALLY bad feeling when he said, “I have outs”, and turns over:

The turn was a blank and the river was:

I lose a $2100 pot to a 2-outter. After that flogging, I decided to drop down to 2/5 NL. I bought in for the maximum of $500. About 30 minutes into the session, I am UTG and I get:

I raise 4x BB to $20. It is folded to a guy in LP who raises to $60. It is folded back to me. I “know” he has pocket kings. I just had the feeling. I smooth-call his $40 raise.

Pot: $120

Flop:

There are two clubs on the board, but I feel that he has KK. I check to let him do the betting. He bets $135. I need to move here just in case he has AK of clubs. I decide to push all in for my last 500 total. He calls. I am praying for anything but a King.

Turn:

Uh-oh. Trouble in Paradise. The river is:

I show my AA and just as expected, he shows pocket kings for quads.

Two bad beats inside 30 minutes, and a loss of two pots worth over $3000. Some days it does not pay to get out of bed.

You know you are a good poker player when you continually get drawn out on. As David Sklansky says, as you get to be a better player, you will get drawn out on more and more simply because you get your money in with the best hand, thus forcing the other person to draw out to beat you. Over the last 2 years, I have had so many people draw out on me, it is ridiculous. It makes me feel good in one sense, but it is never fun to lose a $2,000 pot.

I decided to go to Foxwoods on 11/13/2007 to watch the taping of the Final Table for the World Poker Finals. Donna and I got there around 11:45. We got our numbers about an hour later. The final table started around 5:00pm, so we had some time to kill. Naturally, I went to the poker room to play. The lists were pretty long, so I signed up for a bunch of games - 1/2 NL, 2/5 NL, 5/10 NL, 5/10 Limit, 10/20 Limit, 4/8 Omaha H/L, and 5/10 HOE. I figured whatever game called me first was the one that I would play. About 15 minutes later, I was in a 5/10 Limit holdem game.

I was not particularly into the game. I felt like playing loose and wild. The problem was that I was actually getting a lot of good starting hands. I kept raising and calling. The people at the table must have thought I was a clown (to put it mildly). One hand, while in mid position, I get:

I have this weird fantasy. I want to play 72o and flop a full house. I have told myself that whenever I get 72o and I can limp, I will play the hand regardless. So, I throw out a $5 chip to play the hand. There was one caller before the button raises to $10. The blinds fold. What the heck - its only another $5, so I throw in a second red chip. The 3rd person calls. The flop comes:

Boom-shakalaka!! Whack-a-Doodle! Jackpot!

I am laughing hysterically inside.

Me: Check

Seat 10: Check

Button: Bets $5

Me (laughing inside): Call

Seat 10: Fold

Turn:

Me: Check

Button: bet $10

Me: Raise to $20

Button: Pauses, call

River:

For a second, I wonder if he had KJ. I do not really care. This hand is going to the mat.

Me: Bet $10

Button: Call

I flip over my 72o triumphantly. This guy looked over his glasses and stared at the board for 15 seconds. He then flicks his cards so forcefully into the muck that one card flys off the table, being exposed in the process. I see that it is:

He then complains to a guy sitting next to him that he cannot believe his pocket Aces were cracked by a 72o (with a few choice words thrown in).

After I raked in the pot, I had to leave the table. I could not contain my laughter, and I did not want to rub salt into the button’s wound. Man, it feels GREAT to deliver a bad beat for once rather than being on the opposite end.

Alright, enough bad play - back to the basics