2014 SUMMER POKER SERIES -- PART II and III (BINIONS AND PLANET HOLLYWOOD)

I know I was supposed to describe my Binions and Planet Hollywood tournaments but I'm sitting in front of my word processor and can't remember a damn thing about either tournament! It's probably because old age is creeping on me or the fact these tournaments were long ago, that I don't remember of the key hands. I know the hands I played, how I played them, and what happened, but I get lose on key information like chip stacks, blind levels, what I bet. In the future, I need to utilize my "NOTEPAD feature on my Iphone:

And start writing notes on the hands I played cause I know I'm going to forget!! 

Geez!!! All I know it I had a ton of chips in the Binions tournament, but lost a ton of chips in the blind vs blind confrontation again with J7 clubs with 4 tables left then busted with JJ vs AA vs KK! I know I played very well the entire time, and made a questionable play with J7 when I flopped a pair and flush draw...probably overplayed it..

As for the Planet Hollywood tournament, I mid-cashed but it took me 10 hours the get it. I love the chips and blind structure but it was pay so TOP heavy that by the end, I had an empty feeling...like it wasn't worth my time. I'll definitely the Planet Hollywood PHamous series again, but I'm going to be more willing to play to win rather than midcash. One of the reasons, I played so cautiously was because my wife played as well but didn't cash, I was more worried about getting my money back rather than playing to win. Also the fact my wife was sitting behind pressuring me to cash, I didn't play optimal poker, especially during bubble time. I'm happy I cashed (and get my name in the poker listings) but I'm not happy of the way I cashed. 

In the future, whenever I play a cash game or tournament, especially when I know I'm going to blog about it, I'm going to write down every hand, every detail, and every move as soon as the hand is over. So when I'm ready to start blogging, I'll know exactly what I'm going to say.  

TALES FROM BEHIND THE BOX: AN EXCERPT FROM MY NEWEST BOOK

I'm working on my 2nd book. This will from the world I know very well: Poker dealing! The synopsis of the book will be tales from the box. Stories from the world I see as a professional poker dealer. The idea of this book is a elicit an emotion from my stories: Happy, Anger, Sympathy, Love, and Sadness! I've written 50-70 stories, but I'm trying to condense it into 50 best of the best. In fact, I want to share a part of my creativity: so here's an excerpt my newest book:

“What is the difference between a puppy and a poker dealer? – Eventually the puppy will stop whining.

Sitting in the box (it's where a poker dealer works), I watch the diverse personalities at the poker table interact. On one side, a retiree Calgary who spends 8 months of the year in Vegas to get away from the cold of Calgary, Alberta Canada. He has to be helped to his chair from his motorized cart – one of the nicest guys I've ever met in my life. Very likeable guy, who's never said a bad word about anyone, who takes his bad beats like a true gentleman (no matter how bad those bad beats are), and a guy I generally root for. One another side, is a retired Army helicopter pilot from Arizona, who frequents our poker room 2 or 3 times a month – a tall imposing fella,who loves the game of poker, plays a tight game and has been friendly to me and everyone I've worked for – also our liaison for the Arizona Lottery along with Mega Millions, which we still have won...yet!!! This Arizona gentleman is so loyal to our room, he'll sit at an empty table for a hours until a game is started – all poker rooms need people like him. In the center is another retiree from Texas, who's apparently been poker his entire life, strolls into our poker room at a snail's pace, pushing his glasses up the rim of his nose at any moment, “Seat open??” he speaks in a soft Texan accent. Unlike, the other two gentleman, my Texan friend takes some horrible bad beats that I seemed to deliver at a frequent pace. He's a table-hopper, trying find the right combination of a good table draw and a good run of cards – all of which he does at the aforemention snail's pace...nothing is rushed with him. He is a true definition of a grinder. Tipping is not one of his strong points, despite it all, I generally like this man. I generally root for him to win......

To be continued...

There you have it. I'm really proud of what I've written, and I think this will be one of the best things I've ever written. Hopefully, when I complete this book, you'll enjoy these poker dealer stories as I enjoyed writing them.

THIS IS A POKER BLOG -- LET'S TALK POKER

It's been awhile since I wrote about my favorite leisurely pastime: the great game of poker, so let's talk about this game shall we...

I used to play a lot of online poker when it was readily available, and I used to make pretty decent money at it. In fact, I hate to pat myself on the back (but I will), I made some very supplemental income. According to number of websites, I've made over 35K in tournament winnings, not to mention I've carved my teeth in the 2-4, 3-6, 5-10 Limit cash games on Paradise Poker and Poker Stars. The best part about playing online was these ridicously high prize pools for micro buy ins. You can play a $5 tournament on Pokerstars and if you can navigate through 5,000 people, there a huge pot of gold at the end..usually between 3K-5K. It was insane how much money you can make playing online poker. Although I never made "life-changing" money, I did pretty well, that was able to withdraw $100 here, $300 there, $900 here. Checks would come in a week or so, I never had a problem cashing them..it was the ultimate "second job". It was lucrative, addicting, and fun, then every online poker players with dreams of playing poker a living in the UNITED STATES shattered when this happened:

BLACK FRIDAY (And I'm not talking about the busiest shopping of the day), I'm talking about Apr 11, 2011.

I remember I had just cashed in a $2 tournament on PokerStars, ran some errands, and when I went back on my computer to log onto PokerStars, I got this:

Of course when the reality of not having online poker set in, I had major withdrawls. For weeks, I logged on to PokerStars and tried to get on hoping this was just a bad dream, but everytime I would get, it would tell me I couldn't play online poker....it sucked!!

FAST FORWARD to Apr 30, 2013...The day Ultimate Poker opened it's legalized, regulated online poker in the state of Nevada. Funny, I wasn't rushing to my computer to make a deposited because something unusual happened on my way to online poker riches...I didn't have the desire to get back to online poker. I began to play a lot of live poker, not that I didn't play live poker before "Black Friday", but I concentrated my efforts into being a decent live poker player...that by the time poker was legalized in Nevada I was conditioned by the "live" poker way and initially I was stubborn to get back into the online poker. I'm lucky enough to be a resident of Nevada, therefore online poker is legal, and thus I can play.

My wife deposited money into WSOP.com, the other online poker site and began playing small sit and go's. I watched her for weeks having no desire to play myself, but as the days and weeks passed, I began to get intrigued (mainly because my wife was cashing a lot). Finally, I set up an account and played a freeroll. I played for an hour, busted out, and smiled because I felt the juices flowing through my blood and began to remember why I loved online poker so much. It was the convenience and the addiction of the thrill that hooked me again.

So, two weeks ago, I made a small deposit on WSOP.COM and started at the VERY BOTTOM of the ladder, 2-tabling 1c-2c No limit....NOT 1 DOLLAR-2DOLLAR NO LIMIT, 1 CENT-2CENT NO LIMIT!

Although I'm playing at below micro limits, I'm trying to look at it as playing for real money. Trying to play my "A", and making the right decisions. The thrill of winning (even it's it's 30 cents, 14 cents, or $1.26), is back and I'm loving online poker again.

From here on out, I'm going to blog about some of my sessions trying to grind from the bottom. Not thinking about money.

Yes, online poker is back (In Nevada) and loving every minute of it.

"WHAT A CALL!" -- ANOTHER LONG LINE OF POKER HERO CALLS

I really hate the term "hero" call. The word "hero"should be reserved for people like the military, police, and firemen who actually who's mission is the serve and protect the freedoms we American enjoy. Someone who calls with a Queen High in a $1-$2 game in a $20 pot for $5 should use the term "hero".

A while back I wrote about my poker night at the Luxor with fellow bloggers Lightning , Lucki Ducki, and robvegaspoker , if you need to refresh your memory check it out here. (Sorry if it brings a sore spot for you, Lightning :))

Anyway i wanted to talk about another hand I played that didn't involved any of the poker bloggers. There was another gentlemen playing with us, probably in his mid-40ish, probably the worst player at the table, was into his 4 buy in, and probably his last $100. The other bloggers each took their shots at this guy and managed to chip away at him. Everyone but me, then this hand came:

After this 4th rebuy, he moved from the 8 seat to the 1 seat. I was sitting in the 10 seat. It's folded around to me and see Pocket 6's...I make a standard raise of $8 (As I tossed my $8 in, Lucki Ducki had just racked up and was saying his goodbyes to everyone. I returned the salutations. Lucki Ducki was small talking with Lightning and RobVegaspoker)...mid 40ist guy calls from the button, SB calls, BB folds so we take the flop 3-handed:

Flop comes 7 4 3 rainbow, Small Blind check to me. I bet $12....called by the button, Small blinds Folds. We're now heads up going to the turn. At this point, I'm assigning him to a range of a pair, a suited connector, or maybe something like A-5 or A 6 suited, but being the worst player at the table, I couldn't entirely takeout broadways cards like QJ or KQ out of his range.

Turn brings a King. Although I do think KQ is in his range -- I believe it's in the bottom of his range. I want to bet again here just in case he's playing a hand like A-5 or A-6, cause I'm know he's probably calling. I didn't want to bet too much to drive him away, but at the same time, I want to get value from my hand...I settle on a bet of $20. Instant call from my opponent.

River is a 9. I think this card is a total blank. I thought about the best way to play this hand..I thought betting out again, but I don't think I'm going to get a call from a worst hand. Also, if I get raised, I'm going to be faced with a tough decision even against a titled opponent with a wide range...Checking is probably the best play here, hoping I get a showdown, but be willing to call a modest bet...I tap the felt, and before I could blink...my opponent shoves the rest of his chips in..

WOW!! Didn't expect that. I asked for a count...it was $80. With around $70 in the pot, my first instinct was to fold, not because I thought I was beaten but it was something else very tangible, and probably the wrong reason....You see at the time, I was up around $200, and I was nearing the end of my session. I wanted to make sure I booked a win and at the time this hand came up. This, of course, is the wrong way to play poker. If you're playing "scared money", you probably shouldn't be gambling.

As I thought about what to do, the thought crossed my mind, "You can't play scared, you gotta to with your gut. If you're wrong at least you were true to yourself" I began ruffling the chips faster and faster as time inched by..felt like forever..then I did something I've never done.

"Can I show my hand?" I asked the dealer. Most poker rooms, the ruling is always if it's heads up you can show your hand, but occasionally you come across a room who rules the  hand is dead even if it's heads up, so I wanted to get clarification from the dealer.

"Yes you can." The dealer started.

I flipped over my pocket 6's, immediately placing a chip on it to indicate that I wasn't folding. At the corner of my eye, I could see my opponent leaning on his open mouth, covering his mouth, and he kept his eyes squarely on the flop. As I was I riffling my chips I looked over to my right, where another $1-$2 game was running -- that one was a wild game where I could honestly say there had to have been 3K-4K chips on the table. At that moment, I wish I was at that game.....I looked back at my opponent and saw him glance at me, then back at the flop, then at me....His eyes darting back and forth like one of those cat-eyes clocks which rotates with every passing second.

Then I saw something my opponent did which helped me make a decision -- it was subtle move, something I probably wouldn't have if I wasn't paying attention: in the midst of darting his eyes back and forth...He quickly looked his chips, then looked down....It's a pattern I've seen many times when I'm dealing usually indicating a bluff....A second later, I pushed my chip towards the pot and announced call....My opponent mucked his hand instantly and stormed out of the poker room, talking to no one in particular, "I can't believe he made that call!!!!!"

As I raked the pot, I got congrats from Lightning and Robvegaspoker, "Great call" Coming from those guys, it meant a lot...LuckiDucki said goodbye once again, and left....Soon after, Robvegaspoker and I left....What a great night of poker playing with my poker blogger friend and having a winning session.

THIS JUST IN....POKER MELTDOWN AT PLANET HOLLYWOOD....FILM AT 11

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'Want to start by saying, everyone who plays poker no matter how good you think you are, or how bad you think you are, are bound to have a meltdown at some point. The key is minimizing those meltdowns. Alas, they do come when you least expect it. At times, you don't realize it's happening until you're shipping your entire stack to your opponent. 

This my poker friends, is the balt999 meltdown of Jul 2013:

LOCATION: PLANET HOLLYWOOD CASINO, LAS VEGAS, NV: 12:50AM (give or take a few minutes)

HERO: Poker dealer/poker player/occasional bingo player/occasional sports bettor/all-around good dad/winner of a Putt-Putt golf tournament when I was 6 years old

VILIAN: Aggressive Asian dude with a Golden St Warrior T-Shirt. Never said a word the entire time I sat until he muttered those deadly words to me (more on that later). Probably a good dude, just not when we're playing pots together.

SET UP: I'm sitting in Seat 7, Villain in seat 9. Been playing for about 3 hrs when the meltdown occurred. I have 225 in front of me...He's sitting with 200. I intended it to be my final orbit, and as you will see...it was. Villain had a habit of raising his button every time action was too him especially if there were multiple limpers in front of him...Only time he didn't raise he's button is if there was a raise in front.

HERO MISTAKE #1: Two limpers in front of me, and I'm dealt the lovely AQ off suit, and limp behind. I should have raised. AQ is not a hand I want to play with multiple players. Should have tried to reduce the field

HERO MISTAKE #2: I was tired and looking for an excuse to leave the game, but my stubbornness prevailed

HERO MISTAKE #3: Villain raised to $15 folded around to me...I nonchalantly toss in three red chips to complete the call. The play was to either raise or fold...learning towards raise. Because he was raising every button, his preflop raising standards was very wide...I could have made it $35-$45, and maybe take down the pot there or depending on his course of action, I could narrow his range and play accordingly. Although I would have been out of position the entire time.

HERO MISTAKE #4: Flop comes out KQ4...I checked, Villain Bet $25..I call...I think leading out is the play here. A probing bet of $15 probably would have giving me the information I needed. Cause he's folding a ton of hands in his range here...If he calls, I would definitely check the turn (Unless I hit a Q or A), and reevaluate according to his action. A raise, and I'm folding 50% of the time cause I don't want to play a big pot out of position.

HERO MISTAKE #5: Forgetting my #1 cash game rule: Never play a big pot unless I have the nuts or close to the nuts

HERO MISTAKE #6: The turn brings an 8...At this point the mistakes are compounding quickly and larger like a goddamn snowball as big as one of those wrecking balls. I check again. Villain bets $50. At this point, my feeble mind should have set off signals that this guy has the big hand to be betting this much....I peek behind his arms and see he has around $90 left...Another clue...HE WAS POT COMMITTED!!!!!!! If raised all-in, he would have been forced to call. And Of Course, I cant beat anything at his point...I guess a feeble QJ maybe but I seriously think he's not playing QJ Postflop that way.....Then it happens.....

Triumphantly, I announced "ALL IN" as if I'm some great player with the "Greatest Read in the History of Poker". The Villain instant calls...
"Do you have King" I gulped.
Villain nods,"Yeah" as he turns over KJ
River bricked out and I'm shipping nearly my entire stack two my left, leaving the remanence of my epic meltdown: $22.

I get felted a few hands later. I nearly reached into my pocket for another buy in but decide it was better to lick my wounds and not try to chase my losses.

EPILOGUE: As I'm driving home, I got over that AQ hand in my head, and list all the things that went wrong. As you can see..A LOT!!!!!! Despite this legendary meltdown, it by no means shook my confidence as a poker player. I had one really terrible session where I didn't lose because of a bad beat, set over set, or a horrendous river suck out...I lost because I played one hand terribly and in no limit that cost me dearly. Truthfully, this probably won't be the first or the last meltdown I'll have as I prod through the life as a poker player, but learning from it is the key.

And When I do, I'll have more of these......

Rather than one of these.....

Poker with the Bloggers -- LIGHTNING36, PLEASE FOLD!!!

Poker is a social game. Poker is a people game. More importantly, poker is a "take as much money from your opponent as possible" game. However, there are times where you play people you don't want to take money from, but the circumstances drive you too....

Few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of playing $1-$2 No Limit at the Luxor with 3 bloggers, who I have the absolute respect, admiration, and huge fans of their particular blogs: Lucki Duck, Robvegaspoker , and Lightning36. The 3 bloggers arrived at the Luxor about 20 minutes after I was there. I was sitting in a very very very extremely extremely tight tight table!! (Did I mention the table was very, extremely, tight??) Lightning said they had enough to start a new game. At first I was apprehensive about joining the game because I have this thing about playing people I like cause I really don't want to take their money, and in the case of Robvegaspoker and Lightning36, they've been very generous tippers to me whenever I've dealt then, even tipping in small pots when they didn't have too. It was a definite quandary, it's the reason I don't playing where I work, and if I do, I NEVER play at the table if I've dealt it already. It's my belief you shouldn't play at poker room if you work there...it's a "conflict of interest" rule. Yeah, I know it might be a little paranoid, cause in 99% of cases, your regular players really don't care if you play with them, but I usually am uncomfortable if I'm check-raising a guy who tipped 15 bucks the week before...lol

The only reason I decided to join the new table was the table I was at was very very extremely extremely tight tight table!! (I have mention how tight my table was??). The first hours, the table really played tight, but I was enjoying the conversations with my fellow bloggers. We talked about an array of interesting topics, one of which was the whereabouts of "Backpack" Steve, a leech who used to hang around poker room begging for money. When I told them what happened to him, the bloggers, particularly Robvegaspoker was shocked yet not too surprised. It was definitely a delightful time, to the point where I sometimes forgot were in a card game..it was like we were sipping a cold one and shooting the breeze in a bar. But alas, the game of no limit Texas Hold em took hold of two of the us...one of which was me...the other was Lightning36.

Like many no limit poker hands, the hand started out nonchalantly, A player opened for $12 from a $90 or so stack....I'm sitting two seats later with Pocket 10's and call. My stack was a little over $200. Two more callers behind me, and Lightning in the Small blind calls. So we take the flop five-handed...The flop comes A A 10 A. I actually did a double take...did I just flop a boat?? Lightning, first to act checks, the initial raiser bets $20. Quickly, I raised to $40. I acted quickly because I'm a believer if you flop a monster you act the opposite of what you'd normally do. I see it too much as a poker dealer, when someone flops a monster, they put on the "Hollywood" Act as if they a tough decision to make. I can pretty much tell they have a monster by this act, and I'm almost always right. It's actually helped in my poker playing in identifying big hands and being able to either get away from them or lose the minimum. The 2nd part of this hand is why did I raise on the flop with a full house. My goal to extract maximum value for my hand and with 5 players in a raised pot, there had to be an Ace somewhere with my 4 other opponents, and I wanted to get that Ace to commit this stack to the point as early in the hand as possible where he is forced to put the rest of his chips in the next two streets.

Two players behind me folded quickly, the action was now on Lightning, who tanked. At that point, I knew he had an Ace, and I thought, "Dammit, this is not what I wanted." I wanted one of the other guys sitting with an Ace and Lightning would insta-fold his hand. Lightning hemmed and hawed for a long time, starting at me, playing nervously with his chips before sliding the $40 towards the pot. the initial raiser were all in for another 18 bucks or so. Since it wasn't a full-raise I could only call as did Lightning. The Turn was a 3...Lightning check, I instantly go all-in for around $140. I actually was hoping Lightning would see this as a sign that I had the goods and he would fold, but when he asked how much I had...I knew there was no way he was folding his hand. AFter another minute, Lightning calls....River was a 9....I announce "Full House" and turn over my Pocket 10's...Lightning shows AJ and the other player mucks claiming he had an Ace too.

I had mixed emotions scooping that pot. On one hand I was happy for winning such a monster pot, but felt bad that it had to come in the expense of Lightning. But I don't blame him, he played the hand very well. I probably would have played the hand the same way.  It was just a "cooler" hand that comes up from time to time where hands kind of play themselves. Lightning took the beat very well, and I  was happy when he texted me the next day saying he won his money back at Ballys.

Next time, Lightning comes to town, and stiffs me, believe me I will not be angry about it. I'll shoot him a sly smile and wonder what would have happened if he paired his Jack on the river :)

I HAVE MILLIONS AND MILLIONS....WHAT A ____!!!

I absolutely believe that there's more good than bad in people....

In the industry I work in, you see a lot of bad in the people. Most of the time, I believe people who get angry at the poker table are not showing the true barometer of character they really are. One-outers, bad calls by their opponents, and horrible river cards leads to "out of character" reaction like snapping at the player or worst, at their dealer. I usually shrug it off and give them the benefit of the doubt and in most cases, you ultimately see the good in people....

But sometimes, you meet someone who's just a bad person...and you can tell...

So, I'm dealing the typical $1-$2 game, full of tourists, locals, funny-loving people who don't care whether they win or lose. But there was this one guy who brought a lot of tension to the table...Forget the fact, he was playing and raising every-hand, and losing every hand....dumping about $1,000 bucks in the 30 minutes I dealt, but it was the way he interacted with the players that showed he had a deep character flaw. Here's some examples:

After losing yet another gigantic pot, he pulled out his load of hundreds, peeled off yet another buy in and said to everyone at the table, "I have millions and millions, so this doesn't mean anything." First of all, when you tell people, unsolicited, that you have money, if shows the true character of a man. I believe it shows insecurities because you're trying to make yourself look good, but making others look bad...Not a charater train that I, or any sane person really wants.

Again, after losing another pot, whenever someone tries to make small talk, he's responses was always, "I don't care what you think! You hear me, I don't care what you think" I just hate it when people put up their nose at you like your high-and mighty....

I felt very uncomfortable dealing to his guy because I had absolutely no respect for this person as a man, and you could feel the absolutely uneasiness hovering over the table

But on the flip slide, like I said, he dumped a lot of money in this game, so no one wanted to leave which leaves me with this saying...

 That folks, in a nutshell, is how it works....