Recently in Poker Category

I need to stop drinking Coke so late at night. I tried to sleep but all I could do was wiggle around trying to get comfortable. I figure I'll get tired sometime around sunrise.

Anyway, on to poker - I think I'm starting to break out of my poker funk just a little bit. Last week was our regular $60 buy-in game and I managed to squeak out a first place finish. It was no small feat.

I lost the first pot when I picked up 9-10o in the small blind and made a flush on the turn. Unfortunately the big blind and Seat 2 made a flush, too. The big blind raised my bet on the river and Seat 2 called. I knew the only cards that would beat me were the King or Ace of hearts, since the other cards were out on the board. I didn't think the big blind had either of them, but I wasn't sure about the other caller. So I made the call anyway, dummy me. Oh well, I was right about the big blind - I had him beat, but Seat 2 had the King. So a couple chips went down the tubes on that one.

The guy in Seat 1. That was the bane of my poker existence that night. He's the sweetest guy in the world - but he played EVERY MOTHERFUCKING HAND! I don't remember seeing him fold once preflop. And he was getting great luck. His chip stack was absolutely monsterous - he knocked out Dave and a couple of others on really sick calls, so pretty much all the chips were in front of him. When it came down to three of us, I picked up a pretty good hand (not great, but decent, it was something like Q-Js), but Seat 2 went all-in before me. I just knew "Ronnie Ramjet" in Seat 1 was going to call, so I laid down my good hand, figuring I'd wait it out and battle him heads up for awhile. Well, it worked and it was down to the two of us.

Right before Dave went out earlier, he made the comment that it was going to be nearly impossible to put a dent in "Ramjet's" monster stack. Teasing (kind of), I replied, "No it won't!" I wasn't trying to be a smartass, he can't be getting great cards every single time! Logic dictates he's playing a ton of junk and he's going to get caught eventually. Maybe not that night, but he's gonna get burned if he keeps playing like that.

Even so, I was resigning myself to a second place finish. I didn't think anything was going to dent his stack.

I only had about 3.5 big blinds left, so it was all-in or fold. I picked up something like K-4 on the button and went all-in. I won with a pair of 4s, so I doubled up. I went all-in a couple more times and either doubled up or picked up the blinds. Ramjet started tighteneing up considerably. I started successfully bluffing at the pot, mixing up my limping and raising, until we were dead even. No one (including myself) could believe how it turned around.

An hour later, I had all the chips in front of me. I was pretty proud of myself, but of course Dave said later, "yea, you had shit-ass LUCK with the cards you got". Given I was the only one seeing my cards the entire time, I think I'll be the expert opinion on that one: one part luck, one part skill. I've found I'm pretty good at playing the short stack - short stack play is terribly easy - it's all-in or fold and hope for the best. Once you start getting chips back then there's some room for creativity. I tried to be as creative as possible and it worked like a charm.

Hopefully I can keep the rush going.

I was proud of myself for one other uncharacteristic move I made that night - everyone folded around to me in the small blind. I refuse to look at my cards until it's my turn to act, but lucky for me the big blind didn't adopt that practice. I heard him make a disgusted noise when he looked at his cards - as soon as he got them. I know he's not a weak-when-strong player, so after everyone else folded, I raised with something like 5-2o. He folded and I successfully stole the blinds. That may not seem like a huge play to most poker players, but given I'm such a tightass when I play at a full table, I was fairly happy with myself. Yea, I'm still working on mixing it up.

Regarding Ramjet's playing that night - I found the perfect explanation. I found it somewhere online, I don't remember if it was CardPlayer or Bluff Magazine, but it was great... "Good luck makes you a bad player".

AMEN to that!

So that's it until next weekend - we'll be playing another small $10 game, so we'll see how it goes. In the meantime, I'll just have to content myself with World Series of Poker action on ESPN. I'm pulling for the local guy that made it there!

Poker at the American Legion this past weekend was not good.

I was still feeling on tilt from the whole debacle the previous weekend, so I wasn't going into it in exactly the right frame of mind.

My blood boiled a bit again right as I sat down - there was a guy at my table I played with before. He said to me, "You played at my table last time, too, right?" I smiled and told him that I remember playing with him before. To which he responds softly, "Yea, you like the draws." HELLO?

I knew exactly which hand he was referring to - one where I had 7-8o in the big blind and checked with one other person in the pot. Flop comes out 4-5-10 rainbow and I check. My opponent checks also. Turn came out A, I checked again, my opponent followed. The river came out a 6, giving me a 8 high straight, so I bet. My opponent calls with A-2, so I won the pot. YEA, DONKEY, I LIKE THE DRAWS, OK WHATEVER. If someone is going to give me my cards for free, it's their dumb fault they lose.

So I chose not to respond. Whatever.

So the first hand I pick up K-Qs in the cutoff seat. I raise. Everyone folds except for the old guy in the big blind who says, "I don't like people stealing my blinds". Wow, someone's been watching some poker on TV! I responded him by telling him if he felt so strongly about it, then he should call or raise me. So he calls. There was an Ace on the flop and I put in a little probe bet. He called. I end up picking up another King on the turn, but I checked after him. The river was a rag - he leads out and bets, I call with my Kings, and he turns over A-2o to win with a pair of Aces. Then he said, "I was really afraid about my kicker" You know what? IF YOU WERE SO AFRAID ABOUT YOUR KICKER WHY DID YOU CALL IT DOWN TO THE END? See, most people want to play against morons like this and take all their money, but in my case, it just never seems to work out.

I did manage to pick up one pot when I had pocket Jacks - the flop came out J-A-rag, and I was seeing dollar signs in my head about how I was going to get paid off by these morons keeping their Aces. I slowplayed my set on the flop, then put in a small bet on the turn, but my opponent folded. Dammit! Can I not catch a fucking break? At least I got a small pot on that one.

The rest of the night was completely downhill. I kept getting cards like K-Qs, K-Js, Q-Js, I was hitting none of the flops, and too many people were staying in the pot to take a stab at it.

The tournament leader didn't do a very good job of announcing the level changes. So when I picked up KQs (again), I raised the bet to $200. Unfortunately I didn't realize the blinds were still at $20/$40, not $40/$80, so it was a little bit bigger of a bet than I wanted to make. Even worse, that's when the little old man sitting next to me decided to re-raise me another $200. The same little old man that I never ever see raise a pot. So I'm thinking FUUUUUUUUCK, I'm up against Aces. That makes me what, a 4:1 dog? So everyone folds while I'm doing quick math. $460 in the pot, $200 to call, I don't know if he's got the Ace of hearts, so any flush possibility may be out the window. So I LAY IT DOWN. I laid down a great hand on a pretty surefire read. I could hear others at the table go, "hmmm", like a little light bulb went off in their head that I'm raising with garbage. I'm still debating whether or not I should have shown my hand when I mucked it. Doesn't matter now, I guess. But the little old man leans over to me then and said, "I had Aces." I told him I kind of figured, but good hand.

So it was just not my night.

The first hand after the break, the blinds were up to $50/$100 and I was first to act, meaning the big blind was around to me next. We just merged tables, so there were a couple new people there. I was praying to the poker gods for a decent hand where I could just stick my whole stack in, and I looked down to a K-10o. Good enough - all-in for $550. One of the new guys at the table had a pretty large stack - he was sitting in the cutoff seat and said all macho-like, "Well, I'm going to have to call you". So he calls, and the small blind goes all-in for about $400 also. So we flip them over and I'm bummed to see the small blind turn over pocket Queens. But the donkey with the big stack that just HAD TO CALL turns over Q-9s. I'm not worried about him, I'm worried about the Queens. So a King comes out on the flop and I'm thinking I've got a little more time on life support. But the motherfucking DONKEY HITS A FLUSH ON THE RIVER. How sick is that? I guess he can go on thinking he's a huge skilled player for busting two hands that were better than his to start with. Honestly, I don't even think I would have minded losing to the guy with the Queens - at least he got his money in with a valid hand. Shoot, I think Q-9 is only like 10% against Q-Q and K-10.

But whatever, so I was out.

I need to take a poker break. I probably shouldn't have played this tournament in the first place, and I'm starting to get really irritated at little stuff that is just part of the game. It shouldn't faze me, and I think I need to develop a thicker skin. I told Dave that I'm taking a break and he's like, "Yea, whatever", but I'm not even sure I want to go to our regular game in a couple of weeks.

I guess I'll wait and see.

Last week's game has thrown my mind into a total tailspin.

The tournament at the American Legion is coming up this Friday and it's like all poker knowledge has completely vacated my brain. I guess playing bad on purpose kind of pissed the Poker Gods off or something. OK, it wasn't really on purpose. And I really don't want to piss off the Poker Gods.

I know no one at the Legion will give a flying fuck if I get in the money or not, but all of a sudden it's like I'm preoccupied with what people think of me when I'm playing poker. Those fucking comments (or lack thereof) last week really threw me. Now it's like Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten are running commentary in my head while I'm playing, "I don't know what the hell she's doing here except for donating money to the people that can play", or "What is she doing calling with that garbage?", or "Typical rookie mistake right there". I'm starting to feel like luck is the only thing that won me so much money in the last couple of months.

Like I said, I'm totally fucked up in the brain right now.

But when I think of it... how well would I have fared in those tournaments if I didn't get those key pocket cards at key times? I'd probably be sitting here with a lot less money, shaking my head and wondering what I'm doing wrong. The rational part of my brain is telling me, "Wake up moron, you knew what to DO with those key hands at the key time, right?" Sure ok, maybe I did - it's not like someone I saw once check A-Ks in the big blind with 4 other people in the pot, then whine when he lost.

There's an article at Bluff Magazine, "Mastering The Mind Game of Poker". I honed in on a phrase from the article, "The brain doesn't recognize the negative so you simply can't not think about something. If you tell yourself not to think about a blue elephant, you already have. When you mentally think "Don't go on tilt," your brain doesn't recognize the word "don't," and the focus is on "Go on tilt."..."

So my mind right now is thinking "People are going to think you're a moron. Don't fuck up". But according to that, I guess my brain is hearing "Fuck up!". But it's wierd, because contrary to that statement, every time I go into a tournament thinking that I've got it in the bag, I end up losing. Well, maybe that's because I get careless. But if I tell myself, "Don't think, 'don't fuck up'", I'm going to think it anyway, therefore fucking up.

Yes, I was much better in Logic and Philosophy than I was in Psychology when I was in college.

I really don't know what my state of mind will be for the game Friday night. A co-worker gave me some great advice - "Then don't play! Seems logical, doesn't it? But like a junkie needing a fix, I'm there anyway.

Crossing my fingers for the best...

This year's $100 buy-in tournament went very well - at around 4AM I was declared the winner.

There were two tables and 11 people again this year, and I once again took a seat at the table set up outside. I still had my superstitions because of last year's tournament - especially since I started at the outside table then, too. I thought it was another bad omen when, as soon as we started to play, it started raining. Luckily we were underneath a nice big tent and it wasn't windy so we managed to stay dry.

I picked up a decent pot early on, then things went dry for awhile. Later on, I picked up poket Jacks on the button and was called by Dave, who ended up showing down pocket Aces - needless to say I lost quite a bit on that one.

I wasn't faring too well after that - I wouldn't exactly say I was on tilt, but I was definitely playing too many hands and chasing too many draws. One of the newcomers busted out early, then right before intermission, I knocked Dave out. I only remember it because I was small blind, he was big blind, and I know he knows I'll limp in a lot on the small blind if I can. He also knows I'll rarely raise unless I have a decent hand, so when I looked down at A-5s I limped in. He checked, and the flop came out A-3-8 rainbow. I checked and he went all in. I think he was hoping to pick up the pot right there because I showed a bit of weakenss with the limping in and checking, so I called. He showed a pair of threes and my aces held up.

After intermission we merged to one table - there were several very large stacks - I was somewhere at the bottom yet. Luckily I was able to pick up the first three pots because of good starting hands. But the blinds had gone up a pretty good amount and people were really starting to tighten up. I lost a pot or two, then I took it as an opportunity to use my very tight table image to get some chips back in my stack. My chips were getting very low relative to the blinds. I may have had 4 or 5 big blinds left. Luckily, next hand was A-Ko so I went all in. Everyone folded and I picked up the pot. I folded a couple more hands, but blinds were going up every 30 minutes and antes just started. I began raising much more. I raised with 8-9s and picked up another pot uncontested. My chip stack really started doing well when someone raised on the button - I called with K-Qs from the big blind. I ended up flopping two pair - my opponent turned over pocket aces - I really decimated his stack and shortly after he went out.

Unfortunately the blinds were still going up, and it was getting way more expensive to make mistakes. There was still one exceptionally tight player at the table and I wasn't going to risk the little I had left to double him up.

I would have ended up in fourth place, but our host was having a very bad night. He was getting pocket pair repeatedly through the night, and none of them were holding up. He was completely frazzled, on tilt, steaming - whatever terminology you'd use to describe it. And I still can't believe this happened. There were four of us left and I picked up K-Qo on the button. I went all-in, the small blind folded, and our host was in the big blind. I knew he was pained as he was looking at his cards, and after a little bit, he folded. The dealer played it out for shits and giggles and I would have ended up with a pair of queens. I did feel bad, though, so I told him I would have had queens. He nodded and didn't say anything. I came to find out later he folded pocket kings! Sweet mother of god, there is no way on this earth I could have done that, on tilt or not. He said his pocket pair were getting busted all night long, so he didn't want to risk busting out before the money spots. I felt kind of bad - I mean, ok - I went all in because it's what I had to do, but if I'm beat, then I'm beat. So yea, I really should have placed fourth, I guess, but hey that's poker.

I tried to keep up the aggressive pressure, and I was actually quite proud of my more aggressive play when it got to three-up. It's not my character to play aggressively, but like I said before - given I have a usually tight table image, it really worked for me, I guess.

By the time it got to heads-up, it was over. The first heads up hand I got K-9o and raised. My opponent had to go all-in to call. He did and my high card held up. Game over.

I felt great about winning, but I'm also starting to feel a little bad. I have been winning a lot lately and even though "that's poker", these people are friends and I don't want anyone to think I'm out for blood or anything. On Sunday Dave went looking for instructional poker DVDs. I personally think that's fucking hilarious given I was the one ridiculed for reading all the poker books.

Next tournament is on July 7 at the American Legion. There's a potential for a great payout there, so I'm hoping I'll still be in the good favor of the poker gods and I'll finish better than last time!

No, I'm not talking about conditioning my hair, I'm talking about poker.

I'm presently in conditioning mode, gearing up for tomorrow's Second Annual $100 Buy-in Tournament. I'm conditioning myself to be able to stay awake and coherent if tomorrow's game goes late, so I'm staying awake as long as I possibly can tonight. It sucks that it's only 12:30 and I'm ready for bed NOW. It sucks even more that I had some kind of mysterious bug today that rendered me dizzy, nauseous, and with a killer headache.

Dave got home from work and said he wanted to go out to Cabela's and the hardware store... I had the beginnings of a headache so I downed two Alleve, put shoes on, and we went out. My headache was getting worse by the minute, so I kind of leaned back in the seat a little and closed my eyes. I don't know if it was motion sickness from keeping my eyes closed or what, but all of a sudden my face and roots of my hair started sweating, I felt sick to my stomach, tired, and dizzy. When we got out of the car at Cabela's I thought I was going to fall over. Thank goodness Cabela's has nice little benches around all the dead, stuffed animals because I thought I was going to hurl if I had to stay on my feet a minute longer. My headache was still there, too, and it's like my sense of smell was amplified times 1000. Everything stank to me, and it was making me more nauseous by the minute. After Dave found what he was looking for, I asked if we could just go home instead of jaunting off to the hardware store. When we got home, I went directly to bed - in theory a good idea, but I had the spins like I was hammered drunk. I don't know what the hell was going on. I felt so sick I was actually crying. Cragar, being his empathetic self, jumped up and licked my face, then laid by my head for awhile. I fell asleep, woke up two hours later and felt fine, but tired. I have no idea whatsoever what the hell it was, but I sincerely hope it does not decide to reappear tomorrow night. I'd hate to give up the poker game - but I will if I fear I'm going to hurl all over the poker table... Talk about tells - "These cards SUCK!"...BARF! It just sucks to get the spins when I didn't even enjoy any alcoholic beverages to get them.

Anyway, back to the poker, last year's tournament sucked the big one for me, so I'm hoping I can turn things around a bit this time. I must admit I'm a bit apprehensive, for three reasons:

One, last year people were playing like maniacs - bets and pot sizes like I've never seen - it was like everyone went temporarily insane. I don't do well with a table full of maniacs. I tend to get pissed off and start playing stupid. Yea, that's my problem that I have to control, but it's still a work in progress.

Two, we're playing with a couple of people we never played with before. I'm so used to playing with our regular group that when newcomers are there I get all messed up. Another reason why it's important for me to condition myself to stay awake and coherent so I can pay close attention.

Three, I'm kind of going into it with a bad superstitious feeling. We went on a poker bender the last several weeks - actually we did play 2 more weekends after that last post about the poker marathon, and there were only 3 weekends out of NINE that I didn't cash in. So I've been on a winning streak. I should feel good about that, right? Logically, yes, I should. Actually, no I don't. See, I've been winning at the small stakes games we've been playing recently. Winning at one of our $60 buy-ins and then outlasting 130 people in another tournament, I'm beginning to wonder how much of that was luck. Not luck in the sense that I was sucking out on people, but luck at picking up the right hands at the right time (of course, there's some skill involved in knowing what the hell to do with the right hands at the right time). What would have happened if I didn't get those important hands at the right time? I'd be out, most likely. So all in all, I'm not always so confident in my poker skills. I'm suspecting that tomorrow's game - the game that is going to pay the very very nice money that can either finance the IPL for my face or a new MacBook - will not provide the right hands at the right time - that the Poker Gods will say, "um, you've won enough in the last couple of weeks, give someone else a fucking chance, huh? NO MONEY FOR YOU!

Well, the time has advanced now to 1AM - I was hoping to stay up until at least 4, but I don't think it's going to happen. Maybe the extra sleep will do better for my concentration than staying awake. Only time will tell...