Archive for January, 2010

Note Villain’s stack size. The river bet isn’t actually pot, it’s putting him all in for about $90.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (5 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($350.45)
MP ($1448.75)
Button ($1268)
SB ($845.25)
Hero (BB) ($1000)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 2, 5
UTG calls $10, 3 folds, Hero checks

Flop: ($25) 8, 3, 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $25, UTG calls $25

Turn: ($75) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $50, Hero raises to $225, UTG calls $175

River: ($525) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $525, 1 fold

Total pot: $525 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero didn’t show 2, 5 (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won $522

He’s a fishy, so I’m not going to read too much into the fact that he just calls turn instead of sticking it in. I figure he’s got a (better) busted draw here and folds at least 20% of the time, and that’s enough to make the shove profitable.

No-Limit Hold’em, $50.00 BB (9 handed) – Hold’em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG+1 ($3450)
MP1 ($5000)
MP2 ($5422)
MP3 ($4925)
CO ($3521)
Button ($9048)
SB ($4750)
BB ($8768)
Hero (UTG) ($5763)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with 8, 8
Hero calls $50, UTG+1 calls $50, 1 fold, MP2 calls $50, 1 fold, CO calls $50, 1 fold, SB calls $25, BB checks

Flop: ($300) A, 8, 4 (6 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $222, UTG+1 calls $222, MP2 calls $222, CO calls $222, 2 folds

Turn: ($1188) 3 (4 players)
Hero bets $899, UTG+1 calls $899, MP2 raises $5150 (All-In), 1 fold, Hero raises $4592 (All-In), 1 fold

River: ($12387) 10 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $12387

Results:
Hero had 8, 8 (three of a kind, eights).
MP2 had 4, 4 (three of a kind, fours).
Outcome: Hero won $12725

This is a pretty unique spot where there’s just no way bottom set is good. I bet into five players on a super-dry Ace-high flop. After getting called in three spots, including by CO, who is a fish who is not going to let go of any Ace without a fight, I bet out again on the turn. Not only that, but UTG+1, who’s a pretty decent player, is showing a ton of strength by calling twice. It’s awfully tough to put all three of us on hands that are losing to 44, and even harder to come up with worse hands that are calling a shove.  Read the complete post...

Even after days when I’m totally immersed in poker, it’s pretty rare for me to dream about the game (or to remember those dreams, anyway). I’m sure it’s happened before, but I can’t recall any specific instances. I had two such dreams last night, though.

In the first, I raised with ATo and get one caller. The flop came AA9. I bet, he called. Turn was a 7, I checked, he bet, I called. River was an A, and he had about half a pot-sized bet left in his stack, so I shoved. He tanked and called with J9. “I have it,” I told him, and proudly tabled… 97. I stared at my cards in confusion for a moment, then looked at the board and said, “At lease we chop it.” Then the dealer started shuffling the board back into the deck without awarding the pot to us. As he did, I saw the 9 and 7 and, confusing myself, announced that I had two pair and it’s not a chop. The dealer called for the floor, and while we waited, I realized that it actually should be a chop. Only now the dealer has decided to reconstruct the flop and he does it wrong, this time putting up AA975, turning it into a scoop for my opponent.  Read the complete post...

The controversial LA Gangland Bus Tours, which for $65 a head takes tourists on a two-hour bus tour of Watts and South-Central Los Angeles to visit sites significant to the history of street gangs in the US, is scheduled to give its first tour this morning. The tour, led by a former gang member, will raise money for said former gang member’s non-profit organization, though questions about ethics and taste have been raised, most recently in the New York Times:

Alfred Lomas, 45, a former gang member and the creator of the tour ($65, lunch included), said this drive-by was about educating people on city life, while turning any profits into microloans and other initiatives aimed at providing gang members jobs.

But aside from its unusual logistical challenges — the liability waiver describes the tour as “inherently dangerous” and warns of the risk of death — the venture has also generated debate about its appropriateness. Chicago has a tour of Al Capone sites and Las Vegas has one devoted to the mob — but this gangland lore is still happening.

“Everybody says we are the gang capital of the world, and that is certainly true, no denying that,” said the Rev. Gregory Boyle, who has spent decades trying to steer people out of gangs into legitimate work. “It’s hard to gloss over that. But there are two extremes we always need to avoid. One is demonizing the gang member, and the other extreme is romanticizing the gang.”  Read the complete post...

I’ve been vaguely aware of both the plot of The Blind Side (homeless black teenager from broken family is adopted by wealthy white family and goes on to play pro football) and the critiques of its racial politics for some time, and despite its unexpected box office success, I’ve had little desire to see it. I’m currently in Florida visiting my grandmother, though, and she wanted to see The Blind Side, so see The Blind Side we did.

I don’t much care for Sandra Bullock, but she’s exactly as good as everyone says she is as the loving, no-nonsense matriarch of a wealthy Southern family. And the movie in general is pretty much what you’d expect: cutesy, saccharine, uplifting, and formulaic. It’s good for what it is though, with a remarkable story, quick pace, witty dialogue, and genuinely likable characters.

As for the film’s racial politics, I can’t say that I entirely agree with most of the critiques I’ve seen, though I do have a few of my own. A. O. Scott’s review for the New York Times encapsulates the most common criticism of Blind Side:

To the extent that Michael represents a social problem (or maybe a whole bunch of them, including poverty, drug addiction and family dysfunction), the solution depicted is individual, charitable and, at least implicitly, faith based.  Read the complete post...

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

CO ($2077.75)
Button ($1181)
Hero (SB) ($2208)
BB ($1000)
UTG ($1015)
MP ($1491)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K, K
1 fold, MP bets $30, 2 folds, Hero raises to $111, 1 fold, MP calls $81

Flop: ($232) 6, 4, 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $140, Hero calls $140

Turn: ($512) 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $330, Hero calls $330

River: ($1172) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $910 (All-In), Hero calls $910

Total pot: $2992 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had K, K (two pair, Kings and sixes).
MP had A, A (two pair, Aces and sixes).
Outcome: MP won $2989

I don’t usually mind stacking off with Kings under Aces, but I have to say, he played this extremely well. It’s not the most obvious spot in the world to go for three streets of value with AA, but it’s a very good one. He got full value from a very slightly second-best hand in a spot where most players would not have.

Here’s a few miscellaneous hands I made notes to post about. These first two were from my first night here, at $5/$10 NLHE, and the last one was from today in a pretty nitty $10/$25 game with a couple tough players.

River Check-Raise

Two limpers, I complete J6s in the SB, BB checks. Flop KJ6, all diamonds. I bet $35, the first limper raises to $75, the other players fold, and I call.

Turn 5d, we both check.

River Jc, I check, he bets $150, I raise to $550, he pays me off.

Slowishroll

Two limpers, I raise to $65 with 88 in MP and get 3 calls. Flop 458 rainbow, I bet $200 into a $275 pot, one of the limpers calls and the others fold.

Turn J, he check-calls $400.

River is an offsuit 3, and he open shoves about $1500. I actually thought for a while before calling here just because I couldn’t figure out what he had. With two pair or a lower set, I’d expect him to have raised by now for fear of letting a four-straight show on the board. There also weren’t many draws to speak of that he could have missed and would now be turning into a bluff. I kind of felt like 76 was his single most likely holding, but I certainly wasn’t sure enough that he couldn’t have a lower set or a random bluff or something. I called and he indicated for me to show first, basically saying he was bluffing, and he mucked when I showed.  Read the complete post...

45 runners in the $500 PLO8 today, and yours truly managed to final table it, finishing 8th (we were playing 8-handed) for a whopping $875. Also at the final table was my friend and fellow Poker Savvy Plus instructor Tom Chambers, who finished 4th after a series of gross suckouts by every other player at the table. Tom assures me it was not good to get it in with AcQcTx8x for 14BB’s UTG+1 early at the final table (my bustout hand).

Two other moderately interesting hands:

50/100, I open to 300 with AA64, solid online guy on the button calls, decent slightly passive European lady calls on BB. Flop Q95r, she checks, I bet 600, Button calls, she check-raises pot, I have a pretty standard fold.

100/200, four limpers, I check Q246 in the BB. Flop Kh Qh 2c (I have no hearts). Checks around.

Turn Kh Qh 2c 7d. I check, first limper checks, same lady from before bets 500, gets one fold. I have about 3K in my stack and fold, but I am not so sure this was good. I think check-raising probably gets me a fold maybe 20-25% of the time, and while I’m not ahead of her calling range, it’s very difficult for her to be ahead of me for both high and low.  Read the complete post...