After playing poker each Wednesday, I come home and write down whos won the money that week.  As of Nov. 26th the standings are: (this is how many times each person has finished in the money, not 1st.)  Most of the people play each week, some come when they can.

Dad -13
Junior-7
Lynn - 6
Nate- 6
Jane -6 (I think shes played 2/3 of the year)
Ellie - 5
Mike -4 (every other week if that)
Glenn Jr -3 (rarely)
Billy -3 (rarely)
Graham -3 (rarely)
Kyle/Sam/Jessie/Kirk -2
Willie/Rosy/Glenn Sr. -1
Steve-34 and I have taken off 5 weeks this year.

One month left and lets hope it continues like the rest of the year!
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When your playing poker and take a bad beat, you must do everything that you can to control your emotions!

Several weeks ago I made a normal bluff against an aggressive player.  When she is in position, and the board is checked to her, she always makes a play at the pot, even when she doesn’t have the best hand.  While I appreciate this tactic, knowing that she will bet in position allows me to take advantage of her aggressiveness.  In this case she made a small bet into a normal sized pot.  I had AQ in my hand and the flop came out JK4 rainbow.  I figured that I had the best hand still, so I completed her continuation bet.  The turn card was a 9.  She made another bet, and at this time I knew that on the river, whatever card that came out, I was going to put in a big raise.  River card was another J.  She bet 100, I reraised to 500.  She said she thought that I was bluffing, but she couldn’t play and  folded.  Normally I would not show the bluff, but in this case I knew it would aggreviate her.  She went on complete tilt, and then tried to steal every big blind that I was in to get her chips back.  This play cost her, as she went out a couple rounds later to me with a less than marginal hand.

Just this week, when it was heads up with myself and her husband I set trap after trap and he caught every card that he could.  When he would go all in, his hands went from J4, Q3, K8 (which I don’t mind) and 106.  Each time he went all in, I had either AK, AJ, K8 (had the same hand and split) and KQ.  Everytime he hit either two pairs or caught the river with the worst hand.  While I was mad that I couldn’t put him away, his wife said that I was on tilt.  After much thought, I went back and looked at how I was playing.  I know that I was mad that he kept getting lucky and playing mostly slop when going all in, but on tilt, I don’t think so.  I think when your steaming you make bad decisions afterwards, and each time I doubled him up, several hands later he was on the brink of getting busted out.  I ended up winning, but we split the pot.

So, if you see someone take a bad beat and notice that they are steaming what should you do?  I like the approach of waiting for them to make the next mistake, and it could be right away.  I good player will let it bounce off them and get back into the game.  Bad beats are a part of the game, all you can do is hopefully go in with the best hand, and then it’s a lot of luck.  I have said it before, but I would rather play good poker than lucky poker.  People who say that poker is a lot of luck are wrong in my opinion.  A good patient player that plays good cards will win more than the lucky person, but you have to wait and let them make a mistake.

If you have given that bad beat, or made a big bluff, and that person is coming after you.  Let ‘em!!!  That;s a mistake when there is several players at your table.  Let them have your blind and when you do catch a couple cards, put in the reraise.  In the case above, I noticed right away that Jane was trying to get her chips back, so I made a reraise that put all her chips in.  I had 37 on this specific hand, but she had to fold.  The next time around I limped in with KQ.  The flop came out AKQ, and when she went all in with Ace rag, after I checked to her, I layed the wood down and won the hand and took her out of the game.

You must be able to control your emotions, and going after one person is a dumb play.  Play the people on the table, not just one player who you might think your better than.

Hoping you get aces, but also hoping I’m not in the hand with you!

sc

It’s been some time since I have written a post about poker but I am still playing on Wednesday and also play occasionally one other day during the week.  It has been a whirl-wind for the last couple months with my poker with more ups than downs, which is always a good thing.

But lets talk about some amatuer tells, and things that you might be able to pick up and help with your poker game.

Recently I played in a local tournament at an Elks Club that my buddy put on.  He set the whole thing up, and while it was a lot of work for Mike, I think he did a great job.  I finished 3rd out of 50-60 people, but going into the final table to caught some bad luck and then tightened up to make the money.  However, I had a major tell on every player at the final table which gave me an advantage, but luck came into play and I lost with the best hand 3-4 times in a row.

So what was I looking for?  When I first sit down to play, and the cards are not being shuffled I like to watch how a player sits when comfortable.  I also like to make poker talk and see how well a person remembers that bad beat, because you don’t remember the times you gave that bad beat….  When the player is comfortable and just chilling, take a mental note of how they are sitting.  Are they sitting back, sitting straight up, where their hands are placed and if they bounce their legs or play with their chips.  When the cards are being played, how to do they put their chips into play and with which hand. Do they throw them in or do they keep them close.

On the chips alone, beginners who are fishing and don’t have the best hand will throw their chips into the pot when they are unsure that they have the best hand.  And when they have a great hand, they will place their chips close by because they think that they will be getting the chips back, so why put them further and out of reach.  If they put them close to themselves, you can almost gaurantee that they have a very good hand.  If a person forcefully puts his chips into a pot, they most likely have the best hand.  In the Elks game I raised pre-flop with AK hearts.  During most of the first table, people stayed out of my way and I bluffed a lot when I realized people were scared of me.  Anyways, I looked down at AK hearts and raised it to 45 chips.  I had one other person call.  Flop came out A56 rainbow.  I was attempting to set the trap and checked.  The other player checked too.  At this point I was sure I had the best hand.  Turn card was a 4.  This was somewhat a scare card, so I made a small bet of 65.  The other player grabbed his chips, looked at me, and forcefully put his 65 into the pot by putting his chips down hard.  I knew I was beat at this point, but maybe I was wrong.  River brought out the worst card for me with a king, but I checked again.  The other player, which was a woman, didn’t look back at her cards, looked at the board, then me and put in a tiny raise of 40.  I didn’t want to call, but had to see her straight.  I called and she turned over 78 suitted.

Other tells have to do with how people hold their hands.  Sometimes to find out ones tell you must call their bluff or better hand.  Players tend to do all sorts of things with their hands that they do not recognize.  If I see a person keeping their hands flat on a table then changing on the next hand, which hand was the better hand.  In most cases, the flat hand is the worst of the two.  Why?  People tend to put their hands flat and not touching when bluffing because their brain is telling them to fight and win.

Here’s exactly what I look for when I sit down.

1. How is the person sitting?
2. Where are their hands?
3. How do they breath?
4. Do they move around alot?
5. Do they spread their elbows?
6. Are their arms at their hips or fully on the table?
7. Do they shake?

Take a mental note then watch how people act when playing poker.  I hope it helps you win more big hands!

Hoping you look down at aces….
sc

By no means do I think that I am a professional, but I think I play solid poker and I know when I can steal and bluff and I know when to pull back.

Our Wednesday night game has brought in a bunch of new players.  All of whom have played No Limit somewhere and at sometime have done decent and won.  This is always interesting to me, because I enjoy watching people react when playing poker.  From how they put their chips into the pot, to how they might sit back, take a sip of their drink, or watch TV while in the middle of the hand.  All of which are poker tells, but you need to watch that person while they are playing.

Recently we have had a newcomer named Jane join the group.  She is a sound player, but will NEVER call when she thinks you are bluffing.  Another tell on her is that she overbets the pot when she has a small pair, and all of the cards on the table beat her.  She will stick with her overbetting and will not fold a hand.  She likes to play all sorts of cards, but her major tell is that she breaths hard and sit back when she has the nuts.  Most of the time she leans forward, as to tell you that she is ready to fight, (another tell that she has a quality hand), but when she catches the best hand, then starts the sit back and more.  Again she is a good player, but likes to play a lot of luck.  While I understand you need some luck, I think I can almost prove it wrong with our Wednesday night group.  Quality poker usually means winning!

The last two weeks has been a little weird for me.  I setup a great trap, and got unlucky on the river to loose a huge pot.  I went into lock down poker mode, and came back and made it to second.  That week 6/18, when heads-up started I had 350+/- chips, going against the leader who had almost 5000+/-.  This was the first time I had played against Kirk, but instantly noticed he liked to bluff A LOT!!!  With only 20 minutes until 11pm and our cutoff, I really didn’t stand a chance in my mind.  I limped in as much as possible to see a cheap flop, which Kirk just wanted to play (mistake number 1), and after the flop if I hit anything, I was all in.  It didn’t matter one bit.  When play stopped at 11, I was exact 250 chips from leading.  I felt very good about my heads-up play.  This past week 6/25, I played what I would consider the best I have played to date.  I had some of the best reads on players I could imagine.  From catching Jane with her pocket 6’s and over betting when I caught 9’s on the flop, to laying down jacks pre-flop because I noticed Nat betting differently and playing with his chip on another hand, and Nat turning over Aces.   I picked up Q10 offsuit in the big blind, in which I raise because everyone limped in.  All four players called.  Flop came out 9JK, making my straight.  I checked and my dad bet 60.  Jane and Nat both called, turn was a 6 and I checked again.  Dad went all in, looked over the cards to make sure their wasn’t a flush possiblity and called.  I went from bottom to 2nd chips in one hand. After knocking out Jane again, (second week in a row) and getting heads up with Nat, I wasn’t to far behind in chips, maybe 1500 or so.  I had a good feeling about playing against Nat because I think I know his game pretty well.  Within 10 minutes game was over and I had won.  Last hand was a good one, I picked up A9 and doubled the blind.  Nat re-raised to 320 and I called all in.  Nat flipped over KJ suitted against my A9 suitted.  Ace high took the pot.

More to come…and I’m going to really start updating this a lot more.

Hope you catch aces in the hole!
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