Beer-Brained!

Saturday night I was able to join the monthly poker tournament again after being away since my third place finish in September. Of course I was feeling nervous as I always do, but I was also feeling confident due to my win at BGG.Con.

I won't bore you with the entire play-by-play, but suffice it to say that I was doing very well. I made it to the final table (last 9 guys out of 26 players) and I was the big stack. The tournament paid out to the top six finishers, so all I had to do was outlast three guys to make my money back. I was golden. But then, the beer caught up with me.

I had been drinking Saint Arnold Christmas Ale most of the night. This is a rather potent brew. Plus, I hadn't had dinner. After the third one, I realized I needed to cut back. I just kept refilling the empty bottle with water, so my competitors would think I was still getting sauced. The problem was, I ended up drinking a few more in addition to the water, so any benefit was completely destroyed.

So, I'm feeling pretty good. A hand is dealt and I have pocket 9s. Not great, but definitely playable. I raise the stakes fairly high, and that knocks out all but one player. The flop comes and it's AA7. The other guy bets $12,000, which was huge and nearly put me all in. And here's where the beer killed me. I knew he had a pocket Ace. I just knew it. Every part of my brain was telling me to just drop. But my gut, oh my painful and doomed gut, was telling me to call. I did, he had it, I lost. But here's the thing. My gut wasn't arguing with the logic that he had the Ace. My gut was screaming to me that another 9 was going to come out. I don't know why, but I believed completely and without doubt that one of the next two cards would be a 9, and that I would win with a boat.

But that didn't happen.

The next hand I went all in with what I had (which was still a lot, compared to others) and lost to the same guy. But that hand didn't bother me. I made a legitimate decision with that hand, it just didn't work (I had KQ suited, he had AJ unsuited, won with high card).

I finished eighth, out of the money. What an idiot!

But, I did learn a valuable lesson, the kind which is blatantly obvious to even the most novice poker player: don't play drunk! Next time, I'm only bringing one (well, maybe two) bottles of beer. After that, it's just water.

BGG.Con

Whew! In what has become an annual tradition for me, I once again ventured north to Dallas and the 2008 BGG.Con, which is the BoardGameGeek Convention. It's a gathering of people who share a common interest in playing boardgames, and who share that hobby at the website boardgamegeek.com.

I am definitely a geek, boardgame-wise or otherwise. And although I absolutely enjoy playing games, an equally big draw for me is the chance to visit with friends from around the country, and often meet in person new friends who I had previously only known online.

Sadly, the full weekend started a little later for me because I opted to see Metallica on Thursday night. I don't regret that decision at all, but it did reduce the amount of time I was able to spend playing games with friends. A fair trade, but lamentable nonetheless. So, out of the two days I did spend there, here are some highlights:

Tigris & Euphrates -
This game was among the first "Euro" games I ever played, and I immediately fell in love with it. It's hard to describe exactly why. Through the simple action of drawing and placing tiles, players build competing kingdoms in the fertile valley of the title. You can grow your empire, develop an income stream, or attack your neighbors. In the span of about an hour, this game offers a full narrative of civilizations rising and falling and re-emerging. It's wonderful!

Anyway, I don't get to play it as often as I would like. Fortunately, a friend I met through BGG shares my enthusiasm for the game and makes sure he gets to play it every year at the convention. Last year, he even organized a tournament (in which I played some of my worst games ever), that he ended up winning. To show my appreciation for his effort last year, as well as to reward him for the win, I created a special trophy for him. It was a complete shock for him, but he was simultaneously thrilled and embarrassed, which is always great.

This year we only played one game, not a tournament, and I finished in second place by ONE POINT! Fantastic but frustrating.

Poker -
As I've mentioned from time to time on the blog, I enjoy playing Texas Hold 'Em when I get the chance. I'm not a great player. The last time I played at my local monthly tourney, I finished third (out of 50). Certainly respectable (I should have won, but the beer started to catch up with me!). Well, I thought I'd give it a shot at the con this year. No buy in, just a friendly tournament with 147 players.

I thought I'd probably be out in the first 30 minutes or so, then I could go back and play some boardgames. Well, nearly four hours later, I came out the winner. I WON! The WHOLE thing! I was stunned! I made some bad plays and some good ones. I was lucky several times, and I was unlucky several others. It's just one of those weird things, I guess. It felt really good, beyond the obvious winning. I was proud of myself just to hold my own with people who play poker much more often and more seriously than I do. I was thrilled when I made it to the final table.

Quick aside: During one break I was talking with a friend from L.A. who is a serious poker player. A friend of his (also in the tourney) came up and they started swapping stories. One of them said that they recently played in a tourney and sat next to Chris Hellmouth. I had no idea who that was, and I said so. Both of them looked at me as if I had just sprouted another head. Apparently, it was inconceivable that I didn't know who that was (I still don't, actually. Some poker champion, I gather). They literally didn't believe me when I said I didn't know who he was. I guess to me, the game of poker is more interesting than the lore of poker. Which is interesting, because when I was younger it was just the opposite in my love of chess. Okay, maybe not so quick an aside. Are you surprised?

So, for my troubles (and no buy-in), I was awarded a gorgeous mahogany box filled with hundreds of custom poker chips made for BGG.Con. It's incredibly nice. I also received a set of plastic playing cards for making the final table. Plastic playing cards may sound cheap, but they're quite the opposite. They glide across the table and last forever. So, when do we get to play poker next, guys?

Werewolf -
One of the unique things about the BGG website is the forums. Like other websites, these are just places for people to post messages and interact with other visitors to the site. They have topics for each specific game, general game interests, and then just general discussion topics. One enterprising person came up with the notion to simulate a game of Werewolf in these forums, and a whole addiction was born.

The Werewolf games played in these forums have morphed and mutated into wild adventures. They are often themed on popular movies, and they offer many nuances that aren't possible in a face to face game. For example, keeping track of who voted for whom, having permanent records of everything said, and allowing partner wolves to chat privately to discuss their plans. It is tremendous fun.

So, having all of these "Online Werewolf" players together at night at the convention is equally fun. Everybody taunts each other, tells tales from the games, drinks a lot and has a great time. Oh, and we play some werewolf as well. This year I was able to moderate a game as well, using my iPod speakers to play mood music during the night phases. We had a great time meeting new faces and re-connecting with old friends we hadn't seen since last year. Always a highlight.

The drive back to Houston was sad, as it seemed like I had just come up the other way. Now I have to wait a whole year before I see all these great people again. Exhausting but worth it, every time.

Mediocre Poker

Well, last night was the monthly poker tournament, so let's see how I did on my goals. In the last tournament, out of 20 players, I was the second out (but only by a few minutes-- I should have been first out). Last night, out of 18 players, I was 6th out. So I definitely hit my primary goal of improving my standings.

I played tighter and more conservatively, which is good, but honestly, it wasn't much because of my own self-restraint. My cards were pretty awful all night. I believe I had only four hands where at least one of my hole cards wasn't lower than 6. My final hand, when I was the short stack by a very wide margin, gave me my first pocket pair: 10s. I went all-in pre-flop. Flop was 3, 4, 5, followed by 6, then Q. The guy who beat me stayed in with 4, 5! What the heck is that?

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with my play. It isn't where I want it to be, but it was a definite improvement. I think my two biggest flaws were waiting too late in the evening to get aggressive, and not being aggressive enough when I finally did. Being the short stack, I was hesitant to bet big; so my $300 raises didn't pack any threat when others were raising $600 - $1,000.

So, did the poker book I read help? Yes and no. The strategies offered by the book were mostly irrelevant, and it did a very poor job of explaining pot odds. However, it did make me rethink the game and look at my play differently, as well as pay more attention to the right things when watching others. I'll be keeping my eyes open for other (cheap) poker books, but I'm not in a big hurry.

Next month, I'll need to finish as well or better. I'll still give myself another month before I expect to be at the final table. As far as finishing in the money, I'm putting no time pressure on that goal.

Terrible Poker

So, the other day I was able to play poker with my friend Rich and his regular poker group. These are a bunch of married guys who play tournament style on the first Saturday of every month. Not only is there money for the tournament that night, but you can win points based on your finishing position. Rich does very well, and last year won the whole year on points.

I, on the other hand, have not played in over a year. This made me nervous, which is never a good way to play poker. Without going into what would be a long and boring story, suffice it to say I played terribly. It was just plain awful. I wasn't the first out, but only by a few minutes. I'm still glad I went, but it sucks when you don't have a job and you blow $50 playing poker. That voice inside your head keeps reminding you of bills, groceries, rent, etc.

But the real point of my post has to do with the aftermath. I decided to buy a book on poker (specifically Texas Hold 'Em) so that when I go next month (oh yes, I'll be back) I'll play at a respectable level. I just wanted something simple that covered the basic strategies, the lingo, and maybe talked a little about pot odds. A guy at the tournament had a tiny, pocket-sized Dummy's Guide to poker, and that would have been perfect.

I was unable to find that Dummy's Guide or even an Idiot's Guide that wasn't too expensive. But I did find an Everything book. Apparently, these are some sort of knock-off like the other two. It was less than $10, so it seemed perfect.

Well, it kinda sucks. I'm going to read the whole thing anyway, because I'm sure I'll pick up some useful information. Unfortunately, the book is constantly using hip poker lingo without really explaining it. Sometimes, it comes across as using it just to show how cool they are and how uncool I am for being confused. And that's another thing-- for being a helpful guide, it really isn't very helpful. Too often they gloss over things that I would have preferred to have explained more clearly.

But hey, it's just a dumb poker book. However, there was this one paragraph I read that just sent me over the top. My last post was about terrible writing on TV, so I couldn't let this one go without a comment here. Have you ever heard of a mixed metaphor? Well check this out:

Think of your hole cards as your new bar squeeze at closing time. The flop will sober you up quickly, and suddenly the squeeze can appear a lot different. Other times, your hole cards will stay true and faithful, but it's still a long way to that mountaintop where the pot of gold awaits. If you're still in there swinging, you want to be aggressive. The flop is no place for the faint of heart.

What the hell? That first sentence alone is probably wacky enough for a post, but then it just keeps going. "Okay, so my hole cards are like some chick I'm trying to pick up at the end of the night when I'm drunk and desperate, and when the last call lights come on she could end up being hideous or pretty, but then I have to go climbing and hope I find a leprechaun, because if I'm still at bat, I have to be brave." Huh? The whole book is like that. There's another quote I wanted to put in here, but I can't remember where it is. Basically, it was so overloaded with poker jargon as to be indecipherable. I guess that's to make the reader feel cool when he finally figures out what the writer is talking about.

Anyway, the bottom line is that I may need another poker book. Hopefully, I can find something cheap that isn't as ridiculous as this one. My goals for the next tournaments are on three levels. My primary goal for every tournament, I would like to do better than the previous one (that should be easy for March). My secondary goal is to make it to the final table. My tertiary goal is to win money. I expect to meet my primary goal every time, but I don't expect to meet the others for a few more tournaments at least. We shall see.