Poker Talk

[Yerdaddy]

Brag about your games, bitches.

I'm living in the main backpacker area of Phnom Penh called Lakeside and a buddy of mine with a bar runs a bi-weekly Texas hold-em tournament on the pool table - $5 unlimited buy-ins the first hour, with anwhere from 10 to 25 people each game. I started playing regular when I first arrived about 6 months ago and the first four months the best I did was second a couple of times. I never played regularly, only played Texas hold-em a few times before and never played online. The tournaments were a bit of fun and I knew I had good instincts but I was tired of losing twice a week.

Two months ago I read a book by Roy Rounder a buddy gave me on PDF. Next game I played I was pissed because, according to rounder I should be folding my J-9s and K-8s, which I was, but on a half a dozen hands or so that I folded them I would have taken down the pots. I was out long before the money. "Fuck Roy Rounder!" I said.

Next tournament I won. The difference was patience. I folded weak hands, folded good-but-not-monster hands instead of calling pre-flop all-ins, adjusted for positioning, and didn't go tilt when I was short-stacked, stayed patient and when the hands came my way took down big pots and won.

Next tournament I got a bad beat, but came back and won the next two tournaments in a row, lost one, took fourth last week and won again last week. So since Roy Rounder I've won four of the last seven tournaments - and about half the value of my paychecks in the same period.

Winning is good.

I'm thinking about taking a trip over to Macaw - the Las Vegas of Asia - where they just opened up a couple of casinos with Texas hold-em and they've got tables full of rich Asians who suck at poker.

[Freakshow]

poker, I hardly even know her. geh geh.

Isn't Macau going to be bigger than vegas in the near future?

[oh_kee_pa]

one - asians dont suck at poker...

two, pick up Harrington on Hold 'Em to help with tournament play even more

[jonyrotn]

gag bitches... a buddy of mine with a bar and
I. came on, under, over and in a couple of Asians.
I think I decoded you secret message..It's either..

"Bukaki" or "Liquor in the front, poker in the rear"

EDIT: I used the secret decoder key stitched in Gvac's hat..

[TheMojoPin]

Never get involved in a poker war in Asia.

[A.J.]

Asian tournaments scare me.

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/images/eamonn/DeerHunter05.jpg

[Yerdaddy]

I'm a Phnom Penh poker celebrity now. (http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2008100321948/Post-Life/Picking-up-a-hot-poker-game.html) Yes, my real name is aaron bone. Shut up!

[Gmann]

Pocket dueces always win!

[AngryAsianGuy]

Asian tournaments scare me.

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/images/eamonn/DeerHunter05.jpg

They scare me too!

Now, does two pair beat three of a kind?

[Ogre]

one - asians dont suck at poker...

two, pick up Harrington on Hold 'Em to help with tournament play even more

Agreed on both points. Harrington now has a Vol III to go with the first two books on No Limit Tourney Play. It is a workbook style with problems/examples etc. of ideas in the first two volumes. I just started Vol I of his two part "Cash Game" series. Yerdaddy is right about the patience part. If it aint there it aint there. If you are waiting on the turn or fifth street to make your hand then you prolly should've dumped somewhere in the flop area. David Sklansky's "The Theory of Poker" is a very comprehensive first book for those interested in taking poker to the next level from weekend pick-ups to serious cash games and tourneys.

[Yerdaddy]

Who wants to help me lick my wounds?

I'm in a $10 no-limit Texas Holdem at one of my usual places. I'm playing strong and tight against most of the best players in the city and down to the last 6 of us. I'm a bit below average chip stacked but the rest are distributed about evenly. I've got a tight table image and getting plenty of respect at the tables. But there's one french guy on my right who doesn't know pot odds and does dumb stuff. I'm on the big blind and Keith, probably the best, tight player in the game, limps in middle position and the small blind calls. I turn over A10 of hearts. I'll settle for the blinds, but I definitely want Keith out so I bet three and a half times the big blind. Keith mucks easily and the frenchie calls easily. He's too inexperienced to put him on anything specific, but it's not a monster or he would have raised. Whatever he has he's blown his pot odds.

Flop: 7 and Q of hearts and a jack. Now I've got what I figure is 15 outs for best hand: 3 for the Aces, 9 for the nut flush and 4 for the King to give me a backdoor nut straight, minus one for the K of hearts. He should have a decent pair at best, but I can't be certain of anything with this guy. He thinks long and hard and calls "all in". With all these outs I already know I've got pot odds to call so I insta-call. He throws over pocket 7s for the trips. I know I can't count the Aces as outs except as runner runners, but I still have 12 outs for better than even money.

Turn: 2 of hearts. Winner winner chicken dinner! My nut flush! (Actually, I felt both of them flush).

Fucking River: J pairs the board and the dipshit boats his 7s. Frog farts.

I do like the way I've been playing lately though. I've been reading tons of books - Harrington, Gordon's Little Green Book, Caro's Book of Tells, and I've got dozens of others on PDF to read. Pot odds are becoming instinctive. I finally started looking at my cards when it's my turn which is forcing me to me much more observant. I'm still winning about a quarter of the tournaments I enter, but more importantly, there's a core group of players in Phnom Penh who love to play, play cometitively, are constantly working on their games, and we're all generous with our advice. We want to help each other improve our games. All but a rare backpacker who joins the games are just fish. We play a wide variety of venues and mix of cash and tournaments.

The point is now I'm thinking about moving to Macau and trying my luck as a professional poker player. I got a few buddies going next month and they'll scout it out for me. I can get there for a couple hundred dollars and you can still find cheap accommodation in the city. I figure I need to raise a bankroll of a few thousand, get started on small tournaments and the cash games our hook-ups have lined up with the fish in them. I've been pulling in a few hundred a month in bar games in Phnom Penh with some really good players. I think this is worth a try. I know I don't really want to do the journalism or any other job here that's available to me. Fuck it! I'm going to be a professional gambler!

[sailor]

I'm a Phnom Penh poker celebrity now. (http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2008100321948/Post-Life/Picking-up-a-hot-poker-game.html) Yes, my real name is aaron bone. Shut up!

thank you for hitting that homer off wakefield in 2003

[Ogre]

Who wants to help me lick my wounds?

I'm in a $10 no-limit Texas Holdem at one of my usual places. I'm playing strong and tight against most of the best players in the city and down to the last 6 of us. I'm a bit below average chip stacked but the rest are distributed about evenly. I've got a tight table image and getting plenty of respect at the tables. But there's one french guy on my right who doesn't know pot odds and does dumb stuff. I'm on the big blind and Keith, probably the best, tight player in the game, limps in middle position and the small blind calls. I turn over A10 of hearts. I'll settle for the blinds, but I definitely want Keith out so I bet three and a half times the big blind. Keith mucks easily and the frenchie calls easily. He's too inexperienced to put him on anything specific, but it's not a monster or he would have raised. Whatever he has he's blown his pot odds.

Flop: 7 and Q of hearts and a jack. Now I've got what I figure is 15 outs for best hand: 3 for the Aces, 9 for the nut flush and 4 for the King to give me a backdoor nut straight, minus one for the K of hearts. He should have a decent pair at best, but I can't be certain of anything with this guy. He thinks long and hard and calls "all in". With all these outs I already know I've got pot odds to call so I insta-call. He throws over pocket 7s for the trips. I know I can't count the Aces as outs except as runner runners, but I still have 12 outs for better than even money.

Turn: 2 of hearts. Winner winner chicken dinner! My nut flush! (Actually, I felt both of them flush).

Fucking River: J pairs the board and the dipshit boats his 7s. Frog farts.

I do like the way I've been playing lately though. I've been reading tons of books - Harrington, Gordon's Little Green Book, Caro's Book of Tells, and I've got dozens of others on PDF to read. Pot odds are becoming instinctive. I finally started looking at my cards when it's my turn which is forcing me to me much more observant. I'm still winning about a quarter of the tournaments I enter, but more importantly, there's a core group of players in Phnom Penh who love to play, play cometitively, are constantly working on their games, and we're all generous with our advice. We want to help each other improve our games. All but a rare backpacker who joins the games are just fish. We play a wide variety of venues and mix of cash and tournaments.

The point is now I'm thinking about moving to Macau and trying my luck as a professional poker player. I got a few buddies going next month and they'll scout it out for me. I can get there for a couple hundred dollars and you can still find cheap accommodation in the city. I figure I need to raise a bankroll of a few thousand, get started on small tournaments and the cash games our hook-ups have lined up with the fish in them. I've been pulling in a few hundred a month in bar games in Phnom Penh with some really good players. I think this is worth a try. I know I don't really want to do the journalism or any other job here that's available to me. Fuck it! I'm going to be a professional gambler!

Well as far as Frenchy goes that was dumb poker luck. He obviously does not know or care about pot odds so trying to read someone like that is difficult. That can be the problem with the fishes sometimes, they don't know enough to get out of the way. I really like the forced observation habit of not looking at your cards until it is your turn. That is a neat little nuggett. I say go for the Pro angle, then keep a journal recording your exploits and turn it into a bazzillion seller. Kind of ...On the Ho Chi Minh Trail lookin for Fifth Street by the Kerouac of Kambodia.

[underdog]

I'm a Phnom Penh poker celebrity now. (http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2008100321948/Post-Life/Picking-up-a-hot-poker-game.html) Yes, my real name is aaron bone. Shut up!

The lives of you and A.J. fascinate me.

[Snoogans]

thank you for hitting that homer off wakefield in 2003

that hurts, man

[Jennitalia]

i played over the weekend with friends. came in 4th out of 13 of us, and then won it all in the second game with 13 people.

[EddieMoscone]

Ever been an attempt at a message board tourneys where the winner gets a tourney entry (WPT/WSOP/Whatever)?

[Yerdaddy]

I had a hand last night that I’m especially proud of – whether I should be or not.

It was at a monthly $30 buy-in, no re-buy, invite only Hold-Em tournament with most of the best players in town. About an hour and a half into the game and down to 9 players from 10, I’m getting cards that were especially easy to establish a tight-aggressive table image with – they suck! The only thing I’ve got keeping me from playing my sucker hands is my card holder – a red Jenga piece with silly instructions written on it for the players to do when they pull that piece. Mine reads: “Pretend you’re a cat licking itself.” That seemed like a good attitude for my particular tournament strategy, so I just kept reading it to myself like a Zen mantra.

The blinds are 40-80 and the player under-the-gun calls. Ted, a smart New Yorker, who’s played Atlantic City for years and now goes to Macau fairly often, raises to 3 times the big blind: 240. Bill, a young, by-the-numbers, tight-aggressive player with good instincts but limited experience calls. He’s got a strong hand – probably Ace-face. Three players fold to me and I look at pocket 4s. I know right away I should fold these bad boys, but I’m bored and I know I’m overdue for an impulsive gamble, and I’ve got an imaginary Zen hairball from licking myself for too long. I call, knowing I’m probably throwing away my chips but a lucky set would pay off big and, given the rest of the players are tight enough to fold out to Ted’s early-position raise, I’ll have position and the flop might give me a chance to cash in my table image at this point. The rest fold and it’s a 3-way hand.

The flop is two Queens and a 10, rainbow. OK, I’m done now. Ted is chuckling a bit, which could mean a couple of things – good or bad – because he’s too good to give an obvious tell, but he’s too much of a New Yorker to play stone-faced and not have fun. He tentatively checks. I don’t think he’s got the Queen, or he would have bet to charge us for a draw. I don’t put him on a pair because I’d expect a feeler bet that might either take down the pot or expose one of us with the Queen if we come over top of him. With the big bet in early position I put him on AK. I’m still surprised he didn’t put out a feeler bet.

Bill, very much a stone-face, thinks a bit and checks. I still think he’s got Ace-face, but a low face. I know he doesn’t have a pocket pair or the Queen or he would have bet. It’s a pattern. I play with him a lot.

Shit. I wasn’t expecting to get checked to and was all set to shit-can my 4s, but now here I am and I’ve got to decide what to do quickly or I’ll give up too much information. I just think: play your tight-aggressive table image – pretend you’ve got the Queen and you want to juice the pot with a cheap value bet which is really a feeler bet that will give me more information about what these guys have and I’ll roll over faster than a $5 ladyboy if either one comes over top of me. I set down the minimum bet, 80, carefully and close to me, showing the standard tells that I’m not faking strength (not tossing the chips), and not putting the chips far away like I’m expecting the chips to go away from me. (I saw this on Learn From the Pros recently and I figure it may mean something to Ted, but nothing to Bill who lives like a hermit and may have never seen a TV or a computer in his life.)

Ted stares blankly for a second, then laughs “what the fuck is that? It’s too small to be a value bet… so… what the hell is it?”

Shit. I wanted him to think it was a value bet and back off with anything short of a Q. I said, “Sometimes you gotta smack the cow to get milk.” I just made that one up as I said it. He laughed, like I was an idiot for such a small value bet, but he must have still thought it was more likely a value bet than a feeler bet. He must have put me on either the Queen and too stupid, (or stupid like a fox!), to make a proper value bet, or he put me on a pair and he fucked up by not coming over top of me because he just chuckled and called my paltry 80 shaking his head. I know he doesn’t have the Queen. Maybe AK and he’s playing pot odds or he’s got a pair and he really thinks I have the Queen. If the rest of the board is low I might be in a position where I think my 4s might actually hold up. I really expected him to re-raise me so I could fold this shit.

Bill folds. He’s confused or had nothing and folded whatever he had scared.

The Turn is a 5, of a fourth suit. Flush draws are dead. Ted checks to me again.

I’m licking myself, telling myself I have the Queen and that I’m sticking to the strategy of daring Ted to come over top of me with cheap feeler bets so as not to show weakness, but this one a little bigger to stay somewhat realistic – 240. I’m still perfectly willing to lay down if he does come over top of me. (Poker talk sounds really homoerotic, doesn’t it?) He chuckles again, thinks a bit, and calls. I’m just licking myself, shocked that I’m still in the hand, but still trying not to show I’m nervous because I’ve got about 3/5 of my stack in play on a pair of shit.

The Flop is a 4.

I didn’t have time to shit myself because Ted put out this big, shiny brown plant seed that we were using for 500-chips just as I’m piecing together that I could only be beat by a Queens-over Boat and that he would have bet that long ago. I insta-called all-in. He paused a minute, having finally put me off the Queen, I think, and expecting me to lay down, but now realizing he’d be crippled if he didn’t call me so he just said “I call” and stared at the spot where I was about to throw my 4s. But as we were throwing our cards down, instead of looking for his cards, I was double checking to see that that was really a 4 on the River. It was, so while everyone was groaning like they just watched a car accident in progress I looked over and saw he had Aces. Ouch. For him, that is.

Right away everyone’s talking about what a bad beat it was. I’m not saying shit. I’m replaying the hand to see if I really did play it right or if I was an idiot to still be in to get that lucky river. No, I thought. I knew I gambled a bit calling the initial raise, but the rest of the hand I assessed the situation and tapped my resources: my table image, position, my knowledge of how my opponents play, a hand I couldn’t easily be put on, and the fact that I DID have two pair on the flop. Ted’s a good guy and, sure, he asked me what the fuck I was doing in the hand with 4s, but he wasn’t a dick about it. He was crushed, but cool. He’s a great guy. He went home right after and, later, after the tournament, (I got third with a string of shit hands at the end), when we were playing a crazy ass Five-Card Draw cash game, his good friend Keith told me Ted had been texting him that I had played the hand well and that he fucked up by never coming over top to test me with those puny little bets of mine. It was also his misfortune to have drawn the Aces in such early position. As good as he is, he could only raise three times the big blind without us putting him on Aces and him only winning the blinds. But three times was enough for two of us to gamble with and, after the flop, outplay him.

I’ll certainly admit that Ted is a better player than I am. Just not on that hand. And I learned a lot on that hand. That’s why I wanted to write it down.

By the way, me and my buddies are reviving Five-Card Draw here in Phnom Penh and it fucking rocks! It’s so much more dynamic and wild than any of us remember it as from the game most of us first learned to play with and then moved on from. Give it a go at your home games or on-line. VIVA LA FIVE-CARD DRAW!