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.
Monday, June 13, 2005
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.
Monday, March 28, 2005
Best Online Weekend Ever
Here were my stats according to Poker Tracker on Saturday and Sunday:
Hands: 748
Limit: $2-$4
Amount Won: $488.59
BB/100 hands 16.33
Unbelievable. I was playing my normal game. My preflop raise % was 8 which is a little higher than normal but that's fine since I got a lot of good hands preflop. I was playing 2-3 tables at a time strictly trying to get across my bonus for Party Poker. That has turned into a lot harder than I thought. I thought 7 raked hands per $1 of bonus would be easy, but they only gave 5-6 days to do it. I have to put in a few hours in the next couple of days. Of course I am not nearly as concerned about it now after winning over $600 since I put the money in.
If it wasn't for U of A losing to Illinois is disgustingly awful fashion on Saturday night it could have been one of the best weekends ever.
I have also finally figured out the Player View software and downloaded a skin from another site. Now I have the out odds right on my table and I can track all the players I am playing against in real time. This is really valuable when multi tabling. Party Poker is so big, that I never seem to run into the same player twice. Now I can track them as I play, so even if I don't see them show any crazy hands down, I know how often they enter the pot, how often they raise, and how often they stay in until the showdown.
Here's a quick frustration: You sit down at a table and immediately you see a player make a crazy stupid play and lose a nice chunk of money. You make a note and start looking for a chance to take the rest of his money. Within 5 hands, he leaves the table. One guy I even followed to another table. He played 5 more hands and then quit all together. I wonder if he noticed that I followed him?
Hands: 748
Limit: $2-$4
Amount Won: $488.59
BB/100 hands 16.33
Unbelievable. I was playing my normal game. My preflop raise % was 8 which is a little higher than normal but that's fine since I got a lot of good hands preflop. I was playing 2-3 tables at a time strictly trying to get across my bonus for Party Poker. That has turned into a lot harder than I thought. I thought 7 raked hands per $1 of bonus would be easy, but they only gave 5-6 days to do it. I have to put in a few hours in the next couple of days. Of course I am not nearly as concerned about it now after winning over $600 since I put the money in.
If it wasn't for U of A losing to Illinois is disgustingly awful fashion on Saturday night it could have been one of the best weekends ever.
I have also finally figured out the Player View software and downloaded a skin from another site. Now I have the out odds right on my table and I can track all the players I am playing against in real time. This is really valuable when multi tabling. Party Poker is so big, that I never seem to run into the same player twice. Now I can track them as I play, so even if I don't see them show any crazy hands down, I know how often they enter the pot, how often they raise, and how often they stay in until the showdown.
Here's a quick frustration: You sit down at a table and immediately you see a player make a crazy stupid play and lose a nice chunk of money. You make a note and start looking for a chance to take the rest of his money. Within 5 hands, he leaves the table. One guy I even followed to another table. He played 5 more hands and then quit all together. I wonder if he noticed that I followed him?
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Bonus Whoring
I cleared the 20% bonus on PokerStars last night after approx 1200 hands. They have this little trick in that they don't award you a player point unless the rake gets over a certain amount. I haven't investigated but it seems like Poker Stars charges less rake than Party Poker. That's why 600 bonus points took 1200 hands.
I won $80 in addition to the $120 from the bonus over that run. I immediately cashed out $600 to move to Party Poker to take advantage of their 20% bonus. Now I have to play 1400 raked hands in the next few days to get that bonus.
Here's where I stand online: $308 in Poker Stars, $1,141 in Party Poker, and $124 in pending bonus. That's $1,573. Since November of 2003 when I started with online poker, I have deposited at the most $300. I have withdrawn at least $1,500 for the golf clubs I bought last year, transfers to friends online, and a trip to Vegas. That works out to about $2,700 in a year and a half. That is a hell of lot better than I ever did on my old sports betting addiction errr hobby.
After I clear this bonus, I will focus on trying to win a seat at the World Series.
I am also planning on playing in the Friday afternoon poker tournament at Casino Arizona because I have the day off. Let's see if my tournament game has got any better.
I won $80 in addition to the $120 from the bonus over that run. I immediately cashed out $600 to move to Party Poker to take advantage of their 20% bonus. Now I have to play 1400 raked hands in the next few days to get that bonus.
Here's where I stand online: $308 in Poker Stars, $1,141 in Party Poker, and $124 in pending bonus. That's $1,573. Since November of 2003 when I started with online poker, I have deposited at the most $300. I have withdrawn at least $1,500 for the golf clubs I bought last year, transfers to friends online, and a trip to Vegas. That works out to about $2,700 in a year and a half. That is a hell of lot better than I ever did on my old sports betting addiction errr hobby.
After I clear this bonus, I will focus on trying to win a seat at the World Series.
I am also planning on playing in the Friday afternoon poker tournament at Casino Arizona because I have the day off. Let's see if my tournament game has got any better.
Monday, March 21, 2005
Clearing a PokerStars Bonus
I deposited $650 in my Poker Stars account so I could take full advantage of the 20% bonus they are offerring. So far I have played 638 hands and I am down $37. I am trying to play a little tighter until I clear the bonus and I am playing two tables of 2-4 Hold'em at a time. My VPIP on Poker Tracker for these sessions is only 17%. Basically I have been getting some good starting cards, but not hitting the flop hard enough to win. Hopefully my luck will change over the next 600 hands.
Here is what I have noticed about Poker Stars:
1. At prime time they have over 30,000 players which is about 1/2 as much as Party Poker.
2. Most of the players must be playing tournaments because there were only 7-8 10 max tables going in the 2-4 section during prime time. I had the first time experience of playing 2 tables and having the same opponent on both of them. That never happens at Party Poker.
3. The ring players are tighter on Poker Stars. The pots are smaller and you can steal the blinds much more often than on PP.
4. The players seem more passive as well. I saw many exposed hands after the river that I would have raised with. The Poker Stars players just called down.
I like the software and I especially like the 4 color deck. The speed tables are nice as well. I think you can get 80-100 hands an hour on those tables.
Unless my opinions change, I think after I clear the bonus I will just play the tournaments on Poker Stars and play my ring games and one table sit-n-gos at Party Poker.
Here is what I have noticed about Poker Stars:
1. At prime time they have over 30,000 players which is about 1/2 as much as Party Poker.
2. Most of the players must be playing tournaments because there were only 7-8 10 max tables going in the 2-4 section during prime time. I had the first time experience of playing 2 tables and having the same opponent on both of them. That never happens at Party Poker.
3. The ring players are tighter on Poker Stars. The pots are smaller and you can steal the blinds much more often than on PP.
4. The players seem more passive as well. I saw many exposed hands after the river that I would have raised with. The Poker Stars players just called down.
I like the software and I especially like the 4 color deck. The speed tables are nice as well. I think you can get 80-100 hands an hour on those tables.
Unless my opinions change, I think after I clear the bonus I will just play the tournaments on Poker Stars and play my ring games and one table sit-n-gos at Party Poker.
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
What Is The Best Way To Make The WSOP?
First a general update.
I have been slowly and steadily building up the bank roll. I have $1100 at Party Poker, just over $100 at Poker Stars, $365 in cash, plus another $1,000 in cash that I added because I had the money to spare. That adds up to just over $2500.
I had been playing a lot of the $22 one table tournaments and doing very well. I have also been 2 tabling 2-4 games at Party Poker. I have moved back up to the 3-6 games the last couple of days and had winning sessions both times. I tried to play 2 of the $33 one table tournaments and it was very different. Both tables were extremely tight and conservative. By level 5 (100-200 blinds) we still had 7 players left! I posted this on 2+2 and the responses seem to be that I just caught a couple of tight tables and that is far from the norm.
Poker Stars is offerring a nice deposit bonus and all kinds of satellites to win an entry into the WSOP. I have heard good things about their site and it has run ok the limited times I have played there. I am just worried that games will not be as soft as party poker. In order for me to clear a large bonus, I would have to switch all my play there for a while. I am still holding out hope that Party Poker will announce some satellites as well. Maybe I will write them an email to find out what their plans are.
Do any of my handful of readers/lurkers have any advice for me?
I have been slowly and steadily building up the bank roll. I have $1100 at Party Poker, just over $100 at Poker Stars, $365 in cash, plus another $1,000 in cash that I added because I had the money to spare. That adds up to just over $2500.
I had been playing a lot of the $22 one table tournaments and doing very well. I have also been 2 tabling 2-4 games at Party Poker. I have moved back up to the 3-6 games the last couple of days and had winning sessions both times. I tried to play 2 of the $33 one table tournaments and it was very different. Both tables were extremely tight and conservative. By level 5 (100-200 blinds) we still had 7 players left! I posted this on 2+2 and the responses seem to be that I just caught a couple of tight tables and that is far from the norm.
Poker Stars is offerring a nice deposit bonus and all kinds of satellites to win an entry into the WSOP. I have heard good things about their site and it has run ok the limited times I have played there. I am just worried that games will not be as soft as party poker. In order for me to clear a large bonus, I would have to switch all my play there for a while. I am still holding out hope that Party Poker will announce some satellites as well. Maybe I will write them an email to find out what their plans are.
Do any of my handful of readers/lurkers have any advice for me?
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Could I Ever Fold KK Preflop?
I forgot an interesting hand I had in Reno.
I was in the 9 seat and a very passive player was in the 1 seat. Earlier I had seen a hand where it was raised to him preflop and he called the raise. He ended up winning the hand because he had King-King in his hand for a high pair. I made a note to myself that if he is not willing to reraise preflop with KK, then only hand he would ever reraise with is AA.
About 20 minutes go by and I am in middle position. I get a couple of calls and then I raise. My opponent is on the button and he reraises me. ????? The other two limpers fold and it's to me. My first instinct is to fold. Would he reraise with Ace King? I call the raise since my odds are good enough anyways. (There were 2+2 for blinds, two limpers, my raise, and his reraise so 2+2+2+2+6+10=24 in the pot and $4 for me to call. That's 6-1 and I am a 4-1 underdog in my worst case scenario.
The flop was 10-5-5 all spades. I had the King of spades. Alright this looks like a pretty good flop. I bet out to find out where I am. He raises me of course and I just call so now there is $28+4+8+4 = $44 in the pot. Guess what comes on the Turn. That's right, the Ace of spades. By now I am drunk with power as I have the nut flush. Paired board be damned. I check, he bets, I raise, he reraises. Now I know I am beat but the pot's too big to fold. I call and check call on the meaningless river. He has the Aces for Aces full of Fives.
Another good read gone to shit because I had ready a long discussion about never folding KK before the flop on 2+2. I guess I played the hand correctly until the turn. After the reraise I really should have just thrown it away.
I was in the 9 seat and a very passive player was in the 1 seat. Earlier I had seen a hand where it was raised to him preflop and he called the raise. He ended up winning the hand because he had King-King in his hand for a high pair. I made a note to myself that if he is not willing to reraise preflop with KK, then only hand he would ever reraise with is AA.
About 20 minutes go by and I am in middle position. I get a couple of calls and then I raise. My opponent is on the button and he reraises me. ????? The other two limpers fold and it's to me. My first instinct is to fold. Would he reraise with Ace King? I call the raise since my odds are good enough anyways. (There were 2+2 for blinds, two limpers, my raise, and his reraise so 2+2+2+2+6+10=24 in the pot and $4 for me to call. That's 6-1 and I am a 4-1 underdog in my worst case scenario.
The flop was 10-5-5 all spades. I had the King of spades. Alright this looks like a pretty good flop. I bet out to find out where I am. He raises me of course and I just call so now there is $28+4+8+4 = $44 in the pot. Guess what comes on the Turn. That's right, the Ace of spades. By now I am drunk with power as I have the nut flush. Paired board be damned. I check, he bets, I raise, he reraises. Now I know I am beat but the pot's too big to fold. I call and check call on the meaningless river. He has the Aces for Aces full of Fives.
Another good read gone to shit because I had ready a long discussion about never folding KK before the flop on 2+2. I guess I played the hand correctly until the turn. After the reraise I really should have just thrown it away.
Monday, February 28, 2005
Reno Trip Report
I was in Reno last weekend for a Deltasig Conference. I didn't have any major responsibilities at the conference so I skipped most of the sessions to play poker. We were staying at the Reno Hilton which is where one of the World Poker Tour events is held.
I expected a much nicer poker room, but it was only 6 tables and the highest limit game they ran was 4-8 with $2-$2 reduced blind structure. They also ran a 1-2 No Limit game at night which was a lot a fun. I'll get to that later.
It was also nice that everyone I played with on Friday night, was there on Saturday, and again on Sunday. It's good to have reads on the bad players and know that they are so bad that you do not have to even adjust your normal style because they are not paying attention.
Overall I finished the trip up $260. It was actually $360, but I gave $100 to the Leadership Foundation of the Fraternity.
Here are a few interesting hands from the weekend:
1. I've often found that the 4-5-6 seats at poker tables are the best seats for two reasons. First is it's easier to see the cards. Second it's easier to see everyone else at the table. Including the occasional dummy who doesn't protect his cards next to you. I had an old man on my left who was constantly and unknowingly flashing his cards to me.
I am dealt AK in middle position and raise. The old guy on my left flashes 8-10 and calls. I get a couple more callers so already the pot is getting big. The flop comes Ks, 7s, 8d. There's a bet in front of me and I raise again, and the guy on my left calls. The turn is a blank so I bet and he calls and the guy on my right calls as well. Finally a 4 of spades comes on the river. The guy on my right bets into me. Did he hit the flush? What did the guy on my left have again? 8-10? What suit was it? I couldn't remember. Stupidly I call and the old guy calls as well. I lose to the old guy's flush. Probably my worst play of the weekend.
2. I am dealt AA and raise preflop. Only 2 callers. The flop comes A-A-7 with 2 clubs. He checks and I check. The turn is another club, a Queen I think. This time he checks and I bet hoping he's got a flush draw now. He folds and tell the dealer not to pick up the cards because I have a high hand jackpot. My four aces wins $143 in their high hand deal. Later I am dealt 4 Eights but only win $20 as a very cute girl at my table had won that jackpot about an hour earlier.
3. I am playing the No Limit game and playing very tight. The rest of the table is very loose with lots of bluffing and lots of top pair, medium kickers getting called down by second pairs. If I can get a good hand, I will win a lot of money. I have $200 in front of me, which is basically my profits thus far on the trip. I am dealt JJ in the small blind. 3 callers for $2 and I raise to $10. They all call. The flop is 10-5-6 rainbow. I bet $40. I get two folds and the last guy calls. Now the pot is $120. The turn is a 3. I bet $100. He thinks for a minute and then calls again. I am now a little worried. The last card is an Ace. I only have $50 in front of me left. I wrongly figure that maybe it's better to push it in for the little bit of fold equity I have left. Otherwise he will just bet what I have left and I'll have to call it. He calls and turns over Ace-4 suited. Ugh! First of all, it was a lousy call of my raise preflop. Second he had a longshot straight draw on the flop and an overcard and he calls a pot sized bet? The turn he picks up the straight draw and again makes a bad call because he doesn't have the odds in the pot, or implied because I have almost no money left. I was mad and complained a little but I didn't lose it.
4. Very next hand, I have dug in my pocket for $280. I am on the button and get dealt AA. A couple of callers again and I raise to $10. I'm sure the table thinks I am steaming so I get calls all around. The flop comes out Queen-6-7. The mexican in the 2 seat bets $20. He is a very bad player who will play anything. That can be good and bad. I raise him $40 to $60 and we are heads up. The turn is another 7. He checks and I bet $100. He calls. The river is a blank. He checks. I just check because I don't want to see a set or some other horrible card that beats me. He turns over Queen 6 for Queens and 7's. He had me beat until the 7 paired. So anyway I win a little over 1/2 my money back.
5. A couple of hands later I am dealt KK and win the rest of the money back I lost on the JJ hand. After that I was basically dealt nothing all night. A couple of times I had JJ or 10-10 and raised but someone reraised big and I had to throw it away.
6. I'm not in the hand but I see the largest pot I've ever seen. Two guys get it all in for a $1,300 pot. The board is paired and there are 3 spades up. The first player checked and the second player moved all in with $350. The first player thought hard about it for 5 minutes. I thought to myself that the worst hand I call with in this situation is the Ace high flush. There are 5-6 combinations of full houses, plus 4 of a kind. This idiot calls finally with a pair of Kings so he has a final hand of Kings and 4's. The winner had a King high flush. I don't think he wanted a call.
Another first for my poker playing experience. There was a brief hour of time where I was at a 10 handed table with 3 women playing on it. All good looking women in their 20's. It's exceedingly rare to see a good looking woman playing poker in a casino. It's a miracle when there are 3 at your table. They were ok players, better than most of the men, but they tended to be overly aggressive at the wrong times.
I am thinking of adding some of my huge tax refund to my poker bankroll to see if I can build it up enough to take a stab at the World Series of Poker in June. I figure I will need to move up to 3-6 or 5-10 limit online if I am going to win the money to enter these tournaments. I don't play enough hands to win enough money at the lower levels. I also want to get to 100 20+2 sit n gos before I decide whether I should move up. Stay tuned.
I expected a much nicer poker room, but it was only 6 tables and the highest limit game they ran was 4-8 with $2-$2 reduced blind structure. They also ran a 1-2 No Limit game at night which was a lot a fun. I'll get to that later.
It was also nice that everyone I played with on Friday night, was there on Saturday, and again on Sunday. It's good to have reads on the bad players and know that they are so bad that you do not have to even adjust your normal style because they are not paying attention.
Overall I finished the trip up $260. It was actually $360, but I gave $100 to the Leadership Foundation of the Fraternity.
Here are a few interesting hands from the weekend:
1. I've often found that the 4-5-6 seats at poker tables are the best seats for two reasons. First is it's easier to see the cards. Second it's easier to see everyone else at the table. Including the occasional dummy who doesn't protect his cards next to you. I had an old man on my left who was constantly and unknowingly flashing his cards to me.
I am dealt AK in middle position and raise. The old guy on my left flashes 8-10 and calls. I get a couple more callers so already the pot is getting big. The flop comes Ks, 7s, 8d. There's a bet in front of me and I raise again, and the guy on my left calls. The turn is a blank so I bet and he calls and the guy on my right calls as well. Finally a 4 of spades comes on the river. The guy on my right bets into me. Did he hit the flush? What did the guy on my left have again? 8-10? What suit was it? I couldn't remember. Stupidly I call and the old guy calls as well. I lose to the old guy's flush. Probably my worst play of the weekend.
2. I am dealt AA and raise preflop. Only 2 callers. The flop comes A-A-7 with 2 clubs. He checks and I check. The turn is another club, a Queen I think. This time he checks and I bet hoping he's got a flush draw now. He folds and tell the dealer not to pick up the cards because I have a high hand jackpot. My four aces wins $143 in their high hand deal. Later I am dealt 4 Eights but only win $20 as a very cute girl at my table had won that jackpot about an hour earlier.
3. I am playing the No Limit game and playing very tight. The rest of the table is very loose with lots of bluffing and lots of top pair, medium kickers getting called down by second pairs. If I can get a good hand, I will win a lot of money. I have $200 in front of me, which is basically my profits thus far on the trip. I am dealt JJ in the small blind. 3 callers for $2 and I raise to $10. They all call. The flop is 10-5-6 rainbow. I bet $40. I get two folds and the last guy calls. Now the pot is $120. The turn is a 3. I bet $100. He thinks for a minute and then calls again. I am now a little worried. The last card is an Ace. I only have $50 in front of me left. I wrongly figure that maybe it's better to push it in for the little bit of fold equity I have left. Otherwise he will just bet what I have left and I'll have to call it. He calls and turns over Ace-4 suited. Ugh! First of all, it was a lousy call of my raise preflop. Second he had a longshot straight draw on the flop and an overcard and he calls a pot sized bet? The turn he picks up the straight draw and again makes a bad call because he doesn't have the odds in the pot, or implied because I have almost no money left. I was mad and complained a little but I didn't lose it.
4. Very next hand, I have dug in my pocket for $280. I am on the button and get dealt AA. A couple of callers again and I raise to $10. I'm sure the table thinks I am steaming so I get calls all around. The flop comes out Queen-6-7. The mexican in the 2 seat bets $20. He is a very bad player who will play anything. That can be good and bad. I raise him $40 to $60 and we are heads up. The turn is another 7. He checks and I bet $100. He calls. The river is a blank. He checks. I just check because I don't want to see a set or some other horrible card that beats me. He turns over Queen 6 for Queens and 7's. He had me beat until the 7 paired. So anyway I win a little over 1/2 my money back.
5. A couple of hands later I am dealt KK and win the rest of the money back I lost on the JJ hand. After that I was basically dealt nothing all night. A couple of times I had JJ or 10-10 and raised but someone reraised big and I had to throw it away.
6. I'm not in the hand but I see the largest pot I've ever seen. Two guys get it all in for a $1,300 pot. The board is paired and there are 3 spades up. The first player checked and the second player moved all in with $350. The first player thought hard about it for 5 minutes. I thought to myself that the worst hand I call with in this situation is the Ace high flush. There are 5-6 combinations of full houses, plus 4 of a kind. This idiot calls finally with a pair of Kings so he has a final hand of Kings and 4's. The winner had a King high flush. I don't think he wanted a call.
Another first for my poker playing experience. There was a brief hour of time where I was at a 10 handed table with 3 women playing on it. All good looking women in their 20's. It's exceedingly rare to see a good looking woman playing poker in a casino. It's a miracle when there are 3 at your table. They were ok players, better than most of the men, but they tended to be overly aggressive at the wrong times.
I am thinking of adding some of my huge tax refund to my poker bankroll to see if I can build it up enough to take a stab at the World Series of Poker in June. I figure I will need to move up to 3-6 or 5-10 limit online if I am going to win the money to enter these tournaments. I don't play enough hands to win enough money at the lower levels. I also want to get to 100 20+2 sit n gos before I decide whether I should move up. Stay tuned.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
New Sit-n-Go Strategy
My first attempt at a different strategy in the 20+2 Sit-n-Gos. Play normal tight poker the first few rounds trying to keep the pots small unless you know for sure you have the best hand. When it gets down to 4 players or 5 with one player hanging on by a thread, get very aggressive. Usually by this time, I have 6-10 times the big blind so I feel all in bets are appropriate preflop and start stealing the blinds. Hopefully everyone else has tightened up trying to make the money and I can build a lead that will take me to first place.
Last night I played only one tournament. I won a few pots early only showing down good cards so my image was tight aggressive. There were 4 left. I had 1443 left and the blinds were 150-300. The remaining stacks were 1516, 1780, 3261. The blinds were on the other smaller stacks and I am on the button. Let's see how my new strategy works. I am dealt Jack-5 offsuit. UTG folds and I move all in with 1443 in chips. The small blind folds, and the big blind with 1516 goes into the tank for a few seconds. He calls and turns over Queens. Oops! The flop gives me a Jack and the river gives me a 5 and I suck out! Sweet Fancy Moses! He busts out the next hand and before we know it, I am heads up with 2836 in chips versus 5164. My opponent plays timid for a few hands as I bluff a few blinds out of him. I am behind 3436 to 4564 before the key hand takes place.
I was dealt 7-10 of hearts on the button and in the small blind. The blinds were 200-400. I call the small blind and my opponent checks. The flop is Ac 6h 2d. It doesn't hit me but it has a heart. He checks and I check. The turn is 4h. He checks and I check. The river is the 8 of hearts so I have a flush 10 high. This time he bets the minimum of 400. At first I think he is just trying to pick up an orphan pot because the board looks a little scary with the flush out there. I don't think he has much so I don't want to raise him out of the pot. I make it 1200. He comes back and raises me 1600. Now I think he probably has a flush. Is it higher than mine? Hmmmmm. If I call I only have a few hundred left. I decide to reraise all in and he calls with 2 pair 8's and 2's. He probably didn't notice that the 8 on the river was a heart.
He went out on the next hand when I am dealt Ace-5 offsuit and go all in and he calls with King-2. No help for either of us and I win.
Moral of the story: It's better to be lucky than good.
Last night I played only one tournament. I won a few pots early only showing down good cards so my image was tight aggressive. There were 4 left. I had 1443 left and the blinds were 150-300. The remaining stacks were 1516, 1780, 3261. The blinds were on the other smaller stacks and I am on the button. Let's see how my new strategy works. I am dealt Jack-5 offsuit. UTG folds and I move all in with 1443 in chips. The small blind folds, and the big blind with 1516 goes into the tank for a few seconds. He calls and turns over Queens. Oops! The flop gives me a Jack and the river gives me a 5 and I suck out! Sweet Fancy Moses! He busts out the next hand and before we know it, I am heads up with 2836 in chips versus 5164. My opponent plays timid for a few hands as I bluff a few blinds out of him. I am behind 3436 to 4564 before the key hand takes place.
I was dealt 7-10 of hearts on the button and in the small blind. The blinds were 200-400. I call the small blind and my opponent checks. The flop is Ac 6h 2d. It doesn't hit me but it has a heart. He checks and I check. The turn is 4h. He checks and I check. The river is the 8 of hearts so I have a flush 10 high. This time he bets the minimum of 400. At first I think he is just trying to pick up an orphan pot because the board looks a little scary with the flush out there. I don't think he has much so I don't want to raise him out of the pot. I make it 1200. He comes back and raises me 1600. Now I think he probably has a flush. Is it higher than mine? Hmmmmm. If I call I only have a few hundred left. I decide to reraise all in and he calls with 2 pair 8's and 2's. He probably didn't notice that the 8 on the river was a heart.
He went out on the next hand when I am dealt Ace-5 offsuit and go all in and he calls with King-2. No help for either of us and I win.
Moral of the story: It's better to be lucky than good.
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
New Record of Futility
It was boys night out last Saturday at the Gila River. Because it was primetime, the casino was packed. I put in for 4-8 or 3-6 and the list was looong. After waiting for 20 minutes, they asked if anyone wanted to play 6-12. What the hell? Let's give it a shot.
I folded for most of the first 15-20 minutes as I tried to figure out my table. It took a while but I began to realize that most of them were pretty loose. There were not a lot of showdowns at the river, but there were usually 5-6 to the flop and one raise preflop.
As time went by I continued to get shitty starting cards. With the threat of a raise on every hand I really tried to concentrate on my position. For the first 2 1/2 hours I did not win a single hand. I think it was a record. I came close to winning twice. I had a flush get beat by a higher flush. And the second hand was Ace 5 suited preflop. I limped in with everyone and the flop came JJJ. I was in the small blind so I checked and it was checked around. The turn was a 5 so now I have a full house. I bet, and I get two callers. I'm really not liking my hand now. I decide if the next card is higher than a 5, I'm checking. The river was a 2 so I bet. Then I get raised and reraised. The original raiser had the 4th Jack for 4 of a Kind.
I tried to be critical of my play to look where I could have played things better, but I really think it was just one of those nights where I wasn't going to win. I even managed to limit my losses in hands that I could have easily blown off more chips. Example: There was an oriental woman who apparently is a dealer at Casino Arizona two seats to my left. She lost her temper a couple of times at what she thought was bad play by other players. I had Ace Queen in middle to late position so I raised preflop. She called on the button along with 3 or 4 others. The flop came out all low cards but 2 diamonds. Someone early bet and I decided to call with my overcards and she raised the flop on the button. My alarm went off and it really seemed like a semibluff flush draw raise. The third suited card came on the turn and it happened to be my Queen. Instead of betting into her, I checked to her and called her down. Not the most aggressive play but it saved me a bet.
The final loss was $222 over 5 hours of play. That was a long frustrating session.
As for online poker, I am becoming more convinced that I should just stick to the $20 sit-n-gos. I now have 29 tournaments under my belt and my roi is still 44%. The crazy thing is that I feel like I could play much better. I try to keep aggressive and not settle for just making it in the money, but it's hard when I see such stupid plays from other players. It's easy to sit back and wait for them to knock each other out.
Out of 29 I have finished in the money 15 times. 4 firsts, 4 seconds, and 7 thirds. It seems like it might make more sense with 4-5 players left to play more aggressive. 2 1st place finishes = 5 3rd place finishes. If you can build up your chips on the bubble while everyone else is trying to ease into the money, maybe I can give myself more ammunition to shoot for 1st.
My problem is the online bank roll does not seem to be going anywhere lately and I have a weekend trip to Reno coming up on Friday. I don't want to go broke.
I folded for most of the first 15-20 minutes as I tried to figure out my table. It took a while but I began to realize that most of them were pretty loose. There were not a lot of showdowns at the river, but there were usually 5-6 to the flop and one raise preflop.
As time went by I continued to get shitty starting cards. With the threat of a raise on every hand I really tried to concentrate on my position. For the first 2 1/2 hours I did not win a single hand. I think it was a record. I came close to winning twice. I had a flush get beat by a higher flush. And the second hand was Ace 5 suited preflop. I limped in with everyone and the flop came JJJ. I was in the small blind so I checked and it was checked around. The turn was a 5 so now I have a full house. I bet, and I get two callers. I'm really not liking my hand now. I decide if the next card is higher than a 5, I'm checking. The river was a 2 so I bet. Then I get raised and reraised. The original raiser had the 4th Jack for 4 of a Kind.
I tried to be critical of my play to look where I could have played things better, but I really think it was just one of those nights where I wasn't going to win. I even managed to limit my losses in hands that I could have easily blown off more chips. Example: There was an oriental woman who apparently is a dealer at Casino Arizona two seats to my left. She lost her temper a couple of times at what she thought was bad play by other players. I had Ace Queen in middle to late position so I raised preflop. She called on the button along with 3 or 4 others. The flop came out all low cards but 2 diamonds. Someone early bet and I decided to call with my overcards and she raised the flop on the button. My alarm went off and it really seemed like a semibluff flush draw raise. The third suited card came on the turn and it happened to be my Queen. Instead of betting into her, I checked to her and called her down. Not the most aggressive play but it saved me a bet.
The final loss was $222 over 5 hours of play. That was a long frustrating session.
As for online poker, I am becoming more convinced that I should just stick to the $20 sit-n-gos. I now have 29 tournaments under my belt and my roi is still 44%. The crazy thing is that I feel like I could play much better. I try to keep aggressive and not settle for just making it in the money, but it's hard when I see such stupid plays from other players. It's easy to sit back and wait for them to knock each other out.
Out of 29 I have finished in the money 15 times. 4 firsts, 4 seconds, and 7 thirds. It seems like it might make more sense with 4-5 players left to play more aggressive. 2 1st place finishes = 5 3rd place finishes. If you can build up your chips on the bubble while everyone else is trying to ease into the money, maybe I can give myself more ammunition to shoot for 1st.
My problem is the online bank roll does not seem to be going anywhere lately and I have a weekend trip to Reno coming up on Friday. I don't want to go broke.
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Bubble Play
I played in the 3 table NL Holdem tournament last night. I made it to 6 handed and 5 make money. The problem was everyone had pretty equal stacks around 5000 and the blinds were 300-600. Not a lot of room to maneuver. I made a horrible play and busted out.
I was dealt QQ on the big blind. A stack slightly larger than mine opens the pot with a raise of doulbe the blind. Everyone folds to me. I decide to call because I want to win more money than just his 1200. The flop comes out all undercards. Carrying it further, I check planning to raise. It backfires as he checks it through. Turn is a King. Now I decide to push in and he calls with his King-10.
First mistake. I need to just move all in preflop. First he probably folds. This also sends the message to not fuck with my blinds or I'll go all in. Second if he calls and I win, I get a big stack and get to show everyone a solid hand.
Second, I should have bet the flop. Seriously, how much more money am I really going to make here. Plus it would have prevented me from having to make that bad decision when an Ace or a King hits on the turn or river.
The other issue is how aggressive to play on the bubble if everyone's chips are basically equal and the they only have 7-11 times the blind left. I basically felt like I was going to need some good cards to win this event because any hand I played, I need to be prepared to go all in. In fact it seemed like it should have been, the first player in the pot goes all in. Everyone folds. Or someone wakes up with AK or a pocket pair and calls.
You basically have two rounds to fold before you're blinded down to the point that someone will call you with a marginal hand. If you only raise 2x the blind, someone will eventually play with you.
Another strategy may be to limp and hope the flop hits you. Since a raise is pretty much all in, this would allow you to get away from the hand if someone else raises or the flop misses you.
I was dealt QQ on the big blind. A stack slightly larger than mine opens the pot with a raise of doulbe the blind. Everyone folds to me. I decide to call because I want to win more money than just his 1200. The flop comes out all undercards. Carrying it further, I check planning to raise. It backfires as he checks it through. Turn is a King. Now I decide to push in and he calls with his King-10.
First mistake. I need to just move all in preflop. First he probably folds. This also sends the message to not fuck with my blinds or I'll go all in. Second if he calls and I win, I get a big stack and get to show everyone a solid hand.
Second, I should have bet the flop. Seriously, how much more money am I really going to make here. Plus it would have prevented me from having to make that bad decision when an Ace or a King hits on the turn or river.
The other issue is how aggressive to play on the bubble if everyone's chips are basically equal and the they only have 7-11 times the blind left. I basically felt like I was going to need some good cards to win this event because any hand I played, I need to be prepared to go all in. In fact it seemed like it should have been, the first player in the pot goes all in. Everyone folds. Or someone wakes up with AK or a pocket pair and calls.
You basically have two rounds to fold before you're blinded down to the point that someone will call you with a marginal hand. If you only raise 2x the blind, someone will eventually play with you.
Another strategy may be to limp and hope the flop hits you. Since a raise is pretty much all in, this would allow you to get away from the hand if someone else raises or the flop misses you.
Monday, February 14, 2005
Cash in a Big Tournament
I haven't updated my blog in a while because there has not been much new and interesting in my poker play. I have been slowly building up the bankroll by playing 2 tables of 2-4 or playing 20+2 sit-n-gos. According to pokertracker I am making a ROI on the sit-n-gos of 40% and I am averaging 3 BB per 100 hands in 2-4. I have about 7000 hands in the 2-4 ring games in pokertracker so I guess that's still a relatively small sample. Still both of those stats are on the high side (according to what I have seen in other message boards).
On Saturday evening, I entered a NL Holdem tournament on Party Poker for $33. 720 total players and the top 80 make money. I managed to finish in 18th place. I had to call Michele three different times to tell her I was going to be late since I was still playing. 18th place paid $183 so I netted $150 for about 4 hours of work.
It was strange in that I don't remember too much that was interesting or strange about the tournament. For the most part I just played solid poker. I bluffed occasionally. Got caught a couple of times. The only thing that was surprising to me was how often I got away with stealing the blinds. I think at one point, I had 6 raises go uncalled before someone finally decided to see a flop against me.
The turning point was when I had about 8 times the BB left with about 25 people left in the tournament. I had AQ suited. An early player went all in and I had him covered. I went all in trying to isolate him. Unfortunately that didn't work as two more players went all in. So I am either going to be in great shape to make the final table with about 30 times the BB if I win, or I will be left with about 3 times the BB if I lose. Everyone turns over their cards and it's my AQ versus another AQ versus 77 versus AK. Wow. I kind of hate Party Poker when people are all in because they turn the cards super quick. I like the suspense of figuring out how many outs everyone has in hands like these, and Party takes all the fun out of it. Anyways I got excited when I saw a Queen hit on the river and thought I had won. Then the chips went to the guy with 77. I looked again at the board and noticed he had hit his 3rd 7 on the turn.
That was pretty much it, as I hung in there for a little while longer and finally busted out. Overall I thought it was pretty weird that I felt like I did not run into any decent players until about 40 players were left.
On Saturday evening, I entered a NL Holdem tournament on Party Poker for $33. 720 total players and the top 80 make money. I managed to finish in 18th place. I had to call Michele three different times to tell her I was going to be late since I was still playing. 18th place paid $183 so I netted $150 for about 4 hours of work.
It was strange in that I don't remember too much that was interesting or strange about the tournament. For the most part I just played solid poker. I bluffed occasionally. Got caught a couple of times. The only thing that was surprising to me was how often I got away with stealing the blinds. I think at one point, I had 6 raises go uncalled before someone finally decided to see a flop against me.
The turning point was when I had about 8 times the BB left with about 25 people left in the tournament. I had AQ suited. An early player went all in and I had him covered. I went all in trying to isolate him. Unfortunately that didn't work as two more players went all in. So I am either going to be in great shape to make the final table with about 30 times the BB if I win, or I will be left with about 3 times the BB if I lose. Everyone turns over their cards and it's my AQ versus another AQ versus 77 versus AK. Wow. I kind of hate Party Poker when people are all in because they turn the cards super quick. I like the suspense of figuring out how many outs everyone has in hands like these, and Party takes all the fun out of it. Anyways I got excited when I saw a Queen hit on the river and thought I had won. Then the chips went to the guy with 77. I looked again at the board and noticed he had hit his 3rd 7 on the turn.
That was pretty much it, as I hung in there for a little while longer and finally busted out. Overall I thought it was pretty weird that I felt like I did not run into any decent players until about 40 players were left.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Reflections on The Blogger Tournament
Random Thoughts:
The guy with the avatar of James Traficante was an ASS. He says he was jerking us all around, but he kept it up for 2 straight hours. Yuck!
Play was very tight. I did not see any of the normal bluffing off of chips like I see in the Party Poker tournaments. Even in the early going it was predominantly fold, fold, fold, raise, fold, fold, fold win the blinds.
I busted out on the bubble in 19th out of 151. It was ridiculously tight on the bubble. 3 tables of nothing but folding. I don't know about the financial situation of the rest of the guys but folding my way to a $14 profit after 2 hours of work was not going to make me very happy. I was all in at least twice an orbit. Unfortunately, I got called a couple of times and lost the coin flips so I never got above the short stack mode.
I lost to slow played Aces twice including the hand that busted me out. I believe the blinds were 200-400 with $50 antes. I only had around 3000 left. Folded to the small blind who doubles the blind. I have A-7 offsuit in the big blind. Instead of raising him all in, I decide to call and then push if I hit the Ace or he checks to me. The flop came all cards under 10 and he checked so I pushed in. He calls in a flash and flips over his Aces. Oops.
Overall I got lucky a few times and unlucky a few times. The bad beat I remember was going all in with AQ offsuit and being called by player who had about 1/2 as many chips with AQ suited. Oh well, we'll split the blinds, that's OK. The flop comes single suited and it just happens to match my opponents' cards. AHHHHHH!
The funnest lucky beat was when Traficant, who was bullying the table verbally and with his chips for the first two hours, raised my big blind. It looked like his normal steal attempts, so I reraised him all in with Queen Jack. He had about twice as many chips as I did and he called, surprisingly. He turned over A-7 offsuit. I hit my Queen on the flop and he never found another Ace. Then he bitched and moaned about how bad a play I made raising all in with that crap. Some of the others came to my defense to remind him that he was stealing and that A-7 is not that great a hand either. I also had to trash talk and kept telling him not to fuck with my blind which he pretty much left alone the rest of the night.
The guy with the avatar of James Traficante was an ASS. He says he was jerking us all around, but he kept it up for 2 straight hours. Yuck!
Play was very tight. I did not see any of the normal bluffing off of chips like I see in the Party Poker tournaments. Even in the early going it was predominantly fold, fold, fold, raise, fold, fold, fold win the blinds.
I busted out on the bubble in 19th out of 151. It was ridiculously tight on the bubble. 3 tables of nothing but folding. I don't know about the financial situation of the rest of the guys but folding my way to a $14 profit after 2 hours of work was not going to make me very happy. I was all in at least twice an orbit. Unfortunately, I got called a couple of times and lost the coin flips so I never got above the short stack mode.
I lost to slow played Aces twice including the hand that busted me out. I believe the blinds were 200-400 with $50 antes. I only had around 3000 left. Folded to the small blind who doubles the blind. I have A-7 offsuit in the big blind. Instead of raising him all in, I decide to call and then push if I hit the Ace or he checks to me. The flop came all cards under 10 and he checked so I pushed in. He calls in a flash and flips over his Aces. Oops.
Overall I got lucky a few times and unlucky a few times. The bad beat I remember was going all in with AQ offsuit and being called by player who had about 1/2 as many chips with AQ suited. Oh well, we'll split the blinds, that's OK. The flop comes single suited and it just happens to match my opponents' cards. AHHHHHH!
The funnest lucky beat was when Traficant, who was bullying the table verbally and with his chips for the first two hours, raised my big blind. It looked like his normal steal attempts, so I reraised him all in with Queen Jack. He had about twice as many chips as I did and he called, surprisingly. He turned over A-7 offsuit. I hit my Queen on the flop and he never found another Ace. Then he bitched and moaned about how bad a play I made raising all in with that crap. Some of the others came to my defense to remind him that he was stealing and that A-7 is not that great a hand either. I also had to trash talk and kept telling him not to fuck with my blind which he pretty much left alone the rest of the night.
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Tourney Problem Solved For Now
Last night I played in 5 $20+2 sit-n-gos on Party Poker. My results were a 1st, 2nd, two 3rds, and a DNP. The problem was as expected. I was getting too loose and trying to make moves. I played solid tight poker the first three or 4 levels. This usually leaves me with 700-900 when the blinds get to 50-100. There are usually 5 or 6 players left with at least 2 or 3 stacks shorter than mine. That's when I loosen up and go to all in mode. Most of the time I get folds and take blinds. Usually if I get called, I am getting my money in with the best of it, because the short stacks are in desperation mode. Of course you have to get lucky at least once if you are going to win one of these things.
I am still constantly amazed when I see someone blow off all their chips on a stone cold bluff. It's fine to fire a barrel before the flop and one after the flop. I think it borders on stupidity to keep the bluff going on the turn and river with such a shallow stack.
World Series of Poker Update
After further review of the schedule it looks like almost all of the No Limit Holdem tournaments start on Fridays in June. I posted in 2+2 to find out when I should get to the casino if I want to win my way in playing in a satellite. Hopefully it's just sometime Thursday morning. I wonder how bad the room situation is going to be that month?
I am still constantly amazed when I see someone blow off all their chips on a stone cold bluff. It's fine to fire a barrel before the flop and one after the flop. I think it borders on stupidity to keep the bluff going on the turn and river with such a shallow stack.
World Series of Poker Update
After further review of the schedule it looks like almost all of the No Limit Holdem tournaments start on Fridays in June. I posted in 2+2 to find out when I should get to the casino if I want to win my way in playing in a satellite. Hopefully it's just sometime Thursday morning. I wonder how bad the room situation is going to be that month?
Monday, January 31, 2005
The Gila River is So Soft!
I don't know why but I am always amazed at how much worse the level of play is at the Gila River Casino versus Casino AZ. Last Saturday, Robert called me during the U of A basketball game and said Jon and himself would be heading out to play poker and that I should join them.
For some reason I thought the casino would be dead on a Saturday afternoon with bad weather outside but it was packed. After signing up, Jon got seated first and me and Rob were still waiting. Finally they decided to open up a new table. Rob wanted to sit on my left because he wanted to get out if I decide to raise. We don't collude, but if Rob folding when I am in a hand is what it takes to have some company at the table than so be it.
I patiently waited for some decent starting cards and took mental notes on the other players. The two players to my right were buddies and obviously didn't know much about the game. They would play any 2 suited cards, any face card, and would call down with any piece of the flop. One of the guys had a cowboy hat so I'll refer to him as Cowboy. Anyways after watching for 30 minutes, I whispered to Rob that the Cowboy was an ATM machine and I was planning on making a withdrawal.
Finally I get JJ on the button. The details on this hand are a little sketchy, but I'll do my best. There were 5 or 6 callers and I raised. Cowboy is two seats to my right and had already limped in. He reraises and I cap it at 4 bets. A couple of the players drop out. The flop is Queen, Jack, 7 all different suits. There is an early bet, and a couple of calls including one from a player who was actually somewhat decent and the Cowboy raises. I reraise, the decent player calls two more, and Cowboy calls. The turn is harmless, but it does match one of the suits on the board. Decent player checks, Cowboy bets and I raise. Decent player calls (hmmm) and the Cowboy raises me again. Now 90% of time if someone reraises before the flop and then raises after the flop comes out Queen high he probably has AA or KK. Maybe he has AQ. I figure if he's got pocket Queens I am just going to lose a lot of money. Knowing how bad this player is, I am willing to take the chance that I can get a lot more money out of him if my initial read is right. So I reraise and one more call and Cowboy calls. Finally the river comes and it's an Ace there is no flush possible, but there is a straight out there. I am not too concerned about the straight because it would be incredibly dumb for someone to have stayed in preflop with King - 10. What concerns me is the possibility of trip Aces. The pot is absolutely huge. First player checks, and Cowboy checks. I briefly think about checking. I am sure the good player missed his draw or he would have bet. I decide the Cowboy needs to be value bet so I bet. The good player folds his busted draw and the Cowboy check raises me! I say out loud that I didn't think he even knew how to do that. I have to call because I am getting something like 30 to 1. Here's the best part.....the Cowboy turns over Ace-King for a pair of Aces. Wow! He had nothing, but an inside straight draw until the river when he hit his Ace. The check raise was a way for him to lose even more money. I am not sure how big the entire pot was, but my profit was $120.
After that I just played textbook poker and won $42 more dollars and left up $162.
I also played a lot of online poker over the weekend. I have noticed that my tournament play has sucked lately but my ring game has been pretty good. I think I am suffering from fancy play syndrome in the tournaments. I make a play that works against a good player, but the bad players call me down with 2nd pair or a flush draw and hit it.
Overall the poker has been good lately and my bankroll is back up to $1200 after my Vegas setback last month.
For some reason I thought the casino would be dead on a Saturday afternoon with bad weather outside but it was packed. After signing up, Jon got seated first and me and Rob were still waiting. Finally they decided to open up a new table. Rob wanted to sit on my left because he wanted to get out if I decide to raise. We don't collude, but if Rob folding when I am in a hand is what it takes to have some company at the table than so be it.
I patiently waited for some decent starting cards and took mental notes on the other players. The two players to my right were buddies and obviously didn't know much about the game. They would play any 2 suited cards, any face card, and would call down with any piece of the flop. One of the guys had a cowboy hat so I'll refer to him as Cowboy. Anyways after watching for 30 minutes, I whispered to Rob that the Cowboy was an ATM machine and I was planning on making a withdrawal.
Finally I get JJ on the button. The details on this hand are a little sketchy, but I'll do my best. There were 5 or 6 callers and I raised. Cowboy is two seats to my right and had already limped in. He reraises and I cap it at 4 bets. A couple of the players drop out. The flop is Queen, Jack, 7 all different suits. There is an early bet, and a couple of calls including one from a player who was actually somewhat decent and the Cowboy raises. I reraise, the decent player calls two more, and Cowboy calls. The turn is harmless, but it does match one of the suits on the board. Decent player checks, Cowboy bets and I raise. Decent player calls (hmmm) and the Cowboy raises me again. Now 90% of time if someone reraises before the flop and then raises after the flop comes out Queen high he probably has AA or KK. Maybe he has AQ. I figure if he's got pocket Queens I am just going to lose a lot of money. Knowing how bad this player is, I am willing to take the chance that I can get a lot more money out of him if my initial read is right. So I reraise and one more call and Cowboy calls. Finally the river comes and it's an Ace there is no flush possible, but there is a straight out there. I am not too concerned about the straight because it would be incredibly dumb for someone to have stayed in preflop with King - 10. What concerns me is the possibility of trip Aces. The pot is absolutely huge. First player checks, and Cowboy checks. I briefly think about checking. I am sure the good player missed his draw or he would have bet. I decide the Cowboy needs to be value bet so I bet. The good player folds his busted draw and the Cowboy check raises me! I say out loud that I didn't think he even knew how to do that. I have to call because I am getting something like 30 to 1. Here's the best part.....the Cowboy turns over Ace-King for a pair of Aces. Wow! He had nothing, but an inside straight draw until the river when he hit his Ace. The check raise was a way for him to lose even more money. I am not sure how big the entire pot was, but my profit was $120.
After that I just played textbook poker and won $42 more dollars and left up $162.
I also played a lot of online poker over the weekend. I have noticed that my tournament play has sucked lately but my ring game has been pretty good. I think I am suffering from fancy play syndrome in the tournaments. I make a play that works against a good player, but the bad players call me down with 2nd pair or a flush draw and hit it.
Overall the poker has been good lately and my bankroll is back up to $1200 after my Vegas setback last month.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Has my luck turned at Casino AZ?
Last night was one of those perfect situations at a low limit table. One loose aggressive player to pump up the pot. A bunch of loose passive calling stations who will call down to the river with 2nd pair or underpair.
The loose aggressive player in the 1 seat was really hot. He hit runner-runner at least 3 times in the first 30 minutes that I sat down. Luckily I was not in any pots with him.
My strategy coming in was to tighten up and try not to let myself get sucked in to loosening my starting hand standards. I also wanted avoid making any tricky plays and play straight ahead poker for at least the first couple of hours. If I was winning and the players at my table appear to notice that I am playing tight aggressive, then I might loosen up a little.
It's really great when you can read everyone's hand and lady luck smiles upon you to help avoid getting trapped. For example:
I was dealt A10 off late position. This is a sketchy raising hand. If there is only a couple of players in I might raise to try and force out the blinds. In this case there was a new player to my right and I didn't know how she played. She called so I decided to just call. The flop has an Ace and two low cards, with no straights or flush possibilities. First player bets, and then the woman to my right raises. Wait a minute, I was getting ready to do that. I call for time and think about it a little. I have found that many of these players will not raise preflop with A-J or A-Q. Sometimes they don't even raise with A-K. With a bet and a raise in front I decide to fold. Sure enough, the first better had A-3 for a pair of aces and low kicker. The raiser had A-J. I told her thanks for saving me at least $12.
Another interesting hand.
Ace King of diamonds on the button. 3 limpers and I raise. The blinds fold so 9 bets in the pot to the flop. Flop is King(sp) 8 (d) and 8(c). Remembering that I often play stupid with paired boards I start to concentrate a little more. First player bets. He is an awful player but he usually just calls. He almost never raises or bets first. Now he's betting into 3 other people after I raised the flop. Second player raises. She is a little more solid. I have not seen her get out of line yet. Third player folds and it's 2 bets to me with 12 bets in the pot. I call. Then the first player reraises. The second player calls and I fold.
The first call was questionable. 6-1 pot odds. Maybe 12-1 implied odds. At least one of them has an 8. My only outs are the other 2 kings and a backdoor flush draw. The last fold, I probably should have called because my odds were even better, but even if I hit my flush I could be up against a full house. Any way my read was right and they both had 8-9 in the hole and they chopped the pot. My diamonds or kings did not come on the turn or river.
As for the winners, they were all pretty straight forward. Including one nice kill pot where I had raised AK and had the loose aggressive guy calling me down.
I finished up $92 and I don't think I could have done any better. In fact it was hard to leave except for the fact that I hadn't been to my house in nearly 2 days and I wanted to get home to feed the dogs. If it wasn't for that, I might have stayed all night.
I also wanted to comment on Tilt, the new show on ESPN. I am enjoying it so far. Yes the portrayal of the poker is pretty bad, but I see the potential in the show. My only concern is the fact that they portray every card game as crooked. This can't be good for the long term health of the game. I still think that we are going to see a big cheating scandal in the game soon at one of the big tournaments. There is too many players buying pieces of each other that there is bound to be some chip dumping eventually.
The loose aggressive player in the 1 seat was really hot. He hit runner-runner at least 3 times in the first 30 minutes that I sat down. Luckily I was not in any pots with him.
My strategy coming in was to tighten up and try not to let myself get sucked in to loosening my starting hand standards. I also wanted avoid making any tricky plays and play straight ahead poker for at least the first couple of hours. If I was winning and the players at my table appear to notice that I am playing tight aggressive, then I might loosen up a little.
It's really great when you can read everyone's hand and lady luck smiles upon you to help avoid getting trapped. For example:
I was dealt A10 off late position. This is a sketchy raising hand. If there is only a couple of players in I might raise to try and force out the blinds. In this case there was a new player to my right and I didn't know how she played. She called so I decided to just call. The flop has an Ace and two low cards, with no straights or flush possibilities. First player bets, and then the woman to my right raises. Wait a minute, I was getting ready to do that. I call for time and think about it a little. I have found that many of these players will not raise preflop with A-J or A-Q. Sometimes they don't even raise with A-K. With a bet and a raise in front I decide to fold. Sure enough, the first better had A-3 for a pair of aces and low kicker. The raiser had A-J. I told her thanks for saving me at least $12.
Another interesting hand.
Ace King of diamonds on the button. 3 limpers and I raise. The blinds fold so 9 bets in the pot to the flop. Flop is King(sp) 8 (d) and 8(c). Remembering that I often play stupid with paired boards I start to concentrate a little more. First player bets. He is an awful player but he usually just calls. He almost never raises or bets first. Now he's betting into 3 other people after I raised the flop. Second player raises. She is a little more solid. I have not seen her get out of line yet. Third player folds and it's 2 bets to me with 12 bets in the pot. I call. Then the first player reraises. The second player calls and I fold.
The first call was questionable. 6-1 pot odds. Maybe 12-1 implied odds. At least one of them has an 8. My only outs are the other 2 kings and a backdoor flush draw. The last fold, I probably should have called because my odds were even better, but even if I hit my flush I could be up against a full house. Any way my read was right and they both had 8-9 in the hole and they chopped the pot. My diamonds or kings did not come on the turn or river.
As for the winners, they were all pretty straight forward. Including one nice kill pot where I had raised AK and had the loose aggressive guy calling me down.
I finished up $92 and I don't think I could have done any better. In fact it was hard to leave except for the fact that I hadn't been to my house in nearly 2 days and I wanted to get home to feed the dogs. If it wasn't for that, I might have stayed all night.
I also wanted to comment on Tilt, the new show on ESPN. I am enjoying it so far. Yes the portrayal of the poker is pretty bad, but I see the potential in the show. My only concern is the fact that they portray every card game as crooked. This can't be good for the long term health of the game. I still think that we are going to see a big cheating scandal in the game soon at one of the big tournaments. There is too many players buying pieces of each other that there is bound to be some chip dumping eventually.
Sunday, January 09, 2005
Fantasy Football and Poker
Last night was our Fantasy Football Party. I came in 3rd place this year because I drafted Peyton Manning and Curtis Martin. I basically made my money back and drank for free at the party.
It was a given that a poker game was going to be played at this party since none of the wives or girlfriends were invited. Somehow the guys have the idea that playing Pot Limit Hold'em or No Limit Hold'em is to their advantage because they can discourage those crazy draws that beat them in limit hold'em. I hope they keep believing that. None of them have any idea what the odds are to draw to a straight or flush and they do not know how much to bet to make it a mistake for someone to draw to the straight or flush. We decide to play Pot Limit Hold'em with $1 and $2 blinds and a $40 buy in.
Here is a brief summary of my reads on my friends:
Jon - probably knows more than any of my other friends because he has read at least one book on poker. He is a talker in that he trys to throw you off reading his hand by making comments about it. Usually he has a classic tell in that he acts strong when he's weak.
Rob - The tightest player of the bunch. Plays straight forward poker. Was the first to notice that I mix up my play with my friends because everyone thinks I play supertight.
Carlo - Has no idea what he's doing. Will stay in to the end if he has any chance of getting a hand or hits any part of the flop.
Chris - Pretty tight player. No idea about position. Will only stay in with top pair or better. He never raises unless he has an unbeatable hand. Be worried if he calls a big bet.
Bill - Understands how to play tight, but gets bored easily. He will tend to blow off his chips late when it's close to him going home. He wants to win big or go home broke.
On to some specific hands last night.
I had 2-3 in the big blind. There were 4 callers before the flop. The flop had a 3 and a couple of medium cards. It was checked all around. The turn had an another 3. There were two of the same suit on the board and there was a straight possibility out there as well. I bet the pot and Carlo and Jon took their time trying to decide whether to call. They both did so now the pot is huge. The river is a blank and I move all in. They both fold and curse that they missed their straight and flush draws. Bill tells me I made a bad bet. Again proving that no one in this game knows the concept of pot odds. Since I am among friends I decide to teach and tell Bill that the odds of making that straight are 5-1 and that I will make that bet every time if I know that's what my opponent has.
Another had I am dealt K-8 of hearts on the button. I limp in with about 5 other players. The flop is A hearts, A diamonds, 10 hearts. The small blind (Mike) bets $4 and there are three other callers. I decide against raising because I want to be deceptive. I just call. I think the pot was about $32. I was already up a good amount so I could afford to make a big bet if I had to. The turn was the Jack of Hearts giving me the nut flush. Mike bet again, this time $15. This scared out the other guys except for me. I am a little worried about a full house since Mike has not really been that aggressive before. I just call. I now have an the Ace flush with a Royal Flush draw. Well wouldn't you know it, the Queen of Hearts came on the river giving me the Royal Flush. My first one ever! I have checked in different places and it is somewhere between 60,000 and 120,000 to one in hitting that hand. Anyway Mike checks because it's obvious now that he is afraid of the flush. I try to come up with an amount that he will call. I bet $15 and he ponders for a while and he calls. I rake in a $92 pot and nobody at the table can believe they are seeing a Royal Flush. Poor Mike had 3 Aces.
At one point in the night I had over $200 in front of me after starting with $40. I ended the night up $115. I am so glad my friends like Pot Limit.
It was a given that a poker game was going to be played at this party since none of the wives or girlfriends were invited. Somehow the guys have the idea that playing Pot Limit Hold'em or No Limit Hold'em is to their advantage because they can discourage those crazy draws that beat them in limit hold'em. I hope they keep believing that. None of them have any idea what the odds are to draw to a straight or flush and they do not know how much to bet to make it a mistake for someone to draw to the straight or flush. We decide to play Pot Limit Hold'em with $1 and $2 blinds and a $40 buy in.
Here is a brief summary of my reads on my friends:
Jon - probably knows more than any of my other friends because he has read at least one book on poker. He is a talker in that he trys to throw you off reading his hand by making comments about it. Usually he has a classic tell in that he acts strong when he's weak.
Rob - The tightest player of the bunch. Plays straight forward poker. Was the first to notice that I mix up my play with my friends because everyone thinks I play supertight.
Carlo - Has no idea what he's doing. Will stay in to the end if he has any chance of getting a hand or hits any part of the flop.
Chris - Pretty tight player. No idea about position. Will only stay in with top pair or better. He never raises unless he has an unbeatable hand. Be worried if he calls a big bet.
Bill - Understands how to play tight, but gets bored easily. He will tend to blow off his chips late when it's close to him going home. He wants to win big or go home broke.
On to some specific hands last night.
I had 2-3 in the big blind. There were 4 callers before the flop. The flop had a 3 and a couple of medium cards. It was checked all around. The turn had an another 3. There were two of the same suit on the board and there was a straight possibility out there as well. I bet the pot and Carlo and Jon took their time trying to decide whether to call. They both did so now the pot is huge. The river is a blank and I move all in. They both fold and curse that they missed their straight and flush draws. Bill tells me I made a bad bet. Again proving that no one in this game knows the concept of pot odds. Since I am among friends I decide to teach and tell Bill that the odds of making that straight are 5-1 and that I will make that bet every time if I know that's what my opponent has.
Another had I am dealt K-8 of hearts on the button. I limp in with about 5 other players. The flop is A hearts, A diamonds, 10 hearts. The small blind (Mike) bets $4 and there are three other callers. I decide against raising because I want to be deceptive. I just call. I think the pot was about $32. I was already up a good amount so I could afford to make a big bet if I had to. The turn was the Jack of Hearts giving me the nut flush. Mike bet again, this time $15. This scared out the other guys except for me. I am a little worried about a full house since Mike has not really been that aggressive before. I just call. I now have an the Ace flush with a Royal Flush draw. Well wouldn't you know it, the Queen of Hearts came on the river giving me the Royal Flush. My first one ever! I have checked in different places and it is somewhere between 60,000 and 120,000 to one in hitting that hand. Anyway Mike checks because it's obvious now that he is afraid of the flush. I try to come up with an amount that he will call. I bet $15 and he ponders for a while and he calls. I rake in a $92 pot and nobody at the table can believe they are seeing a Royal Flush. Poor Mike had 3 Aces.
At one point in the night I had over $200 in front of me after starting with $40. I ended the night up $115. I am so glad my friends like Pot Limit.
Monday, January 03, 2005
You Gotta Get Lucky!
I played a 20+2 sit n go on Sunday. I was playing really tight and didn't have any cards to start with for the first two rounds. I saw one crazy play where one guy bluffed all in about twice the amount of the pot with absolutely nothing, but got called by another guy with King high who only had about 100 more in chips. In other words it looked a lot like chip dumping. I made a note not to bluff that guy since he may call with anything. That wasn't good for me though because he was on my left so I was going to need to get by him if I wanted to steal any blinds.
Players kept hanging on and the blinds were up to 50-100 and they were going up to 75-150 in two hands. I had 500 left and needed to make a move soon. Since there were still like 8 people left with stacks at least my size I decided I needed to get lucky. I went all in with Jack-3 suited. If nobody calls, fine. If I get called it's a roll of the dice. Of course Mr. Unbluffable called me with crap, and I got one other caller as well. Well wouldn't you know it but I ended up with 4 of a kind in 3's and tripled up. Suddenly I was second in chips.
The blinds went up and I won a couple of hands and everyone was forced into all in mode. I only played good cards until there were 4 left. The other large stack was on my immediate left followed by the two short stacks. They only had enough for their next blinds. I was dealt KQ offsuit under the gun. I raised all in because I wanted to isolate the blinds. The button (bigstack) took way too long to get out the way (why take that risk?) and the blinds both called. I flopped a king and suddenly there were only two left.
Heads up play in online poker is really a crap shoot. I wonder what edge a professional really has. Maybe 10%. There are no visual reads or tells only betting patterns. And with blinds increasing so fast, you can't really depend on those either. Anyway I battled and eventually got my opponent down to his last 800 with the blinds at 200-400. Sure enough he doubled up and then doubled up again and actually took the chip lead. Finally I got some good cards and eventually took the lead again, put him all in and won the thing.
I also played some no limit holdem at a guy's house in South Phoenix on Saturday. There were only 4 of us so I thought I would try to bully people around since the buy in was $20 and the blinds were $.25 and $.50. One of the players was Josh Stanley who really doesn't know the game and got incredibly lucky when I saw him play in Yuma (see Yuma trip report). I knew enough that if he calls a big bet, that he has a good hand. He never raises. For some reason he kept calling my bets and I kept losing money to him.
Another lost hand when I had top pair with a good kicker. I read my opponent for top pair with a bad kicker. I didn't even notice the straight possibility on the flop. Which he happened to hit on the flop. Luckily I didn't do anything too crazy since I was trying to bet small to keep him calling.
Anyway I finished down $10, but Josh must have won at least $60. If I ever play with him in the future here's my strategy. If I have good cards preflop, raise with them because he will pay anything to see the flop. If he stays for the flop, bet small to feel him out or even check to him once in a while. If it looks like he is going to stay with the hand then make sure you can show down the best one. If the flop doesn't hit you, then get the hell out.
Players kept hanging on and the blinds were up to 50-100 and they were going up to 75-150 in two hands. I had 500 left and needed to make a move soon. Since there were still like 8 people left with stacks at least my size I decided I needed to get lucky. I went all in with Jack-3 suited. If nobody calls, fine. If I get called it's a roll of the dice. Of course Mr. Unbluffable called me with crap, and I got one other caller as well. Well wouldn't you know it but I ended up with 4 of a kind in 3's and tripled up. Suddenly I was second in chips.
The blinds went up and I won a couple of hands and everyone was forced into all in mode. I only played good cards until there were 4 left. The other large stack was on my immediate left followed by the two short stacks. They only had enough for their next blinds. I was dealt KQ offsuit under the gun. I raised all in because I wanted to isolate the blinds. The button (bigstack) took way too long to get out the way (why take that risk?) and the blinds both called. I flopped a king and suddenly there were only two left.
Heads up play in online poker is really a crap shoot. I wonder what edge a professional really has. Maybe 10%. There are no visual reads or tells only betting patterns. And with blinds increasing so fast, you can't really depend on those either. Anyway I battled and eventually got my opponent down to his last 800 with the blinds at 200-400. Sure enough he doubled up and then doubled up again and actually took the chip lead. Finally I got some good cards and eventually took the lead again, put him all in and won the thing.
I also played some no limit holdem at a guy's house in South Phoenix on Saturday. There were only 4 of us so I thought I would try to bully people around since the buy in was $20 and the blinds were $.25 and $.50. One of the players was Josh Stanley who really doesn't know the game and got incredibly lucky when I saw him play in Yuma (see Yuma trip report). I knew enough that if he calls a big bet, that he has a good hand. He never raises. For some reason he kept calling my bets and I kept losing money to him.
Another lost hand when I had top pair with a good kicker. I read my opponent for top pair with a bad kicker. I didn't even notice the straight possibility on the flop. Which he happened to hit on the flop. Luckily I didn't do anything too crazy since I was trying to bet small to keep him calling.
Anyway I finished down $10, but Josh must have won at least $60. If I ever play with him in the future here's my strategy. If I have good cards preflop, raise with them because he will pay anything to see the flop. If he stays for the flop, bet small to feel him out or even check to him once in a while. If it looks like he is going to stay with the hand then make sure you can show down the best one. If the flop doesn't hit you, then get the hell out.
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