SFPT 2014 Kicks Off

The 2014 SFPT season got underway last Friday, and my results were, of course, middling.  That seems to be my style.  I finished in fourth place of nine; as one might surmise, there was a balance of things that went right and wrong.  One hand was a double knockout to begin the season that was maybe the best hand I have ever played, and without a doubt one of the best in SFPT history.

Down to four players after the flop of 9h/3s/Ah and turn 4c, Corrye was first to act, and moved all-in for 16 and change.  I tanked for a long time by SFPT standards (close to two minutes) before deciding to call.  The decision to say “call” and not “all-in” would be important.

CJ was next and short-stacked; he snap-called for five and change.  Tom was the last player, and for some reason, wanted to get a count of his chips.  Perhaps he thought I said all-in when in fact I hadn’t.  In any event, his count took a while, leading Matt to pause the timer while the hand played out. 

After a couple minutes, someone clued in Tom that he didn’t need to count because I had only called, but most of the way done, he continued anyway, and it was determined that I had him covered by just over $1.  He decided to call Corrye as well, putting the same 16 and change into the pot.

Now, Corrye and CJ were committed, and Tom and I could have a side pot.  I had already decided my course of action: as soon as the river hit the felt, I moved all-in, hoping to get Tom to fold so even if I lost, I wouldn’t be crippled.

After much debate, that’s exactly what happened.  The rest of us flipped our cards, and I pumped my fist – not only did my two pair A-4 hold up, I had read both CJ (high card only) and Corrye (busted flush draw) perfectly.

Unfortunately, winning that big pot led me to take too many pre-flop chances when I shouldn't have, and I again found myself on the shorter end of the chip counts as the field dwindled.  In the midst of that pissing away of chips, there is one other hand I did play well: holding A/6 and with an ace on the board, I folded to Ray's river bet after figuring he had me out-kicked.  Holding a nine, he did.

So, good news and bad news, but not a terrible start to the year by any means.  I wasn't able to feed the Bracelet Hunting envelope at all (both BSOs I earned were losers), but my eight points under the new format put me in a tie for third place.

Time Played: 3.5 hours (142.5 home game hours, 254 total hours)

A Brief Stop in the Cash Game

I very nearly didn't play any poker on our National Cuffedaddy Day trip to Turning Stone, but I decided that if I didn't, I would regret it as soon as we left. So, I made it a point to find a seat in the nearly-empty room a little after 1215 AM.  Tina came with, and we sat down at two empty seats at table 12, on either side of the dealer.

Our stay didn't last long; sadly Tina's was even less than mine when she was felted holding A/K hearts and top pair top kicker, but her opponent held K/K for trips.  I ended up playing for an hour and a half, ending just before 2 AM. 

What went right: I had the opportunity to set my table image right off the bat, as a run of crappy cards led me to fold my first 10 or so hands - sometimes with no raise in front of me.  That meant that when I did lead out, I got a lot of folds, and my continuation bets led me to take down a few pots after the flop on straight bluffs.  Sadly, those pots were small. 

I did have aces once, and given my established tight reputation, I checked pre-flop as to not scare anyone off.  The flop was garbage (no card higher than 10), and sadly my $5 raise scared off the remaining two players in the hand, leading me to take down a pot worth about $4.  I know I always say a small pot is better than no pot, but that pissed me off a little.

I did end up taking a lot of small pots, but...

What went wrong: ...the couple I lost were big enough to even it out.  Neither went to a show down; both times I folded following a post-flop bet when there was at least one caller in front of me and I had either missed the flop completely, or was drawing very thin.  Really, I didn't play any of the hands badly.  The only one I would have played differently was a pre-flop call of $15 holding A/9 suited and a post-flop call of $10 more when I hit middle pair.  Overall, I would give my play a grade of B+.

The biggest thing that went wrong though, was that I couldn't convince Matt to play, even though he admittedly had the bankroll.

The table dynamic/people: Things were interesting, and not in a good way at the end.  A couple of the guys were pretty chatty and were obviously regulars. I got my two cents in (and established as part of my table image that I had more than a clue about the game) when they were talking about multi-tabling online games, something I have done briefly.  The complete rundown, listed by seat number:

1. Me
2. Regular player, chunky Middle Eastern guy
3. Woman who may have been a regular and wasn't there long; got felted and was on tilt at a reasonably bad beat
4. Paula Deen lookalike who was on a huge heater when I got there and had chips to match; probably a regular
5. Regular player, also chunky, Packers sweatshirt, very nasal accent.  I think I heard him say he was originally from Jersey. I talked the most with this guy
6. Empty
7. Younger kid (late 20's), maybe a regular, knew what he was doing but also may have been relatively new to the live game based on his physical actions (namely, his hand shaking when he moved chips or folded)
8. VERY quiet middle-aged guy, had a decent chip stack but his face was a blank slate. Kind of resembled a depressed, unkempt version of Ty Burrell
9. Empty
10. Tina 

As the time passed, a few of the players left and were replaced.  Seat 2 left after a while, following the second most interesting development of the night: a player being escorted out by security.  It happened at a cash table on the other side of the room, and our table actually had a heads-up because a friend of Seat 2 who had been playing at that table came over to tell him what was going down.  As he told the story, another player came to cash out (our table was the closest one to the cage), and we overheard him complaining, loudly and angrily, to the floor supervisor about that player.

Only a couple minutes later, two security guards arrived, and Seat 2's friend exclaimed quite giddily, "Oh, here they are!  Here we go!"  After a couple beats, he made what may have been an obvious statement: "He's not going to go quietly!"

And he didn't - upon being told to leave, the guy started screaming, though he left without too much of a fight.  As he passed our table, he yelled (if I remember correctly, though I know it was something to this effect), "these people need to stop being such fucking pussies!"

Of course, Seat 2 and his friend started laughing, and I couldn't help it either.

Sadly, the next player to leave our table was Tina, who promptly borrowed some cash from me to head back to the slots.  She was replaced by a young kid who ended up being pretty cool, and soon after another middle aged man, obviously a regular, filled Seat 9.

Seat 4 left around that time, which was good for me - she was fairly aggressive pre-flop and rarely lost when she got to showdown, which told me that more than playing her position well, she was running very well too.  I was not sad to see her go.

Tina and Matt returned from the floor around 1:30, at which point I said I was going to play about 15 more minutes and call it a night.  A couple hands later I was re-thinking that strategy, having a good handle on the table with the departure of Seat 5, but the arrival of a new player in Seat 2 changed my mind.

This guy was, without question, the biggest d-bag I have ever met at a poker table, probably in a casino overall, and maybe even in my life.  To start, he rolled up to the table with a huge stack of chips, mostly greens, and plopped them down.  He then asked if this was no-limit, bitched upon learning it was only 1-2, bitched again that he could only keep $200 of his chips on the table to start, and declared "they kicked me out over there because I was raising too much". 

Great.  It was also about this time I noticed his stench, a triple play of BO, booze (he was beyond wasted, as was his friend, hanging out behind him), and chewing tobacco spit, which he kept, of course, in a cup on the table.

It took this idiot about 10 minutes and half a dozen reminders from the dealer before he was able to successfully navigate the required amount of chips into his pocket and could play a hand.  And of course, he raises big pre-flop.  Seat 7, who had taken out Tina and had a huge stack thanks to that hand and one other, wasn't having any of his shit, and called.

It played out perfectly - D-Bag raised post-flop, seat 7 re-raised.  D-Bag puts on a show, saying, "I know he doesn't have it, because you would call if you did.  There's no way some idiot sitting there in a Zoo York shirt has it."

Fuck.  Now I know this guy is an idiot.  I'm shaking my head and decided right then that after the next hand, I'm gone.  Not only am I at my time limit, I'm not going to sit here and watch a a dick-waving contest.

So Seat 7 says, "Call me, if I don't have it. Come on."

Now it's getting good.  D-Bag fiddles around with his chips, mumbles something I didn't catch, and Seat 7 prods him "Come on man, you know I don't have it.  Call me."

"No fucking way he has it," D-Bag says.  "50 on top he doesn't show." He mucks his cards.

To my utter delight, Seat 7 shows, and he did have top pair/top kicker.  Internally, I laugh my ass off.

"Come on, 50 on top," Seat 7 says, twisting the knife.  "You said 50 on top if I showed."

"No, I didn't say that," D-Bag says (of course).

"I'm pretty sure this entire table heard you say that," Seat 7 fires back.  As he reaches for his cards for the next hand, he's shaking, but good for him - put this fucker in his place.

Action came to me and I folded my K/6 hearts (frankly I wasn't going to stay with anything other than aces or kings), and announce "that's enough for me".  As I grabbed my chips I made eye contact with Seat 7 and gave him a slight nod - well done, man. 

Hand of the night: That last hand between D-Bag and Seat 7 is obviously the winner, but as for hands I was involved in, there was one that came down to me, Tina, and Paula Deen post-flop.  Tina was first to act and bet 15.  I was next, and as I reached down for chips, I noticed PD had her hands on her cards in a way that would allow her to muck with just a flick of the wrist.

Was she really going to fold, or was it a ploy to make me think that?  I paused, debated for a couple seconds, and mucked.  Her cards were in the middle a split-second after mine, and Tina took down a decent sized pot.

Not too exciting, but I was happy with the way I noticed PD's body language, and played it appropriately.

Results recap: 1.5 live hours, 17.5 total live cash hours, 250.5 total overall hours

Cash: down $7 total not including $6 in dealer tips.  Added $8 to bankroll upon arriving home to bring it up to $135 total, resulting in a net loss of $5

A Rare Weekend

For maybe the first time ever, I played in two different home game tournaments on the same weekend.  The first was the October SFPT get-together; the second, an eight-person buy in at Oscar's friend Josh's birthday party.  Both went fairly well, though not obviously in some ways.  A couple of quick recaps:

I ended up winning the SFPT tournament, besting an eight player field.  I will admit that I was catching a lot of flops and turns, so the amount of skill required to take home the win wasn't as much as it seemed.  Still, a few things went right.  Namely, early in the tournament, I had donked off a lot of chips before the first elimination, and suddenly realized I really wasn't focusing as I should be.  I got back into the game more at that point, mentally, and the big takeaway is that I actually made the realization before it was too late.

One had stands out, partly because of how I played it, and partly because of who I played it against - Tina.  Pre-flop, there were three players left, Kim being the third.  The flop came J/4/9, and Kim checked.  I also checked, and Tina, short-stacked, moved all-in.  Kim quickly folded, and I just as quickly called, flipping two pair J/4 to beat Tina's pair of nines.  It was exactly what I hoped would happen, and for once, the trap worked perfectly. 

Discussing the hand a couple days later, Tina commented something along the lines of "of course you trap, you love to trap!"  My reply: "yeah, but the difference now is I know when to pick my spots."  She agreed, giving more credence to the idea that I've come a long way.

I ended up playing Ray heads up, and though that battle took a little while (blinds got to 700/1400 for the first time in SFPT history), I was able to prevail.  I made a good lay down early on when I folded top pair after the river; Ray's reaction (motherfucker!") told me he had me beat.  Other than that the play was pretty standard.  I made out good on one semi-bluff holding king high, and the final hand saw Ray's nines lose to my A/Q off when a queen hit on the turn.

The tournament at Josh's party was interesting, and a bit of deju vu, but not in a good way.  Thanks to my apparent illiteracy, I arrived late, reminded only by Oscar's timely text.  To my surprise and happiness, the other seven guys agreed to blind me out until I got there, and I only missed two hands (and one blind).  The deja vu part came when I came inside, said happy birthday to the man of the hour, and sat right down to start to play with no chance to prepare.  Thanks to running late and being embarrassed by that fact, I had the same nervous/anxious feeling that I had when playing my first "real" live session and tournament, and after busting the tournament and moving directly to the cash table at Turning Stone back in April.

But, I also had that experience, and knew how to mentally combat the feelings.  After folding my first hand, and taking my turn as dealer on the next, I stood up and went to get a drink, making sure to concentrate on breathing and calming down.  The result wasn't immediate, but it worked, and a couple hands later I was back to normal.

Knowing only two of the other players at the table (Oscar, and his friend Clint, whom I've played with before) made for an interesting time, but a very good experience - unlike the SFPT, the aspect of the unknown was much better practice for me.  I made one bad laydown post-flop when a guy to my left raised, and the guy on my immediate right shoved all in; I had A/Q on an A/10/5 board. 

The problem with the fold was that my rationale was SFPT-based: if someone already called, let them fight it out.  But, this was a winner-take-all freezeout; I should have called there and saw what happened, because being out in 7th is no worse than being out in 2nd.

It turns out I would have won the hand with my aces. Oh well - it's a good lesson for next time.  File it under "know your tournament structure".

I ended up out in fifth when I chased a straight and missed (adjusting to my "first place or nothing at all" strategy that I realized one hand too late) for most of my stack, and was eliminated when my pre-flop shove of pocket queens lost to a pair of aces in a three-way pot.  I had no problem with that hand in particular - pocket face cards while short-stacked is a no-brainer shove.

One other item of note: the player two seats to my left, John, was from the get-go a very aggressive player, raising almost every pot at least 3 times the big blind.  He won a lot of pots that way, and later claimed when talking to Oscar and I, "I only bluffed twice all night".  Oscar had an immediate and I think accurate retort: "Yeah, and one of them is right now."

Learning to deal with aggressive players is, I think, something I need to work on.  I don't have a lot of experience in that regard, as most of the SFPT regulars are conservative by nature.  I feel like I adjusted well to John's play once I realized his raises were going to be commonplace.  Had I hit my straight, not only would it have won me a big pot, it also might have changed his approach regarding raising when I was still in the pot ahead of him.  So, I'm not upset - it just didn't work out.

Recapping the weekend from a profit and experience point of view:

Buy-Ins: $20
Winnings: $40

Bracelet Hunting Update: $30 added, $80 total ($10 set aside for Add-Ons for Ally for the November tournament)

Race to 10k Update: 4.75 home game hours, 133.50 total home game hours, 243.50 total hours

Learning By Watching - Being Social Edition

I love watching the EPT, and I get to watch a lot of it thanks to the combination of the pokerstars.tv livestream, and the time zone difference.  The commentators are good, and as with any poker viewing I get to see top players and how they play.  Plus, I get some lessons that aren't directly related to play on the felt; lessons like the one today, an answer to my dilemma from yesterday.

The situation: Liv Boeree was guest-commentating, and action cut from the Main Event to the other event running at the time, the 10k High-Roller.  Daniel Negrenau was at the table, and of course he was chatting it up.  And also of course, he was sitting on a well-above-average chip stack.  This is exactly what I was talking about yesterday.

I stepped away for a couple minutes, and the live stream was still showing that same table when I returned.  They were discussing the table dynamic, and Boeree made a comment in response to a question from one of the commentators about the amount of good-natured talk at the table.  This may not be exact, but it's pretty close:

"Oh, yes, that's why I love these high roller events.  They feel like a home game, they're so much fun."

So the high-roller events, the tournaments with the highest buy-ins, are the most fun because people are treating them like home games.  What I deduce from that is that other people, low-level pros and amateurs playing in the lower buy-in events, take the game too seriously. Why that is, I don't know.  Maybe they feel like that is the best way for them to play, maybe they feel pressure because of the amount of money they have at risk.

That's not me - I don't feel that's the best way to play, I don't feel that kind of pressure (anymore), and I'm certain playing like that would make me miserable, even if I was winning.  There are times where I may shut down and focus to a greater extent, but that's not my typical M.O.

Or, as I said to myself earlier (and this IS an exact quote), "Fuck it.  I'm there to have fun."

This approach may go against me becoming a better player.  Maybe it won't.  Maybe I'm short-changing myself, even now.  I may be terrible.  I probably AM terrible.  But here's the thing: I don't know that for sure.  And in the absence of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, I am forced to believe I'm better than average, with even more potential.  It's all relative, but remember - I haven't been playing for very long, and I have a grand total of twenty and a half hours of live, non-home game play.  Or, as Phil Laak would call it, a Tuesday.

Even if results or other evidence point towards me not being very good, I always want to THINK I'm good, because that confidence, even if it's irrational, breeds success.

Let's get to the felt.

The Social Aspect

I've spent a lot of time in this space talking about the technical aspect of poker; how to play, how I used to play versus how I play now, how I can improve, etc.  What I haven't done very much of, other than comments and stories in my live action recaps, is talk about the social aspect of the game.

Maybe the single biggest reason I love live poker as much as I do (and why online isn't cutting it for me), is the people.  Now, there are situations where people make it a less-than-pleasant time, but I have been fortunate enough to have not gone down that road often.  Regardless, those bad moments have been far outweighed by the good ones - good people, good conversations, and just a general overall good time.  Playing some poker, chatting it up, laughing, and making some money to boot.  That's hard to beat.

But...I feel like my enjoyment may be holding me back from becoming a better player.  When I play live, I will always talk with the people around me, and because of that, I can't focus as much as I "should" on the action, especially on hands I am not playing.  I have mentioned in this space how important it is to concentrate on play even when you are out of the hand, and how one's ability to do so can provide important information that may provide an edge later in the game.  At the moment, I am one of the large majority of people who can't/don't focus on the action, and I know this is to my detriment.

The real question is, does this matter to me?  How important is it to me to get better?  I know I have already made significant strides as a player in just a few live sessions, to the point where I feel comfortable playing against almost anyone, be it in cash or tournament play (but especially tournament).  So I have reached a comfortable plateau of sorts, knowing I can step into any game and, while I may not be successful in a monetary sense, I will play properly and the odds will be in my favor.

How important is it to me to take that next step, which at this point involves more focus and less talk?  Is it more important to have fun, and (forgive the obvious cliche) let the chips falls where they may?  That's the question I'm trying to answer right now, and frankly, I'm not sure.  Obviously, everyone who plays poker on at even a remotely serious level wants to get better.  But it's a tradeoff, and I need to find that balance.

Ideally, I would end up like Daniel Negreanu - someone who can run his mouth constantly and still play at a high level, besting most of those around him on a regular basis.  I know that's shooting for the moon, but hey - lofty goals are good, right?