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!