Rudy Edwards

Man, am I pumped about finally getting my neteller money back. It wasn't life changing money, or anything, but it was significant to me, and weighed on my attitude just a little bit too much. The funds hit my bank account today, so it's done. Regardless of what happens with internet poker's legality, I will never forgive Neteller for lying about this situation. I will also never forgive my government for this whole fiasco.

It's such a good feeling, that it's got me excited about playing some full tilt again. I've been kind of down on online poker since getting back from Vegas, but I feel re-energized.

I just finished a nearly 14 hour marathon of watching the ESPN Pay-Per-View of the WSOP Main Event Final Table. The PPV did not include hole cards, I assume to maintain the integrity of the game, and that made it kind of retro enjoyable. I'll have fun finding out what the players actually had when rewatching the ME on regular ESPN later in the year.

I wasn't rooting for Yang at all. Don't get me wrong, he deserved the win. He was the most aggressive player at the table, and he made some bad calls, but overall he owned the table. His "bad calls" were only slightly bad, and they made anyone afraid to play back at him without a real hand. This meant that he was able to steal pots away consistently from the other players. It took some cards for the strategy to work, and a little luck, but he got it, and it did work. Hell, he was probably all in with the best of it more times than not.

I wasn't rooting for him, because I was bothered by his blatant religious zealotry. If a man is religious, and says a prayer, or appeals to god in a crux moment, more power to him. Yang didn't shut up about how god should deliver him pots so he could bring glory to his name. In an interview with his wife, which lasted less than a minute, she made 3 references to prayer and talked about absolutely nothing else.

If Yang was right, that God was making him his vessel by allowing him to win the WSOP, doesn't it imply that God took an active hand in the other players losing? Professional athletes usually know when to shut up about this sort of thing. They thank god for their blessing, and that's it. Yang came across as a charachachure, and it was annoying.

Aside from that, I had a really good time watching the marathon final table with my friends. not seeing the hole cards allowed us to talk a lot more about what they might have, and there was real suspense, not just fake suspense creating by drawing out the turn and river cards. I think there might be some market for a poker show that presents games to us this way, but shows the hands that get folded or mucked after the fact. You could even give one player's perspective but not the other's, creating extra drama.

I was also surprised at what a feature Phil Gordon's gambling degeneracy was on the show. They did not stop talking about, and making prop bets on the side. I guess the people who watch this on PPV are mostly poker players anyway, but I was taken aback a bit by how much of it was going on.

There was some real entertaining poker to watch. I wish I had a DVR to record it, and rewatch some of the best parts.

I've been kind of lax on keeping up with the blog lately, but mostly because very little had changed. I've been a steady winner at the 1-2 game, but wasn't willing to move up. Well, that all changed when I dropped by the Rio to check out the main event's progress. I got on the 2-5 list so I can bypass the spectator line.

There are multiple old magic players in still doing well in the main event. I didn't know Dario, the chip leader, very well. I did know Brock Parker, and Justin informs me he's a multi master now. He finished yesterday with over a million in chips. Chris Lovelace was a regular in the Atlanta area tourneys, and he's still in, as well. Ken's buddies Alex and Isaac are also in the top 300. It's good to have people to root for.

When I got a seat, it was the co-ed table. There were four wives/girlfriends of main event players at the table. At no point did I feel like I was playing over my head at this table, and wasn't getting very much respect either. The gentleman to my right put in a raise with a short stack. I felt he was steaming from a hand he'd lost a few minutes earlier, and I three bet him with JJ. He pushed for his remaining stack, and I called him. after a Q came out on the flop, and a A on the turn I was sure I'd lost. I showed my JJ, and the player started bitching about the Ace... and showed his KQ. He complained for 15 or 20 seconds while scooping the pot about how he was sure the Ace had screwed him again.

What a moron.

Later, when he lost his stack to Nell, a very attractive Costa Rican whose husband was doing well in the Main Event, he berated her for playing a hand near perfectly. You would think if him thinking her play was bad wouldn't get him to keep his mouth shut, he'd consider not berating her because she's gorgeous and as a man wants to encourage her to be comfortable playing at the table.

I also discovered that I just didn't have the balls to bluff when I knew it would work. Circumstances put me in position to play with a player that I was sure was on a missed draw, but so was I. He bet $220 into a $300 pot, and the player with a showdownable hand got out of our way. I thought long and hard about making it $600 to go, but just couldn't pull the trigger. Hoping to at least find out if I was right, I made a comment that if he was bluffing, he was a master and he showed K high.

Well, If I don't have the balls to run that big a rebluff yet, perhaps i'm not really ready for 2-5 NL, but I do feel better that my read was correct.

I finished that game up $635. I took off for some In-N-Out burger, and finished the night up at MGM, where I polished off the day over $1k.

I've got one day left, and I think I'll spend it at the 2-5 at the Rio.

I took the first day off of my trip, and went to the skywalk over Grand Canyon West. It was worth the day I spent... It's hard to describe, but I came back fresh and ready to play.

I can't come up with a good reason to play 2-5 instead of 1-2. I'm regularly having $500 sessions at 1-2, and it seems like wherever I play, the people I most want to play with are at the 1-2 and 1-3 games. Aziz is regularly playing 2-5, and his games just don't look anywhere near as juicy. I suppose if I cared more about leveling up, and less about profit, I'd move up limits, but It would probably be a poor bankroll decision. If I run up past +10k, I'll start playing more 2-5.

I've been saying that the Venetian is my favorite poker room in Vegas, but the more I've played, the more I've got to give the credit to MGM. They are different rooms with different strengths, but the kicker for me is that the MGM seems to have a higher caliber of dealer.

It's probably because the V has brought in a bunch of temp dealers for the Deep Stack Extravaganza, but should that matter to me? On this trip, Dealing has been a lot better at the MGM, which is a bit of a surprise. Don't get me wrong, I still like the V a lot.

Tonight, a temp dealer let my opponent pull his hand back out of the center of the table. I had bet the river with the top flush (the board was four flushed) and the villain tossed his hand past the bet line. As the dealer put the deck down and motioned to grab his hand, I put my tip on my hand and slid it toward the dealer, having won the pot. The villain asked the dealer if his hand was mucked, and pulled his hand back and called. I looked up to see a call where I thought the player had folded. Obviously, the dude had noticed that the four flush also paired the board, and he'd filled up. The floor claimed that the mistake was that the dealer didn't muck the player's hand quickly enough, and his hand was live.

A few hands later, a player tossed a legal reraise past the betting line, then went back in to pull back the raise and make it a call. A player not in the hand pointed it out, and was asked to stay out of it by the original raiser. The Dealer let it slide. Our next dealer was better, in that she was really, really slow, but tried hard to get it right at least. Players had to point out what the winning hand was while she was dumbly looking at the board trying to figure it out... but at least she didn't screw the game up.

When talking to the floor, I was surprised that he wasn't more concerned about the room's image. He explained that the first dealer was usually a chip runner, as if that resolved the issue and made it ok.

I should point out that the Venetian has at least one stand out quality dealer. Unfortunately, I've forgotten his name, but he's a young black man who is quick on the deal, keeps the action going, and stops players from playing out of turn or disrupting play. My next trip, I'll go out of my way to get his name to give him credit.

The MGM has it's share of good and bad dealers as well, but there are three standouts that I'll mention. My least favorite dealer at the MGM is a small, pregnant asian girl. She was fine last year before she was knocked up, but now it's a struggle. Her arms are not long enough to grab chips or cards from the ends of the table. Now that she's got a bun in the oven, she can't sit up in the seat to scoop the chips up, so she asks us to do it for her. This slows down the action a lot, as players are responsible for doing her job for her... and annoying as well. It ends with players putting their chips in the middle of the table, making it hard to track what the action is. There are many service jobs where a pregnant woman can still perform as well as others. Usually, I'll tip a lil' extra as I have a soft spot in my heart for a working woman with child. This is not true for strippers or poker dealers. Some jobs should be left for the more physically able.

Nick at the MGM is a quality dealer. I don't think he's particularly more efficient than the average dealer at the MGM, but he does a great job of keeping it interesting and entertaining, and especially and keeping the drunks comfortable at the table. I haven't noticed any mistakes, and he's pretty quick.

By far my favorite dealer in this town is Jeff at the MGM. Jeff, from Augusta, has all the requirements of a good dealer: Quick, efficient, keeps the game going, doesn't make stupid mistakes and prevents players from making game disrupting mistakes. The reason he's my favorite dealer, though, is that he's a value added dealer. His deep, gravelly voice has just a touch of southern drawl. His commentary is amazing. Raise to 20? "20 bones..." Make it 40? "40 all-day". In an unraised pot, and a player looks confused... "2 dollars.. it ain't gonna break ya"

It's hard to put in words how refreshing and valuable Jeff's subtle commentary is in the middle of an 8 hour session, but I'm not the only person to notice it. All of us who have been playing at the MGM regularly are fans. Multiple times I've seen Jeff in the middle of his push, and was hoping he was headed to my table.

When you spend as much time at the poker tables as I have been recently, The Nicks and Jeffs help a lot, while the chip runners and preggos make the sessions more taxing. I've twice now finished a session because the pregnant girl was pushing to my table. It's just exhausting and annoying to have to do her job for her constantly, or to sit and wait for other players to.

just in time to stop me from playing 2-5, I had a $800 downswing at the 1-2 game at the Venetian. Now, you'd think it would be pretty hard to lose $800 at 1-2 without interesting poker hands to analyze, but that's what happened. I won't just list out bad beat stories, because they are all the same, but suffice it to say that I felt very good about my play.

In fact, it was only when I lost a stack to the top straight with my wheel, that I felt I was steaming, and even then I stood up from the table, and ended my session.

Table 6 at the MGM is a fun place to play between midnight and 5am on weekends. You get a prime view of the talent coming out of Studio 54, and often drunk and silly girls come by and railbird for awhile. Now, while this is terribly distracting to your poker game, it's very enjoyable, and if you play it right, you can gain a lot of value.

At one point I was holding a conversation with a very drunk girl from the Bay Area. While I was constantly distracted by the 4 or 5 loud drunk hotties around the rail, I figured that people would expect I would not play any but premium hands, so I kept getting "distracted" by hands to raise, and went on a tear with very speculative hands. It doesn't hurt that other people at the table are also distracted.

I finished up $535 at the MGM, negating much of the previous loss. It did keep me from playing 2-5, but I don't mind that much. I guess my absurd hot streak had to end eventually, It just ended a little harder than I wanted. I'm pretty pumped that I didn't have any confidence issues hold me back from having a good friday session. I briefly considered not playing, but decided I wouldn't have a problem, and I was right.

I had a great session last night. It's not that I'm not talking about tough decisions or potential mistakes... I'm just running really, really hot and there aren't that many rough hands to discuss. Hopefully, this will continue, to the detriment of this blog, but to the benefit of my bankroll.

I sat down at a 1-2 NL game at MGM, and it was a pretty loose game. Early on I get 88, and raise to 10, getting calls from both blinds. the flop is Txx with a flush draw, and the small blind donks out for 20. After the big blind folds, I raise it to 60, and take it down. A few hands later I limp in third with A9s, and the guy to my left raises three limpers to 7. We all call, along with the button, and the flop comes down 9 high with one suit. I check to the raiser, who also checks, but the button bets pot. After it folds to me, I repot on the check-raise, and he thinks for awhile and lays it down, saying his JJ probably wasn't any good, and that he thought I had a set. I smirk, but don't tell him anything.

A few hands later, I have 44 in the big blind, and call that same guy's raise to 12, along with a few other players. I hit a set on the flop, check to him, and when he continuation bets, it folds to me, and I decide that slow playing is a terrible option because I have such an over-aggressive table image, having put in huge raises on the flop 2 hands in my first lap. I raise pot, and he shoves over the top, giving me a sweet stack.

I find this interchange an interesting example of how to work people's incorrect perceptions of you when you're new to a table. I had also thrown a straddle in UTG, which really helped push my over-aggressive image as well.

The next hour or so is pretty quiet, I build up a few more chips with continuation bets. I limp ATs in early position, something that I'll do a reasonable amount once I discover that a table has a tendency not to try and punish limpers. The small blind raises to 12, and I call along with the big blind. The flop comes down Q8s6, giving me a flush draw. The SB bets $35, leaving him $76 back. BB thinks for awhile, and calls, leaving him about $185 behind. I give a lot of consideration to whether I should push or call, and decide that the odds of the BB having two of my clubs are very high. I have less outs than I'd like, but If i hit one, he'll probably pay me off, so I just call.

The small blind goes all in for $76 in the dark, and the turn comes a 9, giving me a gutshot for the straight. I make the small blind for an overpair, probably KK or AA, so it's possible that an A can give me the pot as well, but unlikely. The BB calls, and so do I. I make my gutshot, but not my flush, and get paid off because although I was right that the BB had a flush draw, it was with a 9, and he somehow thought his 9 might be good.

As I write this, I realize that he must not have had 93s as I remember, but 96s or something that gave him two pair, because I really don't think he was dumb enough to put his last $100+ in the pot with second pair ass kicker vs. two opponents.

My real debate is whether or not I was correct to play it the way I did, or If I should have pushed on the flop. As it turns out, my read was correct on both players. I finished up $850 at the MGM, and picked up another $160 later in the night at the Tropicana, giving me my first $1000+ day in NL poker. I've had a few of those at limit, but it's nice to feel like my NL training has been positive. It also gives me the bankroll room to try out 2-5 NL this weekend If I want.

I woke up before everyone else in the house, and decided to put in some more work trying to play in all the card rooms in Vegas. I drove to the Sahara, but was disappointed to discover that there was only a 2-4 limit game going. I'd already passed on the OShea's card room for this exact reason, so I dipped, and drove to the Riviera. It was about 8PM, and unfortunately, they also only had 2-4 limit going (plus a tournament in progress) Disheartened, I decided to take a walk down the strip, and figured I'd find a game on the trek.

Walking by the Wynn and Venetian construction projects was kind of cool, and there is a spot that rents exotic rides, including Vipers, Prowlers, and Ferrarris. Probably out of my price range, but maybe I'll give it a shot one day. I think Prowlers are dope rides, and would love to drive one.

I ended up at the Wynn Poker Room, and back to my first limit game in a lil' bit, an 8-16 game. The Wynn uses $2 chips for this game, which is real annoying and cumbersome. If you're going to switch from the standard 1's and 5's, why not use $4 chips like the Venetian does? it's real smooth. In a few hours of play, there was confusion over bet sizes at a Limit game enough to make it clear this was a terrible idea. not even counting how absurdly large your chip stack gets when you are running well. It's also a forced move game, meaning that you can be arbitrarily taken from your game to the "main" game at any time. This is really annoying. I'm sure they have a good reason for it, but none of the other casinos I've played at so far have used this system, and I didn't notice any real problems.

The game was softer than I'd expect from my Wynn experience last year, and as a bonus they served Strawberry, Pineapple, and Orange Julius that were real tasty. I'm probably making a mistake playing so much NL, because every time I sit down in a Limit game, I feel like I'm playing bush league games. The donk at the table (In a pin stripe suit, with an open necked silk shirt) was one of those special players... after calling your preflop raise, he'd open bet every time if he had a top pair or better, and he'd call down with A high or better every time, with some worse calls thrown in the mix. The best part was, no one else at the table seemed to figure this out, and people kept reloading him with their second pairs.

An attractive Asian lady sat down next to me, and was playing very well, but felt the need to justify every action that didn't work out, to me in full detail. This had a few benefits, aside from constantly conversing with this Asian hottie next to me, I got all the insight into her play I needed to own her, with one exception. It folded to me on the button, and I reached for my chips to raise with J4s, when she points out that she was going to chop with the big blind. As nicely as I can, I point out that while I'll chop the blinds, I won't fold my button so others can chop. She calls, and the flop comes QT8 and giving me a flush draw. She check raises me, and I three bet, and then cap her reraise. The best part of all of this is that I've seen her get feisty with garbage already when she had perceived some kind of table injustice.. and that she was willing to three bet with air in the past. The turn came another T, and I just called her bet. The final card was a 4, missing both of my draws, and she bets out. now, I've got a J high to add to the board at this point, but we've built a reasonable pot, and IMO she either has a monster or two low cards (possibly with a flush draw, or a J or 9 for a gutshot), so I anguish about it for a few seconds, and put in a call with my J high, and she flips the QT for the boat.

I didn't even show her my hand because she was already teasing me about having played back at her, and not letting her just chop. I hope that she was actually just leveling me the whole time, and knew exactly what she was doing. That would be a better story, and kinda hot, too. Poker skill is hot in already attractive women. Apparently, she's a regular at the Commerce in L.A., meaning the odds she was leveling me are a little bit higher than I would otherwise give her.

I also had a full house counterfeit by a third 9 on the board when my pocket fours set on the flop, filled up on the turn, and were chumped on the river. At least that time I didn't waste a big bet after having housed my opponents for max action up to that point. I finished the session up about $350, with many tasty Juliuses under my belt.

On the walk back to the Riviera, I noticed that it had a 24 hour food court that contains a Quizno's. I don't know if the Quizno's is also 24 hours, but if it is, it's gonna catch a lot of my late night, after poker business. Also, if you are looking to score crack, or score a crack whore, I'd recommend the 7-11 parking lot near the Riviera. The Riviera also seems to cater to groups looking for high end adult revues, but with diverse sexual orientations. They have an all male revue (American something), a topless revue (crazy girls), and celebrity cross dressers (La Cage). Now, I'm a big fan of boobs, and can see going to a topless revue at some point, but I think I'd hit the Folies Bergerie at the Tropicana, which does a good job of looking like something from the rat pack heyday of Vegas.

A bit of good news, an old friend who I hadn't seen since before either of us played poker seriously, is chip leader going into the final table of the 3k NL event today. Dustin Holmes finished 19th last year in the main event, and I hadn't seen him in years, when I walked by him at the Rio last year while he was busy final tabling a Pot Limit event. Dustin and I used to game together years ago, and while we weren't great friends, I love being able to root for an old buddy who is clearly having some success in the poker world now. Good Luck Dustin!

I wasn't doing a good job of playing the NL game I had been training myself in for the last two months or so. I kept getting caught up in the limit games I would find, but over the past week I've focused pretty hard on the small stakes NL games around town. If I keep having success, I'll move up from 1-2 to 2-5. I doubt I'll try to climb any higher than that on this trip.

Last night I sat at a $1-2 NL table at the MGM, with a $200 max buyin. A man across the table from me was sitting with what must have been $1600 or so, and he was building the stack by making large bets, and occasionally getting lucky. After a lap or so, I limped A9s after two other callers in late position, and Stacky Stackerson raised it to $15. I was one of two callers, and the flop came down 249 with a flush draw not of my suit. Big Stacks bet out $50, and after the other player got out of the way, I had a decision to make. I was pretty sure he'd drop a bet this large with almost anything, including worse nines, fours, twos, and even air. unfortunately, there were plenty of hands better than mine he'd play that way as well, or at least I was guessing. I didn't want to have to make decisions if overcards came, because I was confident he'd put me to those decisions, so I went all in, and he called with 94o, beating me with two pair.

Big Stacks played this way for the most of the night, but once I built a stack myself, stopped giving me any action at all. I tried to goad him into it, by pointing out that he wasn't even playing with me anymore. I decided to stop being aggressive at all with him if I could, and draw a little more action from him. I picked up a straight draw in a limped pot with 75 on a 68J board. There was around $10 in the pot, and he bet $15. I called out of position, for a head up turn. It came a 9, making my straight, but I still had to be a little bit worried about T7 or QT. I check called again for $50, and the river came a unconcerning 3. I was about $600 back, and knew he was the kind of man who would raise a real bet all in with any large hand, including hands that beat me. The thing is, I was pretty sure he did have a hand from the way he'd acted up to this point, so I felt reasonably comfortable check-calling, and hoped he'd bet big. Instead, he checked behind with top pair.

Okay, so I felt like I left some money on the table, but I'm still new to this NL thing, and I'm learning as I go along.

I headed over to Bally's Friday to try out their poker room. It's very straightforward and simple. A little cramped compared to the nicer rooms, and mostly lower limits, but they had a reasonable crowd of non-pros.

I felt pretty good about my play. I flopped a set of 4s on one hand, and after getting pot sized calls from the guy to my left on the flop and turn, was able to switch to the check-call his small value bet on the river when he made a straight. A few hands later i'm straddling and have two callers and AKs, so I send it up preflop. I get only one caller, a tipsy frat-boy. The board comes down AQ7 with one of my suit. I lead out for 2/3 pot, (about $40) and frat boy moves in on the pot like it's a passed out sorority girl, for another $200. My first instinct was that he had AQ, but as I'm watching him, he stares straight at me and holds his breath, so I give it a call. He has A2, and while he hits a 2 on the river, I feel pretty good about having made the call, and get another example of people playing over-aggressively at a straddler.

My friends were all over at Caeser's, and their tables were terrible, so we agreed to move over to MGM. I played there a lot last year, and it's a good looking room with clunky, annoying tables and uncomfortable chairs, but only a $3 rake with no jackpot. I sit at a 4-8 limit table while waiting for a NL seat, and get two sets in the 9 hands I played.

Once on a 1-2 NL table, circumstances prevent me from straddling the first two laps (me moving to a better seat, and the guy to my right leaving) so I establish a very tight image quickly, playing zero pots in my first 20 hands or so. The other side of the table is five friends, all putting about a beer down per lap. One of their group is a straddler, and very aggressive, putting big raises in towards the side of the table that is not made up of his friends. He's shaved bald with a goatee,wearing a Detroit Tigers ball cap and Jersey, and I judge him pretty quickly to take a lot of pride in being a bully at the table.

I get a chance to take advantage of my tight image before getting any straddles in, when Detroit straddles, and there are two callers, i put in a pot sized raise with QTs. The flop misses me completely, A9x, but my tight image clears out the competition with one 2/3 pot bet after the flop. I note the Tigers fan looks like he wanted to pop me with a raise, but thinks better of it.

It's possible that once I've established a great tight image, that the plan should be to go LAGgro rather than straddlicious, but I couldn't help it, I'm so excited about learning more about this strategy that I took the next opportunity, to the obvious surprise of everyone at the table.

I get four callers, including Detroit, and when I check my hole cards I discover a cute lil' JJ waiting for me and send the pot up to $40. It folds to Detroit who pushes all in, and begins staring at the dealer, trying hard to hold a stone face. After a little consideration, I put in the call, and he says I've got him crushed without even seeing my cards. He never shows, although he does say he's got a flush draw when two spades hit, and cedes me the pot when the third doesn't fall.

These two examples seem to clarify the point I've been making about straddling. When I play straightforward, I just don't get these kind of opportunities, and it isn't very expensive. I'm just not the kind of player people feel comfortable putting their stack in when they have top pair no kicker, but when I'm a straddler, everything changes.

I did a bit of the math, and i'm confident that we're making a mistake regularly playing at Caeser's so far. I'm going to toy with all of the card rooms, but while MGM's might be less comfortable and the marble ring around the tables sucks balls, the $1 discount on rake, and the lack of a $1 jackpot pull more than makes up for it. This would be even more true if I were playing small stakes limit.

One last hand to discuss, I'm in the small blind with Axs, and limp in with 4 other players. The flop comes down AKK with one spade, and it checks around. The turn comes Js, giving me top pair, and a flush draw, although i'm a bit worried about the flush draw hitting as I can't put much money in on that board. I bet $10 into the pot, and get raised another $15 by a slightly aggressive player with a smaller stack (he started the hand with about $100)

I call, and the Qs hits, making my flush but making a full house more likely than not. I decide to check and call any reasonable bet, and he puts in a $25 bet. I say "I want to raise you, but am too afraid of the full house" and just call. After he tells me he has the T for the straight, I tell him I've got a flush and flip my hand over, making a complete jackass out of myself.

You see, my Axs was really ATs, giving me the Royal Flush, and I obviously wanted nothing more than for him to have the full house. I didn't really lose any money, as he made it clear he wouldn't have called a raise at all.

So that's the story of how I just called my royal flush on a board that was magical for a royal. Also of interest is that the MGM was the first Casino I'd played at so far that didn't have a high hand jackpot. If I had hit the Royal at Caeser's or Bally's I'd have hit a high hand jackpot in the thousands. So much for how much money we could be saving by playing at MGM.

6.6.7 1 hour 10-20 limit at the Rio +$275
6.6.7 4 hours 1-3 NL at Caeser's Palace -$9
6.7.7 5 hours 1-3 NL at Caeser's Palace -$350
6.7.7 1/2 hour 2-5 NL at Caeser's Palace +$175
6.8.7 2 hours 1-2 NL at Bally's -$350
6.8.7 10 minutes 4-8 limit MGM +$85
6.8.7 2 hours 1-2 NL at MGM +$230

Something I learned early on last year playing limit here in Vegas - The Straddle is a tool's tool. This lesson has served me well, and it's been true throughout my small live career. In a limit game, the Straddle is so clearly -EV, anyone who straddles is a man to target - he's obviously planning on playing aggressively, probably very loose, and is either bad, or playing a limit that doesn't mean much to him. Either of these last two options makes a very profitable player to isolate, although you'll do a lot better if you're quick to figure out which one the player is.

I just assumed the lesson would translate perfectly into NL. Leave it to my young friend JJ to teach me a new lesson, this time about assuming connections between Limit and No Limit without proper analysis.

I guess I should explain what the straddle is, for those of you who haven't played much casino poker. When Under The Gun, you put in a blind raise that allows you the last action preflop. (technically, this is a "live straddle" in casinos without live straddles, you aren't buying PF position and the straddle is really just a preflop raise in the dark.) Different casinos have different rules for straddling, and you should really pay attention if your casino allows the "Mississippi Straddle" which lets you straddle from anywhere, including the button, to buy position preflop.

In limit it should be fairly obvious how bad a blind raise UTG is, and at first glance you'd expect that it would be worse in No Limit games, where position is even more valuable. This "first glance" doesn't take a few things into account.

1. At Caeser's, in NL the straddle is a minraise. I've been playing 1-3, so it's a $6 raise in a game that allows me to take a full stack off of someone when they adjust poorly to the straddle. the payoff here is very high. In limit, you're risking a lot more to win a lot less comparatively.

2. Straddling immediately forms the wrong impression of your play with most of your opponents. by risking a mere $6, I can form a Loose Aggressive impression in everyone's minds who are paying attention. It may take a few laps for players to correct their image of you, and players who don't pay attention may never pick up on it. The best part is, there are plenty of players who do pay attention, that will never learn you aren't LAGgy if you maintain a few straddles here and there.

3. The straddle takes players out of their "comfort zone". Open raises have to much larger than usual, and pots tend to be bigger on straddled hands than they would otherwise. This is especially valuable against players who have established patterns at the game, and suddenly have to adjust them. This is also a huge benefit when people just don't pay enough attention, and put in too-small raises, creating a lot of potential for value.

4. Limit players, or players who just haven't put enough thought into what is happening, will play over-aggressively at your blinds, giving you a lot of potential for profit.

All of these reasons don't even touch on the fact that it did buy you position preflop, something that can have a lot of value.

JJ and I sat down at a 1-3 NL table at Caeser's Palace yesterday. It was a fresh table, and Justin was UTG first hand, and straddled it on up. While I had already discussed the straddle with him plenty, and was aware that there wasn't really anything wrong with it, I hadn't come to most of the conclusions above yet, but was primarily thinking it was cheap way to establish an incorrectly LAGgy table image. I took advantage and started making fun of him for his straddle, and acted like I was really disappointed I didn't have a hand good enough to play back at him with. I'm not really sure why I did this, but it worked out for the better just a few hands later.

My second hand, the guy to JJ's left opted to straddle as well, and I picked up Queens. A limper came in front of me, and so I put in a pot size raise or so (probably about $25) The straddler called, and struggled but folded to my pot size flop bet after an AT3 rainbow board was established.

For some reason, the straddling caught on, and I pretended to make a little bit of a stink about how stupid it was. on the fourth consecutive straddled hand, I open pot-raised KQs and got two callers. Looking like an opportunist, when I flopped top two pair on a KQ7 board, I continuation bet pot and the gentleman to my left decided to test me with a minraise. Now, I've certainly done nothing but give the impression that I was over-reacting to the straddling, and despite being a little bit concerned about a set of sevens, went all in over the top. I couldn't have been more right about my image, as he instacalled with AK, doubling me up.

I felt pretty good about that whole series of events, and feel that I may have gained a lot of value appropriately adjusting to the image I've created for myself at the table.

When I was UTG, I think I surprised everyone by keeping the "straddle lap" alive, saying something about not wanted to be the asshole. The table actually went a full lap and a half of straddles, before the attractive hispanic woman two seats to my right decided she didn't want to keep it up. After that, only JJ and the guy to his left straddled, with one exception.

I had ATo in the small blind, and completed with 4 limpers. The board came down AT5 with two clubs (of which I had none) and for some reason I spaced out and stared at the board for about 20 seconds. By the time I recovered and realized I was off in dreamland, I felt that my standard bet out for two pair would be far too obvious, and i'd make a play for a C-R. unfortunately, it was Justin who put in a $7 position bet, and I couldn't really call with two pair, so I Check raised him pot, and everyone folded including JJ (who had A9, and showed me) while I didn't really feel bad about the C-R, I made a little deal about it at the table for some reason unknown to even me. When my UTG came around, I put in a straddle as a public "compensation" for Check Raising my buddy at the table. I got raised by the button, who was pretty aggressive, and 3 bet him with TJs. He laid it down preflop and I felt pretty good about how I was doing.

The play continued for awhile, with the table being a decently live game. I built up a very good sized stack (about $900 from a $300 buyin) and probably should have cashed out and found another game, as I'm not particularly so stable that I should be gambling with a $1000 NL stack. after a few hours of play, I'd picked up a KQs on the button. JJ had straddled this hand, and with a limper coming in before me, I raised to $25. The small blind, JJ, and the limper called. The flop gave me a flush draw with an A66. When it checked to me, I put in a $100 continuation, and the small blind thought for a brief moment and raised to $300. Now, the small blind was a quality player, although a little tipsy, and was the only player at the table with near as many chips as my stack. about a lap earlier, he'd hit a boat with pocket As, and I didn't feel that there was much of a chance of him having the boat. Justin, next to act, laid down a 6, and later told me he was confident we both had big hands. I had plenty of time to think while JJ was in the tank, and had decided to push at the SB's last $460. I was all-in, and if the SB calls, I'd need a heart to win the largest pot i'd ever been a part of, a $1700 monster.

after a few minutes of talking out loud about whether or not I could have AA or 66, He revealed AKo, and spent a few more minutes in consideration of whether or not to call. I never called time on him, and perhaps that was a mistake, but I really felt he deserved the time to decide whether or not to call. I also didn't really think I could get an advantage one way or another, so I'd let him think it out.

I thought his play made sense for any decent A, and could get him to fold most of them. I thought I'd have a decent chance of getting an AK to fold, although I didn't take into account that the Ace of Hearts on the board takes away a player's fear of facing AK of hearts. He called, and I missed. Oh well.

The table fell apart about an hour later, and Justin and I were moved to the same table, where we both started regularly straddling. Here it became very apparent that one of the players was actively trying to steal our straddles, and I felt that I did a great job of playing back appropriately. I'll experiment more with the live straddle.

I finished out the night at 2-5 NL, where my friend Aziz was playing with a guy who was randomly opening to $65 all night. I didn't get any action from 65 dollar guy, but I did get a few continuation pots to ease the damage from the earlier 1-3 game.