Joe's home game on Monday

[shipitfish]

Strangely, about two days after I posted my first entry declaring that I would begin to keep this journal, I had the worst run that I have ever experienced in my poker career, and it lasted about a full week and half. Eventually, I'll go back through and explain that bad run and how it impacted my bankroll, but I didn't really want my first post here to be on such a negative tone. So, I am going to start by posting details from home games that I played in the past week.

I played in three home games last week.

I only have time to describe one of them. On Monday, I went to Joe's game in Boston. This is mostly a pretty young crowd that Joe met before he dropped out of college. (Joe dropped out to play poker online professionally, something I've warned him can't last, because the games won't be this juicy forever. But he's young and sure of himself. I remember being like that once.) The usual suspects who make almost every weekly home game in Boston (i.e., Jon L. and Avi) were there. Having Jon L. there makes me feel a bit better, because then I'm not the oldest person there and I don't feel like I am too old for the crowd.

Joe is almost a purely NL HE player, and has set his game as a $1/$2 blind NL HE game with a $200 maximum buy-in. I still can't decide if I like a "100 times the big blind" buy-in or not. Sometimes I think the smaller buy-in inspires more action. Nevertheless, there was eventually some action.

It wasn't too long before enough people had arrived to split into two tables of five and six, respectively. I ended up at the main table, with Norbert (an extremely tight and slightly annoying player), and with a number of people I didn't know that well who seemed a bit tight. I asked to change tables when an extra person arrived that would even the tables up. Joe was surprised I wanted to move, and I began to wonder if perhaps the players at his table were looser than I'd speculated based on the few number of hands we'd played.

I moved primarily because I was following Jon L. Jon L. is a calling station, who is sometimes hard to play against because he rarely defines his hand; he'll call you down, never putting a raise in, and it may turn out he had the nuts all along, a weak flush draw, or a flopped two pair. You can almost never tell, but I have been working over many sessions to improve my read of him. Regardless, since he calls down so much his money moves, and I wanted to have at least one known player at my table.

So, as I suspected, everyone else at the table was either playing tight-weak or a reasonable tight-aggressive game. Jon L. was the only one moving money around. I bluffed a few pots with some weak draws when Jon wasn't in. I'd mostly just pick up $20 or $30 pots when I could, and I'd fold when I got resistance from the tight-weak players. I did make a big score with a $18 re-raise, holding an A K. The small blind (a fellow whose name I've forgotten but factors into the "bad run" stories I'll tell later) moved all-in from the small blind. I sensed that he had a pair that he didn't want to see a flop with, and really got a strong feeling that he was holding jacks or queens. Avi, who had been the original raiser under-the-gun, folded. I decided that I had a coin flip with the other guy and didn't want to sacrifice the dead money from Avi's first raise and from my reraise. I called his $58 all-in, and he showed Q Q. The turn brought the K, and I had increased my stack nicely, albeit with a coin-flip.

So, I had built up a stack of about $400 or so (from my initial $200 buy-in) by picking up a few pots here and there, but mostly due to that coin flip. Not the best way to build a stack, but it did help me a great deal later on.

It wasn't too long after that that Avi and a few others left. We ended up back at one table of eight players. It was at this point when I realized why Joe was surprised that I left the table. There were a number of pretty loose players there, probably some that Joe knew from the past, who were just getting warmed up when I'd left the table earlier. The play was now somewhat loose, particular from a fellow named Matt whom I'd played against the previous week, and another player whose name I've forgotten on my right.

Then, came my key hand of the night. As is often the case in NL play, I can count most of my winnings for the night in one specific hand. Matt was in the BB, and the fellow to my right limped in. I limped with 5 5. The small blind folded, and we saw the flop three-handed.

The flop came A A 7. It was checked to me, and I bet the pot, which was only $6, figuring it was unlikely for my opponents to limp with Ace high, and that it'd be difficult for them to call. Instead, I got called by both players, and the pot was now $24 going into the turn.

I was pretty sure at this point that I had the worst hand. I had some difficulty figuring out who had the Ace among my two opponents, but then something began to dawn on my as the dealer dealt the turn. My realization had to wait a moment, as I glanced at the 5. I'd hit one of my two outs for my semi-bluff on the flop, and worked to carefully control my surprise. I was figuring I was done with the hand and sacrificing my $8 in the pot, until I saw that turn. I expected that whoever had the Ace would check to me, and I'd get first action from position.

They did in fact both check. I wanted any bet to look like a follow-up bluff, so I quickly bet $20. Almost immediately, Matt moved all-in for his remaining $68, making the pot $112. The opponent between us then did something very strange. I had been expecting a quick fold if he had an under-pair or a mere 7, and an all-in move if he had an ace. Instead, he cold-called the $68. I could not disguise my surprise.

So, it's only $48 to me for $180 out there, offering me a little less than 4-to-1. But his call is strange, and for the first time, I look at stack sizes. Matt's all-in, but this other goof-ball (and he was a goofy guy, actually), has a good $280 more in front of him after his call. I have him covered only by about $100. (This was really my biggest mistake in this hand; I should have known earlier on that I was up against another big stack. It should not have been just dawning on me at crunch time that I might have to play for a large majority of my stack.)

Nevertheless, I thought I was probably in a good spot. I had to give serious consideration to three possible hands he might have: an A5, an A7, or pocket 7s. These were the only hands that were beating me at the moment. I decided that he would limp likely limp with A7, and his play to that point was consistent with that holding. I studied him for a read. I picked up on a tell I'd established ealier: he would lean back and relax when he had a good hand. However, this didn't help. I knew he had an Ace, and I decided that he'd feel pretty confident that he had the best hand with any high-kicker Ace. Also, I quickly eliminated 77, because I felt that in middle/late position, he would have made a modest raise with that hand, as he'd done much that night with medium pocket pairs.

So, I'm left with the possibility he has an Ace and has paired his kicker, which means I'm drawing to one out. But, I then thought about two things. First, that I can't be afraid to put my chips in the pot when I think I've got the best hand just because I might be drawing dead in those rarer cases when I'm beat. Second, it dawned on my that my decision is all-in or fold. If he's not full yet, I have to charge him the maximum to draw to his 3-outer. (I am sure he only has three outs because I am quite sure that the other Ace is dead in Matt's hand).

I am also sure, having watched this goof-ball's play, that he'll call with his Ace whether or not he has a full house yet. So, I'm making a $250 bet to win $430, a 1-to-1.72 bet (at the time I rough-calculated it at 1-to-2, a slight overestimation). I eventually decided that it's about even money (1-to-1) that he's already made his full, so I bet all-in for that small edge I felt I had. He called almost immediately. I said, "A7 is good if you've got it" and flip over my pocket 5s. Matt is next to show with the A 6, and my goofy friend showed the A T. The river fell 4, and I won the huge pot.

I spent some time later thinking about the math of that turn bet, seeing if I could think about it in any other way. I actually think the math was pretty sound, since I was able to simplify when I realized he'd call with the ace or without. It'd be a much more difficult problem if he'd fold some trip-aces holdings in that spot. I will probably work out the problem later as an exercise.

I didn't play many more pots. I played very conservatively thereafter because I wanted to protect the stack. My feeling was that I didn't want to do substantial damage to the stack, and given that there were a few $300 stacks out, I could easily lose a good 40% of my winnings. Plus, I was growing quite tired. Playing loose when tired is always a recipe for disaster.

I let Joe run over me in one hand, which is just furthering an ongoing situation: Joe feels he can always run over me. I raised to $6 as first in when were 7-handed with A J. Joe called, and the flop came 2 3 4. I bet out $6, and Joe called. The turn was 5. I bet $12 and Joe raised the minimum. I thought for a while and folded. He was amazed when I'd said I had an Ace, and he showed A 7. He did have a draw to a better straight, and I had figured at best, I was calling another $12 into a $23 pot for a chop (or worse), and then I'd have to face river action with two deep stacks. Still, I don't like giving Joe more evidence that he can run over me; I shouldn't have said what I had. I was getting tired; that's my only excuse, and it's a bad one at that.

Nevertheless, I ended up $490 for the session.

Tomorrow, I am going to Foxwoods for the day. I am probably going to play the full-kill $5/$10 HE. I'll probably sit down in the baby NL HE ($1/$2 blinds with maximum $100 buy-in) first for a while, just to see what the game is like these days and to establish my extra credit for earning Wampum points. I may try the $10/$20 HE if I build up some bankroll in the $5/$10. If I the games seems good, maybe I'll even try the big NL HE game ($5/$5 blinds, no maximum buy-in). I play with a lot of home game opponents whom I can beat at least some of the time, and they play in that game. It can't be that tough if they are able to hold their own in it.

Comments

Great work

[(Anonymous)]

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