I'll be leaving for a few days, so there won't be any updates until the end of the weekend, most likely. However, I did want to write a little bit about a game I played yesterday. I played against Lee and Dale, and the stakes were a mere $5 each (low stakes, esp. considering that the Monday Night game is now $10+1 w/$5 rebuy rather than $5+0.25 w/ $5+0.50 rebuy, which it was the last two years). We played a freezeout, with no rebuys, and we played limit h.o.r.s.e., raising the limits/blinds/antes after the completion of each round of stud eight-or better.
For those of you unfamiliar with h.o.r.s.e., the game changes every so often, from Hold'em, to Omaha, to Razz, to Stud, to stud Eight-or-better, and then back to hold'em, etc..
Dale was fustrated by the limit betting structure, and especially so when I played AT against his QQ during a hand of hold'em, and flopped a pair of aces. Dale wanted to be able to knock me out of the pot before the flop with a large reraise, and was frustrated that his queens were so easily beaten. However, he called me down with his queens in the hand - which I don't really like.
The fact is, limit poker isn't nearly as much about bluff and shoving your opponents around as no-limit. You have to push edges, save bets, earn that extra bet, etc. He was right to reraise me with the queens, but I was right to take a flop, and right to bet afterwards.
In going from no-limit to limit, it can seem like you're being restricted, like some of the weapons in your arsenal are being taken away. This isn't the case. Actually, the whole arsenal changes. You have to adapt your play to your situation.
Dale ended up stacking off a while later, and the limits kept increasing. Finally, Lee was eliminated in a hand of 100-200 Razz (each of us began with 2040 in chips, so the limits were considerable), in which we got all the chips in on fifth street, while Lee had 3457 for a one-card draw to the seven, and I had A356 for a one-card draw to the six. I caught a deuce, making my six high, and Lee caught paint, and he was drawing dead.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
The points standings
Me (41 pts)
Chip (30 pts)
Marc (26 pts)
Dale (20 pts)
Jake (19 pts)and
Lee (19 pts)
If you're gonna play poker, you've gotta have a brain shield.
Unfortunately a not-so-hot showing at the Monday Night Game tonight. I was playing well early on, but lost a key pot against Lee that I shouldn't have. I had the AK, and after Lee limped in, I raised it up on the button. He called with JT (which I hate) and then checked to me on a flop of AQT. I fired again, and again he calls (which again, I hate). However, when the turn came another ten, and I was check-raised, I should've known to let it go rather than stack off to Lee.
I rebought, and very soon thereafter blinds were ¢25-50. I was unable to pick up anything substantial for quite a while, and soon found myself on the small blind with only $7 left in my stack, with the blinds about to increase. Lee made it $3 to go on the button, and I looked down at AA. I went all-in for $7.25 total, and was called by Lee with KK. When he spiked his king on the flop, it was the end of the night for me. As of this writing Lee and Chip are still playing heads-up, and I will post updated points standings once I hear the results.
Either way, Chip is overdue a first or second place finish, having placed out of the points the last two weeks. Still, should he win it tonight, I still have a fair lead on him (41 to 30), but I'd like to extend it as much as possible.
I rebought, and very soon thereafter blinds were ¢25-50. I was unable to pick up anything substantial for quite a while, and soon found myself on the small blind with only $7 left in my stack, with the blinds about to increase. Lee made it $3 to go on the button, and I looked down at AA. I went all-in for $7.25 total, and was called by Lee with KK. When he spiked his king on the flop, it was the end of the night for me. As of this writing Lee and Chip are still playing heads-up, and I will post updated points standings once I hear the results.
Either way, Chip is overdue a first or second place finish, having placed out of the points the last two weeks. Still, should he win it tonight, I still have a fair lead on him (41 to 30), but I'd like to extend it as much as possible.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Up fifty
Played a ¢5-10 tonight against Marc, Dale, Chris, Andrew, and Lee. It went pretty well, and I was up a good deal throughout most of the night. In fact, players were stacking off and reloading, so the stack sizes were increasing. Though I was up, I decided to buy an additional $10 in chips just in case I had to get all-in (I wanted to maximize the winnings).
Unfortunately, I lost a lot of chips in a big pot against Lee in which I had AQ and he had J7. I wasn't willing to put him on the seven since he had called a big preflop raise from me, but I should have since he was basically telling me he had it. Regardless, I managed to walk out up 50 (though Lee left up 67! had I let go of my AQ on the turn, we both would've had around $60 worth of profit.), which meant that it was a good night overall, and that I've been continuing to do well recently, making this my thirteenth winning session in a row, with no losses $20 or more in over 33 sessions.
Furthermore, since I started tracking my sessions in the CardPlayer.com poker analyst, I've acquired a record of 44 wins, 22 losses, which I consider to be pretty good, especially since it's not as important how many wins vs. losses you have as much as the amount in question when you win vs. lose.
Unfortunately, I lost a lot of chips in a big pot against Lee in which I had AQ and he had J7. I wasn't willing to put him on the seven since he had called a big preflop raise from me, but I should have since he was basically telling me he had it. Regardless, I managed to walk out up 50 (though Lee left up 67! had I let go of my AQ on the turn, we both would've had around $60 worth of profit.), which meant that it was a good night overall, and that I've been continuing to do well recently, making this my thirteenth winning session in a row, with no losses $20 or more in over 33 sessions.
Furthermore, since I started tracking my sessions in the CardPlayer.com poker analyst, I've acquired a record of 44 wins, 22 losses, which I consider to be pretty good, especially since it's not as important how many wins vs. losses you have as much as the amount in question when you win vs. lose.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
A good friday night game
Tonight's ¢25-50 cash game went very well for me. The players were Lee, John, Dale, Eric, Marc, and Trey. We played for about four hours, and it was an interesting night. I didn't have too many premium hands, but the ones I did have were maximized, which makes me feel more confident in my strategy of playing mostly straightforward, good solid poker.
Most of what I was able to win tonight came from two rather large pots, one in which I held the QQ and made top set against Marc for all of his chips, and another in which I held pocket aces, made a huge preflop raise (I had seen a particular player paying this much to take flops already and thought there was a really good chance I was getting called), and then got all of the money in on a flop of Q78 when my opponent, Trey, was drawing nearly dead! He held KT, and bet $5 on the flop (heads up w/ about $11 in there already), and I raised him $10 more. With another $10 or so behind, he pushed all-in and I called, and I was happy to see my opponent drawing nearly dead! This was a big win for me tonight, topping my initial win in the Friday Night Game from three weeks ago.
Most of what I was able to win tonight came from two rather large pots, one in which I held the QQ and made top set against Marc for all of his chips, and another in which I held pocket aces, made a huge preflop raise (I had seen a particular player paying this much to take flops already and thought there was a really good chance I was getting called), and then got all of the money in on a flop of Q78 when my opponent, Trey, was drawing nearly dead! He held KT, and bet $5 on the flop (heads up w/ about $11 in there already), and I raised him $10 more. With another $10 or so behind, he pushed all-in and I called, and I was happy to see my opponent drawing nearly dead! This was a big win for me tonight, topping my initial win in the Friday Night Game from three weeks ago.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
A small winner-take-all
I played in a $5 winner-take-all freezeout tonight with Jake, his wife Renee, Chris, and Marc, and managed to win it. I gained a slight lead in the first hand when I made the nut flush against Chris's two pair and increased my chips by over 20%. Chris was later taken out by Renee when he bluffed all-in with the queen-jack on a flop of A73, and was called by two tens. Marc was next to go out, and we played three-handed for a while, with Jake as the relative short stack and myself in the lead. A few hands in, I was dealt QQ while Jake held the TT. When the flop came 8 high, I bet and he raised all-in. I called and my hand held up.
Renee and I played for a good little while, and I was stealing a lot of her blinds, until I had a massive chip lead. On the button, I held the 97 offsuit, and because she had been folding a lot of hands and was short on chips, I raised it to ¢80. She made it $2 straight, and I called it in position, since she had only about $4 left and was folding a lot. I figured if she missed the board I might be able to make her fold even though mathematically she was pot-committed. the board came 538, and she thought for a minute and checked it to me. The pot was $4, and she had only $4 left, so I decided if I was going to buy it that I had to bet all she had (at this point I had at least $30 or $40 in chips). I did, and to my horror she called and rolled over pocket kings!! However, I was fortunate enough to catch my four-outer on the river, making the nine-high straight and winning the tournament, which was good for $20 in profit.
All in all, a good game. By the way, check out the new poll on online vs. live play, as well as the updated video of the Kaplan/Lederer/Nejad/Rousso/Duke/Gazes tournament from Poker After Dark season two.
Renee and I played for a good little while, and I was stealing a lot of her blinds, until I had a massive chip lead. On the button, I held the 97 offsuit, and because she had been folding a lot of hands and was short on chips, I raised it to ¢80. She made it $2 straight, and I called it in position, since she had only about $4 left and was folding a lot. I figured if she missed the board I might be able to make her fold even though mathematically she was pot-committed. the board came 538, and she thought for a minute and checked it to me. The pot was $4, and she had only $4 left, so I decided if I was going to buy it that I had to bet all she had (at this point I had at least $30 or $40 in chips). I did, and to my horror she called and rolled over pocket kings!! However, I was fortunate enough to catch my four-outer on the river, making the nine-high straight and winning the tournament, which was good for $20 in profit.
All in all, a good game. By the way, check out the new poll on online vs. live play, as well as the updated video of the Kaplan/Lederer/Nejad/Rousso/Duke/Gazes tournament from Poker After Dark season two.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
A pocket nines hand
If anyone has been keeping up, I've been reading Collin Moshman's new book Sit'n Go Strategy: Expert Advice for Beating One-table Poker Tournaments from two plus two publishing. It's really a pretty good read, and is presented in the usual two plus two fashion. Concepts are introduced and then followed by hand examples illustrating how these concepts play out in practice.
One concept from the book that I was able to successfully employ came up during last night's Monday Night Game. The principle in question is laid out on p. 58 of the book, where the author states (in a gray box in the text, like Caro's laws of tells), "If you are the pre-flop aggressor and an opponent bets out unexpectedly at the flop, then he is very unlikely to have a monster hand."
This is even more true when you're the preflop aggressor and you have a propensity for continuation-betting on the flop. I do tend to make the continuation bet, but more often in heads-up pots than if it's multiway. The idea is that if the other player in the hand really had something strong, they'd check it to you in order to get that continuation bet out of you, then come back over the top (or in some cases call, then make a play later).
So, last night I was on the button and we were three or four handed. It had folded to me on the button, and I looked down at two black nines. Blinds were ¢50/$1 at this point, and I decided to raise it up to $3.50. Marc folded his small blind, and Lee called from the big blind. At this point, the pot was now $7.50 and Lee and I each had about $60 or $70 in chips. The flop came out terribly for me - Ace of hearts, king of hearts, five of spades. Lee now bet $8, about the size of the pot.
I had to think about it for a while, and weigh my options. It would certainly be okay to fold here, facing two overcards on the board, along with the possible flush draw. If I was behind, I could be drawing very slim. But I suddenly thought about a reraise. Was Lee willing to risk his current chip lead in a marginal spot? What could he hold that would stand up to a big raise? Only a set or an unlikely two pair, probably. But the problem with those holdings is that I doubt Lee would lead the flop with them. I raised preflop, didn't I? And it's a heads-up pot so I'm most likely gonna bet here, even if I miss, and I know Lee knows that. With a strong hand like 55 he most likely would have let me bet the flop and then raised to shut out the flush draw or hopefully stack me when I hit the ace (or best case for him, the ace and the king). Taking this all in to consideration, as well as the fact that I would still have $40-$45 left should the play not work, I decided to reraise Lee $16 more. If he came back over the top, it'd probably be for all the chips since there would be $55.50 in there (an enormous pot by Monday night standards), and I'd know I was beat and have to fold. The beauty of the bet, though, is that it implies that I won't fold. It's a bet that says I'm willing to put $24 in out of my $60-$70 stack to protect the hand I have, which given my tight table image usually means I have it.
Fortunately, Lee folded and I won the pot. I showed him the two nines. I normally don't like the play of showing your opponent your hole cards, and indeed I probably do it too much and need to give away less information. However, I think it was a good time to do it here, because it told Lee that I was not going to let him run over me, and that if he tried to bluff me, eventually I was going to play back at him, and I didn't necessarily need a huge hand to do it. For a player who plays the way Lee does, in a loose/aggressive manner, but who understands the basics of correct strategy, it is important to make this play, especially in a tournament, due to the increased importance of blind stealing and blind defense. You don't want him raising you every time you're in the big blind, etc.
One concept from the book that I was able to successfully employ came up during last night's Monday Night Game. The principle in question is laid out on p. 58 of the book, where the author states (in a gray box in the text, like Caro's laws of tells), "If you are the pre-flop aggressor and an opponent bets out unexpectedly at the flop, then he is very unlikely to have a monster hand."
This is even more true when you're the preflop aggressor and you have a propensity for continuation-betting on the flop. I do tend to make the continuation bet, but more often in heads-up pots than if it's multiway. The idea is that if the other player in the hand really had something strong, they'd check it to you in order to get that continuation bet out of you, then come back over the top (or in some cases call, then make a play later).
So, last night I was on the button and we were three or four handed. It had folded to me on the button, and I looked down at two black nines. Blinds were ¢50/$1 at this point, and I decided to raise it up to $3.50. Marc folded his small blind, and Lee called from the big blind. At this point, the pot was now $7.50 and Lee and I each had about $60 or $70 in chips. The flop came out terribly for me - Ace of hearts, king of hearts, five of spades. Lee now bet $8, about the size of the pot.
I had to think about it for a while, and weigh my options. It would certainly be okay to fold here, facing two overcards on the board, along with the possible flush draw. If I was behind, I could be drawing very slim. But I suddenly thought about a reraise. Was Lee willing to risk his current chip lead in a marginal spot? What could he hold that would stand up to a big raise? Only a set or an unlikely two pair, probably. But the problem with those holdings is that I doubt Lee would lead the flop with them. I raised preflop, didn't I? And it's a heads-up pot so I'm most likely gonna bet here, even if I miss, and I know Lee knows that. With a strong hand like 55 he most likely would have let me bet the flop and then raised to shut out the flush draw or hopefully stack me when I hit the ace (or best case for him, the ace and the king). Taking this all in to consideration, as well as the fact that I would still have $40-$45 left should the play not work, I decided to reraise Lee $16 more. If he came back over the top, it'd probably be for all the chips since there would be $55.50 in there (an enormous pot by Monday night standards), and I'd know I was beat and have to fold. The beauty of the bet, though, is that it implies that I won't fold. It's a bet that says I'm willing to put $24 in out of my $60-$70 stack to protect the hand I have, which given my tight table image usually means I have it.
Fortunately, Lee folded and I won the pot. I showed him the two nines. I normally don't like the play of showing your opponent your hole cards, and indeed I probably do it too much and need to give away less information. However, I think it was a good time to do it here, because it told Lee that I was not going to let him run over me, and that if he tried to bluff me, eventually I was going to play back at him, and I didn't necessarily need a huge hand to do it. For a player who plays the way Lee does, in a loose/aggressive manner, but who understands the basics of correct strategy, it is important to make this play, especially in a tournament, due to the increased importance of blind stealing and blind defense. You don't want him raising you every time you're in the big blind, etc.
Monday night update
It was another good night for me at the Monday night $10+1 tournament tonight. It started off quite questionably, as I got broke in level 1 overplaying pocket eights against Marc. Fortunately, the structure of the tournament makes rebuys almost too good to pass up, and after refocusing myself, I started playing more sensibly, not taking unnecessary risks when the blinds are so low.
The Points Standings
Me (41 pts)
Marc (26 pts)
Chip (22 pts)
It ended up paying off, as I won some large pots with big hands, including an all-in bet Andrew made with K7 while I held the AK (Though he rebought). Again, Chip didn't make the points this evening, which means he is now no longer the closest opponent to my score. In fact, the leaderboard overall changed drastically. This is a tough blow for chip, as both he and Andrew were eliminated by Lee's pocket queens in the same hand when there were six players left. Chip, having the shorter stack going into the hand, therefore took sixth place and no points. Lee was left with a huge amount of chips, and was in good position to end up heads-up or win the tournament.
After Andrew went out, Marc, Lee, Jake, and I remained. Jake went into fourhanded play fairly short on chips, and eventually, down to only three more big blinds, was eliminated, earning 3pts. My two remaining opponents and I played three-handed for over an hour and a half before heads-up play began. A few tough hands reversed the trend in Lee's chips, and in a while I had the lead, followed by Marc, with Lee on the shorter stack. With blinds at $1.50/3, Marc made it $6 to go. Lee followed up by raising all-in for about $29 or $30. Marc called, and Lee showed AK against Marc's pocket jacks. Though Lee was able to spike his ace on the flop, he was rivered by a backdoor straight, and went out in third place.
Marc and I battled back and forth for about 30-45 minutes, playing somewhat passively for a heads-up game, seeing only about 3 or so raised flops. It was late, and I noticed that Marc was starting to open up his game with more raises and more reraises. Eventually, I put in a raise with the A7 and was called. The flop came AK5, and Marc led for $6. I raised it up to $18 to go, and Marc quickly announced, "all in." I thought for about a minute, and made the call. He showed J6 (a total bluff) and my hand held up to win the pot.
The Points Standings
Me (41 pts)
Marc (26 pts)
Chip (22 pts)
Jake (19 pts)
Dale (16 pts)
Monday, February 18, 2008
Two more minor wins
Yesterday, I won another heads-up game against Dale. I had him about 2 to 1 in chips when we both got our chips in the middle, when I was a big underdog (A7 of spades vs A8 of diamonds!). I hit a pair of sevens on the flop, which was good enough to win $5. This puts my heads-up record against him at 4 wins, 0 losses (mwahahaha). We played .05-.10 later with a few other people, but, like last Friday night, I lost my initial stake, rebought, and then built my stack back up to slightly better ($6) than even for the night.
The two small wins will cover my buy-in and jackpot contribution for tonight's game, game 7 of this year's Monday night $10 tournament. I'll post something later about the results, with updated points standings.
The two small wins will cover my buy-in and jackpot contribution for tonight's game, game 7 of this year's Monday night $10 tournament. I'll post something later about the results, with updated points standings.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Several small ones
I spent a lot of the day yesterday playing small stakes short-handed games. First, I played two heads-up games against Dale for $5 each, and won both. Then, Daniel came by and the three of us played a $3 game until he had to go to work. I ended up busting out of that one, and they split my dollar-fifty. Fortunately, however, this wasn't the end of the action yesterday.
Dale wanted to go heads-up again, and I wanted to raise the stakes. I told him I was willing to go as high as he was, but he received some (sound) advice not to play for all the money to his name against someone who just beat him twice. We settled on $10, and I won that, too.
Then, we played a fifth game, this time with Dale, Lee, and me. We started for $10 each with .05-.10 blinds (though in all four previous games these were higher). I lost a big pot against Dale when I semibluff-raised the turn with a broadway and nut-flush draw, but was called by his pocket kings and my hand didn't improve. I had him covered, though, and was still above my buy-in when the hand was over. I managed to make a couple of well-timed bluffs against both opponents, and ended up $13 above my ten at the end. Overall, a pretty good evening/afternoon of poker.
Speaking of well-timed bluffs, I wanted to mention that a lot of the times I pushed Lee out of the hand, he was on the short stack ($3.50-$4.50 or so). I don't normally like to just push someone all-in when they're on the short stack, especially when they have a 40 BB stack, and this wasn't the way the hands went down, either. But I noticed that Lee was doing something that I consider a pretty fatal error in that he was flat-calling way too much preflop when he should have raised all-in or folded. A lot of players do this, in fact, but limping or calling a preflop raise and then letting your hand go can leave you so short that you have to double up an extra time or two just to stay in contention. In tournaments, this can kill your chances completely. In cash play, if you have extra money in your pocket, why even play short stacked? but if you don't have the money to reload, you have to use the short stack as a weapon, and apply maximum pressure in pots. I was given way too many opportunities to put Lee all-in on the flop when the pot represented like a third of his chips.
This, I suppose, is why pot-commitment is so crucial to cash play. With a stack of $4, if you call a ¢50 raise before the flop, there's going to be $1 (plus blinds) in there on the flop, and you'll only have $3.50 in your stack. If the flop completely misses you, though, what do you do? you've invested an eighth of your stack already. I way prefer an all-in raise preflop, or at least don't fold the flop. When you're short on chips, you really need that fold equity, and you can't get it unless you raise.
Don't get me wrong here - I think that of the Monday night crowd, Lee is definitely one of the best players there, and I admire that his game is more loose/aggressive than mine, and that he's a little more willing to stick it out there than me, but still knows what he's doing. But everyone makes a play even they don't like now and then, and of course this is only my side of the story, since I didn't know what his cards were in those spots.
Also, what about trying to get Dale to gamble higher? I mean, was it ethical? I knew he had scored a major win in the Friday Night Game the day before, and I also knew that he would eventually be putting some of that money back into the poker economy in future games. I knew I could beat him, but I wondered how the pressure would affect either of us at a certain level. Also, if I knew I could beat him, would it be wrong to play him for whatever he had?
I mean, I know it sounds predatory, but I think that poker players love to hear about their opponents' financial lives improving, because it means they'll be able to give a lot more action. I wouldn't wish financial ruin on anyone at all, but let me say this: I am no professional, and I don't claim to be anywhere near unbeatable, but since I keep track of how much I win or lose in the long run, I know I rate to win against many of the people I play against right now, and once they are playing, I don't care what is going on in their personal lives. All I want to do is take as much from them as I possibly can, and I do that by trying to make as few mistakes as possible. Should I feel bad if I take someone for a lot? There's a case for it, and maybe I should, but do I ever feel bad about it? No. Never. Not even a little bit.
In my view, the cardinal rule of poker is "Don't gamble if you can't afford to lose it." All of the emotional/moral/financial decision making about what one does with their own money is the players' own concern, not their mutual concern. All of that stuff should be settled or figured out before you sit down. Why should the winner feel guilty about winning? Where is the fun in that?
Dale wanted to go heads-up again, and I wanted to raise the stakes. I told him I was willing to go as high as he was, but he received some (sound) advice not to play for all the money to his name against someone who just beat him twice. We settled on $10, and I won that, too.
Then, we played a fifth game, this time with Dale, Lee, and me. We started for $10 each with .05-.10 blinds (though in all four previous games these were higher). I lost a big pot against Dale when I semibluff-raised the turn with a broadway and nut-flush draw, but was called by his pocket kings and my hand didn't improve. I had him covered, though, and was still above my buy-in when the hand was over. I managed to make a couple of well-timed bluffs against both opponents, and ended up $13 above my ten at the end. Overall, a pretty good evening/afternoon of poker.
Speaking of well-timed bluffs, I wanted to mention that a lot of the times I pushed Lee out of the hand, he was on the short stack ($3.50-$4.50 or so). I don't normally like to just push someone all-in when they're on the short stack, especially when they have a 40 BB stack, and this wasn't the way the hands went down, either. But I noticed that Lee was doing something that I consider a pretty fatal error in that he was flat-calling way too much preflop when he should have raised all-in or folded. A lot of players do this, in fact, but limping or calling a preflop raise and then letting your hand go can leave you so short that you have to double up an extra time or two just to stay in contention. In tournaments, this can kill your chances completely. In cash play, if you have extra money in your pocket, why even play short stacked? but if you don't have the money to reload, you have to use the short stack as a weapon, and apply maximum pressure in pots. I was given way too many opportunities to put Lee all-in on the flop when the pot represented like a third of his chips.
This, I suppose, is why pot-commitment is so crucial to cash play. With a stack of $4, if you call a ¢50 raise before the flop, there's going to be $1 (plus blinds) in there on the flop, and you'll only have $3.50 in your stack. If the flop completely misses you, though, what do you do? you've invested an eighth of your stack already. I way prefer an all-in raise preflop, or at least don't fold the flop. When you're short on chips, you really need that fold equity, and you can't get it unless you raise.
Don't get me wrong here - I think that of the Monday night crowd, Lee is definitely one of the best players there, and I admire that his game is more loose/aggressive than mine, and that he's a little more willing to stick it out there than me, but still knows what he's doing. But everyone makes a play even they don't like now and then, and of course this is only my side of the story, since I didn't know what his cards were in those spots.
Also, what about trying to get Dale to gamble higher? I mean, was it ethical? I knew he had scored a major win in the Friday Night Game the day before, and I also knew that he would eventually be putting some of that money back into the poker economy in future games. I knew I could beat him, but I wondered how the pressure would affect either of us at a certain level. Also, if I knew I could beat him, would it be wrong to play him for whatever he had?
I mean, I know it sounds predatory, but I think that poker players love to hear about their opponents' financial lives improving, because it means they'll be able to give a lot more action. I wouldn't wish financial ruin on anyone at all, but let me say this: I am no professional, and I don't claim to be anywhere near unbeatable, but since I keep track of how much I win or lose in the long run, I know I rate to win against many of the people I play against right now, and once they are playing, I don't care what is going on in their personal lives. All I want to do is take as much from them as I possibly can, and I do that by trying to make as few mistakes as possible. Should I feel bad if I take someone for a lot? There's a case for it, and maybe I should, but do I ever feel bad about it? No. Never. Not even a little bit.
In my view, the cardinal rule of poker is "Don't gamble if you can't afford to lose it." All of the emotional/moral/financial decision making about what one does with their own money is the players' own concern, not their mutual concern. All of that stuff should be settled or figured out before you sit down. Why should the winner feel guilty about winning? Where is the fun in that?
Saturday, February 16, 2008
another standstill
Tonight was the third time I played in the Friday night game, and the players were Big Dan, John, Dale, Eric, Trey, Mike, and me. Again, I seemed to tread water in this game, but I believe overall I played fairly well and was simply getting cold cards. However, to put it in perspective, I'm still $10 in the profit margin overall tonight, which is of course better than a loss.
While waiting for the game at "the office" (though it's really a house, it's used as an office for the business run by some of the other players in the game) to begin, I went to Chip and Chris's and played a 0.05-0.10 they were having. I did fairly well in the hour I was there, and left up $8 to go to the office game - the real Friday Night Game. The game was a little short-handed, so I called Dale, who was also playing the 0.05-0.10 at Chip and Chris's, and he drove out. I treaded water for a while, still a firm believer in my stick-to-the-good-cards strategy against the maniacal play of my opponents. I was up about $5 when the following pot played out:
I was in the small blind, and John, who was first to act, folded. Dale, Trey, and Mike limped in, and I looked down at the jack of spades and the jack of diamonds. I decided I needed to thin the field, and made a raise to $2.50. Dan called in the big blind, and Trey called as well. The three of us took the flop, which was a questionable one for me at best. K 8 3, all clubs. With second pair and no club, I knew that if my hand was good, it was extremely vulnerable. Not wanting to give up from my preflop aggression, I fired out $5 (a debatable play). Dan called, and Trey raised all-in, for $12.50 more. I didn't feel Dan was too strong here, and I felt sure he was going to fold a likely draw or second pair regardless of my move here. However, here's the thing: Trey is the loosest and perhaps most out of line player there, and likes to bet and call with nothing because he "felt it." I don't know how to explain exactly how or why other than that, but I felt there was a reasonable chance my jacks were good in this spot, even with no club. I agonized over it for a while, and made the call. Trey turned over the deuce of clubs and the ace of . . . hearts! He had bluff-raised all in with ace high! I was extremely excited to have made this read here and called with slightly the best of it here, and was even happier to see the queen of hearts fall off the deck on fourth street after Dan - as I presumed he would - folded. Unfortunately, the river was the sick, sick seven of clubs, giving my opponent a flush to beat my jacks on the river.
Down to $4.50, I purchased another $20 in chips and spent the rest of the evening clawing my way out of the red, with the few cards I could get a hold of. Also, it's interesting and somewhat unusual that these two jacks were the best hand I saw preflop the entire night, which was certainly not the case for Dale, who finished a huge $120 up from his $30 stake! I, on the other hand, only cracked it for two bucks this week. However, next Friday the action will be just as loose as it has been, which will put me in a good position to take the money next time. I feel that though Dale did much better than I did this evening, that I still rate to be the favorite in the game overall, if not by sensible play than by amount of experience playing.
Though I can't wait to get back in action at the office, I also have the Monday Night Game coming up in a few days, and I'm currently ahead big in the points, so I'll have to defend my lead there as well as try to squeeze out some wins in the potential cash games in between.
While waiting for the game at "the office" (though it's really a house, it's used as an office for the business run by some of the other players in the game) to begin, I went to Chip and Chris's and played a 0.05-0.10 they were having. I did fairly well in the hour I was there, and left up $8 to go to the office game - the real Friday Night Game. The game was a little short-handed, so I called Dale, who was also playing the 0.05-0.10 at Chip and Chris's, and he drove out. I treaded water for a while, still a firm believer in my stick-to-the-good-cards strategy against the maniacal play of my opponents. I was up about $5 when the following pot played out:
I was in the small blind, and John, who was first to act, folded. Dale, Trey, and Mike limped in, and I looked down at the jack of spades and the jack of diamonds. I decided I needed to thin the field, and made a raise to $2.50. Dan called in the big blind, and Trey called as well. The three of us took the flop, which was a questionable one for me at best. K 8 3, all clubs. With second pair and no club, I knew that if my hand was good, it was extremely vulnerable. Not wanting to give up from my preflop aggression, I fired out $5 (a debatable play). Dan called, and Trey raised all-in, for $12.50 more. I didn't feel Dan was too strong here, and I felt sure he was going to fold a likely draw or second pair regardless of my move here. However, here's the thing: Trey is the loosest and perhaps most out of line player there, and likes to bet and call with nothing because he "felt it." I don't know how to explain exactly how or why other than that, but I felt there was a reasonable chance my jacks were good in this spot, even with no club. I agonized over it for a while, and made the call. Trey turned over the deuce of clubs and the ace of . . . hearts! He had bluff-raised all in with ace high! I was extremely excited to have made this read here and called with slightly the best of it here, and was even happier to see the queen of hearts fall off the deck on fourth street after Dan - as I presumed he would - folded. Unfortunately, the river was the sick, sick seven of clubs, giving my opponent a flush to beat my jacks on the river.
Down to $4.50, I purchased another $20 in chips and spent the rest of the evening clawing my way out of the red, with the few cards I could get a hold of. Also, it's interesting and somewhat unusual that these two jacks were the best hand I saw preflop the entire night, which was certainly not the case for Dale, who finished a huge $120 up from his $30 stake! I, on the other hand, only cracked it for two bucks this week. However, next Friday the action will be just as loose as it has been, which will put me in a good position to take the money next time. I feel that though Dale did much better than I did this evening, that I still rate to be the favorite in the game overall, if not by sensible play than by amount of experience playing.
Though I can't wait to get back in action at the office, I also have the Monday Night Game coming up in a few days, and I'm currently ahead big in the points, so I'll have to defend my lead there as well as try to squeeze out some wins in the potential cash games in between.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Survey/poll, and a five-deuce story
How often do you play poker? The voting thing is on my blog in the top-rightish area, and the question will change every week (because that's how long the software says the poll stays up).
Also, happy Valentine's Day. Since I didn't play any poker yesterday, I'm going to post a hand that was played last October between Chip and Lee (see previous blogs).
The hand happened during last year's Monday Night Game. I had already been eliminated, unfortunately, and it was down to heads-up play between the two of them. Blinds were .50/1.00 and the stacks were large. Chip was on the small blind with about $100 in tournament chips, and raised the bet to $3.50. Lee, in the big blind with about $50, looked down at the five-deuce of hearts, and made the call (I like a fold here, personally, especially since he is out of position, but he's still got enough chips to get away from the hand, so it isn't that big of a stretch I suppose).
The flop was a big one for Lee, as it came 2 of clubs, 4 and 6 of hearts, giving him a pair of deuces along with straight and flush draws. He decided to lead the flop, and bet $4. At this point, Chip raised the minimum, to $8 total. I don't particularly like the raise, since it offers almost 5:1 pot odds, and doesn't punish the draws enough to get them to fold. I think if he's going to raise here, he has to raise it up to at least $20 or 25 total.
Lee made the call, and the turn was the queen of spades. Lee checked it to Chip, who bet $10. Again, I don't like the small (relative to the pot) bet here, as he's laying 4 to 1. Lee makes the call (I prefer an all-in raise or a fold here. He's put in way too much of his stack to play the turn in a way that means he has to hit his draw to win it, and why not apply maximum pressure with all of his outs?), and hits his flush when the 9 of hearts falls on fifth street.
Then things got even weirder: Lee bet $16 (into a $43 pot, leaving himself only $17.50!!), and Chip called. Lee showed his flush, and Chip mucked. What could he have had in that spot I wonder? Tens? That's my best guess anyway. Even so, I would have played it a bit differently if I was either player. Lee went on to continue accumulating chips, and eventually won that night's game. Chip and Lee went on to finish 2nd and 3rd (in that order) in that year's Monday Night overall points.
Also, happy Valentine's Day. Since I didn't play any poker yesterday, I'm going to post a hand that was played last October between Chip and Lee (see previous blogs).
The hand happened during last year's Monday Night Game. I had already been eliminated, unfortunately, and it was down to heads-up play between the two of them. Blinds were .50/1.00 and the stacks were large. Chip was on the small blind with about $100 in tournament chips, and raised the bet to $3.50. Lee, in the big blind with about $50, looked down at the five-deuce of hearts, and made the call (I like a fold here, personally, especially since he is out of position, but he's still got enough chips to get away from the hand, so it isn't that big of a stretch I suppose).
The flop was a big one for Lee, as it came 2 of clubs, 4 and 6 of hearts, giving him a pair of deuces along with straight and flush draws. He decided to lead the flop, and bet $4. At this point, Chip raised the minimum, to $8 total. I don't particularly like the raise, since it offers almost 5:1 pot odds, and doesn't punish the draws enough to get them to fold. I think if he's going to raise here, he has to raise it up to at least $20 or 25 total.
Lee made the call, and the turn was the queen of spades. Lee checked it to Chip, who bet $10. Again, I don't like the small (relative to the pot) bet here, as he's laying 4 to 1. Lee makes the call (I prefer an all-in raise or a fold here. He's put in way too much of his stack to play the turn in a way that means he has to hit his draw to win it, and why not apply maximum pressure with all of his outs?), and hits his flush when the 9 of hearts falls on fifth street.
Then things got even weirder: Lee bet $16 (into a $43 pot, leaving himself only $17.50!!), and Chip called. Lee showed his flush, and Chip mucked. What could he have had in that spot I wonder? Tens? That's my best guess anyway. Even so, I would have played it a bit differently if I was either player. Lee went on to continue accumulating chips, and eventually won that night's game. Chip and Lee went on to finish 2nd and 3rd (in that order) in that year's Monday Night overall points.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Game at my house
We played a 0.05-0.10 no-limit game at my house tonight, and fairly late into the evening, as well. Everyone was in for ten dollar buy-ins, some people reloaded as necessary. The players were, starting to my left, Jake, Dale, Chip, Lee, and Marc (though Chip got there a bit late and Marc left a bit early). I think I played it pretty well, but I need to refine my bluffs a little bit, or perhaps think them through a little better. I ended up doing well in the game, up about $40, so I'm not too terribly upset about that fact, but it is something I'd like to work on.
Normally, This hand doesn't really play for a raise, but I figured that it might be worth a call, for a few reasons. First, I believed it was more likely than normal that Lee was getting out of line in this pot (a total misread on my part, as I'll discuss later), not only because he might be steaming but also because I know he doesn't respect Dale's raises, and might very well be raising to isolate him in the pot. Since the stacks were fairly deep (I had around $30 or so at that point) I thought I might win a fairly big pot if I hit the flop. Still, this was definitely at the low end of the range of hands I would have called with in that spot. I made the call, and so did Dale, which let me know a couple of things about his hand. First, I wasn't looking at a big pair. Second, Dale might be getting all-in in this pot since it contained $3.50 and he was sitting on about $11.35 more. The pot was equivalent to almost a third of his chips, and there was likely to be action since his bet had been reraised and three players were taking the flop. It came ace of spades, queen of spades, and a small red card. Lee, who was first to act, checked it to me. I needed to determine where I stood in the hand with my top pair, second kicker, and decided to bet. I decided to bet about the size of the pot, $3.75. Dale thought for a while, and then went all-in. Lee folded.
A key pot occurred when we were three-handed.
Dale was on the button with the ace-six, and raised it up to ¢55. Lee was down a little and I thought he might have been steaming a little bit when he reraised to $1.50. I thought about the kinds of hand he might have for a second and looked at my hole cards. They were the ace and the jack of clubs.
Normally, This hand doesn't really play for a raise, but I figured that it might be worth a call, for a few reasons. First, I believed it was more likely than normal that Lee was getting out of line in this pot (a total misread on my part, as I'll discuss later), not only because he might be steaming but also because I know he doesn't respect Dale's raises, and might very well be raising to isolate him in the pot. Since the stacks were fairly deep (I had around $30 or so at that point) I thought I might win a fairly big pot if I hit the flop. Still, this was definitely at the low end of the range of hands I would have called with in that spot. I made the call, and so did Dale, which let me know a couple of things about his hand. First, I wasn't looking at a big pair. Second, Dale might be getting all-in in this pot since it contained $3.50 and he was sitting on about $11.35 more. The pot was equivalent to almost a third of his chips, and there was likely to be action since his bet had been reraised and three players were taking the flop. It came ace of spades, queen of spades, and a small red card. Lee, who was first to act, checked it to me. I needed to determine where I stood in the hand with my top pair, second kicker, and decided to bet. I decided to bet about the size of the pot, $3.75. Dale thought for a while, and then went all-in. Lee folded. At this point, I had what I believed to be a pretty tough decision, and so I decided to take some time to think about it. What bothered me most about this situation was that I didn't think Dale had shown too much strength before the flop. He had been the initial raiser, but after a reraise and a call back to him, with a fairly large pot relative to his stack, he elected to just call rather than raise. This led me to doubt sincerely that he had ace-king. Also, I thought it was unlikely but not impossible that he had the AQ as well. I was somewhat worried he might have the pocket eights, but I eventually decided it looked like either a bluff-raise with a good flush or flush/straight draw, or an ace with a lower kicker. I figured I probably rated pretty well against that range, but wanted to be certain of my pot odds in this situation. The raise was $7.50 more to me, and there was $11 in there already, giving me almost 2½ to 1 odds to call. If I called and lost, I would have had somewhere around $19 left, but I decided it was too good an opportunity to pass up, and I made the call. The board came out running low spades, but since neither of us had a spade, the fact that none of them was a six was good enough.
Lee later showed his mucked cards - two black kings. Not only was he in fact reraising a completely strong hand, contrary to my initial read, but he had been horribly outflopped by both of his opponents. Incidentally, I love the check on the flop here, and his decision to wait until we acted and then react. In fact, he was right to think that one (or both) of us might have the ace given the preflop action. After the pot-sized bet and the all-in raise, the fold was clear.
Unfortunately, he would have made the best possible hand on the last card by catching two consecutive spades and making a flush.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
The points standings
After six games of league play, the leaderboard is as follows:
Me (34 pts)
Chip (22 pts)
Marc (20 pts)
Me (34 pts)
Chip (22 pts)
Marc (20 pts) 
Dale (16 pts)
Jake (15 pts)
As you can see, I've widened my lead quite a bit, which is great for me. Hopefully I can continue extending it into the realm of utter hopelessness for my opponents ( Q:"Conan! What is best in life?" A: "To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.")
By the way, in case you missed it in the video section, the set-over-set confrontation between Gabe Kaplan and Ali Nejad on season two of Poker after dark is intense, and can be searched for on YouTube. It takes place at the end of the video entitled "poker after dark season 2 episode 13 4/5" and at the beginning of the "5/5" one right after.
Sweet victory
Last night's game went about as well as I could have hoped for. The table was full (9-handed), and the players were, in clockwise order starting at my left (hey, position matters): Jake, Chip, Dale, Daniel, Andrew, Randy, Marc, Chris, and me. I spent the vast majority of the tournament playing my usual tight/aggressive style, and then opened up a bit toward the end when it got down to four/three handed play.
There were a couple of spots in which the other players walked into monster hands and were trapped for their chips preflop. In one instance I was reraised all-in by Marc, who held AQ when I held the two aces. In another, I held two queens against a bluff raise by Chris (who held 78, 79, or 89... something like that).
As the night went on, Chip and Chris went out outside of the points, followed by Randy and Dale. Dale, in particular, took a bad beat when he went all-in with his ace-king. It had been raised to $2 (double the blind at this point) by Andrew, and folded around to Dale on the button with the AK. As he had only $5.50, raising the extra $3.50 was a no-brainer. Unfortunately for Dale, with $8 now in the pot, Andrew was getting a fairly good price on his call (better than 2:1), which he made with the A4 of diamonds. A nightmare flop came for dale in the form of the 2 of clubs, and the 3 and 6 of diamons, giving Andrew something like 15 outs twice. The turn gave him the straight, and the river, the flush.
So, we were into the points, and my closest competitors for the leaderboard had already been eliminated. I had amassed an early lead, but as blinds went up, pots were more frenzied and enlarged, so I decided to hang back a bit and let a person or two stack off. By the time we reached three-handed play, stacks were pretty much even, at around $50 a person. Fortunately, this is when I picked up some speed and was able to win a few pots as well as steal the blinds several times (they got up to $1-2 before we finished. Actually we played like two hands at the $1.50-$3 level before the game ended, I believe). When Marc stacked off in third (earning 7pts and $10), I had about a 5:3 chip advantage. I held out, letting Daniel bet and raise a lot, knowing that since I have a tight reputation, he was going to be stealing a lot. I decided the best chance was to try to trap him for all his chips. On the last hand, just such an opportunity presented itself.
In the big blind, I held the king-ten of diamonds and called a small raise to see the flop. It came 89J with one diamond. I knew my hand was unlikely to be best, but that if a seven came I'd have the low end of the straight, or if a queen came I'd have the nuts. Also, a diamond would give me a second-nut flush draw, adding nine outs to my hand going to the river. I checked the flop, hoping to get a free card. Daniel checked behind me. The turn was the beautiful queen of spades, giving me the nut straight. I figured maybe this was the spot I'd been looking for, and didn't want to scare Daniel away at this point - if he was behind, I wanted him to think he was ahead, or at least get a bluff out of him. I checked. He thought for a minute, then bet $6 (into a pot of $10. this is an okay-sized bet). I went into the tank for a bit, and called. When the river came off, it was a low card blank, and I knew both of us thought, "if I was ahead on the turn, I'm ahead now still." For some reason, I felt Daniel would fire again on the river. I felt like he was strong given the way he had put chips in, and the general look about him, his stare, etc. Plus, the pot at this point was $22, which amounted to more than half of what he had behind. If I was wrong, and he had nothing, he'd almost have to fire again on the river just to avoid giving a pot of that size up to me. I checked, and Daniel went all-in. I instantly turned my hand over and said "I call. Nuts." and the game was over. Daniel showed QT!!!! he had flopped the nut straight, and was checking on the flop to trap me, but the queen devalued his straight, leaving him drawing dead to a split, if one of the three kings left in the deck had appeared on the river. I took down a nice-sized chunk of the prize pool and added 9pts. more to my leaderboard standing.
There were a couple of spots in which the other players walked into monster hands and were trapped for their chips preflop. In one instance I was reraised all-in by Marc, who held AQ when I held the two aces. In another, I held two queens against a bluff raise by Chris (who held 78, 79, or 89... something like that).
As the night went on, Chip and Chris went out outside of the points, followed by Randy and Dale. Dale, in particular, took a bad beat when he went all-in with his ace-king. It had been raised to $2 (double the blind at this point) by Andrew, and folded around to Dale on the button with the AK. As he had only $5.50, raising the extra $3.50 was a no-brainer. Unfortunately for Dale, with $8 now in the pot, Andrew was getting a fairly good price on his call (better than 2:1), which he made with the A4 of diamonds. A nightmare flop came for dale in the form of the 2 of clubs, and the 3 and 6 of diamons, giving Andrew something like 15 outs twice. The turn gave him the straight, and the river, the flush.
So, we were into the points, and my closest competitors for the leaderboard had already been eliminated. I had amassed an early lead, but as blinds went up, pots were more frenzied and enlarged, so I decided to hang back a bit and let a person or two stack off. By the time we reached three-handed play, stacks were pretty much even, at around $50 a person. Fortunately, this is when I picked up some speed and was able to win a few pots as well as steal the blinds several times (they got up to $1-2 before we finished. Actually we played like two hands at the $1.50-$3 level before the game ended, I believe). When Marc stacked off in third (earning 7pts and $10), I had about a 5:3 chip advantage. I held out, letting Daniel bet and raise a lot, knowing that since I have a tight reputation, he was going to be stealing a lot. I decided the best chance was to try to trap him for all his chips. On the last hand, just such an opportunity presented itself.
In the big blind, I held the king-ten of diamonds and called a small raise to see the flop. It came 89J with one diamond. I knew my hand was unlikely to be best, but that if a seven came I'd have the low end of the straight, or if a queen came I'd have the nuts. Also, a diamond would give me a second-nut flush draw, adding nine outs to my hand going to the river. I checked the flop, hoping to get a free card. Daniel checked behind me. The turn was the beautiful queen of spades, giving me the nut straight. I figured maybe this was the spot I'd been looking for, and didn't want to scare Daniel away at this point - if he was behind, I wanted him to think he was ahead, or at least get a bluff out of him. I checked. He thought for a minute, then bet $6 (into a pot of $10. this is an okay-sized bet). I went into the tank for a bit, and called. When the river came off, it was a low card blank, and I knew both of us thought, "if I was ahead on the turn, I'm ahead now still." For some reason, I felt Daniel would fire again on the river. I felt like he was strong given the way he had put chips in, and the general look about him, his stare, etc. Plus, the pot at this point was $22, which amounted to more than half of what he had behind. If I was wrong, and he had nothing, he'd almost have to fire again on the river just to avoid giving a pot of that size up to me. I checked, and Daniel went all-in. I instantly turned my hand over and said "I call. Nuts." and the game was over. Daniel showed QT!!!! he had flopped the nut straight, and was checking on the flop to trap me, but the queen devalued his straight, leaving him drawing dead to a split, if one of the three kings left in the deck had appeared on the river. I took down a nice-sized chunk of the prize pool and added 9pts. more to my leaderboard standing.
Monday, February 11, 2008
New books!
Well, new to me anyway. The first was an Abebooks.com purchase - Seven Card Stud for Advanced Players by Sklansky, Malmuth, and Zee. I'm not sure what enticed me to pick this one up, other than its affordability (like less than seven bucks including shipping) and the fact that I want to sharpen up my non hold'em games a bit. Unfortunately, I don't know of any stud games that take place in town! Even a local "dealers choice" cash game that I know of only allows games with flops, and almost everywhere you go, games are played no-limit (in some cases pot-limit). Still, the few times I've played it it was a lot of fun, and I'd like to at least increase my knowledge of the game a little bit. The book assumes the reader is familiar with some of the basics of stud, which is perhaps today a bolder assumption than before 2003 when no-limit hold'em became so much more popular. Still, its sections on ante stealing and third street play provide a good foundation (there must be some adjustment made for the ante stealing strategy when considering short-handed games, since there are less antes in there. If anyone has good advice regarding this, let me know).
The second poker text I've begun reading is 2+2's new text on Sit'n'go (single table tournament) strategy by Collin Moshman. So far, I've only made it into the beginning of the book, but it's advice on how to play when the blinds are low relative to the starting chip stacks seems solid. In a nutshell, it advises that you stay away from risky spots early on, playing good hands when you are a clear favorite, and raising with reasonably good hands when you are opening the pot in late position. The game-theoretical reasoning behind avoiding big all-in confrontations early on seems like a no-brainer, but is in fact complex.
Due to the fact that there are payouts (that is, first place gets less money than the face value of his chips in the tournament, which would have been all of them, since other places have been paid pieces of the prize pool already), the more chips you have, the less each individual chip is worth (see Tournament Poker for Advanced Players). Therefore, even if you double up and eliminate a player, you're not quite gaining equal value. The example in Sit 'n Go Strategy is of a player with a $100 stack eliminating a player with an equal stack. Though he has eliminated a player and gained $100 in tournament chips, he has gained less in equity (long term actual cash value), "say $90." but the extra $10 in value is distributed to the other players, since their chances of cashing have increased slightly as well (all of this is explained and can be further read about in the first 16 pages of the book). Hopefully I'll be able to apply its concepts to both the Monday night game and online single-table games.
The idiot end of the straight
Tonight's the next Monday night game, and I'll be attempting to extend/defend my points lead, as well as hopefully take down a nice piece of the prize pool in the process. It's a pretty narrow race right now, but I think I rate to do pretty well, given my results against that field in the past two years.
However, I did lose a $5 freezeout against Dale yesterday evening when I held 95 in the big blind and checked my option. The flop came Q-7-8, and both of us checked. On fourth street, the six came off, giving me a nine-high straight. Not wanting to scare him out, I checked here as well, and Dale checked behind me. The river was a harmless four, and I checked one last time, feeling like he wouldn't let it check all the way down and would fire here. He obliged, but bet a rather large amount. Since I held the second best possible hand, I reraised for all my chips. He called and showed me T9, for the ten-high straight. We had both made our hands simultaneously, and each of us were trapping one another. I don't know how I could've folded the hand though! I could've beaten 44,QQ,77,88,66, any two pair, etc. That is, a lot of hands he would try to slowplay or trap with, or bluff with for that matter.
Regardless, as long as I can avoid getting cold-decked, I think things will go okay. I'll update after the game. Also, the next section of that poker after dark video has been posted if anyone's watching.
Also, I wanted to link an article from the current CardPlayer for discussion, but it seems they only have the second-most recent issue's articles archived online at this point. However, for those that are interested, Todd Brunson's article on making tough folds early in a tournament is worthwhile, especially his discussion of the way ace-king plays in different stages of a tournament. I'll add a link to that article when CardPlayer updates their site. For now, here's a good article on "floating," which is the flat-call on one street with the intention of following up with a bluff on a later one. http://www.cardplayer.com/magazine/article/17270
However, I did lose a $5 freezeout against Dale yesterday evening when I held 95 in the big blind and checked my option. The flop came Q-7-8, and both of us checked. On fourth street, the six came off, giving me a nine-high straight. Not wanting to scare him out, I checked here as well, and Dale checked behind me. The river was a harmless four, and I checked one last time, feeling like he wouldn't let it check all the way down and would fire here. He obliged, but bet a rather large amount. Since I held the second best possible hand, I reraised for all my chips. He called and showed me T9, for the ten-high straight. We had both made our hands simultaneously, and each of us were trapping one another. I don't know how I could've folded the hand though! I could've beaten 44,QQ,77,88,66, any two pair, etc. That is, a lot of hands he would try to slowplay or trap with, or bluff with for that matter.
Regardless, as long as I can avoid getting cold-decked, I think things will go okay. I'll update after the game. Also, the next section of that poker after dark video has been posted if anyone's watching.
Also, I wanted to link an article from the current CardPlayer for discussion, but it seems they only have the second-most recent issue's articles archived online at this point. However, for those that are interested, Todd Brunson's article on making tough folds early in a tournament is worthwhile, especially his discussion of the way ace-king plays in different stages of a tournament. I'll add a link to that article when CardPlayer updates their site. For now, here's a good article on "floating," which is the flat-call on one street with the intention of following up with a bluff on a later one. http://www.cardplayer.com/magazine/article/17270
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Other people's money
I played a 0.05-0.10 cash game last night, that went really well. The players were myself, Marc, Lee (see previous blogs), Chris, Dale, and Daniel. We started a lot earlier than we usually do, and it felt a little weird playing poker while the sun was still coming in through the windows. I put a harsh beat on Marc early on, and from that point kept amassing chips (though subsequent pots were taken with the best hand going into it). One of the plays I made which I'm most happy about is my call of Lee's all-in checkraise with second pair. Preflop, one player had limped, and I raised it up to .50 to go on the button with 99. Lee called in the small blind, and the big blind folded to the limper, Dale, who called. The flop came King of hearts, trey of clubs, seven of hearts. Lee checked, Dale checked, and I decided that if no one held a king, I might be able to take the pot right there. If I was right, it was important to protect my hand not only from flush draws, but also overcards since I was only holding nines. I bet around 2/3 of the pot, something like 1.25. At this point, Lee raised all-in for somewhere around 4 more. getting a little better than 2 to 1, I made the call. I knew that if I was behind, facing a king, that I wasn't getting the odds I needed to call here, but I thought there was a solid chance I was actually ahead in the hand since Lee is a more sophisticated opponent than some of the others. He flipped up A2 of hearts, for the nut flush draw. However, none of us improved and Lee ended up buying more chips.
I left with $73.45, of which all but $10 was profit. This is great in a 0.05-0.10 game, and in & of itself implies a lot of loose action in the game. In fact, I made just $15 less than two fridays ago when the game was 0.25-0.50! This despite the fact that many of the players at last night's table have more experience than those in the Friday night game.
Oh, and the video has been updated at the bottom of the page, if anyone's keeping up.
I left with $73.45, of which all but $10 was profit. This is great in a 0.05-0.10 game, and in & of itself implies a lot of loose action in the game. In fact, I made just $15 less than two fridays ago when the game was 0.25-0.50! This despite the fact that many of the players at last night's table have more experience than those in the Friday night game.
Oh, and the video has been updated at the bottom of the page, if anyone's keeping up.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
A slight favorite
Here's a very interesting hand I played (and ended up losing) to Lee in a game we played for a dollar recently:
Me: 
At this point, I was on the button and since Lee had been checking his option recently I opted to call here to try to see a flop. I figured I was at worst a 2 to one dog, and getting three to one, this was okay. The actual odds, later checked on the CardPlayer.com odds calculator, were 60/37 in favor of Lee, with a 3% chance of a spit.
Lee:
He checked, and an extremely interesting flop came out...
Flop:
On the flop, he checked it to me, and I bet about 2/3 of the pot with my pair of sixes, since I figured I had quite a bit of outs - diamons, sevens, sixes, and as it turned out, nines. I was surprised, then, when Lee then came over the top with a raise! At this point, I was getting probably a little over two to one on my money, and even if my nines and sixes were no good, I could still hit one of my remaining twelve outs on fourth or fifth street. Being a little short stacked, I decided to push, not minding taking down the pot right there. Though I was relieved that the nines and sixes were indeed live, I was unlucky on subsequent cards and it turned out to be the last hand of the freezeout. Immediately after the hand we checked the odds, and it turns out that I was actually a 26:23 favorite on the flop (in other words I would win about 54% of the time in this spot)!
Anyway, it's 4:30 in the morning, so good night. Also, the new part of the video is up, and I just got the new CardPlayer, so maybe I'll put something up here about an article from it soon.
Holding your ground
Tonight's game was essentially a wash for me (actually a $3 loss, but that's okay given a $20 buy-in). The unfortunate drawback of planning your strategy around loose opponents, intending to play solid, straightforward poker is that if you cannot maneuver your way into a solid spot or pick up some good cards, you are going to be hard pressed to take the chips. If the players are impossible to bluff, you must have a hand. I was unable to find one for most of the night.
That being said, the opportunity to earn was definitely there, and will definitely be there for a while. The game tonight was actually better in many ways than the game last Friday. At one point there were nine people at the table, which is great, and they mostly shared a similar style. I think I'm beginning to get a better feel for the way my opponents in this game play, particularly those who were there both weeks. I think that if I had to describe them I'd say that preflop, most everyone in that game is a calling station. Play is in fact marked by its loose passivity if nothing else. It would seem like with everyone playing stacks of just 40 big blinds (BB), the action would be forced somewhat, but players will routinely make calls they shouldn't make (especially preflop), along with raises that are way too small.
In fact, I saw one player in particular make a play like that which I wanted to discuss. Fivehanded (four players had already cashed out and left at this point), everyone had called around to him in the big blind, and he raised - the minimum! I really don't like that raise. Everyone has already called for $0.50, making the pot $2.50. Even if I'm next to act after the big blind, once he raises the pot is offering me 6:1. What can I fold here? As I discussed earlier, there's a lot of calling before the flop and not much raising, so I know most likely everyone's just going to call and see it. So, he's essentially just doubling the pot out of position, with what is likely a hand that wants to see the flop against only one opponent (or why not just take the $2.50?). The player in question made this play at least three times throughout the night against multiple limpers. I think the raise has just got to be larger, maybe even more than the pot. If it's not worth the raise , why not just see a flop for free? I actually can't think of a hand that would make that raise, except maybe KQ suited, which I suppose doesn't mind multiple callers (still better not to be out of position, though..).
As I said earlier, I didn't get very many hands tonight, but am not going to get too bent out of shape about it. I do think there's such a thing a self-activated tilt when a player stops seeing good hands for what seems like hours and starts either playing mediocre hands too strongly or making optimistic calls, and I was probably guilty of that in at least two or three hands tonight. However, I excercised pretty good damage control, given the cold cards and the tough beats I took.
Lee, who placed third overall in last year's Monday night games, played tonight with us as well, and finished up $24, adding to his 50-50 1st/2nd split with me from the night of the 4th.
Also, ileuce from FullTilt won a 250pmc 90-entrant tournament tonight! (see Playing for "fun"). Congratulations!
Tonight's Bad Beat Story
BrixtonGuns: 88 Trey: 77
Flop: Q 2 2 Turn: 4 River: 7
(This one cost me $9 or $10)
Friday, February 8, 2008
Playing "for fun"
I've noticed that players will often use the uninteresting stakes of the game (or of a preflop wager) to justify their loose, unsound play. That is, if the money involved means nothing to the player, they may very well make some plays which they wouldn't make had the price been steeper. In fact, some people, especially those who do play for money, are incapable of playing tight aggressive poker anytime there is no money at stake. This adds a lot of value for the people in the game who are playing like they have any sense, especially in a tournament.
I was playing a free tournament on FullTilt last night, and I saw an extreme example of this. The entry was 250 play-money chips (your bankroll starts at 1000 pmc's, but you can reload if you go broke), and there were 90 entrants. A friend of mine was competing in the tournament too, so I was watching both our tables. On the first hand, at both tables, almost half of the table was all-in before the flop, though the blinds were 15-30 with stacks of 1500! In fact, I checked "tourney info" right after the first hand's conclusion and found that a third of the field had been eliminated.
Never, ever, ever, play like these guys. The fact is that that happens in almost every 250pmc tournament, which is one reason I've been able to beat them so consistently - it's almost like a 50-50 shot as far as getting to the final table is concerned, but that's more than okay since when you get there you'll be getting more than double your entry back (7K to the winner).
Though there was no money involved, and I was bummed over the fact that I had lost twelve bucks earlier, I was glad when I came in second in the 90-person tournament last night, because it proved that I do know how to outmaneuver people who play too many hands and go too far with them. Hopefully this will give me confidence in tonight's game, and I can record another win.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
down twelve
Unfortunately, I'm going to have to record a loss for tonight. The damage isn't too bad, however, and I'm sure to bounce back soon. I'm going to be playing in the .25-.50 NL tomorrow night (see previous post A new game!), which was pretty sweet last week, the first time I played in it. Fortunately the buy-in doesn't mean too much financially to my opponents, which will likely see them going too far with their hands. Ideally, straightforward poker should take down the money. In fact, I would probably have had a different result tonight if I'd tightened up a little bit and taken advantage of my opponents' aggression more - at the very least reducing the loss. Nonetheless, the Friday game is definitely more of a priority than tonight, which was something of a pick-up game.
Also, I've added a poll and a video section to the blog, and am planning to change the poll weekly and the video clip almost daily. If there's anything anyone wants to see in particular, let me know. I'm thinking about the 2007 WSOP h.o.r.s.e. tournament after the current poker after dark tournament is done, but am open to suggestions.
Also, I've added a poll and a video section to the blog, and am planning to change the poll weekly and the video clip almost daily. If there's anything anyone wants to see in particular, let me know. I'm thinking about the 2007 WSOP h.o.r.s.e. tournament after the current poker after dark tournament is done, but am open to suggestions.
The Biggest Game in Town
A Review
I recently re-read A. Alvarez's The Biggest Game in Town, and was just as entertained by it as when I originally finished reading it eight months ago. Perhaps the best thing about the book is the quality of the writing itself. Alvarez is an accomplished author, and not just of books on poker.
Alvarez himself seems only to be a minor character in the tale, there more than anything as someone for the bizarre characters which inhabited Las Vegas in 1981 to tell their story to. This is in contrast to Anthony Holden's Big Deal, in which the reader followed his year as a professional poker player with suspense, sort of cheering him along throughout the book. However, this doesn't take anything away from Alvarez's book, as the characters in it are fascinating, especially when it comes to their removal from anything like a "normal" life.
Add in, of course, all of the drama of the World Series of Poker in what was to become a legendary year in the game's history, when Stu Ungar captured his second consecutive World Championship.
There are certainly other books written in a novel-style like this which center on the poker world, but in my mind this is the one that started them. In a way, it does of course owe something to Yardley's Education of a Poker Player, but that text of course was published many years before, in the 1950s, before the existence of the World Series of Poker, and consequently far before the popularization of hold'em. Many other great texts which would come after The Biggest Game in Town, such as both Holden's Big Deal and James McManus's Positively Fifth Street, would never truly have been without Alvarez, and in fact his text is mentioned in both.
It is unfortunate, then, that The Biggest Game in Town is so short a book (about 190 pages). However, that's at least a convincing argument for reading it.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
The points standings
Currently, the Monday night top-five looks like this:
Myself (25pts)
Chip (22pts)
Dale (16pts)
Marc (13pts)
Chris (10pts)
Myself (25pts)Chip (22pts)
Dale (16pts)
Marc (13pts)
Chris (10pts)and
Jake (10pts)
There are still several more weeks left, and the individual games are worth enough that the long-term points are definitely not the only consideration. Still, I'm off to an early, though narrow, lead.
The Monday Night Game
I play in a tournament every Monday night that has the following format:
The initial buy-in is ten, with a dollar toward a league jackpot which points leaders split (two to one in favor of first) at the end of the year. This initial buy-in gives every player $10 in tournament chips. Rebuys are only five, though this still gives a player $10 in chips. The rebuy period lasts for two hours and fifteen minutes, as the blinds go up every 45 mins. There are typically 6-12 players, so it's usually a one-table tournament. Assuming there are more than 6 people, we pay 3rd place ten bucks, and then 1st and 2nd split the rest 2:1.
I love the rebuy structure, because it encourages loose opponents to play very fast, especially in the third (0.20-.40) level of the blinds. However, the blind structure is a little uneven, sometimes doubling, sometimes increasing very litte, as displayed here:
Level 1 - 0.05/0.10
Level 2 - 0.10/0.20
Level 3 - 0.20/0.40
Level 4 - 0.25/0.50 *
Level 5 - 0.50/1.00
Level 6 - 0.75/1.50 *
Level 7 - 1.00/2.00 *
Level 8 - 1.50/3.00 *
..etc. We usually don't get past level 8, though it has gone up to 2/4 before once or twice.
We assign points to the top five finishers each week, first getting points equal to the number of players that night, and then one less for second, one less for third, on down. We've had five games this year and I've finished second, fifth, first, third, and second (two nights ago), which has put me into a 3pt. lead in overall points (25 total) against Chip (22 total. see previous blogs).
I'll be posting updates on how the tournament is going, esp. with regard to overall point standings, as the weeks continue.
The initial buy-in is ten, with a dollar toward a league jackpot which points leaders split (two to one in favor of first) at the end of the year. This initial buy-in gives every player $10 in tournament chips. Rebuys are only five, though this still gives a player $10 in chips. The rebuy period lasts for two hours and fifteen minutes, as the blinds go up every 45 mins. There are typically 6-12 players, so it's usually a one-table tournament. Assuming there are more than 6 people, we pay 3rd place ten bucks, and then 1st and 2nd split the rest 2:1.
I love the rebuy structure, because it encourages loose opponents to play very fast, especially in the third (0.20-.40) level of the blinds. However, the blind structure is a little uneven, sometimes doubling, sometimes increasing very litte, as displayed here:
Level 1 - 0.05/0.10
Level 2 - 0.10/0.20
Level 3 - 0.20/0.40
Level 4 - 0.25/0.50 *
Level 5 - 0.50/1.00
Level 6 - 0.75/1.50 *
Level 7 - 1.00/2.00 *
Level 8 - 1.50/3.00 *
..etc. We usually don't get past level 8, though it has gone up to 2/4 before once or twice.
We assign points to the top five finishers each week, first getting points equal to the number of players that night, and then one less for second, one less for third, on down. We've had five games this year and I've finished second, fifth, first, third, and second (two nights ago), which has put me into a 3pt. lead in overall points (25 total) against Chip (22 total. see previous blogs).
I'll be posting updates on how the tournament is going, esp. with regard to overall point standings, as the weeks continue.
A Pocket Kings Hand
Originally dated February 3, 2008
(Because I haven't played any poker since I set up this profile/blog, I decided to include a hand that I played and wrote about a few months ago.)
In a $0.10-$0.20 cash game, the following hand came up: We were four-handed at the time, and effective stack sizes for myself and my opponents were about $40. I was on the small blind, and it folded to me. My opponent, Marc, who was on the big blind, definitely qualified as a loose/aggressive player who liked to raise, especially because he knows me to be a tighter player, so I flat-call for $0.10 more with the two kings. Marc raises it up to $0.70. I call, continuing the slowplay (I don't just want to win $0.70 with this hand!). The pot is now $1.40. The flop comes 9-7-2 rainbow.
Since this is a near-perfect flop for my hand, I check, hoping to get a bet out of him. Marc obliges and bets $0.85. I raise to $2.25 (is this too soon to raise in this spot?). He calls. At this point, the pot contains $5.90, and we each have about $37 left. The turn is a trey.
I think that maybe Marc has something like nines, sevens, eights, tens, jacks, or queens. I bet $4. He raises to $10 (pot now $19.90, I have $33.15 left). I reraise all-in, and he folds.
In retrospect, there is a lot to analyze about this hand. This is what I've come up with so far, in particular with reference to the play on the turn:
On 4th street, I reraised Marc all of my chips ($27.15 on top of his raise), giving him about 2:1 pot odds to call. Should I have played it differently, just calling Marc's raise, or reraising a smaller amount, such as $10 more (giving him 3.5:1)? If I call, we go to the river with effective stacks of $27 and a pot of nearly the same, at $25.90. If I raise to $20 and Marc calls me, we see the river with stacks of $17 and a $45.90 pot - a virtual guarantee that the money will go in (but does he make the call on 4th with a hand my kings beat?).
A lot of what decides the best play on the turn is what kind of bet Marc could call. He's somewhat of a maniac-style player, which makes it a bit tough to put him on a hand, but I did feel my kings were good. After all, it was nearly an ideal board for my hand, and if he flopped a set, he'd probably reraise me right there on the flop after I made it $2.25.
I suppose that the biggest reason I opted to raise all-in on 4th street was the size of the pot. After all, "Win the big pots right away" is the name of Chapter 9 of The Theory of Poker. Among other things, it advises that it is "almost never correct to give a free card" in a big pot.
An added bonus of the all-in reraise is that, since I know him to be a loose and reckless player, there's an outside chance I'll get a call from the kind of one-pair hand I suspected he held after the flop action. And I'm a huge favorite over those hands, since Marc would be drawing to 5 outs or less with one card coming.
If he was on a crazy bluff, he may have fired a fourth shell on the river, but that's not too likely.
Currently reading : Professional No-Limit Hold ’em: Volume I By Matt Flynn
Release date: 20 July, 2007
(Because I haven't played any poker since I set up this profile/blog, I decided to include a hand that I played and wrote about a few months ago.)
In a $0.10-$0.20 cash game, the following hand came up: We were four-handed at the time, and effective stack sizes for myself and my opponents were about $40. I was on the small blind, and it folded to me. My opponent, Marc, who was on the big blind, definitely qualified as a loose/aggressive player who liked to raise, especially because he knows me to be a tighter player, so I flat-call for $0.10 more with the two kings. Marc raises it up to $0.70. I call, continuing the slowplay (I don't just want to win $0.70 with this hand!). The pot is now $1.40. The flop comes 9-7-2 rainbow.
Since this is a near-perfect flop for my hand, I check, hoping to get a bet out of him. Marc obliges and bets $0.85. I raise to $2.25 (is this too soon to raise in this spot?). He calls. At this point, the pot contains $5.90, and we each have about $37 left. The turn is a trey.
I think that maybe Marc has something like nines, sevens, eights, tens, jacks, or queens. I bet $4. He raises to $10 (pot now $19.90, I have $33.15 left). I reraise all-in, and he folds.
In retrospect, there is a lot to analyze about this hand. This is what I've come up with so far, in particular with reference to the play on the turn:
On 4th street, I reraised Marc all of my chips ($27.15 on top of his raise), giving him about 2:1 pot odds to call. Should I have played it differently, just calling Marc's raise, or reraising a smaller amount, such as $10 more (giving him 3.5:1)? If I call, we go to the river with effective stacks of $27 and a pot of nearly the same, at $25.90. If I raise to $20 and Marc calls me, we see the river with stacks of $17 and a $45.90 pot - a virtual guarantee that the money will go in (but does he make the call on 4th with a hand my kings beat?).
A lot of what decides the best play on the turn is what kind of bet Marc could call. He's somewhat of a maniac-style player, which makes it a bit tough to put him on a hand, but I did feel my kings were good. After all, it was nearly an ideal board for my hand, and if he flopped a set, he'd probably reraise me right there on the flop after I made it $2.25.
I suppose that the biggest reason I opted to raise all-in on 4th street was the size of the pot. After all, "Win the big pots right away" is the name of Chapter 9 of The Theory of Poker. Among other things, it advises that it is "almost never correct to give a free card" in a big pot.
An added bonus of the all-in reraise is that, since I know him to be a loose and reckless player, there's an outside chance I'll get a call from the kind of one-pair hand I suspected he held after the flop action. And I'm a huge favorite over those hands, since Marc would be drawing to 5 outs or less with one card coming.
If he was on a crazy bluff, he may have fired a fourth shell on the river, but that's not too likely.
Currently reading : Professional No-Limit Hold ’em: Volume I By Matt Flynn
Release date: 20 July, 2007
goodbye ten bucks
Originally dated February 3, 2008
Current mood: okay
Category: Games
well, the .05-.10 cash game didn't go as well as I'd hoped this evening, but all in all the long-term perspective is still okay, as I'm still up 68 from friday night. However, I believe that I played the last hand of the evening badly, and that it cost me my stack. With plenty of chips left ($15 or so? not more than $20), I was on the button. We were five-handed, and the under-the gun player, who plays a maniac-style game, raised it up to .40. it folded to me on the button, and I looked down at QJ. with position and plenty of chips behind, I decided to make the call, as did the small blind. The big blind folded. The flop came down Q-J-8 with two diamonds. The small blind bet out .50 (I think this bet is way too small to accomplish much here), and the preflop raiser made it 1.25 (also a very small raise, which should have set off alarms). Still, I knew he would reraise with some hands I was beating, like AQ, KK, and AA, an ace-high diamond draw (possibly with a jack), or a straight/flush draw combination like KT of diamonds. I decide to make it 3.75 to go. The small blind folds, and my lone remaining opponent reraises me to 10! At this point I feel I probably should have folded, putting my opponent on 88, QQ, JJ, or another QJ, at worst AA, which I was beating. Instead, I raised all-in despite the fact that he had me covered!
When he called and turned over the 9T, I realized my error immediately! I should have known I was most likely up against a better hand - his only possible range in this spot, even as a chronically reckless preflop raiser and caller, is a set, a straight, two pair, or an overpair. This includes too many hands I'm drawing very slim against, and I could have laid it down and sacrificed less than a third of my overall stack to wait for a better spot! I decided at that point that it was time to drive back home and get ready for class tomorrow and the 10+1 tournament tomorrow night.
As a side note, I wish that I knew how to get the blog to display entries oldest to newest, rather than vice versa...
Currently listening : Super Black Market Clash By The Clash
Release date: 26 October, 1993
Current mood: okay
Category: Games
well, the .05-.10 cash game didn't go as well as I'd hoped this evening, but all in all the long-term perspective is still okay, as I'm still up 68 from friday night. However, I believe that I played the last hand of the evening badly, and that it cost me my stack. With plenty of chips left ($15 or so? not more than $20), I was on the button. We were five-handed, and the under-the gun player, who plays a maniac-style game, raised it up to .40. it folded to me on the button, and I looked down at QJ. with position and plenty of chips behind, I decided to make the call, as did the small blind. The big blind folded. The flop came down Q-J-8 with two diamonds. The small blind bet out .50 (I think this bet is way too small to accomplish much here), and the preflop raiser made it 1.25 (also a very small raise, which should have set off alarms). Still, I knew he would reraise with some hands I was beating, like AQ, KK, and AA, an ace-high diamond draw (possibly with a jack), or a straight/flush draw combination like KT of diamonds. I decide to make it 3.75 to go. The small blind folds, and my lone remaining opponent reraises me to 10! At this point I feel I probably should have folded, putting my opponent on 88, QQ, JJ, or another QJ, at worst AA, which I was beating. Instead, I raised all-in despite the fact that he had me covered!
When he called and turned over the 9T, I realized my error immediately! I should have known I was most likely up against a better hand - his only possible range in this spot, even as a chronically reckless preflop raiser and caller, is a set, a straight, two pair, or an overpair. This includes too many hands I'm drawing very slim against, and I could have laid it down and sacrificed less than a third of my overall stack to wait for a better spot! I decided at that point that it was time to drive back home and get ready for class tomorrow and the 10+1 tournament tomorrow night.
As a side note, I wish that I knew how to get the blog to display entries oldest to newest, rather than vice versa...
Currently listening : Super Black Market Clash By The Clash
Release date: 26 October, 1993
A new game!
Originally dated February 1, 2008
Current mood: rockin Category: Games
I got introduced to a game by a friend of mine, who wasn't able to play in it tonight, though I knew one of the guys and had met another once. It was a five handed game with a twenty dollar buy-in and .25-.50 blinds. The players in the game are relatively well-funded, and I had the definite impression that it wasn't necessarily a lot of money to any of my opponents, who were calling liberally, seeing almost every flop. I got the idea that if I hadn't been playing, preflop action would've been call-call-call, etc. A lot of the time, the raise was to a buck.
In one hand, I had the QT in the big blind and flopped a ten and two small cards, turned a ten, and was called on every street by a player with A7 (ace high!). It was a very good game by virtue of being full of calling stations. It was worth waiting for solid spots to put in the chips, and this turned out to be a successful strategy.
Partially because he introduced me to the game, and partly because I desperately want to be able to talk poker with someone who approaches it the same way I do, I lent my friend Theory of Poker and told him after he read it I'd buy him into the game.. hopefully it will spark an interest, and I figure that in that game anyone who has read that book will have some kind of edge over most of the field, along with a basis to analyze the game and improve their play.
Currently listening : The Concert By Creedence Clearwater Revival
Release date: 25 October, 1990
Current mood: rockin Category: Games
I got introduced to a game by a friend of mine, who wasn't able to play in it tonight, though I knew one of the guys and had met another once. It was a five handed game with a twenty dollar buy-in and .25-.50 blinds. The players in the game are relatively well-funded, and I had the definite impression that it wasn't necessarily a lot of money to any of my opponents, who were calling liberally, seeing almost every flop. I got the idea that if I hadn't been playing, preflop action would've been call-call-call, etc. A lot of the time, the raise was to a buck.
In one hand, I had the QT in the big blind and flopped a ten and two small cards, turned a ten, and was called on every street by a player with A7 (ace high!). It was a very good game by virtue of being full of calling stations. It was worth waiting for solid spots to put in the chips, and this turned out to be a successful strategy.
Partially because he introduced me to the game, and partly because I desperately want to be able to talk poker with someone who approaches it the same way I do, I lent my friend Theory of Poker and told him after he read it I'd buy him into the game.. hopefully it will spark an interest, and I figure that in that game anyone who has read that book will have some kind of edge over most of the field, along with a basis to analyze the game and improve their play.
Currently listening : The Concert By Creedence Clearwater Revival
Release date: 25 October, 1990
Cash Game Results
Originally dated January 31, 2008
Current mood: creative
Category: Games
The game went really, really well last night. It ended up being only four-handed, which I didn't like since it forced me to play more hands (see previous blog). This made some of my decisions more borderline, but it still worked out fairly well in the end, because the most that was in play was 110, and I took home 89.15 of it.
One of the biggest pots I took down, toward the middle of the game, was a three-barrel-bluff with the nine-ten of clubs, with which I had seen a pot in the big blind. I picked up a flush draw which didn't get there, but by betting every street I showed a lot of strength and I believed I could get busted draws, and perhaps even top pair with a weak kicker to fold here - and both of those are very likely holdings for the other players when they reluctantly call you to the river like that. Sometimes they will even show up with second pair, or third pair when it's wired. However, it's still pretty hard to call a good-sized river bet there, especially if it constitutes a big part of your stack (and you won't buy more chips). I know I had gone into the game not planning to bluff much, but the pot's size in this spot inticed me.
Though I believe it was mostly by sticking to the plan that I made the money last night, rather than this specific play, I did want to bring up two related points about that pot:
(1) In Tournament Poker for Advanced Players, Sklansky argues that it is worth deviating from optimal strategy in the early rounds if it will cause your opponents to make costly errors later when the stakes rise. This is completely true, as the pots will be played for more and more as the blinds increase. But it's not always just true in tournaments. In some cash games, the play gets looser as the night wears on. This happens because players come to games mentally prepared, with a plan to play good solid poker. But as the night wears on and the keep seeing marginally playable hands and get put in tough spots, their natural tendencies surface. Also, the players in my game rebuy almost as a principle, so more chips are coming into play gradually, and by the end of the night there can be triple what there was at the beginning on the table. This creates looser play and bigger pots. In fact, at .05-.10, we were opening at around .30 or .40, but by the end .50-.65 were the stanard bet.
(2) Players should try to be cognizant of the importance of momentum in a poker game. I think the relevance of momentum increases in inverse proportion to the number of players, and in direct proportion to those players' aggression. It's a little tough to define, but in poker momentum occurs when a player, because of some factor - usually either that he/she is playing very well, is intimidating the other players, is being aggressive, or is just plain getting run over by the deck - is given more repect/credit for his/her bets by the other players, who are attempting to stay out of his/her way for the time being unless they pick up some good cards. In these occaisons, it becomes easier to pick up small to medium-sized pots in position either before or on the flop. And since you're raising frequently, against opponents who might suspect you're betting light, you'll get paid off more on your big hands.
Momentum was a part of the reason I showed the bluff at the end - to let everyone know I was capable of high-risk plays, provided I knew I was in a good spot. Since I'm mostly playing tight and the other players know that anyway, I can't let everyone think I'm in there with only the nuts or I'll never get paid off. What good would showing the best possible hand have been, had I had it, in that spot? It would've proven to my opponents that they had made a good fold, and given them confidence. I wanted to do the opposite.
Currently listening : Apostrophe (’) By Frank Zappa
Release date: 18 April, 1995
Current mood: creative
Category: Games
The game went really, really well last night. It ended up being only four-handed, which I didn't like since it forced me to play more hands (see previous blog). This made some of my decisions more borderline, but it still worked out fairly well in the end, because the most that was in play was 110, and I took home 89.15 of it.
One of the biggest pots I took down, toward the middle of the game, was a three-barrel-bluff with the nine-ten of clubs, with which I had seen a pot in the big blind. I picked up a flush draw which didn't get there, but by betting every street I showed a lot of strength and I believed I could get busted draws, and perhaps even top pair with a weak kicker to fold here - and both of those are very likely holdings for the other players when they reluctantly call you to the river like that. Sometimes they will even show up with second pair, or third pair when it's wired. However, it's still pretty hard to call a good-sized river bet there, especially if it constitutes a big part of your stack (and you won't buy more chips). I know I had gone into the game not planning to bluff much, but the pot's size in this spot inticed me.
Though I believe it was mostly by sticking to the plan that I made the money last night, rather than this specific play, I did want to bring up two related points about that pot:
(1) In Tournament Poker for Advanced Players, Sklansky argues that it is worth deviating from optimal strategy in the early rounds if it will cause your opponents to make costly errors later when the stakes rise. This is completely true, as the pots will be played for more and more as the blinds increase. But it's not always just true in tournaments. In some cash games, the play gets looser as the night wears on. This happens because players come to games mentally prepared, with a plan to play good solid poker. But as the night wears on and the keep seeing marginally playable hands and get put in tough spots, their natural tendencies surface. Also, the players in my game rebuy almost as a principle, so more chips are coming into play gradually, and by the end of the night there can be triple what there was at the beginning on the table. This creates looser play and bigger pots. In fact, at .05-.10, we were opening at around .30 or .40, but by the end .50-.65 were the stanard bet.
(2) Players should try to be cognizant of the importance of momentum in a poker game. I think the relevance of momentum increases in inverse proportion to the number of players, and in direct proportion to those players' aggression. It's a little tough to define, but in poker momentum occurs when a player, because of some factor - usually either that he/she is playing very well, is intimidating the other players, is being aggressive, or is just plain getting run over by the deck - is given more repect/credit for his/her bets by the other players, who are attempting to stay out of his/her way for the time being unless they pick up some good cards. In these occaisons, it becomes easier to pick up small to medium-sized pots in position either before or on the flop. And since you're raising frequently, against opponents who might suspect you're betting light, you'll get paid off more on your big hands.
Momentum was a part of the reason I showed the bluff at the end - to let everyone know I was capable of high-risk plays, provided I knew I was in a good spot. Since I'm mostly playing tight and the other players know that anyway, I can't let everyone think I'm in there with only the nuts or I'll never get paid off. What good would showing the best possible hand have been, had I had it, in that spot? It would've proven to my opponents that they had made a good fold, and given them confidence. I wanted to do the opposite.
Currently listening : Apostrophe (’) By Frank Zappa
Release date: 18 April, 1995
Micro limit cash game
Originally dated January 30, 2008
Current mood: adventurous
Category: Games
In a couple of hours, I'll be playing a table at which everyone will be playing 0.05-0.10 NL with i
nitial stacks of 10. A few of the players are habitual rebuyers, and I know that one player is borrowing 25 from another in order to play the game (which leads me to believe that the entire 25 will make its way into play eventually). It will be shorthanded, between four and six players most likely. The players I'll be up against are a mixture of maniacs and loose/aggressive and somewhat reckless recreational (albeit regular) players. They tend to make several mistakes, so my plan of attack is to play straightforwardly, hoping to trap them in spots where I'm a big favorite. In other words I'll be showing down good cards, with any luck.
My opponents will probably be calling when they should raise or fold, going too far with marginal hands, playing hands they should fold, and bluffing recklessly - guided by hunches rather than analysis of the situation. If I can catch some cards, it looks favorable, and it should be a good learning experience either way.
Currently listening : Rain Dogs By Tom Waits
Release date: 15 June, 1990
Current mood: adventurous
Category: Games
In a couple of hours, I'll be playing a table at which everyone will be playing 0.05-0.10 NL with i
nitial stacks of 10. A few of the players are habitual rebuyers, and I know that one player is borrowing 25 from another in order to play the game (which leads me to believe that the entire 25 will make its way into play eventually). It will be shorthanded, between four and six players most likely. The players I'll be up against are a mixture of maniacs and loose/aggressive and somewhat reckless recreational (albeit regular) players. They tend to make several mistakes, so my plan of attack is to play straightforwardly, hoping to trap them in spots where I'm a big favorite. In other words I'll be showing down good cards, with any luck.
My opponents will probably be calling when they should raise or fold, going too far with marginal hands, playing hands they should fold, and bluffing recklessly - guided by hunches rather than analysis of the situation. If I can catch some cards, it looks favorable, and it should be a good learning experience either way.
Currently listening : Rain Dogs By Tom Waits
Release date: 15 June, 1990
Heads up Results
Originally dated January 28, 2008
Current mood: tired Category: Games
A very tough match this evening, which ended as a stalemate. We played two freeze-outs for 10: I lost the first, and won the second. Unfortunately, it only took me around 45 mintues to lose the first one, and a grueling four or so hours to win the second. I did, in all fairness, make some pretty good second-best hands during the first game (trips when my opponent made a straight, etc), which can lead to losing big pots.
The second game was long, drawn out, and went back and forth several times. We began with stacks of 20 and blinds of .10 and .20, but raised them to .20-.40 around 1AM and then .30-.60 around 2:30. At least once in the second game, both my opponent and I were all-in for our last little bit (less than 3.50) and survived. At one point, I was all-in with J-9 against 8-8 and caught a miracle jack on the river. However, when the last hand began, we were fairly even in chips.
I held A-K offsuit in the small blind, and my opponent, Chip, held K-J. With blinds at .30-.60, I made it 1.50 to go. Chip reraised to 5, which I don't mind because I had been raising about 95% of my hands from the button, and king-jack rates to be better than a random hand. I reraised all-in for like 15 more, and Chip called. I hate this call, because once I come back over the top for all of my chips, it's very unlikely that KJ is the best hand - best case scenario I have something like tens and he has two overs - why risk the entire freezeout in that spot? I think my reraise all-in was okay, since I'm only really worried about AA or KK (even against KK I have the ace at least), and my opponent has shown strength, which in my mind perhaps translated into willingness to put the chips in.
I flopped a king, and my hand held up, winning me the second game, earning me my 10 back.
Current mood: tired Category: Games
A very tough match this evening, which ended as a stalemate. We played two freeze-outs for 10: I lost the first, and won the second. Unfortunately, it only took me around 45 mintues to lose the first one, and a grueling four or so hours to win the second. I did, in all fairness, make some pretty good second-best hands during the first game (trips when my opponent made a straight, etc), which can lead to losing big pots.
The second game was long, drawn out, and went back and forth several times. We began with stacks of 20 and blinds of .10 and .20, but raised them to .20-.40 around 1AM and then .30-.60 around 2:30. At least once in the second game, both my opponent and I were all-in for our last little bit (less than 3.50) and survived. At one point, I was all-in with J-9 against 8-8 and caught a miracle jack on the river. However, when the last hand began, we were fairly even in chips.
I held A-K offsuit in the small blind, and my opponent, Chip, held K-J. With blinds at .30-.60, I made it 1.50 to go. Chip reraised to 5, which I don't mind because I had been raising about 95% of my hands from the button, and king-jack rates to be better than a random hand. I reraised all-in for like 15 more, and Chip called. I hate this call, because once I come back over the top for all of my chips, it's very unlikely that KJ is the best hand - best case scenario I have something like tens and he has two overs - why risk the entire freezeout in that spot? I think my reraise all-in was okay, since I'm only really worried about AA or KK (even against KK I have the ace at least), and my opponent has shown strength, which in my mind perhaps translated into willingness to put the chips in.
I flopped a king, and my hand held up, winning me the second game, earning me my 10 back.
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