Substandard System – How I Lost Hundreds at Poker

Chumash Trip Report

Last weekend, I went up to Chumash Casino for their big, tri-annual NLH tournament. The trip was a success only in that I had a blast. Poker was a losing venture for me for several reasons that I will detail here. But I had a really fun time with Kid, Joe, Paul & Dena, Kirk, and Joe’s friends.

I left my place on Friday around noon and headed up to Santa Barbara. There, I met up with Kid, Joe, and Joe’s friends at Joe’s apartment. Joe, Mike, Kid, and I jumped right into a 4-way freeze out on the table they built. I have to say, they did a very nice job on the table. We didn’t play for money, however, so there isn’t really anything to recap.

After playing cards for a while, we met up with Paul and Dena at a nearby Red Robin. Good times. This is a relatively new group of friends for me. So I am really happy that we hit it off so well. It seems we always have fun together just talking, whether we are playing cards or out to eat. And Joe’s friends added to it. Mike is nutty.

After lunch, Paul and Dena went back to the cabin they were staying at for the weekend and the rest of us went back to Joe’s. We finished our poker free roll with Kid and I heads up. Same result as last time. Kid 2; Darsky 0. Then we bought some booze and headed out to Paul and Dena’s cabin for some more cards and what not (or not what.) Paul had brought along cards and a couple cases of chips so we were ready play. $20 buy-in, dealers choice. We played a bunch of wild card games and, mostly, blood n’ guts. For only $20, I played really loose and had a ton of fun. I think we all did. We played until around 11pm. I hadn’t even been to Chumash so I had not been able to check in to my room yet.

I left and drove to the Casino and checked in and I was thinking about putting in some time in the poker room at the casino. But after getting settled into my room, it was midnight, I was tired, and the tournament would start in 9 hours (9am start time. Ouch!) I was too tired to put in an all night session and play the tourney, and I like to play for at least 4 hours when I play for cash, so I decided to call it a night. I watched Crimson Tide on TNT as I tried to sleep. The TV emitted a terrible high-pitched noise which made it difficult to watch, not to mention difficult to sleep. But it was Crimson Tide…a great movie. Its one of those that I can’t help but watch whenever it is on. So I watched the whole movie and then went to sleep. (Really interesting, eh? -- This is gold, Jerry! Gold!)

Saturday morning, I was up, showered, and made a trip to the complimentary continental breakfast (how very) in plenty of time to hang out before the tourney began. The first person I spotted was Joel, another poker friend who had driven up that morning to play. Everyone else funneled in and we chatted for a few until it was time to take our seats.

I had table F-7 seat 2. When I found the table, there were five men already seated, their average age well above 50. I was the youngest by about 10 years. My plan going in to the tourney was to play a little looser and more aggressively than normal. I wanted to pick up chips early and try to control the table. With a crew of older players in the round, I thought I was likely to be able to execute that strategy. A couple of slightly younger men showed up as the table filled. But the overall look didn’t change.

One possible downside relates to the fact that I like to talk and enjoy myself in any poker game. I doubted these old dogs would be very interactive. They hadn’t been talking at all since I had arrived. But once the action got under way, they liven up. The old guy on my right was actually a great audience for me. He laughed at everything I said. Well, the jokes, anyway. So we had a good time. Then something else happened. I picked up quality starting hands from the get go.

What the…! That wasn’t part of the plan! I was ready to get cold cards for a while and look for spots to steal and make calls in position with busting hands. Instead, I found A-Jo in late position on the very first hand. I got heads up with one of the younger guys and won the pot, showing down against his A-10 with an A on the flop. But I couldn’t make him pay much when the river brought three spades. Oh, well. Good start anyway. On the very next hand, I had A-Q. I got heads up with the same guy after he called my pre-flop raise. The flop came K-x-K. I had already figured him for K-something so I followed his check with the same. The turn didn’t matter because I wasn’t betting into this guy. He bet the turn and I surrendered the hand.

So, already, I got good cards, was playing passively (rightly so), and relinquished control. This was nothing like I had envisioned. But I know how to adjust. Things went south for me when I picked up K-K in middle position. I had a good read on the big blind. He would look at his cards as soon as they came out. So I knew he liked his hand before I even knew what I had. With blinds at 25-50 and one limper ahead of me, I opened with a raise to 200. The cut-off called (he had a chip with a picture of himself and a 15lb salmon on it, so I’ll call him the Fisherman) and it folded to the BB. He raised to 1,000. “I knew it,” I exclaimed in a mumble. The limper folded and it was on me. This is where my style comes in. I like to just call with big hands like As or Ks when I am re-raised. It really disguises the strength of the hand and gives me a chance to out play my opponent after the flop. If everything goes in pre-flop, I could be ahead with pair over pair but my opponent could turn or river one of his outs. If I just call, I could take down the pot after the flop without showing down. Most people will call all-in pre-flop with middle or high pair after they have already raised. But they’ll lay it down if the flop comes with over cards.

In this case, there was another player to consider. Since the re-raise to 1,000 was so large, I thought the Fisherman would not call after me. So I just called. But he did too. Oops! My trap play is better suited to play against one opponent. No worries. The flop came K-x-J with two clubs. I was ready to slow play this but the BB moved all-in for 2,650. I decided to just call because I actually wanted the Fisherman to call, too, since it was too expensive for him to stay in with just a flush draw (which I thought he might be on) but could call with a few other hands that were dominated. Fisherman did call. The turn brought another club and I immediately realized I was in a bad spot. But he only had about 900 left and I was first to act. I wasn’t going to lay my hand down for that amount, so I might as well bet out and hope he folds. If I were to check and he bet, I would have to call anyway. So I bet all-in and he called. I got a rebate but was now trailing to his nut flush (Ac-7c). The river didn’t pair the board and I was down to 600…crippled, as they say. BTW, the BB made a set with J-J. Tough loss for him, too.

After the hand, I asked the Fisherman if he would have folded if I had moved all-in on the flop. He said he wasn’t going anywhere once he picked up that draw. I believe that. As it turns out, the only way I could have played the hand better was to re-raise pre-flop and force the Fisherman out. I’ll definitely consider that next time this situation comes up with more than one opponent.

That’s it for now. In my next post, I’ll go over the rest of the tournament and the rest of the weekend including Anderson’s Pea Soup and more poker.

SEEYa