Money Money Money - You Gotta Respect It!

So, I've been running up against a cold deck for about 2 years now. However, ealier this year I started to come out if it. Thank Goodness.  But there's something that I learned that I think may have been the key to coming out of the black cloud.

You know when you play no limit texas holdem you can be dealing with lots of money. Even at the low limits! One day I played $1-$2 blinds and left with over $1500.  That's a lot of money.  And usually playing at $2-$5 blinds it's common to have $1000 sitting right there on the table in front of you at any given moment. So here's what I learned. You become complacent... complacent to money.  When you have a thousand, two thousand dollars right there in front of you and there's probably ten thousand dollars on the table in play at any given moment, it's pretty easy to get a little "lost".

I learned a few years ago that you have to play without fear. You can't "need" the money or you'll play scared. But now I'm learning that you can't disrespect the money either. There's a fine line to tow here... an almost invisible line between being fearless and respecting that money.  What I have learned this year is to respect the money. And since I've learned that lesson, I've been winning. I don't think that's a coincidence.

Example: A few months ago, I won a tournament in Kinder. I told you about it. My goal was to cash $2000 in that tournament. People were wanting to chop earlier, but I held out and met my goal before I agreed to a chop. What I didn't tell you is the "self-talk" I did during the tournament. In fact, this is probably when I had this little "revelation". I told myself, "You have to respect the money." What that meant is that I can't go around without regard or respect for money because it will all slip through my fingers if I do. "Respect the money." That's what I told myself. And it kept me in line. And I met my goal in that tournament.

Example 2: Since I've been winning it's been easy, right? Wrong. Last night I bought into the $2-$5 game for $400.  Within an hour I had $1200 in front of me.  And then it started to slip away. My stack dwindled down to about $500 and I said to myself, "Respect the money." That paradigm shift enabled me to leave the game last night with $1200.  You see what I realized there is that when you can win or lose A THOUSAND DOLLARS in an hour, you start to get complacent... again. (Of course it also helped that I picked up pocket 5's again and flopped a set again, for the third time in the past two weeks!)

So I have to check myself. Am I becoming complacent? Am I the donkey at the table? Am I making good decisions? What is driving me to make the decisions that I make? That last question requires more insight than I think most players make about themselves.

"A thousand dollars," I said to myself last night, "is more money than some people make in a whole week, and certainly more money that most people make in a day and here I've obtained it in an hour."  One hour! One Thousand Dollars! You know how I know when I'm starting to disrespect the money? When I say it's only a hundred dollars or it's only a thousand dollars... as if that's a drop in the bucket!

Well, I'm no millionaire and a thousand dollars is still a very real and very large amount of money to be passing through my hands in an hour's time. So for me, I have to remember to "respect the money" or it won't respect me.

Hand Analysis and Reading Opponents

It's been a while since I posted anything so I'll get you caught up on my action before we go into 2 hands I want to discuss.  First, while Mom and Grandma were in Vegas, I signed up for a Heads'Up Tournament in Lake Charles at the Isle of Capris. I defeated a few opponents to cash in this tournament. It was quite fun and my first live heads'up T. I'm going to look to play in a few more of those in the future. (Oh, one other bonus. I was the only girl and a few of my rather cocky male opponents were crushed by my poker prowess after underestimating me!)

Then I played a small T at Coushatta in Kinder and cashed for $2000. Everybody kept wanting to chop, but my goal was to walk away with $2k so I kept blocking the chop talk until we knocked out enough players to meet my goal.  Mission accomplished!

Then we went down to the Beau Rivage in Biloxi and I played a $350 tournament there. The tournament went really well for me. I got lucky and I played great too. After 14 hours of play we chopped the prize pool 17 ways. I walked away with $6500.

Exhausted from all that play and then waiting another 2 hours to get paid, I lost about $1500 over the next two days. But I still managed to come back to Baton Rouge with a bankroll sufficient for me to move up from the $4-$8 limit and into the $2-$5 no limit game.

We played in New Orleans a week or so ago and I lost about $900 in the $1-$2 game, but I played pretty well all in all. So I wasn't too upset about the loss. I felt like I did all that I could. A few times my opponents sucked out to win the big pots. Here's one hand in particular. This one has to do with reading opponents.  I had something like A8. On the flop there was an 8 and a K and some other rag card. I checked. The big blind checked and the next guy bet $20. I read him a weak so I called. The BB, who had raised pre-flop figured that his pocket J's were beat with that guy betting and me calling so he folded the best hand here.  Now that it was just the two of us and I figured he did have anything, I bet $40 thinking he would fold on the turn. He did not fold, but called instead. That confused me a bit. Another K hit the river and I checked. The guy bet about $65.  This really had me wondering if I'd been wrong all along. While I'm thinking about it I'm "shuffling" my hole cards. I notice that he catches this move from the corner of his eye and his eyes move from my eyes to my cards. I'm wondering here, did he think I was folding? I think he wants me to fold. Usually when someone has a big hand they'll look at your "chips" to imagine them in their own stack. But he looked at my cards! He was also leaning over the table and staring me down (something he had not done before when he did have big hands). I decided to stick with my originial analysis that he didn't have anything all along and the K on the river couldn't have helped so I called. He had total air and I won the pot. That's the first time I'd noticed a player looking at my cards...

That takes me to this week. I was playing at the Belle in Baton Rouge in the $2-$5 no limit game. We'd been playing for a while so all the players were familiar with each other. I raised to $20 with 55 in middle position. I got 4 callers. (A nit player, a donkey caller, and two guys that like to see flops). The flop came down Kh Qh 5d. Wooo hooo! I just flopped a set. Now, let's make some money. I don't like the flush/straight draws so I don't want to mess around too much. The first 2 check. I bet $65. The nit calls. One of the "likes to see a flop" guys calls. And the donkey caller, calls. The turn is a 6c. Thank goodness that didn't make anyone's straight or flush. The first two check to me. I decide that I want to bet enough to take the pot down right here.  No need to allow those pesky draws to see the river. I bet $300. The nit calls! What the heck? The other two fold. So the easy to beat players are out and the guy who usually has the nuts is in the hand. What's going on here? He was supposed to fold. The river is a Jd. That card doesn't make a flush but it could make a straight. I decide that along with that card being a scare card for me, the pot is big enough (and what can he be calling with?) so I check. He shoves in an intimidating stack of green chips - $500! Now I go into the tank.

I think I spent the next 5 minutes going over the hand. I really thought I had the best hand. What just happened? He's looking at me to see what I'm going to do. I look at him and ask, "Ace-ten?" He looks away. What's that mean? Is he looking away because I called his hand? Is he looking away because his hand is much weaker than a straight? "Ace ten of hearts? really?," I say.  No reaction from him. I'm shuffling my cards and he looks at them. What? Did he just look at my cards? Is he looking for me to fold?  Ok, did he slow play pocket K's or Q's? No, I don't think so. I think he would have reraised with one of those two hands either pre-flop or on the flop. Did he turn a set of 6's? No, I don't think he called $65 on the flop with a medium pair to hunt out a set on the turn. Ace ten of hearts? really? No. I don't think he called THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS on the turn with a draw - no matter how big.  It would have been foolish to call a pot sized bet on the turn with a gut shot/flush/royal draw. But some people can't away from royal draws. By this time, I'm really contemplating folding here. If I call and lose I'll have about $120 left to take home and go home a $780 loser on the night. I'm holding my cards up and the players to my left and right can see them at this point. But I'm still working my way through this hand. This guy hasn't been able to look at me ever since I asked him it he had Ace ten. Ace ten of hearts is the only hand that makes sense here. Wait a minute. KQ also makes sense. In fact, KQ makes more sense. I just don't think he would have called the $300 on the turn. I say to Mom, "I think we're going home after this hand, win or lose." By now, I am comfortable with my decision no matter what he has. My voice is almost a whisper, "I call". He turns to look at me. The dealer says, "What? You call?" I say, "Yes, I call". He turns up KsQs. YES! I turn up my pocket 5's and take down the $2000 pot.

It turns out that it was a huge decision for me. But the thing that had me calling the most, was something I saw in his face. Something I can't describe. There was just something there when I first asked him if he had Ace-Ten. Maybe a micro-expression. Maybe it was something that my subconscious understood better than my conscious mind, but something told me to call and to be ok with it either way.  So really, even though my brain said, "fold he's got to have the nuts." Another part of me said, "call." Since I was having an inner struggle I took the time to go through the hand in my mind and to make a conscious decision that Ace ten didn't actually make that much sense... not with HIM. Another donkey caller - yes, but not HIM.

In the end, I was ok with it. If he turned up AhTh, then that would be that. But I was about 90% certain I had the winner after taking the time to work through the hand before calling.

That's it for now. Time to get ready to go win some more money!

Back on the Horse

I know it's been a while, but I just didn't know how to keep writing about losing. So, I've finally moved through my cold deck spell.  I played a $26 Bracelet Race on Full Tilt to win a $2000 WSOP package. I got second place and cashed $400+.  Next, I played a $26 Razz Tournament on Full Tilt and took down 1st place for $930.  And, about a week ago, I bought in for $100 in a $4-$8 limit game at the Belle of Baton Rouge. I started the night off by picking up pocket AA's under the gun and flopping quads.  I followed that hand up with a big blind special, 74 off suit and flopped 774 for a full house.  That night I proceeded to win pot after pot and went home with $600 of winnings.

Yesterday, Mom and Grandma left Baton Rouge to fly to Las Vegas and play in a few WSOP tournaments. After the flight they took a rest, not planning to play any tournaments that day. In fact, Grandma didn't plan to play any tournaments at all, because she says she's too old to play in a tournament for 3 or 4 days... HOGWASH! So after their nap they met up with Captain Tom Franklin (who Mom met just a month or so ago at the IP in Biloxi when she, Tom, and one other guy made a deal as the final 3 players of a $2000 tournament to chop $20,000 each). Tom talked them into signing up for the tournament yesterday even though it had already started. Grandma pulled a table with Tom Durrrr Dwan on her right, Phil Ivey on her left, and Chris Ferguson two to her left. Go, Granny Go!

And Go she did... as she sent Phil Ivey to the rail! There was quite a raucous around her table as and unknown "little old lady" picked up A's against Ivey's K's and sent him packing.  Apparently it was the "shot heard round the world", because they went to Binions today and found that word had spread of a little old lady felting Phil Ivey. As the day wore on, she did start to tire and fell just short of making the money... but who cares... she's got the best story of anybody to tell and had a great experience!

Back to me. I'm working on winning a seat in the WSOP. I've falled short a few times in sateliting into big events. Last year, I missed a WSOP seat on Full Tilt as I finished in 2nd place to cash $800+ and just missing the $12k WSOP Main Event package.  And in November I fell short on Poker Stars when I took 31st place in a $700 tournament that awarded 30 people $10k prize packages to the PokerStars Carribean Adventure in the Bahamas. I'm done with bubbles. This year I'll take the prize!

Ok, one short hand analysis from last night. (Of course, I had to go to the local poker room to brag about Grandma felting Ivey.) Last night I played 62 - a random hand - from late position. The button raised to $8.  There were a few callers including me for the additional $4.  The flop came KK2 with two hearts. Everyone checked to the button and he checked his cards before he continued with a $4 bet. I read this to mean that he did not have a K.  People tend to remember if they have a big card in their hand. No one with any sense has to go back and look at their hand to see if they have a K or an Ace. So, everyone folded and I called. The turn was a 2. This was a great card for me. I was now heads up with the preflop raiser and I still didn't figure him for a King so my full house was probably the best hand. Still, I check-called his $8 bet. The river was a blank. I checked, he bet, and I called. Now, if the river had been a heart, I probably would have raised him on the river, but to minimize my losses in case I was wrong and because I didn't think he would call a raise anyway on the river if he had "air" I just called. It was a great read. He had AhQh - a busted flush draw and his head sunk as he saw that I'd called him down with 62.  Now, I can usually fold these hands, but if I think my opponent doesn't have the goods, then I'll be making those calls and I'm proud of it! That's something you can't do with online poker. You can't see your opponent go back to check his cards.  And that was the primary tell that gave me information about his hand!

Poker: Love it or Hate it

Right now I'm hating it. Ugh, What a day! I started out the day ready to go get em. I played $1-$2 no limit for a while and started out great. I especially pissed this guy off when he threw out a $100 bluff on the river, and after deliberting it, I called with a mere pair of 8's. It felt like a bluff so I went with my gut and I was right. It was all downhill from there.

Later against the same guy I called a preflop raise from him with 67. The flop came AQ6. He started to check out of turn and I read him as missing the flop. I turned a 7 and led out $30. He min raised and I called. The river was a blank and I bet $50. Then all hell broke loose when he shoved all in. Just then I thought, did he slow play a big hand like AQ or AA? I really didn't give hime much credit after the earlier bluff, and quite frankly I thought he was kinda dumb. Add to that the fact that I read bhim as weak on the flop and you have a formula for disaster. I called with my 2 pair and he, the classless jackass that he was, said, "Well I guess you got me cuz all I have is three A's." I paid out the pot saying, "That's a good hand, but there's no need to be a smartass about it." A couple of other players commented on his being a jerk too. I brushed it off, rebought and moved further into poker hell.

Later I called $12 from position with 89. The flop came K89. The preflop raiser bet $60. I loved that bet and wanted him to pour more money into the pot so I called. The turn was a Qc putting 2 clubs on the board. He bet $90. Again, I knew I had the best hand so I called... and let him get there. Yep, the river was a club. He had AcKc for the nuts and I couldn't get away from the hand. Crap! The only thing I could have done differently was to push on the flop and take the hand down there, but I felt like I was far in the lead so I let him bet his way into a perfect turn, perfect river, winner.

Then I played a hand where I flopped open-ended, turned a straight, and my opponent rivered a full house. That's when I quit. So sick, my day at no limit. I feel like I suck. So I went on to play the $345 Mixed game event on the WSOP circuit in New Orleans. I found out that I'm pretty good at all the games except PLO. So for PLO, I tried to take a walk and miss most of the 8 hands. Anyway, I made it halfway through the field of 60+ players to about 30th place. I nursed a short stack after I crippled myself in the very first round of PLO. In the end, I was card dead for Razz, and finally picked a 456 in stud to stick my money in. I ended up missing the straight and catching 2 pair 6's & 4's which was not enough to hold on.

I've really tried to play my best (except for Pot Limit Omaha), but I'm feeling like a loser. All this losing really does that to you. Poker can be so cruel, and when you are runnign good and playing good you feel like a god. But when you go home with nothing to show for your efforts (good play or not) you feel like the scum that costes the inside of the gutter. I need one of grandma's tranquilizers so I can blow it all off.  Tomorrow, I'll need to get back to my real job before poker breaks my heart and my bank.

Hand Analysis in NOLA

So I played the NoLimit in New Orleans yesterday fro $555. Here's how a few of my hands played out.

57s SB. Limped pot. QdT7d. Lead out. BB raises, a player calls, I call.

Turn: 7. Check. BB bets. Other player calls. I raise, big. BB folds. Other player calls. 3d river. I bet 2200. Insta call from other player. He has AQ. I win. (BB had 73 and would have won) What's interesting to me is that I'm surprised the AQ called. When I made the check raise at the paired board from the blind I said to myself, "I shouldn't have done that. It's so obvious that I have a 7. What can they call with but a better hand or a diamond draw." It worked out though because the 7 with no kicker (who would've filled up on the river) folded and I was left with a donkey caller.

EP raise from a weak player. I call with ATs. I know he raises weak hands. Flop Q9d8d. He bet 600. I call. Turn blank. He bet 600. I call. J on the river. He bet 1100. I raise to 3k. He calls. I win. I knew that I was drawing to a gut shot, but there was the possibility that my A high was good enough to win and I figured if an A came I would win, so I counted on more outs than just the J. Of course when the hands went face up, the other guy had something like Q7 suited. I can't believe he donked off another 2k+ on the river when I raised him! And I can't beleive that this donkey made it to the final 20 players in the tournament! Ugh! Especially when I'm watching from the rail.

Ad3d SB. There's a smallish raise. 2 callers. I call. Flop is 873. I check. Preflop riaser bets. I call. Others fold. Turn 3. I check. He bets 3k. I call. River is a blank. I check. He has 3k left but checks. I win. This hand was most interesting because I sent this guy on tilt. I checked the river thinking that he'd fire a third barrell and I'd get him all in. He bet something like 2 or 3k on the turn and left himself with just 3k so I felt he was pot committed and willing to bet the river. Anyway, I missed a bet here.

The game changed a little and I started finding myself with good hands running into better hands. I had a spot where I could have called all-in as a 60% favorite but instead opted to fold. In a cash game I would have called in a heartbeat, but in a tournament my hand was a drawing hand. Me: TsJs. Board: 8c6s9s. Here are my 15 outs: 7h7d7s7cQdQhQsQc2s3s4s5s8sKsAs. I tbhought that I might be up against AK so I raised his flop bet instead of flat calling like I should have done. He then shoved all-in and I, after much debate, folded. I believe he had AA on that hand and I had to hit or go home.

Later I picked up AT. The player on my right raised and I kn ow he's been raising a lot. I sbhould have reraised him preflop, but I didn't. The flop came 57T. He lead out and, again, I should have raised him, but I didn't and I just smooth called. The turn was a 5 and he checked. I shoved all in and he snap called with 5d2d to eliminate me from the tournament.

That was my day in the tournament. There were other bands in the sitngos and in the cash game that are woth discussing, but my fingers are  tired. Suffice it to say that I won my buyin back before the day was out. See ya'll later!

WSOP in NOLA

This week is the final stop of the World Series of Poker Circuit events, and their final stop brings the WSOP close to home. It's been a while since my last big cash and I'm feeling a littlew down about my poker lately. Yesterday we went to scope out the action. The $1-$2 NL game was it's typical Donkey-laiden game and I dumped $300 into the hands of the donkeys there. I chose not to rebuy when my pocket QQ's were cracked by 83 off suit. Then I played a single table sit n go for $125. The final 3 of us chopped. I got $300. Player 2 got $300. And the chip leader took $500. I played another $125 sng and ran my AK into donekys twice and finally lost my chips. I'm not sure I understand some of these guys strategies with the sng's, but I think we'd all do better if they didn't push donkey hands too early.

I won the rest of my money for the night at a 3 card poker table game machine! Go figure. At first I didn't realize that 1=$5 so when I though I was betting $15 I was actually betting $75 per hand! Whoa! So without knowing what was going on I turned $120 into $270 in a snap. I played it 2 more times before leaving for the night. Both times I turned $100 into $300. So for the night I was $300 ahead.

I'm finally ready. I've spent the last 24 hours with visualizations, watching poker videos, and handling life maintenance. I feel like I'm ready for the $550 tomorrow. I'm ready to be on my game and to win that tournament!

Poker at the IP

Well, we've been at the IP in Biloxi for a few days. I'd need to look at a calendar to say how long. I'm dead tired and all my days are running together. Friday (I think) we left Baton Rouge at 4:45pm to drive to Biloxi (2 hrs 15 mins away) to make the last cash tourney in their week of events at 7pm. We arrived at 6:50 and made it into the T. Me? I ran bad. Mom? She ran great! At 2:30am (nearly 24 hours after she had woke up) she chopped to cash $1725 six ways in the T.  Off to bed.

Day 2: We hit the noon tourney which was a free entry with $20 rebuys and an optional single or double addon for $30 each to try to win a $10k seat into the WSOP. The rebuys & addons went to pay entries into a $100 tourney at 8pm. So I played on a super weak table that gave me a chance to see lots of cheap flops. After running into Aces twice I ended up pouring $80 in rebuys into this stupid tournament and then I hit a rush. I started flopping 2 pair and hitting underpairs for sets to knock out player after player. Then I went card dead and with the blinds and antes rapidly increasing in this turbo I ended up going out after the break after adding another $60 for my double addon.  I won the stupid seat into the 8pm T but no wsop seat.

The $100 tourney was another rebuy and I planned NO rebuys. It was to win a seat into the $2250 main event for the next day. I was out in 5 hands or less. All I can say is that I got it in good and lost.

At 8pm Mom bought into the $340 to win a seat into the $2250 tourney. 7 people won seats. Mom was one of them. Then they continued to play it out to win the one seat to the WSOP. At 4am Mom got knocked out in 3rd.

Next Day: Me? Still totally card dead. Mom? Played in the $2250 T and as I write this she is chip leader ir second chip leader with 5 people left. She'll cash somewhere in the range of $2000 - $37539.

Go Mom! At least I get see what it looks like to win!