New Awlins this year - Bayou Poker Challenge

Just got back from a whirlwind round trip to New Orleans to apply for a gaming license so I can deal the WSOP Bayou Poker Challenge December 2nd to the 12th.

Expanding my part time Poker Dealer career a little with this gig.  I tried to get into the Chicago WSOP Circuit Event this year but the tournament director never answered my request.  Interestingly, when he found himself short dealers in New Orleans he added me to the offer list.  New Orleans is tough because the state of Louisiana makes it more difficult for out-of-state dealers to get the required gaming license.  I suppose it is their attempt to keep as many jobs as possible for the locals.   Hopefully, by helping out in New Orleans I will get an invitation to deal Chicago next year.

My little "Part time" retirement career would work out nice with 3 gigs a year:  two months in Vegas mid-May to Mid July, two weeks in Chicago in October and two more in New Orleans in December.  Of course, it probably will not work out that neatly in real life.

I think the scheduling is interesting because the Bayou Poker Challenge conflicts with the WSOP Regional Championship in Atlantic City this year.  I suppose it means fewer big names will show up to terrorize the local players.  The other scheduling challenge is the larger WSOP Regional Championship in New Orleans which is scheduled for May 2011 - butting right up next to the WSOP Vegas starting dates.  The timing is not real good for that one.  I would rather see it in the San Diego slot in March or Tunica's in February.

One step at a time.  We'll see if we can make N.O. a success first.

I drove the 10 hours each way to complete the application process but to deal it may be better to fly.  Parking anywhere near the casino or at any downtown hotel is twenty bucks a day.  With accommodations in walking distance to the casino, I should be able to make out just fine without a car.

Application complete.  If all goes as planned, in a week or two, I will get my gaming license approved and the Tournament Director will send me a real job offer with all the details.  My hope is that the details include the information on local accommodations for out of town dealers.  I worry but I do have some confidence that everything will be fine - if only because I know that there is a crew of dealers roaming from venue to venue dealing each of the tournaments.  They all need places to stay and I have heard about people staying in the local hotels, getting "random" roommate assignments and so forth.  I just need to be patient.

Results log

I kept a log of my Poker results on a spreadsheet for every time I played.  It shows that I had gotten up to over $1700 in profit playing Poker in my off hours before losing all but $185 of it.

Looking back on my notes I see that I make a lot of my No Limit Hold'em profits by raising pre-flop and betting out at the flop, taking the small pots more often than not.  I also see that the biggest consistent leak in my game is from losing my stack with just one pair - usually middle pocket pairs like 88 through JJ.  I can attribute $800 in losses just in the last week to overplaying pocket pairs.  If I can learn to keep those pots small or simply fold them in response to large raises I might be able to keep some of my profits.

That's a Wrap - for me

I turned in my badge and my vest to the Rio Uniform Shop.  For me the WSOP is over - even though it continues.  The Main Event continues with over a hundred players left out of the original 7,400+ entrants.  They are now in Day 6 and will play until they get down to the final nine players, then they will take a break until November and the final nine will play down to a winner.

A break?  Sounds odd.  Here is the deal.  ESPN has found that WSOP broadcasts hold a larger audience than any other ESPN show outside of football.  ESPN decided that showing all of the episodes when everybody already knows the outcome is sort of anticlimactic.  To improve the show they came to an agreement with Harrah's that they would film all of the WSOP, create the television shows, broadcast them as a series throughout the summer and fall, then, in November, bring back the final nine and broadcast the final table and decide a winner with a "near real-time" telecast.  ESPN figures to boost their ratings by keeping the suspense up.  The Final Table will be played, not in the Amazon Room where most of the tournament was held, but on the big stage in the Rio's Penn and Teller Theatre in front of a packed live theatre audience with everyone miked up and the latest in ESPN's video technology in use to create the show.

I find it interesting that "final table" Poker is very different to the Poker played for most all of the event.  The Main Event is a "deep stack" tournament.  Players start the tournament with $30,000 and with the blinds set at $50 and $100.  The blinds escalate very slowly to put pressure on the smaller stacks.  The style of Poker played for most of the tournament is very different from what you will see at the final table.  On television you will see a series of hands played out where a player is "All In" and there are more cards to come.  Announcers will describe the probability of their survival or double up depending on how the cards lie and what cards they need to make a winning hand.  They will show every bust out.

During the course of the tournament, however, while yes,  players are busting out regularly, the vast majority of hands are decided without a showdown.  Players bet, raise and re-raise until they figure out they cannot make their opponent fold and they will likely lose in a showdown, so they fold their hand and the pot is pushed to the winner who is not required to show the hand.  It is quite possible to deal 20 or more hands in a tournament in a row without ever seeing a showdown - just a series of bets, raises and folds.  The essence of deep stack Poker is in the decisions made on every street:  Should I check, bet, raise or fold? As opposed to short stack poker where the decision is limited to:  Do I shove it in now or should I wait for a better spot?

Deep stack Poker is much more interesting and I hope ESPN shows a lot of it as opposed to just the "All in and a call" hands.

Off Early and Busted

Mark Seif, attorney and renound Poker player said, There's three ways to play jacks, ...and they're all wrong.

Famous Poker author, analyst and this year's Champion of the Ante up for Africa tournament said, "Don't go broke with just one pair."

I would be a wealthier Poker player if I could follow the advice of these guys.

After four downs I was done for the day, a victim of the shrinking field and the now absence of any afternoon tournaments, satellites or cash games. After weeks of needing a thousand dealers to mind the tables, now we only need a couple hundred.

With all of this wonderful knowledge acquired through hours of sitting at the tables observing the best in the game, I decided to try my hand at the $1- $3 No Limit table at the regular Rio Poker Room.

Things did not go well.

I lost a small bundle when my AK ran into four-of-a-kind deuces, then busted a guy who tried to bluff me with a flush draw when I had an overpair, pocket tens. Then I got pocket jacks on the button.

Pocket jacks can be problematic when facing a raise or a re-raise, but here, there were just four limpers (players who called the $3 Big Blind rather than raising). My best play is to raise and see if anyone is playing possum and re-raises or if I am ahead. I made a near pot size raise to $17. I was hoping to get just a single caller and the result was almost that: two callers. No re-raise. Likely players with weaker holdings looking to catch a lucky flop.

The flop is laid out 9-8-4 showing all three suits. A nice flop for jacks. I really don't want to see any more cards so after the callers checked I made a bet of $50. One player raised to $100 and the other folded.

This is where the game gets interesting. Did he check-raise just to see if I was bluffing? Did he check-raise because he caught the very lucky flop he was looking for? Did he catch three-of-a-kind with a small pocket pair? Did he just catch a nine and figure to catch a bluff?

I hoped for the last option. The only way to really find out is to re-raise. I went all in, about $325 total. My opponent did not immediately call. This is a good sign. If he had me beat with two pair or a set he would snap call. He hesitated. I was confident I had the best hand. He asked, "You have another big pair?" That's certainly what I am representing - that or a set. Are you feeling lucky?"

"I don't know, I might need to get lucky. I'll call it."

I showed him my jacks and he turned over a queen and a nine.

So here is the situation: There is some $770 in the pot. I have a pocket pair of jacks. My opponent has a pair of nines holding a queen kicker. From a probability standpoint I am way ahead. He could catch two perfect cards and make a straight 8-9-10-J-Q but with me holding two of the jacks, the probability is less than 1%. More likely he could catch one of the two remaining nines or one of three remaining queens with two cards yet to come. 5 outs. Of the 45 unknown cards, 40 of them make me a winner and 5 of them make me a loser. The math is 5/45 = 11.1% so 88.9% of the time he should miss on the first card. 5/44 = 11.3% so of that 88.9% of the time, he misses 88.7% of the time meaning overall he should miss 79% of the time. That makes me about a 4 to 1 favorite with two cards to go.  This is a situation players love - all the money in the middle and being a big favorite to win.

Why does it always seem to work out that when you are up against the short stack, like earlier when a guy shoved it all in with just a flush draw, the math works in your favor and you bust him but when it is a really big pot, that's when the poker gods get fickle and make you walk away muttering and shaking your head?

Yes, a killer queen showed up on the Turn card and I was done unless a miracle jack showed up on the River. No such luck.

Back to the drawing board.

In Phil Gordon's excellent Little Green Book: Lessons and Teachings in No Limit Texas Hold'em, he talks about keeping the pot small when all he has is an overpair to the board and avoiding losing his whole stack when he is behind. I suppose I could have played it differently and limited my losses but I'm just not yet a good enough player to do that.

Cookie Monster

I dealt to an interesting player today on Day 3 of the Main Event:  Heather Sue Mercer.  It seems Heather at one time was the placekicker for the Duke University football team.  Her bio from the on line Hendon Mob Database reads:

When Heather Sue is not making the 'best damn cookies on earth' she likes to spend her vacations away from mid-town New York in Las Vegas playing high stakes tournaments. She appears calm and collected at the table and although claiming to be a novice and eager to learn she is far from a beginner.

Back in New York she runs Ruby et Violette (http://www.rubyetviolette.com) with her two sisters and comes up with cookie carnations such as Drunken Pumpkin, Root Beer Float and Champagne Strawberry. They run the cafe in New York and send them all over America. If you are ever in the Big Apple make sure to try them out!

(Mob Staff Apr 2009)

The real givaway was the cookie she had on the table labeled, "Root Beer Float".

TV Time

The Main Event began on Monday.  Shawn Marion, four time NBA All Star and former star of UNLV basketball, was assigned to my table.  His presence at my table got me some TV time.  I am not sure if it was an ESPN recap of Day One of the WSOP Main Event or on a local news broadcast but several people told me they saw me on TV Monday night.  Cool.

Yep. That's my hand holding the deck.

If anyone has more info on my 15 sewconds of fame, please leave a comment below.

Thanks!

$1500 Limit Hold'em Shootout Final Table