Bottom line: I went bust and lost my $100 that I brought to play with. However, I got to play for about 10 - 12 hours over two nights with that money at the Trop. On Friday night, I ended up coming out up $1. More or less, I broke even. It was a pretty tough time. Most of the players there were really good by the time I got to sit down. Basically, there were a bunch of drunk dudes with really short stacks and a few guys with large stacks indicating that they had just taken the drunk guys. I thought I played things well the first night. Probably the best (and / or dumbest) playing I did during the first night was catching a middle pair of Jacks with a rainbow flop of Q / J / 2. I bet the flop and got most people to fold except for this one guy. The guy then bet the turn and the river and I called both. Turns out he had nothing and was just shining me on, but it could have easily been the reverse and I would've been none the wiser.
On Saturday night, I was treated to a lovely dinner at the Seaside Cafe by J-Z from my previous posts. I had a most excellent hamburger and he had an awesome prime rib. We talked a little post-flop poker strategy and generally had a nice time (I had two root beers). Saturday night started out great. The best hand I caught was an Ac / Qc with a flop of Qd / random club / random club. I made maybe like $80 - $90 on that pot. Within 30 minutes, I was up $170! And then, my luck / intelligence ran wayy out. J-Z commented that I made some "questionable decisions" which was his very gentle and kind way of saying that I have trisomy 21. Basically, I'm at the point now where I know what hands to play with when I start, but I'm not sure of how to play them if the flop isn't super magical. I have a lot of trouble discerning where the border is between dropping the hand because it's crap vs. it might have a chance. The other big problem is that I don't quite understand what someone is "telling you" if they bet / raise / re-raise / check. Two examples:
1. I had a Ks / 6s on big blind and the flop is like 2d / 2s / Js. The turn comes down a 3c or something and I make the flush on the river. I bet the flop and knocked out everyone except for this one dude. I believe he bet the turn and I called. He bet the river, I raised and then he re-raised and I re-re-raised. Turns out he had a 2 / 3 for the boat. I guess conventional wisdom says that if the dude re-raised, he had the boat. Should I have raised pre-flop? I think I need to put this one up on two-plus-two and see what people have to say.
2. I had an As / Qs pre-flop and raised and had one person who stayed in. The flop, turn, and river were all rainbow undercards with no flushes or straights possible by the end. My opponent kept betting at each stage and I kept calling. Finally, she bet on the river and I made the mistake of folding. I didn't think my ace would've held up. But, J-Z was under the impression she was full of baloney pants. So, maybe I should've called, but I will never know now.
Anyways, I've ordered some books from Amazon courtesy of a teaching prize from my department here at Yale. Hopefully, these books will help me out. Mebs I'll go to Foxwoods later this week, but I think I need to read some first.
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Rich,
Great to hear that you've bought the books and you're eager to learn.
Watching you play reminded me of when I started playing. Trying different things, learning to recognize betting patterns. The key, though, is that I see you're playing AGGRESSIVELY. This by itself will already give you an edge over most players, who just want to call call call all day. Combine this aggression with hand reading ability that comes over time and you'll crush these games real soon. Good luck!
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