Should you fold the best possible hand?

The title of this post is slightly misleading and I'll get to that but stick with me. There are times in hold'em when it is correct to fold the best possible hand at the time. In Omaha there are plenty of possiblities where you can have the best possible hand after the flop and still be an underdog but it's fairly rare in hold'em for this to occur. One example I have comes from a hand I played a couple of months ago on PokerStars. I was playing in the $5/$10 no-limit game when I decided to limp in from the cut-off with A4 of hearts. 4 of us took the flop which came K J T with two hearts. This was a pretty big flop for me. I had 9 outs for the nut flush (maybe the J and T were hearts making a straight-flush possible I don't remember) and 3 queens for the nuts straight (not double-counting the Q of hearts). It was unlikely but not impossible that an ace may get the trick done for me also. I called a $25 bet from the big blind which put about $90 in the pot. My opponent and I both had begun the hand with about $1000. The turn brought an offsuit queen which gave me the nut straight and the nut flush draw. In other words, I was free-rolling my flush if I was up against another ace. My opponent bet out $70 at me and at this point I couldn't wait to get as much money as possible into the pot. I was praying that my opponent had an ace also. How much should I bet here? I didn't know much about my opponent but I hoped that he wouldn't fold an ace so I moved all in for about $895 more. Technically, my opponent can fold an ace here. It's a very close call though. If my opponent somehow knew I had an ace and a flush drawa than it is definitly the correct fold. You see, my opponent will lose the hand about 20% of the time and split the pot the other 80%. He will never win the whole pot. His expected value is therefore approximately 40%. The calculation is (20%*0 (you lose) + 80*.5 (you get half). He's being asked, though, to put $895 into what will be a $2020 pot. $895/$2020 is 44.3%. He should have an expected value of at least 44.3% if he's going to risk putting $895 into only a $2020 pot. The obvious argument against folding is that you can't be sure your opponent does have a flush draw here. Possibly your opponent has only the ace of hearts. Or, your opponent doesn't have a heart at all but doesn't think beyond the fact that he has 'the nuts!'. Oh yeah, in the actual hand my opponent called in a nanosecond. The river was the harmless 3c. I was a little confused but not at all disapointed when my opponent showed trip tens and I got the whole pot. Ship it!

Mailbag!

This post is a little update on what you, the readers, have been saying. We have gotten many e-mails from you and I’m going to share some of them right here in my post. Without further ado I bring you our first mailbag.

hey guys, i want to thank you guys for maintaining your blog, the "your game" posts have really helped me fix some leaks headsup. it seems you concentrate your posts on ring games and headsup, do you think you could write about some strategy in small tourneys and sngs? thanks again, drew

Drew, I’m happy we could help you with your leaks. I hope your high school English teacher doesn’t read your e-mail though. It may kill her. Mix in the shift bar every once in a while. Oh yeah, definitely expect future posts on strategy in tournaments and sit-n-go’s.

Guys, I read your site and really enjoy it. I also publish a strategy blog focused on NLHE cash games and I am going to link to your site. if you like what you read at mine, please do the same. http://bettingforvalue.blogspot.com Tyler

Only because you asked nicely. Throw in some more posts though so that we don't boot you.

Hi guys,

Found your site via DoubleAs. I have to say, it’s the best Poker blog I have read (up there with The Poker Chronicles) and by far the most useful. I have read your advice on heads up play over and over and then I put it to the test last night. Now Im a winning player and a healthy one at that, but I am amazed at how I have won at all in the past after reading what you wrote. The bit about playing with the button seems to have somehow escaped me over the last 9 months. It is the greatest single bit of advice I have ever been given.

I hit 10/20 last night (above my usual stakes) and launched into heads up with a known good player who sits there waiting for his prey. An hour later, I was $400 up and he actually said ‘well played’. No-one who was worth anything has ever said that to me before and I was buzzing. I have NEVER been so aggressive. Thanks guys. You have improved my game no end and I will never miss another post.

Flintoff,
Pokerchamps player
England.

Flintoff, I’m glad we could help you. Hopefully you can continue your newfound success. I’ll e-mail you our physical address where you can send us 25% of all winnings. I think that’s the least you could do.

Fellas -Great info in your posts, I really appreciate it. One suggestion I have, as I am reading the 'player type' and other posts, you frequently refrerence previous posts. It would be very helpful to hyperlink them back, so readers can quickly jump back and get a refresher on that info. Keep up the great work. Thanks, Andy

Thanks genius. Now Lloyd links every other word of his posts. Do me a favor and never e-mail us again. Just kidding. Thanks for the support.

Matt,
I am looking for a relative named Matt Dean. Just wondered if it was you. Can't find out much about you on the internet. If you are the correct Matt...your relatives would live in Arkansas. Either way, will ya let me know? Thanks,Val

Val, that’s not me. Sorry. You wouldn’t happen to be 20-27 years old, single, and attractive would you? Remember, we aren’t related!

There were some negative e-mails too but I found those people and let’s just say they won’t be bothering us anymore. I was sorely disappointed with the fact that not one of you sent us pictures of attractive females. How are we supposed to churn out good poker advice if we aren’t inspired? Keep e-mailing us and we’ll try to do a mailbag like this once every couple weeks. We linked some other poker blogs this week also for you to check out.

Playing a Hand Fast for Deception

Today I'd like to talk about a strategy that many good cash game players use. This situation comes up when you are in the blinds, and you flop a very good hand. Lets say in this case you hold K6 in the big blind, and it is an unraised pot. The flop comes out Q66. You know are holding just about as close to a cinch hand as it gets at this point. You reaslly are only worried about 6A, as QQ is highly unlikely given the betting preflop. Most weak players will check this hand in the big blind, wanting to look weak. I am going to tell you why sometimes this is not the correct play.
There are times when I am in this situation when I will bet out with this hand. Usually i will make a pot sized bet, or close to it. The reason i do this is because i want to trap anyone who is holding a queen, or may have slowplayed AA or KK. Most people rationalize, "why would the blind bet so strongly if he had a 6, he would rather check and try to slowplay it to get more value." This is the correct way to sometimes, but how much action do you expect to get if you check then call his bet, then check on the turn? Any good player will realize that you could very well have a 6. This is why betting pot works well here. Most opponents will think you have either a Q or a small pair, and are trying to protect your hand. If they hold a Q, they are probably going to go along for the ride. An opponent may take this strong bet as a sign of weakness, and try to re-raise you on the spot. If this happens, you have to decide if you think he will call a reraise, or if you think you should just call him here. If he doesnt raise, and just calls your bet, you should continue to bet hard on the turn. You could also check the turn if you are almost certain he will keep up with his "weak" read and make a bet himself.
The point here is that sometimes you need to make plays that other people think you wouldnt want to make. Playing a hand a strong hand very fast is something that many players just dont think you would do. Once you do this one time and win a big pot off someone, you can do it a few other times when you hold a draw or nothing as an attempt to bluff. You should continue to switch up your play and possibly slowplay a monster like this the next time you get one.

Read 'em and Weep - Part Deux

Here is part two of my review on some popular poker books. I’m sure you’ve read most of the books I recommended from Thursday. Well, you’re in luck. I have some more here including my all-time favorite poker book. Check it out.

Hold em Poker - David Sklansky: This book is one of the first books a new poker player will pick up and for good reason. It begins with the basics such as which hand is the best and then moves to starting hand requirements. Hold em Poker for Advanced Players (which I’m not reviewing) by the same author is an extension of this book and goes into more subtleties. Both of these books are painfully boring though. The beginning poker player will sometimes quit halfway through the book or not bother to reread important sections. Perhaps Sklansky is too smart for his own good sometimes. Still, Hold em Poker is definitely a must for the beginning poker player. My rating: 8

Tournament Poker for Advanced Players - David Sklansky: This is actually one of my favorite books. I got a lot out of it. If you want to know when to throw away aces pre-flop or haven’t heard of the gap concept pick this book up. Of course, this book isn’t directed at cash games but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some very valuable information in the book. There is also a very interesting chapter about ‘The System’ which is a very interesting read. This isn’t as boring as Sklansky’s other efforts. My rating: 9

Caro’s Book of Tells - Mike Caro: If it’s good enough for Mike McDermott it’s good enough for you. I think Mike McD had the tape but you get the picture. This book covers what seems like one million tells that your opponent may have and is a must if you are looking to play at a casino. The tells involving five-card draw won’t help usually but this is packed full of valuable information. My rating: 7

Poker Nation: A High-Stakes, Low-Life Adventure into the Heart of a Gambling Country - Andy Bellin: Long title; short read. This book reads more like a novel with enough poker to keep you more than entertained. You won’t get much in terms of strategy (there is a little) but you need some variety in your life. The anecdotes are humorous and there is an interesting chapter or two about a couple who cheated at poker Gotta love that kind of stuff. My rating: 6

Moneymaker : How an Amateur Poker Player Turned $40 into $2.5 Million at the World Series of Poker - Chris Moneymaker: I think the folks at Barnes & Noble caught on to my little game. A couple of them stared me down the other day and guilted me into buying this book. I didn’t mind though because I was hooked by the first chapter. This is a story about a rookie who plays in his first big live tournament and makes a lot of money. I obviously may be a little biased here. Moneymaker talks about what he was feeling throughout the tournament and on key hands. He also gives his background into poker and gambling which I’m guessing most people don’t know (I didn’t). Overall, this is a very good book. My rating: 8

Poker Wisdom of a champion - Doyle Brunson: This book was a collection of stories in the life of Doyle Brunson, each of which used to illustrate an important lesson regarding poker, life, or both. You also get a lot of the background on how Doyle got started in poker. I thoroughly enjoyed this book even though I knew a lot of the background. Some of the stories had me laughing out loud. One of my favorite stories was about gambling on a football game and didn’t have much at all to do with poker. It’s a quick read that will keep you entertained. My rating: 6

Championship no-limit and pot-limit hold'em: On the road to the World Series of Poker - Tom McEvoy & T.J. Cloutier: Most of my friends have heard me tell people this is my favorite poker book. Well, it still is. I read this book the week before I went to the World Series and it’s influence on me in that tournament can’t be overstated. The format is great, T.J. and Tom look at certain situations differently and explain the pros and cons of each side. It’s great for tournaments or cash games. I can’t say enough about this book. My rating: 10

Championship Tournament Poker - Tom McEvoy: I was pretty disappointed in this book. Maybe I missed T.J. chiming in or maybe it was that I read this after Championship no-limit and pot-limit hold’em. Either way I didn’t get much from this book. My rating: 2

It took about as much time to write these damn things as to read a new book. I hope this has been entertaining at the very least. Again, our site continues to get hooked up. This time it was the boys over at http://www.upforanything.net/poker/. Apparently we stole their three person format. Ship it! In all honesty though, they have a quality site that you should check out if you haven’t already. I’ll be commenting on some e-mails we have received in my next post and we’ll be adding some new links on Thursday so be sure to watch for that. That’s my equivalent of a cliff-hanger on a day-time soap opera.

Cash Game/Tourney Play

Many players don't really know the differences between cash game play and tournament play. Today I'm going to talk about some observations I have made that may help a player deciding on which to focus on.

The obvious difference is that in a tournament you cannot rebuy. You must always be aware that on any hand (in NL) you can lose all of your chips. This will cause you to play very cautious at certain points, as sometimes it is simply not worth taking a risk on losing your chips, even if you think you are a favorite. An example of this is early in the tournament when you are holding AK. There are certain players that will push all in with a wide variety of hands just because they have watched the WPT and think this is how you should play (this IS how you should play at some points, but only late in a tournament and if you are short stacked). You know that when this player pushes in for a huge reraise, he probably has a pocket pair, and maybe has AK, AQ, or even AJ. Your call is most likely +EV due to the fact that there is probably a 15-20% chance he has Ax, and the other hands are just about 50/50. However, this is not a call you can make. It's just not worth risking going broke as you can pick a better spot to take advantage of this player later (IE when you have AK and see a flop, and he goes all in when you flop an Ace..here you are most likely at least 75% to win). This is an obvious point to many players, but it illustrates the fact that in tournaments you have to play much more cautiously. In a cash game, you would probably make this call depending on the other player. First of all, if a player goes all in like this for a huge reraise, he probably doesn't have AA or KK because he would usually try to milk it for more money. Second, a player willing to make an enormous raise in relation to the pot usually doesn't grasp the way to play in a cash game (aka has watched the WPT like the previous tourney player). We can deduce that if they are this type of player, there is a wide variety of hands they could be reraising with.. a few of which AK totally dominates (Ax), some which AK is a pretty large favorite over (JsTs, etc), and some in which AK is almost a coinflip (pocket pairs), add this all up and we can see that this call is +EV in this situation. Let me reiterate that this is against a weak player....if a known tough player makes this move i would think very hard about calling with AK, and most likely fold. These examples show just how different you can play the same hand in a tourney/cash game. It should also be noted that if you are playing with a short bankroll in a cash game, this call with AK would not be recommended. Although it is a +EV play, the variance that comes along with it is very high. You might lose 8 or 9/10 of these, before winning a bunch in a row. If you are on a short bankroll, you would need to pick a better spot (note: see how important a large bankroll is?).

The big difference in the way i play in cash games and tourneys is the type of pots i like to play. In cash games, i'm usually trying to build the pot as big as possible, because i feel i can make the best decisions and want to get as much money into a pot (that is, when i WANT a lot of money in the pot) as i can. In a tournament, I'm much more cautious. Even though i still have total confidence in my abilities of outplaying the other player, I don't like to play unreasonably big pots because of the fact that one bad card and i can get broke.

Here is an example of how i would play a big hand differently in cash game and a tourney. Lets say i have 77 and i rasied preflop. If the flop came down 723 and i was playing a cash game, there is a VERY high probability that i will make a pot sized bet on the flop. I want them to think I am trying to buy this pot (as i often do). There are many players who will call with ace high here, because often times it is the best hand. And on the turn, i will usually fire out with a pot sized bet too (sometimes i will slow down, or even check, just to stay deceptive). The point is i don't care if i scare the people out of the pot, my style of play is very aggressive and i know that eventaully a player is going to catch a small piece of the flop and decide that i am probably bluffing. They may even raise me with nothing, in which case i will probably slowplay the rest of the way inducing a bluff. The point is, it is very rare i will slowplay in this situation even with the nuts, as it just is too hard to build a big pot and it gives them chances to beat you.

In a tourney, i would play this hand diferently probably. Since I am playing tighter in a tourney, i will see less flops and have less chances to make big hands. When i get a hand, i need to maximize the value of it. Even though i could win the biggest pot possible if i bet pot and get called, i will either bet less than the pot or check with this hand, so that i can almost always get something out of the other player. The reason for this is because of the nature of tournaments themselves. If the player has a mediocre hand after the flop, he would probably fold to a large bet because he is worried about losing his chips. If i make a bet that is half the pot, or check, he will probably be sucked in because he thinks he has the best hand. I can continue to bet bigger and bigger as the hand progresses, in order to get the best value for my hand. Now, if i am playing against a tough player, i may be more apt to bet larger because he may view this as a bluff or may want to make a play on me.

To summarize, when you are playing cash games there is rarely a reason to slowplay even a monster. You shouldn't be afraid of going broke, so you should be aggressive most of the time. This should carry over to your monster hands as well. In a tournament, you are afraid of going broke, and you won't have as many chances to get monster hands so you should try to maximize their value, even if it might cost you a little bit in EV.

Read 'em and Weep

So you haven't read a book since 8th grade and your reading skills are on par with those of an NBA player. But, you want to start fresh and need a good poker book to pick up. Well, you've come to the right place. I'll be reviewing some poker books in my next two posts. Here are my first 9 reviews. My rating is based on how much I liked the book and how much I got out of it for my poker game.

Doyle Brunson’s Super System I: I only read the no-limit portion of this book 18 months ago. There, of course, is some great information in is book. But, for me, the style that Doyle recommends didn’t fit my game. And, at the lower levels his aggressive approach rarely works, especially online. My rating: 4

Doyle Brunson's Super System II: I loved this book. The limit section by Jennifer Harmon is incredible - I've read it 4 times. I also enjoyed the triple-draw lowball section written by Daniel Negreanu. I didn't read the omaha sections or the seven-card stud section but there is some great stuff in this book. Again, I was dissapointed wih the no-limit section. Perhaps my hopes are too high for a true legend of poker. For some reason I got more out of this than the original Super System. My rating: 8

Winning Low-Limit Hold’em – Lee Jones: I enjoyed this book and found some valuable advice in here. I’ve only read it once and I admit that I didn’t absorb all that much of it. This book is probably best for someone looking to go to a casino to play low-limit hold’em for the first time. My rating: 3

Play Poker Like the Pros – Phil Hellmuth: I’ve heard many people bash this book but it holds a special place in my heart. I probably read this book 8 times cover to cover in the summer of 2003, mostly because that was one of the only poker books that Lloyd and I owned in South Carolina. I enjoyed the stories more than the strategy but still this book is great for the beginning player. My rating: 7

Poker: The Real Deal – Phil Gordon: This is a short read and not a bad one. Ultimately, I felt like it didn’t help my game much if at all. Granted, this was the millionth poker book I had read so it’s tough to cover new ground at that point. Phil Gordon’s story is pretty interesting but I knew a lot of that before even opening up the book. Phil is a very funny guy so I would have liked to see more humor in this book. My rating: 2

Zen and the Art of Poker – Larry Phillips: This is my favorite poker book. Ever feel like your going on tilt? You think you are better than your opponents but you lose money online? Please read this book. You won’t learn how to play KQ from middle position with an early limper in the pot and two people to act behind you. This isn’t that type of book. Just read the damn book. My rating: 10

Phil Hellmuth - Bad Beats and Lucky Draws: This book was decent but not great. I mean, most of these stories you can get off of cardplayer.com. Just go to Phil's archives and you'll get at least 50% of these stroies. I promise. My rating: 2

Positively Fifth Street - James McManus: This is a really good book. Half of the book centers around the murder of Ted Binion. I found it a little boring but still loved the book. The poker stuff is great. For those that don't know I won't ruin it but James McManus wins a seat into the World Series of Poker in 2000 and chronicles his tournament. My rating: 6

Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People : The Memoirs of the Greatest Gambler Who Ever Lived: This book is so great. It's not much of a poker book but go out and get it right now. You will be amazed the stuff Amarillo Slim does. Great stories. The lack of poker brings down my rating a bit though. My rating: 6

Wow, that was fun. Go head to your local bookstore and check out some of these bad boys. Or, better yet, do what I do and read these at Barnes & Noble without paying for them. On a side note, as our site continues to draw more people we want to continue to get better. We have included a link to our e-mail address so please e-mail us with comments, complaints, pictures of girls, etc.

And.......another long distance shout out goes to DoubleAs. This guy has a terrific blog that we have now linked. Him mentioning us at http://doubleas.blogspot.com/ has helped an incredible amount of budding poker players find our site. Hopefully the information they find here will help them get better and not worse. Thanks DoubleAs, we really appreciate it.

How Quickly a No-Limit Hand can Change

For those of you that asked, I am going to talk more about Sit n Goes, tourneys, and cash games, and the differences and what I recommend doing. That will take an in depth analysis and I dont have time this afternoon. I should get to that this weekend. Today I just want to go over a hand that happened to me recently, and explain a concept.
This hand came up at the 25-50nl game on UB. I will post the hand history, then talk through my thoughts. Names of players have been changed.

Tight Aggresive Player is at seat 1 with $3288.
Green Plastic is at seat 2 with $4950.
A is at seat 3 with $9605 (sitting out).
Loose Aggressive Player is at seat 4 with $5000.
B is at seat 5 with $9593.
C is at seat 6 with $4922.
D is at seat 7 with $8300.
E is at seat 8 with $1987.
F is at seat 9 with $6597 (sitting out).
The button is at seat 1.
Green Plastic posts the small blind of $25.
Loose Aggressive Player posts the big blind of $50.Pre-flop: B folds. C calls. D calls. E folds. Tight Aggressive Player raises to $200. Green Plastic calls. Loose Aggressive Player re-raises to $900. C folds. D folds. Tight Aggressive Player calls. Green Plastic goes all-in for $4950. Loose Aggressive Player folds. Tight Aggressive Player goes all-in for $3288. Green Plastic is returned $1662 (uncalled). Flop (board: Td 7s Jd): (no action in this round) Turn (board: Td 7s Jd Ad): (no action in this round) River (board: Td 7s Jd Ad Th): (no action in this round) Showdown: Green Plastic shows Kd Kc.
Green Plastic has Kd Kc Td Ad Th: two pair, kings and tens.
T.E.P shows Qs Qd.
T.E.P has Qs Qd Td Ad Th: two pair, queens and tens.
$3 is raked from a pot of $7576.
Green Plastic wins $7573 with two pair, kings and tens.

note: I organized this the best I could, its not easy with the format they give you.

Basically, with two early position limpers, a tight aggressive player on the button making it 200 to go, and me in the SB with KK, i had two options. Raise, or Call. At this point I'm 90% sure my kings are the best hand out there, as in a cash game you can't be afraid of AA when you have KK, unless you have an amazing read on a guy. I normally raise with my Kings. But a few thoughts went through my head. First of all, I knew the Tight Aggressive Player (T.A.P, who I had coincidentally played with for a day at a WPT event and knew he wasn't messing around here) had a good hand. The odds are he had AK, or a PP between TT-QQ (again, if he had AA, so be it, i was going to lose). I knew that if I reraised with my kings, he would fold TT, JJ, possibly QQ, and probably AK. Doing this would eliminate two of hands for sure (TT, JJ) that I really wanted to play a big pot with my KK. I would get called by AA, and MAYBE QQ, and probably not by AK (which i would also want to play against). I decided to just call the 200, and hope the flop came with low cards. I was aware I took the risk of letting one of the EP limpers catch something, but I figured one or both would fold, and sometimes you have to risk someone sucking out on you in order to stay deceptive.
An interesting thing happened in the BB. This player thought and reraised to 900. Now, this guy plays extremely loose, and had alrady lost about 5-10k on the night. He was bluffing a lot and in a normal case I would be really worried about AA here (raising into 2 limpers, a reraise, and a call). The two limpers folded (if one of them pushed in I would fold my kings as they would probably be beat and I only had 200 invested). The T.A.P thought and thought, and finally just called. This pretty much made a light bulb go off in my head. I knew that this guy knew that I was a good player. At this point I would NOT call without QQ at the minimum, and he knew that. There would be little reason for him to slowplay AA at this point, as he might as well get his money in against the loose player who had been making some pretty bad calls previously (he wouldn't want to risk the loose player missing his hand totally and folding the flop...even this loose player would have a hard time bluffing if he missed, or risk the loose player catching a great flop relatively cheap). So basically, I ruled out AA for the T.A.P. I decided already that I had the L.A.P beat. At this point, I saw no reason to second guess myself and decided to push all in. The L.A.P. thought for a long time and folded, then the T.A.P thought for a long time and finally called. Turns out he had QQ (as I expected) and I took down the pot. What is interesting here is if I hadn't pushed in, this hand could have been a lot more tricky to play with T J X flop (TT, JJ being 2 of the 3 hands i thought he had...also being hands L.A.P could've had)
The moral of this story is that there are times you want to slowplay a big pair in NL cash games. You must do this sometimes in order to stay deceptive. However, things can quickly change with one raise behind you, and you shouldn't fall in love with your first decision. I would like to point out that most of these players playing were excellent players, and this is the reason I need to stay deceptive. If you are playing low stakes no limit, you should almost ALWAYS raise with KK in this spot, not slowplay at first. Players at low stakes will not fold QQ on the button, no matter what the situation is. Ok this got long, and I haven't proof read it so my apologies if I messed something up.

Lake Charles Baby, Lake Charles

I came to the realization the other day that my posts will probably get more boring as time goes on. I can only talk about the past so much. Once upon a time I got 7th in the WSOP and went to Ireland, all expenses paid. Now about the most exciting poker stories I have come from my online play and an occasional trip to Louisiana. For those that don't know, I'm a Texas boy, and poker is illegal here. So, for my live poker fix I have to travel three hours to Lake Charles. Let’s just say Lake Charles isn’t Vegas and leave it at that. So, me and four of my highly intoxicated friends decided on Saturday night to drive down and check the place out. We went to Harrah’s first. It would also turn out to be our last stop at a casino. It’s kind of tough telling four drunks to get back in the car because you want to find better games. Anyway, the only two games they had were $3/$6/$12 limit hold ‘em and $5/$5 no limit. I played $3/$6/$12 while waiting for a no limit seat and proceeded to immediately lose $120. Come to think of it, maybe I had had a little too much to drink also. I have a rule that I never, ever drink when I play. But I never said anything about just before I play. I finally got to sit at the no limit table and I was ready to play a little cards when the dealer told me I had too many chips?! The crappy thing about this game was that you could only sit with $300 maximum. I relented, turned in my ‘extra’ chips and ended up getting some good cards and making some money. I had QQ vs. AJ on one hand. I raised to $40 pre-flop, got re-raised to $100 by the SB, and just called. When the SB bet out $100 at the 7 7 6 flop I just pushed all-in for not much more. No help for that guy and I doubled up. Later I had 10 9 on the button and limped in. 8 people took the flop and I got it all-in against the same guy when the flop came 10 9 3. He had AA and my hand held up. I ended up making $398 for the trip which was pretty sweet. We didn’t get there until midnight and at 5 a.m. we took off back to Houston, but not before a little Waffle House action. Ship it! All in all it was a bunch of fun. Lloyd, Taylor, and I are lazy people who would never take the time to find a bunch of cool poker blogs. But we know one guy who actually did all the work for you. Check out his blog at http://guinnessandpoker.blogspot.com/. Sure, his blog makes us look amateurish but don’t stop checking us out.

Building a Bankroll

Many people have asked me how I am able to play in some pretty high stakes games when I am so young. Most assume that my parents gave me a large sum of money to play with, and I turned that into an even larger amount of money. The opposite is actually true. Today I'd like to talk about how I built up my money playing online poker, and some advice I have to anyone trying to do the same.

I started with 35 dollars on UB in Summer '03. I had been playing poker for about 5 years at this point, all througout high school and my freshman year of college. I didn't really know what games to play, I just knew i liked NLHE. I decided to play the 1 on 1 $5 dollar sit n goes. I played these for about 2 months and built up my 35 dollars to a whopping 150 or so. I was making about 5 dollars an hour! After this I moved up to playing 10 dollar 1 on 1 games, as well as some 6 seated and 10 seated sit n goes. I really recommend playing sit n goes to start out, because you have a limited amount of risk and you can get a lot of experience. About two months later I had made almost 1000 dollars, and I started to cash out about 50 bucks a week to pay for my living expenses at school. I was now playing 20 and 30 dollar sit n goes. Eventually I started playing the 50 and 100 dollar heads up sit n goes, with a bankroll of around 1500. It was at this time I really decided I wanted to play in the cash games. I saw that there were some huge pots at the 1-2nl and 2-4nl, and I wanted in on the action. The problem was, I wasn't at all ready for the cash games. I would build up my account to 1500 or so. Then immediately lose 2 or 3 buy ins at the cash games over the course of the day, and be down to 800. I was very frustrated so I stuck to the sit n goes to build back up. Eventually, I improved as a player and was able to hang at the 1-2nl game, making a small amount of money over the course of a month. I finally broke through and had a huge day, and moved up to 2-4nl. With a lot of practice and moving up and down, I eventually had a bankroll to play 5-10...10-25...25-50, and so on.

The reoccuring theme in my efforts to build up money was that I would work hard to make a few hundred bucks a week in the sit n goes, and then lose it very quickly in the cash games. This happens to so many people. I'm not exactly sure why, other than it takes more skill to win at the NL cash games because you can play for all of your chips (chips=money) on any given hand. One bad decision (or suckout) and you can lose a hefty amount of money. Things brings me to my first tip:

Always have an adequate bankroll for whatever you are playing. People complain that they can't handle the bad beats of the cash games, because you can lose a ton on a 2 outer or something. This is inevitable, but if you have a big enough BR you can make up for this with good play. I recommend a bankroll that is bigger than you might even think. For sit n goes, i think you should have 30-40 buy ins. This is probably a bit extreme, but it's not unheard of to have a stretch where you might lose 10-15 in a row. Now you probably would still have a bankroll left, but what I found happening to me is that when I went through a bad streak I started playing timidly. If you have an excessive bankroll, you will realize that you have more than enough money left to play through it. For no limit cash games, I recommend having at least 15 buy ins for whatever game you are playing, more if you are playing short handed. If you want to play 5-10nl, you should have 15k, at the minimum. I know very many people that don't stick to this, and most of them lose in the long run.

Next, you must be able to control going on tilt. Tilt to me is the single biggest BR ruiner. In the last 4 days, I've lost 17k in 'bad beat' pots at 25-50nl. These were all in pots after the flop or turn where my opponent had at most 3 outs. I could have tilted and lost a heck of a lot more, but everytime i just decided to leave the game. I was pretty upset and I thought, there are better things I could be doing right now than playing poker, if I cant play my A game. I recommend having a backup plan if you decide you can't play your best anymore and must quit. I signed up for a gym that's one block from my apartment, so I usually head there to work out. Otherwise I bought a few video games that I can play if I feel like doing something like that. People ask me, how do you not tilt? The truth is, I do tilt. I just know when I am on tilt and I leave the game. I cannot stress how important that is.

Finally, I recommend having some sort of cashout plan. Use something like pokertracker to figure out how much you make/hr. Then figure out how much you plan on playing a week, and calculate your average weekly profit. Make a cashout once or twice a week and take out about 25% of this average profit. I withdraw almost every day because frankly it feels good to take money out of my account and put it into the bank. If I have a bad week, I still take out money. If I have a great week, sometimes I will take out a little more. This is a great way to keep your BR growing, but also put some $ in your pocket. Nothing helps me feel better about playing poker than having money to spend as a result of playing.

My Hand vs. Harrington

My favorite hand of the WSOP this year is a hand I played with Dan Harrington. I actually lost this pot but I am lucky I didn't lose a lot more. With about 25 people to go I found myself in about average chip position. Dan Harrington had roughly the same number of chips as myself and raised in the cut-off seat. I looked down in the big blind and saw K8 suited and called. I had been playing pretty tight and thought Dan may have been trying to take my blinds. I had let him do this a couple times already and thought this would be a good time to defend. I considered a reraise hoping to win the hand right there but instead just called. The flop came 2 4 K rainbow and I checked thinking I probably had the best hand. Harrington checked behind me and I didn't like his body language. Something told me to be careful. This is where things got interesting. The turn came 8. With about 800,000 in chips each and around 40,000 in the pot I bet 35,000. Harrington thought about it and just flat called my bet. Immediately I felt like something was wrong even with top 2 pair. The river came Q for a final board of 2 4 K 8 Q, and I immediately checked. Harrington thought about it and bet 80,000. I ended up deciding that I had to call even though I felt I was most likely beat. I was getting great pot odds and I didn't want to get run over. Harrington did turn over pocket 4's and when I showed him my K8 he was in disbelief. The hand would have been much different had he raised me on the turn but he didn't and I had more than enough chips to continue on in good shape. He told me the next day that he couldn't believe I didn't lose more on that hand. When he told me that it made my year... well that and the final table appearence and the money. Harrington was quiet at the table as you would expect but was funny and very respectful of all the players. I just wish I would have filled up on the river.

Charity/Celebrity Tournament

I just got back today from Dallas where I participated in a charity poker tournament put on by 102.1 'The Edge' and The Knights of Malta charity. Commander Sir Kent Farquhar of the Knights of Malta had invited me to play in the event as they were trying to raise funds for a new hospital. The main tournament was a freeroll and consisted of 600 people with the winner getting a free seat to the WSOP main event. I was to play in the 'celebrity' event in which the winner donated $2,500 to the charity they were playing for. In the main tournament I got to deal one table of six people. We were down to 60 at that point and the format was that there were 10 6-person tables and the winner of each table went to the final table. Well, I am happy to say that the winner of my table, Amber Thorton, went on to the final table and won her way into the WSOP. In the celebrity event I got to play with Gavin Griffen (WSOP pot-limit champ), Stevie Benton and Mike Luce of the band Drowning Pool, Jackson and Monica from Fear Factor who won a million dollars, Ralph Strangis (the voice of the Dallas Stars), and some other cool people to bring the total to 10. We all started with 1,000 chips and blinds of 50-100. Gavin and I just looked at each other and had to laugh. On the first hand I had the small blind and got pot odds to call with T 2 since everyone called but Gavin. I flopped a 2 and turned a ten and won the pot when no one called my bet. I was the chip leader after one hand. Mike Luce of Drowning Pool ordered everyone shots of Jager and the tournament was rolling. We lost someone on the 3rd hand and on the 4th hand I knocked out two people when my QQ held up vs. TT and AQ. The blinds then went up to 100-200. Gavin got knocked out a little later with KT because he was short on chips and all the sudden we were down to 4 after 9 hands. This tournament was hilarious. Blinds were going up every 10 minutes and each hand took about 3 minutes. I ended up getting heads up with a rock guy whose name I don't even remember. We were about even in chips. The first hand I got T4 of clubs and just called from the SB. The flop came T76 and I checked. Frankly, I wanted to check-raise because I figured he would bet with anything. He checked. The turn came ten for a board of TT76 and I checked again. Again he checked. Well, this isn't working I thought. When the river was an ace I moved all-in hoping he hit his ace. He called and showed me K9. Gotta love celebrity poker. He was forced to move all in next hand with 2 6 and I had 33 and it held up. Ship it! 14 hands into the tournament and it was all over. If only the WPT had been that easy. Well, I was happy for my charity and it was all in good fun.

Never Do This!!

I don't have much time to post today, but I'd just like to talk about something that I have seen happen a few times in poker in my life. You should NEVER fold the river if all you are last to act and it is checked to you. This might seem obvious, but some players when caught in a bluff will just fold their cards assuming they are beat. You have nothing to lose by showing down your hand at this point, it doesn't cost you anything. Some players might say that they don't want the other player to know how they played their bluff. I argue that if you are a capable player you should mix up your play enough that it doesn't matter if he knew how you played that bluff, as you should have many many different types of bluffs in your arsenal. Here is an example of a hand that came up between me and a great player (I edited out his name).

Green Plastic is at seat 1 with $8524.
Player X is at seat 7 with $15811.
Player X posts the small blind of $25.
Green Plastic posts the big blind of $50.
Green Plastic: 9c 7c
Pre-flop: Player X calls. Green Plastic raises to $150. Player X calls.
Flop (board: 4d Th 6c):Green Plastic bets $300. Player X calls.
Turn (board: 4d Th 6c Ac):Green Plastic checks. Player X bets $900. Green Plastic calls.
River (board: 4d Th 6c Ac 5h):Green Plastic checks. Player X folds.
$.50 is raked from a pot of $2700. Green Plastic wins $2699.50.

Now, about this hand. I won the 2700 pot with 97, no pair. I usually would either fold or raise this turn here because all i had was a flush draw and gutshot straight draw, but this player had been firing out big bets on the river all day on me (when he was pretty sure I couldn't call) and i wanted to have a chance to make a big hand and checkraise him once. I had a lot of chips on the table so I figured if i got lucky and hit one of my 12 outs, I could possibly get all in for a huge pot. Also, even if I missed (and he checked) I wanted him to know that I am willing to "gamble" and could hold and/or check any two cards at the end. This would make him less likely to keep stealing pots on the river against me, as I suspected he was doing. In the end he was probably bluffing with no pair, or a small pair, and decided he didn't want me to see his hand. The truth is, a good player (me, I think) is smart enough to know why a person would fold a hand when it is checked to them. So he didn't get a chance to win the pot with whatever he had, AND i know that he was bluffing there. Interesting hand, comments?

Memories of Ireland

Back in June Poker Stars was kind enough to invite me to play in the World Poker Championship in Ireland. They paid my airfare, hotel room, and entry fee - ship it! I had a wonderful time and since I'm too lazy to come up with anything new I am reposting a thread I made back in June after the tournament. Here it is.

After a fun 20 hours of traveling I got to Dublin very early on Tuesday morning (tourney started on Wed.). At the airport I ran into Chris Moneymaker and talked to him a bit. It's a huge thrill to get to talk to the big names - just another added bonus.

On Tuesday evening there was a players reception at the casino and the heats were announced. Once I found out that I wasn't playing until Friday it was off to the pubs. I was really surprised how small the casino was though. I guess it's different in Europe but the casino was basically a 4-story townhouse. I originally was kind of disappointed but it turned out to be one of the cool parts of the tournament. The smaller casino almost forced everyone to talk to one another and it was neat to strike up relationships with the other players, the dealers, and the staff running the tournament. I had a friend from Ireland who took the train to Dublin so we went drinking along with a young player from London, Adam Matusiak ('Twos') and ran into Blair Rodman - a big tournament player from LV. For the next few days I didn't go to the casino much but did do a lot of drinking. Kilkenney is a nice freaking beer. Guinness ain't bad either.

Finally on Friday I played my first hand of poker on the trip. If you don't know who was in my heat (or are curious about the format) you can go back and look it up at www.worldpokerchampionship.com. Everyone started with 100,000 in chips.

I got down to 74,000 early but started to get some cards and was at around 96,000 when a huge hand came up. Playing 8-handed still I raised on the button with KT. Gary Bush, who was on Late Night Poker and also finished second to Gavin Griffen at the WSOP's pot-limit hold 'em event, reraised from the BB. This was about the 4th hand I had played out of 6 and Gary had been watching me. I had a read that he had a hand but it wasn't big enough to call an all-in so I pushed. It would've crippled me to lose. He had 24,000 invested and 60,000 left but folded AJ. I told him I had QQ - sorry Gary.

It may not seem like much but I was now the chip leader at the table and I played like it. Most of the players at my table knew who I was so I hoped they had heard I played tight (I played scary tight at the WSOP). In fact 2 players at my table had played with me at some point at the WSOP. I think they must have gotten word because with the exception of one guy (Jerry) I picked up lots of pots without a fight.

An hour later a woman raised my big blind but I woke up with KK and popped her back. I checked a KQ8 flop and she moved all in. She showed AT which was about the worst thing I could hope for. I'm not whining but visions of a bad beat were running through my head. No jack though and I was the chip leader at my table.

When we got down to 6 players from 16 they conducted interviews with all of us. We were miked at the tables and the TV cameras were on. I was much more relaxed than in LV and thought to myself, 'This is the life'. The final 6 consisted of some very good players, Jeff Shulman, Paul Phillips, Joe Beevers, a guy they call Nick the Greek, that Jerry guy, and little old me.

Joe and I had a lot of chips though - about 2/3 of the total number of chips on the table.

On one hand Shulman and Phillips went all-in with AK against Beevers QQ. Just like that we were down to 4. When the two short stacks butted heads Nick the Greek was out and Jerry had a little more to work with. He was super-aggresive though and he got into trouble a couple times with Joe.

His last gasp was when he raised me from the SB and I just called in the BB with QT. QT was a freaking monster against this guy. When I say I just called it should tell you how aggresive he was. The flop came 2 3 10 and Jerry bet pot from the SB leaving him with about 20,000. I put him all-in and he went into the tank. There was over 250,000 in the pot and he considered folding for 20,000 more so I wasn't too worried. He had to call and showed me 2 8 giving him five outs twice. The turn was a 10 meaning I was in the money again and I couldn't believe it.

Joe Beevers is tough.

He also picked up JJ, QQ, KK, and AA against me in about 30 hands. I didn't last too long.

The final hand I raised with A3 of diamonds and he called with KK. The flop came 3 9 10 with 2 diamonds and I bet out. When he put me all-in it was an easy call with so few chips left and two blanks put me into the semi-finals.

When we got down to 6 I mentioned to one of the dealers that I liked his watch. He let me wear it but when we got down to 2 he had to leave so I gave it back.

I think that did me in.

Anyways, the semi-final heat was two days later. There were some great players there including Carlos Mortenson and Erick Lindgren.

During the interviews before the semi-final the interviewer asked me if I thought I was the favorite coming off my WSOP performance. Are you kidding me? Haha - one of many highlights.
Long story short I played great according to me. It's hard to be objective but I think I do an okay job and I played pretty damn perfect. I got my stack from 100,000 to 160,000 without playing one hand past the turn and I was thinking I might win the thing when I found KK in the hot-spot.

I raised and got called on my immediate left. I checked the 5 7 9 flop and check-raised all in (blinds were enormous and thus the pots were too). When my man turned up 7 9 I still had outs but they didn't turn up. I tried to second-guess myself on that one but it was a 'had to be there' play and the guy on my left could have bet that flop with a lot of different hands including trash.

Overall, I was extremely happy. I proved that the WSOP wasn't a fluke, if only to myself.

I know this is long so I'll try to wrap it up but I want to express how much fun it was. I had never been outside of North America so it was cool just to go to Ireland. I had no pressure on me also so the tournament was almost like an added bonus. I really liked the format and I was so relaxed. The staff, dealers, and players were so friendly. What great people!

I guess I was expecting people in Europe might not necessarily like Americans but that was not even close to the truth. I actually enjoyed myself more at this tourney than the WSOP. Admittedly, it was hard to enjoy myself at the WSOP with it being my first tournament and playing for freaking 60 hours but the Ireland experience is one I'll always cherish.

I also got to go out to dinner with 'Miami' John Cernuto and his daughter, Jade after the tournament and that was a thrill. It was neat to pick his brain and talk poker.

It turns out that we played the WSOP completely different in terms of stategy. His ranking in the world is 7 so it's hard to argue but I guess it just proves that there isn't just one way to win in this game. I'm so sick of writing I'm not going to check this for errors.

By the way, I ended up getting the watch from the dealer in a trade for my lucky sunglasses. Bartering is kind of cool.

Sorry this is so freaking long.