Archive for April, 2010

Edit: Changed to a better link for downloading.

From time to time I like to check in at the 2+2 Software Forum to see what kinds of software, mods, etc. are out there that could potentially enhance my playing experience. These cards have actually been around for a while, but I just saw them for the first time and fell in love:

They are so much easier to read quickly and at a glance, which is important for someone as prone to hand misreading as I am. Unfortunately, I don’t believe they are available for Poker Stars.

They are free to download here. All you have to do is extract the files and replace the “Cards” folder in the FTP Program Files with the one you downloaded. You might want to save the old ones in a new folder just in case you want to switch back at some point. Oh and make sure you have “Four-Color Deck” turned OFF- it took me a few minutes to figure out why the new cards were only showing up for two suits.

We’re just inside of 100 people left in the monthly FTP $500, down from a little over 2000 who started.

UTG is a random who definitely does not play these stakes with any regularity. Googling his name reveals a few $.05/$.10 hands, so I’m sure he’s a satellite qualifier. He’s definitely playing his cards with minimal situational awareness or tournament skill, so while his opening ranges are tighter than those of a good tournament player, he’s a little on the spazzy side.

SB is a mid-stakes MTT grinder. This is definitely on the high end of events he plays, but he’s no stranger to $50-$100 buy-ins. He understands blind stealing, restealing, etc., and probably has roughly the same read on UTG that I have. I’ve been a little aggro, but nothing too out of line. Mostly just opening more than my share of pots, not a lot of 3-betting at all.

After I 3-bet, SB instantly shoved. UTG also could not have called any more quickly than he did. Also there is a lot of value to surviving this late in a soft, big buy-in tournament. The final table is going to involve playing for tens of thousands of dollars with more than a few total droolers.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 1700/3400 Blinds 400 Ante (8 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com  Read the complete post...

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (8 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($3084)
SB ($1000)
BB ($1759)
UTG ($2449)
UTG+1 ($3007)
MP1 ($2512.20)
MP2 ($2498)
CO ($2469)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 7, 5
UTG bets $20, 3 folds, CO calls $20, Hero calls $20, 2 folds

Flop: ($91) 3, 9, 6 (3 players)
UTG bets $60, CO calls $60, Hero raises to $222, UTG calls $162, 1 fold

Turn: ($595) K (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $444, UTG calls $444

River: ($1483) 2 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

Total pot: $1483 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero mucked 7, 5 (high card, King).
UTG had 8, K (one pair, Kings).
Outcome: UTG won $1480

Maybe he calls, but I still think I’m supposed to bet here. Less than a shove might be better though. I would have been happier if the river weren’t such an “obvious” scare card that rarely actually helps my hand. In other words, I’m afraid he’s going to think something along the lines of  “of course Foucault’s going to bluff when a flush draw completes on river but he rarely has a flush so I call”.

For 250BB’s, no less. My flop call isn’t great, but only because people’s ranges are nowhere near what they should be in these spots.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $4.00 BB (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($1023)
UTG ($936.40)
MP ($1422)
CO ($1631.85)
Hero (Button) ($1462.85)
SB ($2367.20)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 8, J
3 folds, Hero bets $12, SB calls $10, BB calls $8

Flop: ($40.80) 4, 8, 2 (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $30, SB calls $30, BB raises to $120, Hero calls $90, 1 fold

Turn: ($310.80) 8 (2 players)
BB bets $232, Hero calls $232

River: ($774.80) 8 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1098.05 (All-In), BB calls $658.20 (All-In)

Total pot: $2091.20 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had 8, J (four of a kind, eights).
BB had 4, 4 (full house, eights over fours).
Outcome: Hero won $2088.20

I’m also not a fan of his river call. Yeah, diamonds missed, but I really shouldn’t have those after calling a big bet on a paired board anyway.

Sorry I’ve been a bit quiet of late, I’ve been doing plenty of writing but it’s mostly towards the book. It’s taken away from my playing time a bit as well, so not as many interesting hands of late. If you’re looking for something interesting to read, check out this story I discovered recently in the 2+2 archives. It’s nothing to do with poker, other than that the guy apparently becomes a poker player eventually, but it’s pretty cool and very well told:

But I was tempted. It was just two days. In and out. What the hell. We went in with two trucks. The special forces captain was this big, young, smiling Ugandan called Mututu. He loved the fact that he had two mazungu’s as buddies. He gave us each an AK47. I told him that I had no idea what to do with this thing. He told me that if we were shot at just put it up over the side of the truck and press the trigger. Right, sure, whatever you reckon. Colin had brought a crate of beer along with us. We crossed the border illegally and we were in a war.

FYI the story is posted in many parts so you’ll have to scroll through the thread to find the next installments, though it’s not hard to do.

OK, so I am comfortably settled into this huge house on the Maine coast  and will be here for the rest of the month.Off-season extended rentals FTW- it’s too cold to get in the water and most of downtown is closed, but that just makes it a better writer’s retreat, am I right? I’ve got about 80% of a poker strategy book outlined and half of the first chapter written.

Here’s where you come in, target audience: what do you want to see in Foucault on Poker (other than a better title?) Without revealing too much at this nascent stage, I’ll say that this not going to be a catch-all book. There are plenty of those on the market, most of them suck, and doing it right would take thousands of pages and hours.

I want to focus on ten discrete topics, big picture stuff that tends to trip up or hold back players from being successful at small- and mid-stakes cash games. I’ve got my own ideas, but I don’t have ten yet, and in any event I want to know which topics you would like to see covered.

So… comment away!

I made it down to 300 or so in the Sunday Million today, thanks in no small part to a gamble relatively early on:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 215 Tournament, 500/1000 Blinds 75 Ante (9 handed) – Poker-Stars Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com

MP1 (t11074)
MP2 (t21590)
MP3 (t47491)
CO (t62986)
Button (t47576)
SB (t16526)
Hero (BB) (t29503)
UTG (t31340)
UTG+1 (t46561)

Hero’s M: 13.56

Preflop: Hero is BB with 2, 10
UTG bets t2000, UTG+1 calls t2000, 3 folds, CO calls t2000, 1 fold, SB calls t1500, Hero calls t1000

Flop: (t10675) J, Q, K (5 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG bets t6666, UTG+1 raises to t13332, 2 folds, Hero calls t13332, UTG raises to t29265 (All-In), UTG+1 raises to t44486 (All-In), Hero calls t14096 (All-In)

Turn: (t96633) 9 (3 players, 3 all-in)

River: (t96633) A (3 players, 3 all-in)

Total pot: t96633

Results:
Hero had 2, 10 (straight, Ace high).
UTG had Q, K (two pair, Kings and Queens).
UTG+1 had K, K (three of a kind, Kings).
Outcome: Hero won t92959, UTG+1 won t3674

I was pretty pissed at myself for eventually going broke here:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 215 Tournament, 4000/8000 Blinds 800 Ante (9 handed) – Poker-Stars Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com

SB (t178810)
BB (t172056)
UTG (t285030)
UTG+1 (t254696)
MP1 (t155336)
MP2 (t189351)
MP3 (t515043)
Hero (CO) (t180632)
Button (t279374)  Read the complete post...

I ran deep in the $300 6-max on Full Tilt today. For much of the end-game, I had a player on my right who I recognized from the 2+2 forums but whom I’d never played for. To the best of my knowledge, he is a successful tournament pro and also a Scandinavian, so I expected him to be pretty aggressive. Early on, some fish woke up with a hand and forced me to showdown a light 3-bet:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 800/1600 Blinds 200 Ante (5 handed) – Full-Tilt Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com

SB (t55728)
BB (t50634)
UTG (t114019)
MP (t77329)
Hero (Button) (t66601)

Hero’s M: 19.59

Preflop: Hero is Button with 7, 6
1 fold, MP bets t3200, Hero raises to t8888, 1 fold, BB calls t7288, 1 fold

Flop: (t22776) A, A, 3 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: (t22776) 10 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: (t22776) J (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Total pot: t22776

Results:
Hero had 7, 6 (one pair, Aces).
BB had Q, Q (two pair, Aces and Queens).
Outcome: BB won t22776

After that, I expected this guy to start coming after me, and I was ready to call his 4-bet shoves light:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 1000/2000 Blinds 250 Ante (5 handed) – Full-Tilt Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com  Read the complete post...