MotorCity Mafia

I can’t remember the last time I was at the poker table when a player with the stone cold nuts did NOT bet someone off a hand. Just last night, a player with the nut straight flush went all-in on the river and drove out two players that would have either called or raised a value bet. Hell, his chips were flying into the pot before the last card hit the felt.

The emotion, speed, and size of the bet broadcasts the hand as if the hole cards were face up to everyone within a two block radius.

Determining the right price to bet is an art in this game.

In this same session, I have J-9 off in the big blind.

I am not a fan of J-9 in any position, but I decide to call a small raise by a player under the gun. I call for two reasons: first, we are heads-up. Second, even though I am out of position, I had a good feeling about the hand knowing that I could outplay the raiser if I had to after the flop.

The flop comes J-9-9.

My opponent would expect me to check if I had a 9. I am thinking he has a hand like A-J or K-J. So I bet the pot.

He min-raises me. I pause about 10 seconds, then call.

The turn is an 8.

I pause about five seconds, then bet half the pot.

My opponent insta-calls.

The river is the case 9.

I pause again for about 10 seconds. If I bet too little, my opponent will put me on quad 9s. If I bet too much, he will put me on quad 9s.

I want to represent a full house: 9s full of 8s, second to his 9s full of Jacks.

The right price in this case is just under half-the pot.

My opponent insta-calls the bet and shows K-J.

He then says, “You priced it just right for me to call. Nice hand.”

After experiencing one of the worst runs in my life (losing 7 out of 8 sessions), I had a great session last night / this morning.

I played some of my best poker. And I had fun to boot.

Yes, I still took two bad beats at my one per four hours average. But, the total loss was only $50 out of a $1000 stack. After what I went through last week, I cannot complain!

My best hand of the night? Well, it went down something like this:

I raised to only $15 pre-flop from early position and got three callers.

Two of the callers just sat down from a broken game. Two callers had to act before me and the other one after me.

The flop came Jd-10d-9c.

The first player bet $25 into the $60 pot. The second player calls.

I raise to $50.

The player behind me re-raises me another $100.

The other two players fold.

My read is this is a tournament player and he is on a flush draw or a gut shot straight draw.

I like my chances, so I put him all-in.

He calls but does not show.

The turn is 5s.

The river is 7c.

My opponent shows Ad-4d for a busted flush.

I show Q-Q and take down the pot. I had an open-end straight draw and backdoor flush draw on the flop.

What made it special, besides getting paid, was no one at the table put me on Q-Q.

The icing was the table talking about that hand for the next 20 minutes.

I was able to recoup most of my losses for the week in this session.

As I put the chips on the counter to cash out, the cashier says, “verify”.

I love it when they have to verify.

Wow.

I have not run this bad for this long.

After taking a few days off from the poker room, I returned tonite refreshed and relaxed.

Over the course of six hours, here are the hands I played and the short-story outcome:

1. 4-4: Nothing on flop; two pair had me beat.
2. Q-Q: Beaten by A-2 off on flop.
3. Q-Q: Beaten by K-9 off on flop.
4. 6-6: Beaten by flush on flop.
5. 9-9: Beaten by gut-shot straight on turn.
6. 4-4: Beaten by trip jacks on flop.
7. K-K: Beaten by A-2 off on flop.
8. 7-7: Beaten by trip Aces on flop.
9. Qc-Jc: Beaten by diamond flush on turn.
10. 7s-8s: Beaten by trip 9s on flop.
11. Q-Q: Beaten by a pair of Kings on river.
12. K-K: Beaten by set of 3s on river.

The sick part is all other hands, roughly 120 of them, that I folded pre-flop never hit.

At least my reads rang true for the few hands I was in. And I had it in good.

When I sit down at the poker table, I am completely focused on each player.

I am looking for habits, strengths, and weaknesses.

Here is a short list of what I am looking for:

What kinds of hands do each player play? Are they playing “good” hands or any Ace or any face card?

Where does each player play from? Are they playing any position or late position?

How many hands does each player play? Are they seeing every flop, most flops, or only a few an hour?

Do they raise with raising hands or limp-in?

Do they play any two suited cards and chase flushes down to the river regardless of unfavorable pot odds?

Do they play any two straight cards and chase straights down to the river regardless of unfavorable pot odds?

Do they look at their hole cards when they receive them or when it is their turn to act? If they are watching their cards out of turn, they are not watching the other players react to their hole cards. This means they are focused on their own hand and not reading the strength of other players.

I am on the lookout for gamblers too. Gamblers are not card players. They lose over the long run.

Do the players talk about poker tournaments? Tournaments are for gamblers. They push all-in on draws and think A-K is a good hand. Not in a cash game.

Do they use blackjack signals when checking? Blackjack is for gamblers.

Do the players talk about playing poker online? Internet players play alot of hands, most of which are marginal. They also tend to be aggressive with marginal or losing hands.

I am also on the lookout for collusion or cheating. Yes, unfortunately, some players cheat - even in casinos. I can beat nearly any player acting alone. But beating two, three, or six people working together is very difficult.

In this case, I am looking for hand signals, card flashing, chip placement on hole cards, and glances. I watch for players taking breaks together. I watch to see who is in a hand together and who drops out of a pot on fifth street.

Players ask me all the time how I prepare for a game. These are players that want to earn a profit on their playing. That is to say, they are not there for fun or the thrill of victory.

Here, I will describe what I do until the first hand.

It all begins by asking myself three questions before I decide to step foot into the casino:

1. Am I alert and awake enough to sit through a two hour movie?
2. Am I in a positive state of mind?
3. Am I focused on poker and not distracted by anything or anyone?

If I can honestly answer “yes” to all three questions, then the game is on.

Everytime, without fail, that I answered “no” to just one question, I lost money.

My goal is to earn a profit on the session.

Table and seat selection are important. Most times, you do not get a choice on either one.

But if you do, I look for a weak table. Why? If you are the 10th best player in a poker room of 100 players and sit down with the top nine, you are the worst player at the table. Odds are, you will lose.

I like to sit behind the big stacks so my action is after theirs in most hands.

That said, I prefer to sit in seat 9, 2, 3, or 8. Why? Because all players at the table are in my view.

Ever sit across from the dealer in seat 6 or 7? You have players on both sides of you. Turn your head to see seat 9 and you can’t see the opposite seats. I watch all the players all the time.

When I am in 9 (my favorite) or 2, I see everyone in my field of vision.

If the game is capped, I buy-in for the maximum amount. Never buy-in for the minimum. You will be at an instant disadvantage to nearly everyone at the table.

For uncapped games, I buy-in for at least what the average stack at the table has. If it is a tough table, I will buy-in for whatever the big stack has.

In my next post, I will talk about what I do once I sit down at the table with chips.

I got unlucked. Again.

Day 4 in a row.

Five out of six.

And it is sick.

I don’t want to go on and on about bad beats, but these are just sick.

For your entertainment and my therapy, here is what happened yesterday:

I am in the big blind with 8-6 off.

The player under the gun limps in.

The player two off the big blind also limps in.

Everyone else folds.

The flop comes 7-5-4 rainbow.

I flopped the nut straight.

I have three options:

1. Fold the nuts since my hand can only get worse;
2. Bet the nuts hard like most marginal-to-bad players;
3. Check the nuts.

I choose check.

Next player bets big.

The next player re-raises big.

Now what?

I am thinking BB+1 has an over pair and BB+2 has either two pair or a set.

I have both players beat. I am way, way ahead in this hand.

I choose to smooth call.

BB+1 goes all-in.

BB+2 calls.

What choice do I have? I have to call. I have the fucking nuts.

BB+1 shows K-K.

I laughed to myself.

How can anyone play K-K with a straight on board and a re-raise?

BB+2 shows bottom two pair.

I start running the scenarios through my head.

If the board pairs 4 or 5, I am beat. There is a 16% chance of this on the turn and 9% chance on the river.

Mr. Kings can only win with runner-runner 7s, runner-runner Kings, or running King and 7, 5, or 4.

For all intents and purposes, Mr. Kings is damn near drawing dead.

The turn is a 7.

Wow.

Now Mr. Two Pair has three pair. He still needs a 5 or 4 and is a 9-to-1 dog.

Mr. Kings, however, is half-way to making a hand. Any King or 7 has me beat. Like Mr. Three Pair, he also has a four-outer and is a 9-to-1 dog.

I start to think my bad run is finally over.

I will finally beat the bad players (neither one of these guys should have committed all their chips with this flop) with skill.

The river card comes.

It is a 7.

Mr. Kings went runner-runner full house.

I got unlucked. Again.

I played it right. And got outdrawn and outlucked.

The session has a bit of symmetry to it.

I rebuy and find myself with K-K.

I bet hard pre-flop and get one caller.

I put him on a weak ace.

The flop comes Ks-Kd-Qd.

I check the quad Kings.

My opponent bets hard.

I call.

The turn is 10d.

Now there is a straight, flush, and royal flush possibility.

In the casino I am at, quads beaten by a royal flush would pay a $300,000 bad beat jackpot.

I check.

My opponent “Ace” bets hard.

Ok, a really really bad player would bet hard on the nuts. But we are talking possible bad beat here. Even the worst players would not want me to fold.

I put him on four to the flush and smooth call.

The river card is … yes, you guessed it: a fucking nightmare! It is the Jd.

Ace makes his royal flush. That is the bad news. The worst news is he did it with one card which makes us ineligible for the bad beat jackpot.

I check.

He bets off the rest of his chips.

I fold and show quad Kings.

He shows Ad-6h.

“You called $50 pre-flop with that hand?” I ask.

“Sure. I had an ace.”

No, you got damn lucky.

And I got unlucked. Again.

I am now on day three of my bad run. I have lost in four out of five sessions and for three consecutive sessions.

I played well and was not outplayed by anyone. I simply got unlucky. Again.

Very discouraging.

Here are the hands I played in a three hour span and the percentage of my stack lost on the hand:

1. K-K: Lost to a river set of queens. 15%
2. 7-7: Lost to A-K on the turn. 5%
3. 4-4: Two pair on flop counterfeited on river to A-J. 5%
4. 9-9: Flopped a set. Beaten by quad 3s on turn. 20%
5. 10-10: Flopped 10s full of Kings, beaten by Kings full of 10s. 15%
6. K-K: Beaten by A-6 off on river. 20%
7. J-J: Pushed the rest of the chips all-in pre-flop. Got slowrolled by Kings. 20%

Fortunately (or unfortunately - I am not quite sure any more) my accurate reads have saved me money.

I know I can play - hopefully this bad run will be over soon.

My wave of frozen cards continues. It is incredibly frustrating when one begins to run bad after running so good.

One of my rounder friends, “B”, is going through the same tundra as me right now.

I got unlucky on my first hand yesterday. Flopped a set against someone who could not fold Aces. She rivered the case ace for a better set.

Had pocket tens beaten by someone who flopped top two with A-Q.

Then, I started to play bad. Flopped bottom set and folded to a big bet that represented a bigger set. My read was wrong, and it was a bad fold.

On my last hand, I had trip 4s. Folded to a big bet that represented a straight. Turns out it was top pair only. Bad read and worse laydown.

They say that when you are going through hell to keep on going. I hope I am in the final stretch of the cold deck.

Talk about cold decks! Last night, it was frozen solid.

Here is pretty much what happened during a four hour session:

1. Q-Q: no callers pre-flop
2. 9-9: flopped a set but beat by a flush
3. K-K: no callers pre-flop
4. K-Q: no flop - had to fold
5. J-10: no flop - had to fold
6. A-Q hearts: took down small pot on flop with straight and flush draws
7. K-Q: no flop - had to fold
8. 4-4: all paint on flop - had to fold
9. 6-6: beaten by set of 5s on flop - had to fold
10. A-J: beat by A-A

Between blinds and missed flops, my entire stack evaporated in this session.

Hopefully tonight will be a better night!

I hit a speed bump this week: back-to-back sessions of running bad.

Fortunately, the cold deck was relatively short lived.

I hit bottom on this hand: I have A-K spades in late position and limp in.

The player on the button makes a position raise to $20. Everyone folds around to me. I call.

The flop comes A-6-6. I bet $20.

My opponent pushes all-in for another $80.

I insta-call.

He shows J-10.

I smiled.

The turn is another 6.

Cinch hand for me right?

The river is the case 6!

We  both chop the pot with quad 6s and an ace kicker on board.

Nothing like going from a 98% favorite to win to 0% with the case card.

Things turned around later in the day, giving me a profitable session.