poker commentary from captain hook.

since i am so tight i hear the criticism that no one will call my raises or big bets because they would know that i have the goods. also, i hear that i can't just wait for aces and kings or big pairs that i have to mix up my game. one other thing i hear is how much people hate jacks (or aces...they say, "i always lose with aces") all three of these are dead wrong. remember something, my fellow good players, we don't win by being better than our opponents, we win by not being as bad as our opponents. we win by outwaiting our opponents. we win by throwing away hands that are beat. we win by maximizing our winnings and minimizing our losses. some cases in point from today's session:

still playing at venetian and the game today was wild and woolly at times with several loose aggressive players who had big stacks. not my favorite kind of game but there i was. first hour i don't play in a single hand and am down 15 bucks or so. i call under the gun with pair of 4's. wild and woolly next to me raises to ten dollars and since everyone at the table knows by now that he could have anything from a pair of aces to 3-7 off suit (for real) he gets 5 callers so i put in the extra 8 dollars to see the flop. flop comes Qc 9d 4d. i check, he bets ten dollars which is raised to 30 dollars and is called by button. i raise to 90 dollars and take down the pot. (eliminate the draws). another hour goes by and i am on little blind with jacks. button raises to 12 dollars and i call as do three other people including one of the loose aggressive players. flop comes Ad Jc 3h. beautiful. i check, loose aggressive bets 20 dollars, button calls and i raise to 75 and loose aggressive goes all in. i call. he had ace king. ba da boom. 45 minutes later from button i raise to 12 with jacks again. four callers and one of them has BIG stack. flop comes Qc, Jc, 4c. hmmmmm. it is checked around to me and i bet 40 dollars and big stack calls while everyone else folds. i am afraid he has flush. turn is the 4 of diamonds. beautiful. he checks. i check. river is a nothing. he bets 50 dollars. i raise to 100. he raises all in. i call. he shows nut flush. thank you. after i won another hand with jacks they started calling me captain hook.

another example: i raise to ten with ace king of diamonds. flop comes Ac Ts 6s. an asian woman bets 40 dollars right into me and i fold. why? because i was beat and i had no spades. she is called in one place. she had tens and 6's and lost to a spade flush on river.