Fathers Day Casino Trip

My wife and I both ha dto work on fathers day, so it was actually the day after. My daughter came home for a visit late on fathers day. I think it was more of a visit for my wife to see her new dog, but it was good of her to come home and see us. I worked early on Monday and got off at around 2pm. I asked Kara what she wanted to do tonight. She said how about going to a movie. I said how about going to casino. I won out! LOL. On monday they have a $60 tournament with re-entries for the first 5 levels. You start with 3000 in chips and blinds are every 15 minutes. It goes kind of fast. I started pretty card dead. I bluffed at a few hands with little success, but did mange to win a big pot on the big blind to get to 5500 at the first break and end of re-entrys. During the next hour I raised twice with marginal hands trying to win at least the blinds only to have the same guy reraise me all-in preflop both times. I folded and told him the second time that I have only played about four hands all night and you have reraised my both times I have played. Of course he got mad at my for commenting about his poker play. I laughed and told the dealer that one of these times I may actually have a hand when he raises me. Blinds are now at 300-600 and I am down to 2400. I need to win a pot soon. I have pocket 7's and a stack with 1600 moves all-in ahead of me. I go all-in over the top hoping for heads up, but the big blind also calls. Damn! They both turn over ace junk one with a 5 and the other with a 9. That's not too bad anyway. Of course the river brings a 9 but it was the guy that I had covered so I win the side pot for 800. I now have about 4 hands before I will be all-in on the big blind. The hand under the gun I decide I am going to have to go all-in regardless of what I have. I have 9-10 offsuit and push in. I get two callers who are going to check down and try and get me out. I river a 10 and win pot to get to 2800. I got a chance anyway, but am still short stacked. A few hands later I get pocket 10's and push in with a caller and it holds up and I now have over 5000 chips and make the final table. My daughter also made the final table with a mid size stack of chips. Second hand of final table table my daughter limps in for 1000 and one person calls and then big blind raises 2000 more. They both call. Flop comes A-Q-8 with two diamonds. My Daughter moves all-in for 7000. The next guy who has a lot chips chips thinks for a long time and finally calls. They both turn over A-10 and everyone laughes. It comes runner-runner diamonds and Kara losses as the other guy has the ace of diamonds. Wow! What a bad beat. Down to 9. The tournament is paying top 5 only. I am still short stacked and am waiting to push all-in again. I get pocket tens again again and push all-in and get called by a smaller pocket pair and win and I am know a mid stack in tournament. I end up mostly folding until finally I make it to the money. Yea! I finally start to get some playable cards and move my way up to chip leader when I take out the 3rd place guy. I have played with the other guy left a lot of times and I know that we will chop at heads up. I had a small chip lead, but chop and win $565. It was a great father's day present. Thanks for coming home Kara. She did manage to win at Blackjack and my wife was about even, so it was a profitable trip to casino.

Chapter VI Playing the game

Playing the game Now that you have the basics of Bar Poker, it’s time to get out and play. There are different phases of bar poker. How fast you get to these phases is based on how many chips you start with and how long the blind levels are. Most bar tournaments break at least once per hour and last about 3-4 hours. Blinds tend to be 15 or 20 minutes Early blind levels- Did you ever wonder why many of the pros don’t show up at the very beginning of a tournament? It is two fold. First, they like to make an entrance and make sure every in the room knows that they have arrived and to beware of them. Mostly it is because they know that all the pots sizes will be small and for what you can win it’s not worth the risk of running into a big hand and get knocked out. You must play careful early. Yes, you can be involved in more pots with lesser hands, because you will most likely not have to risk so many chips to chase draws. You want to create a table image. I like to start very aggressive to say to the table I am a risk taker and I will call you with less then great starting hands. This will help to create callers later when you do tighten up and only play better hands. Have a game plan for this stage of the poker game. How many chips am I willing to lose and still feel comfortable that I can come back from when the blinds get higher? A good goal is to try and double up your chips stack during this level. Remember, you can’t win a tournament in this phase, you can only be eliminated. Middle Blind levels – To me this is the most important part of a tournament. This is where the majority of the players will be taken out. You must play tighter and limit your bluffs to when you have good position and to only players with smaller chip stacks. Do not be afraid to fold a small pocket pair or face cards in early position especially when one of the blinds is short stacked. You do not want to risk getting pot committed on only a 50-50 race situation. At the same time you want to play top ten hands with big raises to try and either take down the blinds or get it to heads up with one of the shorter stacks. You always want to try and avoid hands with stacks that are larger then yours, because they have the ability to knock you out. Sometimes you have to fold even if you think you have the best hand against a larger stack just in case they have a better hand. Remember winning several small pots is better then getting into a big pot and losing it. Live to play another hand is usually my motto at this point of the tournament. If you become short stacked at this point then it is time to pick a hand to go all-in with. It’s better to try and get as few people in the hand as possible. You are hoping to have live cards against one other player and even if you are behind you are still a 38 to 40 percent chance to win pre-flop. Bubble Time – If you made to the point of the bubble for cash, prizes or just points, congratulation you lasted longer then most. This is an important time to not be too conservative. At the bubble people tend to tighten up. This is your chance to gain chips without seeing any flop. You want to be come more aggressive. You still need to take into account your position and others chip stacks. If you know that someone is playing for the points and they are the blinds with fewer chips then you, you should make a raise of 3 to 4 times the big blind into them. They will fold or go all-in. You will be able to call without risking your stack and you are at worst going to be 40 percent underdog. This time frame generally doesn’t last long so it’s important to make as many chips as possible before the bubble bursts. High blind levels – Near the end of every tournament there will come a time when it becomes an all-in fest. Which means that someone will be all-in almost every hand, it is once again time to tighten up and try and play only above average starting hands. With fewer players left you will see more heads up action and less multiple player hands. Hands such as ace-9 or under are better starting hands when only playing heads up. Pick your times to be aggressive. Still try and play against smaller stack if possible. Don’t be afraid to go all-in pre-flop. People will fold to your raise. At some point you will be at risk to be knocked out of the tournament or your stack crippled, just try and get in the best hand and hope that you win your races. Heads Up – You did it you made it to heads up. It doesn’t matter if you are the chip leader or not anything can happen in heads up. In over 80 percent of the cases the more aggressive player will win heads up. You should always raise when opponent limps in. You don’t want to give them free flops. If they are limping then they most likely have a weaker hand, raise! Do not slow play any big hands. It is better to take down the blinds then to give a free flop and lose to two pair. I have seen it happen hundreds of times where hands like 3-5 will beat a big pocket pair in heads up. If you have a big hand then all-in is the right move. In the end it will come down to whoever wins the final race for the win. Chopping – To chop or not to chop that is the question! First you need to know if it is possible to chop in a points league. Some will not allow it. Offer to chop the prize and play for the points. Remember anything can and will happen in heads up. If you have more chips offer a chop of you taking a higher percentage of prize money. Don’t be offended if someone says no. Some people don’t understand the concept of chopping and some just want to win. It is worth taking about before heads up begins.

Big Stack Poker Guy

I was recently playing at a casino tournament when a new player was moved to my table and brought with him a stack big enough to have the rest of the table dominated. He sat down and then raised the first three pots. Each time a different amount, but the smallest raise was 4 times the big blind. The first two hands everyone folded. The third hand someone called and the big stack moved all-in after the flop and caller folded. He then played about everyother hand and if no one rasied he made a nice size raise. At the time I was very impressed with his big stack poker play, he moved to a table with smaller stacks and then took over the table, just what you should do in the situation. I am thinking please give me a big hand, please give me a big hand! No such luck! LOL! Finally soneone reraises one of his bets and he is forced to call because it's just not that much and turns over 10-5 offsuit and losses. The table finally gets to see one of his hands. The blinds are now getting higher and one of the players other then the aggressive big stack has now won a big pot and taken over the chip lead. The very next hand under the gun, whom is a very short stack, moves all-in. New chip leader on our table makes a very healthy raise. Big stack guy then moves all-in. evryone folds to reraiser who calls and turns over KK. Big stack guy turns over JJ and loses the hand and is knocked out of the tournament by the only player on the table that had him covered. After big stack guy leaves the table, I lokk over at guy next to me who is a good player and say would you have called or reraised in that postion with JJ. He says no way. I am folding anything below KK there and I may even fold KK. I don't understand what big stack guy was thinking. That's the point. He wasn't paying attention to who was in the pot and how many chips he had. It was an easy laydown of JJ in that position or maybe a call to see flop. Why mess around with a rasie and reraise with someone that has more chips then you with less then aces. He easily had enough chips to limp his way to final table and to make the money and after all isn't that what tournament play is all about! As he was playing I was very impressed with how he was playing with his big stack. In the end I realize that he probably plays that way all the time and losses out alot more times then ever wins. The moral of the story is if you get a big stack, use it to try and accumulate as many chips as possible. Just remember that at some point and time you will have to change gears and slow down when the blinds get higher or a bigger stack gets at your table. Agression is a great tool if used wisely! Don't get greedy!!!!

Casino Tournament

Last night was my night to take the 8 people that have won my Sunday bar tournament to Grand Casino Milcas and buy them into thier monday night $60 tournament. I show up to buy them in and find out that another bar from the twin cities is going to be there tonight with 36 players so the tournament neded up having 96 players. It is good and bad at the same time. With 44 bar players there it played almost like a bar poker tournament. At least that is something that I can deal with. You start out with only 3000 in chips and blinds go up every 15 minutes, so it is very important that you get a good start. I ended up on a table with 5 players from other bar game, but table turns out to be very tight and I am able to take down some small pots early. I am now the button and look down to see 9-3 of spades. It is limped around to me with blinds at 50-100. I decide to limp in and try and make a play after the flop or fold. Small and big blind call. Flop comes 3-3-K rainbow. Jackpot! I have position and what I am sure is the best hand. Someone that I have played with before bets out 300. I call and everone else folds. Turn brings a 5 and gives me a flush draw and a the trips. After the flop better puts in 500 and I reraise him to 1000. He thinks awhile and calls. Now I know he doesn't have a 3 because of how long it takes him to call. River is a nothing card. He pushes all in and I insta-call. He has K-Q. I turn over my 9-3 and double up. He has 100 in chips left and leaves the table on tilt. He comes back after sitting out a hand and says I knew I should have raised that hand pre-flop. I would have folded to any raise pre-flop. I make it to first break with my chips at a little over 6000, so I have reached my first goal. Double up by break. After the break iwas card cead for quite a while. We lost a few players and a player moved with a big stack and immeadately started raising every pot. He was playing big stack poker very well dominating the table. I look down and have Ace-King offsuit. A small stack of about 1/3 of my stack goes all in under the gun. Big stack flods so I move all-in to get it heads up. He turns over 7-8 suited. Flop comes J-3-5. Turn a 6. River a 4 giving him a runner-runner straight. Ouch, that one hurt, but I am still not out just shorter stacked. I am still somewhat card dead and the blinds are getting up there. We are know down to three tables and about to go to 2. 10 players are making the money. They announce that we are breaking our table after the next hand. I have A-J suited and move all-in. Most players are folding until it gets to the other side and someone pushes all-in over thr top of me. Damn, I must be behind. Then the BB also calls. Anyway I flop the nut straight and don't you know another player has A-J also and I split the pot but still win a few chips. I move to the new table. We are down to 20 players and players are dropping fast. I don't have enough chips to flod to the money so I still ahve to wait for a hand. I get A-J offsuit and push all-in and get called for less by pocket 7's. Flop is A-5-3. Great Flop! Turn is a 7. River a 7 giving him quads and crippling me. I know have 4 hands to go all-in before my big blind. I push a couple hands later with Q-J and get called by pocket sixes who turns a set and knocks me out in 15th place. It was a nice run and as usual I was the last man standing from all that I brought and bought in. I think I need to start having a last man standing side pot with them! Another chapter later this week.

Chapter 5 Tells

Bar Poker Tells Bar poker is the best place to improve your tell reading ability. No where else will you see more visible and exaggerated tells. If you are unsure of what tells are, there are some great books out on the subject. It is a worth while investment. A little knowledge can save or make you a lot of chips in a bar game. Here are a few classic tells that you will see in bar poker. Looking at chips- This is the easiest and most common bar poker tell. If you watch a player as they look at their cards or see a flop and immediately look at or go to their chip stack then they like what they have seen. Remember, that each player has a different opinion on what is a good hand. They may not have a monster hand they just liked what they have seen. You need to make your judgment based on your hand and the knowledge you have received. This is a sure give away that a player has made a draw. They are calling your bets and on the river card look or go to their chips stack. You must fold unless you have the nuts. Covering their cards – Many players will only cover their cards if they plan on playing a hand. If you are thinking of bluffing a hand and a tight player has capped their cards you may want to fold or just call rather then raise. Once again remember that different players give different value to what constitutes good cards. Betting out of turn – This usually means that the player is excited about their hand so beware. Checking out of turn – don’t like their hand. They are not even paying attention to what going on. They will fold to any bet. Taking a lot of time to call – hand is weak, probably on a draw. If strong they would have called right away. Look for looking at chips tell after next card. Look at hole cards or flop and suddenly pays attention. They may have been talking or drinking or eating and now are enthralled in hand. They have a good starting hand or hit the flop. If they immediately go to chips they have a big hand and plan to bet or raise. Grabbing chips then checking – They like their hand a lot. They are either looking to check raise or let you catch up so you will call a big bet. Sometimes players will do this when they are on a nut draw. I was thinking of betting my draw and decided to check. Either way beware of a big hand potential. Fake tells – There are a few bar players capable of fake tells, but not many. Most of the time tells will lead you to make correct plays. If you see a fake tell, remember who it was that did it for future information. Should you fake tells at a bar poker game? The problem is most people that play bar poker will not even know that you gave them a tell, so it is a waste of time and energy but it may work once in a while to make it worth it.