POKER HAND# 65

My first Royal Flush:

It's after 3:00 am and I am stuck in Boston yet again. I am playing online NL texas hold em with a 25$ max buy-in 25/50 cent blinds. Five of us are collaborating on the hands and my brother is at the helm by the name of "gambrinus69." The following is a transcript from partypoker.com:


#Game No : 1236901815
***** Hand History for Game 1236901815 *****
$25 NL Hold'em - Monday, November 29, 03:47:35 EDT 2004
Table Table 19454 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: astrocreap99 ( $50.7 )
Seat 3: oldbushmills ( $48.9 )
Seat 6: stlnsx ( $35.53 )
Seat 10: LuckyApril ( $49.85 )
Seat 8: gambrinus69 ( $19.05 )
Seat 5: bryce0021 ( $21.1 )
oldbushmills posts small blind [$0.25].
bryce0021 posts big blind [$0.5].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to gambrinus69 [ Ah Th ]
stlnsx folds.
gambrinus69 raises [$1].
LuckyApril folds.
oldbushmills calls [$0.75].
bryce0021 calls [$0.5].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 7s, Kh, Qh ]
oldbushmills checks.
bryce0021 checks.
gambrinus69 checks.
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2d ]
oldbushmills checks.
bryce0021 bets [$2].
gambrinus69 calls [$2].
oldbushmills folds.
** Dealing River ** [ Jh ]
bryce0021 checks.
gambrinus69 bets [$4].
bryce0021 calls [$4].
gambrinus69 shows [ Ah, Th ] Royal Flush.
bryce0021 shows [ 7h, 8h ] a flush, king high.
gambrinus69 wins $14.25 from the main pot with Royal Flush.
stlnsx has left the table.
Game #1236904927 starts.

POKER HAND # 64

ROUNDERS 2.0: So it was 4:00 am, early Saturday morning. I was wasted in NYC and tired of sitting at a crowded bar. I left with a friend and took a cab to "Wall Street," a poker club in SoHo. Having recently seen Rounders, I was excited to play a few hands at a back door game in New York. I climbed the unassuming staircase to a generic apartment where an overweight Russian woman was eagerly preparing cantaloupe in styrofoam cups. Tony pointed proudly to his four tables, two of which were active. "We have a 10/20 limit, $100 minimum buy-in and a 5/10 no limit table, $200 minimum." Since I only had $100 on me, the choice was clear...I should have eaten some melon and gotten the fuck out of there. Instead, I ate some crumb cake and sat down with a $100 in front of me at the limit table. The guy two positions to my right had over $7,000 in chips on the table. I should have waited for him to leave, then jumped him outside. Instead, I lost $20 on the big blind. But I'm drunk, so I figure I'll double-up on the next hand, see a few more flops, then cash out. I see 9h-10h in the small blind. Two callers for the flop, so I raise. One caller. I put him on a low pocket pair. The flop gives me my heart draw. He checks, and I consider checking, but I have $50 at this point, so why not raise? Plus, I'm still drunk and I'm a really loose player when I'm sober. I raise, he calls. Since I was drunk, I can't remember the cards other than my two hearts. The turn comes, no heart, so I bet $20, hoping to scare him out and figuring that if he calls, all I need is any heart, a nine, or a ten. He brings me all in. He's got pocket fives. There's no heart on fifth street. I'm stunned. Where did all my chips go? Did I just lose $100 in five minutes? I went into the stairwell and smoked a cigarette, vowing never to play 10/20 limit poker with a $100 buy-in ever again.

POKER HAND #63

Another New Hold 'Em Game.

With a little help from Feur, The Candyman and I have come up with an improved version of the already esteemed 14 inch Salami Hold 'Em.

Each player is dealt two cards which they can look at. The twist is, the second card dealt belongs to the player to your left, thus giving you knowledge of one half of your hand and one half of one other player's hand. More than one top player (and I'm thinking about Feur here) have been pushed to the brink of dementia as a result of the vast strategic possibilities of such a game.

POKER HAND #62

NEW GAME I INVENTED: Like David Sklansky, I'm also an inventor of poker games. Today Gideon and I came up with this game when he appeared to misdeal me in No Limit Texas Hold 'Em.

I only had one card (6s) and played the hand accordingly. Gideon called all my bets and when the cards were up, I had the nut straight and didn't even realize it.

That's when it came to me--what if this "error" were made the focus of the game? What if you could only see one card when you are playing?

We went from there, crafting a game that I can only compare to Omaha 8OB.

We've already written two chapters of the definitive text on this hot new game, which we are calling "14 inch Salami Hold 'Em."

The first chapter is called, "When You Think You Have a Wired Pair," the second, "When You Think You're Suited."

Of course, the game can only be played with two sets of identical twins.

POKER HAND #60

HOWARD LEDERER'S ACCOUNT OF THE 2003 WSOP: An amazing recollection, befitting the master of poker that is the Professor Howard Lederer.

This first thing I saw, most of the players at my table appeared to be internet qualifiers. Just in case you weren't sure, most of the internet qualifiers were wearing the shirts of their respective internet sites. This made keeping track of them a little easier. The second thing I noticed, a player across the table from me thought he was the second coming of Stu Ungar. He raised all in twice and then showed a complete bluff after his opponent folded. One hand, he opened and Dennis re-raised him. He then moved in, and after Dennis folded AK he proudly turned over the J8 off suit. On the last hand before a break this bizarre scene happened. Stuey Jr. opened and got re-raised by a red-head with a big stack, Stuey Jr. then called the re-raise. I was the only player who decided to stay and watch the hand during the break. The flop came 22A. He checked and Red, who was sitting next to Stuey Jr. bet. Stu Jr. then made a small raise. While Red was looking off into space thinking about what to do, Stuey Jr. winked at me from across the table and put four fingers up to his face!! He seemed to want me to know that he had flopped quads. This was truly one of the strangest things I had ever witnessed at a poker table. Red called. The turn came a blank and Stuey Jr. moved in. He had bluffed Red a little while earlier with an all in bet and Red, went into the tank. After about two minutes, Red asked Stuey Jr. if he would show him his hand if he folded. Stuey thought about it and said yes. He may have hoped this would induce Red to call, but it had the opposite effect. Red seemed genuinely relieved that he would not have to wonder whether he got bluffed again, and he promptly showed his QQ and folded. Stuey Jr. reluctantly showed his 22 and we all went on break.

We were now playing with a 300-600 blind, and I was down to about 22,000. I opened in the SB with 67s and a guy with a Pokerstars shirt on called me from the BB. The flop came 954 rainbow. I bet and Pokerstars guy called. The turn came a J and I bet again, he called. The pot was now about 15,000 and he had 10,000 left. The river paired 5's. I now had to decide if this guy was willing to go home and tell his wife that he got knocked out of the WSOP by calling his last money with a pair of 9's. I didn't think so, and I bet. What seemed like ten minutes later, but was probably two, he folded. Whew, I would have been down to 5000 if he had called. Now I had 30,000. A few minutes later, I opened with AQs and Don Barton moved in with a short stack. I had to call. He turned over AK but when the flop came JTK he was sent to the rail. I won a couple of small pots and had built my stack up to 50,000. Soon after, Dan Heimiller opened in middle position and I re-raised from the small blind with KK. He called. The flop came K52, and I checked. He bet and I moved in. I was hoping he would get stubborn with AK, and that is exactly what he had. He called and I had him covered by a few thousand. I now had almost 100,000. Another couple of minutes later I opened in middle position with AQ. Stuey Jr. re-raised me 5000 from the SB. I wasn't going to fold and have him show the J8, so I decided to put him to the test and raised him 19,000. He thought for a while and called. The flop came A72 and he immediately moved in for his remaining 35,000. I couldn't see him making this play if he had me beat. I called and he turned over a sad pair of jacks. I got myself in trouble and sucked out again. Thirty minutes earlier I had almost bluffed my way down to 5000 with 7 high, and now I had 150,000!!

My rush stopped and I lost back some of my chips during the next level. But, during the 600-1200 level, a new player arrived with about 90,000. He opened the first pot for 20,000 and won the antes. A round later, he opened up front for 12,000. I read him for a strong hand, and was pleased to see AA when I looked at my cards. No need to slow play here, I raised 30,000 hoping he might put me on scared jacks or AK. He looked at me for about 5 seconds and immediately moved in. I called, and he showed QQ. My aces held up and I now had over 200,000. My chips went as high as 230,000 and as low as 190,000 the rest of the day. I finished day 2 at over 200,000.

Once again, I didn't feel like I had played my best poker yet. I was rested and I had plenty left in the tank to go the distance. It didn't feel like I had just played twenty hours in two days. In fact, I felt strangely detached from the tournament. I usually get emotionally attached to an event when things start to look good. Not so in this one. I took this as a good sign. Maybe I would be willing to take some of the chances necessary to win if losing wouldn't devastate me like it would in years past. If I could keep a level head, and keep the cards coming, maybe this would be my year. I left the Horsehoe that night quite hopeful.

POKER HAND #58

MARCEL LUSKE FINALS: Unfortunately we had a disappointing turnout at the Marcel Luske Finals, as the only people that showed were Hasebe, Gideon, myself and Jake Sugarman.

Nevertheless, we had a very fun shorthanded game. I played OK, losing some coin flips early that would have made me the dominant chip leader.

One interesting hand is when I picked up the 5s-4s. I limped in on the big blind and the flop came down 5-5-7 rainbow.

Gideon immediately bet out, as he is wont to do in that spot. At this point when he does that I either put him on a 5 or nothing, since I doubt he'd play a pocket pair that way.

I called a small bet, and Hasebe immediately pushed all-in behind me. Gideon folded and I quickly called. He showed me the Q-Q.

Not a bad play on his part, because Gideon's bet he can write off, and I'm just smooth-calling? That reeks of a lower pocket pair.

So that's why I just called in that spot. Had there been a flush draw out there I certainly would have raised.

The most notable hands of the afternoon I wasn't even involved in.

Gideon picked up the A-8 offsuit and called a small raise in the small blind. The flop came down A-x-x, rainbow. He bet out and Jake moved all-in. Gideon quickly called and Jake showed him the K-K. Naturally, a K hit on the turn to give Jake the pot.

The second beat was even more egregious, but Gideon will have to tell that story.

POKER HAND #57

SKLANSKY ON THE CHECK-RAISE: The most solid advice in the business.

Check-raising is the play of checking your hand with the intention of raising on the same round after an opponent bets. Notice that checkraising and slowplaying are two ways of playing a strong hand weakly to trap your opponents. However, they are not the same thing. In addition, the checkraise should often be used to exclude opponents from competing for the pot. Sometimes, in limit hold 'em, this is the most desirable characteristic of check-raising.

For check-raising to be correct, you usually should:

1. Think you have the best hand (though not a slow-playing hand).
2. Be quite sure that someone will bet behind you if you check.

A situation where check-raising probably would be correct is when you flop top two pair, there are many players on the flop, and you are in an early position. This is especially true if you think the bet will come from a late position player. The ction before the flop will frequently indicate where the bet is likely to come from.

Two interesting things may happen if you check a lot of good hands on the flop. First, some of your opponents may become afraid to bet. That is, they may be more inclined to give you a free card, and this free card may win the pot for you. Second, even if a blank hits on the turn, you now may be able to steal the pot. Your opponents are not going to suspect a bluff merely because you didn't bet on the flop, as they know you might have been trying for a check-raise. In fact, some of your opponents might feel smug when you bet, since they "escaped your trap." When you are bluffing in this situation, never show your hand.