Gregg's game

Gregg asked it I would write up the game this week, and I agreed.

I'm afraid that my ability to remember detailed hands is gone now, but perhaps I can offer a sense of the experience.

The venue has changed. The original expensive art is gone and in its place are huge 6 foot high slot machines on wall paper (or perhaps wall plastic) covering the entire room, so it is now more like being in a casino than an art museum. Those of you who have not been to a game in a while need to get over on Wednesday because SOS is a bit like Vegas. Just as the old Riviera will implode one of these days soon, the slot machine decor will certainly be replaced with some other creative venue invention, and you will have missed the experience.

The music Jim writes about each week is really amazing, a professional collage of all sorts of music, from opera to rock to country to blues to those old funny favorites we laugh about, all spiced with a few Sinatra classics.

Each week is different.

I wish the Vegas casinos could have such a blend of music. I've often written about just that issue since so much of the background music of Vegas is a new sort of whinny music that I intensely dislike and it is the same stuff over and over.

http://vegasbirthdaybash.blogspot.com/2013/11/tr-snippet-music.html

http://vegasbirthdaybash.blogspot.com/2014/11/tr-snippet-music-in-vegas.html

Every Vegas visit the music gets worse.

In fact, I've bought a couple of industrial ear protectors at Harbor Freight to wear the next time I play the video poker at the Four Queens.

http://www.harborfreight.com/hearing-protector-97849.html

There was some good talk of Vegas. I tried to talk Charlie into going with his wife and offered to help him find affordable and pleasant casinos with decent plays. He might go too during one of my next two upcoming trips, one in September and one starting at Halloween and going to November 20.

Charlie always has some interesting notes on Foxwoods or Turning Stone. He may go to Aruba to play there.

Well, back to the poker game.

Peter came along with me again and played well too. He was a bit tougher on his old dad this time, taking quite a few hands away from me. I don't quite see how he could have that many straights.

A newer player to the group, the second guy named Ed, came. He is a very pleasant fellow with a quiet, good sense of humor. The whole interaction of the players is just easy and delightful.

More of you should join us.

I knew that the old guy named Ed was not coming because it was a nice day. He was probably fishing or looking for buried treasure, or racing his motorcycle up and down the Galway country roads.

We missed Ezzy who is generally a regular now.

Jay Fowler should come and he wants too, but he is busy rebuilding America. Now that my kitchen is done, he has the rest of the Greater Capital District to rebuild.

I knew that Wild Bill was not coming because I had called him to see what was up. He was bowling in El Paso when I called. He said maybe next week. Bill works harder now bowling and coaching and picking horses than he did when he was a teacher.

Bill would have enjoyed the talk of the Derby. Everyone at the table who bet the race had won money. Jim had won $300.

Slink did not come. I think he still works. He needs to get himself retired. We even had a brief talk about religion between hands. Slink has a favorite theology taken from the verse about, “Faith, hope, and charity”. Slink's take is that if one loses “faith,” he can still have “hope.” My spin is that this ignores the third virtue, “charity.” You could bring some of that to the game, Slink, and cover all the Biblical bases.

Blowers did not come. But that did not mean we lacked plenty of action. In fact, there were so many double straddles and so many all-in hands that it was rather like a John Blowers Memorial Poker game except no one wore a hat and Blowers is as far as we know still alive somewhere in America and playing perhaps like “a gorilla” as that famous woman poker player once remarked. I know he went to Tampa. SOS is much closer than Tampa, John.

We missed others who come now and again. Basketball Jim was not there. John's wife Ann has been facing some serious sickness and we think and talk about the two of them every week, wishing them well and hoping they will be back soon. Pat who often comes missed this week.

Ron rarely comes anymore.  

Gregg says that Bruce and Phil have dropped off the map, but they would both enjoy this game. Bruce would find comfortable space for his knees, and we need to hear the old, “God hates a coward” as Phil makes some questionable call.

Scott Rice is just a shadow in my distant past. Too many children, too much work. You have been neglecting your decadence, Scott! I know you came once when I was in Florida. Not nearly enough.

And speaking of old decadent teachers, where is Mike Karp?

And there are others perhaps on Gregg's mailing list who I haven't mentioned.

The room will accommodate whoever comes, even two tables.

The game started with Gregg losing about seven hands and four or five buy-ins in a row. I took most of Gregg's money and I played with it the rest of the afternoon, going up and down and then losing much of it back in the last hours of the game as is my pattern.

That had to be one of the worst streaks Gregg has experienced in recent times. He even had to go “upstairs” or as it is now “in the next room” to replenish his cash.

At the end of that time I also had a high hand of jacks full of kings which held up until 4PM. Only this week we played until 6 PM, and I recklessly agreed to extend the time, and old Charlie managed to turn his pocket Aces into quads.

There went that dough.

We may do an Aces Cracked bonus next week for those interested. The high hand is optional too, but many join in. It is just a side amusement and there is no pressure.

Gregg made a grand comeback and quit about even. I played on one buy-in and ended up $25. Peter bought in three times and ended about $30 up. Jim lost pretty big. The cards just did not come. The new Ed lost a couple buy ins and left early. I think Charlie broke about even with the high hand money.

I wish I remember more particular hands. Perhaps others can fill in what they remember.

There was plenty of action and plenty of poker drama.

I played Peter's favorite 6-9 and flopped a straight.

Peter bluffed Gregg off a pair of queens when old Peter had absolutely nothing except one of the queens Gregg wanted.

Since often Gregg was first straddle and Peter a double straddle, with me next to play, I often raised to push out the other players and just be left with only folks playing blind. Once I bet 20chips on A-4 preflop, trying to steal the $8 blinds. The blinds all called me. On the river I made a wheel. No once could believe that I put 20 chips on an A-4.

It was a grand pot!

I put Jim all-in preflop on one hand when I held pocket kings.

He held pocket Aces.

They held up.

Peter once held 4-6 and caught a straight that beat the wheel. On that hand I had 4-7 of spades but had folded it. It would have yielded a higher straight and the flush.

Peter was once behind in a well bet preflop hand with Gregg when both went all-in. Gregg had two pair. Peter had an Ace of hearts with some other high card, and four hearts came on the river to give him a very good pot.

Perhaps others remember some other dramas.

Thanks to all for helping me keep this pulled back muscle from getting reinjured. Each day that I baby it, it seems to get just a bit better.

I tried sitting on the new water spurting bidet toliet seat, but it did not do the job for me. Those of you who have not come lately need to show up just to see this new innovative technology in waste elimination.

You never know what you will experience when Gregg arranges the venue.

http://www.cardschat.com/poker-hand-nicknames-rankings.php

Ocala

They stopped having the high hand awards on Sunday, so I missed going last week and will miss next week.  This week I managed the trip.
I started my game at about 2 PM.  I quit a bit after 5 because we were down to just five or four.  I ate my sandwich in the parking lot and took a drive down the road toward Ocala, but I was not impressed.  Pretty rural stuff.  I stopped at one Seafood restaurant just to see what they had.  No one knew where the seafood came from other than Jacksonville.  They thought I was odd for asking.  They are new.  I don't think they will last long.
We are spoiled here on the coast for seafood.

When I got back Christine, the loose aggressive player was bullying her way to large winnings.  She had two followers too.  I won't play with her again.  It is more like bingo than poker.  She left. Another left.  And that left Mo who took about $300 and lost it all and more.  She could not bully a table of short chipped players.
She took me out once when a river heart gave her king power to beat my flush.  But gradually I got that back.

The room was underattended, so it was a grand day to look for high hand awards, $500 every half hour.  Most of the time Aces full was paid.  This did me no good as I had one pair of pocket Aces and had to fold them on the turn.
Once I had a good draw with trip kings on the flop.  Once I needed the 4 of hearts for a small straight flush.  Once I held J-7 of clubs and thought the 8 would give me a straight flush, but had it come, I would have not gotten the high hand because my 7 would not have played in the straight flush.  As it was, a very good player put me on less power and bet into me twice with just a straight.
Once I had pocket jacks and a flop with two 7's.  A loose player bet ten on the turn and I called.  It was a bad call, but the river gave me a Jack.  I checked, he bet, I raised all-in and he called.  Lucky hand.

Overall I enjoyed the game.  I was up and down.  I was ahead $104 when I quit the first session, then down with Christine and then up again to perhaps $150 for the day, but a couple second bests cost me. 

Tampa Downs and Silks with Wild Bill

I went down to the Silks yesterday to meet up with Bill, watch some horses, and play some cards.  It was a good day.
I played 1-1 no limit.  I like this game. 
My afternoon table was dull.  No action.  No interesting characters.  One really annoying woman on my right.
I had one good hand against the loose player at the table.
I had pocket queens.
After the flop, the one loose player at the table went all in for $13.  The annoying woman to my right called.  I put lose guy one nothing and her on a diamond flush or straight draw using a 7-8 of diamonds on the board. 
At this small stakes game, this was a decent pot, so I pushed.  It would cost her $54 to see two more cards. 
She thought about it.
Then she folded with one of those sarcastic, "Okay, I'll give you the $20."
I'm thinking, "Oh, did I unsettle your grumpy, dejected churlish self with an all-in bet at a no limit table?  Well, hey, life is unfair and I'm just hear to help it."

All-in Lose guy was on an inside straight draw to his jack.  He caught it on the turn.
But when another jack came on the river, my queens made the larger straight.
Very lucky and funny hand.

I sat around with Bill's friend Al and his friends who were all old guy horse players. 
I bet just the last two races and lost both.  Bill gave me an good exacta on the last race and it was a close one, but another horse edged in between my two horses.

I watched these races from the fence and it was so cold I actually thought of going back to the car for a jacket, but I was too lazy and just staying in the sun in my shirt sleeves.  Florida winter.

The early evening 1-1 table was quite a bit more delightful. There were some old guys telling jokes and kidding each other.  One looked like an old Jack Nicholas.  Bill sat next to me.  There were some who were fairly new to the game including a very pleasant woman at the far end.  I had a grand time. 
There was plenty of action, and unlike the other table, if I had cards, folks paid to see them.

One regular named Woody was there.  I like to play with him.  He is aggressive and often tried to steal or bluff.
I have pocket sixes that flop trips and I slow play. 
Quite a few people are in and Woody is betting so I check to him.
On the turn don't check raise because I want to see the river.  There is a high hand award with just a half hour left.
The river is the case six.

I hesitate wondering how much to value bet and Woody misreads me and out of turn he pushes about $40 all-in.
I am careful because some of these guys play games like turning over their cards as if to fold, watching the opponent and then betting them.
So I ask the dealer if that is a bet.
"It is"
And I call for a nice pot and a great chance at the high hand award.

With about 12 minutes left four nines come on the board and one of the guys holds the Ace.  Well, the rules at the Silks make this a high hand that beats out mine.  Only the guy gets a penalty because his kicker does not play and because there is but $10 in the pot so when he knocks me out of my potential $400, he only gets $100.  I get a consolation prize of $50.  These are the strangest high hand rules I have ever seen.

So, I was a bit disconcerted to have lost the big bucks, but my winnings at this table covered my earlier loses at cards and horses so that I came home with a score of $64 in the black.  Not a bad day at low no limit.

I went with Bill and his two sons to a seafood restaurant and had oysters and a chicken wing special with a couple of pretty good merlots on a 2 for 1 happy hour that ended one minute after we ordered.  That was good timing even if my quad sixes were not.

Overall I liked the Silks. Perhaps I liked it better than Ocala in the evening. It is fine to be able to take a break from a boring table and watch the horses. 
The ride back was not so bad.  I took the toll road and was home in a bit over an hour with very little traffic and some good NPR all about the emergence of UTube as the new source of entertainment and news.  Nicely done.  Better than listening to the endless reports of beheading.
I got the directions to Whole Foods wrong, but I stopped a Target and bought a few things, including the organic Earl Grey I'm sipping as I write this morning.
And I listened to a bit of Jack Williams who we saw here in an Inverness concert a couple years ago.
I was home by a little after ten.


 

Dad and Pete at Ocala once again

In the late afternoon we went up to Ocala for some poker.  We sat down at 4 PM and in about 5 hands Peter had lost over $100.  It looked like a grand beat up day.  The players were very good and he seemed off his game.

 

We played a while longer with no improvement, so I suggested we go have some supper at the Iron Skillet and then come back, hoping the table selection would change.

And that worked just fine. 

Most likely our going broke that table.  I could see some of the players scattered around the room when I got back, but it did not look like we would be playing short tables again. 

 

Peter and I got seats on different tables and then he was able to move to mine and again sit right next to me, on my right.  This works for us.  When he raises I know that he probably has high cards and I might call him with middle cards and so we have plenty of hands covered. 

 

He was back on his game, an aggressive game where he was often the guy betting.  So, he would get called, even by people with very poor hands in situations where I might have the best cards but no callers. 

That does not mean he plays everything.  There were long periods where we both just tossed hands and played our blinds, but in this 1-1 we can play more sorts of hands.

He was on the board for a possible $500 win twice, but each time he was beaten.

 

However, we had a grand run, playing until midnight when the last high hand was over.  He left up $87.  I was up $29.  So, it was a fine time.  For Peter, who rarely has even a few dollars in his pocket, to leave with over $200 from this week of fun is just a fine situation.

 

I rolled in at 1:30 and went immediately to sleep

Dad and Pete in Ocala

After a tour of the Appleton Art museum, including a photo by the Lucky Lion, Peter and I went up to play poker at the 1-1 game in Ocala's Jai-Alai.

 

 

 

At first Peter got slammed pretty hard. $60 is the maximum rebuy and generally both of us replenished from our pocket to keep that $60 in front of us. At the lowest point of his game, Peter had just $60 of $200 left and was feeling like perhaps he should quit.

I encouraged him to stay. I had hit a high hand award of $200 on Aces full of Queens that held up (They award one every 30 minutes) and so I thought we had plenty to play with.

And then his game turned around. I could feel it.

Peter does not play casino poker, but only the game at Gregg's. Even his trips to Vegas years ago were before we played poker. He played blackjack then.

However, this game is not much different than the game we play at Gregg's, especially in the early afternoon except the stakes are higher. By evening the game evolves into a softer game, much like what Gregg's game used to be years back when we could count on a few bad players showing up and we were not as experienced ourselves.

 And, of course, Peter knows none of the players at Ocala.

He continued to grind back his lost dollars.

Then he had J-6 in the blind ( we play more blind hands here because there are two one dollar blinds and often no preflop raising) and the flop was 6=6=5.

The turn was the case 6, so Peter would get on the board for the high hand award if the river was not higher than his Jack. Here he made a mistake. He played to maximize the pot by checking to check raise when he should have pushed all his chips in and force all other players out so as not to see a river card.

He does not need pockets to win, but both his cards have to play as part of the best five cards.

But he was lucky. The river card was 5. He made a value bet and was not called. He was on the board. He had to sweat out the ten minutes left, but in the end he won the $200 high hand award for the 30 minute period.

I lost my high hand money back, quitting with just $12 to the good.  I played poorly.

Peter played well and left with $138 profit for the seven hours.

It was delightful to see him win. After a year of struggle and much more yet to face, here was a tough challenge met and conquered.

We hope to go back Saturday. That might be a different story. That day the high hand awards are $500, but the odds are less of winning because there are more players.

My timing was off or I might have done better. I hit quad 3's with pockets, and over half the time those quads would have won, but someone had hit a royal earlier in the half hour, so all I got was the pot.

Ocala Two

I went up for the 1000 high hand bonus, but I won't again.
I did not mind waiting in line, but what it got me was a seat with a bunch of regular and tight players so pots were very slim.  They are there just to play for the 1000.  They don't want action.  At $5 Ocala takes $1, at $10 they take $2 and the bonus rake.  There is no way to overcome that rake.  I watched a woman win hand after hand and then looked at her chip stack.  It was not impressive.

It took me a while to get to another table, but there I found some action so I'd get paid if I had good cards.
I lost anyway.

So, I felt beat up most of the day.

When the table got down to just 6 or 7 at 5 PM I was ready to go, but the high hands were paying out on much smaller hands, even some Aces full.  And there always seemed to be one lose player at the table, so I stayed.

A fellow came who told us he was very annoyed and it would all be about raising.  He sat to my left. 

I got 3-3 with a 3 on the flop.
I checked and he bet $15 and the next guy raised. He was betting his K-Q, pair of kings on the flop.

So I reraised.  Raiser to my right did not stay, but the K-Q called me.
It was a K on the river, so he thought he was golden and went all-in. 
After I beat him I left up $8 for the day.

I had bought in for $200 over time.  This is a large amount in a game where $60 is the maximum buy in.  I did not expect to break even.
I wish I felt happier.  I just was beat up over so long that I left with that feeling.

Also, I had been up a 3 AM so I was exhausted.  That did not help.
The driving was a bit tougher at that time of day, but it still is easy enough.

Ocala

Poker has not been winning me money lately.  and last night was no exception.  However, five hours of poker with a loss of $34 is tolerable.  I just did not get the cards.
I played fairly tight, but in a 1-1 game (unlike a 1-2) I don't have to look for only one hand an hour and expect to make a pile of money.  Since the stakes are $20-$60 and the players are playing for real within those limits, there will not usually be very large pots and often, even with the best cards, an opponent will be all in with very little.
The problem of losing $300 in one hand is eliminated in this game.
And actually I lost $20 playing 1-2 when I first arrived.  The 1-1 had not yet started up.
The 1-2 requires a buy in bankroll for $60 to $100.  I buy in for $60 and eliminate the bluff and chase factor.  I wait for good cards and push early.  Then I can't lose more than $60.  I play very few hands in the 1-2.

The 1-1 offers more action and protects me from losing a lot with second best.

For example, in the 1-1 last night I held 10-10 in a late position, and the flop came K-K-5
It was checked around.

The turn was a 10, giving me a full house, 10's full of kings.
A good player bet $5.  I put her on trip K's which she slow played.
I raised to $15.

She went all-in, but that meant my $15 and $3 more.

She held K-10 for the larger full house of kings full of 10's.

This is the sort of hand that in a larger stakes game would take an uncomfortable bankroll from me, but it is not a big deal in this 1-1.  Had she held just trip K's, I would have left last night just over even for the night.

Generally, since I was playing very tight, I rarely bet out.  Most of the time I could count on an opponent betting in to me.
Once I held A-Q on the button and raised to $3 preflop. 
Bob played just ahead of me. 
He bet $8 after the flop.
One guy was behind me.  The flop included a Q.  I raised to $16, a really large bet for this game.  The guy behind me folded, which was my intention. I figure head to head with Bob representing some queen and  I have a decent chance. 
But when it got to Bob, he thought a while, and he folded as well.
I suspect I had him beat, but his fold was based on my prior tight play and my preflop raise and perhaps on his attempt to steal the pot with second best hand. 
Getting respect for reraises is not always a good thing especially for me because I bluff so little.

I have played with Bob before and I find him formidable.  Here he is on NY Eve winning $2015 for quad 8's, the top hand of the hour for those playing at midnight.  I was not there.  this is the first poker I've played down here.

He is very easy going and friendly.  I like being at the table with him even if I don't like being in a hand with him.

The game attracted all sorts of people.  There were some really loose players.  One woman who held K-4 of diamonds, and just a pair of 4's and one other diamond called some pretty good sized bets to catch a runner-runner flush on the river taking down two players with trips.
 She won a good pot, but after a couple hours, she had gone through a couple hundred dollars and those winnings as well. She always showed her losing cards and sometimes they were way down the list of possibilities.  He rarely had a hand she did not like.  I would have bet into her, but I never had that chance.

If there were three or four of her at the table, it would have been an impossible game, but it was, in general, not as loose as 2-4, and there were no maniacs.  Rarely did anyone go all-in.  One loose caller is just great for my style of play.

However, there was very little conversation other than the cards.  In limit there is often conversation similar to what I might experience were I to go to a tavern and sit around a bar.  I like hearing the lives and stories of strangers.  This was not the game for that. 

Most players talked about what they had held and what they had done with it.  Most showed cards if they won a hand even when they did not have to. 
There were times when the talk and joking got very loud and funny, but it was always about the cards and not about life.  I was quiet if you can believe it.
I made one interesting mistake in etiquette.  I took a guy's last dollar.  It is common to leave a player with one dollar because then s/he can buy in for any amount.  A busted player has to rebuy for a full $20.
No one used a card protector except one other player and me.  One fellow with great cards had his hand mucked and his bet returned when a discarded player's card fell on top of his hand.   He was annoyed, but he did not rant.  He just walked away for a while.  It surprised him that he was not going to get to play his cards. 
And when he came back, he still left his cards for the most part unprotected.
The dealer recommended he put chips on his cards.  I find that a bit confusing.  They often have to be used to play the game and then the cards are unprotected again. 

There was a good bit of joking and fun with the game.  I did like that part.  It was not all taciturn old guys, and the mood was not somber.  I find a table of poker faced grumps oppressive.  If 2-4 is like playing at a bar with strangers, 1-2 is often like being at a wake where no one has any stories left, and they are all contemplating their own deaths.  At some 1-2 games I am sometimes sure that some have died right there at the table, except they do move the cards and tap the table once in a while.  They are like the alligators here in winter in the midst of winter brumation. You watch them and watch them and watch them and just when you think they are manikins, one blinks an eye or inches up a claw.

This 1-1 is more like this:

 

And sometimes like this:

There is no bad beat, but there are these half hour bonus pays for the highest hand in the room.  On the wall is a clock that shows to the second where we are in each half hour round and the hand that is currently the high hand.  While generally good quads or straight flushes were needed to win there were some payouts of $500 for Aces full. 
Each day there is some such bonus, but the amounts change.  Saturday is the best.  And if I get there early in the morning, at 10AM on Saturday, they play for $1000 for an hour.
That fits my own sleeping patterns. 
Most other days the poker room does not open until noon.

I love the bonus hand system because unlike the bad beat, someone in the room is going to get paid each half hour.  I got on once with 10's full but knew I would be bumped off.  Still, it is fun to see my name up on the board for a while and have some hope for luck against the odds.
Also, the bonus hands are talked about just like the bad beat is talked about in other casinos.
I get so bored with hearing players talking about the bad beat, asking the dealer to deal the bad beat,  wishing for the bad beat, observing that we are due to get the bad beat...and on into infinity.  It is the same think over and over and over, like Catholics with a rosary of unlimited beads and the same prayer over and over.
But talk about the bonus hands does not have the same oppression and near misses come often.  The woman next to me had four to the straight flush four times in an hour.  Any one of those hit would have won the $500. I can get an excited  sense of the near miss much better.

The bonus high hand possibility means people play more cards than they might otherwise play.  I won a hand with a 7-10 of hearts in late position because after the flop, I needed just the 9 of hearts to win the $500.  My opponent was in the same situation.  She needed my 7.  I ended up with the higher flush.

The structure of the game also means we play more hands.  Often the dollar blind is enough to see the flop, or perhaps there is a button straddle that takes the game to $2.  This hurts no limit players who are frustrated that people will chase hands and beat their high pairs, but I am used to that sort of game from the 2-4, and I like not having to be quite so patient.

Generally, I am going to limp and play my blinds until the flop about half the time.  I best like playing poker after the flop.

Also, the blinds are equal.  So the small blind does not have to automatically add money to see the flop.

Everything in this game arranges itself to give the player more action than most no limit games with less bluffing.  At the same time, there is some bluffing in the game, more than in 2-4.

No free beverage is served except during certain times when there is free coffee.  I forgot that so I payed $1.75 for coffee.  This is a place to carry a thermos in the car and take a food break.
Paying for that coffee won me a hand. 
I had A-2 and was confused that I had to pay for what I thought would be a free coffee.  I barely paid attention and checked until the river.  The turn was a 2 and the river an A so I was thinking two pair and I bet $10.  I failed to remember that the flop held 4-4 so my two pair was diminished and any other Ace would beat me.  All folded.
I think they thought I had slow played trip 4's.
There was not much money in the pot, but certainly I stole enough money to pay for the coffee with that poor bet.

I just did not eat yesterday and that was great for my blood sugar.  I struggle here at the house with a refrigerator full of good food.  Everything seems tipping me into bad numbers lately.  Even a morning bike ride did not help yesterday and just a bit of supper drove up my morning numbers when I woke up today from the 96 that poker without food  gave me yesterday. 
Just as in Vegas, poker at Ocalafor me  is some poker and ironically some health spa. 

Well, hope you Bobby Court guys are taking all the new money from SOS.