THE PERSISTENT IRRITATION

scores are up

Hats off to new kid Caleb B. for an excellent opening game. Also to Ron M.D. for cracking the money for the first time this year.

Friday recap

New faces, plenty of buy-ins. Jeff H. is back on top, with a pack forming behind him. We'll have another in June.... probably early in June. And that's that.

Latest results

 Jeff H. won, Brent C. moved up to first place, Sean M. drank watered down beer. All in all, another top-notch game. See you next month.
 

St. Pat's smack down

Huge money in the pot this time around. Oh, what fun it was.
Brent C. is this/close to taking over the lead. Pedro S. jumped up, up, up the leaderboard. Dan showed some spunk with a strong third place finish. And when it was all said and done, there was not a Guinness left in the fridge. Congrats to all for playing and we'll see you next month.

Friday night recap

Big money in the pot, big win for Chris L., Mark B. and Jeff H. More analysis tonight.... meanwhile, the scores:

Post #100

Will it ever end?

Friday night in review

Better late than never. Chris L. retains a small lead, Jeff H. makes a huge jump. New kid Gary S. makes an admirable showing. And of course, we welcome back Aaron W. and David W., the prodigal sons of poker.

More later, hopefully.
 

SantaCon is coming to town

Who's in charge? Santa
What organization are you with? Santa
What are you protesting? Shitty holiday parties
How did you get here? A sleigh and eight tiny reindeer
Where are you going next? Put on this hat, buy me a drink, then I’ll tell

Check it out here or here.

We have a ruling

According to Robert's Rules of Poker, Chapter 15, section 35:

"If multiple players go broke on the same hand, the player starting the hand with the larger amount of chips finishes in the higher place for prize money and any other award."

And so it goes that Ben H Ben M. is the third place finisher in Friday's tournament. Chris L. captured first and Rick R. made it to the money for the first time, finishing in second place.

I'll have more details and analysis soon but it's a very busy time in the world of Illinois politics. (Hopefully more on that later, too.) In the mean time, here's the updated leader board. Please feel free to comment on the game, as I thought it was one of the best we've ever had.

The Blocking Bet

Consider the following scenario:

$1-2 NL cash game. You're in the big blind with:

Under the Gun calls the $2. Bears Fan is in middle position and raises to $10, clearing the field until it gets to you. You call; UTG folds. there is $25 in the pot. Flop hits:

You know Bears Fan has the better hand but you like that flush draw. You check. He bets $15, which makes you pretty sure he hit high pair. You put him on AxTx. The odds aren't in your favor but you call nonetheless. Fourth street gets you nowhere:

 

This presents a bit of a problem. If you check, you'll be broadcasting your draw. You want to see the river but certainly don't want to pay a lot for it. You've invested $25 into a $55 pot and have 11 outs (9 diamonds + 2 Queens). You're out of position. He's going to pound on you. What do you do?

One technique is to shoot out a "blocking bet," which the folks over at pokerhelper.com define as "... a bet made by an out-of-position player with the intention of preventing an opponent in position from making a problematic bet when checked to."

The benefits of the blocking bet is that it confuses your opponent by seizing control of the betting. It changes the reads people have on you. And when done correctly, it slows down the pot and allows you to see the next card at a price that's right for you.

For a blocking bet to work, it needs to be high enough that your opponent won't go over the top on it but low enough to make good financial sense to you.

For this pot, I assume my check would encourage Bears Fan to bet $30, so I throw in a blocking bet of $20. The move knocks him back, and he wonders aloud if I hit my jack or if I had two-pair to begin with. Dumbfounded, he decides the call isn't worth it and lays down his pair.

Of course, this is the best case scenario. The anticipated result would be that he would simply called the bet and we'd see the river. Nonetheless, the strategy worked, and it's something to consider next time you get too far down the path with a flush or straight draw.

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