Now...a little bit about my blog. Since, I'm having a little bit of trouble keeping this thing up to date, I've decided to shorten my blogs, so that I can look forward to updating them a little more often. I like writing, but I like playing poker much more.
On with poker... I hit up Harris Casino in New Orleans last week. For some reason, I thought casinos in the US were federally regulated, so that they could only be established in Vegas, AC, or Indian Reservations. Harris Casino in N.O. definitely didn't look like it was on an Indian reservation. And yes, it was fully licensed casino with ALL of the normal table games (craps, blackjack, poker, etc.). If they had a casino in New Orleans, then maybe we'll see one in DC some time? That would be a bad thing...
I played some $6/$12 limit hold'em at Harris. They had a few $10/$20 tables, but after getting the beat down in AC a few weeks ago, I decided to stick with the lower limit tables until I could figure out the correct strategy against a loose passive table. Just like I expected, in the first few hours of play, we had an average of 5-7 players see the flop on just about every single hand. "Chop chop??"....no chance, as the hands were rarely folded around to the blinds. Anyways, I was definitely a lot more prepared this time around. If I was a good poker player, then I should be able to adjust to the game, right?
By dinner time, I was down $250 and ready to bolt to get some cajun food. What was I doing wrong? After some pondering while watching the OU vs. USC blowout, we went back to Harris for some late night action. Our plane didn't leave until 6am, so we had a good 4 hours of playing left. I was determined to beat the live action $6/$12 game.
Finally, I was able to adjust to the loose table and got back to just about even. My strategy? Call more often, raise less often, and bluff seldomly. With this strategy, I played hands like 5
7 and 3
3
and K
T. Normally these are not great hands to play in low limit hold'em, however with an average of 6 players in just about every pot, preflop, the odds were definitely there for me to play them. Hands like AK RARELY made me the money that hands like 33 made me after catching a set. Of course, playing a small pair to a raise is probably not the best idea. Since the preflop was seldomly raised, I think it was correct strategy to play almost all small pairs. So, here's my strategy once again:
Call more often, raise less often and bluff seldomly.
After a few more hours of play, I finally got my money back ($250) plus a few extra dollars for the cab ride to the airport. Nothing spectacular, but towards the end of the night, my confidence in my game came back. And I believe that only with confidence can you win at this game. Without it, you are doomed.
Till next time. -boogster
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