Welcome Back to the Game Sir!

I came back from my self imposed exile from poker last night to make it down to the Muck. I was happy to see a $50/100 game going again and it looks like this is going to be a permanent game on Tuesday. Perfect. Unfortunately I did not get there early enough to get a seat right away so I had to sit in the $30/60 game and wait for a seat. This was not that bad as it allowed me to ease back into the game and grab a few chips to take over to the bigger game. Today was one of those days where I did not look back. I hit a few decent hands in the $30/60 game and moved an hour or two later to the $50/100 game. This was a great game. There were at least 5 soft spots in the game, and Pete the normally aggressive great player was running so poorly he was demoralized and passive. We have all been there, you just enter every pot knowing that you will lose. He just could not win a hand. Here is how bad he was running. I had Pocket KK's in the SB. Pete in middle position raises with pocket 99's and no one else calls. I think about it for a little then just cold call the raise. I was hoping to keep the BB in for at least the raise but he folded anyway. Flop came 10,9,6 rainbow. I check hoping to check raise as I have not shown any aggression yet in this hand and I did not know what he had. He checked behind me to try and trap. The turn was a K. I bet out this time, he raises I three bet and he caps. That was kind of a scary card as it can make a J,Q straight which was not one of his likely holdings but still a possibility. River was a 7 I checked this time as he just capped it and he checked behind me and rolled over a set of nines to lose to my set of KK's, now that is running bad. He hits the flop with a set and I catch a two outer to win on the turn.

When you are running poorly and have a really negative attitude, it is best to quit if you can't change your attitude. If you think negative, negative things will happen and you do change your game usually to the passive side. That is the kiss of death in an aggressive game with good players. The rest of the table does pick up on this and you become a victim to be crushed. This can be a very brutal game. The weak do get eaten. We are friends, but I will take your money if you are in the game with me. I will show no compassion, as I will get none in return when the shoe is on the other foot. After they quit I will feel badly for them and even tell them that, but I will still take the money. One other point I will highlight today is that you should never play soft against friends or be nice at the table to people and tell them when you have a good hand. You would be surprised how many people do this, especially in lower limit games. Sometimes they lie, but then you can just ignore the info the next time, most of the time this is just a bad habit that people get in to. I think they must feel guilty to take money with the nuts, or they are just so proud of their hand they want to tell you. VERY BAD HABIT. This came up in a decent size pot I was involved in. We went to the river and I was a caller the whole way through as I had third pair and a straight draw that never got there. I checked with the intention of mucking to a bet, but then when I did check and there was a bet I sat there for a moment. The guy I was looking to lay down to usually tells me on the river what he has and he was dead silent. This is a bad habit that he had, and it did not show itself this time, but it was the first time I really was aware of it on the river. So what did I do, I changed my mind and called. He showed me A high and I took the $600 pot. I was nice enough to him at the end of the night to tell him why and that he should change that habit. Let's see if he does next time but last night he paid $300 for that lesson, I think that was a fair trade.

The night just continued to be a run of decent cards and good play on my part. I gambled a bit when it was appropriate as the game was staying pretty passive. Lots of limpers and mutiway pots. I did take my share of bad beats. I lost with AA when I three bet an early position raiser and got cold called out of the BB by 5,7 off. The flop came 7,10,K, and I bet the whole way until the river which was a 5 and we both checked. I rolled over AA and he showed me 5,7 off for two pair. Catch bottom pair and go from there? Nice hand sir, I was thinking to myself, but put it in the muck and keep your mouth shut. That man will go broke before we are done.

Biggest pot of the night for me, and the worst hand I played from a starting hand position by choice, worked out perfectly. As I said this game was passive which allowed you to speculate on a few hands. I limped in middle position with 5,6 hearts. I get raised behind me and then a loose aggressive player on the button three bets. The BB calls cold, and I know the other player will call so I gamble up a bit and call here getting 5 to 1 on my call. If I miss I can get away easy, but if I hit I have a well hidden hand. Flop comes K,10,7 two hearts. BB checks, I check, middle position bets, button calls, BB now raises, I call cold with the heart draw. A bit loose on my part but I still felt hearts would be good for me. Turn a nice looking 4. Not hearts, but now I have the open ender with my heart draw. BB now checks, I check, middle now bets again, button calls, BB calls and I call. River was the nuts for me, a 3 of clubs. I now have the perfectly concealed nut straight and I get bet right into from the BB of course I raise here and the other two players muck. I get called and send the $1,800 pot my way. Wow that hand could not have worked out any better, I did not even have to fade if 6 high hearts were good, I just made the nut straight and took the pot.

I kept on playing pretty well, and the game stayed passive and loose, I gave back a little from the high but still ended up booking a $5,514 win. Biggest win of the year, feels good to get back the money I dumped in the last session I played shorthanded.

On a side note I am going to drop Matt Dean's blog as he just does not update. I may add some others that I read occasionally. If anyone has any suggestions of a good blog out there send them my way. Hope you are having as good a fall as I am. Talk to you soon. SJ