Archive for March, 2009

Most players just don’t know how to execute a good bluff raise on the river and won’t even try, and I probably play the Hero a little more than I should in “good spots” that my opponents probably don’t even recognize. This was against a smarter opponent, though, and while he doesn’t make a lot of moves, I caught him here:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP ($840)
CO ($1099.85)
Button ($1910.10)
SB ($2159)
BB ($796)
Hero (UTG) ($2323)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with K, K
Hero bets $35, 3 folds, SB calls $30, 1 fold

Flop: ($80) 4, 3, 4 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $55, SB calls $55

Turn: ($190) 5 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($190) 9 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $155, SB raises to $555, Hero calls $400

Total pot: $1300 | Rake: $3

Results:
SB had 7, 7 (two pair, sevens and fours).
Hero had K, K (two pair, Kings and fours).
Outcome: Hero won $1297

First off, this is a decent spot for him to bluff. My hand is pretty clearly defined as an overpair or worse. Since he’s representing a flush or full house, my hand is just a bluff catcher, and as I said, most people just don’t check-raise bluff the river as much as they should.  Read the complete post...

To top off a great weekend, I played and won my second $2000 satellite to the $10,000 WCOOP main event. The first one I played, which I replayed for Poker Savvy Plus, had only 9 runners and paid one seat plus a lot cash. This one got 52 runners, paying 10 seats plus some cash for 11th. Naturally it was a very different satellite dynamic. Here are a few of the more interesting hands:

This one occurred with 25 players left. With fewer players left, or a slightly weaker hand (JJ, even), I think it would be very close. Even here, I wasn’t happy with Queens:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $2000+$100 Tournament, 125/250 Blinds 30 Ante (8 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG (t7802)
Hero (UTG+1) (t6339)
MP1 (t5140)
MP2 (t7681)
CO (t4490)
Button (t9135)
SB (t2515)
BB (t6864)

Hero’s M: 10.31

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with Q, Q
1 fold, Hero bets t666, 3 folds, Button raises to t2000, 2 folds, Hero raises to t6309 (All-In), Button calls t4309

Flop: (t13233) 3, 8, 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t13233) 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t13233) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t13233

Results:
Button had K, A (one pair, tens).
Hero had Q, Q (two pair, Queens and tens).
Outcome: Hero won t13233  Read the complete post...

Hmmm, 80:1 odds? I think I’ll call:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($1802)
SB ($490)
BB ($1424)
UTG ($985)
MP ($1884)
CO ($1442.45)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 6, 8
1 fold, MP bets $35, 1 fold, Hero calls $35, 2 folds

Flop: ($85) 5, 7, 8 (2 players)
MP bets $45, Hero raises to $122, MP raises to $320, Hero raises to $678, MP raises to $1200, Hero raises to $1722, MP raises to $1849 (All-In), Hero calls $45 (All-In)

Turn: ($3619) 2 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($3619) Q (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $3619 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had 6, 8 (one pair, eights).
MP had J, 2 (one pair, twos).
Outcome: Hero won $3616

I tried to make the flop 3-bet kinda sketchy to maximize fold equity versus overpairs. Guess I was a little off there….

Not only is this an awful board to expect me to show up with air, but when he 7-bet bluffs (wow, what an awesome thing to be able to say), I have to call $45 into a $3600 pot. The best part is that I thought my 6-bet was all in. I just hit the raise button, but apparently that left me with just enough room to give him the illusion of fold equity.  Read the complete post...

For the second time this year, I’ve dug myself out of a big old hole. Let’s hope it’s the last (that I need to). Here’s the hand that did it:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $50.00 BB (5 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($9411)
SB ($5550)
BB ($20776)
UTG ($5000)
Hero (MP) ($5444)

Preflop: Hero is MP with K, K
1 fold, Hero bets $150, 2 folds, BB calls $100

Flop: ($325) 5, 6, Q (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $222, BB raises to $950, Hero raises to $5294 (All-In), BB calls $4344

Turn: ($10913) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($10913) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $10913 | Rake: $2

Results:
BB had K, 5 (two pair, tens and fives).
Hero had K, K (two pair, Kings and tens).
Outcome: Hero won $10911

I actually thought for a bit on the flop about whether I wanted to ship it in or just call and look for a non-club turn. I think based on his bet-sizing he has clubs pretty much always, and most of the time he’ll have other outs that will make him basically a coin flip with me (either a 5, an A, or a straight draw). That would seem to argue for a call, since I have position and this information about his hand.  Read the complete post...

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($1836.25)
Hero (Button) ($2411.75)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 8, A
Hero bets $30, SB calls $20

Flop: ($60) A, 10, 4 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $44, SB calls $44

Turn: ($148) 7 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($148) 8 (2 players)
SB bets $100, Hero raises to $333, SB calls $233

Total pot: $814 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Hero had 8, A (two pair, Aces and eights).
SB had Q, 10 (one pair, tens).
Outcome: Hero won $813.50

This was a great spot because the Villain made pretty thin value bets and I knew he would expect me to double barrel a flush draw on the turn if I had one. Honestly, as much as I’m a fan of thin value bets, I think his river bet is too thin.

Sorry for the recent lack of posts, I’ve had a lot to catch up on since returning from vacation. But here’s an interesting hand:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($2002.50)
Hero (SB) ($3412.50)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, K
Button bets $30, Hero raises to $111, Button calls $81

Flop: ($222) 7, 5, 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

Turn: ($222) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $66, Button calls $66

River: ($354) 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $275, Hero calls $275

Total pot: $904 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Button had Q, 10 (two pair, sevens and fives).
Hero had A, K (two pair, sevens and fives).
Outcome: Hero won $903.50

This player was really not very aggressive at all. It just goes to show you how unconventional play, like the tiny turn bet, can take people out of their comfort zones and induce mistakes they wouldn’t otherwise make.

Awesome town! I had this preconception of a kind of shallow California surfer dude town, but I actually found a surprisingly friendly, welcoming, and charming place with a strong sense of community and civic identity (as a California surfer dude town, granted), at least among the locals. I’m sure the place can get pretty crowded and insufferable on weekends, especially on summer weekends. But there was a great diversity of restaurants and independent shops collected in a few very walkable downtown blocks. Plus, it’s just minutes from the beach and a boardwalk that features a well-regarded roller coaster, at least according to my brother the ex-coaster fanatic. Sadly, the coaster was only running on weekends, so I didn’t get to ride it.

I did, however, get to camp in a nearby state park and spend the afternoon on a beautiful beach. On the east coast, at least the mid-Atlantic region where I grew up, we don’t have cliffs and trees right along the shore. It was pretty neat to hang out on a beach with a tree-lined, rocky cliff towering overhead.  Read the complete post...

For those who didn’t see Calmer’s comment yesterday, I didn’t last long at all on Day 2 of the WPT. My table was fairly tough, not that it mattered. There were a few, young internet players who seemed pretty tough, one or two middle-aged guys who were probably the soft spots but weren’t particularly bad, a dealer in one of the local card rooms who played well enough, then Men “The Master” Nguyen and Erick Lindgren.

Blinds started off at 500/1000/100- can’t say enough about the great structure tournament director Matt Savage put together! My 17K chips gave me the perfect stack for shoving over raises. The first time I was in the BB, action folded to one of the internet guys in the SB. I felt like he was probably going to raise any two, because most of those guys just cannot bring themselves to open fold. He made it 2400, which unfortunately told me he was probably good, capable of choosing just the right bet size. But I had 44, moved all in, and got him to fold quickly. “I’m gonna pump your stack up 2400 chips at a time,” he told me, with a hint of disdain in his voice.

“Feel free,” I responded.  Read the complete post...