SCOOP is coming this weekend on Pokerstars...

The other day I was practicing a little on my short-handed game and after waiting and waiting through several sets of blinds for a hand that had cards higher than a eight, yeah, I have those days too. Finally I catch big slick in the small blind and someone in middle position makes a small raise. This couldn't be better, the other players fold to me and I reraise all-in. The big blind calls and the original raiser calls, both of whom have me covered. The flop brings two spades one of which pairs my ace and causes both other players to shove their remaining chips into the middle. The player in middle position showed a pair of tens and I breathed a sigh of relief, compounded by the four six of spades the big blind turned over. The turn card was another king, giving me aces up and the beginnings of a warm fuzzy I'm fixing to triple up feeling until the river came a third spade.

As I looked back and tried to figure out how someone calls an all-in with four six suited I had one of those fleeting thoughts where I wished I knew how to play Pot Limit Omaha! Obviously I was going back to the books and see if there was a section that I had missed in my hold'em education that explained the how and why of playing six four suited in the big blind. I will have to fix this hole in my game or else I may have to learn how to play 7 Card Stud or take up bowling or tennis or jenga. Does anyone else lose this much sleep on seemingly simple problems? I hope not. Good luck at the tables and see you at SCOOP!!!!

The SCOOPs are coming, the SCOOPs are coming...

Wanting to play well in the upcoming SCOOP Poker Tournament I have had to make some adjustments to my game. An interesting phenomenon that has come to my attention is that of counterfeiting, an example of which is below:






Now, I am in the big blind and get dealt T6off, no biggie, no one raised so I am priced in to see the flop. I flop middle/bottom pair and bet out, I get one caller so I figure the guy is playing Kxsuited or some lower pair, if he had hit trips he would have raised, if he hit kings up he would have raised, I am 99% sure that I still have the best hand, my 2 pair against his kings. I am OK with the Ace on the board because I already have him on a hand that does not include an Ace and I bet again. However, when the second Ace hits the board on the river I am totally beat, my two pair were just counterfeited by the Aces. Time to fold and regroup.

In looking back on the hand I don't think that I could have won this on any street by changing the way that I bet. No way was I raising pre-flop, I could have shoved post but I am pretty sure that he would have come along on the strength of top pair, he could only reasonably have been beaten by Aces and I would have bet them regardless of position and he knew that.

I am trying to vary the type of tourney that I enter, buy-in, field size, turbo or non, knockout or not, to develop a more easily adaptable playing style while still maintaining enough aggression to move forward in the field. Patience is paying off slowly, isn't that just about right. Positive thoughts and pro-active adjustments are the things I am working towards, let's hope that the work pays off.

See you all on the felt.