Live Poker

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Robert Spencer via NYT

Is the ish.  It's fun. It's social. It's challenging. It makes you think.

I told you yesterday that I found some new games as a result of playing in last weekend's tournament. Last night's game ($1/$3) was a blast - dealers, drinks, dinner, masseuse, safe and friendly. I sat next to one of my elected representatives and across from a couple of dentists at a 10-handed table. I bought in for $200 but most bought in for $500.

I had some great results over four hours but got in trouble when I got dealt As for the 5th (I'm not kidding) time, this time in the SB. I'd grown my stack from $200 to nearly $700, and had just mentioned that "maybe I should leave now!"

Nearly a family pot limps to me, and I pop it to $45, two callers. Flop comes K8x and I lead out for $100. One fold, next guy insta-shoves. I look at him and know he's got a set. I ask him if he's got a set. He just looks at me, pretty much telling me yes, he's got a set. I know better than to call here, but you guessed it, I called.  I don't know why. I just heard every instinct telling me to fold, and I ignored it. So, instead of leaving a really big winner (for me, anyway), I had to learn a really easy lesson the hard way. 

Looking forward to next week.

Scenes from a Road Trip...

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Spring Break 2011, we headed to the mountains...and we brought a few things...

Five minutes on the road and someone already needed a pitspot...

On the road, there was a lot to see:

We thought the PoPo was going to shut us down, but we just got a warning, wheeeeee!

West Texas is beautiful, even through a bug splattered window:

We finally get to @EvryDaySaturday's cabin, it was late...

You know it was her cabin because of all the crosses:

 The rest of the time was spent hiking, fishing, skiing and playing...

Mama even got in some poker time:

...and it was fun!

Road trip home was long but fun (even though we did get a ticket) and the girls were great.  We pitstopped at the Alien Museum in Roswell:

Road trips are a blast and I highly recommend them. But I do have to admit that if I never hear another Justin Bieber song or see/smell those crappy Slim Jim's (which I do not eat!) again, that'll be just fine by me.  Well, at least until the next road trip.  

Super Moon 2011

Before I finish up this post, I wanted to share about the $1/$2 cash games I got to play.  As I said on twitter, I was a little worried to sit down and try my hand.  The first night, I sat down with $200 and within 40 minutes, I was able to walk away with $400.  I played three hands during that time and got lucky with a flopped set of 7s that paid off nicely and an AQs raise from the BU that earned nicely too.

The second night, I sat down again with $200.  I played tightly and conservatively and the hands I showed down were Ts and AKs.  But then I wrangled with Tom...a grizzled poker and Korean War veteran who'd been at the tables each time I'd gone by the poker room.

When I sat down, Tom was sitting in front of about $800.  Within a few orbits, I grew my own stack to about $350 and was having a really nice time talking to Daniel and Angela, both of whom were on my immediate left.  I learned that Angela was a (winning) regular, having moved from a small West Texas town to try her hand at professional pokering in Ruidoso.  She was the best kind of regular - a true player, but the kind who made players feel good losing their stacks to her.  Given that she was two to my left, I knew I needed to be careful with my starting hands.

Tom's stack continued to grow - if everyone limped, he'd raise big in position and usually take down the pot preflop or with a flop c-bet.  If he had a good hand in EP, he'd raise it up and make you pay to play (his showdowns from EP raises were Qs and AKs, but I'd also see him get to SD w/ Q7s).  At one point, I tried to initiate some conversation with him, but he wasn't having it. So, I remarked on his poker face.  He just looked at me - not menacingly, but not necessarily friendly.  The next hand, he raises and I come along with a caller in front of me.  Tom c-bets the flop and the other player calls, but I fold.  Tom ends up taking down a pretty big pot and finally gives me a smile, saying, "I wanted you to stay in that pot!"  We laughed and all was fun and games as he continues to roll over the table.

Finally, Tom raises to $13 from UTG and he gets one caller from MP.  I look down at AcTc in the hijack position and for some pretty dumb reason, I decide this is the hand I'm going to tangle with Tom. I make it $30 to go.  Everyone folds save Tom and the MP caller.  Flop comes xx4c.  Checks to me and I make it $55.  Tom calls and MP calls (and is all in).  I was hoping with the c-bet, I'd get everyone out and take down a nice pot.  Plans foiled...now what?

Turn brings another c and the board is all lower cards.  At this point, I know Tom has a big hand, a pair of something - I'm thinking Ts or better, and he's beating the current board, at least with one pair.  And when MP called, I figured him for a set.  I have nothing but a long shot flush draw and the need for an A to fall to beat at least one of them or so I'm thinking.  This pot is huge and I want it.

Tom checks to me and I put in one stack ($100) and have one left behind.  Maybe I should've checked this turn card, but I have represented a huge hand pre flop, on the flop, and I'm going to continue representing that, so I bet.  Tom just calls.  If he had raised and put me all-in?  Would pot odds have dictated a call?  (using the Rule of 4 and 2* on the turn, the pot was approximately $400 and I had 9 outs to complete my flush and 3 outs to give me a pair of As.  So, 12 x 2 = a 24% chance of making my hand.  I only had $100 behind, so all I could call was $100 into a $400 pot...pots odds are more than the percentage of making my hand...I don't know if I could have or should have folded in that hypo.  And I think it's safe to say that he DID put me on a big hand, otherwise, why didn't he raise me on the flop or the turn?)

River card to come and I'm praying for a club.  Dealer burns and turns.  And BOOM.  Club.

Tom checks to me.  I slowly move my last stack in and he calls.  I'm embarrassed that I've river flushed but elated that it came.  I can hardly even look at Tom or anyone else at the table because I know I got lucky.  Tom turns over Qs, MP shows his flopped set of 4s and they all just stare agape at my rivered nut flush.

Tom doesn't speak and Angela whispers, "I never would've put you on that, girl." I tell her, "I got lost in that hand and then I got lucky" and she nods emphatically, yes.

And there you have it.  I don't think I'm completely over my trepidation of playing cash poker, but I do feel better after these two experiences, though I know I've still got a lot to learn.

Later gators and good luck at the tables!

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*I saw a great video on the Rule of 4 and 2 by Kara Scott for Party Poker, but I can't find it for the life of me....I'll edit and link to it if I find it. and found it again today so...EDIT 3/25/11 to include link to the Party Poker video...good stuff.  Thanks, Kara (on the extremely off chance she'd be reading this...but still...)

A comment to my last (cash game) post

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For some reason, Larry's entire comment wasn't going through in the comments section of my last post.  It's good stuff, though, and I wanted to cut and paste it here in the hopes that his advice will help others, like me, who are struggling with their cash game play.

Larry's comments, and those of Loach, Vera and Ric, are just a few of the reasons why I love blogging, poker, and COMMENTS!  Thanks for reading and commenting, guys.

Larry (@Berroya on Twitter), said:

"Everything I'm about to say is an over-generalization, but the points are useful to learn from.

There are two components to being good at cash games: strategy (when to bet, raise, fold) and emotional control. You seem to be conflating the two a bit, and I've found it helpful to set separate goals for each, and working on them separately. 

Strategically, players who are serious about the game tend to start by trying to figure out what standard or perceived "correct" lines are, by emulating things they see in videos, read in books, hear on forums, etc. It is possible to be a slightly winning player with this approach (although it's getting tougher and tougher), especially at the micros, but it's hard to ever get good from here.

Really successful strategy involves *thinking*. People call it a lot of different things: hand reading, hand ranges, exploiting tendencies...but it all comes down to the same thing: what action will give me the most EV against *this* opponent in *this* situation given the totality of the information I have. Sometimes folding bottom set is the most +EV play. Sometimes shoving second pair is.

Now, your instincts are right -- as a starting point -- at the levels you're playing, because the best play is often to value bet until they play back at you, then fold. But it's never that simple, and I'd encourage you to avoid the pitfall of simple formulas like "I have to get it in with the nuts" and start thinking more actively about things like whether someone stacking you with the nuts was the bottom or the top of villain's range.

On emotional control, it's really as simple as doing everything you can to ensure you're playing your A game all the time, i.e. that your decisions are based 100% on EV and that you are in the state of mind to calculate +EV plays to the best of your ability. For some people it's playing with a big bankroll. For some people it's a stop loss. For some people it's short sessions. Personally, I purposely avoid knowing where I'm at in a session. I pre-determine how long I'm going to play (I have made myself create a chart that I put next to my computer, and a stopwatch to time sessions), I have a strict rule that I *never* look at the cashier while I'm playing, and for the duration of the session I focus on the tables and nothing else. I never play more than an hour without taking a break, and before I start a new session I evaluate my mental state. If I'm tired, tilting from losing 3 buy-ins, hungry, distracted by a basketball game on TV, whatever, I simply don't start the session.

This works for me, and you have to figure out what works for you. I very strongly recommend finding whatever you can by Tommy Angelo (he wrote a great book and has a great video series on deuces cracked) and going from there.

Hope this helps. Good luck."

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I've Got a Serious Problem with Cash...

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...cash games, that is.

I've written before about how I began my online cash career in a horrible way: I took 3d in a pretty big $11 MTT, thought that meant I knew how to play poker, sat down at a $1/2 6-handed cash game and proceeded to give away a big chunk of that score.

Since then (late 2009), I've had a real mental issue with playing any cash ring games.

Last year, after not even looking at the cash tables, I took another shot, but played down at the safer $.02/.05 level. Got comfortable there and moved up to the $.10/.25 stake. I feel like I can beat this level. But.

But. Until recently, even though I'm following BR mgmt, I was not following any kind of stop loss planning. Also, when I lose a buyin, I chase that loss to try to at least get back to even. And, I'm also apparently delusional because it's like I have some weird wiring in my brain that makes me refuse to believe it when an opponent's actions indicate that I'm beat. Instead, I am basically saying to that opponent, "here, please take my money because I think I'm a better player than you and have a better hand, even in the face of evidence otherwise."

Am I the only moron who's ever played that way? It is the absolute stupidest, most insane way to play ring poker. But. That's the way I've been playing it.

I'm really tired of it.

I'm also quite embarassed to admit it. And even though my cash game has improved since 2009, it's my tournament play that saves and increases my bankroll and shouldn't it be the other way around?

I blog to be disciplined about my poker. When I write about it, I have to be truthful because as I write about it, I see the things I need to be doing instead to play better, to play my A game. But being honest also kind of sucks because it forces me to see that I'm not one of those players I always hear about and read about (you know, the ones who deposited $50 and turned it into millions). It's taken me 2+ years and I still feel like I know nothing about this game. It can be pretty discouraging at times. Ok, a lot of the time.

So, here are a few things I'm doing to improve my cash game:

1. Quitting when I lose one buyin. Maybe given the variance in poker this too low (my buyin is $20), but until I can better control my tilt, I've got to just quit while I'm ahe...*ahem* $20 in the hole. It's better than being $40 or $60, etc etc.

2. Before putting my entire stack into the middle, I have to be able to affirmatively answer yes to the following question: "Am I 100% positive I have the nuts here?"

Until I can get much better at those two things, I've got to slow down my cash game play.

And that's pretty much it.

What helped you with your cash game? Any advice you can share?

We're off to New Mexico tomorrow for Spring Break. I hope you guys get some time off, too. In the meantime, good luck at the tables!

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