Friday 28th March 2008

Welcome to Hold or Fold - The UK's only Poker E-Letter dedicated to helping YOU become a better player!

In this week's E-Letter -

       *A little Quiz for you ... and
       *Play Really Tight Early On in a Major Final

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Hiya there and how have you been this week??

Ok - A little quiz for you...

It's very easy - What happened next??

Question 1 -
I'm starting to get short-stacked because I've been folding virtually every single hand since the start - I've just picked up rubbish hand after rubbish hand -

Finally - a marginal hand - I pick up KQ offsuit - I raise 3X the Big Blind and get one caller. The Flop comes down: KKJ -

I put in a bet half the size of the pot - my opponent goes all-in and I call -

He shows down a pair of 6's -

What happens next???

Answers after the next question...

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Question 2 -
Same type of scenario - I'm getting short-stacked because I've not picked up any cards at all. I'm in the Big Blind this time and I pick up K7 Hearts.

Everyone folds around to the person on the button - he's been taking great joy in raising my blind every single time and he's got a big chip lead - he raises again - I think it's time to take a stand and I go all-in !

He thinks about it for a moment and then calls.

He shows down 10 9 Hearts.

What happens next???

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Answer to Question 1 -

Easy - the Turn was a blank and a 6 came on the River !!

Answer to Question 2 -

Easy - There's not a Heart in sight and a 10 comes on the Flop - followed by a Blank on the Turn and a 9 on the River - !!

How did you do???

If you knew the answers immediately - then you might be experiencing Bad Beats or a run of bad luck -

I've been running bad cards and bad beats for nearly six weeks now and I am determined not to be downhearted - I decided to look on the net for some advice on dealing with Bad Beats and I'm absolutely confident that this has got to end soon -

Here's some advice I found that I am happy to pass onto you...

www.blindbetpoker.com/news/running-bad.html has some great advice for people like
me who are just having a bad run ...

Also check out:
www.pokermagazine.com/Poker-Strategy/running_bad_losing_streaks_poker_strategy.html

More brilliant reading is: www.poker.net/headlines/articles/badbeats.htm
This is written by Andrew N.S. Glazer, the Poker Pundit and offers very sound advice and is well worth reading and is more about getting Bad Beats.

Also - www.paddypowerpoker.com/ps_badbeats.php is worth a look -

Bad beats - The Don'ts...

Don't tell bad beat stories. As Daniel Negreanu puts it - "Look, they really don't care. Bad beats happen to everyone... have you ever looked forward to someone telling you a hard luck story?"

[Ok - I failed on that one....]

An obvious one is don't go on tilt. Players start chasing hands with few outs or try a garbage hand to quickly win their chips back. This will make matters worse. You should focus on your game and play like you've been playing before the bad beat. Other players will also tell if you're on tilt and take advantage.

[That's ok - I don't go on Tilt.]

Bad beats - The Do's...

Take a long break. You need to clear your mind before playing poker again so you can focus a little better.

Move down to a smaller limit table. This would regain your confidence since they are weaker players in the smaller limits.

Thinking positive should help as well.

The most important aspect to remember is to "Always focus on making correct decisions at the poker table and not on the outcome."

OK OK - After 6 weeks of running bad - I'm now playing quite alot of Freerolls - and low-limit Cash Tables - I am totally confident about my skills in Poker - it's just that my luck is really running bad - so I'm going to keep my head low until this changes and then I'll be back with a vengeance !!

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Play Really Tight Early On in a Major Final

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For this week's hand - I want to take you back to the Final Table of the Party Poker Women's World Open a few months ago...

I've been waiting until just this week to highlight this hand...

Why?? - well just go through it and then you'll know why !

Here we go - right from the very start -

Jesse May is commentating: "This is the final table - $100,000 plus on offer here and six top ladies to take it on. I'm joined by Shannon Elizabeth and just a question here about - because obviously the prize pay- outs go up and down so much - isn't there a huge argument to play really tight early on and see if anybody gets busy and gets themselves knocked out??"

Shannon Elizabeth replies: "Yeah, yeah you can definitely sit back and get to know your opponents and see how they play but maybe some of them have an idea from the past games."

Jen Mason is first to act and she picks up: 4S & 4D
 

She raises it up to 8,000 chips - which is alot seeing as the blinds are very small.

Kara Scott is next to act and she picks up: KH & QH.
 

She thinks about it for a moment and then re-raises it up to 18,000 !!

Next to act is Maria Demetriou. She picks up AC & 7C
 

She looks over at Kara and says: "Why?"

Good question !! I know Kara is aggressive but this is the first hand of the final and the raise is definitely over the top.

Maria goes to put some chips in the middle and picks up Kara's chips by mistake.
Everyone laughs and Maria says: "I'll get them eventually!!"

She goes to her own chip stack and calls the raise !!

Jesse: "Well there's some real action early on. Jen Mason with the two-fours..."

Shannon: "Well they're all laughing and having fun which is good - it's more than we've seen in some of the other ones..."

Jesse: "There are some huge hands out so far and I think the original bet which was 8,000 re-raised by Jen Mason..."

Action now moves to Jackie Vaswani - she picks up 2C & 7S
 

She gives a little snort and then announces: "Raise"
She then proceeds to put ALL her chips in the middle !!

Jesse was in the middle of his talk when he sees the action: "WOW - What IS Jackie Vaswani doing???"

Shannon Elizabeth: "WOWOWOWWWWW - it might be the wrong time to make a move early on."

Jesse shouts: "I mean - she doesn't even look nervous !! Doesn't she realise that she's got all her chips in - and she just must be thinking that there's so much prize money in there that nobody can call without a massive hand!!!!!!!!"

Action now moves to Beverley Pace - she picks up her hand to see: 8C & 3H
 

She looks over and says: "There's alot of money in that pot isn't there !"

Shannon: "Well - now there's so much money in the pot - I mean - who knows what the rest of them are going to do? Maybe they're not going to start out slow."

Beverley looks over to Kara and says: "What are you going to do Kara??"

Kara replies: "I like my cards !"

Beverley then looks at her own chips stack...

Shannon: "Well now it's got Beverley thinking that's for sure."

Kara then asks Beverley: "How much do you like yours??"

Beverley replies: "I don't know - so much value - I think I've got to go for it - I'm all in !!"

And with that - she puts all of her chips in the middle - on 8 3 offsuit !?!?!?!

Jesse May shouts: "What??? I don't believe it - she... she must have misread her hand!"

Bronwyn Campbell is next to act - she's got QS & QC -
 

She has no hesitation at all and puts all of her chips in the middle !!

Shannon: "Whoa - that's a big hand !"

Jesse splutters: "How happy is Bronwyn right now??"

Action is back to Jen Mason - she laughs and puts all of her chips in the middle -

Now Kara re-checks her hand and is hesitant...

Jesse May is shouting again: "Kara Scott could just fold here and make herself $20,000 - she CANNOT CALL !!"

Everyone is laughing and looking at Kara...

Kara laughs and shoves all her chips in too....

Then Maria has no option but to put all her chips in too !!!

Wa hay !!!

First hand and EVERYONE is ALL-IN !!!

Jackie Vaswani covers her mouth with her hand and says: "This is crazy !!"

The odds of winning are:
Kara Scott: 23%
Bronwyn Campbell: 22%
Jen Mason: 21%
Maria Demetriou: 19%
Beverley Pace: 8%
Jackie Vaswani: 4%

Split pot: 3%

Everyone is just laughing at the situation...

Someone shouts: "On their backs" and someone else shouts: "Oh My GODD !!!"

Shannon: "See what happens on the Flop!"

Jesse May is completely dumbfounded: "I don't know - I'm plumping for the Seven-Deuce here ! Jackie Vaswani... The only other player in the world who would do that is Ram Vaswani !!"

Shannon: "Well that's one way to get value for your seven-deuce! And they're all pretty comfortable with this so we'll see what happens and hey... we could all go out drinking now!"

The pot stands at 600,000 !!

The Flop comes down: 8H JD 7D
   

Everyone ooohs and aaaahs...

Shannon: "And there's a 7 for the Seven-Deuce!"

Jen Mason points out: "I'm the only person with diamonds!"

Jackie Vaswani makes her wishes known: "Two Two please"

The Odds are now:
Bronwyn Campbell: 26%
Jen Mason: 18%
Kara Scott: 17%
Beverley Pace: 17%
Maria Demetriou: 13%
Jackie Vaswani: 8%

Split Pot: 1%

Jesse May is resigned: "This is unbelievable !"

The Turn Card is: 5H


Bigger OOoooohhhs and Aaaaaahhhhhhs now from the ladies...

Shannon: "And now Kara has a Heart-Draw !"

The Odds have changed now to:
Bronwyn Campbell: 33%
Kara Scott: 31%
Beverley Pace: 13%
Jen Mason: 11%
Maria Demetriou: 6%
Jackie Vaswani: 6%

Kara is now begging: "Hearts Hearts HEARTS !!"

Jesse May: "I tell you what - if it comes a heart..."

The River is: 6S


Shannon: "Well there's a straight going on - nobody has a nine..."

Jen Mason realises that she has the bottom end of the straight and raises her hands in the air in triumph !!

Jesse May: "Well that's it then - I knew she was going to win - Jen Mason is the Women's World Open Champion !"

Shannon: "Well that's it then - it's over - lets all go out !"

Someone says: "who came second then??"

Jesse May suddenly says: "What?? What's that??? No!!! Oh My God... No - this has been a set-up !! They've just told me - This hand isn't going to count..."

Meanwhile Bronwyn is claiming second place and everyone is laughing and high-fiving Jen who's laughing really hard!

Jesse May: "... and you can see it on their faces now!"

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Post Mortem

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Did you see why I left this hand until now??

It's dead silly I know but when I watched it Live - I was as dumbfounded as Jesse May - Jackie Vaswani all in with 7-2 offsuit?? And what on earth was Beverley Pace doing going all-in with 8-3 offsuit??

Complete Madness !!

So if you didn't see this hand before... I'd just like to wish you a Happy April Fool's Day for next week!!

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Well I hope you have a good week - may the cards be with you and I'll see you again next Friday.

All the best

Meg Arana
Hold or Fold