Table Sargent

As a tournament director you run into all types of people and all kinds of situations that happen while a tournament is running. You need a good sense of humor if you are going to run bar poker games because eventually you will see it all. Today I am going to talk about that guy you have all seen, the table Sargent. There are other terms for this person, but I am going to try and be politically correct and call him the table Sargent. This is the person that has to in charge of the table at all times. To a tournament director they can be a great help and at the same time be a pain in the ass. It's a help when they pull the pots to the middle and help make side pots when someone is all in. It's no help if they can't add or don't know the rules of poker. Just remember if you are going to be the table Sargent that you need to nice to people and not degrade or make another player feel stupid because they don't know the rules or make a mistake. For a lot of people bar poker is a place to have fun and learn the game of poker for entertainment purposes. The more people that play the more chance the bar has to increase revenue, the more prizes they can giveaway.

Now on to last nights fun incident. In fact I was involved in the hand to be talked about. I was on the final table with 8 players left and I was one of the short stacks. I was waiting for a hand to push all in before my big blind. I look down at Q-9 suited and push in. I have less then the big blind so I know I am getting at least one call. Everyone folds except the small and big blinds. Pots are arraigned. There is a small side pot of a few thousand. Flop is Q-7-2. Great I flop top pair. Small blind checks and then big blind who is the chip leader by quite a bit bets out. Small blinds mutters a little about the bet and folds his hand. I turn over my Q-9. Big blind turns over 3-4 off. He has nothing. Small blind goes off immediately. What are doing betting me out with nothing. Anyway, I end up winning the pot and end up 5th for the night. Small blind guy is on tilt for the rest of the night over the bet with nothing and pesters the guy all night about what a bad play it is. He must not have read my blog about check downs. Now I don't think I would have bet into the pot with nothing as I would always try and take another player out, but is that the right move. Big blind had nothing and by betting the other guy out he was able to win some of his chips back. So is it really a bad play! In the end it didn't effect the outcome, I still would have won the hand and it put a player on tilt for the rest of the night. Big blind ended up winning the tournament so I guess that maybe it was the right play.

Christmas

Wow has it been a busy holiday season. Between work, poker, wife's surgery, and christmas it has been crazy. It seems a long time since I updated. Here goes.

MN has had a lot of snow as of late just in time for holiday driving. We got close to a foot of new stuff in the last 3 days. It has made driving difficult. Yesterday, we went to my mother inlaws in Chaska. I made lasagna for dinner so we left early to get it in the oven. It was about 34 degrees out so roads were wet and slushy, but overall not too bad. I was able to drive 60 most of the way without too much problems. I was driving on a straight part of the freeway in the twin cities with no one around when all of the sudden the backend of the van slide around. We made a full 360 degree turn and ended up on the side of the road facing the right direction and drove on. How we didn't end up in the ditch is beyond me and why it happened is still a mystery. It was so random. Luckily no one was around us. By the time we left for home in the evening it was raining out and 35 degrees and the roads were just wet. Got to love MN waether in the winter.

I have been on a roll playing poker as of late. I am the points leader of my tuesday game and have finished on the final table in the last 3 events that I have played. I need to go to casino before my heater ends, but it probably isn't going to happen anytime soon.

I got Daniel Negreanu's book for christmas. I have heard good things about it. I will let you know what I think. I also got the little black book of Karma Sutra, but I think I will keep that one to myself. LOL!

State of Bar Poker in MN

This may turn into a rant so I apologize if it does. As the person that had a lot to do with the legalization of Bar Poker in MN it bothers me when people try and do things that are clearly against MN State laws. My worry is that if enough people do things like this that laws may get changed and for many of us that earn money from bar poker it could effect our lives. I am not a person that my only income is from bar poker but it is my part time job and I enjoy doing it.

Here is MN law from their website

http://www.dps.state.mn.us/alcgamb/gamfaq.html


Minnesota law allows for social skill card games of cribbage, skat, sheephead, bridge, euchre, pinochle, gin, 500 and smear or whist and Texas Hold'em, so long as the tournament or contest does not provide any direct financial benefit to the promoter or organizer.

Players in Texas Hold'em tournaments cannot be charged any fee or be required to give any consideration (something of value) as a condition of participation. In other words, players must be able to participate in a Texas Hold'em tournament for free. Prizes can be awarded in Texas Hold'em tournaments. However, as in the case with tournaments involving other social skill games, the value of all prizes awarded in a single tournament cannot exceed $200. With respect to Texas Hold'em, the law further specifies that the value of all prizes awarded to an individual winner of a tournament at a single location may not exceed $200 per day. To participate in Texas Hold'em tournament or contest, a player must be at least 18 years old.

Here are some examples of what I have been seeing lately.

A local radio station had a big promotion that any female could write in and state why her husband, boyfriend, or any other male friend should play in a hold-em tournament that there were running. They picked 50 people from whatever they got and those players meet at a local jewelry store and played for $5000 in jewelry credit from the store. So no entry fee but $5000 in prizes.

A local charity that is actually a county run agency is hosting a hold-em benefit at a bar with a $40 entry fee and $500 1st prize and $1000 in total prizes. I am not against poker for charities, but it needs to be legalized by gambling control. At this time they only allow bingo, pulltabs and paddlewheels that are run by state authorized organizations.

Bars have tried cover charges or extra chips for purchases. Not bad ideas and I understand why bars are trying but the law is clear about all these things.

Bar poker has been a good promotion to increase revenue, but it is getting harder and harder for bars to show profit by running poker tournaments. It is time for a change to the MN holdem laws. My suggestion is to allow charitable gambling license holders to run low stakes buy-in tournaments and keep a percent to cover costs and make a profit, even some of the money could go to the state and we all know they need the money. Most of these organizations are well below past years sales of their other gambling options, so why not have non-profits make a little and then bars can still have tournaments but not have a cost to run them and still increase their revenues.

Who wants to step up and try and make a change. All it takes it some lobbying, so call your local legislators and tell them it's time for a change!

Bad play night!

Tonight I am going on my third night in a row running a bar game. I have a bad cold and am trying my hardest not to get people sick. I just ran the tournament on Friday and didn't play, but I like the deep stack format on Saturday so I wanted to play cold and all. On Saturday we start with a double stack of 10,000 and I run twenty minute blinds most of the night. My plan was be very aggressive early and to slow down if I got to 6000 in chips. I had a very aggressive table with almost every hand being raised and lots of big pots. No one could seem to throw any two face cards away. My early aggression did not work very well as all my raising was called by several players and I couldn't catch a break on a flop and almost always had two callers on a continuation bet. By the first break I was down to 5600 but I felt still in contention for the tournament. After break I started to get good starting hands, but I was miss playing them and being forced to fold hands that might have been best. Example is I had AK suited and I was going to raise but 4 players Had already limited in and a raise was going to get called by at least one player. Flop is A-10-2 rainbow I bet about half my chips and someone that plays somewhat tight goes over the top. I am pot committed so I call and he turns over A-2 two pair and I am out. If I had only raised like I should have preflop he would have folded and I would have still been in the game. I made the same mistake several times last night and believe that I have learned a valuable lesson. even if you think a whole bunch of people are going to call if you have a hand to raise with you better raise. We will see tonight if it has sunk in or not.

Most over played hand in bar poker!

Last night was another fun night at Clearwater. I played like a maniac for the first hour up and down. Changed gears for the next hour and made final table as the short stack. Was under the gun and needed to push with any two cards and look at one and see an ace and push in. Get 4 callers and end up having aces! LOL!. Made it to third place so not too bad of a night.

I played all night with the guy that got second. In a hand at the final table he reraised an all-in with KQ suited. He said it was because he had such a good hand. The player that had moved in first had A-3. I asked him why he had reraised instead of just calling. He said it was because his K-Q was ahead of the A-3. We tried to explain to him that he was about a 60-40 underdog but couldn't understand because his queen was higher then the other guys 3. Got to love bar poker. I believe that K-Q is the most over played hand in bar poker. So many players call a raise with the hand. Why! The best that you are probably going to be is 40% to win unless there is an under pair then maybe 50-50. Now if you add in more callers it even increases the chance that you running into A-K or A-Q or a big pair. K-Q is a decent hand to raise with if you have position but beware you may not have the best hand after the flop and don't commit too many chips unless you are sure you have the best hand. K-Q bar poker rule. Unless you are the aggressor, just fold. Live to play another hand.

On a non poker note. It was sad to see that on Tuesday Bruce Allen of the band The Suburbs passed away. I saw them 3 times in concert and still have their greatest hits CD. Here is a link to the news story. www.wcco.com/entertainment/bruce.allen.dies.2.1357904.html.
Or go to www.youtube.com and search for The Suburbs band. I especially like the song I like cows!

Back to MN Life

After a great week of vacation, I will have to blog about it sometime when I have time, it's back to work. I am ready to play some poker after not playing for 10 days. Will have to see if taking a break was good or bad. Let you know tomorrow. I just finished most of my standings from when I was gone and it looks as if the turn outs were very good. Thanks for playing! This week I hope to get a chance to work on Central MN Poker Players Association. I need to make the website better and make a flyer for the next tournament in January.

Speaking of poker, the ship I was on had a poker pro table in the casino. For you that don't know, it is a table that is all electronic. You need no dealer. You just get a card, put money on it and play poker. Not a single person played the whole week of my cruise, so I didn't get a chance to try it. It is very much like real poker in you have to cover your cards when you look at them. you cover and then touch the cards and they turn over for you. So, unlike online play you can watch player look at thier cards and get a read on them. Maybe next cruise!

Live from the Carribean

What a great day yesterday. Up early. 3am to catch flight to Chicago and then on to Saun Jaun PR. 86 degrees and sunny. Checked into hotel and went for a walk to check out area. Right next door to hotel is a cockfighting hall. LOL! We are one block from the beach so went for a walk and looked for a place to eat lunch/dinner. It is 2 hours ahead here so my schedule is still mixed up. Beach was nice but it was all hotels and condos with only one bar and no food. Went around to front of hotels and there were lots of restaurants. Ended up at Chilis. I know not very adventurous, but I had never eaten at one. I figured I was in the home of Bacardi so I better have a Mojito! I had never had a real one before, it was excellent. I may have a new favorite drink! On the way back to the hotel we passed a hotel and casino, so of course we had to stop in and check it out. Played for an hour and only lost $5. That almost like winning! In bed early after two nights of almost no sleep. Yes, I did go shopping with my wife on black friday! What crazyness! Heading to the cruise ship later today to start real part of vacation. Hope to have some photos later this week with my new black friday camera.

A day to give thanks

Thanksgiving is a day to give thanks for all that we have and do. Here is my partial listing.

I am thankful to

Be alive! That's a no brainer! LOL
Be married to such a wonderful person that has put up with me for over 25 years. My confidant, my fishing buddy and the love of my life!
Have two great kids that keep me on my toes!
My parents who shaped me into the person that I am today!
All the friends and people that I have met over the years and the online ones that I have not met yet!
To be employed in this tough economic times!
All the past experiences in my life that have made me what I am today!
To have been able and still be able to partcipate in two of my passions bowling and poker!
The internet that allows me to express my views and let's the world into my little part of it!
To all the people that have helped make the CMJTT a success for the last 7 years especially my main helper from Brainerd Rob!
To all the people helping me to start the new poker organization CMPPA. May success be ours!

I could go on and on but you get the picture.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Two outer night

I have been playing very aggressive as of late at all my bar poker games. I don't know if it is because of boredom with playing with the same people all the time or maybe I just need a short break. I am going on vacation next week so maybe that will help. Last night was my last bar game to run before vacation and I told my self that I would slow down and play a little more conservative. First hand I am big blind. It is limped to me and in the past I would raise here with any two cards because it's my big blind and I hate when a whole table limps. It gets checked all the way to the river where I hit a straight and take down the first hand. Three hands later I look down to pocket kings. It is raised by someone in early position to 200. Called by one. I raise to 1200. Everyone folds to initial better who then makes a string reraise. He is very acting strange and I immediately feel like he has aces. Someone on the table calls him on the string reraise. All I am thinking is, I am glad he made a mistake because now I get to see a flop. I am sure that I would have folded preflop with my kings, something I don't think I have ever done as of yet. Not that I won't fold kings preflop, I just have never been in the position to have to do it before. Flop is 7-8-9. He moves all in. I have him covered by a little over 200. I fold and show my kings hoping he will show his aces. He turns over JJ. I say nice play I had you on aces for sure. I am ok with how it went down and I still have over 4000 in chips and it's early. For the next hour it is all down hill from there. I go on a run of great cards. Three times I go all-in after raising then hitting a flop with the best hand. Three times a women that is a very poor player call for all her chips with a two outer or less and catches on the river. On time was runner runner to chop a pot with A-9 against my A-Q. Ace on the flop, king on the turn and then board pairs on the river. Later against someone else she takes them out when she hits another two outer on the river. At first break I am down to 800 in chips and am very dejected. I did manage to make a come back and almost make a the final table but it was a tough night for bad beats. Poker is a funny game, some nights you get great cards and lose and some nights you cards are crap and you never lose.

Have a happy thanksgiving filled with turkey, football and family!

Worst Move in Poker

Today I am going to talk about the most overly used play in any poker game. The dark check. Checking dark is announcing that you are going to check before a card has been tabled. It can only be legally done by the first player to act after a card has been tabled. Players that check dark are hopping to catch a big hand or to provoke a bet by another player to gain more chips.

I am not a fan of the dark check. I believe that too many things can happen by checking before you know what is going to be tabled. Let's run a few scenarios. In all cases you have checked dark.

You are a blind and have two low cards. You flop bottom or middle pair or a draw. Someone bets out a large bet. You most likely will have to fold. Where as if you had not checked dark you could have come out bet your hand and if no one has a hand you may take it down without seeing another card. Why take the chance that all will check and see a free card and beat your hand. I always prefer to be the raiser rather then the caller.

You have a top 5 hand. You are hoping someone catches something smaller then you take a big pot. It does work sometimes. Why would you want to risk the chance that someone will catch a bigger hand then you. If someone checks dark to me and I am on a draw I will always check and see a free card and hope to catch. I have cracked big hands many times by being able to check and catch my draw. Remember it ALWAYS better to win a small hand then lose out on a big one!

In a check down situation. It is very common when a player ia all in and there is still action left between two players and no side pot to check dark. I have written about this subject before, in most cases I will check down, but not all. If I have a mid pair and flop is all unders and the pot is a big enough one. I think a bet into a dry side pot is the right play. Why give free cards to someone that might hit and beat you. On the other hand if you do not have a made hand then checking is appropriate. I still think you should always keep your option to bet open in case you do make your hand. The goal in a check down situation is to take a player out, but your goal is to get as many chips as you can, Sometimes these two things can contradict themselves.

These are just a few situations, so before you check dark next time please think. Is this really what I should be doing and what do I hope to gain by doing so. Lastly if you do check dark and lose a big hand I don't want to hear your bad beat story. It's not a bad beat story it's a bad play by you story!

Ten Dollar Minimum

Bar Poker - Definition
A promotional or marketing tool that a food and or beverage establishment uses to bring customers into their place of business to increase revenue.

As you all know I from the state of Minnesota, that since 2003 has allowed bars to run FREE Texas hold-em tournaments as long as there is no entry fee and a maximum of $200 in cash or prizes may be given out per tournament with the maximum a person may win in one day being $200. Bars have used this tool to bring in new customers and hopefully increase their revenues. It was a very successful promotion for many establishments for many years, but as of late you are seeing less bars hosting games and prizes decreasing at a high rate. Why is this happening?

Good Question!

I run four different bar poker games a week at two different locations. I also have run games at several others and played at many different games over the past few years. The trend at these places is staggering to those of us that play bar poker regularly. Which we do because of the distance that we live from a casino or card room. At a typical table on a given night 50% of the people playing will not have a drink in front of them. Now, some may have eaten before the game and I didn't see or notice that but I believe that this is an accurate number. Now lets run the numbers!

40 players in a game

all buy a soda @ $2 total $80
Half buy a soda @ $2 40
half buy a soda half beer 20@$2 & 20@$3 total $100

Cost to run a tournament I will use one of mine for an example
Director $50
Prizes $50
Gift Cards $40
Total Bar investment $140

That's just to break even on the cost to run tournament and doesn't include the cost of the product sold. I am going to assume that the business would be open anyway and not bring in extra staff and not even count those costs.

So, what's the answer! It's simple if you wish to go a bar and play free poker you need to think of it as a night out. How much do you spend to go to the movies or go bowling. You need to think of free poker in the same light and give the owner that is graciously hosting your game a chance to make a little profit.

My proposal! If you are going to play bar poker that you spend an average of $10 each time you play. It doesn't mean that you have to spend that much each time (Thanks if you do!) but try and average it out. Now some of you are saying I can't afford to spend that much. The answer. Don't play! Stay home! If a bar has 50 players that average $2 or 10 players that average $10 they make the same amount. A bar that gets 30-40 players a week should be making a profit or it should end it's promtion. It's all about the Benjamin's!


Dave's Rules for bar poker

1. Be a customer! Buy something! Try and spend at least $10
2. Thank the bar owner for hosting your game.
3. Be respectful of equipment and other players. They are not all pros.
4. Teach players that don't know.
5. Tip your waitstaff.

This is becoming a serious issue and I would like to continue to be able to play bar poker the game that I love. Any other ideas, I would love to hear them.

Casino Tournament

Last night it was time for to take the crew from the Legion for the every 8 weeks and buy them at the casino. With the extras that tagged along there were about 12 of us. The tournament had 34 players that started. The first thing I noticed when I sat down was that they had upped the starting chips from 3000 to 5000 chips. I am kind of surprised because it cut down on how many people reentered during the first hour of play. That meant less money for them in fees and less money for the prize fund. It also changed my how you needed to play in the mid levels of the tournament. I drew table one whicj=h meant that if I didn't get moved I was on what would become the final table. I recognized many of the players at my table from past tournaments as very tight players. There was one young player that it became very obvious quickly that he had not played a lot tournaments. He liked to raise a lot but only doubled the big blind. He called to the river and then folded to most any bet unless he had caught. It was clear that his were chips to win. Early in the tournament I had AK suited in mid position. I would normally raise in this position but he was big blind and I thought he would raise and then I would reraise to get more chips in the pot. Several players stayed in the hand. Flop was 9-7-2 with two diamonds. He made a min bet. Everyone called. King on the turn. He doubled his bet and then I reraised about the size of the pot. I got one other caller besides him. River was a blank, no straights or flushes possible. I made what I would consider a value bet and got one caller and won a nice pot. I know had a decent stack compared to the rest of the table. I tried to play as many hands with the kid as possible with the blinds still low and was able to win several more pots to double up by the first blind level. Then it happened they moved him from my table. I looked at the guy next to my and said damn there goes all our free chips. After that I was pretty much card dead for the next level. Then they broke a table and here he comes back with double the chips he left with. Perfect! Blinds are now getting high and we are down to about 15 players. I need a double up to make the final table. I have about 6000 in chips left and it's not enough. A friend at the table is the big blind and has the short stack at the table with the young in small blind. It is folded to small blind and he limps in and big blind moves all in for a few thousand more. He calls and shows 7-5 off. BB has A-3. Young flops a straight to take my friend out. Very next hand with one big blind only I look down at AQ suited. Everyone folds to me and I push all in expecting to take down the one big blind. Young guy insta calls. Everyone else folds and he turns over QJ suited and goes runner runner for a straight to take me out. LOL! You got to love poker. I did go over to a 3-6 cash game and made $50 very quickly and also won a little on the slots so it was a good trip. As usual I was the last man standing from the Legion group. When I am going to learn and have a last man standing side pot on these trips!

Keeping your head in the game

One of the hard things to do in a poker tournament is to keep your concentration the whole time. The problem is one small lapse and it could cost you a lot of chips or worse yet your tournament. At most poker rooms or if you play in bars there can be many distractions such as televisions, music or other players. I have caught myself many times more interested in what is going on around me then what is going on at the table. Some of this comes from owning businesses, you tend to notice more of what is going on around you. Bar poker is also a socialization outlet for many people so you can end up talking a lot when you are playing.

Last night I had a prime example. It is the last week of a season in a points league. I have not played enough to make the top, but several players are in the running for the top 10. I know that these people will playing extra tight tonight thus I can take advantage of their play. I start the night very aggressive. Raising a lot preflop and betting after the flop if I feel no one has hit. With that play and actually getting some cards, I am able to build a nice stack. Now, I do know how to play big stack poker and I am able to build a huge chip stack. It is getting later in the tournament and I have lost some of my chips and blinds are getting higher. There were several short stacks that were trying to hold out for points on the table with blinds at 500-1000. I have 13000 in chips. I look down to KK. There have been two limpers when it gets to my. I grab a 5000 chip and throw it in. As soon as the chip hits the table I realize what I have done. I didn't announce a raise, so with the one chip rule I have know called. It's ok, I guess, I still have a good hand and if no ace comes I can move all in after the flop. Flop comes 8-8-3. One player is all-in with 3 others in the hand. Big blind immediately bets 4000. It is folded to me. Now what do I do. Move all in or call or fold. I make the assumption that he must have an 8 in the big blind betting into a dry side pot.. I fold and show my pocket kings. I still have 12,000 left in chips. Because a player is all in I get to see his hand. He had 66 and wins the pot. Another player makes a comment on betting into a dry side pot and about checking down. I don't really care that he bet me out of the hand or that I folded the best hand, because sometimes you have to. What I am mad about is that if I had raised preflop, which I meant to do, I would have won the hand or at least have been pot committed to make the call after the flop. One lapse of concentration cost me a chance to double up and potentially win the poker tournament.
The question is how do you make sure this doesn't happen again. It's easy, always take your time before you make a play in a poker tournament. There is a reason you see top pros analyze a situation before making a move. It doesn't mean you have take an overly long time. Just take a deep breath and think about what you are doing before you do it and it's always a good idea to verbalize your intent. All I had to do was say "RAISE" and the outcome would have been completely different.

World Series of Poker or World Series of Suckout

Another year of WSOP events have now come and gone. A new "World Champion" has been crowned. Congrats to another young gun winning the main event, Joe Cada and an average joe getting 2nd. There were so many suck outs I thought it was my bar game at the Legion Club. LOL! Thanks to ESPN for more then two hands of heads up play even though 2 1/2 hours of coverage doesn't give the final table still much justice. Now on to my main topic. Is the WSOP Main event truly the world champion. Let's look at a few other sporting events. Baseball World Series - The best team doesn't always win but you must win a high number of 162 games during a season to qualify for the finals. Amateurs are not eligible. Super Bowl - The most watched championship - Amateurs not eligible. US Open Golf - Amateurs must qualify US Open Tennis - Amateurs must qualify US Open Bowling - Anyone that pays fee may enter. An amateur has rarely won. I think you are getting my drift. How can you call the Main Event of the WSOP the world champion. Yes, they have won a tournament with a massive amount of entries and survived many days of poker play. They have won a tremendous 1st prize. As has been shown the past few years that anyone luckily enough to win an online qualifier or have a spare $10,000 can become the World Champion. I don't think it is fair to the thousands of professional poker players out there for this to be a world champion. I do agree that the WSOP is the best venue to crown a true world champion but I think such as in many sports there should be a playoff system type format to a World Championship. I think you need to take the overall WSOP events and use the player of the year at WSOP and name that person World Champion. They have proven themselves over a month of play instead of being able to suck out at the right time to become a World Champion. Call the Main Event winner what it is a win in a major poker event, a great accomplishment not a World Champion..

25 years ago today

It's hard to believe that 25 years has gone by. Where did all the time go. Today is my 25th wedding anniversary. I remember most of the day as if it was yesterday. My dad was mad because we didn't come back to the hotel room that he had bought for us for Friday night. After the rehearsal dinner, at what is now a funeral home, LOL!, we went to my then future inlaws house and got involved in a fun poker game. Deb's grandma schooled all my friends on how to give her their money. I got tired and went to bed early. In the morning we got up and went to White Castle for breakfast. Nothing like sliders and onion chips at 8:30 am. Back to the hotel to start to get ready. We were to be at the church for pictures at noon. Left for church at 11am but my friend Bob said that we had to make stop on the way. We ended up at Butch's Bar a block from the church to have a beer before the service in our tuxes. The bartender ended up buying us a second and of course we were late for pictures. Everyone at the church was wondering if I had decided not to show up. It was a nice Catholic service about 30 minutes long no communion because I was not Catholic. After we hung around and took a few more photos and we headed to reception which was held at the Hopkins VFW basement. One of things I remember is how how cold it was and that it was lightly snowing when we left. We were surprised that when we exited the church that everyone was already gone. That's what we get for getting married in November. We had ham and turkey for dinner and i remember that it cost $3 per plate and they ran out of food at the very end and a few of my relatives didn't get to eat. Good thing I got served first! It was ok I had that good slider base. We had a band that a good friend of mine was the sound man for. They did a great job and we got Darryl the sound man so drunk that he couldn't help at the end of the night. He passed out in the back of their van. We stayed and danced the whole night. It was a fun evening. Got to the hotel in Chanhassen later that night and paid for the room with all one's from the dollar dance. It was a great day filled with family and friends. Thanks Debbie for 25 wonderful years and to the next 25, may they be filled with all the love of the first.

Just Fold!

One of the biggest mistakes bar poker players make is the over valuing of hands especially late in a tournament as the blinds increase. Here is tonight's prime example. We are at final table with 9 players still in. Under the gun moves all in with 13,500 chips with blinds at 1000-2000. It is a good size raise. Chip leader thinks a long time and makes the call. Small blind thinks for a very short time and calls for over half of his chips. It ends as a check down. Initial all in shows A-J. Big stack turns over A-Q and small blind turns over A-J off and is upset that he lost. Just Fold! What did he hope to accomplish in this hand with his call. All-in was obviously strong or else why the big bet under the gun. Big stack who is a very good player is not going to make the call without a premium hand, so in the best case for the last A-J he has overs to two pairs. Most likely one has a pair and other has A big. Just Fold! A-J is a great starting hand but not to an all in and a call. You must be the aggressor with a hand like A-J and hope you don't get called because if you do you are behind. A-J under the gun all in I can see it. A-Q with a big stack call I can see it athough I might have moved all in to isolate the all-in. A-J with an all in and a call. Just Fold! By the way, I finished 7th. I never had above the starting chip stack of 5000. I was big blind on the first and and lost and never came back. I won a couple of small hands early and doubled up once and tripled up once but still not above 5000. Made final table with 2000 in chips and three players busted before my big blind all in from seat 8 on table. LOL! Maybe I should have just folded!

St Cloud Series of Poker

Yesterday was the inaugural event of Central MN Poker Player Association that I am forming with the help of many friends. It was a great success. A few years ago I ran a series of poker events and called it the St Cloud Series of Poker. I wanted to get this restarted because they were fun events. It was a big turn out for our main event. Congrats to winner Dominik Wirz. It was a busy day for me. I worked for a couple of hours in the am and then met to set up by 10:30. It is deer hunting weekend here in MN, so I wasn't sure how many would attend the event. At the last minute I decided that I better bring an extra table just in case to make it 6 tables. I would be very happy with a 60 player turn out. As we were setting up, the first players started to show up. I soon realized that I probably didn't bring enough tables. We ended up with 90 players. Wow! Had to play on two regular tables in another room in the bar as the main room only held 6 tables. Thanks to all that showed up. Gave everyone 15,000 in chips and ran 30 minute blinds. I had a friendly bet with a friend on who would be the first one out. Third hand of the tournament we lost our first player. What! How do you lose 15,000 in chips in three hands. You got to love a bar poker game. My horse went out a little while later, the third player out. He was on my table and played every hand to the river and then folded if he didn't catch his draw. So, I won the bet. Funny thing the other persons guess went out next as the fourth player out! One thing I like about a long format is that people that chase and catch will always get knocked out. It is impossible to get lucky for that long of a time frame. I suppose it could happen, but not as often as a 3 hour game. Playing and running a big tournament is very difficult. I end up missing a lot of hands as I am moving and taking care of issues. I did manage to hang on and went out in 16th place. It was an uneventful day for me. Lost 1/3 of my chips about 15 minutes in when big blind called a raise with 10-5 suited. I flopped two pair. He flopped a flush draw and then hit his flush on the turn. Good thing it was a deep stack tournament. I made a nice come back and then was blinded out at the end with no cards. The final table was full of good players and lasted almost 3 hours. It was a lot of dealing but fun to watch a final table that wasn't a total all-in fest. Results and pictures are on www.cmppa.com Come and check us out. Thanks to all that made it a successful day.

Halloween Weekend

What a great full weekend I had. Here is a recap. Friday Went to Grand Casino Hinckley for there monsters ball. Got a free room, so decided to play in their Friday night poker tournament. $60 buy-in with 5000 in chips and 20 minute blinds. Started out very quickly with several good hands and was able to become early chip leader. I was able to double up by the first break. Big hand shortly after break when I limped with 3-3 and tight player raised 4 times the big blind. I put her on a big ace and decided to call and see flop. We were heads up. Flop was Q-5-3 two hearts. I check she bet 1200 I raised to 2400 she called. Turn was a blank, so I pushed all in. She thought for a long time and then called all in for less and turned over A-Q off. She was drawing dead, but to make it a little interesting a queen came on the river. I then went card dead for quite a while. Finally get A-J off and raise 3 times the blind. The table short stack moves all in. I call because it's not that much more and he has A-A and I lose about 1/3 of my stack. Blinds are getting very high and we are getting close to final table. I am big blind for over half my stack with 10-5 off. Someone moves all in. I call hoping to be live. I am he has A-Q suited. Flop is Q-Q-A. LOL I am done in 11th. It paid the top five. Oh well. Saturday

Drive to Eagan to bowl a tournament with my son. It is a baker doubles tournament, which means we each bowl every other frame. They have put out two very difficult lane condition, so that you bowl on a different condition each game. We start with 158 - 131. Not a very good start, but it is 16 games so we still have a chance. By game 7 we are in 35 place with the top twelve coming back to bowl the next day. Game 8 we start with the first 10 strikes and get a 289 game. It moves us from 35th to 19th. We then go on a nice run and move all the way up to 5th with two games left. We then finish with two 171 and hang on to finish 10th and advance to the Sunday bowling. It is now 5 pm and we are supposed to going out to a bar for Halloween. We get back to the room and have a couple of beers and get ready. We are staying in Savage MN and are a block away from Neisen's Bar that has two bands that evening. One is an 80's band and the other is a classic and new rock band. Both were very good. Had lots to drink, danced most of the night away and got 5th place in the costume contest. A very fun evening.

Sunday

Up at 6am and back to the bowling center to bowl 24 more games. We bowled about the same all day and finished in 10 place. I was kind of tired all day and missed a lot of easy spares. Guess I should have gotten more sleep! We come out making about $100 in the tournament and got to bowl 40 games. Got home just in time for the Vikings game. Great game!

As you can see it was a full weekend. Thanks to my family for coming along. I took a bunch of photos of the group in our Halloween costumes, but when I downloaded them something happened and they are all lost. Bummer! At least there aren't any future blackmail photos of me as a clown!

Another Tuesday Night at Clearwater

It was another Tuesday night at Clearwater. It had been a good day so far. Work wasn't very busy. so I got off early and got to spend the rest of the afternoon at home with my wife before going to run poker. I was in a good mood and looking forward to playing when I arrived to set up. They have a pool team that plays there on Tuesdays and they moved the pool tables back to where we play poker so it makes it kind of tight back there. I had everything set up away from the pool tables and left them plenty of tables and space for them. Of course they were unhappy and were complaining about not having enough room, but we both had enough. It's a big place. What I didn't realize is that they play music all night and both speakers are by where we play poker. I felt sorry for the bartender because poker yelled at him if it was too loud and pool yelled at him if it was too soft. I will have to deal with this issue before next time now on to the game. I get to my table and look around. There were two new players this week and both were on my table. It became clear after two hands what one player intended to do. On the second hand he called preflop. After the flop he bet 2000 into a pot of 125 and everyone folded. He then won the next three hands in similar fashion. Now I am think I have to win some of these chips before someone else gets them all. I decide to play every hand that is not raised regardless of my starting cards and hope to catch a flop. After a few more hands I finally catch a decent flop. I have second pair with an open ended straight draw. Some else bets about the size of the pot. I call figuring new guy would raise but then folds. Now I am heads up and I know I am behind. Turn doesn't hit me but the bet made is small enough compared to the pot size that I call. I miss the river and have to fold. In the next two hands the new guy loses all his chips. In one he caught second pair with an ace on the board and bet all the way including the river into a tight player and lost all most all his chips. The next hand I have A-Q suited and make a bigger then normal raise trying to get him all in. He folds but other new guy and two others call. Flop is K-8-2 two hearts. Damn, I missed. It is checked to my. I make a big bet and hope everyone folds. Other new guy calls. I am dead. Turn is checked and he beats the river. I have to fold. I am now down to just under 2000 chips. Very next hand I have 10-10 in the big blind. There are several limpers including the now short stacked new guy and other new guy. I move all in hoping to get heads up with new guy and of course he calls all in for less, but the other new guy also calls. He has K-K and played the limp call move. New shows Q-6 off. Flop is Q- and two small cards. The rest doesn't bring a ten and new guy and I are both out after the first two blind levels. I guess that my strategy didn't work very well. It makes for a long night when you get knocked out early when you are running the tournament. Now to today's question of the day. When you have a player such as new guy on the table should you change your play to try and win those chips. I believe that it is worth the risk to try, but sometimes it goes as above. Or should you play your usual style and hope you catch a hand to win some of those chips? Comment away!

The one that got away!

It was my last trip up to lake until next year. I had someone coming to pull the boat lift out and I had to winterize the RV and water lines. The only boat left is my 16 foot fishing boat with a 25 hp motor only problem is no depth finder. I get a call from guys pulling my lift and they are going to call me back before they come out, so I decide to fishing while waiting. Now with no depth finder I am thinking this going to be tricky. I am hoping because it is Sat. that there will be several boats on the lake and I will just use them as a guide. The week before everyone was fishing for walleyes in a deep hole in the middle of the lake, so I head there first. Sure enough there are a couple of boats out there so I head over and start drifting towards them. It is not very windy so I am fishing over the side with a big jig head and a gulp shiner minnow. I get close and see that they are catching fish and are using their electric motors to hover over a spot and fishing straight down with jigs and minnows. I still don't know how deep it is but know that it has to be over 40 ft by how much line I am putting out. I hang around for an hour and don't catch anything and see them catch a lot between 14 & 17 inches. Nice eating fish.. Damn I should have bought some minnows. There are starting to be a lot more boats so I move to wind side of the other boats and start another drift. I feel something hit my jig and set the hook. It is a nice fish and I am thinking it must be a big walleye. I get it about 10 ft from the bottom and now I can't move it anymore. I am using a light weight walleye rod with 8lb Berkley Trilene Maxx line. It is now about 10 minutes in and I start to horse the fish to the top. My light pole is bent almost in half and I am worried about breaking it. I am making circles around the boat trying to keep up with this fish. After 15 minutes, I finally get it to the top and see that it is a huge Muskie. Easily over 3 ft in length. Now what I am I going to do. I am by myself with a tiny little walleye night. I decide I am going to have to hand grab it. It runs several times before I finally get it to the side of the boats. I reach down with a glove on to try and get in it's gills. I couldn't do it with the gloves on and it makes another run. I throw off my gloves and get it back to the boat. I reach down and get a hand in it's gill and start to raise it up. In order to reach it I hand to go down to my knees. I am trying to stand up and lift the fish at the same time. I have about half of it out of the water when it decides to make a few very hard shakes and I loose hold of it and it runs again, but it is getting tired. I get it back to the side of the boat and reach down and the line breaks. I throw the pole a side and pin the fish against the boat with both hands. I get a hand in the gill and start to raise it up and see that my thumb is in the mouth of the muskie and I am starring at some big teeth and his mouth is closing as I am lifting. I drop the fish and it swims under the boat and then comes out the back on the surface. I try and reach him with the net and it swims away. It was a lot of fun and the only thing I regret was not getting a photo of the fish. Even though it never made it in the boat It was one of the funnest fish I have every almost caught. I have been very impressed with the Berkley Trilene Maxx line. I bought it for my father that has a hard time with breaking lines and it is almost impossible to break this line. I usually use Trilene XL and am sure that I would have lost the above fish on the way up if not for the Maxx line. Thanks Berkley!

Another Tuesday Night!

It was Tuesday night and time for another classic night at my bar poker game. I had a very enjoyable first table with many players that I like to play with including Annies Aces http://lukbox.com/blogs/ann. I had a decent cards night and was able to put together a nice size stack. I was playing classic tight aggressive and it was working well. I told Annies Aces that I wasn't sure what I was going to talk about today, but I am sure that something would come up as it always seems to and I was right. The player to my right was a local regular that I have played with many times, but not taken a lot of time to analyze. This was the second time in a row that he was to my right. He is a player that limps often and calls a lot of raises preflop but seems to tighten his play as the tournament progresses towards the points at least that was my opinion before the last two sessions. I decided to pay more attention last night and try and figure him out. The first thing that I soon noticed that if you sit to his right is that he shows you his cards on most hands even if you are still in the hand. I am not one to usually take advantage of this, but it made it much easier to figure him out. If he had any face card he limped in. If he caught any one of his cards on the flop he will call no matter what size the bet is. If he has two face cards suited or not he will play all the way to the river unless it risks his stack without hitting. If he has top pair with any kicker he will risk his whole stack. He is always the last one to turn over his cards at the end of the hand and you can tell if he thinks he has the best hand as he sits up a little higher and almost starts to pull in the pot before he turns over his cards. In a way he slow rolls every hand that he is in. He doesn't realize that he is doing it. He is a classic bar poker donk. LOL! I can't say much about his style of play as he currently is ahead of me in points on my Tuesday night game. At least next time he is on my table I will be able to take advantage of his style and hopefully get most of his chips. Now for the question of the day to all you poker guru's out there. After a player was knocked out on another table last night he asked another player if he could speak with him to the side. I will call him Wayne and other player F. F was in the hand that Wayne moved all in on. It was F turns to act and he was talking to himself what he should do. Such as, if Wayne has A-K or Q I should call here. He wasn't talking to any player at the table. F folds and other pl;ayer on table calls ands takes Wayne out. His conversation is about F talking about the hand while another player is involved. F says that if he is doing something wrong that he would like to know as he considers himself a student of the game and will change his game if it is wrong. Now I know that it is one player per hand according to the TDA rules and I always have a copy of TDA rules at my tournament so we look. The only thing that comes close to covering the situation is this. 41. No Disclosure Players are obligated to protect the other players in the tournament at all times. Therefore, players, whether in the hand or not, may not: 1. Disclose contents of live or folded hands, 2. Advise or criticize play at any time, 3. Read a hand that hasn't been tabled. The one-player-to-a-hand rule will be enforced. He really didn't do any of the above. He was just talking out what his options were. I think it may be more of an ethical situation then one covered by the rules. What do you think? Is there a written poker ethics website or book?

Bar Poker Rant

Feeling the need for a poker rant about players that play bar poker. I know that when you play bar poker that you see and hear it all including they were suited, it's only free poker, or I was ready to go home. There are several of us that play a lot of bar poker and because it is most of the live play that I get I take it very serious. Some may say too serious, but I am person that if I am going to do it I am going to do it right. I play bar poker for the love of the game of poker and I look at all bar games as a chance to try and learn and improve my over all poker game. I always play to win. I am going to use last nights game as an example and I will state that I am not picking on the player or how he plays about how it went down and I have respect for his play most of the time, but this happen to me and others many times so I will use this as an example. I am short stacked last night at 2300 and basically waiting for an all in hand. I have A-Q off and know that when it gets to me I will push. Player A raises out of position to 1200 which is 3 times the blind. Player B that calls if he has any two face cards calls. I push. Both players call and flop is 2-3-5 rainbow. Player A bets big. Player B folds. Player A turns over 3-5 off for two pair and I am done. I under stand the calls after I moved all in because it's not that much more. What I don't understand is the raise with 3-5 preflop. I believe that if I would have had more chips and just called preflop that he would have pushed whatever the flop come out with to try and buy pot. So basically he plays bar poker to try and out play other players. My outlook of bar poker is that you can try and outplay people after the flop, but it usually doesn't work because many players will not lay down their draws or bottom pair so most times you better have the goods or you will get beat some of the times. He played several more hands similar and was soon knocked out. What I am wondering what did his playing this style accomplish. Did he learn that you can't bluff all the time in bar poker or does he just not care that much about a bar poker game. I certainly have raised before in bad position with less then stellar cards and won so I can see it as a play early in the blind levels. But to be knocked out playing weak starting hands that I don't get and maybe never will or better yet maybe I should try it one night and see how It goes!

League Bowling Night

Today I am going to talk about something different other then poker. After a few years off I have started league bowling again. As most of you know, I have been a bowler all my life and have worked as a manager and then owner of bowling center for over 25 years. When deciding where I was going to bowl league this season I had many choices. I could bowl at Granite Bowl downtown, Great River Bowl or bowl at a center out of town and have to drive a considerable amount. Granite Bowl is a bowling center where the lane condition changes each week and you have to bring a wide variety of bowling equipment because you never know what you are going to get. Great River has a high scoring easy lane condition where I would probably average 230 and not be that challenged. I could drive to one of several centers in the area that are 30 minutes or more away and then bowl with people that I don't know. In the end I chose bowling at the Granite Bowl and bowl with people that I know and accept that it will be a different condition each week and I have not been disappointed. LOL! The first week I bowled with my spare ball. For those of you that don't bowl, this a ball the basically goes straight and you use it to throw when you don't get a strike on the first ball. Week two I was able to move way inside and use some of my new equipment and managed a good night. Last night was a whole new lane condition with the shot changing about every 3-4 frames. I used every bowling ball that I brought to the center and had a poor night of bowling. Now I enjoy a challenge when I bowl, but when people bowl in a league they expect the conditions to be somewhat the same each week. I understand that weather can change a condition especially in a center like Granite Bowl. I believe that I have a lot of past knowledge about lane conditions and how to oil a center such as Granite Bowl. The first key is to not make drastic changes from one week to another. The average once a week bowler can't bowl on second arrow one week and then move to fourth the next. The second is to find an oil that doesn't break down every few frames. I chose the Granite Bowl for the challenge and am getting it and I can live with my decision, but what about the average Joe bowler that was averaging 180 last year and is now averaging 160. They just get frustrated and quit bowling. Now how is that good for the future of your business. OK, back to poker next post!

Final Table Play

I have been putting a lot of thought into my poker play, as of late I seem to make it to the final table or close to the final table in most tournaments that I play both cash and free. It seems that once I make it to the final table that I can't seem to get past about middle of the table. I want to blame it on the cards that I have been getting, but I know better, so it must be my play at this point in a tournament. I know that I need to be more aggressive but when the blinds get high I always seem to get called so even a semi bluff doesn't make sense to me. In most tournaments I would say that my play is loose aggressive for the early blind levels then turns to tight aggressive as the limits raise. I tend to be short to middle stacked when I get to a final table. Should I have the any ace mentality at this point in the tournament or just wisely pick and choose my spots based on cards and position. I would love to hear your comments! Last Thursday I was once again able to play in the Twitter Poker Tour event www.twitterpokertour.com As it was getting closer to time to play it was announce that each player would have a $5 bounty on them provided by Cuzzinlaw. Thanks for doing that for the TPT. Anyway it was very exciting to play a $5 buy in and have a chance at $5 bounties for each player knocked out. I decided to play a little more conservation then normal in the event and had a decent run of cards early to be up a few hundred chips. Play on the table was some what aggressive as players very after bounties. Maybe an hour in I look and have pocket kings. The pot was raised and called by two other player before it gets to me. I reraise the size of the pot. The original raiser pushes all-in and has me covered. I immediately think to myself, he must have aces. He must have aces. It is folded to me. When you play online you don't always get a lot of time to make your decisions. I decide in the end that I would call and risk my tournament. If he has aces I am beat but if he has anything else I will be way ahead. The cards flip over and he has pocket queens. Wow great call by me. Flop is all unders, turn gives him a straight draw and yes you know it, the river brings a queen and I am done. It was very disapointing. I guess the right move would have been to fold my kings preflop which I was very close to doing, but it is so hard to fold kings preflop. Plus a double up at this point in the event would have been big. Oh well, maybe next week!

Poker Terminology

Poker is a game that is full of names. There are names for hands. Names for ways of playing. I am going to throw a what I believe would be a new name out there. In poker if you have a pair in your hand and you flop a third one it is called a set, but if you have one in your hand and two come on the flop you have trips. I am not sure what difference it makes and am not even sure if the statistics of it are any different. I am sure some of you would know so please let mt know? This leads me to my new terminology of quads vs 4 of a kind. If you have a pair in your hand and two more come on the board you would have quads and if you have one in your hand and three come on the board then you have 4 of a kind. Once again I don't know if it matters but to me this is how it should be. I suppose it really shouldn't matter but I don't get very excited about making 4 of a kind over how I do when I get quads. Both are great hands and usually get you a lot of chips and in fact 4 of a kind will almost always be against someone that has a full house so I think your chances of winning a bigger pot are better. On the opposite there is no greater feeling then have a pair in your hand and getting quads. I have seen players almost jump out of their chairs on flops when hitting quads. It makes for an easy laydown if you are paying attention. This all comes about from me bar game last night. My friend from anniesaces won several big hands early and on one of her big hands she had quads vs full house and in fact the guy that lost actually had two different full houses. She is telling me this and I am trying to figure out how he had two full houses when it finally came out that she had 4 of a kind and that there was three of a kind on the board and he had paired the other two cards on the board from his hand. It may all be pointless, but it is my proposal. A pair in your hand you have quads and one in your hand you have 4 of a kind! Love to hear your comments!

Tuesday Bar Night

I know that I have already covered this several different times but it keeps coming up in my bar game in Clearwater. I go to take my seat on Tuesday night and take a look around the table. I have min bet guy to my right and only call never raise on my left. Across the table is any face card guy and next to him is min bet women (plays just like min bet guy) and lastly is I am the greatest poker player guy I can bluff anyone. Oh by the way blogger anniesaces was the only bright spot to the table. Here's her blog. http://lukbox.com/blogs/ann. So I am thinking it is going to be a long night and I am going to have to be on my toes all night. I play less hands then normal because I need a good hand in order to make any kind of play because of table. Play was very aggressive with big raises and lots of callers. I get to break and am up about 1000 in chips and am very happy about it. Play was less then stellar. Most of the players from above have all chipped up during the first hour. Can you say suckoutfest! Anyway in the second hour I getting short stacked and move all-in with big slick suited. I get two callers. One player that has moved to the table whom I respect and min bet guy who was big blind. He almost never folds to a raise if he is BB. Board comes all low cards and I figure I am done. Good player turns up A-Q and min bet guy has A-J and my A-K is a winner. LOL! I now have a decent size stack and can play again. I am able to take down a few blinds and am now the BB and have 10-8 off. It is folded all the way to small blind min bet guy and of course he calls. There is no chance he would ever raise in this position so great I get to see a flop. Flop is 10 and two unders. I have top pair. I move all in and min bet guy insta calls. What could he possible have? He has K-Q off and doubles me up and cripples himself. Oh don't worry he soon built it back up again. Down now to 12 and points start at 8. I am in need of points so I can play somewhat conservation until! I look down at JJ under the gun. I move all in. Any face card guy moves all in over the top of me and of course min bet guy calls off all his chips because it's min bet guy. I turn over my jacks, any face card guy has kings and min bet guy has 10-10. You know it! Flop is 10-whatever. Min bet wins again and I am out. It's ok. Even if I would have just raised preflop face card guy would ahve reraised and the same out come would have happened. So now we are on final table and blinds are moving up and we have lost a few players. Guy that has played very few hands moves all in and any face card guy thinks for a long time and calls and so does another player for less. So we have two all ins turn up your cards. Original better has QQ any face guy has Q-J suited (WTF) and other guy has A something. Any face card guy has called an all in for almost all of his chips with QJ suited. Wow! QQ wins the hand. The tournament winner is any face card guy! I must be doing something wrong. I believe that I play decent poker, not too tight not too loose, but I can't seem to win a tournament. Yet any face guy wins, min bet guy wins. Am I doing this all wrong? Can hardly wait for Sunday so I can do it all over again. At least they give me something to write about a couple of times a week. Thanks guys! New word of the week! Suckoutfest - definition- playing poker at the Legion on tuesday nights where the worst hand always wins! Come out and join us!

Another Crazy Night of Bar Poker

Another day another crazy bar poker game. It all started when I decided to sit on a different table then normal. I usually sit at the same spot close to the sign in table on table one. For some reason I thought a change might be good so I put myself on table 2. I finished passing out the draw cards and then looked over to see my spot with call anything to my right and any ace to my right. Player in seat one had been drinking since noon and the sad part is he might have been the next best player on the table. I decided tight aggressive was probably the way to play tonight and it was a good call. Play was very aggressive on the table with most all in being called and almost all preflop raises being called by several players. Drunk guy managed to spill his drink on table and chips twice in a span of about 5 minutes and made ridiculous raises preflop for the first hour. Finally call anything called him and sucked out on the turn to get rid of him. Thank god! LOL! I did mange to gain a lot of chips over the time and when any ace gave me over 7000 in chips with nothing I was close to chip leader. I moved over to final table first or second in chips and was able to take down many small pots early as play was very tight early on table. Then it happened I got a guy all in after the turn with two pair and he called all in with an open ended straight draw and hit on the river taking half my chips. The next few hands knocked several players out and we were down to 5 players. I was big blind for 4000 with 12000 more. I had 9-2 hearts on BB hand. Guy that hit straight called from early position and small blind called so I check. Flop was 9-8-3 rainbow. small blind checked, I checked and other min bet for 4000. Small blind folded. I reraise to 8000. He calls. Turn is a 10. I check, he bets 4000, I call all in thinking my 9 is good. I am right. He has A-7. River brings the 6 to give him a straight to beat me again. LOL! The rest of the tournament was one straight catch after was another until heads up which was a very good player against a very poor player who had the chip lead. It took about 5 hands for the good player to get all the poor players chips as they finally didn't catch on two flush draws two hands in a row. What a night!

Old Full Tilt Mag Article

I wrote this several years ago, but most of it I still believe today. Tournament Poker - Game of skill or luck? We have all heard the saying on the WPT tour telecasts, Texas Hold-em a few minutes to learn and a lifetime to master, but how true is that of tournament texas hold-em poker. As the owner of a bar poker business and a frequent player of local casino tournaments, I see more then the average number of people playing poker tournaments. I am beginning to believe that there is a lot more luck then skill in playing tournament poker. I also believe that ring poker requires a whole different set of poker skills, but luck still plays a role in the play. This isn’t based on any study or scientific data, just my experiences. First let’s start with bar poker. Bar poker is just as it sounds poker tournaments at local establishments with little or no entry fee and small prizes to the winners to bring more business to the establishment. Players are generally beginners, people that love to compete but don’t want to play for cash or player wanting to improve their reading skills. It never seems to fail that someone will tell me that this is their first time in a tournament and then later I will see them at a final table, now these people may have played cards before and know the basic of the game, but skill has nothing to do with how they are doing. Most will play lots of hands and catch a few cards and win their races and make the final table, then lose when they don’t change gears when the blinds increase. Then the very next week they will be the first one out because they didn’t catch the right cards. Next is lower stakes poker tournaments, say $50 and below. These tournaments fall not too far ahead of the bar poker games. There will be more players entered, which means less skilled players and more chances of being taken out by a lesser hand. Play tends to a little erratic at first because most start with a small amount of chips and the blinds rise quickly. They want you playing ring games not remain in the tournament, because that is where they make their money. You must get some quality hands in the first couple of blind levels and avoid the suck-outs to survive to when the blinds get so high that it’s all-in or not play the hands at all. Then to win the tournament you must win your all-ins or race opportunities. Mid range tournaments fall in $100- 500 ranges. Because of the higher entry fees there are generally less people willing to risk that much money on a poker tournament, so higher quality of play. You will usually start out with more chips and the blinds will increase slowly meaning more of a chance to only play premium hands. But yet even at this level they are always players that money has less value then most and to them $500 is not much different then playing a $50 buy-in. At one such tournament recently I watched as a player won with 8-3 unsuited and a little later won with 2-4 suited, it is very difficult for me to say that he won because of his poker skill rather with his luck. He made the final table but then lost out when he called an all in on an Ace- 3 suited and lost to pocket aces. So did he make it farther then me because of skill or was it just luck. I’m not sure but he placed in the money and I didn’t when my pocket queens lost to Big Slick. High Stakes or professional tournaments. These fall in the $1000 or higher buy-ins and consist of tournaments like the World Series or WPT events. I have not played a lot of them but have played a few. Generally you will start with 10,000 in chips and blinds will start at 25-50 and raise hourly. Almost all the players are highly skilled, math wizards, or corporate high rollers. (What am I doing in these tournaments?) They have read all the poker books and live and breathe poker. Play tends to be much slower with only big pots if two players get big hands. Most times it comes down to race situations that you must win in order to survive. What wins the race situations? The person that gets lucky. If they win enough of those situations you will make money or have a chance to win the tournament. I also believe that luck plays a little less then other levels because you will have to lay down a big hand at some point to survive in a tournament of this skill level. In the end the people that make the finals are the ones that got luckier then the ones that lost. Phil Hellmuth says that if poker were only a game of skill he would win every tournament, well I don’t know if that is true but luck has a lot to do with the outcome of all Texas Hold-em tournaments. To win a tournament one must put oneself at risk many times in a tournament and to survive you must get luckier then the people that you are against. Skill is an important part of tournament poker but the getting lucky at the right times is more important.

Heartland Week

Unfortunatlely my week is done at the Heartland Poker event at Milacs. I played the $250 qualifier on Thursday night along with several buy-in winners from my bar games. There were 79 player in the qualifier so 15 adavnced to Sunday's finals. Started on a table way to the back of the room, so I knew that it wouldn't be too long before my table broke. Starting stack was 10,000 with 30 minute blinds and 100-100 first level. Table was very tight except for one player that almost every hand. Took down a nice pot early with top pair and ranged up and down from 10,000 to 12,000 chips. During the first two hours, I was surprised at how many players were being knocked out. Table next to us lost 3 players in the first two blind levels. I knew someone on the table and asked what was going on and he laughed and said it was crazy with most of the all-ins coming preflop. There were lots of big pairs. At first break, I had 10,500 chips. I was happy with this considering the table. Shortly the table broke and I headed to my next table and then went on a long stretch of no cards. At these blind levels you need to start to chip up and I tried to make a few plays, but it wasn't working. Now at 7500 in chips with blinds and antes increasing. I look down to big slick suited and raise to 2400. Big blind calls and flop is Q-7-3 rainbow. I bet out 2500 and BB thinks along time and calls. I was pretty sure that he had a pair and I was behind. Turn was another low card. We both checked. I could have pushed in but I was convinced that he would call. River another blank and BB puts me all-in. I fold and am now down to 2500. I now had about 8 hands left to play before I would have to be all in on my big blind. Two hands before my BB I looked at my first card and it was an ace. I decided that I would push without looking at other card. then the guy to my fight under the gun pushes all in. I decide i better look and see A-4 off. I know that I should still push in, but iam thinking that I probably don't ahve live cards so i should wait until next hand. I fold. he gets called and flop comes A-5-6. Long story short I would have won if I hadn't looked at my other card and just called. Ended up all in on big blind with 7-5 off against one player with k-10. I am ok with this and even hit a 5 on the flop. Only problem is he floped the nut flush and my night was over. Most of the other players from my bar group got knocked out soon there after except Dustin who managed to hang on to make the top 15 and qualify for the main event on Sunday. Congrats and good luck to Dustin. Went to the poker room and played 3-6 kill game for 4 hours to be up $2 after all that time. It was a crazy table and went up and down the whole time. The worst was flopping a set of kings and having 10-5 of spades river me for a flush with me betting hard all the way. LOL got to love low limit poker games. Last night at my bar game we had a big turn out 47 players. I usually don't play in this game and just run it and that was a good choice. It is the wildest bar poker game that I have every witnessed. Donkey poker, drunk people and multiple personalities don't mix. LOL! I ran a $5 sit and go for a few friends afterwards. We played Omaha split and I took it down, so the week wasn't a total loss.

Nice Suckout!

Went to Milacs to play the first event of Grand Series of Poker part of the Heartland Poker Tour week. $75 buy-in 1st paid $2000 not to bad of a payout. Was card dead most of the night and ended somewhere about 38th. All-in on big blind with 6-3 suited. I then went and played the cash game because the bad beat jackpot was over $40,000. Only thing open was 3-6 limit kill game. A kill game is when someone wins two hands in a row then the limits double to 6-12 and if you win the two hands you must post $6. It was not going very well and I am down to about $60. It is a kill pot and I look down at pocket kings. I usually don't like to raise preflop in this low of a limit game because if you do you usually create action by making the pot bigger, but I am short stacked and am hoping to make some money on this hand. There are two callers to me so I raise to $12. Very loose guy on the end calls. One guy folds. Last guy in raises to $18. Damn that smells like aces. I decide to reraise to $24 to try and get to heads up. But of course loose guy calls. Flop comes out three small cards with two spades. I am first, so I bet out $6. Loose guy calls and then guy I think has aces reraises. Damn he does have aces. I call to see one more card. Loose guy calls. Turn is 5 of spades making 3 spades and two fives on the board. I check, loose guy checks, aces bets $12. Loose guy and I both call. I know that I should have folded but I have so much invested now I might as well see the river. By the way I don't have a spade. River is the miracle card the King of spades. Jackpot I hit a full house and there is no way at least one them doesn't have a spade. I bet $12. Aces guy immediately goes on tilt and I know he doesn't have a spade. Loose guy calls and aces folds showing his aces. I turn over my kings and don't say anything. Loose guy turns over A-10 off with the 10 of spades and starts to rack the pot. LOL! I say I have a full house and you should ahve seen the look on his face when he realized that he had lost. Wow! Nice suckout Dave! LOL!

Rewarding bad poker play

Something ocurred to me last night at the end of my bar poker game that has had me thinking. It happens may times in bar poker, but I have seen it at cash tournaments. A weaker player ( yes, I am being nice! LOL) has a big card rush and it carries over all the way to heads up. Do you chop the prize with them. I know that in theory it makes sense to chop most of the time, but do you reward bad play and does that lead to more bad play. Last night a very strong player ended up heads up with a weaker player that had cards of a life time. Strong player was chip leader about 60 % I would guess, so not a huge amount. First prize is a $60 casino buy-in and second is a $10 bar certificate. Strong player has already won 2 buy-in. At heads up he asks weaker player if he wants the buy-in and he is interested. Strong player offers for $10 he will take the bar certificate and it's done. I asked him why he had done the chop later and he said that in his experience in bar poker chopping makes sense and he already had his buy-in. I can't fault him for his reasoning, but it still brings the question. Should you reward a player for bad poker play? If you have an opinion please post a comment on here, twitter or facebook. Had a great weekend at the lake. Beautiful weather and good fishing. Forgot my camera at the lake, so no photos until later this week. Tonight begin Heartland Poker Tour week at Milacs. Hope I have something good to write about later.

Wednesday Bar Game

More practice tonight for next week. I went to the Ultimate Sports Bar to play. My friend Fitz told me this was a poor player game and he was right. The good thing is a good player can weed his way though a field like this. I did make the final table and ended up 5th. It was an up and down night playing a lot of hands. For a change I had good cards most of the night. There was one interesting hand that happened early about 200-400 blind level. I have A-Q. Very loose player raises to 1200. I am debating on reraising and am looking around at other player still in the hand to get a feel for if they are going to call. There is a women that has a lot of chips and has not folded much and she had the 1200 in her hand. Now I know that if I raise she will call and then raiser will be pot commited to call, so I just call. Flop is Q-two small cards. Original better bets 1200. I call and so does women. turn is a none factor. Better bets 1200, I raise to 5000. Women insta calls. Better calls. River is a 7. Better goes all-in and has me covered. Now I am thinking he has AA or KK but not sure and I still have another player behind me. I decide to fold and live to play another hand. Women insta call again. Better turns over A junk and has nothing. Women has Q-7 and rivers me to win a big pot. I made a good lay down. After hand I look at the better who went all-in with nothing. How can you bet all those chips with nothing. I am thinking are you really that big of a dumbass and think that we will both fold to your bet. If I am heads up I call right away. The women put a wrinkle in my hand and got me to fold. I did mange to behave myself and call him a dumbass out load. After that hand I played every hand that the dumbass was in and he was eventually taken out. Make sure you check out a friends new Blog. http://anniesaces.blogspot.com/ Going to the lake for the rest of the weekend. Next post will be after Monday Tournament at Milacs, the beginning of Heartland Week. www.heartlandpokertour.com

Monday Casino Trip

Went to the casino on Monday got a room and stayed the night for my birthday. It was a chance to get some casino live play in before the Heartland Poker Tour next week. As most of you know I play a lot of bar poker and lately I have been tired of all the play that comes with bar poker. So a trip to the casino was just what I needed. Now the funny thing is I got there to sign up and find out a bar from the Twin Cities is bringing 40 players to the tournament. That is good and bad. More player means more money, but it didn't get me away from bar poker play. There ended up with 80 entries and twenty some rebuys. It was a nice payoff. I get to my first table and am happy to see a lot of locals. The table was on the tight side except for everytime I raised I got called. I was very much card dead for the first hour losing about 1/3 of my stack. blinds are 100-200 and we are nearing the end of the re-entry period. I am little frustrated that my cards have been so bad because there were chips to win and I hadn't gotten any yet. I limp in out of position with A-4 suited. Guy behind me makes a big raise. Everyone folds to me and I fold. Next hand I have q-10 suited and limp in again. I am trying to make something happen without to much risk. Guy behind me again raises to 1000. Everyone folds to me and I decide that I can't keep giving away 200. I call. Flop is 10-10-3 rainbow. Wow! I check guy moves all-in, I call and double up and then got a lecture about calling with Q-10! That was the highlight of the tournament. I won a few small pots and eventually became short stacked and pushed in on small blind to everyone folding with A-9 and BB calls with a pocket pair and wins. As a side note the top 3 chopped the tournament for $1100 each. Not a bad payout for a $60 entry. I now put my name on the cash game list and wait for a while and am finally called for a 2-10 kill game spread game. Kill game is if someone wins two hands in a row limits go up double and winner must post $4. It is a new table and I buy-in for $100. Most bought in for $200. My cards were a little slow at first, but that's ok. I like to set up a tight image to the table so I can get folds later. About 10 hands in I see the 2-10 hand of a life time. A women that has yet to play a hand raises preflop to $8. That was about the standard raise on this table and gets 4 callers. I fold. Flop comes Q-J-5 two hearts. Women checks and one player bets $12, one calls, one folds, women reraises to 24. Call. Call. Turns is 9 of clubs. Women bets 20 next player raises 20 other palyer calls, women reraises 20 more, next player reraises 20 more. Third player grumbles and calls, women calls. I figure women has a set of queens, first player must have K-10, and I am thinking flush draw on the other player. River card is a blank. All players check. Women turns over set of jacks, first player turns up set of fives, and third player turns up 8-10 of hearts for the low end of the straight for the winner of over $400. Wow! Now I look back and wonder why all the reraises on the turn. I see the $20 bet by the women and maybe the reraise by the first player, but to call 40 with the low end of the straight and a flush draw maybe I see it. Then the reraise by the women ok I get that. What I don't get is the 4th raise by set of 5's and then the call by the low end straight. I would have thought someone would have folded or at least just called instead of raising. Anyway it turned into a good night for me. Had Kings and queens both hold up for a couple of wins. Then after i won a couple of small pots in a row it was a kill pot and I had to put in $4. I had 7-8 unsuited. No one raises preflop. Flop comes 9-10-A. One player bets $12. I am last to act and decide to call and see one more card. Turn is a 6 giving me a straight. Player bets 20, I reraise 20. he calls. River is nothing. I bet 20, he calls with a set and i win a nice pot. Later I cashed out for almost $250 A nice 150 profit and covered my tournament buy-in ands then some. So it was a good time. Last night my kids surprised me for my birthday. We went out for dinner and then my son came to poker with me at the Legion. I didn't have great cards but made it to the final table and was card dead again most of the night. The best part of the night was they tapped the Leines Octoberfest for me. It is one of my favorite beers. I will have a whole post about the women that got second last night, but maybe later this week.