Texas Calculatem and Poker Office Blog

And today that fish was me!

While my play was hardly perfect (I called a short stacked all in with KQ and was dominated by AQ), Phil Gordon's book gave me some ideas on how to maximise my rewards. And assuming his tips worked, and were interpreted correctly, they gave me a good payout.

On my first table I won $84.91 from a $20 buy in. And on the 2nd table I lost $6.60. So on balance I did pretty well.

As well as getting lucky, I also installed Poker Office 2 on my new PC. It ran well on my dual core setup. And even records full hand histories. Here are some of my favourites from this evening. Please let me know if you think my play wasn't optimal:

** Hurricane [Hold em] (0.100.20 No Limit - Cash Game) Real Money
- jimmyo80 sitting in seat 1 with $18.30
- Taribo sitting in seat 3 with $17.64
- JulleL sitting in seat 4 with $17.15
- MyOffice sitting in seat 5 with $27.40
- ante999 sitting in seat 6 with $20.36
- big-beaver sitting in seat 7 with $43.27
- michae1 sitting in seat 8 with $17.92
- vronkan sitting in seat 9 with $20.50
- The_Edge sitting in seat 10 with $58.69 [Dealer]
jimmyo80 posted the small blind - $0.10
Taribo posted the big blind - $0.20
** Dealing card to The_Edge: King of Hearts, King of Clubs
JulleL called - $0.20
MyOffice raised - $0.80
ante999 folded
big-beaver raised - $2.80
michae1 folded
vronkan folded

- big-beaver's massive overbet scared me. It was clear he had a massive premium hand such as AA, AK or QQ. I considered an all-in re-raise, but thought I'd be screwed if an Ace hit, and therefore just called).

The_Edge called - $2.80
jimmyo80 folded
Taribo folded
JulleL called - $2.80
MyOffice folded
** Dealing the flop: 10 of Hearts, King of Spades, 7 of Spades
JulleL checked
big-beaver bet - $4.75

Wow. What a nice flop. Nothing beats me. Though there's a flush draw on the board. To block the flush draw, I raised the pot back at Beaver. I could have just called to see what would happen, but Phil Gordon recommends the re-raise, as it's more likely to get action. Whereas if the opponent is drawing a hand, they'll just fold in the next round if they miss. Or might get scared if a third spade appears, and they aren't drawing to the spade flush.

The_Edge raised - $23.75
JulleL folded
big-beaver went all-in - $35.72

Good times! Beaver went all in when I was miles ahead. What could I do but oblige him.

The_Edge called - $40.47
** Dealing the turn: 7 of Hearts
** Dealing the river: 5 of Clubs
big-beaver shows: King of Diamonds, Ace of Diamonds
The_Edge shows: King of Hearts, King of Clubs
The_Edge wins $87.44 from the main pot

And here's yet another great hand:

** Hurricane [Hold em] (0.100.20 No Limit - Cash Game) Real Money
- jimmyo80 sitting in seat 1 with $20.00
- jbdb3 sitting in seat 2 with $19.72
- Taribo sitting in seat 3 with $18.50
- PhillMill sitting in seat 4 with $9.58
- matchy1 sitting in seat 5 with $12.92
- R_director sitting in seat 6 with $10.30
- big-beaver sitting in seat 7 with $51.65 [Dealer]
- michae1 sitting in seat 8 with $19.70
- _Don19_ sitting in seat 9 with $19.80
- The_Edge sitting in seat 10 with $38.36
michae1 posted the small blind - $0.10
_Don19_ posted the big blind - $0.20
** Dealing card to The_Edge: 9 of Diamonds, 9 of Clubs

Lots of more experienced players would recommend raise. However, I'm a fish, and at these levels, 99 is nothing more than a drawing hand as you're so vulnerable to overcards. Also, from UTG, I didn't want to get re-raised.

The_Edge called - $0.20
jbdb3 folded
Taribo called - $0.20
matchy1 folded
R_director called - $0.20
big-beaver folded
michae1 called - $0.20
_Don19_ bet - $1.06

What a nasty raise! However, I looked at Don's balance and saw that he had $19.80 in front of him. So he had more than enough to pay out on my 8/1 shot at hitting trips. Also, the presence of 3 other limpers, increased the odds of other players helping to build the pot.

The_Edge called - $1.06
Taribo folded
R_director called - $1.06
michae1 called - $1.06
** Dealing the flop: 9 of Spades, 2 of Hearts, 8 of Spades
michae1 checked
_Don19_ bet - $3.99

Yet again I've flopped the best possible hand. Nice. However, it's vulnerable to flush and straight draws. Don has bet well over half the pot and must be trying to protect something like AA, AK, KK or maybe QQ. I'm ahead. But don't want to give the others a chance to call. I there bet the pot back.

The_Edge raised - $16.41
R_director folded
michae1 folded
_Don19_ went all-in - $14.95
The_Edge called - $18.94
** Dealing the turn: 6 of Spades
** Dealing the river: 2 of Diamonds
_Don19_ shows: Ace of Hearts, Ace of Clubs
The_Edge shows: 9 of Diamonds, 9 of Clubs
The_Edge wins $40.22 from the main pot