respond to my january article please

[Ray Zee]

so who thinks the article was good and who bad?

then despite what you think about the article did you get something from it.
score from 1 to 5.

[jfk]

Is this a missed inside joke or did you mean your February article?

[Ray Zee]

i wrote it in january. it came out in feb. thats not my fault. so what did you think. concentrate on the question.

[Buzz]

Hi Ray. Since you didn’t write an article for January, you must mean February.

Dynasty wrote:[ QUOTE ]
It will be published in the February issue.

It's only the 28th. You have time to revise it or write something completely new.

[/ QUOTE ]

I wondered if you revised the article, as per Dynasty’s offer - or if you simply left it the way you originally wrote it. Doesn’t matter. I don’t really care. And it’s not a question to ask - sort of like people asking about what cards you held after they mucked theirs without paying you off. You might give an answer but there’s no guarantee it’ll be the truth.

As to the article itself, I liked the article.

The human interest aspect captured my attention the most. I liked reading your report about the eagles in Montana.

I can’t image going anywhere on showshoes. Years ago the whole family tried cross country skiing at Mammoth. We rented the skis, sloshed up a road to a lake and sloshed around the lake. My wife thought it was good exercise and the kids just liked being out in the snow. However, I thought cross country skiing was highly over-rated as an enjoyable recreational activity.

Returning from the lake, the road was slightly sloped downward, enough for me to actually ski on the things. There were people walking around, hiking up to and back from the lake, some on cross country skis. An attractive, well dressed woman remarked to her also attractive female companion about me, “That’s the first time I ever saw anyone actually skiing on those things.” With that, I could not resist twisting my feet to one side, the way you do when you make a quick stop on ice skates or alpine skis.

The skis went one way and I went another without being able to keep my footing. At that the other woman simply remarked, “That’s why.”

So much for showing off on cross country skis.

I had recovered and was carrying my skis by the time my wife and kids arrived upon the scene. My wife, who had evidently been watching, remarked, “Pretty fancy maneuver, Hot Shot! Tired of skiing for today?”

I replied, “They don’t slide very well, do they?” And that was the end of my cross country skiing.

Snowshoes? They don’t slide at all!

My own interest in poker continues to be almost entirely in Omaha-8. There’s no particularly good reason for that - just a personal preference. I sometimes sit down at a non-Omaha-8 table, but within a short time wonder why I’m not playing the game I prefer. Life is too short and the minutes we have left are too few for me to spend time playing one game when I’d rather be playing another.

[ QUOTE ]
I do tell some great stories from the past that are not about poker hands but rather are funny or very unusual situations that happened. Those are mostly reserved for friends and people meeting me at various times who loosen me up with the right number of beers.

[/ QUOTE ] You can’t be too much of a guzzler if you do much walking on showshoes. How many beers can it take? (rhetorical - don’t answer)

[ QUOTE ]
..... 100-200 limit hold ‘em game at Bay 101 .....
..... elderly gentleman in the small blind who called the bet and a half.....
.....I was surprised that he called this bet and did not raise if he had any kind of hand. That is what tight older players often do but mostly in smaller games.

[/ QUOTE ]Hmm.
By “that,” do you mean
• (1) tight older players tend to raise with any kind of decent hand, or
• (2) tight older players tend to play the way this old guy did, calling instead of raising.

If (1) is the case, you have to put him on a set up for a bluff.
If (2) is the case, then you have to put him on a decent flop fit, perhaps top pair (queens) with a good kicker, two pairs, or even a set.

[ QUOTE ]
The next card was another queen- a very good card for my hand. He bet at me this time and I was quite surprised about this. I expected a check raise if he had three queens.

[/ QUOTE ]Sounds like you put him on queens. Going back to the previous two paragraphs, (2) must be the case.

But since he didn’t check-raise, you presume he probably doesn’t have trip queens. Hmm. Now unless his hand has a pair higher than your sevens, you are in very good shape.
[ QUOTE ]
So, I called what I suspected was a surprise bluff from him since I did not want to play a giant pot by raising him if I was wrong.

[/ QUOTE ]Sounds like an excellent read. Your approach seems optimal to me.

I encounter quite a lot of bluffing in Omaha-8 games, usually mainly by a certain few individuals and usually reasonably intelligently mainly directed at someone the bluffer sees as non-tenacious. But anybody is capable of bluffing occasionally.

[ QUOTE ]
He bet again on the river and I called.

[/ QUOTE ]Seems right.

[ QUOTE ]
The story here is that in smaller games he would have had the three queens. But, in higher stakes games, even the predictable players are unpredictable.

[/ QUOTE ]What you have written about a high stakes Texas hold ‘em hand is of more immediate interest to me in terms of how I can apply it in low stakes Omaha-8 games.

I’ll often correctly read an opponent for a particular hand, but then call him just in case he really doesn’t have that hand. When I’m not playing well, I think I do that too indiscriminately. What I mean is some people are more predictable than others. I think I should try to differentiate on the basis of how predictable someone is. I haven’t thought about it in quite that way. Seems like something I should give some thought.

At any rate, you wrote something you thought would be of no interest about a blah high stakes Texas hold ‘em hand and I’m thinking about it and trying to apply it to low stakes Omaha-8 games. Reading your article and thinking about it was (is) not a waste of my time at all. You have gotten me thinking about a way I might be able to improve my play in my games. (Thanks).

[ QUOTE ]
In another hand, I had AQ under the gun playing ten handed. I immediately folded when I felt a few players had looked at their cards and liked what they saw. I didn't.

[/ QUOTE ]Very interesting to read about how you think. Sometimes I get a sense of what is occurring in my game and play accordingly. Those sensings are an important aspect of play. (You don’t want to be zigging when you should be zagging). I think people put out non-verbal signals. They’re not exactly what most people think of as "tells," per se, but just various non-verbal body language signals that indicate how individuals feel about their cards. You have to be careful to not take the reads too far because poker is a game of deception and individuals are always trying to act deceptively. It’s very subtle, but you’re referring to it when you write “I felt.”

[ QUOTE ]
In a third hand......
.....I don’t like playing out of position against players I have trouble with. Things go wrong in those spots.

[/ QUOTE ]Good point. Interesting for me to read that you have trouble playing correctly against some players too. For me, it’s not that they’re more skilled than me, or even necessarily good players. It’s simply difficult for me to adapt my style of play against them. And I definitely don’t want them sitting on my left. At any rate, I think I know exactly what you mean. I’m just surprised that it happens to you too.

[ QUOTE ]
I didn’t get to go to Pacific Grove and Santa Cruz to sit with the gobs of Monarch butterflies that come each winter to the eucalyptus trees. They hang together in the branches to keep warm and fly out all around you as the temperature warms up.

[/ QUOTE ]I’d like to see that. The dates are well known, I think, like the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano. It’s just a matter of being there at the right time. It’s something to think about. Maybe next year.

[ QUOTE ]
I am glad to be back home in Montana after any trip. When gone, I miss the countryside and the all the wildlife that I can see from my window. Today, a few bald eagles are feasting on a deer carcass in the river below. They’re getting chased around by the ravens who think because they maneuver better in flight that they are the rightful owners.

[/ QUOTE ]Sounds like you have found a nice spot for your home. We saw lots of bald eagles in Alaska, especially on Kodiak Island. Neat. We didn’t see any getting pestered by ravens, but then they weren’t eating carrion either. The eagles we saw were mostly perching and salmon fishing. (You just have to look up in the trees by a stream emptying into the ocean to spot them). They swoop down into the estuary, expertly pluck a salmon, barely touch the water (not even seeming to get a wet feather), and then they either swoop back to shore carrying their treat to their nest or they stop on a mud flat to enjoy their sashimi delight.

I give you a five for the article, Ray, but I’d probably give you a five for whatever you wrote that got published. I appreciate your insights.

Frank Jerome

[SuperPokerJedi]

This was so bad. I can't believe I wasted 5mins of my life reading it.

Am only interested to hear of the colorful stories Ray reserves for his friends.

I give it a fair 0 but look foraward to a decent article by Ray with at least something to glean from!

[Noo Yawk]

"Normally, I wait to see the hand or expect the bettor to call his hand. But, I did not need to embarrass him. I also wanted to play more with him in future pots and didn’t want him to clam up against me."

"I immediately folded when I felt a few players had looked at their cards and liked what they saw."

"I don’t like playing out of position against players I have trouble with. Things go wrong in those spots."

Ray,

What's not to like?

Keep em coming.
-NY

[brick]

Hi Ray,
I liked your article and sent it to my Dad. I called you a 'poker old timer'. Is that an accurate title?

I give you a 4 of 5 for two reasons: (5 of 5 would mean perfect)

1) the article could use some editing. There were a few spots I had to reread several times to understand correctly.

2) related to 1, maybe the editor could edit in a an upbeat line or two. Maybe calling the article "Three Simple Lessons" or adding a line to the intro that would get me jazzed to learn these 3 simple lessons.


all in all, I like the article. Looking forward to visiting Montana soon and seeing your ranch.

[pmiranda.pt]

"Today, a few bald eagles are feasting on a deer carcass in the river below. They’re getting chased around by the ravens who think because they maneuver better in flight that they are the rightful owners. A quick trip into Glacier National park on snowshoes will rejuvenate me enough to return to the stresses of my rocking chair."

[ QUOTE ]

Ray,
What's not to like?

Keep em coming.
-NY

[/ QUOTE ]

Excellent article (5).
Real poker, real life.

[PokerJans]

Seems like you could have done a lot more with it.

Not a very good article at all IMO. You probably rushed through it or something. You will get'em next month.

Write something about stud8! Then I wouldnt give you a rating of: 1

[cgrohman]

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