Now That is Poker for You!

As promised I wanted to talk about the different hands that I Saturday to explain how I lost $150 in 3 hours.  


Hand #1:  
I was dealt KK UTG (Under the Gun) and I called the $2 with the intention of limp raising all in if someone raised behind me.  Luckily a player in MP (Middle Position)  decided to raise to $12 when the action got around to me I shoved all my chips into the pot...$50.  The player thought for a little while and decided to call with KQ.  I was SO HAPPY because he had an 8% chance to win so I was like CHA-CHING!!!  The flop came:


Q92 rainbow (a flop with 3 different suits)


The turn:


Q
After this card I was like WTF...now I am praying for the only King left in the deck which left me with a 2% chance to win the hand...REASON for the prayer.


Well the "poker gods" did not answer and the river came:


J


After this I reached into my pocket for another $50 and proceeded to execute my plan of getting even then into the Green...


Hand #2:
I got 78o (off-suit) and decided to limp for $2.  At this point in the session I slowly got my money back through a few bluffs so I had about $100.  The flop came:


JT9


So I flopped the straight...but we like to call this the "dummy" straight because I have the low end...if someone had KQ they would have me CRUSHED...but because no one raised before the flop I did not put anyone on the higher straight because KQ is a really good starting hand. I decided to bet $10 and I got one caller.  I thought he could have two pair, a Q, or an 8 hoping for the straight to come, or a flush draw.   The Turn came:

4


So the flush got there...I decided to keep the pot small and bet $15.  He just called my bet.  So I did not put him on the flush because I expected a raise.  The River came a blank (a card that did not change anything).  I decided to bet again and bet $15 and he decided to raise...to $50 and I called...long story short, I was busted again.  And that sucked because RARELY do I have to reach into my pocket 3 times in a session...but when I do I generally will leave if I start to get mad.


At this point in the session I I decided to take a break because I felt TILT fast approaching.  TILT is the poker word for being extremely pissed and about to start doing dumb things with your money...so it was time to take a break.  I went to my favorite TILT spot in the casino...the stage where they start to perform after 7:00pm.  I got to my spot and started watching the singers perform various songs...then they decided to sing Boom Boom Boom by the Black Eyed Peas.  To my surprise a lady who could have been my mother decided to start dancing in the front row...and DROPPED IT LIKE IT WAS HOT...I DIED laughing and let's just say TILT was no longer an issue after about 3 straight minutes of tear jerking fun.  Anyway back to poker...


Hand #3:
I bought in for another $50 dollars and as soon as I got back I got TT in the big blind.  A guy raised in MP to $12 and one guy called behind him.  The action got to me and I shoved all in again because there is a 80% chance I will win about a $30 pot uncontested.  So the initial raiser thought for a long time and decided to call me with AQ.  Needless to say the board ran out A24J6 and I lost my 3rd $50 of the session.  I had another $50 in my pocket, pulled it out, sat it on the table and at that point instantly decided to go home have a beer and spend time with my beautiful and very pregnant wife:)  That was the session.  The moral of the story is you can put your money in with WAY the best hand every time but that doesn't matter much until all the cards fall.  The cards fell every time and majority of the time I put my money in good...today I lost.  Now that is POKER FOR YOU!

Are you wondering where I am at? God I love technology...

OK so I have been searching for a way to make this posting a lot easier and look better...let's just say I am very resourceful!  From this point forward I will have up actual card symbols to put together hand history and explain to the world what happened...yes I am a bit of a nerd who can figure out how to get this stuff up...but anyway I will be posting my hand history tomorrow evening and below is a snapshot of what the Information will look like:)  So somewhat of a meaningless post poker journey wise...but this is also my blog so this blog has it's own journey too...so deal with it!  God I love technology...


B: $69.98
BB: $73.00
UTG: $32.83
MP: $23.63
Hero (CO): $55.13
BTN: $29.57

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is CO with Q  K 
1 fold, MP calls $0.50, Hero raises to $2, 2 folds, BB calls $1.50, MP calls $1.50

Flop: ($6.25) 6  Q  9  (3 players)
BB checks, MP checks, Hero bets $5.00, BB folds, MP calls $5

Turn: ($16.25) K  (2 players)
MP checks, Hero bets $10.50, MP raises to $16.63, Hero calls $6.13


Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is UTG with A  A 
Hero raises to $2, 1 fold, BTN calls $2, 1 fold, BB calls $1.50

Flop: ($6.25) T  9  7  (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $3.00, BTN folds, BB calls $3

3 Hands and 3 Hours Later...-$150

3 Hands and 3 Hours Later...-$150

I am going to post the videos right now for the beginning and end of my session today.  I will blog about the 3 hands I lost that brought me into the red for this experiment sometime tomorrow...Gary is mad right now and wants a beer, so I said he can have one:)  BTW...remind me not to introduce myself in EVERY video...LOL such a nube!

Can you really make money gambling at a poker table?

I went to pick my wedding album from my lazy photographer...we got married July 26 2009, and I got it September 22, 2010...you know what scratch lazy he is a bum.  But any way during the pick up he asked me how has poker been treating me.  I told him I consistently win, I don't win 100% of the time but about 75% and my wins out weigh my loses.  He goes on to convince me that gambling is bad and he lost a TON of money doing it, and that I should be careful.  The whole time Gary was thinking SHUT UP...YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!

You see when I say poker people take that in SO MANY ways.  You have poker in multiple forms in the casino, from video poker, to 3 card poker, to Ultimate Hold'em Poker, etc.  The types mentioned so far are types of poker I do NOT play because you are playing against the house...and if you didn't know already the house always wins because the odds are stacked against you.  However in No Limit Texas Hold'em you get to play against other players.  Now the house gets paid too, but only through what is called the rake.  The rake is what they take out of the pot that the players make betting versus one another.  The maximum rake in a card room is usually 10% up to $6 MAX.  So if there is a $400 dollar pot the house takes $6 out of the pot.  That is how they make their money.  Players make their money by beating their opponents at the table.  I make my money by CRUSHING my opponents.  I crush them with the best hand, I bluff them with the worse hand, and get into their minds and make them react the way I want them to based on the situation.  This doesn't always work the way I plan, but 75% of the time I go to the casino I WIN!!!  Still don't believe me?  Here is a graph of my online poker winnings...I have not played online consistently for about 6 months so disregard the last part of this graph, but when I played consistently I took $100 and turned it into $2,000 never having to put money on the poker site again.

So the answer to the question is yes you can win consistently playing poker...you will have winning days and losing days, winning streaks and losing streaks...but if you play good consistently over time you will be a consistent winner.

BTW Gary isn't trying to brag or boast or any of that... I am just trying to prove my point that anyone can win money playing poker and everyone is GUARANTEED to lose money playing the slots or any other casino game for that matter.

I WISH EVERY SESSION STARTED & ENDED LIKE THIS VIDEO

I WISH EVERY SESSION STARTED & ENDED LIKE THIS

I HAVE TO GET BETTER AT RECORDING VIDEOS...I JUST LOOK BAD...LOL On to the action!

I finished my first session yesterday and recorded a pre and post game video on my flip which was pretty exciting for me.  I won in my first session only having to buy-in once for $50.  I have to tell you I love it when I don’t have to reach into my pocket for more money…I wish every poker session started and ended like that.  To be a consistent winning poker player the key is patience…although sometimes that is not required especially when one of the first hands you are dealt is AKo (Ace King off-suit) UTG (Under the Gun).

Hand #1:  So I was dealt AKo and was the first person to act, so I could raise, call, or fold…I was thinking HALLELUJAH when I saw this hand and I decided to call the $2 bet because I looked to my left and saw an aggressive maniac who likes to raise alot…so I decided to let him do so.  And let me say he did not disappoint…he ended up raising to $10.  I knew if he raised my plan was to shove all in when the action got to me. There was one person who called his bet (which mean they paid $10 to see the flop).  When the action got to me I pushed all in for $48.  The aggressive maniac called me and the other player folded his hand.  The board came:

QhTh9cQd9c (Queen of hearts, Ten of Hearts, Nine of Clubs, Queen of Diamonds, Nine of Clubs) 

I saw this board and simultaneously started to reach in my pocket for more money and turned my hand over.  I HIT NOTHING ON THIS FLOP!!!  I was playing two pair with an Ace Kicker the pair of Queens and the pair of Nines with my Ace…when he turned over a pair of fours (44) I was like my prayers have been answered!!!  He was playing the same two pair I was with a 4 kicker… which was WAY LOWER than my ace.  So the morale of this story is I LOVE IT WHEN I SUCK OUT ON MY OPPONENTS to win the pot.  This hand allowed me to double up and get things started on a positive note.

Hand # 2:  The next hand that I played that was for a decent amount of money was pocket tens (TT).  I raised under the gun (UTG) to $11.  Two people called my raise and the flop came:

QhTh3h (Queen, Ten, Three all hearts)

Now I am thinking this flop is a blessing and a curse…because I have three of a kind (TTT) BUT my opponents could have flopped a flush.  However after seeing both opponents look at their hole cards I did not think they had the flush so I decided to bet $20.  One guy called and the other guy folded.  The turn came:

3d (Three of diamonds)

At this point I have a full house and want to try and get the remaining $60 from my opponents stack.  So I decide to check because I think he needs another heart to make a flush.  The river comes

8h (Eight of hearts)

So he caught his flush, but my full house has him crushed.  I checked to him shaking my head “acting” like I did not want to see that heart (poker players call this “Hollywooding”)…when really I was like THANK YOU JESUS!!!  I AM GONNA TAKE ALL HIS MONEY…LOL!!!  And he does EXACTLY what I think he is going to do…he shoves all his money in thinking he has the best hand…only to hear me INSTANTLY SAY “I CALL!!!”  I am now sitting with about $200 in front of me and on top of the world.  

Hand #3:  The button(BTN) raised to $7 and I called in the big blind (BB) with 77.  There were 5 other callers that saw the flop.  The flop came:

Qs4c5c (Queen of Spades, Four of Clubs, Five of Clubs)

Everyone checked to the raiser who bet only $20 dollars into a pot of $49.  So I decided to call because the only hands that beat me are a bigger pocket pair and any Qx type hand he might have.  The small bet  that the BTN made lead me to believe he didn’t have much and my plan was to make a move on the turn to take the pot away.  The turn came:

Qd (Queen of diamonds)

The 2^nd Queen on the board made it less likely that he would have a Queen in the hole…so I checked to him with the intention to raise.  He bet $20 and I min-raised to $40, hoping to make him think I had the queen and he would fold.  He didn’t even think long…he insta-called my raise.  So now I am putting him on a flush draw and possibly a very weak Queen like QT, Q9, Q8 that didn’t want to go all in versus a better hand.  The river came:

6c (Six of Clubs)

This card completed any flush draw he might have had and potentially gave  a weak Q6 type hand a full house.  So I check and instantly folded when he bet $50 on the river.  He showed me the  Queen of hearts.  So I lost $62 on that hand…in hindsight I should have made my move on the flop and take the pot away then or just fold.  Waiting until the turn made my bluff more expensive.

Hand #4:  I caught AQo in the hole UTG+2 (Under the Gun +2) so I raised to $15, three people called my raise and the flop came:

882

I completely missed this flop, but I was not mad though  because this is a very good flop for my hand.  So I decided to put out a continuation bet of $30.  I bet and then got raised from a person in late position to $95.  I folded instantly and my opponent showed his 8, which definetly made me feel good about the fold and get a good read on his bet sizing with VERY GOOD HANDS.

Hand #5:  I limped in for $2 in Early Position (EP) with 5c5s.  There were 8 players that called and saw the flop:

KdQd5h (King of diamonds, Queen of diamonds, Five of hearts)

I decided to check with the intention to raise depending on how many people called the bet that I expected to come from someone else in the pot.  Well my plan worked half way…one of my opponents bet $16, but everyone folded.  So I started to put my opponent on a range of hands and I thought he was likely to have a K, Q, and possibly a flush draw.   I thought the King (K) was the most likely holding though because I have not seen him bet his draws or second pair up to this point.  Based on what I thought he had I just called.  The turn came:

8c (Eight of clubs)

I bet $30 dollars into a pot of $45ish and my opponent called, this left me with $34 left and I thought if he called my $30 bet he would call my $34 river bet.  The river came a blank:

2h (Two of hearts)

I shoved my last $34 into the pot and he folded with his cards face up.  He had KJo.  The outcome of this hand was a bitter sweet feeling I was HAPPY I won, but kind of sad he didn’t call my All In (AI) bet on the river.

Hand #6:  In the Big Blind (BB) I was dealt Td9d (T9sd).  The Button (BTN) raised to $10 and I decided to call and so did 3 other people.  So there were 5 people that saw the flop, which made the pot $50.  The flop came:

2d4d5h (Two of diamonds, 4 of diamonds, 5 of hearts)

The two diamonds gave me a flush draw, which is what I was hoping for when I decided to play the T9s.  I chose to go for a check raise in this spot, and to my surprise a player in Early Position decided to bet $15, everyone folded to the Button (BTN) who decided to call.  I then pushed all my money into the pot which was about $107 into a now $80 pot.  Everyone folded and I showed my semi-bluff which won the pot.  That was my final hand of the session and I ended up winning $128 overall.  

Not a bad session overall, I am looking forward to next weekend which should be another winning session and get me closer to my $500 profit goal over the next couple of sessions.  Once I win $500 my plan is to take $200 to the $2-$5 game which has a minimum buy-in of $200 and max buy-in of $500.  Then I will begin to go after my next goal of getting up to $2500 profit at the $2-$5 level.  This post will probably go down as the longest post ever…so next time I will try to pick what I think are the 3 most interesting hands…and give you a breakdown of those and then get into my thoughts about how I felt during the session.  Well that’s all for now…Good luck at the tables! (that is if you play for real moneyJ and if you don’t play for real money…maybe you will start after you see how I do during the next six months…that is at least one of my goals of this blog is to educate new poker players that poker is profitable as long as you are patient and enjoy competition).  Good Night!!!

The Beginning of Gary's Poker Journey Video

The Beginning of Gary's Poker Journey

FYI, throughout this blog…I will refer to myself sometimes in third person hince the title of the blog...I like doing this from time to time, some think it’s funny and others weird…I just think it’s normal.  Thought I just throw that out their...so let us begin…boy was that random?

The following post on Facebook marks the beginning of my journey as a poker player:

“Gonna do something fun and exciting...I am challenging myself big time with a goal I just set. Over the next six months I am going to see what I can turn $200 into at the live poker tables. When everything goes right I will transfer my experience into a blog, with videos & pics to show my progression through the challenge. Should be fun! Any guesses where I will end up in six months starting with $200?” – Posted September 17^th 2010

After this post and after some arm twisting from one of my good friends I have decided to start blogging about the next six months as they happen.  My strategy in this is to buy in for $50 dollars initially so that I have at least 4 shots to get my feet off the ground to begin building my bankroll.  I am going to start playing at a $1-$2 table which is a $50 minimum buy-in and $200 max. 

I want to give you a bit of an overview of how poker works if you already have some knowledge of poker you can skip this paragraph.  In no-limit texas hold’em each player is dealt two hole cards(only you see your two cards).  These two hidden hole cards along with the 5 community cards (everyone sees these) that come during various betting rounds are combined to make the best hand.  The five community cards are dealt in 3 phases: the flop where 3 community cards are dealt, the turn where 1 more community card is dealt, and the river which is the final community card.  There are 4 betting rounds during each hand:  pre-flop, after the flop, after the turn, and after the river. You can win two different ways 1) by betting and making your opponent(s) fold their hand(s), or 2) show the best hand at showdown.  The hand rankings in poker are as follows:

Royal Flush – Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten all of the same suit (AKQJTs)

Straight Flush – ex: Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven all of one suit (34567s)

Four of a Kind – ex: Ten, Ten, Ten, Ten (TTTT) A.K.A Quads

Full House – ex: Ace, Ace, Ace, Ten, Ten (AAATT) A.K.A Boat

Flush – ex: Ace, Ten, Nine, Three, Two all of the same suit (AT932s)

Straight – ex: Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten (6789T)

Three of a Kind – ex: Nine, Nine, Nine (999)

Two Pair – ex: Ace, Ace, King, King (AAKK)

One Pair – ex: Ace, Ace (AA)

High Card – ex: Ace (A)

As I progress through the blog I will be using some shorthand as you see above in parentheses.  Below is a key of some of the acronyms that will be used:

Acronyms to describe cards on the board or in the hole:

A – Ace

K – King

Q – Queen

J - Jack

T - Ten

9 - Nine

8 - Eight

7 - Seven

6 - Six

5 - Five

4 - Four

3 - Three

2 - Two

AKs – Ace King Suited

AKo – Ace King Off Suit

h – Hearts

d - Diamonds

c - Clubs

s - Spades                                                                                                           

Acronyms Based on Position at the Table:

BB – Big Blind

SB – Small Blind

UTG – Under the Gun

UTG+1 – Under the Gun plus One

UTG+2 – Under the Gun plus Two

UTG+3 – Under the Gun plus Three

HJ – Hi-Jack

CU – Cut-Off

BTN – Button

EP – Early Position

MP – Middle Position

LP – Late Position

That should do it for those that may be new to poker.  I look forward to blogging about my experience and having you follow along on this sure to be roller coaster ride through, Gary’s Poker Journey…let’s SHUFFLE UP AND DEAL!!!