random thoughts and thoroughbred selections

Friday, July 02, 2004

Suffering from mixed-feeling retrospectia

I drove home from work yesterday with all my windows down and the air conditioner going full blast.

If my dad were dead, he�d be rolling over in his grave.

I can�t tell you how many short, medium, and long rides in the car in warm summer months were marred in my family by my dad�s insistence that �it�ll get cool eventually,� and that you �can�t have the windows down and run the air, that�s wasteful.�

Excuse me for a moment while I throw away my leftovers and light a cigarette with a $20 bill while putting my head in the freezer to stay cool. It never got comfortable in that car, and a slight breeze might have kept the �he�s touching me, make him stop touching me� portion of the ride more palatable.

The new bane of my existence is the radio commercial for Auto Zone. It features one of those over-emotive singers (similar to the Def Leppard guy doing �Pour Some Sugar�) ham-handedly delivering the following lines:

Get in the zone / Auto Zone / Anything you want / Anything you need�

Anything? Really?

In that case, I�d like a German U-Boat and some Strawberry Shortcake. Chop chop. I don�t have all day.

I played one $10 SNG last night on PartyPoker. Came in third. I�m suffering from mixed-feeling retrospectia in regards to how I feel about my play in this one.

I went up early (nine players remaining) when, UTG, I found AJs, and raised. Short stack raised all-in (nominal amount over my initial raise), and two players matched. I think (with blinds 15/30) I went to something like 90, short stack made it 145, and two called. Back to me, and I pushed it up to 450. Point being, I felt good that I wasn�t facing pairs in the hole here, and I was hoping all would fold to me and Mr. All-in.

Oops, one caller.

Thankfully, board gave me a rainbow with a high card J. I bet out about 100, got raised, and pushed it all-in. It was still 200 or so to call for the other guy, but he pushed it in anyway. He had A9, and had paired his 9. No help, Mr. Short Stack�s A3s didn�t benefit him either, and I jumped up to about 1800.

As the field began to get whittled down, I made a couple of suspect plays that represent a portion of my mixed feelings about this tournament. In the realm of �can�t believe I called that bet,� I had nothing but high card Ace, good kicker twice, saw ragged low boards checked to the river, and still managed to call the dude whose J7s paired up on the last card (both pots went like that). What ticked me off is that somehow it made sense to me at the time to call a bet of 200 with only 400 or so in the pot to see if my nothing-but-high-card made me a hand.

I did make one play, though, that really must have chapped the hide of the guy who lost the pot. I was on the button, and was dealt A4s. With only five of us left, I liked my chances with this hand. UTG called, and UTG+1 raised nominally. With 1400 or so, and with the raiser sitting on a big stack (2800 or thereabouts), I pushed all-in, figuring I�d get folds and pick up the pot.

Nope, the raiser called and showed KK.

How mad would you be if you were holding KK, had another guy all-in, knew you were ahead, and then saw the board fall like this:

K86

7

5

That�s right, I made my straight to his set. I was chagrined.

All of a sudden, I�m sitting on T4200 or so, and am a substantial chip leader.

We�re now down to three, and here�s where I made the boneheaded move that cost me a chance to be a factor for the win.

I�m in the BB holding T3s. Ugliness. Blinds are 50/100, and UTG makes it 450 to go.

I call � logic being, I thought that 450 put him all-in, and with a big chip stack, what the hell, right?

Oh, wait� how did I miss that he didn�t have 250, but 2250? Flop comes, he bets, I scurry away. I�m such a freaking retard. I never would have called that bet without an all-in, and really shouldn�t have thought about it if there was.

Problem was, two hands later I look down and see AA. Same guy raises substantially, I push all-in, he calls.

TT.

He hits his set on the flop, I�m down to 200 chips. Instead of 550 or 650 or whatever, had I not called that previous bet. I push all-in on my BB with Q2s, catch nothing, and get bounced in third.

Not a real satisfying experience.

What I am satisfied with is that my understanding of some of the theories of raising in a no limit game are starting to solidify in my head. I think I�m already a fairly decent NL player, maybe equivalent to a guy that goes out and shoots low 90s on the golf course, but hanging an 85 once in awhile. In other words, I know what I�m doing, I can make the occasional good-to-great play or read, but I�m a dozen or more strokes off the PGA Tour, that�s for sure.

Anyway, raising was the topic. Last week�s home game featured Lord Geznikor, who is a player prone to raising the pot. I think I take for granted playing with my usual crew. In that game, I can play within my own feel and my usual rhythms, if that makes sense. I know enough about everyone�s game there where it�s not a challenge. I don�t mean �these guys don�t present a challenge,� I mean that �I don�t have to worry about what bets, calls, and raises mean� from the rest of the crew. It�s like being a batter than can hit fastballs and curveballs, but throw a knuckler out there, and he really has to concentrate. That�s me.

So playing with LG got me thinking a lot about raising. Why, wherefore, how, and when?

I�m usually something like �aggressive tight� if that makes any sense at all. I wield a big stick, and I know when to get out. Where I think I�ve been weaker than I should be is in using raises to try to either narrow the field or take the big pot down. Plus, the whole idea of giving free cards should torture me more than it does. You�re never going to let someone wander into a hand if you take away their ability to get infinite odds.

Dictate their pot odds. That�s going to be my new mantra.

Home game today, so here�s hoping I don�t experience the same sort of vapor lock that plagued me last night online around my table tonight. I�m going to spend my whole day at the track tomorrow if I can take down the pot.

[>>]posted at 4:46 PM by BG - click to email
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