Ahh the poker controversy. I will blog tommorrow about the trip to LA. Although since I know Jon already went home and wrote it all in his notes I would hope that he blogs about it first. After all Jon is a much better storyteller than I will ever be. So lets get right to the problem of Kevin losing his stacks.

First and foremost I am going to say this. Kevin is a solid player. While he lacks the experience that some of us have he at least knows what to play preflop. That is better than at least 70 percent of the poker players I have played with. HOWEVER I offer this blog as a way to help him get better at the game, not a direct attack on him. I know he wouldn't take it this way, but I just thought I stick a disclaimer in here just in case he was having a bad day and reading this.

Pocket Rockets
The chances of being dealt this is about half a percent. So when you do get them you have to play them. But these are only good preflop. Aces only win about 1/3 of the time after the board is exposed. Think about this for a second. Would you put a lot of money if I said that you have to guess which one of the three color balls I will pick out of a bag? Didn't think so. Also think about this one. The chances of anyone being dealt a pair are about 6 percent. The chances someone is holding two suited cards are about 25 percent. What exactly does this mean. In a low limit game a lot of people play pairs and two suited cards. Pocket Rockets are overrated. There I said it. You wouldn't know it but I throw AA away many times in a No Limit game. They are not as powerful as you think and they can trap you into losing lots of money. If this is the case for AA then how strong do you think the case is for QQ?

But how come I've seen you win with JUST AA?
Easy. What the books that you have read will not teach you is the feel for the game. A feel for the table that you are sitting at right now. I AM NOT blowing my own horn. However I am more experienced than you when it comes to Low and No Limit Hold'em. I can remember what people play, how they bet, who is a sucker. I have seen AA get beat so many times and I have gotten my AA cracked on the flopped. Through experience I know that holding AA at the end of the hand is crazy when certain cards flop.

Low Limit
Can you really get frustrated losing with strong hands preflop in a game that AT THE MOST you can lose is 24 dollars in one hand. Shit and it never even makes it that high. So what can you expect really? This is the problem with Low Limit and I've said it time and time before...If you are tired of getting beat by not being able to scare people out with something mediocre like AA (and I say mediocre because put AA in the rank of winning hands) then you must move up to higher stakes. THIS DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN NO LIMIT. **NO LIMIT IS NOTHING LIKE LIMIT POKER. IF JON IS HESITANT ABOUT NO LIMIT AND HE IS OUR BEST PLAYER THAN I SUGGEST YOU ALSO BE A LITTLE CAUTIOUS. =) You cannot scare anyone out of AA. Shit I'll draw against you even if you have the AA if I have a hand that can break you. I've been known to play pocket 2's just for the chance to catch that set and break someone who thinks their JJ-AA are gonna stand up. But I understand that you might not want to move up because it will cost to much if someone draws out on you. There is the rub. You want all the advantages of higher stakes without the losing. Well it doesn't happen that way. Trust me...as someone who moved up too soon in his poker career and lost a lot of money. A lot more than you did that one night.

No Limit
Again I cannot stress enough that this is totally different than anything we are any book has taught you. Let me put it this way. If you are not willing to bet your high preflop hands EVEN though there is a good chance that you will lose a lot of money then this is not for you. Let me put it this way. From what I've seen playing with you guys, I have yet to see someone make a significant bet (significant as in maybe...more than 5 bucks preflop). If you want to slow play your stuff (and it is considered slow play EVEN if you bet like 2 bucks...because I have two bucks in my pants in coins right now so 2 bucks isn't a lot) then be prepared to get drawn out. Again I'm not going to tell you how to spend your money BUT I want you to realize that No Limit (and AGAIN I'M NOT BLOWING MY OWN HORN BECAUSE I AM STILL LEARNING THE GAME) is not a science. There are no answers. No Limit is about knowing the table and feeling it. That you cannot teach.

Kevin I am sorry you had a bad night. But get used to them. You may have thought that I got the cards that night but think about it for a second. To get a fullhouse you have to either be holding a set or two pair. In a Low Limit game those are not that good, but the fact is that when I was playing with you I had No Limit open. According to my stacks there I was able to gamble on the Low Limit game and I hit my draw. Second of all I pick up a lot of pots that allows me to gamble on draws. The straight I got that night was open ended and I hit it. It only cost me 6 bucks total in the hand and I had many callers...why not?

All in all I'd like for our other serious poker players to get in on this conversation. If anything I can see if what I'm writing is completely off or if I can sleep at night knowing that I gave Kevin some sound advice. Please respond for the good of team Pooky's bankroll. Sorry for the weird wording too...just got back from LA remember?