One hand came up that reminded me of something that happened when I still lived in New York. The hand was pretty straightforward. A few people played the hand, two of them played until the end. There wasn’t much betting, but I remember one player made a small but significant bet on the end. Another player called him. He turned over his two cards to show that he had a pair of sevens, one in his hand, one on the board.

Since this was more or less a practice hand, the other player turned her hand over and said, “Oh damn, I thought you were bluffing.” Her hand consisted of an eight and a three. She did not have a pair. She should not have called. Her hand was too weak to call.

However, she was partially right. He didn’t have a strong hand. It was a pretty weak hand too. I probably wouldn’t have bet on the end with his hand, unless I was trying to bluff. Perhaps she picked up on the fact that his hand was weak and therefore called. But it’s not enough to know someone is bluffing. In order to call their bet, you have to be able to beat their bluff.

If she had a small pair, or even an ace or a king, she could have made that call, thinking that since he is bluffing, her pair or high card will beat his junk hand. Still, she could have done something to win the hand, if she thought he was bluffing. She could have rebluffed. If instead of calling, she had raised his bet by a significant amount, he might have thrown his pair away, certain that she had a bigger hand. A rebluff is a pretty sophisticated move for someone playing hold’em for the first time, however.

As a player, I rarely rebluff, especially at the end of a hand when the pot is large. It’s a play that can require a lot of guts, and I think I’ve only recently acquired the courage to do it at all. I have learned to do it a lot more frequently at the beginning of a hand. If you are playing against someone and realize that they raise quite often, a good reraise with any two cards can often make them fold and win you a small but profitable pot. In tournaments, a few well timed reraises can easily mean the difference between winning and losing.

Anyway, like I mentioned above, this hand reminded me of a hand that I played in New York. I used to be a part of a weekly tournament among friends. We each threw in $5 or $10 and played a tournament that might last a couple of hours. At it’s peak, we had 30+ people showing up each week, so when you won the tourney, you could go home with a nice pot.

One night I was playing a hand against a friend. He was playing to my left and new to our tournament, and to hold’em in general. Everyone folded to me. I was on the button and I had an interesting hand, something like an eight and nine of hearts. It wasn’t a great hand, but in order to be unpredictable, you have to sometimes raise with interesting hands, rather than just great hands.

Anyway, my friend called. The next three cards on the board helped me, I think I had a straight or a flush draw, but I still didn’t have a pair. He checked and I pushed the rest of my chips in the middle, hoping he would fold. He called quite quickly. He turned over his two cards, a jack and maybe a nine. He didn’t have a pair or much of a draw. He had called my bluff, without a hand that could beat a bluff.

The last two cards didn’t help me and his jack high, beat my nine high. The reason I remember the hand is not because of the unique play, but because I handled it so badly. Instead of smiling and saying, “Good call,” I harangued him. “How could you make that call?” I said, frustrated.

“I knew you didn’t have much,” he responded, clearly confused as to why I was upset.

“But you had jack high! You couldn’t beat a bluff.”

And yet, clearly he could. His junk hand was better than mine. I walked out of the room and sat in the office next door for a while. I had to hang out until the game was over and lock up the place. I hope that I apologized for my behavior that night. I know that I did at a later date. I don’t think it affected our friendship, but I don’t remember him coming back to play in our tournament again either.

Since then, I think I’ve gained a lot of perspective, at least when it comes to poker. I’ve lost hands against strangers that were far larger and more important than the one against my friend. I’m sure that given the right circumstances I could still lose my cool at a poker table, but now it’s much more rare. I think that makes me a better poker player, and I’m sure that it makes me a better friend.

And now when I’m playing in a friendly game for a few bucks and a know-it-all player exclaims in agony after a hand, “How could you call me with that?” I know enough to sit back calmly and smile and think to myself how glad I am that it’s not me saying that.

I’ve always thought teaching poker to beginners would be a fun thing to do. My goal with the class portion is simple, demonstrate the basics of the game like how the cards are dealt, how betting works, and how the winner is determined for each hand (and for the tournament). I also want them to understand the rules of betting, and various quirks of how poker is typically dealt, so that if they ever want to play in a casino run tournament, they will be able to sit down and play without asking too many questions. If we have time we will also go over some basic strategy ideas.

As a way to prepare, I thought I would write down here a plan for how I might approach the lesson.

I’m assuming that the people who are going to come will be familiar with card games in general, and the 52 card deck. Most if not all, will have a basic understanding of poker. Most will probably need a cheat sheet to keep track of what hands beat what. I’m pretty sure none of them will have played any hold’em tournaments.

I think the way to begin is probably at the end of a hand. The first thing I would do is deal out two cards to each person and deal the five cards in the middle and show each person how they would determine their hand (and who would win). I think it’s good to start here, so that people can see where the hand will end up. We will do this a few times, at least until a few of the bigger hands like flushes or straights show up. I’ll stress how important it is for the cards in your hand to match up with the board. I’ll also stress how important it is to look at the board and know what the best possible hands would be.

At this point I would talk about two very important rules that some players may not know if they have only played casual poker:

• Cards speak – the player with the best hand wins. If they turn over their hand at the end, they do not have to declare what they have. It doesn’t matter if they know what they have, as long as someone at the table sees the cards and recognizes what hand they have (this is the dealer’s job primarily).
• You must show both cards to claim the pot.

Next we will go through the betting rounds to get to that point. First I’ll deal everyone two cards face up, we will talk about which hands have some value and which hands do not. We will speculate who might stay in with the two cards they are dealt and who might drop out. Then we will deal the flop (the first three cards on the board) and talk about how the flop matches their hole cards. Again we will speculate (without betting) who might stick around and who might not. Then we will do the turn and the river. Again we will determine who won. I’ll want to do this a few times too, to show that sometimes hands that drop out might have won.

After they get a feel for that, we will break out the chips. We will start with the dealer button and the blinds and show how that first round of betting works. Then we will work our way through a few hands. I’ll talk a bit about pot size and the purpose of betting and raising. I’ll explain why it’s important to put your chips in front of you, but not into the pot during the betting round. Also, it’s important to not make change until the betting is over. If there is a dealer, let the dealer handle it.

Next we will talk about what table stakes means and what it means to go all in. I’ll set up some examples, first with one player allin against another player. Then another hand with a side pot (1 player allin but two other players still competing for the side pot). And finally I’ll show them a situation with more than one side pot.

I think that poker like many things is taught by starting at the beginning. Everyone is dealt two cards and then they talk about the blinds and what might be a good hand to start with. But I have a hunch that this will work better. I’ll start at the end of the hand and show them where they will end up. It might be easier to understand what’s happening in the early rounds when they can see the end game.

I suspect this must be true for improv too. It’s easier to teach a Harold to someone who has seen one.

This is not a bad beat story. It’s not meant to be, mostly because I was not the target of this misfortune, but rather the benefactor. What was interesting to me was how the cards seem to take my opponent on precisely the worst emotional journey they could. It’s bad enough to lose a huge pot, to feel unlucky, and worse, that you had made a large blunder for nearly all of your chips. But then on the next hand to get the best of the best, AA, to flop a set and be virtually assured of the pot… and then to lose that pot, to the hand that you held previously, to lose it in spite of such huge odds in your favor… well, I’m sure it was not a pleasant night for him.

By the way, the song is Lil Rooster by Gringo Motel and was acquired from podsafeaudio.com. The song is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Recently, my local riverboat casino added poker to their roster of games. This is good news for me. Poker is something that I have missed dearly over the past year and half since I moved home. I had hoped to find some local home games, but never managed to find one that worked for me. So over the last week, I’ve started playing again.

Now a lot of people think poker is a game of deception and that is true to a degree. But in a typical poker game, like in life, most of the time people are telling the truth. It’s hard wired into our brains. Besides, one of the easiest players to beat is the player who lies as a rule. Once you realize that the big bet they make on the river is a usually a lie, you just have to wait for a moderately good hand to take a lot of their money. And you know to fold when they make a smaller bet on the end instead of the usual big bet. That bet they want you to call.

So anyway, yesterday afternoon I was playing at the boat and having a decent session. I was up, but I had gone card dead, I hadn’t had a good hand to play in several orbits. I decided to switch gears, and at the next reasonable opportunity, I should raise. A few hands later I was dealt King-Ten offsuit in middle position. It was folded to me, and I decided to raise it to about $10 (this was a $1/$2 no limit table). I got three callers, all behind me, not a very good result. Against one player I would likely autobet the flop, against three, I probably need a flop that I like.

So when the flop came Nine-Six-Deuce, rainbow (all different suits), I decided to check. With three people behind me, one of them is likely to have a pair and is unlikely to fold to a bet from me here. One of the guys behind me bets $10 into the $40 pot, the button calls. I don’t have a very good hand, but it is likely that if I get a pair on the turn I could have the best hand. Also, the $10 bet is pretty small compared to the pot. I’m getting 6 to 1 pot odds, so I called, and the last guy folded.

The turn was interesting, an Ace. Now the ace doesn’t help me, but my opponents will likely think it did. If they are thinking about what I have (I raised preflop, then checked and called on a low flop), they might think it’s likely that I have Ace-King or Ace-Queen, or some other Ace. I decided to see if I could sell this idea and get them to fold, so I quickly made a $60 bet.

The first guy, the one who bet $10 on the flop, had a hard time folding. Perhaps he had a straight draw, or maybe he had paired a nine or a six. He knew I wasn’t giving him good odds to draw, but he still he hesitated before folding. Whew, one down, one to go.

The second guy, really didn’t want to lay down his hand. He took a long time to think about it. He clearly was struggling and finally he folded his hand. But he wanted to show everyone how good of a player he was, so he folded the hand face up. He had Ace-Jack suited. That’s right, he folded a pair of Aces to my bluff. I didn’t say a word, but there was a lot of chatter about his fold around the table. He insisted that I had to have either a better Ace or two pair to make that bet.

Now you might be thinking, “Hey, I thought this was about how people tell the truth when playing poker, but you just lied by bluffing and won.” Yeah, but the story isn’t over.

A few hands later, I’m sitting on the button. The under the gun player limps in and Mr. Ace-Jack raises to $11. It’s folded around to me and I look at Ace-Queen. Ace-Queen is a good hand, and I’m in position, but really I’m probably behind. The way Mr. Ace-Jack played that other hand suggests that he probably has either a big pair or Ace-King to make that raise. By calling, I’m hoping to flop something big or to maybe out play him later in the hand, but honestly, the best I can hope that he has is a pair of Tens or Jacks. The big blind also calls.

The flop looks pretty good for me, it’s Queen-Four-Deuce, all red. I’ve got top pair with an ace kicker, but Mr. Ace-Jack bets out $35 into the pot. This is probably not good. This screams to me that he has Aces or Kings. Still, I feel like it’s worth me making one call, he might have Ace-King and he will likely give up on the turn if I call. He only has another $85 behind him, so I can’t get in too much trouble. I’m sure if I call, he will tell me the truth on the turn. I call the bet and the big blind folds.

The turn is another small card, and Mr. Ace-Jack bets the rest of his money, $85. At this point, my brain is screaming Aces or Kings. That’s really the only possibility. Why? The look on his face. He is angry. He is angry in a way that I recognize, in a way that I empathize with. He has a big hand, a hand that should win (like Aces or Kings), and he is angry that I am calling him. He is afraid he is going to lose. Rationally, a player in his position should be happy and calm. He’s got me right where he wants me. He’s probably going to double up. But at a poker table, rational thought often gives way to irrational emotions. He is winning the hand, but weirdly, he is also on tilt. He fears that I’m going to get lucky and beat him.

Given the way he folded Ace-Jack to me a little earlier, I can’t put him on anything but Aces or Kings. I consider trying to get him to talk, to tell him that I think he has Kings and see what does, but I don’t and I should have. I also should have just mucked my hand, but the fishy part of my brain took over. I thought to myself, “I have top pair, top kicker! The bet is only $85 and the pot is already over $100. He can’t bet anymore on the river. I should call. Even if I’m behind, I have outs!”

I do call, and he turns over a pair of Kings. The river doesn’t help me and my money gets pushed over to him. He was doing everything he could to tell me the truth, to tell me he had a big hand, and I didn’t listen to him and I didn’t listen to my gut.

We have just given Amazon permission to create kindle-books from Hold ‘em Poker for Advanced Players and The Theory of Poker. We’ll see how these do and then decide if we should do any more.

Finally some decent quality books on poker will be available for the Kindle. These two books by David Sklansky are must reads for any student of poker.

Many of my favorite poker books are from Two Plus Two Publishing and none of them are available yet. Judging from this thread on their forums, they have no plans to release Kindle versions of their books. That’s a shame.

So what is available for the Kindle now? Well there are several books by Phil Helmuth. They all look like crap honestly. I don’t particularly like him anyway, but more importantly, I did once buy his book, “Play Poker Like the Pros” and returned it within a few hours. I just couldn’t read it and from what I did read, it was very light on useful advice.

There is one book that has his name on it that I started to read last winter, Phil Hellmuth Presents Read ‘Em and Reap. Thankfully, this was not written by Helmuth. It was better written and seemed much more useful. I’m considering buying it for my Kindle, since I don’t own a copy. Perhaps, I’ll download a sample and take a another look.

Phil Gordon’s book simply called Poker has good reviews, but it also looks very short on the kind of in depth strategy and tactics suggestions I enjoy.

Matt Lessinger’s The Book of Bluffs also looks promising but the reviews are decidedly mixed. I’ll have to find out more before I buy it.

There are a couple of non-fiction books about poker that I’ve read and enjoyed that are available. Poker Nation is a great read and Positively Fifth Street is also interesting. Lastly, One of a Kind, the story of Stu Ungar rise and fall in the poker world looks like it could be good. I’m downloading the sample of it and of Moneymaker. I’ll let you know if they are good.

I can’t be the only poker geek out there that would love to have copies of all my favorite poker books. The current lack of titles (only 36 show up when you search the Kindle store for ‘poker’) is probably an opportunity for some secondary poker authors to get noticed. If you are one of them, plead with your publisher to release your book in that format. I hope that Two Plus Two will come around soon as well, but I fear that they just don’t get it yet. If they wait too long, they might find another publisher will come along and challenge their lead in the poker books market.

UPDATE 3/22: Both the Moneymaker book and the book on Stu Ungar looked interesting. I downloaded the Ungar book and will have a review later.

I’d left New York the previous fall to stay with my father in Arizona. He had recently been ill and wanted to spend the winter in Scottsdale. At first I just wanted to help him move and find an apartment. But as the time approached, I realized that I could use a break from NYC. I decided I would spend the winter with him. It wasn’t because I was being a good son. I did want to help my dad and it was a terrific opportunity to spend the kind of time with him that I’d never been able to do before. But I had other reasons too. My father is a poker player and intended to spend the winter at Casino Arizona playing hold’em. I had already been making a little money playing poker. It seemed like an ideal opportunity to see if I was good enough to be a pro.

It was a fantastic winter. Arizona is probably the best place to spend a winter in the states. The desert is beautiful. Nearly everyday is sunny and a day with a high in the 50s is rare. We played poker almost every day, my father’s health improved and we began talking about this winter when Dad would again return to Arizona. I decided to stay through the summer, continue to play poker and find a nice 2 bedroom apartment where my dad could join me when the weather in Illinois began to get cold again.

It seemed like a great plan and I set out enjoying my summer in the desert. Through meetup.com I found some great new friends. I also started making contact with the local improvisors in Phoenix. It was all working out until the summer. Just as my father’s health was improving, my mother’s was faltering.

She had been diagnosed with dementia the year before. In 2007, the disease started progressing more rapidly. At first I resisted returning home. I thought I could spend another winter in Arizona with my dad. I had hoped that my sisters could bare the burden back home while I looked out for him. But with every visit to Illinois, it became more clear that I was needed there. By the summer, mom was having great difficulty speaking. By Halloween she was having trouble walking. It was time to come home.

Now we are with her 24 hours a day. I’m first shift, taking care of my mom during the day, while my sisters are at work. My sisters cover the evenings, overnight and some extra hours on the weekend. We have decided to keep her at home as long as we can.

I’ve wanted to write about this experience for some time, but it’s a difficult thing to approach. I tried to make some videos about it, but discussing this via youtube just doesn’t feel right. However, I hope I can find the right way tone here. I’m also hoping to make some more videos soon. However, they will likely be about my hometown, rather than my mom.