8 hours of tournament play today, made 83 dollars for the effort.
What did I do for most of it? Well, I got dealt AA precisely once, AK precisely twice(offsuit both times) JJ precisely once, and basically a pu pu platter for the rest of my starting hands.
I flopped one set, with deuces, and my opponent turned a straight. I lost the absolute minimum though because his neck vein nearly burst when he hit his card.
For the rest of the 8 hours? Well, one thing to keep you occupied is the steal-raise, which I've been using far more often since reading Gus Hansen's book. "Stealing" is basically raising when you sense the table is uninterested in the hand, with the goal of winning the middle right then, or taking it down on the flop with a small bet when/if they miss their hand. It works very well in most situations against most weak players, and is an effective way to slowly build a chip stack.
Other things to kill the monotony:
-Made side bets on curling! Nothing more exciting than the 10th End of a 4-3 match when the USA women's team has the hammer. By the way, the Russian team is smokin' hot. Just sayin'.
-Talked to everyone about how loose I am. Gotta build that image - if everyone knows I'm capable of raising with any two cards, then I can get away with stealing after a flop of 457 waaay more easily. Hey, it's my range, and I let everyone know it.
-Flirted with the dealers! Always a winner - their job is monotonous to the max, and any kind of friendly, nonconfrontational conversation seems to be welcome, so I oblige. No reason to torture the folks that hand out the cards, is there? I'm thinking of starting a "Don't Blame the Dealer" union - distribute hats and pins, and anyone wearing a pin is honor-bound to defend the dealer when some drunk asshole decides they missed their gutshot straight draw because the dealer is evil.
-Sang Kenny Rogers! "You gotta know when to hold'em, know when to fold'em, know when to turn and walk awaaaay!" Singing is perhaps the easiest way to subtly irritate 9 other adults without actually being aggressive in any way. Irritated players make mistakes, it's true.
-Quoted Rounders! "Hanging around, hanging around, kid's got alliGATor blood, can't get RID of him."
-Identified southerners' home states based on the accent. I'm getting pretty good at this one - got North Carolina and Texas right on one try today, both times.
Basically, tournament poker can hit some really rough, boring patches. I do my best to keep the table friendly, happy, on edge, and just a little fearful of me. If they think I'm out of my goddamn mind, so much the better.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Couple I forgot:
ReplyDeleteMake fun of the internet pro! You can identify him by his reflective shades and ipod, as well as his inability to put his chips in the pot without fumbling like Adrian Peterson. He's an easy target since he thinks he's better than everyone else.
Get to know the player on your left! This is the person who will be in position(last to act) in almost every hand you play against him, so he has a distinct head to head advantage. I've learned to nullify that advantage in one simple way - make him a buddy! Buddies don't reraise buddies, right? The friendlier you are to the player on your left, the better.
Learn new chip tricks! I built a spiral tower out of my stack of 30 chips today. That was fun for the whole table - got a gasp as I put the last one on top.
If I think of more I'll post again.
You are amazing. I am so honored to be related.
ReplyDeleteI'm not believing that chip sprial story until I see a picture. It can be a granier-than-bigfoot cell phone camera shot, I just want to have some clue what you mean.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I will join your Kenny Rogers sing-along any time.
Also also, I would like to see all of this live without losing eleventy billion dollars due to personal poker suckage.
~aerob
lol, poker suckage is bad. Next time you're in jersey I'll show you what I mean by a little spiral tower. It's fun and it kills time!
ReplyDelete