Practicing What You Preach

In the past, I have participated in a forum for Poker discussion. Poker forums can be a lot of fun, or be a chore. In general, this forum has been terriffic. My play has improved dramatically just by playing some really terriffic online poker players. There have been 4 seasons of team poker at this forum. I have participated in all of them, starting out as a whiny newcomer and then getting to know a whole lot of very good people, and less than a handful of complete idiots. That's a pretty good ratio for poker forums. Last night was the final event of a 9 week event where NLHE, Razz, Limit O8, Limit Stud8, LHE, HORSE, PLO, Limit Stud, and in the final week, NLHE again. This was team poker, with an emphasis on individual play. No softplay, chip dumping, etc.. was allowed and this was enforced by a "Commissioner" who did a fantastic job. My team won this event. My Captain did a beatiful job and was responsible for selecting players via an online draft in a drunken stupor. Her philosophy for the team, "I picked players that I wanted to play with because they were fun, and good." In last nights final event, I was delayed by about a half an hour. I was blinding off, although players from all teams were not randomly stealing my blinds. That was class. When I arrived, I had lost about 270 of my 1500 starting chips to the blinds, so while several quality players had busted, including half of our team, I knew that I had to practice what I have preached. Here are a couple of key hands for me (summarized because I do not have the hand history) Key Hand 1: In position, I am dealt KQs, I raise 2 times the BB from the middle. The player seated to my left raises the pot, all others fold to me and I call. The flop hits KJJ, and I put all of my chips in. The player to my left thinks for awhile and decides to fold. A bit later he said, I folded my Aces there, you shouldn't have called my raise with that QJs. Because I was short stacked and I know forumers to be tight players, I felt that only 2 hands could beat me. If I represented the set, and placed all of my chips in, and won with the hand, the player to my left would have been crippled having fewer than 5M to go. (Read Harrington II) That was obviously a key, because I semi-bluffed him off of his hand. Hand 2: A very aggressive big money player is seated to my right. This person played in the 2005 WSOP and won MONEY. He is a very loose, calculated player who plays post flop hands extremely well. He has zero fear and will go all in every hand if he thinks the table is too tight. I watched him do this and get fold after fold until he was back in the chip lead. Anyway, aggressive, controlled maniac that makes money. I am dealt KK, and the aggressive player to my left is BB. I limp into the pot from 1st position with my KK. I am going to gamble here and I want action and the assumption that I have a drawing hand. It folds around to the BB, who raises 3 times the BB. I call. The flop hits 39K. Check to me, and I bet the minimum (a probe). The controlled maniac hates probe bets and minimum bets...pull that shit and he wants you all in...(notes are good to have, but I have played with and watched this player many, many times). "Controlled Maniac" bets the pot over the top of me, and I push all of my chips in quickly. (Online, this can be a tell for a drawing hand, even though this is not a drawing flop). Cards come up and I have my set of Kings to his pair of 3s. The turn card hits and CM is drawing dead. Hand 3: I have now built a better than average stack and I have 4 people on the same team sitting to my left in order. One of these people is a very solid player who will push his high drawing hands hard hard hard to induce folds. He overplays his AKs, AKo and AQs all the time. Of course he is dangerous as he plays his pockets the same way. I am dealt J10s. I limp. I was second to act and this quality player moves in with a pot sized bet. His typical move for a group 1 starter. All fold, and I call. The flop hits J94. I check to trap. Solid player moves all in. I think about this player for a moment and realize that if I call, I will likely blind off in the next round so a call is dangerous for me. However, if I call him, I will put one of the best players out of the event. I take most of my time and decide that because I have seen him overplay his AKs, AKo and AQs many times in the past, I am going to call. Of course all of these hands give him good outs, but based on my past knowledge of this player, I call. He turns up AKo. The turn brings a 10 and now he has a lot more outs, but thankfully the river is no help and he is out. This hand illustrates the danger of overplaying AKs. Hand 4: Tables have rebalanced and Contolled Maniac is now on my left. I have a very good stack, but CM has a dominant chip lead and is pushing the table around a bit. I am in the SB and I am dealt AKs. Everone folds around to me. I CALL. The flop hits K82 rainbow. I CHECK. CM bets the pot which is a good size as the blinds are now high. I hesitate a bit and then move over the top of him all in. Only 2 hands have me beat, pocket 8s and pocket 2s. I don't think he is on these as he would have raised from the BB, at least with pocket 8s. The hand turns up and CM has K9o, I have the better hand and it holds. CM now has the short stack and I take the chip lead, making the final table. That is the value of playing AK properly. It becomes a monster hand when it hits and provides great value. Any raise from the BB and I would have likely induced a fold or an all in from the CM that may have induced me to fold my AK pre flop. I finished 6th in this torunament, and my team finished 1, 2 and 3 to go on and win the 9 week event. Great event and I may return next season.