This Thursday I took a few rough beats to get knocked out of the tournament (KK to 88 - they hit a straight, and JJ to 1010 - 10 on the river), and went back to the room to drown my sorrows in a few good games of beer pong. Needless to say by the time I walked back to the tournament area an hour and a half later I was in no condition to play poker, woops! A cash game had opened up and I decided to sit down with $30 … little did I know that two hours later I would be down $110, and I can’t blame it all on the alcohol.

I sat down with $30 and quickly was up to $50, what a fat game! I raised from the cutoff with K3 and the flop was J 3 3, on the turn of an 8 an opponent moved all in for $24 and I called - he showed 44 and missed on the river! Well, well, well, looks like Uncle Steve might have to play in this game more often. A few hands later I raised with AK suited and got 3 callers. The flop was K 9 6, rainbow and the blind bet out $3. I raised immediately to $10 and the player to my left went all in for $25, and the button went all in for $35! Here is where the alcohol got the best of me, and I called. I was against 66 and 99, low and mid sets. On the turn I was drawing dead and out my original buyin. I bought back in, this time for $40. My AK ran into AA and crippled me again, and then I flopped low two pair with 64, played it aggressively and got all in against low set! I missed the case 6 in the deck and was out another $40.

Within two hours I had bought in for $150 and was just going for damage control. I made back $16 on my last buyin and ended the session down $94, quite a terrible loss for the limits we were playing and the amount of time I was playing. I admit that the hands I lost two were pretty horrible, and would have been hard to get away from, but I could have had I been thinking straight. The fact that I was a bit drunk made those marginals situations much more dangerous, as I was over-confident in my hands. So lesson numero uno - don’t play poker for higher limits than micro when you’ve been drinking. Luckily I can afford (sort of) the $94 loss thanks to my $150 win last Thursday and my $60 win this Monday, but it’s never fun losing money when ou didn’t need to, haha.

Keep your poker playing for serious money to sober moments, and if you plan to drink and gamble, make sure it is in a fun envirorment for amounts of money you can afford to lose. Think of it as paying for fun and not playing poker for money and you’ll be much better off, I wish I had!

One of the hardest things to do in any form of poker, be in tournament or cash game, is keeping your focus. I can usually play for two hours no problem playing as well as I know how but I notice that once I pass a certain threshold my play starts to slip or I start making poor moves. I get impatient, something a poker player can not afford to do, especially in the later stages of a tournament. So how do you combat this?

1. Listen to music. I know a lot of people, sometimes including myself, hate it when people bring iPods into a game. It slows down play, makes that person despondant and no fun, and sometimes they act out of turn or play incorrectly. Listening to music used to really help me, and then I broke my iPod, haha, but I also enjoy the conversations I have when I’m not listening to music. My one piece of advice if you choose to bring your iPod: keep the volume low. Have the music be in the background, something you can sink back into, not something that overrides your senses. Make it low enough to hear the conversation at the table and know when it is your action and what the actions of your opponents are.

2. Get up, walk around, stretch. In lots of poker games a player can get really ingrossed in the play and sit down for hours at a time. As for myself, I start to feel a bit stiff in the neck, and generally a bit bored, after a few hours. I quick walk around the room or trip to the bathroom helps refresh me. Word of advice though, if you’re going to leave for the restroom make sure you aren’t going to go through the blinds (in a cash game moreso than a tournament). In a tournament I’d be more likely to leave during my blinds because position is so important in tournaments.

3. Pay attention to other players’ actions. Use your off time when you’re on a cold streak to watch other players play. One way to keep yourself focused is to act like you were in the hand. Put your opponents on hands and see how close you were, pick up tells and mannerisms, and get a feel for your table. It will help you tenfold by the time you start playing hands again, and they’ll have no information on you!

Finally, if you are feeling bored or drained at a poker table and these things aren’t helping, then leave. Don’t put in your money when you’re not at your best, even if you still think you can beat the table, they may end up taking everything you worked hard to get up to that point. Take your chips and wait for a better place to put them into play. Good luck!

Sorry for not posting lately, I’ve been busy with school, mother’s day, and lots of poker haha! I placed 2nd in our Thursday night tournament for $150 and made $50 in the Monday ring game, but since those were so long ago I won’t go into any hands in those games. This weekend I went with Ben to a charity tournament to play the ring games, and ended up down $62, mostly from one hand.

A new kid (swear he wasn’t 18 years old, haha) had been sitting at the table for probably thirty minutes, and everytime he was in a hand he committed himself to it. Lucky for him no one caught on the flops and he took it down by betting the pot each time. His only bet seemed to be $10 or all in. Mind you, it was a $1/$2 NL ring game, and the average raise had been near $5 or $6, so that didn’t make anyone happy. Near the end of the session 4 players limped and he raised $10 from the big blind. I had around $52 in front of me and called with 85 suited, hoping to catch a big flop and let him throw all his chips in. Well, that’s exactly what happened. The flop came out 5 8 9, two hearts, and he bet $20. I immediately raised all in for $42 and he called hte rest of his chips (something like $18, he pot-committed himself just like I imagined he would). I was thinking he might have an overpair, maybe even AK, but I was surprised when he showed A6 of hearts, a pretty big draw. The turn was a Q of spades and the river a Q of hearts and I lost most all of my chips. The only way I wasn’t too mad about the little punk catching the river was that had he had an overpair or even a pair of nines he would have won with runner queens.

The game was really soft, and I wish I would’ve had more time (and cash on me) to play, but it was nearing the end of the tournament when the game shuts down. So I came back to school and sat in our Monday night cash game, $0.25/$0.50 NL Texas Holdem, and I was down $80 after four hours…

I went to the ATM with my roommate and took out $60 more (and made my bank account <20 in doing so) and hoped I wouldn’t lose it all. We’d been playing since 10:00PM and at 2:00AM I had $18 in front of me (out of $100 I’d put in the pot). Ben reloaded for $20 and raised to $3. I decided to try something new (and announced it to the table) that I wasn’t going to look at my hand, I was just going to ‘play their cards’, haha. The flop came out king high and I checked and Ben went all in! I squeezed and saw K9 and called. He showed QQ and I doubled up, and Ben was not happy with me, woops!

Three hands later after Ben had reloaded again he raised to $3. The button went all in for $120 and I looked at QQ from the SB. I put in my last $34 and Ben started dancing and laughing! He showed us all AA and was really excited. I figured I might just lose all my chips right after I was starting to make a comeback, but I ‘had a feeling’, haha. The 2nd card on the flop was a queen, and the river made me four queens, haha, and I was up to $99.75, down a mere $0.25!

We went on to play until 4:00AM and I cashed out $156 for a profit of $56! Not bad for being down as much as $82 at one point. In the last hour of play I played a few key hands. First I raised with JJ from early position and the player to my right immediately made it $10 to go. He had just done this to me when I had 77 and he had 1010, and I was pretty certain I was ahead with JJ. The player to my right also called (what!) and so did I. The flop came down 10 10 7 and it checked around, and I felt very good about my JJ. The turn brought a harmless 5 and the player to my right bet $8, I called, as did the player to my left. I wasn’t very sure on what the player to my right had, as that’s probably how he would play a 10, but he checked on the river. The pot was already over $50 and I just checked. The player to my left showed AK high and the player on my right showed 99, and my JJ won.

Towards the end of the session I raised preflop, four handed, with 88, and got one caller. The flop was Q 7 6 and he looked at me, thought, and bet $4. I thought he probably hit a queen, but wasn’t too strong with it, and his bet was more of a feeler than anything. I decided to try and take it back right there and made it $12 to go. It’s not a big raise, but I didn’t want to make a suspiciously large raise. He thought for awhile and finally folded QJ face up.

The last hand of the session at 4:00AM I had 104 of clubs, and the button raised $3. I called, quite simply, because it was the last hand. The flop was J J 8, two clubs, and I check-called $5. The turn was a Q of clubs giving me a 10-high flush, but I only check-called $6. I didn’t want to raise and risk being reraised and have to fold my mediocre flush to a threatening bet. He could have also had a higher flush, or even QJ. The river was a blank and he bet $10. I called and showed the flush and he showed KK, with the King of clubs. I got pretty lucky on the last hand to win an extra $25, I got pretty lucky to not lose $100 on the night let alone that one hand, but it was fun playing poker for 6 hours with friends.