If you’ve been reading my previous posts, you’ll know my poker has not being going very well lately. In fact I was a constant loser in the game. I think I have finally overcome my run of bad luck last weekend. I was at my local bar all day when a friend invited me to a late night cash game. Great plan I thought … but better get home first and get some rest. I had been drinking since the early afternoon and when I said ‘call’ it sounded like ‘fold’.
So, I went home and took a little rest for a few hours, before Hassan phoned me to tell me the game was about to start. I got in around 1:30 PM but was not the last to get there. The rest of the crew showed up shortly after and we quickly got everything ready to play.

The game was no limit texas holdem with the blinds at 25c/50c. Minimum buyin was 10 euro and everybody bought in for just the $10. I decided I could not win more then 10 until someone had doubled up, but it WOULD be possible to lose more. Thus I bought in for the minimum as well.

The very first hand got me off to a great start. I picked up KK on the small blind. A (drunk) player had raised to 1.50 from early position, and it was folded around to me. I re-raised to 4 euro. The drunk gave it some thought and called to see the flop. As the little voice in my head said ‘Kings … Ace magnets …’, the flop came 8d, 9s and … the Ace of spades. I thought about putting a bet in, but since it was my very first hand of the night, I also considered checking and folding to a bet. I guess the correct play is to put out a bet, but instead I checked. I was expecting him to bet and I would have to fold .. the small advantage I did think I had was I had a very tight image and I often check top pair because they are all overly aggressive. HE CHECKED ! now I was confident I had the best hand and put him on some kind of lower pair then mine … 10’s Jacks or Queens possibly. Time to move the rest of my chips in (another 6 euro) and see if he can lay down his pair or will pay of my bet. He folded and I showed my KK.

After this first hand I continued to play pretty tight. I tried to limp in a few times but there was a guy to my left who kept raising when I tried to limp. He also seemed to pick up on standard poker moves like button raises, raises after a bunch of checks or bets on a paired board. He kept re-raising me every time I made a move. So I slowed down a little. In the course of the night  made some great calls and later on some big bluffs. One of the reasons I was able to pull off bluffs at the end of the night was because I showed strong holdings in the beginning of the evening.

I won a few more big hands and worked my way up to 30 euros. By this time most of the players were eliminated. With just 3 players left, it wasn’t a real cash game anymore and the ‘smart’ player I mentioned earlier started speeding to steal blinds. He only had about 10 euros left so every blinds steal was profitable for him. We waited for a hand to knock him out and took his money. Then when we were heads-up we decided to call it a night.

All in all it was a good poker night. I was a little disappointed by the lack of any real poker equipment. They had some chip cases and plastic cards, but there was no poker table, no dealer button, and the plastic cards they had looked a hundred years old. They had so much dirt stuck on there, I was sure that if you tried, you would be able to recognize some of the cards because of the dirt-pattern on the back. I guess they didn’t do that though, since I WON !!!

Time for another 'poker after dark' at a friends house. It was supposed to start at 1 at night, but some of the players got there even later then that. A 20c/40c NLHE cashgame was scheduled for that particular night, for which we had 9 players. There was also a smaller cash game with i think 1c/2c blinds with 4 players going on at another table. Quite a busy night with a lot of cards and chips flying over the table.

I was playing perfectly from the beginning. I won the first hand and a few other reasonable hands (a big one with QQ and a Q on the flop) putting my initial buyin of 10 euros up to about 20 euros. Meanwhile, I had seen the guy to my right trying to make some big bluffs but getting called and when he showed his hand I knew he was a donk. I also knew his play falls into the category of calling stations as I saw him make bad calls a few times. Oh and he kept making string bets too. (I call plus all-in)

Now everybody folds around to him on the small blind and he pulls another string bet out of his behind. I call plus 1 euro. I'm like ... dude .. that's a string bet *again*. Hey what's your problem, I raised he responded. Now I let my emotions get the better of me and I decide its time to teach him a lesson. I look down at Aq suited and decide to raise. Ok, I'll raise that wiht an additional 5 euro I say. To which he insta-pushes his entire remaining stack. I say 'shit' and go into the tank ... I count what's in the pot : 60 cents in blinds, his 1.10 raise and my 1.10 call, my 5 raise and his 5 call, plus another 9 euro he pushes in. So a total of 21.80 in the pot and it's going to cost me another 9 to call. So the pot is giving me better then 2 to 1 on my money, now the next question is .. what are my expected chances of winning. The following things went through my mind :

I've seen the player do big bluffs a few times, also pre flop

I've seen the player overvalue his hands

When he insta-pushed, he was obviously trying to seem strong (he repeated the amount with a firm voice) 

If he has AA KK QQ or AK, I'm in big trouble ... somehow I think he would have played those differently 

I've already got almost half my stack invested already (my own stupid fault, I know)

So, I think about it for a while and even though I don't like it, I figure in general I'm expecting to be ahead and I'm getting pretty good odds on my money now.

I call and turn over my AQ of diamonds as he says 'good call' and turns over QJo. The flop brings a Q and I get excited for a moment, but then fate comes back to slap me in the face and turns a J to give him the winning two pair.

Ok, I know I made a few mistakes there. I should have called to see the flop instead of reraising with my AQ. But even then, the flop would have brought the Q and we would both have thought to have the best hand... and lots of chips would have have gone to the middle. Probably all of them. Once I put the 5 euros extra into the pot I was commiting myself to play the hand through to the end.

Even though I was doing a lot of things really well, like reading my opponents, always playing from position and taking down the pots I should be taking down with well timed bets.  I still ended the night 20 euros down for the night because of this donkaments move. By the time people were cashing out to leave, some of them got into an argument and before I knew it all hell broke loose and I had to leave the premesis in a hurry to avoid getting caught up in a fight. Nice night :)

I found this site where a guy explains how he made a poker bot and how anyone with a bit of program language can do the same. Here's some of what he said :

If you're a poker player, and particularly if you're an online poker player, you've probably heard rumors about the rise of the poker bots. Unfortunately there's very little hard information out there (for obvious reasons) about how to build one of these bots. In fact, many so-called authorities still dismiss poker bots as a relic of the overactive poker player's imagination.

Pretty shocking stuff, after reading this I'm quite convinced there are a load of bots out there already. I think they would be playing at the lower levels, maybe $1/$2 max and mostly limit games as they are easier to predict mathematically. Just my 2c.

Oh dear, look what happened to me today on VC Poker .. Of course it just LOOKS like I have a hand here untill you read the whole hand history. But I thought it looked funny and the irony is of course 72 becoming the nuts on the flop... Wish I had called and taken all the chips from the guy with the Q on the river.

It was a very depressing tournament all the way anyway. A little sit and go I started to play in with my friend DutchDuke, for $2 on VC poker with 20 players. I managed to sit it out to the final table, only really playing 1 hand where I got pocket queens. DutchDuke was not so fortunate and when his chips were nearing the 1k limit and the blinds hit 100 he had to push A9 (I believe) and got called by a limper with A10.

After that I was even more card dead then I already was. I saw an ace deuce under the gun which I folded. Maybe I should have pushed there because I didn't get to see a picture card until I got K8 suited and shouted 'I'm ALL IN' !!!

Got called by pocket 55 and they held up against my overcards (and the flushdraw I got on the turn)

You know ... they say you can't win em all ... but can you lose them all ? I certainly seem to be doing that lately as this blog proves. My last few posts have been nothing but misery. Oh well, it's all free money anyway (got this $35 free for VC Poker at Free Poker Bankrolls ) . I still have more then $10 left at VC Poker, so all is not lost. Maybe I'll play another SNG there tonight. I'll keep you all posted.