Breaking Bad Habits

(20/40 limit Hold Em, Diamond Lil's, Renton, WA)

Smith limps in early, and I raise from the middle with AcTs. That's the bad habit I'm talking about, right there.

If the blinds were tiny, say just one small blind, then you should only come in with the biggest hands, right? And if the blinds were huge, for whatever reason, then you should be much looser about what you come in with. Right?

So when a loose player limps in early, and he's the kind who plays a lot of hands but raises with his big ones, I kind of see that as the blinds getting bigger.

Then, if I can isolate him, get the blinds in there as dead money, and hope I hit something, or he hits nothing, or maybe puts money in drawing, but never hits, and my Ace wins. Lots of ways to win, hopefully right on the flop. Seems like a reasonable plan, doesn't it?

Trouble is, doing this too often, against the wrong guys, can be a dumb play, and cost a lot of chips. Smith isn't the kind to flop nothing and meekly fold. Well, maybe sometimes, but sometimes he will play back at you with nothing. What I'm saying is that making this play against him may have been a poor decision. :-(

And those two guys in the blinds aren't the kind to give up easily, and I didn't think enough about that, either. I just saw that open-limp go in the pot, looked down at AT, got excited, and raised.

So this "isolation play" may be a good one at times, in the right situation, but doing it too often, indescriminantly, is probably a chip burner. This was one of those times that it probably was not a great idea, but I did it anyway, and, again, that's the bad habit I'm taking about. In this case I got lucky, and it turned out well.

Small Blind, Big Blind, and Smith all call, 8 bets in the pot, and the flop comes Q86, all Clubs. Checked to me, I bet, small blind checkraises, call, call, and I three bet. Wouldn't you? Everyone calls. Twenty small bets in the pot.

Turn is pretty much a blank, 4d, unless 5-7 is out there against me. With these guys, anything is possible. They all check to me. I have the Ace of Clubs, nut draw, but not much else. What should I do? What would you do?

There's 20 small bets in the middle, so a bet would get 10-to-1 pot odds that they all fold, and I don't even have to get there. Is there better than a ten percent chance they'd all muck? I don't think so. Probably closer to zero percent. :-)

And if I bet and get raised, then I have to call, and will wish I hadn't bet. Wouldn't you? Then if an Ace or Ten comes on the river I may have to make a crying call again. Screw that. So I tell the dealer: "Free Card!"

Ka-ching. King of Clubs. Check, check, then Smith agonizes a long time, kinda mumbling to himself, reviewing the action, analyzing the situation, then, finally, he bets. No Hollywood, I just raise right away. He's the kind of guy who can know he's beat, but has to pay off and see it anyway. So he pays, then I show, and stack the chips.

Afterwards Smith tells me, a couple times, that my check on the turn confused him. "I never saw you check like that!" Huh? I don't get it. Before the flop my play, perhaps foolishly, tried to run over the game a little. But once that flop came, everything I did was based on the math, not psychology, and wasn't trying to be deceptive. Seems like his thought process, trying to put me on a hand there, failed completely, but, hey, don't blame me! :-) And what the hell did he have, anyway? I dunno.

I liked telling about this hand, and maybe this story makes me look good, but only because I got lucky on the end. It's was better than three times more likely that no club would come, and then I wouldn't even be telling this.

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More Fun Things to Say

Back in the day, before Blogs, I used to post "Trip Reports" to usenet:rec.gambling.poker. In a 2002 WSOP Report, I wrote about a handful of Fun Things to Say (FTTS) in a Hold 'Em Game; things like:

-- "You're Not Gonna Check-Raise Me, Are Ya?"

-- "Sorry, I Got Excited..."

-- "All That Practice Really Paid Off"

-- "I Can't Call You..." (then raise)

-- "Six Titties!"

-- "I Didn't Know What To Put Me On"

-- "Keep Looking, Maybe You'll Find Something"

You can read those old posts here, or just that '02 TR describing those original FTTS in parts, here: Part I, Part II and Part III.


Here are some more of my favorite newer FTTS.

1. Say the pot is raised from early position preflop, and I'm behind the raiser, middle position, with something like, for example, A4 suited. Especially Spades. :-) Impulse says call, but of course I cannot. So while mucking, I might say:

"Damn, I wish I was on tilt, so I could call you with this!"

2. When betting or calling (or especially when raising) a completely rainbow turn:

"Flush Draw!"

3. I could have, maybe should have, bet the river, but didn't. I win, and now that the showdown is over, we see that I would have been called. Missed a bet. BFD. But while the dealer pushes the pot I might say:

"Is it too late to bet?" -- and then maybe --
"Just gimme twenty, and we'll call it even..."

4. These are rather cruel ones, for use only on someone you don't much like.

-- When they end a long session and declare that "I finally got even!" you can ask them:

"For Life?"

-- When he says that "I just want to win back 'my' chips..." that he lost earlier, you can politely point out how they really aren't his chips any more.

5. No bet on river, then a player ahead of you just mucks. Or maybe he bets, you call, and then he mucks rather than turn over:

"I can beat that!"

6. A scarecard hits the river, I'm last, the other guy(s) check to me, but I'm not betting either, so just shake my head and tell them...

"I wouldn't bet now with YOUR money!"

7. Ran bad, and have to rebuy. So hand over the cash, but also tell the cashier or floorman:

"That last rack I you sold me was defective. Please have 'them' credit my account."

8. You win a couple pots and are busy stacking chips, then you get another hand, there's a raise, you have garbage, and are folding.

"I'd call you if I wasn't running so bad."

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Doc, Can I Get a Prescription? Please?

I wasn't really paying attention, wasn't looking, and just heard part of the audio on this TV commercial. It was for a drug called Mirapex, to treat "Restless Leg Syndrome," or RLS. You know, like that guy in your game who nervously jacks his leg up and down 300 times a minute. No, wait, I guess that's not really what it is. Thing is, the voiceover ended with "...side effects may include increased gambling or sexual urges." No kidding, that's what they said! Now I don't really know what the hell RLS is, but, seriously, I WANT THOSE MEDS! Who wouldn't ??

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Who's The Dummy?

A weak and way too loose player open-limps in early position, could have just about anything, and I raise in middle, well, *almost* late position, with 66, trying to isolate him. But Jesse calls out of the small blind.

Flop comes something like J53, two clubs, and they both check and call my bet.

Third club on the turn, and they both check again. I hold the 6c, but, gee, I hate to chase a flush with anything much smaller than a King. :-) I do bet, tho--- not so much because I have that tiny club, but because I hope they both have no club, and might even fold a Jack or a seven, or not be there to hit some overcard on the river. Limper mucks, but Jesse is still calling.

Then the river puts a fourth club on board, and he bets out. Well, shit, he must have a bigger club than me, and I need to fold, right? Well, yeah, if I'm wearing that hat that says "weak-tight." But wait a minute. What if he's betting with the hope that I AM THE ONE with no club? You know, just like I did against him a moment ago, on the turn.

I don't try to count dollars in the pot to figure odds. Instead, I count "small bets," in $20 increments, even on the turn and river. Makes pot odds mental math way easier.

In this hand, preflop, then on the flop and turn respectively, 7+3+4 small bets went into the pot. Plus 2 more he just put in makes 16, and it would cost me 2 small bets to call this showdown. So I'm getting 16-to-2, or 8-to-1 odds.

Is there better than 8:1 odds, aka "one chance in nine" that, for whatever reason, Jesse has bet with no club all? Just one chance out of nine? Put differently, better than an 11% chance? I think about this for a couple seconds, decide HELL YES, probably two or three chances out of nine! So I call.

Jesse turns over 5s4c, and my 6c wins. Funny thing was how the other players watching all this, his buddies, reacted like they thought his was a bold river bet, and my call was weak and wimpy. I still like my call, and don't like his bet at all. If he had bet a big club for value, or no club at all as a bluff, that might make sense. But with that tiny club, well, seems to me that either check-fold, or maybe check-call, are his only plays. YMMV.

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Feedback Appreciated

Turns out I never really configured this blog, and it was set to only allow comment postings only by registered members, or something. Sorry! I just didn't know better. Now it's set wide open, anyone can comment, and I'd love to hear from you, so please do comment. After all, why write a blog unless you can see that somebody is reading?

New Years Resolutions

New Years Resolutions. Yeah, we're already half way thru January, but it's not too late, is it? I've finally made a few:

1. Play MORE Hold 'Em, specifically $20/40 at Diamond Lil's. Last year I played maybe 2 or 3 times a week, but this year I don't want to stay home more than 2 or 3 days a week. So far I've played nine of the eleven days this month. On track.

2. Play BETTER Hold 'Em. Specifically, focus on that one particular weak part of my game-- the one I've known about and struggled with for a long time-- get it fixed, and turn it from a weakness into a strength. Finally I am actually doing better with this the last couple weeks. If you ask in person what the hell I'm talking about here, I'll explain it to you. Maybe.

3. Finish the year with a better poker win record than Mrs. Rock. That has never, ever, happened before-- not even close-- but this *could* be the year.

4. Post more on this blog. Bring it back to life. Try to be entertaining.

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Misread the Board, Call with 10 High, and Win the Pot.

I don't think I'd ever seen his stranger before, but I sure hope to see him again. About my age, thinning wavy hair combed straight back, kinda looks a little like that old movie actor, Melvyn Douglas. On a bad day. Wears wire-rim glasses with thick lenses, but the prescription must not be right, because when he gets his cards he leans in with his head down right by the rim of the table, gets his face within a couple inches of the hand, and takes a good look. It's pretty funny to watch.

So anyway, I'm in seat 8 when this guy sits down in 9, and tells everyone that "I've been playing this game for a long, long time, so you guys better not try to run over me!" Then he proceeds to play more than half of his starting hands, and make bets, calls, and even a couple raises, that, well, just made no sense at all. And it doesn't seem like he's particularly trying to be deceptive; more like he has no clue what he's doing.

Then comes this hand where The Stranger and two other guys limp in, and I get a free play in the Big Blind, with Ten-Three. 4 players, the flop comes 8, Jack, Queen, two suited cards. I think a second about betting my gut-shot. What's the chance I can win right now, don't even have to get there? Fugedaboutit. The Stranger had limped in UTG, could have anything, the other two guys are likely to call, or raise, if they have even a piece of that flop. So I check, and, long story short, nobody bets the flop and nobody bets the turn, a blank.

Then a 9 on the river makes my straight, but makes that possible flush too. I check, The Stranger bets, and the other two guys fold. Small pot, but good odds this guy has nothing at all. I call. He hesitates, doesn't want to show, but finally turns over some nothing like five deuce off. Just as I'm tabling my hand to show my straight and claim the pot, I look at the board again. Holy Shit, that isn't Jack Queen out there, it's two Jacks! I don't have a straight. I don't have anything. But my Ten does have him high-carded, so I win. A couple other players who have been watching, and Vicky, the dealer, all look at me in surprise, trying to decide if I'm an idiot or a genius. I could have explained that I had misread the board, but admitting that would ruin the illusion, and take them-- rightfully-- to that "idiot" conclusion. So I don't say a word. :-)

Note to self: Look at the board more carefully. Twice. And maybe go see that optometrist who sent a postcard 2 years ago saying it's time for a checkup..

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Another Bad Play

Just got done saying "Play Better," but here's a mistake I've been thinking about for a week.

I open raise in late-middle position with Queen Ten suited, get a couple callers, and flop A94, with two of my suit. I bet, and get those same couple callers.

Turn is a Ten, and when the Big Blind check raises me, I raise him right back. I'm thinking that I can check behind him on the river, unless I make that flush. This plan starts unraveling right away: He caps it. Oops.

But then the River brings another ten, and he checks. Without enough thought, I bet, he calls, and I show my trip tens. Then he shows his pocket fours, making him fours full of tens, and takes the pot.

Then he tells me that he had to put me on Ace Ten, and didn't bet the river for fear I had filled up with a better boat than he did. Yes, of course. Thing is, I should have given more thought to "what does he think I have?" based on the action, and figured that out myself, after he four-bets the turn but then checks on that particular river card.

So my river bet was really flakey. Should have known better where I was in that hand, and saved those chips!

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Checking the Nuts on the River

Don't you hate it when you go for a check-raise, and nobody bets? I sure do. Especially on the River, when you turn it over, and everyone laughs. How humiliating! :-)

So I almost never take that chance, checking the nuts at the end, but there are exceptions, and against this guy was the one. I'll just call him The Feeler.

He came into my game a couple days ago, don't think I ever saw him before, and within a couple minutes of sitting down into seat 9, he reaches over and pinches the dealer's ass. No kidding.

She didn't much like that, told him "Don't!!" and also kind of half-seriously called out for Security. Then, a minute later, he does it again! Again she tells him "Don't do that !!" and calls out for security, sounding more serious this time, but the security guy apparently heard her the first time, because now he's standing right behind and looking right at this player. And yet he does nothing, and says nothing. Go figure.

I may be wrong, but it seemed to me like the dealer was so bothered by all this that she was almost ready to burst into tears. I just couldn't understand why the security guy was watching this behavior but doing nothing about it.

So I get my cell ready, planning to, if it happens again, call 911 and find out if doing that to a lady in this city is a criminal assault, like I *think* it is. Yes, I was ready to call the cops and make a complaint myself, even if the "victim" and the house weren't taking any action. Ya think they would have laughed at me, or would they take it seriously? I'm not sure. But although he never did stop running his mouth, The Feeler kept his hands to himself after that, so I didn't make that call, and didn't find out.

Can you tell that I don't much like this guy? Well, guess I do like him in my game, if not personally, and he was there again tonight, when I found Ace-King Hearts in the small blind. Several players, including The Feeler, limped in, and I raise. Flop comes two hearts, I bet, and get two callers. Turn comes a blank, I check, they check: free card.

Deuce of hearts on the river makes me the nuts. Normally I hate to check here, take a chance that nobody bets, but I already checked the turn, showed apparent weakness, and feel confident The Feeler will try to pick up this pot, if I let him. I check, and he does not disappoint. Didn't call my raise, just threw his cards in disgust. Felt sooooo good.

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Your Brain as a Noise Canceling Circuit

Ever used noise-canceling headphones? They have a tiny microphone on the outside that picks up the same environment noises that you DON'T want to listen to, apart from your music, then they generate and "play" an OPPOSITE of that noise, to cancel it. This can be very effective.

Well, if you're in a noisy cardroom talking to your honey or your homie on your cell, but can't hardly hear them for all the noise around you, there's a little trick that might help. All the noise is coming in both your ears, and also into your cellphone's microphone, and mixing with the voice that you're struggling to listen to.

The cellphone's mic is probably just a tiny hole at the bottom; if you COVER that with a fingertip, then your telephone ear doesn't get all the noise that the other ear gets, and your brain should step in and separate the two, and you *should* be able to hear better. Satisfaction guaranteed, or double your money back. Offer void where prohibited, or if your brain is defective.

Remember to uncover the mic when you want to talk. This may take some coordination and manual dexterity, but, hey, you can shuffle stacks of chips with both hands, right? So you should be able to handle this. :-)

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