Yep. I'm plagiarizing The Poker Tournament Formula. Someday I'll write a review on this book, but it has taken my game to a new level. In that book, Arnold Snyder discusses a bunch of personality types that will be at your typical poker table. The stereotypes are often very useful, at least until you have a better book on the player, but I've found one to be particularly helpful: The Ball Cap Kid. You know the type. They are young. They are pretty. And they wear their ball cap, normally backward, with a KC or NY logo (around here, at least). And they love to be aggressive. They love to force action. I love to eat their lunch when I can. Last night, after getting knocked out of my favorite Ameristar tournament, I played in the $1-$2 no-limit hold 'em cash game. It is an odd game, as it really costs $5 to even limp, and the big blind still must complete his bet as well. But I digress... I don't play in cash games much at Ameristar, although I should. But last night, sitting in chair nine, I was up about $450 before my favorite kind of player came into the game. Another ball cap kid. I'm the very opposite of discreet. In fact, I'm usually the loudest one at the table. My jabber usually prevents me from calculating odds as quickly as I should, but I'm positive that it gets my opponents off their game more. These ball cap kids love to pick on my personality type, and I love it. For the rest of this post, let's call this particular guy KC. He was sitting to my right, which was exactly where I wanted him. I'd never played with KC before. He was probably about 23, muscular, and generally filled with testosterone. He was one of the backward hat types, so I knew this guy was going to be a big source of my chips for the night. This particular hand was especially noteworthy. KC was under the gun, or the first position after the blinds. He had about $250 in front of him, and I had about $550. He limped for $5. I figure he has approximately squat. I look down at an:
A-H, 9-D
Not a particularly delicious hand, but at this table, I thought it would be a good idea to raise and limit the action. $15 to go. I got one limper behind me, a straightforward tight-passive player, and KC to follow. Effective pot after the rake was $45. KC would be first to act for the rest of the hand. Flop:
9-H, 6-C, 2-S
Not a particularly threatening board. I had top pair, top kicker, but I still wasn't committed to the hand. KC bet out $15 into the $45 pot, so he probably had a piece, but I popped it to $60, figuring that he'd go over the top if he actually had something special, and I could simply fold. The other guy folded, and KC called. Pot: $165. Turn:
K-C
Not a terrific card for my hand. If he was limping with a K-J or K-10 and just betting with overcards on the flop, then I might have been toast. But I still had second pair, top kicker - a hand that I'll go into check-call mode against a loose aggressive, like KC. He bet $45. I honestly didn't know where he was at, but I called anyway, hoping to have a no-betting showdown on the river. Pot: $255. River:
K-S
I liked this card. The chances of KC having a King are much lower now, and since he didn't bet much on the flop, I figure I'm good to go. KC reaches for chips, but he makes a mistake while doing so. He reaches for $45 again, and sets them in front of his stack, but immediately after laying them down, he starts quickly going through the rest of his stack, popping off 2 or 3 additional chips. He throws $60 into the pot. A weak bet at best. I might have laid it down, but grabbing for those additional chips made it look like he was going to be bluffing or semi-bluffing, but he felt like I would call or even raise a $45 bet. I called. He flipped over:
J-D, 9-C
And I won. Ah, let the celebration on my end begin, and the cursing begin with him. I think a lot of players would not have noticed this peculiar chip stacking behavior, but it cost him the pot. Thanks, KC. Next time, don't wear a cap, and don't play top-pair, jack kicker so aggressively (like putting in over half your stack with such a weak holding). There is no reason to force the action so much in a cash game, unless you hate money. After a hand like that, I usually consider every other player at the table, and I ask myself, "How would I have responded to the same series of bets from this player?" Well, it turns out, only one other player at the table would have caused the same series of events post flop, but that player wouldn't have limped with such a mediocre holding under the gun and called a raise. In other words, I would have made no money with my hand from any other player. So here's to you, KC!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Trip to Las Vegas during the month of April
I am planning a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada, from April 2 to May 2, 2008. I have a nice vacation condo rental that I'll be using during that month. I plan on playing as much poker as possible in as many different rooms as I can. It'll be mostly business, but I definitely plan on having fun as well. If you are interested in joining me, please shoot me an email or a call, and we can talk about room arrangements. Currently, these people are visiting:
- Ryan, April 4-10 Cory, April 6-14
- Tomiko, April 11-14 Zach, April 18-21
- Kyle and Melissa, April 19-21
- Traci, April 19-22
- I also have a wedding to go to on April 26 in the Pheonix area.
- Free wireless internet
- Free laundry facilities
- Two full sized beds
- 52" television with DVD and VCR
- Full kitchen
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
To slow play or not to slow play
How often does this situation come up? A paired board with an undercard, such as this:
9-C, 9-S, 2-C
In the above situation, when I have a nine, I used to think it would be profitable to check and slow play a bit. What I've found, though, is that someone with a two will often call, and an opponent with any two cards above the two might also call on a draw, so betting is usually better. And since flushes or straights almost always seem to be a possibility, whether immediately on the turn or in the backdoor, I like to make people pay to play. But what about the situation where you have the following:
2-H, 2-D
with the above board? I think then you need to really, really determine if your opponent has three of a kind, as you can probably get them to stick all their chips in most of the time. Well, such a situation happened to me the other night in a $1-$2, $60-$200 game at Harrah's in Kansas City. I was on the button, and I raised it up with a pair of deuces after the action had folded around to me. Both blinds called. One was a female who played fairly aggressively, but seemed to bet big postflop, because she either wanted to protect a big hand or because she overvalued a hand. The other guy loved to try to overbet in order to make tighter players fold, and since we had no history, he felt that I fell into that category. Well, the board came a pair of nines and a deuce. Plus, I was last to act. Currently, there was $18 in the pot. The aggressive girl bet out $8. The big blind called. I felt like the girl *might* have a nine, and so I raised it up to $35, which is a fairly large raise, but I knew we could get my $280 into the pot quicker if she did. She called. I figured there was little possibility that she had a J-2, so I was ready to push. There weren't any scare cards for me, but I wouldn't have minded if the flush card came, as I was already boated. In fact, if she was on a draw, it could do nothing but good things for me. The big blind folded. On the turn, with $88 in the pot, she bet out $45. I was certain she had a nine, and I just hoped she wouldn't hit her kicker for a better full house. I definitely wasn't going anywhere, so I went all in there. She immediately called. Huge pot. Sure enough, she had a:
J-H, 9-D
and neither a nine nor a jack came, so I doubled up. If I get the sense that my opponent doesn't have a big hand when I flop something like this, I might be included to bet small or even check. Poker is such a game of feel.
9-C, 9-S, 2-C
In the above situation, when I have a nine, I used to think it would be profitable to check and slow play a bit. What I've found, though, is that someone with a two will often call, and an opponent with any two cards above the two might also call on a draw, so betting is usually better. And since flushes or straights almost always seem to be a possibility, whether immediately on the turn or in the backdoor, I like to make people pay to play. But what about the situation where you have the following:
2-H, 2-D
with the above board? I think then you need to really, really determine if your opponent has three of a kind, as you can probably get them to stick all their chips in most of the time. Well, such a situation happened to me the other night in a $1-$2, $60-$200 game at Harrah's in Kansas City. I was on the button, and I raised it up with a pair of deuces after the action had folded around to me. Both blinds called. One was a female who played fairly aggressively, but seemed to bet big postflop, because she either wanted to protect a big hand or because she overvalued a hand. The other guy loved to try to overbet in order to make tighter players fold, and since we had no history, he felt that I fell into that category. Well, the board came a pair of nines and a deuce. Plus, I was last to act. Currently, there was $18 in the pot. The aggressive girl bet out $8. The big blind called. I felt like the girl *might* have a nine, and so I raised it up to $35, which is a fairly large raise, but I knew we could get my $280 into the pot quicker if she did. She called. I figured there was little possibility that she had a J-2, so I was ready to push. There weren't any scare cards for me, but I wouldn't have minded if the flush card came, as I was already boated. In fact, if she was on a draw, it could do nothing but good things for me. The big blind folded. On the turn, with $88 in the pot, she bet out $45. I was certain she had a nine, and I just hoped she wouldn't hit her kicker for a better full house. I definitely wasn't going anywhere, so I went all in there. She immediately called. Huge pot. Sure enough, she had a:
J-H, 9-D
and neither a nine nor a jack came, so I doubled up. If I get the sense that my opponent doesn't have a big hand when I flop something like this, I might be included to bet small or even check. Poker is such a game of feel.
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