shame and redemption

Full Tilt does not have IP subnet blocking, so Mrs. Columbo challenged me to join her in a HORSE SnG. I said sure, figuring I could half pay attention and still do ok. As I watched net copies of SNL Celebrity Jeopardy, I bubbled twice. Lame of me to play without being fully engaged. So, last night I signed up for a FT HORSE SNG and fully engaged myself. I finished 2nd. Better.

I am concentrating on two events right now:
the $4-180 (20 table) MTT at Stars (when I have 3 hours)
[ROI since starting last week: 550%, 1cash/3)
and the FT HORSE $5 SNG. (when I dont have 3 hours)
[ROI since starting last week: -20% 1cash/3)

I am hoping for some P-HORSE at the WPBT, so I have been playing play money Pineapple at paradise poker for practice. I(s the P in P-HORSE high-low P or just high?)

My stud 8OB is better than my 7 card stud, but I took a sick beat when my 76543 failed to take EITHER the high (someone made a flush) NOR the low (lost to, get this, 76542). I refused to play that holding weak. Still, I finished 2nd overall and the winner of the SnG was the 76542 guy. Weird.

My WPBT strategy plan so far: Dont play any hands with the luckbox or STB.

How does one donk off $30 bucks with the guys?

Ed's birthday was yesterday and we needed a fun activity that included cigars, gambling, yelling and about $30. So what do you think we played for 5 hours?!





It was quite a treat to come across something of that nature. It was like the first time you played poker. So fun, but you have no idea what you are doing. SO much fun!

catching up

had to leave on business RIGHT AFTER the HORSE game. How does one lose at limit at LEVEL 1 - during the H?!

1. run into the luckbox(tm) on hand #1 (I'm talking about you CJ!)
2. Next hand, run TP into an overpair.
3. Next hand, have your aces cracked.

That's right, I lost $1250 of my $1500 in the "H" in level 1. I suck.

Ok, now for something I did WELL. A great decision...

the 180 $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100)
JSFARM: posts big blind 100

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Columbo777 [Kc Kd]
mgpferreira: folds
rod-macedo: calls 100
gill36: calls 100
blauman32: folds
Columbo777: raises 300 to 400
Dominator197: folds
FLYBOYS: folds
hotpoppa: folds
JSFARM: calls 300
rod-macedo: folds
gill36: calls 300
*** FLOP *** [Td Jd 3h]
JSFARM: bets 500
gill36: folds
Columbo777: raises 500 to 1000
JSFARM: calls 500 <=drawing?!
*** TURN *** [Td Jd 3h] [9c] <=oh no!
JSFARM: bets 1685 and is all-in

[columbo goes into the tank!]













Columbo777: calls 1685
*** RIVER *** [Td Jd 3h 9c] [5c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
JSFARM: shows [Qc Ad] (broken draw)
Columbo777: shows [Kc Kd] (a pair of Kings)

I was hard to put him on KQ when I had two of them. It was also impossible to put him on 78. No, I figured him for QJ and a bluff... well, eventually I did.

And the side effect of making a good decision? momentum!

Buy-In: $4.00/$0.40 180 players
Dear Columbo777,

You finished the tournament in 3rd place.
You earned 126.13 tournament leader points in this tournament.

home game movie moment

Gets down to what it's all about, doesn't it? Making the wrong move at the right time. And I did. I became more bold in the second half as the blinds escalated and my chip stack did not. Each time I made a move with my entire stack I either got the fold I wanted (like TT vs KQ) or won the showdown. Now we are 5 handed, just before merging to the final table and I have A9d. The MP (a good player) min raises. fold to me and I think for a minute. I decide to call from the SB. The BB folds. The flop is A89. I check knowing that no one is going to credit me with an Ace here so I play it cool. The MP bets 1/2 pot. I come over the top. He quickly calls with his set of Aces, thinking I must have a straight draw. IGHN.

I noted that I took too many stabs at pots in levels 3-6 where I left myself exposed THREE times to a check -raise or a bet over the top. My one attempt to play a pot away from someone was aborted. The players were agressive post flop, almost to a fault, and I adjust to play with the grain instead of against it. BAD, but fixable.

ABC's LOST

So they DID go "The Prisoner" route in the finale! Cool.

a tale of 2 evenings

It's night number two for the 180 SnG at stars. Last night, I finished a dissapointing 24th, tonight a dissapointing 30th. But in baseball terms:
2 runs
2 mistakes
0 major errors

Which was not good enough to win.

Run #1 was when I called a raise pre-flop with Q9s. I was 4 flushing on the flop and I make a 1/2 pot bet in the hopes of disguising the draw. He comes over the top for twice that. Can you see where he made a mistake? He gave me odd to call that. (the raise was not big enough). BUT, we BOTH know that I am on the draw now. So when the turn is a non-flush card, I can attempt to continue the charade or check. I have a feeling that either way my money is going in and so is his. I check hoping he will make a mistake somehow and not put me all in. But in reality, his RAISE on the flop made the pot big enough that his all in on the river (or more to the point, putting ME all in) have given me 4-1 odds AND folding leaves me with a Q of .3 I CAN NOT see how he expects me to fold. The river is the flush card and I hit the break back at average.

I am about average after losing with AK and winning with AA. But after that, I tried only THREE "moves", they all failed. The last one is an old story. Folded around to you in the SB and you have KJ so you raise your shortish stack all-in and the BB calls with AK. "That's the third time this week"

So, I continue to soldier on. I did make a nice pot steal with middle pair once. And I did not make any MAJOR stupid moves. But I did make a dark tunnel bet with AK and I did overplay a hand. I had alot of BLOw hands (big-little offsuit) to contend with.

In the end, I was not aggressive enough to chip up where I needed to be at the bubble. I know to gear up at that point, but the chip leader was on my left and that really hinders your ability to steal. No excuses, but it was a tough challenge. I need to continue this crusade.

wot's, uh, the deal?

PS is running the 20 tables (180 players) $4s again! To me, this the BEST talent test for the money.

Last nights adventure was definetely a wake up call for me.

In level 1, I make a bad play. I made a push in level 1 (already a bad idea), but then checked the turn and so did the opponent. Had I put in a good bet there, he would have folded what turned out to be a 4 outer. He hit it on the river. And he bet. AND I called it. IF I WAS GOING TO CALL A RIVER BET, THEN I SHOULD HAVE MADE A TURN BET INSTEAD. Not only am I down half my chips, I did this in level 1 where you start in a position where you need to ACCUMULATE chips.

5 minutes later I double up back to the starting stack size. But I COULD have been chipped up. Instead I am "chasing average" (what I call it when Q<1) all the way to the break. At the break, the average is like 4000 and I have like 1800. I figure its a few more hands and I am out. BUT, I am making GOOD decisions now and about 90 players have eliminated themselves.

There are now 60 players left and I am 27th in chips.
There are now 50 players left and I am SEVENTH in chips!
There are now 40 players left and I am 5th in chips!

With 24 or so players left (18 pay), I am in the top 10. And then I bubbled. How did it happen? Was it bad luck? Was it suckouts? HARDLY. I played BAD.

How does one play so good and then SELF DISTRUCT?! Let me tell you!

Let's skip the hand analysis and skip to the BASIC breakdowns that directly contributed to my downfall. Since I was a big stack, I should AVOID confrontation with the ONLY OTHER BIG STACK at my table! Worse yet, HE was in position! When that flop came and I bet out and he called. I got suspicious. Why, because I watched him numerous times call on the flop and raise on the turn to steal a pot. And yet, I made the flop bet with a weak holding, which he called. Then I made a STRONG turn bet which he came over the top of. I had to fold. POOR PLAY.

Then I COMPOUNDED my mistake by trying the same trick he used on me on another player. He also took my chips. And suddenly, I was in RED (M=5) territory again. TERRIBLE PLAY. It pains me to see that after years of this, I can still be such a train wreck.

I need to train. I am back at the 180s until I can produce results.

Vegas on Business (a rambling and some poker)

This entry has been re-titled in my mind no less than 6 times. Read into that what you will.

Vegas Business Trip Report

What are the Pros and Cons of staying off the strip? Price is what I expected the answer to be. But I sorta found the exception to the rule. I stayed at the RIO, which is on strip, but only if you take the shuttle over the highway. Which means you need to be back by 1am. Since I am here on business, this has not been a problem. But otherwise, not good.

The RIO is all-suites which means the rooms are twice as large than say, the Paris, but also cost exactly twice as much.
It’s nice because the pool has a sandy beach, but they also charge $18 for a large Pina Colada. That’s a big number for something that is held in a plastic cup.

My room air conditioning is barely keeping up, while the hallways are a refrigeration unit at 65 degrees. The weirdness of Vegas. (note: later in the day, the hotel will lost power for a good hour. I wonder if its related to keeping cavernous hallways at 65 degrees?)

#1 Tip for Vegas, ALWAYS get a player card. It makes check in so much more pleasant.

Tip for Vegas #2: Find the nearest coffee (such as starbucks). Its too hard to locate them in the morning when you need them. The RIO has two Starbucks and a 3rd coffee and pastry stand.

Tip for Vegas #3: Bring your own cigars. The cigar booths are typically out of the way places with high prices. Counter to the trend, the RIO had one by the front desk. Not counter to the trend, cigars were expensive.

I stayed on the 11th floor with a strip view. If you are not here on business, get a strip view. How? Use your gold card to check in and be VERY NICE to the check in clerk. Especially if they are new and their supervisor is helping them learn the ropes.

The RIO shuttles run to Harrah’s where the monorail is and to Caesars Palace. But its 5-10 wait for the shuttle and a 5-10 minute ride. It add up when the temperature is over 90.

Card rooms:
The RIO poker room (not where the WSOP will be obviously) is very small and their lowest NLHE game was 2-5. I am very bankroll driven, so I always look for a 1-2 game.

After business concluded on day #1, we had a wonderful dinner at the RIO steakhouse. Tremendous . My previous trips to Vegas have been very anti-climactic in the food area. Not this time. Go for the expense restaurants or stick to subway. The “inexpensive fare” restaurants are so bad, its almost a crime. I swear that at the imperial palace burger place someone should be sued over what they call edible.

I took the shuttle to Harrah’s and since they had a 1-2 NLHE game, sat down. I had maybe a 5 minute wait (if that). Nice room, sequestered off (which I prefer).

I am playing for about an hour, but never had a hand better than AJ or TT. I held my own but was coming up about even. I have a rule when playing live NLHE 1-2. If there are more than 3 players in the pot, don’t bet or call bets bigger than ½ pot with anything less than 2 pair. So, I rarely get into trouble with these types of tables.

They start their evening tournament (which I decided to skip) which had but nine players (resulting in a SnG for their tournament.)

Some players from each of the 1-2 tables went over to the SnG and the rest collapsed into our table. The guy on my left was a regular since the dealer knew him by name (alex). Here now is the second hand after he sat down.

I raise it up to 10 with ATs from EP and he calls. No other players.
The flop is AT6 with 2 clubs. I have flopped top two and all worries about being out kicked are gone. I am just concerned with the 2 clubs.
I decide to play this aggressively, because I expect he will pay me off with Ax, hopefully A6. I bet $25 into the pot of $23 (defend against the flush) and he raises $25. With top two pair I figured him for a flush draw semi-bluff with a pair or Ax (hopefully A6, but more probably AK).

I decide since I will have committed 50% of my stack if I call, and he has a big stack, I need him to leave that flush draw on the table and fold if he has just the draw. I push my remaining stack in and he calls. He turns over 66 for the set. Its not often you flop top 2 vs. a set in a cash game. I am not sure I could escape based on our stack sizes.

I buy back in for a second buy-in. I spend the next hour+ working it back. Just solid play, taking opportunities, not getting greedy. I have gotten 90% of it back.

Meanwhile an interesting hand comes up that I was not in. The flop is AAx with two players. The out of position player postures and says “I am trying to figure out if my Kings are good.” He then checks. The other player takes the bait and bets the flop. The “kings” smooth call. “kings” now check the turn and the other buy gets, again the smooth call. The river is x and this time the “kings” bet. The other player folds. “kings” turns over Ax for a boat.

The boat player cashes out and leaves. Classic.

For 10 minutes I fold. Solid play.

I now find AcJc in MP. Two early players have limped in and I pop it to 5xBB. I get the original limper and the SB to call.

The flop is Ad7c6s

SB checks, I bet 35, hoping to get a AJ to fold if there is one). The first limper folds, but the SB calls after thinking about folding for about 15 seconds.

The turn 5c and I have picked up the nut flush draw. SB checks, I bet 35. He check-raises all-in. (Its 100 more or the remaining 50% of the starting stack on this hand). I go into the think tank. This is not a tournament I say to myself, I feel like I a supposed to make this call. I doubt the club helped him, and I think he is trying to grab the pot from me. I don’t consider the 5 a worry card. Still, something is wrong. But, I call figuring I have the flush redraw. He has 89. (he made a straight on the turn)

I look for the club. The last card is a red K. All my work flushed down the toilet.

I always leave the table when I make a bad decision. Sort of self imposed imprisonment. I review the hand over and over in my head…

mistakes:
1. Didn’t I eat the Peppered beef? I called an all-in (check raise no less) with less than two pair.
2. Check raise, heck any re-raise at this table. In retrospect, I realize I did not see a single re-raise at this table where the player did not have a big hand. (this goes for my 2 pair vs. set hand also)
3. I did not completely think out big decision because I don't play live enough. I am not even sure that the check-raise registered. No, that is hiding the truth. The check raise did NOT register at all. I felt the pressure to respond because everyone was waiting. In a home game, I would have made them wait.
4. I Did not really address the turn card. When a turn card comes, you have to evaluate its impact on the value of the hands. It greatly diminished mine. Why did I think A8 vs. 89?? Because of the call on the flop? I figured A weak kicker. The check raise should have said I was wrong.
5. Counted my redraw as too many outs. Sure it was 8 or 9 outs, but I was still a DOG to get there. I was getting 3-1 ish on a 4.5-1 draw (assuming I cant win with 2 pair or its even more). This was the fatal clincher and a psychology lesson in one. In a CASH GAME, it’s HARDER to lay down a draw to the nuts.

Worst of all, I realize the next day that this was a similar mistake I made last December at Excalibur!!! I had a guy pull a straight out on 4th street and did not re-evaluate my holding and paid it off. (Although I did not have a redraw in that situation. That’s what really screwed me up here, the re-draw.)

If I hit the club, I am up $200 for the night and think I am king of the table. But I have never been what you would call “lucky”.

"walking back to Dallas" as TJ would say. Went broke from behind. Embarrassed and defeated I went to bed.

The next night, I have a wonderful dinner at the China Griil at Mandalay. Afterwards, it is off to play again. Mandalay no longer spreads 1-2, only 2-5 in low NLHE. So we took the train to the castle. They had 1-3, which would normally qualify. But after last nights sting, I wondered over to MGM instead. And let’s face it, it’s an easy thing to do. MGM runs an excellent card room. They will post games based on interest, they process the wait quickly, and they have lots of dealers. (I have not played at the big rooms at Bellagio or Wynn).

I come in after the button and as is my habit, decide to wait for the BB so I can watch the table. Twice in one rotation I see a raised flop called by 5, checked around on the flop and the turn, and someone stab at the river only to get no resistance. These guys are not bullies or bluffers it seems.

10 or so hands in, I realize I have seen zero flops. Here come my blinds AGAIN.

There are 4 callers and I look down to see AJo in the SB. This is absolutely the hardest position to play this hand from. I do know, however, not to raise with AJo from the SB. I reluctantly pay the extra ½ bet and see the flop figuring I am going to have to fold unless I get a strong flop.

Flop JT6 rainbow. Nice, strong flop for me. The UtG limper makes it 10, there is a caller and back to me in the SB. I raise it to 35 (25 more). Without even a delay he puts me all in.
I go into the tank again, only this time I take a good 2 minutes. The dealer was accommodating. After much thought fold. My read was that he limped with AA waiting for the re-raise pre-flop that never came. After the flop, he led out to build a pot and when I showed strength, went for the stack. If I had a set, he would be broke right now. Neither of us showed, but since he had not done that and did not do it since, I feel I was exactly right. So even though I lost $35, I felt pretty good about my play. It was very similar to last night’s hand where I called, but this time I escaped.

10 minutes later I have about $90 in front of me.
I am UtG and look down at two Jacks. Another difficult hand, but I am going to play it. I decide to raise to 10 UtG with JJ. This might have been a bit light for this table, but if I bet 15, the only caller is AA or KK or QQ. I want worse hands to call and better hands to give me a chance to out-flop them. UtG+1, a nice older lady who played too many hands pre-flop, calls. The Button then raises to 25. I actually think for a moment about folding. Then reason and rational return to my brain and I call as does the old lady.

The flop is 68J 2 diamonds. FINALLY, I have a big hand. And top set no less. It seems obvious that in a cash game I check here. If they have something I get extra money in the pot, if they don’t I give them a chance to catch up as a BIG dog. I check and the other two check after me. The old lady probably has zero. (I really expected the button to bet here and he does not. Curious that he did not make a continuation bet. Ax?) pot is $78. I have about $55 left in front of me.

The turn is a Q. I quickly notice that I cant check. I wish to “bid” up the pot and allow the other two to make a mistake. Maybe 1 of them just made two pair or top pair with that Q. I bet 25, hoping the old lady will stay. She does not. The button, however, says “I’ll donate” and calls. I expect that because of that comment he has an 8, maybe even 78. (I have a about 30 left)

His call was with AK and he was drawing to a 4 outer. He mistakenly thought his overcards were good as he put me on AJ (or so I expect).
River is a T and the stack gets pushed the other way. All I can do is get up and walk away. My 3rd buy in is gone.

If I am all in on the flop, I bet 40 instead of 25. But I expect to be way ahead on this flop (and I am!). That would chase away hands that are big dogs. I feel I played this hand well and just did not get the results. I should win this showdown 11 of 12 times.

I don’t know if I can take playing again. Instead, I will go to the corporate event and see Richard Jeni for free. Having been in stand-up in the past, and having seen Richard work, there are few better. There are maybe 6 comics I would go see. He is one of them. (I wrote this before I ran into Richard in the hallway.)

Warning: Non-poker related post (rare for me)

So in the last 24 hours, I have corresponded with / run into two very interesting people.

I have often traded tv shows with people on tape and DVD. I love rare stuff, especially from Japan, or shows I loved as a kid but would like to see again. Sometimes you get lucky, like with Columbo, and they come out on DVD. I hear Brisco County is coming out this summer (via the Bruce Campbell web site). Other times you need to be more createive. (see my lists at www.eifco.org/tapetrade)

So I end up trading my copy of "It's your move" to a guy in Austrailia. Nice guy and a big fan of the show like me. (the show stared Jason Bateman as a kid who was the ultimate scammer. The writers created Married with Children after this show.)

This Aussie kid is such a big fan in fact, that he somehow TRACKS DOWN one of the child actors from the show (Eli). I get an email telling me that he wants a copy of the show. There is no way I could charge this guy or ask for a trade, so I simple ask him for a story about working on the show instead. And he wrote me one. Now that was a fair trade. I really enjoyed hearing about the back stage antics, and how auditioning was and how much his parents hated the idea. So funny. So, I am sending him of DVDs of his own show. How cool is that?

So, I am walking back to my hotel room and who do I run into but comedic genius Richard Jeni. (The BEST of the "no sitcom yet" comics in America). I met Richard about 12 years ago at Comedy Castle back when I did stand up. He did not remember me (nor should he), but he was very personable and asked me about what I did now for a living and even asked some more in-depth questions about it. So after the brief conversation, I sort of switch sides of the hallway (from his right to his left) so he can continue talking to the other guy he was walking with. But he says, "what was that? switching sides?" I said "I was shifting over to another location so that you would not feel obligated to keep talking to me." He thought that was funny. "First of all that isnt going to work. and second, I dont mind at all. But it was polite of you." Funny how some people are genuinely approachable and don't do it just for the act of doing it. We talked about how he used to drive the staff crazy by doing 180 minutes instead of 90 (he doesnt do that anymore) and his gigs at the comedy castle (positive, although now its meadbowbrook, a concert venue). He is performing tonight as a special treat to the attendees of this confernce, so I get to see his show.

All in all, A blue ribbon day. Oh by the way, I am on Vegas in business. I will have a long poker post about Vegas when I return. Long and detailed.

This weekend its camping. Memorial Day camping. Up in the great white north (well upper michigan at least). 3 days with no electronics. Wish me Good Luck.

Blogger Freeroll A stars

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7330476

The concept of BIDDING on a hand

A very similar concept has also been discussed on 2+2 as "The Pot Philosophy" and by Mike Caro as the "value of a hand". This is my take on the topic.

What is one thing Phil Ivey does better than any other player? In my opinion, its that he evaluates the "value" of his situation before he looks at his cards. He takes a quick survey of the table and thinks about the faces and the moves that came before him. He may even think about something related to an overall opportunity that may or may not fit this hand. Then he looks at his cards for the first time.

There are huge advantages in this somewhat long and boring discipline. He never gives off a tell related to hand interest. He has already decided what hands are playable given the current circumstances. If he is going to bluff, he may have already decided to do so before he looks at his cards.

The current situation has a value (stack sizes, position, level, tilting playing in the pot, etc). This is called SITUATIONAL VALUE. Then you look at your hand and THAT has a value. Let’s call that HAND VALUE for obvious reasons. Then you look at the POT SIZE and THAT has a value, especially post flop. That is the RETURN VALUE.

(Let's not talk about future-value as that is for the advanced only. I understand it, but can't use it effectively yet as I don’t compete at that level yet. FUTURE VALUE is making a certain play to set up the opposite move later on. You ONLY should do this when it will work, which is a very distinct set of circumstances.)

It is now, with the action to us, that we are going to BID. It doesn't matter if it’s a call or a raise; I am still assessing whether of not the potential RETURN VALUE of the hand outweighs the risk of being involved in the hand. In addition, we are deciding the value in being in this hand vs. the risk / reward paradigm.

So how do we decide what the BID should be? In high level terms, its like any other auction bid. Do we value to pot more than we value our current bid? If so, that is evidence to proceed. Do we think that our bid is the winning bid? Is that our intent? Poker is unique in that the pot has its own marketing program. As it gets larger, it advertises as such. So do we wish to make the pot more attractive, or do we wish to make our bid vs. its current value? If we make a pot size bet to protect top pair, that is a beginner move. If we make a 3/4 pot bet because we believe that our TP is probably good, but the texture of the board is luke warm so we need to protect it, then this is a more advanced play. But if we make the same 3/4 pot bet because we assess the value of the pot and our assessed value of the hand and think that we don't desire a showdown here based on value of the hand vs. our goals, we BID 3/4 pot to see if the other player will BID more or FOLD. We have made a more advanced play now despite making the same bet. We chose 3/4 of the pot because based on what we were willing to bid on the hand, we have to determine if we are going to win it right here and if we did win it right here, did we PAY the right price.

If we value this POT more for strategic reasons, we may adjust our bid UP. If we value this POT for return on investment reasons, we may bid LESS and accept more long term risk for less short term risk. (A dangerous business in NLHE, but not as much so in Omaha).

The chips you invest are gone once they are in the pot. At any given time, you are going to BID on the pot, knowing that you lose your bid chips whether or not you win the auction. The closer you BID is to the PERFECT value bid at that time, the better you are playing.

You need to make this calculation. Some do it by instinct, some by feel, some by math. But you are making a BID decision. Are you making good ones? If you can't think about poker in these terms, how can you expect to beat players who do?

Your got Questions? We got Answers!

Questions courtesy of http://www.tripjax.com/

1. What is the biggest mistake people make at a NL table?
Playing. Poker is -EV.
Secondly, they don't control the size of the pot properly. They win only when others make bigger mistakes than their own.

2. What is the biggest mistake people make at a Limit table?
Pretneding that limit is anything other than a math game.

3. Why do you play poker?
I have been a game player since I was a kid. Computer games, war games, parlor games, even road rallies, but not games of chance. To this day, I have no taste for table games. But poker is a battle of wits without a huge learning curve in explaining the rules. I would have just as much fun if I did not play for money (assuming everyone else took it seriously).

4. If you weren't playing poker, what would you be doing?
Some other battle of wits. Before I found poker, I hosted a weekly game night on Saturdays. We also drank alot of Mai Tais. I even have a published board game under my belt. ("Bootleggers" is available at Barnes and Noble this fall.)

5. What is your favorite poker book and why?
Harrington's book on NLHE. Far and away the easiest system to understand and implement. After that, I like "the 48 laws of power". I mean, lets face it. When *I* watch survivor, I fast forward through those stupid competitions and just watch the politics. Now that is riviting.

6. Who is your favorite poker player and why?
Phil Hellmuth. He isn't afraid of expressing his frustrations which I consider ammusing.

7. Which poker player do you dislike the most and why?
Annie Duke. Because I met her. Nuff said.

8. Do your coworkers know about your blog?
Few if any.

9. What is the most you have won in a cash game or MTT (both live and online)?
I won a nice $600+ purse once in a local $40 tournamnet.

10. What is the most you have lost in a cash game or in one day total (both live and online)?
$200 at the castle at the winter WPBT. The guy on my left was lying in wait and I got caught with second nuts, TWICE. My loses never had previously nor since have ever gone into 3 digits.

11. Who was your first poker blog read?
It was the Lord Admiral poker podcast!!!

12. What satisfies you more, your aces holding up for a big pot or a bluff working for a big pot?
Neither. I like a well plaid hand. Period. One where I correctly work out if I am ahead or behind and make the correct move.
Ok, that is bullshit. Its a big bluff baby!

13. Why do you blog?
I have always been a closet writer. Comes from my years in comdey (improv and standup). But I feel that immersion in something is good for the brain. Helps it commit to learning things... and stuff.

14. Do you read blogs from an RSS reader like bloglines or do you visit each blog?
RSS only. No time for browsing. I got a life. -Ok, I have a job.

15. Would you rather play poker for a living than do what you currently do for a living?
I think if I played for a living, all the fun would be drained out of it. I enjoy it as a hobby.

16. Do you wear a tin foil hat on occasion?
I am not superstitious, but I did once exercise my suck-out demons with a sacrifice.

17. If you had to pin it down to one specific trait, what does a great poker player have (or do) that separates them from an average player?
"They know where they are at." (Mike Madasow)
I think in terms of Brain attributes, they are adept at "complex pattern recognition".

18. Is Drizz the coolest person on the planet for naming his baby Vegas?
I hope so. They might have said that decades ago about the Hiltons.

19. What is your primary poker goal and are you close to accomplishing it?
I am always on the cusp of achieving my goal. To become a consistent whining (sic) player.

20. What is your primary online site and why?
Poker Stars. I feel it offers the highest level of competition.

21. What site do you dislike and why?
Party. There are too many to list.

ready, touchdown... hut,hut,hut, HIKE!

Ok, fellow amateurs, lend me your ears. The level of competition out there is getting better as more and more of the "players who saw poker on TV" get bored of losing and stop playing.

So, what are you doing to improve your game? Are you the type of player who PRACTICES poker by scrimmaging, or do you just show to play on game day? If you are not performing drills nor finding ways to practice elements of the game, then either you are already to good for it to matter or you are not getting better.

With that in mind, here are the top 3 poker drills you can practice this week. I went through a bad spell recently and went back to drills. I cashed in 2/3 of my last tournaments after running dry for weeks.

Drill #1: Make a list of top 10 rules YOU WILL NEVER BREAK. Write them down. Tape them to the monitor. Now play. DONT BREAK THE RULES.

Drill #2: Tighten up. I mean "beginner tight". You must play 12% or LESS from non-blind positions. In the SB, you MUST fold if you dont have atleast a 2-gapper. NO 3 HOLERS, not even suited. Use the extra time to WATCH the flow of the tournament or table. See how a table ebbs and flows from loose to tight. Not you, the table. Its not always about you. Now, when you see the table start to get foldy, watch THIS TABLE for where a steal would work best. BUT, do not steal. Just watch for validation.

Drill #3(my favorite) : Give yourself THREE chips. Place them next to the keyboard. Each time you bet POST FLOP with not even a pair, discard a chip. When you use up your 3 chips, you are no longer allowed to bet/push post flop without a pair. period. (you may call, but I dont recommend it). This will force you to stop pushing in early rounds from bad posiion. You will be AMAZED at how much further you go in a tournament. (for advanced players, give yourself 1 new chip each level at levels 3+).

I ASSURE you that this will improve your game. Try it and see.

ADDENDUM: Questions related to continuation bets. You may continuation bet and not discard a chip IF:
1. You were the raiser before the flop
2. You isolated to 1 opponent

Donkey challenge update: I am a donkey. 'nuff said. I play way too much for fun and thus my bankroll suffers. I think my $ at PS is down to like $90. Sad really.

...so does the fool to his folly

Why do I keep playing at Poker Stars? I know its the hardest field/engine to beat consistenly! So why do I keep going back? Because I have something to prove. I just hope I figure out what the hell it is.

Mothers day was once again a knees-bent running about day. I visited so many mothers, that there has to be an offensive joke in it somewhere.

I also seem to be perpetually broke, despite making a decent living. Where does it all go? Why does it keep going? Does it have a destination in mind when it leaves?

I bubbled my last two practice sessions at the 45 player SnGs. This time I was in the top 5 most of the way, then my A8s made a steal attempt that was picked off by the BB with A3o. WTF? and... IGHN. Can't be sad though. As TJ says, "you get your money in ahead, its all you can do." Feh!

I am Brian and so is my wife!

I am going to challenge two very large assumptions in EARLY ROUND NLHE tournament play.

1. You always want to be in control of the hand by betting, pushing and being generally aggressive. This forces players to REACT to you.

2. The GAP principle applies in early rounds.

A new way of thinking:

1. In the EARLY stages of a tournament (say level 1 or 2), it is much better to judge the strength of your opponents hands and make the maximum amount of money by calling players down. Too many players are too loose and too aggressive.

2. The GAP principle is INVERSE in early rounds. You want to try and hit a big hand vs. a pre-flop raiser because players are trying too hard to play big pots. If you miss, you fold. If you hit, you let him bet off his chips.

Some days you just cant get rid of a bomb

That quote is from Batman the movie. Imagine being drunk in a bar, at 1:30 am, at a gaming convention, and your 19 years old and so is the drinking age. And THAT movie is playing. What a riot.

ok, so the scene is Batman running around trying to throw away a oversized, cartoon like bomb with a fuse. Each time he turns a corner, he runs into another encounter which prevents him from throwing the bomb away. Nuns, baby carriage, family, even birds! Hilarity ensues.

Last night, I played in a game of amateur players. It is an interesting setup as its a 50 player freezout NLHE, but you start with a shallow stack. 110 in chips, level starts at 1/2. This may seem like an M of 30, but if you assume that a hand will cost you about 10-20 chips to see a showdown, you can ill afford to be wrong even once. Not only that, but the tables are EIGHT handed, not 9 or 10. So you play more hands. Our table for SEVEN handed and one of the guys was playing for only his second time and another guy has a bad hand, so dealing was slow. Fewer hands, shorthanded, shallow stack, how do you play?

Well, I played simple solid. I played about 8 hands and ended up blowing the escape hatch on all of them (and correctly too!). I was behind on all 8 flops. And when I did not see a flop because am early position player raised, I would have flopped trips and the like. I could just not win a hand. Finally, I get dealt AK, flop a king and get chased down by KJ (as expected) who hit the two pair on the turn. They player would have stayed with kicker on TP, so with my stack size the way it was, I tried to keep the other two around with middle pair longer. It worked, and Looze Lloyd took down the monster pot with his Kings up.

Loose Lloyd has a VERY interesting way to play and I will put forth a very interesting set of postulates in my next post...

I am going to challenge two very large assumptions in NLHE tournament play.

Talking to ya cordless!

I am over in London on business right now. I have never played cards in London, mostly because I am a cheap bastard and the exchange rate (2 for 1) keeps me from being able to sit at the table without balking. So, I have never looked up the GUTSHOT card room. But on Friday, I am sitting at a cafe with my wife, who is wearing a FullTilt Hat (courtesy of Bill Rini). Out of nowhere, a bloke comes up and asks us if we play poker. One of them was tournament director Matt Savage. Apparently there was a European tournament series this weekend at the card room and it was only 4 blocks from our hotel. How could I resist?

Well, it was hard not to go there, but pretty easy to not play. The card room, by casino standards, was reminiscent of a newsroom from the 1970s. No paint, no décor, unless you count a poster of Negraneau on the wall. (He has posters?!) The tournament had taken up all the tables on the main floor (all 10?). But next door there were cash tables in the “lower level”. Well, the lower level was NOT as nice as my basement. It had room for 4 tables, 3 of which were full. No one else managing the place down there. This was obviously not the right day to visit them.

Not only that, there were about 2 dozen players playing at Gutshot.com via terminals? Why would you play online whilst AT the casino? Am I just a spoiled American with my internet and computer in my own house with its shower and its AC current? Gez.

So, I am here for one more night, and again doubt I will go over to play cards because there is so much to do in London with the wife. Plus, we live within 30 minutes of 2 very nice card rooms, so there is no feeling that we have to play cards. Next time I am in London, and alone, I’ll give them a whirl.

In some non-poker news, I ran into the web site of an old roommate. Timharrod.com Turns out he is now a writer for Conan O’Brien in NYC. He always had that great sense of humor that you could just envy from off-stage. Great to see other people (whom you don’t hate) be successful!

Consequences, Schmonsequences

I CALLED off my stack last night. Are you kidding me? After all this time playing cards, after 2 hours of crawling back from a crippled stack, I CALL off my stack?! Heeeee –f’n –Haaaw

My list of rules that I am going to put on a card, laminate, and then staple to my f’n head so I don’t forget.

1. Don’t eat the peppered beef.
2. Play against the grain.
3. A pair is just a pair (even when its TP or an overpair).
4. Tighten up after level 2.
5. The large the field, the harder you push marginal edges. (also see inverse)
6. Try to see flop from superior position with calling hands if Q > 1 and M>15.
7. Its ok to be a push monkey after the bubble, but not when you are deep stacked.
8. Risk the appropriate amount. (MAKE GOOD DECISION BASED ON M,Q and field size. You need to know where you are while risking the appropriate amount)

Riddle me this, Batman

Today I am going to put forth an interesting Poker riddle:

It is a halfway (90 out) through a 180 MTT. You are in MP with QQ and its folded around to you. You raise to 4xBB-5xBB (some amount slightly larger than 3xBB). The button, thinking for a while, calls. You put him on either A9-AQ or 99-TT. For this sake of argument, lets include KK because he is always cautious with KK.

Lets same this player is TYPICAL. By that he makes logical decisions based on being reasonably solid.

The flop is A65 (rainbow just to simplify the issue).

You are now FTA.

Scenario 1: Your Q is .5 and his is 3. He makes this call knowing that 40% of your stack is committed already.

Scenario 2: Your Q is 1 and his is 1. He makes the call for unknown reasons

Scenario 3: Your Q is 3 and his is .5 and its midway through a MTT

Scenario 4: Same as scenario 2 but he TELLS you before the flop he has AT.

In which scenarios do you Check, which do you Bet, and which do you PUSH?
And if you PUSH in scenario 1, what is your EV? Positive or Negative?

The ULTIMATE go broke hand

I am in the $4/180 and I am SICK of the limpers. So sick in fact, that from MP I raise it 4xBB with 32s. Not one, but TWO of the limpers call. The flop is A33. Now is there ANY way you can EXPECT to be behind here? That's why I raised. My 3 HAS to be good here. And when the MP player bets, I immediately think, "GREAT! He has TP!!!! Now I can get my money in there and he will call off his stack!"

Turns out, one of the limpers called my 4xBB raise with 43o. How can I put someone on that?

But wait, I am 95% to split here as in order not NOT split, one of us would have to make a ONE CARD FLUSH with four on the board...

IGHN. Are you KIDDING ME? How did this turn into a bad beat story? Sick.

If it weren't for bad luck...

I'd have no luck at all... remember that line from Hee-Haw? But this time, it was *I* who was the donkey. After playing pretty decent ring game poker for an hour, I had 2 pair on a KQ2T board. A player who has not played a hand to a showdown in TWO HOURS goes all in. Only AJ beats me, but what else can you EXPECT? I HEE-HAW call and SUCKOUT when a K comes on the river. I feel dirty.

I played in the $20/180 at stars. This is my all-time favorite tournament/SnG. But this time I was out surprisingly early. I was defending a straight vs. the BB on a board of AT2TK with 3 spades. So, my QJ is a straight, but I could be against a back-doored flush or a BB special boat. When he goes all-in, I once again eat the peppered-beef and call. He had T2o for a boat. Could I READ that? Probably not. But can I justify once again eating the peppered-beef? No way. HEE-HAW.

Card protectors

I am going to post about the value of card protectors over at Lasvegasvegas.com

Its a short, fun read. Here is an excerpt:

There is extra value in these personalized tokens that a mere chip can not duplicate. That is one of association. You are supplying other players at the table a mnemonic or memory association to aid their brain in remembering all the times you bet and made them fold. You can thus “craft an image” at the table for that player, making it easier to trap him when you have a big hand. If you always bet after the flop, “he will remember that the ‘pewter frog’ always bets after the flop”. When you know what he knows, you have an advantage you can exploit. (I leave that part up to you. Enjoy.)

Time has come today...

"I am leaving to pick up the pizza, be back in 10!" and she left.
I opened up the laptop and fired up Party poker. I wanted a quick, low stakes NLHE game that I could drop into for 2-3 rotations and log off. I knew that being rushed would mean I may end up down a few bets, but I had not played in four days and just could not resist.

First rotation of table, down 6 BB.
Second Rotation of table, now up 40 BB (someone paid off my flopped set. more to the point, someone with TP tried to push me off my set)
Third rotation of table, not up 50 BB and time to logoff.

Best return ever as it was 50BB in 15 minutes or a rate of 200BB/hr! W00T!

So what if it ins't a valid sample!!!... um... shut up!

Same game, different animals

And the wolves turn into sheep... and all becomes as clear as an un-muddy lake...

I went down to the Greektown casino here in Detroit on Monday night. I sit down at the "beginner" table. 1-2NL 50/100 buy in and its a new table. 10 players with stacks of 100 each. no big stack. and so it begins...

And it became apparent, quite quickly I might add, that I was one of the better players at the table. And even though there were no giant hands, and I had an average run of cards (1 big pair), the chips came my way. Slowly and surely. I booked a 70% return.

Seat 1 : a ghost. It was as if he was not there. Not a factor at all.
Seat 2: me
Seat 3: A semi-solid player who could hold his own but overplayed hands, especially TP.
Seat 4: A semi-loose player who was trying to win big hands by calling raisers with any two cards hoping to hit 2pair or better. He did once, calling a raise to 15 with K8s and hitting 2 pair. Despite this OBVIOUS pattern, he got paid off. Said it was his first time in a B&M card room.
Seat 5: A complete moron. Really. I especially liked the “horny fox” baseball cap. NEVER knew where he was in a hand and re-bought twice.
Seat 6-7: the rotating seats
Seat 8: Loose to the point of stupid. He would play at pots at random, like that would fool anyone. NEVER knew if he was behind but he must have assumed he always was because his bet were intended to be pressure bets.
Seat 9: Tight weak. Weird player who looked like it was his first time in a crowded room.

and it was soooo easy to know where you were at. They reacted to everything, but never did anything that forced me to react or make a tough decision. I never even had to gamble. I even had TWO river value bets paid off. It was fun.

Value Raises:
Q2s from the BB hand. Free Flop. All check flop of QT5. Turn is a rock. River is a rock. Value bet on river. TWO callers paid off my TPLK. (top pair lousy kicker).

42o from SB, Flop is 742. He bets POT. I call. He bets same amount (note: betting the same on the turn as the flop is my weakness indicator.) I call. River is a Queen and he bets 20 into about 50. I figure I am good here and can get one last bet out of him. I raise 20 and he mucks?? $20 into $70 and he mucks? Never saw that coming. But still a nice pot.

Being proud of bad results

buy in for 200 (new table). Later players bought in for more, including the limper here, who bought in for 300.

I am playing KT in the Utg. I make it 7. I know its a marginal hand, but I folded for 2 hours and I figure to get some respect here. The MP who seems alright calls, the SB calls. That is a pot of 23. The flop is K95 rainbow. The SB (FTA) bets 15 (pot 38). This is an OBVIOUS steal, so I come over the top for 30 (pot 53) expecting the limper and the SB to fold to such confidence.

The limper raises to 90. That is a monster raise and if either of us called, would easily have been the biggest hand of the night.

The SB QUICKLY folds (he would not have called my raise) and I am left to PONDER. I have been playing two hours and not seen a flop. Now this guy is kinda new to the table, but had no reason to believe I am bluffing. I figure him for AK minimum as its just too much of a bet and he cant expect that with AK I would fold. He might have a set and already put me on AK and figures to go for my money now before I draw out on him... Yes, that seems the most logical. I fold.

Another hour of folding. And then I fly home. Down $20 for the trip.

But after reviewing the dicipline and the results, I really have to be happy. Any hand I would have played, I would have played from behind. And I would have lost a ton more money.

continued next post...

flux

that's all I can say. I played decent poker for hours on end last night at the 1-2 NL table and ended up down $30. Not so much a loss as simple flux. And there were plenty of opportunities to win large pots. Just none of them were mine. It was the return of famed and under-rated super friend El-Foldo. He fold and fold and fold and fold and fold. fold fold fold, fold fold fol, the itchy and scratchy show....

Its been a long time since I saw this bad a run. connectors only under the gun, button and late position featuring 2s and 3s. Never did I see the famed jack-hammer so much in a single evening. And the players, oooo. It was killing me. Madasow is right. Players rarely seem to know where they are at.

I lost a couple of hands on a paired board discovering I was behind, or calling because the other player was underbettering. I won a hand on a board of TT5 and two diamonds when I bet out and the girl was literally contemplating whether or not she was going to "chase the flush". In the end, she folded, worried about the Ten I obviosuly had. I had AA. I had 88, 77 and 44 over the course of the 3 hours also, only the 77 held when it made a one card flush to win a tiny pot.

So, about 5 hours of poker at 1-2NL and ended down $20. And despite being one of the better players at the table, the lone opportunity I had to win a big hand was when I folded (incorrectly I think) AT on a KQ board to an underbet. The turn was a Q. But it was the second hand of the night, and I dont like to tango until I have seen a rotation or two. Otherwise, its impossible to put your opponent on a hand.

Well, I hope it goes better next time. I was dealt about 200 hands last night, I think I got to play less than 20. Now that is dicipline.

So, what do I take away from all of this? Just because you are bored of folding, you can't play T8o from MP. And this time, I didn't have to lose any money learning the lesson. I already knew it.

trip report day 1

I am continually amazed at how much easier it is to read basic play in a casino. 1. The game slows down from online
2. Internet players bluff too much
3. It Is EASY to spot the regulars because they cant resist talking to the dealers.

I played in the Alladin $30+$30 last night. 55 players, most of whom thought they knew how to play cards. In most cases, they played level 1 poker. I was a table one, so I never moved until the final table, so I got to see some players for quite some time. On the dealers left was a guy who really looked like he understood poker, but in the end could not slow to the pace of brick and mortar and bluffed off his chips. Seat 2 was tighty mctight, who bleed to death. Seat 3 was young gun, who watched lots of poker on tv, but never knew when he was behind. Seat 4 for a girl who also knew how to play, but wanted to get her money in pre-flop. Seat 5 was crocadile dundee who would limp into every pot, chase every draw, and only fold to BIG reraises when he had zero. He would cost me half my stack at the 2/3 mark. He limps and I find KQ in the BB. I pop it and he calls. Flop is A54 and I check. He checks. Turn is a 8 and when I check he again checks. The river is a Queen and when I bet he raises. I could not put him on AQ here. Did I play it poorly? maybe, but he would have called me down and I did not intend to call any bet on the flop or the turn. seat 6 was a rotating "bust me" seat. Seat 7 started wtih a tourist, who on the second hand put a huge re-raise on my pocket TT. I let it go. He busted in the first hour. Seat 8 and 9 were internet players. Mechanically sound, but very predicatble.

I finihsed 9th our of 55 (paid 6) when my AK suckered a KQ all in and the river brings the JT9 straight.

EV -$60

Checked out the new Ceasar's card room. Nice and open, with little fanfair. Well run. Mix of tourists and regulars. Easy to spot both. The tourist would donk off their entire bankrolls like they were resigned to the fact. One guy called my pot size re-raise having only looked at one of his cards!

Another guy sat down and raise it to 5x every hand, lost $300 in 15 mintues and left like he was unlucky. Unlucky? Gez, forgedaboutit

But, despite that dead money, I lost 3/4 of my winnings in two hands I had to let go to huge re-raises. And when one guy went on tilt and unloaded his chips onto the table over 5 hands, the best I could come up with was the jack-hammer. So, I left up a paultry $10.

EV +$10
Total for the day -$50.

Ate at a hawaiian themed cheesburger place. Worst food ever. Total negative EV. And my chap stick? $3.50!

And you know what else I just noticed about vegas? They are some consumed with creating their imaginary casino worlds, that there are no US flags anywhere. Now, I have not checked out NYNY to see if they have one, but it really seems at times that Vegas does not want to be associated with the US. What's so bad about the US? Especially is your RUN A CASINO?

Well we're on the road to Vegas, we really do get around...

I am off to Vegas this week on, get this, business! That's right, as fasr fetched as it seems. So, hopefully I'll have a trip report where I managed to sneak off one night and play in a tourney. Maybe on the the Monday night tourneys at the Alladin. Who knows? Not I.

donkey invitational update

On my last $10 I entered a $10 tourney. I now have $70 of my $200 recovered. I hope to build some momemtum now...

Peter Gunn

I love old mystery shows, and I love the classic noir serials like Peter Gunn. The attempts of the writers and producers to include a mood, not just a look, with a show. (Peter Gunn is where Blake Edwards toned his writing skills for what would be a great run of movies.) But what the hell does that have to do with cards?

If you wish, you can now listen to Staccato's Theme by Elmer Bernstein as you read this. I know I am.

Well, Peter would stoically progress through the mystery until he finally hit that breaking point. That point where he figures it out and stops looking, and starts finishing. That magical point can be the heart of a movie moment, just ask M. Night Shyamalan about the Sixth Sense. And that can be the point of disaster. Just ask M. Night Shyamalan about, well, anything else. You see, it’s hard to hit that moment at the right time with the right move. It’s the fundamental difference between cash games and tournaments.

And just as an aside, the timing and the number of these breaking points swings based on the size of the tournament. 18 people, usually just 1. 45 people, maybe two. 90 people, typically 2 but maybe 3. Big field tournament? Well, who can say? But its not dozens. Sometimes it can be as small as 3. You have to be ready.

And when they happen, you have to win them. Its not enough for the other guy to fold. That is a normal moment of a classic western showdown like where Blondie stares down Tuco. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060196/) That doesn’t create the break through moment. It delays it. There has to be conflict and resolution. Without this climactic moment, you garner neither momentum nor enough chips to be threatening.

Last two days, I played in two pretty tough tournaments. Both about 90 players. One for a WSOP $1500 seat (Blogger tournament) and once for just the prestige (WWdN) Tuesday night. I finished 13th and 4th. In both, I had to win one hand from behind. A big one. And its that momentum to propels you. Sure I won 4-5 times that many while ahead, but I was on the suck-out end of one each tournament to keep the chips coming. In the WWdN I finally went down 4th when my KT lost to QT. Bad beat? Hardly. The blinds were forcing us to play these hands like they were gold. And I was really only a… hey… I had him dominated. **ck. . Ok, anyway, I got my money in ahead. What else can you do?

When you are in a tournament, the trick is to never get into a situation where your pre-flop bet is non-threatening. One of the best ways to avoid this is to build up chips. This gives you flexibility and options. You are looking for those breakthrough moments. There is no use in avoiding them. Another nod to the Matt Matros article (http://www.mattmatros.com/), you can’t avoid marginal advantage pushes in a big field tournament. You need your breakthrough moments.

Move over Peabody and Sherman

Its time once again for Columbo’s Unsolvable Mysteries

As a kid, I loved reading Encyclopedia Brown. For those of you not nerdy enough, he was a middle school dectective who channeled Sherlock Holmes. The books were light reading, and the mysteries often a single chapter. Solvable, although improbable, scenarios involving ice cream or lunch money.

Then, as I grew up, I would watch shows like Jack Klugman in that dead body show Quincy and secretly read me mom’s old Nancy drew collection.

I thought I was in heaven when they put Ellery Queen on TV. But I can't tell you why. Each show was more of a contest to guess the relevant info, much less the solution (see also the books, which ran similar). In one show, even at a tender age, I remember yelling at the TV, “bring me the head of that writer!”. It was justified, I can assure you. It was as if the writers were trying to prove how smart they were by making the mystery overtly devious and confusing.

So, in the vein of unsolvable mysteries (like Pluribus Enigma and Jack the Ripper), here now are Columbo’s unsolvable mysteries…

You are in early position with 44. You know that this is a difficult place. Many players would pass, others would raise. Some limp and fold to any second raise. In this case I take the latter. The cutoff (who is 1/4 of your stack) makes the 4xBB raise and it folds back to me (no blinds called). I can either make this call on implied odds OR I can fold saying I dont have enough callers to make it worth while. I decide since stacks are deep that I will call. The flop is 23Q rainbow. There are 3 options:
1. Bet out at least half the pot.
2. Check and fold (weak tight)
3. Check-raise to show strength.
I decide on option 3. So, I ask you now. Was it a mistake to call the raise vs. a short stack? Was it a mistake to check-raise someone who is "ready to go"? Did it even make sense to play the hand? And when he comes over the top of the check-raise, did he play KQ/AQ or is he bluffing?

And finally, if he does have AQ, how do you avoid losing money? (When the flop comes statistiaclly you will be ahead about 76% of the time here.)

Here I am again in this bubble world, and

You’re so far away from me

So far away from me
So far I just can’t see
So far away from me
You’re so far away from me

ARGH!

I watched in jealous horror as Poker Princess (maigrey.livejournal.com) did what I could not. She put together a final run. I am running above avg the entire tournament thanks to 2 breaks. Now, I get the best of her in a hand and I am at about $19k and she was some amount less. That was the last I saw of her as in the next 20 minutes she bolted from just behind me to over 100k in chips.

All I could do was stare like the Coyote after the road runner goes "beep beep" and is GONE in a puff of smoke.

I finished at about 14th, there were about 90 players, and it paid just 2 spots. Once again, the lean bubble hands were the ones that cost me. Once again, its hard to pinpoint the breakdown since my hands became a one of those movie cliches where you hear the echoing voices and the transparent shapes float past with occasional laughter. Only these shapes were K6o, Q2s, 45s, 6To, etc. Lots of QTo facing a raise. It was 2am, so I did not get to see who won, but I can only assume with twice the chips of even second play, she was in the catbird seat.

WW kept telling me, M not Q. But it is VERY hard for me to believe that. How can I be ok with an M of 17 if my Q is .9 and there are only 2 payouts. You see my dilemma??

The Leopard and his spots (aka A saucer full of secrets)

It’s an über update! Contained in this post are actually 3.5 blog entries. (Now with more blog!) It all started last Friday when I could not attend my normal Friday night game. So instead I decided to throw a SnG for others who did not play in that game. I got 5 others to come over and play back to back 6 handed SnGs. Deep stack and short handed. Like Jack Benny and Mary Livingstone, they go great together. I really was whooping it up too, being more gregarious than Scotty Nguyen with a Scotch. I was in my element, having fun and something wonderful happened. I took down the first SnG. The second one was a different tale. I had much more to drink, at times was almost rude (but I hope not), and on the last hand of the night, got to say “dems quads bitches” as I took down the second SnG. Interestingly, this is not the first time I have played this “style” and done well. The Leopard is happy with his spots when they are short tabled and deep stacked.

The next day, I play for 5 minutes online while I was waiting for Mrs. Columbo to get ready for a dinner party. I turned $10 into $25 and left. Good stuff.

I read an article in Card Player stating that we should work on our game through other methods (other than just playing poker). The author of the article offered no real exercises, just some loose suggestions. But the advice is sound. But what to do about it? (wait for it…)

Next was Tuesday night tourney time. But I missed the entry window?! Oh no! I blew it. What to do? Well, I figured last week during my run at the prize, fellow blogger WW sweated me and encouraged me. So, I guess it was my turn. One good turn deserves another.

So, do you remember last weeks Tuesday post? Me neither, but remember that for a minute. At the beginning of the tournament, WW gets a bit below average and has to battle back. It’s a solid battle with some well played hands. Then a golden opportunity presents itself and he triples up. This is a big deal. M is great, Q is >2. Sound familiar? It should. loyal readers will remember this as it was the exact position I found myself in the previous week. And here is the thing. Despite making all valid decisions, the result was the same. Loss of momentum and out around 10-12ish. WHY?

It was like I watching a movie of someone playing me in a tournament. Creepy. Kookie. Mysterious and Spooky. I got to watch myself through a window. Sure they were completely different hands and completely different circumstances. But as the next day rolled on, I continued to see a parallel. Why did we burn out when everything was going our way? I have stumbled upon and important question, but do I have an answer?

Meanwhile, at another table, our hero joins an O8B game. I buy in and on the very first hand, I play like a plebe and donk off an entire buy in when I make a completely donkey/unjustifiable call on the turn. Amateur hour from yours truly. I buy back in and don’t lose another hand, but only win back about 30% of what I lost on that one hand. Why? In this case, it was because I played the first hand like it was play chips that did not matter. Playing well always matters. Always. What happens when you don’t concentrate? You lose. Simple enough. That is an easy lesson. It’s not like swimming where you can play in the pool or swim laps. Either play to win or don’t play at all.


Please have a point!!

Ok. Ok. I will. Let’s bring it full circle now.

Back to my Tuesday night observation session. I suggest you take time out to sweat someone. Especially if they play a similar style as you do. Watch the hands, watch the results. Learn something about yourself.

My observations...

Stage 1 of the tournament. Blinds are so small they are almost invisible. We make positive choices and try to get a foot hold. We all have had this drilled into us. Hand selection, position, etc.

Stage 2 of the tournament. Time to chip up. Accumulate. Survive. Advance. Make good choices. Loose players stumble into each other. For every 10 of them, 9 go out and 1 has a ton of chips. For the rest of us, its about seizing opportunity. And depending on the size of the field, you may need to push marginal advantages very hard. (See excellent article by Matt Matros about why this is so)

Stage 3. Where the rubber meets the road. It is time to change gears often now. Loose when they are tight, tight when they are loose. Sounds easy, but it is not. The loose players are unable to tighten up and self destruct. The rest of us try to prey on them now. But what happens as we wade through the K7 and the J9 hands? If we are not first to the pot, then we either have to call a bet to see a flop with marginal holdings, or we have to wait for our turn to be first to the pot.

Its time to switch to TV mode. The poker you see on TV. All the bad habits we had to closet away to make it to this point now have to be unleashed and risked. Slow playing, pushing K7, Middle and bottom pair play. Aggression for aggression sake. These are the bubble formulas, the ones that we get to practice the least. Its no longer good enough to be solid, you need to use fear, intimidation and pressure. TV poker. The poker we mock all the other times.

You need VALUE for big hands. Even drawing hands. You may not wish to get your money in pre-flop with KK. WHY? Normally, you cant afford to get knocked out. But now, you cant afford to have zero callers. You need their dumb-ass, low percentage, blind defending hands in your pot. Not alot of them, maybe not even 2 of them, but you need 1. You cant win the final stage of a tournament only playing pre-flop. Its just too hard and too much is left to chance.

I hope I am right. I need this last peice of the puzzle to come into focus...

WPBT Summer Classic Update

http://www.thisisnotapokerblog.com/archives2/000338.html

Courtesy of April

Pillow Of Winds

There comes a time in everyone’s endeavors where he feels like Sisyphus, pushing the boulder up the hill until the end of time. I remember talking with a friend one summer about his golf game. He had reached the point where he shot around 90 for 18 holes. He was happy. And he furthermore made a statement. “I don’t ever want to be better than this. Everyone I play with someone who is better than this, he feels the pain of every bad shot. After 18 holes, they are miserable. I play for fun and I want it to stay that way.” I never agreed with that because when I stop getting better, I lose interest because I no longer enjoy the act.

This week, I may have reached this fork in the road with poker.

Last night, I played in a tournament where in level 1 I really mixed it up. At the end of level 1, I had ½ my stack left. I was chatting with a fellow player who had the same run of cards and was also now at 50% of starting stack size. I mentioned how sweet the victory is when you have to play back from the brink of elimination.

He went out a while later, but I battled on. I like my short stack play and got some great folding equity out of some otherwise marginal hands like 88. I am playing my heart out, but at the first break, I am still below average. I continue to play and play, striving to make good decisions. I don’t even really have to win a race. At the second break, I continue to accumulate chips, but I am still below average.

We are down to 3 tables and I am far down in the standings. But again, I accumulate chips. My Q fluctuates between .5 and .7 the entire time. My M gets as high as 12 and the levels were generously timed. But now I have to make moves. And I do. I finally get a couple of hands back to back where I capitalize on my opponents incorrect calls. And then I have two big hands. Both times I am ahead and I stay ahead. Suddenly, I am the chip leader with 16 left.

Action is TIGHT and often the first 3xBB steal raise takes down the pot. Very often in fact. This goes on for most of a level.

I fluctuate between 2nd and 4th until the next break. I am 3rd or 4th in chips at 9600. The first hand after the break, its folded to me on the Button. I put in a 3x steal raise to 1800 and the SB goes all in for 900 more. I made a fatal mistake. I did not notice that the SB was pot committed already. A stupid mistake. And one that was so embarrassing, I COMPOUNDED my mistake by folding to the all-in which was only 900 more. I was getting 5 to 1 which justifies any two cards. I had Q2s. So, now I just made two mistakes and fall to 7th place out of 12. But neither mistake is fatal, and certainly I am not going to tilt over this. I am still in fine position.

The very next hand, I decide I can take advantage of my misfortune. Here is the thing about mistakes. You can capitalize on this just like an opponent does. You have portrayed and image and you can capitalize on it by realize how others will view your action following it. Utg+1 makes his steal raise, but its 4xBB not the typical 3xBB. I have AK in LP and its 2400 to me. Raising to 3600 makes no sense if I have only 7800 in chips. Calling is just plain donkey-ish. So, I take the folding equity, knowing darn well I am ahead no matter what. Why?

1. He raised 4xBB and not 3xBB. 3xBB has not been getting called very often. So I have to assume that if he had AA or KK he would be LESS, maybe 2.5xBB.
2. Since the steals are often with Ax, I am 80 to win the hand if he has Ax.
3. If by some chance he has 22-QQ, I am no worse than 45%.
4. I may get him to fold here with an all-in. But I think he might call with AQ or AJ and get burned. That because I lost the last hand and made a weird fold.

I make the re-raise all in and he thinks and calls, as expected. He flips over AQ!!!! I am so happy, I am about to be the chip leader and with 14k in chips, I am almost assured a cash in place 6 or higher.

The flop is JQQ. IGHN.

I was so close… I may no longer be able to sleep… I understand I must win with AK and beat AK to win a tournament. Ironic is some ways, this was my only real race of the night.

What does it take to WIN a tournament? What piece of the puzzle eludes me?

I understand why you have to have a luckbox, but I resent the fact that I never will own one.

A return to the donkey invitational challenge

OH the pain of full disclosure. So I took my $200 and worked it down to $51. How? Mostly by playing $10 tournaments against bloggers and not placing, then playing $.25/.50 and allowing myself to get sucked out on in big pots for $25 a whack.

When I reached the $51, I could have thrown in the towel. I could have reloaded. But I didn't. I took the Chris Ferguson route. Turn $1 in $20k route. I started doing something I should have learned to do a long time ago. I started grinding. Buy in for the minimum, grind it to twice that size, and bank it. (This was the strategy that Ferguson used when he worked that $1 to $20k as I hear it.)

Two huge advantages that buck conventional wisdom:
1. You need a big stack to punish people. Just not true. Out playing them punishes them.
2. If you hit a big hand, you could have gotten a bigger payoff. Strangely not true. Well, that may be true but something else MORE than compensates for it. Other players view you as weak and are MORE WILLING to pay off your hands when they have more chips than you. REMEMBER THIS when you are playing short stacked poker.

I thought I was a good short stack player before. Ha, now I am really good. And I am forced to make more decisions than I thought I would. Every hand could be the set back that ruins my results.

Last night my win rate was 20BB/half hour. I was very happy with this considering that I ran TP into Aces TWICE. Once I escaped on the river because he got greedy, once I did not escape because he was a LAG. What does a LAG always do with Aces? Slow play. He was lucky I did not crack those aces.

And I even got a lecture!!! I am on the button and ALL fold to me. So I raise on any two cards, in this case 35o. The table would typically fold here, but BOTH blinds decided that they would call. The flop is 246. SB bets 2/3 pot. BB flops. I smooth call. The turn is a Ten. He bets again! I figure I will try the old "fake bluff". Remember, I am a SHORT STACK to him, and psychologically he thinks I can’t hurt him. So I push all in like I am on a desperate bluff. He calls. And he is pissed when I show the 35o. “Your (sic) not a good player”. Then someone else at the table jumps in and says, “yeah playing like that, you suck”. “playing 35o is stupid” etc. I just replied, “really? Bad?”.

I noticed they left the table when I continued to take hands. Why play 35o on the button? Come on! Three good reasons.

1. If I get in a showdown and lost, I can show the 35o and be tagged as an idiot. This is profitable.
2. If they fold the blinds, I pick free money and I can show the 35o and be tagged as a bluffer. This is profitable when you are grinding.
3. Because they EXPECT a certain range of cards, if I hit they may bet off their stack in a hopeless situation on pure bravado.

Most times its #1 or #2. That image cost me $.75 and will pay me about $10 over the course of the next hour. This time it was #3.

So, back to our invitational challenge. I have grinded (?) my way back from $51 to $85 in the last 180 minutes of play. And that includes another lost blogger tournament. I am learning to grind and its improving my game.

I even made a call on the river of an all-in bet. But this was different than the peppered meat. I knew I was ahead. Plus, he was a short stack who could not possibly hurt me. :)

My hopes? My dream here? That I can grind my way back to $100, then to $150, move up to $.25/$.50 again and push myself back over $200 for the first time this year. Pathetic for a so called winning player, eh? But beleive me. If I am talking to you in May and I am over $350, I will be a VERY happy camper.

How is everyone else doing in the donkey invitational? (see contest post in Jan)

Lassie eats the pepper meat

I am blessed with a horrible memory. I can watch a movie I saw last year and enjoy it like its the first time. But for some reason, some things stick with you. Images, snippets, jetsam. I remember a Lassie story book I was reading, for some random kid reason decades ago,. In it was a description of how Lassie was taught not to take food from strangers. When they gave her food in a bowl, it was fine. When they fed it out of their hands, it was wraught with pepper. Dogs learn stuff like that.

Calling an all in bet on the river is eating the pepper meat. I have had to learn this lesson NUMEROUS freaking times in the last two weeks. Including just now. OK!!! I GET IT. GIVE ME SOME F-ING WATER ALREADY!!!

Me learn stuff too. (hopefully)

A Poker Joke

Two guys are at the bar and one starts telling the other about the worst day of his life. He starts with getting up and finding that a leaky pipe and rotted out his bathroom floor and he has to have it all replaced. Then he finds his car stolen. After getting a ride to work, he is fired for being late.

His friend just nods and says, "Well, at least you played it well."

Sequels, Donkeys, and Diane Lane

The world's fastest suckout, the luckbox is the most unique and specialized member of the poker player family and can reach speeds of 70 BB/hour. Unlike other players, the luckbox has leaner hands, longer stacks, and has been referred to as the donkey of poker players. It is not an aggressive animal by nature, often choosing flight versus fight. With its weak jaws and small teeth, the price nature made it pay for luck, it cannot fight larger predators until a large pot presents itself. Then, despite being cornered and out numbered, the luckbox strikes and does the seemingly impossible as its strikes its prey dead, often leaving a shocked look on its victims face.

I am playing in a $20 PLO tournament last night. This is a league event, so finish place is important. I am playing the best PLO of my life. I am the zen of PLO. I am using position, reading hands and my relative strength as if I can see the cards. After a short while, I am 14th in a field of 56 without having the nuts a single time. Not once. I am playing my ass off and loving it. I feel alive and my mind is as clear as an frozen lake.

In Omaha, you are either drawing to the nuts or defending the current nuts. That is the general rule. But in Omaha, so much more than in Hold Em, position dictates control of the hand. From late position, you can choose to represent hands. In any other position, you are along for the ride (see first statement). "Learn it. Know it. Live it."

So when you decide to play JJT9 from LP and the flop is J73 rainbow, you have the current nuts. As a matter of fact, this is a tremendous flop for a set because all the draws are dogs. A rarity in Omaha.

Image my surprise when the big stack at the table, raises me after I bet this. My re-raise only makes him more committed and he shoves all his chips in. Ahhhhh. I call to see his bottom set and realize this is the best possible hand for me to see. No redraws, no straights possible, just a lesser set. He has but one out. I take this hand, double up, and I move up to 2nd or 3rd in chips before the break, having played excellent so far. I am feeling pretty good that I can cash in this one.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY MADE A SEQUEL TO POLTERGIST? WHO DOES THAT?"

And just like that, POOF, I am out. Not only out, but out EARLY so I missed a TON of leaderboard points. On a one outer. 4%. 25 to 1.

I could not speak. I am sure i typed some goodbyes, but I can't remember a word of it. I logged off completely. I wandered across the house. I ran into Mrs. Columbo playing on her laptop.

I told Mrs. Columbo about my adventure and she sprung into action. I watch with detached curiosity as she set out to help my mental state.


She opens up google image seach and conjures up this picture of a few donkeys. Cute. But the search page image of donkeys has a curious reult. A seemly unrelated, but obviously attached in some bizarre 6 degrees of seperation way, of Diane Lane.


What sense does she make here? Who can say? I don't even know who she is. But now Diane is part of Mrs. Columbo's plan. She becomes the "innocent" required for the ritual.

That's right, Mrs. Columbo has decided to exorcise the donkeys. She creates a small pyre using an altar (aka ashtray), and places the donkeys (our demons) and Diane Lane (our sacrifice) into the pyre and lights it up, chanting "begone luckbox demons".

Despite the ridiculous nature of her ritual, I can only smile and think to myself, “I hope it works”.

resonance and synchronicity

A seemingly random event that someone had to plan. Like the lady who goes to Caraboo to get coffee and asks for a bag. She makes a tiny attempt to use the bag to carry the coffee. And even though she figues our right away it is'nt going to work, she takes the bag with her. Symbolic bagage to her failed attempt to not let go of an inconceived move.

Do not do this at the table. If something is not working, get away without acknowledging the realization. Leave the bag on the table. Let everyone see it. Dont take it with you. Just remember it.

Then, when the set up circunstances present themselves again, you have a unique moment where you "know then what I know now". You have insight into how they will read the action. Now you can cater a little trap party.

Enjoy. And dont foget the donuts. Mmmmm, donuts.

Hep me Jebus

ok, let me start off by saying this. I have no idea where this title comes from. I mean, I know why I am using it as I am going to use a reference to Chris "Jesus" Ferguson. But the antecedent of the above quote? I have no idea.

Anyway, I decided to take a page from Chris' famous $1 to $20k efforts. Buy in for the minimum and leave when you double up (and bank it). The is contrary to what most people believe to be the right way to play no limit, but in testing it I would have to say the results are valid. You see, when you buy in for the minimum, others tag you as a loser. On top of that, when new players join the table, they don’t "eyeball" you as you are not a big stack. It also has a low risk variance which allows you to minimize loses if you end up at a table where people are drawing on you against the odds (or even colluding).

So, I bought in to the $.10/$.25 table for a wimpy $10. Not only did I bank $30 bucks (I could not even get off the table at $20 as players wanted to continue giving me money), I got LECTURED by a guy who badly misplayed AA.

I an in the cutoff and its folded around to me. I raise to 3xBB as I am first to act. If I am in this position and I have anything at all playable, I do this. I had 76o. I get a caller from the SB. The flop is like T85 (I don’t even remember the suits). I bet about ½ the pot and he calls. The turn is the 4, making my straight. I CHECK. He bets. I raise. He CALLS. As soon as he CALLS my check raise, I know his hand… Do you? Its AA. What else gives low level players the unjustifiable confidence to CALL bets and raises (without re-raises) with the assumption that they are ahead? Only AA. I smile big and call out his hand to my computer screen. “Comon in AA, the water is nice and warm”.

The river is a King. Now it seems easy to check here, but I don’t do that. I BET. I bet a nice big bet that I know he is going to call. And I revel in it. I KNOW based on how he played the hand that he has ran the red light and does not see the van coming through the intersection. He is about to be blind-sided. Sure enough, he make the big call and I take it down.

Then the lecture starts. “what kind of idiot raises with 76o?” “Only on these rigged sites can this happen, this would never happen in live cards.” And the perennial favorite, “you suck”. But his best comment was, “only a idiot can avoid a trap with 76o”. And here is where I got to type my single reply. I gave him some solid advice. Advice he did not even earn. Advice he will never use because he is blinded by tilt. I simply type, “who builds a trap with only a pair”???

This house is clean

Tangina: "Now clear your minds. It knows what scares you. It has from the very beginning. Don't give it any help, it knows too much already. "

I refuse to die, refuse to surrender. I soldier on. In the immortal words of Bill The Cat, "Thbbbbbbt! Ack!"

51 person, $40 buy in, NLHE tournament. It is a shallow stack tournament with longer levels. So, the blinds are 1/2, but you only start with 100. By level 3 (4/8), you need to be at 240 chips to have an M of 20. BUT, the levels are long for 8 handed tables. About 30 minutes. So you have plenty of hands to work with. And you have your sk1llz (sic).

I am working it, but find myself playing a new style called SCARED TO GET CALLERS. I call it scared-aggressive. (tm) (pat pend) (R)

Every time I decide to play a hand post flop, I make a bet that is much greater than half the pot. Most of the time, its a pot size bet. If they call and I like my hand after the turn, I bet MORE.

I even missed an opportunity (a true one) to slow play. I play 22 from MP and the button calls with I assume an Ace. The flop is A92 and I make a bet and he raises to see if his kicker is good. NORMALLY, Columbo would go for the academy award here and struggle with "calling with my Ace-rag". Instead I raised back the best player in the field. He figured his 9 kicker was no good and folded. An blown opportunity to extract more money, but scared-aggressive battle-scared Columbo just rakes the small pot and builds up his stack.

We are at level 3 and I have about 230 in chips. The guy two to my right CONTINUALLY plays hit boards with bad kickers, especially Ace -rag and K-x suited. What possible results does he expect playing this way? And best of all, he check calls pre-flop when he does this. I get AJ and raise from EP (we are 8 handed, so this meets my min requirements). He calls my 3x bet and we see a flop with an Ace in it. I check, hoping to entice him by looking weak as I am sure he will not even analyze my check as a trap. Sure enough, he comes all in with his stack of about half my total stack. I make the call and he is SURPRISED he is behind with A7. The river is a 7. 90 minutes of work reduced to rubble. I am starting stack size again, but now with an M of 8.

I work back to about 135, but the blinds are now 8/16 and I have to make a move. More waiting. I am so scared that when I get to limp in the BB with 56 and the flop is 34A, I check (WEAK!). When he makes a POT size bet with I assume the Ace, with another player to CALLING that bet, I fold it. I would have made the 7 on the turn (with a 3rd diamond though). He bets again, and the other player folds.

More waiting. I bleed down to an M of like 4. Then I get 55. I bet 40% of my stack and the BB (same guy) moves all in. He has the SAME stack size I do, so I figure he can do this with any Ace. I look at the math, I look at the levels and the avg. stack, and I decide (correctly) that I can not justify a fold mathematically. I call to see 77. Bummer. I got up. I walk away. And I put on my coat. AND THEN IT HAPPENED - everyone started telling me to sit down. The board had 4 clubs and I had the 5c. His 7s were red. I had sucked out on someone.



There is some psychology I learned early on in my playing. When you get sucked out on, take solace in that fact that you got your money in ahead. When you suck out on someone, apologize, shake hands, sit down, and from that second on, pretend you out played him. NEVER consider yourself lucky to be here and other bullshit. Eyes back on the prize. Its variance baby, the mistress of the poker player. And when she swings your way, you take what you can before she moves on, leaving you wanting...

I was an average stack size, and arguably playing better than anyone at the table, despite the league champ being at the table (I was a previous league champ also, in better variance swing days).

Now I have to get to work again. A couple of times I have to calm myself down and say “I lost about as little as I could with that hand”. (I think I was right both times).

More work. Despite playing well, I have only about 300 chips as we are down to two table. Average is about 500.

One thing I love about live cards is the ability to get someone to do something. The table was short handed (6) and two of us were VERY aggressive. Whenever I fought for a pot, I made it seem like I was making a move, even if I had the nuts. One time he got sick of it and ran his TP into my over pair. But he comes back, busting 2 other players at our table in one hand by making a HUGE call with AT on an Ace flop. He beat A9 and a middle pair. Wow. Tough call. And one I don’t think I make there.

Then he doubled me up with my Aces when he had Kings. He was scared of me for the rest of the night (which will serve him well).

I now realize two things.
1. I just made the money (9th place) which is your buy in back. This is already my biggest victory of the year. Thanks for the visit, mistress variance.
2. The avg stack size is 800 and I now have 900. Wow. I am not out of this yet.

The deal turns to me and we are playing MUCH faster than the other table. I decide to wait for them to finish the hand they just started before dealing ours. I never dealt. Three of them got all in and two went to the rail.

Final table set up: Previous chip leader (when we were two tables) now on the short stack, the guy who just had KK vs. my AA (pretty solid stealer), the previous champ, a very aggressive player, a weak tight player, another short stack, and me. 7 players. I sit down and say “looks like a Sit N Go now.” But I did not say it as conversation, I said it as affirmation. It WAS a SnG now, and I had a decent stack. I am a good SnG player. At this point, I like my odds to finish in the top 3. Avoid the two other dangerous players, fold marginal hands if someone is about to blind out, don’t get caught stealing, but steal.

I execute the proper strategy. Did I play the hands correctly? who knows. Who cares? Strategicaly, I made the right choices.

Fast forward. 3 players left. Guess who? Me, the champ, and Mr. KK. I might be the smallest of the three, but I am here.

Then a weird thing happened. I made a raise 3 handed with 44 from the button and they BOTH called. We were playing tight-aggressive, so I was surprised by the calls. Especially from the BB. Not only that, they checked the ragged flop. I decided to check and let them think I was trapping. But the turn now was a Q and everyone checked trying to avoid the invisible trap. The river was the Ace and they check again, assuming I hit the Ace. I figure that I must be behind, but can not fathom how stupid or smart a bet here is. I flip over my 4s and they are good. WTF? After all that, all 3 of us played the hand terrible. Terrible. But because the blinds were so high, I have caught up to one of the other stacks. I go back to aggressive mode. I break the champ and then caught the big stack pushing with a pair. He put me all in and I flipped over TP. He look like I had shot his wife. He paid me off and we battled for another 30 minutes until I had the lead. Then I offered to chop if since the prize difference was 10%.

I went home and slept like a baby.

I am Jack's complete lack of surprise

I am playing in an 80 or so player $10 tournament last night (NLHE). On the very first hand I flop the nut straight and one guy flops the ass-end straight. I double up and maybe my luck is changing. I get a couple of pocket pairs and they hold up and I am the chip leader...

I isolate a short stack and when the board comes garbage, I push all in figuring he can't call. But he can with KK. (The push was too many chips, as 375 would have been enough to pot committ him or know I was beat.) I dump 800 chips here and fall to 8th, but I am still above average. I then bleed for a while. Just before the break I am at 2600 and the avg is 2300. Still in good shape, but I am looking to win this thing and my reads have been fairly good.

Now a tight player raises to 3x UTG and all fold to me in the BB with 55. Now I had folded A9o earlier to a 4xBB WHEN I WAS THE CHIP LEADER and could afford to speculate and missed out on a A9x flop. So, I make a call, hoping for a rag board. And I get one! 23T RAINBOW. With $400 in the pot, I make a token bet of $100. He moves all in for 95% of my stack. I figure him for either a mid pair (scared of overs) or a push with overs like AK, AQ. Despite his tightness, I just can not figure an all in until the turn with an over pair and why do this with 99 if a T flops? I use up my entire time bank guessing between 99 and AK. And nagging me in the back of my mind is "will I fold this just because I am so unlucky lately?". It was the latter thought that made me call out of spite. I spit at the thought of luck, I always have. UNLIKE most people, "I would rather be right than be lucky" is my saying. So, I make the call and sure enough he has AK. Now, I am ahead here and the flop has already come. He has 6 outs x 2% x2 or 24%. I am a 3 to 1 favorite. Actaully slightly less as I am blindsided by the moving bus called runner runner QJ.

I have $500 left and ON THE VERY NEXT HAND get 76 on the button. Since there were 5 limpers, the pot is good and I figure instead of going all in, let see if I can win a big pot. The flop is 678 and someone here has flopped TP. When I bet, rest assured that an A8 is the caller. Sure enough, I get a caller and we are all in. Imagine my LACK of surprise when the caller is 8-2 and the turn is the 2.

I dont have any deep analysis here. I continue to play well and I continue to get beat. End of story. I guess? Maybe? I get myself in 3 to 1 positions for all my chips with my tournament life at stake. I cant believe that I can fold there and be a winning player. right?

picture yourself in a boat on the river...

As much as it pains me to admit it, I have been a losing player in 2006. Badly losing. As I explore the ins and out of my play, exhaustively analyzing what is going wrong I find two anomalies.

The first is that I am often making good reads on the flop and the turn, but my opponent picks up what he needs on the river. Now, these are not bad beat stories. Any one of them would be construed as just poker. But to plot them over the course of 3 months and notice how many hands I have lost on the river, it looks like a conspiracy. These are cash ring games I am talking about and I wonder how a player can take a hand when 82 hits TP on the flop vs. my Queens, and continue to call pot size bets to the river when a 2 comes. And even more of a mystery, is how stupid the guy who says “nice hand” must be.

But if that is the case, then what is the corrective action here? I mean, how do I deal with the fact that I am getting my money in ahead, providing the improper pot odds, and still losing. I have to assume that the negative pot odds I am providing on the TURN are insufficient. I am looking at it this way:
1. I USED to have a motto that I never wanted to see a showdown. But now, I am better at reading situation and I am not afraid to play from in front.
2. Providing negative pot odds on the FLOP in low limit is simple an exercise in fanning the flames. Now the pot is big enough that your turn bet scares you as much as it scares your opponent.
3. And this is the big one, number 2 is bullshit. If you are going to protect top pair, a half size pot bet is no longer going to fly. Players are just not tight enough. And on the turn, if you think you are ahead, you have to be willing to put in the big bet.

I did have a case last night where the player on my left would enter ANY pot I would play no matter what the raise. He would then call my post flop bet, and my turn bet NO MATTER WHAT. 4 out of 5 times he two paired or hit his got shot on the river. The funny part is that he had tagged me as loose aggressive passive and was trying to play pots away from me, like he was Phil Ivey. In reality, he was behind all but the first of those 5 hands. I should have taken a lot of money from him. Statistically I had to. In reality, I lost a buy in.

Now, as if that was not enough, there is this “second thing”. I have bubbled in almost every tournament I have played this year. Why is that? I am not sure I even have a theory yet. Is it the result of one wrong decision? Is it that I am not fighting for enough small pots? Is it tight passive? Is it making the wrong moves at the right time? I AM NOT SURE.

But I had better figure it out soon. I posted a nice profit in 2005, and lost about 40% in just this portion of 2006.

Haunted

That's the only thing that explains it. Well, I can't post because all I have a beat stories. I am now haunted by my words "I dont care about the results, just that I play well." Well, I am officialy tilting on those words. I can no longer count the times I have gotten my money in as a 5-1 favorite OR BETTER and just been beaten.