Poker Articles

Hello everyone! My name is Joseph Ward. I'm 22 years of age and reside in Revere, MA (5 minutes from Boston). It is with great pleasure and pride that I can share with you some of my personal poker experiences. The goal of my blog is to entertain and enhance the skills of my readers. But enough about you, lets talk about ME! As of now, I’m a professional poker player. I started playing poker when I was 12 (I guess that makes me a degenerate). I played mostly 7-card stud and draw poker. Texas Holdem would come along around when I reached the tender age of 17. 5 weeks after I turned 21, I went to Foxwoods and entered my first tournament. I won it, and received 3 grand for first place. I was on top of the world, and the feeling has yet to leave me. Within my upcoming blogs I'm sure you will learn more about me, but for now I'd like to discuss my most recent Foxwoods trip, which was last Tuesday.

I decided to take the 1 1/2 hour trip to Foxwoods and enter the weekly no limit hold em tourney. It usually pays out about 20K for first. It is a $150 buy-in with $60 rebuys for the first hour. When I got there, I realized I had 4 hours to kill. I checked into my room and headed straight for the poker room. The lines were long for cash games, so I decided to play in an Act 1 satellite for a seat into the NEPC 5k event at Foxwoods in April. Buy-in was $60, and the top 3 people won a seat into an Act 2, which is valued at $150. When I first sat down, I thought to myself, "Why did I enter this? I’d have been better off putting up the $150 for an Act 2!" Oh well! Without any major confrontations I made it to the final 3, and 5 minutes later I was already entered in an Act 2.

Here is where my day started getting exciting. With 4 people remaining, me and another guy, a foxwoods regular, were on the shortstacks; we each had 1100 with 100-200 blinds when the following hand came up. It was folded around to me in the SB, and I looked down to see J 6 offsuit. YESSSSS! I love these hands. I announce, "I'm all in,” and not even a second later, I hear "I call!" SH-T! Nice hand, sir, you caught me. To my amazement he flipped over K7. I stare in amazement and say, "K 7?" He responds with "J 6?" "Well ahemm, I pushed in sir." As I say that, the flop comes down, and its a very nice flop for him: K 7 4. The turn is an 8. He’s clapping and hooting and laughing, but I know I’m still alive. He obviously doesnt. The river is a 5, and I stay seated and say "straight!" In utter disbelief, he stares at the board. He then gets up and procedes to kick over a chair. On and on he goes about what a bad beat he took. I laugh and tell him that's what he gets for playing K 7. The funniest part of all is that if it’s not suited, he doesnt play. Some players will never learn.

It's tourney time now, and I build a nice stack early. I take a rebuy in the beginning, and then I triple up when I’m all in on a 84J flop with the Q10. A 9 came on the turn, and I raked in the pot. For a while, I have nothing playable, and then this hand comes up. I look down at AQ in second position. The blinds are 150-300, and I have 3k in chips. UTG limps, and I raise to 900. Everyone folds and UTG calls. The flop is Q J 5, and he moves all in. I quickly call, and he turns over the K5! If I can just dodge this moronic move by him, I double up, but unfortunately, I do not. An ugly 5 on the turn sends me to the rail. If this was online, I would berate my opponent until I felt satisfied. In person? It's NH sir, shake of the hand, and I’m out.

The lines for the cash games aren’t so long anymore, so I sit down in the 5-5 NL game. I really like this game because it has no maximum buy-in. With small blinds and no max, it creates a fun game. I buy in for $1k, which is slightly below average. I look over the table, and it immediately seems like it could be an easy game.

I scoop some small pots and build my stack up to about $1200 when the following hand happens. I have 44 in mid position and call. The next guy raises to $60! I know he has a big pair at this point. Surprisingly 2 others and myself see the flop. I am calling here to hit a 4, because I think I can bust him if I do. I miss the flop, I am done with the hand. The flop comes a very lovely 4 6 10 rainbow. Now most people would check in this situation, being first to act. I love to lead out in these situations, because if I check-raise, all it does is show him I have a monster. By leading out, I disguise my strength and get him to raise to the point where he commits himself. So I bet out $125 into a $240 pot. He thinks and then raises $300 on top of it! It’s folded around to me, where I announce, "all-in!" He calls and shows QQ, and just like that, I have about $2600! The player proceeds to tell me what a bad player I am. Bla, bla, 2 outer, etc. I dont even bother explaining it to him. I shrug and say nothing instead.

Things are going great. Mr. K 5 from the tourney sits down, and I just know I’m going to take him down in a huge pot. He has $600 or so in front of him. 10 hands after he sits, the following hand comes up. I call a small raise in the SB with 68. 3 players see a flop of 7 10 2. I lead out for $20 and am called by Mr. K 5. The turn card is a 9, and I bet $60. He raises me to $200, and I push all in. He calls quickly and shows 7 9 for 2 pair. Dodge this, dodge this! The river is a blank, and revenge is sweet. 1 hour later, I call it a night, up $2400 overall: +$2220 from cash game, -$210 for tourney, and +$450 for Act 3 seat.

I hope you enjoyed my first blog; there are many more to come!

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.