Poker Articles

This is chapter 3 of ESPoker - chapters 1 + 2 are in my blog.

As we came over the hill in Carl’s black jaguar I took off my mirrored Oakley shades and just stared. Rising up in the distance through the early morning New England fog like a great king’s castle was Foxwoods. Even though I had been to Boston many times and had even visited New York City once or twice, this was the most magnificent building I had ever seen. Perhaps it was because it was so alone there among the trees, but even from here it looked like nothing I had seen before.

In five minutes Carl was handing the keys to the valet and we were on our way. We both were dressed in sweats and wearing Red Sox caps and sunglasses, as Carl said, “blend in with the poker crowd.” As soon as we walked into the poker room I saw what he meant. Out of an early morning crowd of about 200 players at least 50 guys were dressed the same way we were.

“Stick to the plan,” Carl told me, “and good luck.” He made a quick left and I was alone.

It was pretty simple, so I had no problems getting my Wampum card and then I got in line to register for the morning nlhe tournament. I paid cash for my slip and then drew a number for my seat. Since I still had over an hour before the tournament was to start I went over to the board and after a few failed attempts finally got my name on the 1-2 blinds nlhe list. Less than ten minutes later I was seated in the game right in the middle in the 5 seat.

I took the wad of hundred dollar bills out and peeled off five of them to buy chips for the game as I scanned the other players. The 3,6, and 8 seats could have been clones – all middle aged men wearing the same outfit I was. In seat 4 was a distinguished looking gentleman wearing a nice suit. I was surprised to find seats 1 and 2 occupied by relatively young and attractive women, but I was there to play, not to make friends.

My main mission was to take as many flops as I could and to practice putting my chips in the same way every single time. Carl said there were some pros who could tell if you were weak or strong just by how you bet, so I had to learn to be consistent. The button was at the 7 seat so I paid my bb and jumped right in.

My first hand was a J7 of clubs which I had learned by now was a mediocre holding at best. Still I wanted to play, so I was disappointed by the $20 raise from the 3 seat. I stared at him for a moment, saw in his mind that he was holding QQ, and folded. Even though the next twelve hands I saw weren’t any better than the first, I dutifully called every time and then folded after the flop. I found I liked sliding my chips forward slowly and I practiced doing it with the same motion every time.

On my thirteenth hand I found pocket kings and decided to raise so I carefully peeled off one green $25 chip from my stack and slid it towards the middle with my same motion. The action went around and the dealer asked me to use a $5 red chip instead of the green. “I raised,” I said politely but firmly. Well, everyone at the table let me know quickly that I had not “announced” my raise and so it was just a call. I made a mental note to always say “raise” first and watched as the dealer turned over the three cards for the flop – AK3 rainbow. I had flopped a set of kings and should make some money on this hand.

The first player to act was the 10 seat and he bet $10 into the $15 pot. I took a hard look at him and saw he had A3 and had flopped a strong hand with aces up. The lady in the 2 seat folded quickly but the woman next to her paused and thought for a while. As she did I looked into her mind and saw she had AQ and had flopped top pair with a strong kicker. Finally she announced “raise” and put $25 into the pot. It was folded around to me and I thought about what I had learned from Carl. He had taught me that when you have a “monster” you want to get as much money for it as possible and that sometimes the best way to do this was not to raise until the end, so I slowly pushed one green chip towards the pot.

The 10 seat thought for a minute staring mostly at the woman who raised and a little at me and then said “raise” and pushed $100 more into the pot. The original raiser hardly even hesitated and mucked her cards. I took a deep breath and thought for a minute. I knew Carl said to wait, but the situation seemed to be favorable for a raise now. This guy had two pair and had put a lot of money into the pot already so I said “raise”, slid all my chips toward the dealer, and sat as still as I could.

This time the 10 seat barely took much time at all. He picked up his cards,  looked wistfully at them, and let out a small sigh. As he threw them into the muck he said “Your set of kings is good. Take it.”

I gathered up the pot and mucked my cards without giving him the satisfaction of knowing just how great a read he had. I didn’t even forget to tip the dealer two white chips as I slowly shook my head. Looks like I still had a ways to go.

I played a few more rounds and gave away $30 of my winnings as I practiced sliding my chips into the pot. Then I got up, cashed out and found a quiet place away from the crowd to eat and clear my head before the tournament. As I ate I reviewed my tournament strategy. I was supposed to avoid all ins as much as possible, especially before the flop. Tournaments were won by pushing your advantage and I had a huge natural advantage, so it was silly to let one lucky card knock me out. I was supposed to call a lot, play cheap, and never bluff.

Well, that was the plan. But about an hour into the tournament I got pocket aces and put in a small standard raise and got three callers. The flop came A49 rainbow and before I even had a chance to bet the big blind goes all in. I stare at him and find he doesn’t even have a pair. He is holding a 23 hearts and since none of the three cards on the flop are hearts, the only way for him to win is to hit a 5. So, of course I call for all my chips and the 5 comes on the river to send me to the rail.

Carl is waiting for me and we head to the Asian restaurant to have lunch and talk. I am all depressed and waiting for a lecture but it doesn’t come. Instead Carl smiles and says, “It’s not easy is it? Trying not to give away any information with your actions is harder than you thought, isn’t it?”

I push some sweaty hair out of my eyes and manage a weak smile in return. “No. In fact, it’s damn hard. The whole thing is too damn hard as it is. And then to have to fold the best hand like that? Waaaay too hard.”

“Let’s get something straight David.” Carl only called me David when he was teaching. “First of all you may have a gift but you are not immune to bad beats. Just resign yourself to the fact that they happen and move on. Second, you did the right thing in calling that bet. The odds were tremendously in your favor. The only mistake you made was in not following the plan. I’m telling you, you can win the whole thing in Vegas this year if you stick with the plan.”

I took a bite of sashimi and nodded. “I know and I’m sorry I let you down.”

Carl waved off my apology, laughed and continued. “Today is all about learning David. Tell me something. How did you feel when you knew you had that guy with your set of kings?”

“It felt good, exciting, scary.”

Carl nodded. “Uh huh, and how do you think it will feel when you are named this year’s World Champion?”

“Ummm, really good, exciting, and scary?”

“Finish your lunch man, we have a lot more work to do.”