Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Finding Their Voices
The Washington Post recently ran a very thorough story on two debaters from the Baltimore Urban Debate League. It's probably the best article I've seen on any urban debate league. It's generally true that any press is good press, but too often news articles tend to have an undertone of "Can you believe these kids are debating?!?!!?" or resort to unfortunate turns of phrase such as, "learning to settle arguments with words instead of guns" (actually a paraphrase of First Lady Laura Bush talking about the Atlanta Urban Debate League).
It's not even that those angles are false, exactly, but I find it very unfortunate when people choose to focus on these exclusively. Providing valuable educational opportunities to young people without access to them ought to be valued on its own merits, not simply because we are afraid of encountering those same young people in a dark alley. As the Post article puts it,
"But the biggest benefit of debate, according to the coaches, teachers and judges in the program, is that it engages underprivileged students, who are learning to study, think, write and present their ideas with the best of them. In the '70s, when budget crunches forced urban schools to eliminate many "extraneous" programs, such as art, drama and speech, debate became the exclusive bailiwick of affluent private and suburban public schools. "For a long time, debate teams had looked very white and male, in coats and ties, like you'd expect," says Spiliadis. "But we've changed the face of debate.""
The article mostly follows the two students at the J.B. Fuqua Urban Debate League Celebration in Atlanta that I wrote about a few months ago. I didn't actually get to watch them debate, but I did meet them and hear some very good things.
Even better, there was an editorial in the Post Magazine the same day:
"Fifty-three years later, it goes without saying that we've made real progress toward equality, although it's hard to argue we've arrived. Of course, today's school disparities are said to be based on class, not race, however inexorably the two are intertwined. But putting aside the source of the problem, don't you find it outrageous that so many children are consigned to inferior educations -- and lesser lives -- just because their parents can't afford to raise them in a good public school district? And I, for one, wonder: Where are the Barbaras? Do these students not understand that they also deserve much better? Why don't they raise their voices?
After reading today's cover story by Baltimore writer Karen Houppert, which begins on Page 12, it occurs to me that you have to find your voice before you can raise it."
Stumble It!
It's not even that those angles are false, exactly, but I find it very unfortunate when people choose to focus on these exclusively. Providing valuable educational opportunities to young people without access to them ought to be valued on its own merits, not simply because we are afraid of encountering those same young people in a dark alley. As the Post article puts it,
"But the biggest benefit of debate, according to the coaches, teachers and judges in the program, is that it engages underprivileged students, who are learning to study, think, write and present their ideas with the best of them. In the '70s, when budget crunches forced urban schools to eliminate many "extraneous" programs, such as art, drama and speech, debate became the exclusive bailiwick of affluent private and suburban public schools. "For a long time, debate teams had looked very white and male, in coats and ties, like you'd expect," says Spiliadis. "But we've changed the face of debate.""
The article mostly follows the two students at the J.B. Fuqua Urban Debate League Celebration in Atlanta that I wrote about a few months ago. I didn't actually get to watch them debate, but I did meet them and hear some very good things.
Even better, there was an editorial in the Post Magazine the same day:
"Fifty-three years later, it goes without saying that we've made real progress toward equality, although it's hard to argue we've arrived. Of course, today's school disparities are said to be based on class, not race, however inexorably the two are intertwined. But putting aside the source of the problem, don't you find it outrageous that so many children are consigned to inferior educations -- and lesser lives -- just because their parents can't afford to raise them in a good public school district? And I, for one, wonder: Where are the Barbaras? Do these students not understand that they also deserve much better? Why don't they raise their voices?
After reading today's cover story by Baltimore writer Karen Houppert, which begins on Page 12, it occurs to me that you have to find your voice before you can raise it."
Labels: urban debate league
Stumble It!
Monday, August 27, 2007
It's Sunday, but I can't complain
I was really happy with the way I was playing yesterday. The aggressive style that wins money at shorthanded 5/10 NL has been getting me into trouble in tournament play lately, but yesterday I didn't do anything dumb: no hopeless calls, no big bluffs, and no desperation plays. I was playing solid, patient tournament poker and making some good reads. I got off to a great start in every Sunday tournament I played (FTP 750K guarantee, FTP mulligan, Stars Million, Stars Second Chance, UB 200K guarantee, and Stars $300 WCOOP main event satellite), though my results still came out fairly mediocre: I won a WCOOP (World Championship of Online Poker) seat and had a very shallow cash in the mulligan, but nothing else of note. Mostly I just lost some key coin flips, which is frustrating but ultimately fine.
The most frustrating one came in the 750K. I built up a huge stack early on by hitting two flushes, once holding bottom pair and a flush draw versus two pair, and the other time holding the nut flush draw versus top pair and top set. Obviously a lucky start, and it catapaulted into the top .5% of the field with over 2000 players remaining.
The Nasty Coinflip
With 800 players left, I was still in good shape, sitting on an above average stack of about 17K at the 250/500 level. Action folded to the SB, who had about 20K. He had been aggressive, so I put him on a wide range when he open raised to 1500. I was holding 44. Against more passive players, I'll just call and take a flop in position, as I have a better idea what kind of flops will help them and how they will play post-flop. But against this guy, I was less inclined to do that, because I wasn't going to know what to do on most flops.
My instinct was to make it 4500 or so, but I think I need to call his all in once I do that, and it gives him room to shove a lot of weakish hands that are still 50/50 against me because he may think he has fold equity. So, I decided just to stick the whole 17K in myself. This was a big bet, 6-7 times the size of the pot, and not something to do often. But here, I felt better pairs would be a small part of his range and that I could knock him off of quite a few hands that consisted of two overcards to my 4's. So I shoved, and he called me with KQ and won the coin flip.
I was pretty shocked by his call at the time, and I still think it's bad, but it's not as bad as I thought. I probably don't have a hand that dominates him, as stuff like AQ+ and QQ+ is too strong to play the way I played my hand, so he doesn't figure to be in bad shape against me. Maybe I even show up with KT-KJ once in a while (from his perspective, anyway)?
But enough whining. Here are some pretty heroic river calls I made. Even though none of them was a particularly important hand, they made me feel as though I were making good reads and playing well.
First Hand
This one, from the Stars Million, wasn't as tricky as I initially thought:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t200 (8 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
MP1 (t2758)
Hero (t13250)
CO (t3855)
Button (t12895)
SB (t6661)
BB (t4186)
UTG (t14630)
UTG+1 (t9843)
Preflop: Hero is MP2 with Jd, Js.
UTG raises to t550, 2 folds, Hero calls t550, 4 folds.
Flop: (t1170) Td, Tc, Kh (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets t690, UTG calls t690.
Turn: (t2550) As (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks.
River: (t2550) Ad (2 players)
UTG bets t1800, Hero calls t1800.
Final Pot: t6150
Villain in this hand was somewhat aggressive and seemed like a decent player overall. With these stacks, a reraise pre-flop is certainly defensible, but for whatever reason I called, which I think is fine, too.
This is a good board for him to continuation bet, so when he checks, I put him on a hand with showdown value that wants to play a small pot. That could be a K, a pocket pair, or maybe even A-high, probably with a gut shot. However, I felt like he wouldn't be playing a lot of K's here and may not play them like this anyway, and that he'd usually bet something like AJ, so that the most likely explanation was that he was checking with a pair smaller than mine planning to call a bet. So I bet.
An Ace was not what I wanted to see. I'm not too worried that it hit him, but it means I'm not likely to win anything more if he does have a smaller pair, because it's another scare card for him. Another Ace on the river makes me feel good about my hand, but then he bets. I tanked for a while before I realized that the river counterfeited small pairs and he could be trying to bluff me off of a chop. I called and beat his 77. Not such a heroic spot, really, but the next one is good.
Hand 2
This was from the Full Tilt mulligan. I didn't have any kind of read on my opponent.
Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (9 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Button (t3090)
Hero (t4170)
BB (t2335)
UTG (t2590)
UTG+1 (t1060)
MP1 (t2895)
MP2 (t2885)
MP3 (t4690)
CO (t3285)
Preflop: Hero is SB with Jd, Ks.
7 folds, Hero completes, BB checks.
Flop: (t60) 7h, Ah, 5c (2 players)
Hero bets t60, BB calls t60.
Turn: (t180) 6c (2 players)
Hero checks, BB checks.
River: (t180) Ts (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets t180, Hero calls t180.
Final Pot: t540
I often raise this pre-flop, but against random unknowns early in a tournament, it can be tricky to play out of position because some of them will call almost anything pre-flop and sometimes on the flop as well. In other words, they accidentally play pretty well against a hand like mine. So I keep the pot small and limp.
When he doesn't raise pre-flop, I discount Aces from his range, though they aren't impossible. So I bet out to protect what figures to be the best hand. Against someone I know to be aggressive, checking and calling is good, but most people are too passive to put in any money unless they have something, so there's no point in giving a free card. Whoops, he calls. That could be a pair, a draw, or just whatever air he didn't feel like folding.
I checked the turn figuring he would let me know what's up. There are so many draws out there that he can't afford to slowplay, so if he doesn't bet, I'm putting him on a draw. If he bluffs with a draw, as he should, then he wins the pot. But he checks.
Then he pots a blank river. This a great example of an instance where his range is polarized. He's going to have either a busted draw or a very strong hand, probably a good two pair or better. There's just no way he can check a big hand on such a draw-heavy turn, so unless he has like T5 and made an ugly two pair on the river, he's going to have a missed draw. And most of his missed draws are weaker than KJ high, so I call and get show 24o for a busted gutshot.
His flop call is fine if he's going to bluff the turn and maybe the river, since I'm often going to give up and sometimes he'll get there. But to call pot on the flop with a trashy draw and then just check the turn when your hand has no showdown value is just bad, and then he compounded it with a bad bluff on the river.
Can't Complain
So like I said, I can't complain. I had some good luck early on, played well, then had some bad luck later. It happens, and thanks to the satellite, I was up a modest amount even on tournaments. But I really can't complain because I won a bunch at the 5/10 NL tables I had going at the same time as my tournaments. Gawd, why do I even waste my time with tournaments any more? They are like crack, I just can't get off them! I haven't had a lot of time to play poker lately, but when I do, it's been mostly tournaments. By the way, my girlfriend is coming to visit for the week, then a friend from high school is coming for the weekend, so it will definitely be a slow poker week and probably slow in terms of blog updates as well. But I should have another article coming in the September 2+2 magazine, so I'll let you know when that's available.
Stumble It!
The most frustrating one came in the 750K. I built up a huge stack early on by hitting two flushes, once holding bottom pair and a flush draw versus two pair, and the other time holding the nut flush draw versus top pair and top set. Obviously a lucky start, and it catapaulted into the top .5% of the field with over 2000 players remaining.
The Nasty Coinflip
With 800 players left, I was still in good shape, sitting on an above average stack of about 17K at the 250/500 level. Action folded to the SB, who had about 20K. He had been aggressive, so I put him on a wide range when he open raised to 1500. I was holding 44. Against more passive players, I'll just call and take a flop in position, as I have a better idea what kind of flops will help them and how they will play post-flop. But against this guy, I was less inclined to do that, because I wasn't going to know what to do on most flops.
My instinct was to make it 4500 or so, but I think I need to call his all in once I do that, and it gives him room to shove a lot of weakish hands that are still 50/50 against me because he may think he has fold equity. So, I decided just to stick the whole 17K in myself. This was a big bet, 6-7 times the size of the pot, and not something to do often. But here, I felt better pairs would be a small part of his range and that I could knock him off of quite a few hands that consisted of two overcards to my 4's. So I shoved, and he called me with KQ and won the coin flip.
I was pretty shocked by his call at the time, and I still think it's bad, but it's not as bad as I thought. I probably don't have a hand that dominates him, as stuff like AQ+ and QQ+ is too strong to play the way I played my hand, so he doesn't figure to be in bad shape against me. Maybe I even show up with KT-KJ once in a while (from his perspective, anyway)?
But enough whining. Here are some pretty heroic river calls I made. Even though none of them was a particularly important hand, they made me feel as though I were making good reads and playing well.
First Hand
This one, from the Stars Million, wasn't as tricky as I initially thought:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t200 (8 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
MP1 (t2758)
Hero (t13250)
CO (t3855)
Button (t12895)
SB (t6661)
BB (t4186)
UTG (t14630)
UTG+1 (t9843)
Preflop: Hero is MP2 with Jd, Js.
UTG raises to t550, 2 folds, Hero calls t550, 4 folds.
Flop: (t1170) Td, Tc, Kh (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets t690, UTG calls t690.
Turn: (t2550) As (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks.
River: (t2550) Ad (2 players)
UTG bets t1800, Hero calls t1800.
Final Pot: t6150
Villain in this hand was somewhat aggressive and seemed like a decent player overall. With these stacks, a reraise pre-flop is certainly defensible, but for whatever reason I called, which I think is fine, too.
This is a good board for him to continuation bet, so when he checks, I put him on a hand with showdown value that wants to play a small pot. That could be a K, a pocket pair, or maybe even A-high, probably with a gut shot. However, I felt like he wouldn't be playing a lot of K's here and may not play them like this anyway, and that he'd usually bet something like AJ, so that the most likely explanation was that he was checking with a pair smaller than mine planning to call a bet. So I bet.
An Ace was not what I wanted to see. I'm not too worried that it hit him, but it means I'm not likely to win anything more if he does have a smaller pair, because it's another scare card for him. Another Ace on the river makes me feel good about my hand, but then he bets. I tanked for a while before I realized that the river counterfeited small pairs and he could be trying to bluff me off of a chop. I called and beat his 77. Not such a heroic spot, really, but the next one is good.
Hand 2
This was from the Full Tilt mulligan. I didn't have any kind of read on my opponent.
Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (9 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Button (t3090)
Hero (t4170)
BB (t2335)
UTG (t2590)
UTG+1 (t1060)
MP1 (t2895)
MP2 (t2885)
MP3 (t4690)
CO (t3285)
Preflop: Hero is SB with Jd, Ks.
7 folds, Hero completes, BB checks.
Flop: (t60) 7h, Ah, 5c (2 players)
Hero bets t60, BB calls t60.
Turn: (t180) 6c (2 players)
Hero checks, BB checks.
River: (t180) Ts (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets t180, Hero calls t180.
Final Pot: t540
I often raise this pre-flop, but against random unknowns early in a tournament, it can be tricky to play out of position because some of them will call almost anything pre-flop and sometimes on the flop as well. In other words, they accidentally play pretty well against a hand like mine. So I keep the pot small and limp.
When he doesn't raise pre-flop, I discount Aces from his range, though they aren't impossible. So I bet out to protect what figures to be the best hand. Against someone I know to be aggressive, checking and calling is good, but most people are too passive to put in any money unless they have something, so there's no point in giving a free card. Whoops, he calls. That could be a pair, a draw, or just whatever air he didn't feel like folding.
I checked the turn figuring he would let me know what's up. There are so many draws out there that he can't afford to slowplay, so if he doesn't bet, I'm putting him on a draw. If he bluffs with a draw, as he should, then he wins the pot. But he checks.
Then he pots a blank river. This a great example of an instance where his range is polarized. He's going to have either a busted draw or a very strong hand, probably a good two pair or better. There's just no way he can check a big hand on such a draw-heavy turn, so unless he has like T5 and made an ugly two pair on the river, he's going to have a missed draw. And most of his missed draws are weaker than KJ high, so I call and get show 24o for a busted gutshot.
His flop call is fine if he's going to bluff the turn and maybe the river, since I'm often going to give up and sometimes he'll get there. But to call pot on the flop with a trashy draw and then just check the turn when your hand has no showdown value is just bad, and then he compounded it with a bad bluff on the river.
Can't Complain
So like I said, I can't complain. I had some good luck early on, played well, then had some bad luck later. It happens, and thanks to the satellite, I was up a modest amount even on tournaments. But I really can't complain because I won a bunch at the 5/10 NL tables I had going at the same time as my tournaments. Gawd, why do I even waste my time with tournaments any more? They are like crack, I just can't get off them! I haven't had a lot of time to play poker lately, but when I do, it's been mostly tournaments. By the way, my girlfriend is coming to visit for the week, then a friend from high school is coming for the weekend, so it will definitely be a slow poker week and probably slow in terms of blog updates as well. But I should have another article coming in the September 2+2 magazine, so I'll let you know when that's available.
Labels: poker, poker strategy, session review
Stumble It!
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Yes I still play poker
This is from a $100 freezeout on Poker Stars. Villain in this hand is Lilholdem, one of the most successful tournament players around. From what I've seen, he's loose and aggressive, sometimes to a fault.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t150 (9 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
MP1 (t5845)
MP2 (t11864)
MP3 (t4475)
CO (t8581)
Button (t7205)
Hero (t8100)
BB (t2175) (sitting out)
UTG (t9405)
UTG+1 (t3430)
Preflop: Hero is SB with Kh, Qs.
6 folds, Button raises to t450, Hero calls t375, 1 fold.
Flop: (t1050) Qd, 6c, 9d (2 players)
Hero bets t650, Button calls t650.
Turn: (t2350) Ad (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t1200, Hero calls t1200.
River: (t4750) Qh (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks.
Final Pot: t4750
The BB is sitting out, which means Lil is going to be raising a very wide range from the button. That's an argument for 3-betting him, but because he knows I know he's raising light, he's likely to 4-bet shove on me very aggressively as well. That could be an argument for reraising and calling a shove, but I think a big part of his shoving range is going to be Ace-rag, which means I'd generally be getting my money in bad (though not very bad).
Anyway, I elected not to go down the road and just called. Top pair good kicker is a monster in this spot, and I lead out hoping to make it look like I am trying to take it down cheap with a delayed steal. I was hoping for a raise, but his call could still mean that he's planning on making a move on a future street.
Ugly turn. But having played my hand so as to induce an aggressive move from Lil, I can't very well fold to a half pot bet well the perfect bluff card falls.
My plan was to call a bet on the river. Basically, at this point, my opponent is likely to have a bluff, a flush, or a weakish made hand. Against the first two, checking and calling is best, and a lot of his weak hands aren't calling a bet if I lead the Q. Turns out he had A6, so lucky river for me. I'd be surprised if he would have called anything but a very small river bet, so I'm happy with how I played it.
Stumble It!
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t150 (9 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
MP1 (t5845)
MP2 (t11864)
MP3 (t4475)
CO (t8581)
Button (t7205)
Hero (t8100)
BB (t2175) (sitting out)
UTG (t9405)
UTG+1 (t3430)
Preflop: Hero is SB with Kh, Qs.
6 folds, Button raises to t450, Hero calls t375, 1 fold.
Flop: (t1050) Qd, 6c, 9d (2 players)
Hero bets t650, Button calls t650.
Turn: (t2350) Ad (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t1200, Hero calls t1200.
River: (t4750) Qh (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks.
Final Pot: t4750
The BB is sitting out, which means Lil is going to be raising a very wide range from the button. That's an argument for 3-betting him, but because he knows I know he's raising light, he's likely to 4-bet shove on me very aggressively as well. That could be an argument for reraising and calling a shove, but I think a big part of his shoving range is going to be Ace-rag, which means I'd generally be getting my money in bad (though not very bad).
Anyway, I elected not to go down the road and just called. Top pair good kicker is a monster in this spot, and I lead out hoping to make it look like I am trying to take it down cheap with a delayed steal. I was hoping for a raise, but his call could still mean that he's planning on making a move on a future street.
Ugly turn. But having played my hand so as to induce an aggressive move from Lil, I can't very well fold to a half pot bet well the perfect bluff card falls.
My plan was to call a bet on the river. Basically, at this point, my opponent is likely to have a bluff, a flush, or a weakish made hand. Against the first two, checking and calling is best, and a lot of his weak hands aren't calling a bet if I lead the Q. Turns out he had A6, so lucky river for me. I'd be surprised if he would have called anything but a very small river bet, so I'm happy with how I played it.
Labels: poker, poker strategy, session review
Stumble It!
Thursday, August 23, 2007
CDSI Update
Sorry for the lack of updates, but as predicted, I haven't spent a lot of time on the computer in Chicago. I'm out here for a week volunteering for the Chicago Debate Summer Institute, a two-week camp very similar to the institute I ran in Boston last week. Unlike my own camp, which averaged 10-12 attendees on a given day, the CDSI has averaged over 100 per day in the last few years.
When I arrived at Payton High School on Monday morning, however, I found somewhat fewer students than that. There were only 50-60 in attendance that day, and therefore a glut of instructors. The institute director had nothing for Dave (director of the LA Urban Debate League, also in town for the CDSI) and me to do until the afternoon, so we sat in on one of the lectures the students were watching. It was not a good sign that with such a low student:teacher ratio, there were still so many lectures going on. It's just the worst way for students to learn, especially at a summer camp that is also supposed to be fun and exciting, and with so many spare instructors available, I would have much preferred to see more small group work.
In fact, when I offered to come out to Chicago, I specifically requested some time to work with smaller groups of students, because in the past I've been assigned mostly lectures when I visit, and those are just much less fun and rewarding. So after a morning that could have been spent in bed, I had a lecture in the afternoon, and then for the next few days I was to be working with first-year coaches. Sigh. Well that beats lecturing, and ultimately I'm willing to do whatever is needed.
Unfortunately, my new coaches class consists of just two people. They were both cool, very interested in learning about debate and participating a good deal, which is important with such a small group, but I still did not feel as though it was worth a week of my time to fly out to Chicago just to work with two coaches.
The CDSI was only about half of my incentive for coming to Chicago, though. I also wanted to spend some time with Dave, whom I only get to see once or twice a year at these urban debate league events. We first met at a summer debate institute at Howard University a few years ago, and we, along with a woman named Tracy, had such a good time that the three of us continued to meet up at debate camps each summer. Right now, though, Tracy is in South Africa, so it's just Dave and me.
Truthfully, although I like Dave a lot, we don't have many common interests beyond debate and our similar positions in our respective urban debate leagues. Dave teaches high school, coaches football, and has a brilliant five-year-old daughter named Saida. I live alone, play poker on the internet, and read Harry Potter in French. But like me, he's very laid back (Long Beach style, he calls it), and happy just to hang out, talk, and watch TV or nurse beers quietly at a bar.
And I really love listening to him talk about his daughter. I really don't think I've ever seen a more adoring parent, and yet it isn't creepy the way some parents are who just won't shut up about their kids. But once he gets going, the love and fascination Dave has for Saida takes over, and it is touching to watch.
Saida was not yet into her Terrible Twos when I first met Dave, and already he was bragging about how smart she was. I initially thought he was exaggerating because that's what proud fathers do, but I met her for the first and only time last summer, when she was four, and every word he said was true. This child spoke in long, complicated sentences, loved reading, and was fiercely independent.
Other parents from Saida's school sometimes ask what he and his wife do with Saida to make her so smart. Read to her? Feed her only fruits and vegetables? Forbid her from watching television? He can't explain it, and, considering himself far from a genius, accepts no credit for passing on good genes. We agreed he should start making up crazy rituals to try to convince these other parents to bathe their children in orange juice or never let them near a microwave or whatever else he can think up.
Last night we sat in our room watching a tremendous thunder storm that had taken out our satellite TV and our internet connection. "Anytime I had to make a wish when I was little," I told him, "like if I was blowing out birthday candles or throwing a penny in a fountain or whatever, I always wished to control the weather. I don't know why, but at the time, I didn't want money or toys or whatever, I just wanted to make it rain."
He laughed self-consciously. "I always wanted to be a millionaire. I know that's shallow, but I've always just wanted money. I feel like now, if Nandi and I can just work the rest of our lives and build up a nice little estate to pass on to Saida, she could really make something happen. I mean, the girl just needs some capital, and she'll change the world. And that's all I need to do, just leave her some money, let her do her thing, and exit stage left."
Stumble It!
When I arrived at Payton High School on Monday morning, however, I found somewhat fewer students than that. There were only 50-60 in attendance that day, and therefore a glut of instructors. The institute director had nothing for Dave (director of the LA Urban Debate League, also in town for the CDSI) and me to do until the afternoon, so we sat in on one of the lectures the students were watching. It was not a good sign that with such a low student:teacher ratio, there were still so many lectures going on. It's just the worst way for students to learn, especially at a summer camp that is also supposed to be fun and exciting, and with so many spare instructors available, I would have much preferred to see more small group work.
In fact, when I offered to come out to Chicago, I specifically requested some time to work with smaller groups of students, because in the past I've been assigned mostly lectures when I visit, and those are just much less fun and rewarding. So after a morning that could have been spent in bed, I had a lecture in the afternoon, and then for the next few days I was to be working with first-year coaches. Sigh. Well that beats lecturing, and ultimately I'm willing to do whatever is needed.
Unfortunately, my new coaches class consists of just two people. They were both cool, very interested in learning about debate and participating a good deal, which is important with such a small group, but I still did not feel as though it was worth a week of my time to fly out to Chicago just to work with two coaches.
The CDSI was only about half of my incentive for coming to Chicago, though. I also wanted to spend some time with Dave, whom I only get to see once or twice a year at these urban debate league events. We first met at a summer debate institute at Howard University a few years ago, and we, along with a woman named Tracy, had such a good time that the three of us continued to meet up at debate camps each summer. Right now, though, Tracy is in South Africa, so it's just Dave and me.
Truthfully, although I like Dave a lot, we don't have many common interests beyond debate and our similar positions in our respective urban debate leagues. Dave teaches high school, coaches football, and has a brilliant five-year-old daughter named Saida. I live alone, play poker on the internet, and read Harry Potter in French. But like me, he's very laid back (Long Beach style, he calls it), and happy just to hang out, talk, and watch TV or nurse beers quietly at a bar.
And I really love listening to him talk about his daughter. I really don't think I've ever seen a more adoring parent, and yet it isn't creepy the way some parents are who just won't shut up about their kids. But once he gets going, the love and fascination Dave has for Saida takes over, and it is touching to watch.
Saida was not yet into her Terrible Twos when I first met Dave, and already he was bragging about how smart she was. I initially thought he was exaggerating because that's what proud fathers do, but I met her for the first and only time last summer, when she was four, and every word he said was true. This child spoke in long, complicated sentences, loved reading, and was fiercely independent.
Other parents from Saida's school sometimes ask what he and his wife do with Saida to make her so smart. Read to her? Feed her only fruits and vegetables? Forbid her from watching television? He can't explain it, and, considering himself far from a genius, accepts no credit for passing on good genes. We agreed he should start making up crazy rituals to try to convince these other parents to bathe their children in orange juice or never let them near a microwave or whatever else he can think up.
Last night we sat in our room watching a tremendous thunder storm that had taken out our satellite TV and our internet connection. "Anytime I had to make a wish when I was little," I told him, "like if I was blowing out birthday candles or throwing a penny in a fountain or whatever, I always wished to control the weather. I don't know why, but at the time, I didn't want money or toys or whatever, I just wanted to make it rain."
He laughed self-consciously. "I always wanted to be a millionaire. I know that's shallow, but I've always just wanted money. I feel like now, if Nandi and I can just work the rest of our lives and build up a nice little estate to pass on to Saida, she could really make something happen. I mean, the girl just needs some capital, and she'll change the world. And that's all I need to do, just leave her some money, let her do her thing, and exit stage left."
Labels: personal, urban debate league
Stumble It!
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Headed to Chicago
Sorry things have been slow recently, but I haven't played much, with Boston's summer institute last week, and now I'm headed out to Chicago to volunteer for a week at their institute. I won't be playing much if any poker, and probably won't have a lot of opportunity to update here either, so I may not post again until the weekend.
Best of luck until then!
-Andrew
Stumble It!
Best of luck until then!
-Andrew
Labels: poker, urban debate league
Stumble It!
Saturday, August 18, 2007
John McCain on the Daily Show
Not that we're in agreement politically, but I've got a lot of respect for McCain, more than I have for pretty much any other politician. He seems genuine, humble, funny, intelligent, thoughtful, etc. Nothing like a few years in a Vietnamese prison camp to give you some perspective, I guess.
Although I did not get to meet him, a group of debaters from a camp I was working at at Howard University a few years ago ran into him in the lobby of a Senate office building during a tour. The camp director introduced himself and told McCain what the camp was, and the Senator stopped and talked with the kids for about 20 minutes. The debate topic that year was about civil liberties and the war on terrorism, so they were asking about Guantanamo and treatment of enemy combatants and that sort of thing.
Afterwards, the kids were excited to tell me about meeting him, but shocked to learn that he was a Republican. From what I've seen, Republican is an expletive in most urban communities, and the idea that this friendly, funny, down-to-Earth man represented the dark side was really shocking to the students.
I think that also makes McCain's willingness to hold an impromptu Q&A with them especially notable, because there was really no political gain in it for him, the way there is when candidates visit a little league game or go to some small town Bingo night or something. The vast majority of these kids were not of voting age, and the color of their skin alone would be enough to tell McCain that no matter how much of an impression he made on them, it wasn't likely to translate into political support from them or their families.
Anyway, enough glowing. Check him out with Jon Stewart, I found him pretty entertaining:
Stumble It!
Although I did not get to meet him, a group of debaters from a camp I was working at at Howard University a few years ago ran into him in the lobby of a Senate office building during a tour. The camp director introduced himself and told McCain what the camp was, and the Senator stopped and talked with the kids for about 20 minutes. The debate topic that year was about civil liberties and the war on terrorism, so they were asking about Guantanamo and treatment of enemy combatants and that sort of thing.
Afterwards, the kids were excited to tell me about meeting him, but shocked to learn that he was a Republican. From what I've seen, Republican is an expletive in most urban communities, and the idea that this friendly, funny, down-to-Earth man represented the dark side was really shocking to the students.
I think that also makes McCain's willingness to hold an impromptu Q&A with them especially notable, because there was really no political gain in it for him, the way there is when candidates visit a little league game or go to some small town Bingo night or something. The vast majority of these kids were not of voting age, and the color of their skin alone would be enough to tell McCain that no matter how much of an impression he made on them, it wasn't likely to translate into political support from them or their families.
Anyway, enough glowing. Check him out with Jon Stewart, I found him pretty entertaining:
Stumble It!
Friday, August 17, 2007
BDL Institute Finale
Today was the last day of the BDL's week-long summer institute, and it really went better than I could have hoped. There were some snags, particularly when the post office lost three weeks worth of my mail including all of the applications, but we rallied and managed to bring together a good bunch of people.
There were 10-12 kids in attendance on any given day and a few coaches as well. I was particularly surprised by the latter, because the coaches are all public high school teachers who already do way too much work for not enough money. Far be it from me to pressure them into giving up a week of their summers to spend even more time on debate, but several chose to do so anyway, and my hat's off to them. Truthfully I'm in awe of most any teacher, and these incredibly caring, dedicated, hard-working people going above and beyond are nothing short of amazing. I spent most of the institute working with them, and I must say it was a privilege.
The high school students were equally cool, though they spent most of their time working with two volunteers from Harvard's debate team who were with us for the week. Most of them were taking time off from summer jobs to come to the camp, and after spending the first half of the day doing very demanding and intensive debate preparation, when I was more than ready to be done for the day, they'd have to head off to work.
The other impressive thing was that the vast majority of these students knew nothing about debate. I was expecting to get mostly experienced debaters and maybe a few new people, but it was just the opposite. So basically these kids took time off of work or otherwise gave up a week of their summer vacations and followed my vague directions to show up at some classroom on the UMass Boston campus on nothing more than a whim that debate might be interesting to them.
Fortunately, it seems, most of them were correct. Ralph and Leo, our Harvard volunteers, really went above and beyond to make the camp simultaneously fun, interesting, and rigorous. After just a few days, these students put on a very respectable first debate this morning. Obviously there were tons of mistakes, since they were all novices, but I saw so many glimmers of understanding, flashes of intuition, and all-around good instincts!
A few of them in particular stood out. One was a Somali girl who had immigrated to the US when she was 10 years old. Her school wasn't actually even in the Boston Debate League, but she had done a rather different form of debate and chose to come to the camp anyway. I'm glad she did, because she was a real delight to have around! Though occasionally nervous, she was smart as a whip and had a very mature intellect. When it came to thinking through some of the more complex arguments we considered, she was usually the first to figure things out, and her contributions were invaluable.
Another was John (not his real name), who was pretty disinterested on the first day. But he'd already made the effort to come, and that was worth a lot. By the end of the institute, he'd won the award for Most Improved. According to Ralph and Leo, something clicked for him during his practice round this morning, and suddenly he just making some highly sophisticated arguments. His coach, who'd been coming to the institute as well, told me that John had done more work this week than he did in a full semester of this coach's class last school year.
Debate does that sometimes, just hooks kids who have never been interested in or done well at school before. It's one of the most rewarding things to see someone realize for the first time that he is smart. There are these kids who have just never tried very hard, always gotten bad grades, and for that reason earned probably deserved reputations as lackadaisical students. But debate, which is a much more participatory and student-centered activity, though also an extremely rigorous and intellectual one, seizes them in a way that nothing else has. Sometimes this spills over into their schoolwork, but even if it doesn't, it's often enough to keep them coming to school, which in turn is often enough to get them a diploma, and that makes a world of difference.
When we first started the League, I treated the awards we gave out at tournaments as an after-thought. As far as I was concerned, participation and education, not competition, were the important things. But it can be a special moment when a kid who has never won anything, not a sports trophy, not a school award, nothing, suddenly finds herself recognized for being smart. It is often not just the student but her family who are surprised, and that single positivite experience can sell someone on debate for a long time.
It was a great week, for them and for me. I spend so much of my time either dealing with the frustrations of poker or doing tedious/annoying administrative work for the League, work that needs to be done but is not the least bit fulfilling and certainly not the reason I started the League in the first place. But events like this, where I see so much development in such a short period of time and can experience vicariously the thrill that kids get when they are wrapped in debate, recharge my battery and help me power through all the other crap I have to do.
The dedication of volunteers like Ralph and Leo and of the teacher-coaches is inspiring, too. I deal so often with well-meaning people who never come through in the way they tell me they will or people who just want to volunteer to do the fun and rewarding stuff rather than the stuff that really needs to get done, and it is refreshing to spend time with the genuinely committ people who really know what it means to help.
The paradigmatic example of this is Leo, who was brought on board by his friend Ralph, initially just to be a third instructor at the institute. As Ralph started soliciting donations for our meals, however, it became clear that we'd sometimes need someone with a vehicle to pick up and deliver food. Leo ended up being that person, so a lot of his time was not spent talking about an activity he loves with a bunch of fun and dedicated students, but rather sitting in traffic and dealing with all the hassles of food delivery while Ralph and I did the fun stuff. And he was always asking if there was more to be done.
The best question, however, came from a group of students who approached us instructors after we'd said our farewells to ask, "Are we going to do this next summer?"
To which another student added, "Yeah, but for more than a just a week!?!?"
Stumble It!
There were 10-12 kids in attendance on any given day and a few coaches as well. I was particularly surprised by the latter, because the coaches are all public high school teachers who already do way too much work for not enough money. Far be it from me to pressure them into giving up a week of their summers to spend even more time on debate, but several chose to do so anyway, and my hat's off to them. Truthfully I'm in awe of most any teacher, and these incredibly caring, dedicated, hard-working people going above and beyond are nothing short of amazing. I spent most of the institute working with them, and I must say it was a privilege.
The high school students were equally cool, though they spent most of their time working with two volunteers from Harvard's debate team who were with us for the week. Most of them were taking time off from summer jobs to come to the camp, and after spending the first half of the day doing very demanding and intensive debate preparation, when I was more than ready to be done for the day, they'd have to head off to work.
The other impressive thing was that the vast majority of these students knew nothing about debate. I was expecting to get mostly experienced debaters and maybe a few new people, but it was just the opposite. So basically these kids took time off of work or otherwise gave up a week of their summer vacations and followed my vague directions to show up at some classroom on the UMass Boston campus on nothing more than a whim that debate might be interesting to them.
Fortunately, it seems, most of them were correct. Ralph and Leo, our Harvard volunteers, really went above and beyond to make the camp simultaneously fun, interesting, and rigorous. After just a few days, these students put on a very respectable first debate this morning. Obviously there were tons of mistakes, since they were all novices, but I saw so many glimmers of understanding, flashes of intuition, and all-around good instincts!
A few of them in particular stood out. One was a Somali girl who had immigrated to the US when she was 10 years old. Her school wasn't actually even in the Boston Debate League, but she had done a rather different form of debate and chose to come to the camp anyway. I'm glad she did, because she was a real delight to have around! Though occasionally nervous, she was smart as a whip and had a very mature intellect. When it came to thinking through some of the more complex arguments we considered, she was usually the first to figure things out, and her contributions were invaluable.
Another was John (not his real name), who was pretty disinterested on the first day. But he'd already made the effort to come, and that was worth a lot. By the end of the institute, he'd won the award for Most Improved. According to Ralph and Leo, something clicked for him during his practice round this morning, and suddenly he just making some highly sophisticated arguments. His coach, who'd been coming to the institute as well, told me that John had done more work this week than he did in a full semester of this coach's class last school year.
Debate does that sometimes, just hooks kids who have never been interested in or done well at school before. It's one of the most rewarding things to see someone realize for the first time that he is smart. There are these kids who have just never tried very hard, always gotten bad grades, and for that reason earned probably deserved reputations as lackadaisical students. But debate, which is a much more participatory and student-centered activity, though also an extremely rigorous and intellectual one, seizes them in a way that nothing else has. Sometimes this spills over into their schoolwork, but even if it doesn't, it's often enough to keep them coming to school, which in turn is often enough to get them a diploma, and that makes a world of difference.
When we first started the League, I treated the awards we gave out at tournaments as an after-thought. As far as I was concerned, participation and education, not competition, were the important things. But it can be a special moment when a kid who has never won anything, not a sports trophy, not a school award, nothing, suddenly finds herself recognized for being smart. It is often not just the student but her family who are surprised, and that single positivite experience can sell someone on debate for a long time.
It was a great week, for them and for me. I spend so much of my time either dealing with the frustrations of poker or doing tedious/annoying administrative work for the League, work that needs to be done but is not the least bit fulfilling and certainly not the reason I started the League in the first place. But events like this, where I see so much development in such a short period of time and can experience vicariously the thrill that kids get when they are wrapped in debate, recharge my battery and help me power through all the other crap I have to do.
The dedication of volunteers like Ralph and Leo and of the teacher-coaches is inspiring, too. I deal so often with well-meaning people who never come through in the way they tell me they will or people who just want to volunteer to do the fun and rewarding stuff rather than the stuff that really needs to get done, and it is refreshing to spend time with the genuinely committ people who really know what it means to help.
The paradigmatic example of this is Leo, who was brought on board by his friend Ralph, initially just to be a third instructor at the institute. As Ralph started soliciting donations for our meals, however, it became clear that we'd sometimes need someone with a vehicle to pick up and deliver food. Leo ended up being that person, so a lot of his time was not spent talking about an activity he loves with a bunch of fun and dedicated students, but rather sitting in traffic and dealing with all the hassles of food delivery while Ralph and I did the fun stuff. And he was always asking if there was more to be done.
The best question, however, came from a group of students who approached us instructors after we'd said our farewells to ask, "Are we going to do this next summer?"
To which another student added, "Yeah, but for more than a just a week!?!?"
Labels: boston debate league, personal, urban debate league
Stumble It!
Thursday, August 16, 2007
FTOPS Event 9
I skipped Tuesday's $200 O/8 event, but played the $300 rebuy 6-max last night. I started to the left of kwob20, who was playing like a complete monkey during the rebuy period, just shipping his stack in really bad spots. In one hand, he limped behind a limper, I potted it with Ace-8, and they both called. I flopped the Ace on a pretty dry board with two hearts, and kwob check-raised pot. I was quite sure he had the flush draw, and called the raise.
The turn was a blank, and he just shoved for nearly twice the pot. Getting it in with a flush draw on the flop is one thing, but with one card to come and virtually no fold equity, it's quite bad on the turn. He did indeed have the draw, which missed. I lost a few other pots, including calling one of kwob's pre-flop shoves with 88 and losing to his Q6, and finished the rebuy period in for the minimum and up a modest 800 chips or so after being moved to another table.
At my new table was a pretty aggressive player named Nemoballer whom several people said was Daniel Alaei. I reraised him from the blinds once with AJ, but he 4-bet, and I folded. There weren't a lot of interesting hands, mostly I chipped up just by stealing blinds or betting flops.
One of few moves I made all night was calling a CO raise with 4's in the SB, then check-calling a KKJ flop, still thinking I was ahead of the better's range. Unfortunately, the turn was a J, counterfeiting my pair. I checked, and he checked as well. I had a pot-sized bet left in my stack, so I decided to shove the river and represent the K. My opponent folded pretty quickly. I guess I could have just check-raised all in on the flop as well, but I like keeping my options open for later in the hand, and that probably gets called more often by bigger pairs.
I ended up maintaining a good sized stack for a few hours and then bubbling on a lost coin flip.
Much more heart-breaking was the Stars $300, where I got off to a great start winning a few coin flips and made some good plays as well. A particularly interesting hand came up against 2p2'er Nath:
Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t100/t200
(Ante: t10)
9 players
Converter
Stack sizes:
Foucault: t11879
UTG+1: t8630
MP1: t8060
MP2: t5770
MP3: t3280
CO: t5570
Button: t22605
SB: t9195
BB: t15450
Pre-flop: (9 players) Foucault is UTG with :8c :tc
Foucault raises to t569, UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls t569 (pot was t959), 5 folds, BB calls t369 (pot was t1528).
Flop: :4h :7d :9d (t1897, 3 players)
BB checks, Foucault bets t1300, MP1 calls t1300 (pot was t3197), BB folds.
Turn: :2s (t4497, 2 players)
Foucault is all-in t10000, MP1 folds.
Uncalled bets: t10000 returned to Foucault.
Results:
Final pot: t4497
Pre-flop obviously is not standard but something I do occasionally to protect my big pairs. Because I've raised UTG, I play my draw very aggressively even against two callers. My goal, after all, is to represent an overpair, and I don't want my opponents to be able to put me on exactly an overpair every time I raise UTG and then bet into two callers.
The turn is kind of a tricky spot, because Nath has a little over 6000 in his stack. Probably I should have just check-raised the flop (and should play my overpairs the same way) or bet more so that I'd have pot-sized bet left. But if I check, I think Nath is going to commit himself with any decent pair or draw, and I've still got an overcard to the board and an open-ender. The only problem with shoving to rep the overpair is that with Nath's aggressive reputation (he'd already been caught in a big move once), I'm probably more likely to check the turn because I do want him to hang himself with a pair or draw. I was afraid he would realize that, but I still think that as played I needed to get the last bet in and hope for the best. He indicated that he made a pretty big laydown, which kind of surprised me.
Anyway, the tournament turned out to be a huge disappointment, as the guy on my right, who is a giant donkey who actually two outed me twice and then slow-played K's to bust me in Saturday's $300, busted me again last night on another horrible play. There was a raise to 1050, a call, the donkey overcalled. I considered just calling with AKs to give Nath or someone else a chance to squeeze, but then decided that they probably wouldn't go with a super wide range since they'd have to expect someone to look them, so I just made it 5K myself. The action folded back around to my little buddy, who shoved 10K more with QT. I snap-called of course, but he floped AKJ, and I couldn't resuck so instead got KO'ed in a pot that would have given me a 4x average stack. Blargh.
I'm unfortunately done with FTOPS now. The next two events are Stud and Limit Hold 'Em, then this weekend there are some good events, but I'm going to be headed to Chicago to volunteer at another debate institute. I was up a bit thanks to my nice run in the $1000, but it was still a very disappointing series.
Stumble It!
The turn was a blank, and he just shoved for nearly twice the pot. Getting it in with a flush draw on the flop is one thing, but with one card to come and virtually no fold equity, it's quite bad on the turn. He did indeed have the draw, which missed. I lost a few other pots, including calling one of kwob's pre-flop shoves with 88 and losing to his Q6, and finished the rebuy period in for the minimum and up a modest 800 chips or so after being moved to another table.
At my new table was a pretty aggressive player named Nemoballer whom several people said was Daniel Alaei. I reraised him from the blinds once with AJ, but he 4-bet, and I folded. There weren't a lot of interesting hands, mostly I chipped up just by stealing blinds or betting flops.
One of few moves I made all night was calling a CO raise with 4's in the SB, then check-calling a KKJ flop, still thinking I was ahead of the better's range. Unfortunately, the turn was a J, counterfeiting my pair. I checked, and he checked as well. I had a pot-sized bet left in my stack, so I decided to shove the river and represent the K. My opponent folded pretty quickly. I guess I could have just check-raised all in on the flop as well, but I like keeping my options open for later in the hand, and that probably gets called more often by bigger pairs.
I ended up maintaining a good sized stack for a few hours and then bubbling on a lost coin flip.
Much more heart-breaking was the Stars $300, where I got off to a great start winning a few coin flips and made some good plays as well. A particularly interesting hand came up against 2p2'er Nath:
Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t100/t200
(Ante: t10)
9 players
Converter
Stack sizes:
Foucault: t11879
UTG+1: t8630
MP1: t8060
MP2: t5770
MP3: t3280
CO: t5570
Button: t22605
SB: t9195
BB: t15450
Pre-flop: (9 players) Foucault is UTG with :8c :tc
Foucault raises to t569, UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls t569 (pot was t959), 5 folds, BB calls t369 (pot was t1528).
Flop: :4h :7d :9d (t1897, 3 players)
BB checks, Foucault bets t1300, MP1 calls t1300 (pot was t3197), BB folds.
Turn: :2s (t4497, 2 players)
Foucault is all-in t10000, MP1 folds.
Uncalled bets: t10000 returned to Foucault.
Results:
Final pot: t4497
Pre-flop obviously is not standard but something I do occasionally to protect my big pairs. Because I've raised UTG, I play my draw very aggressively even against two callers. My goal, after all, is to represent an overpair, and I don't want my opponents to be able to put me on exactly an overpair every time I raise UTG and then bet into two callers.
The turn is kind of a tricky spot, because Nath has a little over 6000 in his stack. Probably I should have just check-raised the flop (and should play my overpairs the same way) or bet more so that I'd have pot-sized bet left. But if I check, I think Nath is going to commit himself with any decent pair or draw, and I've still got an overcard to the board and an open-ender. The only problem with shoving to rep the overpair is that with Nath's aggressive reputation (he'd already been caught in a big move once), I'm probably more likely to check the turn because I do want him to hang himself with a pair or draw. I was afraid he would realize that, but I still think that as played I needed to get the last bet in and hope for the best. He indicated that he made a pretty big laydown, which kind of surprised me.
Anyway, the tournament turned out to be a huge disappointment, as the guy on my right, who is a giant donkey who actually two outed me twice and then slow-played K's to bust me in Saturday's $300, busted me again last night on another horrible play. There was a raise to 1050, a call, the donkey overcalled. I considered just calling with AKs to give Nath or someone else a chance to squeeze, but then decided that they probably wouldn't go with a super wide range since they'd have to expect someone to look them, so I just made it 5K myself. The action folded back around to my little buddy, who shoved 10K more with QT. I snap-called of course, but he floped AKJ, and I couldn't resuck so instead got KO'ed in a pot that would have given me a 4x average stack. Blargh.
I'm unfortunately done with FTOPS now. The next two events are Stud and Limit Hold 'Em, then this weekend there are some good events, but I'm going to be headed to Chicago to volunteer at another debate institute. I was up a bit thanks to my nice run in the $1000, but it was still a very disappointing series.
Labels: poker, poker strategy, session review
Stumble It!
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Hitler's Downfall
FTOPS Event 7
I literally felt physically ill after busting out of this tournament. That was probably in no small part due to the fact that I'd slept badly the night before, spent the whole day teaching and running around doing other things to keep the BDL summer institute going, and then played poker until 2:30 AM, with the knowledge that I needed to be up at 6:30 this morning. And of course my only regret is that I wasn't playing longer.
It was the $1000 6-max FTOPS tournament, an event too good to pass up for something as trivial as sleep. I got off to a bad start, not playing partiuclarly well, and ended up shoving A7 into an UTG limper who turned out to have AA. T77 flop and I am back in business. After that I played pretty well, eventually getting it in for a pretty unavoidable AQ vs KK match-up in which I sucked out once again.
That got me up around average, and at that point I felt I played extremely well for a few critical hours. My rush started with me raising QTs UTG. The SB called, and the flop came Q44. He checked and called a bet. Against a certain type of intelligent opponent, it's better to bet than to check here, but I convinced myself that random tournament monkeys are not game theory gurus, so I checked. The river was a blank, and he check called a big bet with a losing hand that I didn't even get to see because I got moved to a new table. But the river is such a bad time to bluff that he really shouldn't be looking me up light at all, whereas the turn is a good spot to bluff and hence a good spot for him to call again with an underpair.
First hand at the new table, I get A9 in my BB. A big stack raises from the button, another big stack calls from the SB, and I decided just to shove my whole stack in, even though it was more than 10x the raise. I did think I would have the best hand very often, but a smaller squeeze could induce a re-shove that I did not want to see.
I took down the pot, and then a few hands later opened to 4500 with AJs in the CO. The button called, and the SB reraised to 16,000. I shoved for about 50K, and he tanked, saying he had 55, and finally folded.
A few hands later, I got JJ in the SB, and the CO (who had been button the first time I squeezed), open raised. I knew how insane my image looked, so I 3-bet, fully expecing him to shove a wide range. Sure enough, he shipped me a boat load of chips with 75o, and just like that I was in 2nd place overall.
I lot one pot to the tool with 55 who made a little raise against my BB. I called with KTs, and the flop came K98 with two clubs (I had diamonds). We bot checked, and the turn brought a second heart. I lead out, hoping he would shove on me with a draw, but he made a sketchy smaller raise instead. I decided not to believe him, but he called my shove with AK. Ugh, what an atrocious monkey-esque way to play that. Thankfully it wasn't a huge pot, and I was still in good shape.
The table was super-aggressive, and I eventually got back into second when someone shoved into my Aces with 7's. At this point we were down to the final four tables, and I was in amazing shape. But I went on to play really badly, raising J6s on the button against a tight player in the BB. The SB, who seemed pretty decent, called. Flop was K97, and he called my bet. Turn T to give me a gut shot, he check-called again. The river was a J, and for some reason I convinced myself I could value bet. He almost folded KQ, so I guess I was bluffing, but mostly I was just hemorrhaging chips.
The next orbit, I raised K7o from my SB, and the same guy called in the BB. Flop was like K84, I bet, he raised, I shoved, he called with K5s. Obviously we're going to chop very often here, and I was prepared for that. The turn was the 4c, pairing the board but giving my opponent a flush draw that he hit on the river to knock me out in 22nd place. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh.
22/1270 or so in a $1000 tournament is still worth a little something, but I'd been running atoricously at 10/20 cap at the same time (Allen Cunningham was playing, which attracted a bunch of awful players, though AC himself actually was playing rather badly but still managed to take a fair bit from me by catching well), so I actually finished down for the night. And now, four hours later, I have to go teach. It's a great counterpoint to poker, rarely frustrating and almost always rewarding. Also exhausting, though.
Stumble It!
It was the $1000 6-max FTOPS tournament, an event too good to pass up for something as trivial as sleep. I got off to a bad start, not playing partiuclarly well, and ended up shoving A7 into an UTG limper who turned out to have AA. T77 flop and I am back in business. After that I played pretty well, eventually getting it in for a pretty unavoidable AQ vs KK match-up in which I sucked out once again.
That got me up around average, and at that point I felt I played extremely well for a few critical hours. My rush started with me raising QTs UTG. The SB called, and the flop came Q44. He checked and called a bet. Against a certain type of intelligent opponent, it's better to bet than to check here, but I convinced myself that random tournament monkeys are not game theory gurus, so I checked. The river was a blank, and he check called a big bet with a losing hand that I didn't even get to see because I got moved to a new table. But the river is such a bad time to bluff that he really shouldn't be looking me up light at all, whereas the turn is a good spot to bluff and hence a good spot for him to call again with an underpair.
First hand at the new table, I get A9 in my BB. A big stack raises from the button, another big stack calls from the SB, and I decided just to shove my whole stack in, even though it was more than 10x the raise. I did think I would have the best hand very often, but a smaller squeeze could induce a re-shove that I did not want to see.
I took down the pot, and then a few hands later opened to 4500 with AJs in the CO. The button called, and the SB reraised to 16,000. I shoved for about 50K, and he tanked, saying he had 55, and finally folded.
A few hands later, I got JJ in the SB, and the CO (who had been button the first time I squeezed), open raised. I knew how insane my image looked, so I 3-bet, fully expecing him to shove a wide range. Sure enough, he shipped me a boat load of chips with 75o, and just like that I was in 2nd place overall.
I lot one pot to the tool with 55 who made a little raise against my BB. I called with KTs, and the flop came K98 with two clubs (I had diamonds). We bot checked, and the turn brought a second heart. I lead out, hoping he would shove on me with a draw, but he made a sketchy smaller raise instead. I decided not to believe him, but he called my shove with AK. Ugh, what an atrocious monkey-esque way to play that. Thankfully it wasn't a huge pot, and I was still in good shape.
The table was super-aggressive, and I eventually got back into second when someone shoved into my Aces with 7's. At this point we were down to the final four tables, and I was in amazing shape. But I went on to play really badly, raising J6s on the button against a tight player in the BB. The SB, who seemed pretty decent, called. Flop was K97, and he called my bet. Turn T to give me a gut shot, he check-called again. The river was a J, and for some reason I convinced myself I could value bet. He almost folded KQ, so I guess I was bluffing, but mostly I was just hemorrhaging chips.
The next orbit, I raised K7o from my SB, and the same guy called in the BB. Flop was like K84, I bet, he raised, I shoved, he called with K5s. Obviously we're going to chop very often here, and I was prepared for that. The turn was the 4c, pairing the board but giving my opponent a flush draw that he hit on the river to knock me out in 22nd place. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh.
22/1270 or so in a $1000 tournament is still worth a little something, but I'd been running atoricously at 10/20 cap at the same time (Allen Cunningham was playing, which attracted a bunch of awful players, though AC himself actually was playing rather badly but still managed to take a fair bit from me by catching well), so I actually finished down for the night. And now, four hours later, I have to go teach. It's a great counterpoint to poker, rarely frustrating and almost always rewarding. Also exhausting, though.
Labels: poker, poker strategy, session review
Stumble It!
BDL Summer Institute
I'll start by telling you that the BDL camp got off to a good start. We had twelve students on our first day, which was about as many as I'd expected when we first thought about having an institute, but not as many as I'd hoped after the flood of applications we'd received (more than 60). I've already heard from one student who is planning to come regularly as of today, however, and the coach at another school is going to call some of him whom he was expecting, so hopefully we'll have a few more today.
Turnout was very good among coaches, for whom we're running a parallel program. In fact I'm going to be working with them probably exclusively today.
The kids are a great bunch, as you might expect from the strongly self-selecting group of high school students willing to wake up at 6AM and give up a week of their summer vacations to come to a debate camp, especially when almost all of them are brand new to debate. At the risk of sounding corny and/or self-important, I told them that some of them were going to look back on the first day of the camp as a day that changed their lives. Not because of anything special I did, but simply because for the right person, debate is really something that can change the trajectory of her entire life.
I know because it certainly had that effect on me. This year will be my tenth anniversary in debate, and it is strange to think that ten years after attending that first meeting in the interest of chasing tail, I still dedicate so much of my time to thinking about and teaching this great game.
Stumble It!
Turnout was very good among coaches, for whom we're running a parallel program. In fact I'm going to be working with them probably exclusively today.
The kids are a great bunch, as you might expect from the strongly self-selecting group of high school students willing to wake up at 6AM and give up a week of their summer vacations to come to a debate camp, especially when almost all of them are brand new to debate. At the risk of sounding corny and/or self-important, I told them that some of them were going to look back on the first day of the camp as a day that changed their lives. Not because of anything special I did, but simply because for the right person, debate is really something that can change the trajectory of her entire life.
I know because it certainly had that effect on me. This year will be my tenth anniversary in debate, and it is strange to think that ten years after attending that first meeting in the interest of chasing tail, I still dedicate so much of my time to thinking about and teaching this great game.
Labels: boston debate league, personal
Stumble It!
Sunday, August 12, 2007
FTOPS Event 6
Once again, got off to a good start. Eventually, this happened:
Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $100/$200
9 players
Converter
Stack sizes:
UTG: $13505
UTG+1: $15869
MP1: $1845
MP2: $7740
MP3: $10452
Foucault: $7435
Button: $2686
SB: $10085
BB: $6027
Pre-flop: (9 players) Foucault is CO with :qd :ad
3 folds, MP2 raises to $600, MP3 folds, Foucault calls, 3 folds.
Flop: :qc :2d :9h ($1500, 2 players)
MP2 checks, Foucault checks.
Turn: :kh ($1500, 2 players)
MP2 checks, Foucault bets $835, MP2 calls.
River: :jd ($3170, 2 players)
MP2 checks, Foucault checks.
Results:
Final pot: $3170
She had QTs for a rivered straight. But I got her back a few hands later:
Foucault showed Qd Ad
Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $100/$200
9 players
Converter
Stack sizes:
UTG: $10752
Foucault: $6000
MP1: $2686
MP2: $9985
MP3: $6027
CO: $12805
Button: $15569
SB: $2345
BB: $9475
Pre-flop: (9 players) Foucault is UTG+1 with :qh :kd
UTG folds, Foucault raises to $600, MP1 folds, MP2 calls, 4 folds, BB calls.
Flop: :2d :js :5c ($1900, 3 players)
BB checks, Foucault bets $1200, MP2 folds, BB calls.
Turn: :as ($4300, 2 players)
BB checks, Foucault is all-in $4200, BB folds.
Uncalled bets: $4200 returned to Foucault.
Results:
Final pot: $4300
And then this, when I had a big stack:
Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t120/t240
(Ante: t25)
9 players
Converter
Stack sizes:
UTG: t14290
UTG+1: t9035
MP1: t5677
MP2: t15260
MP3: t16869
CO: t2175
Button: t8321
SB: t7522
Foucault: t12535
Pre-flop: (9 players) Foucault is BB with :9h :9c
4 folds, MP3 calls t240 (pot was t585), 3 folds, 3 folds, Foucault raises to t1065, MP3 calls t825 (pot was t1410).
Flop: :4s :3d :4h (t2475, 2 players)
Foucault bets t1445, MP3 raises to t2890, Foucault raises all-in t11445, MP3 calls t8555 (pot was t16810).
Turn: :3c (t25365, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t25365)
River: :as (t25365, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t25365)
Results:
Final pot: t25365
He had TT. WHAT THE CRAP WHO OPEN LIMPS TT IN THE CO!?!?!?!??!?! I figured him for a pair, and most likely one worse than mine, so it was just a question for me of how to get the money in. I figured the shove would work better than calling and leading or c/r'ing turn, since I think he often checks behind turn and a scard card could easily fall.
Tomorrow is the $1000 6-max, and I am so due for something good to happen. ( probably don't need to tell you that nothing else went well today either.
Tomorrow is also the first day of the debate camp I'm hosting for the Boston Debate League. It's just a week long, every day from 9AM-2PM. I'm expecting about 20-25 kids and 5-8 teachers, and it's going to be a diverse group with regard to age, interest, experience, etc. Thankfully I've got some very good volunteers who have been working with me on this, because it's definitely not something I could do on my own.
MP3 showed T
Stumble It!
Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $100/$200
9 players
Converter
Stack sizes:
UTG: $13505
UTG+1: $15869
MP1: $1845
MP2: $7740
MP3: $10452
Foucault: $7435
Button: $2686
SB: $10085
BB: $6027
Pre-flop: (9 players) Foucault is CO with :qd :ad
3 folds, MP2 raises to $600, MP3 folds, Foucault calls, 3 folds.
Flop: :qc :2d :9h ($1500, 2 players)
MP2 checks, Foucault checks.
Turn: :kh ($1500, 2 players)
MP2 checks, Foucault bets $835, MP2 calls.
River: :jd ($3170, 2 players)
MP2 checks, Foucault checks.
Results:
Final pot: $3170
She had QTs for a rivered straight. But I got her back a few hands later:
Foucault showed Qd Ad
Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $100/$200
9 players
Converter
Stack sizes:
UTG: $10752
Foucault: $6000
MP1: $2686
MP2: $9985
MP3: $6027
CO: $12805
Button: $15569
SB: $2345
BB: $9475
Pre-flop: (9 players) Foucault is UTG+1 with :qh :kd
UTG folds, Foucault raises to $600, MP1 folds, MP2 calls, 4 folds, BB calls.
Flop: :2d :js :5c ($1900, 3 players)
BB checks, Foucault bets $1200, MP2 folds, BB calls.
Turn: :as ($4300, 2 players)
BB checks, Foucault is all-in $4200, BB folds.
Uncalled bets: $4200 returned to Foucault.
Results:
Final pot: $4300
And then this, when I had a big stack:
Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t120/t240
(Ante: t25)
9 players
Converter
Stack sizes:
UTG: t14290
UTG+1: t9035
MP1: t5677
MP2: t15260
MP3: t16869
CO: t2175
Button: t8321
SB: t7522
Foucault: t12535
Pre-flop: (9 players) Foucault is BB with :9h :9c
4 folds, MP3 calls t240 (pot was t585), 3 folds, 3 folds, Foucault raises to t1065, MP3 calls t825 (pot was t1410).
Flop: :4s :3d :4h (t2475, 2 players)
Foucault bets t1445, MP3 raises to t2890, Foucault raises all-in t11445, MP3 calls t8555 (pot was t16810).
Turn: :3c (t25365, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t25365)
River: :as (t25365, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t25365)
Results:
Final pot: t25365
He had TT. WHAT THE CRAP WHO OPEN LIMPS TT IN THE CO!?!?!?!??!?! I figured him for a pair, and most likely one worse than mine, so it was just a question for me of how to get the money in. I figured the shove would work better than calling and leading or c/r'ing turn, since I think he often checks behind turn and a scard card could easily fall.
Tomorrow is the $1000 6-max, and I am so due for something good to happen. ( probably don't need to tell you that nothing else went well today either.
Tomorrow is also the first day of the debate camp I'm hosting for the Boston Debate League. It's just a week long, every day from 9AM-2PM. I'm expecting about 20-25 kids and 5-8 teachers, and it's going to be a diverse group with regard to age, interest, experience, etc. Thankfully I've got some very good volunteers who have been working with me on this, because it's definitely not something I could do on my own.
MP3 showed T
Labels: personal, poker, poker strategy
Stumble It!
Saturday, August 11, 2007
FTOPS Event 5
aklghdghahd;jafjdashfklashgldasjgasjlgkdhasfafjasf
Skipped Event 4, which was the $500 PLO 6-max. Chief (for those of you who know him) IM'ed me for a quick primer in the game cuz he satellited in. My first piece of advice was not to play satellites for tournaments you shouldn't be playing. I told him everything I knew about the game in about 60 words and turned him loose. He told me I could write here that I coached a champion when he won. He PM'ed me half an hour later to say he was busto.
Event 5 was the $100 rebuy no limit hold 'em. Ironically the guy who called me down with KJ on the AAK99 board last night was at the table, and called a preflop shove with KJ to beat my TT. That was the only time I rebought, and thanks to some other fishes, including one guy who called down my AA all the way on KK425 board with A2 (cards came in that order, so he had A2 on flop), I finished the rebuy period with like 17K, which was good enough to be in 225th place out of like 1300 still in it.
I forced myself to play tight after the rebuy period, once just check-called pot bets all the way with K3 on K95KA board to beat A4, then blinded off some more. Everytime I tried to raise pre-flop, someone would make it very clear he had a monster and I had to get out. I got KK but ended up folding the turn on a 5678 board to the same A4 guy.
I had just slipped below average for the first time when I got TT in my BB. We were at 250/500, and the SB opened to 1900. I shoved for 10K more, he called with A8, and caught his [censored] Ace on the river to bad beat me for a 24K pot when average stack was around 18K. After that I clung to life for a while as a short stack, finally at 400/800 I shove 5200 from the button with 87o into a pretty tight player's BB. He called with 22 to win the flip. Blaaaaaaaaaargh!!!
I did take second in a little $100 pot limit hold 'em on Stars that had 33 players (again went out on lost flip, but difference was only like $700 b/w first and second), but the most exciting bit of news was that Andy Bloch friended me on Facebook! I told him who I was when we played in the HORSE last night, which I'm guessing is how he knew my name. Anyway that's cool because he is a cool guy and one of the few FT pros whose game I respect. Holla athca boy!
Stumble It!
Skipped Event 4, which was the $500 PLO 6-max. Chief (for those of you who know him) IM'ed me for a quick primer in the game cuz he satellited in. My first piece of advice was not to play satellites for tournaments you shouldn't be playing. I told him everything I knew about the game in about 60 words and turned him loose. He told me I could write here that I coached a champion when he won. He PM'ed me half an hour later to say he was busto.
Event 5 was the $100 rebuy no limit hold 'em. Ironically the guy who called me down with KJ on the AAK99 board last night was at the table, and called a preflop shove with KJ to beat my TT. That was the only time I rebought, and thanks to some other fishes, including one guy who called down my AA all the way on KK425 board with A2 (cards came in that order, so he had A2 on flop), I finished the rebuy period with like 17K, which was good enough to be in 225th place out of like 1300 still in it.
I forced myself to play tight after the rebuy period, once just check-called pot bets all the way with K3 on K95KA board to beat A4, then blinded off some more. Everytime I tried to raise pre-flop, someone would make it very clear he had a monster and I had to get out. I got KK but ended up folding the turn on a 5678 board to the same A4 guy.
I had just slipped below average for the first time when I got TT in my BB. We were at 250/500, and the SB opened to 1900. I shoved for 10K more, he called with A8, and caught his [censored] Ace on the river to bad beat me for a 24K pot when average stack was around 18K. After that I clung to life for a while as a short stack, finally at 400/800 I shove 5200 from the button with 87o into a pretty tight player's BB. He called with 22 to win the flip. Blaaaaaaaaaargh!!!
I did take second in a little $100 pot limit hold 'em on Stars that had 33 players (again went out on lost flip, but difference was only like $700 b/w first and second), but the most exciting bit of news was that Andy Bloch friended me on Facebook! I told him who I was when we played in the HORSE last night, which I'm guessing is how he knew my name. Anyway that's cool because he is a cool guy and one of the few FT pros whose game I respect. Holla athca boy!
Labels: poker, poker strategy, session review
Stumble It!
Friday, August 10, 2007
FTOPS Event 3
$200 Pot Limit Hold 'Em. I built up from 3000 to 5000 early on when my KK flopped KJJ and the clown who called me out of position with Q9o bluffed his gutshot into me. That should have taught me something: don't try to bluff random tournament donkeys. At 25/50, I raise to T8s and guy to me left calls. Flop AK9 and gives me a flush draw. he calls 250. Turn A, I bet 600 planning on folding to a shove or shoving the river if he just calls. He calls, river is another 9, I shove, he snap calls KJ on AAK99 board.
At 50/100, I raise to 260 with AJo. BB calls. Flop K64, he checks and calls a bet. Turn 9, I've got one pot sized bet left in my stack, he checks and snap-calls my shove with 86s. GG.
I'm not going to play the $500 PLO 6-max tomorrow, and I may or may not play the $100 rebuy.
Stumble It!
At 50/100, I raise to 260 with AJo. BB calls. Flop K64, he checks and calls a bet. Turn 9, I've got one pot sized bet left in my stack, he checks and snap-calls my shove with 86s. GG.
I'm not going to play the $500 PLO 6-max tomorrow, and I may or may not play the $100 rebuy.
Labels: poker, poker strategy, session review
Stumble It!
FTOPS Event 2
Last night was the $200 HORSE event. I made it about three hours in, ran well in the first couple levels against some clueless donks, then got nothing playable for like an hour, got outdrawn by another donkey at Razz, rebuilt thanks to some stubborn Stud donkeys, made a baby striaght flush to scoop a nice pot in Stud/8, then got owned by Andy Bloch because I'm the donkey at O/8:
Full Tilt Poker Game #3206605233: FTOPS Event #2 (23185790), Table 107 - 300/600 - Limit Omaha H/L - 0:04:08 ET - 2007/08/10
Seat 1: allsk (7,708)
Seat 2: Foucault (4,582)
Seat 3: RolldUpTrips (881)
Seat 4: Magic Aces (12,180)
Seat 5: VeniceBeachy (7,419)
Seat 6: Andy Bloch (15,126)
Seat 7: Ynenk03 (3,627)
Seat 8: Burro Grande (4,225)
VeniceBeachy posts the small blind of 150
Andy Bloch posts the big blind of 300
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Foucault [Ah 8d 5h Qs]
Ynenk03 folds
Burro Grande folds
[b]FrankieHands (Observer): Hey Andy what's the best way to build your stack in your opinion? [/b]
allsk folds
Foucault raises to 600
RolldUpTrips folds
Magic Aces folds
VeniceBeachy calls 450
Andy Bloch calls 300
*** FLOP *** [Ac 8c Td]
VeniceBeachy checks
Andy Bloch checks
Foucault bets 300
VeniceBeachy folds
Andy Bloch calls 300
*** TURN *** [Ac 8c Td] [7c]
Andy Bloch checks
Foucault checks
*** RIVER *** [Ac 8c Td 7c] [5s]
Andy Bloch bets 600
Foucault calls 600
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Andy Bloch shows [4h 6c 2s 6s] a straight, Eight high, for high and 7,5,4,2,A, for low
Andy Bloch wins the high pot (1,800) with a straight, Eight high
Andy Bloch wins the low pot (1,800) with 7,5,4,2,A
[b]Andy Bloch: get nice rivers that scoop [/b]
I actually don't think this is too bad. I've got a suited Ace and some weak low draws pre-flop, which I think especially in a tournament is a reasonable raise from a borderline steal position. With shallower stacks, playing only hands with nut potential is a little less important.
So I flop two pair on a pretty coordinated board, and I have no low draw. I think I can fire at it once and then slow down to action, but I'm not at all sure that's correct. Turn completes a flush I don't have, which stinks for me, but now I have some (bad) low draws. To call the river bet, I need to win half the pot half the time, which I felt was reasonable as Andy could be betting just a flush or just a low. But like I said, I'm an O/8 fish, so don't take that analysis for much.
And I prove that again here:
Full Tilt Poker Game #3206648126: FTOPS Event #2 (23185790), Table 107 - 300/600 - Limit Omaha H/L - 0:08:19 ET - 2007/08/10
Seat 1: allsk (6,808)
Seat 2: Foucault (3,082)
Seat 3: RolldUpTrips (881)
Seat 4: Magic Aces (10,980)
Seat 5: VeniceBeachy (10,869)
Seat 6: Andy Bloch (12,126)
Seat 7: Ynenk03 (4,677)
Seat 8: Burro Grande (6,325)
allsk posts the small blind of 150
urbandb888 posts the big blind of 300
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Foucault [Ah 8s 5h Ks]
RolldUpTrips folds
Magic Aces calls 300
VeniceBeachy folds
Andy Bloch folds
Ynenk03 folds
Burro Grande folds
allsk folds
Foucault checks
*** FLOP *** [7s Ts 7c]
Foucault checks
Magic Aces bets 300
urbandb888 raises to 600
Magic Aces raises to 900
urbandb888 calls 300
*** TURN *** [7s Ts 7c] [9s]
urbandb888 checks
Magic Aces bets 600
urbandb888 raises to 1,200
Magic Aces calls 600
*** RIVER *** [7s Ts 7c 9s] [4h]
urbandb888 bets 600
Magic Aces calls 600
*** SHOW DOWN ***
urbandb888 shows [Ah 8s 5h Ks] a flush, King high, for high
Magic Aces shows [5c 3s As Kh] a flush, Ace high, for high
Magic Aces wins the pot (6,150) with a flush, Ace high
No low hand qualified
I have no idea what to put him on pre-flop, but with 5 BB's in my stack, I'm willing to hitch my wagon to the second nut flush draw on a board that it should be tough for my opponent to hit: no low draw, no big cards, etc. I figured he'd bet anything, and I wanted to represent trips with my semi-bluff. There aren't many good O/8 hands with 7's in them, so I think the unraised blind is much more likely to have it than a limper. Well, he didn't have it, but he 3-bet me with his flush draw anyway. Once it got there, I was way too short to get away, and that was that.
A good rule of thumb is not to chase the second nut flush draw in Omaha, especially with a pair on the board. I felt like this was kind of a unique situation because of the short stacks involved, but maybe I'm just an O/8 fish.
Stumble It!
Full Tilt Poker Game #3206605233: FTOPS Event #2 (23185790), Table 107 - 300/600 - Limit Omaha H/L - 0:04:08 ET - 2007/08/10
Seat 1: allsk (7,708)
Seat 2: Foucault (4,582)
Seat 3: RolldUpTrips (881)
Seat 4: Magic Aces (12,180)
Seat 5: VeniceBeachy (7,419)
Seat 6: Andy Bloch (15,126)
Seat 7: Ynenk03 (3,627)
Seat 8: Burro Grande (4,225)
VeniceBeachy posts the small blind of 150
Andy Bloch posts the big blind of 300
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Foucault [Ah 8d 5h Qs]
Ynenk03 folds
Burro Grande folds
[b]FrankieHands (Observer): Hey Andy what's the best way to build your stack in your opinion? [/b]
allsk folds
Foucault raises to 600
RolldUpTrips folds
Magic Aces folds
VeniceBeachy calls 450
Andy Bloch calls 300
*** FLOP *** [Ac 8c Td]
VeniceBeachy checks
Andy Bloch checks
Foucault bets 300
VeniceBeachy folds
Andy Bloch calls 300
*** TURN *** [Ac 8c Td] [7c]
Andy Bloch checks
Foucault checks
*** RIVER *** [Ac 8c Td 7c] [5s]
Andy Bloch bets 600
Foucault calls 600
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Andy Bloch shows [4h 6c 2s 6s] a straight, Eight high, for high and 7,5,4,2,A, for low
Andy Bloch wins the high pot (1,800) with a straight, Eight high
Andy Bloch wins the low pot (1,800) with 7,5,4,2,A
[b]Andy Bloch: get nice rivers that scoop [/b]
I actually don't think this is too bad. I've got a suited Ace and some weak low draws pre-flop, which I think especially in a tournament is a reasonable raise from a borderline steal position. With shallower stacks, playing only hands with nut potential is a little less important.
So I flop two pair on a pretty coordinated board, and I have no low draw. I think I can fire at it once and then slow down to action, but I'm not at all sure that's correct. Turn completes a flush I don't have, which stinks for me, but now I have some (bad) low draws. To call the river bet, I need to win half the pot half the time, which I felt was reasonable as Andy could be betting just a flush or just a low. But like I said, I'm an O/8 fish, so don't take that analysis for much.
And I prove that again here:
Full Tilt Poker Game #3206648126: FTOPS Event #2 (23185790), Table 107 - 300/600 - Limit Omaha H/L - 0:08:19 ET - 2007/08/10
Seat 1: allsk (6,808)
Seat 2: Foucault (3,082)
Seat 3: RolldUpTrips (881)
Seat 4: Magic Aces (10,980)
Seat 5: VeniceBeachy (10,869)
Seat 6: Andy Bloch (12,126)
Seat 7: Ynenk03 (4,677)
Seat 8: Burro Grande (6,325)
allsk posts the small blind of 150
urbandb888 posts the big blind of 300
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Foucault [Ah 8s 5h Ks]
RolldUpTrips folds
Magic Aces calls 300
VeniceBeachy folds
Andy Bloch folds
Ynenk03 folds
Burro Grande folds
allsk folds
Foucault checks
*** FLOP *** [7s Ts 7c]
Foucault checks
Magic Aces bets 300
urbandb888 raises to 600
Magic Aces raises to 900
urbandb888 calls 300
*** TURN *** [7s Ts 7c] [9s]
urbandb888 checks
Magic Aces bets 600
urbandb888 raises to 1,200
Magic Aces calls 600
*** RIVER *** [7s Ts 7c 9s] [4h]
urbandb888 bets 600
Magic Aces calls 600
*** SHOW DOWN ***
urbandb888 shows [Ah 8s 5h Ks] a flush, King high, for high
Magic Aces shows [5c 3s As Kh] a flush, Ace high, for high
Magic Aces wins the pot (6,150) with a flush, Ace high
No low hand qualified
I have no idea what to put him on pre-flop, but with 5 BB's in my stack, I'm willing to hitch my wagon to the second nut flush draw on a board that it should be tough for my opponent to hit: no low draw, no big cards, etc. I figured he'd bet anything, and I wanted to represent trips with my semi-bluff. There aren't many good O/8 hands with 7's in them, so I think the unraised blind is much more likely to have it than a limper. Well, he didn't have it, but he 3-bet me with his flush draw anyway. Once it got there, I was way too short to get away, and that was that.
A good rule of thumb is not to chase the second nut flush draw in Omaha, especially with a pair on the board. I felt like this was kind of a unique situation because of the short stacks involved, but maybe I'm just an O/8 fish.
Labels: poker, poker strategy, session review
Stumble It!
Harry Potter a L'Ecole Des Sorciers
I took seven semesters of French in college, and though I've never been to a French-speaking country, my knowledge of the language, particularly the written languate, was pretty strong when I graduated. In the past three years, though, I've barely used it. I've been wanting to read the Harry Potter books anyway, so I figured, hey, might as well give myself a refresher course in French while I'm at it.
Amazingly, the Boston Public Library had a copy of the first HP book in French, and it's now in my possession. I figure if French 8-year olds can read them, so can I, right? Kinda. It took 45 minutes with dictionary in hand to get through 10 pages yesterday. But actually that was better than I thought I would do.
Hopefully I will soon be the only person in the world to have read only and exactly the following combination of books in French:
1. Huis Clos by Jean-Paul Sartre
2. Surveillir et Punir by Michel Foucault
3. Harry Potter a L'Ecole des Sorciers by JK Rowling
Stumble It!
Amazingly, the Boston Public Library had a copy of the first HP book in French, and it's now in my possession. I figure if French 8-year olds can read them, so can I, right? Kinda. It took 45 minutes with dictionary in hand to get through 10 pages yesterday. But actually that was better than I thought I would do.
Hopefully I will soon be the only person in the world to have read only and exactly the following combination of books in French:
1. Huis Clos by Jean-Paul Sartre
2. Surveillir et Punir by Michel Foucault
3. Harry Potter a L'Ecole des Sorciers by JK Rowling
Labels: personal
Stumble It!
Thursday, August 9, 2007
30 rebuy bustout hand
Since I was already planning on playing the Stars $300 and FTP $200 last night, and I'm going to be playing more tournaments because of FTOPS, I decided just to play all tournaments last night and no cash. That's probably wise anyway, because the mentality required for tournaments versus is cash is very different, and playing both sometimes screws me up. So I got up a nice stack in the $30 rebuy, and then got kind of cold-decked in a blind battle with another big stack.
Blinds were 400/800, and I had around 25K to start the hand. The SB covered me, but not by a lot. The action folded to him, and he raised to 2200. I held Ad7d, so I had a pretty easy call. With deeper stacks, a re-raise is viable, but here it sucks to get 4-bet. Still, my hand is likely best, and suited means extra playability post-flop. Plus, I have position. So, I call.
Flop is 996cc. He bets 2400, and I call. My Ace high should easily be good often enough to make this profitable in its own right, and with position I think I can sometimes bluff him off if I decide later on that that is necessary. Turn is a 7, and now the die is cast. He checks, I bet 5555, just over half pot, with about 15K behind. He moves all in, and I think that my hand is just too strong to fold on a drawy board in a blind battle. But he had 77 for a turned full house, and that was that.
I'll spare you a ton of bad beat stories from the other tournaments I played, but I will say that it was nice checking my results at the end of the night. I felt like I'd run terribly, had nothing go my way, etc., and indeed I was like 0/8 in the tournaments I played. When I feel this despondent after a night of 5/10, I'm bracing from some serious damage, so it was pleasant to add up my losses and find I was out less than one buy-in. Maybe tournaments aren't so bad after all....
Stumble It!
Blinds were 400/800, and I had around 25K to start the hand. The SB covered me, but not by a lot. The action folded to him, and he raised to 2200. I held Ad7d, so I had a pretty easy call. With deeper stacks, a re-raise is viable, but here it sucks to get 4-bet. Still, my hand is likely best, and suited means extra playability post-flop. Plus, I have position. So, I call.
Flop is 996cc. He bets 2400, and I call. My Ace high should easily be good often enough to make this profitable in its own right, and with position I think I can sometimes bluff him off if I decide later on that that is necessary. Turn is a 7, and now the die is cast. He checks, I bet 5555, just over half pot, with about 15K behind. He moves all in, and I think that my hand is just too strong to fold on a drawy board in a blind battle. But he had 77 for a turned full house, and that was that.
I'll spare you a ton of bad beat stories from the other tournaments I played, but I will say that it was nice checking my results at the end of the night. I felt like I'd run terribly, had nothing go my way, etc., and indeed I was like 0/8 in the tournaments I played. When I feel this despondent after a night of 5/10, I'm bracing from some serious damage, so it was pleasant to add up my losses and find I was out less than one buy-in. Maybe tournaments aren't so bad after all....
Labels: poker, poker strategy, session review
Stumble It!
FTOPS Event 1
The fifth Full Tilt Online Poker Series started with a $200+9 NLHE tournament last night. It got a huge field, well over 4000 players, and featured the usual generous FTOPS structure. There were no antes, for example, until two hours into the tournament. A little over 500 places paid, and I was really looking forward to abusing the bubble, but then this happened:
Full Tilt Poker (9 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Preflop: Hero is SB with Ks, Jh. Blinds 300/600
2 folds, MP1 raises to 1800, 1 fold, MP3 calls 1800, CO calls 1800, 1 fold, Hero raises 13095 (All-In), 1 fold, MP1 calls 13095, MP3 folds, CO folds.
Flop: 5s, 3c, 3d (2 players, 1 all-in).
Turn: Ts (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: Kh (2 players, 1 all-in)
MP1 showed KQ to bust me. I was quite surprised by the call, not because it is particularly bad, but because he had been rather nitty so fat. He'd previously called off about 7% of his stack against my EP raise and folded to a bet on a QT8hh flop, commenting "Nice flop." I asked what that meant, and he told me he had Jacks. I was pretty shocked by that fold, and also disappointed, since I held QQ for top set. The previous orbit, he'd opened for 1900 UTG+1 and insta-folded when MP3 reraised him.
MP1 started the hand with around 20,000 chips, so he was deep enough that he didn't need a monster to raise, but I did think he'd need one to call. When I made the squeeze play, I felt there was a fair chance he'd fold AQ.
MP3 was the table chipleader and had been playing pretty LAG, so I didn't think his call showed a lot of strength. If he had a hand to call my shove, I felt it would most likely be either a pair smaller than JJ or exactly AQ, neither of which has me in bad shape. CO was also fairly deep and getting good odds to come in at that point, so I wasn't too concerned about him.
It really seemed like a great spot given my reads on the players involved, and I was shocked to see MP1 insta-call me with KQ. Oh well, tonight is the $200+9 HORSE event, which I'm eagerly anticipating.
Stumble It!
Full Tilt Poker (9 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Preflop: Hero is SB with Ks, Jh. Blinds 300/600
2 folds, MP1 raises to 1800, 1 fold, MP3 calls 1800, CO calls 1800, 1 fold, Hero raises 13095 (All-In), 1 fold, MP1 calls 13095, MP3 folds, CO folds.
Flop: 5s, 3c, 3d (2 players, 1 all-in).
Turn: Ts (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: Kh (2 players, 1 all-in)
MP1 showed KQ to bust me. I was quite surprised by the call, not because it is particularly bad, but because he had been rather nitty so fat. He'd previously called off about 7% of his stack against my EP raise and folded to a bet on a QT8hh flop, commenting "Nice flop." I asked what that meant, and he told me he had Jacks. I was pretty shocked by that fold, and also disappointed, since I held QQ for top set. The previous orbit, he'd opened for 1900 UTG+1 and insta-folded when MP3 reraised him.
MP1 started the hand with around 20,000 chips, so he was deep enough that he didn't need a monster to raise, but I did think he'd need one to call. When I made the squeeze play, I felt there was a fair chance he'd fold AQ.
MP3 was the table chipleader and had been playing pretty LAG, so I didn't think his call showed a lot of strength. If he had a hand to call my shove, I felt it would most likely be either a pair smaller than JJ or exactly AQ, neither of which has me in bad shape. CO was also fairly deep and getting good odds to come in at that point, so I wasn't too concerned about him.
It really seemed like a great spot given my reads on the players involved, and I was shocked to see MP1 insta-call me with KQ. Oh well, tonight is the $200+9 HORSE event, which I'm eagerly anticipating.
Labels: poker, poker strategy, session review
Stumble It!
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Jerry Yang
Sorry, I know this is old news, but it's something I've been wanting to comment on for a while. In my opinion, Jerry Yang's victory at the 2007 World Series of Poker is great for the game's image. There are those who claim that a win by a largely inexperienced amateur corroborates the argument that poker is fundamentally a game of luck, and maybe it does. But Yang is also charitable, humble, and religious, the last of which is particularly rare among poker players and ought to be of note to those whose concern about the game is religiously motivated. As ESPN commentator Gary Wise puts it in his article Prayers and Poker, "Yang may now be showing us there's room for both poker and prayer in one life. He's Chris Moneymaker with a PhD and a Bible, an everyman who can't believe he's here and who has faith in his understanding as to why he is."
It is also worth noting that Chang is of Asian descent. Probably in part because of online poker's uncertain future in the US, gaming companies are increasingly looking to Asia as an emerging market for gambling of all kinds, including poker. Macau has just surpassed Las Vegas as the gambling capital of the world. In light of their success, "Several Asian countries are easing restrictions on casinos, taking a bet that Las Vegas-style gambling halls will attract more tourists and create jobs. " (BBC News)
LaunchPoker reports that, "China has a very active middle class with loads of disposable income. This fact, combined with the expansion of poker into China via ESPN, has created a situation that can resemble a new gold rush for the online poker industry. " The first event of the Betfair Asia Poker Tour took place in November, and later this month, the Poker Stars-sponsored Asia Pacific Poker Tour kicks off in Manila. Though gambling is illegal in China, poker was recently declared a sport, paving the way for the World Poker Tour.
If only America were so liberal and enlightened...
Stumble It!
It is also worth noting that Chang is of Asian descent. Probably in part because of online poker's uncertain future in the US, gaming companies are increasingly looking to Asia as an emerging market for gambling of all kinds, including poker. Macau has just surpassed Las Vegas as the gambling capital of the world. In light of their success, "Several Asian countries are easing restrictions on casinos, taking a bet that Las Vegas-style gambling halls will attract more tourists and create jobs. " (BBC News)
LaunchPoker reports that, "China has a very active middle class with loads of disposable income. This fact, combined with the expansion of poker into China via ESPN, has created a situation that can resemble a new gold rush for the online poker industry. " The first event of the Betfair Asia Poker Tour took place in November, and later this month, the Poker Stars-sponsored Asia Pacific Poker Tour kicks off in Manila. Though gambling is illegal in China, poker was recently declared a sport, paving the way for the World Poker Tour.
If only America were so liberal and enlightened...
Labels: poker
Stumble It!
Monday, August 6, 2007
Balancing Your Range
The last hand that I posted involved me shoving pocket Tens on a KQxx board against a guy who had reraised me pre-flop and then bet the flop and turn. Part of my reasoning was that when the K turned, he was actually less likely to have because he bet again, whereas most people will actually check a hand like AK on that turn. That means that when a good but not great opponent does bet the turn, his range is usually polarized as either very strong (probably KQ or better) or very weak (he's bluffing).
A semi-bluff with something like JT would also be possible, and in fact the presence of that kind of hand in his range is what prevents me from floating the flop and shoving the turn with pure air. So already we can see how balancing out his turn betting range makes him more difficult to play against.
However, a hand like TT does not fear the semi-bluff. So what can I do to prevent observant opponents from taking advantage of me in similar situations where my range may be too polarized? Here's an example:
Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $6 BB (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Hero ($1084.30)
BB ($658.70)
UTG ($203.80)
MP ($600.45)
CO ($976.30)
Button ($627.60)
Preflop: Hero is SB with Kh, Ah.
2 folds, CO raises to $21, 1 fold, Hero raises to $74, 1 fold, CO calls $53.
Flop: ($154) Td, 3h, 6h (2 players)
Hero bets $110, CO calls $110.
Turn: ($374) Ks (2 players)
Hero bets $240, CO raises to $792.3 (All-In), Hero calls $552.30.
River: ($1958.60) 9c (2 players, 1 all-in).
Final Pot: $1958.60
I ended up losing to a set of 3's, and in fact when my opponent shoved on the turn I figured him for a set. That's why it's generally a shame to bet AK there; although you're often ahead, you pretty much always get action only when you're beat, unless you are against a smart and stubborn opponent like me who will not believe that would bet AK. But that gets into a whole set of mind games that is beyond my scope here.
The point is that you do need to bet the AK sometimes to prevent excessive polarization of your range, and I think it makes the most sense to do it when your hand still has some value against the hands that beat you. Here I had a redraw to the nut flush, so I was willing to bet-call with AK. If I had bet without a heart draw, I'd be in a very tough spot on the turn, getting good odds with top pair top kicker but with a sinking feeling in my gut that I was drawing dead.
Stumble It!
A semi-bluff with something like JT would also be possible, and in fact the presence of that kind of hand in his range is what prevents me from floating the flop and shoving the turn with pure air. So already we can see how balancing out his turn betting range makes him more difficult to play against.
However, a hand like TT does not fear the semi-bluff. So what can I do to prevent observant opponents from taking advantage of me in similar situations where my range may be too polarized? Here's an example:
Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $6 BB (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Hero ($1084.30)
BB ($658.70)
UTG ($203.80)
MP ($600.45)
CO ($976.30)
Button ($627.60)
Preflop: Hero is SB with Kh, Ah.
2 folds, CO raises to $21, 1 fold, Hero raises to $74, 1 fold, CO calls $53.
Flop: ($154) Td, 3h, 6h (2 players)
Hero bets $110, CO calls $110.
Turn: ($374) Ks (2 players)
Hero bets $240, CO raises to $792.3 (All-In), Hero calls $552.30.
River: ($1958.60) 9c (2 players, 1 all-in).
Final Pot: $1958.60
I ended up losing to a set of 3's, and in fact when my opponent shoved on the turn I figured him for a set. That's why it's generally a shame to bet AK there; although you're often ahead, you pretty much always get action only when you're beat, unless you are against a smart and stubborn opponent like me who will not believe that would bet AK. But that gets into a whole set of mind games that is beyond my scope here.
The point is that you do need to bet the AK sometimes to prevent excessive polarization of your range, and I think it makes the most sense to do it when your hand still has some value against the hands that beat you. Here I had a redraw to the nut flush, so I was willing to bet-call with AK. If I had bet without a heart draw, I'd be in a very tough spot on the turn, getting good odds with top pair top kicker but with a sinking feeling in my gut that I was drawing dead.
Labels: poker, poker strategy, session review
Stumble It!
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Defending Against a Squeeze
Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $5/$10
6 players
Converter
Stack sizes:
UTG: $1000
Foucault: $1711
CO: $1514
Button: $551
SB: $1850.75
BB: $1163
Pre-flop: (6 players) Foucault is UTG+1 with :th :td
UTG folds, Foucault raises to $35, CO calls, 2 folds, BB raises to $145, Foucault calls, CO folds.
Flop: :qh :4d :9h ($330, 2 players)
BB bets $190, Foucault calls.
Turn: :kc ($710, 2 players)
BB bets $430, Foucault raises to $860, BB folds.
Uncalled bets: $430 returned to Foucault.
Results:
Final pot: $1570
Villain here is a 5/10 regular. He's not one of the most aggressive, but I still think pre-flop he's squeezing a wide range, particularly because he knows I'm opening wide from the CO. Obviously TT is a monster relative to both my opening range and Villain's squeezing range, so I'm not folding. I could four-bet pre-flop, but that really over-represents my hand. Even though it means keeping stuff like AJ/AQ/KQ in Villain's range, I'm OK with that because I'm in position and have a somewhat concealed hand.
I expect him to bet this flop nearly 100% of the time. Again, raising is justifiable, but especially now I am not concerned about knocking him off of unpaired overcards and would rather just play my position.
I wasn't thrilled with the turn, but among my first thoughts was that this was a good card for him to double barrel. I've played my hand passive pre-flop and on the flop in hopes that he would continue bluffing, and in truth I would have been more concerned if he had checked. Betting even a strong one pair hand like AQ, KJ, or even AK on the turn is really overplaying that hand. I don't think he's expecting me to continue with small pairs, which means he often checks those hands for pot control and because he thinks I'm more likely to pay off on the river than the turn.
The sizing of his turn bet is also important. It's almost exactly half of the effective remaining stacks, which makes me think he wants to put me to a decision for all my chips while risking only half of that amount himself. So basically I still think I'm ahead of his range, and although my raise all in may cause him to fold everything I beat and call everything that beats me, it is still essential because otherwise I give him too much control on the river to bet whenever he thinks he's good and check when he is not.
Stumble It!
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $5/$10
6 players
Converter
Stack sizes:
UTG: $1000
Foucault: $1711
CO: $1514
Button: $551
SB: $1850.75
BB: $1163
Pre-flop: (6 players) Foucault is UTG+1 with :th :td
UTG folds, Foucault raises to $35, CO calls, 2 folds, BB raises to $145, Foucault calls, CO folds.
Flop: :qh :4d :9h ($330, 2 players)
BB bets $190, Foucault calls.
Turn: :kc ($710, 2 players)
BB bets $430, Foucault raises to $860, BB folds.
Uncalled bets: $430 returned to Foucault.
Results:
Final pot: $1570
Villain here is a 5/10 regular. He's not one of the most aggressive, but I still think pre-flop he's squeezing a wide range, particularly because he knows I'm opening wide from the CO. Obviously TT is a monster relative to both my opening range and Villain's squeezing range, so I'm not folding. I could four-bet pre-flop, but that really over-represents my hand. Even though it means keeping stuff like AJ/AQ/KQ in Villain's range, I'm OK with that because I'm in position and have a somewhat concealed hand.
I expect him to bet this flop nearly 100% of the time. Again, raising is justifiable, but especially now I am not concerned about knocking him off of unpaired overcards and would rather just play my position.
I wasn't thrilled with the turn, but among my first thoughts was that this was a good card for him to double barrel. I've played my hand passive pre-flop and on the flop in hopes that he would continue bluffing, and in truth I would have been more concerned if he had checked. Betting even a strong one pair hand like AQ, KJ, or even AK on the turn is really overplaying that hand. I don't think he's expecting me to continue with small pairs, which means he often checks those hands for pot control and because he thinks I'm more likely to pay off on the river than the turn.
The sizing of his turn bet is also important. It's almost exactly half of the effective remaining stacks, which makes me think he wants to put me to a decision for all my chips while risking only half of that amount himself. So basically I still think I'm ahead of his range, and although my raise all in may cause him to fold everything I beat and call everything that beats me, it is still essential because otherwise I give him too much control on the river to bet whenever he thinks he's good and check when he is not.
Labels: poker, poker strategy, session review
Stumble It!
Friday, August 3, 2007
Today's TED
I knew this was going to happen once I made my first TED post. Now I am going to have tell you about what exciting new things I see each day!
Jennifer Lin on Piano Composition and Improvisation- Everything she plays is very good, but I especially recommend the segment labeled "Improvisation." Some lady from the audience chooses five musical notes, and this bitch just sits right down and plays a beautiful piece off the top of her head built around those notes.
William McDononogh on Cradle to Cradle Design- McDonogh is the kind of guy who gives you hope that maybe the human species is not doomed to grow and consume and waste its way into oblivion. After watching this, I realized I'd actually read an article in Wired magazine about the work his firm is doing building sustainable cities in China. He's also got a wonderfully cynical and dry sense of humor, as evidenced by this quote about trees:
"Imgaine this design assignment: Design something that makes oxygen, sequesters carbon, fixes nitrogen, distills water, accrues solar energy as fuel, makes complex sugars in food, creates microclimates, changes colors with the seasons, and self-replicates. [Shrugs] Why don't we knock that down and write on it?"
Stumble It!
Jennifer Lin on Piano Composition and Improvisation- Everything she plays is very good, but I especially recommend the segment labeled "Improvisation." Some lady from the audience chooses five musical notes, and this bitch just sits right down and plays a beautiful piece off the top of her head built around those notes.
William McDononogh on Cradle to Cradle Design- McDonogh is the kind of guy who gives you hope that maybe the human species is not doomed to grow and consume and waste its way into oblivion. After watching this, I realized I'd actually read an article in Wired magazine about the work his firm is doing building sustainable cities in China. He's also got a wonderfully cynical and dry sense of humor, as evidenced by this quote about trees:
"Imgaine this design assignment: Design something that makes oxygen, sequesters carbon, fixes nitrogen, distills water, accrues solar energy as fuel, makes complex sugars in food, creates microclimates, changes colors with the seasons, and self-replicates. [Shrugs] Why don't we knock that down and write on it?"
Labels: TED
Stumble It!
Thursday, August 2, 2007
PLO: That's Not a Good Turn
PLO has long been my worst game, but it's also the second most popular form of poker after NLHE, especially for higher stakes games, so I'd really like to learn it. I've been playing 1/2 from time to time, just trying to get a hang of it. Here's a spot from tonight that I found kind of interesting:
Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Ring game
Blinds: $1/$2
6 players
Converter
Stack sizes:
UTG: $96
UTG+1: $80
CO: $394.55
Button: $549.50
SB: $108.40
Foucault: $245.75
Pre-flop: (6 players) Foucault is BB with :5d :jh :kd :kc
2 folds, CO raises to $7, Button calls, SB folds, Foucault raises to $29, CO calls, Button calls.
Flop: :jd :4s :kh ($88, 3 players)
Foucault bets $66, CO folds, Button calls.
Turn: :ac ($220, 2 players)
Foucault is all-in $150.75, Button calls.
River: :5s ($521.5, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $521.5)
Results:
Final pot: $521.5
Pre-flop seems pretty straightforward to me: it's a late position raise, I've got a chance to squeeze, and I've got a hand that plays better when a lot of money goes in preflop. By themselves Kings aren't that strong, but one of them is suited, as well. I flop the nuts with only one draw on the board, so I'm sizing my bet primarily to give someone room to shove over the top or to set up a turn shove.
Unfortunately, the turn is a terrible card for me. Not only does it complete the only draw the concerns me, but it makes it harder for me to get action when I'm ahead. With the amount of money in the pot, I don't know that I can check and fold, though. I imagine my opponent is going to check back any hand that he doesn't think is best on the turn, and now there are seveal more ways for a straight to get there by the river. So even though this is the worst card in the deck for me, I still think I need to shove and hope for the best. Unfortunately, he had TTQK, and I did not improve.
Stumble It!
Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Ring game
Blinds: $1/$2
6 players
Converter
Stack sizes:
UTG: $96
UTG+1: $80
CO: $394.55
Button: $549.50
SB: $108.40
Foucault: $245.75
Pre-flop: (6 players) Foucault is BB with :5d :jh :kd :kc
2 folds, CO raises to $7, Button calls, SB folds, Foucault raises to $29, CO calls, Button calls.
Flop: :jd :4s :kh ($88, 3 players)
Foucault bets $66, CO folds, Button calls.
Turn: :ac ($220, 2 players)
Foucault is all-in $150.75, Button calls.
River: :5s ($521.5, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $521.5)
Results:
Final pot: $521.5
Pre-flop seems pretty straightforward to me: it's a late position raise, I've got a chance to squeeze, and I've got a hand that plays better when a lot of money goes in preflop. By themselves Kings aren't that strong, but one of them is suited, as well. I flop the nuts with only one draw on the board, so I'm sizing my bet primarily to give someone room to shove over the top or to set up a turn shove.
Unfortunately, the turn is a terrible card for me. Not only does it complete the only draw the concerns me, but it makes it harder for me to get action when I'm ahead. With the amount of money in the pot, I don't know that I can check and fold, though. I imagine my opponent is going to check back any hand that he doesn't think is best on the turn, and now there are seveal more ways for a straight to get there by the river. So even though this is the worst card in the deck for me, I still think I need to shove and hope for the best. Unfortunately, he had TTQK, and I did not improve.
Labels: poker, poker strategy, session review
Stumble It!
My New Addiction
They are called TED Talks, and they are like intellectual crack. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and basically TED conferences bring together some of the smartest and most fascinating people from these fields. Each gives an 18-minute talk about the work that he or she does, and to tell you that some of this is stuff is amazing does nto do it justice.
Hundreds of these speeches are archived on the TED website, where you can watch them for free. I can't stop. Here a few of my favorites so far, to get you started:
Ken Robinson Says Schools Kill Creativity- This is my favorite, but education is very important to me, so I may be biased. Robinson is very funny, a talented storyteller, and also has a powerful message about schools.
Malcolm Gladwell on Spaghetti Sauce- This talk convinced me to read Gladwell's books, Blink and The Tipping Point, which were both fairly interesting. He has a real knack for finding anecdotes that convey a powerful message and articulating a common theme across seemingly disparate subjects.
Cameron Sinclair on Open Source Architecture- Sinclair started a non-profit organization that solicits designs from architects around the world to address problems in impoverished ares or in the wake of natural disasters. Some of the resulting innovations include an edible AIDS clinic and flowers that grow red in the presence of land mines.
Will Wright Makes Toys That Make Worlds- Wright, designer of The Sims, demonstrates his next project, in which players create their own species of life and guide it from its time as a single-celled organism all the way up to its colonization of other planets. He also has some interesting things to say about the education value of such a game.
Steven Levitt on Why Crack Dealers Still Live With Their Moms- If you've read Freakonomics, you'll be familiar with the content of this presentation. However, there is some new information here, and it is presented in a funny and engaging way.
Stumble It!
Hundreds of these speeches are archived on the TED website, where you can watch them for free. I can't stop. Here a few of my favorites so far, to get you started:
Ken Robinson Says Schools Kill Creativity- This is my favorite, but education is very important to me, so I may be biased. Robinson is very funny, a talented storyteller, and also has a powerful message about schools.
Malcolm Gladwell on Spaghetti Sauce- This talk convinced me to read Gladwell's books, Blink and The Tipping Point, which were both fairly interesting. He has a real knack for finding anecdotes that convey a powerful message and articulating a common theme across seemingly disparate subjects.
Cameron Sinclair on Open Source Architecture- Sinclair started a non-profit organization that solicits designs from architects around the world to address problems in impoverished ares or in the wake of natural disasters. Some of the resulting innovations include an edible AIDS clinic and flowers that grow red in the presence of land mines.
Will Wright Makes Toys That Make Worlds- Wright, designer of The Sims, demonstrates his next project, in which players create their own species of life and guide it from its time as a single-celled organism all the way up to its colonization of other planets. He also has some interesting things to say about the education value of such a game.
Steven Levitt on Why Crack Dealers Still Live With Their Moms- If you've read Freakonomics, you'll be familiar with the content of this presentation. However, there is some new information here, and it is presented in a funny and engaging way.
Labels: personal
Stumble It!
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Value Flows Downstream
I've got an article called "Value Flows Downstream" in the August issue of 2+2 Magazine. The article is about river play and how it can influence other streets. In particular, it discusses the importance of thin value betting marginal hands on the river, so I figured I'd post some thinnish river plays I've made recently.
This one is pretty straight-forward, I think:
Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $10 BB (5 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
BB ($1003)
UTG ($1788)
MP ($1115.25)
Hero ($4408.50)
SB ($1228)
Preflop: Hero is Button with Qd, Qh.
1 fold, MP raises to $35, Hero raises to $120, 2 folds, MP calls $85.
Flop: ($255) 4h, 8c, 6h (2 players)
MP bets $200, Hero calls $200.
Turn: ($655) As (2 players)
MP bets $100, Hero calls $100.
River: ($855) 3c (2 players)
MP bets $100, Hero raises to $333, MP calls $233.
Final Pot: $1521
Results in white below:
MP doesn't show.
Hero has Qd Qh (one pair, queens).
Outcome: Hero wins $1521.
Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $6 BB (3 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Button ($605.55)
Hero ($614.20)
BB ($664)
Preflop: Hero is SB with Qh, Qd.
Button raises to $12, Hero raises to $42, 1 fold, Button calls $30.
Flop: ($90) Ad, 5c, Jd (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $78, Hero calls $78.
Turn: ($246) Td (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks.
River: ($246) 5s (2 players)
Hero bets $94, Button calls $94.
Final Pot: $434
Results in white below:
Hero has Qh Qd (two pair, queens and fives).
Button doesn't show.
Outcome: Hero wins $434.
We see here an added benefit of value betting thin, which is that it can tilt a guy. This is against the same Villain from the last hand maybe a dozen hands later:
Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $6 BB (3 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Button ($456.55)
Hero ($827.20)
BB ($598)
Preflop: Hero is SB with Kd, Kc.
This one is pretty straight-forward, I think:
Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $10 BB (5 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
BB ($1003)
UTG ($1788)
MP ($1115.25)
Hero ($4408.50)
SB ($1228)
Preflop: Hero is Button with Qd, Qh.
1 fold, MP raises to $35, Hero raises to $120, 2 folds, MP calls $85.
Flop: ($255) 4h, 8c, 6h (2 players)
MP bets $200, Hero calls $200.
Turn: ($655) As (2 players)
MP bets $100, Hero calls $100.
River: ($855) 3c (2 players)
MP bets $100, Hero raises to $333, MP calls $233.
Final Pot: $1521
Results in white below:
MP doesn't show.
Hero has Qd Qh (one pair, queens).
Outcome: Hero wins $1521.
Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $6 BB (3 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Button ($605.55)
Hero ($614.20)
BB ($664)
Preflop: Hero is SB with Qh, Qd.
Button raises to $12, Hero raises to $42, 1 fold, Button calls $30.
Flop: ($90) Ad, 5c, Jd (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $78, Hero calls $78.
Turn: ($246) Td (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks.
River: ($246) 5s (2 players)
Hero bets $94, Button calls $94.
Final Pot: $434
Results in white below:
Hero has Qh Qd (two pair, queens and fives).
Button doesn't show.
Outcome: Hero wins $434.
We see here an added benefit of value betting thin, which is that it can tilt a guy. This is against the same Villain from the last hand maybe a dozen hands later:
Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $6 BB (3 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Button ($456.55)
Hero ($827.20)
BB ($598)
Preflop: Hero is SB with Kd, Kc.