The poker bankroll currently sits at $4,000. This is quite comfortable for 3-6 ring games or $55 sit-n-gos. I have won back all the money I lost in the last Vegas debacle. Here's the dilemna. I am making close to six figures off of a real estate deal and it will hit my bank account on Friday. After paying off a second mortgage and buying my country club membership, I will still have plenty left over.
I am thinking of adding $6,000 to the bankroll and taking a stab at the higher games. Maybe the $109 sit-n-go's and the 10-20 or 15-30 ring games. I think there will never be another time in my life when there is so much easy money in high limit poker games. This poker boom cannot last forever and the losers cannot lose money forever. There may definitely come a time when all that is left at the high levels are the sharks who have eaten all the fish.
I am sure there is a difference in ability and level of play at the higher games. My question is how much? Is it so much that I could not adapt to it after a few thousand hands? I have averaged 2.36 BB/100 at 2-4 and 3-6 over the 18,000 hands I have in Poker Tracker. I can average 1 BB/100 at 10-20 and make substantially more money. My breakeven point is 0.7 BB/100.
The conservative route is to move up slowly and win my way up to 10,000. The problem is I play 10-15 hours a week. At that rate it will take me 2 years to make it to that level. All the fish may be gone by then. I have no desire to play poker full time and quit my job, but it would be nice to make 10-20k a year as a second income.
The other question is would I be able to take the losses mentally? Right now I look at it like I am playing with house money. All of the money in my poker accounts are winnings. If I add to my account and I lose the add on, how will I feel? If I lose 20 BB in a session at 10-20, that is $400. How pissed off will I get? Plus every time in the past I have taken a stab at a much higher game, I have been crushed. I never felt like I was outplayed but just unlucky. Who knows, I could be wrong.
Does anybody out there think I can do it?
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Playing a tournament blind
Due to my slow realization that in order to win tournaments you need to win a decent amount of hands without having good cards, I decided to try a little experiment. I entered a $5 30 person no limit hold'em tournament on Party Poker. Once I was assigned my seat, I placed a small piece of paper over my icon and cards and played the tournament without looking at my cards.
My basic strategy was to only play hands in late position or in my blinds. I would raise if I was first to open the pot. If I saw a chance for a squeeze play I would take it. If it looked like someone was trying to steal my blind, I would play back at them.
I would say, I played about 90% of the early hands blind. A couple of times, I peeked on the river or if someone played back at me. Mostly I just played based on whether I thought I could push my opponent around.
Just like I expected, I did very well. I chipped up pretty consistently at every level and by the time we were down to about 14 players, I was 4th in chips overall. It was about this time that I became a little bored with the challenge and my emotions of wanting to win the thing took over. I tried to play the same style and I think I did a pretty good job of it.
Eventually it got down to 3 players. I had around 12,000, the small stack had 5,000, and the big stack had 13,000. The blinds were still relatively small at 100-200 so I had a lot of room to play around. I continued to raise the blinds mercilessly and finally the big stack got tired of it. He reraised me all in. Unfortunately for him, I had a real hand in Ace King of hearts. He had King Queen and my Ace high held up so now I had a 5 to 1 chip lead over my remaining opponent. He slowly came back to about a 2-1 deficit before I finally put him away.
I think I am going to do this a few more times or maybe in a big muliti player tournament just to get better at it. The small buy in tournaments should be a good barometer because they tend to attract the looser and more aggressive players. If I can make the strategy work in these tournaments, it should work even better in the larger buy in tournaments where the players tend to be more conservative. The live tournaments at the casinos here have such quick blind structures that you cannot just sit around and wait for good cards. I have also been pushed around a little by the more aggressive players. I always think I can wait for a good hand and double up, but by the time I get the hand, my stack has shrunk 50%. My double up only gets me back to square 1. So far I am 1-0.
My basic strategy was to only play hands in late position or in my blinds. I would raise if I was first to open the pot. If I saw a chance for a squeeze play I would take it. If it looked like someone was trying to steal my blind, I would play back at them.
I would say, I played about 90% of the early hands blind. A couple of times, I peeked on the river or if someone played back at me. Mostly I just played based on whether I thought I could push my opponent around.
Just like I expected, I did very well. I chipped up pretty consistently at every level and by the time we were down to about 14 players, I was 4th in chips overall. It was about this time that I became a little bored with the challenge and my emotions of wanting to win the thing took over. I tried to play the same style and I think I did a pretty good job of it.
Eventually it got down to 3 players. I had around 12,000, the small stack had 5,000, and the big stack had 13,000. The blinds were still relatively small at 100-200 so I had a lot of room to play around. I continued to raise the blinds mercilessly and finally the big stack got tired of it. He reraised me all in. Unfortunately for him, I had a real hand in Ace King of hearts. He had King Queen and my Ace high held up so now I had a 5 to 1 chip lead over my remaining opponent. He slowly came back to about a 2-1 deficit before I finally put him away.
I think I am going to do this a few more times or maybe in a big muliti player tournament just to get better at it. The small buy in tournaments should be a good barometer because they tend to attract the looser and more aggressive players. If I can make the strategy work in these tournaments, it should work even better in the larger buy in tournaments where the players tend to be more conservative. The live tournaments at the casinos here have such quick blind structures that you cannot just sit around and wait for good cards. I have also been pushed around a little by the more aggressive players. I always think I can wait for a good hand and double up, but by the time I get the hand, my stack has shrunk 50%. My double up only gets me back to square 1. So far I am 1-0.
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
More Tournament Follies
Update on some of my poker adventures:
WSOP 2005: Still stuck on level one of the steps at Party Poker. Last one I played brilliantly and got heads up with about a 3 to 1 chip lead. I played well except for one hand heads up. I had AJ offsuit and only called the small blind because I was hoping he would raise and I could come over the top. He only called then must have hit the flop hard because he check raised me all in. I had nothing on the flop, but I bet out trying to steal. I had to lay it down to the big raise. After that I was card dead.
$55 Sit-n-Go's: I won my first one over the weekend. I finally caught a couple of lucky breaks and won the key hands. Previously I was the one taking the bad beats. I am wondering if poker tracker is catching all of the ones I have played. It says I have only played 11. I am in the money 54% and my ROI is 57%. Obviously a big jump due to the win. It sure seems like I have played more than 11.
Last night on the way back from a client meeting in Payson, I stopped by the Fort McDowell Casino. I have played in a couple of their tournaments before and always seem to do a little better than average.
You gain extra chips for playing hours before the tournament. I only got one $500 bonus to add to my initial $1000 in tournament chips. I think the most you can start with is 3000. There are $300 rebuys for $10 or a $600 rebuy for $20 if you go bust. You can also add $2000 in chips at the first break for $20. My original entry was $30.
The first level of blinds is 25-25 for 20 minutes. Then I believe it went:
25-25
25-50
50-75
75-150 with 25 ante
100-200 with 25 ante
150-300 with 50 ante
200-400 with 50 ante
300-600 with 100 ante
So they give you some room in the early stages but the 4th level after the break is a big step up. I really did nothing for the first couple of levels. My big hand was at level 3 I think.
I was dealt pocket 10's in middle position. I had about 2,000 in chips. UTG raised 3x the BB and UTG plus 1 called. 2 folds and then it's to me. My first thought was to throw them away. Luckily I took my time and decided that was definitely too weak tight. I could call and hope for a set, but I didn't like my position. If I let someone else in, there is no way I can win this pot after the flop if I don't hit the set since I am sure there will be some overcards. I decide to raise. When I look at my chips, I decide the best move is to put them all in. If I make a solid raise, I will not have many chips left. Plus I don't mind winning the pot right now.
The button struggles a little and then throws her hand away. The blinds fold and it is to the UTG initial raiser. He thinks for at least a minute and then throws it away. The last woman in, calls in a shot with Ace King of hearts. Alright, I guess I need to get lucky and win a race.
The flop was Queen, Ten, 8 with two hearts. I didn't even notice the third 10, I was worried about the flush. The turn was a King and I actually groaned. It was then that I realized I had 3 tens and was still in control. Now I need to avoid a Jack, a King, or a heart. The last card was a 2 of diamonds and I had made a big score.
I was now the chip leader by a large margin at the table. I was planning on trying to bully a little bit. A few hands went by and I didn't see any good opportunities. Then a new guy got moved to our table. He had at least 2 times my chips and the guy next to me, said he won the qualifier to get into the WSOP there last week. So much for being a bully. He won a few pots early and I went completely card dead.
Eventually I was blinded down to about 10x the BB. The pots were pretty big with the antes and I would have loved to steal, but I really didn't have the opportunity. I only like to steal if I have some chance of hitting a decent hand on the flop if I am called. A couple of times it was folded to me on the button or one off the button and my hand was so bad, I couldn't pull the trigger to steal. Then I was dealt 22 and 44 in very early position and didn't want to put my chips in out of position. I just knew I would get called and at best I would be a slight favorite. I wanted a bigger edge if I was going to risk my tournament life.
Finally, I was dealt AK offsuit one off the button. It was folded to me and I raised all in for 8,000. The small blind called for around 2,000 all in. Everyone else had folded. He turned over AA. So I'm lucky that he didn't have more money, but I'm unlucky that I ran into such a good hand. The very next hand I am dealt 88. I think there were one or two limpers. I raised all in and nobody called. 2 hands later I was dealt 99.
Again I raise all in, first in pot. Another player who has me covered by $100 calls me with 10-10. I am out in 26th place.
Overall, I felt like I played pretty well. I don't think I made any mistakes.
I still feel like there must be someway to win more hands with out having the cards. The really good players manage to go far in these tournaments all the time, and I know they do not have the cards all the time. I am guessing there must be some other times where I can pick out a player to pick on. Wait until they enter a pot, call their bet and then outplay them on the flop. I just don't know if I am confident enough in my reads to figure out if my opponent will lay down their hand.
WSOP 2005: Still stuck on level one of the steps at Party Poker. Last one I played brilliantly and got heads up with about a 3 to 1 chip lead. I played well except for one hand heads up. I had AJ offsuit and only called the small blind because I was hoping he would raise and I could come over the top. He only called then must have hit the flop hard because he check raised me all in. I had nothing on the flop, but I bet out trying to steal. I had to lay it down to the big raise. After that I was card dead.
$55 Sit-n-Go's: I won my first one over the weekend. I finally caught a couple of lucky breaks and won the key hands. Previously I was the one taking the bad beats. I am wondering if poker tracker is catching all of the ones I have played. It says I have only played 11. I am in the money 54% and my ROI is 57%. Obviously a big jump due to the win. It sure seems like I have played more than 11.
Last night on the way back from a client meeting in Payson, I stopped by the Fort McDowell Casino. I have played in a couple of their tournaments before and always seem to do a little better than average.
You gain extra chips for playing hours before the tournament. I only got one $500 bonus to add to my initial $1000 in tournament chips. I think the most you can start with is 3000. There are $300 rebuys for $10 or a $600 rebuy for $20 if you go bust. You can also add $2000 in chips at the first break for $20. My original entry was $30.
The first level of blinds is 25-25 for 20 minutes. Then I believe it went:
25-25
25-50
50-75
75-150 with 25 ante
100-200 with 25 ante
150-300 with 50 ante
200-400 with 50 ante
300-600 with 100 ante
So they give you some room in the early stages but the 4th level after the break is a big step up. I really did nothing for the first couple of levels. My big hand was at level 3 I think.
I was dealt pocket 10's in middle position. I had about 2,000 in chips. UTG raised 3x the BB and UTG plus 1 called. 2 folds and then it's to me. My first thought was to throw them away. Luckily I took my time and decided that was definitely too weak tight. I could call and hope for a set, but I didn't like my position. If I let someone else in, there is no way I can win this pot after the flop if I don't hit the set since I am sure there will be some overcards. I decide to raise. When I look at my chips, I decide the best move is to put them all in. If I make a solid raise, I will not have many chips left. Plus I don't mind winning the pot right now.
The button struggles a little and then throws her hand away. The blinds fold and it is to the UTG initial raiser. He thinks for at least a minute and then throws it away. The last woman in, calls in a shot with Ace King of hearts. Alright, I guess I need to get lucky and win a race.
The flop was Queen, Ten, 8 with two hearts. I didn't even notice the third 10, I was worried about the flush. The turn was a King and I actually groaned. It was then that I realized I had 3 tens and was still in control. Now I need to avoid a Jack, a King, or a heart. The last card was a 2 of diamonds and I had made a big score.
I was now the chip leader by a large margin at the table. I was planning on trying to bully a little bit. A few hands went by and I didn't see any good opportunities. Then a new guy got moved to our table. He had at least 2 times my chips and the guy next to me, said he won the qualifier to get into the WSOP there last week. So much for being a bully. He won a few pots early and I went completely card dead.
Eventually I was blinded down to about 10x the BB. The pots were pretty big with the antes and I would have loved to steal, but I really didn't have the opportunity. I only like to steal if I have some chance of hitting a decent hand on the flop if I am called. A couple of times it was folded to me on the button or one off the button and my hand was so bad, I couldn't pull the trigger to steal. Then I was dealt 22 and 44 in very early position and didn't want to put my chips in out of position. I just knew I would get called and at best I would be a slight favorite. I wanted a bigger edge if I was going to risk my tournament life.
Finally, I was dealt AK offsuit one off the button. It was folded to me and I raised all in for 8,000. The small blind called for around 2,000 all in. Everyone else had folded. He turned over AA. So I'm lucky that he didn't have more money, but I'm unlucky that I ran into such a good hand. The very next hand I am dealt 88. I think there were one or two limpers. I raised all in and nobody called. 2 hands later I was dealt 99.
Again I raise all in, first in pot. Another player who has me covered by $100 calls me with 10-10. I am out in 26th place.
Overall, I felt like I played pretty well. I don't think I made any mistakes.
I still feel like there must be someway to win more hands with out having the cards. The really good players manage to go far in these tournaments all the time, and I know they do not have the cards all the time. I am guessing there must be some other times where I can pick out a player to pick on. Wait until they enter a pot, call their bet and then outplay them on the flop. I just don't know if I am confident enough in my reads to figure out if my opponent will lay down their hand.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Still winless in the $55 Sit N Go's
I have played 10 $55 sit-n-gos at Party Poker so far. I am up $150. Last night I played in one where everyone at the table was left and the blinds were 50-100. I haven't seen that much tightness in a long time.
I started stealing blinds and pushing people around and eventually it got down to 4. Then in a great lucky break, 3 of the players got involved in a hand where two of them were all in. The bigger stack won the pot and suddenly there were only 2 of us.
I thought I played pretty well heads up. I mixed up my raise amounts and made the appropriate folds. On the last hand, my opponent was leading 5500 to 4500. I was dealt Ace Jack in the big blind. My opponent doubled the blind and I pushed all in. For some reason he decides to call me with 8-10 suited. He hit his 8 and I was out in second place.
That's twice now where I had a good chance to win and got all my money in with the best hand and lost. That's poker I guess.
As for the difficulty of the 55's, I really haven't seen much difference at all the levels. This level seems tighter, but it is easier to steal blinds. I have especially noticed that when it gets short handed, the players really let me abuse them. We'll see if that changes as I get more tournaments under my belt.
I started stealing blinds and pushing people around and eventually it got down to 4. Then in a great lucky break, 3 of the players got involved in a hand where two of them were all in. The bigger stack won the pot and suddenly there were only 2 of us.
I thought I played pretty well heads up. I mixed up my raise amounts and made the appropriate folds. On the last hand, my opponent was leading 5500 to 4500. I was dealt Ace Jack in the big blind. My opponent doubled the blind and I pushed all in. For some reason he decides to call me with 8-10 suited. He hit his 8 and I was out in second place.
That's twice now where I had a good chance to win and got all my money in with the best hand and lost. That's poker I guess.
As for the difficulty of the 55's, I really haven't seen much difference at all the levels. This level seems tighter, but it is easier to steal blinds. I have especially noticed that when it gets short handed, the players really let me abuse them. We'll see if that changes as I get more tournaments under my belt.
Monday, June 13, 2005
Great Golf and Bad Poker
Our annual Tucson golf getaway started on Friday when I left work early to play with Billy at Whirlwind at 11:40 AM. Whirlwind is not in Tucson, but in the town of Maricopa which is on the way out of town to get to Tucson.
Billy and I were going to play golf alone, but at the last minute we were joined by Adam and his brother Mark. Mark was in town from Austin and said he was a 5 handicap. I have played with Adam before and he can usually break 100. Mark piped in immediately and said he wanted to bet on the round. He suggested $5 a hole using a best ball format. He would take Adam and Bill and I would be a team. This was a really stupid bet on Mark's part. He's never seen us play, and he is playing a golf course for the first time. I on the other hand have played the course at least 50 times since I bought a membership in 2004. So being the greedy bastards that we are, we immediately accepted the bet.
By the end of the round, I had shot a 74 and Billy had shot an 86. We won 16 holes, tied 1, and lost 1. It was a blood bath. I also had a $50 bet on match play and $50 on stroke play with Billy. I won those easily and even won a $50 press on the last hole when I made par after hitting my tee shot in the desert.
We cleaned up and headed down to Tucson. We stayed at the Loews Ventana Canyon Hotel on the first night. As I mentioned before, this is my favorite place to play golf in Arizona. You are right at the base of the Catalina mountains and have some spectacular views of Tucson and of the mountains. Once we arrived and checked in, we started having a few cocktails. Drinking continued over dinner and we finally got back and I was ready to play some poker.
Since our rooms were not big enough to hold an 8 player game, we got permission from the hotel to play out by the pool. It was a beautiful calm night and there was just enough light from the hotel to see the cards. The game was 1-2 Pot Limit Hold'em.
Now out of the eight players there were maybe 3 including me, that have studied the game at all. The rest of them, only know what they have seen on TV. What drives me nuts about these games is that they are so passive. Absolutely, under no circumstances does anyone raise before the flop. They are all pathologically afraid that if they raise everyone will fold. There is usually no raising after the flop either. As an example, Christian decides to show me his pocket jacks before the flop. He's in late position and there are only a couple of limpers in front of him. The flop came 9-2-3. Jon bets $2 and the other guys fold so it's to Chris. Chris is asking me what he should do? What the fuck? Bet the pot fuck face. Make Jon pay for his draw. It was plain as day that he was betting on a draw. But Christian chickens out and just calls. Now a Queen comes on the turn. Jon checks and Christian checks again because now he is afraid of the over card. The last card is an Ace. Now Christian is fucked because it looks like the draw got there and now there are 2 overcards. Jon bet the pot and Christian folded.
All night there were weak tight plays like this. Obviously this is bad strategy for them, because it lets the other players in cheap and they can catch a miracle and beat their pocket pair. It also hurts my game, because then I have no idea what anyone has. Players could have any 2 cards because no one has put them to a test the whole hand.
After thinking about it a while, the right strategy to crush this game is to limp with big drawing hands, and to raise relentlessly with high pocket pairs in late position. To my dismay, I was not getting any decent starting cards, and getting very bored. It sucks when you are stuck dealing the cards and moving the game along, and don't get to play any hands because you are playing tight. I heard Jon Juanda say in a interview that the difference between Pot Limit and No Limit is that large pocket pairs are devalued because you cannot bet enough to protect your hand in Pot limit. I would agree in a game with decent players, but in this case, even a small raise was enough to chase most players out.
Just for fun on one hand I played 2-7 offsuit "the hammer" for a raise. Since I had not played a hand in 20 minutes, everyone folded except for Rolf on my left. He called. I knew this was bad news because no matter how much I bet from now on, he's going to stay in the hand. Not because he's ahead, but because he knows nothing abut the game. Sure enough we make it to the river after a couple more attempts to bluff him out and he shows down bottom pair to win the pot.
A little later, he was in another pot that came down to the river. There was around $20 in the pot. Someone bet $2 and he calls it down with.......................10 high. If you have 10 high and someone bets in this pot, please fold. Or better yet, grow a dick and raise! The best part, is that he got lucky later on a big pot when he and another player had 3 Queens. When the turned over the hands, they were ready to chop until I saw that Rolf had paired his other card, the 3 with the board. Hello Full House!
The next day we played the Canyon Course at Ventana. Once again I played some of the best golf of my life. I shot a 73 with 6 birdies. At one point in the round I had 4 in a row. Billy was really pissed because he shot a 78 which was his best round in a year and a half and he still lost $100.
We played poker again at night and it was pretty much the same thing. I had no cards all night. I did play position a couple of times where I'd limp in late and wait for the flop. If no one bet at the flop, I would bet around 1/2 the pot and take it down. Even when I had nothing, I knew they didn't have anything either and they were not going to call a bet.
We stayed up late trying to finish off the beer and the scotch. This made getting up the next morning a bear for some of us. Our tee time this morning was 8:30. Robert made it to the first tee, but after one hole he had to go off into the desert and take a shit. He used a golf towel to wipe his ass. About 3 holes later we started making fun of him because you could see skid marks forming on his shorts. On the next hole we came up to the green and there was something stuffed into the cup on the green. We pulled the flag out and found Robert's dirty underwear. James used his putter and wedge like salad tongs and left it in the desert for the rattlesnakes. Apparently Robert called it a day after that and went back to the hotel.
Meanwhile Billy was playing great golf again trying to get even. After 6 holes I was still playing fantastic and was at even par. However, I was 2 strokes behind because Billy was 2 under. I really fucked myself on 10 when I hit my first tee shot into the desert and then had to retee up another one. This one I yanked into the driving range and had to take a drop. I made triple bogey which I thought had put me out of the running.
I managed to get back on track and then made back to back birdies on 15 and 16 to pull even in the day's match. My joy was shortlived after I pulled my approach on 17 into the one place I could not afford to go. I short sided myself in the bunker on the left and to top it off, I had a buried lie. So after leaving it in the bunker the first try, I blasted out and then missed the putt for bogey. I almost got lucky when on 18, Billy hit a horrid tee shot that looked like it went straight into the desert 50 yards in front of the tee. After looking worriedly for a few seconds, Billy spotted his ball in the fairway. I guess it trickled down the hill from the tee box and out of the desert. His hole didn't go much better, but I could only manage bogey so I only made up one stroke. Losing the match on Sunday, gave Billy $100 back so I only ended up $100 on the trip in golf bets.
After we added up the scores I was good for a 78 and the best weekend of golf I have ever played. Billy finished with a 76 which is the best he has played in years. It felt like we were Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus dueling down the final holes of a major. At least that's what we'll tell our friends.
Billy and I were going to play golf alone, but at the last minute we were joined by Adam and his brother Mark. Mark was in town from Austin and said he was a 5 handicap. I have played with Adam before and he can usually break 100. Mark piped in immediately and said he wanted to bet on the round. He suggested $5 a hole using a best ball format. He would take Adam and Bill and I would be a team. This was a really stupid bet on Mark's part. He's never seen us play, and he is playing a golf course for the first time. I on the other hand have played the course at least 50 times since I bought a membership in 2004. So being the greedy bastards that we are, we immediately accepted the bet.
By the end of the round, I had shot a 74 and Billy had shot an 86. We won 16 holes, tied 1, and lost 1. It was a blood bath. I also had a $50 bet on match play and $50 on stroke play with Billy. I won those easily and even won a $50 press on the last hole when I made par after hitting my tee shot in the desert.
We cleaned up and headed down to Tucson. We stayed at the Loews Ventana Canyon Hotel on the first night. As I mentioned before, this is my favorite place to play golf in Arizona. You are right at the base of the Catalina mountains and have some spectacular views of Tucson and of the mountains. Once we arrived and checked in, we started having a few cocktails. Drinking continued over dinner and we finally got back and I was ready to play some poker.
Since our rooms were not big enough to hold an 8 player game, we got permission from the hotel to play out by the pool. It was a beautiful calm night and there was just enough light from the hotel to see the cards. The game was 1-2 Pot Limit Hold'em.
Now out of the eight players there were maybe 3 including me, that have studied the game at all. The rest of them, only know what they have seen on TV. What drives me nuts about these games is that they are so passive. Absolutely, under no circumstances does anyone raise before the flop. They are all pathologically afraid that if they raise everyone will fold. There is usually no raising after the flop either. As an example, Christian decides to show me his pocket jacks before the flop. He's in late position and there are only a couple of limpers in front of him. The flop came 9-2-3. Jon bets $2 and the other guys fold so it's to Chris. Chris is asking me what he should do? What the fuck? Bet the pot fuck face. Make Jon pay for his draw. It was plain as day that he was betting on a draw. But Christian chickens out and just calls. Now a Queen comes on the turn. Jon checks and Christian checks again because now he is afraid of the over card. The last card is an Ace. Now Christian is fucked because it looks like the draw got there and now there are 2 overcards. Jon bet the pot and Christian folded.
All night there were weak tight plays like this. Obviously this is bad strategy for them, because it lets the other players in cheap and they can catch a miracle and beat their pocket pair. It also hurts my game, because then I have no idea what anyone has. Players could have any 2 cards because no one has put them to a test the whole hand.
After thinking about it a while, the right strategy to crush this game is to limp with big drawing hands, and to raise relentlessly with high pocket pairs in late position. To my dismay, I was not getting any decent starting cards, and getting very bored. It sucks when you are stuck dealing the cards and moving the game along, and don't get to play any hands because you are playing tight. I heard Jon Juanda say in a interview that the difference between Pot Limit and No Limit is that large pocket pairs are devalued because you cannot bet enough to protect your hand in Pot limit. I would agree in a game with decent players, but in this case, even a small raise was enough to chase most players out.
Just for fun on one hand I played 2-7 offsuit "the hammer" for a raise. Since I had not played a hand in 20 minutes, everyone folded except for Rolf on my left. He called. I knew this was bad news because no matter how much I bet from now on, he's going to stay in the hand. Not because he's ahead, but because he knows nothing abut the game. Sure enough we make it to the river after a couple more attempts to bluff him out and he shows down bottom pair to win the pot.
A little later, he was in another pot that came down to the river. There was around $20 in the pot. Someone bet $2 and he calls it down with.......................10 high. If you have 10 high and someone bets in this pot, please fold. Or better yet, grow a dick and raise! The best part, is that he got lucky later on a big pot when he and another player had 3 Queens. When the turned over the hands, they were ready to chop until I saw that Rolf had paired his other card, the 3 with the board. Hello Full House!
The next day we played the Canyon Course at Ventana. Once again I played some of the best golf of my life. I shot a 73 with 6 birdies. At one point in the round I had 4 in a row. Billy was really pissed because he shot a 78 which was his best round in a year and a half and he still lost $100.
We played poker again at night and it was pretty much the same thing. I had no cards all night. I did play position a couple of times where I'd limp in late and wait for the flop. If no one bet at the flop, I would bet around 1/2 the pot and take it down. Even when I had nothing, I knew they didn't have anything either and they were not going to call a bet.
We stayed up late trying to finish off the beer and the scotch. This made getting up the next morning a bear for some of us. Our tee time this morning was 8:30. Robert made it to the first tee, but after one hole he had to go off into the desert and take a shit. He used a golf towel to wipe his ass. About 3 holes later we started making fun of him because you could see skid marks forming on his shorts. On the next hole we came up to the green and there was something stuffed into the cup on the green. We pulled the flag out and found Robert's dirty underwear. James used his putter and wedge like salad tongs and left it in the desert for the rattlesnakes. Apparently Robert called it a day after that and went back to the hotel.
Meanwhile Billy was playing great golf again trying to get even. After 6 holes I was still playing fantastic and was at even par. However, I was 2 strokes behind because Billy was 2 under. I really fucked myself on 10 when I hit my first tee shot into the desert and then had to retee up another one. This one I yanked into the driving range and had to take a drop. I made triple bogey which I thought had put me out of the running.
I managed to get back on track and then made back to back birdies on 15 and 16 to pull even in the day's match. My joy was shortlived after I pulled my approach on 17 into the one place I could not afford to go. I short sided myself in the bunker on the left and to top it off, I had a buried lie. So after leaving it in the bunker the first try, I blasted out and then missed the putt for bogey. I almost got lucky when on 18, Billy hit a horrid tee shot that looked like it went straight into the desert 50 yards in front of the tee. After looking worriedly for a few seconds, Billy spotted his ball in the fairway. I guess it trickled down the hill from the tee box and out of the desert. His hole didn't go much better, but I could only manage bogey so I only made up one stroke. Losing the match on Sunday, gave Billy $100 back so I only ended up $100 on the trip in golf bets.
After we added up the scores I was good for a 78 and the best weekend of golf I have ever played. Billy finished with a 76 which is the best he has played in years. It felt like we were Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus dueling down the final holes of a major. At least that's what we'll tell our friends.
Monday, June 06, 2005
I Wish I Was At The World Series
I have been reading CardPlayer.com and looking at some of the other blogger entries about the first weekend of the WSOP and I am very envious. I still think about my AA being cracked by King-5 in the satellite at the Rio. It looks like there will be over 1000 people in every major tournament during the world series. I heard they even capped the main event at 6600.
I guess I'll have to get the gamble out of my system this weekend when I go down to Tucson for our annual golf/gamble fest at Ventana Canyon. Last year was awful. I think I lost over $500 to Bill over the weekend. It made up for about 6 months of me just killing him in every sports bet, so we probably broke even on the year. The first big loss was during our initial round of golf. I think we started with $5 skins with carry overs. After nine holes I was only down $10 so we made it $10 skins. Time and again I had chances to get even and blew easy shots. Finally it came down to the 18th hole, a short par 5. If I won, I would only be down $40. If I lost, it would be $200. I cranked out a monster drive while Bill hit his standard 2 iron 200 yards. I was only a five iron into the green, so there was no doubt I was going for the green in two. Bill laid up to about 100 yards. I hit my approach in the right greenside bunker, however I had a good clean lie and it was on the upslope, so I should have been able to get it close. Bill hit his 3rd shot to about 25 feet. I totally choked on the bunker shot, almost leaving it in. I now had 35 feet for birdie. I proceeded to hit a horrific putt and leave myself with 6 feet for par. Bill had already 2 putt, so now I needed my putt just to tie. Of course I missed.
Later that night after playing poker for way too small a stakes, I was frustrated. I wanted to play for bigger stakes so I could win some of my money back. Bill wanted to deal blackjack to me. I knew that was a mistake, but it was the only way to win any money. I decided to play for just a little while and ended up winning approximately $80. Then I got the bright idea to play Bill heads up in poker for the rest of the money I owed him from the previous bets. That lasted about an hour and Bill finally ground me into nothing and now I was down $400. I still had 2 days of golf left to play.
The rest of the days were a little better as my game started to come around and Bill started thinking about going home and watching Phil Mickelson play in the British Open. I made a small recovery at the end, but overall it was a very expensive weekend.
This weekend I am seeking my revenge. I shot a 79 and 84 last weekend at Phoenix CC and I switched back to my standard putting grip. Hopefully this will put me in good shape.
As for poker.......
I have adapted to playing 4 tables at a time in the 3-6 limit games at Party Poker. After 5,000 hands I am up, but only at 1.86 BB per hour. I need to get it over 2. I decided to pony up and buy the playerview software that I had tried out earlier. It is impossible to make notes on players when playing 4 tables. The playerview software allows me to track all of my opponents hands and give me great stats on VPIP, pre flop raise %, and money won and lost. This way after about 30 hands I can get a general read on all of my opponents.
This along with updating my ratings of players in my poker tracker data base should help me with my game selection. I think I need to look for better tables at 3-6. This seems to be the rock haven for many players where there are not too many players preflop and after the flop, there are very few players that will try to chase you down with a worse hand. I will see if technology will help me figure this out, or I might have to go to a different level.
I have also started playing in the $50+5 sit n gos at PP. They seem to be about the same difficulty as the $33's. I've only played 8 of them so far and I've finished in the money 50% of the time. The nice thing is you can start with 1000 chips instead of 800 so you can afford to limp in a couple of times and see if you can hit a big hand. In the 8 I've played so far there have been 1 or 2 players out by the end of the first round due to big all in bets with top pairs against flushes. I still can't believe people are that dumb. There is almost no reason to ever go broke in the first round of these internet sit'n'gos. Why risk all that money, when you can steal a couple blinds in the 4th and 5th levels and win the same amount of chips?
Also, I think from now on, when I go to Vegas that I need to stop playing cash no limit games. It's obviously not my best game and the stakes make me uncomfortable. If I want action, I am much better off playing at 6-12 or 10-20. I am a much better tournament player, because I realize that my chips in front of me are just chips. When I play a cash No Limit game I am acutely aware of how much real money I have in front of me.
I guess I'll have to get the gamble out of my system this weekend when I go down to Tucson for our annual golf/gamble fest at Ventana Canyon. Last year was awful. I think I lost over $500 to Bill over the weekend. It made up for about 6 months of me just killing him in every sports bet, so we probably broke even on the year. The first big loss was during our initial round of golf. I think we started with $5 skins with carry overs. After nine holes I was only down $10 so we made it $10 skins. Time and again I had chances to get even and blew easy shots. Finally it came down to the 18th hole, a short par 5. If I won, I would only be down $40. If I lost, it would be $200. I cranked out a monster drive while Bill hit his standard 2 iron 200 yards. I was only a five iron into the green, so there was no doubt I was going for the green in two. Bill laid up to about 100 yards. I hit my approach in the right greenside bunker, however I had a good clean lie and it was on the upslope, so I should have been able to get it close. Bill hit his 3rd shot to about 25 feet. I totally choked on the bunker shot, almost leaving it in. I now had 35 feet for birdie. I proceeded to hit a horrific putt and leave myself with 6 feet for par. Bill had already 2 putt, so now I needed my putt just to tie. Of course I missed.
Later that night after playing poker for way too small a stakes, I was frustrated. I wanted to play for bigger stakes so I could win some of my money back. Bill wanted to deal blackjack to me. I knew that was a mistake, but it was the only way to win any money. I decided to play for just a little while and ended up winning approximately $80. Then I got the bright idea to play Bill heads up in poker for the rest of the money I owed him from the previous bets. That lasted about an hour and Bill finally ground me into nothing and now I was down $400. I still had 2 days of golf left to play.
The rest of the days were a little better as my game started to come around and Bill started thinking about going home and watching Phil Mickelson play in the British Open. I made a small recovery at the end, but overall it was a very expensive weekend.
This weekend I am seeking my revenge. I shot a 79 and 84 last weekend at Phoenix CC and I switched back to my standard putting grip. Hopefully this will put me in good shape.
As for poker.......
I have adapted to playing 4 tables at a time in the 3-6 limit games at Party Poker. After 5,000 hands I am up, but only at 1.86 BB per hour. I need to get it over 2. I decided to pony up and buy the playerview software that I had tried out earlier. It is impossible to make notes on players when playing 4 tables. The playerview software allows me to track all of my opponents hands and give me great stats on VPIP, pre flop raise %, and money won and lost. This way after about 30 hands I can get a general read on all of my opponents.
This along with updating my ratings of players in my poker tracker data base should help me with my game selection. I think I need to look for better tables at 3-6. This seems to be the rock haven for many players where there are not too many players preflop and after the flop, there are very few players that will try to chase you down with a worse hand. I will see if technology will help me figure this out, or I might have to go to a different level.
I have also started playing in the $50+5 sit n gos at PP. They seem to be about the same difficulty as the $33's. I've only played 8 of them so far and I've finished in the money 50% of the time. The nice thing is you can start with 1000 chips instead of 800 so you can afford to limp in a couple of times and see if you can hit a big hand. In the 8 I've played so far there have been 1 or 2 players out by the end of the first round due to big all in bets with top pairs against flushes. I still can't believe people are that dumb. There is almost no reason to ever go broke in the first round of these internet sit'n'gos. Why risk all that money, when you can steal a couple blinds in the 4th and 5th levels and win the same amount of chips?
Also, I think from now on, when I go to Vegas that I need to stop playing cash no limit games. It's obviously not my best game and the stakes make me uncomfortable. If I want action, I am much better off playing at 6-12 or 10-20. I am a much better tournament player, because I realize that my chips in front of me are just chips. When I play a cash No Limit game I am acutely aware of how much real money I have in front of me.
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Vegas Kicks Me In The Nuts
The plan was to go to Vegas, check out the Wynn poker room, and win a satellite into the World Series at the Rio. I need to go back and make another plan.
First of all, the Wynn is spectacular. The lobby with all the beautiful flowers and intricate tile work is amazing. We had a room on the 23rd floor that had an incredible view of the golf course and the mountains. The room had two great double beds, a flat screen tv in the living area and the bathroom. It blows the Four Seasons away. The best part is the ability to check the poker room list on the tv in your room.
The poker room is impressive as well. Lots of tables and the video screen above the check in desk does a great job of telling you which games are being spread and how long the wait will be. They were spreading 4-8, 8-16 Hold'em and 1-2 and 2-5 No Limit Holdem. These were the games in my category. No need to mention the 50-100 No Limit or the insane heads up matches that Daniel Negreaneau likes to play.
On Friday night I was hoping to see Daniel play Barry Greenstein heads up. Daniel was there but Barry wasn't. Eric Seidel showed up but didn't play. Daniel eventually wound up playing against David Oppenheim (a WPT finalist). I heard through the grapevine that David won the match.
On to the depressing Poker recap. Friday night I went down to the Wynn Poker room and tried to sign up for the 8-16 game. The line was about 7 deep but they only had one table going so I knew it was going to be a while. I went to the buffet with Chris and Billy. This might be the best deal in the hotel. $30 for dinner which included Alaskan Crab Legs, Chicken, Rib Roast, and all kinds of desserts. When I came back 2 hours later, my name had dropped off the list, but a $1-$2 No Limit table was open.
The table seemed pretty loose, so my normal game should have been well suited to the game. My problem was my brain was foggy from the excitement of the new casino and the fact that the Suns were playing their playoff game on the flat screen above me. I kept getting nice pocket pairs of Queens, Jacks, Kings, 8's, and none of them were holding up. First of all it would have been nice to hit trips just once. Second of all, I would bet hard on the flop and the turn with my opponent staying in the hand, only to find out at the end that they had flopped trips.
The reason I said I was foggy was that the possibility of trips was not even entering my head as a possible holding for my opponent. Three different times, my top pair, top kicker went down to three of a kind. After a couple of hours I was down $200. Billy and Chris wanted to go downtown, so I said what the hell.
I went to the Horseshoe. The fabled home of the World Series of Poker. I had spent a lot of time in the Horseshoe in years past playing blackjack and craps. This was before I found the positive EV games of poker. I used to enjoy the old school attitude and the ability to find a cheap table and a dealer that would talk to you. Now I guess I have turned into a snob. I played poker for the first time in their 4-8 game.
The poker room at the Horseshoe is big and it's fun to see the Wall of Champions. However, the room looks like shit, the list takers are rude, and the tables are lumpy. I played in a boring 4-8 game and won about $20 over 2 hours of play. Finally I went looking for Chris and Billy and found them at 1:00 AM at the Golden Gate. I played a few hands of black jack with them and quickly lost another $100. Nothing much going my way so far.
Before we left the Gate, Chris went to the bathroom. He came out and said someone was throwing up in one of the stalls. Probably a normal occurrence, except Chris said he was making the most horrible sounds he had ever heard. Just the sound of the puking was making Chris nauseous.
We went outside and tried to catch a cab outside of the Plaza. While we were waiting we saw a guy across the street, dip his head down a trash can and start puking. Again, probably a normal occurrence except now we heard the sound. "RRRROOOOOHHH" Chris recognized the sound immediately and ID'd him as the same guy from the bathroom earlier. It sounded a lot like the clip Howard Stern plays of Beetlejuice throwing up on his show. I don't know what was causing the noise because when I throw up, the only loud noise is the vomit hitting the water in the toilet. We all enjoyed a good laugh at his expense.
I slept in comfort at the Wynn and awoke renewed and ready to make my money back. After breakfast, I went back down to the poker room and got into another $1-$2 No Limit game. I bought in for $400. Immediately after I sat down I saw two different hands where the standard preflop raise was $25!. There was a woman in the 9 seat who had a decent stack of chips and a bunch of folded up $100 bills in front of her. She threw in one of the raises. A foreign guy of unknown origin in the 1 seat was obviously waiting for a seat in a bigger game and was ready to gambool it up. I have to admit I was a little scared of the big raises, but once I saw the cards they were playing I thought, that maybe this will be the table where I make my big score.
I was patient and waiting for good hands. I played a couple of small pots and folded after I missed the flop or didn't get the right price to chase a flush or straight, so I was down probably $50 when the first of three critical hands in the trip happened.
I was on the button and was dealt Ace King offsuit. I was in the 4 seat. The woman in the 9 seat raised it to $25 from early position and everyone folded to me. I went big and raised it to $70 total. She is the only caller, so there is $143 in the pot. The flop is Ace, Jack, Three rainbow. She checks and I bet $75. I was tempted to throw in more, but I thought this amount would let me know where I stand by her reaction to the bet amount and how quickly she called. She called rather quickly, so I thought she caught some piece of the flop but didn't feel too confident about her hand. The pot is now $293.
The turn was the King and it put two of the same suit on the board. It also puts up a possible straight. She checks again. This time I bet $100. I was willing to let her chase a flush because I didn't think she had that type of hand. If she was chasing a straight, $100 is just enough to make her call a bad one. If she has the straight, she'll come over the top of me. She is thinking long and hard about calling. Now she is acting like she has a good hand but that maybe she's beat. She even mentions aloud that she thinks I might have Ace King for the two pair. She makes the reluctant call. The pot is now $493.
The river is the 3 which pairs the board. No flush possible. She checks again. Now I could bet, but I had been burned on the previous night not taking into consideration the possible three of a kind. I didn't think she had it, but you never know. I also felt that I would only be called by a better hand. I checked it through. She turns up Queen - Three. She spiked her set of 3's on the river. She apologized and said she misread her hand at first. C'mon! Don't you think you would check your hand again for a $100 bet on the turn? It was a 2 outer. A 21-1 shot. I tried to console myself that I had played it right, but it still stung.
I folded some more, and actually won a couple of small pots. I also put in another $100 just so I had a somewhat respectable stack. Finally I felt like I needed to play a hand every once in a while just to make sure I get some action when I get the nuts. I was in the Big Blind with King-Jack of clubs. An early position player who has played some questionable hands, raised to $12. I call. It's just me and him so the pot is $24. The flop is Queen, Ten, X.
I decide to try and get my straight cheap, so I check. He bets $30. I decide if I hit my straight, I might double up and therefore the implied odds are good enough to call. The turn is my joker. It's the Ace and I have the nuts. I throw some chum in the water and check to him. He chomps down hard on the bait and bets $100. I go all in for $130. He has no choice but to call the additional $30 in a $335 pot. The river is an Ace. Uh oh. Luckily I don't have any more money to lose as he turn over Ace-10 for the full house Aces over 10's. This one was only a 10-1 shot but it cleaned me out. I tucked my tail between my legs and went back up to the room.
After watching a little golf and trying to clear my head, I decided to cab it to the Rio and see if they were really running any satellites into the WSOP. The Rio has cleared out part of their sports book and turned it into their poker room. It's pretty much the standard now a days since everyone is trying to squeeze in a poker room to their existing layout.
I sat in the 4-8 game and waited for the floor supervisor to return from lunch. When he did, I said I would like to play a $150-$175 one table satellite to get an entry into the first $1500 hold'em tournament. He said he would try to put it together. A woman came back about 20 minutes later and said she would put a $125 satellite together with first prize being two $500 tournament chips, and $125 in cash. I said that was good enough and signed up. We were stuck at 8 signups for an hour before they finally filled it. In the mean time I had won about $60 in my 4-8 game.
I sit down in the 5 seat and start in middle position. The blinds will start at 25-25 and will increase every 15 minutes. We start with 1000 in tournament chips. My very first hand I am dealt Aces.
Two early position players limp in for $25 and I raise to $100. Everyone including the blinds folds and the two limpers call. The flop is King spades, Queen spades, and a low card. The two limpers check to me and I bet $300. First a strategy aside. I decided I was going to play my top pairs hard and hope they hold up. I was going to count on the fact that some dummy was going to call with a Queen or Jack kicker and lose to me so I could build up my chips quickly. I knew the blinds were going to go up fast and I figured I am not going to have the time or the chips to play around too much.
So I bet the pot on the flop, fully expecting a fold. First player folds, good. Second player declares all in. What the fuck!? Is he on a flush draw? Two pair? A set? At least today I am considering all the hands that beat me. I contemplate throwing it away, but then I look at him and ask myself, "Does he want me to call?" He is quiet, stiff, and rigid. I think if he was confident in his hand he would look a lot more relaxed. I put him on a flush draw and decide to take the risk and call. He turns over King - 5 of clubs!!!!??? Talk about naked aggression. I am having visions of doubling up on the first hand and how am I going to wield my big stack. The turn is a blank. Oh the table respect I will have, I show down a strong hand and made a great call. This satellite is mine. I will turn the whole trip around in this one tournament.
The river is a 5.
Why are the chips being pushed to my opponent? Oh shit he hit the 4 outer to beat me. How much of a favorite does a guy have to be to win a fucking hand in this town? So once again I am out of my first satellite in one hand with pocket aces. I say once again because you can refer back to the first step tournament I played on Party Poker to go to the World Series where I busted out with Aces in the first hand.
I decided to get the fuck out of Dodge after that. I went back to the Wynn and packed up my shit and got on a plane. Luckily I was leaving for Colorado Springs the next day for a 4 day vacation. I am writing this after not playing for over one week. The break was nice. I am still pissed off but I am more determined than ever to build the bankroll back up.
I will climb back through the steps and make it to the main event. I will play my required hands to get my $500 bonus on Noble Poker and then start back on my quest for glory. Look out poker world, here I come.
First of all, the Wynn is spectacular. The lobby with all the beautiful flowers and intricate tile work is amazing. We had a room on the 23rd floor that had an incredible view of the golf course and the mountains. The room had two great double beds, a flat screen tv in the living area and the bathroom. It blows the Four Seasons away. The best part is the ability to check the poker room list on the tv in your room.
The poker room is impressive as well. Lots of tables and the video screen above the check in desk does a great job of telling you which games are being spread and how long the wait will be. They were spreading 4-8, 8-16 Hold'em and 1-2 and 2-5 No Limit Holdem. These were the games in my category. No need to mention the 50-100 No Limit or the insane heads up matches that Daniel Negreaneau likes to play.
On Friday night I was hoping to see Daniel play Barry Greenstein heads up. Daniel was there but Barry wasn't. Eric Seidel showed up but didn't play. Daniel eventually wound up playing against David Oppenheim (a WPT finalist). I heard through the grapevine that David won the match.
On to the depressing Poker recap. Friday night I went down to the Wynn Poker room and tried to sign up for the 8-16 game. The line was about 7 deep but they only had one table going so I knew it was going to be a while. I went to the buffet with Chris and Billy. This might be the best deal in the hotel. $30 for dinner which included Alaskan Crab Legs, Chicken, Rib Roast, and all kinds of desserts. When I came back 2 hours later, my name had dropped off the list, but a $1-$2 No Limit table was open.
The table seemed pretty loose, so my normal game should have been well suited to the game. My problem was my brain was foggy from the excitement of the new casino and the fact that the Suns were playing their playoff game on the flat screen above me. I kept getting nice pocket pairs of Queens, Jacks, Kings, 8's, and none of them were holding up. First of all it would have been nice to hit trips just once. Second of all, I would bet hard on the flop and the turn with my opponent staying in the hand, only to find out at the end that they had flopped trips.
The reason I said I was foggy was that the possibility of trips was not even entering my head as a possible holding for my opponent. Three different times, my top pair, top kicker went down to three of a kind. After a couple of hours I was down $200. Billy and Chris wanted to go downtown, so I said what the hell.
I went to the Horseshoe. The fabled home of the World Series of Poker. I had spent a lot of time in the Horseshoe in years past playing blackjack and craps. This was before I found the positive EV games of poker. I used to enjoy the old school attitude and the ability to find a cheap table and a dealer that would talk to you. Now I guess I have turned into a snob. I played poker for the first time in their 4-8 game.
The poker room at the Horseshoe is big and it's fun to see the Wall of Champions. However, the room looks like shit, the list takers are rude, and the tables are lumpy. I played in a boring 4-8 game and won about $20 over 2 hours of play. Finally I went looking for Chris and Billy and found them at 1:00 AM at the Golden Gate. I played a few hands of black jack with them and quickly lost another $100. Nothing much going my way so far.
Before we left the Gate, Chris went to the bathroom. He came out and said someone was throwing up in one of the stalls. Probably a normal occurrence, except Chris said he was making the most horrible sounds he had ever heard. Just the sound of the puking was making Chris nauseous.
We went outside and tried to catch a cab outside of the Plaza. While we were waiting we saw a guy across the street, dip his head down a trash can and start puking. Again, probably a normal occurrence except now we heard the sound. "RRRROOOOOHHH" Chris recognized the sound immediately and ID'd him as the same guy from the bathroom earlier. It sounded a lot like the clip Howard Stern plays of Beetlejuice throwing up on his show. I don't know what was causing the noise because when I throw up, the only loud noise is the vomit hitting the water in the toilet. We all enjoyed a good laugh at his expense.
I slept in comfort at the Wynn and awoke renewed and ready to make my money back. After breakfast, I went back down to the poker room and got into another $1-$2 No Limit game. I bought in for $400. Immediately after I sat down I saw two different hands where the standard preflop raise was $25!. There was a woman in the 9 seat who had a decent stack of chips and a bunch of folded up $100 bills in front of her. She threw in one of the raises. A foreign guy of unknown origin in the 1 seat was obviously waiting for a seat in a bigger game and was ready to gambool it up. I have to admit I was a little scared of the big raises, but once I saw the cards they were playing I thought, that maybe this will be the table where I make my big score.
I was patient and waiting for good hands. I played a couple of small pots and folded after I missed the flop or didn't get the right price to chase a flush or straight, so I was down probably $50 when the first of three critical hands in the trip happened.
I was on the button and was dealt Ace King offsuit. I was in the 4 seat. The woman in the 9 seat raised it to $25 from early position and everyone folded to me. I went big and raised it to $70 total. She is the only caller, so there is $143 in the pot. The flop is Ace, Jack, Three rainbow. She checks and I bet $75. I was tempted to throw in more, but I thought this amount would let me know where I stand by her reaction to the bet amount and how quickly she called. She called rather quickly, so I thought she caught some piece of the flop but didn't feel too confident about her hand. The pot is now $293.
The turn was the King and it put two of the same suit on the board. It also puts up a possible straight. She checks again. This time I bet $100. I was willing to let her chase a flush because I didn't think she had that type of hand. If she was chasing a straight, $100 is just enough to make her call a bad one. If she has the straight, she'll come over the top of me. She is thinking long and hard about calling. Now she is acting like she has a good hand but that maybe she's beat. She even mentions aloud that she thinks I might have Ace King for the two pair. She makes the reluctant call. The pot is now $493.
The river is the 3 which pairs the board. No flush possible. She checks again. Now I could bet, but I had been burned on the previous night not taking into consideration the possible three of a kind. I didn't think she had it, but you never know. I also felt that I would only be called by a better hand. I checked it through. She turns up Queen - Three. She spiked her set of 3's on the river. She apologized and said she misread her hand at first. C'mon! Don't you think you would check your hand again for a $100 bet on the turn? It was a 2 outer. A 21-1 shot. I tried to console myself that I had played it right, but it still stung.
I folded some more, and actually won a couple of small pots. I also put in another $100 just so I had a somewhat respectable stack. Finally I felt like I needed to play a hand every once in a while just to make sure I get some action when I get the nuts. I was in the Big Blind with King-Jack of clubs. An early position player who has played some questionable hands, raised to $12. I call. It's just me and him so the pot is $24. The flop is Queen, Ten, X.
I decide to try and get my straight cheap, so I check. He bets $30. I decide if I hit my straight, I might double up and therefore the implied odds are good enough to call. The turn is my joker. It's the Ace and I have the nuts. I throw some chum in the water and check to him. He chomps down hard on the bait and bets $100. I go all in for $130. He has no choice but to call the additional $30 in a $335 pot. The river is an Ace. Uh oh. Luckily I don't have any more money to lose as he turn over Ace-10 for the full house Aces over 10's. This one was only a 10-1 shot but it cleaned me out. I tucked my tail between my legs and went back up to the room.
After watching a little golf and trying to clear my head, I decided to cab it to the Rio and see if they were really running any satellites into the WSOP. The Rio has cleared out part of their sports book and turned it into their poker room. It's pretty much the standard now a days since everyone is trying to squeeze in a poker room to their existing layout.
I sat in the 4-8 game and waited for the floor supervisor to return from lunch. When he did, I said I would like to play a $150-$175 one table satellite to get an entry into the first $1500 hold'em tournament. He said he would try to put it together. A woman came back about 20 minutes later and said she would put a $125 satellite together with first prize being two $500 tournament chips, and $125 in cash. I said that was good enough and signed up. We were stuck at 8 signups for an hour before they finally filled it. In the mean time I had won about $60 in my 4-8 game.
I sit down in the 5 seat and start in middle position. The blinds will start at 25-25 and will increase every 15 minutes. We start with 1000 in tournament chips. My very first hand I am dealt Aces.
Two early position players limp in for $25 and I raise to $100. Everyone including the blinds folds and the two limpers call. The flop is King spades, Queen spades, and a low card. The two limpers check to me and I bet $300. First a strategy aside. I decided I was going to play my top pairs hard and hope they hold up. I was going to count on the fact that some dummy was going to call with a Queen or Jack kicker and lose to me so I could build up my chips quickly. I knew the blinds were going to go up fast and I figured I am not going to have the time or the chips to play around too much.
So I bet the pot on the flop, fully expecting a fold. First player folds, good. Second player declares all in. What the fuck!? Is he on a flush draw? Two pair? A set? At least today I am considering all the hands that beat me. I contemplate throwing it away, but then I look at him and ask myself, "Does he want me to call?" He is quiet, stiff, and rigid. I think if he was confident in his hand he would look a lot more relaxed. I put him on a flush draw and decide to take the risk and call. He turns over King - 5 of clubs!!!!??? Talk about naked aggression. I am having visions of doubling up on the first hand and how am I going to wield my big stack. The turn is a blank. Oh the table respect I will have, I show down a strong hand and made a great call. This satellite is mine. I will turn the whole trip around in this one tournament.
The river is a 5.
Why are the chips being pushed to my opponent? Oh shit he hit the 4 outer to beat me. How much of a favorite does a guy have to be to win a fucking hand in this town? So once again I am out of my first satellite in one hand with pocket aces. I say once again because you can refer back to the first step tournament I played on Party Poker to go to the World Series where I busted out with Aces in the first hand.
I decided to get the fuck out of Dodge after that. I went back to the Wynn and packed up my shit and got on a plane. Luckily I was leaving for Colorado Springs the next day for a 4 day vacation. I am writing this after not playing for over one week. The break was nice. I am still pissed off but I am more determined than ever to build the bankroll back up.
I will climb back through the steps and make it to the main event. I will play my required hands to get my $500 bonus on Noble Poker and then start back on my quest for glory. Look out poker world, here I come.
Friday, May 13, 2005
Pre Vegas Post
Bill pulled off a great act of frugality by surfing the internet yesterday and finding us a $200 a night room at the new Wynn Casino in Las Vegas. We immediately canceled our $80 a night reservations at the Nugget for the 5 star accomodations. After much thought we decided not to play golf at the Wynn for $500. Unless they start calling it the Pebble Beach of Las Vegas, I'll think we'll have to wait for a comp.
We get in around 4:00 PM tonight. I will probably immediately head to the poker room to put my name down on a list that is probably 2 hours long and then attack the black jack tables with a vengance. I am quite aware that BJ is -EV but it's the price I pay to hang out with Costanza and Bill who are not big poker fans.
I am also hoping to catch a little of the heads up match between Daniel Negraneau (sp?) and Barry Greenstein. I think they are playing a freezeout for $250,000 at 7:00 PM.
On Saturday I will wander over to the Rio and see if I can get myself into a satellite for the WSOP.
Wish me luck.
We get in around 4:00 PM tonight. I will probably immediately head to the poker room to put my name down on a list that is probably 2 hours long and then attack the black jack tables with a vengance. I am quite aware that BJ is -EV but it's the price I pay to hang out with Costanza and Bill who are not big poker fans.
I am also hoping to catch a little of the heads up match between Daniel Negraneau (sp?) and Barry Greenstein. I think they are playing a freezeout for $250,000 at 7:00 PM.
On Saturday I will wander over to the Rio and see if I can get myself into a satellite for the WSOP.
Wish me luck.
Monday, May 09, 2005
Random thoughts from Bad Poker Weekend
Saturday night and I am sitting home alone. Michele has a housewarming party on the west side of town to attend that I am lucky enough to be able to stay home. My only chores are to finish the last load of laundry, vacuum the living room, and clean my mail off the kitchen counter. Overall a 1/2 hour of work. My main focus will be playing online poker.
Usually when I have 5-6 hours of uninterrupted poker time, I will thrive. Tonight I will have no such luck.
Earlier on Satuday I signed up for Noble Poker using the link from Iggy's blog. I put in the max so I could get my 100% bonus. So $500 is tied up in the site. The graphics look good, but I don't think the software is better than Party. For one, I have yet to figure out if you can take notes on players. I like the chat being in a long window on the side, so it's easier to figure out what happened earlier in the hand.
The main problem, as with most of the sites is lack of traffic. There are only 1-2 full games of 1-2 or 2-4 going during prime time. According to the bonus details I think I am going to have to play approximately 2000 hands to reach my bonus. This will be very time intensive if I can only play one table at a time. Of course it will be worth the aggravation if I win the blogger WSOP tournament on Wed.
So the plan on Saturday was to have one window open with Noble Poker working off the bonus and a Party window open playing $33 sit n go's. The sits were painful. After 4 tournaments, my best finish was 4th. It seemed like every time I got a strong starting hand and raised, the flop missed. So I would get to the 4th level of 50-100 blinds and be left with 500 chips. Then it was all in mode and I was not getting very lucky.
For variety I tried a $22 multi table NL tournament. There were 1700 entries and the top ten is where you make any serious money. For once I tried to play aggressive at the start instead of really tight. My plan was, to play QQ, KK, or AA for all my chips preflop if possible and try to double up. If I have top pair with K or A kicker, do the same. Try to build up a big stack quick and then use it to punish the smaller stacks.
There were a couple of crazy plays early from people who obviously had the same idea. About 12 hands in I was dealt QQ. There was a small raise in front of me, and I just doubled it, looking for some action. Behind me another guy went all in for my whole stack. The original raiser called. I decide to call. Great maybe I'll triple up.
First all in guy turns over JJ. Second all in guy turns over Ace Queen. This looks good! Of course another Jack hits the flop and I go out after 15 minutes of play.
Now I'm a little mad. Earlier in the night I had signed up for the WSOP step 4 tournament. I was the first one at the table and I assumed that it would take an hour or so to fill up. In the mean time I started another $33 sit n go.
This one, I busted out with AK all in vs AQ. My King hit on the turn but it gave my opponent the straight and I was out in 5th. After I say yes to my summary, another window pops up asking if I want my summary for the WSOP tournament. What the fuck!? I click back and it says I finished 6th. My computer never beeped at me and the window never pinged up to the front the whole time. I missed the whole damn tournament! Fuck! Now I am back to level 2.
I decided to quit after that. No point in blowing off more chips if it's not your night.
PS. I played one $33 sit n go the next night (Sunday) and won. All is well in Larry land. Vegas is now only 5 days away.
Usually when I have 5-6 hours of uninterrupted poker time, I will thrive. Tonight I will have no such luck.
Earlier on Satuday I signed up for Noble Poker using the link from Iggy's blog. I put in the max so I could get my 100% bonus. So $500 is tied up in the site. The graphics look good, but I don't think the software is better than Party. For one, I have yet to figure out if you can take notes on players. I like the chat being in a long window on the side, so it's easier to figure out what happened earlier in the hand.
The main problem, as with most of the sites is lack of traffic. There are only 1-2 full games of 1-2 or 2-4 going during prime time. According to the bonus details I think I am going to have to play approximately 2000 hands to reach my bonus. This will be very time intensive if I can only play one table at a time. Of course it will be worth the aggravation if I win the blogger WSOP tournament on Wed.
So the plan on Saturday was to have one window open with Noble Poker working off the bonus and a Party window open playing $33 sit n go's. The sits were painful. After 4 tournaments, my best finish was 4th. It seemed like every time I got a strong starting hand and raised, the flop missed. So I would get to the 4th level of 50-100 blinds and be left with 500 chips. Then it was all in mode and I was not getting very lucky.
For variety I tried a $22 multi table NL tournament. There were 1700 entries and the top ten is where you make any serious money. For once I tried to play aggressive at the start instead of really tight. My plan was, to play QQ, KK, or AA for all my chips preflop if possible and try to double up. If I have top pair with K or A kicker, do the same. Try to build up a big stack quick and then use it to punish the smaller stacks.
There were a couple of crazy plays early from people who obviously had the same idea. About 12 hands in I was dealt QQ. There was a small raise in front of me, and I just doubled it, looking for some action. Behind me another guy went all in for my whole stack. The original raiser called. I decide to call. Great maybe I'll triple up.
First all in guy turns over JJ. Second all in guy turns over Ace Queen. This looks good! Of course another Jack hits the flop and I go out after 15 minutes of play.
Now I'm a little mad. Earlier in the night I had signed up for the WSOP step 4 tournament. I was the first one at the table and I assumed that it would take an hour or so to fill up. In the mean time I started another $33 sit n go.
This one, I busted out with AK all in vs AQ. My King hit on the turn but it gave my opponent the straight and I was out in 5th. After I say yes to my summary, another window pops up asking if I want my summary for the WSOP tournament. What the fuck!? I click back and it says I finished 6th. My computer never beeped at me and the window never pinged up to the front the whole time. I missed the whole damn tournament! Fuck! Now I am back to level 2.
I decided to quit after that. No point in blowing off more chips if it's not your night.
PS. I played one $33 sit n go the next night (Sunday) and won. All is well in Larry land. Vegas is now only 5 days away.
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Home Party
I had the guys over last night to play a little poker. The lineup was Steve, Chris V, Chris S, Rob, Carlo, Billy, and Jeff. The limits were 2-4. There was a lot of gambling going on and a lot of bluffing. There was not much good poker being played.
I finished down $2. I was the big winner early, I think I was up $70 but I lost it in a couple of bad hands. The worst is when I was on the button with King 7 of spades. I limped in with 4 others. The flop came King, King, 7. I flopped the nuts. Everyone checked and I decided to check it through for deception. I thought about betting it, because Carlo was skipped over and complained that he wanted to bet. If I bet, he definitely calls, but he's probably the only one. The turn is an Ace and it puts 3 of the same suit on the board. Now there's some betting in front of me but I decide to wait until the river to raise. Now the worst card that can possibly come hits on the river. Another Ace. Chris bets and Steve raises. Carlos struggles with the decision and finally calls. I make the crying call because the pot is too big and maybe I'll split with another King. Of course Chris has an Ace and takes down the pot. I checked on Card Player and on the flop I was a 99.7% favorite to win the hand. After the Ace on the turn I was still a 94.5% favorite.
Let me reiterate here, that slow playing good hands in this game is a huge no no. I don't know why I did it. I had advertised enough bluffs early that I should have got some action. Now Chris might have stayed with the hand if he made it to the turn with his Ace. He never throws away his hand if he has any piece of the flop. However, after seeing the odds from Card Player, I think long term that slow playing was the right move because everyone was such a huge underdog to me.
Billy was the big winner with a profit of $140. I don't know how you can win that much money in a 2-4 game, but he managed to do it. He was playing a game most of the night of raising every other pot and telling people what his cards were. I never caught him lying about it either and he must have done it 20 times.
The other slightly amusing hand was when I flopped an open ended straight draw on the button. There were a couple of bets in front of me and I raised on the draw. Everyone calls and the turn is a blank. Instead of taking the free card, I decide to bet again, because I feel like I have the best hand in spite of only having King high. Maybe they'll fold. Well the river brings me my straight. I even manage to get a raise in because Carlo is an idiot.
The funny part is that Billy could not believe I was betting the whole time before I even had the straight. I would try to explain it to them, but they weren't ready to hear the explanation. My philosophy with my friends is that I will help them in any way I can to improve their poker games. I make the vast majority of my money playing poker against people who are not my friends. If my friends get a better read on me, so be it. It won't cost me much in the long run.
Bad News on the WSOP Front:
I gave the step 4's two tries on Monday night. The first one I finished 4th and stayed at the same level. The next one I finished 6th and bounced down to level 3. I did not play my best game and I got caught trying to steal a little too often. I must choose my spots better.
I finished down $2. I was the big winner early, I think I was up $70 but I lost it in a couple of bad hands. The worst is when I was on the button with King 7 of spades. I limped in with 4 others. The flop came King, King, 7. I flopped the nuts. Everyone checked and I decided to check it through for deception. I thought about betting it, because Carlo was skipped over and complained that he wanted to bet. If I bet, he definitely calls, but he's probably the only one. The turn is an Ace and it puts 3 of the same suit on the board. Now there's some betting in front of me but I decide to wait until the river to raise. Now the worst card that can possibly come hits on the river. Another Ace. Chris bets and Steve raises. Carlos struggles with the decision and finally calls. I make the crying call because the pot is too big and maybe I'll split with another King. Of course Chris has an Ace and takes down the pot. I checked on Card Player and on the flop I was a 99.7% favorite to win the hand. After the Ace on the turn I was still a 94.5% favorite.
Let me reiterate here, that slow playing good hands in this game is a huge no no. I don't know why I did it. I had advertised enough bluffs early that I should have got some action. Now Chris might have stayed with the hand if he made it to the turn with his Ace. He never throws away his hand if he has any piece of the flop. However, after seeing the odds from Card Player, I think long term that slow playing was the right move because everyone was such a huge underdog to me.
Billy was the big winner with a profit of $140. I don't know how you can win that much money in a 2-4 game, but he managed to do it. He was playing a game most of the night of raising every other pot and telling people what his cards were. I never caught him lying about it either and he must have done it 20 times.
The other slightly amusing hand was when I flopped an open ended straight draw on the button. There were a couple of bets in front of me and I raised on the draw. Everyone calls and the turn is a blank. Instead of taking the free card, I decide to bet again, because I feel like I have the best hand in spite of only having King high. Maybe they'll fold. Well the river brings me my straight. I even manage to get a raise in because Carlo is an idiot.
The funny part is that Billy could not believe I was betting the whole time before I even had the straight. I would try to explain it to them, but they weren't ready to hear the explanation. My philosophy with my friends is that I will help them in any way I can to improve their poker games. I make the vast majority of my money playing poker against people who are not my friends. If my friends get a better read on me, so be it. It won't cost me much in the long run.
Bad News on the WSOP Front:
I gave the step 4's two tries on Monday night. The first one I finished 4th and stayed at the same level. The next one I finished 6th and bounced down to level 3. I did not play my best game and I got caught trying to steal a little too often. I must choose my spots better.
Monday, May 02, 2005
A New Move for Future Play
I lifted this straight off the Poker Mob website. I am not too sure about the background of Russ Georgiev who puts up the site but the strategy is good. Here it is:
Call Bluff
The Game: High stakes Pot Limit, the blinds $25-$50. Full game.
The Play: Player A calls for $50. Player B calls for $50. Player C calls the $50 and raises the pot. This makes it $275 or $300 to go depending on the rules of the game. I am on the button with 7s8s. Player C is a rock and has about $10,000 in front of him. I have him covered for his whole stack plus. I call. Player C has basically told me his hand contains a large pair.
The Pot:
The pot contains $300 from me, $300 from player C, $75 from the antes and another $100 from the two people who called the $50 then folded with the raise. The pot contains $775.
The Flop comes Ac, 6s, 2d. Player C bets $300. What do I do to steal this pot? What is the best way to steal this pot without really involving my whole stack? I realize from his betting that player C has a large pair, maybe AA.
Player C bets $300. I call, and I have absolutely nothing! Yet, I are almost a sure bet to win this pot, provided he doesn't hold AA. The turn brings a blank. What does player C do now? Pot Limit poker is a game of analyzing what the next plays and bets will be. (The odds are none of you would call with the hand I have presented.)
Here is the theory behind this type of bluffing. In my ‘lingo’ it is known as ‘call bluff’. I am bluffing by calling. If I raise when Player C bets $300, he can potentially put me on a bluff. He may call, and then I would be left in a position I would not care for - betting on 4th street.
With a flop of Ac, 6s, 2d, player C is put to a test - what to do on 4th street. I have put him on a large pocket pair. He has just seen me call a rainbow flop containing an Ace after calling $300 before the flop and $300 after the flop. What does Player C do now on 4th street? Unless Player C has absolutely no brains, the thought will cross his mind my hand contains an Ace or maybe a set. If he sends out a small bet such as $500 to test the water, I reply with a raise of about $1,000. If he checks, I respond with a bet of about $600. If Player C bets the pot on 4th street, I can just fold. The problem with this player is he doesn't know how to apply the proper pressure. His betting will give his hand away. His betting will tell me if he has AA.
The river comes. If player C hasn't folded yet, I now proceed to bet about $2,000. I put the pressure on him. The odds are he already folded on 4th street, but if he didn’t he will on 5th street. If he calls, I own him anyway. I will have his chips before the game is over by just compensating a wee bit.
This is World Class Poker. It takes nerves and the ability to play. Most people could not even imagine making this play, as they could not perceive the possibility of winning the hand in this fashion. But if you think about it, you will see how easily it can be done.
My thoughts:
I have used this a couple of times in the past just by stumbling into it. Usually it's late in a one table tournament. Someone has raised preflop and it looks like a steal to me. Instead of raising back, I may just call. Then if they bet again and it's a smallish amount I will raise there. I think the strategy above is much more effective in a full game. I think it would work best with med to low suited connectors as well. If you get the Ace or King on the flop then you can bluff hoping the original better has a lower pair. If the flop is low, you probably picked up a strong draw or even paired up.
World Series update:
I played one step 4 on Sunday. I was disappointed that it seemed to take 90 minutes for the table to fill up in prime time on Sunday. How long will it take for a step 5 or 6? I got absolutely nothing to play with in starting cards. I had Ace King off once and raised preflop. I got no callers and just won the blinds. That was my best hand until I went out in 5th place. The top 5 get to stay at level 4 so I wasn't too disappointed.
Ring Play:
I have been playing 3-6 hold'em three tables at a time. I want to play 10,000 hands at a good win rate before I move up to 5-10 full time. I am at around 3000 now. The main difference I have noticed at 3-6 from 2-4 is that a lot of players will throw their hands away after I raise their initial bet on the turn. For example:
I have AQ late. There is a couple of calls and then a raise from middle position. I just call and 2 others call. The flop comes A-9-7 rainbow. Check, Check, initial raiser bets. I call with the intention of raising on 4th street since it's not a draw heavy board. The first two players fold. The turn is a 3. First player bets and I raise. They fold.
Now I don't know what they have, but folding may not be their best play. I read somewhere that you should not get in the habit of folding your hand to a raise of one bet, too often or good opponents will pick up on it. After all, you probably still have outs, even if you don't hold an
Ace. In 2-4 I will always get a call from the turn raise. Usually it's then a check fold on the river. This kind of thing happened at least 6 times yesterday.
Here's the advanced move. If I can remember to make a note about that player while I am 3 tabling, I can use the turn raise move later to win the pot with a weak hand. I wouldn't do it with a total bluff, but maybe top pair and med to low kicker, or a board with an obvious straight or flush draw where I am still one short. Cue in the "evil laugh".
Call Bluff
The Game: High stakes Pot Limit, the blinds $25-$50. Full game.
The Play: Player A calls for $50. Player B calls for $50. Player C calls the $50 and raises the pot. This makes it $275 or $300 to go depending on the rules of the game. I am on the button with 7s8s. Player C is a rock and has about $10,000 in front of him. I have him covered for his whole stack plus. I call. Player C has basically told me his hand contains a large pair.
The Pot:
The pot contains $300 from me, $300 from player C, $75 from the antes and another $100 from the two people who called the $50 then folded with the raise. The pot contains $775.
The Flop comes Ac, 6s, 2d. Player C bets $300. What do I do to steal this pot? What is the best way to steal this pot without really involving my whole stack? I realize from his betting that player C has a large pair, maybe AA.
Player C bets $300. I call, and I have absolutely nothing! Yet, I are almost a sure bet to win this pot, provided he doesn't hold AA. The turn brings a blank. What does player C do now? Pot Limit poker is a game of analyzing what the next plays and bets will be. (The odds are none of you would call with the hand I have presented.)
Here is the theory behind this type of bluffing. In my ‘lingo’ it is known as ‘call bluff’. I am bluffing by calling. If I raise when Player C bets $300, he can potentially put me on a bluff. He may call, and then I would be left in a position I would not care for - betting on 4th street.
With a flop of Ac, 6s, 2d, player C is put to a test - what to do on 4th street. I have put him on a large pocket pair. He has just seen me call a rainbow flop containing an Ace after calling $300 before the flop and $300 after the flop. What does Player C do now on 4th street? Unless Player C has absolutely no brains, the thought will cross his mind my hand contains an Ace or maybe a set. If he sends out a small bet such as $500 to test the water, I reply with a raise of about $1,000. If he checks, I respond with a bet of about $600. If Player C bets the pot on 4th street, I can just fold. The problem with this player is he doesn't know how to apply the proper pressure. His betting will give his hand away. His betting will tell me if he has AA.
The river comes. If player C hasn't folded yet, I now proceed to bet about $2,000. I put the pressure on him. The odds are he already folded on 4th street, but if he didn’t he will on 5th street. If he calls, I own him anyway. I will have his chips before the game is over by just compensating a wee bit.
This is World Class Poker. It takes nerves and the ability to play. Most people could not even imagine making this play, as they could not perceive the possibility of winning the hand in this fashion. But if you think about it, you will see how easily it can be done.
My thoughts:
I have used this a couple of times in the past just by stumbling into it. Usually it's late in a one table tournament. Someone has raised preflop and it looks like a steal to me. Instead of raising back, I may just call. Then if they bet again and it's a smallish amount I will raise there. I think the strategy above is much more effective in a full game. I think it would work best with med to low suited connectors as well. If you get the Ace or King on the flop then you can bluff hoping the original better has a lower pair. If the flop is low, you probably picked up a strong draw or even paired up.
World Series update:
I played one step 4 on Sunday. I was disappointed that it seemed to take 90 minutes for the table to fill up in prime time on Sunday. How long will it take for a step 5 or 6? I got absolutely nothing to play with in starting cards. I had Ace King off once and raised preflop. I got no callers and just won the blinds. That was my best hand until I went out in 5th place. The top 5 get to stay at level 4 so I wasn't too disappointed.
Ring Play:
I have been playing 3-6 hold'em three tables at a time. I want to play 10,000 hands at a good win rate before I move up to 5-10 full time. I am at around 3000 now. The main difference I have noticed at 3-6 from 2-4 is that a lot of players will throw their hands away after I raise their initial bet on the turn. For example:
I have AQ late. There is a couple of calls and then a raise from middle position. I just call and 2 others call. The flop comes A-9-7 rainbow. Check, Check, initial raiser bets. I call with the intention of raising on 4th street since it's not a draw heavy board. The first two players fold. The turn is a 3. First player bets and I raise. They fold.
Now I don't know what they have, but folding may not be their best play. I read somewhere that you should not get in the habit of folding your hand to a raise of one bet, too often or good opponents will pick up on it. After all, you probably still have outs, even if you don't hold an
Ace. In 2-4 I will always get a call from the turn raise. Usually it's then a check fold on the river. This kind of thing happened at least 6 times yesterday.
Here's the advanced move. If I can remember to make a note about that player while I am 3 tabling, I can use the turn raise move later to win the pot with a weak hand. I wouldn't do it with a total bluff, but maybe top pair and med to low kicker, or a board with an obvious straight or flush draw where I am still one short. Cue in the "evil laugh".
Thursday, April 28, 2005
One Step Closer to WSOP 2005
I made it to step 4 last night in the Party Poker Steps to the WSOP. There are 6 all together that I need to get through.
I like the concept in that they are all single table sit-n-gos and you can start for $11. As I documented earlier, my first attempt was foiled on my first hand when I was dealt Aces preflop and had to go all in against two other all ins preflop. Right now I am on the second $11.
If I were to buy into the tournament at step four directly it would be something like $500. For the next two steps I only need to place in the top 3 to advance to the next step. The next two places get to try again at the same level. It's very rare that I bounce out of a tournament below the top 5. The hard one will be the last step where you need to win to get the World Series seat.
I am planning on making a couple of posts on 2+2 to get feedback about strategy at the higher levels. One thing I noticed last night was as soon as it got to 4 players and one of the players was a little low on chips, that everyone ganged up on him. If it was his blind, someone was going to raise him. If he folded, but someone else called, it was usually checked down to the end. I enjoyed playing that way, but I'm sure I will hate it if I am ever the short stack.
My other theory is if I get to the final table, it would seem that the first instinct of a player when it gets down to 2 or 3 is to wait for a premium hand. After all who wants to come so close to going to the World Series and get sucked out on. My first instinct is to play into that and start putting a lot of pressure on those players until they fold themselves into oblivion. Then hopefully I would have a big enough stack when I get heads up, that I will only need to get lucky one time. My guess is that the blinds will be huge at the end because everyone will have played so tight at the beginning.
On another note, my quick trip to Vegas is coming up in two weeks. I hear that the Rio is already running satellites for some of the WSOP events. I will definitely have to take a cab over and check it out. I am also going to check out the new Wynn hotel. The poker room sounds awesome.
I like the concept in that they are all single table sit-n-gos and you can start for $11. As I documented earlier, my first attempt was foiled on my first hand when I was dealt Aces preflop and had to go all in against two other all ins preflop. Right now I am on the second $11.
If I were to buy into the tournament at step four directly it would be something like $500. For the next two steps I only need to place in the top 3 to advance to the next step. The next two places get to try again at the same level. It's very rare that I bounce out of a tournament below the top 5. The hard one will be the last step where you need to win to get the World Series seat.
I am planning on making a couple of posts on 2+2 to get feedback about strategy at the higher levels. One thing I noticed last night was as soon as it got to 4 players and one of the players was a little low on chips, that everyone ganged up on him. If it was his blind, someone was going to raise him. If he folded, but someone else called, it was usually checked down to the end. I enjoyed playing that way, but I'm sure I will hate it if I am ever the short stack.
My other theory is if I get to the final table, it would seem that the first instinct of a player when it gets down to 2 or 3 is to wait for a premium hand. After all who wants to come so close to going to the World Series and get sucked out on. My first instinct is to play into that and start putting a lot of pressure on those players until they fold themselves into oblivion. Then hopefully I would have a big enough stack when I get heads up, that I will only need to get lucky one time. My guess is that the blinds will be huge at the end because everyone will have played so tight at the beginning.
On another note, my quick trip to Vegas is coming up in two weeks. I hear that the Rio is already running satellites for some of the WSOP events. I will definitely have to take a cab over and check it out. I am also going to check out the new Wynn hotel. The poker room sounds awesome.
Monday, April 18, 2005
I'm Officially A Poker Addict
My name is Larry and I am addicted to Party Poker.
I broke down and bought a 19" flat screen monitor that I can hook up to my laptop. I finally got it to work last night and played 2-4 hold'em for about an hour on 3 tables with virtually no overlap. I think Michele has finally realized the depths of my "sickness". Unfortunately, I finished the session down about $60, but I can't win every time.
I will have to figure out how to squeeze more tables on to my screens. I know there must be a way to 4 tables on the big screen alone without overlap. It probably has something to do with the resolution. I maxed it out to 1200X1080 ? and I at least got the tables the same size as the table picture on my laptop. I wish Party would just let us resize the damn windows, it would make life so much easier.
Saturday night was a great night of poker. I had played a few sit'n'gos during the day and won a little money. I am still toying with the more aggressive strategy of all in when stealing blinds. Michele decided to take a bath after we watched a movie together, so I thought I would take my shot at the Level 2 Step for the World Series of Poker. At step 2 the top 2 advance to the next level, 3 gets a little money and the chance to try again, and 4-7 go back to step 1. So obviously it makes sense to play very conservative until at least 3 people are out.
I did not start out well and was down to about 500 chips and there was only a couple people gone. I got to 500 by laying down a couple of hands with some good reads. Other players may have gone broke.
Finally I made it into the top 7 and the blinds had moved to 50-100. I started to catch some cards and doubled up a couple of times. When it got down to 4, we were all even with about 2500 chips a piece. This is another bubble level so you would be inclined to play careful. However the blinds are 100-200 so there is not a lot of room to screw around. I began to push all in whenever I got something playable and wouldn't you know it, I got called by better hands a couple of times. But I got lucky and sucked out. I lost a couple of battles with short stacks but nothing I couldn't recover from.
When it got to 3 players I figure that aggression is going to win the thing, so that's what I did. If it was folded to me in the small blind, I went all in. If I had a medium hand on the button, I pushed. They were so afraid of me in the big blind that they folded to me almost every time. I eventually busted out the last guy and it was down to 2.
My notes said that the top 2 advance but I wasn't 100% sure so I still played to win. I called a raise with 9-7 and flopped two pair. I pushed and he called with top pair and I won to move on to level 3.
Michele was already tucked in so I walked into the bedroom, declared myself as the best poker player in the universe and proceeded to ravish her under the covers. That my friends is a good Saturday night. Winning at poker, followed by great sex.
I broke down and bought a 19" flat screen monitor that I can hook up to my laptop. I finally got it to work last night and played 2-4 hold'em for about an hour on 3 tables with virtually no overlap. I think Michele has finally realized the depths of my "sickness". Unfortunately, I finished the session down about $60, but I can't win every time.
I will have to figure out how to squeeze more tables on to my screens. I know there must be a way to 4 tables on the big screen alone without overlap. It probably has something to do with the resolution. I maxed it out to 1200X1080 ? and I at least got the tables the same size as the table picture on my laptop. I wish Party would just let us resize the damn windows, it would make life so much easier.
Saturday night was a great night of poker. I had played a few sit'n'gos during the day and won a little money. I am still toying with the more aggressive strategy of all in when stealing blinds. Michele decided to take a bath after we watched a movie together, so I thought I would take my shot at the Level 2 Step for the World Series of Poker. At step 2 the top 2 advance to the next level, 3 gets a little money and the chance to try again, and 4-7 go back to step 1. So obviously it makes sense to play very conservative until at least 3 people are out.
I did not start out well and was down to about 500 chips and there was only a couple people gone. I got to 500 by laying down a couple of hands with some good reads. Other players may have gone broke.
Finally I made it into the top 7 and the blinds had moved to 50-100. I started to catch some cards and doubled up a couple of times. When it got down to 4, we were all even with about 2500 chips a piece. This is another bubble level so you would be inclined to play careful. However the blinds are 100-200 so there is not a lot of room to screw around. I began to push all in whenever I got something playable and wouldn't you know it, I got called by better hands a couple of times. But I got lucky and sucked out. I lost a couple of battles with short stacks but nothing I couldn't recover from.
When it got to 3 players I figure that aggression is going to win the thing, so that's what I did. If it was folded to me in the small blind, I went all in. If I had a medium hand on the button, I pushed. They were so afraid of me in the big blind that they folded to me almost every time. I eventually busted out the last guy and it was down to 2.
My notes said that the top 2 advance but I wasn't 100% sure so I still played to win. I called a raise with 9-7 and flopped two pair. I pushed and he called with top pair and I won to move on to level 3.
Michele was already tucked in so I walked into the bedroom, declared myself as the best poker player in the universe and proceeded to ravish her under the covers. That my friends is a good Saturday night. Winning at poker, followed by great sex.
Saturday, April 16, 2005
One new idea
I was reading another website here http://teamfu.freeshell.org/ which has lots of tips for playing at Party Poker. There was a great article on blind stealing when you are the small blind and it's been folded to you.
The basic conclusion is that it is positive EV to bet all in if you have less than 13 BB left and the BB is a semi reasonable player. Your folding equity is so high because the chances of the BB running into a hand he wants to call with are less than 20%. Then there's always the chance that you suck out and double up.
There was some interesting analysis about the article on 2+2 and how it relates to tournaments. The majority opinion was not to go overboard with the move but overall it is correct.
The other post I was chuckling at, had to do with calculating standard deviation and degrees of confidence for sit-n-gos. I still don't know how these guys play so many sit'n'gos to get these stats. Especially when it gets short handed, I would just totally lose my mind. Anyways I think the best statistical measure is how much money you have won.
The all in blind strategy has helped a little bit as I have had some nice places in the $33's. I also won my first WSOP step tournament. I was nearly dead and came back with a little luck. When it got to heads up my opponent played like he had got up to take a piss and left the post my blind and fold button on. I've never seen a guy play so passive at the end. Anyways thanks to his ineptness I am on to round 2.
The basic conclusion is that it is positive EV to bet all in if you have less than 13 BB left and the BB is a semi reasonable player. Your folding equity is so high because the chances of the BB running into a hand he wants to call with are less than 20%. Then there's always the chance that you suck out and double up.
There was some interesting analysis about the article on 2+2 and how it relates to tournaments. The majority opinion was not to go overboard with the move but overall it is correct.
The other post I was chuckling at, had to do with calculating standard deviation and degrees of confidence for sit-n-gos. I still don't know how these guys play so many sit'n'gos to get these stats. Especially when it gets short handed, I would just totally lose my mind. Anyways I think the best statistical measure is how much money you have won.
The all in blind strategy has helped a little bit as I have had some nice places in the $33's. I also won my first WSOP step tournament. I was nearly dead and came back with a little luck. When it got to heads up my opponent played like he had got up to take a piss and left the post my blind and fold button on. I've never seen a guy play so passive at the end. Anyways thanks to his ineptness I am on to round 2.
Thursday, April 07, 2005
Bad Omen for WSOP?
So I decide to dabble in trying to qualify for the World Series on Party Poker. I don't have a lot of time last night, so I decide to try one of the Step tables for $11. The top 2 advance to the next step.
I win the button and the very first hand I am dealt AA. Under the Gun calls 15 and it's folded to a late player who raises to 75. Instead of reraising I decide to just call for deception, plus I have position the rest of the hand and he may bluff off more chips later. The UTG player then pushes all in.
Time to change strategy. I'm thinking the initial raiser can't possibly call. After thinking for a minute he does call.
I always scoff at the stupid hypotheticals I see on 2+2 where guys try to figure out the right time to fold pocket aces preflop. This actually seemed like it might be one of those times. Since it was only $11 and I had a chance to take a huge chip lead I called. I gotta say, that if it was the first hand of the Main Event of the WSOP, I might fold. I looked up my odds on the Card Player Website and I am a 70% favorite against a pocket pair and Ace King. I am a 66% favorite against 2 other pocket pairs.
The money goes in the middle and the early player had JJ and the late player had AK. Ofcourse the flop has another Jack in it and the turn and river bring a Queen and a 10 for the straight. For the first time ever I am eliminated in the first hand.
I tried another tournament and busted out in 4th and won $7 back. Then I played in a $30+3 normal sit n go and busted out on the bubble in fourth. I called an all in late with A-10 against the other smaller stack who was just 300 smaller than me. He had raised with KQ making me a 59% favorite. My opponent and I only had about 4 times the big blind left anyway. He paired up and I didn't so I was basically left for dead.
I win the button and the very first hand I am dealt AA. Under the Gun calls 15 and it's folded to a late player who raises to 75. Instead of reraising I decide to just call for deception, plus I have position the rest of the hand and he may bluff off more chips later. The UTG player then pushes all in.
Time to change strategy. I'm thinking the initial raiser can't possibly call. After thinking for a minute he does call.
I always scoff at the stupid hypotheticals I see on 2+2 where guys try to figure out the right time to fold pocket aces preflop. This actually seemed like it might be one of those times. Since it was only $11 and I had a chance to take a huge chip lead I called. I gotta say, that if it was the first hand of the Main Event of the WSOP, I might fold. I looked up my odds on the Card Player Website and I am a 70% favorite against a pocket pair and Ace King. I am a 66% favorite against 2 other pocket pairs.
The money goes in the middle and the early player had JJ and the late player had AK. Ofcourse the flop has another Jack in it and the turn and river bring a Queen and a 10 for the straight. For the first time ever I am eliminated in the first hand.
I tried another tournament and busted out in 4th and won $7 back. Then I played in a $30+3 normal sit n go and busted out on the bubble in fourth. I called an all in late with A-10 against the other smaller stack who was just 300 smaller than me. He had raised with KQ making me a 59% favorite. My opponent and I only had about 4 times the big blind left anyway. He paired up and I didn't so I was basically left for dead.
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
The Most Beautiful Thing In Poker
Last night was spent at Casino Arizona networking :-) and watching the National Championship Game.
I sat down at a nice loose passive 3-6 game and proceeded to hit a lot of draws. I was up a quick 100 and having a good time.
One of my last hands was where the most beautiful sight in poker occurred. It was a kill pot and I was in middle position. UTG calls, the next guy raises, and I peek at my cards......Pocket Aces baby! So beautiful! I reraise and everyone folds to the UTG who calls 2 and the initial raiser who calls one. $69 in the pot to the flop. The flop is all low cards. Check, Check, I bet. I get two calls. $87 in pot to the turn. The turn pairs one of the low cards, still no flush out there. Check, Check, I bet, one fold, and one call. The river is a Jack. Check and I value bet and he calls. I turn over the aces and he mucks. $135 pot heading my way.
The other beautiful hand was me raising Ace King of Clubs preflop and getting 3 callers. The flop only has one club but I have over cards and I don't think it helps anyone. Two checks to me and I bet hoping to buy the button. The button calls and everyone else calls. The turn puts a possible straight on the board but it is another club. Now the first player bets into me, a call, and it's to me. Should I pump up the flush draw? I am sure at least one of the three players has the straight, so my only outs are the clubs. I decide to just call. The button calls. The river is a beautiful club. Now it goes bet, bet, I raise, call, call, call. All three of my opponents had the same crappy Q-8 for the Queen high straight and I had the nut flush. Hah, Hah, Hah, Hah, Hah. I love punishing fish for playing crappy hands. Especially when I hit a runner runner flush.
The only way last night could've been better was if Illinois had hit a 3 pointer at the end of the game. That would have made the score 75-73 and I would have hit my numbers in the Basketball promotion at the casino. That was worth $400. Oh well I can't be too greedy.
On another note, thank god Party Poker has started tournaments to get into the World Series of Poker. It looks like a pretty good deal to. I will have to figure out what my "qualifying budget" is and get to work. I should probably finish Dan Harrington's book before I get too serious.
I sat down at a nice loose passive 3-6 game and proceeded to hit a lot of draws. I was up a quick 100 and having a good time.
One of my last hands was where the most beautiful sight in poker occurred. It was a kill pot and I was in middle position. UTG calls, the next guy raises, and I peek at my cards......Pocket Aces baby! So beautiful! I reraise and everyone folds to the UTG who calls 2 and the initial raiser who calls one. $69 in the pot to the flop. The flop is all low cards. Check, Check, I bet. I get two calls. $87 in pot to the turn. The turn pairs one of the low cards, still no flush out there. Check, Check, I bet, one fold, and one call. The river is a Jack. Check and I value bet and he calls. I turn over the aces and he mucks. $135 pot heading my way.
The other beautiful hand was me raising Ace King of Clubs preflop and getting 3 callers. The flop only has one club but I have over cards and I don't think it helps anyone. Two checks to me and I bet hoping to buy the button. The button calls and everyone else calls. The turn puts a possible straight on the board but it is another club. Now the first player bets into me, a call, and it's to me. Should I pump up the flush draw? I am sure at least one of the three players has the straight, so my only outs are the clubs. I decide to just call. The button calls. The river is a beautiful club. Now it goes bet, bet, I raise, call, call, call. All three of my opponents had the same crappy Q-8 for the Queen high straight and I had the nut flush. Hah, Hah, Hah, Hah, Hah. I love punishing fish for playing crappy hands. Especially when I hit a runner runner flush.
The only way last night could've been better was if Illinois had hit a 3 pointer at the end of the game. That would have made the score 75-73 and I would have hit my numbers in the Basketball promotion at the casino. That was worth $400. Oh well I can't be too greedy.
On another note, thank god Party Poker has started tournaments to get into the World Series of Poker. It looks like a pretty good deal to. I will have to figure out what my "qualifying budget" is and get to work. I should probably finish Dan Harrington's book before I get too serious.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
10th Place in the WBPT
Yes I made it past the bubble unlike last time. I actually was starting to get a little cocky because I think I held the chip lead in the tourney for about 15 minutes.
Here's a brief summary. I started out trying to be aggressive preflop since I remembered the last time was a total fold fest. It worked a couple of times and I got reraised a couple of times and had to fold. I flopped a set of 8's and won a few hundred. I got caught bluffing and lost a few hundred.
I folded pocket 7's to a preflop raise and flop contained a 7. I was a little pissed. Then the turn brought the 4th 7. The preflop raiser had pocket Kings and won a huge pot. It should've been mine!!!
Later I had Ace Queen in the small blind. It was folded to the button who raised. This looks like an obvious steal, but I am below my starting 1500 in chips so I just call instead of reraise out of position. The flop is A-K-7 rainbow. I bet about 1/2 the pot. The button pushes all in. I think to myself, do I really want to go out in 75th place? Then I think this doesn't make a lot of sense, because if he had 2 pair or a set, he would only call. I decide to call the all in with the rest of my chips. He has me covered easily. He turns over Ace-4 so I am very happy. The turn is a 4. Ugh! Poker Stars likes to stall the cards on the all in's which I like when I am not in the hand so I can follow the action. I hate it, when I am sweating the result for me. The river was a beautiful King which paired the board and counterfited his pair of 4's. I double up and go on a roll.
The deck starts to hit me in the head and I double up a couple more times with full houses. With 21 players left and 18 players getting paid, I am in 5 th place. I spent an hour at the table with the big chip leader on my left so I didn't get to steal any blinds and the deck was turning cold again. Finally I get moved and I have the Blogfather "Iggy" on my right. He starts to hit some cards and goes from a medium stack to a big stack. Now on the bubble it's becoming a fold fest again. I have slipped down to the middle of the pack because the blinds and antes are piling up. Here's a critical hand: I am on the Big Blind and Iggy is the small blind. It's folded around to Iggy and he puts in a standard raise. I have Ace-9 suited. Well I could reraise and take the chance. I could play safe and fold. I could call and see if I flop an Ace or some of my suit. I don't want to bust out on the bubble again so I just call. The flop is Ace-X-X rainbow. Iggy pushes all in. I immediately think he is pulling the stop-n-go. If I call, and win I have a shot at winning this tournament. If I fold, I still have enough chips to do some damage. I fold. Looking back, I think I should have called. I don't know what Iggy had, but I could have lived with myself by busting out with top pair. Instead I made the money and folded my way to 10th when I got absolutely no starting hands and no chances to steal.
My total net profit was a whopping $6.
Here's a brief summary. I started out trying to be aggressive preflop since I remembered the last time was a total fold fest. It worked a couple of times and I got reraised a couple of times and had to fold. I flopped a set of 8's and won a few hundred. I got caught bluffing and lost a few hundred.
I folded pocket 7's to a preflop raise and flop contained a 7. I was a little pissed. Then the turn brought the 4th 7. The preflop raiser had pocket Kings and won a huge pot. It should've been mine!!!
Later I had Ace Queen in the small blind. It was folded to the button who raised. This looks like an obvious steal, but I am below my starting 1500 in chips so I just call instead of reraise out of position. The flop is A-K-7 rainbow. I bet about 1/2 the pot. The button pushes all in. I think to myself, do I really want to go out in 75th place? Then I think this doesn't make a lot of sense, because if he had 2 pair or a set, he would only call. I decide to call the all in with the rest of my chips. He has me covered easily. He turns over Ace-4 so I am very happy. The turn is a 4. Ugh! Poker Stars likes to stall the cards on the all in's which I like when I am not in the hand so I can follow the action. I hate it, when I am sweating the result for me. The river was a beautiful King which paired the board and counterfited his pair of 4's. I double up and go on a roll.
The deck starts to hit me in the head and I double up a couple more times with full houses. With 21 players left and 18 players getting paid, I am in 5 th place. I spent an hour at the table with the big chip leader on my left so I didn't get to steal any blinds and the deck was turning cold again. Finally I get moved and I have the Blogfather "Iggy" on my right. He starts to hit some cards and goes from a medium stack to a big stack. Now on the bubble it's becoming a fold fest again. I have slipped down to the middle of the pack because the blinds and antes are piling up. Here's a critical hand: I am on the Big Blind and Iggy is the small blind. It's folded around to Iggy and he puts in a standard raise. I have Ace-9 suited. Well I could reraise and take the chance. I could play safe and fold. I could call and see if I flop an Ace or some of my suit. I don't want to bust out on the bubble again so I just call. The flop is Ace-X-X rainbow. Iggy pushes all in. I immediately think he is pulling the stop-n-go. If I call, and win I have a shot at winning this tournament. If I fold, I still have enough chips to do some damage. I fold. Looking back, I think I should have called. I don't know what Iggy had, but I could have lived with myself by busting out with top pair. Instead I made the money and folded my way to 10th when I got absolutely no starting hands and no chances to steal.
My total net profit was a whopping $6.
10th Place in the WBPT
Yes I made it past the bubble unlike last time. I actually was starting to get a little cocky because I think I held the chip lead in the tourney for about 15 minutes.
Here's a brief summary. I started out trying to be aggressive preflop since I remembered the last time was a total fold fest. It worked a couple of times and I got reraised a couple of times and had to fold. I flopped a set of 8's and won a few hundred. I got caught bluffing and lost a few hundred.
I folded pocket 7's to a preflop raise and flop contained a 7. I was a little pissed. Then the turn brought the 4th 7. The preflop raiser had pocket Kings and won a huge pot. It should've been mine!!!
Later I had Ace Queen in the small blind. It was folded to the button who raised. This looks like an obvious steal, but I am below my starting 1500 in chips so I just call instead of reraise out of position. The flop is A-K-7 rainbow. I bet about 1/2 the pot. The button pushes all in. I think to myself, do I really want to go out in 75th place? Then I think this doesn't make a lot of sense, because if he had 2 pair or a set, he would only call. I decide to call the all in with the rest of my chips. He has me covered easily. He turns over Ace-4 so I am very happy. The turn is a 4. Ugh! Poker Stars likes to stall the cards on the all in's which I like when I am not in the hand so I can follow the action. I hate it, when I am sweating the result for me. The river was a beautiful King which paired the board and counterfited his pair of 4's. I double up and go on a roll.
The deck starts to hit me in the head and I double up a couple more times with full houses. With 21 players left and 18 players getting paid, I am in 5 th place. I spent an hour at the table with the big chip leader on my left so I didn't get to steal any blinds and the deck was turning cold again. Finally I get moved and I have the Blogfather "Iggy" on my right. He starts to hit some cards and goes from a medium stack to a big stack. Now on the bubble it's becoming a fold fest again. I have slipped down to the middle of the pack because the blinds and antes are piling up. Here's a critical hand: I am on the Big Blind and Iggy is the small blind. It's folded around to Iggy and he puts in a standard raise. I have Ace-9 suited. Well I could reraise and take the chance. I could play safe and fold. I could call and see if I flop an Ace or some of my suit. I don't want to bust out on the bubble again so I just call. The flop is Ace-X-X rainbow. Iggy pushes all in. I immediately think he is pulling the stop-n-go. If I call, and win I have a shot at winning this tournament. If I fold, I still have enough chips to do some damage. I fold. Looking back, I think I should have called. I don't know what Iggy had, but I could have lived with myself by busting out with top pair. Instead I made the money and folded my way to 10th when I got absolutely no starting hands and no chances to steal.
My total net profit was a whopping $6.
Here's a brief summary. I started out trying to be aggressive preflop since I remembered the last time was a total fold fest. It worked a couple of times and I got reraised a couple of times and had to fold. I flopped a set of 8's and won a few hundred. I got caught bluffing and lost a few hundred.
I folded pocket 7's to a preflop raise and flop contained a 7. I was a little pissed. Then the turn brought the 4th 7. The preflop raiser had pocket Kings and won a huge pot. It should've been mine!!!
Later I had Ace Queen in the small blind. It was folded to the button who raised. This looks like an obvious steal, but I am below my starting 1500 in chips so I just call instead of reraise out of position. The flop is A-K-7 rainbow. I bet about 1/2 the pot. The button pushes all in. I think to myself, do I really want to go out in 75th place? Then I think this doesn't make a lot of sense, because if he had 2 pair or a set, he would only call. I decide to call the all in with the rest of my chips. He has me covered easily. He turns over Ace-4 so I am very happy. The turn is a 4. Ugh! Poker Stars likes to stall the cards on the all in's which I like when I am not in the hand so I can follow the action. I hate it, when I am sweating the result for me. The river was a beautiful King which paired the board and counterfited his pair of 4's. I double up and go on a roll.
The deck starts to hit me in the head and I double up a couple more times with full houses. With 21 players left and 18 players getting paid, I am in 5 th place. I spent an hour at the table with the big chip leader on my left so I didn't get to steal any blinds and the deck was turning cold again. Finally I get moved and I have the Blogfather "Iggy" on my right. He starts to hit some cards and goes from a medium stack to a big stack. Now on the bubble it's becoming a fold fest again. I have slipped down to the middle of the pack because the blinds and antes are piling up. Here's a critical hand: I am on the Big Blind and Iggy is the small blind. It's folded around to Iggy and he puts in a standard raise. I have Ace-9 suited. Well I could reraise and take the chance. I could play safe and fold. I could call and see if I flop an Ace or some of my suit. I don't want to bust out on the bubble again so I just call. The flop is Ace-X-X rainbow. Iggy pushes all in. I immediately think he is pulling the stop-n-go. If I call, and win I have a shot at winning this tournament. If I fold, I still have enough chips to do some damage. I fold. Looking back, I think I should have called. I don't know what Iggy had, but I could have lived with myself by busting out with top pair. Instead I made the money and folded my way to 10th when I got absolutely no starting hands and no chances to steal.
My total net profit was a whopping $6.
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Fun with Numbers
Sometimes it's fun to dream about playing poker for a living. I make over 100k a year in what I do now, so I would have to do very well playing poker. Let's take a look at some of the numbers.
I have averaged over 2BB per 100 hands at $2-4 playing 3 tables at a time. That works out to just over $14 an hour if I assume that I play 60 hands an hour per table. For the 35 hours a week I currently work (I'll give myself 2 weeks of vacation), I make approximately $57 an hour. At $2-$4 at 2 BB per 100 hands that equals $.08 a hand. If I can keep the same win rate at 4 tables that equals 240 hands an hour. 240 * $.08 = $19.20 an hour. So how can I get it to $57 an hour?
At $2-$4 that works out to $19.20/4 table or $4.80 a table. $57 / $4.80 = 11.87 or 12 tables. I don't think that's possible. How about $6-$12 stakes. At 2 BB per 100 hands that equals $24 per 100 hands or $.24 per hand. So let's take $57 / $.24 = 237 hands in an hour. Again I have been playing about 60 hands per hour per table. So that works out to 4 tables at a time. That sounds doable.
The problem with that theory is that I would have to play poker for 35 hours a week. I think I would get burned out pretty fast at that pace. At $15-$30 stakes and 2 BB an hour I could play 40% less. That means 40% of 35 hours or 14 hours a week. That's more like it!
Here is the problem. First can you make 2 BB an hour at 15-30. I kind of doubt it, but I will see if I can find it on 2+2. Second, by the time I am skilled enough, and have a bankroll big enough (300 BB at 15-30 is $9,000. This seems incredibly low to handle the swings of 15-30 and 240 hands an hour) the poker craze may have cooled and all that will be left is the rocks trying to eek out a living.
I have averaged over 2BB per 100 hands at $2-4 playing 3 tables at a time. That works out to just over $14 an hour if I assume that I play 60 hands an hour per table. For the 35 hours a week I currently work (I'll give myself 2 weeks of vacation), I make approximately $57 an hour. At $2-$4 at 2 BB per 100 hands that equals $.08 a hand. If I can keep the same win rate at 4 tables that equals 240 hands an hour. 240 * $.08 = $19.20 an hour. So how can I get it to $57 an hour?
At $2-$4 that works out to $19.20/4 table or $4.80 a table. $57 / $4.80 = 11.87 or 12 tables. I don't think that's possible. How about $6-$12 stakes. At 2 BB per 100 hands that equals $24 per 100 hands or $.24 per hand. So let's take $57 / $.24 = 237 hands in an hour. Again I have been playing about 60 hands per hour per table. So that works out to 4 tables at a time. That sounds doable.
The problem with that theory is that I would have to play poker for 35 hours a week. I think I would get burned out pretty fast at that pace. At $15-$30 stakes and 2 BB an hour I could play 40% less. That means 40% of 35 hours or 14 hours a week. That's more like it!
Here is the problem. First can you make 2 BB an hour at 15-30. I kind of doubt it, but I will see if I can find it on 2+2. Second, by the time I am skilled enough, and have a bankroll big enough (300 BB at 15-30 is $9,000. This seems incredibly low to handle the swings of 15-30 and 240 hands an hour) the poker craze may have cooled and all that will be left is the rocks trying to eek out a living.
Some Fun Calculations
I am in the business of numbers and therefore I like to play with them once in a while. Sometimes I like to fantasize that I could play poker for a living. Of course I don't think I could ever do this because I think it could get very boring and frustrating very quickly. But it's nice to dream.
Here's what I've figured out. I can play 60 hands an hour online on one table. Lately I have been able to play 3 tables at one time successfully. I think I could play 4 tables if I added another monitor so I would not have to deal with the overlap. Everybody says long term you can earn 2 BB/100 hands online up to about 5-10.
Right now if I play 180 hands an hour at 2-4 with a 2BB per 100 hands win rate, I make .02 BB per hand or $.08 a hand. That works out to $14.40 an hour. Currently I make over 100k a year but let's say, that is my magic number to live comfortably. Since I work about 35 hours a week and take two weeks vacation, that leaves 35*50 weeks = 1,750 hours in the year. 100,000/1750 = $57.14 an hour.
So let's say that I start 4 tabling and playing 240 hands an hour. I need to make $57.14 / 240 hands = $.238 a hand. At 2 BB per 100 hands that works out to playing $.238*100 = $23.80 per 100 hands. $23.80 / 2 BB = $11.90. So that means I could 4 table at $6-12 35 hours a week and make $100,000 a year. Of course playing 7 hours a day would probably bore me to tears. I would eventually have to get to $15-30. Since $12 is 40% of $30 that means I could do it working 40% of 35 hours which equals 14 hours a week.
Of course there are a couple of problems with this calculation. First is it possible to make 2BB per 100 hands at 15-30 over the long term? Second, by the time I get good enough to play at that level and have the bankroll to play at that level, the poker craze will probably be over and the only ones left playing 15-30 will be other pros trying to eek out a living.
Here's what I've figured out. I can play 60 hands an hour online on one table. Lately I have been able to play 3 tables at one time successfully. I think I could play 4 tables if I added another monitor so I would not have to deal with the overlap. Everybody says long term you can earn 2 BB/100 hands online up to about 5-10.
Right now if I play 180 hands an hour at 2-4 with a 2BB per 100 hands win rate, I make .02 BB per hand or $.08 a hand. That works out to $14.40 an hour. Currently I make over 100k a year but let's say, that is my magic number to live comfortably. Since I work about 35 hours a week and take two weeks vacation, that leaves 35*50 weeks = 1,750 hours in the year. 100,000/1750 = $57.14 an hour.
So let's say that I start 4 tabling and playing 240 hands an hour. I need to make $57.14 / 240 hands = $.238 a hand. At 2 BB per 100 hands that works out to playing $.238*100 = $23.80 per 100 hands. $23.80 / 2 BB = $11.90. So that means I could 4 table at $6-12 35 hours a week and make $100,000 a year. Of course playing 7 hours a day would probably bore me to tears. I would eventually have to get to $15-30. Since $12 is 40% of $30 that means I could do it working 40% of 35 hours which equals 14 hours a week.
Of course there are a couple of problems with this calculation. First is it possible to make 2BB per 100 hands at 15-30 over the long term? Second, by the time I get good enough to play at that level and have the bankroll to play at that level, the poker craze will probably be over and the only ones left playing 15-30 will be other pros trying to eek out a living.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
+cropped.jpg)
