--- The caffeine high ---
I had an other session at Black Hawk on Saturday. My previous two sessions were so good by my standards that I was excited about getting up there and having another big session. Plus I ran into some traffic on the way there last week so I thought I'd get on the road early and miss some traffic. I didn't have time to finish my coffee so I took it along for the 1.5 hour trip from Fort Collins to Black Hawk. I was almost there when I realized I never finished my coffee and I hate to let things go to waste so I gulped it down in the last few minutes before my arrival at the Golden Gates casino. That is when I broke rule 4 of poker, don't drink and play. This means both alcohol and caffeine. I'll drink beer and play poker only when I'm in it for the fun, not to make money. Coffee is a different story, it makes me aggressive, even reckless. So after downing a full cup of cold, black coffee I headed to the poker room ready to book another monster winning session.
I got seated almost immediately. There wasn't much chat at this table. All male and at least two frequent regulars. I love it when a new dealer sits down says hello to a player using his first name. Even the waitresses knew these guys. I knew to steer clear of these guys but the others were mostly unknowns at this point. The dealer started hitting me with cards. AJo in the CO, KQ s in the BB, 88, AK o. Hands that I wanted to see a flop with. But they all came with a preflop raise from one of the other players. $10, $7, $12 preflop and then I would miss the flop and a c-bet from the raiser would send my hand sailing into the muck.
Before I knew it my $100 was down to $40. That's when I realized what had happened. The coffee was making me play too many hands and call with too many draws. I stood up and walked away. I grabbed a sandwich from the Full House cafe and returned to the table. Rebuy. The next few orbits I'm folding everything preflop. ATo UTG didn't look so good anymore. Discipline. I win a two $7 pots then see K3o in the BB and a limp pot. The flop hits me hard, K3X and I lead out for $7. I bet the turn and the hit a boat on the river. My river bet gets paid off and my stack starts moving in the right direction. I get lucky in another pot with QTs when I flop top pair and lead out. One player behind calls and by the river I hit Broadway which saved my butt against his two pair KJ.
Sorry for being a bit terse this week but morale this week was not about the hands but about the player. I let the coffee drive my play. I find it isn't such a big factor if I've been at the table for a few hours and order a drink, but when I first sit down I need to be focused and tight until I know how the table is playing.
I finished the day up a little. I quit shortly after I got ahead which leads me to another question. How ofter should a low stakes live cash game player book winning sessions and what is a reasonable dollars/hour return rate. I was reviewing a blog from the Poker Grump and it seems he books about an 80% win rate and maybe $50-$100/hour. This seems fantastic. I'm booking about 50% and $5/hr, but I have much less data than the Grump.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Goin' Fishing
--- How NOT to play Aces ---
I finally got back to Black Hawk this weekend and although I didn't play long, I saw a few interesting hands. Like most casinos, the cash tables have auto-shufflers and the tournament tables don't. Shortly after I sat down it was time for a dealer change. As the departing dealer got up from the table his foot caught the electrical plug for the auto-shuffler and pulled it out of the socket. Not only did he pull it out of the socket, but he ripped one of the prongs off of the plug in the process. I like the auto-shuffers not only because they're fast, but because they count the cards after every hand. This would become a factor in a later hand.
I had bought in a little short, only $100 to start. That's not too unusual for the 1-2 tables in Black Hawk but I like it because I can call all-in bets pretty easily. A few hands after the shuffler broke I was dealt JJ in middle position. I was in the 7 seat and limped. The 9 seat limped and both the blinds played. There was one other limper before me for a total of 5 players in a limp pot. I had thought about raising, but I felt tight and figured I would have to fold to any re-raise. So we all saw a flop of K-J-?. Bingo! I had flopped a set. The action went check-check-check and I fired $7 into a $10 pot and seat 9 popped it to $20. Everyone else folded. Back to me and anyone who looked close enough could see my heart popping out of my chest it was going so fast. I re-raised all-in for another $69. Seat 9 only thought for a second and called. Some people can't get away from an over pair.
Here's my translation of the flop bets...
ME: I think I have the best hand, I bet 70% of the pot I'm right.
Seat 9: I have a better hand than you, I bet 110% of the pot.
ME: No, you're wrong, I really do have the best hand. Here's $69 into a pot of $37 to prove it.
Seat 9: I hope you only have top pair. I call.
I guess he didn't hear me properly.
Seat 9 bricked out the turn and the river and his Aces got cracked by JJ. He ignored my 3 bet and lost. I am happy with the outcome of course, but what action would have got him to fold?
Anyway, several hands later we started to have some dealer problems. I'm watching the first round of cards go out to seats 9 and 10 and the dealer only throws one card to seat 9 and skips seat 10. He doesn't stop until the SB has two cards and looks at them. Seat 10 notifies the dealer of the error and we have a misdeal. The dealer is puzzled because he thought he dealt everyone a card. He collects the cards, reshuffles and the next 2 hands proceed properly. In the third hand seat 5 and 10 see a flop and a lot of betting ensues. As seat 10 places a big re-raise someone notices a third card in front of seat 5, partially under the cushion. The floor is called and the dealer assures the floor that player 5's cards were protected. The floor instructs the dealer to muck the third card and continue play. I did not get involved, but I think the third card should have been placed back into the deck and shuffled once. It is still a live card and should have a chance to come out. The dealer should also have switched decks after the misdeal three hands earlier or at least have counted the cards to make sure the deck is right. The auto-shuffler would have caught the missing card.
Finally, this hand is about the finer points of betting rules. The button's on seat 2. Seat 5 limps UTG and it folds to seat 9 who pops it to $10 total. It folds back to the button who shoves AI for $18 total. Seat 5 calls and seat 9 raises to $110 total. The dealer tells seat 5 its now $110 total and seat 5 protests saying that the $18 did not constitute a legal raise so seat 9 shouldn't be allowed to re-raise. Initially it sounds right, if it wasn't a minimum raise than it can't be re-raised. But it was a minimum raise. Seat 9 initially raised to $10, that's an $8 raise. The min raise is now $8 more, $18 total. We are so used to thinking the minimum raise needs to be twice the last bet, but it only need to be twice the incremental amount. BTW, it turns out seat 9 had AA, seat 5 had AK and wanted to see a flop for cheap. We never knew what seat 2 had.
I had a good run of cards and finished up a fair amount. I don't think I'll go back this weekend even though we have Monday off. I think I'll sit on my win until next weekend.
I finally got back to Black Hawk this weekend and although I didn't play long, I saw a few interesting hands. Like most casinos, the cash tables have auto-shufflers and the tournament tables don't. Shortly after I sat down it was time for a dealer change. As the departing dealer got up from the table his foot caught the electrical plug for the auto-shuffler and pulled it out of the socket. Not only did he pull it out of the socket, but he ripped one of the prongs off of the plug in the process. I like the auto-shuffers not only because they're fast, but because they count the cards after every hand. This would become a factor in a later hand.
I had bought in a little short, only $100 to start. That's not too unusual for the 1-2 tables in Black Hawk but I like it because I can call all-in bets pretty easily. A few hands after the shuffler broke I was dealt JJ in middle position. I was in the 7 seat and limped. The 9 seat limped and both the blinds played. There was one other limper before me for a total of 5 players in a limp pot. I had thought about raising, but I felt tight and figured I would have to fold to any re-raise. So we all saw a flop of K-J-?. Bingo! I had flopped a set. The action went check-check-check and I fired $7 into a $10 pot and seat 9 popped it to $20. Everyone else folded. Back to me and anyone who looked close enough could see my heart popping out of my chest it was going so fast. I re-raised all-in for another $69. Seat 9 only thought for a second and called. Some people can't get away from an over pair.
Here's my translation of the flop bets...
ME: I think I have the best hand, I bet 70% of the pot I'm right.
Seat 9: I have a better hand than you, I bet 110% of the pot.
ME: No, you're wrong, I really do have the best hand. Here's $69 into a pot of $37 to prove it.
Seat 9: I hope you only have top pair. I call.
I guess he didn't hear me properly.
Seat 9 bricked out the turn and the river and his Aces got cracked by JJ. He ignored my 3 bet and lost. I am happy with the outcome of course, but what action would have got him to fold?
Anyway, several hands later we started to have some dealer problems. I'm watching the first round of cards go out to seats 9 and 10 and the dealer only throws one card to seat 9 and skips seat 10. He doesn't stop until the SB has two cards and looks at them. Seat 10 notifies the dealer of the error and we have a misdeal. The dealer is puzzled because he thought he dealt everyone a card. He collects the cards, reshuffles and the next 2 hands proceed properly. In the third hand seat 5 and 10 see a flop and a lot of betting ensues. As seat 10 places a big re-raise someone notices a third card in front of seat 5, partially under the cushion. The floor is called and the dealer assures the floor that player 5's cards were protected. The floor instructs the dealer to muck the third card and continue play. I did not get involved, but I think the third card should have been placed back into the deck and shuffled once. It is still a live card and should have a chance to come out. The dealer should also have switched decks after the misdeal three hands earlier or at least have counted the cards to make sure the deck is right. The auto-shuffler would have caught the missing card.
Finally, this hand is about the finer points of betting rules. The button's on seat 2. Seat 5 limps UTG and it folds to seat 9 who pops it to $10 total. It folds back to the button who shoves AI for $18 total. Seat 5 calls and seat 9 raises to $110 total. The dealer tells seat 5 its now $110 total and seat 5 protests saying that the $18 did not constitute a legal raise so seat 9 shouldn't be allowed to re-raise. Initially it sounds right, if it wasn't a minimum raise than it can't be re-raised. But it was a minimum raise. Seat 9 initially raised to $10, that's an $8 raise. The min raise is now $8 more, $18 total. We are so used to thinking the minimum raise needs to be twice the last bet, but it only need to be twice the incremental amount. BTW, it turns out seat 9 had AA, seat 5 had AK and wanted to see a flop for cheap. We never knew what seat 2 had.
I had a good run of cards and finished up a fair amount. I don't think I'll go back this weekend even though we have Monday off. I think I'll sit on my win until next weekend.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
The perfect setup
Or alternately titled.... Any two cards.
I missed Black Hawk last week due to snow. At 9000 feet it gets slushy by day and icy at night. With no guard rails or street lamps comming down the hill at night you take you life in your hands. So I've been jonesing for a game and tonight I hit the 6:30 tourney here in Fort Collins. We had a decent turnout, 3 tables plus a few alternates. I'd been playing 2.5 hours and won one hand. My 8k starting stack was down to 6k. Blinds were up to 400-800 and I was sick of looking at 6-2o and folding my BB to anyone who raised. I knew I had to make something happen soon.
I was in MP and peeked down at 77. I figured it was likely the best hand preflop, but I didn't expect it to win at showdown if I limped in and got maybe 1 caller plus the blinds. There was 1200 in the pot and 6000 in my stack. I shoved all in and everyone folded. There hadn't been much shoving at the table, so my action met with a few disgruntled comments especially from the blinds. I was glad to ship my second pot of the night and increase my stack by 20%.
I'm still the short stack at the table and the very next hand I look down at JKo and in UTG+1 I shove again. More complaintes from the table, but everyone folds. My 6k stack is now 8.4k and I feel like I need to slow down before I get caught and called by a bigger hand or a situation where I'm only marginally ahead.
Now I'm UTG and peek down at the Hilton sisters. It didn't take long to figure out how to play them, the choice was obvious. Everyone thought I was shoving just to steal the blinds. I could have been bluffing but no one called and I never showed. A third shove would probably get a call from someone who was sick of me shoving every hand. I shoved a third time. As luck would have it everyone folded around to the big blind who was first or second in chips at my table (we were down to 2 tables at this point). He counted out a call, 7200 which was maybe 1/4 of his stack. He thought about it for a bit. I tried to talk him into a call. It was the perfect setup, it looked a lot like I was bluffing but I actually had a monster hand. I wanted a caller and only one. This was my chance to double up and hurt one of the chip leaders all in one hand.
With 7200 chips in his hand he reached out and tossed them in the pot like he knew he was giving them away. His call was accompanied by the comment "Oh, what the hell..." and he flipped over 56s. I should do the odds, how far ahead was I really? What are the chances of him hitting a 6 on the flop and a 5 on the turn? What are the odds that the board wouldn't pair one of the other two cards on the river so I could make my own 2 pair? Why would anyone pay 7200 to win 9600?
Well, I had fun.
I missed Black Hawk last week due to snow. At 9000 feet it gets slushy by day and icy at night. With no guard rails or street lamps comming down the hill at night you take you life in your hands. So I've been jonesing for a game and tonight I hit the 6:30 tourney here in Fort Collins. We had a decent turnout, 3 tables plus a few alternates. I'd been playing 2.5 hours and won one hand. My 8k starting stack was down to 6k. Blinds were up to 400-800 and I was sick of looking at 6-2o and folding my BB to anyone who raised. I knew I had to make something happen soon.
I was in MP and peeked down at 77. I figured it was likely the best hand preflop, but I didn't expect it to win at showdown if I limped in and got maybe 1 caller plus the blinds. There was 1200 in the pot and 6000 in my stack. I shoved all in and everyone folded. There hadn't been much shoving at the table, so my action met with a few disgruntled comments especially from the blinds. I was glad to ship my second pot of the night and increase my stack by 20%.
I'm still the short stack at the table and the very next hand I look down at JKo and in UTG+1 I shove again. More complaintes from the table, but everyone folds. My 6k stack is now 8.4k and I feel like I need to slow down before I get caught and called by a bigger hand or a situation where I'm only marginally ahead.
Now I'm UTG and peek down at the Hilton sisters. It didn't take long to figure out how to play them, the choice was obvious. Everyone thought I was shoving just to steal the blinds. I could have been bluffing but no one called and I never showed. A third shove would probably get a call from someone who was sick of me shoving every hand. I shoved a third time. As luck would have it everyone folded around to the big blind who was first or second in chips at my table (we were down to 2 tables at this point). He counted out a call, 7200 which was maybe 1/4 of his stack. He thought about it for a bit. I tried to talk him into a call. It was the perfect setup, it looked a lot like I was bluffing but I actually had a monster hand. I wanted a caller and only one. This was my chance to double up and hurt one of the chip leaders all in one hand.
With 7200 chips in his hand he reached out and tossed them in the pot like he knew he was giving them away. His call was accompanied by the comment "Oh, what the hell..." and he flipped over 56s. I should do the odds, how far ahead was I really? What are the chances of him hitting a 6 on the flop and a 5 on the turn? What are the odds that the board wouldn't pair one of the other two cards on the river so I could make my own 2 pair? Why would anyone pay 7200 to win 9600?
Well, I had fun.
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