Very Josie

Think you're a good poker player? Good enough to beat Very Josie? I'm going to set up a private tournament on Full Tilt - we'll only be playing against each other. The tourney can be from 6 players to 60. Once it's set up, I'll post the password here so all Very Josie readers can play if they choose to. Small buy-in, so no excuses please. We shall see if EVP can play against me and win. Believe me EVP, you won't be the first guy to walk away frustrated. :) More info to come! Play smart - you better if you're playing against me. Josie

Between tournaments and cash games this weekend, I also managed to make the cakes you see here. Yeah, yeah, I know you guys aren't interested in baking but TOO BAD. :) These were the fastest cakes I've ever decorated and that's why the basketball shirt kinda sucks. It was the second cake and I was running out of time. But the kid loved it. If they know Auntie Josie is making their cake they're jumping up and down even before they see it. Anyway, just so you know, this is NOT my best work, but I'm proud of all of my creations. At that tournament last week I had some business cards with me, and I was very tempted to write the url of my blog down and give it to a few guys at the table. We were having some great chats about poker and I thought it'd be cool. Is that weird? Is that a good idea? I thought it might help readership. Play smart. Josie

Boy, are you guys prognosticators or something? :) A little information first: (this is more for my own recordkeeping than your storytelling pleasure) Saturday 4pm tournament, $70 buyin, no re-buys with 6,000 in chips. First of all, it was a helluva fun day. Usually when I go to Seabrook I go alone. It was very nice to go there with a wingman and have a friend in the place. Second of all, as nice as it was to have Gary there, we never played at the same table, so we didn't actually interact much. Third of all, on the way up I proposed that we give each other 10% of our winnings with a cap $70. I like the idea of doubled my odds of re-couping my buy in. And Gary is a horse I like betting on. I mean he was the only one I couldn't get out of last week's tourney. On to the tournament! Remember, when I start a tourney I am very quiet and observant. I'm sizing up play, taking careful notice of betting patterns, checking eye blink patterns, watching people's facial...

We're heading to Seabrook tomorrow! Yes, it's YOUR fault EVP! Of course, I plan on winning so maybe "fault" isn't the right word. Jew Boy's going too! Anyone wanna place bets on who lasts longer, Jew Boy or me?? Yeah, I'm super competitive and love to trash-talk. I can't help it. It's in my nature. There are 4 tourney's on Saturday: 1pm $200 buyin, with a $50 bounty 4pm $70 buy in 7pm $100 buy in I really would love to play the 1pm tournament, but there are downsides. The big buy-in for one, and also you remember what happened the only other time I played a $200 buy in right? (I won ten bucks) The big upside is the BOUNTY. I LOVE a bounty and usually the bounties payoff in my favor. But alas, it's not to be, this weekend. I can deal with losing $70, and quite frankly, I plan on leaving there ahead. Even if I lost that tourney, there's a limit cash game there. It's easy enough to win $70 at the cash game. Only problem is ...

You know what I LOVE about Jew Boy's Post? The first two words! Please to enjoy: Josie's right - we came across an interesting hand that went down late in the evening. I was SB and got dealt 34d, with which I stayed in because I was discounted. The Mayor and Dave stayed in as well. The flop came 456 rainbow. I had bottom pair and an open-ender. It was at least possible, considering the rag flop, that I was already best hand, and I had 10 outs to improve to what was almost certainly best hand. I was first to act. If memory serves me (check me on this, Jo) I bet out one BB which was 400 at the time, to see where I was and maybe to even pick up a small pot. But the Mayor shoved, which I didn't expect at all. It was about 10 BBs, around 4000 or so, and about three times what was in the pot already. I hadn't made up my mind entirely but I was leaning toward folding, when something ELSE funny happened on the way to the collosseum: Dave shoved as well - and he had more than H...

Let's start with the bad news! At our Wednesday night game, Noodles trounced us again. Jew Boy and I did a helluva lot of losing, which resulted in him being down $11 and me being down $14. I told you the stakes weren't high! To lose that much money means you've pretty much lost all night. Noodles needs to be stopped! Okay that's the bad news. The GOOD NEWS is Jew Boy has graciously offered to be my first Guest Blogger. There was a very interesting hand (3 way all in) that he won and he will be elaborating on it. (oh I cannot want to comment!) Ummmm other news, we watched Ace Rag get beaten over and over again. I think it lost 5 out of 7 times (i was keeping track) My fave hand (you know what it is) won 4 out of 6 times. That's all for now. Play smart. Josie

Maybe I'm wrong (nahhhh) but I believe knowing how to play when you're shortstacked is critical to your success. Being shortstacked doesn't mean you're out by any sense, but you cannot play the same way as you play when you have an average stack. If anything, I find I play BETTER when I'm shortstacked. No limping (not that I limp much anyway) and aggressive play. People tend not to want to call all-ins unless they have a big pair. And usually people don't have big pairs. I once came in second in a tournament after being so shortstacked I had ONLY ONE CHIP. I shiat you not. Granted, the chip was a 500 chip, but still! When I come in the money either I got chips early and kept my comfy lead till we're in the money, or I'm shortstacked and make a great comeback. I NEVER COME IN THE MONEY BY CRUISING ALONG AS MS. AVERAGE. Let me tell you, I am ANYTHING but average. Last Saturday when we got to the final table, there were a few shortstacks there. For...

I've been thinking of going to the Seabrook Poker Room again! A nice, juicy, LIVE tournament with at least 50 players is what I want to play. In my head I've been recapping the last few times I've played there, and as best as I can recall here's the history. NOVEMBER 2009 I won first place in a $150 tournament. Winnings totalled $1,800 and I wrote about the whole shebang. You can read about it in my February 2010 archives. JANUARY 2010 I won first place in a small tournament. $100 buy-in. It was a very snowy night and not that many guys showed up. I think we had like 30 people. It was down to three of us; me, another woman, and a guy who was the chip leader. I told you everyone who plays there know each other right? Because it was so slow in there that night we had some railbirds watching (guys that knew the chipleader). And once it was down to the three of us, they taunted him mercilessly. Damn, for the life of me, I cannot remember his name, but let's cal...

See the table in the picture above? That's a shuffleboard table! It's one of the many game tables at the SSC. It's really alot of fun, although I didn't play it this time. The surface is actually a high gloss finish and that stuff on it is saw dust. Isn't cool how they use saw dust to help the curling rocks fly? Yes, I'm gonna call them curling rocks because that's what they look like to me. And if you ask me, I don't even know why it isn't called a curling table. I mean come on, does it LOOK like shuffleboard? No! Granted, the scoring seems to be more like shuffleboard but that's it. BTW no cash game last night at Lynne's. It was Lynne's wife's birthday. Oh well. Did I tell you I joined a "league" at Lynne's? It cost $100 per year to be in the league and they have monthly tournaments where you earn points for where you place. At the end of the year there's a big tourney and your $100 pays for that prize...

Yes, this story has a happy ending! I played in the Saugus Sportsmen's Club tournament on Saturday afternoon, as did Jew Boy. It ended up being only 12 players and Jew Boy and I started out at separate tables. First of all, the deer head wasn't sporting any g-strings. They had a family event there so the souvenirs had to come down. John assured me they'd restart their collection with the next "fund raiser". I had 3 old guys at my table and two new people I hadn't played with before. I won a couple of small pots to become the immediate chip leader. And I stayed there FOR THE WHOLE GAME. It was just one of those days. The old guys were my target. When I thought I had the best hand I bet hard and got paid off. Gotta love that. And I didn't bluff at all - which is unlike me. Usually, I'll bluff once or twice during a tourney. But not with these guys. You can't bully them out of a pot and they hug straight and flush draws to the river. Hell,...

There are precious few places to play a real Texas Hold'em game near me. As you know I go to Seabrook NH every couple of months. I don't LOVE the place but it's available. The same guys are there whenever I go. These guys are there 4 days a week, every week, part of a degenerate club that I do not belong to, nor do I wish to. Another venue is the Saugus Sportsman's Club. Love the proximity! Less than 10 minutes from my house. They hold one tournament per month, and it's tomorrow! It's a very lucrative game. These men are mostly retired and just hang out here all the time anyway. Oh and they really don't know the strategy behind Texas Holdem. I've played with them for a couple of years, and they HAVE gotten a littler better. They're a little more discriminating about starting hands - actually much better than years ago, but it' still an easy game. Except for the luck factor. You have to go in every hand assuming you'll get called, ...

but I lost EVERY game again. Only 4 players including Very Josie, which just isn't enough, but enough said about that. It's after midnight....almost 12:30 actually and I should be in bed. Work starts at 8:30 am and it's going to be a day full of prepping for meetings and attending meetings. I'm going to bed. Play Smart. Josie

That's minor league pitcher Tommy Hottovy. I don't think he's made it to the major league yet. Soo every night, I'd sneak away for an hour of black jack and win a few hundred bucks. All these casinos/hotels are on the boardwalk and they have this whaddayacallthem's on the boardwalk. I think they're called pedi-cabs, which are men pushing you in a giant baby stroller (for lack of a better visual). One night it's well past 11pm, my baby boy, who's 11 yrs old is sound asleep. I decide to go to a casino that is about a 10 minute walk away from us, to play black jack. It's about 2am and I decide to call it a night. Actually I'd call it a very profitable night - the best I had. I brought $200 with me and now I have about $1,500 cash on me and Atlantic City is not the safest city in the US, if you catch my drift. I'm there alone and I'm not too concerned about the walk back to the hotel because it's all on the boardwalk and I decide I...

...except me. I'm 100% Italain. But my favorite way to spend St. Patrick's Day is in Fort Meyer's Florida with the Red Sox at Spring Training. I used to do that EVERY YEAR. Talk about a week long party! But here I sit in Boston while my buddy is following the sox around like a puppy dog. The photo is from St. Patrick's Day 2008. Notice the beautiful palm trees lining the ball park and me, the Sicilian wearing green. I didn't go last year because I thought I'd use that money toward a family vacation in Atlantic City. The cool part about going to Atlantic City (and there are very few cool parts to this story)is that I paid for the AC trip ENTIRELY with poker winnings. Yay me! And I went there ASSUMING there'd be tons of poker games to be played, but I was wrong. I was staying in the wrong part of town for poker games. I got a cheap room at the AC Hilton but texas holdem games were extremely limited. They did have some in the new hotels that were far f...

Last night's game was almost cancelled because of the rain. More than a couple people had water in their basement, but that didn't stop your humble scribe! Okay, maybe not HUMBLE, but it sounds good. It was a no-limit cash game and I sat down with $40 on the table. Lynne - Hostess with the most-est, shitty player but very nice. Troy - alot of fun and a really good player (looks and talks like chris rock) Junior - big, bad mutha.....really good player with a temper Marvin - really good and really lucky (except tonight) Glenn - Marvin and Troy's brother - mediocre at best and I busted him, to which he responded. "I was gonna leave anyway. I can't be staying out late. I was leaving now even if I won that hand. I work at the water treatment plant ya know". Whatever.. Gina - friend of Lynne's who can't play and drinks heavily. Me likey Gina. She pretty much knows the basic rules of poker (a flush beats a straight, that sort of thing) but has NO CL...

This losing an hour crap is kicking my ass. Why do I have to get up an hour early? Is it because of farming or some such shit like that? I don't even know any farmers! Except my Sicilian grandfather, may he rest in peace. He was an olive and almond farmer in Pietraperzia, Sicily until 1955, when he decided to move his family (and my mom)to the land of plenty. Talk about a culture shock! Nonno no longer had acres of land to cultivate. What he DID have was was an extra lot next to his house in Malden, MA. He used every inch of it. He grew tomatoes, corn, zucchini, cucumbers, pumpkins, swiss chard, garlic, carrots, radishes, basil, parsely, mint, and God knows what else. We also had alot of fruit trees: pear, cherry (two), peach (two), plum, apricot and a fig tree. The fig tree died about 35 years ago and I swear my uncle still talks about it. And from April to October, from dawn to dusk, that's where you'd find him. Urging seeds into seedlings, constructing green hous...

The one and only....NOODLES! (do not play poker with this man). Play Smart. Josie

Learning about tells helps you two-fold. Obviously, you'll be looking for them in a game to give you further information to make an informed decision. But beyond that, once you're aware of them, you'll be able to stop yourself from making these very same blunders. I'm not talking about a little home game, but if you're playing in a tournament with REAL players, my guess is about half of them are looking for tells , like your very own Very Josie. They won't help during every hand, but certainly WILL help during critical decision making. If you look for them, there are many, many other tells out there; indications of what your opponents have. It's information and remember information = power if you know what to do with it. Let's look at a few, shall we? Shaking/Trembing hands - this is usually a sign of a monster hand, and you'll notice the trembling before and during the bet. That's the time to look for it. It's also the time to watch YOU...

Reading tells are a major part of a successful multiplayer poker player's arsenal. If you're not utilizing them, you should. Some of your opponents are! I'm sure you've played against some young guys hiding behind their sunglasses. These guys remind me of the Adam Sandler movie, "Big Daddy". In the movie, Adam gives this little boy his sunglasses for protection. When the boy wears them he thinks he's invisible. Those guys wearing sunglasses think the same thing! Don't get me wrong. Although the sunglasses don't make a player "invisible" they do prevent a couple of tells from being read, but not all them. The sunglasses block two easy tells; Glancing and Blinking. Glancing: A player looks down at his cards, then he looks up and glances at his opponents stack. He's got himself a good hand and is sizing up his competition and determining his bet. This guy has a good hand. The glancing tells me that. The eyes automatically do t...

I was going to do a quick post about Noodles, complete with a picture, but I don't have any pics of him here. While I was looking I found an old picture of me and Jew Boy having chinese takeout before the game. This photo is about two years old. I like the picture of me, because I'm kinda hidden behind Jew Boy - and really I'll only be posting GOOD pictures of me. Jew Boy looks quite different now, btw. He probably hasn't cut his hair since this photo and he now sports it in a pony tail that cascades all the way down his back. You just can't make this stuff up.

Last. Night. Sucked. I don't even want to talk about it, but I suppose I should. This isn't going to be a long post because it's torture! To make a long story short we played 3 games and I lost them all. Not only did I lose them all, but I was out of the last game on the third hand! Repeatedly, I was up against Noodles and repeatedly he beat me. Over and over again. I'd have the best hand and bet hard, trying to get him to fold, but Noodles doesn't have a fold button AND I KNOW THAT, but I kept trying anyway. Know where that got me? Getting rivered more times than I care to count. Then I became super cautious. When Noodles and I were in a hand he'd push all in with his big stack, and I'd fold the winning hand. Probably did THAT 3-4 times. All night - either call and lose, or fold the winning hand. The last game, as I mentioned, I was out on the third hand. I appealed to the table that I should get to rebuy and they agreed. So I buy-in again and I...

...It's poker night at Josie's house! Will Josie kick butt and take names? Will Jew Boy lose all the side bets tonight? Whatever tonight's side bets will be, I'll be sure to take pictures! Will The Mayor actually play a hand? Will Cindy deep throat a sausage? She does this if someone at the table pays her a QUARTER. All these questions and more will be answered after POKER NIGHT AT JOSIE'S HOUSE. Stay tuned and Play Smart. Josie

I decided to play a larger tournament tonight on Full Tilt. Usually my tournament of preference is the (90) person doublestack with a knock out, but tonight I played the Daily Double. I was up against 1,300 players. Buy-in is $10+2, and you get 2,000 in starting chips. I decide to settle down and play good poker with premium hands and not to be impatient. It works out for me. I pick up blinds here and there. I got about 5 middle pairs tonight and played them like I always do. Bet 5-6 times the blind. I won 4 out of 5 times. The fifth time I had to fold after the flop, but that's okay. I get AA and someone raises to 1,200 and someone else calls and then it's to me. I re-raise to 3,000 and they both go all in. I'm not folding aces so I hold my breath and call. I'm up against pocket 10s and pocket jacks. Flop is QQ9. I forget what the turn and the river were but my aces hold up and I triple up. Next hand is JJ. I raise to 6 times the blind and everyone folds. ...

1. Decades ago Jew Boy fell and broke both of his wrists at once. He had casts from fingertips to elbows and didn't have use of his hands. He couldn't shower, he couldn't eat, he couldn't wipe his fanny. The part that tickles me most is he didn't have a girlfriend at the time. Guess what else he couldn't do? 2. Jew Boy's mom used to serve food on an upside down frisbee, because the lip of the frisbee would hold any drippings. LOL 3. For some reason Jew Boy's brother left a bong on the lawn. His father came into the house yelling "There's a hookah on the lawn". Jew boy thought he meant a "Hooker" and came running out to see her. That ends our adventure with crazy Jew Boy!

Jew Boy and I have been playing poker together for a long time, and the thing about Jew Boy and me is we're a wee bit competitive. The other guys at the table get to listen to us argue and one up each other. For the longest time the argument was "I'm smarter than you are!" Jew boys can be so immature! Anyway, needed to find a way to determine who, in fact was the smarter. Our first idea was to take an online IQ quiz. That should settle thing fairly easily, right? Not so much. Jew Boy took the test TWICE. I don't remember our exact numbers (this was years ago)but I remember that mine was onefortysomething. One of Jew Boys results was lower than mine and one was higher. You can't take the same IQ test twice! No Fair! For some reason I decided that I would try to join Mensa. Mensa is the "High IQ Society". The word Mensa actually means table. Their intent is that all these geniuses would gather "at one table" and I dunno what. So I ...

Woo woos (the drink) always remind me of my bachelorette party, that my sister threw for me. I was only 23yrs old and my much more wordly 28 yr old sister decided to have the shindig at ther apartment. She got dozens of boxes of condoms and had them filled with helium and tied with ribbons. These very phallicky balloons were floating around everywhere. She had play girl centerfolds on the wall, which we used to play "Pin the Lips on the Penis". (ouch we didn't really pin anything so much as stick lips to penises). And in addition to all this there was a huge punchbowl of woo woo's. Which is vodka, peach schnapps and cranberry. Now my friends are all the goody goody type. Not big partyers like my sista so she came up with a game to go with the woo woos. Everyone had to read a tongue twister and if they messed up, WOO WOO! You never saw 20 girls get hammered so fast! Especially me. And then there was a knock at the door....pizza delivery! Except he didn't bri...

I was planning on playing some online poker last night, winning a ton of money, and blogging/bragging about it this morning. Instead I went to bed at 9:00pm. Man was I tired! The new Pawn Stars was on last night at 10pm and I couldn't stay awake for it. There's something about that guy Rick, that I like. Anyway, since I didn't play last night my subject content is up in the air. I can tell you about: A. Another previous tourney where I went from chip leader to OUT in two hands. B. Poker Tells C. Couple of funny stories about Jew Boy D. My online heartbreak on Full tilt this past weekend. Take your pick! First one who responds with their choice gets to decide what today's subjet matter is. Jew Boy, you're exempt. You don't get to pick!

I showed up for the cash game at 11:30 last night. It's a no limit game with blinds at .25 and .50. It sounds cheap but things can get serious quickly. I sit down with $40 in front of me. Seven people are playing and I was sitting with Troy to my right. My first hand was pocket 10's. First two players call then Troy pops it to $3. That's what I was going to do! I just call and everyone else folds. Flop is Q 5 3, rainbow. I bet $7 and after a little thinking, Troy calls. Damn. Turn is a J. Two overcards to my pair. I don't like this at all so I check. Troy checks behind me. Damn it! If he's taking a free card maybe he doesn't have me beat. River is an A. NowI know I'm beat and I check. Troy bets $10 and I fold, showing my tens. He flips over AK. I gave him that A for free and that pisses me off but I couldn't really bet again with two overs though. Second hand is 99. I bet $3 and get one caller. Flop is 7-6-2. I bet $8 and win it right ...

Usually when I play Lynne's cash game, it's about 10 players, 6-7 black men and a few women. Now I'm no super model but all of these guys are almost as interested in me as in the money....some even more so (see Nip story). Other than Mr. Nip they're all respectful but very complimentary. One guy, Rufus, always asks me who I like best. He says that the name Rufus is the name that comes to my mind - he can tell. LOL of course I agree. Troy calls me Pretty Woman. Says he's sick of girls and needs a Pretty Woman. He's gotta be in his twenties. Last night was nothing like that, although I arrived in a sheer low cut white t-shirt with a red victoria's secret pushup bra showing through. When I arrived there was still some hard feelings about the tournament that was just played. Junior, who's about six foot five, felt this other guy did him wrong and "played him" and got him out of the tourney. Man was he pissed. So much so, that he wouldn...

It's Saturday night and there's a L&BM (lesbian and black men) tournament going on tonight. I can't make it because I'm babysitting for my friend. That's the bad news. The good news is Joey is being picked up at 10:30 and there's always a cash game after the tourney. I'm hitting the cash game! I have to continue my streak of always leaving the L&BM cash game ahead. Keep your fingers crossed! To "stack" the game in my favor, I'm going with either a low cut top or my new black see through top (with a cami underneath). How I see it, the guys there will have been playing for hours and I'll arrive fresh as a daisy! Lynne, who runs the tourney, always provides a drink of the night and food. Tonight's drink is Woo Woo shots! My favorite! It's vodka, peach schnapps and a slash of cranberry. I'm going to try to limit my woo woo's to 2. We'll see how that goes! Last night I played online on Full Tilt. I played...

Oh where to begin? Let's start with the nickname. Jew Boy. Seems kinda mean doesn't it? It won't when I tell you what name he gave me. It's Douche Bunt, which is a combination of douche bag and cunt.....so please do not feel sorry for Jew Boy. Yes, my nickname's been abbreviated to DB, but still. Most everyone at the weekly table has been christened with a nickname - Jew Boy was one of the last to get one, and know it wasn't very creative. I've played with Jew Boy for about 10 years and he's a very good poker player and my biggest competition at the little weekly game. He's come far in the past few months, whether he realizes it or not. Funny thing about Jew Boy is he's played horribly for like the past year - no patience, too much bluffing and them something life changing occurred. He quit his job. Since then his poker play has done a 180. He ALWAYS used to be out of the tourney first and would be strumming a guitar - background music ...

To further illustrate playing pairs, this past Wednesday my sister (an okay player) was to my right...both she and I were short stacked and I was looking down at pocket 6's. She went all in and then it was to me. I thought for a minute about my pocket 6's. I showed Jew Boy my cards as he was already out of this tourney.......thought about it and and came to the conclusion that most likely she had two over cards and it was a coin toss. Why would I want to bet the whole tourney on a coin toss? I folded my 6's (which I consider a small pair). Jew Boy said and I quote "You're tighter than a chicken's ass" or something poetic like that. She wouldn't show me her cards and I did have a gut feeling that she was just stealing but even still, I'd like to fucking hope at least one of her cards was higher than a 6!

One of my many, many readers has asked me to elaborate on how I play (overbet) middle pairs. First let me start by saying that I've been playing no limit texas hold 'em for almost ten years, and I'm still learning every day. What I do is try to make little adjustments on specific hands and see how these adjustments hold up long term. If they do well, I keep them. And yes I've read alot of poker books - probably too many. Most are a waste of money but a couple are really worth reading. Like Gus Hansen's Every Hand Revealed, and of course Super System. Middle pairs are a tough hand to play and the worst way to play them is by limping in. You likely have the best hand preflop and giving your opponents free cards to beat you with is bad. The other possibility is a standard raise, like 3 times the blind, meh, not my preferred option either. I like to bet middle pairs and big pairs the same way. THE SAME WAY for the whole game. Keep in mind that I play tight and aggressi...

I'm here in work, clock watching. Boss has left the building and in twenty-six minutes (but who's counting) I will be doing the same. I figured I'd tell you a funny little story about another game I play in. I call it the L&BM game because all the players are lesbians or black men. Everytime I play there I feel like a pork chop must feel if it found itself in a concentration camp. Let's just say I've got some "junk in the trunk" and both the lesbians and black men just can't get enough. And for the most part they have class and don't try anything stupid.....except for one guy. So about a month ago we're all playing a cash game....it's getting late and I'm the only one winning. I am KICKING ASS - one of those nights when you get the cards and you don't get sucked out on. I have alot of chips stacked in front of me. Out of the blue one guy says "See this money in front of me (he has maybe $30) I'll give it all to you if y...

We had 8 players at the table tonight and played 3 tourneys. Two players in the money. Game 1 - I was out first because of a semi-bluff gone bad. And it occcured during the 5th hand of the game - don't think I didn't hear about being out so early. Cindy was playing and she plays maybe once a year. She doesn't know anything about the strategy of texas hold'em and ignorance can be a dangerous thing. I have QQ and raise 4 times the blind. She calls and the flop is A 9 2. I bet pot and she calls. I don't put her on an ace as she didn't raise preflop - then again she can have just about anything. Turn is a 7. I bet pot again - most of my chips and she calls. Another 7 on the river - I have so few chips I go all in hoping she'll lose her confidence and fold. Yes she's pot committed but I know she doesn't realize that. Well it didn't work out. She instacalls with pocket 7's. She's made quads and I'm out. Cindy goes on to catch 4 full houses ...

Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to play any live poker this weekend. I'll be playing my weekly games - Tourney on Wednesday night at my house and a very lucrative cash game on Saturday night. Since I have no new poker stories to tell you about, I'll tell you about the adjustment I've made in my play. I've stopped playing Ace rag. Specifically, I will no longer play ace deuce, ace three, ace four, ace five, six or seven. I've been watching the results of playing these hands for a long time. It seems to me that they lose at least 80% of the time. (regardless of whether or not it's suited you have to throw those starting hands away) Here's what happens when you play those shitty hands. Either you get an ace on flop and lose because someone has you out kicked. Or you fear you're out kicked and don't bet enough, allowing your opponent to get cards on the cheap. Or you get your five on the flop and it starts to look pretty good and you call...