Aw-Ren
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Aw-Ren
I've been enjoying the 2005 WSoP coverage on ESPN this year. ESPN still has some things they could improve on, but for poker content, I'm getting my fill. The funniest thing I've seen this year - besides Mike The Mouth - is the Japanese lady who won a seat and has a short skit where she is sitting behind a bunch of chips and pushes her hands forward while saying "Aw-Ren." They should change the Degree All-In moment to the Degree Aw-Ren moment and insert that clip before each Aw-Ren hand. I love it.
Did anyone else see the bowling alley poker player Stillman suckout numerous times earlier in the episode(s) and then talk trash when his ill advised all-in play with pocket 2's proved to be his demise. How quickly we poker players forget the coin flips and lucky draws that often propel us to the money spots when we could have just as easily been on the rail. Joker.
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Speaking of Aw-Ren, after some pretty bad plays with all-in moves in my cash game play, I've taken a little extra time to look at when and why I go all-in. I was a tad alarmed when I thought back on my play. I didn't go search out hand histories or data mine my numbers, I just thought about my actions as of late. The pretty easy questions I asked myself are:
- More often than not, do you go all-in hoping you don't get called?
- More often than not, do you go all-in with a made hand or are you drawing?
- Do you push all-in more often than you call all-in?
I rarely push all-in on a stone cold bluff, thus I usually have a decent hand or I'm drawing to a great hand with odds. The obvious problem is typically people aren't gonna call an all-in unless they have reason to do so, like their own draw or a better made hand. And then there are the donkfish who don't have the right odds and still call you and take your buy-in when the board rips you apart. Lately, I've been over playing top pair and have gotten ripped when someone makes 2 pair or a set. After the play I look back at the hand and wonder why I was all-in. Did I really need to be?
The last question is one of those that people typically answer quickly. You should rarely be calling an all-in unless you feel you have the best hand. Pretty obvious huh?! This brings me back to my top pair situation I mentioned earlier. Just like I've over played top pair as of late and had to re-evaluate my decision making, sooo maaaannnnyyyy people push all-in with mediocre hands trying to push people off their hand. It has made my decision making quite easy the last few nights. Play tight aggressive and allow them to donk their chips to me. I want to push with very strong hands when I am playing with calling stations and I want to put myself in less situations where I am calling with mediocre hands or pushing all-in hoping I don't get called. My new motto...Be the donker, not the donkey.
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Last night brought with it a very enjoyable poker session for me. Fresh off my review of my game I played some damn good poker over at BoDog. The board also decided to be my friend at the right times which doesn't hurt. I ended up nearly quadrupling my buy-in and really brought back the confidence in my cash game I sorely needed. One of the most important things I did last night that differed from my previous play at BoDog was I quit worrying about clearing the PSO/BoDog points. In previous play I would continuously look to see if that hand qualifyed to get me .20 or .50 or whatever more in points. So stupid. I also found myself getting into more pots just so the hand would qualify for points. That is no way to play poker. I realized that before it was too late and it paid off for me. After my session was over I had actually cleared more points than any other night and I had not cared in the least.
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After finishing up my BoDog play I decided to fire up the IM and see if there was any blogger fun going on. I think it was approximately 8.4 seconds after I logged on that Veneno IM'd me to see if I was down with a little HU action. I was expecting it and was happy to comply. Shortly thereafter we were slinging chips at UB. I was very impressed with her play and her decision making and she certainly deserved to win, which she did. Unfortunately for me I didn't take my own advice from above and pushed all-in on a mediocre top pair hand and it cost me. That play and my recent thoughts on my all-ins is really what prompted me to write all this down today.
No matter my results in the HU match, good times were had by all. I can't say enough about you freakin' bloggers and the good times I have while on the virtual felt. And with the introduction of speaker phones (I really gotta get one of thos things), I can see some serious potential with private blogger SNG's and cash games. Playing like that would be just about as close as I can get to playing live with my friends while still sitting in my Simpsons boxers on the couch. Strike that last sentence.
Veneno, I had a great time chatting and playing against you and I can't wait to play again. Unfortunately, I think my HU game needs a serious re-haul. Since my HU challenge win I've been in a serious doldrum of sorts. It's been a combination of things that have sent me on a HU downward spiral. When I'm playing bad, my opponents are playing quite well. When I'm playing well, the board is ripping me to shreds. There's a lot more to it, but in general terms, that's where it's at. Last nights game I wouldn't put in either category. I think we both played well, you just played well...er. Damn that's some shredding of the written word there folks. Me thinks I should call it quits before I really lose it. But first...
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Congrats to Kipper who managed to make it to Step 5 at the Party Mini-Steps and earned a cool $200. He was smoking the tables and proved those things can be profitable. I may get back into them soon.
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Remeber kids, Don't Do What Donny Donk Does.
posted by TripJax @ 2:43 PM,
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