Monster Stack Trip Report

The Monster Stack event was the 3rd largest field ever and played like a $1500 main event. Expect this event yearly now...
$15k starting stack, 25/25/0 start level.


Hand 1:where I like to keep up a tradition of playing my first hand poorly...
LP in seat 8 players raises to 75 and I call from the BB with 6c9c. Flops is AdTc3c. He bets $150 and I check raise to 300. He calls.
My "logic" here was that players often will fold to any raise post flop after c-betting if they hit nothing. So, ok. I tried this and failed.
The turn is a blank (non-club) and I fire a second barrel. This I dont like at all and I think it was just not thinking. LP calls. Check-check river to see AQ.
Very dumb turn bet as I dont see him folding any hand that calls the raise.

BUT, it is important that I dont waste this information and I replay the hand in my head and store the info.

Hand 2:
Raise with KJs from button, blinds both call. Flop is KT9 and the BB leads out for 1/2 pot. I call, SB folds. turn is an Ace and he leads again. I fold. Way to early to look him up here, as everything got there on turn.

Hand 3: Where I get lucky
Call an open from 7 seat with 66. The flop is K high is he is physically interested in the hand. I am beat. I am ready to fold when he bets just 1/3 pot? very strange and I call. Turn is a J and this time he bets 1/4 pot?! So I call. The river is a 6 and when he checks, I value bet 1/2 pot and get called. He is angry and starts talking about how lucky I am. I simple stack the chips, no reply necessary.

Hand 4: punish a poor kicker
An MP (seat 6?) opens and I decide to call from the button with KQo. I want KQo in my calling and raising range, but this deep I go the conservative route. The rest of the notes are missing, but my KQ took a pot from his KT.

Hand 5: so fold
Few notes, but a took a flop 3 way with AJ and flopped TPTK. (I think I raised and got calls from blind and limper.) Flop is JT9 and its lead and raised prior to getting to me. FOLD.

I stop here to make a note that seat 8 is playing very tight. He had the AQ vs. me and has since only showdown AK and KK...

Hand 6: Where I utilize the escape pod
Seat 7 limps and seat 8 raises. I flat with AKo. Since we are so deep, I briefly debated raise vs. call and went the call route. I have notes on both players now and button position, so I feel confident. Flop is AcJc7d. Seat 7 checks, Seat 8 leads out for 1/2 pot. I suspect AQ or clubs and because of seat 7 still hanging around, decide to raise here. (In retrospect, I am folding out the weak player and narrowing the range of the tight player, sort of the opposite of perhaps what I should be doing here.)
Seat 7 folds and seat 8 3 bets me without much thought. I think about this for a while and realize that there is not way I am good here and FOLD. After I fold, I start to think about what my image was (looser to seats 7 & 8) and that he could put me on clubs there and be raising with an Ace. But as I continue to think about it, AJ seemed very likely. [NOTE: Later our table will break and we briefly talk about this hand. He had JJ]

Table Break

Hand 7: where I shoot first
I briefly put KQo in my UtG range and open for 2.5x (antes now). I get two callers and as I debate the wisdom of KQo UtG the flop comes QQx. Since I want to build a pot, I make a standard C-bet and both players fold. I immediately start thinking I am being over anxious. I could easily check here first to act. This feeling will exacerbate itself as I am about to go card dead...

Hand 8: Where I really want to play a hand. By the times it gets to me with 66, I am already facing a 3 bet and fold.

Hand 8 redux: Same idea only 99 facing 3 bet in BB with original raiser left to act and looking very interested. FOLD and watch the fireworks and QQ gets it in with AK.

I have 29k

Spots go by where I am still too deep to get out of line with steals or garbage cards. Plus, there are two Euro players to my right with bigger stacks that keep calling raisers and paying off better hands. "My kingdom for some playable cards" cries go unnoticed by the gods and I grind down...

End of Day 1 (26k)

Day 2 and now blinds are 400/800/100 which is 2200 a round. (32 1/2 Bigs, M just under 12). I go into the day prepared to open my 3 bet range, but the level starts poorly with terrible cards. Even in the BB I have T2o and pass on calling a min raise at one point with 62o.
Stacks: 14k, me now at 24k, 10k, 69k, 21k (pro who I recognize but cant place the name), 80k, Kara Scott folding every hand with 17k, 17.5k, and a shorty on my right with 8k.

The Shorty to my right wakes up in a hand with KK and doubles up. He plays sloppy and will call or open and fold to any 3-bet. Important note.

Hand 10: Easy Call, but hard result.
A short stack who started the day at 10k, then after a couple of pots, doubles up to about 15k, shoves from MP. Folds to me in the BB with AKo and I just call and turn them over. He has TT and I get 5 bricks. Just like that, 25k becomes 9k.

Hands 11:
I make a couple of well times steals and get up to a 12k. I had targeted certain blinds as folding too much, which paid off here.

Hand 12: falling on my sword
Close to the end of the level and its 500/1000/200 next. with 12k, I am antsy.
Folds to the button on my right, and the player looks at his cards, starts to fold, realizes he is the button and min-raises. I kept my eye on the BB and know he did not look at his cards yet (so no interest read). Both are playing very tight despite being in shove territory and this looks like a perfect spot to just pick up the pot. I look at my cards (really just for effect) and shove. With the raise to 1600 and the player on my left with about 11k, anything else may open the door for him to see what I see and shove over me so I rip it. BB wakes up with KK. (turns out I had 54o)

I am now left to contemplate the wisdom of shoving 12+ bigs (15 since its technically still 400/800/100) with 54o based solely on the read that I had a good spot to steal. I have played this over and over again in my head, and I still think I should be doing this here with nearly ANY stack size. correct? (Those 3400 chips represented another 25% to my stack.)

- Same Time Next Year?

Stupid suck-out 1-2 Blues

I lost another bullet when the board ran out bad
couldn't figure out what the other guy had
when the secrets revealed I start to get mad
I am lost in the dots
fading bloated pots
I gots the 1-2 blues

why wont they just go away
you think they all had to stay
is there nothing to do but pray?
no matter how much I raise
they're like moths to the flame
I gots the 1-2 blues

Checking Top Pair

I've been reading and studying alot of player strategy and I saw an interesting trend that MTT PROs are checking TP on the FLOP so that the pot doesnt get big enough that they might have to release the best hand. I think its very interesting and a huge counter to what how everyone played a decade ago. This also means that when someone DOES bet the flop, they are often getting called and big draws still try for a check raise. As I think about this, and I think about how betting on turn/river are often value targeting, it seems that this all adds up to something. The current "wisdom" is that the flop bet is now based on Equity in the hand, vs. protection... I believe this stems from online play, where players could take advantage of small edges over a large number of tables and hands. Just exploiting the math.

But if this is all true, and at the WSOP tables I'll see a majority of regs playing this way, then shouldn't I also have some "against the grain" plays in my playbook?

I am spending time playing trying to get a feel for how I am viewed as I play hands. I was at the local charity room playing deep cash and despite not having showed down a bluff and not being spewy, when I did try to pretend my JT was TT and bet flop and turn, I could not get players off of TP (which was 8) or MP! On the river I made a gutshot and increased my 3rd barrel size so that if I got called and had to show how I got there bluffing, at least it paid off. And I did get called...

So now I have to spend time watching myself so to speak... trying to get on line on how my bets look and how they are being digested.

deep stack practice

Here is a note to self. When you put someone on Top pair vs. your overpair and that card pairs on the river, DONT CALL. Especially when the bet size tell is that he is trying to get paid off. Gez Columbo, stop making hero calls when you know you are beat. It's a WISH call. I WISH I was still ahead.

Here we go again

I went to my league night knowing the bad news. I played too poorly at the start of the season to have wrapped up a top 6 spot. I was way down in the "yellow" band, not eliminated, but not favored to finish FTW. I dont know how many readers have read Elements of Poker , but the discussion about bringing your A game was particularly relevant. If there was one thing I could put my finger on that I did well that evening, it was focus. I tried not to be distracted and as the cliche' goes, "Keep my eye on the prize". That was good enough for 3rd place, which is where I needed to finish. With 3 left, I did call a pre-flop 3bet shove with JQs only to see KQ. A Jack on the flop sealed the improbable run, and I continued to hoover chips until the end, finishing in first. Despite all the work I did in the last 2 weeks on hand reading, that skill doesn't always play when you are not very deep. Most of my decisions were either simplified by stack or position, or were basic in nature.

I did make one HUGE mistake 3 handed though. I raised my button with air and the SB called. The flop was K63 and I have Q4o. He checks, and I c-bet which he calls. The turn is a 9 I think, and he checks, I barrel and he calls. Its at this point I am pretty sure he has a 6. So when the river is another 9, I feel like I can push him off this hand with a 3rd barrel. But I RUSH the river bet, which in my mind made it look very week. Despite a good sized bet, I was called down thin for the only time of the night. I was kicking myself not for the bluff, because I think that was a good spot for the 3rd barrel, but for giving off a pretty bad timing tell.

Still, incorporate your mistakes into future plays... What I mean by that is remember what everyone perceives just happened so you can use it should the opportunity present itself.

With the victory, can a seat the in WSOP Event #51, the new "poor man's main event" $1500 Monster stack 4 day event. It's going to be a BRUTAL grind that favors cash game players on day 1 where stacks are very deep. My plan for the next month is to get some cash game practice in while concentrating on post flop hand reading and line recognition skills.

League #2 wraps up this coming Friday and once again I enter the last event in the "yellow zone". I do think I have played well enough to win in league #2, but in 3 of the 8 weeks, suffered severe blows (beats yo) when I got a hand/player EXACTLY where I wanted and some 4-6 outer sent me to the dealer pit. Perhaps I have variance on my side then as I enter the final week, looking to get my money in ahead and have my hands hold up.

a quick review of paid nitcast

Over at thinkingpoker.net, Andrew and Nate put up a solid 5 part WSOP primer/strategic review podcast and charged $19. So to add some color commentary to that statement, let me just say that part 4 is worth the $19 by itself. 5 hours of content for 4 sawbucks is a pretty good return, especially because the content is geared towards the modern day and the modern era poker player.

I sorta don't like the podcast, as I don't care about poker player's lives and ancillary activities. But their strategy discussion are second to none and the way they look at a poker scenario is the way one should learn to look at situations in the modern poker era.

so to spend $19 bucks for 5 hours of only the strategic parts of the podcast, and to have it based on modern day MTT strategy, well its just too good to pass up.

A statement so basic yet so complete, I had to record it

Your primary goal in a poker hand is not find out where you are at, it’s to VP$IP when you’re ahead and avoid money VP$IP when you’re behind.

Maybe stating it a funnier way, its more important to statistically use your money wisely, especially if that means not creating a scenario that gives you more information, but only when you are wrong.

League Night monkee off my back

Finally won a 3 table league night. Played very well and very straight forward until the final 5... Bill the LAG was on my right, which was a bad place to be on Saturday as he became my personal ATM And I his nemesis. We went back and forth all night. Then, finally with 4 left, I got lucky 3 times. The first time was when the flop was AQT with two hearts and all the money went in A8 vs. my A6 and we chopped. Then, Bill and I had to watch a board spill out when his A7s was all in Blind vs. Blind with my KQ calling it off. Flop was AxK, but the river brought a Q and then I was sitting pretty well. Not a few hands later, 3 handed I raise 2.5x with 65 from the button. Both blinds call and the flop is 668. The SM (short stack) shoves and the BB CALLS. Great for me as I shove over the top. Board runs out and I am way ahead in chips. So why is that 3rd hand lucky? Well, the BB held and 8 and the river would have been an 8. Now results and that run-out aside, I am not thrilled with my over-shove. Sure it worked out, but I let an opponent off the hook with 2 outs vs. my trips. I normally would call behind and try and get more chips out of the side pot. But here, probably because I liked my chances heads up with a chip lead, I got lucky. And I won 3 hands later in an anti-climactic hand where I had an overpair.

Humbled

Played cash for the first time in a long time and dropped over 2 buy-ins over a 4 hour period. Sure I ran KK into AA and a straight flush draw into top pair and lost, but still. I cant focus on that part of the variance. Even with 60 left, I raised with KJ and got a caller, flop is QTx and due to stack size the money gets in. He had a set of Tens. Bad luck? maybe...

But its days like these you have to force yourself to look inwards and realize you are not playing enough to not play the A game. Because your B game is now a D game. And I went specifically to relax and play B game. So I sort of get what I deserve. If you want to play B level poker, then go play on the xbox.

Consider this my poker "confession bear" of the week.

Lots of poker this week

A trip to Atlantic city yielded a $65NL at Bally's and a $120NL at Borgata. The Borgata was the superior structure, and I had >20 big blinds all the way down. At Bally's, I was playing "situational" poker, just knowing when to play a hand and when not to. When you are not deep, this is a big skill. But alas, I only could finish at about the 20% mark. I dont think there was a single memorable hand.

The $120NL at Borgata was a different story. 150 runners + rebuys through level 6 put total buy-ins at 210 or so. I was at table 4, so I got to study opponents. most were simply OK locals. But the guy 2 to my left was a weird duck. I couldn't put my finger on it at first, but later it hit me. He was playing the Kill Phil strategy. He would call from OOP and if the flop had no card Jack or Higher, he would shove and each time take down the pot. Later in the tournament with about 34 left (so we are 8 handed), I raise from the button with KdTdand he calls from the BB. Flop is 8d9d3s and he shoves with little hesitation. I look again at my hand of two overs and a flush draw and figure I am in ok shape if he actually hit anything here. I have $50k behind (avg is about that) and he had about $45k, but was playing as if he had about half that. I figure its not that often I am going to catch a guy shoveling in that many chips as we get close to the point where I want to make a final run. If I take down this pot, I'll have $110k when the avg is half that. I call. He shows Js6s for a Stone Cold NADA. Turn is a black seven and the river is a black Ten and he one-card-straights me to short-stacks ville. Interestingly enough, I refused to die and made the money! With 26 left, I shoves my AdQd into what turned out to be 33 and that sent me packing. Winning that had would have restored me to avg.

Happy with my play, I came home to play in the Monthly Foley league and felt good going into an event that historically I just cant concentrate at. But today I did. Entire night, I got my money in behind just twice: 6 handed I ran AQ in AA and because of that and a short stack, I had a steal go GOOD, where Any Two came from behind to beat a solid BB calling hand. Even after the AA crippling, I refused to die (as it should be) and in the end it took an AJ to come from behind to knock me out holding AQ. The difference in this game, was timing. I choose the 2 or 3 spots that I ran scary bluffs very well, and got away with the ones I needed to get away with. Sometimes you can put you opponent on a hand. Good for you. I really want to get better at that part of the game more than any other. But I am a savant at situational awareness, understanding how a bet size in relation to the table and your stack tells a story, as does your timing and other ancillary information.

Ok, having patted myself on the back, here is the silliest blunder ever. I am concentrating so hard, I completely flam-boozle myself. I raise with QcJc and guy on my right calls. The flop is AcKcXc, so I flop the nuts. wow. I bet and then watch him carefully as he thinks. I am starting at his hands and thinking about his decision time. Its longer than I expect and what does this mean? Probably if he calls, I can make a value bet on the turn, but how much. He folds. Ok. I am in the 9 seat and move my cards towards the dealer and go to rake the pot. The dealer stops me and I look over to the left and a player had RAISED me after I bet on the flop! I did not know we were even 3 handed! (I hate the 9 hole). So I take my cards back and he protests that they were mucked. Now they had not touched other cards in the muck, nor had the dealer touched them, so I felt I was good in picking them up. We saw FAR WORSE in the WSOP last year. Director agreed and I call.
But something happens in my brain and I BLANK OUT for a moment. He bets and I call and sit there waiting for the last street. Then I look again and there is a full board out there! He turns over 44 for a bluff and I turn over the nuts! No raise (penalty in the WSOP) and no explanation to give. Players tell me when I turned over the QJ, my face was so sullen that assumed I had lost. But then why would I call with Q high? More hilarity ensued, well after I racked the pot. How I got so lost is unknown, but later because I mishear a "call", I'll slow roll someone with KK. He had actually shoved and I had not looked at my cards yet. So I had to look (but everyone assumed I already had looked). Thus, the perceived slow-roll. More fun.

In the end, I finished 4th and even then it took AQ making the dreaded counterfit 2 pair with Ace kicker on my 44 to knock me out.

I am going to take some time to reflect on why I was so in the zone this week and concentrate on that in all upcoming events. Including a 90 field $200NL MTT next weekend.

What has happened to poker?

Its really a shame to watch the interest in poker wane, but I see it everywhere but in Vegas. And even there, how much of the recent excitement is around the new online rooms and the poor players giving free money to the decent grinders?

I started the WSOP DVR shows and I still subscribe to the relevant podcasts, but my play has disintegrated over the last few months with a dismal showing in my recent two efforts.

If I were to introspectively venture a guess, I would say its related to not pulling the rip cord in a live game because I feel like I need to accumulate chips. So I value bet on a turn and the river (both just called) and get Top Pair 3rd kicker beat by top pair second kicker. Just not tournament level poker from me. In the past, I would work through the issues online. but now, I suffer in silence.

catching up

Continuing to work on Level 3 of my game. I feel more out of place at the low stakes cash tables now, and dropped a bullet in Omaha last Wednesday.

This past weekend was the first league night of the season and it started out with a bang. Lots of players dropped early, and I doubled up when I got JJ in vs. QQ and AT. EP all-in short stack, MP all-in from a stack about 60% of my size. I push with JJ to shut anyone else out. Marginal play, but I did not expect to see QQ based on what I knew.

With maybe 16 left, I find myself grinding. but with 12 left, I find myself with 2 giant stacks on my left and no cards. I would try to open pots with KJs or A8 and just get 3 bet smacked in the face. One hand I had like KJ and the flop is 9 high. I am pretty sure he has A-high. Shove? well, now consider its 10% of his stack to call me shove and he puts me on air. Still shoving? Tough spots I just could not avoid. Finished 10th.

Better run next month.

WSOP 2013 event #40 recap

Ok, I am going to copy and paste my twitters in here also, so I have a roadmap to follow. Its was quite a roller-coaster ride and I will try to be brutally honest as always.

5 at table, no regs yet?
I was there prior to the start. I like to get rid of the nerves by just being there. Only 5 of the 10 seats were filled when cards went into the air. I dont recognize anyone, and there are no "patches" at the table. It doesnt take but 3 hands to know that the other 4 are amateurs.

Picked up a reg, but also have an 8x opener.
Hoodie guy sits down and I recognize him from last year. I decide to tag him as a "reg" for now in seat 9.

Make that 2 regs, seat 2 and 9
The guy in the 2 seat will be possible trouble. TAG and competent, I make a note that I may need to "level" vs. him

Big dog calls it. Reg donk leads, re-raise takes it down
The "reg" in the 9 seat takes a flop with me. I raised 3x (pre antes) and he flats from the SB. Flop is 88x and he donk-leads. 90%+ of the time (99% online), this is a weak pair or draw. I raise (with air) and he folds.

Played trips like a draw, paid 1 street. Now at $5500
So in this hand, I held a small card like a 4 on a board like 844 with two spades. I play it like a spade draw as best I can vs. Reg in seat 2. So, I check behind on the flop, and check on the turn and when he best, I check raise. Online, this always looks like a semi-bluff. But this guy had check raised me on a prior hand and I think he either saw it as strength or he had nada. I did at least get a decent bet out of him on the turn.

Guy on left breathing like a horse... Big hand coming... Limped pre flop Utg, so I bet it's AA.
Here is where I find out the "reg" in seat 9 actually sux. MP limps, reg in 9 3 bets, MP now 4 bets (after LIMPING). He is breathing so hard he might pass out. Seat 9 FLATS. When the MP shoves the flop, he CALLS with a pair. It looks SO obvious to me, yet everyone seemed mesmerized by the AA. NEVER let anyone tell you these $1500 events are not soft.

Lost a reg! he played nut so good

Not reraising on all diamond board cost me a pot to the Kd. He calls anyways?
So I raise with some PP and the flop is ddd. Its the REG in seat 2 again. We both check the flop. Turn is a blank (cant recall board dammit) and he bets the turn. I CALL. River is a diamond and I make two pair and he checks?! I put in a small value bluff here and he CALLS with second nuts (Kd). How does he check-call that river? He bet the turn with air only to check-call with second nuts? WTF? I was sure he was folding to a bet there.

I am wrong and I am now at 4k (4.5k starting), but its early...

So card dead #83o
But then, I long parade of unplayable hands..

Break 1, 3700 but table not bad
I am at the first break with just $3700, but confident that I am the best player at the table. I am not going to get stupid.

After the break, I am in the BB with 99. MP makes it 3x, HJ and BTN flat. I spend a couple of seconds contemplating a 3 bet. But because we are still deep (even at 3700), I decide to call (and thus resigned to set mining). This debatable play turns into ACTION as it turns out the MP had AA, got three callers (1 of which is me) and he shoves the flop. Too bad (for him) I did flop that set.

Now I have chips! About $8k-ish

QQ utg+1, no action.
I get QQ UtG+1 and I make it 2.5x. Perhaps no one had a hand, perhaps I am perceived as dangerous, but other way I get no action.

A few rotations later, I am in the BB and its folded past the button! SM just calls and I have AA blind vs blind. I make a raise and he (reg in seat 2 again) calls, but its OBVIOUS he hates the flop. There are two spades on the flop, not that it should matter. Instead of checking, I bet, hoping he might out think himself. nope, just folds. I dont think I get a bet called on any street with the Ace out there.

OBV not called on turn, but won $2k pot
We get a player in seat 3 now. He talks about poker and the main event and how he cashed and how great the structure is. (Turns out he is a doctor, but I KNOW he is not more than a good recreational player). I flat one of his raises and make a strong hand. He bets out $1225 on the flop and I have like $6k behind. I consider raising the $3k, but with $3k behind it looks so strong if he isnt oblivious. So I shove, trying to look like a flush draw. He tanks, makes comments about how bluffy it looks, hems and haws and then folds. I tag him as possibly a bet-fold guy (and he is).

I have TT in EP, raise, and get 2 callers (1 blind). The flop is 773 and after a check, I make a 1/2 pot bet. ACTION follows and I know I stepped on a mine. I make an easy fold. Players get it in Trips vs. Aces.
down to 8700 and its break time.

Ok, so in the 777 vs. Aces hand, the guy in the 10 seat has made a ton of chips. He has like $12k. I raise from EP with QQ and he flats. He is talkative and jovial and has chips, which means he is going to spew. Its just a matter of time.

QQQQ ding ding ding #wsop #quads not a huge pot though, had to squeeze out value
Flop is QQx where x is who the hell cares. I flop QUADS in a WSOP event. I check, he checks. Turn is something and there is still no other paint or Ace on the board. I check again and he makes a smallish bet, which I call. Then river is a King and I bet $2000 into $4k just hoping he hit that King. He did and paid it off. I say "it was worth a call to see this" and show the quads.

Back door nuts worthier than quads! Chip up
But even better is a few hands later. I am deep enough to take a flop with a suited ace against him and flop a flush draw. Bet and I call. Turn is a blank and instead of betting, check checks. River makes the backdoor nut flush for me and he BETS! I make a significant raise to $4k and he just cant put me on the flush and calls. Won 3 times what I did with QUADS.

They announce field size: 2160 runners. (my Q>1)

Now that the deck hitting my face is over, I start to make some smaller mistakes. I 4 bets with AK and the German on my left min-raise 5 bets me. Now I am pretty sure he has QQ and we are very deep, so a AK shove is just not what I consider a great move. NOTE: Foley won a bracelet fining himself in this spot and shoving (twice and won both). Me? I just cant bring myself to take that volatility. I CALL, OOP to see flop, knowing I'll check fold a flop without Ace or King. THAT is an awful mistake for 1125 in additional damage. Not the lack of shove, I like that. But I should FOLD, not CALL if I am only going to see three cards because he must know by now I have AK and he is not going to pay off an A or K. At the TIME, I called expecting he would not get away from the QQ if a K flopped and I could win a huge pot.

Solidly ranged a reg and caught him firing second bullet with check raise all-in.
Again with the 2 seat I think. I called a raise pre-flop, check called his c-bet and was sure he had a made hand. But then when and over card that also completes a draw comes, he doesn't check behind. That struck me as funny. And he bet was too big to be for value. So, I come over the top and he quickly folds.

QQ in SB blind, no caller.

$17.5k at dinner. Starting next level at full chip utility (>50BB).

Damn table is tight, KK not paid off. I just made a 2.5x open.

Yet, I get to watch others clash willy-nilly: QQ vs AK continues to dominate the big hands.

History repeats itself and I bet TT from EP. 4 f'n callers. 883ss flop. I check and LP bets 2k. I tank. Why? Because what is he representing here? He cold called my open (he would be the first caller) with an 8 or a 3? MAYBE a set of threes. MAYBE. But that why bet when someone else will bet for him? I continue to tank and then CLOCK is called by a player not in the hand! I shove. Now he tanks. I had him on AK. We exchange chat. He says that he put me on 77 here. I say "that would be a good bet if I had 77. I'd have to fold." He folds 66. Had I suspected, I would have kept my mouth shut. But I wanted AK to fold here. Not sure why in retrospect. I should want the AK to call here.

KK again, but I 3bet the EP limper and no callers. Hands are getting scare, blinds are going up and I really needed this hand to win something. Too bad.

18k @break 200/400/50 level. Avg is 18.5k

I 3 bet BTN raise, I get 4 bet shove. I fold the only hand I played this entire level. Now I am getting short. That is the tough part in these events. You need to max value hands and I did neither in the last two.

11850 with 400/800 level coming. Need double now....

After Color-up, its going 400/800/100 I think. I have nearly 15 Bigs, but it plays closer to 12 with the 8:1 ante on this level. It's that thinking that is going to trick me into an awful spot.

UtG opens. Folds to me in the SB with AJs. Now it is VERY common, especially live, that a short stack will open UtG as a steal. Often with Ace rag of KQ or even a small pair. He has about the same stack size as me, but I have been folding so long that I let it all affect my judgement. I shove and he snap calls with AK. Out 324/2161. I think I had about 12 Bigs at the time and if I folded, I was down to 11 bigs, with the blinds now past me. There are SO MANY other spots that I robbed myself with here.

In all my previous WSOP events, I went out on a race. This time, I just faded away. I fell bad about that, but I learned my lesson (I hope). Other than the race I bowed out of with AK, I never had a flip the entire event.



Sunday I play the Caesar's $130 rebuy and rebuy once because the field was so soft. The funniest hand was when this guy on my right is playing but talking like he is some poker professor. Mumbling odds to himself, commenting on others play under his breathe. I am a big short and I open for a steal with Q8s, but get 2 callers. The flop is T98 and I check, but they do also. He checks the turn and I just shove. He not only tanks, but goes all "Beautiful Mind" on me. He talking about how I cant be good here and blah blah blah. I realize his hand is now face up (not literally) and he has AK. So obvious. He says that I must be bluffing and so I reply, "only 1 way to find out". This seems to escalate his instability and his desire to show everyone how smart he is with his hero call. It's quite a show and I actually enjoyed listening to it. The call was hilarious. He is SO SURE he is right, and I table bottom pair with a gutshot and he is basically 6% to win the hand. I said that was quite a play, required a lot of heart. But he continues to be un-humbled and states that I have never played against a player like him before. I have zero idea what that meant. He would continue to talk about it until he loses his last 2000 chips and leaves.

I would love to report a cash here, but with 50 players left, the avg. stack had 15 bigs and I had 11. I made a living for a while shoving on limpers, but eventually a guy with AK limps hoping to get shoved on and I oblige with 55. In my ONLY race of the entire Caesar's MTT, I lose. It was funny, because people would shove with AJ and get called by 77, then I would shove with AK or AA and get zero action. That's how it works sometimes.

Recap coming from WSOP

Until I get the chance to post it, memorize this one thing: Do NOT Fly Spirit Airlines. We as a nation need to stop giving them money so they go away.

WSOP Event 40

Like so many other players, this weekend is my "weekend warrior" WSOP event. I have spent considerable time reviewing level 3 concepts that I should have been FAR more familiar with and practicing them:

Ranging hands, floating, c-betting, bluffing, value betting, short stack, deep stack, 3 betting, and "having a plan" for a hand.

Of course, that is alot of information to have to bone up on, and I am remiss as a player that I have not been doing it all year. Perhaps (most probably) this accounts for my poor showing in league 2.

All this being said, I know two things about these donk-ament events:

1. There will be times where you will ship it with a flush draw and 2 overs, and get called by a hand where the two overs are no good (set, st8, 2 pair). In those cases, you have to hit your flush as a 2-1 dog.

2. There will be times where you flop enough of a hand that you have solid showdown value, and the other player is going to check-raise you with a flush draw and you are going to have to hold.

In order to go deep, you have to be on the winning end of these > 50%. otherwise, you have to be so good that you are accumulating chips at an astounding rate to compensate and that means variance anyways.

Nevertheless, I know the difference between playing well and playing foolish, and I'll try to avoid that latter.

Monkey Tilt

So I realize at this point that I am well beyond the learning stages of poker and deep into the implementation stages. Which has affected my desire to blog about lessons learned. But for the sake of edification, I am recording this for my own posterity. I think I have a tilt issue...

This is BIG news to me. I think of myself as detached as I play, unemotional and calculating. But after making a SERIOUS amateur blunder on Friday, I was forced to reevaluate everything I assumed about my process. And I came to the conclusion that I not only have this issue in poker, but in life itself.

Let's look at some symptoms:
I have a track record of going deep when I am not feeling well. (Why is this?)
I play well early, when most players play sloppy. (note: This is not always true in 3 or less tables, but deep it is)
I understand level 3 thinking, but often make decisions based on putting my opponent on a hand that I would have (which is clearly wrong)
I still feel the rush of adrenaline when I play a big hand.

None of this tends to indicate that I am detached. As a matter of investigation, when I am not feeling well, I act slower (thus more time to think), I dont get overly excited about a hand, and I am patient. All of THESE things are good.

When I build a starting stack from $10k to $15k and the blinds hit $200/$400/$50, I am doing alright. That is well over 20 bigs. It's funny, but towards the end of this level, I remember raising to $1500, thinking it was $300/$600 and getting 3 bet off a hand. Lack of concentration.

When I short stack moves in from the button and I have KQ, I was looking for reasons to CALL. and I did. And he showed JJ. and I lost the race. "So what?" you say, easy call. But here is the rub. I did not follow PROCESS. I did not ask for a chip count, which would have been closer to $6k, not the $4k I assumed. I did range him (Ax), but can EASILY find a better spot than with KQ and 37 bigs. And I cant be a favorite in the hand EVER. So, I GAMBLED. Ok. Still, I gambled and lost, no sweat.

I still have $10k and the blinds go to $300/$600/$50. No need to panic. Folds around to me with AQs and I make it $1500. A player who would RARELY 3-bet me light at this level with his stack size, makes it $3200. and I "think" about it, then Shove. Snap call, AK. Duh.

What the hell can I possibly be thinking there? I am not thinking, I am reacting. And then I started to compare this situation to set-back challenges I have in life. Similarities came rushing to me. My recent phone crash, and loss of a RAID drive, a mower I could not get into gear... and in these cases, my "action" (which I now see as "reaction") is to push to get back to working as quickly as possible. To return to the state of what I had. Like chasing lost chips. I throw caution to the wind, pull out a box of hammers, and start hammering on solutions. I'll fail a dozen times, zero in on the solution (which now seems like I could have gotten there without so much carnage) and then "relief". But the cost was too high. In times of stress of "things not as they should be", I need to remember what you are supposed to start with in a stressful situation. First, DO NO HARM.

The coffee maker would not turn on today. Perhaps I will GOOGLE and try something safe before hitting it with my hammer. I only hope I can fix this major impediment to success in both life and poker soon. But the identification has been mind-blowing.

I now am a member of Monkey-tilt anonymous.

90 person MTT

Played well early, and got 2 half stacks, effectively doubling to $40k. Then using my new found aggression and determining when players were sitting on 1 pair hands, I applied the heat. In the first two cases, I got called down thin. I did not expect either as I had showed down two monsters to build my stack. Still, I was at $32k and plenty healthy.

After a table break, I was frustratingly card dead for a while. I managed to take down some hands with marginal holdings (or air), but by the time we reached 1000/2000/300 I still had $40k.

The real tragedy was that with about 32 left, I lost patience and tried a steal raise with JTo and got TWO callers. The flop was AK-rag and I figured I could represent here, but as I review the hand, the button caller had to have an Ace. On the turn there were two diamonds and two hearts on the board and I pushed, which is illogical. Everything calls here. Including Ace-rag, which sent me packing. Terrible, terrible play after a good first 6-7 hours.

If I can lock down this leak, I might stand a chance. BUT, I still did not do a very good job of accumulating chips in middle rounds, which continues to be my Achilles heal.

Guess Who's Back... Back Again....

After a minor fiasco with Google terminator bots, the blog is back on line. And just in time too. 2 months to the WSOP. I am in event #40, representing 1 of my poker leagues. (First in 1, last in the other... WTF?)

I have started studying and practicing again, and I came to a realization. Ok, that makes it sound organic which is disingenuous. I finally started listening to "Thinking Poker" podcast (via a comment by Vanessa Selbst in an interview) found that if I stick to just the strategy sessions, it works great for me. Now, more importantly, a MAJOR piece of my level 3 thinking was missing! The concept of CAPPED RANGES. How the F'N HELL did I ever get this far without studying this to the degree to which it deserves. I feel like a fool!

My hand reading skills went way up (duh). I must have been evaluating holdings based solely on street actions and getting away with it a lot since most players don't bluff well (poor frequency, poor spots). Gez, what an improvement.

Second best adjustment? Trying not to "end" the hand. The concept of "keeping his range wide" is now comprehensible to me! I sorta knew all this stuff, but never QUANTIFIED it. Now I feel like someone took my screwdriver out of my hand and handed me an electric one.

Poker has become interesting again.

And NOT a shill, but I am liking the 6 max games on Seals (bitcoin).

Criswell Speaks

As I predicted close to 5 years ago...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/feb/21/online-poker-bill-moves-forward-nevada-legislature/

$500k Fee and only be available to a “resort hotel that holds a nonrestricted license to operate games and gaming devices.” i.e. a Brick and Mortar Casino in NV. (again, as predicted)

Adventures in Xbox poker and Bitcoins

I recently downloaded the FULL HOUSE POKER on xbox. It has a few things going for it. The first is that it is available to play... Let's explore the software.

It has a level progression tree where you build experience through defeating either bots or humans. These experience points level you from 1-50. Other than the level indicator, there is little gain in all of this. But it does show you who actually played the game enough to level up and who just came to the table to "donk" as the level is displayed in the lobby. The multiplayer consists of putting your virtual bankroll at a cash or SnG table. You are gifted 200 to start (or when broke) and you build that up. I wish there was a bot cap and the remaining chips would have to come from multiplayer, but that isn't going to happen. If you are willing to play bots for hours, you can build any bankroll you wish. There is a "ranked multiplayer", which I assume ranks you based on winn/loss and not bankroll, but I have no idea how it works. I have finished 3 SnGs, all in second place. I got 4 rank points for each. I still have no idea what it means. On the third one, despite being a ranked event, there were 3 all-ins on the first hand.

There are MTT "Events", but I have never managed to find one. There supposedly 30 minute events where you try to accumulate the most chips, Monte Carlo night style. Ugh.

The real niche of this game is for your xbox friends to get together and play. This supports Headset chat and thus you can have a pretty decent experience, despite the wonky table views (birds eye). If you are interested, let me know. My current xbox friends are all Rockband and Borderlands players, so I hope 9 of you crawl out of the shadows.


Ok, now for the real adventure... BITCOINS. Seals With Clubs poker opened up, which is a online poker room for bitcoins. This means that there is zero jurisdiction for funds, because bitcoins is a non-government backed currency. The equivalent of a community based currency. It works as long as people are willing to use it. It's a bit esoteric to wrap your mind around, so go to the bitcoins.org site and watch there marketing video.

Now that I decide to try this, there is a ton (I mean a crap-ton) of learning. Not just how it works, but how to MAKE it work. There is a virtual wallet, which is like a portable safe. Lose it (or the combination) and it becomes a black hole. Then, there is the issue of how to deposit. Here is where the "risk meets the road" (like that?). There are brokers, merchants, cryptic messages like "Transaction status: Not funded. Seller should send the bitcoins to the temporary transaction address. " and lots of cloak and dagger type instructions featuring two factor authentication. I can purchase bitcoins for just under $30 bucks each, assuming I can find someone or somewhere to buy them from. If I want an easy transaction, I may be paying upwards of $50 for a single coin, which is an insane premium for a virtual coin.

I decide to try the local merchant route and use localbitcoins.com to find a local person to purchase from. Will this work? No idea. I am going to buy 3 coins for like $85 bucks, which is 3000 chips on seal (1 to 1000 conversion). The mission is to meet a broker in Plymouth (over a beer I assume) and trade money for a virtual "code" which contains my 3 coins. That "code" is assigned to me via the broker. At that point, I can "re-assign" the code to Seal, and in exchange for the 3 coins, they give me 3000 chips. Today, I have to arrange a "meet up"... More to come.

time invested

spent hours on Saturday afternoon watching poker video and absorbing reasons to NOT fold and trying to gleam better ways to look at hands based on your opponents actions. Later that night, I took down a 3 table league MTT. You would think that I would site cause and effect, right? But what really happened was that in one of the rare nights of my long poker playing adventure, I ran good. I never really recall it happening before. Sure I have won a hand from behind, but usually the luck/odds limit themselves to that instance. After grinding to the final table, in which I was perhaps 8/10 in chips, I snap called a bully push with AK and WON the hand! He had J8 and even hit the jack on the flop. I had already stood up. So, this is the big deal and I expect the one big "one time" I am going to get. But then *I* take a flop with J8s. (It was blind vs. blind and he raised 3x. I felt compelled to see a flop). The flop is J XdXd and I am going no where. I check and when he shoves to get me all, I insta-call. Even though I did not improve, the jacks were enough to win the hand. Good, eh? The final of the big-3 was when I had a pair (JJ?) and HE had AK and had to call my bet with his stack, only to not improve while I made a pair. THREE hands, any one of which I could have easily lost, I won. And even as it was progressing, I was aware. For someone who has a run-bad cloud above him and loses more than 50% of flips, I must admit I enjoyed the moments. I even thought, "So this is run good. I like it."

More Thoughts on Deconstruction

Am I going to BET this flop or check?

Well, where does my holding fall in the ranges of my possible action? For example, if AK is at the TOP of the checking range, but in the middle of my betting range, I am better off betting.... hmmmm... perhaps this is too awkward to be used as a axiom.

Sometimes I think we (I) forget the simplest mantra of poker for post flop play:

"Does he fold a hand better than me? Does he call with a hand worse than me?" In those cases, bet. I recall Phil Gordon used to expound a variant of this (which I done like at all), "Am I ahead? Bet. Am I behind? Check". I think he might have been oversimplifying for the medium he expressed this to/in, but its awful if taken at face value.

ERMEGERD! POST!

So its been a while since I wrote something, anything, about poker. I still play twice a month, buts its rare that something interesting comes up that isnt a rehash of a previous post or simple remembering something.

But I recently saw two things that I deem interesting:

1. Tim Ferriss. I read his book 4 hour chef, which I enjoyed. What I enjoy most of all is his glorification of shortcuts. It's not just the complete lack of guilt over it, it relishing in finding a way to learn a skill without having to learn all the "noise" that comes with it. [note: Truly not a paid ad, the link is a courtesy.]

He has an interesting section on Deconstructing the success of others. My favorite, converted to poker context would be, "Which pro has a huge amount of success, who shouldn't?" Is the biggest possible name here Gus Hansen or is there a better fit? I've read his books, watched him play, and I am continually amazed by Gus' play style. If what Tim professes is correct, Gus is the type of player we should be studying for shortcuts.

2. JCarverPoker's CAKE series of videos which consistently reminds us of things we may already know, but in context of the moments they happen.

When can we call a three bet with 33? When the opponents range is NARROW, not wide. Great stuff. [again I feel the need to say this due to my lack of recent content: The link is a courtesy.]

In other news: "PokerStars Confirms Agreement to Purchase New Jersey Casino". I talked about this even prior to Black Friday (when Harrah's decided to go private). THIS is the future of online poker... STATE regulated gaming for INTRAstate online gaming. i.e. you can host an online poker room to service states where you have a brick and mortar casino. That is the regulatory "neck to choke" that he government 'needs'. It only takes one deal to open the flood gates.

Cant Resist

This week in Poker

Variance ate me alive this week, resulting in a negative swing in the bankroll. In all cases but one, I got my money in ahead. In the last case I was about a 5-1 dog getting 4-1 and reluctantly made the a call on the river (in Omaha, if you call the flop, you are often calling the turn).

So, to recap: Poker sucks, first losing session of Omaha ever, week long tilt.

Oh, and this small thing happened: A federal judge in New York ruled that poker isn’t gambling under federal law because it’s primarily a game of skill.

Holy pocket aces! Ok, in the grand scheme of online poker, this is really not relevant. BUT, it does mean that home games can not be prosecuted, nor can running games be considered racketeering. Which is semi-significant.

Do You Validate?

I have finally put enough time between me and my last MTT to discuss it. Four table MTT and due to a poor showing the previous week in a 3 table MTT, I vow to play perfect.

We are down to 3 tables, the level is 200/400/50 and I am in the SB with $14k in chips. ( M=14, Q is around 1.)

EP standard player raises to $1200 UtG. Folds around to me and I have QQ. I make what I consider a standard raise here to $3k. Villain moves in for $8k.

I thought only briefly about this, thoughts of building a stack in my head. My two choices:

FOLD and have $11k left. (A very weak play here in my opinion)
or
CALL off $5k more to win the pot of $17k or so. (This would put me at $23k and very comfortable.)

Is this an easy of a choice as I made it? More importantly, would you RAISE there with QQ vs. and UtG raiser with $9k?



I call and he tables AK, which hits an ACE and takes 65% of my stack... BUT, I am not out yet... I build it back up. By the time we are down to two tables, I am back at $14k, but the levels are now 500/1000/100. I Call a short stack all-in with TT, only to see that she flopped a flush draw. Turn = boom and I am again now at $8-9k and hanging on.


I grind back up to about $12.5k and finally get KK, but in EP. I cant really fool around and make it $3k to go. The BB is the only caller. But that $3k call + $500 SB + antes will take me to $17k if I take it down on the flop. Not great but not bad.

The flop is 8d9h9d and the BB CHECKS. Can emphasize this enough. He CHECKS. I have only $9500 behind and bet $4500. He then ASKS what I have behind and I state, just $5k. He then CHECK-RAISES me all-in on a OESD. WTF? GREAT for me as I am going to double to... Oh wait, TURN is a TEN and his 67 sends me home. He might of even had 6d7d but I didnt even care to make sure, as I am NEVER folding KK to a single BB caller when I am short-stacked and the flop is 899.

So, frustration and despair results. But overall was happy with my play. Still, second guessing, could I have just CALLED with QQ? (No I still dont think so).

Forced to post

I dont want to post! I played solid early level poker last week, running $10k to $15k and then. TRAGEDY.

Lost to a 3 outer on river, KQ outflops my AJ, two middle pair hands go astray and finally a steal attempt runs into QQ. Not a great end to a fine start.

So I did not want to post. Instead I have been studying some poker play video, concentrating on knowing when to see a turn card and subsequent actions, and just as I think I can still avoid posting...

THIS HAPPENS

PokerStars Closes Deal With DOJ
"and repay players outside the U.S. within 90 days, as was specified in the agreement last week."

RLY? Merry F'xmas to me then!

But of course, the fine print: "The remission process is still up in the air at this time." Which means, the DOJ is involved in some way.

wat I lernd tooday

"You want to manage the size of the pot to the predicted strength of your hand on the river. In other words: grow the pot with value hands (where you will tend to have a pretty strong hand on the river naturally), and with hands that will make strong hands on the river with some frequency (decent draws). This is sometimes misinterpreted as aggression? Turn missed draws into bluffs some % of the time. Try pot-control with hands of medium or mediocre strength."

"Playing game theory optimal/equilibrium strategies is "playing defense." Estimating your opponents' strategies and trying to exploit them is "playing offense." The first important fact here is that playing defense ignores your opponents. You only want to play defensively when an opponent is exploiting your play."

Hand Tactics should include situational awareness. (position, image, stacks, opponents) and often come into view pre-flop.

uh, wah?

To quote professor Farnsowrth, "Good News Everyone!" It seems that Pokerstars becomes the GG PS

Although, until a final public statement is made by both PS and DoJ that the full bankroll (not just DEPOSITS) are being returned, I'll continue to hope not assume.

Repot!

Ok, so I like Omaha, so shoot me. Last night, I sat down at the weekly low level donk Omaha table and due to a lack of practice and a guy misplaying a hand which resulted in me deciding to call off the remainder of my stack with bottom set, I started $250 after the first hand. But as with Omaha, correct play almost always profits over time.

Despite its reputation as an action game, there are fewer suckouts in Omaha and you really do have a better chance utilizing the math because there are fewer "races".

I do have a tricky question though. Game loosens up and guy opens for $10. Stacks are from $200-$500 ish. Caller. Caller, next guy POTS to $45 pre-flop. This would be the biggest pre-flop of the night. Everyone is CALLING NOW with their speculative hands. Gets around to me and I have JdJhAs7s and I expcet this to be a 6 way pot ($275 pot). If I call here to see a flop, am I playing this hand profitaby knowing I either have to flop TOP SET or a nut flush draw to even continue the hand?

btw: I DID call and flopped nothing of the kind and folded.

I ended up grinding it back up to a marginal profit of about $100, but the game really loosens up at 10pm or so. I should have stayed for the most profitable hours, but I was tired and I play poorly when I am tired.

I also caught some grief for the term "Re-Pot" from one player, who wanted to know why I could just say "Pot" again. This is the stupidest thing I ever heard, as clearly communicating intent at the table avoid future issues.

Here's another weird thing. Lousy loose player sits down and starts spewing. I have JJxx and the flop is J32 rainbow. Someone bets $10, calls around to me and I POT. On this board, EVERYONE KNOWS what I have?! Folds around to spewer, who CALLS! turn is a 7, I pot he folds. Here is the fun part.
He says (to the table, not me) "I know you have Jacks here".
And I reply "Then why did you call?"
Spewer: "If you dont know why, then you dont understand Omaha".
Me:

EVEN IF HE HAD THE BEST HAND HE CAN HAVE THERE Even with (2233), he is looking for a 2 outer for $135 call (see comments). This is what happens after 10pm at low stakes Omaha.

I swear the play is consistently bad through the night, but late-night its a fountain of mistakes.

What the WSOP means to me

I just finished a 4 day junket of Vegas and all things WSOP.
Here now is what the WSOP means to me:

It means sitting for 2 hours at a time, interrupted only by waiting in line to pee and eating a protein bar.

It means passing various TV pros in the hallway all utilizing the "I'm on a cell call" ply to avoid you bothering them. (Most don't even talk into the phone to drive the illusion home.)

It means being constantly reminded that we don't have online poker and thus could not practice a 2700 person field in any way, shape or form.

It means watching tweets of all your poker associates, secretly hoping you got deeper than them in a given event.

It means watching a guy play badly, then tilt while lamenting his bad luck after amassing chips all day on coin flips.

It means shivering at the table, while outside its a balmy 105.

It means purchasing WSOP swag, only to have to answer questions about how you did for years down the road.

It means walking by countless people on cell phones loudly telling their buddy their bad beat story.

It means getting it in good, but not good enough. And getting it in often, but not often enough.

It means taking the walk of shame away from the table despite getting through 80% of the field.

It means winning the blinds with KK, then the next hand a player across the table with TT breaks 2 players. It's a game of epic clashes. If you avoid thme, you dwindle away. If you find them, you had better get it in.

It means promises of LOW-stakes Omaha cash games that will never see the light of day.

It means lots of Deep Stacks tournaments that are deep stacked for 4 hours... then all hell breaks loose.

It means spotting the pros at the table, and memorizing their ranges and facial expressions... followed quickly by a table break.

It means $1 for a tiny cup of water.

It means politely correcting the dealers.

It means that 90% of the us could use more practice.

It means $15 cab rides to anything just to get away from poker for an hour.

Until next year...

Playing with FIRE

I went to the local card room with a few hundred and a goal. Play like a maniac. I went up $100, then quickly down $200. But in the end, it was an old-fashioned simple hand that FELTED me.

8 handed and distracted table, I raise to $10 from MP with AT. 2 Callers, the cutoff and button.

Flop is AcKd7c. I check. He bets $30. I figure he actually has either a King or a flush draw. I call and intend to act on a non-club.

The Turn is another 7 and I figure I am good now. I want him to pay to draw and bet pot (about $100). He goes all-in and I am stuck since I only have $40 behind at this point and he could simple have a club draw.

Turns out he had 7c4c and made a LP call hoping to get a good flop. And he did.

I could have gotten away in different situations, but wanting to maximize action prior to my trip cost me a buy-in.

It's not so hard to put him on EITHER a K or a 7 here, but with the preflop raise, I convinced myself he had a KcXc. I was so sure that I went broke.

Practice where you can practice

With two weeks until Event 43, I actually fired up a SHOOTOUT on Live Poker (not for $). Play varies WILDLY, but tables are 6 max for many decisions. I got rivered 5 times in a row then actually made a mistake on a river call. After that, went on a tear winning three straight SnGs.

I'll have to twitter something to activate the account again, and sit at the local game playing uber aggro to stimulate some brain cells.

MTT league cash

Amazing what difference an attitude and 1 hand holding up can make in a Tourney. It's the monthly league and I need a top 10 finish (30 runners).

I have about $8200 of my original $10k and have not won a hand yet. I am also in a different mindset: Don't play uber conservative like you usually do. Why? Because I was sick of finishing out of the money.

I get KK in early position and I limp, knowing full well what that means. I do this for 2 reasons here:

1. I want to get value out of KK here. I cant afford to win 300 chips with this hand.
2. The player on the button is a LAG who will call big raises and put in raises with position.

I take the risk and if no one raises and I get 3-5 callers, I just have to muck the KK and lose $200 in chips.

The player to my left, who is playing SUICIDAL AGGRO (he has Weird Al tickets for tonight) raises. Ok, good.
The player across from me moves all-in for $7000.
The Button makes what I can only consider an INSANE CALL. CALL, mind you (he has about $8200 also, so he leaves $1200 behind?!)

Comes back around to me. Now in a 3 table MTT with two all-ins in front of me, there are many situations (especially in level 2) that this is an EASY FOLD.
Instead I move all-in also. The player on my left, who decides he cant pass up 3-1 or bust, calls.

Can you guess the hands? Probably not because the play her is SO BAD by two players...

I limp with KK. Player to left Raises, so he has a hand. In this case AQ. ok so far.

Player across moves all-in with QQ. I get this, SORTA. He has just $7k sure, but he has way over 20 BB here and if he does shut the hand down, he picks up like $800 in chips. He must be thinking that he wants the rest of the table to fold and the limper (me to fold) and get heads up with the AGGRO loose players with QQ. I get that, but if the Raise is to $700 or so, you make it $7k, there are lots of bad scenarios for you... But at least I UNDERSTAND the decision.

Button calls $7k (of his $8200) with 77. WTF? In what poker world is this a wining play? RAISE, All-IN, 77!!! He little fold equity vs. the first raiser who has made it as obvious as possible that these are the situations he WANTS. Seems likely your "call" will be more attractive and now you have 77 vs. a BIGGER HAND plus a third hand of ATC which he can SAFELY assume 1 of which is > 7 !!!

Despite all this stupidity and usually an easy fold, I call. Why is this a fold usually? Because KK against 3 hands is going to be a favorite, but at 50% at best (in this case 49%). And its LEVEL 2.

Why did I call. Because I set up this situation. I limped for action and that was my plan for the hand. I was not going to sit around and wait for a perfect situation this tournament, only getting my money in ahead, hoping they all hold up. I was fed up. I walked into the room knowing I would make this call today and sure enough it came up.

The board plays out bricks and suddenly I have over $30k and go on to finish 3rd. I COULD have won. I made zero mistakes and had just gotten the chip lead when I ran top-top into a flopped straight. The river call of $25k (1/2 my stack) was ill advised and it eventually forced me to take a race against 33, which I lost.

What a year has done

Last year, I won my league outright and started strong this league year. But as I play only 2-3 a month now, I find myself making mistakes that seems to be from lack of experience. Not stupid mind you, but if you do something wrong over the course of a MTT and you fix it for the next one, that is learning. If you make a mistake and then a month later make another mistake, you are trapped in a feedback loop that is too large to be helpful.

$200 live MTT:

Level is 300/600/75 and I still have about $18k of my starting $20k. Despite my best efforts, I had to lay down a number of hands (correctly in all cases). So now, its costing me $1500/round for an M of 12. UTG opens and I call in the BB with Jh9h. I am just defending my BB more than anything here, BUT the player who opened is not a stealer.

Flop comes down 9 high with 2 diamonds. He bets out $5k into a $2500 pot and I mistakenly hatch a plan. I am going to go with this hand hoping I am ahead but also bluff all-in if the 3rd diamond falls. So I call and when the 2d comes on the turn, I move in. He SNAP calls with TTd.

Would I SNAP call there? No, I am thinking it through. But enough about his TINY mistake. My large mistake comes from playing stupid 1/2 cash games and not a daily MTT. My gosh what a difference playtimes makes.

Homegame software

Anyone used this? http://www.bluffave.com/

Poker and NFL spring

Not to make an X Spring reference, but wow. After losing online poker to legal madness, the NFL decides to trump poker for most interesting off-season.

Payton CUT and goes to Denver.
Denver sends Tebow to the JETS (the most pious to the most heinous locker room.)
Bounty-gate results in serious (record setting?) suspensions
Redskins mortgage their future (three first-round draft picks and a second-round pick!) to move up 4 spots in the draft in the biggest trade since Hershel Walker (the first/last time Jerry Jones was effective).
After making the playoffs for the first time in over a decade, the Lions lose just ONE free-agent.

I have heard again and again that FullTilt purchase will close on date [insert plausible but random date here]. And that payback of monies could (cough) follow. no details, not ever.

I think the online poker industry needs to do something crazy to get attention. Seems to me that the PPA has all but thrown in the towel. Posting (aggregating others) news video is not what I need a PPA for. Asking members to post to Facebook seems to be the remaining call-to-arms. Sigh... A sad state of affairs over there.

Found an excellent paper in my desk

As my skills rust, and news regarding any online poker look like they are in the 2012 range, its always fun to find good skill reminder notes. Here is an excellent list I put together after a session online, which I recently reflected on:

Preface: Position > Cards > Chips > Position. Old news.

1. Stop calling to just see flops. You cant play poker to just hit flops. Well you can, but its "flop-trap" poker and it only works in low-limit cash games. If you want to win tournaments, you need to win hands.

2. To win hands, you need to play hands. RAISE with your decent hands from LP because your cards and position will be ahead of their RANGE. This forces opponents to play larger pots when you have the edge. Assuming you remember #1 above! We tend to get out of this solid habit because of "early round" syndrome.

3. River bets are telling.

Honorable mention (mostly because I NEVER do this): Don't play Ax when deep from OOP after a limper. Statistics show that nothing good will happen here.

WSOP schedule out

Say what you want about the % of juice in the WSOP MTTs, you have to give them credit for evolution. Not just the demise of the November 9, but adding additional events (including a HO), and twice daily Deep-stack cash MTTs to compete with Venetian. It's a cornucopia of poker regardless of the days you are there.

May 27 through July 16, 2012 at the Rio, so rumors about Caesars will have to wait another year.

http://www.wsop.com/tourney/tourneydetails.asp?groupID=887

I'll admit though, I wanted to see MORE shootout events. This year, there is just event 14 (@ $1500).

Musings

I am still shocked and dismayed at the online poker state of affairs.

First off:
While the statement from the AGCC did not mention anything regarding the buyout of Full Tilt Poker by French investment group Groupe Bernard Tapie, it is still believed that GBT will acquire the online poker brand and assets from the US Department of Justice in exchange for one $80 million payment. Upon transfer, the US DOJ will drop all charges and civil complaints against the Full Tilt name. It is still unknown whether or not players will ever be reimbursed for their confiscated accounts, though many are still hopeful that once the takeover is finalized, the new owners will make their best effort to pay back some or all that is owed to the disgruntled US players. HA!

Does this mean I can write $6k off on my taxes as theft?

Online casinos continue to operate in Europe. I dont think its surprising to see them, nor do I see any chance of a Casino Online being shut down.

By the way, my favorite game show of all time is "Happy Family Plan", a Japanese show I saw in Hawaii (thus the translation). There was a roulette expert who could simply through hundreds of hours of practice, get the little ball to drop in green-zero every time. No mechanical assistance, just expert timing. Amazing. Online roulette is probably safer. Roulette Rules

SOPA is an act of Terrorism

Terrorism - "the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes. "

SOPA (in a nutshell) - allow holders of copyright to enact and enforce injunctions against ALL PARTIES involved in a alleged violation. ED: In old school terms, this would have consisted of: The Newspaper, Radio (and TV), Drivers of trucks who distribute the newspapers, Stores than sells the newspaper, Manufacturers of radios, Newspaper editors and publishers, Journalists, Disenchanted youth, and the bloody ROADS that the trucks drive on to distribute the newspapers.

Why?: Because incumbent and long established companies wish to stave off the tide of inevitable change.

Copyright - Created on or after January 1, 1978, life of the author plus 70 years. Except for Disney.

Why would we pass a law that allows record companies to engage in terrorism?

Better Finish

Set myself up great in this weekends MTT by going for the throat when I was ahead instead of playing it safe. Accumulated more chips with the same hands in this way and and was in the top 3 in chip going to the final table. With 8 left though, lost a huge race. Stack of $20k moves in pre-flpo again (3rd time in last 10 hands). Folded to me in the BB with $45k and I look at QQ. Easy call. Villain shows AK and a King takes nearly half my stack. I never really got it going again after that, having to resort to stealing with marginal (and awful) hands to keep ahead of the $1k/$2k/400 blinds. At $5k a round, I was eventually picked off in 6th place, when a QT steal ran into AQ... held by the same villain. But happy with my play, so what can I say?

League night goes awry

Playing in my regular 3 table MTT and starting on time creates a short handed table. I play better short handed and ground my chips up about 50% by the first break. But by now, we are 9 handed and its back to looking for opportunities. I really had a dry spell and with 15 or so players left, was at like $13k. As we fell to 8 and 7 handed and the blinds continue to creep up (putting my M around 15), I started getting more aggressive preflop for antes and blinds. I had a couple of stellar opportunities with People limping when their M is around 10, which makes it great on the button (or in the blind) to put someone to the test. Its especially lucrative when the limper induces a late position call. Now suddenly, they have to put in 10k more to cover a 800-1k limp and when they fold, you pick up $2500 in chips! And of course, you do this with ANY TWO. In my case K5o. But alas, its interesting how the fates play you. I find myself in the exact same position a few rounds later, but this time I have QQ. I take the same time to think as I did with K5o, trying to duplicate my actions. But when I put the chips in, I get the insta-call from the trickster KK. He had suspected larceny, so he limped with KK hoping to induce me to do it again. May I would, maybe not, but with an M of 15 and their being antes+blinds+KK limper+LP Caller = $4200 in chips and me with like $15k, its way too much to pass up with QQ here with 13 players left. Even if he has AK, I am happy moving in with QQ here. But 7 handed, I am not expecting to run QQ into limping KK. Who would really? So, disappointing finish, but happy with the play.

Next week I may have to MISS due to a daughter's birthday, which would set back my efforts to finish in-the-money in both leagues. I am clearly on a slide in league 2 and need a strong finish.

The Ugly State of Affairs

I have already admitted that losing online poker briefly helped my game. But now its killing it. Only play 2-3 times a month is no way to pursue a skill set. You can listen to guitar playing to know that! And MTT play is so feast or famine. I finished 5th and 25th in a couple of 3 table tournaments. Played both pretty well, but in the second one a short stack flopped a set on my KINGS, and then I am the short-stack. 8 hands later, I run a stop-n-go with AJ on a garbage board, just to get called by the big blind's improbable AQ. Cant say I would play either hand differently based on the situations and circumstances. So, there you go. But if I have online games, I can whenever I want to work on something. And now that Full Tilt has been found "short" covering deposits, it creates a longer road for all of us.

Omaha post!

It looks more and more credible that there will be some sort of regulated on-line poker in the US in the next couple of years. When it does return, I will not be playing much hold'em. The more I play any other game, the more I see the common mistakes I used to see in Hold'em years ago. Mostly, players overvaluing hands.

I play Omaha relatively snug pre-flop, and I understand the "Deeb Rule" that most Omaha decisions are made on the FLOP (not the turn or river). So, when I sit down at an Omaha table, I commonly note two things:

1. Early in the session, players are wacky, stupid gamblers. Somehow sitting at a PLO table with just a buy-in, seems to make people feel inadequate and they will play volatile poker on purpose chasing the most unreasonable draws.

2. If they call a bet pre-flop, they will call ANY RAISE preflop.

I am at a 1-2 PLO table with a straddle. I am in early position with a marginal (very marginal) hand and I decide because of my middling connecting cards to limp and hope that we see a flop. Guy on my left raises to $25, 4 people call and I fold. Guys looks at me and asks, "How can you fold?'

Turns out he has a worse hand than me and had to fold to a bet on the flop. Two guys flopped pretty solid hands, but when someone now bets POT, its an all in this early.

After the hand, I explain to the guy. Look, when you guys "juice" the pot because you want to play big pot poker for some reason with marginal hands, all you do is create a situation where the first to bet the flop is all-in and the callers are chasing draws and gambling. If you want to gamble, play roulette. If you want to play poker, you dont make it $25 from early position with 23QJ two suited. WTF?

Needless to say, I never limped again from EP. Never should have. But I am not going to compound a marginal play with an awful one.

I did create a what I thought was an interesting situation when I was later dealt AA9x double suited and limped from EP. But when someone made it $25 again and everyone started calling, I got pissed and POT pre-flop all-in. EVERYONE called. Stupid. Two of the hands should never have called $25 and the third hand should never have called the $225. But one of the stupid hands flopped a straight with Q9 and STILL I was live to ANY HEART on the river. In the end, I did not improve and lost a Buy-in. Wow. What a game.

I pushed chips around for another hour after that, but it was clear that over the long haul, this was a game I was going to profit at. And each player played every hand consistently for his play, no guessing necessary. Like watching a movie after reading the book.

(I had taken $1400 out of this game a month ago, so despite the minor setback, feel even more confident now.)


On a side note, just to comment on Hoyazo's comments on the craptacular WSOP play. I never got the see the bubble bustout as my DVR cutoff. In watching that now, how does KQ call there? Ever? Just how did you get that far? Just wow.

WSOP and ESPN

What many expected to be inevitable was finally announced today.. That's right, the NBC heads-up tournament is cancelled. Ha! I fool you. Ok ,really, did ANYONE watch two people playing "battleship" on TV? It just is not good TV. But, in a final coup for poker on TV, ESPN pulls the trigger on ending bad, edited poker and will open up the screens to their new, "See a flop, see the hole cards" philosophy. This worked so well in the early week of the WSOP, that I taped and watched all of it, sparing me the onslaught of pointless cutting to celebrities getting it all in, numerous interviews with Jason Alexander or 2 stupid dogs alumni Brad Garrett, and Norman Chad's "jokes". I actually just deleted the edited footage because why watch the highlight of a game that you already watched?

Bring on the future!


As for the future of the Full Tilt brand (today was employee cut-down day), it was widely publicized that there was a sale pending "Groupe Bernard Tapie", which broke in late Sept-early Oct. It was supposedly contingent on the settling of the DoJ suit. There are 3 notes here, which are speculation (but good speculation) on my part:

1. Subject to settlement of the issue means that they want the DoJ to unfreeze the funds and let the company keep them as assets. This would be used to attempt to pay back players of essentially (25%) of its liabilities/deposits. Why 25%? That's all the cash there is! This would end the new companies liabilities to depositors*.

2. That the DoJ will in effect, attempt to go after the Pocket Kings owners* and release the new owner from those liabilities and thus also potential lawsuits.

These are significant to both the DoJ and to the purchasers. Taipe could NEVER get item 2 if everyone washes their hands of the current liabilities to current depositors.
But the brand value is not there after paying 100% back, as the price is now to high. So, they offer to refund all the monies that the government unfreezes. Smart. and limits liability to what is already on hand. "everybody" wins. After all, do you want 25cents/dollar back or zed?

As for what Taipe PAYS for Full Tilt... Tapie has Pocket Kings over a barrel here and can pressure that "board" (if you can call it that) to "take what it can get before the value goes to zero". But it can't possibly be enough for the officers-owners to avoid bankruptcy and potentially a permanent ban from returning to the business. Not to mention the players who might literally "Beat the money out of them in a dark alley". If I were those guys, I would consider living LITERALLY outside the US.

And as I continue to maintain, do not compare this to poker-spot. It's like comparing a bank-failure tin 1930 to 2008. They are different animals.

3. And this is a big one... its in the best interest of Taipe to stall until they can see where H.R.1174 is headed. If it passes, they can recoup their investment relatively well. If it does not pass again and dies, they can pay rock bottom dollar for Full Tilt and take their sweet time drafting paperwork.

Repeat Offender

Was there ever a lesson that no matter how hard someone beat it into you, just did not take? Mine is middle pairs on a single overcard board.

I worked my starting stack early and often Saturday, but kept running into "great places to peel a card to no avail" situations which kept giving back my marginal profits. Still, they were all good spots and I had options because of my accumulation of chips through a combination of some good reads and good situations. But with 12k in chips, the MP makes it $1100 (blinds were 200/400) with $5500 behind. I have 88 on the button. Such a bad spot. Folding is too weak, raising is too reckless (and really gets called 99% of the time). I can out her on any decent hand AK-AJ, pairs, even KQ/KJ. I call.

The flop is Q66 and she leads out for $3k.

And I just ship the $5500 thinking, "what are the odds? " In the moment, I felt I was unlucky there. But I really wasn't. I felt that way because I saw the hands.

Thinking about it NOW, what does she have here? She put in a standard raise, despite a short stack. If she raises all in and does not get called, she adds $600 to her stack of $7600. Not bad... But not necessary if M is between 10-11. Its very gray.

But what hand leads out there? I think a Q checks there. I really do. So I expect that a PAIR or AK leads out only. BUT if you are willing to BET on a missed flop with AK, you should have shipped it pre-flop with that stack size.... So, I am looking at a pair between say 55-AA. and I have 88. Sure, sometimes I can see 77 there. So, the entire time I am probably behind a hand like 99 or JJ.

Yet, I let two things cloud my judgement. "It's hard to make a pair in this game" and "she has a short stack". Neither of which really apply to a LEAD BET on this flop.

In my defense, I think it was a misread of her playing the hand poorly with a small pair. I was WAY off and she tabled AQ. I was floored and in retrospect she played the hand in such a way that she should not have gotten paid off. Yet there I was, counting out 1/2 my stack.

I never really recovered at the blinds quickly jumped to 400/800 and then at 500/1000 with my $7k stack I had to resort to stealing. When your 6 handed, 9dTd is a great steal hand because it hard to run into monsters and rare to run into A9 or AT so you are always live if called. But this time I run into KK and I finish 13/28... which SUCKS.


Still, I know I am not awful. Early in the night, I flopped middle pair and peeled another card vs. some running an aggro line. When he let me get to the river and a 3rd diamond fell, I think I am beat so I turn middle pair into a bluff and bet out. Top pair folds. Good spot to do that, and just a decent play. The comment that "I must beat top pair because I wasn't good enough to turn my hand into a bluff" was both amusing and mildly insulting. But it did speak to my image in some ways. When I do pick a spot to run a bluff, its because it makes sense.

So it finally happened

Full Tilt Poker and Groupe Bernard Tapie Sign Acquisition Agreement

To whom it may concern: If you don't payout the monies, we'll all know this was a sham. If you DO pay back the monies, then we can go fore bore towards US online regulation and launching of online poker. After all, in not America then where? Oh, wait. Better backpetal...

In other news, is it just me or is the level of play in local poker rooms just horrendous? Didn't anyone learn anything? I sat down at a 1-2 table, first hand, FOLDED AJ. Why, because pre-flop betting was like 10x. Instead, I waited. Took a flop with 44 for $2, or so I thought until the BB raise to $25 and told me to fold. so I did. He flashes AA. That's right, I ran 44 into AA and lost 2 bucks. One rotation later, total loose cannon bets $20 and THREE people call. So, ok, I will call with KJ suited from the cutoff. The flop is JACK HIGH and RAINBOW. 3 checks and I simply ship it ($160). I get no callers. ONE HAND, $100 bucks. Cost to be patient, $19. Total profit: $81 Time Elapsed: not exactly sure, but it was the remainder of the 4th quarter of the Bucs-Falcons game so about 45 minutes. Had I been able to stay, the cannon (or should i say FOUNTAIN) on my left would have spewed the entire $500. That's right: The WORST player at the table talked the poker room manager into raising the buy-in level. WOW. Just WOW.

Spring Forward, Fall Back

I am mostly optimistic, but I also cant claim ultimate victory. I played 2 MTT's this weekend and the entire "count 10" method of thinking has worked really well for me. And just to drive the point home, I went out on a donk play where I did not think the hand through. I made one bad decision all weekend, ending up 15th and 4th. The Lions came on strong to start the season, racking-up such dominance in the first half, that despite a second half full of player and coaching mental errors, practically coasted to victory over a team that is supposedly their equal. This may be the last time you see the Lions 3 point underdogs to a non-playoff team for a LONG time to come. Playing KC at home next week: EIGHT point favorites. How long has it been?

Testing out the new interface

So I am composing this on the new blogpsot template. Even if its better, I dont think it deserves the exclamation point. Anyway, due to the holiday, this weekend is Double-Bonus Poker Weekend ! (deserving of exclamation point). In month 1, I finished a pedestrian 14th, after my AQ got called by A6 and LOST. Argh. I battled on from the short stack, but had to win 2 races and lost the second one. I am looking forward to improving on that finish this weekend. In league #2, I finished 2nd playing good solid blinds-are-high poker, where many cash game players get lost. When I played online, I spent more time on this than reading hands (for both the good and the bad) and now that online poker is lost to us, I am concentrating on hand reading. I am getting better, so its a mixed blessing (which apparently I paid $6k for).

Easy does it...

Last night, the wife was working late so I stopped by the local charity card room on my way home. This time, I was the one felting players. I played pretty well, but went down to $40 on this call. I raise pre-flop and two guys call. I have 77 and the flop is AA6. Check, check, so I bet $15 and I get one caller, OOP. The turn is a second club and this time I bet $25 (into $50). He call, OOP with a naked 6. Really? The river is a 6c and he bets out $40. I sit there thinking, there is no way he would club draw from OOP with a pair on the board and one card to come. so I call to see his rivered sixes.

So armed with $150 I again take a flop via a limp call with 77. Flop is 722 and I check, two checks behind. Turn is an Ace, but to be honest, I already decided to bet $20 into the $30 pot regardless of the turn card. Bully for me, since the turn hit Mr. AK on my left and he ships in $100. Call.

So I am at about $250 when a regular players with whom I am familiar (cough* John *cough) raises to $10 and I min -raise from position with AQ. He calls and the flop ia AQJ. top two on a somewhat action board, but turns out he was cold-decked for the third time of the night when he calls my big turn bet with AJ.

so then the wife shows up from work and we have a nice dinner.

Interestingly (somewhat), was the nice little video I saw today on the power of simply thinking you are going to do well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfRVCaA5o18&feature=player_embedded

Apparently, thinking your better than everyone does improve your play. So uncheck that ego!

Catching up

Two leagues have started this month, and its time to start thinking about poker again.

My first night was a bit frustrating. I watched a guy who seemed pretty readable, take an EP limp. I figure him for a small pp like 55. In the cutoff, I have 44 and limp to. The blinds come along and the flop misses everyone. On the river, I feel like I can turn my 44 into a bluff, but under bet (?) and he calls with 66. Perhaps he calls there no matter what. But I have about 8k in chips through the first 8 eliminations. Just before the table break, I button raise with A8 and short big blind shoves. I call and he shows A6. A 6 on the river and I am crippled. the table breaks.

I double up at the new table with TT getting me to $8k, but then I 3bet all-in with AK (because the blinds are 500/1000) and TT takes me out.

In the second league, a better result. I am frustrated and had to let go of a couple of hands after being out drawn (but good lay-downs!) And again, find myself with a starting stack size after 4 -5 levels. I end up getting my AQ all-in vs. Kings (in the blind?) and hitting the Ace. From that point on, when I was the smaller stack, I won the race. When I was the shorter stack, I would lose horribly like AJ vs. J8. But I cant complain as I woke up with JJ both times I needed a big hand, and both times JJ held. I finished second, despite not having a huge amount of strategic hands. I did bluff far more than usual after we were down to 4 handed, but in the end finally got caught heads up with 74s vs 88.

Interesting part of self awareness. My heads-up game is terrible. Which is funny, because my short handed game (6-3 players) is pretty darn good. I would practice this online, but alas I still dont have my freaking FT monies, nor do we have an online poker bill yet.

What I learned in the absence of online porker

This might surprise you, but my game has improved since online poker has gone away. A strange thing was happening to my game based on the quantity of hands I could play in an hour. I did not value each hand.

It's a big hard to describe, but it became clear while watching the live WSOP coverage (which, by the way is boring as hell due to the Jamie Gold rule). Hands are won and lost through pattern recognition. If I can identify what your action means, then I should know the correct counteraction. This can be as simple or complex as you like, but there are so many more hands online that you can err on the side of caution, make mistakes, and still have opportunities. Live though, I cant afford to throw away an OPPORTUNITY to win a hand and wait for the next window. When an opponent check-calls the flop, and he check calls the turn, and a 4th spade falls on the river, Ben Lamb is betting out that river with air. More often than not, those check-calls are WEAK and a signal to pressure. But in online action, often we'll not fire that barrel because there is another better spot coming up based on quantity of hands. This is not CORRECT thinking, but a trap I was falling into. I would even justify things by "keeping the pot small" or some other line of reasoning. But in the end, NLHE is a game of position and manipulating opponents into making bad decisions. And if you make those decisions easy, then your opponents errors mean less.

Online poker coming to the UK!

http://www.egrmagazine.com/news/1679057/government-announces-uk-gambling-reform-plans.thtml

Is the US close behind?

STOOPID

More NLHE, more of the same. After running my $200 up to $400, I purposely changed tables to the harder competition. Then, over the course of two hours, made not one but THREE huge mistakes that robbed me of the entire stack.

Mistake 1: Allowed a player to bet flop and turn and when he "gave up" on the river, I did not bet when I had no chance to win the showdown with my broken draw. He won with Ace high.

Mistake 2: More of the same, but I FAILED to fire a third bullet from position and her missed draw beat my missed draw. SO BAD.

Mistake 3: See previous post. Flopped Top against flopped 6-8 straight. Standard for 1-2 poker and the fault is clearly on the RUST from NOT PLAYING.


In other OLD news:
Despite conversations that Full Tilt was selling off (7/7/2011) in about a week, a week has passed and I have not heard anything.

Omaha explosion

One day after posting that I found a leak in my low-limit NLHE game, I went to the charity poker room to play some 1-2. I ran my $200 up to $300 and the floor person came over and said, "did you want the omaha seat that just opened up?"

DO I!!!

I dont know WHY I practically leaped at it. Perhaps it was the novelty of playing live omaha? Perhaps I figured on a bigger edge. Perhaps both.

I played for 2 hours... My win rate? $700/hr. at 1-2 PLO. really.

I am at the table for a few hands, when I take a flop with QQJx (dangler). Flop is QT3 rainbow. Since the pre-flop action was $10*4 players, I bet $40 with TOP SET against what can only be straight draws. Fold, Fold... but then the player in the 9 seat makes it $100. If he has straight draw, which is almost a given, my odds depend on if its a WRAP or not. But, even if it IS a wrap, I cant be worse than 50/50. If he has anything else but that nice KJ9 I am probably closer to 4-1.

I commit my stack of $165 over the top of his $100 and his calls. I always table my hand right away in Omaha (unlike hold 'em) and he says he needs and Ace. The turn is an Ace. "Really?" I say. "No, just screwing with you he says" and mucks his cards on the river blank card. (Set of tens?)

so now I have $600 and play for another hour or so laughing it up and having a good time when I get dealt an AAxx hand. I am almost always going to see a flop at least with this hand and this time I raise from early position to $10 and get 3 callers. (Remember I open raised this hand...)

I am somewhat excited to see a flop AsKs5c (2 spades). Top set against a ton of plausible draws. If someone holds the Ks here with another broad-way card (especially a spade), I could be in big trouble here. I am first to act and decide to put out a blocking bet of like $15 bucks. I get TWO callers. Ok, what card do I want on the turn?

BAM! 5s.

So its the 3rd spade, a possible quads for bottom set and I have the second nuts locked up. I have this great blank look on my face (another player says this after the hand, so that is not my comment) and I check.

the next player, thinking I hated the 5s, bets out $125! The player to his left goes all-in!

Now, you could argue that I should think this through, but I dont. I shove my chips in there like Hellmuth playing a cash game on TV. And the original raiser now calls.

Someone (same guy who will comment on my face after the hand) says "who has quds?". I confidently reply, "No One". and I am right.

I table my second nuts and both players fold. The second player had third nuts (Kings) and we are left to speculate what the original raiser had, but I suspect he made an uncharacteristic mistake and made his flush and missed the paired board somehow in his excitement. Its all I can think of.

I rake a pot of like $1k (in a $1-2 PLO game).

How am I so sure there was not 55 hand? I raise it pre-flop to $10. What hand with 55 calls? Some, but not all probably. And these guys seem to understand Omaha. But when you flop bottom set, its the worst feeling on all of Omaha. It FEELS like a strong hand, but more often than not, its a NOOSE. I bet the blocking bet now. On this board with AK and 2 spades, how could a set of fives just call? What, he is hoping to improve on his 1 out? There are just ZERO good card coming for the set of fives. If he has that hand and does not raise, then he in effect "gives up" and should not call the $15. He could raise pot and then fold to a re-raise, which may also be negative EV. (As I write this, I could have bet more on the flop but I dont think it changes much if I do.) But you NEVER try to call down an Omaha pot with TWO streets to come, with bottom set and no redraws. Its just a losing play.

When the turn pairs the five, if I DO have the immortal nuts and the pot is getting large, why do I risk betting a huge $125 pot bet or even RAISING that bet as the second player did, in a 3 way pot?! The other 2 players would BOTH be dead money and you want BOTH their stacks, not just one. As the holder of nuts-central, you are NOT doing anything to lose either of those players yet. I CHECK that turn. When the first guy bets $125, if he has quads he is hoping my action as the third plays is just stupid. He has to expect me to fold and that would be insane here. The second player re-pots to $300, and again if he had quads, he would NOT want to lose me yet when he can simply call and watch me put in another $100 and hope one of us remains stubborn on the river. Heck, he might lose BOTH of us here.

Perhaps I am over analyzing an action based game, but I am not hesitating with second nuts the way this played out. My money is going in. and it did.

-Fun with Omaha

Double Trouble

I mentally inventoried my low-stakes play and found a HUGE cash-game leak. I am always paying off a flopped straight if I flop a strong hand. Terrible! In a tournament or higher stakes game the issue is more complex, but in a 1-2 or 2-5 game, its just not solid.

WSOP

Day 1a had under 1000 players! The impact on poker by the DOJ is brutal. Now, what comes next? Is this the poster child for NO online poker
or is it a call to arms?

I hope ESPN joins the lobby to get a poker bill passed. I am ON the regulation bandwagon (always was), and UB proved there is a benefit.

It would also be nice to avoid another FT like meltdown in the future.

I saw the final table of the $50k on espn.com and I really enjoyed that. More raw footage please!

Full Tilt SOLD Rumor

Interesting. If its true, they would be paying out the balances and we would get our money. I hope its true. Saw that over the holiday weekend out of the LA area.

Full Tilt is DEAD?!

Full tilt is being shut down for being insolvent! So, there goes my bankroll. http://www.gamblingcontrol.org/userfiles/file/Media%20Statement%20-%20FTP%20suspension%20290611.pdf

Look, if I EVER hear one more bad word about Dutch Boyd, I am going to punch someone in the face. Talk about being vindicated. Here was a guy at a young age who took a shot and got arguably screwed by his bankers, and took over a decade of abuse for it. Now, the "experts" show everyone how it's done, right? Lessons learned and all that? Bull. Just lip service. These guys actually KNEW they were not covering bank. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? HOW DO YOU NOT MAKE MONEY AS A SOFTWARE SERVICE? ALL YOU DO IS COLLECT RAKE AND PASS ON FEES? HOW THE HELL DO YOU LOSE MONEY DOING THAT? I mean, what are you costs? Servers? You dont even use up that much bandwidth.

This is a TRAVESTY on so many levels. You know what this is reminiscent of? Adelphia. And Enron to some extent.

Now, what comes next? Is this the poster child for NO online poker or is it a call to arms for regulation of online sites operating as a bank?

Want me to venture a guess as to what happened? Full Tilt "executives" decided they did not have to act like Poker tars did (professionally and ethically)and told the US that they would pay back the money when they were "darn good and ready". So the US called UK and said, "Hey, these guys are making a mockery of International Banking, shut it down". The arrogance that they were above US law eventually did them in. Poker Stars was very smart. We got away with it for a while. When the hammer comes down, we take the profits, refund the money and live to rake another day. THAT, readers, is the way its done.

Shameful. And what of Ivey and his suit? Well now, what better way to DISTANCE yourself from the others who may FACE CRIMINAL CHARGES? And poor Clonie Gowen, who was seemingly on to something, will never get a dime AND will have to get dragged into courts as a witness for the prosecution. I would not be feeling very good if I were say, Howard Lederer. I would be selling off assets and HIDING MY MONEY. Which is what I presume is happening and thus the elongated posturing and delays and avoidance of the press.

So dont talk to ME about Poker Spot and Dutch Boyd. Absolved fully as far as I am concerned (and probably long overdue).

Playing poker outside the US

So as FullTilt continues to hold bankrolls hostage, has anyone taken them up on playing (i.e. moving) to outside the US? Could I get a Mexican drivers license, using a friends flat, and open a local bank acct to play out of?

On the other side of the coin, can I play Canadian and pull something similar? I mean, Ontario is less than an hour from me. This seems like an idea whose time has come: an international address instead of just a local address.

Perhaps 50 of us can rent an apartment in Ontario? Only 1 person has to physically sleep there and pick up the mail...

Rise Poker

If you ever want to witness the greatest weakness of the internet, google up Rise Poker looking for reviews. Every single one is a post ASKING for feedback and then 2 or 3 posts with wide ranging opinions on everything BUT Rise poker.

What drives people to post responses that are based on ready 1 sentence of a post and then addressing whatever is the free-range thought that pops up? Stoopid.

Let me step up here. I loaded up Rise poker last night. I played a "free" SnG.
Here is my initial feedback

1. I KNOW its real poker software because I got sucked out on AND lost a race in a single SnG.

2. The FREE version with the Ads is so painful, that either you pay or you don't bother. Really, the fee play is there for the people who will never join. The ads themselves were crippling my laptop.

3. The engine is sub par, in that I cant change seats, re-size, etc. All the things we loved in the mature engines.

Ok. That being said, I cant really tell you how the subscription play is or how the tournaments are... YET. I intend to SOAP UP for the $240/yr (which I put down in a single tournament online, so how can I complain?!). I will report back shortly.

It helped immensely that heard of the site through Dr. Pauly and F-Train, otherwise I would still never even had Rise poker on my radar.


Oh, yeah. WHERE THE HELL IS MY FULL TILT MONIES?

League it up

I missed online poker this spring. I had stored a bankroll to make a WSOP run and now that $$$ is caught in limbo. So I added a second league to my games next year and hope its enough poker to keep me going. I need my bankroll back Full Tilt!