A Poker Adventure at Foxwoods

If you haven't noticed already, I enjoy gambling. I am the son of a stockbroker and have spent my entire life watching money be made from money. I fervently believe that from a philosophical standpoint, there is absolutely no difference between gambling on things like poker and investing in the stock market.

I developed an affection for poker along with all of my high school friends around the age of fifteen. We would all meet at one of my friends houses every Sunday to watch football and play poker. One of my all time favorite memories is hitting a straight flush in a huge pot and watching the Broncos score a late touchdown to clinch a playoff spot simultaneously. This weekend, I ventured to Foxwoods and played my favorite game for a couple days.

Friday night I sat down at $1-$2 no limit hold em with $300. My table was a little fishy (fish is a derogative term for a crappy gambler) and I was able to push my way up to $450 by picking off small pots in leveraged positions. After a while, the rum and cokes that me and my co-founder of The Pollis were drinking all night began to catch up to me and I siphoned off about $75 on a stupid bluff. Shortly after that, I took a tough beat for another $75 when my KJ ran up against someone's KQ on a KJQ47 board. Then I ran into the hand of the night.

There was an old man sitting two spots to my right who knew how to do three things and nothing else: check, call, and raise all in. I saw him check-call off $125 with pockets and three over cards on the board. He threw away a buy in by check raising all in with second pair, middle kicker. Needless to say, he was bad. He limped for $2 and I looked down at AhQh and raised to $12 (standard raise on $1-$2 at Foxwoods is usually between $10-$15, if it's anything less you'll get seven calls); the old guy and one other called and the flop came out AT6.

Both checked to me and I bet $25 into a pot of $40. The other caller folded and the old guy took no time throwing his money into the pot. At this point I put his range at: 7T, 8T, 9T, TJ, TQ, TK, A-Worse than Q, KJ, KQ. A queen hit on the turn and he checked again. At this point I figured that I needed to throw a big bet out there because only one hand in his range was beating me and I could not afford to see a river king or jack. I bet $75 into a pot of $90 and he shoved all in. I was now looking at a call of $180 into a pot of $345 with top two pair against the biggest fish left at the table. I probably should have taken more time to think about his range of hands but I was still a little emotional from the previous two big hands (which was only exacerbated by the alcohol) and I snap called him. Looking back with a clear head, I still probably make the call but I should have taken more time to consider if he was beating me.

He looked startled and said "I think I have the best hand" and slowly flipped over KJ. My heart sank into my lower intestine. All night, I had been praying that I would get in a big pot with him. The first rule of poker is to find the biggest fish at the table and he might as well have been a 2,000 pound marlin. Still, even donks hit the nuts sometimes and I did not give enough thought to the possibility. The river was a blank and I took my remaining $25 and threw it away at the blackjack table, trying to find a miracle run to take me back to even.

Foxwoods was donk city this weekend because so many people flocked there for the Kentucky Derby, too bad I donated to their slush fund

On Saturday I vowed to make up for that mistake and I entered a $180 deepstack tournament. For two solid hours I did not see anything (and "anything" for me is like 5h6h, I subscribe to the Daniel Negreanu school of small ball poker) and blinded down to around ten big blinds by the seventh level (each level was 20 minutes). I picked up As9s on the button and shoved for my remaining seven big blinds and was called by Ah6h in the big blind. The guy flopped two hearts, blanked the turn, and spiked a six on the river to bounce me. At this point, I wanted to go home but could not for another seven hours because my buddy Kyle had come solely to bet on the ponies and eventually the Kentucky Derby and we had all traveled together.

I strongly recommend reading Power Hold 'Em Strategy by Negreanu. Smaller bets lead to more opportunities for deception

After some deliberation, I decided to sit down at $1-$2 again with $200. I had played well and was down solely because of one rush decision and some awful luck. My luck did not get much better as I sat for five hours and only really saw two hands where I had a chance to make a decent profit. The first came when I looked down at pocket twos. Under the gun (the first person to act) raised to $12 and there were two callers in front of me in middle position. This is an easy call because I'm giving everyone behind me 4-1 if I call (then 5-1 after one call, 6-1 after two, etc...) and I want as much money in the pot as possible preflop because if I hit a set, there is a high likelihood that I will be way ahead and I can usually take it down with one big bet.

The flop came 962 rainbow (or as we like to call it in poker parlance, the perfect flop). The first three players all checked to me. There were two callers behind me and the pot stood at $75. I figured that at least two of the first three checks had big cards with no pairs and a medium sized bet would chase them out of the pot. I decided to target one call behind me (and possibly two, the only real drawing hand is 78 and I'm willing to take the risk that someone does not have it and that if they do, they will not hit on the turn) and bet $35 into a pot of $75. I got one call and the rest of the table folded. The turn was the jack of clubs, which put two clubs on the board.

I never look at the flop, turn, and river first. I always watch the other person to gauge their reaction without allowing my hand to bias my read. This guy's eyebrows perked up and he straightened his posture and checked his cards again. At this point I was a little scared that he had something like 7c8c so I bet $120 into a pot of $140 (I had about $140 left). He did not take much time to fold and I took down a nice pot but not a particularly big one. In retrospect, I wish I would have made a smaller bet like $80 because he was probably calling with something like A9 or small pockets on the flop.

My only other hand of note came right at the tail end of the day. I was slowly starting to fade due to the fact that I had not eaten in 7 hours. I had $100 more than I started with and was feeling the pressure to get out and salvage just a $200 loss. I decided to give myself until 5:30 to play so I would have time to eat before going to watch the Kentucky Derby. Around 5:15 I looked down at aces in middle position. I actually looked down at them three or four times just because it was so nice to see them after doing nothing but folding terrible hands for seven hours.

You can't tell me that's not sexy

There was one limper in front of me, and I raised to $12. I got a call from a new guy behind me who I had a read on as a loose player as my buddy Brad had played with him the night before. The limper called and the flop came QJ5. First position lead out for $15 into a pot of $40. I felt comfortable playing him as I had a hand earlier where I almost shoved with ace high; it would have been a mistake as he showed me KK. But this gave me an insight into his bet structure that made me feel very confident that I was beating him. I was a little worried about the loose player behind me having a hand like QJ and I decided to just call and see what he did. The new guy called and we went to the turn with a pot of $85.

The turn was a jack and first position checked to me. The jack scared me a bit so I checked to the loose player. He could be counted on to bet in position. I really did not mind letting him dictate the action. He threw out a bet of $20, and it was folded to me. The bettor must have forgot I was in the hand as he smiled and began to reach for the chips; but he stopped as soon as he realized I still had cards. At this point, I was reasonably certain he did not have a jack. I just called.

I know that most people will raise here but I prefer the call/lead out on the river combo in this spot. It still functions as somewhat of a check-raise and there are very few cards that can come out now that will beat me based on my read. Plus there are a handful of cards that can come out to make his hand better (K if he has KQ, J if they have a Q or KK, A if they have KT or AQ) and really pay me off. And the pot is big enough that you can value bet a decent sized bet if the river blanks. I'm really just scared of another queen spiking at this point.

The river was a blank and I thought that I had to value bet him. It did not seem like he was happy that I called on the turn so I figured he had a pair but not one that he was too excited about. I threw out a bet of $35 into a pot of $125 and he reluctantly called and mucked once I showed him my aces. Fifteen minutes later I looked down at 72 off, chuckled to myself, and decided that was a fitting end to the day and I walked away with a profit of $235. Between the hotel room, poker, and the Kentucky Derby (I bet $20 to win $520 on El Padrino...whoops) this weekend cost me about $100* which is a net win in my book.

*if you're wondering how that math works out, it's because my buy in on Friday night was staked. My buy in on Saturday was not. Here's the deal Brad and I negotiated on gchat. And yes, I bought him drinks and paid for gas because I forgot to offer him a piece of my action on Saturday. At least I'm not a total jackass

• Full $300 buy in, I put up $100 Brad puts up $200
• If I lose, Brad takes 2/3 losses, I take 1/3
• If I win < $100, Brad gets 55%, if I win between $101-$249 Brad gets 50%, if I win > $250 Brad gets 45%, and > $400 Brad gets 40% 

Even if I lose money, playing poker is valuable to me because I believe it to be great exercise for your brain. Having to do math problems while simultaneously using your instincts to create a reasoned argument is difficult and it takes a lot of focus. Poker is the perfect game to prepare you for this journey we call life because both require the same skill set to be successful.

Yes, I am aware it says "your." This was the only image I could find with this quote. Welcome to 2012.