Scare cards take a night off

I feel like a medium fish in a small pond. But I think that's a good thing.

There's a definite difference in the play and skill level in the poker games in Orange County and in LA County. In the OC, I host my Thursday cash game, and play in (and sometimes host) the Sunday tournament. What's nice is that I can beat these inexperienced players, including the "regulars", on a regular basis.

But what I've noticed recently is that as I add new tricks to my poker repertoire, I need to use less of them to outplay the OC crowd. It's ABC poker at it's finest. Hand selection. Position. Pot Odds. Checkraising the over-aggressive. Extracting the most money from your strong hands. Reacting to the general demeanor of the table.

Heck, DoubleAs can take some credit for a shift in my thinking. His March 9th post was an excellent summary of the basics of NL ring game play. A suble reminder of the KISS principle as applied to poker. Keep It Simple, Stupid.

I host my game on Thursday night, and then travel to the PCS tournament (LA County) on Friday night. Sometimes I hit up Commerce Casino on Saturday or Sunday night. Perhaps it's just semantics, but I feel like I'm stepping down my game on Thursday night, rather than stepping it up later in the weekend for the better competition. At the PCS and Commerce, I need the whole bag, but at my home game, I can make due with a driver, nine iron and putter.

Tonight was fun. We had eleven players total, with Esther and Fred leaving to hit up a party about the time Brandon joined us. Around the table to my left: Oklahoma Jeff, Albert, George, Paul, Forty Ounce Dave, Shawn, Daniel, Fred, Brandon/Esther. (Again, Esther directly on my right. Huh?)

The very first hand hinted at what was in store for me. I drew the button, and held Presto!... pocket 5's. Paul made a medium-sized raise in early position, and there were two callers before it got to me. There are some pre-flop raisers that I give a lot of respect to (Albert, Esther), but Paul is definitely not on that list. Multiple callers before me, and I've got the button? Call.

The flop was a rainbow, 543. Top set? Sweet! Paul bet out 80 cents into a $3+ pot, and Shawn raised, making it $2 to go. I felt A2 suited, 56, and 67 were real long-shots here, and I didn't want to chase Paul away, especially if he's holding AK or something. I called the $2, as did Paul. The turn was a J, with all four suits on the board. They went check, check to me, so I bet out $3. Both called. I expected Paul to fold there. The river was a ten, and I threw out a "please call me" river bet of $2. And they both called, Paul with QQ and Shawn with J4 offsuit for two pair. My set was best the whole way, and I was only dodging 4 outs by the river (two queens, two jacks).

I had a similar hand out of my small blind, holding 86 suited. Plenty of limpers, and I completed the bet. Oklahoma Jeff, in the 20-cent big blind, decided to jack it up another $1. Three callers before it gets to me? Great pot odds. Call.

(In months past, I probably would've folded here, worrying about my position and calling a medium raise with a suited gapped connector. I've been working lately on letting pot odds dictate more of my actions in cash games.)

The flop hit me again, T86 with two hearts. With $5 in the pot, I think I made a mistake here. I checked. My rationale here is that there are plenty of people in the hand, and that flop is nice enough that somebody can bet at it with a poorer hand than mine. Preflop raiser Jeff checked, and Shawn threw out a $1 bet. I checkraised to $4 total. Jeff called but Shawn didn't. Two players, and the turn is a black jack. I bet out another $4, and Jeff called. I was praying the river wasn't a heart or middle card at this point. Prayer answered: a black five. Again, my river bet was a "come hither" $2, and Jeff called and showed me AJ. Top pair, top kicker is no good. Another nice pot for me.

In retrospect, I was rather lucky that my opponents weren't calling me with better draws and that the turn/river cards weren't scary.

Here's an odd hand. I'm dealt two red aces in the big blind. I think my eyes flashed dollar signs when I saw Forty Ounce Dave raise to $1 and Shawn reraise to $2. I decided not to get cute, and I re-reraised to $4 preflop. Dave figuratively grabbed his nuts and went all-in for another $15 over me. Shawn folded, but I'm not gonna fold aces preflop. I had Dave covered. Dave had Presto! this time, pocket 5's.

T, 8, 6 on the flop. Everybody gave a shout when that 5 hit on the turn. And everybody gave a bigger shout when that badass ace of clubs showed up on the river.

As the night progressed, it dawned on me that it was suicide to attempt any sort of bluff on the flop or turn. There were callers everywhere - you'd think that Shawn and Daniel would prefer a swift shoe to the crotch over folding middle pair or a gutshot straight draw with overcards. About halfway through, I figured I could take the bluff "out of my bag" so to speak, and just wait for strong hands.

I was seeing a lot of flops in late in the evening, with the big stack I had in front of me. I got into a little trouble with A5 of clubs from my big blind, calling Shawn's preflop raise. The flop was 986 with two clubs. I called a very small flop bet to see another 6 on the turn. A slightly larger bet followed, and I wound up with the idiot end of the straight when a 7 hit on the river. No nut flush for me, which was a great thing, after I paid to see Shawn's boat, 6's over 9's. Yeah, clearly he's on my "Do Not Respect My Preflop Raise" list.

Another suited ace in the big blind, and it was limped around to me. This time, it was Big Slick, so I had to pop it up an extra 75 cents. Three callers, and the flop was Ad, 3d, 4s. Should I defend my hand strongly, or concern myself with some yutz flopping two pair? I bet $2.50 into the $3.80 pot and got Jeff as my only caller. The turn was the 6s. Ok, I've got top pair, top kicker and the spade draw is out there along with the diamond draw. I'm almost certain I want a call here, and I can call a raise if Jeff is holding two pair, so I bet $3. Jeff calls, and the turn is the Kh. Two pair for me, no flush possibility. Another "please call me" river bet of $2, and Jeff obliges, showing me A5 offsuit - top pair, with a gutshot-turned-open-ended straight draw that never hit.

My night could have been even better. On two different occasions, I folded A7 offsuit in late position to a small or medium raise. I would've won both hands with boats - aces over sevens, and aces over sixes. One of those hands probably would've crippled Shawn, who had made his preflop raise with an actual hand that time (the Hiltons). Checking the double-ace flop would've induced some sort of bet from him.

$160 in play for the night. I was in for $10, out for $48. I think that's a pretty good ratio, considering how many people we had at the table.