A Real Cool Hand

There is a poker scene in the movie 'Cool Hand Luke' http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061512/ . The game is five card stud. On every betting street Luke re raises an opponents visible pair of sevens with only a King showing. On the last street after Luke has re raised yet again 'kick a buck', the sevens fold and he takes down the pot. Poker etiquette is then violated, but this is a chain gang game, so no one complains, by turning over the winning hand. Luke has only king high and has successfully bluffed the pot.

Although not in this case, poker is often handled badly in the movies. Rules can be incorrect or misinterpreted, and usually two improbable hands are contesting the showdown, maybe a straight flush versus quads.

Here is hand I played that demonstrates a similar concept to the hand played in Cool Hand Luke. At micro stakes it is generally considered bad to make fancy plays and bluffs as the players are too bad to realise what you are doing.

Full Tilt Poker $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em - 7 players
2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked

UTG+1: $2.39
MP: $2.66
CO: $1.23
BTN: $5.53
SB: $5.05
BB: $6.46
Hero (UTG): $6.62

For non poker players I am in early position or under the gun, of seven players with a stack of $6.62.

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is UTG with Q T
Hero raises to $0.15, 5 folds, BB calls $0.10

So I raise three times the amount of the big blind and the player in the big blind calls. QT suited is not the strongest hand to make an out of position, pre flop raise with. In this instance I was looking to get 'heads up' that is, only play against one other player. The player in question had recently lost a few hands he would normally have won. Other players made bad calls and got lucky against him. He was trash talking in the chat window, and I saw an opportunity to play against him. I made the raise and the plan worked, only the villain called.

Flop: ($0.32) 9 7 K (2 players)
BB bets $0.30, Hero calls $0.30

Now the villain bets an amount close to the pot. This is not that unusual as there isn't that much in the pot. At this point I think I can outplay him. I think he may have an ace or pair, that doesn't match the flop. I call, I don't want to re raise as if he moves all in, I can't call.

Turn: ($0.92) 9 (2 players)
BB bets $0.60, Hero raises to $1.20, BB calls $0.60

The villain now bets two thirds of the pot, so he has slowed a bit. There is now a flush draw on the board. I still think the villain has nothing, and even though I also have nothing, I think my play is better disguised, and I suspect the villain thinks he is behind. I re raise him.

River: ($3.32) A (2 players)
BB bets $1.80, Hero raises to $4.97 all in

He now bets over half the pot, and I detect weakness. I re raise all in on a total bluff, I have Ace high. But the Ace of clubs now makes a possible flush, which I don't think he has, even if he has paired an ace now, my play looks like it can beat top pair. Maybe I had three of a kind or set, all along, or I have played the flush draw and hit.

The villain types "You lucky blighter" or similar into the chat window and folds. I ship the pot.

Sometimes nothing is a real cool hand, as Luke would say.

Resolute shuns.

I have not played much poker over the holidays, mainly due to working rather than anything else. Back to the grind today though. I have still only been playing 5nl, despite not hitting my bankroll target of $250. I could not face playing 2nl to recover from the recent dip. It could be taken as a sign of weakness, as a good player must sometimes drop down when the situation calls for it. I decided that if the bad run continued, then I would drop at $100, and as my bankroll considerations are fairly conservative, I have not been taking that much of a risk anyway. So far, so good, as roll is slowly building again. I still think it must look odd to outsiders, thinking "Why bother?" But for me, the challenge of beating the game at the stakes I currently play, and the hope I can make enough to step up to the next level are enough to keep me coming back.

I was pretty hungover yesterday from new years eve, but not as bad as boxing day. I was putting the wine away, xmas day, and I really paid for it. My friend Del, had tickets for West Ham V Wolves, so a pleasant head clearing day was had by the both of us, watching the irons get a comfortable victory. The O's got destroyed 5-0 at Brighton, so every silver lining has a cloud, I think it is.

No real resolutions this year, apart from do more photography. I had a chat with my nephew James on New years eve, and we are going to try and have a day out on Londons streets, doing a bit of documentary.

Web site of the day

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2JtPAe/www.openculture.com/2009/11/free_movies_online.html

Merry everything to you all.

Black Wednesday

I don't know if you follow the stock market, but you may have noticed Toshiba shares took a nosedive yesterday. The city got word that I was team leader! The rota'd TL was sick, so I had to step up to the plate LOL. You could taste the irony, as the office clown, attempted to exert some kind of authority. It's a victory for slackers everywhere. Actually the team managed to keep a lid on most things, and apparently the company is still trading. I have applied for the post permanently, as they are fairly desperate to fill the spots, I may even get it. It's not much in terms of salary but will look good on CV.

Good graph for today

I even had A's busted by 22 on the river too. Did I turn on the chat as usual? Not a bit of it, just had a chuckle and played on. Maybe I have kicked the tapping on the glass habit, don't know, too early to tell, but definitely progress.

Don't Tap on the Glass...

Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned attaining the magic $250, as the poker gods heard and they have cast variance down on me with a vengeance. The fish are hitting every two outer on the river, like chasing is going out of business. I say variance, but some of it may be I am not the LAG I need to be. LAG means loose/aggressive, I play and raise more hands than a TAG (tight/aggressive) but less than the fish. The key to good lag play is reading the flop and outplaying your opponents on later streets.

Anyway, here is the most illogical thing I do while playing online poker. Tapping on the glass. Is when you berate, insult, and abuse the retarded moronic plays fish make in the hands against you, when they catch unlikely hands to win the pot. As any theory book will tell you, there is no justification for it. The outcome will be one of two things, both bad. A) You will educate the fish, by explaining his bad play. You need as many bad players in the game as possible. B) You will upset the fish, and he will leave the table. Now a potential source of income has left with your money. I know all this, and yet , cannot resist turning the chat back on (I have it switched off in a futile attempt to combat this habit) and giving the fish both barrels. I keep telling myself, I need to get over this but..... ah well, they say recognising is the first step.

Got to do a Double Shift....

Not too much poker in the last few days, I did double shifts at work Saturday AND, I say, AND Sunday, and as it is very busy at the moment, I only managed to play a bit at work. I have a mobile broadband dongle, so I can play a bit, only one table though, as work keeps getting in the way, so inconsiderate. Last three or four sessions have seen small profits, so still working towards that magic $250 bank roll. I have to decide how I am going to celebrate this milestone, sometimes it feels like a like a long time coming, but it's all good discipline and patience wise.

Needing the exercise I took a walk into town today, to get a haircut. Bought a couple of books as I had a voucher to use up. Looking forward to starting 'The Search for the Dice Man' by Luke Rhinehart. I had forgotten just how awesome 'The Dice Man' is and I have not read anything else by him. Took a quick look at this sequel over coffee, and looks really good. Also got 'Matterhorn' Karl Marlantes. Epic Vietnam war novel, an era that fascinates me. Lastly, 'Invisible' Paul Auster. Read quite a few of his, and I enjoy his enigmatic style. Thing is, I am already reading and enjoying 'Dracula' which I picked up in the cheap classics section of Asda/Wall Mart for a quid, bargain.

Quick ten minute video of my poker setup and a few hands here

http://www.screentoaster.com./watch/stUE9dQ0dLRFtWQFpcWl9aU1NS/simon_poker_setup

Web Site of the Day

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1oiez8/www.bestonlinetools.org/50-top-websites-to-download-ebooks/

Don't Know What to Title Todays Blog

Yesterdays graph looking better. Recovered $5 or so, of the recent debacle. If I am on an early shift, I try to get in two hours poker before Denise gets home, but yesterday, quit early due to the high win rate I wanted to protect. This is not really the correct attitude in the sense, that if you are beating the game, then the longer you play, the better. But, another reason to play only those two hours, is because I then start to get tired. This is also when poor or sub optimal decisions start to creep in.

If you have not already seen it, my beloved Orient star in the latest Nintendo DS ad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwE0_bzZTQA

Me and Mark went to see the boys on Tuesday night, in a first round replay against upstart local rivals Dagenham and redbridge. I never thought I would hear the chant "We love you Dagenham, we do", but there you go, we stuffed them 3-2 despite the idiot ref awarding them a sympathy pen to let them back in it.

Website of the day

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2incLn/www.futilitycloset.com/2010/06/28/mirror-years

The Cooler King

OK, yesterday I was saying I was .82c up, well that went south pretty rapidly. It turned into what we poker degenerates call, a cooler.

There are sessions where no matter what you do, how well you play, the poker gods will mock you. They will give idiot players, fish as we call them, improbable hands time after time. Yesterday I had two full houses beaten, which accounts for stacking off twice (losing my entire buy in for that table). Sometimes you get in the situation where your opponent, known as the villain, requires a one or two outer to beat you. That is, there are only one or two cards left in the pack to be dealt, that can beat you. The odds against the villain hitting are high. But on certain days, they will, again and again.

This is what I have referred to before, as variance. Mathematical probabilities are correct over very high samples. In the short term all kinds of weird plays can happen. Even knowing this, is no guarantee of sanity though. You can start to question your strategy, your karma and whether it is unlucky to be superstitious (It is). Another downside to this variance is it can affect your discipline, I made some bad plays, because I let emotion into the building. The poker table is not a place for emotions.

Today is a new day, time to dust myself off, and get back in the ring. One upside is I get post a pic of the all time cooler king himself.