1st Rule Of Poker

Well here is what I did. The reason I called the flop is because you have about the right odds to call. With implied odds it is profitable. Usually if the two limpers are willing to call the flop they will just call a second bet as well. Its not like no limit where you need to be worried about a huge reraise that you wont be able to call. Once the turn comes out and is a fourth heart, you know you cant be winning. You don’t have the correct odds and the implied odds are probably only one or two more bets. So I folded on the turn. In limit poker you want to fold risky plays if there is a chance you might have to call a raise behind you. Some people say call and if there is a raise fold. Well I would say that is even more wrong. If you call and they raise now you have better odds to call the next bet, and should. I think the best place to fold the hand is on the turn. The other two players end up just calling.

Another factor you want to think about is if another one of these players has one ace they you are down to three outs. With three callers there is a good chance that one of your outs is gone. Recalculating your odds with that in mind makes a call on the turn even less profitable.

Now I had been in a big slump all day and forcing my self to play well, so I was very happy I made that fold. That is until the river was an Ace. That would have been such a money card because the OG had a set of 4s. So they would have reraised me on the river with their full house. One of the limpers had a weak ace and the other had just the Queen high flush. So all my reads were close to correct, and I still think I did the right thing. I just really didn’t want the river to be an Ace or and Eight.

As for those who commented on my A10 hand. I was on another losing streak and played like a coward with a check. I Definitely should have bet, and know it. The other person had a weaker 10 that didn’t fill up.

I hate making mistakes like that. Its like dropping money one the way back to your car.

I would just like to thank the writers of Ante Up for writing a good post about me, they also mentioned me in their broadcast. I had never even been to their site before and so I went to check it out. They had a lot of info on there, in both blog post format and pod casts that are all recorded and available to download. I especially liked the company that I was included with. I am still a newer blogger and I was included in a list with some of the Greats. Sorry just gassing up my ego a little. Anyway, I am all about scratching someone else’s back when they scratch mine so everyone should check out Ante UP!

Are People This Dumb?

I just got a spam email to my account that went on about how some guy cant find his other relatives. What he wants to do is give me 30 MILLION dollars that we will then split 50/50 in the end. All I need to do is give him full cooperation to enable the claim to go through. What I want to know is, does ANYONE answer this kind of an email and actually think they are going to make 15mil on the deal? It made me laugh a little.

The problem with showing cards when you have them is that people then assume that the next time you don’t show you didn’t have it. And when you want them to think you had it the next time you feel obligated to show your hand again. If you start showing people your cards all the time they are going to figure out the way that you play long before you figure out the way they play. I really believe that there is no good time to show your cards. Some people like to show to put people on tilt. Although it does work sometimes, it will sometimes make a poor player leave the table. It also gives a lot of information about when you will bluff, and how far you are willing to bluff. I am more then happy to let everyone else do that move. The only thing I will do sometimes and only in live games is the, show one person on accident, move. When I muck the hand I will make sure that the bottom card is tilted up just enough for the person to see, but nobody else can request to see the hand because I didn’t intentionally show. The only other way you should show a hand is to throw it in the much in a way that it flips over. That way people don’t assume that you are going to flip your next hand over. Over all though I would make it a rule to never show your hand unless someone pays to see them. That is, after all, the way you make money.

Well although I rarely write about poker news, mostly because I am usually really late on everything. This little tidbit is something worth talking about regardless of how late I am. The big news is that Texas is working on a bill that will make poker regulated and legal in their state. That part is not as significant as the part where it defines it as a skill game and not a lottery event. That could open the door for a federal exemption in the current law. Well although I an no lawyer, but it does potentially sound like good news. Its still in the works and a long way away from passing, at least someone is trying to work in our direction. There are a number of articles online about this HB 3186 law, you can read a little more about it at poker news.

The games that I usually play at never have jackpots on them but I had a few search hits to my blog about Jackpots. I like to answer questions when ever I can, even when not directly asked. I have strong feelings about this topic so I would throw in my “Poker Rules”. I would also like to state that I am the type of person who wont play the lotto, but will check the numbers to keep track of how much I am up from NOT playing.

Well here is my feeling on Jack-pots. They suck….. Why people ask, that’s because all they really are is a 90% refund. Could be even less. Most places take out about a $1 from every pot. They then put around 70% into the current Jackpot and then they take 20% and put it aside for the start of the next jackpot. The house usually takes out a percentage for themselves.

These numbers are all estimates because they are all different everywhere. Another problem with JP tables is that it gets you to play too many hands. When the jackpot is high it may still be worth it to play all your pairs, even to a raise. This creates more variation in your bank roll. I am not the type of person who plays lots of the hands that make the bad beat hands, so I would not be involved in one of the large percentages of the pot. I would rather keep all the money along the way. If you think about it, if you win 10-15 hands min every day then that’s gas money to and from the casino and maybe even lunch along the way. I would much rather that.

As always in poker there is usually a “it depends” in the equation. Here it would be if the jack-pot was really large for the requirements. Some places have that Aces full has to lose, other places four of a kind. If Aces gets above 50k you may want to start thinking about playing. I really shouldn’t be giving you these numbers because I am to lazy to do the math about what the percentages are. Basically my point of view is you should let someone else build up the jackpot. Then play correctly and hope to either get the table share. Don’t play poorly to win the jp, that’s most important.

Ok I am actually playing online, which is the first time in a very long time. So I am playing in the $11 tournament with one rebuy and one add on. There were about 800 people to start. We are about 120 left and the blinds are 400/800 and an ante of I think 50. I have 15k in chips. Average is about 30-40k some where in that area. I have been playing aggressive trying to steal a few blinds because my table has tightened way up. Except for the person to my left who is willing to go in at any random time with any random cards. The person to my right only has 5k in chips and is under the gun this hand and the big blind has about 12k.

Here is the hand: UTG goes all in and I have AK. First question; do you raise call or fold, and why? Here was my thought I just called because I wanted someone with a big stack to go all in over the top of me. If I had more chips I wouldn’t want to take this risk, but I needed the extra chips. The person to my left smooth calls. It goes around to the button and he goes all in for 60k, next highest stack in the hand has 32k (to my left). The big blind calls. Do you Call or fold, why? Let me know what you guys think and ill put up what happened in my next post.

Now my site is not on blogspot so I don’t have an account there. This means that some times I will be reading someone’s blog and find it interesting. I would love to write a response or a comment to some things but I cant when you block anonymous posters. Its one thing if you want to block spam from getting on your blog but come on, let me post! Oh well, I really don’t think anyone will change their blog because of me but it sure would be nice.

As for the last hand that I posted. I think the only place I might have made a mistake is preflop. Like some of you said if I had gone all in I may have been able to chase out some of the other players and fight heads up. I ended up calling the all in and so did the crazy guy to my left. The hands were (UTG 87suited) (A8 crazy guy) ( 99 button ) the BB had KQ suited. The board ended up giving the UTG a flush with all small cards. So the button took the rest of the pot. Now if everyone had folded to my reraise preflop I would have been left with 10k, and hurting bad. I am not really unhappy with the play, just the outcome. Next time 1stRule, next time….

Today I was playing against this guy and he had one of the worst tells. He was an online player and it was one of his first times playing live. I am sure many of you who have played live know it. If not this may be a tell you want to avoid doing and look for from others. What he would do is every time he had a good hand he would explain WHY he was making a bet. Most people know this tell as “a speech and a bet”. People give all kinds of reasons why they are betting. It would be one thing if he was always talking but that wasn’t the case. He would only give these stories when he had a really good hand. I was able to save a lot of turn and river bets. I was having a rough day today with cards and I really think it was the only reason I was able to squeak out a small win.

Ok I have made a few poker moves this week. The first was that I was able to get my bank roll to a point where I could move up in limits again. I am getting closer to where I am use to playing. Not only that I have felt very good at the table and was able to have 4 out of 5 winning days. I put in about 60 hours of play in and its nice to be a winning poker player again. You hear that Google….winning poker player!

So now that I have moved up again I am able to break out some of my old moves that now can really make me some money. My favorite of the week is the raise on the turn in position with the plan to check the river if I don’t improve. Now I only do this if I think I am already winning but only by a little. These hands are usually only marginal hands, top pair ish, so if I get 3 bet I will usually just fold. Depending on the amount of respect I have for the other player. If they just call and I don’t improve then I check the river and it costs me the same as if they just bet, bet the turn and river. If I do improve I bet the river and get an extra bet. The best part about this move is that if you do it on scare cards sometimes it will get players to fold better hands. If you have their respect. This random play will have the effect of increasing your winning pots because even if you lose the hand people will then have to call your raises on the turn more often. Any way try it out and let me know what you think, it definitely works better when playing in larger games so use it very carefully in low limits because it tends to lose its effect.

Like I said I am riding the poker high right now and off to play more poker. It turns out that having my water heater catch on fire last week was the spark I needed to get in the grove. Good luck to everyone at the tables, I am off to hopefully another winning poker session.