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Friday 19th September 2008
Welcome to Hold or Fold - The UK's only Poker E-Letter dedicated to
helping YOU become a better player!
In this week's E-Letter -
*"Wasn't the worst card in the
deck for me"
*Best Poker Face Ever
*******************************
Hiya there and how have you been this week??
Wooooo Hooooooooooooo !!!
I am VERY happy to report that I had my biggest win ever on Wednesday
!!!
It was a $10 rebuy tournament and there were 981 players. I always rebuy
immediately before
the first hand as I feel this is a good strategy - then I lost all my
chips at one point so I took
a double rebuy but I didn't take the add-on at the break so I was in for
$40.
And after 6 1/2 hours of playing, we were down to four players left.
I was in the Big Blind holding KJ and the Small Blind raised me, as he
had been raising me virtually
every single hand. I should (!) have re-raised him but I just called.
The Flop came down: K 9 6 - He bet, I raised him all-in, he called and
showed 9 3 !!
I was really pleased and whooping until another 3 fell on the River and
I was out !
I was not best pleased at being beaten by 93 offsuit but there you go
- I had seen Aces cracked
three times in this tournament so nothing surprised me.
I walked away with $2328.78 so I'm dead-chuffed !!!
Then - Yesterday - the quote came in for my garage roof which absolutely
HAS to be fixed -
and guess what - it's for about £900 - so that's my winnings spent already
- it's how it's been
for the last couple of months - I win an amount and an unexpected bill
flies in - I'm not really complaining as I would have had to have found
other means to pay these bills - but just once...
it would be nice to think about what I would LIKE to spend my winnings
on as opposed to what
I HAVE to spend my winnings on...
Keep watching this space and I'll let you know how it goes !!!
****************************************
"Wasn't the worst card in the deck for me"
****************************************
Well - I've managed to catch up with all my work now - just the usual
bits and pieces which
I need to do - so I sat down to see what poker TV to watch and sad to
say - there doesn't
appear to be much about -
There's Poker After Dark but for some reason - I haven't been able to
get into it - what I really
want to see is this year's WSOP series, especially the Main Event AND
I also want to see some
more High Stakes Poker.
So - I've been trawling through YouTube again and come up with a good
hand which features
Daniel Negreanu, (Hail Daniel) and Jennifer Harman.
As usual, there's plenty of backchat going on -
Jennifer Harman says: "I've played more hands than Daniel has
today"
Daniel replies: "No you haven't"
Jamie Gold chips in: "48 to Daniel!"
Jennifer then says: "I just fold mine on the Flop !"
There's a bit of straddling the pot going on which means that people want
the stakes to be
higher, so the person to the left of the Big Blind can double the Big
Blind and the next person
can double it again and so on - this happens before the cards are dealt...
So in this hand, Bob Safai doubles it to $1,200 and Eli Elezra doubles
it again to $2,400.
Daniel picks up Kh and Qh and he calls the $2,400.
Sammy Farha pipes up: "I've never seen Daniel play so tight
I swear to God!"
Daniel replies: "I've been picking up garbage !"
Sammy continues: "Either that or you're not playing your own
money!"
He's SUCH a wind-up merchant which is why we love him !!!
Daniel HAS to justify himself: "I am 100% playing my own money
! If I was playing somebody
elses money, I'd be gambling!"
Sammy keeps going: "No - you play your own money faster than
this - I know that."
Meanwhile - Jennifer picks up 10s and 7s and she calls the bet too.
Sammy looks at his cards, laughs and mucks them.
Gabe Caplan commentating: "It's going to be difficult to look at
that board and not see
Sammy on the board there with a hand"
Mike Baxter, an amateur, picks up Kc and Jc and he calls.
Jamie Gold folds.
Bob Safai (who?) calls with 8s and 3c
and Eli Elezra checks with 8c and 3d.
Five to the Flop with $13,300 in the middle - remember - this is real
dollars - not tournament
dollars!
The Flop comes down: 10d 7c Kd
Bob Safai checks
Eli Elezra checks.
Daniel Negreanu is next and he bets out $8,000.
Jennifer is next to act.
She thinks about it and then looks at her cards again. One tell that I
think she has is that her
chest rises and lowers quite strongly and deliberately - I have had that
feeling when I'm playing
live of trying to suppress the rise of adrenalin when you hit a good Flop.
You can see Daniel studying her closely and not just that he's looking
at her chest!
Jennifer raises - she grabs some chips and a huge bundle of dollars
and says: "Thirty
Two."
Sammy mutters: "That's what I like about you - you gamble!"
Mike Baxter thinks about it for a moment - even though he's got top pair
and a fairly good
kicker - he folds !!
Gabe Caplan continues: "Mike Baxter is aware that Jennifer has
not gambled too much -
against Sammy I think he would go all in but against Jennifer - he's going
to throw his hand
away."
Bob Safai folds
Eli Folds and action is back to Daniel.
Daniel says to the table: "I've got a sick feeling that she has
like QJ diamonds."
Gabe Caplan: "Daniel has played alot against Jennifer over the
years and he knows that if
Jennifer had QJ diamonds, AQ diamonds, AJ diamonds - she'd make this move."
The odds of winning at this point are:
Daniel 29%
Jennifer 71%
Daniel mulls things over - he sees that the bet is $32,000 and he wants
to know how much
Jennifer has left so he knows how much he will probably have to put in
altogether.
Jennifer takes her time to work out her chips and then says that she has
$35,400
Gabe: "If Jennifer did have QJ diamonds, she would still be
favourite"
Daniel thinks about things some more: "$35,400 PLUS that"
(the $24,000 she has already made)
So in effect - he has to put in $59,400 to win a $88,700 pot.
Daniel thinks he's in front though - he says to Jennifer: "I
can't put you on anything but
QJ diamonds - or - King/Ten?"
Jennifer sips her drink and then sits there stoically with her arms crossed.
Gabe: "He is thinking QJ diamonds and I guess what he's thinking
is that if Jennifer is a small
favourite, it pays him to call here with the amount of money that's in
the pot already."
Daniel reaches a decision: "OK - I'm all in."
Jennifer checks her cards again: "I guess I have to call."
Daniel asks: "You want to run it twice??"
and Jennifer replies: "Yeah"
This means - that they will show the first Turn and River cards and see
what the outcome is
and THEN play another Turn and River card and see what THAT outcome is
and then split the
pot if necessary...
This gives both players a bit of insurance if they're not sure if they
have the best hand.
Although in this case - remember - Jennifer is 71% favourite to win.
Daniel says to Jennifer: "I was hoping you'd have the QJ diamonds.."
Jennifer replies: "No I don't."
Daniel asks: "You got me beat??"
Jennifer: "Yeah"
Daniel: "Two Pair?"
Jennifer: "Yeah"
Daniel sees her cards and laughs: "Sevens and Tens?? OK."
The first Turn comes down: JS
This lowers Jennifer's odds of winning to 64%
Gabe: Gives him alot more outs... Only a 36% dog now."
Daniel: "Wasn't the worst card in the deck for me."
Jennifer: "I agree."
The first River comes down: 9S
This gives Daniel the first win...
Daniel laughs sarcastically: "Good thing we ran it twice!"
The second Turn comes down: As
and the second River is: Qc
so Daniel wins again with two pairs, Kings and Queens and he takes the
whole pot = $156,100 !!
Jennifer is not impressed:"OK - Rebuy."
Gabe: "Just go in your purse and break out another $100,000!"
You can see this hand at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoFb8IOv-ws
****************
Post Mortem
****************
Hitting two pair on the Flop, especially if they are two low pairs, can
be quite dangerous -
it seems like a big hand but it can so easily be beaten -
It's happened to me a few times and really - there's no big way out of
it except not to have
played the cards in the first place - That's what runs through my head
when these two low
pairs get beaten - 'why did I play them in the first place??'
And I think this is probably the only way Jennifer could have saved herself
alot of money
here - yes - the odds of her winning after the Flop were 71% but even
with running the
Turn and River twice - she got beaten both times...
So my advice and bottom line is... don't play 10-7, even if they are suited
!!
****************************************
Best Poker Face Ever !
****************************************
This made me laugh and I wanted to share it with you !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asuPwwWSnPw
****************************************
Well I hope you have a good week and may the cards be with you!
I'll see you then.
All the best
Meg Arana
Hold or Fold
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