The online challenge got the better of me. I managed to clear another $10 of the bonus after my blog post, but that was it. Obviously an extra $10 is always a help, but more would have been nicer.
Cash games at Crown have also turned around for me ... and turned in the wrong direction. The highlight of last night saw a hand where I raised to $11 UTG, was called by UTG+1 & the hijack. Flop was 245 all diamonds. I bet $20 with AdAc & was called by UTG+1. Turn saw the Qc & I bet $35 & my opponent moved all-in for an additional $90 or thereabouts. Of course there are a lot of hands that I have crushed that he might make the same move with, but there are also a lot of hands I am in trouble against. However with the Ad in my hand I have outs against anything but the straight flush (3d6d) ... so I made the call. The river was a repeat (non-diamond) queen, which helped my hand as I would now beat a flopped two pair (45 or similar) ... but of course my opponent had 63 of hearts for the flopped straight ... because calling a raise with 63 SOOOOTED is such a profitable play ...
Of course the same player made a wonderful claim in a later hand. With a board of J9257 (two diamonds on the flop, but no flush possible by the river) he decided to call my bets on every street ... and when I showed JJ for top set on the river he said 'well that beats three nines'. Really? I quized him about this and he said 'I thought you had three jacks' ... its amazing what some people will do, or what they think you will believe. So with a flush draw out there & only one possible hand that could beat it (until the river when T8 & 86 get there), he decides that just flat calling with the second nuts is the best way to play the hand ... not even raising on the flop or turn when I might stack off with top pair or an overpair. Obviously good to put the guy who cracked my aces in his place, but it was one of the few highlights in an otherwise ordinary session.
When will variance be my friend??
Monday, September 27, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
The online challenge
I recently scored a bonus on Full Tilt Poker & am in the process of 'earning' it. Of course the challenge remaining is to complete the entire bonus. As it stands I have roughly $70 left to earn of the bonus, with 6c earnt per FTP. This means that I need to earn roughly another 1150 FTPs to complete the bonus. The difficult part about it is that I now have 13 hours left to complete the bonus! At present I'm playing primarily 25/50c limit holdem, playing anywhere from 4-8 tables at a time. Hopefully I'll be able to get the entire bonus & give the bankroll a decent boost. At present I have around $300 on Full Tilt & am hoping to double this before moving up to 50c/$1 games.
Lets see how it goes ...
Lets see how it goes ...
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
That other game ... chess ... some history & my favourite players
I've been playing some chess on the Internet Chess Club of late (as I tend to do from time to time) & played a game that sparked my interest in chess analysis again.
The game was the Fritz-Ulvestad variation of the Two Knights Defense (this is the complicated way of saying both my opponent & I made moves so that the pieces on the board looked like the diagram): 
This is a rather famous position from a 1965 correspondence game between Yakov Estrin & Hans Berliner, where Berliner won a spectacular game (and ultimately the World Correspondence Championship).
This is a rather famous position from a 1965 correspondence game between Yakov Estrin & Hans Berliner, where Berliner won a spectacular game (and ultimately the World Correspondence Championship).Of course I attempted to follow the Estrin-Berliner game, but played a different (and worse) move on move 9 & soon after completely forgot about the clock (not the smartest of things to do in a 1-minute game) & lost on time. This got me thinking about the variation & its many wild complications ... and of course dreams of playing a game like this in a tournament one day (though of course my recent form would suggest that this is a long way from reality). The variation is fascinating on many levels & I would not be able to do it justice in this blog, however if you are interested in it, this page has a number of links to articles about the variation (in particular have a look at the Tim Harding articles).
This got me thinking about some of my favourite chess players & some of their best games (which also double as some of my favourite games). In order to keep this post to a manageable length, I've decided to run with a brief description about the player in question, with links to some of their better games.
Jonny Hector
My favourite player without a doubt. Jonny is a Grandmaster from Sweden who has been a regular in top level events there, as well as other events around Europe. Although he sometimes has shockers, he loves attacking chess & many brilliancies can be found in his games.
Some of his best games:
Watch for the uber-sadistic zugzwang finish!
A less-than-conventional opening that turns into a stunning attack!
Another unusual opening turns into an amazing sacrificial attack leading to a king hunt!
Rashid Nezhmetdinov Rashid, or Nezh, was an International Master from the Soviet Union (born in modern-day Kazakhstan) who was well known inside the Soviet Union (not so much outside) for his tactical style & ability to find combinations in a range of positions. His reputation outside the USSR did not grow until late in his career & after his death in the 1970s.
Some of his best games:
Nezh's most famous game with an amazing queen sacrifice leading to a king hunt & eventual mating attack.
Nezhmetdinov v Enrico Paoli
Another fascinating attack that sees two pieces sacrificed for the attack, which ultimately proves decisive.
Another fascinating attack that sees two pieces sacrificed for the attack, which ultimately proves decisive.
A piece sacrifice in a seemingly standard opening position launches a devestating attack on the king.
A positional queen sacrifice in the middlegame, followed by an exchange sacrifice, before a combination leading to a winning ending!
This queen sacrifice is in some ways similar to another very famous queen sacrifice played in the game Vassily Ivanchuk v Alexei Shirov where Shirov sacrifices his queen in the middlegame for two pieces. This is another of my favourite games, played by two of my favourite modern Super Grandmasters.
Tiger Hillarp Persson Tiger is another Swedish Grandmaster who plays in a very creative attacking style. He has become a regular in the Swedish Olympiad team & like Hector plays many tournaments around Europe.
Some of his best game:
An innocuous opening soon turns wild & Persson sacrifices his queen, then a rook for a mating attack!
A wild game with many pieces flying all over the board, which ultimately leads to a winning attack for Persson.
Ultimately I'll continue to play chess & hope to one day play a game of that quality. The closest I have been would have to be a game I played at the Australian Open against Tony Weller, which won the brilliancy prize for the round. Some of my other best games would include a win against Andrew Allen from the Parkroyal Invitational, or for a straightforward attack that worked perfectly, my game against Kevin Tan from last year's Oceania Zonal.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Cash game run good
I have finally turned one of those corners that you always want to turn ... the run good one! The last few cash sessions I have played at Crown have seen most of my 80-20s hold up & I've even managed to win my fair share of my races. I've also played well & won a decent number of other pots to walk away with more than I started with on my last few visits. Maybe its because I've been playing a bit of online poker lately (largely inspired by a bonus offered from Full Tilt Poker), perhaps its the more frequent forum posting & watching of videos at Deuces Cracked, or maybe its just that time when the stars align and you actually run at or slightly above expectation.
Tournaments of course have continued to be standard fare, with Thursday's tournament coming to an early conclusion in a hand where I raised there was a limper (at 50/100 blinds with a 3k starting stack) before I raised to 350 in middle position. The lady to my immediate left who had played very few hands then re-raised to 700 before the big stack to her left called (he had doubled up on the second hand when he hit a gutshot after calling a small flop bet, only to have the guy with the overpair move all-in & he had around 7000 to start the hand). It folded back around to me & I moved all-in for another 2400 ... and the lady to my left immediately moved all-in as well (1700 more, so I had her covered by 700)! The big stack then thought it & eventually called. We turned over our hands & I was rather happy to see my KK up against QQ (lady) & AJo (big stack). As it turns out I was well in front, with the equities being 58% (KK) v 17% (QQ) v 25% (AJ). Of course that meant nothing as there was an ace in the window & I headed to the cash tables. Of course I think the overcall with AJo is horrible, as it is in awful shape against the shoving ranges of both myself & the lady who had both been playing super-snug. Assuming a range of TT+ & AQ+ (which is probably a bit generous), the AJ has only 16% equity. If it changed to QQ+ & AK (more realistic for myself), AJ slides to 14%. Of course it means little when your opponent gets there & you have to do the walk of shame ...
The ANZPT Melbourne schedule & structures have now been released & its good to see another 8 game event in the schedule, along with the regular dose of NLHE events. Bring on October!
Tournaments of course have continued to be standard fare, with Thursday's tournament coming to an early conclusion in a hand where I raised there was a limper (at 50/100 blinds with a 3k starting stack) before I raised to 350 in middle position. The lady to my immediate left who had played very few hands then re-raised to 700 before the big stack to her left called (he had doubled up on the second hand when he hit a gutshot after calling a small flop bet, only to have the guy with the overpair move all-in & he had around 7000 to start the hand). It folded back around to me & I moved all-in for another 2400 ... and the lady to my left immediately moved all-in as well (1700 more, so I had her covered by 700)! The big stack then thought it & eventually called. We turned over our hands & I was rather happy to see my KK up against QQ (lady) & AJo (big stack). As it turns out I was well in front, with the equities being 58% (KK) v 17% (QQ) v 25% (AJ). Of course that meant nothing as there was an ace in the window & I headed to the cash tables. Of course I think the overcall with AJo is horrible, as it is in awful shape against the shoving ranges of both myself & the lady who had both been playing super-snug. Assuming a range of TT+ & AQ+ (which is probably a bit generous), the AJ has only 16% equity. If it changed to QQ+ & AK (more realistic for myself), AJ slides to 14%. Of course it means little when your opponent gets there & you have to do the walk of shame ...
The ANZPT Melbourne schedule & structures have now been released & its good to see another 8 game event in the schedule, along with the regular dose of NLHE events. Bring on October!
Sunday, September 5, 2010
The Aristidou Factor!
Today's Sunday tournament finished in my now standard non-cash after running QQ into AA (and of course still losing in spite of flopping a set of queens, because another ace managed to appear on the river) and then losing my remaining stack when I took 88 up against TT. However the highlight for me was provided by Peter Aristidou. Midway through level 3 or 4 he wandered over to my table to say hi ... asked me if I'd won any hands yet (I was slightly below starting stack) & when I said I'd only won one, he said he had a good feeling about this one & that I would make it two! There was a raise and a call in front of me & I looked down to see AQo! I had the 'Aristidou factor' on my side, so I 3-bet & everyone folded & I took down a decent sized pot pre-flop! Peter later came over to see me after losing a big pot (this was just after I lost the QQ v AA hand) & we briefly lamented our plights. Shortly afterwards I busted & decided to join the rail to watch Peter in action for a while. He was joking around in spite of his short stack & folded for an orbit or two without finding a suitable spot to put his chips in. He eventually found one & was called by both blinds & they saw a flop of AJ6. The SB then shoved all-in, prompting a fold from the BB. Peter turned over his KJ0, to be up against his opponent's KQo! In spite of the domination, Peter manages to find the jack he needs to take the lead! Of course the BB said he folded 33 ... and what arrives on the turn ... a 3! Not only does he spike a 3-outer against a dominating hand, but the guy with king-high decides to semi-bluff the flop, forcing the hand that would have knocked Peter out, to fold ... what a charmed life Mr Aristidou leads! That triple-up (plus change) got him back to starting stack & he was never headed from there, eventually taking the tournament down (though I think there was some sort of deal made when it was three handed).
The session I played on the $2/3 table following the tournament bustout was successful, but was my now-standard slow grind, with no huge hands of note that I was involved in (though there was a crazy 5-way all-in at one point, with the big stack claiming three victims before chopping the main & one side pot with a short stack).
I'm hoping to eventually get Peter on the podcast ... though I'm not sure he's keen to divulge his run good secrets!
The session I played on the $2/3 table following the tournament bustout was successful, but was my now-standard slow grind, with no huge hands of note that I was involved in (though there was a crazy 5-way all-in at one point, with the big stack claiming three victims before chopping the main & one side pot with a short stack).
I'm hoping to eventually get Peter on the podcast ... though I'm not sure he's keen to divulge his run good secrets!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Episode 8 now Online
Episode 8 of the Donkcast is now online:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=T11GHXVD
The episode features coverage of the recently completed Victorian Championships, a brief look at the upcoming Sydney Championships, as well as an interview with Tim Duckworth of Tilted Behaviour (amongst other things).
Don't forget about feedback, either here or email thedonkcast@hotmail.com
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=T11GHXVD
The episode features coverage of the recently completed Victorian Championships, a brief look at the upcoming Sydney Championships, as well as an interview with Tim Duckworth of Tilted Behaviour (amongst other things).
Don't forget about feedback, either here or email thedonkcast@hotmail.com
Monday, August 30, 2010
Tim Duckworth Interview amongst other things
I Interviewed Tim Duckworth of PokerNews/PokerNetwork today at Crown. It was a fun interview & will be a part of the next episode of the Donkcast, which should be up in the next few days, once the Victorian Champioships have finished up.
Today's highlights at the $1/2NL table included losing AA to A4 all-in pre-flop against a short stack (there was a raise to $7 & three calls in front of me & I made it $25 to go, with all but the short-stack who had $19 total, folding) ... J9352 being the method of loss. Later I managed to lose the rest of my (relative) short stack when there were two limpers, a raise to $8 & three callers. I shoved with TT, only to be called by the UTG limper, who of course had KK ... I run well!
Today's highlights at the $1/2NL table included losing AA to A4 all-in pre-flop against a short stack (there was a raise to $7 & three calls in front of me & I made it $25 to go, with all but the short-stack who had $19 total, folding) ... J9352 being the method of loss. Later I managed to lose the rest of my (relative) short stack when there were two limpers, a raise to $8 & three callers. I shoved with TT, only to be called by the UTG limper, who of course had KK ... I run well!
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Victorian Champs 8-Game, chess & cash games
The 8-game event should have been one of my better events, however it ended prematurely due to a few factors:
1. A poorly timed bluff in Razz. Although I had a pretty good idea of what my opponent's hand was, as well as the hand I was representing, it didn't stop my opponent from calling down ...
I had a board of A5T2 v 37J5 which saw me complete (one other player called as well as my opponent), bet 4th, only to be raised by the 37 & I 3-bet ... my opponent then called me down & had (as expected) a 7-low, obviously not giving me credit for the wheel or any better hand I thought I could credibaly represent, even saying 'do you have a 6?' before calling on 7th. Of course the fact that I had TTJ in the hole didn't help my cause ... but its simply a spot I should have avoided in this event. Fold 4th, wait for a better spot & move on ... rather than needlessly donking off 80% of my stack.
2. Getting too much respect & not adjusting my play accordingly. Over half the table knew who I was & knew I could play mixed games, with players even asking me if they played their hands correctly after the hand concluded. Of course it also meant that my raises (pre-flop or on 3rd street in stud) often got folds from hands that players would happily play against other opponents. The obvious adjustment to make is then to play more hands & take down more blinds & antes, but I didn't do this anywhere near as much as I should have, so found myself winning a few small pots, while leaving the bigger pots up to the cards ... which sometimes went my way, sometimes not.
3. Not playing enough hands. I'm really starting to reconsider my general philosophy for tournaments of late (a combination of recent results, as well as various videos/podcasts/forum threads on Deuces Cracked) & I really need to play lots of hands in an event like this in order to accumulate chips early.
There are a few reasons for this:
a. The weaker players tend to be the ones eliminated earliest, so I want to get as many of their chips as I can, rather than having to win them from better players (which may prove more difficult)
b. Although the structure looks good on the surface (10k stack & 30 minute levels), it plays much quicker given the extra time it takes to deal the stud & draw games, as well as the extra time that less experienced players take during non-holdem games as they try to figure out what hand they have (let alone worrying about what other people in the hand have - see the ill-timed Razz bluff as an example).
c. Its a (mostly) limit event, so I want to avoid being all-in during the tournament if at all possible. This is best achieved by having more chips than my opponents (or at least enough bets to cover a limit hand with plenty of action).
d. Chips early often means chips late ... and I generally enter tournaments with the intention of winning them (or at least cashing).
Ultimately I finshed around 32nd from the 48 starters the event attracted, which was very disappointing.
I also played a chess tournament on the weekend, the 'Best in the West' event at Yarraville. I managed 2 wins, 2 draws & a loss from the 5 games, which saw me finish tied for 6th out of 22 players. This sounds reasonable on the face of it, but when you consider that I was the 5th seed and was actually worse, if not losing, each of the four games I scored points in (the two wins & two draws), as well as the fact that I butchered a completely winning position in the game I lost, it made for a disappointing result. In some respects it was good to salvage points from such poor positions, but the fact that I found myself in them in the first place is the frustrating part about it.
Cash games have been going reasonably well over the last few days. There are times when I feel I am playing well, yet I still find myself in situations where I feel lost from time to time. If its any consolation, I feel that the last few days have been better than earlier in the week & some of the Deuces Cracked material (mentioned above) has really got me thinking about my game & my approach to it ... hopefully with a positive outcome!
In podcast news, I'm hoping to interview Tim Duckworth of Pokernews/Tilted Behaviour in the next week or so, with some other interview guests also being a possibility. Will see how I go on that front.
1. A poorly timed bluff in Razz. Although I had a pretty good idea of what my opponent's hand was, as well as the hand I was representing, it didn't stop my opponent from calling down ...
I had a board of A5T2 v 37J5 which saw me complete (one other player called as well as my opponent), bet 4th, only to be raised by the 37 & I 3-bet ... my opponent then called me down & had (as expected) a 7-low, obviously not giving me credit for the wheel or any better hand I thought I could credibaly represent, even saying 'do you have a 6?' before calling on 7th. Of course the fact that I had TTJ in the hole didn't help my cause ... but its simply a spot I should have avoided in this event. Fold 4th, wait for a better spot & move on ... rather than needlessly donking off 80% of my stack.
2. Getting too much respect & not adjusting my play accordingly. Over half the table knew who I was & knew I could play mixed games, with players even asking me if they played their hands correctly after the hand concluded. Of course it also meant that my raises (pre-flop or on 3rd street in stud) often got folds from hands that players would happily play against other opponents. The obvious adjustment to make is then to play more hands & take down more blinds & antes, but I didn't do this anywhere near as much as I should have, so found myself winning a few small pots, while leaving the bigger pots up to the cards ... which sometimes went my way, sometimes not.
3. Not playing enough hands. I'm really starting to reconsider my general philosophy for tournaments of late (a combination of recent results, as well as various videos/podcasts/forum threads on Deuces Cracked) & I really need to play lots of hands in an event like this in order to accumulate chips early.
There are a few reasons for this:
a. The weaker players tend to be the ones eliminated earliest, so I want to get as many of their chips as I can, rather than having to win them from better players (which may prove more difficult)
b. Although the structure looks good on the surface (10k stack & 30 minute levels), it plays much quicker given the extra time it takes to deal the stud & draw games, as well as the extra time that less experienced players take during non-holdem games as they try to figure out what hand they have (let alone worrying about what other people in the hand have - see the ill-timed Razz bluff as an example).
c. Its a (mostly) limit event, so I want to avoid being all-in during the tournament if at all possible. This is best achieved by having more chips than my opponents (or at least enough bets to cover a limit hand with plenty of action).
d. Chips early often means chips late ... and I generally enter tournaments with the intention of winning them (or at least cashing).
Ultimately I finshed around 32nd from the 48 starters the event attracted, which was very disappointing.
I also played a chess tournament on the weekend, the 'Best in the West' event at Yarraville. I managed 2 wins, 2 draws & a loss from the 5 games, which saw me finish tied for 6th out of 22 players. This sounds reasonable on the face of it, but when you consider that I was the 5th seed and was actually worse, if not losing, each of the four games I scored points in (the two wins & two draws), as well as the fact that I butchered a completely winning position in the game I lost, it made for a disappointing result. In some respects it was good to salvage points from such poor positions, but the fact that I found myself in them in the first place is the frustrating part about it.
Cash games have been going reasonably well over the last few days. There are times when I feel I am playing well, yet I still find myself in situations where I feel lost from time to time. If its any consolation, I feel that the last few days have been better than earlier in the week & some of the Deuces Cracked material (mentioned above) has really got me thinking about my game & my approach to it ... hopefully with a positive outcome!
In podcast news, I'm hoping to interview Tim Duckworth of Pokernews/Tilted Behaviour in the next week or so, with some other interview guests also being a possibility. Will see how I go on that front.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Episode 7 now online!
Episode 7 of the Donkcast is now available for download.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KWMQV0O0
The episode covers results from ANZPT Queenstown & the FTP500 as well as looking at the upcoming State of Origin event at the Victorian Championships, a crazy hand from the PartyPoker Big Game & a cooler hand from a cash game at Crown.
Don't forget to send thoughts & feedback about the episode to thedonkcast@hotmail.com or comment on this post.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KWMQV0O0
The episode covers results from ANZPT Queenstown & the FTP500 as well as looking at the upcoming State of Origin event at the Victorian Championships, a crazy hand from the PartyPoker Big Game & a cooler hand from a cash game at Crown.
Don't forget to send thoughts & feedback about the episode to thedonkcast@hotmail.com or comment on this post.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Victorian Champs so far ...
0 for 5 ... and my wish for some run good has only been fleeting.
Opening Event - Just got nothing going & was out before the first break.
PokerPro Freeroll - A new promotional tourney for Crown this series. Not quite sure what the angle is, but they're offering PokerPro credits for the top few finishers each day ($50 each for the top 10% or thereabouts), as well as a freeroll for a Victorian Champs Main Event seat at the end of the fortnight's promotion. Needless to say the structure is horrible (10 minute levels using the super-fast Tuesday Turbo structure) & I made it to the last two tables before losing the inevitable flip.
Morning Series tourney - This was the best of my tournaments so far. I finished in 24th out of the 133 starters (with top 20 being paid of course). Strangely enough my downfall came very shortly after I doubled up with AA to become one of the chip leaders. The next hand I picked up ATo & raised, only to be called by the big stack in the SB. He check-called my continuation bet & then lead out at the turn on a J62J board & I folded. The very next hand I picked up 99 & again raised, only to have a player re-raise all-in behind me. I called & he showed JJ & I didn't improve, which meant I was now a short stack! I eventually got it in with 87o against JTo but a pair which became trips on the turn for my opponent meant I was doing the walk of shame without a stopoff at the cashier.
PLO - Again, not much happening here. Managed to get my chips in both times with AAxx on the flop ... once in front facing a draw (AA86o v AKJTds on a J53 two-tone flop where he made his flush on the river) & another time when I was in horrible shape (AAJ9ds v 5678ds v A422o on a 732 rainbow flop & the board ran out 55 to give the 5678 the bigger boat). Again I didn't make it to the first break ...
It seems as though the big hurdle in these low buy-in Omaha tournaments is surviving the first few levels. This is the time when there are many multi-way pots (blinds being small relative to stack size) & people are more inclined to gamble with the 'second chance' format now being standard at Crown. Obviously it also helps to run good ... but I don't seem to be able to do that much of late!
Teams event - Played with Angelo this time & we made it through 5 levels before Angelo ran TT into QQ (complete with an apparent slowroll). Highlights included:
* Angelo's Oscar nomination worthy performance for toughest decision ever with aces, which lead to a pre-flop showdown with some broadway hand (possibly QQ but I'm not 100% sure - Crown isn't exactly built for spectators) & a much-needed double up for the good guys.
* The guy who claimed to have folded A4 on a board of 446A8 with three hearts when he only had 700 behind in a pot of roughly 5000 during level 1. He folded & his opponent showed AA (to apparently turn a one-outer) & he then proceeded to walk off in a huff, only to return a few minutes later & claim the inspired fold of a full house!
* Same guy who auto-tilted after seeing a flop. He had folded to my raise pre-flop & there was a call & a shove from a short stack behind. I overshoved to get heads-up & my 88 held against A8. He claimed to have folded 66 ... and as soon as he saw the 6 as the first card of the flop he again stormed off and returned a few minutes later as with the previous hand.
Cash games haven't been much better. To give you an idea here are three of the hands I have played recently:
$1/2NL. UTG limps & I raise to $8 in UTG+1. UTG+2, UTG+3, button & blinds call. I have QQ. Flop is A33 & its checked to me. I bet $15 & it folds to the SB who moves all-in for about $80. I sigh & fold & he slams down 77 like its the nuts!
$2/3NL. UTG & UTG+1 limp & I raise to $15 in UTG+2. UTG+3, button, BB & both limpers come along for the ride. I have AA. Flop is J93 with two hearts (I have Ah) & I bet $22 after it is checked to me. Only UTG+1 calls. Th on turn & I bet $45, which he calls. River is 9c & he bets $55 into me. I call & he shows 89o (with the 8h) for rivered trips.
$2/3NL. I raise to $12 in UTG+2 with JJ. UTG+3 & button call. Flop is 457 two-tone & I lead for $22. UTG+3 calls. Turn is 6, putting two flush draws on board. I check & UTG+3 bets $150 (enough to put me all-in). I hate JJ on this board & fold & he shows an offsuit 4 ...
I suspect that much of the remaining Victorian Championships will be spent on the rail. I'm going to play the 8-game & might manage another midday event or PokerPro freeroll, but much of the second week is not to my liking & I'm not going to fork out the cash for the main event when I'm running so badly (and not playing my best all the time). On a more positive note I hope to get another episode of the Donkcast out shortly (currently I've recorded some segments, but will probably wait a few days before finalising & uploading it - currently I have capped internet, which is horrible) & I also hope to get a few interviews with players while I'm at Crown. Will see how things go!
Opening Event - Just got nothing going & was out before the first break.
PokerPro Freeroll - A new promotional tourney for Crown this series. Not quite sure what the angle is, but they're offering PokerPro credits for the top few finishers each day ($50 each for the top 10% or thereabouts), as well as a freeroll for a Victorian Champs Main Event seat at the end of the fortnight's promotion. Needless to say the structure is horrible (10 minute levels using the super-fast Tuesday Turbo structure) & I made it to the last two tables before losing the inevitable flip.
Morning Series tourney - This was the best of my tournaments so far. I finished in 24th out of the 133 starters (with top 20 being paid of course). Strangely enough my downfall came very shortly after I doubled up with AA to become one of the chip leaders. The next hand I picked up ATo & raised, only to be called by the big stack in the SB. He check-called my continuation bet & then lead out at the turn on a J62J board & I folded. The very next hand I picked up 99 & again raised, only to have a player re-raise all-in behind me. I called & he showed JJ & I didn't improve, which meant I was now a short stack! I eventually got it in with 87o against JTo but a pair which became trips on the turn for my opponent meant I was doing the walk of shame without a stopoff at the cashier.
PLO - Again, not much happening here. Managed to get my chips in both times with AAxx on the flop ... once in front facing a draw (AA86o v AKJTds on a J53 two-tone flop where he made his flush on the river) & another time when I was in horrible shape (AAJ9ds v 5678ds v A422o on a 732 rainbow flop & the board ran out 55 to give the 5678 the bigger boat). Again I didn't make it to the first break ...
It seems as though the big hurdle in these low buy-in Omaha tournaments is surviving the first few levels. This is the time when there are many multi-way pots (blinds being small relative to stack size) & people are more inclined to gamble with the 'second chance' format now being standard at Crown. Obviously it also helps to run good ... but I don't seem to be able to do that much of late!
Teams event - Played with Angelo this time & we made it through 5 levels before Angelo ran TT into QQ (complete with an apparent slowroll). Highlights included:
* Angelo's Oscar nomination worthy performance for toughest decision ever with aces, which lead to a pre-flop showdown with some broadway hand (possibly QQ but I'm not 100% sure - Crown isn't exactly built for spectators) & a much-needed double up for the good guys.
* The guy who claimed to have folded A4 on a board of 446A8 with three hearts when he only had 700 behind in a pot of roughly 5000 during level 1. He folded & his opponent showed AA (to apparently turn a one-outer) & he then proceeded to walk off in a huff, only to return a few minutes later & claim the inspired fold of a full house!
* Same guy who auto-tilted after seeing a flop. He had folded to my raise pre-flop & there was a call & a shove from a short stack behind. I overshoved to get heads-up & my 88 held against A8. He claimed to have folded 66 ... and as soon as he saw the 6 as the first card of the flop he again stormed off and returned a few minutes later as with the previous hand.
Cash games haven't been much better. To give you an idea here are three of the hands I have played recently:
$1/2NL. UTG limps & I raise to $8 in UTG+1. UTG+2, UTG+3, button & blinds call. I have QQ. Flop is A33 & its checked to me. I bet $15 & it folds to the SB who moves all-in for about $80. I sigh & fold & he slams down 77 like its the nuts!
$2/3NL. UTG & UTG+1 limp & I raise to $15 in UTG+2. UTG+3, button, BB & both limpers come along for the ride. I have AA. Flop is J93 with two hearts (I have Ah) & I bet $22 after it is checked to me. Only UTG+1 calls. Th on turn & I bet $45, which he calls. River is 9c & he bets $55 into me. I call & he shows 89o (with the 8h) for rivered trips.
$2/3NL. I raise to $12 in UTG+2 with JJ. UTG+3 & button call. Flop is 457 two-tone & I lead for $22. UTG+3 calls. Turn is 6, putting two flush draws on board. I check & UTG+3 bets $150 (enough to put me all-in). I hate JJ on this board & fold & he shows an offsuit 4 ...
I suspect that much of the remaining Victorian Championships will be spent on the rail. I'm going to play the 8-game & might manage another midday event or PokerPro freeroll, but much of the second week is not to my liking & I'm not going to fork out the cash for the main event when I'm running so badly (and not playing my best all the time). On a more positive note I hope to get another episode of the Donkcast out shortly (currently I've recorded some segments, but will probably wait a few days before finalising & uploading it - currently I have capped internet, which is horrible) & I also hope to get a few interviews with players while I'm at Crown. Will see how things go!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The joys of running badly ...
I like to think of myself as a reasonably level-headed person. I am a calm person by nature who rarely gets visibly upset. I play poker knowing that there are elements of skill and luck to the game. I know that many of my opponents do not think about poker the way I do. I rely on this difference, and the resulting mistakes, to make money.
But sometimes you just run bad ...
The last few days have been horrible in the grand scheme of poker as a money-making venture. It doesn't seem to matter what the game or the stakes, there is a way for me to buy-in for chips that end up somewhere other than a rack headed to the cashier before I leave the game.
In the last few days I have been on the wrong end of the following:
$1/2 no limit holdem
I raise to $7 UTG; new player who has posted $2 to play his first hand calls; player to his left announces 'raise to $10' & places two $5 chips in front of him. The dealer then corrects him & says that it must be $12 as he cannot raise to $10 after I have already made it $7. The player on the button calls. I re-raise to $45 total. The new player says 'I'm short-stacked ... fuck it I'm all-in' & slides his remaining chips towards the middle (he had bought in for $50). The 'accidental' raiser also calls, the button folds & I toss the additional $5 chip into the middle. The flop comes down AJ4 ... I check & the other player checks ... we check both the turn & river (6 & 3 respectively) before the all-in player proudly shows his A8 SOOOTED. The other player mucks his KQ offsuit & I throw my hand into the muck as well ... oh, I had KK by the way ... FML!
$5 two card Manila
I have played tight for a few hours. Previously I'd shown down a flush where I had called a bet on '1st' (Manila is played with 32 cards - Aces to 7s - and starts with 2 hole cards to each player & 1 community card, followed by a round of betting. Another community card & round of betting continues until there are 5 community cards in the middle. The best 5-card hand, using both hole cards & three community cards win. Being a 'short deck' game, flushed beat full houses), checked '2nd', raised '3rd' & bet '4th' & '5th' before showing my winning hand.
In this hand a checked my option with AcQh with the 8c on board. I also check-called on '2nd' which was the Qc. I then bet '3rd', the 9c, '4th' Th & '5th' 7c. The final board is 8Q9T7 with four clubs. In my mind it looked exactly like the previous hand ... and I obviously had the flush ... and of course my opponent called me down with KhJd for a straight. My one bluff for the evening doesn't work. FML!
$2/3 no limit holdem
A player raises to $15 UTG, UTG+1 calls, I re-raise to $40, a player two to my left calls the $40, the original raiser moves all-in for $108, I 'tank' & move all-in for $95 & the other player calls (having both of the all-in players covered). We decide to show our hands pre-flop. The UTG player has KhQh, the other player has QcQs & I have AcAs.
The flop comes K43 ... turn 3 ... river Q! FML!
To make matters worse, the player who won the hand decides to leave the table two hands later, and two hands after that when the hourly time charge is collected, two of the big ($500+) stacks also leave ... this prompts the remaining player with over $500 to also leave ... and the table breaks! FML!
$2/3 no limit holdem
5 players limp in pre-flop & I raise to $15 on the button. Every limper, except one, calls the raise, so its 5-ways to the flop. The flop is 822 rainbow. A player who has been betting at flops that he has 'hit' bets $25. I re-raise to $75. Everyone else folds. He eventually calls. At this stage I know he has exactly one 8 in his hand. The turn is a J & he moves all-in for around $130. I don't think he has a J or a 2, so I call. The river is a Q. He turns over Q8. I have 99. FML!
The same game becomes short-handed after all the big stacks leave (deja vu anyone) ... I procees to get 22 & the flop is Q72 & my $5 bet takes it down. Same again on an 885 board when I have A8 ... and then I run my K4 (in the BB) into KJ (in the SB) on a KJ4 flop ... and he put all his chips in the middle ... and I didn't fold ... FML!
Maybe I need to listen to Tommy Angelo's 'Eightfold Path to Poker Enlightenment' series again, or perhaps learn from blog posts such as How to Tilt. Perhaps I need to Enjoy a Bad Beat like Joe Tall ... or maybe just have some favourable short-term variance!
Lets hope things improve before the Victorian Championships!
At this stage I'm going to play the opening event & the 8-game, as well as some (if not all) of the midday series & the PLO. Will see how things are going before deciding on playing any other events ... needless to say some run-good would be appreciated.
But sometimes you just run bad ...
The last few days have been horrible in the grand scheme of poker as a money-making venture. It doesn't seem to matter what the game or the stakes, there is a way for me to buy-in for chips that end up somewhere other than a rack headed to the cashier before I leave the game.
In the last few days I have been on the wrong end of the following:
$1/2 no limit holdem
I raise to $7 UTG; new player who has posted $2 to play his first hand calls; player to his left announces 'raise to $10' & places two $5 chips in front of him. The dealer then corrects him & says that it must be $12 as he cannot raise to $10 after I have already made it $7. The player on the button calls. I re-raise to $45 total. The new player says 'I'm short-stacked ... fuck it I'm all-in' & slides his remaining chips towards the middle (he had bought in for $50). The 'accidental' raiser also calls, the button folds & I toss the additional $5 chip into the middle. The flop comes down AJ4 ... I check & the other player checks ... we check both the turn & river (6 & 3 respectively) before the all-in player proudly shows his A8 SOOOTED. The other player mucks his KQ offsuit & I throw my hand into the muck as well ... oh, I had KK by the way ... FML!
$5 two card Manila
I have played tight for a few hours. Previously I'd shown down a flush where I had called a bet on '1st' (Manila is played with 32 cards - Aces to 7s - and starts with 2 hole cards to each player & 1 community card, followed by a round of betting. Another community card & round of betting continues until there are 5 community cards in the middle. The best 5-card hand, using both hole cards & three community cards win. Being a 'short deck' game, flushed beat full houses), checked '2nd', raised '3rd' & bet '4th' & '5th' before showing my winning hand.
In this hand a checked my option with AcQh with the 8c on board. I also check-called on '2nd' which was the Qc. I then bet '3rd', the 9c, '4th' Th & '5th' 7c. The final board is 8Q9T7 with four clubs. In my mind it looked exactly like the previous hand ... and I obviously had the flush ... and of course my opponent called me down with KhJd for a straight. My one bluff for the evening doesn't work. FML!
$2/3 no limit holdem
A player raises to $15 UTG, UTG+1 calls, I re-raise to $40, a player two to my left calls the $40, the original raiser moves all-in for $108, I 'tank' & move all-in for $95 & the other player calls (having both of the all-in players covered). We decide to show our hands pre-flop. The UTG player has KhQh, the other player has QcQs & I have AcAs.
The flop comes K43 ... turn 3 ... river Q! FML!
To make matters worse, the player who won the hand decides to leave the table two hands later, and two hands after that when the hourly time charge is collected, two of the big ($500+) stacks also leave ... this prompts the remaining player with over $500 to also leave ... and the table breaks! FML!
$2/3 no limit holdem
5 players limp in pre-flop & I raise to $15 on the button. Every limper, except one, calls the raise, so its 5-ways to the flop. The flop is 822 rainbow. A player who has been betting at flops that he has 'hit' bets $25. I re-raise to $75. Everyone else folds. He eventually calls. At this stage I know he has exactly one 8 in his hand. The turn is a J & he moves all-in for around $130. I don't think he has a J or a 2, so I call. The river is a Q. He turns over Q8. I have 99. FML!
The same game becomes short-handed after all the big stacks leave (deja vu anyone) ... I procees to get 22 & the flop is Q72 & my $5 bet takes it down. Same again on an 885 board when I have A8 ... and then I run my K4 (in the BB) into KJ (in the SB) on a KJ4 flop ... and he put all his chips in the middle ... and I didn't fold ... FML!
Maybe I need to listen to Tommy Angelo's 'Eightfold Path to Poker Enlightenment' series again, or perhaps learn from blog posts such as How to Tilt. Perhaps I need to Enjoy a Bad Beat like Joe Tall ... or maybe just have some favourable short-term variance!
Lets hope things improve before the Victorian Championships!
At this stage I'm going to play the opening event & the 8-game, as well as some (if not all) of the midday series & the PLO. Will see how things are going before deciding on playing any other events ... needless to say some run-good would be appreciated.
Episode Download Guide
I thought it would be good (after it was suggested by a few people) to include a set of instructions for downloading episodes of the Donkcast to try to make it easy to get through the barrage of distractions that is Megaupload.
I'll go with a step-by-step approach ... and its good to see that you have made it to Step 0: Go to the blog/podcast homepage http://thedonkcast.blogspot.com/ (and also technically Step 0a: go to the download instructions page & read the post!)
Step 1: Select the episode that you wish to listen to & click the link on the top right of the main blog page (eg: Episode 5)
Step 2: On the episode post, you should see a link that has megaupload.com/ followed by a bunch of numbers & letters. Click on the link (eg: http://megaupload.com/?d=6VLLGWGO)
Step 3: You are now on the first Megaupload page. In the top right hand corner you will see a four character code and a blank box above a button labelled download file. Type the four characters in the box & hit the download file button.
Step 4: This will take you to the 'advertising' page, where you will see a table with the 'benefits' of Premium downloads compared with free downloads. On the right of the table there will be a button labelled Premium download & underneath it a countdown 'please wait xx seconds' ... now you need to wait for the countdown, which takes less than a minute (unless of course you want to pay for the site or are extremely impatient).
Step 5: Once the countdown reaches 0, another button labelled Regular download will appear. Click this button.
Step 6: A dialog box will open (as well as a pop-up ad, but ignore that) which will give you the options of Open, Save or Cancel. Given that the files are relatively large at about 50Mb, its going to be best to select Save & save the file on your computer. Select a location for the file and press save.
Step 7: When the download is complete, simply open the file (or double click the mp3 file in the folder you saved it to) to play it on your computer.
Step 8: After listening to the episode, send your thoughts & comments about the episode to thedonkcast@hotmail.com your comments & feedback are welcome & appreciated!
Step 9: Select another episode & repeat the process again!
Hopefully these instructions will one day become obsolete ... yes, I plan to eventually have the Donkcast available on iTunes ... but these should do in the meantime! Hope you enjoy the episodes!
I'll go with a step-by-step approach ... and its good to see that you have made it to Step 0: Go to the blog/podcast homepage http://thedonkcast.blogspot.com/ (and also technically Step 0a: go to the download instructions page & read the post!)
Step 1: Select the episode that you wish to listen to & click the link on the top right of the main blog page (eg: Episode 5)
Step 2: On the episode post, you should see a link that has megaupload.com/ followed by a bunch of numbers & letters. Click on the link (eg: http://megaupload.com/?d=6VLLGWGO)
Step 3: You are now on the first Megaupload page. In the top right hand corner you will see a four character code and a blank box above a button labelled download file. Type the four characters in the box & hit the download file button.
Step 4: This will take you to the 'advertising' page, where you will see a table with the 'benefits' of Premium downloads compared with free downloads. On the right of the table there will be a button labelled Premium download & underneath it a countdown 'please wait xx seconds' ... now you need to wait for the countdown, which takes less than a minute (unless of course you want to pay for the site or are extremely impatient).
Step 5: Once the countdown reaches 0, another button labelled Regular download will appear. Click this button.
Step 6: A dialog box will open (as well as a pop-up ad, but ignore that) which will give you the options of Open, Save or Cancel. Given that the files are relatively large at about 50Mb, its going to be best to select Save & save the file on your computer. Select a location for the file and press save.
Step 7: When the download is complete, simply open the file (or double click the mp3 file in the folder you saved it to) to play it on your computer.
Step 8: After listening to the episode, send your thoughts & comments about the episode to thedonkcast@hotmail.com your comments & feedback are welcome & appreciated!
Step 9: Select another episode & repeat the process again!
Hopefully these instructions will one day become obsolete ... yes, I plan to eventually have the Donkcast available on iTunes ... but these should do in the meantime! Hope you enjoy the episodes!
Friday, August 6, 2010
Two tourney cashes at Crown
I've played two tourneys at Crown in the last few days - the Wednesday night pot limit Omaha & the Thursday 'Thriller' & made the money in both events.
In both cases there was a critical hand where I found the necessary run good to go deep. In the PLO I was in the BB (200/400) & a short stack shoved for 1100. Another player called on the button & I looked down at QQ97 double suited. The player on the button had about 4k behind & I had him covered ... and of course I also thought that he might be willing to fold to an over-shove, figuring my chances were much improved in a heads-up pot. Of course he deliberated for quite a while before eventually calling. He had AQTT with one suit, while the all-in player had KKJ6 with no suits. Not such a horrible spot to be in, but I'd definitely prefer to be against one or the other hand rather than both. Of course things got worse on the flop when it was ten-high ... but my run good kicked in & I binked the last queen on the turn & dodged the outs on the river to add a sizable chunk to my stack. Of course the run good came ot an end when it was 5 handed when I went to war with the big stack (who had almost half the chips in play) who had been running like a Kenyan on drugs .. and my KQJT double suited proved no match for his AT52 with one suit when we got it in on the flop of Q52 (I had about half my stack in pre-flop anyway with the blinds as big as they were) & I didn't improve.
The Thursday Thriller turned out much the same. With three tables remaining I got involved in a big hand with AQo ... against AQo. The pot was around 15k total at a time when the average stack was just under 10k ... and of course I managed to take it down with the good old four-card flush (runner-runner mind you!) & took the stack to the final table. Eventually we decided to chop the prizemoney when we were 6-handed, which left those remaining with a tidy profit for the night (it actually worked out to be slightly more than 3rd place prizemoney). I was sitting 4th at the time, with a stack that was just above the chip average, but with the average stack being 10 big blinds & the big stack at the table having only 15, it was simply going to come down to who got the better cards at the right time.
Perhaps the run good that deserted me in Las Vegas (with the exception of the HORSE tourney) has returned! Either way I'm happy to be doing well - its always good to be able to put some tourney results up, especially when cash games are going well too!
In podcast news, I'm hoping to be able to interview Peter Aristidou in the next few days & should have an episode of the Donkcast out just before the Victorian Championships begin.
In both cases there was a critical hand where I found the necessary run good to go deep. In the PLO I was in the BB (200/400) & a short stack shoved for 1100. Another player called on the button & I looked down at QQ97 double suited. The player on the button had about 4k behind & I had him covered ... and of course I also thought that he might be willing to fold to an over-shove, figuring my chances were much improved in a heads-up pot. Of course he deliberated for quite a while before eventually calling. He had AQTT with one suit, while the all-in player had KKJ6 with no suits. Not such a horrible spot to be in, but I'd definitely prefer to be against one or the other hand rather than both. Of course things got worse on the flop when it was ten-high ... but my run good kicked in & I binked the last queen on the turn & dodged the outs on the river to add a sizable chunk to my stack. Of course the run good came ot an end when it was 5 handed when I went to war with the big stack (who had almost half the chips in play) who had been running like a Kenyan on drugs .. and my KQJT double suited proved no match for his AT52 with one suit when we got it in on the flop of Q52 (I had about half my stack in pre-flop anyway with the blinds as big as they were) & I didn't improve.
The Thursday Thriller turned out much the same. With three tables remaining I got involved in a big hand with AQo ... against AQo. The pot was around 15k total at a time when the average stack was just under 10k ... and of course I managed to take it down with the good old four-card flush (runner-runner mind you!) & took the stack to the final table. Eventually we decided to chop the prizemoney when we were 6-handed, which left those remaining with a tidy profit for the night (it actually worked out to be slightly more than 3rd place prizemoney). I was sitting 4th at the time, with a stack that was just above the chip average, but with the average stack being 10 big blinds & the big stack at the table having only 15, it was simply going to come down to who got the better cards at the right time.
Perhaps the run good that deserted me in Las Vegas (with the exception of the HORSE tourney) has returned! Either way I'm happy to be doing well - its always good to be able to put some tourney results up, especially when cash games are going well too!
In podcast news, I'm hoping to be able to interview Peter Aristidou in the next few days & should have an episode of the Donkcast out just before the Victorian Championships begin.
Monday, August 2, 2010
A weekend at Crown
Another weekend at Crown, with a mix of results.
Saturday proved largely frustrating, with very little going my way after a decent start. I then went on a run of second-best hands & riverings that became frustrating. Eventually I left the no limit tables & headed to the $10/20 Omaha game (yes, that's limit omaha hi for those who don't know of this game at Crown - yes, its played as hi-lo pretty much everywhere else ... but not Crown!). Got off to a decent start before being moved to the 'main' game (yes, they eventually got two tables going, with the second being a 'must-move' game, so that the first table was always full). I had some ups & downs in the main game, but left with the small profit I had brought from the second table, which somewhat compensated for the earlier no limit losses, but didn't quite make up for it in dollar terms.
I managed to make it through more than an orbit this week in the Sunday Series event this week. I had very few hands early on, and folded 99 pre-flop early when there was a raise to my left after 3 limpers. I called the raise, only for the big blind (a fairly tight woman who is a regular at Crown) 3-bet, putting about half her stack in pre-flop. I decided to wait for a better spot & folded. I picked up some chips with 55 when I c-bet on a flop of AQT & the pre-flop caller in the small blind folded 99 face up. I later picked up AA & returned to above starting stack after winning a decent pot on the turn. As you may have realised, this meant that I had not shown down a hand the whole tournament when I got involved in what would be my final hand. There were two limpers before the button (the big stack at the table who had been involved in a lot of pots) raised to 2000 (200/400/50 level) & I looked down at A8dd in the SB. Figuring he could be doing this with any kind of hand, I thought I had a decent chance to take the pot down with a 3-bet & made it 5200. It folded back around to him & after asking how much I had behind (about 5500) he made the call (he had me covered & had about 25k to start the hand). The flop came down 873 rainbow & I shoved (as I was planning to do with pretty much any flop - top pair top kicker was simply a bonus). He snap called and showed 33 for bottom set! Oh well ... off to the cash games. I guess the move would have worked about 85% of the time ... it just happened that he flopped a set to send me out of the tournament!
The $2/3 cash game proved to be a great success. No huge pots, just lots of smaller pots picked up over the nine hours I was at the table. The biggest pot of my night was a hand that ended up all-in three ways. I was in the BB with KdTd & checked my option after 4 limpers. The flop was Qd7d4c & I check-called a $10 bet from the small blind, which was also called by UTG+1. The turn was the Jc, giving me a straight draw to go with my flush draw & this time I called the $15 bet from the SB, only to have UTG+1 shove for $80 more. The SB then shoved his remaining $90 & after a short think I called (I had a stack of around $900 by this stage) & saw the Ah hit the river to give me the nuts! The SB had Q7 for two pair & the initial shover had 56 for a straight draw. Not much to my play in that hand as I was seeing the river after the flop & turn, but that was how my night was. Nothing remarkable to speak of, but lots of hands that played themselves & took down pots.
Maybe I should just play cash games on Sunday & skip the tournament altogether!
I want to put another podcast out in the next week or so, but would like to have an interview for it, so will see what I can do about finding a guest or two in the next few days.
Saturday proved largely frustrating, with very little going my way after a decent start. I then went on a run of second-best hands & riverings that became frustrating. Eventually I left the no limit tables & headed to the $10/20 Omaha game (yes, that's limit omaha hi for those who don't know of this game at Crown - yes, its played as hi-lo pretty much everywhere else ... but not Crown!). Got off to a decent start before being moved to the 'main' game (yes, they eventually got two tables going, with the second being a 'must-move' game, so that the first table was always full). I had some ups & downs in the main game, but left with the small profit I had brought from the second table, which somewhat compensated for the earlier no limit losses, but didn't quite make up for it in dollar terms.
I managed to make it through more than an orbit this week in the Sunday Series event this week. I had very few hands early on, and folded 99 pre-flop early when there was a raise to my left after 3 limpers. I called the raise, only for the big blind (a fairly tight woman who is a regular at Crown) 3-bet, putting about half her stack in pre-flop. I decided to wait for a better spot & folded. I picked up some chips with 55 when I c-bet on a flop of AQT & the pre-flop caller in the small blind folded 99 face up. I later picked up AA & returned to above starting stack after winning a decent pot on the turn. As you may have realised, this meant that I had not shown down a hand the whole tournament when I got involved in what would be my final hand. There were two limpers before the button (the big stack at the table who had been involved in a lot of pots) raised to 2000 (200/400/50 level) & I looked down at A8dd in the SB. Figuring he could be doing this with any kind of hand, I thought I had a decent chance to take the pot down with a 3-bet & made it 5200. It folded back around to him & after asking how much I had behind (about 5500) he made the call (he had me covered & had about 25k to start the hand). The flop came down 873 rainbow & I shoved (as I was planning to do with pretty much any flop - top pair top kicker was simply a bonus). He snap called and showed 33 for bottom set! Oh well ... off to the cash games. I guess the move would have worked about 85% of the time ... it just happened that he flopped a set to send me out of the tournament!
The $2/3 cash game proved to be a great success. No huge pots, just lots of smaller pots picked up over the nine hours I was at the table. The biggest pot of my night was a hand that ended up all-in three ways. I was in the BB with KdTd & checked my option after 4 limpers. The flop was Qd7d4c & I check-called a $10 bet from the small blind, which was also called by UTG+1. The turn was the Jc, giving me a straight draw to go with my flush draw & this time I called the $15 bet from the SB, only to have UTG+1 shove for $80 more. The SB then shoved his remaining $90 & after a short think I called (I had a stack of around $900 by this stage) & saw the Ah hit the river to give me the nuts! The SB had Q7 for two pair & the initial shover had 56 for a straight draw. Not much to my play in that hand as I was seeing the river after the flop & turn, but that was how my night was. Nothing remarkable to speak of, but lots of hands that played themselves & took down pots.
Maybe I should just play cash games on Sunday & skip the tournament altogether!
I want to put another podcast out in the next week or so, but would like to have an interview for it, so will see what I can do about finding a guest or two in the next few days.
Friday, July 30, 2010
A poker update: Online & live
I've tried playing a lot more online this week, with varying degrees of success. Overall I'm slightly ahead (and by slightly I mean <$20 ahead), but I'm really struggling to come to grips with the differences between live & online play. The extra hands & multi-tabling hasn't been much of a problem as I've only been playing limit poker (mostly holdem, though I did manage about an hour of 2-7 triple draw as well), so its simply fold, call/check, bet/raise ... no need to concern myself with how much to bet or raise, stack sizes, stack-to-pot ratios, and other assorted issues of no limit holdem. The main issue for me at the moment is using a HUD. I briefly used a HUD when I was playing about 1.5-2 years ago, but I was only playing one table at a time then & online poker developed into more of a thing to pass the time rather than a serious money-making venture, so I didn't feel there was much of a need. Obviously since then, and adding the fact that I want to take my online poker more seriously, I realised that a HUD would be something necessary in order for me to progress online. With this new development comes issue ... yes, I now have a bunch of numbers on my opponents at the table ... the issue is how to use that information - what do the numbers mean, how do they help categorise opponents, how can they be used to develop ranges for opponents, etc. I feel like I need to re-learn poker for this 'new' environment.
Guess its something for the future ...
The other issues with online poker are two-fold ... I'm on a computer with the internet running ... this means that distractions are literally a mouse-click away ... whether it is Facebook, YouTube, ICC (chess), Settlers of Catan or something else, there's always the possibility of doing something else immediately ... I suppose this issue can be solved by discipline & making sure that when I'm playing poker, that is all I'm doing!
The other issue is that live poker is so much more profitable! Add in the fact that its something I'm far more comfortable with & it seems like a no-brainer! Why slave away in front of a computer for hours, only to come away say $30 to the good (and of course the money is 'online', with further hoops & hurdles to overcome before it becomes cash in hand), when you can go for a drive to the casino & do nothing special & almost definitely lock up a win of some kind, which is often in the $300+ mark.
This leads me into a big hand I played tonight at Crown int he $2/3NL game.
There was a limp from UTG+1, limp from the hijack & I raised in the cutoff to $12 with AcQd. The button, SB, BB & the two limpers all called to make it 6 to the flop. KcJc6s & it is checked through. I didn't feel the need to c-bet on this flop as I'm only going to get called by a hand that I'm behind & there are a lot of cards that could get me in trouble on the tun if I were to bet & inflate the pot with just ace-high.
Anyway, the turn is the Tc, so there is a flush possible, though I now have a broadway straight (with the re-draw to the nut straight). Of course at the time I didn't realise I had the Ac ... I just knew I had Aqo & had turned broadway. Anyway, it is checked to the hijack (an old guy who had been playing fairly snugly) who bet $15. I raised to $35 & was called by the SB (a regular in the 2/3 game who is a decent, solid player, but also capable of making a move from time to time). The old guy folds & we are heads-up to the river.
The river is the 2c, making the final board KcJc6sTc2c. The SB now leads out for $60! I tried to remain composed as I re-raised to $130. The SB thought for a little while and then moved all-in! I had about $275 behind & he had me covered! I considered my options ... I had the nut flush right? No paired board ... what could beat me? Qc9c? That was it. Could he have the straight flush? I actually said out load 'do you *really* have Q9 of clubs?' & after another 10 seconds thought said 'call' ... only to be shown the hand I feared ... Qc9c for a straight flush! Ouch!
With the value of hindsight, I should have been able to either a) just call the river (yes, a sick call, but a good one); or b) fold to the shove (and be really sick & fold the Ac face-up!). What makes me say this? Simply because we have played with each other before & I respect his game & he seemed to respect my game. With the Ac in my hand & the K, J & T of clubs on the board ... what POSSIBLE hand could he be betting the river with? After I have shown strength from the turn & river (as well as pre-flop), could he REALLY be confident betting the river with just the bare Qc? Possible, but unlikely. With no paired board, there is no full house possibility ... and he did just check-call 2 bets on the turn & lead the river ... end result: he MUST have either the straight flush or air ... and is looks like a really bad board to be betting air! Guess that was my Mike McDermott moment for the evening ... I didn't properly think through the hand at the time & it cost me a big pot. I managed to win much of what I had lost in that pot back by the end of the night, but still left slightly down for the evening. Oh well ... guess I'll think it through better next time!
Guess its something for the future ...
The other issues with online poker are two-fold ... I'm on a computer with the internet running ... this means that distractions are literally a mouse-click away ... whether it is Facebook, YouTube, ICC (chess), Settlers of Catan or something else, there's always the possibility of doing something else immediately ... I suppose this issue can be solved by discipline & making sure that when I'm playing poker, that is all I'm doing!
The other issue is that live poker is so much more profitable! Add in the fact that its something I'm far more comfortable with & it seems like a no-brainer! Why slave away in front of a computer for hours, only to come away say $30 to the good (and of course the money is 'online', with further hoops & hurdles to overcome before it becomes cash in hand), when you can go for a drive to the casino & do nothing special & almost definitely lock up a win of some kind, which is often in the $300+ mark.
This leads me into a big hand I played tonight at Crown int he $2/3NL game.
There was a limp from UTG+1, limp from the hijack & I raised in the cutoff to $12 with AcQd. The button, SB, BB & the two limpers all called to make it 6 to the flop. KcJc6s & it is checked through. I didn't feel the need to c-bet on this flop as I'm only going to get called by a hand that I'm behind & there are a lot of cards that could get me in trouble on the tun if I were to bet & inflate the pot with just ace-high.
Anyway, the turn is the Tc, so there is a flush possible, though I now have a broadway straight (with the re-draw to the nut straight). Of course at the time I didn't realise I had the Ac ... I just knew I had Aqo & had turned broadway. Anyway, it is checked to the hijack (an old guy who had been playing fairly snugly) who bet $15. I raised to $35 & was called by the SB (a regular in the 2/3 game who is a decent, solid player, but also capable of making a move from time to time). The old guy folds & we are heads-up to the river.
The river is the 2c, making the final board KcJc6sTc2c. The SB now leads out for $60! I tried to remain composed as I re-raised to $130. The SB thought for a little while and then moved all-in! I had about $275 behind & he had me covered! I considered my options ... I had the nut flush right? No paired board ... what could beat me? Qc9c? That was it. Could he have the straight flush? I actually said out load 'do you *really* have Q9 of clubs?' & after another 10 seconds thought said 'call' ... only to be shown the hand I feared ... Qc9c for a straight flush! Ouch!
With the value of hindsight, I should have been able to either a) just call the river (yes, a sick call, but a good one); or b) fold to the shove (and be really sick & fold the Ac face-up!). What makes me say this? Simply because we have played with each other before & I respect his game & he seemed to respect my game. With the Ac in my hand & the K, J & T of clubs on the board ... what POSSIBLE hand could he be betting the river with? After I have shown strength from the turn & river (as well as pre-flop), could he REALLY be confident betting the river with just the bare Qc? Possible, but unlikely. With no paired board, there is no full house possibility ... and he did just check-call 2 bets on the turn & lead the river ... end result: he MUST have either the straight flush or air ... and is looks like a really bad board to be betting air! Guess that was my Mike McDermott moment for the evening ... I didn't properly think through the hand at the time & it cost me a big pot. I managed to win much of what I had lost in that pot back by the end of the night, but still left slightly down for the evening. Oh well ... guess I'll think it through better next time!
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