Positive Changes

This blog seems to have become a chronicle of my journey to the World Series.  I have a lot to learn, and writing these blog entries helps me to sort out the lessons I’m learning, and try to apply them to my own experiences.  I’m very fortunate to have a friend who is very good at poker; he’s somebody I can bounce ideas off of, and who is honest with me about my game.  I need to give him a name, if for no other reason than I can refer to him here without giving away his real name.  So I’m going to call him “The Consigliere” since it refers to someone in the mob who is considered an advisor.  (Honest; look it up!  Pronounce it?  Heck I can’t pronounce that, what do you think I am, Italian?)

So my friend, the Consigliere and I talked today at length about my game.  I asked several questions about playing the players, as opposed to playing only on the strength of my hand.  Now most of this information I already knew; I had just gotten into the habit of not using the information.  One reason is because it is much more difficult to “play the player” in $3-$6 than in higher stakes because it’s often so cheap to call a bet or raise.  Still, you can exploit others’ weaknesses if you pay attention.

I can’t remember which it was, but in one of the books I’ve read, I believe it was Phil Helmuth who talked about improving his limit game, when he realized that one of the people he admired, tried to win every pot he was in.  In other words, I believe he meant that it isn’t enough to rely on the strength of your own hand; rather, when opportunities presented themselves, or using creative means of protecting your strong hands, you can win more pots.

I can honestly say that tonight I won far more pots than I normally would have had I played my hands solely on the strength of the cards I held.  It felt great, too.  Of course it helped that I was up $390 after buying in for only $100.  Some of that was because of strong hands more than skill.  Some also had to do with stealing pots when the opportunity presented itself, or even playing marginal hands against opponents who, more than likely were behind.

As an example, during one hand I was in the big blind, and held 8 of Spades, 3 of Clubs.  It was raised from early position by someone who I believed was on tilt.  After 5 people called and it came to me, it was only $3 more to see the flop and potentially win $42.  That’s certainly worth calling an extra $3.

The flop came 8 of Diamonds, 2 of Clubs, 4 of Spades.  I checked from early position (big blind) and the man in seat 5, who was on tilt, bet out.  3 people called, and I raised.  Tilt called, 2 people folded, and one called.  So now it’s down to the 3 of us.  I felt that if I could get it down to only me and Tilt, I would have a good chance at winning this pot.

The turn came with the 8 of Hearts.  Wow.  I now have top set, and am very likely ahead.  I only have to worry about the person who isn’t on tilt holding the 8 of Clubs with a better kicker.  My 3 would almost certainly not hold up if that were the case.  At about that time I overheard the person directly to my left exclaim in a whisper to the person next to him on his left “I folded the best hand!”  Wow what a juicy little bit of information for me!  I was almost certain he had folded an 8, which meant I didn’t really have to worry about my kicker; unless my opponent had made another set, and was holding a full-house, I was good.  And he did not appear to have had a full-house.  He had the appearance of somebody who was hoping his pair was good, but almost certainly feared the two eights on the board.

The river was a King, and I can’t remember the suit.  I bet out, Tilt folded, and I could see that the last person seemed to like the King.  He hadn’t raised preflop, so I couldn’t put him on a set of Kings which would have required him to have pocket Kings.  Most likely he hit the King to make 2 pair.  He looked at the board, looked back at me, and even asked if I had an 8.  I told him it would cost him $6 to see and just watched him make his decision.  He said “just in case, I call.”  I showed my 8-3 offsuit and said “Big blind junk hit!”  He flashed a King and mucked his other card with a sigh.

It felt so good stacking those chips.  In a way it felt like the table had reached right out and handed me those chips.  I only played for a couple of hours, but felt like I was on my “A” game for the night.  I needed a winning night; the past few nights had been almost demoralizing.

As far as finding ways to play the player, I found about an hour into the session that I had won every showdown I had played; somebody at the table had even voiced their respect for my play, so I decided to use that to my advantage.  At one point I held King Queen offsuit, and limped in from middle-to-late position.  The flop came Ace, Queen, 10 (I can’t remember the suits).  I check/raised the flop, and led the betting on every round like I either had the straight that the board afforded.  On the river I had gotten it down to one other person, who flashed two pair:  Aces and Tens, and then folded saying “nice straight.”

I didn’t show my hand; the plan was to represent the straight from the start, and try to push somebody with an Ace out of the pot.  I was extremely lucky that it worked in that situation.  I honestly think my opponent should have called on the river with two pair – actually, considering the size of the pot he should have called with an Ace!  But again, I tried very hard to capitalize on mistakes like that to my benefit.

And it worked!

I feel like I’ve broken through a barrier that has held me back.  It feels like I’ve brought my game to a new level.  I have a lot more to learn, but this has really helped.

Okay enough about that.  It feels good to have a winning night again.  It feels even better to have tried to learn to improve my game, to actively find the holes and patch them.