Poker Diary: Too Clever By Half

(Note: read this post for background on the tournament in which this hand occurred.)

There's a mistake I've made so many times that it should probably be named after me. It's the result of me overthinking the end of a hand and trying to be clever instead of smart.

I'm going to illustrate this mistake by taking you through an actual hand from a Friday night tournament in Mahnomen. It was late in level 1, blinds at $25/$50. I was in late position (seat 8). Three players had called the big blind when it got to me. I looked down and saw this:



Me likey. I decide to raise to $150. The person to my left (seat 9) calls. He is one of the three players I indentified in my last diary as "dangerous". Everyone else folds.

I figure seat 9 has something fairly good, maybe Ax or low- to mid pocket pairs. Since he's one of the players I pegged as a real player, I think he would have re-raised if he had AA, KK or QQ, and maybe even AK. So now there's $400 in the pot. The flop comes out:



This just keeps getting better. I'm first to act the rest of the hand. What should I do?

A. Check. You don't want to scare him off.
B. Make a continuation bet. He's expecting it and it will build the pot.
C. Make a pot-sized bet. No sense in taking chances.

Checking here is a good move. You've got a made hand and you don't want to scare seat 9 off. It might even make him think you've got a small pair or a straight draw. The danger is that he might check as well and that isn't going to get any more money into the pot.

The continuation bet is the standard play after you raise pre-flop. It says to seat 9 that you've got something and now you want to build a pot, but you don't want him hanging around and catching something that can beat you. As I mentioned above, it may push him out of the hand, which we don't want in this case.

Making a pot-sized bet is high risk, high reward. If seat 9 calls, you're well on your way to building a huge pot. There's no flush possibility, so things look good. However, the chance he folds goes way up.

I go with A) and check. Thankfully, he bets $200, half the pot. I don't think he's sitting on AQ, since the smart play would be to check and get a free card. I put him on AJ or A10 or a small pair. I don't think he would have called the initial pre-flop raise with anything less and remember from the last entry that at this point in the tournament I had been playing very tight. I go into actor mode and contemplate if it's worth $200 to stay in this hand. After a half minute I call, building the pot to $800. The next card comes out, and the board looks like this:



I couldn't have laid out this hand better if I tried; this card doesn't help anybody. It's my turn to act. What should I do?

A. Check. He'll never believe that 2s helped you.
B. Make a medium- to large-sized bet, say, $600. It's time to take this pot.
C. Overbet the pot -- $1200. You need to build the pot up fast.

Checking has the same plusses and minuses as before, but it also has another advantage: Coupled with my deliberation after seat 9's post-flop bet, it's probably starting to look to him like I'm chasing a straight. I imagine he thinks I'm sitting on AQ.

Betting $600 here would be a bad play; as I mentioned, the 2s couldn't have helped me. Why would I bet as though it did. He might call it. He might also be confused enough to smell a rat.

Overbetting the pot would look even more suspicious. However, it might be looked at as a desperate move on my part, if seat 9 thinks I don't know what I'm doing. He might call it. He'd most likely fold though.

I check. He bets again, $700. He definitely thinks I'm chasing. With that read, his bet is the right move. I deliberate again, but only for a few moments this time. I call.

By now you must be thinking, didn't you mention a mistake three days ago when I started reading this? Relax: I'm getting there. First there's another card to come.



The pot is up to $2200, and it's all mine. I just need to get as much money into the pot as I can. How to do that?

A. Make a value bet, about $1000.
B. Make a pot-sized bet.
C. Check. He's fired twice. He'll do it again.

At this point, seat 9 has decided to either fold to any bet or call any bet (or raise). Remember, his read is that I was chasing a straight. Knowing that, a value bet doesn't make sense to me here. If it's all or nothing, might as well bet the pot. Note that if I'm wrong, and his read on me isn't that I was chasing, a value bet does make sense.

If you chose C, congratulations! You're me. I'll consider sharing naming rights for this mistake after you've committed it 1000 times like I have.

I always think to myself, "he's bet at it twice. He'll fire one more bullet then I'll check raise." Maybe this is a solid strategy, but it never works for me. Instead, he checks and we turn over cards. I turn first, so he mucks his hand without showing. I don't find out what he was holding. I rake in my $2200, happy but feeling it should have been more.

Here's the takeaway: When you've got the best hand on the river, bet.

Poker Diary: Playing In Enemy Territory

So I sat down at a tournament table in Mahnomen, Minnesota Friday night. There were ten tables with ten or eleven players at each table (mine had ten), so there were over 100 players. The starting stack was $6000 in chips.

There's a scene in the movie Rounders where all the principal characters end up at a poker table in Atlantic City together. Two guys in business suits sit down and a voiceover informs us that if you can't spot the "fish", that is, the inexperienced player, then it's probably you. Of course, the businessmen lose their money pretty quickly.

I'm not so inexperienced as to be a fish at a table in Mahnomen, but it became obvious as we waited for the call to begin dealing that I was the only stranger at the table. That put me at a severe disadvantage right at the start. Not because, like Mike D. and the others in the movie, the casino regulars were acting in concert, but because these people knew how their poker buddies played, their strengths and weaknesses. Normally I play a little tight at a table where I don't have any inside info on the other players; I like to take the time to watch a few hands and see if I can pick up tendencies. I decided right away to play very tight with this bunch.

Once the cards started coming, it turned out my strategy was more than supported by the terrible cards I was getting. Since I was playing tight it was hard to lose much money in the first level, but it's generally a good goal to double up your stack by the first break. It didn't look promising early.

Things picked up in level two and I started loosening up. While I don't expect most players at the table paid attention to such things, there were three players I pegged as dangerous. That is, they were smart and they looked for patterns. The danger of the ultratight strategy is that, by not seeing many hands, you miss out on the those times you luck into a great flop with terrible cards. The kind of hand other players never see coming. The other big drawback is that when you do have something worth playing, it can be difficult to get any action on your bets; you've spent so much time telling everyone you only play good cards that they start to believe you.

That is also the opportunity the ultratight strategy presents; once you've established you only play good cards, smart players will fold to your bets. This opens the door to bluffing. Your 8-7 offsuit looks like AK when you bet after a flop with an ace in it. You can steal a few pots this way with cards you would normally fold. Of course, you have to be careful. You also have to realize that your reputation will evolve. Bluff too much and you'll find yourself getting called more often.

As I started to get some playable cards and got at least a rudimentary read on the table, I started playing more hands. I won a couple big pots and lost some little ones. This is a recipe for success. My stack grew and I was feeling pretty good. When we got to the break I wasn't quite doubled up, but I was close enough.

I should have been better off but I made a mistake, one I make all the time even though I know I shouldn't. I outsmart myself and it costs me bigger pots. I'll illustrate this mistake in a later post by taking you through the hand. It's going to have pictures and everything!

Weekend Poker Tournament

Supposedly this blog involves, along with all the trenchant political commentary, computer advice, Macy life-chronicling and random hilarity, poker. In retrospect, I should have picked a different name for the blog, as I occasionally get emails from people who stumbled on this site literally looking for advice on playing pocket jacks in Texas Hold 'Em. Their critiques of what they found when they got here is a post for another day.

Well, there's finally going to be some poker talk in this space. I am leaving today for a weekend poker tournament at the Shooting Star casino in Mahnomen, Minnesota. When I get back I'll undoubtedly have at least a couple stories to tell, and they may have something to do with the game of poker. Usually in a tournament like this there are a few hands that play out in an interesting way, and (nerd alert) maybe I'll try diagramming them or something.

Anyway, wish me luck in what is being billed widely (okay, only by me) as a warm up to an upcoming trip to Vegas.

Poker Results For February

Had a great time last night at the poker table. It didn't hurt that I finished in the money in both games. I had some bad luck in the late game; I had several hands where I was ahead after the flop and things didn't work out. One hand would have knocked out a player, putting me heads-up for the game but aces on the turn and river killed me.

On the other hand, luck was on my side in the early game. Down to my last $800 in chips (after starting with $2000) and blinds at $100/$200 I survived an all-in against two opponents with Queen-five suited to triple up. I eventually finished third there.

All in all I doubled my starting stake, so it was a good night. I think I played well and the level of play at the table overall was pretty solid. I'm already looking forward to March's game.

Bonus points for the bacon-wrapped sausage things with brown sugar the host's wife made. Those washed down with a few Dos Equis made the night even better.

Finally, A Regular Poker Game

It's taken a long time and several false starts, but I once again have a regular poker game. With the help of my friend Brian we have combined two games that were floating in the ether and things look good now. We're looking at about ten to twelve people tonight.

Now the fun part -- trying to win some pots.

Wish Me Luck (Updated)

Blogging will be light today as I will be in Mahnomen, Minnesota playing in a poker tournament at Shooting Star Casino. I'll report on the tournament when I get back.

Update: I finshed in the top 15, which is to say I didn't win any money. Oh well. The poker room at the Shooting Star is much smaller than the last time I played there. It looks like the poker craze is on the downswing. There were 24 people in the tournament. The last time I played there we had 75.

(Originally posted at 7:38 am.)