right or wrong, I stacked the chips!

The game was a loose and aggressive $10/20 hold 'em game with a 1/2 kill.
It was a kill pot, and I was in the big blind.
Everyone folded to the 8 seat, who raised, making it $30.
The next player had won the last hand, and so had the $15 kill in front of him.
He called.
The button and small blind folded, and looking down at Ace, Ten suited in clubs, it felt like an easy call.
I've played with both opponents before, and didn't put the raiser on much. The caller is a bit tricky, but would defend his post with any two cards.

The flop came down J, T, rag, with one club.

Thinking that this was a good flop for my hand (middle pair, an overcard, backdoor flush and straight draws), I bet out. The pre-flop raiser raised me, and the kill poster made it 3 bets.

I had no idea where I was in this hand! But, I had no respect for either player. My hand might be good; either of them might raise, hoping to get me off the best hand. And, if I was behind, a Ten, Ace or Club or face card could hit the turn, giving me more outs (though, the Ace might make one of them a straight with K,Q).

I called, and the raiser called, too.

The turn was a low club. I checked, and it checked around! I really had no clue where I was in this hand, though now I had picked up the nut flush draw. When both opponents checked, I kicked myself a little for not betting the turn, since I was confident one of them would after the flop action.

The river was a beautiful club. I bet, and was raised. The third player folded, and I re-raised. He paid me off and showed the king of clubs.

Should I have folded pre-flop? There was $70 in the pot, and I had to call $20. No one could raise behind me, which made it easier to call. I'm not a fan of A,T, since it's too easy to be dominated, but when it's suited, I like to see the flop. For me, this was a pretty easy call, especially considering my opponents.

Should I have bet on the flop? I bet, thinking that if the raiser had a small pair or A,K, I might win the pot right there. I knew that there was a chance that second pair, top kicker might be good, and I had an overcard (which might spell trouble if I hit it), and two back-door draws. I like the bet. Getting raised and re-raised was a little unexpected.

Should I have checked the turn or bet out? I think I should have bet. Considering the pot size, I was getting great odds on my draw alone, and giving a free card to A,K might have killed my hand. So I missed a bet here.

Should I have bet the flop or checked? I think betting is the right play. My opponents were likely to pay me off with a lot of hands, and I couldn't count on being able to check-raise (since so many players would bet the turn with a flush draw, and everyone had checked the turn, a competing flush was unlikely, and the turn made a possible -- though unlikely -- straight on board, too).

Pot size:
$95 pre-flop (3 players each for 2 smal bets, + $ 5 small blind)
$135 on the flop (3 players each for 3 small bets)
$0 on turn
$180 on the river (2 players each for 3 big bets)
Total: $410

Not bad!

Should I stay or should I go?

When I play poker, it's easy to lose track of time. Unless I am getting beat up pretty bad, I usually want to keep playing (when I'm losing a lot, I want to stay then, too, but that's called 'tilt').

So, when should you leave the game? The short answer is, if you can beat the game, the longer you play the more money you can make.

But, One-Eyed Jack has a simple rule that whenever the following set of circumstances happen all at once, he picks up his checks and heads for the cage.
1) It’s 7:30, and you told your wife you’d be home by 8:00.
2) The dealer is collecting ‘time’
3) You have to post the Big Blind
4) The three biggest fish in the game are all leaving, and the next three names on the board are tough players
5) You’re ahead or behind $20.

When all 5 of these things are going on at the same time, it’s see ya later, baby! Why?
1) If you have someplace you need to be, be there. Poker’s hard enough to play when you’re focused. You’re giving up a lot of focus looking at your watch wondering if your wife is going to kick your butt.
2) In the heat of the game, it’s tough to sit back and check out the field you’re up against. You get a little break when they collect the time. That’s when I like to decide if I am going to play for another ½ hour or hit the door. When I pay my time, unless something odd happens, I like to play the full ½. If the time collection in your game is $5 every ½ hour, and you see on average 25 hands per ½ hour, you pay $0.20 per hand. I like to get my full value.
3) Nobody likes to post the blinds. But, in a full game, once you’ve posted your blinds you get to see the next 8 hands for ‘free.’ I like to play all those free hands. Unless I plan to stay long enough to play those free hands, I don’t want to pay the blinds. If you’re playing $10 – 20, you’ll pay $15 in blinds per ‘lap’ (ten hands). That averages out to $1.50 per hand if you play them all. I like to get my full value.
4) Be aware of how a change in the lineup of players might take you from favorite to underdog. When the 3 worst players are replaced by 3 strong players, you might now be taking the worst of it.
5) Walking ahead or behind $20 can feel like kissing your sister, and the temptation might be to play another lap, catch one hand, and either walk a winner or a bigger winner. But, more likely, you’ll push a mediocre holding with this mindset, and either turn a small win into a loss, or a small loss into a big loss. Poker is a game of small edges, and those $20 wins add up. If you want to go for the big short-term score, buy a scratch ticket.

So if I have to pay my time AND post the big blind AND I have someplace I need to be AND the fish are all leaving the game AND strong players are being seated AND my stack is treading water (neither up nor down much), I’m putting on my coat.

Please note that this entry was originally posted at my other site, www.pokerflashcards.com, which is the home site for Poker Flash Cards for Texas Hold 'Em.

book recommendation: REAL POKER 2 by Cooke

If you played poker and don't read poker books, you're probably costing yourself a lot of money.

There are tons of great books out there -- and there are some bad ones, too. There are also some terrific books that have bad advice within.

Theory of Poker by Sklansky is a must-read. Super/System by Brunson is a must-read. I'm reading Super/System 2 right now, so will let you know thoughts on that, soon.

But a great book on Texas Hold 'Em that I don't think gets enough press is REAL POKER 2: The Play of the Hands by Roy Cooke.

He writes about specific hands in which he was involved in bricks-and-mortar limit poker games. He discusses position, hand categories, table image and table make-up, and the thinking that goes into the decisions on every street. Because each chapter is the story of one hand, you get the whole story from start to finish, but each chapter is only about 3 pages, perfect to digesting in small bites.

It's not a dry strategy book, and as you're going through the thought process with the author, you're learning important concepts, all of which are devoted to making the right money choices. A lot of the book is about building big pots, though he also talks about getting the right price on your hands.

If you've got some poker books on your self, but don't have REAL POKER 2, you should definitely check it out.

My best play last night

Played $10/20 hold 'em with a 1/2 kill last night.

If you've never played with a kill or a 1/2 kill, here's what happens: if the pot reaches $150 or more, the next hand is played $15/30, and the winner puts in a non-optional third blind in the amount of $15, so there is a small blind (5), a big blind (10) and the kill (15).
Because of the extra blind money, and the fact that the game turns to 15/30, the action can be really, really good.
If it was a "full kill" then the next hand would be $20/40.

Every time the pot reaches $150 or more, the next hand is a 'kill' pot.

I played for about 5 hours and booked a pretty great win ($900!). But my best play wasn't how I played aces or trapping someone.

In a kill hand, I was under-the-gun with A,To (ace, ten offsuit). I limped, the 'kill blind' checked, and it was raised and then re-raised. When the action got back to me, I pitched my hand in the muck.

I rarely will fold pre-flop if I have willingly committed chips to the pot. But, based on my knowledge of the aggressors, I was convinced I was beat.

As the hand played out, I was thrilled that I saved the $30. One of the raisers had a pocket pair, the other had an ace with a better kicker than mine. I would have been drawing very thin to win.

If only one player had raised, I would have called the $15, but calling 2 bets pre-flop with A,To is a losing play. Getting away from that hand was the best move I made all night.

In ZEN AND THE ART OF POKER, Larry Phillips calls folding the most powerful play you can make, and the more poker I play, the more I agree. I don't play 'super-tight' and when I am in a hand, I am very aggressive, but the old saws are very true:
1) the first mistake is the most costly
2) bets saved are worth as much as bets earned

I used to see these cliches and just gloss over them, but as I was racking up my chips last night, i really came home. I wasn't "hit with the deck" and I never went "on a rush." I just played solid, aggressive poker, was selective with my starting hands, and took down the money.

playing 5,2 offsuit

This happened last year, but I was thinking about it this morning. I made a dumb play, got lucky, then made some good plays and won the pot.

I was in late position, playing $4/8 hold 'em. I was stuck about $100, and on tilt. I wasn't hitting any flops, and when I did have a good hand, I was getting beat by crap hands. It happens, but I wasn't dealing with it well. Rather than stick to my game plan, I reverted and said, They beat me with those hands; I'll play those hands.

So I was on the button with 5,2 offsuit. A bad hand. the action was folded around to me and I limped in. The small blind raised, the big blind folded.

Now, I am kicking myself for limping in, but, of course, I called.

First miskake is calling with 5,2. Second mistake is calling AGAIN with 5,2.

But I had been playing with the raiser for about 2 hours. I knew that for him to raise from the big blind, he had AA, KK or AK. Maybe QQ. But his most likely hand was AK. And he was an unimaginative player. I had a very good read on his play.

Flop came Q, 7, 5. He bet, I raised. He called. If he had re-raised, I would have folded, putting him on an overpair or a set. From playing with him, I knew that he only raised when he had top pair or better.

Turn was 4, he checked, I bet, he called. If he had check-raised the turn, I would have had to fold. But I hadn't seen this guy check-raise, and he just wasn't the kind of player who check-raises (he wanted to be liked; check-raisers aren't liked).

The river was a 9, he checked, and I turned over my hand. He pitched AK face-up into the muck.

I don't know if he would have called with Ace high if I had bet, but I doubted that he would.

There was a lot of focus that I had called pre-flop with 5,2 (though, after he raised, I was getting better odds to play it, even though I still should have 1) never played it; 2) folded for the raise).

I won $28.

There are a few lessons here.
1) Even good, tight, disciplined players sometimes play crap.
2) Mixing up your game is necessary. I got great action the rest of the night because they all thought I played junk.
3) Reading your opponents is the key to the game. If he had read me as weak and re-raised or check-raised, he would have won. If I had had no idea how he played, I would have had to fold to his flop bet.
4) Raising on the turn can yield information. My raise on the flop helped me to define his hand.
5) Chasing with overcards can get expensive. He was getting a pretty good price to draw to beat my hand, even if I had held a queen. But, while AK is a powerful starting hand, it almost always needs to hit the flop to win.

But the biggest lesson should be: Don't be results oriented. If you play 5,2 -- suited or unsuited -- expect to lose your money. It's a bad hand. While I got lucky that time, I haven't played it since. And won't play it again!

Birth of Poker Flash Cards for Texas Hold 'Em

A few years ago, most of my poker playing was done in Atlantic City. Now, a few card rooms have opened in NYC and more online poker sites are available, but back then, if I was going to play poker, I pretty much had to hop on the bus for the 3 hour ride to the Taj Mahal in AC.

I was playing a lot of 7 Card Stud, and winning pretty consistently, but didn't feel like I had the odds down pat. If I had four cards to a flush on 4th st, I didn't immediately know if the odds against making my hand were 1.25 to 1 against or better or worse. And I didn't fully understand what "1.25 to 1 against" meant.

For the record, playing 7 Card Stud, if you have four cards of the same suit on 4th street, the odds against making a flush are 1.25 to 1 against. That means that you will make the flush a little less than 50% of the time.

So, in order to memorize the odds for the various situations that come up all the time, I created some flash cards, just like the ones I created in high school to learn my Spanish vocabulary. On the way to AC, I'd run through all my cards, and then when I sat down to play poker, the odds were fresh in my head and I could focus on the other players rather than trying to recall the odds.

The first time I used my home-made cards, I booked my biggest win in Atlantic City.

A while later, I showed my flash cards to a buddy of mine, and he thought they were a great idea. But he wanted to play Texas Hold 'Em. So we created a set of Poker Flash Cards for Texas Hold 'Em. I analyzed a lot of situations that come up all the time in Hold 'Em -- like flopping a pair with an overcard, or a gutshot straight draw with a pair, and more -- and did the math. What are the odds against improving your hand when you hold -----? Then we designed the cards so the lessons would be on a working deck of playing cards. 52 lessons, 52 cards. We created lessons that helped teach players about pot odds, implied odds, hand values, and more. We created a poker learning tool unlike anything else on the market, one that can immediately help any player get a better understanding of the odds that come up all the time when playing poker.

We formed a company, created a website (www.pokerflashcards.com), filed Patent and Trademark paperwork with the government, and printed the cards. You can buy them on our site using PayPal, from Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/097650250X/qid=1106345001/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-7145324-6631303?v=glance&s=books), or buy them in a bunch of stores. We're having a lot of fun with the company, and are even going to attend a trade show in Vegas in April (more on that down the road).

We're selling the cards for $6.95 per deck. If you're a poker player who plays $3 - $6 limit Texas Hold 'Em, that's about one big bet.

I used the cards to memorize the odds, and I use them on a regular basis to keep the odds fresh in my mind. If I'm playing poker and take a bad beat, sometimes I'll go for a walk and run through the Flash Cards just to get myself back in the right mindset (rather than go on 'tilt').

This blog isn't about Poker Flash Cards for Texas Hold 'Em, though I do think anyone who checks out the cards will be a better poker player.

A New Blog Devoted to Poker!

I am creating this blog because I am a poker addict. I'll be writing about my experiences, my wins and losses, what I've learned, and other things that pertain to poker. I've been playing poker pretty seriously for more than five years, and am a consistent winner. I didn't start winning immediately -- I paid my dues, like everyone else. Lessons at the poker table ain't free!

Like a lot of people, I have dreams about winning the World Series of Poker. I don't have a gold bracelet -- yet! But, I'm on my way.