Poker with the FAM!

The family game alluded to in my last post taught me some things. Else it re-learnt me! It was a family game, with lotsa folks who understood (somewhat) the general concept of poker but that's as far as I'll go. When I headed to the table, the game was already going on, and I sat down. They were playing 5 card and 7 card... Some of them were referring to the five card variety as "stud" others as "draw" however, in either case discards were permitted... go figure. Everyone ante'd a quarter, at least that was the plan, as long as everyone threw in, in order the pot was right. All-too-often however, this wasn't the case. Bets were a minimum of a quarter, to a maximum of a dollar, per round... When the deal finally circled around to me, I asked if anyone knew how to play hold 'em. Not long after that... all other forms of poker were abandoned and we played hold'em exclusively thereafter. Still however under the restraints of betting as outlined. Let's put it this way. There were almost always 9-10 players to the flop, with at least the ante and a called quarter bet in the pot, preflop. Subsequent betting clear through to the river rarely eliminated more than 1 or 2 players. Flushes, straights, boats, were chased off of cliffs, equally and with as much enthusiasm as nothin' but high card. Routinely there were shouts of "they're just bluffin'" despite the fact that the one shouting had absolutely nothing in their hand. Many times they were right, but the bluffed nothin' was more than the caller's nothin' more often than not! I finally re-adjusted my play... meaning no hand was mucked thereafter. Nothing was taboo, nothing was sacred. Donkfest, just doesn't quite sum it all up. I lost maybe 10 bucks for the night... but just considered it socializing. Others revelled in the glory of their superior poker plays, and "just knowin' their card was coming!" Let it go cheer_dad. It was for fun. Big Red of course had the horseshoe firmly shoved up her ass, and buying in for a total of $5, nearly losing it all, bounced back and cashed out for like $58. Considering that this was the slot machine of poker games, that's about right! : )

What I found interesting? The play style, aggression, skill, and demeanor was very much like what I've encountered in Cross Lanes! Chasing, ridiculous bluffs and calls that'd make your head spin. Betting which had absolutely nothing to do with the pot, and minimizing and maximizing were just obscure concepts, not to be bothered with. Granted the stakes here were small, and no one was getting hurt, or rich for that matter this was just so much like my experience at live WV poker. Big hands were not what was making the money, but rather the blindsiding crap hand that came out of nowhere, to topple the initial aggressor. I got a sick sense of gratification from it all. I had to stop applying my value system to others at the table. Reason, common sense, and skill had no place here. If you had it, bet it hard, and keep firing barrel after barrel. They just know your bluffing anyhow. Conversely, don't bother bluffing, because that trick only works on you and no one else. You're the only idiot at the table actually dropping his cards. "Hell, don't he know how to play this game?!?"

Your ole pal cheer_dad was educated today, and remarkably I found something to love about the game again. I might even unpucker the butt-cheeks a little the next time I play and go for a little "gambol" myself.

All in all, I had a great time, and it was really good to visit with Big Red's family. They are ALL great people, and no greater souls have I ever met. We'll have to do it all again. It never ceases to amaze me where some poker lessons come from.

Oh and tonight is the first night of BASEBALL practice for Cole's team. Yes, I'm coaching... and drafting every parent and/or extended family member I can find to take part in the mass chaos. Remember the ole maxim from Bull Durham:
Sometimes, you win.
Sometimes, you lose.
Sometimes... it rains!

Regards,

cheer_dad

You can't make this stuff up

There are times playing online that you just "feel" it's the wrong table, the wrong time, and that something bad is going to happen. We should each pay more heed to those feelings. They're not quantifiable, but when you have that wary, uneasy feeling you ought to listen to what your gut is telling you and move on. I say this all now, because (of course) I did not pay attention when that still small voice was speaking. Okay, it's not as bad as all that, but I do tend to make me some mountains out of life's little mole hills from time-to-time. Let me set the stage...

After a full/busy day at work I head home and immediately start on mowing the lawn. The neighborhood is thick with the sounds of push mowers and weed eaters. Oh, it did take me a bit of time to get started mowing because I had to wage a wasp killing campaign before I could reach the mower in the storage building. But flash forward to a lawn well done, weed whacking, and grass clippings gathered and street swept. I head inside to clean up, then grab a bite to eat. Following this, I help Cole out with his homework, try to decide if the teen Whitney even has any school books this year, "AIM," and phone(s) house and cell, interrupt the conversation and I trail off into wasted attempt.

Finally, things are relatively in order and I finally sit down to enjoy some down time. After checking email and reading a couple blogs I fire up Bodog. Several tables available so I belly up to two of them and am confident that at long last tonight, playing at my micro limits I'll finally take this account through the glass ceiling and go above the $200 mark. I've made mention a long time ago, that I've got some sort of mental block when it comes to that figure. I can't account for it, it's just there. Anyway, those of you who know me, know that online I play very micro limits. Call it stupid, call it mind numbing, whatever you want. But it just became so difficult to move money around online that they seem to be worth more in cyberspace, at least to me. Couple that with my unfortunately reading Chris Ferguson's account of how he turned $0 into $10,000 online and well you have the recipe for what has become my online poker playing experience. I revisited the Bodog account a while back and found it below the $100 mark, this of course after having cashed out a paltry sum somewhere in between the Neteller and UIGEA debacles... I'd play only every once in a while, two tabling at NLHE, max buy-in $10 (blinds .05/.10.) Go ahead... call me some names, I'll wait. Okay, do you feel better now? Good, I'm here for ya.

So, I've got my two tables setup on screen just the way I like 'em. Table action seems kinda fast. Oh look 8 players see the flop, and 7 to the turn over on this other table. Hmmm. Oh there's an all-in... and oh there's another... Here's where that uneasy feeling comes in. But I'm above it, I'm up to the challenge. Before one full cycle of the table I look down at AKos from late position, and pop it to a whopping .45 pre-flop. It goes back to the BB, who without pause, pops it an additional $8.00-ish all-in. You know the old 18X preflop reraise. Many folks wouldn't have flinched here and would have mashed the call button. But I'm just getting started here. I don't have a feel yet, or a read, and I'm just too Zen for all this. (Translation, at times I'm just a pussy.) So, I fold this drawing hands. Then I proceed to watch a succession of blackjack double down hands. 9-2os, 6-4os, 8-3os, etc... You know the ones. I go through that rocky phase of noticing that the hand I have at the first table is actually the nuts hand on the second table, and vice versa. All the while that little voice in the back of my head is growing ever louder. (Pipe down you!) Then, frustration sets in. From late position I look down at a J-10os, and I "just" call. The flop comes J-2-J, and I'm in position! Then again... bent over is a position. The SB bets pot. I double it. He obliges with an all-in and our hero calls. Then, before I even see his cards, realize I've succumb to all the emotion that's been building since I got home. I get the warm squishy feeling as he sticks his A-Js to some of my more tender orifices. More checks on table #1 please! The guy's decent enough about it, and tosses me an "ouch" in the chat window, to help sooth the sting. It doesn't... Anyway that's how most of the session went. And as my laptop battery is about to give up the ghost, I'm prepared to take my losses like a man. But I'm down like $13 here people. I was only shooting to make $6 tonight, to put me over the $200 mark, now I'm in worse shape. As the blinds come back around, I close down table one, and am left waiting for the round to end on table two. I look down at 9-10s. The BB annoyingly makes it .20 to go pre flop after I call the .10. I hate-hate-hate min-raisers! The flop comes 7-8-K rainbow. I'm open ended here, the BB bets out .30. Sure why not...and the turn is a blank (a two I think.) BB, again with the .30 bet. Sure, why not... The river brings one of my 8 outs, the Jack. This time the BB goes for broke and bets .60 this time. I pause briefly and then mash the Pot button. Here's where my tension headache and my temper flares! Simultaneously, three things happen on my laptop. The BB, reraises all-in, my "low battery" alert starts to flash like the world's coming to an end, and my fracking touchpad goes haywire. OMG... nothing's working here, I've got the nuts here folks and I can't get my pointer over the Call or the All-In buttons long enough to click. My wife stares from across the room as I gnash my teeth and spew obscenities!

FINALLY, I'm able to get the mouse coaxed over (pixel by pixel) to the all-in button and get the damn thing clicked! The BB insta calls. He proudly displays his hole cards "KK." Which for those of you keeping score at home, gave him a set on the flop. My Jack high straight sends him to the rail. And after all that stress on a single hand, I close out the game myself. (Incidentally now my fucking touchpad is working just fine!!!) So for the night I'm down only $7-ish. I regained some ground from the previous trip jacks fiasco. But who knows what the rest of the week will bring? Will I ever break through the $200 mark? Do any of you even care? Am I a complete NOOB for donking around at these micro stakes? Do you secretly laugh at me?

But on the bright side, I must make at least some of you feel better about yourselves and your superior poker playing abilities! And if that's the case, well then I'm glad that I can help make a difference in the lives of others. Stay tuned for the next riveting episode of "A Fool and His Money" and see how we are parted.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Donk da donk donk donk

How's it goin' out there? I've been a little lax in posting but hey lots of things to do, so little time. I have managed to play a little poker lately, teeny-tiny stakes and a couple of promising freerolls. The small stakes game over at JR's, with some of his family and their friends. I remember now what it was like when I FIRST started playing. Horrid...but action driven. Frank and I both went, and lasted only briefly. Frank was knocked out when his pocket Kings were bested by pocket 9's, when the 9's flopped a set. It was all over then. I had to let go of a hand at one point, when the board had obviously out done me, but that cost me a bit of the stack. Then, I went out when I had pocket 8's pushed from late position, and got one caller, after the flop of 6 high, rainbow, I auto shoved, wanting to avoid any more action. My opponent told me that he "had nothing, but I'm gonna call." He was truthful, and had nothing but a good starting hand. But Big Slick treated him well that evening...and he hit his King on the River. Bye Bye cheer_dad. No sour grapes though, I actually kind of enjoyed it, it was relaxing. And it gave me time to observe players I don't always play with. I was getting some VERY GOOD reads on people and I hope that I am honing this skill. The freerolls I played...yesterday on Bodog a WildCard set up in conjunction with CardPlayer.com. 540 players total. Top 27 were going to be paid $109 each, which is like a tournament entry chip. I made it through the first break, with it middlin' chipstack, although I'd been playing well early on, blind escalation was at a premium, and no cards to speak of. I went out in 140th position, when I made the "incorrect" assumption that the late position raise from my opponent was a move on me. I pushed it all in to fight back at a table bully. Unfortunately, his pocket 9's were good. Now, I went out, and made a bad move there, BUT I learned a lot in this game. I was able to run my table for quite some time early on. I wasn't catching cards (except for one big hand) but I was playing position. That and the table composition was a lot of meek players. The big hand was my pocket 2's, turning into Huey, Dewey, and Louie on the flop and absolutely rockin' the world of the guy who limped with his pocket ACES!!! That'll learn him. Today, at Frank's urging I played the Pokerspace.com UB Weekly Freeroll. I got crippled early on with AKs vs KQos. The flop gave me the nut flush draw, which never materialized. The River brought me a King (giving me Kings and 6's, Ace kicker) but cost me, since his King's and QUEEN'S were better. Friggin' Big Slick! : ) I finally went out against that same guy, since there were so few players at the table. My pocket 6's were no match for his pocket Q's, especially when he flopped another lovely lady! But this game at my table anyway was an all-in-a-fest from the get go. I was foolishly hopeful that the Pokerspace.com games wouldn't necessarily be a testament to the donk players of the world. As usual, I was wrong. Sigh...

Regards,

cheer_dad

Some stuff and a word of the day

I'm glad to see that my buddy Frank has been following the "state" of poker in the "state" of West Virginia so well. I haven't been in much of a blogging mood lately, much less in an investigative reporter mood. Although I do and accomplish nothing, I seem to have very little energy or oomph lately. To say that I have a waning interest in life, would seem to put it a little harshly! Eh...but if the shoe fits, put the other one on. Anyway, I am still a bit surprised that Tri-State Racetrack and Gaming Center has not even applied for a gaming license to permit table games at the facility. Poor choice if you ask me. They could use the ramped up revenue to help or completely finance their "pie-in-the-sky" expansion plans. Meanwhile Wheeling and Chester will move forward with their table games plans, and possible expansion. Sooner or later surrounding states will jump on the bandwagon in some way to stave their residents from crossing the border to the Mountain State, to slough off their hard earned dollars. Instead keeping it for themselves to fill the governmental coffers. How is it that something that appears so sensible, from a business perspective, could elude the powers that be of the Tri-State facility?

In other news, it seems that JR got the last laugh on the Murray's and the Wolfe's on Saturday night. During the WVU game/cluster-frack Frank texted JR to see how the date was going, and throughout the evening we were entertained with replies, stating that the date ended early during dinner, and he opted to head instead for the $1/$2 NLHE table in Wheeling. Laughter (and a little jealously ensued!) Turns out, that the date continued, and he parted ways with said maiden in the neighborhood of 1:30 in the AM. So, he didn't get any poker in after all, or at least any that involved a deck of cards! : ) Sorry, lady...don't know you yet, so I can continue to talk trash!

It is bitter cold and windy outside. The morning's walk from the truck to the building was enough to bring tears to the eyes and left you gasping for breath. BRRR! I hate the cold, hate the Winter, hate having those clearly defined 4 seasons. I'd be much happier with, oh say ONE!!! I wonder if I can retire to someplace tropical, or very warm?

Oh and finally, my word for the day is DONKTARD! After reading it on the AnteUp Blog, I got a good chuckle and found that it is VERY fitting of a number of the players I've encountered recently at Wheeling Island's poker room. You should be able to mop up with them, but as is pointed out at AnteUp, too many of them at a table can be a VERY dangerous thing. You can't bluff a donktard. You need powerful, if not nuts hands to take it down, but the suckouts can be severe.

There's a lot of poker coming up in the the next few weeks, the Yanok's, JR's, Mine, and a couple of year-end games yet to be scheduled. Then maybe a short, well-deserved break before a big contingency of us head of to the land of lights in the desert (Las Vegas.) ETA is 47 Days, 3 Hours, 10 Minutes, according to the iGoogle gadget I've got in place. Rest up...save your pennies gang, it's going to be one heckuva ride! See you all soon.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Hee Haw

I donked it up last night...those of you who were there at the "guys-night" poker game know it too. Started off okay, not moving up, just treading water. Then thanks to straddles, Omaha Hi/Lo, and craving the win of at least a friggin' pot, I played like a blaster, and got blasted. As I said last night..."I hate this fuckin' game!" Though no one believes me...well including me. I love poker. I love watching it, reading about it playing it, analyzing it...you name it. Lately, though I just can't get my shtuff together. I'm seriously disatisfied with my play lately. I'm the problem, and not just the cards. I really need a confidence booster...but poker is a fickle mistress, and seldom does what you need her to. I dropped $50 last night. Bought in orginally for $20, which lasted a while. Then crashed and burned, rebought for $20, lost it quickly, and then threw in my last $10, and soon that was all she wrote. Thank goodness I was enjoying the BEER at least. I keep telling myself this is going to be the night, where I turn it around. Start of tight...but then see good hands get crushed over and over. Make good reads, but then behave in ways which defeat the read. The two hands that I recall winning last night were, making a straight, playing an A-4os...and playing J-4os, for no particular reason, and making a boat. That's just how it's been. This is the life.

I wish I could remember what I did when I logged on to Bodog late last night. Looks like a made $7.xx out there. Who knows what I was playing? Anyway, once more into the abyss.

Regards,

cheer_dad