Well I said I was prepared to be proved wrong, and I was. Joe Hachem has become only the fourth person in history to win both a WSOP Main Event bracelet and a WPT title.
The Bellagio must have been absolutely electric. I do wonder if those same ‘AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE’ railbirds were there again.
It’s a shame these two didn’t meet heads up, for that would have surely made for some entertaining viewing. Negreanu busted in 3rd, a cash that saw him gain the title of biggest WPT all-time money winner.
Hachem overcame a small chip lead to take the title. For most people now surely he has proved that he has the talent and skill required to play at this level, unlike some others who may have not received much respect since WSOP Main Event wins…
This is a quote on the PokerStars website from one of the final 27 players due to play the final of the ‘Moneymaker Millionaire’ in the Bahamas this January:
[i]Leonard "malibu44" Lawrence
Quote: "Chris has just shown that anyone, no matter how much or little skill you have, can win a poker tournament. The reason it has been such a big success over the past few years, is because anyone, and I mean anyone can just walk into a poker tournament, go on a nice run of cards and walk away a millionaire."[/i]
What makes me laugh is that this got up on the website without anyone questioning what was said about someone they are clearly paying plenty of money to promote the site for them. This is on top of the fact that the actual tournament this guy is potentially going to take home a nice payday from is named after the player he’s giving such a generous opinion of.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Joe Hachem makes WPT final table
It seems Hachem isn’t another one hit WSOP Main event wonder. He’s at the final table of the 2006 Five Diamond World Poker Classic championship event. Daniel Negreanu has also made the cut. Not surprisingly in this age of ever more popular live events the final table is going to be televised. It should be a good show as these two and the other players battle it out for the a WPT title.
I always though that Hachem was a great player, but he’s also entertaining and throughly marketable. Pokerstars did a good job on getting hold of him. I think Negreanu has the slight edge here and if you add his stack I don't see how he doesn't take it down. I'm prepared to be proved wrong though.
Negreanu has a slight chip lead over Mads Anderson and has Hatchem outchipped nealry 2:1. I think there is destined to be plenty of action on this 6 handed final table, I’m just gutted I won’t get to see it live…
I always though that Hachem was a great player, but he’s also entertaining and throughly marketable. Pokerstars did a good job on getting hold of him. I think Negreanu has the slight edge here and if you add his stack I don't see how he doesn't take it down. I'm prepared to be proved wrong though.
Negreanu has a slight chip lead over Mads Anderson and has Hatchem outchipped nealry 2:1. I think there is destined to be plenty of action on this 6 handed final table, I’m just gutted I won’t get to see it live…
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Nothing Much To Report
It has been quite quiet for me over the last few weeks. I have been short of time to play but have been playing lots of $100 NL 6-max in an attempt to hit goldstar for the first time. I'm pretty close with 5 days left so hopefully I'll scrape through.
I'm starting to get excited about the APAT even next weekend now. I can't wait to play some real poker even though I haven't played many tournies recently. Hopefully I should get some practice in this week before I fly up to Newcastle on Saturday.
It's starting to look like my Oz trip in March may not be happening. It was almost a certainty a couple of month ago but now it's about 50/50. The good news is that if I don't end up going I'll have enough holiday time left to go to Vegas in the summer! I honestly can't decide which one I want more...
I'm starting to get excited about the APAT even next weekend now. I can't wait to play some real poker even though I haven't played many tournies recently. Hopefully I should get some practice in this week before I fly up to Newcastle on Saturday.
It's starting to look like my Oz trip in March may not be happening. It was almost a certainty a couple of month ago but now it's about 50/50. The good news is that if I don't end up going I'll have enough holiday time left to go to Vegas in the summer! I honestly can't decide which one I want more...
Friday, November 10, 2006
APAT
At the weekend I managed to get myself a seat at the UK Amateur Poker Championship which is being held at The Aspers Casino in Newcastle at the start of December. It’s Part of the APAT (Amateur Poker Association & Tour) which has already staged one event so far this year in Birmingham.
The idea behind the APAT is to give amateur players the chance to play a deep stacked live tournament for a nominal buy-in, and bring players away from the shot stack rebuy tournaments which are typically offered in casinos. Most of the live games I play follow a structure of a 800 starting chip rebuy tournament where the blinds reach 200/400 after an hour and a half. It’s a brutal structure and the rebuy period is typically (for me anyway) an expensive one.
Other than that it’s just excuse to go on a night out in Newcastle, which I hear can be a gloriously messy affair, and meet a few players from ITH who are also attending the event. There is a WSOP package up for grabs for the two day event. A field of just 210 runners should make for some interesting and creative play and if I get knocked out early I have a few people to rail.
I’m really looking forward to it now. I hope this will be the first of many trips to live events outside of my normal haunts. Reports from the previous event in Birmingham suggest that there aren’t really any bad players and that the field is generally quite good. Hopefully it will give me some valuable experience of more structured live play, which will help if I ever decide to frequent the WSOP or any EPT events.
The idea behind the APAT is to give amateur players the chance to play a deep stacked live tournament for a nominal buy-in, and bring players away from the shot stack rebuy tournaments which are typically offered in casinos. Most of the live games I play follow a structure of a 800 starting chip rebuy tournament where the blinds reach 200/400 after an hour and a half. It’s a brutal structure and the rebuy period is typically (for me anyway) an expensive one.
Other than that it’s just excuse to go on a night out in Newcastle, which I hear can be a gloriously messy affair, and meet a few players from ITH who are also attending the event. There is a WSOP package up for grabs for the two day event. A field of just 210 runners should make for some interesting and creative play and if I get knocked out early I have a few people to rail.
I’m really looking forward to it now. I hope this will be the first of many trips to live events outside of my normal haunts. Reports from the previous event in Birmingham suggest that there aren’t really any bad players and that the field is generally quite good. Hopefully it will give me some valuable experience of more structured live play, which will help if I ever decide to frequent the WSOP or any EPT events.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Sometimes 90% isn’t enough
Ironic after my odds based last post but unfortunately if you’re a 90% favourite to win a hand on the turn, it means you have to loose 10% of the time. I just wish it didn’t happen to me in the Million last night. We were down to just over 1500 runners from a stunning 6.6k entrants. If I had won the hand I would have had an above average stack and cruising towards the money. Who knows what could have been.
It’s fair enough to say that the odds will even out over time, but that situation might not present itself enough for it to ever even out. In a ring game, if you get stacked with AA you know that over the long term the money will be coming back to you. However if you loose HU on the FT of the Million for the difference between 180k and 95k it’s unlikely that even a very large amount of poker will ever make that back.
Also from tonight I’m thinking maybe I need to mix it up a little more and get myself to a stack where I can take a hit or two, leading to a more aggressive ‘bust early or go deep’ strategy. I do tend to play pretty much ABC tournament poker with a few other bits thrown in every now and again. I think the change would probably make me think a bit more about my game, so I’m going to look over my hand history from tonight and see where I could have mixed it up a little more and see if I can start to apply that elsewhere.
It’s fair enough to say that the odds will even out over time, but that situation might not present itself enough for it to ever even out. In a ring game, if you get stacked with AA you know that over the long term the money will be coming back to you. However if you loose HU on the FT of the Million for the difference between 180k and 95k it’s unlikely that even a very large amount of poker will ever make that back.
Also from tonight I’m thinking maybe I need to mix it up a little more and get myself to a stack where I can take a hit or two, leading to a more aggressive ‘bust early or go deep’ strategy. I do tend to play pretty much ABC tournament poker with a few other bits thrown in every now and again. I think the change would probably make me think a bit more about my game, so I’m going to look over my hand history from tonight and see where I could have mixed it up a little more and see if I can start to apply that elsewhere.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Odds Are A Funny Thing
Odds are a funny thing. I have never really thought about them other than in maths class before I started playing poker. The only other things I really dealt with that involved odds was the occasional bet on the Grand National, or a night at the track. Clearly in these situations no bookmaker is stupid enough to give you 6-1 on an event that has a 3-1 chance of happening and of course the odds aren't fixed like they are in poker.
Saturday night defied all odds for me. I went out for a friends birthday and quite randomly ended up in a casino at 6 am playing a £100 Pot Limit game. It was a very lively and social game. Most of the other players knew each other and had busted from a tournie that finished earlier that night. I was a) Drunk and b) Very tired. My friend and I had the first train to catch in about an hour so it seemed like a good idea to stay somewhere that was warm and still serving alcohol.
After being at the table for about 20 minutes a new player sat down. The guy on his right asked how he got on in a tournament on Monday night. It seems they were both at the same final table and one busted and left before the other. This is where the conversation got interesting:
' I won, Nice birthday present for me too'
'Really?'
'Yeah, well I did have a massive chip lead when you left'
'No I mean it was really your birthday? Same day as mine!'
'Yeah it was, well happy birthday for Monday'
At this point the guy on their left looks up at me and my friend, we are mid hand and I initially thought he was mocking their excitement, I was about to be shocked however…
'Are you guys shitting me? It's my birthday on the 9th too!'
Everyone laughs. It's all completely true, we're all waiting while the driving licenses come out when we add to the odds of the situation, all three of them are called Jamie. So here we have three guys, all sitting next to each other, all called Jamie and all born on the same dates in 1977, 1984 and 1985 and somehow got to the subject of birthdays all within about 2 minutes. A few of us take pictures of the three of them holding ID and T9o in their hands and agree to e-mail them.
'What are the odds of that happening' I hear a few people ask over the next few hands.
Another 10 mins in the guy to the left of the three Jamie's said something along the lines of 'I'll have to be a mind reader if I wan't to beat these 3 guys' If I wasn't tired and had somewhere else to go I would have definitely left the table after this happened:
He's dealing and off the back of his comment Says 'Ace Ace King' before he lays down the flop. I'm at the other end of the table and don't see the cards for all the people going crazy. I don't even need to guess what just happened.
Next hand he decides to try again, a little more random call: 'Jack Seven Five' I'm closer to the flop this time and absolutely amazed to see it fall in that order. He gets the flop wrong next hand but calls the 5d on the turn. Two players got up and left even though the player calling the cards wasn't involved in any of the hands.
'If he was cheating why would he do that?' Someone asks.
"I don't care' Says one of the departing players 'I just spent 2 hours building this stack to £400, I don't want to play at this table with someone who calls two flops, in order, two hands in a row. What are the odds of that happening?'
It's nearly 7am, nobody works it out. My question is: What are the odds of 3 people called Jamie all sitting on the same table next to each other AND having the same birthday AND the player to their right calling two flops in order, in a row?
My guess would be QUITE BIG. So next time someone next hits a miricale 1 outer on the river to stack me, I won't be surprised!
Saturday night defied all odds for me. I went out for a friends birthday and quite randomly ended up in a casino at 6 am playing a £100 Pot Limit game. It was a very lively and social game. Most of the other players knew each other and had busted from a tournie that finished earlier that night. I was a) Drunk and b) Very tired. My friend and I had the first train to catch in about an hour so it seemed like a good idea to stay somewhere that was warm and still serving alcohol.
After being at the table for about 20 minutes a new player sat down. The guy on his right asked how he got on in a tournament on Monday night. It seems they were both at the same final table and one busted and left before the other. This is where the conversation got interesting:
' I won, Nice birthday present for me too'
'Really?'
'Yeah, well I did have a massive chip lead when you left'
'No I mean it was really your birthday? Same day as mine!'
'Yeah it was, well happy birthday for Monday'
At this point the guy on their left looks up at me and my friend, we are mid hand and I initially thought he was mocking their excitement, I was about to be shocked however…
'Are you guys shitting me? It's my birthday on the 9th too!'
Everyone laughs. It's all completely true, we're all waiting while the driving licenses come out when we add to the odds of the situation, all three of them are called Jamie. So here we have three guys, all sitting next to each other, all called Jamie and all born on the same dates in 1977, 1984 and 1985 and somehow got to the subject of birthdays all within about 2 minutes. A few of us take pictures of the three of them holding ID and T9o in their hands and agree to e-mail them.
'What are the odds of that happening' I hear a few people ask over the next few hands.
Another 10 mins in the guy to the left of the three Jamie's said something along the lines of 'I'll have to be a mind reader if I wan't to beat these 3 guys' If I wasn't tired and had somewhere else to go I would have definitely left the table after this happened:
He's dealing and off the back of his comment Says 'Ace Ace King' before he lays down the flop. I'm at the other end of the table and don't see the cards for all the people going crazy. I don't even need to guess what just happened.
Next hand he decides to try again, a little more random call: 'Jack Seven Five' I'm closer to the flop this time and absolutely amazed to see it fall in that order. He gets the flop wrong next hand but calls the 5d on the turn. Two players got up and left even though the player calling the cards wasn't involved in any of the hands.
'If he was cheating why would he do that?' Someone asks.
"I don't care' Says one of the departing players 'I just spent 2 hours building this stack to £400, I don't want to play at this table with someone who calls two flops, in order, two hands in a row. What are the odds of that happening?'
It's nearly 7am, nobody works it out. My question is: What are the odds of 3 people called Jamie all sitting on the same table next to each other AND having the same birthday AND the player to their right calling two flops in order, in a row?
My guess would be QUITE BIG. So next time someone next hits a miricale 1 outer on the river to stack me, I won't be surprised!
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Stars Is Here To Stay
It looks like Pokerstars is here to stay. They have released a statement on their website saying that they don’t believe the changes in legislation have any effect on online poker and that it’s business as usual.
This is great news for nearly all poker players. They’ll have a fantastic option as far as which networks they play on and I can’t see how Stars doesn’t become the #1 poker site now in terms of traffic.
It should be interesting over the coming months to see what happens. Hopefully more traffic doesn’t have a negative effect on their industry leading customer support, and allows them to continue to develop new tournament ideas and extend their guaranteed tournaments.
This is great news for nearly all poker players. They’ll have a fantastic option as far as which networks they play on and I can’t see how Stars doesn’t become the #1 poker site now in terms of traffic.
It should be interesting over the coming months to see what happens. Hopefully more traffic doesn’t have a negative effect on their industry leading customer support, and allows them to continue to develop new tournament ideas and extend their guaranteed tournaments.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Party + Stars Million
Nasty run for me today in the two big Sunday tournies. I busted just after the 1st break in the Party Million after pushing top 2 pair on the turn with a rainbow and uncoordinated board. It was a massive pot as 3 of us saw the flop after a I stuck in a healty raise. My opponent had top pair top kicker and rivered his second pair. If I won that hand I would have been up to about 2k above average stack, and in pretty good shape on a decent table.
Less than half an hour later I busted from the Stars Million. I was down to a fairly short stack and ended up all-in with AK. The SB flips AT and I smile all the way to the river where he hits his ten.
Not a great performance, but not much I could do with both of my KO hands. I got my chips in with the best hand both times, and both times were my first showdowns. I had a great table at Stars too so I feel like I could have made a good run in either tournie had I won one of those hands. But like they say:
That’s Poker!
Less than half an hour later I busted from the Stars Million. I was down to a fairly short stack and ended up all-in with AK. The SB flips AT and I smile all the way to the river where he hits his ten.
Not a great performance, but not much I could do with both of my KO hands. I got my chips in with the best hand both times, and both times were my first showdowns. I had a great table at Stars too so I feel like I could have made a good run in either tournie had I won one of those hands. But like they say:
That’s Poker!
Saturday, October 07, 2006
A Day In The Sats
I spent most of today playing satellites to the Sunday Million on stars. I ended up with $645 in entries. I'll use $215 in Sunday and I paid just under $200 to get them so I'll have just over $200 spare which I'll probably use for my tournaments this week.
One Double Shootout win (standard these days) and two from the $11R which is a bit of a crapshoot, but has been the main source of qualification for me in the past.
To prove my point today I qualified with less than 10% of the BB! I was also due to post the BB next hand, so I probably would have collected $33, (a massive $2 profit, I was in for $31) instead of the $215 entry. I didn't even have enough chips to post two antes either.
A classic late stage scenario occurred too. In the final hand of the tournament I was UTG with AA. Someone was all-in on one of the other tables and the SB was all-in on mine. If both of those players lost the hands they were in I would qualify, if not I was all-in in the BB and given that I was the smallest stack, and that we were hand-for-hand (lowest stack gets the lowest position if two players get KO in the same hand), if I lost the hand I would have been out on the bubble. I time out and a big stack in MP pushes. Everyone else folds and MP flips JJ Vs the SB's random junk hand.
MP hit a J on the turn meaning I would have been out, and even though two other players also busted in the same hand, my stack when I busted would have cost me the seat.
So I'm in the Party and Stars Millions on Sunday. It's the first time I have played both at the same time so I hope I can concentrate AND keep an eye on IRC. I'm being staked half my Stars entry by ITH forum members so I hope I make them proud! I also have a stake in the other players playing in our massive chop so I'm sure at least a few of us will make the FT.
Should make the final table negotiations interesting!
One Double Shootout win (standard these days) and two from the $11R which is a bit of a crapshoot, but has been the main source of qualification for me in the past.
To prove my point today I qualified with less than 10% of the BB! I was also due to post the BB next hand, so I probably would have collected $33, (a massive $2 profit, I was in for $31) instead of the $215 entry. I didn't even have enough chips to post two antes either.
A classic late stage scenario occurred too. In the final hand of the tournament I was UTG with AA. Someone was all-in on one of the other tables and the SB was all-in on mine. If both of those players lost the hands they were in I would qualify, if not I was all-in in the BB and given that I was the smallest stack, and that we were hand-for-hand (lowest stack gets the lowest position if two players get KO in the same hand), if I lost the hand I would have been out on the bubble. I time out and a big stack in MP pushes. Everyone else folds and MP flips JJ Vs the SB's random junk hand.
MP hit a J on the turn meaning I would have been out, and even though two other players also busted in the same hand, my stack when I busted would have cost me the seat.
So I'm in the Party and Stars Millions on Sunday. It's the first time I have played both at the same time so I hope I can concentrate AND keep an eye on IRC. I'm being staked half my Stars entry by ITH forum members so I hope I make them proud! I also have a stake in the other players playing in our massive chop so I'm sure at least a few of us will make the FT.
Should make the final table negotiations interesting!
Legal Issues
There has been extensive discussion in the last few days about how the possible changes in US laws will effect poker players in the US. I can fully relate to how terribly frustrating it must be to consider the fact that you may not be able to play poker online anymore. The majority of the people I play poker with and lots of the community at ITH are American, which means the game I love to play will probably be a completely different one if/when the sites I play at decide to start banning US players.
This has already happened at one of the sites I play at, but hasn't had any massive effect. I think it's possible there are less bonus chasers at William Hill now, so that's not necessarily a bad thing. However my main poker education is taking place at pokerstars at the moment, and although they haven't come out with a definitive statement either way at the moment, I think it's likely that they will have to go along the same lines as party and restrict US players. This would have a massive effect on the traffic the site experiences. I often play at times when there are upwards of 80,000 players online and if you assume 80% of the players are based in the US, you can expect that number to drop to around 16,000. You would also probably have to expect a further fallout of players due to their normal games not being available due to lack of players, or not being as profitable as games they may be able to find elsewhere. There are of course differences between Party and Stars, Stars is a private firm and has nearly always been a step ahead of the game. I don't expect that they'll give in as easily as Party have, but any company willing to release a statement that knocks a few Billion Dollars of it's share value doesn't do so lightly.
There is talk that they are cooperating for the time being because they may be trying to get on the good side of the law to enable them to take advantage of some long shot loophole at a later stage. I think this is certainly a possibility, I still find it so hard to believe that any company would simply roll over and say 'Well we can't do that anymore, never mind'. There is also speculation that they will be focusing their attentions on the Asian market as a replacement, but why not fight for the US players and double your profits?
Some of my main attractions to online poker will be taken away if all this comes into effect. I won't be able to play in a $3 rebuy tournament with a 30k prizepool. The possibility of them offering a guaranteed WSOP main event seat in a $33 tournament wouldn't exist, and I wouldn't be able to waste a week trying to qualify for the Sunday million, because they simply couldn't offer such a large guaranteed prizepool without loosing a serious amount of money.
But I can't really complain. At least I can play at all. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't play online. I'd probably try to play more live poker, but it's just not the same. Something evil inside me likes the feeling of winning $1000 in a tournie at 3 am while sitting in my living room in my underwear. I would probably only be able to play once a fortnight with less players, no game variety and of course driving 30 minutes to get busted in the first hand is much more frustrating when you can't just open another game.
This has already happened at one of the sites I play at, but hasn't had any massive effect. I think it's possible there are less bonus chasers at William Hill now, so that's not necessarily a bad thing. However my main poker education is taking place at pokerstars at the moment, and although they haven't come out with a definitive statement either way at the moment, I think it's likely that they will have to go along the same lines as party and restrict US players. This would have a massive effect on the traffic the site experiences. I often play at times when there are upwards of 80,000 players online and if you assume 80% of the players are based in the US, you can expect that number to drop to around 16,000. You would also probably have to expect a further fallout of players due to their normal games not being available due to lack of players, or not being as profitable as games they may be able to find elsewhere. There are of course differences between Party and Stars, Stars is a private firm and has nearly always been a step ahead of the game. I don't expect that they'll give in as easily as Party have, but any company willing to release a statement that knocks a few Billion Dollars of it's share value doesn't do so lightly.
There is talk that they are cooperating for the time being because they may be trying to get on the good side of the law to enable them to take advantage of some long shot loophole at a later stage. I think this is certainly a possibility, I still find it so hard to believe that any company would simply roll over and say 'Well we can't do that anymore, never mind'. There is also speculation that they will be focusing their attentions on the Asian market as a replacement, but why not fight for the US players and double your profits?
Some of my main attractions to online poker will be taken away if all this comes into effect. I won't be able to play in a $3 rebuy tournament with a 30k prizepool. The possibility of them offering a guaranteed WSOP main event seat in a $33 tournament wouldn't exist, and I wouldn't be able to waste a week trying to qualify for the Sunday million, because they simply couldn't offer such a large guaranteed prizepool without loosing a serious amount of money.
But I can't really complain. At least I can play at all. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't play online. I'd probably try to play more live poker, but it's just not the same. Something evil inside me likes the feeling of winning $1000 in a tournie at 3 am while sitting in my living room in my underwear. I would probably only be able to play once a fortnight with less players, no game variety and of course driving 30 minutes to get busted in the first hand is much more frustrating when you can't just open another game.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Double Shootout King
I Honestly think I might have to start calling this the Double Shootout Blog. I think I have probably played about 6 or 7 DS in my short poker career, and I have won the seat in 4. I know that’s a small sample size but it’s harder than it looks to win 2 SNG’s back-to-back.
I have about 500 $10 and £10 SNG’s under my belt from back when I started playing. I had a decent ROI and built the bankroll to start playing Limit FR. Maybe it’s my familiarity with the quality of players at this buy-in level added to my more recent experience in higher limit tournaments that gives me an edge.
The one I won today was an $11 6-Max sat to a $280 tournament. Strangely the player HU on the 1st table was much better than the one on the second. At the start of the second table I was lucky to build up to 4.5k early as I took a brutal all-in beating 4 handed, when my AA was cracked by AK. I ran the stats through the ITH hand calculator and I’m a shade under 93% to win the hand! He had a 3.5k stack as second chip leader and put me down to 1000 chips at 50/100. Climbed back and eventually busted my AK friend to play HU with even stacks.
He was pretty poor Heads-Up. He folded in the SB more times then I care to remember, and was calling and min-raising the rest of the time, no match for my super aggressive donkified HU style.
So I’m in the $280 100 seats Guaranteed to the WCOOP Main event. The buy-in to the ME is $2600 so IF by some miracle I do mange to qualify I’ll have a bit of a bankroll dilemma. I made a decision a while ago to always play in tournaments I qualify for but to date my biggest buy-in has been $530. This is in a different league, I guess I’ll have to worry about it when I win the seat!
I have about 500 $10 and £10 SNG’s under my belt from back when I started playing. I had a decent ROI and built the bankroll to start playing Limit FR. Maybe it’s my familiarity with the quality of players at this buy-in level added to my more recent experience in higher limit tournaments that gives me an edge.
The one I won today was an $11 6-Max sat to a $280 tournament. Strangely the player HU on the 1st table was much better than the one on the second. At the start of the second table I was lucky to build up to 4.5k early as I took a brutal all-in beating 4 handed, when my AA was cracked by AK. I ran the stats through the ITH hand calculator and I’m a shade under 93% to win the hand! He had a 3.5k stack as second chip leader and put me down to 1000 chips at 50/100. Climbed back and eventually busted my AK friend to play HU with even stacks.
He was pretty poor Heads-Up. He folded in the SB more times then I care to remember, and was calling and min-raising the rest of the time, no match for my super aggressive donkified HU style.
So I’m in the $280 100 seats Guaranteed to the WCOOP Main event. The buy-in to the ME is $2600 so IF by some miracle I do mange to qualify I’ll have a bit of a bankroll dilemma. I made a decision a while ago to always play in tournaments I qualify for but to date my biggest buy-in has been $530. This is in a different league, I guess I’ll have to worry about it when I win the seat!
Blind Stealing
I am often surprised to find that players late on in tournaments are so reluctant to steal. In the later stages in a tournament players at my table I have marked as playing a solid game let their stacks whittle away by not stealing. This isn't to say they are trying to steal and not succeeding for whatever reason, they simply aren't trying. Too many times recently I have seen players in comfortable but low M situations who have worked hard to build their stack just sit there and fold hand after hand, presumably waiting for something good enough to either raise or push with.
The most important thing to remember about a blind steal is that you don't need a hand to do it. I often like to have something in at least the top 50% of hands, just in case I have to see the flop or play the hand down if called. Needless to say if I am re-raised it's an easy fold, you just want the blinds, and you'll rarely catch anything worth playing on the flop. If you miss the flop don't be afraid to make continuation bets. Look at it from your opponents point of view, you raised pre-flop, he had a hand he didn't want to re-raise you with and just called, then you bet out on the flop. He needs a decent hand here to justify staying in the pot, and the majority of the time he won't. Other players at the table may also take you for a real hand, and give your subsequent steal attempts more respect.
So if you're not looking for a hand, what are you looking for?
First and foremost what you need is an un-raised pot, any raise means that you have a good chance of being called by the initial raiser, and probably re-raised if he wasn't trying to steal himself. Attempting to steal with one or more limpers is also not an ideal situation, one of them may have a hand he can call you with and chances are he'll be well ahead if he does. Your raise amount in this situation will also need to be bigger, putting more of your stack at risk. It's always a good idea to use your reads at the table where limpers are concerned. Have they limped a lot? Have they raised the flop after limping? Have they called re-raises? All of these factors you need to take into account.
To pull off an effective steal you also need good position, you don't really want to raise in early position with the possibility of any of the players still to act calling or re-raising you. Usually I would recommend late position, but this of course does depend on a few other factors. If you are in MP and it's folded to you, you might have an ideal situation to steal the blinds if the players on your left are generally tight, short stacked, or a combination of the two.
Blind stealing is only really useful in the later stages of a tournament. Usually the arrival of the antes is a good time to start looking at opportunities. There's not much point trying to steal pots at 10/20 or 15/30 when you start with a 1500 or 2500 chip stack. Players are much more likely to call a small raise at this stage in the tournament, you won't steal as effectively and when you succeed you'll be picking up a minimal number of chips in comparison to your stack.
A successful steal effectively buys you an extra orbit and your called and re-raised steal attempts will be more than made up for by the number of times you steal successfully if done correctly. Raise amounts are central to this working correctly. Not only will they affect the amount of times you are called/win the pot but they will also affect the overall profit you make. Below is an example based on 10 steals, 7 of which are successful and 3 of which are not:
9 handed table – Blinds 200/400 Ante 50
Pot size T1050
Raise amount 2.5 x the BB (T1000)
Profit from steals = 7350
Loss from steals = 3000
Net gain = 4350
Based on a raise amount of 2.5 times the big blind, which should be sufficient at most tables, you gain 4350. If we say the player in this situation is working with an M of 10 (T10500), he is only risking just under 10% of his stack at each steal, meaning any re-raises or other situations where he doesn't win the hand don't cost him much of his stack.
If we change the raise amount to 4 times the big blind:
9 handed table – Blinds 200/400 Ante 50
Pot size T1050
Raise amount 3.5 x the BB (T1400)
Profit from steals = 7350
Loss from steals = 4200
Net gain = 3150
This doesn't take into account the fact that your blind steals may be more successful with a larger raise amount, but I honestly think that the two raise amounts would have pretty much the same effect at most tables. As you can see here the difference in the two raise amounts equates to an extra orbit This may be the difference between getting the hand you have been waiting for and an early exit.
Many people argue about how many times per orbit you should be looking to steal. I think this is generally dependant on your environment as supposed to having a rule of thumb. On a tight table you should be looking to steal more as your opponents are less likely to call. Clearly you need to be more careful when they do call, and especially when they re-raise. At looser tables you should scale down your steal attempts to maybe just one per orbit. At looser tables you are much more likely to get called so you need to really tighten up your requirements for stealing. Look for the best opportunities, smaller stacks in the blinds, tighter players still to act and the CO or button.
The bubble is a fantastic opportunity to increase your blind stealing. Recently I was playing a big Sunday tournament with a decent stack on the bubble and manage to add around 30% to it over 20 or so hands leading up the bubble. This gave me both an opportunity to cash deeper in the tournament almost by default, but also gave me a stack big enough to benefit from the all in fest that is inevitable after the bubble burst using Harrington's 10% stack theory.
Short handed tables give you even more reason to steal. If you are down to the final 2 or 3 tables of a tournament the tables will generally have a low average M. If you are floating around a M of 3-4 then pushing is best. It gives you the maximum folding equity and is probably the only raise that will get any real respect. If you make a 2.5 x BB raise with an M of 4 you won't have enough left to do anything with if you fold when raised, and you probably won't have much choice on the flop if you are called either. This is certainly a time when the 2.5 x BB raise goes out of the window, and you just have to hope nobody wakes up with a hand before you do!
Blind steals also do a good job of disguising your good hands. If you keep your standard raise amount consistent with both your blind steals and your standard raises, any players paying attention at your table will probably give you less credit for you hand. This means your continuation bets will probably have more standing on lower flops, and you are more likely to get paid off when you hit the flop.
It's also worth noting that both effective raise amounts and blind stealing in general add to your stack at any given point, meaning that if double up, you'll be doing so with more chips, adding even more to your stack.
The most important thing to remember about a blind steal is that you don't need a hand to do it. I often like to have something in at least the top 50% of hands, just in case I have to see the flop or play the hand down if called. Needless to say if I am re-raised it's an easy fold, you just want the blinds, and you'll rarely catch anything worth playing on the flop. If you miss the flop don't be afraid to make continuation bets. Look at it from your opponents point of view, you raised pre-flop, he had a hand he didn't want to re-raise you with and just called, then you bet out on the flop. He needs a decent hand here to justify staying in the pot, and the majority of the time he won't. Other players at the table may also take you for a real hand, and give your subsequent steal attempts more respect.
So if you're not looking for a hand, what are you looking for?
First and foremost what you need is an un-raised pot, any raise means that you have a good chance of being called by the initial raiser, and probably re-raised if he wasn't trying to steal himself. Attempting to steal with one or more limpers is also not an ideal situation, one of them may have a hand he can call you with and chances are he'll be well ahead if he does. Your raise amount in this situation will also need to be bigger, putting more of your stack at risk. It's always a good idea to use your reads at the table where limpers are concerned. Have they limped a lot? Have they raised the flop after limping? Have they called re-raises? All of these factors you need to take into account.
To pull off an effective steal you also need good position, you don't really want to raise in early position with the possibility of any of the players still to act calling or re-raising you. Usually I would recommend late position, but this of course does depend on a few other factors. If you are in MP and it's folded to you, you might have an ideal situation to steal the blinds if the players on your left are generally tight, short stacked, or a combination of the two.
Blind stealing is only really useful in the later stages of a tournament. Usually the arrival of the antes is a good time to start looking at opportunities. There's not much point trying to steal pots at 10/20 or 15/30 when you start with a 1500 or 2500 chip stack. Players are much more likely to call a small raise at this stage in the tournament, you won't steal as effectively and when you succeed you'll be picking up a minimal number of chips in comparison to your stack.
A successful steal effectively buys you an extra orbit and your called and re-raised steal attempts will be more than made up for by the number of times you steal successfully if done correctly. Raise amounts are central to this working correctly. Not only will they affect the amount of times you are called/win the pot but they will also affect the overall profit you make. Below is an example based on 10 steals, 7 of which are successful and 3 of which are not:
9 handed table – Blinds 200/400 Ante 50
Pot size T1050
Raise amount 2.5 x the BB (T1000)
Profit from steals = 7350
Loss from steals = 3000
Net gain = 4350
Based on a raise amount of 2.5 times the big blind, which should be sufficient at most tables, you gain 4350. If we say the player in this situation is working with an M of 10 (T10500), he is only risking just under 10% of his stack at each steal, meaning any re-raises or other situations where he doesn't win the hand don't cost him much of his stack.
If we change the raise amount to 4 times the big blind:
9 handed table – Blinds 200/400 Ante 50
Pot size T1050
Raise amount 3.5 x the BB (T1400)
Profit from steals = 7350
Loss from steals = 4200
Net gain = 3150
This doesn't take into account the fact that your blind steals may be more successful with a larger raise amount, but I honestly think that the two raise amounts would have pretty much the same effect at most tables. As you can see here the difference in the two raise amounts equates to an extra orbit This may be the difference between getting the hand you have been waiting for and an early exit.
Many people argue about how many times per orbit you should be looking to steal. I think this is generally dependant on your environment as supposed to having a rule of thumb. On a tight table you should be looking to steal more as your opponents are less likely to call. Clearly you need to be more careful when they do call, and especially when they re-raise. At looser tables you should scale down your steal attempts to maybe just one per orbit. At looser tables you are much more likely to get called so you need to really tighten up your requirements for stealing. Look for the best opportunities, smaller stacks in the blinds, tighter players still to act and the CO or button.
The bubble is a fantastic opportunity to increase your blind stealing. Recently I was playing a big Sunday tournament with a decent stack on the bubble and manage to add around 30% to it over 20 or so hands leading up the bubble. This gave me both an opportunity to cash deeper in the tournament almost by default, but also gave me a stack big enough to benefit from the all in fest that is inevitable after the bubble burst using Harrington's 10% stack theory.
Short handed tables give you even more reason to steal. If you are down to the final 2 or 3 tables of a tournament the tables will generally have a low average M. If you are floating around a M of 3-4 then pushing is best. It gives you the maximum folding equity and is probably the only raise that will get any real respect. If you make a 2.5 x BB raise with an M of 4 you won't have enough left to do anything with if you fold when raised, and you probably won't have much choice on the flop if you are called either. This is certainly a time when the 2.5 x BB raise goes out of the window, and you just have to hope nobody wakes up with a hand before you do!
Blind steals also do a good job of disguising your good hands. If you keep your standard raise amount consistent with both your blind steals and your standard raises, any players paying attention at your table will probably give you less credit for you hand. This means your continuation bets will probably have more standing on lower flops, and you are more likely to get paid off when you hit the flop.
It's also worth noting that both effective raise amounts and blind stealing in general add to your stack at any given point, meaning that if double up, you'll be doing so with more chips, adding even more to your stack.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
WCOOP Event #13 - $320 PLHE 6-Max
Far from a riveting performance in WCOOP event 13. ($320 PL 6 max) I ended up busting just before the first break. The only one think I can take from the tournament is that I at least made a good laydown. I was up to about 2700 from a 2500 starting stack and was dealt QQ in the SB.
It’s 10/20 so I raise to 60, SB raises to 120 for what looks like a re-steal so I re-raise to 200. He calls and we both see a flop of 957. Two diamonds on board but I have an over pair so I bet out half the pot. He then raises to around 500, I’m worried about what he picked up in the BB at this point. Turn brings a 6, I check and he bets the pot. The bet pretty much puts me all in, he’s bet the whole way, maybe he has a bigger pocket pair, or a smaller one that hit the flop, or even two random cards for 2 pair. I fold and he flops 99 commending my laydown.
That put me down to about 1700, caught nothing for a while until a LP 77. I raise pre-flop and get one caller. The flop is a frustrating 98x and he bets a nominal amount, I re-raise and have to fold to his push.
That puts me down to a pretty small stack, one funny AQ vs AQ all in then end up all in with AK vs QQ, no help and I’m out.
Doubt I’ll be playing any of the events that are left so that’s it for me in the WCOOP this year. I didn’t end up playing as much as I wanted and the two events I did play I didn’t event manage to cash. Bring back the Sunday Million!
It’s 10/20 so I raise to 60, SB raises to 120 for what looks like a re-steal so I re-raise to 200. He calls and we both see a flop of 957. Two diamonds on board but I have an over pair so I bet out half the pot. He then raises to around 500, I’m worried about what he picked up in the BB at this point. Turn brings a 6, I check and he bets the pot. The bet pretty much puts me all in, he’s bet the whole way, maybe he has a bigger pocket pair, or a smaller one that hit the flop, or even two random cards for 2 pair. I fold and he flops 99 commending my laydown.
That put me down to about 1700, caught nothing for a while until a LP 77. I raise pre-flop and get one caller. The flop is a frustrating 98x and he bets a nominal amount, I re-raise and have to fold to his push.
That puts me down to a pretty small stack, one funny AQ vs AQ all in then end up all in with AK vs QQ, no help and I’m out.
Doubt I’ll be playing any of the events that are left so that’s it for me in the WCOOP this year. I didn’t end up playing as much as I wanted and the two events I did play I didn’t event manage to cash. Bring back the Sunday Million!
Monday, September 18, 2006
WCOOP Event #2 - $530 NLHE
Had a horrible event #2 of the WCOOP. I started okay picking up a few pots without getting too involved. I just didn’t manage to get any cards, and busted about half way through the field. I saw 12/146 flops (about 7%), and a couple of those were in the BB. The few pre-flop raises I did make let me peek at flops which I didn’t hit, and forced me to make continuation bets that were re-raised. I played 3 hands to showdown until my last and lost all three!
So not a fantastic start to the WCOOP but I plan to play in a few more events. I did qualify for $13 so it’s not like it’s a massive hit to my bankroll. I have stakes in a few other players who are still in, so hopefully I have something to post about later!
(on a side note I did manage to outlast a couple of WSOP ME winners!)
So not a fantastic start to the WCOOP but I plan to play in a few more events. I did qualify for $13 so it’s not like it’s a massive hit to my bankroll. I have stakes in a few other players who are still in, so hopefully I have something to post about later!
(on a side note I did manage to outlast a couple of WSOP ME winners!)
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
A good few days...
I have been playing some good poker lately. I cashed the Stars Million on Sunday. Hardly an exhilarating performance, but I was happy about my play and took a few notes on things I wanted to work on and improve. I do this VERY rarely so I know I was taking it seriously for a change! I retain my 100% cash record for the million which is great, I just need to work on lasting to the bigger money. I hovered around average stack for most of the tournament and was very happy with my play towards the bubble, taking full advantage of a table of a couple of tight and short stacked players on my left.
I have been trying to play some more UK time friendly tournaments this week and work on my game in bigger field MTT’s. I managed to cash in the 10k on Stars last night but, didn’t play much after due to the frustration of my exit.
I played again tonight and went out early. I fired up a $13 Double Shootout to WCOOP event #2. I had a great first table, the HU lasted all of about 5 hands and as we were one of the last tables to finish I didn’t have to wait too long for the final table. The play was actually pretty good, or at least better than I had expected for a turbo. I was pretty quiet but managed to get a chip lead 3 handed and grind one of the players down.
Heads up is always a fun experience for me. I’m pretty erratic and not particularly conventional in my play. 3rd place got nothing 2nd was $240 and 1st was the $530 seat. Still plenty to play for - 20 hands and about 10 all-ins later I took it down. It was absolutely manic but I can now proudly add Event #2 - $530 NLHE to my WCOOP schedule!
I have been trying to play some more UK time friendly tournaments this week and work on my game in bigger field MTT’s. I managed to cash in the 10k on Stars last night but, didn’t play much after due to the frustration of my exit.
I played again tonight and went out early. I fired up a $13 Double Shootout to WCOOP event #2. I had a great first table, the HU lasted all of about 5 hands and as we were one of the last tables to finish I didn’t have to wait too long for the final table. The play was actually pretty good, or at least better than I had expected for a turbo. I was pretty quiet but managed to get a chip lead 3 handed and grind one of the players down.
Heads up is always a fun experience for me. I’m pretty erratic and not particularly conventional in my play. 3rd place got nothing 2nd was $240 and 1st was the $530 seat. Still plenty to play for - 20 hands and about 10 all-ins later I took it down. It was absolutely manic but I can now proudly add Event #2 - $530 NLHE to my WCOOP schedule!
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Bill Fillmaff
If you haven't seen this yet you have to check it out:
Bill Fillmaff Video
It was posted on the ITH forums and had me in stitches. I have watched a few instructional videos and they all seem to take it so seriously. Check this one out for something a little different.
'He's probably homeless' and 'How did I get all this spit in my mouth' are among my favorite quotes.
Bill Fillmaff Video
It was posted on the ITH forums and had me in stitches. I have watched a few instructional videos and they all seem to take it so seriously. Check this one out for something a little different.
'He's probably homeless' and 'How did I get all this spit in my mouth' are among my favorite quotes.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Second Chance?
I was the victim of a most crewel and unusual hand in the Sunday second chance $215 tournament at Stars last night.
It’s a couple of hands after the 1st break and I get dealt AQo in the BB. It’s folded to the button who raises to 4 x BB. The SB checks and I put in a re-raise. At this point I figure I have a half decent hand if the button does actually have something, but chances are he was just trying a steal and is folding this most of the time.
The player on the button calls my re-raise and the flop comes Qc8c4c. Not the best flop for me but I have top pair, top kicker and The Ac for the flush draw. Villain checks and I throw in a healthy raise. He pauses and pushes his stack, which was narrowly bigger than mine, into the pot.
He could have the flush here or have caught something else he wants to protect. I have TPTK plus the flush draw, I also have just over half my stack in the pot at this point. Folding leaves me a serious short stack and needing a hand pretty soon. I call and villain flips 2c3c for the flush. I get no help and I’m out about half way through the field.
What gets me is he called a re-raise after a 4 x BB raise with 23s. Maybe I don’t get poker after all!
It’s a couple of hands after the 1st break and I get dealt AQo in the BB. It’s folded to the button who raises to 4 x BB. The SB checks and I put in a re-raise. At this point I figure I have a half decent hand if the button does actually have something, but chances are he was just trying a steal and is folding this most of the time.
The player on the button calls my re-raise and the flop comes Qc8c4c. Not the best flop for me but I have top pair, top kicker and The Ac for the flush draw. Villain checks and I throw in a healthy raise. He pauses and pushes his stack, which was narrowly bigger than mine, into the pot.
He could have the flush here or have caught something else he wants to protect. I have TPTK plus the flush draw, I also have just over half my stack in the pot at this point. Folding leaves me a serious short stack and needing a hand pretty soon. I call and villain flips 2c3c for the flush. I get no help and I’m out about half way through the field.
What gets me is he called a re-raise after a 4 x BB raise with 23s. Maybe I don’t get poker after all!
Saturday, August 19, 2006
WCOOP
I’m probably more likely to stick to this if I post it so here are my plans for the WCOOP this year:
Event #6 $215 NLHE with rebuys
Event #7 $215 Limit Holdem
The $215 HORSE event
I’ll probably be playing quite a few satellites to other events, so I’ll play in some of the other NLHE events if I can. I also want to make the effort to play some of the online EPT events but at the moment it looks like I may be tied up during most of them.
I had originally intended to play in the Gutshot Series of poker main event. It would have been my biggest live event to date. I now have a holiday booked over that weekend so I won’t be playing. I’ll have to save myself for the APT event in Birmingham instead.
Event #6 $215 NLHE with rebuys
Event #7 $215 Limit Holdem
The $215 HORSE event
I’ll probably be playing quite a few satellites to other events, so I’ll play in some of the other NLHE events if I can. I also want to make the effort to play some of the online EPT events but at the moment it looks like I may be tied up during most of them.
I had originally intended to play in the Gutshot Series of poker main event. It would have been my biggest live event to date. I now have a holiday booked over that weekend so I won’t be playing. I’ll have to save myself for the APT event in Birmingham instead.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
WSOP
This is from Cardplayer tonight:
As we've reached our final 12 players, play has slowed considerably. Everyone remaining is now a millionaire.
Wow.
As we've reached our final 12 players, play has slowed considerably. Everyone remaining is now a millionaire.
Wow.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Go Humberto!
Another Sunday Million, another cash. I placed 555 last night for just under $450 maintaining my 100% record. Not the best result ever but better than nothing.
Unfortunately it wasn’t a particularly exciting tournament for me. I just couldn’t seem to win more than one pot in a row. After the first break I went from 5k to 11k, then back down to 4k, up to 14k then back down to 6k. I got moved a crazy amount of times early on, never giving me enough time to get comfortable at my table. Not a bad return from my $11 Double Shootout qualification though!
I’m a bit gutted that Annie Duke is out of the WSOP Main Event. Since everyone I know was out I decided to pick her as my favourite to take it down. It would have been nice to have a couple of high place female finishers this year but alas, they are all out.
With 45 left I think I’ll go with a shortie now to keep things interesting. I think Costa Rican Humberto Brenes still has a fighting chance with just over half a million in chips. Go Humberto!
It will be interesting to see if Pokerstars will have the ‘buy’ the winner again this year. They have 9 left of the 45 remaining. None of them are particularly big stacks, but I think a certain Mr Lynch is certainly worth keeping an eye on. He has just shy of 2 million in chips and I think he has a lot more to offer.
Unfortunately it wasn’t a particularly exciting tournament for me. I just couldn’t seem to win more than one pot in a row. After the first break I went from 5k to 11k, then back down to 4k, up to 14k then back down to 6k. I got moved a crazy amount of times early on, never giving me enough time to get comfortable at my table. Not a bad return from my $11 Double Shootout qualification though!
I’m a bit gutted that Annie Duke is out of the WSOP Main Event. Since everyone I know was out I decided to pick her as my favourite to take it down. It would have been nice to have a couple of high place female finishers this year but alas, they are all out.
With 45 left I think I’ll go with a shortie now to keep things interesting. I think Costa Rican Humberto Brenes still has a fighting chance with just over half a million in chips. Go Humberto!
It will be interesting to see if Pokerstars will have the ‘buy’ the winner again this year. They have 9 left of the 45 remaining. None of them are particularly big stacks, but I think a certain Mr Lynch is certainly worth keeping an eye on. He has just shy of 2 million in chips and I think he has a lot more to offer.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
WSOP Funnies
It seems the WSOP Main event attracts people (and monkeys) from all walks of life. You would think that a $10,000 buy-in would attract only people who were serious about poker. However it seems that where the ME is concerned this clearly does not apply.
I saw this on the FCP forum. I’m not sure what the original source was:
First Disqualification of the Series
A player has just been disqualified from the main event. He was putting chips into his pocket when he was caught by a floorman. The player claimed that he heard it was ok to hide chips in his pocket, but that stuff doesn't fly in the World Series. He has been disqualified, and the floorman went on to say that this was the first DQ of it's kind for the entire WSOP. His chips were confiscated and removed from play.
So we have a guy who thinks it’s okay to hide chips, a lady who though she had a straight flush with none of her suit on the board, and random celebrities such a former heavyweight champion and pretend Brit Lennox Lewis playing.
To be fair from what I have seen Lewis at least knew what he was doing. The main event has become a circus over the last few years. All it really means for better players is plenty of dead money and probably the odd frustrating outdraw. I love it though and can’t wait to get myself to Vegas one year to play.
All I can say is thank god they didn’t let the monkey play.
I saw this on the FCP forum. I’m not sure what the original source was:
First Disqualification of the Series
A player has just been disqualified from the main event. He was putting chips into his pocket when he was caught by a floorman. The player claimed that he heard it was ok to hide chips in his pocket, but that stuff doesn't fly in the World Series. He has been disqualified, and the floorman went on to say that this was the first DQ of it's kind for the entire WSOP. His chips were confiscated and removed from play.
So we have a guy who thinks it’s okay to hide chips, a lady who though she had a straight flush with none of her suit on the board, and random celebrities such a former heavyweight champion and pretend Brit Lennox Lewis playing.
To be fair from what I have seen Lewis at least knew what he was doing. The main event has become a circus over the last few years. All it really means for better players is plenty of dead money and probably the odd frustrating outdraw. I love it though and can’t wait to get myself to Vegas one year to play.
All I can say is thank god they didn’t let the monkey play.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Double Shootout Fun
I played my second ever double shootout yesterday. A satellite to the Sunday Million nice and early with a small field. The only other one I have played I went out in 3rd and lost out on one of the two seats up for grabs.
The play is so bad in these it’s unreal. The one I played had 55 runners, paid two seats and $35 for 3-6. My first table started with 8 people and I honestly think some of the players thought it was a turbo. We were down to 4 by the end of the first level, and I had hardly played a hand. Heads-up my opponent had a massive chip lead. I think originally it was 10k/2k but the blinds were still so low. Cue a 45 min HU battle…
I have to admit, I really enjoyed it. I felt like I had a great read on my opponent and got myself up to about 8k. He the doubled through to take the lead after the following hand:
I raise in the SB with AQ, he called and the flop came AQx. I raised the flop in line with most of my hands played this way and he pushed. I called and he flips the mighty 84s for the flush draw.
He hits of course and now I’m back to grinding him down again. After a few ups and downs I finally took my first table with JJ Vs AA when a well timed J on the river relieved him of his last 2k.
Surprisingly the second table was worse that the first. MP pushed first hand and got TWO callers. MP has AA, the callers? AQ and KJ.
Oh my.
The player with AA in the hand above tripled and I doubled off him a few hands later. He eventually busted with AK. Three handed the blinds were getting quite high. I was able to steal with little reply and eventually ended up with about 8k Vs 4k Vs 1.2k or similar.
The 4k stack played this a bit strange I think. 2 places pay so he’s in a great position at this point. The blinds are high I’m raising every hand. I pick up QJ in the BB. He called and I raised. He calls to see a flop of Q75 rainbow. I bet out and he calls again. I’m a little confused as to why he’s getting so involved at this point when a J appears on the turn. I bet out again and he pushes. I think my curiosity got the better of me here and I called with top 2, he flips AA and gets no help and a whopping $35 for his efforts. I bet the short stack couldn’t believe his luck!
I have seen quite a bit of debate over the DS as a way to qualify, both for the WSOP and for the Sunday Million. I see them as a low cost way of playing a relatively poor field for seats you might otherwise pay 4-5 times more for in one of the rebuy satellites. I would encourage that anyone who has at least some knowledge of SNG’s to give them a go.
The play is so bad in these it’s unreal. The one I played had 55 runners, paid two seats and $35 for 3-6. My first table started with 8 people and I honestly think some of the players thought it was a turbo. We were down to 4 by the end of the first level, and I had hardly played a hand. Heads-up my opponent had a massive chip lead. I think originally it was 10k/2k but the blinds were still so low. Cue a 45 min HU battle…
I have to admit, I really enjoyed it. I felt like I had a great read on my opponent and got myself up to about 8k. He the doubled through to take the lead after the following hand:
I raise in the SB with AQ, he called and the flop came AQx. I raised the flop in line with most of my hands played this way and he pushed. I called and he flips the mighty 84s for the flush draw.
He hits of course and now I’m back to grinding him down again. After a few ups and downs I finally took my first table with JJ Vs AA when a well timed J on the river relieved him of his last 2k.
Surprisingly the second table was worse that the first. MP pushed first hand and got TWO callers. MP has AA, the callers? AQ and KJ.
Oh my.
The player with AA in the hand above tripled and I doubled off him a few hands later. He eventually busted with AK. Three handed the blinds were getting quite high. I was able to steal with little reply and eventually ended up with about 8k Vs 4k Vs 1.2k or similar.
The 4k stack played this a bit strange I think. 2 places pay so he’s in a great position at this point. The blinds are high I’m raising every hand. I pick up QJ in the BB. He called and I raised. He calls to see a flop of Q75 rainbow. I bet out and he calls again. I’m a little confused as to why he’s getting so involved at this point when a J appears on the turn. I bet out again and he pushes. I think my curiosity got the better of me here and I called with top 2, he flips AA and gets no help and a whopping $35 for his efforts. I bet the short stack couldn’t believe his luck!
I have seen quite a bit of debate over the DS as a way to qualify, both for the WSOP and for the Sunday Million. I see them as a low cost way of playing a relatively poor field for seats you might otherwise pay 4-5 times more for in one of the rebuy satellites. I would encourage that anyone who has at least some knowledge of SNG’s to give them a go.
Some Rare Live Poker
Not a bad few days poker since my last update. Last week I played a great live tournament, which I chopped for 1st in. Some of the players were pretty good. On my original table there was a player I recognise from high stakes cash games at a local casino sitting on my left. He was the only person I was looking out for, as I have played with him before and knew a fair bit about they way he plays. I didn’t know anything about any of the other players on the table, with the exception of two players chatting to each other about poker, clearly trying to impress.
“I was playing online today and got a pair of hooks”
People giving hands their nicknames always makes me laugh.
“I raised and two people called. The flop was AKx, so I went all-in”
No prizes for guessing that one of the pre-flop callers had an ace. I later found out this particular player works in a local supermarket. Normally this wouldn’t mean much, but given that this was a re-buy tournament, and as you can imagine she bought in a fair few times, I think she probably dropped a few days wages.
She was actually a really nice lady, certainly livened up my table. True to form when I play people like this, she doubled when I flopped a straight and she rivered a flush to take the pot in a very frustrating fashion:
“Oh never mind, I though I had something”
“You have a flush”
“Does that mean I win?”
At this point the dealer decided to wake up and declare her the winner of the hand.
She actually apologised for winning the hand. I wasn’t too annoyed at this point as we still had plenty of time left in the rebuy period. About two hands later, when a very quiet player who was sitting two to my left busted, I saw that he used all of the money in his wallet to rebuy. Not the best read in the world but my live poker being as primitive as it is I decided I was happy that I picked up on it.
I was amazed at all the little things I picked up on that I never would have online. Someone I would consider to be a good player on my table had a nice ornate card protector (hand nicknames again!). Each time he intended to play a hand he left it on his cards, and when he wasn’t going to play he took it off. He stayed at my table all night and eventually busted in 3rd.
The heads-up part of this tournament was crazy. 4 handed I had half the chips at the table. Over the next 4-5 hands one of the other players busted the two remaining players to give us even stacks. I had been thinking about my strategy HU for about 10 minutes. All of it useless now as I was not facing the short stack I thought I would be.
We played HU for just under 2 blind levels. My opponent was pretty good, aggressive in the right places and I think he felt he could beat me. It was a real low M battle, and became a bit of a crapshoot.
I lost a big pot giving him a 4-1 chip lead. I pushed blind next hand and doubled. A few hands later we were even again. The next blind level was 2 minutes away and we were about to have so few BB each that it was no longer a much of a game. I worked out the average of second and first place money an offered him the chop.
He accepted so fast I was taken back a little. He later commented that it was a close match-up and it could have gone either way. He also said after a while at the final table he was happy to play anyone heads-up for the tournament except for me.
Overall I was happy with my performance. The mix of good and bad players went very well for me, and I felt confident in my ability to determine who was who. I only hope that next time I play live I can extend on this.
“I was playing online today and got a pair of hooks”
People giving hands their nicknames always makes me laugh.
“I raised and two people called. The flop was AKx, so I went all-in”
No prizes for guessing that one of the pre-flop callers had an ace. I later found out this particular player works in a local supermarket. Normally this wouldn’t mean much, but given that this was a re-buy tournament, and as you can imagine she bought in a fair few times, I think she probably dropped a few days wages.
She was actually a really nice lady, certainly livened up my table. True to form when I play people like this, she doubled when I flopped a straight and she rivered a flush to take the pot in a very frustrating fashion:
“Oh never mind, I though I had something”
“You have a flush”
“Does that mean I win?”
At this point the dealer decided to wake up and declare her the winner of the hand.
She actually apologised for winning the hand. I wasn’t too annoyed at this point as we still had plenty of time left in the rebuy period. About two hands later, when a very quiet player who was sitting two to my left busted, I saw that he used all of the money in his wallet to rebuy. Not the best read in the world but my live poker being as primitive as it is I decided I was happy that I picked up on it.
I was amazed at all the little things I picked up on that I never would have online. Someone I would consider to be a good player on my table had a nice ornate card protector (hand nicknames again!). Each time he intended to play a hand he left it on his cards, and when he wasn’t going to play he took it off. He stayed at my table all night and eventually busted in 3rd.
The heads-up part of this tournament was crazy. 4 handed I had half the chips at the table. Over the next 4-5 hands one of the other players busted the two remaining players to give us even stacks. I had been thinking about my strategy HU for about 10 minutes. All of it useless now as I was not facing the short stack I thought I would be.
We played HU for just under 2 blind levels. My opponent was pretty good, aggressive in the right places and I think he felt he could beat me. It was a real low M battle, and became a bit of a crapshoot.
I lost a big pot giving him a 4-1 chip lead. I pushed blind next hand and doubled. A few hands later we were even again. The next blind level was 2 minutes away and we were about to have so few BB each that it was no longer a much of a game. I worked out the average of second and first place money an offered him the chop.
He accepted so fast I was taken back a little. He later commented that it was a close match-up and it could have gone either way. He also said after a while at the final table he was happy to play anyone heads-up for the tournament except for me.
Overall I was happy with my performance. The mix of good and bad players went very well for me, and I felt confident in my ability to determine who was who. I only hope that next time I play live I can extend on this.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Sunday Million
I decided to play some tournaments on Sunday as supposed to grinding it out on the limit cash tables. I have been playing pretty well and I have a decent T$ BR from satellites in the past few weeks.
I donked out of a couple of the rebuy sats early on in the day. I seem to do much better in the $3R with normal blind structures than the $11R turbo’s which are a bit of a crapshoot, even if they do offer far more seats.
Since Stars were offering a $100 50% bonus to those playing in the Million this week, I decided I needed no further excuses to play. I also got involved in the worlds biggest shared prizepool.* 15 players from the ITH forum decided to join in the pool, each donating 20% of their winnings.
The tournament took to a slow start for me and I got wrapped up in a horrible pot early on and went from my 2500 starting stack to around 1k in chips. I had an OESD and flush draw on the flop, needless to say neither hit. Just before the first break I picked up AA in MP and an AKx flop had lots of action from the two other remaining players.
Just after the break I had a rush of good hands, resulting in an all-in on the flop from TPTK when I held the nut straight. I went card dead for a while after this. I got moved 3 times in the second hour too, and started after the 2nd break with a healthy stack but desperately needing some cards.
My next big hand I doubled to about 30k with AQs after hitting a flush on the river. At this point I was sitting 10th overall with about 2700 left. I floated around in the top 30 for a while before dipping out after loosing a couple of smallish pots and some failed steals.
I was stealing quite effectively after this. My table had a few good players but I felt quite comfortable. I got moved for what would be the last time in the tournament to a much more active table. My steal attempts were sometimes getting rasied and re-raised by the time they got back to me so I tightened up a bit and picked my spots more carefully. I got up to about 40k in chips as the blinds started to get scary for most at my table. I managed to maintain my stack for a while and take advantage of a few smaller stacks after the bubble burst.
After the second money level I went absolutely card dead again and no longer had the stack to steal properly without putting myself at risk. I slowly ground down to about 25k when I got a free run with J5 in the BB. The flop Came down J89 all of hearts and I held the 5h. I raised and was re-raised all in by a big stack at the table. I had a fealing I was already beat, but if I won the hand I was back up to avg stack, and folding left me needing to push very soon.
My opponent flipped the straight, no miricale cards for me and I busted in 313/5884 for just over $700.
Not a bad showing for my first outing in the million and I’m sure it won’t be my last. I made just under a $100 contribution to the ITH pool which got to something like $350 from the 3 players that cashed.
*may not be true
I donked out of a couple of the rebuy sats early on in the day. I seem to do much better in the $3R with normal blind structures than the $11R turbo’s which are a bit of a crapshoot, even if they do offer far more seats.
Since Stars were offering a $100 50% bonus to those playing in the Million this week, I decided I needed no further excuses to play. I also got involved in the worlds biggest shared prizepool.* 15 players from the ITH forum decided to join in the pool, each donating 20% of their winnings.
The tournament took to a slow start for me and I got wrapped up in a horrible pot early on and went from my 2500 starting stack to around 1k in chips. I had an OESD and flush draw on the flop, needless to say neither hit. Just before the first break I picked up AA in MP and an AKx flop had lots of action from the two other remaining players.
Just after the break I had a rush of good hands, resulting in an all-in on the flop from TPTK when I held the nut straight. I went card dead for a while after this. I got moved 3 times in the second hour too, and started after the 2nd break with a healthy stack but desperately needing some cards.
My next big hand I doubled to about 30k with AQs after hitting a flush on the river. At this point I was sitting 10th overall with about 2700 left. I floated around in the top 30 for a while before dipping out after loosing a couple of smallish pots and some failed steals.
I was stealing quite effectively after this. My table had a few good players but I felt quite comfortable. I got moved for what would be the last time in the tournament to a much more active table. My steal attempts were sometimes getting rasied and re-raised by the time they got back to me so I tightened up a bit and picked my spots more carefully. I got up to about 40k in chips as the blinds started to get scary for most at my table. I managed to maintain my stack for a while and take advantage of a few smaller stacks after the bubble burst.
After the second money level I went absolutely card dead again and no longer had the stack to steal properly without putting myself at risk. I slowly ground down to about 25k when I got a free run with J5 in the BB. The flop Came down J89 all of hearts and I held the 5h. I raised and was re-raised all in by a big stack at the table. I had a fealing I was already beat, but if I won the hand I was back up to avg stack, and folding left me needing to push very soon.
My opponent flipped the straight, no miricale cards for me and I busted in 313/5884 for just over $700.
Not a bad showing for my first outing in the million and I’m sure it won’t be my last. I made just under a $100 contribution to the ITH pool which got to something like $350 from the 3 players that cashed.
*may not be true
Friday, July 21, 2006
Party Poker Challenge
I logged into Party the other day for the first time in a while and a message popped up offering me a $25 restricted bonus.
This type of bonus you don’t need to deposit for. They put the $25 in your account and you can use that to play on the tables with but only cash out if you play 200 raked hands.
I didn’t have anything else to do and I thought it would make a ncie change from my normal limit games.
There was another catch for me however. Due to the cash out options available to me I could cash out a minimum of $50. So my aim was to turn the $25 into $50 inside the 200 required hands and then cash out.
No time for an appropriate bankrolled game. $25, need to play raked hands, need to double my money in a short space of time and have some fun. $25 NL Time!
So I picked a half decent game from the tables available and got to work. Didn’t see a thing for about 30 hands until I got AA UTG. I raised to 3 x BB and a player in MP raised all-in for about $18 (I had about $22) I called and he flipped QJs! 2 pair for him by the turn and I’m seriously low. I decide to push next hand with JT and just over double to about $8.
By 100 raked hands played I’m up to about $14 and I pick up QQ in MP. A player in EP raises to $1 and I just call. It folds round and the two of us see the flop of KQ5. He raises to $2 and I re-raise. He thinks for ages and calls. The turn sees another 5 and he puts in his last $3 and I call seeing off his AK.
Now that I had a half decent amount I started to play more aggressively again and got to around $40 by 200 raked hands without hardly showing down a hand . I was a bit gutted that I didn’t hit the $50 mark I needed to cash out but another 20 hands did the trick and my Neteller account was just over $60 richer.
Since NL isn’t my normal game I was pretty impressed I managed this. It was good fun and I can only hope that Party try to tempt me back again with another bonus. Next time I think I’ll try my hand at Omaha .
Since I have no reason to deposit the $60 anywhere and my BR doesn’t need it, I might use it for another challenge. Suggestions are welcome!
This type of bonus you don’t need to deposit for. They put the $25 in your account and you can use that to play on the tables with but only cash out if you play 200 raked hands.
I didn’t have anything else to do and I thought it would make a ncie change from my normal limit games.
There was another catch for me however. Due to the cash out options available to me I could cash out a minimum of $50. So my aim was to turn the $25 into $50 inside the 200 required hands and then cash out.
No time for an appropriate bankrolled game. $25, need to play raked hands, need to double my money in a short space of time and have some fun. $25 NL Time!
So I picked a half decent game from the tables available and got to work. Didn’t see a thing for about 30 hands until I got AA UTG. I raised to 3 x BB and a player in MP raised all-in for about $18 (I had about $22) I called and he flipped QJs! 2 pair for him by the turn and I’m seriously low. I decide to push next hand with JT and just over double to about $8.
By 100 raked hands played I’m up to about $14 and I pick up QQ in MP. A player in EP raises to $1 and I just call. It folds round and the two of us see the flop of KQ5. He raises to $2 and I re-raise. He thinks for ages and calls. The turn sees another 5 and he puts in his last $3 and I call seeing off his AK.
Now that I had a half decent amount I started to play more aggressively again and got to around $40 by 200 raked hands without hardly showing down a hand . I was a bit gutted that I didn’t hit the $50 mark I needed to cash out but another 20 hands did the trick and my Neteller account was just over $60 richer.
Since NL isn’t my normal game I was pretty impressed I managed this. It was good fun and I can only hope that Party try to tempt me back again with another bonus. Next time I think I’ll try my hand at Omaha .
Since I have no reason to deposit the $60 anywhere and my BR doesn’t need it, I might use it for another challenge. Suggestions are welcome!
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Fish & Chips
So, I decided to call my blog 'Fish & Chips' because I think I'm witty and clever. The name occurred to me when I was in bed this morning and after a less than extensive search on Google to see if anyone had taken the name poker-wise, (which they probably haven't) I decided it would have to stick.
It’s bloody hot here in the UK at the moment, so not too much time to play poker and other indoor activities. While I was out on a bike ride with a couple of my friends, I noticed the alarming number of people with their windows up on their cars. Now I assume this is because they spent all their hard earned cash on a car which has so many gadgets that they feel inclined to use them. I’m not talking about the people trying to have conversations with other people which would be inconvenient with the wind noise at 70 MPH, or the people sitting in traffic with no breeze. I’m Talking about the people in cars, on their own, on the open road. Please, wind your windows down and enjoy the sunshine! You might even like it.
It’s bloody hot here in the UK at the moment, so not too much time to play poker and other indoor activities. While I was out on a bike ride with a couple of my friends, I noticed the alarming number of people with their windows up on their cars. Now I assume this is because they spent all their hard earned cash on a car which has so many gadgets that they feel inclined to use them. I’m not talking about the people trying to have conversations with other people which would be inconvenient with the wind noise at 70 MPH, or the people sitting in traffic with no breeze. I’m Talking about the people in cars, on their own, on the open road. Please, wind your windows down and enjoy the sunshine! You might even like it.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
It's blog time!
I thought it was about time I did the whole blog thing. It seems to me like a good place to keep a random collection of thoughts for both poker and anything else I care to write about. Enjoy!
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