HORSE Tournament

It isn't very often that any of us get to play a live HORSE tournament, which is one of the reasons to have one as part of the St Cloud Series of Poker that is being run by the Central MN Poker Players Association. I knew it was going to be a challenge as many players don't have a lot of 7 card stud experience and this event was being played as a limit event. Some of my rustiness showed up early. In a hand in 7 card stud. I reraised on the turn and bet the river and then turned over my cards and announced that I had the wheel only to be told that I had a pair of 5's and a busted flush draw. Guess I should have looked at my cards one more time. To make it even worst, a few hands later in Stud hi-low, I called all the way to the river and announced that I had a nine low but of course stud hi low is an eight or lower game. At least the blinds were low and it really didn't cost me much for being a dummy. LOL! My early run of cards was very poor. I had great starting hands but was not able to put anything together as the hands played out. My chips were dwindling fast. I was playing too many hands thinking I could out play people that had no experience playing games other then holdem. That lack of experience just caused them to play hands that they shouldn't and draw out on me several times. We started with 15,000 in chips a big starting stack. By the time blinds hit 200-400 I was down to 800 in chips and it was looking like I would be the 1st one out. I got all in on a set of 9's in stud split and took down a nice pot to get back to 2000. Then I made a couple of nice calls and soon was back to over 25,000. In one holdem hand, I had pocket 7's in the small blind. In debated on a reraise but decided to call because of how had limped in already. BB raises. There ends up with 3 players in hand and I put both other players on big cards. Flop is nine high. I am sure that I have the best hand. I check and BB bets and I call. Turn is another small card. I check call again. River pairs the board. I check and BB bets. Other guy folds. At this point in time the river bet is a big bet. I put bettor on high cards, but he has bet the whole way. I am still sure that I have best hand and debate a reraise. I decide to call just in case he has a pair bigger then mine and turn over my 7's. He mucks his cards and immediately on tilt. He can't believe that I had called the whole way with a pair. I told him I was pretty sure that I had the best hand the whole way. The one thing about this is that I had debated on raising preflop. I am glad that I hadn't because it would have changed the way the whole hand would have played out and I think I would have won less chips. Unfortunately, several very inexperienced players never stopped chasing and catching and it took a little of the fun out of the tournament. (you know who you are!) I did end up in 5th place and cashed for almost enough to pay the bar tap, so I would call it a successful day. Congratulations to Dustin Hoff who played well all day and took down the event and he also wrap up player of the year honors for the CMPPA'S 1st year.

Table Talk

In bar poker there is always a lot of table talk and a lot of times it boarders on collusion. Last night I had several examples. The one that sticks out the most is I am fairly short stacked and blinds are getting high. We are only a few spots from the points and I was looking to point up last night. I look down to QQ. Great, I will move in when it gets to me. Girl under the gun raises 4 times BB. She has not raised once in the time that she has been on my table and has only called. As soon as she makes the raise the two players next to me begin talking to themselves. Aces one says and then the other agrees. She never raises with out AA or KK. Now I know that I should be warning them to keep quite, but I am only one paying attention, so I decide to wait until after hand. It gets to me and I am not happy. This should be an instant all in for me, but how do I not take into account the info from the other players. One of the players sees that I am contemplating and is actually shaking his head at me. I am trying to make points so I fold and so does everyone else. She doesn't show her hand, but someone saw as she folded and told me pocket 3's. I suppose I still could have lost, but it would have been a big chip up if I had won. I did end up making the points and finished 7th, so maybe it was the right move at the time, but I should have went with my instincts instead of the table talk. Later in tournament I had to warn two players that what they were doing was collusion if they continued their talking. I am not against table talk when it is heads up, but not when other players are in the hand. So, please be mindful!

Funny Incident

At least I thought it was funny and I am probably the only one. At my Tuesday game it is the hand before break and I get called over to a different table. As I get there a player is pulling their cards out of the muck and is not happy. I am not sure how the hand had played out but the board had 4 hearts on it and it was a pretty nice size pot. At the end of the hand player A had turned over their cards and announced that he had ace high and the other player mucked their cards. Player B thought that A had an ace high flush, but player A had announced only ace high and did not miss represent the hand. Player B had a jack high flush and was mad that they had mucked the best hand. I ruled that as long as player A had not miss represented the hand that he was the winner because B had mucked their cards. Well as you can imagine B was not happy, Blaming me and the other player for their mistake. I was busy chipping people up and the rant was still on. Finally I looked at player and said it was time to stop blaming me and player A as they were the one that had mucked their cards. It was their mistake not anyone else. All they had to do was turn up cards and player B would have won. This player was now on serious tilt, but still had a big chip stack. When play restarted, someone at my table asked what had happened and I explained and then said watch, Player B will be out soon. It took about one blind level and I hear player down from that table and over comes player B and throws the draw card at me and storms off. Lesson to story. Always turn your cards face up at show down because cards always read. The only way a tournament director can bring cards out of the muck is if the muck was caused by a clear misrepresentation of the hand.

Poker Patience

My poker patience took a good work over at last nightrs bar game. We had a much smaller then normal turnout, only 21 so we started with 3 tables of 7. I sit down and check out my table and see that I have 3 of the regular women players all seated around me. All these ladies are very nice people that love to play poker, but lack much in the skill and willingness to learn department. They all play very similar. They rarely fold preflop and will not lay down a pair or a draw. On most night I will get a lot of chips from this type of player, but not last night. I actually had very good starting hands early and raised several times and almost always at least two of the 3 would call. On the continuation bet at least one if not both would call and then I would have to give up because I was bet. I lost a lot of chips on a hand that was raised preflop by one of the better players on the table with me and one of the ladies calling. All I had was a weak ace, but I figured I could outplay the good player after the flop. On the flop I ended up with a pair of aces but not that great of kicker. Bettor made a continuation bet and I just called because I wasn't sure if he didn't have me beat. Turn was a blank and he checked. Now I knew that I was ahead of him, so I put out a little larger then pot size bet of 1500. Women next to thinks a long time and calls. I am sure that she is on a draw. Original bettor folds, just as I expected. River brings a 3 heart on board, so I check to see where I am at. She immeadatly puts out big bet. I fold and tell her nice catch on your flush. She turns over k-4 of hearts, She had no pair and only a flush draw but called preflop and all bets with nothing. That's how my night went. I lasted a little longer but with all three catching there didn't seem to be a point in playing anymore. In the end all three made final table and all were knocked out very shortly as their luck had run out and blind were high enough to make the chasing hurt. Next weeks plan if I encounter this situation again I am just going to fold until the blind levels get high enough to deal with their play.

Quote of the night by an occasional player. I had to call I had my favorite hand. What your favorite hand someone asks. Pocket hearts! I love to play any two suited hearts! LOL! Goodn information for future reference, but really your favorite hand is any two hearts!

Friday Game

Fridays game had a big turn out with almost 50 players. You start with 5000 in chips and there is always lots of action early. The table I was at had a newer player that had no sense about how to play poker and called the 1st two hands down and turned over King high on one and second pair on the other. The third hand I had pocket 8's and raised to 250. Got three callers including that player. Flop is Q-8-4 two clubs. I bet 600 and only that guy calls. Turn is a king. I bet 1000 he calls. River is a small card. I bet 1000 and he calls. I turn over my set of 8's. He turns over ace high. Guess I missed played that hand, probably could have gotten more chips. LOL! I play very solid along the way and make final table close to chip lead. We have lost 2 players already and I am under the gun with A-Q suited. I raise to 15,000. Blinds are 300-6000. Guy next to me calls and so does another out of position player. Flop is 7-4-2 rainbow. 1st player bets out 6000. I call and so does other player. Turn is a nine. 1st player moves all in for 14,000. I can already tell the other player is going to call. At this point there is over 70,000 in the pot and I don't see how I can fold with only having two overs. I still have over 15,000 if I make the call. I am grumbling because I don't want to call but so much in the pot. Other player calls for a little less. I turn over my A-Q. The others turn over K-Q and the bettor turns over A-8. The table goes wild. Is it possible that I really hacve the best hand. River is a J and I take down the huge pot with A high and a queen kicker and take out two players. Thank god for pot odds or I would have folded. It just goes to show you that you never know in poker. BTW, I ended up taking the tournament down. It was nice for a change!

Playing the Player

Many people have made this statement many times, but here it is again. Poker is a game about playing people as much as it is about playing the cards. One doesn't always need the best hand to win and if you only wait for the best hand you will not win consistently. Here is an example from a recent bar outing. I am the big blind with a short stack maybe 3000 in chips with blinds at 100-200. A player that can be read like a book raises to 1200. I immediately put her on A-K or A-Q suited. I have 7-8 off. I know that I am going to call as soon as she raises and if the flop doesn't come big cards I know I can push and take the pot down. Flop is 4-6-8. I have flopped top pair and a gut shot. Bettor bets 1200 again. I move all in for 600 more. She of course calls and turns over A-10 suited. Not even as strong as I thought. Turn is a 5, I now have a straight and win hand. Player goes on tilt about me calling her big raise with 7-8. I tell her why I called and that puts her on tilt more. In the next two hands she losses all her chips and goes from chip leader on table to being out of tournament. She had to wait for another player and continues steaming just off the table. This player is one of the most predictable players that I have ever seen and doesn't understand why she is not doing as well as she used to. It's simple. Play all hands the same and it doesn't take long for even bar players to figure it out. Would I have called the raise against two or three other players at the table. Absolutely not. It's an easy fold, but I will play any two cards against a player that I am 90 percent sure that I know what they have and can get them to fold after the flop. The moral is mix it up and play more hands and don't just wait for the monsters. They don't always win.

The lost art of spare shootng!

This blog is not going to be about poker, but the other game that I have spent most of my life involved in bowling. This weekend my wife and I drove to Milwaukee to watch our son Kyle bowl in his 1st collegiate tournament in two years. It was a big tournament with 70 teams participating. His team did very well placing 7th out of 42 teams. He finished 8th out of almost 300 bwolers. The format consisted of 9 games of regular team bowling where each player bowls their own games and 10 games of baker bowling, which is a game with each player throwing 2 frames. What was very noticeable was the lack of skill in the spare shooting part of the participants, except for the top few bowlers. Bowling has become a game that due to technology a person is able to throw more strikes then in past because of the way new equipment, mostly bowling balls, hook more with little effort from the thrower. Most of the kids that are bowling on college teams now grew up in a time when they have learned how to make a bowling ball hook as much as possible to get the best angle into the pocket to create the best chance to strike. When it comes to spare shooting, they don't worry about it as much as they know that they will get more strikes to make up for it and still have a good game. This means the biggest difference between the good bowlers is their ability to pick up spares. Picking up spares requires a lot of practice, something the average bowler doesn't do any more. In the tournament that I watched, if each member of a team picks up one more spare per game over the course of the tournament it would be an additional 50 pins per game plus 10 for the baker games. This totals 550 extra pins in the tournament. For a team like my sons, it would move them from 7th place to 1st or 2nd place. I am not sure as I have not seen the final totals. So, is spare shooting an important part of bowling. Hell yes! It is a lost art form that the youth need to realize is the difference between winning and losing. So next time you are practicing the game of bowling make sure you spend an equal time shooting at spares as you do throwing strikes. It will make you a better player.