You may (or not – most likely not) remember that I had a project for this year, which was to learn to play winning No Limit Texas Hold’em poker.

That project has languished at times. Long periods, in fact. With all that has gone on since January, I have often been depressed, and it is impossible to concentrate while in that state. So I have probably only played about 15-20 hours since January, which is not much when it comes to poker.

During that time I have identified a few things.

1. I play pretty tight preflop. The only time I get loose is when I start to get bored.
2. When I see the flop, I need to play more aggressively.
3. I push marginal hands too far when an opponent is signalling that he has something.
4. Calling under the gun was costing me 2-3 BB per hour.

I had some early success because I played supertight preflop. The first while, I folded everything but 10-10 through A-A and AK, AQ. But I was missing out on some profitable hands, and I played so few that the blinds were eating into my cash pretty deep before I won a pot.

Last night I had 4-4 in the BB. I checked and the flop was something like 5-2-J. I made to pretend that I had hit something in the flop, and bet 1 BB. One guy called, the rest folded. The next card was something useless, 7 or something, and we both checked. Then another J hit on the river, so I decided to try a bluff and bet 10 BB. He called…

And he had pocket aces.

So I was down a big pot. But I didn’t freak out and played tight and clawed back all the money I’d lost (we’re not talking a lot here, I was down about $1.50), and so I don’t feel too bad. I don’t know whether Mr. Pocket Aces had a read on me and figured he could sucker me into trying something on the river, or whether he was just a bad player.

Tags: I Get Carded

Now that I have begun to recover from the fuzzy thinking imposed by a nasty cold, I played ~150 hands of $.02/.05 No Limit Holdem last night.

I am generally pleased with my play. I bought in for $5, and ground my way to $6 before winning a big pot (on QQ, if I remember) that took me to $9.50. Then I misplayed AQ offsuit and pushed it too far, taking me back down to about $5. I ground my way back up to about $5.50, and then played a huge hand.

I had Ad Ks. The guy under the gun raised, two guys in front of me called, I called (rather than reraise – didn’t want to scare anyone off when there were three guys already in the pot) then the guy on the button called. That made the pot $1.17, which is a nice pot at microstakes.

The flop came Js Kh As, giving me two pair, aces and kings. The big blind checked, the guy in the next seat (who had originally raised) made it 3 bets to go (.25). The next guy folded, the one after him raised to .50, or 10 bets, and I reraised to 0.75. Everybody else folded. That made the pot $3.42.

The turn came: Kd, giving me a full house, kings full of aces, a very powerful hand in Holdem, the strongest hand I have had since I started my 2010 poker project. The original raiser under the gun checked, the second guy bet .50, and I raised to $3.90. The guy who checked from first position folded, and to my surprise the other guy called me, going all in with his remaining stack, $2.70.

I thought he might have a straight – a strong hand – or maybe a flush draw. If he held the Q of spades he’d have the highest flush, but he’d have to have a Q-10 to have a straight. He might have had a pair of jacks, or he might have had the other K and an ace. Or, since he was pretty loose, he might have had a pair of 10s.

Turns out he had Qs10s, giving him a strong hand, a straight to the ace with a flush draw. He must have crapped his pants when he saw my KA.

The river was the 8s, giving him the flush to the ace, which would normally be a winner. After the turn, he had one out- the Ks – if that had come up on the river, he would have a straight flush, beating my full house. It didn’t though, and I took down a pot of $9.37.

So I am very smug this morning. I misplayed one hand, and it cost me a lot. I didn’t go nuts, just tightened my game, and when a huge hand came I played it properly, and I’m more pleased about that than I am about the pot.

Current balance: 66.37

Tags: I Get Carded

I have a new project for 2010.

I deposited $50 (well, actually $48) at a poker site yesterday evening.  The goal for 2010 is to learn to play winning poker without having to deposit again.

Opening balance: $52.80 (Last night’s deposit $48 + $4.80 deposit bonus)

Balance at the end of 90 minutes of really bad hands at $.02/.05 NL Holdem: $55.55. At least it didn’t cost me anything.

Tags: I Get Carded