Payday

Just a quick note on playing on paydays.

If you are playing poker today, the last workday of the month and also a Friday, you may notice that your normal games are playing at a frenetic pace that can be a little disconcerting.

Why?

Because everyone just got paid!

If you are playing anywhere up to probably the 1/2 level you are going to notice new faces, strange plays, stupid calls, stupid bluffs, more pre-flop raising and especially re-raising. Just all around crazy gonzo games.

You have to adjust.

Normally, when I'm at your table you're going to know it. My style of constant raising pre-flop can really get under player's skins, if they don't know how to counter-act.

Today, I started out playing my normal style but noticed that I was getting played back at constantly and that my raises were doing nothing to thin the field. I saw some of the dumbest plays I've seen in ages, then I remembered..It's PAYDAY! Even for people that collect disability or Social Security.

Everyone has money! And they are SPEWING!

Get to the tables, tighten up a bit and enjoy. You're going to get sucked out a little more but today is a great day to play poker! Have fun. Don't tilt. Then remember to keep track of your calendar and adjust accordingly.

Good Luck And Don't Suck

-QAsRevenge

Small Ball Pot Limit Omaha

I hate variance.

Always have.

And that's why I grind.

Look, I'm a cash game player and to me there is no reason to be flipping coins or even ending up all in pre-flop as a 60/40 favorite. Leave that shit to the tournament guys that don't have clue what they're doing after the flop.

Let me see a flop in position and by the time the turn comes I'm going to have a good idea where I am in the hand and how to proceed.

So, I take the small ball approach to PLO.

Flat call raises in position, even with monsters. Limp in early with hands that stand up to lot of callers. Suited aces and such. I want other people in the hand with suited cards that are worse than my suited aces. Because unless I completely bludgeon them they are probably going to stay with me to the river with crap like Q-J-T or even 9 high flushes.

I like to get into hands cheaply with hands that can make straights, especially if my highest card is suited. I love hands like JT86, T976. I do stay away from straight draws where my highest card is a 5, but I love a low straight draw like 8764. So many times people have something like a suited ace with low cards or are trying to flop a low set with a hand like A433 and I whack them when something like A35x flops.

But, if you really want to lower your variance, wait to see if the turn card pairs the board before putting in the big money. This will mean that you are getting your money with a much higher advantage as there is only one more card to come. Effectively cutting their chance of winning in half.

More later.

-QAsRevenge

Why Do You Play Poker?

For the money?

For the rush?

For the mental challenge?

For fame?

For fun?

Personally, I play for the money and only the money. I would much rather be wealthy and unknown than wealthy and known. Of course, I have been poor and unknown and was still fairly happy, so poor and known would have to be the worst of the lot.

Recently someone won a large pot in the Mega-Millions Lottery and had an attorney claim the prize to keep his/her identity a secret. Brother, I've always said that I would do the exact same thing. I would be here one day, and fishing in the Carribean the next.

"Hey, where did QA go?"

"Don't know, haven't seen him in a while."

Perfect.

Good luck and don't suck,

-QAsRevenge

Patience

One of the truest test of patience in poker is being seated with a player or players that are playing poorly when you are card dead.

For a long time, my lack of patience in this situation was probably my biggest leak.

I believe that every player has a notion of how they're going to play that day. And as you can read in one of my earlier blogs, I actually write down my goals for each session before starting. I'm fairly certain that I never wrote down, "Today, I will spew chips trying to show a donkey who's boss!"

That said, sometimes I would find myself just salivating to get involved with a player that I knew was playing badly, and would end up playing badly myself. Maybe even going on tilt as my frustration mounted over not being able to felt the shmuck.

Fact is, this is a combo-leak. Caused by ego and impatience.

Look, when I go fishing, I want to catch fish! Sure, the water is pretty, the scenery is nice, blah blah blah. But who are we kidding? I want a fish on my line! I want to feel the bite, set the hook, and reel that sucker in! Good times!

But, sometimes the fish aren't biting so you just have to wait.

Yesterday I had position on a player that was pretty much involved in every hand. His stack went up and down as he chased and hit and chased and missed. He over-valued hands and I knew that at some point I was going to be able to stack him off. Problem was, I couldn't hit anything and all I could do was watch as he kept spewing and reloading.

Previously, this would've driven me nuts and I probably would've been reloading myself. But, I waited....and waited....and waited. Picking up just enough small pots to keep my stack right around my buy-in. Finally, after 3 hours I hit the hand I wanted. Then, not only did I stack the donk, but also got another player to come along with his stack! Bonus!

Ahh..Patience...Worth every minute.

Good luck and don't suck,

-QAsRevenge


PS. If the photo at the beginning of this post bothers you, look into www.one.org to see what you can do.

I'm Baaaaack!

Yep, I'm back!

In full Thong Loving, Poker Playing Glory!

Just needed a little time off to get my mind fresh.

Guess the combination of crappy cold weather, the holidays, a hurt shoulder, and years of grinding at the tables finally got to me. Add to that, my new-found love of the Ukulele, and I was happy to not have to spend hours a day staring at a computer screen, battling avatars for money.

But, after a nice long break I finally started to get the itch again.

No real reason that I can find, I just felt like playing again. Rather than jump back in at my normal Pot Limit Omaha game though, I decided to ease myself back into the water, and played Limit Hold-Em for the first time ever.

And you know what? It's actually kind-of fun! I can open a table or two, watch a little TV, and practice the Ukulele all at the same time. And still make money!

After so many years of playing Omaha and No-Limit cash games, where focus is paramount and any mistake can cost you a buy-in, it's kinda fun to just splash around a bit. It's been a good lesson, and I know that I'll start mixing my games up more when I feel myself starting to get fried in the future.

Another benefit is that as I have started to go back to my normal games now, I feel that playing Limit has actually helped my hand reading. So many hands go to showdown that you can't help but to get better ideas of people's hand ranges. Guess that's how Daniel got so good at it.

So, there you have it. I'm back, the Thongs are back, and there will be lots more to come. Well, after I replace my PC, which went Blue Screen-O-Death on me last week.

Good luck and don't suck,

-QAsRevenge

Ukulele Time

Ever got burned out playing poker?

I did.

But I'll admit that I have a tendency to take my hobbies a little too far.

An example; The AVP Pro Volleyball Tour came to a beach close to me when I was about 18. I had just become interested in volleyball due to a weekly game that we played behind a friend's house. Beer, gorilla rules, you know what I mean.

Anyway, I sat my chair down right next to center court and watched Randy Stoklos, Sinjin Smith and all the guys all day. I was instantly a Stokey fan, and I immediately thought, "I can do this! We're the same size!"

I was supposed to go home that day, but instead, I sent my girlfriend home with her parents, slept in my car, and then watched every minute of the rest of the tournament.

Three years later I was playing Open. Then played for twenty more.

Similiarly, I caught the poker bug about 8 years ago. And I dove in. I read everything poker related, watched all of the shows, played every chance I got. Thousands and thousands of hours. Quit my job and played poker for forty hours a week. Had great days, crappy days, great runs, crappy runs, and everything in between. It was fun, it was not fun, it was a great mental challenge, it was tedious. But all of the sudden, I stopped.

Don't know why, but I just stopped. I haven't clicked on one of those little poker icons in more than a month, and have had absolutely no desire to do so! None! Nada! Now I just skim the articles in the magazines I once devoured, and it's shocking how quickly I went from always playing to not playing at all. Like a light switch was turned off. (Hmm...I have taught my girlfriend a lot about Hypnosis. Just sayin)

Hell, I played volleyball until my body's bitter end. It told me when to stop. And yet, I still work-out as if I could take it back up any day now.

Guess this time I was mentally fried.

One thing I always tried to teach people in my hypnotherapy practice was that your actions always follow your strongest subconscious (emotional) desire. And that it then fell on your conscious (logical) mind to rationalize your behavior. Well, I haven't been able to rationalize this one yet so I'll just have to trust my subconscious.

I'm sure I'll start to get the itch back soon, and that I'll start playing poker again. But first, I want to get Jack Johnson's 'Breakdown' perfected on the Ukulele.......

Christ. Here we go again.

Good luck and don't suck,

-QAsRevenge

PS. The Ukulele in the picture is a custom model made by Dave Means at www.glyphukulele.com