December 18th – Blogging vs. chatting.

Monthly goal: Starting again!
I'm at $653

A player requested that I feature a hand I played in my next entry so I'll start with that.

AA in Middle Position: My decision on the turn isn't so much based on the odds I am being offered from the pot, but rather on the odds of me having the best hand. If you think it is highly unlikely that your opponent has you beat, it really doesn't matter how much he bets, within reason offcourse. You are calling because you think by doing so you'll win more often than not and therefore will show a profit regardless of the pot odds offered.
I remember that in this particular hand I tried to think about the possible hands that beat me and I came to 88 and J9. I didn't think my opponent had a Ten because he would have played the hand differently on the flop and he wouldn't have pushed all-in with the speed he did when that second Ten showed up. Then thinking about the possible hands that I could beat, it became an easy call. There are flush draws, straight draws, top pair and numerous combinations of a draw with a pair possible. Not to mention the always present posibility of a bluff.
So more often than not I think I'll face a worse hand when calling in a spot like above and therefore I think it is a correct call.

I would like to mention again that I don't like chatting about blogging, pot odds, poker tracker and being a professional poker player at the tables. Most regular players have this as a mutual understanding.
Imagine that you walk up to a salesman you know and ask about how much they make on a product and how much they are willing to cut off the price when haggling. This is offcourse common knowledge and quite ok to talk about, but not when he is dealing with customers.

I am very willing to discuss poker on a professional level, but I don't like to talk shop at the tables. If people want to talk about serious poker subjects I would appreciate if they sent me an email or left a comment on my blog. It is quite ok to ask about my email address on the poker chat or mention that your sending me an email.

I've mostly been playing $400 NL these last two days.
I managed to run into Aces twice with Kings. But two buy-ins worth of unluck wasn't enough to leave me down. The tables were good and I played fairly well, earning back my losses and ending up a buy-in.