Category: Poker

We met up with Wil Wheaton briefly after the show.

But hey, whether it’s a $5 event, a $30 event, or a $10,000 event, I think you feel the same way when you suffer a bad beat or fight your way to the win. How long that feeling lasts, well… that’s different.

At my first table last night, the guy in the 9 seat was on his second or third buy-in since I sat down. He raised to $15 in late position preflop and got a couple callers, including the big guy who’d river’d his gutshot straight against me (Mr. Bad Beat). The flop came up all rags. It was checked to the 9 seat and he immediately moved all-in. It folded around to Mr. Bad Beat in seat 5, who was sitting behind $500 or more and was trying to decide what to do. The 9 seat looked straight at Mr. Bad Beat and pleaded, “Please. No more bad beats. Just fold.”

Mr. Bad Beat folded and the 9 seat flipped up his pocket queens for the win.

When you’ve got what is most likely to be the winning hand against a loose caller who can double you up and you’re begging him to fold, you should get up from the table.

Well I just lost two buy-ins at the $100 NLHE tables at Hollywood Park. But the funny thing is that I feel pretty good about it. I got my chips in with the best hand and lost ’em on the river.

I call with 6c 7c in middle to late position (seat 6) when it’s raised behind me to $15 (5xBB). Three people call in front of me, making the pot approximately $63. I figure getting better than 5:1 is good odds and call. The flop comes 367 with two suited cards. The 4 seat bets $25 and seat 5 calls. The pot is now $125 and I have $85 left. I raise all-in, there are two folds, and seats 4 and 5 call. Uh oh. Seat 4 shows T7 for top pair, no kicker, drawing to 3 outs + the runner-runner straight and backdoor flush, and seat 5 shows 65 for second pair and the gutshot, drawing to 4 outs + running fives. Turn doesn’t improve anyone’s hand and the river’s a 4.

Rebuy!

I follow HDouble to Grubby’s table with $85 after an orbit or two and sit down in the big blind. I’m dealt Q3 and get to see the flop for free. Flop comes down Q32 and I bet the pot–$10. HDouble calls in seat 8 and Grubby makes Baby Jesus weep in seat 5. I raise to $40 and HDouble folds. Grubby calls. Turn comes a K and I bet $20. Grubby makes some comment about my stupid two pair in the big blind and folds with a grin. I turn over my cards and take the pot.

I get dealt JJ in late position and raise to $15. Seat 2 calls, as does Grubby. Damn it, Grubby, stop calling my bets! It’s checked to me on the Q high flop, I bet $30, and everyone folds. Now I’m sitting on $170 or so, and feeling pretty good.

I’m down to $150 when I get dealt two black aces on the button. Sweet. A few limpers come in and the cutoff raises to $14. I smooth-call the $14 (the table had appeared to be somewhat tight), but HDouble and two others call, making me a little worried. The flop comes 89J and I’m wondering how much I need to raise to chase any tens out of the pot. The pot is about $70 and the preflop raiser bets $50. Once again, I smooth-call, figuring $50 is too pricey for anyone to call (odds be damned). The rest of the table folds. The turn brings a 10 and all of a sudden I’m thinking I might have slowplayed my aces to death. My opponent bets $50 again, I think for a while, and figure I’m probably still ahead and raise all-in for $86. He calls with KJ, and is drawing to 9 outs. The river brings a K and I’m out another buy-in.

No rebuy this time. I wonder a little if I could have chased him out on the flop, but I don’t think so. He was new to the table, but few people at these casinos make good laydowns.

But like I said, I feel good about my play, which is a lot better than how I’ve been feeling for the past week or so. If my hands had held up, I’d have over six times my initial buy-in. It’s just too bad live poker is rigged.

By the way, if you want to hear Hank grousing all night, sit at a low-limit NL table with him with a bad blind structure. 🙂

Lately poker has been a lot of blah. And when I say lately, I really mean the past week. Or maybe the past few weeks. Not sure. Anyway, it was great when it was a procrastination tool. Not only could I avoid doing my work, but I was making steady profits everyday. But more recently I feel like I’ve sort of lost focus and as a result have lost far too many chips. I keep jumping from NLHE SNGs to NLHE to Limit HE to Razz and back again. Worse yet, I find myself chasing lost money or a big score and turning a small positive tally into a negative one, or a small negative tally into a larger one.

The only bright spot has been a couple of SNGs where I felt like I was making some good plays against weaker opponents, making it to first and second. I wore away at smaller stacks through consistent stealing, mixing in some folds in the SB and on the button to keep my credibility.

Unfortunately these finishes have been the exception rather than the rule. This style of play clicks on when I have a stack to work with, otherwise I’m just sitting there and folding trash hand after trash hand waiting and hoping for a big hand to come along. With the short levels on the Full Tilt SNGs, this just isn’t possible. You have to accumulate chips and can’t just wait for aces or kings to save your weak-tight ass in level 6.

But at least these moments of above-average play exist. I’ve been thinking for a little while now that I really need to hone my tournament play. I tend to gravitate towards the cash games since they reward patience, but it really does get boring as hell sometimes. Tournaments can be more fulfilling not only because of the big score, but also because of the overarching narrative. It’s not just one damn hand after another, but a chain of hands that take you from beginning to middle to end, where any missteps could leave you on that dreaded page where you get eaten by a prehistoric carnivorous plant. But there is a goal, and that’s where all the money is.

And of course with the Poker Shelly (FTP), the Poker Bob (PS), the Poker Joe (PP), the Poker Geek (FTP), and the Poker Nerd (PS) all wending their ways successfully through several tournaments in the past couple weeks, I can’t help wanting to tag along.

At the very least, this way I only lose $10 or $20 at a time, and not my freaking buy-in when I monkey-play my overpair against a flopped set.

So. I’ve got my Harrington on Hold ’em. I’ve got my bankroll. And I’ve got lots of bookmarks in case I need to go back and follow the other path. Let’s go.

A reminder:

ACME: A Day in the Life
Saturday, April 30, 2005
8PM
ACME Comedy Theatre
135 N. La Brea Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 525-0202
Price: $15

Several of us are going to support poker player/blogger/writer/actor Wil Wheaton and hit the tables at Commerce or the Bike afterwards. If we’re lucky we’ll get to hear the WPT rundown from the man himself.