Monday, November 20, 2006

I Play So Bad...

The job sent me out to Cincinnati. When I found out, the first thing I did was jump online and find the closest card room.

Argosy Casino in beautiful Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

When I left the place I had other ideas about it.

First, I want to talk about the casino. It's actually a riverboat, which is pretty interesting. But after playing in a "casino" on a cruise ship, it doesn't really beat having your craps dice jump to another side because of a wave in the water. The decks were very long, but not wide. And there was a cloud of smoke hovering above my head as I found my way to the poker room.

I need to get my jacket dry-cleaned to get the smell out.

When I got to the poker room, I had a massive wait. They gave me those vibrating sticks (this doesn't sound as good as I would like) that you get at Outback. When it was my turn -- two hours later -- it shook while I was sitting at a .02 cent poker machine.

I got to my $1-$3 No Limit table. There was a lot of money on this table and I was ready to win. However, too ready. I was over anxious from the wait and just wanted to play that I made two of the worst moves in my "professional" poker career.

Even barely recounting it now makes me angry. I knew I was beat both times and for some reason just enjoyed throwing my money into the pot. Apparently, I hate money. That's the only reason I could come up with.

I don't even want to go over either hand. I made stupid, STUPID plays. I looked like the people I usually take money from in Atlantic City. This time I was the tourist looking to ship money.

My one itty, bitty piece of good information I can take from this is that my reads are getting better. I don't really think that makes me feel much better. But the fact that I knew I was beat both times, the reasons I knew I was beat, were pretty stellar. But I didn't act on either read, which was terrible by me.

I will leave this piece of advice though that I have heard from others before: Beware of the Speech.

If you're in a hand and the person you are facing is talking about how they are beat and it's time for them to go home, it's usually you that is going home. Players like to act the opposite of the strength of their cards. (Thanks Mike Caro)

I may go play tonight. I may tomorrow. And Wednesday.

I need to get back to a table and fix my donkey mistakes.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Back in Action

Now, I am back to playing REAL poker. It felt good to get back around the table, but I was a bit nervous.

As an example, a super tight player to my right re-raised someone who made it $12 to $62. I looked down and I have pocket-K. Now, I am thinking what the hell, does this guy have pocket Aces or what?

So, I just call, which was my mistake. I needed to raise then and move all in (I didn't have THAT much money in front of me, but enough to make a move). Cause the only thing the flop would make me do is fold my hand.

The flop goes down with all low cards and the guy bets, still I am unsure, trying to figure if he has aces or not. I figured this was it, So I move all-in and he thinks about it. That's when I calmed down because aces insta-calls me there.

He does call and he shows pocket-Q. I double up through the guy, which was GREAT for me. I did alright the rest of the night, not making many more mistakes. I only played for three hours, but have a good record to show for it. I got money for some yardsailing!
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