Archive for November, 2009

Unfortunately, they were both in PLO8 events with fewer than 200 runners. But I was 5/135 in the $100 and 2/180 in the $200, so not too shabby, and it was fun. The heads up was interesting in the $200, the guy was playing $10/$20 PLO8 cash at the same time, so I assumed he was pretty good at the game. He probably was better than I was in general, but he didn’t seem to be adapting well to the tournament format. He wasn’t putting as much pressure on people as he could have been at the final table, and we were heads up, he repeatedly criticized me for getting the money in with hands that were smallish equity favorites if not traditionally “good” PLO8 hands.

In a deep-stacked situation, it’s a lot harder to play stuff like a bare QQ, and so it’s often correct to fold it even when you suspect you’re ahead of someone’s preflop range. But when stacks are shallow enough to get the money in pre-flop, it becomes a better hand. A good example is he seemed to think it was bad for me to check-raise him with 2349 on AJ2 flop with a flush draw possible. He got it in with 8652 and a flush draw, and I was actually a 57/43 favorite. There were a few more spots like that, too.  Read the complete post...

My tournaments results have been pretty good the last few months, culminating most recently in two PCA seats and a win in the FTP $300 Saturday 6-Max. I attribute this improvement to a disciplined effort to avoid bringing the aggressive play needed to win in high-stakes cash games over to a tournament setting where my opponents are far more passive and far less tricky.

Last night, in the $300 rebuy FTOPS event, I was rolling along nicely and then fell off the wagon:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 170/340 Blinds 25 Ante (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB (t13511)
UTG (t19356)
MP (t20140)
CO (t18855)
Button (t12236)
Hero (SB) (t19919)
Hero’s M: 30.18

Preflop: Hero is SB with 8, K
4 folds, Hero bets t1020, BB calls t680

Flop: (t2190) 9, 2, 7 (2 players)
Hero bets t1333, BB raises to t3125, Hero raises to t18874 (All-In), BB calls t9341 (All-In)

Turn: (t27122) 2 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t27122) A (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t27122

Results:
Hero had 8, K (one pair, twos).
BB had A, 9 (two pair, Aces and nines).
Outcome: BB won t27122  Read the complete post...

Cardplayer recently published a strategy interview with me that they titled “Folding Out Draws”. I think that title is actually a bit misleading, because it’s more about hand reading and going for thin value with a turn check-raise. But I think it’s a neat hand and I encourage you to check it out.

Thanks to commenter “Michael” for bringing this to my attention!

The whole idea of betting for protection is one that I feel I am really only now starting to understand. Most people, when they first start playing, are way too concerned about protecting their hands. You see them overbetting and moving all in with one pair hands in spots where they will never be called with worse.

Many better players like to make fun of the fish who talk about protecting their hands. Because betting for protection is so popular among weak players, many stronger players think it is an intrinsically bad play.

I’ve been trying to reach a more nuanced understanding of the concept recently. My current thinking is that it has a lot to do with, not whether you will get drawn out on, but whether future streets are likely to be +EV for you. Sometimes you have a hand that will play well on future streets, in which case you aren’t concerned about protecting. Other times, you have a hand that can’t improve and can’t catch bluffs, in which case it’s often best to take it down right away.

Here’s an example, from the $1000 FTOPS 6-max:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 120/240 Blinds 25 Ante (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
UTG (t11184)
MP (t3707)
CO (t4892)
Hero (Button) (t11375)
SB (t8732)
BB (t8370)
Hero’s M: 22.30  Read the complete post...

I’ve been spending most of my time these last few weeks camping, most recently at an amazing site in Arches National Park, and emerging only occasionally to play poker and catch up with the outside world. Annoyingly, this means I’m often at the mercy of either a hotel internet connection or my Aircard, neither of which provides quite as good of an internet connection as one would like when one is playing poker for thousands of dollars. So today the Poker Stars lobby was running at a crawl and I was trying to register for some tournaments while playing other games at the same time. I selected the $200 Sunday Million and clicked OK… or so I thought.

Half an hour earlier than I was expecting, a window popped up with my table. “Welcome to the $2000+$100 single table PCA satellite” it read, or something to that effect. Whoops.

It was definitely too late to unregister through the Poker Stars client. I quickly surveyed my opponents. They were a who’s who of high stakes sit-and-go sharks: Zangbezan, ActionJeff, busto_soon, stevie444, a few others recognized, and two I did not. Even the ones I recognized weren’t necessarily soft spots. For all I know, they could have been fantastic sit-and-go specialists. I hate the things myself and haven’t played them regularly for years. I was sure my proficiency with the proper and shoving and calling ranges was going to be rusty.  Read the complete post...

What is it with me losing three-way pre-flop all ins with Aces on the bubble of the final table of big Full Tilt tournaments? This is with 20 people left in the $300 6-max Saturday tournament.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 1000/2000 Blinds 250 Ante (5 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP (t85806)
Button (t128054)
SB (t45228)
BB (t72671)
Hero (UTG) (t120318)

Hero’s M: 28.31

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A, A
Hero bets t4888, MP calls t4888, 1 fold, SB raises to t44978 (All-In), 1 fold, Hero raises to t85068, MP raises to t85556 (All-In), Hero calls t488

Flop: (t219340) Q, 6, K (3 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: (t219340) 4 (3 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t219340) 8 (3 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t219340
Results:
SB had J, Q (flush, King high).
Hero had A, A (one pair, Aces).
MP had Q, Q (three of a kind, Queens).
Outcome: SB won t138184, MP won t81156

But with some skillful play…

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 2000/4000 Blinds 500 Ante (5 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t120360)
SB (t212041)
BB (t130758)
UTG (t221896)
Hero (MP) (t149764)

Hero’s M: 17.62

Preflop: Hero is MP with Q, K
UTG bets t9440, Hero calls t9440, 3 folds

Flop: (t27380) 6, Q, 4 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks  Read the complete post...

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6.00 BB (3 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($618)
SB ($1774.20)
BB ($690)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 6, K
Hero bets $15, SB calls $12, 1 fold

Flop: ($36) 2, A, 9 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $22, SB calls $22

Turn: ($80) 4 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($80) 3 (2 players)
SB bets $52, Hero raises to $181, 1 fold

Total pot: $184 | Rake: $1

Results:
Hero didn’t show 6, K (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won $183

I can get away with this for two reasons:

1. In general, a player who is betting or raising will have a wider range than one who is calling. This is because you can bet with a hand or as a bluff, but it’s a lot harder to call as a bluff. Both as a result of calling pre-flop and of calling the flop, Villain will rarely have a straight on the river. There are a lot more 5′s (not to mention 76 or 33) in my range than in Villain’s.

2. This is an uncommon spot to bluff. I think it will seem to Villain that if I wanted to bluff with my hand, the “standard” way would be to fire a second barrel on the turn. Thus, I expect to get some undeserved credit here.  Read the complete post...

The final part of my WSOP trip report is now appearing in the November issue of 2+2 Magazine. It perhaps goes without saying that one’s bust-out day from the WSOP main event is usually a frustrating one, and mine was no exception:

“Since he did call, does that mean my play was bad? Maybe, but not necessarily, and that’s one of the things that’s so frustrating about poker. Sometimes you do everything right, get your money in good, and lose anyway to an unlucky card. Other times, you do everything right but get your money in bad anyway. Bad results don’t necessarily mean bad play, which is what makes it so difficult to realize when you are playing badly.

It might be that my opponent never raises the flop with a hand that isn’t going to call all in, in which case my re-raise was bad. Or, maybe he raises the flop with a lot of hands that will fold to an all in. In that case, my play was good and I just got unlucky that he happened to have a particularly strong one this time. I’ll never know.”

Hopefully I’ll have a better outcome at the PCA.