Warning: philosophical post.
Suddenly poker does not interest me so much anymore. It could be the effect of the vacation = two weeks without poker.
Yesterday I played an MTT out of habit, and finished in the money, but somehow the game does not attract me as much as it used to. In particular I do not feel like playing SNGs again. I know that I can make money doing it, at least, I see no reason why I should not be able to maintain the winning rate that I have had in the last few months, but it is all so automatic. You hardly need to think: at the start you just play very tight, at some point you start stealing in favorable situations, and eventually you either push or fold (but hardly ever call an all-in!)
MTTs contain more strategy, but unfortunately they take a long time (at least when it is going well). Yesterday I reached the money with a short stack and I basically had to play in such a way as to make the next money step, i.e. fold fold fold. Very annoying, though I did reach that small extra step. Another annoying thing was that more and more people started to use all their thinking time before folding, purely in the hope that play at other tables would be faster and other people would be eliminated. Judging from the anemic pace at which people got eliminated near the end, everyone was thinking like this. It is strange, I did not observe this kind of behavior before at Pacific, at least not from more than one player. Usually everyone just keeps barging all-in against one another and the players drop like flies.
So anyway, I am a bit disenchanted with poker at the moment. Another thing is that it is nothing more than a way to make money. I don't need extra money, I have a good job. Why waste so much time clicking buttons? I started playing this game as a way to stay in touch with far away friends, but more and more it has become a solo operation. I should find another, more social hobby. (Chatting during poker games is often quite minimal, at least at the sites where I play. Maybe there are better sites. But still, I could probably have more fun if everyone was not always thinking about the money during play; that is, I should stop playing for money.)
I guess I can keep poker as a fall-back, should I (God forbid) lose my job or something. It looks like I could support myself and my family with it. The prospect of playing poker eight hours a day is not very appealing, however. Probably it would be better to find a real job!
So I am taking a break. Maybe I will be back, who knows. I'll be sure to play the odd poker game now and then, might even report on it. Still, it is good to quit while I am ahead.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
How it went - part III
I'm back from vacation, with a nice tan. [Unfortunately, I did not quite reach the stage yet where I can pay for vacations using poker winnings ;-) ] On vacation, I finally read The Theory of Poker. Quite interesting, I learned a few things. But I guess I am never again going to learn as much from a single book as I did when I read Harrington on Hold'Em (OK, two books).
Anyway, I realized that I never finished the story that I started before I left two weeks ago. Here is the thrilling conclusion...
The situation was as follows. A player had just been eliminated, bringing us down to 3 players.
Blinds 1k/2k (rising to 1.5k/3k in a few minutes)
Rob1606 61k
Yiwork 88k (to my immediate left)
Deanb23 13k
So the setting was quite favorable for me, especially because I did not have a very high opinion of the chip leader, but also because I was basically assured a second place here. The small blind could only survive 13 more games.
On the second hand, I got 55 as SB, I raise to 4BB, BB folds. Two hands later, as BB I get 22 and the SB (Deanb23) pushes for 10k. With 60k myself, this seems like an obvious call, given that my opponent is desperate. Nevertheless, while I can assume he does not have a pair, I know that I am only slightly favorite against any two cards (55% or so). Would it perhaps be better to fold here and let him take the blinds this round? I guess I would not be asking this question if I had won this hand :-) but I am interested to hear your opinion.
On the next hand, Deanb23 called and called postflop, apparently only on a flush draw - he most certainly did not get the odds for that call postflop, but he took no further action on the turn and folded to a river bet, so this seems the most likely explanation. This put him right back down to 14k. Very bad move.
On the next hand, I called with 48s for some reason. Well, I was the button, and I guess I was planning to steal on the flop. However, Deanb pushed as BB and this time it seemed prudent to fold :-) I proceeded to get 77 as BB and play it quite badly. Yiwork raised to 3xBB and I just called... Then I tried quite a small bet on the flop (4k in a pot of 13k) and he called, after which I gave up on the hand (the turn brought the third club as well as the third overcard). Of course I need to play much more aggressively preflop. Down to only 37k!
On the next hand, Yiwork flopped trips, checked it behind me (obviously) and I proceeded to hit top pair on the turn. I was lucky in that I managed to keep my loss limited, and I still had 22k after this hand. Of course the flop looked quite dangerous: 988. Things got even worse on the next hand when Deanb doubled up again off of Yiwork! Now the stacks were 22k (me), 108k and 30k...
I then hit middle pair on the K-high flop as BB and raised Deanb's minbet to 3xBB, to which he folded: 28k (vs 26k). My next BB was quite good - KTs - but unfortunately got folded to me. As a result, I decided to fold the next SB myself (97o).
Shortly after this, disaster struck when my AK got beaten by KJ on the river! Fortunately, Deanb only had 15k at this point, and I still had 27k, so I actuall survived this hand, if only with 12k left. The blinds were 1.5k/3k by now, so I just pushed the next hand (Q9o) when Deanb folded, but the BB held JJ... A miracle Queen on the river held me alive. That was the queen that earned me $80 (I think it was), the difference between 2nd and 2rd place. Because on the very next hand, Yiwork hit top pair strong kicker on the flop, while Deanb23 hit top pair top kicker... but Yiwork got a runner-runner flush (actually the river gave Deanb two pair, but that was not quite good enough under the circumstances!).
Situation now:
Blinds 1.5k/3k
Rob1606 21k
Yiwork 141k
So, it didn't look particularly good from here, but given that I could not have expected to have any chips at all here, I was not complaining. On the first hand, I folded with 42s after Yiwork minraised. Then I got K6o so I pushed with my remaining 18k. Meanwhile, I had wished my opponent good luck since we started the heads-up phase, and now he wrote to me "you will need it" as he turned up 44. I guess he thought he was a huge favorite or so.
Flop 8 5 T
Turn 6
River 7
Now who needed the most amazing luck on the river?? This hand hurt, obviously, but even if I had won it my situation would still have been very precarious (128k vs 35k). Oh well. I think that overall I played quite well, of course I made some not so good decisions (like in the 3-player phase) but I think I made lots of good decisions as well, and was happy with my game - and even more with the $324 :-)
Anyway, I realized that I never finished the story that I started before I left two weeks ago. Here is the thrilling conclusion...
The situation was as follows. A player had just been eliminated, bringing us down to 3 players.
Blinds 1k/2k (rising to 1.5k/3k in a few minutes)
Rob1606 61k
Yiwork 88k (to my immediate left)
Deanb23 13k
So the setting was quite favorable for me, especially because I did not have a very high opinion of the chip leader, but also because I was basically assured a second place here. The small blind could only survive 13 more games.
On the second hand, I got 55 as SB, I raise to 4BB, BB folds. Two hands later, as BB I get 22 and the SB (Deanb23) pushes for 10k. With 60k myself, this seems like an obvious call, given that my opponent is desperate. Nevertheless, while I can assume he does not have a pair, I know that I am only slightly favorite against any two cards (55% or so). Would it perhaps be better to fold here and let him take the blinds this round? I guess I would not be asking this question if I had won this hand :-) but I am interested to hear your opinion.
On the next hand, Deanb23 called and called postflop, apparently only on a flush draw - he most certainly did not get the odds for that call postflop, but he took no further action on the turn and folded to a river bet, so this seems the most likely explanation. This put him right back down to 14k. Very bad move.
On the next hand, I called with 48s for some reason. Well, I was the button, and I guess I was planning to steal on the flop. However, Deanb pushed as BB and this time it seemed prudent to fold :-) I proceeded to get 77 as BB and play it quite badly. Yiwork raised to 3xBB and I just called... Then I tried quite a small bet on the flop (4k in a pot of 13k) and he called, after which I gave up on the hand (the turn brought the third club as well as the third overcard). Of course I need to play much more aggressively preflop. Down to only 37k!
On the next hand, Yiwork flopped trips, checked it behind me (obviously) and I proceeded to hit top pair on the turn. I was lucky in that I managed to keep my loss limited, and I still had 22k after this hand. Of course the flop looked quite dangerous: 988. Things got even worse on the next hand when Deanb doubled up again off of Yiwork! Now the stacks were 22k (me), 108k and 30k...
I then hit middle pair on the K-high flop as BB and raised Deanb's minbet to 3xBB, to which he folded: 28k (vs 26k). My next BB was quite good - KTs - but unfortunately got folded to me. As a result, I decided to fold the next SB myself (97o).
Shortly after this, disaster struck when my AK got beaten by KJ on the river! Fortunately, Deanb only had 15k at this point, and I still had 27k, so I actuall survived this hand, if only with 12k left. The blinds were 1.5k/3k by now, so I just pushed the next hand (Q9o) when Deanb folded, but the BB held JJ... A miracle Queen on the river held me alive. That was the queen that earned me $80 (I think it was), the difference between 2nd and 2rd place. Because on the very next hand, Yiwork hit top pair strong kicker on the flop, while Deanb23 hit top pair top kicker... but Yiwork got a runner-runner flush (actually the river gave Deanb two pair, but that was not quite good enough under the circumstances!).
Situation now:
Blinds 1.5k/3k
Rob1606 21k
Yiwork 141k
So, it didn't look particularly good from here, but given that I could not have expected to have any chips at all here, I was not complaining. On the first hand, I folded with 42s after Yiwork minraised. Then I got K6o so I pushed with my remaining 18k. Meanwhile, I had wished my opponent good luck since we started the heads-up phase, and now he wrote to me "you will need it" as he turned up 44. I guess he thought he was a huge favorite or so.
Flop 8 5 T
Turn 6
River 7
Now who needed the most amazing luck on the river?? This hand hurt, obviously, but even if I had won it my situation would still have been very precarious (128k vs 35k). Oh well. I think that overall I played quite well, of course I made some not so good decisions (like in the 3-player phase) but I think I made lots of good decisions as well, and was happy with my game - and even more with the $324 :-)
Friday, October 12, 2007
Unbelievable
I tried another limit tournament. First I got no hands for 45 minutes. Then I got QQ, raised, flop came an Ace. My opponent bet and I folded.
On the very next hand, I got JJ! I reraised, opponent rereraised, J on the flop. He puts me all-in, I call obviously, and has AKs. Runner-runner flush.
Time for a vacation.
On the very next hand, I got JJ! I reraised, opponent rereraised, J on the flop. He puts me all-in, I call obviously, and has AKs. Runner-runner flush.
Time for a vacation.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Limit
I accidentally registered for a limit tournament. I saw an MTT was starting in 5 minutes at Party, buyin $33, and I thought: why not?
It seemed weird to me that there were so many small bets and raises at the start, until I finally got a hand I wanted to play and noticed that I did not have a slider......
Anyway, so after half the field was eliminated, I was chip leader :-) The play was horrendously bad, and I got some nice cards too (AA twice, AQ that hit, AK that hit). Moreover my opponents just kept calling on every street.
I had more trouble in the second half of the game though, once running QQ into an Ace (I should have folded when the Ace hit the flop!) and another time running top pair into a river Ace. Eventually I busted out with 66. I flopped a 6 but another short stack who joined me all-in got a runner-runner-straight!! Had I won that pot, I would have earned $50 more.
But I suppose that I cannot complain about finishing ITM in my very first limit MTT and earning a cool $100 :-) (well, $67 after subtracting the buyin, but it was still nice!)
My lifetime profit today reached the magical value of $2000. This includes a $40 bonus at Party that I did not expect to clear - I thought I would have to play 80 $20 games within two weeks or so, but somehow I seem to have cleared the bonus anyway.
It seemed weird to me that there were so many small bets and raises at the start, until I finally got a hand I wanted to play and noticed that I did not have a slider......
Anyway, so after half the field was eliminated, I was chip leader :-) The play was horrendously bad, and I got some nice cards too (AA twice, AQ that hit, AK that hit). Moreover my opponents just kept calling on every street.
I had more trouble in the second half of the game though, once running QQ into an Ace (I should have folded when the Ace hit the flop!) and another time running top pair into a river Ace. Eventually I busted out with 66. I flopped a 6 but another short stack who joined me all-in got a runner-runner-straight!! Had I won that pot, I would have earned $50 more.
But I suppose that I cannot complain about finishing ITM in my very first limit MTT and earning a cool $100 :-) (well, $67 after subtracting the buyin, but it was still nice!)
My lifetime profit today reached the magical value of $2000. This includes a $40 bonus at Party that I did not expect to clear - I thought I would have to play 80 $20 games within two weeks or so, but somehow I seem to have cleared the bonus anyway.
Monday, October 8, 2007
I really needed that
Of course, I have been making some profit at Party in the meantime, but it is nice to recover my long string of Pacific losses in one fell swoop:
About time!
About time!
A double special
You may have heard of a thing called "the big blind special". This is what it is called when somebody raises to steal the blinds, and the big blind wakes up with a monster hand.
Well, just now I encountered a double special for the first (and hopefully last!) time. I got no cards and was staying quiet, because there were way too many people limping all the time. Eventually I got A8o on the button, and amazingly the hand was actually folded around to me. The blinds were already 50/100, and my M was a little under 6. So I pushed.
The small blind had AA.
The big blind had TT.
Well, just now I encountered a double special for the first (and hopefully last!) time. I got no cards and was staying quiet, because there were way too many people limping all the time. Eventually I got A8o on the button, and amazingly the hand was actually folded around to me. The blinds were already 50/100, and my M was a little under 6. So I pushed.
The small blind had AA.
The big blind had TT.
How it went - part II
In my last post, I described how I made the money, having 10k chips at that point (average 8k). This was (for me) the first half of the tournament only - there was still a lot of play to come!
A couple of hands later, I got 76s as SB, the button pushed for 1355. The blinds were still 250/500, so it was 2:1 for me to call. I could expect the BB to join me (he would only need to put in 855 into a 3000 pot), so I guess my odds were in fact better. Nevertheless, I folded. Why do I even mention this hand? The BB called, the turn was a 6, and the flop was another 6. However, the BB had K8 and the flop was JT9, so he would quite likely have bet on the flop, forcing me to fold.
Next time I was BB, I got A6, the hand was folded round to me. On the next hand, two limpers wanted to see a flop, but I didn't like my hand of Q6o so I folded. However, unbeknownst to us, the BB had actually gone to the bathroom, and the other two players were both very short-stacked (it was ridiculous that they limped) and did not dare to make a move. Eventually the hand was checked down all the way to the river, and the BB won with 24 by completing an unlikely straight on the river! I had made second pair on the flop A62, I probably would have made a move at some point...
A few hands later, we were 7-handed and I got A9s in 2nd position. I decided this was good enough to raise, the very short SB called with nothing, and this brought me up to 11700. I was then quiet for a round, and then got KQ UTG. I raised to 4xBB = 2400 and nobody took the bait. On the next hand, there was a minraise and a call in front of me, and I felt I had to call with KTo. However, I missed the flop (532), and after it was checked around once, the BB bet out on the turn 9. We both folded.
Another round later, again UTG, I got QJo. We were (still) playing six-handed and I minraised to 1600. The players in the blinds were the same as the previous two times that I raised (except for the one I eliminated the first time). I don't know if this was a factor, but the SB pushed for 4000. This gave me better than 2.5:1 odds so I called, but I did not like it much. He held KJ... but I flopped a Q! This put me up to 14600.
This turned out to be extremely lucky for me, because I got AA on the very next hand, in the BB. The button raised to 1600! I reraised to 4000. This is perhaps too much, actually, I definitely want a call here. Fortunately I did get the call and what's more, when I pushed on the flop 944 he was confident that his top pair was good, so he put in the rest of his stack (7000) with K9s... The cards were both clubs, and I got a scare when the turn put a second club on the board as well, but that was the end of the clubs: 25600. Had I lost the hand before this, I only would have had 11k now!
This hand also put me into the top 10, where the real prizes started. I was amazed to see how aggressive people kept playing, they were getting eliminated left and right. My M was 15 now, so I was in no hurry to join the fun with mediocre cards. However, the first time I was BB on the final table I got AT, and only the SB called for 1000. I raised to 3000, he called and I bet another 3000 on the flop 754. He only had 9k left at this point and decided to try his luck another time.
I did not play another hand until a round later, when I got KK on the button (I could not complain about the amount of nice hands I got in this game). However, my minraise scared them away. I guess this is an OK result at this stage, my M was still 10, there were 6 players left now. I don't really like to limp here.
Another round later, with 5 players left now, I got JJ as SB! I open-raised to 4BB = 6000 and the BB called. The flop was 977 and I pushed. This was a really bad decision on my part (he folded). Here I think I need to take a risk and check it, representing AK. Then I can checkraise him all-in. The risk is of course that he checks. What do you think is best, dear reader?
A mere three hands later, having 34k chips, I got JJ again! This time I was UTG and I again raised to 6k, which the player to my left again called. The flop was low cards again, and this time I "only" bet another 6k. Yet again, he folded. I suppose that this bet looks even scarier than the all-in from before. Anyway, now I had 42k!
I did not play another hand until we were 4-handed (this happened only 3 hands later!). I open-raised from the button with Kx and the blinds folded. On the next hand, I limped for 2k with 87s (stack 40k), and was rewarded by a flush draw + second pair on the flop. The others checked it to me, I bet 4k into a 6k pot, and they folded like good little boys. Shortly after that, I limped Q2 on the button (varying my play) and got rewarded in a big way: the flop was KQ2! It was again checked to me, and while it was tempting to slowplay, I did not like the two diamonds on the flop (there were two opponents) so I did a minbet. Both players folded :-( 45k.
I got no action from AQ UTG, but as BB I hit top pair and finally checked it instead of betting out. He bet, I raised, he folded: 55k! This made me the chip leader! On the very next hand, I got AK, open-raised and the BB, who was really very accommodating, once again called and folded to a c-bet on the flop, which I had missed completely: 62k! However, on the next hand, the player to my left demonstrated how to play JJ by raising it preflop and check-calling the flop. His opponent pushed with 55 and was eliminated, so that that player suddenly had 87k! On the plus side, there were now only 3 of us left, and I was already assured a payout of $160.
In fact, I was counting on at least $320 here already, because I had 60k and the third player had only 11k, with blinds at 2k/1k. However, things would not turn out to be so straightforward...
To be continued - another tournament is starting in three minutes :-)
A couple of hands later, I got 76s as SB, the button pushed for 1355. The blinds were still 250/500, so it was 2:1 for me to call. I could expect the BB to join me (he would only need to put in 855 into a 3000 pot), so I guess my odds were in fact better. Nevertheless, I folded. Why do I even mention this hand? The BB called, the turn was a 6, and the flop was another 6. However, the BB had K8 and the flop was JT9, so he would quite likely have bet on the flop, forcing me to fold.
Next time I was BB, I got A6, the hand was folded round to me. On the next hand, two limpers wanted to see a flop, but I didn't like my hand of Q6o so I folded. However, unbeknownst to us, the BB had actually gone to the bathroom, and the other two players were both very short-stacked (it was ridiculous that they limped) and did not dare to make a move. Eventually the hand was checked down all the way to the river, and the BB won with 24 by completing an unlikely straight on the river! I had made second pair on the flop A62, I probably would have made a move at some point...
A few hands later, we were 7-handed and I got A9s in 2nd position. I decided this was good enough to raise, the very short SB called with nothing, and this brought me up to 11700. I was then quiet for a round, and then got KQ UTG. I raised to 4xBB = 2400 and nobody took the bait. On the next hand, there was a minraise and a call in front of me, and I felt I had to call with KTo. However, I missed the flop (532), and after it was checked around once, the BB bet out on the turn 9. We both folded.
Another round later, again UTG, I got QJo. We were (still) playing six-handed and I minraised to 1600. The players in the blinds were the same as the previous two times that I raised (except for the one I eliminated the first time). I don't know if this was a factor, but the SB pushed for 4000. This gave me better than 2.5:1 odds so I called, but I did not like it much. He held KJ... but I flopped a Q! This put me up to 14600.
This turned out to be extremely lucky for me, because I got AA on the very next hand, in the BB. The button raised to 1600! I reraised to 4000. This is perhaps too much, actually, I definitely want a call here. Fortunately I did get the call and what's more, when I pushed on the flop 944 he was confident that his top pair was good, so he put in the rest of his stack (7000) with K9s... The cards were both clubs, and I got a scare when the turn put a second club on the board as well, but that was the end of the clubs: 25600. Had I lost the hand before this, I only would have had 11k now!
This hand also put me into the top 10, where the real prizes started. I was amazed to see how aggressive people kept playing, they were getting eliminated left and right. My M was 15 now, so I was in no hurry to join the fun with mediocre cards. However, the first time I was BB on the final table I got AT, and only the SB called for 1000. I raised to 3000, he called and I bet another 3000 on the flop 754. He only had 9k left at this point and decided to try his luck another time.
I did not play another hand until a round later, when I got KK on the button (I could not complain about the amount of nice hands I got in this game). However, my minraise scared them away. I guess this is an OK result at this stage, my M was still 10, there were 6 players left now. I don't really like to limp here.
Another round later, with 5 players left now, I got JJ as SB! I open-raised to 4BB = 6000 and the BB called. The flop was 977 and I pushed. This was a really bad decision on my part (he folded). Here I think I need to take a risk and check it, representing AK. Then I can checkraise him all-in. The risk is of course that he checks. What do you think is best, dear reader?
A mere three hands later, having 34k chips, I got JJ again! This time I was UTG and I again raised to 6k, which the player to my left again called. The flop was low cards again, and this time I "only" bet another 6k. Yet again, he folded. I suppose that this bet looks even scarier than the all-in from before. Anyway, now I had 42k!
I did not play another hand until we were 4-handed (this happened only 3 hands later!). I open-raised from the button with Kx and the blinds folded. On the next hand, I limped for 2k with 87s (stack 40k), and was rewarded by a flush draw + second pair on the flop. The others checked it to me, I bet 4k into a 6k pot, and they folded like good little boys. Shortly after that, I limped Q2 on the button (varying my play) and got rewarded in a big way: the flop was KQ2! It was again checked to me, and while it was tempting to slowplay, I did not like the two diamonds on the flop (there were two opponents) so I did a minbet. Both players folded :-( 45k.
I got no action from AQ UTG, but as BB I hit top pair and finally checked it instead of betting out. He bet, I raised, he folded: 55k! This made me the chip leader! On the very next hand, I got AK, open-raised and the BB, who was really very accommodating, once again called and folded to a c-bet on the flop, which I had missed completely: 62k! However, on the next hand, the player to my left demonstrated how to play JJ by raising it preflop and check-calling the flop. His opponent pushed with 55 and was eliminated, so that that player suddenly had 87k! On the plus side, there were now only 3 of us left, and I was already assured a payout of $160.
In fact, I was counting on at least $320 here already, because I had 60k and the third player had only 11k, with blinds at 2k/1k. However, things would not turn out to be so straightforward...
To be continued - another tournament is starting in three minutes :-)
Dubious hand #1
Taken from this tournament.
The setting: $15 tournament, 108 players, 23 remain. Top 20 get paid, but nrs. 11-20 get a prize which is in fact slightly lower than the buyin (including fee)! The real prizes start at nr.10.
My stack was 7500, blinds 250/500, so I am doing reasonably well: my M is 10. I think that my stack is slightly above average at this point. Oh I can just calculate it from the amount of players that remain :-) Say there are 22 left (to make it easy), we started off with 1500, then the average is now practically 7500. So my stack is basically average.
I limped for 500 with JTs in early position (a bit too speculative at this stage, perhaps?), three others paid to see the flop, which was J97, two spades. (I have no spades.) I bet half the pot and got two callers! On top of that, the turn was an Ace. I was much less happy to see this ace than the previous one (but at least it wasn't a spade). However, my opponents checked this round to me as well. I went all-in for my remaining 6000 chips, I had both my opponents covered and they folded, although one of them had to think about it. I guess that they were both on draws of some kind. Fortunately!! This move could have put me down to only 1500, with the blinds at 250/500.
Was it a bad move? Hard to say. People really like playing Aces, I got a lot of proof of that also during this game. The pot was 5000, my opponents still had 2500 and 4500 left at this point. By going all-in, the pot for my first opponent became 7500, so he obviously had to call (3:1 odds, which is the same odds that he got for calling on the previous round). But he folded. For my second opponent, the pot became 9500, so he got only 2:1 odds and decided that he did not like them. Fair enough. However, if the first player had made the right move (calling), the pot would have been 13000, and he also would have had 3:1 odds to call.
So quite apart from the question of whether or not anybody had an Ace, my betting in this way practically forced them to call (even though they in fact folded). My conclusion should be that I played it very dangerously. Not just by going all-in on the turn, but more importantly, the half-pot bet on the flop! At this stage, I should just be happy to make top pair and just bet the pot, certainly on this draw-heavy board (I underestimated the straight draw when I was playing it, but somebody with QT has an open-ended straight draw). This denies everyone the odds to call, and also makes it clear that it is going to cost them their entire stack to get to showdown here.
Of course, against thinking opponents this scenario does not even occur. Consider the situation of the opponent with 2500 chips. On the flop, he still has 3500 chips, the pot is 3000 when it gets to him and he has to call 1000 to see another card. Calling here is out of the question. When you do that, the pot becomes bigger than your stack, and you have to call any future bets due to pot odds. So if you want to play here, you must go all-in. This has the added advantage that the better (me) may have been bluffing and folds -- although, in fact, I already cannot fold: the pot would be 6500 when it got to me and I would have to call for another 3500, that is nearly 2:1 odds. Certainly good enough with top pair (plus, I might add, an inside straight draw). So the only choices of this opponent were to go all-in and head for a showdown, or fold. As I wrote above, he took the absolutely worst option: first give away 1000 chips and then fold after all...
The setting: $15 tournament, 108 players, 23 remain. Top 20 get paid, but nrs. 11-20 get a prize which is in fact slightly lower than the buyin (including fee)! The real prizes start at nr.10.
My stack was 7500, blinds 250/500, so I am doing reasonably well: my M is 10. I think that my stack is slightly above average at this point. Oh I can just calculate it from the amount of players that remain :-) Say there are 22 left (to make it easy), we started off with 1500, then the average is now practically 7500. So my stack is basically average.
I limped for 500 with JTs in early position (a bit too speculative at this stage, perhaps?), three others paid to see the flop, which was J97, two spades. (I have no spades.) I bet half the pot and got two callers! On top of that, the turn was an Ace. I was much less happy to see this ace than the previous one (but at least it wasn't a spade). However, my opponents checked this round to me as well. I went all-in for my remaining 6000 chips, I had both my opponents covered and they folded, although one of them had to think about it. I guess that they were both on draws of some kind. Fortunately!! This move could have put me down to only 1500, with the blinds at 250/500.
Was it a bad move? Hard to say. People really like playing Aces, I got a lot of proof of that also during this game. The pot was 5000, my opponents still had 2500 and 4500 left at this point. By going all-in, the pot for my first opponent became 7500, so he obviously had to call (3:1 odds, which is the same odds that he got for calling on the previous round). But he folded. For my second opponent, the pot became 9500, so he got only 2:1 odds and decided that he did not like them. Fair enough. However, if the first player had made the right move (calling), the pot would have been 13000, and he also would have had 3:1 odds to call.
So quite apart from the question of whether or not anybody had an Ace, my betting in this way practically forced them to call (even though they in fact folded). My conclusion should be that I played it very dangerously. Not just by going all-in on the turn, but more importantly, the half-pot bet on the flop! At this stage, I should just be happy to make top pair and just bet the pot, certainly on this draw-heavy board (I underestimated the straight draw when I was playing it, but somebody with QT has an open-ended straight draw). This denies everyone the odds to call, and also makes it clear that it is going to cost them their entire stack to get to showdown here.
Of course, against thinking opponents this scenario does not even occur. Consider the situation of the opponent with 2500 chips. On the flop, he still has 3500 chips, the pot is 3000 when it gets to him and he has to call 1000 to see another card. Calling here is out of the question. When you do that, the pot becomes bigger than your stack, and you have to call any future bets due to pot odds. So if you want to play here, you must go all-in. This has the added advantage that the better (me) may have been bluffing and folds -- although, in fact, I already cannot fold: the pot would be 6500 when it got to me and I would have to call for another 3500, that is nearly 2:1 odds. Certainly good enough with top pair (plus, I might add, an inside straight draw). So the only choices of this opponent were to go all-in and head for a showdown, or fold. As I wrote above, he took the absolutely worst option: first give away 1000 chips and then fold after all...
Sunday, October 7, 2007
How it went - part I
This post describes this tournament.
On the very first hand, I got Presto! But the guy to my left, who would turn out to be a complete donkey, raised strongly so I bravely folded.
Hand 9, I got JQ as BB, both clubs. I bet on the two-club flop and again on the J river, my opponent folded. Three hands later I got JJ, but no action.
I then went card dead for a while, but fortunately the blinds were still low. Eventually I got TT UTG and raised to 400 = 4BB. I got one caller, who had A9! A flop of 789 convinced him to bet and call my all-in. The river actually gave him two pair, but fortunately the turn had been a 6... This brought me back to an about average stack of 2730.
Then I got AA four hands later! And even better, there was an all-in in front of me, of a player holding JJ and a short stack. I reraised, which was really not necessary, and isolated on him. At this point, as the cards hit the table, my wife asked how it was going. I said "well, as long as there is no Jack on the river..." and then the Jack hit the river, naturally. Back down to 1430 :-(
On the very next hand, I got 66 in MP, there was one limper. Blinds were 75/150 at this point. I went all-in. My M was 6, I think this move is sort of OK but of course I was upset at losing with my aces. I got lucky when the limper called with AK and I won the race: 3000.
Immediately after that, I got JJ myself! No limpers this time, and I made a standard raise to 450. It seems that my opponent from just now was sort of upset, he pushed with T6d... There were two diamonds on the board by the turn, but fortunately a third one did not appear: 4500.
Only two hands after this, I got AK. (This just goes to show how well it can work out if you are patient and wait for good cards. Of course, sometimes you can wait forever...) I raised to 600 after one limper. The BB called and the limper, who actually had only 775 left at this point and should not have been limping in the first place, put the rest of his chips in. Both of us called. The flop was low cards and my live opponent, with only 900 chips left now, checked it. [Seems he also did not know how to play with a short stack, there is no sense in just calling for half your stack! He had first called for 450 (because he was BB), and then for an additional 325 (the short all-in).] This reeked of weakness and with AK in my hand, I had no reason to think I was behind. I put in an additional 450 into the 2850 pot and my opponent actually folded!! This is absolutely the worst way to play: first to call two big bets, and then to refuse to put in any more chips at extremely favorable odds. He was getting 6:1 odds, although of course, since he is already completely pot-committed (one would think...) he should have considered my bet as a 900 bet, in which case his odds are 3:1. Those are very tempting odds, one would think, certainly with a hand that was worth two big calls preflop... Anyway, so he folded, and the player who was already all-in showed KQ. This brought me up to 6450. In five hands, I went up from 1430 to 6450, very nice...
A few hands later, I limped with J9s OTB. The SB had only 640 left and pushed. The BB folded and I got better than 2:1 odds to call, so I had to call. Because of this, it would possibly have been better to fold preflop: I could have expected the desperate SB to make a move, forcing me to put in my chips for what I could not hope to be better than a coinflip. However, I actually won the coinflip: he had Q5 (and pushed after a limper?...) and I made a runner-runner flush, my only flush in this tournament, I think.
After this the table was just completely sick of me and they kicked me out :-) Or it could have been the server who transferred me to another table :-) Nothing much happened for a while. I open-raised with ATo on the cutoff and got no action. A round later, I open-raised with AJo one position earlier and a total fish with K6o in the BB went all-in! I got 2:1 odds and called, but he made a runner-runner straight... This brought me back down to earth and 4400 chips.
Half a round later, a funny thing happened. The SB pushed when I was BB, but his stack was so short (only 2BB) that he gave me 3:1 odds to call! Given his desperate situation, I had to assume that I had at least 35% winning chances, so I called... with 53o... and won :-) He actually had QTd, a pretty good hand under the circumstances (but not more than 65% favorite against two lower cards). Unfortunately, I lost these chips on the next hand when I called a raise with AJs and missed the flop against three opponents.
So now I again had about 4500 chips, and the blinds were 200/400 by now, so my M was getting smaller. But even before I had to pay the next blinds, I got AK UTG, raised to 1200, a player with 2000 pushed and I had an automatic call. He only had KJo (very strange push...) and I won: 7000.
Then I was BB, and we got a blinds battle. He called, I checked. The flop was Axx and he did a minbet, just like in the previous round. This time however, I reraised him to 1200 (still in the rush of the previous hand, I guess!) and he folded. Always nice to have a scare card on the flop.
Now comes another hand where my play is questionable, to put it mildly. I put it in a separate post. After this hand, I had 11000 chips. A few hands after this, I folded AQo to a raise and an all-in reraise in front of me. The original raiser folded and the reraiser claimed to have had AA. Two hands later, we were in the money, though due to the stupid payout structure at Pacific, this meant a payout of $16.20 -- the buyin had been $16.50... So there was still some work to be done if I actually wanted to make a profit out of this game.
To be continued!
On the very first hand, I got Presto! But the guy to my left, who would turn out to be a complete donkey, raised strongly so I bravely folded.
Hand 9, I got JQ as BB, both clubs. I bet on the two-club flop and again on the J river, my opponent folded. Three hands later I got JJ, but no action.
I then went card dead for a while, but fortunately the blinds were still low. Eventually I got TT UTG and raised to 400 = 4BB. I got one caller, who had A9! A flop of 789 convinced him to bet and call my all-in. The river actually gave him two pair, but fortunately the turn had been a 6... This brought me back to an about average stack of 2730.
Then I got AA four hands later! And even better, there was an all-in in front of me, of a player holding JJ and a short stack. I reraised, which was really not necessary, and isolated on him. At this point, as the cards hit the table, my wife asked how it was going. I said "well, as long as there is no Jack on the river..." and then the Jack hit the river, naturally. Back down to 1430 :-(
On the very next hand, I got 66 in MP, there was one limper. Blinds were 75/150 at this point. I went all-in. My M was 6, I think this move is sort of OK but of course I was upset at losing with my aces. I got lucky when the limper called with AK and I won the race: 3000.
Immediately after that, I got JJ myself! No limpers this time, and I made a standard raise to 450. It seems that my opponent from just now was sort of upset, he pushed with T6d... There were two diamonds on the board by the turn, but fortunately a third one did not appear: 4500.
Only two hands after this, I got AK. (This just goes to show how well it can work out if you are patient and wait for good cards. Of course, sometimes you can wait forever...) I raised to 600 after one limper. The BB called and the limper, who actually had only 775 left at this point and should not have been limping in the first place, put the rest of his chips in. Both of us called. The flop was low cards and my live opponent, with only 900 chips left now, checked it. [Seems he also did not know how to play with a short stack, there is no sense in just calling for half your stack! He had first called for 450 (because he was BB), and then for an additional 325 (the short all-in).] This reeked of weakness and with AK in my hand, I had no reason to think I was behind. I put in an additional 450 into the 2850 pot and my opponent actually folded!! This is absolutely the worst way to play: first to call two big bets, and then to refuse to put in any more chips at extremely favorable odds. He was getting 6:1 odds, although of course, since he is already completely pot-committed (one would think...) he should have considered my bet as a 900 bet, in which case his odds are 3:1. Those are very tempting odds, one would think, certainly with a hand that was worth two big calls preflop... Anyway, so he folded, and the player who was already all-in showed KQ. This brought me up to 6450. In five hands, I went up from 1430 to 6450, very nice...
A few hands later, I limped with J9s OTB. The SB had only 640 left and pushed. The BB folded and I got better than 2:1 odds to call, so I had to call. Because of this, it would possibly have been better to fold preflop: I could have expected the desperate SB to make a move, forcing me to put in my chips for what I could not hope to be better than a coinflip. However, I actually won the coinflip: he had Q5 (and pushed after a limper?...) and I made a runner-runner flush, my only flush in this tournament, I think.
After this the table was just completely sick of me and they kicked me out :-) Or it could have been the server who transferred me to another table :-) Nothing much happened for a while. I open-raised with ATo on the cutoff and got no action. A round later, I open-raised with AJo one position earlier and a total fish with K6o in the BB went all-in! I got 2:1 odds and called, but he made a runner-runner straight... This brought me back down to earth and 4400 chips.
Half a round later, a funny thing happened. The SB pushed when I was BB, but his stack was so short (only 2BB) that he gave me 3:1 odds to call! Given his desperate situation, I had to assume that I had at least 35% winning chances, so I called... with 53o... and won :-) He actually had QTd, a pretty good hand under the circumstances (but not more than 65% favorite against two lower cards). Unfortunately, I lost these chips on the next hand when I called a raise with AJs and missed the flop against three opponents.
So now I again had about 4500 chips, and the blinds were 200/400 by now, so my M was getting smaller. But even before I had to pay the next blinds, I got AK UTG, raised to 1200, a player with 2000 pushed and I had an automatic call. He only had KJo (very strange push...) and I won: 7000.
Then I was BB, and we got a blinds battle. He called, I checked. The flop was Axx and he did a minbet, just like in the previous round. This time however, I reraised him to 1200 (still in the rush of the previous hand, I guess!) and he folded. Always nice to have a scare card on the flop.
Now comes another hand where my play is questionable, to put it mildly. I put it in a separate post. After this hand, I had 11000 chips. A few hands after this, I folded AQo to a raise and an all-in reraise in front of me. The original raiser folded and the reraiser claimed to have had AA. Two hands later, we were in the money, though due to the stupid payout structure at Pacific, this meant a payout of $16.20 -- the buyin had been $16.50... So there was still some work to be done if I actually wanted to make a profit out of this game.
To be continued!
Screenshot
I felt a bit disenchanted with playing SNG's all the time, so I decided to try an MTT again. Pacific happened to have a $15 MTT starting when I looked, and although I had tried tournaments with that buyin five times before without success, I decided to give it another shot. Here is the result.
A second place! More later... For now I can already say that I reached the goal that I described two posts ago :-)
A second place! More later... For now I can already say that I reached the goal that I described two posts ago :-)
Friday, October 5, 2007
Absolutely disgusting
I just played with a complete and utter donk, and gave him all of my chips.
Early on, he called an all-in with a flush draw and made his flush. Some time later, he called an all-in with 3rd pair and promptly got rewarded when his pair became a set on the turn. I slowplayed Aces against him, only to have him make an inside straight on the river. On top of that he bluffed a lot, and I saw it happening, but nevertheless I could not bring myself to call a big bet of his with AT on the river and no piece of the board, which was moreover paired.
Eventually I reraised the umpteenth raise of his all-in with A5 in the BB, and he called with A7 and won. Thus I went out on the bubble. What was I even thinking, calling an all-in on the bubble...
This just shows you how annoying it can be if you have somebody at your table who does not have the faintest idea how to play the game and keeps getting rewarded for it. Oh, another time, he raised and called a reraise. The flop was QJx and the reraiser pushed with 77. Of course he called, he had KJo. It was just sick to watch all of this happening. Like I said in the title, absolutely disgusting. To think that you can get so far with luck. I don't want to know how much his lifetime losses are... And remember, this is not happening at the $2 level but at the $20 level! What was this guy with 77 thinking, when two overcards hit the flop?
Early on, he called an all-in with a flush draw and made his flush. Some time later, he called an all-in with 3rd pair and promptly got rewarded when his pair became a set on the turn. I slowplayed Aces against him, only to have him make an inside straight on the river. On top of that he bluffed a lot, and I saw it happening, but nevertheless I could not bring myself to call a big bet of his with AT on the river and no piece of the board, which was moreover paired.
Eventually I reraised the umpteenth raise of his all-in with A5 in the BB, and he called with A7 and won. Thus I went out on the bubble. What was I even thinking, calling an all-in on the bubble...
This just shows you how annoying it can be if you have somebody at your table who does not have the faintest idea how to play the game and keeps getting rewarded for it. Oh, another time, he raised and called a reraise. The flop was QJx and the reraiser pushed with 77. Of course he called, he had KJo. It was just sick to watch all of this happening. Like I said in the title, absolutely disgusting. To think that you can get so far with luck. I don't want to know how much his lifetime losses are... And remember, this is not happening at the $2 level but at the $20 level! What was this guy with 77 thinking, when two overcards hit the flop?
Thursday, October 4, 2007
But to look at the bright side...
I just cashed for the fifth consecutive time in a $22 game: I finished 1st, 3rd, 1st, 3rd, and just now 2nd when my opponent flopped two pair and I tried to bluff him after an already lengthy heads-up phase. This is a record for me, certainly at this level. I could not have dreamed of such results a couple of months ago!
I guess I should just give up on the Steps, now that the money is coming in so quickly with these regular games. I have earned $200 in the last week... Will I be able to keep this up?
As an aside, in ten days I am going on vacation and will stop playing poker. My goal is to earn at least an additional $100 in that time, and hopefully another $200. That would make this my second most successful month ever, after May, when I finished 3rd in Step 6. Of course May is going to be hard to beat without playing Steps games!
I guess I should just give up on the Steps, now that the money is coming in so quickly with these regular games. I have earned $200 in the last week... Will I be able to keep this up?
As an aside, in ten days I am going on vacation and will stop playing poker. My goal is to earn at least an additional $100 in that time, and hopefully another $200. That would make this my second most successful month ever, after May, when I finished 3rd in Step 6. Of course May is going to be hard to beat without playing Steps games!
When will I learn to ACKNOWLEDGE RERAISES!!
This is a lesson I have tried to teach myself several times in the past, and yet I fell for it again just now. I raised after a couple of limpers and one of them reraised.
Now what do you suppose this means?
Do you think that perhaps it means a pair of eights or lower?
I guess not. This is why I should have folded - I held 99. I just thought he might have AK. After all, you see people reraising with that junk too. But really, to gamble my entire stack on this early in an SNG... (As an afterthought, so what if he may have AK? Do you really want to do a coinflip for your entire stack at this stage? I think not.)
What makes it even worse is that it was a Steps game. I had decided to buy into Step 3 directly and actually earned a Step 4 ticket. And this is how I threw it away. If I had placed 7th or better, I would at least earned SOME new ticket...
Now what do you suppose this means?
Do you think that perhaps it means a pair of eights or lower?
I guess not. This is why I should have folded - I held 99. I just thought he might have AK. After all, you see people reraising with that junk too. But really, to gamble my entire stack on this early in an SNG... (As an afterthought, so what if he may have AK? Do you really want to do a coinflip for your entire stack at this stage? I think not.)
What makes it even worse is that it was a Steps game. I had decided to buy into Step 3 directly and actually earned a Step 4 ticket. And this is how I threw it away. If I had placed 7th or better, I would at least earned SOME new ticket...
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
When September ends
I realized that I did not yet write a post about my results in September. No doubt you are all eagerly awaiting these (all three of you).
Well, as avid readers of my blog know, September was not too kind to me. In fact it turns out that it was my worst month since March (which is my last losing month)! I just barely managed to make a profit, $24.75, and this was due to a late recovery at Party.
If I had stopped playing poker on September 9th (perish the thought), my profit for the month would have been $236...
But, looking at the bright side, in October I have already made more than in September: $116. Indeed, in my last three $20 games I finished 1st, 3rd and 1st! I do seem to get large slices of fortune though, from those games I remember beating KK with 99, K8 with Q9, and then there were the events I described in my last post. I also get another sort of luck, in that people push mediocre hands at me while I have good hands. In my last game, I raised with TT OTB and the BB apparently thought I was bluffing and went all-in with J8. Another time I raised with AA, also bet postflop on a flop of 885, and one opponent thought that his A5 should be good and pushed. Then much later, in the three-player phase, that same player started to push almost every other hand. I simply waited for good hands and eventually got AJo two times in quick succession, both times he pushed, I called and I won. Calling with AJo is a bit loose, but remember that I was already in the money, and I had to make a stand at some point!
So anyway, after all the bad luck from last month, it seems that my good luck has finally caught up with me. Let's hope that it continues for a while.
Well, as avid readers of my blog know, September was not too kind to me. In fact it turns out that it was my worst month since March (which is my last losing month)! I just barely managed to make a profit, $24.75, and this was due to a late recovery at Party.
If I had stopped playing poker on September 9th (perish the thought), my profit for the month would have been $236...
But, looking at the bright side, in October I have already made more than in September: $116. Indeed, in my last three $20 games I finished 1st, 3rd and 1st! I do seem to get large slices of fortune though, from those games I remember beating KK with 99, K8 with Q9, and then there were the events I described in my last post. I also get another sort of luck, in that people push mediocre hands at me while I have good hands. In my last game, I raised with TT OTB and the BB apparently thought I was bluffing and went all-in with J8. Another time I raised with AA, also bet postflop on a flop of 885, and one opponent thought that his A5 should be good and pushed. Then much later, in the three-player phase, that same player started to push almost every other hand. I simply waited for good hands and eventually got AJo two times in quick succession, both times he pushed, I called and I won. Calling with AJo is a bit loose, but remember that I was already in the money, and I had to make a stand at some point!
So anyway, after all the bad luck from last month, it seems that my good luck has finally caught up with me. Let's hope that it continues for a while.
Monday, October 1, 2007
A comeback from 960 chips
I managed to reach the heads-up phase of a $20 game at Party. To reach this point was eventually not that hard: the bubble lasted only five games, and right after that I got KQ and went all-in with it. A player with A7 called and lost when I spiked a Q on the turn. Three hands later, he was also eliminated.
The heads-up phase lasted 41 games in total! At the start, I lost a bit of chips and then got very lucky when I went all-in with KJ, got called by AK and won, bringing us back to equal stacks. Some hands later, it seems my opponent lost his patience when he called my all-in with Q8s. I held QJ and was doing fine until the turn was an 8.
This brought me down to 1560 chips, my opponent had 18440. On the next hand, I was BB. The blinds were now 300/600, so just posting the blind brought me down to only 960 chips. My opponent still had 18140 chips after posting the small blind. I held K5. He was first to act.
He folded.
Now, folding is an elementary mistake heads-up: you always have the odds to call. But certainly in a situation like this, I think you want to just get me all-in as soon as possible...
Anyway, now with 1860 chips, my next hand was 95o. I decided to wait for the next hand and hope that it is better. This is also a mistake according to SAGE: practically any hand is good enough to call here.
The next hand, he puts me all-in with KQ and I call and win with T5o. After that, we alternate for five hands: I move all-in as SB and he folds, then he is SB and folds, for five hands. On the sixth hand, he calls as SB and I move all-in again: he folds. Now I have already 6000 chips again, and he must be worried.
Shortly after that, he raises and then calls my all-in with KJo. I have 44 and he gets a J on the turn, leaving me with only two outs: the two missing fours.
The river is a 4.
Now up to 16000 chips, I finish him off four hands later with Q9 vs Q2. (His push was actually justified by SAGE.)
A very nice game... Obviously I needed a lot of luck, but it certainly helped that my opponent was quite lost at sea during the heads-up phase :-) In particular, he played it way too passive, folding much too often when I had a micro-stack. Let that be a lesson to all of you!
The heads-up phase lasted 41 games in total! At the start, I lost a bit of chips and then got very lucky when I went all-in with KJ, got called by AK and won, bringing us back to equal stacks. Some hands later, it seems my opponent lost his patience when he called my all-in with Q8s. I held QJ and was doing fine until the turn was an 8.
This brought me down to 1560 chips, my opponent had 18440. On the next hand, I was BB. The blinds were now 300/600, so just posting the blind brought me down to only 960 chips. My opponent still had 18140 chips after posting the small blind. I held K5. He was first to act.
He folded.
Now, folding is an elementary mistake heads-up: you always have the odds to call. But certainly in a situation like this, I think you want to just get me all-in as soon as possible...
Anyway, now with 1860 chips, my next hand was 95o. I decided to wait for the next hand and hope that it is better. This is also a mistake according to SAGE: practically any hand is good enough to call here.
The next hand, he puts me all-in with KQ and I call and win with T5o. After that, we alternate for five hands: I move all-in as SB and he folds, then he is SB and folds, for five hands. On the sixth hand, he calls as SB and I move all-in again: he folds. Now I have already 6000 chips again, and he must be worried.
Shortly after that, he raises and then calls my all-in with KJo. I have 44 and he gets a J on the turn, leaving me with only two outs: the two missing fours.
The river is a 4.
Now up to 16000 chips, I finish him off four hands later with Q9 vs Q2. (His push was actually justified by SAGE.)
A very nice game... Obviously I needed a lot of luck, but it certainly helped that my opponent was quite lost at sea during the heads-up phase :-) In particular, he played it way too passive, folding much too often when I had a micro-stack. Let that be a lesson to all of you!
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