Big pair vs. big pair

Everyone likes to look down in their hands and see a big pair, and it feels great, too.

Poker, people! Poker! I mean in a poker sense. Let's say AA, KK, and QQ qualify.

However, it happens every so often that someone else in the hand also has a big pair. When two titans go at each other, someone will frequently bust out, or lose a lot of their money. A bunch goes in pre-flop, and if the flop contains rags, a bunch goes in later also. During the last 3.5 weeks, I have personally been involved in two AA vs KK plays. I've also seen an AA vs. KK vs. another KK hand at the MGM. Therefore, it is good to be aware of the possibility that you might be running up against someone else's monster, and bet/call appropriately.

Last night was a statistical anomaly as twice, AA ran into AA, and once, KK ran into KK. I was involved in the first of the two AA battles and said to one of my opponents, even before we flipped our cards over, "You know, we have the same hand." Luckily, a soul with a gambling nature had followed along with our pre-flop re-raises to all-in with QJ off, so we split his money when the dust had settled.

I didn't do so well last night - lost my $300 buy-in. I played OK (certainly not great), but got involved in a couple of large draws that did not pan out.

Nobody got yesterday's Black Sabbath reference, from "The Illusion of Power". Today's $1 prize will go to the person who comes up with the best poker-related caption for the above picture.

HAND OF THE DAY:
------------------------

Going with the theme of big pair vs. big pair, I'm going to detail a hand I sat in on at the Mirage, but was not a direct participant in, betting-wise. It involved AA vs. KK, and the AA prevailed for all of the KK's chips. It was the ensuing discussion that was interesting, if you care about poker. And I know you care about poker; we all do. So there are some interesting numbers that you all probably already know, but maybe could use a review.

The discussion started after the hand, when the loser openly wondered what the chances are of his KK running into an AA. He was wondering, I believe, in a frustrated and mostly rhetorical sense, but that did not stop a self-appointed Poker Genius from offering his two cents. This guy had annoyed me earlier by taking a large pot from me soon after I sat down at the table, and acting all smug about it, so I'll be sarcastically praising him from here on out. He said "Well, you know, if someone has pocket aces, then 1 out of 24 hands someone will have pocket kings." This led to a lively discussion during which everyone questioned his statement, but didn't refute it outright.

While they were talking, I was thinking about it. It did sound a little preposterous. But he said it with such authority that I guessed that he must have come across this information while doing some hardcore poker research, such as watching ESPN, or reading the chat in a freeroll online tourney. Suddenly it made sense. I knew the odds of getting dealt AA were in the low 200s (it's actually 221 to 1). The problem was, the way the gentleman made his statement made it seem like someone having AA was a necessary pre-condition to the 1 in 24 chance of someone having KK. What he was really saying was, in 1 out of 24 hands, someone will have pocket kings. And since the actual odds of hitting pocket kings is 221 to 1, the definition of a single "hand" in the "1 in 24 hands" had to include all the remaining 9 participants at a 10-handed table (the first participant is the one that has AA). 9 people times 24 is 216 hands opposing the AA, and since the odds of hitting KK are 1 in 221, then it all adds up. So I said to the group "You have to take into account all of the other 9 people in the hand. Each hand has 9 other people, so multiply that by 24 and it makes sense."

Blank stares and silence, all around.

This just goes to show that knowledge without understanding is worthless. Furthermore, knowledge with understanding is just as worthless. We're all going to lose our shirts when we get our KK against the AA.

Actually, that's not the point I was going to make. In this case, knowledge without understanding is not worthless at all; just knowing that it's possible that your KK could be beaten every so often by an AA makes it something to think about. Throw QQ into the mix and you have all sorts of situations where some amount of caution is merited. Consider your opponents, their positions, and their betting before committing too much money, and you might save yourself quite a bit some day. I suggest carrying a small notepad and keeping a tally of your KK hands. After 23 of them have gone by, be very, very careful on the 24th, because that's probably the one. Ha!

Play wisely, my son.

P.S. Some self-appointed Poker Genius will probably say that someone having AA is INDEED a necessary precursor to the 1 in 24 odds, because without that you'd have all 10 people participating in the hand, and the odds would then be 1 in 22 hands that someone would have KK. The necessary precursors, more prescisely, are that one person's cards at the table are not counted, and the table is a full, 10-seat table.

Why don't you come closer, promise a story I will tell

Since nobody offered me any words of encouragement or support yesterday in my time of need, I had to look for it on my own. Ha! Just kidding.

Yet I did find inspiration in the form of Commander William T. Riker, of the Starship Enterprise (The New Generation). Without elaborating, let's just say it's a really good thing I don't have cable TV at home. In yesterday's episode, Riker, Data (an android) and Worf (a Klingon) get trapped inside a...you guessed it...casino. This casino was apparently constructed by some alien species in order to house a human being that they found. The aliens had no guidelines other than a dimestore novel called "Hotel Royale", which they found on the human's ship. So, everything in the casino was just as it was in the book. I had never seen this episode, but after about 5 minutes, my feeling was that at some point glamour boy Riker would be involved in gambling for all the marbles. So I got out the pen and paper to take some notes.

Worf, who almost always gets relegated to the auxiliary roles, did manage to get the best line in. When Riker, Data, and Worf come across the decomposed body of the original human, Riker says "Looks like he died in his sleep." To this, Worf replies with what can only be construed as the sincerest sympathy, "What a terrible way to die!" Classic Klingon warrior mindset.

Anyway, Riker and Co. eventually figure out that to escape the casino, they must live out the novel as the foreign investors that purchase the hotel at the end of the story. So they hit the craps table, break the bank, buy the hotel, and are able to leave. So I realized at that point that craps is the game I should be playing, and I gave it a try yesterday and won $3400!

OK, not really. But what I did do is start my own novel. It was a very simple beginning: "Good news! Last night I won $300." That was all I wrote. I figured that I would then simply go and live out the novel. If there ever was a foolproof plan, this was it.

I decided to check out the Palms casino based on a few recommendations. I ended up really liking it. There is something about that casino that is very relaxed and peaceful. The best way I can describe it is that if felt "normal", as opposed to virtually all the Strip casinos, which are overstated and rather in-your-face. I ended up making $520 on the night at their $2-$5 game. In the Star Trek episode, Riker also wins extra money and distributes it to the other patrons after buying the hotel. However, even though my story was written to win only $300, it is not yet finished, so I kept the extra $220 until I know more about how it ends.

Chuy again got the Korn reference. Today's is kind of tough.

HAND OF THE DAY:
------------------------

I've noticed in the past that often, after making a large raise with a really good hand that is not the nuts, I will call an over-the-top re-raise quickly, and without thinking. This is a habit that I would like to break. Most of the time my hand is strong enough that I would call anyway, but a prudent player would take it slow and consider the situation before committing a significant amount of chips to the pot.

So yesterday, I had both red jacks on the button. A few limpy-limp callers were in front of me, so I raised to $30. At this stage of the night, I'd been playing tight and also hitting a lot of big pocket pairs, so my bets carried a lot of weight at the table. So imagine my surprise when a woman re-raised me all-in for another $52!

I got slightly confused at that point, and tried to figure out what was going on. I'd forgotten that I was on the button, and started looking around the table for it. I was trying to see what postition this woman was in. If she had been first or second to act, it would have increased the likelihood that she had been slow-playing AA or KK. Eventually I figured out that she was really in middle position, and the lack of an initial raise most likely meant high cards or a small pocket pair, so I called. Turns out she had 66 and got no help, so I took the pot.

Now of course, even if she did have AA or KK, I'm roughly a 4-1 underdog, and I'd likely call a $52 raise anyway. But the point is that it's a good idea to get in the habit of taking your time before any decision of this type. What if she had $75 more and was UTG? In the past, I would have called without thinking, so this represents a step in the right direction for me.

Play well!

Keep holding on, when my brain's ticking like a bomb

There's got to be a better way to handle this, but I doubt I'm capable of it at this point. I'm just really, really angry. It's that simple.

Last night I went to the brand new Venetian poker room, which opened last Sunday. It's a large room, decorated differently than, but to about the same level as, the Bellagio/Wynn poker rooms. The tables are well-spaced so that you aren't bumping into the guy behind you, or being hit by the cocktail trays as the waitresses squeeze by with the drinks, as happens at both Bellagio and the Hustler back in L.A. What I really like is the chairs, which are the most comfortable I've sat in, in a poker room. Oddly, they were piping music into the room, and even more oddly, it was stuff like Madonna and Air Supply - not what you'd expect the typical poker player would want to hear, if they wanted to hear anything at all.

The food that's available is really expensive. Apparently the printed menu prices are just a guideline, as I somehow ended up being charged $22 for a $16 burger. The funny thing is that when you first get your player's card, you get a one-time $15 comp, so when the guy came with my burger I gave him a $5 chip - $1 for the extra cost over the comp, and the rest for tax and tip. Then he said, "Thank you sir. I'll be back with the rest of the amount you owe" and I'm thinking "What?" Then he comes back and says I owe another $6.95. Fine, take it. I was too aggravated to argue about it, if that makes any sense. I guess one of the reasons this meal is so expensive is that it comes with your own personal, miniature, single-use bottles of ketchup and mustard - about 2.5 inches tall, made of glass, factory-sealed with plastic and everything. This is such a ridiculously ostentatious waste it makes you wonder how people can come up with it.

When I sat down around 2000 last night, the table was really ripe for the picking. One guy on my right sat down a few minutes after me, and proceeded to lose two $200 buyins in less than one round of the table. Within the next hour, he lost two more and dutifully bought in a 5th time. Likewise, there were several players who were crazily aggressive any time they hit top pair, regardless of their kicker OR the board. It was clear that at least several people did not know what they were doing. Yet again, it was a slow night for me as far as getting cards.

Very early on in the evening, there was a family pot in which I had A2 in the big blind. Nobody raised, so I was in. The flop came AA7, two diamonds. With so many people in the pot and no kick, I checked, and everyone else did the same. Turn is a K, and now I am almost certain to have the best hand, AND someone is almost certain to have a K, so I bet $20. A girl, that I believe is a dealer in another casino, raised me to $70. I did not know what to think of this raise - my gut feeling was that she had a K with a really good kicker. It was also possible that she was slowplaying her own A, however, so I simply called. River - 4 of diamonds. I check, she bets $50, and I call. She turns over K9 of diamonds for a flush, and I lose a $250 pot on another rivered flush, with yet another nonsensical bet from my opponent on the turn.

Immediately, I started to feel the anger. In Los Angeles, of course, I have lost my entire buyin many times, to plays that are questionable at best. On the drive home, I will feel some small amount of frustration, but my attitude is about 98% "Oh well, it happens, and it's those same situations that allow me to win most of the time". I get mad at myself if I don't play well, but I do not get mad at my opponents for playing poorly and winning, and I do not get mad for being beaten by poor play either. I want my opponents to play poorly. I want my opponents to enter pots with holdings that are inferior to mine. That's mainly how I win.

On an intellectual level, I know this is all still true. But I have lost so many huge pots on this trip to my opponents' inferior holdings and questionable play that now, I'm just mad. It's accumulating. Lately I've been mad when I try to go to sleep at night, and calmer but frustrated in the morning. This morning I woke up and I was still mad about last night, and I'm mad now. Don't get me wrong - I know that I also have played poorly at times. For instance, I've been bitten twice on flat-calls with AA that I should not have done. But I feel like overall on this trip, I have played much better, and made less mistakes, on this trip than I have in the past. I feel like I have made significant improvements in my game. And with each passing day, as I lose more and more money, I get angrier. It's not directed at anyone. It's just there.

After losing to the flush, I was down to about$150 of my original $300 buyin. But as I mentioned above, the table was so good that I decided to immediately re-buy another $200, so that I would have chips when the right situation came along. Normally I will try to claw my short stack back up to a respectable level using what I have, but as I have seen so many times now, good tables usually stay that way a very short time.

The remainder of the night, until about 0045, my stack see-sawed as I was not really getting much to play with. Finally, with $275 or so, I got AK in early position and raised to $20. The button called, and everyone else folded. Flop is great for me: KT4 rainbow. I have been checking my hands and folding all night long when I didn't hit the flop, so I knew if I checked the my opponent would bet, which he did - $20. I raised him to $40, and he called. I doubted he even had a K at that point. The turn was another rag - 7. I didn't want to mess around any more with this $120+ pot, so I pushed all in for my last $200 or so, and got called. I'm sure you all see where this is going - he had KT for two pair, not to mention a diamond draw that he did not need. The river did not help me, and that was that. $5oo on the night, gone, the final play again to an opponent whose hand I had dominated.

Again, I'm not whining, or at least I'm not trying to. I'm just writing about what happened. During the first part of my trip, I was frustrated, kinda depressed, and probably a little embarrassed at having to write about the frequency and magnitude of my losses. And very nicely, a lot of people wrote in with words of encouragment and support, and it was great to hear that people out there believed in me and told me to keep on trying and it would come around. Well, I appreciated that all, very much. It helped. Still, I don't want or need anyone's sympathy now, so I respectfully ask that you don't give it to me. And writing about all this crap is not therapeutic either. What I want is to freakin' win when I'm supposed to win, and that's it.

I've blown through about half of my $5000 bankroll now, 3.5 weeks into my 5-week trip. I'm debating whether to try one more shot at a $2-$5 game and then, if I lose, play $1-$2 the rest of the trip and go with a single buyin.

HAND OF THE DAY:
------------------------

I've already outlined two hands above, but what the hell. Here's a third. The unusual twist to this hand is that it involves an opponent laying down a hand that is vastly superior to mine. The aspect that's not unusual at all is that he made a bizarre call and suckout to get to the point where he had me beaten.

The opponent in this case was a very aggressive and amazingly loose player. He came to the table and within a very short time had amassed a huge pile of chips. To give you an idea of how loose he was, he got involved in a pot with K4, and with a single pair (K) put in about $500 into a pot. He then miraculously hit four clubs to complete a flush with his 4, and bet another $100 into the pot. Out of desperation, his opponent called with no club, and he took down a $1200 pot with that hand.

So this is the guy I'm up against after I raise AQ off, in the big blind, to $20. Two callers. Flop is AQJ rainbow. I like it, and as this guy has shown he will draw out anything, I bet $75. He looks at me a while, and says "You got AK, huh?", and then calls. I'm secretly hoping he has AJ and I can double up on this hand. The turn I do not like - T. Now any K has the nut straight. But since my opponent had already put me on AK, I decided to bet it like I had it, and pushed all in for another $170. I mean, if the guy called a $75 bet to hit his T and get the straight, then he has made a bad call for the pot odds, and I'm not laying down my top two pair anyway.

So again he says, as if it is a fact, "You do have AK. I'm going to lay this down" and flips over 98 for the idiot end of the straight. I was amazed. First of all, this guy called $75, knowing he had no chance of making the winning hand unless a dream T came, and then when it came, he laid it down. This is after betting like crazy with his top pair/4 kicker.

That this guy laid down that hand is a reflection of one thing - how tight I have been playing. There is literally only one hand I could conceivably have had that had him beat, as K9 was not something I would raise with, and he knew that. I was glad he had voiced his opinion on the flop, as it gave me a little more confidence that he would lay down a strong hand, although I did not expect him to be as strong as he was.

Play well, everyone, dammit.

It's like you're always stuck in second gear

I got to see how the other half lives yesterday; jet-setters Scott and Aimee Malmquist were in town and living it up (way up) on the 59th floor of the Wynn hotel, and they took me up to their room to check out the view. Spectacular. You're basically looking down on the roofs of all the casinos on the Strip. We hung out for a while in a rather fancy lounge/restaurant and chatted. It was very enjoyable. At least, it was until the man in the nice suit came up to me and said "Excuse me sir, but you clearly don't belong here, and here's a nice $20 bill as a way of saying 'Thank you for leaving'". I thought about re-raising to $80, but he was pretty big.

I did mean to get over to the Venetian, but the black hole that is the Wynn poker room sucked me in and eventually crushed me into atomic oblivion. I'm now considering a lawsuit for false advertising, as if there were ever a misleading and dishonest phrase, it would be "Wynn poker room". But first things first.

As a poker player, it helps to determine what is going on in people's minds - what their motivations are for the things they do. As I was driving to the Wynn yesterday, I got behind a pickup whose owner had an odd taste in decor - across the entire back window, in large painted letters, were the words "GOTCHA BITCH!" I have thought about this message, maybe more than it warrants, and I still can not come up with a truly satisfying answer as to why someone would put that on their vehicle. My first thought was that it was referring to a divorce proceeding in which this man got the better of his wife - but the dented and rusted condition of this rather old pickup ruled out that possibility. Maybe it's a taunt to anyone that gets overtaken, but again, the vehicle itself just wasn't capable of doing that to any other vehicle of significance on a regular basis. There has to be more significance than that. So this phrase has become a sort of Holy Grail to me. I feel that if I am one day able to comprehend the complex and subtle nature of this missive, I will have achieved a level of insight into human nature that will allow me to destroy my opponents at the tables. My plan until then is to loudly use the phrase as a victory cry whenever I take down a pot.

I also had to question the motivation of a simply gi-normous poker player at the Wynn as to the way-too-short shirt/pant combo that was woefully inadequate at covering the, ahem, middle of his body. Gads! It was reminiscent of Jeff's "Hugh McCracken" plumber Halloween costume. I had to resist the temptation to yodel and see if there was an echo. I ask you, the reader: is it actually possible to have half of your butt flapping in the breeze and not be aware of it? I don't know. Personally, I think I'm 100% conscious of it, when it's happening to me.

Finally, I question the motivation of the gentleman who called my 5x big blind raise with K6 and hit a 66x flop to hurt me pretty bad with my JJ. Actually, I don't question his motivation - it was to do exactly what he did. The reason he got away with it is that he raised what I thought was way too much for trips - $100 into my $30 post-flop bet. It seemed as though he was trying to push me out of the pot with his own pocket pair, and I figured my jacks were good. Guess not.

So starting the day down $200 was kinda lousy. I played very tightly the rest of the evening, and suffered another bad beat when a guy went all in on the turn into my made flush, and rivered another club to give himself a higher flush. Oh man, this guy was annoying, too. He was sitting right next to me and humming the whole time, almost under his breath but not quite. And he was a total calling station, and...just trust me, he was the type of guy that you want to get away from. You know that cheesy move you see in lame martial arts movies, where the bad guy is sneaking up behind the good guy, and at the last second the good guy "senses" the presence of the bad guy, and without turning around he flips his fist backward at eye level and socks the bad guy right on the nose? I think Jean Claude Van Damme did it in "Bloodsport" after the blinding dust was thrown in his eyes. I seriously wanted to do that to this dude.

Actually, losing that flush hand did make me really, really angry. I was fuming. The entire night, the table had been limping in with marginal hands and hitting. It was a good environment to wait for good hands and make people pay. But I was getting nothing. The cards were extremely cold. So when I finally had chance to take down a good pot and get back to the plus side for the night, it was really frustrating to have it taken from me. I was playing patiently, and it wasn't being rewarded. In fact, when I woke up around midnight with pair of queens (heh - sounds kinda kinky) and finally raised a pot, the other super-tight guy at the table exclaimed, "Hey, welcome to the game!"

After losing quite a bit on the flush hand, I could not mount a comeback and left down $365 on the night. All things considered, I am not dissatisfied with my play - I did what I could with what I had. I am happy that I was able to control my play, with considerable effort, while being angry. And I'm happy that I did walk out of there without completely busting out of my $500 buy-in.

Congrats to Chuy once again for (almost) getting "Like Suicide" by Soundgarden. I've lost count of who the song leader is but it seems to be a close race between Chuy and Jeff L. Today's should be easy!

I promise to get to the Venetian today.

HAND OF THE DAY:
-----------------------

As previously noted, I was playing yesterday in a rather irritated mood. And one of the things that is annoying under any circumstance is when a lot of people limp in, and someone in late position raises the minimum - i.e. 5 people limp in for $5 and the button raises it to $10 total. The purpose is almost always to build the pot, and people typically do this with drawing hands (i.e. JT suited). But it is kind of a silly play, in my opinion. You basically have declared the strength of your hand as "needing a lot of help", and opened the door for any of the initial limpers to make a large re-raise. The folly of doing those things simultaneously should be obvious.

So this chick about three doors down had done this earlier in the night and shown down a QJ off hand. Later in the evening, I limped in from UTG with AQ off. Call, call, and then this girl again does her cutesy raise to $6 (I was in the $1-$3 game). Two other callers put their chips in and it gets back to me.

Ack. I'm sick of this, and I probably have the best hand, so I raise to $27. Everyone folds except the initial raiser, which is a surprise. I thought she'd be one of the first to fold. Fine, whatever - I know I've got her dominated.

Flop - three rainbow rags, 7 high. I bet $60. She calls, but doesn't seem too happy about it. I don't get it.

Turn - 8. Straight possibilities abound, but I cannot put her on low cards. Possibly a low pair that tripped up, but I don't think so. So I go all in for about $160. She thinks and thinks and thinks. Eventually she mucks her hand - JJ. Yowza. I hadn't adopted my "Gotcha, bitch!" slogan yet so I quietly raked in the chips.

I had almost become another victim of someone who played their hand in such a weird way that it made my reads very, very wrong. I can't think of a reason why someone would do that silly minimum pre-flop re-raise with pocket jacks.

The hand was interesting not only because of the strange play, but also because of the amount of chatter it generated after she folded. Everyone was speculating about what I had, if the girl should have come over the top on my pre-flop re-raise, and anything else they could think of. It was amusing. No one put me on AQ off - ha!

Play well, everyone, and chill a little, wouldja?

Bit down on the bullet now, I had a taste so sour

Poker Ironman Frank Peng allegedly left Vegas yesterday - he was still at the Wynn at 2130 last night, 30 minutes after his previously-stated deadline of 2100. His goal in staying late was "to avoid the traffic", which I imagine he achieved. Thanks Frank, for the company, the dinners, and the excellent guest blog yesterday.

There's a lot of poker stuff I've been meaning to get to, and a backlog of interesting HOTDs to talk about. But several people have written in regarding my play of pocket aces, so I figured today would be a good day to get to that. Especially considering what happened last night. Warning - this will be a poker-intensive post and of not much interest to the non-poker crowd.

Here's an excerpt from Dave K. - "You have mentioned being sucked out on a lot of times. I've been a little confused by whether or not you've been all in before the bad beat. You gave an example in one of the recent posts about AA losing to 22. How much money was in pre-flop and then post-flop?"

In the instance above, I was in middle position and had been playing tightly. I had about $150 in my stack at the time. Two limpers called the $5 blind in front of me, and I raised to $25. The small blind called, and the two limpers called, so the pot was now $100. The flop was Kx2 rainbow, and everyone checked to me. I bet half of my remaining stack - $60. Everyone folded except the gentleman with the set of twos, who called. The turn was a Q, and I was put all in for my remaining $60, which as you know, I called.

Looking back on that hand, I would stand by my decisions throughout the entire hand. I also can't fault the play of the pocket deuces - he had about a 7-1 chance of hitting a set on the flop, and ended up getting paid about 8 to 1 on his $25 investment.

Here's another (much longer) series of thoughts on the subject from Joe M. - "So I just read your Wednesday post and wanted to discuss with you the way you played the AA and how you said you always hope an A flops so that you feel more confident with your hand. I think cold-calling $20 raise is the wrong move (aka slow-playing AA is the wrong move) because it lowers your expected return value of the hand.

Here is my reasoning and please tell me if it makes sense:
With AA, the only way you are to win is if
A) you hit an A and someone else hits smaller trips, two-pair, or top
pair with a good kicker
B) Everyone hits nothing worth fighting for
You will lose in every other situation (not counting the odd chance of you hitting a straight, flush, full-house, or quads)

So basically what you are doing when you are cold-calling is you are letting people get in the pot who have a chance of hitting two-pair, trips, flush and straight draws, etc. Now when they don't hit, they will fold to any bet you make, so you will only win what was put in the pot pre-flop (usually). But if they hit, you are gonna pay them big (you know, lose big or win small with AA).

My opinion would then be to instead re-raise with AA always pre-flop (to at most half-your stack or maybe even all-in depending on what the raise was).
This does 2 things:
1) It should weed out players who are trying catch.
2) Those times where weak players do call and they don't catch, your
flop bet will then net you more money in the long run.

If you lose, well you really don't lose any more money than you normally would have, because let's face it, AA is hard to lay down. But if you win, I think you will net more in the long run because people are putting more in the pot. And there is always that chance that everyone will fold pre-flop and so you take it down right there without a fight (which is a lot better than getting AA cracked).

What do you think?"

OK, here's what I think. First of all, I don't believe that ALWAYS doing anything is a good strategy. No-limit poker is a highly situational game, and to play AA the same way in every game is to guarantee that you will not get the maximum value out of that hand. And that is what my goal is when I have that hand - to extract the most money I can from my opponents. As a generally tight player who does not play many hands, I am looking for a large payoff when I get the best starting hand possible.

It is generally not possible to extract a lot of money from someone when you bet in such a way that it is clear to everyone that you have AA (or KK). So, unless the pre-flop pot is already big enough (say, $75 by the time the action gets to me) that I feel I've gotten good value for my hand, I would not put in a monster raise that would force everyone out. And yes, that allows people in who can they hit their two pair, set, or whatever, but with AA, you want callers. Just one or two; but you want them. I guess I would look to the pros that you see on TV when they get that hand - they sit there and try to figure out how to get the most chips as they can out of it.

That being said, I do believe that I need to make an adjustment to my play of AA. I have made the mistake twice now of flat-calling raises with AA when there are people behind me who have not yet acted. My thought process was that I didn't want to scare the initial raiser out of the pot, and it would be unlikely that anyone behind me would call. However, twice now it is the people who have been calling behind me that have busted me. So from where the sun now stands, with AA I will re-raise any bet if: A) there are two or more people before me who have raised/called a raise, and B) if there are any people left to act behind me, possibly excepting the blinds.

I've got to run - so without further ado, here's the HOTD:

HAND OF THE DAY:
------------------------

The thing that makes me sick about this hand is that I'd just been talking to Frank about people falling in love with their big pocket pairs, before we hit the Wynn for a while last night.

So I have AA in second position, and UTG raises to $20. I call, breaking my as-yet-unformed rule of not re-raising with people behind me. Two other people call.

Flop: QQx

UTG checks - I bet $75.

One caller, everyone else folds.

Turn - some rag, I don't remember.

I bet $100. Again, I get called. And this is where my decision-making process goes awry. I'm trying to figure out why I'm not getting raised if this guy indeed has a Q. The guy was also one of the most speculative players at the table - he'd call with low pair, trying to hit trips or two pair. So I actually believed that he also had a pocket pair, and was calling because he figured no-one would actually bet a Q if they had it in their hand.

River: K. I again bet $100, and was called. He flipped over QJ off and took the pot.

This hand is one that I initially felt that I played horribly both pre-flop and post-flop. I'm still convinced my pre-flop non-raise was a bad move, but post-flop I'm just not sure about. I know that most of my poker-playing readers would disagree strongly with my continuation bets into a caller with a paired board, and they might be right, but I am not so sure. As mentioned before, my caller was a speculative player, and he did not raise any of my bets. It is likely that he would call the same bets with a pocket pair such as JJ, thinking that he likely had the best hand. Of course, it is likely he would also call those bets with a Q and a kicker he was unsure of.

The thing that I have noticed in almost all inexperienced poker players is that they constantly fear the worst - they are always afraid of straights, flushes and pairs on the board - always believing their opponents have these things. I am convinced that you cannot live your poker-playing life running away from those hands. Other than his calling, I did not get any feedback from my opponent that he felt good about his hand, so I kept betting. Ah well.

I was left with a little over $100 and that went down the drain on a failed bluff attempt. I then moseyed over to the Venetian to check out the grand opening of their poker room, but it was so crowded I left. I don't like to have to stand in line to lose my money.

Play well, everyone, and don't forget to raise.

One Junk Win Begets Many Junk Losses

Hey folks, it's Frank. I'm truly honored to be a guest blogger on the infamous Nutcracker's Suite.

Now I'll get to ramble about my last 2 sessions:

Day One:

Eric was kind enough to allow me to stay the weekend at his pad while my wife and son are off to the Philippines to visit the grandparents. However, the trip didn't start off as well as as my chevy Malibu, which has just over 50,000 miles on it started spewing smoke out of the hood. I took a look at the heat, and it didn't look good as the coolant level light started to blink. I suddenly became one of those guys parked on the side of the 15 with their hood open, while getting honked at by hecklers. Anyhow, I put in some extra coolant I happened to have in my trunk and made it to vegas just before all the rest of the coolant had leaked out of my car. It was out of commission until we could take it to the shop the next morning.

On to poker. I don't know why, but it seems every time I start playing NL with 1-2 blinds, I start off extremely loose. I somehow get the misconception that 1-2 is cheap...and with a lot of people calling, I mistakenly think I get value from playing connector (unsuited). I arrived at Bally's around 8:30ish pm (20:30) after Eric's nice guests had kindly dropped me off on route to their "Gentlemens Show". The session started out great as I took down 2 decent pots, rivering a full house with my pocket 10's. Things were looking pretty good. Then this older gent next to me started talking non-stop about all the bad beats he's ever had and all the big pots he's ever taken down. He orders more alcohol and his motor runs some more. People at the table felt sorry for me and would snicker everytime I glanced at them. I don't know if this affected my concetration at all, but my chips started going down and I started getting frustrated. Then all of a sudden, I had to rebuy for another 170, having only 30 chips left. I mostly treaded water, then Eric arrived and started to play. I ended up sitting at his table and was able to watch a master at work. He quickly built up his stack and was ready to go home after an hour or 2. I had worked my way up to just over even and decided to stay a little longer (oops). A little longer ended up being 15+ hours. I can't recall ever playing so many unsuited connectors from UTG in my life. Needless to say, the poker gods didn't give me much pity and math eventually caught up to my loose play. I couldn't hit any kind of flop and found myself down to just over 100 after my previous rebuy. I then got 67 clubs in early position. As mentioned int he previous blog, I had read that 67 suited is great against big pocket pairs...great if you hit a flop, easy to fold if you dont. So I call a raise in early position since I put the guy on a big pp with a $20 raise. Late position reraised all-in with about 270 left in his stack. The original raiser calls him for about 180 or so. Being loose and tired, I call with my remaining 100 or so since my groggy head told me "hey, I can triple up on this one!" The flop come 7 10 9 with 2 clubs. A pair and a flush draw, that's as good as I can hope on a flop with what I had. A rag hits the turn and an 8 hits the river. Hot dog! I got a low end straight! The original raiser turns over QQ and the guy who puts us all in turns over KK. They were pissed. By no means am I implying that I played this hand correctly, because I probably did not. Anyways, I continued playing that way, with my stack going up and down and subsequently started chasing every damn hand. Screw math, I can beat the odds! I busted out down 570 for the night/morning. Luckily I had to take my car to the shop so it forced me to catch a cab back to Eric's place.

Day 2:

On the way back and after I was trying to get some sleep, I had completely lost my confidence. What in the world was I thinking? How could I play that way? Instead of knowing how to play well with good cards, I was trying to outplay other people with bad cards. I became a target, trying to bluff at pots and getting trapped. It was a disaster. I really didn't feel all that great about potentially losing the rest of the money I brought...especially since we were planning to play at the Wynn later in the day, which I had always thought was a much tougher game. I decided that I shouldn't worry and should just play solid poker. No more chasing. I used to be afraid when I first started NL, playing super tight...almost no hands (I refer to this as Lew/King power poker mode) as I don't recall ever having a losing session while playing that way. I started off folding almost all my hands but just raising 15 when I had something good. Everyone would mostly fold to my raises and took down a few small pots. I then hit a big one. Being the button with 66, I called a 15 dollar raise that 4 other people had called. The guy on my left played real loose and made a lot of big raises. The flop was 846. Everyone checked to my left and he bets out 25. I raise to 90 and he calls me. Turn comes blank. He checks, I bet 100. He thinks and says "got sixes?" I smirk and shrug. He calls. River comes another 6. He says "Now I know you don't have 6's." He checks to me and I go all in for about 135. He thinks about it and calls me. I turn my sixes and he turns over A8 offsuit. Big pot. So I keep playing solid poker, continue to make good reads and played ALMOST mistake-free. I end the night +553, almost even for the trip. Eric also did well, cleaning up on the guy sitting to my right.

Now that I think about it, I really needed to get spanked the first night in order to remind me not to play like a jack-ass. Everything I learned about playing good poker went out the window. Playing 15 hours straight after a 5 hour drive didn't help either. The worst part was winning with rags...it only encouraged more poor play. I hope those guys at bally's enjoy the money I donated to them.

So now my car's fixed and I'm ready to play a little before I take off. Good luck high-rollers!

Hand of the Day:

I held AQ diamonds and called a 15 dollar raise in middle position. Button calls. Flop comes 2 diamonds. Raiser goes all in for 42. I figure that I get pretty good value since there is 47 in the pot and assumed that the guy behind me will fold, giving me 2 cards for 42 bucks...so I call. Button raises 42 more. Oops. Well I'm already in 42, I have to call. If I flop any diamond, I have the nuts. Turn comes a 5, no daimond. I check, and button bets 100. I think for a second that he has a made hand, I beat him with a flush. If he's drawing to a flush, I got the nuts. So I call. River comes another 5, no daimond. I easily fold and the guy turns over 58 diamonds. Did I play the hand incorrectly? Eric says I probably should have raised over the top off the all-in guy to push the button out. I guess I assumed that the guy after me would fold, and if he did have a made hand, he would call anyway. I don't know. Either way, I hope that guy enjoys a nice buffet on on me. That's poker!