Poker Articles

Have you ever felt on top of the poker world?  Ever had that same feeling stripped away from you not even 5 minutes later?  This past week has been an absolute roller coaster ride for me--I don't think I've ever come across so many highs and lows in my life. 

As I spoke of in my last entry, I went down to Foxwoods last Tuesday night.  I decided I'd make the trip again this past Tuesday, and on my way up, I called to schedule an interview for the Yankee - Red Sox fans poker showdown.  I was so confident I was going to get invited to play (for the Red Sox side of course), but I found out, unfortunately, that the last day to interview was that day.  Halfway through Rhode Island and with 2 friends, I just couldn't go.  I decided there would be other opportunities, and I turned my focus to the upcoming tournament. 

I arrived at 4:00 PM, and I wasn't really in a poker mood yet, so I decided to play some blackjack.  Bad decision--I dropped $1K in a matter of 20 minutes.  It was tournament time, and I still just didn't feel like playing.  So what did I decide to do?  Not play in the tourney at all?  Play and lose the original buy-in and then quit?  Those might have been good decisions, in retrospect, as what I ended up managing to do was to rebuy 6 times at 60 bucks a pop.  I played awful, and at the time, I just didn't care.  I dont have any details other than the fact that I was busted on a hand where I attempted to bluff with AQ on a 2 2 7 8 9 board when my opponent had 10 10.  I couldn't tell you what was going through this small brain of mine.  I think I just didn't care about winning on that day.  On a nice note, at least, my friend went on to take fourth place for $4500.  After losing some cash in 20-40, I managed to drop $1900 overall.  There will be no Foxwoods trip this upcoming Tuesday.

One thing I usually rely on when I'm struggling is my heads-up play on Ultimate Bet.  This is the best way to make money, in my opinion, because all I have to do is beat one opponent.  So I hit up the sit-n-go's and totally dominated.  When I say dominated, I mean that I actually won SIXTEEN matches in a row, included 14 $200's, 2 $50's and 1 $100.  Mixed in between those, I had some good results in a few 6 man sit-n-gos.  Last but not least, I managed to take out Denny Lemieux in the final 2 of a full table $100 sit-n-go.  I guess I should mention that we actually made a deal before I sucked out on him and won, so playing out the heads up was actually just for fun.  So here I was, up $5000 in less than 3 days.  I had erased that awful Foxwoods day from my memory and was feeling fresh.  I was invincible, and nothing could go wrong.

Sometimes, I get away from the sit-n-go scene and play the 5/10 NL cash game on UB.  I usually play a total of five hours in a week there, and I try to stick to times when the game is shorthanded.  I found a 3 handed game there, and it was an aggressive battle going back and forth.  I was showing down many bluffs, but I was also showing down legitimate hands.  My $1k buy-in was down to $800 or so when the following devastating hand came up. 

I was in the BB with JJ, and there was a raise under the gun up to $35.  I re-raised to $140 and got called.  The flop came 9 J Q.  I loved my hand.  I hammered it with a pot sized bet, fully expecting a fold.  What I got was a call.  I decided he must have AQ or AJ, but wouldn't he have pushed in with AQ?  I only had $350 or so remaining in front of me, and when the turn came an A, I moved in.  He called quickly, and at that point I knew what he had.  He had put in $140 pre-flop with 10 K, and he had flopped the nuts.  Begging the board to pair didnt help me, as an innocent 7 fell. 

I wanted to snap--imagine that!  There I was, having a great weak, and then I lost one pot and I hated the game.  I realized life could be a lot worse, and I just went ahead and moved on.

I haven't been playing many multi-table tournies online recently, because I have had a hard time focusing on them, which usually means no money for me.  With all the big guns down in Tunica, I decided I'd play in the KrazyKanuck special $500 buy in on UB.  I was playing a great tournament, and my stack had increased to 8500 chips off the initial 2500 I received, when I was once again hit directly in the stomach. 

There were 5 limpers with the blinds at 100-200.  I was in the SB with 4 8 off, and I completed the blind.  I know some may disagree with this, but I was getting good money to see the flop with any two cards in that situation.  I was extremely happy when the flop came 2 4 8.  I led out for a nice 500 chip bet.  The guy on the BB called, and then the second limper moved all in for 3k more.  I re-raised all in and the BB folded.  The limper showed his (then) cracked AA.  An insignificant 7 came on turn, but the river was an ace.  The wind has been knocked out of me--I shouldn't have even been in this hand.  All he had to do was raise before the flop, and he wouldn't have needed to get so lucky to beat me. 

Just as a side note, I don't really see why everyone wants to get cute with AA these days.  I couldn't understand how this guy could possibly limp with AA behind another limper, and I went off the edge when someone commented to him, "nh."  I fully expected him to say, "just got lucky there," but he simply responded, "ty."  Yes sir, you played that hand to perfection.  Ten minutes later, I got all my money in with 33 vs AJ.  A jack on flop put me out in 28th place.  I was a little depressed about that, but later that night, I found some sucker who lost 8 out of 10 times to me in $200 HU matches, and I felt a little better.

Monday afternoon was time to win some more cash--or not.  A few bad beats in heads-up matches sent me on tilt again.  I really am psycho.  I have to learn to control myself or quit the game--it's that simple.  At least the player realized he got lucky and went on to call me a good player.  My ego enjoyed that comment, even though my bankroll still suffered from the beat.  At 9:30 PM, I entered the $300 satellite for the LA Poker Classic.  Not much to tell about that, except that I finished 40th or so out of 71.  I ended up all in with a below average stack of 1700 with QQ.  I was called by AK, and my opponent won the race.  Had I won that pot, I'd have been in pretty good shape, but that's just the way it goes.  As I'm currently writing this, Jsup is still alive with 10 people left.  Hopefully he can pull out a victory for team PocketFives.com.  That's all from me, take care.


Joseph Ward (A.K.A. LatestLines2) is a 22 year old professional poker player, living in Revere, MA. You can watch him play on PartyPoker as tknight31, on PokerStars as JoeWard, and on UltimateBet as LatestLines2.