Weekend Get Together
This past weekend I asked the group and others to come over for dinner and poker. The normal group came over and several others joined including inspiring pro Mike, Willie, Dave and Junior. It was a big game. Several people went out and quickly bought back in, I think almost everyone expept Willie and I. Mike had some cold cards, but had some winners when playing against Willie, my Dad and Jessie, but folded when a higher card came out, but they didn’t hit them. They bluff Mike as much as possible.
When your holding top pair after the flop and a higher card comes out, it’s a good time to test the waters. If their is a group of people in the pot, then checking is all right, but when it’s only a couple, put in a minimum raise. For one is will eliminate the person holding scrub cards and only playing because they are in the blind. And second it will show you where you are at in the hand. Someone comes over the top, your drawing dead, and if someone calls you probably are too. Checking after the turn is then all right too, or if you think you can outplay the person then do your thing.
Slow playing your good cards!
I have talked about this earlier, but slow playing your cards and limping in with high pocket pair only works when there is a couple players. In the Wednesday night game I watched pocket aces get cracked by a straight on the river. The aces slow played and put in a little beat trying to keep the others in. While this strategy works sometimes, I have seen in more and more beat by the blinds. Five or more players in the hand, your done. FORGET ABOUT IT!
Back to Saturdays game.
So many people that play the game watch the pros play scrub cards and win, (those are the hands on TV, come on now they can’t show each time they loose its not good tv), more and more those cards are being played in home games. Jessie, (wednesday night gang) could easily be the best bluffer that I play against. He will bluff each hand he is in, and he uses that to his advantage. If I have to high cards, I will play to the end with him. If I have two little, I will fold and wait for the cards.
When several players busted out, and it came down to three I was in the worst shape. Being in third and really not ANY catching cards I was really lucky to be where I was. This is where things changed. In the beginning Willie was bluffing and gaining chips. No one caught his tells, something that I did almost instantly, and Willie really wanted to be in the money. When it got down to crunch time Willie stopped bluffing, and was only playing if he had top pair, and good starters. I noticed this on the second hand as well as his tell. I raised in his blind for the next 8 times. Didn’t matter what I had, but it allowed me to steal his big blind since he wasn’t a defender. 8-10 hands into three way action (that sounds terrible) I had got back into the game, still third but when blinds are 80-160 and your stealing 160 every three hands and getting back my small blind, I had playing chips. One other hand I picked up AK in the small blind. Dad folded and Willie called. The flop was a rainbow 268 unsuitted. I checked to Willie to let him bluff at me. He made a 320 raise with his tell and I went all in. He called with a4 and didn’t catch a four and I doubled up to roughly 1500-1800 chips. Next hand, Dad called and made his facial tick (another tell), I folded and willie called. Flop came out 865, Dad checked, Willie bet 320, Dad went all in. Willie called with 96, while Dad turned over pocket jacks. Turn was a q, river was a 7 to give Willie a straight. Willie had Dad covered by a couple hundred chips, but just got unlucky.
Willie and I went heads up for about 5-10 hands, in which I think I won 8 out of 10, but we had decided this chop the pot and allow people to drive home after my Turducken Dinner, which I thought was terrible.
Wednesday night game coming next.
Hope if anyone is reading these they are somewhat helping them.
