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When I first started playing Texas Holdem I was a very loose, hyper aggressive, 'maniac.'  If I was in a hand I had the Nuts or Nothing and everyone knew it. I bluffed more than anyone else and made big plays.  The first year we played I was first out just as many times as I won and when I finally won the 2008 Championship, the trophy said, "IF YOU AIN'T FIRST, YOU'RE LAST," appropriately borrowed from the comedy film, Talladega Nights. 
 
What has changed over the last few years is the fact that I'm winning more, bluffing less, and playing far fewer hands.  You could say I've evolved into a hyper-aggressive 'rock.'  What hasn't changed is my image.  Everyone thinks I'm still bluffing half of the time and I get lots of calls!

...And this leads us to Friday Night.  First hand we have Terry's QQ locking horns with Bernie's AK- Terry's queens taking damn near half of Bernie's chips. Second hand in I'm holding K9 suited and I think I can bully Bernie's big blind after he took a beating.  The flop comes Kd, 3d, 6c- I've top pair so I bet it a couple hundred and get a call.  The turn is a 9h, now I'm top two, so I bet 500 to a call.  The river is a damn diamond- which I check to Bernies all-in..... I throw top-two away, face-up as Bernie advertises his one diamond.  Okay, I'm thinking, if that's how it's gonna be!  Next hand I Flop a set of 9's with three spades on the board. I bet'em pretty big, get a call and the turn is a dang spade.  I fold to the all-in bet from Donny T-Bone the Ante Sherrif, as he advertises his spade flush.........wow, really?

Short-stacked with an attitude, I tighten up a bit, then get AK, suited and check it early, waiting for the raise-  yep, the big blind min-raises.  I'm all-in before he gets it out of his mouth as everyone folds.  I advertise my hand and say, "All night."  Long story short, that's exactly what I did, tightened up and played aggressive with premium hands and won the first tourney.

Second game in, fourth hand:  Terry's up to his early tricks, raising big with garbage, and I re-raise him to thirteen all-day with pocket Aces.  Kevin, re-raises me all-in after a moment of thought.  I call knowing it's my Aces against his Kings.  I was right- but the door card's a King and I'm sitting with my ass kicked up around my shoulders.  That, Sir, is poker!  We finish the game with me dealing, trying to nudge the everyone along, as I cannot stand watching the sub-glacial speed of the game.

The third game goes pretty much the same, me playing tight, trying to be smart, and slowly gaining on the chip count.  Kevin & I are heads-up at the finale.  Our first few hands are quiet- call, min-bet, fold.  Walk. Min-raise, fold, etc. After A good fiftenn minutes, I draw 4s6s and Kevin calls the small blind.  I check and the flop is 3s7sAc and Kevin goes all-in. I figure what the hell, Spades, gutshot straight, and straight flush against an Ace...  I call and turn the stinkin' 5s & make the straight flush.  I had him covered and the games over.  Amazing.

First, Last, First.  That's poker all right.

The 2009 League Championship battle is getting tighter each week and every hand counts.  I'm around fifty points behind league leader & former champion, Denny (The Young Mountain Boy).  I must win at least a few, place in a few, and block Denny from scoring points to pull out a last minute come-from-behind victory.  It may seem improbable, but it's not impossible!

My hands are substandard as we start and I decide to sit back & watch.  The betting is wild and crazy, as oversize bets, raises, and re-raises begin almost immediately.  Donny T-Bone is starting early on his all-ins before the first blind increase.  I think it's NOT my night, as I usually try to take control of the table early- not tonight.

We've a couple of new players and Denny is relieving the New Lady of her chips like she's his own personal ATM.  I raise KQ suited and expect everyone but the Lady to fold.  My prediction is accurate and we see a flop that gives me top two!  I'm thinking it's my turn as she insta-calls my potsize bet.  I think she's a small pair, or maybe AK or AQ and behind.  The turn is a blank, and I bet another 500.  She calls again without thinking, and I'm still happy- no straight or flush draw.  The river's a 5 and I bet another 500. She takes a moment to think, throws her pocket fives over as she calls.  The only thing I'm happy about is that she did not raise.  Once again, I'm short-stack early.

After the blinds go up, I start to get aggressive,  it's NOT gonna pay off to sit back and wait.  My stack is just big enough to make the other players pause, I can wait no longer.  I choose to ship it all with A4 suited, and take my chances.  I get a call and double up after I pair both my cards on the turn.  Well, I guess that was lucky, though my Ace was good the whole way.

Half an hour later I'm dealt AQ suited and raise 500.  Denny pounces all-in with an instant thousand fifty more all-in.  I'm thinking that was a rather overtly aggressive act.  I felt he was reading me as weak, and read him as weak right back.  I had him covered by a few hundred.  I call him after only a moments thought and his KQ suited loses as my hand flops a full house.  Taking Denny out is five extra points bounty, as he won last week. 

My chipstack is now a good bit above average as we're down to five players.  My next move is so stupid, I'm embarrassed to even write about it.  I stone-cold bluff my way into a major loss, to T-Bone the calling machine who hits an ace on the river and bets All-in.  I don't know why I'm amazed he can call the whole way with a straight and a flush draw on the board.  I keep thinking that I can outplay this guy, as he hands me my ass hand after hand.

I'm short-stacked again and now it's back to waiting for the right move.  Half an hour later the blinds are now four & eight hundred and I'm desperate with a mere 2800 chips.  The next hand is critical and I need to take down a pot.  I wake up with pocket tens and immediately move all-in.  Hoping for few callers, the blinds both fold.  One caller- you guessed it, Donny T-Bone, who was born with an Ace up his butt.  His call makes the others fold, which I am pleased to see.  Even more pleasant is the baffling K3 he throws down.  My tens hold and I'm back, but still not comfortable.

I decide to tighten up and let the other guys beat up on each other and I was right. Within a matter of fifteen minutes, we go from five to three players.  Don's aggressive play is confusing everyone and it seems that no matter what, he's got an Ace.  I hit pocket Kings when Terry, short-stacked, is forced into a Big Blind raise that is auto-call for me. His 78 connectors fall to a set of Kings, and it's Don & me heads-up.  He's got me four to one on chips! 

I'm certain I can outplay him as long as I don't get impatient.  We're back and forth a few hands, split a few hands and everything seems like they're going fine. I win quite a few hands and now we're getting close to even on chips.  Blinds increase to 500/1000 as I take three hands from him one after another along with the chip lead. Don's getting short with me now, throwing cards and shoving chips at me.  He goes all-in a couple of times pre-flop and I fold.  

I deal and find I'm sitting with a crappy 85 offsuit.  I think it's time to change gears so I call.  Don checks his hand so we get to see a flop!  Flop is 38K.  I've middle pair and no flush draw, Don minbets to see where he's at.  I flat call.  The turn is another 3.  I decide that I'm ahead and minbet after he checks, hoping he just folds and that's that.  Don flat calls.  The river card is another 3, which makes me 3's full of eights.   Don checks so I throw in what I think is a value bet of about a quarter of the pot.  Don pushes everything immediately, like he's been working the trap the whole time.  

I'm replaying the hand in my head- he must've had AK the whole time and now I'm gonna have to fold.  I am thinking about all those moves he made... AK, AQ, all-in;  JJ, all-in;  TT, all-in.  Not once did he want to see a board.  I'm convinced he's got me, but there's all those all-in bets pre-flop that're SCREAMING at me...
 
He's either bluffing, or he's a smaller full house!  He would've raised if he thought he was ahead at ANY time during the hand.  If he flopped a pair of Kings, he would've been all-in, so I'm conviced him having 3's full of Kings is also not probable.  I'm certain, especially heads-up, he would've been all-in with 9933 as well....

I call.  The place goes wild- half the crowd is yelling NO! He's got the KINGS, and the other Half is yelling Yes, He's Bluffing...... Don throws down his cards and yells Full House!!!  I see immediately he's got wired 6's and I'm on my feet.  I watched him play that all-in crap all night-  I read it right and my 3's full of 8's win!  

The funny thing is that I had to force myself to call.  I value a great fold so highly, and almost convinced myself that- had I folded, it would've been the play of the night.  Don's betting was simply uniform the whole night.    
     

Well, I wasn't first and the only thing worse than last is where I ended up- 'bubble boy'.  Losing with pocket Aces is bad enough, but it made my main opponent, Denny, eligible for league points.

I've taken to betting pretty hard when I get wired Aces lately so I thought I'd change gears this time and smooth call.  Big mistake!  Denny hits top pair, Queens, and bet's half his chips,  I'm certain I've got him beat so I go all-in, applying pressure, thinking that if he's top pair top kicker, not caring if he calls, either way I've got him.  Well, he calls and shows Q9.  I'm feeling great, as the harmless turn falls, and then, much to my chagrin, a 9 ends my game!

I think I played it correctly, except, it wasn't "tourney" poker as there was no real need to put it all on the line, knowing that I could be outdrawn or, for that matter, behind a set and drawing thin!

What'dya do with pocket Aces? Raise 'em preflop and that's that!


 

Wednesday Night I thought I was stuck in the Beastie Boys Sabatage video!  You know, the whole 'Bad Cop, Bad Cop' routine.  I played each hand like normal, raising when I'm good, rarely smooth calling, and always second or even third best.  Lots of folding after getting raised and re-raised.  Standard tourney play wasn't gonna cut it.  I got roughed up and thrown from a speeding squad car.  Normally I talk you through a hand I consider the turning point or critical hand.  I must admit, there was no hand that was any better or worse than the others, I simply played a part in a '70's Mod Squad-type cop drama called SABATAGE and I was the guy outlined in chalk!

'How 'bout the cash game,'  You ask?  I was literally unstoppable..... No matter the game, I had the nuts.  Interestingly enough, my opponents were getting second and third nut and calling every darn bet, raise, re-raise & side bet...... 

I think I folded three hands the entire game.  I lost five hands in four hours- quintupled my buy-in and actually felt bad......  that the bartender kicked us out while I was tearing ass.   Man, do I love poker.   

 

Iowa County Poker Club players had a Freaky Halloween, taking the number 1 & 3 spots, and the top three spots in the CashGame.  Denny Takes the Hatbrat.com Shirt Certificate, Winning in goulish fashion, like he was carving his way through a field of pumpkins.  And Bobby takes third like stealing a sack of candy from a toddler dressed up like a ladybug- Bully!

The big hand goes a little something like this:  I'm under the gun, double the 600 big to 1200. Fold around to Denny who calls, then a splashbet re-raise.  Sloppy gets his hand slapped as the pot is made right, the raise is 1200 more.  I have to fold, having only 88 and looking at a call and re-raise, I know it's not my hand.  Denny's the only caller, so it's heads-up.  A brickfest flops, a potsize bet is made and called. A Queen turns and Denny checkraises Sloppy's half-pot wager.  Sloppy complains that Denny hit his Q as he calls.  The river is a no-helper and Denny goes all-in.  Sloppy cannot help himself and calls to Denny's Trip Q's.  The guy turns over K's after knowing he was beat.

This is a phenomenon I've noticed lately, similar to players reaching into the muck to show how their hand woulda won, (Yes, I admit I've done it....too!) this is even more vile---- a player calling with a known loser so he can show the rest of the table how he got the beatdown.  It's a move made by a player who thinks they deserve more respect, and it's always a loser.  Sloppy lost 3/4 of his chipstack to make the point, that he was beat AFTER the flop.  Well, players, the game isn't Golf, and there AIN'T NO MULLIGANS.   

The cash game was a quarter-dollar ante, three-raise cap, and the buy-ins were relatively small for this crowd.  We usually play nickle, dime, quarter, and dollars where these guys play 1,2,10, no limit!  I set up the game with my chips, and start setting the game, trying to influence the bet size, and happily, nobody pitches a bitch!  I limit the game to a manageable size and we then consider the games.  After a bit we decide on a round of Omaha- hi; Omaha hi-lo, 8 or better; & Texas Holdem with only one guy asking how to play the hi lo.  

I win the first hand of Omaha with a flopped nut straight that coulda been flushed.  The second hand  is similar but with a smaller pot.  It's my deal and I hit again for the third time in a row and they're already grumbling.  I take a few hands off, until we start the hi-lo, and win a three quarter pot with the nutlow and a nutstraight to the 7.  The betting went to the limits and I knew I was in with a guy with nut lo who didn't believe me.  No flush and no pair told me I either split, get 3/4, or the whole pot, a nice little freeroll and I decided to go limit to put the guy off his game.  It worked and all he had was the nut lo.  After the pot's split he's muttering nut lo, nut lo and shaking his head.

After an hour or so of play, my stack has increased by more than ten-fold and the bartender's giving us the last-call speech.  We beg for twice around and we get the nod.  I feel like I'd better watch out, 'cuz this is where it gets dangerous- players trying to get their losses back.

I sit out of a few hands of 'hi only' with unsuited &/or unconnected cards and find out I was right- the bids are getting crazy.  Last hand of the night is a hi-lo and I've got an Ace 2 3 5 double suited and bet big pre-flop, to the one guy I wanted to see fold.  He raises and I smooth call, hoping he's going low too, and is drawing.  The flop is 2,3,K, rainbow and I need a 4 to hit the nut lo...possibly taking it all with the straight.  The guy bets and I call.  The turn is an 8, which makes the lo hand qualify.  He CHECKS!!!  His only opportunity to bet me out of the hand and i'm CERTAIN he's made a low sitting better than my counterfeit (A2358).  I need a 4 to hit the nut, thinking his (A2348) has me beat and he didn't make me call a monster!  The 4 hits! It's a win, split again, or I got him at the 3/4 1/4! He bets, I max raise and he calls.... his A2346 is no good and the pots mine.... He's bitching, "You called all the way with that crap?"  I pointed at my hand, raked the chips, "All the way? You gave me a FREE CARD on the turn."

He pointed out his own mistake.  Aggression pays!