Texas Hold’em – Beating Stiff Competition

I heading out to play poker at the Peppermill. There were two
tables active at the time and the second table was a “must move” table
meaning that the first table was the “main table” and the second table’s
purpose was to keep supplying the main table with new players when
people left for whatever reason. The first table at which I sat held the
usual suspects and I ended up in a hand where, at the end, I was
required to call an all in because mathematically I was receiving
excellent odds to make the call. It did not work out for me and it began
to look like this was not a good day to play poker for me. I re-loaded
and continued to play because I was a better player than anyone else at
the table and I should be able to make up my losses with time. I played
at that table for a bit longer and then was required to move to the
“main table” to play.

At the main table I quickly realized that I
was up against some stiff competition. Judging by the play styles and
actions of those present I deduced that every player there was either a
professional or a semi-professional poker player. In a case like this I
had to approach the situation with caution. I decided to play “small
ball” poker to provide the most amount of safety possible. There were
two reasons for this tactic. Firstly, it limited the amount of money I
would have at risk in the event things went badly. Secondly, it allowed
me to put forth the table image that I was a very tight player and being
that every player at the table was a good player, I could then get away
with some bluffs at the appropriate times.

Unfortunately for me, I
ended up bleeding down chips to my last $80 (out of $500). This was not
good. After playing at the table, I knew I could make money there. I
Had two choices. I could either cut my losses and leave the table
because $80 was not enough money to be playing with at that particular
table or I could hit the ATM and reload a second time in order to have
enough in chips to make up my losses if I did hit a hand. I knew I could
beat this table, so I decided to hit the ATM but I had to wait for the
right time to get off the table to do so. I decided to reload after the
next hand. I looked down at my cards and saw a good drawing combination
of cards. There had been a raise from the first position to act.
Everyone called this person all the way to me and there was $63 in the
pot at this point. I figured that now was the time to make a move. I
pushed all of my chips in the pot because there was no hand that I was
less than a 2.5 to 1 underdog. If I took down the pot with the bet then I
had nearly doubled up. If I had a caller, I had reverse odds on my
money. It was only $80 and if I doubled up I could save myself a trip to
the ATM. It worked out because everyone folded and I took down the pot.

Two
hands later I won another moderate size pot. Three hands later I won a
larger pot and now I had just under $400 in front of me. This is when I
received my hand of the day. A good player raised in from early position
and I looked down to see Jack-eight suited. This is an ok speculative
hand. I wanted to see a flop with it and I called along with 2 other
people. The flop came Jack, eight, two rainbow and I was first to act. I
bet $35. The original raiser and one other person called me. The turn
came and it was another eight. I now had a full house. I made sure to
look at the board and then looked at the original raiser. I could tell
he had missed the turn. I took a little extra time to make it appear
like I feared someone holding an eight and then I checked to him. He bet
out $60, which is nowhere near enough to take down a pot that size. The
third person called the bet and it came to me. I looked at the board
and called. The river came and it was a 7. All I could hope for was that
someone had hit their straight draw. I checked again and the original
raiser bet out $80. The third person folded. He must have been on a
flush draw. I wish he had hit it.

I hesitated and counted out my
chips. After putting the $80 in the pot, I would have $186 more in the
pot and the only hand I really feared was pocket jacks. This was not a
calling situation for me. I was convinced I had the best hand. I wanted
my opponent to double me up and I had to figure out the best way to do
this. I could do this in two ways but it depended on what he actually
held. I thought I could put him on hitting the jack and having a decent
kicker. I could either move all in making it look like I was trying to
steal the pot or I could to a minimum re-raise of $80 and induce an all
in from him. In all of this I had forgotten that I had set myself up
with the image of a tight player. I moved all in when I should have
performed a minimum re-raise. He paused for quite a while. I now felt
comfortable that he held an inferior hand and was hoping he’d call. He
did not. I scraped in a very large pot and now I was up $200 on the day
after being down over $400. After my misplay, I had to be happy with
that.

I played for a bit longer and never hit another hand. I left
up for the day when things had been looking pretty bleak. I had played
at a table full of professionals and had held my own. I was fairly proud
of that. I headed home for the night.