At the LO8 table at the casino on Thursday night, I had a BB hand that started out with a flopped two pair and a flush draw, and only one low card. I bet and two chasers come with me (there were at least two players who were happy to chase runner-runner lows all night long....). The turn comes high, and I bet my two pair again, and one player is making, and the nervous player acts out of turn, and the dealer, Thong, flips the river without realizing there was a player yet to act.
The river card gave me boat with no possible low, naturally. The nervous player says that the card should be burned, but the dealer calls the floor manager, and the true river is put back in the deck which is then reshuffled. Naturally, the new river is a low card, but I'm lucky to at least get half the pot, which should have rightfully been my whole pot.
I resolved to stiff the dealer, Thong, for the remainder of the evening, but I was winning so few pots that I only stiffed him maybe 5% of what he took away from me by flipping out of sequence.
Give me credit for not tilting, despite being on a losing streak for the evening.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Friday, April 21, 2006
Foxwoods LO8
Foxwoods has a zillion Hold'em tables, and they had one LO8 table. I sat down at 9PM and left the table at 4AM, occasionally getting up to pass water. Lost 13 BB in the course of 7 hours, so it wasn't a stellar session, I started with two hours of cold cards at a full table of chasers, and after that I kept playing catch-up, getting close to break even and then bleeding again.
Friday, April 14, 2006
All-in Math
Let's suppose that you're playing with a whack job who'll make huge pre-flop bets blind, and he's just made one to open the pot. The amount is 60% of your existing stack. You make the call w/KQo, since you've had a cold spell and you don't mind gambling against a random hand. Two other players call behind you, apparently also in the mood to gamble.
The flop comes AT8, so you've got an inside draw to a straight and you check praying for a free miracle. The player to your left, with a bigger stack, pushes his remaining stack in and has you covered, and the other two players fold (including the whack job). Is an inside straight (with a runner-runner flush draw) a clear fold to you?
If there is 240 percent of your stack in the pot, and with this players all-in, you can see the remaining two cards for a pot of 280 with an investment of 40. In other words, you're putting in about 14% of the existing pot to see the next two cards.
We can safely assume your opponent doesn't have trip aces, as he would have pushed. He may reasonably have two pair, trip tens or eights, but probably no worse.
Cardplayer gives odds of 16.57% to win for you against trip eights, and 19% to win against top two pair. Even though your odds are slim, if you've come this far, it is not a statistical mistake to throw your last chips into the pot.
Just be sure to leave cab fare off the table.
The flop comes AT8, so you've got an inside draw to a straight and you check praying for a free miracle. The player to your left, with a bigger stack, pushes his remaining stack in and has you covered, and the other two players fold (including the whack job). Is an inside straight (with a runner-runner flush draw) a clear fold to you?
If there is 240 percent of your stack in the pot, and with this players all-in, you can see the remaining two cards for a pot of 280 with an investment of 40. In other words, you're putting in about 14% of the existing pot to see the next two cards.
We can safely assume your opponent doesn't have trip aces, as he would have pushed. He may reasonably have two pair, trip tens or eights, but probably no worse.
Cardplayer gives odds of 16.57% to win for you against trip eights, and 19% to win against top two pair. Even though your odds are slim, if you've come this far, it is not a statistical mistake to throw your last chips into the pot.
Just be sure to leave cab fare off the table.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Book Review - Kill Phil
I originally posted this review with the social group, but apparently it will get thrown out after 30 days. I will write anything I wish to keep on the blog and link to it from the social group going forward.
Review - Kill Phil
As a frequent on-line player, I bought this not for my game, but to get into the heads of people who might buy this book.
The first 30 pages tell you why it's such a great book and how it will revolutionize poker, (calling Harrington 'Old School' along the way) and stating that the only way to beat Negreanu, Ivey and their imitators is to push when the situation warrants pushing, and to avoid playing 'Small Ball at all costs'. They state they've got the cookie cutter solution that will neutralize these players.
The next 10 pages gives you 'Kill Phil' Basic, which is a cookie recipe for when to push, and how to handle a free flop in the big blind. (Mostly fold, even with top pair)
The next 70 pages are 'Kill Phil Advanced', which is a poorly written pseudo-cookie cutter formula for taking the very beatable basic to the next level. If it were a real cookie recipe, it would read like this:
If it's raining outside, take 1.5 cups of flower and 3 Tbs of sugar, unless you've got a feeling that it might get sunny later on. If you think your oven is accurate, put it to 350 degrees, but if you have an inkling that your oven might be mis-calibrated....
In short, the Kill Phil Plus tries to make the player act like a real poker player, even venturing into 'small ball' advice that may be sensible, but is poorly written and even more poorly organized. The prose is so heavily peppered with 'however', 'except', 'if', and other ways to say 'it depends', it'll make you want to sneeze.
I don't feel threatened by the army of 'Phil-Killers' on the horizon. I'm happy to loan this book out lest another 20$ goes to waste in this world.
Review - Kill Phil
As a frequent on-line player, I bought this not for my game, but to get into the heads of people who might buy this book.
The first 30 pages tell you why it's such a great book and how it will revolutionize poker, (calling Harrington 'Old School' along the way) and stating that the only way to beat Negreanu, Ivey and their imitators is to push when the situation warrants pushing, and to avoid playing 'Small Ball at all costs'. They state they've got the cookie cutter solution that will neutralize these players.
The next 10 pages gives you 'Kill Phil' Basic, which is a cookie recipe for when to push, and how to handle a free flop in the big blind. (Mostly fold, even with top pair)
The next 70 pages are 'Kill Phil Advanced', which is a poorly written pseudo-cookie cutter formula for taking the very beatable basic to the next level. If it were a real cookie recipe, it would read like this:
If it's raining outside, take 1.5 cups of flower and 3 Tbs of sugar, unless you've got a feeling that it might get sunny later on. If you think your oven is accurate, put it to 350 degrees, but if you have an inkling that your oven might be mis-calibrated....
In short, the Kill Phil Plus tries to make the player act like a real poker player, even venturing into 'small ball' advice that may be sensible, but is poorly written and even more poorly organized. The prose is so heavily peppered with 'however', 'except', 'if', and other ways to say 'it depends', it'll make you want to sneeze.
I don't feel threatened by the army of 'Phil-Killers' on the horizon. I'm happy to loan this book out lest another 20$ goes to waste in this world.
Book Review - Annie Duke How I .....
More poker porn. This book doesn't really know what it wants to be, and it was clearly written in a hurry to take full advantage of the hyper-popularity that poker and Annie are currently experiencing. If they took the time to edit and re-write, they might lose sales I guess.
As a poker advice book, there's a tidbit every 10 pages or so, some of which I hadn't heard before, or paid attention to at least.
As a poker tourney blow-by-blow story (The structure is almost an exact copy of 'Positively Fifth Street' except that the tourney is interspersed with her biography.), it's readable but frustrating. Sometimes the hands shown and the description of the hands don't match up, and the card suits are almost never mentioned, which takes away the depth of the hand analysis. I should also mention that the WSOP tourney that she won and gives the blow-by-blow for is Limit Hi-Lo Omaha, which might be a bummer for any one-game-only players.
As an autobiography, it's a clinical re-telling of some hard times, which is preferable to a sob-sob boo-hoo retelling of those hard times.
As prose, it's dull and poorly edited. There's nary a mot juste in the whole book.
Having said all that, it's a quick and easy read. I finished it in two nights and sent it back to the library. As a free read, I'd give it a thumbs up.
As a poker advice book, there's a tidbit every 10 pages or so, some of which I hadn't heard before, or paid attention to at least.
As a poker tourney blow-by-blow story (The structure is almost an exact copy of 'Positively Fifth Street' except that the tourney is interspersed with her biography.), it's readable but frustrating. Sometimes the hands shown and the description of the hands don't match up, and the card suits are almost never mentioned, which takes away the depth of the hand analysis. I should also mention that the WSOP tourney that she won and gives the blow-by-blow for is Limit Hi-Lo Omaha, which might be a bummer for any one-game-only players.
As an autobiography, it's a clinical re-telling of some hard times, which is preferable to a sob-sob boo-hoo retelling of those hard times.
As prose, it's dull and poorly edited. There's nary a mot juste in the whole book.
Having said all that, it's a quick and easy read. I finished it in two nights and sent it back to the library. As a free read, I'd give it a thumbs up.
Markers
Stuff I may forget.
E - 11$ in pokertards credits
Mr Dab 15 in poker tards credits
Ice - 11$ in pokertards credits PAID
I have two books of the counts. Alvarez and McManus
Count has my 'Kill Phil'
Greyhawke has my Caro DVD
E - 11$ in pokertards credits
Mr Dab 15 in poker tards credits
Ice - 11$ in pokertards credits PAID
I have two books of the counts. Alvarez and McManus
Count has my 'Kill Phil'
Greyhawke has my Caro DVD
Bubbly PLO8
I played a 20$ PLO8 on pokertards recently, and made 10th out of 117, which paid 30$. I'd like to blog the whole thing, but I've been busy. Here's the hand that killed me:
*********** # 181 **************
PokerStars Game #4594945101: Tournament #22780346, Omaha Hi/Lo Pot Limit - Level XI (600/1200) -
2006/04/11
Table '22780346 12' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: moona (29968 in chips)
Seat 3: TaxiGirl71 (25274 in chips)
Seat 4: gg1954 (23159 in chips)
Seat 5: FrankNagaiJr (12974 in chips)
Seat 7: Vlorg (24595 in chips)
moona: posts small blind 600
TaxiGirl71: posts big blind 1200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [2d Ah 4d 9c]
FNJ - A decent blind stealing hands, with outs.
gg1954: folds
FrankNagaiJr: raises 3000 to 4200
Vlorg: raises 6600 to 10800
FNJ - Viorg has been selectively agressive. Could have a similar hand to mine, or a high pair with a couple lows. If I walk away now I've still got 8000 in chips, but if I can't stand up with 3 to a wheel, what hand will I wait for instead? I won't come over the top, but I won't run away.
FNJ - Twodimes.org gives me a .434 EV for this hand, so I'm a slight dog against the AAKJ. NOTE that if my two suited cards had been spades, I would have an EV of 0.475. If my Nine had been a five, my EV goes up to 0.489. If I flop a perfect wheel, my EV would go up even higher still!
moona: folds
TaxiGirl71: folds
FrankNagaiJr: calls 6600
*** FLOP *** [4h 8d 8c]
FNJ - Reasonable to put in my last chips with. I've got a pair, and a draw for the nut low.
FNJ - Two dimes puts my EV at .403 here.
FrankNagaiJr: bets 2174 and is all-in
Vlorg: calls 2174
*** TURN *** [4h 8d 8c] [9h]
*** RIVER *** [4h 8d 8c 9h] [As]
FNJ - D'oh!
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FrankNagaiJr: shows [2d Ah 4d 9c] (HI: two pair, Aces and Nines)
Vlorg: shows [Ad Jd Kd Ac] (HI: a full house, Aces full of Eights)
Vlorg collected 27748 from pot
No low hand qualified
*********** # 181 **************
PokerStars Game #4594945101: Tournament #22780346, Omaha Hi/Lo Pot Limit - Level XI (600/1200) -
2006/04/11
Table '22780346 12' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: moona (29968 in chips)
Seat 3: TaxiGirl71 (25274 in chips)
Seat 4: gg1954 (23159 in chips)
Seat 5: FrankNagaiJr (12974 in chips)
Seat 7: Vlorg (24595 in chips)
moona: posts small blind 600
TaxiGirl71: posts big blind 1200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [2d Ah 4d 9c]
FNJ - A decent blind stealing hands, with outs.
gg1954: folds
FrankNagaiJr: raises 3000 to 4200
Vlorg: raises 6600 to 10800
FNJ - Viorg has been selectively agressive. Could have a similar hand to mine, or a high pair with a couple lows. If I walk away now I've still got 8000 in chips, but if I can't stand up with 3 to a wheel, what hand will I wait for instead? I won't come over the top, but I won't run away.
FNJ - Twodimes.org gives me a .434 EV for this hand, so I'm a slight dog against the AAKJ. NOTE that if my two suited cards had been spades, I would have an EV of 0.475. If my Nine had been a five, my EV goes up to 0.489. If I flop a perfect wheel, my EV would go up even higher still!
moona: folds
TaxiGirl71: folds
FrankNagaiJr: calls 6600
*** FLOP *** [4h 8d 8c]
FNJ - Reasonable to put in my last chips with. I've got a pair, and a draw for the nut low.
FNJ - Two dimes puts my EV at .403 here.
FrankNagaiJr: bets 2174 and is all-in
Vlorg: calls 2174
*** TURN *** [4h 8d 8c] [9h]
*** RIVER *** [4h 8d 8c 9h] [As]
FNJ - D'oh!
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FrankNagaiJr: shows [2d Ah 4d 9c] (HI: two pair, Aces and Nines)
Vlorg: shows [Ad Jd Kd Ac] (HI: a full house, Aces full of Eights)
Vlorg collected 27748 from pot
No low hand qualified
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Bubbly
played a 20+2/180 on tards for the first time in a few weeks, and placed 24th, 6 positions off the money, when my QQ came up against KK and I was at less than 10M.
I think I played decent poker otherwise, finding the appropriate steal opportunities during the dry spells, and was generally patient, giving up when I felt I was beat rather than tilting and pushing where it made no sense.
I think I played decent poker otherwise, finding the appropriate steal opportunities during the dry spells, and was generally patient, giving up when I felt I was beat rather than tilting and pushing where it made no sense.
Monday, April 10, 2006
More PLO8
This hand broke me. 5 Limpers at the 25/50 level
Seat 1: $outhern boy (1600 in chips)
Seat 2: FrankNagaiJr (845 in chips)
Seat 3: aronharry (1705 in chips)
Seat 4: pfor (1320 in chips)
Seat 5: mobrown1257 (2680 in chips)
Seat 6: TOPHAT TWO (3495 in chips)
Seat 8: mdizzy53 (340 in chips)
Seat 9: GBuck08 (1515 in chips)
Me: Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Ad 6s 2d 7h]
Flop: *** FLOP *** [7c 4d Ah]
I felt that I had a decent shot at high with two pair, and a backdoor shot at the low if I got very lucky, here so I pot-raised and then pushed, to face the following two hands:
GBuck08: raises 1215 to 1465 and is all-in
GBuck08: shows [3d Tc 2h 8c]
TOPHAT TWO: calls
TOPHAT TWO: shows [Kh Kd 3c 5s]
As you may observe, I am ahead on the high. GBuck is ahead on the low and drawing to the wheel.
The 5 or 2 kills me both ways for 6 outs against. (One of my opponents makes the wheel and I don't)
The K kills me on the high. 2 outs against.
The 3 with no other wheel card gives me the backdoor low. 2 outs for.
The A or 7 gives me the lock high. 6 outs for.
Twodimes.net gives us the following stats:
cards scoop HIwin HIlos HItie LOwin LOlos LOtie EV
6s Ad 2d 7h 50 386 280 0 55 599 12 0.336
5s 3c Kd Kh 50 164 497 5 65 595 6 0.176
Tc 8c 3d 2h 104 111 550 5 528 120 18 0.488
So one might think KK35 was the big dog here? This player hit their 2 on the river for the miracle wheel scoop.
Any thoughts from PLO8 players here? I know my raise/call wasn't sterling, but I had been pushed out of some other pots by similar re-raises by other players chasing the low only, tossing two pair to see the high taken by a single weak pair.
Seat 1: $outhern boy (1600 in chips)
Seat 2: FrankNagaiJr (845 in chips)
Seat 3: aronharry (1705 in chips)
Seat 4: pfor (1320 in chips)
Seat 5: mobrown1257 (2680 in chips)
Seat 6: TOPHAT TWO (3495 in chips)
Seat 8: mdizzy53 (340 in chips)
Seat 9: GBuck08 (1515 in chips)
Me: Dealt to FrankNagaiJr [Ad 6s 2d 7h]
Flop: *** FLOP *** [7c 4d Ah]
I felt that I had a decent shot at high with two pair, and a backdoor shot at the low if I got very lucky, here so I pot-raised and then pushed, to face the following two hands:
GBuck08: raises 1215 to 1465 and is all-in
GBuck08: shows [3d Tc 2h 8c]
TOPHAT TWO: calls
TOPHAT TWO: shows [Kh Kd 3c 5s]
As you may observe, I am ahead on the high. GBuck is ahead on the low and drawing to the wheel.
The 5 or 2 kills me both ways for 6 outs against. (One of my opponents makes the wheel and I don't)
The K kills me on the high. 2 outs against.
The 3 with no other wheel card gives me the backdoor low. 2 outs for.
The A or 7 gives me the lock high. 6 outs for.
Twodimes.net gives us the following stats:
cards scoop HIwin HIlos HItie LOwin LOlos LOtie EV
6s Ad 2d 7h 50 386 280 0 55 599 12 0.336
5s 3c Kd Kh 50 164 497 5 65 595 6 0.176
Tc 8c 3d 2h 104 111 550 5 528 120 18 0.488
So one might think KK35 was the big dog here? This player hit their 2 on the river for the miracle wheel scoop.
Any thoughts from PLO8 players here? I know my raise/call wasn't sterling, but I had been pushed out of some other pots by similar re-raises by other players chasing the low only, tossing two pair to see the high taken by a single weak pair.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Straight Flush
Got a Jack-high straight flush earlier this week in a cash game. I didn't even show it to the table, since my opponent folded to my bet. Still waiting for my Royale with Cheese.
PLO8 Tourney Hand
This hand broke me. The player to my left had been limping and betting, limping and betting into my BB, and I had been checking and folding.
Omaha Hi/Lo Pot Limit - Level IV (50/100)
My hand: 8h 5d 9h 7s
Not a monster, but for two-handed SB v BB very playable. I'm actually ahead at the time of the reraise:
FrankNagaiJr: raises 200 to 300
Evil Danmo: calls 200
FLOP: Jc 7h Ts
I have a made straight, and a runner runner flush redraw, and runner-runner low-hand redraw.
Evil Danmo: bets 500
FrankNagaiJr: raises 1600 to 2100
I'd like to end it right here.
Evil Danmo: raises 145 to 2245 and is all-in
FrankNagaiJr: calls 145
Evil Danmo: Qh 4d Kd Jh
I am the .678 favorite according to twodimes.net. Villain is drawing to a higher straight (9 or A with a runner-runner flush redraw. 7 outs twice.
TURN [Jc 7h Ts] [Ah]
Ouch! (Don't forget I'm now drawing to a 2, 3, 5, 6, or 8 for 1/2 the pot. That's a lotta outs!)
RIVER [Jc 7h Ts Ah] [Qd]
Can't say that I regret my decision though.
Omaha Hi/Lo Pot Limit - Level IV (50/100)
My hand: 8h 5d 9h 7s
Not a monster, but for two-handed SB v BB very playable. I'm actually ahead at the time of the reraise:
FrankNagaiJr: raises 200 to 300
Evil Danmo: calls 200
FLOP: Jc 7h Ts
I have a made straight, and a runner runner flush redraw, and runner-runner low-hand redraw.
Evil Danmo: bets 500
FrankNagaiJr: raises 1600 to 2100
I'd like to end it right here.
Evil Danmo: raises 145 to 2245 and is all-in
FrankNagaiJr: calls 145
Evil Danmo: Qh 4d Kd Jh
I am the .678 favorite according to twodimes.net. Villain is drawing to a higher straight (9 or A with a runner-runner flush redraw. 7 outs twice.
TURN [Jc 7h Ts] [Ah]
Ouch! (Don't forget I'm now drawing to a 2, 3, 5, 6, or 8 for 1/2 the pot. That's a lotta outs!)
RIVER [Jc 7h Ts Ah] [Qd]
Can't say that I regret my decision though.
Limit Omaha Hi-Lo on PokerTards
Last night I joined a 1$ tourney on-line, and out of 450 players, and I managed to get into the top 10 ranking about an hour into it. I was at a loose table where everybody limped and they all seemed to take preflop raises personally. Of course I pre-flop raised with every A2 I saw, and eventually it paid off, tripling me up at a pretty high blind stage.
At that point there were still 250 players left, so I played for another 30 minutes at another loose table, seeing flops when I had something decent but otherwise being quiet. Then I hit a couple good hands and all of a sudden I was #2 out of 117.
I went to bed.
I woke up as #17, being paid nearly 5 times my buy-in.
No, I'm no the king of Omaha hi-lo, but it is amusing to blind out into the money.
At that point there were still 250 players left, so I played for another 30 minutes at another loose table, seeing flops when I had something decent but otherwise being quiet. Then I hit a couple good hands and all of a sudden I was #2 out of 117.
I went to bed.
I woke up as #17, being paid nearly 5 times my buy-in.
No, I'm no the king of Omaha hi-lo, but it is amusing to blind out into the money.
Friday, March 31, 2006
More foxwoods
Played some more tourneys
4th out of 10, getting rivered multiple times in all-in battles with smaller stacks. We were at the part of the tourney where pushing with Kx-suited was not a ridiculously bad play, and I was hovering around 4M when I got knocked out.
5th out of 10
3-way chop for 1st out of 10. I triple up early w/QQ and never look back as chip leader. I also luck into some pocket aces against a calling station who didn't luck into a flush with his KTo that he called my raise with. He stayed the whole way on his split pair.
7th out of 10 - I push AKo too hard and end up in a 3 way all-in against KJo and QQ. Nobody catches, QQ wins.
8th out of 10 - Dismal cards, and the guy on my left raises every time I limp. I eventually push w/43s against QQ. I pair both my cards, but the board also pairs.
I played 20 minutes of 7 stud and lost, so it was red evening, but I'm in the black for this trip to connecticut.
4th out of 10, getting rivered multiple times in all-in battles with smaller stacks. We were at the part of the tourney where pushing with Kx-suited was not a ridiculously bad play, and I was hovering around 4M when I got knocked out.
5th out of 10
3-way chop for 1st out of 10. I triple up early w/QQ and never look back as chip leader. I also luck into some pocket aces against a calling station who didn't luck into a flush with his KTo that he called my raise with. He stayed the whole way on his split pair.
7th out of 10 - I push AKo too hard and end up in a 3 way all-in against KJo and QQ. Nobody catches, QQ wins.
8th out of 10 - Dismal cards, and the guy on my left raises every time I limp. I eventually push w/43s against QQ. I pair both my cards, but the board also pairs.
I played 20 minutes of 7 stud and lost, so it was red evening, but I'm in the black for this trip to connecticut.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Foxwoods
Played 1/2 NL for 90 minutes at a very tight table, made a small profit after paying the parking meter. There was one loose cannon who called and raised with weak holdings, at least six rocks, and maybe 2 or 3 who didn't seem to be strong players, but didn't get into big trouble either.
Played a 10 player 65/15 sit'n'go, chopped for first. Three players seemed clueless, three were questionable, one was playing 'kill phil', so it was beatable. We played for two hours with 15 minute blinds before we got to two-handed, and the other guy wanted to chop since he had already signed up for another tourney when he was down to 150 in chips early in the tourney and came back to be the chip leader.
Played a 10 player 65/15 sit'n'go, chopped for first. Three players seemed clueless, three were questionable, one was playing 'kill phil', so it was beatable. We played for two hours with 15 minute blinds before we got to two-handed, and the other guy wanted to chop since he had already signed up for another tourney when he was down to 150 in chips early in the tourney and came back to be the chip leader.
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Casino Windsor
Played 45 minutes of 3-6 limit, caught nothing worth seeing the turn for, switched to no limit.
In the first 2 hours, I caught a fair amount of decent starters and called lots of limp raises with suited connectors, small pp's, suited aces, and the occasional goofball hand, and connected with no flops. I tended to inevitably give up on the flop.
About 2 hours in I made a well timed steal on the turn for an uncontested pot. Then I started a streak.
Starter: Kd Jd, call a 6BB raise. Flop Ad xd xd, I check and somebody else bets half my stack, and I push to beat a crappy flush.
Starters Ax 2x (offsuit) that I'm allowed to limp. Flop Ac 2x Qc. I make a pot sized bet and get two callers. Turn is also a club, and I check and fold after a little consideration. (I fould a tell on a young surfer dude that was golden.) The other player doesn't see the tell and calls, confirming he was chasing the nut flush with Kxs, so I dodge a bullet.
Starter Ax, and I call a raise from a frequent bluffer. Flop Axx, and I bet it, he calls. I bet the turn, he calls, I bet the river, and he gets the message and goes away.
Starter 3s 5s (I learned some new tricks from Fonzie ;-) and the flop is 2s4d xs, and I bet it to see who's got anything, and the frequent flopper calls. I bet the turn without improving, he calls. I hit my straight on the river, but he had already planned to fold it seemed.
Starter TT, another player who tends to value bet pre-flop (surfer dude) bets 5BB. I call, and the perfect flop Ax Xx Tx, with a flush draw on board. I'm early, so I check, P1 bets, and Surfer overbets the pot to half his stack. I push, and I'm 3 bucks shy of covering him. He calls after agoniziing, and flips AQo, which was a pretty big kill.
In the first 2 hours, I caught a fair amount of decent starters and called lots of limp raises with suited connectors, small pp's, suited aces, and the occasional goofball hand, and connected with no flops. I tended to inevitably give up on the flop.
About 2 hours in I made a well timed steal on the turn for an uncontested pot. Then I started a streak.
Starter: Kd Jd, call a 6BB raise. Flop Ad xd xd, I check and somebody else bets half my stack, and I push to beat a crappy flush.
Starters Ax 2x (offsuit) that I'm allowed to limp. Flop Ac 2x Qc. I make a pot sized bet and get two callers. Turn is also a club, and I check and fold after a little consideration. (I fould a tell on a young surfer dude that was golden.) The other player doesn't see the tell and calls, confirming he was chasing the nut flush with Kxs, so I dodge a bullet.
Starter Ax, and I call a raise from a frequent bluffer. Flop Axx, and I bet it, he calls. I bet the turn, he calls, I bet the river, and he gets the message and goes away.
Starter 3s 5s (I learned some new tricks from Fonzie ;-) and the flop is 2s4d xs, and I bet it to see who's got anything, and the frequent flopper calls. I bet the turn without improving, he calls. I hit my straight on the river, but he had already planned to fold it seemed.
Starter TT, another player who tends to value bet pre-flop (surfer dude) bets 5BB. I call, and the perfect flop Ax Xx Tx, with a flush draw on board. I'm early, so I check, P1 bets, and Surfer overbets the pot to half his stack. I push, and I'm 3 bucks shy of covering him. He calls after agoniziing, and flips AQo, which was a pretty big kill.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
F's Cash Game 3/24/06
Played a 1/2 cash game with many of the luminaries of the social group last night. I was down to less than half my buy-in when I hit a hot streak, eventually leaving with my Buy-in plus 5 times buy-in.
Most of it can be attributed to one hand, after I had already multipled up to a healthy stack. I'm in the BB, and the raise is 3BB with at least 3 callers. I see 8h 6h, which is certainly playable in a cash game.
The flop is 4c 5d 7c, and I make a quarter-pot bet to see who's chasing the flush. I get reraised to pot-sized by F (from NA), who's been playing wild and catching all night. I give it a moment's consideration and I push my stack, which is an overbet if there ever was one. I knew I had best hand at the flop, but there were too many ways to beat me in the next two cards.
F gives it some consideration and calls, with the straight on the other end (3c 6d). He has a club, so he's got a runner-runner draw to win, or he can catch one of the other 3 eights to split the pot. He makes neither. He hadn't seen me play anything as weak as 68 all night, he later said, which was true. I had been folding quite a bit, and had shown down JJ and QQ and not much else.
All-in all a good evening.
My worst mistake? My last rotation, and I straddle, and F (from KB) makes a smallish raise and I call blind and we're heads-up. I bet blind on a T98 board, and he reraises me. I ask for his stack size, and I call his raise. I had something, but I totally couldn't get a read on him, and folded on the turn to his agressive betting, rather than risking so many chips just before leaving. I either should have pushed him all-in on the flop, or gotten out of the way. Peeling a card off for a price was just stupid.
I also laid down KK to F (the host) early in the game, who had been bluffing a lot, but bet into an Axx flop. Not necessarily a stupid play, but not very swashbuckling.
Most of it can be attributed to one hand, after I had already multipled up to a healthy stack. I'm in the BB, and the raise is 3BB with at least 3 callers. I see 8h 6h, which is certainly playable in a cash game.
The flop is 4c 5d 7c, and I make a quarter-pot bet to see who's chasing the flush. I get reraised to pot-sized by F (from NA), who's been playing wild and catching all night. I give it a moment's consideration and I push my stack, which is an overbet if there ever was one. I knew I had best hand at the flop, but there were too many ways to beat me in the next two cards.
F gives it some consideration and calls, with the straight on the other end (3c 6d). He has a club, so he's got a runner-runner draw to win, or he can catch one of the other 3 eights to split the pot. He makes neither. He hadn't seen me play anything as weak as 68 all night, he later said, which was true. I had been folding quite a bit, and had shown down JJ and QQ and not much else.
All-in all a good evening.
My worst mistake? My last rotation, and I straddle, and F (from KB) makes a smallish raise and I call blind and we're heads-up. I bet blind on a T98 board, and he reraises me. I ask for his stack size, and I call his raise. I had something, but I totally couldn't get a read on him, and folded on the turn to his agressive betting, rather than risking so many chips just before leaving. I either should have pushed him all-in on the flop, or gotten out of the way. Peeling a card off for a price was just stupid.
I also laid down KK to F (the host) early in the game, who had been bluffing a lot, but bet into an Axx flop. Not necessarily a stupid play, but not very swashbuckling.
Friday, March 24, 2006
E's Game
Back to the Candy store. Eliminated in the second stage after catching two decent starters in quick succession. First was TT, which I reraised the bettor on with on the null flop, and was pushed all-in with. I felt a reasonable chance I was beat, so I mucked, which was half my stack. Then it was AKo, with which I made a very high, steal-the-blinds raise, and I was called, and beat by A7s, who called my all-in (the other half of my remaining stack) on the flop with an outside straight draw. They won.
I discovered a few tells on myself I need to work on.
(Himitsu da! Tokei no koto, chotto hayai no koto, kangae to no toki wa arimasen. Sono ato, all-in no toki, chotto dansu shite imashita. )
Played some good 1-2 NL cash game for a few hours after getting knocked out so early.
I discovered a few tells on myself I need to work on.
(Himitsu da! Tokei no koto, chotto hayai no koto, kangae to no toki wa arimasen. Sono ato, all-in no toki, chotto dansu shite imashita. )
Played some good 1-2 NL cash game for a few hours after getting knocked out so early.
Saturday, March 18, 2006
E's game
Played the candy store game Thursday and bubbled, 6th out of 24. Knocked out 3 players w/AJs, and got knocked out by AJo. The blinds were a little too fast for my taste; by 2.5 hours in, unless you had a huge stack, your only options were push or fold, so there were an awful lot of all-ins with weak starters.
Down to $150 at pokertards. Played a bunch of 20$ big tourneys mid-week while travelling and closest I got was 27 out of 180.
Down to $150 at pokertards. Played a bunch of 20$ big tourneys mid-week while travelling and closest I got was 27 out of 180.
Friday, March 10, 2006
PokerTards $ - Continues to hover around $200. Anytime I get ahead, I make riskier investments, hence the yo-yo.
Party Poquer - I followed D's link to goberude.com, and couldn't pass up the free 75$ in real PP money I found there. So far, I completely hate the user interface, and I notice they charge a much higher rake than tards. The limit play is definitely beatable at the .50/1 level. I'll probably play enough limit to (whore) my free money and then never go there again.
Head's up Stud - Played with a buddy last night, at a nickel a chip, we got the betting structure slighly wrong, but not enough to matter. After 90 minutes of play I was up $3.50, which I mostly attribute to not chasing with crappy hands. It was a lot of fun, and for head's up/short-handed play, I think 7-Stud is much more entertaining than HE.
Party Poquer - I followed D's link to goberude.com, and couldn't pass up the free 75$ in real PP money I found there. So far, I completely hate the user interface, and I notice they charge a much higher rake than tards. The limit play is definitely beatable at the .50/1 level. I'll probably play enough limit to (whore) my free money and then never go there again.
Head's up Stud - Played with a buddy last night, at a nickel a chip, we got the betting structure slighly wrong, but not enough to matter. After 90 minutes of play I was up $3.50, which I mostly attribute to not chasing with crappy hands. It was a lot of fun, and for head's up/short-handed play, I think 7-Stud is much more entertaining than HE.
Friday, March 03, 2006
A bad call one way, and then the other
Live Tourney, I have 5650 in chips, the blinds are 100/200 w/25 antes. 2nd to act at a 9 player table. AKo. I call.
Mid-position player makes it 600. I've played with this player before and know that she'll raise on a lot of different hands, but not on junk. I call in preference to reraising.
There is 1725 in the pot.
Flop: A87 two-suited. I check, she bets 500, I reraise to 1000, and she calls without a moment's hesitation. There is 3725 in the pot, and I have just under 4K in chips.
Turn 9 of another suit. I bet 1000, and she puts me all-in without a moment's hesitation. This should have been an easy lay-down since I've never seen this player make a bluff, but I overthought it. I considered the possibility that she had QQ or KK and felt that I was on a bluff, (but that wasn't the kind of play she makes), which was the ONLY way that I wasn't beat. (Trips or two pair were both very reasonably possibilities based on the betting so far. I didn't think she had raised with JT, although I know many players who would.)
I make the crying call for my last 3K in chips, and sure enough she turns over 99 for trips and I'm drawing dead.
If you consider the reraise on the flop with face-up cards, she was paying 3725/500, or 7 to one odds for a 47 to 2 chance for trips on the turn. If I was guaranteed to go all-in if she hit, then she was getting 7725/500 or 15 to 1, so she was still getting incorrect pot odds for that call. A forgiveable sin, since I hadn't represented a monster pre-flop or on the flop and she could have easily put me on KQ or some weaker pocket pair. My plan was to extract the most chips possible, since I felt strongly that I was ahead on the flop.
My sin, calling when you know you're beat, was unforgiveable. Bad/Tilty call.
Mid-position player makes it 600. I've played with this player before and know that she'll raise on a lot of different hands, but not on junk. I call in preference to reraising.
There is 1725 in the pot.
Flop: A87 two-suited. I check, she bets 500, I reraise to 1000, and she calls without a moment's hesitation. There is 3725 in the pot, and I have just under 4K in chips.
Turn 9 of another suit. I bet 1000, and she puts me all-in without a moment's hesitation. This should have been an easy lay-down since I've never seen this player make a bluff, but I overthought it. I considered the possibility that she had QQ or KK and felt that I was on a bluff, (but that wasn't the kind of play she makes), which was the ONLY way that I wasn't beat. (Trips or two pair were both very reasonably possibilities based on the betting so far. I didn't think she had raised with JT, although I know many players who would.)
I make the crying call for my last 3K in chips, and sure enough she turns over 99 for trips and I'm drawing dead.
If you consider the reraise on the flop with face-up cards, she was paying 3725/500, or 7 to one odds for a 47 to 2 chance for trips on the turn. If I was guaranteed to go all-in if she hit, then she was getting 7725/500 or 15 to 1, so she was still getting incorrect pot odds for that call. A forgiveable sin, since I hadn't represented a monster pre-flop or on the flop and she could have easily put me on KQ or some weaker pocket pair. My plan was to extract the most chips possible, since I felt strongly that I was ahead on the flop.
My sin, calling when you know you're beat, was unforgiveable. Bad/Tilty call.
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