New Poker Blog

I've decided to put my Poker musings on another blog site.  Visit here for my thoughts on Poker - http://palalpoker.blogspot.com/

This Week In Poker

This has been my best week in poker overall.  I started this week with $80 in my Full Tilt Poker Account.  Today I have $220 in my Full Tilt Poker account.  I also went to Pechanga Casino in Temecula and I walked away with $120.

 

What happened this week compared to any other week? I finally to my own advice and I decided to play very tight.  The reason I lose in Limit Hold'em is that I play way too many hands. Basically, I wait for playable hole cards.  In early position, I'm playing premium hands.  In late position, I'm looking for good flush and straight draws.

 

Here's some highlights of the week.  One reason I get in trouble online is that I get bored and will play anything.  I now play two tables at a time. Generally two different games so that I don't mix things up.  The only trouble I ran into with this strategy is when I play Hold'em and Omaha Hi/Lo. I am tempted to go for the low hand in Hold'em.

 

My second strategy is any game is to wait for good starting hands.  I already talked about Hold'em a little, the standard I want to maintain is playing no more than 33% of the hands dealt. In the case of Omaha, I'm looking for hands that can scoop the pot.  I want Aces with suited x cards, good pairs, three cards to the wheel.  I'm also playing Razz and here I want my first three cards to be below an eight.

 

I also started playing a lot of Sit-N-Go.  Here's how it went.  I played three Omaha High/Low SNG's and came in first in games 1 and 2.  Third in game 3.  I played two Razz SNG's and came in third in game 1 and first in game 2.

 

Today, I was at Pechanga.  I performed only in the 9:45 show at NCT so I figured I'd play from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.  By the time, it hit 5:00 I was already up $120.  I decided to take my winnings and leave early.

 

I sat down at the $2/$4 table and I figured I only played 10 hands and muck everything else preflop. Also, everytime I made it to the river, I won the hand, which means I won every showdown.  The key is that I was more willing to throw away bad hands.

 

If you every play low limit Hold'em, you know that the rake is very high.  The only way to beat the rake, is to win and not lose. One final note is that calling down the river is very expensive. If I bet every round, that means I'm putting at risk, $12 per hand.  If I can be aggressive and raise preflop and after the flop, I'd only spend $8 to know where I stand. Once the flop hits you should spend the money to find out where your at.  Many times I folded on the flop with top pair, when anyone was aggressive with me.  There's no reason to call off a stack of chips on top pair.

 

I'll have more to day later.

The Day I Met Phil Gordon

I know, we're all bored of politics.  So here's my second poker blog in two days.

I heard from MousePlanet that Phil Gordon was going to be at the ESPN Zone in Downtown Disney for a poker seminar.  I was excited so I left immediately from work and arrived at ESPN Zone to wait 2 hours in a non-moving line to attend this event.  I had the foresight to bring Barry Greenstein's new book to read.  I unfortunately didn't have the foresight to bring a sharpie pen.

At 7:00, we're let in and I get a really night seat.  I find out that there is a drawing for a seat in the main event at the World Series of Poker. In fact, not only a seat and accommodations, but every day before the event, Phil is going to coach you and look at your table and give you pointers.  I have never wanted to win a grand prize more in my life.

At 7:30 the seminar starts and much of what he said was in his video.  I did learn a few things.  Never call off your chips with a medium strength hand. And always raise when first to act in the pot.  I suggest you get his video for even better information (http://www.expertinsight.com/?aff=75).

Afterward, there was a quiz based on the seminar.  Five questions and an extra ticket for the main prize for getting each question right.  I, of course, got 5 out of 5.

While everyone was completing the questionnaire, I decided to go and meet Phil.  There was a person in front of me and when it was my turn, I shook his hand and had him sign my video.  I only had the ball point pen from the seminar so the signature didn't come out.  The indentation is there on the video cover.

I told him that I was a fan and asked him how I should play these small stakes tournaments where the blinds double quickly.  He told me that I should play them and that I should play incredibly tight for the first two rounds and then apply pressure when the blinds get big.

Phil is a really nice guy.  He's friendly and outgoing with a biting sense of humor.  He's definitely handling his new celebrity status very well.  If you have a chance to meet him and say hi, take it.

I didn't win a thing.  That was the most disappointing thing of the night.  I have never wanted to win a grand prize more in my life.

Oh well, God's will, I guess.

The Deadly River

I haven't done a poker blog in a while so here goes.

It seems that anytime I do well at poker and have days were I don’t do well.  The only problem that I have with limit poker is sucking out.  I'm starting to play pretty tight and only going into hands with fairly descent hole cards. But sometimes you just can't be luck.

My favorite casino is Pechanga in Temecula, CA.  I generally win there.  The last time I was there I lost about $60.  I will admit that I was playing a few too many hands, but at the same time, I could not get people to fold if my life depended on it.  Everyone is calling their draws to the river and then I get beat.

This was typical, I'd have pocket Queens, I'd raise with no one folding. I'll play it strong to the river only to get beat by someone's gut shot draw.  That's poker, but then again, that's frustrating.  On the other hand, the pot is pretty big if the straight doesn't hit, the problem is the straight does hit.

Yesterday at Full Tilt Poker was even more frustrating.  On five occasions, I had the best hand until the river.  Let's review a few hand.

My hole cards are 8-8. Not bad, I raise to see where I'm at.  And I get a caller.  The flop comes K-K-8.  I flopped a full house.  My opponent bets, I raise, he reraises and I cap it. I know my opponent has a King.  The turn comes a 3.  I raise, he calls.  The river is a 3. My full house just got beat.

Later I got a pair of Queens, and I get beat by a flush with runner-runner hearts.

Now I have K-T.  Flop comes K-T-7.  I flop two pair.  I raise and the guy to the right calls.  The river comes a 3. I bet and the guy on my right calls.  The board comes a Jack and I'm thinking, I'm beat. The guy on my right checks and I check to lose to his pocket Jacks.  I could just scream.  I was fortunate to realize that I was trapped on the last card. Two hands later, I foil another lucky player on the river and save myself a bet.

I will admit, that half of the draws we're good.  The players rightly played their hole cards. Other times, it just doesn't make sense.  Sometimes you can't beat luck. That's when you get up from the table and leave with what you've got left.

I'll be back tomorrow about how I met Phil Gordon two days ago.

SNG Win Last Night

This is my first post, so bare with me. I'll have significant thoughts in the future.

I was playing at a Sit-N-Go tournament yesterday at Party Poker. I made it to the money and was head up as the chip leader. Here's how the final hand went down:

Preflop
Me: (6235 chips) K-6
Opponent: (1765 chips) ??

I call the small blind to 400. Opponent raises to 800 - I call

Flop:
6-6-6, I have quads
I call. Opponent goes all-in shows (A-Q). I call and win.

I love winning is a cool way. This is poker after all.