I am now a happy tribe member of Red 5 Studios located in Aliso Viejo. Yay!
As a environmental artist / level designer, my job is to build the world our yet to be announced game takes place in. I've noticed a huge change in what I notice in games and real life. For instance, I've been studying the types of hills and cliffs in Winterspring and Hellfire Pennisula. And now my drives to work are filled with visions of cliffs, rivers, and rocks...
It is a really cool environment at Red 5; they treat us all really well. Its great being back in the game industry, my lunches involve games of Warcraft III and Starcraft and talks about the things we love, hate, or are looking forward to various games.
Now that I'm starting to settle in, I'm hoping that I'll be able to start updating this again... we shalt seeeeeeee.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Last post as a free, uh.. single man!
So I'm getting married in two days and then its off for a month long honeymoon. Its all going to be a blast, and I figured it was worth noting that now that the stress of everything is calming down Kristin and I are getting along and happy. The next month will be amazing! Once I return I will probably rejoin my poker adventures, but until then good luck out there guys!
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Recent Happenings...
Things have been a bit all over the place for me over the past few weeks. I'm getting married in less than 2 weeks (07/07/07), which is pretty crazy whenever I think about it - actually getting a bit anxious and Kristin, my fiance' is clearly stressed while she finishes up all the details.
On July 8th I'm leaving for a month long honeymoon, starting out in England and going throughout Europe, finally ending in a two week cruise/tourfest in Greece. Having been into history for most of my life, I'm really excited to travel and see many of the places/sites of things I've read about.
Partially due to this trip and also simply because the timing felt right, I decided to leave Mission Geoscience, where I've been working for the past 6 months. Its a nice place to work and I'll miss all the friends that I've made. A few of them live nearby and will hopefully continue to be friends long after my last day, which is July 3rd. They mentioned some type of goodbye celebration, which will be fun; they really have treated me well...
As I mentioned a few posts ago, I'm also looking into getting a job in the game industry. I interviewed to be a game tester at Electronic Arts in LA a few weeks back, and they have offered me the job once I return from my trip - in August. My sister has also been of great assistance in helping me look for a design position in southern California and I'm hoping that some of her contacts can help me land a job as a junior designer or level designer somewhere cool. I actually have a phone appointment with one of her friends tonight and he's going to show me the ropes in ZBrush. I've wanted to make games for a long time so now that I have a degree, I'm hoping I can use my amazingness to find a good job somewhere.
I recently started playing some poker and some Warcraft III again. Both have been pretty fun and I think I'll do my best to make sure I leave myself some free time to do both of these things in the coming months.
I'm still working on a Warcraft III map, Overrun, when I have good chunks of time. I probably have a good 30 hours left until all the essential stuff is in there; hopefully I can get it fully functional soon.
On July 8th I'm leaving for a month long honeymoon, starting out in England and going throughout Europe, finally ending in a two week cruise/tourfest in Greece. Having been into history for most of my life, I'm really excited to travel and see many of the places/sites of things I've read about.
Partially due to this trip and also simply because the timing felt right, I decided to leave Mission Geoscience, where I've been working for the past 6 months. Its a nice place to work and I'll miss all the friends that I've made. A few of them live nearby and will hopefully continue to be friends long after my last day, which is July 3rd. They mentioned some type of goodbye celebration, which will be fun; they really have treated me well...
As I mentioned a few posts ago, I'm also looking into getting a job in the game industry. I interviewed to be a game tester at Electronic Arts in LA a few weeks back, and they have offered me the job once I return from my trip - in August. My sister has also been of great assistance in helping me look for a design position in southern California and I'm hoping that some of her contacts can help me land a job as a junior designer or level designer somewhere cool. I actually have a phone appointment with one of her friends tonight and he's going to show me the ropes in ZBrush. I've wanted to make games for a long time so now that I have a degree, I'm hoping I can use my amazingness to find a good job somewhere.
I recently started playing some poker and some Warcraft III again. Both have been pretty fun and I think I'll do my best to make sure I leave myself some free time to do both of these things in the coming months.
I'm still working on a Warcraft III map, Overrun, when I have good chunks of time. I probably have a good 30 hours left until all the essential stuff is in there; hopefully I can get it fully functional soon.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Ramping up for Vegas
Figure I'm going to go home and play some poker today. Been taking some time off, but with the bachelor party looming, definitely need to get some hours in so I can pwn all the tourists...
Friday, June 01, 2007
Starcraft 2 and me.
I want to be involved in the balance of Starcraft II game - ideally as a balance designer at Blizzard at some point. Taking a page out of Zileas' book, I want a dedicated place to make balance comments and suggestions. I have always made lots of balance type posts on Blizzard's forum in the past and this time I am going to take a very focused strategy in approaching how best to fix the problems as they arise.
When I interviewed for the game balance design job last year, I felt like I was the perfect fit for it; semi-pro gamer for a few years, who has always tried to think out of the box regarding Warcraft and Starcraft. I never found out what I was missing in particular for that job, but I personally believe it was simply an experience issue. SC2's release has renewed my personal desire to get this job - even if its for WC4 or SC3!
---
Anyway, life is starting to get in the way of my poker playing. I'm not expecting to post an update on here for a few weeks at least.
When I interviewed for the game balance design job last year, I felt like I was the perfect fit for it; semi-pro gamer for a few years, who has always tried to think out of the box regarding Warcraft and Starcraft. I never found out what I was missing in particular for that job, but I personally believe it was simply an experience issue. SC2's release has renewed my personal desire to get this job - even if its for WC4 or SC3!
---
Anyway, life is starting to get in the way of my poker playing. I'm not expecting to post an update on here for a few weeks at least.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Looking for a job.
Now that summer is rolling around I need to decide what I'm going to be doing next year. I applied and was accepted to the Masters in Ancient History at CSULB, but I was mainly planning on completing that degree so that I could continue to postpone deciding what I want to do with my life. Obviously I have gotten much better in poker in the past year or so (my 2nd year playing) and although I could see making poker my career without the current blocks made by congress. I'm thinking that until that bill is overturned I don't want to consider making poker my lifelong job.
I have always wanted to work in games - specifically at Blizzard Entertainment, and when it comes down to choosing what I'm going to do in the future, I always arrive back at the same thing. I want to be a designer or producer on the RTS team at Blizzard. I've started working in the War3 Map Editior again and I'm going to devote about 1/2 my poker time to developing a map for the Level Design position they have open currently. They suggested I apply for this job last year, but having had very little experience working with the map editor, I decided that I was not going to be able to get it. I still worked on a map for about 4 months, and now having started in the past few weeks, hopefully I'll have a basic functional map up in the next couple weeks.
I am also looking at other companies as well. There are a lot of great companies out there, and having done some research, and been lucky to have a family connection to a few of them, I'm hoping that I find a job where I can dig in, work hard, and learn a lot.
----
In terms of poker I'm still throwing around the idea of playing on Stars vs Tilt. The FPP concept requires a lot of play, and due to my new focused job search I am not sure I will be able to put in enough points to earn supernova any time soon. Really the rewards only come at that level, and I want to maximize my time. That all being said, I find the games easier to beat on Stars, and have won on all 4 sessions I have played on there. Within this I have had 3-4 pretty nasty suckouts against me and I think this encourages me to continue to play on there, having won despite these losses.
I have always wanted to work in games - specifically at Blizzard Entertainment, and when it comes down to choosing what I'm going to do in the future, I always arrive back at the same thing. I want to be a designer or producer on the RTS team at Blizzard. I've started working in the War3 Map Editior again and I'm going to devote about 1/2 my poker time to developing a map for the Level Design position they have open currently. They suggested I apply for this job last year, but having had very little experience working with the map editor, I decided that I was not going to be able to get it. I still worked on a map for about 4 months, and now having started in the past few weeks, hopefully I'll have a basic functional map up in the next couple weeks.
I am also looking at other companies as well. There are a lot of great companies out there, and having done some research, and been lucky to have a family connection to a few of them, I'm hoping that I find a job where I can dig in, work hard, and learn a lot.
----
In terms of poker I'm still throwing around the idea of playing on Stars vs Tilt. The FPP concept requires a lot of play, and due to my new focused job search I am not sure I will be able to put in enough points to earn supernova any time soon. Really the rewards only come at that level, and I want to maximize my time. That all being said, I find the games easier to beat on Stars, and have won on all 4 sessions I have played on there. Within this I have had 3-4 pretty nasty suckouts against me and I think this encourages me to continue to play on there, having won despite these losses.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Played a bit on Stars
I played a little on Stars last night and found the games to be pretty good. I bought in short at 8 tables and quickly trippled the 200$ I had on there when I started. The FPP VIP program seems pretty solid and I could easily see earning 50-100K FPP points per month once I get going.
They have all sorts of great FPP store items for sale including electronics, tournament entries, bonuses, and more. I could easily see ordering a big screen or $1500 bonus about once a month. This seems better than the $500 or so I get in rakeback per month at Full Tilt. For example, the $1500 bonus costs 100K FPPs, but with a earning rate of Supernova status you earn 3.5x as much FPPs, its reasonable to expect to earn 3000+ FPPs in a single session. That would mean that in about 30 sessions I could clear enough to purchase the $1500 bonus, and then in earning more points, I would complete the bonus. If I could somehow eventually get up to the 1/2 games again I could make even more points, and if I could make 1M in a year, I'd get the top status, giving a 5x FPP rate. With that high a rate I could see it very easy to earn more than 100k points per month, and that would mean a lot of free money and expensive items. :D
They have all sorts of great FPP store items for sale including electronics, tournament entries, bonuses, and more. I could easily see ordering a big screen or $1500 bonus about once a month. This seems better than the $500 or so I get in rakeback per month at Full Tilt. For example, the $1500 bonus costs 100K FPPs, but with a earning rate of Supernova status you earn 3.5x as much FPPs, its reasonable to expect to earn 3000+ FPPs in a single session. That would mean that in about 30 sessions I could clear enough to purchase the $1500 bonus, and then in earning more points, I would complete the bonus. If I could somehow eventually get up to the 1/2 games again I could make even more points, and if I could make 1M in a year, I'd get the top status, giving a 5x FPP rate. With that high a rate I could see it very easy to earn more than 100k points per month, and that would mean a lot of free money and expensive items. :D
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Last Chance at FTOPS IV!
FTOPS IV - Event #10 (Main Event)
3:00 PM PST
NL Hold'em (Super Stack)
Buyin: 500+35
1.5M Guarantee
Updates to follow.
3:00 PM PST
NL Hold'em (Super Stack)
Buyin: 500+35
1.5M Guarantee
Updates to follow.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Friday, May 18, 2007
FTOPS IV and Sunday Million!
I am playing in both of these tournaments this weekend.
My big plans for FTOPS have not worked out so far, but I'm hoping to stop donking out in the middle stages and going deep in the last and largest tournament.
I also noticed that Poker Stars is having a deposit bonus and a cool promotion where they are ADDING 250K to the Sunday Million. I wouldn't be surprised to see a 2 million prize pool for this one, which is the largest online tournament I've seen in the past few months. I'm definately playing in this one, having qualified earlier in the week.
I'm adapting a new strategy for these tournaments, which is basically as follows:
Early Stage (Start - 1st Break):
The blinds are very small here so I like to play lots of flops in position. I usually limp with everything aside from AA, KK, or QQ. I try to trap my opponents when I am strong, and bluff them out when I think they will fold. If I'm lucky I'll grab a few lucky hands like a sneaky two pair, straight, flush, or set. I try not to get all-in at this stage without the nuts or near nuts. I won't move all-in preflop with KK or call an allin with AK - I don't see value in taking chances yet. I usually have 3000-6000 chips by the end of this stage.
Middle Stage 1 (1st Break - 2nd Break):
The blinds are getting larger here, but there are no antes yet, and its really not worth it to steal without some sort of hand or particularly tight/weak players in the blinds. I like to play very tight during this stage. Players are starting to feel pressure from the blinds, and there is no longer a huge amount of breathing room in terms of fancy plays and cheap bluffing opportunities. I stick to playing premium hands (AA-QQ, AK-AJ) with a raise and hands with a lot of potential (22-JJ, 65s-KQs, 97s-KJs, Axs) in position with a limp/call. I usually stay about even during this stage, gaining or losing a small quantity of chips, unless I get hit with the deck with lots of great cards.
Middle Stage 2 (2nd Break - 3rd Break):
The antes kick in during this period and the blinds start to become quite significant. Its usually during this stage that the bubble begins to become significant. Its often burst during this stage or early in the next stage so its important to steal a lot of blinds and antes to have a chance at winning. A steal here adds a significant amount of chips to an average player's stack, often one-tenth or more. Simply stealing ten pots during this stage, while hopefully also getting a few hands here will help to build up for the late stages. I think resteals with medium pairs and big aces become a very useful tactic during this stage. Targeting tight players with steals and loose players with resteals can be a great way to chip up without seeing flops. This stage requires a bit of luck, but if you get through it with an average stack, your chances at a signifcant cash are quite good.
Late Stage (3rd Break - Final Table):
I usually play this stage pretty aggressively, but I tend to not make plays without some sort of hand. I'll raise blinds if I can get away with it, but I'm often forced to move allin preflop due to the HUGE blinds. It has been a long time since I have gotten through this point in a large field tournament. It seems like this is where "getting lucky" comes into play. You will have to win coin flips and pair vs pair confrontations here. If those don't go in your favor, there isn't much you can do.
---
As usual I'll continue to update this post with my results as I go. Cheers. :D
My big plans for FTOPS have not worked out so far, but I'm hoping to stop donking out in the middle stages and going deep in the last and largest tournament.
I also noticed that Poker Stars is having a deposit bonus and a cool promotion where they are ADDING 250K to the Sunday Million. I wouldn't be surprised to see a 2 million prize pool for this one, which is the largest online tournament I've seen in the past few months. I'm definately playing in this one, having qualified earlier in the week.
I'm adapting a new strategy for these tournaments, which is basically as follows:
Early Stage (Start - 1st Break):
The blinds are very small here so I like to play lots of flops in position. I usually limp with everything aside from AA, KK, or QQ. I try to trap my opponents when I am strong, and bluff them out when I think they will fold. If I'm lucky I'll grab a few lucky hands like a sneaky two pair, straight, flush, or set. I try not to get all-in at this stage without the nuts or near nuts. I won't move all-in preflop with KK or call an allin with AK - I don't see value in taking chances yet. I usually have 3000-6000 chips by the end of this stage.
Middle Stage 1 (1st Break - 2nd Break):
The blinds are getting larger here, but there are no antes yet, and its really not worth it to steal without some sort of hand or particularly tight/weak players in the blinds. I like to play very tight during this stage. Players are starting to feel pressure from the blinds, and there is no longer a huge amount of breathing room in terms of fancy plays and cheap bluffing opportunities. I stick to playing premium hands (AA-QQ, AK-AJ) with a raise and hands with a lot of potential (22-JJ, 65s-KQs, 97s-KJs, Axs) in position with a limp/call. I usually stay about even during this stage, gaining or losing a small quantity of chips, unless I get hit with the deck with lots of great cards.
Middle Stage 2 (2nd Break - 3rd Break):
The antes kick in during this period and the blinds start to become quite significant. Its usually during this stage that the bubble begins to become significant. Its often burst during this stage or early in the next stage so its important to steal a lot of blinds and antes to have a chance at winning. A steal here adds a significant amount of chips to an average player's stack, often one-tenth or more. Simply stealing ten pots during this stage, while hopefully also getting a few hands here will help to build up for the late stages. I think resteals with medium pairs and big aces become a very useful tactic during this stage. Targeting tight players with steals and loose players with resteals can be a great way to chip up without seeing flops. This stage requires a bit of luck, but if you get through it with an average stack, your chances at a signifcant cash are quite good.
Late Stage (3rd Break - Final Table):
I usually play this stage pretty aggressively, but I tend to not make plays without some sort of hand. I'll raise blinds if I can get away with it, but I'm often forced to move allin preflop due to the HUGE blinds. It has been a long time since I have gotten through this point in a large field tournament. It seems like this is where "getting lucky" comes into play. You will have to win coin flips and pair vs pair confrontations here. If those don't go in your favor, there isn't much you can do.
---
As usual I'll continue to update this post with my results as I go. Cheers. :D
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Ouch!
Full Tilt Poker Game #2449200248: Table Spanish Wells - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:43:57 ET - 2007/05/17
Seat 1: NateSpilker ($98.40)
Seat 2: TOMMI S ($101)
Seat 3: riskybiz2 ($46.80)
Seat 4: KNMPOKER ($124.25)
Seat 5: Tiltasauras ($42.45)
Seat 6: tk_foster ($100.90)
Seat 7: GTJazzFan ($209.60)
Seat 8: Kalbar8 ($128.80)
Seat 9: snooze1 ($93.35)
tk_foster posts the small blind of $0.50
GTJazzFan posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to KNMPOKER [Kd Kh]
Kalbar8 folds
snooze1 folds
NateSpilker raises to $4
TOMMI S has 15 seconds left to act
TOMMI S folds
riskybiz2 folds
KNMPOKER calls $4
Tiltasauras folds
tk_foster folds
GTJazzFan folds
*** FLOP *** [As Ks Qh]
NateSpilker bets $6
KNMPOKER raises to $18
NateSpilker calls $12
*** TURN *** [As Ks Qh] [Qs]
NateSpilker checks
KNMPOKER bets $20
NateSpilker raises to $50
KNMPOKER raises to $80
NateSpilker calls $26.40, and is all in
KNMPOKER shows [Kd Kh]
NateSpilker shows [Ad Qc]
Uncalled bet of $3.60 returned to KNMPOKER
*** RIVER *** [As Ks Qh Qs] [Qd]
KNMPOKER shows a full house, Kings full of Queens
NateSpilker shows four of a kind, Queens
NateSpilker wins the pot ($195.30) with four of a kind, Queens
KNMPOKER adds $74.15
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $198.30 Rake $3
Board: [As Ks Qh Qs Qd]
Seat 1: NateSpilker showed [Ad Qc] and won ($195.30) with four of a kind, Queens
Seat 2: TOMMI S didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: riskybiz2 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: KNMPOKER showed [Kd Kh] and lost with a full house, Kings full of Queens
Seat 5: Tiltasauras (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: tk_foster (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: GTJazzFan (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 8: Kalbar8 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: snooze1 didn't bet (folded)
I'm not one for bad beats, but this was pretty sick.
Seat 1: NateSpilker ($98.40)
Seat 2: TOMMI S ($101)
Seat 3: riskybiz2 ($46.80)
Seat 4: KNMPOKER ($124.25)
Seat 5: Tiltasauras ($42.45)
Seat 6: tk_foster ($100.90)
Seat 7: GTJazzFan ($209.60)
Seat 8: Kalbar8 ($128.80)
Seat 9: snooze1 ($93.35)
tk_foster posts the small blind of $0.50
GTJazzFan posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to KNMPOKER [Kd Kh]
Kalbar8 folds
snooze1 folds
NateSpilker raises to $4
TOMMI S has 15 seconds left to act
TOMMI S folds
riskybiz2 folds
KNMPOKER calls $4
Tiltasauras folds
tk_foster folds
GTJazzFan folds
*** FLOP *** [As Ks Qh]
NateSpilker bets $6
KNMPOKER raises to $18
NateSpilker calls $12
*** TURN *** [As Ks Qh] [Qs]
NateSpilker checks
KNMPOKER bets $20
NateSpilker raises to $50
KNMPOKER raises to $80
NateSpilker calls $26.40, and is all in
KNMPOKER shows [Kd Kh]
NateSpilker shows [Ad Qc]
Uncalled bet of $3.60 returned to KNMPOKER
*** RIVER *** [As Ks Qh Qs] [Qd]
KNMPOKER shows a full house, Kings full of Queens
NateSpilker shows four of a kind, Queens
NateSpilker wins the pot ($195.30) with four of a kind, Queens
KNMPOKER adds $74.15
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $198.30 Rake $3
Board: [As Ks Qh Qs Qd]
Seat 1: NateSpilker showed [Ad Qc] and won ($195.30) with four of a kind, Queens
Seat 2: TOMMI S didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: riskybiz2 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: KNMPOKER showed [Kd Kh] and lost with a full house, Kings full of Queens
Seat 5: Tiltasauras (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: tk_foster (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: GTJazzFan (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 8: Kalbar8 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: snooze1 didn't bet (folded)
I'm not one for bad beats, but this was pretty sick.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Rested and ready to play!
FTOPS IV - Event #6
6:00 PM PST
NL Hold'em (6-Max)
Buyin: 200+16
400k Guarantee
Updates to Follow.
6:00 PM PST
NL Hold'em (6-Max)
Buyin: 200+16
400k Guarantee
Updates to Follow.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Here we go again!
FTOPS IV - Event #3
3:00 PM PST
NL Hold'em
Buyin: 300+22
750k Gurantee
Updates to follow.
3:00 PM PST
NL Hold'em
Buyin: 300+22
750k Gurantee
Updates to follow.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Let the deck smacking begin!
FTOPS IV - Event #1
6:00 PM PST
NL Hold'em
Buyin: 200+16
300k Guarantee
Updates to follow.
6:00 PM PST
NL Hold'em
Buyin: 200+16
300k Guarantee
Updates to follow.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Running into a luckbox...
The past two nights I ran into "JoeyLion." This guy is a LAG player who is solely responsible for me being a negative result player at these limits. A couple nights ago, he called my reraise with AsKh with 8s5s, only to get a board of 4h6s2s. This guy was loose and I felt like I was representing an overpair preflop, so when I bet him nearly all in on the flop, and he pushed, I felt I had to call, getting nearly 3:1 odds. He hit a 5 on the turn to take the pot. Goodie.
Last night I sit down at my typical 8, 1-2 NL tables and look who it is - JoeyLion. Within ten minutes of sitting there, I see him take down AA when he shoves preflop with QQ and hits his third queen on the river. He then went on to hit about 4-5 hands in a row and quickly was up to $600. Its at this point I pick up As8s on the button. There are many callers, including JoeyLion, and I call. The flop comes Ad9s8c. Everyone checks to JoeyLion who bets the pot. I figure he's got an ace, and I want to finally get this guy so I call. The turn is the 7c. JoeyLion bets about 2/3 the pot and I raise to 3.5x his raise. He calls. On the river, a 2h hits and he pushes all in. I feel sick, but decide he might be making a play at me with a flush draw or a straight draw - I call. He shows JcTc for the nuts.
On other tables I manage to recover my losses. I get up to even when I'm about to log off when Joey raises my button from the cutoff to $7. I have AdQc. I reraise to $26. The blinds fold and Joey calls. The flop comes Jc8d2d. Joey checks, I bet $50, and Joey calls. The turn is a 9s. Joey checks and figuring if I put any more chips in I'm moving in, I decide to check and slow down. The river is a Qd. Joey bets $35, again I'm sick, but I have to call with the Ad and finally having hit my hand. Joey shows Ts8s for a Q-high straight.
Now at first I was thinking - wow this guy is lucky. What can I do if he hits his hands every time I'm in the pot with him? After thinking about it a bit more, I've decided he's not lucky. He's just outplaying me.
Most of the time, Joey gets people - including me, to put their chips in AFTER he hits his hand. I have noticed that he's willing to take the worst of it preflop - and then is willing to call off a lot of chips if he "thinks you don't have it." So the key to beating a player like Joey is to make pots large preflop and then only bet/raise/call when you have a hand. Bluffing him isn't worth doing because Joey wants to think you missed the flop. In addition, when Joey puts in his chips, he's got it. He isn't bluffing. So, if he moves in, just lay it down, its not worth keeping Joey "honest."
So, I'm currently down ~$400. Just two buyins - so its really not a HUGE swing, but still not a positive thing. But its all Joey. If I took the hands I played with him out of the equation, I'm up about $400. Pretty disgusting.
Now that I know what Joey is up to, I'm gonna make sure he stops getting lucky against me.
Last night I sit down at my typical 8, 1-2 NL tables and look who it is - JoeyLion. Within ten minutes of sitting there, I see him take down AA when he shoves preflop with QQ and hits his third queen on the river. He then went on to hit about 4-5 hands in a row and quickly was up to $600. Its at this point I pick up As8s on the button. There are many callers, including JoeyLion, and I call. The flop comes Ad9s8c. Everyone checks to JoeyLion who bets the pot. I figure he's got an ace, and I want to finally get this guy so I call. The turn is the 7c. JoeyLion bets about 2/3 the pot and I raise to 3.5x his raise. He calls. On the river, a 2h hits and he pushes all in. I feel sick, but decide he might be making a play at me with a flush draw or a straight draw - I call. He shows JcTc for the nuts.
On other tables I manage to recover my losses. I get up to even when I'm about to log off when Joey raises my button from the cutoff to $7. I have AdQc. I reraise to $26. The blinds fold and Joey calls. The flop comes Jc8d2d. Joey checks, I bet $50, and Joey calls. The turn is a 9s. Joey checks and figuring if I put any more chips in I'm moving in, I decide to check and slow down. The river is a Qd. Joey bets $35, again I'm sick, but I have to call with the Ad and finally having hit my hand. Joey shows Ts8s for a Q-high straight.
Now at first I was thinking - wow this guy is lucky. What can I do if he hits his hands every time I'm in the pot with him? After thinking about it a bit more, I've decided he's not lucky. He's just outplaying me.
Most of the time, Joey gets people - including me, to put their chips in AFTER he hits his hand. I have noticed that he's willing to take the worst of it preflop - and then is willing to call off a lot of chips if he "thinks you don't have it." So the key to beating a player like Joey is to make pots large preflop and then only bet/raise/call when you have a hand. Bluffing him isn't worth doing because Joey wants to think you missed the flop. In addition, when Joey puts in his chips, he's got it. He isn't bluffing. So, if he moves in, just lay it down, its not worth keeping Joey "honest."
So, I'm currently down ~$400. Just two buyins - so its really not a HUGE swing, but still not a positive thing. But its all Joey. If I took the hands I played with him out of the equation, I'm up about $400. Pretty disgusting.
Now that I know what Joey is up to, I'm gonna make sure he stops getting lucky against me.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Stakes and Donkaments...
I've been having a good run lately on Full Tilt, beating the $0.50/$1.00 games consistently. I made a bankroll mark of $3000 to move up to $1.00/$2.00, which I am happy to report I have reached. Yesterday was my first day eight tabling the 1/2 games on FT and I think they are a bit more difficult, but still very beatable. I ended up down about $40 after having a pretty good run and then blowing all of it in a single hand.
The hand went something like:
I had AhKs in the SB. A player in middle position raises it to 3.5x BB ($7). I reraise the pot to $22. My opponent calls. The flop comes down Ad, 9d, 6d. I bet the pot - $60. My opponent moves all in for $100 more. I stupidly call and he shows 9s9h for a set, which became a full house on the river. After thinking about it, this was a stupid call by me. I had thought that he could have a hand like AxKd or KxKd or QxQd, which means he has 10 outs or I'm reverse freerolling. And in a terrible scenario he has the flush or a set and I'm drawing dead. I should have checked the flop, and either called or folded to his bet - then the 4th diamond on the turn would have saved me the rest of my stack for sure. Ah well, next time I will be more careful.
Anyway, I was up on nearly every table when I quit, and even though I had reloaded on more than a couple of them, I view the session as a very positive one. I never really had very big hands, and never had a double up of my own.
---
In addition to FTOPS IV, which I'm quite excited about, I moved $500 over to Poker Stars, where I plan on starting to mine the FPP, $3R, and $39R satellites for tournament dollars and Sunday Million entries.
My goal for this year is $100k. Moving over to stars for a second chance at a big score every sunday seems like the best way to give myself a chance at a HUGE cash.
---
On a last note, I had the worst poker day I've had in a long time yesterday. I lost about 20 tournaments. Although I didn't buyin directly into almost any of them (used $26 tokens I had won), it still was an enormous hit to my confidence and BR and I'm hoping to turn things around tonight. Until next time...
The hand went something like:
I had AhKs in the SB. A player in middle position raises it to 3.5x BB ($7). I reraise the pot to $22. My opponent calls. The flop comes down Ad, 9d, 6d. I bet the pot - $60. My opponent moves all in for $100 more. I stupidly call and he shows 9s9h for a set, which became a full house on the river. After thinking about it, this was a stupid call by me. I had thought that he could have a hand like AxKd or KxKd or QxQd, which means he has 10 outs or I'm reverse freerolling. And in a terrible scenario he has the flush or a set and I'm drawing dead. I should have checked the flop, and either called or folded to his bet - then the 4th diamond on the turn would have saved me the rest of my stack for sure. Ah well, next time I will be more careful.
Anyway, I was up on nearly every table when I quit, and even though I had reloaded on more than a couple of them, I view the session as a very positive one. I never really had very big hands, and never had a double up of my own.
---
In addition to FTOPS IV, which I'm quite excited about, I moved $500 over to Poker Stars, where I plan on starting to mine the FPP, $3R, and $39R satellites for tournament dollars and Sunday Million entries.
My goal for this year is $100k. Moving over to stars for a second chance at a big score every sunday seems like the best way to give myself a chance at a HUGE cash.
---
On a last note, I had the worst poker day I've had in a long time yesterday. I lost about 20 tournaments. Although I didn't buyin directly into almost any of them (used $26 tokens I had won), it still was an enormous hit to my confidence and BR and I'm hoping to turn things around tonight. Until next time...
Thursday, April 26, 2007
FTOPS
FTOPS IV is coming!
I'll be playing in 6 events.
Event 1 - Friday, May 11th - NL Hold'em
Buyin: 200+16
300k Guarantee
QUALIFIED!
Event 3 - Sunday, May 13th - NL Hold'em
Buyin: 300+22
750k Guarantee
QUALIFIED!
ENTRY IN SATELITTE(S): (A) 50+5
Event 4 - Monday, May 14th - NL Hold'em
Buyin: 1000+60
300k Guarantee
ENTRY IN SATELITTE(S): (A)100+9, (B) 200+16
Event 6 - Wednesday, May 16th - 6-Handed NL Hold'em
Buyin: 200+16
400k Guarantee
QUALIFIED!
ENTRY IN SATELITTE(S): (A) 50+5
Event 8 - Friday, May 18th - PL Hold'em
Buyin: 200+16
150k Guarantee
Event 10 - Sunday, May 20th - NL Hold'em
Buyin: 500+35
1.5M Guarantee
QUALIFIED!
I'm planning on winning seats into all of them. I'd love to win an event, but I'd settle for two deep cashes...
I'll be playing in 6 events.
Event 1 - Friday, May 11th - NL Hold'em
Buyin: 200+16
300k Guarantee
QUALIFIED!
Event 3 - Sunday, May 13th - NL Hold'em
Buyin: 300+22
750k Guarantee
QUALIFIED!
ENTRY IN SATELITTE(S): (A) 50+5
Event 4 - Monday, May 14th - NL Hold'em
Buyin: 1000+60
300k Guarantee
ENTRY IN SATELITTE(S): (A)100+9, (B) 200+16
Event 6 - Wednesday, May 16th - 6-Handed NL Hold'em
Buyin: 200+16
400k Guarantee
QUALIFIED!
ENTRY IN SATELITTE(S): (A) 50+5
Event 8 - Friday, May 18th - PL Hold'em
Buyin: 200+16
150k Guarantee
Event 10 - Sunday, May 20th - NL Hold'em
Buyin: 500+35
1.5M Guarantee
QUALIFIED!
I'm planning on winning seats into all of them. I'd love to win an event, but I'd settle for two deep cashes...
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Round 2!
So I played some more MTTs this week. I spent around $200 and 4000 FPP points in tourney entries and won 3 $26 tokens, 1 $75 token, 1 entry into a satelitte into the 1k entry tourney FTOPS #4 ($216) on May 14th, and a $400K seat for today ($216).
The satellites continue to be a great value on FT. Players are very bad, and I find myself in the bubble/money range in nearly all of them.
Hoping I can weed my way through the 400k today. I'll continue to update as I go, with interesting hands.
The satellites continue to be a great value on FT. Players are very bad, and I find myself in the bubble/money range in nearly all of them.
Hoping I can weed my way through the 400k today. I'll continue to update as I go, with interesting hands.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Satellite cheese reborn!
I have started to mine the 14+1 turbo, rebuy satellites on full tilt. I've played 5 so far. Gotten 2 seats - one of which gave me $535 of cash, the other a seat into the 750K tourney. Also one 2nd for $166. Spent about $200 total, made $1236 -> profit roughly $1K. :D
I'm gonna keep playing these a lot. They are full of terrible players so its pretty easy to get pretty deep in every single one. Then its just about getting chips or getting out, and once you have chips, using em' to steal enough blinds to earn a top finish.
I just doubled up in the 750K, trapping a guy I had been needling a bit for about an hour.
More updates to follow.
I'm gonna keep playing these a lot. They are full of terrible players so its pretty easy to get pretty deep in every single one. Then its just about getting chips or getting out, and once you have chips, using em' to steal enough blinds to earn a top finish.
I just doubled up in the 750K, trapping a guy I had been needling a bit for about an hour.
More updates to follow.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Playing in the 750K guarantee on FT
I played in a few satellites today.
3 were FTP tournies that satellite into a huge Super that gives out like 30 seats to the Sunday 750K guarantee. Only first earns a seat in the super - and I managed to win on my 3rd attempt. :)
2 were small rebuy tournies (1+.10 rebuys) that satellites into a 100+9 super satellite that gives away 100+ seats to the 750k guarantee. I lost both of these - but only after the addon period with only my initial rebuy - net loss was only about $6.00
1 was a 14+1 rebuy satellite straight into the $750k guarantee. Guess who won? :D :D :D
I had to double rebuy about halfway though the rebuy period, but it was worth it - for about $70, I earned a 500+35 seat!
I'm going to try to start playing in this tourney every weak - qualifying via satelites. I figure if I can get in it for less than $100 per week, it would be a very good value, and I'm bound to get deep in one of these big ones eventually, for a big cash.
On a side note, I earned about $300 in cash games today. I'm finally feeling like I'm playing well again. I play super tight most of the time, but really try to play my opponents cards more than mine. I really want to try to keep improving. For a while I was starting to get set in my game, and my thoughts of my skills as a player. Truth be told, I'm much worse than I had thought I am. Plain and simple there is no excuse that I'm still playing .50/1 after more than a year, other than my poor play. I know that good players are making a lot of money, and I know I have the potential to reach that point too.
I'm planning on signing up for card runners, which has videos of top pros for download. I think its like $30 a month for unlimited access. So I'll probably subscribe for a month, download all the videos, and then unsubscribe.
I also am going to try to focus on putting some money for tournies aside every week on top of the $100 I'm putting towards qualifying for the big sunday tournament. I'd like to be able to eventually play in all of the big tournies every weekend, on UB, Stars, and FT. The fields are huge, but the payouts are substantial. Most of these final tables often payout 50+K to the final 4-5 players.
Pocketfives really has me interested in tournaments because many players are consistently beating these big tournies, and I feel like if you only enter tournies via satelites, the bigger tournies are a great opportunity. However, buying in for $535 outright into a tourney is clearly inferior to entering for FTP points, a few dollars, or even $50.
One thing I like about tournaments is that situations are much easier to see and attack. Its all about giving yourself lots of folding equity and trapping. I've been much more willing to go broke lately, and I think that has improved my results considerably. I bust out in retarded spots a bit more - I called an all-in of a 2x reraise with K7s to see KK today for instance. But some of the time, those marginal calls with the right odds give you spots to get lucky and get enough chips to make a run at the final table. Patience is important, but more important is knowing when you have a powerful opportunity to leverage your opponents into folding, and chipping up.
I've noticed that in these satelites most players do not adjust well to shorter handed play - so if I can get to a final table, and not run into huge hands, selected aggression dominates this situations big time!
3 were FTP tournies that satellite into a huge Super that gives out like 30 seats to the Sunday 750K guarantee. Only first earns a seat in the super - and I managed to win on my 3rd attempt. :)
2 were small rebuy tournies (1+.10 rebuys) that satellites into a 100+9 super satellite that gives away 100+ seats to the 750k guarantee. I lost both of these - but only after the addon period with only my initial rebuy - net loss was only about $6.00
1 was a 14+1 rebuy satellite straight into the $750k guarantee. Guess who won? :D :D :D
I had to double rebuy about halfway though the rebuy period, but it was worth it - for about $70, I earned a 500+35 seat!
I'm going to try to start playing in this tourney every weak - qualifying via satelites. I figure if I can get in it for less than $100 per week, it would be a very good value, and I'm bound to get deep in one of these big ones eventually, for a big cash.
On a side note, I earned about $300 in cash games today. I'm finally feeling like I'm playing well again. I play super tight most of the time, but really try to play my opponents cards more than mine. I really want to try to keep improving. For a while I was starting to get set in my game, and my thoughts of my skills as a player. Truth be told, I'm much worse than I had thought I am. Plain and simple there is no excuse that I'm still playing .50/1 after more than a year, other than my poor play. I know that good players are making a lot of money, and I know I have the potential to reach that point too.
I'm planning on signing up for card runners, which has videos of top pros for download. I think its like $30 a month for unlimited access. So I'll probably subscribe for a month, download all the videos, and then unsubscribe.
I also am going to try to focus on putting some money for tournies aside every week on top of the $100 I'm putting towards qualifying for the big sunday tournament. I'd like to be able to eventually play in all of the big tournies every weekend, on UB, Stars, and FT. The fields are huge, but the payouts are substantial. Most of these final tables often payout 50+K to the final 4-5 players.
Pocketfives really has me interested in tournaments because many players are consistently beating these big tournies, and I feel like if you only enter tournies via satelites, the bigger tournies are a great opportunity. However, buying in for $535 outright into a tourney is clearly inferior to entering for FTP points, a few dollars, or even $50.
One thing I like about tournaments is that situations are much easier to see and attack. Its all about giving yourself lots of folding equity and trapping. I've been much more willing to go broke lately, and I think that has improved my results considerably. I bust out in retarded spots a bit more - I called an all-in of a 2x reraise with K7s to see KK today for instance. But some of the time, those marginal calls with the right odds give you spots to get lucky and get enough chips to make a run at the final table. Patience is important, but more important is knowing when you have a powerful opportunity to leverage your opponents into folding, and chipping up.
I've noticed that in these satelites most players do not adjust well to shorter handed play - so if I can get to a final table, and not run into huge hands, selected aggression dominates this situations big time!
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
I want a new poker name!
After stumbling upon www.pocketfives.com I have come to two realizations.
1) There is a very active scene of online tournament players who make a living playing tournies full time.
2) My poker name sucks.
I've decided to start playing some MTTs here and there - via satelites mostly AND I've decided that I need a new poker name.
Any suggestions?
1) There is a very active scene of online tournament players who make a living playing tournies full time.
2) My poker name sucks.
I've decided to start playing some MTTs here and there - via satelites mostly AND I've decided that I need a new poker name.
Any suggestions?
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Vegas trip. :D
I just got back from a trip to vegas on Monday night - I was there Sat., Sun., and Mon.
Over the course of this period I played 5 sessions. 2 at Binions, 2 at the Sahara (where I was staying), and 1 at the Rio. Binions plays a 1-2 NL game with no max-buyin. Sahara had a 1-3 NL game with 500 max buyin. Rio had a 2-5 NL game with a 500 max-buyin. At every limit/game I bought in for 200 - I felt like this was a good amount because I didn't want to create a "serious" atmosphere and I still had most players matched or covered at each table.
Overall, I felt the games were incredibly good - I could easily see how poker players could make a living playing just cash game poker in Vegas. Generally, the players were extremely passive or extremely aggressive, but either way they were extremely patterned. I would usually start each session trying to figure out how each player played and then I would just hope to get into pots (in position usually) and take advantage of their weaknesses. I noticed that players checked way more often than in online games - like way, way more often. So, I felt like this was a great thing to exploit. Whenever I limped in on the button and it was checked to me and I felt like everyone was weak - I'd fire out a decent sized bet and nearly always pick up the pot.
One of my favorite plays- and one that I have never done before - largely due to my very little live experience - was calling or checking the SB/BB and then checking the flop dark. It was nearly automatic for players who were the aggressor or were just aggressive in general to bet here. Whenever they did - I would fire out a check raise if I had a decent hand and usually scoop the pot. For example, I had Ts7s on the BB. The cutoff min raised to 2x BB - $10. I called, and checked in the dark. The flop came Th9s2h. My opponent bet 2xBB - $10. I raised to $35 - 7xBB. My opponent folded.
I also sometimes would call in position with mediocre hands like middle aces and suited connectors. When I hit the flop I'd usually just bet out and if I was called - my opponents would just check it down - even if they had something stupid like middle pair. OR if I was lucky, they would bet hands after limping preflop with strong hands - but not made hands. One of my better hands I Th9s on the button. Three players limped in. I called. The SB called and the BB checked. The flop came TcJs3h. A player who I'd seen be pretty aggressive, but often after the flop - rarely preflop, bet about 3x BB - about half the pot. I called - I felt that I very likely had the best hand because I hadn't seen this player hold middle cards up to this point - and I had been playing 3-handed with him for over an hour earlier in the session. I figured this player could only have a hand like a set of jacks or AJ or he had over cards like AK, or AQ. The turn, paired the 3. My opponent bet again, but this time he bet very weak about the same as on the flop. I took this to mean I had the best hand, and figured I might be able to earn a further bluff on the river if I called, but if I raised my opponent would only call with a hand that beat me. The river came a blank - 5d. My opponent, after thinking for a few seconds, bet half the pot. I called - he said "you win" and I scooped the pot with my 2nd pair. :)
I won $200 over the course of my sessions - winning at least a little bit in every single session and $120 in the last one at the Rio - interestingly, I never had a big hand the entire session that I won the most in, but then the blinds were higher and the players were worse.
I liked the 2-5 game a lot more than the 1-2 and 1-3 games. A typical raise to 15 would get a couple callers, but in the 1-2 and 1-3 games it would take a raise to 20 or more to get it 3 handed or heads up. Basically a lower amount of BBs would get fewer players and this made pots easier to play after the flop.
I had one bad beat, one terribly played hand, and two great hands throughout the whole weekend.
Bad Beat?
I don't like telling bad beat stories, so I'll keep this one brief.
Sahara - 1-3 Blinds
I had AsAh UTG in a 6 handed game. I raised to 4x BB and was called by the cutoff and button. The blinds folded. The flop came JT9 rainbow. I checked. The cutoff bet about half the pot. The button called. I moved all-in for about $115- the pot was about $50 at this point, so this was a large overbet. The cutoff called, showed QQ. I was 61.7% to win the pot, but alas, an eight hit the river and my opponent scooped it with a straight.
Donkey is me - but it wouldn't have mattered.
Binions 1-2 Blinds
I raised in middle position with AdAs - to 14 - 7x BB. I got 1 caller in the SB. The flop came Ah5d8d. I bet out about 7x BB - around half the pot. My opponent called. The turn came Jd. My opponent bet $25 - about 8x BB. I had a set of aces - but alas because I'm a moron I didn't realize I also had the nut flush draw. I was a favorite against nearly every hand. I called. The river came the Kd. My opponent checked. And like an idiot who didn't realize he had the nuts, I asked him if he had a diamond and showed my hand. I won the pot - and it turns out he had nothing and was completely bluffing on the turn - but I cannot believe I checked the nuts on the river...
Lucky hand #1
Sahara 1-3 Blinds
I had 9h9d on the BB. A somewhat tight player raised to 5xBB in early position. 2 players called in front of me. I called. The flop came 9cThJh. I bet 7xBB hoping that my opponent, with the preflop lead, would raise - I would like to note that he was relatively short stacked - only about $75 in his stack after the flop. Figuring if he has KQ I'm going broke every time. My opponent obliges by moving all in with AQ and my hand holds up. :) I scoop a nearly $200 pot.
Lucky hand #2
Binions 1-2 Blinds
Ts8s on the BB. 4 players limp in in front of me. I check. The flop comes Tc8h8c. I check. A woman, who had just moved to the table bet about half the pot. I called. The turn was a 5d. I checked and after she bet again, I thought for about 5-6 seconds before calling. The river was Ah. Obviously a bad card for me. I checked - figuring I might have just gotten sucked out. She moved all-in, I crying-called and my boat beat her Qh8d for trips.
Overall, I had a great time and I think live play has so much more potential over online play. Players are sooooo terrible and I could easily see making a lot of money hanging out at the rio or a similar "touristy" casino every weekend. :)
Over the course of this period I played 5 sessions. 2 at Binions, 2 at the Sahara (where I was staying), and 1 at the Rio. Binions plays a 1-2 NL game with no max-buyin. Sahara had a 1-3 NL game with 500 max buyin. Rio had a 2-5 NL game with a 500 max-buyin. At every limit/game I bought in for 200 - I felt like this was a good amount because I didn't want to create a "serious" atmosphere and I still had most players matched or covered at each table.
Overall, I felt the games were incredibly good - I could easily see how poker players could make a living playing just cash game poker in Vegas. Generally, the players were extremely passive or extremely aggressive, but either way they were extremely patterned. I would usually start each session trying to figure out how each player played and then I would just hope to get into pots (in position usually) and take advantage of their weaknesses. I noticed that players checked way more often than in online games - like way, way more often. So, I felt like this was a great thing to exploit. Whenever I limped in on the button and it was checked to me and I felt like everyone was weak - I'd fire out a decent sized bet and nearly always pick up the pot.
One of my favorite plays- and one that I have never done before - largely due to my very little live experience - was calling or checking the SB/BB and then checking the flop dark. It was nearly automatic for players who were the aggressor or were just aggressive in general to bet here. Whenever they did - I would fire out a check raise if I had a decent hand and usually scoop the pot. For example, I had Ts7s on the BB. The cutoff min raised to 2x BB - $10. I called, and checked in the dark. The flop came Th9s2h. My opponent bet 2xBB - $10. I raised to $35 - 7xBB. My opponent folded.
I also sometimes would call in position with mediocre hands like middle aces and suited connectors. When I hit the flop I'd usually just bet out and if I was called - my opponents would just check it down - even if they had something stupid like middle pair. OR if I was lucky, they would bet hands after limping preflop with strong hands - but not made hands. One of my better hands I Th9s on the button. Three players limped in. I called. The SB called and the BB checked. The flop came TcJs3h. A player who I'd seen be pretty aggressive, but often after the flop - rarely preflop, bet about 3x BB - about half the pot. I called - I felt that I very likely had the best hand because I hadn't seen this player hold middle cards up to this point - and I had been playing 3-handed with him for over an hour earlier in the session. I figured this player could only have a hand like a set of jacks or AJ or he had over cards like AK, or AQ. The turn, paired the 3. My opponent bet again, but this time he bet very weak about the same as on the flop. I took this to mean I had the best hand, and figured I might be able to earn a further bluff on the river if I called, but if I raised my opponent would only call with a hand that beat me. The river came a blank - 5d. My opponent, after thinking for a few seconds, bet half the pot. I called - he said "you win" and I scooped the pot with my 2nd pair. :)
I won $200 over the course of my sessions - winning at least a little bit in every single session and $120 in the last one at the Rio - interestingly, I never had a big hand the entire session that I won the most in, but then the blinds were higher and the players were worse.
I liked the 2-5 game a lot more than the 1-2 and 1-3 games. A typical raise to 15 would get a couple callers, but in the 1-2 and 1-3 games it would take a raise to 20 or more to get it 3 handed or heads up. Basically a lower amount of BBs would get fewer players and this made pots easier to play after the flop.
I had one bad beat, one terribly played hand, and two great hands throughout the whole weekend.
Bad Beat?
I don't like telling bad beat stories, so I'll keep this one brief.
Sahara - 1-3 Blinds
I had AsAh UTG in a 6 handed game. I raised to 4x BB and was called by the cutoff and button. The blinds folded. The flop came JT9 rainbow. I checked. The cutoff bet about half the pot. The button called. I moved all-in for about $115- the pot was about $50 at this point, so this was a large overbet. The cutoff called, showed QQ. I was 61.7% to win the pot, but alas, an eight hit the river and my opponent scooped it with a straight.
Donkey is me - but it wouldn't have mattered.
Binions 1-2 Blinds
I raised in middle position with AdAs - to 14 - 7x BB. I got 1 caller in the SB. The flop came Ah5d8d. I bet out about 7x BB - around half the pot. My opponent called. The turn came Jd. My opponent bet $25 - about 8x BB. I had a set of aces - but alas because I'm a moron I didn't realize I also had the nut flush draw. I was a favorite against nearly every hand. I called. The river came the Kd. My opponent checked. And like an idiot who didn't realize he had the nuts, I asked him if he had a diamond and showed my hand. I won the pot - and it turns out he had nothing and was completely bluffing on the turn - but I cannot believe I checked the nuts on the river...
Lucky hand #1
Sahara 1-3 Blinds
I had 9h9d on the BB. A somewhat tight player raised to 5xBB in early position. 2 players called in front of me. I called. The flop came 9cThJh. I bet 7xBB hoping that my opponent, with the preflop lead, would raise - I would like to note that he was relatively short stacked - only about $75 in his stack after the flop. Figuring if he has KQ I'm going broke every time. My opponent obliges by moving all in with AQ and my hand holds up. :) I scoop a nearly $200 pot.
Lucky hand #2
Binions 1-2 Blinds
Ts8s on the BB. 4 players limp in in front of me. I check. The flop comes Tc8h8c. I check. A woman, who had just moved to the table bet about half the pot. I called. The turn was a 5d. I checked and after she bet again, I thought for about 5-6 seconds before calling. The river was Ah. Obviously a bad card for me. I checked - figuring I might have just gotten sucked out. She moved all-in, I crying-called and my boat beat her Qh8d for trips.
Overall, I had a great time and I think live play has so much more potential over online play. Players are sooooo terrible and I could easily see making a lot of money hanging out at the rio or a similar "touristy" casino every weekend. :)
Monday, March 26, 2007
Check-raising on FT
So I've made an observation. Most players on FT have a 4+ agression factor post flop.
This generally means that if you check to them - they bet.
I was noticing that I was missing out on a lot of money because I was nearly always betting on flops. I mean always betting - like I'd bet second pair and flush draws and straight draws - or even stone bluffs. I'd always bet my strong hands too. So top two pair or sets or TPTK, etc.
Now the first group of hands I mentioned are good spots to bet. Often betting out hands that may have you beat is a great thing to do - and is a very profitable play.
However, the second type of hands - the times you are strong - its much, much better to check-raise most flops instead. I do this with overpairs, top pair, sometimes second pair, or my super strong hands.
Advantages to this strategy:
Gives strength out of position. Its so hard to play hands like middle pairs and AK out of position, but if you check-raise with made hands a lot of time, your checks will get more checks behind them, giving you free shots at turn and river cards to make your hand.
Aggressive players like to bet. When you check to an aggressive player, they nearly always bet. However, most won't put any more money in pots with hands like middle pairs or AK when they miss the flop if you bet first. By check-raising you get money in the pot that you wouldn't if you led out. Aggressive bluffers will bet half to pot sized bets on nearly every flop you check, and those bets are just free money, when you check-raise and take the pot away.
Extra information in multiway pots. Aggressive players love reraising in multiway pots with very good hands. Checking lets you see what the players behind you do. Many times it will go raise - reraise, and you can get out of a medium strength hand without losing a dime.
Confuses / misleads opponents. Most players won't put you on a very strong hand if you check the flop. This can lead to extra money won later in the hand. I find that if I check the flop, I like to be more aggressive throughout the rest of the hand. You'd be surprised the types of hands will try to catch you bluffing the turn/river.
-----
Now, its important to note that I'm absolutely not advacating a 100% of the time check raise strategem. What I am saying is when you are out of position and you have a semi-strong to strong hand AND you think its unlikely you will win any more money by betting, checking is the better tactic.
Thoughts? Opinions?
This generally means that if you check to them - they bet.
I was noticing that I was missing out on a lot of money because I was nearly always betting on flops. I mean always betting - like I'd bet second pair and flush draws and straight draws - or even stone bluffs. I'd always bet my strong hands too. So top two pair or sets or TPTK, etc.
Now the first group of hands I mentioned are good spots to bet. Often betting out hands that may have you beat is a great thing to do - and is a very profitable play.
However, the second type of hands - the times you are strong - its much, much better to check-raise most flops instead. I do this with overpairs, top pair, sometimes second pair, or my super strong hands.
Advantages to this strategy:
Gives strength out of position. Its so hard to play hands like middle pairs and AK out of position, but if you check-raise with made hands a lot of time, your checks will get more checks behind them, giving you free shots at turn and river cards to make your hand.
Aggressive players like to bet. When you check to an aggressive player, they nearly always bet. However, most won't put any more money in pots with hands like middle pairs or AK when they miss the flop if you bet first. By check-raising you get money in the pot that you wouldn't if you led out. Aggressive bluffers will bet half to pot sized bets on nearly every flop you check, and those bets are just free money, when you check-raise and take the pot away.
Extra information in multiway pots. Aggressive players love reraising in multiway pots with very good hands. Checking lets you see what the players behind you do. Many times it will go raise - reraise, and you can get out of a medium strength hand without losing a dime.
Confuses / misleads opponents. Most players won't put you on a very strong hand if you check the flop. This can lead to extra money won later in the hand. I find that if I check the flop, I like to be more aggressive throughout the rest of the hand. You'd be surprised the types of hands will try to catch you bluffing the turn/river.
-----
Now, its important to note that I'm absolutely not advacating a 100% of the time check raise strategem. What I am saying is when you are out of position and you have a semi-strong to strong hand AND you think its unlikely you will win any more money by betting, checking is the better tactic.
Thoughts? Opinions?
Friday, March 23, 2007
Crossed to 1K threshold!
Since its all the rage on this blog, I'm going to be trying to change $500 into $5K.
I have started data mining heavily - and am playing .50/1.00 tables at full tilt.
After about 3500 hands in I'm up to $1051. Mind you, $80 is bonus money, but not too bad. I had two pretty "lucky" hands where I won pots of $200+ and I've only lost 4 buyins (or near buyins) in all those hands.
Apparently I play like a little girl though - stats:
VP$IP: 15.8
PFR: 8.3
AGR (Total): 1.61
Not sure where I need to be more aggressive. I rarely ever call other than preflop - and thats when I have PPs (calling for a set) or am trapping - OR if its a limped pot and I don't mind seeing a flop. But - I'm thinking about starting to make my raises always the same - like Matt and I recently talked about. Always raising say 3 or 4 x the BB every time I raise - no matter my hand. I currently vary my bet based on position ala Phil Gordon. I raise 2.5 x BB up front, 3x in middle/late and 3.5 on the button, cutoff, or blinds.
I have started data mining heavily - and am playing .50/1.00 tables at full tilt.
After about 3500 hands in I'm up to $1051. Mind you, $80 is bonus money, but not too bad. I had two pretty "lucky" hands where I won pots of $200+ and I've only lost 4 buyins (or near buyins) in all those hands.
Apparently I play like a little girl though - stats:
VP$IP: 15.8
PFR: 8.3
AGR (Total): 1.61
Not sure where I need to be more aggressive. I rarely ever call other than preflop - and thats when I have PPs (calling for a set) or am trapping - OR if its a limped pot and I don't mind seeing a flop. But - I'm thinking about starting to make my raises always the same - like Matt and I recently talked about. Always raising say 3 or 4 x the BB every time I raise - no matter my hand. I currently vary my bet based on position ala Phil Gordon. I raise 2.5 x BB up front, 3x in middle/late and 3.5 on the button, cutoff, or blinds.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
What do we think of this hand?
FullTiltPoker Game #2040403322:
Table Morgan (6 max) - $0.50/$1 -
No Limit Hold'em - 21:40:33 ET - 2007/03/21
Seat 1: ScratchPlayer ($53.30)
Seat 2: HERO ($106.55)
Seat 3: kew1076 ($100.35)
Seat 4: jasoncho83 ($188.40)
Seat 5: mammamia1355 ($89.20)
Seat 6: Paul Coffey ($96)
kew1076 posts the small blind of $0.50
jasoncho83 posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [Ac 8c]
mammamia1355 calls $1
Paul Coffey calls $1
ScratchPlayer folds
HERO calls $1
kew1076 foldsjasoncho83 checks
*** FLOP *** [2s 3c 7c]
jasoncho83 checks
mammamia1355 bets $4.50
Paul Coffey raises to $12
HERO has 15 seconds left to act
HERO calls $12
jasoncho83 raises to $187.40, and is all in
mammamia1355 calls $83.70, and is all in
Paul Coffey calls $83, and is all in
HERO calls $93.55, and is all in
jasoncho83 shows [2d 2c]
mammamia1355 shows [Kd Kh]
Paul Coffey shows [3h 3s]
HERO shows [Ac 8c]
Uncalled bet of $81.85 returned to jasoncho83
*** TURN *** [2s 3c 7c] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [2s 3c 7c 9c] [Ad]
jasoncho83 shows three of a kind, Twos
HERO shows a flush, Ace high
HERO wins side pot #2 ($21.10) with a flush, Ace high
Paul Coffey shows three of a kind, Threes
HERO wins side pot #1 ($20.40) with a flush, Ace high
mammamia1355 shows a pair of Kings
HERO wins the main pot ($354.30) with a flush, Ace high
First:
When the action first reaches me - is this is a raise, call, or fold situation? Notice two players are acting behind me, and one of them has already raised - all four players are deep stacked.
Second:
When the action reaches me for the second time - is this a call or fold situation?
----
The first situation I viewed as a poor spot for sure. I figured I probably was beat because the flop was pretty bland and so I almost for sure am up against at least top pair and an overpair. I figure I could also be up against a set of any of the ranks on board. So, I looked at my opponents' stack sizes and decided that if I called, I might encourage the other player to call, and then I would be getting a great price to catch my flush. I also figured that if it got reraised by the initial raiser and called by the reraiser, I could call the all-in because of the price I would be getting to see two cards. The large stack sizes would mean that if I did hit my flush I might be able to win a couple more large bets (possibly a player's whole stack) from a set or two pair.
I don't like reraising because if you are up against a set you are an underdog and you need to hit your hand - reraising in this spot would almost certainly be a push or near push. I will also mention that I had very little info on the reraiser - so I had to value his reraise here as a very strong hand - like two pair or a set.
Folding seems a bit silly to me here. The only "bad spot" you could get your money in would be if it got back to the initial raiser who pushed all-in and the reraiser folded.
Okay so, then when the action reaches me again the pot is HUGE, I only have to call $87 to win a $354 pot. So I'm getting about 4:1, and I'm about 3:1 to hit my hand - poker stove puts my equity slightly better at 29%. This is an easy call.
Lucky me - for once.
Table Morgan (6 max) - $0.50/$1 -
No Limit Hold'em - 21:40:33 ET - 2007/03/21
Seat 1: ScratchPlayer ($53.30)
Seat 2: HERO ($106.55)
Seat 3: kew1076 ($100.35)
Seat 4: jasoncho83 ($188.40)
Seat 5: mammamia1355 ($89.20)
Seat 6: Paul Coffey ($96)
kew1076 posts the small blind of $0.50
jasoncho83 posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [Ac 8c]
mammamia1355 calls $1
Paul Coffey calls $1
ScratchPlayer folds
HERO calls $1
kew1076 foldsjasoncho83 checks
*** FLOP *** [2s 3c 7c]
jasoncho83 checks
mammamia1355 bets $4.50
Paul Coffey raises to $12
HERO has 15 seconds left to act
HERO calls $12
jasoncho83 raises to $187.40, and is all in
mammamia1355 calls $83.70, and is all in
Paul Coffey calls $83, and is all in
HERO calls $93.55, and is all in
jasoncho83 shows [2d 2c]
mammamia1355 shows [Kd Kh]
Paul Coffey shows [3h 3s]
HERO shows [Ac 8c]
Uncalled bet of $81.85 returned to jasoncho83
*** TURN *** [2s 3c 7c] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [2s 3c 7c 9c] [Ad]
jasoncho83 shows three of a kind, Twos
HERO shows a flush, Ace high
HERO wins side pot #2 ($21.10) with a flush, Ace high
Paul Coffey shows three of a kind, Threes
HERO wins side pot #1 ($20.40) with a flush, Ace high
mammamia1355 shows a pair of Kings
HERO wins the main pot ($354.30) with a flush, Ace high
First:
When the action first reaches me - is this is a raise, call, or fold situation? Notice two players are acting behind me, and one of them has already raised - all four players are deep stacked.
Second:
When the action reaches me for the second time - is this a call or fold situation?
----
The first situation I viewed as a poor spot for sure. I figured I probably was beat because the flop was pretty bland and so I almost for sure am up against at least top pair and an overpair. I figure I could also be up against a set of any of the ranks on board. So, I looked at my opponents' stack sizes and decided that if I called, I might encourage the other player to call, and then I would be getting a great price to catch my flush. I also figured that if it got reraised by the initial raiser and called by the reraiser, I could call the all-in because of the price I would be getting to see two cards. The large stack sizes would mean that if I did hit my flush I might be able to win a couple more large bets (possibly a player's whole stack) from a set or two pair.
I don't like reraising because if you are up against a set you are an underdog and you need to hit your hand - reraising in this spot would almost certainly be a push or near push. I will also mention that I had very little info on the reraiser - so I had to value his reraise here as a very strong hand - like two pair or a set.
Folding seems a bit silly to me here. The only "bad spot" you could get your money in would be if it got back to the initial raiser who pushed all-in and the reraiser folded.
Okay so, then when the action reaches me again the pot is HUGE, I only have to call $87 to win a $354 pot. So I'm getting about 4:1, and I'm about 3:1 to hit my hand - poker stove puts my equity slightly better at 29%. This is an easy call.
Lucky me - for once.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Poker and Drunk Idiots
Before I get into the details about the ridiculousness which was yesterday I'm gonna get the poker stuff out of the way. I managed to get 4,176 hands in today. I started off on fire, shooting up about 5 buyins on the day... that did not last, after getting coolered on a couple of hands (Set over set, OESFD missing, etc... ) and playing a couple of hands horribly I managed to get myself down to about even. I don't want to say that I was tilted but I was definatly not very happy, mostly at myself for playing like a monkey on meth. Anyway, so I managed to battle back towards the end, finishing up two buyins... which adds up to about 2.5PTBB/100.
Hand 1- This hand was really tough. I hate folding with an overpair to a min raise but I think if I call i'm just going to leak a bunch of chips... I could raise it but I don't think i'm getting my money in ahead of anything thats calling... even if he only has the 8d... i'm still not in very good shape. Have I mentioned how much I hate the min raise?
Hand 2 - I have absolutly no idea what this guy was thinking... he cannot beat anything but a 100% pure bluff... such a donk. I hate getting my stack in with only one pair, but these players are just so bad...
Hand 3 - I'm not sure how well I played this hand, I can't really think of any spot where I could have gotten away from the hand. I dont think I can fold when gaf1704 makes it $5.30 more and then on the turn the pot is $50 and jreezy only had $9.75 in his stack, I'm going to call that so I figured I might as well put him in. The only thing I could have done was possibly check the flop because then they would have gotten it all in and I would have had a chance to fold. Then again, maybe jreezy checks behind me, gaf1704 bets and then I raise and i'm even more commited to the pot. Tough spot... I think this is just one of the times your going to get stacked.
My PT stats for the day
So yesterday I wake up at around 10:30 to get ready for the party me and my buddies had purchased tickets for a week earlier. The big thing about this party was that there we're going to be 3,000 coldshots and it's all you can handle... In retrospect, that sounds like a formula for disaster but none of made that connection at the time. After a hardy breakfast at McDonalds(I haven't been awake early enough for MD's breakfast in years so this seemed like a no brainer), we headed out to the party. We arrive at 11:15, a little late but not many people had shown up yet... Someone comes up with the great idea that we should wager who could drink the most before they ran out(if they ran out)... I think we can all see where this is heading. So we all shotgun our first 5 coldshots in about 20 minutes. For those who don't know, to shotgun a beer if when you make a small hole in the bottom of the can then pop it open and watch all the beer goodness flow into your mouth.
What happend from this point on is kinda blurry... I can tell you this much for certain, after 15 beers, I vommited into the sink... which really hurt me because when you vomit, your beer count gets knocked down 3 which put me on twelwe and since my buddy kyle had just hit 18, things we're not looking good. But fear not, I rallied and managed to tie him with 18 beers... I would like everyone to recognize that this was all in a 2 hour span.
Obviously at this point we we're all very drunk and things started getting out of control... Kyle began ripping off the cabinet doors, I'm not quite sure why but my guess would be that he thought they we're looking at him the wrong way. Eric was urinating in the corner of the room... there we're 300 people in the room. Tom has slipped on the floor and smashed his head on the refridgerator, he later went to the hospital to get 5 stiches on his skull. I was suprisingly doing pretty well... I make an exectutive decision and decide we are leaving for the following reasons - a) Kyle is unable to stand anymore and is falling everywhere
b) We are going to get our faces punched because of Kyle breaking the cabinets and Eric urinating in the room
c) Most important reason of all, they ran out of beer.
The walk home from the party is not long, especially considering we are going to a friends place which is even closer. I would estimate it to be about 400m door to door. About 3/4 of the way there, Kyle decides that he cannot use his legs anymore and collapses. I have included two pictures of us trying to carry kyle... I'm not gonna bother writing anymore about the remaider of the day because I think those two pictures sum it up pretty good.
Hand 1- This hand was really tough. I hate folding with an overpair to a min raise but I think if I call i'm just going to leak a bunch of chips... I could raise it but I don't think i'm getting my money in ahead of anything thats calling... even if he only has the 8d... i'm still not in very good shape. Have I mentioned how much I hate the min raise?
Hand 2 - I have absolutly no idea what this guy was thinking... he cannot beat anything but a 100% pure bluff... such a donk. I hate getting my stack in with only one pair, but these players are just so bad...
Hand 3 - I'm not sure how well I played this hand, I can't really think of any spot where I could have gotten away from the hand. I dont think I can fold when gaf1704 makes it $5.30 more and then on the turn the pot is $50 and jreezy only had $9.75 in his stack, I'm going to call that so I figured I might as well put him in. The only thing I could have done was possibly check the flop because then they would have gotten it all in and I would have had a chance to fold. Then again, maybe jreezy checks behind me, gaf1704 bets and then I raise and i'm even more commited to the pot. Tough spot... I think this is just one of the times your going to get stacked.
My PT stats for the day
So yesterday I wake up at around 10:30 to get ready for the party me and my buddies had purchased tickets for a week earlier. The big thing about this party was that there we're going to be 3,000 coldshots and it's all you can handle... In retrospect, that sounds like a formula for disaster but none of made that connection at the time. After a hardy breakfast at McDonalds(I haven't been awake early enough for MD's breakfast in years so this seemed like a no brainer), we headed out to the party. We arrive at 11:15, a little late but not many people had shown up yet... Someone comes up with the great idea that we should wager who could drink the most before they ran out(if they ran out)... I think we can all see where this is heading. So we all shotgun our first 5 coldshots in about 20 minutes. For those who don't know, to shotgun a beer if when you make a small hole in the bottom of the can then pop it open and watch all the beer goodness flow into your mouth.
What happend from this point on is kinda blurry... I can tell you this much for certain, after 15 beers, I vommited into the sink... which really hurt me because when you vomit, your beer count gets knocked down 3 which put me on twelwe and since my buddy kyle had just hit 18, things we're not looking good. But fear not, I rallied and managed to tie him with 18 beers... I would like everyone to recognize that this was all in a 2 hour span.
Obviously at this point we we're all very drunk and things started getting out of control... Kyle began ripping off the cabinet doors, I'm not quite sure why but my guess would be that he thought they we're looking at him the wrong way. Eric was urinating in the corner of the room... there we're 300 people in the room. Tom has slipped on the floor and smashed his head on the refridgerator, he later went to the hospital to get 5 stiches on his skull. I was suprisingly doing pretty well... I make an exectutive decision and decide we are leaving for the following reasons - a) Kyle is unable to stand anymore and is falling everywhere
b) We are going to get our faces punched because of Kyle breaking the cabinets and Eric urinating in the room
c) Most important reason of all, they ran out of beer.
The walk home from the party is not long, especially considering we are going to a friends place which is even closer. I would estimate it to be about 400m door to door. About 3/4 of the way there, Kyle decides that he cannot use his legs anymore and collapses. I have included two pictures of us trying to carry kyle... I'm not gonna bother writing anymore about the remaider of the day because I think those two pictures sum it up pretty good.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Happy St-Patricks day.
Had the nice suprise of my roomates showing up in my room with beers so that we could chug them as soon as midnight hit... Chugging beer and 8 tabling = leak money. hehe...
Anyway, so I started working on my challenge today and I must say, things are going pretty well. I din't run very well over my first 4127 hands but it din't really matter, the players we're just so bad that I was winning anyway. At one point I was up 8 buyins which would have been huge because I would have been able to move limits much earlier than anticipated however I took a couple of really bad runner runners and it knocked me right back down. I managed to take in about 4 buyins today which means that at this pace I should be able to move up limits in 5 days. Here are my PT stats for the day:
Poker Tracker Stats
You can see that i'm playing about a 14/10 which is really really tight... Frankly, I don't think i've ever played this tight... in my life. I don't regret it at all though, the players at this limit have absolutly no concept of table image so there's no point playing LAG like I normally do. Not only that, it allows me to play more tables. I can play 8 6-max tables with confort which would be impossible if I was playing my standard 22/20.
Today is St-Pat's so theres no way I'm going to be able to get hands in - my friends and I are waking up at 10:00 to head over to a party to see who can drink the most cold shots(6.0 cans of beer) before they run out(there are 3,000 waiting for us when we get there). I expect to me hospitalised around 5:00pm... actually, who are we kidding... I would be lucky to make till 2:00.
Anyway, so I started working on my challenge today and I must say, things are going pretty well. I din't run very well over my first 4127 hands but it din't really matter, the players we're just so bad that I was winning anyway. At one point I was up 8 buyins which would have been huge because I would have been able to move limits much earlier than anticipated however I took a couple of really bad runner runners and it knocked me right back down. I managed to take in about 4 buyins today which means that at this pace I should be able to move up limits in 5 days. Here are my PT stats for the day:
Poker Tracker StatsYou can see that i'm playing about a 14/10 which is really really tight... Frankly, I don't think i've ever played this tight... in my life. I don't regret it at all though, the players at this limit have absolutly no concept of table image so there's no point playing LAG like I normally do. Not only that, it allows me to play more tables. I can play 8 6-max tables with confort which would be impossible if I was playing my standard 22/20.
Today is St-Pat's so theres no way I'm going to be able to get hands in - my friends and I are waking up at 10:00 to head over to a party to see who can drink the most cold shots(6.0 cans of beer) before they run out(there are 3,000 waiting for us when we get there). I expect to me hospitalised around 5:00pm... actually, who are we kidding... I would be lucky to make till 2:00.
Poker Tracker?
I'm looking to start data mining to get some info about my opponents without playing hands with them. I remember hearing about a program that Bruno mentioned that allows you to do something like this. Now that the games are a bit tougher - I think exploiting opponents is the main way to earn money online. I have had much better results lately playing two 6-max tables and using poker tracker and gametime. I was curious if there was a program that basically just opens tables of a certain limit, and allows you to record the hands, then you can put them in poker tracker for use in gametime.
If you had say 1000+ hands of most of your opponents, it would be quite easy to take advantage of their play styles. AND it would also point out players who are fishy or "hobby" type players.
Idealy, I'd like to data mine for a couple weeks 8-10 hours a day, maybe even 16+ if I let it run at night too. Then I'd sit down at a few tables and really have a HUGE advantage over my opponents.
Along these lines - I was curious if any of you have given much thought into the best ways to take advantage of players with various stats. I'm gonna try to really focus on the best ways to beat players with a certain W$SD or VPIP.
If you had say 1000+ hands of most of your opponents, it would be quite easy to take advantage of their play styles. AND it would also point out players who are fishy or "hobby" type players.
Idealy, I'd like to data mine for a couple weeks 8-10 hours a day, maybe even 16+ if I let it run at night too. Then I'd sit down at a few tables and really have a HUGE advantage over my opponents.
Along these lines - I was curious if any of you have given much thought into the best ways to take advantage of players with various stats. I'm gonna try to really focus on the best ways to beat players with a certain W$SD or VPIP.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
$500 to $5,000
I've been kinda slacking with my bankroll management latly, I've been playing very well but have been unable to really keep growing my bankroll for two reasons:
a) I've been taking shots at higher limits when I have really good sessions.
b) I've been donking it up in too many tournaments, normally this would not be a problem but the buyins keep getting bigger and bigger and my bankroll has noticed.
I was talking with a friend of mine and we decided that if we had a goal, something tangable, we would be much better off. Not only is this something to shoot for, I can be held accountable for my results. I've been telling myself "Oh, your just running badly" way too much latly. I need to be accountable, there are hands you sometimes can't get away from, but it's way to easy to simply chalk it up to bad luck.
The goal is to run $500 into $5,000 in two months... we're gonna start at the 0.25/0.50 level and we hope to play about 2,500 hands a day. I think having someone doing this with me will definatly keep me focused down the road.
The timing for this is pretty good because i've been meaning to rollover alot of my bankroll into stock(namely: KAT on the TSX) so while i'm doing this my money won't be idling away. I'm going to use this blog to chronicle my progress.
Here we go...
a) I've been taking shots at higher limits when I have really good sessions.
b) I've been donking it up in too many tournaments, normally this would not be a problem but the buyins keep getting bigger and bigger and my bankroll has noticed.
I was talking with a friend of mine and we decided that if we had a goal, something tangable, we would be much better off. Not only is this something to shoot for, I can be held accountable for my results. I've been telling myself "Oh, your just running badly" way too much latly. I need to be accountable, there are hands you sometimes can't get away from, but it's way to easy to simply chalk it up to bad luck.
The goal is to run $500 into $5,000 in two months... we're gonna start at the 0.25/0.50 level and we hope to play about 2,500 hands a day. I think having someone doing this with me will definatly keep me focused down the road.
The timing for this is pretty good because i've been meaning to rollover alot of my bankroll into stock(namely: KAT on the TSX) so while i'm doing this my money won't be idling away. I'm going to use this blog to chronicle my progress.
Here we go...
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Focusing on hand reading.
I'm going to attempt an experiment over the next few weeks. I have cashed out nearly all my money off of my poker accounts, leaving me with about $300. I'm going to play $0.50/$1.00, two tables at once and focos on playing lots of hands, with the focus on hand reading. I think thats the main thing I've lost by playing short stack for so long.
There is an odd tendancy I catch myself doing all the time - trying to steal pots from players who I percieve as being medium strong to strong in hand strength. The thing is, most of the time if you can get pots to 2-3 handed you can generally steal a lot of pots from people who DON'T like their hands. I need to stop trying to take pots away from players who believe they have the best hand because trying to convince them they don't is rather difficult.
I'm going to focus my new strategy on two things.
1) Raise and fold poker. From now on I'm not going to call - almost ever. I think even a hand like 78s can gain something from a late position raise against lots of limpers. Obviously, just like I would do with a hand like QQ, KK, or AA - a bit larger raise in these spots is necessary, and I think the goal in these spots is to get your opponents to fold outright before the flop.
2) Floating. I think the bluff-call play is really the only time a player should call (other then when trapping). I am going to try to call continuation bets in position when I think my opponents are unlikely to have connected with the flop, regardless of my hand strength. The idea being that they will likely check on the turn and a 3/4 pot sized bet will usually take the pot away. Floating can show an opponent's lack of want for the pot, which is when a bluff has a high frequency of success. Obviously, floating when an ace hits would be a stupid play most of the time. its usually good to make this play when the board comes like J73 rainbow and your opponent had raised preflop - heads up pot.
Results to follow...
There is an odd tendancy I catch myself doing all the time - trying to steal pots from players who I percieve as being medium strong to strong in hand strength. The thing is, most of the time if you can get pots to 2-3 handed you can generally steal a lot of pots from people who DON'T like their hands. I need to stop trying to take pots away from players who believe they have the best hand because trying to convince them they don't is rather difficult.
I'm going to focus my new strategy on two things.
1) Raise and fold poker. From now on I'm not going to call - almost ever. I think even a hand like 78s can gain something from a late position raise against lots of limpers. Obviously, just like I would do with a hand like QQ, KK, or AA - a bit larger raise in these spots is necessary, and I think the goal in these spots is to get your opponents to fold outright before the flop.
2) Floating. I think the bluff-call play is really the only time a player should call (other then when trapping). I am going to try to call continuation bets in position when I think my opponents are unlikely to have connected with the flop, regardless of my hand strength. The idea being that they will likely check on the turn and a 3/4 pot sized bet will usually take the pot away. Floating can show an opponent's lack of want for the pot, which is when a bluff has a high frequency of success. Obviously, floating when an ace hits would be a stupid play most of the time. its usually good to make this play when the board comes like J73 rainbow and your opponent had raised preflop - heads up pot.
Results to follow...
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Apparently I suck at poker now.
I have had a losing session the last like 10 sessions I've played. I'm not quite sure why - in fact I very rarely made huge mistakes. I had a few hands where I played them a bit strangely and that cost me big. For example I was dealt AhKh on the cutoff. It went early position limp, few folds, 4.5x BB raise, call, to me. I raised to 18xBB to try to just pick it up. I had about 100xBB in front of me before this hand. The raiser calls, and the caller folds. The flop comes QcJc3h. My opponent checks. Now I think about his holdings and assume he probably could have a hand like QQ or AK or obviously a powerhouse like AA or KK. I figure that my best move is to bet here because if I check, I am giving up the pot AND I also figure unless my opponent has exactly AA or QQ I have a decent number of outs to win the pot. I bet 10xBB into this 40xBB pot. My opponent minraises to 20xBB. Now I look at the pot and see that I'm getting 6:1 on my money here. I have no idea if my ace or king is good if I hit them, but I can be sure that a Jack gives me the best hand. I decide a call is good given the price I'm being offered. The turn is an ace. My opponent moves all in for 55xBB. I decide that my opponent can have AQ and I'm screwed or he has QQ and I'm really screwed. But for some reason I felt like its very likley we have the same hand and I decide to call. He had three queens and they held up.
Stupid I suppose, but then I cannot believe he called that reraise preflop from a super tight player with QQ. :(
Anyway, I have just been running/playing so badly lately. I'm going to stop multitabling more than 4 tables now. I don't know if it will help, but I really do think I need to try something to get back on track.
Incidently, I had a good run with the short stack strategy at one point and was up $800, then had an absolutely terrible run and lost all of my profit and then some. :(
Stupid I suppose, but then I cannot believe he called that reraise preflop from a super tight player with QQ. :(
Anyway, I have just been running/playing so badly lately. I'm going to stop multitabling more than 4 tables now. I don't know if it will help, but I really do think I need to try something to get back on track.
Incidently, I had a good run with the short stack strategy at one point and was up $800, then had an absolutely terrible run and lost all of my profit and then some. :(
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Moving back to deep stack poker...
The short stack strategy investigation I've been up to has led me to believe that playing short is probably more profitable against good players. However, against poor players, playing deep is still optimal. I started messing around on FT and UB after getting some rakeback money. Its just so easy to play against mid level players .25/.50 and .50/1 by making lots of small bets after the flop. And very few things are more enjoyable then felting someone with a trap. :) Something I surely missed when I was always the ALLIN player as the short stack.
Small ball is so fun. I get to play more hands, and it seems that as long as you have some patience and willingness to toss medium strength hands in the sight of super aggression then it can be soooo much more profitable.
Small ball is so fun. I get to play more hands, and it seems that as long as you have some patience and willingness to toss medium strength hands in the sight of super aggression then it can be soooo much more profitable.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Short Stack Strategy
I have been developing a new strategy for beating NL cash games. I've started experimenting with buying in short stacked and I believe I have created a nearly unbeatable strategy for most NL cash full ring games. So here we go...
I buyin as short as possible. At a .50/1 no-limit table I buyin for $20 - 20 BBs. Basically the strategy involves manipulating a few weaknesses most opponents have.
1) If a deep stacked player raises and a short stack reraises they call too often with weaker hands than they should. (This tends to be because they do not give as much credit to short stacked players - considering them desperate. It also is due to the fact that even if they lose they reason its not a huge deal - they will only lose a few BBs in comparison to their deep stack.
2) If a player raises most opponents put them on AK - and generally underestimate their strength on flops without an Ace or King.
3) Most players bluff often, both preflop and after the flop.
4) Most players do not consider implied odds before deciding to play their hands preflop.
Basically short stack play removes a major barrier for the short stack and the deep stack. If a player flops something, they do not need to worry very much about being trapped or making a big laydown. From the short stack's perspective - playing hands that are very strong on most flops makes the most sense. From the deep stack's perspective - short stack players do not have enough chips that its a big deal if they lose. What this leads to, is a tendency for deep stacks to keep short stacks "honest" and look them up with top pair weak kicker or middle pair. This means that if a short stack player only plays very premium hands - and plays them overly aggressively, then they will beat most deep stack players on most flops. For example, if you only play AA, KK, QQ, AK then the vast majority of the time you will have the best hand after the flop, regardless of if you improve your hand or not.
Preflop I have noticed that players who are deep stacked will call large overbets made by short stacks with pretty terrible cards a lot of the time. The majority of these players will call with nearly all pairs, AK-AJ, and sometimes much, much worse, like 78s or A5s. I was actually called by a 43os yesterday. So to exploit this tendency I like to raise and reraise with any hand I think is a 50/50 or better. If I reraise it is always all-in if I have below my initial buyin amount. My favorite hands to do this with are JJ, QQ, and AK. So for example. A player raises in middle position to 3x BB. The button calls and I look down and find AcKs in the SB. I raise all-in for 20x BB. Now notice, any pair is a favorite to my hand, but then, any ace is an underdog, and many other hands are in terrible shape, like KQ or 67. In addition I have locked up both player's raises in the pot. This means that if they fold I win 7.5 BBs. This folding equity makes my play at least break even, against 50/50 hands - but then a certain percentage of the time (I have found this to depend on the opponents in the game) I am called by terrible hands and am as much as a 4:1 favorite (overpair vs underpair situations). So, I estimate that my expected value is nearly always positive when I make this play. I don't mind getting called, and I certainly don't mind picking up free money.
The second part of the strategy, is recognizing that if I have top pair or better I nearly always have the best hand. I can raise and reraise or call all-in with these hands. I also know that players won't give me credit for a hand when the flops do not contain an Ace or King. So I tend to bet my overpairs strongly regardless of the board texture, if I suspect my opponent may try to bluff me off my hand. I will bet just enough to communicate that I have enough left to fold. Players will raise me allin with 2nd pair, flush draws, straight draws, even ace-high. You would be surprised. On paired boards I nearly always bet my made hands. Players with pairs nearly always reraise me. Today I got it all in three seperate times in situations like this. Every time I had an overpair to the board and had my opponent drawing at 5 outs or less.
The important thing is that they are not considering the situation very clearly. They have very small implied odds against me because of my chip stack size. AND I always set myself up by betting more preflop so that I can make easier decisions on the flop. If I make a 4x BB raise or larger preflop. Than my 20x BB stack is pretty much committed if I get more than 2 callers.
For example, two players limp in early position and I have KhKd on the cutoff. I raise it to 4x BB. The BB calls and the two limpers call. There are 16.5 x BB in the pot. If I started with 20x BB preflop, I now have 16x BB left. Any flop without an ace is a simple all-in, unless I am sure that I could not possibly have the best hand (ie two players go all-in in front of me or something nutty). Basically, I only have enough chips to make a single play, so I don't have to worry about my opponents hitting a set. In addition, if a pot is heads up, my opponents are almost never getting the right odds to call me preflop in an attempt to hit a set or a straight or flush. (the chance to hit a set is 8.5 to 1, so if I raise to 3x BB my opponents will be unable to win the necessary 26X BB from me required to justify calling to hit it).
The the limp-reraise is my favorite play with this strategy preflop because hands like TT or JJ or AK which can be very difficult to play out of position on most flops can simply be put to an all-in preflop. I had one table where I limp reraised 4 times within an hour with big hands and was called by inferior hands every single time. AK vs AT, AK vs KQ, TT vs 55, JJ vs 88. The key here is that, as I said before, a lot of the time I am committed on flops, so if I'm gonna play these hands I'd rather just get it all in preflop, than have to make very difficult decisions after the flop - most of the time being all-in. But here, my decisions are not as cut and dry as with hands like AA or KK. Its not very likely that JJ is ahead on a AK2 board. or even a Q42 board. By limp reraising, I do sometimes see flops when it gets limped/checked around. But when this happens I just try to play "flop it or fold it" strategy. If I miss I just check fold and move on. It really sucks to raise with AK in early position, get three callers and see a 279 flop. I just avoid this completely by moving all-in preflop and forcing my opponents to make the mistakes.
I will add further updates as I think of some of the subtleties of the strategy...
I buyin as short as possible. At a .50/1 no-limit table I buyin for $20 - 20 BBs. Basically the strategy involves manipulating a few weaknesses most opponents have.
1) If a deep stacked player raises and a short stack reraises they call too often with weaker hands than they should. (This tends to be because they do not give as much credit to short stacked players - considering them desperate. It also is due to the fact that even if they lose they reason its not a huge deal - they will only lose a few BBs in comparison to their deep stack.
2) If a player raises most opponents put them on AK - and generally underestimate their strength on flops without an Ace or King.
3) Most players bluff often, both preflop and after the flop.
4) Most players do not consider implied odds before deciding to play their hands preflop.
Basically short stack play removes a major barrier for the short stack and the deep stack. If a player flops something, they do not need to worry very much about being trapped or making a big laydown. From the short stack's perspective - playing hands that are very strong on most flops makes the most sense. From the deep stack's perspective - short stack players do not have enough chips that its a big deal if they lose. What this leads to, is a tendency for deep stacks to keep short stacks "honest" and look them up with top pair weak kicker or middle pair. This means that if a short stack player only plays very premium hands - and plays them overly aggressively, then they will beat most deep stack players on most flops. For example, if you only play AA, KK, QQ, AK then the vast majority of the time you will have the best hand after the flop, regardless of if you improve your hand or not.
Preflop I have noticed that players who are deep stacked will call large overbets made by short stacks with pretty terrible cards a lot of the time. The majority of these players will call with nearly all pairs, AK-AJ, and sometimes much, much worse, like 78s or A5s. I was actually called by a 43os yesterday. So to exploit this tendency I like to raise and reraise with any hand I think is a 50/50 or better. If I reraise it is always all-in if I have below my initial buyin amount. My favorite hands to do this with are JJ, QQ, and AK. So for example. A player raises in middle position to 3x BB. The button calls and I look down and find AcKs in the SB. I raise all-in for 20x BB. Now notice, any pair is a favorite to my hand, but then, any ace is an underdog, and many other hands are in terrible shape, like KQ or 67. In addition I have locked up both player's raises in the pot. This means that if they fold I win 7.5 BBs. This folding equity makes my play at least break even, against 50/50 hands - but then a certain percentage of the time (I have found this to depend on the opponents in the game) I am called by terrible hands and am as much as a 4:1 favorite (overpair vs underpair situations). So, I estimate that my expected value is nearly always positive when I make this play. I don't mind getting called, and I certainly don't mind picking up free money.
The second part of the strategy, is recognizing that if I have top pair or better I nearly always have the best hand. I can raise and reraise or call all-in with these hands. I also know that players won't give me credit for a hand when the flops do not contain an Ace or King. So I tend to bet my overpairs strongly regardless of the board texture, if I suspect my opponent may try to bluff me off my hand. I will bet just enough to communicate that I have enough left to fold. Players will raise me allin with 2nd pair, flush draws, straight draws, even ace-high. You would be surprised. On paired boards I nearly always bet my made hands. Players with pairs nearly always reraise me. Today I got it all in three seperate times in situations like this. Every time I had an overpair to the board and had my opponent drawing at 5 outs or less.
The important thing is that they are not considering the situation very clearly. They have very small implied odds against me because of my chip stack size. AND I always set myself up by betting more preflop so that I can make easier decisions on the flop. If I make a 4x BB raise or larger preflop. Than my 20x BB stack is pretty much committed if I get more than 2 callers.
For example, two players limp in early position and I have KhKd on the cutoff. I raise it to 4x BB. The BB calls and the two limpers call. There are 16.5 x BB in the pot. If I started with 20x BB preflop, I now have 16x BB left. Any flop without an ace is a simple all-in, unless I am sure that I could not possibly have the best hand (ie two players go all-in in front of me or something nutty). Basically, I only have enough chips to make a single play, so I don't have to worry about my opponents hitting a set. In addition, if a pot is heads up, my opponents are almost never getting the right odds to call me preflop in an attempt to hit a set or a straight or flush. (the chance to hit a set is 8.5 to 1, so if I raise to 3x BB my opponents will be unable to win the necessary 26X BB from me required to justify calling to hit it).
The the limp-reraise is my favorite play with this strategy preflop because hands like TT or JJ or AK which can be very difficult to play out of position on most flops can simply be put to an all-in preflop. I had one table where I limp reraised 4 times within an hour with big hands and was called by inferior hands every single time. AK vs AT, AK vs KQ, TT vs 55, JJ vs 88. The key here is that, as I said before, a lot of the time I am committed on flops, so if I'm gonna play these hands I'd rather just get it all in preflop, than have to make very difficult decisions after the flop - most of the time being all-in. But here, my decisions are not as cut and dry as with hands like AA or KK. Its not very likely that JJ is ahead on a AK2 board. or even a Q42 board. By limp reraising, I do sometimes see flops when it gets limped/checked around. But when this happens I just try to play "flop it or fold it" strategy. If I miss I just check fold and move on. It really sucks to raise with AK in early position, get three callers and see a 279 flop. I just avoid this completely by moving all-in preflop and forcing my opponents to make the mistakes.
I will add further updates as I think of some of the subtleties of the strategy...
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Oh Dear.
Due to some changes in the online poker industry, NETeller has decided to no longer process payments as of January 17 to customers within the United States.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Vegas Day 2 - Part 1, Harrah's
Woke up around 11am and by 11:30 I was at Harrah's poker room. One of the cab drivers had told me that Harrah's had one of the juiciest $1/$2 NL games so I decided that it would be a good place to start the day.
When I arrived there was only one table going, lucky for me, it was pretty soft. It seemed like only a couple of the players had any real knowledge. I bought in for $300 and within a 1/2 hour I had lost 1/2 of it... Not much I could have really done about it, I was just missing flops with decent starting hands. I still had not seen AA or KK which was a little frustrating but I kept telling myself atleast when I did see them at this table I was going to make some money.
After 3 hours of play, I was stuck about $150 and had was $300 deep(I chip up anytime my stack drops below $280).
Hand #1
Im in the big blind and am dealth 4d/4h.
2 players limp and the button makes it $10. I call in the BB because the button has about $500 behind and both limpers also have me covered. Both limpers call.
Flop comes 5c/Jc/4c.
I flop my first set of the trip, unfortunetly it's on a solid board. Knowning that I will probably get action for a single big club, I bet $50 into $41. Both limpers fold and the button insta-calls.
Turn is the 5d.
Gin. I slow down a bit and bet $100. Button once again instacalls me. I din't think that the he was so bad that he would call me with only a flush draw here so I decided he must either have A/J with the Ac or preferably, A/5 with the Ac - there was also a posibility that he was holding J/J for a bigger boat but it really did not matter because im playing this hand to the felt.
River was a red 10.
I moved all in for the remaider of my chips, $140. He sighs and calls. He shows A/J with the Ac. Ship it.
Hand #2
I've managed to build my stack up to $800, im in for $450. I've been playing for 5 hours.
I'm dealth Ac/Qc on the button. There are two limpers in front of me so I make it $12 to go. The BB calls me and the two limpers fold.
Flop comes 4d/6c/3c.
The BB bests $25 and I raise to $60. He thinks for a few seconds and decided to call. I figure his range was 77-TT.
Turn was 4c.
Not the greatest club, but I was happy to see it anyway. This time the BB checked to me, I bet $100. He called. This made me very happy.
River 4s.
The worst card I could see. It kills my hand and probably won't help him fold. He checks and I check behind. He says "You have a big pair?" "Nope, I have a hopeless flush" and he erupts... he turns over 10/6o and does a victory lap around the table. "Man, I was sure you had a big pair when you bet the turn" to which someone else at the table replied "Then why did you call?"
I left Harrah's at around 5pm up $180 feeling disapointed at my inability to come out with a big win but I still haden't seen the real money making hands, could things we're going to happend, thats what I though anyway.
When I arrived there was only one table going, lucky for me, it was pretty soft. It seemed like only a couple of the players had any real knowledge. I bought in for $300 and within a 1/2 hour I had lost 1/2 of it... Not much I could have really done about it, I was just missing flops with decent starting hands. I still had not seen AA or KK which was a little frustrating but I kept telling myself atleast when I did see them at this table I was going to make some money.
After 3 hours of play, I was stuck about $150 and had was $300 deep(I chip up anytime my stack drops below $280).
Hand #1
Im in the big blind and am dealth 4d/4h.
2 players limp and the button makes it $10. I call in the BB because the button has about $500 behind and both limpers also have me covered. Both limpers call.
Flop comes 5c/Jc/4c.
I flop my first set of the trip, unfortunetly it's on a solid board. Knowning that I will probably get action for a single big club, I bet $50 into $41. Both limpers fold and the button insta-calls.
Turn is the 5d.
Gin. I slow down a bit and bet $100. Button once again instacalls me. I din't think that the he was so bad that he would call me with only a flush draw here so I decided he must either have A/J with the Ac or preferably, A/5 with the Ac - there was also a posibility that he was holding J/J for a bigger boat but it really did not matter because im playing this hand to the felt.
River was a red 10.
I moved all in for the remaider of my chips, $140. He sighs and calls. He shows A/J with the Ac. Ship it.
Hand #2
I've managed to build my stack up to $800, im in for $450. I've been playing for 5 hours.
I'm dealth Ac/Qc on the button. There are two limpers in front of me so I make it $12 to go. The BB calls me and the two limpers fold.
Flop comes 4d/6c/3c.
The BB bests $25 and I raise to $60. He thinks for a few seconds and decided to call. I figure his range was 77-TT.
Turn was 4c.
Not the greatest club, but I was happy to see it anyway. This time the BB checked to me, I bet $100. He called. This made me very happy.
River 4s.
The worst card I could see. It kills my hand and probably won't help him fold. He checks and I check behind. He says "You have a big pair?" "Nope, I have a hopeless flush" and he erupts... he turns over 10/6o and does a victory lap around the table. "Man, I was sure you had a big pair when you bet the turn" to which someone else at the table replied "Then why did you call?"
I left Harrah's at around 5pm up $180 feeling disapointed at my inability to come out with a big win but I still haden't seen the real money making hands, could things we're going to happend, thats what I though anyway.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Vegas Day 1
I got into vegas at about 12:30 local time, I was supposed to arrive at 11:45 however my flight got delayed in denver due to the cold, something about the plane being frozen. I was a little frustrated at the delay but when I found out that the plane was equipped with TVs for every passenger, all was well, the added purk allowed me to catch the new poker show - poker after dark, very entertaining.
When I arrived, I met up with Griffin at the airport, he had gotten in at about 11:45 - after the manditory greetings we hustled to get out of there, we we're both tired but still wanted to get in a short session. Unfortunetly there was a small problem, my bag was nowhere to be found... We ended up having to stay an extra hour at the airport. It seemed my bag had been left in Denver, they would send it to me in the morning... no big deal I guess. We decided to just get some food and head back to the hotel, better to be rested for the long session the next day.
We woke up at around 9am and headed over the convention center, I had agreed to help with the setup of the Sennheiser booth at CES(Consumer Electronics Converntion). It was pretty boring but they did feed us and give us access to open bar... so I can't really complain.
When I arrived at ceaser's poker room it was already 7:00, alot later that I had hoped to get there but I was still thrilled to finally get the chance to play some poker in vegas. I really liked that you could come in for as much as $500 in a $1/$2 game at ceaser's, I've always felt that I was at my best with a big stack in ring games(not so much tournaments). Anyway, I take a look at the stacks on the table and decide to buy in for $200. There we're a few large stacks at the table and I didn't want to put so much money at jeapordy with limited information. After I got a feel for the table, I put $300 more behind.
I was pretty card dead but I did manage to make the most of my opportunities.
Hand #1:
Im dealt AQo in the small blind.
Two players limp in and the most aggresive player at the table make its $12 to go from the cutoff. I decide that I probably have the best hand and raise to $35 strait. He quickly calls.
Flop comes 10/7/4 rainbow.
I check and the CO makes it $35. I think for awhile and flat call. I had decided that I was going to represent a big hand here, I felt that he was weak and that I could take this pot off on a later street.
Turn is a brick.
I check once again hoping that he will fire again, he does - $45 strait. Talk about a week bet, once again I think for awhile but this time I come over the top for $135 and he instantly mucks his hand. We both had another $350 behind so he would have needed Aces or Kings to stick around. Griffin at the other end of table says something along the lines of "Way to flop top set", I smile and say "you know me too well, i flopped then nuts". Later on I told him that It was a stone cold bluff, I still don't think he believes me.
Hand #2:
I'm dealth K/Qo in the small blind with $550 behind.
UTG comes in for $10 strait, 5 players call, not common, I decide to see a flop - I was not going to play with one pair but if I hit big I saw the pottential to win alot of money since many of the players had me covered.
Flop comes Jh/9c/8h.
I check hoping to get a free shot at my gutter, I realized that if a 10 hit I was going to crush anyone else holding a Q and maybe even get some money out of a 7. Everyone checks.
Turn 10s.
Gin. I lead out at the pot for $65 into $72. I wanted to set an expensive price if someone wanted to draw to the clubs, any other Q was going to pay me off no matter what I bet. I realized that this bet would probably scare off sevens but I was willing to give up a little in this spot. The button calls me after a little though.
Turn is a complete brick. At this point I had to make a decision, do I move all in and hope he calls me with a Queen or do I put more of a value bet in. Generally this would have been an easy push but the player at the end of the table was very loose and there was a possibility that he had called me with something other than the strait. I decided to make it $210 strait. He quickly called and I turned over my hand. He said "there's no way I could give you that hand - I had the Q" and he mucked his hand. At first I was upset because it seemed like I had missed some money but later griffin told me that he saw his hand and that he only had the 7. Ship it.
My stack got grinded away as I called with more marginal hands trying to stack some of the deeper players at the table buy I was unable to hit any flops. At 11am, I cashed out of the cash game so that I could sign up for the $70+10 tournament. The blind structure wasen't great but it wasen't completly attrocious either. You start with 2500 in chips and blinds start at 25/50 with 30 minute levels. Tournaments seemed to attract much worse players which easily made up for the luck factor. Unfortunely when we hit first break my stack was down to 1000 with blinds of 100/200 and 25 ante, did I mention that I was going to be UTG+1 on the next hand. I had decided that I was pushing it with any two. UTG limped and I was dealt 8/10o, I was very happy to put all my chips the button made the call and everyone else folded. He turned over 9/8s... I laughed out loud, I had him dominated. He missed and my stack was up to 2700... not bad!
Two hands later I was dealth 9c/4c, everyone folded and the small blind completed. Flop came Q/J/8 with two clubs, a very solid board for me. The small blind lead out for 600. One of the players who had folded accidently turned over the hand and it included a Q so I figure that she was probably only on a J. I pushed in. She though for what seemed like an hour before calling. she showed Q/10... not what expected, especially with all the time she took. I didnt improve and went back to the cash games.
I remained card dead, not seeing any premium hands. I finally decided that it was best to call it a night, I had been running on red bull/vodka/jagger for about an hour and it was 3:30am... When all was said and done I was up $100 in the cash game making me $20 for the night, nothing to be ashamed of considering what I had to work with.
When I arrived, I met up with Griffin at the airport, he had gotten in at about 11:45 - after the manditory greetings we hustled to get out of there, we we're both tired but still wanted to get in a short session. Unfortunetly there was a small problem, my bag was nowhere to be found... We ended up having to stay an extra hour at the airport. It seemed my bag had been left in Denver, they would send it to me in the morning... no big deal I guess. We decided to just get some food and head back to the hotel, better to be rested for the long session the next day.
We woke up at around 9am and headed over the convention center, I had agreed to help with the setup of the Sennheiser booth at CES(Consumer Electronics Converntion). It was pretty boring but they did feed us and give us access to open bar... so I can't really complain.
When I arrived at ceaser's poker room it was already 7:00, alot later that I had hoped to get there but I was still thrilled to finally get the chance to play some poker in vegas. I really liked that you could come in for as much as $500 in a $1/$2 game at ceaser's, I've always felt that I was at my best with a big stack in ring games(not so much tournaments). Anyway, I take a look at the stacks on the table and decide to buy in for $200. There we're a few large stacks at the table and I didn't want to put so much money at jeapordy with limited information. After I got a feel for the table, I put $300 more behind.
I was pretty card dead but I did manage to make the most of my opportunities.
Hand #1:
Im dealt AQo in the small blind.
Two players limp in and the most aggresive player at the table make its $12 to go from the cutoff. I decide that I probably have the best hand and raise to $35 strait. He quickly calls.
Flop comes 10/7/4 rainbow.
I check and the CO makes it $35. I think for awhile and flat call. I had decided that I was going to represent a big hand here, I felt that he was weak and that I could take this pot off on a later street.
Turn is a brick.
I check once again hoping that he will fire again, he does - $45 strait. Talk about a week bet, once again I think for awhile but this time I come over the top for $135 and he instantly mucks his hand. We both had another $350 behind so he would have needed Aces or Kings to stick around. Griffin at the other end of table says something along the lines of "Way to flop top set", I smile and say "you know me too well, i flopped then nuts". Later on I told him that It was a stone cold bluff, I still don't think he believes me.
Hand #2:
I'm dealth K/Qo in the small blind with $550 behind.
UTG comes in for $10 strait, 5 players call, not common, I decide to see a flop - I was not going to play with one pair but if I hit big I saw the pottential to win alot of money since many of the players had me covered.
Flop comes Jh/9c/8h.
I check hoping to get a free shot at my gutter, I realized that if a 10 hit I was going to crush anyone else holding a Q and maybe even get some money out of a 7. Everyone checks.
Turn 10s.
Gin. I lead out at the pot for $65 into $72. I wanted to set an expensive price if someone wanted to draw to the clubs, any other Q was going to pay me off no matter what I bet. I realized that this bet would probably scare off sevens but I was willing to give up a little in this spot. The button calls me after a little though.
Turn is a complete brick. At this point I had to make a decision, do I move all in and hope he calls me with a Queen or do I put more of a value bet in. Generally this would have been an easy push but the player at the end of the table was very loose and there was a possibility that he had called me with something other than the strait. I decided to make it $210 strait. He quickly called and I turned over my hand. He said "there's no way I could give you that hand - I had the Q" and he mucked his hand. At first I was upset because it seemed like I had missed some money but later griffin told me that he saw his hand and that he only had the 7. Ship it.
My stack got grinded away as I called with more marginal hands trying to stack some of the deeper players at the table buy I was unable to hit any flops. At 11am, I cashed out of the cash game so that I could sign up for the $70+10 tournament. The blind structure wasen't great but it wasen't completly attrocious either. You start with 2500 in chips and blinds start at 25/50 with 30 minute levels. Tournaments seemed to attract much worse players which easily made up for the luck factor. Unfortunely when we hit first break my stack was down to 1000 with blinds of 100/200 and 25 ante, did I mention that I was going to be UTG+1 on the next hand. I had decided that I was pushing it with any two. UTG limped and I was dealt 8/10o, I was very happy to put all my chips the button made the call and everyone else folded. He turned over 9/8s... I laughed out loud, I had him dominated. He missed and my stack was up to 2700... not bad!
Two hands later I was dealth 9c/4c, everyone folded and the small blind completed. Flop came Q/J/8 with two clubs, a very solid board for me. The small blind lead out for 600. One of the players who had folded accidently turned over the hand and it included a Q so I figure that she was probably only on a J. I pushed in. She though for what seemed like an hour before calling. she showed Q/10... not what expected, especially with all the time she took. I didnt improve and went back to the cash games.
I remained card dead, not seeing any premium hands. I finally decided that it was best to call it a night, I had been running on red bull/vodka/jagger for about an hour and it was 3:30am... When all was said and done I was up $100 in the cash game making me $20 for the night, nothing to be ashamed of considering what I had to work with.
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