After yesterday's relatively good run, I decided to play 3-tables of PL-Omaha $400 -- a game I have no idea how to play. Late at night. At short tables. While under the influence of mind-altering substances.
That was a pretty bad idea.
I dropped about $400 in 30 minutes. Then, staying up late into the morning, after clearing up a bit, I decided to quad PL $600 as I am apt to do. I was tired. I was upset about losing. I also happened to walk into an old adversary who I've had trouble playing on all encounters. The same fellow whose Aces I bad beat recently.
That was a horrible idea.
I think I was net -$1,200.
I played a little again today. I made all of it back in short order; but then became card dead and was forced to pay off hands to drop a requisite $400 or so. Things like holding AK on an AQ2 board, and calling down suspicious medium sized bets to have my opponents flip over AQ. Then after having made an excellent read on my opponent, I refused to accept that my read was right, and bet the river and the check-raise -- which I saw coming -- came. And I lost $300.
Party Poker Pot-Limit Hold'em, $6 BB (6 max, 6 handed) converter
Button ($524.3)
SB ($165)
BB ($200)
UTG ($455.2)
MP ($918.72)
Hero ($633.2)
Preflop: Hero is CO with Kd, Qd.
UTG calls $6, 1 fold, Hero calls $6, 1 fold, SB completes, BB checks.
Flop: ($24) 5d, Jd, 6s (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $20, SB calls $20, BB folds, UTG calls $20.
Turn: ($84) Ts (3 players)
SB checks, UTG bets $60, Hero calls $60, SB folds.
River: ($204) Td (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $100, UTG raises to $300, Hero calls $200.
Final Pot: $804
UTG has Js Tc (full house, tens full of jacks).
Hero has Kd Qd (flush, king high).
Outcome: UTG wins $804.
I mean, it's painfully obvious that this river bet is just horrible. I had my hand over the check button, but at 3 seconds remaining I decided "How stupid, I call a bet and now I hit an out and I'm not betting?". The voice of value extraction drowned out the obvious voice of reason. Yuck, I seriously cannot believe I bet there.
After nearly vomitting at how badly I played that hand I focused up a little more; didn't have any tough decisions, but played strong. Then, on my final hand:
Party Poker Pot-Limit Hold'em, $6 BB (6 max, 5 handed) converter
Hero ($722)
MP ($860.65)
Button ($708.55)
SB ($355.65)
BB ($1558.1)
Preflop: Hero is UTG with 9d, 9s.
Hero raises to $12, MP calls $12, Button calls $12, SB calls $9, 1 fold.
Flop: ($54) 7s, 2c, 4c (4 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $50, MP folds, Button folds, SB calls $50.
Turn: ($154) 7h (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks.
River: ($154) Th (2 players)
SB bets $152, Hero calls $152.
Final Pot: $458
SB has 5c 3c (one pair, sevens).
Hero has 9d 9s (two pair, nines and sevens).
Outcome: Hero wins $458.
Villain was a known player to me, who is a readably-tricky-bad regular. I announced on the turn to a friend who was watching, "I'm calling any river bet". And when the river bet came I cringed. I wasn't worried so much about a 7 as I was something like AT or JTc. But this river call is absolutely necessary.
So this post is kind of about playing well, but it's really hard to play poker well. I'm passionate about the game, and I wrote a piece to our school newspaper The Daily Princetonian in response to a flurry of recent discussion over poker on campus.
I think it's interesting to note that if I was a diligent student, spending all of my hours studying and sacrificing social activities in the pursuit of academic glory, that most would consider this an honorable (though perhaps not desirable) endeavor. In fact, I think the university hands out awards for such academic excellence accomplished through such sacrifice. And this reverence we hold for others isn't limited to academic pursuits. A similar respect is extended to those who seek to better themselves at music, athletics, art, chess, bridge or scrabble. What we value in these people is their passion, and, to varying degrees, their fighting competetive spirit.
Why don't people extend this same degree of respect for something like Poker?
I think it's because there are those who treat poker like it's gambling, and it's pretty clear that we can't respect these degenerate gamblers.
The fallacy of a lot of people's view is that they take this as their sole view of the poker player, and group poker with other forms of definitionally minus expected value games like blackjack and roulette where it's called gambling because you have no way of winning.
But poker is a game of skill; if you are a stronger poker player than your advesaries, you will make money. It has elements of chance, but the game plays a lot more like chess with dice than blackjack. Of course the risk of financial ruin
leads to a slew of socially undesirable states of affairs; and on the other hand, the allure of making excessive amounts of cash draws the clueless as well. There are dangers from all streets. But with a well-informed view of what the game is
about, and how true players of the game approach it, it's just another form of competition, and to some, another form of art.
What if you knew Mike Sandberg was a winning player, treats poker like the rest of society treats their job, and on top of it, is passionate about the competetive aspects of the game? Really, how far afield is this from the dedicated student who works to ensure a good job in the future? Or the musician who spends all their time practicing for recitals?
Phillip Wei '05
So the huge irony in all of this is that a lot of my straight-forward comments are mildly sarcastic. I'm a fun loving gambler. I won't gamble huge amounts, but I've played 80$ games of beirut, taken 50$ coin-flips and will play blackjack. It's fun. It's why I play Omaha. I'm not a degenerate, but I think these sorts of things can be fun and cathartic. But poker, when you are playing it as poker, can't be about that. When you are passionate about poker, you want to play well and play a lot. But playing long stretches of poker can wear down your ability to play well and reveal the gambling risk-taking core beneath. I keep telling myself after any session where I play poorly that I will play better next time -- and I usually do. But hopefully, the goal is to eliminate that bad play entirely. Feasible? Probably not. But constantly striving for that goal by definition makes you a better player.
Gambling off your poker roll is a big no-no.
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