Disturbing Bar Poker Trend

I have noticed a trend the last few times that I played bar poker that is kind of disturbing to me. It is the chop at the end of the tournament. Now, in real cash tournaments I understand the reason for chopping and have done it on several occasions. The blinds become so high that it just comes down to who gets the cards or gets lucky at the end. In most cash tournaments, it makes sense when you get down to 3-4 players. In bar poker at most games you are playing for small prizes and points that you accumulate to try and move on to bigger tournaments to try and win bigger prizes. In many of these games there is a big difference between 1st and 2nd in point values. Most of these chops occur when you get to heads up. Now, I'm not against you chopping the prizes. I am just against including who gets first in this discussion. If two players make it to heads up and one player is playing for points and the other maybe only plays once in a while and doesn't care about the points. The discussion can go. I will give you the prize money if you give me the points for 1st. I don't see this is good for the integraty of the game. Those ill gotten points could make the difference between someone making the next level or how many chips they get at the next tournament. It just doesn't seem fair to me. When I ran games, I never let it happen. Can you imagine how it would look an TV if when they got to heads up at the WSOP and the announcer says. The two players left have decided to share in the final prizes with one player getting 35% and taking the win and the other gets 65% and is the runner up. It wouldn't make for very good television. The part that is forgotten is that most bar players rarely get to play heads up and most can't adjust their game to the different style that is required. So, if you rarely get to heads up why wouldn't you want to play it out just for the experience of doing it alone. It is very difficult to simulate heads up when the blinds are high so just do it. I know it's late, your both tired and the tournament director probably wants to go home, but for your and the games best interest just play it out!

BlackJack!

Friday night I got off work early enough to go and play the game at McCann's. Now Friday can be a little crazy and this was no different. I decided to not play the out and out aggression but instead use a controlled and calculated aggression. I got my table and two good players to my left and the rest of the table was at best description loose cannons. I won a few pots early with some good starting hands and was early chip leader on the table. I then got into a hand with one of the good players on the table. Pot was raised preflop by a weaker player so I called with a suited king. I ended up flopping what I thought was a flush draw, straight draw and what I figured were two over cards. Good player bet out and I reraised. He came over the top all in. I figured I was close to 50-50 and maybe even a slight favorite and it was not all my chips so I called. Ended up rivering the flush and winning a big pot taking out oen of the good players. A little later the other good player makes a strange move and pushes all in blind under the gun for 2500 with blinds at 75-150. I look at him and laugh. Maybe I should call blind. So I do. Everyone else folds and he flips over 2-2. I am thinking at least I got overs. I then turn over JJ LOL! They hold up and I win. What's the odds of two blind all in to both have a pocket pair. There are still alternates in the tournament and he comes a very intoxicated and very load older guy. He is really annoying and it is clear that he is going to play every hand until out. I decide to walk away from the table and just be at table to see cards and fold until this guy is out. He lost about half his chips in the 1st two hands. On the 3rd hand I look down at 8-8. His is first to act and pushes all his chips in and turns up his cards A-10 and yells out BLACKJACK! I never laughed so hard in my life. I called and everyone else folds. Cards run out and my eights hold up. Guy still doesn't understand why his blackjack didn't get paid off. He finally leaves table and we are all still laughing. I then continue my domination of the table. I make final table and have the whole final table covered. Unfortunately, at the final I finally went card dead, but did manage a 3rd place finish and some a free meal for the next days tournament. I was very happy with how my style of play worked out and will have to do some more research into it and it's viability to my game.
The next day was the 1st CMPPA members only event and I started off with good cards that were always second best and ended up short stacked early after not being able to bet a player off of his ace. We both had an ace but he had me out kicked. I probably should have just called and taken the loss but thought I might be able to bet him off. Anyway it ended up to be an early exit for me, but I was happy with the way I played non the less. During the six o'clock game the Blackjack guy ends up sitting on my right. He is dealer so I deal for him. He ends up calling an all in on the flop with 5-2 off which is all undercards to the board to double a really bad player up 1st hand, but at least he only lasted one hand this time.

Ski Weekend

It was a nice weekend for a getaway. Got up early on Saturday and headed to Rochester. It was definitely winter on Sat. with temps in the low numbers with lots of wind. Had lunch at John Hardy's BBQ. If you are ever in Rochester you need to try it out. It should be on Diners, Drive-in and Dives. It don't look like much, but the food is excellent. Go for the pulled pork or ribs. After lunch, of course, we had to go to the Goodwill and they had red tags at 50% off. If you don't go to goodwill you wouldn't understand, but they almost never discount their red tag stuff as it things that they have purchased from Target. So, it's new products. It's a good thing we brought the van because it got filled. LOL! Next we headed downtown to where they had an Ice Bar setup. Now it's sounds like fun but with the temp at 0 and winds 20-30 mph it was cold, so we headed to a local bar and watch from warm comfort with a pint of Burly Brown Ale. We did walk back through the Ice Bar and it was really cool, but I just couldn't get into over paying for a drink in an Ice glass and freeze my tail off at the same time. Headed back to Kara's for a fun evening playing games and enjoying a few cocktails. Sunday it was much warmer, so we headed to Welsh Village for afternoon of skiing. I haven't been to Welsh Village since I was in high school, so let's say 30 years. Anyway it was much nicer and bigger then it was back then. The day turned out beautiful with sun and temps in the 30's. Surprisingly, with the lack of snow and weather that we have had the place was in great shape and we have a really good time. Will go back for sure. My funny story of the day is I was riding one of the lifts and we were taking to the guy we were riding with and got to the top to get off and as I was jumping off the chair caught me in the butt and started lifting me up, so it was either jump off or ride down again, so I jump and end up flat on my back. Someone should have had a video because I am sure it would have been funny. As Welsh is only a few miles from Treasure Island we had to make a stop. We are driving to the Casino and we go through a small town that's has a mom and pop bar so we had to stop. Behind the bar is the owner an older woman that had owned the bar for over 30 years. She was fun to talk to but it was one of those bars that when you walk in everyone stops what they are doing and stares at you as you come in. It even had a dog walking around and served Elk burgers. I didn't lose any money at the Casino and didn't hurt anything skiing, so it was a good day. Long drive home on Monday as it snowed south of the cities and people just aren't used to driving in snow this year. Was happy to see no snow north of Maple Grove as it was a stressful drive up till then.

The CMPPA ran a Ladies only poker event while I was gone on Saturday. We had 14 women show up which was a little disappointing, but it sounds as if they had a good time, so will have to try again next year. This weekend is the first member event of the year, so hopefully, I will have another poker blog soon.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Super Bowl

So, another Super Bowl has come and gone. My wife and I started a new tradition a few years ago and we stay home and watch the game and make appetizers. Well, to be truthful we actually watch for the commercials. The game was one of the better ones and you all know what went on with it. My only comment is when the Giants scored the last touchdown and everyone was saying why didn't he just fall down on one yard line. I say get the touchdown. I would rather be four or five points ahead with less then a minute and rely on defense then wait until last second and be behind and rely on a field goal to win. There is just too much that can go wrong. Bad snap or a block and you lose. I think they did the right thing by scoring. Now on to the commercials. I thought they were some of the best from the past few years. It's obvious the car companies must be doing well again as almost everyone had a commercial and Hyundia must have had 4 or 5. There were many favorites. The best two in a row was the Pepsi Elton John and then the Hyundia Cheetah. The one that made me laugh the most was the baby in the sling Doritos commercial. But over all the commercials were just as good as the game and the apps. We had a great cheese dip and Debbie made a bacon wrapped little sizzlers that were awesome. In fact, we had so much food that we didn't even heat it all up.

TGIF

Have had a chance to play some poker again the last two Fridays. McCann's Friday game is maybe the weakest bar game that I have ever played. It truely is no foldem holdem. I again continued with my aggressive play building a big stack the first week. It is amazing how many times that you can out flop someone just by playing lots of hands. Then last night I ran into the curse of aggressive play. I started the night with 4 pocket pairs and several big face card hands in the first 10 hands and didn't win a single hand in the process losing most of my chips. One of my last hands I had pocket 7's. The hand played out strange with a preflop raise by me and a reraise and then still 5 callers. Flop was A-4-3 rainbow. Reraiser was last to act so everyone checked to him and he did too. Turn was a 6. I check and another player bets out a relatively small bet to pot size. Everyone else folds to me. I decide to call and see what happens. River is another 6. Player bets out 2850 which is enough to put me all in. I think about how this played out. He was small blind. He could have called with a weak Ace, but I am thinking he more then likely has a 3 or 4. He is a player that would carry a bluff the whole way. I am like 95% sure that I have the best hand and should have called but decided that I wasn't ready to leave yet so I folded in case he had an ace or 6. He told me he had King high and I believe him. My read was right I just wasn't able to pull the trigger on it as it was all my chips. A little later I was knocked out, so now I know that I should have called and even if I was knocked out it wouldn't have changed my tournament outcome. Another bar poker lesson learned. I then went over to the Ultimate for their late game. I sat down on my table it made the McCann's game look pretty good. Not one real player on the table. Can you say Donkey! A few hands into to tournament, I am big blind with JJ. The pot was raised and there were many callers, so I reraise to try and get some people out. Yea, right! Everyone called, Flop is K-K-6. It gets checked around. Turn is a 2. Original raiser bets about half his chips. Everyone else folds to me. I am sure that he doesn't have a King because he would have bet flop. He has a pair of some kind, but how big. I decide to push him all in and take my chances. He calls and turns over aces. I lose most of my chips. Push in a few hands later and lose again. I still like the aggressive play, but now need to tailor it a little to find my happy medium. It was still a fun night. Beer was really good as it always is at McCann's and didn't last long enough to over pay for one at the Ultimate. Made it home in plenty of time to work on my Sliders marathon!