Page 10 - February 2007 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Page 10
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
February 2007
Jim Mercurio: Poker
AJust the Facts, Man
s an intuitive person, I tend toward making decisions with my instincts, not with data. However, in poker, there comes a time when you must look at the cold, hard facts about your play.
makes me a straight. With eight outs, I need pot odds of about 4.5:1 to call. With 23 dollars in the pot and ten to call, I am only getting 2.3:1. But I know I can get enough on the river to make it worthwhile.
*** RIVER *** [7♦ 9♥ A♠ 3♦] [2♣]
Soon to be mad Opponent: bets $41
Jim Mercurio: raises $41 to $82
Soon to be mad Opponent: raises $4 to $86 and is
all-in
Jim Mercurio: calls $4
Comment: BINGO! It’s impossible for him to put
me on the runner-runner stone cold nuts. His $41 makes my play pretty easy. I shove it.
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Soon to be mad Opponent: shows [A♦ A♣] (three of a kind, Aces)
Jim Mercurio: shows [5♠ 4♦] (a straight, Ace to Five)
Jim Mercurio collected $202.50 from pot
Comment: e hidden nature of my hand makes it almost impossible for my opponent to not get felted here, however, if a scarier-looking straight card like an 8 should have slowed him down. What I learned from this hand history is that we swapped mistakes. I made a $4 mistake, pre- op by calling that raise. His giving me a free card on the op turned out to be a $96 mistake.
Jim is a lmmaker, writer and poker player. You can buy a copy of his lm Hard Scrambled at HardScrambled.com.
Sophisticated database programs like Poker Tracker (Pokertracker.com) exist which store the details about all of your online hands. You can nd out what hands in what circumstances and to which players, you are a loser.
Buying fancy software isn’t the only way to access this information. Check out the help for your online poker site and nd out how to store and access hand histories, recaps of every hand you have played. Here is how to use them to learn about your play. PokerStars Game #XXXXXXXX: Hold’em No Limit ($0.50/$1.00) - 2006/12/05 - 21:21:14 (ET)
Table “ Tennessee” 9-max Seat #5 is the button Seat 1: Player 1 ($33.60 in chips)
Seat 2: Jim Mercurio ($103.50 in chips)
Seat 3: Opponent y ($62.55 in chips)
Seat 4: Opponent X ($51.35 in chips) ...
Seat 9: Soon to be mad Opponent ($100 in chips) Opponent R: posts small blind $0.50
Opponent I: posts big blind $1
Comment: At the top is basic information like the
site, stakes, time and table. Notice I am in middle position, 5th of 8 to act. e stack sizes, as you will see, are important.
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Jim Mercurio [5♠ 4♦]
Soon to be mad Opponent: raises $3 to $4 Player 1: folds
Jim Mercurio: calls $4
Opponent y: folds
Opponent X: calls $4
...(EVERYONE ELSE FOLDS)
Comment: I called a raise with 45 offsuit. In retrospect,
I wish the situation were more advantageous: a smaller raise, another caller or two or if were in later position. My call would have been an irrefutably donkey play if the raiser had only $20–40 in chips, denying me major potential implied odds.
*** FLOP *** [7♦ 9♥ A♠]
Soon to be mad Opponent: checks
Jim Mercurio: checks
Comment: I totally missed. I am so done with the
hand.
*** TURN *** [7♦ 9♥ A♠] [3♦]
Soon to be mad Opponent: bets $10
Jim Mercurio: calls $10
Comment: Wow! His check has allowed me to pick
up a double-gutshot straight-draw. Any deuce or six
Poker: Wired Aces and River Rats