We were planning on going on vacation next Thursday and driving the RV up to the Canadian Rockies. And then I was going to take a month to see how many poker rooms I could play in between Canada and San Diego.
Well, we received some bad news. One of my sister-in-laws in Chicago has been given 1-2 weeks to live. So, we decided to modify our trip and go to Colorado for a week or so. While we are there we will monitor how she is doing and then drive to Chicago to suppport my brother and their children after she passes on.
I will do my best to update this blog, but there may be a few days that I won't get around to it while we are traveling.
If you are a "praying person", say a little prayer for my Brother John, and his two boys and their families. Donna is a great person and added much to our lives.
Tell somebody today," that you love, how you feel about them". My wife and I have a saying that we have adopted from our cell phone conversations and have applied it to our life in general. " In case I get cut-off I want you to know I love you and no regrets....."
In poker news I understand this year's winner, J. Gold, will have 6 million dollars of the 12 million released to him from Harrah's for his win at the WSOP. Apparently, there is merit in the case that he promised to split it with someone. So the court will decide the disposition of the rest of the prize money.
Tonight, I watched the conclusion of the PPT event. I enjoyed it a lot more then the WPT and hope it stays around. However, I am hearing viewership for all TV poker shows have decreased this year.
Tomorrow night Vegas, and then on to Colorado and the midwest. I had no idea when my mom and sister were here last weekend from Chicago I would be seeing them again so soon.
To rip off Forest Gump, "Life is like a game of poker. You never know what hand you will be dealt next......."
Friday, September 08, 2006
Hunting fish, the book.....
I met my wife for dinner tonight at our local Chevy’s Mexican restaurant
She had been near here for an afternoon business meeting. One of the reasons I like this Chevy’s is because it is right next to a Border’s Bookstore.
Border’s is one of those places that have a coffee shop inside and you can order coffee and read books there. Because I am an incredibly fast reader, (I read about 3500 words a minute)I can usually read books, (at one sitting), over a 3-5 hour span. I have purchased about 5 poker books, but I have read another 25 or so there. (grin) I sometimes, even slip a business card in a book I am reading when I don’t have time to finish it and put it back on the shelf to keep my place until I can get back to finish it.
Some of my friends think, I am one of the cheapest people they know. I ask them to tell me who the others are so I can pick up some “pointers or tips” from them. (grin)
Tonight, I read the new book “Hunting Fish, A cross country hunt for America’s worst poker players”. I really enjoyed it for a number of reasons. It was light & entertaining reading about poker and traveling. He even came to San Diego, and played at the Village Club. He does not have very flattering things to say about the Village Club. (LOL, he is right....)
Those are my two favorite things in life;Poker & Traveling. I am planning on my own Poker trip starting next Thursday.
I am hoping to make the trip last about 6-7 weeks and cover much of the country west of the Rockies, playing poker everywhere I go to pay for my trip and make a little profit. I will do my best to stop at libraries and other places so I can upload and post to this blog, so anybody reading this blog will be able to “virtually” travel with me.
So after dinner, my iced coffee, and finishing that book by 9:00 p.m., I felt I was ready for a little poker. I stopped in at the Palomar club, on my way home, and bought in for $200 to the 2/4 No Limit game. I was going to play, until one of three events occurred: I tripled up, lost my $200, or the club closed at 2 A.M.
After about an hour of play I was down to about $85. I had called 3 or 4 times to see flops with AJ, AQ, 10,J, I completely missed the flop each time and folded to good sized bets on the flop. I did play a K,10, suited and the flop came K,A,J and I bet out $25 to see where I was and had two people call all-in behind me. I quickly gave up that hand. The person who flopped the straight took it all.
Finally, on my blind I looked down and realized I had a pair of 9's. Two people just called a blind straddle, I raised all-in for my remaining $85 hoping to take down the pot of $30. I got two callers! I had the best hand until the river. An Ace hit on the river making a pair of Aces for my first caller and I left, having fulfilled one of my conditions of leaving.
I guess I should take solace in the fact that I am often getting “bad beats” or outdrawn recently. According to what I read, that means I am playing good poker, to put my money in, when I have the best hand at the table. My reads were accurate. I knew neither had a pocket pair, and when the A hit I knew I was beaten by an AK caller. I was indeed.
My daughter just called me from Fresno to discuss a poker hand. She is playing with some friends in a home game tournament. She went out 7th out of 17 and is now ready to start one more. I told her to call me tomorrow if she had any hands that she wanted to discuss in that game, because I am going to watch a little poker on TV and then hit the sack.
She had been near here for an afternoon business meeting. One of the reasons I like this Chevy’s is because it is right next to a Border’s Bookstore.
Border’s is one of those places that have a coffee shop inside and you can order coffee and read books there. Because I am an incredibly fast reader, (I read about 3500 words a minute)I can usually read books, (at one sitting), over a 3-5 hour span. I have purchased about 5 poker books, but I have read another 25 or so there. (grin) I sometimes, even slip a business card in a book I am reading when I don’t have time to finish it and put it back on the shelf to keep my place until I can get back to finish it.
Some of my friends think, I am one of the cheapest people they know. I ask them to tell me who the others are so I can pick up some “pointers or tips” from them. (grin)
Tonight, I read the new book “Hunting Fish, A cross country hunt for America’s worst poker players”. I really enjoyed it for a number of reasons. It was light & entertaining reading about poker and traveling. He even came to San Diego, and played at the Village Club. He does not have very flattering things to say about the Village Club. (LOL, he is right....)
Those are my two favorite things in life;Poker & Traveling. I am planning on my own Poker trip starting next Thursday.
I am hoping to make the trip last about 6-7 weeks and cover much of the country west of the Rockies, playing poker everywhere I go to pay for my trip and make a little profit. I will do my best to stop at libraries and other places so I can upload and post to this blog, so anybody reading this blog will be able to “virtually” travel with me.
So after dinner, my iced coffee, and finishing that book by 9:00 p.m., I felt I was ready for a little poker. I stopped in at the Palomar club, on my way home, and bought in for $200 to the 2/4 No Limit game. I was going to play, until one of three events occurred: I tripled up, lost my $200, or the club closed at 2 A.M.
After about an hour of play I was down to about $85. I had called 3 or 4 times to see flops with AJ, AQ, 10,J, I completely missed the flop each time and folded to good sized bets on the flop. I did play a K,10, suited and the flop came K,A,J and I bet out $25 to see where I was and had two people call all-in behind me. I quickly gave up that hand. The person who flopped the straight took it all.
Finally, on my blind I looked down and realized I had a pair of 9's. Two people just called a blind straddle, I raised all-in for my remaining $85 hoping to take down the pot of $30. I got two callers! I had the best hand until the river. An Ace hit on the river making a pair of Aces for my first caller and I left, having fulfilled one of my conditions of leaving.
I guess I should take solace in the fact that I am often getting “bad beats” or outdrawn recently. According to what I read, that means I am playing good poker, to put my money in, when I have the best hand at the table. My reads were accurate. I knew neither had a pocket pair, and when the A hit I knew I was beaten by an AK caller. I was indeed.
My daughter just called me from Fresno to discuss a poker hand. She is playing with some friends in a home game tournament. She went out 7th out of 17 and is now ready to start one more. I told her to call me tomorrow if she had any hands that she wanted to discuss in that game, because I am going to watch a little poker on TV and then hit the sack.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Blinded by Aces.....
I changed my mind about going to Sycuan Casino. I decided to go to Oceans 11 in Oceanside instead. Traffic wasn’t too bad, even though it is about 60 miles to the north.
I left before the rush hour about 3:00 p.m. and got there by 4 p.m. with only a few slow downs. Today was the final day for Del Mar Horse Racing, so I did have some traffic slowing near Del Mar and again in Oceanside. But, overall it was not a difficult drive.
Oceans 11 casino usually have plenty of games to choose from, good food, and the “bad beat jackpots” are usually large. Today the hold-em jackpot was listed as $32,000. Last year I was involved in three of them receiving over $13,000. This year I have not been involved in one. I hope I am due for one soon.
I bought into the 2/3 No-Limit game for $200 and played tight for about 2 hours. Then, I looked down and saw a pair of Aces during my big blind. I raised them only $15 because the table was playing tight up to that time, and I did want some action. I got two callers.
The flop was Ks7s4h. I bet out $25 and got one call. I am hoping he has a king and will stay with me. The turn is a 2d, so I bet $50 and get a call. This worries me a little, but I am now thinking he must be on a spade draw. The river is a Qd and I bet $100 and he goes all in for my last $25. He turns over K7h. #(#*#$$, I should have raised more pre-flop. He called my $15 before the flop and hit two pair on the flop.
I rebuy for $200, and win a couple of small pots over the next two hours, building up to about $300. I get Ah,10h, in middle position and just call a $20 bet. There are three of us to see the flop. It comes 9h, 7h, 9s. I have 4 hearts to the “best flush draw”. The blind bets $125. I decide this is a good time to go for the pot, because we are all equally stacked. I declare all-in, (thinking I will take it down right there.) The button folds and then the big blind calls and turns over 9d, 10d, for three 9s. I am looking at the possibility of “9 outs to” make my flush, and two cards to do it. The turn and the river miss us both.
I buy $200 more to stay in the game. The table is now much looser and there have been a number of buys by others, so there are at least 4 players at the table with over $600 and most players have around $300 in front of them.
I do a lot of folding and a couple of pot steals in good position over the next two hours.
Then I get AQ in first position. I am two in front of the big blind, and the utg did a “live straddle”, so the bet is $6. I just smooth call and about 4 others limp-in. The flop comes A,K,7, the UTG checks, I just check with my AQ and it gets to the button who raises it to $75 I raise it to $150 and he goes all-in. I am sure he doesn’t have an AK or he would have raised from the button. So I call him. The turn comes another K, and then a 3 and my AQ is the best hand. (He had A,10)
I am almost even now at about $600 in front of me. I am thinking of leaving now. I am almost “even”. But, I am playing well, it is a good table, I think I am focused. I have been concentrating on “pot odds” all night. I made some lay downs that I used to call when the odds weren’t right. So, I am feeling pretty good about my play. Besides, I came to win money, not break-even.
Oceans 11 casino serves great food to the players at a great price. I order the double cut pork chops with a baked potato. Because the meat is so thick, it takes 30 minutes after you order it. But, I don’t mind, I am not planning on leaving soon. Dinner came and it was great. I even had a scoop of ice cream for dessert with fresh blackberries & blue-berries on it.
Then I get “blinded” by Aces. I am planning on winning one more pot and then leaving for the night. I look down to discover two red ACES in my hand in the Big Blind position. I am not going to let people in cheap like the last time I was beat by a K7 off suit with pocket Aces.
Five callers limp in and I raise it to $30 more from $3. Only the button calls me. The flop comes Kd, 6h, 8s. I try to act like I am weakly trying to steal the pot by betting out $75 and he calls. I get a little excited inside. I am thinking, he hit the King, and I am going to raise the turn big and win this before anything bad can happen. (I did not take the time to really think about, what he could be calling me with).
The turn comes 5d. The person between us, grunts, and says something about if I hadn’t raised, he would have taken this down. I feel a little panic to end this right now.
I feel good that I had raised out a “middle hand that might have gotten a straight.
And because of what he said, I am comforted by the knowledge that, if he had a straight possibility, then there is less chance my caller has one.
I decide to use “shock & awe. I declare all-in. He had about $600 in front of him also.
Before I can even figure out what happened, he quickly says all-in. The river comes. I don’t even see it because I am hearing him say “I have a straight!”, as I am throwing my Aces face-up thinking “I have taken down a monster pot”. Then it “sinks in” he said he has a straight.
Now I am watching the dealer push a $1200 pot toward him. He called my $30 pre-flop with a 9,7 and then he called my $75 flop-bet with an open-ended straight draw with less then 4 outs and caught the 5 on the turn. In hind-sight I now realized he was delighted when I went all-in on the turn.
Even though he made two poor plays in that hand, and then sucked out, I think I made one mistake that cost me over $200. I should have thought more about what he could have when he called the $75. I could have bet $150 or $200 on the turn instead of $400 and I would have realized he couldn’t just be calling me with a King.
Had I slowed down I would have realized he must have two pair or the straight that he did make on that turn.
I would really like some feed back on this hand. Is there anything else I am missing in analyzing this hand?
I left pretty discouraged, and ruminating over thoughts like “when is all my studying & practicing, and playing my best every time I play ever going to pay off for me?” I know I am in no frame of mind to play poker. So I will see if I can shift my tomorrow, or I need to take a couple of days off poker and get my thinking back in a more positive place.
This is the most challenging and frustrating endeavor I have ever pursued.
I left before the rush hour about 3:00 p.m. and got there by 4 p.m. with only a few slow downs. Today was the final day for Del Mar Horse Racing, so I did have some traffic slowing near Del Mar and again in Oceanside. But, overall it was not a difficult drive.
Oceans 11 casino usually have plenty of games to choose from, good food, and the “bad beat jackpots” are usually large. Today the hold-em jackpot was listed as $32,000. Last year I was involved in three of them receiving over $13,000. This year I have not been involved in one. I hope I am due for one soon.
I bought into the 2/3 No-Limit game for $200 and played tight for about 2 hours. Then, I looked down and saw a pair of Aces during my big blind. I raised them only $15 because the table was playing tight up to that time, and I did want some action. I got two callers.
The flop was Ks7s4h. I bet out $25 and got one call. I am hoping he has a king and will stay with me. The turn is a 2d, so I bet $50 and get a call. This worries me a little, but I am now thinking he must be on a spade draw. The river is a Qd and I bet $100 and he goes all in for my last $25. He turns over K7h. #(#*#$$, I should have raised more pre-flop. He called my $15 before the flop and hit two pair on the flop.
I rebuy for $200, and win a couple of small pots over the next two hours, building up to about $300. I get Ah,10h, in middle position and just call a $20 bet. There are three of us to see the flop. It comes 9h, 7h, 9s. I have 4 hearts to the “best flush draw”. The blind bets $125. I decide this is a good time to go for the pot, because we are all equally stacked. I declare all-in, (thinking I will take it down right there.) The button folds and then the big blind calls and turns over 9d, 10d, for three 9s. I am looking at the possibility of “9 outs to” make my flush, and two cards to do it. The turn and the river miss us both.
I buy $200 more to stay in the game. The table is now much looser and there have been a number of buys by others, so there are at least 4 players at the table with over $600 and most players have around $300 in front of them.
I do a lot of folding and a couple of pot steals in good position over the next two hours.
Then I get AQ in first position. I am two in front of the big blind, and the utg did a “live straddle”, so the bet is $6. I just smooth call and about 4 others limp-in. The flop comes A,K,7, the UTG checks, I just check with my AQ and it gets to the button who raises it to $75 I raise it to $150 and he goes all-in. I am sure he doesn’t have an AK or he would have raised from the button. So I call him. The turn comes another K, and then a 3 and my AQ is the best hand. (He had A,10)
I am almost even now at about $600 in front of me. I am thinking of leaving now. I am almost “even”. But, I am playing well, it is a good table, I think I am focused. I have been concentrating on “pot odds” all night. I made some lay downs that I used to call when the odds weren’t right. So, I am feeling pretty good about my play. Besides, I came to win money, not break-even.
Oceans 11 casino serves great food to the players at a great price. I order the double cut pork chops with a baked potato. Because the meat is so thick, it takes 30 minutes after you order it. But, I don’t mind, I am not planning on leaving soon. Dinner came and it was great. I even had a scoop of ice cream for dessert with fresh blackberries & blue-berries on it.
Then I get “blinded” by Aces. I am planning on winning one more pot and then leaving for the night. I look down to discover two red ACES in my hand in the Big Blind position. I am not going to let people in cheap like the last time I was beat by a K7 off suit with pocket Aces.
Five callers limp in and I raise it to $30 more from $3. Only the button calls me. The flop comes Kd, 6h, 8s. I try to act like I am weakly trying to steal the pot by betting out $75 and he calls. I get a little excited inside. I am thinking, he hit the King, and I am going to raise the turn big and win this before anything bad can happen. (I did not take the time to really think about, what he could be calling me with).
The turn comes 5d. The person between us, grunts, and says something about if I hadn’t raised, he would have taken this down. I feel a little panic to end this right now.
I feel good that I had raised out a “middle hand that might have gotten a straight.
And because of what he said, I am comforted by the knowledge that, if he had a straight possibility, then there is less chance my caller has one.
I decide to use “shock & awe. I declare all-in. He had about $600 in front of him also.
Before I can even figure out what happened, he quickly says all-in. The river comes. I don’t even see it because I am hearing him say “I have a straight!”, as I am throwing my Aces face-up thinking “I have taken down a monster pot”. Then it “sinks in” he said he has a straight.
Now I am watching the dealer push a $1200 pot toward him. He called my $30 pre-flop with a 9,7 and then he called my $75 flop-bet with an open-ended straight draw with less then 4 outs and caught the 5 on the turn. In hind-sight I now realized he was delighted when I went all-in on the turn.
Even though he made two poor plays in that hand, and then sucked out, I think I made one mistake that cost me over $200. I should have thought more about what he could have when he called the $75. I could have bet $150 or $200 on the turn instead of $400 and I would have realized he couldn’t just be calling me with a King.
Had I slowed down I would have realized he must have two pair or the straight that he did make on that turn.
I would really like some feed back on this hand. Is there anything else I am missing in analyzing this hand?
I left pretty discouraged, and ruminating over thoughts like “when is all my studying & practicing, and playing my best every time I play ever going to pay off for me?” I know I am in no frame of mind to play poker. So I will see if I can shift my tomorrow, or I need to take a couple of days off poker and get my thinking back in a more positive place.
This is the most challenging and frustrating endeavor I have ever pursued.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Pot odds, simple, implied, manipulated, oh, my!
This afternoon I am going to Sycuan Casino to play 2/4 hold-em from about 4-11 p.m. I am going to be concetraing on pot odds and calls only when they are in my favor.
Since this week I am going to be concentrating on making only “good pot odds” calls. I thought I would focus this blog on “simple pot odds”. I consider myself a "student of poker" not an expert just yet, so I offer the following, as what I understand thus far regarding pot odds. I am open to feedback or more information regarding "pot odds".
Because many people have heard of pot odds, but really don't understand, exactly, what that means, I have decided to reproduce an odds “cheat sheet” & a very simplistic explanation of pot odds. Pots odds only include what is actually in the pot at the present time. "Implied pot odds" is another subject, I will present at a later time.
The table below can help you learn how pot odds correlate with "how many outs" you have.
Here is a very simple example of using this chart. Let’s assume it is only you and one other player. He bets $10 at the turn and there is $40 in the pot. You need to call the $10 to see if you could make your flush on the river. Consulting the chart would show you, it would be just about the right odds for you to call the $10 seeing that you were getting 4-1 odds.
However, to draw to a open-ended straight in that same position would not be good “pot odds” because the pot would be offering you 4-1 odds, but the odds of making your straight would be almost 7-1. Therefore the pot would need to contain $70 for you to make that straight call with good pot odds.
If you would like to learn more about pot odds, Wikipedia has a great entry
Since this week I am going to be concentrating on making only “good pot odds” calls. I thought I would focus this blog on “simple pot odds”. I consider myself a "student of poker" not an expert just yet, so I offer the following, as what I understand thus far regarding pot odds. I am open to feedback or more information regarding "pot odds".
Because many people have heard of pot odds, but really don't understand, exactly, what that means, I have decided to reproduce an odds “cheat sheet” & a very simplistic explanation of pot odds. Pots odds only include what is actually in the pot at the present time. "Implied pot odds" is another subject, I will present at a later time.
The table below can help you learn how pot odds correlate with "how many outs" you have.
Here is a very simple example of using this chart. Let’s assume it is only you and one other player. He bets $10 at the turn and there is $40 in the pot. You need to call the $10 to see if you could make your flush on the river. Consulting the chart would show you, it would be just about the right odds for you to call the $10 seeing that you were getting 4-1 odds.
However, to draw to a open-ended straight in that same position would not be good “pot odds” because the pot would be offering you 4-1 odds, but the odds of making your straight would be almost 7-1. Therefore the pot would need to contain $70 for you to make that straight call with good pot odds.
If you would like to learn more about pot odds, Wikipedia has a great entry
Pot Odds Cheat SheetThe cheat sheet below shows odds against making your hand with both 2 cards to come as well as 1 card.
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Tuesday, September 05, 2006
I crash on-line again.....and the deck of cards in Iraq
Tonight, I decided to stay home and play some $22 tournaments on Party Poker. I played three of them and finished 6th, 5th, and just went out on the bubble on 4th.
I was on the dealer button with A7 suited, Chip stacks were 6K, 4K, 2K, & I had about 4 K. I decided to raise to 3,000 to steal the blinds and antes. The blinds were 800. The big blind re-raised me with 1K more. I called all-in and ran into his pair of tens. He caught one more on the turn and I was out on the “bubble”.
I can sense this was not a good play. But, I don’t know why? I could use some feedback from anyone on this play. I knew the A was strong even with a 7, with a short table.
But, should I have just raised minimum and then tossed when he came back at me? Should I have gone all-in? What was the purpose of my putting in 3 of my 4K? I think, I was thinking, I would see the flop at worst and be able to get away from it. I can now see that was faulty thinking. Nobody, who was going to play at me would just call.
Help….. Any feedback appreciated.
I think I am going to watch some poker on TV and think about this for awhile.
My on-line funds are almost depleted again. I am a steady loser on-line. In fact I have never had a big win or a series of wins like I do at Brick & Mortar games.
When will I ever learn?????
Before I turn on the TV, I will comment on last night’s play at the Palomar Club.
I think this narrative really shows the contrast of how I play on-line compared with live play.
I bought in at $100 N/L and played very tight for two hours. The table was very, very tight. When I would bet the table would either fold or the “stone-cold nuts” would call me without even a raise and let me throw money at him. Somehow, I did work my maximum buy-in of $100 up to $260 at this table.
Finally, a 2/4 game started up with a $300 buy-in. I move my chips over there.
The first hand I played was with QQ. There was a lot of action right from the start at this table. UTG called $40, two more called the $40 so I decided to raise it from the button, to $100. The blinds folded. One caller called and the person to my right went all in for $300.
I went into the “think-tank” and took about 2 minutes and finally figured out he probably had AK. I almost mucked, but decided to call. I don’t like QQ, or JJ, especially with 4 callers I was sure I was going to get drawn out on. Sure, enough he had AK, another had KJ, and another had A,J. who was all-in for the $100
Fortunately, 2,2,4, came on the flop, another 2 was the turn, and a Jack was the river. My queens held and I had $700 in front of me. I played another 4 hours and was able to leave $900 up without losing one hand I played. I played well, read well, and got away from a lot of trouble hands after the flop. I would have lost every one of the “trouble hands” I saw a flop with.
I decided to go home about 11:30 p.m. This club has to close at 2 A.M. and after midnight the games can turn wild & crazy as people try to catch-up before closing time. I would probably either double-up or go home with nothing, if I stayed till closing.
Since, I have been on a losing streak, this past week. I decided to leave with my money, and the good feeling, of knowing I played my “A” game every hand rather then take the risk.
That was probably, a good choice.
Somebody, sent this to me in an email. I liked it and present it for your reflection……
Deck of Cards
It was quiet that day, the guns and the mortars, and land mines for some reason hadn't been heard. The young soldier knew it was Sunday, the holiest day of the week. As he was sitting there, he got out an old deck of cards and laid them out across his bunk.
Just then an army sergeant came in and said, "Why aren't you with The rest of the platoon?"
The soldier replied, "I thought I would stay behind and spend some time with the Lord."
The sergeant said, "Looks to me like you're going to play cards."
The soldier said, "No, sir. You see, since we are not allowed to have Bibles or other spiritual books in this country, I've decided to talk to the Lord by studying this deck of cards."
The sergeant asked in disbelief, "How will you do that?"
"You see the Ace, Sergeant? It reminds me that there is only one God.
The Two represents the two parts of the Bible, Old and New Testaments.
The Three represents the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost.
The Four stands for the Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
The Five is for the five virgins that were ten but only five of them were glorified.
The Six is for the six days it took God to create the Heavens and Earth.
The Seven is for the day God rested after making His Creation.
The Eight is for the family of Noah and his wife, their three sons and their wives - the eight people God spared from the flood that destroyed the Earth.
The Nine is for the lepers that Jesus cleansed of leprosy. He cleansed ten,but nine never thanked Him.
The Ten represents the Ten Commandments that God handed down to Moses on tablets made of stone.
The Jack is a reminder of Satan, one of God's first angels, but he got kicked out of heaven for his sly and wicked ways and is now the joker of eternal hell.
The Queen stands for the Virgin Mary.
The King stands for Jesus, for he is the King of all kings.
When I count the dots on all the cards, I come up with 365 total, One for every day of the year.
There are a total of 52 cards in a deck; each is a week - 52 weeks in a year.
The four suits represent the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.
Each suit has thirteen cards - there are exactly thirteen weeks in a quarter.
So when I want to talk to God and thank Him, I just pull out this Old deck of cards and they remind me of all that I have to be thankful for."
The sergeant just stood there. After a minute, with tears in his eyes and pain in his heart, he said, "Soldier, can I borrow that deck of cards?"
I was on the dealer button with A7 suited, Chip stacks were 6K, 4K, 2K, & I had about 4 K. I decided to raise to 3,000 to steal the blinds and antes. The blinds were 800. The big blind re-raised me with 1K more. I called all-in and ran into his pair of tens. He caught one more on the turn and I was out on the “bubble”.
I can sense this was not a good play. But, I don’t know why? I could use some feedback from anyone on this play. I knew the A was strong even with a 7, with a short table.
But, should I have just raised minimum and then tossed when he came back at me? Should I have gone all-in? What was the purpose of my putting in 3 of my 4K? I think, I was thinking, I would see the flop at worst and be able to get away from it. I can now see that was faulty thinking. Nobody, who was going to play at me would just call.
Help….. Any feedback appreciated.
I think I am going to watch some poker on TV and think about this for awhile.
My on-line funds are almost depleted again. I am a steady loser on-line. In fact I have never had a big win or a series of wins like I do at Brick & Mortar games.
When will I ever learn?????
Before I turn on the TV, I will comment on last night’s play at the Palomar Club.
I think this narrative really shows the contrast of how I play on-line compared with live play.
I bought in at $100 N/L and played very tight for two hours. The table was very, very tight. When I would bet the table would either fold or the “stone-cold nuts” would call me without even a raise and let me throw money at him. Somehow, I did work my maximum buy-in of $100 up to $260 at this table.
Finally, a 2/4 game started up with a $300 buy-in. I move my chips over there.
The first hand I played was with QQ. There was a lot of action right from the start at this table. UTG called $40, two more called the $40 so I decided to raise it from the button, to $100. The blinds folded. One caller called and the person to my right went all in for $300.
I went into the “think-tank” and took about 2 minutes and finally figured out he probably had AK. I almost mucked, but decided to call. I don’t like QQ, or JJ, especially with 4 callers I was sure I was going to get drawn out on. Sure, enough he had AK, another had KJ, and another had A,J. who was all-in for the $100
Fortunately, 2,2,4, came on the flop, another 2 was the turn, and a Jack was the river. My queens held and I had $700 in front of me. I played another 4 hours and was able to leave $900 up without losing one hand I played. I played well, read well, and got away from a lot of trouble hands after the flop. I would have lost every one of the “trouble hands” I saw a flop with.
I decided to go home about 11:30 p.m. This club has to close at 2 A.M. and after midnight the games can turn wild & crazy as people try to catch-up before closing time. I would probably either double-up or go home with nothing, if I stayed till closing.
Since, I have been on a losing streak, this past week. I decided to leave with my money, and the good feeling, of knowing I played my “A” game every hand rather then take the risk.
That was probably, a good choice.
Somebody, sent this to me in an email. I liked it and present it for your reflection……
Deck of Cards
It was quiet that day, the guns and the mortars, and land mines for some reason hadn't been heard. The young soldier knew it was Sunday, the holiest day of the week. As he was sitting there, he got out an old deck of cards and laid them out across his bunk.
Just then an army sergeant came in and said, "Why aren't you with The rest of the platoon?"
The soldier replied, "I thought I would stay behind and spend some time with the Lord."
The sergeant said, "Looks to me like you're going to play cards."
The soldier said, "No, sir. You see, since we are not allowed to have Bibles or other spiritual books in this country, I've decided to talk to the Lord by studying this deck of cards."
The sergeant asked in disbelief, "How will you do that?"
"You see the Ace, Sergeant? It reminds me that there is only one God.
The Two represents the two parts of the Bible, Old and New Testaments.
The Three represents the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost.
The Four stands for the Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
The Five is for the five virgins that were ten but only five of them were glorified.
The Six is for the six days it took God to create the Heavens and Earth.
The Seven is for the day God rested after making His Creation.
The Eight is for the family of Noah and his wife, their three sons and their wives - the eight people God spared from the flood that destroyed the Earth.
The Nine is for the lepers that Jesus cleansed of leprosy. He cleansed ten,but nine never thanked Him.
The Ten represents the Ten Commandments that God handed down to Moses on tablets made of stone.
The Jack is a reminder of Satan, one of God's first angels, but he got kicked out of heaven for his sly and wicked ways and is now the joker of eternal hell.
The Queen stands for the Virgin Mary.
The King stands for Jesus, for he is the King of all kings.
When I count the dots on all the cards, I come up with 365 total, One for every day of the year.
There are a total of 52 cards in a deck; each is a week - 52 weeks in a year.
The four suits represent the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.
Each suit has thirteen cards - there are exactly thirteen weeks in a quarter.
So when I want to talk to God and thank Him, I just pull out this Old deck of cards and they remind me of all that I have to be thankful for."
The sergeant just stood there. After a minute, with tears in his eyes and pain in his heart, he said, "Soldier, can I borrow that deck of cards?"
Bad luck? or Bad Play?
After my L.A. trip I decided to take a couple of days off of poker, examine my game, and just settle down from the loss of the weekend. By Wednesday I was ready to go back to the tables.
I got into a 1/3 game at The Village Club in Chula Vista for a buy-in of $200. Usually I do ok, in this game if I don’t get “sucked out on”. (Which can occur often if a maniac or two is in the game.) Of course I love and hate maniacs. If I am getting cards, focused and playing a patient game, I can make good money off them. If I get frustrated and play too loose or start chasing hands I can bust out, before the maniacs do, because they just keep re-buying. I won’t do more then 1 or 2 re-buys before I figure I better go home and play another time.
Well, I wish I could say it was a good night. I stayed even for 3-4 hours with a couple of maniacs and then made two calls I regret and ended up going all in with AA and got out drawn by two little pair. The blind played his 3,5 suited and called my last $40 all in bet pre-flop. I left without re-buying. Didn’t feel confident, and didn’t want to lose anymore.
I went home a little discouraged thinking I need to “tear my game apart, and put it back together again.” But, I read an article on-line when I got home, that encouraged me to really examine whether it is bad luck or bad play. If it is the former, then don’t change your game.
I thought a lot about the weekend and tonight and decided it was about 80% bad luck, so I wouldn’t change my game, but I would remind myself to raise or fold, raise or fold….
Don’t just call, unless I have the “nuts”.
I also found this little piece on-line and am copying here to remind myself and any who read this to “raise or fold”……
If you’re going to have a default mechanism built into your poker programming, instead of tending to call, let it be this:
Raise more than you call, and fold more than you raise.
There are times when calling is the best course of action, and they’re fairly obvious:
Call when you have a drawing hand and need to make your hand as inexpensively as possible.
--Call when you want to deceive your opponent into thinking he has a better hand, so that he will come out betting on a more costly wagering round and you can check raise him.
--Call when you want to take an inexpensive card that might improve your hand.
--Call from the big blind when no one has raised and you don’t have a hand to raise with either.
--Call when an opponent to your right comes out betting, you have a huge hand, but by calling instead of raising, you believe you’ll be able to attract a few additional calls from players who act after you do.
Most other times, you are better off raising or folding.
In fact, most poker players call too often in situations when they should fold. It’s the single biggest mistake you’ll see at the poker table.
So after reading a few poker blogs I logged on to Party Poker and took on a $22 Single Table Tournament. An hour later I placed first and collected my $100 for first place in my account.
There is nothing like winning a tournament, even a one-table one to boost my confidence again, and encourage me that I am a good player.
I took on another one and placed 2nd for $60.
Hey, this is great.!!!
My third one, I busted out in 9th place.
Oh, well, a reminder that luck still has a large factor in winning tournaments. My KK got out flopped when a third Queen came. A nice compliment to my opponent’s QQ in his hand.
Spent the rest of the evening watching High Stakes Poker and still trying to figure out how Daniel Negreanu didn’t get upset when he got sucked out by Gus Hansen’s river 5. Gus’s river 5 gave him quads to beat Daniel’s 6’s full. Daniel lost $600,000 on that one hand alone.
I am hoping to have a season where the sum of my winnings for a three year period reaches that amount. (Maybe, I am aiming too low…. Grin)
My mother and sister are coming in from Chicago for this “labor day” weekend. It is my mom’s 82 birthday, so I will be the “tour host” to show them San Diego. May not get a lot of poker in this weekend.
I got into a 1/3 game at The Village Club in Chula Vista for a buy-in of $200. Usually I do ok, in this game if I don’t get “sucked out on”. (Which can occur often if a maniac or two is in the game.) Of course I love and hate maniacs. If I am getting cards, focused and playing a patient game, I can make good money off them. If I get frustrated and play too loose or start chasing hands I can bust out, before the maniacs do, because they just keep re-buying. I won’t do more then 1 or 2 re-buys before I figure I better go home and play another time.
Well, I wish I could say it was a good night. I stayed even for 3-4 hours with a couple of maniacs and then made two calls I regret and ended up going all in with AA and got out drawn by two little pair. The blind played his 3,5 suited and called my last $40 all in bet pre-flop. I left without re-buying. Didn’t feel confident, and didn’t want to lose anymore.
I went home a little discouraged thinking I need to “tear my game apart, and put it back together again.” But, I read an article on-line when I got home, that encouraged me to really examine whether it is bad luck or bad play. If it is the former, then don’t change your game.
I thought a lot about the weekend and tonight and decided it was about 80% bad luck, so I wouldn’t change my game, but I would remind myself to raise or fold, raise or fold….
Don’t just call, unless I have the “nuts”.
I also found this little piece on-line and am copying here to remind myself and any who read this to “raise or fold”……
If you’re going to have a default mechanism built into your poker programming, instead of tending to call, let it be this:
Raise more than you call, and fold more than you raise.
There are times when calling is the best course of action, and they’re fairly obvious:
Call when you have a drawing hand and need to make your hand as inexpensively as possible.
--Call when you want to deceive your opponent into thinking he has a better hand, so that he will come out betting on a more costly wagering round and you can check raise him.
--Call when you want to take an inexpensive card that might improve your hand.
--Call from the big blind when no one has raised and you don’t have a hand to raise with either.
--Call when an opponent to your right comes out betting, you have a huge hand, but by calling instead of raising, you believe you’ll be able to attract a few additional calls from players who act after you do.
Most other times, you are better off raising or folding.
In fact, most poker players call too often in situations when they should fold. It’s the single biggest mistake you’ll see at the poker table.
So after reading a few poker blogs I logged on to Party Poker and took on a $22 Single Table Tournament. An hour later I placed first and collected my $100 for first place in my account.
There is nothing like winning a tournament, even a one-table one to boost my confidence again, and encourage me that I am a good player.
I took on another one and placed 2nd for $60.
Hey, this is great.!!!
My third one, I busted out in 9th place.
Oh, well, a reminder that luck still has a large factor in winning tournaments. My KK got out flopped when a third Queen came. A nice compliment to my opponent’s QQ in his hand.
Spent the rest of the evening watching High Stakes Poker and still trying to figure out how Daniel Negreanu didn’t get upset when he got sucked out by Gus Hansen’s river 5. Gus’s river 5 gave him quads to beat Daniel’s 6’s full. Daniel lost $600,000 on that one hand alone.
I am hoping to have a season where the sum of my winnings for a three year period reaches that amount. (Maybe, I am aiming too low…. Grin)
My mother and sister are coming in from Chicago for this “labor day” weekend. It is my mom’s 82 birthday, so I will be the “tour host” to show them San Diego. May not get a lot of poker in this weekend.
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