Born 30 something years ago into a card-playing clan in the North of England: the low-roller's poker odyssey has taken him from the school common-room via down-trodden Midlands' casinos, smoky Cotswolds pubs, celebrity Soho drinking spots and of course the ubiquitous world of cyberspace to the home of poker itself, Las Vegas. Join his search for juicy take-downs, great pot odds and the occasional back-door straight as he goes for glory.

Monday, August 21, 2006

BACK ON THE HORSE AGAIN

Or should that be the Fox? I am returning to the home of poker (no not Las Vegas, or at least not yet); my home of poker is situated in The Cotswolds. Last week I played in the semi-final of the Heads-Up Tournament. Poker is above all about information - often incomplete, and just like the wider world, whoever controls the information controls the game. So why am I telling you this? I had won my quarter-final against a fair player - half-way through The Greek had kindly offered to deal for us, and had asked to peak at some of the mucked cards. So he saw me winning pots with nothing - heads-up play (one on one poker just to make it clear). Anyway as it turns out I end up being drawn against The Greek for the semi-final. So he has some information about me and how I play (Level 1), but I know this (Level 2), but I am confident he is not up to Level 3 thinking, which is complex: He does not know that I know he knows. So I control more information than he does.....

So we sit down with 5,000 in chips, blinds of 25-50 with a 15-minute clock (this means the blinds double every 15 minutes, ensuring a more rapid conclusion) and I pick up in the small blind (also the dealer, so I have a huge positional advantage):

HAND ONE: MY HAND

We have $5,000 dollars each in chips. I make the minimum raise, making it $100 to play. Whereupon the Greek raises a further $400, which I call (there is little point in reraising, as you will either win a smallish pot, or end up playing for most of your money pre-flop with odds of 55% at best, if he has two over-cards - KQ, AQ, AK, and around 20% if he has a bigger pair QQ, KK, AA). So I call - one reason I have made the minimum raise initially - keep control of the information). The flop....

HAND ONE: THE FLOP

Good news, but dangerous. He could have KQ and the nuts, but I am thinking more likely AK, AQ or a big pair.
So he bets out $500, which I raise a further thousand (to be fair he thought the bet was a further $500 - so he called, pushing $500 more in - the extra $500 came in on the turn, when I'd spotted the pot was shy). So the turn comes....

HAND ONE: THE TURN

This time he checks and I push-all-in, $3,000 more into a pot of $4,000 and he folds, showing me his cards....

THE GREEK'S HAND

I won the pot, putting me on a $7000-$3000, lead. I ended up winning the semi-final with the same hand pocket jacks, this time up against The Greek's 6-6: I put in the minimum raise $200 as the blinds had risen to $100-$200, he raised a further $600, I rearised him the rest of his stack, $1500 more and no miracles happened.

The Greek made several poor decisions:

1. Don't ask to look at people's muck cards (muck cards are folded cards that always remain unseen)- even if you are not involved. In poker your cards are the closest thing you have - you wouldn't ask to touch another man's wife, so stay the @*$# away from his cards. So he had bad karma going in, and I ended up making better use of the information than he did.

2. A-9 is a terrible hand in a full-game - you have only ace-high, with a poor kicker, although heads-up it rates to be well above average. I have raised, which to-be-fair could mean anything, so a re-raise is not out of place.

3. The size of the re-raise is at least twice as much as it should be. Reraise a further $150 to $200.

4. The fact that I have called a big re-raise and the flop is very dangerous makes his pair of 9s look pretty sorry. Check and fold would make sense. I don't mind the bet, but calling the re-raise, even if it had been the minimum raise was sweet charity

5. The biggest mistake of all, in my humble opinion was his decision to show me his cards. I now had further control of the information, and finishing the job was simply a matter of keeping the pots small, seeing flops, and staying safe - only build big pots when you have a genuinely big hand.

Next time I will tell you about the final - the good news being that I now had enough points to ensure a top-16 finish in the League, which plays off in under 100 minutes. I start with just over 3000 chips, squeaking into 15th place, as opposed to Pete, our leader, who has over 6000 chips. There is only one winner - a prize of 1600 pounds, which comes in the form of a tournament entry. If the winner goes onto cash in the tournament, 30% goes to the other 15 players.......