My name is Derek and I'm 21. Another young poker player, right? I was introduced to Texas Hold'em by my college roommates last fall (I was 20 then). Prior to that, I was only familiar with draw poker. My roommates and some of their buddies told me the rules and I threw in $5, being extra cautious. I should also add that within the same hour, I started drinking for the first time, ever. So my first experience with Texas Hold'em was while I was drunk and inexperienced. I played every hand and called every draw - I was terrible! I didn't care much for the game then. It was alright. And I just started getting into drinking, which I found far more enjoyable.

My next poker experience was during thanksgiving at my grandparents house. We were bored waiting for the food to finish cooking, so we channel surf a bit. What do you know, the 2004 World Series of Poker is on. I'd never seen anything like it. You get to see everyone's hole cards and what they do with them. Suddenly poker became far more interesting. About six of us decide to play our own game with the TV on in the background. I still had no idea what I was doing. We didn't play for money then - just for fun. I think we used jellybeans for poker chips? Either way, it was fun and I was hooked.

Unbeknownest to me, my dad was already into poker. When we returned home, he showed me a couple books he had. I think both of them were by T.J. Cloutier? He advocates a weak-tight play for beginners. "Fit or fold", basically. Thanks to reading his books, I had a better idea of the important of starting hand requirements. And I learned you should raise three to four times the big blind when you have a good starting hand. That's about the depth of his book though. If you miss the flop, check-fold.

My dad told me about him playing on UltimateBet. I joined in to try it out. Play-money first, of course. I knew I was nowhere near good at the game yet and didn't want to risk real-money on it. I continued playing fake-money games for nearly 7 months and accumulated a massive 10+ million monopoly bankroll! I started to think I had become a good poker player.

Some college buddies of mine would have cash games every week. I started to join those thinking I would easily take their money. I'd say half of them were average players and the other half were TERRIBLE players. My problem? I was so incredibly weak-tight that I only bet when I had something strong. Not just that, but I also showed my hands to everyone after they folded. I was quickly pegged as a rock, even by the less observant players. I was far too predictable and I lost $120 or so total playing my weak-tight game (with 25c/50c blinds) over the course of three months.

How could I have earned such a ridiculous amount of chips online playing weak-tight yet lose money live? I think there's a few explanations:

1) People play differently when their cash is at stake, duh.
2) I tended to not show my hands online when I won.
3) With online games, you rarely see the same people every game. Can you even think of the last SNG where you recognized at least three players? In real life, you obviously are playing with the same people, which means they'll pick up your playing style quickly. Especially when you're stupid like me and show your cards when you have them.

I cannot even tell you the amount of times I would raise PF with AK and get a caller. The flop would come something like 964 rainbow. Now I know to throw out a bet on flops like these. If I check, I give the caller an almost necessary bet. Everytime they bet, I would think they must have top-pair and give up my hand. As I mentioned, I was playing far too weak-tight.

So when did I stop being weak-tight? I remember coming home during spring break and finding a new poker book on the living room table. Dan Harrington's Volume 1 guide to No Limit Tournament Play. This book completely revolutionized how I played the game. Once I understood continuation bets, I became a much better player. Thank you "Action Dan"!

I started off my online real-money playing very cautiously, only depositing the minimum of $25. I stuck with micro-limits, as low as 2c/5c, and $1 SNGs. After about a week I jumped up in limits (to that massive 10c/25c) and moved up to $5 SNGs. Within two weeks my bankroll jumped from $25 to around $100. I never expected to make much money playing poker until I saw that $100. That's when I realized poker could at least be a profitable part-time job for years to come.

Lately I've even been thinking of poker as a full-time career. I'm still going to get my bachelors in clinical psychology, but I might not attend grad school anymore. If poker doesn't work out, I still have psychology to fall back on. Here's what I like about poker as a career:

1) I choose my hours. If I feel like making money at 3 A.M. instead of 11 A.M. I have all the freedom to.

2) I love playing poker, talking about poker, reading about poker, and analyzing poker. Wouldn't it be great to have a job that I love?

3) I would have a fluctuating income. What? How is that a positive? I'm tired of the regularity and repetition of the usual life. I think it's exciting to live a life where your payday is everyday and up to your decisions. Plus, I'm a minimalist already, so losing money won't hurt me as much as Mr. Gadget Galore. Some examples of my minimalism

I'm a vegan, which leads to me cooking often. (I also enjoy cooking.)
I'm never purchasing another car the rest of my life.
I don't buy much outside of food and alcohol.

I'm not playing poker to get rich and buy six cars like Johnny Chan. I play it for many reasons. The most important one I can think of... one of my better traits is my reasoning ability. I've always been good with logic and empirical matters. I'm also excellent with knowing and applying probabilities to various situations. And finally, I love playing games which require constant intellectual stimulation - it keeps me from worrying about day-to-day issues.

Okay, enough background, right? The next post will detail some game-play experiences. I'm keeping this journal mostly to remind myself of my bad decisions and how I should have played them instead.

Last night a friend of mine invited me to join him and some buddies for a poker tourney. Here's the setup:

12 players
$5 buy-in (cheap, I know. I wasn't playing to make loads of money or anything.)
$60 prize pool
1st place gets $35
2nd place gets $10
3rd place gets $5
(I personally think it should be $35/15/10 or 30/20/10. To come in 3rd after playing for five hours and only get your buy-in back is ridiculous.)

The blinds started at 5c/10c. Since we only had 12 players, we started off playing six people each on two tables until both tables lost exactly 2 players each.

With the blinds that ridiculously low, I folded and folded and folded while paying close attention to Mr-Know-It-All (KIA) on my left and Ms-Passive-No-Raiser (PNR) on my right.

I'll give a few examples:

The first hand dealt, KIA raised a small amount and was minimum re-raised by Ms-Clueless in the SB. KIA immediately announces, "I'm all-in." I couldn't help but laugh! Going all-in this early on is so ridiculous. He tells her he has AKs and after much thought and she folds her A7s, he shows.

A couple limpers before PNR on the Button. SB completes, BB checks. The flop comes rags. She check-calls. The turn is a king, she check-calls. The river pairs the board and it goes check-check. She turns over her full house, Kings over 7s. I wanted to comment about how weird it was to slow-play her Kings against 4 limpers all the way to the river. And then even check down the river with the nuts! But I restrained myself. No need to make her a better player.

After completion of a hand, KIA mentions how he loves being on the Button, and shares his wisdom with all, "When you're here, and see everyone checking to show weakness, you bet and easily take down the pot." I smiled knowing he'd be the prime target for slow-playing. Also, after everytime he missed his draws or someone else hit theirs, he would say "I was 33% after the turn" or "You were 18% to hit your flush on the next card". Thanks KIA!

-

I made more good decisions than bad ones during the tourney, but still, my bad ones were pretty lousy. Some examples:

#1
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I raised UTG with AKo. KIA min-raises me. Any re-raise I make here would leave me pot-commited, so I decide to call and see a flop first. I made numerous errors here:

1) I thought it was more likely he had a pocket pair than overcards. That's nearly always the wrong prediction to make, since there's many more ways to be dealt unpaired hands than paired hands.
2) I didn't push with my AK when I was relatively short-stacked.
3) I didn't continuation bet the non-descript flop of T72. I checked to him, allowed him to bet, and I had no idea where I stood in the hand. My only options then were to re-raise all-in and hope he doesn't have a pocket pair, to weakly call and hope he checks the turn, or to fold. I decided on the latter. I usually do not play this weak-tight and it absolutely made me sick when he showed me his AQs after I folded!
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#2
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We're down to the last 6 players. EP puts in a small raise. I fold my 99? I could have re-raised to get it heads-up versus the likely overcards, or I could have AT LEAST called and decided what to do on the flop. After I folded, the BB calls. The flop ended up coming 755. BB raises, EP is surprised and says, "Don't tell me you hit that flop". He calls after a few seconds. The turn comes another 5. BB pushes all-in (completely overbetting the pot) and EP folds. BB shows his 7. [Something else I noticed about this table is every overbet all-in means STRONG hand. They don't care about being paid off with the nuts.]

Here's what I would have done had I stuck around in the hand. I would have re-raised the flop and called the all-in on the turn. I never give credit to someone holding quads. If I lose a full house to quads, then that tourney simply wasn't meant for me to win.
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#3
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KIA limps along with another two players, including PNR. I pick up AA in the big-blind. The blinds are 25c/50c. I raise 4x BB to $2, trying to weed out some of the limpers. KIA asks me how many chips I have left. I slowly count it out, not trying to show any strength whatsoever. He ends up folding as do the rest of the limpers. I pick up a small pot with my aces. I wish I only raised to $1.50! That might have gotten some of the limpers to fold while still keeping someone in.
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#4
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Another huge error I made was showing my aces after everyone folded. TERRIBLE move. I do not want people to see me raising with such strong hands. Later in the tourney I even showed my QQ and my JJ after everyone folded to my raise or re-raise.

I need to stop showing my hands for free. No more free information! I know the more observant people there have me classified as a rock now. I can still use that image to my advantage no doubt, but I'd rather be clean of the image.
****************

Still, I came in 3rd place. I'm okay with that.

Next Sunday I'll be playing another tourney there. Now that I have better reads on the other players, I'll raise more often and NOT SHOW MY HANDS FOR FREE.

At least I managed to keep quiet during the game. I often cannot resist the temptation of helping other people play better. Just stop doing it, Derek...

No responses yet, so I'll assume I'm lacking in the readers department. Oh well, I love writing about poker anyway.

Recently I've decided to wean off the SNGs for a while and stick with my limit games. Lately I've been winning more consistently in limit than in SNGs, although overall I've made more profit with SNGs.

I still play at the micro-level, 0.5/1.0 and 1/2 usually, unless .25/.50 has GREAT table conditions. I'm very picky with my table selections. I generally play limit on UB and PokerStars because they tell me my favorite stat, the Avg Amt of Players seeing a flop. I love playing at tables with an average of 40% or above.

My current stats: 10k hands, 2.83 BB/100, 16% VP$IP, AF and AT 3.0, AR 2.0. Perhaps I should value bet the river more.

The past 500 hands or so I've been playing slightly looser - about 21% VP$IP and showing a whopping 17.5 BB/100 profit. I know it's a small sample size, but so far, so good. I loosened up after reading Small Stakes Hold'Em by Miller and Sklansky. See my post "Playing Too Tight" in the Limit section for examples on the loosening up. I HIGHLY recommend it for experienced players with good post-flop skills.

Just a couple minutes ago I came back from another live tourney at the same friend's house. I placed 2nd this time and only made a couple mistakes:

1) 6-handed. One limper before me. I raise 3x BB on the button with QQ. SB calls, everyone else folds. The SB knows I often have strong hands when I'm in there raising.

The flop comes Q96 rainbow. He checks, and I bet 1/4 the pot, just hoping he re-raises me. He folds, I shake my head and muck my hand. He shows me AT. If I let him hit a T or an A, I could have extracted some more bets from him! But no, I thought "he sees me bet after nearly every PF raise, so he probably thinks I might have nothing here". He might have bet the turn regardless of hitting an A or T thinking his a-high was good.

2) 5-handed. One limper before me. I pick up 88 on the button and raise 4x BB and am re-raised a small amount by the BB who is short-stacked. Everyone else folds, but I call. The flop comes J74 rainbow. BB announces "all-in" and I feel like he has me beat. I start talking out loud: "If you have an overpair or a J I'm practically drawing dead. But you could be betting this with AK, AQ, AT, or KQ even." I ended up calling, saying "I feel like leaving soon anyway" (there was a lot of arguing at the tourney which made it tense, not the usual relaxing atmosphere there, and plus, it was like 2 A.M.). He turns over KJ and it holds up. I still had 15x BB, so I wasn't in any desperate situation yet.

There were a few other mistakes I made, but nothing that major. How about some positives?

1) I didn't show my hands much. If I raised and everyone folded, I took the pot and mucked the hand. I don't need to say anything else. Occasionally I said, "I was on a draw" which doesn't really say anything.

2) When I did show my hands, it was when I semi-bluffed or stone-cold bluffed. That's also when I said "I was on a draw".

3) I kept my aggression up, raising and re-raising instead of calling, in the right situations.

4) I picked up a few more reads on some of the players there.

Next week I'll play my best again and we'll see how it goes.

It's amazing to me that you raising 4xBB makes everyone else fold... I'm a B&M junkie, and in my games, all 4xBB means is that you've got an Ace or pair of 2s...

If they really give you THAT much respect, you should bluff a LOT more, like every other freakin hand, until they stop folding to you that much...

As for showing hands, I NEVER show my hands, for any reason whatsoever... I'm not sure which pro it is that wrote a lot about it, but he said that there's a tension that builds up inside of you when you have to fold, the whole not knowing sorta thing, and showing your hand shows the opponent whether or not they made the right play... And, while you might have thrown them off a pot and put them on tilt, the times that they're still mystified by your plays are much more valuable... I LOVE it when people show cards... They think they're showing how big their balls are that they bluffed away $200 w/ pocket 2s when someone in EP bets, got raised, and had 3 callers before you... I just think "this guys an idiot and doesn't know how to play"...

Relating to some of your hands...

To me, both of your #1 hands were the same... If I bet PF, I continuation bet the flop... Whether I hit or not, I bet... When I see someone bet PF and then check the flop, I get VERY suspicious, expecting a monster... You weren't gonna get any money out of his AT, unless he hit at least a piece of the flop... Even if he does bet out the turn, he's folding to any significant action...


First series of hands #2... I'm probably pushing PF... or at least calling and pushing the flop... I think that was a weak fold...

First series #3... If they're folding to your 4xBB raises, just do it every 3 or 4 hands until they stop folding to ya... Hopefully, that'll be the time that you have the Aces...

Second series.. hand #2... I don't mind the call... Sounds like BB was shortstacked, and it wasn't much to call him anyway... And, he could easily be doing that w/ a missed AK,AQ, or could be making a total bluff move...

Overall, I think you played most of the hands well...

In the $5 tourney the prizes only add up to $50... did somebody skim $10 off the top?

Anyway, I agree that 1, 2, and 4 were bad. Raising your AA 4x BB or 3xBB... I don't think it really makes that much of a difference. A bet like this is looking to bait in a strong hand that you dominate (e.g., lower pair or Ax). If no one has a hand, well, better luck next time. If you find that 3x BB is OK but 4x BB isn't on PF raises, then you have some valuable information.

Also, I wonder what else you raise with preflop? 9Ts? JJ? 27o (for the pure bluff)?

second tourney #1... check down and hope he tries to take it on the turn. you flopped a monster on a rag board and you have to let him try to catch up. i like MVPs idea of consistent continuation bets, too. it can keep people off balance.

stop showing any cards unless you are absolutely certain that it will have a specific desired effect on your opponents. showing bluffs can be just as bad as showing monsters. make them pay to see cards.

Glad to see I have some readers! I would still continue writing without them anyways.

This isn't your typical B&M game, this is a home game at a friend's house. A couple of them actually know about pot odds and hand odds and one of them occasionally makes use of them. Usually he misunderstands how to apply those concepts though.

Like in the last hand, we're heads-up and it's 3:30A.M. We've been doing the usual crap shoot pissing contest for the past few hands. I took a bgt hit when I re-raise bluffed with Q-high on a flop, he calls with a-high, hits an ace on the turn and pushes all-in. (This guy would not fold to almost any of my raises heads-up. It also helps he picked up two AK's, an AT, and an A2 within the span of fifteen hands, while my best hand was KT.)

So anyways... my point... the hand that knocked me out in 2nd place. I pick up KT and push all-in (I only had like 6x BB anyway), he tells me "This hand has good pot odds if I hit my flush". I'm there thinking he's going to call me with like 94s. He calls and turns over 64s. I end up hitting two Ks, but he pulls off a flush on the river and wins it. The pot odds were 1.3:1. Who would call an all-in with 6-high with less than 2:1 odds? Not even 1.5:1 odds! This was just ridiculous. I still said "good game" and took my $15 2nd place finish.

Oh yeah, and it was Mr. Know It All who came in first. He clearly understands this game perfectly.

By the way... this wasn't your usual $5 buy-in. There were 12 players in the first game and 11 in the second game.

I think the reason so many people fold to my raises is because I've showed my cards so frequently. I remember during the first tournament this loose player called my raise with T6 and hit trips on the flop against my ace-high. I bet on the raggedy 663 flop and he calls. The turn comes another 3 and I bet again. He re-raises all-in and I know from table experience when they push all-in, they are not bluffing. I tell him, "I'd be amazed if you had a 6 or 3. I'll assume you have a pocket pair of some sort." and I fold. He shows his hand and says "I only called because I know you only play premium hands." Yes, keep calling my raises with T6 in hopes of hitting the miracle full house. That's fine with me.

Similar to most tournaments, most raises early on are called by 3-4 players. That's why early on I just stick with raising decent hands. Any raise I do early on will be unprofitable if it isn't a value bet, so there's no sense in raising with 44, 76, JT, etc. Later on I started opening up a lot more, but still nothing too ridiculous. I'd usually get one or two callers, but a continuation bet or re-raising on raggedy flops took down the pot more than 3/4 the time.

The only really weird raise I did was when we were 3-handed and it's folded to the SB who completes. Earlier in the tournament everytime I raised his limp, he folded his hand. I pick up Q5 in the BB and raise. He had about 8x BB left and I had something like 30x BB. He calls. The flop comes 245 and he bets a small amount, I raise him all-in and he immediately calls with A2. My 5s hold up to win it and he complains "You raised with Queen-Five? Queen fucking five?" I explain, "I only raised because every other time you limped in and I raised, you then folded." After a minute he calms down and says "At least I made it in the money. Good game."

Yeah... I know I shouldn't show my hands. It really has hampered my game. Later on I take advantage of the image with my usual short-handed aggression. After I steal a few blinds and take down raggedy flops, they finally realize I'm not just playing strong cards anymore.

Hey! I feel like updating here!

The past week I've been strictly playing limit games (and an occasional freeroll for the hell of it). I haven't been playing that often either. My stats for this week:

1,723 hands played
18.5% VP$IP
7.5 BB/100
8% PFR
2.5 AG TOT

I recently cashed out my PokerStars and EmpirePoker accounts into my NetTeller account. I also transferred $300 from my UB account to NetTeller. I'm intending on making use of PartyPoker's EXTRA30 bonus code, 30% up to $150 for your first deposit. I need to deposit $500 to get the maximum of $150. Within another two days the deposits should all be clear and I can tear apart the PP limit games.

I hear PP limit games are the fishiest on the net. I am certainly looking forward to crushing those games! Until then, I have to stick with my tougher UB games.

On UB, it's rare to find a table above .25/.50 with more than 35% PSF (people seeing flop). Whenever it occurs at .50/1.0 and 1/2, I am there! I love seeing one extra loose player there and at least two loose players (40%+ VP$IP). On these specific tables, I get to play slightly looser and make bigger profits. Instead of only playing 15% of my hands, I get to play closer to 20%.

Today and yesterday I've been getting outdrawn by runner-runners or 3-outters far too often. Here's some examples:

Ultimate Bet 0.50/1 Hold'em (10 handed)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with , . UTG+1 posts a blind of $0.50.
1 fold, UTG+1 (poster) checks, 2 folds, MP2 calls, Hero raises, 1 fold, Button calls, 1 fold, BB 3-bets, UTG+1 folds, MP2 calls, Hero caps, Button calls, BB calls, MP2 calls.

Flop: (17.50 SB) , , (4 players)
BB bets, MP2 calls, Hero raises, Button folds, BB 3-bets, MP2 calls, Hero calls.

Turn: (13.25 BB) (3 players)
BB bets, MP2 folds, Hero calls.

River: (15.25 BB) (2 players)
BB bets, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 17.25 BB

Results in white below:
BB has 7s Ah (one pair, aces).
Hero has Kd Kc (one pair, kings).
Outcome: BB wins 17.25 BB.

BB has 88% VP$IP and was a maniac. I went to check-call mode when the ace showed up. Fucking 3-outter beats me. I should be profiting off these maniacs with my strong hands! But I have to always remember.. with the maniacs come more variance. In the long run I will make HUUUGE profits off them.

Ultimate Bet 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (10 handed)

Preflop: Hero is BB with , .
1 fold, UTG+1 calls, 1 fold, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, 2 folds, Button raises, SB calls, Hero calls, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls, MP2 calls.

Flop: (12 SB) , , (6 players)
SB calls, is calls, Hero checks, UTG+1 checks, MP1 bets, MP2 calls, Button raises, SB folds, Hero 3-bets, UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, Button caps, Hero calls, MP1 calls, MP2 calls.

Turn: (15 BB) (4 players)
Hero checks, MP1 bets, MP2 calls, Button raises, Hero 3-bets, MP1 calls, MP2 folds, Button caps, Hero calls, MP1 calls.

River: (28 BB) (3 players)
Hero bets, MP1 raises, Button 3-bets, Hero calls, MP1 calls, Button calls, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 38 BB

Results in white below:
Button has Ah Jc (straight, ace high).
Hero has Js Ks (straight, king high).
MP1 has As Jh (straight, ace high).
Outcome: Button wins 19 BB. MP1 wins 19 BB.

With this many people in the pot, calling 1-raise with KJs is a profitable move (unsuited would not be, however). I flop the nut straight. The turn I still have the nuts. THEN THE FUCKING 3-outter. In a pot that large, I just cannot fold. Perhaps after the raise and re-raise I should have folded... anyways.. it was a HUGE pot and I'd only have to win 1 out of 12 times to profit. I dunno... I really couldn't imagine BOTH of them having AJ. And of course that's the case.

One more example... (there were more, trust me):

Ultimate Bet 0.50/1 Hold'em (10 handed)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with , .
1 fold, UTG+1 calls, 2 folds, Hero calls, MP3 calls, 1 fold, Button calls, SB completes, BB checks.

Flop: (6 SB) , , (6 players)
SB checks, BB bets, UTG+1 calls, Hero raises, MP3 folds, Button calls, SB folds, BB calls, UTG+1 calls.

Turn: (7 BB) (4 players)
BB bets, UTG+1 folds, Hero raises, Button folds, BB calls.

River: (11 BB) (2 players)
BB bets, Hero raises, BB 3-bets, Hero caps, BB calls.

Final Pot: 19 BB

Results in white below:
BB has 9c Tc (full house, tens full of nines).
Hero has 8s 8c (full house, eights full of tens).
Outcome: BB wins 19 BB.

BB was an extremely fishy player. Very loose and very passive. I wasn't slow-playing my set at all. Raise raise and raise. The river I figured I was against trip tens or a straight. I didn't consider that since all the cards are connected, if he had a T, he probably also had an 8, 9 or J. So capping the river was a slight error. I played the hand perfect until then, but that fucking 3-outter on the river screws me again! THREE OUTS DAMNIT. THAT'S ALL I HAD TO AVOID!

To say the least, variance has caught up to me recently. Before the past two days, I was up like 15 BB/100. I'm still playing great, occasionally missing an extra bet or two, or being too aggressive without the absolute nuts, but those are still only one or two bets when those happen. Big deal. The biggest mistake you can make would be folding the winning hands in large pots. You lose THE ENTIRE POT, which might be more than 20BB. You'd have to win like six small pots to make up for that bad fold.

I hope variance swings back my way again... lately my 12+ out draws have been missing and I've been outdrawn by 3-outters on the river.

On a positive note... only two more days at my part-time job, then I'm done for summer! In a couple weeks I return to college. My only job at college will be poker. We'll see how that goes.

that looks like my last limit session. It hurts. Only thing I could say that in hand 1, I'm capping that flop. Other than that, I think you played them well and just got screwed.