So I just had something happen to me on Friday that has never happened to me before.
I was at the local tribal casino registering for an upcoming tournament and I decided to play a bit of craps. Now I haven't played any non-poker casino games in quite awhile and am trying to avoid them as much as possible. For whatever reason, I decided to take $200 and try and double it up. This is when, for the first time, someone placed a bet for me. And it wasn't just one bet, nor was it a $5 bet. It was multiple $20-$45 bets on the field (wins 1:1 when a 3,4,9,10,11 is rolled and 2:1 when a 2 or 12 rolls). I didn't quite know how to interpret this. He was obviously drunk and was making martingale (doubling the bet with each loss) type bets on the field. He managed to always win when he had increased his bet up to $300 or more. I was the only one that was cheering for him when he won which may be what prompted him to make some bets for me (I also think he had more money in front of him than he knew what to do with). These bets ended up working out very well for me as they helped me turn my original $200 buy-in into $900 before leaving.
This whole ordeal got me thinking about why anyone would ever do this for someone else. He was basically giving me, a complete stranger, money to bet with. Then I realized that there are parallels between this and when people make calls in poker when they know they're beat or play in a way that is obviously going to lose money in the long run. It must mean that making money is not the primary reason for what they do. They enjoy the thrill of the game, and if placing those bets on the field for me increases this craps player's enjoyment of the rolls of the dice because he has someone to cheer with, then to him, it's worth it.
This line of thinking makes me realize just how important it is to let the bad players enjoy themselves at the poker table. If they make a bad play against me and suckout, I should cheer for them. Let them enjoy stacking my money, because I want them to keep playing this way. I want them to be entertained by playing badly. If they're not entertained by playing badly, maybe they will decide to play better or, heaven forbid, leave the game!
It amazes me how many people out there get so upset about bad beats from bad players. They must not understand how the game of poker works.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Starting Off Stuck
Starting off stuck sucks.
The last three sessions I have played, I have started off stuck at least $1000.
In the first one on Sunday, I had just come off my three "perfect" sessions and I feel like I played really well to only lose $1500 in the first 6 hours of the session considering the bad luck I was experiencing. Hand after hand of losing the minimum still results in losing, though.
Around 2am (I started the session at 6pm) I found myself to the direct left of one incredibly loose player and another loose aggressive player. And to MY left, were two of the tighter players in the game. So things were looking up. My big hands started holding up, finally, and I caught a few lucky breaks and actually managed to end this 12 hour session up $1400!
The next day, I played in a game full of people who thought they knew what they were doing. Now this might seem like a bad game, but I'll let you in on a little secret: most of them were horribly mistaken! But as it is occasionally in this game, you can make every correct decision and still end up stuck $1000 in 4 hours. This used to get to my head; it used to make me play badly. I feel like I'm getting better at shutting these feelings out and focusing on playing every hand as best as I can. It helped to look around the table and see at least one person steaming about a bad beat. Each hand it was a different person, whoever lost the previous hand. All the while I was sitting there unaffected.
As is the case with the previous day, around 1-2am things finally started to turn around. I was stuck about $600 before this fateful hand. I raise QhJh in middle position after 2-3 limpers. It folds around to the SB who calls as does the BB and all the limpers. The flop is QdJd4h (a.k.a GIN!). Checks to me, I bet, SB (Tight aggressive player) raises, 1 cold caller, I 3-bet, SB caps and all call. At this point I'm trying to figure out what SB has as I'm quite confident the cold caller has a diamond draw. The SB could have the same hand as me, a big draw, or 44. I decide to wait for the turn to think any more about this. The turn is the Th giving me a flush draw now. SB bets out, 1 call, I raise, SB 3-bets, 1 cold call, I cap and both call. This cap might be a little suspect as SB has shown incredible strength so far. I probably wouldn't have capped without the flush draw or without the other person in the middle. With both of these, I figure that I have some extra odds in case SB has 44. The river is a beautiful 2h giving me a flush. SB bets, middle guy folds his diamonds angrily, I raise, SB says "Do you have AhKh?" and calls. I show my hand, and he shows AsKh! His comment is somewhat humorous considering that he has the Kh himself, but what is more shocking is that he managed to cap the flop with just a gutshot draw, get there, and then still lose. I talked to him a couple days later and he admitted that his flop cap messed up the hand. That pot (probably my biggest at $20/$40) was around $1200 with me contributing $360 of it and turned -600 into +200. I went on to push that to +$800 before leaving at 5am.
Over my "weekend" (Monday and Tuesday are now my weekend) I did some chores and took a break from poker. I got back to the casino at around 5pm on Wednesday and promptly was stuck $1000 at about 10pm. Same ole' same ole' right? Not quite. I feel I played this session really badly. I was missing bets and missing folds all throughout the night and was really at a loss for where I was in a lot of hands. I missed out on a spot to steal a multiway ~$800 pot with a well timed turn raise and made a few dumb turn checks that ended up costing me a few pots. A lot of this could be blamed on bad luck, but if I had played the hands correctly, my opponents would not have had the chance to get lucky. As it is when I play badly, I tend to stay longer than I should. At two different points in the night, I made it back to even (one time I was even +$200) but I didn't leave.
Amazingly enough, after a 21 hour session, I managed to leave at +$6 due to hitting a Royal Flush to win a $500 high hand (I consider this part of my poker winnings because I am forced to consider the $2 rake they take for this promotion as part of my poker losses). So all in all I'm relieved (maybe even exhilarated) to finish a session this long back to even, but also worried that I played so terribly throughout the day.
Hopefully I can avoid starting off stuck today :)
The last three sessions I have played, I have started off stuck at least $1000.
In the first one on Sunday, I had just come off my three "perfect" sessions and I feel like I played really well to only lose $1500 in the first 6 hours of the session considering the bad luck I was experiencing. Hand after hand of losing the minimum still results in losing, though.
Around 2am (I started the session at 6pm) I found myself to the direct left of one incredibly loose player and another loose aggressive player. And to MY left, were two of the tighter players in the game. So things were looking up. My big hands started holding up, finally, and I caught a few lucky breaks and actually managed to end this 12 hour session up $1400!
The next day, I played in a game full of people who thought they knew what they were doing. Now this might seem like a bad game, but I'll let you in on a little secret: most of them were horribly mistaken! But as it is occasionally in this game, you can make every correct decision and still end up stuck $1000 in 4 hours. This used to get to my head; it used to make me play badly. I feel like I'm getting better at shutting these feelings out and focusing on playing every hand as best as I can. It helped to look around the table and see at least one person steaming about a bad beat. Each hand it was a different person, whoever lost the previous hand. All the while I was sitting there unaffected.
As is the case with the previous day, around 1-2am things finally started to turn around. I was stuck about $600 before this fateful hand. I raise QhJh in middle position after 2-3 limpers. It folds around to the SB who calls as does the BB and all the limpers. The flop is QdJd4h (a.k.a GIN!). Checks to me, I bet, SB (Tight aggressive player) raises, 1 cold caller, I 3-bet, SB caps and all call. At this point I'm trying to figure out what SB has as I'm quite confident the cold caller has a diamond draw. The SB could have the same hand as me, a big draw, or 44. I decide to wait for the turn to think any more about this. The turn is the Th giving me a flush draw now. SB bets out, 1 call, I raise, SB 3-bets, 1 cold call, I cap and both call. This cap might be a little suspect as SB has shown incredible strength so far. I probably wouldn't have capped without the flush draw or without the other person in the middle. With both of these, I figure that I have some extra odds in case SB has 44. The river is a beautiful 2h giving me a flush. SB bets, middle guy folds his diamonds angrily, I raise, SB says "Do you have AhKh?" and calls. I show my hand, and he shows AsKh! His comment is somewhat humorous considering that he has the Kh himself, but what is more shocking is that he managed to cap the flop with just a gutshot draw, get there, and then still lose. I talked to him a couple days later and he admitted that his flop cap messed up the hand. That pot (probably my biggest at $20/$40) was around $1200 with me contributing $360 of it and turned -600 into +200. I went on to push that to +$800 before leaving at 5am.
Over my "weekend" (Monday and Tuesday are now my weekend) I did some chores and took a break from poker. I got back to the casino at around 5pm on Wednesday and promptly was stuck $1000 at about 10pm. Same ole' same ole' right? Not quite. I feel I played this session really badly. I was missing bets and missing folds all throughout the night and was really at a loss for where I was in a lot of hands. I missed out on a spot to steal a multiway ~$800 pot with a well timed turn raise and made a few dumb turn checks that ended up costing me a few pots. A lot of this could be blamed on bad luck, but if I had played the hands correctly, my opponents would not have had the chance to get lucky. As it is when I play badly, I tend to stay longer than I should. At two different points in the night, I made it back to even (one time I was even +$200) but I didn't leave.
Amazingly enough, after a 21 hour session, I managed to leave at +$6 due to hitting a Royal Flush to win a $500 high hand (I consider this part of my poker winnings because I am forced to consider the $2 rake they take for this promotion as part of my poker losses). So all in all I'm relieved (maybe even exhilarated) to finish a session this long back to even, but also worried that I played so terribly throughout the day.
Hopefully I can avoid starting off stuck today :)
Sunday, September 14, 2008
On a Roll?
So I've now had three "perfect" sessions in a row. I've played a total of about 7-8 hours of 20/40 in the last three sessions and am +$1550.
This last one has me a little worried though. It wasn't really very "perfect" at all other than being short and ending up a rack. I feel like I lost a bit of value in a few spots and made some bad call downs but had a big +800 surge right at the beginning so I was able to leave +500. Along with that, I was planning to play a long time today, probably through the night and into Sunday morning, but I was playing a little too scared; I didn't want to lose back my early profit. I need to stop myself from thinking this way because it definitely leads to missed value. The table I was at was not the greatest so maybe it's not so bad that I left it.
In the next session I play I'm going to try to keep the amount I'm up or down completely out of my mind when I'm in a hand.
This last one has me a little worried though. It wasn't really very "perfect" at all other than being short and ending up a rack. I feel like I lost a bit of value in a few spots and made some bad call downs but had a big +800 surge right at the beginning so I was able to leave +500. Along with that, I was planning to play a long time today, probably through the night and into Sunday morning, but I was playing a little too scared; I didn't want to lose back my early profit. I need to stop myself from thinking this way because it definitely leads to missed value. The table I was at was not the greatest so maybe it's not so bad that I left it.
In the next session I play I'm going to try to keep the amount I'm up or down completely out of my mind when I'm in a hand.
Friday, September 12, 2008
The First Day of the Rest of My Life
So I just stepped both feet out of my office building after handing off my badge. I took a few deep breaths of the fresh air and walked out to my car; now I'm officially a professional poker player.
It was quite a hectic day approaching this moment. When I came into the office this morning, I expected to clean up my last few things, have a long lunch with some work friends, and then have my exit interview and be on my way. But, as fate would have it, there was an issue with something that I would be most familiar with. It felt good to get something important done even in my last hours on the clock.
After that was resolved, I cleaned out my computer and headed over to my exit interview. I made my way though the maze of hallways to arrive at the interviewer's office only to find that no one was there! Did I have the time wrong? No. The room number? No. What's going on here?!? I learned from the interviewer's office neighbor that she was apparently out of office today. What the heck? I guess they really don't want me to leave! What an ingenious loop hole: if the exit interviewer is always oof, the I can never actually leave the company, right? I have to say, of all things I had considered as possible occurrences today, having the exit interviewer be oof was not one of them.
Turns out she was at a Day of Caring event helping clean up a school so I guess I can let it slide this time. I had the interview rescheduled for later in the day and that is what I have just left as I breath in this wonderful fresh air. It smells like freedom, like endless possibilities. I feel like going on a long walk today and just taking everything in.
Let my new life begin!
It was quite a hectic day approaching this moment. When I came into the office this morning, I expected to clean up my last few things, have a long lunch with some work friends, and then have my exit interview and be on my way. But, as fate would have it, there was an issue with something that I would be most familiar with. It felt good to get something important done even in my last hours on the clock.
After that was resolved, I cleaned out my computer and headed over to my exit interview. I made my way though the maze of hallways to arrive at the interviewer's office only to find that no one was there! Did I have the time wrong? No. The room number? No. What's going on here?!? I learned from the interviewer's office neighbor that she was apparently out of office today. What the heck? I guess they really don't want me to leave! What an ingenious loop hole: if the exit interviewer is always oof, the I can never actually leave the company, right? I have to say, of all things I had considered as possible occurrences today, having the exit interviewer be oof was not one of them.
Turns out she was at a Day of Caring event helping clean up a school so I guess I can let it slide this time. I had the interview rescheduled for later in the day and that is what I have just left as I breath in this wonderful fresh air. It smells like freedom, like endless possibilities. I feel like going on a long walk today and just taking everything in.
Let my new life begin!
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
A Perfect Session
I just had what I'd like to think of as a perfect session of $20/$40 LHE yesterday.
I came in and there was an end seat waiting for me right away. Good start! There were 2 unknowns to my direct right and everyone to my left were predictable players. I fold a few hands, win a decent pot with KK, and chop a pot with J8 after my two pair gets counterfeited.
Then, the guy to my right leaves. I look for who the replacement will be and it's a tight predictable player so I quickly move my chips to the right and let him in to my left. I proceed to fold a bunch of hands and then 3-bet KQo on the button after an aggro EP2 raise and the CO calls. The BB is a player who "never cold calls 3" so he caps and we all call. Flop is 974 with two hearts. Checked to me so I naturally bet. All call. Turn is the 2h. Checked to me and I bet without looking back at my hand (I'm hoping there's a heart there). Only the BB calls my bet. River is the 6h. BB checks and I bet. He pauses for a long time and folds. I look back at my hand and find the Kh and am upset.
Then, the guy to my left leaves for the main game. I spot the aggro guy that is replacing him and quickly slide my stack left. A round or so later, a tight EP raise gets 4 callers. I squeeze out the Th4h and decide to make a (somewhat?) loose call in the BB. Flop is KT4 with two diamonds. SB checks, I check, EP bets and gets 3 callers. SB raises and I instantly 3-bet. Amazingly, the 4 other players all fold leaving me with position on the SB. The turn and river are blanks and he calls me down with KQ.
So just like that I have amassed around a $850 profit in a half an hour with relatively no effort at all. Then, as if the poker gods are testing me, I go on an hour and a half run of the worst cards ever. I basically fold away $180 in blinds. I decide to finally play a hand and raise the Jh9h in LP. One cold caller behind and the SB three-bets (uh oh). We both call. Flop is AQ2r. SB instachecks which basically means KK. I decide not to try and steal it and we check the whole way down on a 2 turn and Q river and he wins. Maybe a missed opportunity but more likely a missed chance to spew off $100. Later, an EP2 limps, I raise KK in MP, folds to him, he calls. Flop A23 rainbow. He check/calls. Turn 3, check check. river 7. He bets and I instacall and lose to his 45s. No big deal.
So after happily folding another two rounds of hands, I leave at my BB up $500 in two hours and completely unstressed. If only all of my sessions could go like this.
I came in and there was an end seat waiting for me right away. Good start! There were 2 unknowns to my direct right and everyone to my left were predictable players. I fold a few hands, win a decent pot with KK, and chop a pot with J8 after my two pair gets counterfeited.
Then, the guy to my right leaves. I look for who the replacement will be and it's a tight predictable player so I quickly move my chips to the right and let him in to my left. I proceed to fold a bunch of hands and then 3-bet KQo on the button after an aggro EP2 raise and the CO calls. The BB is a player who "never cold calls 3" so he caps and we all call. Flop is 974 with two hearts. Checked to me so I naturally bet. All call. Turn is the 2h. Checked to me and I bet without looking back at my hand (I'm hoping there's a heart there). Only the BB calls my bet. River is the 6h. BB checks and I bet. He pauses for a long time and folds. I look back at my hand and find the Kh and am upset.
Then, the guy to my left leaves for the main game. I spot the aggro guy that is replacing him and quickly slide my stack left. A round or so later, a tight EP raise gets 4 callers. I squeeze out the Th4h and decide to make a (somewhat?) loose call in the BB. Flop is KT4 with two diamonds. SB checks, I check, EP bets and gets 3 callers. SB raises and I instantly 3-bet. Amazingly, the 4 other players all fold leaving me with position on the SB. The turn and river are blanks and he calls me down with KQ.
So just like that I have amassed around a $850 profit in a half an hour with relatively no effort at all. Then, as if the poker gods are testing me, I go on an hour and a half run of the worst cards ever. I basically fold away $180 in blinds. I decide to finally play a hand and raise the Jh9h in LP. One cold caller behind and the SB three-bets (uh oh). We both call. Flop is AQ2r. SB instachecks which basically means KK. I decide not to try and steal it and we check the whole way down on a 2 turn and Q river and he wins. Maybe a missed opportunity but more likely a missed chance to spew off $100. Later, an EP2 limps, I raise KK in MP, folds to him, he calls. Flop A23 rainbow. He check/calls. Turn 3, check check. river 7. He bets and I instacall and lose to his 45s. No big deal.
So after happily folding another two rounds of hands, I leave at my BB up $500 in two hours and completely unstressed. If only all of my sessions could go like this.
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