Another Pearl of Wisdom from Dutch

After busting first in the Foxwoods $10K event, Dutch Boyd posted a summary to his blog.

Near the end of the post - he makes another brilliant set of observations:

"If you're going to be great at poker, you've got to be able to fold pocket queens preflop and you've got to be able to fold a set on the flop. It's that simple. You can't blame losses on cards, because you really shouldn't be paying that much attention to the cards you've got in the first place. Starting with monsters, or flopping monsters, usually just gets in the way of a well-played tournament. The events that I seem to do the best at are the ones where I never pick up aces or kings."

"There's an interesting psychological aspect to tournaments, and it's this: you only feel good about a tournament when you win it ... and the closer you get to first place, the worse you feel when you get knocked out. It actually doesn't feel that bad getting knocked out super early in a big event. It's over and you can kinda relax. But anytime you're one of the first ones out in a major, it means you were playing longball poker, which really isn't the correct strategy in these things. Next time I play a big event, maybe I'll finally muster up the courage to try and take it down without ever looking at my hand. At least I'd last longer than I did in this one..."

Presto is Gold (Part 19)

PokerStars $2/$4NL, 6-max

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Fuel55 raises $8 to $12 from CO with [5d 5h]
BB calls $8

*** FLOP *** [Ad 3d 5c]
BB bets $20
Fuel55 raises $28 to $48 (throw in a little raise to see where BB is at on a heavy drawing board)
BB calls $28 (danger)

*** TURN *** [Ad 3d 5c] [Kd]
BB checks
Fuel55 bets $64 (uggggh, I hate this card but he checks, so I bet)
BB calls $64 (double uggggh)

*** RIVER *** [Ad 3d 5c Kd] [Tc]
BB checks
Fuel55 checks (just check it down since he could be trapping me)

*** SHOW DOWN ***
BB shows [As 2d] (a pair of Aces) (nice hand buddy …)
Fuel55 shows [5d 5h] (three of a kind, Fives)
Fuel55 collected $248 from pot

Very glad I had position on this hand.

Presto is Gold (Part 18)

Probably the worst played AQ of all time:

Full Tilt $100 + $9 Sit & Go, 8 players remain

*** PREFLOP ***
PUTZ/VICTIM/DOOFUS calls 80 (he limps with AQ)
Fuel55 calls 40 from SB with [5d 5s]
BB checks

*** FLOP *** [3d Qh Ac]
Fuel55 checks
BB checks
PUTZ/VICTIM/DOOFUS checks

*** TURN *** [3d Qh Ac] [5h]
Fuel55 checks (presto is usually gold on the turn so I am glad no one bet that flop)
BB checks
PUTZ/VICTIM/DOOFUS checks (good idea to check again now str8 and flush draws have appeared)

*** RIVER *** [3d Qh Ac 5h] [7d]
Fuel55 bets 160 (better stick something in, if no one is going to bet)
BB folds
PUTZ/VICTIM/DOOFUS raises to 640 (now he awakens)
Fuel55 raises to 1,120 (gimme the rest of your chips buddy)
PUTZ/VICTIM/DOOFUS calls 421, and is all in (bingo)
Uncalled bet of 59 returned to Fuel55

*** SHOW DOWN ***
Fuel55 shows [5d 5s] (three of a kind, Fives)
PUTZ/VICTIM/DOOFUS mucks [Qd As] - two pair, Aces and Queens
Fuel55 wins the pot (2,362) with three of a kind, Fives