Over the years I’ve experienced every possible bad beat and given my share too. This blog isn’t going to be about the bad beats I’ve experienced or any that you have experienced. It’s going to be about how to cope with the beats that you take when you play on the felt. I’m not in the process of becoming a head doctor, nor am I one, so I won’t use the big words that they use. I’m going to write about how I cope with the endless bad beats that get taken. It has taken me many years to learn how to cope with bad beats, just ask a few select members of pokerplasm.

Before you can cope with a bad beat there are a few things to do to help lessen the effects of them on your bankroll. The biggest thing I can stress is don’t play over your bankroll. If you can’t put the recommended amount on the table without destroying your bankroll, don’t play at that limit. Yes, I know the bad beats happen more at the lower limits, but that can be lessened by changing your style. The lower the limit you play the tighter you need to play. The turn over in players doesn’t allow anyone to start to label you as Tight Aggressive (TAG). Don’t try to force hands, if you don’t hit and get bet into, consider folding. You are not playing to out play all of your opponents, but rather to MAKE MONEY.

Now, on to dealing with bad beats.

The first thing to do after taking a bad beat is breathe. Take a couple of deep breathes and calm down, if it means folding or sitting out, then do so. The second thing to do is learn from what went wrong. Look at the hand history and checking the betting that happened and compare it to the outs the player had. Did your check raise with 2 other players in the hand make the pot big enough for them to have the odds of chasing their draw? Did you misrepresent the strength of your hand and let them think they might be ahead? If you can’t find anything that you might of done wrong, sum the action up in a short sentence, “Chased double gut without the pot odds.” Add it to the notes you have on that player. Most sites allow you to see the hole cards of anyone that goes to showdown as long as you were dealt into the hand. If you have a player that is chasing alot or playing foolish, start checking histories of hands they lose at the table. Develop a profile on that player and use it to your advantage.

If you make a bad beat a learning experience, over time you should see them decrease as you start making fewer mistakes. As long as cards are being dealt somewhere, someone is taking a bad beat. Bad beats are not personal and shouldn’t be taken as such. Sites don’t rig games so that one person has a disadvantage, it isn’t good for their image nor is it profitable for them. Bad beats are caused by two factors, one you can control and one you can’t. The first factor is you making a mistake, even if you don’t realize it. The second factor, the one out of your control, is the skill and knowledge of your opponent. The best thing you can do to avoid this is document your observations when ever you can.

Please, if you take a bad beat don’t go on a tirade at your opponent calling him ever name you can think of. Not only does it make you look childish, it increases the odds of people attempting to make moves against you. They figure you are starting to tilt and they will hammer on you with or with out cards.

So remember, when one takes a bad beat there are 3 things to do. First, remain calm, take a deep breath and relax. Second, look at the hand and see if you did something wrong. If you did, take note of it and work to correct it. If you didn’t take notes on that player. Third, take your beats like a man (or woman) and don’t cry and whine at the player that sucked out. Enjoy your time playing at the felt and make some money.

Cowboy

How many of you out there have tried to enter a H.O.R.S.E. tourney, but don’t feel comfortable playing because of the Stud elements of the game? Well, fear no more, here is a beginners guide to Seven Card Stud.

HOW THE GAME WORKS

Seven Card Stud is played with a maximum of 8 players per table. To start, each player posts an ante and is dealt two cards face down, your hole cards, and one face up, your door card. After the deal is completed the player with the lowest door card has the forced bring-in, usually the bring-in is half the small bet. If multiple low cards of the same rank are exposed, then the bring in (in most cases) defaults according to “suit rank.” Diamonds are considered to be the lowest rank, followed by clubs, hearts, and finally spades being the highest ranking suit. The other way to handle this “tie for the bring in” would be the first person (with the shared low door card) to the left of the dealer will be the bring in. Instead of blinds, stud uses antes and a forced bring-in to establish its pot. Do not feel committed to your hand just because you have money in the pot, in other words, don’t protect you “blind.” After the forced bring, all the remaining players have the option to call the bring-in or complete the bet. I will discuss more later on when to complete vs. when to call the bring-in. One card is burnt and 4th Street is dealt to all the players in the hand face up, with first action on the highest showing hand. 5th and 6th Streets follow the same as 4th Street. 7th Street, or the river, is dealt face down after burning a card, with action starting with the highest showing hand. IF there are not enough cards for every player to get a 7th card, the final card is dealt face up in the center of the table. This card is used as a community card for all players. The showdown goes the same way as Texas Hold’em, with the highest 5 card hand winning.

STRATEGY
Seven Card Stud is a game of observation. With most of your cards, as well as your opponents, being exposed, it becomes imperative that you learn how to read the hands and habits of those you are playing with. For those of you who will be starting out playing online, I would recommend not playing more than a single table at a time. There is simply too much going on in a single hand of stud to pick up on everything if you are multi-tabling.

People have asked me what the best starting hand in Stud Hi is and I give them two answers. The theoretical best starting hand is AAA, rolled aces, but I also say that any 3 cards that work well together can beat rolled cards. The best starting hands are (in no order): any rolled card, any high pocket pair, any 3 suited cards (use common sense), any 3 connected cards, and any other pocket pair. As I stated before, there is a lot of information that can be gained just by looking around the table. When deciding on whether or not to play a hand, take a look at the door cards. If you see more than 3 cards that would help your hand, you probably don’t want to play it, even if it’s AKQ. All you are doing by playing your hand is decreasing your odds to win, making all of your bets and calls donations to the winner.

Here is an example. You hold [Jd 4d] Jh. You see the following door cards: 9c, 8h, 7h, Kd, 10h. Should you play this hand?

Yes and no. Proceed with caution, just calling the bring-in.

There are a few things you should have picked up from the door cards. First, you possibly have 2 Jacks alive in the deck. Second, your flush draw, though it’s a long shot, is alive and well. Third, you shouldn’t be playing to make a straight. If you see an opponent starting to show a straight, use caution and consider folding.

Earlier I mentioned the option to complete the bring-in after the deal. I don’t recommend to a new player to even consider completing the bring in unless you are holding rolled cards. Stick to just calling the bring-in and play your cards vs. what your opponent is showing. The best wisdom I can give you is to not be afraid to fold if you feel your beat. I know the image of Stud is that it’s a drawing mans game, but use the information given to you by reading the table. Don’t try to draw out on players, fold, save your chips for a better opportunity to get them into the middle.

FOR THE ADVANCED PLAYERS
I’m going to touch briefly on when and why to complete a bring-in. Obviously when you are holding rolled A’s, you’re going to want to push hard. Your hand, unless you boat, is very vulnerable to being beat by a straight or a flush. You have two options on how to play the hand after the deal. If you know your table and can expect someone behind you to complete the bet, just call the bring-in and re-raise when the action comes back around to you. If you don’t think someone will complete the bet, do it yourself. You will push people out of the hand, which improves your odds of winning. Either action works well for establishing the fact that you have a strong hand. In my opinion, displayed strength goes a long way to helping you push players off of draws.

This is a start to the knowledge needed to play Stud Hi. I am always available to answer questions about Stud. Don’t hesitate to ask me a question; after all, the dumbest question is the one you didn’t ask.

I’m going to attempt to gather some info. Tell me the sites you like to play on and I will try to get games set up on those sites. I’ve been considering making the weekly game rotate between sites. I think Doyles should be locked in, but I’m willing to add 3 more to the list and make the game rotate between the 4 different sites. Now, this being said, if I get the input and get these games created, I would hope to see a bigger turnout than what has been seen so far.

I want to run down the upcoming schedule really quick so everyone knows what is happening.

On the 12th at 1900 EST we have the second game in the Tourney League. We are playing Pot Limit Omaha Hi and I’m expecting some great competition.

On the 26th at 1900 EST the third game of the Tourney League will kick off. 7 Card Stud is the name of the game. I will post a bit about 7 stud under the tips section.

I’m hoping everyone is enjoying the league. If you have found this page and want to join the league, sign up here and at www.pokerplasm.com. Shoot a private message to the Tourney Director and you will receive info about where to find the password.

Enjoy all

Scott

To join the Tourney League there are 2 simple steps:

1. Join www.pokerplasm.com and my blog (which you are currently reading)

2. Register at Doyles Room by clicking on the banner attached below.

The tourneys will kick off on June 5th at 1900 EST or June 6th at 0000 BST (Doyles runs on this time). Join the freeroll and then look for the second game about 1 week before it is scheduled to go off. I’m hoping to add some other prizes to the games and will post more when those become a reality.

I hope this league is a fun time for everyone. If there are games you don’t like or don’t want to see next session, send me a PM on www.pokerplasm.com (I’m ffcowboy76).

See you all on the felt!!!!

Most every book lists hands by there starting strength and then tells you how to play them. This list was published in Sklansky’s Hold’em Poker for Advanced Players:
(These lists are by strength in the Group as well)

Group 1: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs
Group 2: TT, AQs, AJs, KQs, AKo
Group 3: 99, JTs, QJs, KJs, ATs, AQo
Group 4: T9s, KQo, 88, QTs, 98s, J9s, AJo, KTs
Group 5: 77, 87s, Q9s, T8s, KJo, QJo, JTo, 76s, 97s, Axs, 65s
Group 6: 66, ATo, 55, 86s, KTo, QTo, 54s, K9s, J8s, 75s
Group 7: 44, J9o, 64s,T9o, 53s, 33, 98o, 43s, 22, Kxs, T7s, Q8s
Group 8: 87o, A9o, Q9o, 76o, 42s, 32s, 96s, 85s, J8o, J7s, 65o, 54o, 74s, K9o, T8o

Sklansky went on in the book to explain how and when to play each group. Some of the information I agree with, some I don’t.

Another site, www.performpoker.com, went on the explain starting hands a different way. They listed only 19 hands to play. That’s it, only 19. Here is the list:

1) AA, KK
2) AK, QQ, JJ, (AQ)
3) TT, 99, 88, 77, 66, 55, 44, 33, 22
4) AJ, KQ, KJ, QJ

The list is broken down like this for explanation reasons. I used to know the explanations, but can no longer access them.

Now, when I sit down and play I use my own personal starting list, which is a combination of all of the lists out there. I’m not going to list them like I did above but I will explain my thinking behind groups of starting hands.

AA, KK, QQ, AK

The big 4 hands no matter what list you look at. With these hands I will raise somewhere between 3 and 5x the BB. If I’m holding QQ or AK and I get reraised, my call depends on what I know about the player and how many other players call between me and the raiser. If there are too many, I will muck both hands and carry on with my game. AA or KK in that situation and I usually reraise, but occasionally I will call and see the flop. I don’t want many callers in a hand with AA, KK, or QQ. Too many callers, too many hands that can hurt you. Most every pro will tell you that you want AA, KK, or QQ in a heads up situation. Your odds with AA vs any two cards is somewhere between 80 - 20 to 75 - 25. Your odds with KK vs any two cards is somewhere between 80 - 20 to 65 - 35. With KK if you get a caller and the flop contains an A, lead out with a bet. If you get a call or a raise, consider yourself way behind and hope for improvement. Your odds with KK vs AA are 20 - 80 no matter if you share suits or not.

JJ

JJ gets its own section because this is about the hardest pocket pair to play in my opinion. With JJ I will raise 3x the BB and hope for one caller. If I get reraised and there is at least one more caller I will fold the hand instantly. Looking at the odds with JJ shows it’s glaring weakness. If you are playing against 1 over card (KT off suit) you are 70 - 30. JJ against 2 over cards (AK suited) and you are on the positive side of a coin flip at 55 - 45. The only way JJ is truly a big favorite is vs 2 under cards, in that situation you are an 80 - 20 favorite.

TT - 22

All of these pocket pairs get played the same way. No matter what your position is you limp into the pot and only call a raise up to 5x the BB IF the raiser has more than 20x the BB in their stack. If an opponent raises to 7x the bb you need to fold. After the flop there are three ways to play. The first way is if you miss the flop with overs, which makes the hand really easy. Check and fold to any bet. The second way is if you flop a set, which happens only about 1 in 8 times. If you flop a set the goal is to extract as much money as possible from your opponent with out scaring them off.

AQ, AJ, AT

With these hands, obviously suited is better but all can be played pretty much the same way. If you are first in to the pot, feel free to raise to 3x the bb. If someone limps in before you, limp with them. If along the way there is a raise you should fold, you are more than likely up against a big pp or AK. If the flop brings you an A feel free to lead out if it’s checked to you. More than likely you will be up against either a weak A or two face cards. If someone comes out firing at the pot, use your better judgment and what you know about the player to make a decision.

Suited connectors, KQo, QJo, JTo

With this group of hands the best play is to limp into the pot and see what excitement the flop brings you. If you miss the flop or catch a weak pair the best option is to check and fold. If you flop top pair with any of the hands, lead out with a small bet. If you get a action that is too aggressive you should consider the fold, unless you are positive the other player is trying to bully the pot.

There is the list of hands I feel offer you the best chance of making money when playing a cash game. The most important thing in a cash game is keeping a level head and analyzing what the other players are telling you when the act. The other thing I recommend when playing a cash game is some sort of tracking software. I prefer pokertracker when I play, but most any quality tracking software will show you the holes in your game.

Ok, now back to my first day back in the poker world.

I played 6 sit and gos and 1 multi-table tourney. I cashed in 3 of the 6 sit and go’s and flopped on the multi-table. Now that I’ve played a few hands, there are a few things I want to touch on.

First, just because you are short stacked doesn’t mean you can’t continue to play your game. I’ve watched many players push hand after hand just because they are short stacked. When they get called they flip over J8 off or A6 off and are praying that they hit the flop and that it misses their opponent. Here’s a novel concept, if you would normally limp with the hand, then limp. Why not out play your opponent AFTER you see three cards instead of leaving your tourney life to a wing and a prayer. I’ve cashed in many tourney’s while riding the short stack to the money. Let the fools pin their hopes on the wing and a prayer theory, while you play poker. It will usually pay out in the end for you.

Second, why do so many people out there play the weak A likes it’s untouchable. A4 off isn’t the best hand to start with, especially to a raise. (This particular hand didn’t beat me, just an example.) Now, let’s say you have Ah 4d, called a late players raise, and the flop is Ac, Ts, 9h. What is your action? Do you bet or do you check? That is the biggest problem with playing weak A’s. You might flop the A, but how do you play it. Does your opponent hold AK, AQ, AJ, or some other quality starting hand that most likely has you beat. If you bet and they raise, now what? You just wasted chips on a hand you shouldn’t of played in the first place. Now I know you thinking, Scott, what about A rag suited? They are not much better. The only possibility you have is to either flop your flush or four to the flush. Now you are chasing draws. Next thing you know you are going all in with J8 off and hoping on a wing and a prayer. Save yourself some chips, fold the weak ace pre-flop, even if it is just a limp.

I will write more about my theories on tourney play, but for now I must go get my beauty sleep, lord knows I need it.

Before I dive too deep into the story, I must provide a little background. On most regular working days I get the pleasure of driving the big red firetruck. Occasionally I’m required to be the officer in charge. This only happens when 1 of 3 people is gone, either my Captain, the Captain at Station 4 or the Battalion Chief. When one of them is gone I transform into the company officer. This means that everything that goes on during the day is my responsibility. This usually makes for some stress filled days in the rather stress free life of a fireman. With that explained, let the story continue.

The Saturday started like any other Saturday, with the only change being that I’m in charge. The first look at the training calender showed an easy day of relaxing in front of our T.V. We did our truck checks and were starting the Saturday ritual of cooking a fat filled breakfast of sausage, eggs (with cheese of course), and pancakes. The peaceful conversations about home life stopped as the dispatch center dropped the department’s all call, as well as many other station tones. Two of the pairs of ears perked up to see who was going to work, while I dreaded what could be coming. As an acting officer I’ve managed to dodge every major call possible. The first two trucks out of the dispatchers mouth were MY engine and MY tanker. That could mean only one thing……FIRE. We now listen to the rest of the dispatch as we start the run to the trucks. My driver remembered to unplug the sausage that was cooking on the griddle. We started to pile on all of our gear when I heard the building name and address. I cursed as I realized that the fire was 2 blocks from my station and I would have to be in command for a while. What a first major call to catch, a building fire at a restarunt. We pulled the trucks out and I looked in the direction of the address and could see smoke pouring out the roof. It took about 1 minute to drive the 2 blocks and it seemed to take 3 seconds. My heart is racing and my mind is swimming as I try to remember everything I’ve ever learned about smoke and what it means.

We pull up and I get greeted by the manager that was there to open the store. She tells me that she heard sounds from the kitchen and that the smoke was starting to get thick. I asked if anyone was still inside, praying she said no. Fortunately no one was in the building and that allowed me the first “good” moment on this already crazy scene. I did a lap around the building and didn’t have fire poking out anywhere, which meant I would have to look inside to attempt to locate it. When I made it back to the front door I stopped and tried to look inside, but the door was black, not a good sign. I opened the glass door and got pushed to the ground by some of the thickest, blackest smoke I’ve seen. So much for seeing the fire on the inside. I couldn’t see more than 2 feet in front of me. We broke the windows to help get the smoke out of the building. Soon there after the rest of the responding units arrived and I got relieved of command.

All of this took place in the first 3 minutes of this call that lasted almost 6 hours. We got dispatched on the building fire at 9:15 in the morning and didn’t get back into the station until almost 3:45 that afternoon. By about 6:00 that evening we were done putting our truck back together and cleaning all of the equipment we used. We ate our first meal of the day at 7pm. The fire was extinguished after about 45 minutes on scene and the building left standing, but severely damaged. The rest of the time on scene was spent overhauling the building and investigating the fire.

This is the first post of my new Pokerplasm blog.

Many of the users know me or have atleast had the pleasure (or pain) of playing some poker against me. There are many new users that I have never had the pleasure of meeting. So, before I go rambling on much further, I guess I should tell everyone about me. I’m a 32 year old male that loves to play poker. I’m currently married to the BEST wife in the world and have 3 wonderful kids. I have the best job in the world, no it isn’t playing poker everyday. I work for a county Fire Department that protects approximately 170 sq. miles, which also provides EMS. For those from the Midwest, I work in the south side of Johnson Co. and the North side of Miami Co. I’ve been playing poker for almost 5 years now and I still enjoy it.

In this blog I will post MY opinoins. They are not fact or the word of God. If you don’t like my comments, move on….I don’t care. I will be more than happy to help you improve your game. If you would like some help, just ask. As many teachers say…My e-door is always open. Ok, that’s enough for a first blog…..

Scott A.K.A. FFCowboy76