POKER HAND #33

A READER WRITES IN: At least someone's reading this thing...

no Hand of the Day about your almost certain split pot with Feuer that turned into a flush and then him breaking a chair?

That really takes me back.

I picked up the Jc-10c and called a small preflop raise from the big blind. The flop came down 9s-8c-3d. Figuring no one had hit anything, I tried to pick up the pot. I said, "All-in."

Feuer, next to act, decided to call. He had the Jd-10d.

Bad call on his part, but whatever.

The turn and river came clubs, giving me a flush. He flipped out and broke my chair. Actually, it was already broken but I later stepped on a nail.

Bad Feuer!

POKER HAND #32

SOME ADVICE I WROTE UP: for you, the learning poker player. Hey, I've been playing eight months, how much longer do I have to wait?

PLAY BEFORE THE FLOP:

Basically you want to play A-A, K-K, A-K, Q-Q, J-J, 10-10, 9-9, 8-8, A-Q, A-J.

I consider these the top ten hands. A lot of people like the 7-7 and 6-6 but once you get into that range you’re very much in trouble from overpairs. People play small pairs way too strongly. This is why calling with small pairs is a bad play. I almost never do it unless I can win a really big pot. Fortunately, some people believe it's correct to limp with the A-A, and that can give you a chance to see a flop. If you're going to call a big bet, you better be sure your opponent has the A-K and not the A-A.

The advantage of course is that you can hit your set and be set.

Other hands I routinely play. 9-8 and 7-6. Never play the ten nine as it’s generally a nightmare hand. The 5-4 is the same hand, only on the bottom of a different straight.

Being suited adds a lot more to premium cards that it does to the 7-6, for instance. Take this example, which isn’t hard to imagine.

You have the 7-6 of hearts. With three to four callers, the following situation is one I’ve been in countless times.

Kh-10h-8d

You have a straight draw (any 9 that comes off will make you a straight.

You could easily be up against the K-K, or the Ah-Qh. You could also be up against the Q-J, to which you’re a huge dog, even huger if your opponent is suited. That’s simply a losing hand. It’s tough to fold, but it’s generally the right play.

So why are you playing the 7-6 suited in the first place?

Another dangerous hand is the A-x anything below a J. Lots of people play the A-10, but it’s not much better than any other A-x. Suited is worse. You don’t know what you’re hoping for to hit the flop.

PLAY AFTER THE FLOP:

Mixing up your play is the most crucial part of no-limit Texas hold ‘em. You want to constantly be gambling—you don’t make the money by sitting back. Winning pots is what it’s all about, of course.

Putting all your chips on the line (and I am not talking about vastly different tournament play) is the goal of a cash game. When you sit down,wherever you sit down, you want to make your opponents gamble.

Cultivating a wild image is always effective. You make money when players with worse hands call bets they should not. So get wild out there.

Raising in the dark, though frowned on memorably by James McManus on the ESPN broadcast of the World Series of Poker, is a money-maker. Right after you make that play, put all your chips on the line with the nuts and watch the callers start pushing their chips in to beat you.

This sets up the slow-play. It is rarely correct to slow-play. All you have to do is scare them once and even if you won less money than you might have, you’ve got them afraid of you. And once that happens, go ahead and play that K-Q, even when you might an underdog. You can outplay your opponents every single time. In the words of the great master Doyle Brunson, “they keep saying, Take it, Doyle. Take it Doyle.”

The raise is the most powerful play in poker. Since everybody likes to check-raise, I only use the play as a bluff. If you try to check raise when you might be out against a draw, you’re being stupid. Never give free cards. There will always be draw-outs, but it’s most profitable to avoid them.

The old tricks still work. One of the oldest moves is to pretend to throw your cards in the muck. This is always a winning play. If you’re on the button, and the guy in first position starts to play, begin to slowly move your cards in front of you. Then, as the play passes around, being to indicate it clearly. You will fold. Then raise. It will work once. Then your opponent will catch on. He’s smarter than you. Now that he really believes this, begin using this play indiscriminately. You’ll get free cards when you need them to make your hands and extra bets that you would not normally get when you’ve got the nuts.

Maximizing the amount of money you make with the winning hand is crucial. For most players, one or two hands will either double their money or have them reaching for more chips. Often I lose money early on in a game through advertising plays and coin flips. When the strategy doesn’t work, I’m often down early. It’s not a situation a “tight” player would ever face.

Speaking of tight players—they don’t make enough money with the A-A and K-K to justify only playing those hands.

When you get the A-A, it’s not much better than the K-K or Q-Q. You’ve got most opponents in a bad, bad situation. People play players, and those hands are huge favorites to all other pairs. But slow play them, especially from a short stack, and you’re apt to either win a small pot or lose a big one.

Go all-in. If you’ve been coming down on people throughout the game, you’re probablyh 50/50 to get a call at any time. I’d never call an all-in with the K-Q but plenty of people do. They think they might be in a coin flip with you, the maniac. But that isn’t a coin flip.

POKER HAND #31

ANOTHER TOM MCEVOY QUIZ: This one is from internet play.

Online player Craig was playing a $22 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament against 230 opponents. After plowing his way through the field, he made it to the final table with an average chip stack. With only six players left to compete for the gold and the glory, Craig was in fourth place with approximately $28,000. The chip leader was sitting to his left with about $40,000. The blinds were $600-$1,200 with a $125 ante when he met an untimely demise.

"I was on the button with a suited Q-J," Craig began. "Everyone passed to me. The big blind hadn't been defending his blinds often, and the small blind (the chip leader) seemed to have tightened up his play, waiting for a few more people to get eliminated before making a move. Neither player had seen a flop for several rounds."

How Would You Play This Hand Before the Flop?

a. Fold to preserve your chip count

b. Just call the size of the big blind

c. Raise to try to knock out the blinds and win the pot

Here's How Craig Played It

"Although Q-J suited isn't a big hand, I felt that a raise was in order to try to pick up the blinds and antes. I raised to $3,600, three times the big blind. The small blind called my raise, as did the big blind. I wasn't happy with that result at all, but I did have position on both opponents and felt that if the flop didn't hit me hard, I could still get away from the hand. The flop came down K-10-9 rainbow. I had flopped the nut straight!

"I couldn't believe my eyes when the chip leader moved all in from the small blind. The big blind pondered and finally folded. Now it was my turn to act."

How Would You Play This Hand on the Flop?

a. Call with the rest of your chips because you have no worse than a tie with the chip leader

b. Fold, because the chip leader might have flopped a set and you will be out of action if the board pairs and he wins the hand

Here's How Craig Played It

"Obviously, I pushed the rest of my chips into the pot. The cards were turned over and the chip leader had a K-J offsuit. I was just hoping a queen didn't come off, because I wasn't interested in sharing a pot of this size. Sure enough, I got my wish. A queen didn't come off, but something worse did. The turn brought a king and the river brought a jack, giving my opponent a full house!

"I was pretty disgusted with the outcome of the hand, but although I was disappointed and felt unlucky, I like to analyze every hand that busts me out of a tournament to see if there was any way I could have played it differently to avoid getting beat. After the flop, there was no way to get away from my hand, but I wonder if my preflop play was flawed?

"Once the final table gets shorthanded, my raising standards usually drop. This table was playing pretty tight, and I was having success picking up an occasional pot without any struggle. When I showed down a hand, it was usually a big hand, and I think most of my opponents respected my raises. My question is, do you think raising with my Q-J suited was a mistake? If not, was the amount of my raise too small? The small blind may have folded the K-J if I had made a bigger raise, but I didn't want to become committed to a hand like Q-J preflop, so I raised an amount that I thought would make the blinds fold and that I could live with losing if one of them reraised. What do you think, Tom?"

My Analysis

In a shorthanded game in which the players in the blinds appear to be playing too tight, your button raise of three times the size of the big blind was correct. The chip leader actually should have folded his hand in the small blind. But, he must've had more gamble in his veins than you thought he had, because he chose to gamble with you before the flop. And on the flop, he apparently thought that taking a chance with his top pair and an inside-straight possibility was worth the risk of moving all in. There was no way to avoid this unpleasant result, unless you had folded before the flop. I believe you made the right play under the circumstances.

Continue analyzing your game and we're sure to meet in the winner's circle one day soon, either online or on land.

POKER HAND #30

MY TOURNAMENT WIN: The biggest tournament I myself have ever played in (just 17 players) took place last night, and I won it. Here's how it happened.

We had one table of 9 and one table of 8. I was at the 9 handed table.

On the third hand I picked up the A-A under the gun. Not much thinking to do here, I immediately went all in for about 25 bucks that I'd accumulated after starting with twenty. Had two callers who I had covered, Eric Noble with the Jd-10d and Ben Yaster with the A-K offsuit. I knocked both of them out to quickly become the chip leader.

At that point my plan was working great, as I wanted to get some chips early and watch other players eliminate each other. I did just that.

Finally a bunch of people got knocked out and with $80, I was the chip leader at the final table, with a kid named Jon right behind.

At the final table with that kind of chips I played extremely tight. Then this hand came up.

I picked up the Q-J offsuit in the big blind and called a small preflop raise by my buddy Nick Horton.

Flop came down Q-10-8. I had top pair with a straight draw. I'm not too fond of those combination hands, especially against a player like Nick Horton who only raises with the goods. He bet about 60 percent of his stack, and at that point even if he had me beat I was going to try to eliminate him because he only had like $15 in front of him.

Naturally he had the A-A.

An A came off on the turn which meant another queen would no longer win the pot for me. Then I hit the joker on the river, a 9 which gave me the straight and eliminated Nick. Sorry, buddy.

The only notable other action at the table was when a freshman named Eli went all-in on a flush draw. The kid Jon I mentioned, upon calling starting yelling at the kid, "Don't draw at me."

When Eli in fact did not draw out on him, Jon continued to yell "Don't try to draw at me." I said, "Actually the right thing to say would be 'nice hand'."

Whatever, I wasn't in the hand. But let's just say I remembered that comment and wasn't going to be intimidated by this kid even if he was the big stack.

At this point we were five-handed.

The players were Gilad, who I often play with, Scott Goldberg, another excellent player, Jon, and a kid named Evan who I'd never played with but had a sizable stack and was obviously a good player.

After Gilad was almost knocked out, he doubled up three or four times and Scott Goldberg became the low-stack. Scott was eliminated shortly thereafter.

Then the following hand came up.

I picked up the 9-9 on the big blind. Gilad raised $20, which I simply called. I had him outchipped but he had enough to make him a real threat.

The flop came down A-9-4. I had flopped the set. Hallelujah! As soon as I saw the flop I immediately went all-in. Three reasons,

1) There was a flush draw out there and if he had it I wanted him to pay huge to hit it.

2) If he had the A he was representing, he would have a tough call. And the better the kicker, the more likely the call.

3) I didn't believe he had top set because he would have more likely limped with the A-A, which is, as you've seen, never the way I play them.

He took his time deciding whether or not to call. To try to entice a call, I began tugging on my hair and staring him down. Something must have worked, because he called with the A-10 and he was dead to all but two running cards. And that's how I knocked him out.

With that I became the chip-leader and we began three-handed play.

Before long the following hand came up.

I picked up the Kd-10d on the big blind. To my right Jon limped in. I instantly smelled a rat, because he had almost never limped in that spot. While I was going to raise, I instead checked.

The flop came down K-2-3 rainbow. Jon checked, which I again didn't like. I bet to see where I was, and Jon smooth-called. I hate that play by him because after limping people ONLY play the A-A that way. It's so obvious.

The turn came a diamond, so I had picked up a flush draw. Any diamond on the river would make me a flush.

Jon checked again. He might as well have put a sign up that said "I have the A-A." Well, he had just given me a free card and he was absolutely baffled that I checked behind him. It's just fun when a check pisses off your opponent.

The river was a diamond, and now I had the second nut flush.

Inside I was jumping for joy. He went all-in and I called.

He said, "Do you have the flush?"

I said, "Nope, I just have a King..." and then said, "Wait and 10 of diamonds. Looks like I do have the flush."

Naturally he had the A-A.

I claimed I didn't even see the flush on the board, but I lied. But hey, that's what you get for yelling at some freshmen not to draw at you.

I don't like bullies, and I like them even less at the poker table. So I took his money, as it should have been.

Frankly, I hated the way he played that hand. And he deserved to be knocked out for that reason.

Going into heads-up with Evan I was pretty exhausted and offered to split the pot with him even though I was the 2 to 1 chip leader. When someone gives you that kind of a deal, you'd be a fool to take it cause somebody (me) who wants to get away from the table that bad will likely make a bad decision.

So he said, "If you really want, I'll split it, but I'd rather just go on playing."

I said, "That's fine." He was clearly a good player, but hey, I had the chip lead.

Five minutes later after some aggressive moves by him, he was the chip leader, and I was not a happy camper.

As the short stack, when I picked up the 9-8 offsuit I moved all in, and he quickly called. Mind you, I had a good number of chips at this point and probably didn't need to make that move but I honestly was pretty tired and I didn't expect him to show me the Ah-Kh.

Fortunately (very fortunately, though he's only a 64-36 favorite there) the flop came down 8-9-K and my two pair held up to make me the dominant chip leader.

He went all in on the next hand and I was only too happy to call with the Ad-2d to win the thing.

So there it was. A good night for me.

POKER HAND #29

HELLMUTH LOSES TO TOBEY MAGUIRE: Truly a bad beat and an unlucky draw.

With the blinds at $100-$200, and a $25 a man ante, Tobey opened for $600 with As-Qh, a few players passed, and then I made it $1,500 to go with Ks-Kh. Tobey called, the flop came down Ad-Ac-4d, and then he bet out $3,000. These days it seems like no one ever actually plays a hand straight up, especially by making a big pot sized bet when they hit a monster hand. Thus I didn't think that Tobey would bet $3,000 into a $3,000 pot with an ace in his hand. So I called the bet, with plans of who knows what on fourth street.

On fourth street the 8c came off, and now Tobey bet out $4,000. I called one more time, but began to strongly suspect that he had an ace. I was thinking that I would dump my hand on the river for a big bet, or less likely call him down, depending on my read. The last card sealed my fate when the "case" ace hit the board (A-A-4-8-A). Now I had an unbeatable hand, unless of course Tobey had the last ace in his hand. Now Tobey bet out $5,000-I would have probably called a lot more with the second-nuts-and I studied briefly and decided that I couldn't fold my hand at this point.

Afterwards, Tobey berated himself saying, "I should have bet more on the end, there's no way you could have folded, and you only had $5,000 left. I really should have busted you." True, he should have busted me, but it is possible (but not likely!) that I would have folded on the end for a $10,000 bet. For $5,000 I didn't even study him, which was a mistake, even though I don't think I could have folded my hand.

In my next book, "Bad Beats and Lucky Draws" I write that I believe that Tobey, Leonardo, and Ben Affleck are three of the stars to look out for in the future. Add new player James Woods, and veterans Jerry Buss, Frank Mariani, and Gabe Kaplan to that list.

That's very charitable, Phil.

POKER HAND #28

POKER LAST NIGHT: As I haven't yet started work on my classes, this leaves me plenty of time for poker.

Last night I beat eight other players to win all the money in tournament-style play.

Down to three dollars early on I put all my money in with the As-5c. I got called in one place (phew) and was up against the 6-6.

Flop came down 9-9-7 rainbow. Turn was an 8h, river was another seven to double me up. Deceptive hand, because I had 9-9-7-7-A and my opponent had 9-9-7-7-6.

Three pair often isn't the best hand, I guess.

After that I started playing some quality poker. One spot where I made a crucial laydown was when I had the Q-Q. I raised preflop, got two callers. Flop came down A-K-6. What a nightmare flop for queens. Betting immediately began and I had to fold those bad boys. Naturally the turn brought the Q which would have given me the winning hand.

Nevertheless I stayed in the hunt. The only time I really got superlucky was with the Ah-Jh up against Feuer's Ac-Qc. I made the heart flush for the win.

Then I busted Feuer heads-up for the win. A great feeling, especially after I had offered him a save when he had the chip lead.

POKER HAND #27

TONIGHT'S GAME: Notable for two hands.

Once I had the 3h-2h. Flop came down Ah-Ks-Kd. I basically bet all-in with nothing. Feuer had the Kc-6s. Bad news for me.

Turn comes Jh. River is the Qh giving me the flush and win.

Sorry, Feuer.

I played well until the last hand. I had the Ah-2d.

I called the preflop raise 3-handed. Flop came down A-7-5. I checked, Feuer bet, Gideon called, I called.

The turn was a 7 and Feuer went all-in for around 12 dollars. Gideon called. With only 12 more dollars required, a massive chip lead, and a chance to bust both of my opponents who probably didn't know I had the A and I folded.

Feuer turned over the Q-Q and Gideon turned over the K-K. River was a blank and instead of eliminating both players I had lost the chip lead.

I retired shamefully thereafter.