Darkened Poker

Episode 2 was mostly uneventful but #3 is worth checking out as Howard Lederer continues his tradition of betting bitch slapped, this time by Phil Ivey.  I know Howard Lederer is a force in limit poker, but I am getting the idea that he does not spend nearly as much time at the no limit tables.  I am just not sure that on TV, for these limits and against this line up is where I would be learning even if I could afford to.

In this episode Howard teaches us how important it is to have a plan for your hand before you commit way to much money to the pot.  The hand starts at time 5:30 in the video when Eli puts on the $1200 straddle, Sahamies puts on the $2400 double straddle and Ivey continues it with a $4800.  It gets to Lederer and he has pocket 88′s which is a pretty good hand against 3 blind straddles but can play pretty bad after the flop unless you flop a set.

Like an amateur he raises to 19,800 or about 2x the pot which declares to the table that although he has a decent hand he is playing scared and wants to take it down right now.  Seems like Phil Ivey picks up on the problem with Howard’s bet size and moves all in for another 100k.  He correctly deducts that Howard will not call his all in with anything less than AA or KK  and if he had either of those hands we would have only made a pot size bet to begin with.  Although in this case Ivey had 99 and really had the best hand, I believe his cards did not matter and he would have done it with any 2 cards.  Howard is now in a bad situation as he has about 1/6th his stack in the pot pre-flop and is being put to the test for the rest of it.

Howard then confirms his amateur status in NL by going into the tank for over 2 1/2 min before finally folding. His table was very understanding by not calling a clock on him, I wonder if they were thinking they did not want to do it and risk upsetting the fish.  One of the most important things in NL is having a plan for what you will do at any point if you get raised all in.

If he has thought about about how his bet would be interpreted ( looking desperate ) and that he might face a re-steal which he was not willing to call.  He most likely would have taken a more conservative line that would be easier for him to play, like just call pre-flop and play that pair for set odds on the flop.  Since everyone had 20x over the blind straddle bet behind in their stacks he would be getting more than enough odds.  Even a min raise would have likely ensured he was most likely heads up were pocket pairs are easier to play.

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Darkened Poker

I had about 900 in chips and the villain ( nice Irish lad with a beer in his hands ) had about 450.  I see AA under the gun and make it 7$, and villain right behind me makes it 22$ which 2 people call before it comes around to me.  This pot is getting big so I decide to either define the hands right now or just take it down and through in a pot size raise to 65$.  Villain thinks for about 10 sec and then calls, everyone else folds.  I had only played with Villain for about 1 hour but he seemed like a fairly tight ABC player and he was up when he moved to the table so I assumed he played fairly well.

At this point I put his range on KK, QQ, maybe AK.  Since I had 2 of the A’s and 2 people had called the his first raise of 22$ but then folded to my 65$ raise I figured it was likely that one of the other A’s was folded already so I put AK as very unlikely.  Given that it took him 10 sec to call I kind of figured he had KK, QQ, JJ and thought he may be up against higher pair and was not even sure he even wanted to see a flop.  So going to the flop I was hoping to not see a K, Q, J and just wanted a bunch of baby cards will not scare off smaller pairs and let me break them.

Flop:  K T 6

Nice I thought, if he had QQ, JJ  I will not get any money out of him with the scare card and if he had KK he just got ahead.  Well I am not going to help him bust me so I check and he checks behind me.  His action does not really tell me anything new so we are the same going to the turn.

Turn: 5

Given that he would probably check a set of K’s on the flop I decide to see if he will check it a second time around and if he bets I will see how much it is to get a read on where I am at.  He checks behind me and now I know it is not a set of KK’s or even AK as who would check those twice in a row.  I am sure he has QQ or maybe even JJ, time to bet the river and make some money if I still can.

River: K

Just before I go reaching for chips I glance at him and see he is already reaching himself.  Crap I did not really expect that, had I played my AA’s so passively that he now thought his QQ was good and was deciding to value bet?  That seemed far more likely that the other possibilities so I check and let him bet.  He bet 70$ which was just under 1/2 the pot, that was far less than I was  expecting so it was either a small bluff or weak value bet that was really looking to get called.  At this point QQ is still far more likely than any hand containing a K so I have to call.

Villain shows A K.

WTF just happened here, why did he call with AK and then hit top pair and check it two streets?

Talking to him afterward it becomes clear, he was tired and a little drunk so his thinking was a little slow.  Shortly after he called the bet he realized that he must be up against AA so even though he hit top pair he knew he was behind and wanted to check it down to the river if possible.   But when he hit trips he had to bet it.

I had not really ever thought about that before, usually when I think about what people are thinking about my hand I assume they make a decision and stick with it until they get further information.   In this case I did not even think to consider that someone may make a decision, realize it was wrong and then play the rest of the hand differently.  Especially a decision that involved someone calling off 1/6 their stack pre-flop.

Lesson learned.

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I can not even begin to count how many times this has happened to me.  I show up at a casino, walk around a bit looking for a great table and seemingly find it.  Everyone is laughing and having a good time, every raise is getting no respect and 4-5 people are calling it and seeing the flop.  People are bluffing each other and big pots are being won with second pair or less.  So I put in a table transfer and 1/2 hour later I get transferred over to it, sweet it is time to make some money.

But about 5 hands into the new table I pick up a good hand, I raise and everyone stops laughing and folds. Shit what happened?  So a few hands later I just call a raise and get over called by one other guy.  Flop comes and they silently all check around to me so I bet my middle pair and the first guy check raises me all in.  Holy hostile!

Opps, I have just interrupted these guys paying the rake to have a home game at the casino.  They are there to play with their friends and maybe a fish or two if they happen to drop in.  But they do not want to play with anyone that might take advantage of the loose game they have created and they are sure not going to give any money away to strangers.

So at this point you have three options:

1. You can cut your losses and and put in for another table transfer right away.  I have learned over time that this is often the best option as it is a long and hard road before this table might become profitable and there are most likely other better tables you can jump on.
2. You can try to appeal to their greed and appear to be the biggest fish or crazy mad man gambler that everyone wants to take money off of.  Be warned that it is short lived.  If you start gambling with them and lose a lot in the beginning they will most not likely give you a chance to win it back.  The second you win a big pot they will shut you out again.  If you start winning right of the bat, they will also cut you off really quickly as they just do not want lose outside the circle.
3. You can try to get into the circle, if you have the most charming personality ever you might make friends with the table and get them to open up.  This is the hardest way to go by far, I have seen combo’s of this and #2 work before but it is kind of rare.

What are the warning signs so that you do not waste your time at an illusion table.

• Watch for things like matching school / work clothing.
• Watch for hands on shoulders and other gestures that are more personal
• If you can hear them, listen for how far back in time their talk goes, further back, more tight the group is
• If they are really ragging on each other and still smiling then they are often really good friends

Some groups like this are still really friendly and welcome in new players like old friends, but I have found the ratio to those that do vs those that do not to be pretty bad.  It is worth the time to investigate a little farther, ask dealers or floor managers about their friendliness factor before just sitting down and wasting your time.

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Was playing recently at Lucky Chances casino and I noticed a that in general people have total disrespect for their own short stack.  You see a lot of it in cash games which is kind of surprising, people buy in for 200$ and get knocked down to 40$ ish and then move all in with T 8 suited.  Of course they get called and busted, and here is were it gets really odd, they then buy in for another 200 and start over.

Now it would still be a bad move if there were just planning on either doubling up or going home.  But if they were planning on buying in again anyways, then why not buy back in earlier and save yourself that last 40$.  It is not a re-buy tournament, there is no min amount before you can add on.  But a lot of people have to wrong mentality and consider each buy in a atomic unit that must be played to its end and then one can start fresh.

There are so many things wrong with this mentality that it hurts, but will try and list them all.

• That last 40$ that you just blew off is now another 40$ you will have to earn back at a later point, imagine all these 40$ over the years and how much they would have added up to.  That’s 1000′s more in the bankroll right now if you had just picked it up and gone home.
• You only get so many chances a night to double up, why let yourself get down to 40$ and only be able to double up to 80$ instead of 400$.
• Why if you can buy at any time would you drop that low and not be able to protect your hand.  Now suddenly you pick up a good hand and there nothing worst than seeing the flush draw get there because you were already all in on the flop and can not bet them out.
• If you have any skills at all, why would you chain one arm behind your back by playing short and limit yourself to only having one move

I am sure there are more, but that should be enough to drivel the point home.  I am by no means against playing short stack, sometimes if I do not know any of the players I will buy in short till I get a feel for the table.   Sometimes I just like to practice short stack play or have a overly aggressive table and want to minimize risk.  But do not just toss away the last of your money because you have took some beats and are down to that last of it.  Buy back in again or pick it up and go home, if you must push it all in on a sad attempt to double up.  Make sure it is against me, I will give your short stack a good home.