bastin

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 3:56 pm

Sundays seem to be my casino days. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I said I was going to take a break from the casino. I did. For a week. And now I’ll wait another week before I go again. I don’t want to wait, yet I will. In the mean time, I have a couple things to mull over.

I’m already working through my issues with big pocket pairs. Last week I had to fold Pocket Aces and Kings. The good news: Queens worked well on a couple occasions, and I managed to crack a guy’s set of aces when my twelve-outer nut flush/broadway hit the latter, and then the same two cards came up again for another broadway. I was up $150 fairly early on.

And then the short stacks showed up.

The first guy I had never seen before. He comes to the table with a big smile as a couple other players do recognize him. The woman to my right, a regular, and known by readers as the gal who caught me nose-mining, asks him, “Are you here to give me my money back?” There follows a discussion about a bad beat he had delivered. He puts down about $20 in red and $80 in white. Within ten hands he’s lost half of it.

As I mentioned above, big pocket pairs have been causing me problems, mostly, perhaps, because I have been catching them in the blinds. This time, KK in the BB. There are two limpers, one of which is the newcomer, the other is the woman to my right. I’m not going to mess around this time and raise to $20 ($1/2). Mr. Short calls immediately and Missy goes into the tank.

Missy thinks aloud. By the time she folds, I know she is holding A5. The flop is all low, 234 rainbow. Shorty has $25 behind so that’s my bet, which he calls. Missy says, “I would have hit my straight. Dangit.” Shorty flips over 96c. The turn is a blank and the dealer lays out 5th street face down. Turns up the side facing Shorty so he gets to see his 5 before I know I’m beat.

OK, I can handle it. Thank God he was short. Still, I think it wise to take a little walk, maybe call the wife, whine a little, get it out of my system and come back to the business now at hand: waiting for the opportunity to knock this donk off the steep mountain path. By the time I get back t the table, no more than ten minutes, he’s gone, busto. Note taken.

Shorty #2 didn’t show up short-stacked. He had a full buy-in of $100. I remembered him from previous trips. He played a lot of hands, complained a lot, went into the tank a lot, asked players what “they could possibly have?” and then fold, or, on one hand, call with QK off with paired Aces on the board. It wasn’t long before he was down to $65 or so.

Shorty #3 came short and stayed short with about $50. A clean-cut kid. Seemed polite, quiet. He was set mining.

From mid-position I limp with 9s. Shorty #2 had already limped UTG, as did Missy. Shorty #3 is BB and checks. Flop comes 9, 10, Q. #3 checks, #2 checks, Missy checks, as do I. The board is scary enough, but I’m going to hold out to see what comes on the turn. It’s the 5c. Now there’s two clubs out there. Everyone again checks around to me and I read this as a good time to bet. I bet the pot. #3 in the BB calls, #2 UTG pushes in for his remaining $65 or so.

Tank time again for Missy, and for me as well. Missy has about $125 behind. She’s saying things like, “I want to call, but I’m worried about him (pointing to my stack).” I’m thinking about the hand Loki9 outlined last week with Mr. PE. If she calls, how do I handle this? I may very well be behind at this point, but I’m not folding with my set against two short stacks, for more than likely Shorty #2 is calling the all-in with his last $30 or so. Someone has the straight, someone has two pair, someone is on a draw. Who knows? But right now I’m thinking about Missy. I am certain I have her beat and I am hoping she calls. If she does, I will re-raise her all in. Alas, she folds.

All of a sudden, #3 says, “I’m going to need some help here.” Having seen him donk off with the KQ, I’m thinking he has two pair or the draw. I still don’t know what #3 has, but in that he called my pot-sized bet, there’s a good chance he holding KJ or 8J. I call his all in, and as I anticipated, #3 puts his money in as well.

I’m still kinda liking my chances here. I starts a little chant: “No suck outs, no suck outs.” The dealer turns over another 5 and I let out a little whoop. #3 turns over the straight and #2 turns over 10s full.

Oh well, I’m back to about my original $200. $213 to be exact. Time to maybe call it a day.

Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 10:12 pm

Having no kids to sit at my feet and adoringly look up at me on Father’s Day (they are grown and live elsewhere), I made a day trip to the casino. The room was fairly empty. The crowds of last summer have dissipated. Three tables of $1/2 all had a seat available and I took the 9 spot on table 3.

I was going to try out my new prescription sunglasses. I couldn’t tell if the Q on the board was a club or a spade without straining to see, so off they came. The refraction is a little too strong for that close, so I guess I’ll have to wait until my eyes get a little worse to use them.

In short, I was pretty much card/draw dead for most of the day, and when I got action, it was weak. I was able to limp numerous times with Ax suited with nary a flush to be found. Suited connectors limped from position went nowhere, I hit a gutshot after pairing the board, and when I raised, on the turn, the player folded. I rarely saw the turn. I’d go up $50, down $50, up $10, down $75.

Down $75. This big burly 35 year old sat to my right. He was playing a lot of hands, even though he was a relative newcomer. He was also doing a lot of talking: “When I was a chef; I used to be a semi-professional athlete; I was fast…” He was about 150 pounds overweight, had squinty, puffy eyes and was wearing flip-flops. He had mild BO, would get up from the table every few rounds and disappear for a couple big blinds. Each time he came back, he smelled a little bit stronger of alcohol.

Early on, before I had much of the above information, he called a mid-position $7 dollar raise from his SB. I had AA and raised it to $20. The first player folded and he called. The flop came with three hearts, one of which was a jack. I had no heart. He checked and I bet $40. He raised another $40, I folded. Without looking at his cards, he turned over one card, a black jack.

He asked, “AK?”

“No.”

So, without a good read at this point, I had to put him on AJ or JJ. He called the initial raise, which could have meant AJ, and he called my re-raise, which could have been a loose AhJ or JJ. As the day wore on, it become apparent that he over-valued his hole cards, but I still felt pretty good about my read. He sucked out on a very solid player a bit later, so I thought perhaps if I was patient, I might get another opportunity. Yet, none came as he changed up his play, protected his stack a bit, and still managed to lose $100 before he racked up and left.

Aside from Mr. Bloat, and the parade of short buy-ins, the table was pretty conservative and solid for a long time. A guy in the #1 seat was hitting hands and had more than doubled up. Then things started to change. A dealer who is known to play LAG sat down and blew through $200 after winning $700 at $2/$5. I was again dead for a couple hours and my stack went nowhere except down from the blinds.

The action continued when a few other players sat in, ready to gamble. An old guy with a hearing aide and a short stack consisting of a few $25 chips from blackjack or craps sat in seat 8. He doubles up on his first hand at the table. In 7 was a rotund individual, rather jolly and chatty, placed, never using it as a card protector, a Buddha next to his $200. I was able to get a fairly good read on both players early on. Both knew their game but there was nothing fancy going on here. It was the guy in seat 6 who got my attention. Almost right away he stacks the old guy with set over set after Buddha had led out pre and on the flop. He doubles up and doesn’t bat an eye. He just stares ahead, no emotion whatsoever... ever.

I have to describe the physical characteristics of this guy. Old clothes, not dirty but gray, much like his weathered skin would be if he didn’t have a deep tan. His hair was greasy, his fingernails long, some 1/2” (1 cm) or so. The nails may have been dirty, I couldn’t really tell, yet they were dark. This guy was a loner. I should have been paying closer attention to his play.

Again, AA in the BB. A heart and a spade. I have 4 limpers so I raise it to $15. The quiet one is my only caller. The flop is 7d6h5h. I bet the pot and he calls. Set? Possibly. Either that or he limped with KK. The turn is 9h. I now have a flush draw and bet 1/2 the pot, which he calls. Pocket 8s? A 5d on the river, I throw in my last $25, he calls and shows Qd8c. I leave to the looks of pity from a couple other players.

My initial reaction, and indeed a normal reaction, was “Call with that crap?” The answer, I’m afraid is, “Of course. Why not? I know what you have while you have no clue as to my hand.” I am reminded of the guy from a couple weeks ago who called my big AA raise with what he believed to be Q 10 (actually 8 10). If either hits, I’m dead money. It is a style of poker that is hard to defend against. It is a style that makes sense (as Harrington points out in his new books) in a deep stack situation. Q8 was deep; I was not. He was getting about 11 to 1 implied odds. Q 10 was short and I had 3 x his stack. Was his call justified? Was either call EV+? (OB, work your magic.)

Yeah, I left. I was tired, stunned and pissed. It’s a shame the day had to end the way it did. As I drove down through the mountains toward home, my phone alerted me that I had a message. It was my son wishing me a Happy Father’s Day. He said appreciative and loving things that neither of us, being guys, might say in person without a couple beers under the belt. The day ended quite nicely.

Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 12:55 am

I just arrived home from the local casino. I haven’t played there since Labor Day weekend, primarily because I didn’t want to sit in a $2/$5 game with all of the local sharks feeding off of each other’s tails to sustain them through the slow days of winter. The way I look at it, my skill level and roll is only good enough for the tourist trade, so Memorial Day weekend more or less represents opening day for me at $1/$2.

Anticipating a large crowd, I wanted to get to the casino at about 11 a.m. I was surprised that the parking lot was only about half full and the poker room had 6 tables running, one of which was $1/$2. I took a pager, said hello to the floor assistant and a dealer who remembered me, and sat down at some 5 cent video poker to wait. It wasn’t long before I was called, as they opened up a new table.

I don’t recall who was at the table from the get-go. A lot of people initially came and went while waiting for a big tournament ($500 buy-in) to begin. (A guy from my pub league was at the final table when I left. 100 players in that event.) Eventually the table settled into the same people for the greater part of the day.

I was in seat #10. I hate that seat, and #1 as well. I like to see the whole table. I almost moved, but then decided against it, thinking that perhaps a benefit of the seat is being somewhat hidden from a few players. Seat #1 kept changing throughout the session. In seat #2 was this older guy, short-stacked, who nevertheless liked to see a lot of flops. In seat #3 was an older Asian gentleman whom I remembered from last year. He also liked to see a lot of flops, raised frequently, and had a fluctuating stack. In #4 was a hulk of a guy with big-knuckled hands. He also liked to see flops and called raises to do so. From his chat with dealers and other players, I determined he was a regular. In #5 was another regular, a younger guy with sunglasses. He gave the appearance of being a serious, solid player. #6 and #7 was a boyfriend/girlfriend duo who spent a lot of time telling secrets (what they had been holding in the previous hand). Seat #8 was an older gent, a regular whom I remembered. He also liked to see a lot of flops. Seat #9 was a younger guy, pretty quiet, and serious.

The table overall was one of those 6-limpers-to-see-the-flop. If someone happened to raise 3 x BB, most of those who had limped behind, and those yet to come, would call. The first hand I played was a limp with A8 off in the SB, with just the BTN, SB and BB in the hand. The flop: A78. I checked, as did the BB. The BTN, put in a ten dollar bet, which I called. Turn was an 8. I checked again, and the BTN did as well. River was…who knows? a bunny rabbit, and I bet $15. The BTN raised to $45. I didn’t have a solid read on this guy yet, so I just called. In retrospect, I could have gone all in, as he showed 8 7. What kept me from re-raising were the A, the 10 and the movie, “The Rounders.” Had he been looking for action and held a pair of either in the hole, I was dead.

Much of the next several hours were played in the same vein. I folded a boat, a straight and a nut flush by playing just a tad too tight. I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get up and take a walk and think about how I was playing. What is a good mix? Yet, perhaps more importantly, were these early folds putting a little tilt into my game? I didn’t want to start chasing.

Not too long after I sat back down hand I found myself with AA. I took down a small pot from the boyfriend and flashed. Then, for the longest time thereafter, I was card dead. I must have had 26 off five times, and Q3 off an equal amount. If I was granted a limp with suited connectors, it was for naught. I blinded and limped off everything I had won to that point. And then I woke up with Qs in the SB. Boyfriend raised to $6, which girlfriend called. I raised to $30. SB, who had just sat down, re-raised to $60. SB was a young guy with sunglasses and short, moused hair. I had no read, and after the lovers folded, I called. My thinking at the time was to see the flop, and if the Qs went nowhere, fold. Well, the flop gave me a spade flush draw. I bet $45 and the SB went all in. I called while saying “You got me.” He had a K of spades and another K. $200, poof.

Even though I think to myself that maybe I should call it a day, I buy in again for $200. I play this hand over in my head. How would it had gone if I had re-raised all-in preflop? Would he have called? Should I have re-raised all-in, or should I have followed my original plan? My stack starts to blind, limp off again so I get up from the table and went for a walk. When I came back, it wasn’t too much longer than I picked up AA again. Lover boy bets $11 and I raise to $22. He says. “All-in.” I call. He has Kings and the Aces hold up. I am now almost even and lean back to talk to the #1 seat when he says, “Nice hand.”

“I feel a lot better now.” I say. He then informs me that he had been worried that I had been holding Aces in our hand, but knew I didn’t have it when I paused. Crap. Presence of mind, Patrick, presence of mind…

I’m about $30 short of even. I can live with that. I’ve been at the table for about 6 hours now and even though I’ve loosened up my game, it’s been primarily big pairs that have won pots. My10s. 8s, 9s, 5s and 4s, my 89s, etc, have gone nowhere. (I did limp with 23s on the BTN and take down a smallish pot from girlfriend when the flop came 23J and she bet out.) Then I get AA again. Boyfriend bets out $6 and older gent in #8 calls $6. I re-raise to $20. Boyfriend folds and #8 calls. He has about $80 in front of him. Flop comes AKJ. Nice. But worrisome. #8 checks, so I bet $30. He calls. Turn is a 2d, he checks and I bet another $30. He calls, I am worried, yet because he has such a small stack, if he has Q 10, I’m not that worried. The river s a 10 and he puts in his remaining $17 or so, to which I ask, “You went all the way for that?” and call. He looks at his cards and flips over a 9 and a 10, and says, “I thought I had Q 10. I knew what you had. Damn.” I consider myself lucky.

OK, three pocket Aces at this point and folks are starting to get spooked. They start asking me what I do when I go on breaks. I watch women wave their hand over the displays at the slots, hoping that Divine mojo will deliver them.

After I flush the older guy in #8, he leaves, as do the couple. The table changes. Limit players start sitting down with their stacks of $1 chips. I don’t particularly like this change in the table, thinking “calling stations.” Then I find KK in the hole. It holds up nicely against one of these players holding Jacks and she is stacked. After a few more hands in which I take small pots or fold my suited connectors on the flop, it is now 9:30 p.m. and time to call it a day up $191.

On my way home I find it curious that all of my big hands were big pocket pairs. Fancy play garnered me little. I often start composing these missives as I drive. What lessons have I learned that I can share with my dear friends? What shall I title the piece? Do I like to write about poker almost as much as I like to play? I saw some amazing shit at the table tonight, much of what I could use to write an equally lengthy entry. Yet, I think this will do for now.

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 4:36 pm

The third annual Poker Academy Rendezvous has come to an end. Six days in Las Vegas of friends and poker! It was great seeing folks from last year once again, and it was a wonderful honor meeting others for the first time. Several of us play poker with each other at the Academy quite often. That experience pales in comparison to playing with these people live. One’s idea of them as players changes, becomes more real. One gets a better read that will undoubtedly influence us in how we play each other online in the future.

The Poker Academy events in Las Vegas were the high point of my trip. I won the short MTT practice tourney, which covered that buy-in, plus the big PA Tourney the following day in which I busted out early after a series of bad flops. That left the buy-in I would fork out for P K’s Birthday Bash and Drink Fest Tourney in which I finished in last place. The rest of my time I spent playing cash games.

As I indicated above, this was a return trip for me to the Rendezvous. I went last year (posted somewhere in these forums) and did quite well, paying for the trip with my winnings and setting myself up with a modest starter bankroll to play poker through the summer at a local casino. (That experience is also posted in the forums.) This year’s trip was in direct contrast to last year for a number of reasons, some of which I am still working out. If my readers will bear with me, I might discover some of the subtleties that impeded my success.

Overall, I was card dead for the greater part of the week. In one session, Chana Pal was sweating me and told me later that he counted more than 30 hands in a row where I folded preflop. That was probably more the rule than the exception for the week. I don’t believe I saw more than ten pocket pairs all week, and of the two sets I hit, one made a guy’s straight and I got no action on the other. I saw pocket aces three times, once on the button with no one behind, another time UTG and one other time in mid position. For the latter I bet $12 and was called by the small and big blinds. They were two friends clearly in cahoots. The flop came 23J, I led out and the small blind said that he knew I was a good poker player but to fold, that my AA was no good as he had hit two pair. I believed him and folded, but I asked him to show, to which he replied that he would for $10. Well, I went off on him (I’m not pretty when I’m mad), and he relented, showing me 23 off. Another time, only the big blind called, a young kid who had just sat down and talked a lot of smack. He flopped an Ace high flush and took about $80 from me before I folded on the river when the board said straight and flush and I was drawing dead to everything from pockets 3s to J2 of spades.

$80 isn’t too bad, right? I must say I was never once stacked in ring. Yet, is that a good thing? Perhaps. Another sizable loss came again from early position. I limped with AJ and the flop came 78J. I bet out and was check-raised by the big blind. I called. The turn was an Ace and I called the Blind’s bet. The river was a 5 and I folded to the BB’s bet, stating, “I believe you.” He showed me the 9 10. I didn’t get it all in with top two pair. A good read? I knew I was beat, even though I wasn’t clear on how. That hand cost me all of the $100 that I had won from an old local regular who caught the AJ flush against my flopped quad Kings. After the Ks, the same guy who caught the straight remarked that he thought I might have been able to get another $50 more out of the old guy. Hmmmm. I had just doubled his bet on the river, which he called. He was down half of his buy-in and with the board paired I figured he’d smell a boat with anything larger.

Still, the question needs to be asked, was I playing too conservatively? Folding as much as I was, that was certainly my table image. It was more than conservative as will be demonstrated below. I am embarrassed, as I believe I took weak tight to a whole new height. I was in the small blind, listening to my iPod when I was dealt 26 spades. I limped and the flop came 345. I bet the pot and it was folded around to the cutoff, who raised. Thinking he had a set or some such thing, I re-raised and said, “Save your money. You’re beat.” He didn’t believe me and re-raised and asked, “Do you have 57? If you have 57, why would you raise?” In that I had my music on, I wasn’t hearing everything as clearly as I could have, and began thinking that it was not out of the question that he may indeed have 57, Limping from the cut-off with 57 suited is not out of the question. And lord knows that I have been beat in just such a manner playing hands like 26 suited. I showed and folded, and of course he had the wheel.

Why did I fold? Why didn’t I play out the hand? The fear of being beat outweighed the confidence in my hand. And to make matters worse, not only did I lose the hand, I lost any advantage I may have had at the table from there on. Everyone at the table now knew that I could be pushed off of a hand. I could not remain at that table, so after a short while, I took a break and went for a nap.

Except I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned for about an hour, going over that hand. I got dressed and went back to the poker room. The table I had been at had broken, the Wheel Draw Guy had mover to a $4/8 game, yet there was still a $1/2 game going, so, after waiting for a seat for quite a while, I sat down once again, perhaps to redeem myself. This table had been going for a long time, and it was known to be wild at times. I knew I had to play tight yet somehow not be afraid to call a big pre-flop raise if I had the goods. Actually, railbirding had helped. I had seen this one player raise up big preflop with Q8h. hit his flush and take down a huge pot earlier in the evening. When he opened for $12 and I looked down to find pocket 6s, I called. I hit my set on the flop, and by the river I had all of my money in with 6s over 8s to his trip 8s with an A.

The remaining two days of poker brought me up a little more to the point where I was leaving down no more than $300, most of which, sadly, seemed to go to the blinds and rake. Something in me changed after that one hand. I made a few other questionable lay downs but felt comfortable with them. More importantly, I made some great reads and stayed in hands where I had the winner although the board suggested I might be beat.

I must say that my attitude while playing in the Poker Academy events was in direct contrast to my cash game. I was among friends, and therefore comfortable, confident, and sometimes cavalier. I was having fun. It makes a huge difference, but I know that if I am to continue to play poker outside of PA or with my home game buddies, I’m going to have to work on a few things. I still have a long way to go before I feel I have enough confidence in my overall game to be a steady winner. I need to work on my hand reading skills, not the board, but what other players may have. I say “not the board” because the board can be deceptive. I can see 3 ways I am beat when it may not be the case. I need to pay closer attention to a player’s betting patterns, both in the current hand and throughout a session. I need to be able to better decipher their behavior and personality and use those things to my advantage. But more importantly, I need to make sure that my head is on straight when I sit down to a game.

Poker is a game of narrow margins, razor thin edges…transience. When one’s life mirrors this, it is best to stay away from the game. It became apparent to me things in my personal life: leaving farming, looking for work, etc., were affecting my game. This realization actually helped the last couple days, yet I was still very ready to go home and cut back on the poker until other things were resolved.

I realize that this little essay may contain a higher level of self-disclosure than some may find comfortable. That’s the risk I take. Overall, I don’t think I’m so different from others that they can’t see themselves in the situation I found myself. So, I put this cautionary tale of woe out there to Poker Academy members who are also new to the game, or indeed passionate about the game. If you find yourself distracted by life, do something else besides play poker for money.

P.S. Las Vegas is a city where everyone seems to be working any edge they can muster. At times I thought some of the bullshit artists must practice their line of crap in front of the mirror. The big talkers didn’t always walk away winners though, which manifests as a sort of pathos and tragedy. I also witnessed squeeze plays and knee-capping, truly sociopathic behaviors, which may have added to my cautious play. I’ve been down on the farm too long, and enjoy that quietude, to see much reason to endure these types of people for any extended period of time.

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 3:18 pm

In a couple weeks a group of Poker Academy players will descend on Las Vegas for the third annual Poker Academy Rendezvous. Some of us will make money, some of us lose, yet all of us should have fun.

While I am certain of the fun, and hope that I come home a winner, I am contemplating how best to maximize the money I will be taking with me. In preparation for the trip, I have been experimenting with a new nick and using that bankroll to approximate what playing in casinos for six days might garner. I have run this experiment twice with contrasting results. On the first run I lost 50% of my roll; on the second I increased it by 50%.

The first found me initially winning big only to suffer some serious bad beats, and then, after a continued bad run/slow leak, I got stupid and played way out of my bankroll comfort zone in an attempt to recoup my losses. It ended poorly. Yet, toward the end of this first run I was speaking to another player who suggested that I play in larger buy-ins initially, and then if things went poorly, I could move down. Essentially, it was the inverse of my first run. In my second test I ran well and started to make up for my losses from the prior 6 days. I found it curious that I was able to make money playing up while I struggled to break even playing at a table suited for my bankroll. Yet, now that I think about it, there might have been some factors that did effect my results at the lower tables: there are some very solid players that may not have a large bankroll yet; some players with big bankrolls visit these tables and play considerably looser than they might in higher rooms, and in fact, at times, bully the table; I was playing much tighter than most of the table and players may have picked up on this, thereby getting very little action on my good hands; and finally, I just seemed to be card dead a great deal of the time.

I know that I can expect similar factors and results to come into play from past casino experiences, and that one should expect anything to happen with a hand or session. One must know how to play against any type of player: the shark, the maniac calling station, the luckbox newbie or the gambler with money to burn. My question for the forum is more about money management.

Say I have $2K at my disposal (bad word choice) for use at the tables. This is also my total bankroll, yet if I am to stay away from the local casino for the forseeable future, there are few other opportunties to play poker for cash in our area, aside from the bi-weekly $20 home game. So, how to best utilize that which I will have wjile in Las Vegas? I can probably play $2/5 and hold my own, yet I have not done this more than once in all of my short career (first local casino experience posting). The competition is tougher though, and I don't know if I want to play exclusively at this level. Probably not. Yet, it has some appeal and seems to make some sense that I start out bigger, and if it does not go well, move down to $1/2. Even if it does go well, I can't imagine playing at this level for the duration of the trip. However, the downside would be that if I do lose a buy-in at this level, it will be more difficult to make it up in $1/2.

See what I'm getting at? I'm conflicted. While I'm allotting a sum for the trip, I'd like to think that I'm not going to lose it, and hope that I actually can find a way to bring home more. Pretty standard hopes and dreams while reminding myself that I am going there to have fun as well. What I am asking for is some advice/ideas from those of you who have approached such a trip in the same manner: going with a set budget/bankroll.

One idea that CaptnBen gave to attendees last year was to divide the poker money into equal parts, giving oneself a set amount to use each day. Losses were threby kept in check and any profits went into an envelope to take home. That is a great idea, and perhaps the best way to go about the 6 days. So, maybe I'm just thinking aloud, as it were. Still, any ideas, experiences or admonitions will be appreciated.

Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:51 am

A little more than two years ago my mother-in-law took the first step in making a seemigly irrevocable change in my life. She gave me TJ Cloutier's poker software for my birthday. I had been watching poker on TV for several years, she knew I had an interest in the game, so there you have it.

Although I had been watching the WPT and a bit of the WSOP, I must say, I was generally clueless as to many aspects of Hold 'em, and knew nothing of Stud or Omaha, and the TJ software wth it's pop-up tips from the master himself helped quite a bit. It was not long, perhaps six weeks, until I had amassed a sizable bankroll against the software. However, this accomplishment did come with a price.

It might have happened right away: I began dreaming about poker; and if the dream wasn't specifically about poker, then poker was the metaphor that drove the dream along. I don't know, playing 6 hours or more each day may have had something to with it. The monkey was firmly attached to my back in no time flat.

Well, that Christmas season was quickly upon us, and my dear wife, always taking note of things her husband takes an interest in, ran across the Standard Version of Poker Academy at the Mac Store and picked it up, along with another piece of poker software, wrapped both, ad gave them to me for Christmas. She said, "I didn't know which one you'd like better so I got both. We can return the one you don't need." Once I saw that there was an online component to Poker Academy, my choice was easy. The prospect(er...get it? Still waiting Sam.) of playing against others online was exciting. I spent no time in loading the software and logging on.

I spent about four hours playing the bots before checking out the live rooms. Is it wrong of me to have never returned to the bots? The live play was too much of a draw. Here were other who, presumedly, were learning the gae just as I was, yet I was getting my ass handed to me over and over. It soon became clear to me that I had joined a community of poker students and enthusiasts alike.

Two years later and it seems like I have never logged off. A lot has happened both within Poker Academy and to my game, and I would like to think that both have improved, even with the growing pains. I can still donk off chips with the best of them, yet I know that with each new game, I get another little "plug-in" for my game as a watch and play against players whom are much more skilled than I, and against those whom approach the game and the value of the software from a much different perspective than I. As I have found out -- the hard way -- both types of players play for real money.

Thankfully, I no longer dream about poker, or at least not as often. (Last night I dreamt about shopping for chicken flavored wet cat food.) Of course, who has time to sleep when there is poker to be played? And now, I look forward to my third year and wonder what it has in store. How will Poker Academy change and what will 70,000 to 100,000 more hands do for my game? Each day new players show up and begin working their way up through the ranks and the "regulars" return with new tricks up their sleeves. Because of this Poker Academy remains a dynamic environment from which to learn. In many ways I feel priviledged and grateful to be a member of this community, even if it has taken over a large chunk of my life.

Thanks for being there.

(edit) I just saw that I've posted 673 time as well. Oh lord I'm a sick puppy!)

bastin

Monday, July 14, 2008

Other things happen

Short stack strategy

A Day at the Aces, part 2

A Day at the Aces

The Good, the Bad and the Buggy: My Poker Game in Las Vegas

Throwing this out to the community for input

2nd Anniversary at Poker Academy

Other folks worth a gander

Blog Archive

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 3:56 pm

Sundays seem to be my casino days. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I said I was going to take a break from the casino. I did. For a week. And now I’ll wait another week before I go again. I don’t want to wait, yet I will. In the mean time, I have a couple things to mull over. I’m already working through my issues with big pocket pairs. Last week I had to fold Pocket Aces and Kings. The good news: Queens worked well on a couple occasions, and I managed to crack a guy’s set of aces when my twelve-outer nut flush/broadway hit the latter, and then the same two cards came up again for another broadway. I was up $150 fairly early on. And then the short stacks showed up. The first guy I had never seen before. He comes to the table with a big smile as a couple other players do recognize him. The woman to my right, a regular, and known by readers as the gal who caught me nose-mining, asks him, “Are you here to give me my money back?” There follows a discussion about a bad beat he had delivered. He puts down about $20 in red and $80 in white. Within ten hands he’s lost half of it. As I mentioned above, big pocket pairs have been causing me problems, mostly, perhaps, because I have been catching them in the blinds. This time, KK in the BB. There are two limpers, one of which is the newcomer, the other is the woman to my right. I’m not going to mess around this time and raise to $20 ($1/2). Mr. Short calls immediately and Missy goes into the tank. Missy thinks aloud. By the time she folds, I know she is holding A5. The flop is all low, 234 rainbow. Shorty has $25 behind so that’s my bet, which he calls. Missy says, “I would have hit my straight. Dangit.” Shorty flips over 96c. The turn is a blank and the dealer lays out 5th street face down. Turns up the side facing Shorty so he gets to see his 5 before I know I’m beat. OK, I can handle it. Thank God he was short. Still, I think it wise to take a little walk, maybe call the wife, whine a little, get it out of my system and come back to the business now at hand: waiting for the opportunity to knock this donk off the steep mountain path. By the time I get back t the table, no more than ten minutes, he’s gone, busto. Note taken. Shorty #2 didn’t show up short-stacked. He had a full buy-in of $100. I remembered him from previous trips. He played a lot of hands, complained a lot, went into the tank a lot, asked players what “they could possibly have?” and then fold, or, on one hand, call with QK off with paired Aces on the board. It wasn’t long before he was down to $65 or so. Shorty #3 came short and stayed short with about $50. A clean-cut kid. Seemed polite, quiet. He was set mining. From mid-position I limp with 9s. Shorty #2 had already limped UTG, as did Missy. Shorty #3 is BB and checks. Flop comes 9, 10, Q. #3 checks, #2 checks, Missy checks, as do I. The board is scary enough, but I’m going to hold out to see what comes on the turn. It’s the 5c. Now there’s two clubs out there. Everyone again checks around to me and I read this as a good time to bet. I bet the pot. #3 in the BB calls, #2 UTG pushes in for his remaining $65 or so. Tank time again for Missy, and for me as well. Missy has about $125 behind. She’s saying things like, “I want to call, but I’m worried about him (pointing to my stack).” I’m thinking about the hand Loki9 outlined last week with Mr. PE. If she calls, how do I handle this? I may very well be behind at this point, but I’m not folding with my set against two short stacks, for more than likely Shorty #2 is calling the all-in with his last $30 or so. Someone has the straight, someone has two pair, someone is on a draw. Who knows? But right now I’m thinking about Missy. I am certain I have her beat and I am hoping she calls. If she does, I will re-raise her all in. Alas, she folds. All of a sudden, #3 says, “I’m going to need some help here.” Having seen him donk off with the KQ, I’m thinking he has two pair or the draw. I still don’t know what #3 has, but in that he called my pot-sized bet, there’s a good chance he holding KJ or 8J. I call his all in, and as I anticipated, #3 puts his money in as well. I’m still kinda liking my chances here. I starts a little chant: “No suck outs, no suck outs.” The dealer turns over another 5 and I let out a little whoop. #3 turns over the straight and #2 turns over 10s full. Oh well, I’m back to about my original $200. $213 to be exact. Time to maybe call it a day.

Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 10:12 pm

Having no kids to sit at my feet and adoringly look up at me on Father’s Day (they are grown and live elsewhere), I made a day trip to the casino. The room was fairly empty. The crowds of last summer have dissipated. Three tables of $1/2 all had a seat available and I took the 9 spot on table 3. I was going to try out my new prescription sunglasses. I couldn’t tell if the Q on the board was a club or a spade without straining to see, so off they came. The refraction is a little too strong for that close, so I guess I’ll have to wait until my eyes get a little worse to use them. In short, I was pretty much card/draw dead for most of the day, and when I got action, it was weak. I was able to limp numerous times with Ax suited with nary a flush to be found. Suited connectors limped from position went nowhere, I hit a gutshot after pairing the board, and when I raised, on the turn, the player folded. I rarely saw the turn. I’d go up $50, down $50, up $10, down $75. Down $75. This big burly 35 year old sat to my right. He was playing a lot of hands, even though he was a relative newcomer. He was also doing a lot of talking: “When I was a chef; I used to be a semi-professional athlete; I was fast…” He was about 150 pounds overweight, had squinty, puffy eyes and was wearing flip-flops. He had mild BO, would get up from the table every few rounds and disappear for a couple big blinds. Each time he came back, he smelled a little bit stronger of alcohol. Early on, before I had much of the above information, he called a mid-position $7 dollar raise from his SB. I had AA and raised it to $20. The first player folded and he called. The flop came with three hearts, one of which was a jack. I had no heart. He checked and I bet $40. He raised another $40, I folded. Without looking at his cards, he turned over one card, a black jack. He asked, “AK?” “No.” So, without a good read at this point, I had to put him on AJ or JJ. He called the initial raise, which could have meant AJ, and he called my re-raise, which could have been a loose AhJ or JJ. As the day wore on, it become apparent that he over-valued his hole cards, but I still felt pretty good about my read. He sucked out on a very solid player a bit later, so I thought perhaps if I was patient, I might get another opportunity. Yet, none came as he changed up his play, protected his stack a bit, and still managed to lose $100 before he racked up and left. Aside from Mr. Bloat, and the parade of short buy-ins, the table was pretty conservative and solid for a long time. A guy in the #1 seat was hitting hands and had more than doubled up. Then things started to change. A dealer who is known to play LAG sat down and blew through $200 after winning $700 at $2/$5. I was again dead for a couple hours and my stack went nowhere except down from the blinds. The action continued when a few other players sat in, ready to gamble. An old guy with a hearing aide and a short stack consisting of a few $25 chips from blackjack or craps sat in seat 8. He doubles up on his first hand at the table. In 7 was a rotund individual, rather jolly and chatty, placed, never using it as a card protector, a Buddha next to his $200. I was able to get a fairly good read on both players early on. Both knew their game but there was nothing fancy going on here. It was the guy in seat 6 who got my attention. Almost right away he stacks the old guy with set over set after Buddha had led out pre and on the flop. He doubles up and doesn’t bat an eye. He just stares ahead, no emotion whatsoever... ever. I have to describe the physical characteristics of this guy. Old clothes, not dirty but gray, much like his weathered skin would be if he didn’t have a deep tan. His hair was greasy, his fingernails long, some 1/2” (1 cm) or so. The nails may have been dirty, I couldn’t really tell, yet they were dark. This guy was a loner. I should have been paying closer attention to his play. Again, AA in the BB. A heart and a spade. I have 4 limpers so I raise it to $15. The quiet one is my only caller. The flop is 7d6h5h. I bet the pot and he calls. Set? Possibly. Either that or he limped with KK. The turn is 9h. I now have a flush draw and bet 1/2 the pot, which he calls. Pocket 8s? A 5d on the river, I throw in my last $25, he calls and shows Qd8c. I leave to the looks of pity from a couple other players. My initial reaction, and indeed a normal reaction, was “Call with that crap?” The answer, I’m afraid is, “Of course. Why not? I know what you have while you have no clue as to my hand.” I am reminded of the guy from a couple weeks ago who called my big AA raise with what he believed to be Q 10 (actually 8 10). If either hits, I’m dead money. It is a style of poker that is hard to defend against. It is a style that makes sense (as Harrington points out in his new books) in a deep stack situation. Q8 was deep; I was not. He was getting about 11 to 1 implied odds. Q 10 was short and I had 3 x his stack. Was his call justified? Was either call EV+? (OB, work your magic.) Yeah, I left. I was tired, stunned and pissed. It’s a shame the day had to end the way it did. As I drove down through the mountains toward home, my phone alerted me that I had a message. It was my son wishing me a Happy Father’s Day. He said appreciative and loving things that neither of us, being guys, might say in person without a couple beers under the belt. The day ended quite nicely.

Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 12:55 am

I just arrived home from the local casino. I haven’t played there since Labor Day weekend, primarily because I didn’t want to sit in a $2/$5 game with all of the local sharks feeding off of each other’s tails to sustain them through the slow days of winter. The way I look at it, my skill level and roll is only good enough for the tourist trade, so Memorial Day weekend more or less represents opening day for me at $1/$2. Anticipating a large crowd, I wanted to get to the casino at about 11 a.m. I was surprised that the parking lot was only about half full and the poker room had 6 tables running, one of which was $1/$2. I took a pager, said hello to the floor assistant and a dealer who remembered me, and sat down at some 5 cent video poker to wait. It wasn’t long before I was called, as they opened up a new table. I don’t recall who was at the table from the get-go. A lot of people initially came and went while waiting for a big tournament ($500 buy-in) to begin. (A guy from my pub league was at the final table when I left. 100 players in that event.) Eventually the table settled into the same people for the greater part of the day. I was in seat #10. I hate that seat, and #1 as well. I like to see the whole table. I almost moved, but then decided against it, thinking that perhaps a benefit of the seat is being somewhat hidden from a few players. Seat #1 kept changing throughout the session. In seat #2 was this older guy, short-stacked, who nevertheless liked to see a lot of flops. In seat #3 was an older Asian gentleman whom I remembered from last year. He also liked to see a lot of flops, raised frequently, and had a fluctuating stack. In #4 was a hulk of a guy with big-knuckled hands. He also liked to see flops and called raises to do so. From his chat with dealers and other players, I determined he was a regular. In #5 was another regular, a younger guy with sunglasses. He gave the appearance of being a serious, solid player. #6 and #7 was a boyfriend/girlfriend duo who spent a lot of time telling secrets (what they had been holding in the previous hand). Seat #8 was an older gent, a regular whom I remembered. He also liked to see a lot of flops. Seat #9 was a younger guy, pretty quiet, and serious. The table overall was one of those 6-limpers-to-see-the-flop. If someone happened to raise 3 x BB, most of those who had limped behind, and those yet to come, would call. The first hand I played was a limp with A8 off in the SB, with just the BTN, SB and BB in the hand. The flop: A78. I checked, as did the BB. The BTN, put in a ten dollar bet, which I called. Turn was an 8. I checked again, and the BTN did as well. River was…who knows? a bunny rabbit, and I bet $15. The BTN raised to $45. I didn’t have a solid read on this guy yet, so I just called. In retrospect, I could have gone all in, as he showed 8 7. What kept me from re-raising were the A, the 10 and the movie, “The Rounders.” Had he been looking for action and held a pair of either in the hole, I was dead. Much of the next several hours were played in the same vein. I folded a boat, a straight and a nut flush by playing just a tad too tight. I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get up and take a walk and think about how I was playing. What is a good mix? Yet, perhaps more importantly, were these early folds putting a little tilt into my game? I didn’t want to start chasing. Not too long after I sat back down hand I found myself with AA. I took down a small pot from the boyfriend and flashed. Then, for the longest time thereafter, I was card dead. I must have had 26 off five times, and Q3 off an equal amount. If I was granted a limp with suited connectors, it was for naught. I blinded and limped off everything I had won to that point. And then I woke up with Qs in the SB. Boyfriend raised to $6, which girlfriend called. I raised to $30. SB, who had just sat down, re-raised to $60. SB was a young guy with sunglasses and short, moused hair. I had no read, and after the lovers folded, I called. My thinking at the time was to see the flop, and if the Qs went nowhere, fold. Well, the flop gave me a spade flush draw. I bet $45 and the SB went all in. I called while saying “You got me.” He had a K of spades and another K. $200, poof. Even though I think to myself that maybe I should call it a day, I buy in again for $200. I play this hand over in my head. How would it had gone if I had re-raised all-in preflop? Would he have called? Should I have re-raised all-in, or should I have followed my original plan? My stack starts to blind, limp off again so I get up from the table and went for a walk. When I came back, it wasn’t too much longer than I picked up AA again. Lover boy bets $11 and I raise to $22. He says. “All-in.” I call. He has Kings and the Aces hold up. I am now almost even and lean back to talk to the #1 seat when he says, “Nice hand.” “I feel a lot better now.” I say. He then informs me that he had been worried that I had been holding Aces in our hand, but knew I didn’t have it when I paused. Crap. Presence of mind, Patrick, presence of mind… I’m about $30 short of even. I can live with that. I’ve been at the table for about 6 hours now and even though I’ve loosened up my game, it’s been primarily big pairs that have won pots. My10s. 8s, 9s, 5s and 4s, my 89s, etc, have gone nowhere. (I did limp with 23s on the BTN and take down a smallish pot from girlfriend when the flop came 23J and she bet out.) Then I get AA again. Boyfriend bets out $6 and older gent in #8 calls $6. I re-raise to $20. Boyfriend folds and #8 calls. He has about $80 in front of him. Flop comes AKJ. Nice. But worrisome. #8 checks, so I bet $30. He calls. Turn is a 2d, he checks and I bet another $30. He calls, I am worried, yet because he has such a small stack, if he has Q 10, I’m not that worried. The river s a 10 and he puts in his remaining $17 or so, to which I ask, “You went all the way for that?” and call. He looks at his cards and flips over a 9 and a 10, and says, “I thought I had Q 10. I knew what you had. Damn.” I consider myself lucky. OK, three pocket Aces at this point and folks are starting to get spooked. They start asking me what I do when I go on breaks. I watch women wave their hand over the displays at the slots, hoping that Divine mojo will deliver them. After I flush the older guy in #8, he leaves, as do the couple. The table changes. Limit players start sitting down with their stacks of $1 chips. I don’t particularly like this change in the table, thinking “calling stations.” Then I find KK in the hole. It holds up nicely against one of these players holding Jacks and she is stacked. After a few more hands in which I take small pots or fold my suited connectors on the flop, it is now 9:30 p.m. and time to call it a day up $191. On my way home I find it curious that all of my big hands were big pocket pairs. Fancy play garnered me little. I often start composing these missives as I drive. What lessons have I learned that I can share with my dear friends? What shall I title the piece? Do I like to write about poker almost as much as I like to play? I saw some amazing shit at the table tonight, much of what I could use to write an equally lengthy entry. Yet, I think this will do for now.

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 4:36 pm

The third annual Poker Academy Rendezvous has come to an end. Six days in Las Vegas of friends and poker! It was great seeing folks from last year once again, and it was a wonderful honor meeting others for the first time. Several of us play poker with each other at the Academy quite often. That experience pales in comparison to playing with these people live. One’s idea of them as players changes, becomes more real. One gets a better read that will undoubtedly influence us in how we play each other online in the future. The Poker Academy events in Las Vegas were the high point of my trip. I won the short MTT practice tourney, which covered that buy-in, plus the big PA Tourney the following day in which I busted out early after a series of bad flops. That left the buy-in I would fork out for P K’s Birthday Bash and Drink Fest Tourney in which I finished in last place. The rest of my time I spent playing cash games. As I indicated above, this was a return trip for me to the Rendezvous. I went last year (posted somewhere in these forums) and did quite well, paying for the trip with my winnings and setting myself up with a modest starter bankroll to play poker through the summer at a local casino. (That experience is also posted in the forums.) This year’s trip was in direct contrast to last year for a number of reasons, some of which I am still working out. If my readers will bear with me, I might discover some of the subtleties that impeded my success. Overall, I was card dead for the greater part of the week. In one session, Chana Pal was sweating me and told me later that he counted more than 30 hands in a row where I folded preflop. That was probably more the rule than the exception for the week. I don’t believe I saw more than ten pocket pairs all week, and of the two sets I hit, one made a guy’s straight and I got no action on the other. I saw pocket aces three times, once on the button with no one behind, another time UTG and one other time in mid position. For the latter I bet $12 and was called by the small and big blinds. They were two friends clearly in cahoots. The flop came 23J, I led out and the small blind said that he knew I was a good poker player but to fold, that my AA was no good as he had hit two pair. I believed him and folded, but I asked him to show, to which he replied that he would for $10. Well, I went off on him (I’m not pretty when I’m mad), and he relented, showing me 23 off. Another time, only the big blind called, a young kid who had just sat down and talked a lot of smack. He flopped an Ace high flush and took about $80 from me before I folded on the river when the board said straight and flush and I was drawing dead to everything from pockets 3s to J2 of spades. $80 isn’t too bad, right? I must say I was never once stacked in ring. Yet, is that a good thing? Perhaps. Another sizable loss came again from early position. I limped with AJ and the flop came 78J. I bet out and was check-raised by the big blind. I called. The turn was an Ace and I called the Blind’s bet. The river was a 5 and I folded to the BB’s bet, stating, “I believe you.” He showed me the 9 10. I didn’t get it all in with top two pair. A good read? I knew I was beat, even though I wasn’t clear on how. That hand cost me all of the $100 that I had won from an old local regular who caught the AJ flush against my flopped quad Kings. After the Ks, the same guy who caught the straight remarked that he thought I might have been able to get another $50 more out of the old guy. Hmmmm. I had just doubled his bet on the river, which he called. He was down half of his buy-in and with the board paired I figured he’d smell a boat with anything larger. Still, the question needs to be asked, was I playing too conservatively? Folding as much as I was, that was certainly my table image. It was more than conservative as will be demonstrated below. I am embarrassed, as I believe I took weak tight to a whole new height. I was in the small blind, listening to my iPod when I was dealt 26 spades. I limped and the flop came 345. I bet the pot and it was folded around to the cutoff, who raised. Thinking he had a set or some such thing, I re-raised and said, “Save your money. You’re beat.” He didn’t believe me and re-raised and asked, “Do you have 57? If you have 57, why would you raise?” In that I had my music on, I wasn’t hearing everything as clearly as I could have, and began thinking that it was not out of the question that he may indeed have 57, Limping from the cut-off with 57 suited is not out of the question. And lord knows that I have been beat in just such a manner playing hands like 26 suited. I showed and folded, and of course he had the wheel. Why did I fold? Why didn’t I play out the hand? The fear of being beat outweighed the confidence in my hand. And to make matters worse, not only did I lose the hand, I lost any advantage I may have had at the table from there on. Everyone at the table now knew that I could be pushed off of a hand. I could not remain at that table, so after a short while, I took a break and went for a nap. Except I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned for about an hour, going over that hand. I got dressed and went back to the poker room. The table I had been at had broken, the Wheel Draw Guy had mover to a $4/8 game, yet there was still a $1/2 game going, so, after waiting for a seat for quite a while, I sat down once again, perhaps to redeem myself. This table had been going for a long time, and it was known to be wild at times. I knew I had to play tight yet somehow not be afraid to call a big pre-flop raise if I had the goods. Actually, railbirding had helped. I had seen this one player raise up big preflop with Q8h. hit his flush and take down a huge pot earlier in the evening. When he opened for $12 and I looked down to find pocket 6s, I called. I hit my set on the flop, and by the river I had all of my money in with 6s over 8s to his trip 8s with an A. The remaining two days of poker brought me up a little more to the point where I was leaving down no more than $300, most of which, sadly, seemed to go to the blinds and rake. Something in me changed after that one hand. I made a few other questionable lay downs but felt comfortable with them. More importantly, I made some great reads and stayed in hands where I had the winner although the board suggested I might be beat. I must say that my attitude while playing in the Poker Academy events was in direct contrast to my cash game. I was among friends, and therefore comfortable, confident, and sometimes cavalier. I was having fun. It makes a huge difference, but I know that if I am to continue to play poker outside of PA or with my home game buddies, I’m going to have to work on a few things. I still have a long way to go before I feel I have enough confidence in my overall game to be a steady winner. I need to work on my hand reading skills, not the board, but what other players may have. I say “not the board” because the board can be deceptive. I can see 3 ways I am beat when it may not be the case. I need to pay closer attention to a player’s betting patterns, both in the current hand and throughout a session. I need to be able to better decipher their behavior and personality and use those things to my advantage. But more importantly, I need to make sure that my head is on straight when I sit down to a game. Poker is a game of narrow margins, razor thin edges…transience. When one’s life mirrors this, it is best to stay away from the game. It became apparent to me things in my personal life: leaving farming, looking for work, etc., were affecting my game. This realization actually helped the last couple days, yet I was still very ready to go home and cut back on the poker until other things were resolved. I realize that this little essay may contain a higher level of self-disclosure than some may find comfortable. That’s the risk I take. Overall, I don’t think I’m so different from others that they can’t see themselves in the situation I found myself. So, I put this cautionary tale of woe out there to Poker Academy members who are also new to the game, or indeed passionate about the game. If you find yourself distracted by life, do something else besides play poker for money. P.S. Las Vegas is a city where everyone seems to be working any edge they can muster. At times I thought some of the bullshit artists must practice their line of crap in front of the mirror. The big talkers didn’t always walk away winners though, which manifests as a sort of pathos and tragedy. I also witnessed squeeze plays and knee-capping, truly sociopathic behaviors, which may have added to my cautious play. I’ve been down on the farm too long, and enjoy that quietude, to see much reason to endure these types of people for any extended period of time.

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 3:18 pm

In a couple weeks a group of Poker Academy players will descend on Las Vegas for the third annual Poker Academy Rendezvous. Some of us will make money, some of us lose, yet all of us should have fun. While I am certain of the fun, and hope that I come home a winner, I am contemplating how best to maximize the money I will be taking with me. In preparation for the trip, I have been experimenting with a new nick and using that bankroll to approximate what playing in casinos for six days might garner. I have run this experiment twice with contrasting results. On the first run I lost 50% of my roll; on the second I increased it by 50%. The first found me initially winning big only to suffer some serious bad beats, and then, after a continued bad run/slow leak, I got stupid and played way out of my bankroll comfort zone in an attempt to recoup my losses. It ended poorly. Yet, toward the end of this first run I was speaking to another player who suggested that I play in larger buy-ins initially, and then if things went poorly, I could move down. Essentially, it was the inverse of my first run. In my second test I ran well and started to make up for my losses from the prior 6 days. I found it curious that I was able to make money playing up while I struggled to break even playing at a table suited for my bankroll. Yet, now that I think about it, there might have been some factors that did effect my results at the lower tables: there are some very solid players that may not have a large bankroll yet; some players with big bankrolls visit these tables and play considerably looser than they might in higher rooms, and in fact, at times, bully the table; I was playing much tighter than most of the table and players may have picked up on this, thereby getting very little action on my good hands; and finally, I just seemed to be card dead a great deal of the time. I know that I can expect similar factors and results to come into play from past casino experiences, and that one should expect anything to happen with a hand or session. One must know how to play against any type of player: the shark, the maniac calling station, the luckbox newbie or the gambler with money to burn. My question for the forum is more about money management. Say I have $2K at my disposal (bad word choice) for use at the tables. This is also my total bankroll, yet if I am to stay away from the local casino for the forseeable future, there are few other opportunties to play poker for cash in our area, aside from the bi-weekly $20 home game. So, how to best utilize that which I will have wjile in Las Vegas? I can probably play $2/5 and hold my own, yet I have not done this more than once in all of my short career (first local casino experience posting). The competition is tougher though, and I don't know if I want to play exclusively at this level. Probably not. Yet, it has some appeal and seems to make some sense that I start out bigger, and if it does not go well, move down to $1/2. Even if it does go well, I can't imagine playing at this level for the duration of the trip. However, the downside would be that if I do lose a buy-in at this level, it will be more difficult to make it up in $1/2. See what I'm getting at? I'm conflicted. While I'm allotting a sum for the trip, I'd like to think that I'm not going to lose it, and hope that I actually can find a way to bring home more. Pretty standard hopes and dreams while reminding myself that I am going there to have fun as well. What I am asking for is some advice/ideas from those of you who have approached such a trip in the same manner: going with a set budget/bankroll. One idea that CaptnBen gave to attendees last year was to divide the poker money into equal parts, giving oneself a set amount to use each day. Losses were threby kept in check and any profits went into an envelope to take home. That is a great idea, and perhaps the best way to go about the 6 days. So, maybe I'm just thinking aloud, as it were. Still, any ideas, experiences or admonitions will be appreciated.

Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:51 am

A little more than two years ago my mother-in-law took the first step in making a seemigly irrevocable change in my life. She gave me TJ Cloutier's poker software for my birthday. I had been watching poker on TV for several years, she knew I had an interest in the game, so there you have it. Although I had been watching the WPT and a bit of the WSOP, I must say, I was generally clueless as to many aspects of Hold 'em, and knew nothing of Stud or Omaha, and the TJ software wth it's pop-up tips from the master himself helped quite a bit. It was not long, perhaps six weeks, until I had amassed a sizable bankroll against the software. However, this accomplishment did come with a price. It might have happened right away: I began dreaming about poker; and if the dream wasn't specifically about poker, then poker was the metaphor that drove the dream along. I don't know, playing 6 hours or more each day may have had something to with it. The monkey was firmly attached to my back in no time flat. Well, that Christmas season was quickly upon us, and my dear wife, always taking note of things her husband takes an interest in, ran across the Standard Version of Poker Academy at the Mac Store and picked it up, along with another piece of poker software, wrapped both, ad gave them to me for Christmas. She said, "I didn't know which one you'd like better so I got both. We can return the one you don't need." Once I saw that there was an online component to Poker Academy, my choice was easy. The prospect(er...get it? Still waiting Sam.) of playing against others online was exciting. I spent no time in loading the software and logging on. I spent about four hours playing the bots before checking out the live rooms. Is it wrong of me to have never returned to the bots? The live play was too much of a draw. Here were other who, presumedly, were learning the gae just as I was, yet I was getting my ass handed to me over and over. It soon became clear to me that I had joined a community of poker students and enthusiasts alike. Two years later and it seems like I have never logged off. A lot has happened both within Poker Academy and to my game, and I would like to think that both have improved, even with the growing pains. I can still donk off chips with the best of them, yet I know that with each new game, I get another little "plug-in" for my game as a watch and play against players whom are much more skilled than I, and against those whom approach the game and the value of the software from a much different perspective than I. As I have found out -- the hard way -- both types of players play for real money. Thankfully, I no longer dream about poker, or at least not as often. (Last night I dreamt about shopping for chicken flavored wet cat food.) Of course, who has time to sleep when there is poker to be played? And now, I look forward to my third year and wonder what it has in store. How will Poker Academy change and what will 70,000 to 100,000 more hands do for my game? Each day new players show up and begin working their way up through the ranks and the "regulars" return with new tricks up their sleeves. Because of this Poker Academy remains a dynamic environment from which to learn. In many ways I feel priviledged and grateful to be a member of this community, even if it has taken over a large chunk of my life. Thanks for being there. (edit) I just saw that I've posted 673 time as well. Oh lord I'm a sick puppy!)