Patrick Antonius vs. Ilari
Posted on March 26, 2008
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Patrick Antonius vs. Ilari on “The Game”
I expect better from Patrick Antonius here, I’m not so sure why he had trouble laying down top pair, shitty kicker?
Poker Joke
Posted on March 26, 2008
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You know, this wouldn’t surprise me if it were true.
Playing Live Poker Continues!
Posted on March 21, 2008
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I’ve been playing a few $0.50/$1 games the past few nights. Mostly young adults and college students that play at these games, but I enjoy playing with that type of crowd. Here are a few reasons why I prefer such a playing environment:
1.) I believe I can outsmart and outplay these type of players. I know this sounds a little arrogant, but I think it’s very important when deciding who to enter a hand with. I feel that a lot of these guys have read poker books and etc.., though I’ve never read any book, I’ve read articles online and talked to people about hands, so I’m not entirely uneducated. Nonetheless, I think I have a good, general idea of what this guy is trying to do in particular situations. Most of the guys I play with are college students looking to make some money. With that overall goal in mind, sometimes I can break down and analyze their logic in each hand. If I think he’s out to make money, I can expect a betting manner to lure me into calling or bigger bets when he’s trying to steal a pot from me. If I believe I know what he’s feeling and thinking about a hand, I’ll act accordingly. It’s true when they say poker is about playing the player.
2.) You have a lot of the extremes at these type of games. What I mean by this is that, on one extreme, there are the overly tight players who are afraid to lose money. They typically try to play pretty “abc” book poker. Sometimes I get a good idea of when they’re trying to use their tight image to make a move or when they really have it. On the other extreme, you have the gamblers, you have the guys who love to try to draw out, who will call any pre-flop raise hoping to get lucky on the flop. Obviously you’ll make most of your money off these players. Rarely at these games, will there be players that can successfully mix it up at these games (or at least I haven’t ran into many).
3.) It’s entertaining. Time goes by faster as you’re waiting for a hand if you’re being entertained. Poker is much funner if you’re laughing and smiling. Most of these games have a lot of guys that are there to have a good time, and I find it more relaxing and easier to have patience and play. Although most of the time I’m rather quiet at the table, I am well aware of the conversations people are having. Often you’ll see me crack a smile because some of the things these kids say are hilarious, lol.
Anyhow, continuing on, I’m starting to get back into the groove of playing. I feel like I’m more mature in my gameplay, and feeling really confident about how I’ve been playing. Past two nights have been positive cashes, so hopefully I can keep it up. I think the key to winning cash games is timing. Your timing must be as best as possible. Be well aware of who at the table can pay you, and who it’ll be difficult to acquire money from. Home games are usually just a bunch of gamblers and a few super tight guys (at least from my experience).
I might deposit some money on UltimateBet and play online a few hours a week as well. We’ll see how my live playing goes. So far, I’m a little under break even for 4 nights of play. So we’ll see how this upcoming week goes!
Great Poker Read by Mike Sexton
Posted on March 19, 2008
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Here’s Mike Sexton calling Mike Matusow’s bluff.
Great Reads by Daniel Negreanu
Posted on March 18, 2008
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A compilation of great reads by Daniel Negreanu. He’s definitely like a Poker Jedi!
Great Laydown by Phil Hellmuth
Posted on March 18, 2008
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Here’s another great lay down by Phil Hellmuth. It seems like lately all I’ve been doing is praising good lay downs. Anyhow, enjoy!
Playing Live Poker
Posted on March 17, 2008
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I went out last night and decided to get back to playing cards a few times a week. I was a little nervous and rusty at first, but it didn’t take me long to settle in. I didn’t catch very many cards, but I was extremely patient. It was an extremely loose $1/$3 game where the average pre-flop raise was $20 – $25. I really don’t like that because I always raise the same pre-flop, and I like to keep my pre-flop raises on the lower end, so I don’t over-commit myself to a hand. However, if I wanted some isolation, I had to raise it up a bit more than I usually do, so I made my standard pre-flop raise $15. My first big hand was KK in middle position, in which everyone had limped to me, and I decided to make it $10 to go. I had 4 callers, so I was already a little nervous going to the flop, lol. The flop came 10J10. A player before me who had about $400 behind him made it $35. I made it $75 and he quickly puts me all-in. Back in my old days, I probably would have instant-called this. However, I made sure I took everything into consideration. What else would he limp, call my raise pre-flop, and then so confidently come over top and raise me all-in. I could tell by the look on his face and his demeanor that he was not at all concerned with what I had. After about 2-3 minutes of pondering, I laid down the hand. I was sure hat he had a 10 in his hand. Anyhow, I won a much bigger hand later with QQ, but then lost another big hand later to gut-shot straight draw against my two-pair. So the end result was a 9 hour session which resulted me down a little bit from my buy in. But it was due to hands that were behind catching up. If I’m ahead, I’ll always put my money in. Nonetheless, I was proud of my play, and I know I can beat that game.
I also played a little bit tonight, I never won a huge pot, just took down a few multi-way pots. I pretty much floated around what I bought in for. Though it’s only been two nights of playing, I’m feeling confident about my poker game. I’m playing less hands than I used to and picking my spots very carefully. Anyhow, we’ll see what the rest of this week and month bring 
.
Home Poker Blog Promotion
Posted on March 14, 2008
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I’ve been thinking of some ideas to get more content for my blog. I think I’m going to let some of my friends who run poker games contribute their ramblings to this blog as well. I’d like to get an idea of what are some of the other headaches that keep hosts of home poker games up at night. I’m sure there are tons of headaches that they have in addition to the ones I have. Of course, we all share the universal issue with loans, so I’d like to get others’ issues with that. Giving out loans is such a hassle! I still have about $600 that still hasn’t been paid back to me. Although I’m sure I won’t ever get any of it back. Hmmm, that’d be a nice poll/survey to take. In fact, that’s a great idea. Man I amaze myself sometimes. I’m going to take survey and poll of all the local home poker game hosts. Let’s get their feedback . Damn, I should get the players too. Man, I’m just full of amazing ideas tonight, lol. Anyhow, I need to stop amazing myself and start writing some of these ideas down. In the meantime, you know how I’m always praising great lay downs over great calls, check out this awesome lay-down by Josh Arieh. For those of you who don’t know him, Eric Lindgren considers him the best poker player that’s “unheard of.”