Saturday, November 15, 2008

Solid night, but no big hands?

Back from a solid night of Poker. I played for about 4.5hrs and made $400. What is unusual about tonight was that I had no real big hands, or no really large pots and just a few showdowns. I just played solid and people folded. I built my stack up a little at a time. I did hit with a suited connector, 78 early on with some guy betting $50 into my nut straight. Luckily, for him he was smart enough to fold to my all-in bet. Pocket nines were still hot for me. I turned a set of nines and rivered a boat. The flop was all hearts and I had one guy chasing the nut flush to pay me off somewhat. I had AK once in the small blind and raised $20 preflop, I had 5 callers! Luckily, I hit my Ace on the flop and everyone folded to my continuation bet.

The table I was playing had some familiar faces. German, Melvin, Eagle Eye and the always gorgeous dealer, Jessica. BTW, Jessica reminds me of Nicki on HBO's Big Love. She is played by Chloƫ Sevigny. She has a girl next door look and every time I see her I think of Nicki on the show. What do you think. Does Jessica look like Nicki?
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Anyways, as I sit down German says, "Hello, Anthony." I say, "Do I know you?" German says, "You know me, you are the tightest Asian player in Austin." I tell him, "Don't scare away my action." Jessica, the dealer, confirms German's comment to the rest of the table. I haven't seen German in a few weeks. I guess he has been running badly and lost a ton of money to Billy, a really loose player. I saw Billy take German down for about $500 one night. I generally don't like to socialize to much at the Poker table. Poker is a tough game and any edge that you have you need to exploit. Even the smallest of advantages will pay big dividends in the course of hours of play. So now everyone at the table knows my reputation. I need to consider this in my play. They now know I am super tight and the fact that another solid player told them this is information that they will try to use against me. Unless of course, I know they know this and I use it against them, ha ha...
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Anyways, I think in my first big hand I had a guy that bought in for $500 and tried to buy my pot. I had 78 suited in hearts. I limped in. This guy limped in under the gun and then tried to raise the pot after the big blind just called. He had to take back his bet, but it was a suspicious move. Anyways, the flop is A56. Everyone checks, including me. The turn is a King. It's checked to me and I bet $10. The under the gun guy reraises me to $35. I call with my open ender. The river is a nine, I hit! The guy comes out betting $50 into my nuts. I have $150 in front of me and push all-in hoping he slow played a set of Kings or Aces? The guy thinks for a while, and folds. How can he bet $50 and just not call, unless he had nothing and was trying to buy the pot against the "tightest Asian player in Austin". Most people cant fold a set, even to the tightest Asian player in Austin, can they?
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This night makes me ask myself, why was I successful? I made more money then average, but I didn't get involved with to many big pots. I just took down many middle sized pots to people who folded to me. I think it came down to image and respect. Everyone heard that I was tight. The dealer confirm this to everyone and another player confirmed it to the table when I hit quads last Friday. I think the best image to have at the table is a super tight aggressive. Someone that waits for hands and then plays any hands like the nuts. Allot of people argue that they rather show people that they are loose and hope to double up on someone that makes a loose call to them. I find this strategy very risky. Because people will always try to crack you, because they never believe you. Sure every now and then you can get up big, but it's a losing strategy in the long run, I am convinced of that. Its always better to be respected and have people fold to you, then be disresepected and have people river you.
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This makes 10 straight winning sessions in a row. I guess I am on a multi-month heater! I will take it. Its nice to just slowly make a few bucks and have some fun.
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Current Stats
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