Friday, December 31, 2010

Game Selection

Pretty simply, game selection is a process wherein players choose the right poker games that will best suit their skills and styles of play to win as much money as possible. But we'll get to that later...

Yesterday I woke up around 3am, ahhh the effects of working graveyard too many days in a row. After screwing around on the internet for too long, watching Inception for the first time since theatres, getting a haircut, and then grabbing a nap (well, super power nap), I awoke at 10pm and wondered where the hell the day went.

Yikes, I wanted to play cards today! Oh well, off to Capitol. I arrived at about 11pm and was third up on the 4/8 list and like 8th on the 6/12. Wow, and I thought the place might be dead! I got my 4/8 seat relatively quickly, and was ready to camp out for awhile as it didn't seem like 6/12's list was moving at all.

My first impression of the 4/8 table was that it was amazing. Just amazing. I counted a couple maniacs, one tightish player, and the rest were LPPs. Six way flops were definitely the norm for this table, even after I would raise from early position.

I raised a few times pre-flop with five callers and couldn't hit a good flop. 77 met a flop of with broadway cards and a donk bet into me, QQ had a flop of AKx with another donk bet into me, and a black AK met a flop of 987 two diamonds multiway. I was check/folding the flops sure, but I was getting a ton of information at showdown for these hands. Hands showing down that had cold called my raises pre-flop were holdings such as A2os, K4os, T3 suited, etc. I mean there was definitely money to be made at this table, the key was going to be hitting a flop and then holding.

The first pot I won came somewhere around my third orbit when I looked down at JT of spades in the BB in a killpot. Limped in four spots, the small blind completed, and I completed. We saw a flop of J43 with one spade. I bet, the button called and then the small blind called. I had been watching these players play, and in reality they could literally have anything. A jack with a higher kicker was definitely possible, but it wasn't probable.

The turn paired the three and put a rainbow out there, no flush draws present. Someone could definitely be holding a three, but the small blind checked and I fired $16 into the pot of about $68 (72 minus the $4 rake) and was called again in two spots.

The river paired the four, making the board J4343. Small blind checked again, and hey, whaddya know, I fired $16 more into the pot. The button folded, and small blind looked me up with J6os. My ten kicker played and I scooped in a sizeable pot. Very next hand I was dealt 87 of clubs in the small blind. Limped in four spots or so, I completed, and the flop came out AQT all clubs. I bet and was called by a few players. The turn was a non club jack, I bet and only got one caller this time. The river was a red seven, I bet and was called by a man who showed the king of clubs and nothing else. My flush was good. Just like that, I flipped around from down a couple stacks to a comfortable profit.

Things went dead again for awhile, so I just hung back and watched the table. Eventually my name was called for 6/12, but I had been scoping out the game in between the 4/8 hands. I noticed a couple regs who were somewhat tight and a prop named Sing who plays pretty well. There were definitely a few players over there that I could exploit, but my 4/8 table was definitely way too awesome to leave. Everyone had healthy chipstacks, everyone was gambling, leaving the table definitely would have been a mistake. Sure, $2 chips are sexy, but I felt like there was more money to be made at 4/8. Had the 6/12 game been a 9/18 game...well then maybe we'd have a coinflip.

After asking to be rolled (put to the back of the list) for 6/12, I was dealt AK UTG+1. UTG called, I raised, called by seat one, seat two three bet, folded around to the blinds who both called, UTG called, I capped, everyone else called. Six ways to a flop of A23 with two clubs. I had the king of clubs in my hand and the ace on the board was also a club. Checked to me and I bet, called by seat one, seat two raised, called by a couple of players, I three bet, called by seat one, called by seat two, called by the other players.

Wow, such sick action, and to be honest I'm not entirely sure how good my hand is. I mean, a lot of 4/8 players are passive calling stations, so A2 or A3 definitely isn't out of the question. The turn was actually a bad card, as it brought out a ten of spades. Checked to me, I bet, and luckily only got three callers...no raising.

The river was a seven, making the board A23T7. Well, I'm sure if someone had 54 I would have known by now, same for most players with a set. My only real worry at the time was maybe someone had two pair of some sort. Checked to me, I still bet, and only got called by seat two. I showed AK and took down a huge pot with just one pair. Weeeee, who says one pair is no good at 4/8.

Won a couple other decent sized pots later on, but none with as much as action as that last hand. Most were just me betting and getting called down, somewhat typical of a 4/8 game. Bet, call, bet, call. Doesn't bother me one bit. After double mushroom beef with rice and a couple diet cokes, I cashed out $280 more than I came with. Thanks for reading, have a happy new year!

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