The Monkey on My Back

Omaha Hi Lo. It is a nice game. Somewhat safe if you play truly tight, but nothing replaces the right cards at the right time. It is the monkey on my back.

My wife had given me a book on Omaha Hi Lo some years back I studied and thought I understood the game. I am just beginning to, after reading the book and with at least ten outings, each which lasted many hours. I play the low stakes limit game. Saturday the casino begins a game at 10:00am. I have heard they play Omaha Hi Lo Limit, or some version of it, on Tuesdays and Thursdays also.

I have yet to walk away from a table ahead at Omaha Hi Lo. What is particularly frustrating is that I can sit at the table for hours and win just enough to stay in. Then I watch some seats take hand after hand, almost effortlessly, while I can go two hours without seeing a respectable hand come my why. I am not even tempted to go on tilt as the poor to marginal hands I throw away would never have developed on the flop.

I understand why people sometimes switch seats when they have the chance.

Recently the Omaha Hi Lo table has been loose; near everyone in each hand. I hope this is not on my account. The pot is often driven up pre-flop with straddles and raises, but not always.

After a rebuy, and my stack was growing low, one such circumstance arose. There was a straddle. I called. Followed by a pre-flop raise with a clearly statement of intent to build up the pot. I called. I drew the nut flush draw on the flop and hit it on the turn. The betting was quite aggressive until the turn. I had just under two bets left (this is a limit game).

I was quite tense. All I wanted was the board not to pair. With so many players a full house is common, and even if you make one, the chances are someone may have a higher full house, if you don’t have the nuts. So I was hoping only for the board not to pair on the river and it didn’t. I tried to get all my chips in but no one raised, only one called.

It was a large pot, even split with a low hand. The comments afterwards reflected a general disappointment by all that I had won. I soon left the game, down for the day, but with enough to buy-in another day.

I have been discouraged by my losses at Omaha Hi Lo and it makes me want to go back until I win. I got home. Put together the scribbled accounts of my last several outings and got them down into the ledger. I found myself still extremely in the black. I verified the figures and sighed happily, “Good. I thought I was worse off.”

But I wont be going back to the Hi Lo table until at least one more tournament wins. My last tournament I was doing fairly well and pushed all-in pre-flop, after my raise was re-raised. I was hoping for a heads up, two still on the hand, which I got. My 4’s met Aces and I knew right then I was out. My mistake. I didn’t need to see any cards.

I shy away from cash games. The stability for a tight player (stability for me is playing a very long time before busting) at a Omaha Hi Lo Limit game is a draw for me, though I am wondering if I would be better off in the long run at a No-Limit Hold’m table.

The comments at the table over my last big Hi Lo hand were not the only signals I have received, that most everyone at the table, most everyone playing at the casino regularly, knows who I am. Or at least they think they know. I am in a position where my success in anything is taken as a threat to some. This has been a constant in my life; whether it comes from a disgust for my faith or for more personal reasons.

There has also been a tendency, over several of my last outings, for people to bet out of turn over me. That is they bet without waiting for me to act. This isn’t necessarily uncommon at a table. When it happens to me and only me, and I do not hide my cards as some do, over and over this is an obvious attempt to frustrate me. Yes, I am observant. That is why I do well in poker.

The tournaments at our local casino have far more over sight than the regular daily operation of the cash games. The dealer takes the brunt of any disagreements at the table. Don’t make the dealer’s day miserable.

In poker, however, if you know the game anything that may be considered a disadvantage or obstacle can be turned to your advantage. If people believe you are a person you are not, they cannot read you. If people think you will fold when to large aggressive bets and raises…, no mystery as to how that is not an advantage. Nor is it a mystery that you can make people who think you don’t know the game pay. If people just outright don’t like you, their emotions will do them in. All if you know how to play the game.

Yes, you still need the cards. You still need to be able to spot weakness or strength. But, if you are a good player, the potential to find justice at the poker table can be far greater than the potential to find justice in life. Your abilities will be recognized and respected far more quickly at the poker table than in any other profession. Success is undeniable. People who know the game, and most at the casino do, recognize and respect good players, even when the cards may be against you. That doesn’t mean people will like you. But if I ever won big and became filthy rich would the falsehoods over my life evaporate?

Don’t chase delusions. If your no good and don’t have the money stop playing.

The busy Christmas season has kept me away from any tournaments the last couple of weeks, not to mention the rush to make my writing goals for the month. Click on the “My Store” tab above to find my books. They are works of fiction, not poker tutorials.

It is time to make resolutions for the New Year. Time to talk to my wife over our goals and how to achieve them. The Mid-States Poker Tournament coming in a couple of weeks at The Potawatomi Casino is on my mind. I can’t attach any more significance to it than any other game if I want to do well.

With my current winnings this looks to be a Winter of Poker for me. How it all turns out will determine whether the investment of time is worth the money earned. That means a lot of sitting. I already do a lot of driving and bowling on my friends team, which also strains my back. I recommend the Teeter Hang Up. Some warn against the inversion table, though I have never heard their reasons (just their advertisements for their shows on the radio) but it has brought relief to both me and my wife. Neither of us use it excessively. If sitting for hours on end at the poker table bothers your back this might bring some relief. One of my legs is shorter then the other so I wear one shoe to offset the difference. I had some discomfort using the table before that.

God Bless, Merry Christmas (it is the season) and Happy New Year.

The Build Up

The anticipation builds as an opportunity to enter a tournament arises. Like going off to battle you clear out your bowls, clean and dress to impress, in whatever way one looks to impress their opponents, (and maybe take some breath mints in consideration of the others at the table). You sit down at the table. The tension is palatable. You set to work and soon you hit a rhythm. Everything calms. Even if it doesn’t feel like your night, you play smart. Fortunes shift without warning. Stacks are made and lost.

It is on those nights when nothing comes easy that I find the most rewarding. You get the win and feel like no one in the world can beat you.

Under the conclusion that when I consistently play in tournaments of three tables or more I stay well into the black, I set out this Winter (It is still autumn but you know what I mean) to pursue poker glory. I had some winnings left from this summer, the few tournaments I played, so with that I set off for the casino.

I came out short on my first outing. I split the pool even Steven with one other on my second, for my largest winnings ever. I regret not going for it all, now in hindsight. Our stacks were about even. Chip leader would have change with every hand until one of us trapped the other. I chopped mostly because I thought it was much later in the evening than it actually was.

With plenty of seed money to test my skills I am hoping to get out to a tournament more than once a week. The more I win the greater the frequency of my outings will grow. If I am sitting at a table on the final day of the Mid-States Poker Tournament at The Potawatomi Casino this January, with plenty of seed money for the rest of the Winter I will be very satisfied. I am debating whether to try to win a seat through a satellite, or to just buy in on day one.

Losing bothers me more than it should. I need to play more, lose more but win more than I lose in the long term. This is the comfort level I need to achieve to get the most enjoyment out of the game. If I were in a financially stronger position I wouldn’t fret even if I were to, though I highly doubt I would, drop into the red slightly.

Waiting for a table the other day I read the poker magazine the casino has available. The most substantive article was written by a gentleman who preferred low stakes games. You will always find an article in these publications which encourages people to be satisfied with low stakes games, particularly if you lack the resources or ability (or even not) to compete at a higher level. He was a serious player and has even wrote a book or two on the subject. The writer of the article went on to become a priest and still seems to play poker as a hobby.

The poker world clearly tries to promote responsible play, as I hope I do with this blog.

Again… I am well in the black and, since I am currently under-employed, this Winter is the time to put my skills to the test. I am fairly confident in tournament play. There is one monkey on my back, that had swallowed much of my Summer winnings, that I would like to shake off. More about that later.

I hosted no bar-B-Q this past Summer with my poker winnings, as I hoped to do. I just did not get out enough. I do have many things going on in my life and even my goal of playing once a week over the Winter will take some determination to accomplish.

Sustenance

It was four hours in. I had a reasonable stack, enough to threaten at the final table. Eleven remained. The waitress came by, almost pleading, asking me directly if I would like a beverage. She had come by more frequently as the tournament progressed.

But I was far too stingy to even offer a small tip for a complimentary soft drink. I believe the soft drinks are complimentary. Reading on you may say that it is what cost me a substantial payout.

I had a 9, 10 and got in cheap on the big blind with only one caller. The flop came something like 4, 5, 9; two hearts. I raised all-in. If I had recognized the potential flush draw I would not have gone all-in.

My opponent had something like a 5, 3; two hearts. His hearts scared me. My thoughts were, “Oh no.” he got trips.” when, if I remember correctly, another 4 came, then a 3, no more hearts. My opponent announce two pair and the dealer presented his hand by pushing forward the 3, and 5 on the board.

I thought I lost and walked away from the hand. (actually I believe there may have been a Jack on the board which means I really did lose, but allow me to convey an important aspect about the game) If my memory were correct, I had two pair with the higher pair. A bit of sugar and caffeine would have certainly assisted my memory. In fact, if the hand played out as my recollections torment me it did, I would not have missed seeing two pair, if I had been willing to hand the hard working waitress a dollar tip to bring me a soft drink. I would never ask for a complimentary soft drink if I didn’t intend to tip the staff.

These things happen, if it happened at all. I am not naming the establishment, but the dealer may have acted wrongly or not. The floor boss was also standing next to the table.

When I watch tournament poker on Poker Central, particularly the heads up tournaments, the floor boss is called over for every all-in. The floor boss identifies who has what, what is on the board, if anything, and does a play by play as the final cads are dealt. I have seen floor bosses actual call out how each player stands, what potential exists and who needs what card to overcome their opponent and ultimately declares the winner. Maybe this is just heads up tournament protocol. There is plenty to learn about the game.

That’s what I’ve seen on television anyway. But this is not the first time I’ve second guessed a hand and wondered if I really had won. I am sure my regrets have at times been well founded and at others not. It is part of the game. The reality is, I seldom take in sustenance when I am playing even as many hours pass. I learned from this experience that that is a mistake.

Winning or losing the adrenaline gets flowing when I am competing in anything. All the more so when I am second guessing myself. I wish there were tournaments earlier in the day as I would like to be able to get to sleep at a reasonable hour afterwards.

As it stands now, I have a decision to make. Do I push, investing a bit of bounty we have finally achieved to pursue poker in a professional sense, or do I drop back and make it a well enjoyed hobby when the opportunity presents itself. I intend to push for the next six months when the finances allow, which they do. Why do I relish this decision? Because I am good. Far better than any are willing to give me credit for. When I first started playing, and the tournaments consisted of 24 people or more I was running in the black with my winnings. Some venues are a bit tougher but I believe in my abilities.

The Mid States Poker Tour is coming to The Potawatomi Casino here in Milwaukee in January. At least that is what the bill boards say. They have yet to update their website.

I have also wanted to visit Montreal for a long time to admire its architecture. Via Poker Central I have learned Montreal is home to a well known poker establishment that I would also enjoy visiting.

Poker on Television 24/7

My interest in poker was kindled many years ago by the show “Poker After Dark”. We watched most of the show as it was on NBC as we arrived home late night on weekends. Then it went off the air in Milwaukee.

Poker programming has been advertised on the national broadcast stations (mostly NBC) in the past, but often, here in Milwaukee, it was never shown. I never found out the reason for this. Now, it is impossible to find poker programming on local television in Milwaukee.

But I have a Roku. We watch over 50% of our television through our Roku and most of that viewing is on demand. I was perusing the ‘new channels’ in the Roku channel store and right up top, to my excitement and surprise was “Poker Central”. “Poker Central” just began to broadcast on Roku (and other Internet Television devices). Yes, it is 24/7 poker coverage. I remember why I fell in love with the game.

The channel goes straight to their live stream, but if you hit the ‘back’ button you are sent to their on demand selection of choice clips.

“Poker After Dark” is on every evening at 10pm. Unfortunately I make it a habit to watch the 10pm news every night. I also don’t watch Television during the day so I cannot watch their 3pm broadcast. “Poker After Dark” is a great show. I attribute much of its success to familiar faces. New faces are worked in little by little. But to have big names on a regular basis, a familiar crowd night after night with their mostly friendly banter, is the genius of the show. I watched part of the show last night and recognized every face at the table as part of the show years gone by.

Okay, “Poker Central” has commercials. That is why it is free and I love and only watch free. A bit distracting but watching a two hour heads up tournament I noticed the commercials were heavier in the first hour than in the second hour.

The coverage and commentary are excellent. The commentators berated one great fold because the odds suggested the competitor should have called. Makes you do a double take, but then you realize you’re getting a great education in the game.

I have not made any poker tables in some time. I have three reasons. First, I am not completely comfortable playing with our current income-expenses ratio right now. (I have money set aside just for poker and am far from unfamiliar with winning, but you never know) Second, I seldom have the time to make a tournament. Third, I am also seldom properly rested if an opportunity should arise. Poker is a strenuous game if you’re playing to win. Getting tired fosters mistakes.

For me poker is a people game. It is a game to be played live, with living breathing people sitting in front of you. That is the charm and the challenge of the game. To witness the personalities and interactions of the players on Television is the best education if you can’t sit at a table yourself.

Internet Poker

I have not made the Mid-States Poker Tournament at our local Casino, a mere two miles from our home. I had hoped to participate as I mentioned on my last post. I have just been too preoccupied; I could say busy, but that doesn’t quite fit. The days are long, the garden is producing and the demands of life never cease.

The biggest factor among all others that kept me from getting to the tables was that my finances have been too tight. Yes, I have money set aside dedicated to my poker pursuits, in the hopes of growing such funds. But when the general funds are not expanding, when it looks like you’ll just be getting by (at least until we get past our quarterly tax payment) I just can’t bring myself to chance any funds.

The peaches are just about ready to be picked, hopefully before the branches are pulled from the trunk under their own weight. The sun, life and nature are all things that keep us centered. They are also things that a casino tries to eliminate to keep you playing. They want you to lose track of time.

We did stop by the casino to dine and to briefly take advantage of some slot offers we received. And we came out ahead. But the total investment and the time a tournament requires have been something I couldn’t set myself to.

“So what are you trying to say Phillip? Your title is Internet Poker.”

Exactly.

I receive e-mails from the Poker’s Players Alliance. They have been lobbying in congress for a bill that would legalize Internet poker. The cause has steadily advanced and seems to be making progress.

I have a problem with this. Yes, I played quite a bit of Internet poker over past Winters; not for real money. I also believe proper legislation could limit a persons financial risk; allowing only tournament play with limited but-ins for example. Of course anything can be worked around. Those who made a profit off of Internet poker played multiple games at a time, many large displays hanging before them, each covered with virtual tables. A person could also set up multiple accounts to get around any restrictions also.

So what’s the real problem? The real problem is the almost hypnotic effect the Internet has over the mind. Gamers have been known to lose their lives, figuratively, in the particular format they play within. The draw of the virtual world along with the allusion of potential profits could destroy people’s lives on a far greater scale than that attributed to those with a gambling addiction. The Internet can a an addiction.

And how do you track Internet addiction? (An addiction that drains one’s funds) A casino can, and they do to a certain degree, track their guests with a gambling problem. They encourage people to seek help if they believe they have a gambling problem.

I believe the environmental control the casinos practice does not come close to the trap the Internet can become. That’s just my personal observation. The Internet is in your home. It sits there in front of you, or just out of the corner of your eye, every moment you are there. And if your unemployed…

Personally I have enough problems with Facebook. I have so many varying Internet log in names and passwords that my head hurts. The effort to keep track of them all is a burden I increasingly long to be free from. Though I enjoyed Internet poker in the past, mostly on dark Winter nights, I have no interest in becoming involved in Internet poker again. I do not believe I am unique in my growing compulsion to be free from the Internet, even computers, all together.

When I write my books, transcribing my notebooks to the computer is the most dreaded part of the process of getting to a finished work. Though I find working on a computer sometimes tedious, it does increase my efficiency. I imagine it will also increase the efficiency with which Internet poker sites will be able to relieve people of their money.

Poker is a game of skill, but the skilled will be few and far between amidst Internet poker players.

Poker is a personable game. A social experience. Limiting it to sitting alone in a room, in front of a screen, demeans the game and in kind the person playing. You’ll be much more fulfilled playing at the casino with real live people to observe and interact with. Just don’t spend to much time thinking about the rake; except when the pot is small and a bet or raise would increase the rake with little benefit to the winner of the pot. The others at the table will share their disdain for such a bet. It is the best classroom in the world.

I guess I was worried about the wrong branch. Heard the dog barking and…

Across the Board and The Mid-States

That is betting on a horse to Win, Place and Show. If the odds are good and the horse wins you’re in a bit of money (when the odds are small enough you cannot bet to Show or even to Place). That is a strategy I use since I have no desire to risk much on a horse. Definitely if the horse has the odds, that I will cover the bet even if he just Shows, and some believe the horse can win I like to place that bet.

I have a certain knowledgeable celebrity’s picks to guide me on the major equestrian events, and the casino with its OTB is so very close. So two dollars across the board, six dollars total, is a risk I am willing to take if opportunity allows. I do not wager on horses often.

So I was busy on the day of the Preakness. I checked that certain man’s recommendations and quickly knew if I had had time I would have bet across the board on one particular horse. I turned on the TV and soon after saw that horse Place.

For the Belmont Stakes it was so busy that I saved a bit of money by not being able to make it to the counter (due to a line of people all taking forever to place a simple bet) for the first race on which I wished to wager. I had two winning tickets on other races. If I had made it to the OTB for the Preakness I would have broke even over the two events. As it stood I didn’t cover my investment.

Exacta boxes, picking the two lead horses in either order, can also be a productive wager if you have little money. When there is an overwhelming favorite in the race it is a poor bet. Many will make an exacta box with the favorite and every other horse in the race, vastly reducing the winnings potential for the winning ticket.

Having been in the money for two poker tournaments in a row at a venue I enjoy I wondered if I could make it three; across the board in a sense. So when the opportunity arose I was out the door and off.

My stack dwindled to less than half without a single winning hand well past the first break. I rebounded. I built up to an average stack, based on number of players remaining, several times. I just couldn’t break the average stack barrier. I never had a dominant stack to take advantage of. I made a bad push against a superior stack. I called a large raise with a good hand that became junk after the flop. Overall though I played a good tight game.

Down to nine I made a play that seldom works out for me and I keep telling myself not to do it again. Nine players remained; four to be paid. I was under the gun, one hand from the blinds, small stacked. I had been telling myself to wait for the blinds for the entire round, but needing to win an all-in to remain in the running it is in this very position that weakness strikes. An Ace, Face-Card or near anything suited (hardly the best hand to go all-in with but I have a weakness for flush draws) convinces my brain that “these may be the best cards you’ll see before your stack runs out.” With nine players it is a bad all-in call under the gun but at this point everyone is playing very tight.

My King Deuce of diamonds didn’t work out. I had one caller and he had pocket tens. His hand makes me wonder why it took him so long to call. I shouldn’t be so trusting. I may be out of line but I’m going to tell people to take their hands off their cards, especially when they’re sliding them back and forth on the table very fast. Also if they show they’re cards to someone else I’m calling them on it. No more Mr. Nice Guy. No one else, tournament director or otherwise, is going to call anyone on anything on my behalf; a topic I’ve covered on previous posts but no one else shouldn’t expect it either.

Two out of three aint bad and the idea came to me that a third try at the casino may pay off, bringing me to 500 and still well in the black overall. But I am not one to run off on a whim when an idea pops into my head. When I have the time and have mentally prepared the opportunity will arise. A trellis for my raspberries is a higher priority than rushing out to a Saturday Omaha hi-lo game.

I am averaging about one poker outing a month. It is sufficient to revive and keep my knowledge, abilities, read and understanding of the game at a competitive level.

The Mid-Sates Poker Tour is underway at the Potawatomi Casino. Another opportunity to climb the ladder beginning with a small buy-in satellite. How can I not try at least once. I have plenty of time.

Yes, I am still writing. Check out my author’s page on amazon. I recommend this e-book if you like 19th century tales of adventure and survival.

Mid-States Poker Tour

The Mid-States Poker Tour held a main event in Milwaukee almost three weeks ago. I didn’t see any coverage of the event on the local news casts, but you can watch the full final table video here.

I entered a $65 satellite to try to win my way into the tournament’s main event. It was only a few days before the main event was to begin, so everything was staked on a continuous series of wins, finishing in the top 20% in two tournaments, that would result in my playing all night, and on the final day all day, in the main event. I would be playing more nights than not, over the following five days.

So there I was at a table of very serious players, though a few turned extremely insecure after a big loss. I didn’t start out too well. I recovered some but then became extremely tired. My lack of play over the last year or two showed. I was not on my game, relearning lessons previously learned as I made mistakes. I was calling bets too large for my stack in relation to my hand strength.

Realizing I was rusty and had never played for more than one evening or afternoon in the course of a week, or even a month, the daunting task of several days of serious play during a time of week when our business is most active sent a wave of weariness over me. I was already tired. I often do not sleep much, though I average nearly six and a half hours of sleep a night (recorded to the minute by my CPAP machine and documented by my sleep apnea specialist).

On top of that my mental focus just wasn’t there. I have never had much luck or results at the casino. I find the spirit distracting and heavy. My concentration and motivations become mottled. If I had any type of success at the casino in the past, when I was playing much more, I may well have never let my play lapse and may have pursued the game much more veraciously.

Missing Church wasn’t something that inspired me either. The final day of the main event began early Sunday. Looking over the rules of previous tournaments, one’s stack would be reduced through the rotational blinds until one showed up. That is, you could arrive late. I had even tried to calculate how many hands could be played in an hour, the level of blinds and how much one would lose over the first hour and a half. I tried to time how long the auto shuffle took in case the table would fold all around, trying to blind out an unsupported stack. Looking over the rules of this last tournament I had the impression you had to be there at the start time, though no consequences were listed for not being there.

It appeared to me that the auto shuffle continues until the dealer presses the button to retrieve a fresh deck.

As far as the media coverage there must be a story there. Poker programming had been advertised in the past on national broadcast television, but then was never broadcast locally. Was that simply the early manifestation of poker losing its spectator base? How many markets replaced the poker programming with insignificant local programming? That was a couple years back.

This is my conclusion from my latest adventures in pursuit of poker glory; I must start the satellite tournaments much earlier in the big tournament path. I need to win a spot at the main event more than a week before it begins. I will not even try for a final week rush through the several steps to the main event again. Of course I could always buy my way in, though it is not cheap. That is why they have satellites; to allow people a more economical way to get into a big tournament based on ability rather than money.