In fact, the tournament / news blogs must outnumber blogs like Rounders, Inc. by a good 1000-to-1. Finding a great blog on cash games is like hitting runner-runner Aces.

Besides sharing our desire to sit in seat 9, 2, 3, or 8 (as you know, seat 9 is my signature seat), we both blog on cash games and are consistently profitable rounders. Meet my poker pal Scott Mutchnick, otherwise known as the Atlantic City Poker Man.

Click here to visit his blog …

I don’t have a cool name like Scott (although many people call me “The Boss” at the table because I tend to control the action at the table).

Atlantic City Scott has a cool sign-off to his posts (Only in Position).

You will also notice Scott’s name in my blogroll, right along side of other champions I respect.

Look him up – you will surely learn something new about poker from Scott.

This player, Tommy is his name, raised the $2 blind to $50 preflop.

The flop comes Jd-10c-3c.

“I am all-in,” he says to me.

“Really?” I reply.

“Yeah.”

“I flopped top pair, ace kicker, with a nut flush draw,” I continue.

I could just tell by the way he sat there that he flopped a set.

It is hard to put him on pocket Jacks … but I have seen the case card too many times to count.

“You have a set of 10s,” I tell him.

“Yep.”

“Well, I am not going to draw against a made hand. I fold.”

I show the A-Jc.

He smiles and shows me 10-10.

Calling a player’s hand earns me respect at the table. Sometimes, at the expense of getting action.

But, on that day, I earned a good friend. Tommy and I have been close ever since.

My play was solid and I was completely in the zone.

I lost only four hands during the six hour tournament. I had my money in good for those four hands and got outdrawn.

Like cash game sessions, tournaments come down to a couple key hands – a couple key decisions.

Here are my two key hands that helped propel me to the final table:

The pivot point centered on the third break when we were at three tables, down from nine.

We were only a few players away from going down to two tables.

I was moved to a new table. I was slightly ahead of the chip leader at this new table.

The blinds and antes were quite high at this point.

Right before the break, I call a min raise from a player that I feel has a pocket pair.

I have K-Q of clubs.

The flop comes with two clubs.

I have 15 outs to hit a higher pair or a flush. I am a 60% favorite to win the hand.

I also have position on my opponent.

He pushes all-in.

“You have pocket Jacks or pocket 10s,” I tell him. “I am a 60% favorite to win with two over cards and a flush draw.”

His all-in was for half my stack.

At this point in the tournament, I did not want to risk half my stack on a draw even though the math makes it a “good” call. If I lost, I would still have the average chip stack. But, I wanted to coast to the final table.

I fold and show.

My opponent shows J-J.

When I returned from the break, the dealer did a Rabbit Hunt and told me I would have lost the draw.

The first hand back from break, I am in the big blind with 9-9.

Action folds around to the button who raises to $45,000.

It did not feel like a steal. The raise told me he had some kind of Ace.

I min raise to $90,000.

My opponent calls.

No re-raise all-in tells me he definitely does not have a pocket pair.

He has at least an Ace in the hole.

I figure he is pot committed since he has half his stack in before the flop.

My bet is about 1/3 of my stack.

“I have two overs to your pair,” my opponent tells me.

This was his first mistake in the hand: telling me what he is holding.

I now put him on a big Ace.

We stare each other down from across the table. Behind our sunglasses, we glance down to see the board. Our heads, however, never move.

The flop comes K-Q-7 rainbow.

I check.

My opponent checks.

Now, if he had A-K or A-Q, he would have bet. Frankly, I was expecting a continuation bet.

No bet on the flop was his second mistake of the hand.

At this point, I put him on A-J or A-10.

If I see an Ace, Jack, or Ten – any of which gives him either a bigger pair or a straight, I am done with the hand.

The turn card is an 8.

I check.

He checks.

The river card is a 2.

No flush possibilities.

If I bet, he folds.

I check hoping to trap him into second guessing his read. I want him to put me on something like A-9 suited.

My opponent fires out $70,000 of the $90,000 or so he has left.

The trap play worked.

“I am all-in,” I declare.

He folds in disgust. His cards were so high in the air, I could see an Ace.

“You had Ace Jack right?” I ask.

“Yeah.”

“You were beat the whole way.”

I showed the 9-9.

Normally, I would not show, but I wanted to show him and the table that I “had it” figuring it would help me later in the tournament.

With him not betting me off the hand on the flop or turn, I now had the dominant chip lead.

All I had to do was go on cruise control all the way to the money.

This tournament paid the top 9.

Once we got to the final table, the players decided to give the bubble player $20 each. I thought the gesture was very cool.

That was enough money to pay for the tournament buy-in plus $100 profit for the afternoon.

As for the rest of us, we played another couple rounds to the next break.

I had the chip lead, but two others were very close in stacks. The rest of the table were about even in chips.

The next round was alot of folding due to the high blinds and antes.

Guys are trying to read hands blind when someone raised.

“You had a pair,” one player says.

“No, he had Ace Queen,” I say.

The player shows Ace Queen.

We go on break.

I see the players huddled up but I don’t think much of it.

Right before we sit down again, a friend of mine pulls me aside.

“Sammy, you fucked up.”

“How so?”

“You really need to stop reading hands blind. It is going to cost you money.”

“Just trying to establish a table image with my new opponents,” I reply.

“We had a meeting. They do not want to tangle with you. We want to chop.”

With 8 players agreeing to chop, I obliged. We all took down the equivalent of second place money.

Not bad for 6 hours of play.

However, there is value in acting first against certain players in certain situations.

People talk about playing the player. There is more to it than playing the betting tendencies of your opponent.

To me, playing the player is a combination of reading their hand blind along with their betting tendencies.

Against a fairly solid player, position matters.

Against a calling station, super donkey, or drunk fuck, nothing matters.

Here is an example: I am in the big blind with A-J off. Not a great hand, but playable.

The button raises pre-flop. It is either a position raise with nothing or he has what he thinks is a monster hand: A-K.

I feel he is trying to steal the blinds. Heads-up, I know I can outplay this guy, so I call.

When I make the call, I give him the benefit of doubt and put him on A-K. This means if an Ace or King comes, I am done with the hand.

The flop comes J-6-2 rainbow.

I know my opponent wants to bet, but I bet first hoping to represent J-J. I don’t want him to catch a King.

He raises me.

Ok. Maybe he also has A-J for a chop.

I call.

The turn is a 2.

I bet hard.

He insta-calls.

I was not looking for a call. I was hoping for a fold.

If a King comes, I am beat.

If my opponent has Q-Q, I am beat.

No way he has K-K or A-A, or he would have ended it on the flop.

I do not want a showdown.

The only way I can win is to bet.

I also know from listening to this player talk to his neighbor that he has been losing all night. He just changed seats and does not want to lose much more money.

I take all this information and make a decision.

I push $100 into the pot dark.

As I do this, my eyes never leave my opponent.

He reacts to the bet like, “Fuck, I am way behind here.”

Then the river card comes.

I keep my eyes on my opponent, never looking at what fell on the board.

In fact, I never watch the cards fall. I only look at the board when it is my time to act.

The river is a dreaded King.

Judging by his reaction to the King, the King helped his hand.

He has two pair, probably with an Ace kicker.

I have second best pair with an Ace kicker.

He stares at the King for about 30 seconds.

My opponent then looks at me.

I am just staring him down.

I never moved my head during the hand. Just stared him down from the time the cards came out until now. Fucking statue.

“That …. that was a pretty strong bet there, Sir,” he says.

I stare.

Moments later, he folds.

I muck.

“You must have had a full house to bet like that,” he says.

“Pocket Jacks,” I reply.

“Yep. That is what I thought. That is the only hand you could of had to bet like that in the dark,” he says.

No. I outplayed you with what turned out to be the second best hand.

This is one of the rare times that acting first can work to your advantage.

Keep in mind, I know my player here. He is losing, so he is careful while aggressive.

He is also NOT a calling station.

A play like this will NOT work against a calling station or a drunk.

Position matters with an average to strong player.

Nothing matters with a calling station or drunk fuck.

The fringe benefit I play for is respect.

I don’t play for fun. Grinding it out day after day is not fun. I could stay home and have fun.

So, when another player asks me for insights, I am genuinely flattered.

I am on a break last night, away from the card room, when I was approached by a player at the table whom I have played with a couple times before. He just left the game.

“Hey Sammy, do you mind if I ask you a question?”, he asks.

“Sure thing.”

Now, I rarely, if ever, take my sunglasses off in the poker room. Few players would recognize me without them. It looks like this is serious, so I take them off and look him in the eye.

“What is the secret?”, he continues.

“Secret? Secret to what?”

“Consistently leaving here with money. Every time I see you, you have a big stack and are either up or even.”

During our play yesterday, I was, in fact, roughly even. It would not be for another few hours before I doubled up on two critical hands.

“Well, that is the $100,000 question isn’t it,” I reply.

“I watch poker on TV and have been playing only for a few months,” he responds.

I think he is a pretty damn good player for only a few months. He has the potential to be a rounder, so I am happy to help out. I wish someone would have given me advice when I started. Everything I learned about poker was learned the hard way: by losing.

“Hold’Em is a complex game and I lost a ton of money learning a few simple principles.”

“Where am I going wrong? I always go broke. What is the secret?, he asks.

This player is fully engaged and genuinely interested in what I have to say.

In a nutshell, I told him two things: First, hand selection is critical. My advice is to start out with wired 10’s or better and suited connectors 9-10 or better. Don’t play the any ace, king, queen, or jack from any position. These hands are not profitable over the long run.

Generally speaking, the average dealer deals 30 hands an hour. I play six hands an hour, or 20% of what is dealt. Mathematically, you will miss the flop 70% of the time. I say it is closer to 80% based on my experience. This means I will win 1.2 hands an hour, or one pot if you round it down. That is the goal. One pot an hour.

Second, position is key. I play 80% of my hands from late position. It seems like every big pot I drag is when I am either on the button or one off the button. It simply works out that way.

My personal strategy is quite complex. The above are solid tips for solid play early on in one’s poker career.

But this begs the question, why do you play?

I play for money and respect.

Most play for fun.

If you play for fun and can afford to lose the money you put on the table, then play whatever cards from any position that feels like fun to you. Have a few free drinks, play 29 hands an hour, and hope you get lucky a few times.

But, if you are playing for money, know this: it is a fucking grind.

Taking the “secrets” to the next level, I plan to post a series on what I do from the moment I sit down to the moment I rack up.

Stay tuned!

I am at MotorCity Casino at the $50 – $200 game, up about $500 when I spot a short handed $200 – $500 game with a couple weak players.

On this particular night, the casino had to close for about six hours so the City of Detroit could test the generators.

With about 30 minutes of play time left, I seize the opportunity and change games.

Seat 9 is open and find myself in the cutoff position. I post the $5 blind and check my hand.

In a battle of the blinds, the small blind raises to $25. Big blind re-raises to $75.

I call. The small blind calls.

The flop comes 3 – 3 – Q rainbow.

The small blind bets $100. The big blind and I both call.

Turn card is a King. The small blind bets $200. The big blind and I both call again.

The river is a 9. The small blind bets all-in for another $300. The big blind and I both call.

The small blind shows a set of Queens.

The big blind shows a set of Kings.

Me? Well, I flopped quad treys.

Being in the right place at the right time, all I had to do was keep calling.

If I don’t have A-A, then I will only play a suited A-K from early position, suited A-Q or better from middle position, and suited A-10 or better from late position.

If I am on the button, I will play either suited A-10 or better or suited A-4. As you can see, I am pretty selective. Why? Getting burned on playing weak aces.

I am on the button with two very aggressive players ahead of me. The player under the gun makes it $25 to go. The second player min raises to $50. Everyone folds, and I call with A-4 hearts.

Three way action to the flop – a miracle flop: 2-3-5. All hearts.

I flopped a straight flush – nearly impossible. And I have position. And two aggressive players are in the hand.

Usually, straight flushes do not get paid. And it is nearly impossible to get one, let alone flop one.

The first player overbets the pot by betting $200 into a $150 pot. The second player calls. I do some Hollywood and call.

With two other players in the hand, I can’t talk to induce them to bet more. All I can do is hesitate and let them believe I am calling because of pot odds.

Turn card is a blank. With $750 in the pot, the first player bets $300. Second player calls. I call.

Monster pot of $1650 to the river. First player bets $500. Second player folds.

I Hollywood a bit and min raise to $1000, putting the player all-in.

The second player flopped a straight.

The first player flopped the nut flush.

I show the straight flush. And they are astonished.

Caught in a gun fight between two aggressive players, I was in the right position at the right time.