Back to the Tables

Well, after the Tunica debacle, I needed some time off. So I did not play live with the guys for over two weeks, which is a long time for me.

So last night I decided to play at Dave's Bungalow with the regular crew. I was 30 minutes late (as usual) thanks to a missing library book of my son's due today at his school. So I am already coming in after missing a couple of laps around the table.

Now, concerning playing poker, I had already decided that I am changing my style. I have done enough reading and watching on TV to know that an aggressive style is how you win poker tournaments. You may end up going home early a lot more often, but you put yourself in a much better place to win by playing aggressively. I am not playing any two cards (ATC), but I will be playing a much broader range of hands when I am in position, hoping to take down a pot or two here and there I would have normally had no shot at.

So the second hand I see last night in middle position is Q7d. The player to my right limps in for 50, I decide to bump it up to 200. I get min-re-raised to 400(technically, I guess it is not a min-re-raise, but it was pretty close to that) by a player who is liable to do that with ATC, and he always seems to be tangled up in pots I am involved with. The big blind and the guy sitting on my right (who has hardly ever not called a pre-flop raise/re-raise in a pot he has limped in on) joins in on the fun. The pot now has about 1250 in it. I am the biggest of all the stacks left, with about 7900 going into the hand.

The flop comes Q7x rainbow (some other low card, possibly a 4). The BB checks, the player to my right checks, and I fire 700 into the pot (between half and 2/3 the pot). The min-raiser does it again, bumping it up to 1400. The BB folds, and then the guy to my right says "Let's do this". At this point, I know at least on of them has a Q with a good kicker. The thing I needed to figure out was did either of them have a set. I knew the guy to my right didn't - he would have shipped his whole stack in at that point. The other guy could have had that, but I truly thought he had something like JJ and was trying to figure out where he was. You see, I usually play really tight. I do occasionally bluff, so he easily could have min-raised me there thinking that if I did not have a Q that I would then give the hand up, while he risked the minimum to get that information now, and not later when the bets would be much more expensive. So then I turned my attention to the other guy - who now I really was thinking was holding a Q. I was now thinking he had AQ or KQ. As much as I would have liked to have just called, I did not want either player to have a chance to outdraw me to a better 2 pair, or hit a set. I never like to go farther in a hand with more than one person, so I decided I was going to make the guy who I had position on pay to see that next card. I re-raise and pop it an additional 3000. This virtually pot-commits me to the pot, but it does so for everyone else. I had them covered, so if I was pot-committed, they were going to be as well. I don't mind getting re-popped for all-in here at this point, nor do I care too much if I get two folds. The pot is already a nice size, but if I get called I have top 2. If one of them has a set, more power to them.

The original raiser thinks for a long time. OK - no set there, so the longer he waits the more I want him to call now. Eventually he throws it away. The other guy then sits and thinks. OK - my read was right and he did not have a set. So now I am thinking that since we are heads up, please let him shove. He then finally folds. The original re-raiser said he had KQ. The other guy said he had AQ and thought I had a set. I showed them the Q7, and the table just exploded. Not because the other guys just got bluffed - I had the best hand. But because they could not believe I played that hand. I strategically showed my cards all night. And I got people playing at me with garbage hands when I held good starting cards simply because I was able to change my perception at the table.

I ran my stack up to almost 40K, and then a couple of guys hit some hands against me (JJ got beat by AQ). One of the bigger hits I took at the final table came when The Shadow accidentally went all-in because he did not see my 3X the BB raise and cards (he thought he was in the hand by himself). I was pretty much pot-committed, especially when he legitimately thought he was going all-in against noone else - he really just meant to buy the blinds. I call - with QJ. He flips over 78d. Wouldn't you know it - he flops a flush. Uggghhhh. Situation sound familiar?

I ran my stack back up to about $35K - lost another race against a short stack. Then finally got all-in with a stack of about 24K with the blinds 1K/2K when a stack ahead of me raised to 6K. I look down at 77 and push. He insta calls with AK off. Turn is an Ace. Game over. Out in 7th out of 22 and no money, although I picked up 3 bounties, so I did not lose too much money at all playing. I hit some hands, and then I had other hands go against me. I rarely got someone all-in with the worst hand. And here is the kicker - I made it as far as I did, and ran my stack up as far as I did, without ever catching a hand better than trips. No sets. No straights. No flushes. No boats. I played for almost 5 hours. This style of play allows you to get chips without having super strong hands. Of course, this style can make you go broke quick as well. It was a mixed bag for me - I played for a long time and still did not cash, which actually sucks (long time to play for no result). But you have to think that some nights the stars will align. I will run the stack up, and I will also hit some good hands that will pay me off even more. A few more chips in certain spots would have allowed me to completely run over the table instead of just somewhat bullying the table. It will happen, and I am going to get better at this style over time. I may pay a little bit early on learning this way, but in the long run this is how I am going to make my final tables at WSOP Circuit Events and other games. It was the most fun I have had playing poker in a long time.