There is no feeling like being at the poker table and just dominating. There are those times that everything is going your way and you are getting all the right cards at the right time. Or you know you are reading your opponents so well that the cards don’t even matter and calling with 10 high is a good play. All of us as poker players have probably experienced this high in some way. When you are hot things are great. You feel like the best player in the world….and then it seems like someone turns a switch.

You go from on top of the world to feeling like rank amateur who can barley make a decent play. This is the point were poker players are faced with there own thoughts on his or hers game. With poker you must be consistently be re-evaluating the way you play. It is really an easy concept: maximize your wins and minimize your losses. But there is nothing easy about it. In my poker playing career it seems like some days my game is spot on and even if I am loosing I know that I am playing well and will eventually come on top. But when I am playing bad and letting people bluff me or not picking up those extra bets I feel like I have wasted so much time thinking I am a decent player to feeling that I shouldn’t even be at the table.

Poker is a funny game even if you happen to be great at it. Things can turn on a dime and the real key is to adjust to it. We will all have good days and bad days in poker but it is how you handle the bad days the puts you over the top. Just keep practicing and learning and no matter how bad things get it doesn’t last forever. With poker it is a Love/Hate relationship but if you’re lucky you will be doing a lot more loving then hating.

Phil Hellmuth once said, “If it weren’t for luck, I’d win every hand.”

When it comes to poker and life we have all been either lucky or unlucky depending on the situation and some are more fortunate than others. With poker they are always players that will be on the unlucky side of the spectrum and others that are luck boxes and hit everything (at least against me). In my own experiences with playing poker I feel that I tend to be a little on the unlucky side though not too bad. On the other side of the coin I feel fortunate in life in what I have and the opportunities I have been given. But I feel when it comes to poker that factor of luck even amongst the pros can distinguish you from being world class or just a really good player. For every player we see on television who made a final table and luck ran their way and go on to win a seven figure payday there are hundreds of others who are just as good if not better where luck did not fall their way.

There’s often that big pot you lost that could have bank rolled you for bigger and better things or that river card that cost you a final table. These things happen all too often in the poker world and is hard to manage sometimes. There have been plenty of times I’ve wanted to throw my laptop across the room or reach across a table and strangle someone but I always try to remember something that someone once told me: “it doesn’t make any sense to get mad because there is nothing you can do about it and just hope that next time luck falls in your favor”. This works about half the time but it still helps.

Aaaaahhhhhh! I have to say there is nothing like winning a poker tournament. I have played and won many sit-n-go’s but it has been a while since I won a tourney. There is a lot of luck involved in tourneys and even more when there are 500+ players. Fortunately for me a much needed win came a few days ago. I had entered a tournament online on Full Tilt with 517 people playing and the winner getting $600. Now $600 is not all that much but the best part was this was an invitation only freeroll and the top 45 were in the money. I gave myself a pretty good chance from the start by slowly grinding my chip stack up with a lot of pot stealers and continuation bets. My first real pot is what set me up for a deep run.

I had around 5000 in chips and my opponent had around 3200.

Me: 9h9s   Opponent: QsQc

My opponent was one off the button and raised to 500 pre-flop, the button called and I re-raised to 1200 my opponent just called and the button folded. The flop was Jh4s7c. I felt at the time he had AK or AQ so on the flop I led out for 1500 which pretty much let him know he was all in as he only had 500 more chips behind. To my dismay he instantly went all-in. Being pot committed I reluctantly called only to see the bad news. As I was thinking a strategy for playing on the short stack, BOOM! the beautiful 9c comes on the turn and the river didn’t change a thing. So now I had a good chip stack and felt that I could at least make the money.

The next big hand came right before the break. I was on the button with 10s-10c and the player to my right had raised all-in for about half my stack. He had recently just lost a big pot so I put him on tilt and he probably had a lone A with a bad kicker. So I re-raised all-in. The small blind that has me covered snap calls. NOOOOO! So as I am resigning myself to my fate, BOOM! 10d5c6c comes on the flop and my tens hold up and now I am amongst the chip leaders.

So after these two suck outs I had a real shot at making a run to the final table. As the money bubble approached I really turned up the aggression and was raising almost every other pot and I was able to really build up a nice stack and stay amongst the leaders. So one by one players fell and finally we made the money. Next thing I knew I was at the final table 5^th in chips with no real obstacles on the way.

I decided to go with a tight sit-in-go strategy to start out. This plan worked out to perfection. I was in the big-blind with AQ when a short stacked player went all-in with A9 and I won. A few hands later I picked up AK and someone moved all in with A7, another win. Then I started playing really tight and let the others eliminate each other. After an hour we were down to three.

One player was playing really aggressive and was the chip leader, the other player was playing a tight-passive style and I decided to try and get him heads up. I played really aggressive against the aggressive player using a lot of three-bets and it worked. Luckily the weak player eliminated the aggressive one with his AA vs. A10. So now I was heads up for the win. I really wanted this win and I got what I wanted in playing the passive player heads-up.

 He had a 5 to 1 chip lead but I felt I had the advantage. I raised nearly every pot and he was playing so tight I won most of them only folding if he raised. After 20 min I had a 2 to 1 chip lead and looked at QQ on my screen. I raised on the button and he re-raised me all-in with K9. “Yes I got him” I tell myself before calling. Flop comes K-9-3, NOOOOO! I get no help from the turn and river and he doubles up to take a slight chip lead.  I felt like I was going to go on tilt, all that time grinding away to take the chip lead only to lose like that. Good thing for me in poker things change fast and a few hands later I had rivered a straight to regain the chip lead. The final hand came when I had 7c5h and raised on the button. My opponent called and the flop came 7h-7s-9h. I bet and he raised all-in with 9s-10s, I snap-called and finally it was over and I had won. The best thing about winning was the confidence it gave me for a game. Poker has a lot to due with luck but there is just as much skill involved and when both are on your side you feel unbeatable. The only problem was that I will probably have to take 10 bad beats to make for the 2 I dished out but it was well worth it.

With the age of internet poker among us, the poker dealer is not really thought about anymore. I can remember the first time I played live poker and won a pot I was given this strange look by the dealer- more of a glare. I didn’t realize until someone next to me told me that it is poker etiquette to tip the dealer. Since then I would say I tip the dealer every time as long as the pot raked in was halfway decent.

The reason that I would like to acknowledge the dealers is that they are the people at the casinos that keep the game going smoothly and they don’t get enough credit. It is probably harder for online players to realize but they take a lot of crap from people and it can be a very unpleasant job. I have seen all sort of things happen at the casino when it comes to a dealer. I once say a guy win a jackpot for around $8000 and not tip the dealer one cent even though everyone else at the table had. Dealers live on tips and I will never forget the look of disgust on that dealer’s face after my first pot. I have seen people who just come to play to hit on the female dealers (that is always fun to see someone get shot down for an hour straight until the dealers switch tables). I see people who tip dealers every hand regardless if they even play it. Though these are good things the majority of the time dealers don’t get this kind of love.

Most of the time people are yelling or throwing their cards at them. For some people (I don’t know why) they associate the way the cards are dealt out with what the dealer does and nothing to do with randomness. They constantly blame dealers for their bad luck saying “how could you deal that river” or “stop giving me crappy cards”. They actually think the dealer makes their luck. It is always funny to me when people ask for a setup (a brand new deck is used) to change their luck cause the only thing the dealer has control of is the shuffle. I once saw a guy lose a huge pot on the river and threw his cards at the dealer and even attacked the dealer until security got a hold of them,

Yes, dealers make mistakes and are human. I have lost a few pots cause a dealer might misdeal or worse they have taken my cards away on accident thinking I folded, and of course I would be a little upset but not to the point where I would attack them. I always try to stand up for the dealer when they are getting attacked by someone else at the table even at the expense of getting attacked myself. The dealers are there to help you and make things easier not harder. So the next time you are at a casino show the dealer some love whether it be a tip or a compliment- believe me they will appreciate it.

Dealers need hugs too.

So once again my tale originates from the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. It was a really busy Saturday night and the no limit hold’em tables were packed with at least a 30 minute wait if you weren’t at a table. My nemesis today was a man I call Baldy Donk as he was bald and a donk. Baldy was a very loose and aggressive player who seemed to be a part of every pot at my table. After about an hour of playing and me building my stack up to around $200 things took a turn for the worse in a 20 minute span.

I have had a little history with Baldy before and had played with him at an early session and I have seen him a few times jumping around the tables. I even busted him once with AA, but this story can be told as his revenge story. So as the title indicates at this point of playing I picked up AA in the hole versus Baldy. Baldy had been up and down and had around $60 or so. I raised to $15 before the flop and he was my only caller. The flop came down 10-7-3 rainbow and I decide to just put him all in for his last $40. He calls rather quickly and shows my 10-4 which was a surprise. The turn was a J and the river was of course a dreaded 4. So a little steamed at how the hand went down I proceeded to tighten up since my stack had dwindled down to around $120. Not more than five minutes later once again the cursed AA shows up. Baldy again was down to around $60 giving away all my precious chips on an earlier hand and on this hand raised to $20 before the flop. Not wanting to take any chances I moved all-in and he snap called. AA vs. 99. The flop came 9-9-3. UUUUGGGGHHHH! The rest of the cards didn’t even matter. So at this point I have around $60 left and a few hands later I bust missing a flush draw.

 I was officially on tilt at this point and against my better judgment I decided to buy back in for another $60. Now since the first time I had AA it had been only 20 minutes and all I was focused on was getting back to even. I lost $20 real quick when again AA rears its ugly head. So again baldy is short on chips but has me covered. One guy raises $15 pre-flop with JJ and Baldy calls, I of course move-in and both players call. Flop was A-2-5. So I was thinking “finally some luck” but then Baldy pushes all-in and the guy with JJ folds. I think I got him and am counting the chips in the pot. I turn over AA and the table says nice hand. Since it is a cash game he doesn’t have to show his hand and I think he has a pocket pair of some kind and have him crushed. Turn was a 9 and the river was a 4 for a A-2-5-9-4 board. To my utter dismay he turns over 8-3 for a rivered straight. I was screaming in my head “WWWWWWWWHHHHHAAAATTTT 8 fucking 3 not even suited”. I was pissed and stormed away from the table cursing AA while giving Baldy the evil eye.

We have all lost with AA and I have lost with it numerous amounts of time since but I will never forget this day in which AA went from a dream to a nightmare.

We’ve all been there at least once: you’re sitting at a table and you’re on fire. You’re winning pot after pot and the cards are all going you’re way. You’re in the zone. You’re up a lot of money.

There have been a few times in my day when I was up a significant amount of money, thought I should go home, and didn’t. This is not a story about me, but from my perspective from the other side of the coin.

There are a few things that creep through one’s mind when in this situation: I just want to get up to X amount before I go home… I’m hot right now; I will just play one more round of blinds… etc. etc etc.

It was a typical busy Saturday night at the famed Commerce  Casino in Southern California. I was playing a $100 buy-in no-limit game with a cast of colorful characters. There was an old Asian woman, a sleepy man with a hard, wrinkled face, a few other young guys all equipped with hats or sunglasses or headphones and you know they watch the WSOP on tv, and one middle-aged woman who looked out of place. As soon as I sat down I was greeted by a man to my right who I will call “Chuck” because he looked like Chuck Lidell from the UFC. I eyed his stack, noting that he had probably around $500 in chips. He was quite talkative and told me that his friend had taught him the secret to winning (the games tend to be pretty soft at the low stakes). He was also saying that it was a friend’s birthday party at a local bar and that he had to leave in an hour (It was around 7:30 PM at that time).

Chuck and I played a hand together where he busted me with a higher spade flush. He leaned back in his seat, collecting his chips triumphantly, and had no idea that things were about to turn around for him.

After I bought back in, a few very loose and wild players entered the game. One of the newcomers was a very wild playing lady who seemed to have plenty of money and was playing every pot and chasing every draw down to the river even if she had to go all-in. To make things worse, there was a guy who had no problem bluffing most of the hands he was in. Now it was around 8:30 PM and Chuck said he was going to play one more round and then go. He changed his mind though, when my AK beat his K9 with on a 10-K-5-K-2 board.

After a few more beers and a few more lost pots, Chuck leaned over to me and said, “I’m still up a few hundred, I’ll leave in a few minutes. Just another hand.” I shook my head and told him that he should go or he’ll lose it all. He kept leaning back over and muttering, “Just another hand.” And then I doubled up again, courtesy of Chuck.

As I stacked my chips, satisfied to have gotten my first buy-in back from him, I turned to him and said he should go because there’s a Laker’s game on and he didn’t want to miss that. I was trying to help him out before he lost all his winnings. Then, the wild lady took him down with 63os by rivering a straight to beat his flopped set of sevens. Chuck shook his head, his eyes a little crazy and probably on-tilt, and he bought back in.

Luck came his way for a little while, and he came up a couple hundred again when things turned around again. It had been a couple hours now of him leaning over and saying, “Just one more hand.” He folded a big pre-flop raise with 66 in which he would have flopped another set and won a massive pot, which definitely sent him on-tilt. Now, instead of saying, “Just one more hand,” he would lean over, his beer breath wafting my way, and say, “Shoulda’ played those sixes.”

Finally I said to him, “You should just go, you don’t want to lose too much tonight.” I felt bad for the guy. Not only was he missing the party, but this game had a hold on him and he was losing everything. Normally, I don’t mind if people stay and blow away all their money at my table, but this guy was chill and I liked talking to him. He ignored my advice though and bought in one last time. At around 12:30 AM, I, his biggest supporter ended up giving him the gauntlet and sending him home. With about $350 I had 9-10 of spades and the flop was 9-10-5 with two hearts. Chuck bet $50 and I just called. Turn was 10 hearts. I bet half the pot and Chuck called. River was 2 of hearts and Chuck quickly went all in with his 4-3 of hearts: a flush that couldn’t stand up to my boat. I called and Chuck ended up slamming his hand on the table and walking away from the table, angry with his hands on his head about to rip out his hair.

The moral of the story: leave when you should, or I will take your chips.

I find it only fitting, since this is my first blog, to write about how poker turned from a just game to an obsession after a trip to a local casino. As a lot of kids growing up I was exposed to playing card games as a form of recreation. Once high school came around, I and my friends would play games such as acey duecy, guts, Chicago and other oddball forms of poker for small stakes.

Like a lot of people, watching the movie “Rounders” and the emergence of televised poker got me and a few friends really interested in poker. I can still remember out first home game where about 8 of us anted up $20 apiece to play a tourney (The reason I remember is because I was fortunate enough to win it). At this point poker was just for fun but after my first trip to the casino it turned into an obsession.

A friend of mine invited me to go play a tournament at a local Indian gaming casino for $10 buy-in. What he failed to tell me was that it was a max $30 buy-in to get the full amount of chips ($10 got you 500 in chips and $30 got you 3000 in chips), regardless I decided to buy in for $10 for that is all I had. Well beginner’s luck was on my side since no one ever bought in for $10 the casino dealer accidently gave me $30 worth of chips. With this I was able to turn my $10 into about $100 for finishing in 3^rd place (I also gave $20 tip to the dealer who accidently gave me the full buy-in).

After finishing 3^rd I decided to play in a cash game. Since this was before the no-limit hold’em craze I had to play in a $3-$6 limit hold’em game. I was then hit flat in the face by the deck and was winning what seemed like every pot. I then proceeded to turn my $80 into $400 in a few hours. After that I thought wow what easy money and that’s when I was hooked and an obsession began. Little did I know then that with poker there is no such thing as easy money.

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