Before getting to the Friday Mailbag, I want to discuss something that many people make the mistake of doing. The slowplay. In poker, be it cash games or poker tourneys, you always see peeps dropin the old slowplay. Unfortunately, more often than not, the slowplay is not used in the proprer context, from what I've seen. Some times, dispite the "incorrect" use, it works and you look genius, other times, well... it turns into a tilting bad beat story. I'd like to cover when a slowplay is correct:
Slowplaying your hand
According to David Sklansky (Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players, 21st Century Ed. p.73 - Two Plus Two Publishing) slowplaying is only correct when ALL of the following circumstances are in place:
1. You have a VERY strong hand.
2. You'll "probably" chase everyone out by betting, but have a great chance of winning the huge pot if you check.
3. The free card you're about to give has good possibility of making a second-best hand.
4. The free card you're about to give has little chance of making a now first-best hand or giving someone a draw to a better hand with sufficient odds to justify a later call.
5. The pot must not yet be very large.
He goes on to say that an appropriate slowplay would be with you holding JJ, and the flop comes J-6-2 rainbowed. Unless you're against AA, KK, QQ, your opposition will need runner runner to mow your monster down. If, on the other hand, you have 6-6 or 2-2, slowplaying is not correct in this scenerio.
Just keep that in mind, and we'll expand more on the slowplay later. That being said, on to the mailbag.
BeerDude, is it my imagination or are you turning into quite the donk in the shark tourneys lately? Signed, at least ten peeps from the shark army.
My, my... it does appear that way lately, doesn't it. I mean, goin out with pocket fives early (vs AA), and then later on with pocket nines (vs j10s after jack hits). Actually, I'm kinda experimenting, if you will believe that. I'm reading a book, which you may have heard of "Harrington on Holdem, volume 2: endgame," - two plus two publishing. I've been employing some of the tactics he teaches (which will be discussed later in the week, perhaps). However, I am admittingly trying them out earlier in the tourney than he's suggested. I figure that when playing vs. the Shark Army, these "moves" stand more of a chance to be recognized or even seen through, as opposed to general tourney play, given that we have a much "better" group of playa's, ESPECIALLY at the buy-in tourneys Sharky hosts.
Now once again, the things I am trying, I'm doing so knowing they are slightly out of context, so you see me do something totally donkified and it works, ya might want to check with me to see if the move I was making was known to be "correct" before trying at home. Besides, I'm a ring man all the way, and don't take much opportunity for tourney play presently, so I've really got no where else to "work out" so to speak.
NEXT!
Beer, What the hell do you do all day?
To paraphrase one of my favorite Cheech and Chong (the link is for Born, as I am certain he'll dig it, based on his msn pic) skits in "report format" my last week looks like the following:
Me: "On Monday, I woke up, then I went downtown to look for a job, then I hang out in front of the drugstore. The second day of the week, I woke up. Then I went downtown... to look for a job. Then I hung out in front of the Drugstore. The third day of the week..."
Sister Mary Elephant:"OK class, that's enough, class.... class... CLAAAASSSSS!!!! SHUT UP!!!!! (sweet nun's voice): Thank you."
Moving along here...
BeerMan, Did Sharky seriously lay down pocket kings last night?
What do you think?
Moving on...
Beer, How exactly is CheckRayz related to Shark's sites?
Great question. Here's how it works. Sharky has his main poker sites, Shark Poker Tour and Online Shark. He owns and operates both of those domains, scheduling some sweet poker tourneys for us poker folk. He was looking to expand his operations and I was looking to launch, ironically right at the same time. I approached him, he showed me the ropes, and with a little "business" being done, we're partners in the CheckRayz site. He helps me out, I'm allowed to say I know him (I pay to be his friend - he accepts such payments through neteller in case anyone else is interested - LOL). OK, bad joke, no one's laughing...
Bottom line, we're partners, co-owners if you will. Two old poker guys on a fixed income trying to make ends meet.
Finally, our final piece from the mailbag.
Yo Beer, When ya gonna get them therrrrr poker tourneys goin again for for CheckRayz? I need leaderboard points!
Have ya seen our poker tourney schedule lately? If not, back up, click the link and let what you see answer it on its own. Oh, and in case you're wondering... That's only the beginning of March. There are still more FREEROLL TOURNEYS and money added poker tourneys to come, so stay tuned, keep playin', check-a-rayz'n, and refer a friend.
Mike
Poker Strategy
CheckRayz Mailbag
