I finished the Canterbury Summer Swiss with 5/7, which was =5th out of 68 players. The result was far better on paper than it was in regards to the actual chess. I was losing in four games (rounds 1, 4, 6 & 7) but managed to win round 1 & draw round 6 & 7 to make my score look far better than it actually was.
Christmas with the family was good & I'm now back in Sydney for New Years & the Australian Open chess. Hopefully the good chess results can continue ... obviously with improved quality of play!
The homegame went reasonably well, with 12 players turning up & playing at various times throughout the day & night, though it did end up being multiple single table tournaments, rather than the intended mix of tournament & cash games. Of course I still managed to run horribly, but managed to win one of the tournaments. The response from those who attended was positive, so I may begin hosting home games on a more regular basis.
Happy New Year to all the readers of the blog & listeners to the podcast! Hopefully things will continue to grow & improve in 2011!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Sydney & some updates ...
I'm in Sydney at the moment, spending some time with the family over Christmas. I'm sure I'll catch up with many of my Sydney friends while in town as well.
I've also got a few things happening over the next month ... two chess tournaments - one in Melbourne (the Canterbury Summer Swiss) & one in Sydney (the Australian Open) ... a poker homegame (let me know if you're interested in attending) ... as well as the Aussie Millions!
As far as the chess stuff goes, I would like to do some sort of blogging/podcast type thing around it. I suspect this may involve setting up another blog, though it might also end up here, but either way I'll let you know.
As for the 'you' ... there's been 8 downloads of the latest episode, which only went up about a week ago, so I suppose that means there's at least 8 people who read the blog & listen to the podcast (or perhaps fewer readers/listeners who have trouble downloading & need to download multiple times ... but I'll go with the optimistic numbers!) ... one would almost call it a following, although I think such terms should be reserved for times when you run out of fingers when counting.
As for the Deuces Cracked 50,000 hand challenge, I'm currently around 11,500 hands in and down about $40. I've been going in the right direction lately playing micro-NLHE, which has seen something of a recovery from my earlier efforts with Rush poker & limit holdem, where I ran horribly. At the moment, I think the leaders in the challenge are up around $300, so I'm not entirely out of the running yet, although the graph needs to keep heading in the right direction.
I'm sure I'll also be playing some poker while in Sydney & I'll let you know how it goes.
If I don't get around to updating beforehand ... have a great festive season!
I've also got a few things happening over the next month ... two chess tournaments - one in Melbourne (the Canterbury Summer Swiss) & one in Sydney (the Australian Open) ... a poker homegame (let me know if you're interested in attending) ... as well as the Aussie Millions!
As far as the chess stuff goes, I would like to do some sort of blogging/podcast type thing around it. I suspect this may involve setting up another blog, though it might also end up here, but either way I'll let you know.
As for the 'you' ... there's been 8 downloads of the latest episode, which only went up about a week ago, so I suppose that means there's at least 8 people who read the blog & listen to the podcast (or perhaps fewer readers/listeners who have trouble downloading & need to download multiple times ... but I'll go with the optimistic numbers!) ... one would almost call it a following, although I think such terms should be reserved for times when you run out of fingers when counting.
As for the Deuces Cracked 50,000 hand challenge, I'm currently around 11,500 hands in and down about $40. I've been going in the right direction lately playing micro-NLHE, which has seen something of a recovery from my earlier efforts with Rush poker & limit holdem, where I ran horribly. At the moment, I think the leaders in the challenge are up around $300, so I'm not entirely out of the running yet, although the graph needs to keep heading in the right direction.
I'm sure I'll also be playing some poker while in Sydney & I'll let you know how it goes.
If I don't get around to updating beforehand ... have a great festive season!
Friday, December 10, 2010
Episode 9 is here!
Finally, the long overdue episode is out!
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JZOS0KXI
The episode is full of news, covering the WSOP final table, the WSOPE, the Partouche Poker tour, as well as local events such as ANZPT Melbourne & Darwin, APPT Auckland & Sydney, the Sydney Championships & the Joe Hachem Deepstack Series. I also look at some play form the High Rollers event at the Victorian Championships & discuss a hand from the WSOP final table that will be talked about for a few years to come ...
Don't forget to send your feedback to thedonkcast@hotmail.com
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JZOS0KXI
The episode is full of news, covering the WSOP final table, the WSOPE, the Partouche Poker tour, as well as local events such as ANZPT Melbourne & Darwin, APPT Auckland & Sydney, the Sydney Championships & the Joe Hachem Deepstack Series. I also look at some play form the High Rollers event at the Victorian Championships & discuss a hand from the WSOP final table that will be talked about for a few years to come ...
Don't forget to send your feedback to thedonkcast@hotmail.com
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
The watch is here!!
It looks like Full Tilt deliver a lot quicker than they say they will!
I returned home from a brief trip to the shops today to find a package underneath my door mat. Inside was the Full Tilt watch I had ordered a few weeks ago. 6-8 weeks shipping ... not with Full Tilt!
Of course the watch will now be part of the things I wear pretty much where ever I go!
Now to work on actually turning a profit in this Deuces Cracked 50,000 hands challenge ... and finish recording a podcast!
I returned home from a brief trip to the shops today to find a package underneath my door mat. Inside was the Full Tilt watch I had ordered a few weeks ago. 6-8 weeks shipping ... not with Full Tilt!
Of course the watch will now be part of the things I wear pretty much where ever I go!
Now to work on actually turning a profit in this Deuces Cracked 50,000 hands challenge ... and finish recording a podcast!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
A tournament cash ... finally!
Yes, I've finally managed a cash in a live tournament ... my first for over three months!
By the same token, it was also very disappointing. The event in question was the 8 game at the latest joe Hachem Deep Stack Series at Crown. The disappointing part of it was that I was the chip leader going into the final table & stayed at or near the top of the chip count throughout the final table ... until it got down to three handed. Early in three handed play I continued to chip up & at one point I had over 300k in chips, compared with the 140k & 45k of my oppoents ... yes, I had a massive chip lead! I felt I was the best player remaining at the table & I felt I was playing well ... and yet I still managed to finish 3rd!
It all came apart in the triple draw & limit holdem rounds ... two big triple draw hands saw me make second-best hands & lose sizable pots ... and then another two limit holdem hands saw me go from big stack to short stack in about 15 hands! I eventually went out in the Omaha hi-lo round, after chopping a pot when I flopped a full house, only to have my oppoent catch running low cards to take the low ... and finally went out with a high-only hand QJJ8 against my opponent's A874 which made two pair with the A8 to scoop the pot & send me home.
In summary, it is good to finally get a live tournament cash after months of non-cashes ... but at the same time, its very disappointing to once again miss out on the trophy, particularly given the situation I was in when three-handed.
In other news, I've recorded a few segments for the next episode of the Donkcast, so expect to hear it soon!!
By the same token, it was also very disappointing. The event in question was the 8 game at the latest joe Hachem Deep Stack Series at Crown. The disappointing part of it was that I was the chip leader going into the final table & stayed at or near the top of the chip count throughout the final table ... until it got down to three handed. Early in three handed play I continued to chip up & at one point I had over 300k in chips, compared with the 140k & 45k of my oppoents ... yes, I had a massive chip lead! I felt I was the best player remaining at the table & I felt I was playing well ... and yet I still managed to finish 3rd!
It all came apart in the triple draw & limit holdem rounds ... two big triple draw hands saw me make second-best hands & lose sizable pots ... and then another two limit holdem hands saw me go from big stack to short stack in about 15 hands! I eventually went out in the Omaha hi-lo round, after chopping a pot when I flopped a full house, only to have my oppoent catch running low cards to take the low ... and finally went out with a high-only hand QJJ8 against my opponent's A874 which made two pair with the A8 to scoop the pot & send me home.
In summary, it is good to finally get a live tournament cash after months of non-cashes ... but at the same time, its very disappointing to once again miss out on the trophy, particularly given the situation I was in when three-handed.
In other news, I've recorded a few segments for the next episode of the Donkcast, so expect to hear it soon!!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Another Deuces Cracked Challenge
I've decided to get involved in another Deuces Cracked challenge ... this time a bankroll-building challenge to see who can turn $100 into the most after 50,000 hands. The challenge starts on December 1 & runs for three months (or 50,000 hands, whatever comes first). Part of the reason for getting involved in this is not only for the potential win (two coaches have offered a free coaching session to the winner), but also to see how long it takes to actually get through 50,000 hands. At the moment, while I have been playing some micro-limits to gain Full Tilt Academy points through challenges, I have played just over 25,000 hands on Full Tilt since September ... which means I need to be playing more to fulfill the 50,000 hand requirement.
Also coming into consideration in this challenge are the issues of bankroll management & game selection. The main issues being how aggressively to use (or ignore) bankroll management ... and what games to play.
Issues to ponder:
What level & game should I be starting at?
* 2NL
* 5NL rush (there is no 2NL for rush)
* 5NL
* 10/20c L
* 25/50c L
How many tables should I be playing simultaneously?
* 1
* 2
* 4
* 6
* 8
* As many as possible
At what point should I move up in limits?
* 20 buy-ins (NL)
* 30 buy-ins (NL)
* 40 buy-ins (NL)
* ?? buy-ins (NL)
* 200 BB (L)
* 300 BB (L)
* 500 BB (L)
Will the progress of others (assuming others post their progress) affect how I play in terms of game choice & limits?
I'm sure there's a few rather obvious questions I'm missing at the moment ...
At present, the thought is to start at 2NL & move up when I have 30 buy-ins, although that might change ...
In other happenings, I've completed enough of the FTPA challenges to get over the 5000 point mark, have converted these points into Full Tilt points & have put in an order for the watch I have been mentioning on the blog ... apparently it takes 6-8 weeks for delivery, so I suspect it might become a late Christmas gift, but I'll see what happens.
I also plan to get a new (now long overdue) episode of the Donkcast out in the next few days ... but with so much to try to catch up on, it might almost become a news-only episode!
Also coming into consideration in this challenge are the issues of bankroll management & game selection. The main issues being how aggressively to use (or ignore) bankroll management ... and what games to play.
Issues to ponder:
What level & game should I be starting at?
* 2NL
* 5NL rush (there is no 2NL for rush)
* 5NL
* 10/20c L
* 25/50c L
How many tables should I be playing simultaneously?
* 1
* 2
* 4
* 6
* 8
* As many as possible
At what point should I move up in limits?
* 20 buy-ins (NL)
* 30 buy-ins (NL)
* 40 buy-ins (NL)
* ?? buy-ins (NL)
* 200 BB (L)
* 300 BB (L)
* 500 BB (L)
Will the progress of others (assuming others post their progress) affect how I play in terms of game choice & limits?
I'm sure there's a few rather obvious questions I'm missing at the moment ...
At present, the thought is to start at 2NL & move up when I have 30 buy-ins, although that might change ...
In other happenings, I've completed enough of the FTPA challenges to get over the 5000 point mark, have converted these points into Full Tilt points & have put in an order for the watch I have been mentioning on the blog ... apparently it takes 6-8 weeks for delivery, so I suspect it might become a late Christmas gift, but I'll see what happens.
I also plan to get a new (now long overdue) episode of the Donkcast out in the next few days ... but with so much to try to catch up on, it might almost become a news-only episode!
Sunday, November 21, 2010
The Watch ... the Academy ...
I've gone for a change of direction with the Full Tilt watch mentioned a few posts ago. Yes, the plan is to still get it from the FTP shop, not only because I need a new watch (my current one is somewhat ordinary, plus the hands have stopped [in spite of the digital display still working, so it still works as a watch] & I'm kind of lazy in regards to repairs & maintenance), but because a Full Tilt watch says so much more about yourself than a site store purchase of the t-shirt/cap variety.
With this in mind, I've made use of the Full Tilt Academy to build up points. When you reach 5000 Academy points, these can be exchanced for 5000 Full Tilt points ... which in turn can be used to purchase the watch. Earning points in the academy is reasonably straightforward, as you simply have to complete challenges at the tables.
For example, the requirements for Bill Edler's 'Power of Position' challenge are as follows:
* Open-fold A-J, A-T, A-9, K-Q, K-J, or K-T 3 times in early position (UTG, UTG+1) in 8- or 9-handed NLHE cash games.
* Raise with A-Q, A-J, A-T, A-9, K-Q, K-J, or K-T 3 times in late position (button, cutoff) in 8- or 9-handed NLHE cash games.
* Win a pot with a continuation bet on the flop with no pair in an 8- or 9-handed NLHE cash game, after open-raising from late position (button or cutoff) pre-flop.
* Successfully bluff on the turn with no pair after calling a bet in position on the flop.
* Win 3 consecutive pots from the button.
You get points for completing each task (the points per task increases as you complete the tasks), with the entire challenge being worth 250 points.
As you can see from the example, the challenges are about getting players to play 'correct' (whatever that means) poker, with many of the tasks requiring things that you would (or should) be doing in many cases in the course of your normal cash game play. Yes, the academy does cop some flack for some of the tasks & suggestions (such as Mike Matusow's 'Setup Plays' challenge, where he requires limp-folding as part of the challenge), but on the whole its a decent idea from Full Tilt ... and doubles as a pretty easy way to gain points for various poker-related items.
As a result I've been multi-tabling micro stakes quite a bit lately & have racked up just over 4000 points in the academy, so hopefully the 5000 mark (and the watch) is not too far away.
On the related Full Tilt points goal, I'm now close to the 6000FTP mark ... which will put me well over the required points for the watch when I add in the 5000 from the academy!
Time to get my BLING on!
With this in mind, I've made use of the Full Tilt Academy to build up points. When you reach 5000 Academy points, these can be exchanced for 5000 Full Tilt points ... which in turn can be used to purchase the watch. Earning points in the academy is reasonably straightforward, as you simply have to complete challenges at the tables.
For example, the requirements for Bill Edler's 'Power of Position' challenge are as follows:
* Open-fold A-J, A-T, A-9, K-Q, K-J, or K-T 3 times in early position (UTG, UTG+1) in 8- or 9-handed NLHE cash games.
* Raise with A-Q, A-J, A-T, A-9, K-Q, K-J, or K-T 3 times in late position (button, cutoff) in 8- or 9-handed NLHE cash games.
* Win a pot with a continuation bet on the flop with no pair in an 8- or 9-handed NLHE cash game, after open-raising from late position (button or cutoff) pre-flop.
* Successfully bluff on the turn with no pair after calling a bet in position on the flop.
* Win 3 consecutive pots from the button.
You get points for completing each task (the points per task increases as you complete the tasks), with the entire challenge being worth 250 points.
As you can see from the example, the challenges are about getting players to play 'correct' (whatever that means) poker, with many of the tasks requiring things that you would (or should) be doing in many cases in the course of your normal cash game play. Yes, the academy does cop some flack for some of the tasks & suggestions (such as Mike Matusow's 'Setup Plays' challenge, where he requires limp-folding as part of the challenge), but on the whole its a decent idea from Full Tilt ... and doubles as a pretty easy way to gain points for various poker-related items.
As a result I've been multi-tabling micro stakes quite a bit lately & have racked up just over 4000 points in the academy, so hopefully the 5000 mark (and the watch) is not too far away.
On the related Full Tilt points goal, I'm now close to the 6000FTP mark ... which will put me well over the required points for the watch when I add in the 5000 from the academy!
Time to get my BLING on!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
My Deuces Cracked Report Card!
Deuces Cracked are currently running a series on mixed games, called Report Card, where member-submitted videos are reviewed by a range of DC experts in the various games. My video is the latest to be reviewed by the DC team!
You can watch the start of the video (DC have 2 minute previews of all their videos for non-members) here, though I do recommend signing up to become a member as there is a heap of great poker content on the site.
If there is enough demand (ie: comments on this post) I'll see if I can arrange alternative means of viewing the video.
As for my overall results from the video, Dan 'DJSensei' Morris graded me as follows:
Triple Draw D
Limit Holdem B-
Limit Omaha hi-lo C+
Razz A-
Seven Card Stud C
Seven Card Stud hi-lo C
Of course I submitted the video around two months ago, so I feel as if I have improved in some of the areas mentioned, as well as the fact that a one hour video is a really small sample size to get a full picture of how someone plays (its barely enough time to get through more than one rotation of all the games).
The people reviewing the various games (with links to their DC profile/coaching pages) are:
Joe Tall covering the three stud games (he also has an interesting blog)
Danzasmack covering the limit flop games (yes, the same danzasmack who was my first podcast guest)
Soepgroente covering the big bet games & triple draw
DJSensei doing the hosting & final grading.
You can watch the start of the video (DC have 2 minute previews of all their videos for non-members) here, though I do recommend signing up to become a member as there is a heap of great poker content on the site.
If there is enough demand (ie: comments on this post) I'll see if I can arrange alternative means of viewing the video.
As for my overall results from the video, Dan 'DJSensei' Morris graded me as follows:
Triple Draw D
Limit Holdem B-
Limit Omaha hi-lo C+
Razz A-
Seven Card Stud C
Seven Card Stud hi-lo C
No Limit Holdem B+
Pot Limit Omaha C+
Overall GPA 2.41 (yes, they're Americans ... that's how they do things)
So far I've only watched the video through once, so I'm sure I'll pick up a lot more as I re-watch it. However, for the moment the main issues were as follows:
I need to work on my triple draw (which I am)
Don't get involved in limped stud hands when you are the bring-in unless you make a really big hand
Bet bigger in PLO (they seem to be a fan of the 'bet the maximum' approach, which has its advantages, particularly in a mixed game with both limit & big bet games)
Be more aware of position (and related to that, relative hand strength) when playing hands
Of course I submitted the video around two months ago, so I feel as if I have improved in some of the areas mentioned, as well as the fact that a one hour video is a really small sample size to get a full picture of how someone plays (its barely enough time to get through more than one rotation of all the games).
The people reviewing the various games (with links to their DC profile/coaching pages) are:
Joe Tall covering the three stud games (he also has an interesting blog)
Danzasmack covering the limit flop games (yes, the same danzasmack who was my first podcast guest)
Soepgroente covering the big bet games & triple draw
DJSensei doing the hosting & final grading.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Mixed games on Full Tilt!
The latest software update on Full Tilt Poker has introduced a range of draw poker games. The reason that it is of interest is that it is the first time draw poker has been offered at Full Tilt. Previously if you were after draw poker, you had to play at PokerStars (and possibly some other smaller sites). Anyway, given that it is something new, people tend to try it out without knowing much about the various games that are played (the same thing happened in the first few weeks of Rush Poker at Full Tilt) ... and as a result the games are good. Of course it also tends to increase the variance as a result, but if you run good, there's money to be made!
My favourite at the moment is the 10-game mix, which includes the usual games in standard 8-game mixes (limit Holdem, limit Omaha hi-lo, limit Razz, limit Stud, limit Stud hi-lo, limit 2-7 triple draw, no limit Holdem & pot limit Omaha) as well as Badugi & no limit 2-7 single draw. So many players are horrible & will call with almost anything, so you can generally maximise your value for your strong hands ... the dilemma is in saving bets when you don't have the best of it.
I'm sure I'll find out more in the coming days and weeks ... and I have less than 3500 points left for the watch!
My favourite at the moment is the 10-game mix, which includes the usual games in standard 8-game mixes (limit Holdem, limit Omaha hi-lo, limit Razz, limit Stud, limit Stud hi-lo, limit 2-7 triple draw, no limit Holdem & pot limit Omaha) as well as Badugi & no limit 2-7 single draw. So many players are horrible & will call with almost anything, so you can generally maximise your value for your strong hands ... the dilemma is in saving bets when you don't have the best of it.
I'm sure I'll find out more in the coming days and weeks ... and I have less than 3500 points left for the watch!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Back in Melbourne ... back to the grind!
I'm back from the Sydney trip. Good to be home & sleeping in my own bed!
The Sydney trip was good for the most part. The Deuces Cracked meetup was great. It was good to catch up with my chess firends that I hadn't seen for a while. The poker, particularly at the casino, could have been better. I like the deeper stacks (you can now buy in to a $1/2 table up to $200), although deep stacks mean little when you continue to run bad ... such as an all-in pre-flop with KK v JJ for roughly $160 where my opponent did the usual & flopped a J & I couldn't catch up.
It was also good to catch up with the family ... my brother seems to be going OK with his studies & my parents are sti
ll doing fine.
ll doing fine. Now that I'm back in Melbourne, its back to the grind. I'm hoping to do some casual teaching to give me something of a regular income ... and of course hoping to turn the current poker run bad around! The next step for me as far as online poker goes is to not only continue to build my bankroll (I've gone off the idea of the self-challenge from a few posts back) playing limit & no limit holdem & mixed games, with the occasional tourney ... but also to build up my Full Till points so that I can have a watch (as seen on the left) shipped to my home.
Will see how it goes ...
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Sydney Deuces Cracked Meet
I ventured up to Sydney for a week (where I'm typing this post from) for, amongst other things, a Sydney meetup of Deuces Cracked members. There were a total of 6 of us who were on the felt at the Jade Tavern for an evening of 25/50c NLHE (which moved to Star City later on). Big thanks to Aus_dragon (Nathan) for organising it & good to meet Shuttle, Stanmore, Pink_dragon & PokerGnome Alicia (a semi-private joke for those that are wondering). The DC game ended in a small profit for myself, though the 'highlight' hand was one near the end of the night between Shuttle & PokerGnome. PokerGnome raised to $1.50 (or thereabouts - my memory is not precise with the following figures) UTG, Shuttle made it $4.25 on the button & PokerGnome shoved for his remaining $25. While Shuttle was thinking about what to do, PokerGnome offered to show one card & showed a queen ... which lead Shuttle to instanly say 'I call' & turn over K7o! Of course the king arrived on the flop, with a 7 on the river for the final kick in the nuts for PokerGnome.
Personally I found the game to be good, however I was more comfortable in it knowing that there were no spastic maniacs at the table, as seems to be so common elsewhere (although there were times when Shuttle & PokerGnome came close to such descriptions) ... and as a result I felt I played reasonably well for the most part.
Of course when I went to Star City, the crazy fish (and my poor timing) left me with a small loss for the evening. A sample of my poor timing included 4-betting a short stack with AK, picking up a caller with 88 & checking it down post-flop to see the short stack with JJ to triple up; a mate of mine who was short & open-shoved his last 10bbs where I had 99 & decided to call (yes, bad decision which only occured to me AFTER I had put the chips in the middle) where he had JJ & held ... and just a general lack of premium hands and spots to get chips easily (live players dislike folding, which makes bluffing somewhat difficult to do).
Personally I found the game to be good, however I was more comfortable in it knowing that there were no spastic maniacs at the table, as seems to be so common elsewhere (although there were times when Shuttle & PokerGnome came close to such descriptions) ... and as a result I felt I played reasonably well for the most part.
Of course when I went to Star City, the crazy fish (and my poor timing) left me with a small loss for the evening. A sample of my poor timing included 4-betting a short stack with AK, picking up a caller with 88 & checking it down post-flop to see the short stack with JJ to triple up; a mate of mine who was short & open-shoved his last 10bbs where I had 99 & decided to call (yes, bad decision which only occured to me AFTER I had put the chips in the middle) where he had JJ & held ... and just a general lack of premium hands and spots to get chips easily (live players dislike folding, which makes bluffing somewhat difficult to do).
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Another tourney, another story to tell ...
Played the Deepstack event at the ANZPT Melbourne & it was my usual tale of woe. Got off to a decent start at a very passive table, chipping up early by making use of position & the passivity of the other players. If folded or limped to me in late position, it was almost an invitation to raise, with almost no 3-bets pre-flop. Of course post-flop, it was invariably checked to the pre-flop raiser, so I simply put in the c-bet & took down the pot a vast majority of the time. If I was called on the flop, I either had to make a hand, or simply give up on the pot, but this happened rarely. Of course this lack of 3-betting was the beginning of the end for me ... I made my standard opening raise of 550 (levels 100/200/25), only to be re-raised to 1650 by the player two to my left. This was then called by the button before it got back to me! I re-raised to 5000 (I started the hand with about 13k) & noticed that the lady who re-raised me had around 6k total. She decided to shove after some thought & the other player got out of the way ... and my AA was up against AKs. Of course there was a king on the flop & a king on the river ... so a decent chunk of my stack went elsewhere.
I managed to lose a few more chips (some raises that met resistance, as well as an ill-timed flop check-raise) before finally getting my last 3500 in with 88 against KJo & lost the slightly more even coinflip ... and the walk of shame.
This put my live tournament streak at something like 0/18 for tournaments after my cash in the Thursday tournament around two months ago ... and as usual I got my money in good the vast majority of the time! Tournaments are so much fun!
When, oh when, will I run good???
I managed to lose a few more chips (some raises that met resistance, as well as an ill-timed flop check-raise) before finally getting my last 3500 in with 88 against KJo & lost the slightly more even coinflip ... and the walk of shame.
This put my live tournament streak at something like 0/18 for tournaments after my cash in the Thursday tournament around two months ago ... and as usual I got my money in good the vast majority of the time! Tournaments are so much fun!
When, oh when, will I run good???
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
ANZPT 8 Game
In short, I simply didn't make hands!
I think during the whole tournament I managed to win one showdown (a 2-7 hand where I was all-in against 2 others) & split one pot (heads-up in Stud 8 where my opponent was all-in on 6th & the hand was already a chop).
I managed to stay afloat by picking up blinds & antes from time to time, however these hands rarely made it to the big bet rounds, so there was a limit to my gains.
While this was happening, I also managed to get involved in hands (marginal at best, but I simply did not have any big hands other than the Stud 8 hand that was chopped) where I simply missed draws & occasionally managed to make second best hands.
Of course in all of this, I still managed to outlast three others on the table (one cooler hand, one guy who was very active and seemingly looking to give his chips away who ran into a PLO beat & one other player who appeared to have a run similar to mine and just didn't make hands and kept missing draws) & finished around 30th out of the 40 starters.
The event itself turned into a triumph for the 'old guard', with the event being won by Leo Boxell ahead of David Gorr & Graeme Putt.
I think during the whole tournament I managed to win one showdown (a 2-7 hand where I was all-in against 2 others) & split one pot (heads-up in Stud 8 where my opponent was all-in on 6th & the hand was already a chop).
I managed to stay afloat by picking up blinds & antes from time to time, however these hands rarely made it to the big bet rounds, so there was a limit to my gains.
While this was happening, I also managed to get involved in hands (marginal at best, but I simply did not have any big hands other than the Stud 8 hand that was chopped) where I simply missed draws & occasionally managed to make second best hands.
Of course in all of this, I still managed to outlast three others on the table (one cooler hand, one guy who was very active and seemingly looking to give his chips away who ran into a PLO beat & one other player who appeared to have a run similar to mine and just didn't make hands and kept missing draws) & finished around 30th out of the 40 starters.
The event itself turned into a triumph for the 'old guard', with the event being won by Leo Boxell ahead of David Gorr & Graeme Putt.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Mini Challenge ... slow start
First decent session ... and I've already broken some of the rules. At some stages I had as many as 6 tables running at a time & with a $10 buy-in on each table it meant that I had gone over the theoretical $40 bankroll I had for this challenge ... but its more about the principle than anything.
Of course it didn't help that I ran horribly! End of session total ... -$22! Eeek!
Some highlights (excuse the sarcasm & the multiple hand history descriptions):
Raising AA UTG+1 & getting called by the cutoff & BB.
Flop 248 I bet & cutoff calls.
Turn 5 (3 spades - I have the As) I bet & cutoff calls.
River 6 (3 spades, 2 diamonds) I bet, cutoff raises & I call.
Cutoff shows A3o for turned wheel.
New player Posts in cutoff & I raise QJs in the hijack. Cutoff 3-bets & I call.
Flop Q32 rainbow. I check-call.
Turn 4, river 8. I check-call both streets.
Cutoff shows AA.
I raise UTG+1 with AKo & called by both blinds.
Flop K94 all spades. BB bets, I raise & both call.
Turn 2s & it is checked through.
River is Kd. BB bets. Both I & SB call.
BB has AsQd SB has 7s7c & my AcKh is coming last. Any other river card (with the possible exception of a river A) & I simply fold the river ... but no, the card that makes me call & lose is right there!
I raise KJo from hijack & BB 3-bets. I call.
Board runs out J5436 & I call every street.
BB shows JJ for top set!
I raise KQo in MP & get calls from cutoff, button & BB.
Flop Q87. I bet, button calls, BB calls.
Turn 9. I bet, button calls, BB raises, I call, button calls.
River K. BB bets, I raise, BB 3-bets, I call.
BB shows QQ for flopped top set! No raise pre-flop or on the flop (flush draw on flop) & not only does his hand hold up, but he finds a river that gets me to raise!
I raise A7s in the cutoff & called by BB.
Flop 732. BB bets, I raise, BB 3-bets & I call.
Turn 8. BB bets, I call.
River 3. BB checks, I check.
BB shows 33 for quads! Somehow BB was hoping for a check-raise on the river, but I'm almost definitely going to call a bet on the river as it changes very little about the hand. If my 7 was good on the turn, then its most likely still good on the river (and vice-versa obviously).
UTG+1 & UTG+2 limp, SB calls & I check A4o in BB.
Flop A84. I bet. UTG+2 & SB call.
Turn 5. I bet UTG+2 calls.
River 8. I bet. UTG+2 calls.
UTG+2 has 67o for a turned straight!
I raise UTG+2 & BB calls.
Flop 469. BB bets, I raise, BB calls.
Turn 7. BB bets. I call.
River A. BB bets, I call.
BB shows AQo for rivered top pair!
Cutoff raises. I call on button with KQo & BB calls.
Flop KJT. Cutoff bets. I raise. Cutoff 3-bets & I call.
Turn 9. Cutoff bets, I raise, Cutoff 3-bets & I call.
River 6. Cutoff bets, I call.
Cutoff shows AQo for flopped broadway!
I raise AQo UTG. Called by button & BB.
Flop QTT. I bet, button calls.
Turn 6. I bet, button calls.
River 9. I bet, button raises & I call.
Button shows 99 for rivered full house!
Cutoff raises, button calls, I 3-bet from SB with KK, BB calls, cutoff calls & button calls.
Flop T32. I bet, BB calls, cutoff calls, button calls.
Turn 4. I bet, cutoff calls, button raises, I 3-bet & button calls.
River 9. I bet, button raises, I call.
Button shows 24s for turned 2 pair.
UTG & UTG+1 limp. I raise KK from SB. BB 3-bets, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, I cap & everyone calls.
Flop 322. I bet, all call
Turn J. I bet, BB calls.
River A. I bet. BB calls.
BB shows AQo for rivered top pair.
I raise AJs in MP. cutoff, button & BB call.
Flop AQ6. I bet & all call.
Turn 7. I bet & button calls.
River Q. I bet (all-in - yes, it was that bad) & button calls.
Button shows KQo for rivered trips.
I raise UTG+1 with AQo & get called by MP, hijack, SB & BB.
Flop QQ8. I bet, MP calls, hijack raises, BB calls, I 3-bet, MP calls, hijack calls & BB calls.
Turn K (3 spades on board). I bet, MP calls, hijack raises, BB calls, I call, hijack calls.
River K. BB bets. I call, hijack raises, BB calls & I call.
BB shows Q8o for flopped full house.
hijack shows KK for turned full house & rivered quads.
I muck ... behind all the way & drawing dead from the turn! Yes, a good old $12 pot at 25/50c!
Of course I did actually win some hands in the sessions ... but still ... not the start I was looking for in the challenge.
May the weekend grinding while watching the footy grand finals prove to be more fruitful!
Of course I'm going for the Roosters in the NRL & the Saints in the AFL by the way!
Of course it didn't help that I ran horribly! End of session total ... -$22! Eeek!
Some highlights (excuse the sarcasm & the multiple hand history descriptions):
Raising AA UTG+1 & getting called by the cutoff & BB.
Flop 248 I bet & cutoff calls.
Turn 5 (3 spades - I have the As) I bet & cutoff calls.
River 6 (3 spades, 2 diamonds) I bet, cutoff raises & I call.
Cutoff shows A3o for turned wheel.
New player Posts in cutoff & I raise QJs in the hijack. Cutoff 3-bets & I call.
Flop Q32 rainbow. I check-call.
Turn 4, river 8. I check-call both streets.
Cutoff shows AA.
I raise UTG+1 with AKo & called by both blinds.
Flop K94 all spades. BB bets, I raise & both call.
Turn 2s & it is checked through.
River is Kd. BB bets. Both I & SB call.
BB has AsQd SB has 7s7c & my AcKh is coming last. Any other river card (with the possible exception of a river A) & I simply fold the river ... but no, the card that makes me call & lose is right there!
I raise KJo from hijack & BB 3-bets. I call.
Board runs out J5436 & I call every street.
BB shows JJ for top set!
I raise KQo in MP & get calls from cutoff, button & BB.
Flop Q87. I bet, button calls, BB calls.
Turn 9. I bet, button calls, BB raises, I call, button calls.
River K. BB bets, I raise, BB 3-bets, I call.
BB shows QQ for flopped top set! No raise pre-flop or on the flop (flush draw on flop) & not only does his hand hold up, but he finds a river that gets me to raise!
I raise A7s in the cutoff & called by BB.
Flop 732. BB bets, I raise, BB 3-bets & I call.
Turn 8. BB bets, I call.
River 3. BB checks, I check.
BB shows 33 for quads! Somehow BB was hoping for a check-raise on the river, but I'm almost definitely going to call a bet on the river as it changes very little about the hand. If my 7 was good on the turn, then its most likely still good on the river (and vice-versa obviously).
UTG+1 & UTG+2 limp, SB calls & I check A4o in BB.
Flop A84. I bet. UTG+2 & SB call.
Turn 5. I bet UTG+2 calls.
River 8. I bet. UTG+2 calls.
UTG+2 has 67o for a turned straight!
I raise UTG+2 & BB calls.
Flop 469. BB bets, I raise, BB calls.
Turn 7. BB bets. I call.
River A. BB bets, I call.
BB shows AQo for rivered top pair!
Cutoff raises. I call on button with KQo & BB calls.
Flop KJT. Cutoff bets. I raise. Cutoff 3-bets & I call.
Turn 9. Cutoff bets, I raise, Cutoff 3-bets & I call.
River 6. Cutoff bets, I call.
Cutoff shows AQo for flopped broadway!
I raise AQo UTG. Called by button & BB.
Flop QTT. I bet, button calls.
Turn 6. I bet, button calls.
River 9. I bet, button raises & I call.
Button shows 99 for rivered full house!
Cutoff raises, button calls, I 3-bet from SB with KK, BB calls, cutoff calls & button calls.
Flop T32. I bet, BB calls, cutoff calls, button calls.
Turn 4. I bet, cutoff calls, button raises, I 3-bet & button calls.
River 9. I bet, button raises, I call.
Button shows 24s for turned 2 pair.
UTG & UTG+1 limp. I raise KK from SB. BB 3-bets, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, I cap & everyone calls.
Flop 322. I bet, all call
Turn J. I bet, BB calls.
River A. I bet. BB calls.
BB shows AQo for rivered top pair.
I raise AJs in MP. cutoff, button & BB call.
Flop AQ6. I bet & all call.
Turn 7. I bet & button calls.
River Q. I bet (all-in - yes, it was that bad) & button calls.
Button shows KQo for rivered trips.
I raise UTG+1 with AQo & get called by MP, hijack, SB & BB.
Flop QQ8. I bet, MP calls, hijack raises, BB calls, I 3-bet, MP calls, hijack calls & BB calls.
Turn K (3 spades on board). I bet, MP calls, hijack raises, BB calls, I call, hijack calls.
River K. BB bets. I call, hijack raises, BB calls & I call.
BB shows Q8o for flopped full house.
hijack shows KK for turned full house & rivered quads.
I muck ... behind all the way & drawing dead from the turn! Yes, a good old $12 pot at 25/50c!
Of course I did actually win some hands in the sessions ... but still ... not the start I was looking for in the challenge.
May the weekend grinding while watching the footy grand finals prove to be more fruitful!
Of course I'm going for the Roosters in the NRL & the Saints in the AFL by the way!
Mini Online Challenge
After reading Joe Tall's blog where he talks about how he got started in poker, I've decided to give myself a challenge along somewhat similar lines.
The challenge is as follows:
Site of choice: Full Tilt Poker
Starting challenge 'bankroll': $40 (conveniently my current Cashier balance ends in $40.65)
The plan: Play 2-4 tables of 25/50c LHE until 'bankroll' is over $100
Move to 2-4 tables of 50c/$1 until 'bankroll' is over $200
Move to 2-4 tables of $1/2 until 'bankroll' is over $400
If things go belly-up, I'll have up to three more cracks at it. There's also the drop down if things are going badly (but before they reach 'busto').
Hopefully I'll get there.
I'll be interested to see how long it takes, both in terms of number of hands & actual hours at the tables.
If successful, it should be the 'kick start' I need in order to take online poker more seriously!
Wish me luck!
The challenge is as follows:
Site of choice: Full Tilt Poker
Starting challenge 'bankroll': $40 (conveniently my current Cashier balance ends in $40.65)
The plan: Play 2-4 tables of 25/50c LHE until 'bankroll' is over $100
Move to 2-4 tables of 50c/$1 until 'bankroll' is over $200
Move to 2-4 tables of $1/2 until 'bankroll' is over $400
If things go belly-up, I'll have up to three more cracks at it. There's also the drop down if things are going badly (but before they reach 'busto').
Hopefully I'll get there.
I'll be interested to see how long it takes, both in terms of number of hands & actual hours at the tables.
If successful, it should be the 'kick start' I need in order to take online poker more seriously!
Wish me luck!
Another chess post
Yes, I know its primarily a poker blog, but I thought I'd put up some recent chess news.
1. I played another tournament game ... and lost. This was another game in the Victorian teams Championship, against the City of Yarra team.
Thankfully the rest of the team compensated for my loss, with one win & two draws, to finish with a tied match (2-2).
2. The Chess Olympiad is well and truly underway. Australia is just above the middle in both the open & womens sections, which is about where they are expected to be. Hopefully they can have good finishes & move up the standings.
One of the craziest (and most interesting) games of the Olympiad occurred in the round 7 clash between Ukraine & Georgia, with Vassily Ivanchuk winning in spectacular, though somewhat unusual sytle. The game, with analysis, can be seen at Chessbase.
The best Australian game so far has been Zong-Yuan Zhao's win against Moldova's Viktor Bologan, which can be viewed at the official Olympiad site.
The best 'frontline' reading that I have done has come from Australia's board 2 David Smerdon, who has been writing about his chess adventures on his blog. Also worth a look is Shaun Press' blog.
For a more lighthearted look at the Olympiad (and the world of chess generally), take a look at the Closet Grandmaster's blog.
3. I have recently started playing in an online chess tournament, somewhat ironically organised by posters at the 2+2 poker forums. All the games are being played on FICS. So far my best win has been a typical Blackmar-Diemer gambit destruction, which can be seen here (no idea who added the comments, but some of the lines given seem a bit dubious). Of course as someone who is looking to improve their poker game, 2+2 is an excellent place to do this, however the fact that I am spending most of my time of late in the chess forum there is not quite helping the cause as it should be.
Anyway, best of luck to the Aussies in the Olympiad ... and back to the poker for me!
1. I played another tournament game ... and lost. This was another game in the Victorian teams Championship, against the City of Yarra team.
Thankfully the rest of the team compensated for my loss, with one win & two draws, to finish with a tied match (2-2).
2. The Chess Olympiad is well and truly underway. Australia is just above the middle in both the open & womens sections, which is about where they are expected to be. Hopefully they can have good finishes & move up the standings.
One of the craziest (and most interesting) games of the Olympiad occurred in the round 7 clash between Ukraine & Georgia, with Vassily Ivanchuk winning in spectacular, though somewhat unusual sytle. The game, with analysis, can be seen at Chessbase.
The best Australian game so far has been Zong-Yuan Zhao's win against Moldova's Viktor Bologan, which can be viewed at the official Olympiad site.
The best 'frontline' reading that I have done has come from Australia's board 2 David Smerdon, who has been writing about his chess adventures on his blog. Also worth a look is Shaun Press' blog.
For a more lighthearted look at the Olympiad (and the world of chess generally), take a look at the Closet Grandmaster's blog.
3. I have recently started playing in an online chess tournament, somewhat ironically organised by posters at the 2+2 poker forums. All the games are being played on FICS. So far my best win has been a typical Blackmar-Diemer gambit destruction, which can be seen here (no idea who added the comments, but some of the lines given seem a bit dubious). Of course as someone who is looking to improve their poker game, 2+2 is an excellent place to do this, however the fact that I am spending most of my time of late in the chess forum there is not quite helping the cause as it should be.
Anyway, best of luck to the Aussies in the Olympiad ... and back to the poker for me!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Turning the wheel ...
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??
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??
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!
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Chess ... the rusty comeback!
So I played a game of chess for the first time in a long time (roughly three months). Although it might not seem like a long time to play OTB (over the board for the non-chess readers), if it is compared to my days in Sydney when I was a uni student, one game in three months was unheard of. Back then I would play one or two nights during the week, as well as any weekend tournament within driving distance, which was normally once a fortnight, if not more often.
Since moving to Melbourne around 5 years ago, my chess has decreased considerably, for a variety of reasons. Of late, its because I don't have the interest I once had, combined with the fact that the nearest chess club is over 30 minutes away. I still keep an interest in the game & still have many people who I keep in touch with who I got to know through chess, but on the whole its a stage in my life that is almost past.
Anyway, to the game itself. I was playing board three for Elwood (four players per team) against Justin Tan for Canterbury Juniors (all the players in the team were under 18). To those unfamiliar with chess, this may seem like something of a mismatch, however the ratings of the various players were not that far apart (combined with the fact that as improving juniors, their 'current' rating tends to be more reflective of their standard 3-9 months previously). Regardless, I was the theoretical favourite, with a slightly higher rating (1966 v 1891), though having the black pieces somewhat negated this supposed edge.
The game itself started off fairly routinely, with my Gurgenidze defence giving me a position I was both familiar and comfortable with. Around move 10 things began to heat up & I took the commital step of playing Qb6, allowing my king to be 'trapped' in the centre (losing castling rights), however I thought it was my best option to get some activity in the position. This lead white to make the decision to sacrifice a piece to launch an attack on the king (17.Nxd5+). I simply took the piece, hoping to be able to successfully defend against the onslaught & win the ending. All good in theory ... and in practice as well ... until I blundered horribly with 32... Rad8. Amazingly I spent over 3 minutes on this move & still found a horrendous blunder! Pretty much any other reasonable move in the position (something like 32...Qxc4) let me keep my advantage, though it did still leave me with some work to do to convert the point. Of course it went downhill reasonably quickly from there, however the (almost) final position with the queen & pawn ending is not as simple as it might first look. There is no obvious winning plan for white (black simply keeps the h-pawn blockaded & looks for a perpetual check if either the king comes towards the centre or the queen tries to support the h-pawn), however I found a way to lose, managing to blunder into checkmate at the end when short of time.
Here is the full game ... feel free to comment:
White: Justin Tan (1891) Black: Kerry Stead (1966)
1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c6 4. f4 d5 5. e5 h5 6. Nf3 Bg4 7. Bd3 e6 8. Be3 Ne7 9. Bf2 Nd7 10. Bh4 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Qb6 12. Bxe7 Kxe7 13. 0-0-0 c5 14. f5 Bh6+ 15. Kb1 gxf5 16. Bxf5 cxd4 17. Nxd5+ exd5 18. Bxd7 Kxd7 19. Qxf7+ Kc8 20. e6 Qc6 21. Qf6 Kc7 22. Qe7+ Kb6 23. Rxd4 a5 24. c4 Rhe8 25. Qa3 Qxe6 26. Rxd5 Bf8 27. Rb5+ Kc7 28. Qc3 Qe4+ 29. Ka1 Bb4 30. Qg3+ Kc6 31. a3 Bc5 32. Rd1 Rad8 33. Rxd8 Rxd8 34. Rxc5+ Kxc5 35. Qc7+ Kd4 36. Qxd8+ Kxc4 37. Qxa5 Qxg2 38. Qxh5 Qg1+ 39. Ka2 Qg8 40. Qd1 Kc5+ 41. Qb3 Qh7 42. Qb4+ Kc6 43. h4 Qh5 44. Qe4+ Kb6 45. Qb4+ Ka6 46. Qc4+ Kb6 47. Qd4+ Ka6 48. Qf6+ b6 49. Qf1+ Kb7 50. Qc4 Qf3 51. a4 Qh5 52. Qe4+ Ka6 53. Qa8# 1-0
Overall the match finished tied 2-2, with boards 1 & 2 drawing (Cheng-Goldenberg & Sandler-Matheson) & board 4 was a win for the 'good guys' (Lindberg-Chan).
Since moving to Melbourne around 5 years ago, my chess has decreased considerably, for a variety of reasons. Of late, its because I don't have the interest I once had, combined with the fact that the nearest chess club is over 30 minutes away. I still keep an interest in the game & still have many people who I keep in touch with who I got to know through chess, but on the whole its a stage in my life that is almost past.
Anyway, to the game itself. I was playing board three for Elwood (four players per team) against Justin Tan for Canterbury Juniors (all the players in the team were under 18). To those unfamiliar with chess, this may seem like something of a mismatch, however the ratings of the various players were not that far apart (combined with the fact that as improving juniors, their 'current' rating tends to be more reflective of their standard 3-9 months previously). Regardless, I was the theoretical favourite, with a slightly higher rating (1966 v 1891), though having the black pieces somewhat negated this supposed edge.
The game itself started off fairly routinely, with my Gurgenidze defence giving me a position I was both familiar and comfortable with. Around move 10 things began to heat up & I took the commital step of playing Qb6, allowing my king to be 'trapped' in the centre (losing castling rights), however I thought it was my best option to get some activity in the position. This lead white to make the decision to sacrifice a piece to launch an attack on the king (17.Nxd5+). I simply took the piece, hoping to be able to successfully defend against the onslaught & win the ending. All good in theory ... and in practice as well ... until I blundered horribly with 32... Rad8. Amazingly I spent over 3 minutes on this move & still found a horrendous blunder! Pretty much any other reasonable move in the position (something like 32...Qxc4) let me keep my advantage, though it did still leave me with some work to do to convert the point. Of course it went downhill reasonably quickly from there, however the (almost) final position with the queen & pawn ending is not as simple as it might first look. There is no obvious winning plan for white (black simply keeps the h-pawn blockaded & looks for a perpetual check if either the king comes towards the centre or the queen tries to support the h-pawn), however I found a way to lose, managing to blunder into checkmate at the end when short of time.
Here is the full game ... feel free to comment:
White: Justin Tan (1891) Black: Kerry Stead (1966)
1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c6 4. f4 d5 5. e5 h5 6. Nf3 Bg4 7. Bd3 e6 8. Be3 Ne7 9. Bf2 Nd7 10. Bh4 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Qb6 12. Bxe7 Kxe7 13. 0-0-0 c5 14. f5 Bh6+ 15. Kb1 gxf5 16. Bxf5 cxd4 17. Nxd5+ exd5 18. Bxd7 Kxd7 19. Qxf7+ Kc8 20. e6 Qc6 21. Qf6 Kc7 22. Qe7+ Kb6 23. Rxd4 a5 24. c4 Rhe8 25. Qa3 Qxe6 26. Rxd5 Bf8 27. Rb5+ Kc7 28. Qc3 Qe4+ 29. Ka1 Bb4 30. Qg3+ Kc6 31. a3 Bc5 32. Rd1 Rad8 33. Rxd8 Rxd8 34. Rxc5+ Kxc5 35. Qc7+ Kd4 36. Qxd8+ Kxc4 37. Qxa5 Qxg2 38. Qxh5 Qg1+ 39. Ka2 Qg8 40. Qd1 Kc5+ 41. Qb3 Qh7 42. Qb4+ Kc6 43. h4 Qh5 44. Qe4+ Kb6 45. Qb4+ Ka6 46. Qc4+ Kb6 47. Qd4+ Ka6 48. Qf6+ b6 49. Qf1+ Kb7 50. Qc4 Qf3 51. a4 Qh5 52. Qe4+ Ka6 53. Qa8# 1-0
Overall the match finished tied 2-2, with boards 1 & 2 drawing (Cheng-Goldenberg & Sandler-Matheson) & board 4 was a win for the 'good guys' (Lindberg-Chan).
Sunday, July 25, 2010
A weekend of highs & lows ... and an online self-challenge
Spent some time at Crown this weekend, playing cash games & a tournament ... and it was chalk & cheese ... swings & roundabouts ... or whatever your favourite cliche is for such a situation.
Saturday turned into a horrible session of $2/3 NL. After getting off to a reasonable start, I managed to find a number of second-best hands (which is never good for the chip stack) & was treading water slightly down when a novice player sat down at the table. As seems to happen so often, he managed to run like God & in no time had his $150 buy-in up to around $700! Given the number of 4 (or less) outers he hit, myself & the others at the opposite end of the table could not wait to get our hands on some of this, when the inevitable end to the run good happened. Of course the other problem that the beginner's presence created was that everyone else wanted to get in on the action. I managed to find myself on the wrong end of this in a big hand where I had TT in the big blind. After most of the table (including the beginner) limped, I made it $20 to go, which was called by 6 players! The flop came down J43 & I lead into the field for $40. The only callers were the beginner & the player to his immediate right. Although not the ideal situation, it was still not such a bad result, though obviously the jack was a little concerning. The turn brought a 5 & I bet $60 this time, which was called by the beginner & the other player moved all-in for just over $90. Obviously this was not ideal, but I called the extra amount (as did the beginner) & checked the repeat jack on the river. I showed my TT, the beginner showed 87 (yes, he called the flop with 87 & the turn with a gutshot!) & the all-in player showed his A2o for the wheel to take the $400+ pot! FML! I played poorly for the remainder of the session, getting more frustrated by the horrible play of the beginner, as well as his chipping up, then redistributing these chips around the table. My final hand for the evening saw my horribly misplay AK. It was folded to middle position (this was about an hour after the beginner had left ... with no chips & a lighter wallet) & a tight player raised to $15. This was the first time he had raised pre-flop & only a few hands earlier he had called a pre-flop raise & called flop & river bets in position with QQ to take down a pot worth around $100 on a K-high board, so I thought he had to have something pretty reasonable to be doing this. The button, who had been playing solidly & was the major beneficiary of the recently-departed novice player, called & I decided to just call from the small blind. I generally do this for a few reasons - it disguises the strength of my hand; AK can be a difficult hand to play out-of-position with the betting lead if you miss the flop; it keeps the pot size manageable - technically my hand is just a big drawing hand at present, so I don't feel the need to make the pot overly big (yes, I tend to go for the 'big hand, big pot; small hand, small pot' type of mentality). Three to the flop & it was KT7 with two diamonds. Expecting a c-bet from the pre-flop raiser, I decided to check, only to see it check around. The turn brought an offsuit 4 & I bet $30, which was called by the PFR, only to be min-raised by the button! Of course because I had played the hand so strangely/badly to this point I had no idea what kind of a hand he might have (although I knew it was decent), though it could be anything from a combo straight/flush draw (QJdd, 89dd) to top pair, two pair or a set. I decided to call, as did the PFR. The turn was a horrible card for me (in hindsight), an offsuit ace, giving me top two pair. I only had about $90 left, so shipped it, to see the PFR insta-muck & the button insta-call ... and I knew he had a set & I was heading home. Of course when he showed his 44, it simply made me more frustrated with myself for playing the hand so badly, as he most likely would have folded the hand on the flop to a bet. Oh well ...
Today I turned up late for the $125 Sunday tournament ... and it made no difference! I didn't even survive a round! After folding my first few hands, I looked at 66 in the BB & checked my option after 5 limpers. I check-folded the J75 flop & was just about settling into my table, which had quite a few familiar faces at it (yes, the Sunday tournament definitely brings out the regulars!). Of course on the very next hand there were again 5 limpers to the big blind (a regular who tends to overplay marginal hands) who made it 1300 to go (blinds were 100/200). I looked down at AK in the SB & re-raised to 3200 (we started with 10,000 & I'd only lost 350 in blinds prior to this hand, so pretty much had a full starting stack, with the button having me covered). It folded back around to the button, who moved all-in fairly quickly. I called & he showed his QQ. The dealer dealt the flop ... ACE! ... queen, four ... groan, FML, etc ... Of course I was drawing dead by the turn, but picked up a consolation ace on the river (what a lovely book title Mr Greenstein) before heading to the cash games.
The cash game proved to be great. In my first 2 orbits at the table I picked up AA twice! The first time I doubled-up (with change) on an AJ9 flop when I got it all-in against 99. I then stacked an opponent on a king-high flop when he got it all-in with K6 & did not improve. Obviously this was a great start to have my $200 buy-in up to over $600 within 30 minutes! I kept my stack around the $600 mark for the next few hours, with a few minor fluctuations, until another big hand came my way. This time I picked up AK in the big blind after 7 people had limped in, so made it $20 to go. Two players called to see a flop of A75 with two hearts. I bet $35 & they both called. The turn was an 8 & I bet $55 & was again called by both opponents. The river was a T (flush did not complete) & I checked, intending to check-call (I had the ace of hearts, but was concerned about one of my opponents having two pair). It checked to the player in the cutoff who bet $75 (about half of his remaining stack). With the pot being so big, I could not possibly fold, so I called his bet. After the other player mucked, the bettor insta-mucked & I took down the $450+ pot uncontested! I left about an hour later with a healthy profit that well and truly made up for the previous night's forgetable performance.
I've also decided that this week I will play a minimum of 25 hours of online low-limit holdem, playing at least 4 tables at a time. I was hoping to do this by Wednesday (roughly 8 hours per day on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday), though this may not be possible, as I am actually going to be playing chess (for Elwood) on Tuesday night. Will see how things go (both the poker and the chess) & I will update my progress here. Lets hope it turns out well!
Saturday turned into a horrible session of $2/3 NL. After getting off to a reasonable start, I managed to find a number of second-best hands (which is never good for the chip stack) & was treading water slightly down when a novice player sat down at the table. As seems to happen so often, he managed to run like God & in no time had his $150 buy-in up to around $700! Given the number of 4 (or less) outers he hit, myself & the others at the opposite end of the table could not wait to get our hands on some of this, when the inevitable end to the run good happened. Of course the other problem that the beginner's presence created was that everyone else wanted to get in on the action. I managed to find myself on the wrong end of this in a big hand where I had TT in the big blind. After most of the table (including the beginner) limped, I made it $20 to go, which was called by 6 players! The flop came down J43 & I lead into the field for $40. The only callers were the beginner & the player to his immediate right. Although not the ideal situation, it was still not such a bad result, though obviously the jack was a little concerning. The turn brought a 5 & I bet $60 this time, which was called by the beginner & the other player moved all-in for just over $90. Obviously this was not ideal, but I called the extra amount (as did the beginner) & checked the repeat jack on the river. I showed my TT, the beginner showed 87 (yes, he called the flop with 87 & the turn with a gutshot!) & the all-in player showed his A2o for the wheel to take the $400+ pot! FML! I played poorly for the remainder of the session, getting more frustrated by the horrible play of the beginner, as well as his chipping up, then redistributing these chips around the table. My final hand for the evening saw my horribly misplay AK. It was folded to middle position (this was about an hour after the beginner had left ... with no chips & a lighter wallet) & a tight player raised to $15. This was the first time he had raised pre-flop & only a few hands earlier he had called a pre-flop raise & called flop & river bets in position with QQ to take down a pot worth around $100 on a K-high board, so I thought he had to have something pretty reasonable to be doing this. The button, who had been playing solidly & was the major beneficiary of the recently-departed novice player, called & I decided to just call from the small blind. I generally do this for a few reasons - it disguises the strength of my hand; AK can be a difficult hand to play out-of-position with the betting lead if you miss the flop; it keeps the pot size manageable - technically my hand is just a big drawing hand at present, so I don't feel the need to make the pot overly big (yes, I tend to go for the 'big hand, big pot; small hand, small pot' type of mentality). Three to the flop & it was KT7 with two diamonds. Expecting a c-bet from the pre-flop raiser, I decided to check, only to see it check around. The turn brought an offsuit 4 & I bet $30, which was called by the PFR, only to be min-raised by the button! Of course because I had played the hand so strangely/badly to this point I had no idea what kind of a hand he might have (although I knew it was decent), though it could be anything from a combo straight/flush draw (QJdd, 89dd) to top pair, two pair or a set. I decided to call, as did the PFR. The turn was a horrible card for me (in hindsight), an offsuit ace, giving me top two pair. I only had about $90 left, so shipped it, to see the PFR insta-muck & the button insta-call ... and I knew he had a set & I was heading home. Of course when he showed his 44, it simply made me more frustrated with myself for playing the hand so badly, as he most likely would have folded the hand on the flop to a bet. Oh well ...
Today I turned up late for the $125 Sunday tournament ... and it made no difference! I didn't even survive a round! After folding my first few hands, I looked at 66 in the BB & checked my option after 5 limpers. I check-folded the J75 flop & was just about settling into my table, which had quite a few familiar faces at it (yes, the Sunday tournament definitely brings out the regulars!). Of course on the very next hand there were again 5 limpers to the big blind (a regular who tends to overplay marginal hands) who made it 1300 to go (blinds were 100/200). I looked down at AK in the SB & re-raised to 3200 (we started with 10,000 & I'd only lost 350 in blinds prior to this hand, so pretty much had a full starting stack, with the button having me covered). It folded back around to the button, who moved all-in fairly quickly. I called & he showed his QQ. The dealer dealt the flop ... ACE! ... queen, four ... groan, FML, etc ... Of course I was drawing dead by the turn, but picked up a consolation ace on the river (what a lovely book title Mr Greenstein) before heading to the cash games.
The cash game proved to be great. In my first 2 orbits at the table I picked up AA twice! The first time I doubled-up (with change) on an AJ9 flop when I got it all-in against 99. I then stacked an opponent on a king-high flop when he got it all-in with K6 & did not improve. Obviously this was a great start to have my $200 buy-in up to over $600 within 30 minutes! I kept my stack around the $600 mark for the next few hours, with a few minor fluctuations, until another big hand came my way. This time I picked up AK in the big blind after 7 people had limped in, so made it $20 to go. Two players called to see a flop of A75 with two hearts. I bet $35 & they both called. The turn was an 8 & I bet $55 & was again called by both opponents. The river was a T (flush did not complete) & I checked, intending to check-call (I had the ace of hearts, but was concerned about one of my opponents having two pair). It checked to the player in the cutoff who bet $75 (about half of his remaining stack). With the pot being so big, I could not possibly fold, so I called his bet. After the other player mucked, the bettor insta-mucked & I took down the $450+ pot uncontested! I left about an hour later with a healthy profit that well and truly made up for the previous night's forgetable performance.
I've also decided that this week I will play a minimum of 25 hours of online low-limit holdem, playing at least 4 tables at a time. I was hoping to do this by Wednesday (roughly 8 hours per day on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday), though this may not be possible, as I am actually going to be playing chess (for Elwood) on Tuesday night. Will see how things go (both the poker and the chess) & I will update my progress here. Lets hope it turns out well!
Friday, July 23, 2010
Final Table at Crown
Decided to play the Thursday night tournament at Crown tonight & managed to finish 4th out of a field of 119. Its not the greatest structure in the world, with a 3k starting stack & 25 minute levels, but there are plenty of tournaments that are worse.
If there was one thing that my experiences in America taught me, it was that you need to go about accumulating chips right from the start of the tournament. This was my excuse for a key hand early in the tournament. I was in the BB (100/200) & there was a raise to 500 from UTG+1. The cutoff called & I defended with K3hh. The flop was 763 rainbow & I checked to the pre-flop raiser who bet 700. The cutoff folded & I considered my options. I had already committed 500 to the pot & had just over 1500 behind. There was a decent chance that my opponent had overcards to the board (in which case my pair of 3s would be in front) and even if he had an overpair (it seemed unlikely that he would have a set or straight here) I still had 5 outs to improve. Of course the opposing view had me with 1500 still in my stack after folding, which although short, was definitely not at the 'any two cards' stage, so all would not be lost. Eventually I decided to shove, hoping my opponent either folded (unlikely) or called & turned over AK, KQ or some other hand with a king & no pair. Of course neither of these eventualities happened & my opponent snap-called & turned over QQ to have me drawing thin. However given that the heading is not 'Early exit from tourney' I managed to bink a king on the turn to double-up, and this, combined with some run good & well-timed stealing allowed me to get to the final table as one of the chip leaders (of course I managed to crack KK with QT just before the final table when the money went in on a Q98 flop & I binked a T on the river ... but that's the punishment for my opponent not re-raising pre-flop with such a big hand). The final table was going reasonably smoothly & I managed to keep my stack at a healthy level, in spite of the most aggressive player at the table sitting to my direct left. This player would take the chip lead early on the final table & it was a big confrontation with him that would lead to my demise. We had got down to four handed, with the aggressive player to my left having just under half the chips in play in his stack. The hand in question saw me raise to 14k (blinds 3000/6000) with 55 on the button. My opponent in the SB re-raised to 32k after some thought & I decided to move all-in for an extra 51.5k on top of the re-raise. Ultimately my opponent decided to call, with the classic 'you're in front, but I have to call' line & turned over A7o. Of course there was an ace on the flop, as well as one on the turn for good measure & the 160k+ pot was shipped to the aggro guy as I collected my prizemoney and left.
I suppose its a good sign that I final tabled my first tournament back at Crown. Lets hope the run continues on Sunday & into the Victorian Championships!
If there was one thing that my experiences in America taught me, it was that you need to go about accumulating chips right from the start of the tournament. This was my excuse for a key hand early in the tournament. I was in the BB (100/200) & there was a raise to 500 from UTG+1. The cutoff called & I defended with K3hh. The flop was 763 rainbow & I checked to the pre-flop raiser who bet 700. The cutoff folded & I considered my options. I had already committed 500 to the pot & had just over 1500 behind. There was a decent chance that my opponent had overcards to the board (in which case my pair of 3s would be in front) and even if he had an overpair (it seemed unlikely that he would have a set or straight here) I still had 5 outs to improve. Of course the opposing view had me with 1500 still in my stack after folding, which although short, was definitely not at the 'any two cards' stage, so all would not be lost. Eventually I decided to shove, hoping my opponent either folded (unlikely) or called & turned over AK, KQ or some other hand with a king & no pair. Of course neither of these eventualities happened & my opponent snap-called & turned over QQ to have me drawing thin. However given that the heading is not 'Early exit from tourney' I managed to bink a king on the turn to double-up, and this, combined with some run good & well-timed stealing allowed me to get to the final table as one of the chip leaders (of course I managed to crack KK with QT just before the final table when the money went in on a Q98 flop & I binked a T on the river ... but that's the punishment for my opponent not re-raising pre-flop with such a big hand). The final table was going reasonably smoothly & I managed to keep my stack at a healthy level, in spite of the most aggressive player at the table sitting to my direct left. This player would take the chip lead early on the final table & it was a big confrontation with him that would lead to my demise. We had got down to four handed, with the aggressive player to my left having just under half the chips in play in his stack. The hand in question saw me raise to 14k (blinds 3000/6000) with 55 on the button. My opponent in the SB re-raised to 32k after some thought & I decided to move all-in for an extra 51.5k on top of the re-raise. Ultimately my opponent decided to call, with the classic 'you're in front, but I have to call' line & turned over A7o. Of course there was an ace on the flop, as well as one on the turn for good measure & the 160k+ pot was shipped to the aggro guy as I collected my prizemoney and left.
I suppose its a good sign that I final tabled my first tournament back at Crown. Lets hope the run continues on Sunday & into the Victorian Championships!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Episode 6 Now Online
Episode 6 of the Donkcast is now available for download
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SVCWON4Z
The episode features a summary of my time in America, WSOP wrap-up, a look at the 2011 Aussie Millions schedule, strategy on using tells in live poker & a sick TV hand involving Daniel Negreanu & David Williams. Oh, and a new intro, featuring highlights from the intherview with Danzasmack ... taken completely out of context to give listeners an idea of what is to come!
Feedback & comments are definitely appreciated, either here or at thedonkcast@hotmail.com
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SVCWON4Z
The episode features a summary of my time in America, WSOP wrap-up, a look at the 2011 Aussie Millions schedule, strategy on using tells in live poker & a sick TV hand involving Daniel Negreanu & David Williams. Oh, and a new intro, featuring highlights from the intherview with Danzasmack ... taken completely out of context to give listeners an idea of what is to come!
Feedback & comments are definitely appreciated, either here or at thedonkcast@hotmail.com
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Welcome home ... here's a one-outer for you!
Don't you love coming home, back to what you know and familiarity?
Since I've been back in Melbourne I've been to Crown twice ... the first time booking a small win & the second running into a one-outer, culminating in a loss which was a bigger swing in the wrong direction.
The hand in question saw me raise to $10 UTG+1 in a $2/3 game with QQ. The cutoff puts in $3 for the call, only for the dealer to tell him its actually $10, so he calls. The big blind comes along for the ride as well. The flop is 998 (with two clubs), which is decent for me (as long as no-one has a 9), so I lead for $17. The cutoff calls & the BB folds. I figure that the caller has some kid of hand - an 8, a flush or straight draw, or possibly a 9. I have about $70 behind at this stage (yes, it had been one of those nights) & am delighted to see a queen on the turn. I decide to be tricky (though in hindsight it would make no difference) & check-call my opponent's $25 bet. The plan is to shove the river for my remaining $40+ & with the pot so big my opponent pretty much has to call, insuring a double-up for me ... but things didn't go according to plan. River ... 9. I slide my small stack forward & as soon as I release it, my opponent says call. I know he has the 9! My heart sinks, I announce 'a 9 is good' as I dejectedly turn over my queens full. Of course he turns over J9o to take the pot, to the 'oooohs' & 'ahhhs' & other comments of those at the table. Of course the villain in the hand then proceeded to tell the table how that sort of thing never happens to him & how he is always on the receiving end of bad beats & never gives them ... of course having played with him on multiple occasions, I know the opposite is true, though perhaps he doesn't consider it a bad beat if his opponent's cards are not shown.
Poker is fun ... for everyone ...
Next: Back in the saddle ... oh & if anyone knows where to find some run good, PLEASE let me know!
Since I've been back in Melbourne I've been to Crown twice ... the first time booking a small win & the second running into a one-outer, culminating in a loss which was a bigger swing in the wrong direction.
The hand in question saw me raise to $10 UTG+1 in a $2/3 game with QQ. The cutoff puts in $3 for the call, only for the dealer to tell him its actually $10, so he calls. The big blind comes along for the ride as well. The flop is 998 (with two clubs), which is decent for me (as long as no-one has a 9), so I lead for $17. The cutoff calls & the BB folds. I figure that the caller has some kid of hand - an 8, a flush or straight draw, or possibly a 9. I have about $70 behind at this stage (yes, it had been one of those nights) & am delighted to see a queen on the turn. I decide to be tricky (though in hindsight it would make no difference) & check-call my opponent's $25 bet. The plan is to shove the river for my remaining $40+ & with the pot so big my opponent pretty much has to call, insuring a double-up for me ... but things didn't go according to plan. River ... 9. I slide my small stack forward & as soon as I release it, my opponent says call. I know he has the 9! My heart sinks, I announce 'a 9 is good' as I dejectedly turn over my queens full. Of course he turns over J9o to take the pot, to the 'oooohs' & 'ahhhs' & other comments of those at the table. Of course the villain in the hand then proceeded to tell the table how that sort of thing never happens to him & how he is always on the receiving end of bad beats & never gives them ... of course having played with him on multiple occasions, I know the opposite is true, though perhaps he doesn't consider it a bad beat if his opponent's cards are not shown.
Poker is fun ... for everyone ...
Next: Back in the saddle ... oh & if anyone knows where to find some run good, PLEASE let me know!
Monday, July 19, 2010
A long trip home ... and some books
Finally back home after a long trip back from Vegas. The trip was Las Vegas --> Los Angeles --> Sydney --> Melbourne ... three flights, some sleep, lots of waiting, some reading & a few other bits & pieces in between.
Caught up with Theos Rippis again at the airport in Las Vegas. He had a decent time in Vegas, though I didn't get to spend much time with him during the trip (somewhat ironic as we were staying in the same hotel, albeit 9 floors apart). I hadn't seen him for about 5 years & it was good to catch up, albeit too briefly. I also saw Chuck Danielsson (my first Donkcast interviewee) & Jay Rosenkrantz of Deuces Cracked at the airport. The DC guys definitely made the trip more entertaining with their gatherings, whether it was poker, bowling or anything else. Definitely something I would recommend people do if they are heading to the WSOP in the future - although it is most definitely a poker trip, breaking it up with other activities & meeting new people is a definite plus.
The trip home allowed me to finish 'Treat Your Poker Like a Business' by Dusty Schmidt, which I had purchased on the trip. I found the book to be very interesting, primarily for the 'uncool' stuff at the beginning of the book where he examines (with small sections from Jared Tendler & his wife Nicole) the other side of poker - the stuff that happens away from the table. Although it may not have been entirely applicable to my situation, the thing it did was got me thinking about what I am doing with my life, why I am doing it & what I hope to accomplish as a result. Although I can't see myself spending hours online multi-tabling, the need to consider things away from the poker table is defintely something that I need to concern myself with. The strategy section was decent, though not outstanding, however it was the early material that I was most interested in. Something else I am definitely keen to see is the remaining episodes of the PartyPoker Big Game IV, which was recorded in London in April of this year. Not only is it intersting from a poker standpoint, and in particular the performance of David 'Viffer' Peat, but it also featured 20+ hours of commentary from Dusty Schmidt (after playing in the game early in the session).
Another fascinating book that I have started to read is John Fox's 'Play Poker, Quit Work & Sleep Till Noon'. I have only read the first few chapters, but its very much a book from before the era of political correctness, being written in 1977 (I have a printing from 1981), and has some absolute gems in the first few pages. In the chapter 'Who to play with, or how to spot the weakest players' come the following statements (written as main points, followed by a discussion, explaining the reasoning behind his classification):
4 - Do try to play in the same game with beautiful women
Discussion: Beautiful women tend to play badly themselves - even for women. They also tend to attract men into their game who are unfamiliar with it. Such men might come from a smaller game, or even from a totally different game such as lowball. Even if a man comes in from a higher game and possesses a higher level of skill then (sic) the average of the table, he will usually tend to play loosely or erratically in order to 'show off' and because the stakes are trivial to him. Finally, if a beautiful woman is in the game the concentration of all the men in the game will be lessened.
9 - Do play with women, particularly younger women
Discussion: Women are usually bad limit poker players. Contrary to what any other poker books or Sunday supplements may say, if you are interested in wining moneyyou should usually try to play against them every chance you get. Besides beating them personally, you can frequently use them to gain additional advantages over your male opponents. Women find it difficult to hold their cards correctly and frequently expose them.
10 - Do play against young people
Discussion: A player under twenty-five years of age just has not had time to get enough experience. Unless he is very tight, he stands little chance. For some reason, young, bearded, long haired types who you might think would be wild or radical players are frequently super tight.
14 - Do play against tattooed opponents
Discussion: Anyone foolish enough to allow themselves into getting tattooed should be well qualified to lose to almost anybody else.
16 - Do play against chain smokers
Discussion: Considering the state of medical knowledge of this day a chain smoker is obviously either stupid or compulsive. Both of these qualities are good to have in an opponent.
Of course I have to include my personal favourite form the list ...
13 - Do play against ghetto residents
Discussion: A general lack of educational opportunities and a milieu of ignorane and superstition give ghetto residents a handicap that extends even to the poker table.
Ah ... the days before political correctness!
Caught up with Theos Rippis again at the airport in Las Vegas. He had a decent time in Vegas, though I didn't get to spend much time with him during the trip (somewhat ironic as we were staying in the same hotel, albeit 9 floors apart). I hadn't seen him for about 5 years & it was good to catch up, albeit too briefly. I also saw Chuck Danielsson (my first Donkcast interviewee) & Jay Rosenkrantz of Deuces Cracked at the airport. The DC guys definitely made the trip more entertaining with their gatherings, whether it was poker, bowling or anything else. Definitely something I would recommend people do if they are heading to the WSOP in the future - although it is most definitely a poker trip, breaking it up with other activities & meeting new people is a definite plus.
The trip home allowed me to finish 'Treat Your Poker Like a Business' by Dusty Schmidt, which I had purchased on the trip. I found the book to be very interesting, primarily for the 'uncool' stuff at the beginning of the book where he examines (with small sections from Jared Tendler & his wife Nicole) the other side of poker - the stuff that happens away from the table. Although it may not have been entirely applicable to my situation, the thing it did was got me thinking about what I am doing with my life, why I am doing it & what I hope to accomplish as a result. Although I can't see myself spending hours online multi-tabling, the need to consider things away from the poker table is defintely something that I need to concern myself with. The strategy section was decent, though not outstanding, however it was the early material that I was most interested in. Something else I am definitely keen to see is the remaining episodes of the PartyPoker Big Game IV, which was recorded in London in April of this year. Not only is it intersting from a poker standpoint, and in particular the performance of David 'Viffer' Peat, but it also featured 20+ hours of commentary from Dusty Schmidt (after playing in the game early in the session).
Another fascinating book that I have started to read is John Fox's 'Play Poker, Quit Work & Sleep Till Noon'. I have only read the first few chapters, but its very much a book from before the era of political correctness, being written in 1977 (I have a printing from 1981), and has some absolute gems in the first few pages. In the chapter 'Who to play with, or how to spot the weakest players' come the following statements (written as main points, followed by a discussion, explaining the reasoning behind his classification):
4 - Do try to play in the same game with beautiful women
Discussion: Beautiful women tend to play badly themselves - even for women. They also tend to attract men into their game who are unfamiliar with it. Such men might come from a smaller game, or even from a totally different game such as lowball. Even if a man comes in from a higher game and possesses a higher level of skill then (sic) the average of the table, he will usually tend to play loosely or erratically in order to 'show off' and because the stakes are trivial to him. Finally, if a beautiful woman is in the game the concentration of all the men in the game will be lessened.
9 - Do play with women, particularly younger women
Discussion: Women are usually bad limit poker players. Contrary to what any other poker books or Sunday supplements may say, if you are interested in wining moneyyou should usually try to play against them every chance you get. Besides beating them personally, you can frequently use them to gain additional advantages over your male opponents. Women find it difficult to hold their cards correctly and frequently expose them.
10 - Do play against young people
Discussion: A player under twenty-five years of age just has not had time to get enough experience. Unless he is very tight, he stands little chance. For some reason, young, bearded, long haired types who you might think would be wild or radical players are frequently super tight.
14 - Do play against tattooed opponents
Discussion: Anyone foolish enough to allow themselves into getting tattooed should be well qualified to lose to almost anybody else.
16 - Do play against chain smokers
Discussion: Considering the state of medical knowledge of this day a chain smoker is obviously either stupid or compulsive. Both of these qualities are good to have in an opponent.
Of course I have to include my personal favourite form the list ...
13 - Do play against ghetto residents
Discussion: A general lack of educational opportunities and a milieu of ignorane and superstition give ghetto residents a handicap that extends even to the poker table.
Ah ... the days before political correctness!
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