Poker Games Journal

April 2004

April 29
I have written many times that my weakness in poker is not paying enough attention. I work hard on this, but in the past two days, I have made two errors because of distractions on the table. Yesterday, I was playing in an Omaha game and the person in front of me had a kill pot. I was talking to somebody who wasn't in the game and I announced "raise". The person who was sitting in front of the kill said, "It is my turn to act". I apologized and he continued with his action and raised the pot himself. I then said "reraise" and the person in the kill, said "It is my turn to act". I again said sorry and he folded because he thought I was going to three bet the hand. After he folded, I decided to just call because it seemed the other players were anxious to play the hand and my reraise would not isolate any opponents. The person to the left of me accused me of angle shooting. I ended up playing the pot to the river with my second low, no pair. The first person turned up A2K for nut low, no pair, AK for high. The second person turned up A2 for nut low with AJ for high and no pair. I had to muck my hand. I felt like an idiot and I vowed to pay not to let things distract me from the table again.

I managed to pay attention for almost a whole day before it happened again. I was in the big blind with KK. One player called, the second person raised, the third called all-in, but was one chip short. Another player at the table threw in one chip to complete the bet for the player. The small blind called, I raised and the other players called. The flop was TT9 and the person who was all-in showed her hand to the player who gave her the chip to complete her bet. I knew she had a ten. I told her, it was not right that he completed the bet for her because that would have been four more chips in the side pot for me. The turn was an eight and the person in the small blind led out. I thought he might have a ten or a straight, but I called. When the river did not help me, I mucked after he bet. He showed A9 and won the side pot. I would have won if I paid attention. I was so preoccupied by the man completing the bet that I did not evaluate the small blinds hand or call on the river based on my decision to call on the turn. I was so mad at myself I had to get up and take a walk. I do not get mad at players when they suck out on me or play bad, but I get furious if I make an error based on stupidity. I told them they can not complete each others bet in the future and they both agreed. I should have said something from the beginning. It is our responsibility as players to protect the integrity of the game and I did not do it in this case. I also should have made more of an issue about the woman showing the man her hand. I pointed out to her that she shouldn't do that, but I did not stress the importance of it. The walk helped me cool down and I was back to my usual game. I ended up winning a little for the day, but I am still upset with myself.

The quest for my WSOP seat continued tonight, but the results were a little better. They gave a seat away and paid fifteen places. I got knocked out in tenth place, so I made $650. I am going to use the money to play in Sunday's qualifier. Although I did not win my seat, I was okay with the result. Once again, I got all the money in with the best of it (a pair of kings) and the person called me with their pair of tens. I was in good shape until an eight hit the river giving him two pair. I was still a long way from winning, so I was satisfied with my profit and satisfied I went in with the best of it... again. This "bad beat" thing can not last forever, so I will patiently wait until I get in with the best of it at a critical time and my hand holds up.

April 27
I think this story might be getting a little old. I played for my seat again tonight and played good. I was third in chips when we got down to eighteen players and I had one of the biggest run of "crap" cards I have ever had. I knew I had to make a move before I got too short on chips, but I couldn't pick up one hand. I made it down to the final table with the shortest chips and the only couple of hands I picked up were monsters. Both times, I picked up pocket queens and both times they held up. There was only two players that had a lot of chips and the rest of us had almost the same amount. As I've said before I am playing these satellites to win the seat and not the cash prizes awarded to 3rd-6th place. I picked up K9 of clubs in late position with one limper already in the pot. I decided to play the hand (for about 10% of my chips) and hopefully I could hit a huge flop. The flop was T98 with two diamonds on the board. The first player led out with a minimum $12,000 bet and I raised him to $36,000 and he called. The turn was a king of spades. The first player bet $12,000 again and I moved all in for $61,144. He called quickly and turned up K2 of diamonds. I was a favorite with only one card to go but the river was the four of diamonds giving him the flush and sending me to the rail in ninth place again. I am probably going to try one of the satellites to get me into Sunday's event instead. Sundays event is a $650 buy-in with one seat being given away for every $11,000 in prize money. I figure if I have been doing so well at making the final table, I would have a legitimate shot at winning my seat this way. There are usually about 200 entries with about 11 seats to win.

April 26
I just got back from the World Series of Poker where I played in the $1500 Omaha High-Low tournament. If I made the money, I would play on Tuesday. Obviously, I am home already so I did not fair well. I only made it through about half of the 384 player field. I am pleased with my play and don't think I would change any hand I played, except the results of course! It amazes me still that the fate of a whole tournament can often come down to one single hand. Today I flopped the nut flush draw, I turned the nut straight and nut low draw and the river paired the board. There was only three cards in the deck that would allow my opponent to take the whole pot from me and he hit one He had a nice hand with two pair and the nut low draw, but my hand was a huge favorite to win at least 3/4 of the pot. The pot was about $3800 and could have helped me overcome some missed draws. I played in a couple of satellites yesterday and the same thing happened in one of them. I took my hand against a guy that had two outs (about 1/10th the beers he had) to scoop the pot and he hit it. I look for key opportunities to face an opponent when I know I have the best of it and I managed to do this on both. I can't asked for much more than that... except for a better river.

One of the things I found most interesting about the trip was how the tournament room looked like a huge advertisement for online cardrooms. Players seem to be getting endorsements from several sites these days and that was nice to see.

April 23
I have been playing in the $33 tournament for a seat into the WSOP and tonight I was close again. This time my hands did not take the same sort of bad beats as recently and there were a few that I got extremely lucky on. There was one hand where I took my KQ against the short stack's A9 and I caught the king on the river. I took pocket fives against two overcards and I had to get up and pace in the living room until the hand was over. I peeked at the computer and saw the chips being pushed my way. I thought tonight was going to be the night for me to win this thing even though I was one of the shortest stacks when we got down to nine players. There were more entries than usual so they gave away two seats and paid six players. I finished a disappointing ninth when I moved all-in one behind the button and the guy on the button moved all-in over the top of me. I had about $60,000 in chips and the blinds were $4000-$8000 and I felt my only option with pocket nines was to move my chips all-in. He turned over his hand and he had the dreaded pocket aces. Trying to win my seat into this damn thing is going to give me ulcers. If you could have seen me jumping and pacing throughout this tournament. I am going to be one heck of a site to see if I make it to the final table on the "big" one.

While playing the tournament, a friend of mine sent me an article that is going to be in Sunday's edition of the New York Times. The article is about Clonie Gowen and it quotes a few things I said to the reporter. Also, congratulations to local boy, Hassan Habib, for his second place in the World Poker Tour Championship.

April 19
I went to work today, but left early for a couple of reasons. I was sitting in a decent $6-12 Holdem game and got asked to move to the $6-12 Omaha game. I switched tables and did not like the new game. We were short two players and the other players are above average. I knew it was not going to be an easy table to run over. The game eventually broke and we started another $6-12 Holdem game, but I did not like this game either. One of the first people that sat down was the old man chip thief. I wrote about him on a previous journal entry, so you might remember that he stole chips from a couple of players, but not only that he is obnoxious. I have a difficult time focusing when he is at the table because he doesn't shut up and he rambles on about everything. He told the table he has been playing poker for 43 years and a half hour and he has $25.64 and 1/2 in his bank account (I could go on and on...). Anything stupid that could come from his mouth usually does. I also had a player that was requesting new set-ups every hour and another player who always asked "who raised?" All my pet peeves surrounding me on this table and I felt a headache surfacing. I managed to make a little money for the day, but decided to call it quits because my patience was wearing thin and my headache was growing.

I went home and decided to play in the satellite for the WSOP. I figured I didn't have to listen to idiots speak, so I would do fine playing online. I temporarily forgot how stupid many of the players are online until they reminded me time and time again. I made it down to 19 players when I picked up pocket queens. I knew I wanted to play this hand for all of my chips because I needed to accumulate chips to have a shot at winning my seat -- only one was up for grabs tonight. I could have sat around and waited for a couple of players to be eliminated and I would have won $650. I decided it was more important for me to win my seat than it was to place in the money...again. All week long, I have been taking my large pair against somebody elses small pair. I have been a huge favorite in all of the hands. Today was no different. The hand history is below.

PokerStars Tournament #1434661, Hold'em No Limit
Level XIII (1500/3000) - 2004/04/20
Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: delrfromhell (132229 in chips)
Seat 3: -db- (58612 in chips)
Seat 5: xecontrol (24545 in chips)
Seat 7: Siren (24880 in chips)
Seat 8: blkn (25592 in chips)
Seat 9: 1-Eyed-J (42561 in chips)
<all players post ante of $150>
Siren: posts small blind 1500
blkn: posts big blind 3000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Siren [Qs Qd]
<all players fold to me>
Siren: raises 3000 to 6000
blkn: raises 19442 to 25442 and is all-in
Siren: calls 18730 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [Th As 5s]
*** TURN *** [Th As 5s] [5h]
*** RIVER *** [Th As 5s 5h] [6d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Siren: shows [Qs Qd] (two pair, Queens and Fives)
blkn shows [5c 5d] and won (50360) with four of a kind

April 18
Tonight's story is a little better. I played in the satellite to win my seat to the WSOP and they gave one seat away, $650 to 2nd-15th place, and $390 to 16th place. I managed to make it into the money without having many hands. As soon as the 16th place finisher got eliminated, I picked up pocket jacks in early position. I tripled the blind hoping to get played with. I knew I was going to have to get into race situations in order to have a shot at the seat. One player moved over the top for all of his chips and I called all-in. He turned up AK. He flopped the King and I did not improve, so I finished in fifteenth place. I got $650 and was happy because this gave me basically a freeroll for these tournaments for the whole week.

April 15
I played another satellite to try and win my seat to the WSOP. I felt I was playing well and got myself down to about forty people when the following hand took place. The person in the big blind had been playing a lot of hands and was likely to overplay any pair. I was on the button and picked up pocket queens. I doubled the blind and the small blind called. The big blind raised half his chips. I moved all-in. He thought for a very short time and called with his pocket sixes. The flop was KT6 and I knew I was not going to catch my two outer. The turn was a king and the river a deuce. I was left with less chips than the big blind so two hands later I slid under somebody's raise with J9 suited. I did not make anything and was eliminated in 29th. In all four events I played this week, I have made it far into the tournament but with no success. There have been approximately 300 players in all of these and I have done fine but unfortunately that does not earn me my seat into the WSOP. I am going to continue to play these tournaments for the next couple of days and hopefully I will win one.

April 14
Monday at work was brutal. I knew it was going to be one of "those" days after the first hand I played. I played in the same Holdem game almost all day and ended up losing. I left in pretty good spirits, but did not like how the first and last hands of my session played out. I knew tomorrow would be another day. Since I have been propping, I have had many losses, but only a few big losses. I have been fortunate that the following day, I make almost the same amount as I lost the previous day. This week was no different. I went into work yesterday with a positive attitude and won. I almost hit a jackpot and that would be a first. I have had three table shares since I have started working, but have not hit one. There have been about three times where there is a possible jackpot on board and I just hope somebody raises me, but that time has not came yet. Yesterday I held pocket tens with two other opponents and I put one of them on pocket aces after he four bet me. The flop came JTT with two clubs. The turn was an eight of spades and the river was a queen of diamonds. We all showed our hands and one player had pocket aces and the other player held K9 of clubs. If only that queen of diamonds on the river was a club instead, I would have won $17,500. If the other guy hit his ace, I would have $8,750. After the flop, we had three outs to hit the jackpot. Bummer we didn't.

Today I had my second best day ever at work. I played in the Holdem game again all day. One key hand was when I flopped set over set. I have been taught to only play small pocket pairs in certain situations and this was a good example. This guy lost a lot of money with his set of fours. He lost more than he should have. I suppose the reason why I was told not to play of them was because I was not good enough to realize when I was beat. I would have made the same mistake as the other man about a year ago.

For the past two nights, I have played to try and win my seat to the World Series, but no luck so far. I came in about 50th place yesterday and 80th place today. I am determined to win of these seats. If I don't happen to win one, it won't be for lack of trying.

April 11
It is a rare occasion when I walk away from a tournament feeling totally defeated, but today I do. I got home from our family Easter celebration at exactly 7:00. I tried to register for the Omaha tournament, but it was closed three minutes into the tournament. I decided to play in a tournament to win my way into the World Series instead. The tournament was $33 with rebuys and had 379 players. The total prize pool was about $25,000 which meant there were two seats to be given away and a third prize of over $2,000. I made it to the final table with a small stack, but most of the other players had short stacks as well. There was one guy at the table with more than 1/3 of the chips. I made a couple of moves and doubled up, even though I was still slightly the smallest stack. I didn't have to worry about the guy having so many chips, I only had to come in second.

I was eliminated in eighth place when I raised with AK from early position. I tripled the $8000 blind and the chip leader called me from the small blind. The flop came KJ8 and I moved all-in with my top pair, ace kicker. The small blind called quickly and I knew I must be in trouble. He turned over KJ. I sat there watching the turn and the river and felt extremely defeated. I replayed the hand in my head. Should I have moved in before the flop? After some thought, I am comfortable with the way I played the hand. I took my AK against KJ. It was one of the best situations I could ask for. I got unlucky. Despite liking the way I played the hand, I am upset that I could have won my way into the WSOP. I got close and I got NOTHING.

April 9
I decided to play at a multi-table No Limit tournament tonight that ended up having 886 entries. I played for three hours and came in sixtieth place. The buy-in was $33 and my payout was $93 for a whopping profit of $60. The main reason I play these tournaments is to learn how to play No Limit, but it sucks to play for three hours and walk away with only $60. I need to improve more so I can walk away with the first place money. Tonight it was $5847. That is a great return on a $33 investment.

April 7 and 8
Read this separate article describing the Poker for Dummies filming I participated in this month.

April 6
I had another winning day at work. I left with a profit of $124 and it was my smallest win for the past six days. I started to feel upset that my win wasn't as large as the last five days, but I quickly realized I can't be disappointed when I have winning days. I have been making all my money playing Holdem which is a huge change. I used to sit in the games for the smallest amount of time possible. I would jump in the $6-12 Omaha game anytime I got a chance because I had a better chance at beating the game. I have worked really hard on my Holdem game and feel comfortable basing my decision on staying in the game by the opponents I am facing rather than leaving to play a game I am better at. Sometimes the Omaha games aren't as profitable. I think this has been the key to my success over the past two weeks.

April 5
I went to the Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas this weekend to play in the $2500 Omaha tournament and had a good time. I think I played well, but couldn't make any of my hands stand up. I left the tournament after making it through only half of the field. I did happen to make two small errors in early betting rounds, but neither had a negative impact on my stack. The first error was when I was on the button and it was folded around to me. I had AA4J and threw out my $100 chip, but forgot to announce "raise". After the flop, I led out and the big blind folded his hand. He probably would have folded his hand if I had raised, so there was no difference in the way this played out. The other hand was when I held AQ4T and the flop came AJ4. I thought I had three pair and I led out. When I looked back at my hand, I realized I did not have the Jack. One of the players was all in, so there was not a lot of action post flop. I got half of the pot with my two pair. Although neither of the mistakes cost me any of my chips, I was mad at myself for not paying enough attention.

One of the most interesting things about the trip was the attention some of the poker players received from people on the rail. I was playing in a satellite with Amir Vahedi and about five different people came up to him and introduced themselves or asked for autographs. When I was playing in the tournament, people were standing around watching all of us and I could hear some of the things they were saying. The comment I heard most was, "There is Howard Lederer... and his sister Annie is over there." One couple brought a deck of cards with them and had Layne Flack, Men "The Master" Nguyen and Scotty Nguyen sign them. You should have seen the crowd when Ben Affleck and Matt Damon walked inside of the ropes and started talking to some of the players. It was an unbelievable sight. They seemed very familiar with a lot of players and I couldn't help but think this made poker players look more important. I could see Ben Affleck everyday of the week while I am playing poker and I wouldn't think twice about it, but put Matt Damon in the mix and I am a mess. I almost had to stand up and tell him that he needed to leave because I couldn't concentrate with him standing there. I am not the type of person that normally gets star struck, but he is my favorite and I couldn't keep myself from looking.

April 2
I had an interesting week at work. A couple of nights ago, I was playing in a $6-12 Holdem game with a man about 70 years old. When he got to the table, the whole game changed because he was so obnoxious when he won. It was very difficult to ignore his banter at the table, but I was managing. That was until he started stealing people's chips. The first incident happened when he won the pot and was scooping the chips towards him. He knocked over a couple of chips from the stack of the lady sitting next to him. When she started to grab them, he told her that they were his chips and he refused to give them back. They actually had to get the floorman to call surveillance to check the tapes. The floorman returned and the old man had to give the two chips back. A little while later, another lady sitting next to him scooped her chips in after she won a pot and he took one of them. A couple of us noticed it and again the floorman was called. After they checked the tape for the second time, a security guard had to escort him out. I couldn't believe my eyes. He came to the table and made sure we saw his large bankroll and then he got himself busted for trying to steal a total of six dollars.

I played in the $6-12 Holdem game almost all week and was successful at all of my sessions. My Holdem game is definitely improving. Yesterday, I think I played close to flawless. The table was full of action and instead of getting sucked up into the action, I patiently waited for good starting hands or perfect opportunities to pick up chips. There were a couple of hands where I was in my big blind and I put a bad beat on a player because of the way they played their hand. The first one, I held J9 of hearts and flopped the flush with an ace of hearts on the board. When my opponent turned his set of aces over, I happily scooped the pot with my flush. I think the guy learned his lesson about limping with his aces. The next time he had them, he raised before the flop and won (not against me). Another time, I held Q3 (queen of hearts) with four people in the pot. The flop was 873 with two hearts and I figured that was a flop only a blind could like. I led out and the player behind me raised. The other two players folded their hand and I called one more bet to see if my hand improved on the turn. If I didn't, I would fold. The turn came a four of hearts. I checked, he bet and I called. The river was another heart. I won the pot with my flush and he showed me his pocket nines. I guess I was supposed to feel bad for him, but I didn't. He allowed me to win the pot and he was upset that I did. I know he didn't understand why I called his raise, but that is ok.

One thing I noticed is how players will tell me they are bad poker players without even playing a hand. When a player asks "Who raised?" it used to drive me crazy. I always said, "It is the first person with six chips in front of them." I finally realized this is their way of letting me know how stupid they are. They are letting me know they don't pay attention. They also show me they don't have the ability to stop themselves from asking a dumb question. It reminds me of the quote, "It's better to keep your mouth shut and give the impression that you're stupid than to open it and remove all doubt". Some of the other things that let me know the player doesn't know how to play is when they ask for a deck change. They are not asking because of a marked card, but they think the new deck will give them better cards. HELLO!! It still has the same 52 cards in it. This is another thing that used to annoy me until I realized I want these type of players on my game. If the new deck comes and they still lose, they are likely to go on tilt.

I am excited to be going to the Bellagio this weekend to play in the Omaha tournament. I am also excited to talk to some players I haven't seen in awhile.