Back from Vegas OH yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just came back from Las Vegas on Monday morning, and I had the time of my life it was a much needed vacation. My trip to Las Vegas was for several reasons:

• I have never been before, so I wanted to see what it was like.
• Take a much needed vacation from work.
• Help one of my friends enjoy his last few days of freedom before marriage.
• Test my poker game in a real brick and mortar casino.

You may have noticed a new logo on the top of my site, thanks to my friend Greg from http://www.halloftheblackdragon.com for creating the logo for me.

I didn't play in as many tournaments as I had hoped to play in during my time in Vegas, I was pretty much awake the entire time, and I managed to play in 2 Poker Tournaments among all the buffets, clubs, women, and crappy driving taxi's.

I will make 2 separate posts for the poker tournaments, so that I can get in depth with them I really learned a lot and feel that I came out of it as a better player. Let's say both tournaments were 2 opposite extremes of each other.

I am really anxious to get home tonight to see the WPT Championship, I already konw Tuan Le wins, but the rumor that Habib was dumping chips to Tuan has been rampant for a little while now, so I want to see first hand if I can pickup on it, or if it really happened. John Phan was also at the final table and this guy has made one hell of a push at the WSOP he is currently leading the player of the year standings, I knew he was a good player, but I never thought he would take over the scene this quickly.

I looked up my poker stats on http://www.pokerprophecy.com and it's close to accurate I think they miss some games, but here are the stats as of yesterday:

Player themarksman:

Games played 134

Wins 50 (37.31%) Losses 84 (62.69%)

Average Buy-In $9.07

Players with better winning percentage 168492

Players with worse winning percentage 380218

$150 Table: 1 wins / 0 losses / 100% wins

$20 Table: 1 wins / 2 losses / 33.33% wins

$10 Table: 25 wins / 46 losses / 35.21% wins

$5 Table: 23 wins / 36 losses / 38.98% wins

Much more to come later, I have a lot of posts to catch up on.

Going All-In isn't always the best play

I just like a lot of other poker players out there savor the joy of going all-in, pushing your chips into the pot and watching the outcome is one of the most exciting experiences in this world. But for professionals and competitive Poker players it can be agonizing, cruel, puzzling, and just down right nasty.

As I have played online poker and at Derby Lane recently I have noticed that a lot of players go all-in when the situation doesn't even warrant it. The following scenario illustrates the reason why you don't push your chips in unless absolutely neccesary.


On a sit n' Go online I was dealt A 5 Diamonds, I was chip leader and the big blind at the time, a player acting before me raised the pot to double the big blind. One other player calls, and everyone else folds, the two players have more chips than I do by about $300, so I decide to call since I was already giving money and I had a slightly above average hand, suited, A, and straight possibility. The flop comes 10S, JD, QD, the guy acting first checks and the next guy bets 100, I figure if a king comes it would be a split, and the guy that called had been playing A 3' and 4's, and he was not the original raiser, the orginal raiser folds while typing curse words into the chat box. The next card is a KH, I hit the straight, and I knew he had an A, so I figured we would split the pot. Well Mr. Greedy pushes his chips all in and he has me covered, I guess he figured I had a J, K, or Q, he didn't think for one minute that maybe I was waiting on the A high straight just like him? Well of course I call and he flips over A8 off suit and I flip over my A5 suited diamonds, and the last card is 4 D, so I make an Ace high flush, and I take most of his chips.

I know he was thinking either I won or I get a split, that's why he pushed hoping maybe I would fold, well a bet of 250 or 350 would have been just as good in his case, instead he didn't cash because he was too careless, that's why reading the board is important.

That illustrates my point to the letter, I pick and choose my all-ins if it isn't neccesary I am not going to do it in a spot where a big bet can accomplish the same thing, and that's a big mistake a lot of people make they go all-in putting extra chips at risk for no need. If the person has a much smaller stack than you then it's ok to press that button, but if you are in a pot with a person who has close to the same amount or more just bet big instead.

I am not trying to tell anyone how to play their game, it's ultimately up to the player, but people that do that is one of the ways I build my stack, so I hope people will keep doing it no matter how annnoying it is, but anyone aspiring to win consistently may want to think about the situation and calculate the risks before doing anything especially pushing all your chips to the middle of the Green Felt.

Retiring of "The Gimp"

Those that play with me know who "The Gimp", I am retiring the name I just need to come up with something new to call him. Wait I got I will call him "FDR" like the president because he usually has a good table presence.

I have much respect for FDR he has improved his poker game, and I think right now he plays at a good level, to compare him to myself I think I am more consistent at day in day out poker, but he always show up for the big tourneys, the ones that really count, and that's saying something. If I had to characterize his strengths and weaknesses they would be as follows:

Strengths:

Fearless
Not scared to bully people at the table
Bluffing to accumulate chips
Plays hands strong
Makes Good Decisions
Doesn't care who's in the hand, plays his cards and what he has

Weaknesses:

Doesn't play the position game
Doesn't do a lot of player analysis
Doesn't read the board properly at times
Lack of experience against people he doesn't know


We are going to Vegas in the next few days and I plan on playing in a few poker tournaments while I am out there, I am sure FDR will play as well, so it's going to be interesting to see how he does out there. If he can do well against people he doesn't know then he can take his game to a high level, I am almost his polar opposite I play a little more tight to the vest and I pick my spots I am trying to emulate a Dan Harrington style of poker with a little bit of Daniel Negreanu and Gus Hansen mixed in. If I can accomplish that it will make me hard to read, and you will never know what I have, I think FDR plays kind of like a Carlos Mortensen, but not as aggressive. FDR is playing great based on the fact that he hasn't been playing that long, he has picked up the game quickly and has a lot of potential.

One thing I can say about everyone I play poker with regularly is, we have probably given AG a nice spectrum of players to get him ready for the WSOP I would say the people we play with provide a tough final table IMHO, and I can attest to that fact because I started winning more once I started playing with these people often, and it's not just the game it's everything hearing people talk about poker and different strategies you can't help but to pickup information while you are there. It has translated into positive $$$ nothing really high stakes yet, but hopefully soon.

6/18/2005 - Poker Activity

Saturday an impromptu tournament was held over at the Banea School of Poker, and I was looking forward to it because I had been on a run of bad luck/bad playing lately, and when I was winning it wasn't worth the hour or so I spent to get it.

There were a few new faces there this time, along with some familiar ones. The funny thing is a no drinking mandate was placed on the environment, and someone showed up with beer, so it was kind of funny that he hadn't checked his email, and he had no clue, and he looked so ready to get wasted. Well I guess that ensured the streak was going to be broken of the drunk guy winning the big tournaments (LOL).

I felt confident considering my recent play, and I actually won a hand early with a pair of Jacks really wasn't much to the hand kind of boring at early levels, there was an Ace on the board and that limited my aggresiveness a little. One of AG's friends showed up who had played in the Party Poker Million Tournament, and most consider him a semi-pro, so I was interested to see how good he was.

I messed up on an early hand I raised before the flop with KQ offsuit, and I was called by the chip leader who had been on a hot streak making unbeleivable hands like a few wins with Q3 which he calls his lucky hand. Everyone else goes away, and the flop comes 8 K 5, so I am feeling fairly good about the raise wondering what Mark has on the other side of the table. He comes out with a bet of $150, which kind of throws me off a bit and he wasn't even hesitant about it, so I decide to see how serious he is about playing this hand and I raise to $500 total which he calls immediately. The next card is a 4, and he customizes a bet to put me all-in, these are the type of hands I have a hard time with, my thought process goes like this, he called a raise before the flop and he wasn't one of the blinds, this usually means big cards or a decent sized pocket pair, he is confident enough in his hand that my raise was like nothing to him, and he was anxious to push all-in. So I am thinking he has AK, 2-pair (doubt it), or a pocket pair that he made a set with. Either way I think he had me beat, so I give up the hand, what usually happens to me in those type of hands is I would call the all in and get blindsided by the set, this time I decided to make my stand later.

That hand somewhat handcuffed me as I was down to $1000 chips and just about every hand was raised so playing drawing hands or junk was going to be difficult. After folding a bunch of hands I made it to the final table, with about $700 chips as I didn't play that many hands, I look at AG's stack and he has a huge stack of chips and here I am still wondering how to accumulate so many chips, so you can have some bullets to play in a tournament. One of the first hands I get at the final table is A 10 suited, I figured I might as well make my stand with this. AG calls my all-in along with one other player, a 10 comes on the flop and they don't make their hands and I triple up. Then "The Gimp" goes out who was breathing down my neck in the points race at the time, "The Bat" went out as well so now I am feeling I can take advantage of that fact because The Bat always over bets his hand, and The Gimp won't let you see any cards for cheap if he has a piece of the board, so with both of them gone I figured I would be able to see a few more hands because AG is all over the place and unpredictable, so you have to deal with him on a hand by hand basis.

I am big blind at $400 and I am dealt K J, not a bad starting hand and Brian raises the pot to $1000, and everyone else folds and it comes to me. This is where I always screw myself in tournaments 1 mistake kills all the good I may have done up until that point like that time I raised AG at Derby trying to steal the blinds and he came back over the top. Well me not thinking the hand through and for some reason being a bit defensive of my blinds, re-raises him and put him all-in he calls and flips over AK, the funny thing I suspected that's what he has, Brian is a guy that places tight to the vest until he gets paint then he hopes the flop is favorable or he just goes all-in. I knew this, I had information available to me and I didn't use it, and of course I didn't catch a J and I was eliminated. Bad play on my part, and that's my biggest problem I have 1 lapse where I ignore all logic and warning signs and I lose all my chips or most of them.

AG went on to win, he beat Sue in a long heads up match, I hope the guy does well at the WSOP that will hammer home the fact that anyone can truly make it if you put in the work.

We played another tournament afterwards, and The Gimp came in second to pass me in points, he always does well in the big tournaments. How I was eliminated from this one, is kind of crazy I was dealt QQ, Ken was acting before me and he goes all in, I call then The Bat calls right behind me I flip over my ladies and The Bat flips over AK, Ken flips over K 10 I am feeling good because they both have a king with means they are sharing outs, well 2 kings come to give both of them a set of kings, and I end up dealing the rest of the night.

After watching the semi-pro play, I am convinced of a few things:

* I don't think he's better than AG
* I have to give him respect though he made it to the WPT and placed that says a lot
* Bluffing only works if you identify the players at your table

Seriously I don't think he realized the amount of loose aggresive players like Jackal and Jackal Jr., The Bat, and The Gimp you will have a hard time bluffing them out of a pot most of the time, and he tried to and they busted him. He is a solid player, but I wonder how good he is at reading players. It's hard to rate someones game after only playing 2 games with them, these are just preliminary observances.

Solid Play doesn't always equal a win

I went to play at my favorite spot last night the Banea School of Poker, I haven't played over there in a while because of school, work, gym, and all other parts of life. It is a welcome change playing with real people instead of online with the crazies on party poker and ultimate bet. One of the Banea clan qualified for the WSOP main event, and I am more excited about it than he probably is lol. Making the WSOP probably isn't that big of a deal, but hell it's a dream of mine making it to the WSOP or WPT, and he is living it.


Last night I inserted the changes to my game that I picked up from reading a few comments from Doyle Brunson, and Daniel Negraneu (sp?). I try to scour the internet for information to help me figure out what I was doing wrong, so that I could break out of this losing streak I was in. After most of the articles I found I really wasn't playing as bad as I thought I was; there were a few things I picked up on from my research that I was doing wrong:

• I was going all in during situations when it wasn't neccesary even though I felt I had the nuts, and as a result I would run into the bad luck of someone catching an unbelievable hand like the 3 games in a row I was eliminated by 4 of a kind when I had a full house.
• If someone is determined to chase a flush draw there isn't much you can do about it except bet, and if they hit it just get away from the hand if you put them on the flush.
• Going all-in is a last resort, your not going to win the tournament or table during the first two rounds of blinds, try not to go all in if you don't have too.

All those tips were right on, and it made me realize I wasn't playing badly I was running into monsters and getting eliminated, instead if I bet big and just lost a big pot, I was still in it and had a chance to come back.

On to last nights action I started out playing disciplined and being patient, I folded a lot getting a read on everyone at the table and luckily some of the more aggressive players were acting before me, so it was the perfect position for me. After folding and winning one or two modest sized pots with my new found aggressive play, I hit a run of cards never before seen in the history of poker, I received all the hands in a row:

QQ, KK, AJ, AQ, QQ, AJ, AA, 22

Needless to say I played the first pair of Queens aggressively and won a nice sized pot, I raised 3 times the big blind with the kings and stole the blinds plus one person's call. The AJ I limped in with it, and my pair of jacks lost to a pair of kings, I stole the blinds with the AQ by betting double the big blind. This next hand I misplayed, I was on the button and everyone folded before me I figured at most the big blind and small blind would play, so it would be 3-handed. Well, they both came into the pot, the flop came 6, 4, 9 and Daniel (The Bat) puts out a bet double the big blind of $300, so I am thinking this guy is either bluffing or over betting his small pair (a typical practice of The Bat), so I raise to $600, and he goes all-in which was only $125 more for him, so of course I call. He flips his cards over and he has two pair 6 4, I didn't catch a queen and he won the pot. I was a little pissed at myself because I didn't raise but I was hoping one of them had a pair smaller than a queen and would go all int, I just didn't count on two pair. The AJ hand I raised and was called by 3 people, we all checked it down to the river then, one of the sisters bets $300, I have a jack which 2nd pair at the time and I am looking at the board and there is a straight draw out there if someone has AQ or Q9 then they would have made their straight. I look over at her and she is trying to keep a straight face and bursts out laughing, then she says "I hate when I get busted on the river.", so I take out enough chips to double her bet and I stare her down, and I just thought through the hand and I put her on the AQ and I figured she had the straight, so I fold, and the Bat's girl called the bet (I put her on a K early in the hand because she bet 300 when the flop was K J 7, she doesn't usually bluff from my experience). Well Barb did hit the straight with Q9, I put her on the wrong hand, but I knews I was beat anyway.

The next hand AA, the holy grail of poker starting hands, I raise the pot so to eliminate any draws, and Christina calls me quickly, so I start thinking she must have a nice hand to call a decent sized raise with the blinds this big. The flop comes 3 6 8 all hearts, so she acts first and bets $300, now I am perplexed a little she called a raise and then all low cards came out, but she doesn't really bluff, so I am thinking pockets, but what size, so I just call because of the potential flush and maybe a set is out there. The turn is an 8 of clubs, she just checks, so I check behind her then the river is another heart and she bets $700, I knew she had made her hand but I just had to call to see what she hand and it was Pocket Q's one of them a heart. I realized then there was nothing I could do to take that hand from her, she was going to be the Queens and she probably would have called any all in, the only thing I could have done was fold and save some chips, but you will never learn if you don't try. I was eliminated with the pocket 2's because I was stinging from the last 2 hands and I went all in, Christina called with Q7 and hit a Queen on the turn.

Overall I don't think I played that bad, but I ran into a little bit of bad luck and I misplayed my hands in a few spots, but overall it's not bad. I went home and got 2nd place in a $5.00 sit 'n' go on Party Poker, so it was an ok day. I am just ready for Vegas.

Almost made it

For the longest time I have been sitting on my freeroll entry into Party Poker's Mini Step 4, since my game had taken a turn for the worst I decided I was going to wait until I felt, I was back playing stable again. Well after another night of losing, I decided what the hell I might as well take my free roll, if I get in the top 2 at this table then I move on to mini step 5 where the grand prize is $2000.00 and the top 5 places pay out at that table which would mean easy cash in the long run.

I had hit rock bottom in my game, and for some reason I have an ability to rise to the occasion when it really counts, I can lose $5.00 sit and go tournaments all day long and not care much, but when the big money is on the line or it's an important satellite I rise to the occasion. My strategy for these mini step tournaments is almost foolproof, the first thing you should do is go on party poker's website and look at how the placing works. At this particular table, the top 2 received an entry into the next level places 2 - 5 got a entry into the same level, I didn't care much after that I always aim to get in the top 5 then I open my game up. The reason being dropping down to mini-step 3 would suck, but dropping all the way back down to mini-step 1 would suck even worse. It's like climbing up 1000 stairs one at a time, and then almost getting to the top and falling down, I played some tough games to get this far and I am not about to blow it now.

So, I let all the knuckle heads go out early and I started playing when there were 7 people left taking advantage of my tight playing early I stole some pots by betting big because no one had any clue how I played, and none of them could put me on anything especially since I didn't raise before the flop on a lot of them. As always it turned into a grind out match when there were 6 people left because no one wanted to be the guy busted down a level, I had a healthy chip stack so I knew it wasn't going to be me.

It was down to 4 people and I was the lowest and 15 minutes later I was chip leader with 3 people left. One hand that I might have misplayed is I was dealt Q 10 diamonds the dealer button folded I was small blind I limped in with another 250, the big blind then goes all in over top of me, which kind of gets on my nerves all these people want to make it coin flip city when it gets late in the game, instead of seeing a flop and playing poker like it was meant to be played. Playing coin flips leaves it up to luck and not skill or strategy, so I folded the hand but I was sure that the guy didn't have anything it was a 50 50 hand either way. Then I was deal A Q of spades and one of the guys went all in I called he had jacks and I got nothing, and he doubled up and I was then the short stack at the table. Ultimately I went all in and got called by a horrible hand and the "LUCK" of internet poker let the dufus catch running 3's to beat me. Oh well I guess I will try again, but I know I was the best player at that table it just wasn't my day to win.