The Real Deal

First off thanks to Jordon for all of the encouragement lately. I think he really understands what I am trying to accomplish. First off let me say that I do not play 25o all the time.. you just get to read about those plays because they are the most fun and also generate alot of comments from people I respect. Discussing poker is the way to growth.

It is not so much that I love 25o or that I am trying to play crappy cards all the time. Honestly.. unless you play with me on a regular basis your just gleaming what you think I play like by a few hands. The thing I am trying to do is become a better player. I used to be the ABC guy to a tee. Probably WAY too much ABC for anyones good. If you played against me you would know if I raised I had a top ten hand. If I called a raise same thing. It was easy to play me. I looked at my 15% VP$IP and said "Wow! I am tight boyyyyyy!".. except IF people are paying attention and even when they are not you are going to only win small pots this way. If I raise pre-flop and hit my Ace or King then EVERYONE knows to fold. Sometimes I might get money in with rockets and make a nice killing, but how often do the rockets come? How often do you hit that set?

I am really trying to accomplish becoming a more rounded player. Not being scared of every monster. Not making big pots with vulnerable hands like TPTK. Making people pay me off because they have no idea what I am playing. I am trying to become dangerous. I used to think that standard raising my premium hands disguised them. Oooh, look, I am tricky. However people can at least put me on ten hands or so. By opening up my game and seemingly randomly playing strange hands I think I have become scary.

I get chewed out alot in NLHE games now. People call me names. They throw stones at me. It is really angry out there. Know what though? It kind of makes me think I am on the right track.. if people like me then I am not taking enough of there money to make it hurt. I want my table mates to hate me. Except it is really themselves they hate because they can not lay down a hand. The other night on FT I had another interesting hand. I played J9c to a small raise pre-flop. I flopped 4 to a flush and called a small bet. I turned the flush. My opponent pushed her entire stack in. As long as people can not lay down hands I will continue to get paid off. In that particular hand I was not in much of a gambling mood so I played it as classic flush-draw as you can and she still pushed with no outs on the turn.

The funniest thing about that hand. It started out with her yelling at me for calling an all in with a J high flush on the turn. It then turned into a 4 board flush. Finally she said that I called an all in with four to a flush on the turn and rivered her. Keep blaming me for your poor play. I enjoy it.

So anyway.. fear not for the Waffles, but Phear the Waffles! I am still experimenting with this somewhat different style and I am not sure how much of it will become a part of my regular game. All I can say is that stacking overpairs is a profitable business and if you have not tried it you should. Just be careful and make sure you understand the how and why. Do not get carried away with trying to do this every hand. Understand what your looking for in the flop. Do not slow play when these hands hit big either. Cause pressure. Make BIG pots with BIG hands. Make people make BIG mistakes.