A word about my last entry...

I have thought a lot about my last entry. One thing has been on my mind, and I wanted to clear it up. I made the following statement:

I can honestly say that last night I made no mistakes. I played every hand the way it should be played, and as a result, I came out on top.

I followed that up by relating how I called an all-in and a re-raise that put me all in with AJ of diamonds. Some would see this as a mistake. Here's my rationale, and you can then determine if it was a mistake.

The guy who went all in for 6000 at 1000/2000, I put him on a strong hand. AQ, AK, or a pair. The drunk guy who raised to 10000 I was not putting on a strong hand. He had called me down earlier on the river with no pair. I had also heard from other players how he had been raising with crap all night, but that he just happened to get lucky.

The thought process was, I can call myself all-in and be an underdog to the initial raiser. I was pretty sure that I had the drunk guy beat. So let's assume that I lose to the initial all-in but win against the drunk. I will lose 6000 and win 4000. I've already got 1000 in the pot, since I'm in the small blind, so basically, I'm out the price of the small blind (since it would take another 1000 to call the big blind, if nobody had raised). Basically, I'm paying 1000 to call a 4000 raise. It is almost as if the drunk had just slipped me the 4000, to offset the 6000 of calling the first all-in. I figured it was worth the price to take the chance.

As it turned out, the drunk had a hand, albeit a weak one. I don't believe I would have called an all-in with pocket deuces, much less raised to 10000 with them.

The point is that I don't consider this a bad play because of the thought that went into it. I was basically looking at losing only 2000 for the chance to almost triple up. I was already well into the points payout, so I was playing to win, not survive. Think about it, and I think you'll agree that it was the proper play given the circumstances.

Winning at the Loafing Leprechaun

My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose - somehow we win out.

--Ronald Regan

Last night was a great night at the tables. I managed to win the tournament at the Loafing Leprechaun! There were more than 44 people in the tourney. [There were 46. -JS] I'm happy more about the way I played than the fact that I won.

I can honestly say that last night I made no mistakes. I played every hand the way it should be played, and as a result, I came out on top.

There's really not a pivotal hand on which the entire tournament turned, but the closest hand was at the 1000/2000 blind level. Final table, 7 left and I'm in the small blind with AJ of diamonds. UTG goes all-in for 6000, and a drunk guy at the end of the table (who called me down on a K-J-8 board with 10-3 earlier) made it 10000 to go. I had 1000 in the blind and 9000 left. I called. UTG turned over pocket 7's, and the drunk turned over pocket 2's. The flop came A-A-10, the turn and river were blanks, and I had almost tripled up. It put me in very good position for the rest of the tourney, as it made me the chip leader. I never looked back.

I'm just happy with the way I played. I didn't get tired, I didn't make bad decisions. That's most of the battle of a poker tourney right there. The whole point of playing poker (for me, at least) is that I become the best player that I can. I want to know that i can play an entire tournament and not make a fatal mistake. If I make the correct decision, it doesn't matter to me whether the other guy draws out on me and puts me out. I just want to know that I didn't beat myself. Last night I didn't beat myself, and in the process I beat everyone else.

What a Call!

Here's a hand that happened at Buffalo Wild Wings last week. I am very proud of my decision here, so I'd like to share it.

I'm in the small blind. Stacks are as follows:

ME: 2150

BB: 1800

UTG: 1350

UTG+1: 2500

C/O: 3200

Button: 450

Blinds: 50/100

I'm dealt AA in the Small blind. UTG calls, everyone folds to me. I make it 300 to go. BB calls, UTG calls.

The flop comes J 3 J. Not ideal. I bet 200 to see where I'm at and the BB instantly goes all-in. UTG thinks for a while and folds. There is 1000 in the pot, plus the extra 1300 from the BB, for a total of 2300. I have to call 1300 for a chance at the 2300 pot. If I win, I have 3600. If I lose, I have 350.

**The resolution:

I thought about it, and decided that I was up against a pocket pair, but not jacks or threes. I figured if he had either, he would have raised, but the all-in smelled of a "please go away" bet. I finally called, and he turned over ... pocket 4's. The aces held up.

Royal Hold'em

Your best chance to get a Royal Flush in a casino is in the bathroom.

-VP Pappy

UltimateBet has begun spreading a new type of Hold'em called Royal Hold'em. The basic gist is that the game is played with a maximum of six players using only the 10 through Ace of each suit. This gives a 20-card deck. This is a very fun variation, and has been somewhat profitable, even with my admittedly small sample size. I had 68 cents in my UB account left over from my last cashout. I took it to the $0.01/$0.02 Royal Hold'em table and turned it into $2. From there, I stepped up to the $0.02/$0.04 table. Went from $2 to $5. From there, it was to the $0.05/$0.10 table, where I got my balance up to $10. I stepped up to the $0.25/$0.50 table last night, and was up to $19, but I dropped $11 when I had kings full of aces, and the only hand that could beat me was pocket aces. My opponent had the rockets.

This variation of Hold'em is interesting in that winning with two pair is as rare as winning regular Hold'em with seven high. If you flop a straignt, about the best you can hope for is for the board to make the same straight you hold and split the pot with the rest of the players in the hand. Most pots are won with a full house. It is not uncommon for a pot to be taken down with four of a kind. (I've had quads twice since I started writing this...) Royal flushes are not uncommon either. I had two last night, and I've never had one in a year-and-a-half of playing poker both on-line and live.

There is some humor in watching the chat for the unsuspecting regular Hold'em player who has stumbled into a Royal Hold'em room. Comments like "What's with these flops?" and "I've had the best run of cards ever, but I just can't win!" are priceless. It's interesting, since most folks playing in these rooms haven't figured out the optimal strategy. I guess that's why I could be up 2794% yesterday.