Adventures From the NH Seacoast to the Jersey Shore

The remnants of Hannah sped through yesterday so the lousy weather provided perfect conditions to go and play in the 1pm tournament @ the dog track. Strong showing of 146 players and I was very happy with my play reaching 12th place and into the money. After eight hours I got knocked out when I was down to a single $1K chip (enough for the Ante) and my chair. There was a guy in the tournament that never played live before that I got fairly aggravated with when we had someone all in and he bet into a dry side pot with nothing but an open ended straight draw. He did not understand the nuance of just trying to eliminate people from the tournament and two hands have a better shot than one. Sure enough I was forced to lay my AK down and the all-in ended up winning the pot…he would have chopped it with me otherwise. Funny part of the story is that afterwards we all explained the strategy to him…and I thought he got it. We’ll when I was down to my last chip, and all in, this guys bets into the dry side pot again, chasing everyone away. This time I was loving the guy as he provided me with the isolation I needed to possibly stay alive. The guy didn’t get it but I was okay with it this time. He had 10-J, same as last time. Must have been his favorite hand. I hit my 9 on the flop…he drilled his 10 on the river and that was it.

This poker tournament fell on day 5 of my cleanse. Once again, I was not hungry at all all day, even with guys snarfing cheeseburgers and onion rings all around me. Smelt real good..but I did not crave. Was very conscious about my breath (as it has gotten stinky) so I picked up some of those Listerine breath strips and that seemed to do the trick. I had a couple of bottles of water and in hindsight should have drank a lot more during the day. I did not stay as hydrated as I had in previous days so i skipped the SWF (will do it tonight). Good thing as I think I may have been a little dehydrated. Day 6(am) my piss was a really dark orange, almost red color. Kinda freaked me out.

Still have not weighed myself…will do it first thing tomorrow am.

We have all seen it happen.  The guy(or gal) with pocket aces pushes all in after the flop, gets a couple of callers and is then forced to watch the river card crack another pair of aces.  I had something similar happen last night.  In my opinion, a bit uglier.  I should also start this by noting what is described below happened early in a tournament while the ratio of good:bad players is probably 1:5. 

After flopping top two pair(jacks and nines) my opponent bet out with $500.  I pushed all in figuring he held AJ or KJ.  Sure enough he had AJ and we then both watched the dealer peel off running Qs, effectively counterfieting my hand and sending me to the parking lot.  Could that hand have been played differently?  What if I waited to the turn?

Waiting to push after the turn card may provide you a much better picture where you stand and also give you the ability to do the right thing and lay your pre-turn monster down.  I think we are all pre-programmed to push all in pre-flop or after smashing a flop.  What about pushing after the turn? 

Before making this decision you must size up your opponent. The turn card was a Q.  Against an experienced player, a push after the turn may be the right move as his top pair top kicker has just been squashed.  AJ would be an easy laydown.  Against a less experienced player, they are most likely not going to get off the hand.  They don’t see the queen.  They are not calculating their outs.  Which by the way are now 10 (if I put them on AJ or KJ).  Pushing here has now gone from a dominating position to somewhat of a gamble.  Not something you want to put your tournament life on.

Your success in this game is not determined by the hands you win; but the hands you fold.   Putting your ego aside and making big laydowns(when necessary) should be an essential part of your game if you play on going deep and cashing in large field tournaments.  If you think you may be beat…you probably are.  You can always win the chips back…you cannot rebuy into the tournament.

Next time I feel the urge to push all my chips into the middle post flop, I think I am going to get a better understanding of where I stand and wait for that turn card.

Two days ago I entered a pot raising 3x the BB under the gun with a 6d-10d.  Yes..I know that is suicide..but I wanted to play some poker,  get the weak-mid strong aces out, see who was left and hit a flop.  One gentleman obliged and called my bet after everyone else folded.

The flop came Ks-9h-2c.  Wow! I totally missed that flop and guessed my opponent did as well so I bet out 400.  He smooth called me.   

The turn hits with a Jd, ok…now I am at least on a flush draw.  I still did not believe the card helped him so I bet out another 700.  My opponent called which left him with 300 behind.  The only thing going through my mind is that he as an ace and is just praying it hits.  The river card is a 5c and as expected my opponent throws his last 300 in.  I am left with nothing to do but call and get ready for the public humiliation of showing my hand.

I flip over my junk…my opponent flips over a pair of threes.  I could not believe it!  I was about to congratulate him until he sniped at me, “I knew you had nothing!”.  Believe me, this guy was no Nostradamus and I obviously had everyone else at the table with 1/2 a brain and respect for their chip stacks fooled.

This guy was not going away with the pair of threes, or probably would not have with an Ace as I suspected he had.  The idiom held true, you cannot bluff a donkey.  I should have layed down my hand after the flop; but I knew he had nothing.  I just did not have the sense to figure out his nothing was better than my nothing.

Next time at the table, be sure to sniff out those players as described above because they are the ones that will do the most damage to your stack. 

Don’t worry, I am not going to cry out some type of sob story about how I lost a hand with pocket aces this past Monday at the opening event of the Foxwoods Poker Classic.  That would be boring cause thousands of people every day get their aces ‘cracked’.  

My story begins with sitting down at my table and finding Syracuse Chris Tsiprailidis to my left.   Was not too happy with that.  Within the 1st 20 minutes blinds at 25/50 I am dealt pocket AA.  Many things going through my head.  Raise and get Chris out, or limp and maybe get a chance to chip up early.   I decide to play Russian roulette and limp in (I am two away from the button, Chris is the small blind).  Dealer peels a 7-9-10 flop.   Chris tosses 400 into the pot and announces he just flopped the nuts.  The player to my right calls and I decide to see where he is really at and raise 1,500.  Chris pushes all-in.  I am thinking now, ‘Did he really flop the nuts?’  It does not matter because the guy to my right calls the all in.  With that board and two all ins in front of me laying down the aces and licking my wounds for putting 1900 into the pot was easy to do.

Sure enough, Chris flopped the nuts.  Guy to my right flopped 2 pair and thought Chris was full of it (as I did too initially).

I should be sending Chris and gift basket for going all in because if he did not, I am still in the hand and most likely pushing all my chips in on the turn.  I was kicking myself for limping in; but after replaying the hand I am not so sure I would have gotten my opponents to fold with a raise and after a pre-flop raise I am sure Chris would not have come over the top like he did.  I think the outcome would have been the same with Chris winning the hand but with me exiting the tournament very early.   I believe I forced his post flop all in because I did limp in, and he wanted me to fold any chance I was playing a draw on a gut-shot higher straight.

I know better then to limp in with AA but the craps player in me took over and decided to play the gamble.  Next time on a flop like that, I will let my opponent make the first big move and make the laydown that I know I am capable of.

The next time you are at casino and decide to cash in someone else’s chips or accept chips from someone as repayment of a debt…you’d better think twice.

I guess I always knew the chips are the property of the casino.  If you find a $100 chip on the floor technically…it is not yours, it is the casinos and should be turned in (yeah right!).  Well this takes it to a whole new level.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/lv-other/2007/mar/09/566687025.html

For the past seven years I have run my own technology consulting firm, Arten Technology Group, Inc.  Yes, I know the web site is out of date but it is currently being revamped so be patient.  Running my own business has been a great experience and we have done well for the past seven years focusing primarily on IT consulting and custom software development in the financial services/insurance industry.   While developing software for the calculation of projected death benefits or predictive modeling of prospect to customer transitions may not be the most exciting subject to discuss across a coffee table; it does pay the bills.

A while back, my wife pulled me aside and commented on my interest in poker and said I should build “some kinda software” for poker.  I wish it were that easy…and with approx 10,000 online poker sites out there already…that idea was already taken.  It was always in the back of my mind and it was not until about 8 months ago when a unique opportunity presented itself and we are now where we are at today.

Early this week, a project of mine finally launched , No Limits VIP Club.  There is a lot to this, some on the sight more to follow in the near future.  But to provide you with the elevator speech, “No Limits VIP Club is going to be one of the leading tournament poker and tournament blackjack affinity groups in the country providing its members and marketing partners with priveledged access to opportunities unique only to the No Limits community. 

If you are a member of the poker community (from the tournament circuit to the Thursday night home game)…don’t be shy.  Start contributing to our community at one of No Limits’  public forums and I look forward to bringing my vision to you in the near future.