This had been my fourth trip to Las Vegas this summer to take a shot at the kind of success I had the previous year in the World Series of Poker, with my two cashes, and I ran into a minor problem. I had played in 4 of the $1500 no-limit hold em' events, without making it past the 6^th level of any of them, and after running pretty badly in recent cash games my poker bankroll was down to, yes, you guessed it, exactly $10,000 (the same amount as the buy-in). So, I had a tough decision. The way my trip was scheduled, I had a few days to try and satellite in, or I could just buy in directly. After much internal debate (and a conversation with my Mom who said something like, "you could be dead tomorrow"), I decided that this was why I built up the poker bankroll in the first place, so yep, I coughed up the $10,000 and bought in directly. My starting day was set as Saturday because they had Sunday on hold, but they told me that I could show up Saturday morning and change my starting day to Sunday. I wanted to play on Sunday because a friend of mine, Whit, was playing on Sunday.

I'm out pretty late on Friday night, planning on just stopping in at the Rio on Saturday morning and changing my starting day, however, when I get there early Saturday morning after about 3-4 hours of sleep, I find out Sunday is on hold until 4pm, and if I want to be guaranteed a seat, I need to play today. Yikes. So, I run back the Flamingo where I'm staying, changing in to the appropriate poker-wear and run back to the Rio and get ready to start. I'm in the Brasilia room and we start the big dance.

First off, the structure of this thing is amazing. The levels last two hours and the blinds go up slowly, so its no surprise that there is very little action on my starting table. Everyone on my table is very tight and I can only perceive there to be one pro, a guy named David, across the table from me. I quickly realize that besides David, I am the strongest player at the table. I start out stealing a bit, but there were no real contested pots early, and no one wanted to risk anything in the first few levels. I take down a few decent pots, one with the nut flush, one with quads against a player who was representing the full house, but turns out didn't have anything (too bad).

I finally get in a hand with a guy two seats to my left that said he took 191^st place last year. He had lost a big hand to another player and was down to about 7,000 in chips (we started with 20,000). I started the hand with around 25,000. He raises in early position and its folded around to me in the small blind with QQ. I just smooth call and the dealer puts out my dream flop, Q-6-2 rainbow. I check and he pushes all in for the 7,000. I insta-call with top set and he flips over AK. The board bricks out and I take out the first player at our super-tight table.

Super tight play continued at that table with some players getting in some contested pots, then they break our table and I get moved into the Amazon room, with about 48,000 in chips. I find my seat and wouldn't you guess it, I am sitting directly to the right of the tournament chip leader, who has about 200,000 chips in this sort of tower structure. I don't have to ask his name, because I can see it on the monitor above my head next to the number 1 and his chip count. Yes, I have the single worst seat in the entire tournament at this point.

I put my stack on lock down and tighten up my play a lot. My goal is to avoid this guy at all costs. But, what I soon realize is that he is playing totally straight, not really bullying anyone at all. He takes out 3 players while I'm there, but he did it by getting it all in pre-flop with hands like AA, AK. He wasn't my concern. Now, on the opposite side of the table, there's a bully with a huge stack, who was thwarting my steal attempts and was taking down most of the pots. So, I do my best to avoid that guy, also. A few minutes later they seat the number 2 chip stack in the tournament to the left of the number 1 guy. This shuts my options down completely. I get blinded down for a while, and I finally pick up a hand against a tight aggressive player directly to my right.

I have J10 of diamonds. Guy on my right raises in middle position and I call. Flop comes KQ2 with 2 diamonds (my dream flop). He bets out 2,000 on the flop and I call. Here I could raise and end up getting it all in against a set of Ks or Qs, and I don't want to risk that, so I'm playing my draw slowly. Turn card pairs the 2, making the board KQ22 with 2 diamonds. Guy bets out 4,000 on the turn. Now, I have a problem; he may have a full house in which case my straight and flush draws are dead. I take a good look at him, and I'm confident he has a hand, but not a full house, so I call. River is a complete blank; I miss everything. He checks to me, with a look on his face like, "What the hell did you call me with on the turn?!" I'm not real happy about it, but I think I have to take the opportunity to try and bet him off the hand. I bet 7,000 and he hesitates for a while and calls, showing KQ. I lost a lot of chips on this hand, but I could have just as easily gotten it all in on the flop and gone broke.

I get moved to another table, where I see Clonie Gowen seated directly across from me, covered in Full Tilt stickers. I get blinded down a bit at this table and right before the end of the day, I watch her blow ¾ of her stack trying to bluff the big stack on my right off of his full house. She ends the day with around 12,000 in chips. I end day 1C with 36,725, almost exactly the chip average, which is fine by me.

We start back up on day 2B, and I am seated to the left of Jeff Madsen, seasoned pro. I take down a few decent pots from him, one with 79 suited, flopping 2 pair, and another where I turn a straight after raising with A3 suited. He gets out of each of those hands having lost the minimum; a lot of other players would have gone broke. I get beat up on a couple hands and end up short stacked with around 20,000.

Then, right before we go on break, I get in a big hand with a very aggressive player on my left. I raise in middle position with J10 offsuit, just to steal the blinds, and I get called by this aggressive guy on the button. Flop comes 9-10-K with 2 clubs, giving me middle pair and a gut-shot straight draw. I think its very likely I have the best hand here, but I'm going to be cautious. I check and to my surprise, he checks quickly behind me. Turn card is a K, pairing the board, making it 9-10-K-K with 2 clubs. At this point, I'm confident I have the best hand, so I bet out 1500. He instantly raises me to 4,000 with no hesitation at all, like someone whacked him in the knee. This doesn't make a lot of sense to me. If he had a K, he surely would have bet it on the flop. If he flopped a straight, he would proceed cautiously now that the board paired. If he flopped a set and just made a full house, he wouldn't raise that fast; he'd want to try to look weak. So, I call the 4,000 not really sure where I'm at, and with a chance to catch my straight on the river. The river card is a total blank. I check and he fires 11,000 into the pot. I wanted to throw up. The tournament clock runs down and we're on break, which is good because it let's me spend more time in the tank without anyone calling clock on me.

If I call this bet and I'm wrong, my stack would be down to just over 4,000, which would be devastating. If I fold, my stack is around 15,000, which is still possible to make a recovery from. So, I try to get some info from the guy. He is looking down, shuffling chips with one hand, and he absolutely will not talk to me, look at me, or respond to me at all. I basically tell him I only have a pair of tens, and ask him if he wants a call…no response. His physical tells are telling me he doesn't want a call. The bet he made is very large, but if he had a full house or straight, I don't know why he'd make a bet that big and not just put me all in. So, I'm in the tank for like 5-8 minutes and I finally call and he mucks his hand after I show the 10. Greatest call of my tournament life!

We come off break, and I get moved to a table which is full of big stacks and pros. Seated on the opposite side of the table from me is "Yukon" Brad Booth, who I had recently watched on High Stakes Poker. That was a little surreal. And, we get in a hand pretty quickly. I start the hand with around 45,000. Brad raises in middle position and gets 2 callers. I am in the small blind with A10 of spades, and I call. Again, I get my dream flop, K-4-6 with 2 spades. I have the nut flush draw. I check and Brad bets out 8,000 and the other 2 callers fold. I call and the Q of spades on the turn makes me the nuts. I know Brad is super-aggressive and is going to bet here, so I check, and he fires 20,000 at the pot. I take a quick look at my cards to make it seem like I'm checking for a spade, then I go all in. At this point, my poker face and ability to keep my cool was right out the window. I was kind of blabbing with him and he eventually folds for the remaining 15,000. That hand and a couple others puts me up to 96,000 in chips, and I get moved to another table.

This table was terrible. Every time I'd try to steal, I'd lose the pot one way or another. I end up down to around 75,000 in no time. We go on dinner break, and I get patched up with the Pokerati logo from Dan at Pokerati.com. I come off break and get moved to another table full of big stacks. This table also includes Angela Brunson (Todd's wife), and some guy who shows his bracelet (supposedly oldest guy ever to win a bracelet), and I'm in the 5 seat between 2 girls. I lose a hand or two and I'm just below 70,000 at this point when the chip average is somewhere around 95,000-100,000. Blinds are at 500, 1000, with a 200 ante, and are about to go up with 600-1200 with a 200 ante.

Maniac player with huge stack in middle position raises, the button calls, and I call in the small blind with AK offsuit. I did consider just mucking here or raising here, but I wanted to play cautiously against the big stack (big mistake). Again, I get my dream flop, A-6-2 rainbow. I am very confident I have the best hand here, and I know the maniac is going to bet, so I am looking to check-raise. I check and he bets, and here's where things get ugly. The maniac bet around 7,000, which we all knew he would do, and the girl on the button raises to 19,000. At this point, I put her on a hand like AK, AQ, or possibly a set, but it didn't make a whole lot of sense to raise with a set here, with the rainbow flop with no straight possibilities. So, I try to get some information. I ask her if she flopped a set, and she very quickly says, "Yes, I have trips" and she looks away from me and down at the table. Her blink rate is really high and she is kind of hiding under her hair. These are all indicators that she wants me to fold, so I'm thinking she has something like AQ, AJ. The amount she bet out makes it so I can't just smooth call. If I call and she bets the turn or river, I'm going to be priced in to call the rest of it. I consider folding, but its really unlikely my hand is no good here. So, I ask her if two pair is any good, and she says very quickly, "No, two pair no good." And, again her blink rate, posture, and voice tell me she wants me to fold. I ask her if she'll show if I fold, and she says, "Yes." People typically agree to show you if they want you to fold. Someone else at the table calls clock on me and the floor comes over and tells me I have a minute to act.

With the clock running down on me, I just try to keep it simple, and rely on my read. My read said she doesn't want action. I push all in with my remaining stack, and she says, "Oh my God, you have a set of aces, don't you?! I have to call you!" and she calls and flips over a set of 6s. As it turns out, she was an amateur player, who was just really scared and didn't want to get drawn out on (on that board??), which explained why she really did want me to fold. I had the right read on her, but for the wrong reason. Any strong player would do everything they could there to get a call, while on the other hand, she was scared to death. I've never wanted to travel back in time so badly in my life.

I spent about a half hour kicking myself for risking so many chips when I had such a healthy stack at that point in the blind levels, but later I came to grips with the fact that I had every reason to make the play I did; I went with my read, and that's all I could do there. Going with my read is what got me that far and is how I built up the poker bankroll in the first place. Ultimately, its what put me out on my ear.

Overall, it was a great experience, and I really believe that barring that hand against the amateur, I definitely would have cashed. I will definitely be playing next year, and can't wait to take another shot. In the meantime, its back to the cash games to build the bankroll back up.

Hope to see you out at the 2009 main event. I will definitely be there.

Btw, here's the blurb on Pokerati...

http://pokerati.com/2008/07/09/pokerati-patches-up-another-main-event-force/

I was playing in a $2-5 cash game at Bullets poker room in Dallas last night and ran into an interesting situation, which was causing me a lot of problems; I figured it was worth discussing here. There was one player who was raising to $15 repeatedly with any playable hand. I saw him do it with J9 suited and with A10 offsuit. The problem was that he’d do this, get 5 callers, and I’d get priced into calling with very marginal cards. Several times, I was in the big blind, where it would be $10 to call and there would already be $60+ in the pot. Then, I’d end up flopping middle pair or a flush or straight draw. There would be a flop bet with one or two callers, where I’d get priced into calling with my draw, which I would miss. This happened several times, where I ended up losing a lot of chips all because of that stupid $15 pre-flop bet. I’ll give an example.

I have Q7 of spades in the big blind. Under the gun player limps. Villian raises to $15. Three players call before action gets to me in the big blind. I call the additional $10. UTG player calls. So, now there’s about $90 in the pot and 6 players see the flop.

Flop comes Ks Jh 5s, giving me a Q-high flush draw. I check. UTG checks. Villian bets $75. Next guy goes all in for $100. Everyone else folds to me. I have a Q-high flush draw and I believe my flush draw is live. The $25 raise the all-in player made would not allow Villian to re-raise. The pot is now about $290 and I am having to call $100. I am getting 2.9 to 1, so I make the call. Turn card is a blank. Villian bets $130 and I am forced to fold. I lost $115 in the hand.

I had another similar hand, where Villian raised to $15 and I was in the small blind with AQ offsuit. I called and ended up losing a significant pot to the player in the big blind, who called with 810 offsuit on an A810 flop.

So, given the problems I ran into, I think the best way to deal with that really annoying $15 bet, is to simply raise or fold. If I’ve got a premium hand, I need to raise to thin the field. If I have some hand that lends itself to a weak draw, I just need to fold it because it is bound to get expensive later, regardless of the great pot odds I am getting pre-flop. Then, I can sit back and watch the carnage. When this happens and I look down at 57 suited, I just need to ask myself if I really want to be in a large multi-way pot out of position with a 7 high flush (not good).

Hope this helps you, too. Good luck at the tables.

-Andrew

My style at the table, when I'm playing my best game, is definitely tight aggressive. I may occasionally bluff big or semi-bluff small, but most of the time I'm betting top pair or better and trying to get value out of the hand. I make a lot of lay downs that other people might not, just to be safe and to avoid tough decisions on later streets. Of course, other players know this, which frequently makes them think it's a good idea to bluff me, because they know I'll get away from a lot of marginal hands, especially if the pot is small. Lately, this has been a big source of profit for me at the tables. I'll give a recent example.

I was playing in a short handed $2-5 game and I limped in the big blind with A8 off suit. Several other players limp, including Greg, in middle position. Flop comes A64 with 2 hearts, giving me top pair A with an 8 kicker. I bet out $25, about the size of the pot, and Greg instantly calls me (instant call is almost always a sign of a draw). All other players fold. Turn card is an off suit K, which changes absolutely nothing about the hand, so I bet $60 and Greg hesitates for a second and then calls. River is another 6, pairing the board. So, now board reads AK466 with no possible flush. I put Greg on a flush draw or an A, since he never raised. So, I bet out $100 on the river. He takes a while. Then, he pushes his remaining $400 into the pot, a raise of $300.

Now, Greg is the type of player who is frequently trying to out-play people in hands. He will bluff whenever he thinks he can take down the pot. So, I thought he may have missed his flush and was just trying to buy the pot, but before I did anything, I needed to run through the possibilities.

If Greg had a set of 6s or 4s, he surely would have raised on the flop, since there was a possible flush draw on the flop. He'd want to bet me off that flush draw. Same goes for 2 pair like A6 or A4. He would not want to let the flush get there.

If he had AA, he surely would have raised pre-flop, and even if he did limp with the AA, and let's say he slow played it on the flop, having flopped a set of As, he surely would have raised the turn. He did not do any of those things.

Ok, so what does that leave? How about a weak A, like I have. If he has an A, the off suit K that fell on the turn made it so that our kickers would not play, so we'd be chopping the pot, both with AA66K. He could have AK, but again, he would not limp with it pre-flop.

After going through all of this, I just could not put him on anything that beat me, so I called him and he instantly mucked his hand. Apparently, he missed his flush draw and was trying to buy the pot.

My tight table image made him think he could just drop the hammer and bluff me off any medium strength hand on the river by pushing in his whole stack. The mistake he made was that he just did not have a believable story. There were no scare cards and he wasn't really representing anything that made any sense.

This kind of thing happens to me all the time, when aggressive players peg me as a tight player. They think they can bully me off a hand. From my perspective, the important thing is knowing what my opponent is capable of. If he's totally capable of a big bluff and is making a huge raise that is not looking for a call, then that sets off a red flag for me.

Lately, I've been playing a lot of $2-5 cash games, and I figured that noting some of the hands I've played really poorly here would be a good exercise to help remind me not to make the same mistakes again. Hopefully, this will help you as well.

Hand 1 – Play the player

This hand happened in a $2-5 cash game at Winstar Casino in Oklahoma. I had $1150 on the table in early position, and the other player (let's call him Bob) had $750 in late position. I have KK and open raise to $40. Bob calls and another player calls. Flop comes Q52 rainbow. I bet $100. Bob takes a little while and calls the $100. The other player folds.

Now, prior to this hand, I had been playing very aggressively and pretty loose, in so much as I had shown the table. I had effectively built up a maniacal table image, so that I'd get a lot of action. Bob was an older guy and had been playing pretty tight. He had only shown down some real monster hands. He had also shown down several hands that were losers against me, so I know he had just about enough of my style and was ready to play back at me. So, at this point, I put him on AQ making him top pair, top kicker, and I believe he thinks that I have a Q, maybe KQ or QJ. So, I expect to get paid off pretty well here.

Turn card is a 2, pairing the board, making the board Q522. The 2 is essentially a blank as far as I'm concerned, but it does put two suited cards on the board (5 and 2 were both spades). I bet $100, and Bob raises to $300. I go in the tank. Now, what I'm trying to figure out is, would Bob raise here with AQ? Its going to cost me this $200 (his raise) plus his remaining $300 on the river to find out. I know that no matter what happens after this, if I call this bet, then the remaining $300 is going in on the river no matter what.

So, what hands make sense for Bob? Because of the pre-flop raise, he must have AQ, AA, QQ, or 55. There's simply no way he has a 2, given his style of play (pocket 2s I just rule out altogether as well). I have $240 invested in this pot. The read I have on Bob tells me he believes he has the best hand. That still doesn't tell me if he has AQ or not.

After spending quite a while in the tank, I decide to call the $200. River is a blank. I check, and (just as expected) Bob fires the remaining $300 in the pot. I already knew this would happen no matter what after the turn. I still try to get some kind of read on Bob, but I get nothing. So, I call the $300, and he flips over QQ, having flopped a set and turned the full house.

The turn is where I made the big mistake on this hand. This type of tight player simply would not raise with AQ on the turn. He would call. At that point, I should have looked at the range of hands he could have, and realized that I can only beat one of them (AQ), and all the others beat me (AA, QQ, 55). Also, because we both have a lot of chips left, if I'm wrong there, then its going to be an expensive mistake.

So, the moral of the story is, if a tight player is raising you, and the stacks are deep, you should probably lay it down and wait for a better spot.

Hand 2 – Don't fear the over card

This hand happened in a $2-5 game at Bullets poker room in Dallas, between myself and Rick, a very experienced player who also owns part of another poker room in Dallas. Stacks were deep, and we didn't get it close to all in here, so exact stack sizes weren't important. Rick limps in early position, and I limp on the button with J5 suited. Flop comes 34J rainbow. Rick checks and I bet the pot. Rick calls.

At this point, I've got top pair J and a 5 (might as well be non-existent) kicker, and the board is making it look like if Rick has a J, then I am seriously out-kicked. I am putting him on a J or some other pair at this point, maybe something like A4, but I really have no idea. He would probably just check-call something like J9 on the flop and see if I would bet again.

Turn card is an A, making the board 34JA rainbow. Rick checks. I really do not like that A at all. If Rick was playing something like A4, then he just made 2 pair and is probably looking to check-raise. However, I do pick up a gut shot straight draw for the wheel, so if I can see a free card here, then I will. So, I check.

River is a 2, making the board 34JA2, and it makes my 5 high straight. I really think I'm good here. There is no way Rick puts me on the straight after I bet the flop. But, something strange happens. Rick fires a slightly less than pot size bet here. It really makes me think either he just made 2 pair, or he has a 5, also. There is the possibility of 56 out there, that maybe he was open ended on the flop, and caught a higher straight, but I figure its more likely he's got 2 pair. Generally, I know its not a good idea to open betting on the river if you don't have a hammer lock on the hand, but I went with my first inclination here and raised. Now, Rick takes a minute and re-raises me $200 on top. Arg.

Now, I'm in a terrible spot. Either he has a 5 and we're chopping the pot, or he has 56 and I'm in trouble. However, there's no way I can lay down the second nuts that I caught on a gut shot on the river so I call, and sure enough, he flips over 56 for the 6 high straight.

The turn is where I made the first mistake on this hand. If I believe my J is good on the flop, and I get a call from someone in early position who wouldn't bet the flop, then when the A hits the turn, there's no reason I should think the J is no longer good. I needed to bet here to get out any draws, like the one Rick had. Also, if I bet here and Rick has something like J9, he may fold it, thinking I'm betting a bigger J.

The second mistake I made here was raising on the river without the nuts. Rick had been checking and calling the whole way, then took the lead on betting on the river. My hand was unexpectedly strong, but the 56 was out there and Rick's betting in the hand was consistent with a draw, so I simply should have called the river. The hand cost me $250 more than it needed to.

Hope these will help you avoid similar situations at the table. Good luck.

-Andrew

Event #35 - $1500 NLHE - 141st Place

Event #38 - $1500 NLHE - 256th Place

Wow, where do I start? I scheduled this trip to Vegas back in February, so that I could play in two of the No Limit Hold'em $1500 buy in events in the World Series of Poker (events #35 and #38), and even after arriving in Vegas on Wednesday night I still wasn't sure I was going to cough up the $1500 to play in Thursday's event. Mainly, I was thinking that there's no chance in hell I could make it into the money in the event, and I would likely get busted out in a couple hours, since I knew the field would be huge and there would be a lot of big name pros in the event, and I knew that I'd only get 3000 in starting chips, so one mistake would be the end of the day for me. Ultimately, my Mom talked me into playing, and I'm really glad she did.

While I was waiting to get seated at my table, I overheard some people talking behind me, one of whom had just gotten off the phone with Freddy Deeb. He was telling his friend what advice Freddy gave him going into the tournament. Apparently, Freddy said two things, "1. If you don't think you have the best hand, fold. 2. Don't push all your chips in on a draw." Having busted out of one of the Mandalay Bay WPT $1000 events when my draw didn't get there, this seemed like especially valid advice. And, the first part, though extremely simple poker 101, really helped me. And, in the next two levels, I saw several people get busted out because they were just getting too creative. I played very carefully and slow, and only put chips in the middle if I was damn near absolutely sure I had the best hand. If someone raised or overbet the pot while I was in it with two pair or worse, I just folded, and I ended up accumulating some chips and making it to the first break.

I played the same strategy, just making sure I didn't get overcommitted without the nuts (or near nuts), and it was pretty smooth sailing until I ran into the first bully at the second table I was moved to. He would check-raise almost every pot he was in, and would re-raise people pre-flop and never had to show anything down. He was causing everybody at the table a lot of problems with his aggressive play, and he was accumulating a lot of chips in the process. My strategy against him was to pick up a great hand, slow play and let him double me up with his aggressive strategy, and the hand came up where I got to do it. He raised in early position, and I called him with pocket 4s. Flop came Jack, Jack, 4, all different suits, giving me a full house. He checked and I checked the flop. A 10 hit the turn, which also put two diamonds on the board. He checked again and I made a small bet, maybe a quarter to a third of the pot. I wanted it to look like I paired the 10 and was making a cautious scared bet. He called and the river brought the Ace of clubs. Now, he bet out about two thirds of the pot. I did a little acting and eventually pushed my remaining stack into the pot and stared him down a little to look like I was trying to be intimidating (generally a sign of weakness). He took a couple seconds and called with Ace King of diamonds. He missed his flush and straight draws but paired his Ace, and he had me on the 10 I represented on the turn. I doubled up and crippled the bully at the same time. He got knocked out later in the same level only having a couple thousand chips left after that hand.

The rest of the day, I just played pretty much the same strategy, though I did add in some raises in late position, usually the cutoff, to steal the blinds with marginal hands. Every two hours we'd get a break, and I'd run to the bathroom and grab another Red Bull. I had so much Red Bull that day, I thought I was about to sprout wings. We had the dinner break and then back to my table full of rocks.

The next big hand I remember was against a guy on my left (I think his name was Greg), who I could tell was sponsored by Full Tilt Poker, because he was wearing a jacket that had the "Full Tilt Poker .NET" logo on it. You can't buy those or get them with points online; Full Tilt has to give it to you. John Juanda, Clonie Gowen and several others were wearing similar ".NET" apparel. I raised on the button with Jack 4 of clubs, just trying to steal the blind, and he called in the small blind. Flop came Queen high with 2 rags. He checked and I made a bet of about two thirds of the pot. He called it. Turn was another Queen, which put 2 diamonds on the board. He checked. At this point, I was pretty sure he didn't have a Queen, because I really think he would have bet it. I decided I was going to represent the Queen, so I bet about half the pot, which really committed both of us. I only had maybe four thousand left, if I lost the hand, and he would have been down to about a thousand if he called and lost. He thought for a good long while, then folded (Thank God) and later told me he had the nut flush draw. After that, I cruised into the money, and had a pretty small stack, only about 9 thousand. I decided I would just try and stay alive and climb the payout ladder if I could. We broke at 2am and started up the next day.

Twenty minutes into day two and we had just passed another payout level. I was down to about five times the big blind and was in the big blind. Another 25 players would have to go out before the next payout level, and I really didn't think I could survive that long without taking a risk and doubling up. A player in middle position raised. The button re-raised big (putting me all in). I looked down at Ace Jack of diamonds. I was confident the button had pocket Queens or Jacks, based on the re-raise, stack sizes, and everything else. I took a look at the remaining player count, and decided to gamble to try to double up. He flipped over pocket Queens, like I thought. I caught a Jack, but no other help, so I was out. Waiting in the payout room, Kathy Liebert and Clonie Gowen came in shortly after I did, having both been knocked out. I was amazed that it wasn't anywhere as hard as I had expected to make it into the money. I ended up taking 141^st place out of the starting field of 2541 players.

After much deliberating, I decided to play in Saturday's event, also, and had a very similar experience. I had extremely low expectations, and just had the goal of not walking out of there after doing something stupid. I ended up barely making it into the money. I actually got blinded out three hands after we made it past the bubble. And, prior to that, I don't think I played a hand for the previous two hours, since the big stacks at my table were pushing the small stacks all in with just about any two cards. I saw one of them push a guy all in with Queen Jack off-suit; in that hand he caught a Jack and felted the poor guy. I didn't pick up Aces or Kings, so I basically got blinded down for about two hours, just trying to squeak into the money, which luckily I did.

Overall, it was the coolest Vegas experience I had by far. I met a bunch of pros, which was also really cool. I met John Juanda, Kathy Liebert, Antonio Esfandiari, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson (while I was wearing my "What would Jesus do?" T-shirt with a cartoon of his face on it, and Phil Gordon (who was really not a very nice person at the time). I also ran into Clonie Gowen in the payout room, and saw several others at the tables in my event and in the halls who I didn't meet, like Marcel Luske, Nam Le, John D'Agostino, Sammy Farha, Erick Lindgren, Gus Hansen, and Shannon Elizabeth.

This definitely gave me a huge boost of confidence in my game, and I know I would not really feel intimidated if I played in the main event now. I may do it next year. One very cool thing is now I have a player profile on the WSOP website:

http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/players/playerprofile.asp?playerID=33456

Photos from the events are at:

http://www.printroom.com/ViewgalleryPhoto.asp?userid=worldseriesofpoker&gallery_id=735227&image_id=22

http://www.printroom.com/ViewgalleryPhoto.asp?userid=worldseriesofpoker&gallery_id=737035&image_id=14

I'd definitely recommend any solid tournament player to try one of these events, if they get the chance.

Good luck at the tables.

-Andrew

Texas State House of Representatives Bill HB3186 effectively legalizes poker in Texas. You can follow its progress at:

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=80R&Bill=HB3186

Legalize it!

Last weekend was another good one at the Choctaw Casino. You run into all kinds of players with all kinds of styles at the tables and I ran into some that were interesting enough to mention here.

The Calling Station

I had read about players called Calling Stations, and I've seen some players who just call too much, but I never met one quite like this before. She would limp or call a raise into the pot (would never raise herself), then would check and call the whole way with any hand she liked. I saw her do this with QQ, AK when it hit the A on the flop, and several other hands. Some players (including myself) ended up building the pot up for her in a few hands where she had the winner and they were trying to bet her off her hand, but she does not fold!

This was really frustrating, because she wouldn't show strength at all in the hand, but would just call the whole way with the winner. So, my strategy was to get a strong hand and drag her along the whole way, and I got my chance. Here's how the hand went: she limped in early position, then I limped with 79 of spades, and a short stacked player in late position pushed all in for $31. She called, and I called. Flop came 2d 7c 9c giving me top 2 pair, which I was absolutely sure was good, so the real questions was how do I get her to put in her remaining $215 in chips. She checked and I decided to go big, so I bet $100 on the flop, and she called. The turn card was 5c, putting three to a flush on the board, but I wasn't really worried about that, since I was 99% sure she had big cards. Again, she checked and I pushed all in, and she called. River came a blank. She flips over As 10c. So, she called on the flop thinking her ace high was good and called on the turn just to draw on her flush, which she missed. Later some of us spectulated that she may be a limit player who just didn't know what she was doing in a no limit game.

Bluffy McLiarpants

I saw a poker T-Shirt which had this on it, thought it was hillarious, then I ran into this guy at my table, who is the real Bluffy McLiarpants. If he was pushing, he didn't have sh*t. Unfortunately, I didn't realize this until he had effectively bet me off two bigs hands and shown the bluff afterwards. Now that I know how he plays, if I run into him again, I'll know exactly what to do based on his betting patterns. If he bets small, he likely has a big hand. If he bets big, he likely had just a draw or complete crap. I'm still kicking myself for not calling this guy's post-oak bluff on the river with my set.

Crank Addict

Ok, I'm fairly sure this guy was doing some sort of drugs; I doubt it could have been a complete act, however, his nutso table antics went along with some pretty solid play. I could see how some people would make some bad plays against him, since they think he's just full of crap or doesn't know what he's doing. For example, he pushed his whole $800 stack in one big messy pile into the pot pre-flop, and made it look like he was taking some big gamble; no one called him, but he showed AA, later. In another hand, he turned the nut straight and bet all in, in early position. A guy with a set in late position called him, only to get the bad news. The thing I learned here is that sometimes you just have to ignore what the player is doing, other than how they're betting. Looking at how this guy acted, I'd expect him to be super loose aggressive donkey, but when I looked at his betting patterns, he was a pretty dangerous player, who only got his chips in with the best hand.

Generally, I started notice more that the difference between the solid players and the weak ones, was that the solid ones would lay the hand down, when they were beat, where with the weak ones, you could see them agonizing, saying to themselves, "Oh, man. I know that card made his hand. I'm totally beat." Then, they'd call anyway, thinking someone was making a play on them. It became more and more obvious when someone was about to make a terrible call.

As usual, I came away from the weekend with some decent $$ and I learned some more about the game.

Good luck, and next time you see a Bluffy McLiarpants bet big, you may want to consider that your bottom pair is good.

cheers,
Andrew

On my frequent trips up to Choctaw Casino in Oklahoma, I've been refining my cash game play in their $1-2 no limit game. This weekend was proof that I've got it down pretty well.

I've found that the first pieces of information you show people about you at the table when you sit down, they will remember all night. So, I really like showing people I am a super loose aggressive maniac and bully, right when I sit down. I will raise pre-flop the first maybe 10 hands that are even remotely playable (and I'm considering 57 offsuit playable), bet draws, and steal pots, and if I'm successful in a bluff, I'll show it. I'll continue to bully the table until I'm sure people can see that is what's going on (or I've lost enough that its getting expensive), then I completely shift gears into my super tight bet-the-nuts strategy, at which point I get paid off like crazy. So, no doubt, I'd recommend paying for your table image when you get there; it will pay you back 10 fold.

My bet-the-nuts strategy (sounds simple I know) basically consists of controlling the pot size, meaning I'm going to fold anything that I don't think merits the pot getting large (top 2 pair is the absolute worst hand I'd even consider letting the pot get big), I'm only going to draw on a straight or flush, if I'm sure its live (meaning board is not paired or flushing if I'm drawing on a straight), and if I make one of those hands or flop a set when the board is not straightening or flushing, I bet big (typically slightly larger than the pot). My big bets look like steal attempts and to the players who saw me play earlier, that's exactly what they think they are, so they pay me off.

I don't make any really tough decisions, unless I can get a very good read on the other player. Also, I will call raises pre-flop with hands that are ideal for sucking out on a big pair; that includes connectors (56, 67, 89, etc.), one gappers (46, 57, 68, etc.), suited or not, and suited aces or kings (A6 suited, K3 suited). I'll draw at my straights and flushes only if I have the right implied pot odds, and if I hit one of them, again, I bet big. And, hopefully, if the guy with the AA remembers how I was playing earlier, I'll get paid off big when I hit my straight with my 68...maybe even with his entire stack.

I also do play the players, for example, if there's an aggressive player who likes to check-raise, slow-play and trap, then I'm almost never going to bluff him, even if its a continuation bet. If he checks the flop, and I didn't hit anything, then I'll just check. If he checks the turn, and I still didn't hit anything, then I'll make my continuation bet and try and take it right there. If he plays back at all, I fold. Generally, I'd like to avoid players like this, unless I have a very strong hand (top 2 or better).

That's about it, besides picking up all the tells that amateurs display, and remembering peoples' betting patterns. The main principle is that if you have to make a really tough decision, then you should probably fold and wait for a better spot to get your chips in.

This strategy just worked to the tune of $2100 in 2 days playing $1-2 no-limit games, where I was never in the game for more than $250, so I figured it was worth posting for anyone nice enough to read this thing. :o)

Good luck.

-Andrew

So, one of the things I saw several times during my 33 hour poker session was a situation worth noting here, if only to make a mental note of it for myself. The situation is where one player flops a set and another flops a straight. Unfortunately, I have been on the bad side of that several times, but I've also been on the good side, too. This usually results in the person with the set going broke.

I play mostly cash games, so I'm going to deal with this from a cash game perspective. Let's also say that in this cash game both players involved have large stacks (for example, $500-$1000 each in a $1-2 game). A tournament player, depending on their stack size and where they are in the tournament, may want to play this differently.

When I've seen this, typically multiple players limp into the pot, and the flop comes something like this...

Jh 9c 8d

...where an early position player has 9h 9d (let's call him player 1) and a late position player has Qc 10d (let's call her player 2).

Player 1 hits the flop with the set of 9s, which has just about every possible hand out there (except the straight) drawing dead. Its unlikely the other player has JJ because everyone limped pre-flop.

Player 1 makes a slight overbet to the limped pot and now a couple of situations could happen. Either Player 2 pushes all in, or it goes more like Player 2 raises, Player 1 re-raises and Player 2 pushes all in. Or, their positions could be reversed, but in any case, it results in Player 2 pushing all in and Player 1 is stuck with a tough decision for their entire stack.

When you're the one with the set, and you suspect you're in this situation, consider the following things.

1. How much is in the pot? If you're risking way more than you should, given the size of the pot (which should be small considering everyone limped), just lay it down and wait to get the rest of your money in when you're the one with the straight and some other poor bastard has the set.

2. How bad of a player would Player 2 have to be to re-raise all in with a medium strength hand like AJ, J9, or 98, just to win this medium sized pot? Is the person you're playing against that bad? If so, then maybe consider the call, but again, its not very likely. Most likely, someone with one of those hands would just call the original bet, for fear of the straight.

So, my point is, if you flop a set, of course you want to bet it strong to protect it against any straight draws, but if you run into a brick wall when someone who has you covered pushes all in, you can be pretty sure you're beat, and if you call, you'll just end up praying for the board to pair. Just throw it away and wait for a better spot to get your money in.

cheers,
Andrew

So, I just set my record for longest straight poker session. It was at the Choctaw Casino in Oklahoma. I started about 9pm on Friday night and left around 6am Sunday morning (approximately 33 hours straight), having only taken breaks for the bathroom. Fortunately, they will bring you food and beverages at the table.

Besides just being generally fun, I just wanted to see how long I could play well. As it turns out, I left up around $500-$600 dollars, which was not bad considering some of the horrible beats I took from players up there. Alot of amateurs like to push their whole stack in on the flop with only a flush draw, and unfortunately, alot of them were getting lucky on the river. But, I recovered from all of that and was the clear big stack at the last table I was sitting at.

Of course, the effects of sleep deprivation aren't good. After I was done, I found I had very little sense of balance and my vision was slightly messed up from wearing my poker sun glasses for so long. After about 8 hours of sleep everything seems to be back to normal.

Anyway, if you ever have the chance, I'd recommend trying a super long session like that. By the end, I think the game looked a little different to me than it usually does; it seemed alot simpler. Basically, I was just trying not to get too involved out of position or against an expert player, without a very strong hand, and was taking the short stacked players entire stacks one hand at a time. After a while, alot of the short stacks who have bought back in several times are tilting and desparate and its even easier to take them out again and again.

Have fun and good luck dodging those flush draws. :o)

-Andrew