Where the Battle of Algiers rages on ...Rick's Cafe Americain

The biggest hole in my game (and I discover a new one in every session) is my reluctance to push unless I am shortstacked and committed to pushing. It is a good enough strategy for limping to the final table, and it has worked for me in the past. A well timed double-up after making final table in 6th position has pushed me to the cash in one-third of the tournaments I have played at A.M. Still, it is a weak way to play and would get me chewed up against better competition. Timidity can be costly.

My flight got in late, so BOU and I had to drive like crazy to get to the tournament on time. Which we didn’t. But it was still level 1 and there were still enough seats to accomodate us, so we joined in. At this point I lose BOU’s story. We were placed at different tables and one of us didn’t last long enough to be moved.

My first hand at the table generated a laugh. AQo in MP, I raised to 200 (blinds at 25/50). Pretty obnoxious for a first hand, but Group 2 is Group 2, right? Everyone assumed that I was full of shit and hooted at the raise. I got three callers to see a flop of K-x-x. Useless. Victor bet 200 out of the big blind and I let my hand go. More hooting from the table, but a very good laydown. Victor was holding the correct x-x for two pair and, as the rest of the game would indicate, it is almost impossible to knock Victor off of a hand.

I got back above level and more when I got heads-up against asphnxma, who was on my immediate left. I limp-called his raise to 250 with AJs. The flop was Q high. I took a long time before checking, hoping that the delay was enough to cause Nixma to check also but really fearing that I had just lost the hand with my indecision. He checked back to me, unsure of what sort of hand I would (a) limp-call with and (b) not be obligated to bet out the flop. The turn was a blank and I checked again. Nixma went through the same decision making process and decided to check back a second time. The river was a J.  No hesitation this time; I fired a big bet (500? 1000?) into the pot. Now Nixma was lost. He claims that I was a carnival of tics when the flop came down: so much so that he figured I caught a monster and was FAKING indecision. Now, with the big bet on the river he wasn’t so sure. So he called with KJ. That loss left him crippled and in need of a quick double-up. I’ll let him tell you about the rest of the hands he played, but I can tell you about one he didn’t.

A few hands later, the table limped to BkynPlague on the button, sitting on my immediate right. He thought about raising, but decided not to, saying [asphnxma] would just push, so I’m not going to play this hand. Thanks, Plague, because otherwise I would have completed my blind and been forced to call Nixma with the crappy cards in front of me. I’m not sure asphnxma is as thankful, though.

I don’t remember the rest of how I built my stack, but (not surprisingly) I do remember how I lost my chips. The table limped to me in the big blind with 94o. Obviously, this is the only circumstance in which I would play this hand, but with a hand like that it is hard to beat a flop of 9-8-5. I fired 200 into the pot. The table folded around to Victor, who called. The turn was another 9. Check-raise time. Victor bet 200 and I immediately bumped it to 700. Victor called. The river? 6. Shit. I know, from the way Victor has been playing (ATC, underbetting the pot, unwise calls) that the only question in my mind is “Did Victor get a pair of sixes or hit his gutshot.” I checked, Victor bet 1000 and I made the crying call. J7o. Forget about the fact that he played JACK-SEVEN OFFSUIT at all. He called the flop and the turn with ONE overcard, no flush possibility and a gutshot draw. Grrr. I got it back from him later, but I lost a lot of ground to the field.

A word about Victor. If you have the opportunity to experience this guy, do it. He is wicked funny. If you see his name on a marquee, stop in. Also, he is a calling station. If you have a chance to play poker against him, definitely do that. Maybe go to a show and invite him to a game after his set.

I busted out of the tournament against BkynPlague in level 3. Plague was once again on the button when the table folded to him (actually, Victor probably limped - he always limped) and he button raised from 150 to 500. I had AQ again and seeing how well Big Chick worked for me on the first hand of the day, I popped him back for another 500. He announced that he had a pair, tried to read me - possibly looking for the tics that asphnxma so helpfully mentioned - and called. The flop was 9-2-2 and I bet another 1000. This puzzled Plague no end, becuase he didn’t see my greens (500) or my stack of whites (25) when he called my preflop bet. Had he realized how much I had behind my raise he would have let his threes go. Now, though, he felt committed to the hand and pushed back all in. As committed as he was, I was even more so. I only had 900 left after my bet, so I called and hoped for help. None came and I was out in ~16th place.

Plague would have let his hand go preflop if I raised him all-in. He almost certainly would have let his hand go post-flop if I pushed all-in. Victor probably would have let his gutshot draw go if I had check-raised him all-in. By trying to have my cake and eat it too, I was letting people catch cards on me when I was strong AND read me for weakness. I had better right this ship and soon. Alas, I didn’t fix the leak that night.

A word about the tics. asphnxma is free to think he has a read on me now. I don’t think the tics are going to do it, though. As far as I can tell, I am all tics whether the flop hits me hard, misses me completely or gives me bottom pair with a runner-runner nut flush draw. I’ve always feared that I was easy to read but my results have always indicated otherwise. The future will tell if asphnxma - or Plague, for that matter, can read me. So far I don’t think I’m bad enough to read. Or good enough to read.

Anyway, after the tournament ended I slid over to the ring game in the Loser’s Lounge. BOU wasn’t playing because the fucker outlasted me. Not only did he outlast me, but from where I was sitting I could see a solid stack of greens in front of him. I like to think that I want Zinester and BOU to do well at these tournaments with me, but seeing that stack in front of my brother made me wicked jealous. My soul is safe because I was still rooting for him.

Ring. There should be more to tell, but the memory is fading fast. I had been playing strong poker and was up a few bucks early, but lost my first buy-in of $20 in a heads-up hand with asphnxma.  I had (I believe) either TP or an overpair. He had a more in front of him than I did, so I thought I had a good chance of doubling through since I was pretty sure that my pair was good. I don’t remember all of the betting on the turn, I just remember that I raised him by pushing the last $4 I had back at him. He called and, as I suspected, my pair was good. Then I lost when he hit his gutshot on the river. At first I was really pissed. He had definitely put chips into the pot before the action on the turn and all he had was a gutshot draw! Then Nixma pointed out that he also had 9 flush outs and two overcards. Just one of those hands where both people play it right but one has to lose. Still, I don’t like it when it is me. And if I had pushed before he bet the turn, he may not have had the odds to call. Sigh.

I lost my second stack by failing to push and letting Frogman catch a card on the turn against me. I had an overpair on the flop (9-7-6) against Frogman’s A7 and I didn’t raise enough to knock him off of his middle pair. The turn was an A and I was too stupid to let my hand go. Again, a push on the flop would have won the hand but I was too timid to make the right play.

Still, it was the best night of poker in a while. The UCB game is full of guys who can really generate laughter and who appreciate a smart joke. It is really my element. Nixma is having second thoughts about the tournament because it is simultaneously (my words, not his) largely beneath his skill level and sort of a crapshoot. I expect it is worth it for him to keep coming back, though, becuase the ring game is usually so much fun. He said that he would write about his ambivalence himself, and I hope he does. Look for it over on his blog.