Archive for September, 2009

Edit: My girlfriend has just pointed out to me that, as a self-styled poker journalist, Sebok might well be held to a standard of journalistic ethics as well. In that light, endorsing a particular internet poker site might not be appropriate. But that’s beyond the scope of this article, as I mean to look more broadly about the ethics of any professional poker accepting sponsorship from them.

Joe Sebok, CEO of Poker Road Radio and step-son of Barry Greenstein, is the latest poker pro to sign with Ultimate Bet/Absolute Poker since the full extent of the cheating on those sites came to light. The company, ostensibly under new ownership, has conducted a major blitz to refurbish its image, signing well-known players like Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy, Adam “Roothlus” Levy (who told me, when I gave him a hard time about his UB patch during the 2008 WSOP, that after learning more about the situation he was having second thoughts about what was then a very minor affiliation with them), and briefly, Eric “Rizen” Lynch. It’s also credibly rumored that during the 2009 WSOP, they were offering considerably more than any other site to players willing to wear their logo at a TV table.  Read the complete post...

You may have seen David “Viffer” Peat on High Stakes Poker. He just sat down at one of my tables tonight and wrote this in the chat:

richreich: checks
Viffer said, “omg”
joe E scar: bets $120
Viffer said, “just  anyone in london”
foucault82: folds
loosefer: folds
richreich: calls $120
*** TURN *** [2c Js Tc] [5c]
richreich: bets $874 and is all-in
Viffer said, “just had the best sex ever with some ***** here”
Viffer said, “was gonnna sell her number”

I really did not expect this guy to be capable of something like this. I’d been pounding on him a lot, on multiple tables, in and out of position, and he’d been backing down a lot. “Trapping” by slowplaying a big hand is exactly how I’d expect a guy like him to respond. This, I did not expect:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $6.00 BB (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($1664.65)
SB ($1317)
BB ($1755.65)
UTG ($1175.45)
MP ($602.45)
CO ($2570.70)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 3, 3
2 folds, CO bets $18, Hero calls $18, 2 folds

Flop: ($51) 3, 4, 7 (2 players)
CO bets $38, Hero raises to $145, CO calls $107

Turn: ($341) J (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $288, CO calls $288

River: ($917) 8 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $777, CO raises to $2118.70 (All-In), Hero folds

Total pot: $2471 | Rake: $3

Results:
CO had 5, A (high card, Ace).
Outcome: CO won $2468

It feels gross to fold a set getting odds like this, and I probably wouldn’t even have folded 44, but I just couldn’t put him on a single worse hand. I certainly don’t think he shoves worse for value, and it’s such a random spot to bluff. There were no missed draws (I thought), and if he had showdown value, I think he’d be more likely than call than turn his hand into a bluff. To be honest, I still don’t mind my fold, though I did feel like a total ass when he showed his hand.  Read the complete post...

Note to the inevitable idiot who finds this post via google: I’m not serious about online poker being rigged. But you can bet that this hand, which busted me in 18th in the FTP $1 Million Guarantee, got the rail speculating:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 10000/20000 Blinds 2500 Ante (7 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB (t737368)
UTG (t114428)
MP1 (t83710)
MP2 (t319303)
CO (t1060500)
Button (t43356)
Hero (SB) (t669092)

Hero’s M: 14.09

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, A
UTG bets t111928 (All-In), 4 folds, Hero calls t101928, BB raises to t734868 (All-In), Hero calls t554664 (All-In)

Flop: (t1462612) 2, 10, 3 (3 players, 3 all-in)

Turn: (t1462612) 10 (3 players, 3 all-in)

River: (t1462612) K (3 players, 3 all-in)

Total pot: t1462612

Results:
Hero had A, A (two pair, Aces and tens).
BB had K, K (full house, Kings over tens).
UTG had A, A (two pair, Aces and tens).
Outcome: BB won t1462612

Obviously I ran plenty good to get this far, but bwaaaahgggraaaaaah!!!! Average stack after this hand was barely 700K. Winning would have put me in 2nd place. God I hate tournaments.

Villain here is pokerjamers, a pretty standard Pocket Fives donkamenteur hero:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 530 Tournament, 350/700 Blinds 85 Ante (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

CO (t40190)
Hero (Button) (t65575)
SB (t25644)
BB (t66189)
UTG (t192484)
MP (t67199)
Hero’s M: 42.04

Preflop: Hero is Button with 3, A
1 fold, MP bets t1740, 1 fold, Hero raises to t4999, 2 folds, MP calls t3259

Flop: (t11558) K, 5, A (2 players)
MP checks, Hero bets t4444, MP calls t4444

Turn: (t20446) K (2 players)
MP checks, Hero bets t11111, MP calls t11111

River: (t42668) 6 (2 players)
MP checks, Hero bets t44936 (All-In), MP calls t44936

Total pot: t132540

Results:
Hero had 3, A (two pair, Aces and Kings).
MP had 10, 10 (two pair, Kings and tens).
Outcome: Hero won t132540

I don’t want to pat myself on the back too much here, because (as I hope is obvious) I was trying to bluff him off of a better Ace. That said, the ability to turn a made hand into a bluff makes it tricky for your opponents to bluff catch against for two reasons. First, it is harder for them to read your hand. In a spot where it looks like I have either a monster or a marginal made hand but not a missed draw or something, some people will always fold their bluff catchers if they dont’ realize that I can turn the made hand into a bluff. The other benefit, illustrated here, is that it’s slightly harder to bluff-catch against you, since you may be bluffing with a hand that beats theirs anyway.  Read the complete post...

This was a pivotal hand from my third session against the same player I’ve mentioned in a few recent heads up hands I’ve posted.

He’d been 3-betting a fair bit this session, but not as much as he sometimes has. This was one of the first 4-bets I’d made this session, though he knows from our previous play that I’m capable of 4-betting more aggressively when I think the dynamic calls for it.

This is one of the first 5-bets I’ve ever seen him make. Though I imagine he’s capable 5-bet bluffing, I think his range is pretty strong here. He’s out of position, it’s a small raise, he hadn’t done it much, I hadn’t 4-bet much, etc. More to the point, I think his 5-betting range is going to consist of KK, AA, maybe AK, and then much weaker “bluff” hands like Axs or something. So I’m not expecting to see more marginal (when it comes to 5-betting) hands like TT, JJ, QJ here.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) ($5209.50)
BB ($5144)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, Q
Hero bets $60, BB raises to $240, Hero raises to $499, BB raises to $1111, Hero calls $612

Flop: ($2222) 2, Q, 2 (2 players)
BB bets $999, Hero calls $999  Read the complete post...

Emily and I are currently camping in Nickerson State Park on Cape Cod. It’s a huge campground with hundreds of sites, and even past peak season it’s nearly at capacity. There just a few building with showers for the entire campground. The other night I visited one of them for the first time.

Inside, three shower stalls lined the back wall. Only one other person was in the men’s room, and he was in the middle of the three stalls. “Fish,” I thought to myself as I, seeing no other option, selected the cleaner of the two adjacent stalls.

With nothing better to think about as I showered, I contemplated his serious breach of bathroom ethics. Every man deserving of the name knows that when three adjacent stalls/urinals are available, you take one of the ones on the end so that should a second man enter, he doesn’t have to stand/sit immediately next to you. Only the most conniving, under-handed homosexual would do otherwise.

It was at about this time that I noticed four more, completely empty shower stalls on the opposite wall and realized the gravity of my error. While casting aspersions upon this other gentleman’s bathroom ethics, I’d committed a far more egregious breach myself. Despite a room full of empty stalls, I’d selected the one that brought me into closest proximity to his wet, naked body. If was now standing over in his stall contemplating what a creepy, possibly dangerous sexual deviant I must be, well, he could hardly be blamed.

When trying to exploit a particular opponent, the most important question to ask yourself is, “What are the situations where his range is either tighter or wider than it ‘should’ be? When does he build pots with hands that don’t warrant such a show of strength?”

This is the same opponent from yesterday’s hand, we played again last night. His style had changed somewhat as he was no longer tilted and the aggressive dynamic wasn’t as fresh for either of us. Also, we weren’t as deep. He was check-raising a lot of flops, especially dry ones, with everything from air to middle pair to sets. As a result, I’d been floating him and calling him down light, and he’d been making some good thin value bets on the turn.

To combat this, I decided to double float on a dry board and then bet the river. Since he couldn’t very plausibly put me on a hand that needed to bluff, I thought he’d have to fold a lot of his thin value range. I also didn’t expect him to triple barrel bluff, which is important.

In choosing the right spot for this, I was looking for both a board with no obvious draws and a hand that could nevertheless have a little bit of equity against the top of his range. Here’s what I came up with:  Read the complete post...