My Worst Experience Playing Poker and More Learning

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My Worst Experience Playing Poker and More Learning

I entered a $15-$30 limit game yesterday. I am not sure the odds of this happening but I have never been dealt so many premium hands and lost so much!

I had pocket Kings eight times and pocket Queens one time. I lost them all.

The thing that was sadly remarkable was that on the flop I was heads-up or against two opponents, and on the river I was always just against one opponent.

Here is what happened with the pocket Kings:

• I lost twice on the flop when an Ace flopped. I got away from those hands.
• I lost once when my opponent hit a set of 8's on the flop.
• I lost the other 6 times on the river by flushes, straights, trips, and two pair.

I estimated that I lost over $1,000 on these hands. At the end of the night, I was down $500.

Disclosure: I did get dealt pocket Aces one time. I was heads-up on the flop and won. A small win.

More learning:

1. There are lucky seats in poker.

Many poker players say there is no such thing as lucky or unlucky seats in poker. In the short term there are good and bad streaks in all forms of gambling. The craps player will lose long term. But, it are those lucky short term streaks that make the craps player believe he is a winning player or will hit it big again.

Heck, if it wasn't for luck, Phil Hellmuth would win all the poker tournaments.

Yesterday, the player in seat 10 went on an amazing hot streak for the first 40 minutes. After he lost the next two hands, he left. He was ahead $800.

A new player took that seat and the seat was still hot! When I left the game, he ahead about $2,500. The hands he showed were all premium hands.

2. Winning betting pattern? Raise, bet, bet, bet.

The player to my right was also winning big. He rarely had to show his cards, since he was clearly playing his opponents.

95% of the time he came into the hand, he did so with a raise. He would just fire away on the flop, turn and river. He bet 100% of the flops, about 90% on the turn, and 80% on the river.

The weird thing to me was that I don't believe anyone was noticing. Everyone was so fixated on their hand and to see if the flop fit their hole cards.

Of course, maybe he had big hands all those times, but I don't think so. He did get called a few times on the river. He showed good or great hands every time, which helped his image.

I did bluff him twice when I was heads-up and knew he had to be weak. I also flopped a big hand against him once. But, overall, he was ahead about $2,000 when I left.

3. There are unlucky seats in poker.

Sometimes you just have to be smart enough to know when it's just not your night.

Frankly, despite this incredible run of bad luck with those pocket Kings, I was down only about $50 most of the night. It wasn't until I got KK for the 7th and 8th time, yeah, and lost, that it effected me.

I guess I should have left earlier... oh well, bad streaks do happen. It is called gambling.

Do You Know The Poker Leaks in Your Game?

What is a Poker Leak?

I couldn't find a good definition of a poker leak online, so let me try to define it here:

A poker leak is anything you do on a consistent basis at a poker table that ends up costing you money. You may or may not be conscious of your leak, but since it is based on your actions (and not the randomness of the cards) you do have the ability to eliminate it from your game.

Examples of Poker Leaks

When you let a bad beat on one hand of poker get you so upset that it effects your play negatively on subsequent hands, you are on tilt. This is probably the most common leak among players.

When I first started playing poker, I never went on tilt. However, thanks to online poker, tilting is something I tend to embrace. I need to stop that leak.

You will notice that top pros don't go on tilt. You may watch Phil Hellmuth get upset but you won't see him go on tilt. Instead, he marches away in anger willing to miss the next hand of poker in order to calm himself down.

Another leak is when you let an opponent get under your skin. Often it is because he or she seems to be bullying you and maybe stealing the blinds. Or, maybe the player is just being obnoxious and raising and re-raising with any two cards. Whatever the reason, instead of playing your A game, you focus on this one opponent. The result is that you play sub-optimal poker the rest of the night, costing you money.

Tells are a leak that are found in many players. The most common tell is when you act strong when you are weak, and you act weak when you are strong. You may have a tell or two and not even know about it.

Years ago I met a friend in Vegas who told me that he had no tells in his poker game. He wanted to prove it to me, so he asked me to watch him play. Oh my! I think he had more tells than any other poker player I had ever seen.

One of his tells is that his body gave away the strength of his hand. If he had a big hand pre-flop, he would lean into the table. Then if he improved on the flop, he would lean in even more. But if he didn't improve on the flop, he would lean back into the chair.

Another leak is when you give away your hand by the size of your pre-flop bet. Some players will make raises five, six or seven times the big blind when they have pairs and they don't want action.

In fact, being predictable with your betting patterns is a major leak in your game. For example, if you never check raise with a flush draw on the flop, your opponent can take advantage of you. If the flush card doesn't come on the turn, he can bet big enough to get you off your hand. And if the flush card does come, he can safely check and fold.

Conclusion

Every player has poker leaks. The key is to plug your leaks and find the holes in your opponents' game.

Very little has been written about poker leaks and yet they are something that you should address. Maybe I need to write another book. 101 Poker Leaks: Plug the holes in your game while spotting the ones in your opponents.

Skill #4: Identifying Betting Patterns

What are betting patterns?

Every poker player tends to get into habits. Habits occur because a player sees so many hands of poker, it is easier to
simply react rather than to take time to make a decision.

For example, you raise pre-flop with A-K and one opponent calls. On the flop comes A-6-4 with two spades. You bet your top pair and your opponent insta-calls. What does your opponent have? The answer is derived from both observing a betting pattern and a tell.

An opponent who instantly calls a bet in this situation is more than likely to be on a flush draw. The reason this is the case is the following:

a) If he had also hit top pair, he would most likely pause to think if his hand was best or if you outkick him
b) If he he two pair or a set, he would most likely pause to think about how to play his hand to win the most chips from you.

Pre-flop betting patterns are often the easiest to identify

Common betting patterns often occurs pre-flop. Players think they have a simple decision pre-flop. They get two cards and decide the strength of their cards. The result: placing bets that are based on the strength of their starting hand. This is a mistake. But players get lazy. A couple of examples:

Big pre-flop raises compared to the size of the big blind usually indicates a player who doesn't want action. A raise five times the big blind may indicate a middle pocket pair like 9's, 10's or the dreaded pocket Jacks.

A player in early position makes a three times the big bling raise. Everyone fold to the player on the button who re-raises just double the original raise. Why would he make such a small bet knowing his opponent has the pot odds to call? Because he has pocket Aces, and wants to build a bigger pot or get action.

Actually I witnessed this exact play at the WSOP. Unfortunately, the raiser had pocket 9's and hit a set on the flop. When he checked, his opponent moved all-in with his pocket Aces and got knocked out. (By the way, I think this small re-raise is a poor play when you and your opponent have deep stacks. You will only win a slighly bigger pot, but you may get knocked out when your opponent hits a monster.)

Observe and Identify betting patterns

If you know when your opponent is weak, you "almost" can't lose. ("Almost," since there are those things called bad beats.) Therefore, one of the best ways to beat your opponent is to determine when he is strong, mediocre or weak by observing his betting patterns.

Watch his play and notice:
how often he raises pre-flop, and from what position.
how he plays when he is in the blinds.
how he plays on the flop, and the sizes of his continuation bets, probe bets, etc.
how he plays his monster hands and how often he bluffs.

Overall, determine if any of your opponents have a predictable betting pattern. If so, you need to use this information in making your decisions. Oh yeah, don't forget that your better opponents are watching you to find your betting patterns. Don't get lazy and get predictable.

(This is the 4th skill in my Tournament Poker series--let's all win a WSOP bracelet.)